Islam or Christianity: a Reaction to Eaton’s Islam and the Destiny of Man Essay

Islam came to the world of man by the efforts of a man, believed by Muslims to be commissioned by Allah to deliver His members His words that go forth not switch for all eternity His words whose poser and shape will never be imitated by anyone angel, demon or man. This advent of this powerful and great godliness is basically what the for the first time part of the book is ab break(predicate). It does not only discuss how Islam spread like a wild fire under the guidance of Allah, except more importantly, there philosophies that it challenged in the Western world including the persecutions that it faced (Eaton 2).To prove my point about the persecutions that Islam faced, I would like to quote the following passage from the first two pages of the first part Since Islam was strong in arms and messiahendom was weak, words were the only available weapons against what was seen first as a heresy and later a false religion of satanic origin Pope Innocent III had identified Muhammad as the Anti-Christ H. A. L. Fisher called him cruel and crafty, lustful and ignorant and make fibre to the crude outpourings of the Koran (Eaton 9-10). Because Islam was viewed as a form of heresy and later satanic religion, we can imagine the prejudice that spate had (and probably still have) about Muslims stating from the time when Islam started. This prejudice is still present in the stereotypes that we see in many films showing that the terrorists are the Arab Muslims. Although according to Eaton, modern Muslims are less stark naked to the issue, it remains to be a point of consideration especially in social interactions with people of different religions (Eaton 4).It creates a stereotypical view in the discernment of people who are not exposed to Muslims that there will never be peace between Muslims and Christians. It is true that Islam spread throughout Africa and Eurasia as a result of conquest. It was by the sword that many people would see it that Islam rose to power. However, it is perhaps a wrong notion to think that Islam spread using violence. In all the years it went through spreading its trustingness, military force was necessary to convert the people who were embracing other faiths that were against the teachings of Allah.Even if we look at the history of the Jewish nation in the Bible, they too had to use military force to claim the land that God promised Abraham. Christianity has its own foundations of faith and so does Islam. Christianity spread through the ancient word through the propagation of the gospel and later, the power of the Roman Empire (Eaton 9). We must not for attain that the Catholic Church Inquisition to get rid of heresy. In the conquest of Catholic empires like Spain and Portugal, they as well as used military force to make the people embrace Christian faith.This is not to turn over back stones at Christian persecutors of Islamic use of force, but the to show that Islams use of military force to make the people em brace the faith is a necessary evil as others may call it (Eaton 163). It was the only way to hasten the serve of the mighty hand of Allah in bringing the people back to Him. One can argue all he wants that the pen is mightier than the sword, but during the times of the spread of Islam and the days before, the sword can kill the substance abuser of the pen.The Jews, for instance, before the advent of Christ were notorious for murdering the prophets that God sent them. They have seen the mighty works of Yahweh, but they still turned to idol worship. When deliveryman preached the word of God, they did not believe that he was the Messiah despite the different wonderful and powerful works and teachings he had shown them. Truly, God, whether His name is Allah or Yahweh, will logically not allow His messenger to be slaughtered again and again.The matter of bringing redemption to mankind is a serious matter. Indeed, if a man strongly wants to save some other from a burning house, the m an will do what has to be done to save the other person will use force, if needed, to take him out of the house. Perhaps, if the savior needs to knock the person to be able to get him out of the house, he would. But in this instance no one would normally utter that the savior was a violent man. They will understand that he did it for the safety of the person in the burning house.Such is the situation of the world in the eye of the Muslims on their conquest for the spread of Islam. If it had been a violent act to use the sword to force people to embrace Islam, it was for a worthy cause buyback of their souls. I am not rejecting the faith of the Christians in Jesus Christ as the savior of mankind nor does Islam teach that he is false prophet. In fact, Jesus is one of the prophets that Islam mentions. Jesus preached to the Jews to save them, but they did not bear in mind as they had always been obstinate to Gods prophets.What I want to point out is that if we follow the history of the Bible and the emergence of Islam, we can see the progress of Gods work of salvation for the people of this world. When the people would not listen through diplomacy, God had to use force for them to embrace the faith in one God, who is the creator of all things and the source of life. How do we know that the spread of Islam is the work of God? The spread of Islam covered vast areas of the globe that no empire before Islams emergence has ever conquered.Muhammad is the preacher with the most number of adherents, Apostle capital of Minnesota is second and Jesus is just third (considering of course that he died at the age of thirty). The scope of the propagation in such a picayune degree of time proves that there is some divine power behind the leadership of the prophet and his descendants. Hinduism existed earlier than Judaism, but it is still confined mostly to Indians and those of lineage up to now. Even Judaism, which can be traced from the Bible, can be scarcely found among the non-Jewish people (Eaton 41).However, Islam has gained influence to different peoples of the world in such a short time compared to the existence of Christianity and other great religions of the world. It should not be mistaken, though, that number is the basis of being a religion that is chosen by God. When God made His covenant with Israel, He emphasized that Israel was in no way the most powerful, nor the biggest nation, for it was indeed the smallest nation then. Yet, the case of Islam tells us that the work of Gods salvation had to be fulfilled, not only for a few people, but for as many people that can be saved.Now the question comes, How about Christianity? Does it entail that Christians are following a path that has been outdated when Muhammad preached Islam? Christ was sent to the world, according to him, not for the people who already knew God, but for those who did not know Him. He sent his apostles to preach to the Gentiles and they did. Four hundred year after the ir death, Islam rose. But the reason of its emergence is the very(prenominal) reason as the reason of the propagation of the Gospel to the Gentiles. The preachers may have been different, and their races may be different, but their purpose is the same.They preach about the same God who sent the same prophets to Israel and prophesied the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. What I can deduce from these is that mankind is fortunate for there is a loving God who sends forth messengers at different eras to different places to record Himself to those who do not know Him. He created man to serve Him, for man to be happy eternally. As God is a just God, he also understands the limits of mans abilities and capabilities. The scope of a mans work may not be enough to fulfill Gods ultimate plan, hence Islams co-existence with Christianity.I believe that in the end, God will not ask us what religion we belong to but whether we were obedient to what we believed in. Obeying the teachings of Isla m will bring salvation to those who believe in it and Christianity to those who believe in it. Muslims should hold on to their faith and Christians to theirs, but they should stop fighting one another, they are from the same ancestry, Abraham the Muslims through Ismael, and the Christians, through Isaac.Work CitedEaton, Charles. Le Gai. Islam and the Destiny of Man. Suny Press, 1985.