Because of the Persian Gulf War, the longstanding Israeli-Arab conflict, and the prominent place the Middle East has in biblical history and prophecy, it might be of interest and profit to our readers to learn a little about the Arabs and their predominant religion, Islam. We trust that this will be of particular interest and help to any of our readers who have the opportunity to share the gospel with Islamic neighbors, fellow-students, or colleagues at work.
First, let us define a few terms:
Arab: The term means “desert dweller” and today refers generally to the people whose ancestors were native to the Arabian Peninsula and are now widely scattered throughout surrounding lands. The following are generally considered as Arab nations today: Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, as well as many lesser nations along the southern and eastern border of Saudi Arabia. The term also applies to the Palestinians who live in Israel. Other nations such as Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia are predominantly Muslim (see definition below), but are not considered Arab nations.
Islam: The term means “submission” or “surrender” and is the name of the religion or way of life popularized by the prophet Muhammad (or Mohammed) in the 7th century A.D.
Moslem or Muslim: Different spellings of the same word meaning “one who submits” (to the majesty and will of God), and denoting an adherent of the Islam religion. Today, “Muslim” is the preferable term and we shall use this word henceforth.
Mohammedan: An adherent of Islam; same as “Muslim.” This term is not used by Muslims themselves; one should not use this term in front of a Muslim person unless one wants to make a quick enemy.
Koran or Qur’an: The term means “recitation.” To Muslims, this is the word of God dictated by the angel Gabriel in the Arabic language to the prophet Muhammad who in turn recited and taught it to others. The Qur’an was transmitted orally and not written down until 12 years after Muhammad’s death. The Qur’an consists of 114 chapters (or “surahs”), each of which is divided into verses.
Origin and Capsule History of the Arabs
The Arabs are considered, along with the Jews, as Semitic peoples, that is, descendants of Shem, the son of Noah. Most Arabs claim descent from the patriarch Abraham through his son Ishmael (remember that “Arab” means “desert dweller” and Ishmael and his mother Hagar were sent away to live in the wilderness, Gen. 21:8-21). Some may have descended from Abraham through his son Midian (note in Gen. 37:28 the close relationship between Ishmaelites and Midianites) or his grandson Esau or Edom. The Arabs who migrated to Egypt, Libya, Assyria, and Babylon mingled with the Hamitic tribes in those places (Gen. 10:6-14). (It is intriguing that President Saddam Hussein of Iraq has claimed for himself the titles of Sennacherib II and Nebuchadnezzar II after the renowned kings of ancient Assyria and Babylon.)
Prior to the 7th century A.D. the Arabs were polytheists. Most lived in small nomadic clans and recognized only the authority of the clan sheikh. Inter-clan disputes over water and pasturage were common. The most advanced Arab communities were at the oases of Mecca and Medina (now in Saudi Arabia). Muhammad was born in Mecca around 570 A.D. About 610 he supposedly received revelations which formed the basis of the Qur’an and Islam. Muhammad preached to the polytheists of one God and of the need for man to strive for goodness. He won a number of converts but aroused the opposition of most of the inhabitants of Mecca.
Muhammad then accepted an invitation to go and arbitrate in strife-torn Medina in 622. In Medina, laws for religious life, family life, and other social concerns were “revealed.” Gradually Muhammad welded the various clans of Medina and the other immigrants from Mecca into one community. From Medina Muhammad waged war against Mecca until in 630 Mecca capitulated and accepted Islam. Kaaba, which had been a pagan shrine, was transformed into a shrine of the new faith.
Following the death of Muhammad in 632, Arabs began invading the neighboring territories which were part of the Byzantine (to the west) and Persian (to the east) Empires. Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, and North Africa were all conquered by the Arabs during the 7th century. The Arab empire continued to expand in the 8th century, moving into Spain and the areas now known as Pakistan and Afghanistan. Non-Arabs began to convert to Islam. All Muslims were considered equal religiously and politically, whatever their race or national origin (an attitude that Christians would do well to adopt). However, Arabic became the official language of the entire empire. Baghdad was founded as the capital city of the empire around 763.
Civil wars between various segments of the empire which began in the 9th century led to the effective end of the Arab empire as a political unit by 945. Even though various parts of the former empire were now ruled by independent kings and princes, Islam and Islamic culture continued to spread.
Political stability of the Middle East was hindered by internal dissension and the invasions by Turks and Mongols from Asia and the Crusaders during the 11th to 15th centuries. The Turks were converted to Islam and seized Asia Minor from the Byzantine Empire in 1071. One of the Turkish tribes founded the Ottoman Empire which conquered Syria, Egypt, and parts of Iraq in 1517. The Ottomans also controlled parts of North Africa.
In World War I the Ottoman Turks aligned themselves with Germany and Austria-Hungary. The Peace Conference at the end of the war made all of the lands of the Ottoman Empire, except Turkey itself, mandates of France and Britain. Gradually the nations of the Middle East as we know them today achieved independence. Palestine was made a British mandate at the end of World War I. The British encouraged Jewish settlement in Palestine but promised the Arabs that such settlement would not impinge on Arab political or economic freedom. However, in the years between the World Wars the British allowed the Jews to become more and more influential in Palestine. When the Nazis came to power in Germany, the rate of Jewish immigration greatly increased. Because of increasing Arab unrest in 1939 the British agreed to limit Jewish immigration. After World War II the Zionists (Jews who wanted Palestine to be a Jewish state) and pressure from Britain’s allies forced Britain to allow unlimited Jewish immigration.
In 1947 Britain announced it would resign its mandate of Palestine as of May 14, 1948. The United Nations voted to divide Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state. But the Arabs were not satisfied with “half a loaf.” As soon as the British left on May 15, 1948, Arab armies from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon invaded Israel. The Israelis overcame the Arab armies, retaining the land originally assigned to them and gaining half the land allotted to the Arabs as well. Later attacks (in 1967 and 1973) by Arab nations had similar results. Thousands of Arabs, the “Palestinians,” were evicted from what was to have been an Arab state and have become more or less permanent refugees in Israel.
The Palestinians and their comrades from neighboring Arab states continue to resent deeply the Israeli possession of the land of Palestine. The present Persian Gulf War, provoked by the Iraqi invasion of neighboring Arab state, Kuwait, seems to be—in part at least—tied to a determined effort of the Arabs to regain Palestine from the Jews. Prophecies of Scripture suggest that the struggle between Israel and the Arabs will continue to escalate and involve other nations from the west, north, and east until the culmination at Armageddon (Isa. 28:14-18; Ezek. 38; Dan. 8:23-25; 11:36-45; Rev. 16:12-21) and “the coming of the Son of Man … in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:27-30).
Basic Tenets of Islam
Muslims believe in (1) Allah who is unique, all-powerful, and merciful to all Muslims; (2) angels and evil spirits; (3) the Qur’an as the revealed word of Allah; (4) Allah’s messengers and prophets, including the three great prophets— Moses, Jesus Christ, and Muhammad—the latter being the last and the seal of the prophets; (5) the day of resurrection; and (6) destiny, that is, that whatever Allah decrees, either good or evil, must come to pass.
There are five pillars of Muslim practice: (1) repetition of the words, “I witness that there is no God but Allah, and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”; (2) ritual prayers; (3) paying of ritual alms; (4) observance of the fast of Ramadan; and (5) pilgrimage to the Kaaba in Mecca.
The Muslims are taught to have a certain respect for the Old and New Testament but are warned that much of the Bible has been corrupted from the pure revelations originally given by God through Moses, Jesus, and others, and that the Qur’an corrects the corrupt doctrines supposedly taught by orthodox Christianity and Judaism.
The Muslims’ thought about God is that He is absolutely unique and inconceivable by man: “Whatever your mind may think of, God is not that.” This, of course, flies in the face of Jesus’ statement, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father,” and John’s statement, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him” (John 14:9; 1:18). Muslims absolutely reject the thought of the holy Trinity (surah 4:171); they say that the greatest sin that man can commit is to worship anything else but Allah or to associate any other being on the same level with Him.
Many pious Muslims carry a rosary with 99 beads, each one standing for a name of God. They constantly affirm that God is great (“Allah akbar”) in their prayers, and because of His might and power, they bow in worship, taking the attitude of a slave. God’s grace and mercy are also constantly affirmed in their prayers, and they believe that God will have special pity on Muslims, even though they sin. Muslims have great difficulty with the New Testament concepts of God as Father and Jesus as Son of God (surah 6:101); these truths that are so precious to Christians conjure up in the mind of the Muslim the blasphemous picture of God being married to Mary and having Jesus as offspring.
Muslims profess to believe in Jesus, but it is not the same Jesus that Christians believe in. According to the Qur’an and Islamic tradition, Jesus was one of the three great prophets; He was not the Son of God (surah 4:171); He was a special creation of God (not the Creator Himself!), born of the virgin Mary (surah 3:47); the miracles He performed were only through power delegated to Him by God, and not by His own intrinsic omnipotence. The Qur’an teaches that Jesus was not crucified: “They said [in boast], ‘We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah’—but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them… for of a surety they killed him not” (surah 4:157). The next verse states, “Allah raised him up unto Himself”; most Muslims believe that God took Jesus to heaven just before the crucifixion and that a substitute, perhaps Judas Iscariot, was crucified in His place.
Having deliberately and openly rejected the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ as the basis for salvation, the Islamic religion emphasizes that man must work for salvation. He must pray, go to the holy place or mosque, and observe a series of prohibitions, taboos, and commandments in order to earn eternal life. Muslims believe in a coming day of judgment when God will take a balance and weigh the good and evil deeds of each person. If the good deeds outweigh the bad, the man will go to heaven; if otherwise, he will go to hell. Heaven, to the Muslim, is a place where he will be able to satisfy his fleshly lusts with wine, women, and song.
In the next issue, God willing, we will suggest ways of sharing the gospel of Christ with Muslim neighbors, classmates, fellow-workers, clients, etc. whom the Lord brings into our lives.