Islam and Culture: Suppression or Stewardship?

🕌 🎨Islam and Culture: Family, Art, Science, and Civilization

The Crescent Against the Cross Article 12

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1. From Veil to Civilization

In our last study, we saw how Islam distorts womanhood, veiling and silencing those made in God’s image. But what happens when an entire culture is built on such foundations? Islam is not merely a personal religion; it is a totalizing system that shapes families, art, science, and whole civilizations.

The question is often asked: if Islam is false, how did it produce great empires and what many call a “golden age”? The answer lies in theology. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1). All human cultures borrow from God’s created order. Islam has never produced flourishing from its own roots—it has only borrowed from the truth of God’s world, while suppressing creativity through its falsehoods.

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2. Islamic Family Structure

At the foundation of civilization is the family. But under Islam, family life is fractured by male dominance and polygamy.

Polygamy: The Qur’an permits men to marry up to four wives (Qur’an 4:3). This undermines covenantal faithfulness and erodes the unity of the household.

Inheritance Laws: Sons inherit twice the share of daughters (Qur’an 4:11). Women are structurally devalued in the very fabric of family life.

Custody and Divorce: A man may divorce by simple declaration (talaq), while a woman faces obstacles and limited rights. Children are often claimed by the father’s line, fracturing maternal bonds.

This is not family as God designed. By contrast, Scripture presents marriage as covenant love and discipleship. Husbands are called to love their wives as Christ loved the church (Eph. 5:25). Parents are to raise children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4). Families are households of faith, not fractured hierarchies of domination.

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3. Art, Science, and Intellectual Life

One of Islam’s great boasts is its “golden age” of science, philosophy, and art between the 8th and 13th centuries. But a closer look reveals much of it was borrowed from Jewish, Christian, and Greek foundations.

Borrowed Wisdom: Muslim scholars translated Greek philosophy, Syriac Christian medical texts, and Indian mathematics. But translation is not creation. Much of what is celebrated as Islamic innovation was stewardship of others’ work.

Suspicion of Inquiry: Sharia fostered deep suspicion toward philosophy and free inquiry. Independent thinkers like Averroes were often persecuted. Inquiry beyond the Qur’an was dangerous.

Iconoclasm: Islamic art avoided depiction of the human form, restricting creativity. Beauty was reduced to patterns and calligraphy, not the full flowering of artistic imagination.

Christianity, by contrast, unleashed art, science, and learning because it honors creation. Believing that “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Col. 3:17), Christians built cathedrals, composed symphonies, and founded universities. The doctrine of creation gave confidence that the world was orderly and worth studying. Providence assured that history had meaning. The gospel freed human creativity to flourish under God’s glory.

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4. Civilization Shaped by Theology

Every civilization is shaped by its theology. Islam’s theology of submission to a solitary will breeds coercive, stagnant societies. Where Sharia dominates, censorship, honor violence, and suspicion of freedom mark the culture. Fear, not freedom, defines the public square.

Christianity, by contrast, has birthed hospitals, orphanages, universities, and movements of liberty. The gospel not only redeems individuals but reshapes entire cultures. Where the Word of God goes, music, literature, science, and civic virtue bloom.

The root difference is stark:

Islam: Submission to a false god produces bondage and suppression.

Christianity: Dominion under the lordship of Christ produces flourishing and stewardship.

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5. Applications for the Church

Apologetic. When confronted with claims about Islam’s cultural contributions, point out that its “golden age” leaned heavily on borrowing—and that Sharia has historically stifled true innovation.

Contrast. Show that only the gospel produces a civilization of flourishing, because only Christ redeems both man and culture.

Encourage. See your own life, family, and work as part of Christ’s cultural dominion. Art, science, and society are not neutral—they belong to Christ. “Fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28) remains our mandate under His lordship.

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6. Conclusion: Suppression or Stewardship?

Islam restrains creativity and fractures culture because it rests on a false foundation. Its treatment of women, its suspicion of inquiry, and its coercive societies are fruits of its theology.

Christ, by contrast, redeems culture. In Him, families flourish, art and science thrive, and civilizations are lifted toward beauty and truth. Where Islam veils, Christ unveils; where Islam suppresses, Christ renews.

Reaffirm: Islam restrains, but Christ redeems.

Next, we enter the final section of this series—Apologetic & Evangelistic Engagement—beginning with Article 13: Answering the Muslim: How to Witness to Followers of Islam.

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✍️ Reflection & Application

Personal: Do you see your daily work and creativity as ways to glorify Christ? How does Colossians 3:17 shape your vision of culture?

Church: How can your congregation celebrate the goodness of family, art, and learning as gifts from God?

Mission: How might you answer a Muslim friend who points to Islam’s “golden age” as proof of its truth?

For Families:

Teach your children that God made them to create, explore, and build as His image-bearers.

Pray together that Muslim families, artists, and thinkers might find true freedom in Christ, the Lord of all creation.

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📚 Key Sources Consulted:

Qur’an: 4:3, 4:11, 2:282.

Genesis 1:28; Psalm 24:1; Colossians 3:17.

Eph. 5:25; Eph. 6:4.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Science and Civilization in Islam (1968).

Rodney Stark, The Victory of Reason (2005).

Vishal Mangalwadi, The Book That Made Your World (2011).

✒️ The Pilgrim’s Post