Seeing Muslims through God’s eyes
“Love them because Jesus loves them and He gave His life for them.”
OTTAWA, ON—Canada is changing. As Middle Eastern civil wars rage ever more savagely and with terror attacks reaching Canadian soil, many Canadians have responded in fear or anger on social media and with increasingly harsh comments in public discussions.
The trend is cause for concern and many Christians from Arabic backgrounds are reminding the Church of Christ’s call to love your enemies and be His light to a dark world.
“After the October 22 attack [on Parliament Hill], and even before with the rise of ISIS, it has become difficult to be a Muslim in Canada,” says Riadh Jaballah. “On the news there have been acts of discrimination with messages of hate against Muslims. Even though these are isolated acts, they say a lot about the tension in Canada right now. It’s reminiscent of what occurred after 9/11.”
Riadh and his wife Bassma are Christian pastors, both from Muslim backgrounds. They offer courses and teach seminars encouraging believers to reach out to their Muslim neighbours and challenging Christians to remember God’s heart for them.
“We, as Christians, must extend love and grace while the world is condemning them,” says Bassma. “Love them because Jesus loves them and He gave His life for them on the cross.”
Jesus’ message of loving your enemy is revolutionary, able to penetrate through racial fears and powerfully demonstrate the gospel, says Sarah, an Egyptian Canadian whose name has been changed to protect her family back home.
“Many Egyptian Christians were afraid when we saw what happened when the Muslim Brotherhood came in, but that was quickly overcome as the churches gathered to pray for the country and tell the people ‘I love you.’”
Sarah says believers abandoned their divisions, gathering in the streets to read Scripture and sing praise songs while holding signs saying “my brother the Muslim, I love you.”
“Most of the Muslims I know are disgusted by what is going on. My Muslim friends wanted to take revenge on the people attacking Christians, but our response was, ‘No. We love them.’ Eventually even the newspapers were talking about how Jesus told us to love our enemies.”
Sarah emphasizes that Jesus told us persecution would come, but we cannot be afraid of it. She says fear and persecution are opportunities to pray.
“Everyone’s journey to God is different. You never know when God will open their eyes and their hearts. Most Muslims want to believe in God, do good works and have a good life after death. They want to live peacefully and bring up their children, but they have not experienced grace. I believe God wants us to offer that to them.”
Randy Hoffmann, national chairman of the Canadian Network of Ministries to Muslims, says fear of Muslims keeps many Canadian Christians from reaching out.
“They are intimidated by Islam and the mosques they see emerging all over Canada. They are intimidated by the Islamic propagation centres and that there are Canadians converting to Islam, but we need to live out bold and courageous love to our Muslim neighbours.”
The Great Commission is not an option, it’s an imperative, Hoffmann says, adding that God is bringing people from across the world right to our doorsteps.
“These people are lost, there is no salvation in Islam. We have the truth. We need to verbally proclaim the good news to Muslims and not only do good works. It has to be both.”
Bassma says our role is to make our invisible, loving God, visible to them. She and Riadh encourage believers to be creative in reaching out to express love.
“Invite them for coffee, find ways to tell them that you love them because they are God’s creation and He commands us to love them. The truth will set them free. We were both born and raised as Muslims. We practiced and studied Islam, but we only knew and experienced the true loving and merciful God when we met Jesus.”
For people who are wrestling with fear or trying to understand how to reach out to Muslims, Bassma says there are a few things to remember.
“Meditate and pray God’s Word. Attend a Christian seminar on Islam to be informed and encouraged to love Muslims and share Christ with them. You can’t love God, who you don’t see, and hate your Muslim neighbour who you can see. Love is a command and love casts out our fear.”
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