Islam - a Determined March to World Domination

The Muslim faith is expanding rapidly and at present represents 22% of the world's population - that is about 1,4 billion people. In various Western countries it is the second largest religion after Christianity. Their radical vision of a world under the political and religious authority of Allah and his followers makes it the greatest non-Christian religious power in the modern world. The oil-riches of the Islamic nations enable them to widely distribute the Qur'an and other literature, build mosques in many countries, and offer religious justification and financial assistance to the political aspirations of various anti-Western or anti-Jewish groups, thereby advancing their objective of world domination on different fronts.

The weakening of Christianity in Europe and North America counts in the favour of Islam as very little resistance is offered to them in the traditional Christian world. It has even become a new fad among many westerners to convert to Islam. While Christianity is described as a dead faith which is abandoning all its principles, Islam is depicted as a vital, alternative way of worshipping the same Creator-God and subjecting the whole world to His authority.

Many people are attracted to Islam because of its strong moral norms. It stands in strong contrast to apostatising Christian churches that have become so permissive and unprincipled that they openly allow liquor abuse, extra-marital relations, homosexuality, and other immoral practices. Many western women are even prepared to accept the inferior social status which is assigned to them by Islam, just for the sake of having fixed norms and security in life.

However, the matter is not that simple as there is a dark and evil side of Islam's march to world domination. With its origin and strong support-base in the Middle East, Islam is well positioned to launch a major assault on Christianity and Judaism, which also originated from the Middle East. It is the clear intention of Islam to brand Christianity and Judaism as outmoded monotheistic religions that should be replaced by Islam and the Qur'an as "the final revelation of Allah."

Many Christians are not aware of the full implications of the rise of Islamic states in the Middle East. They do not realise that their extension of power is aimed at establishing a comprehensive Islamic ideology in the world. At its core it is religious, but this ideology embraces the entire culture of a people as it also constitutes Islamic political, social, and educational institutions, as well as Islamic morality and sharia law. Islamic fundamentalism is incompatible with and hostile towards all other ideologies and religions in the world.

Islam sees itself as the exclusive and only genuinely monotheistic religion and wants to establish itself as such universally and firmly. They are using every conceivable method of reaching their goal. On the one hand, there are the soft methods of attempting to falsify and malign Judaistic and Christian religious concepts by assigning to the Qur'an the status of the final revelation of God. In the interfaith movement they attempt to embrace the other religions in the arms of Islam. On the other hand, they follow tough methods of confrontation and violence in which their opponents are compelled to submit to Allah. The jihad (holy war) is used to enforce this method. The jihadists are becoming more and more prominent and militant in Islam's bid to succeed in its goals.

History of origin

Name

Islam means subservient to the will and words of Allah, and is the official name of this religion. A Muslim is a person who practises the Islamic teachings. Thus, the Muslim religion is also an acceptable title. Because the words of Allah were revealed to the prophet Mohammed, the Islamic faith was in the past often referred to as Mohammedanism.

Origin

The Jews and most of the Arab groups have the same origin in that they both descended from Abraham. The Arabs derive from the natural son, Ishmael, whose mother was an Egyptian slave woman, Hagar. The Jews derive from Abraham's other son, Isaac, the son of promise, whose mother was Sarah. The Bible clearly promises that the Messiah (Christ) would be born from Abraham's descendants through Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and David (Gen. 12:3; 17:19; 26:1-3; 28:1-4; 49:8-10; Ps. 132:11; Luke 1:32; Acts 13:22-23; Rom. 9:6-7; Gal. 3:14). This is the Christian line through which God's universal plan of salvation was prepared. Romans 9:6-7 settles this controversy beyond any doubt.

Ishmael's progeny and that of Esau intermarried (Gen. 36:3), and from these two sons of Abraham and Isaac respectively, arose the Amalekites, the Edomites, Philistines, and also the Arab peoples of today. The prophet Mohammed was born in this line of descent. That is the line associated with the enemies of Israel, who also reject the God of the Bible and the promised Messiah of Israel. The Muslim Arabs, however, insist that the promises of God to Abraham were transmitted through his eldest son, Ishmael, to his descendants. Since the promises belong to them, God would make His final revelation through them; consequently, they view the Jewish and Christian religions as false.

Founder of Islam

Mohammed was born in Mecca in 570 AD. His father's name was Abdullah (Servant of Allah). By the age of six both his parents had died and Mohammed lived first with his poor grandfather and then with his impoverished uncle. He never learned to read or write and was compelled to contend for himself from a very early age. He worked for a caravan dealer and lived a nomadic life. During his travels with camel trains through Arabia, he also visited Syria where he came in contact with Judaism and Christianity.

At the age of 25 Mohammed married a wealthy 40 year old widow. He discontinued his caravan trade and became a merchant in Mecca where he spent much time in meditation. At 40 years of age, Mohammed received a vision while he was alone in a cave 5 kilometres from Mecca. According to him, the angel Gabriel appeared to him saying that he was sent by Allah.

In his book Who is this Allah? G.J.O. Moshay says that when Mohammed became inspired, he fell to the ground shaking and perspiring profusely. His eyes would be closed and he would foam at the mouth. Eye witnesses say that his face looked like that of a young camel. He also developed intense headaches and his helpers bathed his head in henna. Sometimes his comas were shallow, at which times he would reel as a drunkard while retaining a measure of consciousness.

According to Islamic tradition as recorded in the Hadith, Mohammed was not initially certain as to whether the revelations he received were divine or demonic. His wife, however, encouraged him to open himself to these influences assuming that they originated from the angel Gabriel. Mohammed was clearly a medium to high-ranking spirits. They took possession of him and established extra-sensory contact with his spirit and mind. He could at any time recite the long messages that he received from them. His servants would then write down his words, thereby producing the first records of what later became Islam's holy book, the Qur'an.

The pre-Islamic Arabs worshipped many gods. Their most important shrine was, and still is, the Ka'abah in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is a stone structure which was rebuilt ten times over. The present Ka'abah was built in 696. It measures 12 by 10,5 metres and 15 metres high. Inside of this structure is the famous black stone, apparently a meteorite. The Ka'abah is covered with a black cloth richly adorned with quotes from the Qur'an.

During the time of Mohammed, 365 idols were worshipped here. Allah was one of this extensive pantheon of pre-Islamic gods, and was recognised as the god of the Kuraish tribe to which Mohammed's family belonged. Four years after his vision in the cave, Mohammed began to proclaim the idea that Allah was the only god and that he (Mohammed) was Allah's prophet.

Mohammed's wife and slaves were his first converts. Resistance to his new religion gave rise to death threats against him. As a result, in the year 622 (the beginning of the Islamic calendar) he fled to Medina where he lived until his death in 632. Here he founded a theocratic state, built the first mosque and ruled that Muslims should pray their salât prayers five times daily with their faces in the direction of Mecca. Mohammed introduced the month-long fast of Ramadan as well as the principle of tithing. Relations with Jews and Christians deteriorated, but eventually he offered them freedom of religion in exchange for the payment of taxes.

During his stay in Medina, Mohammed made 66 military expeditions. In 630 he captured Mecca. The religion with a vision for world domination was now firmly entrenched in the Arabian desert.

Religious principles

There are certain religious tenets and methods which are foundational to Islam:

Articles of faith

Mohammed said: "There is no God beside Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet." This is the Islamic doctrinal statement known as the Kalima. To this, he added that eternal life is granted on the grounds of the good works of an individual. The rules for excellence are spelt out and every good Muslim must comply with the following duties, known as the five pillars of Islam:

1.    The Kalima confession of faith must be pronounced correctly and out loud.

2.    Prayers must be offered five times daily: at dawn, noon, afternoon, evening, and at night while bowing and facing Mecca.

3.    Contributions must be made towards the maintenance of the religion and support for the poor and the sick.

4.    Fast during the day in the month of Ramadan.

5.    At least once in a life-time a pilgrimage (Hajj) should be undertaken to Mecca.

According to some sources, a sixth pillar is added, that of the holy war (jihad) as an instrument of subjecting all people to the authority of Allah. There are moderate groups who would deny jihad as a foundational princi­ple of Islam, but they do so because of political expediency and not bec­ause this practice is at variance with the Qur'an.

Faith in Allah is the common factor among the 150 Islamic sects of which the Sunnites, Shiites, Wahabites, and Sufites are the major groups. About 86% of all Muslims are Sunnis. Sunnah means Tradition and refers to the fact that this group upholds a collection of traditions (the hadiths) which are observed on the same level as the Qur'an. They recognise all the kalifs who rule in the Muslim world as successors of Mohammad, while the Shiites regard the first three kalifs as intruders who usurped the position of Mohammad, and whose teachings are also rejected. There is bitter enmity among the Sunnis and Shiites. There are large groups of Shiite Muslims in Iran and Iraq. Iran is the major stronghold of this group. All sects believe in Allah, Mohammed and the Qur'an, but their spiritual leaders and religious traditions differ.

Violence

Mohammed commanded that anyone who would not accept the words of Allah was to be put to death, nailed to trees, or that their hands and legs be amputated (Sura 5:36). According to Sura 47:4 and 7, Allah commands Muslims to decapitate anyone who refuses the doctrines of Islam. Sura 2:190-191 commands that unbelievers must be killed wherever they are found. Mohammed exalted violence to a special virtue. To him a day and a night spent with the sword were to be preferred over thirty days of fasting and prayer.

Allah

In his book, Who is this Allah? (p. 124), Moshay says that Allah is a common noun which merely means the god. The question must be asked: "Which god?" If Allah is a generic term meaning god, it could be the God of the Bible, as this name is used in the Arab Bible, or it could refer to a false god, i.e. the god of the Qur'an. A generic term, like Lord or God in English (Kurios or Theos in Greek, and Elohim in Hebrew) needs to be further qualified as it can have different applications. In 2 Corinthians 4:4 Theos refers to the true God, and theos to the false god of this world, the devil. In Genesis 1:1 and Exodus 20:2 Elohim refers to God, and in Exodus 20:3 and 23 elohim refers to other gods, being the idols, etc. So, if Allah is used to refer to the God of the Bible, He should be clearly distinguished from the Allah who is the god of the Qur'an. They are not the same deity.

However, in a new translation of the Arab Bible (www.arabbible.com) the use of Allah is discontinued as it is argued that it is a proper noun referring only to the god of the Muslims. The translators say: "The textual foundation for Arab Bible is the venerable Van Dyck translation, completed in Lebanon in March 1860... The term used for "God" in the Van Dyck version is ‘Allah.' However, Arab Bible does not use this word at all. Instead, the word ‘al-ilaah' has been employed... The principle is this: that when referring to God, you may use the generic cultural word for ‘god,' but not the proper name of a specific god from that culture (e.g. Baal, Zeus, Allah, Thor, etc.)."

To them, Allah is a proper noun that cannot be applied to another god, while al-ilaah is a common noun that can be used to indicate any god. But what about the millions of Arab Christians who have been saved in the name of the biblical Allah? The translators of the new Arab Bible have asked themselves the same question: "What about our precious Christian brothers and sisters who have been using the term ‘Allah' for years? Does this change leave them out, or make them less in our eyes? Absolutely not! There are many fine believers who use the name of Allah. This change is not meant to question or denigrate their genuine love for the true Saviour, Jesus Christ. There is no hint of condemnation for them. This change is being made with an eye to the future. There are now many Muslims discovering Jesus, and we believe this will only accelerate in the monumental days to come. Following the Lamb of God and making a clean break with Islam will require a tremendous amount of painful sacrifice on the part of many believers. But there are some things worth suffering for" (www.arabbible.com).

If the name Allah is continued to be used by both groups (as at present), it is clearly used as non-specific term that can either be identified as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (the God of the Bible) or as the Islamic god who revealed himself to Mohammad.

The name ‘Allah' as used in the Qur'an, is derived from the pre-Islamic Arab world. 365 different tribal gods were worshipped in the polytheistic religion which was practised in Mecca. After the revelations made to Mohammed in a cave outside Mecca he elevated his own tribal god, Allah, to the position of supreme god. Mohammed did not, like Paul in Athens, proclaim the true God to the idolaters but raised the status of his own god within the pantheon in Mecca and abandoned the 364 others. In the strict sense of the word this is not monotheism but henotheism - the belief in one god among many. The same practice is found in the Hindu faith.

The idea of a supreme God came to Mohammed through exposure to the Christian and Jewish religions. He then modelled Allah after the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by declaring him to be the Creator God. However, he did not ascribe the attribute of ‘Father' to Allah, neither His personal name Yahweh, or His descriptive name ‘the God of Israel,' thereby rendering the god of the Qur'an distinctly different to the God of the Bible.

Mohammed used the religious rituals in the Ka'abah as an opportunity to elevate Allah to the position of supreme ruler of the universe. The way in which it happened is explained by Konrad Meyer in his book The Middle East at the Crossroads, p. 11: "Even before Mohammed, many gods were worshipped at the Ka'abah in Mecca. During the religious festivals in the city, Mohammed stood up and called out: La alla illa allahu! (There is no god besides allah). It later became a basic statement of faith in Islam. The Ka'abah was their first religious shrine. The heart of Islam is its dedication to Allah... Islam is a religion which will always be opposed to Jesus Christ the crucified, risen, and coming Lord."

In the Qur'an, Allah is pictured as a heartless and cruel god who has no mercy. To him, a human being is simply a slave without any power of choice of his own. Allah demands total submission from all people. He is self-centred and cruel, and can only give orders. Belief in such a god can only lead to fatalism.

The Qur'an

The Qur'an is the Muslim's holy book. They believe that the original Qur'an which is written in Arabic (the language of Allah), is in heaven. They see Arabic as the most perfected of all languages and for this reason, the Qur'an has for centuries not been translated into other tongues so that its contents should not be desecrated. Today, however, the Qur'an appears in many languages to make its doctrines more accessible to all nations.

Qur'an means Recite, and the Muslims maintain that its contents were dictated by the angel Gabriel to the illiterate Mohammed whose followers wrote down his words. The Qur'an comprises 114 chapters known as suras. However, Mohammed made many confusing and contradictory statements. The records of his utterances were often rewritten and revised in an effort to eliminate some of the very glaring discrepancies.

The statement is often made that the Qur'an was Mohammed's way of introducing the concepts of Judaism and Christianity to the Arab world. But he refuted these claims himself by describing Islam as the only legitimate and true religion. Mohammed was openly antagonistic towards the Christian faith and Judaism. He cursed the Jews in the name of Allah (Sura 4:42-55), pronounced hatred and prejudice against all who reject Islam, and encouraged his followers to have nothing to do with either the Jews or the Christians:

"O, Believers, do not make peace with either the Jews or the Christians. They are only friends of each other. If any of you becomes their friend, you will become like them! Allah will not lead evil doers" (Sura 5:56).

Holy wars

A recognised method among Allah's followers to establish his authority, and which is advocated in the Qur'an, is through a holy war (jihad). Mohammed first tried to obtain converts through persuasion and conviction, but when that failed, he tried to reach his objectives through force. The sword was thus the general method of spreading Islam in the world. Mohammed also promised his followers that in the event of them dying in a jihad, they would go to paradise.

In the ten years prior to Mohammed's death (622 to 632), the entire Arabian peninsula turned to Islam. His successors capitalised on the powerlessness of the states in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, being ruled from Constantinople. They exhausted themselves in wars against the Persians (the present Iran); consequently, they offered very little opposition to the expansion of Islamic power. In any case, many of the countries had a strong political and religious opposition to Constantinople, with the result that the Arabs were seen as liberators.

By 650 Egypt, including large portions of North Africa as well as Israel, Syria, and the whole of the Persian kingdom, were in the hands of Islam.

In 711, the Moors (Muslims from North Africa) defeated Spain. It was only in 1492 with the fall of Grenada that the Islamic Moorish rule in Spain was ended.

In 1001, the Turkish sultan, Mahmud, began his conquest of India, which paved the way for the later Islamising of India. In 1071, a victory over the East-Roman Empire put large parts of Asia Minor under the rule of Islam.

In 1453 Constantinople (Bisanthia) was conquered by the Turks and brought directly under the influence of Islam. Some of the Christian churches in the city were converted into mosques while impressive new mosques were also built. In 1923 this city was renamed Istanbul.

In the East, the expansion of Islam was very successful. Around 1500 the conversion of Indonesia began. In 1526 a substantial Islamic empire was established in the northern and central parts of India. Akbar the Great was a well-known leader of this empire which survived until the arrival of the British forces in the 18^th century.

In the 16^th and 17^th centuries, the Ottoman Empire of Turkey attempted to invade more countries in Europe in order to advance the vanguard of Islam, but they failed and their influence in Europe declined. The turning-point was in 1683 when an Islamic force of 200 000 men marched on Vienna in the heart of Europe. Kara Mustafa, the general of the Islamic army, was given a green rope by the Turkish sultan with which he had to hang himself should his mission fail. They were on the verge of breaking the walls of the city when they were defeated by a combined Austrian, German and Polish force. Never again did Islamic forces penetrate Europe to that extent. As a result of this defeat they expanded to other parts of the world.

Now, four centuries later, Islam has re-appeared in the heartland of Europe. Aided by the world's highest birth rate, oil riches and the collapsing morale and religious values of the West, Islam is now making unprecedented inroads into the traditional Western Christian civilisation. In their modern expansion, extensive use is made of migration, intimidation, demonstrations, deception and bribery in order to promote their goal of global Islamising. Extensive propaganda campaigns in which a wide range of booklets are used have been launched in many countries. Many of these booklets are specifically aimed at misleading Christians about the Bible.

Conquests in modern times

The expansive fervour of Islam was again awakened by the middle of the 20^th century after the restoration of Israel, and particularly after the discovery of the rich oil-fields in the Arab states. Various Arab nations became economically strong and used their wealth to reclaim the lost glories of Islam. Muslim fundamentalism was revived, resulting in entire countries (their governments, judicial and educational systems, and various other aspects of public life) coming under the authority of the Qur'an's laws (the sharia).

In these countries there would ideally be no monarchy or democracy, but a government headed by religious leaders. Secular governments would be overthrown even if they were in principle pro-Islam. One of the best known Islamic revolutions of this nature is the one that occurred in Iran. Many other nations are under strong pressure of fundamentalists.

The Islamic world revolution is in full swing. Their leaders have millions of oil dollars in their coffers and they are prepared to declare war on anyone who stands in their way. Among their adversaries are Jews, Christians, missionaries of any and every non-Islamic faith, atheists, secular humanists, Muslim dissidents, etc. The universal worship of Allah, as well as the political and economic control of the world by the general observance of the Qur'an's sharia law, are their final objectives.

At an international Islamic conference in London in 1976 it was said: "If we could win London for Islam, it would not be difficult to win the entire Western world." Practical efforts are being made to achieve this ideal. In 1945 there was only one mosque in England, in 1950 there were 25, in 1979 the number rose to 300, and presently there are more than 1000 mosques. The largest mosque in England, together with an Islamic university, is in Regent's Park in the heart of London. It was opened by the queen. There are currently more Muslims in England than Methodists. Many of the church buildings no longer in use are being bought and converted into mosques.

In his book The decline of Christianity and the rise of fanatical Islam, Joshua J. Adler says that since 1960 Western Europe has absorbed millions of Muslim immigrants. This process continues unabated and all indications are that Europe will eventually become Islamic. The historian Bat Ye-or says in her book, Eurabia: "Europe has evolved from a Judeo-Christian civilisation with important secular elements, to Eurabia: a secular-Muslim transitional society with its traditional Judeo-Christian principles rapidly disappearing."

Many Western leaders have fallen victim to Islam's false propaganda by describing it as a peaceful religion. In his newsletter, Berean Call of November 2006 (p. 3-4), Dave Hunt says the following:

"The pope's inexcusable apology for ‘offending' Muslims with the truth is a further example of how the West continues to be intimidated by Muslim threats and encourages their hypocritical denial to themselves and to the world of the horrible truth about Islam. Muslims ought to be ashamed that their ‘god' promises rewards in Paradise for murdering innocent women and children. One would be hard pressed to find terrorism anywhere in the world for which Islam and Muslims are not responsible. Yet they persist with their incredible lie equating Islam with peace and threaten anyone who tells the truth: ‘If you dare criticize Islam as a religion of violence, we will kill you to prove that it is a religion of peace!'

"The shameful fact that Western leaders from Bush to Blair to Chirac to Billy Graham to the pope keep on praising Islam as a religion of peace because of such threats is a betrayal of their responsibility. This surrender to Islam's blackmail will inevitably result in the complete Islamization of the Western world with the loss of the freedoms we hold dear. In fact, Islamization has already reached the point of no return in Europe and especially in Britain - and the US is not far behind...

"We are engaged in a war to the death - not against terrorists and extremists who, as President Bush insists, have ‘hijacked a peaceful religion,' but with Islam itself - a fact that the West refuses to acknowledge. The ‘politically correct' lies, so popular in the West, must be abandoned. We are losing this war and will continue to do so until the West faces the truth that our enemy is not terrorism perpetrated by Muslim ‘extremists' but the violent religion if Islam itself...

"The Qur'an, which Muhammad claimed he received by revelation from Allah through the angel Gabriel, has more than 100 verses commanding the use of violence and slaughter to take over the world, such as: ‘Slay the idolaters [i.e., all who reject Allah as the only god and Muhammad as his prophet] wherever ye find them... besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush' (Surah 9:5)." [End of quote].

One of the primary targets of the Islamic world revolution is Israel, and in particular, the city of Jerusalem. Since the restoration of Israel in 1948, consistent calls were made for the destruction of Israel. After the Jews captured the old part of Jerusalem in the Six Day War in 1967, this call has been intensified. When Jerusalem was declared to be the eternal and undivided capital city of Israel by the former Prime Minister, Mr. Menachem Begin in 1980, Islam's fires of hatred rose to new heights. Various Arab countries committed themselves to a jihad against Israel until the Jewish state has been destroyed and replaced by a Palestinian state. The call for the destruction of Israel is a modern repetition of the war annihilation which Israel's ancient enemies contemplated against them, and through which they also despised the God of Israel:

"Do not keep silent, O God! And do not be still, O God! For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate You... have taken crafty counsel against Your people... They have said: Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more. For they have consulted together with one consent; they form a confederacy against You: the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagarites; Gebal, Ammon and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assyria also joined with them... [they] said, Let us take for ourselves the [houses] of God for a possession. O my God, make them like the whirling dust, like the chaff before the wind!" (Ps. 83:1-8,12-13).

The present Arab nations are the descendants of these ancient peoples. The Edomites were the descendants of Esau (cf. Gen. 25:25,30), while the Ishmaelites and Hagarites descended from Ishmael and his mother, Hagar. Their war is against Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, and against His covenant people. The houses of God which they want to take possession of refer to Jerusalem and, more specifically, the temple and the Temple Mount. God said that Jerusalem is "the city which I have chosen for Myself, to put My name there" (1 Kings 11:36). After having built the temple, God said to Solomon: "I have sanctified this house which you have built, to put My name there for ever" (1 Kings 9:3). Yahweh's Name is forever linked to Jerusalem - it is "the city of the great King" (Ps. 48:2) - but Islam wants to change all that.

Muslims regard their faith as the authentic and unadulterated monotheistic religion, and see it as their duty to discredit Judaism and Christianity with a view to replacing them by Islam. They erected a mosque, the Dome of the Rock, on the site where Israel's temple is to be built. To them, this is the third holiest place on earth after Mecca and Medina. They believe that Mohammed ascended from the rock in this mosque to heaven and again returned with a command to subject the world to the authority of Allah. They foresee that after Israel and their allies have been defeated, Jerusalem will be the capital of an Islamic world empire. Islam's messiah, the Imam Mahdi, is expected to reign from this city.

The Islamic faith has the potential to radicalize people by justifying violent means of imposing the Qur'an upon ‘infidels.' We must not be fooled by the false fronts of peace and amity which they present to their enemies while winning time to strengthen themselves for a future armed struggle which they regard as inevitable. If Islam had any potential of realizing peaceful coexistence, they have the opportunity now to apply it to the violent conflict that has erupted between the Sunni and Shiite factions of their faith - particularly in Iraq. The contrary is true: the supporters of both groups in other countries are assisting them to continue the armed struggle.

Grip on Africa

It is necessary to also highlight some of Islam's intentions with Africa. North Africa is already Muslim dominated, and the followers of Allah are now making great strides in Central and Southern Africa. Large sums of money are given for the erection of mosques by Libya, Saudi Arabia, and other oil-rich Muslim countries. Various countries in black Africa have been deeply penetrated by Islam. In Nigeria, a protracted civil war erupted between Muslim and Christian sectors of society. East Africa has a long history of Arab influencing because of trade ties with the Arabs -during pre-Islamic as well as Islamic times. The Swahili language, which is spoken by more than 100 million people, particularly in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Northern Mozambique, is a mixture of Arabic and African languages.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington says that there are 300 million Muslims in Africa, and they have the potential to form strongholds for extremist groups. The massacre in Sudan renders proof of their intolerance towards other religions. In his book Faith under fire in Sudan, Peter Hammond says the following about Islam's atrocities in that country:

"One of the greatest tragedies in Africa is Sudan... Since 1956 the successive Muslim governments of Sudan have waged a series of vicious wars against the non-Muslim Black population in the South... Since 1993 the government of Sudan army and militia have subjected the Nuba Mountains area to a scorched earth campaign. The Muslim military units have looted or destroyed civilian grain supplies and cattle, bombed their villages, enslaved large numbers of people and engaged in arbitrary detention, torture and summary executions of Christians and animist Blacks... Tragically, the cost of this Islamic Revolution for Sudan has so far been a devastated economy, a divided country, and the deaths of approximately two million people."

South Africa is also a target for rapid Islamic expansion. Saudi Arabia is one of the main sponsors of the Islamic Propagation Centre International in Durban, from which an incredible amount of Islamic propaganda in the form of publications and advertisements goes out. Some of these publications are highly inflammatory, like the one with the title Crucifixion or Cruci-fiction? In this booklet by Ahmed Deedat the honour and deity of Jesus is attacked in the worst possible manner:

• Jesus is depicted as a misfit and His soul-rending Gethsemane experience mocked as cowardice (p. 20-21, 29). He is shown to be an unwilling sacrifice (p. 16) because He didn't know about God's contract that He had to die.
• That the disciples could not stay awake to watch with Jesus is mockingly ascribed to over-indulging in food and drink: "Food and drink was all on the house" (p. 18).
• The burial and resurrection of Jesus is brought into disrepute by referring to it as fraud (p. 42-43).
• The deity of Jesus is attacked and called a pagan influence which tries to make Jesus a God (p. 25).
• Deedat also mocks the Holy Spirit: "If these verses were inspired by God, then, it seems, that the poor ‘Holy Ghost' did not have the word ‘resurrected' in its vocabulary" (p. 50).
• Christian missionaries are insultingly referred to as sick people who play the cruci-fiction cord (p. 9). "For these sick people, whether American or South African, every trick in the bag is permissible to clinch a convert for Christ" (p. 76).

In the countries where Islam obtains a foothold, Bible teaching is soon removed from the school curricula because it is seen as an attack on the rights of the Muslims. In this regard the hypocrisy and double standards of Islam are very evident. They don't recognise the rights of minority religions in their own countries, and in many cases strongly persecute the Christians. But when they are minority groups in other countries they demand extensive religious and political rights.

The Islamising of the African continent has progressed very far.

The modern jihad

The Islamic jihad has become a world-wide phenomenon since the September 11 (9/11) attack on the USA by supporters of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda Movement. The American invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have aggravated the situation since they have not punished the real perpetrators of the jihad.

The ideological drive behind the campaign of terror against Israel, America and their allies is clearly derived from the Muslim faith. This religion generates strong revolutionary, anti-capitalist, antichristian and, especially, anti-Jewish sentiments. In his book, Muslim Society (1983), Prof. E. Gellner says: "It is evident that Islam enjoys the biggest political support of all the world's religions during the 20^th century. It supports a number of governments which are highly traditional and conservative, but it is also able to generate intense revolutionary fervour and to combine with extreme radicalism. As a means for political mobilisation Islam has surpassed Marxism, as well as all other religions."

The Islamic jihad has two objectives. The one is the demolition of "evil" governments in Islamic states as they are seen to be only Islamic in name. It is regarded as a religious duty to bring them down and replace them with fundamentalist Islamic governments. The other objective is to fight against non-Islamic states - particularly the USA and its allies. Israel is singled out as an important target as this country is regarded to be a vanguard for American imperialism in the midst of the Islamic world to cause divisions and enmity. Although Israel is the major target of the jihadists, the USA is seen to be responsible for supporting Israel financially and supplying sophisticated weaponry to them, thereby recognising and ensuring their right to survive. They see this support as the major reason why Israel has not yet been defeated and obliterated. In view of this perception, radical Islam refers to Israel as Satan and to America as the Big Satan. They are intent on subduing both these countries.

The UK collaborates closely with the USA in the struggle against terrorism and deployed a large number of soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. Because of this, Muslim terrorists are also targeting this country for major attacks. According to a British intelligence document that was quoted in The Sunday Telegraph of 25 February 2007, more than 2000 Islamic terrorists are operating from the UK. They are associated with Al Qaeda and because of the big Muslim population of England they can easily work under cover from here to launch attacks against their host country.

There are various radical groups in Israel that are fanning the flames of an Islamic revolution. The following is just one example of them. Scott Shiloh (Arutz Sheva, November 16, 2005) says:

"Islamic radicals have been using the Temple Mount as a focal point for planning and preaching the establishment of a world Islamic state with Jerusalem as its capital. One of the radical groups operating on the Temple Mount is Hizab Altahrir (The Islamic Liberation Party), which espouses an ideology similar to Al Qaeda. Hizab Altahrir's network spans most Western European countries. The party puts Islamic revolution and an uncompromising form of jihad at the top of its political agenda. The group advocates subjecting the entire world to Islamic law (sharia), and destroying non-believing nations and religions. The party has targeted Europe for spreading its ideology...

"Sheikh Riyad Salah, head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, has also been actively teaching the tenets of Islamic revolution. 'We are at the gates of the Islamic revolution,' he proclaims in his sermons to Arab citizens of Israel. 'The global forces of evil will be eliminated from the world and the Islamic nation will remain in place in order to bring about the world Islamic revolution, with its capital, Jerusalem'... Salah's organization contributed to efforts to repair Arab mosques on the Temple Mount, and also attempts to erase the remains of Jewish antiquities on the Mount... Thousands of young Arabs living in the Palestinian territories have been participating in the party's youth movement under the slogan, Campaigning to Preach Revolution. Altahrir's youth recently put up a giant banner on the Temple Mount near the Dome of the Rock, declaring: Revolution is a Divine Command. The youth were greeted by party members who shouted, Next year in Jerusalem, under the rule of the Islamic revolution."

Compromise

Notwithstanding the militant opposition towards Judaism and Christianity, occasional reference is made to the misguided adherents of these religions as being followers of Allah. Efforts are made to bring them under Islam's banner under the pretension that Islam is the only true monotheistic religion. The price of this compromise is that the deity of Christ is rejected, God be addressed as Allah, the Bible be seen to have many errors and falsifications and be regarded as inferior to the Qur'an, which then becomes the final and authentic revelation of God. A part in the Qur'an where this type of compromise is described is Sura 2:130, which says:

"We believe in God, and that which has been sent to us came through Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the tribes; and that which was given to Moses and Jesus and the prophets of God. We make no distinctions between these, and bow to the authority of God in Islam."

Islam claims that the Prophet of God spoken about by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15 refers to Mohammed. They also maintain that the Comforter or Counsellor promised to the world by Jesus (John 14:16; 16:7) is Mohammed and not the Holy Spirit.

Concerted efforts are made to define Jesus in terms of Islamic concepts, thereby claiming Him as one of Islam's great prophets. These views are advanced in various booklets which are printed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and distributed by various Islamic propagation centres around the globe, also in South Africa. Examples of these booklets are: We believe in Jesus by Soliman H. Al-But'he, Qur'anic verses about Christianity by Abdullah Al-Saeed, A brief illustrated guide to understanding Islam by I.A. Ibrahim, and Jesus is coming by A.H. Jacob.

In the booklet Jesus is coming, A.H. Jacob rejects the Bible as the infallible Word of God: "The Bible is distorted, changed and no longer the Book of God..." (p. 22). Consequently, Islam's views on Jesus and the Antichrist are derived from the Qur'an. They do not regard Jesus as God nor the Son of God (p. 20,21), and also refute the biblical account of His crucifixion: "The Qur'anic teaching is that Jesus Christ was not crucified nor killed by the Jews" (p. 25). According to this teaching somebody else was crucified in his place and under his name.

In this booklet, the author mostly dwells on the identity, teachings and second coming of Jesus Christ as the great forerunner of Mohammad. He says:

"The Messiah, son of Mary, will descend to earth in Damascus. Jesus Christ will search for the False Messiah (the Antichrist) and catch hold of him at the gate of Lod near Jerusalem and kill him" (p. 10).

"God's Messenger Mohammad said, Surely Jesus, the son of Mary, will shortly descend among you people (Muslims) and will rule and judge mankind justly by the law of the Qur'an and the Sunna. He will break the cross and forbid the sale and consumption of pork..." (p. 15).

"Jesus will come back as a follower of God's last Messenger, Mohammad, and revive the true religion of God, Islam... He is coming back to rule mankind justly by God's last and final message to mankind, the Holy Qur'an, as well as by the tradition of the Prophet Mohammad. He will guide humanity toward Islamic monotheism, to worship God alone, and to follow the footsteps of His last Messenger, Mohammad, and warn people of the eternal consequences of polytheism" (p. 17,18).

"Jesus will destroy the false doctrines that pass in his name, such as the belief that God is a trinity, declaring that such a belief is polytheism, the belief in many gods. He will stress the fact that God is One, Absolute, and not a composite unity. Jesus will not view himself with God in a father-son relationship. Rather, he will view his relationship with God as a master-slave relationship... Jesus will deny that he has any of God's attributes. He never claimed to be God or referred to himself as the son of God. He was only a prophet and a grateful slave of God" (p. 20,21).

"In his second coming, he will declare that he is a slave of God, who follows his brother, Prophet Mohammad, the last Messenger of God. Jesus will perform the prayer in the right way as the Muslims do, give charity, fast during the month of Ramadan, and perform the Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) and the Umrah" (p. 23).

"Jesus is coming back to deny the false claim that the Jews killed him, and those Christians who, in ignorance, believe them. He will fight the Jews and kill the False Messiah. The Jews will be the soldiers and followers of the False Messiah, and during his time, the Jews will have a very powerful government till Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, descends. He will search for the False Messiah, catch him and kill him. Then Jesus and his Muslim companions will fight against the Jews till some of them hide between the stones... He will also kill the Christians who adore the cross. Thereafter, when both parties are defeated and polytheism and disbelief are cleansed from the earth, that is the time when peace and tranquillity will prevail amongst the people" (p. 24).

The author devotes a long section on how Jesus, at His second coming, will forbid the eating of pork (p. 27-29). He says: "Jesus will strictly forbid selling, keeping and eating pork. He will even order the pigs killed... Jesus cursed whoever eats it... Yet pork is the favourite dish of the Christians. God the Exalted forbids eating pork in his last Book, the Qur'an" (p. 27).

Muslims say that Jesus lived for 33 years on earth, and that he will return for the remaining seven years of his prophetic ministry of 40 years. They will, therefore, accept the Antichrist when he pretends to be "Jesus" and seeks to confirm a covenant with Israel and many other nations for one week of seven years (Dan. 9:27). As the universal messiah of all faiths he will also closely identify with Islam.

The Shiite Imam

The Shiites have a strong expectation of the coming of the 12^th Imam as world Messiah. The leader of Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who threatened to wipe Israel off the map, accepted the role of paving the way for the coming Imam. Tony Pearce (Light for the Last Days, Winter 2005) says the following about this dictator:

"Ahmadinejad says that the wave of the Islamist revolution will soon reach the entire world. He believes that the world is heading for a clash of civilisations in which Islam is the only credible alternative to Western domination. And he is convinced that Islam can and will win.

"There is nothing more dangerous in the world than a religious fanatic who seeks to impose his idea of justice by force. Part of Ahmadinejad's conviction comes from his belief in the second coming of the 12^th Imam. According to the Shiite version of Islam the 12^th descendant of Mohammad, known as the 12^th Imam or the Mahdi, went into hiding in 941, more than a thousand years ago. Shiites believe that he will reappear when the world has become full of oppression and tyranny. They believe that he is hidden in the Jamkaran well in Iran, which is a place of pilgrimage for believers who drop their requests for help into the well in the hope that the Imam will read them and come to their aid.

"Ahmadinejad has said, ‘Our revolution's main mission is to pave the way for the reappearance of the 12^th Imam, the Mahdi...' His government held a formal cabinet meeting in which it was agreed to sign an agreement with the 12^th Imam... A large number of Ahmadinejad's close allies are talking about preparing the ground for the hidden Imam's imminent manifestation and seriously and explicitly relate it to Iran's nuclear programme... They argue that they ought to help spread evil, tyranny and oppression in order to facilitate the coming of the 12^th Imam."

The Shiites believe that the Imam Mahdi will reign on earth for seven years, before bringing about a final judgement and the end of the world. Ahmadinejad's government has already decided to sign an agreement with him. Daniel says that when the false messiah comes, "he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week [of seven years]" (Dan. 9:27).

There are those in Iran who expect the Imam's appearing within the next two years or so. Ahmadinejad is of the opinion that the country should prepare for this event by building enough hotels for the large number of tourists and pilgrims who will visit their country.

Developments in Iran (the former Persia) should be viewed in a serious light. This country, as well as Muslim countries such as Turkey, Libya, and Ethiopia, will form an alliance for the coming Russo-Arab invasion of Israel (Ezek. 38:1-16). Note the clear statement in Ezek. 38:8 and 16 that this war will be waged in the end-time. Militant Muslims will succeed in gaining the support of Russia (the ancient land of Magog) to execute their fanatical desire to annihilate Israel. But because of a supernatural intervention by God they will fall upon the mountains of Israel (Ezek. 39:1-7). The scene for this war is rapidly being prepared as close diplomatic and economic ties are forged between Russia and the Islamic enemies of Israel.

False foundation

The complete and blatant Islamic denial of the deity, Sonship and Messiahship of the Lord Jesus, the congruent rejection of the Holy Trinity, as well as their justification of radicalism and extreme violence to achieve their anti-Jewish and anti-Christian objectives, call for a proper response from Jews and Christians to address the very real threat of Islam's modern rise to power in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world. We must certainly respond to their religious, moral and socio-political claims as they could affect the lives of millions of people on the planet.

Three different perspectives of evaluating the false foundation of Islam are presented below. The first one is a short review of the book, Behind the Veil - Unmasking Islam, in which Christian scholars, including former Muslims who converted to Christianity, use Muslim sources to expose the false claims, lack of respect for human rights, and the condoning of violence by this religion. The second perspective is that of Jewish Professor of Arabic Literature, who explains the religious motivation that spurs on different kinds of Islamic extremism. The third perspective is an evaluation of Islam's doctrines form a biblical point of view.

Unmasking Islam

In the book, Behind the Veil - Unmasking Islam, contradictions in the Qur'an are discussed as well as the immoral lives of Mohammed and his companions. The book was published anonymously to protect the authors. In its introduction, the following remarks are made: "The hour has come to expose the growing world-wide religion of Islam. Our Muslim friends must be delivered from its deception and brought into a saving knowledge of the truth about our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Many are unaware of what Islam really stands for... This book is also dedicated to all Europeans and Americans who have converted to Islam, in order to reveal to them Islam's origin and roots."

The book presents documentary evidence on the violence and denial of human rights by Islam and says, "All Muslim scholars and historians agree that according to Islamic law the Muslim who leaves Islam and converts to another religion or to no religion is to be sentenced to death unless he repents and returns to Islam within a few days. So said Muhammad and so said all the Muslim successors (Khaliefa). The first section of the book deals with human rights - rights that are lost completely in Islam. We will see clearly how Muhammad compelled by the sword that Arabs accept Islam or be killed, as is stated plainly in verses of the Qur'an... Muhammad and his successors had but three options for the surrounding nations: convert to Islam, pay tribute, or be killed" (p. 5-6).

The second section of this book aims at removing the second veil of Islam for Islam calls itself a religion of equality and social justice. The fact is that Islam is the religion of inequality - between men and women, Muslims and non-Muslims, and even between a man and his own brother. The status of women in Islam is very low. The Qur'an plainly and disgracefully commands men to beat their wives as soon as they show any sign of disobedience to the husband's authority and orders (Sura 4:34). (p. 78). In one of Muhammad's recorded sayings he stated that the majority of people who go to hell are women (p. 92). In a vision he saw that the hell was virtually filled with women.

Islam also condones slavery. "Muhammad owned dozens of slaves whose names can be mentioned. In addition, he was a slave merchant who bought, sold and rented out his slaves, especially after he claimed himself to be a prophet" (p. 6).

"Even the Muslim reader will be astonished to learn how cruel and brutal Muhammad was as he tortured his captives with fire, then killed them and took their wives as bond maids and wives for himself as well as for his companions. Had anyone dared to write defamatory poetry about him, the poet would have been assassinated" (p. 7).

"Following Muhammad's death, his companions fought each other in relentless, savage wars. Competing for authority and out of deeply rooted hatred, Muhammad's relatives and closest friends sacrificed and slaughtered one another... Ali Ibn Abi Taleb together with Muhammad's closest companions fought Maaweia, one of those who had been trusted to write down the Qur'an for Muhammad. Then Ali killed thousands of his faithful followers in a few hours despite the fact they had fought Aisha and Maaweia with him" (p. 7).

"No wonder that we see Muslims these days fighting with each other. In fact, these wars and hostilities spring from the heart of the teachings of Islam since it calls for the use of force to combat wrongdoing, as Muhammad's relatives did with one another" (p. 8) "The Qur'anic verses reveal to us the aggressive, hostile nature of the Islamic mission and of Muhammad. The Qur'an includes verses pertaining to fighting against infidels, as well as other verses related to holy wars against Christians and Jews" (p. 42).

Behind the Veil (p. 55-56) quotes extensively from Taqiy al-Din's publication, The Book of the Islamic State (1953). He says, "The foreign policy of Islamic states must be to carry the Islamic mission to the world by way of holy war. This process has been established through the course of the ages... It has never been changed at all. The apostle Muhammad, from the time he founded the state in the city Yathrib, prepared an army and began holy war to remove the physical barriers which hinder the spread of Islam... Thus, by holy war, countries and regions were conquered... The glorious Qur'an has revealed to Muslims the reasons for fighting and the ordinance of holy war and it declared that it is to carry the message of Islam to the entire world" (p. 112,113,117). The Qur'an itself demands the perpetuation of holy wars until Islam has been accepted by all the nations of the world.

Jewish professor's assessment

Menahem Milson, emeritus professor in Arabian Literature at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, gave a lecture on Islamism in which he advanced the following facts:

The terms extremistic Islam, militant Islam, radical Islam and Islamism are synonyms. But the persons involved with this mostly only refer to themselves as Muslims or, in certain cases, as mujahidun (soldiers of the jihad). They call their movement the Islamic Awakening or the Jihad Movement. Islamism, or radical Islam, commits itself to internal as well as external objectives. Internally, these people are committed to the establishment of pure Muslim communities that are ruled in accordance with the Islamic sharia laws. Externally, it is their conviction that all true Muslims have the obligation to wage a jihad against infidels and the enemies of Islam (Christians are regarded as infidels).

The internal atrocities of Islamism have indeed elicited negative responses from the Western world, but are not really regarded as a threat to world peace. Among these are the punishments inflicted on people in terms of Islamic laws, e.g. the stoning of offenders found guilty of adultery, the whipping of people who have used alcohol, etc. But external acts of terror against non-Islamic nations, particularly the 9/11 attack against the USA, are viewed in a very serious light by the international community and render Islam a world problem.

According to Islam, Allah promised Muslims victory in their battles and the total domination of all religions on earth. This promise was fulfilled during Muhammad's early wars of conquest, leading to the establishment of a big Muslim empire that survived for many centuries. The strong conviction of Muslim domination as promised by Allah was seriously shaken when the Ottoman Empire suffered heavy defeats in the 19^th century, giving rise to the domination of various Islamic countries by infidels (non-Muslim countries). During World War I, the Ottoman Empire that was controlled from Turkey was finally defeated. From an Islamic viewpoint it appeared as if history has completely deviated from its predetermined course.

In the light of their conviction on divine appointment to rule the world, modern Muslims are frustrated because of the big gap between their ideal and present positions - some Muslim countries being backward, poor and weak. To many of them it is a very disturbing thought that the power of Islam is inferior to that of America and Europe, and they are actively planning to regain their rightful place as leaders of the world. For this purpose, the large-scale resuming of the jihad (conventional wars as well as terrorism) is considered to be very important.

Russia's defeat and withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 was hailed as a very big victory to Islamism. To them, that was a single battle in a world-wide struggle aimed at gaining control over the whole world - also over America.

The Islamist jihad has two objectives. The one is the toppling of "evil" regimes in Islamic countries since their leaders are only Muslims in name. It is seen as a religious duty to bring about their downfall and replace them with fundamentalist Islamic governments. The other objective is to fight against non-Muslim countries - particularly the USA and its allies. Israel is specifically mentioned as a target for Islamic aggression because this country has allegedly been established as a frontier for American imperialism in the midst of the Muslim world to cause division.

An inherent part of the struggle is that of martyrdom in the jihad which is conducted on behalf of Allah. It is regarded as the highest form of self-sacrifice to die as a martyr (shahid). Everyone who declares him- or herself willing to die as a shahid in a suicide bomb attack is praised. The Qur'an promises rewards in paradise to all martyrs. That does not only include direct entry into paradise without the torment of the grave but also the privilege to guarantee entrance into paradise to 70 of your friends or family members.

This idea is clearly evident from the will of a Palestinian girl, Hanadi Jaradat, who died in a suicide bomb attack on the Maxim restaurant in Haifa in October 2003. In her will, which was posted to the website of the Islamic Jihad, she says, among others: "In the name of Allah, the Merciful and Compassionate, prayer and peace be upon the master of mankind, our master Muhammad, may Allah pray for him and give him peace. The Exalted One said in the Qur'an: ‘Do not consider those who died for the cause of Allah as dead, rather as alive, sustained at the presence of their Lord.' Allah's words are true. Dear family, whom the Lord of the world will reward as He promised us in all His Holy Book... Reckon my sacrifice in anticipation of the reward of Allah to you in the Hereafter. I should not be too valuable to sacrifice myself for the religion of Allah. I have always believed in what is said in the Holy Qur'an, and I have been yearning for the rivers of Paradise." The death of a shahid is followed by festivities in stead of mourning. The mother shouts joyfully as she would during a marriage celebration, and sweets are handed out to the guests.

Osama bin Laden is motivated by the same expectation. One of his religious messages was posted to an Islamic website on 16^th February 2003. In the message he is quoted as follows from an old Arabic poem: "O Allah, when death arrives, let it not be on a bier covered with green shrouds. Rather, let my grave be in the belly of an eagle, tranquil in the sky, among hovering eagles."

Various persons in the West were of the opinion that the eagles in this message refer to the aeroplane attacks on the twin-tower buildings in New York, while others thought that the eagles refer to the USA. However, after the message has been properly translated it was obvious that bin Laden expressed his desire to die the martyr's death of a hero. He wanted to die as a shahid on the battlefield and be devoured by an eagle that will carry him aloft to the throne of Allah. The 8^th century Arab who wrote the poem was a member of a militant Muslim sect.

People in the west are still not able to correctly understand the concepts of jihad (holy war) and istishhad (martyrdom). Various commentators wrongfully concluded that Islamic acts of terror in Europe should be attributed to socio-economic factors such as frustration due to poverty and unemployment experienced by second and third generation Muslim immigrants. This assumption is not true since these acts were motivated by a religious conviction that the battle against the enemies of Allah should be continued.

If we look at the profile of Muslim terrorists in Europe, the USA and other places, it is evident that they do not come from the ranks of the poor, the victimised and the deprived. Take as example those who were responsible for the Madrid bombings on 11^th March 2004. The leader of the group, who was also killed during the blast, was an immigrant from Tunisia who studied in the country with a generous Spanish bursary. He was the owner of a property agency. Another member of the group was an immigrant from Morocco who owned a mobile phone business. A third member was a Moroccan who had a degree in chemical engineering, while a fourth member was a student from Bosnia who studied with a bursary from the Spanish government.

There was no indication of frustrated second generation immigrants who revolted against their poor living conditions. The same applies to other terrorist activities by Muslims. Of the 19 terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the USA, not one was a frustrated second generation immigrant. All of them were Arab students or professional people - 15 from Saudi Arabia, three from Egypt, and one from Lebanon. The only explanation for their acts is the Islamic faith which expects of them to wage a jihad against countries that dare to attack Muslim countries.

Muslim terrorists are honoured widely in the world. However, for the sake of survival many governments of Islamic countries are opposing the terrorists as these people demand a larger degree of allegiance to Islam by their own governments. The fact remains that the early fathers of Islam attached credibility to the jihad and gained big successes by using this method. Present Islamic governments are confronted by a serious ideological contradiction: on the one hand they fight the jihadists within their borders, but on the other hand state schools and mosques continue to promote the idea of jihad for the extension of Allah's kingdom.

Christian evaluation of Islam

In the light of Islam's religious views, their world conquering ambitions and their hostility towards Jews and Christians, it is obvious that their entire dogma should be rejected on biblical grounds. The following are the basic reasons why Christians cannot accept the Islamic faith:

Allah in the Qur'an

In his book Who is this Allah? G.J.O. Moshay dismisses the inference that the name Allah has a Syrian origin and has a Jewish/Christian connotation. There is a phonetic correspondence, but that is all. If a name of God is derived from another language, then the full meaning as well as the authority and method of revelation should be retained intact. In the case of Islam this did not happen because they do not worship the Triune God who revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the prophets of the Bible, and ultimately through His Son.

The Muslims worship a god who was honoured by Mohammed's father, Abdullah (servant of Allah), even before Mohammed's birth. After Mohammed learned about the Bible's monotheistic religion from his Roman Catholic wife, as well as from Syrian Christians, the idea was mooted to promote the status of his own idol and thus provide a unique monotheistic religion for the Arabs.

Although Mohammed was, among others, married to a Roman Catholic as well as two Jewish wives, he never became a proselyte of Christianity or Judaism. Members of these, what he termed false religions, were joined by him to Islam. His first convert was his wife, Khadija, followed by her ‘Christian' cousin, Waraqa ibn Naufal, who was Mohammed's special counsellor.

From a Christian viewpoint, it is essential to see Islam as a false monotheistic religion and to give no recognition to its self-imposed status as the final revelation of God. It is to be strongly resisted. Marius Baar (The unholy war, 1980, p.64-65) suggests the following approach: "In many areas of life, a spirit of tolerance is a praiseworthy attitude to have. But in the Western world a spirit of tolerance sometimes leads us to accept a lie for the truth. An example of this naivety is the idea that Allah (the god of the Muslims as defined by the Qur'an) and Yahweh (the self-revealing God of the Old and New Testaments) is one and the same Godhead. This idea is propagated by the Roman Catholic publication, One God - all brothers. Nothing could be further from the truth."

The Muslims accept Moses and the prophets, as well as Jesus, as human agents of God. They do not, however, concern themselves with the doctrines of the Bible and they are totally opposed to the concept of a Triune Godhead and the deity of Jesus Christ. They do not believe in a living God who generated a Son. They allege that this is a false concept of God which does an injustice to the majesty and holiness of God. The triune concept and the acceptance of Jesus as the Son of God are discarded by them as a falsification of the truth.

The missionary, Robert H. Glover, said in his book, The progress of world-wide missions (1960, p. 30): "The god of Islam is very far removed from the image of the loving and merciful God of the Bible. Allah is a heartless despot who is far from his followers, with no mediator between them and him. There is no relationship between Allah and the God of the Bible, and he is a very poor imitation of God. It is blasphemous to equate Allah with Yahweh."

Rejection of Jesus as the Son of God

Marius Baar has often observed the reaction of Muslims to the preaching of the Gospel of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. In his book (op. cit., p. 164-5) he says: "Islam does not only deny the existence of the Holy Spirit, but also the deity of Jesus. There is no non-Christian religion in the world which so consistently and clearly denies the Sonship of Christ and His crucifixion than Islam. To a Muslim it is a horror to believe and to confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I have seen a Muslim spitting on the ground and saying, ‘Forgive me, Allah, for hearing such a thing'. To say that God has a Son, is blasphemy to them." They clearly confess that Allah is a non-begetting God.

The entire work of reconciliation by Jesus on the cross is denied by Islam. They maintain either that Jesus never died on the cross and that His death was an illusory death, or that somebody else was crucified in His place, or that His death has no spiritual connotation or meaning. For these reasons, they strongly deny all Scriptures such as 1 John 1:7 which says: "...the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."

John A. Williams (Islam, p. 31-32) also confirms the fact that the Muslims see Jesus merely as a prophet, in other words a Jesus other than the Jesus proclaimed by the Bible (2 Cor. 11:3-4). They discard all biblical doctrines concerning His deity, crucifixion and resurrection. Just as Islam's Allah is a god other than the God of the Bible, the prophet Jesus described in the Qur'an is distinctly different to the Jesus of the Bible.

The shocking fact about this religious fraud is that there are various ‘Christian' theologians who are twisting Christian doctrines in order to support the concept of universalism, i.e. that all religions worship the same God. In this way credibility is also given to Islam's concept of God. Marius Baar (op. cit. p. 102) says: "There's a disturbing tendency among many Christians to consider Islam as an alternative way to God, and thus to betray the uniqueness of Christianity (John 14:6). A Vatican document provides guidelines for dialogue with Islam. Here, Christians are advised to relinquish their judgements against Islam because Allah is none other than the God of Moses and the Father of our Lord Jesus."

The Vatican as well as the World Council of Churches (apostate Protestantism) now accept Islam as a sister religion and refer to Muslims as fellow believers. The false perception that all religions worship the same God is the cornerstone on which the Antichrist's alliance of false religions will be built (Rev. 17:3-5). However, fundamental, evangelical Christians reject this premise.

Because Islam denies Jesus as the Christ and the only Saviour of the world, they cannot know the Father who revealed Himself to the world through His Son. To reject the Son, therefore, implicitly means to reject the Father who made Himself known through His only begotten Son:

• "He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent Him" (John 5:23).
• "Then they said to Him, Where is Your Father? Jesus answered, You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also" (John 8:19).
• "He who has seen Me has seen the Father... Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?" (John 14:9-10).
• "Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either" (1 John 2:22-23).

Paul says that even if an angel from heaven would bring us a gospel other than what the Bible teaches about the crucified Christ, let that ‘angel' be accursed (Gal. 1:6-9). Perversions of the gospel come from Satan. Islam claims in terms of revelations by the ‘angel' Gabriel that the Prophet who was promised by Moses (Deut. 18:15) is not Jesus but Mohammed. The following comparison made by Christ for the Nations clearly depicts the bad, counterfeit image of Mohammed, and confirms the fact that he is a major false prophet and a deceiver of the nations:

JESUS CHRIST	MOHAMMED
Born of the virgin Mary in 4 BC	Born of Aminah in AD 570
No earthly father	Earthly father was Abd'Allah
Never married	Married to 15 wives
Lived a sinless life	Was sinful
Never prayed for forgiveness of His sin	Often prayed for forgiveness of sins
Waged no war	Waged 66 wars
Ordered the death of no one	Ordered the deaths of many
Established mercy and love	Showed no mercy and used the sword
Established a spiritual kingdom	Established an earthly empire
Died by crucifixion at the age of about 33	Died of pneumonia and poisoning at the age of 62
Arose from the grave and is alive	Still in the grave: he is dead
Old Testament predicted His first and second comings	Was not predicted in the Bible
Theme of His life: He demonstrated the love of God	Theme of his life: Dedication to Allah's ‘holy wars'
Mentioned in Qur'an 97 times	Mentioned in Qur'an 25 times

Halaal food

According to the Bible, Christians may not eat food that was sacrificed to other gods, having been ritualised by the priests of non-Christian religions. To openly associate with these practices is a sure way of becoming spiritually defiled (1 Cor. 10:19-20).

Food that is offered or dedicated to Allah of the Qur'an, and marked by the Halaal mark, should not be eaten by Christians because Islam's god is not the God of the Bible. Such food is not inherently harmful, thus Christians could use it in innocence if they are not aware that a Muslim priest has dedicated the food to Allah: "Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for conscience's sake" (1 Cor. 10:25; see also v. 27).

What really matters here, is not the potential harmful effects of the food, but the Lord does not want us to deliberately associate with idols by eating food over which their names have been pronounced: "But if anyone says to you, This was offered to idols, do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for the conscience's sake" (1 Cor. 10:28).

The Halaal label shows that the food is dedicated to Allah. At the point of preparation of such food products, Muslim priests who are on duty pronounce over the food: "Allah is God and there is no other!" Thereafter it is considered ritualised and marked Halaal. It is not certain how common the practice of ritualising is. The expression Halaal means Permissible in terms of sharia. The symbol of the crescent moon and the star, as well as the word Halaal, is used to indicate: (a) that, in the case of meat, the animal was slaughtered in a prescribed way; (b) the absence of alcohol in the product; and (c) the absence of pork-related substances in the product.

Halaal certification bodies are paid by manufacturers for the right to mark products with the Halaal mark. That cost is obvious included in the price of the product and thus carried by the consumers. Since Halaal bodies support the spread of Islam, it amounts to the religious exploitation of members of other religions to expect them to buy such products by not offering alternatives. Not even the food market is overlooked by Islam as yet another area on which they can stamp their authority by forcing millions of ignorant people to conform to Islam's religious laws, and thus move into their sphere of influence.

In February 2007, a Concerned Christian Council (CCC) was established in South Africa under the chairmanship of Tony Naidoo of Durban to deal with issues such as the religious exploitation of people. In their draft constitution they say, among others, "There are many practices that are condoned or tolerated by civil society that contradict, to various degrees, the religious and moral convictions of segments of that society. Examples of such practices include abortion, same-sex marriages, prostitution, and religious exploitation... There are many products in the South African market that do not comply with Christian standards and are therefore unfit for Christian consumption."

One of the CCC's objectives is to avert and counter such exploitation which leads to the virtual forced support of Islam by ignorant members of society (see their website www.concernedchristiancouncil.com)

The intensifying of deception

One of the major signs of the end-time is spiritual deception. On a question of the disciples, "What will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?" Jesus said, among others: "Take heed that no one deceives you, for... many false prophets will rise up and deceive many" (Matt. 24:3,4,11). We should be on our guard against distortions of God's Word. John says: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). The messages of preachers and "prophets" must be tested by comparing it with Scripture. If it violates scriptural principles it must be rejected.

The "Jesus" proclaimed by Islam is not the Jesus of the Bible. Islam's Jesus is not God and is only described as the son of Mary, a slave of Allah and a spiritual "brother" of Mohammed. The proclaiming of a false Jesus is done under the guidance of a false spirit that emanates from Satan (2 Cor. 11:4,13-15). John says that those who deny that Jesus is Christ, are liars (1 John 2:22).

Let us keep on proclaiming the truth of the Bible. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the Truth: "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).

End-time empire of the Antichrist

There are indications in the Bible that the present march of Islam towards world domination will culminate in a major role that they will play in the future world empire of the Antichrist. Daniel 11:5-35 describes the historical battle between the king of the North (Syria) and the king of the South (Egypt). The Syrian Province referred to here includes the present, Muslim dominated, Syria and Iraq. During earlier periods in history this area was known as Assyria and Babylonia. The king of the North, who also defiled the temple and stopped the daily sacrifices (Dan. 11:31), foreshadowed the future role of the Antichrist.

Daniel 11:36-45 is a prophetic discussion of the end-time king of the North (the Antichrist, or false messiah). He will also arise from the area to the north or north-east of Israel. In his descent he will have connections with both the Jews and Arabs as he will pretend to be their common messiah. He will probably have a Jewish father, because Daniel 11:37-38 says that he will not regard the god of his fathers, but in his place he shall honour the god of fortresses. This is a foreign god who teaches his followers to wage wars and conquer fortresses. It is clear that a final choice will have to be made between the Triune God of the Bible and the foreign god of the Qur'an who favours warfare to extend his kingdom.

Profs. John Walvoord and Roy Zuck say the following in their Bible Knowledge Commentary (p. 1371) on Daniel 11:36-39:

"This coming king... will also take to himself absolute power in the religious realm, magnifying himself above all gods and defying and speaking blasphemously against the God of gods... ‘He will speak against the Most High' (Dan. 7:25). The duration of this king's rule has been determined by God. He will be successful as the world ruler during the time of wrath (the great tribulation). Because of the reference to the God of his fathers, some have concluded that this ruler will be a Jew, since the Old Testament frequently uses the phrase ‘the God of your fathers' to refer to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob... His showing no regard for the God of his fathers means that in order to gain absolute power in the religious realm, this king will have no respect for his religious heritage. He will set aside all organised religion and will set himself up as the sole object of worship... The Antichrist will honour a god of fortresses, that is, he will promote military strength... the god which his fathers did not know, who will give him strength, may be Satan (cf. Rev. 13:2). Though this king will come to power offering peace through a covenant with Israel (Dan. 9:27) he will not hesitate to use military power to expand his dominion."

Daniel again confirms that this end-time king of the North will use maximum power, should people try to oppose him: "He shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him" (Dan. 11:44-45). Walvoord & Zuck (op. cit., p. 1372) say:

"He will occupy Israel and will pitch his royal tents between the seas, that is, between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, at the beautiful holy mountain, probably Jerusalem. Posing as Christ, the Antichrist will set up his headquarters in Jerusalem, the same city from where Christ will rule the world in the Millennium (Zech. 14:4,17)... But God will destroy the kingdom of this king at the personal appearance of Jesus Christ to the earth (Rev. 19:19-20)."

A wicked ruler will soon arise from the heart of the Islamic world and make meteoric rise to a position of global leadership. He will pretend to be the Christ to all religions but will speak blasphemously against God and the true saints (Rev.13:5-6). It will be a very bad day for him when the true Christ comes as he and his followers will then experience what the full consequences of evil-intended warfare are: "And I saw the beast [the Antichrist], the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh" (Rev. 19:19-21).

A true "holy war" will take place when God pours out His divine wrath upon an unrepentant humanity who despised and rejected the saving grace that was offered to them through many centuries and millennia by His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Such people have stubbornly refused to be saved and leave God no choice but to condemn them. The enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ and His kingdom, of His people Israel and the city of Jerusalem which He has chosen to put His name there (cf. 1 Kings 11:36), will be gathered together and destroyed in a "holy war" (Zech. 14:2-3,12-13). They will discover that "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31).

All other wars (except in self-defence) are unholy as they are started and waged by mortal men who are driven by covetousness, hate and revengefulness, as well as a burning desire to extend their own empires - even to the ends of the earth.

Messianic expectations

In an article, The Generation of the Messiah, Jack Kinsella of the Omega Letter of 03.12.06 says that the three monotheistic religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism, are all expecting the coming of the Messiah during this generation. He will bring peace to the earth after he has destroyed his enemies in a big war.

Christians expect that the Messiah will take His bridal congregation to her heavenly abode (John 14:2-3), after which the false messiah (the Antichrist) will be revealed and rule the world for seven years during the tribulation period. At the end of the false messiah's reign of terror the Messiah will return with His saints to judge the Antichrist and his followers, and then He will establish His millennial reign of peace on earth.

According to orthodox Jews, Messiah will come to judge Israel's enemies together with other evil people. He will then restore the throne of David in Jerusalem and rule the world from there. He will build the millennial temple on the Temple Mount and impose the Law of Moses (the Torah) on the whole world.

Muslims believe that the Imam Mahdi will come as world messiah to destroy his enemies - i.e. the Jews, Christians and all other infidels. He will establish a global Muslim state in which peace and righteousness will prevail. They believe that Jesus and the Mahdi will work together to Islamise the world. Muslims regard Jesus as a spiritual companion of Mohammed.

The role of Iran

Iran plays a big role in preparing the way for the appearance of the Shiite's Imam Mahdi. According to the website of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Broadcasting Corporation, the Mahdi will shortly make his triumphant appearance at the Ka'aba in Mecca. He will immediately set up armed forces to destroy Islam's enemies in a series of apocalyptic battles. One of his biggest victories will be against the Zionist enemies and their allies in Jerusalem.

The Imam will move further north and establish his headquarters at Kufa near the ancient city of Babylon. This website also says that the prophet Jesus, son of Mary, will appear with the Mahdi and help him to bring an end to oppression in the world so that righteousness can prevail. Daily prayers are said in Iran in which Allah is petitioned to hasten the coming of the Mahdi.

Iranians are also busy arming themselves to the teeth as they intend playing a big role in forming the Mahdi's army with which he will subject his enemies. Iran, with its population of 70 million, has an Islamic Revolutionary Guard which is one of the biggest military units in the world. It has 10 million soldiers and is a special unit over and above the country's armed forces. With their advanced missiles they can carry out precision attacks to destroy virtually every target in the Middle East. This unit will be offered to the Imam Mahdi to wage his wars.

Views of the Sunnites

The Sunnites are by far the biggest group in Islam. They do not proclaim the coming of the Shiite's 12^th Imam, but the coming of the so-called Muslim prophet, Jesus, the son of Mary. According to Sunni sources he is a follower of Allah's last messenger, Mohammed. He will judge humanity in terms of the laws of the Qur'an and the Sunna, destroy the gospel of the cross and the belief in a Triune God, and prohibit the eating of pork. He will proclaim that he is a slave of Allah and a follower of his brother, Mohammed. He will destroy all the enemies of Islam, as well as the Christians who adore the cross.

According to the Bible it is very obvious that the Muslims expect the Antichrist as their messiah and saviour. It is astonishing that they are prepared to accept a prophet with the name of Jesus or the Christ, since the Antichrist will pretend to be the universal Jesus of all religions. He will indeed reject the Triune God and fight against the Christians who associate with the cross: "He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God... And it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And he was given authority over every tribe, tongue and nation" (Rev. 13:6-7). After he has deceived the world for 3½ years to embrace his false peace and unity (Dan. 9:27), he will institute a military reign of terror for the remaining 3½ years (Rev. 13:5). His end will come suddenly when the true Christ returns to the earth and sets foot on the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4-5; Rev. 19:19-20).

We are on the threshold of the big showdown between the true Christ and the false christ.