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Oum Abdulaziz, Ex-Christian, USA (part 1 of 4): Islam and Christianity
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Description: How she discovered major differences between Islam and Christianity concerning the “nature” of God and the divinity of Jesus.
By Oum Abdulaziz
Published on 23 Jul 2007 - Last modified on 12 Aug 2007
Viewed: 12217 (daily average: 6) - Rating: 4.3 out of 5 - Rated by: 11
Printed: 762 - Emailed: 9 - Commented on: 0
Category: Articles
> Stories of New Muslims
> Women
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I did not become Muslim overnight. In fact, at first,
learning about Islam came quite unexpectedly on my part. I had simply become
acquainted with some Muslims and questioned them wanting to understand
something of their beliefs. I was surprised to discover many similarities
between the teachings of Islam and Christianity. I came to understand that I
could not judge Islam merely from the actions of some “Muslims” I had seen and
heard about. To learn something of the real teachings of Islam, I was going to
have to throw away my prejudices and begin to learn about it open-mindedly.
Unfortunately, I found a great deal of misunderstanding between the Christian
and Muslim communities partly due to biased media coverage on both sides and by
Muslim and Christian individuals who are not living by the standards of good
conduct taught in both these great faiths. Just as the teachings of
Christianity are not always apparent from observing the actions of the “typical
American Christian,” I realized that to understand Islam I was going to have to
look beyond the actions of some Muslim individuals to get to the truth. I was
encouraged by a new friendship with a sincere, amicable Muslim woman. As I
have always enjoyed reading, I went in search of some good books about Islam.
What surprised me most, initially, was that the Muslims
already had some knowledge of the teachings of Christianity because Muslims,
too, love and believe in Jesus Christ, peace be upon him. I learned that the
word “Islam” literally means peace through submission to God by belief in His Oneness
and by obedience to Him. Thus, Islam claimed to be the same religion preached
by all the earlier prophets, in whom Muslims must also believe. These prophets
include Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, John the Baptist, and Jesus
(peace be upon them all), among others. The Quran says:
“And We (God) did not send any Messenger before you but we
inspired him (saying): There is no god but God. None has the right to be
worshipped but I (God). So worship me.” (Quran 21:25)
Islam encourages marriage as a means of sexual chastity
and a means of comfort and happiness in life. A marriage is considered a
contract between a man and a woman with each of the parties having rights and
responsibilities. Upon marriage, a Muslim woman loses neither her family name
nor control of her own property. In fact, I discovered that Islam is not
oppressive to women, as I had previously thought. I learned that for centuries
Muslim women have had rights that most Western women have only obtained in
recent years.
I also learned that the followers of Islam worship God
in ways strikingly similar to the worship described in the Bible. The Muslim
prays daily reciting these words from the Holy Quran:
“In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful; Praise be
to God, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds; Most Gracious, Most
Merciful; Master of the Day of Judgement; Thee (alone) do we worship and Thine
aid we seek; show us the straight way, the way of those on whom thou has
bestowed Thy Grace, those whose portion is not wrath and who go not astray.” (Quran
1:1-7)
Christians are kindly referred to in the Holy Quran as
the People of Scripture or “People of the Book” and are addressed directly.
“Say: O people of the Book! Come to common terms as between us
and you: That we worship none but God; That we associate no partners with Him;
That we erect not from among ourselves lords and patrons other than God.”
(Quran 3:64)
Christians and Jews are also told that their own
scriptures will guide them to the truth of the Quran and Mohammed’s prophethood
(2:146, 5:41-47, 7:157). Obviously, I was going to have to take this
“challenge” and see if my Bible could really vouch for the divine origin of
Islam.
Evidence of the unity and oneness of God as taught in
Islam is found throughout the Bible. In Deuteronomy (32:39) [It] says, “There
is no god beside Me,” and in Isaiah (43:10), “Before Me no god was
formed, nor shall there be any after Me.” In Exodus (8:10), “No one is
like the Lord our God,” and in Jeremiah (10:6-7), “There is none like
unto Thee, O Lord.”
Other verses stating the same can be found in
Deuteronomy (4:35, 4:39, 6:4), Isaiah (45:5, 45:21-22, 46:9), II Samuel (7:22),
I Kings (8:60), I Chronicles (17:20), Psalms (86:8, 89:6, 113:5), Hosea (13:4),
and Zechariah (14:9). When asked, “Which commandment is the first of all?”
Jesus answered, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” (Mark
12:28-29) Even after the ministry of Jesus, Jesus’ apostles understood this
oneness of God. Evidence of this is found throughout the epistles. “God is
One” (Romans 3:30); “There is no God but One” (I Corinthians 8:4); “One God”
(Ephesians 4:6, I Corinthians 8:6, I Timothy 2:5); and Paul writes to James
(2:19), “You believe that God is One: you do well.”
It is over the nature of Jesus (peace be upon him) that
Islam and Christianity really differ. I could agree with the Muslim on
basically every other issue, as I found Islam to be both simple and rational.
That Jesus was the divine Son of God and part of the Trinity is the essential
belief of most Christians. That Jesus was not divine but rather an honored
prophet of God is the essential belief of every Muslim. I knew that I had to
prove to myself (in order to remain a Christian) that the Bible unequivocally
affirms the trinity (i.e. that God is One yet made of three equal and distinct
parts), one of part of the trinity being Jesus, the Son. Yet, when I earnestly
searched, I could find no real base for the trinity in the Bible. I could not
find proof that Jesus or any of the prophets who came before him (peace be upon
them all) taught trinity. They all preached monotheism. And how could it be
that all of the prophets were ignorant of the very basic nature of God and
misguided of the true religion? This could never be! Further investigation
showed that the word “trinity” itself is found nowhere in the Bible. The verse
that for years seemed to give it some justification has been expunged from the
Revised Standard Version and other versions of the Bible because it is not found
in any old texts of the New Testament (i.e. it was added to the Bible much
later). This is the verse found at I John (5:7) in the King James Version: “The
Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.”
According to Christian sources, “Various Trinitarian
concepts exist. But generally the Trinity teaching is that in the Godhead
there are three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; yet, together they are
but one God. The doctrine says that the three are coequal, almighty, and
uncreated, having existed eternally in the Godhead.” (Watchtower) This is the
fundamental doctrine of most churches. Because there is no rational or logical
way to explain the trinity teaching that three can be separate yet equal one (1
+ 1 + 1 = 1)! Most churches say this doctrine is a “mystery,” cannot be proved,
and must be accepted merely on faith. But I began to question how or why I
should accept such a doctrine on faith when it is not explicitly taught in the
Bible. If it was not a Biblical teaching, then whose teaching was it? It seems
that the trinity concept evolved as an explanation of the supposed divinity of
Jesus. So I decided to look further for Bible proofs of Jesus’ divinity.
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