In an age of religious pluralism, it is popular to say that
all religions teach basically the same thing.
This sounds tolerant and appeals to a desire to be inclusive, but the
question is whether this cliché is true.
As Steve Turner satirically quipped, “We believe that religions are
basically the same, they only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell,
God, and salvation.”1 The
next stop on our Trip Around the Worldviews will require investigation of this
statement, as we explore a religion and worldview that is often claimed to
overlap with Christianity.
In the interfaith movement, it is popular to assert that
Christians and Muslims worship the same God.
Recently, Pope Francis and Grand Imam Ahmed Al-Tayebb of Egypt’s
Al-Azhar University released a joint declaration “in the name of God who has
created all human beings equal in rights, duties and dignity.”2 In 1965, the Second Vatican Council affirmed,
“The church also regards with esteem the Muslims. They adore the one God living and subsisting
in himself, merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth.” While the interfaith movement promotes
important values such as compassion, tolerance, and cooperation, the question
remains whether different religions are truly fundamentally equivalent. If there are fundamental differences, how do
those differences affect the worldview of a particular religion’s
followers? While Islam and Christianity
may have more in common with each other than the first two worldviews in this
series (secularism and new age spirituality), we shall see that there exist fundamental differences have an important
impact on worldview.
The Foundation
The Islamic worldview stands upon the shahada, or confession of faith, which states, “There is no God but
Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.” In
Islam, Allah is not God’s name, but is simply the Arabic word for God. While Jews and Christians also affirm
monotheism, Muslims understanding of God differs from the Biblical
description. God is completely
transcendent and is not directly knowable, but only relates to people through
prophets and authoritative teachings. A
Muslim would not talk about having a relationship with Allah as Christians
often talk about having a relationship with Christ.
Foremost among the prophets, Muhammad was Allah’s messenger
sent to correct religious misunderstandings of the past and to deliver verbatim
the literal word of God in the Quran.
Additionally, the Hadith contains a collection of Muhammad’s sayings and
accounts of his daily practice and is an additional authoritative source for
Islam. These two sources are the
authoritative lens through which Muslims view all of life.
Origin – How did we
get here?
When answering this question, the Christian and Islamic
worldview will hold a similar viewpoint.
Allah is eternal and self-existent, the creator of all. Similar to the Genesis account of creation,
when Allah spoke, the universe was created.
“To Him is due the primal origin of the heavens and the earth: when He
decreeth a matter, He saith to it: ‘Be’, and it is.” (Quran 2:117).
In fact, the Kalam cosmological argument, which is popular
among Christian apologists, was originally developed by Islamic philosophers to
support theistic arguments. Christian
apologist Norman Geisler acknowledges, “The Kalam argument is a horizontal form
of the cosmological argument. The
universe is not eternal, so it must have had a Cause. That Cause must be considered God. This argument has a long and venerable
history among such Islamic philosophers as Alfarabi, Al Ghazali, and Avicenna.”3
The following quote, from Pakistani Muslim scholar Khurshid
Ahmad, could very well have been written by a Christian:
How can one observe
the inexhaustible creativity of nature, its purposefulness, its preservation of
that which is morally useful and destruction of that which is socially
injurious, and yet fail to draw the conclusion that behind nature there is an
All-Pervading Mind of whose incessant creative activity the process of nature
are but an outward manifestation? The
stars scattered through the almost infinite space, the vast panorama of nature
with its charm and beauty, the planned waxing and waning of the moon, the
astonishing harmony of the seasons – all point towards one fact; there is a
God, the Creator, the Governor. We
witness a superb, flawless plan in the universe – can it be without a
Planner? We see great enchanting beauty
and harmony in its working – can it be without a Creator? We observe wonderful design in nature – can
it be without a Designer? We feel a
lofty purpose in physical and human existence – can it be without a Will
working behind it? We find that the
universe is like a superbly written fascinating novel – can it be without an
Author?4
Identity – What does
it mean to be human?
While Christians and Muslims share common ground with
respect to human origins, the worldviews begin to diverge regarding human
identity. Muslims do not view humans as
being created in God’s image (compare to Genesis 1:26-27 and James 3:9) or as
being beloved children (see 1 John 3:1), but as slaves of Allah. The Arabic word “abd” means one who is
subordinated as a slave or servant, as well as to worship. A common name in Islamic lands, Abdullah,
literally means “servant or slave of Allah” or “worshipper of Allah.” To worship and to submit as a slave are two
sides of the same coin. Even the word
Islam means “submission.”
Christians certainly should be completely submitted to God,
not in any way viewing themselves as being equal to God as his image
bearers. However, the Muslim view of
humans as slaves to Allah, as opposed to image bearers of God with intrinsic
worth and dignity, certainly impacts the way in which the Islamic world views
people who are currently outside of the faith.
Although there are examples of atrocities in Christian church history
that could be cited, one cannot utilize violence to “convert” someone to
Christianity and remain consistent with the teaching of the New Testament. However, since Islam teaches that all humans
were initially born as Muslims, but that some are now in rebellion against
Allah, the use of force and terror is completely justified to bring these
rebellious servants back under submission. Consider just a couple of verses from the
Quran:
Fight those
who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath
been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of
Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya
with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (Quran 9:29)
But when the
forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find
them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every
stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and
practice regular charity, then open the way for them. (Quran 9:5)
This is not to say that all Muslims agree in the use of violence and
terror to advance the cause of Islam. There
are many Muslims who live peaceful lives and desire peace in the world. However, this is a critique of worldview, not
of individuals, and Islam’s teaching on the nature of man before Allah
justifies the use of violence to force submission before him.
Morality – How
should we live?
“There is no division of ethics and law” in Islam, according to Swedish
Muslim writer S. Parvez Manzoor.5
Islamic law, which is primarily derived from the Quran and Hadith, is
ethical by definition because they are specific commands revealed from
Allah. Since Allah’s character cannot be
directly known, Islam’s moral compass is calibrated by Allah’s words dictated
to Muhammad in the Quran and by Muhammad’s actions recorded in the Hadith. Ram Swarup, a Hindu thinker and author,
comments, “To (Muslims) morality derives from the Prophet’s actions; the moral
is whatever he did. Morality does not
determine the Prophet’s actions, but his actions determine and define
morality. Muhammad’s acts were not
ordinary acts; they were Allah’s own acts.”6
This view of morality may seem to be similar to the
Judeo-Christian worldview. Certainly
there are specific moral commands in both the Old and New Testament, however,
Judeo-Christian morality ultimately derives from God’s character. Jesus summarizes all the laws of the Old
Testament with two commands: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength...and love your neighbor as yourself.”
(Mark 12:30 - 31). Morality,
based on “agape” love, comes from the inside-out, not the outside-in, as it
does in Islam’s divine command ethic.
Meaning – Why are we
here?
The purpose of life is to be submitted to Allah and to bring
others under submission to Allah. While
some Muslims view jihad as merely a personal battle of self-discipline or a
call to defend Islam against outside threats, historically jihad has also included the conquest of non-believing nations to bring them under submission to
Allah. Famous Arab historian Ibn Khaldun
wrote in the 14th century, “In the Muslim community, the holy war is
a religious duty, because of the universalism of the [Muslim] mission and [the
obligation to] convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or force.”7
"Not equal are those of the believers who sit (at home), except those who are disabled (by injury or are blind or lame, etc.), and those who strive hard and fight in the Cause of Allah with their wealth and their lives. Allah has preferred in grades those who strive hard and fight with their wealth and their lives above those who sit (at home).Unto each, Allah has promised good (Paradise), but Allah has preferred those who strive hard and fight, above those who sit (at home) by a huge reward." (Quran 4:95)
Destiny – What
happens to us when we die?
While Muslims and Christians both believe in a final
judgment, followers hold drastically different views regarding the means and
methods of salvation. Although Muslim’s
believe that Adam and Eve disobeyed Allah’s original command not to eat of the
forbidden fruit in the garden, they believe that this act of disobedience was
quickly forgiven and that humanity did not inherit a sinful nature. In fact, every human is born a Muslim, but
some rebel against Allah, a rebellion that was made possible by Adam and Eve’s
original sin. Islam was sent by Allah to
provide a way back into proper standing before him.
While Muslim’s do believe that Allah shows mercy in salvation,
it is ultimately the good works of man that save, not the grace of God. According to the Quran, “the weighing on that
day (Day of Resurrection) will be the true [weighing]. So as for those for those whose scale [of
good deeds] will be heavy they will be the successful [by entering
Paradise]. And as for those whose scale
will be light, they are those who will lose their own selves [by entering Hell]
because they denied and rejected Our Ayat
[proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations].” (Quran 7:8 – 9)
While there never is complete assurance of salvation,
Muslims can add weight to their scale my participating in the five pillars of
Islam: confessing the shahada (There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his
prophet), engaging in prayer five times per day while facing Mecca, fasting
during Ramadan, giving 2.5% of their income to the poor, and making a
pilgrimage to Mecca once during their lifetime.
Summary
Unlike the previous two worldviews that we have explored,
secularism and new age spirituality, I find Islam to be a coherent and
internally consistent worldview. For
example, the previous two worldviews provide no objective foundation for moral
obligations, yet people who hold these worldviews live as if moral obligations
truly exist. Although secularism is built
upon reason and rationality, its materialistic view of the universe unwittingly
undermines the basis for libertarian free will, which would be necessary to
truly engage in a rational investigation of the universe. Based on what I know thus far, I see no
similar problems in Islam.
However, although Islam and Christianity do
have some minor similarities, foundational differences lead to very different perspectives on humanity, morality, and destiny. Since both worldviews are coherent and
internally consistent, the important question is whether either worldview is
true. Despite the clichés of religious
pluralism and the interfaith movement, it is impossible for both worldviews to
be true, not only because of differing answers to life’s big questions, but due
to fundamentally different foundations.
While both religions are monotheistic, Christianity teaches
that God is triune, one being consisting three co-equal persons (Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit). To the Muslim mind, this
belief is shirk, the sin of polytheism.
The Quran denounces the Trinity by stating, “They do blaspheme who say,
“God is one of three in a Trinity’, for there is no god except One God. If they desist not from their word, verily a
grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them.” (Quran 5:75 –
76). Clearly, Islam denies the deity of
both Christ and the Holy Spirit.
What is more, Christianity is built upon the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. As the
Apostle Paul clearly teaches, “If Christ has not been raised, then our
preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." (1 Corinthians 15:14 – 17). The truthfulness of Christianity hinges upon the
physical, bodily resurrection of Christ.
Islam teaches not only that Jesus did not raise from the dead, but that
he wasn’t even crucified in the first place.
The Quran claims, “They that said, ‘We killed Christ Jesus the son of
Mary, the Apostle of God’; but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so
it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts,
with no knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for a surety they killed him
not; nay, God raised him up unto Himself; and God is Exalted in Power, Wise.
(Surah 4).
Based on standard methods of historical investigations, it
is a bedrock fact of history that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified at the hands
of Pontius Pilate. There is incredibly
good evidence that points to Jesus’ resurrection from the dead as the best
explanation of the facts of history. A
series of posts on this topic will be forthcoming sometime within the next
year. For anyone who is sincerely
seeking truth, whether comparing the Christian and Islamic worldview or coming
from a completely different perspective, I would implore you to investigate the
question as to whether Jesus of Nazareth rose from the grave. I can think of no more important question in
all of history.
Sources
1) Turner, Steve. "Creed." 1993.
3) Geisler, Norman L.
Baker Encyclopedia of Christian
Apologetics. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999. 399.
4) Ahmad, Khurshid. Islam: Its Meaning and Message.
Leicester: The Islamic Foundation, 1999. 29 – 30.
5) Manzoor, S.
Parvez. “Islamic Conceptual Framework.”
May 27, 2005.
6) Swarup, Ram. Understanding Islam through Hadis.
Dehli: Voice of India, 1983.
7) Chapman, Colin. Cross and Crescent: Responding to the
Challenge of Islam. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2003. 293.
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