Many of us who live and work among Muslims in North America and throughout the world are deeply troubled by recent Muslim leadership statements about Islam. Hence, we feel the need to "speak the truth in love," sincerely praying that this action will not overshadow our given task of faithfully preaching the Gospel to Muslims and loving and serving them for the sake of Jesus, who died and rose again for us all. "Witnesses to His resurrection" (Acts 2:32), "we love because He first loved us" (I John 4:19).

(Photo of students at a candlelight service following the World Trade Center attacks)

September 11, 2001 jarred every Christian into a fresh realization of the power of evil. Since then we have been forced to wrestle with a chain of concepts coming from a wide segment of the Muslim world. These concepts deal with words like jihad, Shari`a, and kafir (Plural, kufr).

Some Muslims have tried to give us one interpretation; others, another. Some Muslims have even tried to reinterpret the basic meaning of Islam, trying to convince us that Islam means “Peace” and that Islam is a peaceful religion. This is not the traditional historical meaning of Islam.

Islam is an Arabic word meaning submission. “Muslim,” a participle from the same root, means “one who submits.” This terminology defines much of what Islam is all about, a simple submitting to the total will of God. For a majority of Muslims, this will of God is spelled out in the Shari`a, an uncodified summation of all God expects of His creation.

American Muslims are also attempting to redefine jihad in terms of a spiritual struggle like that described in Ephesians 6:12. This is quite different from how Usama bin Laden and many other Muslims interpret jihad. For them it is holy war against all that stands in the way of Islam and its mandate to impose God’s will upon society. Jihad is to be used against all kufr until they repent and turn to Islam or are destroyed.

The basic meaning of kafir is a “thankless person.” God blesses all humanity, but instead of praising Him, people choose to worship all kinds of idols. The Qur’an calls such people kufr, ungrateful. Christians and Jews are in a separate category from kufr. According to the Qur’an they are “People of the Book,” a term of respect for those who received Scripture prior to Muhammad. Unlike the kufr, Christians and Jews give thanks to God and do not worship idols.

In contrast to how early Islam used kafir, Muslims like bin Laden and his followers call American Jews and Christians kufr. As such, they are to be coerced by jihad to come under Shari`a, the sum total of God’s will. Their judgment goes even further. Muslims who associate with these wayward “People of the Book” come under the same condemnation. Thus, Bin Laden and Al-Qaida classify all Americans – Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike – as kufr deserving punishment from God by way of jihad.

Islam can be very intimidating both to Muslims and to Christians. Muslims fear being charged with apostasy if they choose to become Christian. Christians in countries like Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran and the Maldives tell how the fear of apostasy rumbles through the land providing ultra-strong curbs and deterrents to anyone criticizing or leaving Islam. Meantime, Christians live in fear of being charged with blasphemy for the slightest cause. While living under Muslim rule, they are “non-citizens” in their own countries. The reality in Muslim lands is so different from the supposedly “quiet, peaceful nature” of Islam!

Today’s explosive, tense, uncertain world situation invites Christians to new boldness, generosity, patience, kindness, and forgiveness. It calls for much prayer and great outpourings of love from Christian to Muslim as Christians take new initiatives in offering Muslims God’s light and love. Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44).

The Bible urges us to “speak the truth in love” and to learn how to speak gently and with respect (1 Peter 3:15). At the same time, it urges us to the kind of boldness demonstrated by the disciples when they said, “We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard (Acts 4:20). Whether intimidated or not, Christians preach and live the Gospel!

Jesus could have called thousands of angels to His defense, but He chose to walk the lonely way of the cross, even telling Peter to put his sword away (Luke 22:49-51). We are to cultivate the same mind of Christ, to be slaves to all “that every knee may bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2: 1-11). Jesus had compassion on the people around him “harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:35-36). Are the Muslim crowds among us any different?

“If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Matthew 10:38). We are as vulnerable to hate when speaking the truth in love as was Jesus when He sacrificed His life for us. He came to save the world, not to judge it (John 3:17). Having “His mind,” our prime goal must be to follow in His footsteps. Even if Islam were a peaceful religion, that would not lessen our mandate to embrace all Muslims and preach Christ crucified to them in love!