AE: Islam believes that each person is born pure. The Holy Quran tells us that God has given human beings a choice between good and evil and to seek God’s pleasure through faith, prayer and charity.
TF A handle that can be pulled from both religions is the judgment according to works, bad and good. LG: If engaging in a conversation with a Muslim about how they know they will be in paradise (heaven) once they have died, a Muslim may say that there is ultimately no way of knowing now. They already know that they do wrong, so you might start there, saying, “I know that I too have done wrong in this life and I know that there will be judgment for it in the next. Can I tell you why I am not afraid of it? Why I am certain of my eternal outcome? Imagine if there was someone who did live a perfect life and never did anything evil. Surly when they stood before judgment they would be praised for their work and welcomed into heaven. Imagine now that this person loved you so much he didn’t want you to have to face such uncertainty yourself, so he chose to trade you places; that is, when you are judged, rather than your good and bad deeds, Allah only saw in you the good deeds that the righteous person did. And rather than seeing the man’s righteous deeds, that person took all of the punishment that your judgment would have given. How much would that person have to love you? I know that it is more love than I can even imagine! But friend, although it is hard to imagine, it really did happen! The man the Qu’ran calls Isa did just that for you and for me. It is recorded in the Injeel which is also called the New Testament and Isa is called by the name of Jesus. You and I and anyone who believes that Jesus did this can know freedom from fear of the scales of judgment because Jesus has taken our punishment for us!”
The severity of the problem of mankind’s sin is also somewhat different. To a Muslim and a Christian both, the eternal consequence of living a sinful life are the same; that is, that on the Day of Judgment sin’s punishment will be eternal. However, as stated before, the Muslim looks for salvation in his own good works which must outnumber the bad. Sin is then a single event that can be erased or forgotten if it is overshadowed by prayers, rituals, devotion, and deeds. But the problem of sin goes much deeper than that. As Christians we believe that we were born sinful and have a sinful nature that acts contrary to God’s law. This is disputed somewhat in Muslim circles but largely in disagreement with popular Muslim belief. However, there are some verses in the Qu’ran that may be helpful to consider with a Muslim when discussing the seriousness of our sin. In the theme of Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”, Ta Ha 20:121 says “Adam disobeyed his Lord, and so he erred”, Abraham 14:43 states “Surely man is sinful, unthankful!” and Confederates 33:27 teaches “Surely he [man] is sinful, very foolish.” These verses may help a Muslim identify his or her sinfulness. “If Adam and I have both disobeyed, then we both have erred.” If you are witnessing this in particular way, be sure not to leave yourself out of the equation. If this is something that they are identifying with, the words from Crouching 45:7-8 are incredibly convicting; “Woe to every guilty imposter who hears the signs [miracles, or message] of God being recited to him, then preserves in waxing proud [goes on sinning], as if he has not heard them.” You might start with a Muslim friend by sharing that this verse applies to you; although you know what you are supposed to do and how you are supposed to live your life according to God’s law, you have not. In making yourself vulnerable they too may allow themselves to show their vulnerability.
An analogy may be helpful to them in understanding how sin is more than an isolated occurrence. If a person is bitten by a poisonous snake, although from an external perspective there is only the one place where the person is wounded, there is more going on than can be seen in that one spot. The poison from the bite works its way through the person’s body through the blood stream striking nerves, organs, and can even cut off a person’s ability to breathe. Sin is the same way. Although what you see may just be one instance of disobeying Allah’s law, there is much more going on inside of a person’s heart and mind that you can’t see. Sin is not just an isolated thing or event, but it is a disruption of the harmony that God set in motion at the creation of the world. Share with your Muslim friend that it can be a frightening thing to know that you have willingly disobeyed God’s law even when you knew that it was wrong to do so. But don’t leave it at that. This may then open the door for you then to share why it doesn’t have to be a frightening thing; why you, although you know all of this is true of yourself, are able to have hope and cause for joy. “Can I share with you why this does not have to be so frightening of a thing?” you may ask your Muslim friend. And then the door is open and the message of the Gospel can work in the heart of a broken sinner and create new life, joy, and hope.
RH: It is vital when witnessing to a Muslim about the human problem (sin), that we need to share, “What is really in our hearts – how tainted with selfishness our motivations, how corrupted with greed our achievements, and how tinged with pride our feeblest efforts” (Dretke 68).