A R C H I V E S
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Missionary Traps for Muslims |
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| bhaloo |
| 06/08/03 at 13:50:32 |
| [slm] In the last few days we saw some of the techniques used by Christian Missionairies here on this board. Some Muslims that have not dealt with them in the past may not be familiar with these techniques, and may have been taken off guard by this. So I came across this article, that discusses quite a few of the issues we have seen, and what Muslims should be aware of, should they encounter this. Missionary Traps for Muslims: by Macksood Aftab Managing Editor of The Islamic Herald The Islamic Herald, April 1996 Part 1: Faith and Works One of the basic arguments raised by non-Muslims, especially Christians, against Islam concerns the concept of salvation. They say that in Christianity, one is saved by faith, whereas in Islam one must earn their salvation through good deeds. Unfortunately, many Muslims fall into the trap of defending the position imposed on them by these non-Muslims. This then provides the Christians with a basis for their entire Jesus-Father-Crucifixion-Salvation framework. They then go on to argue that salvation is a gift from God that cannot be earned. But if the true Islamic concept is made clear, the Christian has no basis to attack Islam. Many times, Muslims fail to realize that the Islamic concept of salvation is not based upon good deeds, but is based primarily upon faith. In the dozens of times Allah Almighty talks in the Quran about salvation, he always states, "Those who believe and do good deeds." Belief is always mentioned before deeds or works. When one converts to Islam, one does not do it by doing some good work but rather through realizing and believing that there is but one God and Muhammad is his last messenger. Non-Muslims may perform good works as well, but what sets them apart from Muslims is their lack of iman, or belief. The reason that the good works of the non-believers are worthless in the hereafter is because of their disbelief. Unless a person's iman or aqeedah is not correct, all his good deeds are worthless. One of the more popular hadiths of the Prophet (peace be upon him) states, "All actions are based upon intentions," implying that the purpose, intent, or iman behind your action is what you get rewarded for; the actual action is really a consequence of the belief. Another hadith (saying from Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him) states, "A man came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and asked, 'When will the day of judgment come?' The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied, 'What have you prepared for the judgment day that you are so concerned for it?' He replied, 'I do not have any good deeds in my account, but I do have one thing: I love Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him).' The Prophet (peace be upon him) then said, 'In that case, do not worry; you will be with those whom you love.'" (Agreed Upon). This saying from Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him also confirms the Islamic position of placing aqeedah (faith) and belief before actions. For example, Allah Almighty says in various parts of the Quran, "The believers you will find praying..." He does not say the people who are praying are believers. It is the belief that brings about the action, but the converse is not always true. Another hadith (saying) of the Prophet (peace be upon him) states, "Unless one loves Allah and Allah's Messenger more than one's own self his iman is not complete." Part 2: The Bible Another misunderstanding Muslims often fall into concerns the Bible. Christian missionaries in almost every discussion of the Quran assert that the Quran asks Muslims to believe in the Bible as a revelation of God. Many Muslims tend to fall into this trap by saying that "we believe in the Bible as revealed book." Once the Muslim accepts this fact, the evangelist can point out that the Bible contradicts the Quran and that since the Bible has precedence over the Quran and since Muslims are required to believe in it, it therefore logically follows that the Bible is right and the Quran is wrong. But the Quran says no such thing. There is no reference to the Bible in the Quran whatsoever. The Quran mentions the Taurat (Old Testament) and the Injil (New Testament). The Taurat is the book given to prophet Moses. This the equivalent of the Torah/Pentateuch of the Jews and Christians, since much of it was not written by prophet Moses. And the Taurat is definitely not the Old Testament since the OT includes dozens of books attributed to other prophets before Jesus. The Injil is translated as the Gospel revealed to prophet Jesus. This is not the New Testament. The New Testament is a collection of 4 biographies of Christ, 27 epistles of St. Paul, and other books on the lives and adventures on the followers of Christ. There is no record of a book revealed to Jesus. Perhaps the closest to it are the words of Jesus himself, which constitutes less than 10% of the NT. Therefore to say that Christians changed the Bible is an inaccurate statement, and can cause trouble in a discussion, because the Christian can then ask questions such as: Who changed the Bible? When exactly was it changed? How do you know it was changed if you don't have a copy of the original? The Bible, or at least the New Testament, cannot be an altered copy of the Injil because it is a completely different book. In fact, the original Bible or New Testament (the very first one) did not correspond to the Injil, Taurat, or Zabur in the first place. It doesn't matter how unreliably it was transmitted; the Bible does not correspond to the Quranic Injil. It is not that the Christians have changed the original, but rather they have the wrong book, altogether. The words of Christ are possibly the closest thing to the Injil, but if some of them don't agree with the Noble Quran, then we don't take them. The recently discovered Gospel of Thomas, which is nothing but a list of sayings of Jesus, is even closer to the Islamic concept of Injil. Therefore, it should be kept in mind in discussion with Christians that the Bible has not been changed, but rather the original documents chosen as the word of God were incorrect. Goethe: "If this be Islam, do we not all live in Islam?" (Writing in the 1770s) |
| Re: Missionary Traps for Muslims |
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| widadld |
| 06/20/03 at 01:56:27 |
| As salaamu'aleikum Below is my own experience with the deciet of the zealot missionaries. If you wish to repost this to any other group/board or copy it...please send me an email at woodad@mindspring.com advising me. thank you. Sister Widad **** Dear Sisters This will be a long post, but I feel it necessary to tell everything that happened and what I learned. First I will describe the location so you will understand. This church is very large and well organized (almost 5,000 members and some are very rich. One member donated 1.5 million to their building fund. The church grounds cover 2 city blocks. They have a day care center, school from pre-school through 8th grade, a theatre for plays and social functions, a library, gym, large computer lab, 100 member choir (singers) and an orchestra (musical instruments). This church has 4 services on Sunday to accommodate the number of people going to their services. There is a very large grassy lawn between the church service building and the church school. It was here that the missionaries were located. Tables were set up in a huge U shape. Women were dressed as Muslims and native dress of the women of India. Many additional tables had native foods from Arab countries and India. There were tons of books and phamplets available for people to take to read. Also there were posters with pictures of Muslims and Christians and many showing Muslim women taking off the hijab to go into water to be "baptized" as a "new Christian". Pictures also showed young Muslim girls and boys singing with Christians and some were learning musical instruments. (I felt like I was walking at the outer edges of Hell!) I did not go into the church for the service because the missionaries were all out doors answering questions of several hundred people at this gathering. I went to the first table where there were large plastic bags available to place the many materials available from the different missionary groups. Without saying anything and my heart racing I walked the entire U shape of tables, stuffing the bag with the phamplets, free books and disks. I just nodded and smiled (my face felt frozen in this smile). After I finished gathering materials, I began walking back the way I came and I stopped at each table. There I asked the following questions: Q. What do you tell Muslims about the claim that Mohammed is a prophet? A. He is a prophet that God sent to the people who worshiped idols. He was a great prophet in his time. Q. What is the most frequently said thing that convinces Muslims to convert to Christianity? A. It is not only what we say, but what we do. We become their friends, help build roads, buildings, teach at their schools, and bring food and medical supplies to the poor. Many of us are doctors and nurses and this gets us in the doorway with the government people. We love them and love them and love them. We learn their language, we print the bible in their language, we dress similar to them, we learn to cook their foods. We read the Qur'an (transliteration) and their sunnah and hadith. We find similarities with the bible and Qur'an and this helps us gain their confidence. Once we have lived with them, help them, and they feel we are their friends, then we begin slowly talking about Jesus and God's Justice. Almost all said they did this. First the church (s) totally funded families to move to a Muslim country. The missionaries undergo as much as 6 months training. They learn all about the country, cultural, and problems the country has (need for schools, hospitals, roads, buildings, etc.) The children also learn with the parents. Once they have mastered the "planting skills" they are ready to travel to the country. Q. Why has this church and others in southwest USA chosen the Muslims as the group to try and convert? A. Muslims are in what we call the 10/40 location of the planet earth. Here there are at least 1 billion Muslims. Our goal over the next 5 years is to convert 702,000 Muslims to Christianity. Muslims are the largest group of unbelievers in Jesus and the trinity. Q. Why do you think you will be successful? A. The Muslims practice Islam differently in each country. They have allowed their culture to make the differences. One advantage to us is the split between the Sunni and Shiia Muslim groups. Also they have no central leadership. Many Muslim countries are suspicious of each other and this makes it easy for us. (One man even said that it’s the old "divide and conquer" idea) Another man told me that the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) had tried to combine the bible with the messages "God" gave him concerning idol worshippers and because he was uneducated, he failed to get the information correct concerning Jesus the Messiah. A woman told me that her missionary group used the model that Paul (of biblical times) used for establishing churches which then resulted in the spread of Christianity. (going with a group of followers to a town or city, making friends with government officials, locating some wealthy individuals and converting them and then getting land free from the Muslims to build their churches. She said because the Muslims allow freedom of religions in most of their countries, they (Muslims) in fact are very helpful in getting the land for the churches!!!! She told me how a missionary woman started an embroidery group with Muslim women in their homes where they made beautiful Arabic patterns. Their husbands and the Muslim leader was so impressed that the women were allowed to go to the church and do this sewing. It was here that they had the opportunity to win several of the women to Jesus! By this time I have worked my way about halfway back to where the first table is set up. A woman walks up to me and says, “Don't I know you? Maybe from ASU? I answer honestly, “I am never at ASU (the state university).” The man with her is dressed as our brothers dress. He then says to me, “Excuse me, are you with the missionaries here?” I then say no. He then says are you Muslim? I say I am Muslim and my religion is Islam. It seems that everyone there at first thought I was a Christian dressed up as a Muslim. Well when I responded that I was Muslim, immediately the news began to travel in this group. I actually saw them whisper this fact to each other. Within a few minutes, everyone was looking at me, when I caught their eye they pretended not to have been staring!! I felt like two large hands with very long fingers were above me waiting to crush me. I wanted to run from this gathering, but Allah kept my feet planted in front of this table where a man asked me what sect of Islam I was from. He asked if I was a fundamentalist or from a smaller group. I said I am Muslim and my religion is Islam. He said he had many Muslim friends and they all had different schools or leaders they followed and I must belong to a group. I said I am Muslim and my religion is Islam. Then sisters, I can hardly believe this even as I write it. I began questioning this man about Jesus the Messiah and the man became defensive responding that Jesus came from Abraham's line that God had to come in the form of Jesus so that our sins could be forgiven. I said Abraham had a son Ishmael his first born to a lawful wife. I said Jesus was the son of Mary without a father. I said Allah will forgive our sins if we repent and ask forgiveness. I asked why God would need to come to earth and die like a human in order to forgive us. He said because after we die, then one day there will be judgement day and because we sin we can't get to heaven for judgement day with our sin, so Jesus died (God) who took our sin so we could get to heaven for Judgement day. Well I answered, if Jesus-God took away all the sins, what was the need for judgement day? He just looked at me and then he said, well it is for the people who do not accept Jesus as their savior and the trinity. Well I said if good people can't get to heaven with out Jesus then how will all these unbelievers in Jesus be judged on Judgement Day if they have sin and therefore can't be allowed in the presence of God for their judgement? Sisters... these were not my words... It was like I was standing next to me watching me say these words. The man said this is one of the "great mysteries" that we will understand after we die. I said that in Islam there is no mystery. That Allah has made it very clear what a person needs to do to go to heaven. That Allah is just and fair and would not make a mystery that would keep us from heaven. Then the man said that it was like a judge here on earth where we must be punished when we do wrong that this is justice. He said that God demands justice and that we must be punished for sins, unless we let Jesus take our sins. I said if Jesus is God as you say he is, where is justice in God punishing himself for my sins? Where do I learn anything in this kind of thinking and how does this make me be responsible and fear God? Sisters this man (and a very large crowd) just looked at me and they did not answer. Then my feet moved me (I didn't seem to be in control of their movement) to a table where a woman dressed as a Muslim stood. She smiled at me kind of wavering with her eyes darting around, like she was looking for support. I couldn't believe what I said next. I said Christian woman why do you mock me? She said mock you? I said, what if I were to put on a short dress, jewelry, make-up and high heels, hang a gold cross around my neck and hold a bible in my hands and tell you, my sister won't you become a Muslim? This is so hard to believe sisters... this woman took off the hijab and abeya and said she was sorry. Next my feet moved me to the very first table. A group of people seemed to be following my progress back to this starting table. Here my mouth opened and I asked why there was no table for the Jews> I asked if their Christian love did not extend to there Jewish brothers and sisters. I asked if they were not concerned that the Jews would go to hell for disbelieving in Jesus. I said it was known world -wide that most Jews regarded Jesus as a trouble maker, did not believe he was even a prophet and worst of all did not believe in the virgin birth and in fact had maligned the name of Mary! This man sputtered that they indeed had missionaries for the Jewish people. I then said do you deny that Christians and our government give total support for the Jewish religion, money, aid, political power etc. when in fact the Jews believe only they are chosen by God and they "killed God-Jesus" according to the bible! Why would Christians and government support this people and turn their backs on Muslims who believe in the Virgin birth and revere Jesus as a great prophet to the Jewish people? A man in the crowd said we have missionaries for the Jewish people, but our churches decided that the Muslims are more in need because there are so many Muslims. I said praise Allah for so many Muslims! The man dressed as a brother dresses approached me a second time. He asked if I would like to meet with some people and talk about Islam and Christianity some more. I said no thank-you, but I then asked him if he would like to meet with some brothers to discuss Islam, but he would have to stop dressing like a Muslim as Muslims did not accept deceit. This young man turned and walked away from me. At this time I felt like I was in control of my feet again. I took a great breath and walked quickly towards the parking lot to my car. When I got inside I was shaking inside and outside like a leaf in a wind storm. I drove home (I was so shaken, I ran a red light). When I got there my dear husband was very upset. It seems I was gone for over 4 hours!!!!! As I have been so sick I told him I would not go. He thought I had gone to the masjid. I feel badly for this lie to him but I know he would not have let me leave the house if he knew I was going to this church. He and my family decided not to go to church this Sunday as they felt the church program was disrespectful to me. I felt very weak and tired and after a short rest I typed the note to all of you and then I immediately fell into a deep sleep. I awoke this morning for prayer and was completely rested! Oh I completely forgot to tell you that the young teenagers in this church and college students have formed an organization to be missionaries to Muslims who attend schools and universities here in Tempe Arizona. They offer tutoring with English and other subjects. This way they make friends, invite them to their homes and try to slowly convert them. They have been successful and the new converts go home and wait for missionaries to arrive. They then introduce them to Muslim leaders and people in towns and villages. Also there is a group of businessmen who own apartments. They give special rates to Muslims. They provide study rooms.... and guess what. There are Christian students studying there and making friends with the Muslim young men. Even young women are introduced and this gets our Muslim young men accustomed to meeting with young women and listening to music! My heart and head want to scream aloud O Muslim brothers and sisters wake-up!!!!!! See how our kindness and friendships have been abused! I am praying feverently to Allah to open the eyes of all Muslims to unite us and protect one another and our children! I will close this post dear sisters and many thanks for your help and dua. I could not have done this with out my sisters and Allah. I will be sending a second post which will have the names and other information about these missionary groups. Please don't be too hard on me for my poor answers to these missionaries. Allah knows my intentions and I used what knowledge I had and Allah's help. Your sister in Islam Widad Post 2 As salaamu’aleikum Dear Sisters In Islam My heartfelt thanks to all who wrote such kind words to me about the post “The Church”. But please understand that I provided the body, it was Allah’s work and no credit belongs to me. I was very afraid and if I had a choice, I would not have gone. I do not have lots of courage. Secondly, dear sisters I was so caught up in writing about what was said I did not make it clear my purpose. I am disappointed in myself that the gravity of what I learned did not come clear to all of you. Please hear what I am writing. Allah did not have me go to this meeting for myself, I feel He wants us to act on the information He gave us. This confrontation with the missionaries built a real fear in me for my brothers and sisters in Islam! The post “The Church” is meant to be a wake-up call for all Muslims. These missionaries are determined and they have the money and skills to put their plans into action! Muslims everywhere must be on guard against these “helpful” so-called friends! They are taking advantage of Islam and the goodness of unsuspecting sisters and brothers all over the world. Our students, children, wives, husbands, business leaders and masjid leaders must announce warnings to our people. Sisters we must ask our husbands to have discussions about a plan to reject these false friendships. They are very smart. They study our cultural, food, and Qur’an. They are very serious about their goal to convert 702,000 Muslims!! Don’t shake your head and say impossible…. I saw pictures, slides and heard them talk among themselves of the numbers of Muslims they have already reached! Here are some suggestions for what we can do. Also each of us needs to tell what is planned to every Muslim we know! 1. Tell our national organizations about theses groups. I will list their names and addresses and what countries they are focusing on for converting Muslims. 2. Notify each masjid in each country. Sisters in this group are from many countries and the masjid leaders need to know and resist giving land “for planting churches”. These missionaries are the enemy of Islam. They want to steal our lives and children’s lives in paradise! 3. Husbands tell your wives not to invite these “kind” missionary women to your homes. 4. All of us Muslims remember that we should make friends among Muslims and not non-Muslims. 5. When a disaster hits a Muslim country, let it be the Muslims world-wide who are first there with emergency aid and care… not the Christians! Allah requires this of each Muslim and we have not been following Allah’s command concerning charity to our less fortunate sisters and brothers. 6. It is time for Muslims in predominately Muslim countries to take charge of their governments and begin enforcing Islamic law as given by Allah through our Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and his companions. Practicing Muslims must become involved in their governments and wherever the Muslim people have a say in who the leaders are, let Muslims say they are practicing Muslims. 7. Sisters in Saudi Arabia, Africa, Malaysia, India, etc. Many students come to Tempe Arizona and other universities in the USA. These students must be warned against using English tutors who are Christian missionaries! 8. Mothers, your children must be warned of the tactics used by the missionaries to gain their trust and then steal their Islam from them. 9. I am not saying to be rude, this would not be Islamic, but we are fighting for the 702,000 Muslims these missionaries plan to convert in the next five years. We have a duty to them. 10. Muslim brothers, business connections are important for Muslim economy, but friendships and socializing with non Muslim missionaries will bring harm to Muslim wives, daughters, sons and even parents !!!! 11. Muslims everywhere… when a non Muslim asks what group or sect you are from… give them nothing but “I am Muslim and my religion is Islam”! They need not know of any differences of opinion or group affiliation! We must stop allowing these differences to be used by the missionaries to gain conversation with us. 12. Finally, just as the many Muslim countries/leaders came together to discuss Palestine… so these leaders must come together for the good of Islam and begin working together to help one another. The threat to our Muslim people is great… believe me sisters. This group is only one in the USA. They are in every state and in many predominately western countries. Many of these people do not understand the harm they do… Only Allah knows why they have blinders on and cannot see the truth of Islam. Even though they are kind, friendly and bring business, doctors, teachers and aid to Muslims… they are enemies of Islam in that they do not want us to be Muslim and are dedicated to converting us to Christians…. I shudder!!!!! 702,000 …… Remember this number. Will a friend or family member be one of this number …. 702,000 ? Even if all you can do is talk to your children, parents, husbands and friends… this is something that I believe Allah requires. Even if you send this message to only one group, many Muslims will hear it. My heart and mind weep for the 702,000 Muslims who may be lost to Hell fire if we do not take some individual action and call on our leaders to take some action. This threat is real. I heard and saw with my own eyes. This is serious dear sisters. These missionaries believe we are living in the last days and they are obligated by “God” to go out and convert as many people to believing in the lie of Jesus as god. We must face them with firm resolve and a wall so high and so thick that their preaching can not penetrate! Sisters I do not mean to appear bossy. It is not my intention to order anyone, especially Muslim brothers and our leaders. I only ask that what is true and right is recognized as from Allah and errors are on me because I am not an Islamic scholar, just a new revert who is thankful for Allah’s mercy for choosing me and bringing me Islam. If I have offended anyone, I humbly beg your forgiveness. Your Sister In Islam Widad Post 3 MISSIONARY GROUPS/ORGANIZATIONS INFORMATION 1. Frontiers, P.O. Box 31177, Mesa AZ, USA 85275-1175. They have 600 active missionaries in 40 countries. “Their passion is to glorify God by planting churches among the world’s 1 billion Muslims”. “ After 1400 years of neglecting the Muslims, the church has realized that it’s their turn”. “Muslims Only: Our singular focus enables us to pour all our experience resources, and know-how into this one objective. Africa—Sudan… winning against jihad; southeast Asia, Egypt, Yemen, North Africa, Kazakstan, India, Jordan, Pakistan, Korea, United Kingdom (England) Frontiers has organizational offices in Mesa Arizona USA, United Kingdom; Korea; Central America; Switzerland; Netherlands; Australia. They do what ever it takes from setting up business ventures, using professional or medical skills, emergency aid. All teams trained in church planting and disciplemaking skills. Planning to send teams to: Afghanistan : convert (Turkmen) Team Leaders for various Muslim areas of India Calcutta India- Urdu speaking Muslims: new teams planned Iran: God is opening borders and hearts of the predominantly 65 million Shiite Muslims, many teams planned North Africa: teams to serve multiple countries where no teams now exist Teachers of English to be sent to Turkey Kosova: help victims of war and spread Christianity Middle East: teachers, administrators, clinic personnel to help rebuild a torn country, professionals in business and education In Touch Mission International 2115 E. Cedar Street, Suite 1, Tempe, AZ 85281; primarily missionary work with medical teams of doctors and nurses in the Sudan- Africa; partnered with Frontline Fellowship Cape Town, south Africa 2. Josiah Venture, International Teams, 411 W. River Rd. Elgin, Illinois 60123-1570: Czech Republic, European missions. 3. Food for the Hungry, 7729 East Greenway Road, Scottsdale, AZ. Primarily feeding the hungry AND Christianity mission work too. Bolivia, Romania, Ethiopia, Uganda, Philippines, Guatemala, Bangladesh, Turkey, India 4. Freedom in Christ 491 E. Lambert Rd. La Habra, Ca. 90631; spiritual training for missionaries. Resource for Christian churches and missionaries. 5. International Student, Inc., Colorado Springs, Colorado USA, also other cities across USA college students as missionaries to students attending universities throughout the USA. Once a student is converted and returns home, this organization stays in touch. The converted student helps missionaries who come to their countries to plant churches for Jesus.; Motto” Sharing Christ’s love with International Students” 6. Greater Europe Mission; 18950 Base Camp Road, Monument, Co.; primarily in European countries.; Organizational offices in Canada 7. Wycliffe Bible Translators, P.O. Box 628200, Orlando, Florida 32862-8200, USA; 5,000 staff members translating the Bible into every language of the world. 100,000 people regularly donate to this effort by these Christian people. Christian converts from many countries work to ensure the Bible is in all languages 8. Pioneers, blazing new paths to the unreached; focus is on parterning with churches to plant churches and missionaries in six major blocs of unreached peoples: Muslim, Hindu, Chinese, Secular, Buddhist and Tribal. Its their passion to reach these people with God’s love. Organizational offices in Orlando Florida USA and Canada. 9. In Touch Mission International (ITMI), organized 1961, church planting; medical and specialized teams to work with nationals. Team members speak the national language they go to; establish Christian business abroad and Christian schools. Partners with Frontline Fellowship. “tell the true story of the persecuted, suffering church in communist and Muslim lands”. Post 4 As salaamu’aleikum Dear sisters I have typed the information below so you can read for yourself what the missionaries say about converting Muslim women. Please don’t get mad and stop reading. Get mad after reading  “Smile” Widad This brochure is published by a group called Frontiers. They are the main group that is targeting Muslims for conversion to Christianity. Their mailing address is P.O. Box 3117 Mesa, Arizona 85275-177 USA. They have a web site at www.frontiers.org and an email address of info@us.frontiers.org. Maybe some strong minded sisters might want to tell this organization what they think of their “plan to convert Muslim women “hidden” behind the veil”!!!!!! Here is the information printed in their brochure: Is your heart burdened for hidden peoples “Behind the Veil”? All you have to do is give her a cup of tea! You’ve been watched, by Halima, a young Muslim woman. She’s intrigued with your life. Why would you leave America? Why would you want to come here? Why aren’t you like the American women on TV? Halima would like to get to know you. But she’s afraid you won’t understand or accept her. And she’s waiting for you to speak……. What should I say to her? You ask yourself. You approach her and the words come, to your surprise, naturally, Hello, Would you like to come to my home for a cup of tea? Later, after Halima has come and gone, you smile happily and think, “ All I had to do was give her a cup of tea.” Next page…… Muslim women: truly hidden people. Whether traditional or modern, Muslim women like Halima are truly hidden. Overlooked by the media…. Isolated by a male-dominated society…. Hidden by the veils they wear….. Muslim women are often viewed as silent, unseen, mysterious. And that silence can hide a world of hurt… of unspoken dreams… of alienation from God. And even though they are overlooked by most mission strategists, Muslim women are often the most responsive to the Gospel (Jesus-Trinity). It takes a woman to get behind that veil! That’s why we believe women are a central part of church planting among Muslims. Next page… How easy it is for new believers from Muslim backgrounds to become discouraged and give up. They don’t only need the Bible in their hand with instructions on how to live, they need your hand in theirs sharing their lives along with the book, leave your footprints in their lives. Give them an example to imitate. From the book “Miniskirts, Mothers, and Muslims . Next page;;; How much does God love Muslim women? So much that He wants to send women like you to tell them about His love for them. To help them become disciples of Christ. To establish them in fellowship. A young couple with Frontiers went to stay in a city in Southeast Asia. In time, the wife began to see fruit among the women (meaning believing the Christians). They began to meet as a small group to pray, study the Bible, evangelize, to teach their children about God and have fun together. Long before their husbands began to meet together, God had been building His church. Next this pamphlet pleads with the Christian woman to do her duty and consider helping the Muslim woman. It tells her that only she can reach the Muslim woman. Then this brochure lists a 15 step process for reaching Muslim women: 1. Love her 2. Respect her culture by how you dress and what you do 3. Be friendly and hospitable 4. Pray for her 5. Learn the language 6. Explore her culture for the good in it 7. Love her 8. Share daily tasks 9. Invite her for tea 10. Share your life and tell your story (about how you believe in Jesus as God) 11. Earn her trust and respect her family 12. Respond to her deeply felt questions by teaching her what God has said 13. Love her 14. Love her 15. And most of all, love her This brochure goes on to state how the Frontiers organization will train her and be there for support. They encourage team work for this planned “church planting” of Muslims. They show pictures of Muslim women covered in veils or without and no smiles. Then they show women who are supposed to be once Muslim now happy and free Christian women! Sisters and brothers.. if this doesn’t convince you that these missionaries are very serious about their plan to destroy Islam-Muslim faith… well I don’t know how to convince you. |
| NS |
| Re: Missionary Traps for Muslims |
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| BroHanif |
| 06/20/03 at 12:29:16 |
| Salaams, An excellant post Sis Widad, [quote]Q. What is the most frequently said thing that convinces Muslims to convert to Christianity? A. It is not only what we say, but what we do. We become their friends, help build roads, buildings, teach at their schools, and bring food and medical supplies to the poor. Many of us are doctors and nurses and this gets us in the doorway with the government people. We love them and love them and love them. We learn their language, we print the bible in their language, we dress similar to them, we learn to cook their foods. We read the Qur'an (transliteration) and their sunnah and hadith. We find similarities with the bible and Qur'an and this helps us gain their confidence. Once we have lived with them, help them, and they feel we are their friends, then we begin slowly talking about Jesus and God's Justice. [/quote] I think the above statement is so true that it's beyond belief. As Muslims we need to really understand why are we lacking in this ?. 80% of the worlds refugees are Muslims yet we find time and time again that we fail our own brothers and sisters. As Muslims we really need to work together, forget our differences and our skills and wealth effectively. I myself have got enough example of where people of other faiths and non faiths have gone over to help Muslims in poverty and famine yet I've heard little about Muslim groups helping them. Whos to blame, the Muslims themselves. May we all become more pro-active in prmoting our deen. Ameen Salaams Hanif |
| NS |
| Re: Missionary Traps for Muslims |
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| NinthMuharram |
| 06/20/03 at 13:00:44 |
| [quote] I myself have got enough example of where people of other faiths and non faiths have gone over to help Muslims in poverty and famine yet I've heard little about Muslim groups helping them. [/quote] The root cause(s) has been identified and working on solution is next or else we'll keep circling the "WHY" factor. http://www.mercy.org.my/ In Afghanistan : http://www.mercy.org.my/pub/campaign/afghan/mercyafghan.html In Iraq : The organization preisdent , Dr Jemilah (same name as my mom ;) ) was shot at when she was there. http://www.mercy.org.my/cgi-bin/pitstop.pl?req=articles&id=425 You can browse the website for all their missions. They went to Sri Lanka on the last mission. The members are from Muslim and non Muslim. |
| Re: Missionary Traps for Muslims |
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| Nomi |
| 06/20/03 at 13:18:04 |
| [slm] [quote] The root cause(s) has been identified and working on solution is next or else we'll keep circling the "WHY" factor. [/quote] Alhamdolillah, There is a very active trust operating from Pakistan as well "Ar-Rasheed Trust" but unfortunately it was banned by paki govt. under USA's influence. I'm more than sure that this trust wasn't engaged in any illegitimate activities, but still... Good that they are operational now BUT we have around 50 Muslim countries more or less, we need many more such organizations... May Allah help us in realizing "all" our duties as Muslims [slm] Asim Zafar. |
| 06/20/03 at 13:24:49 |
| Nomi |
| Should Christians convert Muslims? part 1 |
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| widadld |
| 06/24/03 at 00:56:26 |
| As Salaamu'Alaikum They are decietful troublemakers and arrogant to boot. I despise the zealot missionaries. If they didn't have the possibility of "preaching" their lies...they wouldn't lift a finger to help Muslims. Two faced liars is what we called people like them when I was younger...now even the reporter of this peice of garbage makes excuses for their unethical conduct. Forgive me for my lack of moderation but I can really get wound up about these people. Having talked to them and seen them in action..I'd say they were dangerous to the stability of wherever they are at...and sadly I have little sympathy for them. Widad http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,460157,00.html Sunday, Jun. 22, 2003 Should Christians Convert Muslims? A new flock of missionaries has launched a campaign to take the Gospel to Islamic countries. But will they inspire more backlash than belief? By DAVID VAN BIEMA She wasn't a Muslim, but she would do for now. Last March, at just about the time American troops were massing outside Baghdad, she shuffled, dressed in a dark burqa, into a cramped schoolroom in the New York City borough of Queens. The class she was addressing was organized by the U.S. Center for World Mission and packed with eager evangelical Christian students wanting to learn how to be missionaries in a foreign country. The black-clad "Shafira" was gamely trying to explain her faith. "It is not in the heart of all the Muslims to have violence," she said in broken English, alluding immediately to Sept. 11. "So sorry that people having dying. I'm wanting peace for my children. I'm thinking you wanting peace. It's the same." She listed Islam's five pillars of faith and reminded her audience that holy war is not among them. "We have a lot in common," she said, but she did wonder about the Trinity: "God Father plus God Mary equals God Son?" A student, thrilled at the opportunity to explain, jumped in. After listening patiently, Shafira peeled back her garments and admitted that "I am not a true Muslim." Hardly. In fact, she was a longtime Christian missionary in Muslim lands. She had been hired to explain at several of 150 annual "Perspectives" classes how such evangelism should be done. She gave her real name. (Throughout this article, for the safety of missionaries working in potentially hostile environments or returning to them, pseudonyms are used. They will be indicated on first usage by quotation marks. Many locations will also be omitted.) Over the next three hours, "Barbara," minus her burqa, dispensed lists of comparisons between Jesus and Muhammad ("Jesus arose from the dead and is alive. Muhammad is dead.") and of dos and don'ts of ministering to Muslims. (Do listen to their story. Don't argue about Israel.) She projected a statement by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft on a screen: "Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith in which God sends his son to die for you." After his comment was publicized in late 2001, Ashcroft said it referred to terrorists and not to mainstream Muslims, but the point seemed lost on her. "Islam is the terrorist," Barbara asserted. "Muslims are the victim." The class ended in prayer. "We mourn the loss of life" in Iraq, someone said. Added Barbara: "We pray that the weapon of mass destruction, Islam, be torn down. Lord, we declare that your blood is enough to forgive every single Muslim. It is enough." For 21 months now, Americans have been engaged in a crash course on Islam, its geography and its followers. It is not a subject we were previously interested in, but 9/11 left no choice, and the U.S. military in two countries continues its on-the-job training in sheiks and ayatullahs, Sunni customs and Shi'ite factionalism. Yet there is one group that has been thinking—passionately—about Muslims for more than a decade. Its army is weaponless, its soldiers often unpaid, its boot camps places like the Queens classroom. It has no actual connection with the U.S. government (except possibly to unintentionally muddy America's image). But in the past few months, its advance forces have been entering the still-smoldering battlefield of Iraq, as intent on molding its people's future as the conventional American troops already in place. Not for a century has the idea of evangelizing Islam awakened such fervor in conservative Christians. Touched by Muslims' material and (supposed) spiritual needs, convinced that they are one of the great "unreached megapeoples" who must hear the Gospel before Christ's eventual return, Evangelicals have been rushing to what has become the latest hot missions field. Figures from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, suggest that the number of missionaries to Islamic countries nearly doubled between 1982 and 2001—from more than 15,000 to somewhere in excess of 27,000. Approximately 1 out of every 2 is American, and 1 out of every 3 is Evangelical. Says George Braswell Jr., a missions professor at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary: "We're having more now than probably ever before go out to people like Muslims." Sept. 11 appears only to have fueled the impulse. Yet this boom has coincided with mounting restrictions on missionary efforts by the regimes of Islamic-majority countries and with swelling anti-Western militancy. The resulting tensions have sometimes erupted tragically: the past two years have seen the arrest and imprisonment of two American missionaries in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and the apparently religiously motivated murders of four more in Yemen and Lebanon. The botched bombing last month of a Dutch- German missionary family in Tripoli, Lebanon, suggests the danger is not abating. Says Stan Guthrie, author of the book Missions in the Third Millennium: "People are beginning to count the costs. If you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, you could be killed. Missionaries have always considered the possibility, but now it's a lot more real." Such fears, plus the recent entry of evangelical missionaries into Afghanistan and Iraq on the heels of American troops, have raised other questions. The new arrivals mean well: in addition to the Christian Gospel, which they consider their most precious gift, they have channeled millions of dollars in aid and put in countless hours of charitable work. But some fieldworkers for more liberal Christian organizations claim that some of the more aggressive evangelical tactics can put all religious charities at risk, as when the Taliban, angered by missionary activities two years ago, shut down every Christian aid group in Kabul. Muslim critics accuse missionaries of lying about their identities and their faith to achieve their goals. And as the tensions between Islam and the West continue to boil, some familiar with the Middle East have begun asking whether the missionaries, who love Muslims but despise Islam, are the sort of nonappointed goodwill ambassadors the U.S. really needs in a region dense with the rhetoric of holy war. Says Charles Kimball, a Baptist minister who was director of the National Council of Churches' Middle East office in the 1980s: "Sincerity isn't the issue, or commitment to one's faith. It is just that the region is at a pivotal and volatile juncture, and it is arguably not the time for groups coming in, like someone with a lighted match into a room full of explosives, wearing Jesus on their sleeves." |
| NS |
| Re: Missionary Traps for Muslims part 2 |
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| widadld |
| 06/24/03 at 00:57:47 |
| Part 2 Just how large a proportion of Christian religious workers fit that profile? One reason it is difficult to know is that zeal is often tempered after some time spent in-country. Two centuries ago, in a similar burst of enthusiasm, such mainline denominations as the Presbyterians and the Methodists sent thousands of missionaries to the Middle East. Like the current crop, they started eager for conversions. But over time they settled for a more modest agenda that obeyed local antiproselytizing laws and focused on building educational and charitable institutions and providing humanitarian aid. Such groups still constitute the major visible missionary presence in the area, and they enjoy fruitful and respectful, if circumscribed, relationships with local regimes and populations. Even within the current evangelical wave, there is a broad range of methods and attitudes. Some missionaries, while maintaining the right to evangelize, primarily uphold the mainline tradition of funneling money and time to the Muslim needy. Others, from a distance, flood whole populations with Christian TV and radio, tracts by the tens of thousands and offers of correspondence courses, hoping that a few seeds will take root. In the dozens of Muslim countries that deny "religious worker" visas, ever more Evangelicals take secular jobs to enter less obtrusively. Many show exquisite sensitivity, sharing their Lord only with people whose intimate friendships they have earned. But there remains a troubling contingent of indeterminate size that combines religious arrogance with political ignorance. Its activities would not necessarily raise eyebrows on the average American street corner: handing out cassettes or tracts, inviting passersby to a movie about Jesus' life, talking about Christ to children while distributing toys. But in societies in which state and mosque are closely intertwined, in which defamation of Islam is a crime and conversion out of it can invite vigilante violence, the more audacious missionaries are engaged, intentionally or not, in provocation, and their actions are debated even within the evangelical community. Some experts see their clumsiness as the product of nondenominational churches lacking the resources for proper training programs. Others suggest that the culprits are "short termers" who don't stay in the region long enough to witness the cycles of retribution their confrontational styles can touch off. Says Robert Seiple, the State Department's Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom until 2000 and himself an Evangelical: "There is a lot more good than bad. The major denominations get it right more than wrong. But what I discovered is that well-intended people have in many, many cases eroded the message they were trying to communicate through inappropriate methodologies. Persecution results, and there are times you wish they had stayed home." "Josh" is a new missionary, but not a foolish one. "I would never do anything stupid like blatant preaching on the street or going up to someone I don't know and handing out literature," he says. But at age 24 and after only eight months on the job, he occasionally gets antsy. "I'm impatient by nature," he says, "so maybe expectations are a problem." The son of missions workers with the Pentecostal Assemblies of God denomination, he grew up abroad, but a palm-bedecked Arab capital is his first solo long-term posting. He strolls its working-class neighborhoods on errands for his day job as a youth worker with its small Christian community and wonders whom he will talk to today. He enjoys sharing Christ with cabbies, in part because their English is better than his beginner's Arabic. He points out three young men in a carpentry shop as part of his target audience: "They're my age," he says. "The younger generation is influenced much more by the West, and they're searching." Josh has his up moments, as when a neighborhood boy complimented him, saying, "You're a good Muslim ... I mean Christian." And there are times when he feels "overwhelmed. I'm just one person—what can I do to help?" But each morning he is reminded of why he is here. The muezzin's first call to prayer rings out at 4 a.m. And pray Josh does. "I pray for the people responding," he says. "I pray that as they go to mosque, Jesus would somehow be revealed to them. I pray against that call—that it would not affect their souls." He prays he may help lift "this totally oppressive spiritual atmosphere." In the broadest theological sense, Josh and other emissaries of Christ are answering Jesus' call in the Gospel According to Matthew, known as the Great Commission: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." Since the Middle Ages, missionaries—revered by some, reviled by others—have been among history's great cross-cultural pollinators. In the past century, as mainline Protestants and the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S. adopted a social gospel that stressed aiding the poor over preaching to the unenlightened, evangelizing at its purest fell to Evangelicals. Rare is the conservative Protestant church that doesn't send its teens off on short-term mission trips or play host to a stream of missionaries on home leave, their stories full of exotic places and changed hearts. Although they would never admit it, the returnees are Evangelicalism's paragons, making its philosophy of relentless outreach their lives' work. Says Beth Streeter, a Moraga, Calif., health-care consultant who left on a short mission trip to Egypt with her husband and two young children shortly after Sept. 11: "When you believe at your core that the love of Jesus Christ really is the best gift to humankind, you want to find ways and places for people to hear that for themselves. Sometimes it drives us places that can be awkward and uncomfortable." Through the 1970s, the great missions fields were Latin America, where conservative Protestantism competed with Catholicism for the hearts of the poor, and (for the more daring) Africa and the Iron Curtain countries. Gradually, however, the focus shifted. A missions strategist named Ralph Winter suggested in 1974 that Christians turn their attention from areas already exposed to Christ to "unreached people groups" who had never heard the Gospel. The plan held special allure for those who read literally another verse in Matthew suggesting that when every nation is reached, the long-awaited end times can commence. In 1989 Argentine-born evangelist Luis Bush pointed out that 97% of the unevangelized lived in a "window" between the 10th and 40th latitudes. This immense global slice, he explained, was disproportionately poor; the majority of its inhabitants "enslaved" by Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism and, ultimately, by Satan. In a later paper, Bush urged Christians, "Put on the full armor of God and fight with the weapons of spiritual warfare." (He has emphasized to Time that he did not mean military action.) Of Islam specifically, he wrote, "From its center in the 10/40 Window, Islam is reaching out energetically to all parts of the globe; in a similar strategy, we must penetrate (its) heart with the liberating truth of the gospel." Many mustered themselves to the Window. Only to find it closing. Of the three Abrahamic faiths, Islam is the most ferociously opposed to the straying of its flock. Shari'a law calls for the death penalty for those who convert to other religions, and although the penalty is not binding in most Muslim-majority states, persecution is common. This alone would not retard missions work. Most evangelists accept it as a cost of sharing faith. What did slow their efforts was a more prosaic measure: the gradual elimination by most Muslim countries of professional "religious worker" visas. Established organizations built around salaried missionary lifers found themselves hamstrung. So they were supplemented with something more maneuverable. The approach was called tentmaking, after the Apostle Paul, who supported himself at that trade while spreading word of the risen Christ through the Mediterranean. Like Paul, the new missionaries did not hang up an evangelist's shingle. They took day jobs—often in aid and development or other areas in which the host country lacked expertise— and preached unofficially. The possibilities are endless—evangelical websites feature references to mechanical engineering in "a large Arab city," computer sales in "an Islamic country" and business teaching in Kyrgyzstan—and missionary-recruitment seminars can sound like job bazaars. At a small Tennessee Bible church, a mission facilitator assured his listeners that "if you're a native speaker and can fog up a mirror, you can teach" English abroad. He projected a cartoon on a screen to show the advantages of being unofficial: a man wearing a turban and dagger halts a standard-issue, briefcase- toting missionary at a striped barrier while another Westerner carrying a toolbox strolls blithely through, toward a mosque in the middle distance. "Henry" and "Sarah" practice a kind of evangelism that might satisfy the staunchest agnostic. In the early 1980s they arrived in the North African country where they serve as missionary-team leaders. "We didn't want to run through, do our thing and preach," says Sarah. "We wanted to live." They founded an adventure-travel business and made friends. They talked sports and taxes and children with their neighbors, went camping with them and gathered with them on Muslim feast days. They didn't hide their faith, but they didn't press it on others, so when a friend's friend who had taken a Christian correspondence course approached them on behalf of his family, they shared Christ on his terms. "They pursued us," Henry insists. The two clans grew close and still are; eventually several of the Muslims embraced Christ. To tentmaking theorists, this is "relationship evangelism." Henry prefers to speak of the difference in connotation between two Arabic words, tansir and tabshir. "Tansir means to coerce people to change their religion," he explains. "Tabshir means to share, to be a witness." At its most subtle, tentmaking embodies St. Francis' edict: "Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words." ("Be someone's friend, not an Amway salesman," paraphrases one veteran.) But the sometimes clandestine status can breed bad habits. Visa bans turn many Evangelicals, usually straightforward to a fault, into truth stretchers, if only at the customs desk. They use encrypted e-mail and code words or smuggle Bibles. "Some," says a Christian minister in Morocco, "seem to have been inspired by the book of James, verse 007." It is not really their fault, says the leader of one mission, contending, "It should not be dangerous for a person to move to a different country and, to use the words of the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 'manifest his belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.'" Yet a classroom scene at Columbia International University in South Carolina reported last year by Mother Jones magazine demonstrates an unnerving ethical elasticity. "Did Jesus ever lie?" asks a lecturer. His class replies, "No." "But did Jesus raise his hand and say, 'I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?'" Again, 20 voices call out, "No!" (The instructor confirms the quote but says that it was taken out of context.) Then there are the apparent attempts by some missionaries to camouflage their faith as a kind of Islam: inviting prospective converts to "Jesus mosques," publicly reciting the Muslim creed, "There is no God but God, and Muhammad is his prophet"; or allowing themselves to be regarded as Muslim mystics, or Sufis. Such techniques are rationalized as part of "contextualization," the necessary presentation of new ideas in a familiar idiom. But Ibrahim Hooper, of the Washington advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations, claims, "They know it won't work to just say, 'We want you to become Christian, and here's why.' So they have to pretend to be Muslims." Some Evangelicals are also wary. Jesus mosque "blurs the issue," says a missionary in Jordan. "If Muslims are coming to Christ, they really need to know what they're coming to." Some of the secrecy may be unnecessary. David English, executive director of a tentmaking assistance agency called Global Opportunities, points out that even in Saudi Arabia, one of the more restrictive Muslim-majority nations, "it has been clarified that if in the normal course of your work people ask about your faith, you're perfectly free to talk about it and explain it. There's a law against conversion—they're still not playing fair—but that much is O.K." Other experts say local leaders will often tolerate informal preaching as the price for Western expertise in other fields. Says Daryl Anderson of the Evangelical Free Church of America, whose missionaries ply primarily the health and information-technology fields: "We're creative in finding where the government itches, so we can scratch it. And depending on the ideological purity of the government agency, we have a certain freedom to be open about our faith." |
| NS |
| Re: Missionary Traps for Muslims part 3 |
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| widadld |
| 06/24/03 at 00:58:42 |
| Such informal understandings, however, can evaporate when a regime cracks down or a missionary becomes more assertive. In August 2001, Afghanistan's Taliban arrested Heather Mercer, 24, and Dayna Curry, 29, who had traveled from a Texas church to work for a group called Shelter Germany in Kabul. During their three-month incarceration, subsequent rescue and visit with President Bush in the Rose Garden, the press referred to them as "Christian aid workers," implying that they were engaged solely in humanitarian ministry and that their jailers' claim that they were proselytizing was false. In their book Prisoners of Hope, however, Mercer and Curry wrote of initiating Christian prayer with Muslims, urging them to listen to evangelistic broadcasts (in one case providing the radio) and showing at least two families a film on Jesus. "We understood that the Taliban prohibited non-Muslims from sharing their faith with Afghans," the women stated. But they claimed that this violated international norms, and wrote, "We believe the Afghans—like all people—should at least have the opportunity to hear about the teachings of Christ if they choose." To Time, Mercer said, "I look forward to the day when the people of Afghanistan, and those of nations like it, have the freedom to choose whom they follow—the freedom of religion and conscience." Such sentiments are noble enough. But the women's acts were unpopular with a spectrum of Kabul aid groups running from secular workers to fellow Evangelicals. "They broke every rule in the book," says Seiple, the former State Department religious-freedom ambassador. "They were women in a patriarchal society, didn't know the language (well), didn't know the culture and were counseled against doing this by other Christians." Says "Kay," a 13-year veteran of evangelical missions in another Muslim capital who reports that the incident eventually hampered her own work: "I'm sorry that they suffered, but they just didn't think. They did not project their idealism to its farthest conclusion." Intra-Christian recrimination also arose around the shocking death last November of Bonnie Witherall, 31, a nurse's assistant at the Christian and Missionary Alliance pre-natal clinic in Sidon, Lebanon, a facility funded partly by Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse organization. One morning as she arrived to open the clinic, an unknown assailant shot her three times in the head. Her murder may have been simple anti-Americanism, since it followed one of Osama bin Laden's bellicose edicts. But the New York Times reported that members of the Alliance—which flew a banner emblazoned with the Arabic for "And Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life, and who accepts me will never go hungry"—had received threats after local imams denounced them for allegedly handing out Christian literature and evangelizing to Muslim youth. Such overtures are legal in Lebanon but are regarded by both Muslims and some Christian leaders as threats to the fragile peace among the country's sects. Thus the local Catholic Archbishop, while condemning the crime, felt it necessary to announce, "We don't accept this kind of preaching. We reject it totally." "Sam," 46, recalls the day Israeli soldiers spotted his white Citroen van on the shoulder of a back road outside the West Bank town of Nablus and, hearing the murmuring behind its closed curtains, concluded they had stumbled on a nest of suicide bombers. At gunpoint, the American exited his vehicle and explained that the six Palestinians with him were a clandestine Christian Bible-study group avoiding the prying eyes of their neighbors. "They are in danger," he told the baffled soldiers—"in danger of being killed." Sam claims to have led more than 100 Palestinians to Christ but says that it is they who are heroic, not he. Some of the converts, say their co- believers and local diplomats, paid for their faith with arrests, beatings and torture at the hands of Palestinian forces. The same sources report that one man was then turned over to Fatah militiamen, who killed him. Paul Marshall, of the human-rights group Freedom House, says that although conversion is a crime in some Muslim-majority countries, "the biggest problem is that somebody else, a family member or local vigilante, will kill you, and the state will not intervene." A 2001 study prepared for the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board by a strategy coordinator for "unreached people groups" in Africa's Horn describes his experience in a country where, he claims, "the majority of believers in Jesus Christ were systematically hunted down and martyred." Such perils support the missionary argument that some Muslims remain in the fold less out of faith than out of fear. But the persecution poses for evangelists an additional and potentially embarrassing problem of relative risk, given that (notwithstanding the four recent deaths) converts are in far greater jeopardy than those who brought them to Christ. Conversion is an act of free will, and the Muslims know the risks. But one must share the faith of Wally Rieke, candidate coordinator for the agency Serving in Mission, to accept his observation that converts' "security and their care is dependent on the Lord, and not on us. If it was dependent on us, we would have a lot of people in trouble." Similarly, the Baptist report's "finding" says that "missionaries need spiritual toughness so that when the fruits of their witness are required to walk through the fire, the missionary does not automatically attempt to rescue them." It continues: "To avoid persecution is to hamper the growth of the kingdom of God." Missionaries also face charges of neglectful carelessness regarding reprisals they sometimes bring down on pre- existing Christian churches and nonevangelistic aid groups. Says Lamin Sanneh, a Muslim convert to Catholicism who teaches the history of world Christianity at Yale: "They come in, don't report to the local churches, stir up a hornet's nest and then quit town when the going gets tough. Why start a controversy if you're not there to face the brunt of it?" Seiple notes that after Curry's and Mercer's arrest in Afghanistan, "all of the other Christian organizations were expelled until the Taliban fell." For "Robert," the days of waiting appeared to be over. For months the globetrotting evangelist had kept a low profile, waiting for his latest chosen mission field, Iraq, to open up. He had lived quietly in a nearby capital, referring to Iraq by a code name. But after Baghdad's liberation, Robert was ready to roll. He planned to enter Iraq with a secular humanitarian team—a kind of traveling tentmaker— but assumed that his workers could come in later on their own, printing up Arabic-language tracts in anticipation. Not all missionaries supported the Iraq war, but Robert identified personally with George W. Bush. "Something you must understand," Robert e- mailed, "is that diplomacy does not work with Satan." He realizes that interjecting an uncompromising gospel at so sensitive a time and place may provoke hostility. But he sees that as an inevitable consequence. "If Satan's armor is pierced," he wrote, "that fissure will be violently contested at every point and turn." When Christ is proclaimed in Iraq, he predicted, there would be "riots." But after all, he explained, his mandate "is to turn the world upside down." It seems worth asking, however, whether that is a mandate with which Americans in general care to be identified. Missionaries often complain of suffering from an overall Muslim perception of Americans as purveyors of trash culture and libertinism. But with the newly aggressive wave of Evangelicals and the newly sensitive situation in the Middle East, the shoe may be on the other foot: the missionaries may actually affect the way the Muslim world understands America. Much was made of Franklin Graham's strange triple role as Islam basher ("a very evil and wicked religion"), Bush Administration favorite (he preached a Good Friday service at the Pentagon) and would-be provisioner of aid and the Gospel to the newly liberated nation. But Graham is just part of the Iraqi missionary wave, made up not only of nonproselytizing mainline charities but also of evangelical groups like his. Some offer only material aid; others aid plus the Good News. Others such as the International Bible Society and Discipling a Whole Nation (dawn) will concentrate solely on spreading God's word. Not for decades has Evangelicalism enjoyed such an Iraqi beachhead. dawn's Rich Haynie says that to the extent that the Allied bombardment induced Muslims to question their god, "we could say that the war was a ripeness moment." This sort of language perturbs Wake Forest's Kimball, who recently wrote the book When Religion Becomes Evil. &quop;This is an area that lives with a history of crusades and in the shadow of colonialism," he says. "The image of an overwhelming military power coming in already provokes major questions about deeper U.S. intentions. If you add an aggressive missionary presence, it will be easy to see this as a kind of American Christian triumphalism." Says Azzam Tamimi, director of the London-based Institute of Islamic Political Thought: "Wherever I go, people say, 'Haven't you heard about American missionaries in Jordan waiting to go into Iraq?' These are educated people; under normal circumstances, the missionaries would not be a big deal, but now people find it very difficult to believe this is not a crusade against Islam on the part of the Bush Administration." Evangelicals assert again and again that their message is based in love. They are far better informed and more actively concerned than the average American citizen about the Islamic world's material needs, and their desire to share Christ springs in the main from a similarly generous impulse. Claims that Christian aid groups engage in charity as a "cover" for proselytizing do a disservice to the sometimes heroic humanitarian efforts by workers who believe that Christians should heed not just Jesus' message of salvation but also his example as a feeder and a healer. Yet there should be no question that while most evangelical missionaries love Muslims, they hope to replace Islam. Some cringed at Graham's "evil and wicked" description, but their critique was more about tone than substance. A few would suggest that only parts of Islam, and not its whole, are misguided. But most would subscribe to Luis Bush's generalization about Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism: "Satan wants to keep people as miserable as possible for as long as possible." Clearly, this ideology is at odds with President Bush's statements that Islam is a religion of peace, his visit to a Washington, D.C., mosque and his invitation to prominent Muslims to break their Ramadan fast at the White House. Sufficiently amplified, it could also presumably complicate American efforts to bolster moderate Islam in the Middle East. The Administration, however, does not see it that way. Government officials admit the existence of a few "cowboys," but by and large, says one, missionaries "are often helping people, and not simply because they want to convert them," and Muslims are happy for the aid. During discussion of Graham's role in Iraq, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Agency for International Development noted to a reporter for the Beliefnet website that the government could not in any case control private charitable organizations. And a senior Administration official told Time that given the President's close ties to the Christian right and his support of faith-based charity work, there was little chance the White House would discourage Christian aid organizations from going to Iraq. The national debate over missionaries in Iraq has provoked a parallel discourse in the evangelical community, or rather, a new chapter in the ongoing dialogue about how best to deliver God's word. At a gathering called last month by the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a Washington think tank, fervor and self-criticism mixed with a sense that Christianity's overtures to Muslims might be entering a critical stage. "If we don't get this right this time, we could become irrelevant," worried one participant. Another, Serge Duss of the Christian charity World Vision International, asserted that the current controversy is "merely a blip on the screen." The value of Christian missions would not be judged on the past few months but on the past half-century, during which, "because we love God and love our neighbor," they have been "in the forefront of providing not only humanitarian aid but development, child health care, sanitation and communications." At times, Duss said, "we have been able to be more overt about our Christian faith and at times not. And this," he added, "is where we need to be very wise." And wisdom, in the end, comes from above. The muezzin has called two more times, and Josh, the first-time missionary, looks out his window at a stooped old woman in a billowing cloak, picking her way up a neighboring hill. The sight fires some kind of synapse in the place of convergence among his youthful eagerness, the desire to share, the impulse to meddle and the conviction that God's providence will sort them out. "I see people like her, and I wonder, what's her story?" he says. "What can I do to help her? When I feel the calling on my heart, I don't see how it is possible to be here and not want to be able to speak to people, to love them, to get to know them. Every day I say to God: use me. Tell me what to do. Tell me what to say." With reporting by Perry Bacon Jr. and James Carney/Washington, Amanda Bower and Manya Brachear/New York, Jeff Chu/London and Matthew Kalman/Jerusalem |
| NS |
| Re: Missionary Traps for Muslims |
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| Chris |
| 06/24/03 at 15:43:05 |
| Amasing Work, sister widadld, my first incliation on seeing such a place would be to see how much mayhem I could stir up, but I suspect that your actions serve Allah better. I have only two comments to make about your surgestions: 3. Husbands tell your wives not to invite these “kind” missionary women to your homes. Such a measure woul;d invite definance, particuly in a place in which the men dominate. More to the point, it curtails people's free will. 4. All of us Muslims remember that we should make friends among Muslims and not non-Muslims. This type of dangerous nonsence (sorry, but thats the important point) causes elitism and resentment. No matter the rewards in Jannah for the practicing Muslim, on earth Muslims cannot afford to be thought of a standoffish and apart. Apart from anything else, it makes dahwah difficult. That said, its time that we took back the Islamic nations from their kuffir (unbelivers?) rulers. If we don't Islam will be destroyed. Salaam Chris |
| Re: Missionary Traps for Muslims |
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| jannah |
| 06/24/03 at 16:01:08 |
| [slm] Good points chris... I don't think we should go to extremes, as long as Muslims know their religion and are not vulnerable, their faith will be fine. We definitely can't afford to try to remove ourselves from non-muslim society and people. It's never been part of Islam to do that. And as recent events show it has definite negative effects. Deeply religious people have many things in common with us and we should use those to build bridges and make our societies better instead. BTW this week TIME magazine has an article on whether or not christians should convert Muslims.. anyone read it? wow apparently i didn't read the whole thread.. the article is posted above!!! |
| 06/24/03 at 16:55:58 |
| jannah |
| Re: Missionary Traps for Muslims |
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| widadld |
| 06/25/03 at 01:35:31 |
| As Salaamu'Alaikum All I have no objection living in tolerance and being good neighbors with peopl of other faiths/beliefs I have worked on community committees with people..Christians, Jews etc. The Prophet taught us to be tolerant and kindly to neighbors regardless of their religion. But tolerance is not what the missionaries are all about. They have no tolerance for Islam-Muslims continuing as Muslim. They will use lies, deciet, kindness with a hidden motive...anything to try and get a Muslim to give up Islam and accept their Trinity doctrine. As Muslims we need to be very much aware of the "difference" between the zealot missionary Christian and possibly your family member (I am a revert with many Christian relatives) or the neighbor or the person sitting next to you a a city-community-meeting etc. There is a great deal of difference between doing daw'ah (no compulsion in religion) and the tactics used by the missionaries. Go to the websites I included in my article, especially Frontiers and you will see what I am talking about. I don't believe Muslims lie when they do daw'ah but I do know for a fact that the zealot missionaries will do so...in thier minds..the ends justify the means. They give toys and candies (dressed as "Kris Kringle" to children in Third world countries...gifts to mothers and fathers who cannot read or write but who are Muslim but sadly have not had Musllims teaching them Islam...instead they know some Islam and alot of culture/tradition passing as Islam. Muslims are at a real disadvantage because sisters cannot travel without a male family member. The Christian females travel alone, get financially ewell-off sponsors and go to third world countries as teachers, nurses, doctors etc...to help with the physical needs of Muslims but their true purpose is to convert them to Christianity. If they could not do their preaching...there would be fewer Christians spending their time and resources in predominately Muslim populated countries. Here in the USA in many masjids...Muslim community services are poorly organized, if at all...Sisters who are widowed/abandoned with children often have to go to the Christians for help....sometimes brothers are insensitive to the lack of leadership of the many sons from single parent families with a female as the parent. I have seen sisters object to their husbands getting involved with these Muslim families...many sadly worry that their husbands may look to getting a second wife....if they did...there would be less single sisters with absent fathers and absent leadership in their homes. Sorry All..to go on and on and for getting off the subject. Widad |
| NS |
| Re: Missionary Traps for Muslims |
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| panjul |
| 06/26/03 at 01:02:16 |
| [slm] 3. Husbands tell your wives not to invite these “kind” missionary women to your homes.[i][/i] For a while the missionaries left us alone. They have come back. This time they talk to my sister and she likes to argue with them. Both are trying to convince each other that their path is the right one. The missionaries, they never take our literature, they like to give us theirs though. When you seem to get the upper hand on an argument, they have to go. My sister told them, don't think I'll ever convert and she said God guides. We were like that's right, may God guide you and us towards Islam. and that ended it, they will be back again. So my sister's still got it in her system to argue, I don't. She's young. But we are nice to them, it is hot outside in the summer and we give them something to drink and invite them in. What's the harm? We don't let our younger siblings sit and listen to it, their minds are young and easily impressionable. What's the point in this thread? there is none. just saying that you never do know, when Allah will guide someone to Islam. We do our part and plus we show them kindness in the hot weather. |
| Re: Missionary Traps for Muslims |
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| a_Silver_Rose |
| 06/26/03 at 01:15:16 |
| [quote]Apart from anything else, it makes dahwah difficult. [/quote] [quote]just saying that you never do know, when Allah will guide someone to Islam[/quote] not to mention that there are ex missionaries who have converted to Islam. |
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