In this lecture, Vivienne Stacey discusses the importance of learning local languages as well as the value of using Muslim phrases and Islamic terms when communicating the Gospel. These lectures were given at Columbia International University in partnership with the Zwemer Center for Muslim Studies. The Zwemer Center was founded in 1979 and exists to offer comprehensive courses on Islam, facilitate research, foster dialogues, offer seminars, conduct training, and provide resources for effective witness and ministry among Muslims. We also have a course study guide for these lectures that you might find helpful.
Here starts the auto-generated transcription of Vivienne Stacey’s Lecture on using Islamic terms to communicate the gospel to Muslims:
We’re looking at the material, in the handout paper, communicating effectively with our Muslim friends. And I I’d like to make 1 or 2 comments about speaking their language. I’m glad that some of you are going off to other countries, and you’ll be learning one of the languages. Even if you just learn a little, it’s very useful. And, so if you stay in if God calls you to stay in the United States or Canada or somewhere around here, then learn a little of their language.
They’ll be very keen to teach you a few words. No problem. And it’s good if you can greet people in their own language, in their own way, and it’s a way of really breaking down barriers very quickly to just learn a little if you can’t learn very much and increase on your learning, like find out what the greetings are that they use and and then use them with them. A salam alaikum is used right through the Muslim world, and the answer to the person who says it is, That’s the reply. And, sometimes, in certain areas of the world, Christians have got a a subculture of their own.
This is true in Pakistan, where in the Punjab, women and well, and men will say just salaam. And that rather marks them out as Christians, but there’s nothing a matter with the Muslim greeting, and it’s not exclusively the Muslim greeting. Assalamu alaikum is quite an order. It’s no compromise in that means, may peace be upon you. So, but Christians have got to hang up some of them and don’t use it.
Christians up in the frontier use it, and, I think it’s good if we have there’s no reason why we shouldn’t use the greetings that Muslims use to one another through the world. We can, also use titles of respect, I think, without any common compromise. We can use a title of respect for Mohammed, but sometimes we could call him Mohammed Sharif. Sharif means noble. Well, I don’t he was in a in many ways noble.
He improved the situation for women in his in Arabia. He was against, killing of female children. He preached about the one god in a city where there were 360 or so idols in the Kaaba before he cleaned it up. He was noble in different ways. He was a remarkable statesman.
He unified Arabia within 10 years. He he was an, a remarkable person. So we are not compromise compromising if we give him the name, Nobor. I don’t call him my prophet, and there’s there’s no problem. A Muslim generally will understand if you don’t call him prophet because, he will understand, and if he doesn’t, you’ll need to explain it to him or her, that if I believed in Muhammad as prophet, I would rig would become a Muslim. And he is for the Muslim, the last of the prophets, the seal of the prophets. And for the Quran, we can use the word Sharif as well, or we can use the word Quran Majeed or Quran Sharif. That’s the Sharif would be more ul uldu. And we we should refer to the holy bible, I think, when we’re talking with Muslims rather than the bible. Give it its, I think inside my Bible, it’s written.
Yes. A reader’s guide to the Holy Bible. We’ve sort of slipped off the Holy, perhaps, but that’s just our custom. We’re not disrespectful, but, let us be who we are. We read a book, which is the holy bible, and that’s, no no, exaggeration to call it that.
No dishonor to leave it off, but it doesn’t seem the right thing in Muslim eyes, and we’re thinking about how it appears to them because we want them to read it. I’ve already dealt with, some words that we need to consider the consider the meanings of the word sin and the meaning of the word salvation. But, in some languages, there are other influences, and there’s a choice of words. In Urdu, definitely, lots of Pakistani Christians use the word, which comes from Hindi, for love. Muslims use the word Mahabut, and it’s a genuine word in the Urdu language as it is in Arabic.
So prem to the Muslim would speak of Hindu and, Hindu influence, and it is coming from that background. So we wouldn’t use prem, but it comes in the hymns. It comes in the songs. And, if you are in a strictly Muslim area, concentrated Muslim area like in the frontier of Pakistan, it might even be better not to sing that kind of song because of the vocabulary. Christians use the word shanti sometimes in Pakistan.
It’s Hindi. It’s, it’s not Muslim at all in vocabulary. The word often used in translation is Itminaan rather than than Ashanti. So we could, pay attention to the vocabulary, make sure it’s it’s, vocabulary that’s meaningful to Muslims and not an offense. Shanti, they’ll they’ll think you immediately mark you out as someone who’s connected with Hinduism And, praying, certainly, and prebu for God instead of Allah would certainly mark you out that way.
It’s a subculture. Bengali in Bengal, and in Bangladesh, there are some Christian subcultures. I would think in the United States, there are some Christian subcultures, but I won’t, go on and establish that. Just think about it. We need the language of the the woman, the average woman, or the man in the street, if you like, and the woman in the home. And then, gee, Muslims need to know about whom we’re speaking. Do you remember the names given in the Quran to Jesus and the titles? Can someone tell me quickly? Al Nas. Beg your pardon?
Isa Al Masih. Yes. He’s Isa or Al Masih, Jesus the Messiah. It’s an empty title in the Quran. There’s no definition of it, but it’s the same title that we use, and, Christ, actually, is the Greek for it. So it the Messiah, Masih. But we need to make sure that Muslims who read about Isa bin Maryam, or Isa al Masihah, or Almasi, that they realize that this is the Jesus also of the New Testament, of the Bible. So it’s not necessarily something that they will automatically recognize. If you use the word for Jesus, which they are not familiar with, they won’t know that you’ll think you’re talking about somebody else. So as a teacher, if you like, you go from where the pupil is and, teach go from there.
Start where they are. They’re with Issa ibnim Mariam. They’re with, Esa al Nasi, and they’re with, there’s another title which I escapes me at the moment. But, so you’ve got to make sure that that it’s the same, or there’s a connection between what is described in the Bible that you have in, say, Urdu, the language of the country or whatever language is being used. The biblical rendering and translation for Jesus, son of Mary, that they realize that this is the same person that’s being talked about in the Quran.
Granted that there’s a different portrayal, but it’s not so far off. It’s I always feel it’s like a picture out of focus in the Quran. One of my bad photographs, out of focus, but by the grace of God, one day, it will come in focus, for Muslims as it does here and there as we’ve heard as we’ve heard for Muslims as it does here and there as we’ve heard as we’ve prayed. Ibn al Mariam, Isa Al Masihah. Now, religious terminology, we’ve already also thought about that in relation to sin, repentance, and salvation.
Lots of words are in common. Word for du’a, prayer, That’s impromptu prayer or not the structured prayer. But that’s the word we have in Urdu. That’s the word we have in Arabic, and, we all they know what they’re talking about, and we know what what we’re talking about. The same thing, the same informal prayer.
So we’ve got a lot of things going for us, really. The Muslims use the same religious vocabulary throughout the world, in Swahili, and in Uighur, and in Uldu. They’re all using these Arabic words. They might change them slightly, but it’s the same basic vocabulary. So here we are with qibla. This is this is Arabic, but you’ll find it in Urdu. It’s used, and it’ll be used through the Muslim world. You use it in Iran. Yeah. So it’s worthwhile learning some of these words.
Vazoo, the ceremonial washing before prayer. It’s the same, right through the Muslim world. So it’s, helps you with your language in a way, and, to know that and to use those words. Understanding the customs, well, it’s very disrespect respectful, to put, your Quran on the floor. I was given the lift, very kindly by a couple yesterday.
Don’t tell them, but, Anita, but, the lady put her bible on the floor of the car. So I, you know, I was slightly hurt, but, but there were no Muslims in the car. But but I just wondered. I mean, supposing they gave a lift to, to a Muslim girl or something, might they do it? If it becomes your habit, you may well do it, you see.
It’s not a custom that, would commend the reading of scripture to a Muslim girl if she happened to get a ride in the car. They would think, well, they can’t think too much about the bible that they put it down there. And, you never know when you’re gonna meet a Muslim. They turn up everywhere. A Muslim will often take a a special cloth to write to wrap, the Quran.
I have been known to wrap my bible as well, but, I’m not, set in a pattern, I’m afraid, about it. Maybe I should be. I’m careful about my packing if I’m going to the to the Muslim world and put I generally have 2 suitcases, and on one of them, I put the Quran, and the other, I put my shoes. So that’s there’s no fence, especially when the Muslim customs people have a look in my suitcases. Yeah.
Now, thinking their way, I’ve got us, heading here, and, you’re probably aware that generally, we think in logical progression. This is our training. We think in straight lines, I would say, in steps. Muslims are mostly Asian and African. Middle Eastern, they generally think in sort of circular thinking.
It’s, it’s all there, but it’s not. It’s it’s put in a more circular type of thinking. If you want an example in the bible, the first letter of John, if you analyze it and really study it, you will find that that goes for circular thinking. He takes a theme and he goes around and he goes around. If you chart it out, you won’t find it goes exactly logically step by step.
It’s more, more like this, circularly. So, you can communicate truth just as much by circular method. I heard a brilliant serve servant once in Nepal by an Indian doctor, and he spoke about light, the word, which you should get add this to your vocabulary, the word nur or light. And, it’s a bit too tall there. Nur. And, it’s spiritual illumination is what it means. If you write it, it’s transcribe it, you would come like this. Spiritual illumination. It’s spiritual light. It’s not like the electric light, but it’s spiritual light. It’s the light that lights the heart on the mind. It’s spiritual. God is Noor. God is al Noor, the light. Muhammad is light, Noor, not the light but light.
So he doesn’t have al or l before him. When his when he’s described as light, he’s described as light without a definite article. When God is described as light, he’s the light. And Jesus is the light, the Nur of the world, the light of the world. But the idea is a a spiritual illumination.
Now, I’d like to take some examples of ways of communicating. And actually, in preparing my, talk and then writing this booklet, I’ve analyzed the methods that Jesus used in, communicating, in treating in teaching. He did things with his disciples, and I used to like to do things with my students in Pakistan when I worked for 20 years in the Bible Training Center, United Bible Training Center. I like to do things. I like to do evangelism and see the living God in action and then come back and analyze what he’s done. And that’s what I’m trying to model on what Jesus did. And he used at least half a dozen ways of communicating truth and his message. He didn’t use just the gospel package and the 4 spiritual laws and so on and so forth. He had a variety of ways to reach a variety of people. Now, you may have come across some of you, the some book by or some teaching by Martin Goldsmith of All Nations Christian College.
He worked in Indonesia and Malaysia, and he learned he decided to Islamicize some of the parables. He took, for example, the parable of the 2 men who went to the temple to pray, and he Islamicized it by making it a story, which it really was anyway, about 2 men who went to the mosque to pray, and then he he tells the story. And he used to tell it in the tea shops in Indonesia. He would go and drink tea, with the men in the that particular town where he lived. And so he then he would tell he would dress up this story, and he would tell it. And he told about the 2 men and their reaction and so on, and he said, which of those, 2 men do you think that pleased God and was acceptable to God? And they sort of discussed it a bit, And then he didn’t really want to hear their answer that day. He said, well, let’s time’s running out, so why don’t you go and ask your leaders in the mosque what they think as well, and, I’ll meet you tomorrow for tea. So he they would go off to the mosque, these chaps, and they would discuss it with their religious leader, and they would come back the next day and meet Martin. And, they would say to Martin, well, we think it’s the the the Pharisee that pleased God because he kept all the rules and regulations and did it the proper way. And that other guy, he just stood at the he was at the back and said, god be merciful to me, a sinner. He he didn’t do it the right way. And so so Martin would say, well, that’s rather strange, because in the Holy Angel, which I have here, the story is recorded like this, and then he would read it. And then he would sometimes, when he was living in Malaysia, he would take a taxi with several other people to go to Singapore, and then he would sit deliberately. He would choose his seat next to the driver so that he could talk to the driver and all the other people, and he could also listen to this conversation.
You I, I think this is a very good method. I I like it. I’ve practiced it too. So he would tell the driver about Haji so and so. This is a woman who’s gone on pilgrimage. And, oh, I don’t yes. I think she had gone on pilgrimage. Anyway, she she gave oh, no. It was a man, Haji so and so, who donated a very, very large sum of money to the mosque. And then there was this poor woman, this poor, a very poor woman who who gave a very little bit, but it was practically all she had.
So he’d dress up this one, this story. He would spin them out for 15 minutes, and they were very good stories, I have to say. So or even longer. And, so then he would ask, you know, which one which offering was more acceptable to God? And then eventually, he would, on that kind of journey, say what the holy angel said.
So try dressing up the parables and telling them as stories, and then then coming back to the text. The Uyghurs might like it. Yeah. Right. I think everybody likes stories. Now, one thing I experimented with in India when I was teaching, I’ve had seminars there lasting sometimes 6 weeks. And, I asked my students, supposing you were gonna make a theological syllabus from the parables, what would you do? How would you come up with it? And, the the best result is here in my book here, booklet. 1 young man, he carefully went through the parables, and he carefully set them out.
So here’s the syllabus. It’s about sin. It’s about God’s love and our need to repent. It’s about the judgment of god, god’s way for man’s salvation, counting the cost of following Christ, and Christian Living and Discipleship or Stewardship rather. That’s a syllabus.
It’s a progressive syllabus of ideas illustrated by about 3 2 or 3 parables for each in that lot. The Pharisee and the publican, that teaches us about sin, The rich fool who collected everything and died suddenly, is about sin as well. And then Matthew 15, it’s not exactly a parable, but it’s a kind of, symbolic way of explaining things. It’s about ceremonial and real defilement. And then our god’s love and our need to repent, well, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and notice it.
It’s a story for men and then a story for women. The lost sheep for men, the lost coin for women, women’s story. And Jesus was the only rabbi, I think I think, who taught with parables and often taking one that applied to the life of men and one that applied to the life of women. So very good. Think about that. And the lost son, and that can be developed. There’s also the there’s the lost younger son, and there’s the lost older son. They were both lost. So parables then as a way of teaching. Teaching a Muslim woman, if you’ve got someone who will come once a week, you can have one group of parables or one parable for a week or something like that. And then plays. Once in Karachi, I heard that Kenneth Bailey’s book, The Cross and the Prodigal, you can get hold of this book in Arabic or in Urdu or in English, and it’s published in English in this country. His book on it’s a play of the parable of the prodigal son, but it’s also a commentary as well. There’s a section of explanation or exposition, and there’s a and there’s the play. And in Carracio, it was very effective.
A Christian youth group and a church there put it on, and they had these people had young people who had Muslim friends, and a couple of the Muslim friends said, well, can we take part in the play? Now, that meant they had to get into the shoes of the people in the play. And, as they became the better actors they came, the more they understood of what they were acting There’s Temple There’s Temple Gairdner who got told off by his mission in Cairo, because he put plays on for schoolboys, and he took. He wrote a play called Joseph and His Brothers, which is brilliant. It’s, I I had to sort of dig in the British Library, and, it took a bit of unearthing. But, I’ve now tried to get it translated into several languages. I don’t know how successful that was, but, it’s an excellent play. He’s done several others. He’s done one on Saul and, one on Saul of Tarsus and, and, who was the person who helped Saul, before when he became Christian? Barnabas?
No. It wasn’t Barnabas. Sorry. I’ve forgotten who he was. He was.
Leibon? I’m just trying to think. Just trying to You’ve forgotten as well? Okay. Well, it’s in it’s in Acts, so we’ll find it.
Sorry about that. Anyway, what? An what? Ananias. Thank you.
Good. Good job. Somebody knows the revival, isn’t it? Sorry. Yeah.
Names escape us sometimes. But, drama, and especially in peep with people who are extremely good in drama, Punjabis are excellent. They can put on wonderful plays. So using plays, to and especially biblically based ones with biblical truth, to sort of get these things across is excellent. And, generally, Christians and Muslims will get involved.
You can’t do anything very privately in a village. I I don’t know if you ever tried, but, yeah, it’s difficult to do things very privately. So I think we’ll leave it there, and then we’ll continue with this subject because I wanna say a few more things about communicating effectively with Muslim women, and, we can think more about how Jesus did it and how we might do it wherever we minister.