There is a dangerous and unfounded effort by many church leaders to equate Jehovah God of Holy Scripture with Allah, the god of the Islamic religion. Such extreme ecumenicalism is not just plain wrong; it is totally unfair to Bible-believing Christians around the world. It is also unfair to millions of Arab Christians who know Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord. This is not a matter of treating Muslim people wrong or persecuting them for their religious belief. Nothing is below the action of any genuine Christian more than to be unkind to a fellow citizen of our America or of another nation. It is clear that Muhammad had an extremely good understanding of the Jewish and Christian beliefs but he clearly distorted them throughout his writing. Even his revelations were not revelations that had any semblance of Biblical unity. They were clearly the work of spirits, mental imbalance, or disease-induced fever. The very foundations of Muhammad’s early days were filled with raids on caravans of merchants and nearby communities, terrorist activities that included brutal slaughter of the male population, plus selling the women and children as slaves.
I want to establish the sheer facts of the religion called Islam. My primary information is from the The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Edition 15, Volumes 22 & 25. This set of encyclopaedias was chosen to make sure my information was unbiased. I have no desire to present a false picture of this religion. The Arab people, as a distinct part of the world’s population, must not be treated unfairly. They are creatures of creation by the Heavenly Father. They are in every sense of the word endowed by the Creator with inalienable rights and to choose their religion is one of the choices they must make. We must not persecute or war against them because of their choices. Neither should we try to blend the religions together as though there is no difference.
The foundations of Islam are dark indeed. The term Muslim means someone that submits himself or herself to Allah. The followers of the Islamic religion are Muslims. Muhammad was the founder of Islam. Actually, the Islam religion was a breakaway from an existing religion with a pantheon of gods and the Kab’ah (shrine) at Mecca had many idols worshipped by the locals and visitors.
It is clear that Allah was a part of the large pantheon of gods and the idea of making Allah a monotheistic god was apparently Muhammad’s decision. There is nothing to suggest that Allah had a relationship to Jehovah God of the Bible. In fact, Allah had previously been worshipped as having three daughters that were gods themselves known as “Allah’s Trinity.” Notice this description. “Where more complex settlement patterns had developed, however, widely shared deities had already emerged, such as the ‘trinity’ of Allah’s ‘daughters’ known as al-Lat, Manat, and al-Uzzah.” (Ibid., p. 105.)
When Muhammad first suggested that Allah was the one and only god, he faced incredible resistance and this was one of the first schisms that caused the people from Mecca to break with him. He was also a threat to their authority because of his visions and the respect of most citizens in those times for superstitious activities.
Muhammad’s Revelations
Muhammad is said to have had visions and revelations almost all of his adult life from about AD 610 until his death. At first he was disturbed by the experiences he had. His first wife, much older than Muhammad, is said to have encouraged him and her cousin began to help him write down the revelations. The first rule for a vision or revelation in the Christian community is absolute harmony with the Bible. While there are some ideas in Muhammad’s revelation that have principles of Bible truth the majority of his thoughts fail miserably.
As the traditions of the Islamic religion are described, there was a very clear explanation of Muhammad’s revelations. Nothing in these revelations has a Biblical precedence. While Gabriel is credited, the explanation shows nothing but a spirit of some nature.
For the Christian, it clearly reveals the impossibility of Allah being Jehovah God. Here is a plain statement, eliminating the trinity of Jehovah God and denying the Sonship of Christ. “The doctrine about God in the Qur’an is rigorously monotheistic: God is one and unique; he has no partner and no equal. The Trinity of God, the Christian belief that God is three persons in one substance, is vigorously repudiated. Muslims believe that there are no intermediaries between God and the creation that he brought into being by his sheer command: ‘Be.’” (Ibid., p. 6.)
They do teach that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, but was saved from crucifixion from the Jews by God. They believe that Jesus was a prophet, but that “All prophets are human and never part of divinity; they are simply recipients of revelation from God.” (Ibid., p. 7.)
No one can follow Muhammad to the letter without becoming a terrorist. From the very beginning, monies to fund his activities were gathered by raids on merchants and communities.
We can hardly comprehend a great prophet receiving direct revelation from God, who at the same time must fund his new religion by stealing and robbing innocent people. The terrorist activities did not end with just robbing and stealing but also unwarranted slaughter and the selling of slaves resulting from his raids.
Holy Warfare (Jihad) from the beginning
Deny it as we may try, “Holy War” or “Jihad” is a fundamental concept in the Islamic religion. Certainly, there are Islamic people that reject that idea. National leaders among the Islamic nations vary in how they see this issue and none of us will know the final purpose of one and all.
The facts are clear. “Although greatly maligned by medieval European scholars – whose opinions still retain some influence – Muhammad came to be viewed more objectively in the 19th century. Some of the evidence against him, such as his connivance at assassinations and his approval of the execution of the men of a Jewish clan, are historical matters that cannot be denied.”(The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Edition 15, Volume 22, p. 4.)
The idea of “jihad” comes clearly to the front row in the Islamic theology because of this “community concept.” Listen to this intellectual description of the Islamic concept. “With this socioeconomic doctrine cementing the bond of faith, the idea of a closely knit community of the faithful who are declared to be ‘brothers unto each other’ emerges. Muslims are described as ‘the middle community bearing witness on mankind,’ ‘the best community produced for mankind,’ whose function it is ‘to enjoin good and forbid evil’ (Qur’an). Cooperation and ‘good advice’ within the community are emphasized, and a person who deliberately tries to harm the interests of the community is to be given exemplary punishment. Opponents from within the community are to be fought and reduced with armed force, if issues cannot be settled by persuasion and arbitration.
Conclusion
Our purpose in this article is not to create dark emotions toward Arab people. In fact, this article has nothing to do with Arab people, but only with the Islamic religion. Millions of Arabs are American citizens, as well as many spread around the world. A tremendous number are friends of Israel, flag waving Americans, Bible-believing Christians, and indeed wonderful citizens of the world communities.
As already stated, there must not be ill treatments of those who believe in Allah. It is wrong to use your faith to try and impose it on someone against his or her will. The citizens of Islamic countries should be absolutely free to choose the Christian faith, while citizens of any country should be free in the religion of their choice. The Word of God offers no hope of salvation to anyone that does not make his or her own personal choice to receive Jesus Christ. Conversion by cohesion is not possible. You would not have a convert; you would have a slave.
If you are a Bible-believing Christian, it is your responsibility to defend the truth of your God, our Heavenly Father, and one Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. If you compromise this point, there is nothing left worth believing in.
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