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That virtually is the only thing that separtes the two religions, and that makes it so different.

Any Muslimwho wants to commit violence has perfect justification for doing so from the Quran. Many passages in the Quran exhort Muslims to kill infidels (non-Muslims) wherever they find them. See Suras 2:190-193, 2:216, 4:76, 5:32-36, 8:12-14, 8:39, 8:59, 8:65, 9:5, 9:14, 9:23-29, 9:38-41, 9:123, 47:4, 47:35, 61:4, and 66:9.

Usama bin Laden in the now famous videotape discovered in Afghanistan in late 2001 is quoted as saying, "I was ordered to fight the people until they say there is no god but Allah, and his prophet Muhammad." These words echo language in the Quran itself.

But the Quran is not the only basis for violence in Islam. The example of Muhammad himself laid the foundation for violence via his deeds and commands, which are found in the hadiths. Eleven percent of the pages of the Bukhari Hadiths mention Holy War (jihad). Military jihad is a traditional and authentic part of Islam.

There are two meanings for jihad. One meaning is a personal spiritual aspect to kill sinful desires. It also means to use violence to spread the faith. Muslims are taught that those who fight and die in a jihad have their sins forgiven, and they are rewarded with a sensual and luxurious life in paradise. See Suras 3:157-158, 3:169-171, 3:194-195, 4:74, 4:94-97, 22:58-59, 52:17-23, 56:10-38. Also see Bukhari 4:63, 72, 80, 85, 137, 175, 216, 266. So the killing of non-Muslims offers the religion's highest reward.

Muhammad personally led at least 27 bloody invasions (some say more than 60) and ordered his followers to wage many more. Muhammad assassinated many of his opponents during his lifetime. In his battle against the Quraiza Jews, women and children were sold into slavery, and hundreds of captured men were executed. Even some of his own people were horrified

Fundamentalism: Contrasting Christianity and Islam Fundamentalism Defined Similarities between Christianity and Islam Overall Tone of the Two Religions Treatment of Women The Nature of God The Nature of Man Salvation Heaven The Quran The Hadiths The Bible Jesus and Muhammad Summary and Invitation Recommended Resources and Bibliography Fundamentalism Defined The term fundamentalist has come to be a pejorative term. However, it need not be. Fundamentalism is a synonym for orthodoxy. A religious fundamentalist is one who is faithful to the tenets of his religion. It is common today to profess or practice a religion in ways that are not orthodox. There are, for example, nominal Christians, nominal Muslims, or nominal Jews, etc. They take on the label of the religion, but not the beliefs or practices. They may even attend worship services, but in their own mind reject many of the core beliefs. To get an understanding of Christianity and Islam, we consider irrelevant what Sally and Omar may improvise about their respective religions. Anybody can make up their own religion, for example, by taking from the Bible whatever they want and tearing out the pages they don't want. But this is disingenuous, hypocritical, eternally dangerous— and is probably heretical to whichever religion one claims allegiance. On what basis does one claim to know more about the religion than the founders of the religion themselves? We are interested in exploring here what the source documents say concerning these two major world religions, Christianity and Islam. That is, we will explore and compare the Bible and the Quran (plus the written traditions of Islam). As we compare orthodox (that is fundamental) Christianity and orthodox (fundamental) Islam, we hope to speak to a variety of audiences, including: Those people who sincerely want to learn more about these two religions. Most Christians know very little about Islam (the Muslim religion). Likewise, most Muslims have mistaken ideas about Christianity. Indeed, many people of both faiths do not even know enough about their own religion to validate its truth claims. We also are addressing those people who are under the false belief that all religions are equally valid, or that all religions lead to God. We will clearly show that Christianity and Islam are irreconcilable. Let us say this also at the outset. As noted on the home page of our website http://www.faithfacts.org, our organization is dedicated to exploring God through reason and evidence. Many people, including Christians, Muslims, atheists (or whoever) resist using reason and evidence. "Don't confuse me with the facts!" If you are in this camp, you may be wasting your time—even made uncomfortable—by reading this article. But if you are seriously interested in pursuing truth, the following discussion should be extremely interesting. Truth is discernible. At least, what is not true is discernible. Applying rules of logic, one can show that a truth-claim is not true by identifying arbitrariness or inconsistency in the claim. By using the same techniques as used in a court of law, one can determine truth beyond a reasonable doubt. Such techniques— in addition to using reason and evidence to verify facts— include an evaluation of witnesses (number of witness, motives of witnesses, corroboration of testimony, etc.) These same techniques are used to determine truth-claims in any discipline, including religious truth-claims. We offer detailed references from the Bible, the Quran, and the Bukhari Hadiths so that the interested reader can check the sources himself. We invite you to do so. Hadiths ("ahadiths") are written compilations ("traditions") of the sayings and actions of Muhammad. Muhammad's example and authority are prominent in Islam. The hadiths, along with the Quran, are meant to govern every aspect of life, including civil law. There are several collections of hadiths, but the one compiled by Bukhari (or "Al-Bukhari" or "Sahih Bukhari"), who lived 200 years after Muhammad, is considered very important, especially by Sunni Muslims. We will reference Bukhari primarily in our article, but will also reference the hadiths collected by "Sahih Muslim," who was a student of Bukhari. Some background for our non-Muslim readers might be helpful. There are several Muslim sects. Sunni Muslims represent about 85% of the world's Muslim population. The second largest sect is Shiite. There is disagreement among the various sects on some issues, not unlike theological disagreements among Christian denominations. Note: One thing that is confusing to English speaking people is that the English spelling of Arabic words is not standardized! For example, Moslem is a variant spelling for Muslim. The Bible, the Quran, and the hadiths are available online. One source for the Bible is http://bible.gospelcom.net/. There are several sources for the Quran and Hadiths online that can be found through a search engine. One source is http://www.answering-islam.org. The Quran is divided into 114 chapters called Suras. A designation of, for example, 10:1 means Sura 10, verse 1. The Bukhari Hadiths are divided into nine volumes, then various books, then hadiths by number. The numbering system is governed by the volumes, not the books. So, a designation of 5:416 means volume 5, hadith number 416. Bukhari is usually presented online in book order, so you might have to hunt for a few seconds to get the correct volume. It might help to use the following table. Here are the nine volumes, with the book number at which the volume begins being in parentheses: 1 (1), 2 (13), 3 (27), 4 (51), 5 (57), 6 (60), 7 (62), 8 (73), 9 (83). The Muslim Hadiths are numbered consecutively, uninterrupted for the entire collection. Similarities between Christianity and Islam Christians and Muslims have some beliefs in common. We both agree that there is one God who created the universe and is sovereign in the lives of men. We agree that God is the source of justice and morality. We agree that his ultimate justice is dispensed via life after death in heaven and hell. Fundamentalist Christians and fundamentalist Muslims both consider such things as pornography and licentious living as pollutants to society. In fact, one of the reasons for the strong negative reaction to western civilization in Muslim countries is the influence of such practices emanating from the west. But there are many things upon which we disagree. The points of disagreement touch on every important religious doctrine. Indeed, the disagreements are so severe as to be irreconcilable. We will look at these issues point by point. Overall Tone of the Two Religions Most Muslims are exceptionally gracious and peace-loving people. And Islam has many elements of peacefulness in it. However, anyone who wants to commit violence has perfect justification for doing so from the Quran. While violence in the Quran is sometimes for self-defense; at other times it is open-ended. Many passages in the Quran exhort Muslims to kill infidels (non-Muslims) wherever they find them. See Suras 2:190-193, 2:216, 4:76, 5:32-36, 8:12-14, 8:39, 8:59, 8:65, 9:5, 9:14, 9:23-29, 9:38-41, 9:123, 47:4, 47:35, 61:4, and 66:9. Usama bin Laden in the now famous videotape discovered in Afghanistan in late 2001 is quoted as saying, "I was ordered to fight the people until they say there is no god but Allah, and his prophet Muhammad." These words echo language in the Quran itself. But the Quran is not the only basis for violence in Islam. The example of Muhammad himself laid the foundation for violence via his deeds and commands, which are found in the hadiths. Eleven percent of the pages of the Bukhari Hadiths mention Holy War (jihad). Military jihad is a traditional and authentic part of Islam. There are two meanings for jihad. One meaning is a personal spiritual aspect to kill sinful desires. It also means to use violence to spread the faith. Muslims are taught that those who fight and die in a jihad have their sins forgiven, and they are rewarded with a sensual and luxurious life in paradise. See Suras 3:157-158, 3:169-171, 3:194-195, 4:74, 4:94-97, 22:58-59, 52:17-23, 56:10-38. Also see Bukhari 4:63, 72, 80, 85, 137, 175, 216, 266. So the killing of non-Muslims offers the religion's highest reward. Muhammad first claimed to have a vision from God in the year 610 AD. The first 13 years of his ministry were marked by peaceful preaching in the city of Mecca. During this period Muhammad seems to have been a well-meaning man who sought to oppose paganism and evil in his day. However, in the year 623 he became a political leader in the city of Medina. With his political power came a new aggressive behavior. He attacked pagan caravans and used the sword to spread his religion. Muhammad personally led at least 27 bloody invasions (some say more than 60) and ordered his followers to wage many more. Muhammad assassinated many of his opponents during his lifetime. In his battle against the Quraiza Jews, women and children were sold into slavery, and hundreds of captured men were executed. Even some of his own people were horrified. The tradition of violence in Islam, which started with Muhammad, continues to this day. There is worldwide evidence that some Muslims kill or otherwise persecute people solely for being non-Muslims. This is well documented in Nigeria, Algeria, Sudan (where modern slavery is documented), Egypt, Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Malaysia. One source for some of the evidence on this can be found in the video series listed below (hour 6 of the 8-hour program). You could also email the speakers on the video at cdebater@aol.com for further documentation.

According to the organization the Voice of the Martyrs (website http://www.vom.org or search for Voice of the Martyrs) 160,000 Christians are killed annually because of their faith— the vast majority being killed by Muslims. If Islam claims to be a religion of peace, why is there so much oppression in every Muslim country?

In the audio tape series listed at the end of this essay, Abdul Saleeb quotes from a PBS Frontline documentary called "Saudi Time Bomb?" According to the program, Saudi Arabian Ministry of Education textbooks contained, as of the year 2000, a most disturbing teaching. The teaching, which is from the hadiths (Bukhari 4:176-177) as taught by Muhammad himself, is required instruction for all middle school children in Saudi Arabia. The teaching which is entitled "The Victory of Muslims Over Jews," says:

"The last hour won't come before the Muslims would fight the Jews, and the Muslims will kill them. So Jews would hide behind rocks and trees. Then the rocks and trees would call, 'Oh, Muslim. Oh, Servant of God. There is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him.' "

Included with the text is a list of principles, including the following:

"Jews and Christians are the enemies of believers. They will never approve of the Muslims. Beware of them."

Contrast this with chritianity:
Jesus warned, "The time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God" (John 16:2-4). While these words were spoken to his disciples, they have a powerful ring today

There is nothing like the Christian concept of "love your enemies" or "turn your other cheek" (Luke 6:27-37) found in Islam. While Christianity says to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 19:19), the Quran instructs its followers not to even take Christians or Jews as friends (Suras 3:118, 5:51, 64, 60:1-3)!

Another interesting point is that the Islamic concept of charity is different from the Christian concept. Muslims are required to give alms to the poor, but only to the Muslim poor. In this way, the Muslim's remaining wealth is purified. The biblical concept of charity is not limited to any group. In fact, Jesus used illustrations that encouraged helping those outside the faith (Luke 10:30-37).

One commonly hears in the press that Islam is a religion of peace. This is true only in one sense— peace will come when all competing religions have been brought into submission to Islam (Sura 9:29). Muslims who say Islam is a religion of peace, can only say so by ignoring or rationalizing away its violent commands.