The peoples of the prophets

The peoples of the prophets#

Assignment 1984-12-03 for a world religions class taught by Dr. Spencer J. Palmer

It is by no means unusual that Mormons would try to find similarities between their faith and that of Islam. Even at first glance, such common points assert themselves, and upon closer scrutiny, many become fascinatingly alike. Furthermore, both religions claim many devotees who sincerely feel that they are exerting themselves in order to comply with heavenly commandments revealed especially to them. Such feelings inevitably occasion some wish for kinship, and indeed, some early LDS leaders were anything but chary of their praise for Islam. In order to present some comparative features between the two religions, this paper will address a Mormon audience, one familiar with LDS Church history and doctrine.

Since their respective founders first began to preach among men, Mormonism and Islam have shared some common historical similarities. The founders themselves, although differing widely in upbringing and some elements of character, nevertheless occupied very similar roles in bringing forth a new group of believers. Most importantly, both Muhammed and Joseph Smith are seen as instruments of God, chosen from among the weak and unlearned of the earth, to correct the world’s view of God and His teachings and bring the world greater light. Both attempted to establish communities of belief in which their followers would be able to worship unmolested, and in doing so, became in time civil as well as religious leaders. Joseph Smith, as mayor of Nauvoo, and Muhammed, as the leader of Medina’s new Muslim community, received revelations dealing with practical law and the order of society, and were accorded by their religion’s adherents sufficient civil power to enforce the religious law. This tradition continued: the caliphs ruled, eventually, a goodly portion of the Near East world, while Brigham Young’s role as leader of a far-flung string of colonies and as governor of a new state is well known.

From these beginnings, Mormon and Islamic history have still other parallels. Soon after Joseph Smith’s martyrdom, there was a dispute among his followers as to who should be the successor to.the religious and community leadership, with the two major resulting factions split along the lines of Joseph’s friends and co-workers, the apostles, on one side, and his family, especially his son Joseph III, on the other. By changing the names and titles somewhat, this brief description of the succession dispute could easily describe the situation when over a millenium earlier Muhammed’s friends and coworkers – Abu Bekr and the others – defended their claim to legitimate overseership against that of Ali, who as Muhammed’s oldest male descendant felt that he had received a specific promise that he would become the leader of the Muslim community at the death of the Prophet.

Mormons need not feel alone in having suffered persecutions in the early days of their history; just as early Eastern [U.S.] Mormon converts were soon expulsed for their conviction of their new doctrine and forced to leave their former homes, so in the early days of Islam the people of Mecca feared and distrusted the new religion and persecuted its adherents sufficiently that they were forced to flee to a refuge somewhere else. The pioneers’ trek across the plains does share something with the Islamic Hejira. However, in time, the Muslims gained sufficient strength to conquer the original oppressors, while the Mormons decided to move on, and moved out. The difference in the theological bases justifying these two actions will be considered below.

In this connection, it is interesting to notice that the advice of Allah that the people flee is somewhat reminiscent of a scene from Mormon history. Allah describes the action by saying:

Remember how the unbelievers plotted against you. They sought to take you captive or have you killed or banished. They plotted – but Allah plotted also. Allah is most profound in his machinations.1

Mormons may remember similar words from the Lord concerning the loss of the 116 pages of Book of Mormon manuscript:

And thus [Satan] has laid a cunning plan, thinking to destroy the work of God; but I will require this at their hands, and it shall turn to their shame and condemnation at the day of judgment. … But behold, here is wisdom, and … I show unto you wisdom, and give unto you commandments concerning these things, what you shall do. …2

Not only do these religions compare interestingly in their early history, but also in their conception of their part in all of history. That is, both see themselves as the culmination and re-revelation of all the necessary truths for man to know about his relationship to God that all other inspired men have ever given. Both see themselves as inheritors of the special covenants made with all the prophets from Adam to Abraham and even to Moses and Jesus. For example, note how one Muslim writes about Adam and Eve: “Adam was a true Prophet of Allah. They were the first true Muslims.”3 Each claims not only special ties with all the previous prophets, but also unique knowledge concerning them. Mormons claim that they alone have certain inspired words of Abraham, Moses, Enoch, Adam, and all the Book of Mormon prophets. Islam has in the Qur’an several examples of otherwise unknown anecdotes about and words of several prophets. Interestingly enough for Mormons, at least some Muslims await a scripture we claim to have, at least in part. One Muslim writer mentions the Suhuf, or Scrolls: “These were ten Holy Scriptures revealed to the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) (PBUH), but unfortunately they are now extinct and not traceable in the existing world literature.”4 These examples can be supplemented by references to each faith’s general idea of the prophetic role. Just as in our fifth Article of Faith we state that the call must come from God and not from man, it is important to Muslims that God sought out Muhammed for the prophetic mission, and not vice versa. It was Allah who commanded Muhammed to “recite in the name of your Lord!”5 Furthermore, although both faiths recognize the fallibility of God’s chosen, mortal, servants, one translation has the Qur’an saying, “It is not for any Prophet to deceive [mankind]”6, which strongly recalls President Wilford Woodruff’s remark that “The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray. It is not in the programme. It is not in the mind of God.”7 One further comparison that Mormons may readily see is in the Islamic belief that almost every people had its prophet(s), akin to the Book of Mormon witness that various peoples would be visited of God and write prophetic histories.8

This emphasis on prophetic leadership for mankind is not, though, the only area of doctrinal similarity. Perhaps a good starting place would be on our first Article of Faith and on the major theme of Islam, the unicity of God. The Islamic life is saturated with the recitation of the bismalah, the creed: “There is no god but God, and Muhammed is his prophet.” The insistence on one god only is reiterated in many of the Qur’an’s sura, and most notably in the 112th, which reads, “Say: ‘Allah is one, the Eternal God. He begot none, nor was He begotten. None is equal to Him.’” Mormons may remember that although we are instructed to revere all members of the Godhead, the Father alone is to receive our true worship.9 That is, there is for us only one God as well, in one sense, but an important difference is that there will also be many others who will become like Him, commencing with Jesus, a concept the Qur’an flatly rejects. However, as the all-powerful Creator and the superlative example of all virtues, the Elohim we speak of and the Allah the Arabic-speaking world mentions share fundamental attributes.10 The words of a modern commentator are in part true: “To say that Muslims worship Allah and Christians God is, from one point of view, like saying that the Germans worship Gott and the French Dieu.”11 Mormons and Muslims in general both believe, however, that there is only one true way of describing their God, and that those who worship falsely will answer for it.

Answering for sin is one major point upon which Mormonism and Islam seem to be able to agree. The third Article of Faith is echoed in the following representative Islamic viewpoint: “The descendants of Adam are not guilty of any original sin. How can we be responsible or punished for something that happened ages before we were born? We believe that God is just and fair; He would not hold us to account for another’s action.”12 “It is quite clear from these verses of the Qur’an [9:19-31] (see also 17:71) that each individual alone will be responsible for his or her past decisions.”13 This concept is well in line with the Mormon view; the expositions by King Benjamin14 and Mormon15 categorically deny imputing sin to infants. The rationales are different, though: while Islam maintains that man is inherently good, the above-named Book of Mormon scholars seem to teach that infants, for example, are redeemed from the effects of the Fall that would otherwise come upon them only by the Atonement’s saving grace. This Qur’anic16 denial of original sin is supplemented by another familiar concept: that children do eventually become responsible for their own actions. As in the quotations above, another Islamic view states that man “only becomes responsible after he grows up, is given intellect by God, and is able to distinguish between right and wrong. This is the only time when he can bear responsibility for his actions before his Creator.”17 Furthermore, both religions deny the possibility of imputing the responsibility for sin to the temptations of the devil. The Qur’an records that when Satan was expulsed from heaven, God told him, “You shall have no power over My servants, except the sinners who follow you. They are all destined for Hell.”18

In short, say members of both faiths, “As we were created responsible, so shall we be held accountable, each person for himself and no soul answerable for the actions and beliefs of any other.”19 But man will be held accountable not only for his good and bad deeds and beliefs, but also for his “responsible stewardship”20 over the Lord’s creations. The Qur’an, as the Bible, places man in dominion over all of the rest of creation.

It is Allah who has subdued to you the ocean, so that ships may sail upon it at His bidding; so that you may seek his bounty and render thanks to him. He has subjected to you what the heavens and the earth contain; all is from Him.21

Does this not provide a beautiful comparison with the fifty-ninth section of the Doctrine and Covenants, in which the Lord says that he provided man with “all things which come of the earth … to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion,” and commands men solemnly to remember all these gifts with holy thanksgiving?22 But men are warned to be responsible and loving in their “dominion”. Compare the following Muslim view with the injunction in D&C 49:21 against wasting flesh: “Muslims are allowed to slaughter animals for food, but have been prohibited from killing them for fun, sport, or naughtiness. … Hunting is allowed only if it is for food.”23

Men’s accountability in both religious groups seems to have especial reference to this life. Alma reminds us that “this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.24 This seems to compare well with Sami A. Hanna’s interpretation of one hadith:

When [Muhammed] said: “On your life before you die,” he means that so long as man is alive he is capable of works, but when he is dead there is an end to his works. Therefore, a true believer ought not to squander his days, but should seize the opportunity of such days as remain to him.25

The Qur’an also repudiates the concept of eleventh-hour repentance with such statements as:

To redeem himself on that day, each sinner would gladly give all that the earth contains if he possessed it. When they face their punishment they will avow repentance. But judgment shall be fairly passed upon them; they shall not be wronged.26 But Allah will not forgive those who do evil all their lives and, when death comes to them, say: ‘Now we repent!’27 Perhaps this immediacy to repentance stems from the general disbelief in reincarnation. Although some Islamic sects believe in general or special instances of metempsychosis, most take as confutation of that idea the Qur’anic passage that “behind them [the dead] shall stand a barrier till the Day of Ressurrection.”28 For members of both faiths, this one chance at proving ourselves is all that we shall be offered; hence the need for repentance now.

This theme leads naturally into the resurrection. According to two students of Islamic thought on this point, although there exist minor differences on these points among Islamic sectarian groups, all agree that (1) physical bodies will eventually be joined to their respective spirits to form “whole, cognizant, and responsible persons,” and (2) following this, there will be a final judgment of each one’s life, in which he will receive his just due. “Upon these realities there is nothing in the Qur’an or any other Islamic writings – scholastic or devotional – to cast the slightest shadow of doubt.”29 One Muslim describes these events thus:

According to the Hadith, Muslims do believe that Jesus the Messiah will return at the close of history to establish Islam throughout the earth. Then there will be a resurrection and a final judgment in which God will determine who should go to hell and who should go to heaven.30 Sura 75 is a good example of several Qur’anic scriptures which remind man of the imminence of the resurrection and Day of Judgment.31 Of interest to Mormons are a few verses which seem to imply that after the judgment, the obedient may be reunited with their families and the sinners forever separated. One hadith reports that after a pious man is presented with his preliminary judgment, “Then [the deceased] will say: ‘O Lord, bring on the hour that I may be again with my family and my servants.’”32 On the other hand, in speaking of the “wrongdoers”, the Qur’an records that “when the Trumpet is sounded, on that day their ties of kindred shall be no more, nor shall they ask help of one another.”33

On judgment day, in the account of both faiths, God will decide who merits forgiveness according to His own infinite justice and mercy. However, both religions show that one sin will never be pardoned: the denial of the faith. “The prevailing opinion,” according to one study of these beliefs, “is that all but the mushrikun, those who have committed the worst sin of impugning the tawhid [unicity] of God, have the possibility of being saved.”34 This sin of disbelief, or shirk, is similar to that which Alma (II) described to his son Corianton: “If ye deny the Holy Ghost when it once has had place in you, and ye know that ye deny it, behold, this is a sin which is unpardonable.”35 There is, of course, a major difference: in the Mormon view, it is considered a prerequisite that a man have correct understanding of the gospel and have received a personal witness by the Holy Spirit before he qualifies for this awful state, while the Qur’an condemns all infidels harshly. {blockquote} Allah will not forgive those who serve other gods besides Him; but He will forgive whom He will for other sins. He that serves other gods besides Him is guilty of a heinous sin.36 Nor will He forgive those who die unbelievers. For these We have prepared a woeful scourge.37 {/blockquote} It is also interesting to note that, in contrast to this “woeful scourge”, the Garden of Eden occupies the topmost level of the Islamic heaven(s). This idea is strongly reminiscent of the Mormon belief stated in the twelfth Article of Faith that “the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.”

Mormons, just as other Christians, believe the words of James, when he wrote that “pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”38 The LDS community prides itself on its ability to help widows, orphans, and other needy persons, and on its tradition of doing so. Islam would agree. Aside from belief and upright living, the other characteristic of a “righteous man” is one “who for the love of Allah gives his wealth to his kinsfolk, to the orphans, to the needy, to the wayfarers and beggars, and for the redemption of captives.”39 Just as King Benjamin preached that service to God is best expressed by serving one’s fellowman,40 so also the Qur’an teaches to “serve Allah and associate none with Him. Show kindness to your parents and your kindred, to the orphans and to the needy,” and so on.41 By these “fruits”, at least, both faiths admit they should be judged.

Another point which is touched on in a few Islamic texts may seem familiar to Latter-day Saints. Muslims who make the pilgrimage to Mecca wear a set of simple white robes called the ihram. Of course, Mormons who visit their most holy sanctuaries also wear only white. The same practice is followed with burial clothing, at least for some Muslims. One hadith has it that when a good person dies, and gives proof of his fidelity, “Then a voice calls out from the celestial regions, ‘My servant hath spoken true, therefore throw for him a bed from Paradise, and dress him in clothes from Paradise, and open a door for him towards Paradise.”42 In another hadith is reiterated the heavenly command to “clothe him in a celestial garment.43 Perhaps the Egyptian Muslim burial practice today reflects this; no matter who the deceased is, the body is clothed only in a white sheet when buried.44

Mormons also find a special kinship with Muslims on religious dietary restrictions and the importance of prayer, fasting, and chastity.

There are other similarities between these two religions, but it may be more instructive to note now a few important differences in belief than to attempt an exhaustive list of similarities. The concept of man is very different in the two faiths. Mormonism assigns all the positions in the eternal hierarchy to men. That is, angels are not-yet-men or already-men, or should-but-won’t-be-men, in the case of Satan and his fallen followers. Even God himself was “as man is”, and man may eventually attain like glory. Muslims, however, separate eternally Allah, the angels, the jinn, and mankind. Whereas Mormons believe that at his best man can be a “God in embryo”, Muslims believe in man as inherently good but not the “likeness of God, the equal of God, or the rival of God.”45 Furthermore, although men are never perfect, Islam teaches that man can “easily avoid sin”,46 a concept which may not contradict but certainly does not carry the flavor of, say, the description of man’s constant struggle with the “natural man” described in Mosiah.47

Likewise, the two religions disagree on the role of man in society and in nature. Whereas the Qur’an teaches that “Those who avenge themselves when wronged incur no guilt,”48 the Doctrine and Covenants teaches that the Lord gave to Abraham “and all mine ancient prophets and apostles” a commandment to forgive at least three trespasses.49 Even so, the reasons offered by Mormons as possible justification for war find parallel restatement in the thought of one Muslim: “Islam has recognized fighting as lawful for only two purposes: self-defence and restoration of justice, freedom and peace. Muslims are commanded not to start any agression, and not to submit to any. …”50

As to man in nature, a writer on Islamic science has stated that

… Muslims had all the technical knowledge necessary to overthrow the Ptolemaic system, including knowledge of the heliocentric system, but they did not do so because they had not as yet become forgetful of the symbolic content of traditional astronomy nor of the fact that the best way to remind most men of the presence of God is to remind them of the limited character of the created world.51

This fear of scientific truth may find some expression among the Mormon community, but in general, LDS leaders have always taught that all truth is to be embraced by the sincere Saint. It is worthy of mention that the Arabic peoples did invent algebra in part as a response to the knotty problems of the Qur’an’s inheritance law;52 furthermore, they propagated other important mathematical ideas, such as the concept of an angle as a number and many important trigonometric identities, as well as preserving the writings of Euclid and Aristotle, and others.53 Another contrast is that although Mormons usually perceive God as acting in accordance with immutable natural law, some Arabic theosophers denied causality altogether in order to maintain that only God acted at every instant of time. “Fire does not burn because it is in its nature to do so, but because God has willed it. It is only the habit of man’s mind to see the burning as an effect of fire.”54 Most Muslim philosophers, it must be noted, defended causality. Lastly, although they had the technology in many instances to solve their daily problems, “the Muslims never took that step which would mean the creation of a technology out of harmony with the natural environment.”55 Mormons, on the other hand, chose the beehive wisely: the odometer, stereophonic sound, the television, the tetrahedral diamond press – all represent technological perfections by Mormons of existing science.

Here, however, the comparisons must end. Although some have attempted in the past to water down religious views in seeking common points,56 Mormons will not stand for “milk and water” Mormonism, and Muslims, to my view, will in general not tolerate “milk and water” Islam (if I may paraphrase Mr. C. S. Lewis). As in the debate between Muslims and any Christians, “there are areas of fundamental principles where no amount of logical discourse can bring the two sides nearer to each other and where therefore the existence of an impasse must be recognized.”57 The most obvious is the Qur’anic denial of the divinity, sonship, and intercessory role of Christ. In denouncing this (Islamic) heresy, the Qur’an records several times that “Jesus was no more than a mortal whom We favoured and made an example to the Israelites.”58 “The Messiah, the son of Mary, was no more than an apostle: other apostles passed away before him.”59 Furthermore, the Qur’an teaches that Allah could never have a son as he had no consort.60 Finally, the Qur’an denies that any will have an intercessor (as Job said he would have) at the last day.61

Aside from this greatest difference, Mormons and Muslims will find it hard to agree on the prophethood of each other’s founders, the possibility of godhood in Mormon belief, the essential rites such as baptism, and the priesthood. But at worst the comparisons presented in this paper can help Mormons and Muslims alike to come to a better understanding and appreciation of one another’s culture and doctrines: not an unworthy ambition of itself. And at best, we may take from their religion such elements as complement our own belief and realize that in their faith are emphasized elements of basic worship that may have been neglected in our own, and thereby come to be not only better members of the world’s family, but also of our Father’s.

1: The Koran, trans. S. J. Dawood (N. Y.: Penguin Books, 1974), Sura 8:30 [p. 116]. All references to the Qur’an will be to this text, except as noted, in the following form: “S. 8:30 [116].”
2: Doctrine and Covenants 10:23, 34. Hereafter D&C.
3: Badru D. Kateregga, in Islam and Christianity: A Muslim and a Christian in Dialogue, Badru D. Kateregga and David W. Shenk (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1980), p. 16. All material quoted in this paper is by Kateregga alone.
4: Kateregga, p. 25.
5: S. 96:1 [26].
6: S. 3:161, translation by Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall (London: George Allen and Unwin Limited, 1961 ).
7: Wilford Woodruff, Sisty-first Semiannual General Conference of the Church, Monday, October 6, 1980, Salt Lake City, Utah. In D&C, 1981 ed., p. 292.
8: 2 Nephi 29:12, 13; 3 Nephi 16:1-4.
9: D&C 93:1-23 (especially v. 19); John 4:23, for example.
10: “Elohim” and “Allah” share the etymological origin “El”.
11: W. Montgomery Watt, Islam and Christianity Today: A Contribution to Dialogue (Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983), p. 46.
12: Zaid H. Assfy, Islam and Christianity (York, England: William Sessions Limited, 1977), p. 13.
13: Jane I. Smith and Yvonne Y. Haddad, The Islamic Understanding of Death and Resurrection (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1981), p. 76.
14: Mosiah, chapter 3.
15: Moroni, chapter 8.
16: See also S. 30:30.
17: Kateregga, p. 18 (See also D&C 68:25).
18: S. 15:41 [243].
19: Smith and Haddad, p. 12.
20: Kateregga, p. 13.
21: S. 41:12, 13 [159].
22: D&C 59:18, 20; see also vv. 15-21.
23: Kateregga, p. 13
24: Alma 34:32.
25: Sami A. Hanna, “Death and Dying in the Middle East,” in Deity & Death: Selected Symposium Papers, ed. Spencer J. Palmer. Vol. 2 in the Religious Studies Monograph Series. (Salt Lake City, UT: Publishers Press, 1978), p. 45.
26: S. 10:54 [69].
27: S. 4:18 [368].
28: S. 23:100 [224]; see also S. 32:10-13 [187].
29: Smith and Haddad, p. 64, for all the quoted material in this paragraph.
30: Kateregga, p. 79.
31: See also S. 10:28.
32: Al’Khalil b. Ahmad, a hadith quoted in Hanna, p. 49.
33: S. 23:(99-)101 [224-225].
34: Smith and Haddad, p. 81.
35: Alma 39:6.
36: S. 4:48 [372].
37: S. 4:18 [368].
38: James 1:27.
39: S. 2:177 [350].
40: Mosiah 2:17.
41: S. 4:36 [370].
42: A hadith recorded by Al-Bara’ ibn ‘Azib, in Hanna, p. 37. See also note 2, p. 57.
43: Ibid., p. 49.
44: Hanna, p. 54.
45: Kateregga, p. 18.
46: Ibid.
47: Mosiah 3:19.
48: S. 42:40 [157].
49: D&C 98:32-48.
50: Kateregga, p. 77; the author quotes S. 2:190-193.
51: Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Islamic 8cience: An Illustrated Study (n.p.: The World of Islam Festival Publishing Company, 1976), p. 133.
52: Dr. Douglas R. Campbell, lecture at Brigham Young University on 26 January 1981. S. 4:10-12, 176.
53: Campbell, lecture dated 28 January 1981.
54: Nasr, p. 137.
55: Nasr, p. 150.
56: As I feel Watt has done in his work cited above, as is especially evident on pp. 95-104.
57: Shaikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, in Watt, pp. ix-x.
58: S. 43:54-64 [152].
59: S. 5:75 [395].
60: S. 6:101-102 [435]; see also S. 21:23-30 [298] and S. 23:91 [224].
61: S. 2:48 [337]; S. 6:51 [430].