Shane Bennett

When you think of what judgement followers of Jesus might face, which way do you lean: “Hey, the blood of Jesus washes me clean. Which way to my mansion?” Or more like me in a I Cor. 3.15 sort of way, “Dang, I kinda smell like smoke!” Either way, for Jesus followers, eternity is secured and very, very hopeful. (Pause a moment and breathe that in.)

For Muslims, the judgement of God might be a little more complicated. I recently read a brief section from an apparently reliable Hadith (as they go) that says Muslims will face five questions about their lives before proceeding further in the process.

As you read over these, consider two things, ask yourself: 1. Do I know any Muslims I could ask about these? They’re great conversation starters! 2. Should I maybe think about these right now? I know it would be good for me to.

From At-Tirmidhi: The son of Adam will not pass away from Allah until he is asked about five things: 

1. How he lived his life, 
   This kind of sums it up, doesn’t it? Jesus pointed this out in Matthew 25 long before Muhammad was kicking around Arabia.
2. How he utilized his youth, 
   This feels to me like, “So you think you did ok with your life, eh? How about when you were a kid? Huh, what then?
3. What means he earned his wealth with, 
   Wow, such a good question. Do you and I earn our money in an ethical and God-pleasing way? I’m a pastor, so a 90-minute church service once a week and a couple weddings a summer. I’m crushing it!!
4. How he spent his wealth,
   Assuming you’ve earned your money in an Allah-pleasing fashion, now consider how you spend it! Do you really need the grande latte? The top trim level with the heated steering wheel? That’s not fair. The older I get the more I think what you do with your money is between you and God. I’m just reminding us: Good idea to think about how we spend our stash.
5. What he did with his knowledge.
   Wow! So how about it? What do you do with your knowledge? Do you let it puff you up or maybe direct your love toward building pathways pleasing to God and beneficial to his kingdom?

I don’t think Christians will be quizzed like this on that Day, but I suspect giving thought to Muhammad’s big five will leave us smelling less smoky when it comes. 

If you’ve been considering donating some money to the recovery and relief effort in Nepal, but are unsure where to do so, I have two friends who lived there for several months and have a “like family” relationship with a Nepali mom involved in the effort. If you’d like to give through that channel, click here. My friends and I will be grateful. 

This email is Muslim Connect number 500. In a few months we’ll celebrate ten years with prizes, balloons and popsicles. But for today, I’m feeling both grateful and a little sad. 

Grateful for the valiant people who read Muslim Connect, for those who’ve written back with thanks or kind words, and for those who’ve responded to set me straight. (Which I definitely need from time to time.) I’m grateful for every kind action directed toward a Muslim person and every faithful prayer directed to God on their behalf. 

I’m grateful for the rich history of Islamic people groups and for the kaleidoscopic beauty of their cultures.

I’m grateful we live in a day and age where more Muslim peoples than ever before have access to the good news about Jesus and more Christians are actively reaching out to them. Muslims are finding life in Christ and glorifying God like never before. 

I’m sad that Muslims continue to be a focal point for our national angst. I assume the percentage of us who make inflammatory content about Muslims roughly equals the percentage of Muslims doing publicly stupid things. But too much of such content gets too much visibility. 

Finally, I’m hopeful God will accomplish everything he wants. He’ll gain the glory and the followers he deserves. And we’ll enjoy the fullness of his kingdom with countless friends from Muslim backgrounds. 

As a small effort toward that great end, Muslim Connect will continue to encourage us to think about Muslims the way God does and love them like Jesus does. Thank you for reading, praying and taking action.

Guess how members of the Muslim Connect tribe are like my dog. Oh, never mind, you’ll never get it.

A couple days ago, I went out our bedroom window onto the roof over our front porch to fix our internet receiver that had gotten smoked by lightning. As I set the old one down inside I saw a flash in my peripheral vision: Our dog jumped through the open window, sprinted across the porch roof and launched himself into space and onto the gravel 10 feet below. He then proceeded to tear off down the road. . . after a rabbit! 

You see the connection, don’t you? You and I’d jump off a roof to go say hi to a Muslim! Well, maybe not literally. But I’ve changed plans, seats and even countries to get to a good chat. God has simply given us a love and a desire. It’s Jesus; not us. And it can be a lot of fun. 

Here’s a new, timely reason to open a conversation. Its shelf life is short, but I’m betting it’s a low threat, high fun way to connect:

Next week is Mawlid al-Nabi (or simply Mawlid, Milad, or Mevlid), the celebration of Muhammad’s birthday. While some Muslims do not celebrate this, convinced it’s an unauthorized addition to the faith, many do and in a variety of ways. 

Some of them are eerily similar to Christmas: There are songs, poems, sweets, and pageants. Also like Christmas, some Muslims commemorate Mawlid with thoughtful, sober prayers and remembrances of Muhammad. 

This year’s celebration happens next Tuesday, August 26th. 

Here’s the challenge: Ask a Muslim friend or acquaintance, “Do you celebrate Mawlid al-Nabi?” If they say yes, there are a dozen follow ups, including, “Can you tell me a fond Mawlid memory from when you were a kid.” If they say no, drop to plan B and ask, “What other holidays have importance for you?” If you give this a try, I’d love to hear how it goes!

Keep your eyes peeled for next week’s Muslim Connect. It’s a special one! 

There are a number of things that keep me humble. One is semi-regularly learning amazing things about which I had no idea. Today’s? Arbaeen. (arr-bah-EEN)

Have you heard about this? It’s a Hajj-ish Islamic pilgrimage, but mainly for Shias. Sunnis and Shias split over succession of community leadership after Muhammad’s death and when the dominant guys killed Husayn ibn Ali, Muhammad’s grandson in the Battle of Karbala, the minorities found their forever martyr. 

Shias begin to commemorate Husayn’s death on Ashura each year. Then forty days later they gather at his grave in the city of Karbala for prayers and memorials. 

Here’s where it gets crazy: 

• While Saudi Arabia caps Hajj attendance at around 2 million. Arbaeen sees around 20 million these days. It’s the Hajj 10X and relatively little mention makes it to the popular press!
• Many of the pilgrims begin their journey in Najaf in southern Iraq, then walk 45 miles north to Karbala. Along the way, volunteers, often local people along the route, feed, house, charge phones and generally care for pilgrims.
• One million Iranians joined this year’s pilgrimage to commemorate Husayn’s death. They see history echo in the recent killing of their leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
• Arbaeen was disallowed during the reign of Saddam Hussein from 1979 until his U.S.-led overthrow in 2003. This may be part of the reason many of us have not heard about it.
• The pilgrimage is called Arbaeen because that is the Arabic number for fortieth and it signifies the end of 40 days of mourning for Husayn. 

For more information on Arbaeen, check out this reel featuring the biggest shwarma spit I’ve ever seen! Read this essay for a possibly too positive description of the pilgrimage and Wikipedia for the straight scoop.

You saw this, right? Last week around 60,000 mostly young, male Moroccans swam around a fence into the city of Ceuta. I wouldn’t blame you if you’d never heard of it nor can pronounce it. I hadn’t. I can pronounce now it because I’ve been working on it. It’s SAY ū ta. Did you get it right?

The exclave of Ceuta belongs to Spain, but is part of Africa! It’s normally home to a few more than the number who showed up last week. Most of the migrants have gone home now, either of their own accord or at the butt end of a baton. As you’d imagine, Ceuta is still on edge, wondering about the migrants who remain and if this will happen again. 

This matters to the Muslim Connect tribe because 99% of Moroccans are Muslim. While some portion of the world looks on them as lawless, dumb criminals intent on destroying every good thing in Europe, we know them to be people created in the image of God and died for by Jesus. 

Were they breaking the law? Probably. Were they taken advantage of by smugglers telling a too-good-to-be-true tale? Possibly. Were they pawns in a tiff between Morocco and Spain? Wouldn’t be the first time. 

And it might not be the last: Rumors abound that another crush will happen on August 15th. 

Have you ever fallen for a deal that was too good to be true? I have. I nearly lost a ton of money scrambling senselessly to buy a bunch of silly-cheap Blundstone boots from a spoof site. 

Imagine having no job and no real hope there’d ever be a job for you and then hearing reports that Spain is opening the door to migrants. I’d be tempted to try to be one! Wouldn’t you?

Check out Muslim Connect reader, John Lites’ incisive and funny Facebook post riffing on the “invasion.” If reels are more your thing, this one is a helpful intro. 

Finally, thanks to the kind, helpful and obviously amazing Muslim Connect readers who shared some of the questions and opening lines to connect with Muslims. You can check them out here (And add yours, as well!)

I need help! (You have no idea, son.) 

I visited Cave of the Winds yesterday with a bunch of family members (10 out of 10 would do it again!) and was surprised by the diversity of tourists!

Slicing the pie religiously, there were Amish, Jews, Muslims, at least some Team Jesus (Us) and possibly some Hindus and Buddhists. As their uniforms are not as distinct, it can be hard to tell. 

If you slice it along national origin lines, by my guess there were Arabs, Chinese, Koreans, Bengalis, Malays, Indians and likely a passel of “something-Americans.”

Here’s my quandary: I wanted to say hi to many of these people, find out where they’re from and see what they think of trying to breathe at 7000’, you know, all the normal stuff! Trouble is I was stumped to figure out how to start! 

Two of my go to’s, “Excuse me, can I ask what language you were speaking?” and “Where’s that accent from?” needed more time, proximity or official connection than I had. As I sit here writing, it occurs to me that asking, “Have you been here before?” would have worked in a couple of situations, and hopefully not sounded like, “Come here often?” 

Will you help me with this? Let’s make a list of good conversation opening questions for a setting such as this. They might be similar to ones that work at a business convention, a school assembly or maybe even a park. 

Here’s the deal: For most of us, in most of the places where we live, the onus rests on us to initiate conversations with Muslims. Not always, of course, but mostly. I for one, want to be better at it. 

Got a good opener? Have some great ideas that you’ve tried or hope to try? Let’s get a list of thirty on this google doc. Screenshot it and give it a quick look before you go to the mall/park/Cave of the Winds next time!

I’m writing this week’s Muslim Connect from the road while the smart/tough/beautiful wife takes a turn at the wheel. We’re en route back to Colorado from a couple of my favorite places in the world, Mom’s house in Indiana and the New Wilmington Missions Conference in Pennsylvania. 

Here’s what I wish for your soul today: That someone in your tribe will reach out to let you know you matter to them, to God, to the world. My Mom is really good at that. And those precious Presbyterians at NWMC, ahh, they were so kind to me, to Anna and the kids. 

Surely one of the best gifts of God to us is connection with like-minded believers. 

Sometimes we can feel lonely engaging in the Godly activity of advocating for the Gospel among Muslims. If you’ve experienced that, you’re not alone! It comes with the territory, it seems. But maybe we can help our colleagues when they face this. 

Here’s the challenge: Think of three or four friends in the fight, people who share your conviction that God loves Muslims with the same intensity as he does the rest of humanity. Ask the Holy Spirit to bring to mind some who could use a boost. Shoot them a quick text or email, drop a post card in the mail or maybe go a little crazy and call them on the phone! 

Nothing major here: Just let ‘em know you love them. Remind them God delights in them. Tell them their love for Muslims is beautiful and probably just what Jesus would do.

Insightful Read 
A dear friend and Muslim Connect reader pointed me to a challenging article kicking around what happens when Christians see a Muslim doing something Jesus would probably do and mistake him for a Christian. It’s a quick, winsome, but firm nudge to wonder, “How and why do I think like I think?”

Did you ever really want something to be dead? Something socially acceptable like a weed or a spider? Or maybe a little darker like that guy who did stuff he should never have done? 

It’s a human emotion and the Bible is full of people who experience it and sometimes act on it. One of them is Jonah. He tried to out-game God so the Ninevites would die. His eponymous book does not treat him kindly.

Jesus is the great counter-example to Jonah. He’s a brilliant picture of empathy for enemies. In fact, Paul illustrates this in Romans 5, “While we were still God’s enemies, Jesus died for us.” I know you’ve heard this since church camp when you were eight, but how crazy good is that?

Similarly, God calls us to have empathy for our enemies. 

Somehow, at a super high level, that means empathy for people who are calling for the death of our president. 

If like me, you’re unsure what that looks like, let’s try empathy for however many tens of millions of Iranians just want to live their lives, not serve as pawns in a global, geo-political showdown. 

That’s tough, too, so maybe we can try wondering when we see a Muslim family, “What’s it like to be them right now?” and “Jesus, what would a church look like for those guys?”

On the way to that, please join me in emphasizing empathy for people just like us: Family, friends, co-workers, neighbors. 

Some buds and I received training last Sunday in how to care for people reeling from the ongoing forest fire in our broader neighborhood. Our instructor, Kat, nailed it, encouraging us to notice people, ask good questions, invest in relationships and lead people to the deeper hope and life of Jesus. 

It’s not rocket science, but it’s not easy. God help us look more like Jesus than Jonah.

Our home and church building are safe, but we’re not allowed back to them yet. I just chatted with a couple from our church who’ve lost their home. They escaped, from a dead sleep to driving in ten minutes, with a handful of important papers, their pets and each other. To hear them express faith in the midst brought tears to my eyes. 

Around 250 homes have been damaged or lost. Seems like our family’s biggest issue will be removing yucky food from an unpowered fridge/freezer. Right now I’m super happy my smart wife is a vegetarian! Rotting veggies smell, but not like meat! 

Thank you to the many who’ve prayed for us and expressed concern. You made this week easier for us. We are grateful. 

As experience often does, this has built empathy in us. We thank God for that. We’re also grateful for a very special community church service on Sunday. 

If you’re praying, ask God for pastoral wisdom for me, for access to our home in the next two days and for comfort and provision for the many who’ve lost so much. Thanks. 

World Cup: As I write, the last remaining Muslim majority country, Morocco is two hours away from playing France. The irony of the colonized facing the colonizer is tasty. Perhaps the match will be decided by the time you read this. Ah well, it’s just a game, no? 😉

If you’ve been around Muslim Connect for more than a week or two, you probably know I have a soft spot in my heart (and probably my head) for refugees and other sorts of displaced peoples. 

Now we’re experiencing the very slightest introduction to that world. You may have read about an explosively growing wildfire in southern Colorado. Since Monday, we’d been watching, praying, hosting some early evacuees and assuming we’d stay at home until the fire was dealt with. 

Wednesday mid-day we watched the fires creep up and over the last ridge before our house (although still ~5 miles away). Soon our phones began to bark out commands to hit the road. We’d expected a comfortable time of pre-evac, but ended up hitting the road in 15 mins. 

Let me be clear: I’m not saying our situation is within a light-year of what most people experience when forced to flee. But I will say this: I feel more empathy for those who drive or walk away not knowing if their house, their life, will be there to return to. 

This afternoon my wife and I stood in a line at Disaster Services, waiting to register for the card that will eventually let us return to our house or the lot it used to stand on. I looked around and thought, “This is what people do, but in a language they don’t speak, without AC, with people who don’t want them around, with more fear and less hope than we had.”

May God have mercy on displaced people. Us for sure and our chunk of southern Colorado, but even more for people who leave with little hope of return and no end of challenge ahead.