1.

INRODUCTION: Develop a theology and practical approach of mission to the people of

other faiths in your context. I live in diverse village where 14% of the population are Muslim, 60%
of people are Hindus, 20% of people of the people are Christians and 6% of the people are Animist
and other religions. In this paper I am going to focus on the Muslims, and the first part of this paper
gives brief detail about Islam and the second part of this paper focus on the stumbling blocks of
Muslim and the final part deals with the practical way of approaching Muslim.

2. ISLAM- Brief overview:

Islam is the the name of a faith( religion) established by the ProphettMuhammad, , who was born in
Mecca around A.D. 570. One who believes Islam or followers of Isalm are called Muslim. It’s one
amongst the world’s major religions, together with Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity.
Islam can be followed by anyone who believes that there’s just one God and Muhammad was His
final Messenger. Since its birth in Arabia over 1,400 years ago it grew rapidly, making a profound
impact on the humanities, literature, philosophy, science and medicine throughout history and today,
an estimated number of 1.1 billion people within the world are Muslims. There are two main
branches of Islam; they are Sunnism1 and Shi'ism.2

Islam's central teaching is that there’s one all-powerful, all-knowing God, who is Allah. In Arabic,
Islam means "surrender," or "submission," to the desire of God. Muslims believe Mohammed was
the last and most significant during a series of prophets, including Abraham, Moses and Jesus.

The holy book of Islam is Quran, which means "the timeless words of God." The core practices are
named as the Five Pillars: daily prayer, faith, fasting, pilgrimage and giving alms.

Performing the Hajj is that the fifth pillar of Islam. Hajj means to line out for an area and for
Muslims that place is Mecca. It’s mandatory for every Muslim to create the journey at minimum of
once in an exceedingly lifetime.3

3. KEY STUMBLING BLOCKS FOR MUSLIM:

Following are some of the stumbling blocks in the mind of Muslim.

3.1. Incarnation

3.2. Trinity

1
Sunnis make up nearly 90 percent of Muslims worldwide. They accept that the first four caliphs were the
true successors to Muhammad.

2
Shiite Muslims believe that only the caliph Ali and his descendants are the real successors to Muhammad.
They deny the legitimacy of the first three caliphs. Today, Shiite Muslims have a considerable presence in Iran, Iraq
and Syria
3
CNN. Islam, a brief over view. http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/12/12/islam.overview/
3.3. The Cross

3.4. The revelation

4. APPROACHING MUSLIM COMMUNITY:

4.1. Change in attitude towards the Muslim faith.

They must not judge you as a missionary who holds to “western stereotypes” about the Muslim faith
like Islam is evil, Islam teaches extremism, Muslims follow the Islamic faith, and therefore all
Muslims are terrorists. If a Muslim is able to form this opinion from your first conversation with him,
you will encounter a brick wall at some point in the conversation. Show that you have a healthy
respect for their devotion to their religion and appreciate their commitment. Even the Apostle Paul
did this when he saw the idol worship in Athens he said “Men of Athens, I see that you are very
religious.” (Acts 17:22).

4.2. Learn the Language of your audience and express the Gospel using their idioms and
phrases

Learning the Language of the local culture is the quickest way to endear ourselves to them and built a
rapport with them. Even while sharing the Gospel it is important to find Local ways of expressing it
using words idioms and phrases that they are most familiar with. In the case of Muslims we can use
Isa nabi (Jesus is recognized as a prophet in the Quran) for Jesus and Moosa (also a prophet in the
Quran) for Moses etc. when Muslims see that we have taken effort and learnt their language it shows
them that we value and respect their culture. This goes a long way for opening their heart and minds
to the Gospel. A working knowledge of the language of the Muslims like Arabic or Urdu also
enables a missionary to avoid committing cultural offences so as not to hinder our careful
evangelistic approach. Accept their offers of hospitality and return the favour. Most importantly,
learn the taboos in Muslim culture in terms of food, clothes and manners and avoid them.

4.3 Developing a dialogue with Muslim.

Intentional, structured encounters between Muslims and Christians are generally termed “Muslim-
Christian dialogue.” Interfaith dialogue is a conversation in which two or more parties seek to
express their views accurately and to listen respectfully to their counterparts. 4
Need of Muslims and Christians dialog can be view in the statements of Pope Benedict XVI to
Ambassadors from Muslim countries in 2006 in which he said:
“Inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue between Christians and Muslims cannot be reduced to an
optional extra. It is, in fact, a significant necessity, on which in large measure our future depends” 5

4
Gerard Forde,” A journey together A resource for Christian Muslim Dialog “(Cois Tine, Publication,
Ireland,2013).
5
Benedict XVI, Need of Muslims and Christians dialog. http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-
xvi/en/speeches/2006/september/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060925_ambasciatori-paesi-arabi.html(24.8.21)
The Second Vatican Council’s Statement on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions,
which is called Nostra Aetate , gives the positive attitude towards dialogue with Muslims that is
reflected in most Christian denominations:

“The Church regards with esteem also the Muslims. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in
Himself; merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men; they
take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the
faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God.

Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honour
Mary, His virgin Mother; at times, they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the
Day of Judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the
dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and
fasting”. Nostra Aetate 3 (1965).6

Christian, Muslim dialogue represents major effort to cooperate with others in increasingly
interdependent and religiously diverse countries. But at the same time Muslim Christian dialogue go
throw many obstacles. It would take too long to draw up list of all misunderstandings, the
prejudices , which in the past have vitiated the relations between Muslims and Christians, and which
even today make relations difficult. 7

Christianity and Islam share much common ground, both trace their roots to Abraham. Both believe
in prophecy, God’s messengers (apostles), revelation, scripture, the resurrection of dead, and the
centrality of religious community. Despite these similarities, however, these two religions have
significant differences which we need to be aware of, as true dialogue can be built only on rational
understanding.8

4.4. Use the Quran as a bridge:

Muslims revere their scriptures, the Quran. It is necessary for the us to have knowledge about its
contents to use it as a communication tool that leads to the Gospel. we can learn from the Apostle
6
Paul, Declaration on the relation of the Church to non- Christian Religion.
http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_nostra-
aetate_en.html(24.8.21).
7
Nazleen Khan. Interreligious dialogue finale.
https://www.academia.edu/40201223/Interreligious_dialogue_final(25.8.21)
8
The Antagonist Religionhttps://kylentrapps.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/the-antagonist-religion/(25.8.21).
Paul and Jesus here. Jesus approach is especially suggestive. He did not come to preach Judaism, nor
did he come to preach salvation through the Law. Yet he never attacks the Law. Rather he shows the
Jews that the Law was in fact pointing to him.

I am personally convinced that the prophet Muhammad was confused in his understanding of who
Jesus was. On the one hand he denied his deity and crucifixion. On the other hand, Jesus is called
Kalamet Allah, "the Word of God" (4:171), and Rouh Allah, "the Spirit of God" (2:87). Jesus is
significantly quoted as saying "His (God's) blessing is upon me wherever I go" (19:30). A better
translation would be "He (God) has made me blessed wherever I may be." Also, in the Qur'an, Jesus
is the only prophet who raises the dead. There is also mention of his miracles and healings and his
miraculous virgin birth.

I believe the Qur'an can be used to bring Muslims to the feet of Jesus. Virtually all converts from
Islam say that the God they knew distantly in the Qur'an they now know more fully in Jesus Christ.
As Jesus and his apostles were able to point to the gospel from the Old Testament, so we can point
our Muslim friends to Jesus from the Qur'an

5. CONCLUSION:

When we see Paul, he preached to the men of Athens with the knowledge of their literature to
communicate truth about the creator God. This does not mean that he endorsed the beliefs of the
writer but he used it as a “bridge” from where he could launch. (Acts 17:28). As we progress in our
sharing we must slowly make the transition of our textual authority from the Quran to the Bible.
Otherwise they may say “if the Quran says the same things that the Bible says, why should I
change?”

We should not give it centre place in our gospel presentation. Jesus, the saviour is the only way to
Know God not Muhammad the prophet. Muslims must believe Jesus is their saviour, and this belief
can only come from the Bible. The story of redemption cannot be told from the Quran.