 Welcome to our 2016 call for discernment conference it's entitled the cross or the crescent and a biblical understanding of Islam And so you guys make yourselves at home if you need anything we've got I know we've got food out there They're drinks on the table help yourself take breaks when you need to and at this point in time Well, let me remind you we've got bathrooms if you don't know I think everybody here does bathrooms off to the your Left over there We've got the kitchen over here if you need anything out of the fridge so help yourself This point let me just say too as we're getting started Thank you to all those who are serving really really grateful We've got a lot of people that are actively working and serving so that we can enjoy this conference Enjoy our time together and learn a lot. So we're very grateful for them. All right. Well, let's let's get started tonight's session Is an introduction to Islam and I've been asked and maybe you've asked the question or been asked the question yourself Why do we do conferences like this one? You know, why are we doing a conference on Islam? Dealing with pressing issues like this. We did a conference last year on homosexuality We've got one coming up on the same city of life. Why do we do conferences like this? Well, one of the reasons we do that is because these issues are pressing issues They're issues that are in the forefront of our consciousness every day You turn on the TV you listen to the news you read articles you open Al Moller's briefing You're gonna see articles information on Islam and how in Islam is Impacting our world today you're confronted with what this world sees as competing Ideologies and one of the loudest voices one of the most confusing voices one of the most perplexing voices often today is this Squeaky wheel if you will noisy voice loud voice of Islam Now the world's answers to this problem and it's the world's answers to these voices that we hear Is is hopeless is empty. It's inadequate shrouded in blindness Many don't have an answer for Islam and they grope around in a dark room looking for light any like they can find While at the same time they're suppressing in their unrighteousness the one light they have But Christians have the answer. This is where the church comes in It's where the church must come in and we as the church have been given a responsibility We've been given a great commission the church is the pillar and ground of the truth and we as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ are to hold forth the word of life in our generation and Certainly to those that are enslaved and lost in Islam so God's word has a lot to say about the issues of our day and rather than avoid those issues or rather than neglect those issues in our Negligence or in our silence. We want to shed light on those issues We want to expose them as the unfruitful works of darkness that they are and we want to deal with them biblically deal with them Faithfully and then press into that darkness with the truth. So we don't want to avoid Subjects or issues like Islam. We want to address them. We want to confront them With the truth of God's word God's word has much to say about the error that is Islam Christians should have a voice and a lot to say about the error that is Islam as we have a responsibility in that Apart from a conference like this, it's difficult, isn't it to find opportunities to spend a considerable amount of time and work through An issue like this an issue like Islam. And so this conference gives us an opportunity to do that So what I want to do is just spend a couple of days Breaking this apart looking at specific practices looking at specific theologies to help us understand this so that we can In an informed way and in a compassionate way Talk to people who are trapped in that or address this issue of Islam That doesn't happen here only at the conference. It happens between Conferences, right happens between messages or between classes And so what I hope that you'll do over the next couple of days as you take thorough notes I hope copious notes as you really think through the theology involved the practices involved that You'll be able to take that instruction Let that sink in and think through how you can address Islam the problems that we see in Islam the problems with their theology So that you can bolster your witness. It's gonna bolster your love for Christ. It's gonna bolster your love for his word In contrast to Islam in the Quran, but also so that you can be a bold witness for Christ So to sum all that up to get started. Why do we host a conference like this one? We host a conference like this for God's glory of the truth of God Should be proclaimed in the face of error and so that's part of what we're doing here And that's what the church will do Going away from something like this proclaim truth in the face of error Secondly for the good of the Saints for their instruction For their edification for their bold witness So it's for the good of the Saints and thirdly it's for people trapped in darkness But we routinely I know we have several folks that witness out at the campus We're out there every week and more and more out at UCF running into Muslim students Who don't know anything about Christianity and frankly many of them don't know anything about Islam? And so this gives us an opportunity to be able to reach them So by the grace and mercy of God through the means of the gospel Muslims might be delivered from darkness and shown the light Conveyed into the kingdom of the son of his love So our hope then for this conference for the time that we're gonna spend over the next few days With God's blessing with God's help It's gonna be to equip you to encourage you and to exhort you right first. We want to equip you so over the next couple of days We want to become familiar with Islam Islam in many respects is a lifelong pursuit. We'll talk about that more as we go But you can have leaving tonight can have a good solid foundation For what Islam believes what they practice right? We want to equip you over the next couple of days You're not gonna know it all but you'll know enough to get you started None of us up here that will be speaking is an expert on Islam But we're just gonna we're gonna give you enough to help you as much as it has helped us and we want you to be informed so We're gonna scratch the surface over the next couple of days, but I hopefully hopefully it'll be a helpful couple of days if you're evangelizing and You spend some time engaging with Muslim people then over the years as you're evangelizing this kind of information or this kind of foundation is gonna take root and The Lord is a means of grace to you. You're gonna learn more and more about what they believe more and more how to Answer and face their objections You're just gonna become more and more useful and more and more effective in your witness for Christ As you witness to Muslims and as you learn these things as you put more of them into practice So take lots of notes. You've got a conference folder, right? So in your conference folder if you flip through that a lot of good information in here Got the agenda on the first page, but as you flip through you'll see notes pages like this You've got a notes page for the introduction. We're gonna fill that up tonight. Hopefully But take notes. I'm gonna try to give you as much of an outline as I can We're gonna try to walk through this introduction as systematically as I can so that we can sort of a clear understanding of what to Take away from this, but if you flip through choose finding where that is After the book page, you'll see a page near the front called the conference home page And here's a way to use that page You'll have notes pages for each of the sessions so as the session progresses You'll be able to take notes from what you hear in the session, but they're on the home page as you think of Resources that you need to go out and get write them down on the home page as you think of people that you need to talk to Remind yourself of them by writing them down on the home page if someone mentions a book you can write it down on the home page There are to-do items write it down websites, you know write it down on the home page So the home page is gonna be a place for you to come back to To write down things that you need to Remember to do or resources you need to remember to get things that you want to follow up on it Just gives you a place to hold those and then as you go through the folder you've got Ample room hopefully for notes on each of the sessions So use this booklet and then what you can do with this little booklet then After we get done file that away. You've got that as a resource and hopefully that'll help you over the years as you Witness to Muslim people. All right, so we're gonna seek to equip you. Secondly. We want to encourage you in your Bible You have the truth of Almighty God in your hands That is a tremendous Blessing I as I've been studying this. I've just been more Grateful to God for the Bible for the word of God Just have bit adored the Bible more been grateful to God for the Bible more the more that I study this the more Thankful, I am for the truth that we have in Christ So you have the truth of God in your hands as such being the truth of God. It is unassailable Unassailable we've commented before that in witnessing to people with the truth of God You're fishing in a stock barrel You can't lose the truth of God is unassailable. It doesn't need to be defended It just needs to be proclaimed. You know Luther said it's like a line in the cage You just need to let it out And that is true with respect to Islam with respect to the Quran and we're gonna see that as we go through this next couple of days It is powerfully true in the face of any false religion, right? Certainly Islam we just need to know it better the Bible We need to know God better through the Bible through his word and with the Spirit's help We need to know how best we can proclaim Christ as a witness to Muslim people So I hope this conference will encourage you I hope that you'll be encouraged by the word of God as we go through this I hope that you'll be emboldened in your witness for Christ You're gonna hear useful comparisons and contrasts and again I just exhort you to think as we're walking through you hear something Think through if I'm in a conversation with a Muslim person someone that's enslaved in that darkness How can I best communicate the truth of God to them to help them see and we're here We're presuppositionalist. We believe that the Bible is the word of God that in the the power of the Spirit of God It's the word of God that is used to convert the soul convert the center and so you'll hear I pray arguments and Useful comparisons useful contrast to help someone see the error that they're in They're gonna be arguments for the truth of God as best and specifically as it relates to the error of Islam So we want to equip you we want to encourage you lastly. We want to exhort you okay be a faithful Witness for the Lord Jesus Christ with this information go forward in your witness for Christ and fearlessly and boldly engage Muslim people I know the first time that I ever witnessed to a Muslim person it was just I Knew where to go with the Bible had no idea where to go to help them Just didn't know enough to talk to them But it spurred me on spurred me on just like it does right when you witness you're talking to somebody You don't have an answer force as you go back and study forces you to go back and learn Oh, this is a time of preparation for that And so when you engage Muslim people you'll be bold confident to be able to talk to them about what their faith Teaches and what the truth says Taking from Paul's example Christians should be able to say that our hearts desire and prayer to God for Muslim people is that they may be saved That we might bear them witness that some have a zeal for a God But not according to knowledge For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the righteousness of The God and it is Christ who is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes so to equip to encourage and to exhort you tomorrow into Sunday morning and We in Helping us with that myself included. We're blessed by God to have some men with us that have spent very valuable time Preparing on our behalf and so I want to take just a moment and introduce them to you We'll spend a little more time introducing them as their sessions come up But first we have Pastor Jeffrey Johnson. So Pastor Jeff raise your hand if you don't mind Let's know you are you get an opportunity. Yes And thank you brother, we're very excited to have Pastor Jeff with us You get a chance to an opportunity to meet Pastor Jeff say hello Pastor Jeff is from Grace Bible Church a reform Baptist church in Conway, Arkansas He's here with his wife, Letha. Welcome to you as well They have three boys Martin Christian and Britain and their little girl Evelyn is here with them But not do until April so we're excited about that as well Pastor Jeff has a THD in Systematics from Veritas Theological Seminary and we have several of his very helpful books Out on the the tables out there And please go and buy them. They're very good and we're gonna send Pastor Jeff home empty-handed And we want to load those books back in any kind of suitcase So we're gonna take care of that for him and I was watching the news this morning and had a little clip that I saw About where Pastor Jeff and Letha are from so I was gonna see if brother Edgar can put that up for us Thank you brother This is where Pastor Jeff and Letha have just come from We know audio Well I can paraphrase for us hearing impaired It's snowing a lot in Little Rock, Arkansas What I got this morning I was watching the news and Pastor Jeff and Letha from Conway just outside a little rock It is almost blizzard conditions there So they've come down to a little more warmth in Orlando, but it's been been cold in Little Rock So welcome to Pastor Jeff. We're grateful to have you brother Also with us for this conference is Pastor Mark Fuss very grateful for Pastor Mark So yep We know all that applause is thanking the Lord for these brothers Pastor Mark is from sovereign grace Bible Chapel in Englewood, Florida here with his wife Christie and they have three daughters I know you know Pastor Mark and Christie or had an opportunity to meet them as they visited There are three daughters Meredith Abigail and a treasured import to Cornerstone Our own Emily soon to be Emily Miller. So Very thankful to have the fusses with us Pastor Mark has an MA from Southwestern and we'll be speaking tomorrow on jihad in the Koran So we're excited about that and lastly lastly we have a pastor that virtually needs no introduction He right here from Cornerstone Baptist Church He lives by the life slogan that bald is beautiful Pastor Rick's life verse is Leviticus chapter 13 verse 40 Which reads as for the man whose hair has fallen from his head He is bald, but he is clean So we know yeah, it's Pastor right Rick and his wife Jessica. I'm just grateful for that brother. All right now with this Our goal for the next couple of days is to give you what I hope will be an intellectually honest fair charitable and representative view of the history theology and practice of Islam If you're visiting with us our intent is not to offend But we want to understand and we want to respond with the truth unlike many Unlike many we see the the truths of Islam or the teachings of Islam and the teachings of Christianity to be mutually exclusive Both cannot be true Simultaneously and we pray that you'll be persuaded by the truth as you listen over the next few days With that in mind what I'd like to do to get us started is to ask Pastor Mark Brother if you wouldn't mind just coming and praying for us to pray for the conference pray for the speakers Pray for the saints to be bold in their witness And then we pray that the Lord would be pleased to glorify himself in the fruitfulness of his people and witnessing to Muslims with the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So thank you brother. Let's pray together Dear Lord God, we thank you for this time. We thank you that we can be here. We know it's a privilege to be able to be here We want to worship you and pray that you'd please would be honored in this conference We thank you that we have you Lord Jesus Christ And we pray that we would value you more in the comparison This the religion of Islam Or we pray that you please would help the speakers to speak truth to speak From the research they've done to speak well of from the Bible to speak as those who believe truly Completely the things that you've spoken in your work We pray Lord that you'd help us and to listen well and to Consider how we can apply the truths that we hear and so that we can care for people's souls Lord, please help us to worship you and honor you in this conference Thank you Lord Jesus that we have you as our Savior Atonement for our sins. We pray please help us now to worship you in this conference. Amen. Amen. Thank you brother. All right Okay, well let's get started What I hope to do in this time that we've got tonight is to give you a broad overview I was thinking through this as we was preparing trying not to make this session a Just a data download, but I'm afraid that I'm going to fail miserably And trying not to do that. There's just so much information But the goal would be tonight to give you a a broad scope basis or a foundational understanding of Islam That you can build on as you listen to the other sessions that will come after You know, I'm doing a session tomorrow afternoon on Sharia law I'm just looking at some of the the sessions that Pastor Jeff is going to do the session that Pastor Mark is going to do and this outline this sort of Introduction is going to help you as you listen to what they're going to be saying during those sessions I'm going to try my hardest not to step on their toes too much and go too far into a subject They're going to be covering but I want to give you sort of a basis For the next couple of days. Let me give you a loose outline. Maybe the top of your notes page. You can begin to Write these three areas down And we're going to spend some time in each one of these three areas And just give you quite a bit of information under each one. The first we'll look at is what defines a Muslim What defines a Muslim? Secondly, we're going to look at there the revelation that's been given to them The revelation that's been given to them And then lastly we're going to look at where that revelation came from how it was given So what defines a Muslim? We're going to look at the revelation that's been given to them in a broad way And then where that revelation came from And who it came through in particular All right, so as we get into this now the Muslim population of the world today Is estimated at about 2.1 billion With a b billion people. It's one of the fastest growing religious groups in the world It's growing at nearly a rate of about 2 per cent per year The largest number of Muslims Actually live in south and southeast asia well over half The muslim population lives in south or southeast asia The highest per capita muslim population is obviously in the middle east And in northern africa where there are some countries that have a per capita muslim population of 97 to 98 So a very high density of muslim populations in some middle eastern countries countries in north africa as we would expect The rise in the muslim population in europe, especially here recently Has been dramatic The peer research center puts the muslim population in the united states around 3 million And estimates are that that number will more than double By the year 2030 Now if that stat concerns you It should concern you that more than 77 percent of the people in this country profess to be christian The religiously unaffiliated in the united states of america is the fastest growing block Of population in our country religiously unaffiliated basically The stats just simply prove that christians genuine christians are dramatically outnumbered as they always have been So don't let the rise of islam giving you the pause or cause for concern god is sovereign And christians have the truth. So we're always dramatically outnumbered We have no shortage of lost people to talk to right the harvest is plentiful plentiful, but the laborers are few So let's define muslims and what defines a muslim muslims are are basically Divided into two primary groups today. We see these groups in the news frequently shia and sunni It's important to understand that not all muslims are the same Christianity Is often criticized for having so many different denominations or splinter groups But islam is essentially the same respect to many variations in theology many variations in their application of the law Many variations in practice So the two primary groups within islam today are the sunnis and the shia And those major groups are divided into various splinter groups in sex. So each one divides further There's a third group not really much in existence today The sunnis and shia are still very prevalent These groups Originally divided over succession to muhammad How succession Should be decided So when muhammad died He didn't leave a successor sunnis believed that a successor called a caliph should be elected That caliph a sunni leader Should be elected and it's elected. He was elected to a process in the muslim community called ashura And many muslims believe that this was the foundation or sort of the roots of democratic society In our world They elected a successor called a caliph about 90 percent Of all muslims today are sunni muslims the word sunni Is from the word sunna Which refers to the teachings an example of the prophet muhammad So sunna refers to the teachings and the example of the prophet muhamma So sunni refers to those who follow the teachings an example of muhammad They may call themselves sunnis but all muslims would say that they do that all muslims would confess to follow the teachings and the example of muhammad Shia muslims on the other hand Believe that a successor to muhammad should come through muhammad's bloodline or from his family So there's the difference between sunnis and shia sunnis believe that the caliph should be elected by a consensus of the community Shia believe that a successor should come through muhammad's bloodline Now these caliphs shia caliphs Are believed to be chosen by god From what the muslims call al al bait from the family of the house From the family of muhammad And these caliphs are called imams You hear the word imam tossed around quite a bit in sunni islam or sunni muslims and imam Is a local prayer leader So if you went to the mosque there's going to be an imam that leads prayer at the mosque An imam might be someone who leads prayer at a house A local sunni leader, but to the shia an imam is the A leader of the community It's an imam these imams in shia islam Possess isma or infallibility These imams are said to by the shia to have characteristics like the lord jesus christ or characteristics that would only be attributable to god And they are viewed as examples For the community to follow and not dissimilar to roman catholicism and the pope A pope is the vicar of christ the pope having infallibility when he sits in the seat right Sunni muslims also refer to an imam, but this reference is completely different This is an important distinction to make to sunni muslims The shia or the imam the imam is one that leads prayer The one who leads the school of theology the one who's a scholar in the koran or a scholar in the hadith We'll talk about those books later But to shia The imam is a caliph or a leader that possesses infallibility shia the word shia Is an abbreviation of shiatu ali or followers of ali And remember shia Decided that are they believed that a successor to muhammad should come through bloodline a descendant of muhammad And so they believe that the first caliph the first imam Should have been muhammad's cousin And his son-in-law ali ibn abi talib. So ali talib The shia believed that he was the first Because he was of the bloodline of muhammad And that these imams these caliphs were chosen by god from the house of muhammad The sunnis finally got around to electing ali talib as the fourth of their caliphs The shia muslims although a minority about 10 percent of the muslim population They occupy a vast majority in countries today like iran iraq berain Moderate majority in yemen And they would also claim to follow the teachings of the example of muhammad But would also submit themselves to these descendants of muhammad caliphs or imams And these caliphs are to rule over A caliphate you've heard that word a caliphate If you watch the news in reference to isis and what's going on in the middle east They want to set up a theocracy over which the caliph or the imam would rule Those are primarily shia muslims that are over there doing that Now this succession they believe is taught in the quran And that the muhammad appointed ali In a farewell sermon before his death and that's recorded in the sadeeth in In the quran in surah chapter three Or surah three 33 and 34 it says this truly ala chose adam And noah and the family of abraham And the family of imran above the nations Offspring one of the other and ala is hearing and knowing So from surah three Muslims believe that the imam or the caliph the leader of shia muslims Should be from muhammad's bloodline Okay, now splits have then occurred as you would imagine within shia islam over recognized succession Even in his bloodline who should take over so main groups then within shia islam being the 12ers zaydi Ismaili and just these sects in these divisions are many many many of them It's just important to know that you can't treat all of them the same if you're talking to somebody There are many differences and some of these differences are important differences So with various differences Shia muslims believe that the last imam in this succession Will be the madi that you're going to hear about on sunday morning from pastor rick The last imam in this succession will be the madi who will rule Over the theocracy rule over the caliphate before the day of judgment And his goal is to establish an islamic state and to apply islamic law That's why we're when we're watching the news today. They talk about Shia muslims and isis in the caliphate having eschatological or end times concerns They believe they're the 12ers under shia Islam believe that the madi is currently living on the earth. He's already here That the he's been living on the earth for several hundred years now And that he is going to rule over this final islamic state the caliphate his rule By the way coincides with the second coming of jesus christ And when jesus christ comes he will assist the madi In establishing the islamic state and ruling over the caliphate The 12ers believe that he's already on the earth the 12th imam since ali talab the first one, okay now Muslims by definition are committed to the practice of islam You want to be a muslim you're going to commit yourself to the practice of islam The practice of islam is broadly spelled out in the five pillars of islam The five pillars of islam All muslims regardless of group Essentially hold to the five responsibilities of a muslim as a rule of faith and practice These are called the five pillars of islam These pillars are summer summarized in the hadith of gabriel The hadith of gabriel we'll talk about that in a moment, too And shia and sunni muslims both agree on the basics, but there are some important differences For sunni muslims These are the five pillars one is the shahada The shahada is a declaration of faith It's something that's to be said in arabic and it's something that is to be said in earnest To be recited and basically the statement is this there is no god but ala and muhammad is his prophet It's the shahada Now that to to that the shia add That ali is the wali or the guidance of god So you have the basic shahada there is no god but ala and muhammad is his prophet and to that shahada the shia muslims add That ali is the guidance of god meaning that they hold to succession from muhammad's bloodline And not succession through election or shura Now this is said in earnest to convert to islam or to be a muslim Muslims will whisper it in the ear of a newborn baby They'll whisper it in the ear of a dying person In their five prayers daily in all five prayers. They're reciting the shahada among other things And if you look at the the black flag that you see on the news from isis There's a flag for islam which is called the black standard. It's just a black a plain black flag But if you look at the flag of isis It's a black flag flag and the shahada in arabic is the white lettering that you see on the front of that flag This is this recitation the shahada this declaration of faith That's the first of the five pillars you must in earnest Recite the shahada. Secondly is salat Salat these are spelled essentially how they sound The salat is islamic prayer It includes five daily prayers according to the sunnah Those prayers are said at dawn at noon afternoon evening and night And all done while facing the kaba in mecca The kaba meaning the cube it's considered the house of god the kaba. It's um in the largest Mosque in the world is in mecca and the center of that mosque is this black cube. Maybe you've seen pictures of that called the kaba Similar to the holy of holies in the temple. That's how they view that And muslims are to wash before prayer In a ceremony called wudu or purification Thirdly third pillar is zakat And zakat is giving But the word for zakat means purification or growth And so the way muslims view that is that when you give it's like pruning Giving is like pruning and it encourages further growth Encourages new growth Muslims believe as christians do all things belong to well in their case they believe that all things belong to Allah We believe that all things belong to god And some countries apply zakat like a tax as much as 20 percent So zakat is giving fourth Is saam s a w m. It's the transliteration of that word And that's fasting They have three kinds of fasting ritual fasting they have compensatory or compensation fasting for repentance Then they have ascetic fasting Fasting is required of all muslims during the month of ramadan And they fast from dawn to dusk They'll make exceptions. So in islam there are exceptions for fasting for pregnant women Children those with a medical condition and so on the muslims are expected to fast on a regular basis And especially through the month of ramadan and the last of the five pillars is called hajj Hajj every able-bodied muslim man or woman is required to make a pilgrimage to mecca at least once in their lifetime called the hajj They make that pilgrimage it's it's as they are able to if they're unable to Don't have to as they're able to they make that trip at least once in their lifetime within 10 kilometer kilometers of the kaba Again housed in the largest mosque in the world They're required to wear white sheets of imram clothing They perform or participate in various rituals while they're there. They walk seven times around the kaba It's praying it's called tawaf Or there's a ritual of Symbolically stoning the devil that they do in the city of minna. Maybe you've seen that before they throw pebbles at three different walls in the city of minna ritual called rami So the five pillars of islam the shahada salat zakat the sum and the hajj Now for shia muslims The arrangement is a bit different, but all those five pillars are included But for the shias, there are also others added. They have what is called 10 ancillaries of the faith So for shia muslims, they add additional requirements Totally what are called 10 ancillaries of the faith first and i'm sure i'm gonna Just do a terrible job of pronouncing some of these arabic words amer bill marouf Which is to urge or to instruct what is right The shia muslims have a an obligation spelled out and there are 10 ancillaries of the faith to urge or instruct what is right The second nahi anal munkar, which is to forbid what is wrong Sounds good so far, right urge. What is right forbid? What is wrong? Tawalla is to express love toward what is good And tabara is to express hatred toward evil They do express love toward good or express hatred toward evil Last of these and the 10 ancillaries of the faith that are different from those Five pillars listed in sunni islam is jihad So for g for shia muslims Jihad is one of the 10 ancillaries of the faith required of shia muslims Jihad is striving or struggling for islam it can have two meanings and there are many that would Press for two different understandings of jihad one is an inner spiritual struggle The other being an outer physical struggle against the enemies of islam However within within islam There is a clear consensus that jihad involves an armed struggle against wrongdoers an armed struggle In all references to jihad and the bukhari collection of hadith jihad means warfare Some sunni muslims even call it the sixth pillar of islam As some of these terms you've probably heard on the news a person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid The plural of that is the mujahidin Those are people who are engaged in jihad Some try to assess or assert That jihadists have hijacked a peaceful religion We're going to see as we go through this and especially in past remarks a coverage of that tomorrow. That is not the case Shia Claimed to be more literal in their understanding of the quran more literal in their application of the quran And shia are more militant Believing that in implementing fully the teaching of the quran they must establish a theocracy And drive out enemies of the faith That gives you an idea of muslims inside islam how they're divided and a good basis For how to think through the different groups. Let's talk about their revelation. What's been revealed to them Theologically Muslims believe that islam is the worship of the one true god whose name is a la And a la has revealed himself to man And pastor jeff is going to be going through that more in detail on the god of islam sunday morning But a la is derived from a la meaning the god islam is fiercely monotheistic Like jews and christians muslims would say that the lord our god the lord is one one god And that tenet of islam is called tauid And it's reflected in the shahada the shahada is there is no god, but a la that reflects tauid There is one god monotheistic. However, unlike christians muslims view the trinity as polytheism god has no partners or equals and to say that God is three persons one god would be shirk to them or sin to them the Unforgivable sin if you die in shirk you die an unpardonable death an unpardonable sin God has no partners or equals surah 448 says this Surely a la forgives not that a partner should be set up with him And forgives all besides that To whom he pleases so in other words not even a la will forgive Someone who commits shirk or polytheism Whoever sets up a partner with a la he devises indeed a great sin So polytheism or idolatry including god coming as a man Is considered shirk in islam a person who commits shirk is a mushrik And it's considered unforgivable if you die as a polytheist Allah might forgive any sin at death except for shirk There's an example in islam of in the hadith of Muhammad asking Allah if he can pray for the people of the book christians or pray for Jews jews christians particularly considered polytheist polytheist shirk and Allah strictly forbids Muhammad to pray for the people of the book But then he asked to be able to pray for Ali talib Or for his uncle excuse me Abu Talib Pray for his uncle and Allah allows him to pray for his uncle and because of Muhammad's prayer Abu Talib is placed in the the most Favorable position possible in hell And it's a position at the The least amount of torment the least amount of discomfort in hell And it's a place where Abu Talib is said to be in his sandals And the fire around his ankles is so hot that his brains boil And that's the most favorable position for someone who is committed shirk Now muslims believe in angels the chief of whom is gabriel who gave revelation to Muhammad Surah 50 teaches that you have two angels assigned to you that record your good and evil deeds They believe in a future judgment And they believe in a resurrection At the future judgment your good deeds will be good deeds will be weighed together with your evil deeds and what is called the scales You'll end up in either paradise or hell and pastor rick's going to talk about that on sunday morning Muslims believe that Islam predates christianity and Judaism Let me come as a surprise to some folks That Judaism and Christianity are actually corruptions or perversions of Islam That means if you think about that Abraham was a muslim Moses was a muslim The patriarchs were all muslim And the lord jesus christ was a muslim so in many ways Many cases our old testament figures are considered prophets of Islam So through the old testament adam Noah Abraham Moses David Solomon Jonah John the baptist jesus and so on all of these are Prophets in Islam the greatest of these prophets unquestionably Muhammad But that means That muslims believe that our biblical history is actually and primarily islamic history That it's been given by Allah Allah and his revealed word are thought to be eternally existent And the final revelation of god's word Allah's word to man was given by Muhammad and it's called the Quran Now in addition to the Quran there are three other books that are considered revealed by Allah The first of those is the Torah the first five books of our old testament the books given to moses right? Genesis exodus leviticus numbers and deuteronomy the Torah The second are the Psalms or the zabur that are revealed to david And the next in addition to the Quran revealed by Allah It's called the gospel or the in jeal And it was an original book revealed to jesus it was isa in the Quran So delivered by or revealed by Allah to man The Torah the Psalms the gospel and the Quran We read just section from the Quran. This is surah five Beginning in verse or ayah 44 That's what the Quran says Indeed We sent down the Torah and remember that's the first five books of our of our old testament We sent down the Torah in which was guidance and light The prophets who submitted to Allah Judged by it for the jews As did the rabbis and scholars by that which they were entrusted to the scripture of Allah And they were witnesses there too So do not fear the people but fear me and do not exchange my verses for a small price And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed Then it is those who are the disbelievers now notice in Verse 44 there that the Torah was revealed to the jews at that time So in the Quran when you have a or these books the Torah the zabur the Psalms or the gospel All written to that group of people at that particular time that which comes later Has authority over that and may correct or may change that The Torah was revealed to the jews at that time says in verse 45. It says this And we were dain for them there in a life for life an eye for an eye nose for nose and ear for an ear A tooth for a tooth and for wounds is legal retribution But whoever gives up his right as charity it is an expiation or a removal of guilt for him Whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed then it is those who are the wrong doers Then listen to verse 46 And Allah sent we sent following in their footsteps. Jesus the son of Mary Confirming that which came before him in the Torah We gave him the gospel now when we think about this Gospel we think of matthew mark luke and john right But this the gospel that was delivered to in jeal or the gospel in jeal delivered to isa jesus Was a book that we no longer have it was a single book delivered to jesus It's no longer recorded matthew mark luke and john tried to at a later time reconstitute that lost gospel and so in that Putting together or trying to reconstitute that gospel there was there was corruption added And so they gave him the gospel In which it says was guidance and light and confirming that which proceeded it of the Torah as guidance and instruction for the righteous So in verse 47 and let the people of the gospel judge by what Allah has revealed therein And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed Then it is those who are defiantly disobedient And we have revealed to you o Muhammad The book in truth which is referring to the Quran Confirming that which proceeded it Of the scripture and as a criterion over it So judge between them by what Allah has revealed and do not follow their inclinations Away from what has come to you of the truth To each of you we prescribed a law and a method Had Allah willed he would have made you one nation united in religion But he intended to test you and what he has given you So race to all that is good to Allah is your return altogether And he will then inform you considering that over which you used to differ In other words, the Quran is over all of those other books Over the Torah the Psalms the gospel Quran has a 30 authority over it now Muslims believe that these texts would be familiar But they are irreparably corrupted So those texts our Old Testament our New Testament irreparably corrupted perverted The Jews for example corrupted the Torah for personal gain To show that Isaac and not Ishmael was Abraham's heir It's one of the ways that the Old Testament was corrupted The Jews changed it to show that Isaac was Abraham's heir and not Ishmael Therefore descendants of Ishmael are the rightful heirs of the promised land That's causing problems in the Middle East even today right For example another example the in jeal or the gospel given as a revelation to Jesus has actually been lost And what we know today is Matthew Mark Luke and John are reconstructions or attempts at reconstruction And doctrines that we see there like the Trinity or Jesus being the Son of God or inserted later So all those these texts are mentioned in the Quran and the Quran actually Instructs Muslims to refer to them Much of them are no longer considered trustworthy So if you think about that now How do you know what portions can be trusted or what portions are revealed by Allah? Well, basically it's those portions of our bible that agree with the Quran So the Quran comes later. It's the final revelation of Allah It's a man and so it's considered to confirm what was written prior So if something doesn't agree with the Quran, that's how you tell that it's been corrupted Muslim writer Badru Khatrega said this he said the Quran as the final revelation Is the perfection and culmination of all truth contained in the earlier scriptures Though sent in arabic It is the book for all times and for all mankind The purpose of the Quran is to guard the previous revelations by restoring The eternal truth of Allah and the Quran is the torchlight by which humanity can be rightly guided onto the straight the straight path So the Quran let's talk about that a little bit The Quran then is a word meaning the recitation the recitation And it's the final ultimately authority authoritative revealed word of Allah to Muslims today So it was given word by word in arabic By Allah to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel In small pieces over 23 years Now this began in a cave on Mount Hira just outside of Mecca First revelation on December 22nd 609 AD When Muhammad was 40 And it concluded in 632 when he died So revealed by the angel Gabriel Gabriel to Muhammad In a cave outside Mecca beginning in 609 when Muhammad was 40 Muslims believe that the word of Allah Has eternally existed in heaven There are plates there even now with the original And what has been revealed through Gabriel to Muhammad was revealed word for word by exact copy To the prophet through dictation So it's different from our view of inspiration, right? You know understand from the bible how the bible talks about inspiration the word of god Wasn't breathed out in the same way that we would understand that from 2nd Timothy chapter 3 It wasn't that holy men of god spoke as they were moved along by the holy spirit as in 2nd Peter chapter 1 It was dictated word for word to Muhammad now as a result It would be sin Just to a muslim to think that Muhammad or any other prophet writers had any Imprint whatsoever on the words of Allah as recorded in the Quran It would be shirk To believe that their personality or their style their writing style came out in those words. It is and this is important to understand We'll hear that later It is only the words and personality and style of Allah himself everything that's written there has no imprint from Muhammad on it Now you can imagine There's a great deal of reverence given to the Quran A true muslim a devout muslim recites the Quran daily reads the Quran The only true Quran is in arabic Once it's translated. It's really no longer the Quran. It's only a guide In reverence for the Quran they will add inflection enhancing its beauty and so it's song like they'll actually sing chant sections of the Quran It isn't to be put on the ground Nothing's to be put on top of it Muslims won't leave a Quran on the bed on a chair on a seat. That's where someone has sat Muslims from childhood are taught to memorize the Quran There are those that have the entire Quran memorized A devout muslim will read a 30th of the Quran each night so that he reads through it once per month The Quran is made up of 114 surahs or chapters Verses called ayahs. It's not quite as long as our new testament about four fifths the length of our new testament often Very difficult to follow It's difficult to follow It can be very confusing because it's not arranged chronologically. It's not arranged topically the surahs are arranged by length And so the longest surah up front surah number one to the shortest surah 114 And because of that arrangement, it's just sometimes very difficult to follow Additionally the text in the Quran Is divided over a A meccan period and a madinan period Muhammad began living in mecca. That's where the revelation began in that cave outside of mecca. He later moves to madinah And so there was revelation given To Muhammad as he was in both of those locations And you have that reveal where the meccan period and the madinan period Because the Quran is arranged by length all of those revelations and that development is jumbled together And so sometimes really difficult to tell what the context is for what you're reading And that's why it's really important to have something called the hadith Hadith gives context to the Quran. We'll talk about that in a moment With the madinan text as things progress from mecca to madinah the text becomes increasingly militaristic increasingly violent We'll see that also And there are several reasons I want to give you some examples of this several reasons why Muslims believe that the Quran is the word of Allah One reason they believe it's the word of Allah Is because they say it's a perfect because of its unity Most Muslims today argue for an absolute unity in the copies of the Quran. They'll boast of no errors They'll boast of no differences between thousands millions of copies And they'll explain this By saying that the astounding unity over the centuries Can only be possible because Allah himself has revealed it and preserved it in its exact form They'll say because of that unity. It must be the word of Allah So no other book they say is so divinely revealed and so divinely preserved And the proof of that is in all the variants that exist So if you look at our bible thousands upon thousands of manuscripts and variants There's a whole study textual criticism dealing with variants Now the Quran is also called the miracle of Muhammad Because he was thought to be illiterate That fact is debatable The reason some reasons to think that Muhammad wasn't illiterate But they view the Quran And its beauty and in its unity as the miracle of Muhammad because Muhammad was thought to be illiterate What is not debatable Is that as the Quran is being written down over those 23 years Over those 23 years you have the Quran recorded on Small pieces and fragments sometimes leaves Sometimes bone fragments like the shoulder bone of an ox Written down on small fragments over that 23 year period Parchment some of it was only memorized It was only committed to the memory of the person to whom it was recited not even written down And so after Muhammad's death if you can imagine when Muhammad died in 632 There wasn't a compiled Quran available when he died So different muslims different sex Began compiling the Quran from all the fragments and pieces that they had available including from memory Some of those who had memorized when it was recited Now not only were there differences among what was compiled But compiled copies were different After Muhammad died there was Debate over what was considered actual revelation. What wasn't These small pieces had to be compiled from various locations various sources And so there were variants there were considerable differences in the copies that were available immediately after Muhammad's death For a period after that time that was very concerning to the muslims at that time and Without much debate over this there was a caliph an elected caliph Uthman Who desperately wanted to establish a standard version of the Quran? He wanted to make sure that they had a single unified copy of the Quran of Allah's revelation to Muhammad. So he established a standard version now known as uthman's codex So they established this one standardized Version of the Quran They sent that off to people who had different versions of the Quran and told them to burn their copies and use the one Uthman's codex that was sent to them So they established one copy of the Quran and destroyed all the others And from that point forward have used that one copy. That's why there's such unity to the Quran Now think about that for a moment From the beginning Islam has not been open to scholarly criticism Or scholarly examination There's no real basis for exegesis in the Quran You know, I wouldn't preach an expositional sermon from the Quran Those that seriously question it over the years have had to publish under pseudonyms Because those that opposed the Quran or opposed Muhammad were killed There's just no serious They don't allow for serious criticism or critical examination But they'll claim that it's perfect that it's unified And it's the actual revelation of Gabriel of Allah through Gabriel to Muhammad Secondly, one of the reasons they believe that the Quran is the word of Allah Is that its dictation and its beauty reveal that the Quran has come from Allah They'll say that no other book exists with such transcendent poetry and prose They give special credence to this considering that Muhammad was illiterate. There's an example. Let me read to you this from This is some of their literature brief illustrated guide to understanding Islam And that's just an introduction and on page 32 Islam issued a challenge. It's called the great challenge It's a challenge to produce one chapter like the chapters of the holy Quran and here it is in the Quran This is what surah 2 23 through 25 says He says if you were in doubt about what we have revealed our Quran to our worshiper Muhammad Then produce a chapter like it Call your witnesses supporters and helpers besides god if you are truthful And if you do not do it and you can never do it then fear the fire whose fuel is men and stones It has been prepared for disbelievers O give good news o Muhammad to those who believe and do good deeds that for them are gardens paradise in which rivers flow So now they'll state in here that ever since the Quran was revealed 14 centuries ago No one has been able to produce a single chapter like the chapters of the Quran in their beauty eloquence splendor Wise legislation true information true prophecy and other perfect attributes I was you know doing my study and Of this and just remembering a pastor marcos is sermon last sunday from flippian's chapter 2 And just what a glorious Beautiful text flippian's chapter 2 is there's nothing that exists anywhere in islam Even remotely close to that one section of scripture from from flippian's chapter 2. It's just glorious But this is a challenge that's been issued now There have been those that have taken up the challenge and many of those that have taken up the challenge have been killed But this is a challenge exists to try to reproduce a section of the A section of text similar to that which is found in the Quran that it's beauty another Proof that the Quran is the word of Allah Is the testimony of changed lives Testimony of changed lives proves that the Quran is from Allah now. They don't mean What we mean when we say that We say that people's lives have been changed when they come to faith in christ They don't mean the same thing what they're talking about is sheer numbers Sheer numbers there have been so many so many people that have converted to islam It must be from Allah. It's the fastest growing religion. So it must be from Allah. This is from their literature on page 40 here At the end of this chapter, it may be appropriate to point out an important indication of the truth of islam It is well known that in the usa in the whole world Islam is the fastest growing religion They give some illustrations of that This phenomenon indicates that islam is truly a religion from god It is unreasonable to think that so many americans and people from different countries have converted to islam Without careful consideration and deep contemplation before concluding that islam is true These converts have come from different countries classes races and walks of life They include scientists professors philosophers Journalists politicians actors and athletes. So basically what they're stating with that the testimony of changed lives Lives is simply the numbers that have converted to islam And they use that to indicate god's blessing or Allah's blessing that islam must be from Allah Fourthly They'll say that the Quran is upheld by modern science That's the reason that it's from Allah is the Quran is upheld by modern science. I want to give you an example of this now One of these examples and many of them are listed here in this little book The Quran on human embryonic development The holy Quran god in the holy Quran Allah speaks about the stages of man's embryonic development listen to this from surah 23 We created man from an extract of clay Then we made him as a drop in a place of settlement firmly fixed Then we made the drop into an alaqa now alaqa that word means leech Or means suspended thing or means blood clot White then the then it says then we made the alaqa the leech suspended thing or blood clot into a mudgah That word mudgah means chewed substance now you take that That ayah that verse from surah 23 and I don't know if you can see this or not but Here is a little picture of a human embryo In its earliest stages of a development and then right below that is a picture of a leech So they say now, you know, how did Muhammad know That a human embryo looked like a leech if he wasn't getting revelation directly from Allah who made us It's looks like a little worm. Okay, so that's based on The statement we made the drop of clay the extract of clay into an alaqa leech If you flip the page here, it shows a picture of an embryo And now below the end embryo This is described as the magda or the chewed substance is a piece of chewing gum so now You chew that piece of chewing gum. It looks like the embryo And so this is more affirmation That Revelation has come directly from Allah that Muhammad knew that an embryo looked like a piece of I don't think they chewed chewing gum back then but it's it looks like a chewed a chewed substance Okay, so it upholds science if you flip the page another example of this is mountains that in the Quran in surah 78 Allah says have we not made the earth as a bed and the mountains as pegs And so from that he says in cura in surah 16 He has set firm mountains in the earth so that it would not shake with you And so now the theory is from the Quran that mountains actually keep the earth from shaking. I'm not sure if that's Earthquakes how that works but they cite Scientific evidence from that for this that mountains have roots And mountains look like pegs and mountains in plate tectonics keep the earth from from shaking They're stabilizing the crust of the earth somehow and the scientific evidence that is Cited for this Comes from the geological concept of mountains in the Quran by el nagar Comes from the third citation geological concept of mountains in the Quran By el nagar the fourth citation geological concept of mountains in the Quran by el nagar So their scientific evidence is coming from their own Studies their own scientists right Geological concept of the mountains in the Quran the second citation also so something about mountains there and pegs and Holding the earth from shaking on page 16 There's the Quran and the cerebrum knowing the the physiology of the brain God has said in the Quran that in surah 96 No, if he does not stop We will take him by the nasaah the front of the head if he does not stop We're going to take him by the front of the head Allying sinful front of the head nasaah. That's what it says in surah 96 from that science then upholding the Quran Knows that the frontal lobe Of your brain is where sinful actions or sinful thoughts come from And so in the Quran surah 96 where it said that they're going to take that person by the front of the head the sinful front of the head That's Allah revealing to Muhammad that the frontal lobe of the brain is where sinful actions Simple deeds sinful thoughts come from and so science again upholding the truth of the Quran Now you think about and here's what I would encourage you to do To go to the bible And look at the many many many places where science is upheld by the bible Not only science that Goes against what people believed at that time, but all the archaeological evidence There's tremendous tremendous evidence in scripture for the bible uphold in ways that are far far clearer This is good evidence for for witnessing. So the Quran is upheld by modern science Lastly and we know that the Quran is the word of Allah is because of prophecy Because of prophecy in the Quran Muhammad Was said to have known the future Now how is it possible that Muhammad would have known the future apart from Allah one of the examples Of prophecy in revealed the revealed word of Allah comes to us from Deuteronomy chapter 18 And in Deuteronomy chapter 18 we'll go there in a little bit Moses prophesied in Deuteronomy 18 of the coming of Muhammad When Moses said in that text that he will raise up a prophet like Moses from among his brothers Muslims believe that's a prophecy of Muhammad. Now, let me give you another example of prophecy This is one listed in this book. It's a significant prophecy in the Quran That they believe a test of the fact that Allah gave the revealed word of God the Quran to Muslims And that comes to us from surah 30 Now listen to this from surah 30 in Verse one I Allah and the best knower The romans are vanquished in a near land and they after their defeat will gain victory Within nine years Allah is the command before and after and on that day the believers will rejoice In Allah's help he helps whom he pleases and he is the mighty the merciful It is Allah's promise Allah will not fail in his promise But most people know not now this prophecy they say This was revealed to Muhammad in 86 15 or 6 16 That it's revealed in 86 15 or 6 16. Now it says here in this prophecy that I of four within nine years that word bed there bed in I of four means in three to nine years So there's a range given three to nine years. So now Think through this with me Muhammad is getting revelation from Allah In 6 15 or 6 16 The romans are defeated the romans are defeated And so Muhammad prophesies That in three to nine years Or they gain a victory. I'm sorry. The romans are victorious in three to nine years They're going to be defeated Part of the reason they're going to be defeated is because Muhammad and his army is going to attack them Okay, so in three to nine years. They're going to be defeated now This they say Was fulfilled at the battle of barter in 6 24 6 24 now if you're at 6 15 we're not sure exactly when the revelation was given When the defeat happened, but if it happened in 6 15 Then that's nine years if it happened in 6 16 eight years isn't that three to nine year Window given in an I of four But think about this for a moment. Now. This is very loose prophecy, right from the beginning. When did Muhammad die? The 6 32 So I just put all that together for a moment and look at the one of the foundational prophecies written in the Quran Roman battle takes place in 6 15 6 16 romans are victorious Muhammad gets a revelation from Allah and says that in three to nine years That army is going to be defeated So nine years in 6 24 Muhammad Attacks them In the battle of barter and they win that battle. So the prophecy comes true. They were defeated Muhammad dies in 6 32. You know again We've got prophecy in the bible Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of fulfilled prophecies in striking clarity Hundreds and hundreds of years before the events actually take place But this particular prophecy written before and fulfilled before muslim Muhammad ever died And questionable to begin with is prophecy on which muslims Hang the veracity of the Quran and would say that it's a book from Allah. So Again, when you start making comparisons, there's astounding Evidence for the truth of the bible the truth of god's word now With the Quran, let's talk about a few other texts quickly try to move on here. Sorry With the Quran, there are other extremely important writings that impact islamic faith and practice With the Quran very important is the sunnah The sunnah is an account of muhammad's teachings an account of his actions His sayings and his example. It's the sunnah There are three categories of sunnah That muslims follow one are muhammad's sayings what he says Two muhammad's actions Religious or otherwise And three muhammad's silent approvals or disapprovals when muhammad kept silent And didn't oppose something that happened He's tacitly giving approval for that to happen Or sometimes in the Quran it says that he smiles In regard to an action by someone around him when muhammad smiles. He's given approval giving approval to that action so in the sunnah muhammad through his actions through his sayings and through his approval or disapproval Is said to explain or illustrate the Quran For the purposes of life application for how muslims should apply the Quran And all muslims are expected to carefully follow the example of muhammad Now this is supported in the Quran. There are numerous verses on the Quran that talk about obeying muhammad and obeying Allah in surah three in ayah 31 it says this say oh muhammad If you should love Allah then follow me so Allah will love you and forgive you of your sins And Allah is forgiving and merciful They say obey Allah and the messenger, but if they turn away then indeed Allah does not like the disbelievers In surah 53 ayah 2 it says your companion muhammad has not strayed nor has he aired nor does he speak from his own inclination So much of this sunnah of muhammad Is contained contained in collections called hadith Contained in collections called hadith there are thousands of hadith thousands of them volumes Many of them disputed their arguments over which ones are true which ones aren't Some are used by one faction. They're rejected by another And as you can imagine sunnis and shia both follow different hadiths some the same they're much different Hadith Have a religious intent Some are doctrinal they're for doctrinal instruction regarding practice And so in the hadith you're not going to get as much historical fact as you are just Application of the Quran to life right? So some important facts dates may be missing So documents of sunnah or the teachings the example the approvals of muhammad Are also supplemented with what's called the sira of muhammad sira the sira of muhammad And these are various biographies of the life of muhammad So the Quran You have the hadith the teaching sayings actions approvals of muhammad And then you have the sira which are biographies of muhammad more factually based And then you have collections of commentaries like we do For the bible commentaries on the Quran are called tafsir tafsir tafsir So you have the sunnah comprised mainly of hadith You have the sira with the hadith that elucidate illustrate the Quran the practice Of islam the life of muhammad and you have the tafsir which seeks to explain it and to apply it All right, now that text Talked about the revelation and let's talk about who it was revealed to Who it was revealed through the text of the Quran was delivered to muhammad Full name muhammad ibn abdallah ibn abd al-mutala Hard to say Muhammad is considered to be the last and greatest prophet sent by Allah and he was sent to restore true islam He was born on april 20th if you're sunni if you're shia. It was april 26th. Anyone in here have an april 20th or april 26th birthday okay Born in april 570 ad in mecca And he was born to a pagan tribe called the kuresh After muhammad was born as his father died soon after his mom died when he was six And so he was raised by his uncle who was named abu talib his uncle Now muslims believe that moses predicted the coming of the prophet muhammad So recorded in the hadith a small group of muhammad's companions said to him Oh, apostle of ala, tell us about yourself And he answered them and said that he is the servant of god the seal of the prophets the prayer of his forefather abraham and the good news of jesus That's how muhammad described himself In fact prophecy concerning john the baptist Is redirected to muhammad the voice of one crying in the wilderness is muhammad The servant in isaia. We've looked at those passages many times right the servant in isaia said to be muhammad Psalm 45 is said to be speaking of muhammad your throne. Oh god is forever and ever Scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. That's speaking of muhammad Psalm 110 the lord said to my lord sit at my right hand till i make your enemies your footstool speaking of muhammad He is the altogether lovely of the song of salamon. You know, it's interesting there now This is not without some basis of the word lovely In hebrou there is muhammad. It sounds like muhammad and muhammad there in um Song of salamon chapter five Is is in the plural muhammad muhammad And so they said that's sounds like muhammad. So muhammad is also the son of man prophesied in daniel chapter seven Listen to this let's turn there together if you got your bibles turn to deuteronomy chapter 18 Deuteronomy chapter 18 Are you guys hanging in there with me? I know this is a lot of information Very difficult. I want to give you a good basis and it's um It's not sure how else to do this you're going to get good theology over the next couple of days I just want to give you a good groundwork a good basis to be able to understand What's going to happen in the next uh the next sessions that come here. So in deuteronomy chapter 18 I'll look down at verse 15 Here the bible says the lord your god Will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst From your brethren and him you shall hear according to all you desired of the lord Your god in horrib in the day of the assembly saying let me not hear again the voice of the lord my god Nor let me see this great fire anymore lest I die look at verse 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren now. Who is the brother of isaac? From their perspective Ishmael All right, so when it says he's going to raise up a prophet from among their brethren He's speaking of ishmael And here he says I'll put my words in his mouth and he'll speak to them all that I command him It shall be that whoever will not hear my words which he speaks in my name. I will require it of him Boy, if you twist the perspective you can see where they Get this right Verse 20 but the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name Which I've not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods that prophet shall die If you say in your heart, how shall we know the word which the lord has not spoken When a prophet speaks in the name of the lord the thing does not happen or come to pass That is the thing which the lord has not spoken Prophet has not spoken it presumptuously. You should not be afraid of him. So look at um That's deuteronomy chapter 18 that specifically prophesying the coming of muhammad. Look at john chapter 14 john chapter 14 Now these are texts That are loosely referred to in the Quran more specifically referred to in the hadith That talk about our bible prophesying the coming of muhammad In john chapter 14 Drop down to verse 15 Here john says if you love me keep my commandments the lord says you love me keep my commandments And I will pray the father And he will give you another helper that word there for helper paraclete is a reference to muhammad And that helper will abide with you forever verse 17 the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him But you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. I'm not sure how they apply all of that This is all a reference to muhammad. I'll not leave you orphans verse 18. I'll come to you All speaking of muhammad flip the page to john chapter 16 And look at verse five Verse five says but now I go away to him who sent me and none of you asked me where are you going But because I have said these things to you sorrow has filled your heart Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away For I do if I do not go away the helper again a reference to muhammad will not come to you But if I depart I'll send him to you Again all this referring to muhammad. Look at mark chapter 12 mark chapter 12 Give you one more example here and drop down to verse 35 We've looked at this text before But listen to the perspective that they look at it from mark chapter 12 beginning in Verse 35 and jesus answered and said while he taught in the temple How is it that the scribes say That the christ is the son of david For david himself said by the holy spirit the lord said to my lord sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool Now we just illustrated from psalm 110 that that's referring to muhammad, right Verse 37 therefore david himself calls him lord How is he then his son and the common people heard him gladly now? In the quran there was a priestly messiah That was jesus who came from mary. That's in the quran. There was a priestly messiah. That's jesus But there would also be a kingly messiah and that kingly messiah in the quran Would not be from the line of david It would be from the line of ishmael. He would come from ishmael And so when they read mark chapter 12 verse 34 They're showing jesus arguing against the Davidic lineage of This person who's come which they would refer to as muhammad Jesus is asking in the negative. How is it that the scribes say that the christ is the son of david in other words? He's not For david himself said by the holy spirit the lord said to my lord sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool Therefore david himself calls him lord. How is he then his son in other words? Jesus is here in mark 12 Arguing for muslims that this is not jesus. This is muhammad. He's not from the line of david. He's from the line of ishmael So in many ways now if you start putting that together In many ways muhammad is the antichrist of biblical christianity He's the anti spirit of biblical christianity The muslims believe that it is the self will an ignorant Obstinacy of christians and jews. They do not see muhammad's coming in the bible and profess To follow islam And so they reject muhammad and willful disobedience to Allah So let's talk about muhammad for a moment muhammad was a young man when he was a young man He worked in trade mecca was on a major trade route And so there were many people that came through mecca one of the reasons Was a there was a huge pagan influence in mecca. There was a block the kaba We recognize that term already right the kaba was in mecca And the kaba was a house of pagan idol worship They had Numerous idols set up in the kaba the major one at the time was the god huble, but it was a center for pagan worship And so muhammad Was brought up around this pagan worship and he had a lucrative business among the pilgrims That came to mecca to the local shrine to worship their various gods there And important to note that among the pagan idols in mecca at the kaba were three goddesses That um, it's gonna be important for later Many of the tribes in and around the area of mecca worshiped. They were a lot aluza and manate A lot aluza and manate three goddesses at the kaba. We'll talk about those in a moment In addition to pagans you also had jews and christians that lived in this area There were many jewish and christian groups of people living in and around mecca the nostics were there The nestoreans were there most of these groups of jews or christians were heretical like Grossly heretical the nostics believed that matter was evil and so god could not come in the form of a man The nestoreans were there very evangelistic. Nestoreans were And jesus was attached to the son of god who lived in him, but could not be god and man Simultaneously it's called diof diophysitism And monophysites were also there Those were people that believe that jesus's human nature was absorbed into his divine nature In other words all of these groups denied the trinity all of these groups denied either the humanity or the divinity of christ They were all heretical Now additionally both in mecca where mohammed started and in medina where he eventually moved In both cities. There were three powerful jewish sex or tribes And with the jews at this time much of their teaching came from a book called the talmud rabbinic writings extra biblical writings But the teachings from the talmud were very prevalent among those heretical groups abu talib mohammed's uncle Was himself involved with a a ridiculously heretical christian monk named bahaira in burst busra syria His uncle would take him on trips to visit the crazy monk Take mohammed with him and there was access to his teaching They would be taught he would teach mohammed, but it was heretical teaching Rabbidly monotheistic with no understanding of true christian teaching on the trinity Eventually mohammed was involved with trade to syria And he did well in that trade. He thought of as a good businessman was thought of as honest and trustworthy Eventually being successful in that trade route to syria He was hired by an older woman to run her trade business Her name was kadija and she became mohammed's first wife kadija. He was 25 and she was 40 Now kadija had a cousin Her cousin's name was warakka ben nafal ben asad ben abdul uza ben quazi Yeah, and he was a convert to christianity from Judaism now put this together, okay You've got mohammed around these heretical jewish sex these heretical christian sex He's been exposed to christian heresy Gnosticism nestorianism. He's been exposed to the talmud all these various competing Influences in mohammed's life and then kadija. He marries kadija and kadija had a cousin very close to named warakka Warakka was a convert to christianity quote-unquote christianity, right from judaism That was said that warakka studied the scriptures and warakka was looking for the prophet of dunaronomy 18 Was looking for a prophet to arise like one sent from moses the jews of that area In the area around mecca were reported to have boasted Against the Arabs there that they too were looking for a prophet to come Who would be the prophet that they would still be waiting for? The messiah right they were still waiting on their messiah. They didn't accept jesus christ as their messiah They were still waiting on the messiah to come So they were looking for a prophet and they said to the Arabs that with his help we're going to kill you So when he comes he's going to establish his kingdom on the earth. You guys are going to be done And so a la curses these jews in the koran and it's a curse that is still inflaming Islamic jewish relations today. It's in surah chapter two and i want to read that to you surah chapter two beginning in verse ii 87 Listen to this from the koran It says we indeed gave moses the book and we sent messengers after him one after another And we gave jesus the son of mary clear arguments and strengthened him with the holy spirit Interesting it is then that whenever there came to you a messenger With what your souls desired not you were arrogant And some of you gave the lie to and others you would slay And they said our hearts are repositories. Nay. Allah has cursed them on account of their unbelief So little it is that they believe And when they came to them a book from Allah and when there came to them a book from Allah Verifying that which they have and a foretime they used to pray for victory against those who disbelieved But when there came to them that which they recognized they disbelieved in it So Allah's curse is on the disbelievers Evil is that for which they sell their souls They should deny that which Allah has revealed out of envy that Allah should send down his grace on whomever of his servants He pleases they incur wrath upon wrath and there is a humility a humiliating we're in a basing Chastisement for these unbelievers. So this is a curse that Allah passed down to the jews after the jews had Sort of excoriated the Arabs at that time. There was this battle that went back and forth. So Allah revealed a curse on the jews to Muhammad. Now during his later years Muhammad became more and more contemplative as he got older This was wasn't unusual at the time there were folks that did this Muhammad became more and more contemplative And many would retreat into caves and spend time alone meditating Aisha One of Muhammad's later wives. In fact, Aisha was Muhammad's favorite wife She was six when Muhammad married her And she was nine When he consummated the marriage As she recorded this The commencement of the divine revelation to Allah's messenger Was in the form of good righteous true dreams Which came true like bright daylight and then the love of seclusion was bestowed upon him He used to go in seclusion in the cave of herea where he used to worship Allah alone continuously for many days and nights till suddenly The truth descended upon him while he was in the cave of herea Not first when Muhammad went into the cave And received the revelation he couldn't identify the source of the encounter One muslim tradition notes that it took three years before they finally and confidently Identified the angel that gave him the revelation as Gabriel They thought it was another angel before and finally decided that it was a uh, Gabriel But now this encounter in the cave is recorded in the words of Muhammad in volume nine of the bukari hadith So this hadith that expresses the words the actions or the example of the prophet the hadith the bukari hadith says this The prophet added the angel caught me forcefully and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it anymore He then released me and again asked me to read and I replied I do not know how to read Thereupon he caught me again and pressed me a second time till I could not bear it anymore He then released me and asked me again to read but again I replied I do not know how to read or what shall I read Thereupon he caught me for a third time and pressed me and then released me and said read And the name of your lord who has created all that exists has created man from a clot Read and your lord is most generous unto that which he knew not Now Muhammad's first impression of this revelation to him Was either that he was crazy or demon possessed And he considered suicide as a result several times The hadith by ibn ishak reports this Muhammad said I will go to the top of the mountain and throw myself down that I may kill myself and gain rest So I went forth to do so and then when I was midday on the mountain I heard a voice from heaven saying oh Muhammad thou art an apostle of god and I am Gabriel I raised my head toward heaven to see who is speaking and low Gabriel in the form of a man with feet astride the horizon saying oh Muhammad Thou art the apostle of god and I am Gabriel That was a Muhammad's later recollection of this event in the beginning Muhammad is reported to have said woe is me poet or possessed A poet was an evil term someone who got to them Evil visions or evil dreams they prophesied evil against others that was a poet. So Muhammad thought that This was evil or that he was demon possessed when all this happened. So to help He went to kadija told his wife what had happened And kadija went to her cousin Weraka A weraka was looking for a prophet And he was this converted jew to christianity a radical christianity And so when kaditha went to weraka and told weraka what had happened. What did weraka say? He's a prophet He's a prophet Gabriel's come to visit him. You know you think about it now if it wasn't for Kaditha wasn't for weraka. We probably have no islam today Because Muhammad would have thought he was a madman But they convinced him that he wasn't kadija kadija wanted to divine devise one more test to make sure That this wasn't demon possession or something evil wanted to devise one more test to prove that this was a la And so kadija set this up This is from again the bukhari hadith So when gabriel came to him As he was want the apostle said to kadija This is gabriel who has just come to me now. They're in the cave together And gabriel is said to have come to Muhammad. Kaditha can't see him. Muhammad can okay So the apostle Muhammad said to kadija. This is gabriel who has just come to me Get up. Oh son of my uncle. She said and sit by my left thigh The apostle did so and she said can you see him? Yes, he said So kadija said then turn around and said on my right thigh He did so and she said can you see him? When he said that he could she asked him to move and sit in her lap When he had done this again, she asked again if he could see him and when he said yes She disclosed her form and cast aside her veil While the apostle was sitting in her lap Then she said can you see him? And he replied no So she said oh son of my uncle rejoice and be of good heart by god He is an angel and not satan And do you get the test When she disclosed her form when she took off her veil The angel departed so That's why even to this day you've got Hardline Muslims who would say that a woman should be veiled because it is so sinful to look upon an unveiled woman that even angels flee and this sort of act of Purity on the part of this angel proved that he was Gabriel and not satan. So he passes the test And Muhammad becomes more and more convinced over time that the revelation that he's getting is revelation That's coming from the angel Gabriel from Allah himself But every time now after this Shortly after this will rock it dies So you have this influence of will rock and it's a reassuring influence Will rock it dies and so Muhammad falls into despair again and Muhammad is Seeking to kill himself and every time he goes up to the mountain to throw himself off Gabriel appears to him again So who would we equate Gabriel with? That's right It's not far-fetched to think that messengers of god come disguised as angels of light, right? Others however, although Muhammad became more convinced although kadija and will rock were both very convinced others for a long time Did not believe him There's much more that could be said about this revelation. We'll get into that some I think is the days go by Now if Allah had anything to do with the actual bible You would expect that Muhammad would quote more from the actual bible and less from extra biblical Documents known as the talmud, but much of what Muhammad quotes as biblical Actually comes from the talmud and not from the bible Now that would be the case If Muhammad was around Jewish sex and christian heretics It would not be the case if he was getting revelation directly from Allah, right? But Muhammad was around people that got their teaching from the talmud There's a story obviously the story of cain and abel in the bible, right? Cain and abel in the bible were were familiar with that story in the talmud There's a story a legend about cain and abel Where in order to teach cain what he should do with abel's body after he killed him A raven comes and scratches on the ground in other words cain you need to bury your brother abel And that's talmudic legend is in the talmud the Quran in recording this Same account of cain and abel Says records that a raven came to cain to show him what to do with the body of his brother abel So it came straight out of the talmud, right? In addition to this kind of thing those things are throughout the Quran You have also what are called revelations of convenience revelations of convenience Muhammad wanted something you got a revelation from god that allowed him to have it There were certain instances of this revelations of convenience one example is uh an example of zainab and zaid zainab was the wife Of muhammad's adopted son zaid zaid ben haritha Notice it's not zaid ben muhammad It was an adopted son originally as an adopted son Zaid ben muhammad But he's recorded as zaid ben haritha. I'll tell you why in a moment. This was an unwanted marriage zaid did not want to marry zainab But muhammad desired zainab. It was said in a hadith that muhammad Went to zaid's house zaid wasn't there and when he went in assault zainab And looked on her with favor zainab was apparently a very very beautiful woman And so muhammad desires zainab, but she's married to zaid zaid Wanting not wanting the marriage in the first place and now seeing a way out Goes to muhammad and suggests that he divorced zainab so that muhammad can have her and so initially muhammad Resists that tells zaid to go back to his wife, but eventually Zaid divorces her anyway and upon his divorce to zainab muhammad tells them to go tell Zainab now that she's my new wife So they go to zainab zainab becomes muhammad's wife then muhammad gets a revelation from a la scolding him for Worrying about what people will think about this they shouldn't worry about what people think he's the prophet and he can marry whom he wishes So to stop worrying about what people might think if he married her and this I want you to See this this revelation of convenience destroys the concept of adoption in islam Um to justify muhammad's action the quran states from a later revelation sir a third thirty three five That wives whom you divorce cannot become your mother Nor has he made adopted sons your sons. They will be called by the names of their father now It's something really unusual that a la would say anything about that particular situation anyway But here after this whole event has taken place if muhammad marries zainab The wife of his son his adopted son Then zainab His former wife becomes his mother Well, I said you can't do that and the way out of doing that is that Zaid bin muhammad is not zaid bin muhammad anymore. He should be called zaid bin haritha by his Biological father's name so that that doesn't happen So now what that effectively does is it destroys adoption in islam And we think about in roman culture when you adopted someone adopted a son adopted a daughter They became your As much as a biological son a biological daughter. They became inheritors of Of your family adopted into the family. We think about christian adoption And what it means that united with christ we are adopted into the family of god What a beautiful truth that is But in islam No longer the case another revelation of convenience Move along here another revelation of convenience aisha his favorite wife is accused of immorality Aisha was stranded one time spent time alone with a man who was not her husband after muhammad had given the Rule that all women should be veiled And so accusation started flying slander started flying aisha's Not allowed to have a voice in any of this at all finally a revelation comes from Allah exonerating aisha for this In discretion so to speak and here's where this has impact aisha was Accused of sexual immorality with a man who was not her husband when she was caught alone On a trail when they were on their way to the battle and aisha got stranded with another man It says in the Quran then in order to as a result of this whole thing this revelation that muhammad got in order to exonerate aisha Moha or Allah reveals to muhammad. Did they come with four witnesses four male witnesses of the indiscretion? They didn't and so maha or Allah through Gabriel says the muhammad their liars Not to believe their slander not to believe their accusation So it lets aisha off the hook But what it also does is set up the rule in sharia law that in order to accuse for a woman to say i've been raped She has absolutely no voice in the accusation Her word is not admissible in court and it takes four male witnesses To say that she was raped And so what it's done in islamic culture in a lot of muslim countries this has created a culture where sexual immorality is Largely overlooked or accepted because they can't do anything about it. Not only that but if the woman Doesn't have four male witnesses to testify that she's been raped. Let's say it's three or two Then her accusation of rape Turns into a confession of adultery And it said there's a report. Um, see if I can find that for you April 6 2000 report from the sisters of islam That has many of 75 of women in prison under sharia law in pakistan Are there for the crime of being victims of rape? There was one a high profile report and I remember this in the news january 2002 In nigeria Where a woman in the news facing execution for adultery because they could not find the requisite four Male witnesses to support her accusation of rape and her accusation of rape became a confession of adultery So we'll talk more about that when we address sharia law tomorrow And regarding the revelation here There's also a very controversial account referenced by ibn ishak And even in the koran in surah 53 Concerning what are called the satanic verses you've ever heard of that book by salman rushdie the satanic verses There was a fatwa issued against salman rush. You haven't killed because of this But the satanic verses there was actually a again another revelation of convenience Muhammad had been exasperated trying to convert people in the koresh tribe around his home in mecca Couldn't get it done. They wouldn't listen to him, right? They thought he was a fraud couldn't convert them to islam So he became more and more hostile against them Finally, they got tired of his rants again. Excuse me against him He wasn't making any progress with them. So they came to him with the deal They said listen, muhammad if you'll bow down in worship our three goddesses, right? a lot aliza and manat if you'll worship them for a year We'll worship a la for a year So muhammad went back. Let me consult Um a la and gabriel and came back and said it's a good idea. Let's do it Everybody went away happy So now you have muhammad the prophet getting direct revelation from gabriel from a la saying Who's fiercely monotheistic and it's shirk to be polytheistic Allah gave me approval to worship for a year a lot aliza and manat And they were going to worship um a la for a year. Well as it turns out in another revelation of convenience Allah comes back and says that it wasn't gabriel that put those words into muhammad's mouth It was satan And so they're called the satanic verses and basically gabriel said, what are you thinking? You're crazy. You're not allowed to do that. That was satan who revealed that to you Then I think about it for a moment There's surah in the quran that teach against this If the words of satan can come out of muhammad's mouth As easily as the words of ala can come out of muhammad. How can you trust any of it, right? These are the satanic verses He initially refused and then he received a revelation that it was okay surah 22 says this We did not send before you any messenger or prophet except that when he spoke or recited satan Through into it some misunderstanding But ala abolishes that which satan throws in then ala makes precise his verses and ala is knowing and wise That is so that he may make what satan throws in a trial For those within whose hearts is disease and those heart of heart and indeed the wrongdoers are in extreme dissension That's in surah 22 in the quran Muhammad is called the perfect man al-insan al-kameel the perfect man He's listed or held up as the supreme example of behavior for muslims to follow They say that he is an excellent model of conduct In the quran Certainly you have in the messenger of ala an excellent exemplar for him who hopes in ala And the latter day and remembers ala much He's held up as a standard of excellent character an exalted standard. So no matter how you stretch it It's glaringly obvious right that muhammad is no jesus christ No credible person could ever argue that jesus christ taught violence In fact lord said those who live by the sword will die by the sword right turn the other cheek love your enemies The lord jesus christ came to lay down his life for the sheep Lord jesus christ wept over them in prayer He shed his own blood for them Rather than shedding the blood of others for himself It was merciful to the woman who was caught in adultery against those who wanted to have her stoned In islam there's no adoption What a glorious truth right biblical truth adoption in islam No communion with the father no relationship God isn't dwelling with his people. He certainly isn't in dwelling them. There's no bride groom relationship And essentially there's no church in that sense. There's no personal intimate revelation of himself to believers Where he calls them by name right? Washes them makes them his prized possession the apple of his eye No real forgiveness. He doesn't sanctify them and wash them and eventually glorify them And the more that we study this and the more that you look at this The more that We love the bible and love the lord jesus christ grateful for the truth that god has revealed in his word And the more that we should have a burden on our hearts for muslims who are In darkness enslaved in this false religion So let's uh pray. Thank you guys. You've been troopers I was about to ask somebody to take the batteries out of the clock back there Didn't want to didn't want to look at it anymore But uh, there's a lot of information not what I hope and thank you guys for hanging in there with me through that That was probably a little painful. Uh, probably more than a little painful. Um Is it taking the notes that you've got so many of you taking good notes? Review some of that I think through some of those those critical issues those critical points. Um Because they're going to come in handy as you listen to the other brothers as they give their sessions There's going to be much that'll be spoken about and that Foundation will help you and then use that as a resource for the future too as you uh witness the muslims Hopefully that was helpful. All right. Well, let's pray get you home and we'll see you back in the morning. Let's pray Father in heaven. Thank you for our time together. Uh, thank you lord for your grace and mercy to us lord You are so good So gracious We are so grateful to you lord for the the truth as it has been revealed to us in christ Your word We praise you lord for your mercy to us in that and lord help us now as we think through these things Or help us to be able to process through this counterfeit That satan has erected that has enslaved people in darkness and help us lord The faithfulness to you being witnesses of our lord and savior jesus christ as you gather your your elect in from the Four corners of this world from every tribe tongue and nation would help us with the The testimony of of christ on our heart on our lips to be able to go to people enslaved in this False religion and to share within the truth as it is in christ a truth revealed in your word for their Souls sake lord that they might be saved and for your eternal praise and worship We pray all these things for your glory We pray them in the blessed name of our great god and savior the lord jesus christ. Amen All right, we'll see you guys in the morning. Thank you. Have a good night