Sharing your faith... with a Muslim

"You’re an American?"

The Syrian was astonished. He had not expected to encounter an American inside the mosque. I was visiting the Omayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, the oldest surviving mosque in the Islamic world.

We walked out into the mosque’s vast courtyard.

"You are a Muslim?" he asked.

"No, a Christian," I replied.

He paused for a moment. "Then why do you come here?"

"Historical interest," I answered. "And to see the tomb of John the Baptist." In the prayer hall of the mosque is a small domed shrine, reputedly the burial place of the severed head of the cousin and forerunner of Jesus. Then, curious to observe the man’s reaction, I added, "As a Christian, I also wanted to see the famous minaret of Jesus."

I paused to note the effect of my statement. At the southeast corner of the Great Mosque rises the Tower of Jesus. Muslim tradition holds that Jesus will alight on its summit at his second coming. Many Muslims believe that Jesus will return to earth before the final judgment and help the Mahdi—an expected Islamic messiah—subdue the forces of evil.

"Yes, Isa [Jesus] will surely appear there," the Syrian replied, looking up thoughtfully at the tower. Then, after hesitating for a moment, he ventured: "You are a Christian. You believe Jesus is God?"

Fascinated by Jesus

The question came not as a challenge, but as a query of genuine interest. Having visited numerous Muslim countries, I can say without exaggeration that Muslims are intensely curious about—even fascinated by—Jesus Christ. My Syrian acquaintance was no exception.

He had referred to Jesus as Isa, his name in Arabic. In the Koran, Islam’s holy book, Jesus is often referred to as Isa ibn Maryam—Jesus, the son of Mary. Few Christians realize that Muslims revere Jesus as a genuine prophet and messenger of God, and many expect his return at the Last Day. Muslims even accept his virgin birth and his miracles.

Jesus is spoken of nearly 100 times in the Koran under numerous names and titles, including Al-Masih (the Messiah), Kalimatu’llah (the Word of God), Rasulu’llah (the Messenger of God) and Nabiyu’llah (the Prophet of God). These titles sound very Christian when translated. A brief glance at these surface-level similarities might suggest that Muslims and Christians are not far separated in belief —until we notice that "Son of God" is not among the titles.

Central dogma

Muslims are fiercely monotheistic. The central dogma of Islam is the absolute unity of God (Allah). To Muslims, the biblical teaching of the deity of Jesus Christ is thus polytheistic and blasphemous. It is the major problem confronting Christians who endeavor to reach Muslims with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

"Allah is One and indivisible," Muslims assert. Allah has no "son" nor any other "partner," as implied by the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. "One plus one plus one cannot equal one," they argue. The Koran declares: "They surely disbelieve who say: ‘Lo! Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary’… [and] ‘Lo! Allah is the third of three’; when there is no God save the One God…. The Messiah, son of Mary, was no other than a messenger" (Sura 5:72-75).

For Christians, Christ’s deity is nonnegotiable. (See box "Jesus Is God.") In response to the Muslim charge of polytheism, Christians assert that they, too, believe that God is one. Here's the question at issue: what kind of oneness?

The Christian understands a more complex kind of oneness than a strictly mathematical kind of unity. God the Father and God the Son are one in essence or nature, but they are not identical persons. Muslims—and many Christians, for that matter—find this biblical teaching difficult to comprehend. That God is One, in three Persons, is a mystery that Christians accept on faith, realizing that God is not limited by our human inability to fathom the mysteries of divine existence beyond time and space. But to Muslims, it is sacrilegious nonsense.

Fruitless argument

Depending on the individual Christian’s theological expertise, he or she can debate the doctrine of the Trinity with varying degrees of sophistication. But this line of argumentation is generally fruitless when it comes to evangelizing Muslims. Muslims believe that Christians worship three gods, and no amount of protestation to the contrary—however inventive or articulate—can convince them otherwise.

Why?  Because the Koran itself declares that Christians worship three gods. And since Muslims regard the Koran as infallible, Christians must indeed worship three gods—the clever arguments of Christians notwithstanding! The same goes for any discussion of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. Muslims flatly reject those events. Why? Because anything contradicting the Koran is automatically false, and the Koran declares, "They slew him not nor crucified…" (Sura 4:157). Muslims regard it as inconceivable that a prophet of God could have suffered such an ignominious death.

For Christians, to deny the crucifixion and resurrection is to deny the very means of atonement for which Christ came into the world. Humans are forgiven by accepting, believing in, the shed blood of Jesus Christ and his atoning work on the cross. Muslims, by contrast, see no need for a Savior. They believe that a right relationship with God can be achieved by their own striving for righteousness. Right belief and good works bring God’s forgiveness, they maintain.

Clearly, an immense doctrinal gulf separates the two religions. The differences between Islam and Christianity are fundamental and profound, and they center around the person of Jesus Christ.

Touched by love

Nevertheless, it is on Jesus that our efforts to win Muslims must focus. Jesus Christ lies inevitably at the heart of the Christian-Muslim encounter. He is the bridge between the two faiths. But it is not by argumentation that Muslims will be won to Christ. Conversions through sheer reasoning are rare.

The key to this seeming paradox is given by Samuel Zwemer (1867-1952), the great Christian missionary to Islam. Based on a lifetime of labor and reflection, Zwemer concluded, "After forty years’ experience, I am convinced that the nearest way to the Muslim heart is the way of God’s love."

The God of the Bible is love personified. Only by touching the hearts of Muslims with that love can the seemingly insurmountable barriers to conversion begin to be overcome. Understand this: Muslim converts to Christianity report that many Muslims have a deep spiritual hunger that has not been satisfied. Many desire to know God more intimately—to be assured of his love, forgiveness and acceptance.

Islam is built heavily on legalistic observances intended to prepare a person for future judgment. Muslims have no definite assurance of salvation until they reach that final day. They can never rest in the certainty of eternal salvation. To many, it is a painfully unsatisfying, unfulfilling and precarious state of existence. It is therefore not surprising that when Muslims learn of Jesus’ life of love and forgiveness, and come to know him as a living, personal Savior, he is irresistible.

The Christian enjoys a certainty of salvation that a Muslim can never have. "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). Faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ is our assurance of salvation. Christians serve God willingly, without compulsion or fear. To Muslims, these are revolutionary concepts—and eminently reassuring ones!

By reflecting God’s love in our personal lives and urging Muslim friends to listen to their longing after God, we can accomplish something that a truckload of theological arguments could never achieve. With God’s love as the core of our witness, we can begin to communicate the gospel to Muslims in a relevant and productive fashion.

But first…

A caution

The purpose of this article is to suggest approaches to personal evangelism among Muslim friends, neighbors and co-workers in the Western world—not to provide a framework for overseas missionary activity. Evangelism inside the Islamic world is a task too complex—and potentially dangerous—to imply that one article would be adequate instruction. In many Muslim countries, the penalty for apostasy from Islam is severe. In extreme cases, the death penalty may even be imposed on a Muslim who renounces his Islamic faith.  This should be constantly borne in mind.

In the Islamic world, separation of church and state is unknown. Islam is tied closely to the national, cultural and family life of its adherents. Conversion to Christianity may thus be taken as a rejection of family, culture and country—with potentially dire consequences.

For those interested in a missionary career, training with missionaries who have experience in restricted-access countries and who are sensitive to cultural dynamics is vital. Books such as Planting Churches in Muslim Cities by Greg Livingstone, New Paths in Muslim Evangelism by Phil Parshall and Muslims and Christians on the Emmaus Road, edited by J. Dudley Woodberry, are strongly recommended. [Other good books have been published since this article was written.]

Your personal witness

Effectively communicating your Christian faith to Muslims requires knowledge, wisdom and a living commitment to Jesus Christ. Here are a few guidelines: