A Christian View on Islam

"The Five Pillars of Islam

The five pillars of Islam constitute the most basic tenets of the religion. They are:

Faith (iman) in the oneness of Allah and the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad (indicated by the declaration [the Shahadah] that, “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”).

Keeping of the five scheduled daily prayers (salah).

Almsgiving (zakat).

Fasting (sawm).

Pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca for those who are able.

The five pillars in and of themselves do not tell us a lot about the faith or what a Muslim is supposed to believe or how he should act. The second through fifth pillars — prayer, almsgiving, fasting, pilgrimage — are aspects shared by many religions. The finality of the prophethood of Muhammad, however, is unique to Islam. To understand Islam and what it means to be a Muslim, we must come to understand Muhammad as well as the revelations given through him by Allah, which make up the Quran."

(Source: Robert Spencer, Jihadwatch)

Zuerst muss der gläubige Moslem also verkünden: "Es gibt keinen Gott außer Allah und Mohammed ist sein Prophet."

"Allah" ist hierbei das arabische Wort für Gott.

Dies wendet sich auch gegen Christen, die sich zum dreifaltigen Gott bekennen. Das jedoch ist für Moslems Gotteslästerung. Die Dreifaltigkeit wird im Koran in der Sure 4,171-172 verurteilt.

In der Sure 5,115-116 lehrt der Koran, Christen würden glauben, dass sowohl Jesus UND MARIA Teil der Dreifaltigkeit seien. Dies ist eindeutig falsch.

Woher also hatte Mohammed diese irrige Vorstellung, Maria sei ein Teil der Dreifaltigkeit?

Waraqa ibn Naufal, der Cousin seiner Frau, war ein Nestorianer. Diese häretische christliche Gruppierung lehnte die Bezeichnung "Mutter Gottes" für Maria ab. Sie behaupteten, dass diejenigen, die Maria so nennen, sie Gott gleichstellen würden.

Der nestorianische Verwandte Mohammeds gab ihm einige falsche religiöse Ratschläge.

Moslems glauben, Jesus sei ein großer Prophet gewesen, der den Weg für Mohammed bereitet hätte, dem letzten und größten der wahren Propheten Gottes. Moslems glauben aber NICHT, dass Jesus Gott ist. Für sie ist es Gotteslästerung, wenn Christen Jesus als Gott anbeten.

Um Moslem zu werden, rezitiert ein Mensch die erste Säule als Glaubensbekenntnis - so in etwa wie ein Katholik das nizzäanische Glaubensbekenntnis rezitiert, wenn er in die Katholische Kirche eintritt.

Moslems lehnen weiterhin jegliches Studium und jegliche Spekulation des Wesens Gottes ab. Sie glauben auch nicht, dass Gott unser Vater sei und dass wir als Sein Ebenbild erschaffen wurden. Für sie ist es Gotteslästerung, wenn man glaubt, man sei ein Kind Gottes.

Die zweite Säule ist das tägliche Gebet.

Moslems müssen täglich fünf Mal zu festgesetzten Zeiten beten. Diese Gebete werden von rituellen Waschungen begleitet. In diesen Gebeten preisen sie Gott, danken ihm und tragen ihre Bedürfnisse vor.

Hierbei haben nur Gebete auf Arabisch Gültigkeit. Moslems lernen alle ihre Gebete auf Arabisch auswendig und rezitieren sie dann auch in dieser Sprache, sogar wenn sie sonst kein Wort Arabisch beherrschen. Für viele hat das arabische Gebet eine große Bedeutung.

Christen stimmen mit Moslems darin überein, wenn es um die Notwendigkeit des täglichen Gebets geht. Da Moslems aber eine Reflektion und ein Nachdenken über Glaubensfragen verboten ist, werden ihre Gebete zur Routine. Höhere Formen des Gebets wie Meditation oder Kontemplation sind im Islam selten.

Die dritte Säule ist das Geben von Almosen.

Der Islam betont die Notwendigkeit der Wohltätigkeit den Armen gegenüber. Dies reinige das Herz desjenigen, der gibt. Auch diesen Glauben haben Christen und Moslems gemeinsam. Der Unterschied: Moslems helfen vor allem anderen Moslems, während Christen Hilfsbedürftigen allgemein geben.

Die vierte Säule ist das Fasten.

Moslems glauben an die Notwendigkeit des Fastens. Dies aus ähnlichen Gründen wie die Christen: Um Körper und Geist zu disziplinieren, Versuchung zu widerstehen und die schweren Erfordernisse ihrer Religion zu erfüllen.

Moslems glauben außerdem, Fasten würde Mitleid für die Armen wecken.

Im muslimischen Kalender gibt es einen Monat namens Ramadam, der jedes Jahr zu unterschiedlichen Zeiten auftritt. Er erinnert an die Zeit, als Mohammed seine ersten Offenbarungen erhielt. Weiterhin erinnert er an die historische Emigration (Hijra) von Mekka nach Medina im Jahr 622. Im Monat Ramadam müssen Moslems vom Sonnenaufgang bis zum Sonnenuntergang auf jegliches Essen, Trinken, Rauchen und eheliche Beziehungen verzichten.

Die Bibel lehrt die Macht des Fastens, wenn es in Verbindung mit dem Gebet vollzogen wird. Leider bedeutet diese Praxis vielen Christinnen und Christen heutzutage nicht mehr viel.

Als fünfte Säule müssen Moslems eine Wallfahrt antreten.

Wenigstens einmal im Leben muss ein Moslem die Wallfahrt nach Mekka machen (sowohl Mekka als auch Medina sind in Saudi Arabien). Ausnahme: Unmöglichkeit aus finanziellen oder körperlichen Gründen.

Quelle: "Beginning Apologetics 9. How to Answer Muslims." Father Frank Chacon and Jim Burnham. San Juan Catholic Seminars.

What Is Salah?

Salah (or salat) is one of the Five Pillars of Islam.

While the Arabic term salah is often translated simply as “prayer,” it usually refers to Islam’s mandatory forms of ritual worship, consisting of prescribed recitations (in Arabic) along with specified bodily positions (standing, bowing, prostrating, and sitting). Before praying, a Muslim must perform ablution (ceremonial washing). Muslims are required to pray facing the Ka’ba in Mecca, and women must position themselves behind men (although it is recommended that women stay at home during prayer).

The Qur’an mentions only three daily prayers:

Qur’an 11:114—And keep up prayer in the two parts of the day and in the first hours of the night; surely good deeds take away evil deeds; this is a reminder to the mindful.

Qur’an 17:78-79—Establish regular prayers—at the sun’s decline till the darkness of the night, and the morning prayer and reading: for the prayer and reading in the morning carry their testimony. And pray in the small watches of the morning: (it would be) an additional prayer (or spiritual profit) for thee: soon will thy Lord raise thee to a Station of Praise and Glory!

Qur’an 24:58—O you who believe! let those whom your right hands possess and those of you who have not attained to puberty ask permission of you three times; before the morning prayer, and when you put off your clothes at midday in summer, and after the prayer of the nightfall; these are three times of privacy for you.

However, in the Hadith, Muhammad requires his followers to perform five daily prayers (suggesting, perhaps, that Muslim prayer practices were modified sometime between the compilation of the Qur’an and the compilation of various Hadith collections more than a century later):

Sahih al-Bukhari 528—Narrated Abu Hurairah: I heard Allah’s Messenger saying, “If there was a river at the door of anyone of you and he took a bath in it five times a day, would you notice any dirt on him?” They said, “Not a trace of dirt would be left.” The Prophet added, “That is the example of the five (daily compulsory) Salat (prayers) with which Allah blots out (annuls) evil deeds.”

The prescribed times of the five daily prayers are:

Fajr—near dawn.

Zuhr—just after midday.

Asr—late afternoon.

Maghrib—just after sunset.

Isha—after dark.

According to Muhammad, prayer is disrupted or annulled by the passing of a dog, a woman, or a donkey:

Jami At-Tirmidhi 338—Abu Dharr said that Allah’s Messenger said: “When a man performs Salat, and there is nothing in front of him like the post of a saddle, or a camel saddle, then his Salat is severed by (passing of) a black dog, a woman, and a donkey.” It was said to Abu Dharr: “What is the problem with the black dog rather than the red or white one?” He said: “O my nephew! I asked Allah’s Messenger just as you have asked me. He said: ‘The black dog is a Shaitan (devil).’”

Interestingly, the Qur’an declares that Allah prays and worships:

Qur’an 33:43—He [i.e., Allah] it is who prays for you and His angels too, to bring you forth out of the darkness into the light, for He is merciful to the believers.

Qur’an 33:56—Verily, God and His angels pray for the prophet. O ye who believe! pray for him and salute him with a salutation!

(Note: Muslim translators often mistranslate these verses in order to conceal the fact that Allah prays. However, both verses say that Allah performs salah. For more on Allah’s prayers, see Sam Shamoun’s “Islam and the Prayers of Allah.”)

(Source: http://www.answeringmuslims.com/2013/02/what-is-salah.html)

What Is Zakat?

Zakat (“that which purifies”) is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. It refers to alms-giving, which is obligatory for all Muslims who meet a minimum wealth requirement (called the nisab). Zakat is distinguished from sadaqat (voluntary contributions made by Muslims) and from jizyah (tribute money paid by subjugated non-Muslims).

Muslims are required to give 1/40 of the monetary wealth (exceeding the nisab) they have held for an entire year. They are also required to give various percentages of agricultural products, livestock, and other goods.

Alms are to be distributed to specific groups according to the Qur’an:

Qur’an 9:60—The alms are only for the poor and the needy, and those who collect them, and those whose hearts are to be reconciled, and to free the captives and the debtors, and for the cause of Allah, and (for) the wayfarer; a duty imposed by Allah. Allah is Knower, Wise.

“Those whose hearts are to be reconciled” (al-Mu’allafatu Qulubuhum) refers to non-Muslims or to weak believers, to whom money is given in order to draw them to Islam. Ibn Kathir comments:

There are several types of Al-Mu'allafatu Qulubuhum. There are those who are given alms to embrace Islam. For instance, the Prophet of Allah gave something to Safwan bin Umayyah from the war spoils of Hunayn, even though he attended it while a Mushrik [idolater]. Safwan said, "He kept giving me until he became the dearest person to me after he had been the most hated person to me.” . . . Some of Al-Mu'allafatu Qulubuhum are given from alms so that they become better in Islam and their heart firmer in faith. For instance, the Prophet gave some of the chiefs of the Tulaqa' a hundred camels each after the battle of Hunayn, saying, “I give a man (from the alms) while another man is dearer to me than him, for fear that Allah might throw him on his face in the fire of Jahannam.” It is recorded in the Two Sahihs that Abu Sa`id said that `Ali sent the Messenger of Allah a gold nugget still in its dirt from Yemen. The Prophet divided it between four men: Al-Aqra` bin Habis, `Uyaynah bin Badr, `Alqamah bin `Ulathah and Zayd Al-Khayr, saying, “To draw their hearts closer.” Some people are given because some of his peers might embrace Islam, while others are given to collect alms from surrounding areas, or to defend Muslim outposts. (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Commentary on 9:60)

Surah 9:60 also mentions “the cause of Allah,” which refers to jihad. Ibn Kathir notes: “In the cause of Allah is exclusive for the benefit of the fighters in Jihad, who do not receive compensation from the Muslim Treasury.”

During the time of the “Rightly Guided Caliphs,” Zakat was to be paid only to the legitimate Islamic ruler. Indeed, Abu Bakr regarded Muslims who refused to pay Zakat to him as apostates:

Sahih al-Bukhari 7284—Abu Bakr said, “By Allah, I will fight him who discriminates between Zakat and Salat (prayers), for Zakat is the compulsory right to be taken from the wealth. By Allah, if they refuse to give me even a tying rope which they used to give to Allah’s Messenger, I would fight them for withholding it.”

Today, in some Muslim countries, Zakat is collected by the state as a matter of law. In other Muslim countries (and in non-Muslim countries), Zakat is considered voluntary.

(Source: http://www.answeringmuslims.com/2013/07/what-is-zakat.html)

What Is Sawm?

Sawm is an Arabic word for “fasting” (derived from a Syriac term meaning “to abstain”); however, in its religious context, sawm refers specifically to Islamic fasting as prescribed in the Qur’an and the Hadith.

When fasting, Muslims are required to abstain from food, beverages (including water), and sexual intercourse during daylight hours (from dawn to sunset).

Sawm is especially associated with Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Muslims who are physically able and not otherwise exempt (e.g., while traveling or waging jihad) are required to fast from dawn to sunset for the entire month. Fasting during Ramadan is one of the Five Pillars of Islam.

The Qur’an discusses fasting in Surat al-Baqarah:

Qur’an 2:183-185—O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, even as it was prescribed for those before you, that ye may ward off (evil); (Fast) a certain number of days; and (for) him who is sick among you, or on a journey, (the same) number of other days; and for those who can afford it there is a ransom: the feeding of a man in need—but whoso doeth good of his own accord, it is better for him: and that ye fast is better for you if ye did but know. The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Qur'an, a guidance for mankind, and clear proofs of the guidance, and the Criterion (of right and wrong). And whosoever of you is present, let him fast the month, and whosoever of you is sick or on a journey, (let him fast the same) number of other days. Allah desireth for you ease; He desireth not hardship for you; and (He desireth) that ye should complete the period, and that ye should magnify Allah for having guided you, and that peradventure ye may be thankful.

(Source: http://www.answeringmuslims.com/2013/07/what-is-sawm.html)

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A Christian View on Islam

Loving Muslims. Opposing Islam.

The Pillars of Islam