Why do Muslims have their own religion?

[Rolltide]

I know this is probably the wrong forum to be asking these questions since We’re mainly Christian and Catholic but I don’t belong to any Muslim forums.

If this is truly what they believe, I still don’t understand why they would refer to Him as the “Messiah” at all, then. Whose Messiah is Jesus and what is the true understanding of the Messiah? If their understanding of what the Messiah is is different, have they defined what the Messiah should be? I’m genuinely curious to know.

I’m sorry if it seems like my questions keep going on and on. My questions are somewhat rhetorical in the sense that I’m just trying to get as much information as possible to comprehend the Muslim belief in the Messiah. I have seen an ex-Muslim on the forums and would love his (name removed by moderator)ut if at all possible.

From what I can gather searching the internet, most Muslims believe that the purpose of the Messiah is simply to defeat the antichrist at the end of time. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it:

The Qur’an states Jesus the Son of Mary (Arabic: Isa ibn Maryum) was the Messiah or “Prophet” sent to the Jews,[Quran 3:45] and Muslims believe Jesus is alive in Heaven and will return to Earth to defeat the Antichrist (Arabic: Dajjal).

A hadith in Abu Dawud (37:4310) says:

Narrated Abu Hurayrah: The Prophet said: There is no prophet between me and him, that is, Jesus. He will descend (to the earth). When you see him, recognise him: a man of medium height, reddish hair, wearing two light yellow garments, looking as if drops were falling down from his head though it will not be wet. He will fight for the cause of Islam. He will break the cross, kill the swine, and put an end to war (in another Tradition, there is the word Jizyah instead of Harb (war), meaning that he will abolish jizyah); God will perish all religions except Islam. He [Jesus] will destroy the Antichrist whom will live on the earth for forty days and then he will die. The Muslims will pray behind him.

Both Sunni and Shia Muslims agree al-Mahdi will arrive first (See the quote below about al-Mahdi), and after him, Jesus. Jesus will proclaim that the true leader is al-Mahdi. A war, literally Jihad (Jihade Asghar) will be fought—the Dajjal (evil) against al-Mahdi and Jesus (good). This war will mark the approach of the coming of the Last Day. After Jesus slays al-Dajjāl at the Gate of Lud, he will bear witness and reveal that Islam is indeed the true and last word from God to humanity as Yusuf Ali’s translation reads: “And there is none of the People of the Book but must believe in him before his death; and on the Day of Judgment He will be a witness against them.[Quran 4:159]” He will live for several years, marry, have children and will be buried in Medina.

A hadith in Sahih Bukhari (Sahih al-Bukhari, 4:55:658) says:

Allah’s Apostle said “How will you be when the son of Mary descends amongst you and your Imam is from amongst you.”

Very few scholars outside of mainstream Islam reject all the quotes (Hadith) attributed to Prophet Muhammad that mention the second return of Jesus, the Dajjal and Imam Mahdi, believing that they have no Qur’anic basis. However, Quran emphatically rejects the implication of termination of Jesus’ life when he was allegedly crucified. Yusuf Ali’s translation reads "That they said (in boast), “We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah”;― but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not.― (157) Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise. (158) Verses [Quran 4:157] imply that Jesus was not killed physically but it was it made to appear. Verse [Quran 19:33] “So Peace is on me the day I was born, the day that I die and the day that I shall be raised up to life (again)”! implies that Jesus will die someday. The unified opinion of Islam maintains that the bodily death of Jesus will happen after his second coming.

Al-Mahdi:
In Islamic eschatology, the Mahdi (Arabic: مهدي‎ / ISO 233: mahdī / English: Guided One) is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will stay on Earth for seven, nine or nineteen years- (according to various interpretations) before the Day of Judgment (yawm al-qiyamah / literally, the Day of Resurrection) and, alongside Jesus, will rid the world of wrongdoing, injustice and tyranny.

In Shia Islam, the belief in the Mahdi is a “central religious idea” and closely related as the Twelfth Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, whose return from occultation is deemed analogous with the coming of the Mahdi

 

[thistle]

I assume an equivalent comment about Jesus would not be acceptable to you, and not only on the grounds of truth, but because of the element of gratuitous offensiveness. Why then do you, Thistle, feel that such a statement is acceptable about Muslims?

Christianity is the true religion and the fulfillment of Judaism. All other religions are false. In the case of Islam it is a false and violent religion established by a man (a killer actually) who was fooled into thinking the Angel Gabriel appeared to him. It was actually Satan. The “religion” is a deviant mixture of Judaism and Christianity.

 

[Sam_777]

They would probably say that because the Old and New Testament were corrupted, we have a completely faulty understanding of what the “Messiah” actually is. For Muslims, this is the whole reason that God had to select another prophet in the first place - to correct the errors in the Biblical texts. (In a somewhat similar manner, Jews have a completely different understanding of what the “Messiah” is compared to Christians, although they would say we simply misinterpret scripture, not that it’s completely wrong.)

http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon14.gif A good explanation Rolltide…

 

[Hokomai]

Christianity is the true religion and the fulfillment of Judaism. All other religions are false. In the case of Islam it is a false and violent religion established by a man (a killer actually) who was fooled into thinking the Angel Gabriel appeared to him. It was actually Satan. The “religion” is a deviant mixture of Judaism and Christianity.

So Thistle, how do you know this? Is it in line with the teaching of the Catholic Church?

 

[thistle]

So Thistle, how do you know this? Is it in line with the teaching of the Catholic Church?

Which parts?

 

[Hokomai]

Thistle I am asking you if your claims that Judaism is ‘false’ and that the Koran was inspired by Satan are claims supported by the teaching of the Catholic Church. If so, which teachings?

 

[rightofcenter77]

It is charitable of you to attribute only the best intentions, and meaning, to what Thistle said. One of the things I admire about the Church is its encouragement to put the best possible interpretation on the acts of others. But Thistle, even within the framework of Catholicism, has no basis whatsoever to attribute the Prophet’s actions to Satan. Even if the Prophet is in error, there are other possible, and more charitable, explanations such as genuine misinterpretation of experiences. I am not a believer, and I know what the Bible, and the Koran, has to say about people like me. But I also support freedom of religion and peace. I think we secure the first, an get the second, by encouraging religious people to follow what the Church says in their discussions with people from other religions. I try to do this myself, with varying degrees of success, and failure.

I don’t approach this topic from a “freedom of religion” point of view. That concept is a secular one. While the Church encourages tolerance and understanding, we certainly don’t deny that Catholicism is the truth. It is through our charity that we pray we can plant the seeds of Christ in people’s hearts.

So as to what Thistle was saying, he is simply stating that Islam is false. While perhaps the way he presented it makes it seem as though he was being provocative, let us not forget how many times in the Gospels that Jesus cured people of demons. From that I think its safe to surmise that, while man is capable of some very heinous deeds on his own, we can’t discount the influence of the devil on us.

 

[Dirt]

For more writtings on the history of Islam and The Church:
catholicapologetics.info/apologetics/islam/index.htm

Some are insightful and fair, some are slanted.

And for those who challenge a direct refutation of islam, i ask this:
If the revelation of God’s divine plan ended with the Acension of Jesus Christ and the passing of the original Apostles, how is it that mohammed came around in the 600’s and then established a new Divine revelation creating a New Faith?
Our Lord Prayed" [21] That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. ". How can Jesus be the One, and yet 600 years later another “one” comes along fo a different group of people. Either Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God fulfilling all of the Old Testament Prophecies and establishing the Kingdom, or He was just another prophet like all the others and so was mohammed. It cannot be both. I for one choose Jesus!

 

[pilchard]

I have always liked C.S. Lewis distinction between religion (man’s search for God) and faith (“God’s search for man”)

Obviously this usage/distinction between “faith” and “religion” is particular to Lewis but accepting his terminology we can observe that it is small wonder that there are so many different religions in the world as man seeks to come to an understanding and knowledge of the ineffable God - but Christianity is more than just a religion - Christianity is a faith because Christianity is not so much man’s search for God - as God’s search for man - a God who “tabernacled among us” - dwelt among us and died for us.

So - if Buddhism is man’s search for the God within - well we worship the God within - the Holy Spirit.
If Hindu / New Age is man’s search for the God without - well we worship the God without - God the Son - the Word made Flesh, Jesus Christ
If Islam is man’s search for the God beyond - well we worship the God beyond - God the Father

So although we do not claim to have a monopoly on truth - we do boast its fullness

God Bless

P

 

[AmbroseSJ]

I have always liked C.S. Lewis distinction between religion (man’s search for God) and faith (“God’s search for man”)

Obviously this usage/distinction between “faith” and “religion” is particular to Lewis but accepting his terminology we can observe that it is small wonder that there are so many different religions in the world as man seeks to come to an understanding and knowledge of the ineffable God - but Christianity is more than just a religion - Christianity is a faith because Christianity is not so much man’s search for God - as God’s search for man - a God who “tabernacled among us” - dwelt among us and died for us.

So - if Buddhism is man’s search for the God within - well we worship the God within - the Holy Spirit.
If Hindu / New Age is man’s search for the God without - well we worship the God without - God the Son - the Word made Flesh, Jesus Christ
If Islam is man’s search for the God beyond - well we worship the God beyond - God the Father

So although we do not claim to have a monopoly on truth - we do boast its fullness

God Bless

P

The problem with CS Lewis’ idea is that Religion is reduced to a work of man. However John Henry Newman looked upon religion as a receptacle of Divine Revelation so that a true Religion was also a Divine one. In this view, there can only be one true Religion. A person can have Faith in any religion, based on his own lights. Therefore presenting an opposite approach to Religion.

That is why Muslim’s believe in Islam, it contains Divine Revelation. That is also why Christians and Jews believe in their own religions. The problem is sorting out which religion really has Divine Revelation, and which don’t.

 

[meltzerboy]

I have always liked C.S. Lewis distinction between religion (man’s search for God) and faith (“God’s search for man”)

Obviously this usage/distinction between “faith” and “religion” is particular to Lewis but accepting his terminology we can observe that it is small wonder that there are so many different religions in the world as man seeks to come to an understanding and knowledge of the ineffable God - but Christianity is more than just a religion - Christianity is a faith because Christianity is not so much man’s search for God - as God’s search for man - a God who “tabernacled among us” - dwelt among us and died for us.

So - if Buddhism is man’s search for the God within - well we worship the God within - the Holy Spirit.
If Hindu / New Age is man’s search for the God without - well we worship the God without - God the Son - the Word made Flesh, Jesus Christ
If Islam is man’s search for the God beyond - well we worship the God beyond - God the Father

So although we do not claim to have a monopoly on truth - we do boast its fullness

God Bless

P

Interesting comparison. I’ve heard a similar argument, but with a different conclusion, in reference to Catholic Church architecture compared to Muslim Temple architecture. The former with its spiral, skyscraper construction symbolizes Man’s reaching up to G-d, whereas the latter with its rounded dome symbolizes G-d’s reaching down to Man.

 

[Pitcharan]

I’m not an expert in Islam but have some knowledge about it. First, Islam does claim that Jesus was the Messiah, but it does not believe Him to be G-d, or the Son of G-d. Second, you’re correct in stating that Islam regards Muhammad as a Prophet, in fact the last and greatest of the Prophets. This cannot be in accord with Judaism since the latter believes that the Era of the Major Prophets ended before Jesus and will return only at the start of the Messianic Age. Moreover, Judaism believes that Moses was the greatest of the Prophets and does not accept Muhammad as a Prophet at all. Therefore, Islam is not a logical extension of Judaism or Christianity. While Islam does acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah and the Prophets of the Hebrew Bible, at the same time it dismisses much of the writing of both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament as distorted human versions of the truth. Only the Qur’an is thought to be the divinely inspired Word of G-d (Allah), and so Islam stands on the teachings of the Qur’an, not the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament.

Are you sure that Islam did not exist before Prophet Muhammad PBUH. Were not the Arabs circumcised descendants of Ishmael? What religion did Arabia follow earlier? What religion did Abrtaham’s son Ishmael follow? When the Law was revealed to Moses, it would certainly have come to the Ishmaelites too, since Moses’ father-in-law was an Ishmaelite priest.

 

[dandingo]

Thanks again for all of the responses. If I’m understanding correctly, Islam actually holds Jesus in an extremely high regard as their “Messiah”, but for some reason hold Muhammed in an even higher regard? They believe that Jesus is the Messiah based on the Gospels but don’t hold that the Gospels were inspired by God just as they believe in the Torah but not the fact that it was divinely inspired?

So in other words, God allowed both the Jews and the Christians to be deceived for thousands of years until the time of Muhammed?

 

[Dirt]

Are you sure that Islam did not exist before Prophet Muhammad PBUH. Were not the Arabs circumcised descendants of Ishmael? What religion did Arabia follow earlier? What religion did Abrtaham’s son Ishmael follow? When the Law was revealed to Moses, it would certainly have come to the Ishmaelites too, since Moses’ father-in-law was an Ishmaelite priest.

Try this tretise on the history of islam:
catholicapologetics.info/apologetics/islam/dislam.htm

 

[nostik]

I became a Baha’i in April this year after being a cradle Catholic for 48 years.God’s revelation is appropriate to man’s evolution intellectually.He manifested Himelf in Abraham,Moses,Jesus,Mohammed pbuh and Baha’u’llah.God reveals Himself in proportion to our ablity to comprehend.That is why Moslems practice Islam and Christians practice Christianity.Hopefully one day all will recognise Gods revelation in the beauty of His manifestation Baha’u’llah

 

[Rolltide]

Are you sure that Islam did not exist before Prophet Muhammad PBUH. Were not the Arabs circumcised descendants of Ishmael? What religion did Arabia follow earlier? What religion did Abrtaham’s son Ishmael follow? When the Law was revealed to Moses, it would certainly have come to the Ishmaelites too, since Moses’ father-in-law was an Ishmaelite priest.

Before the birth of Muhammad, Arabs generally followed polytheistic tribal religions, although Judaism and Christianity were known, as were Persian religions and some measure of Indian religion, due to Arabia’s location as a crossroads of trade.

 

[Rolltide]

Thanks again for all of the responses. If I’m understanding correctly, Islam actually holds Jesus in an extremely high regard as their “Messiah”, but for some reason hold Muhammed in an even higher regard? They believe that Jesus is the Messiah based on the Gospels but don’t hold that the Gospels were inspired by God just as they believe in the Torah but not the fact that it was divinely inspired?

So in other words, God allowed both the Jews and the Christians to be deceived for thousands of years until the time of Muhammed?

They would probably argue that Christians and Jews weren’t completely deceived, but rather that errors in translations and the recopying or retelling of lost documents allowed errors to slowly build over time until it became a crisis when people started worshiping Jesus as God and proclaiming a Trinity.

 

[MartinJordan]

Doubt we’ll get any resolution to the Islamic beliefs. I say this because Muslims dare not question how their religion came about. They will not check historical proofs nor trust anything that isn’t Arabic literature is not worth deciphering… They pride themselves in that Arabic is the mosty trustworthy language and anything other than it is dubious even if either Jews or Christians try to prove their Scriptures were NOT corrupted.

MJ

 

[thistle]

Thistle I am asking you if your claims that Judaism is ‘false’ and that the Koran was inspired by Satan are claims supported by the teaching of the Catholic Church. If so, which teachings?

The Catholic faith is the true Faith. Obviously that means all others are false. The can’t be more than one true faith.
The Church clearly teaches there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church.

“Outside the Church there is no salvation”

CCC 846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:

Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.

 

[thistle]

Thistle I am asking you if your claims that Judaism is ‘false’ and that the Koran was inspired by Satan are claims supported by the teaching of the Catholic Church. If so, which teachings?

I did not say Judaism was false. I said Judaism was fulfilled by the coming of Christ.
See my other post on no salvation outside the Church.