 So today we are going to change gears and we're going to be looking at the foundations of Islam Now once again guys our theme verse for the class I Expect all of you to memorize it. Okay first Corinthians 118. Let's shall we say it together For the message of the cross Is foolishness to those who are perishing But to us who are being saved. It is the power of God. Amen. Amen So let's put that to memory. Let's memorize it I'm actually going to be doing that memory verse with my kids and in my home We put it up on a whiteboard and and I like to do memory verses with my kids to boy What better thing than knowing who's on TV or? Baseball figures are bad, you know the word of God needs to get into the homes. Amen So let's do that So we're going to be looking at the foundations of Islam and boy, there's a lot of things we're going to touch on today Okay, so a lot of information. I gave you all of my notes. Okay, so you guys have all of the class notes so we're going to be looking at each of those areas and We're there's going to be two parts to this okay, so this week and then next week the foundations of Islam and then Now you're going to have a good understanding a solid understanding of Islam And then we're going to look into the objections that the Muslims have and then we're going to look at Communicating the gospel to our Muslim friends now. I first I'm going to greet you. I'm also going to be putting together Some phrases. I'm planning to put together maybe along with the help of my wife a index of Words keywords just some keywords Spiritual vocabulary English and then Arabic I'm going to put it in a way where it's phonetic so that you can read it. Okay, but first I'm going to Greet you in the Arabic greeting. Okay, and hopefully all of you can learn this Okay, because you just know this one greeting and I I'm not I tell you the truth If you just memorize simply how to say hello to a Muslim You will see their face Brighten up with a smile. I can't tell you how many times just simply saying to them. Okay So an Arabic it's salam walaikum Okay, so this is what I would advise you to do salam Okay, write it down the way you hear it. This is how I learned Arabic write it down the way you hear it salam Okay, some people you may hear say salam. Okay Salam Okay, salam. This is the word for peace in Hebrew. What is it? Shalom in Arabic. It's salam. Okay, so salam Alaykum Alaykum right alaykum So when you run that all together Salam walaikum Now you guys don't have to learn the ah because there is a little ah there that will be hard But if you want to you're welcome to do that, but it's salam walaikum Okay in Arabic. They have a cup. They have some Some Alphabets that are difficult some of their pronunciation some vowels And one of them is the eye. Okay, so it's salam walaikum. Okay, and literally you are saying peace be upon you Okay, and it's in the plural Yes, salam peace Alay means upon Come is you guys so you're actually saying to the plural because the singular once I could go on in it forever But salam walaikum would be to you singular, but alaykum is the plural Because in the Islamic culture You are greeting They they use the plural now This is a way I was explained to me is because they believe that they have an angel of Recording the good deeds on one shoulder and an angel recording the bad deeds on the other shoulder Okay, and on judgment day those deeds will be taken into balance good works versus the bad works Okay, but that's how you greet Okay, a Muslim if you want to if you want to come on their level and you want to talk and you want to greet them Just say salam walaikum. Okay, and boom you will break the ice. I tell you that okay, so go for it Try it supermarkets your friends tell them salam walaikum, and they will say wow Okay Peace be upon you peace to you. Yeah, salam walaikum Salam Alaykum Alaykum, right some people say salam alaykum. Okay, they kind of just run it But there is I can't explain the grammar of it. Okay, but it's salam alaykum Okay So let's let's let's start here So beginning the foundations of Islam the first thing that I want to share with all of us is that it's important to remember First Corinthians 8 verse 1 Which says knowledge puffs up, but love edifies So, you know in every class we take in every course we take Whether it be theology whether it be foundations of our faith Whatever it may be Studying Islam right now. We are going to gain a lot of knowledge and knowledge is good But remember God's word says knowledge puffs up, but love edifies So we need to take the knowledge we are receiving today and the rest of these classes and then mix it with love and Boom in the hands of the Holy Spirit you will be a powerful vessel okay, so First of all we're going to look at Islam and the word Muslim defined So this was taken from In Arabic website Concerning the the meanings of Islam and Muslim Islam is derived from the Arabic word salama meaning peace Means purity submission and obedience Okay, it means all of these things and many times by the way in the Arabic language It is an amazing language. It is a beautiful language because one word Can have multiple meanings I've been told that they have 70 words for the word lion For lion they have 70 different words just for the word lion So I mean that just gives you an idea of the vastness, you know of the language. It's a beautiful language. Okay So in the religious sense Islam means submission to the will of God and obedience to his law Everything and every phenomenon in the world other than man is administered totally by God made laws That is they are obedient to God and submissive to his laws. They are in the state of Islam Man possesses the quality of intelligence and choice Thus he is invited to submit to the goodwill of God and obey his law that is become a Muslim Submission to the goodwill of God together with obedience to his beneficial law That is becoming a Muslim is the best safeguard for man's peace and harmony okay, Muslim means and Once again, the correct word guys is Muslim Okay, we a lot of times in the West we say Muslim Okay, but when you're when you're speaking to them if I'm just telling you the right way It's okay if you don't but you're gonna say Muslim Okay, because the verb is slim. Okay or slim So Muslim means submitted or someone who is submitted. Okay, it is a person who is submitted so in the word Salama, do you see the word from Islam? Which which comes which is where we get the word submission or peace? You have Muslim. Okay, whenever in the Arabic language You have Mu it literally means the person or the agent who does the verb So it's the person who submits Okay So Muslim means someone someone who submitted to Allah a follower of the religion of Islam The Muslim in relation to God is as a slave to a master who must obey Unquestionably or face God's judgment in contrast as a Christian we are called children of God and God is our Heavenly Father a love relationship versus a legal one driven by fear and This is one of the huge differences. Okay In Islam, they are driven by fear They are driven by fear and their their relation with their God Allah is that of a slave to a master and however Even though we are also servants of God, but Jesus and in in the Word of God We are told that we are now sons and daughters of God. We are now called children of God But now when you are talking with a Muslim and if you talk about that and we're gonna touch on that later on When you say something like that, you are a child of God They're gonna understand that literally and that's where the problem lies So they're gonna say, okay, so you're a child of God. So then you're saying to me that God is married and produced you So right away. They just go So of course, you know, and if I if I understood it that way too, I would say well, yeah It's wrong. So when I've talked to them and I've said to them Look what you believe what you think we believe. I don't even believe that and There's not one Christian in the world who believes that God had a wife and produced us children or Jesus and that we're gonna go on that later on that he's a son of God So right away. They think literal and that's why they say you and I are blaspheming and the Bible's blaspheming Well, if it's on that if that's the definition, yes, but we're not So once again defining terms and it's the same way with many of you know with the cults You have to define. Okay. Jesus wait. Who is Jesus to you, right? Well, Jesus is Michael the Archangel or Jesus is a God Okay, well, we need to define our terms Okay So now we're gonna look at a brief history of Islam So this is as brief as I could get okay, because there is a lot. There's a lot of history In Islam, but this is gonna give you a summary and understanding of the origins where it came from and what happened and where it is Up until now Okay, so pre-Islamic Arabia The city of Mecca was a prominent center for commerce and well-known for poetry Okay, Mecca is the center of the Islamic world today All right, you know, it's as you may know, it's in the it's in this country of Saudi Arabia and Before Islam came We're gonna find out that there were many tribes. It was desert many tribes were running that area and there was a lot of idolatry Okay, but it was well known in Mecca for poetry and that's why Muslims proud themselves in the the Quran because the Quran is very poetic in the way it reads There's a lot of rhyme and rhythm Okay, and they actually pride themselves in the poetry and in a lot of the Arabic poetry and it was well known for that in those days The dominant tribe was the Quraish tribe Okay, you may have heard that that Muhammad came from the Quraish tribe There was a lot of pagan Arab idolatry Okay, as I said that prevailed it was completely given over and and if you will there was a space You know the the gospel had gone gone into the Roman world But it's amazing you look at that part of the world You see the Middle East and it was almost as if it just got hardly touched It was untouched that desert region and it was given over to pagan idolatry the Kaaba Was for idol worship. Okay, there was a place in Mecca Which today if you if you were to go on the internet and Type in Mecca or type in this word the Kaaba You're gonna see where every Muslim in the world faces to pray five times a day They are facing when they pray they must pray to the east Okay, so a Muslim will get out his prayer rug put it on the floor find out. Where is the east, you know? We've had friends, you know when we lived in Morocco friends would come over to our house We would have dinner and stuff and then when they'd say oh, it's time for prayer Or they would hear the call to prayer right away They would they would look around and they would want to go to a clean place And they would want to pull out their prayer rug and just pray, you know and find they have to face towards Mecca Okay, so Mecca has the place called the Kaaba and Before Muhammad came it was used for idol worship The Kaaba's origin very interesting if you check out acts 1935 there is an interesting parallel there Most probably what what happened is that they built this place around a Meteor because what it was they say that it was a white rock But over the years it has become black because of man's sin that it took on itself So basically the Kaaba in Mecca What you see now if you go and you Google it on the internet you will see a big black box a huge black box and you will see Hundreds of thousands of Muslims Going around in circles. Okay, and this is part of their their pilgrimage that they that they should do But this Kaaba is inside of that black box is a rock Okay, and they have a lot what their belief is is that they believe that Abraham and Isaac or Abraham rather an Ishmael actually set it up That they established this rock there a long long time ago And so Muhammad found it and there they came and they found it and these pagans actually just idolized and began to worship and pray to The rock and so we're gonna see what happened with with Muhammad But it's interesting because in Acts 1935 Paul talks about a similar thing He said that object which fell from Zeus and so it seems that in those days Something also like a meteorite fell from heaven and they began to worship that rock as an idol And so it's a really interesting the parallel Islamic historians refer to this period as jahiliya Which means times of ignorance? This is really interesting because if you were to look at Islamic History this period when Islam came they call this period the times of ignorance People were in the dark. They were ignorant You know, and I find it really interesting when you actually think about even European history, you know, we talk about the dark ages and Do you realize some of the reasons why we call it the dark ages? The Bible was only in the in the language of Latin and people did not have the Bible translated in their own language You know, I even my own father told me that he used to go to the Roman Catholic Church with his mom And the whole service was in Latin and he would ask his mom mom What did they say and she would she would have tears in her eyes and she would say I don't know And so that's actually what prevailed then in the dark ages where the people did not have the Bible in their own language and This is what was happening then people were in ignorance people were worshiping idols and So Mohammed's Mohammed comes along so Mohammed's birth in 570 AD in Mecca of Arabia and He died in 632 AD in the city of Medina and also the word Medina It's it's not only the name of a city, but Medina in Arabic means city Okay, it also means city. It means city Now next Mohammed's early life His parents were Abdullah and Amina Abdullah you may you may have friends that are called Abdullah. You've heard of that that literally means abd which means slave or servant of Allah, okay, servant of God Abdullah and His mom Amina his father died when he was very young and he was raised by his grandfather abd al-Mutalib and Then at eight years old. He was raised by an uncle abd al-Mutalib During his younger years Mohammed was involved. He was a merchant So he was around a lot of caravans that came through Saudi Arabia that came through there There were a lot of Jews Christians people that came in caravans trading and he was around a lot of merchants And he was also a shepherd at age 25. He married his first wife Hadija Hadija the KH will be pronounced Okay, if you can do that Hadija It's fun to say So she was 40. Okay. He was 25. She was 40 and she was a very wealthy woman They had seven kids and The interesting thing three that all of the boys died They had seven kids together four girls three boys all three boys died And the girls remained So now moving along the first revelation So now when the very first revelation came to Mohammed it began in 610 ad in a cave called Hira Supposedly from the angel Gabriel. Okay now. I'm not gonna go once again. I don't have enough time to go in depth Okay, but this is what happened just like and it's very very interesting and you know what? when you study the scriptures and when you look around and you study world religions and you study cults you see that Satan it does he just does the same thing, but he just changes the mask a little bit But you just look at Mormonism and you look at Islam and there's a lot of parallels a lot and I've told multiple Muslims I said, you know exactly what you're telling me. I said there is a man. There's one man Joseph Smith Have you ever heard of him? Never. I mean every single Muslim in Morocco has never heard of Joseph Smith I said, you know that there are millions of followers of this religion called Mormonism and they're like really and I said You proved to me that they're not true. They have millions of people following them How do we know they're not true because that man also said that he was a prophet and he went off by himself And this is exactly what Mohammed did He went off by himself and he went up and if you look at Mecca right now where the pilgrims come It is in a valley and up in the mountains there overlooking that whole valley is where he where he stayed And he meditated by himself and I'm sure, you know, he was pondering and thinking about all of these things And that's where the enemy met him. Okay in this cave and in this cave He believed that it was the angel Gabriel who brought him the revelation of the Koran Okay, so his first revelation came in 610 in this cave Now moving along the Meccan period so Now Mohammed Receives what he believes from God his Apostleship his call if you will to be a messenger for Allah and now the Meccan period So the following grew over the next 12 years So for the following the next 12 years in the city of Mecca his following grew more and more people began to Follow him and follow his what he was proclaiming as Islam the new religion Persecution also increased from pagan idolaters Then we go on to the next period the hijra the hijra Being opposed heavily in 622 AD Mohammed journeyed from Mecca to Medina 200 miles northwest To spread Islam and establish his new base of operations So he was going he was under a lot of persecution from a lot of these idolaters And he took his troops and he headed Northwest 200 miles from Mecca to Medina. Okay, and they call that That's why you get the word hajj I don't know if you ever if any of you have heard the word hajj Which is the pilgrimage to Mecca in Arabic. It's called hajj, which means pilgrimage So there you have the word hijra comes from the root word hajj. Okay, anyways Beginning of Islamic calendar So this began the Islamic calendar when they went from Mecca to Medina That's when their calendar which the Muslims follow the Islamic calendar. That's when it began Okay, so the Islamic is based on a lunar cycle referred to as a H Versus our Gregorian calendar. Okay, and you can look that up once again on the internet I'm not going to go into detail about that, but it's there's differences. Okay Now Muhammad's years in Medina over the next 10 years Islam spread by conquest to neighboring lands conquering Jewish and Christian Communities as well as pagan tribes The succession to Muhammad Once Muhammad died You have of course now in the in the sect one sect of the Sunni Islam They believe the succession went from Abu Bakr to Omar to Oothman to Ali known as the four rightly guided Khalif's okay, we say Khalif's it comes from the Arabic word Khalif okay, which means someone who is guided Okay, the Shiite Islam believe in 12 imams an imam is a person a leader who stands in front of the people and leads The first of which is Ali up to Mehdi who did not die but was taken up or hidden by God Now of course, this is what this is Islam. Okay, this is what they believe or hidden by God This is also a lesser Occultation and whom will return to set up his kingdom at the end of time So this is what the Shiite Muslims believe versus what the Sunni Muslims believe. Okay So throughout the following years you see a lot of the offensive wars of Islam multiple campaigns multiple wars There's so much history. There are so many things that went on and a lot a lot of wars And once again when when many times when you're talking, I don't like to get on this subject to me It's some people get involved in it and start talking about the history unless you really know which I don't know a whole lot of this So I don't even involve that it's really not that important, you know But sometimes they will get defensive and Muslims will begin to say no these were wars of defense Not of offense, you know, but it all comes down to Christ He said he who lives by the sword will die by the sword and One of the huge differences is I say To every Muslim Jesus said we are to spread the name of Christ through this Simply the preaching we're not to fight. We're not to make war, but through the preaching of the gospel and Also through the blood of the Saints Because we see through our history and I've said this before our book is a bloody book And that's why we as Christians need to hold this the word of God so precious Because people literally gave their very life shed their blood so that we can have this in English and we could have the Bible today So we have a bloody book, but it was not because of war As far as what Christ commanded it was because of the preaching And then you have of course the expansion of Islam for the past 1300 years Islam has continued to spread through both military conquest and proselytism proselytism in Arabic is Dawah Okay, now moving along to the sects of Islam Okay, you have primarily the two major sects. Okay Just as you know in Christianity, you have Protestantism and Catholicism. Okay in Islam you have these two major sects The majority are Sunni. Okay, so 80 to 85 percent of the Islamic world are Sunni So most of the material in this class will apply to the Sunni because they are the dominant sect Sunnis recognize the first four Khalif's as Legitimate successors to Muhammad the four they're mentioned the dispute over who should be the legitimate successor has resulted in Fundamental political and religious differences between Sunnis and Shiites Okay, and then I gave you here Khalif in Arabic Khalif, which means a successor of Muhammad as temporal and spiritual head of Islam Okay, the Shiites they are 15 percent of all Muslims Predominantly in Iran part of Iraq and part of Lebanon Shiites recognize only Ali as the legitimate successor to Muhammad since Ali was the son-in-law of Muhammad They reject the first three Khalif's as illegitimate They regard the Imam as infallible and as God's messenger to mankind today Shiites do not accept all the hadith accounts that Sunnis do. Okay, the hadith now is Other books that are extra if you were you know how we say extra biblical if you would say extra Chironical, okay outside of the Quran, which is the Muslims holy book their main holy book is the Quran You have the hadith and the hadith is it literally means the tradition of the things Muhammad taught The way he lived what he said everything was recorded by his friends those that were around him and most Muslims the Sunni Especially will follow not only the Quran, but also what's fine. What's found in the traditions of Muhammad so I mean even to the point of Okay, Muhammad grew his beard no more than a Fist's length So they will grow it only a fist length and a lot of Sunni Muslims. They will have only Let's see they'll have the beard and they will not have a mustache. So I mean to that specificity I mean really specific things. I mean they literally just they imitate exactly what Muhammad did You know if he ate if he ate his soup first one spoonful and then pause for two minutes They'll do the same thing, you know So just to give you an idea Then you have another sect here also the Sufis This is a mystical sect of Islam believes completely different from both Sunni and Shiite a small minority sect So keep in mind the differences which affect them. Okay, so Depending on the Muslim you're talking to They could be a Sunni. They could be a Shiite. Okay. I doubt you'll run into a Sufi, but you might all right Now this is the more important here the articles of belief Okay in Arabic. It's called Arkhan el Iman Arkhan El Iman. Okay, Arkhan means the articles El Iman el is the and then Iman is belief or faith. Okay So God Allah is a general term for God used by Muslims Arabic Christians and Jews. Okay now This is a many many Christians many people wonder have this question Should we be using the word Allah when we're talking to a Muslim? Okay. Yes, you should okay We've been in Morocco for 13 years. We've ministered to Muslims You use the word Allah because it is the only word used by Muslims Arabic Christians and Jews when you pick up an Arabic Bible The word for God is Allah. Okay. Now let's let's look further literally The is Al and God is illa. Okay, so in Arabic the only word for God is Allah. Okay, there is no word for God It's like if you were ministering to somebody in Spanish and you said well, I'm not gonna use Dios So I'm gonna use senor. Well senor is Lord, right? There is no other word for God. There's Dios Okay, but now who is Dios you understand this is the key issue who is God The God that is revealed in the Quran is not the God not the true God He is not the God who came and revealed to us the scriptures and gay and brought a salvation So we're gonna look in that. Okay. Now remember I'm gonna have about 15 minutes of questions and answers later on So if you want to hold any questions if you want to write down or jot anything down, you're welcome to do that Okay, so El illa might be connected to an ancient pagan God many scholars do not agree unanimously on this point I read a lot of stuff The lot of things some people say this some people say that some people say well This was the moon God in Mecca along amongst the plethora of other gods Okay in Arabic like I said in the Arabic language. There is no other word for God, but Allah Okay, so he that is God now. They also in the Arabic Bible. We have the word for Lord Okay So and then of course The other descriptions of who our God is the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Okay So Islam is a monotheistic religion. Just as is Christianity and Judaism. You need to know that that's important Okay, and once again, you're gonna see here in these articles of belief that we're gonna look at today There is a lot of common ground That you have with the Muslims and that is one of the wonderful things That makes it a bit easier than sharing with someone that does not believe in God. I don't believe in a creator I don't believe okay, they get you're gonna see they believe in God. Just just look at some of these articles of belief God Prophets the holy books angels and demons Divine decree final judgment man. Okay, these are what they call their articles of belief So a lot of common ground with Christians So they believe that God has always existed all laws are all powerful They believe he's omnipotent and there you have the the references in the Koran Okay, now I encourage you if you want go on to the internet and go on to find an online Koran for yourself. Okay, I use one. I believe it's www.searchtruth.net Okay, and there you have like a little search engine You can type in any word in English and then it can pull up all the references in the Koran of that word and You have different translations from Arabic into English. Okay, but check out some of these verses from the Koran Okay, now when we say Surah Surah is a Chapter, okay, if you will or a book Okay in the Koran you have For example, the four the first Surah would be like we would say Genesis and Exodus. So Surah one is Fatiha Surah two would be Baqarah, which is which means cow So you have the book of Fatiha the book of the cow the book of the ant you can check it out on the internet There's all the different chapters or books in the Koran. Okay, so you have the chapter Surah two and then verse 106 Okay, so they believe God is all-powerful. They believe he's omnipresent There's references everything that happens on earth is of Allah's will Nothing occurs that Allah has not already willed to happen Including man's sinning the presence of evil in the world and Other things so this is where it gets really interesting. They believe Everything is from God include evil and man's sinning from God There is no free will for mankind everything is controlled by Allah Allah is impersonal. He does not have a relationship with his creation Muslim relationship with Allah is that of a master and a slave rather than father son relationship in Christianity So once again when you are Conversing with a Muslim they cannot understand that concept They cannot understand that concept, but we have to be careful to define what we mean Okay, we're not speaking of a physical relationship, but we're talking about a spiritual relationship That God has adopted us into his family and what's interesting is that they have in the Koran a lot of things That are almost have a spiritual meaning or a metaphorical meaning, you know For example in the Bible we have where the Bible says abiding under the shadow of his wings So is God a big chicken? No is God does God have wings like a like a bird? No That is a metaphor for his protection Okay, in the same way in the Koran it says that God sits on the throne and God sees so I've asked him and I said So does God have eyes? How does he see does he have two eyes? When he sits how does he sit like what what what what does his seat look like what what is his his form his shape What does he sit on like we sit on our bottom? What does he sit on and so the same thing they talk about God's seeing so does he have eyes? Well, no, he doesn't have eyes like a man. Okay, so then you're beginning to break them take them out of the box So in the same manner we have the same thing. There are there are metaphors, okay? And we're talking about here a spiritual relationship Now in Islam there is what's called shirk. Okay, do you see that shirk? Shirk is the word in Islam to attribute to others the qualities of deity reserved for Allah alone To equate others with Allah Christians are guilty of shirk because we equate Jesus Christ with God Okay now once again When we say Jesus is God in the flesh in Their mind that is blasphemy That is shirk to them because you are equating a man with God And I'll just tell you really quick. I'm just gonna tell you one line right here But this is really I heard this a long time ago, and I never forgot it The issue is this When we say that Jesus is God we are not saying a man became God, but we're saying God became a man That is very key because in their mind they're hearing a man. You're saying a man Becomes God, but we're not saying that we're saying the eternal God became a man Okay, because the one is impossible, but the other is possible and we'll talk about that later on Allah does not have a son in Islam. He needs nobody else to accomplish his will and there you have all of the different references Allah cannot be known. He is so transcendent as to be unknowable Okay, once again, there is no intimate relationship as we have with God You know guys when you sit and if you share your testimony with a Muslim And especially Let me share this with you when you share how Christ and how God is moving in your life today That is powerful because me and my wife sat with a family that we know in Morocco The man is saved, but his wife is unsaved and his wife doesn't know that he's a believer Okay, and we sat with her and we shared and I said to her I said Muna Do you know that God speaks to me and she's like I said, do you know that God has answered many of my prayers? I said has God ever answered your prayers and be specific and I told her one after another where God has specifically answered my prayers and God speaks to my heart There is a relationship, you know and Pastor Chuck Smith has said prayer is not meant to be a monologue It's a dialogue But I think a lot of us as Christians like I need to step back and I have to say is it Because seriously sometimes like we say that but really is it is it a dialogue? Is God really speaking to me and if not why not? So in our Christian walks, there needs to be a dialogue I need to speak to God, but I need to be quiet and listen to him and I once heard a Pastor speak about a W. Tozer most of you know Tozer Tozer brought him into his office. This is an evangelist by the name of Leonard Ravenhill. He's one of my favorites And he came into Tozer's office and Tozer said sit down Leonard. He says, you know sometimes I Come into my office and I just tell my secretary to go on home and close the door and shut the door And he says I just get on the floor on my face for two three four hours Silent not even saying a word Just worshiping the majesty of God He said not even saying a word. He said you know what worship is it is silence worship in silence I mean and that is powerful if I encourage you if you haven't you go home and in your devotions You just get silence before God and it is a powerful thing When you worship God in silence, but anyways In Islam, God cannot be known. He is so transcendent praise the Lord that we can know our God We can know him the Islamic view of God involves a form of Agnosticism Indeed the heart of Islam is not to know God, but to obey him. This is very interesting I found this quote very interesting. It is not to know God, but to obey him Despite all the names of God in the Quran in Orthodox Islam we confront a God who is basically unknowable And this was a quote from a book So for them it is there is no such thing as knowing God it is I must obey him and that's it Allah is both good and evil Check this out Surah 4 verse 78 This is from the Quran if some good befalls them they say this is from Allah But if evil they say this is from the O prophet Say God is saying say this all things are from Allah Okay, he's saying both the good and the evil come from me. That's what he is saying in the Quran He leads some in righteousness and leads others astray. Okay in the Quran God can lead some to righteousness and he can lead Okay, there's a difference between letting people but he says he leads them astray Surah 4 119 I will mislead them and I will create in them false desires Surah 14 verse 3 then Allah sendeth whom he will astray and Guided whom he will and other references there He cannot be said to be unjust or wrong according to human standards so this is once again interesting because He can cause evil or do evil, but you cannot say that God is unjust Listen to what this guy said here This is a muslim a muslim Scholar imam al-bar qavi died in 1132 He can do what he wills and whatever he wills comes to pass. He is not obliged to act Everything good or evil in this world exists by his will He wills the faith of the believers and the piety of the religious He willeth also the unbelief of the unbeliever and the irreligion of the wicked All we do we do by his will what he willeth not does not come to pass If one should ask why God? If one should ask why God does not will that all men should believe we answer We have no right to inquire about what God wills and does he is perfectly free to will and to do what he pleases So you know what that does that takes complete responsibility off of humans You can do good you can do evil so So how do you judge? Where is the justice of God you understand so there is there's no responsibility no accountability Okay Described in the Quran as the greatest deceiver. This is really interesting. This gets even worse to me. God God is described as the greatest deceiver Sura 354 and They disbelievers plotted and Allah planned to and Allah is the best of the planners Now once again, it's interesting because when you read the English translation It is not what is in Arabic and this is what helps When you learn Arabic, you're like you read the Arabic and you're like, okay Well, that's not what it says my friend, okay, and so that's why we write here the word for planners It's not planners Mekirina is the word for deceiver in Arabic. Okay So he is the greatest or the best of deceivers. He says here basically The disbelievers they deceive he says well, I am the best deceiver Can you imagine? The Bible tells us in 1st John chapter 1. I love it. God is light and in him is no darkness at all This is the message that we have received from him. God is light and in him is no darkness at all There is none Okay, so this is the God of Islam Okay, so we are having we have a picture now you have an idea in the mind of a Muslim This is the God they worship. This is the God they they know, okay Now next they believe in prophets According to Islamic tradition there were a hundred and twenty-four thousand throughout history Which came to teach and guide people to the true path Okay, this is what they believe how many prophets a hundred and twenty-four thousand through their history Now among the prophets is another group called messengers, okay So there's a difference in the mind of a Muslim between a prophet Okay, prophet is a Nebi in Arabic and a messenger, which is a Rasul And that is what they say when they refer to Muhammad. He is a messenger or in English We say apostle so they kind of use those words interchangeably either an apostle or messenger Okay, but in their call to prayer has anyone in here been to Israel Okay, when you were in Israel, did you hear the call to prayer over the loudspeakers? Okay There is a call to prayer five times a day, okay, and a Muslim anywhere in the world Will pray five times a day if he's Very religious, okay In that call to prayer the very first thing they hear is The confession of faith and the confession of faith must be said in Arabic Okay, but the confession of faith is this there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger okay, so Among the prophets is another group called the messengers of which Islam says there were 313 in total Each of the messengers came with a particular book revealed for a certain people The Quran specifically mentions only 25 by name okay in the whole Quran out of the 313 only 25 are mentioned by name They are Adam Enoch Noah Abraham lot Ishmael Isaac Jacob Joseph Moses Job Samuel David Solomon Elijah Elijah Jonah Zachariah the father of John the Baptist John the Baptist Jesus and Then you have here some that I have never heard of before salih hood Shu'aib and do look if it and then Muhammad So interesting, huh? I bet a lot of you here didn't know that they even believed in a lot of these prophets Right Enoch Noah Moses they do okay, so once again We have common ground and a lot of the stories that are in the scripture They also believe in okay now once again there will be details many times that are just twisted and changed okay But these are those messengers that they believe in that came okay, so they believe in prophets next they believe in holy books Allah revealed from heaven for holy books Okay in the mind of every Muslim there are only four holy books revealed from heaven the Torah The Psalms the gospel and the Quran Okay And once again, I'm going to give you this in an index forum in Arabic the Torah at Psalms Zabur gospel in Jill and then Quran So keep in mind a Muslims understanding of these divine revelations is different from a Christians How the book was revealed Okay, to who was it revealed and length of time it is completely different when you're talking to a Muslim and They say I believe in the Torah and you say oh, I believe in the Torah the books of Moses Okay, what they're thinking is not what you're thinking what we believe how it came to us is not how they believe it came Okay So they believe it was all given for example to Moses and Moses wrote down everything himself The the the Psalms Okay, they believe it it all came to only David So if they were to find like sons of Koran the Psalms. Oh wait a minute. What's this? Okay? Now also in the And then of course the gospel We have once again. This is a problem for them when they find out. Oh, you have Matthew Mark Luke and John Who is this Apostle Paul writing this who's this man? Okay? They have a problem with that because for them the gospel one book came down to Jesus and Jesus Gave it only him Jesus is the one who spoke it all so they don't understand where this Matthew Mark Luke and John comes from Okay So the way we got it the way we receive and believe is not the way in their mind the gospel came Okay, just so you know Okay, so it's different in the Muslims mind The Koran is referred to as the mother of the book Okay, this is the way the the Koran refers to the Koran the mother of the book in Sura 43 Verses 3 through 4 we have made it a Koran in Arabic That ye may be able to understand and learn wisdom and verily It is in the mother of the book in our presence high in dignity full of wisdom And this alley means that the the English translation So the Koran says that the Koran was revealed in Arabic and he needs to stay in Arabic Okay, this is another thing of their holy book. It must be in Arabic and For a Muslim anywhere in the world if he is to rightly understand The Koran it must be read in Arabic and this is where we we differentiate And I've had many discussions with Muslims and it comes down to two things right here for them there is Divinity there is power There is almost holiness in the language of Arabic But for us what is even the purpose of missions Why is it that we have translated the Bible into so many languages? It is to get the gospel the message the spirit the power of the message Into people's hearts and minds in a way they can understand and then they can believe and put their faith in Christ and be saved So for us it is the message and that message needs to get to every person That's why missions exist. It needs to be translated if those people have never heard it in their language They need the Bible in their language But for a Muslim it must stay in Arabic And so not only must the Koran be read in Arabic, but their prayers must be in Arabic Very interesting you cannot pray as a Muslim in English or Spanish or whatever language it has to be in Arabic So for them, it's like Arabic is Divine and it needs to stay Arabic No other language will be acceptable Okay, so once again, they believe in these four holy books and this this is very This is very good. This is common ground They believe in these these four books and you can have a very good discussion concerning this with a Muslim Next angels and demons Excuse me So angels they believe created by God to serve him Archangels men archangels mentioned in the Koran. Okay, so they believe in several archangels Gabriel he is the angel of revelation Michael he is the angel of providence Isra feel he blows the trumpet of doom Azrael he is the angel of death Ridwan he is the guardian of paradise or heaven Malik is the guardian of hell Malik means king Munkar and Nakir They are the two archangels that questioned the dead and There are others. Okay, so they believe in these guardian ain't these archangels and of course what they believe what was revealed to Muhammad The angel Gabriel he was the one that came to him in the cave Okay, and gave him the Koran began to give him revelations There are recording angels the good and the bad deeds I told you about that Okay, they believe that every person in the world has two angels on both sides. Okay a good angel One angel recording the good deeds and one recording the bad deeds Then you have what's called the gene Okay, you the the Arabic pronunciation is Jean and it's guess what guys this is where we get the word genie It's where it came from the Middle East Look at a genie. He's Middle Eastern. It's actually this word here. It came from Jean. Okay, and it's Jean It is a what is a gene a different type of spirit being It can be good or evil Can enter also and possess humans They can be male or female and they're created from fire. Okay. This is what Muslims believe. Okay, many times there is Actually, I think it's the holiday the night of power There is the 27th the 27th evening in the in Ramadan, okay Right now the Muslims are in Ramadan the month of fasting the 27th night They call it Lailat al-Qadr, which means night of power That is the night where the Muslims believe that Muhammad began to receive revelation from God on that night At least in Morocco and it might be throughout the Muslim world the women of the homes always start burning incense and What will normally what are they what is the reason why they do that to ward off to keep the bad spirits away? Yeah Yeah, and so they will they will light incense so I mean throughout our city You know you're smelling this incense and it's kind of yeah, it can be eerie But you know what you you begin to say we're gonna we're gonna pray in the name of Christ's and we're gonna lift up the incense of prayer, you know and and I tell you it's There's there's warfare. There's warfare But this is what takes place and so they believe that these gin can can possess them And so what they would do is they light this incense to ward off the evil spirits What's that? They don't want the evil ones at least Then there's Satan Satan is of the gene, okay, so they believe Satan is part of the gene Category and that's found in Sura 1850 They believe that Satan was created from fire He was commanded by Allah to prostrate before Adam Along with all God's angels, this is interesting He refused so he was cast down from heaven and would give himself over to tricking and leading people away from Allah's straight path And that's found in Sura 7 verse 16 And then you contrast that of course with the biblical of count Satan's fall. It is completely Different You know when I first heard that I was like shocked God said for all of the angels including Satan to bow down to Adam Okay, and that's why because Satan refused that's why he was cast down to the earth So of course, it's way different for us The Bible says that Satan wanted to be like God and there's the famous five I am statements He says I or I will I will do this I will I will I will and I think it's found in Isaiah chapter 14 And maybe Ezekiel 28 if I'm correct But those are the accounts of tells us what happened to Satan Then we have what's called the divine decree This has also been referred to as Fate fatalism, okay, the divine decree Allah controls everything Allah leads some astray and others he guides In Sura 951 it says nothing will happen to us except what Allah has decreed for us The term is used frequently if God wills now many Muslims use this term all the time They'll say insha Allah. Okay, there I have it in parenthesis insha Allah Okay, it means if God wills and It's interesting because You will get in a in a taxi In Morocco you get into a taxi and you say to the airport, please and they'll say insha Allah They'll say if God wills and it's interesting when we talk to them about Eternal things concerning heaven and our eternal security For them they will say if God wills for everything But even for their eternal destiny whether they're going to heaven or hell they'll say insha Allah I will go to heaven so they don't know and We've told them That for everything also I said that we've told them as Christians. We also believe that God willing we'll get from point A to point B and anything in life the book of James tells us Don't say you're gonna do this or that and be so confident Don't boast it says only if God wills you will do this But I've told them this but there is the one thing that we do not say if God wills and that's our eternal security The reason why because God promised me and if I say God willing I will be in heaven then guess what I'm calling God a liar Because then God's word is not final and it's not authoritative and so in the one area We cannot say if God wills it is in our salvation I know beyond a shadow of a doubt and of course each one of us have to know that We have to know for ourselves and the Bible says make your calling an election sure and So they they say that all the time and it's very frequent Now this is from the Hadith from one of the traditions and this is written by Sahih Muslim This is one of the famous Scholars verily Allah has fixed the very portion of adultery which a man will indulge in and which he of necessity must commit That is crazy Okay, so literally they believe everything comes from God everything is fixed from God. He controls everything It's very sad Then there is final judgment Okay, good and bad deeds will be weighed on a scale. This is what they believe Okay, they're good deeds will be weighed against their bad deeds and if they have more good deeds They will go to heaven if not they will go to hell Muslims have no assurance of salvation even after all they do So they can they can do all their prayers. They can go to Mecca. They can give to the poor. They can go to the Friday Meetings at the mosque. Okay, because Muslims worship on Fridays Okay, just as Jews on Saturday Muslims are Friday Friday's their holy day They can do all these things and they still will not know if they can go to heaven In fact some have said you can do all these things and if God wants to he can send you to hell Because he can do whatever he wills So Muslims have no assurance they say if God wills I will enter paradise even Muhammad himself had no assurance That blows me away. Even their own prophet had no assurance that he would go to heaven The exception is martyrs in Islam. They are guaranteed paradise. Okay Now once again our martyr in Islam is not our martyrs in Christianity where we die Because of our faith, okay our martyr for them is they are Destroying lives where we in Christianity martyrs are being destroyed. We are being killed for the sake of Christ Okay, and then there is the belief in heaven and hell of course, there are many things that contrast with the biblical view, but Generally, they believe in heaven. They believe in hell. They believe there's a judgment day. Okay, so all these things and then finally man Allah created Adam and Eve in heaven from the dust and were deceived by Satan to eat of the tree Which was forbidden God then cast them both from heaven to the earth to dwell there as a punishment Okay, so note take note They don't believe that Adam and Eve were created on the earth in Eden They believe Adam and Eve were created in heaven Okay out of dust and Then we're deceived by Satan and then we're cast to the earth But they do believe there was a tree that the one tree that shouldn't be eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil They believe in that okay in Surah 2 verse 35 through 36 and we said oh Adam Dwell you and your wife in the paradise and eat both of you freely with pleasure and delight of things They're in as wherever you will but come not near this tree or you both will be of the Zalimun, which means wrongdoers Then the shaytan, which is an Arabic Satan made them slip there from the paradise and got them out from that in which they were We said get you down all with enmity between yourselves on earth will be a dwelling place for you and an enjoyment for a time So this is the the text taken from the Quran they believe man was created to worship Allah Okay, once again, this is a common ground Just as we believe that God created us to know him Okay, and to worship the true God. They also believe that they were created to worship God However, they believe that man was born without a sin nature. Okay, they believe man is born sinless Okay, they believe man is born sinless and they also believe that every person is born a Muslim They believe all of us are Muslims. We're just not on the right path and we need to be brought to the true path That's what they believe Okay, but they believe everyone is born without a sin nature They also believe about man that concerning the prophets They cannot send the prophets They could not sin. So it's interesting because you do not have for example in the Bible where we have a lot of the the sins of Of of the prophets which for us it actually helps me because I see they're a man as I'm a man It gives us hope and if God can use them then God can use me If God used Abraham who lied if God used Noah who got drunk and you go on and on Jacob the supplant or the deceiver then God can use us You know Peter, you know denying the Lord three times But yet in the day of Pentecost filled with the Holy Spirit He became a lion for the Lord preaching the gospel and you know what the Bible tells us the reality The prophets were men like us But they they were filled with God, but in the Quran the prophets cannot sin So while the Bible portrays God as absolutely holy and man is totally depraved the Quran portrays man as simply weak and Misguided in the Muslim view man does not need redemption He only needs some guidance so that he might develop the inherently pure nature With which the Creator hasn't endowed him if he will be faithful in his prayers Omsgiving and fasting God is likely to overlook his sins and usher him into paradise a garden of sensual delights Okay, so there is a vast difference Okay, a vast difference and you know what's very interesting. I'll I'll leave you with this. It's 830 now for us if you just it's really amazing, but when you study the Bible and you just see that the The beauty of Scripture and behind everything Our faith is centered in Christ our faith is centered in Christ in Heaven Christ will be the center of heaven But in the Muslims heaven you actually see and observe that everything is for the man You have all these things for the man and it's very humanistic But in the Bible It's all God. It's for his glory and for his honor But you know what the beautiful thing is and I've discovered this in my own walk as I glorify God and as I make him the center of my life and as I fully obey him I Receive pleasure. I am blessed. I am delighted You know when I was you know a lot of people have asked me they've said, you know, how could you you know? Go to the mission field. How could you do that? You know and when I was young I said I will never be a missionary. I would never do that But the thing is this God will never call you somewhere until he changes your heart and he makes that thing become your love and your passion He will never call you somewhere until he makes that very thing Literally burning in your heart like a fire and that's what he does You know and and serving God and serving the Lord guys and you can all testify. It's not a burden It is our love. We are in love with Jesus We are in love with Jesus because he was in love with us, you know, and I love I love the One of the songs that Phil Wickham wrote called divine romance Because I think about that that God He romanced us in a very in a spiritual way and once again, I think about Muslims I think they would not understand that song if they read that they would to say wow You guys are blaspheming here, but I think you know when I listen to that song That is powerful to me because our God loves us and he came down and he He wooed us with his love and he drew us to himself and what a blessing to serve the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob Well, let's let's close this time Father we thank you Lord for Instructing us Lord. We thank you for for teaching us father so that we can be Equipped and ready for service Lord and father. We just pray that Lord you would be with us tonight father. We pray that Our time of question and answers would glorify you that our time of intercession would glorify you in Jesus name Amen, it is not it is not so it's just From the side when the Sun comes up till the Sun goes down on Friday. I know clearly it was a fallen angel it was a fallen angel and it's For us see the thing is when we as we take the scripture and once again the beautiful thing is And this is what and I could go on but we sift everything through the word of God This is a sifter if you will if it doesn't line up with this I Don't believe it and that's why the Jews and the Christians of that day rejected Muhammad because it didn't line up with scripture and exactly what you said Paul warned us He said even if we are an angel from heaven even if it was an angel Comes down and gives you anything that is slightly different. He said reject it. He said it is a cursed Galatians 1 8 and 9 yeah from the Quran whatever is revealed to them. They do it and They know what to do. They know to pray five times a day. They know what they need to do with fasting giving And all we're gonna look at that next week the five pillars of faith for Islam. So they just do what they're told That right there is an exception. I mean someone involved with sorcery. There are you know just as you would find You know some cults, you know in Christian in Christianity, you know, so you have you have those two Folk Islam, right? But the majority are not like this man at all, you know, that is that is actually forbidden in Islam It's it should be WWW.searchtruth.net, but I can double check it But if you do it, you know, you can check it search truth.net or dot-com, but I'm pretty sure it's a net first of all We have to understand that Muslims are not violent Okay, so that's number one number two We're gonna look at this later on the next class about jihad. Holy war. Okay. It is in the Quran It is clear. They are to do it The majority of Muslims are not doing holy war Just as and it's you know what it's the same with Christianity just as the majority of Christians are not following the word of God. They're not practicing the Bible That's what a fundamental Christian is your fundamental you do you practice the word of God? Literally from Genesis to Revelation, you know, but when a Muslim looks at United States of America They think we're all a Christian nation, you know, and I have to tell them no no I tell them there are very few who are genuine Christians and so remember that keep that in mind They are not violent because They are not obeying. They're not doing what the Quran tells them to do Okay, and once again when Muslims from the Middle East assimilate into Western life There's a lot of you know, they get a lot of tolerance and being politically correct And so all of that has infiltrated even their idea of Islam and so that's why you'll see a lot of things I mean, we were looking we saw something on the internet where in New York. I think on the side of a bus They're they're trying to like just even show people like, you know Islam is you know for people It's very sociable and you know They're trying to present it in a very acceptable way politically correct. You know what I'm saying Yes, that's what it was Taking the word jihad because jihad is the word for Striving literally the word means to strive or fight. Okay, and It's said they they have a website. I think and they're calling it my jihad, you know, it's like everything is my you know Like I mean nowadays everything is mine, you know, so they're saying my jihad is you know, I struggle with my Whatever my idea on something, you know, and so they're trying to to basically change it soften it exactly He began to get control and power through it when he was married to Khadijah his first wife She was very wealthy and so he began to to gain a lot of wealth in that way And and then of course just the power of influence, you know, he began to just you know influence their minds and You know with as it it just began to grow the following and they began to just yeah conquer They wanted to conquer but the whole point is to conquer the world To institute Islam Islam needs to be covering the whole earth, you know, that's obviously their their purpose Just as for us We want to bring Christ to all nations We want the Bible says that righteousness may cover the earth as the waters cover the earth, you know So it's interesting obviously the difference is How we do that and that's why I talked about Jesus told us to go forth and make disciples of all nations through the Preaching of the word, you know, whereas for them they are commanded to do it and to subject those that fight against him It's very apparent when you read the account the history the historical account that he was Either had epilepsy or he was obviously demon possessed Because when he received his first revelation His very first encounter with the angel Gabriel He came running back to his first wife and he was trembling and he said he doubted that it was God He believed that he he did see a demon Certain amount of Revelation from the crown came when he was in Mecca, so they call those the Mekken verses and They were a bit softer, you know more like you know be patient with those that reject the Islamic faith You know just try to convince and persuade them if not leave them, but then when he moved to Medina That's what you call those the Medinian verses those are more on the offense, you know more where he More aggressive Certain things certain things they may interpret I mean, but the majority of the most important things are the same The Quran is the same and throughout the Muslim world because that that's what unites them But it's those it's what we're talking about here is how The succession how it's being how it's past is where they differ and Then of course there are certain like I said some differences minor differences that they believe there Some believe this way the Shiites and then the Sunnis Well, no the Sunni have certain ones that they believe and then the Shiite don't believe those for them It's just a holy site This is what Abraham established and this is what? This is where God wants us to worship towards towards this, but they wouldn't say that that's the presence of God They wouldn't say that no, so it is it is this different than the Ark of the Covenant This is this is basically the the eschatology of the Shiites what they believe they believe that through history There were 12 there are 12 almost like spiritual leaders and Then the 12th one is Like to us equivalent to Christ coming back So this is the Shiite eschatology they believe the 12th Imam Which is called the Mehdi he will come and then establish God's kingdom on earth So they call him the Mehdi But once again the majority of Muslims are our Sunni, but this is yes This is what the Shiites believe a lot of the violence in in Iraq is between Sunnis and Shiites I mean blowing up each other's mosques and things like this. So Yeah, yeah, it's It can get pretty bad. I think it's a very good to say I'm a follower of Jesus. I think that's that's wise There are certain things in our message There are points in their mind that are our stumbling blocks for them Okay, and those stumbling blocks for a Muslim immediately if you were to say the Christian What comes to your mind they would think of the cross and They would think of the Son of God Those two things in their mind is what sticks out in their mind. That's what stumbles them. That's what causes them to say This is not from God and That's why where our memory versus the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, you know because the gospel Must offend and this is the problem we're having today in our society. We don't have a message that offends But first Corinthians one says for the Jew it was a stumbling block and for the Greek it was an offense Okay, because Christ he was offensive to both and yet he came and he says on Whomever whoever falls on this stone will be broken and on whomever it falls will be crushed to powder So the gospel message is meant to to stumble. It's meant it's meant to offend But I like what pastor David said once he said let's make sure that the gospel is what offends not me that offends them