We have already proved that since Islam denies the divinity of Jesus Christ. The Remarkable History of Islam and its teachings prove that it has an Anti-Christ spirit (I John 1:23, 2:22). Click here to read that article. Let us look at one more prophecy from the bible of how Islam fits in the fulfilment of the antichrist spirit.
He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the SET TIMES AND THE LAWS. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time.
Daniel 7:25
Exactly as the prophecy in Daniel says, Islam has attempted to change time (calendar) and laws. They have Sharia law, their own calendar (changing of time).
Therefore, for Christians, if we are to indulge in having a dialogue with Muslims, to show them the error into which they have fallen, we need to learn their basic system. From their very own wicked writings, we can show them their blindness – of how they call evil as good and good as evil (Isa 5:2). Only then, we will be able to answer their doubts about Christianity and share the Gospel. Therefore, it is time to get through their basics.
From my personal experiences, I can say, that initially, you will find difficulty in understanding Islam. This is because their religious words are from the Arabic language. But with patience and willingness to bring them to Christ, you will learn enough to handle them.
Table of Contents
Origin of Islam in Mecca
Let us first have a glance at how Islam began. The History of Islam is intricately tied to the History of Muhammad. The History of Muhammad is quite scattered over. So we have to gather it from different sources. Remember that Apostle Paul in the first century had already warned
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!
Gal 1:8
Six hundred years after this Pauline warning, in 610 A.D., the Remarkable History of Islam started when an angel appeared to Mohammad in the cave of Mecca (40 years old). Muhammad later thought this angel as Gabriel(Jibreel). He told him that I have come to give you the word of Allah. In direct contradiction to the Gabriel of Christian scriptures, this bogus Jibreel that appeared to Mohammad, said to Mohammad, Jesus is not God but one of the prophets of Allah, like Adam, Moses, etc (c.f. Words of Gabriel in the bible are found in Luke 1:26, 31-32 that he says Jesus is Son of Most High).
History of Muhammad’s encounter with Jibreel
Muhammad was indeed frightened by Jibreel when the revelations came(Sahih Bukhari – 4). Mohammad was initially suspicious thinking that he is possessed by the devil ( Sahih Bukhari 6982, Prophet Stories, Sahih Bukhari 3175 – Authentic biography of Mohammad), but his wife Khadija convinced him. She took him to her cousin named “Waraqah” who used to read gospels in Hebrew and this Gnostic convinced Mohammad that he is indeed a prophet.
Waraqah died soon after this and the so-called divine inspiration also stopped. At times Muhammad would get suicidal and decide to jump off the cliff when the revelation stopped coming. Mohammad then began to receive frequently visitation from this phoney Jibreel and each time the ghostly Jibreel appeared, he would make Mohammad memorize Quran (which Mohammad in turn would make his followers memorize). This went on until his death from 610 A.D. to 632 A.D.
The Hijrah – Exile to Medina
All Islamic calendars start with Hijrah. That is the milestone that commemorates Muhammad’s exile to Medina. We are now 1442 lunar years after the Hijrah.
Initially, the tribals of Mecca (Quraishi, Bedouin etc) rejected Mohammad and his religion. So, Mohammad and his group who had accepted him as a prophet migrated to Medina. They assumed that that the Jews in Medina will listen to him. In order to gain followers, he made his religion have similarities with Jews. Just as Jews have laws of clean and unclean food, so Mohammad also introduced it but with a twist. Now the Camel has become a clean animal in violation of the Torah (Deut 14:7)
Similar to the Jews, his Allah became a monotheist. Just like the Jews, he also instituted a fast in Ramadan but with a twist. Jews and Christians usually fast from start to end. Muslims fast during the daytime and have binge eating at night. He accepted Jewish prophets Abraham, Moses, Noah, David and so on. He used to praise Jews as “the people of the book.”. His tactics were to gather followers from Medina by showing similarities between Allah and Yahweh. He used this new Allah to make friends with the people of Medina.
Soon with their assistance, he made war with the traders of Mecca. This battle is called the Battle of Badr. Having won the war and made followers, he now started using the power of the sword to make converts. His trip from Mecca to Medina is said to be the beginning of the Islamic Calendar Hijrah (AH) [see Dan 7:25]. From 624 to 627, Mohammad fought few battles. Finally, he returned to Mecca and asked them to submit to Islam or else pay for their lives.
By the year 630 A.D., two years before the death of Mohammad, Mohammad had several bloody wars. He had killed thousands of men and raped their wives. Before his death, most of the Arabs had become Islamic because of the power of Sword. The others had exiled from Arabia.
In stark contrast to Christianity, where disciples did not retaliate while spreading the gospel of the love of God, Islam spread by the use of sword and force. In contrast to the God of the Bible, who had not let David build the temple because of his bloody hands (I Chronicles 28:3), Allah the god of Islam let bloody rapist Mohammad be the founding prophet of Islam.
The Death of Muhammad and the Expansion of Islam
Mohammad had prophesied, God would cut off his heart’s main artery (Aorta) if he were a false prophet (Quran 69:44-47). In 632 A.D., Mohammad died (62 years of age) of poison by bursting the aorta of his heart (Sahi Al-Bukhari 5:59:713).
The Prophet (ﷺ) in his ailment in which he died, used to say, “O `Aisha! I still feel the pain caused by the food I ate at Khaibar, and at this time, I feel as if my aorta is being cut from that poison.”
Sahi Al-Bukhari 5:59:713
After the death of Mohammad, there was confusion as to who would be the successor (political-religious leader called the Caliphate) of Mohammad and of the Islamic community? Mohammad had eleven wives [7 children born to him (4 daughters and 3 sons)] but none of his sons survived.
As a result, there arose a crisis regarding who would be the next successor of Mohammad. They had bitter fighting amongst themselves and did not bury Muhammad’s body for 3 days. Finally his wife’s Aisha’s father “Abu Bakr” became the first Caliphate of the Muslim community. Here is the list of the first four prominent Caliph in Islam, (Keep yourself acquainted with their names as they play important role in the formation of the Quran)
- Abu Bakr (Aisha his wife’s father) à (632 to 634 A.D.),
- Umar (Hafsa his wife’s father) à (635 to 644 A.D.),
- Uthman (Husband of his daughter Ruqayya) à(644 to 656 A.D.),
- Ali Talib (Husband of his daughter Fatima) à(656-661)
See the entire list at (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_caliphs),
Islamic Jargons
Some terminologies you will encounter meanings of which you must know:
- Caliphate: Military religious head of the Islamic Empire.
- Quran: Quran is the sacred book of Muslims. They think it is the message of Allah. It has 114 chapters and 6236 verses. Like we have chapter they call it Surah and ayat means verses. Each chapter in Quran has a name.
- Hadith (Hadis): Biography of Mohammad written many centuries after Muhammad’s death. There are over 800 biographies (Hadis). Many are regarded as not authentic because the history of Muhammad is riddled with embarassing facts. Authentic are marked by word “sahih”
- Saheeh-Al-Bukhari,
- Sahin Muslim
- Sunan an-Nasa’i
- Sunan Abi Dawud
- Jami` at-Tirmidhi
- and many more
You can get the details on sunnah.com
- Tafsirs: Commentaries that are written by Muslim scholars trying to explain and justify Quran. These commentaries are also written many centuries after the death of Muhammad.
End of “The Remarkable History of Islam 1“
