India, 150 million Muslims: insight
Where else in the world can you find over 150 million Muslims as the minority religion? Only in India! Where else can you find over 400 different Muslim people groups, based on occupation, geographical location or shade of Islamic believe? Only in India!
India is Accessible
Yet even with these facts considered, many Christians around the world seem to ignore or give scant attention to, the needs of this huge group of Indian Muslims.
We can also say that the Muslims of India are perhaps the largest accessible Muslim population in the world. This is due in part to India's pluralistic framework and secular constitution. Opportunities for open Christian witness abound and there are open doors for many kinds of Christian ministry.
Islam was introduced to India by conquest and grew through the successful efforts of Muslim missionaries and high birth rates. Today India is the second largest Muslim nation in the world.
Hour of Opportunity in India
Some of the largest Muslim people groups in India include the Bengalis, the Biharis, Jat, Pathan, Julaha, Shaikh, Rajput, Kashmiri, Ansari and the Labbais.
Having read this article, so far, we could conclude that there must be hundreds, if not thousands, of Christians sharing the love of Christ regularly with their Muslim neighbours in India, right? WRONG!
Alas, as of this date there are perhaps not more than 150 workers (including both Indians and expatriates) in full time witness to Muslims. There are some very encouraging developments happening, however, with more unity between churches and organisations reaching Muslims in India. There are also continued reports of Muslim leaders receiving visions and dreams of Jesus!
It is the hour of opportunity for the Muslims of India - may we not miss it!
India
Prayer for the Muslims in India:
* Pray for the religious freedom in India to continue. It is under threat from certain groups in the nation.
* Pray that the Muslims of India would each have an opportunity to hear, and see, the Gospel in a culturally relevant way.
* Pray for the many large indigenous Indian Missions organisations, that they will "tithe" some of their people for Muslim work.
* Pray for continuing and new training initiatives to train workers and church planters for Muslim ministry.
Background on India (World Factbook)
The Indus Valley civilization, one of the oldest in the world, dates back at least 5,000 years. Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated onto Indian lands about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. Arab incursions starting in the 8th century and Turkish in the 12th were followed by those of European traders, beginning in the late 15th century.
By the 19th century, Britain had assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands. Indian armed forces in the British army played a vital role in both World Wars. Nonviolent resistance to British colonialism led by Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU brought independence in 1947.
The subcontinent was divided into the secular state of India and the smaller Muslim state of Pakistan. A third war between the two countries in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. Despite impressive gains in economic investment and output, India faces pressing problems such as the ongoing dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, massive overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and ethnic and religious strife.
Economy of India
India's diverse economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of services. Services are the major source of economic growth, accounting for more than half of India's output with less than one third of its labor force. About three-fifths of the work force is in agriculture. The economy has posted an average growth rate of more than 7% in the decade since 1996, reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points. India achieved 8.5% GDP growth in 2006, significantly expanding manufacturing. India is capitalizing on its large numbers of well-educated people skilled in the English language to become a major exporter of software services and software workers.
Languages of India
English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language.
Statistics on India
Population: 1,173,108,018 (July 2010 est.) World rank #2
Age Structure:
0-14 years: 30.1% (male 187,397,168/ female 165,403,830)
15-64 years: 64.6% (male 391,430,598/ female 366,256,167)
65 years and over: 5.3% (male 29,806,029/ female 32,814,226)Life expectancy at birth: 66.46 years. World rank #159
Ethnic groups: Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3%
Religions: Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1%
Languages: Hindi / English / many more ... see note above
Literacy: 61% -- Male 73.4%, Female 47.8%
School life expectancy: 10 years
India's amazing diversity ...Video
I am an Indian, Hindu. Thanks for following words.
You wrote :
Pray for the religious freedom in India to continue.
I am thankful for the above words. I dont know where you are from. Often Indian secular policies have been misinterpreted by others becuase of Kashmir issue. India is the only place where multi lingual multi religious and multi cultural is in nexus and respected. I am proud to have very good Muslim friends who visit our home during Hindu festival. Also we do the same for Islamic festival. That's how we respect friends, religion is apart from friendship. Religion you practice at home closed doors as our personal, not outside homes.
psawykb pldyruv sfnp ouai smna vtjnarl hrgcvxm
India is a multy coloured nation like a rainbow. Its beauty lies in Secularism. Many colours make white when they get mixed up. White is acolour of peace. Secularism means Peace. Let us pray for Secularism. NAZNEEN O. SAHERWALA
Let us understand the meaning of true JIHAD. Jihad means to struggle or to strive very hard. To earn money through honest means is Jihad. To spread the message of Islam through peaceful means is also Jihad. Islamic Jihad is a positive and continuous process. It is at work in the entire life of a believer. There is no aggressive or offensive war in Islam. Islam allows only a defensive war and that too, only when there is no other option. The time has come today for Islam to play a great constructive role,leading human history once again into a new age of progress. In this world,unity is achievable only by learning to unite inspite of differences,rather than insisting on unity without differences. There is difference between Jihad and Fasad. Two persons or two groups fighting over trivial things is Fasad. Allah is merciful tells the Quran. Prophet Mohammed s.a.w. left Makka and went to Madina tells us that he did not like bloodshed. He avoided war most of the time. Nazneen O. Saherwala (Surat, India)
Muslims and Christians alike exalt the virtues of justice, charity and forgiveness. They believe that the extent to which they practice these virtues in life will largely determine their fate after death. They believe that mercy is God's-Allah's dominant quality. Thus both believe in the religion of one creator. They have Bible and Quran as their guides Both believe in books. Where is the difference? Why do we fight? We need dialogue. Let us spread the message of love. Nazneen O. Saherwala.(Surat, India.)
You are very correct my friend, There is only One God and creator and He is full of love for His creation, the mankind. God loves every one irrespective of caste , creed , culture, language etc and wants to draw everyone to Himself i.e LOVE. All must work together for peace and unity and must teach our people and make them aware of false instigation, by certain elements who want to divide our great heritage, that leads to errors.
Yes, both believe in books (Bible and Koran) but we must remember that both Bible and Quran describe Jesus Christ as the Word of God. He is the living Word of God who knows us and loves us, forgives us and died for us. Jesus is our living Quran, who is alive and speaks to us and is in us with his Spirit. Let us spread the message of Jesus Christ and his love. I do not find a message of love in the Quran to share.
dear allen
the Quran starts its Opening Chapter(Al Fatiha) "'all praise is due to God, the Beneficent,the Merciful". every single chapter save the chapter of repentence is preceded by the formula....In the name of God, the Beneficent , the Merciful.
and indeed there is a verse of Quraan, the eternal word of God, the Eternal , which is" Ar Rahmaanu alal arsh' istawaa" meaning the Most Merciful is predominant upon the Throne.
And so much more...if you wish to understand the Quran and by extension Islam please read 'The Koran for Dummies'...I"m still busy with mine.
so...my point is that there is indeed a message of love in the Book of God.
Jesus ,son of Mary,the Messiah is referred to as spirit or soul of God, not word of God.And Gabriel is referred to as The Spirit or The Soul. And in classical literature as the Sacred /Holy Spirit.
Islam is a religion of God's mercy and justice.It is the justice that is often misunderstood as harsh and unloving.But justice is not a matter of love or hate.And justice is a topic of its own
Dear Khalid:
the Qu'ran does call Jesus the Word of Allah [God]. I can't remember the exact refernce. The Quran also calls Jesus the Messia or Christ!
in the name of God, the Benficent, the Merciful
Dear Grace
Thank you for the reply.
Indeed Jesus, peace be upon him, is called Al -Maseehu Isaa 'bnu Maryum in the noble Qur'aan.(chapter 3 verse45. )which translates as ' The Messiah Jesus son of Mary.
the entire verse in Arabic....idh qaalati 'l- malaa'ikatu(when the angels said).... yaa maryamu (oh Mary) inna 'Llaaha yubash'shiruka( verily God gives you good news) bi kalamati minhu( by means of a word from Him.) 'smuhu 'l-maseehu 'isaa 'bnu mayama(his name will be the messiah Jesus son of Mary) wajeehan fi 'd-dunyaa wa 'l-aakhirati(held in honour in this world and the Hereafter)
wa mina 'l-muqar'ribeen(and from among Those That are Near)
Now let me explain a part that i found confusing . I thought I found your reference o f Jesus peace be upon him being the word of God.But I had never come across such a concept.
The confusion was because of translation. If you look at the arabic qur'aan and not the human english translation you'll know that 'word from God' and 'his name will be Jesus...' are 2 grammatically separate sentences, the second is more like a sentence after a clause providing more info. in arabic word is in the genitive case suject to the preposition bi but ismuhu and after are in the nominal case , hence not governed by bi.also the preposition 'bi' is used with inanimate objects and consequently does not refer to jesus, only the news or word of his arrival. complicated hey.
If you want me to explain the arabic grammar please contact me. it will take a while but i promise to try.I'm a layman , I'm sure there are more eloquent and learned individuals.
may God guide us all.
hello mr allen how r u? i u did not read ur bible! we muslim believe that bible contain few words of God,,not all, ur bible contain porngraphy, do u know? i challenge u that u cannot read those verses in public, u will feel shame....Proof that the Bible contains some pretty strong stuff - but donkey porn! And they make children read this????
Ezekiel 23
23:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 23:2 “Son of man, there were two women who were daughters of the same mother. 23:3 They engaged in prostitution in Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution. Their breasts were squeezed there; lovers1 fondled their virgin nipples there. 23:4 Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah2 the name of her younger sister. They became mine, and gave birth to sons and daughters.3 Oholah is Samaria and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
23:5 “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was mine.4 She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians5 – warriors6 23:6 clothed in blue, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 23:7 She bestowed her sexual favors on them; all of them were the choicest young men of Assyria. She defiled herself with all whom she desired7 – with all their idols. 23:8 She did not abandon the prostitution she had practiced in Egypt; for in her youth men had sex with her, fondled her virgin breasts, and ravished her.8 23:9 Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians9 for whom she lusted. 23:10 They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword. She became notorious10 among women, and they executed judgments against her.
23:11 “Her sister Oholibah watched this,11 but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister. 23:12 She lusted after the Assyrians – governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 23:13 I saw that she was defiled; both of them followed the same path. 23:14 But she increased her prostitution. She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red,12 23:15 wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians13 whose native land is Chaldea. 23:16 When she saw them,14 she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.15 23:17 The Babylonians crawled into bed with her.16 They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she17 became disgusted with them. 23:18 When she lustfully exposed her nakedness,18 I19 was disgusted with her, just as I20 had been disgusted with her sister. 23:19 Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt. 23:20 She lusted after their genitals – as large as those of donkeys,21 and their seminal emission was as strong as that of stallions. 23:21 This is how you assessed22 the obscene conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled23 your nipples and squeezed24 your young breasts.
Lot and his two virgin daughters followed the commands of God. They kept going. However, Lot's wife did not follow the commands of God. She looked back, and she turned into a pillar of salt.
Lot and his two daughters kept going higher into the hills. After some days and nights, they finally stopped. They stayed there for a while. They looked around. They rested. They found a cave in the mountains and lived there.
Finally, after some days, one daughter said to the other. "Now, we are all alone. All the people of our village of Sodom are dead. We have nothing left. We also have no men to become our husbands. We have only our father left. What shall we do?"
Finally, the two virgin daughters hit upon a plan. They found some grapes. They made them into wine. They prepared the wine for their father. Their father, not knowing what their plan was, drank the wine. Finally, their father became completely drunk. They carried Lot into his cave and laid him down.
One daughter left the other alone with Lot in the cave. The daughter in the cave with Lot had sex with her father. Lot was completely drunk and did not know what he was doing. The next day, Lot had no memory of this.
The next night, the two daughters brought some more wine. Lot drank the wine and got drunk again. Again, they took them into his cave. This time, the other daughter had sex with her father. The next morning, Lot had no memory of any of this.
The two now no longer virgin daughters both became pregnant from having sex with their father. Each daughter gave birth to a baby boy. The name of the first boy was Moab. The name of the second boy was Benammi. These two boys each became the founder of a great tribe.
That concludes the Story of Lot.
i ask the raders will u give the bible to ur child? the story of Lot? what is the morality will learn ur child? is it God words?
My dear friend its so nice that you have read the Bible. but sad to know you have taken the wrong perspective of it. That is why I love this book so much...because it will not just show the good side of people, cultures and nations but its is an accurate narration of all the wicked things done too. The problem with mankind is that man only wants to show the good things, but God Almighty is also interested in pointing out over sins very meticulously and making us aware of our guilt and the reasons why curses have come upon people , cultures and mankind.
The problem with all people is that we do all these things,and take interest in such things but before people we want to show that we are mister perfect / clean. These things are written also as a historical record for our knowledge and understanding.
Children under the age of 13-14 do not really understand all these things and these are not for the children, that's why we have the New Testament separately so that first children may understand the unique teachings of Jesus, that you find nowhere in any books, the gospels bring to light the works and teachings of Jesus Christ. His suffering for the sins of the mankind and His death in excruciating pain and His resurrection from the dead, which is also historical truth. The Bible teaches that Jesus became a sacrifice for sins of all mankind and whosoever believes in Him will not perish and be doomed to eternal hell but will have everlasting / eternal life with God in heaven and thereafter the books talk to us how the church must conduct itself and leave shunning evil lusts of the flesh and pursue God's righteousness through the Holy Spirit who enable us.
Giving to a child the Books of the prophets, which are prophetic in nature and where God is equating the sins of the nations within understandable words of the then perverse generation, is of no value to them. I am sure you do not narrate to your children all that you do in the bedroom with your wife, as it is not essential neither are these things relevant to a child.
So give to the children what is essential for them in their age.
hi.
Now I understand you.
But the Islamic view of prophets of God is that they are perfect exemplars of God sent by Him to guide communities throughout time, protected by Him in all their words and action.Prophets are protected from major sin.As Jesus peace be upon him is perfect so is every prophet in Islam.Hence the shock at reading such items in the Holy Book of Christians.
Sex is an integral part of humanity and is dealt with matter of factly.qv story of Joseph and Potifer's wife in the Quran where she tries to seduce him.Details however are left to the parents.And that brings me to my point, prophets and their lives are examples to muslims hence these stories are shared with our kids at a young age.
So...very different mind sets.And yes God does present to us bad judgements of prophets like Jonah fleeing nineveh when people would not listen.we are told how he redeemed himself, but again he is protected from major sin like polytheism, adultery etc.
Today every one has his own idea of Allah the one and the only creator. Everyone has his own design of Allah. To define Allah is not only difficult but impossible and improbable. A person who prays to Allah regularly can give a faint idea. Allah is love, truth,peace, justice, compassion, knowledge and much more. He is Noor (light). He is beauty. He is eternal. He has no beginning and he has no end. Allah can do anything, but he does not take drastic steps to change the universe because he does not want to change his own system creating disturbance everywhere. A pure heart is required to have a vision of Allah. The key to Allah's infinite reaches is within you, open your self and you will receive. No Allah no peace, know Allah know peace.
Pray for the Kashmiri Muslims of India:
* pray for peace in Kashmir
* pray for protection of Kashmiri believers
* pray for workers for the Kashmiri
* pray fro visions, dreams, and revelations of Isa [Jesus]
* pray for acutrate and complete Bible transaltion into Kashmri
* pray for eah Kashmiri village to be reached
* pray for salvation of key Kashmiri leaders who will declare the Gospel to their people
دابة العنكبوت تكشف عن موقع سفينة نوح علية السلام من القران الكريم وهي حاليا موجودة في حضرموت.شبوة. اليمن ادخلshipnoah.com Noah's Ark Hadramout Yemen. سفينة نوح علية السلام MUST WATCH!!!shipnoah.com