The Fatima Appearances
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In their informative paper on "Islam and the Vatican," Richard Bennet and
Robert Nicholson mention a highly emotional episode which has contributed
to
building a common ground between Rome and Mecca, namely, the apparitions
of
our Lady of Fatima, in the town of Fatima, in Portugal. Since Fatima was
the
name of Muhammad's daughter, attempts have been made to explain the Fatima
apparitions as Muslim's phenomena.7
Bennet and Nicholson write: "To quote a Catholic news organization, Our
Lady
of Fatima is really Fatima, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. On October
23,
1995, Iranian television began running stories that the apparitions in
Fatima, Portugal, in 1917, were religious phenomena of Muslim origin."8
"Islam teaches that men can achieve favor with God by what a person does.
On
the Fatima site in Portugal on May 13th, 2000, the Pope proclaimed a
message
that could be readily accepted by both Muslims and Catholics. Pray, pray
much and make sacrifices for sinners; many souls go to hell because they
have no one to pray and make sacrifices for them. . . ."9
Heroic deeds to win the approval of God appeal to the natural man,
including
the devout Muslim; it is, however, light years away from the Gospel of
grace. The Pope's message, and the message and veneration of heroism in
Islam are a total negation of the Gospel, "Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us" (Titus 3:5).
Is The God of the Koran the Same as the God of The Bible?
The difference between the teaching of Koran and that of the Bible is not
limited to the doctrine of salvation, but includes the understanding of
God.
In fact, all the distinctive beliefs and practices of Islam and
Christianity
stem from their respective understanding of God. We noted that the
Pope
is attempting to build a new partnership with the Muslims by affirming
that
they worship the same Abrahamic God worshipped by Catholics.
In my reading, I found that this view is embraced by numerous church
leaders
and scholars of different faiths. For example, secretaries of European
episcopates met in Istanbul, Turkey, for a five-day period in June, 2002,
to
discuss the relationship between Islam and Christianity. The assumption
is
that by acknowledging Allah, the God portrayed in the Koran, as being
essentially the same as Elohim/Yaweh, the God revealed in the Bible, it is
possible to develop a relationship of mutual understanding and acceptance
between Islam and Christianity.
Is this assumption correct? A careful comparison between the Koranic God
and
the Biblical God, clearly shows that the two Gods are radically different.
Though the Arabic name Allah derives from the Hebrew name for God Eloha,
the
similarity is only etymological, not theological. In other words, the two
names sound similar, but their respective teachings are totally different.
To illustrate this point, we will look at a few significant teachings.
Our aim is to show that the attempt of the Pope and other Christian Church
leaders to build a partnership with the Muslims by acknowledging their
God,
Allah, as being essentially the same as the God of Biblical revelation,
grossly misrepresents the Biblical God. The reason is that the two Gods
differ radically in what they have revealed about themselves and their
creative and redemptive acts for the human family.
From a prophetic perspective we shall show in the last part of this essay
that the new partnership between the Papacy and Islam, represents the
historical outworking of the power of the antichrist - a power committed
to
promote the false worship of God and the persecution of God's people. We
shall see that both the Papacy and Islam fulfill the prophetic identifying
marks of the antichrist.
The Understanding of God
Muslims and Christians believe that there is one God, but the way they
conceptualize God in their respective theologies is radically different.
For example, while the God of the Bible is an incarnate Being who entered
into human time at creation and into human flesh at redemption in order to
be Emmanuel, God with us, the God of the Koran cannot and will not
incarnate. He is remote, inscrutable, utterly inaccessible to human
knowledge. Though human beings are his creatures, no interpersonal
relationship is possible with Allah.
The difference between the Unitarian view of the Koranic God ("There is
only
one God, Allah, and Muhammad, his prophet"), and the Trinitarian view of
the
Biblical God (consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), differs not
only
in numbers, but in nature and character. [Trinitarians hold that] the God
of
the Bible is a triune Being because HE IS LOVE. Love cannot be exercised
in
isolation. You cannot be all-loving and be alone at the same time. Love is
manifested in relationships. Augustine expressed this truth eloquently,
when he said: "Ubi amor, ibi trinitas" - Where there is love, there is a
trinity. By that he meant, that where there is love, there is a lover, a
beloved, and a spirit of love.
For Muslims the Biblical teaching that Christ is the Son of God is
blasphemous. "They do blaspheme who say: God is one of three in a Trinity,
for there is no God except One God" (Surah 5:76). Islam's teaching of the
absolute Oneness of God stems from their belief that God is "far above"
and
beyond any intimate relationship. He lives in solitary aloofness. Such a
teaching derives from Gnostic sects that lived in Saudi Arabia at the time
of Muhammad. By contrast, [Trinitarians believe that] the God of the
Bible
consists of three Beings who live in eternal fellowship. He is both
transcendent and immanent, beyond and within His creation.
The God of the Bible was not content to bless His creation from outside of
it. He humbled himself to the point of becoming part of His created order
through the incarnation of His Son Jesus Christ. By becoming part of His
created order, God sanctified humanity. The Sonship of Jesus in the Bible,
is a testimony of divine love - a love that transcends human
understanding.
It is from this perspective that we, as Christians, can help our Muslim
friends to understand the uniqueness of the triune God of the Bible.
Rather
than wasting time to prove the Trinity - a sublime mystery that transcends
any human explanation - we can affirm that the Biblical God does not live
in
solitary aloofness, but in a holy communion of three beings, because He is
love. But we need to explain to our Muslim friends that the three Beings
of
the Godhead are indeed ONE GOD, because they share the same center of
consciousness - a mystery beyond human comprehension.
[Editor's Note: Bacchiocchi, like most Seventh-day Adventists, is a
Trinitarian. God is a family, not a Trinity. See our article, "God is
NOT
a Trinity."]
Method of Revelation
Another significant difference between the God of the Bible and that of
the
Koran, is in the method of revelation. In the Koran, God has spoken
through
a book. In the Bible, God has revealed Himself supremely through a
Person,
Jesus Christ. In Islam, the great marvel of God is to be found in the
Arabic version of the Koran. In Christianity the great miracle is to be
found in the Person of Jesus Christ. Being a personal God, the Christian
God
can reveal Himself more fully through a Person, than through a book.
The radical difference between the Biblical God and the Koranic God,
becomes
even clearer when we compare their respective teachings in such areas as
sin, salvation, Jesus, hell, paradise, evangelism, and womanhood. For the
sake of brevity, we shall look only at the last two.
Method of Evangelism
In the last newsletter (No. 85) we noted that the Koranic God explicitly
enjoins to slay the pagans, Jews, and Christians who do not embrace Islam.
"When the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans
wherever
ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in
every stratagem (of war). But if they repent, and establish regular
prayers
and practice regular charity [become Muslim], then open the way for them"
(Surah 9:5).
Such a coercive method of evangelism stands in stark contrast to the
teachings of the Biblical God to win men and women for His Kingdom by
proclaiming to them the Good News of His saving grace through Christ's
atoning sacrifice.
Apparently the Pope has no problem in accepting the teachings of Allah
regarding the extermination of the infidels, because historically the
Catholic Church has taught and done the same thing. Thomas Aquinas, who is
rightly regarded as the most influential Catholic theologian who ever
lived,
clearly states in his Summa Theologica that heretics are not to be
tolerated, but exterminated. He wrote: "With regard to heretics two
points
must be observed: one, on their own side, the other, on the side of the
church. On their own side there is a sin, whereby they deserve not only
to
be separated from the Church by excommunication, but also to be severed
from
the world by death. For it is a much graver matter to corrupt the faith,
which quickens the soul, than to forge money, which supports the temporal
life. Wherefore, if forgers of money and other evildoers are forthwith
condemned to death by the secular authority, much more reason is there for
heretics, as soon as they are convicted of heresy, to be not only
excommunicated, but even put to death."10
This historical Catholic teaching that "heretics," if they did not recant,
must be not only excommunicated but also exterminated, sounds strikingly
similar to the teaching of the Koran. Such a common teaching explains why
the Catholic Church has historically used Holy Wars (crusades) to
exterminate Muslim "infidels" and Christian "heretics." The fact that the
Catholic Church has historically embraced and used Islam's Jihad, Holy
Wars,
to exterminate dissenters, helps us understand why the Pope finds the
Koranic God to be similar to the intolerant God worshipped by the
Catholics.
Such Gods, however, are light years away from the God of Biblical
revelation.
The Koran and the Bible on Womanhood
The infinite superiority of the Biblical God over that of the Koran, is
most
evident in the teaching regarding the status of women, especially as it
relates to marriage, divorce, and the world to come. A brief comparison
between the two can be instructive. It will help us to see that, in spite
of
what the Pope says, the Biblical God cannot be legitimately compared to
Allah.
The God of the Bible created woman out of man to be his counterpart
(Genesis
2:18), corresponding to him mentally, physically, and spiritually, and
making him a larger person than he would have been alone. The same holds
true for man. He brings to his wife a perspective that enlarges her life,
making her a more complete person than she could be without him. Thus, "in
the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman" (I Corinthians
11:11).
The Bible consistently teaches that marriage is a sacred and permanent
covenant which God Himself witnesses and protects. For this reason,
marriage
is effectively used in the Old Testament to portray God's relationship
with
Israel, and in the New Testament to represent Christ's relationship with
His
Church.
The high esteem that the Biblical God places on the role of women in the
home and in the Church, is foreign to the Koran. According to Allah,
women
exist primarily for the sexual gratification of men. To ensure this goal,
the Koran allows an ordinary Muslim to marry four wives, though wealthy
Muslims can fill their harems to the extent of their wealth and lust. The
latter practice has been encouraged by the example of Muhammad himself,
who
did not follow the Koranic limitations of four wives.
After the death of his first wife, Khadija, he married nine wives. One of
them, Aiysha, was only nine years old. She was the daughter of Abu Bakr As
Siddiq, who was a close friend of the Prophet and in charge of his books.
Muhammad was 53 years old when he insisted on marrying Aiysha, a
nine-year-old child, immature, and obviously ignorant of married life. He
also gave his twelve-year-old daughter, Fatima, in marriage to his cousin
Ali bin Abu Taleb. These criminal acts of child abuse alone suffice to
discredit Muhammad's claim to be the greatest prophet sent by Allah, even
greater than Jesus Christ Himself.
It amazes me how Muslims can accept Muhammad as the greatest prophet who
ever lived, in spite of the fact that he had sexual intercourse with a
nine-year-old girl. If the Koranic God sanctions the abuse of children for
sexual gratification, then He should be exposed as a criminal God, rather
than worshipped as a Holy Being. Perhaps the Pope is not distressed by the
sexual misconduct of the Prophet, because the Catholic Church has had its
own share of sexual scandals, not only in the past when some Popes had
women
lovers and children (see Endtime Issues No. 82), and even today, when
Catholic priests are being sued in many countries for sexually abusing
minors.
The fact that the Koranic God permits special people like Muhammad to do
things forbidden to others, raises serious questions about His moral
character and consistency. Muhammad claims that Allah gave him the
permission to marry any other woman he fancied. Here is the relevant text
from the Koran:
"Oh Prophet, we have made lawful for thee thy wives whom thou hast given
their wages and what thy right hand owns, spoils of war that God has given
thee, and the daughter of thy uncles paternal and aunts paternal, thy
uncles
maternal and aunts maternal, who have emigrated with thee, and any woman
believer, if she give herself to the Prophet and if the Prophet desire to
take her in marriage, for thee exclusively."11
The special provision granted by the Koran to a man like Muhammad to take
any woman as wife, even those captured in warfare, without any regard to
the
will of the women, clearly shows that Allah treats women as lambs to be
led
to the slaughter by the whims of men. After a man has obtained whatever he
desires from a woman, he is free to keep or dismiss her without fear of
injustice. This is clearly taught in the same Surah: "Thou mayest put off
whom thou wilt of them, and whom thou wilt thou mayest take to thee; and
if
thou seekest any thou hast set aside there is no fault in thee."12
It is evident that Allah has no respect for a woman's emotions and rights.
He treats women as disposable objects. By contrast the Biblical God
teaches
that husbands should "love their wives as their own bodies (Ephesians
5:28).
"The wife does not rule over her own body, but the husband does; likewise
the husband does not rule over his own body, but the wife does" (I
Corinthians 7:4).
This mutual equality and complementarity taught by the Biblical God, is
foreign to the Koranic God. The polygamy and servile concubinage taught by
the Koran, destroys the dignity of woman, the beauty of the home, besides
discrediting the morality of Allah's character.
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