We sometimes hear of Muslims trying to establish Islamic Sharia law in different countries and of Muslim leaders saying things like, “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Qur’an should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth.”[1] Such an Islamic movement is “an organized struggle to change the existing society into an Islamic society based on the Quran and the Sunna, and make Islam, which is a code for entire life, supreme and dominant, especially in the socio-political spheres.”[2]
In Muslim countries, Christians and other non-Muslims are simply not considered equal to Muslims. Often their testimony in court is not valid against a Muslim, they cannot hold public office, and Christian men are forbidden to marry Muslim women, even though Muslim men can marry Christian women.
If Islam is so much better than Christianity, then where do good examples exist? Why do so many Muslims want to immigrate to the West? Why are so many refugees fleeing Islamic lands? Why have only 16 Muslims ever been awarded one of the thousand Noble Prizes when Muslims make up a quarter of the world population?[3]
Without Christianity, our world would be very different today. The teachings of the Bible have emphasized the sanctity of life, charity, and compassion long before Islam even existed. This led to the establishment of hospitals and health care, open education, economic freedom, the advancement of science, the abolition of slavery, the equal value of women, and much more.
It is true that most Muslims simply prefer to hold to traditional Islamic practices and enjoy whatever benefits modern life can bring to them. However, there are Islamists who call for Islam to become the only religion in the entire world. At times, these types of people resort to terrorism and Muslim-on-Muslim violence against those who disagree with them.
Modernist Muslims, on the other hand, want to make Islam more compatible with the modern world and allow for greater participation in the global community. However, a Pew Research Center survey found that a quarter of Americans raised as Muslims no longer identify with the faith.[4] Moreover, levels of atheism and agnosticism in Muslim countries are comparable to those in non-Muslim nations and, due to the fear created by apostasy laws in Islam, the exact figures are likely even higher.[5] The apostasy law prescribes the death penalty for conversion to another faith. Islam discourages questioning one’s faith whereas Christianity encourages people to ask questions and allows for freedom to convert.
Moderate Muslims concede that if Islamic theologians originally made a mistake in creating a violent narrative of Islam, one need not continue to follow them blindly. However, there is a deep attachment to notions of Islamic superiority and a golden age to which Muslims wish to return. This is based on stories of very late origin in Islamic sources that lack historical confirmation and the credibility needed to correctly evaluate the present condition of Islam in the modern world.
Islam teaches that Mohammed said, “I have been ordered to wage war against mankind until they accept that there is no god but Allah and that they believe I am His prophet and accept all revelations spoken through me.”[6] So, creating a version of Islam that would line up with values of peace, love, and mutual understanding, by rejecting violent passages in the Quran and Hadith, would mean rejecting absolutely foundational ways of interpreting these sources. In the eyes of many Muslims, an Islam that does not seek to dominate will no longer be Islam at all.
The real answers for the world can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ, “the Prince of Peace.” The Quran describes Allah as the greatest of deceivers (3:54; 8:30; 10:21) and says that he does not love sinners (2:190, 276) and unbelievers (3:32). On the other hand, the Bible describes Jehovah, as the relational God who keeps His promises. Furthermore, the Bible provides the following descriptions of His loving care for all people:
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John (3:16-18)
As we have seen in the five blogs published this month on “Handling Muslim Objections,” Muslims have a lot of mistaken ideas about the Christian faith. Contrary to what they have been told:
The Bible has not been corrupted, as ancient manuscripts prove.
Christians do not worship three gods but the one true God who is three persons.
Jesus did die on the cross and His sacrifice is mankind’s only hope for eternity.
The Quran does not supersede the Bible in either creation, preservation, or content.
Islam does not replace Christianity and cannot bring the world closer to God.
It is our sincere prayer that we can help our Muslim neighbors come to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and find the peace that often seems so elusive in the world today.
“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord.
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
(1 Peter 3:15)
[1] Omar Ahmed, Chairman of the Board of CAIR (Council of American Islamic Relations)
[2] Khurram Murad, Head of the Islamic Foundation (Supporting Quranic verses: 9.19-21, 40; 48.28; 2.216)
[3] Muslims have been awarded nine Noble Prizes for peace, four for science, and three for literature.
[4] See: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/01/26/the-share-of-americans-who-leave-islam-is-offset-by-those-who-become-muslim/
[6] See Sahih Muslim Book 1, Hadith 31