With Israel and Shi’ite Iran back in the headlines, it is important for us to understand the religious and spiritual undercurrents of these global events. In many ways, this is a theological battle. Though the religion of Islam has many qualities similar to Judaism and Christianity, it has set itself in exact opposition to them in many defined ways. Here is a short map of some of the conflicts.  

1. Muhammad as Allah’s Prophet. 

The [shahada] is the convert’s prayer to Islam. It is elegantly simple but expansive in its implications. It translates like this: “There is no God but God, and Muhammad is his prophet.” You can already see in this prayer that belief in God is fused to loyalty to Muhammad (sura 4:80; 57:7; 15; 8:1,13,20,46; 9:29). Indeed, the Quran and Life of Muhammad [Sunna] are, together, the foundation of Islamic law and way of life. You cannot understand the Quran without interpreting it through the life of its prophet. You cannot be a good Muslim without adhering to the way set by Muhammad. Immediately, we run into three snares:

1. It is precisely this fusion with the life of a 7th-century Arab that has made modernization so difficult for Muslim nations in the 19th through 21st centuries. In one sense, we could say it is as though they are still emulating the minute behaviors of a 7th-century Arab.
2. Muhammad’s life and sayings reflect his deep quarrels and animosity with Jewish tribes in Medina. This history, encoded into Islamic texts and practice, still conveys a great deal of animosity towards Jewish people today.
3. Muhammad’s personal leadership employed violence and conquest to advance his Islamic law.

We will come back to the antisemitism in a few moments. First, let’s discuss the precedent of Muhammad’s revelation (Qur’an) and the life example (Sunna) that was set for Islamic law. 

2. Islam means “Submission.”

Islam sees it as the duty of every person on earth to submit. As everything was created by [Allah], he demands total obedience. As Islam is an encompassing belief system that doesn’t separate religion, politics, or civic life, submission to God’s commands encompasses everything from inheritance rights, prayer, government taxation, how you dress, etc. The core of Islam’s structure is the law. In sura 3:32-33, the Muslim is commanded to “Obey Allah and his messenger.” The ultimate dream of Islam is to spread Islamic law [Sharia] over all the earth. This decisively differs from the Jewish/Christian concern with morals and ethics and is more focused on the governing structures that reflect the prophet Muhammad’s revelations. 

3. The House of Islam versus the House of War 

Islam separates the world into those lands, territories, and peoples who are under Islamic law and those who are not. Those under the “House of Islam” [dar al Islam] are considered submitted. Those who are not under Islamic law [dar al harb] are in a state of war with Islam and have yet to be conquered by Islam. Muhammad advocated using force to expand his Islamic law and ensure no one de-converted. 

• “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the last day, nor hold that forbidden which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth, from among the People of the Book [Jews and Christians], until they pay compensation with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued” (sura 9:29). 
• Muhammad said, “I have been ordered to wage war against mankind until they accept that there is no god but Allah and that they believe I am His prophet and accept all revelations spoken through me. When they do these things, I will protect their lives and property unless otherwise justified by Islamic law, in which case their fate lies in Allah’s hands” (M001,0031).
• “Believe in Allah and His messenger and fight valiantly for Allah’s cause [jihad] with both your wealth and your lives. It would be better for you if you only knew it” (sura 61:11).
• There was also a provision to kill those who leave the faith of Islam: “If they desert you, seize them and put them to death wherever you find them” (sura 4:89; also B9,83,17).

Indeed, the Arabian peninsula was subjugated by militant forces largely within Muhammad’s lifetime. After Muhammad’s death, entire tribes were massacred for trying to leave Islam during the Ridda Wars (Wars of Apostasy). For hundreds of years, imperial conquest continued to spread Islam, even to absorb parts of the vast empires of the Persian East and the Byzantine West. The conquered peoples were met with four options: 1. Flee, 2. Convert, 3. Die 4. Pay the [jiza] tax, the privilege of being kept alive but remaining inferior and quiet among the Muslim community.

4. The Modern State of Israel

I told you we’d return to this thorny subject of Islam’s antisemitism. The modern State of Israel is a black-eye to the face of Islam’s honor: first, because it was land conquered by Islam that once belonged to [dar al Islam] but has been lost and stolen by the infidels. The second reason it is a black-eye is because Israel is 75% Jewish. It is precisely racial discrimination that makes Iran and many Muslims around the world hate Israel all the more. The Qur’an has many negative things to say about Jews: 

• It says that Allah transformed the disobedient Jews into apes and pigs (2:63-65; 5:59-60; 7:166).
• They are people “who will listen to any lie” (5:41).
• “And thou wilt find them greediest of mankind for life and [greedier] than the idolaters [the Jews]” (2:96).
• The Jews “strive to do mischief on earth.” The punishment is specified later: “They will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land” (5:33).
• “Strongest among men in enmity to the believers wilt thou find the Jews…” (5:82).
• Muhammad said, “The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews” (Sahih Muslim 6985).

If these statements are disturbing, they should be. These extracts are a fragment of the number of negative statements made by the Qur’an or the prophet Muhammed. Antisemitism is baked into the cake of their religion. 

5. Iran and Shi’ite Islam

What makes Shi’ite-controlled Iran so dangerous is the extent to which they’d be willing to war against [dar al harb], especially the Jew (but not excluding the “Great Satan,” United States). Their murderous interpretation of Islam would render it glorious to them if they became an entire nation of Jihadist fighters, sacrificed for the cause of destroying Allah’s enemies. That nuclear war would come at a terribly high cost in human lives. 

Applications

The God of Muhammad is avowedly not the God of the Jews or Christians. And the designs and desires of Muhammad’s God are strikingly antagonistic to Yahweh’s designs. As Jesus himself expressed his plans: “the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). God sent his own Son into the world as a sacrifice for our sins. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” How vastly different these beliefs about God are. That truth is captured succinctly by two brothers who have converted from Islam to Christianity, 

“The greatest difference between Jesus Christ as God and Savior and Muhammad as prophet of Allah comes at this point. Jesus Christ shed His own blood on the cross so that people could come to God. Muhammad shed other people’s blood so that his constituents could have political power throughout the Arabian Peninsula” (Caner, Unveiling Islam, 48). 

As we finish with a few application points, let me be clear about a few things. I’m not advocating that we live in fear of Muslims, nor am I accusing all Muslims of being violent. My wife and I know and work alongside very dear people who consider themselves Muslim. I don’t think they fully understand or practice their own faith, for which I am grateful. Again, being Muslim is a cultural way of life for many. Yet, the closer people get to Muhammad and his theology, the more radicalized they tend to become. And there’s no way of looking at the political headlines without understanding the theological warfare taking place. Iran wants to annihilate Israel and has stated that they will use nuclear weapons to do so. Israel will do everything to stop this threat.

As Christians, our mission has not changed. 

1. We have been sent to make disciples of all nations. Jesus’ kingdom is spiritual, not politically insinuating. 
2. He calls us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. We should be praying for the salvation of both our Jewish and Muslim friends and for the Jewish nation and Muslim nations, including Iran.
3. We should be communicating Christ’s sacrificial love to them with our words and deeds.
4. We should also be aware of the theological warfare, the war for the truth, that is taking place underneath the political headlines. 

Islam is an anti-Christ kingdom designed to destroy God’s people and destroy God’s redemptive plans in the earth. The Jewish nation, though still unbelieving in their Messiah, is integral to God’s plans for the salvation of the nations. God forewarns of the antagonism against Israel and Jerusalem in days to come but promises to defend his city and his people, 

“I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding people reeling. Judah will be besieged, as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves” (Zechariah 12:3). 

As always, dear friends, these matters require discretion, discernment, compassion, wisdom, and nuance. Jesus’ words come forcefully in these socially and politically complicated issues: “Be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” Love Jesus and love people. Pray! And be cunningly aware of the theological warfare at the center of God’s plans to redeem all nations for himself. 

Tags: history, war, israel, religion, islam, muslim, jews, violence, middle east, iran, allah, muhammed