On one of my flights to Kenya this past October, I sat by a Muslim man. We entered into friendly discussion after I observed him praying and requesting vegetarian meals. He was a very open, kind gentleman. We enjoyed genuine honest discussion concerning the similarities and vast differences of our faiths. At one point, he even allowed me to open my Bible and read some pointed scriptures to him. I do trust the Lord will use my meager attempt to draw him to faith. During our conversation, I remember thinking in the back of my mind, “When I get home, I am going to read Thabiti’s book!” I did, and it proved to be a tremendous help to me.

One of Thabiti’s key points was a pleasant surprise for me. He writes, “As a Christian you already know everything you need to know to effectively share the good news of Jesus Christ with Muslim people. The same message that saves us—the gospel—is the message that will eternally change our Muslim neighbors and friends” (p.13). I needed to hear that! While different people may require different approaches, the core, fundamentals of a gospel presentation are always the same. In order to be saved, we must share the gospel truth. It alone will bring salvation, even to Muslims. The purpose of the book then is to encourage Christians to share their faith with Muslim people. He states, “This is why this book was written: to encourage ordinary Christians in the extraordinary power of the gospel” (p.23).

Therefore, Thabiti’s first section is dedicated to rehearsing some of the fundamental elements of the gospel such as the difference between God and Allah, man’s sinful nature, the deity and sacrifice of Christ, and the necessity of faith and repentance. This study is covered in five chapters and is an extremely helpful reminder, not only in witnessing to Muslims, but in witnessing to anyone.

Recognizing though that there are valuable insights when engaging Muslims since they do represent a different culture, the second section offers a few pointers. In order to share with Muslims, Christians should “Be Filled with the Spirit,” “Trust the Bible,” “Be Hospitable,” “Use Your Local Church,” and “Suffer for the Name.” This section also includes a chapter on witnessing to African-American Muslims.

One of the key insights for me in this book was learning how the Quran itself becomes a witnessing tool for the true Gospel. After all, a Muslim will pay attention to what the Quran says. In fact, this is exactly what led Thabiti to faith in Christ. As he shares in the opening pages, “The Quran plainly taught that Jesus was born of a virgin (Sura 3:42-50) . . . that the Torah, Psalms of David, and the Gospels were books revealed by Allah (Sura 4:163-65; 46-48; 5:46-48; and 6:91-92)” (p.20). In addition, “nowhere does the Quran teach that the Bible was corrupted or changed” (p.20). If therefore, a Muslim will acknowledge this and read the Torah, the Psalms, and the Gospels, a great conflict will ensue. If the Quran affirms these scriptures, then they must be taken as true. These scriptures affirm the God of the Bible, man’s sinfulness, Christ’s substitution, and the necessity to repent and believe in Christ alone for salvation. In other words, the Quran can actually be used to introduce Muslims to the true revelation of God in the Bible! It will logically come down to this: either the Bible or the Quran is true. If the Bible is true, then the Quran’s core teachings are false. If the Quran is true, then how does one explain its affirmation of major biblical portions which contradict the Quran’s teachings? Either way, the Quran comes into question, not the Bible. For me, that was the most surprising and helpful insight of the entire work.

In terms of weaknesses, even though Thabiti used personal encounters throughout, I would have loved to read more specific answers to specific Muslim objections. That being said, however, Thabiti’s point was not to rely so much on winning a debate as relying on the power of the Gospel. Mission accomplished then, at least I think so.