Major Islamic Doctrines and Practices

by Dr. Kevin McMullen

*In this first section, the asterisk denotes historical data concerning the Surah it precedes. These data
are taken from the Hadiths or the Sunnah – see glossary -- considered by Muslims as authoritative
history of Muhammad and second in authority only to the Qur’an itself. Where parenthesis ( ) appear
in the text, they were supplied by the translator of the Qur’an (several versions are used). Bracketed
words [ ] and bold faced type are clarifications and emphasis added by this author.

The Qur’an Concerning War and Violence:

2:190-193 Fight in the cause of God those who fight you…And slay them wherever ye catch
them…And fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression and there prevail justice
and faith in God…

2:216, 217 Fighting is prescribed upon you, and you dislike it. But it is possible to dislike a
thing which is good for you, and that you love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knows
and you know not…Tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter. Nor will they cease
fighting you until they turn you back from your faith if they can.

2:224 Then fight in the cause of God and know that God heareth and knoweth all things.

3:157-158 And if ye are slain or die in the way of God, forgiveness and mercy from God are far
better than all they could amass. And if ye die, or are slain, Lo! It is unto God that ye are
brought together.

3:169 Think not of those who are slain in God’s way as dead. Nay, they live finding their
sustenance in the presence of their Lord.

3:195 …Those who have …fought or been slain, verily I will blot out from them their iniquities
and admit them into gardens with rivers flowing beneath; a reward from the presence of God…

4:101 …For the Unbelievers are unto you open enemies.

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4:74, 75 Let those fight in the cause of God who sell the life of this world for the Hereafter. To
him who fighteth in the cause of God whether he is slain or gets victory, soon shall We [God]
give him a reward of great (value). Those who believe fight in the cause of God and those who
reject faith fight in the cause of evil, so fight ye against the friends of Satan, feeble indeed is the
cunning of Satan.

4:89 They but wish that ye should reject faith as they do, and thus be on the same footing as
they. But take not friends from their ranks until they flee in the way of God. But if they turn
renegades, seize them and slay them wherever ye find them…

4:95, 96 Not equal are those Believers [Muslims] who sit (at home) except those who are
disabled, to those who strive and fight (jihad) in the cause of Allah with their goods and their
persons. Allah has granted a grade higher to those who strive and fight with their goods and
persons than those who sit (at home). Unto all (in Faith) has Allah promised good; But those
who strive and fight has He distinguished above those who sit (at home) by a great reward.
Ranks specially bestowed by Him and Forgiveness and Mercy. For Allah is oft-forgiving. Most
Merciful.

5:36 The punishment of those who wage war against God and His apostle [Muhammad] and
strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the
cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land. That is their disgrace
in this world and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter.

5:54 O ye who believe. Take not the Jews and Christians for your friends and protectors. They
are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for
friendship) is of them. Verily God guideth not a people unjust.

8:12-17 Remember thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message): I am with you. Give
firmness to the believers. I will instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers. Smite ye above
their necks and smite all their finger tips off them. This because they contend against God and
his apostle [Muhammad]. If any contend against God and His apostle [Muhammad], God is
strict in punishment…O ye who believe [Muslims]. When ye meet the unbelievers in hostile
array, never turn your backs to them. If any do turn his back to them on such a day, unless it
be a stratagem of war… he draws on himself the wrath of God and his abode is Hell, an evil
refuge (indeed).

8:59, 60 Let not the unbelievers think that they can get the better (of the godly). They will
never frustrate (them). Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power,
including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies of God and your
enemies and others besides, who ye may not know, but whom God does know.

8:65 “O apostle [Muhammad]! Rouse the believers [Muslims] to the fight. If there are twenty
amongst you, patient and persevering, they will vanquish two hundred. If a hundred they will
vanquish a thousand of the unbelievers, for these are a people without understanding.

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9:5 …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).

9:14 Fight them, and god will punish them by your hands, over them with shame…

9:29 Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which has
been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth, from
among the People of the Book [Jews and Christians], until they pay compensation with willing
submission, and feel themselves subdued.

47:4 Therefore, when ye meet the unbelievers, smite at their necks, at length when ye have
thoroughly subdued them, bind a bond firmly (on them)…but if it had been God’s will, he could
certainly have exacted retribution from them himself, but (he lets you fight) in order to test you,
some with others. But those who are slain in the way of God, he will never let their deeds be
lost.

61:4 Truly God loves those who fight in His cause in battle array, as if they were a solid
cemented structure

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The Qur’an Concerning Jews and Christians:

It must be noted that there are Surahs in the Qur’an which are more accommodative of Christianity and
Judaism. These, however, have been abrogated by the following which came later in Muhammad’s ministry
after his revelation and authority had been rejected by the Jews and Christians of Medina.

9:30 And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah, and the Christians say: The Messiah is the
son of Allah. That is their saying with their mouths. They imitate the saying of those who
disbelieved of old. Allah (Himself) fighteth against them. How perverse are they.”

5:82 Strongest among men in enmity to the Believers [Muslims] will you find the Jews and
Pagans

98:6 Those who disbelieve, among the People of the Book [Christians and Jews] and among
Polytheists, will be in hell-fire, to dwell therein (for aye). They are the worst of creatures.”

*Christians (being Trinitarian) are condemned:

5:73 They surely disbelieve who say: Lo! Allah is the third of three: when there is no God save
the One God. If they desist not from so saying a painful doom will fall on those of them who
disbelieve.

In the following Surah, Muhammad is told to confirm his revelation with Christians and Jews:
10:94 And if thou [Muhammad] art in doubt concerning that which We [Allah] reveal unto thee, then ask
those who have been reading the Book [Christians and Jews]. The truth hath indeed come to thee from thy
Lord so be in no wise of those who doubt.

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The Qur’an Concerning the Role and Status of Women:

33:50 Prophet, We have made lawful to you the wives to whom you have granted dowries and
the slave-girls whom God has given you as booty; the daughters of your paternal and maternal
uncles and of your paternal and maternal aunts who fled with you; and any believing woman
who gives herself to the Prophet and whom the Prophet wishes to take in marriage. This
privilege is yours alone, being granted to no other believer.

4:3 if you fear orphan girls with fairness, then you may marry other women who seem good to
you, two, three, or four of them [This taken by Islamic governments to be for all Muslim men.]

*When Aisha and Hafsa (wives of Muhammad) complained to him about having an intimate relationship
with Mary (the Copt) when it was “Hafsa’s day,” Muhammad agreed not to do so again but was given this
revelation from God:

66:1-5 Prophet, why do you prohibit that which God has made lawful to you, in seeking to
please your wives? God is forgiving and merciful. God has given you absolution from such
oaths…If you two [Hafsa and Aisha] turn to God in repentance (for your hearts have sinned)
you shall be pardoned; but if you conspire against him, know that God is his protector, and
Gabriel, and the righteous among the faithful. The angels too are his helpers. It may well be
that if he divorce you, his Lord will give him in your place better wives than yourselves,
submissive to God and full of faith, devout, penitent, obedient, and given to fasting; both
formerly-wedded and virgins.”
*When Muhammad desired the wife of his adopted son, Zayd, God granted him his wish without his even
asking –

33:37 You [Muhammad] said to the man [Zayd] whom God and yourself have favored; “Keep
your wife and have fear of God.” You sought to hide in your heart what God was to reveal [i.e.
your desire for Zaynab]. You were afraid of man, although it would have been more proper to
fear God. And when Zayd performed the necessary formality (of divorce) from her, We gave her
to you in marriage, so that it should become legitimate for true believers to wed the wives of
their adopted sons if they divorced them. God’s will must needs be done.

2:228 women shall with justice have rights similar to those exercised against them although
men have a status superior to women.

4:34 Men have authority over women because God made the one superior to the other and
because they [men] spend their wealth to maintain them [women]. So good women are
obedient. They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them. As for those (women--
wives) from whom you fear rebellion, admonish them, banish them to beds apart and beat
them. (not a misprint!)

*Women’s status before the Shiri’a (Islamic law):

2:282 “Call in two male witnesses from among you, but if two men cannot be found, then one
man and two women whom you judge fit to act as witnesses ; so that if either of them commit
an error, the other will remember.

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Qur’ranic Aberrations from Biblical Accounts:
Unveiling Islam. Caner, Ergun Mehmet and Emir Fethi Caner, Grand Rapids, MI Kreger Pub. Pp 89-91

Surah 28:9 – Exodus 2:10 states that Pharaoh’s daughter adopted Moses, but the
Qur’an says it was his wife. Had Pharaoh’s wife adopted Moses he would have been
the son of Pharaoh himself – and heir to the throne.

Surah 5:116 – states that Christians worship three gods: the Father, the Mother
(Mary), and the Son (Jesus). A heretical sect of Christians, the Choloridians did teach
such a doctrine and Muhammad could have encountered them in Arabia. For
whatever reason, the Qur’an badly misrepresents Christian teaching….Orthodox
Christianity teaches that God is One Substance, manifest in three Persons.

Surah 28:38; 40:25 say that a man named Haman, a servant of Pharaoh, built a high
tower to ascend to God. But the Babel tower occurs in Genesis 11, long before there
were pharaohs, and the name Haman is an even later linguistic name. The only
Haman in the Scripture is in the story of Esther in Babylon, long after the height of
Egypt’s glory.

Surah 20:85-97 says the calf worshipped by the Israelites at Mount Horeb was molded
by a Samaritan. The Biblical record is that Aaron fashioned the calf and the term
“Samaritan” was not coined until 722 BC, several hundred years later. Samaritans
were those of mixed blood with pagan tribesmen brought into Israel for pacification by
the Assyrians and could in no way have been responsible for this.
Surah 37:100-111 identifies the Abrahamic sacrifice of his son to have been Ishmael
rather than Isaac. The Hajj is a pilgrimage to the Ka’ab in Mecca, which popular
Muslim tradition says was built by Ibrahim (Abraham) and Ismail (Ishmael). The
Ka’ab was actually built by the Arab tribes and was the center of Pagan sacrifice and
worship that Muhammad overthrew. Abraham’s sacrifice of Ishmael is observed by
one of the two holidays of Islam.

Surah 2:249 Judges 7 identifies Gideon as the leader of the 300 man army of soldiers
chosen by God. Surah 2 makes Saul the general of this army even though he would not
be born for several decades.

Surah 4:157 the Jews boast “we killed Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, the Apostle of
Allah – but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to
them.

Surah 22:34-37 teaches that the blood of sacrifices are unimportant to Allah – in
contradistinction to the Bible which makes the blood central to atonement.

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The Five Pillars of Islam

Traditionally, there are five things required of each and every Muslim within the Islamic system of
qualifying for Paradise:

I. shahadah (bear witness) the following recitation daily

There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger…”

II. salat (prayer) -- 17 complete prayers to be said every day

pray five times daily facing Mecca (prayers are recitations)
III. sawm (fasting) during the month of Ramadan (sunrise to sunset only)
IV. hajj (pilgrimage) – to Mecca at least once in your life (if able)
V. zakat (give alms) equivalent to at least 2.5% of your income
Recently, a small but growing number of Muslim clerics are adding a sixth:
jihad (holy war) – holy fighting in the name or for the cause of Allah/Islam

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A Short Glossary of Islamic (Arabic) Terms

Allah – God’s name of essential being in Islam.

Allahu Akbar – “God is great!” A direct praise of Allah
Ali – Son-in-law and cousin of the prophet Muhammad; the forth caliph but the only caliph recognized by
the Shiite Muslims.
Ayatollah – “Sign of God.” The highest rank among Shiite Moslems.
Caliph/Kaliph – Title of Islamic leaders after Muhammad’s death.
Fatwa – a religious decree
Hadith – “Story.” A saying of Muhammad, along with the Sunnah (examples), the hadiths are the second
highest authority in Islam
Hajj – pilgrimage to Mecca – required of all Moslems once in their lifetime.
Iblis – Quranic name for Satan
Imam – Spiritual leader of the local mosque
Islam – “Submission” to the will of Allah
Jihad – holy fighting or holy war
Kafir – infidel
Minaret – Mosque prayer tower from which the Muazzein calls Muslims to prayer.
Mosque – place of worship
Muezzin – Leader who calls worshipers to prayer five times daily.
Muhammad – Allah’s final and greatest prophet
Mujahidin – Muslims who fight in the holy wars.
Muslim – “One who submits to Allah.” Followers of Islam.
Qadar/kismet – fatalism which teaches Allah decrees everything.
Qu’ran – The collected texts of Allah’s revelation, an exact copy of the original in Allah’s heaven.
Ramadan – Ninth month in the lunar calendar, commemorating the giving of the Quran to Muhammad.
Rasul/Nabi – “God’s Messenger.” Used collectively for the prophets including Adam, Noah, Abraham,
Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, often translated “apostle.”
Shari’a – “The Path.” Islamic law.
Shiite – “Followers of Ali.” Those who believe the assassinated Caliph was the true successor to
Muhammad.
Shirk – Idolatry or blasphemy against Allah. The Christian trinity is shirk, since God is One.
Sunnah – “The Way of the Prophet.” A collection of stories (examples) about Muhammad. This body of
anecdotes attributed to Muhammad is, along with the hadiths, second only to the Qu’ran itself in
authority and are the main basis of Islamic law (shari’a).
Sunni – “People of the Way.” Followers of Abu Bakr and Umar as successors of Muhammad.
Surah – A chapter in the Quran.
Tahrif – Teaching that the Holy Bible is corrupted.
Tawhid – Allah’s complete and total unity. Absolute denial of the Trinity.
Wahhabi – Very strict sect of Sunni Moslems rejecting all developments in Islamic theology after 950 A.D.
This group is very strong in Saudi Arabia

A Short Bibliography for further study: (*highly recommended)

*Unveiling Islam. Caner, Ergun Mehmet and Emir Fethi Caner. Grand Rapids, MI Kreger Publications
*Answering Islam. Geisler, Normal L. and Abdul Saleeb (pseudonym). Grand Rapids, MI Baker Book House
*Islam Unveiled. Spencer, Robert. San Francisco, CA Encounter Books
The Islam Debate. McDowell, Josh and John Gilchrist. San Bernadino, CA Here’s Life Publishers
Beyond the Mosque. Parshall, Phil. Grand Rapids, MI Baker Book House
The Faith of Islam. Sell, Edward. London Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge