Fact Sheet for MuslimsBy Dr. Robert A. Morey |
The teachings of Muhammad are making their way into Western society. In years past, contact between Muslims and Christians was limited to Black Muslims selling newspapers on a street corner or Muslim students coming here to study. But two things have radically changed this situation.
First, every year thousands of Muslims are immigrating to the West from such places as Pakistan.
They are here to stay and they need our respect and acceptance.
Second, oil-rich Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia are using billions of oil dollars to convert Westerners to Islam. They have been building thousands of mosques all over the United States, England and Europe in anticipation of millions of converts. They are giving a thousand dollars to any South African black who converts to Islam, and then pay him even more for each person he brings with him!
The issues which divide Christianity and Islam are very clear. When the historical and factual errors of the Qur’an and the shortcomings of Muhammad are pointed out by scholars, this should not be taken as a personal insult by Muslims. When Muslims contradict the Bible and state that Jesus Christ was not the Son of God, that Jesus was never crucified and that Jesus cannot save anybody, should their attacks on Christianity be taken as a personal insult by Christians? We hope not! After all, to disagree with someone is not the same as to insult someone.
I. Muhammad taught that Christians believe in three gods named the Father, The Mother (Mary), and the Son (Jesus) (Sura 116). Yet, the truth is that no Christian church has ever taught such a doctrine. Christians have always believed in one God eternally existing in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. How can Muhammad be an infallible prophet and the Qur’an inspired by God when they make such a blunder remains one of the great problems facing Islam.
II. Muhammad also denied that Jesus was the Son of God, that Jesus died on the cross and that Jesus was the Savior. He taught that Jesus was only one of many prophets of which he, Muhammad, was the greatest. Yet, how could he be greater than Jesus Christ? Jesus was born of a virgin and was sinless in nature and the doer of mighty miracles such as raising the dead. But there was nothing superior about Muhammad’s birth or life. He never made the lame to walk, the blind to see or the dead to live. Allah even commanded him to repent of his many sins. How then can be greater than the Christ?
III. The contrast between Jesus and Muhammad could not be greater. While Jesus forbade the use of force to convert people (Matthew 26:51-54), Muhammad commanded his followers in the Qur’an (Sura IX.5) to force people to accept Islam by war, plunder, slavery or the threat of death!
IV. The Qur’an itself is filled with every kind of self-contradiction, historical and scientific error known to man. In Sura XVIII. 82-98, the Qur’an tells us that Alexander the Great was a believer in the one true God, and that he lived through two generations of men. Since Alexander was a pagan and died when only 33 in 323 B.C., the Qur’an is obviously in error.
The use of circular reasoning on the part of Muslims cannot erase these errors. To argue, “the Qur’an is inspired, therefore it cannot contain any errors,” is to put the cart before the horse.
A rational person cannot accept the Qur’an or any other “bible” if it has historical and factual errors. This holds for Christians, Mormons, Jews or Hindus as well as for Muslims. Thus our Muslim friends should be willing to let the evidence decide the Truth.
V. Most Western scholars have always stated that Muhammad had mental problems. He was given to fits and spells as a child, during which he claimed to have seen and talked to desert spirits including a goddess.
VI. He married over a dozen women, including taking another man’s wife under “divine” command (Sura XXXIII. 37-38). He even married a little girl 6 or 7 years of age.
That Muhammad had 13 wives is not denied by Muslim scholars. That Muhammad took a girl 6 or 7 years old as one of his wives is admitted by such Muslims historians as:
Ibn Hisham (vol. Iii, p. 94)
Ibn Athir (vol ii, pp. 117,118)
Mishkat (pp. 262, 272)
As to taking another man’s wife, Muslim writer Kausar Niazi admits: “The Holy Prophet never married another man’s wife except that of Zayd” (Islam and the West, p. 17).
VII. In terms of his beliefs, Muhammad held a strange combination of ideas from the Old Testament, the New Testament and his own pagan background. He never freed himself form such pagan rituals as running seven times around the “Black Stone” in Mecca. This stone is a rock which the pagans in Muhammad’s day worshipped as a god who “fell” from Heaven. This is not known by most Muslims.
Haykal’s The Life of Mohammed, which is a Muslim work, states that the “black rock” or Ka’bah was “a pantheon full of statues for idol worship.” The rocks “appeared to have fallen from Heaven” and were “worshipped as divinities” (p. 30).
The pagan ceremony included a pilgrimage to the rock, running around it seven times and praying toward it. This is what all Muslim scholars admit. That Muhammad took a pagan ceremony and changed its meaning does not alter the fact of the pagan origin of why Muslims pray toward Mecca, make a pilgrimage to it and run around it seven times. This is also stated in the Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. 15, p. 152, under “Mecca.”
VIII. While a Muslim must work his way to paradise by repeating the Muslim prayer five times a day, fasting, giving money and going on a pilgrimage to Mecca, the Christian believes he is saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
IX. The United States is a great country because it has a Constitution which guarantees civil rights to all beliefs. Islamic law does not recognize non-Muslims as having any civil rights. This is why the death penalty is mandated for any Muslim who chooses to convert to some other religion. This is why Jews and Christians are often put to death and their goods plundered in many Muslim countries such as Egypt as well as Iran.
America has room for all religions as long as they respect the lives, properties and rights of others. The conflict between Christ and Muhammad cannot be ignored. Either Jesus is Lord or Muhammad was a false prophet. But Muhammad is dead, while Jesus is alive forevermore.
Click here to purchase The Islamic Invasion.
This revealing work on Islam, Dr. Morey compares the Bible to the Qur'an, Jesus to Muhammad, and God to Allah. He explores the history and customs of Islam, as well as religious freedom and the role of women in Islam. Revised to include appendices on the Hadith and the pagan origins of Islam. 221 pages