A Peek Into a Worldview Worth Understanding

Hear is the paper on Islam. Also, I wrote it like I was writing to a freshman in college who needed a bit of help. ;)

Hey!

How's it going? I hope all your classes are going well!

Again thanks for feeling free to ask plenty of questions. Your friend, Muhammad, is what we call simply a Muslim. They grew up Muslim or were converted to the Muslim religion and want to follow the Muslim religion and are committed to it, but live peacefully with others and can live peacefully in countries where it is not the predominant religion. Islamists, on the other hand, are more violent in nature and take jihad, which means fighting against people other than Muslims, more literally. They think of it as a command to conquer non-believers. Some Islamists may not actually be violent, but they agree with those who are. The Muslims would more say that jihad is a fight to discipline themselves and defend themselves against anyone who attacks Islam.

Islam is focused around the life of Muhammad, the founder of Islam. People of this religion go to three different teachings for how to live their life: the Quran, Hadith, and Sunnah. Muslims submit to Allah, the Arabic word for God, and the Islam principles. The Quran is the main book of Muslims and they believe it is God's word through Muhammad. The Hadith tells about Muhammad's and his chief companions' teachings, rulings, and actions. The Sunnah is included in the Hadith and describes the exemplary actions of Muhammad. The five pillars of Islam govern the way Muslims live. The first is the shahada, their confession of faith which says, “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.” Saying this with true sincerity makes someone a Muslim. The next pillar is called salat, which means prayer. Muslims need to pray five times a day while facing Mecca. They do this to please God in remembering him throughout the day and think that it will help in facing temptations. Zakat is the third pillar and it is almsgiving. Muslims should give 2.5 percent of their annual income to the poor. The fourth pillar is sawm, which is fasting during Ramadan. Not only does this apply to food but also to smoking, and sexual relations during the day. This helps Muslims to practice self-control, focus their minds on spiritual things, and deter bad habits. The last and fifth pillar is called hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca that all Muslims need to make once in their lifetime if circumstances permit them.

The god of the Islam is not the God of the Bible. They do say that Allah is eternal and self-existent and that he created the world, but most Muslims believe God to be impersonal. They don't think humans are made in God's image and that he doesn't share any of his attributes with others. Humans were only given knowledge, will, and power of action from God. For Muslims, we are God's slaves not His children. We also have no personal freedom. They strongly disagree with the doctrine of the Trinity, saying that there is only one God who is not three Persons. They believe that Islam supersedes Christianity and is the fulfillment of Christianity. But this can't be true because there needs to be unity between the two religions and that's certainly not the case. Jesus, according to the Muslims, was a prophet conceived of the virgin Mary and one who did miracles; but they deny that He is God and that He was crucified and resurrected. This takes away the whole Gospel, which is the core of the Christian faith. Islam truly tries to replace Christianity. Though they do say that the prophets in the Bible did exist and wrote books, they think that the Bible is corrupted and that the Quran is the only scripture that's flawless, authoritative, and undefiled. The Jesus and prophets of the Bible are certainly not prophets of Islam because they do not at all line up with Islam. In the Bible everything is pointing to Jesus, and He is Son of God and rules this universe.

Allah has made Islam the way back to paradise. Human beings are all born Muslims, but those who aren't now Muslims are just in rebellion. By following the five pillars, you submit yourself to Allah. Muslims focus on the outward not the inward. They think what is more important is what you do rather than what you believe. So on judgment day God will judge you by balancing your good deeds and bad deeds. In the Quran it puts it this way, “The balance that day will be true (to a nicety): those whose scale (of good) will be heavy, will prosper. Those whose scale will be light, will find their souls in perdition, for that they wrongfully treated our signs.” But God's mercy still plays a central role in salvation. Since they don't believe Jesus is the Savior but merely a prophet, there's really no assurance of salvation. This makes Islam a hopeless religion. Someone could faithfully follow and obey the teachings of the Quaran and Islam, but still not have that assurance of salvation that Christians have. In the end then it is a hopeless religion to follow.

-Myers, Jeff and David A. Noebel. Understanding the Times. c. 2015