Defending the Christian Faith in Conversation with Islam — Unit 11: Folk Islam, Islamic Outreach and Christian Witness in Africa

Key Verse

"Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men." (Romans 12:17-18, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

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

1. Explain what dawah is and why Muslims see inviting others to Islam as a duty.

2. Describe the main forms of organized Islamic outreach in Africa today.

3. Explain the debate-style method of Ahmed Deedat and how Christians can answer it with truth and grace.

4. Define folk Islam and name common practices such as charms, spirits, saints and the work of marabouts.

5. Show from Scripture how Christ answers the fear behind folk practices.

6. Describe how believers can live as good neighbours and respond to pressure without retaliation.

Introduction: Islam as Africans Meet It

In the earlier units we studied Islam mainly through its books and its doctrines. We looked at the Qur'an, the hadith, the claims about Jesus, the Trinity, the cross and the Bible. That work is necessary. But most pastors in Africa do not meet Islam first in a book. They meet it in the market, at the school gate, on the radio, in a video on a phone, and in the home of a neighbour who wears a leather charm on his arm.

Islam in Africa has two faces that a pastor must learn to see. The first face is organized outreach. Muslims are called to invite others to their faith, and in many places this invitation is well planned and well funded. The second face is folk Islam. This is the everyday religion of many ordinary Muslims, which mixes the teaching of the Qur'an with older beliefs about spirits, curses, blessing and protection.

These two faces need different answers. The trained preacher who comes with a list of Bible verses needs a clear, informed and calm reply. The frightened mother who buys a charm for her sick child needs to hear about a Saviour who has power over every evil spirit. This unit will help you recognize both and answer both. It will also help you think about how to live faithfully as a neighbour, and how to respond when pressure or hostility comes.

Dawah: The Islamic Call to Others

What Dawah Means

The Arabic word dawah means "call" or "invitation." In Islam it means inviting people to accept Islam, or calling weak Muslims back to stronger practice. Many Muslims see dawah as a duty for every believer, not only for religious leaders. A Muslim who invites you to Islam is usually not attacking you. In his own eyes he is doing you a kindness, because he believes Islam is the truth and the way to paradise.

Muslims often point to Qur'an 16:125, which in Pickthall's translation says, "Call unto the way of thy Lord with wisdom and fair exhortation." Many Muslim teachers use this verse to say that dawah should be done with wisdom and good manners. Christians should recognize that this is the ideal many sincere Muslims hold. We should not assume that every Muslim who speaks to us about his faith has bad motives.

Christians also believe in inviting others. Jesus sent His disciples into all the world (Matthew 28:19-20), and Paul pleaded with people to be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20). So we are not offended that Muslims share their faith. We share ours too. The real question is not whether people should share their faith, but which message is true. Both Christians and Muslims should have freedom to speak, and both should listen honestly.

Well-Funded Outreach

In many parts of Africa, Islamic outreach is organized and supported by money. Some of this support comes from inside African countries, and some comes from organizations and donors in the Gulf states and other parts of the Muslim world. Not all outreach looks alike, but pastors often see several common forms.

• Building mosques, sometimes in villages where there were few Muslims before.

• Starting schools and Qur'an schools, and offering scholarships to study in Muslim countries.

• Providing relief, such as food, wells, clinics and help after disasters.

• Distributing free copies of the Qur'an and booklets that criticize the Bible.

• Using radio, television, social media and short videos on phones to reach young people.

• Training dawah workers who learn how to speak to Christians and how to raise questions about the Bible.

Christians should be fair about this. Christian missions have also built schools, clinics and hospitals across Africa, and many Africans came to faith through them. Doing good works is not wrong, and we should be thankful when hungry people are fed. The question is not whether money is used, but whether people are given the freedom to choose and whether the message they hear is true.

At the same time, pastors should be wise. Some poor families feel pressure to change religion in order to receive help, a school place or a job. Some young people receive a scholarship and return with a strong and narrow form of Islam. The church cannot match every gift with money. But the church can offer something money cannot buy: real love, a true message and a family that does not abandon people. Churches that care for widows, orphans and the poor show the gospel with their hands as well as their words (James 1:27).

Debate-Style Polemics and the Legacy of Ahmed Deedat

A polemic is an argument that attacks another position. One of the best-known Muslim polemicists of the twentieth century was Ahmed Deedat (1918–2005). He was born in India and lived most of his life in South Africa, where he founded the Islamic Propagation Centre International in Durban. Deedat studied the Bible carefully, often more carefully than the Christians he met. He became famous for public debates with Christian speakers, including Josh McDowell and Jimmy Swaggart in the 1980s, and for booklets such as Is the Bible God's Word?

Deedat's method had several parts. He quoted Bible verses, often out of context, to argue that Jesus never claimed to be God. He pointed to differences between Bible manuscripts and to notes in modern Bibles, and claimed this proved the Bible had been corrupted. He used the words of liberal Christian scholars as if they spoke for all Christians. He also argued that Muhammad was foretold in the Bible, especially in Deuteronomy 18:18 and in Jesus' promise of the Helper in John 14–16. His style was quick, confident and often humorous, and sometimes mocking.

Deedat had a stroke in 1996 and died in 2005, but his influence is still strong. Recordings of his debates are shared widely across Africa, and many later Muslim speakers learned from his method. Because of this, a Christian in a village or a university may face the same arguments Deedat used decades ago, sometimes word for word. The good news is that these arguments have been carefully answered. Most of them were treated in Units 4 to 10 of this course.

How to Respond to Dawah and Polemics

When a Muslim friend or a dawah worker challenges your faith, remember 1 Peter 3:15. We are to be ready to give a defence, but with meekness and fear. The goal is not to win a fight but to bear witness to Christ. Here are practical guidelines.

• Stay calm. A calm answer often speaks louder than a clever one (Proverbs 15:1).

• Ask questions before you answer. Ask, "What do you mean by that?" or "Where did you read that?" Many polemical claims fall apart when they are examined slowly.

• Check the context. When a verse is quoted, open the Bible and read the verses before and after. Teach your people to do the same.

• Know the main answers. Review the units on the deity of Christ, the Trinity, the crucifixion, the resurrection, tahrif and the New Testament manuscripts.

• Do not mock Muhammad or the Qur'an. You can show where Islam's claims are mistaken without insulting what your neighbour loves. Mockery closes hearts and can put you and others in danger.

• Do not be afraid to say "I don't know, but I will find out." Then study and come back.

• Turn the conversation to Jesus. Arguments matter, but the person of Christ, His cross and His resurrection are the heart of our message.

Avoid public debates unless you are well prepared and the setting is safe. A debate in a tense town can lead to anger and violence. Often a quiet conversation over tea does more good than a stage and a microphone. Nabeel Qureshi came to Christ, not through one public debate, but through years of friendly, honest discussion with his friend David Wood, combined with his own study and prayer.

Folk Islam: Faith and Fear in Daily Life

What Folk Islam Is

Folk Islam, sometimes called popular Islam, is the everyday religion of many ordinary Muslims. It is Islam as it is lived in homes and villages, not only as it is taught in books. Folk Islam keeps the basic confession that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is His messenger. But it adds many practices meant to deal with daily needs and fears: sickness, barrenness, bad luck, curses, evil spirits, exams, business and safety on journeys.

The Qur'an itself speaks of jinn, spirit beings created from fire who can be good or evil (see, for example, sura 72, which is named after them). Many Muslims also fear the evil eye, the belief that a jealous look can cause harm. In folk Islam these fears become very large, and people seek protection through special objects, words and holy persons.

It is important to be accurate here. Not all Muslims practise folk Islam, and many Muslim scholars strongly oppose it. Reform movements, including those often called Salafi, condemn charms and the veneration of saints as shirk, which means associating partners with God. So a Christian should not say, "All Muslims worship saints" or "All Muslims use charms." Some do, and some reject these things firmly. Ask and listen to learn what your neighbour actually believes.

Common Practices

The details vary from region to region, but pastors in Africa will often meet practices such as these.

• Charms and amulets. Small leather pouches or metal cases holding Qur'an verses or other writings are worn on the body or hung in homes, shops and vehicles. In parts of West Africa they are called gris-gris, and in Swahili-speaking areas hirizi.

• Drinking the word. A verse is written in ink on a wooden board, the ink is washed off with water, and the water is drunk for healing or protection.

• Marabouts and holy men. In West Africa a marabout is a Muslim teacher or holy man. Some teach the Qur'an. Others are sought for blessings, charms, healing, divination and help against enemies. In Hausa-speaking areas a Muslim teacher is often called a mallam.

• Saints and shrines. Many Muslims visit the tombs of holy men to seek blessing, called baraka. Sufi brotherhoods, such as the Tijaniyya and the Mourides in Senegal, honour their founders and leaders, and their followers often seek baraka from them.

• Protection from spirits. Rituals, recitations and charms are used to drive away jinn, to protect babies and to break curses.

Many of these practices mix Islam with older African traditional religion. Some Christians do the same thing when they keep a charm from a traditional healer while attending church. The deep need is the same in both cases: people feel surrounded by powers they cannot control, and they want protection.

Why Folk Islam Matters for Christian Witness

Folk Islam shows us something important. Many Muslims do not ask first, "Is the Trinity logical?" They ask, "Who can protect my child? Who can break this curse? Who can give me peace at night?" If we only answer the first kind of question, we may never touch the heart of our neighbour.

This does not mean that doctrine is unimportant. The truth about who Jesus is remains the centre of everything. But for a person who lives in fear, the first doorway may be the power and love of Christ. When a Muslim woman sees that her Christian neighbour does not fear the curse of a marabout, and when she sees prayer answered in the name of Jesus, she may begin to ask who this Jesus really is.

The Power of Christ over Every Power

The Bible takes the spirit world seriously. It does not laugh at people's fears, but it answers them with the victory of Christ. Jesus cast out demons with a word (Mark 1:27). On the cross He disarmed the principalities and powers and triumphed over them (Colossians 2:15). He came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8) and to free those who all their lives were held in fear (Hebrews 2:14-15). The apostle John reminds believers, "He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4, NKJV).

This truth has two applications. First, Christians must not use charms themselves. When the believers in Ephesus turned to Christ, they burned their books of magic in public (Acts 19:18-19). Pastors must teach clearly that a Christian does not need, and must not seek, protection from charms, marabouts or traditional healers. Second, Christians can pray with confidence for Muslim neighbours who are sick or afraid, if they welcome it. We pray in the name of Jesus, not as magicians who control God, but as children who trust their Father. God may heal, or He may give strength to endure, but in every case the person sees the love of Christ.

Be careful not to present Jesus as simply a stronger charm. The goal is not to replace one source of power with another. The goal is to bring people to know the living God through His Son, who forgives sin, gives eternal life and walks with His people. Power encounters open doors, but the gospel must be explained clearly.

Know the Neighbour, Not Merely the Category

A pastor in Africa may serve among Sunni neighbours, Shia minorities, Sufi communities, reform movements, or people whose local spiritual practices do not fit a neat label. He should not assume that a West African Sufi, an Ahmadi friend, a preacher trained abroad and a village elder hold the same views about the hadith, about devotional practices, or about Christian neighbours. Sufism can be found within both Sunni and Shia Islam. The Ahmadiyya movement makes distinctive claims about its founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, and many other Muslims strongly reject those claims. Muslims often disagree sharply with one another about such matters.

The most useful habit for a pastor is careful listening. Ask which traditions shape your friend's own life, how he or she understands Jesus, and which sources he or she trusts most. A pastor should be able to present the Christian confession of Christ clearly without mocking Muhammad, the Qur'an or Muslims. Some people press hard in debate; others quietly ask honest questions about the cross. Neither situation calls for hostility.

Churches in Africa also need wisdom about history and public life. Political conquest and the conversion of a people are not always the same event. Modern religious violence must not be blamed on all Muslims. Christians, too, must admit past abuses of power by people who claimed Christ, and must refuse revenge. A believable Christian answer is neither timid nor cruel. It is truthful and courageous, and it is clearly shaped by the Christ it proclaims.

Living as Neighbours

In many African towns, Christians and Muslims live side by side. They share markets, schools, taxis and family ties. Often one family has both Christian and Muslim members. This closeness is a great opportunity. The best apologetic is often a faithful life lived near people for many years.

Jesus taught us to love our neighbour as ourselves (Mark 12:31), and He showed in the parable of the Good Samaritan that our neighbour includes people of another religion (Luke 10:29-37). Christians can visit Muslim neighbours when there is sickness or death, help in times of need, keep their word in business, and treat Muslim women and men with respect according to local customs. Many Muslims value modesty, hospitality and respect for elders. Christians can honour these values where they agree with Scripture.

Living as neighbours does not mean hiding our faith. We can pray before meals, speak about what God has done, and offer to read the Bible together with anyone who is interested. Friendship and witness belong together. A Muslim friend who trusts you will listen to you in a way he would never listen to a stranger. Unit 12 will say more about friendship, hospitality and Bible reading with Muslims.

Responding to Pressure without Retaliation

In some places Christians face pressure from Muslim neighbours or authorities. This can range from mockery and social exclusion to the loss of jobs, family rejection of converts, and in some regions violent attacks by armed groups. It must be said clearly that many Muslims reject such violence, and many have protected Christian neighbours at risk to themselves. But the danger is real in some areas, and pastors must prepare their people.

The teaching of Jesus is clear. "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you" (Matthew 5:44, NKJV). Paul writes, "Repay no one evil for evil" (Romans 12:17), and tells us to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). Peter reminds us that Christ, when He was insulted, did not insult in return, but committed Himself to the One who judges righteously (1 Peter 2:23). Christians must never organize revenge, burn mosques, attack Muslim people or call for hatred. Such actions dishonour Christ and destroy our witness.

Refusing to retaliate does not mean doing nothing. It means responding in ways that honour God.

• Pray for those who cause harm, and pray for the protection of the church.

• Forgive from the heart, even when justice is slow.

• Seek lawful protection. Report crimes to the authorities, as Paul used his rights as a Roman citizen (Acts 22:25).

• Use wisdom about safety. It is not a lack of faith to change meeting places or to leave a dangerous area; Jesus said that when persecuted in one city, His followers could flee to another (Matthew 10:23).

• Care for victims, widows and orphans, both Christian and Muslim.

• Speak truthfully and calmly, without spreading rumours that increase tension.

• Build peace with Muslim leaders who also want peace in the community.

The early church grew in a world that often treated it with suspicion and hostility. Christians did not win by the sword but by faithful witness, love and patient suffering. The same can be true in Africa today.

An Illustration from the Village

A pastor in a West African town was mocked for months by a young dawah worker who stood near the church on Sundays with a loudspeaker and booklets about Bible contradictions. The pastor did not answer with anger. One day he invited the young man for tea and asked him to explain his strongest argument. They opened the Bible together and read the passage in its context. The young man did not change his mind that day. But some months later, when his mother was sick and a marabout's charm had not helped, he came quietly to the pastor and asked him to pray. The friendship continued, and the pastor kept praying for him.

Summary

Islam in Africa often shows two faces: organized dawah and folk Islam. Dawah is the Islamic call to invite others to Islam, and in many places it is well funded through mosques, schools, scholarships, relief work and media. Debate-style polemics, made famous by Ahmed Deedat, still circulate widely, but their main arguments have good answers. Christians should respond calmly, check the context of verses, avoid mockery and keep the focus on Jesus. Folk Islam mixes Islam with practices such as charms, drinking the word, visiting saints' tombs and seeking help from marabouts, though many Muslims reject these practices. Behind them lies fear of spirits and curses, which Christ has defeated on the cross. Christians must not use charms, but can pray for their neighbours in the name of Jesus. Believers are called to live as good neighbours, to bear witness openly but gently, and to respond to pressure without retaliation, by forgiveness, prayer, lawful protection, wisdom and love. Learn what each neighbour actually believes, and let the Prince of Peace shape how the church answers pressure.

Questions for Reflection

1. What forms of Islamic outreach have you seen in your own area, and how has your church responded?

2. Have you heard arguments that came from Ahmed Deedat or his followers? Which one would you most like to be ready to answer?

3. Are there Christians in your congregation who still keep charms or visit traditional healers or marabouts? How will you teach them?

4. How could your church show practical love to Muslim neighbours this year?

5. If your church faced pressure or violence, what would it look like to respond without retaliation but with wisdom?

6. How would your conversation differ with a Sufi-influenced neighbour, an Ahmadi friend and a Sunni teacher, and what should you refuse to assume about each?

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