More Muslims than ever before are moving to or living in the West. But Christians should not see that as a threat, but an opportunity. Where once the task of reaching Muslims used to be seen as purely overseas mission involving danger, sacrifice and expense, today it can be sim­ply neighbourhood evangelism.

However, most of the world’s billion Muslims still live in the traditional Islamic nations. Even here, tourism, commerce and the need for technical specialists in developing Islamic nations has brought Christians into close contact with Muslims in their home countries.

There are five main geographical groups of Islamic people. First is the Arab countries, where most of the population is Muslim, they hold the place of honour in the world Islamic community. But there are large Christian minorities in Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, Syria and Iraq. In Lebanon, half the people are Christians.

Second is the Islamic nations of Asia, including Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Then there is the growing community in sub-Saharan Africa. In some countries the majority are now Muslims (Senegal, Mali, Niger, Chad and Somalia), in others Islam is not yet domi­nant (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda).

The fourth group is the Muslim communities in Asia and Eastern Europe. There are large communities of Muslims living in non-Islamic countries such as India (50 million), China (26 million) and in the south of the former Soviet Union (26 million). There are also large groups in countries like Poland, Hungary, Albania and the former Yugoslavia. Finally, there are migrant groups in Western Europe, the USA and Australia. In the USA there is a large group of Afro-Americans who have adopted Islam as their religion, and call themselves Black Muslims.

Every Muslim must uphold the Five Pillars of Islam to please God and obtain rewards in Paradise. These are:

1. Declaring the Faith (El-Shahadatin)⤒🔗

Regardless of race or language a Muslim must formally declare in Arabic “I declare that there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is the Apostle of Allah”. This is the declaration that makes a man a Muslim and it must be made publicly at least once in a life time. It is a summary of Muslim belief and forms part of every call to prayer.

2. The Five Prayers←⤒🔗

In Muslim coun­tries, the faithful are called to prayer five times a day. In other places Muslims try their best to pray at fixed times at their place of work, or after work. On Friday at noon Muslims are required to gather at the mosque to pray.

3. The Compulsory Payment (zakat)←⤒🔗

This is not almsgiving or charity, but a compulsory payment of 2 per cent of one’s income. On the other hand it is not a general tax as it has to be spent in spe­cific ways in helping needy Muslims. Zakat means pure, and giving in this way is an act of faith and a means of purifying one’s soul.

4. The Fasting Month←⤒🔗

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar. All adults Muslims are required to abstain from all food, drink, and sexual inter­course during the daylight hours in this month. No adult Muslim (over 15 years of age) is exempt from the fast except those who are sick (including pregnant and nursing women) or on a journey of more than three days’ duration. The exempt, however must fast for 30 days at some other time.

5. Pilgrimage to Mecca←⤒🔗

Mohammed’s birthplace, Mecca, is where the Kaa’ba is. Muslims believe that this shrine was built by Abraham as a place of worship but was corrupted by the Arabs with their idols. When Muhammad and his followers entered Mecca in 630AD they destroyed the idols and cleansed the Kaa’ba, making it the focus of Islam, the centre of true worship of God, prayer and the focus of annual pilgrimage. They believe that every step taken by the pilgrim in the direction of the Kaa’ba wipes out more sins and the one who dies on the way is enrolled as an Islamic martyr. The Hajj, as the pilgrimage is called, is the hope of every Muslim and is required once in a lifetime.

To Muslims, the Qur’an is the final revelation of God’s will to the world. They have five fundamental beliefs concerning the Quran.

1. It is the literal dic­tated word of God that he wrote in heaven on a “guarded tablet” before it was handed down to Mohammed.
    
2. The Qur’an is eternal, uncreated, unchanged and incorruptible. It completely surpasses the Bible, which is viewed as being hopelessly corrupted.
    
3. It is a miracle (a sign) from God, since Mohammed himself was not able to read or write.
    
4. The Qur’an is written in per­fect Arabic since Allah wrote it himself and therefore there are no variant read­ings in it and no one can write any liter­ature like that found in it.
    
5. The Qur’an cannot be translated into any other lan­guage.

However these are claims do not hold up. There is concrete evidence in Islamic tradition that from the start the Qur’an had numerous variant and conflicting readings, its Arabic is such that it contains many grammatical errors and that there are contradictions and mistakes in its teachings.

Many Muslims feel that any criticism of the Qur’an cannot be allowed. But if Muslims want the freedom to criti­cise the Bible and insist that it has been corrupted, then we must be allowed to criticise the Qur’an!

The English reader of Islamic books must be aware of the hidden agenda they often contain. The translators of the Qur’an and other religious works do not hesitate to mistranslate the Arabic text to keep the English reader from discovering obvious errors and contra­dictions.