It has often been noted that Muslims rarely convert to Christianity. Why is this? Well, one obvious answer is that most Muslims believe in their own religion. But there are however some specific reasons why Christians find it difficult to spread the Gospel to Muslims.

    Aha, I hear you exclaim, of course they don’t convert, they would be put to death as apostates if they did. While this might be true in some countries and situations, it is not a complete answer by any means. For instance, there was a period when most of the Muslim world was under the control of Western powers, but even then few conversions took place, despite the protection offered by the Raj or other examples of European imperialism.

     No, the penalty for apostasy is rarely required because it wouldn’t even occur to most Muslims to convert to Christianity. The main reasons for this are to do with Muslim self-understanding. Islam sees itself as the final revelation of God to mankind. Thus Muslims are imbued with a sense of the superiority of their faith to all others, which they regard as failed attempts at Islam. This belief accounts in part for the generally poor relations between Muslims and Sikhs, as Sikhism has developed as a religion centuries after Islam when, according to Muslim belief, no other religion should have arisen. Hence a sort of outraged disbelief that such a thing should happen. I suspect Christians may have felt something of the same when faced with the rise of Islam. However, this sense is much stronger in Islam. As an example, one of the titles of the Prophet is ‘Seal of the Prophets’.

     And then, with respect to Christianity, it’s important to remember that Jesus - Isa in Arabic - is, as it were, accounted for in the Qu’ran as a prophet. Indeed, He is highly honoured, but not as the Son of God. However, it’s worth remembering that Muslims accord Jesus (and Mary) more respect than most secularists. They believe that He was born of a virgin (Mary), and the Qu’ran calls Him a spirit of God, while denying that God could have a son. Even more surprisingly, Muslims believe that it is Jesus and not Mohammed, who will return at the end of time to bring an end to the world.

But of course, along with Jesus being the Son of God, the Qu’ran does not accept that He was crucified. As ever, and as St Paul rightly said, that is the great stumbling block, the indignity that cannot be accepted.

    So I hope this goes some way to explaining why it is rare for Muslims to convert to Christianity. For in Islam, Christ is revered as a man and a prophet, but not worshipped as God. Thus some of the strength and imperative of the Gospel is sapped, in a manner similar to a heresy that almost overwhelmed the Church in its early years: Arianism.