Errors of Mohammedanism

Protopriest Ioann Morev (+1935)

 

The founder of Mohammedanism was the Arab Mohammed, who lived six hundred years after the birth of Christ. In the course of his trade affairs, Mohammed often traveled through the countries of the East, where he became acquainted with Jewish and Christian beliefs. Imagining himself to be an extraordinary man, a messenger of God, he composed his own peculiar teaching, which he set forth in his book — the Koran.

The main difference between Mohammedanism and Christianity lies in the teaching about the one God and about Mohammed as His prophet. “There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is His prophet” — this is the principal dogma of the Mohammedans. In it is expressed the essence of their entire faith. These words are most frequently heard in the liturgical language of the Mohammedans: they are shouted daily from the minaret of the mosque before the beginning of public prayers, pronounced during the service, and often repeated by every devout Mohammedan in his own home.

The dogma of the oneness of God had a tremendous influence on the religious teaching of Mohammed. In particular, it determined the view of the Arab false prophet concerning the Persons of the Christian Trinity — the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. Since God is absolutely one and has no equal to Himself, Jesus Christ, in whom Christians believe, is not the Son of God. He is a servant and slave of Allah, sent among many others to men to preach about the one God. The teaching of Jesus Christ is not the highest and most perfect Revelation of God, but only a confirmation of what was already known to the human race in the Old Testament. Christ is nothing more than a prophet and forerunner of Mohammed, who was to bring to men the highest and most perfect religion. “According to the teaching of the Koran, Jesus Christ was taken alive into heaven, but at the end of the world will again appear on earth to support the Mohammedan faith. Then He will undergo death, be resurrected on the day of the general resurrection, and inherit the abode of the blessed together with the other righteous.” (Orthodox Companion, 1871, Part 1, pp. 228–229). As for Mohammed’s teaching about the Holy Spirit, it is extremely confused and vague. By the Holy Spirit he sometimes means a distinct person who communicates with the angels and is subordinate to God; sometimes he means a simple inspiration of the prophets from God; and sometimes he identifies the Holy Spirit with the Archangel Gabriel, represented by the Mohammedans in a crudely sensual form.

Thus, Mohammed, carried away by the idea of the one God, rejected the chief Christian dogma of the Most Holy Trinity, rejecting it on the grounds that, due to his ignorance and inability to understand theological matters, he perceived in it signs of polytheism.

It must be noted that through the denial of the Trinity, a particular meaning is introduced into the teaching about God. When Christianity teaches about the three Persons of the Godhead, it thereby shows that God is a Loving Being, both in Himself and in relation to men and to the world. When God is presented as a Being entirely alone and not having within Himself co-equal Persons, then upon whom will the love of God be directed and upon whom will it be concentrated? Upon the world, upon man? But they are not equal to God, they are limited and temporal. Therefore, God's love cannot be exhausted by them alone: for its perfect manifestation, it requires Persons equal and consubstantial with God — such as are the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity.

Thus, the religion of Mohammed, representing God as only one Person, deprived Him of His chief attribute — love in its highest and most perfect manifestation. At the same time, through the aforementioned dogma, Mohammed introduced a particular, repelling feature into the teaching about God's relationship to men and to the world. “There is no God but God” (Allah — Ed.). These words deny in God not only any multiplicity in essence and in persons, but in the Arabic language, these words also contain the meaning that God alone is the doer of all that exists, the only active force in the universe, in which, apart from God, there is no other force, no other principle, and that all created beings — both spiritual and material — from the archangel to the smallest particle of some dust — are entirely passive, have no freedom whatsoever, and are merely blind instruments of God.

Thus, through Mohammed’s favorite dogma, a harsh, formidable, and all-oppressive dominion of God over the world is introduced.

In such a view of the Godhead lies already the foundation for another false notion of Mohammedanism — that of unconditional divine predestination.

It must be noted that in the early period of Mohammed’s life, when he was under strong influence from Jewish and Christian beliefs, just as his entire teaching was purer and closer to the truth, so also in particular it did not contain the aforementioned erroneous idea. At that time, the preacher from Mecca taught that God, despite His boundless omnipotence, is just, merciful, and holy. Therefore, man cannot suffer any evil, offense, or injustice from God: reward or punishment in the future he receives only for his own deeds. “To man shall be rendered not for anything else, but only for his deeds.” Every soul shall bear only “its own burden” (its own transgressions). Therefore, “he who does good, does it only for his own benefit; he who does evil, thereby brings punishment upon himself.” But later, under the influence of the success of his cause and under the charm of his supposed heavenly mission, Mohammed reversed his original teaching about God and His relationship to man to its very opposite. Thus, he began to attribute to God such titles as do not accord with His holiness and justice. Along with calling God “Merciful,” “Compassionate,” Mohammed does not hesitate to call Him: “self-loving,” “arrogant,” “terrible,” “vengeful.”

In connection with such notions of the false prophet about God, the idea of unconditional divine predestination arose in his soul — an idea which is expressed in the Koran plainly and decisively. “It is decreed for Satan that he should lead astray those who surrender themselves to his power and directly lead them to torment in the flame.” “Whom God guides, he walks upon the straight path; but those whom He turns away from the path — they wander. For hellfire We have created a great number of jinn and men: they have hearts, but do not understand; they have eyes, but do not see; and ears, but do not hear; they are like cattle — and even more astray than they.” “Whom God leads astray, for him there is no guide. Such He leaves, and they wander in their error like those deprived of reason.”

There is no need to speak of how false and harmful such a teaching about God is. If He governs the fate of man according to His own arbitrary will, then, consequently, He restricts and suppresses our freedom, which He Himself granted to us. What, then, is the meaning of all human efforts and labors to direct one's life toward the better? Why should people watch over their conduct and perform good deeds? If a person is destined by God for salvation — he will be saved; if condemned to destruction — he will perish. But this would be utterly inconsistent with the righteousness of God...

In addition to the false teaching about God, the Koran of Mohammed contains much else that is false and contrary to the truth. Thus, it preaches hatred and enmity toward all people who do not belong to Mohammedanism. “Before God there are no creatures more loathsome than those who do not believe and remain unbelievers,” it says in the Koran. “If you succeed in seizing them during war, scatter them by means of their execution, and their followers as well, so that they may reflect upon it.” Such a militant spirit in the teaching of the sacred Mohammedan book fully corresponds both to the character of Mohammed and to the history of the spread of his faith on earth. Mohammed paved the way for his teaching with the sword: he was at once both a preacher of a new faith and a military commander, a conqueror.

Here one is involuntarily led to a comparison between Mohammed and Christ, between the Christian faith and the Mohammedan. Christ drew people to Himself solely through His teaching and miracles. He used no other force except the power of truth, resorted to no other sword than the spiritual one, which is the word of God (Eph. 6:17). He had no army to defend His cause. Without any external help or human support, solely through the labors of twelve poor commoners — the Holy Apostles — He conquered the whole world with His teaching. The Arab prophet, on the other hand, died without extinguishing in himself the feeling of hatred toward the unbelievers; he died with a stern command to one of his close followers: “Arm yourself for the cause of God, bravely wage the holy war, with the blade of the sword wipe out the pagans!” How unlike this is to the final moments of our Lord and Savior, who left us the commandment to love even our enemies (Matt. 5:44), and Himself prayed from the height of the Cross for His crucifiers: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34).

Just as Mohammed considered war against the unbelievers a sacred duty of every Mohammedan, so also did he seek to poison all the relations of the latter toward others with a spirit of enmity, malice, and estrangement. In the Koran he commands his followers to abhor the unbelievers and to avoid all association with them under threat of special punishment from God. “O you who believe,” says Mohammed, “do not choose friends among the unbelievers. Beware of sitting with unbelievers, otherwise you will become like them, and God will gather together in hell the hypocrites and the unbelievers. Believe only those who follow your faith.” “Do not take Jews and Christians as friends — they are friends to one another. He who takes them as friends shall end up like them, and God will not be a guide to the ungodly.” With such a misanthropic preaching, it is understandable that the Arab false prophet did not deem it necessary to obligate his followers with any rules of honesty and justice in relation to non-Mohammedans: for the prosperity and happiness of the faithful, it is permissible to use toward other people dishonest means — lies, cunning, deceit, and violence...

It is clear from this what a destructive harm Mohammedanism represents for humanity, preaching such a malicious and fanatical doctrine. And indeed, history testifies that the spread of Mohammedanism was accompanied by the decline and desolation of those lands where the banner of Mohammed was raised. “And even now, one cannot name a single country under Mohammedan rule that is distinguished by a flourishing condition. In the original homeland of the human race, in ancient Chaldea, in the lands between the Tigris and the Euphrates — now all is desert, all is barren; there is little agriculture, few cities, and those that remain are poor and in a miserable state; there are no villages; the people wander about, knowing nothing of their ancestors and drawing nearer each day to the condition of savages. All those splendid and populous cities spoken of in history, their numerous populations — educated and wealthy — which remained from the Middle Ages, have now entirely vanished. When one asks the reason for this, one is involuntarily compelled to answer: the cause lies in a false religion.”

One of the gravest errors of Mohammedanism must be recognized in its acceptance of polygamy. Following the example of Mohammed, who entered into multiple successive marriages, each of his followers is permitted to have up to four wives simultaneously and an unlimited number of concubines. This Mohammedan custom, in turn, is based on an incorrect view held by the Mohammedan faith regarding woman. According to Christian teaching, woman, like man, was created “in the image and likeness of God”; she possesses a soul that is free, rational, and immortal. Her purpose on earth consists in serving the continuation of the human race and being the companion and helper of her husband. Therefore, woman too has been endowed by the Creator with powers and capacities — both spiritual and bodily — in accordance with her lofty calling.

Meanwhile, Mohammedanism holds its own particular view of woman. “Your wives are your field,” says Mohammed, “your field. Go into your field as you wish.” By such a decree of the Arab false prophet, woman is not only placed beneath man, but is equated with soulless objects. In the words of one scholar of Mohammedanism, “among many animals the females are respected and esteemed more highly than woman is by Mohammedanism.” It is clear that among Mohammedans there can be no marriage as a religious institution. What they have is only a civil marriage — an agreement between spouses. As a result, the Mohammedan woman is deprived of all rights: she is a perpetual prisoner and unquestioning slave of her husband. The latter has the authority to dispose of her at his own whim: he may punish her, deceive her, drive her out of the house, divorce her, take her back again, and so forth. There is no need to elaborate on how sorrowful and degrading such a condition is for the woman, and how harmful polygamy is for the well-being of the family: a multitude of children torn from their parents, the absence of peaceful and harmonious conjugal life, countless fratricides, impious incest, and all manner of vile vices — these are the consequences of the indulgence in base sensuality legalized by Mohammed.

To what extent sensuality held sway over the soul of Mohammed can be judged from the fact that even the spiritual delights of Paradise — which, according to the words of the Holy Apostle, “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man” (1 Cor. 2:9) — he was capable of representing only from the perspective of a carnal, passionate man. Here is how the pleasures of Paradise are described in the Koran of Mohammed: “Paradise is as vast as the heavens and the earth together. It is made up of gardens, whose musky soil is watered by streams of water, by springs flowing between green banks strewn with flowers. Besides water sources, there shall be rivers of milk, honey, and wine... Trees grow there with fruits of every kind... The branches of the trees bend under the weight of delightful fruits and themselves reach toward the hand to be picked, and even toward the mouth to be directly eaten. In such gardens shall the righteous dwell. Clothed in green brocade and satin garments, they shall be adorned with golden and silver bracelets and pearls. They will live in magnificent silk pavilions, lying on splendid luxurious couches adorned with gold and gems. Beneath their feet shall be carpets with brocade lining. The trees shall cover them with their shade, so that they shall experience neither heat nor cold. Each righteous man shall have a circle of servants — eternally youthful boys. On golden and silver dishes, they shall serve the righteous an assortment of foods and drinks in golden and silver goblets. And notably, from these drinks they shall experience neither thirst nor intoxication. Finally, the righteous shall live in the company of women. These are maidens with modest gaze, whom neither man nor jinn has ever touched; maidens like hyacinth and coral. Prominent bosoms, large black eyes, eternal youth, perfect age, and perpetually renewed virginity — these are their other charms.”

Certainly, the allowance of polygamy and the promise of sensual pleasures after death may appeal to carnal people and incline them toward the Mohammedan faith. But the former is not in accordance with the will of the Lord, who in the beginning created a single pair — man and woman — and blessed them for the continuation of the human race (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:5), while the latter is a crude lie and an obvious falsehood to all, since in the life to come, according to the word of Jesus Christ, people “neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven” (Matt. 22:30).

We do not speak of the other errors of Mohammedanism. What has been said is sufficient to see that the Mohammedan faith is not from God, but from human invention.

 

Source: Ислам как фактор формирования российской государственности и культуры : Антология [Islam as a Factor in the Formation of Russian Statehood and Culture: Anthology], Russian Christian Humanitarian Academy, Saint Petersburg, 2012, pp. 63-70.

Online: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Ioann_Morev/zabluzhdenija-musulmanstva/