Shane Bennett

I’m writing on Maundy Thursday, anticipating Good Friday and fervently asking God for help with my Easter Sunday message! How are you? 

Easter is the best, isn’t it? So much reality and hope wrapped up in an often hijacked holiday! But the core remains the core: 

Jesus defeated death.

Jesus conquered evil.

Jesus opened the door for life. 

Jesus reset the entire system. 

The kingdom of God is here. The kingdom of God will come in fullness. The Lamb will receive the reward of his suffering, the Father’s blessing will extend to every family on the Earth and some from every nation, tribe, people and language will stand before the throne and worship him. 

As we celebrate our 8th or 80th Resurrection Day, many Muslims, now freshly following Jesus, celebrate their first. 

Many Christians from ancient streams of the faith navigate the challenges of observing Easter in Muslim-majority nations. 

More than a handful of our sisters and brothers, workers wholeheartedly devoted to the task, hide eggs and sing familiar songs in a strange, new culture, wondering how to explain to new friends that Jesus really did die, that God really did raise him from death and that the implications of this miracle are both terrifying and good. 

Let’s remember all of these as we celebrate with hope and joy this Easter.

As Easter draws near, you’re probably thinking the same thing as me, “What’s up with Jonah in the Quran?” What? You’re not thinking that? 

Jesus did say in one of his earliest references to his coming passion, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Mt. 12.40) Jonah might be a good text for my Easter sermon!

Jonah shows up (as Yūnus) four times in the Quran: al-Qalam 68:48–50, al-Anbiyāʾ 21:87–88, aṣ-Ṣāffāt 37:139–148, and the surah bearing his name, Yūnus 10:98.

The story is a little different, told in a slightly different order. It feels like the end of a short, but fairly accurate, telephone game. I assume Muslims think God gave Muhammad the corrected version of the story when Gabriel told it to him. 

It makes me wonder though, where did Muhammad get his information on the Bible? Scholars say Muhammad likely had access to an Arabic translation of the Syriac Peshitta. “The Syriac Peshitta is an ancient translation of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament into the Syriac language, a dialect of Aramaic. It was a widely used version of the Bible in the Middle East.”

While the order of the story and some fairly significant points vary from the Bible to the Quran, both the earlier and the later version say similar things about God’s graciousness and his desire to forgive sin.

Jonah’s prayer in the Quran version also varies from the Bible’s, but you can’t really argue with his sentiment: “There is no God but You. Glory be to You. I was wrong.”

Want some good news? The compassion and forgiveness that both Jonah and the Ninevites received and that was secured by the Son of Man is available to you, me, our families, our people and Muslims all over the place. 

April is a big month! We’ve got Palm Sunday and Easter, I turn 60 on the same day my younger son turns 11, a daughter turns 16 a few days later and of course, the event you’re all looking forward to: The NFL draft! 

Actually, you probably don’t prioritize watching the draft, but here’s the story this year that might pique the interest of Muslim Connect tribe members: Ahmed Hassanein may become the first Egyptian in history to play in the NFL! He loves Jesus and his story is amazing. 

Born in the US, Hassanein moved to Egypt at six years old with his dad and zero Arabic! He had a hard time fitting in and staying out of trouble, but found sports to be a good outlet. He excelled in a variety of sports and became a national Cross Fit champ. 

When he was 15, a plan was concocted for Ahmed to return to the US with his half brother, a teacher and football coach at a small high school in California. He soon found himself once again losing the language lottery! But he was a terror on the football field! He didn’t know the rules, but resonated with the instructions, “See ball! Get ball!” 

Late in high school, some tape Ahmed posted on Instagram caught the eye of the defensive coordinator at Boise State. Turns out his brother had played with that coach when they were both students at Azusa Pacific! 

By his senior year at Boise State, Ahmed found both great success on the gridiron and a relationship with Jesus. 

People who predict these things think he’ll go in the 5th or 6th round of the NFL draft. I don’t predict much, but pray he’ll continue to be a solid follower of Jesus and that God will give him a strong voice for Christ in the US and especially back in Egypt. 

More on Ahmed:
Nine minute video interview. 

Great version of Ahmed’s story.

Got a second for a fun story?

I was in Minnesota earlier this week to see family and found an Arab bakery just around the corner from our Airbnb. When you live in a place like I do, you gotta take opportunities to hang with Muslims when you can. (My part of southern Colorado is a “Muslim-desert!”) Plus, with Eid (the celebration at the end of Ramadan) coming up this weekend, I thought things might be bustling there. 

I popped in on our way out of town for road snacks and a look around. A staff member made eye contact, but I had to look at the hummus display for an abnormally long time while he wrapped up a phone call. 

When he came up, I asked for a hummus recommendation. He advised the basil version and he was not wrong! Of course I was not primarily interested in hummus, but rather him! 

I asked a couple questions and discovered he was from Palestine and had been in the US for forty years. I told him I wasn’t a Muslim, but wondered it if was ok to give a Muslim an Eid greeting. He said of course, just say “Eid Mubarak!”

So we’ve got emphatic permission from a great guy. Let’s do it. Give whatever Muslims God guides across your path in the next couple of days a hearty, “Eid Mubarak!” (Basically, Happy Eid!)

Since you might not see any Muslims in person (Odds are not good where I am in rural Indiana!), grab the image at the top of this email and splash it on your socials. I’m going to break my low key Lenten Facebook/Instagram fast to post it. I expect it will go viral! 

And to wrap up the story with my new friend, I left the grocery with twice as much yummy stuff as I actually purchased and his card. Guess who’s gonna get an Eid Mubarak email this weekend! 

If you’re reading this Muslim Connect when it drops and you’re in the northern hemisphere, welcome Spring! Here in Colorado, Spring is more of a promise today than a reality, but we greet it, like Abraham, from afar! The Earth is reborn, dead things come to life, we’re reminded of the nature of God, bringing life and renewal from death and destruction. 

In Iran and regions thereabouts the spring celebration is called Nowruz. With ancient roots in Zoroastrianism, Nowruz predates Islam, but is celebrated by Persian Muslims, Christians and others. Here are five cool things to know about Nowruz and one way to pray today. 

1. Nowruz, meaning “new day” in Persian, embodies themes of renewal, rebirth and the triumph of light over darkness.
2. Nowruz involves a blend of spiritual, cultural and practical activities. As with Easter, Christians in Iran and beyond pick and choose the aspects of Nowruz they participate in. 
3. Similar to an American Christmas tree, the centerpiece of Nowruz celebrations is a Haft-Seen table, adorned with seven symbolic items starting with the letter “S” in Persian — apples, garlic, sumac, vinegar, wheat or barley sprouts, sweet pudding and dried fruit. (And sometimes a goldfish!)
4. Nowruz is preceded by a time of spring cleaning called Khāne-takānī (literally: Shake the house!) that involves “washing carpets, painting the house, and cleaning the yard and attic.”
5. According to Chai and Conversation, “It’s extremely important to get in touch with everyone you know after Nowruz to wish them a happy new year. You can use the phrase nowruz mobarak to say happy new year, or nowruz pirouz, meaning may it be a victorious new year. . .”

Pray with me on this Nowruz that Persian Muslims would experience a spiritual spring and Persian Christians would sense the Holy Spirit’s leading as they celebrate. And that as the two groups gather and intermingle, words of wisdom would be whispered and shouts of joy raised as the life that is truly life continues and increasingly comes to Persians in Tehran, the rest of Iran, and throughout the world. Amen

Tomorrow the Hindu festival called Holi will be celebrated in India and to varying degrees throughout the world. You probably recognize the colored powered that celebrants throw on each other. 

Holi is one of those originally religious festivals that have now grown beyond, like Thailand’s national water fight called Songkran and Christmas pretty much everywhere. 

So why am I focusing on Holi in Muslim Connect? It’s a Hindu festival and “Muslim” is literally in the name of the email! 

Well, some Muslims do participate. Maybe in the way you, as a Christian, might participate in Halloween or do yoga! Holidays and religious practices can be tricky. Muslims who’ve grown up with and socialize with Hindus may want to wish them well and I can imagine throwing colored powder on someone might be fun and not feel very religious. 

However, the day will not be fun for many Muslims, particularly as Holi falls during Friday prayers this year. Imagine how you usually feel about April Fool’s Day, but if the pranksters legit wished you were dead! Or if you were non-Irish and St. Patrick’s Day celebrants turned your water supply green and pelted your house with empty beer bottles! 

In one Indian city in particular, and perhaps many more I don’t know about, police are heading off sectarian violence by pre-arresting a ton of people and planning to be out in force. They’ve even tarped several mosques along the two routes of popular Holi parades to protect them from the colorful revelry. 

It’s tough to be a minority anywhere. May God extend mercy and grace to our Muslim cousins this Holi-day and shine a light of hope and invitation to follow Jesus to Hindus all over as well. 

I heard a stat last night that sounded a little sketchy. You know that sense, “This is probably made up, likely not documented, but certainly punchy.” It was something along the lines of, “More money is embezzled from Christian churches each year than is given to missions.” 

Trouble is, it seems to be true: 

“Applying findings on fraud from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), it is plausible that in 2023, approximately USD 62 billion, or 6.6% of all funds given by Christians globally (USD 945 billion), was lost to fraud and embezzlement. This is, unrelatedly, USD 7 billion more than the total income (USD 55 billion) of global foreign missions.” 

This was written by my friend, Muslim Connect reader and possibly the smartest human I know, Todd Johnson. He co-directs the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and is as reliable as the moon. If Todd says it, I believe it. 

Sorry to drop a bummer on your day, but that’s depressing, isn’t it? I’m thinking of launching a fund raising campaign under the theme of, “This Year, Let’s Give More Than We Steal!”

Two take aways from this little tidbit of information: 

1. Ramadan is not just a time of fasting and feasting for many Muslims, but also giving. It’s also sadly a time for increased fraud associated with that giving. Let’s pray that the money Muslims give to zakat this month would neither be stolen nor used for nefarious purposes, but would put food in the mouths of hungry kids. 
2. If you’re in leadership of a church, this is my gentle encouragement, sisters and brothers, to check your systems and processes. If you need more “snake smarts” in how your money is handled, get it. Dr. Johnson has some starting points at the end of this article. Find additional ideas here. 

There are lots of good dates: Your baby’s due date! The date you finally graduated or finally killed your student debt. The date you came to Christ. 

There are the second kind of dates: Like when my wife-to-be took me for a hot air balloon ride. Or tonight when we celebrate our fifth anniversary! 

And then the best dates: The fruit of the God-blessed date palm tree! Two episodes loom large in my memory: When visiting a short term team in Tunisia, I bought a bag of dates from a street vendor, planning to share them with the team. When I offered, however, they responded with, “Ooooh, ick, yucky, gross. We don’t like dates.” (Apparently this team went straight from 2nd grade to North Africa!) But I got to eat the whole bag! 

The second was earlier in my career during a summer in Jordan. I’d gone for dinner at a new friend’s house. After eating he sneakily beckoned me into his parents’ bedroom, reached high up on a dresser and brought down an ornate box. I assumed this contained the heirloom knife he would use to ceremonially kill me. (I was not long out of Indiana!) Instead the box contained the family’s “good dates.” And, oh my, were they delicious! 

Why am I making you drool over dates? Because dates are big in Islam and particularly during Ramadan. They are mentioned 22 times in the Quran and Muhammad himself is said to have cultivated them. Dates are used to break the daily fast during Ramadan, paired with a cup of tea. 

Here’s the challenge for this week: Make your way to a halal grocery and buy some dates! Ask the proprietor about the significance of dates for Islam. Big time bonus points if you take a selfie with your new friend or simply yourself enjoying dates, and post it for the rest of us to see. Ramadan Mubarak! 

In case you missed it, here’s a brand new weekly prayer guide for Ramadan. I’d love for you to join me in making this available at your church this weekend. (Ramadan begins tomorrow!)

Two weeks ago I shaved my head! I’ve always wanted to do so. Nope, good guess, but I didn’t have lice. My mother-in-law reached the point in her chemo therapy in which her hair began to fall out. She opted for a buzz and my younger son and I joined her in solidarity. 

If I were Muslim, I’m pretty sure this would be frowned upon. Muslims shave their heads when they’re seven days old and when they go on Hajj. Otherwise, they pretty much don’t.

According to a Hadith, “the 117th major sin [is] shaving the head at times of calamity. . . .Because that is showing discontent and a lack of acceptance of the divine decree.” 

While I shaved my head to help Deborah not feel so alone in it, I am discontent with her situation and not inclined to to consider her cancer decreed by God. So, if I were a Muslim, my shaved noggin would be out of bounds. 

On the other hand, if the hair you don’t shave tends toward a “whiter shade of pale,” a friend of mine is looking for you! 

Aaron, the Director of Digital Outreach at Crescent Project, pilots a program called Embassy. He says, “We run Facebook ads in Muslim majority countries that ask, ‘Do you want to practice English by reading and discussing the Bible?’ We connect [vetted respondents] with a volunteer. They meet once a week on an instant messaging app where they work through a creation to Christ Bible curriculum we’ve created.”

The Embassy guys are finding older, retired people to be exceptional “ambassadors.” In fact, Rick, a volunteer from Florida, said, “I’m excited to work with Embassy to reach Muslims online! I find this perfect for me, at almost 80, since I can easily share my faith with Muslim men in Iran and Iraq using my iPhone.”

Do you have the gray hair Aaron is looking for? Check out Embassy. 

In case you missed it last week, here’s a brand new weekly prayer guide for Ramadan. I’d love for you to join me in putting it in our church bulletins this weekend. (Ramadan begins next Friday!)

If you’re the pastor of the church you attend, this will not be very challenging. If you’re not, well, get ready. 

1. Ramadan starts at the end of February. 
2. Prayer is one of the best ways most of us can engage this important time.
3. We can add to our prayers by using our influence to invite others to pray as well.

Here’s the challenge: Download this brand new one week prayer guide for Ramadan, then print and magnet it to your fridge. So far, so good. 

Now the hard part: Ask the responsible party at your church to publish the flyer for the whole congregation! This may mean printing and putting it in the bulletin, passing it out on Sunday morning or emailing it to the whole crew.

Could God use you to multiply your prayers 100 fold? Absolutely. Share this email (or the prayer guide) far and wide. And may God hear and answer our prayers beyond our imagination.