Fact a Day: April 17th

The Facts on Islam (Harvest House, rev. 1998), p. 7-8

Why is Islam important?

In brief, Islam is important for the following reasons. First, there are one billion followers of Islam in the world. Second, the collective power of Islam is able to dramatically influence the world economy through OPEC. Third, the growing religious influence of Islam outside Islamic nations is unmistakable. Fourth, Islam has the ability to play a key role in the social stability or instability of dozens of governments around the world. Fifth a principal goal of Islam is to bring Islamic law to every nation.*

Islam is important because it has the power to change the destinies of hundreds of millions of people—and perhaps the West itself. Further, Arab nationalism and the Muslim religion have become the single most crucial issue in the volatile Middle East, now a focal point for the attention of the entire world. No one can know how a major crisis in that region may ultimately affect the rest of the world. But the possibilities are sobering.*…

Finally, the ideological influence of Islam expands to other nations on a daily basis and Islamic fundamentalism is increasingly aggressive. Religiously, socially, politically, economically and militarily, Islam will continue to powerfully impact our world. For example, Christian readers of this booklet should not think Islam is of little concern to the Church. The January 1996 World Watch Persecution Index, published by Open Doors, revealed that, apart from North Korea and China, Islamic dominated countries occupied every single spot on the top ten list of countries where persecution of Christians is most severe. Some of the reasons for this unfortunate situation will become evident as we proceed.

*For documentation, see The Facts on Islam.