Posted on 04/02/2005 11:38:43 AM PST by quidnunc
Does Muhammad fulfill and complete the mission and ministry of Christ? Muhammad answers with an emphatic yes.
Basic Islamic theology teaches that since Allah sent Gabriel down with the Quran to Muhammad the messenger of Allah, Muhammad and the Quran fulfill and complete the mission of Christ and the New Testament. Muhammad seems to recognize the value of the Bible (Suras 4:47; 4:136; 4:163; 5:44-48; 5:82-83; 6:92, 154), but ultimately Christianity and the New Testament must yield to Islam and the Quran, the new and superior revelation.
Sura (Chapter) 5:15-16 illustrates Muhammad's viewpoint. In the context of Muhammad's distortion of the Christian doctrine of the Sonship of Christ (v. 17), and in the context of his asserting that Jews have been cursed (v. 13), this passage in the Quran (representing others) says that Christians (and Jews) have been walking in darkness until Muhammad came:
5:15 People of the Book [Jews and Christians] a light has now come to you from God, and a Scripture [the Quran] making things clear, 16 with which God guides them who follow what pleases Him to ways of peace, bringing them from darkness out into light, by His will, and guiding them to a straight path. (Haleem) (cf. 4:157)
A Bible-educated Christian today immediately recognizes the imagery of light. Jesus says that he was sent down from heaven as the light of the world, and Christians have passed from darkness into the light (John 1:4-5, 8:12, 9:5, 12:46; 1 Peter 2:9). Now, however, Muhammad claims that Christians had been living in darkness, and he has come to clarify matters for them, as if things had been muddied. The Quran offers guidance along a "straight path," a theme often repeated in the Muslim Scriptures (e.g. Sura 1) and makes "things clear." Verse 16 is likely one of the verses a Muslim has in mind when he points out that Islam is a religion of peace. But is it?
A devout, Bible-educated Christian in no way believes that Islam is superior, so how do we break this deadlock? Ignore it? Given recent events like 9/11, this is no longer feasible. Do we pretend that all religions are the same? But this forces us to deny some basic, non-negotiable doctrines that all religions have and that cannot be reconciled. So do we argue over these abstract doctrines?
Debating abstract ideas like the Unity or the Trinity of God has a place in the Christian-Muslim dialogue, but neither claim can be proven by simple observation. The Quran everywhere affirms the strict Unity of God, whereas the New Testament everywhere affirms the divinity of Christ and the personhood of the Holy Spirit. So we have merely pitted one sacred text against another, and to break this deadlock we must go down still other paths. (For more information on the reliability of the New Testament, visit this site; for the problems inhering in the Quran, go here.)
Since Muhammad lays down a serious challenge to Christ and Christianity, we Christians must answer him. What would Christ say? As it turns out, he has given us a clear teaching on how to evaluate a prophet who comes after him in history, especially if the later prophet asserts his superiority over Christ: call it fruit inspection.
-snip-
Ever since 9/11, Muslim leaders who have access to the national media have told us that Islam is the religion of peace and that violence does not represent the essence of Muhammads religion.
Even President Bush and Britains Prime Minister Blair have repeated this assertion, saying that Islam has been hijacked by a few violent fanatics. Is this true?
Sadly it is not, for empirical, observable facts demonstrate beyond doubt that Islam at its founding is filled with violence in the life of Muhammad himself and in the Quran itself.
Hence, these Muslim apologists must stop misleading unsuspecting Westerners, and they must be honest about the heart of their religion, for once and for all.
Here are ten clear, verifiable reasons that explain why Islam is not the religion of peace.
Clear? In order to prevent the standard, reflexive out of context defense from Muslim apologists, the context of each verse in the Quran is explained either in this article or in the links provided within each of the ten reasons. No verse is taken out of context, and Muslim translators are used.
Verifiable? The readers are invited to look up each verse in the Quran in multiple translations, by visiting this website and typing in references, like so: 61:10-12. (61 is the chapter or sura, and 10-12 are the verses). Once at the site, they should ignore request for the transliterated Arabic titles of the chapters in the Quran, and just type in the numbers.
Tabari (AD 839-923) is an early Muslim historian who is considered largely reliable by scholars today. In fact, the State University of New York Press selected his history to be translated into 38 volumes. (We use volume 9, pp. 153-55, trans. Ismail K. Poonawala.)
In the context of the list of Muhammads assets (horses, camels, milch sheep, and so on) at the end of his life, Tabari records the nicknames of Muhammads weapons.
Muhammad nicknames three swords that he took from the Jewish tribe Qaynuqa after he banished them from Medina in April 624: Pluck Out, Very Sharp, and Death. Two other swords from elsewhere are named: Sharp and That is wont to sink (presumably into human flesh). After his Hijrah or Emigration from Mecca to Medina in 622, he owned two swords called Sharp and Having the vertebrae of the back. This last sword he collected as booty after his victory at the Battle of Badr in March 624.
Next, Muhammad took three bows from the Qaynuqa tribe and named them as follows: Most conducive to ease, or wide, white, and of nab wood (species of tree from which bows are made).
The name of a coat of mail implies ampleness or redundant portions, probably because Muhammad was portly (cf. Ibn Ishaq, Life of Muhammad, trans. Guillaume, p. 383).
Finally, even Muhammad himself has a nickname. After Tabari lists the positive ones, he matter-of-factly provides one that is not so positive: The obliterator.
-snip-
(James Arlandson in The American Thinker, March 9, 2005)
To Read This Article Click Here
Islam is a heresy of Catholicism. It takes certain truths, omits and distorts others, and then calls itself its own religion. V's wife.
Hoe can a "religion" that declares Jesus Christ as just a prophet, not God improve on Christianity?
Oh the irony... this is what Christianity does to Judaism.
Islam hijacked the Bible like they hijack everything else.
"...he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one."
No.
First one to hang a chair on an iceberg wins.
:-)
Pardon, but isn't Buddha before Jesus' ministry?
What?
Since Muhammad was illiterate, the answer to whether he improved on anything should be apparent to anyone.
Ishaq:180 According to my information, the Apostle often sat by a young Christian slave named Jabr. The Meccans said, He is the one who teaches Muhammad most of what he brings. Then Allah revealed, Quran 16:103 We know what they (pagans) say: It is only a mortal man who teaches him (Muhammad). But the tongue of the man they wickedly point to is notably foreign, while this (Quran) is pure Arabic.
http://www.prophetofdoom.net/
Replacement theology. Using the basis of an older religion to build a new one, saying that it is the fulfillment of prophecies of the elder, adding a new text to reinforce and extend the claim.
huh!
Islam has a love-hate relationship with Christianity and Judaism. They always want to dominate both and it can be benign very oppressive. All in all Islam is schizophrenic on this and many other matters,. It is after all based on the nighttime hallucinations of Muhammad.
Makes sense to me if not in those same words.
I'm curious-- you're aware that your monitor is supposed to have a flame retardant lining before you make a comment like that in a thread like this?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.