Disclaimer

            I must begin with a sort of disclaimer for which I think it’s worth exceeding the word count for this project. To this point, I am ignorant to intimate details of world religions outside of Christianity. I took an online world religions class once upon a time while deployed to the Pacific but retained little due to our training tempo. I was fortunate to visit a few temples and shrines while out on liberty, but other than what I could observe, I dug no further—I was trying my best to be respectful and not be an “ugly American”. Also, my best friend growing up is Indian and his family is Hindu, so that relationship was really the most intimate exposure I had to a practiced religion other than Christianity. All this to say, I’m inexperienced concerning other religions and I’m cautious of avoiding offense. The Buddhist, the Hindu, the folks who practice Shintoism, the Muslim—they are all people. I respect these people who are serious about practicing what they value; many times, it’s all they’ve known, and their religions are not only part of them but founded in their lineage. However, I know it is crucial to present the Gospel to these folks because they are made in God’s image and are called to be reconciled to Him. It is also important to build defenses against other world religions to communicate why Christianity is the truth and the only way to God. But I must do so with deep respect, knowing my limitations of knowledge and experience. It is in this context that I approach an elementary analysis of and apologetic against the second most popular religion in the world[1], Islam. Lastly, I will build upon this argument over time. This is by absolutely no means exhaustive nor well-informed—there is obviously much more that can be learned and discussed.

A Brief Overview of Islam

            Islam is a religion founded by a man named Muhammad, a supposed prophet of Allah or god, and is structured with five pillars: 1) confession, 2) prayer, 3) fasting, 4) giving, and 5) pilgrimage.[2] The Qur’an is a book containing messages from the angel Gabriel to Muhammad and “informal sayings and deeds of Muhammad.”[3] Muslims are people who abide by the precepts of the Qur’an, believing that it is the “word of Allah.”[4] Muslims are meant to solely worship Allah as god and obey Muhammad the prophet via the Qur’an in order to obtain peace on Earth and enjoy paradise after death.[5]

            According to Islam, the problem for humans is of “pride and self-sufficiency”[6] and the only way to resolve this is through submission to Allah. Per the Qur’an, Muslims are commanded to partake in jihad or to “Make war on [the unbelievers] until idolatry shall cease and God’s religion shall reign supreme,” (Qur’an 8:40). Although they reject the concept of sin as is understood by Christians, Muslims uphold the concept of idolatry[7] and believe Allah, the one and only god, created the universe[8]. They also believe Jesus was born of the virgin Mary but perceive him as just a miracle working prophet.[9]

A Rough & Elementary Apologetic Against Jihad

            Based upon this overview, there are many ways in which to approach Islam from a Christian point of view, but I would like to focus on the morality of jihad for this project. There were a few positively impressive characteristics from this week’s material regarding Islam. For instance, I was surprised to learn of the many similarities between Islam and Christianity. The exclusive worship of one God, avoidance of idolatry, praying, fasting, and giving, for example, are all godly fundamentals. However, what struck me most negatively was the idea of jihad.

            Apparently, Muslims have pointed to the violence of the Old Testament (OT) to justify Islamic jihad as if to say, “See, your God is as Allah is and has waged war on those against him.” Familiarity with the OT shows that God’s intention was and has always been to punish wickedness for the sake of blessing all nations. This idea is perfectly realized in the New Testament—God having sent His Son to die and be raised from death to life so that we all may be saved through Jesus. And so, we see that the warring in the OT was constrained to a particular place and time[10]. Conversely, jihad is “open-ended and ongoing”[11] meaning that Islam requires a continuous persecution of everyone until Allah’s religion “reigns supreme”.  This idea was exemplified by Muhammad who said he “was ordered to fight all men until they say, ‘There is no God but Allah,’” and executed over “eighty-six military campaigns”[12] to accomplish this.

            Considering this call to jihad, it is interesting to learn that “the typical Muslim…insist(s) that Islam is a religion of peace and devotion…”[13] If this is true then Islam practitioners are only abiding by scripture they perceive as right and they therefore must perceive jihad as wrong. Why then would someone follow a religion they perceive to be morally wrong? Devout Christians will not cherry-pick favorable excerpts of Scripture to suit their needs. They take the Bible as a whole and abide by God’s revelation. Given the similar values between Islam and Christianity, a devout Muslim would do the same, and so groups like the Taliban, ISIS, and al-Queda exist. Otherwise, the “typical Muslim” would be inclined to place their faith in the God of love and mercy and long-suffering, Yahweh.

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[1] Paul M. Gould, Travis Dickinson, and R. Keith Loftin, Stand Firm: Apologetics and The Brilliance of The Gospel (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2018), 167.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid, 168.

[8] Khaldoun A. Sweiss and Chad V. Meister, Christian Apologetics: An Anthology of Primary Sources (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2012), 39.

[9] Paul M. Gould, Travis Dickinson, and R. Keith Loftin, Stand Firm: Apologetics and The Brilliance of The Gospel (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2018), 168.

[10] Ibid, 169.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Ibid, 169-170.

[13] Ibid, 167.