Well, as promised, here is the first of many discussions on various religions throughout the world. In this article we will be discussing the Muslim religion. Keep in mind that there are many divisions or sects of the Muslim faith and each have an altered version of the original. Rather than discuss those individually, we will generalize and focus on the larger Muslim faith.
I will mention that it is not my intent to discuss Atheism as a form of spirituality. Atheism is the belief that there is no God or creator of the universe. Instead, they believe we are here because of a complex series of events that brought us into existence. Since that is the extent of their belief system, or lack thereof, no further discussion is required.
First, we need to decide what we believe about God himself. Of course, we can decide this long after the series, but it is very helpful to have a few starting points that help us to focus on or compare varying belief systems. In order to do this, we need to ask ourselves some very basic questions. Is there only one God or are there many? Is God concerned with our individual lives and with our fate after death? Do we resemble God in any way (spiritually speaking)? Is God a loving deity or is he a heavy-handed authoritarian? Does God expect anything from us? How do the different religions explain the reason for sin or evil in the world and why it continues in spite of their being a God? Is God capable of anything even beyond that which we can imagine? With these questions in mind, lets continue our discussion on the Muslim faith.
The Muslim faith began when an angel, Gabriel, gave revelation to a man named Muhammad in the year 610 A.D. when he was 40 years of age. This is a bit unusual for a man during his time period because the nature of religion at the time was polytheistic. Muhammad lived in Mecca in Saudi Arabia where there was a major trade route stopping point. The travelling caravans would rest and bring wealth into the community. The town also had a religious structure called the Ka’bah that was believed to contain 360 deities. The different tribes of Saudi Arabia had chosen their own deity and would travel to Mecca annually to pay homage to it. So, when Muhammad began to preach about a single God, there was trouble. After fleeing and warring, Muhammad was able to return to Mecca and the Muslim faith began to flourish. This faith uses the Qur’an as its source of divine wisdom and was probably written by Muhammad’s companions during his lifetime. There are many prophets or people recognized in the Christian and Jewish faith that are also recognized by Muslims. For instance, it is believed Adam (from Christian creation) was the first prophet and that he was followed by Abraham, Noah, Moses, David, Solomon, Jonah, John the Baptist and Jesus. They believe that four of the most important prophets were given divine revelation. Moses was given the Tawrat (Torah), David the Zabur (Psalms), Jesus the Injil (Gospel) and Muhammad the Qur’an. So you can see similarities between the Muslim, Jewish and Christian faith here. But that is where it ends. For example, the Qur’an offers little in historic fact or setting. Instead the stories told are strictly for moral guidance with little or no connection to actual events in history. Also, Muslims seem to contradict themselves in that their faith includes the books listed above (also in the Christian Bible and part in the Jewish Torah) but also insist that only the Qur’an is trustworthy and uncorrupted. Their belief, the doctrine of tahrif, that the early texts of the Bible were corrupted by the Jews and Christians. There does not seem to be any offer of proof for this accusation and it would certainly seem unreasonable to think that so many Jews and Christians would agree on these changes. But more importantly with the discovery of well preserved and extremely (95%) accurate documents, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls and thousands of other Greek manuscripts dating from the second century and later, this accusation of corruption is unfounded. In fact, these discovered texts date back long before the forming of the Muslim faith and yet are still amazingly accurate with today’s Bible.
So how does the Muslim faith answer some of the questions posed earlier?
1. Is there only one God or are there many?
a. The Muslim face explicitly states there is only one God (Allah). They strongly disagree and consider it blasphemy to say that God (Allah) is a part of a Trinity as held by the Christian faith.
2. Is God concerned with our individual lives and with our fate after death?
a. According to the Muslim faith, God (Allah) allows us entry into heaven upon our death and after judgment if our good deeds outnumber our bad ones. This is very subjective as one would need to define with great specificity what is deemed good or bad. So no Muslim really is sure of their eternal fate.
3. Do we resemble God in any way (spiritually speaking)?
a. No. According to the Muslim faith, God (Allah) has 99 attributes most of which cannot be comprehended by our limited mental capacity. Therefore he is mostly unknowable and therefore unlike us.
4. Is God a loving deity or is he a heavy-handed authoritarian?
a. This differs with the varying Muslim faiths but there is a common theme that though we have free will, we also have a predetermined destiny decided by God (Allah). This could lead one to believe that your efforts are for naught if your fate is pre-determined. This isn’t true free-will if our destinies are unaffected by our decisions and actions.
5. Does God expect anything from us?
a. Yes. God (Allah) expects a good Muslim to have led a moral and righteous enough life to gain entry into his presence upon Judgment.
6. How do the different religions explain the reason for sin or evil in the world and why it continues in spite of their being a God?
a. There is evil because Man is unrepentant.
7. Is God capable of anything even beyond that which we can imagine?
a. His existence is beyond our understanding and his nature perfect and good in all ways which are also beyond our true understanding. We do not have the mental ability to understand him and yet he is capable of all that is beyond our thinking.
In conclusion, the Muslim faith has some commonalities with the other two dominating world religions but it also has contradictions and little historical basis for verification. Also, God (Allah) has a determining factor in your fate. So is it reasonable to view this unknowable God as a deity that picks and chooses those that will join him in heaven or does he want us all to join him if we repent? If our fate and destiny is already set out then our deeds will have little consequence and therefore we have no real hope. This religion is truly a faith based journey.
References:
Halverson, Dean. The Illustrated Guide to World Religions. Bloomington: Bethany House Publishers, 2003
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