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The cross versus the crescent
Dr. Anis Shorrosh, an Arabic evangelist and a native of Nazareth, recently conducted a seminar at
the Arabic Pentecostal Church, Waterloo, Ontario. He explained that world religions were
threatened by global "Islamization." When pastor Rev. George Batarseh was asked why his church
had hosted a speaker whose platform was openly anti-Islamic, he said, "If they (Muslims) ever
control Canada, the first thing to go will be your freedom."
University of Waterloo professor Mohammed Elmasry, a member of the Kitchener-Waterloo (K-W)
Interfaith Council and the K-W Islamic Association, expressed his concern that Arabic Pentecostals
were hate-mongering. Rabbi David Levy, leader of Kitchener's Beth Jacob Synagogue and also on
the K-W Interfaith Council, noted that Dr. Shorrosh's anti-Islamization theories reminded him of
anti-Jewish hate-literature distributed during the 1930s in Germany. But this kind of reaction stifles
free speech. To say anything against Islam has become sacrilegious. Elmasry and Levy are wrong
in their assumptions. As I will show, Islam is a militant missionary faith; and stating this fact is not
hate-mongering.
Anyone scanning the news quickly learns some disturbing facts about Islam. Let me state a few of
them. Hamas, the main force behind the suicide bombers in Israel, has a clear goal: to turn
Palestine into an Islamic state. In the name of Islam, blood is shed in Sudan. Christians in
Southern Sudan want the world to know of starvation and mass killings to enforce the Islamization
of the entire population. Hundreds of people are in jail, subjected to torture. Turkey deported a
Canadian businessman who handed out New Testaments to passers-by at a suburban Istanbul
train station. The secular press rarely mentions these flagrant abuses of human rights in Muslim
countries and the plight of their Christian citizens. The problem is that Westerners habitually project
their own political and moral attitudes where they do not apply. As far as the Muslims are
concerned, human rights are not violated by Islamic governments. Christians in the free world have
an obligation, therefore, to reflect on the dynamics of Islam and find ways to help their persecuted
fellow believers.
Islamic belief
In trying to appreciate the faith and practice of the Muslims, we must acknowledge that they root
both their theology and their practice in their understanding of God. They believe in God, in the
messengers of God, in the Quran, in angels, in the coming day of judgement and in the decrees of
God. Every infant born in this world is supposedly born a Muslim. Scholars argue that it is through
bad influence or the "cultural" setting that this baby, who is by nature a Muslim, deviates from the
faith and becomes a Jew or a Christian or a pagan. Muslims are convinced that Islam is the only
true faith. Ayatollah Khomeini wrote that Islam is the religion of the world and that it is clear and
obvious that the ulema (religious scholars) of Islam must spread and disseminate the laws of this
religion in the entire world. Khomeini derived his missionary zeal from the Quran, which asserts
that "whoso seeketh as religion other than Surrender (Islam) it will not be accepted from him, and
he will be a loser in the hereafter" (Surah III, 85).
Islam is a strict monotheistic faith. Muslims reject the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity in the name of
unity. In every respect Islam is contrary to revelation of God in Jesus Christ. It does not recognize
Him as the Son of God. The God of Islam cannot become the Word of God incarnate. It is the
Quran which is the Word, which was in the beginning with God. The Quran became the concrete
earthly manifestation of the will of God. Because Muhammed came after Jesus Christ, Muslims are
persuaded that this is proof that Muhammed is on a higher level than Jesus Christ. In other words,
the God of Islam has nothing in common with the God of the Bible.
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The Muslims derive their religious duties from their view of God and revelation. They are called the
five pillars of Islam:
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2.
3.
4.
5.
to confess that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammed is his prophet;
to pray five times daily;
to give alms to the poor;
to fast for a month;
to make a pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime.
Islam's strength is its holistic world-and-life view. It takes history seriously and insists that its faith
embraces all of life and not the private sphere only. To a devout Muslim, privatization of religion is
inconceivably heresy. Hence Islam cannot accommodate itself to religious pluralism and
multiculturalism. It abhors secularism.
Theocracy
Islam leaves no room for democracy. In Islamic nations there is no state church; the state is "the
church." The state is the Umma, the community of faith, which has been established by Allah. The
life and activities of the Umma are under Allah's legislative direction. The Umma must submit to
Allah's supreme law. The state, therefore, is the political expression of Islam. From this fact follows
that every Islamic state is a dictatorship whose constitution specifies that Islam is the state religion.
A Muslim democrat is a contradiction in terms. In his political manifesto, Islamic Government,
Khomeini wrote:
Familiarize the people with the truth of Islam so that the young generation may not think
that the men of religion in the mosques of Qum and al-Najaf believe in the separation of
church and state.
Religious and political law are completely integrated. Islamic law (Shari'a) regulates every area of
life. It is the heart of Islam. It binds all Muslims wherever they live. Consequently, devout Muslims
in Western nations are fundamentally committed to theocracy and not democracy. Diana Knippers,
executive vice-president at the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington, D.C., points
out that the Islamic concept of law can manifest itself in extreme nationalism, imposition of the
Shari' a on non-Muslims, and state-sponsored religious persecution.
The Jihad
Muslims are zealous in propagating their faith. They have been quick to take advantage of
literature as well as the modern media. The non-Muslim world is flooded with books, pamphlets,
cassettes, radio programs teaching and preaching Islam. Petro dollars have financed publishing
houses and built mosques in many parts of the world. But Muslims fulfill their missionary duty also
by using the "sword." According to many Islamic scholars, the practice of jihad (holy war) is a vital
tenet of the faith. It is one of the religious duties of the Muslim. In his book, Islamic Way of Life, the
late Sayyid Abul Maududi of Pakistan even sets this forth as one of the pillars of Islam:
Last is jihad, that is, exerting oneself to the utmost to disseminate the Word of God and to
make it supreme, and remove all the impediments in the way of Islam, be that through the
tongue, or the pen, or the sword.
Authorization for jihad comes from Quran itself. Muhammed commanded his followers, "Fight the
way of Allah" (Surah II, 244). He adds, "Slay the idolaters wherever ye find them" (IX, 5). Paradise
is promised for those who fight for Allah: "So those who fled and were driven forth from their
homes and suffered damage for My cause, and fought and were slain, verily I shall remit their evil
deeds from them and verily I shall bring them into Gardens underneath which rivers flow — a
reward from Allah. And with Allah is the fairest of rewards" (Surah III, 195). This belief in jihad is
seen by many critics as a clear example of religious intolerance.
War is inherent in Islam. As I have shown, it is inscribed in its teaching. It is also coherent with its
division of all the world's people into two camps: Dur ulIslam, the "house of those who have
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submitted," and Dar ul-harb, the "house of those who are resisting." Wars may be fought to force
people to become Muslim, to bring them back to their true nature. Military conquest may be
necessary to bring idolatry to an end. Khomeini said that in Iran the sermons preached on Fridays,
holidays and other occasions were not confined to promises of heaven and threats of hell, but they
also prepared people to "fight with utter courage and valour."
The promotion of jihad has caused trouble in numerous nations. When we were in the Philippines
we often heard about terrorist acts committed by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in
Mindanao. For many years it has fought the central government of the Phillipines. This Muslim
independence movement states in its constitution:
It is the duty and the obligation of every MUSLIM to wage JIHAD, physically or spiritually, to
change DURAL AMAN (present status of communities) to DARUL ISLAM (Islamic territory)
and prevent it from becoming DARUL HARB (hostile territory) to the Muslim.
Islam denies basic human rights to all who don't submit to it. Although Islamic nations which
belong to the United Nations have signed its charter of rights, they do not honour its declarations.
The freedom of religion clause in the charter contradicts the Shari' a. Yet Muslims in Ottawa
demand their rights to have their religious holidays in the public school system; but whenever Islam
is in the majority these same rights are denied to non-Muslims. However, the secular press does
not expose this inconsistency. In politically correct circles, any talk about Islamic militancy is
silenced. Jacques Ellul comments:
This enormous importance of war has been totally obliterated today in intellectual circles
that admire Islam and want to take it afresh as a model.
A Christian Response
How is the Christian church to respond to the resurgence of militant Islam? If we see the revival of
Islam as a rejection of Western secularism, its atheism, consumerism and immorality, then we can
build on that Muslim longing for a God-centred life. As someone wrote, "Renascent Islam is, in
part, a cry for the kingdom of God." Many Muslims in Islamic nations have become disillusioned
with their faith. Their leaders have promised so much but delivered so little. Mission agencies
report unprecedented receptivity of Muslims to the Gospel. A truncated Gospel will not succeed in
winning the hearts and minds of Muslims. Muslims witness of their prophet; we confess that our
Saviour is our highest prophet, our only high priest, and our eternal king. We submit ourselves to
Him in every sphere of life, and redouble our efforts to proclaim the Biblical Christ to the followers
of Muhammed. As the 13th century missionary to Islam Ramon Lull put it:
I see many knights going to the Holy Land and to other lands of the Infidel, seeking to
acquire them by force of arms. But they never attain that. As for me, the only way of
conquest is the old, old Apostolic way, namely by love and prayer and the pouring out of
tears and blood.
D Tangelder
© 2012
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