As we consider the pain that Islam inflicts upon non-Muslims in France, Nigeria, Iraq, Indonesia, and all other places it is found, it is important to remember to have compassion on the Muslim because of the torture that they live in on a daily basis. The Apostle John wrote, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath torment.”
This week I learned of two new aspects of fear that Islam holds its faithful under:
I was witnessing to an attendant at a gas station named Mohammed while on a trip on Wednesday. When I gave him a Jesus film he got very animated as he told me that he used to doubt in Islam but one thing has now convinced him. “What is that?” I asked very interested. (It is not everyday that you meet a Muslim who admits that he has ever had doubt. Doubt is a sin that will send you to hell forever.)
Cows and Grave Torture
Mohammed explained in a super loud voice that he discovered that when a man is buried that the sheep or cows being herded near the grave will run away when the hear the screams of the “grave torture”. These animals, he says, will go into a wild frenzy and flee for five kilometers before they stop. This is his proof that Islam is true.
Some background on “grave torture” that you may not be aware of: Muslims are taught that when a man is buried and the last of the mourners leaves his grave sight, two angels will visit him in his grave and ask him questions: Who is your Lord? What is your religion? Who is your prophet? If the dead man answers: “My Lord is your Lord. My religion is Islam. My prophet is Mohammed.” Then he will be spared the worst of the torture. However all must go through this grave torture to make retribution for their sins.
The actual torture is described in the Hadith (sayings of Islam outside of the Koran). The ground may constrict squeezing the dead body. Snakes may come bite him mercilessly. Fire and all other imaginative ways of causing pain will be brought upon this physical body in the grave. The dead will then scream out. For this reason when a Muslim is passing by a grave he is supposed to give the Muslim greeting to the dead.
Mothers and Hell Fire
Mustapha attended our Thursday night Bible study. It was his first time to be in a Christian meeting which is why I was surprised when he offered up a prayer request: “Pray for my mother to forgive me. We got in a fight the morning she died.” That was all he said. I thought that was strange.
I drove Mustapha home that night and heard the rest of the story. The Hadith says that, “Paradise is under the feet of mothers.” Thus, Muslims believe that he must obtain forgiveness from his mother for the sin he committed against her in order to get into paradise. This is not the only thing he must do, of course, but it is one.
Mustapha was 25 years old and ten years removed from the day he fought with his mother. She was murdered with a knife that afternoon while he was at school when she tried to protect her sister from her abusive husband. I shared with Mustapha that Christ came to free him from fear of hell and that He is the only one who can forgive him. He received a New Testament that night and now is reading the Gospel of Matthew.
Can you imagine the torture of fearing hell every day for 10 years because of an argument you had with your mother? Can you imagine the unsettling feeling of fearing not only hell but also the pain of the unbearable pain of the grave? The only thing worse than those fears is the actual torture a man will experience who remains in his sins because he rejects the deity and cross of Christ as Islam teaches.
Preaching Christ is the only real way to compassionately deal with this torture.