Muslim expert visits

The assistant director of the Zwemer Center for Muslim Studies visited campus Friday to address students, parents, and teachers. The afternoon program was targeted to boost knowledge and to answer questions of 6th graders who are studying the birth of Islam in medieval history and 9th gradProfessor Tevor Caster shares his familiarity and passion for Muslim people with students, parents, and teachers.ers who will examine the religion's impact in ancient-medieval history.

Professor Trevor Caster urged students to avoid “bumper sticker” labeling of any group. “Whenever you hear, ‘Muslims are (fill in the blank) or Muslims believe (fill in the blank),” Caster says, “you can be sure it’s always more complicated than that.” 

He pointed out that there are 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide, from different cultures, differing schools of thought, and different “denominations,” from the ultra-orthodox to the very relaxed. The teacher used the contrast of anyone saying “Christians are (fill in the blank)” to reveal the likely differences between Christian-claiming factions and denominations and the range from “cultural Christians” to the devout.

Trevor CasterComparing the Good News to Coke
The Muslim-scholar compared the incredibly ambitious goals Coca-Cola set for itself, from wanting to put Cokes in the hands of servicemen during World War II, to having the drinks in all countries, to more recently, declare its goal of having its sodas within “ arms-reach of desire” among every people and place. Noting Coke’s successes in access, even in the least open and non-western peoples, Caster challenged attendees to consider the superiority of God’s product, the Gospel, and the biblically-promised success to take the Truth to every tribe, nation, and tongue.

In addition to his work at the Zwemer Center, Caster is a professor of Muslim courses at Columbia International University, where he has taught three former LPA students and current staff member Chris Miller. He spends a lot of his time teaching about Jesus in the local mosques and building relationships with Muslims in their homes and in the Columbia community. To engage Muslims, Caster recommended a few simple strategies:

• Don’t feel the need to study the Koran in order to talk to Muslims
  Many followers of Islam don’t read it much themselves. Instead, know the Bible thoroughly.
  
  
  
• Avoid talking about Mohammed
  Muslims already know about Mohammed, and the point of the Gospel is not to focus on Mohammed, Caster says. Nor does it help to try to prove he is a false prophet or that Islam is a false religion. That doesn't open doors to Muslims. Focus on Jesus instead, he says. As Colossians chapter one says, Jesus is preeminent. There's actually a great willingness on the part of Muslims to discuss Jesus. The Koran holds Jesus in high esteem as a prophet and miracle-worker, but the holy book of Islam is mostly silent on the miracle details.  Therefore, most Muslims will respond favorably if someone asks if they’d like to hear the stories of Jesus’ miracles.
  
  
  
• Invite Muslims to share what they believe
  Too often, Christians try to tell Muslims what Muslims believe, which followers of Islam find curious. Instead, ask that specific person to share what he believes or what he understands Islam to teach on a subject.

How strong is your knowledge of Islam?
Try these questions:

Which is the world’s only 100% Muslim country?
Many would guess Saudi Arabia, but Caster says that Arab nation has always had Christians. The answer is the Maldives Islands in Asia, where Caster and his wife served several years as missionaries.

Who would a Muslim say was the first Muslim?
Many Americans would assume Mohammed, noted by western historians as the founder of Islam. According to Caster, Muslims would find this thinking curious, holding that Adam was the first Muslim, since Islam traces its roots back to the garden. Mohammed was, to them, the final great prophet.

When did Mohammed write the Koran and other holy writings?
Trick question. The actual writings of the Koran were recorded long after Mohammed’s death, Caster says. That’s when the fourth Caliph, the chief Muslim ruler and successor of Muhammed, noted that many of them men who had memorized the Koran were dying in battles and taking their knowledge with them. Caster believes the recording is likely ve since the Arab oral tradition was so strong then.

Why do so few Muslims know the Koran themselves?
According to the professor, since most Muslims hold that the Koran loses its meaning outside the original Arabic, Muslims have to learn to memorize the words in that Middle-Eastern language, even though the largest population base of Islam is in Indonesia. He says even Arabic-speakers in Saudi Arabia probably struggle to really understand the exact teachings since the original language is archaic, much like Middle-English to Americans. Interesting side note: recitation of the Koran is apparently always sung, and the music is often very beautiful.