ISLAM IS GROWING RAPIDLY! WHY?
It is now commonplace to assume that Christianity is a dwindling force in the West. And rapidly declining numbers of adherents and church attendees confirm that assumption
It is true that many are rejecting Christianity. This is due to the Bible and it’s teachings, concerning Christ and God’s kingdom, being questioned and challenged regarding it’s authenticity.
In a 2005 USA Today article, Noelle Knox quotes a study of a Center at the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which states that every major religion except Islam is declining in Western Europe. This study finds that this decline is most evident in France, Sweden and the Netherlands (even in the U.S.), where church attendance has dropped to less than ten percent in some regions.
Pope Benedict XVI has lamented the weakening of the churches in Europe, Australia and the U.S. Addressing Italian priests, the Pope said: “There is no longer evidence for a need of God, even less of Christ. The so-called traditional churches look like they are dying.”
The first thing that one should know and clearly understand about Islam is what the word “Islam” itself means. The religion of Islam is not named after a person as in the case of Christianity which was named after Jesus Christ, Buddhism after Gotama Buddha, Confucianism after Confucius, and Marxism after Karl Marx. Nor was it named after a tribe like Judaism after the tribe of Judah and Hinduism after the Hindus. Islam is the true religion of “Allah” and as such, its name represents the central principle of Allah’s “God’s” religion; the total submission to the will of Allah “God”.
The Arabic word “Islam” means the submission or surrender of one’s will to the only true God worthy of worship “Allah” and anyone who does so is termed a “Muslim”, The word also implies “peace” which is the natural consequence of total submission to the will of Allah. Hence, it was not a new religion brought by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) I in Arabia in the seventh century, but only the true religion of Allah re-expressed in its final form.
Islam was the religious concept given to Adam, the first man and the first prophet of Allah, and it was the religion of all the prophets sent by Allah to mankind. The name of God’s religion “lslam” was not decided upon by later generations of man. It was chosen by Allah Himself and clearly mentioned in His final revelation to man. Again, I’m talking conceptually and linguistically, not theologically.