When you think of a Muslim, what do you think of? Do you think of 9/11? Of horrible atrocities by a few individual outliers? If so, you may not have full understanding of what a Muslim is. Those guys make up a small part of the Islamic faith, but they are not the standard by which we should judge the whole.
Islam means 'submission' and a muslim is 'one who submits'. Muhammad is the founder of Islam and he had visions for 22 years. In those visions, the angel Gabriel spoke to him.
There are currently three main sects, or branches of Islam:
Shittes - Mostly in Iran. They believe that the leader of the muslim's (Imam) is a hereditary position passed down from Muhammad through his daughter, and that there is a last, or hidden Imam who will come and save them.
Suni - the majority of Muslims. They believe that any good muslim can become the leader and they vote on it
Sufis - the smallest branch. They are mystic muslims, and have a mystical, esoteric view of God. The 'Whirling Dervishes' are Sufi.
There are 5 'Pillars' of Islam which a good Muslim will follow and take part of.
1. saying the Shahadah - "There is no God but Alah & Muhammad is his messenger."
2. Salat - praying. They say 17 prayers a day which 5 specific daily prayer times and prayer at the mosque on Fridays at noon.
3. Sawm - fast - for lunar month of Ramadan, Muslims don't eat during daylight hours only when the sun is down.
4. Zakat - giving the poor or the needy
5. Hajj - a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in the Muslim's life if they are physically and financially able
There is a "6th" pillar called Jihad - which is fighting against Islam's enemies, but depending on who you talk to, is not considered a Pillar of the faith. Some interpret Jihad to be metaphorical and internal, a spiritual battle that takes place within the Muslim, and others to be an actual physical struggle or holy war. There are verses and cases in the Koran for both interpretations.
The Koran, or Quaran, is the most memorized book in the world. It is divided into 114 chapters, or Suras and Muslims memorize the entire thing in Arabic. These are the visions of Muhammad as given to him by the angel Gabriel. This is the definitive revelation of God to man, all other works, The Jewish Torah and Christian Bible specifically have been misinterpreted.
The Koran is not their only source, they also have: the Hadith which is a collection of sayings and practices of Muhammad as collected by his contemporaries and historians; and Sharia Law which is a collection of civil laws that Muslims should follow.
Islam differs from Christianity in it's source material and their view of God and Jesus. They don't disbelieve the Bible per se, just in how Christians have interpreted it. They believe that Jews, and then Christians had their chance and blew it. So the angel Gabriel came to Muhammad to reveal God's good and perfect will.
They believe that Jesus was a good man, a prophet, but they assign priority based on proximity, so the most recent is the most important. Since Muhammad was last, his message supersedes Jesus'.
Muslims believe that in order to get into heaven, they have to do enough good works to balance out all their bad ones. There are two angels that follow you around, recording everything that you do. When you get to heaven, they weigh your books, the good and evil, and which ever side tips, that is where you go. So they try to stock up on those good works.
How to witness to a muslim:
1. Love them. the average Muslim has a zeal for God and a desire to follow him and they express their worship through every aspect of their lives. Respect and appreciate that ernest desire for what it is, a hunger for God.
2. Jesus. they say he is a prophet and their Koran claims he was sinless and good, but not God. If he is sinless, how can he claim to be God and not be God? Wouldn't that make him a liar? And if he didn't make that claim and we just misinterpritted the Bible, then why was he killed?
3. Salvation by grace through faith - How can they be assured their place in heaven on system that weighs the good you've done versus the bad? God is so much higher than man, so much holier, he could ban us all from his presence, why would 999 good deeds out weight 998 bad ones?
This last part I didn't have time to go over in class, but I thought was really interesting.
In the Koran, their is a term used called "abrogation" which is a legal term meaning "the destruction or anulling of a former law by an act of legislative power, authority, or use." In the context of the Koran, it means that verses could be, or have been, changed. "And whatever verse we abrogate or cast into oblivion, we bring one better or like it." and "every term has a book. God blots out and he establishes whatsoever he will." This raises some interesting and troubling questions theologically, so bear with me while we unpack this.
Abrogation means that a law or rule can be replaced by a similar law or removed all together, and that it can take place in the Koran and God can establish and change whatever he wants.
Why would God do that? If he is all knowing, why would he need to change his mind later? That isn't really reassuring. If scripture can be changed, that posses a couple of problems:
If God has or can change scripture, how do we know he won't change it in the future?
They claim Muhammad is the last prophet and there will be no more. What if there is? What if they abrogate that?
How can they trust their immortal soul to someone who can change their minds on a whim? They claim God is merciful, but how can they depend on his mercy if they can't be assured he will stay merciful?
How can you base morality on something that is temporal or temporary? What if it changes?
Lastly, there is a lot of talk about Allah and God being the same. That Islam and Christianity are both paths to the same God, and that just isn't true. If you examine their beliefs about God, Allah just doesn't measure up. Alla is not personal. He has no likeness, he is transcendent and is unknowable, apart from Koran. He has no body and "he does not resemble his creatures in any respect." He is neither physical or spirit, he is something totally unique. And that just doesn't jive with what we know about God. He is personal, and we are made in his image. He was incarnate in a physical body, fully man and fully God. He is completely unique and he is also triumverate, the God-head, one in three persons. Our God is not their Allah. They are not equal, they are not the same.
