The following texts are from the Quran

* The angels said: “Mary! surely Allah has chosen you and purified you and chosen you above the women of of the world. Mary! remain obedient to your Lord and humble yourself, and bow down with those who bow in worship. The angels said: Mary, surely Allah gives you good news of a Word from Him, whose name is the ‘Messiah, Isa son of Mary,’ held in honour in this world and the hereafter and of those who are near to Allah. (Al Imran 3:42-43 and 45)

* The Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, is but the apostle of God and His word, which He cast into Mary and a spirit from Him (The Women, 4:169).

Jesus, the Word of God

In these two passages Jesus Christ is clearly referred to as the Word of God and as a Word from God (in Arabic: Kalilmat Allah). One would think that the Qur’an is actually echoing the text of John 1:1 in these passages: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” However Islamic scholars have mounted extensive arguments to say that the Qur’anic title given to Jesus and the biblical idea that Jesus is divine are not at all in agreement. While some Muslims know that Jesus is referred to as the Word of God in the Qur’an, the vast majority do not know what it means and even fewer realize that the same title is given to Jesus in the Bible. Some believers have used the “Word of God” texts in the Qur’an as a starting point for proclaiming the Good News of the Messiah to Muslims.

Jesus, the Messiah

In addition, the Qur’an speaks of Jesus as the Messiah (see 3:45 and 4:169 above, as well as 4.157 and 4.171). Here again the vast majority of Muslims have no idea what it means for Jesus to be the Messiah, because, in the words of one author, “the meaning of the title is almost completely glossed over in Islam.” The word “Messiah” is the same as the word Christ in Greek. It refers to the one who is anointed as king. The term carries with it not just the concept of a good king but also one who is a saviour, a deliverer, who will correct all wrongs and reign in righteousness.

Prayer Starters:

• Pray that Muslims all over the world would be inclined to ask questions and try to understand Jesus’ titles: “the Word of God and the Messiah.”
• Meditate on the following texts and use them in prayer: John 1:1-4,14 and Matthew 16:13-17.
• Ask the children to gather all the Bibles together, pile them up and then pray that Muslims would get to know the Living Word.

Special Section: Prayer for the Burig Peoples of Pakistan

• Language: Purik, Trade Language: Urdu
• Population: 474,000

The Burig and the Baltistani Bhotia (or Balti) are two ethnic groups of Tibetan origin who live in the Karakoram Mountains of northern Pakistan. The only two known Tibetan groups that have converted to Islam, their Tibetan roots can still be seen in their clothing, food, folklore, and language. The Burig depend on glacial runoff to irrigate their crops, and where water is sufficient, they grow barley, wheat, millet, and a wide variety of fruits. Because many Burig live in the northern section of the disputed Kashmir territories of India and Pakistan, their region was closed to foreign travellers for 14 years. Recently, there has been increasing tension between their pre-Islamic traditions and Islam, leaving many torn between the two major elements of their ethnic identity.

* Pray that as the Burig reconnect with their Tibetan heritage that God would open their eyes clearly revealing Himself to them. He desires for them to be before his throne (Rev. 7:9-12).

Muslims almost always object to using the title “Son of God” concerning Jesus. The main reason is that many Muslims believe the phrase “Son of God” implies that God the Father had sexual relations with Mary and that Jesus (the Son) was born of this union. Some understand the Christian Trinity as consisting of the Father, Mary and Jesus. Christians actually do not believe this and like Muslims we find the idea repulsive and blasphemous. Unfortunately this is often the Muslim understanding of the phrase “Son of God.”

In Christianity, the title, “Son of God” indicates the majesty, honour and glory of Jesus (2 Peter 1:16-18). The title is tied not only to His divinity but also to His kingship. Nathan’s prophecy in 2 Samuel 7:12-14, one of the early prophecies of the Messianic King, speaks of David’s descendant as God’s Son. “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me.” It is certain that the early believers understood Jesus’ role as “Son of God” as being related to kingship: “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel” (John 1:49, 11:27, 20:31 and Romans 1:1-5). The messianic king’s appointment was described as begetting a son (Psalm 2:7, Acts 13:33, Hebrews 1:5). You can find a longer article on this subject on our site here [Part 1] and here, [Part 2]. We also explore Jesus’ divinity further in the article “Jesus, the Messiah and the Word of God” later.

Prayer Starters:

• May God bring real breakthroughs in this area of Muslim misunderstanding. This subject is one of the most significant hindrances for Muslims coming to Christ. Believers need wisdom in addressing this issue.
• Pray for Muslims to have a biblical understanding of the phrase “Son of God.” Meditate on and proclaim in prayer the texts cited above.

Special Section: Prayer for the Peoples of Sudan — The Guhayna people

The 1.3 million Guhayna are a largely nomadic people living in Central Sudan. Not much is known about this people group other than that they are Sudanese Arabs who trace their heritage to the Bedouin who wandered the deserts of Saudi Arabia centuries ago.

The Guhayna embrace rigid codes of honour, loyalty and hospitality, the strong role of men in society, the value of children, subservience of women and the five pillars of Islam. To confess Jesus as Lord is not well accepted and has serious consequences. Pray that fear of persecution from Islamic relatives will not hinder the Guhayna as they consider the Gospel. No one is actively reaching this people group.

Pray for missionaries and funds so the Guhayna can hear about Jesus.

Background information on Sudan is here … >> Dafur

In Islam the purpose of mankind is not to know God and to be conformed to His character, but rather to understand Allah’s will and become more obedient to His commands. For Muslims, man is the high point of God’s creation. He is a type of viceroy (khalifa) on the earth. However, man’s most basic relation to God is that of a slave or servant. Man is to serve God the Master, fulfilling His commands and abstaining from His prohibitions. Man is not made in the image of God.

Knowledge

Mankind is seen as being innately religious, and this natural state can be encouraged or discouraged through education. Muslims believe that man’s most basic problem is ignorance. Man is good but imperfect. Muslims think that man was created as a weak and inconsistent being. Man is forgetful and needs to be reminded about his religious duties. Therefore mankind needs more knowledge of religious law to please God. Man does not need to be born again, but to live in conformity to Islamic rules.

Religious Activity

Religious activity such as ritual prayer, pilgrimages, alms giving, fasting and reciting the Muslim confession of faith are at the heart of Islamic religious experience. People should always do what is religiously obligatory and shun what is forbidden. Because of the view that man is weak, forgetful and ignorant, sin is therefore seen more as a mistake and not moral corruption in the Christian sense. Muslims believe that they earn merit with God based on their religious practices. Often, Muslims are more concerned about losing face by getting caught not practising religion than with actually breaking moral law. This shame mentality is found in almost all Muslim societies.

Christian Beliefs

Christians believe that man is made in the image of God. God Himself encourages men to reason, to make wise decisions and to rejoice in God and the things which He has made. In the Christian view man was originally created good but became morally corrupt through sin. Therefore, for Christians, sin is not simply a matter of making mistakes, but rather of living in opposition to Godly character. Through the new covenant God wants to transform our very being, bringing us back into conformity with His nature and character (Rom 12:1-3).

The Cross

Muslims do not easily understand the reason for the cross of Christ partly because they do not understand man and sin. Missionaries and Christians in general need real wisdom, courage and perseverance to explain clearly to Muslims God’s role for man and to clarify the nature of sin.

Prayer Points

* Thank God that He has made us in His image and likeness (Gen 1:26). God has renewed His image in us through Christ and we are to be His imitators (Eph 4:31-5:2). God’s design is for us to be His children (John 1:12-13; Rom 8:16, 21; 1 John 3:1-2, 10).

* Pray for Muslims to have a revelation of real sinfulness through the Holy Spirit (John 16:8).

* Pray for wisdom, courage and perseverance for missionaries and Christians in general as they seek to explain the Christian understanding of man and sin to Muslims.

Sons of God article

Seekers and believers from Muslim backgrounds regularly single out the term ‘Son of God’ as the biggest obstacle to reading the Gospel. Worse yet, many Muslims are so frightened of this term that they refuse to read or listen to any text that asserts it.

Paul rarely uses ’son of God’, and never in high Christological passages.

Worse yet, many Muslims are so frightened of this term that they refuse to read or listen to any text that asserts it.

It is not our fault, of course, if people stumble over the truth, but if they stumble because of our stubbornness …

The fact that Jesus performs the functions and prerogatives of God seems to pass over the heads of many Western readers, but it is not lost on Muslim readers.

Part 1 of 3

Download the PDF, Part 1: Explaining the Biblical Term ‘Son(s) of God’ in Muslm Contexts:

Translating terms for Muslims

Part 2: by Rick Brown

In part one, “Explaining the Biblical Term ‘Son(s) of God’ in Muslim Contexts,” we saw that the term ’son(s) of God’ has a broad range of meanings. Experience shows that there is no single measure one can take to resolve this problem. It requires a two-pronged approach. Basically the two prongs are to explain the original term and and what it means and to translate it according to its original meaning or in a way like ’spiritual son(s) of God’ that blocks the unintended meaning.

There is a long history of trying to explain ‘Son(s) of God’ to Muslims, and explanations have usually failed to overcome the entrenched meaning of the phrase. Luke did not “remove” ‘Son of God’; he simply translated the meaning of the original Hebrew phrase into Greek—in three different ways. When Western missionaries hear ‘Son of God’ explained or translated as ‘the Christ’, they sense a loss of content.

SENSE: The standard of commercial translation in the modern world, whether Scriptural or otherwise, is to give priority to expressing the meaning of a passage rather than mimicking its linguistic form in the source language. So the normal approach to translating idiomatic phrases is to translate them according to their original contextual meaning. Sense translation, is the normal way of translating texts between languages. The drawbacks are (1) everyone may not agree on the intended sense of the phrase and (2) sometimes more than one sense is being evoked, especially in the case of metaphors. Is ‘meaning-based’ translation the answer?

For a comprehensive look at this, please download the following PDF: Brown2_SOG.pdf

Rick Brown is a Bible scholar and mission strategist. He has been involved in outreach tot he Muslim world since 1977.

Most Christians are fairly uninformed about Islamic beliefs. In a similar way, many Muslims do not understand or are ignorant of Christian teaching about Jesus. Most Muslims believe that Jesus (whom they call Sidna Isa) was a remarkably good prophet who was sent to the Jews to bring them back to an Israeli form of Islam. Muslims believe that Islam was the religion which was practised by all the prophets (Abraham, David, Moses, Solomon, Jonah and others). Afterwards their followers corrupted the true faith.

Gospel of Barnabas

Muslims think of Jesus as a prophet who is reputed to have done miracles, but most of them have no knowledge of most of His life and ministry. Jesus is highly honoured by Muslims as a holy man, but is not seen to be divine. In recent times many Muslims have pointed to the so-called Gospel of Barnabas as being a source document about the Muslim Jesus. This document portrays a Jesus who is radically Islamic. Many believe that this so-called Gospel was possibly written around the year 1600 by a Muslim living in Spain. It was certainly not written by the disciple Barnabas who was a contemporary of Paul. (For more information about the Gospel of Barnabas, see the websites: (Christian site: www.answering-islam.org/Barnabas , Muslim site: www.islam101.com/barnabas ).) [In a new window]

Ideas and understanding about Jesus (Isa)

Muslims claim that Jesus did not die on the cross – such a death is considered to be unworthy of such a good prophet. They affirm that Jesus was taken up to heaven without dying. Generally they think that Judas Iscariot was crucified in the place of Jesus, and that God supposedly transformed his face to make him look like Jesus. Judas is seen as being a traitor who received just punishment while Jesus escaped.

Muslims equally affirm that Jesus (Isa) will return to earth from heaven sometime before the end of the world to punish the Jews and Christians for their corruption of religious faith and practice. Eventually Jesus will die a natural death and later be resurrected to be judged with all men during the last days. The Muslim idea of Christ is actually significantly different from the Christ of the Bible.

Prayer Points

* Muslims need to understand and recognize Jesus as Lord and Saviour, and to see the glory of the risen Lord. Pray for spiritual blindness to be removed (2nd Corinthians 4:1-7).

* Most Muslims have never even had an opportunity to believe because they have never heard enough of the real Gospel to be saved. Ask God to raise up an abundance of ministries to proclaim Christ in a culturally sensitive manner.

* The “Jesus” film has been an excellent means worldwide of helping Muslims learn about Jesus. Pray for a wider distribution of this film in more languages (Rom. 10:14).

* Most Muslims have needs which can only be answered by Jesus Christ. Pray that Muslims might find themselves in situations where they would be encouraged to call upon and believe the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 10:8-13). Some remarkable healings and conversions have happened when Muslims call on Jesus as a healer.

There are some similarities between Islamic and Judaeo-Christian thought about God. Mohammed was certainly influenced by Christianity and Judaism as he developed Islam. Muslims, Jews and Christians agree that God is the Creator of heaven and earth. All three religions see God as everlasting, all powerful and all wise. All three proclaim that God will someday judge the world, and that He has sent prophets and has given scriptures. Muslims and Christians even use similar words to describe God. It is often surprising to many non-Arabic speakers that all Arabic Bibles use the word “Allah” for God (see note below).

The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross

Insights from an Arab Christian

Differences

Despite the similarities, there are real, profound and significant differences between Christian and Muslim beliefs. Muslims have a fundamentally different understanding of God compared to Christians. Muslim faith and experience are remarkably different from Christian faith and experience.

Islam actually teaches that God Himself is unknowable. Muslims seek to worship a God whom they believe is unknowable. Christians are called into relationship with their Creator and Redeemer: Jesus defined eternal life as knowing the Father and the one whom he had sent (John 17:3).

* Pray that Muslims around the world will come to believe that it is possible to know God.

Friendship

The Muslim Allah is impersonal. In Islam God is not a person. He is simply beyond description. While Muslims habitually address prayers to the God of Abraham, they do not believe that this God will speak to them or reveal Himself to them. Abraham’s experience was very different. God spoke to Abraham and called him His friend (Gen. 12:1-3, 2 Chron. 20:7, Isa. 41:8, James 2:23).

* Pray that Muslims would come to know God as a real person.

Character

In Islam Allah is absolutely free (His actions are not bound by character or moral principles). Christians believe that God Himself always acts in accordance with moral principles and He even makes covenants.

* Pray for Muslims to have a revelation of the character of God (His love, faithfulness, kindness, holiness and justice).

Emotions

Allah in Islam has no emotions. Muslim theologians believe that it would be incorrect for God to have real emotions. For them it would be demeaning to His greatness. In the Bible God is seen as one who grieves, who rejoices and who loves passionately.

* Pray for a revelation of the loving-kindness of God which will touch the emotions of Muslims.

Revelation

Muslims believe that God is only one and He has no associates. Christians do not believe that Jesus is an associate of God but that He is God in the flesh (John 1:1-18). Knowing God as a Trinity is a profound thing. In the words of Francis Schaeffer: Love, communication and friendship have always been present between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Trinity gives us an example of how to live.

* Pray for Muslims to have a profound revelation of the Triune God.

Note: In our 30-Days of Prayer for the Muslim World prayer booklet the words God and Allah are always spelled with a capital letter for simplicity.

Is the God of Islam also the God of the Bible?

Answer: Yes and No

Explanation: Muslims use the word Allah as the name for the God of Abraham. The word “Allah” is also used by Christians in the Arabic Bible as the word for God. The Islamic holy book, the Qur’an, is full of references to the Biblical characters and prophets. Here is a short list of Biblical characters found in just four verses of the Qur’an (chapter 6, verses 84-87): Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, David, Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Zechariah, John, Jesus Elijah, Ishmail, Elisha, Jonas, and Lot. There a dozens of other references to biblical characters in the Qur’an. While these people are all mentioned in both the Qur’an and the Bible this does not mean that Muslims and Christians are in total agreement about God.

The abundant references to Biblical characters in the Qur’an definitely show that Mohammed was influenced by many aspects of Jewish and Christian teachings. However his idea of God does not include very significant Christian concepts about God. For example Muslims are unitarians and Christians are trinitarians. Islam does not know God as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In addition Muslims deny that Jesus died on the cross and that he was raised from the dead.

Is Mohammed prophesied in the Bible?

Muslims often point to two texts in the Bible as evidence that the coming of Mohammed was foretold even in the Bible. In Deuteronomy 18:15: “The Lord your God will raise up for you (the Israelites) a prophet like me (Moses) from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.”

Muslims attempt to say that the Ishmaelites are the “brothers of the Israelites” mentioned in this text. Mohammed is said to be a descendant of Ishmael through one of the sons (either Nebajoth or Kedar). However in Deuteronomy 17:15 the Israelites receive specific instructions concerning kings using the same words: “You shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.” From the context it can plainly be seen that the word “brother” here means someone from among the Israelites themselves. The Apostles believed that Jesus was “the Prophet” mentioned in Deuteuronomy 18 (See Acts 3:22-23 and 7:37).

The other main passages which are cited by Muslims are John 14:16-18 and 16:7-15. Muslims sometimes try to say that Christians changed the original Greek wording of the text concerning the “helper or comforter”. For them the original word was not “helper or comforter” (parakletos in Greek) but “periklytos” meaning “glorious or honoured one.” They say this refers to Ahmed, a form of the name Mohammed, which means “he praised one”. It is significant that there are no known Greek texts of John 14 and 16 which use the word “periklytos” instead of “parakletos.” In addition the activities of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the texts do not match well with the life of Mohammed.