3. UNDERSTANDING A MUSLIM WORLD VIEW

BY DR. EARL PARVIN, OCT 4, 2017

ISLAMIC COUNTERFEIT OF CHRISTIANITY

INTRODUCTION

 

The importance of understanding a Muslim Worldview cannot be overemphasized in this 21st. century. It will help to understand the pandemic turmoil in our world, as predicted in the Bible would be happening in the end times: “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen” [Mk 13:7].  It will also give insight as to what is happening and why such atrocities are occurring. It will help illuminate the so-called Zionist issue as it relates to the Palestinian debacle, as well as the total MENA [Middle East, North Africa] caldron. The importance of the Muslim Worldview is further amplified when it is recognized that one in every five persons in our world subscribes to Muslim Worldview.

 

There are 73 sects within the fold of Islam, similar to the denominational differences in Christianity, each with its own emphasis on certain teachings; however, there are two main factions, the Sunnis with 75% and the Shiites, 20%. The issues we will raise are generally applicable to any Muslim Worldview.

 

THE PRESUPPOSITIONS:

 

1. THE NECESSITY OF FAITH  [Faith is secular term, not primarily religious – Heb 11]

 

The definition of faith is important. “Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence”. When we lived in the Muslim world in the country of Pakistan, it became obvious to us that the Asian way of thinking was much different from that of the Westerner who is accustomed to a more democratic life style, dictated by a broad understanding of history. Much of the way of life of the Middle Easterner is conditioned by a harsh environment; lack of educational opportunity; universal, dictatorial, theocratic governments, which are led by unlettered religious clerics who rule by Divine Right; therefore, are not reportable to the populace. Their dictatorship is conditioned on the popular believe in Religious Duty and respect for the religious leader.

 

Yet, there are those who insist that, “Islam Is An Empire of Faith”, as presented in a VHS Video. Mark Gabriel, former professor at Al Azhar University in Egypt says, “Faith is in the fabric of the life of a Middle Easterner”.

 

The first of FIVE “PILLARS OF ISLAM” [what he must do] is called the “Shahada” which is interpreted as a Declaration of Faith. It is really a statement: “There is only one Allah and Mohammed is His Messenger”. The other 4 pillars are: 2. ‘Salat’ = performing obligatory ritual prayers at 5 different times daily; 3. ‘Zakhat’ = giving Alms or charity to the poor, usually each Friday; 4. ‘Sawm’ = Fasting during the month of Ramadan & completely reading through the whole Koran; & 5. ‘Hajj’ = in one’s lifetime each Muslim is required [if he is able] to make a trip to Mecca in Arabia, [or send someone in his place] to visit heartland Sunni Islam, along with two million others. He then is given the title of “Hajji”.

 

THE SIX ARTICLES OF FAITH, [are what all Muslim must believe]. He must believe by faith in: 1. Allah; 2. Angels; 3. Holy Books = Taurat [Torah or Pentateuch = the first 5 books of Genesis], Gospels & Quran; 4. Prophets; 5. Day of Judgment & 6. Predestination. [The Muslim believes that Allah has predetermined everything that happens; therefore he is not responsible.] Muslim history is filled with: Dictatorships, political intrigue and a Muslim spin on history, such as their interpretation of the Crusades, denial of the Holocaust and the belief that Muslim lands are theirs forever. His worldview is skewed by the following factors, which he accepts by ‘faith’.

 

2. THE EXISTENCE OF GOD = [God of Force]

 

Every Muslim believes in the existence of God. The Arabic term is Allah. One becomes a Muslim by repeating the ‘Shahada’ which states: “There is only one Allah and Mohammed is His Messenger”. It is important to understand the nature of this God, for it helps to understand the fanaticism of his followers. Allah is purported to have told Mohammed, the founder of Islam, that he was the last of the Prophets. He, at first, understood that he was sent [as a Prophet to the Jews] to purify Judaism, because the Jews had failed to follow God’s laws. Therefore, he was to purify Judaism by converting the Jews and the rest of the world to Pure Religion, or kill them, as an act of Jihad, as ordered by Allah. When the Jews of Yuthrub [later named Medina], rejected his heretical teachings, [Abraham sought to kill Ishmael] he and his henchmen slaughtered them. [At this point, Mohammed was directed to be the Arabian Prophet of Islam.] When a Muslim dies in a Jihad, he is promised instant access to the Muslim heaven, filled with perpetual virgins.

 

Allah is considered to be totally unapproachable or wholly other. No one comes to Him in conversational prayer [considered un-Islamic], for He is completely Sovereign, demanding complete SUBMISSION, which is the definition of the term… Islam. He demands total, blind obedience of those who originally lived in the completely unforgiving environment of the Arabian Desert. Allah is a God of Force. [Only the Strong Horse is honored in Tribalism.]

 

Allah was one of 360 gods originally housed in the Kaaba [a cubically shaped black building] in Mecca, Arabia. The Kaaba was the major point of pilgrimage for the polytheistic Arabian, nomadic tribesmen. Mohammed destroyed all the other gods in the pantheon and forced the tribesmen to abandon their tribal gods and to submit only to Allah. Allah was Mohamed’s Quraish, tribal god. If they did not submit, he slaughtered them. Mecca continues to be the major annual place of pilgrimage for Muslim from all over the world.

 

Allah is said to have 99 names; therefore, his rosary has 99 beads which is divided into 3 groupings. The ritual prayers [Salah], prescribed five times daily, consist primarily of ritual recitations or recounting those names, after having performed the ritual washings and performed the various required prayer stances, always facing Mecca. There is no conversational prayer in Islam. Allah does not speak to men nor desire a personal relationship. There is no concept of love in Allah, only a demand for blind obedience. The supreme characteristic of Allah is that he has no “likeness”, which might be compared to the Jewish concept of the Oneness of God: “Hear oh Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One”  [Du 6:4]. This means he has no Son nor Holy Spirit, for that would be understood as polytheistic in Islam. There is a complete denial of the Trinity in both religions. [There is no understood need of a Savior or Holy Spirit, for sin is not perceived as that which requires a blood sacrifice to reconcile to God = Allah. Proper ablutions, prayers, pilgrimages or paying of  alms on Fridays to the poor, will do.]

 

The history of the term Allah, is quite fascinating. It is one of the many pre-Islamic names given to the mythical moon god, widespread in the Fertile Crescent countries. The symbol of Islam is the crescent moon as found atop their Mosques & on the flags of several Muslim countries. Abraham, also revered in Islam, came from Ur of the Chaldees, where his father, Terah, worshiped ‘other gods’ [Josh 24:2] such as the popular ‘Nanar’, another name for the moon god. It should be understood that the personality of Allah, as advanced in the Koran and Hadith, are not the same as those for Jehovah of the Old Testament.

 

3. THE WORD OF GOD [If there is a god, he must have spoken!]

 

The Muslim Word of God is called the Koran or Quran & considered dictated by Allah, through the Angel Gabriel. It is 2/3rds the size of the New Testament, with 114 Suras or chapters. To the western mind, it has little unity, is full of ambiguity, errors and difficult of understanding. The Koranic dictation started in 610, but was written down after the death of Mohammed [632], by those called his friends, and canonized in 650. However there were many versions of Arabic; therefore, current Arabic was not determined until the 9th C. The Koran is joined by a vast literature, called Hadith [sayings of the Prophet] of which there are 6 collections; and Sunnah [biography of Mohammed]. These are given nearly as much credence as the Koran.

 

The Koran is memorized in Arabic by many, even by those who do not speak Arabic, which is considered to be the language of the angels. He is then called a ‘Hafiz’.

 

The Koran insists that it corrects error in both the Old Testament Jewish Scriptures and the New Testament of the Christians, who are also considered to have gone astray. In the OT account of Abraham offering Isaac, Mohammed insisted that it was Ishmael, who is considered to be the father of the Arabs. In the NT account of Jesus Christ returning to heaven and sending the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, Mohammed taught this to be a prophecy of his coming. In Islam, there is a doctrine of ‘abrogation’ which teaches that the later [Medinan Koranic verses] nullify the earlier [Meccan Koranic verses], which is the answer for any internal discrepancies. The Muslim considers the Bible as revelation, but is superseded by the later revelation of the Koran, which; therefore, nullifies the earlier Biblical revelation.

 

Islam teaches that the Koran “carries a Divine guarantee of safeguard from interpolation… and combines the best of earlier Scriptures” [Islam.com]

 

Within Shia Islam, the Hadith presents the doctrine of the Mahdi, or Muslim messiah. He was the 12th Imam or leader, who went into occlusion [hiding] centuries ago only to return to purify a corrupted society and turn everyone into Muslim. Ahmadinejad, the former President of Iran, said his responsibility was to cause enough world confusion by funding terrorism and wiping Israel off the map with his aspired atomic weaponry, to encourage the return of the Mahdi.

 

The Quran is said to have been dictated by the angel Gabriel to Mohammed during his frequent sojourns in the cave Hira meditating. All that is known about the Koran, Allah and Islam, depends upon an understanding of the life of Mohammed. This gives insight into the tenor of the Meccan versus the Medinan passages in the Koran, and the character of Allah versus that of Jehovah.

 

Mohammed [born 570] was orphaned as a small child. His father died before he was born and then his mother died. His grandfather took him in and then he also died. He was shunted about among others. As he grew up, he became a Camel Caravan Driver, traveling extensively as a successful business man. He then married a rich Nestorian Christian widow, for whom he worked. This gave him opportunity for long periods of meditation. During these visitations, he was terrified and doubted his sanity. Several children were born in their marriage, but all but one, a daughter, died. [Mohammed’s life was filled with tragedy, rejection and anger.]

    He then determined that he was to be a prophet to the Jews [Du 18:15] and their ONE God. This led him to determine to cleanse the Kaaba of the polytheistic 360 gods of the traveling Arab traders coursing through Mecca, saving only the Black Stone representing his Quraish tribal god. Allah. The Meccan Tribal Leaders were not amused about losing their lucrative income as keepers of the Kaaba; therefore, they disowned him, leaving him tribe less.

    He and his band of followers fled to Yuthrub where there were several Jewish Tribes… to be their Prophet. [This event is year one in Muslim history]. The transition did not go well. Mohammed was teaching the Jews that Abraham sought to sacrifice his son Ishmael, not Issac; therefore, the Jews REJECTED him. By this time, Mohammed had become mayor of Yuthrub, changed the name to Medina,[where Mohammed became Prophet and is buried] and raised a gang of followers who proceeded to murder the Jews.

   Then they raided the Meccan Camel Caravans, for Mohammed was determined to regain his membership in the Quraish Tribe, and cleanse the Kaaba. He was a skillful warlord, [Jihad?]

   Tragically, a stabilizing force in his life, Khadijah, died. Her death traumatized Mohammed and he became polygamous, even to marrying his best friend’s young daughter. He died in Aisha’s arms [632], leaving no directions for his successor. This nearly destroyed the fledgling community of followers.

   This led to the dividing of the Muslim Ummah into two factions: the larger Sunni Camp [now headquartered in Saudi Arabia] and the Shia Camp [now headquartered in Iran].

 

4. THE STANDARD OF TRUTH

 

The standard of truth in Islam is the Koran AND the teachings of other books considered just as binding. Mohammed’s teachings become the body of truth for the Muslim. He understands that Islam is everything and he must promote and protect it at any price. Jihad to him is a required personal spiritual struggle of ethical proportions. Truth is not the issue. Islam is. Whatever lands were once controlled by the Muslim empire of the 7th to 12th centuries are still Muslim lands and are to be delivered of infidels [unbelievers] by either conversion or murder [as commanded by Allah]. There is little thought of co-existence with infidels. Palestine is considered Muslim Land; therefore, there is no room for co-existence with the Jew. [So much for two-state solution!].

 

Truth in Islam is controlled by Islamic doctrine. For example, TAQIYYA = deception, lying for the cause is acceptable. TAKFIR = committing a crime as redemption for perceived dishonoring of Islam, SHAHEED [Martyr] = one who murders infidels by becoming a suicide bomber, INTENTION = one’s intent is to protect Islam; therefore, he can say anything, even outright lie.

 

The standard of truth for the Wahhabis, headquartered in Saudi Arabia, is the literal interpretation of the Koran and historical Islam as interpreted by Wahhab, a cleric. Anyone who does not come up to their standards is considered an infidel to be destroyed, including other Muslim. Yet the Koran forbids killing a Muslim. With the discovery of Arabian oil, [Aramco] the joining of forces of the house of Saud and the cleric Wahhab, fanatic Islam has been financed and exported all over the world. 80% of the 1200 mosques in America and around the world have been financed with Wahhabi money and staffed by Wahhabi Clerics as purveyors/financers of virulent Islam.

 

Mark Gabriel converted from Islam while teaching at Al Azhar University in Egypt after reading the Bible. He determined that, “he no longer could believe that his home and family were built on a foundation of truth”.

 

Sharia Law = is religious law, considered truth in Islam, because it is enshrined as Islamic Tradition. It can be enforced by Religious Police in some countries such as the Afghan Taliban.

 

5. THE STANDARD OF ETHICAL MORALITY

 

Ethical morality for a Muslim is absolute, unwavering SUBMISSION [the definition of Islam] to the Cleric’s interpretation of the Koran and Hadith. The Muslim is taught that he is guilty only if he is caught. It is proper to lie for the cause. The end justifies the means. Arafat [the leader of the Palestinians] could agree to the Camp David Accords, knowing full well that nothing less than the destruction of Israel was the end in view. The ‘Accords’ would allow him to prepare for more Jihads. The president of Iran could call for the destruction of Israel, because they are ‘occupying Muslim land’. Women can be justifiably denied due process because they are property belonging to the husband who paid a bride price to her father. [The children belong to the father!] The wife must wear the Hijab [covering from head to foot] whenever she leaves the house, that is also only in the company of a male member of the family. The women may be subjected to some body part mutilation.

   Children can be used as human shields in jihad. Placing armaments in Mosques, hospitals, schools or population centers, obviously designed to create ‘collateral damage’ through return fire killing civilians. It is predictably for Western consumption and antipathy.

   Horrible assassinations in the name of Allah-- yelling “Allahu Ukbar” [God is greatest]: i.e., burning people alive, beheading Christians for their Faith; running over people with trucks, bombing public buildings filled with women and children at a concert; Honor Killings [father kill own to restore honor to family is a “deep-rooted & deadly custom” {Time: P.17, Aug, 2016}] leads to Moral Agnosticism. The fanatic hatred and killing of Jews is justified as killing infidels occupying Muslim Lands. Killing a Muslim who renounces Islam is commanded in the Koran.

 

CONCLUSION:

 

The Muslim worldview may be expressed as follows:

 

  1. I ACCEPT BY FAITH
  2. THE EXISTENCE OF ALLAH [WHO IS WHOLLY OTHER WITH NO LIKENESS, YET WAS REVEALED TO MOHAMMED THROUGH GABRIEL]
  3. WHOSE WORDS ARE RECORDED BY FRIENDS OF MOHAMMED IN THE KORAN AND HADITH, WHICH BECOME
  4. MY STANDARD OF TRUTH [AS INTERPRETED BY CLERICS AND PORTRAYED IN THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET] WHICH GOVERNS MY LIFE’S DECISIONS.
  5. MY MORALITY IS OBVIOUS TO ALL BY HOW WELL I SUBMIT TO AND PROTECT ISLAM IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES AS I INTERACT WITH OTHERS TO ESTABLISH A WORLD UMMAH IN A MUSLIM CALIPHATE.

 

It is impossible to justify jihadism [committing murder] in the name of god in a civilized world; however, in the Muslim Worldview, it is demanded by the interpretation of the clerics as well as the teaching and example of Mohammed as recorded in the Koran and Hadith. Historically and legally there is no justification for Palestinians shooting rockets into Israel, killing Jews and being unwilling to co-exist; however, in the Muslim Worldview it is completely acceptable. Ironically, the UN seems to agree that the Jew should cede to the Palestinians the majority of Israel’s lands for peace. This seems to be the thrust of the Road Map for Peace in the Middle East, designed and sanctioned by Washington, which is indeed illogical from a Biblical perspective. But within the Muslim Worldview, this is how they can succeed in their published quest to establish Ummah and return the world to the ‘Golden Age of Islamic Caliphate’ rule.

 

Let us be reminded, “God is not willing that any should perish”; therefore, Muslim need to hear the Truth of the Gospel, from which they have been denied and missled.

 

 

DISCUSSION:

 

1. To what extent is it possible to trust anyone in the Muslim world or Ummah?

 

2. How can one tell if the truth is being told by one holding a Muslim Worldview?

 

3. How might peace be brokered in the Middle East?

 

4. In what ways can Christian Truth be conveyed to the Muslim?

 

5. How does a Muslim justify killing Christians?

 

 

 

HOMEWORK: Evaluate one Islamic doctrine with its Biblical counterpart.