Islam 101: Part 1 - Defining our Terms & the Power of Questions #Evangelism #apologetics #islam

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Overview
Week 1: Defining Terms & the Power of Questions
Week 2: The Concept of God in Christianity & Islam
Week 3: Jesus & Muhammad
Week 4: The Bible & the Qur’an
Week 5: Spiritual Warfare & Jihad

Goals
• To Have a Biblical View of Islam & Muslims
• To Encourage and Equip You to Have Meaningful Conversations
• To Share the Gospel with Muslims

Colossians 4:2-6
(2) Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;
(3) praying at the same tie for us as well, that God would open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned.
(4) that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.
(5) Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.
(6) Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

1. God has given us the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, but I also believe He has given us the Great Opportunity.

2. We know about Islam from three primary sources, the Qur’an, the Biography of
Muhamad, and what is know as the Hadith Collections (Sayings of Muhammad).
Islam = Submission
Muslim = One who Submits
The Islamic Confession of Faith = There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah.
Sunni Muslims make up roughly 85-90% of Muslims worldwide.
Shia or Shiite Muslims are the second largest group.

3. It’s important for Christians to make the distinction between Islam and Muslim. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 tells us that Spiritual warfare involves destroying arguments/ideas set up against the knowledge of God (Such as Islam), but we should not attack people who are made in the image of God.
1 Timothy 2:3-4
God our Savior…desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

4. Islam uses our vocabulary, but they do not use our dictionary.
In the English translation of the Qur’an, you will find the words God, Jesus, Sin, Gospel, etc. but you should not assume these words are defined or understood in the same way as the Bible.
Islam gets as close as possible to the biblical narrative while changing the essential teachings of the Christian gospel.
Gospel = Good News
The fundamental elements of the Christian gospel
1. The Deity of Christ
2. The Substitutionary Death of Christ.
3. The Resurrection of Christ.
Islam says that Jesus was born of a virgin (Q. 19:20-21), sinless (Q. 3:35-36), performed miracles including raising the dead (Q. 3:48), and was called Messiah (Q. 17:169), but was no more than a prophet (Q. 4:171), was not crucified (Q. 4:157), and he resurrection is understood more as a Day of Judgment (Q. 23:16).

4. Conversationally, we want to discipline ourselves to ask clarifying and thought-provoking questions.
Jesus loved to use questions (Mark 10:17-22).
Questions…
• Are less offensive.
• Keep you safe.
• Encourage critical thinking.
• Place the burden of proof on others.
• Keep the conversation moving in the right direction, towards the gospel.

Clarifying Question = What do you mean by _________________?
Thought-provoking Question = How did you arrive at that conclusion?