Islam – Mohammed 570 AD in or near Mecca (Arabia) – raised as an orphan by uncle, was a camel trader, married a wealthy widow. About AD 610 at around age 40, during some reveries and meditation in caves near Mecca, received revelations from the angel Gabriel. Began reciting the Koran, various people wrote it down, debated Mohammed’s literacy. Poetry doesn’t always make sense, no stories (just allusions to stories, many to OT stories), even for native Arabic speakers about 1/5 of the text is puzzling. With presupposition of knowledge of OT, allusions do make sense. Koran has 114 suras, 17 verses less than Shi’a version. There are two short ones at the beginning and two at the end, the rest are arranged shortest to longest (instead of by chronology or topic). 90% of Muslim leadership today would likely say that the Koran was passed to Mohammed in perfect form, and the Koran is eternal with God.
Koran supersedes Scripture as the Jewish Scriptures are considered corrupted. As such, God sent Jesus, who is not God’s son, and did not die on the cross [someone else died and it only appeared as him – he ascended to heaven without ever dying], even metaphorically to give a final call and revelation, prophesying the coming of Mohammed, but Jesus failed to write anything down. The disciples screwed up the message. The eschatology is that there will be a great resurrection, Jesus will willingly subject himself to the resurrected Mohammed. Jesus as Messiah is a teacher, not a savior. Humanity is placed on earth not for fellowship and communion with God, Allah creates mankind because it pleases him to create slaves. The problem in the world is not sin and fallenness, it is ignorance. The solution is teaching as the prophets and Jesus attempted and Mohammed succeeded in.
Options – convert, be killed and go to hell, or submit and accept third class citizenship under Sharia law and have no standing against the Muslims, dimitude. Taxes of anything (firstborn, farm) to be collected until you die (and your progeny that does not convert as well) and go to hell.
- Sunni – majority of Muslims.
- Shi’a – majority of Iraq, minority in Syria, great majority in Iran, Bahrain, some in Saudi Arabia. Authority does not pass down biologically through descendants of Mohammed as Sunni claim. Line continues down through 12 Imams. In Shiite Islam, they are similar to caliph and speak from God, sometimes infallibly, but they are not prophets as there is no prophet after Mohammed. The 12th Imam was one who did not die, he disappeared, expected to return at the close of the age, not messiah, he is Mahdi, promised one.
- Sufi – “charismatics” of Islam, exist as both Sunni, Shi’a, or neither. Put emphasis on existential encounter with God, emphasize devotive, contemplative side. You want to show yourself as reflective of a heart of Allah. The law flows out of and finds proper expression in heart in love with Allah. The rise of Sufiism corresponded with the time and region where they first overran areas Christian monasteries of the Eastern Orthodox. Islam at large does not seek a relationship between Allah and his creatures other than slave to master. Sufi Islam does somewhat include this. Sufi is often persecuted by Sunni and Shiites.
- Some other significant variants of Islam
- Ahmadiyya – “Hare Krishna” of Islam in that they do convert. 1889, one who claimed to be Mahdi and Masi (messiah) – just as John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah. They will say that Jesus was virgin born and performed miracles, Allah rescued Jesus from the cross and he swooned and he went from there to Kashmir and taught and died there.
- Ismaili (e.g. the Aga Khan) – Sixth Imam was supposed to have dies without clearly leaving a successor. Since Imams were infallible, then the first Imam had to be the right one. The followers of the Aga Khan who views himself as a successor, Ismaili are considered heretical by both Sunni and Shiites. Also, the Drus would believe in reincarnation and nirvana.
Key theological differences
- Nature and character of God
- God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. God of the Koran causes things to come into being from moment to moment with no real continuity. God can abrogate. Allah’s sovereign will stands over all of his other perfections (attributes). He can change at any moment, even if it is 180 degrees opposing his previous position. Some verses in the Koran say to be good to a person of the book (Jews and Christians) and others say to kill them where they are found. Contradictions are settled by whichever was the last thing said.
- Grace is simply Allah choosing to show mercy. But it is based on working hard enough to get Allah to show his grace.
- Sacrifice are not substitutes, they are instead attempts by Muslims to gain the favor of Allah.
Atlantic Monthly, 1999, What is the Koran?
- Transmission of the Bible
- Christians believe that the bible has been passed down with great accuracy. No doctrines hang on uncertain spots because those doctrines are covered elsewhere. There is more textual evidence for the authenticity of the authorship of NT than there is Shakespeare. (FF Bruce book, New Testament Books, Are They Reliable?)
- Jesus taught things repeatedly and did not necessarily use the exact same words.
- Transmission of Koran
- Many different people inscribed Mohammed’s words.
- Popular in Muslim circles to deny story of manuscript kept apart from compilation by Mohammed’s daughter.
- Burial vault in attic of grand mosque in 1979 found tens of thousands or Korans with many variants. They will assert that the community has always agreed, those were human mistakes.
Response by Christian to Islam over the centuries:
- Toleration and compromise – subjecting to dimitude.
- Resistance to invasion and theological debate (e.g., St. John of Damascus_
- Reformed movement in the Byzantine empire for the purging away of icons and emerging of historic Christianity who argued in favor of icons and images in worship to resist Muslim advances.
- Counter-jihad (e.g., the Crusades and British Raj)
- Spreading Christianity and/or Christendom
- Acculturation and engagement (e.g., Raymond Lull)
- Wants to evangelize Muslims during Crusades
- Goes to North Africa
- Martyred, stoned and beaten
- Protestant Reformation and Counter-reformation found Christians learning language and customs and identified with ruling class to leverage influence in those cultures, later Mother Theresa identifies with outcasts.
- Insider movement and its motives & problems:
- E-5 Evangelism
- E-0 – no cultural boundaries to cross
- E-1 – 1 boundary such as Westerners with a language difference
- E-2 – more than just language, significant differences between cultures; i.e. Asian Culture and differences between Thai, Korean, Japanese, etc.
- E-3 – further still, language customs, worldview, dress, maybe no running water or electricity.
- E-4 – very remote such as nomadic Aboriginal Australian groups, bushmen, exceedingly different.
- E-5 – not crossing boundaries, so far apart, you are trying to get the people themselves to reach their own; i.e. a Hindu who will remain in his caste, a Muslim to remain in his mosque. Undercover insider movement for gradual change within a society.
- Translation problems (“Son of God,” “Messiah,” “sin,” etc.) – we need to figure out how to express God in cultures where god is a polytheistic term. In Japan, you could choose the term for multiple gods, these do not equate to the one true God. In Islam, the Son of God refers to God taking on human form and having sexual relations with Mary and the issue was Jesus, so how is Son of God or Messiah translated?
i. God uses El with Abram, as it is a high God name, but it is also a generic name, establishing a bridge. God uses adjectives to characterize his attributes, i.e. El Shaddai, El Elyon, etc. for contrast. When Mohammed used Allah, that did not mean to his original hearers what it does today, it was just the generic name of God.
- Societal membership problems (e.g. death or expulsion of Muslim Background Believers & targeting of rival faith communities)
- Vulnerability of “secret believers” to compromise and re-absorption back into Islam
- Issue of faithfulness to Christ’s call to acknowledge Him before others (e.g., Matt. 10:32-33)
i. 1st century evangelism took place because of:
- Gratitude for salvation
- Concern for the lost
- Obedience to Great Commission
ii. They did not deny Christ by participating in pagan ceremonies.
iii. The call is to build a bridge and make a contrast. Without commonalities, there is no understanding and our message is incomprehensible, but without biblical contrast we fall into syncretism.
