A network member writes about a Christmas time when they invited a group of Muslims to their home.
What do you picture in your mind when you think of Muslims in the UK? Whatever the image in your mind, God tells us to love all Muslims! But what does that look like in practice?
Many churches with Muslim communities on their doorstep offer English language classes or English Conversation groups and find that these activities open the door to engaging with their neighbours. Find out how to use Halloween topics as a springboard to talking about Jesus.
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!
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.
One of the many activities we may be looking forward to resuming as we gradually emerge from the COVID restrictions is the opportunity to travel abroad. For some of us, a visit to the library or to a local bookstore to obtain a travel guide for that region of the world is as essential a part of the preparation process as the packing of clothes, camera or suntan lotion. Not only do we want to visit an area and enjoy what it has to offer but we want to be guided by those who know the region well and can provide historical, cultural insight into what we are seeing and experiencing. We might also be emboldened to go “off piste” , away from the ubiquitous pizza and kebab bars to try the gem of an eating place, loved by the locals, where authentic food is served.
As part of the Mahabba resources offer you will begin to see book recommendations from those giving voice to their own experience of being Muslim in Britain. There will be some books which address this directly such as the excellent and up to the minute book “They” by Sarfraz Mansoor. There will be novels which invite us into family life and the arena of close knit communities where the constant and present challenge of living with a dual identity is faced by some with creativity and by others with real struggle. Some books may speak boldly and bravely about the experience and consequences of being shame bearers in the community - “Stained” by Abda Khan. Whilst others will give insight into the layers of barriers, both structural and personally created which prevent access for people to really flourish. “Parwana: recipes and stories from an Afghan Kitchen” by Durkhanai Ayubi may be of particular interest just now along with other such books which include poems and recipes which give a window into expressions of hearts’ desire and the appetite for sharing love through food.
Hearing the authentic voice, rather than the voice of the visitor or observer, whether we are on our travels or engaging with the world on our doorstep, offers us a deepening of our connection and understanding with Muslim people which, we pray, in turn, will bring a growing sense of mutual love and respect in our relationship-building.
Miriam Williams - a member of the Mahabba Network
See book recommendations here
Bulbs are dormant for some time until the conditions are just right. They are planted in the Autumn, but Spring is coming. Then the gardener is rewarded with a riot of colour in all different shapes and sizes.
In the same way, we can plant seeds of encouragement and prayer with our Muslim friends and colleagues, and watch God make them grow.
“And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”
This well-known passage from Esther 4:14 speaks of the right timing. God’s timing.
As a network, we seek to follow God’s prompts and ask Him to guide us as we gather, pray and share resources and stories with others in the network.
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…
Like many Christians organisations, Mahabba is looking to build for the future. We’re keen that younger people feel inspired and connected to the work of our network.
Over the past six months we’ve been working hard to connect with the younger generation, using social media to engage people in our ongoing prayer for Muslim people in the UK. Read more about this key part of Mahabba’s vision and how your support helps us to engage the next generation to be able to bless and love Muslims wherever they are.
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.
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It was just an experiment. I wanted to stretch my ‘faith muscles’. Stepping off the bus I quietly prayed: “Lord, here I am in a big city. I don’t know the area. I have never been here before - and I don’t know anyone here. Lead me to someone who will invite me to their house, and be like a ‘bunch of keys’ opening up the Muslim community to me.”
My prayer was answered in minutes! I called out to a Muslim man I saw across the street. I simply said: “Asalamu aleikum!” He asked me if I was a Muslim. “Oh no, I’m not a Muslim......but I love Muslims very much. I am a follower of Isa-al-Masih......Jesus the Messiah.” I went on to say: “I don’t bow down to idols. I worship the one true God, the God of Abraham.” At that, he took my phone number and invited me to his home. I was given a bowl of delicious lamb curry and chapatis, sweet milky tea, and a massive assortment of biscuits. He said he was a Shia Muslim, and his mosque had often been vandalised by Sunni Muslims. “They hate us!” he said, “and they tell lies about us. We don’t feel safe!” “You are safe with me!” I replied. “Jesus has taught us to love all people.”
He began to pour out his heart to me about family worries, financial worries, and lack of purpose and self-worth. I shared some encouraging verses of the Bible with him, and then he asked me to pray for him. How wonderful! What started as a bus journey into an unknown city opened up an amazing friendship for me. We keep in touch regularly - and I have even attended his daughter’s wedding as a V.I.P. guest! He invited me to his mosque, and I am now regularly in contact with others in his congregation - who also ask me for prayer! I was even given a guided tour of the mosque, and given a gift of a ‘Turbah’- the small flat stone that Shias place their foreheads upon when they prostrate in prayer. My mosque guide said: “Sometimes during the Muslim month of Muharram when we remember the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, it has been known for Turbahs to spontaneously ooze out blood.” She went on to say: “When you see the blood, your life will never be the same!”
“When you see the blood, your life will never be the same!”
That sounds like a theme for a gospel conversation! I will save that for another time.
Run to Muslims, don’t run away from them. Talk to Muslims - not merely about them. When you do this, you will find mission work brings you sheer joy. Or even better - Shia joy!
A member of the Mahabba Network
Although Shi’ite Muslims are in the minority there are some communities here in the Uk. The book ‘Heart Broken Open’ is a moving and insightful reflection from the experience of Ray Gaston, a vicar who spent 12 years in Leeds getting to know, work and dialogue with his local Shi’ite community. It offers moving and insightful reflections on what it means to walk in humility and vulnerability with people of other faith whilst at the same time having one’s words and actions shaped by scriptural reflection and Christian worship. It can be found here
For further information about Shias and Muharram see the resource My Muslim Friends at Muharram here
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.
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For several months the problem had been festering. Yusef had been making negative comments about Ibrahim, another brother who was occasionally given opportunity to preach, judging Ibrahim to regard himself as more spiritual than others in the group. Occasionally Yusef would make pointed or hurtful remarks in his presence.
One evening, following Bible study, something was said and Ibrahim responded by throwing a few punches. Their conflict was now public knowledge.
Jesus teaches the need to ‘go and be reconciled with your brother’ but I had learned from previous experience that this cannot be rushed. They first needed to individually seek God for forgiveness and grace towards the other.
In the days that followed I spoke with both men separately.
Yusef is slow to recognise where he has gone wrong in all of this. He is convinced that his earlier judgment is valid – after all, Ibrahim has just proved by his behaviour that he is not a good example! He knows that he needs to forgive his brother, yet feels he is owed an apology. God had a work to do in his heart.
Ibrahim is broken by his sin. He knows that hitting back is not the Jesus way. How could he have fallen into this trap? He needs to receive God’s forgiveness and he knows that he must also extend that forgiveness to Yusef.
We spoke about the fact that as the older, more experienced Christian he maybe needed to be the first to apologise for his behaviour. At this, his response was ‘You are asking too much of me!’ To take the first step towards reconciliation was to put himself in the lower position ... maybe there was a degree of truth in those accusations of pride after all?
I gently explained that I was asking nothing of him – simply pointing out what Jesus asked of us all.
As I watched the light comes on in his heart and mind I knew that he would find strength to make that first move. All I needed to do was sit back and pray for both men. God would do his work.
A couple of months later I watched as these two men stood together before God, arms round each other’s shoulders, heads bowed in prayer.
Forgiveness has been received and extended one to the other.
A member of the Mahabba Network
As restrictions lift and doors reopen, we look towards a summer full of fresh opportunity to reconnect with Muslim friends and neighbours.
But sharing the Gospel with Muslim people can often feel intimidating and out of reach.
Mahabba is all about equipping you to answer those tough questions and confidently share the good news with Muslims wherever you are.
This month we highlight a new book by Robert Scott and an exciting upcoming event with Dr Karamat Iqbal in conversation with Dr Canon Andrew Smith.
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