The Bible clearly establishes that there is no salvation in any false religious system. Peter and John told the council of Jesus Christ, and that there is no salvation in any other name. Acts 4:10-12. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 4:16. Allah is not the Father; no man can come to the Father through Mohammed, or any other source. The Islamic holy book, the Koran, is not Divinely-inspired. There is no further record of truth after the writing of the Bible. No man is to add anything to the truth given in the Bible. Revelation 22:18.
Nonetheless, every child of God should have a basic understanding of the history and teachings of Islam. Without that knowledge, people are susceptible to the false assumptions of ecumenicism - that all religious beliefs are equally valid, and that sincere believers in every religion will somehow be saved. But salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.
The Rise of Mohammedanism
The Islamic religion began early in the seventh century and spread like a devouring fire through the eastern world. Recall that Christianity had split into Western and Eastern halves in the eleventh century. But the division had been apparent for centuries before that. The West followed the Popes of Rome, while the East looked to Constantinople. In actuality, the Eastern Empire was larger, wealthier, and more united. If the followers of Mohammed had not wrecked the Eastern Christian Empire, Rome would not have come to dominate what we later considered to be the civilized world.
In the course of just a few years, the Moslem religion blotted out Christianity in the Southwest Asia, Northern Africa, the Euphrates and Nile River valleys, and the Eastern and Southern Mediterranean coastal areas. The pleasant land, the land of the Bible, the land of Jesus Christ, of the Old Testament prophets and New Testament apostles, lands that had been the epicenter of the Christian world for 600 years, were brought under the crescent and sword of the Mohammedans.
Mohammed was born in Mecca, in what is now Saudi Arabia, in 570 A.D. He was born to a wealthy family and was the grandson of the governor of the region. However, his father died before Mohammed was born and his mother died when he was just a child. So Mohammed was raised by a poor relative. As a young man he visited Damascus and the region of Syria – where he came into contact with Christians and Jews. The Jews were an oppressed and despised minority, and the Christians were apostate. This was a period of idol-worship in churches – with Christians bowing before statues, praying to the dead, etc. Mohammed rejected the idolatry of apostate Christianity.
Some time thereafter, he was alone in a cave near Mecca when he claimed that the angel Gabriel came to him to tell him that Allah was God. While he initially doubted this vision, his wife convinced him that it was true. Mohammed had several revelations in the following years, always while in a trance. "Allah" was not something invented by Mohammed. That name was well-known in pre-Islamic Arabia. He was one of the deities of the Arabic people, the moon god. The crescent moon was a symbol of Allah long before the birth of Mohammed.
He proclaimed himself a prophet of the true god, Allah, in 610 A.D., and preached against idolatry, drunkenness and the vices that were prevalent among the Arab people, such as stealing and infanticide. But his message was rejected, especially by the rulers, and he was forced to flee from Mecca to Medina in 622. This flight, called the Hegira, is the point from which Moslems begin counting time. Mohammed’s religion was accepted in Medina, and he formed his followers into an army. They proceeded by conquest. Persons were required to convert to their religion or die. That method is still used today.
Dissatisfied with the Bible, and especially the New Testament teachings of love and peace, Mohammedans wrote their own scriptures, the Koran. This is a record of Mohammed’s oral teachings from the years immediately preceding the Hegira until his death. First published 30 years after the death of the prophet, it was divided into 114 chapters, or suras. Like the Bible, the suras are each subdivided into verses.
There are few, if any, original religious ideas in the Koran. The material it contains is a compilation of Zoroastrianism, the Jewish Talmud, ancient Arabic beliefs and Old and New Testament stories and principles. Moslems, however, consider the Koran to be the final revelation of God and an exact text of a book in Heaven. Many memorize the entire Koran.
Mohammed re-entered Mecca at the head of a conquering army in 630 and destroyed all idols he could find. Christian churches were either destroyed or converted into Mosques. He died in 632, several years before his followers conquered Jerusalem, but tradition holds that he flew to Jerusalem on a winged horse after he died and stopped off at the temple mount before he flew on to Heaven. That is why the Dome of the Rock, and the Al Asqa Mosques in Jerusalem are holy to Moslems.
Mohammed's successors were called Caliphs, and used his methods to spread his teachings by force. They conquered Syria in 634, Jerusalem in 637, Egypt in 638, Persia in 640, all of North Africa had fallen by 689, and Spain was conquered in 711. Christianity was virtually extinguished everywhere they went. And in the lands they still hold today, where the Moslem religion has dominated for nearly 14 centuries, Christianity is almost non-existent.
Stopping the Spread of Mohammedanism
Having conquered Spain, the Moslems continued to march into Europe. In one of the most important battles of all history, Charles Martel, grandfather of Charlemagne, defeated the invading Moslem hordes. This was the Battle of Tours (now France) in 732. If he had failed, there would have been no stopping the invasion, and Europe would have been Islamic instead of Christian. Centuries of bloodshed followed. The Moslems were not driven back out of Spain completely until the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella in the 15th Century, some 700 years later.
Arabs dominated a united Moslem kingdom until 1058. This vast kingdom was ruled first from Mecca, then Damascus, and later Baghdad. The Ottoman Turks, non-Arab Moslems, ruled from 1058 to 1917, except for a brief period under Moslem Mongols initially lead by Genghis Khan. The cruelty and passion of the Turks aroused the ire of the Christian world. Their barbarous treatment of Christians was a prime motivator for the Crusades.
The Mongols were even more vicious. They burned 50,000 cities and towns, and murdered 5 million people. 630,000 Christians in Asia Minor were slain by the sword. One of the most notorious Moslem Mongols was Tamerlane, who butchered and pillared the region. He was known for piling heads of conquered enemies at every city. He had a pile of 90,000 human heads at Baghdad.
After the Turks regained control of the Moslem world, they continued their expansion. Constantinople fell to them in 1453. Moslem armies marched into Europe again; this time from the east, rather than the Spanish west. This second threat to extinguish European Christianity was stopped at the Battle of Vienna in 1683, by a Christian army lead by John Sobieski.
Moslem Conquests Today
The Moslem world did not see the Battles of Tours and Vienna as a permanent defeat. They are convinced that they will triumph over the decadent Christian world. Bloodshed continues in this war – as of September 11, 2001, this includes the blood of thousands of Americans.
The Islamic religion is pushing southward into Africa. Already it is established in black African nations such as Senegal, Sudan and Somalia. It has pushed north into the former Soviet Union states, such as Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Georgia. It has pushed across southern Asia into Indonesia and even the Philippines.
Wherever there is a significant Moslem presence, from the 7th Century to the 21st Century, Moslems have persecuted Christians and Jews. They hate the Jews because they will not accept Mohammed as the last and greatest prophet of God. They despise Christians as an abomination because they worship Jesus Christ.
According to an article appearing in worthynews.com on August 1, 2001:
Right now in approximately 40 countries throughout the world, Christians are being persecuted, tortured, and killed for their faith. One Christian is martyred every three minutes... Over 200 million Christians in the world are being persecuted right now. In many parts of the world, Christianity is disappearing due to forced conversions to Islam. In these countries children and taken and forced to become Islamic.
Some of those nations with conflicts are:
Nigeria
Nearly forgotten in the news from the East Coast of our country is the news from Nigeria. Africa's most populous nation is torn between its overwhelmingly Moslem north and its slightly predominately Christian south. Thousands have died in recent weeks in northern cities - and churches and parsonages have been burned.
Indonesia
Indonesia has the fourth-largest national population. It is composed of 13,660 islands spread over thousands of miles of the Indian Ocean. It is the largest Islamic country in the world, with 173 million Moslems in a total population of 200 million.
Rampaging mobs of radical Muslims have launched a jihad (holy war) of staggering proportions in Indonesia. Since 1995, 500 churches have been burned and destroyed. On May 30, 2000 the Lasker Jihad (holy war army) slaughtered more than 50 Christian villagers on the island of Halmahera in a pre-dawn raid. Another raid was launched from 14 boats on the island of Buru, where 105 houses, 3 churches and 2 schools were destroyed.
On Kasiui island, teachers David Balubun and E. Rumatera were beheaded when they refused to convert to Islam. When four Christian villages on that island were attacked, approximately 500 people fled to another nearby island. At least 760 people were not so lucky; most were forced to convert to Islam, and as many as 100 died for refusing to recant their faith in Christ. In the Molucca Islands of Indonesia, more than 5000 are dead, and 500,000 displaced in the third year of forced conversions, pillage and rape of Christians.
Sudan
In Sudan, the Moslem government is systematically slaughtering Christians in the south. The government continues to bomb civilian targets. Islamic extremists speak against the Christian religion and incite Moslems to continue jihad.
Saudi Arabia
In August, 2001, Saudi Arabia launched a sweep of Christians. Christian leader Prabhu Isaac was arrested on July 18 in the city of Jeddah. After torture, he was forced to disclose the names of other believers. The Saudi Ministry of Interior launched a round-up of suspected Christians – sweeping in at night, or waiting for persons to arrive at their job. The total number of persons arrested is unknown but likely exceeds 20.
Afghanistan
The Taliban government in Afghanistan, who harbor Osama bin Laden, recently arrested 24 Christian aid workers on charges of proselytizing. They were tortured in an attempt to convert them to Islam. They refused and now face the death sentence that is mandated by strict Islamic law. That law applies in many Moslem-dominated nations.
Wherever Moslems are in the majority, or even a large minority, they resort to the sword to promote their religion. Anyone who stands in their way is to be killed. By force of arms, they will continue to subdue and forcibly convert people to their false religion. Christians, since the days of martyrdom at the hands of pagan Rome, would rather die than renounce their Savior.
The Teachings of Islam
The Islamic religion is a false system. It cannot bring salvation to any of its adherents. No Moslem will enter their version of "paradise," nor will they be a part of the new heaven and new earth that Jesus will establish.
In John 10:1, Jesus said that He is the only door to the sheepfold. The sheepfold is the destiny of the saved; it is the millennial kingdom of Christ. No one can enter in through any other door – not Mohammed, not Buddha, nor any other way. The most-quoted Scripture in the Bible is John 3:16. It tells all that they must believe on Jesus Christ to have eternal life.
Believers must confess the name of Jesus, acknowledge that He is the Son of God, and claim His blood to purge their sins. Acts 2:21 and Acts 2:38 show that sinners must call on the name of the Lord, and not Mohammed or Allah, to be saved.
The teachings of Islam center on One God, Allah, and his greatest prophet or apostle, Mohammed. Moslems believe that God gave a law through Moses, the gospel through Jesus, but the Koran through Mohammed, the last and greatest prophet.
Islam rejects any notion that Jesus Christ is God, or a God. It rejects the Trinity as well as Oneness, as we know it. Allah is One. Animosity to Christians is particularly acute, since they worship Jesus. Mohammed considered that idolatry. Islam teaches that not even Allah can forgive one who worships Jesus, or any other person but Allah. A special hell is reserved for those who believe Jesus is divine.
Islamic law, the Shariah, is in force in many Arab and Moslem lands, including the northern states of Nigeria. It is a pervasive code that regulates all aspects of human life. It pertains to marriage, ethical duties and criminal law – such as hand amputation for stealing, public floggings and executions for some crimes, etc. This law requires religious worship, the five daily prayers, and the other aspects of this religion. Obedience to the requirements of Islam is not voluntary; it is required by law.
Islamics believe in angels and Satan, as well as a paradise. The religion condones slavery and the subjection of women. Moslem men can have up to four wives, but in paradise they will be given 70 virgins for sexual pleasure.
Paradise is the ultimate destiny for all Moslems, but after they die they are sent to waiting places until the Day of Judgment. On Judgment Day, all must cross the Sirat bridge, which is as narrow as a hair and as sharp as a knife. The unbelievers will fall from the bridge into hell of hot desert sands and boiling water to drink. Only the prophets and certain special believers have already entered Paradise and are enjoying its benefits. Those benefits include a sensuous environment where rare and tasty foods are present, along with those maidens.
All martyrs are assured of an immediate and glorious place in paradise. The radicals persuade young men to become suicide bombers, convincing them that a suicide bombing is martyrdom, allowing them into paradise long before most others will arrive. Further, it is a service to Allah to kill infidels.
While not every Moslem is a suicide-bomber, and not every follower of Islam hates America, all of them need prayer. They are caught up in a false religion. They need the salvation that can be found only in the name of Jesus Christ.