Sharia Law and Christianity

What should Christians know in order to be able to witness to those of the Islam faith? Why should we be prepared?  Well, it seems that Muslims from all over the world are leaving their war torn countries and coming to the United States.  In the past missionaries were not allowed to enter the Muslim countries to spread the Gospel.  So God arranged for Muslims to come to our country where we have freedom of religion.  The opportunity is ripe.  How do we prepare?

I remember several years ago I was lost on the way going home from somebodies house and I drove by a mosque that I had never seen before.  As I recall it was on a Sunday afternoon.  A large number of people were milling around.  The women were dressed in long dresses with scarves over their hair.  I remember feeling alarmed, as I didn’t know if they were violent or not.  I decided I needed to do some research.

I read Ed Decker’s website called saintsalive.com.  He listed the 5 pillars of Islam.

Confession of Faith. “There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is the prophet of God.”

• Pray. Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day: shortly before sunrise, mid‐morning, noon, mid‐afternoon, and after sunset.

• Give alms. Muslims are to give about 2.5 percent of their wealth. Zacat or Tacat.

• Fast during Ramadan. For one lunar month, from sunrise to sunset, Muslims are not to allow anything to pass down their throat. (Theoretically, a good Muslim would even spit out his or her saliva.) Then from sunset to sunrise, they are permitted to eat as little or as much as they want.

This is their way of developing discipline and relating to the poor. (Travelers, young children and pregnant or nursing mothers do not need to keep the fast.)

• Make a pilgrimage to Mecca. Every Muslim who is financially able is supposed to travel to the birthplace of Islam once in his or her lifetime.

Next I listened to YouTube videos of Nonie Darwish talking about her life in Egypt and then her life here.  She said that in 1920 the women threw off their headscarves and were liberated until the 1970’s when women in Egypt and in this country were radicalized and convinced to wear the burka again.  She said the American Muslim women are misguided and not helping women.  They are being set back to second-class citizens.  Consider these statistics from the book "Cruel and Usual Punishment" by Nonie Darwish:

"There are 35,213 Qur'an verses, hadiths, Sharia laws, and various Muslim scriptures commanding and encouraging killing, violence, war, annihilation, corporal punishment, hatred, boycott, humiliation and subjugation aimed mainly against non-Muslims. The majority population of non-Muslims in democratic nations must be concerned about such scriptures, and they must be protected from those who will act upon such commandments."

Then a book was given to me about women in the Muslim world called "Daughters of Hope."  It was written by Kay Strom and Michelle Rickett.  The book tells heart-wrenching stories of women being abused and treated worse than animals in Muslim countries. 

What I will do is to begin to pray that Christians will have wisdom and courage to lovingly witness, when given an opportunity, to Muslims.  Jesus is the only way to eternal life, and to living the abundant life.  Many will be lost if we don’t speak out.  Below is a 7-minute video of Nonie Darwish speaking in 2010.