If God can teach continuously without a prophet, why Mohammed? If men have needed prophets in the past, as the Koran itself pointedly asks, why not today? Though it was its vivid eschatology that gave Islam its great initial appeal as it did Christianity and Judaism , Islam, like its sister religions, has become particularly weak in the field of eschatology: Mohammed now turns out to be a prophet who does not prophesy. Constantly repeating the old formula of the sectaries, that God is gentle and forbearing, the Moslems early adopted a policy of conquest by force and have ever been imbued with the polemical and party spirit that has kept the doctors of all religions divided and squabbling through the centuries.
The same ambivalence is apparent in the attitude to the Koran. The Koran claims to be the complete and final word of God, yet the doctors of Islam have handed down tens of thousands of hadiths, that is, things that Mohammed is reported to have said or would have said according to them to clarify and extend the teaching.
The Koran declares that no amount of intellectual effort will avail in understanding the word of God, yet it was the Moslem teachers who first turned wholeheartedly to Aristotle to find an answer to theological questions, and it was from them that the scholastic philosophers of the medieval church later took over. The central theme of Moslem as of Christian theology is the nature of God, and while the Moslem doctors boast of being free of the contradictions and obscurities that have ever marked the course of trinitarian theology, their wholehearted acceptance along with the Christians and the Jews of the God of the Alexandrian school-men—absolutely, exclusively, totally, inconceivably one —soon got them into even worse predicaments than the Christian theologians.
Thus the Moslem doctors have often noted that a God who is totally incomprehensible leads straight to atheism and idolatry as among the Sabaeans ; yet incomprehensible he must be if he is to be absolutely unique, unapproachable, indescribable, totally unlike any other thing—and he must be all those things if he is to be the Only One: there can be nothing like him. And while it is wicked to think of man as having anything whatever in common with God, still man is supposed to love him, yearn to be with him, seek the reward of gazing upon his face, and in the end become completely identified with him, one with whom he can have nothing in common!
For though God alone created all things, and though he is perfectly good and does only what he wants to do, the doctors insist that evil is a reality and that the world is full of it. The problem of evil goes thus unanswered. The idea that God might have children is utterly abhorrent to the Moslems: we are not his children but things that he has created out of nothing; but he created us with tragic weaknesses in our nature: this anomaly leads to the fatalism and cynicism of an Omar Khayyam.
How can we go from and return to him if he is everywhere? The Koran can define God in terms of the schools and then go right on talking about him as a real person. It can tell us that men are lost or saved by his good pleasure alone and through no act of theirs and then insist that all men are individually responsible in all things.
It swears by the Bible, which it never reads, and knows nothing of the Messiah. The Moslems insist that nothing whatever can be known about God and then fill libraries with treatises on his true nature. It is outrageous presumption for anything to exist beside him, they say—yet here we are. So, what is the case that Islam and Mormons have nothing in common?
From an LDS perspective, Islam actually looks much more like traditional Christianity than Mormonism, because, despite the similarities mentioned above, it lacks what Latter-Day Saints consider one of the most important features of their faith: continuing revelation. The simple fact of the matter is that Islamic doctrine ends with its "conveniently placed prophet," whereas Mormonism begins there. Islam, much like conventional Christianity, has a closed canon and a belief that, after a certain arbitrary point in the distant past, no more prophets or scriptural revelation are given, or have been needed.
By contrast, the modern successors to Joseph Smith and the Apostles who presided over the church in his time are considered to have the same authority and divine responsibility today as their midth century counterparts. In fact, Wilford Woodruff, the fourth President of the Church, proclaimed that this is an essential feature of Mormonism:. It matters not who lives or who dies, or who is called to lead this Church, they have got to lead it by the inspiration of Almighty God.
If they do not do it that way, they cannot do it at all. The importance of continuing revelation and the continuity of the authority of the church is also underscored in four of the thirteen Articles of Faith , which Joseph Smith wrote as a brief synopsis of the fundamental principles of LDS doctrine:. While many superficial similarities exist between Mormonism and Islam or, to be honest, between just about any two religions you could name, the idea of continuing revelation, that the heavens are not sealed, that prophecies and divine leadership and guidance from the Lord have not ceased, is quite a unique thing, particularly among the Abrahamic religions.
One of the major differences between Islam and Mormonism is that Islam rejects the divinity of Jesus:. Say: "Who then hath the least power against Allah, if His will were to destroy Christ the son of Mary, his mother, and all every - one that is on the earth? For to Allah belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and all that is between. He createth what He pleaseth. For Allah hath power over all things. Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary.
Say: Who then can do aught against Allah, if He had willed to destroy the Messiah son of Mary, and his mother and everyone on earth?
Allah's is the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them. He createth what He will. And Allah is Able to do all things. Say: Who then could control anything as against Allah when He wished to destroy the Messiah son of Marium and his mother and all those on the earth? And Allah's is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and what is between them; He creates what He pleases; and Allah has power over all things,.
LDS belief is in direct opposition to Islamic belief. Mormons violate the entire basis of Islam called Tawheed or the oneness of Allah. To Muslims, without the belief of the oneness and uniqueness of Allah you have fallen out of the scope of Islam and are Mushrik associating partners with Allah. Tawheed is the most fundamental belief in Islam. It is so fundamental that saying "ashadu an lailaha illallah" I believe there is no god but Allah upon death can save a man from the fire of hell and is narrated in various authentic hadith.
It should be noted that if the dying man only says "ashadu an lailaha illallah," he is granted entrance to heaven as these sahih hadith state:.
The Prophet pbuh said: "Whoever says: there is no god but Allah enters Paradise. The Prophet pbuh said: "Whoever says there is no god but Allah enters Paradise even if he commits adultery and even if he steals i. It is important to note that Tawheed the belief in the oneness and uniqueness of Allah is so important that one need not bear witness that Mohammed is a messenger at all.
Bearing witness that there is no god but Allah is sufficient. As anyone who is informed of both Islamic and Mormon theology could see, Mormonism is the direct opposite of Islam as far as belief is concerned. Both Mohammed pbuh and Joseph Smith received revelation through an angel. Both Mormons and Muslims are prohibited from gambling and drinking alcohol. Both Mormons and Muslim place importance on moral behavior.
We do believe Jesus was born of a virgin and the Messiah and will return in the last days. The similarities are superficial. I think that it is apparent, by my answer to this question, that it is impossible for two religions to be similar that contradict each other so seamlessly on basic belief.
I have been a practicing Muslim for twenty years. Mormons claim that there were several witnesses to God's revelation to Joseph Smith.
In the Testimony of Three Witnesses and the Testimony of Eight Witnesses , there were several people who signed a document stating that they had seen the tables of gold from which Smith read. The eight-witness testimony states the following:.
It is especially evident in Southern California, with large Mormon and Muslim populations. Though created primarily for academic purposes, the results have impressed Muslims flattered by the close attention. And Mormons and Muslims say they often are co-hosts of educational and social programs at which, though some may be angling for long-term doctrinal influence, very little open proselytizing of each other seems to take place.
Arnold H. Green, a history professor at BYU, has traced how early Mormons in the 19th century were hounded by accusations that church founder Smith was the American Muhammad.
The first Mormons angrily denied any connection to the Muslim prophet but gradually accepted some comparisons, particularly that both religions were founded by post-Christian prophets with strong sectarian views. Both religions strongly emphasize family. They tend toward patriarchy, believing in feminine modesty, chastity and virtue.
Both faiths adhere to religion-based health codes, including prohibitions against alcohol, but Mormons and Muslims share something more: membership in quickly growing minority religions that many other Americans have sometimes viewed with suspicion and scorn. More than half the respondents said they had little or no awareness of the precepts and practices of either faith.
Armand L. For 23 years, Muhammad claimed to receive revelations from Allah through Gabriel. He committed these words to memory and shared them with his followers, who wrote them down. Joseph Smith also claimed to receive divine revelations. False doctrines. Mormonism, while claiming to be restored Christianity, teaches many doctrines foreign to the Holy Scriptures: That every person and every god has always existed, making humans of the same nature as the god of this world Elohim ; that Jesus earned godhood in pre-mortal life; that His finished work on the cross secured resurrection for us, not forgiveness of sins; and that godhood is attainable.
False hope. Since salvation in both Islam and Mormonism is based on human effort, no Muslim or Mormon can know with certainty that he or she is eternally secure. Life is to be lived in the hope of pleasing a god who requires our works in exchange for his acceptance. What a contrast to the gospel of Jesus Christ, in which God sends His Son to die on a cross and rise from the dead, paying our sin debt and extending to us forgiveness of sins and everlasting life by His grace through faith.
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