This faith has one of the largest followings in the world. Along with the Judeo-Christian group, more than half of the world is in this group. Although the peoples and cultures differ greatly, the faiths are similar and share a great origin.
This division within the same group carries out the pattern of God to give each culture a faith according to their set’s ancestral background. Each division again splinters; so many men may have personal understandings according to their individual abilities. The same God dwells under many titles.
Islam is the last of the faiths to mature. Mohammed was the last great prophet. He tied the foregoing generations together and gave them the truths God wanted them to have in a form that they could understand and digest. They are a diverse people with a unique background.
When God gave his promises to the early Hebrew patriarchs, He took the future into consideration for all their future generations. Ishmael was a large part of God’s plan. He was needed to start a vast population in an unpopulated part of the world. He was included in God’s promises given to Abraham’s seed. This culture was slower to reach maturity than the others, and of a different nature. God is one, and true to all of His creations.
He called Mohammed and filled him with the wisdom of God’s Holy Spirit and blessed his work and words. According to their customs, experiences and knowledge, the people of that land were given the understanding of the love God had for them and His wishes for their future with Him in eternity. They were educated on how to achieve a godly life pleasing to Allah, as they called the one God.
Their teachings were almost identical to those of the Christian and Hebrew in all the important and necessary points of doctrine. Quotes of Mohammed parallel the Christian Bible and Jewish Torah. The Koran has many similar and identical passages to these books. Jesus, Mary, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as well as Moses and the prophets are all part of this religion. All three religions stress: First, Love of one God, Second, Love of your neighbor as yourself.
For entry into Heaven man must serve God with his whole heart and commit himself totally to God’s will with faith, trust and hope. Part of building this motivation to please God in all that you do is to “pray without ceasing.” The Christian has this admonition and it is left up to his individual conscience, but in the Muslim culture this is planned out in a pattern, as are other spiritual requirements. Whether by freedom of choice, or by ingrained habit, man builds his motivation to be close to God. As with Confucianism, actions of those who have lived before and what they have done, seems right to a man. He feels secure following the pattern. In truth, there is only one God, and Mohammed is his prophet.