Lesson One: Islam and Salvation

Islam and Salvation

In a previous article we pointed out different places of worship, including a mosque. People who worship in a mosque are called Muslims, and their religion is called Islam. Islam is the second-largest religion in the world after Christianity, so you may already know a Muslim or may meet one sometime. Today, we’re going to learn how we can tell a Muslim about Jesus.

Mosque

As we talk about some things Muslims believe, we’ll check God’s Word to see if their beliefs are right or wrong. Whenever we talk with someone who has different beliefs, it is important to know what the Bible says. People’s ideas can be wrong, so we must go to God’s Word to find the truth.

Muslims believe in a false god called Allah. When they talk about God, they mean Allah from the Quran, not the true God we learn about in the Bible. Allah is very different from the one true God.

Muhammad is the founder of Islam. He lived about 600 years after Jesus’ death. Muslims believe Muhammad is Allah’s greatest prophet, and they try to follow his teachings. They believe if they follow Muhammad's teachings and do enough good works the Quran tells them to, they might get to go to paradise, or heaven.

Muslims can never be sure they will go to heaven. They follow the laws in the Quran, which tell them how to live and worship, then they hope that Allah will let them come into paradise. Let's look at what the Bible has to say about getting to heaven in Ephesians 2:8-9.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

These verses say we are saved by grace through faith. We can't do anything to save ourselves. The Bible says, “This is not your own doing.” There is nothing we can do to earn our way to heaven. No one can boast or take credit for their salvation. It isn’t like working hard in school and earning good grades. It is a gift of God and does not happen because of our good works.

Have you ever received a gift? Did you have to pay for that gift? Did the person who gave you the gift say “Here’s your gift, now you owe me 10 dollars”? Or did they give it to you for free? When we give gifts, we don’t expect the person to pay us back, right? It’s the same with grace. God doesn’t expect us to pay him back—there’s no way we could anyhow. But even though we haven’t done anything to deserve his forgiveness and salvation, God gives it to us as a gift when we have faith in what Jesus has done for us.

Salvation is a gift from God, so all we have to do is turn from our sins and put our trust in Jesus. Then when we die, we will go to live with him in heaven.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't bother to do good things. After we’ve been saved, we will want to do good works because we love and follow Jesus. But doing these things will not save us.

Muslims also believe there is no forgiveness of sins, but the Bible says otherwise. Let's review our memory verse.

The Bible teaches that Jesus bore our sins in his body on the tree, but it wasn't an actual tree. The cross is sometimes called a tree because it is made of wood. Because Jesus died on the cross, we can die to sin and live to righteousness.

Dying to sin means we can be forgiven and healed from the curse of sin and death. When we repent (turn away from sin and turn to God) and believe that Jesus died for us, we can become children of God. He helps us live in righteousness, which means living the right way to please him.