The Islamic Saudi Academy in Fairfax, VA has been using text books which teach 12th graders that it’s permissible for Muslims to kill those who convert out of Islam. The Academy is funded by the Government of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Ambassador sits on its board. The Academy’s website states that their “Islamic Studies Program is unique and comprehensive” and leads of by stating that the students study Arabic (but I’m not sure what is so unique about Arabic language studies when it comes to Islamic studies).

This report from the Washington Post about the June 9, 2008 arrest of the Academy Director also mentions the textbook situation.

Indeed, the law of apostasy in Islam is clear regarding how Muslims should treat former Muslims who have left Islam. The teachings and actions of Muslims demonstrate this reality. For example:

Afghan scholar Dr. Niaz Faizi Kabuli writes on pages 106 and 107 in his book, Democracy According to Islam, “We must point out, however, that Islam is strict as regard apostasy. . . . punishment is death for a person who, after having adhered to these dogmas, reject them.” Here “a person who. . . . adhered to these dogmas” means a former Muslim.

(By the way, Dr. John Esposito at Georgetown University’s Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding has written an endorsement of Dr. Kabuli’s book. “Niaz Faizi Kabuli’s Democracy According to Islam, “ Esposito writes, “provides an early and important analysis of the scriptural and conceptual resources of Islam that are relevant to contemporary discussion of the compatibility of Islam and democracy.” Therefore the Saudi’s should not be too quick to denounce Kabuli’s book as a fringe work.)

On September 10, 2001 (a day of tolerance toward the Islamic law of apostasy) Hadi Elmi of the Islamic Education Center in Houston, TX was protesting and chanting “death to Rushdie” in front of the theater where the writer was invited to speak. According to The Houston Chronicle Elmi said, ”those who commit evil must be punished”.

The textbooks also teach that Muslims are justified in taking the property and lives of those they call “polytheists”. Note to Hindus: the Muslims put you in this category.

According to the June 17, 2008 Washington Post article,

The school issued a statement saying the textbooks had been mistranslated and misinterpreted and that some of the textbooks studied by the commission are no longer in use. But the statement offered no detailed explanation of the specific passages cited by the commission, and school officials have not returned calls seeking comment.

Generally, the school has said in the past that some of the textbooks it uses come from Saudi Arabia and contain harsh language inappropriate for use in the United States. The school has said it revises the textbooks as needed.”

Indeed, the commission found evidence that individual passages were removed from individual textbooks, sometimes covered up with correction fluid.

It sounds like the Saudi Academy is saying that they are trying save the harshest teachings of Islam for their students for the semesters they spend in Saudi Arabia since the Americans are too sensitive about things like Muslims killing Hindus and former Muslims.

It’s time for the Islamic Saudi Academy to forget what is “inappropriate for use in the United States” and instead come out clearly and teach that Islam tolerates, allows, and embraces freedom of religion to the extent that Muslims are free to leave Islam.

On September 17, 2001 I wrote that it’s time for moderate Muslims in America to renounce the law of apostasy in Islam. That time is past due.

Let the renouncing of the law of apostasy be printed in their Arabic language text books. You never know what might happen next. Maybe the Islamic Saudi Academy can be a conduit of tolerance back into Saudi Arabia to forever transform Islam into a religion of peace and love and tolerance where Christians can worship freely in Mecca and even buy up a few local mosques to change them into churches.

Muslims live in virtually every section of the country and there is no reason why every Muslim community cannot be reached with the gospel.

This is one of my 18 Truths About Reaching Muslims in America With the Gospel.

The idea seems to be catching on and there’s an important opportunity to get the gospel to Muslims you know in their own language right now.

The 16-lanugage DVD, The Life of Jesus Christ is becoming available for mass distribution among Muslims in America. This is the same JESUS film that has been used by missionaries around the world for the last two decades. It’s based entirely on the Gospel According to Luke and it’s unquestionably the most-translated and most-watched film in history.

There are several great things about this DVD version of the film.

First, it’s one DVD packaged in a simple, but colorful cardboard sleeve. So it’s easy to keep a copy or two with you to be ready to give it out anytime you run into a Muslim.

Second, when the DVD is inserted, you get a choice of 16 languages to watch the movie – all this on one DVD! And the dubbing of each language is excellent. You don’t feel like you’re watching an old Japanese karate movie when you see it!

Third, it’s cost-effective. DVDs are cheap to produce and distribute. There are a number of inexpensive options:

• If you volunteer to help out on a distribution team, you will be given the DVDs.
• If you want to get a few copies for yourself or your church, the cost can be very low.
• If you or your chuch will personally distribute 200 or more DVDs to Muslims in the U.S., and give a report on the distribution, you can get them for free.

There is a group called Christ for All Peoples which is making this possible. This is what they say on their website:

Millions of foreign-born persons from all walks of life have entered the United States in the last several years–many from hard-to-reach nations.  Nearly 600,000 of them are international students studying here this year.  The majority of these immigrants have never heard nor had access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Our goal at Christ for All Peoples is to bridge the cultural divide and encourage and assist the church to share the Good News of Jesus with these ethnic groups here in the USA–many from countries in the 10/40 Window–and to do so quickly.  Your help is welcomed and needed!

Please leave a comment here and share your story about using the Jesus DVD in cross-cultural outreach.

A March 28 report from Compass Direct explains the closure of 19 churches in Algeria and the detention of Christians caught carrying Bibles. 

“I equate evangelism with terrorism,” Religious Affairs Minister Ghoulamullah said in an article in L’Expression on February 12.

Thanks to Jihad Watch for the alert about this story.

According to an Adnkronos International March 20, 2008 report from Riyadh, no church will be allowed in Saudia Arabia unless “the Pope and all the Christian churches recognise the prophet Mohammed.”

Two days earlier a report in The Gardian stated:

The Vatican has been holding secret talks with the Saudi Arabian authorities on building churches in Muhammad’s homeland, according to one of Pope Benedict’s most senior Middle East representatives. Archbishop Paul-Mounged El-Hashem said: “Discussions are under way to allow the construction of churches in the kingdom. We cannot forecast the outcome.”

As of now, there is no word of Saudi officials recognizing Jesus Christ is the Son of God or even the historical fact of his crucifixion or His resurrection.

Instead, the Saudis are funding the distribution of Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s version of the Quran in the United States with the following footnote to Sura 4:157,

The Orthodox Christian Churches make it a cardinal point of their doctrine that his life was taken on the Cross, that he died and was buried, that on the third day he rose in the body with his wounds intact, and walked about and conversed, and ate with his disciples, and was afterward taken up bodily into heaven. This is necessary for the theological doctrine of blood sacrifice and vicarious atonement for sins, which is rejected by Islam.

The Muslim leaders are not ignorant of Christian theology. They understand it and reject it completely.

The teachings of Mohammed, who the Muslims believe is a prophet, are contrary to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

A while back I wrote a short pamplet called Islamic Terrorism and Muslim Terrorists: A Prayer Guide for Christians.

Now some friends have started a project called Adopt A Terrorist for Prayer. They also have a youtube video here.

Story on Al Arabiya New Channel.

Also see: 5 Muslims visited by Jesus Christ and Muslims are seeing Jesus during Ramadan.

UPDATE: See this Arabic language video report: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3582681422901641577

Tonight is Halloween. A night when people celebrate the dark side of the supernatural by pretending they believe in it.

The Dark Invisible

Well, we who are in Christ know the Truth (for He Is the Truth): the supernatural does exist – but it’s not something to live in fear of.

I lived in Afghanistan for years, and I can tell you that Muslims all over the world believe strongly in the existence of the supernatural. It terrifies them. Many of them still hold to animist superstitions, forever tormented by the fear of “jinn” (mischievous or malicious demons). Because they accept the existence
of the unseen world, but have no relationship with a personal God and Savior, they are at the mercy of a multitude of dark forces, real or imagined.

Light Made Flesh

Jesus comes to ransom us from this darkness “into the Kingdom of His marvelous light.” And He’s doing the same for Muslims.

For years, I’ve heard tales of Muslims across the world coming to Christ after seeing Him in a vision or a dream. There are just too many of these stories to discount. (As an interesting note, the same thing has been happening to a number of media leaders – mostly Jews – in Hollywood. Pray for both groups.)

More Than Dreams

Now, just recently, a Christian film company has produced a DVD chronicling the true stories of five Muslims who were visited by Jesus Christ on their road to salvation. It’s called More Than Dreams.

Each of the five stories is dramatized and re-enacted, and is narrated in the original “heart language” by the real-life believer (not an actor). Every segment is followed up by a pastor’s explanation of how one can become a follower of Christ – also in the original language, making the disc a powerful evangelistic tool for five language groups: Arabic, Turkish, Indonesian, Farsi (Iran), and Hausa (Nigeria). Each segment is from 25 to 45 minutes long.

How to Get a Copy

Truth For Muslims intends to stock these DVDs.

And here’s another good thing:

The whole film is available for viewing online for FREE.

The compression quality is even pretty good. Just visit www.morethandreams.org and click on
one of the five stories. They’re all subtitled in English. (The DVDs will also have English dubbing available as a second audio track.)

I’m really excited about this film, both as an encouragement to the Church and as a tool for reaching Muslims. I hope you’ll check it out right now, and get a copy from Truth For Muslims as soon
as they’re available. These stories are powerful.

For an number of years I’ve heard many reports about Muslims who have dreams about Jesus during Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting.

According to a September 21 report in Christian World News, Brother Andrew of Open Doors International said, “Jesus often appears in a vision or in a dream, especially in this time of Ramadan. They’re so concentrated on spiritual things and on heavenly things and on the God they’re seeking. Every Muslim is still a seeker for God, and then it so often happens, all over the Muslim world, that Jesus appears and they get a changed heart or a strong desire to follow that man who was in my room, who said, ‘I’m Jesus, I came to heal you, I came to save you, I died for you, I want you to be with me in heaven.’”

During the month of Ramadan, many Muslims are seeking for an experience with God. They hope that God will be near to them, especially on the “night of power,” which is believed by Muslims to be the day Mohammed supernaturally received the Quran.

For several decades now, Christians have organized to pray for Muslims during the month of Ramadan.  This year the initiative led by 30-Days International is dubbed “Loving Muslims Through Prayer.”

According to The Christian Post, “Some former Muslims who lived in areas where they have no contact with Christians and no chance of hearing the Gospel have said they had dreams and visions of Jesus which spurred them to seek more information about Jesus Christ, eventually resulting in their conversion.”

Indeed Muslims around the world are discovering the truth of Jesus Christ. And in doing so, their lives are changed and they experience the reality written by the Apostle Paul 2,000 years ago to the early Christians:

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

I’ve seen this reality in the lives of former Muslims around the world. Some are bold witnesses for the risen Jesus. They have carefully considered the cost of discipleship and have taken up their cross as followers of Christ.

And they are shaking the Islamic world to its very foundations.

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This just in from a post at Free Republic:

In many Muslim households and business locations owned by Muslims, there is a photograph of the Kaaba. The Kaaba is the cube-shaped structure located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is the central location of Islamic devotion. Every mosque in the world is built so that the direction of the Kaaba is clearly indicated and so that Muslims face the Kaaba when performing their ritual prayers at the mosque.

Several years ago I visited Haji Talib in his home. The title haji is reserved for those Muslims who have traveled to Mecca to perform the pilgrimage required by Islamic religious law and ideology.

When I visited Haji Talib in his home there was an unusually large photograph of the Kaaba and the mosque complex surrounding the Kaaba in the living room. It was so large that it covered most of the wall. The imposing photograph leaned out from the wall in order in order to have enough space to clear the ceiling and hang on the wall. It was obvious that Haji Talib was serious about his devotion to Islam and Mohammed.

Over the years, I’ve kept up with Haji Talib. One of his relatives became a follower of Christ many years ago. Haji Talib began visiting a Christian church at the invitation of his Christian relative. His experience at the Church, which is attended by many former Muslims who are now Christians, gave him the opportunity to see how Christians relate to one another compared to how devout Muslims relate to one another.

Haji Talib experienced kindness and acceptance by the Christians, even though he was a devote Muslim. The Christians talked to him about their faith in Christ. Haji’s relative continued to talk to him about Christ and brought him to church as often as possible.

Now I’ve receive word that Haji Talib himself has become a follower of Christ! The large photograph of the Kaaba still is in his living room. Haji is facing pressure from his family. I suspect that as the Holy Spirit guides Haji Talib, that the photograph of the Kaaba will be taken down and discarded. Haji’s family will see the peace and love of Christ in him and several more will become followers of Christ.

Please join with me in praying for Haji Talib and his Christian relative. They are the first fruits of new life in Christ for this large extended family of Muslims. They are piercing spiritual barriers within the Muslim community by living the life of Christ among the people.