Understanding Islam

Video Reference Library: Artefactum

The Qur’an (Quran)

The Noble Quran – Quran.com learning plans, community, reading plan in a year
The Holy Quran – English, a list of surahs of the Quran translated
Quran in English & Arabic: Read and Listen – القرآن الكريم
The Holy Quran Translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, 2025
The English Quran

Hadiths

What is a hadith?

Hadith, corpus of the sayings or traditions of the Prophet Muhammad, revered by Muslims as a major source of religious law and moral guidance. It comprises many reports of varying length and authenticity. The individual reports are also called hadith (plural: hadiths). The word hadith is derived from the Arabic root ḥ-d-th—signifying “to happen,” “to occur,” or “to come to pass”—and encompasses a range of literal meanings, including “conversation,” “discussion,” “speech,” and “small talk.” In English the term is translated variously as “report,” “saying,” or “tradition.” It is closely related to Sunnah (literally “established custom or habitual practice”), which in an Islamic context refers to the norms and practices affirmed or instituted by Muhammad.

For Muslims, hadiths are among the sources through which they come to understand the practice of Muhammad and his Muslim community (ummah). As such, they constitute an important source, second only to the Qurʾān, for law, ritual, and creed. Hadith also informs different fields of Islamic learning (ʿulūm; singular: ʿilm) and cultural production, including history, theology, Sufism, literature, poetry, and belles lettres. The vastness of the Hadith corpus, numbering in the hundreds of thousands of reports by some estimates, and its exponential growth in the earliest years of Islamic history presented challenges for Muslims, from the ruling elite to scholars to lay followers. While the development of a systematic science of Hadith (ʿilm al-ḥadīth) mitigated some of these challenges, the place of these reports in Islamic intellectual culture remains a much-discussed and at times contested issue.

Britannica: Hadith, written by Asma Sayeed

Historical Timeline of Islam

An encyclopedia of Islamic history: History of Islam

**The Worlds of Islam Timeline, by Maricela Martinez, Updated Oct. 23, 2019**

Certain groups do not want to acknowledge Jesus as the Christ. They avoid the traditional, original universal calendar names. These people groups use BCE (before common era) and CE (common era). I use the original nomenclature of BC (before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini, the year of the Lord). These groups deny the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Still, historical revisionism only cements the fact of His birth.
The Jewish faith was common among other people groups throughout the Middle East. Among this population of Jewish proselytes were Arabs. In 30 AD, on the Day of Pentecost, Arabs who were Jewish proselytes became Christians. Read Acts 2:1-11. “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. There appeared to them tongues as of fire, being distributed and resting on each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to speak…Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own languages the mighty works of God.”
Muhammad (born c. 570, Mecca, Arabia [now in Saudi Arabia]—died June 8, 632, Medina) was the founder of Islam and the proclaimer of the Qurʾān. He is traditionally said to have been born in 570 in Mecca and to have died in 632 in Medina, where he had been forced to emigrate to with his adherents in 622. Source: Britannica: Muhammad, prophet of Islam
Qurʾān, the sacred scripture of Islam. According to conventional Islamic belief, the Qurʾān was revealed by the angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad in the West Arabian towns Mecca and Medina beginning in 610 and ending with Muhammad’s death in 632 ce. The word qurʾān, which occurs already within the Islamic scripture itself (e.g., 9:111 and 75:17–18), is derived from the verb qaraʾa—“to read,” “to recite”—but there is probably also some connection with the Syriac qeryānā, “reading,” used for the recitation of scriptural readings during church services. Source: Britannica: Qurʾān sacred text
Compilation of the Qur’an—”The first significant step towards compiling the Quran into a single volume occurred during the caliphate of Abu Bakr (Radi Allahu Anhu)…” Abu Baker appointed Zaid ibn Thabit (Radi Allahu Anhu)…to oversee the compilation of a wide assortment of writings by scribes… This compilation resulted in a single manuscript, which was kept with Abu Bakr…Once the standardized copies were produced, Uthman (Radi Allahu Anhu) ordered that all other Quranic materials be burned. This decision was made to prevent future discrepancies and confusion among the Muslim community.” Verbatim Excerpts from The History of the Compilation of the Quran, August 28, 2024.
What were the sources of Biblical names and places in the Qur’an? The Holy Bible. Here is a link to a list of people named or referred to in both the Bible and the Qur’an.

Muslim Scholarship

What is a Muslim scholar? What do they study?

The term ulama literally means those who possess knowledge (ilm ), particularly of Islam. The ulama emerged as the first interpreters of the Qur’an and transmitters of hadith, the words and deeds of the prophet Muhammad. These scholars also became the first to outline and elaborate the basic principles of Islamic law (shariʿa). The ulama were central to Islamic education in the premodern Middle East. They regulated instruction at all levels and were instrumental in the process of training Islamic scholars in madrasas (residential colleges), which were established by the eleventh century. These medieval institutions developed a rigorous curriculum centered around instruction in the law, training future jurists, theologians, and state functionaries. This system of higher education was the first in a series of successful attempts to link the ulama to political authority in the Islamic world. Members of the ulama might also participate in Islamic mysticism as members—even leaders—of organized Sufi fraternities. Learn more from Encyclopedia.com: Ulama

The ulama do not research ancient manuscripts because there are absolutely no ancient manuscripts, as Islam is not an ancient religion. Unlike the Holy Bible that was compiled from truly ancient manuscripts, all the manuscripts from which the Qur’an was created were destroyed around 646 AD. [Questions on Islam: Why were the first written copies of the Quran eliminated?]

Those original manuscripts were destroyed to prevent confusion. In contrast, the Holy Bible incorporates ancient manuscripts to support its veracity.

Why are Muslims abandoning Islam for personal relationships with Jesus Christ?

Muslim-background believers (MBB) in Jesus Christ tell their personal stories. One excellent source is the I Found The Truth website. View YouTube testimonies of Muslims from around the world who have embraced Jesus Christ as their savior. The video below is a roundtable discussion among Muslim-background believers in Jesus Christ (MBB).

If you are a Muslim, what is YOUR purpose in life? In the United States, there are organizations of MBB that can help you find your purpose.

Hormoz Shariat

Iran Alive Ministries, founded and led by Dr. Hormoz Shariat, is based in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Dr. Shariat is featured in the above video. Dr. Shariat and I have met at Gospel For Muslims Conferences.

Elijah Abraham

Christians who want to learn how to engage Muslims have excellent resources. Living Oasis Ministries is founded and led by Elijah Abraham.

Karim Baidaoui

Disciples of the Way Ministries was founded by Karim Baidaoui in 2012. Disciples of the Way Ministries (DOW) exists to Reach, Teach, Live and Work among those from all nations, to raise up spiritual leaders from among them, and establish Christ-centered communities.

Karim was raised as a Muslim in Morocco. Learn his story: Christian missionary who was raised Muslim to speak at Holy Cross Lutheran Church. His personal testimony was posted on the Texas District of the LCMS Facebook page in 2022.

I met Karim at a Muslim Background Believers Conference at the Park Cities Baptist Church. Karim said, “John, the reason God is bringing them [Muslims] here is because we can’t go there.”

Ali Master

Muslim Background Believer (MBB) Ali Master tells his compelling story in his book. Beyond the Golden Door: Seeing the American Dream through an Immigrant’s Eyes is available on Amazon.com. Ali is also available for speaking engagements.

Conclusion

Archaeology, geology, historical evidence, and divine revelations fuel the meteoric rise of Christianity. Islam has grown by coercion; Christianity is growing through divine revelation and a keen hunger for material proofs.

Minority Christianity in majority Muslim populations endure persecution and segregation. Muslims readily prosper in Christian societies.

Christianity is also rising in Israel. The two Israeli diplomats who were recently slaughtered in Washington, D.C., were followers of Jesus the Messiah, Messianic Jews.

Messianic Judaism is the term given to the belief system of Jewish people who believe and have accepted Yeshua (the Hebrew name for Jesus) of Nazareth as the promised Messiah of the Hebrew Scriptures. These Jewish people do not stop being Jewish, but they continue to remain strong in their Jewish identity, lifestyle and culture, while following Yeshua as He is revealed in the Brit Chadashah, the New Covenant. Many Messianic Jews refer to themselves as “completed Jews,” since they believe that their faith in the God of Israel has been “completed” or fulfilled in Yeshua. Learn more from Got Questions: What is Messianic Judaism?

There remains Jewish hostility to Christians in Israel. Regardless, millions of Christians love and support Israel, including this writer.

John White
Rockwall, Texas