Isn’t Islam A Form of Christianity, Just As Much As Mormonism?

false prophets - Muhammad of Islam, Joseph Smith of Mormonism, etc. No, neither are forms of Christianity.

Hey Andy, Islam states that Christianity is pretty much spot on, but the Prophet Muhammad came in to add some more instructions from God, which is exactly what Jesus did to Judaism, and Joseph Smith did to Judaism, and Joseph Smith did to Christianity. So isn’t Islam, then, a form of Christianity, just as much as Mormonism?

Hi, wait, what? No. Actually, I’m not sure where you got your information from, but no, Islam is definitely not a form a Christianity; not at all, and neither is Mormonism. However, it’s interesting that you mention those two because THEY are actually more like each other, at least in their beginnings.

Islam Disagrees More Christianity

Islam actually disagrees more with Christianity than it agrees with it. Islam also contradicts itself in its disagreements.

Theological Beliefs

If Muslims believed in the authority of the Christian Scriptures, then they would see where it contradicts with their Quruan, and realize that Christ is not only a great prophet, but also God in the flesh, and the Messiah. They would also recognize that Muhammad is in fact just a false prophet (in terms of God. He may have been a prophet of Allah, but Allah is NOT Yahweh, the God of Abraham), as was Joseph Smith from the Mormon faith.

The New Testament Rejected and Seen as Corrupted

Also, in order to explain away what Jesus said and taught, Muslims claim that the New Testament is corrupted and was changed in order to disagree with Islam, and therefore can’t be trusted. However, the Bible was written and compiled before the 2nd century A.D., and Muhammad didn’t even live until the mid to late 4th century A.D. Sure, OK, maybe if Jesus had talked of Mo arriving, as they claim He did, but the only place I can find Jesus giving any reference to somebody other than Him coming is in Matthew 24:4, when Jesus said, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ (Messiah means “the Anointed One of God”) and will deceive many.”

Personal Claim to the Old Testament

Plus, while living in Chicago, I had a Shiite neighbor who once told me in a conversation that they believe the Old Testament was originally written for their story, but that the Jews had stolen it and changed everything in it to include them instead. However, this sounds odd to me for many reasons. One is that even though the Old Testament is about the blessing of the Messiah (anointed One) that God passed on through His people, it’s also a history that one would normally consider shameful. Think about it. The Bible is all about creation’s need for a Savior — it starts off with sin, pride, disobedience to God, Abraham receiving the blessing of land and people, then only 10 years later, giving into the customs of his world. His descendants then completely distanced themselves from the Lord because they wanted to have God’s blessings without God’s presence, even as they longed for the coming Messiah (anointed One of God) to rescue them from what they thought was an invading nation, even though God had continuously done that all throughout history through His prophets and kings. Looking at Muslims today, I can’t see them admitting to any of this history for themselves.

Plus, you’d think if the Jews had stolen the Scriptures and made it for themselves, they would have at least put themselves into a better light, especially since they rejected the Lord all throughout them, behaved worse than the surrounding pagan nations, killed all their prophets, split their kingdom in two, were shamefully conquered and sent into exile, then continued in their sinful ways shortly after returning from exile, all to tell of their need for the Messiah that they would later reject, even after their Scriptures told them they would? Also, since they reject Daniel as a legitimate prophet (and who actually prophesied the time when the Messiah would arrive) and certain passages and chapters throughout other prophets that point to the arrival, signs, and even identity of the Messiah, as well as that they wouldn’t recognize Him, would reject Him, kill Him, and that He would be raised from the dead, wouldn’t you think they would have taken those out? Especially since they still reject Jesus as the Messiah today. So if the Jews had stolen Ishmaelite scriptures and written themselves in as the ones of whom they speak of, why would they keep all that in, only to completely reject it all later?

Islam’s Similarities with Catholicism

You may be getting the idea about Islam being similar to Christianity from its similarities with Catholicism. Legend has it that when Muhammad was sort of searching for his direction, he had hung out with and learned about Christ from a Catholic monk. However, this monk was very liberal in his beliefs, and also very theologically-off, which would explain his misunderstandings about Christianity and Christ.

Also, if Islam considered Christianity as spot on as you suggest, then instead of killing the Coptic Christians this past decade, they should be honoring them. But that’s not the case, is it? No, instead, they think the Christians are incorrect in their faith and that belief in Christ is heresy.

Muhammad’s “Extra Instructions”

As for Muhammad’s “extra instructions”, if you see my post on the differences between Allah and Yahweh, it’s easy to see that they weren’t additions, but complete changes. In fact, what Muhammad said about God only shows that they are clearly different entities – Allah is certainly not the God of Abraham…Ishmael maybe, or even Ishmael’s kids, but not of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Muhammad also took the Gospel of Grace, and basically returned it to the gospel of works, where one attempts to earn favor from God through perfect obedience with works or violence (to self and to others), which is totally opposite of what Christ proclaimed, died for, and was raised for. However, it is also similar teachings to Catholicism, especially as practiced in his day.

So Islam may have some similarities to Catholic practices (prayer beads, icons, praying to “saints”, theology, etc.), but it still does not agree with Christianity at all, nor is it anything like Christianity

Judaism and Christianity

As for Jesus and Judaism, it’s important to notice that Jesus was in fact the Jewish people’s Messiah. He didn’t teach the Jews new laws, but corrected their behaviors and understanding of how to follow them. He was also the fulfillment of the Mosaic Law.

The Bible we Christians use today is the same 39 books of the Jewish Bible (Old Testament), though we have added 27 more books (the New Testament), which tell of Jesus’ mission, life, message, the transformations of His disciples/Apostles after He’d been risen, and their several letters of correction to the churches. They also help with theology and understanding the Old Testament, for if you’ll read the New Testament, you’ll see that there are a LOT of references to the Old Testament. That’s because Christianity has to fulfill the Jewish/Hebrew Scripture. If not, then it would be a completely different faith (not connected with Judaism), just as Mormonism is.

Who was Joseph Smith of Mormonism?

Joseph Smith, on the other hand, was an American boy who sought the truth about God, but went about it the wrong way. Early on, he messed around with seer rocks/stones and other forms of what some would consider witchcraft and tampering with the demonic. He also claimed to have experienced a vision (while alone in the woods), and later in his bedroom. During the first one, two god-like figures, supposedly God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, forgave him of his sins and told him to stay away from all the churches, for they had strayed so far away from the Truth. He then allegedly received several visitations from the angel Moroni (reportedly, a resurrected prophet/warrior), who said that God had chosen Joseph to be the prophet of the restoration. He was to restore the power and authority of the priesthood, and to translate a book containing an account of the origin and history of the former inhabitants of Central America. This book also contained an alleged account of the resurrected Jesus visiting these people. But it was not until 1827 that Joseph was lead by the angel Moroni to unearth the golden plates, upon which was inscribed the text of the Book of Mormon in “Reformed Egyptian”.

He later supposedly dug up some golden plates (which nobody ever saw), and some special glasses, which gave him the ability to translate the plates. He was a regular cult leader of his time – crazy fictional stories based on his own interpretation and preferred beliefs about the Bible and God, self-proclamation as a prophet, salvation based on works, continuous infidelity that he was able to justify himself for, and leading many people astray. The only similarities that the Mormon church has with Christianity are that they have the same Holy Bible, they use Biblical names and places, and they include the name of Jesus Christ (mostly just to mislead people into believing that they have anything to do with Him though). However, they don’t recognize Jesus as God, but as a created being whose brother is Satan. Mormons also believe that God was once a man who attained Godhood through perfect works (and that everybody has the ability to do so also), and when they do, they’ll become the god of a planet somewhere, just as (in their beliefs) God received this one when He ascended to godhood.

Islam’s Origin Similarities with Mormonism’s

Islam and Mormonism actually have a lot in common, especially in the sense of how they came to be. As I mentioned above about Joseph Smith’s visions, Muhammad also had a similar experience, only he was in a dark cave that he visited each day. See, around 610 A.D., Muhammad (who was about 40 at that time), was looking for solitude, and began meditating in a cave on Mt. Hira, just outside the city of Mecca. While meditating, he began to hear a voice, claiming to be the angel Gabriel (the same one who revealed to Mary and Joseph about Jesus). The angel commanded Muhammad to memorize a message from the One God, Allah (the Arabic word for “God”), then preach it in the streets of Mecca. Over the next 30 years, Muhammad received a series of “revelations”, on which he based his preaching, and in which were later compiled into the Quran.

So in both faiths

The founder was isolated somewhere, trying to figure out life and faith, when suddenly, an angel (or God-like figure) appeared to them and gave them each a message to share with others;
Each state some claim to Abraham and his blessing from God
Neither stick to the Old Testament (the Hebrew scriptures)
Each practice (or allow) polygamy
The founders claimed to be the last (or greatest) prophets
The founders claimed God’s authority upon themselves
The founders claimed a message contrary to the Bible’s message (though Muhammad’s original message was to care for the widows and orphans and to believe only that God is the only God. It was only sometime after that when he changed it, gained political power, and became more of a military leader than religious).
At the death of each of the founders, at least 2 factions formed in conflict as to who would be the next successor

Summary

So, no, Islam is nowhere near being a form of Christianity, nor did Christianity borrow anything from other religions, nor change any of them, nor add onto them. If anything, other religions borrowed things from Christianity, but when they did, they changed and twisted things around so much that it no longer fits in the category of even being called Christianity, just as with Islam and Mormonism.

Some Sources to check out:

Source for the founding of Mormonism
Source for the founding of Islam: A Brief Look at the World’s Second Largest Faith: Islam, and Introduction = The Covenant Companion, November, 2001, pp. 22-23.

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Isn’t Islam A Form of Christianity, Just As Much As Mormonism?