Fariza

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.“

John 13:34

Not a day goes by without my news feed being flooded with reports about the enactment of yet another Islamic virtue law by the Taliban in Afghanistan. It is the year 2025, the Taliban maintain full control over Afghanistan following the U.S. military’s withdrawal on February 29, 2020. The virtue laws are fully enforced, with women as the primary targets—facing brutal policies that could eventually erase their presence from afghan society.

About 680 km to the north of Afghanistan is located a secular university—The University of Central Asia (UCA)—funded by an Ismaili Shia Muslim Imam, Aga Khan IV, who has been fervent in his pursuit of making secular education accessible, especially for women. It is located in a tiny mountainous city of Khorog, located in eastern Tajikistan, my home country. Here, no woman is veiled from head to toe, and everyone generally lives in peace. This is Islam. It is diverse. It is divided into various sects, beliefs, teachings, and experiences. It stretches across nations, cultures, and nationalities, each with its distinct identities and traditions. 

In the US the tragic events of the 9/11 attack, marked a significant cultural change in perception of Muslims, leading to a rise of Islamophobia. More recently, after October 7th, we have witnessed another shift, but this time it is slightly different because, for the first time, the American public has been able to access information directly from the ground via social media, rather than relying solely on mainstream media reporting. The pro-Palestinian supporters have been enraged by the horrific footage that was coming out of Gaza caused by Israeli military actions for over a year.

The perception of Muslims in American society has shifted again but this time it is much more positive.

Regardless of how one perceives Muslims and Islam, Christians must approach this community with love and the religion with vigilance, prayer, and humility, grounded in Scripture and guided by the Holy Spirit.

How can an average Christian living in America love their Muslim neighbors? 

I believe that the Holy Spirit prompts Christians to minister to the Muslim community, as it is a unique and challenging calling. The Bible tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31). Love is an action verb, meaning it requires action. One way to act on it is by dispelling misconceptions and stereotypes that some Christians may believe about Muslims. Understanding Islam and humanizing Muslims by distinguishing people from the religion is vital. Even though Islam is not just a religion but a lifestyle ingrained in the culture and traditions of Muslims, Christians need to see Muslims as people in desperate need of a Savior—just like anyone else. 

I was born into a minority Shia Ismaili family, one of the many branches of Islam that has gone through a “Renaissance,” making it one of the most liberal and non-violent branches of Islam. It has received much criticism from orthodox Sunni Muslims to the point of contributing to the genocide of my people after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Islam is not a unified religion. The majority of Muslims are not religious; they were simply born into Islam — they are cultural Muslims. It is also important to note that the majority of Muslim countries are secular and far from being radical. If they were, the 1.9 billion Muslims could probably annihilate the globe. 

For the most part, Muslims around the world live peacefully with their neighbors — they are regular people with basic human needs, just like anyone else in the world. Muslims live in a collectivist culture, where strong family values are highly treasured and central to everyday life, and hospitality is held in the highest regard. Guests are given the highest honor and are treated with the utmost respect. If invited into a Muslim household, you will never leave hungry or thirsty. Muslims are generous, whether rich or poor. Even in the poorest village in a Muslim country, if you are a guest, people will share their last piece of bread with you. The needs of the community supersede those of the individual, in contrast to the individualistic culture of the West.

It often makes me wonder how many aspects of the Islamic way of life are borrowed from Christianity, which originated in the East—such as community, charity, holy fear of God, modesty, sacrificial giving, and the list goes on. It is not a surprise that there has been a recent increase in interest in Islam among Westerners. I believe one of the reasons people are converting to Islam is the increasingly evident moral decline in Western society and the lack of Biblically sound teachings in Western churches, which have lost touch with their Near Eastern roots. People crave order and reverence.

Reconnecting with the roots of our Near Eastern faith is important to understanding the heart of Christianity — you’ll quickly realize how some of its traditions and customs have been borrowed by Islam. You will learn how to make a connection between these two faiths and able to make a distinction between human beings and religion even if both people groups are shaped by their own ideologies. Traveling to the Middle East, befriending a Muslim, learning the culture, or volunteering with missions that serve the Muslim community can help you on your journey to love your Muslim neighbor.

Loving your Muslim neighbor also means knowing what Islam teaches; Muslims don’t believe in Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. It is considered blasphemy to think that God could take on a human form—it is beneath Him to partake in the human experience. Islam is complex. It is political and militaristic, and its most popular branch puts less emphasis on spiritual or esoteric ways of human existence and focuses on the worldly aspects of life—from how you ought to bathe, dress, and pray to how to strike your wife in case of disobedience. Muslims believe that Muhammad was the last messenger of God and that the Quran was sent directly from heaven as the infallible word of Allah. Along with the Quran, Muslims also read the Hadith, a historical compilation of the life of Muhammad, which is considered a major text of moral law. 

While engaging with Muslims, you must be prepared to defend your beliefs, as the apostle Peter encourages us to do in 1 Peter 3:15: “Always be prepared to answer everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” I want to emphasize “gentleness and respect,” because at some point in your conversation with a Muslim, it may become heated and lead to an argument. I urge my Christian brothers and sisters not to fall into the enemy’s trap—avoid or end the argument immediately.

Unlike Christians, who are called to turn the other cheek and practice a non-violent discourse (Matthew 5:38-40), Muslims on the other hand are commanded to retaliate in self-defense. 

In Surah Al-Hajj 22:39, Muslims are permitted to fight back if they’ve been wronged: “Permission to fight is given to those who are fought against because they have been wronged.” Surah Al-Baqarah 2:190 also states: “Fight in the cause of Allah only against those who wage war against you, but do not transgress limits, for Allah does not love transgressors.” 

Verse 191 says: “Kill them wherever you find them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you, for persecution is worse than killing. But do not fight them at the Sacred Mosque unless they fight you there first.”

Islamic extremist groups don’t emerge out of nowhere; there are always underlying reasons rooted in deep ideological and political motivations—often shaped by resistance, preservation and self-determination. This is one of the key distinctions between Christianity and Islam. Christians are called to love their neighbors, bless those who persecute them, and not fear those who can kill the body.

What sets Christians apart is Jesus’ teaching of non-violent resistance. In the Garden of Gethsemane, when Peter cut off the Roman soldier’s ear in self-defense—an attempt to defend Christ—Jesus rebuked him and told him to put away his sword, saying that those who live by the sword will die by it (Matthew 26:52).

I want to emphasize that I am fully aware of the atrocities Christians have committed in the name of Christ throughout history. I also understand that many Christian Zionists subscribe to the Just War theory, which misinterprets various Biblical passages. The New Testament does not endorse any form of physical violence, and Christian Zionists who base their political views on the Old Testament fundamentally misread the Bible.

I want to emphasize that extremist Islamic ideologies are not held by the majority of Muslims. Many Muslims reject these extreme ideologies and extremists groups.

There are a lot Christians that are afraid that Islamization poses a legitimate threat to Western democracy. The blame in part falls on Christians for not taking the Great Commission seriously. For years, the West has sought to marginalize Christianity, pushing society towards increasing secularization. This trend, along with a “buffet-style” approach to Christianity in America, has created anemic, lukewarm Christians with little influence and no desire to make a change in the world. Now more than ever, we need to stand against the darkness in this world—whether it’s extreme ideologies, false religions, secularization, over-sexualization, or radical leftist gender ideologies. Christians hold the solution to these problems, given to us on the cross. We are called to be the light of this world, bringing truth, objectivity, and Christ-like love to the issues we face today.

One of the central truths of Christianity is that it does not discriminate against who gets to hear the Good News; Evangelism is at the very core of our faith. It is a mandate, not a suggestion: “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

I understand that loving your Muslim neighbor as yourself, especially given the current political instability in the world, can be incredibly challenging. I fully recognize the legitimate dangers posed by radical Islam and the horrific actions carried out by extremists in the name of Allah. However, we cannot allow fear to paralyze us and prevent us from fulfilling our calling to share the Gospel with all people. I believe that the enemy uses fear to keep us from reaching Muslims, placing them in the category of “unreached people,” thus preventing them from encountering Christ. If we continue to operate in fear and prejudice, the enemy succeeds in preventing the Church from fulfilling its mission: loving our neighbors as ourselves.

I live in NYC, which has one of the largest Muslim populations in America. As Christians living in NYC, we have a unique opportunity to minister to Muslims because the harvest has been planted in our backyards, ready to be gathered. I challenge my Christian brothers and sisters in the West to begin viewing the Muslim world through the lens of the Gospel, with the love for nations that Christ purchased on the cross. Let us not forget that He died for everyone (John 3:16). And let us not forget that the apostle Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, once persecuted the Church and killed Christians himself.