Shared Hunger, Different Hope.

Andy Witherall
1 day ago
12 min read

How can we reach our Muslim friends during Ramadan or any other time?

Pancake day is taken very seriously in my family. After finishing our pancake breakfast this year, as I stood up to begin work, my oldest child, who is seven, said in shocked disbelief, “But Daddy, it’s pancake day. Don’t you get the day off today?”

There were many questions that morning about pancake day, including why we have it in the first place. We spoke about the season of Lent and Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness after a forty day fast as He prepared to embark on His ministry. We spoke about how many Christians give something up during Lent in order to focus more fully upon God.

In 2026, Lent happens to coincide with another religious observance involving fasting – the Muslim month of Ramadan. There are some parallels. Lent reminds Christians of the beginning of Jesus ministry while he was fasting in the wilderness, as described in the Gospels. Ramadan commemorates the first of the revelations that became the Qur’an, which Mohammed reportedly received from the angel Gabriel while he was fasting in the Cave of Hira on Mount Jabal al-Nour near Mecca. Unlike Lent, however, fasting during Ramadan is non-optional to Muslims. It is one of the Five Pillars, or mandatory acts of worship, of Islam along with saying the Shahada (a declaration of faith confessing belief in Allah and Mohammed as His messenger), daily prayer (Salah), giving arms (Zakat) and a pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj).

During Ramadan, Muslims observe a strict and total fast from food and liquids from sunrise to sunset but are allowed to eat and drink at night. Like Lent, Ramadan changes date each year. It so happens that, in 2026, they started at the very same time. Recognising this fact may help to open a door to conversation with a Muslim friend. In this article, I would like to share some thoughts on how we might begin sharing the Gospel with Muslims at this, or any, time of year.

Before considering how we might approach this, it is important to appreciate that Christians have a very different understanding of God and salvation to Muslims. In Islam, Allah is distant and wholly transcendent or ‘other’. We can have no true knowledge of Allah in himself. This is quite different from the Christian concept of a God who is love, who is a Father, and who is close at hand. Whereas Christians speak of a loving relationship with God through Jesus Christ, Muslims speak of submission to God.

Submission lies at the heart of the Muslim view of salvation, which is works-based. If a Muslim has been faithful to Allah’s commands, and if their good deeds outweigh their bad, then they might make it to Paradise. The concept of assurance, based on something that was accomplished for us, is foreign. There is no good news in Islam. As the Muslim hungers and strives for God, there is no ultimate hope. Christians have a better message. It is the message of the God who has loved us and who has given Himself in Christ so that we could be fully reconciled to Himself and have the assurance of full and eternal life with Him. This is good news worth sharing!

In this article I would like to suggest some thoughts on how we can begin to have helpful conversations with our Muslim friends.

1. Building Relationships

Investing in relationships with Muslims is really important as we seek to share the good news of Christ. Many Muslims come from cultures that are more relationship-based than our own, increasingly individualistic, Western culture. If possible, it is good to invest in that relationship and to show genuine love to them. We might get the opportunity to invite them to our home, or they may invite us to theirs. If our Muslim friend is a refugee or is new to the country, we may be able to assist them in practical ways as they try to settle into a new culture.

Being aware of cultural differences is really helpful as we seek to do this. For example John Klaassen, in his helpful book Engaging with Muslims, reminds us that in Arab culture it is not customary to accept an invitation at the first time of asking. Normally a person would be expected to be asked two or three times before they say yes - so don’t be put off if an invitation is not immediately accepted!

Perhaps building a deep relationship is difficult if you have only fleeting opportunities. We can still show genuine interest in the other person. Either way, a helpful way into deeper conversation is to ask questions. It is okay to ask a Muslim about what they believe and how they practise their faith. I have never met a Muslim who is unwilling to discuss spiritual things. We might ask which tradition in Islam they follow: whether they are Shi’a or Sunni or what they believe as Muslims. Within Islam there are differences surrounding areas of faith and practice, just as within Christianity. However much we may know about Islam, it is a mistake to assume we therefore know everything about what our Muslim friend believes.

2. Sharing Your Story

The temptation, when speaking to people from different religions, is to jump straight into comparing our respective beliefs in an attempt to show the truth of Christianity. There is certainly a place for this. However, a helpful bridge into deeper conversation may simply be to share our own story. Klaassen reminds us that Asian and Arab cultures are storytelling cultures. Stories come more readily and naturally than they may do in our western context. As Christians, we each have a story to tell. God has rescued us from darkness to bring us into light (John 12:46). Once cut off from God we are now reconciled to Him (Colossians 1:21-22) Once children of wrath we are now children of the King (Ephesians 2:3; John 1:12-13). Each Christian’s story is unique. Some may tell of a dramatic change, others a more subtle experience. But every story is miraculous because it is a story of God raising the dead (Ephesians 2:5) and, significantly for a Muslim, is an act of deep and personal love from God to people (1 John 4:7-11).

One helpful way of telling our story is to root it within Scripture itself. Klassen gives the example of Cornelius in Acts 10 who enjoyed a good reputation as a devout man filled with good works flowing from religious devotion. Yet he was missing the most important thing, which was Jesus. Peter is sent to tells Cornelius about Jesus and Cornelius responds by trusting in Jesus rather than his own good works. We might explain that we were once like Cornelius, trusting in our own efforts to be right with God but needing to hear and trust in what Jesus has done for us.

Another example might be Hagar who, along with her son Ishmael, was banished from her home and left to die in the wilderness without hope or future. While there, God came to her, rescued her and gave her promises for her future descendants. In the same way, we might say, I was once lost and without hope and God came to me and rescued me with the promise of salvation through His Son. It is a good exercise to think through our own conversion story and to ask how we might root it in Scripture. One of the benefits of doing this is that it moves us away from any personal interpretation of our experience and towards what the Bible says happened to us. It also brings us straight into the word of God, which is where we want to bring our Muslim friend.

3. Addressing Common Misconceptions

When speaking to a Muslim about Jesus, it is good to be aware that they may have misconceptions about Christianity, just as we may have our own misconceptions about Islam and will need to be open to correction! Addressing these misconceptions is an important part of our sharing. Being aware of them, we can be confident in sharing the truth. Three of the most common misconceptions that Muslims have are that the Bible has been corrupted, that the Trinity is blasphemous and that Christianity is licentious.

The Bible has been corrupted

Muslims will often claim that they have the original Qur’an whereas the original documents of the Bible have been lost and the Bible corrupted. It is not true to say that the Qur'an has been perfectly preserved, and this may be a helpful point of conversation. Christian apologist, David Wood, has written a helpful article on this (see endnotes). However, we might grant, for the sake of argument, that the original Qur’an has been preserved. We could respond by saying that the fact that the Bible does not have the original manuscripts is actually an advantage in knowing what those originals said. This may sound counter intuitive, but imagine that all our Bible translations went back to one original preserved source. How could we determine beyond a shadow of doubt that that source had not been tampered with or changed at some point along the way? In actual fact, the New Testament has been preserved through thousands of copies spread over thousands of miles, making it impossible for one person, or group of people, to control and corrupt the text. By looking at the consistency between the manuscripts, it is possible to reconstruct with confidence what the originals said.

Confusion about the Trinity

There are common misunderstandings among Muslims surrounding what Christians believe about the Trinity. Christian apologist, Ron Rhodes, writes that Muslims, “believe the Trinity is the chief weak point in the Christian system of doctrine, and they invariably seek to attack it” (Rhodes, p. 113) To the Muslim, the Trinity suggests that God has equals, which is anathema to the Muslim (as it is to the Christian!) It is instructive to learn that Mohammed himself failed to grasp the doctrine accurately, believing that Mary was included within the Trinity. In the Qur’an, in Surah 5:11, we read,

And ˹on Judgment Day˺ Allah will say, “O Jesus, son of Mary! Did you ever ask the people to worship you and your mother as gods besides Allah?” He will answer, “Glory be to You! How could I ever say what I had no right to say? If I had said such a thing, you would have certainly known it. You know what is ˹hidden˺ within me, but I do not know what is within You. Indeed, You ˹alone˺ are the Knower of all unseen.

This passage suggests that Mohammed was speaking to some confused Christians. Not only does it include Mary within the Trinity, it also posits them as other gods to be worshipped alongside Allah – in other words, that Christians are polytheistic (worshipping many gods), not monotheistic (worshipping one God). It is important to enable the Muslim to see that this is not what the Bible teaches and we could ask whether Allah would really have allowed such a basic mistake to enter into his perfect word.

The Bible does not speak of three Gods, but of one God who exists in three persons. A helpful approach might be to work through the Bible passages which emphasise the oneness of God, such as Deuteronomy 6:4 or Isaiah 44:6. We also see declarations of the oneness of God in the New Testament, such as 1 Corinthians 8:4, where Paul confesses, “There is no God but one”. Establishing the oneness of God lays an important foundation against the charge of polytheism. Then we might show how the different Persons are revealed within the Godhead. Each person in the Trinity is shown to be omnipotent, omniscient, worthy of worship and so on. We have to agree with the Muslim that the Trinity is ultimately beyond human grasp, but this is not evidence against it. On the contrary, any god that could be understood by our finite human minds would surely not be a god worthy of our worship.

In addition to the confusion over polytheism, there is also confusion over what it means for Jesus to be God’s Son. As Ron Rhodes explains, “Muslims say it would be blasphemous to say that Jesus is the Son of God, for it suggests that God engaged in a sexual union with a female” (Rhodes, p. 141). It is important to remember, therefore, that the word ‘Son’ is a title and does not refer to a biological relationship. The Bible teaches us that God the Son has eternally existed with the Father and the Spirit. John begins by speaking of the Word who was with God and was God in the very beginning and that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). In Colossians Paul describes the Son as

the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Col. 1:15-17)

Jesus came to be, not through sexual relations but through the eternal Son of God coming to live in am embryo implanted in Mary’s womb by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). The “Son” of God is a title which highlights subordination of role and the eternal begetting of the Father (John 1:14; Hebrews 1:3). This has nothing to do with biological relationship, nor is there any sexual relationship between God and Mary.

Christianity is an Immoral Religion

This objection often stems from a confusion that sees no difference between faith and culture. The Muslim may think of Ireland and Great Britain as “Christian countries” and so assume that everyone there is a Christian. They see the materialism of Christmas, the denigration of marriage, the rise of abortion, drink and drugs culture and violent or sexual programmes on TV, and they conclude that Christianity allows for this kind of immorality.

It is important to explain that living in this country does not make someone a Christian. We can express deep concern for these issues and show how the Bible calls us to live lives of holiness. This gets down to the heart of what being a Christian is and it invites us to share the importance of being born again and not simply being part of a so-called “Christian” culture.

4. Dos and Donts for Sharing Jesus with Muslims

In drawing this article to a close, let us remind ourselves of some important points that we must be keep in mind when sharing our faith with Muslims.

Do not disrespect the Qur’an or the prophet Muhammed

There are problems within the Qur’an, and also the life of Mohammed, which demonstrate they are not of God. We need to tread very sensitively around these areas and, if discussing them, make sure we do not speak disparagingly or in a way that may cause upset. I have heard Christians using insulting language when speaking about these things. All this will achieve is pushing our Muslim friend away. There is no point in winning an argument and losing a person.

Be aware of religious or cultural sensitivities

There are some areas where Muslims will simply not understand certain Christian practices or habits. For example, Muslims are very careful how they treat their holy text. The Qur’an will never be placed at the bottom of the bookcase, or laid on the floor. For a Muslim to see us treating the Bible in this way will communicate to them that we do not value it. It is true that we do not revere a physical book and we might contend that we do not need to treat the physical Bible in any way – it is the contents of the Bible and our communion with God through its pages that we value. However, there is no point putting stumbling blocks where they do not need to be. Being aware of certain religious or cultural expectations can help avoid unnecessary barriers.

Get into God’s Word

As in any evangelistic encounter, we want to bring people to the word of God. A helpful place is to look at who Jesus is and all that He said and did. It is also helpful to study some of Paul’s letters - like the book of Romans - which help to explain the Gospel and what Christ has achieved for us

Emphasise God’s love

Muslims believe that God is transcendent and distant. They have no real concept of God as loving. By contrast the Bible tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8) and that this love led Jesus to die for the undeserving. Speaking about the God who loves, not only Christians, but everyone, can speak powerfully to the Muslim and takes them right to the heart of the Gospel.

Let the Holy Spirit do His work

As we seek to share our faith with Muslims, as with anyone, we remember that it is not our place to convert anybody. We can sow and water the seed of God’s Word, but God will bring the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6). We need to surround our conversations with prayer and share as faithfully as we can, then trust that God will accomplish His work.

Conclusion

This article represents a few thoughts for how we might begin to share with Muslims. I hope they are helpful. At the end of the day, however, we remember that each person is an individual and every relationship unique. Muslims are generally very happy to speak about spiritual things and will usually have great respect for anyone who is a sincere and practicing Christian. We do not want to get into religious disputes for the sake of winning an argument. Jesus is the good news that Islam lacks and we want to bring them to Him.

Bibliography

1. The Bible (ESV)

Klassen, J. (2015) Engaging with Muslims The Good Book Company
Rhodes, R. (2002) Reasoning from the Scriptures with Muslims Oregon: Harvest House Publishers