Fast Facts on Islam

John Ankerberg, John Weldon

Description

Authors John Ankerberg and John Weldon know just the questions readers are asking about Islam, and they provide brief, incisive answers. Using their unique Q-and-A style, Ankerberg and Weldon reveal who Muhammad was and how Islam got started, what Muslims believe about God, the relationship between Christianity and Islam, where the Qur'an came from, and how Islamic beliefs are related to recent acts of terrorism. Included are discussions of such questions as: In what sense is Islam a religion of peace? Does the Qur'an support the doctrine of jihad--"holy war"? How do Muslims view the U.S. and Israel? What basic problem does the Qur'an present for Muslims? Do Muslims believe in Jesus Christ? How should Christians share the gospel with Muslims? More than just a listing of well-researched facts on Islam and Muslim beliefs, Fast Facts on Islam will provide readers with insight into present events, and will help them comprehend of one of the world's great religious and political powers--in light of the far greater power that lies within them, the power of God through Jesus Christ.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Comparative religion
• Islam

Informations

• Publié par: Harvest House Publishers, Inc.
• Date de parution: 21 novembre 2001
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780736934510
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

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Some Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1987, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Some Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Some Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Emphasis in Scripture quotations added by the authors.

FAST FACTS is a registered trademark of The Hawkins Children’s LLC. Harvest House Publishers, Inc., is the exclusive licensee of the federally registered trademark FAST FACTS. Cover by Dugan Design Group, Bloomington, Minnesota

® FAST FACTS ON ISLAM Copyright © 2001 by John Ankerberg and John Weldon Published by Harvest House Publishers Eugene, Oregon 97402 www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ankerberg, John, 1945- Fast facts on Islam / John Ankerberg and John Weldon. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-7369-1011-8 (pbk.) 1. Islam—Controversial literature. I. Title: Fast facts on Islam. II. Weldon, John. III. Title. BT1170 .A553 2002 297—dc21 2001006350

All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or trans- mitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other— except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

For the innocent, for the brave, for those who stay the course.

A CKNOWLEDGMENTS I (Weldon) owe much of my inspiration for this book to the noble example of the passengers of American Airlines Flight 93, whose bravery and sac rifice prevented the death of many others and the destruction of our nations seat of government. We almost lost the Capitol of the United States. Senator Robert Torricelli, September 12, 2001, on CNN

C ONTENTS Preface: IslamNew Questions for a New Time . . . . . . . . 7 Why These Questions About Islam Are So Urgent Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 S ECTION I T HE R ELIGION OF I SLAM : I NTRODUCTION 1. What Is Islam? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 2. Why Is Islam Important? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 3. How Did Islam Begin? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 4. What Are the Basic Muslim Beliefs? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 5. What Religious Duties Are Required of All Muslims? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 6. How Does Islam View the U.S. and Israel? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 S ECTION II T HE T HEOLOGY OF I SLAM : I S I T C OMPATIBLE WITH C HRISTIAN B ELIEF ? 7. What Does Islam Teach About God (Allah)? . . . . . . . . . . 23 8. What Does Islam Teach About Jesus Christ? . . . . . . . . . . . 25 9. What Does Islam Teach About Salvation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 10. Can Muslims and Christians Engage in Rewarding Dialog? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 S ECTION III T HE B IBLE OF I SLAM : I S THE Q URAN THE W ORD OF G OD ? 11. What Does Islam Claim About the Quran? . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 12. Do the Quran and the Bible Agree, and Why Does This Matter? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 13. Is the Quran Historically Accurate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 14. Is the Quran SelfContradictory? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 S ECTION IV I SLAM : A G ENERAL C RITIQUE 15. Are Muslim Apologetics Convincing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 16. What Basic Problem Does the Quran Present for Muslims? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 17. Is the Muslim Claim That the Bible Is Corrupted Based on Fact? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 18. Is the Quran Uncorrupted? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 19. Can the Quran Be Interpreted Objectively, and Why Is This Important? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

20. What Does Islam Teach About Women? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21. Why Do Muslims Have Different Views About War(Jihad)and Peace, and How Does This Relate to Terrorism? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22. Is Islam a Tolerant Religion? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23. In What Sense Is Islam a Religion of Peace? . . . . . . . . . . . . S ECTION V T HE C ONNECTION B ETWEEN I SLAM AND T ERRORISM 24. What Can We Learn About Islam from the Example of Osama bin Laden? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25. Why and How Do Some Radical Muslims Teach Their Children to Kill Americans? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26. Why Do Suicide Terrorists Believe Their Acts Will Take Them to Heaven? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27. How Do Terrorists Hijack Islam? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28. What Can Be Done? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29. What Is the Relationship of American Muslims to Radical Islam? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30. Is Radical Muslim Terrorism NonIslamic? . . . . . . . . . . . . 31. Does Islam Teach a Doctrine ofJihad,and What Relationship Does This Have to Terrorism? . . . . . . . 32. What Else About Radical Islam Should Concern Us? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33. What Opportunity Does the Conflict with Islamic Terrorism Present to Christians? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Personal Word: What Can Muslims Do Who Desire to Know That They Have Eternal Life? . . . . . . . . . . Appendix A: OnJihad. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix B: Ibn Warraq: Is Islam Itself Moderate? . . . . . . Appendix C: Who Are the Terrorists? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix D: Are Yasser Arafat and the PLO Terrorists, and What Does This This Mean for Islam? . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix E: A Letter from a FriendDo American Muslims Understand America? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Resources List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

53

62 66 71

79

8

4

86 88 93

97 102

104

111

113

114 119 125 127

133

139 147 151

P REFACE I SLAM —N EW Q UESTIONS FOR A N EW T IME

Who can forget the day that changed America? Things changed for everyone on September 11, 2001: Ter rorism and radical Islam bloodied American soil in a way that will never be forgotten. A nations peace became a river of tears. Consider a few of the facts that no American history book will ignore:  On our own soil, Americans experienced the worst terrorist attack in human history. It looked like the entrance to hell was the common response of rescue workers and authorized visitors to the site of the destruction in New York City. Their repeated comment was that TV news pictures were utterly unable to convey the horror spread in front of them.  The volatile world of Islam was thrown into an internal crisis that will last for years and that presents an uncertain outcome. One young Muslim woman interviewed by a CBS reporter said, I want to take back my religion from people who preach hatred. My religion is not about hatred. The news segment concluded sadly by noting that Muslims would have to learn how hard it is to live in an America where now Islam is equated with terror.  Tens of millions of Americans no longer felt safeeither in the air or on the ground. Even months after the attack, millions were still afraid, even terrified. 7

8 F AST F ACTS ON I SLAM  Americans discovered that a lot of Muslims, especially Arab Muslims, really dont like us much. In fact, many of them hate us. Americans couldnt fathom how the problems of othersfor which they had no responsibility, moral or otherwiserequired strangers to hate us or kill us.  A holy war was declared on America by the Taliban of Afghan istan, a radical Islamic sect.  Americans realized that the terrorists had dealt not just the United States, but the entire global economy a blowsetting it back by an estimated $160 billion, according to one analyst. The attack of September 11 thus became an attack upon the world itself. Americans wanted answers. What motivated people to do such terrifically evil things? Why do so many Muslims hate the U.S.? What is this talk of a heavenly Paradise being guaranteed to murderers who kill innocent people? What exactly does the religion of Islam believe in, and how did it begin? What do the 2 million Muslims living in America believe? In particular, what does Islam believe aboutjihad,or holy war, and was this related to the horror of September 11? Why do Muslims around the world, and even in America, have such a seemingly irrational hatred for Israel, a democracy that actively supports Western values and moral sensibilities? In this book we will supply the answers to these important questionsand more. As Americans, we must seek to under stand one of the worlds great religious, political, and spiritual forces. And as Christians, we must come to comprehend the power of Islam in light of the far greater power that lies within usthe power of God through Jesus Christ.

W HY T HESE Q UESTIONS A BOUT I SLAM A RE S O U RGENT T ODAY

Great harm has been done to us.I will not forget this wound to our country or those who inflicted it.