Muhammad & Joseph Smith
Question: What similarities exist between Muhammad (Islam) and Joseph Smith (Mormonism)?
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Overview
Strong similarities exist between Muhammad and Joseph Smith. The following are several examples.
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Both came after Jesus and said that they were continuing and restoring the religion of Jesus.
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Both claimed prophethood and said that they were acting according to divine inspiration.
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Both received a visitation from an angel and were given a book to validate their prophethood. For Muhammad, this was the angel Gabriel and the Quran. For Joseph Smith, this was the angel Moroni and the Book of Mormon.
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Both believed that all the prophets (including Jesus) preached and believed in their religion.
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Both said that the previous scriptures or peoples had been corrupted, hence the need for a restoration.
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Both used divine revelation to justify polygamy (many wives).
The New Testament warns that many false prophets, false gospels and false angels will emerge between the first and second comings of Jesus and will (sadly) deceive many (Matthew 7:15-20, 24:1-28, 2 Corinthians 11:1-15, Galatians 1:6-9 & 1 Timothy 4:1-5). Muhammad and Joseph Smith are two examples of this.
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Bible Passages
Matthew 7:15-20
(15) Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. (16) By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? (17) Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. (18) A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. (19) Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (20) Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
Matthew 24:1-28
(1) Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. (2) “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
(3) As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
(4) Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. (5) For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. (6) You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. (7) Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. (8) All these are the beginning of birth pains.
(9) “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. (10) At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, (11) and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. (12) Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, (13) but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. (14) And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
(15) “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel - let the reader understand - (16) then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. (17) Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. (18) Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. (19) How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! (20) Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. (21) For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now - and never to be equaled again.
(22) “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. (23) At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. (24) For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. (25) See, I have told you ahead of time.
(26) “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. (27) For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (28) Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
2 Corinthians 11:1-15
(1) I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! (2) I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. (3) But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. (4) For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
(5) I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.” (6) I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. (7) Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? (8) I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. (9) And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. (10) As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. (11) Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!
(12) And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. (13) For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. (14) And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. (15) It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
Galatians 1:6-9
(6) I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - (7) which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. (8) But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! (9) As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!
1 Timothy 4:1-5
(1) The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. (2) Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. (3) They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. (4) For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, (5) because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.