Christianity vs Islam Law

While Islam believes in the Shari’ah Law (derived from the Hadith and Qur’an), Christianity believes in a natural law. The natural law gives people “a general concept of right and wrong, while the Bible fleshes out [the] skeletal framework, telling us what God considers moral and lawful” (Noebel 285). Because we are made in the image of God, we are “encrypted” with his characteristics as well. For example, we are called to love one another (John 13:34); we are able to love because God first loved us and we share that emotion as we are made in his image. Furthermore, as God is perfect and we are not, he has created a law within us, a concept of right from wrong. This voice of reason is our conscious, it is what allows us to feel guilt or shame when we do something that is wrong and feel joy and fulfillment when we do something that is right. Are fallen nature is seen by how we obey laws, for example, “we all have a fundamental knowledge of the existence of a transcendent law that we must obey… we consciously fail to obey it” (285). God has placed us under authority here on earth and we are called to obey those that God has given power (the government, parents ect). However, it is God’s law which is the ultimate law. Because man is sinful, we leaders are bound to stray from God’s law, when this happens we are called to not follow the evil ways of the world but to stand up for what is right in God’s sight. This is the only time when we are called not to follow the laws placed my men. We are to be obedient according to our morals and understanding of God’s commands.

Contrary to Christian belief that God portrays both Himself and his will, Islam “holds that God has not revealed Himself and His nature, but just his law” (292). The problem with Islam’s law is that it does not talk about all, or even many of the legal issues, in fact “many of its statements are ambiguous and addressed to specific historical situations” (292). Moreover, Muslims don’t see man as fallen or faulty so they don’t have a problem with man having power. As a result, they can give “religious leaders great political power over government authorities” (294). This defeats God’s purpose for placing authority over us, as man can choose to overrule that power. Furthermore it creates chaos and violence as citizens overthrow their rulers and the law system falls apart as seen in Egypt and Libya today. The biggest issue with Islam law is that the “Muslim community cannot find a similar basis for individual freedom with its religion” (295).