A.

Prayer
The Muslim person is required to offer ritualistic scripted prayers five times daily
following the right of ritual cleansing (ablution) using water or sand, if water is not
available (an-Nisa 4: 43; al-Maidah 5: 6; Bukhari 1.8.345). If a Muslim touches a
non-Muslim after his ablution, he is defiled and will have to perform the ablution all
over again. The first prayer is required at predawn around 4 a.m., the fifth in the
evening around 8:30 p.m. The Islamic prayer is not a personal communication
between a person and God. It is a compulsory duty external to the person saturated
with formal rituals (al-Maidah 5: 6). Muslims may also offer additional voluntary
scripted prayers during specific periods of the day. If a dog, donkey or a woman walk
by a man who is praying, his prayer is cancelled out, and he will have to restart it
again from the beginning (Bukhari 1.9.490; etc.). The woman is unclean during her
monthly period (menses) and could not pray or fast on those days (Bukhari 1.6.301;
3.31.172). Personal non-scripted prayers are discouraged in Islam. Only the small
Sufi sect focuses on this type of prayer. The five times of Muslim prayers are the
same as five of the seven prayers common to the Zoroastrians. They were instituted
in the Medinan period. In addition, Muhammad allowed the pagan Arabian practice
of incantations to continue as long as the incantations were transformed to be
Islamic. This practice is one aspect of black magic (Muslim 26.5457).

Prayer in Islam is a required duty. It is an external practice, not an internal

worship that uplifts the human spirit. It is not a communication and a conversation
with the god of Islam. Muhammad taught that if a person refused to do the five
prayers, he was no longer a Muslim. Muhammad ordered burning alive Muslims who
refused to perform the five obligatory ritualistic daily prayers with their houses
(Bukhari 1.11.626, 617). The punishment of a Muslim who believes that prayer is
obligatory but does not perform it is decapitation, unless he repents (Reliance of the
Traveler f1.4). Through prayers, Muslims hope to avoid the wrath of their god and his
punishment on judgment day, and be admitted into his paradise. Only on judgment
day Muslims will know whether their god is pleased with their prayers. The Friday
noon prayer is the only public prayer (al-Jumah 62: 9). It is obligatory for adult
males.

Islam teaches that its god does not communicate with people directly (an-Naba
78: 37). He does that through the angel Gabriel who can only be in one place at a
time (al-Baqarah 2: 97-98; ash-Shuara 26: 193; an-Nahl 16: 102). Islam calls the
angel Gabriel the holy spirit. But he is a limited creature distinct from the Islamic god.
Therefore, Muslims do not expect their god to communicate with them directly during
their prayers. Nor do they expect the angel Gabriel to come and speak to them.
Muslims hope to hear from their god through Gabriel on the last night of Ramadan
fast (al-Qadr 97: 4).

The Holy Bibles teaching about the Holy Spirit is very different. The Holy Spirit is
the Spirit of the living God. He is the third divine Person in the Holy Trinity.
Therefore, he is present everywhere at once, and able to communicate with
multitudes of people at the same time.

Christ has taught that one should pray often at any time, and that God rewards
the person who prays in the privacy of his room, and does not listen to the hypocrites
who love to pray visibly to be seen and praised by men (Matthew 6: 5-6).
Participating in corporate prayers shared in churches and meetings is good and
beneficial as long as it is not motivated by vain glory. On the contrary, Muhammad
wanted Muslims to pray always visibly together, and taught that praying alone was
inferior.

Jesus prayed at any time: early in the morning (Mark 1: 35; 6: 46), during the day
(Luke 5: 16), and during the night (Luke 6: 12). He used to pray alone, but
sometimes he took his disciples with him (Luke 9: 28; 22: 39). Jesus never
commanded his disciples to pray at specific times during the day, or in a specific
structured rigid scripted way: pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5: 17;
Luke 18: 1). He never threatened Gods punishment for not praying enough. The
Islamic prayers are required to conform to a rigid form of scripted words and
movements. Christ prohibited that saying: And when you pray, do not use vain
repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their
many words (Matthew 6: 7).

The Christian believer is an adopted child of God who loves him and cares for
him. Therefore, Christ has taught to address God in prayers as Our Father
(Matthew 6: 9-13; Luke 11: 11-13). This is very different from the relationship
between the Islamic god and his Muslim subjects, which is a master-slave
relationship. Christian prayer is an important way of communicating with God,
worshiping him, glorifying him, giving him thanks, and asking for his forgiveness,
help and intervention. Its focus is on the reality of talking to a personal, loving God
approached through the merits of the atoning death and resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Prayers may be offered for ones own needs, or for others expressing
the bond of love between the members of the Church (Luke 22: 32; 2 Thessalonians
3: 1; Romans 15: 30; James 5: 16). However, it should focus on the glorification and
praise of God, not on personal petitions.

B. Alms
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Almsgiving was a pre-Islamic practice. It is called Zakat (Reliance of the Traveler,

H), and is one of the five pillars of Islam (al-Tawbah 9: 60, 20, 34, 35, 41, 103; al-
Hujurat 49: 15; as-Saff 61: 10, 11). It is obligatory for every Muslim who owns a
minimum of wealth that requires it. It is given only to needy Muslims, never to non-
Muslims (al-Fath 48: 29). In addition to helping the needy Muslims, it also finances
Islamic jihad.

Christ did not discriminate in meeting the spiritual and material needs of people
around him. He fed the hungry, healed the sick, raised the dead, and forgave sins of
men and women, and believers and unbelievers alike. Christians are taught to be
charitable to all in need, not just to other Christians (Matthew 5: 42; Deuteronomy 10:
17-18).

Christ taught that charitable giving should be done in secret: Therefore, when
you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites
do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men.
Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable
deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your
charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will
Himself reward you openly (Matthew 6: 2-4). Christ also taught that a small gift
given from a poor person is worth a lot more in the eyes of God than a large
donation given by a rich person: And He (Christ) looked up and saw the rich
putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow
putting in two mites. So He said, Truly I say to you that this poor widow has
put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings
for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had (Luke
21: 1-4).

C. Feasts
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A major difference exists between Christian and Muslim holidays. Christian

holidays commemorate and celebrate divine intervention to save humanity. Islamic
feasts commemorate human accomplishments. Christmas celebrates the birth of our
savior Jesus Christ. Easter celebrates the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ
triumphant over death, which completes his salvific work on the cross. Christianity
and Judaism recognize the Passover as the work of God to spare the firstborn
children of the Israelites.

In Islam, Eid-al-Adha, observed seventy days after the end of Ramadan,

celebrates Abrahams willingness to sacrifice his son. Eid-al-Fitr celebrates the end
of the fast of the month of Ramadan, which marks the end of the Muslim personal
sacrifice in the fast.

XVI. IMMORAL TEACHINGS OF ISLAM

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A. Incestuous marriage
Muhammad adopted Zaid, one of the slaves of his first wife Khadija. Muhammad
lusted after Zaynab bnt. Jahsh, the wife of his adopted son Zaid. He married his
daughter-in-law, after his son Zaid divorced her. In fact, Muhammad said Quran for
his personal benefit to justify his grave sin of incest: . . . Then when Zaid was
through with her, we gave her to you in marriage: in order that there may be no
difficulty to the believers in (the matter of) marriage with the wives of their adopted
sons, when the latter are through with them. . . (al-Ahzab 33: 37). This verse permits
what Christianity and Judaism forbid. Both Judaism and Christianity prohibit a man
from marrying his daughter-in-law. It makes no difference whether she is the wife of
his natural or adopted son: None of you shall approach anyone who is near of
kin to him, to uncover his nakedness: I am the LORD. You shall not uncover
the nakedness of your daughter-in-law--she is your son's wife--you shall not
uncover her nakedness. (Leviticus 18: 6, 15). Generally speaking, Muslims are
not allowed to adopt children, as Muhammad subsequently prohibited adoption in
order to legitimize his incestuous marriage (al-Ahzab 33: 4) after the Arabs of his day
objected. This causes great harm to many orphans not finding adoptive parents. But
that does not change the historical fact that Muhammad committed this grave sin,
the sin of incest in violation of biblical commands. What makes it even worse, he
never repented.

B. Sexual abuse of child girls

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Islam sanctions sexual abuse of pre-pubescent child girls under the pretext of
child marriage. The Quran takes child marriage for granted when speaking about the
waiting period required after divorce in order to determine whether the woman is
pregnant (at-Talaq 65: 4). Abu Bakr, Muhammads friend, wed his child daughter,
Aisha, to Muhammad, the role model of Islam, when she was six years of age.
Muhammad practiced thighing with her, and consummated the marriage with her
when she was nine years old, still a pre-pubescent child (Muslim 8.3309-3311;
31.5981; Bukhari 5.58.234, 236; 7.62.64, 65, 88; 7.65.88). He was 54 years old, 45
years older than her, old enough to be her grandfather. Muhammad committed the
immorality of sexually abusing a child girl. Child marriage is immoral despite the fact
that it was culturally acceptable in seventh century Arabia. This immoral behavior is
lawful and codified in Islamic Sharia. A Muslim man has the right to force his
daughter into marriage without her consent. The sexual abuse of a child is a heinous
crime punishable by law in the West.

There is no minimum age for entering Islamic marriage. A child girl cannot
possibly give her consent to marriage. When she grows up, she will simply discover
that she is already married. Early marriage prevents the girls from completing their
education and increases the chances of divorce later on. The probability of death for
10-14 year-old girls at childbirth is about five times that of 20-45 year-old women,
because their immature pelvises are too small. And many suffer paralysis from giving
birth. This is in addition to the emotional and psychological damage the child-girls
suffer because they are not mature enough for marriage.

The Holy Bible establishes that the minimum age for marriage is the onset of
puberty (Ezekiel 16: 4 -14).