Christians urged to build friendships with Muslims_40405

Posted: 3/24/05

Christians urged to build friendships with Muslims

By Sarah Farris

Special to the Baptist Standard

WACO—Line up every person in the world, and every fifth one would be Muslim, Mahmud Shabistari told a group of Central Texas Christians.

The growing prevalence of Islam prompted Mission Waco to sponsor a Muslim awareness seminar recently led by Shabistari, a Muslim-turned-Christian who now is a missionary to Muslims.

Shabistari  asked participants to consider presuppositions Christians have about Muslims, and vice-versa.

Group members said Muslims think of Christians as “poorly disciplined, immoral, having a low view of God, and saturated by the media and materialism.” Christians describe Muslims with terms varying from “terrorists” and “oppressive toward women” to “moral and family-oriented,” they noted.

“Both cultures have centuries of stereotypes about each other,” Shabistari said. Christians should realize Muslims are human, hospitable and loving people, he stressed.

Forty percent of Muslims worldwide live as minorities, and 7 percent of the Muslim population live in the United States.

“If we don’t go to them, God will bring them to us,” he said.

Followers of Islam trace their faith to Muhammad, who claimed to have his first prophetic vision in 610 A.D. The Qur’an, Islam’s holy book, is said to be a transcript of those visions, Shabistari explained.

One reason it is difficult for a Muslim to convert to Christianity is the structure of Islamic society, he explained. In the community-oriented Muslim culture, the community controls the family, and the family controls individuals.

Shabistari explained he was cast out of his family when he became a Christian.

A new strategy among many missionaries working in Muslim areas is to encourage new Christians to keep their faith secret so they can be a Christian influence within their families, he added.

Christians should share their faith by making friends with Muslims, Shabistari said. When befriending Muslims, it is important to make them feel comfortable, invite them to dinner and show hospitality, he said. Because of social etiquette in Islamic societies and the emphasis on hospitality, a Muslim rarely would decline an invitation.

Christians should educate themselves when attempting to befriend Muslims, Shabistari stressed. They should learn about the region the person is from and the branch of Islam they are a part of, because different geographic regions and sects of Islam vary greatly.  He suggested using the Internet as an easy research tool.

“Be open and talk about something besides religion,” Shabistari said.  “And be genuine.”

It is not offensive to ask about a person’s culture, but it is a turnoff to Muslims when Christians act like they know everything, he said.

“Build friendship with a Muslim and learn from each other. Conflicts can be brought up later,” Shabistari said, repeatedly warning seminar participants against “microwaving relationships” with Muslims—looking for a quick fix.

“There is a good potential that you could win a debate with a Muslim,” Shabistari said. “But you will probably lose that friend, so there is really no point. It would actually be a loss.”

–Names have been changed in this story for security reasons.

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