World Religions 5: The History of Islam -- A Religion of Peace?

World Religions 5: The History of Islam — A Religion of Peace?

Currently, there are over 2 billion Muslims worldwide. One can say there isn’t a country in the world that doesn’t have some Muslim population. Moreover, Indonesia is the country with the largest percentage of Muslims at over 86% (231 million). How is Islam different from other religions? What do Muslims believe? What is the difference between the Sunnis, Shiites, and the Sufis? How did Islam start? What are the 5 Pillars of Islam? This and more as we continue our look at World Religions…

What is Islam?

First, the word “Islam” means submission. A Muslim is “one who submits”. Here are some other Islamic words and their meanings.

  • Allah — their name for the “god” they worship and honor. Is it the same God as the Jews and Christians? No, and I’ll explain in a bit.
  • Calif — a Muslim ruler
  • Caliphate — a 100% Muslim-ruled government which observes Sharia Law.
  • Fatwa — law
  • Jinn — Genie or spirit. To Muslims, Satan, the devil, is a fallen jinn.
  • Jizya — tax on non-Muslims who live in a Caliphate.
  • Kor’an — the Muslim holy book supposedly written by the prophet Mohammad. Muslims must memorize it all. The word “Kor’an” means “recitation”. Above all, it supersedes the Bible.
  • Mecca — located in Saudi Arabia, it is the birthplace of Mohammad.
  • Muhammad — “Allah’s messenger”
  • The People of the Book — referring to Jews and Christians.
  • Hajj — the pilgrimage Muslims must do to Mecca at least once in their life.
  • Ramadan — the month of fasting and prayer which occurs at the ninth lunar cycle in the Islamic calendar.
  • Isa — The Muslim name for Jesus.
  • Mahdi — the prophesied redeemer of Islam — (not Jesus). Jesus supposedly will come as their Mahdi’s “associate”.
  • Jihad — means “effort”.
  • Infidel — a non-Muslim
  • Taquiyya — It’s OK to lie to non-Muslims (infidels) if it advances Islam. Aka deception.

A Muslim’s goal is to spread Islam throughout the world, make Allah’s word superior and make the infidels’ god inferior — no matter what.

The History of Islam

This video explains the origins of Islam and who is Mohammad…


How Islam Spread

Islam began in 610 AD — 300 years after Constantine. Several historic factors allowed Islam to easily flourish and spread…

  • The Jews were scattered all over the world with the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, and the final Jewish revolt where the Romans wiped them out in 135 AD. In other words, they were not a strong religion.
  • At that time, the Roman Catholic Church ruled not just religion, but the governments of Europe. Paganism infiltrated the church. Additionally, they failed to teach from the Bible — actually withholding the truth from the people.
  • Through all this, what Satan wanted was to be worshiped. Still, it’s his main goal today.

13 For you said to yourself,
    ‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars.
I will preside on the mountain of the gods
    far away in the north.
14 I will climb to the highest heavens
    and be like the Most High.’

Isaiah 14:13-14 NLT

Obviously, Satan, in trying to be worshiped by as many people as possible, devised a new religion.

Islam Spread by Conquering

Islam spread by military force — by the sword of man. In contrast, true Christianity spread by the “Sword of the Spirit”, which is the Word of God — the Bible — the Gospel. (Read the Book of Acts)

What is the Difference between Sunni, Shiite and Sufi Islam?

As it turns out, when Muhammad died, he failed to appoint a successor. Thus, you have 2 main factions, the Sunnis and the Shiites and they really don’t play well together. However, both groups believe that the Mahdi will appear at the end of the world to bring about a perfect and just Islamic society. They also believe that efforts — jihad — will bring about the end of the world. Therefore, it will quicken the coming of the Mahdi — their messiah.

Islamic Populations Around the World

Mixed Countries

  • Lebanon – 34% Christian, 31% Sunni, 31% Shiite
  • Yemen – 1/3 Shiite, 2/3 Sunni and they are constantly at war.

Sunni Muslims

  • The Sunni Muslims are the largest at 85% of the Muslim population.
  • They believe their leader should be elected.
  • Based on written traditions
  • They believe in the Caliphate
  • Majority Sunni Countries
    • Saudi Arabia
    • Syria — ruled by a 74% Sunni majority — as of Dec. 8, 2024. The new ruling party is the “HTS” which has fragments of both Al-Qaida and ISIS extremists.
    • Egypt
    • Jordan
    • Bahrain
    • Turkey — whose president wants to be the Sunni leader — a revived Ottoman Empire. The Muslim Brotherhood has influenced them. They are helping the current Syrian Rebels. (Dec. 8, 2024)
    • Afghanistan, Kuwait, Pakistan, and Qatar
    • Indonesia
    • Somalia
    • Most North African Countries like Morocco, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Mali, and Mauritania.
  • Terrorist Factions – supported by Iran (Shiite). They have one thing in common, they want to see the elimination of the State of Israel (Little Satan) and the U.S. (Big Satan). They are proxies. Iran gets them to fight their war of hate for them.
    • Islamic State – evolved from Al-Qaida in Iraq
    • The Taliban – they have ruled Afghanistan ever since August 2021. They are responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the U.S.
    • Muslim Brotherhood – Egypt and Jordan. It grew into an umbrella organization for Islamist groups in Syria, Sudan, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, and Iraq.
    • Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.
    • Hamas – the elected, ruling party of the Gaza Strip who wants to eliminate Israel and claim “Palestine” for themselves. They have been reduced immensely by Israel.
    • Houthis – Iran’s proxy in Yemen.

Shiite Muslims

  • About 15% of the world’s Muslims are Shiite
  • They believe their leaders are Muhammad’s blood relatives, descendants of Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, the first Imam and the rightful religious and political successor to Muhammad.
  • Imams are sinless and infallible and intercede for Muslims in the afterlife.
  • Majority Shiite Countries
    • Iran
    • Iraq
  • Terrorist Factions
    • Hezbollah – the Iran-backed Shiite defender of Lebanon. As of Dec. 8, 2024, Israel has diminished Hezbollah’s hold on Southern Lebanon.
Israel (in red) and the Muslim countries surrounding it.

Note: I’m not going to get into the current war in Israel here. I have listed many great resources here: Bible Prophecy Links. Nevertheless, I have to share this quote…

“The Israelis are known to love life. We, on the other hand, sacrifice ourselves. We consider our dead to be martyrs. They think any Palestinian desires the most is to be bartered for the sake of Allah defending his land.”

Ali Baraka, Senior Hamas Official, Oct. 8, 2023 (the day after the slaughter of innocents in Israel.) on Russian media

What is Sufi Islam?

This is the mystic body of religion stemming from the Sunni side of Islam…

Practitioners of Sufism are referred to as “Sufis” and historically typically belonged to “orders” seeking the “ultimate truth”. Congregations are formed around a grand wali (Islamic Saint) who would be the last in a chain of successive teachers linking back to Muhammad. Furthermore, their goal is to undergo Taz-iah (self purification) and the hope of reaching Ihsan (perfection). The ultimate aim of Sufis is to seek the pleasure of God by endeavoring to return to their original state of purity and natural disposition, known as fitra. Source

To me, this looks like they were not satisfied with Islam by itself, as it is a nowhere religion. Ultimately, as humans, perfection is impossible to attain. We can never be good enough to get into Heaven!

Paul reminds us of this…

Heaven or Hell
Heaven or Hell? Where YOU spend eternity is YOUR choice!

23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

Romans 3:23 NLT

Nevertheless, God loves each and every human and He doesn’t want us to perish. The Greek work for “perish” is apollia, which means to destroy with an utter destruction consisting of eternal misery in hell. In Hebrew, the word is abad, which means to vanish, be lost, die.

But God gave us an out…

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.”

John 3:16-18 NLT

Ironically, Sufi Islam is extremely similar to Hinduism and Buddhism, both which I’ll cover next.

Is the Islamic god, Allah, the same as the Christian and Jewish God, Yahweh?

In one word — NO. Interestingly enough, right after 9/11, the church I was attending at the time — United Church of Christ — (not knowing any better) held a class on how Muslims, Christians, and Jews all believed in the same God. Yes, Islam is a monotheistic religion, however, there are big differences between their Allah and Yahweh.

  1. The Islamic Allah has no son. We Christians believe that Jesus (Isa in Arabic) is the Son of God, that He died taking our sins away on the cross and He rose again on the 3rd day, defeating death and sin.
  2. Jesus Christ came as a human, yet He was also fully God. For the Muslims, Jesus was just a prophet — another apostle.
  3. The Muslims also believe that Jesus was never crucified, but that Judas replaced Him on the cross.
  4. They believe in God’s promise to Hagar that her son fathered by Abraham, Ishmael, would be a great nation and that his descendants deserve the Promised Land. You can read this in Genesis 21. However, the Promised Land goes to Issac and his 12 sons — which make up the 12 tribes of Israel.
  5. The Kor’an says that Allah is the chief of deception. Sorry, but that title is saved for Satan.

Here’s proof that Hamas, Iran’s terrorist proxy in Gaza, is ruled by Satan and its people are demon possessed…

From the IDF (Israeli Defense Force)…

What we saw there was simply cut up children — a hand, a foot. There’s no words to describe the horrors.

We found a mother and her child in an attic in Kibbutz Be’eri. They were complete burnt, we had to scrape their ashes with a spatula in order to bring them to burial…the bodies of a mother and child, with almost nothing left of them.

The Hamas terrorists stomped and crushed the babies’ heads… it was with initial intent to torture the helpless — that’s what we saw in the nursery. Inside the rubble, inside the cribs, babies thrown in all sorts of places.

From Jerusalem Jane on Telegram

I had to include that. Check out the Pray the Psalms if you want to know how to pray for Israel.

The Islamic Jesus vs the True Biblical Jesus


The Islamization of the World

Normally, when someone immigrates legally into a foreign country, you assimilate into it. For instance, if I were to relocate to Italy, I would learn Italian and live according to their laws. On the other hand, the Muslims, who are immigrating into the U.S. and Europe and they are not assimilating. Their goal is to invade and rule. Their goal is to have all the world under Sharia Law.

The tactics used by Muslims to conquer the world…

  • Media — they publish lies and propaganda making themselves look good or be the weaker party.
  • Schools and Education — permeating schools and universities so they teach everything Islam. Of course this is after the Bible and Christian prayer have been removed. They have groups like Muslim Students Association. There’s an Arabic version of the Pledge of Allegiance being recited in schools with “Allah” replacing God.
  • Music — Muslim hip hop
  • Economic boycotting and taking advantage of a country’s social assistance.
  • Mass demonstrations
  • Law and Government — In the U.S., they want to see our Constitution nullified and Sharia Law put in place. (I’ll get into some details of Sharia Law in a bit.) We also have 2 congresswomen who are Muslim.
  • Invasion by immigration —

By the way, there are rape epidemics are escalating in countries with an increase in immigrant Muslim males.

(U.S.) Border Patrol Arrests Thousands Of Illegals Linked To Terrorism

…The data show a rise of “special interest aliens” from Afghanistan (6,386), Egypt (3,153), Iran (659), Syria (538), Uzbekistan (12,264), Turkey (30,830), Pakistan (1,163), Lebanon (164), Jordan (185), Iraq (123), and Mauritania (15,594).

Feds See 75% Jump In Arrests Of Illegal Aliens On Terror Watchlist

Border patrol encounters with illegal aliens on the watchlist at the southern and northern border jumped from 98 in 2022 to 172 in 2023, CBP’s data for the fiscal year shows. In 2019, there were zero apprehensions at the southern border, versus 98 in 2022 and 169 in 2023.

Feds Warn That Hamas, Hezbollah Could Be Crossing (U.S.) Southern Border

Federal officials are warning that members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Hezbollah could be crossing through the southern border, according to an internal Oct. 20 memo exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

And those are the ones that have been apprehended. We know nothing about the over 23,000 “gotaways” in October alone. That is more than 1000/per day!

“When we become the majority, you will have no choice but to accept sharia law,” promises this Muslim in Canada.

Maps of Israel showing what the Pro-Palestinians want you to believe and the truth.
Maps of Israel showing what the Pro-Palestinians want you to believe and the truth. Source: Amir Tsarfati

What is Sharia Law?

Without going into horrible detail, here are some highlights…

  • A thief will have his or her right hand chopped off.
  • A woman can only have one husband, but a man can have up to 4 wives. And if she commits adultery, she will probably be stoned to death. See the video below…
  • Girls as young a 9 years old can marry and consummate a marriage.
  • A Muslim who leaves Islam, denies Allah or Muhammad shall be put to death.
  • Marrying a non-Muslim carries a death sentence.
  • Women who are raped cannot testify against her rapist(s).
  • Click here for more…

Islamic Invasion of America

Honestly, living in the U.S. border state of Arizona, I’m slightly uncomfortable with the data from those articles. Additionally, we have the World Series here next week. Ironically, the Arizona Diamondbacks are playing the Texas Rangers for the World Series title. Texas — another border state. While I’m thrilled that the D-backs are in the World Series, I’m concerned for the soft targets these games provide any Islamic terrorist who may have entered the U.S. unnoticed.

Besides the Armor of God, we must stay sober and alert! Think about it. When Paul wrote about the Armor of God in the Book of Ephesians, he based it on the Roman soldier’s armor. Back then, they didn’t have high-tech surveillance or night-vision goggles. Undeniably, being alert — being a Watchman or woman on the Wall — requires us not panicking and staying sober. In fact, I heard the best advice from one of the Bible Prophecy teachers…

Vertical focus keeps us from horizontal panic.

Tom Hughes

Paul wrote at the end of the Armor of God advice…

18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

Ephesians 6:18 NLT (emphasis mine)

Peter wrote…

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

1 Peter 5:8 NLT

Jesus said…

16 “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.

Matthew 10:16 NLT

Jesus also warned us about the End Times…

32 “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. 33 And since you don’t know when that time will come, be on guard! Stay alert!

Mark 13:32-33 NLT

Overall, Paul gives the best advice…

For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night. So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk. But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.

For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. 10 Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever. 11 So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:5-11 NLT

Needless to say, that means staying awake and sober!

Furthermore, we are seeing the Gog-Magog War players starting to take the stage…

Gog-Magog War Map
Gog-Magog War Map
Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." John 14:6.

Do YOU KNOW Jesus?

Invite Jesus into Your Heart and Receive the Gift of Grace and the Confident Hope of Eternal Life…

Sources:

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Soli Deo Gloria — To God Alone Be The Glory!

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