God created us in His image. We can reflect the Trinity by our manner of communicating, by our friendship and our shared love. We are not called to fight Islam but to make every effort to make Jesus known!
When witnessing to Muslims, what should we avoid?
1. Do not attack the person of Mohammed, but do not accept him as a prophet either.
2. Do not criticise the Qur’an (Koran).
3. Avoid politically-sensitive subjects and praising Israel.
4. Do not insist on Jesus as being the Son of God. A Muslim will not understand or accept this affirmation. Later, when he has read the Bible or the gospels, you can give him the necessary explanations.
5. Do not enter into discussions about pork and wine. We, as Christians, are sent to proclaim Jesus.
Specific guidelines
1. Initially focus on areas of agreement.
In your first contacts with Muslims and even later it is useful to be in agreement as much as possible with Muslims about our common beliefs. They believe that there is one God, the God of Abraham. In Arabic the word used for God is “Allah” (Christian Arabs also use this word for God). Muslims believe that God made the world, that He knows all things, that He is all wise and very powerful. Muslims do not believe in the Trinity. They believe in angels and in prophets such as Abraham, Moses, David, Noah and Jesus. They believe in the last judgment. In a general sense we can agree on these points, without forgetting the differences. Muslims often feel rejected by Westerners. Affirming our common beliefs enables them listen to us with greater understanding and openness.
2. Have a simple and clear way of presenting Christ.
For instance, take a passage of the Bible. John 5:24 and Romans 6:23 have been used with good results.
3. Use stories.
It is important to tell the stories about the life of Jesus and other men and women mentioned in the Bible. Muslims often use stories in speaking about their own faith. Most Muslims have never had an opportunity to read the Scriptures (many have never fully read their own book, the Qur’an). Learn to use parables, stories and examples from daily life to share your message. In this way your Muslim friends will also retain your words better. It is important to understand their culture, their way of thinking and their historic and religious background. Learning some of their language could be very useful as well.
4. Literature.
Keep an assortment of Gospels, the “Jesus” film, cassettes, CDs and DVDs available in various languages.
5. Seek them out.
Do not be afraid to visit them in their homes and invite them to your own home. If you invite them for a meal buy your meat in a Muslim butcher shop or serve fish. Do not serve alcoholic beverages to Muslims.
6. Argument.
You have little chance of convincing Muslims by reasoned argument. Western logic does not carry the same weight with Muslims and may not even be understood by them. Love your Muslims friends and avoid getting into discussions which push them to defend Islam.
7. The Qur’an (Koran).
You may read it, but do not necessarily use this as the unique basis of witness. Muslims need to meet the Jesus who is revealed in the Bible. If you reads the Qur’an or visit a mosque it is advisable to pray for God’s protection and understanding (Ephesians 6:10-18).
8. Men witness to men and women to women.
Extended witness across gender lines is discouraged, even by correspondence.
9. Prepare them for their first visit to church.
It is advisable to prepare Muslims for their first visit to a Christian church or gathering. You need to explain to them briefly what will happen and what they should and should not do.
10. Opposition to Christianity
When speaking to Muslims they will probably raise objections that our faith in the Messiah is unacceptable for them. Believers need to know about these objections and be prepared to deal with them correctly. Web sites exist for this purpose.
What are your experiences? Leave a comment below.
Listen to the Podcast – Helping Muslims Discover the Messiah – What To Avoid
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Video: Out of Control
Out of Control from DanStevers.com on Vimeo.
Aisha is correct, Pagans will never succeed in making Muslims renounce their religion.
I break every rule when it comes to cross gender. I witness the gospel of Jesus on facebook and those who are interested in truth send me messages behind the scenes. We chat on Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and Skype.
The women almost always do not talk unless to argue and are quite caddy in most circumstances. I believe this is because they have so much more to lose. They must put up a strong front for Islam to be desired for who they are and this is one of very few outlets they have to show their individuality.
I have been witnessing for over a year and a half and 24 muslims have come to Christ with me. I have connected them with other MBB’s for further discipleship after a time of testing to see if they remain in the faith to keep my MBB friends safe. I surround them with a church family on the net and we all love them.
When you bring one Muslim man to Jesus you bring his whole family if he is married. If not, you start a new generation in that family line that will be Christian. It is truly amazing.
I’ve prayed for my friends when they are afraid and lonely and Jesus has appeared to one of them and come to 2 others in dreams.
The internet has become the new frontier. God has opened this door. Go through the door and befriend them, gain their trust, be watchful of their motives loving them with wisdom from God and going into the 10/40 window where few are able to set foot and have one on one conversations. Walk in humility and do not argue – but let your focus be for them as a human being first and keep Jesus the center of your life and witness.
God Bless and may the Lord Lead you!!
bless you Robin – Numbers 6:24-26
I begin with john 1:1 in the begining was th word !!! What does realy this mean? How can a word exists before it is spoken by someone! a word comes into existance after it is spoken by some one, how can you make the word 1st and the owner 2nd ?!?! Let us change and correct this verse like this john 1:1 in the begining was GOD and GOD spoke (said be) and the word became! May the ALLMIGHTY open the heart and mind of the christian.
so nicely put brother.
وَرَبَّكَ فَكَبِّرْ
“and declare the greatness only of your Rabb(Lord)”
the letter wow (وَ) is usually translated as “and”, but this translation is over simplification. In the Qur’an, there are 21 ways وَ‘wa’ is used and one way is wow al musta’nifah, the wow that separates one sentence from another. In the English language, we would put a period and capitalize the next word in the sentence to show that a new one is beginning.
So this وَwow in the ayah is an indication of a new sentence, the sentence is:
رَبَّكَ فَكَبِّرْ
look at it more closely:
رب ب ك ف ك ب ب ر
Rabbaka-fa-Kabbir…when you look at it both ways! SubhanAllah! In English, this is called a “palindrome”, when a word is looked at backwards and forwards and has the same spelling. (race car, radar, mom etc).
In order to construct a palindrome, one would have to look up words, check their spellings, find their definitions, write it down a few times to see if it works and so on…a lot of work! BUT:
what are you implying by this?
As a former Christian let me say several things, if you started with Genesis, most people would never become Christian. Do you know why? Christians believe that on the 7th day, God rested. This implies that God was tired from creating. An Omnipotent God, the beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega gets tired? Really?
Christians and Jews believe that Prophets committed the following sins: incest, adultery, lying, murder, theft, calling themselves God, questioned His mission, etc., etc. Yes, in order to remove a Muslim from his faith, you have to attribute sins to the very people God entrusted to instruct and bring revelation to man. In fact, non-Muslims believe that even angels descended from Heaven to commit sin to fornicate with women.
One of the reasons devout Muslims do not believe in sins of prophets is quite simple: in the near physical presence with God and the metaphysical presence to receive revelation from Him or His angels, man would so humbled by His presence that they would be unable to sin. Thus the prophets recognized God in His essence. Before you chime in with Adam (as), this is where Muslims see differently. Because he was lied to by Satan and had never heard anyone lie, less invoking God’s name to lie, Adam (as) did not know of this deceit. Furthermore, he committed the act of disobedience before he was granted Prophet-hood. It’s a little more in-depth than what I describe, but it’s an intricate way to look into the creation of man that lays to dust the contrived current day Bible.
The Qur’an, has the distinction of always having been kept in tact for over 1400 years. You will find no error from the first Arabic Qur’an to the one printed today. The language has always kept it intact since it is God’s divine word. God actually challenges man to come up with one chapter like it (the shortest chapter is three lines) and to date, no one has ever been able to match it’s poignancy or truthfulness nor will they ever will…
Christians, Jews and many other scholars and layman have challenged the teachers of the Qur’an for many centuries. The most learned of the non-Muslims were humbled and defeated, even converting to Islam when met by the greatest interpreters of the Qur’an and Sunnah (lifestyle of the Prophet), who were the Prophet’s own progeny. Yet, these descendants would use the Old Testament and the New Testament to dispel the arguments of their opposing counterparts instead of the Qur’an. Indeed many Christians and Jews were amazed that these descendants of the Most Noble Prophet knew the Bible, Torah and Pslams better than themselves. These religious leaders were the most humble, self sacrificing and the most true of all Muslims.
One of the most famous debates took place between Imam Musa al-Rida (as) and other religious scholars. The Shia sect of Muslims hold these descendants of the Prophet in the highest regard and even their enemies agreed, there were no better men or women of virtue than them.
One of the most famous stories of the Qur’an and one which many Christians either do not know or remain silent about is when some of the highest Christian priests at the time, challenged Prophet Muhammad (saw) in debate for several days. Unable to defeat him in debate and unwilling to admit they were proven wrong, they engaged the Prophet in a mutual dual of invoking their belief in God to lift mercy from the other. The time was set for the next day. When the Christians saw the Holy personalities that the Prophet brought with him: his daughter Fatima (as), his son-in-law Ali (as) and his grandsons Hasan (as) and Hussain (as), the Christian priests cried out saying, “By God! These are faces if turned upwards would bring down mountains!” They ran to ask for a halt to the event, falling over themselves in recognition that the Prophet and his family were indeed of great piety and virtue with a close connection to God.
Deuteronomy 18:18 claims that a Prophet resembling…
Deuteronomy 18:18 claims that a Prophet resembling Abraham (as) will come to bring the final word of God. Jesus (as) was not married or had children. But the Most Noble Prophet did. In fact Jesus (as) says in the Bible that a great prophet will follow him and his name is Ahmad, which is another name for Muhammad (saw). Indeed, the bible tells of the forthcoming of the Last Prophet of God over and over again. In fact, Jesus (as) testifies to this over and over again.
The current translations that Christians use to say that Christ is a part of God by self proclamation in the Bible has proven to be misinterpreted, factually incorrect, mistranslated and even dispelled since most biblical scholars agree that this version is full or errors. King James is rife with errors and most Biblical historians concede some parts of it are essentially lies because the translation is very weak. In earlier texts, Jesus (as) says several times when people call him God, “who are you calling me?”
The surfacing of other gospels which are carbon dated to the same era as the Biblical Gospels include the lost Gospel of Mary, Peter, Judas and Thomas, which were blacklisted by the early church for political reasons. In act the first Gnostics of the Christians were murdered by the Church as it decided what man wanted included and omitted from the Bible. It is believed that there are many lost Gospels due to this reason. The four that have been found and proven to be of the early era as the other Gospels prove that the Bible has many faces to it in relating the story of Christ and His disciples. At best, the current Bible is an incomplete, error prone and as produced by committee of exclusion to political and social whims of the Church. The fact that over the ensuing centuries is has been further butchered lays truth to the claim that what God said of the Bible it true, it has been tampered with by man in which lies are attributed to Him.
There is a story of a Muslim in Norway who…
There is a story of a Muslim in Norway who accepted Christianity when life became difficult for him. This website encourages to find these people in weak times and convert them. How sad it is that you openly prey on the down trodden as a means of conversion. Anyways, this youth from Norway ends up back at a mosque after a few years hitting his head repeatedly while shouting “I have sold my faith for this world!”
Let me close by saying this: I know of Christians that when they are exposed to true Islam, they are amazed by it. I know of Christians who hear a verse from the Qur’an and begin to cry proclaiming it’s beauty. I tell them narrations and they are speechless and express their awe. They try to lie to themselves that they can never be Muslim because of what society tells them. They read the Bible and wonder why Christ questions God if he is His son. “How,” they ask, “am I to understand God if Jesus (as) is supposed to be a part of God and yet, questions Him and thus, his own self?” They turn to their faith with questions and close their eyes, trying to drown out “the why” and rely solely on a faith that is constantly teetering.
Islam is the answer they seek.
You christians really do not make sense. Your bible has been distorted and disfigured how can you possibly say you are speaking the truth when your bible isnt? How can you say that jesus was born(which is not his name by the way it is Isa Ibn Maryam [Isa the SON of Mary]) to a women but claim he is a SON of ALLAH. May the anger and the curse of Allah continue to punish you and the jews for lying about our Prophets and more importantly about ALLAH glorified is HE and praised is HE, above anything that they associate as partners with him.
Watch your words and apologize, If some idiots call themselves Christians and do certain acts that offended you, then you should confront with the impostor, But never never offend Christians or followers of other faiths. We real Christians believe good tree can be known by its fruit, As I christian I will not attack your religion even you are attacking mine and Others. I don’t know your religion, however if you attack others faith, people will perceive your religion is encouraging you attack to other people. Therefore keep your hatred to yourself or else you will help more people to hate your religion.
First 16 bishops of jerusalem are Unitarians! As Jesus.they blvd “Yr Lord God is One God.” Now,do research why?
Mujahid,
I understand the Qur’an says that Jesus is the Word of God, Spirit of God, and Breath of God. Let us look at what the Word of God says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” -Matt 5:43-48. May peace, grace, and forgiveness through the only One able to give it come to you today. He is the Resurrection and the Life, the Way, and the Truth. The only Straight path comes through Him. He is Jesus.
This article creates deception about real christians.
As a Christian I feel this articles and other contents in this site creates wrong idea about Christianity. First of all having such templates and categories will just hurt real Christians. We Real Christians have nothing to offend Muslims. In fact most of the things that Muslims have in parallel with Biblical verses. I guess biggest problem is ignorance of certain Muslim communities and fake Christians those who skip biblical guidelines but create their own hypocritical methods with fake righteousness.
Not eating pork is very much Biblical rule, However it has very logical reason. We real Christians don’t eat pork or other unclean food because we want to keep our body and soul clean by reducing risk of bacterial infections and excessive cholesterol.
Fake Christians not only provoke Muslims but also hurt real Christians. We real Christians encourage other people to learn our faith without manipulating anyone. First you learn the meaning of Christianity, You cannot call yourself If you carry cross (Antichrist symbol originated from pagans), Eat unclean food, have premarital / extramarital fornication, celebrate antichrist festivals (christmas, halloween etc) go to churches that known for being antichrist and politic (Catholic, Orthodox, Mormon etc).
Christianity is a lifestyle, one of the best way to have a better life, have success in marriage and profession. Christianity is not about calling yourself christian. It comes with daily practice with wisdom.
Christianity won’t have any issue with any other faith in fact it can co-exist with any peaceful philosophy. A real christian will be always objective and free from hatred, discrimination and racism.
Nobel Spirit,
You speak with such clarity. I pray that the Almighty will forgive my Muslim brothers, sisters and I if we have offended you, but in our defence particularly post 9/11, the world attacks us at every opportunity, so we defend. In their attacks they make the arrogant assumption that we are heathens and know nothing (this website rates very highly amongst this sort of thinking); many of us know so much about Christianity yet all too often we find how little is known about Islam (again this website being indicative of such ignorance).
We find it hard to differentiate between the different Christian denominations because of our fundamental belief in Oneness (oneness of a Creator oneness of belief, oneness in the brother[sister]hood of prophets, of which Isa/Jesus (AS) is highly regarded). You are absolutely right that we should not attack because Allah commands this of us in Surah Kaafirun (which is really a guide for how Muslims should conduct ourselves when dealing with those who dont believe as we do) I forget the verse but Allah also condemns anyone who brings His glorious name into disrepute. Don’t get me wrong there are different schools of thought, but never to a point where we can say that because s/he adheres to the teachings of a different school they are not Muslim.
I wish you peace and blessings from the Almighty.
It may be okay to invite some Muslims to church but we never have. We have found that the men are shocked by the lack of respectful clothing the young girls often wear. I would think very seriously before I would invite any Muslim to church, in many cases; wearing shoes, laying Bibles on the floor and marking in them…we seem to treat God and worship very lightly.
I seldom reply to comments here but I must say, this is a point I truly wish we as “church” would look at more closely. If you look at the clothes the women will wear at the Olympics it is easy to understand why fundamentalists (in any religion) start to question respect of God in all our societies …
EVERY ONE is a sinner, whether in Christianity or in Islam. We all have sinned/sin secretly in our hearts (e.g. lust=adultery, hatred=murder by Jesus’ standards in Matthew 6), and/or outwardly. We have all broken EVERY ONE of God’s commandments, whether in thought/intent, word, or deed, and Jesus has shown this to us so we may see our need for a Savior. We are doomed to separation from God, Who in His holiness cannot receive us into Paradise in our sinful state – all our good deeds/righteousness stained with sin are as wearing filthy rags in His sight. Therefore God in His great love and mercy and compassion has sent Jesus, uniquely born of a virgin as proof He comes from God and does not have a sinful nature as ours, to perfectly fulfill His Law on our behalf and pay the price for sin on our behalf (as foreshadowed by the shedding of innocent blood for atonement of sin in the Torah) – read Isaiah 53, the oldest scroll dated to about 300 B.C., to see that it has been literally fulfilled in the Gospels of the New Testament. Hundreds of other prophecies about Jesus have been fulfilled int he Gospels as PROOF that the Bible holds the TRUE HISTORICAL testimony of Jesus.
Jesus and the Apostles warned to beware of false prophets (those who add or take away from the testimony of Jesus in the Bible), false teachers (those who distort the teachings in the Bible), and false Christs (those who claim Jesus has returned in them, or here and there). In particular the apostle John in 1John 2 and 5 warns us of the spirit of ANTICHRIST which would deny the Father and the Son. There are other “litmus tests” for being a true believer, the main one being that you MUST be born again, as Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 – Christ comes to live inside of you through the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist said of Jesus (in John 1) when he first saw Him, ““Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
oh this is so funny ! when approaching the quran to seek guidance, if they truly seek it from one God they will get it
oh what to fear the unknown!
Sorry to spoil the party here chaps but you do like to chirp on. The central problem here for the Muslim is this: You study and obey and fear to question whilst following a God that neither speaks to you nor do you know. The truth cannot be established by one witness. You cannot say that you know God because man taught you about him, you learn and understood, you do not belong to God by virtue of your lineage. You cannot say that a book came from God if you have nothing to back it up with. God can speak for himself, he can fight his own battles and he can speak personally to you should you dare to trust in him.
Moses was not talking about Muhammed when he spoke of a prophet like himself coming in the future: God Bless