Author: Jay Smith

Answering Islam Day Conference
(Jay Smith and Elsie Maxwell)
(Note: These notes are derived from a syllabus given out at day-long courses taught by Jay Smith and Dr. Elsie Maxwell, and are therefore written in a shortened format for brevity and space)

Theme
What do Muslims believe? How are they organised on campus? How can we befriend them, answer their questions and lead them to Christ? A complete strategy!
							
Day Conference Programme
Registration Coffee and Welcome
Islam and Christianity compared
Basic Overview of Islam (History, Beliefs, The Qur'an and Hadith) 
Revelation (Bible vs Qur'an)
Break
Culture (East vs West)
Theology (Hermeneutical Key)
Lunch
The Challenge of Islam
Why is Islam so attractive?
Islam on campus
Why are we doing so poorly?
A biblical evangelistic strategy
Tea and Coffee
Apologetics/Polemics
Where to from here?
Resources
Close

ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY COMPARED

[A]  BASIC OVERVIEW OF ISLAM
	
(1) History of Islam:
     a)  570-646 A.D. Islam's birth (Islamic Traditional account vs. Orientalist account)
	[Muhammad the Prophet - Mecca]
	570 A.D.= Muhammad was born to Abdullah and Amina (Quraishi family)
	610 A.D.= received revelations after meditating for 6 months in Hira cave.
	622 A.D.= Hijra-the migration with 200 to Medina, beginning of political power.
	[Muhammad the Statesman - Medina]
	622-630 A.D.= Battles Badr, Uhud, the Ditch, and 700 Jews (3 families) killed.
	630 A.D.= Mecca conquered, bringing control of Arabian peninsula.
	632 A.D.= Death of Muhammad.
	646 A.D.= writing down of Qur'an by Zaid Ibn Thabit, under Uthman’s auspice.
     b)  632-800 A.D. Islam's Conquest (Byzantium/Persian, Umayyad, Abbasid)
-with weakened Byzantium and Persian empires, a vacuum was left which Islam quickly filled, dominating Arabia, Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, Palestine, Egypt, North Africa, and the Iberian Peninsula, and as far as India in the west; a major blow to Christian Church.
	-661 A.D. SHI'ITES split over Muhammad’s successor.
-	732 A.D. Charles Martel stops Islam at TOURS, France.
     c)  750-1300 A.D. Stagnation (Mongols in east and Christians in west: 5th Crusade (1220)
-Abbasid Caliphate:  Stagnation and Decline; Mongols in east and Christians in west: 5th Crusade (1220).
     d)  1300-1500 A.D. Expansion (Ottoman Empire, Moghuls in India)
-Ottoman Empire: Turkey & Mongol converts.  Islam predominant in world.  Moghuls in India.  Push to Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, the Balkan states).
     e)  1500-1988 A.D. Decline and Resurgence (1923_Ataturk, 1960 independence, oil)
	-Decline of Ottoman and Mongol empires, and European expansion. 
-	1923-Ataturk dismantles Caliphate (end of the "Khalifah"). 
-	1960 independence, oil, Khomeini brings about Islamic pride...

(2) The Scriptures
   -Torah, Zabur, Injil, QUR'AN (from eternal tablet in heaven = Sura 85:22). 
	Qur'an: 114 chapters = suras, and verses = ayas, superceding all other revelations.
     a)Three PERIODS OF QUR'ANIC REVELATION:
	(Note: chapters are named after the place where they were revealed - Meccan & Medina)
a)-1st Meccan (610-615): WARNINGS & leading ideas.  Mostly in poetical style and short (i.e. 96,74,81,83,87,111,112).  
	b)-2nd Meccan (616-622): longer suras, doctrines with Biblical material.  Claims one 		true religion (i.e. 53,43,38,39,17,23,46,72).
c)-Medinan (623-632): Long suras as well, zeroing in on divine approval of Muhammad’s leadership. Historical events noted.  Change from preacher to prince, more political and social (i.e. Sura 33:2,23,33,37 = approval of Zaid)
     b) Collation of Qur'an:
  -Abu Bakr commissioned Zayd-ibn-Thabit to collect Qur'an from other’s memory, parchment, papyrus, stones, palm leaves, shoulder blades, animal’s ribs, leather, boards. Final copy (Uthman commissioned) given to Hafsa (widow of Muhammad). 3 copies made.  All others were burned.
     c) Authority of the Qur'an:
	It claims to be from God, perfect linguistically, scientifically, historically, and with no human authorship.  It is a miracle, as the prophet was illiterate.  Problems with Sources, Hafsa, Errors, Abrogations, & only for Arabs.  (* See paper on “the Qur'an, An Apologetic”)

(3) Teachings of Islam: (Islam means "Submission", Muslim = "one who submits")
  Six Muslim Beliefs=Iman   (*=See paper on Christian Response to Iman)
  	1) Belief in One God Allah: god is unique, all powerful, & merciful to Muslims.
	2) Belief in the Prophets: (126,000) including: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, 			Jesus, & Muhammad the greatest.
	3) Belief in the Holy Books: 5= Suhuf (scrolls of Ibrahim), Taurut (Moses), Zabur 		(David), Injil (Jesus), Qur'an (Muhammad); [Also, Sunnah (Hadith), Ijma			(unanimous agreement), Qias (analogical reasoning, measured with the above)]
	4) Belief in Angels (& Evil Spirits): Iblis, Jibra'il, Mika'il, Izra'il, Israfil.
5) Belief in the Day of Judgment: good/bad deeds balanced by "book of destiny" predestined by Allah, puts the book in right hand=saved & will cross razor-sharp bridge, unsaved beaten & falls into Jahenna.
      		-Paradise="Garden of delight" with virgins, fruits, & springs of water.
     		-Hell= (Jahenna) roasted, boiling water, pus, and torments.
6) Belief in Decrees and Predestination of Allah: Everything, including good and evil is preordained by Allah, thus man resigned to fate (Kismet); and calls for 
		In-sh'allah (thus fanaticism in war, & resigned to defeat and catastrophes)
(4) Practices of Islam "5 Pillars"
  Shahada: "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet."
  Salat: Prayer five times a day, facing Mecca.
  Zakat: Alms of 1/40 or 2.5% (plus Sadaqah= voluntary offerings).
  Sawm: fast of Ramadan (9th month) begins & ends with distinguishing between threads.
  Hajj: The pilgrimage to the Ka’ba in Mecca once in one's lifetime.
		(Shiites would add Jihad = "striving in the cause of God")

(5)  The Divisions of Islam
	Sunni (4 Caliphs)
	Shi'a (Ali only)
		Shi'ites (Twelvers) - Iran, India, Iraq
		Isma'ilis (Seveners) - India, Syria, East Africa (Aga Khan)
		Zaydis - Yemen
		Druzes - Lebanon
	Sufis
	Ahmadiyya

[B] REVELATION: THE HISTORICAL ACCURACY OF THE QUR’AN AND THE BIBLE

MANUSCRIPTS
ISLAM:
-Oral tradition, manuscripts are aged, disintegrated - do original mss. exist?
Uthmanic recension is not found in the Topkapi / Sammarkand mss. as Muslims believe.
-must do Accelerated Mass Spectographical (AMS) analysis and SCRIPT Analysis on the mss.
1. Ma'il 7th-9th century (Medina and Mecca).
2. Mashq 7th century onwards. 
3. Kufic 8th-11th century (needs landscape format).
4. Naskh 11th century till today.
-Coins:show us Mashq = upto 750AD, Kufic = 750AD onwards, thus Topkapi/Sammarkand cannot be 7^th century, but are late 8^th to 9^th century documents!
-Noldeke, Hawting, Schacht, Lings, Safadi all date Topkapi/Sammarkand to 9th century.
-Quraish = Mecca, Kufa = not conquered until 636 AD = Persia, with Pahlavi script.
-Ma'il Qur’an in British Library, Lings = 790AD (thus present 690 dating is doubtful)
-Conclusion: no Uthmanic recension, & Qur'an is 1,200 years old, not 1400 = 150 year gap!
Talmudic Sources:
-Cain & Abel:(raven)S.5:3=Targum Jonathan-ben-Uzziah,(blood)S.5:32=Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5
-Abraham: (smashed idols, fiery pit) (S.21:51-71) = Midrash Rabbah
-Solomon & Sheba: (hoopoo bird, mirrored floor) (S.27:17-44) = II Targum of Esther
Sira, Hadith, Tarikh, Tafsir (Islamic Traditions) problems:
-late dates: Sira (Hisham = 833AD), Hadith (Buhari = 870AD), Tarikh, Tafsir (Tabari = 923AD)
-Credibility: reflect 9th-10th century, bias based on ra’y (opinion), conflicting akhbars
-Contradictions: Al-Tabari’s conflicting accounts (i.e. 15 differing accounts of Muh. meeting)
-Proliferation: Waqidi & Abdallah; Bukhari -> from 600,000 down to 7,397 (or 2,762 originals)
-Isnad: names of transmitters, begins with Sha’fi (820AD), yet no documentation till 9^th century.
-Storytelling: Kussas responsible for stories of Biblical & Iranian legend, much like Griots today.
CHRISTIANITY:
-New Testament written before the Fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, & before the fire of Rome, because these events plus the martyrdoms of-James (62 AD)Paul (64 AD) & Peter (65 AD), all pivotal Christian events, are not mentioned in Acts.
-New Testament extant manuscripts:
	5,300 Greek
	10,000 Latin Vulgate
	9,300 other early versions
=+ 24,000 manuscript copies of portions of the  New Testament in existence today!
=230 MSS compiled before the 7th century (i.e. before the Qur’an)!!
-Magdalene Manuscript (Dr.Thiede) = 50-68AD? (KE = Kurios = Lord) oldest of 98 Papyri
=15,000translations: Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Gothic, Nubian, Georgian, Ethiopic
=2,135 Lectionaries from 6th century
=86,489 Biblical quotes from Early Church Fathers letters (32,000 before 325AD); all of the New Testament can be found in these quotes except for 11 verses
	(i.e. Clement = 2,406 quotes, Tertullian = 7,258 quotes, Origen = 17,922 quotes

DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE

ISLAM:
JEWS split with Muhammad.624 AD (S.2:144-150)
-Doctrina Iacobi,642AD tells us that the Jews/Saracens were allied
-Armenian Chronicler, 660 AD = says Jews & Ishmaelites were together up-to 640 AD
MECCA(S.3:96) = 1st sanctuary, Adam = Kaaba, 1st city, Abraham/Ishmael rebuilt it, Trade
-no ancient reference till 724AD (“Makoraba” 1^st?-but not the same root as Mecca in Arabic)
-sources: Lammens used Periplus (50AD), Pliny (79AD) but should have used Cosmas, Procopius, Theodoretus (5th-6th century), as they were closer to the events in time and place.  If the Orientalists had used the later sources they would have found:
1)no international overland trade through Arabia post-1st century, as it was maritime, through the Red Sea.  It was cheaper 1,250 miles by ship than 50 miles by camel
2)trade declined post-3rd cent, then the Ethiopians controlled it (capital = Adulis)
3)Mecca situated in a valley, no water, couldn’t accommodate caravans, unlike Taif 50 miles away
-no mention of Mecca at all, thus no sanctuary, & historical credibility eradicated.

CHRISTIANITY:
-Moses didn’t write?, yet Black Stele found = laws of Hammurabi 300 yrs. before Moses.
-Daniel  not 2nd but 6th BC, East India Inscription = Dan.4:30 = Nebuchadnezzar’s  building.
-Dead Sea Scrolls=100BC = Massoretic MS = 916AD (except Essene cult variations Lam.\Jer.)
-Armana tablets: (Egypt) "Apiru” = Hebrew (?), 1^st given to Abraham (Gen.14:13)
-Ebla tablets: (Syria) 17,000 = Tell Mardikh, 2300 BC = Deuteronomy law code, which included the cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, Zoar = Gen. 14:8
-Mari tablets: (Euphrates) Arriyuk = Arioch = Gen.14; Nahor, Harran = Gen.24:10, Benjamin
-Nuzi tablets: (Iraq) speaks of 6 Patriarchal customs found in Genesis:
		a) a barren wife giving a handmaiden to her husband (i.e. Sarah, Haggar)
		b) a bride chosen for the son by the father (i.e. Isaac and Rebekah)
		c) a dowry paid to the father-in-law (i.e. Laban and Jacob)
		d) work done to pay a dowry (i.e. Jacob)
		e) the unchanging oral will of a father (i.e. Isaac)
		f) a father giving his daughter a slave-girl (i.e. Leah, Rachel)
		g) the sentence of death for stealing cult gods (i.e. Jacob).
-	Thus the Torah could not have written with such accuracy in 5^th or 2^nd century.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL ACCURACY

ISLAM:
QIBLA (S.2:144-150) change from Jerusalem to Mecca in 624AD (so all Qiblas in that direction)
-Wasit, Baghdad & Kufa = West, Al ‘As = East
-Syrian Caliphal Palaces = Jerusalem
-Jacob of Edessa 705 AD mentions in a letter that the Saracens prayed towards Jerusalem
DOME OF THE ROCK: by Abd al-Malik in 691AD, yet nothing written about the Mi'raj?
-inscriptions polemical & not quite the same as found in the Qur’an!
	(variant verbal forms, & extensive deviancies)
-no Qibla, octagonal, best suited for circumambulating, perhaps 1st sanctuary, or one of many?
NEVO’S INSCRIPTIONS: Arabic, religious after 661 AD-no Muhammad formula till 690 AD 
-then Tawhid, Muhammad rasul Allah (Muhammad formula) Jesus = man, basically polemical 
-Muhammad formula found on Protocols suddenly in 691AD but not accepted until 724AD.
Note: compared to the Biblical archaeological  evidence, there is no archaeological evidence for Adam, Abraham, or Ishmael in Arabia!
British Museum of Qur’anic Exhibits:
-Ma’il Qur’an in MSS exhibit (790 AD, though newer date listed but not substantiated)
-Kufic Qur’ans in MSS exhibit (9th centuries)
-COINS: Umayyad (Naskh, Mashq) & Abbasid (Kufic)
-coins place the Kufic script from 750 AD and not before, so Samarkand and Topkapi must be post-750 AD!!
CONCLUSION: What does this evidence tell us concerning the historicity of Islam?:
	1) that the Hijra was more-than-likely not towards Medina, but towards Palestine;
	2) that the Qibla was not fixed towards Mecca until the eighth century, but to an area much further north, and possibly Jerusalem;
	3) that the Jews still retained a relationship with the Arabs until at least 640 A.D.;
	4) that Jerusalem and not Mecca was more-than-likely one of a number of cities which contained the first sanctuaries for Islam, as Mecca was not only unknown as a viable city until the end of the seventh century, but was not even on the trade route;
	5) that the Dome of the Rock was the likely position of a sanctuary in the late 7^th cent.;
	6) that Muhammad was not known as God’s universal prophet until the late 7th century;
	7) that the terms ‘Muslim’/‘Islam’ were not used until the end of the seventh century;
	8) that five daily prayers as well as the Hajj were not standardized until after 717 A.D.; 
	9) that the earliest we even hear of any Qur'an is not until the mid_eighth century;
	10)that the earliest Qur'anic writings don’t coincide exactly with the current Qur'anic text.

The Qur'an gives authority to the Bible:
-argument of corruption began with Ibn Hazam (1064), so a much later polemic.
2:136 no difference between Taurat, Injil & the Qur'an
4:136 admonishing the Muslims to Believe in the preceding scriptures.
5:46-47 Christians must believe in their scriptures & judge by them.
5:68 Christians must stand fast by the Gospel.
10:94 Muslims, if in doubt ask those who read the book before thee.
21:7 apostles were inspired, so Ask them: they possess the message.
29:46 don’t dispute with Christians, believe in their scriptures
Thus the Qur'an emphatically endorses the Torah and the Gospel.
-	Why is there is no warning?
2:140 says (of the Jews), “...who is more unjust than those who conceal the testimony they have from Allah...?”
-not a challenge of corruption but a ringing endorsement to the Bible’s credibility!
God does not change His Word (found in both the Qur’an and the Bible)Qur’an: 10:64 =“No change can there be in the words of Allah.” 	 6:34: “There is none that can alter the words of Allah,” (also Suras 3:2,78; 4:135; 18:26; 35:42; 50:28,29)
-Bible: Deuteronomy 4:1-2; Isaiah 8:20; Matthew 5:17-18; 24:35; Revelation 22:18-20.
-a recurring theme, so why would the Bible be different?

CHRISTIANITY:
-Abraham = name found on Babylonian inscription
-Field of Abram in Hebron =918 BC by Shishak of Egypt, on walls  of Karnak temple 
-Doors of Sodom:2200-1600BC = heavy = Gen.19:9, 900-600BC = arch/curtains (security)
-Beni Hasan Tomb: Asiatics went to Egypt/famine
-Joseph's price: (20shekels) Gen.37:28 = 1,700 BC, earlier cheaper, later more
-Joseph's Tomb: Joshua 24:32 = in Shechem- found mummy with Egyptian sword!
-Jericho's walls fell outwards = Joshua 6:20, 
-David’s Water shafts found (II Sam.5:6-8; I Chron.11:6)
LUKE’S accuracy:
-(Erastus)= Corinth treasurer (Rom. 16:23), pavement found in 1929 with this name.
-(Meris) =Philippi a "district" of Macedonia doubted until inscriptions use it for district.
-(Politarchs)=civil authority of Thessalonica (Acts 17:6) 19 inscriptions use it, 5 in Thesselonica
-(Praetor)= Philippian ruler instead of Duumuir, Romans used Praetor earlier.
-(Proconsul)= title for Gallio (Acts 18:12) -corroborated by Delphi Inscription (52 AD) Gallio held this position for 1yr.
-(Quirinius)=governor of Syria at Jesus’ birth= an inscription from Antioch 
British Museum Exhibits on Biblical Material:
-Shalmaneser III (Assyrian King=859-824 BC) names Ahab & Benhadad of Syria.
-Jehu is pictured and named on the black obelisk.   I kings 22:1; II kings 9-10
-Tiglath-Pileser III (Assyrian king= 745-727 BC) Menahem (Israel King) mentioned Bible 9 times (2Kings)
-Sargon II (Assyrian king=722 BC) mentioned in Is.20:1 = Sargon & Ashdod city’s fall.  Sargon’s annals mention fall of Ashdod.  Nimrud Prism mentions Israel’s fall.
-Sennacherib (Assyrian king= 701 BC)
-Taylor Prism = mentions Jerusalem will not fall, that 30 talents of Gold will be given, that Hezekiah would be shut up, that the Assyrians left Lachish’s & of Judah’s fall.  Also on 2  scorched walls of Ninevah. = Ninevah will burn, mentioned in Nahum 1:10; 2:6,13; 3:13,15.
-Siloam Tunnel (710 BC) 1,777 ft. (Gihon spring to Siloam Pool), built by Hezekiah  (2 Kings 20:20; 2 Chron.32:3-4,30), found in 1880
-Hazor, Canaanite City (1280-1230 BC)
- Canaanites before Israelites (1200 BC),  then displaced violently twice by Israelites (Joshua 11 [1400BC]; Judges 4-5 [1235 BC])
-Amarna Letters (1400-1367 BC) -Shows result of Joshuas conquest (Joshua 5-14)
-Ahab’s Ivories (850 BC) -from I Kings 22:39
-Lachish Letters (586 BC) by Lachish military leader of Judah’s king, Zedekiah.Nebuchadnezzar; writes Yahweh & Azekah(Jer.34:7)
-Nimrud Palace Inscription (732 BC) Tiglath-pileser III’s annals= imprisoning Israelites, Ahaz’s tribute, Rezin’s (Syrian king) & Pekah’s (Judan king) deaths,  king Hoshea’s reign (2Kings 15:22-31; 16:5-9; 1Chron. 5:25; 2Chron. 28: Is.7)
-Royal Tombs of Ur (2500 BC), proves that Ur existed.  Ram caught in a thicket helps authenticate the Biblical narrative.
-Epic of Gilgamesh (600 BC), Mesopotamian account of the flood, some similarities with Genesis account: boat, animals, etc... pointing to roots in oral tradition stretching back to the event itself.
*Cylinder Inscription of Nabonidus (539 BC)-Daniel 5 tells us that Daniel interprets Balshazzar’s dream.  Yet who is Balshazzar?  Nabonidus was the last recorded Babylonian king by secular historians.  This inscription mentions that Balshazzar is Nabonidus’s son.  Later historians (i.e. Herodotus in 450 BC) didn’t know this because when Babylon fell no inscriptions had been written, as Balshazzar had not become the sole ruler.  Thus the author of Daniel had to have been an eyewitness to have known something so specific!
*Nabonidus Chronicle (555-539 BC)
-But why was Daniel promised the third position in the kingdom when he interpreted the dream (Daniel 5:16)?  This chronicle mentions that while Nabonidus was in Tema, Arabia, his son [Balshazzar] was in Babylon, thus the two were co-regents, explaining why Daniel was promised the third place in the kingdom.  Only an eyewitness could have known this, for this fact was not known even 100 years later by the historian Herodotus!
-Cyrus Cylinder (540-530 BC)
-Explains Cyrus’s policy to restore liberty and social standing of foreign captives, allowing them to return to their homelands, and worship according to their own traditions, echoing Ezra 1:1-3

[C] CULTURE (EAST VS. WEST)

Islam
-definition: a total way of life, not just religion, but all social activity, interpersonal relationships, 
civil matters and politics.
-challenged by the Fundamentalists to return to the Islam of the Qur'an and the Sunnah.
Muslim view of West
	Christian, failed Christian..
	sees the evils -immorality
	likes the freedom, technology, education.
	did not choose to come, forced by political circumstances.
	want to see the world become Islamic
British Muslims- and cultures
	represent many countries, cultures, languages..
	Asians the largest group
	immigrants more tied to the culture, or women
	men at work may adapt.
	women may be more into the cultural ways.
	often torn between 2 cultures. 
	use culture as a political statement.
Guidelines:
	seek a friend, your age, and sex
	as friendship develops, be observant, and ask questions
	some customs are not religious but cultural only.
	many are like Biblical ones. 
Family Rules:
      	Used to be patrilineal, polygamous, patri-local, patriarchal, endogamous, extended.
The extended Family is the ideal unit and respect is given to the grandfather, or older male,  head person. Often the male is dominant.
	Their  authority is recognised even when members live further away.
	Decision making is the prerogative of those who have the authority.
	Sex roles:  men and women  keep separate roles, and the home is the
		woman/s domain 
	Age:  respect is shown to an older person.
	Tensions: 
		male/female
		group-family /individual
		space-private/group
		resignation/manipulation. 
		old ways /new ways
Food Rules:  
 	There are certain food which the Qur'an says are unclean or not to be eaten.
Pork is not to be eaten nor unclean animals. Fasting the month of Ramadan is required of healthy  Muslim adults.
The right hand is the appropriate one for eating as the left hand is used for all unclean purposes.
Clothes Rules:
Modesty: is required and for some this means the woman must cover completely when in the presence of men.  Hair can be considered an object of sexual temptation and should be covered.  Men should not show their legs in public.  Body exposure for swimming is often not allowed for women in the presence of men.  Shoes may be removed at the entrance of the home or room.
Values:
	Honour: The honour of the family, (this  generally refers to the women being pure, not sex outside of marriage) the tribe, the nation and religion.
-Honour is expressed in generosity and hospitality.   Muslims  prefer to have the honour of your visiting them rather than their visiting the non-Muslim home.
-Honour is inferred in the manner in which people are greeted. It is essential to be polite and greet people respectfully before speaking of other matters.  Using the appropriate name  or title is important.
-The event or people is of higher value than time.  It is not a time oriented society but  people or event  orientated.
Tension:      honour /shame
Language -
Arabic is considered very important because it is the language of the Qur'an. The Classical or Written Arabic language holds a place of honour above the Arabic dialect of the person or his own language and can confer special blessing or curses.
	Oral culture- stories, poetry are the favourite forms.
Religious values:
	Islam is considered to be true and  often  it is unthinkable to question it.
The Qur'an holds the highest place.  Not touched by unclean hands, never held below the waist, not put on the floor.
Religious leaders are given a place of dignity and respect, especially the Shi'a black -turbanned leaders.
	Non-Muslims are second class citizens in Muslim countries. 
The Culture of British  Muslims   --Assumptions and Stereotypes.
      	List  what you think Muslims are like?
      	Note what Muslims in general think Christians are like?
     	Discuss  prejudices.   Discuss media presentations of Muslims and Christians.
	Make a chart in 3 columns:  British Muslims,  British people, and Christians.
Under the different areas of life, list any customs of British Muslims which may have come to your notice 
	(e.g. Family:)
        	    -Married couples remain in the home of the man's family and submit to their authority
        	    -Obedience to family head
        	    -Dominance of males
        	    -Easy divorce for the man
        	    -Family honour more important than the welfare of an individual
Now continue for all areas of life, noting customs of British Muslims and British people and Christians if they are different or unique in certain areas.
-Religious observances
-Education
-Work and wealth
-Health
-Social activity
-Politics
-Leisure
 
THINK ABOUT IT: 
How  would you need to change to be a better friend to your Muslim neighbour?
How much, if any, of Muslim culture would need to change if your Muslim friend
becomes a Christian?

[D]THEOLOGY:(HERMENEUTICAL KEY)
Similarities: Monotheism, similar history, prophets, scriptures, moral teachings & volition.
Differences: We also have differences.  To best understand them, we need to go to the beginning, Genesis 3.
		
Islam  
1) Garden of Eden: Not on earth: (Suras 2:30-39; 7:19-25; 20:116-123). No relationship/man, except via the Spirit (Ruh), or Gabriel  
2) God: Distant, transcendant, is merciful to those who do his will, a master to be obeyed.  
3) Trinity: Wahid, god is only one dimensional.   
4) Humanity: relation to god = Taqwa = fear of God, Muslim = one who obeys, born as Muslim, no choice, slave  
5) Sin: Adam’s disobedience, was forgiven & banished to earth-Why?  No relationship existed/God, so none lost.   Sin=breaking God’s law - no corruption, just weakness to Satan’s seduction   
6) Atonement: Consequence of Sin = punishment alone, Shedding of blood doesn’t bring forgiveness (S.6:164; 53:38). Innocent cannot take place of the guilty = unjust.  God must not die, shows inadequacy of God.  Why Eid sacrifices?   
7) Incarnation: Chasm between god/man, no pollution, J.C. -> God = Shirk (S.4:48, 5:75-76; 41:6) (S.27:8-9?)   
8) Revelation: Qur’an = Nazil (perfect) = sent down, via rasul= prophets (the sent ones), inimitable (S.2:23, 10:37-38, 17:88); Bible is corrupted, many versions.
9) Predestination: Insh’allah (S.9:51; 16:93-95),no personal choice, destiny (Kismet)  
10) Theocracy: Khilafa, controlled by Caliph, Ulema, Shari’ah, Jihad = Dar-al- Islam; states role to do Da’wah, apostasy = treason.  
11) Spirit World: Dualistic: Folk Islam, Jinns  
12) Prayer: Verbatim & memorized, one-way communication.  
13) Paradise: Garden = carnal delights, river of wine, houris (S.55:56; 56:35-36), Allah absent.		
Christianity 
1) Garden of Eden: On earth: Genesis 3:8-9 - God walks & talks with man = Limits Himself - Response expected- in Relationship/man  
2) God: Personal, Yahweh, Abba Relational/Sacrificial, Just/Righteous (Ps.77:13; 99:9; Hab.1:13), loves His enemies   
3) Trinity: plural godhead (Gen.1:1,26; 3:22; 11:7; Deut.6:4; Jn.8:58...) explained by God’s Love  
4) Humanity: Made in God’s Image (Gen. 1:27), as a child of God’s, not born Christian, Freedom to choose.  
5) Sin: Adam was sinless (perfect) = in relationship with God.  Adam sinned -> (imperfect) knew right from wrong, broke trust, hid, thrown out of Eden, lost relationship with God (Men & nature), God = pure & holy (Ps. 77:13; 99:9) & -no sin in His presence (Hab.1:13)  
6) Atonement: Consequences of sin = death, (Eze.18:20; Rom.6:23).  Thus need Atonement (Lev.4:21,26,35).   79 times in OT, 1 in NT.  Sin separates & atonement redeems.  Atonement needs blood (Heb.9:22) Demanded by  Abraham (Gen.22), fulfilled in Christ on the cross (Heb.9:12,14,26-27; 10:10)  
7) Incarnation: Best communication = Emmanuel = God with us; Theophanies (Phil.2:7-8) Jesus Christ came to eradicate sin & repair the relationship.  
8) Revelation: progressive & authoritative    
-	General Revelation = nature     
-	Special Revelation = prophets    
-	Personified Revelation = Jesus Christ
-	Ongoing Revelation = Holy Spirit  (Heb.1:1-2; Jn.14:16-26 ; 16:7-15)  
9) Predestination: foreknowledge (God woos, we respond),salvation=personal choice  
10) Theocracy: Sojourners, Kingdom of God in our hearts, controlled by H.S., Church/state separation, Christian culture secondary, mission to convict men (Matt.28:19-20)  
11) Spirit World: exists, controlled by Holy Spirit  
12) Prayer: Communication with God, two-way, praise, request, responses   
13) Paradise: Eden revisited, God centred, relationship with God realised.	

THE CHALLENGE OF ISLAM

[E] WHY IS ISLAM SO ATTRACTIVE?

-	Today (according to Muslim figures) 5,000 of the Muslims in the UK are British converts with between 100-200 new converts each year!  Muslims also claim there are 20,000 British converts to Islam (the majority = women married to Muslim men), with 3-4 converts joining per day.  Most are converted in Universities, the largest number among Afro-Caribbean, who join Sufi groups.

-Islamic missionary thrust of the Muslim institutions (Da'wah).  They use:
	a) exhibitions (i.e. the major Islamic cultural exhibition in London) 
	b) public debates (i.e. Ahmad Deedat-polemical debates, ridiculing Christianity)
	c) literature (produced by the Islamic Foundation, highly anti-Christian)
	d) meetings by University student organizations inviting speakers from Muslim world.
	  -The Islamic Council of Europe, based in London, has become "the key to Islam's missionary strategy", reaching out to convert nominal Christians and non-Christian immigrants.

[1] Twelve most common reasons for conversion to Islam (in the U.S.):
1) Islam's Social Laws (complete guide to life: women, protection, Shariah)
2) The Unity of God (Tawhid vs. trinity)
3) Brotherhood (religion for 3rd world, Christianity = white = Racism, i.e. S.Africa)
4) The Morality of Islam (purity vs. the decadence & decline of Christianity)
5) The Qur'an's beauty and applicability (pleasing to the ear, holy, miracle of Muhammad)
6) The Simplicity of Islamic teaching (caters to strict cultures, flexible)
7) The Testimony of Other Muslims (teachers, Pirs, and Sufi leaders)
8) Islam's Rationality (easy to explain, no mysticism or mystery)
9) The Practices of Islam (polygamy, prayers and religiosity)
10) Its Superiority to all other Religions (latest universal religion, last revelation)
11) The Theology found in the Qur'an (peace, piety, no sin, allows inquiry?)
12) Islam's Spirituality (Places Allah high, distant, not personal & so not human)

[2] Other reasons:
-Post-Colonial independence, brings about enaction of Islamic Shariah.
-Resurgence of Islamic Fundamentalism due to decadence of West.
-Racist bias equated with Christianity (New "Afrocentristic History" in USA)
-Restrictive freedom of religion in Muslim lands.  Allegiance to a social-political-religious way of life & penalties.  Harsh reprisals taught in Islamic Law for apostasy (i.e. Salman Rushdie).
-Oil wealth (70% world total), much spent on the spread of Islam.
-Khomeini's revolution in Iran gave Islamic pride.
-Success of Muslim vs. Christian Debates, using Bible as basis for debates.
-mis-understanding by Christians of Islam, mis communication-2% missionaries

[3] Kose’s, Gerholm’s and Poston’s reasons:
	Other common reasons for conversion to Islam gathered from Ali Kose, a Turkish  writer who reported on British converts,  Thomas Gerholm’s on Europeans, and Larry Poston’s work in the U.S.   
	1. Disillusionment with the West.  Disgust with Western policies toward Islamic nations and third world countries,  
	2. Concerns over racism, and seeing Islam as more multiracial, or multicultural
	3. Dissatisfaction with previous religious experiences and ideology.  94 % came from Christian backgrounds, 73% C.of E., 17% Catholic
	4. Mysticism, and the appeal of Sufism.
	5. Personal contact with Muslim friends, and their life style.  The appeal of  Islam as a complete way of like, rules set to help you, standards, not left to worry what to choose- the appeal of the moral and ethical standard.
	6 Experiences  with Islam.  Converts test it out, and feel peace; a good emotional experience or a satisfying intellectual experience as it is often  more of the head than the heart. 
	7. Through marriage many women convert (yet some statistics = 70% male converts) 
	8. Appeals to some women as they are more respected as Muslim women.
	9. Supernatural encounters with Islam, dreams, visions 
	Well known converts: Martin Ling, Gai Eaton, Abdul Hakim Winter, Sarah Malik,  Yusef Islam (formerly Cat Stevens),  Marmaduke Pickthall.

Books:
Carol L. Anway, Daughters of Another Path, experiences of American Women choosing Islam.  Yawna Pub.  1996

Thomas Gerholm and Yngve (sic) George Litham (eds), The New Islamic Presence in Europe, Mansell, London, 1988 
 
Ali Kose, Conversion to Islam: A study of native British Converts, Kegan Paul, London and New York, 1996

Larry Poston, Islamic Da’wah in the West: Muslim missionary activity and the dynamics of conversion to Islam. OUP 1992

[F] ISLAM ON CAMPUS

(1) The Rise of Islam
	-World-wide: 1.2 billion; yet Indonesia + Pakistan + India + Bangla-Desh = +500 million, more than half the Muslim world, thus our tactics and strategies need to reflect this.
-	U.K., today between 1.4 (Christian sources) - 2 million (Muslim sources) Muslims.  This is more than the communicant members of the Church of England.
	-2.7% of the total world Muslim population in the UK; percentage-wise more than the U.S. and Canada combined, 70% of whom are from the Indian sub-continent (Pakistan = 357,000; E. Africa = 99,000; India = 700,000; Bangla Desh = 200,000).
-	Of the five largest language groups, 4 are from Indian subcontinent:
	1) Pakistani: Urdu = 40%; poor farmers from S. Kashmir
	2) Punjabi = 18% farmers NE Punjab
	2) Gujerati = 16% well educated, trading and professional families.
	3) Arabic = 11%, mostly rich, live in central London
	4) Bengali = 11%, from Bangla-Desh, from Sylhet = NE, and Chittagong, poor.
-	With strong family support, & emphasis in education, the majority are becoming affluent.
-	Most Muslims are young (between 25-44 years), 50% now born in U.K., with 4% birthrate, the highest in U.K., and twice the national average of 1.8%!
(2) How are Muslims organised on campus?
	Muslim students studying in British universities broadly fall into two groups: 
	1) Expatriates from the Middle East, Indonesia and Malaysia (~45,000)
	2) Indian 'Brits' second and third generation from the Indian subcontinent. 
-	90  Muslim  student groups  affiliated  to  FOSIS  (the  UK  Federation  of  Student  Islamic  Societies), 	
	FOSIS : established in 1962 to a) establish and support Islamic societies, b) promote da'wah (mission) on campus c) protect the interests of Islam and Muslims, by means of conferences, training courses and literature.
	Hizb ul Tahrir (HUT) targets young Muslims with extremist message. It aims to establish the Khilafah worldwide and has been banned from university campuses by the National Union of Students (NUS).To avoid detection HUT uses a variety of names (eg 1924 Committee, Current Affairs Society, Khilafah Movement).
	Al Muhajiroun broke away from HUT in 1996 complete with leader Omar Bakri Mohammed and is supportive of known militant groups like Hamas and Hizbollah and Ibn Laden. Like HUT it uses a range of names and has been targeting key campuses; especially Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, University College London, London School of Economics (LSE) and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

(3) How do Muslims operate on campus?
-Islamic activity on campus is increasingly well contextualised to the British scene.
	[a]-Five main areas of Activity:
	1. Talks and Debates (For Muslim Students).  Usually on issues that are social (unemployment, economics), moral (Western corruption, the family, women), political (Bosnia, Israel) or theological (scriptures, Jesus, science).
	2. Proselytising Meetings (For all-comers).  Addresses by (Western) Muslim converts, debates with other groups, open meetings on topics similar to those mentioned above.
	3. Islamic Awareness Weeks.  Modelled on CU strategy with bookstalls and literature distribution and proselytising meetings
	4. Literature.  Tracts & books specifically polemical, attacking Christianity, and the Bible.
	5. Training Days (For Muslim students). Islamic Students are taken on weekends to learn how to dialogue with Christians through books, videos, tapes and training conferences.
[b]-3 Primary Agendas: (Using lectures, book tables, debates etc...)
	1) Decline of the West (using media statistics)
	2) Christianity is at fault (due to 7% attendance, and corrupt scriptures)
	3) Islam is the answer: answers for every area (i.e. social, economic, political):
	  -Cultural mandate (Muhammad Abduh, Khurram Murad, Abd al-Mawdudi)
	  -Scientific Exegesis (Maurice Bucaille, Dr. Jamal Badawi)
	  -Pagan Sources of the Bible (Abdul Rahman Green)
	  -Polemics: the trinity & Sonship of Jesus, authority of scripture (Shabir Ali)
	Islam on the campuses is becoming increasingly polemical, and therefore we need to be prepared to understand and answer these agendas if we want to be effective witnesses.

(4) How should we approach Muslims on Campus?
-Use the similarities to build BRIDGES as a prelude to preaching the Gospel in the context of DIALOGUE.
-Muslims love passionate debate and it is surprisingly easy to get into deep discussion with them..
The following strategies work well on campus and can be used by churches and students alike:
1. 'Friendship' Evangelism: go to where they feel comfortable (home, mosque, sit next to them)
2. Islamic Society Meetings: attending them to ask questions, and get close to Muslim students.
3. Studies: One-to-one/group studies of the Qur'an and Bible (usually weekly with chosen topic). 
4. Evangelistic Meetings: Muslim-friendly on such topics:  'Do all roads lead to heaven' or 'Was Jesus a Muslim?'
5. Internet evangelism, using the web-board at  or Islamic chat sites.
6. Street evangelism (Hyde Park speakers' corner is excellent training, though intimidating)
7. Summer evangelism or awareness trips to Muslim countries. 
8. Debates using 'Is the Bible or Qur'an the Word of God?' (600 students attended a recent debate in Leicester)

[G]  WHY ARE WE DOING SO POORLY?

1) Lack of interest:
	Only 5%-9% of the population of Britain attends church, thus 91% of the population is unchurched.  In London, only 5-8% go to church, the majority of whom are West Indian, and so culturally distant and misunderstood by the majority of Asian Muslims.  In the absence of a viable Christian witness, Muslims are able to propagate their beliefs within the urban centres with little opposition.  Today the UK has only 8,500 missionaries worldwide (26% of whom are short-term).  Thus, since 1910, British missionaries have dropped by 31%, and are supported by only a fraction of the population!
	Worldwide, at any given time there is approximately 138,500 Protestant missionaries:
	38,000  Asia (7.3% of pop.= Christians, 1 missionary/ 172,000 people)
	27,000  Africa (48.1% of pop.= Christians, 1 missionary/ 27,000 people)
	18,000  Latin America (90.9% pop.= Christians, 1 missionary/ 28,200 people)
	13,000  Europe (77.2% pop.= Christians, 1 missionary/ 52,400 people)
	7,000  Pacific (66.8% pop.= Christians, 1 missionary/ 6,700 people) 
	2,210  Middle East (4.6% pop.= Christians, 1 missionary/ 150,000 people)
	1,700 Muslim World (less than 1% pop.= Christians, 1 missionary/ 500,000 people)
	If we look at the Muslim world as a whole, of the 138,500 Protestant missionaries worldwide only about 1,700, or less then a trifling 2%, work among Muslims.  That gives us ONE MISSIONARY FOR EVERY 550,000 MUSLIMS!!
	(i.e. Pence coins = Muslims from here English Channel, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, Vladivostok Peninsula, Sea of Okhotsk, Kamchatka Peninsula, Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and finally Anchorage, 9,671 miles away; vs. 1 pence/missionaries = back of the room)
-	North America (U.S.A. and Canada), with nearly 300 million people, missionaries or pastors permitted to work there would be only 150, squeezed into a paltry 8 churches!  
	Yet, in U.S., with 7% of the world's population:
		96% of all Christian money spent there
	94% of all full-time Christian personnel remain and work within its borders!  -One of 600 Christian full-time workers works cross-culturally.
-more missionaries in Alaska, one of our least populated states, than in the Muslim world.  -Africa in 1975 = 53% Muslim; 16,000 career missionaries, only 250 among Muslims!
-	Kenya has 5,000 missionaries, 3 times the number that work in the Muslim world.
		(i.e.=10 new missions in Kenya in 10 years; none went to work with the Muslims)
2) Lack of results:	
	These are due to a number of reasons:
	  a) not enough workers, thus not enough time and energy spent on tackling Islam.
	  b) a general growing confidence of Islam worldwide, particularly since the overthrow of the Shah in Iran in 1979.
	  c) the perception that Muslims care for each other, particularly within the family, and have little problem with racism (Nation of Islam carries the ‘high moral ground’).
	  d) the attraction for Islam's moral discipline.
	  e) the simple logic of its theology helps to disseminate it easier.
	  f) the weakness of recognized (Anglican) Christianity in Britain.
	  g) the lack of relationships between Muslims and Christians.
	  h) the theological confusion by Christians that evangelism is the domain of the clergy alone (for example: of the 6 groups referred to us for information, only one is actively working full-time with Muslims in the UK).
3) Persecution of Apostates:
	Those who fall away from Islam (apostasy) or wish to convert to Christianity.
-	usually persecution lasts 1-3 years.(Refer to paper: Free to Choose by Patrick Sookdeo)
4) Blasphemy Laws:
	-The push to have the government broaden the Blasphemy laws to also include Islam 
-	Muslims want the blasphemy laws to be widened to include material offensive to Islam (thus no criticism will be permitted of Islam, Muhammad, or the Qur'an on TV, in the schools, or in public).  Example: Salman Rushdie and his Satanic Verses, Taslima Nasreen in Bangla-Desh.
	  -Muslims want law on ethnic discrimination to be enlarged to religious discrimination.
5) Mistrust of Christianity: 
	(Making it difficult to create relationships)
	A strong distrust by Muslims of anything which is ‘Christian’.
	They believe that Christians pervert historical data as they did their scriptures, with a bias against Islam.  There is the perception that the west, and thus Christianity, has an agenda to eradicate the Muslim countries in the world.  Thus new events are interpreted by this perception.
	-Gulf War is perceived as a Muslim/Christian conflict (with theological contradictions).  	-Bosnia Conflict is widely considered to be a Christian atrocity, with consequently little concern witnessed by the West.  "Why did the west send troops so quickly to Kuwait and Somalia, and yet stand by and watch the rape and murder of hundreds of Muslims in Bosnia, prohibiting Muslim nations to send in arms for the defence of the Bosnians?  This sparks clearly of a double-standard."
	-Chechnia conflict  is perceived as a Muslim/Christian conflict as well.
-	Kosovo conflict follows the same patterns as Bosnia and Chechnia
-	Sudan and Afghanistan bombings are perceived as a ‘double-standard’.  Which is truly the terrorist state, and were the bombings used as a diversion from Clinton’s personal troubles?  Why does the Western Press not critique the evidence of the U.S. state department?
6) Mistrust of Western Education: 
	(due to a bias against Islam = conspiracy)
 	Muslims have not been able to adapt to a multi-cultural environment, because historically Islam has always dominated others.  Thus Muslims distrust western education, as they feel it is responsible for taking their children away.  They demand an alternative educational system.
-	They demand that Muslim schoolgirls wear more conservative clothing, that Halal meat be available at school meals, that Muslim holidays be celebrated, that Muslim boys and girls be separated during instruction, that they not be forced to learn swimming, and that Muslim children be absent from school assemblies.  
-	They demand specific Islamic instruction for their children, by an Imam (Muslim religious leader), and contend that "the acquisition of modern knowledge be limited to the practical technological sphere, since at the level of pure thought Muslims do not need Western intellectual products, as these may create doubts and disruptions in the Muslim mind, for which there are already answers to ultimate questions of world view."

[H]  A BIBLICAL EVANGELISTIC STRATEGY
CHRISTIAN APPROACHES TO OTHER FAITHS

If Christ is unique and the Christian faith is true then: 
		Are others simply delusions of Satan?
		Are others  demonic?
             Do others contain  much that is good and  true but  not saving faith?
             Do others contain truth for all truth is God's?
	
 How we answer the above questions determines our view or approach to other faiths?

a. Exclusivism. (exclusivists)--(particularism) 
	other faiths are false,
	some would attribute their ideas to delusions from Satan. 
	based on scripture about the uniqueness of Christ- Christ centred. 
	the exclusiveness is in the theological sense only, not in opposition to multiculturalism./ cultural pluralism
	should not lead to bigotry or superiority. 
b. Inclusivism. (inclusivists)
	all truth is God’s truth and Christ’s- includes all that is true in other faiths
	revelation /truth and  salvation truth 
	‘Anonymous Christians’
	will of God to save and the uniqueness of Jesus. 	
c. Pluralism  (pluralists)
	all faiths acceptable and equal
	no one has total truth , no absolute claims
	God centred not Christ centred
What is the basis for deciding what is truth?  (In view of the above topic about 'truth' in other faiths?)
Is the provision of Christ for every one?   What scripture would you use to explain your view?

CHRISTIAN WITNESSING;  FINDING A METHOD FOR WITNESS ( How to..)
  - Proclamation:
             to proclaim Christ by speaking or preaching.
	 one-sided- no interaction
	 appropriate  -for meetings or addressing a group, large amounts of information, prepare for discussions.
    - Confrontational:
               	 to openly challenge the issues of belief
 apologetical and polemical, (spoken word or literature)
 often one-sided but in small group useful ( Samuel Zwemer 1867-1952):   
     - Institutional Mode :
            schools, training centres, hospitals, orphanages, print shops, blind schools, leprosy
	Christian teachers, doctors or workers demonstrating  love of Christ,
	some preaching or teaching , discussion happens too..
            by extension the Tentmaker has  a similar role
      - Friendship evangelism.
               	relational approach or personal one: true friendship with one or more people 
            in natural and everyday scenes of your life, festivals, holidays, problems, 
	watching one another in the practice of faith.	
	LISTENING to people. 
	LEARNING from them.
	time... lots of time, not one-off meetings.
	sometimes very gentle, but confrontation will happen too, but in a relational setting
     -Dialogue:
           a good listener, but not surrendering  the position
	clear purposes and goals
	good preparation.- effective discussion.
      - Debate:
	appropriate for the University.
	two speakers who are capable, and well prepared. 
	requires skills and careful preparation
	needs to be limited to one main issue, and create a genial atmosphere. 
   - Contextualization:
            word  coined in 1973-74 to denote   the social/cultural dimensions of  a scripture text or religious situation.  
	 for issues where there is no biblical command for the format.. Prayer styles, music, art, dress codes 
.  Consider the different methods.  Which one or ones  do you feel comfortable with?  Why?

WHAT DO YOU SAY WHEN WITNESSING?
1.SHARING 
	Need to be well prepared before.... 
	Begin to read the Bible thru the eyes of a Muslim... 
	KNOW your Bible, know how to answer questions, know how to explain who Christ is?
	STORIES  - stories to teach about the Father, forgiveness, deity, prayer..
    Old Testament stories too.  Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Noah.. 
		Stories for women
	JOHN for Sufis... the I am’s	
	JESUS words.
	TOPICAL talks which have a linking theme to Islamic ideas... 
	God creates, God is one, God rule, God reveals, God love, God judges, God forgives.. 
	ASK  questions.... lots of them, let them discover the truths, and answers.. ( More powerful than telling)
	COMPARATIVE  studies - Bible and the Qur’an 
		Stories which are in both or topics... fasting, prayer, forgiveness, salvation. 
	GIVE people a portion of scripture...  You may want to find one in their language too. 
	Use a TESTIMONY a present one, showing your relationship to God...
	Do not forget MUSIC and DRAMA 
	Speak to the heart and mind... not just the mind. 
2. Prayer.
	If your friend relates a problem- sickness, need of a job, understanding the course... pray with them.  Pray for them... in groups, ask friends to pray.
3. Love.
	The key... your attitude towards them...a loving sensitive friend.  
	But  more importantly your life, your love for God. As you grow more in love and obedience to God yourself, you will be enabled to more effectively teach others. 

(I)  ISLAMIC QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
(Most popular questions from Speaker’s Corner answered concisely & comprehensively)

1-WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE QUR’AN?
-	If God’s ‘final’ and ‘best’ revelation then we need to critique its supposed distinctive qualities (holiness, superior literary style, grammar), its universal qualities (position of women, ‘sword’ verses)
	COLLATION: 
	16 Codices: Zaid ibn Thabit (Mecca), Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (Kufa - no Fatiha, or S.113-114, differences in S.3:19, 39 & S.9-Bismillah, Shi’ite readings), Abu Musa (Basra,116 Suras), Ubayy ibn Ka'b (Damascus,116 Suras) Missing Vss = 24:32 (stoning), 33:23
	CONTRADICTIONS: 
1) If the words of Allah cannot be changed (6:34,115; 10:6), then how does Allah “substitute one revelation for another” (2:106, 16:101)? 
2) Does Allah's day = 1,000 human years (22:47, 32:5) or 50,000 human years (70:4)? 
3) Was the earth created in 6 days (7:54; 25:59) or 8 days (41:9-12)? 
4) If the Bible is considered authoritative (4:136; 5:47-52,68; 10:95; 21:7; 29:46), then why is so much of it contradicted by the Qur’an (5:73-75,116; 19:7; 28:9, etc...)? 
5) Is punishment for adulteresses life imprisonment (4:15) or 100 strokes by flogging (24:2)? 
6) Why are Homosexuals let off if they repent (4:16), but heterosexuals are not (24:2; 4:15)? 
	7) Did Abraham confront his people and smash their idols (21:51_59), or did he simply shut up and leave the area once he confronted them (19:41_49, 6:74_83)? 
8) Were there 9 plagues, or signs (17:101), or only 5 plagues (7:133)? 
9) If Jesus is raised to Allah, (4:158), and stationed near to him (3:45), but worshiped by millions of Christians, will he not burn in hell, since “the (false) gods that ye worship besides Allah are (but) fuel for Hell!” (21:98)? 
	10) Did Jesus only rise (4:157-158) or did he die and rise again (19:33)? [note:sura 19:15, repeats the same words for Yahya] 
11) If wine is of Satan's handiwork. (5:90; 2:219); and there are rivers of wine in paradise (47:15; 83:25), then how does Satan's handiwork get into Paradise? 
	ERRORS: 
	1) (S.20:85-87, 95-97) How could a Samaritan build the ‘golden calf’ in 1447 BC, since Samaritans didn’t exist until 722 BC, or 725 years later? 
	2) Mountains (S.16:15; 21:31; 31:10; 78:6-7; 88:19) used as tent-pegs to keep earth from shaking, goes against volcanic & tectonic plate movements. 
	3) Cross (S.7:124= Moses’s Pharaoh - 1447 BC, 12:41= Joseph’s Baker- 1800 BC) yet crucifixions first recorded by Darius 1 in 519 BC (900 and 1,300 yrs later). 
	4) Bad Math (S.4:11-12) Inheritance for widow =1/8 + 3 daughter =2/3 +2 parents =1/3 totalling 1&1/8 or 112.5%!? Or (S.4:11-12 & 176) My mother = 1/3, my wife = 1/3, my two sisters = 2/3 totalling: 4/3rds, or 133%!! 
	5) (sura 19:7) Yahya is a name unique to John the Baptist; what about (2Kings 25:23)?
	6) (S.5:116) The Trinity does not include Mary, even God would know that. 
	7) (S.19:28; 66:12; 20:25-30) How could Mary the mother of Jesus be the sister of Aaron and daughter of Imran, as she lived 1,570 years later? 
	8) (S.28:38; 29:38; 40:25,38) How could Haman be an Egyptian who builds a tower to God, since this name is Babylonian, and the tower was built 750 years earlier? 
	9) (S.18:96) How did Alexander the Great build an iron and brass wall between two mountains in 330 BC without anyone recording it? 
	10) (S.86:5-7) Does Semen really originate in the back or the kidney or is this simply borrowing from 5^th century Hippocrates?
	TALMUDIC SOURCES:
Cain and Abel (Sura 5:31-32 = Targum of Jonathan-ben-Uzziah, Targum of Jerusalem, Pirke-Rabbi Eleazar & the Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5) 
Abraham (Sura 21:51-71 = Midrash Rabah - Jewish Folktales & UR = "fire" comes from a scribe named Jonathan Ben Uziel)
Solomon and Sheba (Sura 27:17-44 = II Targum of Esther)
Mary-Imran-Zachariah (Sura 3:35-37 = Proto-evangelion's James the Lesser)
Jesus's birth:  -Palm Tree- (S.19:22-26 = The Lost Books of the Bible = apocryphal fable)
	  	-Baby Jesus talking- (S.19:29-33 = The first Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ)
	  	-Creating birds from clay- (S.3:49 = Thomas' Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ)         (see paper: ‘The Qur’an, a Christian Apologetic’).
	STYLE: 
-disjunctive, repetitive, vs. Bible = 66 books +30 writers, +1500yrs. = yet is chronological, and has a uniform theme (a beginning, middle and end).
-The problems of the Qur’an from an historical context ( (see paper: ‘Is the Qur’an the Word of God?’)
-It says it confirms the Bible (Suras 4:136; 5:47-52,68; 10:95; 21:7; 29:46), yet contradicts it (Suras 5:73-75,116; 19:7; 28:9)
-*All we need is in the Bible, so therefore it is not relevant for us.  Let me tell you how the Bible answers all my needs..
-*Ask why the two greatest laws (love God with all your heart, & love your neighbours) are not in the Qur’an?
 -If the Qur'an is the word of God, does the Qur'an present God as holy, & does it present Jesus as salvation for us?  No answer for sin!

2-WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN OUR SCRIPTURES?
-	Bible is historical, and chronological; Qur’an has little corroborated history, no narration, not chronological and vague
a) Different stories: Iblis, Ishmael, Mt. Sinai, 7 heavens and hells, Mi'raj, balance, Paradise etc..
	b) Revelation: Tanzil (plenary) vs. primary and secondary revelation (Sira, Hadith, Tafsir, Tariq)
c) Content: Meccan-Medinan (women=S.2:224-230; 4:11,24-25,34,176; 55; 56; 78 vs. Eph.5:22-25; I Cor.13:1-8, & sword = Suras 4:84; 9:5,29; 8:39; 47:4 vs. Matthew 26:52-53; Luke 22:51) Allah=Distant, impersonal, master vs. Yahweh= relational, personal, Father
d) Authority: Collation, Gaps and archaeology vs. MSS, letters, & persons.

3-HAS THE BIBLE BEEN CHANGED?
-How much is corrupted?  Muslims infer wholesale corruption yet give few examples.  
-Also no record anywhere of a ‘Book of Jesus’ in the early church fathers nor any subsequent.
-If so when?  Before Muhammad or after Muhammad?  
  	a) If before, the Qur’an disagrees:
"God's word does not change" = (Suras 3:2,78; 4:135; 6:34; 10:64; 18:26; 35:42; 50:28-29). 
“No difference between Bible and Qur’an” (Sura 2:136; 3:2-3).
“Muslims must ask Christians” (Sura 10:94; 21:7) 
“Dispute not with the Christians” (Sura 29:46) 
“Muslims are to believe in the Bible” (Sura 4:136)
“Christians are to believe in the Bible” (Sura 5:46-47, 68)
	No warning against its corruption.  In fact the argument did not exist until Ibn Hazam (1064), showing that it is a 11 century Muslim polemic.
  	b) If the Bible was changed after Muhammad's life, what do we do with:
(1) 24,000 MSS in Greek, Latin and other languages, 230 MSS before 6^th century.
	(2) 15,000 translations: Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Gothic, Georgian, Ethiopic,  Nubian,
	(3) 2,135 lectionaries from the 6th century,
(4) 86,489 quotations N.T.in early church father's letters 32,000 before 325AD (recreating all the N. Test. but 11 verses)
-Who did it, Jews or Christians?  How do they have identical scriptures?  Why no record of corruption, and why authentic ones not hidden?  If changed then why not expunge embarrassing stories (i.e. Peter’s denial of Christ Matt.26:69-75; Paul’s disputes with Barnabas = Acts 15:39)?

4-IS NOT THE QUR’AN SUPERIOR SINCE IT CAME AFTER?
	-*Does an older man have more authority than a younger man? Sha’afi’s rule for source authority should apply to previous scriptures.
-	Are not the eyewitnesses account superior to that which comes 600-700 years later?  Isnad chains suggest this.
-	Which is more historical?  Which is corroborated by Manuscript, Documentary, and Archaeological Evidence?
-	*What about further revelations which came after Muhammad (Ahmadiyya, Joseph Smith, Charles Russell, Sun-Yung-Moon)?

5-IS PAUL NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GOSPEL
	(creating: ORIGINAL SIN, ATONEMENT, WORSHIP OF JESUS & TRINITY?)
	-Jesus introduces and Paul expounds, practical application (i.e.Qur’an & Hadith, but co-existent) Was revealed (Gal.1:11-12; 1Cor.11:23; 15:3-4)
Original Sin: (Gen.3; Matt.7:11; 15:19; Mk.7:20-23; 10:18; Jn.3); 
Atonement: 79 times in O.T. (Gen.22; Deut.10:16; Lev.4:21-35; 17:11) 
	& N.T. (Matt.20:28; 26:28; Mk.14:24; Lk.22:19-20; Jn.6:51; 10:11); 
Worship of Jesus: not at set times, but always (Matt.28:9; Jn.20:28; Heb.1:6);
Trinity: (see # 12 below) (Matt.3:16-17; 6:9-13; 28:19; Jn.1:1,14; 17:5,21,24; Acts 2:33-36)
 
6-DID NOT JESUS WRITE THE INJIL IN ARAMAIC?
-	Where is the evidence?  Greek was commercial language.  Jesus also spoke Greek to the Centurion, and woman at the well

7-ALL SCRIPTURES MUST BE IN ARABIC (Suras 42:7, 43:3, 46:12)?
(S.34:28) = universalistic. God only speaks Arabic? Yet Bible in Hebrew and Greek?  Which Arabic (Quraish)?  Thus Qur'an only for the Arabs?

8-IS NOT THE GOSPEL OF BARNABAS THE TRUE INJIL?
Written in 1400's, geography off (Capernaum, Nazareth), shoes, barrels, Jubilee=100yrs., Messiah/Christ, Bethlehem (5 ins/outs), hell = snow-ice.

9-WHAT DO WE DO WITH APPARENT BIBLICAL PROBLEMS:
	(Chronology, kings lists, creation order?)
	Copyist and Scribal errors with decadel numbers, and proper nouns only (Rev. 22:5?) (See paper: “101 Cleared Up Contradictions”).

10-HOW CAN JESUS BE THE SON OF GOD?
	-In Qur’an Sura 2:177 ‘Ibn ul-sabeeli’ means ‘son of the road’ = traveller, Qur’an allows possibility of God’s son (Sura 39:4)
	-S. 6:101; 5:17= biological  vs. inheritance birth -Lk.2:49= ‘begotten’= monogenes = one & only (unique), not ‘genao’ =  birth
-	Revelation!= Gen.1:26-27; Deut.6:4; John 1:1,18; 5:18, 8:58-59, 10:30-33, Is.44:6 & Rev.1:8,17-18.

11-HOW CAN WE BELIEVE IN THE DEITY OF CHRIST?
-	Not man becoming God, but God becoming man (Phil.2:6-8) Can God become a man?  Yes! So not how, but why! Erradicate SIN
	-Must remind them of theophanies (burning bush, Angel with Abraham etc...)
-	Jesus = God’s Word (S. 4:171; John 1:1) God’s Word = uncreated: Sura 85:22 (uncreated eternal tablets = mother of books S.43:4)
-	Jesus = ‘Spirit proceeding from God’ (S. 4:171), ‘supported by the Holy Spirit’ (S. 12:87; 58:22), Spirit = Essence of God (S.2:253)
-	Jesus= unique: Sinless (S. 19:19), born of virgin (S. 21:91), gave life to birds & the dead, healed, miraculous knowledge  (S.3:49)

12-HOW CAN GOD BE ONE OF A TRINITY?
-Qur’an has mistaken trinity (Sura 5:116); a theological term to explain what we read in scripture, coined by Tertullian (2^nd cent.)
	-many mysteries we can’t explain (i.e. God’s omnipresence, eternity, virgin birth, or electricity etc..., yet we accept them)
-Tri-unity (Tertullian 125 A.D.).  Not mathematical (1+1+1, or 1x1x1, or 4x4x4) but organic: (i.e.: son, father, husband,  brother,  pen, water, sun, author, egg, body mind and spirit); not Sabellian (3 consecutive ‘gods’) nor Arian (‘man becomes God’)
-Explains love (requiring an object), not found in a one-dimensional monad Allah! 
-Islamic trinity = Allah, Ruh, & Eternal Qur'anic tablets (sura 85:22)
-Baptism of Christ (Luke 3:22) = voice of God the father, dove as spirit of God, and Son as Jesus. (Matt.6:11-13 = Lord’s Prayer)

13-DID JESUS REALLY DIE ON THE CROSS?
	-Witnesses needed to corroborate what happened. Three eye-witnesses vs. one supposition 700-900 years later (4 gospels vs. 1 Quran), who do you believe?  Eyewitnesses, Too much extra-Biblical evidence (Thallus=50AD, Josephus 80-90AD, Tacitus 80AD, Pliny the Younger 112AD), also Sura 19:33 & 15 (Jesus & Yaxya). 
-	Is God deceitful (Sura 4:157-158)?  Then why did God take another man to die in the place of Jesus?  Judas became Jesus, do you believe that?  Can one pay for another’s sin, since this goes against Qur’anic objection on atonement (S.6:164; 53:38)?

14-HOW COULD CHRIST’S DEATH BE ACCEPTABLE WHEN THIS A CURSE IN 	THE OLD TESTAMENT?
	*(Gal.3:13) "Christ became a curse for us...cursed is anything hung on a tree"=(Deut.21:23).  Shows God’s love to be accursed for us.

15-HOW WOULD GOD EVER ALLOW A PROPHET TO DIE?
	What of Muhammad's poisoning?  Not how, but Why!  Shows God's justice, & love.

16-HOW CAN GOD BE IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH AT THE SAME TIME?
	-Spirit in Arabic = Ruh, both omnipresent. A duality is no problem for Islam? Since God in omnipresent why pray towards Mecca?
-	Who spoke to Moses at the bush (theophanies)? Show that God is tri-unity: while the one is on earth, do the others not continue to exist?

17-WHAT ABOUT THE DISCREPANCIES IN THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS?
	Matthew =Joseph's list, Luke = Mary's list (daughter of Heli-not sister of Aaron) African culture = relatives are  parents (Uncle, Aunts) 

18-IS NOT THE PROMISED PERIKLYTOS MUHAMMAD, OR IS THE PARACLETOS 	THE HOLY SPIRIT?
Periklytos is not in the Bible. John 14:16; & 16:7 = Glorious vs. counsellor (read following verses for the context and the fulfillment in Acts 1-2)

19-HOW DO WE COMPARE CHRIST WITH MUHAMMAD, OR THE QUR’AN?
	-Christ = Qur'an as primary revelation, while Muhammad = Gospel writers as secondary (like Hadith, Sira, Tariq, Tafsir)
-	Acts 10:43 = only Jesus’s name gives forgiveness, not Muhammad’s, not in prophetic line, & no relationship or authority with God.
  	-Deut.18:18 shows who Moses thought a true prophet was, John 1:45; 5:46; 6:14; Acts 3:21-23 verifies this ‘prophet like me’ was Jesus.

20-IN WHAT WAYS DOES JESUS DIFFER FROM THE OTHER PROPHETS?
	-Virgin birth (19:16-34; 21:91), sinless (19:19), al-Masih  (3:45; 4:157,171; 9:31), gave life to birds & dead, healed, miraculous knowledge (3:49)

21-HOW CAN WE KNOW WHO IS A TRUE PROPHET?
a) uses God’s personal name = Yahweh (6,823) 
b) message conforms to previous revelation 
c) predictions are verifiable 
d) be in Isaac's race.

22-WHERE DO CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM DIFFER?
Gen. 3:8,9: Eden, God, Trinity, Humanity, Sin, Revelation, Incarnation, Cross/Atonement, Predestination, Theocracy, Spirit-World, Prayer, Paradise
23-HOW DO MUSLIMS VIEW THEMSELVES IN RELATION TO SIN?
Muslim Sin=horizontal problem (Satan at fault) easily forgivable vs. Christian Sin = vertical, we are at fault (Rom.3:23), deserve death in order to have justice (Rom.6:23).
Islam = Good works balance out sin, then conversely bad works balance out good.  So if your wife has done 300 good days with you then is she allowed to do one bad day of adultery?  This is what we do with God.  The logic of this argument is supposed to work for God, then it should be good for us?  Thus does God work by a separate set of rules, a separate set of absolutes?

24-WHY DON’T CHRISTIANS FAST?
-*They do, but in times of crisis, or to get closer to a personal God.  Use Isaiah 58 to show the real fast.  Matt.6 shows the reason for the fast.

25-HOW DO WE KNOW WE ARE SAVED?
Revelation!= Luke 1:69; 2:30; Acts 2:21; 4:12; Romans 10:13; relationship vs. the Law? Easy pardon, with one word vs. repentance & changed life.

26-HOW DO WE ANSWER THE ‘SIGN OF JONAH’ PROBLEM?
  	-*Matthew 12:38-40.  Reason: 3 days & 3 nights=1st century Hebrew colloquialism (see Esther 4:16; Matt.27:63-64; Acts 10:40)

27-HOW DO WE ANSWER THE QUESTION CONCERNING WOMEN’S ROLES?
        	-Purdah, beatings (S.4:34), inheritance (S.4:11,176), concubines (S.4:24-25), paradise (S.55:56; 56:36; 78:33) vs. Eph.5:22-25.

28-WHAT ABOUT SACRIFICE?
	-For protection, out of fear of God, to please him.  blood= powerful, removes  evil.  What sacrifice powerful enough to remove all evil, & have peace?
-We can't help ourselves (i.e.-a cockroach which fell into palm oil, help  only  from above-thus we like the cockroaches-need help from outside of ourselves).  Hebrews 10 brings in the conclusion, that year after year people keep sacrificing without any difference.

29-FORGIVENESS?
	-If you really forgive me there will be no need to pay you.  Thus people will ask for forgiveness so as not to have to pay back.
-Ask questions, find cultural analogies & stretch your thinking.  How did people view death before Islam came?
-Find out what is justice?  Can it be bought?  Do good works bribe?  What does God consider to be good?  What is love in your culture?

30-IF GOD IS MERCIFUL, DOES HE NOT FORGIVE SINS?:
-Do you believe there is hell? El Janna-where God is living (Ajjana), Paradise-where good men live.
-Why couldn’t Adam and Eve remain in God’s presence, or why can't you go into the presence of God; because of His justice, and holiness.  So, can there be forgiveness without justice?

(J)  WHERE TO FROM HERE? (Possible Solutions)

1) Pray: This is a spiritual battle as well, thus we need to be equipped to face it.
2) Break down the barriers which exist between the Muslims and Christians
and bridge with them where possible.  This can be done by:
a) Incarnational Life-style: Move into Muslim areas, and open ourselves up to the Muslim community.  Be careful to:
1. Respect cultural sensitivities with respect to alcohol, pork and ‘halal’ food.
2. Handle the Qur'an (and the Bible!) with real respect in a Muslim's presence.
3. Be aware of ritual observances (especially prayer, fasting at Ramadan and hand-washing etc)
4. Be discrete in cross-gender relations (touching, dressing, witnessing etc)
Refrain from eating pork or drinking liquor in their presence.  Let our children go to their schools.  These will open doors for us.
b) Train: Go to schools, (i.e. SOAS or Ealing), learn about Islam, from their perspective, make contacts with Muslim students, obtain credibility, and gain access.
-Learn Arabic, and brush up on Urdu, Bengali, or Hindi, to not only communicate, but be able to refer to the Qur'an directly during discussions.  This helps to show them that we care, as we take the time and energy to understand them at their deepest level of communication.
c) Participate: Attend their meetings on campus, to find out what they think, hear their agenda, so that we can talk to them more intelligently, and better communicate the gospel within a context that they know.
-In witnessing it is wise not to initially attack Muhammad or the Qur'an directly (although in time this will be necessary at least by implication). We should also resist the temptation to 'be nice', as Europeans interpret it (Jesus wasn't!). When we are afraid to show passion or emotion in defending what we believe Muslims may interpret it as lack of conviction!
d) Build Bridges:  Most fundamentally we need to know why we believe in the divinity of Christ and the resurrection and be able back it up biblically.  To do that we need to:
1) establishing common ground first; by asking  questions and listening to the answers.
2) pray with Muslims (that God will reveal the truth) & constantly in prayer ourselves.
3) read the Bible together (Genesis, Proverbs, Luke); if need be read the Qur'an in return.
4) Verbal testimony of  answered prayer or of 'power encounter' with God.
5) support converts; spiritually, physically, materially and emotionally.(1 Thes 2:8). 
e) Help the Muslims with legal assistance, conveying information, tutoring in English, correspondence courses, assist in finding jobs, and relief for the poor (showing the love of Christ in practical ways).  Certain Muslim groups tend to have high unemployment rates, particularly among the first and second generation immigrants.  The 1991 census shows that for Pakistanis the rate was 28.8%, for Bangladeshis it was 31.7%, compared with 8.8% for whites.
f) 'Be all things to all men'
Although the Gospel never changes our context does. Muslims are not a homogeneous group so our approach must not be stereotyped.
-Nominal:i.e. the woman of Samaria, worshiping God 'not in spirit or in truth' (Jn 4)
-Orthodox: Others are highly moral like the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-30)
-Fundamentalists: While some are hypocrites like the pharisees (Mark 7:1-23) 
-Seekers: There are genuine searchers like Cornelius (Acts 10)
-Talibes: The majority are lost like the people in the crowd (Mark 9:36). 
Jesus responded to each differently and so should we.  Never ‘Either/Or’ but ‘Both/And’.  This may be challenging; often it is we who are the barrier to Muslims hearing the Gospel. We may need to change first.

3) Dialogue and Proclamation (again, not “either/or” but “both/and”)
  It is not good enough to simply depend on “lifestyle evangelism,” as many of them do it better then us.  We need to tell people the good news (like Jesus and Paul).  “And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Romans 10:14).
Through the contacts made at school and in the community (literature distribution, Leicester Square, Speakers corner etc...), get into mosques, Qur'anic schools, and Islamic centres, or Muslim student meetings to set up dialogues and discussions.
The Islamic studies will give a good background, as well as credibility, and hopefully, the trust needed for this type of ministry.  From these contacts, try to set up times of Bible Study in the Muslims home, or in a neutral area.
Since 50% of Muslims are now born within Britain, the trend towards the indigenisation of Islam in Britain will grow, which means that potentially Islam can and will be penetrated by traditional British cultural values (i.e. Judeo-Christian values, as well as modernizing Western Humanistic values) to which Islam has no response.  Two misconceptions:
a) Be nice.  Instead be firm and resolute. (incarnational presentation)
b) Don’t attack the “book” or the “man” (whose agenda do we use?)
What do the scriptures say?:
Matt. 23:13-33 “hypocrites, blind guides (blind fools, blind men), white-washed tombs, snakes, brood of vipers”
Acts 17 Paul in Athens, at the Areopagus
Acts 19 Paul in Ephesus, 3 months in the Synagogue, then 2 years, discussing daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
Need to be ‘Passionate, Confidant, and Forthright’

4) Bring Muslim contacts or converts into an existing churches.
-From these contacts, try to set up times of Bible Study in the home, or in a neutral area.
-Ultimately, with those who are regularly in Bible studies, it is hopeful that one could set up a worship service, in the home, or with another church.  This meeting can be the foundation for a church made up of Muslim converts, and other stronger and more mature Christians, who can give it body, while helping the new converts to be discipled.  Experience from some of the Arab-convert churches in London has shown us that it is advisable to bring new converts to Christ to an existing church; one which already has international people who worship there.  By doing this the Muslim can be integrated into an existing body of believers, who would have the maturity and understanding to cope with the unique problems which Muslim converts face.

5) Get on the Internet:
200 Muslim web-sites versus only 6 Christian web-sites.
-http://debate.org.uk
-http://www.math.gatech.edu/~jkatz/islam/
-http://www.familyville.com/earth/edmonton/godsson
Newsgroup: MCD on the Debate site; & soc.religion.islam; alt.religion.islam

6) Future Missionary Service:
-Summer cross-cultural programs.
-Medical Internship overseas (medical electives: see Sandra or Peter at CMF).
-Short-Term volunteer assignments
-Long-Term Career assignments (O.M., AWM, FRONTIERS, WEC, INTERSERVE, YWAM, and many others).

[K]  RESOURCES:

I  GENERAL BOOKS:
Chapman, Colin, Cross and Crescent, IVP. 1995.
Cooper. Anne, editor. Ishmael My Brother, A Biblical Course on Islam, Marc, Europe, 1985 1-85424-233-4
Gibb, Hamilton, A R & Kramers J.H.eds., Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden: E.J.Brill 1974
Goldsmith, Martin, Islam and Christian Witness., MARC.
Nazir-Ali, Michael. Islam, A Christian Perspective. Exeter: The Paternoster Press.1983 ISBN 0-85364-333-4
Rippin, Andrew. Muslims. Their religious beliefs and Practices. Vol. I The Formative Penod.
	Vol.2 The Contemporary Period., London: Routledge 1995 reprint.

II  QUR’AN:
The Koran Interepted. Translated by Arthur Arberry. 1946, Oxford: OUP 1990
	ISBN 0-19-281628-4
The Meaning of the glorious Qur'an. Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall, London: Al-Furqan Publications Ltd. 1988 ( many reprints available)
The Holy Qur'an, Text, Translation and Commentary. A. Yusuf Al., Markfield, Islamic Foundation. 1975

III  BOOKS ABOUT THE QUR’AN:
Cragg, Kenneth . The Event of the Qur'an, Islarn In its Scripture. Oxford, Oneworld,1971, 1994,
Cragg, Kenneth. The Mind of the Qur' an, London, Allen and Unwin. 1973, ISBN 0-04-297030X
Gatje,Helmut. The Qur'an and Its Exegesis. Translated by Alford T.Welch, Oxford, Oneworld. 1997,
Gilchrist, John. Jam'al -Quran, The codification of the Qur'an text, Jesus to the Muslims, (Nairobi, Kenya.) 1989
Hinds, Jeremy. Qur'an Course. London: CMS (Printed by the missionary society.)
Hinds,J., Qur'an Word Studies. Oldham: Word of Life1996
Parrinder, Geoffley. Jesus in the Qur'an. Oxford: Oneworld, 1995 (reprint of 1965)
	ISBN 1-85168-094-2
Robinson, Neal. Discovering the Qur'an, A Contemporary Approach to a Veiled Text ,London: SCP Press Lts.1996 
St. Clair-Tisdall. The Sources of Islam. Edinburgh: T& T Clark.
Von Denffer, Ahmad., 'Ulum  Al'Qur'an. An Introduction to the sciences of the Qur'an,  Markfield: The Islamic Foundation,1996

IV  HADITH:
Burton, John  An Introduction to the Hadith. Edinburgh EUP ltd. 1994, 0-7486-0435-9
Buhkari-Sahih  Arabic/English, Translated by Dr. M M. Khan, Maktaba Dar us Salam,
	Saudi Arabia 1996
Parshall, Phil, Inside the conununity, Understanding Muslims through their traditions, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books 1994 ISBN 0-8010 7132-1

V  ON THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET:
Cook, M. Muhammad Oxford OUP, 1983, 0 19 287605-8
Dashti, Ali Twenty three Years: Studies of the Prophetic Career of Muhammed. Reprinted by Pl
Gilchrist, John. Muhammad, The prophet of Islam. South Africa MERCA 1994.
Guillume, Alfred. The Life of the Prophet. (a translation of Ibn Ishaq's life of the prophet via 
	Ibn Hisham) 33 -l
Watt, W. Montgomery, Muhammad, Prophet and Statesman. London: OUP 1961,
	ISBN 0-190881078-4

VI  APOLOGETICS:
	Abdul-Haqq, Abdiyah Akbar, Sharing Your Faith with a Muslim, Minnesota, Bethany Fellowship inc. 1980,
Cooper, Anne. In the Family of Abraham. Printed by PI. 1989 ( out of print)
Campbell, Wm.. Dr. The Gospel of Barnabas, Its true value, Rawalpindi, Christian Study Centre 1989
Campbell,  The Qur'an and the Bible in the light of History and Science, Middle East Resources
	ISBN I -881085-00-7
Geisler, Norman L. & Abdul Saleeb. Answering Islam, The Crescent in the Light of the Cross  Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book, 1995, ISBN 0 8010 3859 6
Gilchrist, John Series of Booklets which are very useful.
	A. Qur'an and Bible Series Responses to books by Ahmed Dedat.
                No. I . The Crucifixion of Christ: a fact, not fiction.
                No. 2. What indeed was the sign of Jonah?
                No. 3. The textual history of the Qur'an and the Bible.
                No. 4. Christ in Islarn and Chrisbanity
                No. 5 Is Muhammad foretold in the Bible.
                No. 6. Orgins and Sources of the Gospel of Barnabas.
	B. Christianity and Islam Series.
                No. I . An Analytical study of the cross and the hijrah
                No. 2. Nuzul I Isa The second coming of Jesus Christ.
                No. 3. Al Masihu-lsa: The glory of Jesus the Messiah.
                No. 4. The uniqueness of Jesus in the Qur'an and the bible.
                No. 5. The Titles of Jesus in the Qur'an and the Bible.
                No. 6. Millat - A-Ibrahim: The True faith of Abraham.
                No. 7. The love of God in the Qur'an and the Bible
                No. 8. The Temple, the Ka'aba and the Christ.
HPCF booklet, 101 Cleared Up Contradictions in the Bible, on Jay Smith’s Debate web-site.
Livingstone, Greg. Planting Churches in Muslim Cites. A Team Approach, Michigan: Baker Books. 1993,
Musk, Bill, Touching the Soul of Islam. Sharing the Gospel in Muslim Cultures, Crowborough, MARC 1995
Musk, Bill, The Unseen Face of Islam, Sharing the Gospel with Ordinary Muslims, MARC, 1984
Nehls, Gerhard. Christians Ask Muslim and Christians Answer Muslims, Life Challenge Africa - SIM
Parshall, Phil, Beyond the Mosque. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books. 1980 (Muslim community)
        Bridges to Islam. Grand Rapids,Michigan: Baker Books 1981, Folk Islam. 0 8010 708103
   New Paths in Muslim Evangelism, Grand Rapids, Michigan Baker Books, 1980 contextualisation
        The Cross and the Crescent, Understanding the Muslim mind and heart, Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc,1989

VII  SHORT BOOKLETS:
Sharing Christ with Muslims. £2.25 incl p&p from Frontiers, PO Box 7, Northampton, NN3 2PJ. (Tel 01604-233535)
Heart to Heart. Anne Cooper. from Word of Life, PO Box 14, Oldham, OL1 3WW. 
	(Tel 0161 628 4051) £2 incl p&p

VIII  MAGAZINES:
Isa Masih. Thrice yearly newsletter for Christian Students. Available free of charge from CMF, 157 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8XN or email petersaunders@compuserve.com
	Back issues are available on-line at http://debate.org.uk/topics/isamasih/home.htm
ISIC Bulletin. Islam world news. Six issues per year available from ISIC. (Tel 0171 474 0743)

IX  WEB SITES:

Jochen Katz' site at http://www.answering-islam.org.uk/
Jay Smith's site at http://debate.org.uk
Back Issues of Isa Masih are on-line on Jay Smith's site (see above)
Otherwise just follow the links....
Newsgroup: MCD on the Debate site; & soc.religion.islam; or alt.religion.islam

X  CONFERENCES:
Ishmael My Brother. Weekend and/or Saturday Conferences organised by Christian Medical Fellowship and UCCF. Next Saturday in London (24/10), Leeds (14/11) and Leicester (28?11). Weekend conferences in May.  Details and booking forms are available from CMF office 
(tel: 0171-928-4694)
LBC’s Islamic Training Course Week-long course using the Carey College material in July, at the ‘Guthrie Centre’ of the London Bible College
(tel: 01923-826-061-ext.257- ask for Jane Smith)