Defending the Christian Faith in Conversation with Islam — Unit 10: Common Muslim Objections and How to Answer Them

Key Verse

"Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one." (Colossians 4:6, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Describe a gracious, step-by-step way to listen to and answer a Muslim objection.

2. Show from the Gospels that Jesus claimed to be God by His words and His actions, even without the exact phrase "I am God."

3. Explain why Paul did not invent Christianity, using his own letters and the witness of the other apostles.

4. Answer the claim that Deuteronomy 18:18 and the Paraclete passages of John 14–16 foretell Muhammad.

5. Explain the difference between a real contradiction and a difference in detail, and give simple examples.

6. Explain what Christians mean, and do not mean, when they call Jesus the Son of God, and why forgiveness requires a sacrifice.

Before We Answer: How to Handle an Objection

Muslims who talk about faith with Christians often raise the same questions. Some of these questions come from sincere study. Others come from pamphlets, sermons or videos made for dawah. Dawah is an Arabic word meaning "invitation"; it is the Islamic work of calling people to Islam. Many Muslims have heard these arguments since childhood and believe them honestly. A pastor should not be surprised by them, and he should not be afraid of them.

In earlier units we studied the deity of Jesus, the Trinity, the cross, the resurrection, and the reliability of the Bible. This unit gathers six objections that Christians in Africa, Latin America and elsewhere hear again and again. For each one we will first state the objection fairly, as a thoughtful Muslim would state it. Then we will give a clear and biblical answer.

Before we look at the objections, we need a method. A good answer given in a proud or angry spirit will close a heart. A simple answer given with patience and respect can open one. Colossians 4:6 asks for speech "with grace, seasoned with salt." Grace means kindness. Salt means that our words have real content and real truth in them.

A Simple Method for Conversations

Here is a method you can use with almost any objection. It has five steps.

• Listen. Let your friend finish. Do not interrupt or prepare your reply while he is still speaking.

• Ask a question. Ask, "What do you mean by that?" or "Where did you learn this?" Questions show respect, and they help you understand the real concern.

• Clarify. Often the objection attacks something Christians do not believe. Say kindly what the Bible actually teaches.

• Answer. Give the evidence from Scripture and history. Keep it short. One strong point is better than ten weak ones.

• Return to Jesus. Every objection is a chance to talk about who Jesus is and what He has done. Invite your friend to read a Gospel with you.

It is also right to say, "I do not know, but I will study and come back to you." Honesty builds trust. No pastor knows everything, and your friend will respect you more if you do not pretend.

Begin with the Prophet We Both Acknowledge

Dr. Cook teaches pastors to open with a simple question: "If you believe Jesus was a prophet sent by God, shouldn't we listen to what He said?" This is a respectful appeal to something Muslims already honour, because they honour Jesus as a prophet. A true prophet speaks on God's behalf. If we agree that Jesus was God's prophet, we have a reason to listen carefully to what He actually taught. The next question is how reliably His words were preserved. First ask whether your friend agrees that a true prophet's words deserve attention. Then invite him to read with you what the Gospels report Jesus saying. Now the conversation is about Jesus, not about winning a quarrel.

A thoughtful Muslim may reply, "Yes, but these Gospels are not the original Injil." (The Injil is the Gospel that the Qur'an says God gave to Jesus.) Do not avoid this point. Say, "That is a fair question about history. Could we look at the evidence for these books together?" Units 8 and 9 give the reasons Christians trust the Gospels. This approach only works if we hear the objection and answer it, instead of pretending it is not there.

Then turn to what Jesus Himself claimed. The objections below show Him forgiving sins, using the divine name and speaking of His oneness with the Father. One passage deserves special care. Jesus asked His disciples, "But who do you say that I am?" (Matthew 16:15, NKJV). Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). Jesus did not correct him. He called Peter blessed and said that this truth had been revealed to him by "My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 16:17). Be exact about who said what: Peter spoke the confession, and Jesus approved it as a revelation from God.

Do not end the conversation with a slogan. Read one whole passage together, and ask what its first hearers would have understood. Then gently ask your friend the same personal question Jesus asked His disciples: who does he say Jesus is? That is good apologetics and good pastoral care.

Objection 1: "Jesus Never Said, 'I Am God'"

The objection goes like this. "Show me one verse where Jesus says, 'I am God, worship me.' You cannot, because Jesus never said it. He was a prophet, a servant of God, like the other prophets." The Qur'an presents Jesus as a messenger and denies that He is divine. Qur'an 5:75 says, in Pickthall's words, that the Messiah, son of Mary, "was no other than a messenger."

A good first response is a question. "If Jesus did not say those exact words, but He said and did things that only God can say and do, what would that show?" People often reveal who they are by what they claim and what they do, not only by a single sentence. The Gospels show Jesus making many such claims.

What Jesus Said and Did

• He forgave sins. In Mark 2:5-10 Jesus told a paralyzed man that his sins were forgiven. The religious teachers asked, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (Mark 2:7). Jesus did not correct them. He healed the man to prove that He had authority to forgive.

• He claimed the divine name. In John 8:58 Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I AM." The listeners understood Him to be using the name God revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14, and they picked up stones to kill Him for blasphemy.

• He claimed the throne of heaven. When the high priest asked if He was the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, Jesus said, "I am," and spoke of the Son of Man "coming with the clouds of heaven" (Mark 14:62). This points to Daniel 7:13-14, where one like a Son of Man receives a kingdom and is served by all peoples. The high priest tore his clothes and called it blasphemy.

• He accepted worship. When Thomas saw the risen Jesus, he said, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28). Jesus did not rebuke him. Instead He blessed those who would believe.

• He claimed unity with the Father. "I and My Father are one" (John 10:30). Again His listeners took up stones, saying that He, being a man, made Himself God (John 10:33).

Qureshi argued that the Gospel of Mark, which many Muslims think presents only a human Jesus, already shows Jesus claiming to be the divine Son of Man of Daniel 7. This is important, because Mark is often thought to be the earliest Gospel. The claim to deity is not a late addition. It is in the earliest layer of the record.

So the honest answer is this. Jesus did not need to use one particular phrase. His enemies understood His claims very clearly. They accused Him of blasphemy precisely because He spoke and acted as God.

Objection 2: "Paul Invented Christianity"

Many Muslims say that Jesus taught pure monotheism and obedience to the law, but that Paul, who never walked with Jesus during His ministry, changed the message. According to this view, Paul invented the ideas of the deity of Christ, the cross as a sacrifice for sin, and salvation by grace. Some Muslims also say that Barnabas was the true follower of Jesus and that Paul broke away from him.

Answering the Charge

First, Paul himself says he did not invent his message. In 1 Corinthians 15:3 he writes, "For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." He was passing on what was already taught before him. Scholars of many views agree that this creed is very early, from within a few years of the crucifixion.

Second, the other apostles accepted Paul. In Galatians 2:9 Paul says that James, Peter and John "gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship." Notice that Barnabas stood with Paul in this. In 2 Peter 3:15-16 Peter calls Paul "our beloved brother" and places his letters with "the rest of the Scriptures." If Paul had changed the faith, the leaders who had walked with Jesus would have opposed him. Instead they welcomed him.

Third, the Gospels teach the same Jesus that Paul preached, and Paul did not write the Gospels. Mark records Jesus saying that He came "to give His life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all present Jesus as forgiving sins, dying, and rising again. The deity of Christ and His saving death are found in sources that are independent of Paul.

Fourth, some Muslims point to a book called the Gospel of Barnabas, which agrees with Islam and says that Judas was crucified in place of Jesus. But this is not an ancient Gospel. Its oldest known copies are in Italian and Spanish, from about the sixteenth century or later, many centuries after Jesus and even after Muhammad. Many Muslim scholars also do not rely on it. It cannot tell us what the first followers of Jesus believed.

Finally, a friend may be interested to know that the Qur'an itself praises the disciples of Jesus. Qur'an 3:52 and 61:14 present them as helpers of God. Qur'an 61:14 adds, in summary, that God strengthened the believers against their enemies so that they prevailed. A Christian may gently ask, "If the true followers of Jesus were helped by God and prevailed, why would their message be lost so quickly to Paul?"

Objection 3: "Muhammad Is Foretold in the Bible"

The Qur'an says that the messenger, the unlettered prophet, is described in the Torah and the Gospel that the Jews and Christians have (Qur'an 7:157). In Qur'an 61:6, Jesus announces a messenger coming after him "whose name is the Praised One," which in Arabic is Ahmad, a name related to Muhammad. So Muslim teachers search the Bible for prophecies of Muhammad. Two passages are used most often.

Deuteronomy 18:18

God told Moses, "I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth" (Deuteronomy 18:18). Muslim teachers, including Ahmed Deedat in his well-known booklets and debates, argued that "their brethren" means the brothers of Israel, that is, the descendants of Ishmael, the Arabs. They also argued that Muhammad was like Moses because both married, both led nations, gave laws, and died naturally.

The context gives a different answer. Three verses earlier, Moses says the Prophet will come "from your midst, from your brethren" (Deuteronomy 18:15). He is speaking to Israel. In Deuteronomy 17:15, the same expression is used of the king of Israel, who must be chosen "from among your brethren," meaning a fellow Israelite and not a foreigner. So "brethren" in this book means fellow Israelites.

The end of Deuteronomy also tells us what the key likeness to Moses is. Deuteronomy 34:10-12 says no prophet arose in Israel like Moses, "whom the LORD knew face to face," with signs and wonders. Jesus knew the Father face to face (John 1:18), worked many signs, and brought a new covenant as Moses brought the old. The apostle Peter applied Deuteronomy 18 directly to Jesus (Acts 3:22-26). The early church did not have to guess who the Prophet was.

The Paraclete in John 14–16

In John 14–16 Jesus promised to send "another Helper." The Greek word is parakletos, which means a helper, comforter or advocate. Some Muslim writers say this refers to Muhammad. A few claim the original word was periklytos, meaning "praised one," which would match the name Ahmad.

The text itself answers this claim. There is no known Greek manuscript of John that reads periklytos. The manuscripts read parakletos. More importantly, Jesus tells us plainly who the Helper is. He is "the Spirit of truth," and Jesus told His disciples, "He dwells with you and will be in you" (John 14:17). In John 14:26 Jesus calls Him "the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name." The Helper would be with the disciples forever (John 14:16), would live inside them, and would come soon. In Acts 1:5 Jesus said they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit "not many days from now," and in Acts 2 the Spirit came at Pentecost.

Muhammad was born about five hundred years after these disciples died. He could not live inside them. He was also a man of flesh, not a spirit. The promise of the Paraclete was fulfilled at Pentecost, and it is still fulfilled in every believer today.

Objection 4: "The Bible Contradicts Itself"

Some Muslims gather lists of supposed contradictions in the Bible. They say that a book from God would have no contradictions, so the Bible must have been changed. This objection is linked to the charge of tahrif, the claim that the Bible has been corrupted, which we studied in Unit 8.

A Difference Is Not a Contradiction

Begin by explaining what a contradiction really is. Two statements contradict each other only if both cannot be true at the same time and in the same sense. Many "contradictions" are simply differences in detail, or different ways of telling the same event.

• The angels at the tomb. Matthew 28:2-5 mentions one angel speaking. Luke 24:4 mentions two men in shining clothes. If there were two, there was certainly one. Matthew simply mentions the one who spoke.

• The death of Judas. Matthew 27:5 says Judas hanged himself. Acts 1:18 says he fell headlong and burst open. Both can be true. A body hanging for some time may fall. One writer tells how he died; the other tells what happened to the body.

• Numbers in Samuel, Kings and Chronicles. In a few places, a number in one book differs from the same number in another. For example, 2 Samuel 10:18 speaks of seven hundred chariots, and 1 Chronicles 19:18 of seven thousand. Numbers were easy to miscopy by hand. Textual study can often explain these differences. None of them changes any teaching about God, sin or salvation.

Independent witnesses always tell a story with different details. If four witnesses in a court used exactly the same words, the judge would suspect that they had agreed on a false story. The variety in the Gospels is a mark of honest testimony, not of corruption.

It is also fair, and can be done gently, to note that Muslim scholars use the same principles when they explain differences within their own traditions. They read carefully, consider context, and ask how two statements fit together. We ask only that the Bible be read with the same fairness.

Objection 5: "God Cannot Have a Son"

This objection is very deep in the Muslim heart. Qur'an 112 says, in Pickthall's words, that Allah "begetteth not nor was begotten." Qur'an 6:101 asks how God could have a child when He has no consort, that is, no wife. To many Muslims, calling Jesus "Son of God" sounds as if God had a physical relationship with a woman. This would be shocking and offensive to any believer.

What Christians Do and Do Not Mean

The first step is to clarify. Christians agree completely that God did not take a wife and did not produce a child in a physical way. If that is what the Qur'an denies, Christians deny it too. The Bible never teaches such a thing.

"Son" in the Bible describes a relationship and a shared nature, not biology. Even in Arabic, "son" can be used without a physical meaning. The Qur'an uses the phrase ibn al-sabil, "son of the road," for a traveller (for example, Qur'an 2:177). No one thinks the road gave birth to him. In the same way, the title "Son of God" tells us that Jesus shares the Father's nature and has an eternal relationship of love with Him. At His baptism the Father said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).

The Son did not begin to exist at Bethlehem. John 1:1 says that the Word was with God and was God, and John 1:14 says that the Word became flesh. Interestingly, the Qur'an also calls Jesus "a word" from God (Qur'an 4:171). A Christian may ask, "Was God ever without His word?" God's Word is eternal, and so the Son is eternal. Christians do not add a second god to the one God. As we saw in Unit 5, there is one God in three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Objection 6: "God Forgives Without a Sacrifice"

Islam teaches that God is merciful and forgives whom He wills. Muslims often ask, "Why would God need blood to forgive? If I forgive my brother, I do not ask anyone to die. And it is unjust to punish an innocent man for the sins of others." The Qur'an teaches that no soul will carry the burden of another (Qur'an 6:164).

Mercy and Justice Together

Christians agree that God is merciful. The question is how a holy God can be both merciful and just. Imagine a judge whose own son is brought before him, guilty of a serious crime. If the judge simply lets him go because he loves him, he is not a good judge. Justice requires that the penalty be paid. In the gospel, God does not ignore justice. He satisfies it Himself.

Hebrews 9:22 says, "without shedding of blood there is no remission." Romans 3:26 says that God did this "that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." The cross is not a third party punished against his will. Jesus is God the Son, who gave Himself freely (John 10:18). The Judge Himself paid the debt.

The Qur'an also contains a picture of substitution. In the story of Abraham's son, Qur'an 37:107 says that God ransomed him with a great sacrifice. Muslims around the world remember this every year at the feast of Eid al-Adha, when animals are sacrificed. A Christian can kindly ask, "Why did God provide a ransom for Abraham's son? Could that sacrifice point to a greater one?" John the Baptist called Jesus "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

This topic also touches the heart. Many Muslims say they cannot know for sure whether God will forgive them on the Day of Judgment, because they do not know whether their good deeds will outweigh their bad deeds. The gospel offers assurance. "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13). Share this hope gently. It is good news, not a debating point.

Wisdom for the Pastor

Some final counsel will help pastors use these answers well. First, do not try to win every argument. You can win an argument and lose a friend. The goal is not victory but a person coming to know Christ.

Second, be wise about safety. In some places public debate with Muslims can cause anger or danger. Private conversations between friends, in homes and over meals, are usually wiser than public contests. Never mock the Prophet of Islam or the Qur'an. You can disagree firmly while showing respect.

Third, teach your congregation. When church members know these answers, they will not be shaken when they hear the objections from neighbours, co-workers or the radio. They will also be ready to share their faith with confidence and love.

Fourth, pray. Qureshi's story reminds us that study, friendship and prayer worked together in his life. Arguments alone do not change hearts. The Holy Spirit does. Our task is to speak the truth with grace and leave the results to God.

Summary

The most fruitful conversation may begin with a simple question: if Jesus was a true prophet of God, should we not listen to what He said? Muslims often raise the same objections to the Christian faith, and a pastor should answer them with grace and truth. Listen first, ask questions, clarify what Christians really believe, give a short answer from Scripture and history, and return to Jesus. Jesus showed He was God by forgiving sins, claiming the divine name and accepting worship. Paul passed on a message he received, and the apostles accepted him. Deuteronomy 18 points to an Israelite Prophet fulfilled in Jesus, and the Paraclete is the Holy Spirit who came at Pentecost. Differences in detail are not contradictions. "Son of God" speaks of relationship and nature, not physical birth. And at the cross God is both just and merciful, offering forgiveness and assurance to all who believe.

Questions for Reflection

1. Which of the six objections have you heard most often in your community, and how have you answered it in the past?

2. Why is asking questions often more helpful than giving a quick reply?

3. How would you explain to a Muslim friend, in your own words, what Christians mean by "Son of God"?

4. Which passage from the Gospels would you use first to show that Jesus claimed to be God, and why?

5. How can you prepare the members of your church to answer these objections with gentleness and respect?

6. Write a short conversation that begins, "If Jesus was a prophet of God, shouldn't we listen to Him?", including a fair reply to the objection that the Gospels were changed.

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