Part One: Islam and its Claims.
[Note: this is the first of several articles by Vijay Chandra which he has graciously granted me permission to share with readers here on my Real Bible Study site]
INTRODUCTION
Islam is a very young religion. It came long after Christianity with much bloodshed. Islam, dated from 500-600 AD, originated in Mecca. The founder of this religion is Muhammad. He used force to suppress Christianity, forcefully proselytizing the people as he went around conquering different parts of Middle East, Turkey, etc. Islam used sword, slavery, and oppression to force people to accept Islam.
- Muhammad’s background:
At a very young age, Muhammad began to experience so-called religious visitations. But many of his family members never accepted his claim to be a ‘prophet’ and never embraced Islam. Tradition has it that he experienced Marilou’s vision; he claimed that a heavenly being had split his stomach, stirred his inside around, and then sewed him back up. It is referred to in Quran [Surah 94:1], ‘ Did we not open the breast for thee ?’ We are not told why this happened (if it is explained, show me in the Quran, for the Quran is not very clear about this event).
His mother Amnah was involved with the occult. Today in many Muslim countries Muslims indulge in witchcraft, sorcery, and fortune telling which is forbidden in the Quran itself [Surah 2v102], though some Hadiths indicate that certain types of spells or incantations [ruqyah] are permitted. It is interesting to note that the Quraysh tribe from which Muhammad came was particularly addicted to the cult of the moon god. As he grew up near Kahab, the 160 idols and the sacred magical black stone was considered ‘the good luck charm’ for his tribe. Therefore it is no surprise then to find out that this element of his religious upbringing was transferred into the religion of Islam and did not come from new revelation from Allah as Islam claims. Muhammad claimed that Allah had called him to be a prophet and an Apostle (a sent one). Refuting this claim in the Quran, we are told that Allah called Muhammad to be a prophet and apostle, but unfortunately, there are several alternative versions of these accounts.
Either one is right, or they are all wrong :
- [ Surah 53v 2-8 and 81v 19-24] says that Allah personally appeared to Muhammad in the form of a man and he saw Allah and heard him.
- This claim was later abandoned because one reads in [Surah 16v20, Surah 26v192-194] that his calling was issued by the ‘holy spirit,’ but Islamic Scholars deny the personality of the Holy Spirit, and they do not believe in the Triune God. We are not told who, or what this ‘holy spirit’ may be—where did Muhammad get this name ‘Holy Spirit’? The Quran does not define the work of the Holy Spirit. Only the Bible does. So it seems that Muhammad borrowed this from the Bible.
- A different account of his original call is given (in [Surah 15v8]) where we are told that the angels came down to the ‘prophet’ and announced that Allah has called him to be a prophet, but yet again this statement is contradicted in the Quran [Surah 2v97], where the angel is named Gabriel who issued the call to Muhammad and handed down the Quran to him. The last point is ONLY used because it was Gabriel who played a role in the birth of Jesus Christ (Luke 1:26-38). Muhammad most surely got this name from the Bible.
- The Origin of Quran: To appease his pagan families and his tribe he decided that the best thing he could do was to admit that it was perfectly proper to pray and worship the 3 daughters of Allah—namely A-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manet. Islam denies that the God of Bible has a son, so how come Allah has three daughters? This led to the famous ‘satanic verses’ in which he in a moment of weakness supposedly under the inspiration of Satan (according to early Muslim authorities) yielded to the temptation to appease the pagan mobs of Mecca [Surah 53:19]. This fact is supported in every general and Islamic reference work, Muslim or Western. This account cannot be denied that he sinned and when his disciples heard of his temptation he was rebuked and counseled. Then he reverted to worshipping Allah and he stated that Allah had canceled his past revelation (according to him the old revelation from Allah is null and void). The Quran forbids more than 4 wives but he had at least 16 wives in his harem.
- The Quran was supposedly handed from Allah to Muhammad; there were no human writers involved. The Scriptures were written by the inspired men of God (2 Tim 3:16, 1 Peter 1:10, 11, 12, 2 Peter 1:20, 21). Muhammad’s preaching and teaching stirred up unrest against him, even among his own families. At one point the hostility against him was such that the people of Mecca laid siege to the section of the city where he lived. He faced a very difficult situation.
- Islam claims that Muhammad and Jesus were both Muslim (how can this be when the Quran says that Mary was virgin and Christ was supernaturally born of the Holy Spirit?). The Muslims claim that both were sent by Allah, therefore, the message they both bring must be the same one otherwise Allah would be contradicting. The Quran uses the Biblical Gospels for information about Jesus. Thus, the Bible cannot be corrupted as Muslim scholars claim, otherwise the Quran would be corrupted.
- II: The Comparison between Jesus Christ and Muhammad and the Bible and the Quran:
- Prophecy:
The birth, life, death and the resurrection of Jesus was prophesied in OT and NT (Gen 3:15, Isa 7:14, 15, 16, 11:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 52:13—53:1-12, Mic 5:2). There are 33 prophecies that were fulfilled by Jesus Christ. By way of contrast, the birth or life of Muhammad was not even prophesied by pagan soothsayers, let alone OT Prophets or NT Apostles.
- The birth of Christ was miraculous in that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit. The Quran and other Islamic scholars fully accept the virgin birth of Christ but there is nothing miraculous about the birth of Muhammad. He was the natural product of the sexual union of father and mother.
- Sinlessness.
According to the NT, Christ lived a perfect and sinless life (2 Cor 5:21, 1 John 3:5, Heb 4:15, 9:14, 1 Peter 1:19). But one finds that Muhammad was a normal human being engaged in the same sins which affected us all (Rom 3:23). He lied, cheated, twisted the Quran to suit his own lustful desires, killed thousands together with his supporters, and he failed to keep his own Quran. He was not sinless according to the Quran and was a sinner in need of the grace of the God of the Bible.
Jesus Christ performed miracles of raising the dead, healing every sickness, opening the eyes of the blind, multiplying bread to feed many—yet Muhammad, according to the Quran and traditions, never performed any miracles.