The religion of Islam originated in Saudi Arabia in the seventh century AD, about 600 years after the death of Christ. When an Arab man named Muhammad was 40 years old, he would often go to a cave outside the town of Mecca on Mount Hira to meditate and seek God. During one such session the angel Gabriel appeared to inform him that he would be a prophet and messenger of God, and over the next twenty-three years, Gabriel transcribed to him the 112 chapters of the Muslim Holy Book, the Qur’an (also referred to as the Koran in English. When communicating with Muslims, they prefer we use the word Qur’an).
The Qur’an is regarded as the Holy Words of Almighty God (Allah) by over one billion Muslims worldwide. The name Allah is the Arabic word that means THE GOD, and is the same word that even Arabic Christians use in their Bibles. The religion of Islam has five main pillars, all of them admirable.
The first pillar of Islam states there is only ONE God. As Christians, we whole-heartedly agree with them on this crucial truth, for our Bible tells us clearly: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” --Deuteronomy 6:4 NIV
The second Pillar of Islam requires Muslims (the followers of the Islam religion), to pray five times a day, which puts many of us Christians to shame. How good it would be if we Christians were as devoted to the gift and privilege of prayer that our Muslim friends are!
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” --Ephesians 6:18 NIV
The Third Pillar of Islam requires Muslims to give over two percent of their income every year to the poor. Caring for the hungry, the hurting and the needy is a huge concern of God throughout the Bible, with several hundred verses urging us to be generous and compassionate towards those less fortunate than ourselves. In fact, Jesus says how we treated the poor will be a key issue at the judgment. (Matthew 25:31-46).
The Fourth Pillar of Islam requires every Muslim to fast for a full month. They are not to eat or drink anything from sunrise to sundown. As Christians, the Bible also encourages us to fast, but we are given much greater leeway as to the type and length of our Christian fasts. (Matthew 6:16-18). The self-discipline that Muslims commit to when it comes to fasting beats hands-down the rather cavalier attitude of most Christians!
The Qur’an commands that women dress modestly, which Muslim women take very seriously, which is seen in their long dresses and head coverings. The Bible also says women should dress modestly, but many Christian women wear their bikinis, mini-skirts and tight shorts in careless disregard for God’s requirements (1 Timothy 2:9,10). When it comes to dressing modesty, I think there can be no question that the followers of Islam obey this command far better than Christians.
The Fifth Pillar of Islam requires every Muslim to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia at least once during their lifetime. Christianity has no such requirement. Although Christians like to go to the land of Israel to visit the historic places where Jesus walked and ministered, this is entirely optional. The closest thing to a pilgrimage that Christians are required to do is to simply attend their local church on a regular basis.
Allah's Ninety-Nine Names
Islam teaches that Allah has ninety-nine names, and all of them can easily be applied to Yahweh, the God of the Bible. A few of Allah’s names which describes aspects of His character are: The Merciful, The King, The Compassionate, The Holy, The Almighty, The Creator, The Provider. Christians would find no reason to quarrel with any of these ninety-nines of God. Too see the complete list of God’s names, click here:
Islam Emphasizes Doing Good Works
Doing good works is also a strong, overriding theme in the religion of Islam. The Qur’an teaches that in order to be saved, you must demonstrate to God that you have lived a disciplined and holy life full of good deeds and good works. We Christians also strongly believe in the importance of doing good works (Galatians 6:10), but sadly, many Christians have been poisoned by “cheap grace,” living lives that are as selfish and undisciplined as the pagans around us (1 Corinthians 15:34).
There is much to be commended in the faith of Islam, and there is strong command ground with Christianity. Muslims believe in the Bible as God’s inspired Word; they claim Abraham as the father of their faith; they believe in a literal devil; they accept the truth of a Heaven for the righteous and a Hell for the unrighteous; they believe in the Resurrection, the Second Coming of Jesus and a Final Day of Judgment. Muslims and Christians both accept the need to struggle against sin in our lives, and they believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. They accept that he was sent by God as a prophet to reveal the Golden Rule of Love to men, and that the words he spoke in the Gospels are truth.
Yes, there is much that is admirable and good in the religion of Islam, and as Christians, we would do well to seriously embrace and emulate the spiritual self-disciplines that Muslims practice, such as prayer, fasting, giving, and modesty. At the same time, there are very important differences between Christianity and Islam that we need to be aware of.
Islam Says --
Jesus is NOT God
First and foremost, even though Muslims love Jesus and love his teachings and
acknowledge that he was sent by God to bring the Golden Rule of Love to men,
Islam emphatically denies that Jesus is God. In fact, it is considered blasphemy
and the worst possible sin to say that a man is God, including Jesus. This is
strongly stated in the Qur’an:
"Verily God does not forgive the ascribing of divinity to anything beside Him, although He forgives any lesser sin to whomever He wills: for he who ascribes divinity to anything beside God has indeed contrived an awesome sin." --Qur’an 4:48
Islam Says -- NO Trinity
Since the Islam religion strongly emphasizes that there is only ONE God, the Muslims do not accept the truth about the Trinity. We have already shown they deny the divinity of Jesus, and they do not accept the Holy Spirit. For them, there is only one God, and his name is ALLAH, which means “The God.”
The Trinity is a unique challenge for us Christians, because we agree with our Muslim brothers and sister that indeed, God is ONE, but the Scriptures make it very plain to us that in some mysterious and unknowable way, God describes himself in terms of being three distinct entities: The God who rules and runs the Universe; the part of God who has appeared to us in human form (Jesus); and the part of God that sends His Spirit to dwell inside Human Beings (the Holy Spirit).
It is all ONE and the same God, but as Christians, we are taught to refer to these different manifestations as if they were three separate entities. Even our scholars are not fully able to answer how God can be Three and One at the same time, but we accept this as one of the mysteries about God that is just not fully comprehensible to finite and limited humanity. We accept the Oneness and Threeness of God because the Bible tells us we should, as evidenced in verses like this one:
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”
--Matthew 28:19 NIV
Islam Says -- Muhammad Honored Over Jesus
As Christians, we are taught to worship Jesus and give him preeminence, because he suffered and died for us (Philippians 2 & Hebrews 1). However, followers of Islam place their prophet Muhammad above Jesus. Muslims will acknowledge that Jesus was a prophet sent by Allah, but Muhammad is esteemed as the BEST of all God’s prophets. So much so that he is called “the Seal of the Prophets.”
Muslims do not worship Muhammad, but his name does receive preeminence in the First Pillar of the Islamic faith, for every convert to the Islam religion must make this statement at their conversion:
“There is no god apart from God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God.”
To lift up the name of Muhammad above the name of Jesus is simply not an acceptable option for Christians, for the Bible clearly tells us that the ONLY name that brings us salvation is the name of Jesus (Acts 4:1-2). We are also told that every knee is going to bow before the superiority of Jesus (Philippians 2:1-11).
Islam Says -- The Bible is Riddled With Errors
Since the followers of Islam DO believe that Jesus was a prophet sent from Allah, and since they DO accept that what Jesus taught was correct and true, how then can they ignore the many statements in the Bible that clearly convince us Christians of Christ’s divinity? The answer to that question is Muslims do not believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. They are convinced that humans have corrupted the words of God over the centuries, and they especially reject all of Paul’s writings. In the eyes of Muslims, Paul was a deceiving Jew who twisted and distorted the words of Christ, making Jesus out falsely to be a God, which the Muslims will simply not accept as being true.
To read about the Muslim perspective of Biblical errors, you can examine their arguments at the following web site:
www.answering-christianity.com
I do have to give the Muslim apologists credit on their compilations of “Bible errors.” They have put together a very impressive list of supposed contradictions, paradoxes, historical inaccuracies, etc. I am not enough of a scholar to know the answer to all their objections. What I do know and accept is God has assured me about the reliability of His Holy Scriptures in this verse:
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,”
--2 Timothy 3:16 NIV
Islam Says -- Jesus Didn't Die on the Cross
The religion of Islam emphatically states in their Holy Book Qur’an that Jesus did NOT die on the cross (Qur’an 4:157-158). It is a very difficult thing for a Muslim to comprehend why an all-powerful God would make himself weak and vulnerable, allowing Himself to be harshly mistreated by His creation, to be charged with unholy crimes, and then to willingly suffer a brutal death as a criminal.
Instead, the religion of Islam teaches that Jesus did not die on the cross; in fact, they suggest that it was Judas who died at Calvary! Muslims ignore all the verses in the Bible that speak of Jesus dying as a substitute for your sins and mine by stating that those verses were corrupted and altered by devious human agents. You can read their discussion at:
As a Christian, I accept the Bible as God’s true word, and I believe the abundant weight of Scriptural evidence that the death of Jesus on the cross as my substitution is a true and trustworthy historical fact. Here are a large number of verses testifying to the crucifixion of Jesus:
Matthew 20:17-19; Matthew 27; Mark 15; Luke 23; John 19; Acts 2:36; Acts 4:10; Romans 6; 1 Corinthians 1:23,24; Galatians 3:1; Revelation 1
Islam Says -- Everyone is Born Perfect
One reason Islam does not accept the need for Jesus to die as a substitutionery Savior, is they do not believe in the truth of Original Sin. The Christian doctrine of Original Sin states that when Adam and Eve fell, the curse of sin entered into the entire human race. Every baby that has ever been born is automatically afflicted with the deadly sickness of sin, which manifests itself primarily as selfishness, from which flows every imaginable evil done on our sin-ravaged planet. Christians believe in Original Sin because that is what the Bible tells us happened:
“Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt;
there is no one who does good, not even one.”
--Psalm 53:3 NIV (see also Romans 3 & 5)
Islam teaches that when Adam and Eve fell, the curse of sin came only upon those two. Their doctrine states that every baby is born perfect and sinless, and they base this on verses such as this:
“"Fathers shall not be put to death for their children,
nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sins." --2 Kings 14:6 NIV
As part of our evidence as Christians that everyone is infected with sin, we point to the 100% reality that death now reigns supreme over every human being. EVERYONE DIES. Innocent and guilty. The presence of vile death in the earth is pretty strong proof for the Christian position that Original Sin has infected all of us, including innocent babies.
Islam Says -- Death is Not Our Enemy
So how do Muslims respond to the very real existence of pervasive death? What I have learned from the Islamic web sites about their explanation for death truly took me by surprise. Christians believe death is the great enemy of the human race, which is why we love Jesus so passionately, because he defeated death for us all when he died on the cross as our substitutionary savior, and then rose in triumph three days later on Resurrection morning (Matthew 16:21 & 1 Corinthians 15).
Muslims, on the other hand, believe that death is not our enemy at all! They teach that death was part of God’s original design for all of His creation on Planet Earth! Death is just part of the natural life cycles of all living creatures on this planet. So from their perspective, Death is not some terrible punishment at all, but rather, it is to be accepted and embraced as part of God’s great and wonderful wisdom for human life. You can read about this Islamic doctrine at this web site:
Well, this is all we have space for. There is much that is good in the religion of Islam, but there are also some huge and crucial theological differences that are simply not compatible with Christianity.
--Spiritual Borg 2001