I am often asked by ordinary Christians, “How can I begin to learn about Islam.” It is a good question. Muslims often ask the same question about Christian faith. Sadly, many other Christians and Muslims never ask because they are sure they already know all they need to know. This book is for all those, both Christians and Muslims, who are humble and curious enough to ask the question and who genuinely want to know more.
Here’s how I usually answer: Find a Muslim (or Christian) friend to talk to. Ask questions. What your friend actually believes will often be your best starting point. It is also what really matters for most of us. We want to know about real people, what motivates them, what they live for. Knowing what my friend actually believes about God, about herself, about the world and about the future, will often be of much greater use to me than an abstract textbook account of what that friend is, in theory, supposed to believe. It is also a lot more interesting, and often surprising. Many readers will do well to take the hint, drop this book, and a find a conversation partner instead.
Of course, that’s not quite enough. I know, and my Muslim friend knows, that Islam is something bigger than one person’s belief system and mindset. Islam is the vast and swift-flowing river by which each individual Muslim is carried along. It began long before my friend entered it, and will continue long after. Its currents influence him in ways he may not fully understand or be able to articulate. And these currents, rapids, and eddies also shape whole cultures, institutions and nations. My believing Muslim friend will most certainly act and talk as if Islam is something that transcends his own understanding or experience. He may feel quite inadequate to describe or represent it. The same is true for me as a Christian. Christian Faith is not merely what I believe about the world; it is the world as it truly is. It is not just my story, it is God’s story; I am a small, bit player in God’s vast, unfolding drama playing out on the stage of history. I experience and only a tiny part of that drama, and I will be doing well to learn my small role.
To get a sense of this bigger story, we must move beyond the experience of one individual. We need books. Of these there’s no shortage. Hundreds of books have been written to introduce Christians to Islam; hundreds more are designed to introduce Muslims to Christianity. Many are well intentioned, many others are not. Some are very good, others terrible; some are sympathetic and friendly, others angry or apologetic. If we look beyond the audience of Christian or Muslim believers, many hundreds of other books aim to introduce Islam (or Christianity) as religions (whatever that means) in a generic, textbook sort of way suitable for the imagined neutrality of the classroom. Some are erudite, informed by impressive stores of knowledge. But often these eschew explicit faith perspectives. They skip what matters most to real believers. I’ve written one such introduction to Islam myself.
When my Christian friends ask for book recommendations on Islam, I usually mention my own book, but not enthusiastically. I don’t think it’s quite what my friend needs. Too textbookish. Too much history. Not Christian enough, whatever that might mean. I sometimes recommend Colin Chapman’s Cross and Crescent. I like Colin’s book, but it isn’t quite right either. Too much of a handbook for evangelism? Too heavy on apologetics? Sometimes I pass on an idiosyncratic list of books, some academic, some specialized, some oriented to Christian ministry. None of these books are really what I want to recommend, or what my friends are asking for. Some are too technical or academic. Others too focussed on Muslims as an object of Christian evangelism. What I want is a book that will help ordinary Christians, but that Muslims can also benefit from reading. I want a book that is written from an explicit faith perspective, but that both Christians and Muslims might read together and find helpful. I want to be able to confidently give it to my Muslim friends, and, should they read it, I want them to feel that the portrait of Islam is at least a fair attempt, even if the artist is clumsy and paints with too large a brush. I want Muslim readers to come away having learned something about their Christian friends and about Christianity. I want Christian and Muslim readers together to come away seeing one another, and their faith traditions, as more than just territory to be conquered or an obstacle to be overcome. There may be such a book out there. If so, I haven’t yet found it. Carol tells me I will have to write it myself. That, of course, is all the permission I need.
1. Coming up with a title is a bit of a struggle, and it may be too early to worry about that, but if you have any brilliant ideas, let me know.
2. Rather more importantly, does the kind of book described here actually interest you? Or should I go back to eating chocolate and watching netflix?