What does JESUS think about Islamic liturgies in the churches?
Right or wrong???
Francesco Maggio has studied Islam in the last 20 years, engaging in a variety of ministries. He currently works as Evangelist and Teacher in Islamic Studies for the Churches. He continues to do scholarly research today on many thorny subjects that have been raised about the Qur'an by both well informed Muslims and involved knowledgeable Christians. He helps Christians to share their faith with Muslims.
Often he discusses subjects on Islam-Christianity and he puts the spotlight on certain truths that no one has previously raised. His true motivation is to be honest with himself and honest with Muslims whom he loves and for whom he wants to ensure fuller clarity on the essential truths of the Bible.
He has produced various books and tracts on intercultural evangelism.
Often he discusses subjects on Islam-Christianity and he puts the spotlight on certain truths that no one has previously raised. His true motivation is to be honest with himself and honest with Muslims whom he loves and for whom he wants to ensure fuller clarity on the essential truths of the Bible.
He has produced various books and tracts on intercultural evangelism.
LONDON, an evangelic Christian and a radical Muslim Afghani
AN IMPORTANT LESSON
My friend Wahid, an Afghan who describes himself as a radical Muslim, and I meet after having begun our friendship a few days before. He knows that I, also, am a committed believer. Ironically, the passion that both of us have toward our respective belief systems and the strong desire which each of us has to demonstrate that the religion of the other is unfounded gives us something in common. Both of us are missionaries!
He invites me to come with him that evening to break the Ramadan fast at a mosque. We make an appointment to meet. I almost get lost in London: not knowing that big city too well, I get on and off of at least 6-7 buses... just the trip to arrive at our meeting place is a nightmare.
We see each other again two hours later at the appointed place. He offers me a ride in his car and we arrive at a small mosque, which is nothing more than an apartment that has been modified to function as a prayer room. It can easily hold about 80 people. A rug covers the entire floor. When we arrive there are already dozens of people. Not long after our arrival the ritual prayer (salat) begins.
Wahid throws himself into the ritual just like the others. As soon as the “salat” is completed, Wahid accompanies me into an adjoining garden where the guests are getting ready to eat together.
When I enter the improvised “dining hall”, I am suddenly transported 7,000 miles away from Europe. The Muslim guests are seated on the ground, talking among themselves and eating without flatware. There are about seventy of them, all radical Muslims, with long beards, dressed in the typical white tunics and trousers, and many wear white skullcaps on their heads to complete their attire. As I observe the scene before me, I feel as if I was in Asia. The people sitting there come from a Diaspora of at least five nationalities: Afghan, Pakistani, Indian, Somali, Sudanese. Arabs are absent. There is bad blood between the Arabs and these peoples from Asia, even though they are all Sunnite peoples.
Wahid ushers me in and shows me the way and resolutely indicates where I am to sit. It seems they have already assigned me a place. He has me sit beside the head of the mosque, a Pakistani with a bushy beard. Following the well known custom of the Islamic world, I sit on the ground between them, taking care to not point my feet toward the diners seated in front or toward those on either side of me. To point my feet at them would be an outrage because feet are considered ignoble parts of the body. Even though they certainly would not expect a western guest to know this custom, they are pleasantly surprised by my delicacy.
In fact Wahid turns to compliment me for having positioned myself correctly when I sat down. He informs me that there are three positions for sitting politely on the ground and I had chosen the best of the three. I thought that I was gaining credit to better open the way for me to preach the gospel.
The head of the mosque, at my side, makes an effort to converse with me. The usual things... where do you come from, how long will you be in London, etc. I am careful to not give any information, in the wolf’s lair, that could be misunderstood. After a short while, our conversation is interrupted when the cook joins us: an elderly man, with a beard and a big, healthy-looking face. He is carrying a pot that is so gigantic it probably holds 10 liters of steaming hot stewed chicken and a spicy hot vegetable sauce. He serves the portions in a bowl. I notice again that no one is using flatware. Instead of using a spoon, they bring both the chicken and the sauce to their mouths using a piece of bread held in their right hand (never the left, because it is the hand of Satan). Wahid politely offers me flatware, but I decline because I prefer to adapt to their custom.
I appreciate his gesture because certain radical Muslims, like them, view the use of flatware as an imitation of pagan customs. Knowing this perspective, I prefer to eat as they do, out of empathy and to better take advantage of the occasions to talk about Jesus that might possibly arise during the meal.
Wahid begins to talk with me as we bring the food to our mouths with our right hands. I had always expected that, at the supper to end the fast, Wahid hoped to talk to me about their prophet Mohamed. He didn’t waste a moment. At my side sits the head of the mosque. In these cases, knowing myself all too well, I must act with tact even though my outspoken Christian identity distinguishes me. In my heart I ask the Lord for wisdom. When Wahid respectfully teases me, I lay my cards on the table and remind him that, even though I am fully aware of my identity as a Christian, I want to listen to him with sincere interest and respond to what he will tell me. Wahid appreciates this frank approach. With much grace and respect, speaking into my ear, he begins to narrate the beautiful things which Mohamed said and did:
• The religious precepts are on the same level as the five fundamental pillars. It is obligatory to imitate Mohamed’s religious habits.
• Use only of the right hand is obligatory: Spirits (jinn) could enter and possess a person, even a believer, through food eaten with the left hand or through entering a bathroom with the left foot and exit with the right without repeating certain specific prayer formulas against spirits (jin).
• One eats with the right hand and one sleeps on the right side; place the right hand under the right cheek.
• The lust of the eyes: Wahid affirms: “If we look twice at a woman with desire, we commit a sin.” I respond that in the Gospel, Jesus affirms that it is sufficient to look once at a woman and desire her to commit, not only the sin of lust, but the sin of fornication.
• Prostrate oneself in prayer. True believers must always prostrate themselves in prayer. Wahid affirms that we Christians must not pray to the Creator in a sitting position; in fact, he says: “Christians are prideful toward God. While we Muslims always prostrate ourselves.” I explain that Jesus did not prostrate Himself 5 times a day, nor did He use liturgical forms, nor was He a Muslim, nor did He recite the Koran, but He spoke to His Father all the time, sometimes prostrating Himself and sometimes not prostrating Himself. Jesus did not need special periods to intensify His prayer life, nor did He perform the Islamic salat. I ask him; “How can you, Muslim, affirm that Christians never prostrate themselves before the Lord? We act in an atmosphere of divine grace and are free to pray in any position.”
• Repress pride: Wahid explains to me that Mohamed said that “if a man dies with the weight of only an atom of pride he will go to hell”. He affirms: “Islam offers the answer for conquering pride.” (1) (see last page)
Public opinion, worldwide, would consider a statement like this as outrageous. How can I tell him that Islam sustains pride and promotes the “purification” of the church from all associators (as the Koran defines Christians) almost as a declaration of spiritual and geographic war? Later, during our conversation I will raise this topic to Wahid to demonstrate how is false this affirmation.
THE FARCE OF PIETY AND ISLAMIC PRAYER IN THE HALL OF THE CHURCH
“ My ears have been open to the bitter words of Moab and the words of shame of the children of Ammon, which they have said against my people, lifting themselves up against the limit of their land. For this cause, by my life, says the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, truly Moab will become like Sodom and the children of Ammon like Gomorrah, given up to waste plants and salt pools and unpeopled for ever: the rest of my people will take their property, the overflow of my nation will take their heritage. This will be their fate because of their pride, because they have said evil, lifting themselves up against the people of the Lord of armies”. Zephaniah 2:8-10
Paul’s nephew brings critical news to his persecuted uncle’s ears. The centurions, notified by Paul, take the boy’s words seriously and come to know about the vile, sinister plot.
But the son of Paul’s sister came to know of the plot; she went to the fort, entered and informed Paul. Acts 23:16
Afterwards, Paul personally prepares a speech based solely on the facts and proves the Jew’s
motivations and reveals at the same time their plot. (Acts 24:1-20)
To really understand the Muslim mentality in its original expression of reputed superiority and the humiliation vis -à- vis the non Muslims, this is must reading.
Some Christians had never heard that Muslims had gone that far, in a church lent to them, arriving at curses against Christians and, not satisfied with that, talking against the doctrine of the divinity of Christ, thus wounding the religious sentiments of their hosts.
This report should not lead to a rejection of Muslims, but to a deepen reliance on the love of God for them, to grace and to a conviction that, in the end, the battle belongs to our Lord Jesus.
This report should not lead to a rejection of Muslims, but to a deepen reliance on the love of God for them, to grace and to a conviction that, in the end, the battle belongs to our Lord Jesus.
This chronicle took place in July 2012; it is a document which testifies that it's not true that exists a pacifist Islam, much less a “peacemaking” Islam.
This account refers to recent events involving a Muslim community and an Anglican Christian community North-West London, whose only mistake was to lend their place of worship so that their Muslim guests could 'pray' there.
This account refers to recent events involving a Muslim community and an Anglican Christian community North-West London, whose only mistake was to lend their place of worship so that their Muslim guests could 'pray' there.
As I have personally heard, the Muslims profane our evangelical churches and extend their territory, pronouncing blasphemes from the Koran, reading verses against the Trinity and other verses which attack the deity of Christ. All of this is done in other churches which they have asked as a favour to use for the Ramadan prayers where they offend the faith and the religion of Christians.
OCCULT ISLAMIZATION IN SOME EVANGELICAL CHURCHES
July 2012. Every evening during the period of Ramadan, after the meal, they terminate their gathering reciting the Koran for an entire hour; this occurs in the big hall of an Anglican church next door.
That evening, around 9 o’clock, we had just terminated to eat in the small mosque, when, to my great surprise, my friend Wahid informs me that we would now go to the Anglican church for the Islamic liturgy! Wahid is a radical Muslim from Afghanistan. Obviously I am interested to see how this Islamic evening would conclude in a church. The first question that comes to mind to ask Wahid is if they would pray with our without shoes... He tells me that I would see for myself. I have only to walk fifty meters from the little mosque into the large hall of the local Anglican church. At the entrance there are many shoes... I remove my shoes and enter the enormous church hall. The entire floor is multicolored with the immense carpets that covers it. At the entrance, a frowning, bearded security man checks that no one enters with shoes.
That evening, around 9 o’clock, we had just terminated to eat in the small mosque, when, to my great surprise, my friend Wahid informs me that we would now go to the Anglican church for the Islamic liturgy! Wahid is a radical Muslim from Afghanistan. Obviously I am interested to see how this Islamic evening would conclude in a church. The first question that comes to mind to ask Wahid is if they would pray with our without shoes... He tells me that I would see for myself. I have only to walk fifty meters from the little mosque into the large hall of the local Anglican church. At the entrance there are many shoes... I remove my shoes and enter the enormous church hall. The entire floor is multicolored with the immense carpets that covers it. At the entrance, a frowning, bearded security man checks that no one enters with shoes.
They immediately begin to recite the Koran in Arabic, scrupulously careful to keep the time table while doing it. In the meantime, others enter and still others after them; I note that the crowd that continues to enter is made of Asian Sunnite ethnic groups and others from the horn of Africa: Afghans, Pakistani, Indians, Somali and Sudanese. There are no Arabs. The relationship between the Arabs and these peoples seems not an easy one!!
I naturally choose to sit on the ground in a corner to observe from a distance. I turn on my recorder to tape the reading of the Koran in Arabic. I enjoy practicing my Arabic. I look around the large hall where, as it is a church, one would expect to see some Christian symbols, perhaps some familiar Bible verses on the wall but there is nothing of the sort to be found. The walls are completely bare. Someone entering the hall and seeing the white walls and over 250 followers of Mohamed crouching in prayer, would assume that it was a mosque.
Those boys who enter with their fathers, but who do not join in the prayer, prefer to run happily around the large hall and play during the reading of the Koran. The man responsible for keeping order intervenes and makes them at least sit down and stay quiet. However , after a little while, the boys begin to play again... then he makes them sit down again, and so on.
In the meantime I struggle to maintain my concentration in order to listen to the Koran in Arabic, writing also down my impressions while they are fresh.
From the reading of the Koran in Arabic, I recognize certain well known passages. Several times “the opening Sura” (the first Sura of the Koran) is recited. Muslims consider that Sura the most frequently recited liturgical prayer (like the “Ave Maria” is frequently recited by Catholics).
I naturally choose to sit on the ground in a corner to observe from a distance. I turn on my recorder to tape the reading of the Koran in Arabic. I enjoy practicing my Arabic. I look around the large hall where, as it is a church, one would expect to see some Christian symbols, perhaps some familiar Bible verses on the wall but there is nothing of the sort to be found. The walls are completely bare. Someone entering the hall and seeing the white walls and over 250 followers of Mohamed crouching in prayer, would assume that it was a mosque.
Those boys who enter with their fathers, but who do not join in the prayer, prefer to run happily around the large hall and play during the reading of the Koran. The man responsible for keeping order intervenes and makes them at least sit down and stay quiet. However , after a little while, the boys begin to play again... then he makes them sit down again, and so on.
In the meantime I struggle to maintain my concentration in order to listen to the Koran in Arabic, writing also down my impressions while they are fresh.
From the reading of the Koran in Arabic, I recognize certain well known passages. Several times “the opening Sura” (the first Sura of the Koran) is recited. Muslims consider that Sura the most frequently recited liturgical prayer (like the “Ave Maria” is frequently recited by Catholics).
THE VERSE WHICH CURSES CHRISTIANS
The first Sura of the Koran is divided in two parts; the first part asks Allah guidance to persevere in the truth; the second part contains invectives and Allah’s curses against all who do not follow Islam, referring first to the Jews and after to Christians. Note that this is the only Sura in the Koran that requires the adherents to say at the end: AMEN! (2 – to see Islamic commentarie on this regard))
THE ANTI-CHRISTIAN VERSES
The other Sura which they read this evening is the Sura 4:171. In this Sura the divinity of Christ is openly attacked. It dethrones him as a mere man and attacks the doctrine of the One and Triune God. I feel a healthy indignation rise within me. They recite the Suras well aware that they are in a building belonging to Christians which they have been allowed to use; they know to be guests in someone else’s property. As guests they should not be so arrogant and inconsistent. I decide to speak of this to Wahid.
The reading of the Koran ends and the meeting is over. A radical Muslim from Pakistan comes threatening toward me. He is disturbed because - he says - I have been writing during the entire Islamic function. Looking him in the eyes firmly, I reply that if he had a complaint, he could talk to my Afghan friend who had invited me as a guest to the mosque. When he heard that I was a Muslim’s “guest” he calmed down and left me in peace. Islamic radicalism wants to take away freedom of speech, thought and opinion.
The other Sura which they read this evening is the Sura 4:171. In this Sura the divinity of Christ is openly attacked. It dethrones him as a mere man and attacks the doctrine of the One and Triune God. I feel a healthy indignation rise within me. They recite the Suras well aware that they are in a building belonging to Christians which they have been allowed to use; they know to be guests in someone else’s property. As guests they should not be so arrogant and inconsistent. I decide to speak of this to Wahid.
The reading of the Koran ends and the meeting is over. A radical Muslim from Pakistan comes threatening toward me. He is disturbed because - he says - I have been writing during the entire Islamic function. Looking him in the eyes firmly, I reply that if he had a complaint, he could talk to my Afghan friend who had invited me as a guest to the mosque. When he heard that I was a Muslim’s “guest” he calmed down and left me in peace. Islamic radicalism wants to take away freedom of speech, thought and opinion.
VERBAL DUEL IN THE CAR
When we leave the hall of the Anglican Church I ask Wahid to give me a lift to the nearest subway stop. We arrive at the stop and Wahid complacently asks me if I liked the meeting and what I thought about the fact that they pray for an hour. I point out to him that they hadn’t really prayed for an hour since the program mainly consisted of the reading of the Koran in Arabic.
I ask, “In your opinion, how many of you understood the Koran in Arabic since there were no Arab Muslims present? And why can’t one of you recite the Koran in Urdu o in Dari, for example, instead of Arabic, since the majority of you are Afghan or Pakistani? Above all, you taught me that there is no friendship between you and the Arabs. Surely you know that we Christians are allowed to read the Bible in our own mother tongue.“
Then I gather my courage and tell him that I had not liked the arrogant attitude, the blasphemy, the anti-biblical affirmations and, worst of all, the cursing of Christians during the reading of the Koran, especially since they were guests of that church.
I underline my disdain for the insincerity and arrogance which had been shown toward the Christians of that local church. I reminde him of “the story of the atom of pride” and his statement that Islam offers the solution to haughtiness. “My dear Wahid,” I say, “how can you tell me that Islam offers the way toward the annulment of pride? When you act in this way, don’t you think you should start all over again to eliminate your pride? Isn’t it true that Islam upholds your pride rather than represses it, Wahid?”
I remind him of those Christians who had permitted them to use their church because they trusted them. “If they really knew how you think,” I tell him, “perhaps they would change their mind about lending their church to you the next time you want to use it to pray to Allah.”
“In your own homes you can say those things, but not in a place where you have received hospitality.” I add: “What I understood is that Islam doesn’t help you to crush 'the atoms of your pride' because you are disrespecting and talking badly about the Christian faith of those who have respected you.
Then I gather my courage and tell him that I had not liked the arrogant attitude, the blasphemy, the anti-biblical affirmations and, worst of all, the cursing of Christians during the reading of the Koran, especially since they were guests of that church.
I underline my disdain for the insincerity and arrogance which had been shown toward the Christians of that local church. I reminde him of “the story of the atom of pride” and his statement that Islam offers the solution to haughtiness. “My dear Wahid,” I say, “how can you tell me that Islam offers the way toward the annulment of pride? When you act in this way, don’t you think you should start all over again to eliminate your pride? Isn’t it true that Islam upholds your pride rather than represses it, Wahid?”
I remind him of those Christians who had permitted them to use their church because they trusted them. “If they really knew how you think,” I tell him, “perhaps they would change their mind about lending their church to you the next time you want to use it to pray to Allah.”
“In your own homes you can say those things, but not in a place where you have received hospitality.” I add: “What I understood is that Islam doesn’t help you to crush 'the atoms of your pride' because you are disrespecting and talking badly about the Christian faith of those who have respected you.
” Wahid looks at me with a stubborn expression in his eyes, wanting to make me understand. “This is Islam... we can’t skip certain verses of the Koran to please others.” Again I respond: “You can read the whole Koran in your mosques but not in churches lent to you. What you did tonight you profaned a Christian place of worship and offending their religious sentiment.”
Just a short time before, Wahid had confirmed to me that those verses from the Koran which contain curses are directed towards Jews and Christians. I repeat, “You read from the Koran the curses of Allah for the people who lent you their church. You offend their religious sentiment and then you go to them and deceive them by saying that all religions are equal? This is not what the God of the Bible teaches. Jesus also said, ‘Do unto others what you would want them to do to you'.”
Wahid stares at me with an affectionate expression in his eyes. He says that their behaviour is not motivated by pride, as I had thought, but is part of the rules. His answer is the final straw. I reply that, if they knew that they had to follow the reading of the entire Koran in the Church, then they must avoid the sin of deception and maintain a civil respect for their Christian friends by not reviling their faith in Christ.
Wahid responds that they must obey the rule of Allah because, he says “no other religion will stand before Allah than Islam”(3). I answer him, saying, “You are saying that Islam must dominate. If this is what you really believe deep down, why do you distribute slogans and reassurances throughout the world that Islam is peaceful, that it is the same religion and, above all, why do you say that the Koran teaches that 'there is no constriction in religion'? So, you have to lie, you make use of the deception... is that how it is, Wahid?”
I posed a rhetorical question but I wonder what they said to the local pastor to convince him to let you use the church? Maybe that Islam is peace? All religions are equal? We have the same God? Other similar lies? And then, I ask him: “don’t you take advantage of the fact that Christians don’t know your faith nor what you read in Arabic from the Koran: that Jesus is not God, nor the Son of God and that you recite the ‘Opening sura’ to condemn them? Haven’t you abused their trust? You are insulting the doctrinal convictions of those who have lent you their building. Doing this you deceive them!”
Wahid, my radical Muslim friend, still trying to get out of the trap, affirms that, in the church, they are morally obligated to recite all the anti-Christian verses in the Koran. I repeat once again that for the sake of honesty before God and men they should not to ask to use a place of Christian worship knowing beforehand that they have to curse.
In conclusion I tell Wahid that independently of the Koran or Mohamed, what I had seen and heard that evening of their dishonest dealings would make any person with no religion choose to be an atheist rather than become a Muslim.
To get Wahid to reflect, I underline these words with an example that will hopefully touch his life:
“If you invited a Christian speaker to a mosque because you were going to lend him a hall (even though this is something you would never do!), and this man began to clearly say what he really thought about Mohamed and the Koran, you wouldn’t like it and, most probably, he would not leave the mosque alive because you had trusted him and given him hospitality. Wahid, would your reaction be right or wrong in this case?“ He answers nodding his head. I continue, “If this evening, I myself, after your prayers, had begun to talk with some of you and said exactly what I think about Ramadan from a Biblical point of view, would you not have thought that I had betrayed your trust?
Not budging a millimetre from his original position, Wahid replies that Islam is the only religion accepted by Allah.
At the end of the confrontation, remembering what he had said only three hours earlier about how Islam helps to eliminate ones pride, I tell him, “I see that with Islam you have a long way yet to go in order to not have even the weight of million atom s of pride. According to what Mohamed said, referring to an atom weight of pride you don’t have any hope of going to paradise. As for me, I prefer to take the meekness of Jesus as a model.”
During and after the discussion, our tones remaining serene and mutually respectful, Wahid offers me some Islamic literature which he had prepared ahead of time to give me. I hadn’t come empty handed myself. I had brought a very special book which addresses Islamic doctrinal questions against Christianity as well as a DVD of the film “Jesus” in his Dari (Afghanistan) language. In the book, I wrote him a dedication and my email address. He is pleased. We part ways, agreeing to go out to eat together as soon as I return to London. In his way, he cares about me. Me too.
I leave him with the words of Jesus, hoping that His words, not mine, would penetrate Wahid’s heart: “do unto others what you would have them to do unto you.”
Perhaps each evening when they recite the Koran in that Anglican Church, Wahid will remember my anger and disdain... Pray that the Lord might us me in the conversion of Wahid.
Just a short time before, Wahid had confirmed to me that those verses from the Koran which contain curses are directed towards Jews and Christians. I repeat, “You read from the Koran the curses of Allah for the people who lent you their church. You offend their religious sentiment and then you go to them and deceive them by saying that all religions are equal? This is not what the God of the Bible teaches. Jesus also said, ‘Do unto others what you would want them to do to you'.”
Wahid stares at me with an affectionate expression in his eyes. He says that their behaviour is not motivated by pride, as I had thought, but is part of the rules. His answer is the final straw. I reply that, if they knew that they had to follow the reading of the entire Koran in the Church, then they must avoid the sin of deception and maintain a civil respect for their Christian friends by not reviling their faith in Christ.
Wahid responds that they must obey the rule of Allah because, he says “no other religion will stand before Allah than Islam”(3). I answer him, saying, “You are saying that Islam must dominate. If this is what you really believe deep down, why do you distribute slogans and reassurances throughout the world that Islam is peaceful, that it is the same religion and, above all, why do you say that the Koran teaches that 'there is no constriction in religion'? So, you have to lie, you make use of the deception... is that how it is, Wahid?”
I posed a rhetorical question but I wonder what they said to the local pastor to convince him to let you use the church? Maybe that Islam is peace? All religions are equal? We have the same God? Other similar lies? And then, I ask him: “don’t you take advantage of the fact that Christians don’t know your faith nor what you read in Arabic from the Koran: that Jesus is not God, nor the Son of God and that you recite the ‘Opening sura’ to condemn them? Haven’t you abused their trust? You are insulting the doctrinal convictions of those who have lent you their building. Doing this you deceive them!”
Wahid, my radical Muslim friend, still trying to get out of the trap, affirms that, in the church, they are morally obligated to recite all the anti-Christian verses in the Koran. I repeat once again that for the sake of honesty before God and men they should not to ask to use a place of Christian worship knowing beforehand that they have to curse.
In conclusion I tell Wahid that independently of the Koran or Mohamed, what I had seen and heard that evening of their dishonest dealings would make any person with no religion choose to be an atheist rather than become a Muslim.
To get Wahid to reflect, I underline these words with an example that will hopefully touch his life:
“If you invited a Christian speaker to a mosque because you were going to lend him a hall (even though this is something you would never do!), and this man began to clearly say what he really thought about Mohamed and the Koran, you wouldn’t like it and, most probably, he would not leave the mosque alive because you had trusted him and given him hospitality. Wahid, would your reaction be right or wrong in this case?“ He answers nodding his head. I continue, “If this evening, I myself, after your prayers, had begun to talk with some of you and said exactly what I think about Ramadan from a Biblical point of view, would you not have thought that I had betrayed your trust?
Not budging a millimetre from his original position, Wahid replies that Islam is the only religion accepted by Allah.
At the end of the confrontation, remembering what he had said only three hours earlier about how Islam helps to eliminate ones pride, I tell him, “I see that with Islam you have a long way yet to go in order to not have even the weight of million atom s of pride. According to what Mohamed said, referring to an atom weight of pride you don’t have any hope of going to paradise. As for me, I prefer to take the meekness of Jesus as a model.”
During and after the discussion, our tones remaining serene and mutually respectful, Wahid offers me some Islamic literature which he had prepared ahead of time to give me. I hadn’t come empty handed myself. I had brought a very special book which addresses Islamic doctrinal questions against Christianity as well as a DVD of the film “Jesus” in his Dari (Afghanistan) language. In the book, I wrote him a dedication and my email address. He is pleased. We part ways, agreeing to go out to eat together as soon as I return to London. In his way, he cares about me. Me too.
I leave him with the words of Jesus, hoping that His words, not mine, would penetrate Wahid’s heart: “do unto others what you would have them to do unto you.”
Perhaps each evening when they recite the Koran in that Anglican Church, Wahid will remember my anger and disdain... Pray that the Lord might us me in the conversion of Wahid.
CONCLUSION
To the outsider, this true story may seem like a pretty squabble over soccer market share, much like Brasil or Spain vying for bragging “WorldChampion Cup” over a new generation of fans. However, for Christian and for Muslims alike the stakes appear infinitely serious and higher. Both movements have the mandate of their founder to reach the world with their message.
Of all the major world religions, these two are the most mission-minded.
Of all the major world religions, these two are the most mission-minded.
The Muslims profane our evangelical churches and extend their territory, pronouncing blasphemes from the Koran, reading verses against the Trinity and other verses which attack the deity of Christ. All of this is done in churches which they have asked to use for the Ramadan prayers where they offend the faith and the religion of Christians.
Their tactic of dissimulation against all those who are not Muslims, is an offence against Christians throughout the world who have believed and continue to believe the Islamic declaration that “the true Islam” is peaceful, ‘never arrogant’, as well as their second claim that ‘we all have the same God’.
Further, each side is exclusivist when it comes to the matter of salvation, teaching that its message alone will determine their destinies in heaven or hell yet contradictory plans of salvation. Believing in one religion means necessarily to reject the other.
For these reasons, Islam and Christianity remain adversarial in regard to their goals, for the choices are of eternal consequences. That's why there can be no compromise on such issues of ultimate importance.
Further, each side is exclusivist when it comes to the matter of salvation, teaching that its message alone will determine their destinies in heaven or hell yet contradictory plans of salvation. Believing in one religion means necessarily to reject the other.
For these reasons, Islam and Christianity remain adversarial in regard to their goals, for the choices are of eternal consequences. That's why there can be no compromise on such issues of ultimate importance.
Instead of responding with fear and hatred we must respond, as we have read here in proactive way!
In many ways, the relative success of Islam in our midst should serve as a rebuke to the Church of Jesus Christ for our poor witness regarding the grace and truth of our Lord.
In many ways, the relative success of Islam in our midst should serve as a rebuke to the Church of Jesus Christ for our poor witness regarding the grace and truth of our Lord.
In these times of modernism and more recently, postmodernism, we must come back to the roots of the Gospel that will help to open the Muslim mind and heart to the superior excellencies of Jesus Christ.
We must become active ambassadors of Christ's love, even toward those who curses us as Christians, as this story has demonstrated once again, but not naive in order to not damage the sacred truths we find in the Word of God.
We also have to play our part in our days to learn about Islam and what the religion of the Koran really says. There are great risks in ignoring the religion of Mohammed, the risk of apathy, of misunderstanding, or naive acceptance on the one hand, and the risk of thoughtless demonising on the other. These risks only grow as Muslims increasingly intermingle among the population of today's Europe.
Francesco Maggio (Promoter Christian-Muslim Dialogue)
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REFERENCES:
1)The Prophet said: ‘The person who has one atom of pride in his heart will not enter Paradise’. A man present asked the Prophet: "Verily, a man is fond of having good clothes and good shoes." Muhammad said: "Allah is Beauty and delights in the beautiful; but pride is holding man in contempt." http://elazhar.com/prophetstories/Chapter1-7.htm (Islamic web site)
2) http://sunnahonline.com/library/the-majestic-quran/455-tasfir-of-chapter-001-surah-al-fatihah-the-opening#h16-qnot-the-path-of-those-who-have-earned-your-anger-nor-those-who-have-gone-astrayq (see subtitle ‘the Jews and the Christians’
3) Sura 3:19;3:85
4. Suras 8:30b; 3:54 (to deceive, delude, cheat non Muslims)
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