Have you ever wondered why God allowed Islam to exist? Islam did not emerge by chance. It came to be because God permitted it. And though it may surprise you, Islam is also part of God’s plan. But why? Why would God raise up a religion that denies Christ and would attack his people for centuries?
The answer is in the Bible. It’s all there from the very beginning. And in the beginning, God made a promise to Abraham. I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth. But there was a problem. Sarah, his wife, was barren and far too old. The years slipped by and the promise seemed to fade in the heat of the desert. How could God’s plan ever come true?
In desperation, Sarah made a decision that would change history forever. She told Abraham to have a child with her Egyptian servant named Hagar. And from that union, Ishmael was born. Abraham was already 86 years old and for 13 long years Ishmael had been his only son.
God had other plans for the main line of his covenant. But he did not reject Ishmael. On the contrary, he also made him a promise that would be remembered for centuries. Behold, I will bless him and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly. He will father 12 princes and I will make him a great nation.
Soon after the miracle Abraham and Sarah had waited for all their lives arrived. Sarah, old and barren, became pregnant and conceived the child of promise, Isaac. Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 years old. He was the heir to God’s original promise. But now in Abraham’s household, there were two sons, two promises, and the tension kept building.
On the day they celebrated Isaac’s weaning, the conflict erupted. Ishmael, who was already a teenager, mocked little Isaac, who was still just a baby. Sarah saw it. And in that mocking, she didn’t see childish play. She saw a threat to her son’s destiny. So, she gave Abraham a blunt, direct command. Cast out this slave woman and her son.
Abraham’s heart broke. Ishmael was his own flesh and blood, his son. How could he send him out into the wilderness? Then God stepped in and said to him,
“Don’t be distressed about the boy, for through Isaac, your offspring will be reckoned. I will also make the son of the slave into a nation because he is your offspring.”
Heartbroken, Abraham rose early, gave Hagar bread and a water skin, and sent them away. Mother and child wandered aimlessly through the wilderness of Beersheba until the last drop of water was gone, shattered. Hagar laid the boy dying beneath a shrub and walked away in anguish so she would not see him die. But God heard the boy’s cry. And here’s the astonishing part. The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven,
“What’s wrong, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the boy’s voice. Lift him up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
In that instant, God opened Hagar’s eyes. Right in front of her miraculously was a well of water. God protected them and saved Ishmael’s life.
Ishmael grew up in the desert, became a skilled archer, and lived in the region of Paran. His mother found him a wife from her homeland, Egypt, and God’s promise came to pass exactly as he said. Ishmael had 12 sons. The Bible names them one by one, and they became princes of 12 tribes.
The Bible even tells us where they lived from Havilah to Shur which is opposite Egypt. Fascinating because that vast stretch is the very heart of the Arabian Peninsula. They did not live in some distant land just as it had been prophesied they dwelled in the presence of all their brothers in constant contact and tension with the descendants of Isaac. Thus, the Bible reveals that the destiny of Ishmael and his descendants was no accident. It was the fulfillment of a promise from God. A plan he himself ordained and blessed. Two sons, two promises, two great peoples who to this day live face to face just as it was written.
Ishmael became the great patriarch of the Arab people, the lineage from which Islam would emerge. Centuries passed. Israel received the law, built the temple, and witnessed the birth of the Messiah. Meanwhile, the children of Ishmael multiplied in the wilderness. Tribes like Kedar, mentioned by the prophet Isaiah, ranged across northern Arabia. They were a people of caravans, tough and scattered. The promise of a great nation seemed forgotten, lost to the sands of time.
Their most important city was Mecca. There, a large and powerful clan, the Qurayish, tended a sacred house of worship called the Kaaba. But there was a problem. That ancient sanctuary had been filled with 360 idols. People worshiped these figures as if they were gods, one for each day of the year. The descendants of Abraham had forgotten the one true god of their ancestor Abraham.
Then in the year 570, a man was born who would change everything. Muhammad Ibn Abdullah of the Qurayish tribe, later known as the prophet Muhammad. Muhammad was orphaned as a child. He grew up traveling with caravans, learning the trade and watching people worship idols. Over time, he earned a wide reputation for honesty. They called him Al-Amin which means the trustworthy because he never lied and people entrusted their goods to him without fear.
But at 40 while meditating in a cave he said he was visited by the angel Gabriel. The angel he said delivered a clear message. There is only one god and all statues and false gods must be destroyed. This was his first vision and with it he began to preach that there is only one God whom he called Allah and that people must stop worshiping idols.
At first almost no one in his own city believed him. They mocked him and persecuted those who followed him. They suffered greatly, tortured and driven out. Muhammad and his followers fled to the city of Yathrib later called Medina. And there something incredible happened. The Arab tribes long at war with one another began to unite. Not by blood or territory, but by faith in one God. Remarkably, Muhammad established there what is considered the first written constitution in history, guaranteeing rights to Jews and Christians so everyone could live together in peace. They called it the Constitution of Medina.
But the real miracle came 8 years later. Muhammad returned to Mecca, this time with an army of 10,000 men. The very people who had expelled him were bracing for a massacre, but instead he entered the Kaaba and smashed the 360 idols with his own hands. Muhammad died 2 years later, but his mission did not die with him. He had united the descendants of Ishmael and given them a god, a book, and a reason to live.
Do you remember the promise God made to Ishmael? I will also make a nation of the son of the slave woman, for he is your offspring. That promise spoken more than 2,000 years earlier had at last been fulfilled. That is how Islam was born. The word means submission. From it sprang a civilization and an empire that spread across the world. The great nation God promised to Ishmael was now real, strong and mighty, living as the Bible said in the presence of all his brothers.
But now the question is, why did God create Islam? Why raise up a religion that does not accept Jesus as the son of God and that for centuries would wage war against Christians? And why was the promise of this great nation already written in the Bible centuries before Muhammad was born?
The answer isn’t one, but three. There are three reasons God raised up Islam.
The first is to test our faith. From the beginning, God warned that he would allow voices to arise that would test the faith of his people. Moses said it plainly,
“For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
The Bible warns us that not every message that talks about God actually comes from him. God allows alternative paths, rival prophets, and powerful religions to emerge to sift those who discern the truth from those who do not. God didn’t promise us an easy road. He promised the true one. And so that we would value it, he allows other paths to appear alongside it. Just as the people of Israel were tempted to worship false gods like Baal, the church today is tested by religions that seem very close to the truth. They speak of one God, yet deny the most important thing, that Jesus Christ is the son of God.
Islam is perhaps the greatest test of all. It affirms there is one God. Yes, but it rejects Christ as our savior. It calls him a prophet but removes his place as king. And there lies the test for us. Jesus himself warned us,
“Do not believe every spirit. Test the spirits to see whether they are from God.”
And Jesus gave us the key to truth.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.”
So the rise of Islam was no accident in history. It was a test from God. A test to remind the people of Israel that the everlasting promise was given through Isaac, not Ishmael. And a test for the church to hold fast to the truth that salvation doesn’t come by keeping laws or doing good works, but only through faith in Christ who died on the cross and rose again. Think about it for a moment. God allowed Islam to exist to reveal what’s really in people’s hearts, to compel us to choose.
But recognizing there is one God is only the first step. The Apostle John made it clear, whoever denies the Son does not have the Father. That forces us to answer a question. What kind of God are you seeking? Are you looking for a God who is a mighty king, distant and to be feared? Or a father who loves you so much that he drew near, sending his one and only son to save us and give us eternal life. For our choice to be genuine, God not only gave us the freedom to choose, he also set other religions before us so we would truly have the ability to choose.
But there are two more reasons God allowed Islam to arise.
The second is that he would use it as a tool for discipline and judgment. What does that mean? Scripture teaches that God not only blesses nations, he also uses them as an instrument when his people stray. Think of Babylon. The people of Israel had turned away from God, bowing to idols and forgetting his promise. The Lord warned them many times, but they refused to listen. So God acted. But how? Would he send fire from heaven? No. He did something even more unexpected. He raised up a foreign king, a king who did not believe in him, a man of war. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God himself said,
“Behold, I am sending for Nebuchadnezzar, my servant, and I will bring them against this land.”
Nebuchadnezzar was an instrument of judgment, a hammer in the hand of God, to correct his people. No empire rises by accident. It is written in the book of Daniel. He changes times and seasons. He removes kings and sets up kings. The lesson is crystal clear. When God’s people forget the truth, he can use other kingdoms to bring them to repentance and back to him.
Islam was no exception. It spread with astonishing speed like a wildfire that could not be stopped. Within just a few generations, cities that had been the very heart of Christianity, Antioch, Alexandria, and Damascus fell. Even Jerusalem, the holy city, remained under Muslim rule for more than a thousand years.
So to the question, why did God allow this? Just as with Babylon, Islam became a hammer in God’s hand to discipline Israel and to challenge the church. For the people of Israel, it was a painful reminder. They had rejected their own Messiah, and now their land was in the hands of a people who did not acknowledge the son of God. The ancient prophecy of Moses was coming to pass, and the Lord will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other.
And for the church, it was a brutal wakeup call. Many Christians had grown comfortable, divided by power struggles, and filled with empty rituals. They had lost the fire and the power of the gospel. The rise of Islam was a judgment on a lukewarm faith and an urgent call to return to the truth of Christ.
But here is the final key. The Babylonian Empire fell. Babylon fell. Persia was shattered. Rome collapsed. And Islam, like every kingdom fashioned by human hands, is also part of God’s grand plan. For the Bible says, God raises up kings and removes kings. But there is one kingdom that will never ever end. The kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And the third reason God allowed Islam is the most important. Because the Bible doesn’t just tell stories of the past. It is a prophetic map of the future. And on that map of the future, Islam has a precise place. God allowed it to be a sign warning us that the end of the age is drawing near. This is the third reason. It will be a prophetic sign of the end.
The Bible reveals that nations are not just actors in history. They’re part of humanity’s final chapter. The biblical prophets warned us long ago. Ezekiel, Daniel, and the book of Revelation spoke of a time when great coalitions of nations would unite to attack Israel and Christ. Islam, which today encompasses more than 1.8 billion people cannot be left out of that prophetic picture. From Genesis, it was foretold, he will be a fierce man, his hand against all, and he will live before all his brothers. That verse was not describing Ishmael alone. It was really the beginning of a much larger prophecy to be fulfilled in the last days. A prophecy about Islam.
Today, this prophecy hardly needs interpretation. Just look at a map. Islamic nations literally encircle Israel like an iron ring, fulfilling what the Bible said right before our eyes. The prophet Ezekiel was even more explicit in chapters 38 and 39 of his book. He named the enemies that would attack Israel in the final battle. Persia, Cush, Put, Togarmah. Ancient names that sound far away, don’t they?
But who are they today? This is where prophecy and history meet. Persia is what we now know as Iran. Cush and Put are regions now encompassed by countries like Sudan, Libya, and others in North Africa. And Togarmah was located where modern-day Turkey stands. All these peoples, though different and scattered, are today united by something very powerful, the religion of Islam.
Islam is not just a faith. It is the force that binds this cluster of nations that will rise at the end of the age. Islam’s remarkable growth was no accident. It fulfilled another promise God made to Abraham that from his son Ishmael he would also make a great nation. What many see as a mere religious movement that sprang from the desert is to God the ticking of a prophetic clock counting down to the end.
Jesus himself gave us a key clue. He said Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. What does this mean? Trampled means trodden down or dominated. And Gentiles are all peoples who aren’t Jewish. So Jesus was saying that Jerusalem would be under non-Jewish control for a long time.
And who has ruled Jerusalem the longest in history? Muslims. For more than 2,300 years, the holy city was under Islamic rule. And today, we see a visible reminder of this. The holiest place for the Jews, the Temple Mount, is still occupied by two of Islam’s most important sites, the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. This isn’t a coincidence. It’s visible proof we can see with our own eyes that God’s plan keeps moving forward.
But the sign isn’t just something we see on a map. It’s also a spiritual sign. Islam denies the most important truth of the Christian gospel that Jesus is the son of God and that he died on the cross to forgive our sins. The Apostle John explained it plainly and seriously. Who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist. The one who denies the father and the son.
In this way, Islam becomes a global force that prepares the way for the final conflict. The book of Revelation tells us that at the end of the age, Satan will go out to deceive the nations worldwide, drawing them together for battle. And Islam, now present on every continent, is a key piece of this prophetic plan. Every time conflict flares in the Middle East, every time the world turns its gaze to Jerusalem, the pulse of prophecy grows stronger.
Thus, the third reason becomes clear. God allowed Islam to stand as a living warning, a towering sign on history’s horizon, crying out that the scriptures are being fulfilled, that the world is nearing the final battle where only one name will prevail. Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
But now you are probably asking, does the Quran, Islam’s holy book, speak of Gog and Magog?
The answer is yes. In the Quran, they are called Yajooj and Majooj, the Arabic names for Gog and Magog. In that story, we’re told that a righteous king built a colossal wall to pen them in until the last days. So, both the Bible and the Quran acknowledge that Gog and Magog are forces that will appear at the end of the age. This shows that even within Islamic tradition, the idea of a final showdown between the nations and the people of God is embedded.
But wait, there’s a crucial difference between the two accounts. A difference that changes everything. In the Bible, the outcome is unmistakable. God himself intervenes and destroys Gog and all his armies. In the book of Ezekiel, God declares,
“I will contend with him with pestilence and with blood.”
The Bible is clear. God himself will send fire from heaven to wipe out Gog and Magog completely. However, in the Quran, the story has no clear ending. It says the release of these peoples is a sign of the end. But it doesn’t say that Jesus Christ is the one who wins the battle. It leaves out the most important part, the final victory of Jesus.
And here in this contrast, we begin to understand the purpose. This coincidence reveals something profound. The forces of evil are universally recognized. Everyone anticipates a final battle. Christians, Jews, Muslims, everyone sees the same conflict coming. But only one book reveals who will win. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. God allows unfinished stories so that those who truly want the truth will seek out the whole story. He is sovereign over every nation and every king. As the prophet Daniel declares, he changes times and seasons. He removes kings and sets up kings.
So the existence of Islam is not a contradiction of God’s plan but part of it. The Apostle Paul led by the spirit explained this in the following verse. For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh while the son of the free woman was born through the promise. Paul isn’t talking about two brothers. He’s talking about something far bigger. Two peoples, two paths, two opposing ways of relating to God that have shaped human history.
But how can a family feud from 4,000 years ago explain the fate of entire civilizations?
First, let’s look at Hagar, the Egyptian servant. She stands for humanity’s attempt to bring God’s promises to pass by our own strength. Her son, Ishmael, was born according to the flesh. He wasn’t the fruit of faith, but of impatience, of human logic that tried to help God. Paul ties Hagar to Mount Sinai, to the law, and to the slavery that comes from trying to obey it without grace. Ishmael then is a sign of all who try to approach God through their works, their merits, and their rules. A path of human striving that is never enough.
Now look at Sarah, the free woman. She represents the impossible promise, the supernatural intervention of God. Isaac was born when Abraham and Sarah had no human hope left. His birth wasn’t the result of human effort, but of a pure miracle. That’s why Paul links Sarah with the heavenly Jerusalem, a place of freedom and grace. Isaac is the picture of all who are children of the promise, saved not by what they do, but by faith in what God has done.
Here is the key to it all. Ishmael is human effort. Isaac is divine grace. Ishmael is religion. Isaac is redemption.
In the world, there are nearly two billion souls who follow the path of Islam. And Islam teaches that salvation is gained through submission to Allah and the fulfillment of religious duties. Islam sets out a path of discipline striving to reach God. Its foundation rests on five pillars, five works that shape the believer’s life.
First, the confession of faith. The shahada declaring that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet. Then ritual prayer, the salat, prostrating five times a day facing Mecca. Next almsgiving, the zakat, the duty to give to the poor to purify one’s wealth. Next comes fasting, saum, abstaining from food and drink throughout the month of Ramadan. And finally, the pilgrimage, Hajj. The journey to Mecca every Muslim should make once in a lifetime if able.
To these works are added obedience to the law and hope in Allah’s mercy. A Muslim rises before dawn for the first prayer of the day. Four more remain. Salvation hangs on it. But even doing all this, is it enough?
Here’s the unsettling part. Salvation is never guaranteed. For on judgment day it is said that every deed good and bad will be placed on the scales. If the good outweighs the bad, maybe, just maybe, paradise is reached. It’s a system in which people try to reach God by their own effort. A path where through striving, a person tries to climb the mountain to reach God, never knowing whether the summit is within reach. A Muslim can never be certain. Never. Salvation is an open question until judgment day. After years of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, and still salvation remains uncertain.
But Christianity offers something radically different. Christianity begins where Islam does not want to look, at humanity’s total inability to save itself. No amount of prayer, fasting, or almsgiving can bridge the chasm sin opened between humanity and its creator. It was a debt we could never pay.
Here’s the astonishing difference. Islam depicts humanity trying to reach up to God. Christianity shows God reaching down to us. God didn’t ask us to build a ladder to reach him. Instead, he himself came down from heaven to rescue us. We read, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. We don’t do good works to be saved. We do them because we already are. Thanks to Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross.
He himself sealed his sacrifice with his final word on the cross. It is finished. The debt is paid. Salvation is assured. Salvation isn’t a prize you earn. It’s a gift you receive. Not by works, not by merit. Only faith in Christ crucified. As the Bible says, for by grace you are saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works so that no one may boast.
Here is where an ancient story becomes startlingly current. Paul is blunt when he quotes Sarah’s words, “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave will not share the inheritance with the son of the free woman.” At first glance, that sounds harsh, like rejection. But is it really a verdict against people?
The answer is no. It’s the unveiling of two opposite ways of approaching God.
On one side stand the slave Hagar and her son Ishmael. They represent human effort, the religion of works, humanity’s attempt to reach heaven by its own hands and merits. It’s the path that says,
“I will do it.”
On the other side is the free woman, Sarah, and her son Isaac. He was not born of effort, but of an impossible miracle. Isaac embodies God’s promise, the grace received by faith, not by works. It’s the path that says,
“God did it.”
Paul is unequivocal and direct. The way of works, however sincere, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Salvation isn’t earned, bargained for, or deserved. It is received as an undeserved gift through Christ.
But the struggle between Ishmael and Isaac isn’t just an ancient tale. It’s playing out even now. Ishmael’s mockery of Isaac in the wilderness was a foreshadowing of the future. The children of the flesh, those who trust in their own effort, will always persecute the children of the promise, those who rely solely on the grace of God. History bears this out. 1,400 years of conflict between the Islamic world and the Judeo-Christian world. It’s no accident. It’s the fulfillment of prophecy written in the Bible. And it will reach its ultimate fulfillment at the end of the age.
For the book of Revelation warns that as the end draws near, two great powers will rise on the earth. The first is the beast, a global political power determined to dominate every nation. But it will not come alone. Alongside it will arise a second figure, the false prophet, a religious power that will deceive the world into worshiping that beast.
But how will we recognize this false prophet? Revelation paints a vivid picture in chapter 13:11. I saw another beast rising from the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. The image is clear. It looks like a lamb, the symbol of Christ, but its voice is that of a dragon, the symbol of deceit. It performs signs, sways the masses, and twists the truth so that the nations worship the beast and turn their backs on the true Christ. As it is written, it deceives the inhabitants of the earth by the signs it is permitted to perform.
And here the key question arises. Could Islam with its immense global influence be the face of this false prophet?
Consider the facts. Islam is a system that governs every aspect of life. It controls the culture, politics, laws, and identity of nearly 2 billion people. But there is more. In Islamic writings, there is also an end times book, and they await their own messiah, a figure known as the Mahdi. The Mahdi is a leader destined to unite the Muslim world and establish a global caliphate, a political and religious messiah under Islamic law. Isn’t this the very description of the figure the Bible calls the Antichrist?
But there’s something deeper still. Islam speaks of Jesus. It acknowledges him. Yes, but in the Quran, Jesus is not the son of God. He did not die on the cross for our sins. Therefore, he did not rise again. He is reduced to just another prophet ranked beneath Muhammad. That denial is precisely the mark the Bible gives us for identifying the false prophet. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist. The one who denies the father and the son.
So Islam honors Jesus with words. Yet its voice, the dragon’s voice, denies his true identity. And the false prophet of Revelation is by definition a religious system that speaks about God.
But the final proof is written on the very soil of Israel. Jerusalem, the holiest place to God’s people, today stands under Islam’s control. The Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque rise there as a powerful symbol of dominion. The prophecy of Zechariah seems to be unfolding before our eyes. On that day, I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all peoples.
God allows this system just as he allows all human rebellion so that at the end of the age, the difference between truth and deception will be as clear as day and night. He permits the false prophet to build his kingdom so that when the true king returns, his victory will be indisputable.
But if this is why God allows this power to grow, what is the end of the story? The end is already written and leaves no room for doubt. We read, and the beast was seized and with it the false prophet. These two were thrown alive into a lake of fire burning with sulfur.
The message is final. No empire, no religion, and no system that denies the son of God will stand. And Islam as a system built on human works and the denial of the Savior may be one of the pieces of the last great deception. That’s why God allows it. Not because he endorses its message, but because its very existence fulfills a prophecy. Islam may be one of the most powerful tools in the hands of the false prophet. But its fate is sealed.
The deception will be immense, but the ending has already been written. The beast and the false prophet will be cast into the lake of fire. And on that day, as the scriptures promise, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess one unchanging truth. Jesus Christ is Lord. For in the end, neither the Mahdi nor the beast nor any false prophet will reign. Jesus Christ will reign, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
For these three reasons, Islam arose as part of God’s plan. It is a test of faithfulness, a discipline for his people, and a sign of the end times. If this video has helped you understand God’s plan, leave a comment and hit like so the truth can reach other believers.
But God’s plan goes much deeper. Have you ever wondered why God hasn’t destroyed Satan? God is holy, just, and hates evil. So why is Satan still alive? If you haven’t seen it yet, you’ve got to watch this video. It tackles a question few dare to ask. Why does God allow his greatest enemy to keep existing and causing suffering in the world? The answer isn’t simple, but it’s in the Bible. In this video, discover why God doesn’t eliminate Satan or the fallen angels. Blessings.
