On the baptism of Muslims

As many of you know, I really enjoy reading St Francis Magazine. Yes, yes, I have published articles there in numerous occasions, but that is not the only reason why I like it.

I was looking over some older articles and I ran across this one by one Azar Ajaj, a Palestinian (ethnicity) Israeli (citizenship) evangelical (spirituality). I thought his article on the topic of Muslims seeking baptism was really good.

I especially enjoyed his explanation of how people from an Arab-Islamic background understand what they are asking for:

I want to pause for a moment here, and try to explore the meaning of baptism for a person coming specifically from Islam. For many people in the west, Islam is seen only as a religion. But as a person who has lived among Muslims for more than forty years, I can say that Islam is much more than that; it is described as ‘the best nation’, or khayra ummah in Arabic (Quran 3:110). Muslims consider themselves as a nation, a family with similar traditions and points of view . Ummah is related to the word umm in Arabic, which simply means mother. For a person to leave Islam is to leave his ‘mother’, ‘family’, nation. Or maybe it is better to say (as they [un-converted Muslims] understand it) to betray them.

How is this related to our case? Well, Islam is a religion that emphasizes the practice of rituals [...]

Don't you want to read more? Check out his entire article here: Baptism and the Muslim Convert to Christianity by Azar Ajaj.