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How Do Religions Grow? Islam's 4 Steps to Change the World (Part 5/8)

London Central Mosque in this undated file photo.
London Central Mosque in this undated file photo. | (Photo: Reuters)

The "Clash of Civilizations" was an expression popularized by Samuel P. Huntington's article in the summer of 1993 in the Journal Foreign Affairs. Interaction between the Western oriented Christian World and the World of Islam could present mankind with continuing conflicts, which would include the present day terrorism, suicide bombings , and even the possibility of nuclear weapons.

Islamic scholars proudly boast that Islam is the World's fastest growing religion, but this is only partially true. If the growth of Evangelical Christianity or Charismatic Christianity is compared to the growth of Islam both of these two categories have a faster rate of growth, but when Islam is compared to the total of Christianity, then Islam is growing at a faster rate. Nevertheless, it is a truism that Islam is having great success in the world today.

Dr. William Wagner is director of Olivet University's Institute for Global Strategic Studies.
Dr. William Wagner is director of Olivet University's Institute for Global Strategic Studies.

From its very beginning Islam, through the Koran, has taught that the ultimate goal of their religion is that before the end of the world comes every one will become Muslim. Even one of its main magazines "The Muslim World League Journal" has stated that the present day goal is to see the whole world become Muslim by the year 2080.

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There was a time when Christian theologians felt that Islam was just a secondary religion that came out of the desert but only recently have Christian missiologists discovered that Islam has numerous capable scholars and strategists who are articulating their faith's strategy and working towards a desired end.

When Islam was started in the beginning of the seventh century, it taught their followers that they should use the sword to conquer other peoples and thus they experienced rapid growth from the very beginning. This growth continued for about 900 years or until it met military defeats by the Moors in Tours, France and the Austrians in Vienna. From the 1500's, for about four hundred years it appears that the growth of Islam was stopped or at least slowed in most parts of the world.

One leading Muslim in Europe told me "Islam's race to win the world was detoured for about four hundred years, but now it is back on track to achieve our goal-the setting up of a worldwide (community of Islam)."

The question must be asked, What is their Strategy? Do they have a plan or is it just luck?

It can be shown how certain leaders in Islam have created a very effective plan to convert the world by the year 2080. Their present day strategy was developed in the years after 1972 with the founding of The Muslim World League in Mecca.

After an intensive study of what they say their strategy is, the following four main prongs were identified:

1. Da'wah or Missions

2. Jihad or Holy War

3. Presence, or the Building of Mosques

4. Immigration

During my studies of the Islamic strategy, I did not find any writers who listed the same four prongs but I did find several scholars who divided up their strategy on the three horizontal levels what we have previously discussed — the Micro, Metta and Mega levels. They have plans that operate on these three levels in most parts of the world.

Da'wah

Their first prong is Da'wah which is translated into English as "missions." Both Islam and Christianity can be considered as missionary religions and Islam has a very active force of missionaries in most countries of the world.

Just as Christianity is sending out young people to do missions, so is Islam. Many of the University Students who come to study in the States or other countries are officially daa'i or missionaries.

In my studies I am convinced that there are more Muslim missionaries now working in the United States than there are Christian missionaries working in all the Muslim countries. These daa'i work in schools, prisons, universities and with minority groups such as African Americans and Native Americans.

Jihad

The second prong is Jihad or Holy War. Those in charge of the strategy are not very happy with ISIS or Al Qaeda. Holy war is acceptable under well described circumstances but terrorism is generally seen as being negative to those strategists who are seeking to win the world.

Islam has well defined rules as to how Muslims are to work in countries, depending on the size of the Muslim community. For instance in America where the Muslim community is under 5% they are told to never speak about Jihad or seek to bring fear. They want to be seen as peace loving citizens of the country.

As the percentage grows they began to make more and more requests for privileges, such a their dress and the type of work they will do. It is only when the percentage goes over 50% does Jihad come into question.

It is easy to be seen what is meant by Jihad when you look at South Sudan and see that millions of Christians have been killed by the Muslim rulers in the North. Another good example is the number of Christians being killed in Southern Egypt today.

Building of Mosques

The third prong is "Presence" or the building of Mosques. In Christian missiology, the "presence" philosophy emphasizes the importance of first creating a beachhead in a new mission field with the next step building a chapel so that all can see that the faith has arrived.

The Muslims have taken over this strategy and have perfected it by the building of Mosques in many different countries. It is difficult to discover the number of new Mosques that have been built in recent years, but one source wrote that over 30,000 have been built in the last twenty years. It should be noted that the number of new Christian church buildings that have been built in the Muslim majority countries during the same period is zero.

A part of their strategy is also to destroy Christian churches when possible. In Turkey a visit will allow you to see the ruins of many Christian churches. I was told that they must remain as ruins so that all will see that Christianity lays in ruins while Islam is on the March.

Immigration

The forth prong is immigration. Prior to about 1970, Muslim immigrants coming to the West were encouraged to integrate into their new society. This attitude changed when their leaders began to encourage the new immigrants to retain both their religion and their culture.

In the last thirty years Islamic scholars have seen the great potential of flooding the West with Muslims so that they can eventually become the majority. This has been working very well in Western Europe, as now seen by the political turmoil in many of these countries due to the large number of Muslims in their country and their rapid growth. Their immigration is well planned and they now have seen success in taking over larger sections of the main cities.

One interesting book written by Melanie Philips is called Londonistan. It describes the takeover of London and the attempt to make it a Muslim city. It should be noted that the new mayor of London is a Muslim.

It is important to notice that one of the four prongs is not terrorism, which in the minds of most missiologists is only a side show, and often seen as a negative for the expansion of Islam. The greatest threat that Islam presents for the West is not physical aggression, but rather their effective mission strategy. Even if we win the battle against terrorism, we are in danger of losing the war to Islam.

Also see:

How Do Religions Grow? What Evangelicals Can Learn From Comparing Groups (Part 1/8)

How Do Religions Grow? Assemblies of God, Evangelism With Feeling (Part 2/8)

How Do Religions Grow? Jehovah's Witness, a Strict Taskmaster (Part 3/8)

How Do Religions Grow? The Gay Rights Movement's Mega Strategy (Part 4/8)

How Do Religions Grow? Mormons 'Hidden in Plain Sight' (Part 6/8)

How Do Religions Grow? Southern Baptists, Reversing the Decline (Part 7/8)

How Do Religions Grow? Without a Vision, the People Perish (Part 8/8)

Dr. William Wagner is director of Olivet University's Institute for Global Strategic Studies.

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