All articles in category Islam

Article

May 2018

Articles > World Mission > Islam > Israel

Abraham’s nation

Some years ago, we aired a series of Arabic radio Bible discussions under the title, God’s original purposes for the Hebrew nation. It was blessed with much lasting gospel fruit. The Holy Spirit stirred the hearts of many Muslims in the Middle East and North Africa to understand the ultimate purpose of God’s call to Abraham: the coming of the ‘Seed’ or ‘Offspring’ — the promised ‘Seed of the woman’ (Genesis 3:15). Through his coming, blessing comes to all families of the earth (Genesis 12:3; 22:18). Two couples from eastern Saudi Arabia were converted. At the time, there was no SMS text-messaging or internet available...

Article

July 2015

Islam

Arab youth seek Christ online

Every evening for many years, short Arabic gospel programmes have been aired over a popular commercial medium wave radio station. Then, with the advance of technology, hundreds of postal responses were replaced by many more SMS mobile cell phone text messages. But these are now outnumbered by many thousands of interactions over the internet. Internet Interactive websites have effectively complemented the radio efforts for several years. Now the internet is overtaking traditional radio in urban communities. This is especially so among Arab youth, the vast majority of the population contacted. Our media teams have increasingly viewed this development as a golden opportunity to reach more young...

Meeting Abdul

By Don Haddleton

Article

February 2012

Articles > World Mission > Islam

Meeting Abdul

Meeting Abdul The meeting takes place in his small grocery shop. [The Christian’s speech is italicised.] Hi! Good morning! My name’s Richard. I am Abdul. I notice that you have the shahada [Muslim declaration of belief in the unity of Allah] on your wall. Do you read Arabic? No. But I recognise the shahada, because I have seen it in so many shops in this area. Ah, I see. How can I help you? I’d like two dollars worth of dry figs thanks, and two dollars worth of those dried raisins. For you, my friend, I add extra figs. These are the sweetest, the most...

Two testimonies

Article

September 2011

Islam

Two testimonies

Two testimonies Saudi girl I am a Saudi girl aged 25 and I live in Saudi Arabia. I was raised in a typical Muslim family that practised all the duties of religion. I began to pray at the age of 13, but then I stopped praying. My father used to beat me to make me pray, because the Messenger said in the Hadith: ‘The Messenger of God (peace be upon him) said, Order your children to pray when they are seven years old, and beat them if they do not do so when they are ten years old’. But Mohammed’s manner of harsh punishment to...

Muhammad and the origins of Islam

By Barnabas Fund

Article

September 2011

Islam

Muhammad and the origins of Islam

Muhammad and the origins of Islam The standard Muslim teaching on the origin of Islam is as follows. Islam was founded in the early seventh century in Arabia by Muhammad, a merchant born in the city of Mecca. According to the sources (which are all Muslim) Muhammad was born in AD 570 or 571. He was employed by a wealthy widow called Khadija to manage her caravan trade, work which involved travelling and gave him the opportunity to meet with Jews and Christians. When he was 25 Muhammad married Khadija, who was then aged 40. They had seven children, all of whom died...

Salt and light

By Catherine Barlow

Article

July 2011

Islam

Salt and light

World Mission Salt and light What do you think or feel when you hear the word ‘Muslim’? God has called you and I to be salt and light to them as well (Matthew 5:13-15). I think, if God had told me at first to go to a Muslim country and learn a related language, it would have been a massive struggle and learning the new language would be like facing a mountain that could not be climbed. At school I struggled and never got the hang of English grammar, and I scored 0 on foreign languages. Even though I heard the gospel when I was...

Son of Hamas

By E. M. Hicham

Article

June 2010

Islam

Son of Hamas

Son of Hamas E. M. Hicham Mosab Hassan Yousef is an extraordinary young man with an extraordinary story. The son of an influential leader of the militant Hamas organisation from the Palestinian West Bank, he grew up in a strict Islamic family but became a devout Christian ten years ago. ‘I absolutely know that in anybody’s eyes I was a traitor’, says Yousef. ‘To my family, to my nation, to Allah. I crossed all the red lines in my society. I didn’t leave one that I didn’t cross’. Now, aged 32, he attends an evangelical Christian church at Barabbas Road in...

Arab World Ministries Media celebrates 50 years

By Christine McLaren

Article

February 2010

Islam

Arab World Ministries Media celebrates 50 years

Arab World Ministries Media celebrates 50 years Where were you in 1959? In that year, the first section of the M1 motorway opened, the UK began to use postal codes and Barbie dolls first went on sale. In the backstreets of Marrakech in 1959, Moroccan cooks were bashing spices in their mortars. Cars, donkeys and pedlars wound their way through the narrow streets. When the electricity faltered, a few rays of the sun filtered through the shutters to light up dim kitchens. In one of those houses in Marrakech’s old city, a group of missionaries and a Moroccan man were recording a...

Sharing your Christian faith with Muslims (2)

By E. M. Hicham

Article

June 2009

Islam

Sharing your Christian faith with Muslims (2)

Sharing your Christian faith with Muslims (2) Islam is a familiar presence in most Western countries today and, like Christians, Muslims carry a responsibility to share their faith. There are now some 3,000,000 Muslims and over 200 mosques in the UK, while 2,000,000 copies of Muslim newspapers are published here daily. All this is good news for Muslims and a sign of good health in a pluralistic, multi-cultural society. For most Christians, however, it is a challenge to examine our own lives and missionary efforts. There is a real need for us to understand what these new members of our society believe,...

Sharing your Christian faith with Muslims

By E. M. Hicham

Article

May 2009

Islam

Sharing your Christian faith with Muslims

Sharing your Christian faith with Muslims Every Christian needs to consider himself or herself a missionary. Our mission is to make Christ known to those who do not know him, whether they live thousands of miles away or just next door. The migration of Muslim-background people to the West has resulted in a growing mission field right here – in our educational institutes, workplaces and neighbourhoods. We have an unprecedented opportunity to reach Muslims for Christ. But how? Here are some questions and answers that might help. I have never been engaged in Muslim evangelism. How can I get involved? ‘I’m...

A common word?

Article

February 2008

Islam

A common word?

A common word? Last October the issue of interfaith dialogue was thrust into the limelight by a letter from 138 Islamic scholars addressed to the pope and other church leaders. At a time of heightened international anxiety over Islamic terrorism, nuclear proliferation and the growth of militant religious fundamentalism, it seemed that moderate Islamic scholars wanted to talk. A door was opening. The letter was headed, ‘A common word between us and you’, and subtitled, ‘An open letter and call from Muslim religious leaders’. Dated 13 October 2007 and widely publicised, the letter was signed by some of Islam’s most influential scholars and called on...

Missionary Spotlight – Pioneer work among the Afars

By Glenn Tainio

Article

February 2008

Islam

Missionary Spotlight – Pioneer work among the Afars

Pioneer work among the Afars The Red Sea Mission Team (RSMT) is an international and interdenominational mission agency that has been partnering evangelical churches in the UK since the early 1950s. Its aim is to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to Muslims, and to establish churches among them. The main areas of operations are around the Red Sea, but RSMT has also worked in West and North-east Africa, the Saudi peninsular and Pakistan – primarily in unreached regions with no established indigenous church. While some of this work has a practical side (e.g. medical work and teaching English), its focus is to...