Notes and References on Islam

by Chuck Missler

(accompanying the briefing package "The Sword of Allah: The Rise of Islam")*

Section I: Background


Islamic divisions of the universe:
1. Dar Al Islam: the domain of the faithful (to Islam)

2. Dar Al Harb: those with whom they are at war until Judgment Day.
(Not just the Jews: all non-Muslims!)

Islam is the fastest growing religion today: There are more Muslims than evangelical Christians in Britain; 900 churches have been converted to mosques in the UK. There are 1100 mosques in the US; there are more Muslims than Jews in North America.

Pre-Islamic Arabia

Ur of the Chaldees is first mentioned in the account of Abraham's journey in Genesis 12:1. The
spiritual ruler of Ur was the moon-god. This god would ultimately become the supreme deity of the entire Babylonian empire. The root names of many individuals in Babylon preserves links to the gods of the Babylonian pantheon:

Senacherib, or "Sin Ech-erib" = "Sin multiplies his brothers."

The god "Sin" was elevated to the top of the Babylonian pantheon by Nabu-na'id (Nabodnidus) in an effort to make Babylonian religion more acceptable to subjects like the Arabians and Aramaeans. The Arabians esteemed the moon god, but had more difficulty identifying with Marduk, the supreme Babylonian deity associated primarily with the city of Babylon.

The god Sin, "The Controller of the Night," had the crescent moon as his emblem, and the lunar-based calendar, which became the primary religious symbols of Islam, was worshipped in Arabia as AI-Ilah. Mecca became the center of all pagan religions of Arabia before Mohammed. AI-Ilah, the Moon God, was the "Lord of the Ka'aba" ("cube") which was formerly the center of pagan worship, ruling over 360 idols. Lucrative trade routes resulted. The Ka'aba black cube in Mecca is of course the center of Islamic worship today.

Islam incorporates beliefs in jinns ( which are genies, fairies); in spells, magic stones, fetishes; and animistic beliefs (spirits living in inanimate objects). See: Suras 55; 72; 113, 114.

Such beliefs are contrary to Biblical injunctions found for example in Deut. 4:19; 17:3; Job 31:26-28. Penalties: Deut. 17:6; 2 Ki 23:5.

The Sabeans' Religion (pre-Muhammad)


Astral religion, which involves worshipping heavenly bodies ("the host of heaven") is strongly warned against in the Bible. In such idolatrous systems the Moon is often viewed as a male deity; and the Sun, a female deity; with the Stars their offspring. A Lunar cyclical calendar results. For example the practice of fasting from crescent moon to crescent moon. Derived from these forms of worship of the host of heaven are the practices of bowing and prayer toward Mecca; the requirement for a Holy Pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca, in order to circle the Ka'aba, the site of the protective black stone. Al-Ilah was Lord of the Ka'aba; is to be circled 7 times and kissed. Pilgrims then run to the Wadi Mina to throw stones at the Devil. These rites are practiced in Islam today.

Pagans who lived in Saudi Arabia before Muhammed was born worshipped toward Mecca because Mecca is where their idols were located. Because this pagan worship centered on Mecca was so widespread, a rapid acceptance of Muhammad's new religion was possible. Thus, Islam is a previously heathen religion modified into a monotheistic form by discarding all the other pagan gods except for Al-Ilah.

Particular attention should be paid to the pioneering work on Islam of Julius Welhausen, Theordor
Noldeke, Joseph Halevvy, Edward Glaser, William F. Albright, Frank P. Albright, Richard
Bell, J. Arberry, Wendell Phillips, W. Montgomery Watt, Alfred Guilllaume, and Arthur Jeffery. (1)

Archaeological and linguistic work done since the latter part of the 19th century has discovered overwhelming evidence that Muhammad constructed his religion and the Quran from pre- existing material in Arabian culture.

The Life of Muhammad


The Quraysh tribe (Muhammad's tribe ) was previously devoted to Allah, the moon god. Muhammad's father was Abd-Allah. His Uncle, Obied-Allah. His mother, Aminah, was known to have been involved in the occult. (2)

Muhammad's Wives: (Sura 4:3 forbids more than 4 wives; Muhammad, however had 16 official wives, and 6 others as well.)
1. Khadija
2. Sawda
3. Aesah (8 or 9 years old)
4. Omm Salama
5. Hafsa
6. Zaynab (originally Jahsh's, Muhammad's adopted son's wife.)
7. Jowayriya
8. Omm Habiba
9. Safiya
10. Maymuna (of Hareth)
11. Fatima
12. Hend
13. Asma (of Saba)
14. Zaynab (of Khozayma)
15. Habla
16. Asma (of Noman)
Other wives:
17. Mary (the Coptic Christian; chose to remain a slave rather than convert.)
18. Rayhana
19. Omm Shank
20. Maymuna
21. Zaynab (a 3rd one)
22. Khawla


The Nature of Islam


Legacy of Hate; Born of deception, weaned on violence.

Islam = "Submission"? Originally: that strength which characterized a desert warrior who, even when faced with impossible odds, would fight to the death for his tribe. (3)

Allah = AI-Ilah. Arabic for "the god." pre-Islamic name, corresponding to the Babylonian Bel. The Moon-god; crescent moon. (4)

Koran/Quran


[Quran never explains these tenets of the faith: it assumes familiarity with them. Allah also is assumed to be well known to the reader.]

Violence is commanded:
"Fight and slay the pagans (infidels) wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war." Quran, Sura 9:5

If Islam is resisted?
"Their punishment is...execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from the opposite sides, or exile from the land." Sura 5:33

Al Tawbah The Repentance): "Prophet, make war on unbelievers and hypocrites, and deal rigorously with them." Sura 9:73
Al Anfal (The Spoils): "Let not the unbelievers think they will ever get away... strike terror into the enemy of God and your enemy... rouse the faithful to arms! If they (the non-Muslims) incline to peace (accept Islam) make peace with them."
Sura 8:59
Al Maidah (The Table): "If they reject your judgment, know that it is Allah's wish to scourge them for their sins. Sura 5:49

The Quran is an amalgam of Hinduism, Buddhism, Mythraism, Greek mystery religions, as well as elements from Judaism and Christianity.

Order confused, self-contradictions. Perfect Arabic? Claimed in 12:2; 13:37; 41:41,44.
Over 100 aberrations,5 such as 2:177,192; 3:59; 4:162; 5:69; 7:160; 13:28; 20:66; 63:10, etc.

Free of error? Claimed in Sura 85:21, 22. Claims to be consistent with the Bible? Sura 7:51 and 10:3 claim 6 days of creation; Sura 41, 8 days of creation; Sura 32-48 disagree with Genesis 7; numerous errors concerning Abraham: Father's name was not Azar (6:74); did not live in Mecca (14:37); did not sacrifice Ishmael (37:100-112); eight sons, not two; three wives, not two; did not build the Ka'aba (2:12~127); was not thrown into a fire by Nimrod (21:68, 69; 9:69), etc. Numerous chronological errors. Flood did not occur in Moses' day (7:136 vs. 7:59ff) (6)

{Note: The Bible was not in Arabic in Muhammad's day, in fact not until the 9th century].

According to the Bible any new revelation must agree with what is already established as God's Word. (See Isa 8:20).

Is the Islamic "Allah" equivalent to "El," the God of the OT?

Islamic "Allah" implies a God who is unknowable, impersonal, capricious (untrustworthy).

One God? (at a time) is a concept found in other pagan derivitive religions:

Egypt: Ra, Isis, Osiris
Chaldeans: Ba-al, Molech
Greeks: Zeus; Jupiter

Muhammad was not sinless: See Sura 40:55. He never performed a single miracle: Sura 17:91-95. He did not die for anyone. No personal relationship with him is possible: he is dead.

For a detailed contrast between Muhammad and Jesus see Alfred Guillaume, The Traditions of Islam.

Anti-Judaism: Islam is conspicuously Anti-Jewish (7)
Al Maidah (The Table): "Believers (Muslims), take neither Jews nor Christians to be your friends: they are friends with one another. Whoever of you seeks their friendship Shall become one of their number, and God does not guide (those Jewish and Christian (called "wrong-doers," 5:51-5:74).

"Say, 'People of the Book (Jews), is it not that you hate us (Ishmaelite Muslims), only because we believe in God, and in what has been revealed to others, and because most of you (Jews) are evil-doers?" 5:57

But according to the Bible Israel not to be cast off: Jer. 31 :36-37.

Islam is Anti-Black

American blacks have been widely deceived. Only people with white faces will be saved; people with black faces will be damned: Sura 3:106,107. Arab Muslims were enslaving black
Africans long before Westerners.

Abrahamic descent?

Arabs are not (necessarily) descendants of Ishmael. (8)

Abraham never lived in Mecca.

Ishmael

Son of Abram and Hagar (Genesis 16:1); WAS promised blessing, but a very different from that God gave to Isaac. Of Ishmael God said, "A wild donkey of a man, and his hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand against him, and he will dwell (settle, encamp) in the presence ("in the face") of his brothers." See Genesis 16:1~12; 17:2~21; 21:8-21; 25:9,12-18....

God's Plan for Israel and the Middle East:


Settle the Jewish people in the land of Israel, including Judea, Samaria and Ephraim. Give Jerusalem back to Israel.

Cause Jerusalem to become a "Cup of Trembling" to all nations Zech. 12:2

Russian exodus: Jer. 16:1-15. Overflow: Zech. 10:10-11:1.

Destroy Babylon completely. Judge Mount Seir and Edom. Cause all the nations to know that it is God who brought Israel back. Ezek. 36:36; 38-39.

Cause a spiritual revival among the Jewish People. Deut. 30:6; Ezek. 36:25ff; Jer. 31:31. Jewish People to accept Yeshua: Zech. 12:10

The Land of Israel

Land originally held by 10 nations descended from Ham after the Flood: the Kenites, Kenezzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.

Jericho, the capital of the Amorites, was named after the moon-god: Khirbet Kerak, Beth-Yerah, "House (Temple) of the Moon God."]

Land Grantof Israel to the Jews: See Genesis 15:7-8, 13-16; 17:8; Deut. 28-30; Jer.. 30-31; Ezek. 36. The boundaries of the land given to Israel extend from the "River of
Egypt" to the Euphrates: from eastern Egypt, all the way into western Iraq. Genesis 15:1-21; Exodus 23:2~31; Numbers 34:1-14; Joshua 1:3; Ezek. 47:1 ff.

Is Islam In the Scriptures?

Mt. Seir: (Esau's descendants) S. Jordan and N. Saudi Arabia: Ezek. 35:3,-S; 10,12; 36: 2,3,5

Babylon (Iraq): Jer. 5O:4-6, 11,18-19; Isa 13:1-14:2

Lebanon: Israel will possess "the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath." (on the coast of Lebanon between Tyre and Sidon.) Obad. 1:20; Zech. 10:10; 11:1.

Gaza Strip: "The shoulder of the Philistines to the west" (Isaiah 11:14) and "the Philistine lowland (Obad. 1:19) will be possessed by Israel.

Moab (Southern Jordan, and Northern Saudi Arabia) will yield to Israel. Isa 11:14.

The "West Bank": Called Judea and Samaria and Ephraim, will belong to Israel. Jer. 30:5-8; Obad. 1:19)

Gilead (Southern Syria and Northern Jordan) belongs to Israel. Zech. 10:10.

Jordan: The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a European creation of 1946.

Moab and Gilead had been populated by unaffiliated Arabic Bedouin tribes.

Recent and Future History Notes

W.W.I: British and Allies fought Germans and Ottoman Turks. Major T.E. Lawrence organized the "Arab Revolt." Allenby victorious in Middle East; League of Nations award the British "Mandate" on April 25, 1920. (endures until May 14,1948.)

1921, the son of Sharif Hussein of Mecca in Arabia, an aggressive young man named Abdallah, moved in with his troops, to the land east of Jordan. The British Colonial Secretary (Winston Churchill) recognized Abdallah as the emir (chieftain) of "Trans-Jordan." Abdallah consolidates his control with his British-trained "Arab Legion."

1946: Abdallah crowned King of Transjordan. His grandson, Hussein, is the current king.

Joining in on the attack on Israel in its War of Independence in 1948, the "Arab Legion" successfully fought the Haganah and held the "West Bank." After joining Egypt in the "6 Day War", they lost it in 1967.

The inhabitants of the Negev will possess "the mountains of Esau": Jordan, including Petra.

The Ultimate Jihad: See Ezekiel 38 and 39.

Magog is the forbear of the Scythians, or modern day Russian. (Hesiod, Herodotus, et al. See The Soviet Breakup, The Magog' Factor , and other Koinonia House publications.)

The lead ally in the list is Iran ("Persia") Rafsanjani has announced his "Grand Design" to unite the Islamic world from Indonesia to Mauritania: almost 2 billion followers. He believes he has the resources to "disconnect the Middle East from its Judeo-Christian world order." Russia has signed a treaty to back him.

God will intervene to protect Israel. This key event marks God's dealing again with "My people" Israel. Cf. Hosea 1:9-2:3.

Clean-up after the battle? Left-over weapons provide all the energy needs of the nation Israel for 7 years. Professionals sent in for 7 months (after 7 month wait) and bury remains east of the Dead Sea (downwind); tourists encountering a bone that was missed don't touch it: they mark its location and let the professionals deal with it. (Current day procedures for nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare: TM 3-9905-007-70, HQ Dept. of Army, US Dept. of Defense; et al)


Bibliography

Bruce Cohen, Israel, Arabs and the Middle East, Har Tavor Publishing Ltd, Wynnewood PA, 1991.

lbn Kathir, The Signs before the Day' of Judgment, Dar Al Taqwa Ltd, London, 1992. (Ismail Abul-FadI Umar lbn Kathir was one of the leading scholars of Islam of the 14th century. Excerpted from his 14 volume history of Islam.)

Malachi Martin, The Keys of This Blood, Simon Schuster, New York NY 1990.

William McElwee Miller, A Christian's Response to Islam, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., Phillipsburg, NJ, 1979.

Robert Morey, The Islamic Invasion, Harvest House. Eugene OR. Lucid, well documented, an excellent reference.

Bill Musk, The Unseen Face of Islam, Monarch Publications Ltd, London, 1989.

George Otis, Jr., The Last of the Giants, Reming H. Revell Company, Tarrytown NY, 1991.

Joan Peters, From Time Immemorial, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York NY, 1984.

Michael Youssef, America, Oil, and the Islamic Mind, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Ml, 1983,
1991.

Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, ed. James Hastings, T & T Clark, Edinburgh, 1908.

Encyclopedia of Religion, eds. Paul Meagher, Thomas O'Brien, Consuela Aherne, Corpus Publishers, Washington DC, 1979.

Encyclopedia of Islam, E.J. Prill, Leiden, 1913. Page 18

Notes:

1. Michael Nazar-Ali. Islam: A Christian Perspective, Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1983, p.21 Alfred Guillaume, Islam, Penguin Books, London. 1954, p6; Augustus H. Strong, Systematic Theology, Judson Press, Valley Forge PA, 1976, p.186.

2. John McClintock and James Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Baker Books House, Grand Rapids Ml, 1981 reprint. 6:406.

3. Dr. M. Baravmann, The Spiritual Background of Early Islam, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1972; Dr. Jane Smith, M. Historical and Semitic Study of the Term Islam as Seen in a Sequence of Quran Commentaries, University of Montana Press, for Harvard University Dissertations,
1970.

4. Robert Morey. The Islamic Invasion, Harvest House. Eugene OR, p.48; Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, ed. James Hastings, T & T Clark, Edinburgh, 1908, 1:326; Encyclopedia Of Religion, eds. Paul Meagher, Thomas O'Brien, Consuela Aherne, Corpus Publishers, Washington DC. 1979, 1:117; Encyclopedia Britannica, 1:643; Encyclopedia Of Islam, E.J. Brill, Leiden. 1913,
1:302; 1:406; 111:1093.

5. Ali Dashti, 23 Years: A Study of the Prophetic Career of Mohammad, George Allen & Unwin. London, 1985, p.48, 50.

6. For a detailed discussion, see Morrey, p.158.

7. Bat Ye'or, The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam, Farleigh Dickinson University Press, 1965.

8. McClintock and Strong, 1:339; Gibb, Levi-Provencial, Schacht, eds., The Encyclopedia of Islam, J. Brill, Leiden. 1913, l:543-47; Thomas Hughes, A Dictionary of Islam, Allen & Co., London, 1885; pp.18ff.

9. J. A. Thompson, The Bible and Archeology, Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., Grand Rapids Ml, 1965, pp.1-16.

10. The famous martyr of Karbala. Jassim M. Hussain. The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam, Muhammadi Trust, London, 1982. p.17.

11. Barbara G. Walker, The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, Harpers, SF 1983. pp.51-S2; 306.


*Two cassette-tape lectures with above notes are available from Koinonia House, PO Box D., Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 83816