Salvation Summaries

In my last post, How to Witness to Muslims, Part 1, I talked about my general approach to witnessing (to taxi drivers), shared a conversation I had with a devout Muslim, and provided a brief comparison between the Qur’an and the Bible.  In this post, I’ll provide you the main messages of the Qur’an, what I liked about it, disliked about it, and what surprised me when I read it.

The Main Messages of the Qur’an

• Muhammad was a prophet and messenger who produced the Qur’an as a guide to believers and warning to disbelievers.

• The Qur’an follows the Torah, Psalms and Gospels, and is the final and most authoritative scripture.

• There is no god besides God. He begot no one nor was He begotten. No one is comparable to Him (see sura 112, Purity of Faith).

• Jesus was simply a prophet, nothing more.  He is not God, and was not begotten.  The trinity is not true.

• Believers (in Islam) who do good will go to a Garden with flowing streams, cool shade, sweet fruit, etc.

• Disbelievers (in general, anyone who does not heed the message of Muhammad as found in the Qur’an, but more specifically Christians, Jews and polytheists) will experience agonizing torment in Hell.

What I liked about the Qur’an

There are three things I liked about the Qur’an.

First, it was written as a guide to believers in Islam and as a warning to disbelievers of their fate if they do not change their religious beliefs.  I respect the author’s conviction in his religious views, as it parallels that of serious Christians who also seek to warn others if they do not change.

Second, you can clearly see the author’s reverence for God based upon his understanding of God’s power (in creation), wisdom, willingness to forgive and mercy.  Because of these and other traits of God, the author wants people to fear and worship Him, which is what  Christians want too.

Third, and related to the above, the Qur’an includes a surprising number of names for and descriptions of God. Several are in nearly sura, and after you read through a number of suras, the list gets quite lengthy.  I’ve included below a long but incomplete list of them.

• Everything in the heavens and the earth belongs to God
• Control of the heavens and earth belongs to God
• He is the originator of the heavens and earth
• God has power over everything
• The Almighty, All Wise
• All knowing, all wise
• All knowing and benign to all
• All knowing, all aware
• The Mighty (or Almighty), the Wise
• Has knowledge of all things (or everything)
• The All Hearing and the All Knowing
• Limitless and All Knowing
• God is fully aware of all things; He is well aware of whatever you do; He has full knowledge of everything
• God is not unaware of what you do; He sees everything you do; He rejects those who disbelieve
• Created you, spread out the earth, built the sky, sent water down, made the seven heavens
• Most forgiving and merciful
• Most merciful and forgiving
• Ever Relenting and most Merciful
• God is always ready to accept repentance, He is full of Mercy
• Ever Giving
• The Most High, the Tremendous
• The Ever Living, Ever Watchful
• The Exalted, the Decider
• He is sufficient protector
• Bountiful to all

What I disliked about the Qur’an

There are two things I disliked about the Qur’an.

The first is its tone.  Many of the author’s comments are directed at disbelievers who hold religious views the author strongly objects to.  The author’s criticism of these people and their views goes beyond that of concern and disapproval to border on being contemptuous and defiant.  Not only are disbelievers foolish and evil, they deserve agonizing torment in hell, according to the author.  A little more compassion for disbelievers would have been nice to see.

The second thing I disliked, which relates to the above, is the Qur’an’s extensive criticism of Christian beliefs (and thus Christians). For those of you who may question the accuracy of this comment (because you’ve not heard or read anything like it), I offer a dozen examples below, which are taken from only a handful of the 114 suras in the Qur’an:

• 2:116: They have asserted, ‘God has a child.’ May He be exalted! No!

• 2:120, 121: The Jews and the Christians will never be pleased with you unless you follow their ways…Those to whom We have given the Scripture, who follow it as it deserves, are the ones who truly believe in it. Those who deny its truth will be the losers.

• 2:135, 136: They say, ‘Become Jews or Christians, and you will be rightly guided.’ Say [Prophet], ‘No, [ours is] the religion of Abraham, the upright, who did not worship any god besides God.’ …We believe in…what was sent down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and what was given to Moses, Jesus, and all the prophets by their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them…

• 2:254, 255: …It is the disbelievers who are wrong. God: there is no god but Him…Who is there that can intercede with Him…

• 3:58:  We relate to you [Muhammad] this revelation, a decisive statement. In God’s eyes Jesus is just like Adam: He created him from dust, said to him, ‘Be’, and he was.

• 3:64, 69, 70, 71: Say, People of the Book, let us arrive at a statement that is common to us all: we worship God alone, we ascribe no partner to Him, and none of us takes others beside God as lords.’ Some of the People of the Book would dearly love to lead you [believers] astray, but they only lead themselves astray, though they do not realize it. People of the Book, why do you deny God’s revelations when you can see they are true? People of the Book, why do you mix truth with falsehood?

• 3:84, 85: …We believe in what has been given to Moses, Jesus, and the prophets from their Lord. We do not make a distinction between any of them. It is to Him that we devote ourselves. If anyone seeks a religion other than [islam] complete devotion to God, it will not be accepted from him: he will be one of the losers in the Hereafter.

• 3:151: We will strike panic into the disbelievers’ hearts because they attribute partners to God although He has sent no authority for this: their shelter will be the Fire. How miserable is the home of the evildoers!

• 4:48: God does not forgive the joining of partners with Him: anything less than that He forgives to whoever He will, but anyone who joins partners with God has fabricated a tremendous sin.

• 4:56: We shall send those who reject Our revelations to the Fire. When their skins have been burned away, We shall replace them with new ones so that they may continue to feel the pain…

• 4:116:  God does not forgive the worship of others beside Him…

• 4:157, 15:  and said, ‘We have killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the Messenger of God.’ (They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, though it was made to appear like that to them…they certainly did not kill him – No! God raised him up to Himself.

• 4:171: People of the Book, do not go to excess in your religion, and do not say anything about God except the truth: the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was nothing more than a messenger of God, His word directed to Mary, and a spirit from Him. So believe in God and his messengers and do not speak of a ‘Trinity’ – stop [this], that is better for you – God is only one God, He is far above having a son…

• 5:68: Say, ‘People of the Book, you have no true basis [for your religion] unless you uphold the Torah, the Gospel, and that which has been sent down to you from your Lord (thus, the Scripture given to Muhammad).

• 5:72-75: Those who say, ‘God is the Messiah, son of Mary,’ have defied God. The Messiah himself said, ‘Children of Israel, worship God, my Lord and your Lord. If anyone associates others with God, God will forbid him from the Garden, and Hell will be his home. Those people who say that God is the third of three are defying [the truth]: there is only One God.  If they do not stop what they are saying, a painful punishment will afflict those of them who persist.  The Messiah, son of Mary, was only a messenger…see how deluded they are.

• 9:28-31: Believers, those who ascribe partners to God are truly unclean…Fight those People of the Book who do not [truly] believe in God and the Last Day, who do not forbid what God and His Messenger have forbidden…the Christians said, ‘The Messiah is the son of God’. May God thwart them! How far astray they have been led! They take their rabbis and their monks as lords beside God, as well as Christ, the son of Mary…He (God) is far above whatever they set up as His partners!

I’m sure you understand, dear reader, that just because the Qur’an criticizes the beliefs of Christians, of which I am one, does not mean that I or other Christians hate Muslims.  When my wife and I lived in E. Peoria, IL, one of our neighbors was a Muslim family from Egypt.  I don’t recall his first name, but his last was El Dadah, or something similar to that. They had two young children – a boy and a girl – with the boy named Waleed. We befriended this family and enjoyed our relationship with them. He was a dentist, so I decided to “give him some business” and make him my dentist.  Also, when they had their second child, we took a meal of roast beef and scalloped potatoes to them.  Then, when we had our first child, they gave us a meal of hummus and naan.  Hopefully you can see from this story along with the tone and comments on my blog, I do not hate Muslims, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, or anyone else!  It is my heart to help others live a life that is pleasing to our Creator; I think that’s a good thing to do.

What surprised me about the Qur’an

There were three things that surprised me when I read the Qur’an.

The biggest surprise was the contrast between believers and disbelievers, including the repetitive rebuke of disbelievers.  This contrast shows up on nearly every page of the Qur’an.  In the index of the Qur’an, the most commonly used word is not God or Muhammad, but disbeliever.

Second, there are a number of references to (altered) stories in the book of Genesis, including Abraham and Lot, Moses and Pharaoh, Noah, Joseph, etc..  For example, the sura Joseph is largely an altered version of the story of Joseph in Genesis (in the Qur’an, Potipher’s wife gets into trouble rather than Joseph).

Last, the quality of writing in the Qur’an is not as good as that in the Bible.  This can be seen in the shifting of topics within a sura, repetition of the same phrases (e.g., “control of the heavens and the earth belongs to God”) within a sura and among the suras, the same or similar stories (especially Moses and Pharaoh) throughout many suras, and the level of detail in the stories that are also found in the Bible.

For example, the sura Women was difficult to outline as its main topic shifted several times.  It began with a discussion of orphans, inheritance, wives, and marrying, and then shifted to the need to be good and worship God, and circumstances when one would not be allowed to pray (I’m assuming in a mosque).  From here it shifted again to a contrast between believers and disbelievers, then moved to a discussion about returning things to rightful owners, obeying God and his messengers, and fighting.  It then shifted to believers vs. disbelievers, and then returned to orphans, husband and wives’ relationship, and shifted again to a sharp criticism of Christian beliefs regarding Jesus and the trinity.  It concluded with more information about inheritance.

Below are two examples of the same story in the Qur’an and the Bible (Genesis).  I’ll let you read each version and determine which appears to be better written.

Lot, Sodom and Gomorrah

• Qur’an: “And when Our messengers came to Lot he was anxious for them, feeling powerless to protect them, and said, ‘This is a truly terrible day!’ His people came rushing towards him; they used to commit foul deeds. He said, ‘My people, here are my daughters. They are cleaner for you, so have some fear of God and do not disgrace me with my guests. Is there not a single right-minded man among you?’ They said, ‘You know very well that we have no claim whatever to your daughters. You know very well what we want.’ He said, ‘If only I had the strength to stop you or could rely on strong support! They [the messengers] said, ‘Lot, we are your Lord’s messengers. They will not reach you. Leave with your household in the dead of night, and let none of you turn back.

• Genesis 19:1-15 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.  ² “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”  ³ But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate.  ⁴ Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom– both young and old– surrounded the house.  ⁵ They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”  ⁶ Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him  ⁷ and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing.  ⁸ Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”  ⁹ “Get out of our way,” they replied. And they said, “This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.  ¹⁰ But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door.  ¹¹ Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.  ¹² The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here– sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here,  ¹³ because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”  ¹⁴ So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.  ¹⁵ With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”

Joseph

• Qur’an: “These are the lessons in the story of Joseph and his brothers for all who seek them. The brothers said [to each other], ‘Although we are many, Joseph and his brother are dearer to our father than we are-our father is clearly in the wrong.’ [One of them said], ‘Kill Joseph or banish him to another land, and your father’s attention will be free to turn to you. After that you can be righteous.’ [Another of them] said, ‘Do not kill Joseph, but, if you must, throw him into the hidden depths of a well where some caravan may pick him up.’

• Genesis 37:2-22:  This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.  ³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him.  ⁴ When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.  ⁵ Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.  ⁶ He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had:  ⁷ We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”  ⁸ His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.  ⁹ Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”  ¹⁰ When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”  ¹¹ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.  ¹² Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem,  ¹³ and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.” “Very well,” he replied.  ¹⁴ So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at Shechem,  ¹⁵ a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”  ¹⁶ He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”  ¹⁷ “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan.  ¹⁸ But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.  ¹⁹ “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other.  ²⁰ “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”  ²¹ When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said.  ²² “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.

In the next post, I’ll offer recommendation on how to witness to Muslims.