Historical evidence and also our own life experiences have proven that nothing but the Name and knowledge of Christ will be able to set Islamists free from persecuting others who do not think or believe in their way. There is nothing in Islam to encourage Muslims to treat non-Muslims as equals. Even our own contemporary Muslim governments, who claimed to be civilized, have banned Christian evangelism in their countries and some have limited Christian religious practices. Saudi Arabia, the major supplier of money for building mosques and for the spread of Islam in all western and non-Islamic countries, has made all non-Islamic prayers illegal. Non-Muslim expatriates are not allowed to practice their religions and pray in Saudi Arabia. When it comes to committed and radical Muslims, the treatments get very Quranic, which means that every non-Muslim should expect a pious Muslim to terrorize (Quran 9: 123).
For this reason, Islamists’ attitudes towards non-Muslims, in particular Jews and Christians, has always been harsher since the rise of Islam. Only those Muslims who had the opportunity to read about the outside world and compare it with their own beliefs had a different approach to Christians and Jews.
Molavi (Mawlana Rumi), the famous Persian poet and theologian (13th Century AD) read the Gospel of Christ, which influenced him highly and changed his view towards Christians and Jews. He writes numerous extraordinary poems about Christ and Christianity of which one says this:
The love of the infidels drew my attention, and because of that I am now smooth (loving), gentle and simple.He is expressing himself in a poetic way, which is a most influential way of impacting others in the Middle East, bringing forth the meaning that Islam is wrong in calling Christians and Jews unlovely (infidels) whereas their love for humanity is wonderful.
As long as Islamists are unaware of the words of the Gospel of Christ and think that nothing is better than their Quran, they will continue to persecute non-Muslims to the utmost of their efforts. Their so-called best and unique Quran instructs them:
Slaughter non-Muslims until there is no more disbelief (in the whole world) and all submit to the religion of Allah alone. (Quran 8: 39).The Quran is obligating Muslims to violate basic human rights and slaughter non-Muslims unless they join Islam. Violation of non-Muslims is part of Islamic law, Sharia. The only solution to combat the threat and violation condoned by Sharia is to open the eyes of Muslims to the truth of Jesus Christ. This is what most of our contemporary leaders in the West are unaware of.
The world’s most powerful nation, America, believed that Iraq would attain freedom if Saddam was overthrown. A similar thing happened with the United Nations concerning the Taliban and Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. What happened? Christians in Iraq lost even the slightest bit of freedom they had in the time of Saddam. Nothing has changed for the better in Afghanistan either.
Years of war with billions of dollars in costs against terrorism not only failed but fuelled the zeal of Islamists for further terroristic expansion. What went wrong with the western leaders and with their most powerful armies in the pursuit of their plans of destroying terrorism? Things went wrong because they did not know how to fight terrorism. They declared Islam a religion of peace, whereas Islam itself cherishes terrorism. Religious Muslim leaders, as well as committed and radical Muslims throughout the world, know that their Islam and Quran do not promote peace against non-Muslims. They took the declaration of these leaders as a sign of fear of Muslims.
All committed Muslims know that the very principle of Islam in dealing with non-Muslims is to stand firm and create fear among them. They pursued this principle and gained victory in many areas. We can see today how the fear of western leaders strengthened Muslim terrorists in the pursuit of their plans and encouraged them to take steps beyond Afghanistan and become a global threat. Now terrorist groups are everywhere in the world. Fear has opened the door to all other kinds of Islamic terrorism, including cultural and social, within the West. For example, there is no opposition to Muslims freely speaking about their beliefs in western universities but Christians are no longer free to do so of their own beliefs.
Compare the battle of the western government with the battle of Christ which we have been pursuing in the last decade or so. My comparative teaching alone has led thousands of Muslims, including many radicals, to Christ and disarmed their hearts from the harshness of Islam. We also continually hear and witness how other followers of Christ, who have various evangelistic outreaches to Muslims, have been leading many thousands to Christ and bringing down the hostile wall of Islamic Sharia in the lives of many. Muslims will not be able to leave the hostile culture of Islam unless we show the truth of the peace of Christ to them. This is the real war the Muslim world needs, a war that seeks to win them to an all-loving God.
The war of Islamic terrorism will not come to an end with a war of armies. We Christians must follow the footsteps of our Chief Commander, Jesus Christ, against Islamists’ ignorance and reveal to them the message of freedom and hope. The greatest gift of Islam to its follower is death. That’s why committed Muslims look down on westerners for loving life, proudly proclaiming themselves to be lovers of death. Therefore, the war in Islam is for the victory of death over life. This is quite different to the war of Jesus Christ. The war of Jesus Christ is for the victory of life over death. Christ prefers Muslims to live in/for the Truth instead of dying in/for Islam. This is exactly the way Jesus Christ describes the victory of truth over death:
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8: 32)It is, therefore, the Islamic dogma that has made Islamists aggressive, hostile and thirsty for death, either for their own death or the death of others. We can challenge their hearts by giving the message of Christ to them.
That’s why we are so grateful that Jesus Christ has given us the tools for this spiritual war; more influential than the weapons of the great armies of the world, so that we can rescue Muslims from the death of Islam and lead them to the Kingdom of Life in Christ.
