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First of all, this essay is written to make the
differences between Christianity and Islam clear. It is not written to cause
conflict with, or to criticize Islam. I seek only what is true, and if there is
any agreement let us enjoy it together within the limits of the truth.
Secondly, if you are a Christian and are not sure
about this subject, or what you ought to believe about Christianity and Islam,
this will help you. If you are a believer in Islam this will help you see how
different Islam is from Christianity, and how different Christianity is from
Islam.
But before we go any further, we must sort out what
exactly we are discussing.
By 'Christianity' we DO NOT mean church buildings,
ministers in black clothes and white collars, pews, organ music, hymns, and all
the religious paraphernalia which has grown around the original teachings of
Jesus. Nor do we mean Popes, Archbishops or clergy. Nor do we mean the
Crusades, Jesuits, or the Inquisition. Nor do we mean cults which call
themselves 'Christian' but are in fact liars and deceivers – such as Mormons
and Jehovah's Witnesses. Many incredibly horrible and distorted things have
been done in the name of Christianity, but none of them deserve the name
Christian.
By 'Christianity' we mean the simple message as taught
by Jesus, that he alone is the way, the truth and the life – the only Saviour
for the world, and the one who came to die for all the world's sin. He claimed
these things for himself – it was not something his followers decided to make
up. He taught that his followers ought to love each other and care for the
people around them, serving and blessing the world in whatever way they can,
keeping themselves morally clean and making Jesus central to all their service.
By 'Islam' we mean several things, because there are
several blocks or schools of Islam. Most of the 1.9 Islamics
in the world are Sunnite, which means they are moderate. 90% of Muslims in the
A faithful Muslim must declare, either out loud in his
his thoughts, the words: “There is no God but Allah,
and Muhammad is his prophet (or messenger). This declaration of faith sets
Islam apart from Christianity, because Jesus taught that he alone was God's
prophet, and that the name of God is Father. Obviously you cannot believe both
points of view at the same time, because one excludes the other. Immediately we
see that there is conflict: either Jesus is the prophet from God, or Muhammad
is. How could these two opposite claims be examined fairly, so that the correct
one is revealed? One way might be to examine the historical leaders of both
Islam and Christianity.
Muhammad and Jesus - compared.
Muhammad
was born in
After Muhammad's mother died he was sent to live with
his grandfather, Abd-al-Muttalib, who provided a
Bedouin foster mother for him, called Halimah, and he
was raised in the desert. After the death of his grandfather, when Muhammad was
eight, he returned to
When Muhammad was twenty five he married a wealthy
forty year old widow Khadijah, after she proposed to
him. Muhammad remained with Khadijah for twentyfive years and had two sons, who died in infancy, and
four daughters. After Khadijah died in 619 or 620,
Muhammad married a widow of a disciple, and a seven year old – who moved in
with him when she was ten. Her name was Ayisha.
His seventh wife was his daughter-in-law. By the time
of his death he had 12 wives and two concubines, including Maryam,
an Egyptian coptic slave.
Interestingly, in the Koran (Sura
From the time Muhammad began to have mystical
experiences his story becomes quite complicated. According to various reliable
sources, his first mystical experience happened when he claimed to have been
attacked by two men who cut his belly open in search of something. His foster
mother found him standing by himself, without any apparent injuries, yet he
claimed to have had his stomach cut open. She thought he was demon-possessed.
Later he claimed that his non-existent attackers had been angels who had removed
all trace of their wounds and cleansed his heart.
In AD 610 he claimed to have received the first of a
series of revelations of the Quran (Koran) from God,
through the angel Gabriel. He told a wife about this so convincingly she
believed him, and so did his cousin Ali, then his slave, and then his best
friend Abu Bakr. From then on his followers grew in
number without much problem. More slaves were gathered in, and many of the poor
and oppressed, and then some wealthy clans. They were convinced because he used
the so-called Satanic verses, which have since been
deleted from the Koran. They were then known as Sura 53:19 in which his
followers were encouraged to worship the three daughters of Allah. Later the
angel Gabriel chided Muhammad for claiming divine inspiration for this verse,
and told him he did this on his own while under Satan's power, and that he had
made the dreadful mistake because he had been preaching to unbelievers.
Many Muslims today claim that the incident over Sura
53:19 never happened, and they saw Muhammad always said there were no other
pagan gods or goddesses. At any rate his following grew, and in 621 he was
offered protection by some powerful wealthy families in Yathrib.
The next significant event after that was the 'hijra'.
The 'hijra' was Muhammad's
migration. Islam marks its beginnings from this moment. After Muhammed's uncle died (in 619 or 620) the leaders of the
various Meccan tribes and clans vowed to assassinate
him. Muhammad claimed that the angel Gabriel warned him of this, so he and his
friend Abu Bakr fled to Yathrib
280 miles north of
Eventually the forces against Muhammad were gathered,
and in 627 a Meccan army of 10,000 arrived to attack
At this point the blood-trail of Islam begins. When
the people in
In 628 they conquered another group of Jews at Khaybar.
In 630 they marched on
Two years later Muhammad died (
History books record the details of the gradual
progress of Islam's hold over many other nations, but many also shook off its
hold and declared their independence. You may like to follow this up for
yourself.
Apparently, when Muhammad started his movement, he
encouraged nonbelievers to consider Sura 2:256, which
says: “Let there be no compulsion in religion.” Later, however, he changed his
mind, because Sura 9:5 says: “Fight and slay the idolaters wherever you find
them, and seize them, and besiege them, and lie in wait for them.”
Again, in Sura 5:33 we are told: “The punishment of
those who wage war against God and His Apostle, and strive with might and main
for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off
of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land.” The Koran calls
Jews and Christians “People of the Book” (Sura 5:5,
A glimpse into what it was like to live in a
Muslim-dominated city is found in a short piece written in 1796 by the early
American statesman Joel Barlow. He was writing about Turkish-controlled
On the positive side, Christians and Jews under
Islamic rule usually fared well, in many cases much better than in Roman
Catholic Western Europe. Eastern Christians, such as Theophanes
(writing in the early 800s) regarded Islam as a heresy and challenged it as
they had also challenged Arianism (which said Jesus
was just a man), and several other heresies.
The earlist Western
Christian contacts with Islam were when the Muslims conquered
But things changed in the 850's when a man called Eulogius denounced Islam as a heresy and called Muhammad
'the Antichrist” and a false prophet. In Cordova during this time about fifty
Spaniards denounced Islam and were put to death. Except for Francis of Assisi
(1181 or 1182-1226) and Raymond Lull (1235-1315) there were no significant
attempts at missionary efforts to preach the gospel to Muslims until Henry Martyn started to spread the gospel in Muslim India in the
early 1800's.
General estimates at the numbers slaughtered in the
name of Islam are as follows: from
Before anyone thinks this is all one-sided, let it be
said that there are many examples of people who have called themselves
Christians who have committing equal atrocities on Muslims and others. Does
this mean that a religion is to be judged by the way its followers behave? No.
That would be illogical. The original teaching of the religion is the core from
which all followers come, so it is the core which we must look at, not the
followers, if we want to find the truth. It is no good saying “Christianity is
false because it teaches people to join the Crusades!” However sincere those
Crusaders might have been, it is better to see what the Bible teaches, than
what they thought about it. Our opinions are just that – opinions. It may be
our opinion that the world is flat, but the facts will always be more
important.
Jesus.
The life of Jesus is both strange and incredible, even
from before he was born right through to after he died. All anyone needs to do
to find out about him is read the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
but a fully-rounded picture of Jesus can be found by reading all 66 books of
the Bible. He was predicted four thousand years before he was born, and the
details of his life were predicted at least a thousand years before he lived
them out. His work, miracles, death and resurrection were all foretold hundreds
of years before they occurred. As the person of Jesus is revealed, his words,
works and lifestyle also stand out as quite unique. This alone ought to alert
us to something: we are dealing with a man like no other. These are the facts.
The person of Jesus is not the product of anyone's opinion,
The details of his life are recorded in the Bible, and are backed up by archaeology
and other scientific disciplines. When we compare Jesus with
Muhammad, the latter pales into insignificance.
For more information about Jesus I suggest that you
read the four gospels. Note the words Jesus spoke, the works of compassion, the
miracles, the love. Note how Jesus stands out as far
more than a man, sinless, wise, and holy. See how he draws from people their
worship, yet never boasts or leads any of his followers into a 'holy war'. His
path is self-sacrifice and service to all people, not the way of the sword.