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'''Islam''' is a [[heresy]], according to [[Saint]] [[John of Damascus]] in his [http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/stjohn_islam.aspx "Critique of Islam"]: :"There is also the superstition of the Ishmaelites which to this day prevails and keeps people in error, being a forerunner of the [[Antichrist]]. They are descended from [[w:Ishmael#Ishmael_in_Genesis|Ishmael]], who was born to [[w:Abraham|Abraham]] of [[w:Hagar_%28biblical_person%29#Hagar_in_Genesis|Agar]], and for this reason they are called both Agarenes and Ishmaelites. They are also called [[w:Saracen|Saracens]], which is derived from Sarras kenoi, or destitute of [[w:Sarah|Sara]], because of what Agar said to the angel: 'Sara hath sent me away destitute.' These used to be idolaters and worshiped the [[w:morning_star|morning star]] and [[w:Aphrodite|Aphrodite]], whom in their own language they called Khabár, which means great. And so down to the time of [[w:Heraclius|Heraclius]] they were very great idolaters. From that time to the present a false prophet named [[w:Mohammed|Mohammed]] has appeared in their midst. This man, after having chanced upon the Old and New Testaments and likewise, it seems, having conversed with an [[Arianism|Arian]] monk, devised his own '''heresy'''. Then, having insinuated himself into the good graces of the people by a show of seeming piety, he gave out that [[w:Quran|a certain book]] had been sent down to him from heaven. He had set down some ridiculous compositions in this book of his and he gave it to them as an object of veneration." Islam is one of the major world religions with an estimated 1.3 billion followers worldwide [http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html]. The name ''Islam'' comes from an Arabic term meaning ''submission'', a reference to the central belief that the goal of religion, or of a true believer, is submission to God's will. Adherents of Islam are referred to as '''Muslims'''.
Islam teaches that [[God]] (in Arabic, ''Allah'') revealed his direct word and commands for mankind to Muhammad (c. 570–632) in the form of the Qur'an (also ''Koran''), and to other [[prophet]]s (including [[Adam]], [[Abraham]], [[Moses]], and [[Jesus]]), many of whom are [[Bible|Biblical]] figures shared with Christianity and [[Judaism]]. Despite admitting the ministry of prophets earlier than Muhammad, Islam asserts that the primary written record of God's revelation to humankind is the Qur'an, which Muslims believe to be flawless, immutable, and the final revelation of God.
Islam teaches that parts of the [[Bible]] have been forgotten, misinterpreted, or distorted by Christians and Jews. Given this perspective, Islam views the Qur'an as corrective of Jewish and Christian scriptures.
Muslims do not hold the divinity of [[Jesus Christ]] and his unique salvific role, and the teachings of Islam in this respect have been likened to a compound [[heresy]] composed of elements of [[Arianism]], [[Nestorianism]], and [[Docetism]] ("''...They did not kill him [Jesus] and they did not crucify him, but it was made to seem so to them...''" Qur'an, 4:157), with some [[Pelagianism|Pelagian]] and also [[Monarchianism|Monarchianistic]] (i.e., anti-Trinitarian)] elements.
Muslims hold that Islam is essentially the same belief as that of all the messengers sent by God to mankind since [[Adam]], with the Qur'an (the one definitive text of the Muslim faith) codifying the final revelation of God. Islam views Judaism and Christianity as incomplete derivatives of the teachings of certain prophets—notably Abraham—and therefore acknowledges their Abrahamic roots, whilst the Qur'an calls them People of the Book.
* [[A History of Orthodox Missions Among the Muslims]]
* Saints of the Orthodox Church who converted from Islam: St. [[Serapion of Kozheozero]], St. [[Constantine Hagarit]], St. [[Ahmed the Deftedar]], St. [[Abu of Tbilisi]], St. [[Peter and Stephan of Kazan]].
* [[Orthodox Women Saints and Islam]]* [[Christodoulos (Paraskevaides) of Athens on "Islam: The Extent of the Problematics”]]
* [[Zakaria Botros]]
* [[Roman Silantyev]]
* [[Daniel (Bambang Dwi) Byantoro]]
* [[Ottoman rule and Eastern Christianity]]
* New Martyr Fr. [[Daniel Sysoev]]
==External Links==
* World Council of Churches. [http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/browse/1/article/1722/living-in-community-the.html Living in Community: The Goal of Christian-Muslim Dialogue]. October 20, 2008.
* Hilary Kilpatrick. [http://incommunion.org/?p=730 Orthodox-Muslim Relations: The Search for Truth]. In Communion: Website of Orthodox Peace Fellowship.
* [http://www.wikiislam.net/wiki/Islam_and_the_People_of_the_Book Islam and the People of the Book]. WikiIslam: critical articles dealing with Islam and its relationship with Christians and Jews.
* [[w:Sandro Magister|Sandro Magister]]. ''[http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/46115?eng=y Christians, Islam and the Future of Europe].'' [http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/?eng=y Chiesa News]. 20.2.2006.
'''Human Rights and Persecution of Christians'''
* Rev. Fr. Raphael Moore. [http://fr-d-serfes.org/orthodox/memoryof.htm In Memory Of The 50 Million Victims Of The Orthodox Christian Holocaust]. Compiled by Rev. Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes. Boise, Idaho, USA. October 1999.
* Dr. N.L. Geiser and Abdul Saleeb. ''Answering Islam: The Crescent in Light of the Cross''. 2nd edition. Baker Publishing, 2002. ISBN 9780801064302
* Bat Ye'or. ''[http://books.google.ca/books?id=C2GgHl9Rls0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22Decline+of+Eastern+Christianity+under+Islam%22&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0 The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude: Seventh-Twentieth Century]''. Translated by Miriam Kochan. Published by Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1996. 522pp. ISBN 9780838636886
* Christopher Deliso. ''[http://books.google.ca/books?id=xeW3_R0LePAC&source=gbs_navlinks_s The Coming Balkan Caliphate: The Threat of Radical Islam to Europe and the West].'' Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. ISBN 9780275995256
* David Gaunt, Jan Bet-Şawoce, Racho Donef. ''[http://books.google.ca/books?id=4mug9LrpLKcC&source=gbs_navlinks_s Massacres, resistance, protectors: Muslim-Christian relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I].'' Gorgias Press LLC, 2006. ISBN 9781593333010
:Pioneering historical investigation of the genocide of the Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syrian Christians of Upper Mesopotamia during World War I uses primary sources of Turkish, Russian, German, French, and Arabic origin, and oral histories by survivors and their descendants.
* Fr. [[John Meyendorff]]. ''"Byzantine Views of Islam."'' '''Dumbarton Oaks Papers.''' Vol. 18 (1964), pp.113-132.
* Fr. Nomikos Michael Vaporis. ''[http://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&id=wTdz-34tZ4sC&dq=%22Witnesses+for+Christ%22&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=95xDXrAvzW&sig=wwfJEpZuBFhL3duFdlqtp_vXLkg&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result Witnesses for Christ: Orthodox Christian Neomartyrs of the Ottoman Period 1437-1860]''. St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2000. 377 pp. ISBN 9780881411966
* Fr. [[w:Samir Khalil Samir|Samir Khalil Samir]] (S.J.), Giorgio Paolucci, and Camille Eid. ''[http://books.google.ca/books?id=fkZAnNDuNvsC&printsec=frontcover 111 Questions on Islam: Samir Khalil Samir on Islam and the West].'' Transl. by Wafik Nasry and Claudia Castellani. Ignatius Press, 2008. 200 pp. ISBN 9781586171551
:(Fr. Samir Khalil Samir, is an Islamic scholar, Semitologist, Orientalist and a Jesuit Catholic Theologian, based in Lebanon).
* Fr. (Dr.) Theodore Pulcini. ''Face to Face: A Guide for Orthodox Christians Encountering Muslims''. Light and Life Pub Co.
* George Weigel. ''Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism: A Call to Action.'' Doubleday, 2007. ISBN 9780385523783
* Nahed Mahmoud Metwalli. ''Islam Encounters Christ: A Fanatical Muslim's Encounter with Christ in the Coptic Orthodox Church.'' Transl. by Gamal Scharoubim. Light & Life Pub Co., 2002. ISBN 9781880971758
* Philip H. Lochhaas. ''How to Respond to Muslims.'' Concordia Publishing House, 1995. ISBN 9780570046776
* Prof. [[w:Bernard Lewis|Bernard Lewis]]. ''[http://pages.pomona.edu/~vis04747/h124/readings/Lewis_roots_of_muslim_rage.pdf The Roots of Muslim Rage].'' '''The Atlantic Monthly'''. Sep. 1990. pp.47-60 (pdf)
: <small>("In a hallmark essay in 1990 called “The Roots of Muslim Rage”, Bernard Lewis, an Anglo-American commentator on Islam, blamed a mentality twisted by history. He cited the obligation of holy war, dating from the faith’s turbulent birth and shaped by centuries of setbacks ranging from the retreat from Europe to Western imperialism, and even the challenge to Muslim male authority from rebellious children and emancipated women. The result was an inferiority complex, in which humiliation was compounded by Western ignorance." (''[http://www.economist.com/node/21562960 Why they won’t calm down].'' '''The Economist'''. Sep 15th 2012.))</small>
* Prof. Efraim Karsh. ''Islamic Imperialism: A History.'' Yale University Press, 2006. 288 pp. ISBN 9780300106039
* Robert I. Burns, S.J.. ''Christian-Islamic Confrontation in the West: The Thirteenth-Century Dream of Conversion.'' '''The American Historical Review.''' Vol.76, No.5, Dec. 1971. pp.1386-1434.* [[w:Srđa Trifković|Serge Trifkovic]]. ''Defeating Jihad''. Regina Orthodox Press, 2006. 480pp. ISBN 192865326X
* Serge Trifkovic. ''The Sword of the Prophet: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam: History, Theology, Impact on the World.'' Regina Orthodox Press, 2002. 300pp. ISBN 9781928653110
* Stuart Robinson and Peter Botross. ''[http://www.vocations4life.com.au/shop/products/Defying-Death-%28Zakaria-Botross-%252d-Apostle-to-Islam%29.html Defying Death: Zakaria Botross - Apostle to Islam].'' CityHarvest Publications: Upper Mt Gravatt, Australia. 2008. 152 pp.
* The Orthodox Christian-Muslim Symposium. ''Orthodox Christians and Muslims''. Edited by Fr. N.M. Vaporis. Holy Cross Orthodox Press, Brookline, Massachusetts, 1986. ISBN 0917651340
==Sources==
* Dr. Catharine Cookson, (J.D., Ph.D., 1952-2004). [http://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&id=R0PrjC1Ar7gC&dq=encyclopedia+or+religious+freedom&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=8wJLZH8mcI&sig=CpzOJuISIQXQRgEowBQe-iz1QO8&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result Encyclopedia of Religious Freedom]. Published by Taylor & Francis, 2003. 555 pp.
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[[Category: Heresies]]
[[Category:Non-Orthodox]]
[[Category:Orthodoxy and Islam]]
[[ro:Islam]]
