Like anyone with a phone in their pocket and a few minutes to spend while waiting in line, I like to spend a little dilly-dallying time learning stuff about other stuff in addition to the stuff I already know. As a Bible teacher and former missionary-lite, I have naturally done my fair share of googling and reading about Islam. I would have said that I at least know the basics, since I’ve even given a lesson here and there on the Five Pillars and basic history. And yet, this week I saw some of my Muslim contacts sharing greetings for “Eid Al-Adha,” and I was unsure what that meant.
I’m sure I’ve heard the term, but I couldn’t have told you what it was, or why it was important. I couldn’t have told you it means “Feast of Sacrifice,” lasts 4 days, and is about remembering how God provided a sacrifice for Abraham instead of his son. I couldn’t have told you it marked the end of the Hajj, and is considered the “larger” of the two main feast celebrations. (And I want to be clear that I don’t really understand them now, so I apologize for whatever I get wrong here. My ignorance is the point. ) I might have had some vague recollection of feast days, but that’s about it.
I did a quick search for Eid Al-Adha, to understand more, and in the course of searching, a recommended video on YouTube popped up for a song. I was intrigued, so I clicked on it. Now, just to be clear, I spend a lot of time on YouTube. I have music playing from it on the background almost everyday while I’m working, I watch multiple channels on a regular basis, and I use it to listen to sermons/teachings multiple times a week. So I’ve seen a lot of YouTube ads, including religious ones as I’m searching out particular issues.
However, before this song played, two ads played that were drawing attention to Muslim issues (fundraising to renovate a mosque in New York, and one for a teaching series). That’s not all that surprising, considering the video I was watching, but what was surprising was that I could barely understand what they were saying. Not because of an accent or language (i.e. it was in easily understandable English), but because I was completely unfamiliar with the vocabulary or cultural references.
(As an example, because I can’t remember the ads precisely, I will include a statement from a mosque in Manchester below, and I’m sure there’s some issues just because I live in the US, but consider how much of that statement you can understand.)
I was struck by phrases they used that I didn’t understand, by the way they referenced events that I hadn’t heard of, or used descriptions that I’m sure were obvious to them, but I was completely lost. It hit me how little I know outside my own little area of experience. How many other people are living lives right next to me, and I have no idea what they even hear when I use what (to my mind) are simple things everyone knows? How confusing are my words to someone outside my little circle?
Is it any wonder we (Christians, or at least me) are not communicating with the Muslim world? I feel a conviction/heaviness in my heart when I realize how little I know other people. If I can’t take the time to even understand the absolute basics of their lives, what possible reason would they have to listen to me about Jesus? How can I love my neighbor if I can’t even comprehend something so central to who they are? I don’t even understand the ads they see on the Internet.
Imagine for a moment if someone came to talk to you about changing your life, but they had no idea what Christmas was? Or Easter? Would you think they were actually interested in you? Would you think they cared about you? Islam is followed by two billion people in the world, and I find that I, someone who has interests in evangelism, missions, religion, and history, could have told you very little about the most important religious feast for a third of the world. It’s downright embarrassing.
Can I communicate the love of Jesus to someone if I don’t know them at all? Can I pretend to love people and not speak in a way that they can understand? People are living and talking in our communities, and it might be in ways that are different from mine. It might take some effort for me to step away from what is familiar to me, and find what is familiar to them. It might take some effort for me to hear what they are truly saying.
Am I listening?
