16. Opposition
Both Muhammad and Jesus were at first tolerated then opposed severely by those who desired the status quo. Such will it ever be when new ideas come to a community. In both cases, it was a religious community that was being invaded with these ideas.
With Muhammad, a military invasion followed the original introduction of his religion. Jesus continued to go about doing good for those in need, but the more good He did, the more that evil men hated Him.
Both were accused of being demon-possessed. In Muhammad's case, that accusation came from himself at first. Jesus never had such doubts about His identity. Before He was thrust into the wilderness to be savagely tempted of the Devil, He had heard the Voice of the Father claiming that He, Jesus, was the Son in whom He, the Father, delighted.
Families were divided over both men. Their pull was real but not all-inclusive enough to make everyone feel comfortable in leaving all for them. There were those who loved them passionately and others who hated them with the same zeal. The lovers and haters of Muhammad eventually took up arms.
So with the haters of Jesus. But His lovers laid them down. True followers of Jesus through the centuries have been in their Christian experience promoters of the peace the Gospel gives through its own power, not the power of clubs and swords and guns.
Muhammad's idea of "Prophet" was not the Biblical model. He seemed to think that military might made his revelations right. Lings quotes him as giving this pre-war encouragement at one of his many battles:
"It is not for a Prophet, when he hath put on his armor, to take it off until God hath judged between him and his enemies. So look to what I bade you do, and do it, and go forward in the Name of Allah. The victory is yours, if ye be steadfast."
This is the language of the military rulers of men, not the armies of Heaven and God's people, who have a totally different sort of prophet, different armor, different God, and different victory.
Muhammad's greatest men were military heroes. Jesus taught His men that the greatest were to be servants of all, a life which He modeled.
Interestingly enough, poets were among Muhammad's verbal attackers. Muhammad made it clear that such men must die. The contrast of this thinking with that of Jesus is clear. Consider all those who lifted their hands against God the Son in the final days of His life here. And consider His response.
17. Heaven and Hell
Muhammad's heaven is based on man's fleshly desires. Lots of good food. Shade for sleep. Here men will have non-ending sexual encounters with virgins who will ever remain virgins. It's not at first clear how the women, the non-virgins, will be occupying their time.
Besides men and women, "jinns" have a possibility of reaching the Promised Land, too. Jinns in Islam are troublesome spirits, something like demons.
The hell of Muhammad is a constant theme of the Koran. All but Muslims will be there. However, the Koran adds that if God can find the goodness of "weight of a grain of mustard seed" in any man in hell, that man will be lifted out and placed at the entrance to Paradise.
Another serious difference between the afterlife of Jesus and Muhammad: the presence of the Divine. Muhammad's future land seems to be a place where Allah places people, as he himself goes on with whatever he was doing.
In the Christian "by and by", Jesus promises that he Himself will be present, and will in fact be the center of things. Astoundingly enough we see the entire headquarters of the Heavenly realm, Father and Son and all the angels, moving to this planet and actually fellowshipping eternally with men.
With that sort of fellowship, we will not be in need of the virgins, thank you. And our food will be, to be in His Presence. As to people being taken out of hell, Jesus taught no such thing. Hell is as eternal as Heaven. And evil spirits in Heaven? No, not in God's Heaven. Nothing that defiles will ever enter there.
Muhammad promised heaven, or paradise, to all who would go to battle with him, and especially to his "10 companions", the group created and named in his effort perhaps to duplicate the "12 disciples" of Jesus, to whom Heaven was also promised.
But Heaven is promised to any faithful follower of Jesus today. Those who suffer with Him are in fact told they will reign with him.
Now, humans reigning in the future is not something I ran across as I traveled through the Koran. Pleasure unimaginable, of a fleshly sort, but no responsibility. The concept of Allah's aloofness from His creation would allow none of this sort of thing.
Jesus has come to be sure that our God is not aloof. Jesus is our God.
18. Transfiguration
Lings tells the standard tale of Muhammad's catching up into glory. Gabriel shows up one night and takes him to mount an animal which proceeds to transport him to Jerusalem. Here he is met by Abraham, Moses, Jesus and others, prophets all in Islam's sight. He leads them all in a prayer meeting before being taken up into the seventh heaven.
When he arrives there, the persons with whom he had just prayed are reassembled! Of course, now they are "transfigured" into their heavenly forms. Quite a few interesting things transpired, not the least of which was his Abraham-like conversation with Allah during which he talked God into relenting on his 50-prayer-a-day life sentence. By the time the two had finished talking, it was down to 5, the very prayer system used by Muslims today.
I do not believe this story, but only for one reason: anything that purports to be from God, and places Jesus in a subordinate position, is false on the surface, and false all the way through.
The true transfiguration story is told in the Gospels. In this story, there were eyewitnesses. Peter was still talking about it when he wrote his first letter (I Peter 1:16-21). He certainly remembers how embarrassed he was when it all unfolded.
He and his his two friends James and John were asked to accompany Jesus to the top of a hill. There Jesus was changed from His human form into Someone gloriously different. We have never heard all the details. But of the four people on the mount at that time, there was no question as to Who was superior.
And it didn't stop there. Two more people showed up. Moses and Elijah, the two greatest prophets mentioned in the Old Testament. Now there are six. Still Jesus shines as brightest. Peter attempts to start a conversation but is hushed by the announcement of the Father, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
Does any thinking person believe that if Muhammad had been at such a meeting, he would be in charge of it? Jesus is subordinate to no one, yet freely gives His life for us on a Roman cross. Muhammad cannot match the glory of the Son, nor even His servitude.
The Koran tries in some places to lump together all the Books and all the Messengers and claim they are all equal in Allah's sight. No. One is distinct. The Word. Written or human, the Word of God become flesh stands out from the pack so radically as not to be worthy of mention.
19. The nature of the domain
We have actually touched on it much above, but a separate category is probably in order. Islam was forced often to make alliances with the tribes that dotted the desert of Arabia. Many come to him for political alliance. All of them want protection from enemies. It is a natural thing, and reminds us of Israel's situation.
But in the seventh century A.D. we are long past those Israel days. Islam should know this.
When Jesus' disciples wanted to send down fire on cities He let them know that they were unaware of their own motivation. That things had changed. That that sort of force and power was to be suspended for now. Jesus had no military agenda. When trouble came, Jesus often just walked away. Or the power of God ruled the situation.
True prophets of God do not ask for or need the protection of men. But Muhammad's life story is a bloody one. Attacks on the caravans from Mecca. Attacks on neighboring tribes that seemed not to be in sympathy. Murder and pillage. And the promise of eternal life to all his brave warriors who conducted "holy war" in the name of Allah.
That has not changed today, by the way. And it may have measures of success, depending on how the Lord wants to use His enemies to bless His Kingdom. But this sort of warfare, whether by Muslims or Crusaders or Holy warriors of any generation, will not earn one eternal bliss and eternal favor with God.
Vengeance belongs to Jesus, and He will finish the military campaign all alone one day, maybe soon.
20. The flight (Hijrah) and the Triumph
Political pressures mounted so high in Muhammad's home city of Mecca that he was forced, along with his followers, to flee north to the city known then as Yathrib, now as Medina. The Jews in particular of that area seemed to accept Muhammad. Historically the Jewish people have yielded to the appeals of false Messiahs. The One Messiah who met all the requirements of the prophecies, they seem to have overlooked.
At any rate, the climate was right for a leader to come in and help settle the disputes between this and that Arabian tribe. Muhammad thus cut all ties, at least for awhile, to his home land, all that was near and dear. He had been soundly rejected by the Meccans and the Meccan religion. He would have to start over.
What can I compare this to in the life of Jesus Christ? My Lord also left His Home Land to sojourn in a place that was foreign to Him. From the heavenlies it had become obvious to the Father that things on Earth must be corrected once and for all. He would send His Son into this hostile environment on a mission of love. No armies followed Him here, except for the invisible hosts of heaven that had been all but silenced by Heaven's orders. There was to be natural protection but no show of force. He would speak the Father's words, do what He came to do, and return.
So Muhammad fled from a city's rejection to a place of refuge. Jesus came from a place of acceptance to a city's rejection.
Both returned to their place of origin by the end of the written record. Muhammad triumphantly entered Mecca and took authority over the Holy Place and all the citizenry. Arabia would eventually fall to Muhammad's sword, as well as most of the Middle East and Northern Africa. The word and the sword of Islam continues conquering men's lands and persons to this day.
And Jesus? He returned to Heaven having conquered sin and death, and waits there for a little while before He conquers the world too.
We often speak of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem that occurred one week before His death, and we are thrilled with our Lord's work. But the ultimate triumph occurred weeks later when He ascended to the Father, victory in hand, mission accomplished.
During our day, without the sword, He conquers the hearts of men one by one all over the planet.
21. Monument builder
Wherever Muhammad went he erected a mosque, a place of prostration before Allah. Though he talked much of the connection between Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, his program was totally separate from theirs. The mosques were not Jewish. They were not Christian. They were monuments to Allah and his prophet.
Jesus built nothing. Except a living church, the future of which is rock-solid and eternal. It has existed for all these centuries and will exist forever. Death, the very gates of hell, cannot stop the church. Yet you will not find even one physical monument that Jesus built so that we could look back and remember it.
Our call to remembrance is only through a crust of bread and a sip of wine.
Jesus came to save the House of Israel, not to start a new house. The church was meant to house Jew and Gentile, but the message of salvation was to continue. Not just a new religion but new life. He totally identified with His people, though He called them to repent.
22. Modus operandi
"If you are attacked and wronged, it is okay to defend yourself in any way necessary," said Muhammad, in essence. "Those who persecute you for your religion, fight them, so that there will always be freedom of religion." "Inflict only the punishment you have suffered."
Muhammad used this justification to attack Meccan camel caravans when he had migrated to Medina, looting and killing as necessary. After all, Mecca had wronged him. He was just getting even. He actually declared war on the city of Mecca and eventually won that war, and many more.
Sounds Mosaic.
And what could be wrong with freedom of religion? Should we not fight for this priceless privilege? With the sword if necessary?
Sounds American.
Muhammad further enjoined, If you hear of an evil man stirring up trouble, "who will remind you of Satan," kill him!
Sounds logical.
But my commitment in this study is to compare the words and lives of Muhammad and Jesus. Not Muhammad and logic, or Muhammad and Moses, or Muhammad and America. Jesus sounds decidedly different here.
"...I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also..."
"...I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you."
As for those Satan look-alikes and wannabes: Jesus cast out demons. He delivered people from evil. His very name means deliverance. And He taught His people to pray "deliver us from evil."
Deliverance is a spiritual thing, not a first-cousin to murder.
Lings relates how Muhammad stood by praying as his men tortured enemy soldiers. When the Meccans counter-attacked Muhammad at the famous battle of Badr, he simply prayed, O Lord, destroy them!
Like the Pope promising indulgences to Crusaders, he promised his men then and always that if they would fight for him, they would enter Paradise. (Jesus has one such promise recorded in our Scriptures: a promise given to a dying thief who believed in Him. )
Many Meccans were then slaughtered. Others were taken captive, females passed around to worthy soldiers.
"If you overcome them in war, make an example of them, to strike fear..." he says.
Things were so bad at Badr that many of the Jews woke up to the reality of this new religion. They are fully awake today, of course, as Islam and Judaism, Ishmael and Isaac, continue their feud.
By contrast, Jesus weeps over evil Jerusalem, though He knows a similar fate is coming to them as to Mecca. Worse, in fact. He shows us the heart of the Father who delights not in the death of the wicked, even when He must initiate that sentence.
"You know not what spirit you are of," could easily be said to Muhammad, who along with Allah seems to delight in all the blood being shed. No "love your enemies" here. Definitely not the god of the Bible.
Once more Muhammad descends to pre-Jesus days when our enemies were men and nations that needed to be put in order by God's people. Forgotten by this new and supposedly improved religion is the whole concept of the Jesus event and what it means for us now and eternally.
23. Battle record.
At the Battle of Ehud, Muhammad was defeated, and received a personal wound. His forces have often been defeated through the centuries, and will continue to be. This is the nature of warfare in the world. Even the greatest of generals lose at times.
All but one, the very greatest. Jesus Christ has never been defeated. And when His plans have been followed, whether with Old Testament saints, or in our personal lives, His people are never defeated either. "Of those you have given Me, I have lost none," Jesus could and still can report. He cannot lose. It is not in HIs nature.
The cross, you say? The greatest victory of all, in light of the fact that multitudes of angels were at His disposal. His giving of life on the cross was voluntary, an unheard of military strategy, used by One Who knew that the battle's outcome would so soon be reversed.
Jesus is wounded by our lack of attention to Him, for sure. He grieves over our sin. But that sort of wounding is in an altogether different league from those whose business it is to steal, kill, and destroy.
24. Sin
We have touched on this above, but let us be crystal clear in the distinction between Muhammad and Jesus in the area of sin and character. Jesus was tempted in all points as are we, but was without sin. Muhammad was tempted, and like the rest of us, yielded to temptation.
Lings tells the story of the night Muhammad inadvertently caught a glimpse of the scantily-clad wife of his adopted son. He immediately desired her. Later he gets a revelation that it isperfectly acceptable for his son to divorce this woman and yield her to Muhammad, a man of almost 60 by this time. This will be his 5th wife. He is given permission not only to take another man's wife but to exceed the normal Muslim limit of four wives.
So much of what we would call character flaw, namely, his sexual life and his anger and his much bloodshed, is covered over by revelations that make it all sound holy and appropriate for an advanced man of God.
Nevertheless they don't come any more advanced than Jesus of Nazareth, and never once did He yield to such things. And that record is in the same Book that tells of adulterer David and polygamist Solomon and deceiver Jacob and all the rest. Never has there been a holy book with such un-holy revelations about its main characters. But of Jesus it is said that the Devil had nothing in Him. The only sin He ever experienced was yours and mine, when He became sin for us.
We must add that the only righteousness the born again have ever experienced is what Jesus put to our account on the day of His death.
25. Response to sin.
One day a group of Jewish elders came to Jesus with a woman who had just been caught in the act of adultery. We are left to speculate as to how they happened to catch her. Jesus did not see a sinner before Him but a broken soul. The woman had sinned. She knew it. The town now knew it. Of course Jesus knew it. But she was sorry, and ashamed. No need to try to express that to the Jewish leadership. The law was the law. She deserved to die. As we all do.
Jesus is not easy on sin. He and His Father are one in condemning sinful acts and commanding it to stop. They are also one in mercy and forgiveness. The price for sin would be paid soon enough. For now it was the time to forgive. And He did.
One day Muhammad's favorite wife, that he had married when she was but a child, was accused, in her teen years, of sexual sin. We have no way of knowing the truth of the matter, so we will not enter into that discussion. The fallout from the event was that tongues began to wag. Slander was everywhere. Immediately Muhammad's closest friends, those who knew Islam the best, suggested that the slanderers, not the wife, be killed. This was the fruit of the teachings of many years. Sin is to be dealt with violently and immediately.
In this case, another timely revelation intervened, and no one had to be killed after all. The slanderers were scourged instead.
