With Charm, Bible and Koran

After two years as a toolmaker in Germany Reinhold Strähler received a calling that would change his life. "I perceive it as a calling from God to work as a missionary in the Muslim world," says the three-time family father, who has lived and worked in Khartum for fifteen years.

Only a fraction of the thousands of missionaries active in Africa approach Muslims. Strähler knows that missionary work among Muslims or adherents of other monotheistic world religions such as Judaism is controversial: "Even native Christians in the Sudan have to be encouraged to actively approach Muslims."

But for Strähler and a few hundred other missionaries who have accepted missions in Islamic countries, no path leads away from doing missionary work among Muslims. "I see this as being obedient to the calling Jesus left his followers," explains Strähler. "Jesus himself lived in Jewish society as a testimony of his beliefs, and this is what we are doing in Muslim society."

For missionaries like Strähler, being a witness of Jesus is the core of their calling. They do not preach from the pulpit; they enter into dialogue with Muslims. They discuss religion in general and the relationship between Islam and Christianity in particular. In the Sudan, smiles Strähler, this is much easier than you think.

"Conversations about beliefs are quite normal in a deeply religious society. This is different than in Germany, for instance, where beliefs are tolerated at best as a topic of conversation." But even in public Strähler is unwavering in his calling: "My goal is to turn Muslims into followers of Jesus."

Death penalty for apostatizing from Islam

Christian missionaries in the Sudan have to be careful. Their work in an Islamic country takes place in the private sphere. In Islamic North Sudan information about Christianity is hard to find.

Yet Christian churches in the Sudan enjoy an incredible number of privileges: They are exempt from taxes; recognized congregations pay for neither electricity nor water. Even Bible schools are accepted. But the attempt to convert Muslims to Christianity is not tolerated.

Something even more dire threatens Muslims who convert to Christianity, for the death penalty hangs over those who apostatize from Islam

The Koran as well as the Hadiths leave no doubt that those who convert to Christianity will be damned in this world as well as in the next.
"Slay those who change their religion," Muhammad is said to have told his cousin Ibn Abbas. The Koran itself says: "If they… break their oaths and revile your religion, then fight the leaders of unbelief."

Those who let themselves be dissuaded from their religion, the passage continues, will burn eternally in the fires of hell. Christian converts are accordingly despised in a traditional Islamic society such as North Sudan. They are rejected by their families and friends and have to build up a new life, while fearing for their lives.

"Epic battle for the souls of mortals"

But such consequences have not stopped missionaries from trying to convert Muslims to Christianity. South African Baptist John Gilchrist, who has published numerous books about missionary work among Muslims, talks about the "Muslim challenge."

A passage in one of his books says: "We are dealing here with an epic battle between Islam and Christianity for the souls of all mortals." His concepts are less martial. Gilchrist encourages Christians to learn more about Islam so as to understand it and to embrace Muslims in their hearts. This, he says, is the foundation of their mission.

Methodically, Gilchrist suggests meeting Muslims where they stand; for example, through comparisons of Bible and Koran verses. Gilchrist does not shy away from informing his readers of the low success quota. Christian converts among Muslims are rare, and missionaries must be prepared for setbacks.

In their attempts to convert Christians to their faith, however, Muslims are second to none. In the "10/40 Window," as the region between ten and forty degrees north of the equator, hotly contested by Christians and Muslims alike, is called, men like Abdul are working to invite unbelievers – also Christians – to Islam.

"Invitation" to Islam

Abdul is sitting under a mango tree in the courtyard of "Dawah Islamiyah" in Juba, the capital of South Sudan. While the North is inhabited predominantly by Muslim Sudanese of Arabic descent, the African ethnic groups who have settled in the South are Christians or adherents of traditional beliefs.

Two years have passed since the end of the twenty-year civil war between the North and the South. Refugee camps, in which the Dawah are particularly active, have been built around Juba. "Dawah" is Arabic for "invitation" – this is also how Abdul, who is reluctant to give his last name, wants to understand his work.

"We invite people to participate in our events so that they can get an idea of what Islam is like." Then there are social projects, especially in the refugee camps, and the distribution of food or other humanitarian goods. "We offer all this, and anyone who wishes to convert to Islam can do so."

The number of Muslims in Juba is on the rise, confirm UN helpers, who have been working in South Sudan since the end of the war. Refugees returning from Uganda or from Somalia are the nucleus of the growing Islamic community.

On top of this, the Dawah, unlike the South Sudanese government, offer tangible assistance. Many of the penniless refugees see this and the free education for Muslim children in Koran schools as reason enough to convert to Islam.

"It is amazing how much the Islamic Dawah have adopted from the methods of Christian missionaries," marveled a Christian missionary in South Sudan, who insists on remaining anonymous.

Marc Engelhardt

© Qantara.de 2007

Translated from the German by Nancy Joyce

Qantara.de

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