Download Islam and Christianity 5

ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY:
CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS
Session 5:
The Doctrines of Islam
The main doctrines of Islam are the Five Pillars of
Faith.
1. The Creed: “There is no God but Allah and
Muhammed is His Prophet.” This is said 17 times
each day by over 1 billion Muslims. The Islamic
concept of God is as an impersonal, unknowable
Person. He is a God of judgment, not of grace. He
is the author of both good and evil. This is done to
bear witness to the faith.
2. Prayer: five times each day facing Mecca
Prayer is repetitious praising Allah on a non
personal basis. There are no intercessors aiding
prayer as with the Holy Spirit. This is done to ask
for forgiveness.
3. Alms: Giving to the poor. Voluntary and nonvoluntary giving of 1/40th of income This has an
effect in that not enough is provided for social
needs.
4. Fasting: 9th month for 30 days. Refrain from
eating during daylight for a month. Celebrates the
date of the first revelation of the Koran to
Mohammed.
5. Pilgrimage: Once in a lifetime trip to Meccaperformance of rituals to be a necessary part to
salvation. This is done to commemorate the plight
of Ishmael at the well of Zam Zam. (Circle the
Kaabah seven times. Throw stones at a pillar
representing Satan)
Articles of faith in Islamic belief include the
following:
1. Death during jihad guarantees eternal life.
2. Marriage is required for every Muslim.
3. God is not the Father and Jesus is not the Son.
4. Sura 4:171 “Jesus was only a messenger of
Allah. Far is it removed from His transcendent
majesty that He should have a son.”
5. The crucifixion is denied. Sura 4:157 “They slew
him not nor crucified, but it appeared so unto
them.”
6. Man is sinful only by his actions not by his
nature since sin is lack of obedience to Allah.
7. Salvation must be earned by obedience to Allah
and works of faith.
8. There is no redemptive act out of love on Allah’s
part to himself redeem sinners.
9. There are four inspired works, (Torah, Psalms,
Gospel, and the Koran) but the former three books
have been corrupted by Christians and Jews.
10. There are six great prophets (Adam, Noah,
Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammed). The last
and greatest is Muhammed. (28 prophets, 313
messengers)
11. In the final days of resurrection and judgment,
all will be assigned to heaven or hell based upon
the balance of good deeds outweighing bad deeds.
Each will be judged and assigned, but no true
Muslim will remain, if so consigned, in hell forever.
12. There is a strong belief in predestination
understood as all good and evil proceeds from
divine will. This is the doctrine of fate or Kismet. It
produces a fatalistic ideology.
13. Angels are good not evil. Their primary task is
to record the good and evil deeds of man for
evaluation at the last judgment.
The major difference between Christianity and
Islam though is a living Savior and a dead prophet.