Growing up in the Christian church, I knew very little about anything other than a life following Jesus. In fact, I don't remember a time when I didn't love Jesus. I've always known Him and recognized that He was the only way to my Abba Father. That being said, the idea of ever meeting someone with a faith other than mine was totally foreign to me. But, being that NYC is one of the largest and most diverse cities in the world, it was bound to happen sooner rather than later.
One Wednesday, the classes from both CRI and EBI went to a local Mosque for a question and answer session with a Muslim Imam. I had no idea what to expect and for some reason, I felt slightly uneasy about going.
During our prep class at NYSUM, we were given the expectations the Imam had for:
I needed to cover myself head to toe so that no part of my skin was showing with the exception of my face, remove my shoes upon entering the place of worship, and to speak only when spoken to. We prayed that the Lord might give us the boldness to speak, ask questions, and learn from the Imam and that given the opportunity, we bring Jesus up as being part of the Godhead. I didn't understand the gravity of this prayer because I knew nothing about the Islamic belief.
Once we got there, we had some down time before the Imam would arrive. Jonah, a student from EBI, approached me to ask how I was doing. I told him that I was very confused over just about everything. He chuckled and said that I would need to know these four things:
Muslims and Christians worship the same God. They call him Allah and we have many names for Him. Like us, they believe that there is only one God and all other things humanity worships are false gods.
They do not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, Messiah, Savior, God himself. That's where the Islamic religion differs from Christianity.
People are incapable of having a personal relationship with God. He is too perfect and we are too imperfect. Only the rituals, deeds, and patterns or religion is what allows you to enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
The controversy between these two religious groups, Muslims and Christians, is over whether or or not God's covenant with Abraham was through Ishmael (Abraham's first son, born to Hagar) or Issac (Abraham's second son, but first with Sarah- the line unto which Jesus is born).
As we sat through the hour long session asking questions first about the mosque as a building then more about the faith, the Imam grew irritated. We were all so anxious to hear what he had to say in response to us, but every time he spoke he never answered the question. He always found a way to dance around the question, just talking in circles until he felt satisfied with his answer. And when someone's question wasn't answered and they continued to press into him for one, he would dismiss them altogether and move on. At one point, Neil, another EBI student, asked, "Can you please tell us of a time when you had a personal encounter with Allah?" The room fell silent, even the Imam for a moment, until he responded with more dancing around. Neil asked again, more dancing. Neil asked one more time until finally the Imam responded with "I know plenty of people who have had spiritual encounters with Allah, I just haven't myself. I would love to, but I just haven't. Now, I'll only take one more question at this time."
I walked away feeling more heart-broken than I ever have for a people group and so upset that none of my questions were answered. And all I asked was "What do you believe?". I learned more about what a Muslim man believes from a Christian than I did from an Islamic Imam who is a leader in the Muslim faith. How crazy that whole group of people can be a fingertips length away from the Creator yet totally out of reach of Him.
Peace,
Ruby Roo
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