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
