Download Topic Two: The Mission of Islam - First Mennonite Church of Morton

Topic Two: The Mission of Islam
Morton, IL January 23, 2016
Introduction:
The elation that God has chosen an Arab prophet to be the seal of all prophets… The immense
discouragement of Muhammad in Mecca in his failure to establish a flourishing ummah in
Mecca... 12 years of preaching, persecuted, approx. 200-300 Muslims
1.
2.
The discouragement in Mecca turned into triumph
7.1
The miraj to Jerusalem
7.2
The Hijrah to Medina
The formation of the Dar al Islam in Medina
2.1
The formation of a constitution that defined the way Muslims should relate to
non-Muslims (dhimmi).
2.2
The vexing challenge of dealing with the Jews who denied that Muhammad
was a prophet.
2.3
The wars with the Meccans
2.4
The defeat in one battle explained: 1) Failure to obey the prophet; 2) Those
who died will go straight to paradise; 3) the faithful ummah will always be
victorious over its enemies.
3.
After 8 years of wars the Meccans (after their defeat) invited the Muslims to
enter Mecca in peace.
3.1
The Ka’bah was cleansed of its polytheism
3.2
The Qur’an declares that on that day truth triumphed and falsehood
vanished.
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Morton, IL January 23, 2016
4.
The Iranian Shi’ite mission
4.1
The Shi’ite schism at the beginning of the Muslim movement.
4.2
The imam must be a descendent of the Prophet.
4.3
The Iranian Shi’ites are preparing for the coming of the Mahdi (who is their
lost imam).
4.4
5.
The Mahdi and Jesus will extend Islam throughout the world.
Global Islam has a four-sided mission:
shahada (witness)
dawah (invitation)
dawlah (political control)
tawhid (all of life under the rule of God.)
5.1
The world is divided into three regions: Dar al Islam; Dar al Harb; Dar al Ahd
5.2
That perception is powerfully challenged by the Muslim diaspora.
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Morton, IL January 23, 2016
Conclusion: For Muslims, in the midst of the challenges…
1. Muhammad stands as the perfect Muslim whom all devout Muslims seek to emulate!
2. The Traditions (sunna and hadith) provide sketches of his life and practice.
3. The Shariah fleshes out what faithfulness in every area of life means.
This reality provides enormous challenges as Muslims seek to be faithful in the modern world and
especially in regions where they do not have political control. One way of understanding the
violent upheaval in the Muslim world today is that there is a violent struggle for the soul of Islam
(King Abdullah II of Jordan on CNN January 2016). Traditionally Islam has held that the door to
ijtihad (interpretation) has been closed since the time of the rightly guided caliphs. Modernists
yearn to open the door and reinterpret Islam for living in a modern, pluralistic world.
Fundamentalists on the other hand, look at a world of injustice and sin and yearn to back to the
early days of their faith experience when Islam governed all of life; to a time when Islam was
ascendant.
This struggle for the soul of Islam also has another effect; in some places, some Muslims are
rejecting Islam. Muslim-on-Muslim violence leaves many despairing. The love of Jesus
demonstrated by his body, the church (church does not = The West, Europe or American
Christianity or Christendom) is often seen as a sign of hope. This is where you, the church, enter
the story… the way you treat the least of these, refugees and immigrants has eternal impact.
How you live with your Muslim neighbor will determine if he or she recognizes the hope of new
life and freedom in Jesus that is the gift of the church for a broken world. Whatever you do is
reported around the world! Yes, really! Refugees are in constant contact with loved ones back
home by social media.
- 10 MINUTE BREAK -
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