We have been talking about the Golden Age of Islam this week. We have seen why, except for the very short period of this age, Muslims have not been very advanced in technology, and why they have not offered much to the world when it comes to intellectual thinking and development. It all boils down to the religion of Islam. Islam is oppressive to the thinking process.

As I try to get Muslims to accept the Gospel, I must understand the mindset of the Muslim so I can get him to understand what I am talking about. I spend a lot of time studying the religion of Islam so I can understand the arguments and the issues. I try to figure out how to communicate in a way that will be meaningful to the Muslim mind. What is it in their religion that forces them not to think the same way that you and I think?

One thing that is part of our mindset is critical thinking. This leads us to question things and not just accept everything that is fed to us. We have the freedom to ask questions without fear of reprisal, punishment, or ridicule.

Today I want to look at the Muslim mindset in hope that it will help you if you have a Muslim with whom you wish to share the Gospel. About eight out of ten of the Muslims who come to America are not following the religion of Islam, but they are still trapped in the Muslim way of thinking. They want to throw off the oppression of Islam, but they don’t know how.

Science And The Muslim Mind

Muslims are still locked into the mindset that came from the fall of the Golden Age of Islam, and the trial of Al Ma’mum.

Recently, Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, Pakistani physicist and professor at Quaid -e-Azam University in Islamabad, said,

“It is not Islamic to say that combining hydrogen and oxygen make water. You were supposed to say that when you bring hydrogen and oxygen together then by the will of Allah water was created.”

This is very revealing of the way of thinking among Muslims. They reject what I would call natural order. Everything is subject to Allah. Every idea is subject to the will of Allah.

Cause and Effect.

What caused you to be? What caused the Rock? What caused the Rock to Fall?

To the western mind, God created the natural order, and things follow the laws of that natural order unless God intervenes with a supernatural act, something outside the natural order. When Jesus calmed the storm by saying “Peace be still,” He supernaturally disrupted the natural order of cause and effect.

In the Islamic mindset, everything is a supernatural event. Allah’s finger is in every aspect of life. Everything is part of Allah’s creation, and he has willed everything that is and that happens. They believe that nothing can change what Allah has willed. This gives them a fatalistic mindset.

Democracy

Let’s apply this to their thinking concerning democracy. There is no word in Arabic for citizen, democracy, conscience, or secular. They say:

“One does not Vote for Allah. One obeys him”

Man does not have the freedom to choose, everything is ordained by Allah.

Iranian philosopher Dr. Abdulkarim Soroush said:

”In order to have a real democratic system, your God cannot be a despotic God anymore. A despotic God would not be compatible with a democratic rule. So you have to change your idea of God.”

The god of Islam, Allah, is a despotic god. He is supreme, and he rules. Everything is exactly what he wills. No one else has any choice in anything. His rule is often cruel. This Iranian philosopher is telling us that to have democracy, you cannot have the kind of god Islam follows. Democracy is not possible under Islam because Islam has a despotic god.

All Muslims Are Created Equal

For example, in the Hajj, all dress the same to show that they are all equal. They don’t believe that all people in the world are created equal. They believe they are superior to the Kafr, the unbelievers.

Abu Hamza, a proponent for Shariah Law in Britain, said:

“Only the most ignorant and animal minded individuals would insist that prophet killers (Jews) and Jesus worshipers (Christians) deserve the same rights as us”

It is foreign to Muslim thinking that Christians, Jews, and other non-Muslims deserve the same rights as Muslims. They reject the notion that ALL men are created equal. The idea that all men are created equal is a fundamental part of Western thinking.

Issue of Sovereignty

To the Muslim mind, only Allah is Sovereign. Man is not made in his image. They view democracy as giving sovereignty to man.

Professor Saeed of the Jamatt Dawa-wal-Ishad in Pakistand said:

“The notion of sovereignty of the people is un-Islamic, only Allah is sovereign.”

Why No Democracy In Islam?

Ali Allawi, former minister of finance and defense in Iraq in his book THE CRISIS OF ISLAMIC CIVILZATION said:

“The Arabic word for ‘individual’ is al-fard does not have the commonly understood implication of a purposeful being, imbued with the power of rational choice, Rather the term carries the connotation of singularity, aloofness or solitariness. The power of choice and will granted to the individual is more do with the face of acquiring these from God…..

Al-Fard is usually applied as one of the attributes of the supreme being…..Man is simply unable to acquire any of the essential attributes.

The entire edifice of individual rights….is alien to the structure of Islamic reasoning.”

In short —-[the power of choice is not innate to man. It is not part of his nature. He only acquires it from Allah as a gift.

This helps us understand the mindset of the Muslim world. They don’t accept democracy because it would put sovereignty in the hands of man and give him power to choose. The only choice man has is to obey Allah. He does not have the ability to make free choices. There can be no freedom under Islam, everything is determined by Allah.

If we truly want to reach Muslims for Christ, we must understand how they think. Muslims have a hard time understanding that we have the freedom to choose. They believe Allah has already chosen for them because everything is according to his will.

Aren’t you glad that the Gospel came to your address? I sure am. It is only by God’s grace that I wasn’t born in a Muslim country. Let’s care enough about Muslims to learn to communicate with their mindset so the Gospel can come to their address as well. The truth will set them free, so we must get them to understand it.