It was very interesting to read about the comparison of interpretation of the Biblical story in both Christianity and Islam. I mean, that, Muhammad believed in Moses, Abraham, and Elijah, but they were all just great prophets and there was no other real meaning to them. Even Jesus, he said, was just a great prophet who taught great things, but he, Muhammad, was the last great prophet to come and speak to the people on behalf of God, or Allah, in Islamic terms. In Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God who came to earth and died to save his people, rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and has promised to come again to bring his people. In Islam, "Although Allah gave Jesus powers of various kinds (on the basis of which the Christians believe him to be God), it was in order to make him a sign to mankind, to furnish them with proofs of his prophetic mission. But Allah held back many manifestations of His dominion and power, such as the succession of day by night and night by day, and bringing forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living. Over none of these matters did He give power to Jesus, but all of these would have been at his disposal had he been God; instead, he fled from kings, from country to country," and "The wife of Imran dedicated the child in her womb to Allah and when she was delivered of it she said, 'O Lord, I have brought forth a daughter. I have called her Mary, and I commend her and her issue to Thy protection.' Allah accepted her graciously, and made her grow to a goodly woman. Then the angels said to her: 'Allah has chosen thee and has purified thee. He has chosen thee above all other women. Bend down to the Lord and worship!' She said: 'Lord! How can I have a child when no man has touched me.' He said: 'Allah createth what He pleaseth, Then He said: 'We shall teach him the scripture, and wisdom and the Torah' - which had been with them from the time of Moses -'and the gospel. And he will be an apostle to the children of Israel , saying, "I have come to you with a sign from your Lord." Jesus, according to Islam, was a special child born to a virgin who would be given special powers from Allah and would be a wonderful prophet. However, he wasn't God and man, like the true Jesus is. Overall, it was interesting to see the different interpretations of something Biblical, yet both totally different.
My overall response to this reading was that it is insulting, not just towards Christians but towards God as well. For example: "The sacred book which contains the word of God is called the Koran. The actual words were given to Muhammad by an angel, Gabriel, over a period of some twenty years, firstly in Mecca and then in Medina . Muhammad, who is said to have been unable to read and write, repeated the angel's words from memory and they were either written down or memorized by his followers." This quote shows disrespect to the real Lord Almighty, making it seem God sent an angel to tell Muhammad the words for the Koran over a long period of time. The reading showed Biblical interpretations throughout, however they were just copied and twisted into what the Muhammad really wanted his people to believe. They simply perverted some parts of real scripture in order to influence others with Islam.
Looking back on our readings from the past couple weeks about Muhammad, I realized how interestingly similar Islam and Christianity is. While Muhammad was being called by Allah to be his apostle and to Islam, the religion of Christianity had already been in existence for 500 years. I find it very intriguing that Islam uses many of the same miracles, people and even similar stories recorded in the Bible. In the Koran it mentions on many occasions people in the Bible such as Jesus, Moses, Elijah and Abraham. Both religions believe in only one true god, have several similar apostles, deities that were born from a virgin, and a central text to refer to. They also believe in a heaven and hell, a day of judgement, and both agree that Satan is evil and should never be followed. I’m not exactly sure why they wanted Islam to have such similar events to the Bible. I know that Islam is a sect of Christianity but it still amazes me how similar the many aspects of the religions are to each other.
This quote shows the similarities between the prophecies told of Jesus’s and Muhammad’s birth, “It is recorded that when the mother of the apostle of Allah became pregnant with him she had a vision, and a voice spoke to her, saying, ‘Thou art pregnant with the prince of this nation. When he is born on this earth, thou must say, “I place him under the protection of the only One, from the wickedness of every envious person.” And thou must name him Muhammad.’” (The Life of Muhammad, pg 8)
The “voice” that spoke to the virgin Mary says many of the same things that Gabriel had told her in the Bible. The voice tells her she will have a son and to give him a specific name just as the Bible did for Jesus.
This week’s reading definitely showed a more violent side to Islam. There were quite a few wars, and gruesome events. I feel like this really contrasts to the more peaceful side we read about last week. It was interesting that they thought they were killing for good and that all of the wars were sanctioned by Allah. I kind of see a similarity in this to when God in the Old Testament had the Israelites fight different groups who were sinning against God, or worshipping idols, just like how God used other nations to take over Israel when they strayed from Him. We also read more about miracles that Muhammad performed. I found it interesting how some of them sounded very similar to miracles Christ performed. For example when Muhammad feeds the 500 with the young girls dates. It resembles quite a bit how Jesus fed the crowd with the little boy’s fish and bread, of course he fed more like 5,000 people instead of 500. I think it is interesting how people find the Muslim story as credible, when a story very close to it was written years before it, and widely believed. There were quite a few parts in this week’s and last week’s reading that sounded like they were taken from the Bible and just altered. I find it really interesting how similar they are.
There were two things I found particularly interesting in “The Life of Muhammad”. First was that the story was told from a Muslim’s point of view. The majority of what I have read on Islam has been from a Christian point of view so it was intriguing to hear it from another perspective. The other thing I found interesting was how big of a role wars played in the founding of Islam. Today we hear about jihad or sharia law but I didn’t realize how many “holy wars” there were even in the beginning of Islam. At one point in the text it says, “Allah said, ‘You have sought ransoms and worldly goods, but Allah wants the next world’, meaning that they should kill to spread His religion, which is the path to the next world.” (69) This Islamic belief that people should be killed if they do not become a Muslim is stilled followed in many countries today.
In this week's readings I felt like the constant wars ordered by Allah were really a prominent event going on. This overall seems odd to me because it's weird to think of the Muslim children looking up to their Muslim parents who are looking up to a god who tells them to slaughter people in a "holy" way. Initially, it seemed like there were some virtue/moral issues or even some bad elder examples being displayed throughout the people. As I thought further, I realized this is a lot like king David's experiences with war in the Bible. There were a group of people, who looked up to their elders, who looked up to their god who they had never seen. God told David to defeat the Philistines as an act of "holy war", Jesus had "Holy anger" against the people who were selling in the temple as if it was a market, and allah told them to begin all these battles. It was very interesting to me to think that after all this time, from Bible times, to Muhammad, the people react in very similar ways to their god they worship. The two story lines of Muhammad's life and the life of Christ in general seemed to have a lot of parallel statements/events.
Personally I find the similarities between Christianity and Islam extremely interesting. The facts that both Christians and Muslims believe that there is only one God and that there is a Jesus figure in the story of Islam is almost creepy. Another similarity is that they both have a book of “Instruction” for Christians it is the written word of god, or the bible, and for Muslims it is the Koran. The similarities between these to religions are disturbingly similar. The fact that they both have a middleman between god and man is interesting. The similarities between Jesus and Mohammad are unique. To Muslims believe that Mohammad was a prophet of Allah who thought the people the way of the Koran. While Christians believe that Jesus was Gods prophet, and God himself that taught the bible. The Muslims believe Jesus was a good prophet but not a savior. In the Koran it mentions on many occasions people in the Bible such as Jesus, Moses, Elijah and Abraham. Both religions believe in only one true god, have several apostles, Gods that were born of a virgin, and a book to guide them. They also believe in a heaven and hell, a day of judgment, and both agree that Satan is evil and should never be followed.
Reading this has really made me think about what exactly makes me believe what I do. In general comparing this text with the Bible, I am for once glad for all the genealogies and other seemingly pointless passages that actually prove it's reliability and truth. How do we know if Muhammad actually moved a tree or if he made that up? It has also given me an interesting, though perhaps one sided view of the people during that period. It seems like it might have been an unstable sort of period where people are willing to believe anything. I mean some of the things that Muhammad said or claimed he saw a vision of were pretty unbelievable. Another thing is that it said around chapter three that while his followers suffered for him, Muhammad remained untouched. God never asked his people to go through something that he had not. This was good for me to get to know another religion a bit better and therefore treasure how much more mine makes sense.
A part that stood out to me was when two different tribes betrayed the teachers of Islam. A group of men from two neighboring tribes journeyed to Muhammad and requested teachers to to tell their tribe about Islam. Muhammad readily agreed and assigned Marthad, Khalid, Asim, Khubayb, Zayd b. al-Dathinna, and Abdullah b.Tariq to the job. The men sent by Muhammad traveled with the tribesmen until they reached the Hydhayl tribe area. At night, the tribesmen snuck up to them with swords, however when the men from Medina woke up and grabbed their swords, the attackers promised that they were not trying to kill them. By then, the men from Medina knew they had been betrayed and they fought the tribesmen. Marthad, Khalid and Asim were killed. The other men from Medina were captured and taken to be sold. On the way Abullah attempted to escape but was killed. The Quraysh tribe ended up killing Zayd and crucifying Khubayb as revenge for their tribesmen’s deaths at Uhud. If this wasn’t enough of a warning, four months later, forty of the best of the Muslims journeyed to the people of Najd to tell of Islam and they too were all killed. This brutal battling between the other Arab tribes and Muhammad continued throughout the reading and really showed what an unstable time it was.
It seems that almost every religion is based on (in one way or another) Christianity. It is really easy to see this in Islam - especially since it names Gabriel who was one of the angels in the Bible. For example, there is a lot of number sevens and twelves - numbers used throughout the Bible as symbolism, as well as lots of sheep and lambs, and also just how it talks about Muhammad (on page 12) growing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with Allah and man – which is very similar to how the Bible describes Jesus in Luke 2. Anyone who was not a believer in Allah was allowed to be killed or stolen from, which is a sharp contrast to Jesus who says “to turn the other cheek”. Muhammed had others give their lives for him, whereas Jesus died for others. Even though the stories are quite similar, there really is no comparison between Jesus and Muhammad. Muhammad falls so far short that he cannot be held on any level even remotely close to Jesus. Muhammad himself says he is only a man and a sinner. Muhammad is clearly inferior to Christ.
"When Believers are engaged with the apostle in public business, they do not depart without asking his permission. For those who ask permission are those who believe in Allah and in His apostle. . . . But Allah knoweth those who steal away privately; let those who resist His command take heed, lest some calamity befall them, or grievous punishment." Muhammad wanted a trench around Medina and some people claimed that they were ill and couldn't help. Muhammad "revealed" this verse above. It seems that anytime something doesn't work for Muhammad, he reveals a verse. This isn't right. People think he's a prophet, and even though he is false, he should be careful with his power. He seems to abuse it and make things go his way. Christ doesn't do that. He allows man free will, whether man chooses wrong or right. I also find it interesting how anytime you do something against Allah, you get cursed. Christ has already forgiven everyone for their sins and doesn't constantly curse everyone for breaking his laws. That would be hard. We sin all the time. If Christ cursed us every time we sin, we would be in horrible positions. Also then, we would try really hard to be perfect and try to act good enough for God. That's not at all what the gospel is about.
Something of interest to me from the reading is how Islam borrows the majority of its storyline from Christianity. Although the similarities are vast and prominent, what really caught my eye were the little stories that I was able to draw parallels to. One such instance I found on page 38, where Muhammad repeatedly asked Allah to alleviate the weight of daily prayer. Moses told Muhammad to go back to Allah again and again, and each time Allah deducted some until only five daily prayers were left. This structure reminded me of Genesis 18, where Abraham repeatedly asked God to save Sodom if a certain number of people could be found who were upright. Abraham returned to God, and each time God lowered the number of good people it would take for him to save Sodom. It is instances such as this that beg the question: why was so much borrowed from the Bible? It nearly gives the Bible more credibility (for those who are not Christians) to know that other religions, such as Islam, have drawn so consistently on its words.
There are many stories in the Bible that have been rewritten in Sirat Rasoul Allah by Ibn Ishaq to give praise to Allah and his apostle, Muhammad. However, I’ve found that on several occasions one of their stories will be a mix of many biblical stories. For example in on page 60, Abdullah has been sent to scout ahead with eight other men and given a letter to open after two days of the journey. After two days he opens the letter which informs him to go to Nakhla, situated between Mecca and Al-Taif, to keep watch and bring back any news. He was told to not force any men to go that didn’t want to.
This story reminds me of three biblical stories. The first is The Twelve spies in Numbers 13. Obviously the number of men is different in the two stories, but both groups are being sent ahead to scout out the land and report back to their leader. The second story this reminds me of is Jonah, when he is sent to Nineveh (Jonah 1). Nineveh wasn’t a great place, it was crawling with evil and Jonah doesn’t want to go. Abdullah is being sent to Nakhla (which even sounds like Nineveh), which is also not the greatest place and not somewhere people would want to hang around. The third story I’m reminded of is Gideon eliminating his troops in Judges 7. The Lord tells Gideon to let any fearful soldiers return home. He will not force them to come. In a similar manner, Abdullah has been told not to force any unwilling troops to fight this battle.
As I did some further reading online about Muhammad’s family and the disappointment when he did not leave a successor in the end I found one side to Muhammad that I appreciate, he married for love. Thoough this may seem insignificant it was a big deal in the Islamic culture! With all the hype about marrying for diplomatic reasons you would expect Muhammad to cave in and follow what was consistent and expected, but reasons like these didn’t bother Muhammad at the time. The widowed Khadija who was his employer was 40 years old and had to propose to him since she was 15 years his superior! Some have assumed that the reason Muhammad took her as his wife was because she was a wealthy widow, but early accounts indicate that they married out of mutual love and respect for one another – a marriage that lasted 24 years until her death. He mourned her death until he died 13 years later. I said above that he didn’t bother marrying for diplomatic reasons AT THE TIME because later on in life after Khadija had passed away he took on nine wives mainly for the purpose of diplomatic alliances, as was customary and not unusual for any leader of the time. It's striking that though he'd had five children with Khadija (four daughters, and a son who died in infancy), he'd have none with any of the wives he married after her death. Personally this shows that he truly married Khadija for love and that Muhammad was not always the ridged and rule abiding man I thought him to be.
In the reading from this weeks and last something I found interesting was the story about the little girl that was trying to find her uncle and father on page 80. In this story the little girl was on an errand to give her father and uncle their dates for breakfast, but she could not find them.While she was looking she met the apostle of Allah, Muhammad and when he asked her what was the matter she told him, while giving him the dates. Muhammad, " ... ordered a cloth to be spread out, and placed the dates on it, then he said to a man nearby, “Call the people of the Ditch to come to breakfast.” The men arrived and began to eat of the dates, but they increased in such a manner that when the men of the Ditch went away the dates were still overflowing from the sides of the cloth.’" (80). This story reminded me of the story in the Bible when the little boy came to Jesus bringing him all he had the couple fish and few loaves of bread. Jesus took that little amount of food and was able to feed over thousands.(Mark 8:1-6) This story was interesting to me because of how similar it is to the scriptures. It was so unique to see how a lot of stories and beliefs of Islam were stemmed or connected to Christianity. This was just one of the several similarities of Christianity and Islam that I saw and made connections to when I read the reading.
Hello Mr. Parker, For some reason unbeknownst to me, my Muhammad reading won't load. I have refreshed the page several times and it isn't working. Any suggestions?
I still have not been able to load it. This is really frustrating! My theory is that our internet service is too week to load such a long pdf, but I really don't know. Would you like me to try again tomorrow and write the blog post then?
While reading about Muhammad the past two weeks, one thing that stood out to me was when the author discussed prophesy on page nineteen. The way the Islamic soothsayers received their divine knowledge was markedly different from the way Old Testament prophets spoke directly from God. It was believed that prophesy became known from spirits of the air known as djinns. These djinns would listen close to Heaven for foreknowledge from Allah. However, when it came close to the time of Muhammad’s birth, those in the Heavens threw meteors at the thieves so as to drive them away from their listening spots. But when Muhammad came he enlightened these soothsayers to the “actual way” in which prophesies become known.
“It was not so. When Allah reaches any decision concerning His people He is heard by the bearers of His throne, who praise Him; and this praise is taken up by the angels below them, and by others still further below; and the praise continues to descend until it reaches the sky of this world, where other angels also praise. Then these ask each other why they praise, and the question ascends gradually till it reaches the bearers of the throne. They then, tell of the decree of Allah concerning His people, and the news travels down by degrees until it reaches the heaven of this world, where the angels discuss it” (page 19).
Clearly, this is much different than the way the Old Testament prophets received their divine knowledge directly from the Lord. Many times the Bible says, “And the Lord said to…” One example is in Amos 8:2, “Then the Lord said me, ‘The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass by them.’” While we do see some similarities between Islam and Christianity, it is important to note the distinct differences that mark these two religions.
The events leading up to the birth of Muhammad were in many ways similar to the events leading up to the birth of Jesus; however, the events after the death of Muhammad differed greatly from the events after the death of Jesus. Even though the mother of Muhammad was not a virgin, she was visited by a “voice”, which is similar to the visit of Gabriel to Mary. To the apostle’s mother, the voice in the vision said, “Thou art pregnant with the prince of this nation.” (p. 6-7) It goes on to reveal the name of the baby. Jesus’ birth foretold by the angel included telling Mary of his coming greatness, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:32-33 ESV) I find it encouraging Muhammad’s birth story differs from Jesus’ in that he was not born of a virgin birth. This emphasizes the purity of Jesus all the more. (As we have previously read about in On the Incarnation)
When Jesus died, his disciples mourned, but the disciples of Muhammad reacted differently to the death of their leader. The events that followed are summarized: “When the apostle of Allah died many Arabs relapsed into idolatry; Judaism and Christianity rose again, and Hypocrisy became common, so that the Muslims seemed like a flock of sheep on a wintry night, because of the loss of their prophet. Then Allah roused them again under Abu Bakr.” (p. 114-115) These events, I believe, were beneficial to Christianity in that it “rose again”. Jesus also rose again, he was - is not - merely mortal! He is not one whose life passes away in a breath. He is fully God and fully man, therefore it is comforting to note this documentary on Muhammad does not record him coming to life. Jesus’ disciples also were encouraged by his resurrection, and were charged with the great commission so that, instead of having a relapse of judgment, they spread the gospel and created churches. Jesus’ last promise could not have been made by any man. “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20 ESV)
I thought it was interesting how detailed the text was in terms of names and date provided. I could see how this would make the text more believable for those who considered it sacred to their faith. At the beginning, it says that Muhammad, Allah’s prophet, was born on a Monday, on the thirteenth of the month of the Rabi, in the year of the Elephant (with is estimated to be around 570). The names in the text are also very specific. From his followers, to his cousins, to his immediate family, most are mentioned by name. This just enhances the validity of the text in order to make it convincing.
It was very interesting to read about the comparison of interpretation of the Biblical story in both Christianity and Islam. I mean, that, Muhammad believed in Moses, Abraham, and Elijah, but they were all just great prophets and there was no other real meaning to them. Even Jesus, he said, was just a great prophet who taught great things, but he, Muhammad, was the last great prophet to come and speak to the people on behalf of God, or Allah, in Islamic terms. In Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God who came to earth and died to save his people, rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and has promised to come again to bring his people. In Islam, "Although Allah gave Jesus powers of various kinds (on the basis of which the
ReplyDeleteChristians believe him to be God), it was in order to make him a sign to mankind, to
furnish them with proofs of his prophetic mission. But Allah held back many
manifestations of His dominion and power, such as the succession of day by night and
night by day, and bringing forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living.
Over none of these matters did He give power to Jesus, but all of these would have
been at his disposal had he been God; instead, he fled from kings, from country to
country," and "The wife of Imran dedicated the child in her womb to Allah and when
she was delivered of it she said, 'O Lord, I have brought forth a daughter. I have
called her Mary, and I commend her and her issue to Thy protection.' Allah accepted
her graciously, and made her grow to a goodly woman. Then the angels said to her:
'Allah has chosen thee and has purified thee. He has chosen thee above all other
women. Bend down to the Lord and worship!' She said: 'Lord! How can I have a child when no man has touched me.' He said: 'Allah createth what He pleaseth, Then He
said: 'We shall teach him the scripture, and wisdom and the Torah' - which had been
with them from the time of Moses -'and the gospel. And he will be an apostle to the
children of Israel , saying, "I have come to you with a sign from your Lord." Jesus, according to Islam, was a special child born to a virgin who would be given special powers from Allah and would be a wonderful prophet. However, he wasn't God and man, like the true Jesus is. Overall, it was interesting to see the different interpretations of something Biblical, yet both totally different.
My overall response to this reading was that it is insulting, not just towards Christians but towards God as well. For example:
ReplyDelete"The sacred book which contains the word of God is called the
Koran. The actual words were given to Muhammad by an angel, Gabriel, over a
period of some twenty years, firstly in Mecca and then in Medina . Muhammad, who
is said to have been unable to read and write, repeated the angel's words from memory
and they were either written down or memorized by his followers."
This quote shows disrespect to the real Lord Almighty, making it seem God sent an angel to tell Muhammad the words for the Koran over a long period of time. The reading showed Biblical interpretations throughout, however they were just copied and twisted into what the Muhammad really wanted his people to believe. They simply perverted some parts of real scripture in order to influence others with Islam.
Looking back on our readings from the past couple weeks about Muhammad, I realized how interestingly similar Islam and Christianity is. While Muhammad was being called by Allah to be his apostle and to Islam, the religion of Christianity had already been in existence for 500 years. I find it very intriguing that Islam uses many of the same miracles, people and even similar stories recorded in the Bible. In the Koran it mentions on many occasions people in the Bible such as Jesus, Moses, Elijah and Abraham. Both religions believe in only one true god, have several similar apostles, deities that were born from a virgin, and a central text to refer to. They also believe in a heaven and hell, a day of judgement, and both agree that Satan is evil and should never be followed. I’m not exactly sure why they wanted Islam to have such similar events to the Bible. I know that Islam is a sect of Christianity but it still amazes me how similar the many aspects of the religions are to each other.
ReplyDeleteThis quote shows the similarities between the prophecies told of Jesus’s and Muhammad’s birth, “It is recorded that when the mother of the apostle of Allah became pregnant with him she had a vision, and a voice spoke to her, saying, ‘Thou art pregnant with the prince
of this nation. When he is born on this earth, thou must say, “I place him under the
protection of the only One, from the wickedness of every envious person.” And thou
must name him Muhammad.’” (The Life of Muhammad, pg 8)
The “voice” that spoke to the virgin Mary says many of the same things that Gabriel had told her in the Bible. The voice tells her she will have a son and to give him a specific name just as the Bible did for Jesus.
This week’s reading definitely showed a more violent side to Islam. There were quite a few wars, and gruesome events. I feel like this really contrasts to the more peaceful side we read about last week. It was interesting that they thought they were killing for good and that all of the wars were sanctioned by Allah. I kind of see a similarity in this to when God in the Old Testament had the Israelites fight different groups who were sinning against God, or worshipping idols, just like how God used other nations to take over Israel when they strayed from Him. We also read more about miracles that Muhammad performed. I found it interesting how some of them sounded very similar to miracles Christ performed. For example when Muhammad feeds the 500 with the young girls dates. It resembles quite a bit how Jesus fed the crowd with the little boy’s fish and bread, of course he fed more like 5,000 people instead of 500. I think it is interesting how people find the Muslim story as credible, when a story very close to it was written years before it, and widely believed. There were quite a few parts in this week’s and last week’s reading that sounded like they were taken from the Bible and just altered. I find it really interesting how similar they are.
ReplyDeleteThere were two things I found particularly interesting in “The Life of Muhammad”. First was that the story was told from a Muslim’s point of view. The majority of what I have read on Islam has been from a Christian point of view so it was intriguing to hear it from another perspective. The other thing I found interesting was how big of a role wars played in the founding of Islam. Today we hear about jihad or sharia law but I didn’t realize how many “holy wars” there were even in the beginning of Islam. At one point in the text it says, “Allah said, ‘You have sought ransoms and worldly goods, but Allah wants the next world’, meaning that they should kill to spread His religion, which is the path to the next world.” (69) This Islamic belief that people should be killed if they do not become a Muslim is stilled followed in many countries today.
ReplyDeleteIn this week's readings I felt like the constant wars ordered by Allah were really a prominent event going on. This overall seems odd to me because it's weird to think of the Muslim children looking up to their Muslim parents who are looking up to a god who tells them to slaughter people in a "holy" way. Initially, it seemed like there were some virtue/moral issues or even some bad elder examples being displayed throughout the people. As I thought further, I realized this is a lot like king David's experiences with war in the Bible. There were a group of people, who looked up to their elders, who looked up to their god who they had never seen. God told David to defeat the Philistines as an act of "holy war", Jesus had "Holy anger" against the people who were selling in the temple as if it was a market, and allah told them to begin all these battles. It was very interesting to me to think that after all this time, from Bible times, to Muhammad, the people react in very similar ways to their god they worship. The two story lines of Muhammad's life and the life of Christ in general seemed to have a lot of parallel statements/events.
ReplyDeletePersonally I find the similarities between Christianity and Islam extremely interesting. The facts that both Christians and Muslims believe that there is only one God and that there is a Jesus figure in the story of Islam is almost creepy. Another similarity is that they both have a book of “Instruction” for Christians it is the written word of god, or the bible, and for Muslims it is the Koran. The similarities between these to religions are disturbingly similar. The fact that they both have a middleman between god and man is interesting. The similarities between Jesus and Mohammad are unique. To Muslims believe that Mohammad was a prophet of Allah who thought the people the way of the Koran. While Christians believe that Jesus was Gods prophet, and God himself that taught the bible. The Muslims believe Jesus was a good prophet but not a savior. In the Koran it mentions on many occasions people in the Bible such as Jesus, Moses, Elijah and Abraham. Both religions believe in only one true god, have several apostles, Gods that were born of a virgin, and a book to guide them. They also believe in a heaven and hell, a day of judgment, and both agree that Satan is evil and should never be followed.
ReplyDeleteReading this has really made me think about what exactly makes me believe what I do. In general comparing this text with the Bible, I am for once glad for all the genealogies and other seemingly pointless passages that actually prove it's reliability and truth. How do we know if Muhammad actually moved a tree or if he made that up? It has also given me an interesting, though perhaps one sided view of the people during that period. It seems like it might have been an unstable sort of period where people are willing to believe anything. I mean some of the things that Muhammad said or claimed he saw a vision of were pretty unbelievable. Another thing is that it said around chapter three that while his followers suffered for him, Muhammad remained untouched. God never asked his people to go through something that he had not. This was good for me to get to know another religion a bit better and therefore treasure how much more mine makes sense.
ReplyDeleteA part that stood out to me was when two different tribes betrayed the teachers of Islam. A group of men from two neighboring tribes journeyed to Muhammad and requested teachers to to tell their tribe about Islam. Muhammad readily agreed and assigned Marthad, Khalid, Asim, Khubayb, Zayd b. al-Dathinna, and Abdullah b.Tariq to the job. The men sent by Muhammad traveled with the tribesmen until they reached the Hydhayl tribe area. At night, the tribesmen snuck up to them with swords, however when the men from Medina woke up and grabbed their swords, the attackers promised that they were not trying to kill them. By then, the men from Medina knew they had been betrayed and they fought the tribesmen. Marthad, Khalid and Asim were killed. The other men from Medina were captured and taken to be sold. On the way Abullah attempted to escape but was killed. The Quraysh tribe ended up killing Zayd and crucifying Khubayb as revenge for their tribesmen’s deaths at Uhud. If this wasn’t enough of a warning, four months later, forty of the best of the Muslims journeyed to the people of Najd to tell of Islam and they too were all killed. This brutal battling between the other Arab tribes and Muhammad continued throughout the reading and really showed what an unstable time it was.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that almost every religion is based on (in one way or another) Christianity. It is really easy to see this in Islam - especially since it names Gabriel who was one of the angels in the Bible. For example, there is a lot of number sevens and twelves - numbers used throughout the Bible as symbolism, as well as lots of sheep and lambs, and also just how it talks about Muhammad (on page 12) growing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with Allah and man – which is very similar to how the Bible describes Jesus in Luke 2. Anyone who was not a believer in Allah was allowed to be killed or stolen from, which is a sharp contrast to Jesus who says “to turn the other cheek”. Muhammed had others give their lives for him, whereas Jesus died for others. Even though the stories are quite similar, there really is no comparison between Jesus and Muhammad. Muhammad falls so far short that he cannot be held on any level even remotely close to Jesus. Muhammad himself says he is only a man and a sinner. Muhammad is clearly inferior to Christ.
ReplyDelete"When Believers are engaged with the apostle in public business, they do not depart without asking his permission. For those who ask permission are those who believe in Allah and in His apostle. . . . But Allah knoweth those who steal away privately; let those who resist His command take heed, lest some calamity befall them, or grievous punishment." Muhammad wanted a trench around Medina and some people claimed that they were ill and couldn't help. Muhammad "revealed" this verse above. It seems that anytime something doesn't work for Muhammad, he reveals a verse. This isn't right. People think he's a prophet, and even though he is false, he should be careful with his power. He seems to abuse it and make things go his way. Christ doesn't do that. He allows man free will, whether man chooses wrong or right. I also find it interesting how anytime you do something against Allah, you get cursed. Christ has already forgiven everyone for their sins and doesn't constantly curse everyone for breaking his laws. That would be hard. We sin all the time. If Christ cursed us every time we sin, we would be in horrible positions. Also then, we would try really hard to be perfect and try to act good enough for God. That's not at all what the gospel is about.
ReplyDeleteSomething of interest to me from the reading is how Islam borrows the majority of its storyline from Christianity. Although the similarities are vast and prominent, what really caught my eye were the little stories that I was able to draw parallels to. One such instance I found on page 38, where Muhammad repeatedly asked Allah to alleviate the weight of daily prayer. Moses told Muhammad to go back to Allah again and again, and each time Allah deducted some until only five daily prayers were left. This structure reminded me of Genesis 18, where Abraham repeatedly asked God to save Sodom if a certain number of people could be found who were upright. Abraham returned to God, and each time God lowered the number of good people it would take for him to save Sodom. It is instances such as this that beg the question: why was so much borrowed from the Bible? It nearly gives the Bible more credibility (for those who are not Christians) to know that other religions, such as Islam, have drawn so consistently on its words.
ReplyDeleteThere are many stories in the Bible that have been rewritten in Sirat Rasoul Allah by Ibn Ishaq to give praise to Allah and his apostle, Muhammad. However, I’ve found that on several occasions one of their stories will be a mix of many biblical stories. For example in on page 60, Abdullah has been sent to scout ahead with eight other men and given a letter to open after two days of the journey. After two days he opens the letter which informs him to go to Nakhla, situated between Mecca and Al-Taif, to keep watch and bring back any news. He was told to not force any men to go that didn’t want to.
ReplyDeleteThis story reminds me of three biblical stories. The first is The Twelve spies in Numbers 13. Obviously the number of men is different in the two stories, but both groups are being sent ahead to scout out the land and report back to their leader. The second story this reminds me of is Jonah, when he is sent to Nineveh (Jonah 1). Nineveh wasn’t a great place, it was crawling with evil and Jonah doesn’t want to go. Abdullah is being sent to Nakhla (which even sounds like Nineveh), which is also not the greatest place and not somewhere people would want to hang around. The third story I’m reminded of is Gideon eliminating his troops in Judges 7. The Lord tells Gideon to let any fearful soldiers return home. He will not force them to come. In a similar manner, Abdullah has been told not to force any unwilling troops to fight this battle.
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ReplyDeleteAs I did some further reading online about Muhammad’s family and the disappointment when he did not leave a successor in the end I found one side to Muhammad that I appreciate, he married for love. Thoough this may seem insignificant it was a big deal in the Islamic culture! With all the hype about marrying for diplomatic reasons you would expect Muhammad to cave in and follow what was consistent and expected, but reasons like these didn’t bother Muhammad at the time. The widowed Khadija who was his employer was 40 years old and had to propose to him since she was 15 years his superior! Some have assumed that the reason Muhammad took her as his wife was because she was a wealthy widow, but early accounts indicate that they married out of mutual love and respect for one another – a marriage that lasted 24 years until her death. He mourned her death until he died 13 years later. I said above that he didn’t bother marrying for diplomatic reasons AT THE TIME because later on in life after Khadija had passed away he took on nine wives mainly for the purpose of diplomatic alliances, as was customary and not unusual for any leader of the time. It's striking that though he'd had five children with Khadija (four daughters, and a son who died in infancy), he'd have none with any of the wives he married after her death. Personally this shows that he truly married Khadija for love and that Muhammad was not always the ridged and rule abiding man I thought him to be.
ReplyDeleteIn the reading from this weeks and last something I found interesting was the story about the little girl that was trying to find her uncle and father on page 80. In this story the little girl was on an errand to give her father and uncle their dates for breakfast, but she could not find them.While she was looking she met the apostle of Allah, Muhammad and when he asked her what was the matter she told him, while giving him the dates. Muhammad, " ... ordered a cloth to be spread out, and placed the dates on it, then he said to a man nearby, “Call the people of the Ditch to come to breakfast.” The men arrived and began to eat of the dates, but they increased in such a manner that when the men of the Ditch went away the dates were still overflowing from the sides of the cloth.’" (80). This story reminded me of the story in the Bible when the little boy came to Jesus bringing him all he had the couple fish and few loaves of bread. Jesus took that little amount of food and was able to feed over thousands.(Mark 8:1-6) This story was interesting to me because of how similar it is to the scriptures. It was so unique to see how a lot of stories and beliefs of Islam were stemmed or connected to Christianity. This was just one of the several similarities of Christianity and Islam that I saw and made connections to when I read the reading.
ReplyDeleteHello Mr. Parker,
ReplyDeleteFor some reason unbeknownst to me, my Muhammad reading won't load. I have refreshed the page several times and it isn't working. Any suggestions?
It seems to be working, as far as I can see, have you tried using a different browser?
DeleteI still have not been able to load it. This is really frustrating! My theory is that our internet service is too week to load such a long pdf, but I really don't know. Would you like me to try again tomorrow and write the blog post then?
DeleteWhile reading about Muhammad the past two weeks, one thing that stood out to me was when the author discussed prophesy on page nineteen. The way the Islamic soothsayers received their divine knowledge was markedly different from the way Old Testament prophets spoke directly from God. It was believed that prophesy became known from spirits of the air known as djinns. These djinns would listen close to Heaven for foreknowledge from Allah. However, when it came close to the time of Muhammad’s birth, those in the Heavens threw meteors at the thieves so as to drive them away from their listening spots. But when Muhammad came he enlightened these soothsayers to the “actual way” in which prophesies become known.
ReplyDelete“It was not so. When Allah reaches any decision concerning His people He is heard by the bearers of His throne, who praise Him; and this praise is taken up by the angels below them, and by others still further below; and the praise continues to descend until it reaches the sky of this world, where other angels also praise. Then these ask each other why they praise, and the question ascends gradually till it reaches the bearers of the throne. They then, tell of the decree of Allah concerning His people, and the news travels down by degrees until it reaches the heaven of this world, where the angels discuss it” (page 19).
Clearly, this is much different than the way the Old Testament prophets received their divine knowledge directly from the Lord. Many times the Bible says, “And the Lord said to…” One example is in Amos 8:2, “Then the Lord said me, ‘The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass by them.’” While we do see some similarities between Islam and Christianity, it is important to note the distinct differences that mark these two religions.
The events leading up to the birth of Muhammad were in many ways similar to the events leading up to the birth of Jesus; however, the events after the death of Muhammad differed greatly from the events after the death of Jesus. Even though the mother of Muhammad was not a virgin, she was visited by a “voice”, which is similar to the visit of Gabriel to Mary. To the apostle’s mother, the voice in the vision said, “Thou art pregnant with the prince of this nation.” (p. 6-7) It goes on to reveal the name of the baby. Jesus’ birth foretold by the angel included telling Mary of his coming greatness, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:32-33 ESV) I find it encouraging Muhammad’s birth story differs from Jesus’ in that he was not born of a virgin birth. This emphasizes the purity of Jesus all the more. (As we have previously read about in On the Incarnation)
ReplyDeleteWhen Jesus died, his disciples mourned, but the disciples of Muhammad reacted differently to the death of their leader. The events that followed are summarized: “When the apostle of Allah died many Arabs relapsed into idolatry; Judaism and Christianity rose again, and Hypocrisy became common, so that the Muslims seemed like a flock of sheep on a wintry night, because of the loss of their prophet. Then Allah roused them again under Abu Bakr.” (p. 114-115) These events, I believe, were beneficial to Christianity in that it “rose again”. Jesus also rose again, he was - is not - merely mortal! He is not one whose life passes away in a breath. He is fully God and fully man, therefore it is comforting to note this documentary on Muhammad does not record him coming to life. Jesus’ disciples also were encouraged by his resurrection, and were charged with the great commission so that, instead of having a relapse of judgment, they spread the gospel and created churches. Jesus’ last promise could not have been made by any man. “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20 ESV)
Andrea Rupple is really Renee Rupple
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting how detailed the text was in terms of names and date provided. I could see how this would make the text more believable for those who considered it sacred to their faith. At the beginning, it says that Muhammad, Allah’s prophet, was born on a Monday, on the thirteenth of the month of the Rabi, in the year of the Elephant (with is estimated to be around 570). The names in the text are also very specific. From his followers, to his cousins, to his immediate family, most are mentioned by name. This just enhances the validity of the text in order to make it convincing.
ReplyDelete