An Introduction to Islam

In this insightful article, Dr. Hermiz gives an overview to Islam.  As his family is originally from Turkey, his perspective is very personal.  He discusses the religious and political aspects of Islam, as well a challenge to believers to develop a Biblical attitude towards Islam and Muslims.

My father was born in Turkey and lived there until he was 9 years of age.  He was just 5 years old when the Muslims in that part of the world were on one of their frequent jihads (holy wars).  They were determined to stamp out Christianity in that region of the world.  My grandmother, great grandparents, and many other family members were all born-again Christians.  Many of them were led to the Lord by an American missionary.

 After a bitter battle, my grandmother and 28 other members of our family were martyred by the Muslims for their faith in Christ.  A Muslim soldier picked my father up off the street and began to raise him in a Muslim environment.  When he was 9 years of age, an uncle found him and smuggled him out of the country.  With the assistance of the American Red Cross my uncle put my father on a freighter and sent him across the ocean to the United States, where he was reunited with my grandfather.  My grandfather had escaped to the States when the Muslims put a price on his head because he was defending the Christian villages.

From this brief summary, you can see that our family has had firsthand experience in dealing with Islamic fundamentalists.  Also, over the last 25 years I have had the opportunity to talk with a number of missionaries who are currently ministering to the Muslim people.  Although I do not claim to be an authority on Islam, I have some firsthand knowledge as to their goals and objectives.

It is for this reason that I am deeply concerned about the unbalanced information the public is receiving today about the Islamic religion.  We are receiving distorted information from Islamic leaders, the media, and our own political leaders.  I trust that this article will give you a more balanced and factual perspective on the Islamic religion.

Islam is both a religious and political system.  It has the stated objective of controlling the world.  Currently, Islamic leaders have under their control nearly 1.5 billion people.  Their passion is to convert everyone to Islam and bring the world, by force if necessary, under an Islamic government.

It is a religion based on good works.  One needs to be sure that their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds.  Even if you are not certain where you stand with Allah, it is a guarantee of eternal life if you make certain that your last deed is a good one.  It is for this reason that Muslims will not hesitate to take their own lives if they can kill some infidels in the process.  An infidel is anyone who is not a Muslim.  The Koran specifically refers to Christians and Jews as infidels, and makes it clear that killing an infidel guarantees eternity in heaven.

Over the centuries many Christians like my grandmother and great grandparents have been willing to lay their lives down rather than deny the Lord Jesus Christ.  Muslims are also willing to lay down their lives, but only when in that process they can destroy some infidels.  It is not martyrdom, it is suicide and murder.

We are being told on the evening news that Islam is a religion that promotes peace.  Without question there are many moderate Muslims that do not approve of the events that took place on September 11.  But all you have to do is look around the world at the countries that are controlled by Muslims and look at their history.  It is obvious that whenever Muslims are in control, it is an extremely oppressive society that will not tolerate Jews or Christians practicing their faith.  If Muslims are a peace-loving people, why don’t they release the hundreds of Christians they are currently holding in their prisons simply because they are Christians?

It is estimated that there are 150,000 Muslim fundamentalists in the world, and their number is growing rapidly.  Their concept of peace is to stifle and do away with all non-Muslims.  We are in a battle with a religious and political system that seeks supremacy and absolute control through oppression and force.

At this very moment, Islamic fundamentalists are continuing to massacre Christians in places like The Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malasia, and Pakistan.  In recent years they have murdered more than two million Christians in The Sudan alone.  They intend to murder every Christian who attempts to lead a Muslim to the Lord.  They fully expect to control the world with the blessing of Allah.

The Muslims hate the United States for a variety of reasons, but the two primary reasons are because we are a Christian nation and because of our support of Israel.

I believe that moderate Muslims are going to use the current situation to denounce the terrorist attacks and gain sympathy for the Palestinian Liberation Organization.  With the assistance of our liberal media, they will seek to convince us to back away from our support of Israel.  If we back away from our support of Israel, we will not only have lost the war, we will have lost the blessing and protection of God.  A long time ago God made a covenant with Abraham saying, “I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you.”

The Muslim religion is the fastest growing religion in the world.  It is estimated that there are seven million practicing Muslims in the United States.

In 610 A.D. a man by the name of Mohammed claimed to have revelations from God via the angel Gabriel.  Those revelations were later put in a book called the Koran.  In spite of what you are hearing, the god of the Koran is not Yahweh or Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Their god’s name is Allah and he is a very angry god who encourages his followers to kill infidels who refuse to follow his teachings.

Since 622 A.D. they have raped, maimed, and murdered tens of thousands of Christians and Jews.  Every 15 days, 7,000 Christians are killed somewhere in the world simply because they are Christians.  Most of them are being killed by fundamentalist Muslims.  Muslims are still intent on driving the Jews into the sea and taking over the land that God gave to the Jews many years ago.

What should our attitude be toward the Muslim people?  Jesus taught us to love our enemies.  Therefore, we should not harass them or burn their mosques.  As Christians we should be kind to them.  We should endeavor to reach out to them with a helping hand.   Above all else, we must seek to win them to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Without question, many of them can be and are being reached with the Gospel.  The events of September 11 have given us a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate true Christianity by treating the Muslims who live around us with courtesy and kindness.  We will not win them to Christ by hating them but only by showing them the true love of Jesus that enables us to turn the other cheek and to forgive 70 times seven.

We must pray for our president and his cabinet as they lead us through these difficult days and seek to protect the American people. Without question, it is appropriate and the responsibility of our government to protect this nation from those who would seek to destroy it.  May the events of September 11 be a wake-up call to America that we need revival, and we need it now.

In closing, it is now in vogue for many churches to invite Muslims to their platforms to address their congregations.  This seems to be the politically correct thing to do.  I believe it is a huge mistake.  It legitimizes them and gives them an opportunity to promote their religious views.   May I remind you that theirs is a heretical religious cult that should not have a voice from our platforms.  We can love them and seek to win them to Christ without providing them with a platform to espouse their beliefs.  They need to know that Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except by Me.”  We are not involved in a holy war, but we are certainly involved in spiritual warfare and are battling against the forces of evil.  May God grant us the grace and wisdom we need to rise above the powers of darkness and see a harvest of souls in these last days.