4.1 Jesus For Moslems
This study is available in English, Albanian, Arabic, Kurdish and Turkish.
Preface
These thoughts and researches have been necessitated by many live discussions amongst Muslim people in Guyana, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Morocco, Tunisia, Tatarstan, Serbia, Albania, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine…as well as correspondence with hundreds of contacts throughout the Islamic world and parts of Africa. In nearly all the above countries I know Christian converts who were once Muslims. Through all this, I can heartily agree with the finding of many others who have sought to take Christ to Islam: these discussions with Muslims have forced me to a radical and patient expression of my faith and understanding in Christ. By the very vigour and cruciality of its objections, Islam compels the Christian to delineate Christ more deeply and more finely. Their misunderstandings have to be made the theme of more patient exposition. Every difficulty has to be made an opportunity for witness to the Truth; and in this there is good discipline for every servant of Christ in whatever context. That said, this book is not intended to convince committed Muslims to leave their faith. It is to help those who in their hearts have already left Islam, and are looking to Jesus. And it seems there are many of them about, underneath the veneer of Islamic society and culture. I am grateful to brother John Thorpe for allowing me to quote from his own writings at some length, and for his comments on the text. I can thoroughly recommend his book “Islam and the Bible”. I also must record my thanks to brother Ashraf Ali, a former Muslim originally from Guyana, for many hours of perceptive discussion, and for his zealous example of debating and discussing with Muslims; and to brethren Bassam, Mehmet, Mohammad, Ramazan, Said [and many others I cannot safely mention] in Iran, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey for their zealous examples and brave breaking free from Islam.
It becomes apparent the more one studies and reflects, that Islam and true Christianity are incompatible. This raises the stakes. The outcome is either deeper entrenchment, or a deep and heart rending conversion. I have not written this book very sensitively, because I am appealing emotionally, from the heart…to those who already have major doubts about Islam, and are looking to Jesus. I have used ‘Christian’ ideas such as the Fatherhood of God very freely. And I have relegated to an Appendix the apparently crucial question of whether the Old and New Testaments which I quote are corrupted or not, as Islam claims. As I say, I write for those who will give me a hearing without having to be persuaded to. My appeal is, with David: “Taste and see, that the Lord is good”. And this is the unashamed challenge of the final and longest chapter. There I have sought to draw out the practical implications of the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Son of God, who was crucified, bearing our sins, and rose again for our justification. These realities can and do transform human life in practice, both now and eternally. It really is a case of “believe or perish”.
