I’ve shared before general strategies on how to share your faith with Muslims, but now I’d like to focus on a one-time encounter. What do you say or not say? What are they thinking? How can you challenge them?
The best way to share your faith with a Muslim is to befriend them. Provide for them a safe environment to ask questions. Ask questions also so that they understand they can ask questions without necessarily doubting their faith. Go far out of your way to show them you care about them. Also, be patient and not pushy. This all describes an ongoing friendship and conversation, but you can also apply these important qualities if you don’t think you will be able to meet up with them again.
Here’s the nice thing. Muslims are friendly and love talking about their faith. If you go up to a Muslim you’ve never met before and say “hi” in a friendly way, I can promise they won’t get upset. Even further, if you ask them to share about their faith in a genuine manner, they will eagerly jump on the opportunity. Think about it, if a stranger asked if you were a Christian, and asked you to share what you believe, would you be upset? Hopefully, you’d be thrilled. In the same way, Muslim’s love sharing what they believe, as long as you are open and friendly. Getting into a spiritual conversation is as simple as that. The question is, what do you share after that?
Inside the Mind of a Muslim
Before we can really discuss what to share, you need to know what they are thinking. Islam is not Christianity. Of course you knew that, but this goes much deeper than any of us will ever know. Most Muslims never even think to question Islam because this fear is rooted so deep in their subconscious.
Immediately after Muhammad died, a large chunk of people left Islam. Abu Bakr, the Caliph who took Muhammad’s place, waged war against those who left Islam and killed them. This is called the war of the Apostate. Once a Muslim, there is no leaving. According to the Qur’an the absolute worst crime a Muslim can commit against Allah is to leave the faith.
I know some of you may have studied Muslim apologetics for long hours. I have too. In reality, when fear is involved, solid arguments do nothing. No amount of evidence against Islam or for Christianity will have an impact. Unless God is really working in a Muslim’s life, you will never get a Muslim to truly question their faith in a one-time encounter. So, if you only have one shot with a Muslim, what do you share?
Appeal to a Muslim’s deep curiosity.
Muslims have heard a million times over that the Bible has been changed. There’s no doubt in their mind that this is true, even though they can’t prove it. You telling a Muslim the Bible hasn’t changed would be like someone coming to you and telling you that Hitler never lived.
Underneath this belief lives a passionate hunger to hear what the true Bible actually says. They’ve heard so much about how great Jesus was, but they know very little about what he did. Imagine if by some miracle we uncovered hours of real video footage of Jesus’ life. How exciting would that be? That’s essentially how Muslims view the supposed lost gospels.
Again, you can try to prove to them that the Bible hasn’t been changed, but arguments seem to go nowhere for me. The problem is that the Bible is tied to Christianity. For a Muslim to agree that the Bible hasn’t been changed, they have to admit that they were wrong and you, a Christian, were right. This is ground they absolutely cannot give up without questioning their faith. As we discussed, it’s near impossible to get to this point in a one-time encounter.
Fortunately, you don’t need to prove anything.
Try this instead; feed their curiosity. Remind them of their hunger to know. I’ll ask questions like this: “Wouldn’t you like to read the original gospels (Or, injiil, as they call it)?” “What if you could read what Jesus actually did?” Any Muslim who really cares about their faith would latch onto this bait like a Lord of the Rings super fan to a never-before-released-deleted-scenes dvd.
Then I’ll ask “What percentage of the injiil do you think was changed?” Most Muslims will probably give you a percentage under 50%. So I’ll run with that. If half of it was changed, then that means, half of it is still accurate. Feed that to them like candy.
Some Muslims will still refuse to read it because they won’t know which parts they can trust and which parts they can’t. So, I’ll ask “How do you usually feel when you read the Qur’an?” Now you are appealing to Muslim pride. They will usually say they feel calm, or at peace, or happy. So, I just answer with “Then, the parts that make you feel at peace or happy you can know are from God, and the parts that don’t aren’t from God.”
I know that this may set them up to pick and choose what they want to believe, so pray for them. Pray that God would work on their emotions to convince and win them over through his love. And, who cares if they are picking and choosing what they believe when they are reading the Bible!
Open the line of direct communication from God.
And this is the point of the one-time encounter. You may not be able to follow up with them. However, if you could set them up to read God’s word, then that’s a huge win. You don’t have time to win arguments, but you do have time to start them down the path of discovering the true God. And, there’s never been an easier time in history to do this.
Most Muslims won’t buy a Bible or accept one as a gift because that indicates to their family that they are questioning their faith. However, an app is pretty low-key and indicates low-commitment. Even better, you can give them a Bible in their home language right on the spot!
So that’s the strategy of the one-time encounter. Give them the Bible on their phone and direct them toward the books Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You don’t have time to win arguments, but you do have the time to steer their hunger to know about Jesus toward the Bible.
Good luck and please let me know how it goes. Also, please post your thoughts and questions below.
If you want some tips on how to engage in an ongoing relationship with a Muslim, check out my six part series starting with Reaching Muslims (Part 1): Setting the Ground Work
