The Christian Broadcasting Network
Q&A

Why are Muslims so Resistant to Christianity?


CBN.com - Muslim opposition to the Gospel is proverbial and the persecution that is unleashed on any Muslim who dares become Christian. This is not just ancient history; it occurs today. A number of converts in Egypt recently suffered imprisonment for their faith. And this past year, two Moroccan Christians died under suspicious circumstances. Yet, curiously, Islam has also been open to the assimilation of elements that are in evident conflict with its principles. As many as 70 percent of all Muslims are influenced by the unorthodox beliefs and practices known as "folk Islam." A Muslim may even embrace Marxism with hardly an eyebrow being raised!

Why then are Muslims so intransigent vis-a-vis conversion to Christianity? Is it that they are unusually hardened or inherently resistant to the Gospel? Or are missionaries themselves to blame, as some would say, because they have imposed on the convert churches Western cultural forms?

A number of factors are involved; Islamic resistance to the Gospel cannot be attributed to any single cause. Moreover, the Gospel by its very nature is opposed to every other religious solution to the problem of man, because they are all basically humanistic. We may, however, single out one factor that could be termed "primary": the ideological nature of Islamic society.

Islamic society is ideological in that it holds that the Muslim community exists to bring all of life, as a community and not just as individuals, into "submission" to the will of God—as defined by Islamic law. To realize this ideal there must be an Islamic State, with executive, legislative, and judicial branches that are all "Islamic." This is what makes Islamic society different from the pluralistic societies we know in the West.

Such an approach has a built-in problem that is unknown to pluralistic societies: What is to be done with those, such as Christians, who do not share the ideal of the majority? Islamic law has a number of provisions that help to explain Muslim resistance over the centuries. To hit only the high points, there is the "Dhimmi system" that segregates non-Muslims, such as Christians, into ghetto communities, said to be "protected," which really have only a second-class status. Similarly, Islamic Law provides that a male "Apostate" who does not recant within a reasonable period be put to death, and his property seized. Women who apostatize are imprisoned until they recant. In a related provision, apostasy renders a marriage void. Together, these provisions raise tremendous barriers against Muslims making a serious commitment to Christ. They raise another question for churches, especially churches of converts from Islam: Given these barriers, how are they to relate to Muslim society? But that is another question.

Arab World Ministries (Source)

 



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