What Are The Foundations Of Islam?

Islamic violence flows directly from the 164 Jihad verses in the Qur’an:

S. 9:5 “Slay the idolaters wherever you see them.”

S. 9:29 “Fight those who believe not in Allah.”

S. 47:4 “When you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks …”

S. 2:216 “Fighting is prescribed for you.”

In the Life of Muhammad by Guillaume, battle narratives include the facts that 600–900 Jews were beheaded (p. 464), Abu Sufyan had to accept Islam or lose his head (p. 547), a female poet was assassinated for being critical of Muhammad (p. 676), Muhammad gave permission for Muslims to tell lies in warfare (p. 367), and mutilations were approved (pp. 322, 387).

Muslims attack the Bible, Christian theology, and the historical foundations of biblical faith. This is done with the understanding that if the Bible is true, the Qur’an and Islam cannot be. The Qur’an challenges the Bible on many key points. It insists that Jesus is not the “Son of God” (S. 4:171), was neither “crucified nor killed” (S. 4:157), maintains that salvation is by “works” (S. 5:9, 42:26), notes that Jesus said “not to worship him” (S. 5:116), and teaches that God is not a Trinity. Sura 4:171 says, “Say not, ‘Three.’ Desist, it is better for you; Allah is only one God; far be it from his glory that he should have a son.”

The ninety-three verses about Jesus in the Qur’an were written approximately 632 years after his earthly lifetime. Simply put, no credible historian would use the Qur’an as reliable testimony for the life of Jesus because the book appeared 600 years after he did. Nevertheless, peculiar stories about Jesus from the Qur’an make their way into pop culture. These include the baby Jesus speaking from the cradle and Jesus creating clay birds that he makes come to life. The Jesus Islam paints never existed.

Notably, the Qur’an says that none can change the words of Allah (S 6:115; 18:27). Yet in Arthur Jeffery’s book Materials for the History of the Text of the Qur’an, approximately 10,000 variations in the early pre-Uthmanic Qur’an codices from Islamic tradition are detailed. One researcher detailed 900 intentional textual variants in the earliest Qur’an manuscripts. There is not one Qur’an appearing within the first 400 years of the religion that lacks textual variants.

Eighty-three different regions worldwide are home to at least a thousand Muslims each who have become Christians. One hundred Christian churches have been planted among them, and over four million former Muslims have become Christians in the last twenty years.

The biggest problem in the world, then, is not radical Islam, but nominal Christianity. The answer to the spread of global Islam is a trained church that loves and compassionately shares Jesus.