Inviting Muslims To Christ: Including Quotations and Commentary from the Bible and Quran

By Randall L Ireland

The purpose of this book is to provide a clear presentation of the Plan of Salvation for both Christianity and Islam. The statements of faith that were the foundation of he early Christian Church are presented so the reader can understand the founding of the early Christian Church. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Middle East Religious Studies Foundation
• Release date: Feb 24, 2017
• ISBN: 9780692974605

Randall L Ireland

After completing my business career in 1996 I began seminary. Prior to this time I had served in various capacities at churches we attended including twenty five plus years teaching Bible Studies.I attended Golden Gate Seminary in Mill Valley California, as we were living in San Jose in the heart of the Silicon Valley where I had worked. At Golden Gate I completed both my M.A. in Christian Education and a Masters of Divinity degree by 2000. While I was in seminary I served as a hospital chaplain as one of my practical training for ministry. Also during this time I completed a short term missions project in Ukraine. I served as a teacher at several churches as we traveled through the country. After graduation and ordination I served as pastor in a church near Bakersfield California. While in Bakersfield I had taken training to be a volunteer in hospice. Thus began my ministry in hospice. After completing our pastorate in the Bakersfield area we moved to Riverside California where I served as a Hospice Chaplain for eleven years. In 2011 we moved back to Texas to be near our family. Retirement gave me time to began my research of Islam. I was also privileged to be a substitute high school teacher, which kept life "real and interesting" The complete process of writing, Inviting Muslims to Christ required five years to complete. I have several other writing project that I plan to complete in Islamic Theology.

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Copyright © August 2016 by Randall Ireland

No part of this work may be reproduced by electronic

or other means, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing from the author, except as provided by United States of America copyright law. The only exceptions are brief quotations in printed reviews.

Randall L Ireland, M.Div.

P.O. Box 1268 Cypress, Texas 77410

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible,

New International Version.

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica.

The Holy Quran by Abdullah Yusuf Ali

With Commentary

Soft Cover ISBN: 978-0-692-81648-6

eBook ISBN: 978-0-692-8165-09

Acknowledgements

The spark for this book began by reading The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam, From Jihad to Dhimmitude by Bat Ye’or. The breath and intensity of her writing awoke a desire to understand more about Islam, especially its theology. This was during my last year at Gateway Seminary where I had gained insight into the needs of world missions. Insight from the study of systematic theology from Dr. Rodrick Durst and missions from Dr. William Wagner. Dr. Paul Martindale, Professor of Islamic Studies, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, provided research assistance to this project.

Other resources that played an important part in my research was access to the Lanier Theological Library. My editor Kelly Belmonte made my book a reality through her insightful reviews, patience, and support of this project.

The one person who has given unswerving support over the past five years of completing this book is my wife Glenda, Thank You.

Table of Contents

Preface

Forward

Chapter 1 SEEKING TRUTH

Purpose Statement

A Clear Path to Salvation

An Important Search for Truth

Chapter 2 THE EARLY CHURCH

Foundational Teachings Of Christianity

The Chalcedonian Definition of the Christian Faith 451 AD.

The Apostles’ Creed Second to the Eight Century AD

Chapter 3 BELIEFS THAT LEAD TO LIFE

Beliefs Essential of the Christian Faith

The Scriptures

God

God the Father

God the Son

God the Holy Spirit

Chapter 4 THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Person & Work of the Holy Spirit – The Third Person of the Trinity

Chapter 5 JESUS IN THE BIBLE

The Person and Work of Jesus

Acceptance of Jesus Christ as Personal Saviour

Prayers of Freedom

Prayers and Declarations

Chapter 6 SALVATION THROUGH JESUS CHRIST

Reviewing Text from the Quran and the Bible About Isa and Jesus

Chapter 7 THE LORD GOD AND ISRAEL

Judaism’s Foundational Beliefs

A Foundational Summary of Jewish Beliefs

The Exclusive Promise of the Covenant Given to Abraham And The Israelites

Chapter 8 PILLARS OF ISLAM

The Pillars of Iman\Faith

Islamic Monotheism’s Complete Rejection and Denial of Christian Monotheism

Chapter 9 SURAH’S 112 AND 3

Biblical Review of Surah 112 and Surah 3

Introduction and Summary To Surah 112: 1-4 Al-Ikhlas (The Purity of Faith)

Introduction to Surah 3:1-63 Al-Imran The Family of Imran

Conclusion

Chapter 10 POWER IN A NAME

100 Names of The Lord God of The Bible

The Ninety-nine Names of Allah of The Quran

Appendix

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Preface

The seeds for this book were planted during my last year at seminary. They came to life as a result of my habit of reviewing the new books stand when I went to the library. There it was: The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam by Bate Yode. This was in the spring of 2000. There were several reasons that caused me to be attracted to this title. First, the cover of the book was a sketched picture of people gathered outside of a desert town which was intriguing to me as I had not previously read or studied much about the Ancient Near East. Secondly, and this became more of a motivator as I continued to study, what was the relationship between the Eastern Christian Church and the Ancient Near East. Finally, how did the leadership and people of the Ancient Near East view Christianity and more specifically the Lord God of the Old Testament, Jesus, and the Trinity? As I studied over the past eleven years, these questions became more focused. Such as, does Islam today worship the Lord God of the Old Testament? What are their beliefs about who is Jesus of the New Testament today? And how does the Christian Church worldwide relate to the world of Islam today?

Over the past decade major network news programs, national newspapers, magazines, and an expanded academic study of all things Middle Eastern have expressed a wide spectrum of opinion on Islam. My challenge was to accurately understand the theology, both Christian and Islamic, of the questions I was researching. The vast majority of sources totally overlook the theological foundations of these two great faiths. It is impossible to understand the motivations and actions of Christianity or Islam without understanding their theology.

We must gain an understanding of their primary sources, both historical and scriptural. The process of defining a theology and the actions that result in the lives of the believers of that faith are just as important in the study of a faith as are the terms used to define the actions used by a doctor, lawyer, builder, fireman, etc. Each profession, or in this case, each faith must be able to present a theology or set of beliefs, the basics of which, can be understood by each faith and ultimately by the widest audience as possible. Therefore, the definitions and the accuracy of our sources are critical to having a clear understanding of each faith. In our present case, we are looking to define, compare, and contrast between the beliefs and doctrine of these two different faiths, Christianity and Islam.

In accepting Islam as a person’s faith, they are required to repeat the Shahadah or the witness of faith in the five Pillars of Islam twice in the presence of another Muslim. The new believer also gives witness or testimony to their acceptance of the six Pillars of Iman or Faith. After giving these two testimonies the person is accepted as a Muslim. A Muslim being a person whose life is in submission to Allah. We present this process in chapter eight.

In chapter six we review how a person gives their testimony of belief and becomes a Christian. This defining of how a person becomes Christian flows from their understanding and receiving of the message presented in the Bible. The Lord God invites new believers into a personal saving relationship as shown in the scripture that follows:

John 14:6 Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.

John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

Forward

As we have entered the twenty-first century, we must certainly be at a time in history when the doors of learning about and mutual respect for each other’s faiths calls both Christianity and Islam to a more open dialog. Both faiths have a foundational set of beliefs or theological commitments that call for worldwide evangelism efforts seeking to call unbelievers to their understanding of what it means to be a believer. And members of each of these faiths are encouraged to follow their beliefs regarding evangelism.

As we learn more about these two religions, we find that there are great differences in how each defined their faith in a monotheistic God. In Islam, Monotheistic Allah is defined in the theological term, Tawhid the focus of which is the complete uniqueness of Allah’s Oneness. In Christian Monotheism, the defining term is the Trinity. This emphasizes the nature of the Lord God expressing Himself as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These differences extend, frequently to the point of being mutually exclusive as we have just seen in the terms Tawhid and Trinity.  In fact, the more we understand about the beliefs of each faith, this matter of being mutually exclusive becomes more apparent.

For absolute clarity throughout this book the Christian God will always be referred to as the Lord God of the Holy Bible. Likewise, the Muslim God will always be referred to as Allah, of the Holy Quran.

The Christian Lord God of all creation provides the love, grace, and mercy which allows everyone to decide whether they will receive this gift of love, grace, and mercy. This decision of acceptance allows the individual to have a personal believing relationship with the Lord God or to reject the Lord God’s offer of salvation. The acceptance of this gift from the Lord God produces a new person. This new person in Christ now has faith in a living and personal Lord God, who gives guidance through the Holy Spirit and the Bible. This gives a new meaning to all of life.

The key to this twenty-first century dialog and relationship is mutual respect. The basis of this mutual respect is summarized in the following three points.

Respect the Lord God-given right to choose which faith or not we choose to follow.

Respect the Lord God-given value of all humanity having been made in the image of the Lord God.

Respect the right of each faith to exist without any prejudice, enmity, or coercion between the respective faiths.

As we continue in chapters one and two we find out about the importance of a personal faith that comes through the development and presentation of the particular faith’s beliefs. We will also explore how the message of salvation is received by individuals as they gain understanding of the message through prayer and study.

Chapter two presents two of the early confessions of faith presented by the Christian Church. Both of these statements were known and commented on by both Christianity and Islam. Chapter three presents the essential Biblical text about the attributes of the Lord God and chapter four continues with a detailed presentation outlining the nature of the Holy Spirit. We are able to gain a better and more complete understanding of this third person of the Holy Trinity that is essential in our understanding of how the Lord God has presented himself to the world. In Christianity the Holy Spirit indwells the believer providing guidance, power to live according to the Lord God’s revelation, and understanding of the Word presented in the Bible.

As we continue through chapter’s five to seven, the reader is given the steps that lead to salvation in Christianity with text from the Bible. Since the message from the Old Testament of the Bible provides a detailed account of the Lord God’s choice of the Israelites, a Semitic people, to bring his message to the world, there is a summary statement of the basic beliefs of Judaism.

Having reviewed the foundational beliefs and acts of worship for both Christianity and Islam there is a brief review of Surah’s 112 and 3 in chapter nine that demonstrates several mutually exclusive verses in the Bible and Quran. Thus again we see two different religious faiths worshiping two different Gods, The Lord God of Christianity and Allah of Islam, and presenting two different and independent paths to salvation. Chapter ten also lists the one hundred names of the Lord God of the Bible and the ninety-nine names of Allah of the Quran. 

Chapter 1 SEEKING TRUTH

Purpose Statement

The purpose and desired intent for this resource book focuses on eight points:

1. Present Jesus Christ as the savior for all mankind past, present, and future.

2. Share the love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, and salvation offered from the Lord God through the death and resurrection of His only Son, Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of our sins. 

3. Extend the hand of peace, fellowship, and mutual respect toward all mankind and especially to all Muslims throughout the world.

4. That the reader will decide to receive the Gift of Salvation through Christ alone and have the Hope and Promise of spending eternity in Heaven.

5. That we remind ourselves that both of these faiths have had low points in their history such as the Crusades for Christians and the expansion of Islam by military conquest for which we forgive each other and dwell now and in the future in a relationship of mutual respect for each of our separate faiths.

6. That we commit to respect each other’s sacred texts, the Holy Bible and the Holy Quran. Confirming that while we share some similar narratives and events in each of our Holy Scriptures, they do in fact present two mutually exclusive different paths to salvation and we respect the privilege of each faith to present itself to the world.

7. Commit to defining Christianity and Islam by reviewing key passages of scripture that uniquely define them as two separate religious faiths, even though they share many characters and events.

The essence of what we find in our review of these two religions is:

Two Different Gods: The Lord God of Christianity and Allah of Islam

Two Different Messages: The Bible of Christianity and The Quran of Islam

Two Different Faiths: The scriptures and beliefs of these two radically different faiths are so completely different that they present a choice to the believer between being either a believing Christian or a believing Muslim.

8. Call believers of each faith to respect the God-given right in both faiths to choose which faith they will or will not follow.

Respect the God-given value of all humanity having been made in the image of the Lord God.

Respect the right of each faith to exist without any prejudice, enmity, or coercion between the respective faiths.

A Clear Path to Salvation

The central goal of our study is to review those basic beliefs within both Monotheistic Islam and Monotheistic Christianity that direct the believer to salvation. The reader will see the significant differences between Islam and Christianity and is invited to become a believing Christian.

As a believing Christian, you are invited into a saving and personal fellowship with the Lord God of the Bible. You are encouraged to pray to the Lord God of the Bible as you begin to read this plan of salvation and especially as you come to the section on accepting Jesus Christ as personal savior.

An Important Search for Truth

The truth that we seek to find is indeed a question for all mankind and for all time (time being defined as, eternity past, present, and future of the two faiths we are exploring). We seek the truth as presented from within the beliefs presented by the theological and doctrinal statements of each faith. Both of these faiths present a set of foundational beliefs that are central to our understanding of what they present to potential believers. We seek to answer our questions as presented in the statements from these two faiths, as presented in their Holy Books, statements of faith, commentaries, and other theological sources.

To define each faith, we must define their theology. Theology is the study of the nature of God and our relationship to God. We also seek to understand the importance and the necessity of a personal faith. Each faith speaks to humanity of the eternal importance of a personal faith in either the Lord God of the Bible or Allah of the Quran. This personal faith gives the believer a faith relationship with their God, a code of conduct for life, a new world view, and a place in eternity or an afterlife.

Each faith or religion defines God and what is necessary to profess a personal faith in God. First, we want to look at four terms that are often used interchangeably when in fact they can be very different and in some cases mutually exclusive:

Religion is the personal belief in a given set of teachings or doctrine usually about a defined god but can be a defined spirit or inanimate object which seeks to give the believer an acceptable way to have a relationship with the object of their faith.

Faith is the personal belief in what has been presented to the individual by the specific religion that guides the believer in the specific teaching of that religion. Some of the major worldwide religions are Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Shinto, Ethnic Traditional, and individual sects or groups.

Spirituality is, sensitivity or attachment to religious values of the personal faith the believer has chosen to follow.¹

Cultism is when an individual or group identifies themselves in terms or belief in individuals that appear to be the same as the doctrinal beliefs of another religion.

In our current review Christianity, would identify Islam as an individual religion separate from the basic beliefs of Christianity, since it uses many terms defined in Christianity or the Holy Bible in a way that is inconsistent with Biblical teachings.

An example is the very definition or revelation of the Christian Lord God. In Biblical Christianity, the Lord God is seen as part of a Trinity. This Trinity in the Christian faith is defined as God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit. Whereas in Islam, God or Allah is defined as One, or by the term Tawhid, often described in Islamic theology as Islamic Monotheism. In fact, the greatest sin in Islam is Shirk, which means to worship others or anything along with Allah. Shirk means association or to worship or to associate someone or something in place of or with God/Allah. In Islam, Christians are Polytheist or believers in three separate gods.

In chapter two we will see a presentation of this Holy Trinity in two creeds from the early Christian Church. These are The Chalcedonian definition of the Christian Faith issued on 451 AD\CE and the Apostles Creed completed in the eighth century AD\CE. This Trinity relationship appears more than sixty times in the Bible. Four primary passages in the Bible in which we find God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit interacting are: Matthew 28:19, Matthew 3:16-17, 2 Corinthians 13:14, and Ephesians 4:4-6.

Let’s look at these teachings in a summary of their basic confessional statement of faith. Each faith gives their definition of the nature of the Lord God of Christianity or Allah of Islam and how a faithful person expresses their response to the Lord God of Christianity or Allah of Islam. Both faiths are presented through a series of events and leaders which are foundational for the believer’s faith. This process includes:

1. A leader that has been sent from the Lord God or Allah to present the Lord God’s or Allah’s message of salvation. Salvation in this context means that a person confesses their belief in the Lord God or Allah and lives their lives within the message presented by their leaders and in their scriptures.

2. A revelation from the Lord God or Allah is preserved in each text, either the Bible in Christianity or the Quran in Islam. Each is a revelation from the Lord God or Allah. There is a time of development of the foundational beliefs of the faith. In Christianity, this development is given in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. In the Old Testament, the Lord God reveals himself in his relationship with a people chosen by the Lord God to bring his message of salvation to the world, past present, and future. This message is revealed through the lives of the Israelites and major Biblical characters such as Moses, Abraham, King David, and many other leaders and prophets, as well as the lives of individual Israelites as preserved and presented in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, this message of salvation was extended to both Jews and Gentiles, all humanity which are not Jewish. In the New Testament, the primary Biblical characters are Jesus Christ, the Son of the Lord God who is also the sent Messiah. Other New Testament characters are the twelve disciples of Jesus, Paul the Apostle, as well as many individuals whose lives are changed as they accept the gift of salvation from the Lord God, freely given by his loving mercy, grace and forgiveness.

In terms of time, Christianity views the Lord God as the Creator who existed in the preexistent past, the present, and an eternal future or heaven where believers are eternally with the Lord God.

In Islam, God or Allah is the preexistent Creator who also reveals himself in the present as well as a future eternal Paradise. Prior to Allah revealing himself to the Prophet Mohammed, exclusively in the Arabic language, Arabic peoples lived primarily in what is now called Western Saudi Arabia, or in Arabic, the Hejaz. The cities of Mecca and Medina were both located in this area.

The Ka’bah or House of God is in Mecca where 360 gods were worshiped by the Pagan Arabs prior to the revelations of Islam.² In the Ka’bah, all of the 360 gods were represented by an idol, except Allah. Allah was worshiped as the high god over all other gods that were worshiped in the Ka’bah. This was during the Age of Ignorance or jahiliyya. During the time of Abrahams building of the Ka’bah the city dwellers and those on religious pilgrimage traveled to Mecca to worship at the Ka’bah. This age existed for several centuries prior to Muhammad’s coming as the final prophet of Islam. As noted in the Encyclopedia of The Quran, the jahiliyya was a period characterized by ignorance of the divine truth.³

Allah’s revelation of the Quran to Mohammed, beginning in 610 AD\CE became the beginning of the revelations that would later become the Quran. The word Quran means to recite or recitation. The Quran is believed by Muslims to be the word of Allah as given to the Prophet Muhammad. Muhammad’s mission was to recite this message to the Arabic people. At Surah 85:22 we find that the Quran was "(inscribed) in A Tablet Preserved that is eternal and preserved from corruption.

3. The revealed message is offered through sermons. In Christianity, these are evangelistic sermons from the Bible. In Islam, this call to faith is expressed in the term Dawah, with the sermon coming from the Quran.

4. There is a development of a place of worship. For Christianity, this is a church, where people meet to worship the Lord God. In Islam, it is a mosque or one of the Holy Sites designated by Islam where people meet to worship Allah.

5. The ministries of each faith is developed, led by priest, pastors, rabbi or an imam, each of which presenting the beliefs of their faith. This may include a wide variety of ministries that seek to reach out with assistance to those in need of spiritual, medical or other humanitarian needs. This may include food, clothing, medical assistance, camps, etc. These ministries seek to meet people’s basic needs for living as well as an opportunity for the believers to share their faith with others.

In the developmental history of each of