OVERVIEW OF ISLAM

1
OVERVIEW OF ISLAM

• ByLyle B., Ph.D.
• August 25, 2008

2
DIFFERENT VIEWS OF ISLAM

• Islamic View -- all writings are done by
  believers Muslims themselves.
• Academic View -- taught in schools by dhimmis
  basics of religion art, poetry, etc. jihad not
  discussed always respectful.
• Foundational View -- kafirs (unbelievers) use all
  Islamic texts to explain Muslim world its
  politics, religion, history, victims
  w/dots.CSPI, p. x (all)

3
ISLAM -- THE COMPLETE WAY

• Islam, viewed completely, is a
• Complete political system,
• Complete cultural system,
• Complete religious system. CSPI, p. viii (all)

4
CORE BELIEFS OF ISLAM

• 1. Belief in Allah. 2. Belief in angels.
• 3. Belief in the revealed Books of God.
• 4. Belief in Gods many prophets.
• 5. Accepts concept of a last day.
• 6. Belief in divine measurement of humans.
• 7. Belief in life after death. YE, p.
  18 (all)

5
FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM

• 1. Shahadah -- profession-of-faith.
• 2. Salat -- Daily prayer, towards Mecca.
• 3. Zakat -- Almsgiving, annual charity.
• 4. Saum -- Month-long Fast of Ramadan.
• 5. Hajj -- Pilgrimage to Mecca.YE, p. 114
  (all)

6
THE SHAHADAH

• Declaration of Faith
• I declare there is no god except Allah, and I
  declare that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.
  YE, p. 115

7
ALLAH, GOD OF ISLAM (a)

• Allah/God means the divinity.
• Allah has many different names, such as the
  Compassionate, the Merciful, etc.
• Allah is unknowable and impersonal.KRS, p. 249
  (all)

8
ALLAH, GOD OF ISLAM (b)

• Allah absolutely monotheistic no Son.
• Allah wills directives commands only.
• Viewing Allah any different a BIG sin.
• Islam Christian Worldviews differ.KRS, p.
  249 (all)

9
ALLAH, GOD OF ISLAM (c)

• Allah is sovereign over all things.
• Only His divine will commands are known.
• Allah is absolutely transcendent.
• He never reveals himself He is not a personal
  God. KRS, pp. 249-250 (all)

10
ISLAMIC BELIEFS (a)

• Muslims believe in angels, esp angel Gabriel.
  KRS, p. 250
• Jinn -- Intelligent powerful spirits ltangels,
  gthumans may be good or evil. KRS, p. 250
• Satan (Shaytan), an evil Jinn, and other bad Jinn
  seek to corrupt us. YE, p. 29

11
ISLAMIC BELIEFS (b)

• Muslims believe in Bible prophets.
• Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet.
• Muslims do not believe Jesus was a Son of God
  Allah has no offspring. KRS, p. 250, (all)

12
ISLAMIC BELIEFS (c)

• Muslims believe in absolute monotheism.
• ISLAM means peace surrender.
• Muslim one who submits to Allah.KRS, p. 248
  (all)

13
ISLAMIC BELIEFS (d)

• No original sin. Allah forgave Adam and Eve --
  no taint of sin.
• No atonement. No need for Allah to atone for
  sins of mankind.
• No Trinity. Allah abs monotheistic Niceene
  Creed rejected. YE, p. 208 (all)

14
ISLAMIC BELIEFS (e)

• No Holy Spirit associated w/Godhead.
• No Begotten Son. Allah did not have any
  children.
• Mary, mother of God? No, no trinity, no quartet
  Allah undivided.
• The Bible. Not authentic, it has many errors and
  contradictions. YE, p. 208 (all)

15
ISLAMIC BELIEFS (f)

• Islam accepts Jesus virgin birth. YE, p. 208
• Jesus not crucified Allah raised Him up directly
  to Paradise. YE, p. 213
• Islam is not a religion of grace and redemption.
  KRS, p. 253

16
ISLAMIC BELIEFS (g)

• Muslims believe Islam is Gods last and complete
  message to World.
• If one learns about Islam, they are then
  compelled to become Muslim. YE, p. 209 (all)

17
ISLAMIC BELIEFS (h)

• Islam Humans born good responsible.
• Islam No grace or redemption.
• Allah Fair impartial to all believers.
• Get Paradise if good gt bad actions assuming
  a moral life. KRS, pp. 252-253 (all)

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ISLAMIC BELIEFS (i)

• To Muslims, sin is willful disobedience.
• Muslims not born into sin of Adam.
• Islam religion of justice based on deeds.
• Deeds may be good/bad, judged by Allah.
• Paradise -- based upon ones good vs bad deeds.
  KRS, pp. 252-253 (all)

19
ISLAMIC BELIEFS (j)

• Muslims have no assurance of paradise.
• They must always strive for submission to Allahs
  will.
• Paradise -- involves spiritual rewards including
  physical pleasures for men.
• Hell -- Eternal banishment from Allah, with
  despair and punishment. KRS, p. 253 (all)

20
ISLAM CREATION (a)

• According to the Koran
• God made time. A day to Allah is different than
  a day on Earth.
• Six days to create everything Earth and planets
  created during last two days.
• Allah said Be and a ball of matter appeared,
  then spread out. YE, p. 77 (all)

21
ISLAM CREATION (b)

• According to the Koran
• Heavens filled with smoke.
• Planets stars swim in their orbits.
• The Sun -- giver of light.
• The Moon -- reflector of light. YE, p. 77 (all)

22
ISLAM CREATION (c)

• According to the Koran
• Earth is round (a sphere).
• Earths surface is spread out like a carpet
  (crust).
• Mountains have roots to stabilize the planet
  (plate techtonics). YE, p. 79 (all)

23
ISLAM CREATION (d)

• According to the Koran
• Rain -- It falls, collects, springs up from
  ground (water cycle).
• Clouds -- Different ones for rain, hail, sleet,
  snow, etc.
• Earth -- Surrounded by protective layer (ozone
  layer). YE, p. 79 (all)

24
ISLAM CREATION (e)

• Muslims point out that these scientific
  descriptions in Koran were unknown in Muhammeds
  time. YE, p. 79
• Muslim scholars agree that universe developed
  over long time period. YE, p. 80

25
ISLAM EVOLUTION (f)

• Origin of life attributed to Allah life arose
  via natural processes, separate from evolutionary
  processes. YE, p. 81
• Muslims lean toward creationism regarding humans.
  YE, p. 81

26
PROOF OF ALLAHS EXISTENCE

• Natural world -- Beauty and complexity, created
  by an intelligent being. YE, p. 19
• Human abilities -- capacity for thought, belief,
  invention, creativity. YE, p. 20
• Allahs revelations -- His guidance and existence
  of religion. YE, p. 20
• Human feelings -- we seek meaning of life, why do
  we exist? YE, p. 20

27
THE COSMOS

• The Word Muslim means submit or surrender. YE,
  p. 20
• Allah created the cosmos it submits to Him
  hence it is Muslim. YE, p. 21
• Animals are Muslim -- Allah taught them to do
  what they do. YE, p. 21
• Plants are Muslim -- Allah programmed them to do
  what they do. YE, p. 21

28
PROPHET MUHAMMAD (a)

• 570, Muhammad born in Mecca. CSPI, p. 270
• At age 40 in Mecca, He received first revelation
  via angel Gabriel. CSPI, p. 11
• During next 13 years in Mecca, He converted 150
  people to Islam. CSPI, p. vii

29
PROPHET MUHUMMED (b)

• In 622 he escaped assassination in Mecca and
  migrated to Medina. YE, p. 277
• In Medina, he began using violence to promote his
  new religion. YE, pp. 279-285
• In 630, he became Master of Arabia. RS, p.
  xii
• In 632, he passed away. YE, p. 286

30
PROPHET MUHAMMED (c)

• Muhammed received divine revelation.
• Muslims believe he is the final prophet.
• He is 1 moral example for Muslims.
• He is perfect of all Gods creatures.
• Muslims What would Muhammed do?KRS, p. 251
  (all)

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ISLAMIC DIFFERENCES (a)

• Two major Islamic sects, Sunni Shia
• Sunni 85 all successors to be blood relative
  of Muhammed.
• Shia 15 all successors from Ali and his male
  decendents. They interpret Koran other
  religious books differently. YE, pp. 334-335
  (all)

32
ISLAMIC DIFFERENCES (b)

• Islam has three major movements (1)
  traditional or orthodox,
• (2) modernist or secularist,
• (3) Fundamentalist (Wahhabism).
• Wahhabism -- fundamental Islam extreme,
  intolerant, uncompromising.
• Some believe Wahhabism may die out.KRS, p. 255
  (all)

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WHAT IS JIHAD?

• The word jihad literally means to struggle or
  strive or work for something with determination.
• Two basic types of Jihad
• Personal struggle, such as quitting smoking.
• Physical struggle, such as warfare for Allahs
  cause (holy war). YE, p. 166 (all)

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TESTING ISLAM WORDVIEW (a)

• Islam has commendable positive features
• 1. Belief in human reason argumentation.
• 2. It has some rationality (coherence).
• 3. Believes cosmos real (scientific
  realism).KRS, pp. 256-257 (all)

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TESTING ISLAM WORLDVIEW (b)

• Commendable positive features, continued
• 4. It can document historical truth-claims.
• 5. It believes in a single transcendent
  Creator.
• 6. Muslims believe in Jesus, as a prophet.KRS,
  pp. 256-257 (all)

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TESTING ISLAM WORLDVIEW (c)

• Negative aspects of Islam
• 1. No coherence between Koran and Bible.
• 2. Non-existential, impersonal for living.
• Allahs nature unknown.
• 3. Non-explanatory, superiority not real
• e.g., sins of al-Qaeda and 9/11/01?
• Superior inconsistent with submission.KRS,
  pp. 260-261 (all)

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SUMMARY COMMENTS (a)

• Islam Trinity is idolatrous polytheism.
• Islam Incarnation is blasphemy.
• Islam rejects original sin, man is only
  disobedient, not a lost sinner.KRS, pp.
  262-263 (all)

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SUMMARY COMMENTS (b)

• Islam denies need for a Savior.
• Islam Jesus did not die on the cross.
• Islam Jesus less prominent than Muhammed.KRS,
  pp. 262-263 (all)

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SUMMARY COMMENTS (c)

• Christianity Islam at odds w/ each other.
• Each denies the essential doctrines of the
  other.
• Their theological essentials are in conflict with
  each other. KRS, pp. 262-263 (all)

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SUMMARY COMMENTS (d)

• If Islam is true, then historic Christianity is
  false. KRS, p. 262
• If Christianity is true, then Orthodox Islam is
  false. KRS, p. 262

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SUMMARY COMMENTS (e)

• In 2001, a leading Saudi Sheik, Almad Al Qatani,
  confirmed that
• In every hour, 667 Muslims convert to
  Christianity Every day, 16,000 Muslims
  convert to Christianity. Every year 6 million
  Muslims convert to Christianity. JCR, p. 28

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

• (YE) Yahia Emerick. The Complete Idiots Guide
  to Understanding Islam. Alpha, a Pearson
  Education Co., 2002.
• (JCR) Joel C. Rosenberg, author. The Big Untold
  Story in the Middle East. My world article,
  Longs Christian Bookstore Cat., Fall 2008.
• (KRS) Kenneth R. Samples. A World of Difference,
  Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the Worldview
  Test. Reasons To Believe, BakerBooks, MI.,
  2007.
• (RS) Robert Spencer. The Truth About Muhammad
  founder of the worlds most intolerant religion.
  Regnery Publishing, 2006.