Muslims show the greatest respect to the Prophet Muhammad especially during the celebration of Mawlid al-Nabi. And that makes Mawlid a great time to talk about how important Jesus is to us, not just as a prophet, but as our Saviour. Starting a conversation can be tricky, but it’s as simple as asking ‘How will you be celebrating Mawlid?’

This month we’re sharing some ideas on how we can engage with, and pray for, our Muslim friends and colleagues.

The Islamic month of Ramadan runs from 10 March to 8 April this year (2024). Ramadan is a great time to start conversations with Muslim friends and colleagues and to focus on praying for Muslims in our local community and across the UK. These next few weeks are full of opportunities!

Did you manage to wish your Muslim friends ‘Eid Mubarak’ (blessed Eid) as they celebrated Eid ul-Adha last weekend? You may also know of people who are undertaking the Hajj at this time. These are both great occasions for sharing stories about your faith and the Biblical take on these topics.

For Mahabba, it’s all about the relationship – not strategies, not techniques just a real love for our Muslim friends and neighbours. And that’s why we love hearing stories from our groups. Stories are a genuine reflection of the work that our members are doing, and they spur us on and encourage us.

As a relational network, volunteers have been vital to the growth of Mahabba. We currently have some gaps in our Support Circle, which help support local groups and Network activity.

If you want to serve the Mahabba vision and have a few hours spare per week or month, we’d love to hear from you.

Do you make a New Year’s resolution? Perhaps to be healthier? Exercise more? Take up a new hobby? Whatever your experience of starting something new, it's so encouraging to see small steps of progress. Read more about a new Mahabba prayer group, specifically to pray for millennial Muslim people.

We spoke to Lucy Rycroft, founder of The Hope-Filled Family blog, who gave us some great Christian family resources to add to the stockings this year. They’re all about prayer and mission and will open up conversations about the world, and the nations we find on our doorstep here in the UK.

Check it out, and help the little ones in your life grow closer to Jesus this Christmas.

With the conflict in Afghanistan and the plight of refugees being reported on our televisions, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. How should we pray?

This month we hear from a Mahabba Network member who is working in Colchester to help settle families recently arrived in the UK. As well as practical support, they share three key areas we can be praying for.

Christian Unions are getting ready to welcome the international freshers making their way to universities across Britain. Many CUs have events planned, reaching out to share the love of God and helping new students to feel welcome. We want to support them and so we asked them ‘how we can pray?’.

They gave us five prayer points, and we’ve added one of our own…

At Mahabba we love to share stories of God working in the lives of Muslim people – that’s what our heart and vision is all about! But the reality is that most of the time it’s really hard work. There aren’t always many stories of Muslims coming to faith. We don’t even always know if what we’re doing is making an impact.

So how do we keep going when we can’t always see ‘the fruit’?

This month we hear from some of our local Mahabba coordinators about how they persevere with loving Muslim people where they are.

How can Christians engage with the diverse and changing cultures we find on our doorstep?

What does fulfilling the great commission look like when reaching out to Muslim people?

How do we address some of the current challenges in our nation, our communities and our churches around racism and prejudice?

Earlier this month, Mahabba hosted an event with Canon Dr Andrew Smith who shared his insights - and some challenges! - on how we engage with our changing society and learn to love our Muslim neighbours.

What if there was a Muslim festival that celebrates a story from the Bible?

Read about Eid ul Adha, the festival that celebrates ultimate sacrifice and gives Christians the opportunity to share about God’s ultimate sacrifice with their Muslim friends and neighbours.

We saw great things happen through prayer during Ramadan, but we don’t want to be discouraged from continuing to pray.

Hear Riz’s story of how she reached out to God during Ramadan.

Ramadan saw an exciting time for Mahabba as many were drawn together to pray for Muslims.

This month we look back at some what was happening and consider how we can keep praying in the coming weeks and months.