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How should the church in the 21st Century confront the challenge of Islam? The answer to that question is what Dr. Sookhdeo hoped to lead his audience to as he continued to summarize Islamic history. Consider this problem: A pastor in England came to Dr. Sookhdeo and said a group of Muslims in his town had no mosque. The pastor was under pressure to let the Muslims use his church. How would the Bible guide this pastor? Getting back to the lecture, Dr. Sookhdeo said that Islam's own relationship with Christianity was decided by a Muslim council around 633, a year after Muhammad died. The Koran imposes a long list of religious duties on Muslims - prayer, fasting, almsgiving, etc. - but it does not provide any assurance of forgiveness for sins or eternal life. In fact, it says all Muslims will enter hell (Koran 19:71), and Muslims have debated whether this stop will be short, long, or eternal. The only way to be sure of going to heaven is to die in the cause of Allah - to die in Holy War to spread Islam - so Islam became a warrior religion. Before he died, Muhammad sent threatening letters to neighboring Syria and Egypt, just as Osama bin Laden sends messages to the West today, demanding certain actions and threatening consequences. To purify Arabia, all traces of Judaism, Christianity, and paganism had been wiped out there by Muhammad's death. But his followers needed to decide how to deal with Jews and Christians in conquered lands. Because Jews and Christians are what Koran calls "People of the Book," it was decided to let them live if they paid the Jizya. Pagans and atheists were simply slaughtered. Once a year Jews and Christians would gather in a special place, prostrate themselves to the Muslims to pay their tax, and be struck a blow with a sword. The Muslims overran Syria in 634 and Egypt in 636 but they soon ran into a problem. To avoid humiliation, losing their wives and children, and paying the jizya, nominal Jews and Christians converted to Islam! To find new sources of revenue to support their empire the Muslims conquered almost all the known world over the next 90 years - from the backdoor of China to southern France, where they were stopped by Charles the Hammer in 722. Some Euros today propose the model for "living" with Islam to be Andalusia - Spain when it was under control of the Muslims. But Dr. Sookhdeo said the notion that Islam was ever tolerant once it gained control is a complete myth. The persecution inflicted upon Jews and Christians when Islam conquered the Holy Land justified the idea of a military campaign to liberate them - the Crusades - but the Crusades were not carried out in accordance with Christian principles so Jews and Eastern Christians suffered more than Muslims from them. Still, Dr. Sookhdeo agreed the Catholic Church was right to officially retract Pope John Paul II's apology to Muslims for the Crusades. In areas conquered by Islam, Christians were not allowed to share the gospel or build churches, so Christianity effectively died in 200 to 300 years in areas that were not liberated. Dr. Sookhdeo's conclusion was stark: "Islam cannot have a relationship with Christianity where Christianity has been defeated." Christianity simply dies a slow but steady death. So what does this fact - and the Bible - tell us about how the Church ought to confront Islam? I'll give you the answer tomorrow, but here's how Dr. Sookhdeo answered the pastor who was pressured to let Muslims use his church. Dr. Sookhdeo - an Anglican Canon - told that pastor, "Absolutely not, that would be wrong." The pastor then asked if Dr. Sookhdeo would write a paper explaining why it was wrong. Sookhdeo said, "If you don't know why it's wrong, I'm not going to tell you." I'll do better than that tomorrow. BTW, why do you think Christopher Columbus wanted to find a westward sea route to China and Japan? If you answered because Islam controlled the eastern over-land trade routes you'd be spot on! |
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