Religion or Politics

The world’s population reached 8 billion people on November 15, 2022. Of those 8 billion people, Christianity and Islam are the two religions with the greatest number of followers worldwide. By mid-2023, it is projected there will be over 2.6 billion Christians (32.5%) and 2 billion Muslims (25%).

We have demonstrated some theological differences that make it clear that Christians and Muslims do not worship the same god. However, Islam is unique in the way it attempts to treat those who are not Muslims which makes Islam more than a religion; it also makes it a political system.

Religion is defined as “belief in, worship of, or obedience to a supernatural power or powers considered to be divine.” Politics, however, can be defined as “the use of strategy or intrigue in obtaining power, control or status.” Religion is between a follower and their god. Politics is between men.

Once Muhammad migrated from Mecca to Medina, his message evolved from primarily religious to political and militaristic. In the first 13 years of Islam (the Mecca period), Islam averaged 11 to 12 converts per year; however, in the Medina period, Islam averaged around 10,000 new Muslims yearly. Dr. Bill Warner from Political Islam estimates based on the number of followers during the Mecca period as opposed to the Medina period of Muhammad’s life, Islam’s success as a religion during Muhammad’s lifetime was about 0.3%. Still, its success as a political system was 99.7%. If Islam had remained only a religion, it would not exist today.

The difference between the religion of Islam and the politics of Islam is found in its treatment of the “kafirs.” Kafir is translated from Arabic as “unbeliever”; however, the translation does not accurately confer the meaning.  Kafir refers to “people who reject Allah or deny or hide the truth revealed by Him. One who knowing what is true decides to forget the evidence, decides to sidetrack, deceive himself.” Kafir refers to all non-Muslims – Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, pagans, atheists, etc., and political Islam seeks to control non-Muslims.

There are some positive verses in the Qur’an about the kafirs, such as sura 109:6, “You to your religion and me to my religion.” Still, the overwhelming majority of verses (around 97%) about kafirs are quite negative. According to Islam, kafirs are ignorant (sura 6:111), disgraced (sura 37:18), cursed (sura 33:60-61), can be killed (sura 4:91),  raped (Ishaq 759), stolen from (Bukhari 5, 59, 537), crucified (sura 5:33), made war on (sura 9:29), and annihilated (sura 6:45). 64% of the Qur’an, 81% of the Sira, and 32% of the Hadith are about the kafir. Overall 60% of the Islamic texts deal with the kafir, which means the majority of Islam is political rather than religious.