FAQs about Christian-Muslim Relations
by Rick Love
Why are you so concerned about Muslim?
Why do you try to convert Muslims to your religion?
What gives you the right to try and convince people about the Christian faith?
What do you think about missionaries using jobs as a cover to share their faith in closed countries?
Is Islam peaceful or militant?
Do war & terrorism make it risky for followers of Jesus to live in Muslim countries?
What happens if Muslims decide to follow Christ and are persecuted?
In May 2002, Mother Jones published “Stealth Crusade” about Christians converting Muslims, which featured you. What did you think of the article?
What do you think about the front page Time article: “Should Christians Convert Muslims?” (June 30, 2003)
Is it dangerous to proselytize in Muslim countries?
Why are you so concerned about Muslims?
You can boil down my motivation to a teaching Jesus gave His followers: “Do for others as you would have them do for you.” (Matt 7:12) Followers of Jesus have been blessed, so we seek to be a blessing. For a fuller explanation, see (Why we share the good news with Muslims)
I feel a special burden to bless Muslims. For far too long, Christians have failed to give Muslims an opportunity to understand the peaceable way of Jesus. The Crusades set a negative historical image. I am grieved that Muslims were mistreated in the name of Christ. Since that time, many Muslim societies have distrusted so-called Christian societies, and vice versa. In addition, Muslims have been taught things about Jesus that have distorted their view of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. I feel I am called to help correct these misunderstandings about the true nature of Jesus Christ. By becoming proficient in Islamic history and culture and the languages of the Muslim world, I am able to share my faith with sensitivity and respect for Muslim peoples.
In addition, I have discovered that Muslims have much to teach me. Many Muslims take the spiritual world very seriously and generally are open to discuss religious issues. They have a very high respect for God and His power. Muslim peoples tend to place a high value on community and loyalty. Hospitality is very important to them. These are some of the many qualities I value in my Muslim friends. Living among Muslims has enriched my life.
Why do you try to convert Muslims to your religion?
I agree with Muslims who believe that God converts whom He wills. I do not believe I can convert anyone; it is out of my hands. However, I feel compelled to tell others the message of Jesus that reached through history—proceeding from the Middle East across many cultures—and touched my heart.
For many people, the titles “Muslim” and “Christian” define an external, cultural identity. I encourage Muslims to respect their families, culture and heritage when considering their relationship with the Messiah. Instead of changing an external identity, I invite all kinds of people, including Muslims, to believe in Jesus the Messiah, to receive forgiveness in His name, and become His followers. That speaks of an inner change, not an external label-change.
I think it is very important to realize that both Islam and Christianity contain mandates for followers to share the hope they have with others.1 Both faiths claim the final messenger.2 Both the Bible and Qur’an make exclusive claims for their message3, yet, both are called to witness in a gracious manner.4
What gives you the right to try and convince people about the Christian faith?
I believe that people of every religion have the right and responsibility to share their faith. There should be no double standards. Muslims who live in the West are free to respectfully express and share their faith. I believe followers of Jesus who live in the Muslim world should be equally free to respectfully express and share their faith, although that is currently not the case.
Sadly, many Islamic countries lack religious freedom. Everyone is welcomed to become Muslim, but Muslims are bound by law to remain in their faith. I believe that governments are wrong to deny their people these fundamental freedoms of belief and expression. Freedom to follow God in the way you understand Him is a God-given right, not something handed down as a gift from government. Moreover, the internationally recognized U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that human beings have the right to change their religion and manifest religious beliefs in public and in private.
What do you think about missionaries using jobs as a cover to share their faith in closed countries?
First of all, I think there is some confusion about the term “missionary.” (See Why I Dislike the Term “Missions.”) Like anyone else who may choose to work overseas, Christian businessmen, teachers, and humanitarian aid workers are welcomed by the governments of countries in which they work, to perform needed services. As Christian professionals, they seek to serve, love and respect Muslims in Jesus’ name. Why is a follower of Jesus who works as a nurse in Germany called a nurse, but if she moves to Afghanistan she is called a missionary?
I think that any Muslim who takes a job in the U.S. (or any other non-Islamic country) should also have the right to follow his/her conscience and share their faith. Most people don’t label Muslims who share their faith as “missionaries” because that word has come to imply Westerners who seek to dominate other cultures and people groups. That’s not my aim. Rather, as it says in the New Testament, I seek to be an ambassador to share a message of good news.
Is Islam peaceful or militant?
Politicians assure us that Islam is peaceful, while media images lead us to see the religion as inherently militant. Which is true?
Both of these extremes fail to grasp the diversity within Islam. Some verses in the Qur’an are peaceful; others are militant. No one sums up the issue better than Dudley Woodberry, Professor Emeritus in Islamics at Fuller Theological Seminary:
Either position can be argued by selecting specific verses or illustrations from history. The peaceful interpretation held by a majority of Muslims is based on qur’anic verses like 2:256: “There is no compulsion in religion” and 5:82: “The nearest in affection to the believers are those who say, ‘We are Christians.’” The social regulations devised by early Muslim leaders for non-Muslim minorities within Muslim lands, which applied particularly to Jews and Christians, gave religious minorities the right to practice their faith as long as they were loyal citizens and performed their obligations to Muslim rulers. In the Middle Ages Muslim governments were commonly more tolerant of Jews and Christians than Christian governments were of Jews and Muslims.
Militants within Islam, however, base their position on Qur’anic verses like 2:216: “Fighting is prescribed for you”; 2:190–92: “Fight in the cause of God those who fight you and slay them . . . for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter. . . . Fight them until there is no more persecution and oppression and there prevails justice and faith in God”; 9:5: “Fight and slay the infidels”; and 49:15: “The true believers are those who . . . strive with… their lives for the cause of God.” In their pronouncements, militants like bin Laden echo the words found in these texts: Fighting and slaying is prescribed by God. Americans cause oppression and injustice and are infidels (although in its immediate context the Qur’an is referring to polytheists);” (p. 46, Current Trends in Islam, a syllabus in use at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, 2007.)
It is my prayer that the majority of Muslims, who hold to the peaceful interpretation of the Qur’an, will stand firm against terrorism and prevail in this battle for the soul of Islam. If the moderates prevail in this battle, terrorism will decrease and freedom of religion will increase.
Do war & terrorism make it risky for followers of Jesus to live in Muslim countries?
It isn’t as risky as many people believe. The stereotype of most Muslims as terrorists is flat out wrong. When I lived in Indonesia, I found that my Muslim neighbors were normal people struggling to make a living and raise a family – just like your neighbors.
Many followers of Jesus who live in Muslim communities discover the same reality. Though their passports reflect their original nationality, over time, they become genuine members of the communities where they live. They start to understand the local cultures and behave in a manner worthy of the good reputation they have earned. In such a situation, many of them say they feel more secure than they would in their own neighborhoods back home.
I share with them a deep conviction that the safest place in the world is wherever God leads us. Some of my colleagues have found that their local friends ask them to stay and help when danger comes, and so, out of love and faith in God’s presence with them, they may choose to stay in countries undergoing turmoil.
What happens if Muslims decide to follow Christ and are persecuted?
Muslims who decide to follow Jesus are far more aware of the risk they are taking than you or I are. Yet they choose to believe. They aren’t hoodwinked, coerced or bought off. “Anita” (not her real name) was born into a Muslim family in a nation that is almost 100 percent Muslim. When she was in her late 20s, she met some Westerners who were followers of Jesus. They shared their lives with her. Over time, she made the decision to follow Jesus.
Sometime later, her Western friends were ripped out of the community where they had invested more than a decade of their lives. Some of them had served that nation with their medical skills, others had conducted agricultural research, while others had established businesses bringing much-needed income into the country. Yet the government forced them to leave the country because it failed to recognize its citizens’ right to freedom of conscience and expression.
Meanwhile, Anita was arrested and told to recant her faith in Jesus Christ. She refused to return to Islam, asserting that it had nothing to offer her. As a result, she was beaten. So, did she curse the Westerners for bringing this trouble on her? No. In fact, she told them later that she was aware of God’s presence with her in that jail cell and found that reality to be more precious than she could have imagined. She told her friends that her faith was based not on what anyone had taught her but on the reality that God was with her as she suffered.
“Deborah” is a Muslim woman who leads a group of Muslims who are now following Jesus. Once, she was summoned to the chambers of the local judge. He shouted at her, haranguing her to give up her Christian “foolishness.” It isn’t easy for a Muslim woman to stand up to an angry judge. But she replied, “I can’t turn my back on Jesus who died for my sins and was raised from the dead by Allah.” The judged threw her out of his office, but he also dismissed all charges.
Later Deborah told her mentor, a foreign friend who had been out of the country during the court case, that she was glad he was not there. She said it was her place, not his, to bear the judge’s harsh insults by God’s grace. She felt she had suffered little in comparison to what Jesus had done to bear the sins of her people.
Sadly, I could tell you many such stories. I am grieved that so many of my friends have been persecuted for exercising a basic human right—the right to choose what they believe.
In May 2002, Mother Jones published “Stealth Crusade” about Christians converting Muslims, which featured you. What did you think of the article?
I was teaching at Columbia International University (CIU) and a freelance journalist named Barry Yeoman wanted to write something about followers of Jesus who live in the Muslim world. His previous articles about evangelicals were fairly presented, so the administration of CIU and I decided to let him attend my class.
Barry did a good job of describing some of the dynamics of the class and content of the course. But I never said some of the outrageous and provocative things mentioned! When I emailed Barry after the article was published, he admitted that I did not say some of the things mentioned in the article. He attributed them to certain students outside of class, so he felt justified in including them in the article. Though the article twisted facts and misrepresented Christian attitudes in many ways, it was accurate to accuse us of being willing to lay down our lives to teach Muslims the peaceable way of Jesus.
This article launched me on a pilgrimage of profound reflection about how we communicate and live out the gospel in a globalized world (see my article, “Blessing the Nations in the 21st Century: A 3D Approach to Apostolic Ministry”). It also got me thinking about the ethics of da‘wa (Muslim outreach) and evangelism.
Mother Jones prides itself in being a liberal magazine. Yet I found this article to be anything but liberal. In fact, I find myself more liberal than Mother Jones when it comes to basic values of freedom, pluralism and human rights. Barry’s article came out squarely against Muslims’ rights to inform themselves about other religions in order to choose what they want to believe. I believe in building personal relationships between Christians and Muslims on the basis of mutual honor. These days, such friendships are sorely needed. In a world of hatred and mistrust, we pray to God that we may be instruments of His peace, sowing love and forgiveness.
What do you think about the front page Time article: “Should Christians Convert Muslims?” (June 30, 2003)
This article was much better than the Mother Jones article. Overall, its description of Christians working in Muslim countries was balanced and factual. I know for a fact these journalists did their research and checked their facts before writing.
I am still waiting for journalists to reverse the question in a future article: “Should Muslims Convert Christians?” Muslims, like Christians, have clear strategies to share their faith around the world. The media writes about terrorism in detail. Politicians assure us that Islam is a peaceful religion. But there is a strange silence about Muslims’ resolve and plan to win the world to the way of the Prophet Muhammad. I look forward to reading a Time magazine article on that topic!
Is it dangerous to proselytize in Muslim countries?
Although I long for all people to find in Jesus Christ the same salvation and peace that I have found, I am not interested in making proselytes. Let me be clear: In the ancient world, “proselytes” were Gentiles who were required to be circumcised and become Jews, making a cultural change in order to follow God. Changing people’s cultures is contrary to my principles. Muslims can follow Jesus without divorcing themselves from their culture.
Muslims often face punishment if they avail themselves of the basic human right to make their own choice about worshiping God. Sadly, some Westerners believe that, while freedom of speech and conscience are good for us, Muslims don’t deserve them. I reject that form of racism.
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