The document provides an overview of the origins and key beliefs of Islam. It discusses: - The beginnings of Islam with Muhammad in the 6th century AD and the establishment of the religion. - The main beliefs including Allah as the one God, Jesus as a prophet but not divine, and the Five Pillars of faith, prayer, charity, fasting and pilgrimage. - Views on salvation as dependent on good deeds and God's forgiveness, and the concept of jihad or struggle, with greater and lesser forms. - The Christian response of emphasizing the need for grace and a mediator between God and man, found only through Jesus Christ.

1. Q&A
Islam

2. Islam means “submission”
A Muslim is “one who
submits”

3. Beginnings
• Abraham and Hagar had a son named Ishmael
(Genesis 16)
• Abraham and Ishmael built the Kabah.
• The region fell into sin/idolatry and the Kabah
became full of idols.

4. Beginnings
• Muhammad was born in 570AD.
• His father died before he was born, mother
when he was six.
• He was raised by his grandfather and then his
uncle.
• He spent time with Bedouin family.

5. Beginnings
• Married a wealthy woman named Khadijah
after working for her.
• Muhammad started receiving supposed
revelation from God (through Gabriel) around
610AD.
• Ruling class in Mecca did not like his
teachings. He was protected by his uncle.

6. Beginnings
• In 622 he moved to Medina where he began
facing Mecca in prayer.
• His teaching was rejected by the Jews there.
• There was fighting between Medina and
Mecca.

7. Beginnings
• Muhammad returned to Mecca in 630 with so
great a force that he was not resisted and got rid
of the Kabah’s idols.
• He returned to Medina but continued to make a
pilgrimage to the Kabah in Mecca.
• His friend and father-in-law Abu Bakr was elected
caliph after Muhammad died in 632.
• There was a split between Shiites and Sunnis ever
since.

8. Authority
• They believe the Quran contains the direct words
of Allah.
• The Hadith is a collection containing
Muhammad’s teaching and information about his
life.
• Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus were all
God’s prophets.
• The Bible has been corrupted and should be
rejected.

9. Allah/God
• One who is the Creator and all-powerful.
• He can make right wrong and wrong right.
• Will judge men at the final judgment based on
their deeds.

10. Man
• Born morally neutral and capable of keeping
God’s law.
• Biggest problem is that he is forgetful.
• Solution is education.

11. Jesus
• Is not God or the Son of God.
• He is one of many prophets but not as great as
Muhammad.
• He did not die on a cross.

12. Jesus
• “And [for] their saying, ‘Indeed, we have killed
the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the
messenger of Allah.’ And they did not kill him,
nor did they crucify him; but [another] was
made to resemble him to them. And indeed,
those who differ over it are in doubt about it.
They have no knowledge of it except the
following of assumption. And they did not kill
him, for certain.” (Sura 4:157)

13. Five Pillars of Islam
• Faith- “There is no god worthy of worship
except Allah and Muhammad is His
messenger”
• Prayer- five times a day with the first at dawn
and last at sunset
• Alms- the payment each year of two and a half
percent of one's capital

14. Five Pillars of Islam
• The Fast- fasting from sunup to sundown
during Ramadan (with some exceptions)
• The Pilgrimage- making the journey to Mecca
in the twelfth month of the Islamic year.

15. Salvation
• “And those who, when they commit an
immorality or wrong themselves [by
transgression], remember Allah and seek
forgiveness for their sins - and who can forgive
sins except Allah ? - and [who] do not persist
in what they have done while they know.”
(Sura 3:135)

16. Salvation
• “And the weighing [of deeds] that Day will be
the truth. So those whose scales are heavy - it
is they who will be the successful. And those
whose scales are light - they are the ones who
will lose themselves for what injustice they
were doing toward Our verses.” (Sura 7:8-9)

17. Salvation
• “being justified as a gift by His grace through
the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation
in His blood through faith. This was to
demonstrate His righteousness, because in the
forbearance of God He passed over the sins
previously committed;”
- Romans 3:24-25

18. Salvation
• “O you who have believed, repent to Allah
with sincere repentance. Perhaps your Lord
will remove from you your misdeeds and
admit you into gardens beneath which rivers
flow [on] the Day when Allah will not disgrace
the Prophet and those who believed with him.
Their light will proceed before them and on
their right; they will say, ‘Our Lord, perfect for
us our light and forgive us. Indeed, You are
over all things competent.’”(Sura 66:8-9)

19. Salvation
• “Say, [O Muhammad], ‘If you should love
Allah, then follow me, [so] Allah will love you
and forgive you your sins. And Allah is
Forgiving and Merciful.’ Say, ‘Obey Allah and
the Messenger.’ But if they turn away - then
indeed, Allah does not like the disbelievers-
Sura 2:31-32
• “But God demonstrates His own love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us.” – Romans 5:8

20. Jihad
• Greater jihad- striving against sin.
• Lesser jihad- fighting the enemies of Islam.
• “He will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand
will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand
will be against him; and he will live to the east
of all his brothers.” – Genesis 16:12

21. Jihad
• “And when the sacred months have passed,
then kill the polytheists wherever you find
them and capture them and besiege them and
sit in wait for them at every place of ambush.
But if they should repent, establish prayer, and
give zakah, let them [go] on their way. Indeed,
Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.” (Sura 9:5)

22. Jihad
• “Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the
Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what
Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and
who do not adopt the religion of truth from those
who were given the Scripture - [fight] until they
give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.
The Jews say, ‘Ezra is the son of Allah’; and the
Christians say, ‘The Messiah is the son of Allah.’
That is their statement from their mouths; they
imitate the saying of those who disbelieved
[before them]. May Allah destroy them; how are
they deluded?” (Sura 9:29-30)

23. Jihad
• "When thy Lord inspired the angels, (saying): I
am with you. So make those who believe
stand firm. I will throw fear into the hearts of
those who disbelieve. Then smite the necks
and smite of them each finger. That is because
they opposed Allah and His messenger. Whoso
opposeth Allah and His messenger, (for him)
lo! Allah is severe in punishment," (Sura 8:12-
13).

24. Jihad
• "Allah's Apostle said, ‘Allah guarantees (the
person who carries out Jihad in His Cause and
nothing compelled him to go out but Jihad in
His Cause and the belief in His Word) that He
will either admit him into Paradise
(Martyrdom) or return him with reward or
booty he has earned to his residence from
where he went out.’" (Volume 9, Book 93,
Number 555: Narrated Abu Huraira).

25. Christian Response
• Understand they are lost in need of salvation.
• Muslims are not our enemies.
• We need to understand their mindset.

26. Christian Response
• Realize that postmodernism has affected them
some too.
• Most will attack the Bible.
• You must always argue from authority.

27. Christian Response
• “He has sent down upon you, [O Muhammad],
the Book in truth, confirming what was before it.
And He revealed the Torah and the Gospel.” (Sura
3:2-3)
• “So if you are in doubt, [O Muhammad], about
that which We have revealed to you, then ask
those who have been reading the Scripture
before you. The truth has certainly come to you
from your Lord, so never be among the
doubters.” (Sura 10:94)

28. Christian Response
• Emphasize the problem of sin and the need
for grace.
• Show that grace only comes through Jesus.
• “For the Law was given through Moses; grace
and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”
- John 1:17

29. Christian Response
• Talk about the holiness of God and the need
for a mediator.
• “For there is one God, and one mediator also
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”
- 1 Timothy 2:5