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Myths About Islam
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John Henry
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Oct 20, 2006 08:02 PDT
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10 Myths About Islam
- Myth #10
4th Edition
By Timothy W. Dunkin
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Myth #10
Islam is a Religion Which Can Give Eternal Salvation
Perhaps the most important question of
all, then, is this: Does Islam offer a true hope of heaven to its
followers? Can following the teachings of Mohammed save a person's soul?
Are the over one billion Muslims in the world following "another
way" to God, or are they treading a false path leading only to hell?
Islam - A Way to
Heaven?
Islam cannot save a person. How could it? The reasonable question to ask
is: Why would God be impressed with the works or rituals which man does?
Why would we think that the pitiful offerings which we can give to God
would be enough to earn us a spot in heaven? The short and simple answer
to this is that our works cannot get us into heaven. However, this is
what Islam essentially teaches. Like every other religion on earth aside
from Bible Christianity, Islam teaches that certain actions and rituals
are needed before a person can gain entry into heaven.
Essentially, Islamic soteriological doctrine (doctrine of salvation) says
that to be accepted of Allah, a person needs to at least try to fulfill
five certain pillars of the Islamic faith.
1. Declaring and believing the Shahada or Creed: A person must
declare "Ashhadu Alla Ilaha Illa Allah Wa Ashhadu Anna Muhammad
Rasulu Allah", which is to say, "There is no god but Allah,
and Mohammed is the messenger of Allah." This is perhaps THE bedrock
belief in Islam. Without reciting this, a person is not considered to be
a Muslim, and is still a kafir (an unbeliever). This creed will
often be repeated by Muslims constantly.
2. Observing daily prayers (Salat) and attending the Friday
public services. Prayer is a ritual very important to devout Muslims, who
will face toward Mecca and prostrate themselves and recite prayers to
Allah fives times in a day: upon rising in the morning, noon,
mid-afternoon, sunset, and before retiring for the night. The prayers, as
founded on the ahadith, are very mechanical in their procedure, being
prescribed to be performed a certain way. Devout Muslims will attend
Friday worship services in a mosque.
3. Fasting during Ramadan. Ramadan is considered a holy month to
Muslims, and for the entire month, the practice is to abstain from all
pleasures during the period between sunrise and sunset. During the day,
devout Muslims will not eat, drink, smoke, or engage in sexual
activities. The concept behind the Ramadan fast is for Muslims to develop
self-control, devote themselves to Allah, and learn to identify with the
less fortunate.
4. The giving of alms (Zakat). Muslims are required to give
one-fourtieth (2.5%) of their wealth to the needy and less-fortunate.
This originally was voluntary, but has evolved over time into a religious
obligation. Sometimes, the zakat as an obligation is distinguished
from purely voluntary giving, known as sadaqah.
5. The pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj). At least once in their
lifetime, devout Muslims are required to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, if
it within their financial and physical capabilities. This ritual is
considered very necessary for the gaining of salvation in Islam, and
ignoring it is considered a very serious sin, a form of rebellion against
Allah. At Mecca, Muslims will engage in a prescribed set of rituals and
ceremonies centered about the Kaabah, a large shrine in Mecca
which was introduced into Islam as its sacred shrine sometime in the 8th
century, and which was initially a site of lunar worship in the Mecca
area in pre-Islamic times.
To this list of five pillars, many Muslims add jihad as a sixth pillar.
It has been shown above that there is definite Quranic and hadithic
support for the notion that Mohammed taught salvation through martyrdom
in holy war. Further, the general trend in Muslim jurisprudence
throughout the Islamic period has been that jihad is a necessary and
violent act carried out against infidels to bring them under the
domination of Islam. The place of jihad can be seen in the importance
attached by many Muslims to shaheed, martyrdom which occurs while
fighting for Islam or because of one's Islamic faith. The added benefit
of multitudes of perpetually regenerating virgins in Paradise has,
obviously, also served to increase the vigour with which young Muslim men
have devoted themselves to this aspect of
Islam1.
How Everyone - Muslim or
Otherwise - Can Receive Eternal Life
A devout Muslim certainly will be kept very busy in their religious life!
Can this help to save them, though?
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of
the Holy Ghost." (Titus 3:5)
It is not the works which man does that can save him, but rather it
is of the grace and mercy of God who sent His Son Jesus Christ to die and
shed His blood for us, and who rose again. Only by faith in Him can we be
saved, and this after He calls us and gives us the conviction to
recognise that we are sinners in need of salvation. Repentance, that
change of attitude and heart towards our sin, must be had before we are
in a position to come to God for salvation. If we refuse to accept that
we are sinners who cannot provide our own way to God, then we cannot be
saved nor enter the kingdom of God. There is nothing; no ritual, no
ceremony, no pilgrimage, which human beings can perform and earn a spot
in heaven. "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our
iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64:6) See,
the Bible tells us that our efforts at producing our own righteousness
are unworthy and flawed. Because of our sin, we are unclean things in the
sight of God, and our works and rituals are worthless and filthy.
This applies to all of us, too. "As it is written, There is none
righteous, no, not one....For all have sinned and come short of the glory
of God." (Romans 3:10,23) Mohammed, as we saw, was a sinner. The
Qur'an says as much. "Lo! We have given thee (O Muhammad) a signal
victory, That Allah may forgive thee of thy sin that which is past and
that which is to come, and may perfect His favour unto thee, and may
guide thee on a right path." (Surah 48:1-2, Pickthal translation)
Further, in Surah 40:55, "Then have patience (O Muhammad). Lo! the
promise of Allah is true. And ask forgiveness of thy sin, and hymn the
praise of thy Lord at fall of night and in the early hours."
(Pickthal translation) Mohammed himself recognised that he was a sinner
in need of forgiveness.
So, if all mankind are sinners, and works, rituals, and the like cannot
save them, what can? As stated above, the only way to salvation is by
faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour, repenting of your sins and trusting Him
to wash your sins away through His own blood which was shed to forgive
sin. "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6) Salvation is
only through the Lord Jesus Christ. No works can replace this.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the
sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a
robber.....I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be
saved..." (John 10:1,9) Jesus, the sinless man presented both in the
Bible and the Qur'an who would not lie, said that He was the way to enter
into heaven. If you are trying to get in by keeping the rules and
regulations of Islam, you are trying to climb up some another way, and
will not be able to successfully enter in. "But God commendeth his
love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us." (Romans 5:8) This is the love of God. We, who are sinners by
nature and by practice, and who deserve the wrath of God by burning in
hell for eternity, are freely given the opportunity to escape that fate,
without work on our part, and without it costing us a thing. "For by
grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: It is the
gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians
2:8-9) Salvation is by grace, through faith, His gift to us. We don't
need to work, we only need to believe and trust in Him for our salvation.
Doing good works and living a moral life cannot save. In fact, human
beings are not even ABLE to live a truly moral life unless they have the
Spirit of God residing in them, whom we receive upon trusting Christ to
salvation. Think about it. No matter how moral you may appear to other
people, you know that there is some sin which you have in your life which
will condemn you to hell. Why try to strive to earn a salvation which
cannot be earned? Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28) Lay the
heavy burden of your sins and guilt at His feet, and take Him as your
Saviour, and be saved!
End
Notes
(1) - Interestingly, a recent work by the pseudonymous Christoph
Luxenberg, Die Syro-Aramaische Lesart des
Koran, published to date only in Germany and
unfortunately not yet available for wider consumption, casts doubt on
this Quranic promise of perpetual young doe-eyed virgins. His reanalysis
of many Quranic passages which have historically mystified even Arab
Muslim commentators suggests that these passages are more coherent and
better understood if they are approached from the vantage point of having
originated in Syriac and then been transferred into Arabic, with the
corresponding problems in misunderstanding that can arise from
translation. One such possible alternative meaning has to do with this
Quranic promise of virgins. Luxenberg suggests that the original
Qur'an document may not have been promising
"virgins" of "doe eyes", but rather
"raisins" of "crystal clarity".
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