Monthly Archives: October 2026

We’re looking at what motivates different cultures to follow their moral guidelines. Social scientists identify three main paradigms: guilt/innocence, shame/honor and fear/power. Think of it this way: We have the first of the pair and want or need the second.

Many Muslim cultures, from the Middle East through North Africa to Asia, operate under a shame/honor paradigm. Individuals in these cultures are compelled to do the “right” thing in order to bring respect and esteem to their family and group. Erase shame. Increase honor. 

A Muslim might not primarily concern themselves with whether engaging in a given behavior will make someone guilty or leave them innocent. This can befuddle those of us who understand right and wrong along those lines. (Haven’t they read Romans?!)

Of course there is great variety in this. When Muslims immigrate to Western cultures, their children tend to decouple their religion from their culture. As part of the downstream effect of this shift, we can expect second generation children of Muslim parents to operate more in the Western guilt-innocence paradigm than their parents’ honor-shame. Eliminate guilt. Ensure innocence. 

The fear/power reality also finds its way into Muslim cultures. Under the broad label of Folk Islam, many Muslims look for ways to control the spiritual realities haunting their lives. I’ll never forget one afternoon in India: as the sun beat down, noisy crowds of pilgrims pressed forward toward the grave of a saint. They hoped to gain some power, maybe get some prayers answered by close proximity to his shrine. Quell fear. Possess power. 

Next week, we’ll look at how the prevalence of the shame/honor paradigm impacts our understanding of Muslims on a macro level and our interaction on a personal level. 

The study of worldview is endlessly fascinating. (Or brutally boring if you’re not like me!) The various cultures of the world can be sliced and diced in kaleidoscopic ways, leading to insights about both “them,” and if we’re lucky, “us.”

One such slicing has to do with how we consider the impact of following and failing to follow our moral/social systems. Scholars, missiologists and sociologists consider three basic operating systems in this area: Guilt-Innocence, Shame-Honor and Fear-Power. While every culture has elements of each of these, each culture will tend to emphasize one over the other two. 

Guilt and Innocence
This facet says if you follow the moral code you are innocent. If you break the law, you’re guilty. This thinking is emphasized in Western, individualistic societies. If that is where you live, you may have read the first two lines in this paragraph and said, “Duh!” While seeming self-evident to you and me, it’s not the way everyone sees things. 

Honor and shame
Generally found in Eastern, more collectivist societies, this says that doing wrong brings shame onto you and your group. Shame must be taken care of to restore honor. This is the predominant mindset among many Muslim groups.

Fear and Power
This paradigm is largely seen in tribal or animistic culture in which fear is addressed by trying to amass power or control over evil forces. While not compatible with orthodox Islam, this mindset finds its way into the day to day lives of many Muslims. 

Next week we’ll explore ways in which these three pairs map onto the Muslim world. Shame and Honor dominates, but the other two also have influence. 

If you’ve hung around Muslims much, you’ve heard the phrase Insh’allah. You probably even know it literally means, “If God wills.” But have you ever wondered where it comes from and why it is used so often? I have. 

The phrase Insh’allah comes from the Quran, Surah Al-Kahf 18:23-24, “And never say of anything, “Indeed, I will do that tomorrow, Except [when adding], ‘If Allah wills.’ And remember your Lord when you forget [it] and say, ‘Perhaps my Lord will guide me to what is nearer than this to right conduct.’”

If you think that reminds you of a verse in the Bible, you’re right. James says something very similar in chapter 4:13–15. “Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

While the best way to understand how and why your friends say this is to ask them, here are two main reasons for innumerable Insh’allah’s. 

1. Legit reverence for God
   People serving an omnipotent god are wise to speak with deference to that god and humility about themselves. Jesus taught us to pray to our Father in Heaven, “Your kingdom come, your will be done.” Similarly, Proverb 16:9 says, “A person plans his course, but the Lord directs his steps.

   Sometimes when a Muslim says Insh’allah, she is showing regard for her God. Essentially, “I have an thought, but God knows all truth.”

2. Softening a social situation
   Sometimes Muslims avoid saying “No” or “Maybe” by letting God take the heat. “Can I come to your toddler’s ballet recital? Insh’allah.” According to the The Nuns of Vught in Holland, “In many Arab cultures, preserving harmony and showing respect take precedence over directness.” Insh’allah “gently signals doubt or polite refusal, without saying so directly.”

   They advise close attention to non-verbal clues such as a “pause, a shift in tone, a smile that fades slightly” to discern the meaning of the word.

Interestingly, Insh’allah is popping out of Muslim situations into mainstream culture. Here’s a video of Anne Hathaway recently using it, sounding for all the world like it’s not her first time!

A good friend from long ago preached at my church this past week. We were moved, encouraged and challenged. 

He recounted the 15 years he and his family lived in Syria, doggedly living out and giving out the gospel of Jesus. I remember their faithful, once-a-month prayer letters (They were better at it than I was, and some of you!) always asking for this: “Pray with us for one Syrian family to follow Jesus.”

He shared when his team gathered weekly for worship and communion, they would set aside a cup and bit of bread for the “one family to follow Jesus” they were asking God for. 

At the end of 15 years they went home still waiting for that first family to follow Jesus. 

Four years after their return, two things happened: War began to ravage the country of Syria, and a former teammate who’d relocated to Jordan began to share some good news. The coworker reported that two Syrian families had begun to follow Jesus. Shortly after, three more! 

In subsequent months and years, my friend has been unable to keep up with the track of the growth. He says, “Out of great horror comes great harvest.”

He and his wife met a Syrian refugee at an iftar (Ramadan meal) who told of having recently baptized eight Syrian women. She later visited Syria and baptized 50. The following summer at her sister’s untimely funeral, 70 were baptized!

The psalmist captured the beauty of my friend’s investment so long before we heard the story, “Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.”

Hang in there friends. God is not finished with you nor with gathering glory for himself from Muslims all over. 

Do you feel any uneasiness when you hear the question, “Why don’t Muslims speak out against terrorism?” A pastor and a reporter had a feisty exchange on this question backstage at the recent Republican Midterm Convention. 

On the one hand, if someone does something terrible in the name of Islam, I guess I’d like to hear some Muslims say, “That was a terrible thing and it does not represent Islam.” If a big-time pastor gets busted for embezzlement, I guess I’m inclined to at least think, “That’s wrong and not the way of Jesus nor most pastors.”

But, honestly, I don’t hear many Muslims quoted in the media streams that hit my eyes commenting about anything. After a terrible event, we are often shown what’s purported to be Muslims celebrating the atrocity. I only know a few Arabic words and can’t tell if maybe they’re cheering their favorite football team. 

I read an article today that pushed my thinking on this. It might bug you, but personally I found it worth considering. Author and scholar Dr. Todd Green was interviewed about a book he wrote called “Presumed Guilty: Why We Shouldn’t Ask Muslims to Condemn Terrorism.” In it he expounds on three key reasons why we shouldn’t ask Muslims to condemn terrorism.

“The first reason. . . is that the question itself assumes that Islam is the catalyst for terrorism or the cause of terrorism.” Green argues that religion is never the single cause for terrorism, but exists in the context of political, social, cultural and individual factors. 

“The second reason, which is the one I was the least happy about writing–but I had to do it–was that Muslims condemn terrorism all the time. I mean, Muslim condemnations of terrorism are just ubiquitous.” Dubious? Here’s a list I just stumbled upon listing over 6000 instances, with links! 

“The third reason. . . why we shouldn’t ask Muslims to condemn terrorism [because it distracts] us from that very conversation about our own violent past and our ongoing complicity in a violent world order.”(This is the ouchy part!) Green posits a contemporary example of Jesus’s instruction to consider the log in our eye, not just fret and fuss over the speck in another’s. For me, it’s easier to rail against Muslim terrorism than it is to seriously consider the implications of my tax dollars buying bombs that kill Muslim kids. 

It’s a tough world and way complicated. Jesus, have mercy.

I’d love to hear your feedback on this. If you’re going to write back, can I ask that you read the Green article first? It’s quite possible I’ve unintentionally misrepresented him or muddied his otherwise cogent thoughts. Thanks.