Islam

I just returned from Istanbul. There are many wonderful people there, most of them Islamic.

As I slept in a room without air conditioning, I would be wakened each morning by the Islamic call to prayer. Hauntingly beautiful it would ring out in the morning reminding people that their lives should be lived before God and that God is part of their everyday life. Five calls to prayer each day. The believer bows before Mecca and prays.

If you want respect for your Holy Book, Islam illustrates that respect by the constanting reading and honoring of the Quran (Koran).

The Islamic person condemns the materialistic approach of the West. Their television is cleaner than the Television that is beamed into most Christian homes.

Modern Chistianity has ignored the challenges of Islam, which is not a wise thing to do. The missionary approach of Islam spread Islam through out the world. You will find Islam in China and in the South Pacific. It is in India. It has spread into Africa.

Islam has eradicated much of the Christian lands of antiquity. Christianity at one point was centered in North Africa. Polycarp wrote from Egypt. St. Augustine was Bishop of Hippo in North Africa. Alexandria in Egypt was a great center for Christian thought. Today, they all Islamic. And where Islam went the competition did not prosper. Generations in these areas followed Mohammed instead of Christ.

The victory of Islam was illustrated so close to me. From my hotel window, I was able to see one of the four minarets of St. Sophia. St. Sophia was perhaps the greatest church of the East. The third church on the site was built by the Christian Roman emperor, Justinian. It was a beautiful and powerful church but when Istanbul (Constantinople, Byzantium) fell in 1456 to the followers of Islam, Mahamet II, rode his horse into the church and converted it into a mosque.

The beautiful frescoes of Christ in the church were whitewashed and minarets constructed about the building converting it into a mosque. The Great church where Synods were held, where the golden tongued preacher, Chrysostrom, preached, now heard instead the Islamic call to prayer and the teachings of the Iman. A victory for Islam, and a loss for Christianity. Today, it is no longer a mosque. It is only a museum.

There would be various military and religious incursions into Europe. Militarily, Islam was thrown back in Europe in Hungary and stopped militarily in Spain by the Catholic church and soldiers that were Catholic.

In Topkapi palace in Istangul is a room honoring Mohammed. It is a room holy to many of my friends. In it is a copy of the footprint of the prophet taken from the Islamic mosque on Temple Mount where it is believed by Islam that Mohammed was assumed into heaven. In the room there is a constant reading of the Quran. Also there is a shoe that belonged to the Prophet. There is also an original letter written by Mohammed to the head of the Coptic Christians in Egypt. It basically says that the letter comes from Mohammed who serves Allah and that the Coptic Christians had better convert to Allah or the head of the Coptic church would have no one to blame but himself for the blood that would be on his head from the fight to come. So much for gentle conversion tactics.

Today, where Islam exists the ability to plant the seed of Christianity is exceedingly difficult for Christian missionaries and for those who convert to Christ. Today in the U.S., we allow Islam to compete freely in the market place of religion and ideas. It is not reciprocal. Islam does not grant the same freedom. Turkey is better than most. It is designed to be a secular state, but make no mistake it is Islamic to the core.

People are people. There are many good Islamic people in Turkey. These are people with open and sensitive hearts. As a Christian I find myself very sympathetic to their rejection of Western materialism, their desire to pray, their devotion, their love for the book that guides their lives, their emphasis on alms, charity and hospitality. Further, they often have a religious devotion that they follow through to death.

I think that we as Christians have wrongly forgotten the challenges of Islam to our faith and should take these challenges seriously. Our Christianity needs to be more vigorous in our response to Islam.

Islam has many challenges before it as well. There are Christians on one side (certainly countries that are "Christianized" such as Greece, although I distinguish a Christian who follows Christ from a member of a Christian country) . Other enemies to Islam are the Jews and the Hindus ( Pakistan-Islam vs. India-Hindu).

In short, the average American Christian does not give much thought to the challenges of Islam. That is a mistake. Where Islam has been planted in the world, Christianity has not historically prospered. Pray for those courageous Christians that deal with religious Islam on a daily basis.

History has something to teach us in this area, if we will but learn it.

HarleyDad