What to focus on when discussing Islam with a Muslim.
IT’S WORTH CONSIDERING
We’ve spent a lot of time looking at the very real dangers Islam poses for America and
how we should respond. Jesus said that the truth would make us free. Perhaps the truth will also keep us free. In this article I’d like to look briefly at the opportunities God may give us to help our Muslim friends to rethink their faith on a most basic level. Too often, whenever we get the opportunity to present a “critical appraisal” of Islam, regardless of the setting, we focus on the secondary issues instead of the primary one, and as a result, we end up dealing with the symptoms rather than the cause.
Our natural reaction is to focus on Islamic claims we feel we can easily refute such as “Islam is a religion of peace.” We might also deal with the way women are treated within Islam. These seem like easy battles to win, but if they are, why haven’t these issues dealt with once and for all? Why are we still fighting these battles? We might decide to take on the whole concept of Shariah, feeling that we can prove how repressive and dehumanizing it is. Once again, if it were that easy, why is the trend toward Shariah growing worldwide?
AS I SEE IT
Even if we could “win” one or two of these battles, there are thousands still waiting to be fought. It’s a losing proposition. Not only are we asking the wrong questions, we are heading in the wrong direction. We need to identify the heart of the issue-the one issue that will cause all the others to fall like a house of cards.
That issue is this: Did Mohammed actually receive a revelation from God? Everything else in Islam rests on this foundation. If we can create doubt at this level, all other Islamic doctrine is suspect.
Courtesy of Wikipedia.org
Let’s take a brief look at the “revelation.” According to Mohammed’s own account, while he was meditating in his favorite cave, he was overcome by some sort of spirit that enveloped him in a terrifying embrace that made him feel like his breath had been forced out of his body. Alfred Guillaume, author of The Life of Muhammad explains that it was only after the third time the “angel” had strangled Muhammad, demanding that he recite, that he finally did so.[1] He was afraid he had become demon possessed and became suicidal:
“So I [Muhammad] read it, and he [the demon] departed from me. And I woke from my sleep, and it was as though these words were written on my heart… I thought, ‘Woe is me poet or possessed… I will go to the top of the mountain and throw myself down that I may kill myself and gain rest.’ So I went forth to do so and then when I was midway on the mountain, I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘O Muhammad! Thou are the apostle of God and I am Gabriel.’ “[2]
“Yet they turn away from him and say, ‘Tutored by others, a man possessed!’ “ (Qur’an 44:14)
Copurtesy of randalrauser.com
Other accounts record that he would foam at the mouth when he would be thrown to the ground. It’s no wonder his friends thought he was demon possessed. What if they were right? What if it was a demon disguising himself as Gabriel? It’s a seed worth planting in your Muslim friend’s mind. This will cast doubt on every detail of his faith including the call to worldwide jihad.
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[1] A. Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (Oxford University Press, 2001), 106.
[2] Ibid., 106.
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ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.
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