As you might imagine, the gap between Muslims and Christians seems to get wider and wider with each explosive newscast. As I travel around the country speaking to Christians trying to share with them basic ways to be like Jesus in their response to Muslims as people and Islam as a religion, I am often confronted by similar questions and concerns. In this article and others to follow, I would like to give you some practical answers to dispel some of the myths and actually prepare you to be an ambassador of hope in a world torn by chaos. I truly believe it is time for the people that claim to follow Jesus to actually act as He did and be the ones to span the gaps in an ongoing call to reconciliation. That means we might need to be the first ones to try to build a bridge.

Just one more “rule” before I begin sharing some insights into this people group that represents nearly 22% of the world’s population and much of what Christians label the “unreached”: I am responding to all these issues from a biblical principle of searching for truth within another worldview, not error (1 Thessalonians 5:21 is one example, 1 Corinthians 13:6 is another). This is markedly different from the prevailing perspective that seems to say the Good News for someone is the bad news about their religion. The Good News is that God is the God of Truth wherever it is found and He uses it to lead all people into a closer relationship with Him, the God of Love. So, all of my responses are based in this kind of search for redemptive truths wherever they can be found and build upon them toward a biblical understanding of faith.

The first question almost always is what or who Muslims worship. The simple answer is, according to the Qur’an (the holy book of Islam), Muslims worship the Creator God. This would be the same Creator God referenced in the Bible as the God of the Jews and Christians. In fact, more than 20 biblical prophets and characters are mentioned by name with allusions to their stories! Muslims believe they are praying to that same God. In fact, there are Arabic-speaking Christians who still pray to Allah whenever they pray – that is the Arabic word for the Creator God! So, even though it is rather popular in some circles to say that Muslims worship the moon, the facts do not defend that position and it will not empower your witness!1

Based on this simple answer the first step in building a bridge is to recognize Muslims as fellow people of faith who are looking to the God of all grace and mercy to bring about ultimate peace in a world racked by sin and war. You could spend a long time comparing stories of God’s goodness in your life and your burning hope for the soon return of Jesus to end this misery and bring us into the presence of God in heaven.2 That is a subject you can easily start with and you will find Muslims longing for the same!3

______________

Bryan Gallant is the assistant director of Adventist Muslim Relations for The Quiet Hour. If you would like to learn more about this timely work, support the worldwide Bridge-Building work that The Quiet Hour is doing with Muslims, or have further questions, please contact him directly at BryanG@TheQuietHour.org.

Footnotes:

1 For a much more thorough treating of this subject see the September- October 2008 issue of Mission Frontiers, page 20, the article entitled, What God Do Muslims Worship by Rick Brown; also accessible on the web at: http://www.missionfrontiers.org/2008/05/PDFs/20-25%20Whom%20do%20Muslims%20Worship.pdf

2 For a great sermon entitled Star Rising Over Islam by Dwight Nelson, go to http://media.pmchurch.org/mp3/Sermon060930.mp3

3 There are some different understandings about Jesus that we can talk about later, so keep your focus on God as the Creator of all and encourage deeper faith in God. This is just the beginning of the issue. We will cover much more later. You can also contact Bryan Gallant if you have other questions and would like more resources.