Three Main Components of Islam

In addition to Qur'an, there is Sunnah. Sunnah is a compositions of hadiths - stories about Muhammad. Sunni Muslims believe that Sunnah as well as Qur'an is an authority for their faith, worship, and daily living. Not all the hadiths are regarded in the same way. There are reliable, good, and weak hadiths as well as so called known and unknown hadiths. It is defined by the ways of transmission of hadiths and by their contents. There are two books that contain only reliable hadiths - Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. "Sahih" means "reliable", al-Bukhari and Muslim are the names of their authors. There are also other books that contain reliable, good, and weak hadiths.

In order to understand Islam, it is important to know famous hadith of Jibril (Gabriel). There are several variants of this hadith in the beginning of Sahih Muslim. I will quote here the main part of hadith 0001:

He [Abdullah ibn Umar] further said: My father, Umar ibn al-Khattab, told me: One day we were sitting in the company of Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) when there appeared before us a man dressed in pure white clothes, his hair extraordinarily black. There were no signs of travel on him. None amongst us recognized him. At last he sat with the Messenger (peace be upon him). He knelt before him placed his palms on his thighs and said: Muhammad, inform me about al-Islam. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: Al-Islam implies that you testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, and you establish prayer, pay Zakat, observe the fast of Ramadan, and perform pilgrimage to the (House) if you are solvent enough (to bear the expense of) the journey. He (the inquirer) said: You have told the truth. He (Umar ibn al-Khattab) said: It amazed us that he would put the question and then he would himself verify the truth. He (the inquirer) said: Inform me about Iman (faith). He (the Holy Prophet) replied: That you affirm your faith in Allah, in His angels, in His Books, in His Messengers, in the Day of Judgment, and you affirm your faith in the Divine Decree about good and evil. He (the inquirer) said: You have told the truth. He (the inquirer) again said: Inform me about al-Ihsan (performance of good deeds). He (the Holy Prophet) said: That you worship Allah as if you are seeing Him, for though you don't see Him, He, verily, sees you. He (the enquirer) again said: Inform me about the hour (of the Doom). He (the Holy Prophet) remarked: One who is asked knows no more than the one who is inquiring (about it). He (the inquirer) said: Tell me some of its indications. He (the Holy Prophet) said: That the slave-girl will give birth to her mistress and master, that you will find barefooted, destitute goat-herds vying with one another in the construction of magnificent buildings. He (the narrator, Umar ibn al-Khattab) said: Then he (the inquirer) went on his way but I stayed with him (the Holy Prophet) for a long while. He then, said to me: Umar, do you know who this inquirer was? I replied: Allah and His Messenger know best. He (the Holy Prophet) remarked: He was Gabriel (the angel). He came to you in order to instruct you in matters of religion.

This hadith tells that there are three components of Islam:
1. Iman (faith)
2. Islam (this word here means rituals of worship)
3. Ihsan (sincerity)

There are six main points of faith (Iman):
1. Faith in Allah
2. Faith in His angels
3. Faith in His books (Holy Scriptures)
4. Faith in His messengers and prophets
5. Faith in the Last Day that includes judgment
6. Faith in His predestination of everything good and evil
Every Muslim is obligated to believe in each of these six points.

There are five main points of worship (Islam):
1. Shahadah (confession that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah)
2. Salah (ritual prayer 5 times a day)
3. Zakat (alms)
4. Sawm (fast at the month of Ramadan)
5. Hajj (pilgrimage to Kaaba in Mecca) if there is physical and financial possibility.
Every Muslim is obligated to believe that all these rituals are important and fulfill all of them unless he or she cannot fulfill them due to some reasons.

God's Name in the Old Testament

God's name in the Old Testament is indicated by four letters YHWH which are often called "tetragrammaton" (this word in Greek means "four letters"). Ancient Jews as well as other Semitic nations did not indicate vowels. They did not pronounce God's name because of their fear to violate God's commandment:

You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. (Exodus 20:7, New International Version)

Instead of God's name, Jews pronounced "Adonai" which means "Lord" (literally, "my lords"). Because of this practice, the original pronunciation of tetragrammaton was lost. Later, when Jewish scholars called Masorets added special symbols for vowels, they used the vowels for Adonai (with some necessary changes). Then, some Western theologians read this word literally and got the pronunciation "Jehovah". Actually, Jews did not read this word in this way. They used the vowels of Adonai in order to indicate that this word should be pronounced as Adonai.

Another variant of pronunciation of this word is Yahweh. This pronunciation is an attempt to reconstruct the original pronunciation. In Exodus 3:13-15, Moses asks God about His name:

13 Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"

14 God said to Moses, "I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.' "

15 God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation. (New International Version)

In Hebrew, "I am who I am" is "'ehyeh 'asher 'ehyeh". "'ehyeh" means "I am" and this word is related to YHWH. According to a hypothesis, YHWH is the form of 3rd person, singular number of the same Hebrew verb that means "to be". That is, YHWH means "He is". Yahweh is singular 3rd person form from the Hebrew verb "hawah". This reconstruction follows the hypothesis that YHWH is singular 3rd person form from this verb.

In Septuagint (ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament), "I am who I am" is "Ego eimi ho on". Here, "ego eimi" means "I am", "ho" is the definite article, "on" is the present participle of the verb "to be". So, this phrase means "I am the existing one".

The meaning of YHWH is that God is ever-existing and self-existing. He exists always. This is why He says, "I am who I am". He also exists by Himself. Some theologians believe that YHWH also means that God becomes known to people by revealing Himself. In Hebrew, there is the same verb for "to be" and "to become". However, most often, this word means "to be". So, I agree with the view that the meaning of God's name is that "He is", not that "He becomes".

Now, it is interesting to compare the meaning of YHWH with surah (chapter) 112 of Qur'an:

1 Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;
2 Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;
3 He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;
4 And there is none like unto Him.
(Surah (chapter) 112, translation of Abdullah Yusufali)

The word translated as "the Eternal, Absolute" in Arabic is "as-Samad". This is one of 99 names of Allah. This name means that Allah exists by Himself, eternally, and does not need anything or anybody for His existence. This is about the same concept as expressed by YHWH in the Old Testament.

In Sunni theology, four of Allah's sifats (God's attributes) are:
1. Al-Wujud - Existence. This attribute means that Allah exists and His non-existence is impossible.
2. Al-Kidam - Eternity without beginning. This attribute means that Allah exists eternally without beginning, He did not have beginning of His existence.
3. Al-Baka - Eternity without end. This attribute means that Allah exists eternally without end, His existence will never end.
4. Al-Kiyamu bi-nafsi-hi - Self-existence. This means that Allah exists by Himself and does not need anything or anybody for His existence.

In Christian theology, God's attributes include these four attributes. The only difference is that in Christian theology there is one attribute - God's eternal existence without beginning and end.

God of Christianity and God of Islam

Both Christianity and Islam are monotheistic religions. The Bible says that God is one:

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (Deuteronomy 6:4, New International Version)

Likewise, Qur'an says that there is only one God - Allah:

1 Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;
2 Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;
3 He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;
4 And there is none like unto Him.
(Surah (chapter) 112, translation of Abdullah Yusufali)

Some Western people think that Muslims believe that Muhammad is God. This is not so. Muslims believe that Muhammad is the last God's prophet and a human being. Many Muslims think that Christians believe in three Gods. Again, this is not so. Christians believe that God is one. Christian Trinity is not three separated and distinct God. The Trinity is one God.

As far as I know, Muslims believe that God of Qur'an and God of the Bible is the same God. However, Christians tend to disagree with this statement because Muslims do not believe in Trinity. On the other hand, Christians believe that God of the Old Testament and God of the New Testament is the same God. Consequently, they believe that God of Judaism and God of Christianity is the same God. However, Jews do not believe in Trinity.

Muslims believe in God who created the universe, created Adam and Eve, sent people His Scriptures, including Torah (Pentateuch), Psalms, and Gospel, and made some people His prophets, including Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Ismael, Jacob, Moses, David, Solomon, Jesus, and John the Baptist. Is this the same God? I think so.

The Old Testament was written in Hebrew (some parts - in Aramaic), Qur'an was written in Arabic. All these languages are Semitic, and have many things in common. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for God is Elohim. This word is plural from two words - El and Eloah. Both denote God. In Aramaic, the second word is Elah. In Arabic, the word for a god is ilah. Eloah, Elah, and ilah are obviously related.

In Islam, the most common name of God is Allah (it is commonly considered that there are 99 names of Allah, though there are actually more than 99). Some Western researchers say that Allah means "the God" (al+ilah). Al is the definite article in Arabic. However, Muslims reply that "the God" in Arabic is al-ilah.

In Hebrew and Arabic, there is the definite article. In Hebrew, the main form is "ha", in Arabic, the main form is "al". However, in Aramaic, there was no article. Instead, there was so called emphatic form with ending "-a". In some Syrian Aramaic dialect, the emphatic form for God was Alaha. Some scientists consider that Arabs borrowed this word, dropping the ending.

So, it seems that the original meaning of the word "Allah" is "the God" whether this form was constructed by Arabs or borrowed from Syrians. This word comes from the same root as Hebrew Elohim.

There are several opinions why the Hebrew word for God is usually used in plural. Many Christian theologians say that this is a hint that God is triune. However, the Old Testament never says clearly about the Trinity. Some secular researchers say that the plural form means that originally Jew were polytheists and only later became monotheists. However, there is nothing that would support this idea.

The third hypothesis is that Elohim is plural of majesty. The same is with the word Adonai. This word is usually translated as Lord, but literally means "my lords". Also, in some verses, God says about Himself "We". I think that this hypothesis is most probable. In Qur'an, Allah often says about Himself "We". However, Qur'an emphasizes that there is only one God. So, "We" is usually interpreted as plural of majesty. Actually, many other languages have plural of majesty. So, it is not something unusual.

Introduction

In this blog, I am going to consider and compare Christian and Muslim theology. For quite a long time, I have been interested in Protestant and Sunni theologies and have studied both of them. Unfortunately, many Christians have many misunderstandings regarding Islam. Likewise, many Muslims have many misunderstandings regarding Christianity. This is why I preferred to use Christian literature to find information about Christianity and use Muslim literature to find information about Islam. Inside of both Protestantism and Sunni Islam, there are diversities. I am going to consider these diversities also.

For now, I was able to find only one book that presents both Christian and Muslim views without distortions and mutual attacks. This is the book A Muslim and a Christian in a Dialogue by Badru D. Kateregga and David W. Shenk. Kateregga is a Muslim, Shenk is a Christian, and they are friends. They present their religions and discuss religious matters without in a respectful way, without mutual attacks. I liked their approach. However, since the size of their book was limited, they were unable to discuss many Christian and Muslim doctrines. So, I am going to follow their approach in this blog and consider some doctrines here. Actually, I think there are many things to be considered, and I do not expect that I will be able to cover most of them. I am not going to re-post anything from this book here.

In my opinion, Christians should know more about Islam, and Muslims should know more about Christianity. This is the purpose of my blog. I am not going to promote any of these religions here. I am just going to consider them from the position of an outside observer. I do have my own religious preferences and opinions. However, I will do my best to be objective and avoid my subjectivity here. I will just provide the information without promotion of any religion.