The Biggest Obstacle to Reaching Muslims
Afghanistan 2009
It was January and the temperatures were below freezing. A group of girls, five-to-seven-years-old, walked barefoot through the snow and into the closet-sized “classroom” where I would be teaching them. They were shivering from the cold, and suddenly I felt shamefully self-conscious about my fur-lined slippers and thick, warm mittens.
The boys’ classrooms were spacious and warm, but girls are fortunate to even go to school in Afghanistan. If they are packed together like sheep in a dark, cold pen while they learn, well, so be it. At least their body heat would help keep them warm. The girls didn’t complain. They felt lucky just to be there. Education was a luxury their mothers never knew.
Even though it is no longer illegal for girls to be educated in Afghanistan, it is still extremely dangerous. Even in this post-Taliban reign it is not unusual for girls’ schools to be bombed and for those associated with them to be killed. Being there was risky business, and I wanted to make the most of it.
While I really enjoyed teaching the children, my favorite times at the school were the moments I spent talking to the young Afghan teacher, Adeela,* and my translator, Sahar.* We talked about our favorite holidays, our spiritual beliefs, what we wanted to do with our lives, and how difficult life was for women in Afghanistan. These girls were still teenagers and many of their friends had already been killed. Yet when they spoke of what they wanted for their lives, their dreams didn’t sound all that different from mine.
One day while we were talking, Sahar put on some soft background music. Music was not permitted under the Taliban, but like most teenagers Sahar and Adeela both relished every opportunity to listen to some good tunes. Suddenly one of their favorite songs came on, causing gasps of joy and huge smiles that they tried to hide behind their head coverings. Adeela made sure the door was locked, while Sahar peeked through the blinds to check that no one was outside. When they were certain we were all alone, they began to dance. They picked me up by the arms, twirled me around, and for one brief moment in time, they seemed to forget the cruel world that awaited them outside.
“The Best Day of My Life”
A few days later the ground was still covered with snow, but the sky was blue and the sun was shining brightly. Adeela opened the blinds to the small window providing a glimpse of the day’s magnificence. She sighed deeply, bowed her head, and then asked me, “Ms. Laura, will you do me a huge favor?”
Having traveled to several countries by that time, I’d learned that “favors” could range anywhere from requests for American passports to delivery of a manuscript to Steven Spielberg or even my hand in marriage. Needless to say, I was not quick to say yes.
“Why don’t you tell me what the favor is, and I will see what I can do.”
“Can we go for a walk?” Adeela asked.
“Absolutely!” I replied.
As we walked, Adeela interlocked her arm with mine and held tightly to my hand. With a great, big smile like none I’ve ever seen since from an Afghan woman, Adeela exclaimed, “This is the best day of my whole life! I will never forget it!”
I was shocked. It was a beautiful day, but the best day of her entire life?
“Aren’t you able to come outside on beautiful days when I’m not here?” I asked.
“No,” she said solemnly, almost in a whisper. “Because . . . the boys.”
I would later get a taste of just how dangerous it was for women to walk outside alone. Suffice it to say, if you never want to see your loved ones again, go for a walk in Afghanistan.
The Fruit of Islam
Afghanistan may be the most difficult nation on earth to be a woman, but it is certainly not unique in denying basic human rights and dignity to half their population. This is the fruit of Islam. This oppression is the result of a god that says women exist for the pleasure of men, that women are a man's tilth (his patch of farmland for sowing seed) to be plowed any way he pleases. It is the product of a religion whose supreme example for life and conduct married a six-year-old girl, consummated the marriage when she was nine, and had at least nine wives at one time.
Violence against women throughout the Muslim world is the result of a perfect “prophet” who encouraged the rape of captive slave girls and who taught that women are deficient of mind, ungrateful, lacking in common sense, and half as valuable as a man. Unsurprisingly, Muhammad also taught that most of the people in hell will be women, and he instructed men who fear any disobedience or rebellion from their wives to scourge them. In this he practiced what he preached, striking his favorite wife Aisha when he suspected her of deception. It is not surprising, therefore, that Aisha claimed no women ever suffered as much as Muslim women. This is still the case today.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, eleven out of the twelve countries with the highest levels of discrimination against women are Muslim-majority countries. As I heard first-hand when I provided pastoral counseling to women in Afghanistan, rape, beatings, and the silencing of women are the norm, not the exception, even today. This will continue to be the reality for millions of precious women around the world as long as those who have a voice either protect this evil worldview or say nothing at all.
The Biggest Obstacle to Reaching Muslims
Muslim men who are faithful to the teachings of Islam are not the only problem. Westerners who remain willfully ignorant of the situation are the problem. Politicians who repeat the lie that Islam is a religion of peace are the problem. Christians who condemn those who speak the truth about Islam are the problem.
In fact, I have come to believe that Christians (and other Westerners) who don’t respect Muslims enough to be honest with them about Islam are perhaps the biggest barrier to reaching Muslims today. They are a barrier to truth, a barrier to freedom, and a barrier to knowing God for Muslims everywhere.
Waging War, Demolishing Lies
If we care about Muslim women as we say we do, then we will stop protecting a false ideology that perpetuates evil against them and we will start telling them the truth. If we love Muslim men the way the Bible instructs us to then we will stop walking on egg shells, telling them only what they want to hear about their religion and their prophet. Like Jesus, who held nothing back from the enemies of truth in his day, we must speak the hard truths to Muslims—not out of hate but out of love (Jn 8:39-47; Matt 23).
As Christians we are not waging war according to the flesh, but we are indeed waging war. Satan is our enemy. His lies have destroyed countless lives and have damned as many souls to hell. And so it is out of love for fellow image bearers—eternal souls, victims of the enemy’s lies —that we must wage war against evil. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Eph 6:12).
In defending his ministry, the apostle Paul said again, “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ . . .” (2 Cor 10:3-5). And that is what we must do—destroy arguments, demolish lies, and shed light on the truth for the sake of those we love.
Brothers and sisters, we are at war, and no one wins a war simply by being nice. We must let the Bible define what it means to love others well, and as Jesus and his apostles both taught and demonstrated, loving those who are trapped in a web of lies means exposing the false ideas that keep them from knowing God—not demolishing Muslims themselves but destroying the beliefs that keep them enslaved.
Even as we refute lies and make a defense for the truth, we must do so with gentleness and respect, treating others with the dignity that is due to all image bearers of our Father. (1 Pet 3:15-16). Instructing believers in how to speak to outsiders, Colossians 4:6 says, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” This requires tremendous wisdom, but we serve the Lord of all wisdom and he gives generously to those who ask.
The time is now. Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world and souls are lost every single day. It’s time to heed the call and become a soldier for truth. Will you join me?
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*Names have been changed to protect identity.
