We have had a missions conference taking place these last several days at school. As part of the conference, a group of us took a field trip to the local Islamic mosque. Here we are, all ready to go with our head coverings!
Yanerling and Johana
Satsuki inside the mosque (looking very Muslim).
The first sensation that hit me when we entered was the smell of incense. It was also interesting to note the barrenness of the worship room. I am accustomed to church sanctuaries complete with pews or chairs, musical instruments, pulpits, etc. Inside the mosque there were only huge carpet squares and a few bookshelves as well as a wooden partition separating the men from the women.
Most people immediately take off their shoes as they believe that treading on the carpets is to tread on holy ground, just as Moses was on holy ground before God at the burning bush. However, since we were there simply to observe and not participate in the worship, they allowed us to keep our shoes on so long as we didn't walk on the carpet.
Sitting in chairs along the back of the men's worship area, we observed the entire call to prayer and mid-day "service." This included a "message" from one of their leaders in Arabic that was translated into English for us on headphones. I counted about 70 men and boys that participated in worship. There were also several women and small children behind the partition but I was not able to tell how many.
After the service ended, we were given a presentation by one of the men about Islam. Then we had the opportunity to ask questions. Being from a Bible college, everyone's questions pertained to doctrinal matters as we were trying to get a better understanding of what Muslims believe compared to what we believe.
Here are the highlights I can remember learning about Islam that I did not know before:
~ There are 5 main prophets that Muslims believe in as servants who did God's work. None of these prophets were perfect, but they did not commit "major" sins. They were each given the word of God for that time and included: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. Because Mohammed was the last of the prophets with the "final word" so to speak, he is given the most credence and the Qua-ran is considered the word of God for today.
~ Muslims believe in the Torah, the Psalms of David, the Gospels of Jesus, and the Qua-ran as Holy Scripture. However, they only believe in the first three as contained in the original languages of Hebrew and Aramaic, and claim that we no longer have access to those documents today nor to accurate translations. The Qua-ran however, has been translated perfectly and contains no error.
~ Jesus was virgin born, but not because He was the Savior of the world, simply because God ordained it to be so, just as He ordained Adam to be created from dust and Eve to be created from a rib. So Jesus was created uniquely from all others.
~ Because Jesus' mother, Mary, is the only woman mentioned by name in the Qua-ran, she is given special recognition. Muslim women cover their heads with scarves when they worship because they are following Mary's example (according to pictures of Mary).
~ Jesus did not die on the cross. A man that looked like Him died on the cross while He meanwhile ascended to heaven.
~ People will enter eternity with God based on their deeds committed on this earth. When a child reaches the age of puberty, a black angel and a white angel descend to sit upon each of his shoulders. The black angel records the person's bad deeds while the white angel records the good deeds. At the day of judgement, God will weigh the bad deeds against the good deeds as well as their level of repentance for wrongdoings to determine their destination.
It was an enlightening and saddening few hours. I came away feeling like we had just witnessed the very thing 1 Corinthians 4:e-5 speaks of: "But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
