Answering Islam: The Crescent in Light of the Cross

Let me start off by saying that this book merits it's five starts based on what it seeks to answer. The book is divided into three sections, each dealing in one way or another with Islam. The first section gives a general overview of Islam, but of course to be general it touches upon some unorthodox Muslim beliefs that maybe only one or two sects in Islam follow and not all. Most of the time, though, this section does represent Islam fairly and touches upon most of the ideas common to all sects of Islam.The second section of the book deals with a response to the first section. It illustrates the flaws and holes in Islam (this piece is quite scholarly and thoroughly researched). Those who give one or two stars to this book are usually close minded Muslims unwilling to face facts, reason, and rationality. There is no twisting of the Qur'an anywhere in the book. If there is any twisting going on it is in the hearts and minds of those who, faced with a rational refutation of their practice, choose to blame the authors of being wrong instead of their soundly refuted beliefs.Finally, the third section of the book is a defense of the most rigorously attacked doctrines in Christianity by Muslims. There are some folks (like the fellows from Dallas,TX and Washington below) who seem to think this section, and the rest of the book for that matter, is supposed to be directed at defending Christianity from atheism. If you want to read about that you might as well look for something written by William Lane Craig or other works by Norman Geisler. This section and the rest of the book is an answer to Islam and a very good one I might add. It does not answer all questions but it does answer many and provides enough answers to soundly reject Islam as being a true religion.I'd like to make a couple of notes. First many of the reviews below seem to think that because this book is written by a Christian and ex-Muslim it cannot possibly represent Islam truthfully. In response to that I'd like to say a couple of things. First, even Dr. Jeremiah McAuliffe (a muslim who participated in an online debate with Abdul Saleeb over issues raised in this book) said: "The first part of the book is Abdul explaining Islam. I couldn't believe it. It was really good! I wondered how the Christian was going to refute it." I would like to mention pertaining to the so-called "Christian-bias" found in this book, does anyone really believe you will find an unbiased Islam book written by a muslim? No of course not, any "fundamentalist" Islamic book will be as biased, if not more, as this book, only from a Muslim perpective. Additionally, as I briefly mentioned, many Muslims are happy with the first section of the book, they just dislike the second and third sections because, of course, it contradicts their beliefs. I'd like to also ask those who say that a big deal is made about the ex-muslim author, what is the big deal? It is only mentioned in the back of the book that one of the authors is an ex-muslim, after that you never hear about it in the book, in fact you cannot tell when the ex-muslim (whom by the way is Abdul Saleeb) is writing and when Dr. Geisler is writing. So the whole big deal they claim is non-existent, moreover it is just another way of evading the real issue, that this book is a great tool in soundly refuting Islam on historical as well as philosophical grounds.The final note I'd like to make is to fellows like the guy from Dallas, TX below. I'd like to make it clear that Christianity if anything, is no myth. Historically, archeologically, philosophically, scientifically, and even axiologically Christianity is quite reasonable. I'd like to mention that I was not always Christian but like the great literary genius of the 20th century C.S. Lewis, "I was brought to Jesus because of my mind." The fellow from Texas asks that Norman Geisler be put in front of Larry King Live in front of atheists. I ask him to choose which ones. Some of the most intellectual contemporary atheists like Frank Zindler, Peter Atkins, Theodore Drange, Massimo Pigliucci, Doug Jesseph, Antony Flew, Kai Nielsen, and Quentin Smith have been masterfully debated by Christian apologists like Dr. William Lane Craig. To judge for yourself how incredibly sound the reasoning for Christianity is you should look for some of these debate tapes available on the internet. The debate with Quentin Smith is available through Amazon in the form of a book.All this leaves me with this conclusion: In my spiritual journey I was an atheist and I almost become Muslim because a very good friend of mine nearly convinced me. But like I said before, I was brought to Jesus because of my mind. In fact, atheism and Islam require more faith to believe than Christianity! Christianity is a superbly intelligent faith, if it weren't for that fact I would not be Christian. I will end with two final quotes which are found in a book of a debate between christian scholar Dr. Gary Habermas and atheist philosopher Dr. Antony Flew. One of the professional debate judges who was present (non-Christian judge by the way) said of the evidence for the resurrection based on that presented during the debate: "Since the case against the resurrection was no stronger than that presented by Antony Flew, I would think it was about time I began to take the resurrection seriously. My conclusion is that Flew lost the debate and the case for the resurrection won." Another debate judge said, "I conclude that the historical evidence is strong enough to lead reasonable minds to conclude that Christ did indeed rise from the dead."As for all those who asked why should Christianity be the only way, I simply refer to the last statement I made. Historically, if the resurrection did occur, then Christianity must be the truth. And truth by its very nature and definition is absolute. Everything contrary to truth is false. Including Islam, atheism, and the rest. I don't meant to put any of these faiths down, I simply am stating that as a truth-seeker, I am led to Christianity because of it's historicity, it's intelligence, and especially it's message. I invite all to read the New Testament and study it's historicity. I believe it can change your life as it changed mine.

very good book for knowing islam

... political and Christian leadership have so far chosen not to address the source of the brutality, preferring to convince people that Muslims are REALLY a lot like, say, Methodists ("...another interfaith service, anyone?")But false premises will eventually prevent correct action, providing secular governments with no basis for understanding what they are dealing with. Weeds will keep sprouting from roots.The reality of Islam needs to be examined ... from its origins in visions Muhammad first thought came from demons until his wife convinced them they came from God, to their integration with incompletely understood aspects of Christianity Muhammad picked up here and there, adapting them to Arab nomadic paganism to the extent his human understanding allowed (for example, Arab fathers tend to be distant and harsh, thus a Muhammad not inspired by God could make no sense of God as a loving father figure who cared about His creation. So that was excised along with related understandings like "forgiveness" -- mercy not being the same thing). Islamic denial of the innate sinfulness of mankind, the uniform tendency of man to separate from God, leads to a reward/punishment system based on simple human deeds.This book covers the history and theology of Islam at a fairly scholarly yet readable and accessible level. The first 130 pages describe the basic beliefs of orthodox Islam concerning God, creation, prophets, Muhammad, the Qu'ran and salvation. This is drawn mostly from Muslim sources like the Qu'ran, Muslim tradition (the Hadith), and Islamic commentators.The next 76 pages are a Christian analysis of those beliefs and various criticisms that have been suggested, with the goal of reaching conclusions on the level of support and validity of Islamic claims. A great deal of attention is paid to the factual basis for and internal consistency of the claims.This is followed by 80 pages of response to common Islamic depictions of Christianity; the evidence for the Christian counter-claim. 24 pages of appendices provide supplementary material on Islam such as Muslim sects, religious practices, and Muslim use of modern biblical criticism methods.There is no pointless vitriol, just eyes-open examination. Another good book that adds a little more is "Islam Revealed" by Dr. Anis A. Shorrosh.It's not likely Christian leadership in the U.S., to the extent it exists, will soon drop its embrace of Islam as an equal. Modern seminaries and theological departments tend to produce secular humanists who want the moral authority to advance agendas regarding racism, gay rights and so on, along with the resulting approval of a secular culture, more than anything, so end up squeezing God out. They are hesitant to speak the truth because they don't think there is such a thing (incoherent, since the lack of truth would itself be a truth, thus is a contradiction); they don't want Islam exposed because they think they will be exposed. This is only their failure; Christianity will thrive with honest scrutiny. Islam cannot. This is one reason Christianity gave birth to liberal democracies while Islamic countries execute missionaries.Only conversion of Islam to Christianity will solve the problem we face, not eliminating terrorist networks. Of course, that means you first have to understand Christianity. One excellent aid here is "How Now Shall we Live" by C. Colson and "Nothing but the Truth" by B. Edwards

If I have a criticism of this book, it is that it repeats its content just a little too often. I would rather have had less repetition, and perhaps a little more supporting footnotes.Overall, however, it is an accurate representation of the kinds of attack that islam makes on the Christian Gospel, as presented in the New Testament. All of the rather spurious arguments against the intellectual basis for Christian belief, I have encountered on the lips of muslim apologists over the years. The same penchant for taking biblical texts out of context, the same seizing upon verses that are cited to 'prove' some kind of biblical link to Muhammed - these things so clearly do damage to the clear sense of the text, as well as the supporting testimony elsewhere, that one cannot help wonder at the intellectual convolutions that must be necessary to sustain such positions. In short, Geisler and Saleeb are far from misrepresenting the kind of misrepresentation that I have encountered over many years from islamic apologists - in fact, I would say that they are understating the shockingly poor excuse for 'scholarship' that one encounters habitually.Those of us who strive to sustain a 'neutral' position on the issue of islamic scholarship might well recoil from the implications of this volume, but my own experience in dialoguing would suggest that the level of misunderstanding and misrepresentation within mainstream islamic thought is, genuinely, that bad. Overall, this is a useful contribution, and Geisler's case is assisted throughout by its moderate tone and clearly accurate understanding of the Qur'an.

Interesting book! Very informative!

As a muslim, this helped me to understand a non-muslim's view of my religion. I think it isn't concise enough though, but anyone with an open mind will find this interesting as it pierces doubts into your beliefs.

Very well written, easy to follow, a good study resource for a beginner

Very good and thorough work on Islam. It reveals how Islam is founded on all kinds of wrong ideas, misunderstandings and heresies.