Do’s and Don'ts of Reaching Out to Muslims:
1. Do make it clear you are a follower of Christ, by your loving words and righteous lifestyle.
2. Don’t assume your Muslim friend understands your meaning of “Christian.”
3. Do take time to build a relationship. Practice hospitality.
4. Don’t be surprised if you are rejected at first. It is best to offer Muslim friends store-bought sweets and to avoid anything with pork or alcohol.
5. Do approach your encounters as a learner. Ask questions.
6. Don’t take notes and treat Muslim friends like an academic project.
7. Do correct their misunderstandings of your beliefs.
8. Don’t argue. If they want to debate with a Christian, refer them to the website: www.debate.org.uk/.
9. Do talk about Jesus. Use his title, Isa Al Masih.
10. Don’t insult the prophet Muhammad.
11. Do pray out loud with your Muslim friends. Ask if you can pray for their practical needs, healing, and worries. Look for opportunities and pray in Jesus’ name.
12. Don’t start your prayer with “Our Father…” because Muslims have a misunderstanding about the fatherhood of God (as sexual). Wait until you correct this misunderstanding before using “Father” or “Abba.” At first address your prayer to “Almighty God” or “Lord God.”
13. Do use your right hand in giving and receiving gifts.
14. Don’t use your left hand for eating food (especially when learning to eat with your hands). The left hand is used for toilet cleaning; the right hand for eating.
15. Do treat your Bible with respect. Store it high on a shelf. Some wrap it in a beautiful cloth.
16. Don’t put your Bible on the floor or in the bathroom as reading material. Many Muslims are superstitious about the bathroom.
17. Do be gender-sensitive: interact man to man, woman to woman.
18. Don’t allow any compromising situation, even just to protect from a possible rumor. An Arab proverb says, “A man and woman alone together are three with the devil.”
19. Do observe body language. Take your shoes off when entering a home or place of prayer (especially if you see shoes at the threshold).
20. Don’t sit so that the sole of your foot or shoe is facing someone. Women, don’t look men directly in the eye, or at least quickly avert your glance.
21. Do practice modesty, even among Westernized Muslims. For women this is very important since family honor is tied to their behavior and reputation.
22. Don’t assume Muslims think the same as you, even if they dress the same.
What else would you add to this list of Do's and Dont's?
Source http://kevinstilley.com/dos-and-donts-when-reaching-out-to-muslims/
- Issued by Mission 2 Muslims
- mission2muslims@gmail.com
- WhatsApp +27833201874
RESOURCES FOR CHRISTIANS from LOVING MUSLIMS TOGETHER
Discover some of the best books on bridge-building conversations, relationships and ministry. Containing a variety of stories, guidance and cultural wisdom, these books were written to help you relate well to your Muslim neighbors.
- Answering Islam
- DEATH OF JESUS BY CRUCIFIXION: DENIAL AND DELUSION BY MUSLIMS (Truth versus Tradition) - A SUMMARY BY Bobby Freddy
Twenty Three Years A Study of the Prophetic Career of Mohammad - Ali Dashti
- Who is this Allah?
- What Every Christian Needs to Know about the Quran - James R. White
A Handout to share with Muslims...
How to use the Handout:
A Handout to share personally with Muslims passing by in your everyday life (Many of them sell cell phone and internet stuff at small “gadget” markets in Malls or street shops)
It specially
suitable to hand out to "Intelligent" Muslims, (those that can use
the Internet; After asking them if they can use the Internet, tell them how
amazing clever they are and then show them this handout and invite them to look
to the "very exiting material" on the Blogs after opening the links).
The
advantage is that you don’t “affront” them directly with any information that can
offend them, but do your best to make them curious about what they can find
inside.
No debating
but just sharing information that they will be exposed to at their own time and
has to rethink through by themselves. (You can follow it up later asking them
questions like… Did you read it? What do you think… etc.)
If you have
time, you can tell them more detail of what they can expect to read;
Most of the
latest research information about things like...
- the real origin of the Quran;
- if there are indeed many other Arabic
manuscripts that differ from each other
- Tell them it seems that the Quran was
not perfectly preserved in heaven as most Muslims claim and that Modern
scholars have found much evidence to dispute that claim. (Invite them to search
on the Internet for "Holes in the Quran")
- Tell them there are a lot of new
information about the historical evidence of prophet Muhammad and Mecca.
The Information on the Front part of the Handout:
- The link of our Book: God & Islam - Facts & Myths (Already viewed by more than 14,000 readers)
- The link of our Blog: Islam- Facts & Myths with some remarkable TESTIMONIES of Muslims that encounter God.
- The Link of our Facebook Page "Conversations with Muslims" (with more than 12,500 followers)
The Information on the Back part of the Handout:
May be ask them if they ever read the Bible (Don’t comment on their answer; just show them this…)
- The best known verse in the whole Bible: John 3:16
- A link to listen to this verse in Urdu & Hindi
- Another link to listen to the verse in Arabic.
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