Shane Bennett

I sometimes think the differences between Muslims and Christians are not too many, but are very significant. It’s like a chasm you think you could jump across, although wide enough to be a little scary. But if you don’t make it to the other side, the fall down the crevasse is way farther than you’d like. 

On this Good Friday, I suppose most Muslim Connect readers are thinking of the crucifixion. And that’s where we find the chasm-deep division between us and our Abrahamic cousins. The Quran portrays Jesus as a prophet and a good guy, but someone who probably didn’t die. 

Divine? Nope. 

Crucified? Close, but not quite.

Resurrection? Not needed. Didn’t die.

You might be surprised to learn the beginning of Muslims’ “Jesus-didn’t-die-on-the-cross” conviction rests unsteadily on just one verse of the Quran. Here’s the verse, “That they said (in boast), ‘We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah’; – but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not.” Q4:157

As Gregory Lanier brilliantly unfolds, that verse is probably talking more about the Jews looking bad than about Jesus dying or not. At the very least, the exegesis is tricky, the idea is mentioned only once in the Quran and it only shows up lightly in the Shia (not Sunni) Hadith. 

The alternative idea that Jesus was swept up to Heaven supports both Shia and Sunni eschatology. Denying the crucifixion makes the Resurrection a moot point, which serves your case when you want to view Jesus as just a guy, a really good guy. 

But if he was crucified. . . and he did rise from that death. Well now, that changes everything, doesn’t it?

You’d be forgiven if you find yourself tracking bad news into your house these days. Seems like it’s everywhere. The country’s at war. Gas prices are through the roof. Airport security lines are out the door! 

Could you use a little good news? Me, too. 

Muslims coming to Jesus
Ted Essler, president of Missio Nexus, said in a recent article, “Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have made decisions to become Christians in the past twenty years. One can visit any one of a number of countries and find not just Muslim converts to Christ, but entire ministry teams made up of former Muslims, reaching their neighbors.”

As an example he told of meeting an African man who’d memorized the entire Quran and had qualified to teach in mosques. After encountering Jesus, a “completely different theological framework fill[s] his teaching, mind and heart.”

Holy Land-ish Tours
As much as I hate this war in the Middle East, here’s a possible, very slight, silver lining: If your church has had to cancel a Holy Land tour, perhaps you could encourage a visit that would involve more interaction with Muslims. Say a visit to Istanbul and retracing Paul’s journeys. If you’re feeling adventurous, head east to see a softer side of Islam in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur. If low risk is now at the top of the list, four long days in London would allow you to introduce your friends to representatives from most of the Muslim world.

Dennis is Out!
After over a year in custody in Afghanistan, linguistic academic and friend of Muslims, Dennis Coyle is home. This video of him hugging his mom is worth wading through the ads! I imagine “home” is hard for Dennis to get a handle on. He spent most of the past 20 years in Afghanistan. Please join me in thanking God for his release and praying for his present transition. 

If you’ve got some good news to share, I’m big time happy to hear it. 

If you’re reading this Muslim Connect when it drops, Eid al-Fitr, the celebration at the end of Ramadan, begins tonight and hits full stride tomorrow. Feel free to screenshot the image above and use it on your socials. 

While Muslims all over celebrate Eid with new clothes, celebratory prayers, visits to family and gifts for kids, here are some regional highlights I find fascinating:

Syria
In Damascus, community ovens draw together celebrants and huge trays of desserts. At home, “Eid scrubbing” is an intense cleaning effort in which families ensure every corner of the house, including walls, is cleaned to make it “brighter than bright” for the holiday.

Nigeria
In northern cities like Kano and Katsina, local leaders dress themselves and their horses and camels in their “Sunday best” and parade through the streets, accompanied by horsemen, guards, and musicians.

Malaysia
Malay families “visit the graves of their loved ones who have passed away. At the graveside, visitors offer prayers for the deceased.” In some parts of Malaysia an Eid tradition continues that involves the firing of ceremonial cannons. As you might imagine, this is an Eid highlight for teenage boys!

Bali
In nearby Hindu-majority Bali, officials estimate 1.7 million of the 4.4 million people on the island will travel home for the holiday. Adding to the challenge, Eid al-Fitr coincides with a Hindu ceremony that consists of island-wide 24-hour period of silence! No one is supposed to leave their homes except for medical treatment. 

Iran
Muslims in Iran celebrate both the end of Ramadan (Eid al-Fitr) and the beginning of spring (Nowruz) on the same day this year! Writer Niloufar Haidari poignantly shares, “. . . families are making their Nowruz and Eid preparations under military bombardment, not knowing whether they will have a home or even be alive to see in the new year. The bazaars, traditionally bustling this time of year, are quieter than usual. Shops are closed, work has stopped. Nevertheless, life persists. Jasmine flowers bloom, their petals covered in ash.”

May peace, hope and the abundant life of Jesus spring forth in the coming year. 

With all the crazy, terrible stuff going on in the Middle East right now, it’s hard to remember, Muslims around the world are celebrating Ramadan. In fact, they’re coming up to the end. One of the most significant times in the month, Laylat al-Qadr, or Night of Power will take place on Sunday, March 15th. (That’s the best guess. It’s unknown when the night actually happens.) 

Laylat al-Qadr commemorates when Muhammad first began to receive the Quran. Surah Al-Qadr in the Quran quotes Allah describing it, “The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.” (Qur’an 97:3) Muslims believe all the good things they do on the Night of Power are multiplied many times over. One writer says a, “night of sincere prayer, charity, and remembrance can bring rewards greater than a lifetime of worship.”

Wow, that’s putting a lot on one night! 

A Muslim legal scholar says this about the importance and breadth of prayer during Laylat al-Qadr:

“Remember this is the night in which Allah decrees your rizq (provisions) for the coming year, so implore Allah; cry your heart out as they say so that He may give you what you desire. Don’t think what you’re asking for is too much for Allah, nothing you ask will decrease His dominion. You want money, ask Him, you want a wife/husband, ask Him, you want a job, ask Him, you want children, ask Him, you want peace of heart, ask Him, anything you desire ask.”

In 1 Kings 8.43, when Solomon is dedicating the Temple, he asks God to hear and answer the prayers of the outsiders. Based on that, I think we’re wise to ask God to answer Muslims prayers during Laylat al-Qadr in such a way as to bring them life and him glory. 

PS: Bonus points if you snag an opportunity to lead your whole church (or a subset) in prayer this Sunday!

“Truth is the first casualty of war,” goes the old saying. Close on its heels is a burgeoning population of refugees. I can’t imagine what it’s like to face the decision of fleeing my home, but many Iranians are facing that today. 

And here’s the crazy part: Iran hosts more displaced people right now than any country in the world! Most of these are Afghans who fled the multiple messes in their country. 

With the now two week old war already displacing people, where will they go?

The U.S. is an unlikely option. President Trump set the refugee limit for 2026 at 7500, the lowest level since the program began in 1980. The majority of those visas are slated to go to white Afrikaners from South Africa. 

With most of Europe in the process of locking down and preventing undesired immigration, it’s unlikely Iranian refugees will be welcomed there with open arms. 

Since all commercial and civilian flights in and out of Iran are stopped, no one is hopping a plane to a safe country. This leaves buses, cars and feet taking refugees to adjacent countries. 

In case your Middle East geography is not up to Jeopardy standards (mine wasn’t), here are the states that border Iran (Clockwise from the west): Iraq, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Forbes says, “If displacement from Iran accelerates, Turkey and Iraq are the most likely immediate destinations due to geography and existing migration routes. But both countries are already under significant pressure from earlier refugee waves.” Turkey already hosts 3-4 million Syrians and has seen an uptick in Iranians since the brief military action in June of 2025.

As is usually the case with displaced peoples, there are no solutions that are not brutal and gut-wrenching. Let’s pray the war will be brief with minimal civilian impact.

I don’t know how full and rough your life is right now, but I bet it’s not as bad as a Ramadan Mom. Consider this:

1. Everyone’s getting up early for breakfast. She’s getting up earlier to make breakfast. 
2. Once she gets breakfast going, she’s got to wake up grumpy kids and hubby. Many of you wake family up for school, but imagine for a month, they’re getting up an hour earlier!
3. After breakfast, she gets sluggish school kids and grumpy husband (No cigarettes now the sun’s up!) out the door and cleans up breakfast.
4. She maybe catches a break by not having to make lunch? Not so fast, the kids still at home aren’t fasting. And since breakfast was early, they want to eat again at 10.30am, noon and 2pm!
5. She then decides what to make for iftar (the fast breaking meal) this evening while stressing over how to afford the extra food for the extended family hubby invited over!
6. She cleans up after iftar, probably while everyone else drifts off to sleep.
7. Dropping into bed, she worries about her own lack of prayer during the day. She hopes God honors her fast, even though she didn’t make it to the mosque and she snuck a little baklava late in the afternoon.

Ramadan Mom is strong, tired, faithful and sometimes invisible. But not to God. As Hagar, her great foremother first declared, “You are the God who sees me.” At the angel’s direction, she named her boy Ishmael to commemorate the profoundly good news that God hears. 

May God hear her prayers, wedged among the extra work, this Ramadan. And may he hear ours for Ramadan Moms throughout the Muslim world.

PS: Click here to download a one page weekly guide to praying for Muslims during Ramadan. 

Holy holiday hat trick, Batman! The Lunar New Year was yesterday. Today marks the beginning of both Lent and Ramadan! Given the number of people who celebrate the Lunar New Year and the number of Muslims and Christians who could keep Ramadan and Lent, upwards of 6 billion people have a religious, or semi-religious, observation going on right now! That’s nearly three-quarters of the planet! 

Does Lent carry special significance for you? Muslim Connect readers come from a variety of backgrounds and likely have a variety of involvement with Lent. If your forehead is ashed as you read this, good on you. May God meet you in a special way. Maybe you’re giving up something for Lent? I’m planning to stay off Facebook. That will be of some value. If I can take some portion of my “redeemed” Facebook time and use it to pray for Muslims during Ramadan, that would be of more value! 

I wonder what Christians get from Lent. I also wonder what Muslims get from Ramadan. Maybe there is some overlap. Here’s my quick take on how Muslims benefit, or hope to, from dedicated practice of the fast. 

1. Obedience
   God said to fast, so we’re going to do it. When I do it successfully, I honor God and I show myself that I’m an obedient follower.
2. Community
   We do this thing together. We’re committed to each other, or at least we engage in this common-across-the-religion practice together.
3. Family
   As you probably know, Ramadan is a season of increased family activity. It may be rigorous during the day, but it’s warm and wonderful when the sun goes down.
4. Forgiveness
   “The word ‘Ramadan’ is derived from ramad, which refers to the intense burning heat of the sun. Thus, ‘Ramadan’ is the month in which the sins of the believer are burned by their righteous deeds.” It is a time of repentance and seeking forgiveness.
5. Show off Islam
   This one is a hunch: I suspect there is sometimes a sense of pride in actually practicing a challenging part of the faith. Here’s how the convo plays in my head, “You’re giving up Facebook for Lent? Wow. For thirty days, while the sun is up, I will not eat, drink, smoke or get frisky with my spouse. Pretty much same same!”

   PS: Click here to download a one page weekly guide to praying for Muslims during Ramadan. 

Our church’s bookkeeper also helps lead our prayer efforts. I asked him to give an announcement promoting the 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World booklets that we’ll pray through during Ramadan. He did well with the announcement, but upgraded it with an amazing story:

He and his friend were on a prayer journey in the Middle East. They were feeling a little feisty one day at lunch and asked their waiter if they could pray for him. “After all,” he said, “That’s what we were there for!”

The waiter agreed, then recounted how he’d had a dream the last two nights about Jesus. In the dream Jesus was calling the waiter to follow him! 

My bookkeeper/prayer warrior friend said, “We can pray with you right now to accept Jesus and begin to follow him. Would you like to do that?” 

The man said yes. They all prayed and he began his walk with Christ that day. 

If you read Muslim Connect, you’ve most likely heard about Jesus showing up in Muslims’ dreams. I love it that such things happen and I love hearing a first-hand example from someone I know! Add to that the reliability of a story told by a bookkeeper, because, as you know, they mind the details and don’t exaggerate! 

Thanks to God that he continues to pursue Muslims, showing up in all kinds of ways, including both mundane and miraculous. 

Should God bless you with a conversation with a Muslim this week, can I encourage you to follow my friend’s example and ask if you can pray for them? It’s been my experience that they’ll usually, sincerely say yes. 

Who knows what God may then do! 

P.S. Let’s pray for more stories just like the waiter’s. Grab your prayer guide, so we can all be on the same page (literally!) as we pray through Ramadan together.

I got a call today asking me to consider not showing the halftime show during our church’s Super Bowl party this Sunday. Apparently Bad Bunny really is!

I’m not sure what’s right or wrong on this, but I’m confident the safer route for me as a pastor is to not show it. But then I also think, it’s safer to not even have a Super Bowl Party. And honestly, it’s probably safer not to have a youth group. No kids get hurt, messed up or misled on my watch if I have no watch! 

This ends up landing me here: It’s always safer on the couch. 

Not sure if you should show the HT show? Don’t have the party and avoid the decision.

Nervous about a new relationship? Don’t engage. Stay on the couch. 

Didn’t finish your “Read Through the Bible in a Year” program last year? Stay on the couch and keep your Bible on the night stand this year. Much safer to not start than to fail again.

The maxim is also a good antidote to involvement with Muslims. 

If you’re considering a new effort to connect with or bless Muslims, let me be clear: It’s safer to stay on the couch than it is to introduce yourself to someone, to advocate for Muslims’ welfare within your church, to visit a Muslim city, and the couch is certainly safer than relocating yourself and your family to a distant Muslim neighborhood. (And asking people to give you money to do so!)

So why do we do it? Why do we care about Muslims? Why do we, at least slightly and temporarily, set safety aside and get off the couch?

Paul captures the why in Romans 15.16 “God gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God. . . .” 

Like Paul, we’re given grace so we can offer the living God to Muslims. And then, grace upon grace, we offer Muslims to the living God! Muslims get the life they need. God gets the worship he wants and deserves.

Join me in resisting the safety of the couch?

PS: If you want to tell me what to do about the halftime show, I’m listening!

Ramadan, the annual month of fasting for Muslims, begins on (or around!) February 18th. 

You could recognize this time in any number of ways:

1. Move to a Muslim country for the rest of your life. No time like Ramadan to start that!
2. Take a group of friends to pray on site in a Muslim city! Choosing to go pray among the Muslims of Norilsk, Russia would be advantageous if you plan to fast with them. Since the sun rises at 9:18 AM and sets at 5:25 PM there this February and Muslims only fast during daylight hours, your task would be less arduous than for most.
3. Fast for a day or two or 28! You probably know more than me about fasting, but I know this much: A grumbly tummy serves as a good reminder to pray!
4. Speaking of prayer: Praying for Muslims, and inviting others to join you, are two of the best things you can do to mark Ramadan. Check out #5 on the list, then I’ll share some ways to pray.
5. If it’s possible, hang out with Muslims! Invite other non-Muslims to do so with you. Ramadan is a time of great hospitality and unusual spiritual openness. Ask God to connect you to Muslims with whom you can walk through Ramadan.

Prayer Ideas
Grab a pdf version of the excellent, perennial 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World or get one (hundred!) in print from faithful Muslim Connect reader John at Bibles for the World. 

I’m planning to make these available at my church and around. This might create a bit of a ruckus there and at your church. Maybe you could ask for some space in the bulletin or on the website to put a weekly prayer request. This could be low key provocative, but I think it’s a righteous ruckus! 

Finally, give a listen to Jeannie Marie’s just uploaded podcast about Ramadan. She’s way smarter than me! Great info, winsomely presented. 

Now go make a righteous ruckus!