Christian Countercult Website Profiles
Answering Islam
Statement of Faith | Statement of Purpose | Religious Groups Considered | History | Discussion
Name: Answering Islam
Group or Owners: There is no indication on the main pages who the owners or operators of Answering Islam are. Email communication is directed to Answering Islam staff. The contact page indicates that the staff often do not have time to respond to email. At last access the frontpage appeared to have been updated last in July 2000.
Position:
Education:
Associates:
Date started: Unknown (text site started at least 1997)
Last accessed: February 28, 2001
Total hits on frontpage: Unknown (no response to inquiry)
Religious Affiliation: Evangelical Christian (particular denomination unknown)
Location: Unknown (no response to inquiry)
501(c)3: Unknown (no response to inquiry)
While there is no explicit statement of faith, many of the menu choices on the frontpage lead to collections of short articles or hyperlinks defending the principle tenets of evangelical Christianity. On an old introductory page, part of an earlier text-based version of the site and no longer accessible directly from the new site's frontpage, the owner states:
"I am creating and maintaining these pages on the basis of my conviction that authentic Christianity is the true faith, and though I myself am certainly subject to misinterpreting the Bible and do not claim that all my opinions are the pure unadulterated truth, I do firmly believe that the Bible as it is today is the true uncorrupted Word of God and basis for all truth, especially in regard to the nature, character and deeds of God and His will for all mankind at all times."
Again, there is no explicit statement of purpose available on the current site. However, two brief sections from the introductory page referred to above clearly indicate the purpose of the site:
"My pages will contain mainly an attempt to clearly answer the questions, claims, and challenges that are posed to Christians by Muslims. They will show that many accusations are completely unfounded (have no basis in reality) and others are just misunderstandings, which disappear when explained carefully. How successful this material achieves what it sets out to do, is up the the reader to decide."
And:
"These pages will try to give both, a positive presentation of the content of the Christian faith and the evidence for the truth of it and the reasons why Christians based on the Biblical revelation can not accept Muhammad as prophet or the Qur'an as the true Word of God. I hope you understand this presentation as a necessary part of our struggle for truth and not as an attempt to offend you."
Islam is the only religious group considered.
Answering Islam seems to have begun as a text-based site dedicated to providing short essays and hyperlink references (a) for Christians for use in their interactions with Muslims, and (b) for Muslims seeking information about Christianity. At some point, the text-based site gave way to a graphic site, but it appears as though some of the initial content was lost. There is no indication of who the Answering Islam staff are, their personal and religious backgrounds and biography, what their qualifications for this work are, or how one might access any of this information.
To date, requests for further information have gone unanswered.
Building on the numerical strengths of Christianity and Islam as "the most prominent religions, meaning, these two religions are the two who have the highest number of members as well as the fact that they are the only ones among the great world religions which have the God-given command to to spread their message to all people (and they indeed act on it)," the site operators believe that this situation places the two faiths in automatic competition. That is, this categorical missionary imperative defines the relationship between Christianity and Islam differently than the relationship between, for example, Judaism and Islam, or Christianity and Buddhism--presumably because the site operators do not consider these other faiths missionary competitors.
This is, however, a site with two persona.
On the surface, there is a dialogical persona, which presents the site as a neutral resource for those seriously considering the similarities and differences between Islam and Christianity. The authors acknowledge the misunderstandings that colour perceptions on both sides, and provide some links to Muslim websites. Thus, the initial impression is established that this is an example of inter-faith dialogue ("dialog" being part of their email address), rather than proselytization.
At a deeper level, however, the apologetic persona appears, those aspects of the site which are dedicated to: (a) refuting the validity of Islamic religious truth claims with respect to issues such as the divine origin of the Qu'ran, the person of Jesus, and the nature of God, (b) providing anecdotal evidence of the superiority of Christianity through a collection of conversion accounts and comparisons of the position of women in Christianity and Islam, (c) a page entitled "Rebuttals to Muslim Polemics Against Christianity," and (d) various other resources for the nihilation of the Islamic worldview.
With respect to conversion accounts, Answering Islam uses similar apologetic tactics to those employed by such organizations as Campus Crusade for Christ in their portrayal of alleged Islamic violence towards apostates. At the beginning of the page, there is a link to "Some necessary comments on copyright, use and abuse of these testimonies." In the midst of some fairly general discussion of testimony updates and newsgroup courtesy, there is a section on "the issue of danger" for converts to Christianity. "Islamic law prescribes the killing of anyone who leaves Islam. Some Muslims take this very seriously and these pages are read by fanatic Muslims, not only the majority of peaceful ones. It only takes one person to kill another. We have to worry about these fanatics." There is, however, neither link nor reference to support the claim that Islam mandates apostacide.
Like so much of Christian countercult apologetics, the information on this site is presented as though there is no overt proselytic intent. "The purpose of these pages," write the authors, "is to help honest seekers to find ALL evidence needed to come after their investigation to an informed decision which faith they want to follow." However, the information is organized in such a manner as to throw into conceptual bas-relief the alleged deficiencies of Islam in face of the overwhelming superiority of evangelical Christianity. Indeed, one of the pages on the text-based site, authored by "Faruq al-Dhimmi," asks "Has this site strengthened your faith in Islam?" "Has your faith in Islam been strengthened by Christian apologetics or by reading the Bible? If so, you have reason to be concerned," Mr. al-Dhimmi continues. Citing 1 Cor.1:20-25, he concludes that Muslims should "not think that you have defeated or nullified this Word when you or your fellow Muslims reject it. I tell you, you have not defeated this Word, it has defeated you."
If visitors notice mistakes in these profiles, please contact me and I will make every effort to correct them. Should visitors know of other countercult ministries on the Internet not listed here, I would appreciate learning of them. Thank you.