Is Islam more difficult than Christianity? What about the prohibition of wealth, ownership and social isolation?

 

Many Christians think that Islam is more difficult than Christianity. Some of these Christians joke that Christianity is an easy religion – just believe and you will be saved, while Islam is referred to as a very difficult religion – five prayers a day, women wear the hijab, alcohol is forbidden, etc. Islam is even portrayed as being based on what is forbidden and what is permissible – do and don’t do, while Christianity is not a religion, it is not about do and don’t do, but rather it is just a relationship of love!

This accusation is based on extreme superficiality that indicates either the Christian’s ignorance of the truth of his religion or that he is just maneuvering and laughing at himself before laughing at others, in an attempt to calm himself down and raise the feelings of simplicity in his religion.

Accusing Islam of being a religion of do’s and don’ts is the same as what Christianity is. Christianity, like Islam, is built on commands and prohibitions, based on do’s (forgive people – give to the poor – honor your father and mother – believe in God…etc.) and do’ts (do not kill – do not commit adultery – do not steal – do not bear false witness…etc.). These matters are in agreement between Islam and Christianity. Even in the divine commands in Islam that Christians object to, we find most of them present in Christianity. Although prayer in Islam is five times a day (so that the believer is constantly connected to God), the Old Testament shows that the prophets prayed three times a day (and of course three is not much less than five) (Daniel 6:10 / Psalms 55:17 / Psalms 86:3). The New Testament even mentions these three hours (Acts 2:15 / 3:1 / 10:9). The New Testament stipulates constant prayer. (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and by the way, prayer in Islam is about 5 minutes long, so imagine the total of the five prayers in a day is about half an hour, so is setting aside half an hour every 24 hours for prayer, communication and seclusion with God considered something shameful? As for women’s hijab, the New Testament states that it is obligatory for women, otherwise they should cut their hair if they do not do so (1 Corinthians 11:6). Even worse than Islam, women in Christianity are ordered to be silent in church and do not even have the right to ask questions (1 Corinthians 14:34-35). As for alcohol, Islam orders Muslims to leave it and not other drinks, so when you go to a juice shop or let’s say a large supermarket, Islam tells you to drink everything except alcohol, and why alcohol? As the mother of all calamities, it is responsible for many rapes, murders and assaults worldwide. It is enough that it is a doctrine of reason. There are even many texts in the Bible that indicate the harms of wine (Genesis 9:21 / Proverbs 20:1 / Proverbs 23:31-35) and the prohibition of drunkenness (Proverbs 23:20 / Isaiah 5:11 / Galatians 5:21).

Here we see that Islam and Christianity are not really very different, as both teach do and do not do, but rather these commands are somewhat similar, and thus it is difficult to say here which is more difficult and which is easier, as all these commands and prohibitions can be adapted to by man, as they are applicable and habituated to (especially the more his connection with God increases, the easier it becomes for him), and they do not burden him to the point of causing him depression or crushing from the intensity of sadness,

but there is a special teaching in Christianity that raises a tragic life for the Christian, and if we put all the teachings of Islam, Jewish teachings, and Christian teachings on one side and put this Christian teaching on the other side, we would find that the difficulty of this teaching exceeds all those teachings together, which is the prohibition of wealth, possession, and social isolation.

We all know the story of the rich man who came to Christ and asked Him: “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18). The question here means what are the good deeds that Christ considers to be necessary for a believer to be saved and delivered? Christ’s initial answer was positive, as He advised him to follow the teachings of the Old Testament, which include avoiding adultery, murder, and theft. etc., and all of these are virtuous deeds that any sane, well-mannered person can do. In this, Islam and Judaism share with Christianity. However, the difficulty of Christian life becomes apparent when we complete the words of Christ, where he completed his answer to the rich young man by saying: “Yet you lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Luke 18:22). That is,

the true believer who will be saved must get rid of all his money and possessions, and thus leave wealth and live poor, otherwise he will not taste eternal life. Without a doubt, such a difficult teaching will bring grief and sadness to those who follow it due to its extreme difficulty. Indeed, we find this feeling surrounding the young man directly: “And he was grieved at the saying.” And he went away sorrowful, because he had great possessions.” (Matthew 10:22), this difficulty is clearly decisive, as the rich man will not enter heaven unless he gives up all his possessions, and therefore Christ comments by saying: “And when Jesus saw that he was sorrowful, he said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God!” (Luke 18:24-25)

Therefore, when the severity of this difficulty, which was almost impossible, appeared, Christ’s disciples were amazed and asked Him this logical question: “And those who heard said, ‘Who then can be saved?’” (Luke 18:26) Christ’s answer to their amazement was that it was indeed impossible, but nothing is impossible with God; For he said: “What is impossible with men is possible with God” (Luke 18:27).

Christ always taught his followers to get rid of everything they owned (Luke 12:33), and not to keep anything for themselves in their pockets, even if it was pennies: “Do not acquire gold or silver or copper in your belts” (Matthew 10:9). Therefore, when a poor crippled man asked Peter to give him alms, Peter answered: “I have neither silver nor gold” (Acts 3:6). Likewise, if they went out of their homes (in addition to the Christian not carrying any wallet or money), they were not to have any extra clothing, food, or provisions (Luke 9:3), but It is forbidden for a Christian to acquire or save money, and therefore Christians today who save their money in banks are not true Christians: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth . . . but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven . . . For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21) Why? Because wealth and collecting money are against the worship of God; As Christ said: “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Luke 16:13)

A person should not only sell his property and distribute all his money, but if he has a right to some money that someone has, he should not ask for it, because asking for his money is considered greed: “And one of the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ And he said to him, ‘Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take heed and beware of covetousness, for when a person has much, his life does not consist in the things that he possesses.’” (Luke 12:13-15), and while Christ considered demanding rights as greed, he recommended in return that the oppressed give his oppressor more than he had wronged him: “And if anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.” (Matthew 5:40), and while Christ explains to those who want to seek his help to demand their right to inherited money that he is not a judge, in return when the Jews were buying and selling in the temple, he became angry with them and took a whip with him and made himself a judge over them by expelling them and overturning their tables, meaning that everything that involved a request for money, even if it was a right, Christ stood against it, and everything that involved abandoning money, Christ supported it.

After the text in which Christ forbade the man from claiming his right to the inheritance, we find him completing his speech with an example of a rich man who had a fertile farm and many fruits and enjoyed that money and good things, then death came to him suddenly. What did he benefit from that abundant money? Therefore, there is no need to hoard or accumulate money (Luke 12:16-20). Since wealth is considered greed, greed is one of the evils that “come from within and defile a person” (Mark 7:23). In this text, Christ places greed alongside adultery, murder, theft, malice, deceit, fornication, pride, and blasphemy (Mark 7:21-22). Of course, if wealth is considered greed and greed is compared to murder, theft, adultery, and blasphemy, then those who are greedy must be boycotted, as Paul said: “If anyone who calls himself a brother is a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, do not associate with him.” And do not eat such things.” (1 Corinthians 5:11)

In fact, boycotting a rich man who does not give away all his money until he becomes poor is only a small problem in the face of his life’s destiny. For example, in this life, when one of the early Christians (whose name was Ananias) decided to keep some of the money from the land he sold (which was his own land) even though he gave the rest to Christ’s disciples, Peter became angry with him and the man died immediately! His wife also died because she participated with him in what was called embezzlement, although it was their property (Acts 5:1-10). This was the divine punishment for them because they did not follow Christ’s command to sell all their property as other Christians did, as “all who owned lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the sales and laid them at the apostles’ feet” (Acts 4:34-35), and “no one said that any of the goods he possessed was his own” (Acts 4:32).

This is about this life, that the rich man who does not give all his money will be boycotted and may die, but on the last day he will not inherit the kingdom of heaven as happened with the rich young man (Luke 18:18-25), so woe to him as Christ said: “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort. Woe to you who are full, for you will hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.” (Luke 6:24-25), and in the same vein James says: “Come now, you rich people, weep and howl over your miseries to come. . . . Your gold and silver have corroded, and the rust of them will be a witness against you, and will devour your flesh like fire!” (James 5:1,3), and an example that Christ mentions about a rich man and a poor man (his name was Lazarus) who both died, so the poor man was in Abraham’s bosom, and as for the rich man, “being in torments . . . he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.’ And Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things.’” (Luke 16:19-25)

Money was not the only thing that a Christian had to abandon, but he also had to abandon social life in general, as there were obvious social etiquette and priorities that Christ taught his followers to abandon:
“And he said to another, ‘Follow me.’ And he said, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ And another said again, ‘Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say farewell to my father.’” “Those in my house.” And Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:59-62)

If there is a prevention for the son from attending his father’s burial or from saying goodbye to his family when he leaves them, then there is an isolation between this son and his parents, which may reach the point of estrangement and discord; Where Christ says:

“I came to send fire on the earth, and what will I do if it is already kindled? . . . Do you think that I came to give peace on earth? No, I say to you, but rather division. For from now on there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father will be divided against the son, and the son against the father, and the mother against the daughter. And the daughter against the mother, and the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” (Luke 12:49-53)

As is clear from the previous statement, the Christian must leave all his money and the same to his family (and even without saying goodbye), and thus in return for that leaving there is encouragement for that, as soon as he gives up his land, his house, his fields, his brothers, his parents, his wife and his children, he will receive a hundred times more in return in this life and the next life (Mark 10:30-31). From here we understand Christ’s position towards his mother and brothers when they were outside one day calling him, and Christ refused to speak to them by saying: “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Then he stretched out his hand towards his disciples and said: “Here are my mother and my brothers.” (Matthew 12:48-49)

And of course, just as it was encouraged to abandon social relations with relatives, social relations with non-relatives were also cut off, and it was even forbidden to greet people except in the case of a house receiving them to spend the night and eat and drink with them; Where Christ says: “Carry neither purse nor bag nor sandals, and do not greet anyone on the way. And whatever house you enter, say first, ‘Peace be upon this house. . . . .’ And remain in that house, eating and drinking whatever they have” (Luke 10:4-8).

It appears from the above that Christianity calls for the Christian to leave all his money and reject wealth, so that he does not save nor accumulate money, and also to live his life preaching the Gospel in isolation from his family, from people, from work and jobs, boycotting almost everything, to the point that he only greets those who help him in the mission of preaching.

I did not mean here to deny the importance of sacrifice for the sake of God, but what I mean here is that Christianity is much more difficult than Islam and Judaism. Although there are clear laws for Islam and Judaism (and vague laws for Christianity), it is much easier than telling every Christian to leave all his money and family or else you will end up in Hell. And of course, most Christians cannot live in this narrow way of life. Therefore, Christ was aware of the impossibility of salvation in general (as we read in the story of the rich young man), and Judas Iscariot is not far from us, for when he was tired of the life of poverty imposed on him, he sold Christ for only thirty pieces of silver, although he loved his Lord Christ with the greatest love (to the point that he committed suicide because of that), perhaps a man would not betray the one he loves for a few dirhams except to satisfy his hunger, and therefore also from Christ’s awareness of this difficult life, he said:
“Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter through it. How narrow is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life!” And few are those who find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14)

The Old Testament, the book of the Jews, did not forbid wealth for the believer, but rather forbade three things:
1- That wealth be obtained by oppressing people (Jeremiah 17:11)
2- Using wealth as a means of arrogance and tyranny (Jeremiah 9:23/Proverbs 22:7)
3- That wealth be a reason for forgetting God (Psalms 62:10).
Wealth is considered one of the blessings that God bestowed upon some of His believing servants, such as Solomon (1 Kings 3:13/2 Chronicles 9:22) and the father of the prophets, Abraham (Genesis 13:2).

Islam is in complete agreement with these principles of the Old Testament. The rich man has his right to his money as long as he has not stolen it or wronged anyone with it. This rich man should remember God more than he remembers his money, and always thank God for this blessing. Of course, neither Islam nor Judaism have forgotten the poor. They have obligated the rich believers to pay obligatory alms (zakat) to comfort the poor. However, instead of obligating the rich man to leave all his money as in Christianity, he is obligated to pay a small amount of all his money (10% in Judaism and 2.5% in Islam). Of course, as is clear, what Christians today do by giving 10% of their income is following the Old Testament (Genesis 14:20 / Deuteronomy 14:22-23) and violating the New Testament. They have chosen the wide gate that leads to destruction instead of the narrow gate that Christ recommended.

Therefore, as I said, the most important legislations found in Islam are found in Christianity, almost similar to them. Indeed, all of these legislations, as I said, are not comparable to Christianity in its prohibition of wealth, possession of money, and a life of seclusion.

Christ’s command for Christians to leave their jobs and positions.

After Christ said: “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Luke 16:13),

I added the following:

Since a Christian cannot work to collect money because in doing so he will become a servant of money instead of God, we understand why Christ commanded his disciples to leave their jobs; When he saw Peter and his brother Andrew fishing in the sea, he ordered them to leave their work and follow him, “and immediately they left their nets and followed him” (Matthew 4:20). He did the same with James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were helping their father, and he ordered them to leave their work and help their father, “and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him” (Matthew 4:22). As long as the work was stopped, the source of income for Christians was in one of two ways:
1- Either by the rich giving them everything they owned, and I do not know of any Christian today who can live in this way (that is, giving all his money to the church, and in return other Christians leave their work to wait for that charity).
2- Or by miracles, which I also believe Christians today cannot live in this way or they will die of hunger; When the tax collectors in Capernaum asked Christ to pay two drachmas as a government tax, neither Christ nor his disciples had money, but he asked Peter to fish in the sea. The first fish he caught would have some drachmas inside it, and thus the tax was paid for Christ and Peter with those drachmas (Matthew 17:27). Accordingly, if a Christian today wants to depend on the money of the rich, he will not find any of those rich people who will give all their money in charity. So this Christian who adheres to his Gospel must begin by performing miracles to bring him some money to pay his rent, his children’s education costs, and feed his family. This is an impossible life, as is clear. Rather, Christ asked his followers not to care about those concerns when they follow him and leave their work. He said, “Therefore I say to you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.” (Matthew 6:25), and He said, “Do not seek what you will eat or what you will drink, and do not be anxious.” (Luke 12:29), and He also said, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious about its own affairs. Sufficient for today is its own evil.” (Matthew 6:34) Christ even considered that whoever does not leave his work and live on miracles like the lilies of the field that grow without toil or spinning, then he has little faith! (Matthew 6:28-30) And of course, as long as this is the Christian’s way of life, he will live in severe hardship and distress (John 16:33). He will not be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven until he tastes those hardships (Acts 14:22).