Laskar Kristus: Ten Myths About Islam

5th Edition
By Timothy W. Dunkin
© 2001-2010, All Rights Reserved
All Scripture quotations are from the Authorized Version, also known as the King James Version, of the Holy Bible
Quotations from the Qur'an are from the translation of 1938 by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, unless otherwise noted

Preface

A wise man named Francis Bacon once said that knowledge is power. Certainly this is true when dealing with foreign, and often hostile, ideologies that confront our Western civilization and way of life. One of these ideologies is Islam. Americans, and Westerners in general, whether Christian or not, are all too often still dangerously ill-informed about Islam. Many people in the West hear and believe the propaganda promoted by various Muslim groups, but fail to search out the facts about the history, theology, and psychology of the Islamic phenomenon.

While knowledge may be power, ignorance can render a person, a nation, or an entire civilization absolutely powerless. It is the intention of this book to dispel ignorance about Islam and to expose it to the light of open and honest investigation. How much does your average Westerner, your average American, your average churchgoer, or your average secularist, know about Islam? How can we sort through the varying images and claims made by and about Islam? What is truth, and what is falsehood, as far as what we are being told about the religion of Islam? Are we being lied to, and if so, then how can we detect these falsehoods and avoid them?

I submit this work as an effort at enlightening all who are faced with the challenge of Islam concerning its implications for America and the West. I have attempted to discredit many of the common myths that are taught about Islam, and to expose them to the blinding light of fact, reason, and ultimately, truth. My objective, in some of the chapters of this book, is to distill the discoveries and ideas of modern scholarly investigation into the nature, origins, and history of Islam into a form accessible to the average reader who does not have the time, or perhaps the interest, to become familiar with the somewhat insular body of academic literature available on the subject. By bringing to the reader's attention what I view to be the important highlights of what scholarly investigation has said about the subject, I hope to inform my readers about these important points, and hopefully excite their interests in pursuing further study. As such, I would consider myself to be filling the role of a "transmitter" rather than an "originator" of knowledge. In other chapters, especially those dealing with the sociological impact of Islam, my desire is to systematically present the evidences vis-â-vis the claims of Muslim apologists, and demonstrate to the reader where the weight of facts, and from these truth, resides.

I make no apologies for presenting this work from a scholarly Christian perspective. There are portions of this book that will be of interest to all, regardless of creed. There are other parts that will be of more specific concern to my fellow Christians, though even these may contain information that non-Christians will find instructive. Ultimately, I hope that the entire work will be of use to any who are open-minded enough to receive it and evaluate it fairly.

At this point, I would also like to forewarn the reader that I have prepared this work without any malice towards Muslims. This may come as a disappointment to some, and as a shock to others, but it is nevertheless true. This book is for the purpose of approaching the question of Islam from the standpoint of historical, evidential, and theological inquiry. As such, its motive is not emotional. It is not about painting all Muslims as evil or violent or dangerous, as some recent works have tried to do. It is the system of Islam itself, not individual Muslims, that comes under critique in this work. In some small way, I am hoping to move our civilizational discourse about Islam away from the realm of emotional response to world events which have happened in comparatively recent decades, and approach Islam from a perspective that spans the centuries. We must approach the Islamic worldview, not in reaction, but with initiative and proactivity. As an American and a Westerner who believes that our civilization, based as it is upon the Judaeo-Christian worldview, the rule of law, and the Baconian approach to objective knowledge and progress, is superior to those civilizations which are not (and who obviously rejects postmodern multicultural relativism in toto), I make no apologies for the arguments that I put forward in this book.

Please note that there will be variant spellings of Arabic words appearing in this work. I have attempted to standardize my own orthography, but have retained the transliterations that appear in quotations made from other works.

Deo Vindice!

Table of Contents

The Qur'an

Chapter 1 - The Qur'an is Preserved and Unchanged Revelation from Allah

Chapter 2 - The Qur'an is Allah's Perfect and Complete Word

Theology

Chapter 3 - Allah is the Same as the God of the Bible

Chapter 4 - Muslims Reverence Jesus Christ

Mohammed

Chapter 5 - Mohammed was a Prophet of Allah

Chapter 6 - Mohammed was the Fulfillment of Biblical Prophecies

Social Impact