The Islamic Antichrist (17 page)

They do blaspheme who say: Allah is one of three in a Trinity: for there is no god except One Allah. If they desist not from their word [of blasphemy], verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them. (Sura 5:73; Yusuf Ali)

Thus belief in the Trinity is also defined as blasphemy. But what is the “grievous penalty” that shall befall those who believe such things? Well, as we saw in previous chapters, many Muslims ironically expect their version of Jesus to return and kill these “polytheist Trinitarian Christians.”

And the Qur’an does not stop at denying that Jesus is the Son of God or that God exists as a Trinity.

ISLAM DENIES THE CROSS

With tears in his eyes, Paul the Apostle warned the Thessalonians that, “many live as enemies of the cross of Christ” (Philippians 3:18). It should not come as a surprise, then, that Islam also denies the most central event of all of redemptive history: the crucifixion of Jesus. Speaking to the Jews of Jesus’ day, the Qur’an says:

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: Nay, Allah raised him up unto himself; and Allah is exalted in power, wise. (Sura 4:157–8; Yusuf Ali)

Islamic scholars put forth conflicting theories regarding exactly what happened to Jesus. (Ironically, regarding this issue it is actually they who are the ones who have “only conjecture to follow.”) But despite the inability of Muslims to arrive at any
form of consensus regarding what happened to Jesus, they are very much in agreement on at least one issue:
He was not crucified!
This passage of the Qur’an makes at least this much clear.

HOW DOES THE ANTICHRIST SPIRIT OF ISLAM AFFECT MUSLIMS?

So we see that Islam very specifically and very deliberately denies all three of the doctrines that the Apostle John says the antichrist spirit will deny. The Qur’an does not merely deny these doctrines but expresses utter disdain for them, actually cursing those who believe these things, accusing them of gross blasphemy. But how do these Qur’anic attitudes then affect Muslims? This statement may sound strong, but in all of my years of outreach, interfaith dialogue, and casual conversations with those who are not Christians, the two groups that I have personally witnessed expressing the strongest degree of contempt and mockery toward the Gospel have been Satanists and Muslims. (Yes, believe it or not, I’ve actually had quite involved conversations with more than a few Satanists.) Now, let me be clear that I am in no way trying to liken all Muslims to Satanists. I have met many wonderful and decent Muslims who would never express any form of blatant disrespect for Christian doctrine, even if they secretly felt that way. But I am speaking very truthfully when I say that in terms of my personal experiences of witnessing assaults toward the Gospel message, only Satanists and Muslims have expressed such a high degree of venomous disgust. While many religions and systems of belief exist that do not agree with the doctrines of Christianity—many of which do not even believe in God—only Islam fills the role of a religion that exists to deny core Christian beliefs. And of course, following the lead of the Qur’an, the three doctrines most severely and most often attacked and mocked by Muslims are the doctrines of the Trinity, the divine incarnation, and the atoning sacrifice/crucifixion of Jesus. I recently saw a suggestion by a Muslim on an Internet discussion group for a bumper sticker. It read: “Divine Insanity: God died on the cross to save
his own creation from his own wrath.” One Muslim friend insists on referring to Jesus as a “god-man sandwich.” I have weathered innumerable accusations that, by believing in the historic Christian God, I am no different than a pagan polytheistic idol worshipper. Many times I have been told that the doctrine of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus is as archaic and pagan as a human sacrifice to some kind of “volcano god.” I have been accused of believing in a God who is a “sadistic child abuser.” I have seen attempts to liken Jesus’ death on the Cross to a suicide bombing. I have even weathered the mocking of the Christian God as a “blood-thirsty vampire.”

If you are a Christian and you love God, I’m sure these statements grieve you as they grieve me, and I apologize for repeating them. I don’t relate these attacks in any way to provoke negative feelings against Muslims. Please do not come away with any such feelings! My reason for relating these examples is to acquaint you with the blatant antichrist spirit that resides within the religion of Islam and that many Muslims therefore manifest. We should not be surprised then to find that one of the descriptions of the Antichrist is that he will be very fond of uttering great blasphemies against the God of the Bible:

The king will do as he pleases. He will…say unheard-of things against the God of gods. (Daniel 11:36)

He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints. (Daniel 7:25)

The Qur’an itself expresses such blasphemies. As someone who is in continual dialogue with numerous Muslims from all over the world, I can testify that the blatant antichrist spirit that we saw expressed in the previous Qur’anic passages quite often blooms into an overt disdain and utter contempt, not only for Christian beliefs, but also for Christians themselves. While this is not always the case, should we really be surprised when Muslims act out against those whom the Qur’an curses as idolatrous infidel blasphemers? And if we are being realistic,
should we expect the future of Islam to rest with those Muslims who identify with the Qur’anic scorn for Christians, or with those who show an amiable attitude despite the curses of their own holy book?

In regard to whether or not Islam is specifically
the
antichrist system that the Bible foretells, there can be no question that this, the second-largest, fastest-growing religion in the world, is, and has been from its inception, the quintessence of the very antichrist spirit about which John the Apostle warned us.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

ISLAM’S ANCIENT HATRED FOR THE JEWS

W
hile Islam envisions the day
when Christians and Jews will convert to Islam
en masse
, Islam’s end-time narrative makes a distinction between the final destiny of Christians and that of Jews. In Islam’s version of the last days, we see that all Christians will either accept Islam or be killed. Certainly, when we look at this final picture, it is impossible to say that Islam has any real affinity for Christians or Christianity. But when analyzing Islamic teaching and traditions about the Jews, one gets a very cold feeling that the only destiny that Islam has marked out for Jews is that of an absolute and total slaughter. We see in the Islamic traditions a dark and very persistent hatred for Jews nearly identical to the ideology expressed through Nazism. The Qur’an and the Islamic traditions fully support and nurture this ideology of hatred. For instance, speaking of Jews, the Qur’an says:

Amongst them we [Allah] have placed enmity and hatred till the Day of Judgment. Every time they kindle the fire of war, Allah doth extinguish it; but they [ever] strive to do mischief on earth. And Allah loveth not those who do mischief. (Sura 5:64; Yusuf Ali)

This verse makes it clear that there will be “enmity and hatred” against the Jews until the very end of the present age. So much for those who claim that the Qur’an’s scorn for Jews is limited only to specific historical incidences in Muhammad’s career. Not only does the Qur’an portray Jews as those who start wars and cause general mischief on the earth, but it also claims that Allah was so
disgusted by the Jews that he cursed them and transformed many of them into “apes and swine,” assigning them the lowest “rank” among humankind:

When in their insolence they transgressed [all] prohibitions, we said to them: “Be ye apes, despised and rejected.” (Sura 7:166; Yusuf Ali)

Those who incurred the curse of Allah and his wrath, those of whom some he transformed into apes and swine, those who worshipped evil—these are [many times] worse in rank, and far more astray from the even path! (Sura 5:60; Yusuf Ali)

And well ye knew those amongst you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath: We said to them: “
Be ye apes, despised and rejected
.” (Sura 2:65; Yusuf Ali, emphasis mine)

Among the more anti-Semitic and vocal Muslims, these verses have become absolute favorites. Walid Shoebat, a former Muslim, grew up in the Palestinian territories. Recalling a school trip to the Jerusalem zoo as a child, Walid relates, “The Islamic teacher would tell us, ‘This gorilla was originally a Jew.’ I look at this now and I think, this is what Nazism teaches—in its worst form. This is being taught throughout the entire Middle East.”
¹
Whereas the Nazis called Jews subhuman “vermin” in order to justify their inhumane treatment of the Jews, the Muslim world follows the lead of the Qur’an in dehumanizing the Jewish race.

Now, at this point the enterprising Muslim apologist will be quick to argue that while many verses in the Qur’an speak of the Jews in such a negative manner, other verses speak of the Jews in a more positive manner. While true, this is also misleading. In his highly informative book,
Islam and the Jews
, Mark A. Gabriel, a former Muslim imam and professor of Islamic history at the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Cairo, addresses this misunderstanding of Islam’s disposition toward the Jews. Gabriel explains that, according to Islamic theology, those verses in the Qur’an that appear to be “nice” toward the Jews are understood to be canceled out (
mansookh
) by the verses revealed to Muhammad
later in his “prophetic” career. This is based on the idea of “progressive revelation” in Islam, whereby if you have any verses that seem to contradict one another, the newer revelations given to Muhammad negate or cancel out the older revelations. This is an established and well-understood doctrine in Islam called
nasik
.
²
Many Qur’ans even include a chart in the back that lists which verses are older and which are newer so Muslims can know which verses are cancelled out and which verses remain. Because the verses that are inflammatory and aggressive toward the Jews are newer verses, they cancel out any that might have a more conciliatory tone. This understanding is well known throughout the Islamic world.

As we trace the growth and development of anti-Semitism in Islam, we see that unfortunately it is not limited to the Qur’an, but rather seems to find an even fuller expression in the infamous hadith about the final slaughter of the Jews. We have already quoted this tradition more than once, but shall quote it again here one last time:

[Muhammad said]: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say:
Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him
; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.
³
(emphasis mine)

This apocalyptic belief of a future battle against Israel and the murder of all Jews is a deeply held belief among many Muslims. And we must remember that these anti-Semitic traditions and verses from the Qur’an are over a thousand years old. These sacred Islamic traditions of a final slaughter of all Jews cannot be attributed to the present-day conflict with the state of Israel. Although many today try to blame Muslim enmity toward Jews solely on Zionism and its alleged “Nazi-like” abuse of the victimized and oppressed Palestinians, it simply cannot be done in an honest and informed manner. The enmity of Islam toward the
Jews has existed since Islam’s inception. It is not a new phenomenon. And today Islam and the Muslim world is undeniably the single most anti-Semitic force on the earth. Palestinians in particular use the anti-Semitic apocalyptic template as a basis for many of their actions toward Israel and the Jews. Although this template is in fact one of the primary factors fueling the ongoing present conflict in Israel, it is also the most often overlooked factor by secular observers who attempt to judge the present conflict on the basis of a moral equivalency. The following quotes are all translated portions of sermons from recent years delivered by Sheikh Ibrahim Madhi, the officially appointed imam of the Palestinian Authority. Notice the overwhelming reliance upon the previously discussed verses and traditions that are used to justify and support the hatred against the Jews: