Allah’s Theological Jihad against Christianity
by Ralph H. Sidway
(Continued from Part 1- See also Part 3, Part 4)
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| The Koran: words against the Word. |
The first problem for a Christian who affirms that Muslims worship the same God, is that such a Christian has to contend with the Koran, which Muslims believe to be the unalterable, eternal words of God, revealed to Muhammad alone, which pre-existed in heaven before all eternity.
Allah in the Koran explicitly condemns the foundational truths of the Christian Way, calls Christians “blasphemers” and “deluded”, and pronounces curses on Christians:
The similitude of Isa [Jesus] before God is as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: “Be”: And he was. (Sura 3:59)
Say not “Trinity”: desist: It will be better for you: For God is One God: Glory be to Him: (Far Exalted is He) above having a son. . . . (Sura 4:173)
In blasphemy indeed are those that say that God is Christ the Son of Mary. (Sura 5:19)
They do blaspheme who say: “God is Christ the son of Mary . . .” They do blaspheme who say: God is one of three in a Trinity: for there is no god except One God. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them (Sura 5:75,78)
Christ the son of Mary was no more than an Apostle; many were the apostles that passed away before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They had both to eat their (daily) food. See how God doth make His Signs clear to them; yet see in what ways they are deluded away from the truth! (Sura 5:78)
The Jews call 'Uzair a son of God, and the Christians call Christ the Son of God. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the Unbelievers of old used to say. God's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth! (Sura 9:30)
In fact, they never killed him, they never crucified him — they were made to think that they did. All factions who are disputing in this matter are full of doubt concerning this issue. They possess no knowledge; they only conjecture. For certain, they never killed him. (Sura 4:157)
Just to recap the above, the Koran — Allah, that is — insists:
- Jesus is like Adam, mere man created from dust.
- God is too exalted to have a son.
- Christians are blasphemers for confessing Jesus Christ as Son of God.
- Christians are blasphemers for confessing the Holy Trinity.
- Because Christians are blasphemers, a “grievous penalty” will befall them.
- Christians are “deluded away from truth” when they confess Jesus Christ as Son of God.
- Because Christians are blasphemers and deluded away from the truth, “God’s curse be upon them.”
Oh, and furthermore, Allah claims Jesus was never crucified.
All this condemnation of Christian dogma and calling down curses upon Christians comes forth in supposed direct — word-for-word literal — revelations from the True God.
Now, if Muslims and Christians worship the same God, then Allah = God. Yet Allah explicitly condemns Christian dogma, curses Christians and denies historical fact…
Hmmm...
It is interesting that Allah goes to such lengths to condemn Christian teaching, even denying the historical fact of Jesus’ crucifixion, which was written about not merely by the authors of the gospels and the New Testament letters, but also by 1st century Jewish and Roman historians who drew on non-Christian contemporaneous sources to pen their accounts. This alone should cast doubt on the reliability of the Koran (which gets all sorts of historical facts mixed up and confused).
As seen in the above, Christianity and Islam cannot both be true. The Allah of Islam is directly, and in a specific, vigorous manner, opposed to the Christian God.
Put another way, Allah’s self-revelation through Muhammad reveals him as completely opposed to the True God’s self-revelation through the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
These are not obscure theological points, they are foundational principles in Islamic faith, prayer and practice. The faithful Muslim prays this at least seventeen times a day, thousands of times a year:
...Guide us in the straight path, the path of those whom Thou hast blessed,not of those against whom Thou art wrathful,nor of those who are astray.
Offered as a prayer to “the Master of the Day of Doom,” this first sura of the Koran, called al-Fatihah, ‘The Opening’, refers specifically in these its final two verses to the Christians and the Jews. In traditional Islamic teaching, Islam alone is “the straight path,” whereas:
“The two paths He described here are both misguided,” and that those “two paths are the paths of the Christians and Jews, a fact that the believer should beware of so that he avoids them. The path of the believers is knowledge of the truth and abiding by it. In comparison, the Jews abandoned practicing the religion, while the Christians lost the true knowledge. This is why ‘anger’ descended upon the Jews, while being described as ‘led astray’ is more appropriate of the Christians.” (Classic Koranic commentator Ibn Kathir, Commentary on Koran 1:7, Vol 1, p 87.)
This is the mainstream Islamic view, held to by most Muslim jurists, though not all Muslims realize whom they are condemning when they pray ‘The Opening’. But taken in context with the other Koranic verses cited above, it is clear that in the Islamic view, Jews and Christians alike are under Allah’s judgment and wrath.