Islam

by Dr. Stephen M. Davis

^{Note: See other articles in the Islam series: Islamic Paradise, Islamic Ideology and Islamic Infrastructure.}

^{Note: See other articles in the Islam series: Islamic Ideology and Islamic Infrastructure.}

Nearly all religions have views of some “happy hunting grounds” that lie beyond physical death. Most have but little correspondence to what Christians understand of heaven. That is particularly true of the “paradise” perceived by Muslims. Differences are great; similarities are few.

A former Muslim wisely observed, “Islam is not just a religion. It is a lifestyle imposed by force.: We in the western world need to comprehend some of the differences of daily life and conduct among those who were brought up as Muslims.

Americans are meeting Muslims around the world; Muslim communities are forming in several parts of the United States. It is important for Americans to recognize that the Muslim mindset is radically different from the mental patterns of the western world. Muslims think differently, they reason differently, they use words differently, and their world and life views are radically different.