In Arabic it is:
Lā ilāha illā Allāh, Muḥammadun rasūlu Allāh
English:
“There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.”
At minimum, one must believe that Allah is God and that Muhammad is his appointed messenger in order to be a Muslim.
But is Allah, the God of Islam, the one true God? And is Muhammad truly a messenger of God?
To investigate these, one must turn to the Quran and the records of Muhammad’s life. The Quran, being Allah’s self-revelation and the "why" of Muslim belief, must be carefully scrutinized. Similarly Muhammad, being the only direct recipient of the Quran and a presence in the shahada, must be critically examined to determine whether he actually is a messenger of God.
Quran 2:23 [Surah Al-Baqarah] “And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then produce a surah the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah, if you should be truthful
Quran 10:37–38 [Surah Yunus] “And it was not [possible] for this Qur’an to be produced by other than Allah, but [it is] a confirmation of what was before it and a detailed explanation of the [former] Scripture, about which there is no doubt, from the Lord of the worlds.” [38] “Or do they say [about the Prophet], ‘He invented it’? Say, ‘Then bring forth a surah like it and call upon [for assistance] whomever you can besides Allah, if you should be truthful.’”
Quran 11:13 [Surah Hud] “Or do they say, ‘He invented it’? Say, ‘Then bring ten surahs like it that have been invented and call upon [for assistance] whomever you can besides Allah, if you should be truthful.’”
Quran 17:88 [Surah Al-Isra] “Say, ‘If mankind and the jinn gathered in order to produce the like of this Qur’an, they could not produce the like of it, even if they were to each other assistants.’”
Quran 52:33–34 [Surah At-Tur] “Or do they say, ‘He has made it up’? Rather, they do not believe.” [34] “Then let them produce a statement like it, if they should be truthful.”
Basically, the reasoning is: The Quran is so eloquently written that puny humans could not even come close to writing something so beautiful if they tried. Only the words of Allah could possibly be so exquisite. The Quran even taunts them into attempting to try. The divine origin of the Quran is expressly the reason for their faith.
For Christianity, the "why" of our faith is Yeshua. Some may have answered that "why" as the Bible. However, Yeshua could have died for our sins and resurrected to life apart from us having our Bibles and our faith would still stand.
Unlike Christianity, the "why" of the Islamic faith is the Quran. When skeptics challenged Muhammad to provide evidence for his claims, the primary proof he provided was the inspiration of the Quran.
Quran 2:23 [Surah Al-Baqarah] “And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then produce a surah the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah, if you should be truthful
Quran 10:37–38 [Surah Yunus] “And it was not [possible] for this Qur’an to be produced by other than Allah, but [it is] a confirmation of what was before it and a detailed explanation of the [former] Scripture, about which there is no doubt, from the Lord of the worlds.” [38] “Or do they say [about the Prophet], ‘He invented it’? Say, ‘Then bring forth a surah like it and call upon [for assistance] whomever you can besides Allah, if you should be truthful.’”
Quran 11:13 [Surah Hud] “Or do they say, ‘He invented it’? Say, ‘Then bring ten surahs like it that have been invented and call upon [for assistance] whomever you can besides Allah, if you should be truthful.’”
Quran 17:88 [Surah Al-Isra] “Say, ‘If mankind and the jinn gathered in order to produce the like of this Qur’an, they could not produce the like of it, even if they were to each other assistants.’”
Quran 52:33–34 [Surah At-Tur] “Or do they say, ‘He has made it up’? Rather, they do not believe.” [34] “Then let them produce a statement like it, if they should be truthful.”
Basically, the reasoning is: The Quran is so eloquently written that puny humans could not even come close to writing something so beautiful if they tried. Only the words of Allah could possibly be so exquisite. The Quran even taunts them into attempting to try. The divine origin of the Quran is expressly the reason for their faith.
In Christianity, Yeshua is expressly the reason for our faith.
So, we call look at it like this:
Pillars of Islam: Allah and his word (the Quran).
So, we call look at it like this:
Pillars of Islam: Allah and his word (the Quran).
Pillars of Christianity: Yahweh and His Word (Yeshua).
Both cannot be true...
Both cannot be true...
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