POLEMICS is finding fault with other faiths. Muslims do this a lot with Christianity. In this video lesson, Arabs who have read the Islamic documents in the original language expose various aspects of Islam which bothered them – and still do. Two of these are Arabic pastors, and two are Muslims who came to Christ.
PURE ARABIC is often given as a proof of why the Quran is of God. Georges Houssney, an Arabic Bible translator disagrees and gives examples of why, such as Arabic poetry.
RITUALS: Dr. Cynthia asks new believer Huda how she felt about the rituals of Islam. Did they comfort her? Did they make her feel closer to God?
“No,” Huda tells us. Instead, she felt an emptiness and sadness. But when she started learning about Jesus and going to church the experience was totally different. She felt peace and love.
(For more on Huda’s journey of becoming Christian from Muslim, watch our other videos.)
SLAVERY: Is Islam really the religion of racial equality? Rev. George Saieg, from Sudan, shares with us the principles of Islam on slavery and race, with examples of practices extending from the distant past extending into the present day.
Muslims enslaved black Africans and fed them into the America slave trade. In addition, the number of white Europeans they captured and enslaved in the Mediterranean is believed to exceed the number of blacks enslaved in America.
COMPARE and QUESTION says Huda in a reality clip while driving with Dr. Cynthia. Dr. C grabs the camera to film her in candid discussion. Huda relates with animation how she feels she was deceived in Islam for many years while she lived in a Muslim country with no access to the truth. She is very glad that now, due to the internet and websites (like ours) Muslims across the world finally can find the truth.
By watching debates, Huda has learned that the Muslim debaters and leaders do not have good answers to the objections put forward by Christians, atheists, and other critics of Islam. She says there are many ugly things about Mohammed and Islam which are hidden from the Muslim world. Because of this, Huda was well into adulthood before she came to America and discovered the truth about Islam. She challenges all Muslims to research through the internet, and every other way, to find out the truth about Islam and Christianity.
But QUESTIONNING ISLAM is a problem for Muslims:
On his extensive travels throughout the Muslim world George Houssney has met thousands of Muslims who have been told the same thing: to be a good Muslim you must not question Islam. “Doubt is a sin. Allah will not be pleased with you. You just need to believe!” an Imam told a troubled Muslim who came to him, “Just take the Quran at face value.”
In another example, when questioned about women in Islam, despite studying in the USA a Muslim PhD candidate told Dr. C. that they were not to question Islam. So, she couldn’t even think about it. Now, over a dozen years later she is very influential internationally, and teaches Islam. Yet she still won’t consider those questions.
Sometimes, however, this forbidding backfires. A Sudanese student who spoke several languages and wondered why he must pray in Arabic. His Imam forbade him and his friends from asking questions. One friend wrote a poem questioning Islam, and as a result was killed. “If Islam were true,” thought his surviving friend, “it would not need to protect itself like this.”
The Sudanese student kept on questioning and eventually found the truth in Christ.
WHY not QUESTION? the Quran has various passages that discourage inquiry, such as 5:101, which says not to ask what would cause you to doubt. Western Muslim apologists try to deny that is what the passage means; yet that is how it is practiced throughout the Muslim world.
In contrast, the Bible applauds inquiry. In the New Testament, or Injeel, in Acts 17:11 we learn of a group of people in Berea, Greece, who were skeptical of the gospel when it was first preached to them. So, they searched the prior scriptures every day to confirm if the gospel message were true or not. Because of this they were called more noble than those who did not.
SEX and GENDER issues:
Another former Muslim woman from the Arab Gulf that we interviewed did not want to appear in the video, but exposed these problems in Muslim culture:
GENDER and IDENTITY issues pervade Islam. First, women are not equal to men. (See our other videos/study guides on this topic.)
SEXUAL HARASSMENT of women is routine in Muslim countries. Women expect it. It makes them sex objects. It’s difficult to balance their rights with safety men’s sexual weakness.
In Islam, it is the woman’s fault if a man lusts. In the Bible Jesus tells us the opposite – if a man looks at a woman lustfully, he is guilty of sexual sin, zinna. (Matthew 5:28)
“PEDOPHILIA is so common in Islamic countries,” she says, “that we don’t even have a word for it. It’s normal.” She both knows the fatawa allowing and has ministered to hundreds who experienced it. In girls it leads to promiscuity, prostitution, lesbianism and dislike/hate of men. In boys it can lead to homosexuality or phobias.
This informant provided an Arabic reference that we have confirmed that the highest Shiite authorities have approved sex of a father with his daughter of 3 months age and older. Shockingly, this is practiced and is unfathomably detrimental.
We have a report of an Arab boy who was molested by several neighborhood men over years. Now, although a Christian and married he can’t give up watching gay porn nightly.
STUDY QUESTIONS:
- Define Apologetics and Polemics
- Explain how they relate to evangelism.
- Do most Muslims speak Arabic?
- Why is it helpful to have Arab opinions on Islam?
- Rituals are an important part of Islam – from prayer in certain times and positions to fasting and beyond.
- What does Huda say about how the Islamic rituals felt to her?
- Slavery, we are told by most of society originated in the West and was primarily racial. What proof do you now have that this is not the truth?
- Huda tells us to compare and question the teachings of Islam versus those of Christianity.
- In her research, what did she discover about what Islamic leaders are teaching?
- About Prophet Mohammed?
- What does she think of debates?
- What has Georges Houssney found about Muslims questioning Islam?
- What is a reference from the Quran that discourages their questioning?
- What Bible passage does he point to that encourages questioning about God and faith?
- Dr. C tells us in this study guide that when a Muslim friend was staying with her, after several days she emboldened to ask her a few questions.
- What was this woman’s response?
- What will you say when you get that response from a Muslim?
- Which aspects of sexuality and gender issues that were exposed disturb you the most?
- Discuss the different views of lust and responsibility for it as seen through Islam and Jesus Christ?
- How much of an issue is pedophilia in Muslim countries, and what results of it are reported here?
