ISLAM AND CHRISTIANS: A Guide for Free Methodists by A.H. Mathias Zahniser
by A. H. Mathias Zahniser, Scholar-in-Residence, Greenville College
“We Muslims have to believe in Jesus; so why don’t you Christians accept Muhammad?” Ahmad, my guide at the Islamic Society of North America in Plainfield, Indiana, USA, asked me this question with visible hurt and expectation. The Qur’an requires all Muslims to believe in Jesus and other biblical prophets such as Abraham and Moses. Yet Christianity makes no provision for the Arabian prophet who founded the Muslim faith. More and more Free Methodists will find themselves addressed by this question because the number and confidence of Muslims is growing in all parts of the world.
Understanding Islam
How would you have answered Ahmad? I hope this chapter will help with a reply. I begin with Muhammad then look at the Muslim Jesus. After looking at Islam in the light of its view of Jesus and Muhammad, I formulate a brief answer to Ahmad’s question. Finally, I suggest ways Free Methodist Christians can relate winsomely to Muslim family members, friends, neighbors, and colleagues.
Who was Muhammad?
One night in the year 610 A.D., according to Muslim tradition, Muhammad ibn Abdullah, a camel caravan leader from the Arabian city of Mecca, went to a cave to meditate and pray. He had done this on many other nights; but this night changed his life. Muslims call it the night of power because on it Muhammad first heard a voice saying to him, “Recite!” After hesitation and struggle he opened his mouth and words began to come—not his own words,