Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Throughout the centuries, the relation between Islam and Christianity has been a challenge. Within a hundred years after the prophet’s death, Muslim armies had conquered Spain and penetrated into France, only to be stopped at the battle of Tours in 732. We think also of the Crusades to win the Holy Land back from the Muslims. In Martin Luther’s day the Turkish Muslims menaced Europe from the east. In the original German of the hymn “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast In Thy Word,” the Reformer prayed, “put a stop to the murder by the pope and Turk.”
Today the struggle continues. It is not to be won with weapons or money. Rather, victory is in the Word of God and prayer, as Christians are urged to “contend for the faith” (Jude 3) and “take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17). We as Christians should also know something about Islam in order to refute some of their beliefs. We might even read the Qur’an so that we better understand their teachings.
The Qur’an urges Mohammad himself, “ask forgiveness of thy sin” (Sura 40:55). Yet nowhere does it mention sin in connection with Jesus. The Qur’an offers a fallible prophet who lies buried in Arabia. The Bible presents a sinless Savior who has conquered death. The Bible presents an eternal home that is given to us wholly through the merits of Christ Jesus. As the thirteenth century scholar Riccoldo da Montecroce wrote in his refutation of the Qur’an (Confutatio Alcorani, which Luther translated into German and which is now available in English), “The fact is: Christ lives, Mohammad is dead.” A former Muslim from Iraq put it this way, “Allah calls on Muslims to sacrifice their sons so that they can go to paradise; God sacrificed His Son so that we can go to heaven.”
In Christ,
Pastor