Reaching Muslims with the gospel

Islam is the second-largest religion in the world, with close to two billion adherents. Across much of Africa it is not a distant faith but the religion of the family next door, the colleague at work, and sometimes the parents of the person you married.

You will not reach a Muslim friend by beating a caricature. You reach them by understanding what they actually believe, honouring what is true in it, and showing where Christ answers what Islam leaves open.

This article explains Islam itself. For the hard apologetic exchanges — the crucifixion, the Trinity, the charge that the Bible is corrupted — see Evangelising Muslims — a complete guide.

What Muslims believe: the six articles of faith

Sunni Islam, the majority tradition, summarises its creed in six beliefs.

1. God (Allah) is one, without partner, equal or division. This is tawhid, and it is the heart of everything.
2. Angels are real servants of God, including Jibril (Gabriel), who is believed to have brought the Quran to Muhammad.
3. Books: God revealed scriptures to prophets — the Tawrat to Moses, the Zabur to David, the Injil to Jesus, and finally the Quran to Muhammad.
4. Prophets: God sent many messengers, from Adam through Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus, ending with Muhammad as the "seal of the prophets".
5. The Last Day: every person will be raised and judged; deeds will be weighed, and people will enter paradise or hell.
6. Divine decree (qadar): everything happens by the will and knowledge of God.

A Christian can affirm a surprising amount of this. That is not a weakness to hide; it is where the conversation starts.

The word Allah is simply Arabic for God. Arabic-speaking Christians have used it in their Bibles and prayers since before Islam existed, and Hausa Bibles in northern Nigeria use Allah to this day. The question is not the name but who God is and what he has done.

What Muslims do: the five pillars

Islam is a religion of practice as much as belief, and most Muslims experience it through these five duties.

These are taken seriously. A Muslim who has kept the fast through a hot Ramadan, or who rises before dawn to pray, is not lukewarm about God. Respect that.

Where Islam comes from: Quran, hadith and law

The Quran is held to be God's own speech, revealed to Muhammad in Arabic between about AD 610 and 632, and preserved without change. It has 114 chapters (surahs). For most Muslims it is not a book about God but the eternal word of God — closer to what Christians believe about Christ than about the Bible. That comparison helps: Muslims believe the Word became a book; Christians believe "the Word became flesh" (John 1:14).

The hadith are reports of what Muhammad said and did, gathered into collections such as Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. Much of daily Islamic practice — how to pray, how to wash — comes from the hadith rather than the Quran.

Sharia is Islamic law drawn from both, interpreted by recognised schools. In much of West and North Africa the Maliki school dominates; along the East African coast, the Shafi'i school.

The many faces of Islam

Sunni Muslims are the large majority, around 85 to 90 percent worldwide.

Shia Muslims, the largest minority, believe leadership should have passed through Muhammad's family, beginning with his cousin and son-in-law Ali. They are concentrated in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, with growing communities in Nigeria and elsewhere.

Sufism is not a separate sect but a mystical strand found in both. Sufis seek a personal, felt nearness to God through devotion, remembrance (dhikr) and the guidance of a spiritual master. Sufi brotherhoods have shaped Islam across West Africa for centuries, and many Sufi Muslims are deeply drawn to the person of Jesus.

Folk Islam: the faith most people actually live

The Islam of textbooks and the Islam of the street are often different. Across Africa and Asia, most Muslims live what scholars call folk or popular Islam — formal belief joined to a vivid concern with protection and power.

• Amulets and charms, often containing written verses of the Quran, worn for protection from harm or to secure success.
• Jinn — spirits the Quran says are real — believed to cause illness, madness and misfortune.
• The evil eye — harm caused by envy, guarded against with charms and set phrases.
• Holy men and shrines — marabouts, mallams or saints consulted for blessing, healing and protection, sometimes after death at their tombs.

What the Quran says about Jesus

Muslims honour Jesus (Isa) more highly than most Christians realise. The Quran:

• Affirms his virgin birth (Surah 19:16-22). Mary is the only woman named in the Quran, and a whole surah bears her name.
• Calls him "the Messiah" and "a word from Him" (Surah 3:45), and "a spirit from Him" (Surah 4:171) — titles given to no other prophet.
• Records his miracles, including healing the blind and lepers and raising the dead (Surah 3:49).
• Speaks of his return at the end of time, according to Islamic tradition.

It also denies his deity and his crucifixion (Surah 4:157), and insists he was only a messenger. So the Quran gives Jesus extraordinary titles and then refuses to say what they mean.

That is the opening. Ask, kindly: the Quran calls Jesus the Word of God. What does it mean for God's Word to become a man? John's Gospel has an answer: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1).

Where the gospel speaks into a Muslim's longing

Assurance. In Islam no one can be certain of paradise. Deeds are weighed on the scales (Surah 101:6-9), and the outcome rests on God's will. The Quran even has Muhammad say, "I do not know what will be done with me or with you" (Surah 46:9). Many devout Muslims carry a real anxiety about the Day of Judgement. The gospel offers what Islam cannot: "I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13).

Sacrifice. Every year at Eid al-Adha, Muslims sacrifice an animal to remember Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son, and God's ransom of him "with a great sacrifice" (Surah 37:107). Genesis tells the same story: "God will provide himself the lamb" (Genesis 22:8). Ask what the ransom pointed to. John the Baptist answers: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29).

A God who loves first. The Quran says God loves those who do good and those who are steadfast (Surah 2:195, 3:146). The gospel says something no other faith says: "God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Love that comes before we deserve it is the most startling thing a Muslim can hear.

A Father. Muslims would never call God "Father"; it sounds like the shirk of giving God a family. But Jesus taught his followers to pray "Our Father" (Matthew 6:9), and the Spirit lets believers cry "Abba!" (Romans 8:15). Explain that this is not biology but intimacy — the nearness Sufi Muslims are seeking, offered freely.

How to engage well

Be a neighbour first. Muslim cultures prize hospitality. Accept invitations, extend them, eat together, attend the naming ceremony and the funeral. Friendship is not a technique; it is the ground the gospel walks on.

Respect what is sacred to them. Do not put a Quran on the floor, mock the Prophet, or bring pork or alcohol to a Muslim home. Small courtesies speak loudly, and their absence closes doors.

Ask before you answer. "What does Ramadan mean to you?" "Do you know whether God will accept you on the last day?" "What do you think Christians believe about Jesus?" The answers will tell you where to begin.

Use Scripture. Many Muslims have never read the Gospels, though the Quran honours the Injil. Offer to read Luke or John together. Let Jesus speak for himself.

Pray, and expect God to act. Many Muslims who come to Christ describe dreams of Jesus or answered prayer in his name alongside the witness of a friend. Pray with your friend when they are sick or troubled, in Jesus' name, if they will let you.

Count the cost with them. Leaving Islam can mean losing family, marriage, work, inheritance, and in some places safety. Never pressure. Be ready to be family to someone whose family turns away.

What you are offering

Not a Western culture. Not contempt for a faith that has taught your friend to pray.

You are offering the one the Quran calls the Word of God, as he really is. A sacrifice that has already been made. A forgiveness that can be known, not only hoped for. And a God who can be called Father.

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me" (John 14:6).