Islam is a major world religion centered on Allah, the Qur’an, and Muhammad as the final prophet. Christians recognize points of overlap with biblical monotheism, yet see Islam as fundamentally at odds with historic Christianity on God, Christ, revelation, and salvation.
Islam is a major world religion centered on submission to Allah, the Qur’an, and Muhammad as the final prophet.
Islam is one of the world’s major religions, arising in Arabia in the seventh century and structured around belief in Allah, the Qur’an as final revelation, and Muhammad as the final prophet. It presents a comprehensive worldview touching worship, law, morality, community, and final judgment. In comparison with biblical Christianity, Islam affirms one sovereign Creator and human accountability before God, yet it rejects or redefines doctrines essential to the Christian faith, including the Trinity, the full deity and sonship of Christ, Christ’s atoning death and bodily resurrection as the ground of salvation, and the authority of the Bible in its Christian form. A conservative Christian reference work should therefore explain Islam fairly, avoid caricature, and distinguish between points of moral or theistic overlap and deep theological contradiction. In apologetics and evangelism, Christians should engage Muslims truthfully, respectfully, and with confidence in the gospel revealed in Scripture.
Scripture presents worship, truth, and salvation as matters of exclusive allegiance to the LORD. Rival claims about God, Christ, and the gospel must therefore be tested by Scripture rather than treated as religiously neutral.
Islam arose in seventh-century Arabia and quickly became a major religious, legal, and civilizational force. Its later history includes diverse schools and communities, but its core self-understanding remains centered on submission to Allah and acceptance of Muhammad as God’s final prophet.
Islam did not arise in the biblical period, but it emerged in a late antique environment shaped in part by Jewish and Christian ideas, questions, and controversies.
From Arabic الإسلام (al-Islām), commonly rendered “submission” or “surrender,” from the root s-l-m.
Theological significance lies in the fact that Islam makes rival claims about God, Christ, revelation, sin, and salvation. Those claims matter because Scripture presents Christ alone as the true revelation of God and the only Savior.
Philosophically, Islam is a comprehensive religious framework for understanding God, reality, morality, human duty, and final accountability. Christian evaluation should examine its assumptions by Scripture rather than granting it neutrality.
Describe Islam fairly and specifically. Do not collapse all Muslims into one culture or movement, and do not blur the real doctrinal differences between Islam and biblical Christianity in order to preserve superficial common ground.
Christian responses to Islam commonly range from direct critique to careful comparative explanation and apologetic engagement. The essential requirement is that evaluation be governed by Scripture, not by Islam’s own self-description.
A faithful treatment must preserve the uniqueness of biblical revelation, the Trinity, the full deity and incarnation of Christ, his atoning death and resurrection, and salvation by grace through faith in Christ.
The term helps readers understand religious diversity, engage Muslims respectfully, and think clearly about worship, truth, discipleship, and evangelism.