Have you ever tried sharing Christ with a friend, only to feel dismayed or discouraged at seeing them go in the “wrong direction”? You can probably relate to this scenario. An EWI alumna shares her experience with a friendship formed through completing her assignment of meeting a Muslim: Becoming More Muslim

Jane met Fatima through doing her Meeting with a Muslim assignment for EWI. The two were about the same age and really hit it off as friends. As their relationship grew, Jane found all kinds of ways to share more of her life with Fatima. Being a fairly new international student in the US, Fatima’s contact with locals was limited until she started hanging out with Jane. Over time, through Jane, she not only gained American friends, but she also got to know and interact with quite a few believers in Christ, some of whom she began to meet with regularly.

Ever since 9/11, American perception of Islam has been rather narrowly focused on the fundamentalist, radical wing of the religion, tending to highlight the extremists and stereotype all Muslims as dangerous. For example, recently an account of a Muslim sharing the definition of what is considered an “infidel” has been circulating, adding to the fear of some Christians that they are a target for violence by Muslims.

During my language studies in Indonesia, one of the first books we interacted with was the Indonesian Bible. Although I was surprised to find the word “Allah” in the text, my teacher was not. In fact, when he went on to discuss the verses we were studying, he kept using that word as he expressed his own thoughts and experiences. My surprise was due to the fact that I understood Allah to be the Muslim god. I knew that Muslims recognized and valued many of the same prophets as Christians, but I hadn't considered the possibility that they might worship the same God as I do.

There is a long list of reasons why Encountering the World of Islam (EWI) is an important class for people in churches. We recently found one in an article from the Al-Jazeera news service. While this may not be news to most Muslims, an Al-Jazeera survey revealed that 46% of Americans polled have a negative opinion of Muslim countries.