Muslims in America are an integral part of the 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide. An estimated 4.5 million Muslims live in America with that number increasing at least 100,000 a year. They have come, the 65% who are foreign-born, from around the world.v However, they are not first or foremost known for their ethnicity. They are known for their religious affiliation – Islamic. Their identity or current or past citizenship is not nearly as important as being a member of and continuing in the Islamic faith.vi They keep and carry the past to affect the present as well as the future. Muslims in America are like Muslims around the globe. They “are deeply committed to their faith and want its [Islamic] teachings to shape not only their personal lives, but their societies and politics.

Present Islamic radical militancy in all its fury is at the tipping point in the so-called religion of peace. Such inhuman brutality begs to be adequately examined and questioned within the Muslim community itself. Although economic, social and injustice elements are most often cited by scholars as the reasons behind the rise of militant Islamists, I am focusing on the core matter that ultimately drives a “normal Muslim” toward violence and brutality. I believe that outweighing all the aforementioned reasons is the real issue – the theological element – that Islamic scholars are unwilling to adequately address or explain.

Nearly six centuries before the advent of Muhammad, the aged prophet Simeon took the baby Jesus in his arms and said, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed” (Luke 2:34-35). As it was then, so it is today. Each person’s eternal destiny is linked to his or her response, and relationship to, Jesus.

Every Muslim is required to believe in “The Last Day.” However, when it comes to Muslim apocalyptic eschatology, there is no single, universally-agreed upon work laying out a complete picture of last days expectations, particularly the lead-up to the end.

Television screens regularly bombard us with pictures and commentary of radical Islamic terrorists killing and maiming innocent people. The growing impact of terror and war has far-reaching effects. Huge numbers of refugees are seeking shelter in Europe and beyond, internally displaced people in war-torn countries are desperate for security, and increasing persecution and death haunt Christian communities, especially in the Middle East. From a purely natural point of view, the situation presents itself as hopeless – and almost beyond cure.

Some of my Christian friends from Muslim backgrounds regularly face threats from family and friends when sincerely defending their belief in the crucifixion. For those who regularly interact with Muslims, it is no secret that Islam exhibits overt contempt for the cross. Muslim hostility toward the cross is rooted in the core Islamic belief that Jesus was not crucified. That position is primarily based on interpretations of the following quranic passage by their most authoritative commentators.