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A
Christian Response to Islam
September
21, 2001
Candlelight
Christian Fellowship
is committed to helping Muslims experience the love of Jesus.
In
May 1996, in the Islamic nation of Kuwait, Robert Hussein defied
authorities and declared his
conversion to Christianity through
local newspapers. Even though Kuwait guarantees religious
freedom,
Hussein was declared an apostate, one who has left the Islamic faith.
Charges were brought
against
Hussein in the courts and he was found guilty of apostasy. With his life
in danger, Hussein left his
estranged wife and two children and fled to America.
Almost
one-sixth of the world's population, one billion people, are Muslim, and
approximately six
million
Muslims live in America. Many people are frightened by Muslims because of
their reputed
violence
and apparent hatred toward Christians and Jews. As Christians, though, it
is our calling from
Jesus
to reach out to these people and love them with a Christlike love. In
order to accomplish this,
Christians
must understand Muslims and the basics of their faith, and seek concrete
ways to help
them
come to know the Lord.
Mohammed, the major prophet of Islam, was once asked, "What is
the best deed of a Muslim, next to
believing
in Allah?" He replied, "To make others believe in Allah and his
Apostles and to participate in
a
jihad (holy war)." Much like Christianity, the basis for Islam is to
spread its faith to nonbelievers.
Unfortunately, this is many times manifested in violent ways. In
the Koran, the words, "fight" and "kill"
appear
more frequently than "pray" and "love." Christianity
stresses spreading the love of Christ, Islam
stresses force.
One
of the marks of a Muslim nation is the Sharia, or Islamic, law. Sharia law
has similar ideals to the
laws
of Old Testament Judaism. It states that anyone caught stealing, should
have a hand cut off, or
one
who commits murder must also be killed. The difference is in its treatment
of Christians and Jews.
Jews are given two choices under Sharia law: either become a Muslim
or be killed. Christians have a
third
choice: to pay taxes.
The Sharia law has no tolerance for people outside the Islamic
faith. Muslims who change to a different faith,
apostates, are handled differently by authorities. According to Islamic
law, anyone who converts
to
another religion is given 30 days to return to Islam. If he refuses, he
can be killed.
Not
only must Christians understand the mentality of Muslims, they must also
be aware of the basics
of the
Islamic faith. Muslims have 99 names for Allah; they call them the most
beautiful names for
God.
They have names that describe His almighty power and His all-knowing
nature. Yet among these
99
names, they do not have one name that describes God the Father. They do
not believe that God is
the
Father, that He had a Son on Earth, or that he has a Holy Spirit. Yet Muslims are hungry to hear that God is more than
just omniscient and
omnipotent.
They want to hear that He loves them personally.
The daughter of a Prime Minister in Pakistan heard over the radio
that God was her Father. Because
she
longed to have a personal relationship with God, she took the message to
heart and gave her life
to
Jesus. Muslims need to hear the comforting message of a loving God. They
are trading their
merciless
Allah for a forgiving God.
Although it is important to know the mentality of Muslims and the
core beliefs of Islam, it is also
essential
to know how to effectively share the Gospel with a Muslim. There are three
basic steps in
reaching
a Muslim for Christ. First, the love of the Holy Spirit must be present in
the life of the person
testifying. The love of the Holy Spirit allows the believer to look
past any wrongdoing that may occur
and look straight into the heart of the Muslim.
Second, Christians must show Muslims practical love. For example, a
Christian pastor in Egypt was
walking home one night and passed a burning house with a Muslim
child trapped inside. The father
was
unable to go inside so the pastor took off his clothes and entered the
burning building, saving the
child.
This was a turning point in the lives of many Muslims in that
neighborhood. He showed them
what
he preached. He showed them practical love.
Finally, Muslims need to see something in Christians that they do
not have. They need to see shining
faces;
they need to see joy and love. They need to ask, "Why are you so
different? What makes you
so
happy?"
Bringing the testimony of Jesus Christ to the Muslim world is not
an easy task. The persecution of
Christians
by radical Muslims is growing at an alarming rate. But we must press on in
the Great Commission.
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