ISLAM and the Destruction of the

World Trade Center.

        Why would a group of young men study and train for a year or more on how to kill themselves and thousands of innocent people?  The question becomes further complicated when we learn that they were a religious group doing it for God.  To try to understand the reasoning behind this terrorist move one needs to study the Islam religion and understand that within this religion, like with other religions there are factions that become extremists on one side or the other.  To help understand how this tragedy could possibly occur one first needs to know the history and basic teachings of Islam. 

            Islam began with Muhammad’s quest to find the absolute truth of God in the midst of the many conflicting claims about the nature of God he saw with the Jews, Christians, Meccan, idol-worshippers, etc., that claimed to be worshipping God.  He did not understand that if they were all worshipping God, how could the conflicts arise.  Influenced by earlier “hanifs” (monotheists who claimed to be adhering to the religion of Abraham), Muhammad went off by himself in search of the true one.  It was in a cave on Mount Hira where the first utterance that later became the Quran were spoken through him.  When Muhammad died there was no exact provision for a successor to lead the new community.  This caused a split between Sunni and Shiite Muslims which persist to this day.

            The spread of Islam was extremely rapid because of its relative simplicity.  Within a hundred years of the death of Muhammed, it had reached the Atlantic in one direction and the borders of China in the other.  It now amounts to about a billion adherents, and is found in most countries of the world.  Islam is found in many different styles although always expressing the same basic characteristics.  

 Essential Beliefs of Islam:

Allah (God) - Muslims are strictly monotheists, believing in the existence of only one personal God that they refer to as Allah.  Allah is simply the Arabic term for God.  They misunderstand the Christian conception of the Trinity.  They view the elevating of Jesus (a created being) to the status of divinity as committing the ultimate sin (ishrak or shirk).  The Muslims reject the concept God as Father and teach that although He will have pity on all Muslims even though they sin, He does not love all men.

 Scriptures-Islam accepts the divine inspiration of various revealed books including the Torah, the Psalms of David, and the Injil or Gospel of Jesus.  This is not to be confused with the New Testament Gospels that Muslims believe have been corrupted.  For a Muslim, the essence of the Gospel of Jesus was the same message that any Muslim would bring: to obediently submit to the will of Allah.  The sacred book of Islam is the Quran (meaning "recitation").  Muslims believe the angel Gabriel revealed the Qur'an to Muhammad and that it is eternal, existing with Allah in heaven.  The average Muslim has a high view of the Quran, believing that it has been preserved perfectly through history and represents an exact copy of the heavenly original.  The Quran is divided into 114 chapters called suras or surahs.  Many Muslims reject the reliability of all translations from the Arabic, but many others accept a translation and commentary by Yusif Ali.            

  The Hereafter-The Muslim view of the afterlife includes a future resurrection of the dead, a divine Day of Judgment, eternal punishment, and paradise for believers.  Muslims believe that at the Day of Judgment paradise will be the reward for those Muslims whose good deeds outweigh evil deeds.

 The Divine Decree-Many Muslims accept the complete and total sovereignty of God.  Therefore, everything that occurs happens because of Allah's sovereignty.

 Jihad-The term jihad is one of the best-known terms of Islam in the Western world, but one most misunderstood.  The term means "struggle," and Muslims differ over their understanding of the meaning of the term in Muslim teaching.  Muslim intellectuals and scholars tend to view jihad as an intellectual struggle in the arena of ideas, whereas others, such as radical terrorist groups view it as a call for armed struggle, resistance, and terrorism.  Thus, Islam has an inner tension over interpreting this Quranic teaching that generates great controversy in the twenty-first century.  Most Muslims would argue that when terrorist groups speak of jihad as an armed resistance they misuse Quranic teaching for their own political ends.

 What Is Islam?

            Islam is a very complicated and complex religion, far more so than Judaism or Christianity.

 To a Muslim, Islam is a complete system that encompasses every aspect of society.  The Laws of Islam meet not only the religious and moral codes of a society, but the political, economical and ethical codes as well.  The word Islam means “submission to Allah,” and a Muslim is the one who submits to Islam.  This is a total surrender to Allah, a god who is absolute in everything and totalitarian in his ways of converting and subjecting his creations.  To become a Muslim is to become a slave of Allah.  Many Muslims are called Abd-Allah, meaning “a slave to Allah.”

True Islam Is Militant

            Some may argue that a true Muslim is not militant.  On the contrary, this is the very nature and teaching of Islam.  Khomeini (Iranian leader) in his book, The Hokumat-e-Islami (Islamic Rule), clearly identifies his ideologies, claims and views as a revival of a tradition he traces to Muhammad, the prophet of Islam.

A well-known Muslim saying states, “One must wash blood with blood.”   Islam has left a fingerprint of blood through every page of its history, beginning with Hijra up to today.  The spirit that advocated Islam is a bloodthirsty spirit that wages war and division.  It is a spirit of revenge and retaliation.  Its purpose is to create hate, sorrows, mourning and confusion.  The following statement by Hussein Musawi, the leader of the Islamic Amal movement, illustrates such a spirit:

            This path is the path of blood, the path of martyrdom.  For us death is easier than smoking a cigarette if it comes while fighting for the cause of God and while defending the oppressed.¹

Thus it is easy to see that to a Muslim, dying and killing for the cause of Islam is not only an honor, but also a way of pleasing Allah.

            When one compares those beliefs and teachings to some of the teachings found in the Koran it becomes easy to understand how a group of men would be willing to train for about a year on how to crash an airplane into a building killing all aboard and in the buildings. 

            To quote just a few verses from the Koran we can see a clear picture of this teaching, we have included the Sura chapter and verse for each.

 “And slay them wherever you catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out, for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter.” 2:191

 “Fighting is prescribed for you, and you dislike it.  But it is possible that you dislike a thing which is good for you, and that you love a thing which is bad for you.  But Allah knows, and you know not.” 2:216

 “Let those fight in the cause of Allah who see the life of this world for the Hereafter.  To him who fights in the cause of Allah – whether he is slain or gets victory – soon shall We give him a reward of great value.” 4:74 

“Fight them and Allah will punish them by your hands, cover them with shame, help you to victory over them, heal the breasts of the Believers.” 9:14 

“Strike terror [into the hearts of] the enemies of God and your enemies.” 8:60

 “Fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them.”  9:9

 “Oh you who believe do not take the Jews and Christians for friends.  They are friends of each other and whosoever is amongst you takes them for a friend… Surely he is one of them.”  5:51

            The very passages you read above and many more like it are being taught to little children throughout the world.  This “religious training” is virtually guaranteeing that the next generation of terrorists is being groomed for violence and hatred while America digs out from the rubble of the last attacks.  We need to find ways to reach out to the Muslims and bring them to the love of Jesus Christ. 

            Thus the religion of Islam when carried to the extreme can lead its believers to kill or die for the cause they blindly follow.  If it is an honor to die for God and it is also a command to serve God in that nature a follower has little choice.  As Christians we need to introduce the saving grace of Jesus Christ and teach our brothers about the free gift of salvation.

        End Notes

1. Robin Wright, In The Name of God: The Khomeini Decade, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1989, p.99.