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was wrestling with troublesome
problems in Egypt and the Su–
dan, Prime Minister Gladstone
thought it wise to study the
Koran, lslam's Holy Book. Only
that way, he asserted, could he
really come to know the people
and the faith with which he was
contending.
Despite the questionable
results of bis Middle Eastern pol–
icies, G ladstone had at least
understood in principie the im–
portance of viewing the Moslem
world from · the proper vantage
point, the proper "camera set–
ting."
It
is also time to understand
what
the Bible
says about the
Moslem faith and about the sig–
nificance of events in the Moslem
world-now, and in the· tumul–
tuous years just ahead!
Popular Rellglon
Understand, first, the importance
of Islam as a contemporary world
force. Islam is a global faith. One
person in six in the world today–
some 800 million people in more
than
75
countries- is a Moslem.
Islam is the youngest of the
world's major religions, founded
six centuries after Jesus and near–
ly
12
centuries after Buddha.
lt
is
also one of the world's most pop–
ular religions, possibly the fast–
est-growing faith on the globe.
In sub-Saharan Africa, Islam is
reportedly winning
1O times
as
many converts as tradhional
Christianity!
It
is important to understand,
too, that not all Arabs are Mos–
lems (sorne
1O
percent are Chris–
tian), nor are all Moslems Arabs.
Introduced among the Arabs in
the
s~venth
century, Islam spread
swiftly throughout the Middle
East, North Africa and South
Asia. Multiple millions of non–
Arabs were added to the fold of
Islam. Within a century Islam
controlled an empire more vast
than that of Rome or Alexander
the Great.
Submlsslon to Allah
Islam means many things to
many Moslems. Literally, Islam
means "submission to Allah." A
Moslem is "one who submits."
16
Moslems, however, have ditfering
ideas of their faith according to
their social class, education, polit–
ical leanings and cultural back–
ground.
Like other religions, Islam has
become fragmented over the cen–
turies by theological feuds and
disagreements. Today, Islam is
split into two main branches, the
Sunni and Shiite groups. These
two branches resulted from a
major schism over the issue of
who should succeed to Moslem
leadership following the death of
the Prophet Mohammed, the reli–
gion's founder, in A.D. 632.
Mainstream Sunni Islam- ac–
counting for nearly 90 percent of
all Moslems-is divided into four
"schools" of interpretation . By
contrast, the
1O
percent of all
Moslems who are Shiites- lo–
cated primarily in Iran, Iraq,
Yemen and Oman-are split into
dozens of sects, subsects and otf–
shoots, sorne of which are consid–
ered heretical by Sunni Mos–
lems.
The centuries-long quest for
Islamic unity remains a distant
dream, due largely to a lack of
effective leadership (see "The
Arab World in Prophecy", . De–
cember, 1979,
Plain Truth
U.S.
edition). It is therefore difficult
to generalize about Islam as if it
were a single, coherent bloc.
Nevertheless, all Moslems share
certain basic beliefs and outlooks.
First and foremost is their one–
sentence creed, called the
shahad–
ah:
"There is no God but Allah,
and Mohammed is His Prophet."
A solemn recitation of this confes–
sion of faith (just eight words in
Arabic) is the only requirement
for becoming a Moslem.
According to Moslem belief,
an
archangel--Gabriel~escend
ed to Mohammed, first in A.D.
610, and imparted to him the
wisdom of the Koran. At first ,
Mohammed was afraid he was
going insane or was possessed by
an evil spirit. But he soon became
convinced that bis calling was
truly from God.
Moslem Holy Book
Moslems consider the Koran's
114
suras
or chapters as the liter-
al word of God, superseding all
previous revelations (including
the Bible) and correcting the
alleged "errors" that had crept
into Christianity and Judaism. In
length, the Koran is somewhat
shorter than the New Testa–
ment.
Mohammed contended that
Jews and Christians had been wor–
shiping Allah all along, but under
a ditferent name. The Koran rec–
ognizes Adam, Noah, Abraham,
Mases, Jesus and other biblical
personalities as genuine prophets
through whom God spoke. Mo–
hammed's family lineage is traced
to Abraham through the pa–
triarch's grandson Kedar, son of
Ishmael (Genesis
25:
13).
Moslems, however, regard Mo–
hammed as the greatest and the
last (or "seal") of the prophets.
Moslems deny the divinity of
Jesus, as well as His crucifixion
and resurrection. "They do blas–
pheme who say: 'God is Christ
the son of Mary,'" the Koran
asserts.
Despite the high position they
accord to Mohammed, Moslems
do not venerate him as a divine
being. They take otfense at being
called "Mohammedans,' ' feeling
that that term implies they wor–
ship Mohammed. ·
In addition to the Koran, most
Moslems also pay heed to the
sunna
(the traditions of what
Mohammed did) and the
hadith
(the traditions of what he said).
Compared to other religions,
Islam is loosely organized. There
is no formal institutional hierar–
chy of authority-no Moslem
pope or cardinals-nor a central–
ized world beadquarters, such as
the Vatican. The
ulemas, mul–
lahs, mujtahids or ayatollahs,
as
Islamic scholars and teachers are
variously called, are the closest
thing Moslems have to a religious
clergy.
Way of Llfe
To see the world through Moslem
eyes, it is necessary to understand
that to the vast majority of Mos–
lems, Islam is a
way
of
lije.
Many Westerners- to whom
religion means merely attending
church services for an hour or
The
PLAIN TRUTH