A Brief Summary of Islam, Part 6

A Brief Summary of Islam, Part 6
Monday, March 18, 2024 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Apologetics / Contemporary issues / The church / Thought for Today / Truth telling

How are Jews and Christians to be treated and dealt with by Muslims? Since both Judaism and Christianity are false religions, that is not an idle question.

There are a few Suras in the Quran that state that other “Peoples of the Book”, meaning Jews and Christians, are to be treated with respect. A couple footnotes disclose that Islam, by purpose and design, treats other religions with respect. Islamic apologists will tend to go straight to those Suras.

Unfortunately, there are many other Suras that state or imply something quite different. Far more Suras declare that both groups are hopelessly and eternally lost, due to their own religious choices in rejecting Islam. There are even a couple of Suras that compare recalcitrant nonbelievers, to unreasoning apes (admittedly, the Bible mentions something similar, but does so in regards to false teachers).

The Quran admits that there are at least a few genuine Jews and Christians—a couple Suras also say that in some respects Christianity is closer to Islam than Judaism. These individuals are described as those who generally follow the life-style and regular practices of Islam, especially in terms of regular prayers, alms giving, and a belief in the final Day of Judgment. Most Christians and Jews, however, do not do those things. Most are apostate.

The sense I got was that both groups can be allowed to live in peace with, or more precisely under, Islam, if they acknowledge the total supremacy of Islam, pay an ongoing fine for not being Muslim, and submit to total Islamic control. Muslims are admonished not to make friends with either Christians or Jews, as involvement with anyone from either group would potentially lead one astray. As we’ve seen, as recalcitrant non-believers, a Muslim is not to pray for them, and their destiny is eternal Hell.

However, if Christians or Jews do anything to counter Islam, if they fight, or arguably hinder, Islam in any way, trouble and even open warfare, if under a righteous declared jihad, may ensue. Arguably any proclamation that counters Islam could be seen as active resistance, and even blasphemous, especially when it comes to a Christian’s declaration of Jesus’s identity as being both fully God and fully man.

Whenever there is active resistance, the two groups must be forcefully opposed. What constitutes active opposition is not laid out. Open warfare—and this applies to any group, not just Jews and Christians—and active resistance are mentioned. But to me, I’d think anything resembling Christian evangelism might qualify as active resistance.

On the other hand, there are Suras that say that if others want to truly live in peace with Muslims, peace is to be maintained. The trouble is, as just stated, what constitutes a non-Muslim’s submission to Islam, and at what point does potential active resistance to Islam begin?

As we’ve already seen, the Quran confines both groups to eternal Hell. Both groups have corrupted the truth of the original true religion: Islam. Both groups are hopelessly lost, have nothing good in store for them, and by extension can’t really expect anything good in this life either, although the Quran does mention an exception: sometimes God will bless groups He is about to destroy in order to make their destruction worse.

What conclusions can we draw? We will turn to that question in the final entry of this series.

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