The use of the Qur’an has always been an issue in Muslim evangelism.
While in the past, the Qur’an was used in confrontations between Islam and
Christianity, today it is being used in order to contextualize the Gospel so as to
communicate it effectively in the Muslim context.
But whatever one’s position concerning using the Qur’an for Muslim
evangelism the evangelist should rethink some important issues concerning
using the Qur’anic texts as a theological starting point for supporting the Gospel.
These issues involve the problem of a temporal and tacit dependence on the
Qur’anic authority and a problem of some Christians’ Qur’anic hermeneutic,
that is, how they interpret the Qur’an.
Those who use the Qur’an in Muslim evangelism claim that they use it not
because they believe it is a true revelation from God but because of its powerful
254
authority as Islam’s preeminent scripture. Nevertheless, Muslims may assume
that evangelists who use the Qur’an regard it as true divine revelation. This is a
problem which temporal dependence on the Qur’anic authority may cause.
Also, this evangelism method may create problems due to Christians’
Qur’anic hermeneutic which does not consider the whole context of the Qur’an
and the Islamic worldview. This is a hermeneutical error which may cause
Muslims to accuse Christians of misusing the Qur’an. Such an accusation may,
in turn, negatively affect relationships with Muslims. It may also create
conflicts in Muslim converts’ minds between the Bible’s authority and the
Qur’anic authority.
Nevertheless, today the ‘Camel Method’, which is an example of using the
Qur’an in Muslim evangelism, has gained outstanding achievements using this
method of evangelism. Consequently, there may be an indiscriminate use of the
Qur’an on the mission field, so we need to seek biblical direction for its use in
Muslim evangelism.
Therefore, in this paper, I have undertaken a critical study of Muslim
evangelism which uses the Qur’anic ‘Isa’ as a contact point. Then through the
study’s findings, I suggest an appropriate approach to the Qur’an and a biblical
evangelism method based on this approach.
The thesis of this paper is twofold. First, it criticizes the method of
evangelism which uses Isa as a theological contact point for presenting the
Gospel in the Qur’an; this is done by a Christian hermeneutic of Isa who is a
255
different figure from Jesus, and second, a truly biblical method of evangelism is
advocated that uses Isa as a contact point based on the differences between Isa
and Jesus and that uses Isa as a communicational starting point for sharing
Gospel.
To test this paper’s thesis, Chapter II investigates the Qur’an’s portrayal of
the life and titles of Isa which demonstrates that the Qur’an’s Isa is different
from the Bible’s Jesus. To demonstrate this concretely, I examined the Qur’anic
statements about the annunciation and birth of Isa, Isa’s statements about
himself, his teaching, his works, and the end of his life including the crucifixion
and his second coming. And also I studied Isa’s titles, that is, al-Masih, son of
Mary, Isa, a word of Allah, a spirit of Allah, servant of Allah, and prophet of
Allah, and I examined the Qur’anic meanings of each of those titles
As a result, I’m convinced from the findings of this study that Isa is a
different figure from Jesus in respect to his position and his mission. Isa is a
human prophet whose mission was to preach the oneness of Allah to the
Israelites only, and by Allah’s grace, was saved from the Jews who had
conspired to kill him on the cross. So he is in no respect the same figure as the
biblical Jesus who fulfilled his mission of atonement and redemption by way of
suffering and death on the cross.
In Chapter III, the characteristics of the Qur’an’s statements about Isa are
examined, and through this, the Qur’anic Isa is seen as fundamentally different
from the Bible’s testimony about Jesus.
256
I have differentiated three characteristics of Qur’anic Isa statements in
terms of the source of their information about Isa, and in terms of Isa’s
worldview, and in terms of the relation of Isa to the core Gospel truth. I have
found that the first characteristic, that is, the source of Qur’anic information
about Isa, is the influence of the non-canonical books of the Bible, Christian
heretics, and Arabian polytheism. The second characteristic is the influence of
the Qur’anic worldview of God, sin, man, and salvation. The third characteristic
is the absence of the core elements of the Gospel, that is, the absence of Isa’s
incarnation, atonement, death on the cross, and resurrection.
So this examination of Isa in respect to the characteristics of the Qur’anic
statements about him proves that Muhammad portrayed Isa on the basis of
Christian heretical information which he had encountered in his Arabian
polytheistic setting. Consequently, we see how Muhammad fashioned the
Qur’anic Isa according to the false information which shaped his worldview. So
Isa is never in harmony with the biblical Immanuel God, the Redeemer, Jesus
Christ.
In Chapter IV, I analyzed cases which apply a Christian hermeneutic to Isa
which are inherent in this hermeneutic. The conclusion of the previous study is
that Isa is a different figure from Jesus. So we should understand Qur’anic
statements about Isa in the context of the Qur’an. Nevertheless, some Christians
have tried a Christian Qur’anic hermeneutic of Isa. So I studied this type of
hermeneutic as seen in the evangelism of Fouad Elias Accad and in Kevin
257
Greeson’s ‘Camel Method’.
In addition, I examined the problems which this Christian Qur’anic
hermeneutic causes in respect to theological, hermeneutical, and relational
issues. The first theological problem is the conflict of Scriptural versus