Thoughts on Islam

John 5:23


Dear Friend,


Thank you very much for your correspondence with us concerning the subject of Islam. As Evangelical Christians with a burden to see our neighbors come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, we have studied the essential teachings of the Islamic religion and find Islam to be contradictory to historic Evangelicalism on many crucial points.

Islam is a distinctly non-Christian religion that denies all the essential teachings of the historic Christian faith including the Trinity, the Virgin Birth of Christ, the Deity of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, the subsitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ and every other fundamental tenet of true Christianity. For these reasons we cannot advocate Islam as a viable _expression of true religious observance.

The religion known throughout the world as Islam was founded by a Middle Eastern man named Muhammad (570-632) and is now the religious belief system of over 1.1 billion people throughout the world. Today, Islam is practiced on every continent and country on Earth. The term Islam is Arabic word that means surrender or submission. The term for God in Islam is called Allah (pronounced ah LAH), which means The God. In Islam, a person who submits and is obedient to the will of Allah is called a Muslim. The Islamic Prophet Muhammad was born in A.D. 570 in the Arabic City of Mecca. Adherents of Islam believe that around the year 610 Muhammad began to receive revelations from Allah that were transmitted by the angel Gabriel over a 22-year period in the cities of Mecca and Medina now located in present day Saudi Arabia. Medina is the city where the tomb of Muhammad is currently located. The holy book of Islam is called the Quran (sometimes spelled Koran) and is greatly revered by Muslims worldwide. Muslims also submit to the teachings found in the Hadith, the Sunna, or collection of examples of the Prophet Muhammad’s sayings and acts.

The central ideological theme of Islam centers on their conception of Tawhid, or the absolute Unitarian monotheistic unity of Allah. Muslims deny that there are three distinct persons who share the same essence in the godhead as the historic doctrine of the Trinity affirms and argue for the absolute oneness of their conception of God. Muslims believe that Allah is the name of the one true God and that Allah is the supreme and sovereign Lord of the entire universe, who demands absolute submission and allegiance of humanity. Muslims believe that Allah is the absolute judge and lawgiver in life and death and that all humanity must bow in humble submission to Allah or suffer the consequences of eternal judgement. Muslims deny that Jesus Christ is God the Son, the second person of the eternal Godhead and deny that the Holy Spirit is a distinct person and the third person of the Trinity. Muslims deny that Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of humanity and also deny that the Bible is God’s uniquely inspired revelation, rather, adherent of Islam believe the Bible is a corrupted document and that the Quran is the most perfect revelatory communication from Allah.


In Islamic doctrine, Allah has provided Prophets to humanity for guidance and direction and these Prophets call people to submit to the will of Allah and to the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as found in the Quran and Hadith. Unlike Evangelical Christianity, which teaches that the Bible alone is the Word of God and final authority, Islam has two sources of Authority, the Quran and the Sunna, the body of traditions that preserves the words and conduct of Muhammad. Muslim scholars use there sources to understand the principles of the Sharia (shah REE ah), an Arabic term that essentially means, the way that leads to God.

Muslims recognize four main sources of interpreting the Sharia and attempt to apply it to daily life;

1) The Quran
2) The Sunna
3) Extending reasoning of previous laws to new situations
4) The views of Muslim scholars and jurists.


Muslims believe that Allah has called men to be prophets throughout human history starting with Adam and ending with Muhammad. The Quran mentions 25 prophets by name, Muhammad being the most significant of these divine messengers since he was given the Quran via the process of mechanical dictation through divine revelation. Muslims vehemently deny that Jesus Christ is the unique Son of Almighty God, but delegate Jesus to be amongst the Prophets such as Adam, Abraham, Ishmael, Moses and Muhammad.

There are three main historical divisions in Islam. The vast majority of Muslims are Sunni who follow the traditional and widely held interpretation of Islam. Then there are the Shiites, who believe that Ali, the cousin and son in law of Muhammad and his descendant should be the leaders of the Islamic faith. And finally, the smallest division of Islam are called the Kharijites, or secessionists that broke away from traditional Shiite practice in 657.

The Quran and Hadith call all Muslims to adhere to the Five Pillars of Islam, which are as follows:

1. Shahada-The foundational pillar of the entire Islamic faith and consists of the act of bearing witness that there is “no God but Allah” and that “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.”

2. Prayer- Muslims are required to pray five times a day-just before dawn, at midday, in the midafternoon, just before sunset, and at night.


3. Almsgiving- Muslims are required to assist the poor in the form of a tax on their monetary income called a Zakat, given once a year.

4. Fasting- All Muslims are required to fast in the month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. The Islamic calendar is lunar, so each month follows the phases of the moon and lasts 29 or 30 days. According to the Quran, Muslims are to fast from food, drinking any beverages, smoking and engaging in any sexual activity during the daylight hours. At night they may resume eating, drinking and other normative activities.

5. Pilgrimage-All Muslims, according to the Quran all Muslims must make a Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca at least once in their lifetime.



Islam is a distinctly non-Christian religion, opposed to the historic Christian faith and explicitly denies all the fundamental teachings of Christianity and because of this we cannot advocate Islam and its teachings in anyway. We believe in the Doctrine of the Trinity and that Jesus Christ is the Son of God whom God the Father sent to die on the cross for the sins of the World and rise again from the dead.

We would also like to encourage all non-Christians, that might be reading this, to acknowledge that they have broken God’s holy commandments, to repent of their sins and come to faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead to give eternal life to all that sincerely repent of their sins and place their faith in Him (Luke 13:1-5, John 3:16, 3:36, 14:6, Acts 2:38, Acts 16:31, Acts 17:30, Romans 3:10-12, 20-23, Romans 5:8, Romans 6:23, Romans 10:9-10 and 1 Corinthians 15:1-10).

If we can further assist you in understanding the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the teachings of Biblical Evangelical Christianity, please contact us here.


Evangelical Books on the Subject of Islam


Answering Islam: The Crescent in Light of the Cross by Norman Geisler and Abdul Saleeb

Islamic Invasion by Robert Morey

The Islam Debate, by Josh McDowell with John Gilchrist,



Evangelical Ministries Reaching Out to Muslims

Answering Islam: http://answering-islam.org.uk/
Alpha and Omega Ministries http://www.aomin.org/
Christian Research Institute: http://www.aomin.org/
Ravi Zacharias Ministries: http://www.rzim.org/