[This sermon is contributed by Hal Seed of New Song Church in Oceanside, California and of www.PastorMentor.com. Hal is the author of numerous books including The God Questions and The Bible Questions. If you are interested in The Bible Questions Church-wide Campaign, please visit and watch Hal’s video at www.PastorMentor.com.]
The Roots of Islam
Learning About Islam, pt. 1
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Well, there’s a lot of seeking-of-God these days, and a lot of question-asking around our country as a result of the Sept. 11 tragedy. And one question we’ve all been wondering about is, “Who are these people, the Muslims? Where did they come from? What do they believe?”
Before we dive into the material, I want to say something about the nature of this series. My purpose in these two messages is to help us to be as wise as serpents and yet as gentle as doves about the happenings around us these days.
One time in the O.T. King David was assessing the strengths of the people he had with him. And in I Chronicles 12:32 it says this. It says he had with him, “men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do…” - I Chronicles 12:32
That’s what we want to be. People who understand the times we’re living in so we can be responsive and productive members of God’s kingdom.
Another time, in the N.T., the Apostle Paul told first century Christ-followers that they too should be very clear and mature in their thinking and understanding of the events happening around them. He said, “Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.” – 1 Corinthians 14:20
In other words, like Jesus, he’s saying, “Be informed. Don’t stick your head in the sand and think circumstances will go away. Do become ugly or hate-filled, be innocent of evil. But be informed.”
So that’s our purpose. To be informed so that we can respond gently, but wisely to our world and its present horrors.
Are we all clear on that?
Okay.
So let’s talk about Islam.
The name “Islam” means “submission,” or “surrender.” in Arabic.
People who are surrendered are called “Muslims,” because in Arabic, “Muslim,” means “one who is submitted.”
Specifically, Muslims are submitted to Allah, the name that has come to stand for the one true God in Islamic understanding.
You’ll notice by the map on the wall that Islam is a wide-spread religion. Currently there are 1.2 billion Muslims worldwide, and their numbers are growing rapidly. Because of their practice of polygamy (every man can have up to 4 wives, as long as he loves them all equally), and the encouragement they receive to sire large families, where the world’s population doubles every 40 years, Islam’s population doubles every 26 years.
Because of the number of recent immigrants to this country, Islam is now overtaking Judaism as the second largest religion in America.
The Founder = Mohammed, who is believed to be the last and great prophet of Allah.
No one knows the exact date of Mohammed’s birth, but we can narrow it down to within a few years of 570 A.D. [Born 570A.D. in Mecca].
Mohammed was born in the city of Mecca along the Arabian peninsula. It was an oasis town of about 3000 inhabitants, not far from the coast of the Red Sea [show map]. Mecca is in modern day Saudi Arabia. As a result of Mohammed’s birth there, and a meteorite I’ll mention in a minute, it has become the holiest city of the Islamic peoples.
But for Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike, The Roots of Islam actually go back farther than that.
According to the Bible, it all started in Genesis 16 (p. 13).
Let me read the account for you. (Gen. 16:1-10; 16. Although having children that way was an acceptable cultural practice back then, Abraham didn’t exercise faith in God’s promise, so He took matters into His own hands.
So Ishmael was the first son of Abraham. Muslims are descendants of Abraham, through Ishmael.
But God’s plan for Abraham was to have a son through his wife, not his concubine. So 13 years later, when Isaac was born to his wife, she did what many protective mothers might do, she insisted that Abraham through the older son, who might threaten her son’s life and inheritance out.
Abraham didn’t want to do that, because he loved Ishmael. But we all know that if momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. So God comes to Abraham while he’s thinking about this and promises that he will take care of Ishmael. God says, “I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring.” – Genesis 21:13
[God promised that Ishmael would become the father of a great nation.]
So Abraham sends he and Hagar away. And the next time we see Ishmael is at his father’s funeral. The final word on him is in Gen. 25:18, which says, His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the border of Egypt. And they lived in hostility towards all their brothers. – Genesis 25:18
Which, unfortunately, is true to this day. His sons lived in hostility toward all their brothers.
Which seems to describe pretty well the relationship between the sons of Ishmael and their cousins the Israelites. They lived in hostility towards one another. And they’re still doing so 4000 years later.
So, both Christianity and Islam and Christianity trace their roots to Abraham. They are two branches off the Jewish tree of antiquity.
Jesus, descended from Isaac, was born approximately 4 B.C. and Mohammed, descended from Ishmael, was born approximately 570 A.D.
[The Development of Islam]
According to historians who recorded Mohammed’s life approximately 100 years later, Mohammed was born into a minor branch of a Bedouin caste of merchant traders called the “Quraysh” . His father Abdulla died a few months before he was born, and his mother died when he was six years old. Mohammed lived with his grandfather for the next 2 years. But he died as well, so Mohammed was taken in by an uncle named Abu Talib. Although it’s not certain, many biographers say that Mohammed’s uncle, or at least the extended family he was part of were the care-takers for a black meteorite called the “Ka’ba Stone” (Note: you can find a picture at http://i-cias.com/e.o/kaaba.htm)
At that time, the Arab people’s were polytheists, worshiping many gods. One of the ways they worshiped was by making a pilgrimage to visit this stone.
Mohammed taught that Abraham had placed the stone there and made it one of the holiest relics of the Muslim faith.
When Mohammed was 25 years old, he married a 40 year old wealthy widow of his clan named Khadijah. He proved very adept at running her family’s business. Together he and Khadijah had 6 children, 4 healthy daughters and 2 sons who died in infancy. After Khadijah’s death, Mohammed married several more wives.
Mohammed did a lot of praying on his own, in solitude, often in caves and, over time, began to hear what he believed was the voice of God. One night, in 610 Mohammed had a visitation which he believed to be the angel Gabriel which told him “In the name of thy Lord the Creator, who created mankind from a clot of blood, recite!”
Mohammed memorized what the vision told him to recite and began relating what he heard in subsequent visitations to his family and friends.
Mohammed began telling his friends that of all the gods they were worshiping, only one, the god they called, “Allah” was the true God and demanded absolute submission to himself. In addition, he taught that God had called him as Allah’s last and great prophet.
His first converts were his wife, a favorite slave whom he had freed, and his cousin Ali. As his number of followers grew, the city fathers in Mecca started to become uneasy. So in 622 he left Mecca for an oasis settlement 250 miles north called, “Yathrib,” which, once he had gained power there, he renamed, “Medina.” “Medina” means “City of the Prophet.”
Medina has become the second holiest city for Muslims because this is really where Islam developed.
Aside-note - Jerusalem is Islam’s third holiest city. They revere the site where Abraham was told to sacrifice his son Isaac. They also believe that as Mohammed was dying, God transported him to that site and from there took him to heaven. That site happens also to be the Temple Mount of Jerusalem, where the original Jewish Temple had been. So Jews and Muslims to this day dispute over the Temple Mount area, making for all sorts of tensions between them.
In Medina, Mohammed preached about all manner of things, both religious and secular. For Islam, there is no distinction between the two. All aspects of life are governed by doctrines of faith. So Mohammed taught on matters of marriage and divorce, inheritance, punishments for theft, treatment of the poor, even questions of diet and personal hygiene. And he carefully spelled out how relationships should go between his followers and nonbelievers.
As Mohammed spoke, his followers would memorize his words, or scratch them on parchment or palm leaves or pieces of leather. 100 years later, his followers would take these oral remembrances and various written fragments to compile the Koran, the authoritative book of the Muslim religion.
Chief among Mohammed’s teachings was that at sunrise, sunset, and three other times during the day, Muslims should prostrate themselves towards Jerusalem and offer prayers to Allah.
According to one book I read, (and this is a little hard to believe, so I’ll read it right from the text.) “It was in the time-honored tradition of the desert for a people in need to attain their material requirements by raiding.” – The March of Islam, p. 37
The natural enemy of the Muslims was the Quraysh tribe of Mecca, since the Quraysh had been persecuting them.
During one raid in which the Muslims were outnumbered 3 to 1, the Prophet decreed, Not one who fights this day and bears himself with steadfast courage.. shall meet his death without Allah bringing him to paradise!”
With that incentive, they routed the superior force, and Mohammed instantly became a widely admired figure, his fame spreading throughout the Bedouin tribes in the area.
Mohammed began having conflict with some of the Jewish tribes who inhabited Medina. So one by one, he exiled them from the city. The final Jewish tribe, named the Banu Qurayza so infuriated him by fraternizing with his enemies that he slaughtered all 800 adult males and sold their women and children into slavery.
With that history of conflict, once his forces had forced Mecca to surrender to him, he instructed his followers from then on to no longer face Jerusalem when they prayed, but to face Mecca.
Mohammed died on June 8, 632.
This caused great conflict amongst his followers. Some believed that the movement should continue with one of Mohammed’s relatives as successor. Still others believed that in Arabic tribal tradition, the most able man should be chosen as successor. This argument gave rise to the two great factions of Islam, the Sunnis and the Shi’ites, and their argument continues to this day.
The larger faction chose a friend of Mohammed’s named “Abu Bakr” as his successor. Within 2 years, Abu Bakr had not only subdued all those who had defected at the death of Mohammed, but his generals had conquered all of Arabia.
From there, Abu Bakr and his generals and successors then conquered Palestine and Syria. From there they swept east and overcame the Persian empire. Moving north, they began eating up Byzantine territory, and riding west, they conquered Egypt, then Tunisia, Carthage, and all the way to Morocco on the Atlantic shores. From there they turned northward and conquered Spain in the name of Allah.
Within a hundred years they had enveloped 2/3s of the Mediterranean, most of Asia Minor parts of India and to the borders of China.
Per Mohammed’s instructions, Jews and Christians, “people of the book,” as he called them, were allowed to practice their religion by paying a head tax to the Muslim state. If they converted, they were exempt from the tax. Pagan peoples, people who worshiped multiple gods were given the choice of converting to Islam or death.
The only thing that stopped Islam from taking over the then-known world were the Frankish tribes of France on the west and the Byzantine Christians of Constantinople on the east.
After that, they continued their advancing more slowly, reaching a peek in the 12th century, fostering great works of architecture, astronomy, mathematics, and poetry, while keeping alive the classic works of Plato and Aristotle and other greats.
In the 14th century there was a new burst of conquering fervor as the Turkish people’s of central Asia were converted. One of their tribal leaders, Othman, founded the Ottoman Empire, which sacked Constantinople in 1453 and had pushed on to Vienna by 1529 and came again to try to sack it in 1683. According to most modern historians, only the bravery of the Austrians and Poles kept Islam from conquering Europe at that time.
The Ottoman Empire ended in 1922 when the British and French partitioned all of their lands into smaller, more governable provinces with names like, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and so.
Where we stand today [Islam Today] is that in 1917 there were 600,000 Arabs and 80,000 Jews living in Palestine. The Arabs thought that was too many Jews, but during and after WW II, Jews began pouring into Palestine to create a homeland for themselves.
Muslims, remember, consider Jerusalem to be their third holiest city, so they didn’t really like that. And of course, native Palestinian Arabs weren’t real keen on sharing their limited land and resources with all this religious and racial outsiders. By 1945 Jewish and Arab terrorism and guerilla warfare was going on in Palestine and the British decided to disentangle themselves from the whole region. Fighting between the two factions grew fiercer. The British withdrew on May 14, 1948 and Israel declared itself a nation.
Israel was immediately recognized by the United States, and immediately at war with Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Syria. As Israel’s Prime Minister, Ben Gurion was declaring independence, his generals were fighting off enemies in every direction.
Israel has been attacked by her neighbors three times, and every time she has both beaten them back and expanded on her original 1948 territorial boundaries.
That has been a growing source of frustration for her Arab neighbors.
In addition, the Unites States has always been Israel’s closest ally, strongest financial backer, and representative on the Security Council of the United Nations.
In the early part of the 20th century, American companies began drilling for oil all over the Middle East. The Standard Oil Company was reaping such huge profits from their business with these countries that one after another, starting with Iran in 1951, each Arab nation nationalized all oil interests in their countries, taking over all ownership, control of flow, and all the profits from their oil fields.
Since that time, their wealth has been steadily increasing, their populations rising substantially, and they have educated their brightest and best in all the great universities of the west.
So that, in recent years, they have begun to possess the wealth, manpower, and know-how to not only export Islam, but their more extreme elements have been able to increasingly do things that express their frustration with the world and the way they perceive themselves to be treated by the west.
Of particular consider to conservative Muslims is the corruption of the world by western consumerism with our emphasis on materialism and sensualism and secularism.
So, can you see how all of these currents flow together to bring us to where we are today?
Let me make a couple of observations, and then we’ll be through.
1. The Bible predicted that things like this would happen.
Jesus Himself said, You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. – Matthew 24:6
Elsewhere He said to His Jewish followers: …a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. – John 16:2
Because of their belief in Jihad and Sharia, Islamic Fundamentalism is of threat to us physically. But the real battle is a spiritual one. There is a real, spiritual difference between Islam and Christianity.
2. Our greatest defense in this war is prayer.
The Bible says, For our struggles is not against flesh and blood, but against… the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. – Ephesians 6:12
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers and intercession be made everyone - for kings, and all those in authority… - 1 Timothy 2:1
3. Compare Jesus’ life and teachings to that of Mohammed:
Jesus: “This is my command: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
– John 15:12-13
Fight for the sake of God those that fight against you, but do not attack them first. God does not love the aggressors. Slay them wherever you find them.
– Sura 2:190-191
This Wed. night I was sitting right about there when we sang a song that we sang again during this service. It goes, “That’s why we praise Him, that’s why we sing, that’s why we offer Him our everything. That’s why we bow down and worship this King. ‘Cause He gave His everything.” I knew that soon after that song we were going to celebrate communion together.
I had spent 8 hours that day reading about the history of Mohammed and how he commanded people’s deaths, and how his followers went out and converted the world with the sword. And I was just so thankful that the God I serve came down and inside of killing, He healed. And instead of taking life, He laid down His own on our behalf. It was very moving to me as I was singing, “That’s why we praise Him… because He gave His everything.”
And I just said, “God, I’m so glad I serve a God like you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Here’s the Bible’s prediction about Jesus, written 800 years before His coming:
A bruised reed he will not break,
And a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. – Isaiah 42:3
Do you know how fragile those two things are friends? (cover these)
That’s the kind of God the Bible says governs the earth, and wants to govern your life.
Which one seems best to you?
The more we know, the more obvious the choice is, isn’t it?
Let’s pray.
(Pray for recovering, for peace, for direction for our president and our military forces, for justice, and for people’s search for truth – in this room and all throughout the world. “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”)
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