Fatima’s fingers flew across the keyboard, the words now pouring out of her as she recounted the harrowing events of the evening. She explained that, in a moment of weakness, she had complained about her lack of religious freedom in Islam. When her family pressed her to explain herself, she had blurted, “The way of the Messiah is purer than the way of the Messenger, and there is a great difference between them!” Her brother flew into a rage, threatening, “Repent! Otherwise you have blasphemed!” Even though Fatima tried to apologize, he broke into her room, took her computer, and started searching through her files. There he found Fatima’s journals, her Christian confessions, and even a picture of the cross.
His darkest suspicions were confirmed. A sharp malice flooded his eyes. He left her, giving her four hours to consider what she had done.
Repent! You have blasphemed!
As she came to the end of her post, she made a simple request: “His glance frightened me. I do not trust him. Pray for me, please . . .”
Four hours had passed. Her brother would return at any moment. She had to choose: Would she repent and embrace Islam, or would she stand firm in her Christian faith, potentially at the cost of her life? Which would it be, Islam or Christianity?
ISLAM OR CHRISTIANITY?
For Fatima, absolutely everything hinged on that question. No matter the strength of her convictions, when faced with the threat of death, she probably had a moment of considering how certain she really was: Is the way of the Messiah truly all that different from the way of the Messenger? Can we really be confident that one religion or the other is true? Even so, is the truth worth dying for?
Every year, millions are faced with Fatima’s dilemma: to follow Islam or Christianity, to worship Allah or Jesus. Like Fatima, unless the seeker lives in a nominal or secular environment, the stakes are high: It can cost a seeker her family, her friends, her job, and potentially her life. For such seekers, it is not simply a matter of believing whatever seems right. They need to be sure, and they need to be sure it is worth the sacrifice.
For me, it has been a decade since I decided to leave Islam, and the fallout of my decision haunts me every day. I knew it would, well before I ever converted, but I also knew that I was sure. I was sure that Islam and Christianity are not just two paths that lead to the same God, but two very different paths that lead very different ways. I was sure that I had excellent historical reason to believe the gospel. I was sure that, though I loved Islam, I could not ignore the problems that crippled its foundations.
But most of all, I was sure that following the one true God would be worth all trials and all suffering. I had to follow the evidence and the truth, no matter the cost.
I left my religion of twenty-two years and became a follower of Jesus in 2005. In 2009, after graduating from medical school, I decided to leave medicine in order to share what I had learned about the gospel, the message of Christianity. I sincerely believe that this message has the power to transform hearts and change the world. The God it proclaims is unlike any other, and it is an unfathomable honor that we get to be a part of his story and introduce people to him.
While sharing this message, I often come across two kinds of people: Christians who enjoy criticizing Islam, and Muslims who want to argue but do not want to learn. I am not writing this book for either of them. I am writing for people who—like Fatima and I did—need the answers to these questions:
What are the differences between Islam and Christianity?
Can we be confident that Christianity or Islam is true?
Is the truth worth dying for?
It took me four years to answer these questions, and they remain so important to me that I have studied them for another decade beyond. This book is my brief answer. After I share my findings, we will see how Fatima answered the same questions and discover the outcome of her story.
QUESTION 1
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY?
In August 2005, I came to the most painful realization of my life: I no longer believed Islam. I had no recourse left and could no longer delay the eventuality I had been fighting for years.
As a child, I was raised to love Islam. I enjoyed memorizing chapters of the Quran and reciting them in my daily prayers. I looked forward to fasting every year with my family during Ramadan, thrilling in the early morning prayers and the communal suppers in the evening. I eagerly anticipated celebrating each Eid with my extended family. My entire life revolved around Islam, and I was proud of my Muslim heritage.
Ironically, it was my confidence in Islam that brought my faith to the breaking point.
Shortly after starting my undergraduate studies in 2001, I challenged a Christian friend at my university to consider the truth of Islam. Using reasoning that I had heard at mosques and from Muslim authorities, I argued that Islamic doctrines were verifiably true, whereas Christian doctrines were verifiably false. His responses led to research and investigation that ultimately spanned four years. What I discovered time and time again was that Christian doctrines held firm whenever they could be tested historically. The arguments against Christianity I had trusted my whole life were flawed and poor, and Christianity stood strong.
But it was what happened next that shook my world and rattled me to the core. My friend used the same critical standards I had used against Christian doctrines to challenge Islam. Under the weight of this consistent scrutiny, the foundations of Islam crumbled.
By the summer of 2005, I realized that I no longer believed the shahada, the Muslim proclamation that “there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger.” Proclaiming the shahada is the minimal requirement of a Muslim, and I simply did not believe it. I desperately wanted to believe it, because everything I loved was found in Islam: my family, my friends, my culture, my traditions, my heritage. Leaving Islam meant sacrificing everything I knew and devastating the people I loved most.
At the same time, Christianity held no allure for me. My family were not Christians, I had just three Christian friends, my only experiences visiting churches had left a poor taste in my mouth, I thought Christmas and Easter were pagan traditions, and I really had no idea how I could fit in as a Christian. I did not want to believe in Christianity at all.
But I realized that it was too late: I already believed Christianity was true, and I could not be a Muslim because I could not honestly proclaim the shahada. The only question left was whether I would take the final step and move forward in faith. It is one thing to have found compelling evidence and quite another to act in faith on that evidence, especially when the cost is virtually unbearable.
On August 24, 2005, when I could resist no longer, I bent my knee to Jesus and proclaimed my faith in him. Soon after, my family was shattered, and the next year of my life was by far the most harrowing I have ever endured. I was now an outsider, both to my family and to all my friends in the Islamic community. It was just weeks before I received my first death threat. Ten years later, I still get the occasional death threat, I never regained my old friends, and my family has never been the same. I feel the painful fallout of my decision every day.
So when I hear people say that Islam and Christianity are basically the same, I have to try to restrain my incredulous response. Are Islam and Christianity the same? My parents certainly do not think so, nor do any of the dozens of friends I lost. This cliché is a slap in the face to the hundreds of thousands of converts who have left Islam for Christianity and vice versa.
Not only are these religions different, but the differences have far greater ramifications than I realized when I converted. I knew that the historical doctrines of the two religions were different, but doctrines do not exist in a vacuum. They work together to impact the way we see the world, which in turn changes who we are.
For example, the Muslim conception of God, whom we will call Allah, has different characteristics from the Christian conception of God. Of course, the most obvious is that Allah is not triune, whereas the one Christi
an God subsists in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The concept of God’s personhood is so disparate between Islam and Christianity that the basic Christian axiom “Jesus is God” registers as blasphemy to the average Muslim. Although both religions teach that there is no God but one, merely beginning to consider God’s personhood demonstrates that they disagree significantly about what he is like.
And what we think God is like has a tremendous impact on how we see the world he created. Why did God create humans: to share intimacy with them or to test them? What does he think about people: are they his servants or his children? How does he want us to live: focusing on love or focusing on law? What does he tell us about the afterlife: to anxiously anticipate unknown judgment or to have joyful faith in his grace? The Islamic view of God and the Christian view lend themselves to different answers, and how we answer these questions changes how we see ourselves, other people, and the world around us.
Both Muslims and Christians believe that there is no God but one, but is he Allah or is he Jesus? I can tell you from personal experience and in all sincerity: How we answer this question has the power to change who we are.
PART 1
SHARIA OR THE GOSPEL?
TWO DIFFERENT SOLUTIONS
CHAPTER 1
THE WAY TO LIFE
As a young college student, I was proud to be a voice for Islam in the great chorus of religious perspectives at my university. The diversity of thought was beautiful because it existed in an environment where critical thinking was encouraged. As we presented our ideas and views, others were free both to challenge our perspectives and to gain insights from them, and we were all sharpened by the critical engagement. Tolerance meant always accepting people, without always accepting their ideas.
So it was that in the midst of challenging a colleague’s most dearly held beliefs that we became best friends. David Wood was on the debate and forensics team with me at Old Dominion University, and when I saw him reading a Bible, I did not hesitate to question its reliability and preservation. Due to our mutual passion for God and truth, we connected instantly, even though our views strongly clashed. We found ourselves in such constant disagreement over fundamental matters that we often signed up for classes together just so we could sit in the back of the lecture halls and argue.
But when the circle was broadened and other viewpoints were brought into the discussion, there was a surprising trend that emerged. The first time it happened was when an agnostic teammate named Marie overheard one of our arguments and joined the discussion. David and I found ourselves side by side, in agreement with one another against her views. The second time it happened was when a Buddhist friend named Zach presented his grounds for being Buddhist, and David and I both disagreed with him for the same reasons. Whenever we engaged people from other worldviews, the discussions highlighted the similarities between Islam and Christianity.
There’s really no question that Islam and Christianity are close to one another on the broader religious spectrum. They are both monotheistic, the largest two faith communities in the world, and they share many similarities. Each teaches the doctrine of an eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing God who is sovereign over the universe. It is God who created mankind out of one man and one woman, yet mankind turns away from him. Each teaches that one day there will be a resurrection and final judgment. Before then, it is of paramount importance for us to seek God and follow him.
But the similarities between Islam and Christianity run even deeper, beyond the trappings of monotheism: Both lay claim to Abrahamic lineage; both teach that God has sent messengers, human and angelic, to steer people back to him; both teach that God has inspired divine scriptures to guide man; both teach that Satan is a deceiver that misleads the unwary; and both teach that believers ought to sacrificially care for each other and proclaim the truth to nonbelievers.
Perhaps the most surprising shared feature is reverence for Jesus. Both Islam and Christianity teach that Jesus was born of a virgin and that he was the most miraculous man who ever lived. Both the Bible and the Quran teach that Jesus cleansed lepers, healed the blind, and even raised the dead. Indeed, both books teach that Jesus is the Messiah, and Muslims await his return, as do Christians.
So there’s no question that there is much in common between Islam and Christianity. It would be biased to ignore this, especially considering that the gamut of worldviews runs from atheist to pantheist, as David and I witnessed at our university.
THE WAY TO LIFE: A LAW OR A PERSON?
But the many similarities do not mean that the differences are not significant. Humans and chimpanzees share 95 percent of their DNA, but the remaining 5 percent is incredibly important! So it is with Islam and Christianity. There is much shared DNA, but the two are phenotypically quite different.
Where the difference matters most is in the ultimate message of each religion. According to Islam, the way to paradise is sharia, a code of laws to follow that will please Allah and earn his favor. Sharia is literally translated “the way.” According to the Christian message, the gospel, the way to eternal life is Jesus. He said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). In Islam, sharia is the way, and in Christianity, Jesus is the way.
How is it that the way to life in one religion is a law, whereas in the other faith it is a person? To understand, we have to compare sharia and the gospel.
CHAPTER 2
COMPARING SHARIA AND THE GOSPEL
THE ISLAMIC WORLDVIEW
The word Islam means “submission,” and the plain message of Islam is exactly that: Humans should all submit to the sovereign will of God. Allah, having predestined the universe, made mankind with the express purpose of worshiping him (Quran 51.56). To guide humanity, Allah sent prophets to all people to lead them out of ignorance (Quran 4.163–165).
It is important to note here that the concept of prophet in Islam does not mean the same thing that it does in the Bible. Prophets in Islam have a higher status than all other people, being men chosen by God to lead mankind. The Quran uses the term to mean a divinely appointed leader, not necessarily one who prophesies.
Adam is considered the first prophet, but also mentioned in the Quran are Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Job, Moses, Jonah, Aaron, Solomon, David, and of course, Jesus (e.g., Quran 4.163). Since these people all submitted to Allah, they practiced submission (i.e., Islam). Thus they are considered people who submit (i.e., Muslims). All who followed these prophets in submitting to Allah are also considered Muslims, even if they were born ages before Muhammad.
Allah revealed his guidance to each prophet as the people needed it and as they could bear it. For example, Moses’ people needed to rebel against the Pharaoh, so Allah revealed “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.” But Jesus’ people needed to be peaceful, so Allah taught them to “turn the other cheek.” Both Moses and Jesus, as well as other prophets, were given divine scripture. Angels dictated Allah’s revelation to them, and the revelation was written down as Torah, Injil (gospel), and other books (e.g., Quran 5.46).
Tragically, people did not faithfully follow the prophets that Allah sent to them. So in his mercy, Allah sent Muhammad and gave him the Quran. Thus, Allah gave mankind the final, perfected religion (Quran 5.3). Islam is therefore the culmination of Judaism, Christianity, and all other world religions, which started off in line with Islamic teaching. All people still following these religions after the arrival of Muhammad are either misled or rebellious, and no religion will be accepted from them on the day of judgment except Islam (Quran 3.81–85).
It is there, at the day of judgment, that one finds the major impetus to follow Islam. The Quran emphasizes that on that day, all people will be held accountable to Allah for their sins (Quran 6:164; 17:15; 35:18; 39:7; 53:38). This is an understanding firmly entrenched in the Muslim psyche: Though God may be merciful and absolve us of our sins, no one else can intercede. Muslims must live as good a life a
s they can to approach heaven, and hope for God’s merciful judgment to secure their salvation.
THE ISLAMIC SOLUTION: SHARIA
However, Islam teaches that the fundamental problem of mankind is ignorance, that man needs to be guided in order to live good lives. Once people learn what to believe, aqeeda, and how to live, sharia, they will earn the pleasure of Allah.
In regards to right belief, the emphasis is on the Islamic conception of monotheism: Allah is not a Father, and Allah is not a Son (Quran 112). He is an absolute unity, a monad. The other basic components of aqeeda have already been mentioned above: belief in the prophets, belief in divinely inspired books, belief in angels and the unseen, belief in the day of judgment, and belief in Allah’s predestining sovereignty. Together, these are called the Six Articles of Faith. There is much, much more to Islamic belief, but this is the core.
Right practice in Islam is learned through Islamic Law, called sharia, which is understood as “the way to water.” Especially for a desert people, the concept is powerful: Following sharia is the way to life itself. Sharia dictates virtually every aspect of a devout Muslim’s life, from what foods to eat, to proper forms of currency, to exact words to recite during prayers. Of all Islamic practices, five are paramount: proclaiming the Islamic motto, the shahada: “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his Messenger”; praying the five daily prayers; fasting during the month of Ramadan; giving alms; and undertaking a pilgrimage to Mecca. Together, these are called the Five Pillars of Islam.
No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity Page 2