What is Islam? What Do Muslims Believe?

An overview of the Islamic religion
 

Strange, strange tenets Muhammad versus Jesus Black Muslim Movement The Quran vs. the Bible
Marriage and Women Allah vs. God Militant and murderous aspects The Genies

In creating this badly needed page on Islam, I drew very heavily from Robert Morey's excellent book on this subject, "The Islamic Invasion: Confronting the World's Fastest Growing Religion" published by Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR, 1992). I gleaned other information from my dealings with Muslims.

Muslims strongly criticize Christians and say that Jesus is not the Son of God, YET they take personal offense at any criticism of Islam. They have tracts and apologetics against Christianity, but they don't want nobody exposing their silliness and wickedness. Why? Because in Arab countries any criticism of Muhammad or the Quran is viewed as a criminal offense punishable by death. There was jihad called for by Khadafy and Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War simply because the soldiers were perceived as Christians--oh, you didn't know that Christians are considered infidels according to the Islamic religion? Read the section on this page entitled, "Why Muslims are so violent" for more information.

Mosques are popping up all over this country and people are flocking to Islam. We Americans can be so stupid--we will forsake Jesus and go halfway around the world just to try to find another way we can get to heaven--it will only assure us of hell. Just like other false religions, Islam has many faces. Islam in America is much different from Islam in the Middle East. You hear, "they are hard working people" I do not doubt this--in America. But their holy book says something different--either you convert to Islam or die! Their native lands say something different. No Islamic country is a democracy...I'm getting ahead of myself.

I'm going to let the Quran (Yusef Ali's translation [1]) and its prophet, Muhammad, speak for themselves. You can read this straight through or go to specific weirdness. I highly suggest however that you first read "Muslims worship a culture..." which is the first item because it gives foundational information. Grab a softdrink and read on.

Strange, strange tenets


Muslims worship a man and his culture...
Must adopt Muhammad's political views.
Throwing stones at the devil.
You go to hell for peeing on yourself and other silly things.
 

Muhammad

Muhammad wasn't sure if he was going to heaven.
Muslim view of Jesus
Comparison between Muhammad and Jesus
Muhammad stole his son's wife and married her.
Muhammad was a thug who led other killing and plundering thugs.
Muhammad gets the Bible wrong.
Muhammad admits he is a sinner.
 

Marriage and women

Islam and Women
 

Muhammad takes his 9 year old wife to bed
Quran says women to be beaten
Quran says four wives are allowed but Muhammad had almost 20
In paradise, women are chained in different areas for men's pleasure

Quran says it's okay for a dad to take his son's wife and marry her.
 

Allah vs. God

"Allah" does not mean "God" in Arabic. It is actually a moon god.
Comparison between God of the Bible and Allah of the Quran
 

The Quran and the Hadith

The Quran is a bunch of jibber-jabber.
Muhammad did not write the Quran.
The Quran came directly from heaven and has NO earthly sources. (Is that so?)
The Hadith: Satan stays in the upper part of your nose all night and you can't defecate towards Mecca.
 

Militant and murderous aspects

Why Muslims are so violent
Muhammad was a thug that killed, plundered and stole from others even during peace.
Muslims leaders make Black Slaves in the Sudan (this will take you to another website)
 

Black Muslim movement

The Black Muslim movement (Nation of Islam) founded by a man with at least one white parent! (but they call white people devils.)
Orthodox Islam rejects the Black Muslim movement (Nation of Islam)

Muslims worship a culture and a man named Muhammad.

Islam, in all actuality, is the deification of Muhammad's seventh century Arabian culture. They must dress the way Muhammad and his women did, eat what they ate, speak like he did, make his political views their own, and pray the way he did. They must accept that everything that Muhammad did, taught, and believed is the word of Allah (who is NOT the God of the Bible). The whole religion is based on the lifestyle and fables of one man. This is important to remember--Islam is 7th century Arabia imposed on people living in the 20th century. This will become increasingly evident as we continue.

Muslim scholar Dr. Ali Dashti, a former Foreign Minister of Iran, explains in his book 23 Years: A Study of the Prophetic Career of Mohammad that Islam must be understood in terms of its essential identification with seventh-century Arab culture (Morely, p. 21).

This idea of a culture being "divine" might be a bit difficult for us Westerners to understand but it is foundational to Islam. "Christianity" is "supracultural" in that it allows people to live, dress, and eat in accordance with the culture in which they are living (Morely, 21). If Islam did that, there would be no Islam, it is ALL about culture. Eat this 'cause Muhammad did, don't eat that 'cause Muhammad didn't, pray toward Mecca which is the culture you worship, don't pray with your back to your back to Mecca 'cause you disrespect your god, your culture. All of this insignificant, temporal stuff done by a heathen named Muhammad has been elevated to divine law.

A Muslim must pray 5 times a day towards Mecca which is in Arabia thus he is reminded that he must be obedient to Arabia, a country, a culture. Back to index

Throwing stones at the Devil.

A Muslim is required, despite cost or hardship, to go on a pilgrimage to the Kabah (an edifice which at one time held over 350 idols one of whom was Allah) in Mecca at least once in his lifetime. Poor third-world Muslims skimp and save for their ENTIRE lifetime in order to fulfill this "pillar" of Islam so that they will be eligible for paradise. What do they do when they get to Mecca? Run around throwing stones at the devil, of course! Back to index

Must adopt Muhammad's political views.

There was no concept of personal freedom in Muhammad's seventh century Arabia, so no Islamic country today is a democracy. They are all run by dictators as in the days of Muhammad. Back to index

Why Muslims are so violent.

Sure, here in the west, they've tried to "Christianize" their beliefs and many of us gullibly believe that Muslims are a peace-loving people--but history, Muhammad, terrorism, and Jihad tell a different story, my friend. It is written in their law that Muslims must kill those that don't convert. Their leader, Muhammad made his fortune plundering and killing. Don't think it happens today? Looking at Algeria. Look at worldwide terrorism. Look at Khadafy, the Shaw of Iran, Saddam Hussein, Arafat's Palestine, etc. The word "assassin" came from a secret sect of Moslems who killed folks while supposedly high on hashish. Violence and Islam are good friends.

Why does it seem like they are always fighting and terrorizing people? Why is Islam so militant and overbearing? If we make a simple analysis of the foundation of this religion, the answers will become very apparent. It all begins and ends with a man named Mohammad. The Hadith (another "holy" book of Islam) says that Jihad, or holy war, is the second best thing to believing in Allah and his apostle (Muhammad).

Allah's apostle was asked, "What is the best deed?" He replied, "To believe in Allah and his Apostle." The questioner then asked, "What is the next?" He replied, "To participate in Jihad in Allah's cause." (Hadith vol. 1, no. 25).

The Hadith also says that Murderous Muslims could take the property of people they killed during a Jihad (there are different types of Jihad). In addition to killing infidels like Christians and Jews, Muslims are also commanded to kill anyone who leaves Islam (Hadith vol. 4, no. 260).

The Quran requires violence. Sura 9:5 says,

Fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every strategem of war.

Sura 5:33 records what is done to infidels who resist Islam:

Their punishment is...execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from the opposite sides, or exile from the land.

Muhammad also burned out eyes with hot irons (Hadith vol. 1, no. 234) and deprived people of water until they died (vol. 8, no. 796).

In Islamic countries you can be incarcerated and tortured without due process--this was all part of 7th century Arabia. The dictator could do whatever he wanted to. I read an article in the Washington Post about Saddam Hussein's son. They said that he was a terror. One night he raped a woman and when she complained, he killed her. He did stuff like that all the time and one night he got shot up getting out of his car and was paralyzed.

See the article, Muslim's rape children while crying "Allahu Akbar!" (god is great)

The following is an article from The Frontline Fellowship that does extensive missionary work in the Sudan, a country where crazy Muslims are killing, plundering, and destroying in the name of jihad. You can order their video "Sudan: The Hidden Holocaust" from their website or Jeremiah Films...

JIHAD – ISLAMIC HOLY WAR

The relentless and often vicious persecution by Muslims against Christians is seldom recognised or understood. Many assume that the concept of Jihad, or holy war, espoused by Muslim leaders like the Aytollah Khomeini and demonstrated in terror bombings are aberrations not truly representative of Islam:

"We shall export our revolution, to the whole world. Until the cry 'Allah Akbar' resounds over the whole world. There will be struggle. There will be Jihad . . . Islam is the religion of militant individuals  . . . Islam will be victorious in all the countries of the world, and Islam and the teachings of the Quran will prevail all over the world . . . This is the duty that all Muslims must fulfil . . ."

These were the often repeated public pronouncements of the Ayatollah Khomeini after the revolution in Iran in 1979 ("The Blood of the Moon", by George Grant).

Nor was the Ayatollah alone in such militant threats. Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud declared: "We shall never call for or accept a negotiated peace.  We shall  only accept war -  Jihad - the holy war.  We resolve to drench the lands of Palestine and Arabia with the blood of the infidels or to accept martyrdom for the glory of Allah".

The President of Sudan, Lt. Gen. Al Bashir, has often spoken of Jihad.  At the 40th anniversary of Sudan's independence, Al Bashir celebrated the spirit of Jihad  which was engulfing the people of Sudan. The head of Sudan's ruling party, the National Islamic Front (NIF), Dr. Al Turabi, has often declared his goal of an Islamic empire controlling (initially) the horn of Africa (Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda and Sudan). This he calls the Grand Islamic Project.

At a two week conference of Muslim leaders from 80 countries, hosted by Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli, Libya (October 1995), strategies to transform Africa into an Islamic continent were discussed. Participants openly admitted that their goals were to make Arabic the primary language of the continent and Islam the official religion. One SA member of parliament, Farouk Cassim declared: "It will probably be the biggest revolution to sweep Africa." Head of the Islamic Propagation Centre International (IPCI), Yousuf Deedat, announced afterwards that South Africa was high on the agenda of the Islamic offensive: "We are going to turn South Africa into a Muslim state. We have the money to do it," (Sunday Times 22/10/95). At present less than 2 percent of South Africans are Muslims.

What few Westerners understand, however, is that those Muslim leaders who call for the overthrow of all governments and the establishment of an Islamic superstate controlling all aspects of life for every person on earth are not extremists on the fringe of Islam. Actually, Jihad, the subjugation and forcible conversion of all people to Islam and world domination are central tenants of Islam. Jihad is ranked by many Muslims as the sixth pillar of Islam.

Jihad was so important to the founder of Islam, Muhammad, that he declared it to be the second most important deed in Islam.

"Allah's apostle was asked, 'What is the best deed?' He replied, 'To believe in Allah and his Apostle.' The questioner then asked, 'What is the next (in goodness)?' He replied, 'To participate in Jihad (religious fighting) in Allah's cause.'" – The Hadith, Al Bukhari, Vol. 1 no 25.

Muslims, in fact, divide the world into two sectors: Dar-al-Islam  (the House of Islam) and Dar-al-Harb (The House of War). The only countries considered to be at peace are those where Islamic law (the Sharia) is enforced.

Islam in Arabic means submission, surrender or subjugation. A Muslim  is one who submits. The Arabic word for peace is Salam. Islam  is the active form of Salam. Muslims see themselves as a "peace making force" using argument, intrigue, commerce, threats, terrorism, warfare and every other means possible to secure Islam as the only religion worldwide.
Muslims are not permitted to make peace with a non-Muslim country until its inhabitants surrender to Islam. They can agree to a cease fire for a period of time – but never to peace with non Muslims.

The Quran teaches that Muslims are superior to others: "Ye  (Muslims) are the best of peoples evolved for mankind . . ." Surah 3:110.

Muslims are forbidden to befriend Jews or Christians: "O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors. They are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is one of them . . ." Surah 5:54.

Islam instructs its adherents to fight until their opponents submit. Christians and Jews may be spared if they pay "Jizya" –  a penalty tax – with willing submission: "Fight those who believe not in God nor the last day . . . Nor acknowledge the religion of truth, (even if they are) of the people of the Book, until they pay Jizya (tribute taxes) with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued"  Surah 9:29.

"Fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait (ambush) for them in every strategem (of war) . . ." Surah 9:5 (also 2:193).

For those who resist Islam – execution or mutilation is decreed: "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His apostle, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution or crucifixion, or the cutting off of the hands and feet from opposite sides or exile from the land . . ."  Surah 5:36.

The Hadith, which is a record of the words and deeds of Muhammad, is also viewed by Muslims as inspired. Next to the Quran, it is the most important source of Islamic Law. It's teachings are regarded as binding on all Muslims.

The Hadith teaches that apostasy is punishable by death: "Whoever changes his Islamic religion, kill him." Vol. 9:57.

A Muslim may not be punished for killing a non-Muslim: "No Muslim should be killed for killing a kafir (infidel)." Vol 9:50

Those who die in holy war are guaranteed to go to Heaven. "The person who participates in Jihad (Holy battles) in Allah's cause and nothing compels him to do so except belief in Allah and His apostle, will be recompensed by Allah either with a reward or booty (if he survives) or will be admitted to paradise (if he is killed)." Vol 1:35

It may be hard for Christians to understand the concept of such a militant religion, but the primary aim  of Islam is not spiritual but political. The ultimate purpose of Islam is the establishment by force of a worldwide Islamic state where Sharia law is enforced on all.

To achieve this is the goal of Jihad. Islamic scholars identify a multitude of forms that Jihad can take:

1. There is the Jihad of Words. Muhammad was a brilliant and gifted orator silencing his enemies in a war of words. In Arab culture it was customary for feuding tribes to select a poet to mock and provoke  the opposing forces with spontaneous verses of cursing. These linguistic warriors engaged in verbal combat seeking to inspire their own side with a sense of superiority and strength whilst undermining the morale of the enemy. This war of words, which Muslim leaders today such as Gaddaffi, Saddam Hussein and Yassar Arafat still engage in, is actually a war of nerves.

2. There is the Jihad of Deception. When Muslims are small in number they can follow the example of Muhammad's 83 followers who fled from persecution in Mecca to Abyssinia (present day Ethiopia). There the Christian Negus (king) offered them refuge. When the Meccans demanded their return as slaves, the Muslim exiles declared that Islam was merely a variation of Christianity. The Muslims selectively recited those passages of the Quran that agree with the Bible such as the virgin birth and miracles of Jesus and His ascension to Heaven and ultimate return. They remained silent on the unbridgeable differences (such as the denial of the Trinity and the atonement) between the Quran and the Bible. As a result the Christian Abyssinians protected the Muslims from the Meccans.

 In this way, when it was most vulnerable, Islam grew and developed in a Christian environment. (If we only demonstrate our Christian love without proclaiming the truth of the Gospel we could strengthen anti-Christian forces).

 Muhammad  compromised with the Meccan merchants during a particularly intense time of persecution. Formerly he had fearlessly condemned polytheism. Then, under pressure, he accepted the Meccan belief that Allah had a wife, Al-lat, and two daughters, Al Uzzo and Manat (Surah 53:20-23). Later Muhammad repudiated these so called Satanic Verses  and claimed that all previous prophets had been tempted by demonic influence.

3. There is the Jihad of the Sword. After fleeing to Medina (the Hijra) in AD622, Muhammad started to summon his followers to attack and plunder the caravans of Mecca. His followers initially resisted these calls until Muhammad presented a series of "revelations" commanding Jihad (holy war) and permitting looting ("Whoever has killed an enemy and has proof of that, will possess his spoils" – The Hadith, Vol. 4 no. 370). Where the booty was not large enough, Muhammad held captives as hostages until their families paid a high ransom for their release. Hostage taking has continued to be a common practise in Islam to this day.  Those who participate in Jihad are granted a blanket absolution (Surah 8:17) and guaranteed to go straight to Paradise (Heaven) if killed.

4. There is the Jihad of Taxation and Financial Reward. Those who refuse to submit to Islam are forced to pay a special tax for non- Muslims (Jizya). Those who convert to Islam are often offered financial rewards or  scholarships.

5. There is the Jihad of Slavery. Those Muslims who engage in Jihad not only can seize property, extort ransoms and demand taxes, but also capture slaves. The only places in the world today where slavery is still practised are in some Muslim countries. In Sudan, the Islamic government uses slavery as an incentive to encourage Arab Northerners to attack the Christian Blacks in the South, and as a weapon of terror to destabilize non-Muslims. According to the Sharia Law,  Muslims are allowed to enslave, own and sell human beings.

6. There is the Jihad of the Sharia Law. Non-Muslims are degraded to a lower class status and are denied equal access to the law because their testimony is not valid against a Muslim. This even applies to murder ("No Muslim should be killed for killing an infidel"). The death penalty is applied to anyone who renounces Islam and converts to another religion.

 When the wealthy Bedouins of Arabia professed faith in Allah to escape attack, Muhammad did not accept their confession. ("The desert Arabs say 'We believe'. Say, 'Ye have no faith; but ye (only) say 'We have submitted.'" Surah 49:14) Islam does not place much value on personal faith, but demands surrender to the political rule of the Sharia.

 It is significant that the calendar of Islam does not begin with the birth of Muhammad, nor the onset of his supposed "revelation", nor the assembling of the first Muslim community, nor the flight of Muslim refugees to Abyssinia. The 12 years of persecution in Mecca were not considered the start of their new religion. The Muslim calendar only begins when Islam became a political state in Medina.

7. There is the Jihad of Polygamy. The devastating defeat of the Muslim forces by the Meccans in the battle of Uhud (AD625) led to what could be considered one of Islam's greatest victories. So many of his men were killed that Muhammad permitted his men to take up to 4 wives (Surah 4:3, 4). With the advent of Western medicine, infant mortality has plummeted. And the Muslim birthrate has skyrocketed. Muslims are increasing in number twice as fast as other religions. This is due to birth control and abortion in Western lands and polygamy in Muslim lands. Muslims are not increasing much by missionary outreaches, but by having many children. Polygamy (rather than persuasion) has become one of Islam's most effective weapons for Holy War, providing Islam with a disproportionate numerical advantage.

8. There is the Jihad of the Spirits. According to the Quran, Muslims are not only men and women but also spirits who fight for the spread of Islam (Surah 46:29-33 and 72:1-15). Also a Muslim is to fight on Muhammad's behalf both in his life and after his death (Hadith Vol. 1 chapter 43).

Clearly Islam is a religion of force which denies basic freedom. No Muslim even has the freedom to change or leave his religion. The huge block of over 1 billion Muslims presents the greatest political and military threat to the Western world and the greatest missionary challenge [editor's note: I do not agree with this, the Great Whore is the greatest enemy of the gospel of Christ] to the Christian Church. Muslim states are the most severe persecutors of Christians, and Muslim terrorist groups are the most vicious hijackers, kidnappers, bombers and assassins. As the recent East African bombings remind us, Islam is a challenge that we cannot ignore.

How we chose to respond, in prayer, publications, proclamation, projects and persistent vigilance will determine much of the course of history in the coming 21st century.

Peter Hammond

This is an excerpt from an email I received--

 

 As more details emerge surrounding the murder of Wall Street Journal
reporter  Danny Pearl, it seems increasingly likely that the object of the
kidnapping  wasn't demands or ransom but the murder of Danny Pearl himself. Pearl was
 ordered to tell the camera he was "a Jew. My mother was a Jew," he
reportedly said just before his murder. Pearl's kidnapping-murder involved at least
15 conspirators, according to Pakistani police investigators.

Danny Pearl was chosen to be slaughtered because he was a Jew. The demands
made at the time of his kidnapping were, by design, impossible - they gave a
24-hour deadline with no negotiation and it is believed that Pearl was murdered on
schedule.

The gory details of Pearl's videotaped murder are evidence of the maniacal
hatred of his murderers. According to reports in the major media, Pearl is
shown mumbling some obvious propaganda statement about Americans being
unable to "walk around free" as long as our government's policies of
"unconditional support of Israel" continue. After admitting his crime: "I am a Jew. My
mother was a Jew," a hand appears and cuts his throat. The rest of the
description is not for the squeamish. You may want to skip over the next paragraph.

 After Pearl's throat is cut, his head is severed and held aloft by a hand
in front of the camera. The tape cuts to his murderers repeatedly stabbing
his lifeless corpse. The scene cuts to Pearl's head lying on a pile of
newspapers as a message scrolls across the screen: "If our demands aren't met, there
will be more like this."

Those "demands" included releasing the al-Qaida prisoners from Cuba and
 delivering fighter jets to Pakistan. The only thing they left out was a
demand we publicly execute President Bush in the Rose Garden. They had no
intention of ever releasing Danny Pearl. Ever. Danny Pearl was a Jew.

Israel is hated with a visceral, bone-deep hatred impossible for most
modern Christians to comprehend. This week, a 15-year-old Palestinian girl
charged a group of Israeli soldiers with a knife. The soldiers shot her dead. At her
home was a suicide note, proclaiming her intention to become a martyr. Her
unknowing father said when he found out what she had done that he was "proud" of
her. How can anyone comprehend hatred that deep?

Back to index

Islam and women.

Muhammad wrote in the Sura 4:3 that it is unlawful to have more than four wives, but he had more than four. Muslim scholar Ali Dashti lists 22 women in Muhammad's life, including 16 wives. He also stole his adopted son's wife Zaynab and made her his own. One wife, Aesha, was only eight or nine years old when he took her to bed.

Female Muslims must be covered head to foot like Muhammad's women who needed it in the desert sun and sand.

Women are treated bad in Islam. Let's look at the Quran, Sura 4:34:

Men are the managers of the affairs of women...Those you fear may be rebellious--admonish; banish them to their couches and beat them.

Muslim women can be kept prisioners in their own homes and denied the right to go outside the house if the husband orders. They can't even vote in some countries. In Iran they must carry written permission from their husbands to go outside the house. In Saudi Arabia, they are prohibited from driving a car. When some women in Saudia Arabia drove cars in the fall of 1990, they were castigated from every direction and admonished not to talk to Western reporters. One woman said, "The issue is not driving. It is that here in Saudi Arabia, I exist as a person from the bellybutton to the knees."

I've heard some foolish people say that the Bible degrades women. What a lie that is! God made us male and female with distinct responsibilities. I perceive that the lawless and rebellious are the ones who think that having children and rearing them is demeaning. I perceive that the prideful and arrogant are the ones that think they have something to prove to men and the world at large. What a pitiful existence trying to be just the opposite of what God says. That is all it is. What freedom we women have in Christ. I used to think being a Christian was about bondage, but that was a lie from the devil. It is ultimate freedom (and I'm a woman too)! Back to index

The Quran has NO earthly sources.

According to the Islam religion, the teachings of Muhammad and the Quran came STRAIGHT FROM HEAVEN and cannot have any earthly source. Yet Western scholarship easily shows that ALL of Islam is based on the customs and fables of pre-Islamic Arabia and misinterpretation of the Bible by Muhammad.

Even the word, "Islam" wasn't new with Muhammad. It originally meant,

defiance of death, heroism, to die in battle

Today, it is supposed to mean

submission

Now given all the terrorism from the Middle East and fighting between the Shiite and Sunnis which definition better fits Islam? "to die in battle" or "submission"? The Quran commands Muslims to convert everyone to Islam or else kill them. "Islam" existed before Muhammad came on the scene so there is an earthly source.

Also, the Quran is not written in a heavenly language, it is written the Quraish dialect (Hadith vol. 6, no. 507) which was Muhammad's tribe. On top of that it is easily translated. It didn't fall out of heaven as they claim. Neither is it non-translatable as Muslims are taught that it is.

Let's move on. Even the word "Allah" was not invented by Muhammad. It was already well known. Allah is a purely Arabic word al = the and ilah = god. It is not taken from the Hebrew or Greek word for God. It is not even the Arabic word for God. It is the name of a peculiar deity--Allah, the moon god. See the section on Allah. The Encyclopedia of Islam says:

The Arabs, BEFORE the time of Mohammed, accepted and worshipped, after a fashion, a supreme god called Allah. (ed. Houtsma)

Allah was known to the PRE-Islamic Arabs; he was one of the Meccan deities. (ed. Gibb)

AIlah...appears in PRE-Islamic poetry...By frequency of usage, al-ilah was contracted to allah, frequently attested to in pre-Islamic poetry. (ed. Lewis)

This article from NYTimes.com

Radical New Views of Islam and the Origins of the Koran

March 2, 2002 

By ALEXANDER STILLE

To Muslims the Koran is the very word of God, who spoke
through the Angel Gabriel to Muhammad: "This book is not to
be doubted," the Koran declares unequivocally at its
beginning. Scholars and writers in Islamic countries who
have ignored that warning have sometimes found themselves
the target of death threats and violence, sending a chill
through universities around the world. 

Yet despite the fear, a handful of experts have been
quietly investigating the origins of the Koran, offering
radically new theories about the text's meaning and the
rise of Islam. 

Christoph Luxenberg, a scholar of ancient Semitic languages
in Germany, argues that the Koran has been misread and
mistranslated for centuries. His work, based on the
earliest copies of the Koran, maintains that parts of
Islam's holy book are derived from pre-existing Christian
Aramaic texts that were misinterpreted by later Islamic
scholars who prepared the editions of the Koran commonly
read today. 

So, for example, the virgins who are supposedly awaiting
good Islamic martyrs as their reward in paradise are in
reality "white raisins" of crystal clarity rather than fair
maidens. 

Christoph Luxenberg, however, is a pseudonym, and his
scholarly tome ""The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran" had
trouble finding a publisher, although it is considered a
major new work by several leading scholars in the field.
Verlag Das Arabische Buch in Berlin ultimately published
the book. 

The caution is not surprising. Salman Rushdie's "Satanic
Verses" received a fatwa because it appeared to mock
Muhammad. The Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz was stabbed
because one of his books was thought to be irreligious. And
when the Arab scholar Suliman Bashear argued that Islam
developed as a religion gradually rather than emerging
fully formed from the mouth of the Prophet, he was injured
after being thrown from a second- story window by his
students at the University of Nablus in the West Bank. Even
many broad-minded liberal Muslims become upset when the
historical veracity and authenticity of the Koran is
questioned. 

The reverberations have affected non-Muslim scholars in
Western countries. "Between fear and political correctness,
it's not possible to say anything other than sugary
nonsense about Islam," said one scholar at an American
university who asked not to be named, referring to the
threatened violence as well as the widespread reluctance on
United States college campuses to criticize other cultures.


While scriptural interpretation may seem like a remote and
innocuous activity, close textual study of Jewish and
Christian scripture played no small role in loosening the
Church's domination on the intellectual and cultural life
of Europe, and paving the way for unfettered secular
thought. "The Muslims have the benefit of hindsight of the
European experience, and they know very well that once you
start questioning the holy scriptures, you don't know where
it will stop," the scholar explained. 

The touchiness about questioning the Koran predates the
latest rise of Islamic militancy. As long ago as 1977, John
Wansbrough of the School of Oriental and African Studies in
London wrote that subjecting the Koran to "analysis by the
instruments and techniques of biblical criticism is
virtually unknown." 

Mr. Wansbrough insisted that the text of the Koran appeared
to be a composite of different voices or texts compiled
over dozens if not hundreds of years. After all, scholars
agree that there is no evidence of the Koran until 691 - 59
years after Muhammad's death - when the Dome of the Rock
mosque in Jerusalem was built, carrying several Koranic
inscriptions. 

These inscriptions differ to some degree from the version
of the Koran that has been handed down through the
centuries, suggesting, scholars say, that the Koran may
have still been evolving in the last decade of the seventh
century. Moreover, much of what we know as Islam - the
lives and sayings of the Prophet - is based on texts from
between 130 and 300 years after Muhammad's death. 

In 1977 two other scholars from the School for Oriental and
African Studies at London University - Patricia Crone (a
professor of history at the Institute for Advanced Study in
Princeton) and Michael Cook (a professor of Near Eastern
history at Princeton University) - suggested a radically
new approach in their book "Hagarism: The Making of the
Islamic World." 

Since there are no Arabic chronicles from the first century
of Islam, the two looked at several non-Muslim,
seventh-century accounts that suggested Muhammad was
perceived not as the founder of a new religion but as a
preacher in the Old Testament tradition, hailing the coming
of a Messiah. Many of the early documents refer to the
followers of Muhammad as "hagarenes," and the "tribe of
Ishmael," in other words as descendants of Hagar, the
servant girl that the Jewish patriarch Abraham used to
father his son Ishmael. 

In its earliest form, Ms. Crone and Mr. Cook argued, the
followers of Muhammad may have seen themselves as retaking
their place in the Holy Land alongside their Jewish
cousins. (And many Jews appear to have welcomed the Arabs
as liberators when they entered Jerusalem in 638.) 

The idea that Jewish messianism animated the early
followers of the Prophet is not widely accepted in the
field, but "Hagarism" is credited with opening up the
field. "Crone and Cook came up with some very interesting
revisionist ideas," says Fred M. Donner of the University
of Chicago and author of the recent book "Narratives of
Islamic Origins: The Beginnings of Islamic Historical
Writing." "I think in trying to reconstruct what happened,
they went off the deep end, but they were asking the right
questions." 

The revisionist school of early Islam has quietly picked up
momentum in the last few years as historians began to apply
rational standards of proof to this material. 

Mr. Cook and Ms. Crone have revised some of their early
hypotheses while sticking to others. "We were certainly
wrong about quite a lot of things," Ms. Crone said. "But I
stick to the basic point we made: that Islamic history did
not arise as the classic tradition says it does." 

Ms. Crone insists that the Koran and the Islamic tradition
present a fundamental paradox. The Koran is a text soaked
in monotheistic thinking, filled with stories and
references to Abraham, Isaac, Joseph and Jesus, and yet the
official history insists that Muhammad, an illiterate camel
merchant, received the revelation in Mecca, a remote,
sparsely populated part of Arabia, far from the centers of
monotheistic thought, in an environment of idol-worshiping
Arab Bedouins. Unless one accepts the idea of the angel
Gabriel, Ms. Crone says, historians must somehow explain
how all these monotheistic stories and ideas found their
way into the Koran. 

"There are only two possibilities," Ms. Crone said. "Either
there had to be substantial numbers of Jews and Christians
in Mecca or the Koran had to have been composed somewhere
else." 

Indeed, many scholars who are not revisionists agree that
Islam must be placed back into the wider historical context
of the religions of the Middle East rather than seeing it
as the spontaneous product of the pristine Arabian desert.
"I think there is increasing acceptance, even on the part
of many Muslims, that Islam emerged out of the wider
monotheistic soup of the Middle East," says Roy Mottahedeh,
a professor of Islamic history at Harvard University. 

Scholars like Mr. Luxenberg and Gerd- R. Puin, who teaches
at Saarland University in Germany, have returned to the
earliest known copies of the Koran in order to grasp what
it says about the document's origins and composition. Mr.
Luxenberg explains these copies are written without vowels
and diacritical dots that modern Arabic uses to make it
clear what letter is intended. In the eighth and ninth
centuries, more than a century after the death of Muhammad,
Islamic commentators added diacritical marks to clear up
the ambiguities of the text, giving precise meanings to
passages based on what they considered to be their proper
context. Mr. Luxenberg's radical theory is that many of the
text's difficulties can be clarified when it is seen as
closely related to Aramaic, the language group of most
Middle Eastern Jews and Christians at the time. 

For example, the famous passage about the virgins is based
on the word hur, which is an adjective in the feminine
plural meaning simply "white." Islamic tradition insists
the term hur stands for "houri," which means virgin, but
Mr. Luxenberg insists that this is a forced misreading of
the text. In both ancient Aramaic and in at least one
respected dictionary of early Arabic, hur means "white
raisin." 

Mr. Luxenberg has traced the passages dealing with paradise
to a Christian text called Hymns of Paradise by a
fourth-century author. Mr. Luxenberg said the word paradise
was derived from the Aramaic word for garden and all the
descriptions of paradise described it as a garden of
flowing waters, abundant fruits and white raisins, a prized
delicacy in the ancient Near East. In this context, white
raisins, mentioned often as hur, Mr. Luxenberg said, makes
more sense than a reward of sexual favors. 

In many cases, the differences can be quite significant.
Mr. Puin points out that in the early archaic copies of the
Koran, it is impossible to distinguish between the words
"to fight" and "to kill." In many cases, he said, Islamic
exegetes added diacritical marks that yielded the harsher
meaning, perhaps reflecting a period in which the Islamic
Empire was often at war. 

A return to the earliest Koran, Mr. Puin and others
suggest, might lead to a more tolerant brand of Islam, as
well as one that is more conscious of its close ties to
both Judaism and Christianity. 

"It is serious and exciting work," Ms. Crone said of Mr.
Luxenberg's work. Jane McAuliffe, a professor of Islamic
studies at Georgetown University, has asked Mr. Luxenberg
to contribute an essay to the Encyclopedia of the Koran,
which she is editing. 

Mr. Puin would love to see a "critical edition" of the
Koran produced, one based on recent philological work, but,
he says, "the word critical is misunderstood in the Islamic
world - it is seen as criticizing or attacking the text." 

Some Muslim authors have begun to publish skeptical,
revisionist work on the Koran as well. Several new volumes
of revisionist scholarship, "The Origins of the Koran," and
"The Quest for the Historical Muhammad," have been edited
by a former Muslim who writes under the pen name Ibn
Warraq. Mr. Warraq, who heads a group called the Institute
for the Secularization of Islamic Society, makes no bones
about having a political agenda. "Biblical scholarship has
made people less dogmatic, more open," he said, "and I hope
that happens to Muslim society as well." 

But many Muslims find the tone and claims of revisionism
offensive. "I think the broader implications of some of the
revisionist scholarship is to say that the Koran is not an
authentic book, that it was fabricated 150 years later,"
says Ebrahim Moosa, a professor of religious studies at
Duke University, as well as a Muslim cleric whose liberal
theological leanings earned him the animosity of
fundamentalists in South Africa, which he left after his
house was firebombed. 

Andrew Rippin, an Islamicist at the University of Victoria
in British Columbia, Canada, says that freedom of speech in
the Islamic world is more likely to evolve from within the
Islamic interpretative tradition than from outside attacks
on it. Approaches to the Koran that are now branded as
heretical - interpreting the text metaphorically rather
than literally - were widely practiced in mainstream Islam
a thousand years ago. 

"When I teach the history of the interpretation it is
eye-opening to students the amount of independent thought
and diversity of interpretation that existed in the early
centuries of Islam," Mr. Rippin says. "It was only in more
recent centuries that there was a need for limiting
interpretation." 

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/02/arts/02ISLA.html?ex=1016124256&ei=1&en=d59d0758bbf378c7

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"Allah" does not mean "God" in Arabic.

The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics says this:

The origin of this (Allah) goes back to PRE-Muslim times. Allah is NOT a common name meaning "God" (or a "god"), and the Muslim must use another word or form if he wishes to indicate any other than his own peculiar deity.

Allah was a pre-existing god. He was well known to Muhammad's Quraysh tribe. Scholars quickly point out that Allah was one of the names used for the MOON god who was married to the sun goddess. Together they produced three goddesses who were called "the daughters of Allah. Their names were Al-Lat, Al-Uzza and Manat. These were considered high gods--at the top of the plethora of Arabian deities. Muhammad's father's literal Arabic name was Abd-Allah. His uncle's name was Obied-Allah. His family was devoted to the moon god for at least two generations before Muhammad. The Arabian pagans prayed towards Mecca because that is where their idols/gods were sitting. Since Allah was one of the idols in the Kabah it only made sense to turn toward their god and pray. Praying toward Mecca continues to this day.

Allah is clearly not the God of the Bible. He is an Arabian idol that sat in the Kabah with a bunch of other idols. The pagans prayed in the direction of Mecca because that is where their gods (including Allah) resided heaped on top of each other in the Kabah. This is not news to educated Muslims, they generally understand this point. Allah is the moon god, that's probably why there is the crescent moon and star on the Muslim flag.

In conclusion, the Quran took Allah from the existing Arabic paganism and superimposed it on top of the God of the Bible. A dumb idol that can neither hear, nor speak, nor think.

"Well," you might say, "what about Arabic Bibles that say, 'Allah' for the word God?"

"Well," I would say, "the missionaries got intimidated by Arabs to use Allah instead of the Arabic word of God." I also might say, "Many missionaries are turning to dynamic equivalency which means that they do not translate word for word but rather look for similar ideas to convey meaning. The King James is the only Bible that does word for word translation--that's called formal equivalency."
Back to index

Allah vs. God.

Islam claims that their god is the God of the Bible. Let's compare:

 

The Quran

The Bible
Allah is unknowable God is knowable
Allah is nonpersonal God is personal
Allah is not a spirit God is a Spirit
Allah is not a Father, nor Jesus the Son of God God is one existing in three persons, not three gods, but one God
Allah can do anything with no limitations God cannot go against His immutable nature e.g. God cannot lie.
Allah is capricious God is trustworthy
Allah has no feelings towards man God loves man
Allah doesn't personally enter human history. God came incarnate to bring about man's salvation.
Allah provides no saviour or intecessor. You're on your own. No concept of grace. God provided a Saviour through His manifold grace.

It is clear to see that the God of the Bible is NOT the god of the Quran, Allah.
Back to index

About Muhammad.

Muhammad is the "prophet" of Islam. At age 40 he claimed that he was a prophet and apostle (he took these terms from the Bible. They had no history in Arabian religion). The Quran gives four conflicting accounts of how he was called to be a prophet--(1) In Suras 53:2-18 and 81:19-24, Allah personally appeared. (2) In Suras 16:102 and 26:192-194 he was called by "the Holy Spirit". (3) In Sura 15:8 the angels announced his prophetic ministry; and , (4) The angel Gabriel told him of his ministry and hands him the Quran.

Who were Muhammad's first supposed converts? Genies! Yes, Muhammad supposedly preached to and converted genies in Suras 46:29-35; 72:1-28. How convenient that there was no one around to confirm his prophethood. Back to index

Muhammad was a thug.

Muhammad killed and plundered many people. During the Nakhla Raid, he sent some of his thugs to loot a caravan killing one man and enslaving others. This was his first battle. Do you wonder why so many terrorists are Muslims? The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.

The "prophet" Muhammad did not even foresee his own death in 632 A.D. As a result, he left no instructions for his successors. Soon there were warring sects in Islam such as the Shiites and Sunnis who fight to this day. So not only are Muslims fighting infidels like Christians and Jews, they are fighting each other!

Also see section on violence. Back to index

Muhammad stole his son's wife.

Muhammad wanted his son's wife and when his son didn't want to give her up, Muhammad had a "convenient revelation" from heaven which said a father can take his adopted son's wife. Read Sura 33:36-38:

...When Zaid had accomplished what he would of her, then we gave her in marriage to you, so that there should not be any fault in the believers, touching the wives of their adopted sons, when they have accomplished what they would of them; and Allah's commandment must be performed. There is no fault in the prophet, touch what Allah had ordained for him.

This passage has led many Muslims to renounce Islam. Back to index

Muslim view of Jesus.

Islam claims that Muhammad and Jesus were both Muslims and prophets of Allah. Whoa, Nelly! They say that Allah has no son and they are right. Allah is not the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God of the Bible--so they are right, Jesus is not the son of Allah. He is the Son of God. Muslims say that the Bible is corrupt, we can't trust it--yet the Quran claims to based on the Bible. Islam says:

These are not issues of the Bible being corrupt as the Muslims say it is. These are issues of the Quran out-and-out contradicting the Bible. These are issues of Muslims blaspheming. See Suras 4:157; 5:19, 75; 9:30. Back to index

Differences between Muhammad and Jesus.

The coming of Muhammad was not foretold. Muhammad came on the scene claiming that he converted genies that ain't nobody seen. And now a whole host of people worship this man and his fake god that is no god. Muhammad did many treacherous things including robbing and plundering for his own wealth. He also commanded his followers to kill all that would not submit to Muhammad's made-up religion.

Today in Africa and around the world, Muslims are killing anyone who will not submit to Islam.

Of late, Muslims are trying to say that Muhammad was sinless, but Muhammad admitted that he is a sinner.

"Muhammad replied..."O Allah, set me apart from my sins..."

Hadith vol. 1, no. 711

In Sura 18:10, Allah tells Muhammad:

Say, I am but a man like yourselves.

Jesus on the other hand was CLEARLY prophesied about hundreds, THOUSANDS of years before His coming. Jesus is the express image of God and His sacrifice stands in demonstration of the love of God. Islam has nothing to point to that reveals the love of God. In fact the Quran says that there is no intercessor or Saviour. You've got to save yourself. See Sura 6:51, 70; 10:3.

Jesus rose from the dead, Muhammad did not. Jesus was the Son of God, Muhammad was not. Jesus did many miracles, Muhammad did not. Jesus was seen by over 500 people when He went up to heaven, Muhammad was put in a grave. Jesus quoted scriptures written thousands of years before His coming while Muhammad made up his own scriptures and claimed that he preached to genies as his proof of being a prophet. Muhammad even contradicted himself when he quoted his various fairy tales. Muhammad sinned against many people. Jesus sinned against no one. Not ONE of Jesus' enemies could ever truthfully say anything bad about Him. People that Muhammad tortured could certainly talk bad about him.

Muhammad is obviously inferior to Jesus, and as a result, Muslim theologians have borrowed events from the life of Jesus and attributed them to their "prophet". Back to index

Muhammad not assured of paradise.

Muhammad was not sure if he was going to heaven himself:

The Prophet said, "By Allah, though I am the Apostle of Allah, yet I do not know what Allah will do to me."

Hadith vol. 5, no. 266

Back to index

The Quran is a messed up fraud.

While the Bible accurately records actual people, places and events, the Quran is a jumbled up mess. Some comments:

"It is a toilsome reading as I ever undertook, a wearisome, confused jumble, crude, incondite."

Thomas Carlyle, Scottish Scholar [2]

"From the literary point of view, the Koran has little merit. Declamation, repetition, puerility, a lack of logic and coherence strike the unprepared reader at every turn. It is humiliating to the human intellect to think that this mediocre literature has been the subject of innumerable commentaries, and that millions of men are still wasting time absorbing it."

Salomon Reinach, German Scholar [3]

"an incoherent rhapsody of fable, and precept, and declamation, which sometimes crawls in the dust, and sometimes is lost in the clouds."

Edward Gibbon, Historian [4]

"The matter of the Koran is exceedingly incoherent and sententious, the book evidently being without any logical order of thought either as a whole or in its parts. This agrees with the desultory and incidental manner in which it is said to have been delivered."

McClintock and Strong's Encyclopedia [5]

"Unfortunately the Qur'an was badly edited and its contents are very obtusely arranged. All students of the Qur'an wonder why the editors did not use the natural and logical method of ordering by date of revelation..."

Ali Dashti, Muslim Scholar [6]

"disjointed and irregular character"

The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam
(a standard islamic work) [7]

Back to index

Bones, palm leaves, rocks and the Quran.

Though he was supposed to be a prophet, Muhammad had no clue that he was going to die when he did. He therefore died without compiling his revelations--don't be mistaken, Muhammad didn't actually write them down himself. When Muhammad would have his visions/seizures he would recite and others would either try to remember what he said or they wrote his words on rocks, palm leaves, animal bones, papyrus, wooden boards, etc. Some of the words got eaten by animals who munched on the palm leaves that they were written on. Some of the Suras were never written down--people just tried to remember what Muhammad said while he was in his trance. Oh, real reliable. Yet a Muslim will tell you that the Bible is untrustworthy--yeah, right--no, wrong!

Much confusion reigned because the memory of one person would contradict the memory of another--but the Bible is corrupt? No, the Quran and its writers were corrupt. The "revelations" of the Koran are not even laid out in chronological order. There no logical order of ideas. In fact, there is no beginning, middle, and end. The Bible tells us about the creation of the earth and mankind (Genesis) and goes all the way through human history until the end of the world and the final judgment (Revelation).

The Bible had approximately 40 authors and was written over a period of approximately 1600 years. It flows seemlessly. The Quran, on the other hand, came through one man (who didn't even write it), during his lifetime with nothing to support it. It is obvious which is superior.

The fact that the Quran claims to be the second part of the Bible shows that it is not because it directly contradicts the Bible while not fitting the literary style or structure found in the Old and New Testaments.

The Muslims claim that the Quran is perfect in Arabic and that it can't be translated. That's pretty dumb--anything can be translated. They also claim that it came directly from heaven with no earthly sources, but in doing a little research it is evident that the Quran did come from earth, more specifically, from Muhammad's pre-Islamic Arabia. The customs and culture found in the Quran fit pre-Islamic Arabia to a "T".

Muslims claim that the Quran is perfect because God preserves His word--but yet they say the Bible is corrupt. If the Quran is supposedly based on the Bible and the Bible is corrupt, why would God preserve the Quran? Back to index

Muhammad gets the Bible all wrong.

Mistakes in the Quran. [it should be noted that many of the stories in the Quran come from the Jewish Talmud, the Midrash, and many apocryphal works--for instance Nimrod threw Abraham in the fire. You'll see this in Jewish extrabiblical literature.]

Back to index

Black Muslim movement founded by a bi-racial man

Elijah Poole, son of a Baptist minister, hooked up in 1931 with Wallace D. Fard who was apparently a bi-racial man and religious teacher. Black Muslims call him "Master Fard Muhammad". Fard told his followers to dress like Arab Muslims did in the Middle East (you see Wallace D. Fard sold African clothing so of course, he sold them the clothing). Poole renounced the Christian faith and his birth name. Fard gave him the name Karriem.

Going from house to house using Watchtower materials, Fard tore down his black followers' faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ and replaced it with his own form of Islam.

The Hadith calls Muhammad was a white man, so Black Muslims serve the one they speak against. Meanwhile, the Hadith calls black people "raisin heads" (vol. 1, no. 662 and vol. 9, no. 256) and refers to them as slaves. If someone dreamed of a black woman, she was an evil omen of disease (vol. 9, nos. 162, 163). Muhammad had black slaves (vol. 6, no. 435). Yet and still Louis Farrakhan and his followers will tell us Christianity is the white man's religion. Jesus came for all regardless of color but Black Islam is specially designed just to lead Black folks to hell!

The Nation of Islam (Black Muslim movement) plays on the racism against black people by white people hence you hear them use terms like "white devils", etc. When I was in college, before I started walking with the Lord, Louis Farrakhan came to my 94% white campus. I really had had no interest in seeing him until all the white students got up in arms. As a black student, the whites treated me badly, so I went to see Farrakhan just because they didn't like the man. I am sorry to say that I agreed with a lot of what he said and I perceive a lot of other black folks are agreeing with this false prophet today and joining this blasphemy called Islam.

Now that I am walking with the Lord I know that the man, Louis Farrakhan, mixes truth and error. He hits the nail on the head in many instances of how we black folks are treated and then mixes in a healthy dose of lies like he is the messiah and has seen the "mother ship". This is not to mention all the heresy of "the real" Islam.

Please see this site for additional information. Back to index

Black Muslim movement seen as spurious.

Orthodox Islam does not want to be identified with the Black Muslim movement in America. It is seen as heretical and is not considered part of Islam.

Elsewhere on this page you will read that (1) Black people are called raisin heads in the Hadith (2) Muhammad had black slaves and (3) he warned that dreams of black women meant disease was forthcoming! Back to index

The Hadith.

This is another sacred book of Islam which Muslims claim is inspired. It's supposed to tell you what to do to get paradise and sundry other stuff. You must EARN Allah's forgiveness by following a bunch of rules and rituals. This stuff is indefensible:

Back to index

Muhammad was a sinner.

The Hadith makes clear that Muhammad was a sinner--NOT sinless as some Muslims now claim:

"Muhammad replied..."O Allah, set me apart from my sins..."

vol. 1, no. 711

Back to index

JESUS vs. Muhammad
Is the god of the Quran the GOD of the bible?
 

Mohammed was the prophet of war; Christ is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6-7).

Mohammed's disciples killed for the faith; Christ's disciples were killed for their faith (Acts 12:2; 2 Timothy 4:7).

Mohammed promoted persecution against the "infidels"; Christ forgave delivered and converted the chief persecutor (1 Timothy 1:13-15).

Mohammed was the taker of life; Christ was the giver of life (John 10:27-28).

Mohammed and his fellow warriors murdered thousands; Christ murdered none but saved many (compare John 12:48).

Mohammed's method was COMPULSION; Christ's aim was voluntary CONVERSION (Acts 3:19).

Mohammed practiced FORCE; Christ preached FAITH (John 6:29, 35).

Mohammed was a WARRIOR; Christ is The DELIVERER (Rom 11:26, Col. 1:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:10).

Mohammed conquered his enemies with the sword; Christ conquered his enemies with another kind of sword, the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12; Acts 2:37).

Mohammed said to the masses, "Convert or die!"; Christ said, "Believe and live!" (John 6:47; 11:25-26).

Mohammed was swift to shed blood (Romans 3:15-17); Christ shed His own blood for the salvation of many (Ephesians 1:7).

Mohammed preached "Death to the infidels!"; Christ prayed "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).

Mohammed declared a holy war (Jihad) against infidels; Christ achieved a holy victory on Calvary's cross (Colossians 2:14-15) and His followers share in that victory (John 16:33).

Mohammed constrained people by conquest; Christ constrained people by love (2 Corinthians 5:14).

Modern terrorists derive their inspiration from Mohammed and carry out their despicable atrocities in the name of his god; Christians derive their inspiration from the One who said, "Blessed are the peacemakers" (Matthew 5:9).

Modern day disciples of Mohammed respond to the terrorist attacks by cheering in the streets; Modern day disciples of Christ are deeply grieved at past atrocities carried out by those who were "Christians" in name only (the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, etc.).

Many Muslims are peaceful and peace-loving because they do not strictly follow the teachings of their founder; Many Christians are peaceful and peace-loving because they do strictly follow the teachings of their Founder (Romans 12:17-21).

Mohammed said the Koran is authoritative only in Arabic, and only in his dialect; The Bible is authoritative in many languages around the world, for God knows all things and can inspire (and preserve) His Word in more than one language.

Mohammed hated music; Jesus and His disciples sang hymns, and the Apostle commanded the Lord's Church to sing. (Matthew 26:30, Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16).

Mohammed allowed that a Mullah, Imam, or Mufti of Islam can be a terrorist and an amoral animal like Osama bin Laden; The Bible requires that a leader in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ must be above reproach, and when this is not true, Christians demand such a fallen leader be removed from leadership. (1 Timothy 3:1-7, 5:19-20).

Islam calls on its followers to observe Five Pillars, while all other aspects of life can be vulgar and not affect the Muslim's prospects in Paradise. The Bible calls on the Christian to submit to the total change of his life by the Spirit of God -- NO area of life and/or thought is left to the choice of the follower. (Romans 12:1-2).

The Muslim looks forward to eternity in Paradise where there will be virgins who are used for eternal perpetual copulation.

The Bible believing Christian looks forward to being with Jesus Christ in total sinless, holiness, and is delighted with that. (2 Corinthians 5:8).

Mohammed said the witness of a woman was half the value of the witness of a man; and Muhammed said a woman goes to Paradise because she satisfies her husband sexually; The Bible teaches that a husband is to love his wife and be willing to die for her. (Ephesians 5:25).

Mohammed called upon his servants to fight; Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world; if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight . . . but now is My kingdom not from hence" (John 18:36).

Mohammed ordered death to the Jews (see A. Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad, Oxford University Press [1975], p. 369); Christ ordered that the gospel be preached "to the Jew first" (Romans 1:16).

The Koran says, "Fight in the cause of Allah" (Qu'ran 2.244); The Bible says, "we wrestle not against flesh and blood" and "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal" (Ephesians 6:12; 2 Corinthians 10:4).

The Koran says, "Fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them" (Qu'ran 9.5); Christ said, "Preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15).

The Koran says, "I will inspire terror into the hearts of unbelievers" (Qu'ran 8.12); God inspires His terror into the hearts of believers (Isaiah 8:13).

The Koran (Qu'ran) is a terrorist manual which condones fighting, conflict, terror, slaughter, and genocide against those who do not accept Islam; The Bible is a missionary manual to spread the gospel of peace to all the world (Romans 10:15).

Mohammed's Mission was to conquer the world for Allah; Christ's mission was to conquer sin's power and penalty by substitutionary atonement (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 3:18).

Mohammed considered Christ a good prophet; Christ pronounced Mohammed to be a false prophet (John 10:10; Matthew 24:11).

Mohammed claimed that there was but one God, Allah; Christ claimed that He was God (John 10:30-31; John 8:58-59; John 5:18; John 14:9).

Islam is geocentric, that is, the whole universe is centered on the Kaaba in the Grand Mosque in Mecca in Arabia, and all Muslims pray facing that direction; Jesus Christ is the center of all Christian worship and fellowship, for He is "in the midst" where his saints meet anywhere on earth. (Matthew 18:20, John 4:22-23).

Mohammed's Tomb: OCCUPIED! Christ's tomb: EMPTY!

Islam must be received, or you can be killed for rejecting it:

The Faith offered by Jesus Christ is for "whosoever will" to receive, and all men are permitted to reject it. (Revelation 22:17, John 3:16).

Those who leave Islam are killed in most Islamic nations; Those who leave the true Church of Jesus Christ are allowed to do so with no revenge.

Muhammed taught that you are allowed to live in any manner of wickedness you choose - as long as you die in a holy jihad for allah. The LORD Jesus Christ teaches that unless you follow after peace (with ALL men), and holiness YOU WILL NEVER SEE THE LORD (for salvations' sake) (Heb 12:14, 2Pet 3:11).

Now, is a Muslim submitted to Allah and Islam because he loves Allah? NO! He dare not leave Islam, and he is loyal purely out of fear.

The true Bible believer is loyal to Jesus Christ purely out of love. 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. (John 4:19) We love him, because he first loved us.

This concept is 100% alien to Islam -- There is no love in Islam - Only fear and hate.

Testimonies of former Muslims

The Islam Information Center

if this page strengthens you faith in Islam, you may want to consider this.

Footnotes:

[1] Yusef Ali is a Muslim apologist first and translator second--it is claimed that he has made some changes in the Quran in some of the places where it is obviously wrong.
[2] Islamic Invasion, p. 108
[3] ibid
[4] ibid
[5] ibid
[6] ibid, pp. 108-109
[7] ibid, p. 109 Koran, Qu'ran