Lecture 5 - The Rise of Islam and the Church

hello Heroes today we are beginning series two in the lecture series the title of the Le of the series is the rise of Islam and the Middle Ages lecture one within series two is what we're going to talk about today it's the rise of Islam and the church you can see your required or guided readings as well as supplemental readings for the devotional I would like to share from Deuteronomy 18: 15-19 and I asked the question who is the prophet listen now to Deuteronomy 18 the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet

like me that is Moses from among you from your fellow Israelites you must listen to him for this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said let us not hear the voice of the Lord nor see his great fire anymore or we will die the Lord said to me what they say is good I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites and I will put my words in his mouth he will tell them everything I command him

I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name that's the end of the reading from Deuteronomy Muslims believe that Muhammad was the prophet Moses prophesied In this passage we know it's not true because he was while sutic he was Arabic not Hebrew and also Christian know Christians know that Jesus is the prophet the priest and the King Muhammad is in his tomb in Mecca and I'll have an image of that a little later Jesus is not in his tomb because he bodily rose from

the dead and just a word I will be only having that one picture of uh the tomb of Muhammad out of respect to a teaching of Islam where they prefer not to have images of people's faces so just to be on the safe side I have only one image in this lecture it is doubtful that any other non-Christian or world religion has affected the Christian faith or the church more than Muhammad and his followers in this lecture we will look at the founder his book and his teachings we will also look at the history of

Islam from its Beginnings until it sweeps through many lands and conquer in with the sword we will look at how the church responded and was affected by Islam while this is neither a world history class nor an apologetics nor an evangelism class to reach Muslims there are elements of all three in this lecture based on how the student chooses to use this information it is always helpful to understand another person's worldview and respectfully ask question questions about it when such understanding and dialogue is combined with genuine service individuals are often open to learning about the

true Isa that is the konic or Arabic word for Jesus of the inels which is the gospels or the entire New Testament in Arabic Andor the mother tongue in Canada southern Asia and elsewhere where second English as a second language courses are taught in southern Asia after a catastrophic earthquake when missionaries friends of mine raced back to coordinate Aid a previous hostile Imam said listen to these people they are the only ones from the outside who care about us it is also important for us to know what we believe which is one purpose of this

course now now let's look at Islam unless otherwise noted the general information is from Wikipedia the founder his name is Muhammad we will look at his early years first a man named Muhammad which is the accepted English spelling I might move it around in the written part of the lecture was a historical person like Jesus was Muhammad was born in approximately 80 570 in Mecca which is on the Arabian Peninsula which is now the country of Saudi Arabia his name means praiseworthy he was orphaned by the age of six and was raised by his grandfather

and Uncle when I think of Muhammad I think of one of the wh ifs of history and I have several in mind but this is the one I will share with you today what if Muhammad had not learned about the birth of Jesus from a group with a heretical view on the subject there was a group or sect around the edge of the Arabian Peninsula that taught a heretical view about how Jesus was conceived that led Muhammad's teaching that Muslims every time they pray say God neither begets nor is he begotten so what might have

happened if this group had influenced Muhammad if they had told him that the Christian faith is a relationship rather than a religion or a bunch of Dos and dots it's not hard to think of some of the what ifs of history but I'm going to press on with this lecture Muhammad had re religious experiences he reported being visited by Gabriel the angel in a cave and receiving his first revelation from God in 613 Muhammad started preaching these re Revelations publicly proclaiming that God is one that completes submission or Islam to God Allah is the right

way of life pronounced Dean in the Arabic and that he was a prophet and messenger of God similar to the other prophets in Islam the revelations called ayat that Muhammad reported receiving until his death for formed the verses of the Quran regarded by Muslims as the verbatim word for word word of God on which the religion is based besides the Quran Muhammad's teachings and practices called sunna found and transmitted reports called Hadith and in his biography sir are also upheld and used as sources of Islamic law Muslims say that Muhammad received the words of the

Quran from the angel Gabriel by way of dictation and that he wrote them down in this and some other ways Islam has similarities with Mormonism Joseph Smith claimed to have received the Book of Mormon through golden tablets provided by a man named Moroni who after his death somehow became an angel in our day some Muslim nations have signed the Abraham Accords with Israel and the United States but some Muslims greatly oppose Israel it is a little known fact that Muhammad was helped by Jews in another city on the Arabian Peninsula called Medina Muhammad had to

flee from Mecca to Medina at a later time he would attack these Jews even though he called them and Christians people of the book so there are various teachings about Judaism and Christianity in the Quan and other Islamic writings eventually Muhammad would set out to conquer with people either converting or being killed the early Muslim conquests called futu hat Al Islam also known as the Arab conquests were initiated in the 7th Century by Muhammad between AD 622 and his death in 632 he conquered most of the Arabian Peninsula Muhammad died on June 8th 632 he

is in his grave and I'll show you the image later that attracts many people every day in Mecca it is their Hodge or pilgrimage and I will get to that when I share with you the five pillars of Islam but I turn now to the book The Quran there is a gladle stop after the r because of the Arabic pronunciation though I might not do it every time because I'm not that good with languages Wikipedia says the following about the claims Muslims make to the about the Quran quote Muslims believe the Quran was orally revealed

by God to the final Islamic Prophet Muhammad though the angel through the angel Gabriel Inc incrementally over a period of 23 years beginning on the night of power when Muhammad was 40 and concluding in 632 Muslims regard the Quran as Muhammad's most important Miracle a proof of his prophethood and the culmination of a series of divine messages starting with those revealed to the first Islamic Prophet Adam including the Islamic holy books of the Torah Psalms what we call the old test and gospel or the entire New Testament close quote like what the King James version

of the Bible is to the English language and Martin Luther's translation of the Bible into German the Quran is said to be the best in Arabic literature and has influenced the Arabic language however there are three considerations when it comes to the Arabic of the Quran according to Wikipedia quote translation of the Quran from Arabic into other languages has always been a difficult issue in Islamic theology because Muslims rever the Quran as miraculous and IM inimitable alquran it cannot be changed in other words they argue that the quranic text should not be isolated from its

true language or written form at least not without keeping the Arabic text with it having an Interlinear Quran if you will According to Islamic theology the Quran is a revelation very specifically in Arabic and so it should only be recited in konic Arabic translations into other languages are the work of humans and so according to Muslims no longer possess the uniquely sacred character of the Arabic original since these translations subtly change the meaning they are often called interpretations or translations of the meanings close quote but like all other languages there are significant developments over the

centuries for instance I have a great deal of difficulty understanding the late 14th century of English of Jeffrey Cher's the canterberry tales even when the King James version was published in 1611 people in Britain were developing beyond the English of that beautiful literary text in our day The Message Bible is a dynamic equivalent translation for late 20th and early 21st century American English which reminds me of that line in My Fair Lady the movie when the professor says why in America they haven't spoken English for years but that has to do with the development of

language requiring people to read the Quran in early 7th Century Arabic would be a bit like requiring people to read the Old Testament in ancient Hebrew and the New Testament in first century Greek the second consideration is that there are some variant in the quranic text while good critical criticism textual criticism or examination of texts over the years makes it possible to have reliable Bible passages and books having variance reconciled in a smooth translation Islamic scholars are between a rock and a hard place because they claim that the Arabic of the Quran was received from

an angel and is not to be changed having variance cause significant difficulties let's look at the structure of the Quran as the Bible has chapters and verses that were added after to the writings themselves except for the Psalms the Quran consists of 114 chapters of varying lengths known as Surah each Surah consists of verses known as aat or a aate which originally means a sign or evidence sent by God close quote let's look now at the teachings of the main group of Islam there are the five pillars and here are the Arabic words followed by

the translation the first pillar is the shahada or Declaration of Faith the shahada also transliterated as Shaha is an Islamic oath and Creed and one of the five pillars of Islam and part of the Adan it reads I bear witness that there was no no deity but God and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God that shahada declares belief in the Wess Ted of God and the acceptance of Muhammad as God's messenger some Muslims also include a statement Shia Muslims include a statement of belief in the will aat of Ali but they

do not consider it as an obligatory part for converting to Islam so a single honest recitation of the shahada is all that is required for a person to become a Muslim according to most traditional schools now I have not become a Muslim by reciting it I am simply providing it as historical and current information to you the second pillar is Salah or prayer it is the principal form of worship in Islam Muslims face Mecca and it consists of units called raaka specific set movements that you might have seen videos of during which the Quran is

recited and prayers from the sunna are typically said the number of raaka verse varies from prayer to prayer Minor Details of Performing Salah May differ according to the mahab or School of Islamic jurist Prudence of the person performing it it the third pillar is zakat or AMS giving zakat is the Arabic word for giving to charity or giving to the needy zakat is a form of almsgiving often collected by the Muslim um by the people as they gather to worship it is considered in Islam a religious obligation and by konic rank King is next after

prayer and importance eight heads of zakat are mentioned in the Quran but I'm not going to list all of those you can look them up if you wish wish there is the next pillar is s which is fasting it is the practice of abstaining usually from food drink sexual activity and anything which substitutes food and drink during the holy month of Ramadan which changes a little bit each year there is uh the month of Ramadan Psalm is observed between Dawn and sunset when the Adon of the mrie prayer is sounded Ramadan is in the ninth

month of the Muslim lunar calendar and fasting is a requirement for practicing Muslims as it is the fourth of the five pillars of Islam and if you think about it when the fasting month of Ramadan comes during the summer you have have long days and if you're in a hot area it's really hard to go without water the fourth of the five pillars of Islam is the Hajj or [Music] pilgrimage is it's an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca where Muhammad is buried in Saudi Arabia it's the hoest city for Muslims Hajj is a mandatory religious

Duty for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by all adult Muslims who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey and of supporting their family during their absence from home here is an image of pilgrims around Muhammad's grave in your lecture notes you can see the Five Pillars of what are called the twers they anticipate the 12th Imam to bring in the end of the world and there are 10 ancillaries 10 more but because sunnis are Far and Away the largest Muslim group and this is not an exhaustive

world religion course I'm not going to go into them or the Seven Pillars of the ismaelis there is as far as uh teaching with regard to the Quran a word called abrogation it has to do with several forms of revision of various teachings most important is that the later the text in the Quran the more abrogated are some earlier verses on the same subject the reason this is important is that the later part of the Quran is more militant there is some controversy over abreg abrogation can also occur by action of later councils but they

are not allowed to change the central tenants of Islam in abreg there is yet another similarity to Mormonism because the head of the Mormon Church also called a prophet can change various teachings here is what the Quran teaches about God Islam is the simplistic as opposed to the complex Trinity monotheistic religion there is one God and that's that here is what is Quran teaches about Jesus Islam teaches there is no God but God Allah which was the name of the Moon God before Islam though a wickliff Bible translator friend told me that the English word

God is from the Germanic German word goat which means goat and had to do with the goat God so uh you have different combinations over the years they teach that God neither begets nor is he begotten that has to do with the false information Muhammad learned that I told you about earlier and John 3:16 these days is more often translated God's one and only son or as I may have mentioned in the previous lecture one can temporary translation in one Muslim people group translates it God's favorite son because of the unique meaning of that phrase

the following is from islamqa.org in other words questions and answers so it's kind of like the Mormon official website where they give official answers to people with questions in this case about Islam the true belief of Muslim teachings regarding as Jesus in accordance to the Creed of a Jama is that he was not killed or crucified instead he was lifted bodily into Heaven by Allah hence he is in the heaven now and is in the state of a human being in other words not God about this incident the following verse States and for the saying

in boast we killed Messiah Jesus the son of Mary the messenger of Allah but they killed him not nor crucified him only a likeness of that was shown to them and those who differ therein are full of Doubt with no certain knowledge but only follow mere conjecture for of assurity they killed him not but Allah lifted him up to himself and Allah is Almighty always wise and there is none of the people of the book but will believe in him before his death and on the day of judgment he will be a witness against them

and again this is completely contrary to the true written word of the New Testament and then there is this from the same website about Jesus's return Allah said and there is none of the people of the book but will believe in him before his death and on the day of judgment he will be a witness against them this refers to the time when Prophet Jesus Will descend to the Earth before the day of judgment and kill the swine break the cross impose the jiza which is tax and will not accept any religion except Islam we

as Muslims also believe that Prophet Isa Jesus will return to the Earth as a human being he will return just as he was taken up from the earth and will go after the Antichrist D to slay him he will then rule with Justice and fairness in accordance to the teaching te ings of Islam so Muslim believe Jesus will return but the details and outcomes are very different here's what is taught about the Old and New Testament they are called the ancient writings Wikipedia says quote the Quran states that several prior writings constitute holy books given

by God to the prophets and Messengers among the children of Israel in the same way the Quran was revealed to Muhammad these include the tat the Torah believed by Muslims to have been given by God to the prophets and Messengers among the children of Israel the zabor used in reference to the Psalms revealed to David daud and the inel revealed to Jesus if I have time later in the lecture I will share with you about my friend who when I got to him um the Psalms and I think it was the Proverbs especially of Solomon

he was he just loved reading them in his mother tongue and the inel refer revealed Jesus the Islamic methodology of tapir refers to interpreting the Quran with or Through the Bible the approach adopts the canonic Arabic versions of the Bible including the Torah and gospel both to illuminate and to add exegetical depth to the reading to the Quran knowable Muslim commentaries mufas serun of the Bible and Quran who weave biblical texts together with quranic ones include Abu alaban abdal Salam bin Al isil of andalas and Ibraham Umar bin Hassan Al about Muhammad Muslims call him

the prophet and you will recall the devotional about Deuteronomy 18 the Islamic statement of faith says and Muhammad is his Prophet there are many verses about Muhammad in the Quran some of which do not line up with reports about his actual life about Abraham's sons Isaac and Ishmael Muslims believe the promise and Covenant came through Ishmael instead of Isaac which Genesis actually teaches about Isaac Muslims believe that Abraham offered Ishmael as a sacrifice so you can see how Kur the Quran teaches the opposite or Twisted teachings from what is in the Bible for the truth

of this matter and its implications see Paul's writings in Galatians 4: 21-31 and you can see the contrast so in summary even though God is called merciful Islam involves legalism and works righteousness that you have to work your way to heaven kind of religion Jad one sect held this as the sixth pillar of Islam most Muslims today follow the teachings of inner moral struggle but some use it for what is sometimes condemned by Muslims as extremism the following summary is from Wikipedia quote the sense of jihad as armed resistance was first used in the context

of persecution faced by Muslims when Muhammad was at Mecca when the community had two choices further immigration or War the Quran justifies war and self-defense or in response to aggression towards other Muslims however the s verses have historically been interpreted to renounce that is abgate other verses and justify offensive war against unbelievers forcibly converting polytheistic pagans during the early Muslim conquest and some Christians as well there was a split between Sunni and Shia after the death of Muhammad and this is from history.com though the two main sects within Islam Sunni and Shia agree on most

of the fundamental beliefs and practices of Islam a bitter split between the two goes back from 14th centuries some 14 centuries the Divide originated with a dispute over who should succeed Pro the prophet Muhammad as leader of the Islamic faith he introduced today about 85% of the approximately 1.6 billion Muslims by birth around the world are Sunni while 15% are Shia according to an estimate by the Council on Foreign Relations while Shia represent the majority of the populations of in Iran Iraq Bahrain and aeran and a plurality in Lebanon sunnis are the majority in more

than 40 other countries from Morocco to Indonesia the roots of the Sunni Shia divide can be traced all the way back to the 7th Century soon after the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 8632 while most of Muhammad's followers thought that the other Elite members of the Islamic community should choose his successor a smaller group believed only someone from Muhammad's family namely his cousin and son-in-law Ali should succeed him this group became known as the followers of Ali in Arabic the shiat Ali or simply Shia the essence of the problem is that Muhammad died without

a male Heir and he never clearly stated who he would want to be his successor says Leslie Hazelton author of after the Prophet The Epic story of the Sunni Shia split in Islam this was important because by the time he died Muhammad had basically brought all the tribes of Arabia together into a kind of Federation that became the um the people or Nation of Islam I now turn to a brief conquering a brief explanation of the Islamic conquering that took place after M Muhammad here is what Wikipedia says quote the spread of Islam spans over

1,400 years the early Muslim Conquest that occurred after 632 led to the creation of the Cal Fates conquering a vast geographical area conversion to Islam was boosted by Arab Muslim forces conquering vast territories and building Imperial structures over time most of the significant expansion occurred during the reign of the rashidun rightly guided cifs or in English it's Rashid there was a ruler called harun Al Rashid cffs from 632 to 66 61 CE excuse me just 661 ad which were the first four successors of Muhammad these early caliphates coupled with Muslim economics and trading the Islamic

golden age and the age of the Islamic gunpowder Empires resulted in Islam spread outwards from Mecca towards the Indian Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the creation of the Muslim world the Islamic conqu quest which culminated in the Arab empire being established across parts of Asia Africa and Europe enriched the Muslim World achieving the economic preconditions for the emergence of this institution owing to the emphasis attached to Islamic teachings trade played an important role in this expansion in some parts of the world such as Indonesia during the early centuries of Islamic rule conversions in the main

in the Middle East were mainly individual or small scale while Mass conversions were favored for spreading Islam Beyond Muslim lands policies within Muslim territories typically aimed for Islam for individual conversions to weaken non-muslim communities however there were exceptions like the forced Mass conversion of the Samaritan in the holy land when it comes to Europe there are two dates that are important in understanding the furthest reach of Islam Muslims were stopped in Tours France in a72 and in 1683 when the Ottoman Empire was stopped in the Battle of Vienna of Vienna but that is far beyond

the dates of this lecture series I turn now to the battle of Tours the Battle of Tours also called The Battle of potier and the battle of the highway of the martyrs that's the Muslim name was fought on October 10th [Music] 1732 and was an important battle during the umad invasion of Gaul with Gul meaning what we call France it resulted in Victory for the Frankish or French and aquitanian forces led by Charles Martell over the invading umad Islamic forces led by ABD alaman El gaiki Governor of all andalo several historians such as Edward Gibbon

who wrote the rise and fall of the Roman Empire have credited the Christian victory in the battle as an important factor in curtailing the spread of Islam in Western Europe close quote the long-term implications of the defeat of Muslims at the tours is seen in the gradual departure going further south from France and then mostly from Spain in Spain Muslims were called Moes quote the word derives from the Latin term marus first used by the Romans to denote an inhabitant of the Roman province of morania comprising the western portion of present day Algeria and the

northeastern portion of present day Morocco that's britannica.com close quote there is an extensive monument in southern Spain group of buildings called the alhamra after the conclusion of what is called in Spanish the Christian Reconquista or reconquering of Spain in 1492 by the Catholics the site became the Royal Court of Ferdinand and Isabella where Christopher Columbus received the Royal endorsement for his expedition on this in the same year and the Palaces were partially altered a woman in Southern California was so impressed by a book about the alhamra that she encouraged her husband to name a new

city alhamra the high school nickname is the Moors it is just east of Los Angeles and south of Pasadena let's look at the church and Islam what Muhammad taught about Christians they are called people of the book meaning the Bible the gospels and the New Testament are both referred to as the inel what does the Quran teach about Christians says the Christians are nice people but they are misguided about Jesus and the law which they do not by their definition keep by definition Jews and Christians are viewed as infidels people who Den not believe the

major teachings of Islam how was the church affected by Islam during the time of Muhammad there was not much persecution of Christians but I have previously shared that M Muhammad fought against the Jews of Medina who had taken him in after the death of Muhammad there was much more persecution with the Conquering of various places Christians often had only two choices become a Muslim or be killed obviously not all Christians died there were some rulers who did not press the two choices but instead allowed to people to Live and Let Live Until the past 30

years or so there were significant pockets of Christian presence among Muslim dominant countries those numbers have significantly declined due to persecution Wars Le leaving the area and so on Iraq Syria and The Holy Land are just three examples when it comes to Muslims in Asia you will learn more about that in series two lecture 4 and an ironic twist that I had not realized until recent years the spread of Islam in Asia eventually helped spur exploration over the seas to the West because traveling East was blocked by Muslim rulers so think about that for a

while but now in context in modern context contemporary context let me tell you about a friend of mine I will call him Muhammad we met at my undergraduate University he was in a graduate school I engaged him in dialogue I said would you show me about Alexander the Great in the Quran and as a trade I will show you something from one of the inels so he showed me where Alexander the Great or isander is in the Quran and I read to him and I believe he read quietly along with him the crucifixion and I

believe Resurrection account maybe just the crucifixion account of Jesus in The Gospel of John I have never been so thrilled to share that story than I was with my friend Muhammad because I was wondering if it was the first time he had heard it it was definitely the first time he had heard it read by a Christian and when I told him that I was going to study in Vienna Austria he said come visit my family in South Asia and so I was able to work that out after Israel I flew to Teran and then

to Cabo where I uh was for a few days and then I went through the kyber pass into South more of South Asia I went and visited a missionary I got very sick and he was at a hospital and I was able to have a prescription that helped me saved my life and then he got me hooked up with a friend of a relative of Muhammad in the city near the new capital city of his country and I played my guitar and sang that night for him and then the next day he took me by

uh a horse and buggy and a bus and a three-wheeler and then we walked the last mile to Muhammad's Village I was the first Caucasian or white or Christian male to visit there I met his father uh that evening they had me sing the guitar and play the guitar and sing I asked the man I had sung before the night before which of the songs he would like me to sing and he said alelu and I said are you sure and he said yes and I was concerned because in that song it says God said

he would send his son hallelu allelu and you have learned or probably already knew that it goes strong against the religion to refer to God the Father having a son he neither begets nor is he begotten but I realized three things Jesus calls me to take the gospel into the whole world the group that I was with has a very strong code of hospitality that they had already received me under so they would not break it and also only about two people and the whole building spoke English so I turned it into kind of a

young life meeting if you know about young life it's a Christian group they sing songs they do a funny skit and then the leader gives a short talk about relating Jesus's life to Life as a high schooler so one time I uh played the song let my light shine bright through the night through the day all the way for you ye yeaw and I had told them beforehand that if I saw anybody not singing yeeha I would have them come up and sing it in front of everybody or do the Yea and there was one

man who yelled sang the song the loudest and I looked around and I pointed at him and he was so proud he stred forward and he led everybody in the Yea after when a t came time for me to leave I exchanged tugs with this man and I also found out later that he was an opium Smuggler but I prayed for him and I continued to pray for him because he is a leader of people I continue to pray for my friend Muhammad he was a uh an academic leader in one of the universities in

South Asia and the Taliban kidnapped someone of a similar level of position and so Muhammad decided to come to the United States where his daughter and I think also his son also were and eventually he became an American citizen as have his children and I'm so glad for it we haven't talked in recent years but there was a period about 10 years ago where we in were in touch quite a bit and uh so that's a little bit of the story of my attempts at friendship evangelism with harun when he visited me in my home

home in Southern California he did the prayer that I visit with you he oriented himself towards where Mecca was he had a small rug or he used the rug that was in the room where he was staying and he did his prayers he just quietly did it and then at a later time I visited with him and that's when a relative of his said to me you know we believe Jesus is coming back but I've also come to learn that they view it in a different way but but you can take that and say can

I share with you what the inel says about the return of Jesus and I would like to conclude by saying as you've heard about me with Muhammad learning about Islam can help you understand your Muslim friends it can help you in asking them informed questions about their faith and you can be aware that many Muslims mlims in Iran refugee camps and many other places have become disillusioned with Islam and are open to the reality of the Christian faith being a relationship with Isa that is Jesus instead of a bunch of Dos and does and earlier

in my passage I referred to Muslims in Canada I have friends who work with them have fun meetings do English as a second language I also even saw a picture of them going camping they had had a canoe and two of the men wanted to be in the canoe by themselves and they were told it tips over really easy but still they went out and of course it tipped over and they just laughed so hard but they know that these Christians love them and they are sharing the love of Jesus and the truth of Jesus

with them it is about the love of God not arguing theological points or legalism as I kind of did at another time that I might share with you but anyway go forth my heroes and have a blessed week amen