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www.missionfrontiers.org Mission Frontiers July-August2008 19

Muslim Esteem for Scripture

and Prophets

Most Muslims are taught the basic doc-trines of Islam, namely that they shouldbelieve in God, the day of judgment,

angels, prophets, and the Scriptures (or else eter-

nal fire awaits them). Tey are taught that the fourmain books of Scripture are the aurt of Moses(the orah or Old estament), the Zabr of Da-

vid (the Psalms), the Injl of Jesus (the Gospel orNew estament), and the Qurn (in addition tothe writings of Abraham and other prophets). TeQuran itself commands Muslims to profess faith inthe Scriptures that God revealed to Jesus and theprophets (l Imrn 3:84; cf.Al-Baqara2:285). Giventhe importance of believing in these books, it isnot surprising that most Muslims can readily nameall four. Compare this with the fact that only halfof American adults can name even one of the fourgospels (Prothero 2007). But the average Muslimsfaith in the orah, Psalms, and Gospel lacks sub-stance, because they have little or no knowledge ofthe content of these books. Tis lack of knowledge isall the more serious given the warning in the Quranthat those who reject the guidance and verses of the

orah and the Gospel will face the severest punish-ment (l Imrn 3:34). In fact, the Quran often saysthat its purpose is to confirm the previous Scriptures,and in that way it points the reader to the Scripturesthat are being confirmed (e.g.,Al-Baqara2:97;Al-

Mida5:46; Ynus10:37; Ysuf12:111).

Muslims use the term prophets to designatepeople whom God used to call people to faith andrepentance, whether by word or example. Teydescribe many of the famous figures in the Bibleas prophets: Adam, Enoch, Noah, Job, Lot, Abra-

ham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron,David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, Ezekiel,Zechariah, John the Baptist, and Jesus the Messiah,but they know very little about most of them. TeQuran mentions many of them as examples to beremembered and followed, and it clearly assumesthe listeners are familiar with their stories fromthe previous books. In Sd38:42, for example, thereader is told to remember Job, who was affl ictedby Satan and cried to his Lord. Jobs story is men-tioned again inAl-Anbiy21:8384 as somethingto be remembered, but the story itself is not re-counted in the Quran. Similarly the Quran makesmention of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and thetwelve tribes, without clearly describing how theyare related to one another; it assumes the reader isfamiliar with them from the previous books. TeQuran mentions the disciples of Jesus, but says littleto explain who they were. In fact, the Quran notonly assumes a familiarity with many of the people,

stories and themes of the Bible, it refers the bewil-dered listener to those who study the Bible:

If thou wert in doubt as to what We have revealed untothee, then ask those who have been reading the Bookfrom before thee (Ynus10:94, Yusuf Alis translation)

Bible Study by Open-minded MuslimsEncouraged by this guidance from the Quranitself, and by the requirement to believe in all ofthe Scriptures and prophets, a number of Muslims

by Rick Brown

Rick Brown is a Bible scholar and missiologist. He hasbeen involved in outreach to the Muslim world since 1977.

Tis article is an excerpt from the article, Biblical Muslims,from the 24:2, Summer 2007 issue of theInternationalJournal of Frontier Missiologyand used by permission.

Muslim as a Socioreligious Category

From a sociological perspective, Muslims are people whohave a social identity as members of a traditionally Muslim

community. They may be religiously observant or secularly

nominal, but they are in the same socioreligious group, that of

Muslims. For many Muslims, being a Muslim is an inseparable

part of their self-identity, their background, their family, their

community, and their cultural heritage, regardless of what

they actually believe about God. It is this everyday sociological

sense of the term Muslim that is used in what follows.

Muslims WhoBelieve the Bible


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are motivated to read portions of the Old and Newestaments, often in a group. Tey encourage oneanother, saying, Tere are four books of God,but we are familiar with only one of them; letsstudy the others together. When they do, theyare often delighted to find the information theyneeded to understand the many biblical allusionsin the Quran. Tey also find that the narratives inthe Old estament are full of historical detail, andthey see that the prophets were confirmed by manymiracles from God. Tey gain new insights intoGod and his goodness and holiness, mankind andits fall into sinfulness and death, the creation andits corrupted goodness, and the promises of Godssalvation through a Savior-King, the Messiah, whoushers in an eternal Kingdom established by God.

It is good to start with Old estament passages.Many say, I never understood the New estamentuntil I read the Old estament. But when theyread the four witnesses to the Gospel in the lightof the orah, they understand and respect the factthat Jesus was truly sinless, that he sacrificed hislife in obedience to the plan of God, that he rosefrom the dead, triumphant over death, sin, andhell, and that he ascended into heaven. Reading

Acts, they see that Jesus is active in the world asLord and Savior of all, guiding, empowering,and protecting his followers as they proclaim hisKingdom to the nations. Ten there is Romans.One well-educated Muslim woman said to merecently, It was not until I had read Romans that Iunderstood the significance of the Gospels. Tenthere is Revelation, which is one of the most popularbooks, because it speaks to them like their dreams

do and describes the return of Jesus and the age tocome. Woodberrys (2007: 27) observation aboutthem is that as they study the Bible and meet withother disciples of Jesus, these two resources becomeincreasingly important in their spiritual growth.

Reading the Gospel helps them to interpret theQuran. For example, most Muslim scholars interpretthe vague verse atAl-Nis4:157 to say that Jesus wasnot really crucified, but it just seemed that way. But aminority of Muslim scholars note thatl Imrn 3:55andMaryam 19:33 say that Jesus was sent to die andthen rise to God, and so they interpretAl-Nis4:157differently, saying that the Jews killed Jesus body but

not his spirit. Ayoub (1980), for example, says thatthe denial of killing of Jesus is a denial of the powerof men to vanquish and destroy the divine Word,

which is forever victorious. When Muslims read thegraphic and detailed accounts of the death and resur-rection of Jesus, and see that it was a fulfillment of

what the prophets foretold and in accord with Godsplan of salvation, they find grounds to agree with theminority opinion. By believing the Bible and lettingit be their guide to the interpretation of the Quran,they become rooted in the Bible, and we could call

them biblical or at least sub-biblical Muslims.In their opinion, however, they are simply beingbetter Muslims by submitting to all of Gods booksand prophets. (Te word Muslim means one whosubmits to the rule of God.)

Biblical Themes that Appeal to MuslimsOpen-minded Muslims find much in the Biblethat is good news:

1. Gods goodness, love, reliability, and care for hisservants.

2. Gods guidance of history towards good ends as heworks through events to oppose evil, to train hisservants in righteousness and truth, and to fulfill hisgood purposes for his people.

3. Te portrait of Jesus himself: his kindness, devotion,wisdom, power, self-sacrifice and ongoing reign asSavior and King.

4. Te love and forgiveness exhibited by true followers

of Jesus.5. Te offer of personal forgiveness and acceptance byGod.

6. Te offer of assured and complete salvation from helland acceptance into Gods kingdom.

7. Te offer of a personal relationship with the Lord,fully realized in the next life.

8. Te offer of inner cleansing and renewal throughGods Holy Spirit.

9. Te offer and example of grace to live a godly lifethrough the strengthening and guidance of the HolySpirit.

10. Power to resist and repel Satan and evil spirits inJesus name.

Tey are surprised and challenged by the divinecharacteristics exhibited by Jesus: He issues com-mandments, controls nature, creates matter fromnothing, commands spirits, restores the dead tolife, reveals the thoughts of others, forgives sins,and bestows eternal life.

Muslims Who Believe in the

Lord Jesus ChristAs Muslims ponder these mysteries and pray for

guidance, it is not uncommon for them to have adream or vision that confirms the Scriptures and callsthem to follow Jesus the Messiah as their Lord andSavior. Tus they become what we could call Mes-sianic Muslims. In their own opinion, however, theyare simply being better Muslims by submitting to theMessiah whom God sent to guide and save them.

John ravis (1998) classified Muslim believers of thissort as C5 and C6, where C5 groups were openabout their study of the Bible and their faith in the


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Messiah, and C6 believers kept their faith private.In situations where C5 groups are expanding andmultiplying across a network of social relationships,they have been described as insider movements.In the groups that ravis described, the Muslimsrejected or reinterpreted traditional doctrines that

were incompatible with the Bible. Woodberry (2007:

24) has studied one rapidly growing movement formany years, and he notes that these Muslims follow

Jesus and believe what the Bible teaches even whereit differs from the Quran (as commonly interpreted).It is a cause for rejoicing that Muslims are studyingthe orah, Psalms, and Gospels and are becomingdisciples of Jesus Christ.

Obstacles that Hinder Muslims from

Studying the BibleSeveral things discourage Muslims from read-ing the Bible. One is the Muslim belief that Jewsand Christians have distorted these books, based

on statements in the Quran (2:59, 75; 3:78; 4:46;5:13). Muslim scholars disagree, however, whetherthis corruption involves the text of the Bible itself,

which raises theological problems for them, orwhether it refers to erroneous interpretations byJews and Christians, which is what the Quranseems to say. Muslim readers take heart, however,from the sayings of Jesus that his words will neverpass away (Mark 13:3; cf. Matt. 5:18 re the orah).

Many Muslims fear that the Injl has been alteredto teach people to worship three gods: Allah,Mary, and Jesus. Tey find relief from this worry inMark 12:2830, where the greatest commandment

involves affi rmation of the oneness of God and acommitment to love him totally.

Tey also fear terms like sons of God, becausemany have been indoctrinated since childhood, onthe basis of the curse inAt-awba9:30, that if theysay or consent to any statement that someone is anoffspring of God, then God will damn and destroythem. Tey regard the term itself as an earth-shak-ing insult to God, because it implies that God hadsexual union with a woman in order to get children(seeAl-Anm 6:101;Maryam 19:35, 8892). (Fordiscussion, see Brown 2005a-b and Brown 2007.)

Finally, Muslims fear that Bible study, especially ifdone with a Christian, could be an effort to get themto deny their own Muslim heritage and join a church,usually at the cost of being expelled from their fam-ily or community. John is a Christian who has beenliving in Southeast Asia for many years. He and his

wife like to read the Bible with a few Muslim friends,sometimes including one or two who have alreadybecome followers of Jesus the Messiah. Most of theirfriends and neighbors, however, declined their invita-

tions to join them, in spite of their assurances thatthey were not proselytizing them. John and his familyleft the country for six months. When they returned,they found that one of their believing friends hadstarted a weekly Bible study group, and this hadgrown to the extent that several different groups

were now meeting in the area, each on a different day

of the week. eachers of Islam from two differentschools have now become followers of Jesus as a resultof the witness of these groups. Te main attractionsare the transformed lives of those who have beenstudying the Gospels, the stories of the prophets, thegripping encounter with Jesus Christ in the Gospels,and the fact that God now answers many of theirprayers. When John asked one of the participants

why he would not participate in a Bible study withhim earlier, he explained the reason:

You are a Christian, and we thought your invita-tions were a scheme to get us into a church someday. But while you were away, we saw that Muslims

were studying the Bible themselves, without goingto a church or becoming apostates, and we felt safe

joining them.

So John kept his distance from the Bible studygroups, not wishing to interfere.

Tis fear of apostasy is amplified by socioreligiousfactors. From a cultural and sociological perspective,Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christian-ity and their subdivisions constitute social groups,each of which has distinctive boundary-markercustoms that are shared within the group but notoutside. Muslims view Islam as a complete culture,

with its own historical heritage, art forms, greetings,holidays, books, customs, ethics, politics, values,and beliefs. Tey view Christianity the same way,not as a relationship to God through Christ but asa contrasting socioreligious grouping, with its ownhistorical heritage, art forms, greetings, holidays,books, customs, ethics, politics, values, and beliefs.

And indeed, Christianity in its various forms doesexist in the world as a collection of closely relatedsocioreligious groups, such as Roman Catholic,Orthodox (of various sorts), Protestant, and withinthat Evangelical, etc. So although the Quran guidespeople to the Bible, Muslims typically identify theBible as belonging to the Christian socioreligious

group rather than to themselves. Tis discouragesthem from reading the biblical books, especially ifthey come from overtly Christian publishers, book-shops, websites, or radio stations.

If a Christian invites a Muslim to study the Biblewith him, the Muslim often becomes suspicious ofthe Christians motives, thinking he wants to drawhim away from the socioreligious community of hisbirth and win him to a Christian socioreligious

Rethinking Our Approach to Muslim Peoples


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identity. Tis is especially the case if the Christianwants the Muslim to read the Gospel of Jesus,because Muslims tend to view Jesus as belongingprimarily to the Christians, in spite of Muslim tra-ditions that affi rm him. Indeed, both parties might

view the matter as a contest between members ofcompeting socioreligious groups. Tese exclusivist

attitudes cause socioreligious boundaries to be oneof the chief obstacles hindering Muslims from en-gaging with the Bible and with the claims of Christ.On the other hand, there are other Christians who

view the Great Commission as a call to make dis-ciples of all nations rather than to convert them totheir own socioreligious group. Muslims find suchChristians less threatening to their social identity,and they are more receptive to studying the Bible

with them. By respecting the socioreligious identityand heritage of Muslims, these Christians lowersome of the boundaries and remove these obstacles.Nevertheless, for a Bible study to develop into a

back-to-the-Bible movement among Muslims, theMuslims need to be meeting to study the Bible ontheir own, inside their own community, without thepresence of non-Muslim outsiders.

The Great Commission: Christian

Religion or Discipleship to Christ?Drawing on mathematics and philosophy, PaulHiebert (1994) distinguished these two missiological

viewpoints in terms of bounded sets versus cen-tered sets. Hiebert applies this to believers in JesusChrist. Bounded-set Christians define themselves aspeople who meet the boundary criteria of assentingto the same traditional creeds and religious prac-tices (e.g., worship services on Sundays in a churchbuilding). As Hiebert notes, people with this view

work hard to maintain conformity to these boundarymarkers and reject non-conformists as non-Christiansor heretics. Centered-set Christians define themselvesin proximity to the central exemplar, which is theideal follower of Christ, a model provided by Jesushimself. So their chief concern is fostering greaterconformity to this model.

Another way to put this isthat traditional bounded-set Christians definethemselves in terms of a

recognizable socioreli-gious category, whereascentered-set Christiansdefine themselves in termsof discipleship to JesusChrist. Tis correspondsto the distinction CharlesKraft has made betweencultural Christianityand essential Christian-ity, where the latter con-

sists of allegiance to Jesus Christ. Hieberts point wasthat the New estament presents a centered-set viewof mission and holiness, in which the task of missionis to call and disciple people to Christ rather thanpromote a particular religious tradition in oppositionto all others.

Tis difference leads to misunderstandings andconflicts in missiology. Some missionaries see theirtask as assisting the expansion and strength of theirboundary-defined socioreligious group while oth-ers see their task as assisting the growth of GodsChrist-centered Kingdom. While both groupscan speak in support of contextualization, theyare contextualizing different things. One group isseeking to contextualize their brand of Christianreligion, while the other is seeking to contextualizecollective discipleship to Christ. So each sees theother as deficient and sometimes as threatening.Personally, I think there is a place for both in Godsplan, but the bounded-set approach often leads to

conflict and recrimination between socioreligiousgroups and to suffering and shame within families.Even extracted, long-standing converts feel the painof this competitive socioreligious approach. Maryhas been a believer for seven years and is known asa convert. Yet she is hurt when Christians speakdisdainfully of Muhammad and Islam. She feelsthey are insulting her culture and its most importanthistorical icon. Jack is another convert. He worksfor a bounded-set mission that constantly denigratesIslam in their publications and broadcasts. He wantsto see his people come to faith in Christ, but becauseof his work with this mission he says, I feel like a

traitor to my people. Joseph converted over thirtyyears ago and even managed to change his legalreligious identity to Christian. But because of hisapostasy from the Muslim community, his highlyrespected family lost their position and their honor,to the extent that they could not find husbands fortheir daughters or good jobs for their sons. Afterthirty years Joseph returned and apologized to them

Bounded Sets and Centered Sets (See Hiebert 1994)

Bounded set: Membership is defned by ones relationship to

boundary criteria (i.e., religious practices).

Centered set: Membership is defned by ones

relationship to the center (i.e., to Jesus Christ).

This characterizes socioreligious groups. This characterizes the Kingdom o God.


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for all the heartbreak and disgrace he caused them,saying he should have remained in his family andcommunity as a Bible-believing Muslim who fol-lows Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

Biblical and Sub-Biblical MuslimsIn any movement to Christ, it takes time for

peoples worldviews to conform to what is taughtin Scripture, as God leads them into truth throughhis Holy Spirit. What is important is that they aremoving towards the center, towards greater confor-mity with a biblical worldview. Until that processhas matured, their worldviews (beliefs and values)are likely to be sub-biblical. Tat is true of all kindsof movements, so we need to distinguish betweenbiblicalC1/2/3/4/5/6 and sub-biblicalC1/2/3/4/5/6.It would be less than Gods best, however, for be-livers to remain with a sub-biblical worldview, suchas one finds in liberal churches (which are usuallyC1 or C2), Mormons, and the like. So if there is

anything one can do to encourage their maturationtowards biblical worldviews, then it would seemdesirable to do so.

Te question, then, is which beliefs, values andpractices are incompatible with the Bible? A relatedquestion is what role do outsiders have in decidingthis issue? Some have taken the role of denounc-ing insider movements as syncretistic, because theyremain within the boundaries of a Muslim sociore-ligious category and fail to match all the boundarycriteria for a Christian socioreligious category. Tisbounded-set approach, however, is unsympatheticand ultimately unhelpful. Scott Moreau (2000:

924) offers the following guidance. First he definessyncretism as the replacement or dilution of theessential truths of the gospel through the incorpora-tion of non-Christian elements. Ten he providesthe following guidelines for identifying them:

Because of the convoluted nature of culture, the dec-laration of syncretism in a particular setting cannotbe simply left in the hands of expatriate missionar-ies. Te local community must be empowered tobiblically evaluate their own practices and teachings.Missionaries must learn to trust that indigenouspeoples are able to discern Gods leading and trustGod to develop and maintain biblically founded andculturally relevant Faith and Praxis in each localcontext. Finally, Christians of every culture must en-gage in genuine partnership with Christians of othercultures, since often the outsiders help is neededto enable local believers, blinded by culture andfamiliarity, to see that which contravenes scripturaladherence to the first commandment.

As he points out, the outsiders can give their per-spective, but it is the responsibility (before God) ofthe local disciples of Christ to biblically evaluate

their own practices and teachings. Hiebert (1987)offers some general guidelines on how they can dothat well. Tese guidelines, however, are unsatis-factory for bounded-set missionaries, because they

view a mixture of socioreligious boundary criteriato be a form of syncretism (regardless of the be-lievers actual beliefs and values). Even phrases like

Messianic Muslim and Biblical Muslim seemoxymoronic and syncretistic to them.

Final ThoughtIn the article on page 16 I relate the story of Brother

Jacob. Jesus appeared to the leader of a large Sufi sectand sent him to a distant house where he had neverbeen, to meet Brother Jacob whom he had never heardof, with the assurance of Christ that Brother Jacob

would show him the way of salvation. Brother Jacobwas (and is) the leader of a large insider movement,but he had kept a very low profile. At the time of thisevent there were many missionaries in the country,

and there were a number of C2, C3, and C4 churchesthat they had started. Jesus didnt send the Sufi leaderto any of them. Jesus sent him to Brother Jacob, theC5 leader, and God started another insider move-ment through him and the Sufi leader. Tat does notmean that Jesus disapproves of C3 or C4; but it doesdemonstrate that he works in a variety of ways, andthat one of those ways is C5. We would do well thento support them all, insofar as Jesus is guiding them inthis way, and let Jesus lead them into the future he hasfor them, a future that we cannot yet see.f

ReferencesAyoub, Mahmoud Mustafa

1980 The Death of Jesus, Reality or Delusion? A Study of the Death of

Jesus in Tafsir Literature. The Muslim World70:91121.

Brown, Rick

2005a Explaining the Biblical Term Son(s) of God in Muslim Contexts.

International Journal o Frontier Missions 22(3):9196.

2005b Translating the Biblical Term Son(s) of God in Muslim Contexts.

International Journal o Frontier Missions 22(4):135145.

2007 Why Muslims Are Repelled by the Term Son of God. Evangelical

Missions Quarterly 43(4).

Hiebert, Paul G

1987 Critical Contextualization [July]. International Bulletin o Missionary

Research 11:104112.

1994 Anthropological Refections on Missiological Issues. Grand Rapids: Baker.

Moreau, A. Scott2000 Syncretism. In Evangelical Dictionary o World Missions, 924925.

Grand Rapids: Baker.

Prothero, Stephen

2007 Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to KnowAnd Doesnt.

San Francisco: Harper Collins.

Travis, John

1998 The C1 to C6 Spectrum. Evangelical Missions Quarterly34:407408.

Woodberry, J. Dudley

2007. To the Muslim I Became a Muslim? International Journal o Frontier

Missiology24:2328.

Rethinking Our Approach to Muslim Peoples

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