"ISLAM: THE FINAL AND PRIMAL RELIGION" (Lecture Notes)

by Dr. Willem A. Bijlefeld (Hartford Seminary)

I. THE FINAL RELIGION

A. The descendants of Abraham were given prophethood
  and Scriptures by God.

1. Moses was given the Law.
2. David was given the Psalms.
3. Jesus was given the Gospel.

B. Jews and Christians were unique, set aside by God
  as the people of the Book and the Prophets.

1. Jesus was one of the greatest prophets. He was the Son of Mary, the expected Messiah. The Glory of Christ and his Mother were defended against heretics and enemies by Mohammed. They were the two humans untouched by sin. Jesus, the Spirit and Word of God, was confirmed as prophet by his miracles and so honored in the Qur'an.

C. However, one final Revelation of prophetic religion, in fulfillment of all that had preceded, was needed.

1. Judaism, religion of the Law of Moses, offers God's Message of Justice ("... an eye for an eye...").
2. Christianity, religion of Jesus the Messiah, proclaims the love of God (Sermon on the Mount).
3. Islam, the "Final" religion, offers a counterbalance to the one-sidedness of both Judaism and Christianity.

D. Mohammed, the "Seal of the Prophets", is the greatest of prophets. God reveals, via the Prophet and Apostle, the Qur'an, the correct embodiment of God's Message.

1. God is the God of justice and love.
2. The "middle way" between Judaism and Christianity restores the unity of the children of Abraham and overcomes the exclusiveness of Judaism and Christianity. Jesus, the tribal prophet (to the "lost sheep of Israel") limits Christianity; Islam proclaims a practical synthesis of Judaism and Christianity for all mankind.
3. Islam overcomes the incompleteness and impracticality of Jesus' idealism. (The laws of a society could hardly be implied from the "Sermon on the Mount.") The comprehensive unity of Islam is "practical enough to build a court case," and brings to fulfillment all that Judaism and Christianity anticipated. ("To be a Muslim means to be a better Christian.") Islam is "perfected Judaism" and "perfected Christianity."

II. THE PRIMAL RELIGION

A. Islam is not younger than Christianity or Judaism.

1. Islam is the religion of Abraham.
2. Islam is the religion of Adam (of man's very nature).

B. Islam is the religion of the "Spoken Book," the Qur'an, and the religion of the "Created Book", nature.

C. Every person is born a Muslim.

1. Only the distortions of one's environment (parents, teachers, etc.) lead a person astray to become Christians, Jews, and unbelievers.
2. By nature, to be human, means to be Muslim.