انا سعودي، انا مسيحي

David Virtue interview Abu Daoud on Sharing Jesus with Muslims in America

I was very pleased to be interviewed by David Virtue earlier today on my recent book Sharing Jesus with Muslims in America. Read it all HERE.

Also, please do share it, and leave your comments on David's page rather than here.

Here is a taste of the interview:

VOL: Can moderate Islamists co-exist with Christians? 

DAOUD: The Muslim world is trying to figure out what moderate Islam is. I don't really know what that means. Does it mean Islam without shari'a? Then it's not Islam anymore. Does it mean a-political Islam? Islam is and always has been an empire and legal system as well a religion. Like the Ayatollah said, "Islam is politics, or it's not Islam." 

But we certainly can form relations with Muslims in America. You may be worried about cultural queues and what is appropriate or not. Well, get the book because we cover all that. In the end, if you are acting out of love and charity then any missteps will be forgiven. 

Just start praying every morning, "Lord, give me a Muslim friend." Not the most eloquent prayer, I know, but just do it. Let God surprise you!

Read the rest of it HERE.

Worry about conversions to Christianity spreading

This article is about a member of the royal Kuwaiti family who recently converted to Christianity. There are some questions as to his identity, but the story has spread.

What caught my attention though was at the end of the article:

After Heidar Moslehi, the Iranian intelligence minister, asked Muslim seminaries to become proactive in stopping the spread of Christianity, a high-ranking cleric declared that Evangelical Christianity is the most horrifying intelligence and security organisation in the world. This statement seems to have appeared on press agencies close to the Revolutionary Guard. In a conference on “New Age cults” held in Varamin, a district south of Teheran, Akhond Mohsen Alizadeh declared: “We should not allow these cults to question Islamic jurisprudence under the cover of mysticism.” He went on to add: “They tell the youth that God is wrathful and horrible in Islam but is love in Christianity. Also, Christian preachers answer the questions and doubts of youth in their own interest and try to attract them.” Nevertheless a whole series of signs seem to indicate that non-traditional Christianity – there are Catholics and Orthodox Christians in Iran as well as a large Armenian community – is spreading. The regime’s press recently spoke of them with concern and the number of cases of repression and condemnation following conversions is growing.

I think these two paragraphs communicate to us two things: 1) the authorities don't understand evangelicalism at all, and 2) they are worried.

In any case, let's pray that we would continue to see these conversions. And let's also pray for the traditional churches that they would be more active in welcoming in converts from Islam.

A Baptismal Liturgy for Converts from Islam

Greetings, 

Here is part IV of my series on sacraments and mission, which I started many years ago for St Francis Magazine. This one contains an introduction summarizing why I think that liturgy is valuable for those engaged in mission to and among Muslims, and then contains a liturgy for baptism (of an adult) based on the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church (USA), which yes is very liberal, but the liturgy in the Prayer Book  is very good.

So check it out, try it out if you are doing any work among Muslims, and let me know what you think.

'Mission and Sacrament, Part IV: A Liturgy for the Baptism of Muslims, to be Conducted on the Feast of Pentecost' in St Francis Magazine Vol 10:2, June 2014.

The first three articles can be found (in order) here, here, and here.

Peace,

Abu Daoud

Orthodox Christian Network: Converts from Islam to Christianity

Interesting interview at the Orthodox Christian Network on conversion from Islam to Christianity.

Check it out HERE.

Discipleship and believers of a Muslim background: St Francis Magazine Vol 10:1

As a contributing editor for St Francis Magazine I am proud to share with everyone our first issue for 2014. The focus of this issue is discipleship for believers who have come from a Muslim background.

I believe this is one of the most strategic topics that the Church must address in relation to our mission to Islam. Let me explain: over the last few decades hundreds of thousands of Muslims and ex-Muslims have made a confession of faith in Jesus Christ. That is the good news. The bad news is that a good number of these people have a faith that peters out, gets tired, becomes silent and defeated, or even revert to Islam.

"Well," someone might say, "That means they never had a true faith at all." That might indeed be the case, but that is not our call to make. I am certain that in many cases the problem was the lack of a firm foundation of discipleship and training.

The April 2014 issue of St Francis Magazine takes up this important issue. Here is one sample (and more to come):

"Discipleship and Leadership among BMB's" by Daniel Edwards. Here is a sample:

As missions, we must begin to think seriously of how to shift our focus to include evangelism and discipleship, and then to progress from discipleship to leadership preparation.The time has come to identify and to build up future leaders for the church among BMBs.The emerging church is in great need for many Timothys to carry on the heavy responsibility of leadership. A friend of mine interviewed Mr. A. Khidri, the director of the Bible society in Algeria. One of the questions asked was: “What is the church’s greatest need in your homeland today?” Mr. Khidri responded to this vital question by saying: “Our greatest need is to develop servant leaders with Biblical qualifications and deep theological understanding.”

Former Muslims United (USA)

I was aware that various councils or groups for ex-Muslims existed in Belgium and the UK and some other countries in Europe, but behold, there is one in the USA as well. On their Mission Statement page they list, among other things, the following goals:

1. Develop a legal framework for and ensure the civil rights of American individuals and organizations to provide sanctuary for former Muslims without being subject to legal penalties or threats.

5. Educate the American public, especially politicians and those in the U.S. legal system, of Islamic law’s encouragement of extra-judicial enforcement or vigilante street justice against apostates who are subjected to serious death threats in America and from abroad.  Denial is a common reaction by many Muslim leaders to those who warn about clear-cut laws in all Islamic legal schools of Sharia.  As a matter of fact, Islamic law states that it is permissible to lie to non-Muslims to accomplish a Sharia-sanctioned objective.  Thus, since killing apostates is a Sharia-sanctioned objective, misleading Western publics is permissible and practiced regularly.  This point must be clear to the public in order to understand the extent of the threat and the disingenuousness of the public response by Muslim advocates of Sharia.

God bless them in their efforts! Learn more about them HERE.

What Abu Daoud predicted about the Arab Spring

Hi All,

I was recently going over this interview I did with Don Warrington at Positive Infinity for another interview I'm doing right now, and I was struck by how I nailed the Arab Spring all the way back in January of 2012. Check this out:

6) Where do you see MENA going, especially in view of events such as the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and the Arab Spring?

This is the million-dollar question, isn’t it? First, the people who protested didn’t take political control, so as much as they wanted freedom and democracy, they just won’t get it, I’m sorry to say. The Egyptian elections were demonstrably corrupt, though the international press has not said so—I have no idea why. The Islamists will take power and they will not let it go. And why is this surprising? That is precisely what Muhammad did—engaged in diplomacy and compromise and so on, but once he had power he was ruthless. In the end, an Islamic society cannot be a free society. Islam and freedom are mutually exclusive.

The question I have is this: will it be like Iran? After the revolution in `79 Islam had a chance to prove itself in the political arena, and Islam, unlike Christianity, makes substantial guarantees in this area. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians have concluded that Islam failed—it did not deliver politically so it must be false in terms of its religious and spiritual claims too. They have turned to Christianity some of them, and some to secular humanism or atheism. Will this happen in these newly Islamist states? Perhaps. I pray it will. Islam’s love of political power may well be its Achilles’ heel. Meanwhile, that means the native Christians need to stay as long as they can, and foreign missionaries like me need to stay no matter what. I will do it. Maybe the kids and wife need to go back to the US, I will do everything I can to stay here even if all hell breaks loose.

Anyway, if you didn't read the interview when it came out, I think it contains a good summary of my own philosophy of mission and opinions regarding the Arab world today: here are Part 1 and Part 2.

Conversion from Christianity to Islam in Cameroon

In this part of the continent, including Cameroon, there has been growing influence of Islam through economic development. The country is a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and nations like Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey are increasingly investing in Cameroon. Other investors include Arab Contractors based in Cairo and the Islamic development bank in Jeddah, a coastal city in Saudi Arabia. These investments often come with increased Islamic influence and pressure on usually lower- income rural people to embrace Islam for the economic benefits connected with such a move. 

Read it all, at Open Doors.

A Church of Afghan Converts

Wow, what a wonderful story. Praise be to God for bringing these people to the light and hope that is found in Jesus, who is the very image and icon of God:

Between 200 and 250 Afghan converts from Islam to Christianity who feared persecution from the Afghan authorities and the Taliban have found refuge in Delhi.


“The number of coverts to Christianity increased as the U.S. presence increased after the fall of the Taliban,” said Obaid Jan, 33, the pastor, who led the Bible service. “Most of the Christian converts lived in urban areas, so the threat from the Taliban was minimal,” he added.

But the Christian converts started fleeing Afghanistan around 2005, fearing their identities might become public. Most came to India after video footage of their secret churches found its way to Noorin TV, a Kabul-based television network, in May 2009. Their lives were further endangered in 2010, when an influential member of the lower house of the Afghan parliament, Abdul Sattar Khawasi, called for the converts’ execution.

Execution indeed. And that is the punishment which Muhammad explicitly prescribed for people who leave Islam: "Who so changes his religion, slay him!" (Google it, it's from Sahih al Bukhari). And so, in the religion of peace, the four schools of Sunni shari'a are in unanimous agreement that the apostate must be killed.

How can someone look at a man who would say such a thing and think he is the final prophet from God? I just don't understand it.

May God bless and guide Muslims, and bring them into his wonderful light.

Read more HERE.

Christian ex-Muslim to be executed in Iran

Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that Yosef Nadarkhani, a 32 year-old Iranian evangelical pastor, must reject his Christian faith or be put to death. It’s the latest incident in the Islamist Republic’s continuous and increased assault on its small Christian population.

Nadarkhani was first arrested on the charge of apostasy (leaving Islam for another faith) in October 2009 and sentenced to death by hanging for his refusal to teach Islam to Christian children. While Nadarkhani hadn’t practiced any faith before he became a Christian at age 19, he was born to Muslim parents and thus considered to be a Muslim under Islamic law.

Coming to a European city near you soon! Read it all at Front Page.

Patron Saint of Muslim converts to Christianity?

Ok, ok, so a lot of you don't believe in patron saints. The idea behind a patron saint is that certain saints have such an affection for certain kinds of people or people in certain situations that they intercede for the before God. If this is indeed the case, then Joseph, patron of travelers, has been interceding for me and my family for years. Also Francis Xavier, patron of missionaries. Also, Aquinas, who is a patron of scholars has been interceding for me. Lots of intercession there! Also, our city in the Middle East has a patron, and presumably that patron prays for us as residents of said city.

Which got me thinking--is there a patron for Muslims who convert to Christianity? I figured there was not, but that Bl Ramon Llull would make a fine patron, should he be recognized as a full-fledged saint some day (which he should).

But alas, it appears that there is a contender for Muslim converts to Christianity: St Casilda of Toledo (died c. 1050).

The Rev Ghulam Masih Naaman, ex-Muslim, Kashmiri, Anglican priest

Born in 1923 in Kashmir, he became a soldier, then a Christian, and then in 1960 an Anglican priest.

His story can be found here.

The Rev Sultan Muhammad Paul, Afghan, Anglican Priest, convert from Islam

Sultan was born in Kabul in 1881, moved to India to study Islam, and became involved in polemics against other religions. During his hajj to Mecca he started to reflect on eternal salvation and wether or not Islam could actually provide it. He reflected on the hadiiths where Muhammad says that he cannot save anyone at all, even through his intercession. Then he found the verse in Matthew where Jesus issues the great invitation: 'Come to me all you heavy-laden, and I will give you rest....' He accepted.

In 1903 he requested baptism, and eventually received the sacrament of Holy Orders in the Anglican Church.

More can be read about him in Called from Islam to Christ by Fr. Jean-Marie Gaudeul. Or, if you are particularly resourceful in terms of finding books: Why I Became a Christian which he himself wrote (Gospel Literature Service, Bombay: 1978).

His entire testimony can be read HERE.

Question

Question:

What was the name of the Anglican priest who was born in Afghanistan and was an ex-Muslim?

Will post the answer after a few people take guesses, or at least say, I don't know but I'd like to know.

Jean Mohammed: Convert from Islam and Franciscan Monk

Just learned about this guy today. Very interesting...

Read more here.

Mark Bradley on Christianity in Iran

Bradley is one of the few people who has written on the current awakening happening in Iran. It is hard to get information related to it, and harder still to explain why it is happening in Iran, rather than in, say, Jordan or Syria, countries with great religious freedom (relatively speaking). Bradley proposes that the Shia-Sufi DNA of Iranian Islam is a key factor:

“The Shia faith instills the importance of a just Imam, who is willing to die for his people, yet still present to guide, and certainly determined to return to return in victory; and the philosophy of Sufism invites everyone to move beyond rigid religion, and embark on a journey where they deny themselves to experience the light. As disillusionment with the Islamic revolution has spread, so the appeal of a religion which shares so much with Shiism and Sufism has increased—especially when shed of its Western externals. Rather than being the enemy of Christianity in Iran, the dual religious identity of Iran might prove to be its best friend.” p. 22

Bradley, Mark. 2008. Iran and Christianity: historical identity and present relevance. London: Continuum.

If you are interested in the topic and want to read his ideas, that book I just quoted from is the more rigorous and detailed one, but it's hard to find and expensive. Rather, order his earlier and more basic (but much cheaper) Iran: Open Hearts in a Closed Country.

Kathryn Kraft on converts from Islam and community

The most recent issue of St Francis Magazine (volume 6:6) just came out. You can browse the contents here. I am particularly interested in Kraft's article entitled 'Faith is live out in community: Questions of new community for Arab Muslims who have embraced a Christian faith'. You can DL the entire article HERE. And of course you can download the entire volume 6:6 HERE. I have been busy (extremely busy) with many other things, so I have nothing in this issue of SFM, alas.

Kraft makes some great points, based on real field work, and not just hearsay and anecdotes, which makes her research all the more valuable in my sight. For example:

As the number of converts in a region grows and the group also grows, a different set of challenges presents itself, and enthusiasm and commitment can decrease as people become more anonymous. There is often a subsequent loss of cohesiveness (Pitchford, Bader and Stark 2001:385-386). One man, who is one of the most experienced known converts in the city where he lives, has seen the number of converts grow from almost none to a group that is too large to keep together. He

sees that there is good in having different groups for different types of people, but also misses the cohesiveness that he felt when there were few converts [...]

Translation and Conversion in Bangladesh

The Bengalis of East Pakistan in 1971 rebelled against the dominance of ethnic groups of West Pakistan and created Bangladesh. They also rejected Christianity as Western and rejected the Bengali Bible which used Hindu rather than Muslim terms and even used different names for Bible characters than Muslims used for the same people. When the New Testament was translated using Muslim friendly Bengali terms and was labeled the Injil Sharif (their name for it), it became the best-selling book in the country. What attracted Muslims to Christ was learning that the Injil Sharif identified him as the mediator between God and humans, but it was easier for them to follow him when they learned that they could use the forms of worship with which they were familiar.

Dudley Woodberry 'The Fullness of Time for the Muslim World'. 2008.

Part XXII: Iranian Christianity

Part XXII: Iranian Christianity

by Abu Daoud
November 2010

That Muslims are converting to Christianity in numbers unprecedented throughout history comes as a (welcome) surprise to most Christians in the West. Every now and then I find someone who has heard about one of these movements, like the tens of thousands of Berbers in Algeria who in the last two decades have converted, or the hundreds each year who are baptized into the Catholic Church in countries like France and Italy. Or perhaps they have heard of the experimental laboratory that is Bangladesh, where there are groups of people who call themselves Christ-followers but don’t use the term Christian or Muslim to refer to themselves.

But one of the most numerically significant movements of Muslims to Christianity is among Iranians. I am not talking about people with Iranian citizenship who come from ethnic groups which are traditionally Christian (Armenians and Assyrians), but about the large ethnic group whose ancestors were Zoroastrians and slowly but surely, century by century converted to Islam. Today there are very few Zoroastrians left in Iran.

While I have spent most of the last five years in the Arab world, I have of course occasionally spent time in the US and the UK for multiple reasons—conferences, education, vacation, weddings, and so on. And during that time I have had the pleasure of meeting with many Iranian Christians. Some of them are brand new believers, just-baptized, some of them converted decades ago and are seasoned leaders in their churches. Some left Iran under favorable circumstances, while many left Iran as political, economic, or religious refugees. Some of them converted while still in Iran, some of them after their departure. I want to outline here a couple of things I have noticed about Iranian Christianity in the Diaspora.

First, this is a new church. If you have an Egyptian or Palestinian who comes to Christ, they are able to look back to their ancestry and say, ‘I had Christian ancestors, I’m returning to something ancient.’ And that can be important from a psychological and emotional point of view. Knowing that can bring them strength and encouragement. But Iranians never were Christians. So the churches they are forming and the sort of Christianity they are constructing is genuinely something brand new, and not simply a newer version of something ancient.

Second, Iranian Christianity preserves Iranian culture and identity. Iranians who become Christians tend to be critical of Islam to some extent. Many of them identify it with Arab culture and thus as something imported from afar, and ultimately something that degraded Persian culture. Most of their children have Persian names, and not Arabic ones. On the other hand, they continue to celebrate the Iranian New Year (Nowruz) with its rich traditions, because it is pre-Islamic.

Third, it is non-denominational. While these Christians by and large are evangelical and perhaps charismatic, there is no one denomination or Christian tradition that dominates the movement. On the plus side this means that Christians from many different churches and denominations are able to bring their ideas and spiritualities to the table. The down side is that personal differences among leaders can sometimes lead to divisions that probably did not need to happen. Over the years I have been in touch with Iranian Christians who are Anglican, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, as well as some who don’t belong to any one denomination. In spite of all this diversity, the good news is that the churches and leaders tend to stay in touch and consult together by means of meetings, conferences, the web, and so on.

Fourth, Iranian Christianity is facing huge challenges. The most obvious one is persecution within Iran, but there are others too. How does one train leaders when it is impossible to open a seminary (in Iran)? How can churches and leaders remain accountable to each other when they belong to so many different denominations? Will the prosperity gospel lead to a bitter split among their churches? And what to do with the second generation, who are born in the West and perhaps feel more at home in a normal English- or German-speaking church?

Nonetheless, the story of Iranian Christianity is exciting and inspiring. We can now very realistically speak of hundreds of thousands of Iranian Christians around the world, and a substantial population in Iran itself. But as the church grows, opposition increases too. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Remember the Iranian Church in your prayers. It is the new-comer to global Christianity, but one with a lot of energy, but a lot of difficulties to face as well.