I have often disagreed with Sam on a many great deal of things, some might say on everything, but today is a different day. Today, this day, I want to thank Sam Shamoun for being a friend to the Muslim community, a hero to Muslims everywhere.

In Muslim communities throughout the world, nothing is as effective to counter missionary work than to have Christian missionaries holding a view of Islam that is roundly offensive to them. This is why today, we are proud of our friend and colleague, Sam Shamoun. Sam’s recent crusade to argue that all Muslims are either violent terrorists or deceiving others about their inherent violent tendencies, has allowed those who follow him to be abysmal in their witnessing to Muslims. Where we once had missionaries smiling and telling us about love and their relationship with Jesus the Christ, we now have gun-toting, screaming Christians, saying that Muslims either need to be deported or to be destroyed for the sake of the democracy. Where we once had missionaries handing out Bibles and tracts on Christian scripture to Muslims, we now have missionaries handing out tracts about the dangers of Islam, the secret plots of Muslims and pieces of scripture here and there painting us as the anti-Christ.

Anti-Shariah protesters stand at the intersection of Abrams Road and Centennial Boulevard during an anti-Shariah protest and counter protest Saturday, June 10, 2017, in Richardson, Texas. (Ryan Michalesko/The Dallas Morning News)

Instead of having to teach Muslims the basics about Christianity, or to teach them to answer common arguments, the sheer hate and antagonism we find from folks like Sam Shamoun, David Wood, Usama Dakdok and Brandon Howse, provide for us preemptive missionary repellent. Rather than sitting down and having meaningful discussions about the differences in our faith, Christian missionaries now house both a fear of Muslims and a dislike for wanting to sit with us for fear of being branded apostates and sell-outs, as we have seen since the White-Qadhi dialogue. Sit down with Muslims and discuss their faith with them? That’s a no-no in today’s missionary world, you’re basically sitting with the enemy and allowing them to practise their taqiyyah (deceiving) skills on you. No, this is not satire, I’m lifting this information directly from the aforementioned folks’ social media pages. Sitting with a Muslim to discuss their faith is no longer a goal of Christian missionaries and apologists, for doing so is to apostate from the Christian faith, as Sam Shamoun and Brandon Howse have indicated.

My job as a Muslim apologist has never been easier. Muslim to Christian converts who once dreamt of bringing their families to Christ, now house an internal dread of being branded a turncoat or a useful idiot to Muslims for being nice to us. Muslim to Christian converts who grew up in Muslim families are now forced to be silent when false generalizations of all Muslims being blood thirsty murderers are shared and endorsed by folks like Sam Shamoun, David Wood and Usama Dakdok. These Christian apologists are not only alienating Muslim to Christian converts, they are inadvertently, providing for them a way back to Islam. The sheer association of having Muslim heritage is enough to brand you a taqiyyist (deceiver), an apostate or a person compromised in the gospel of Christ for merely holding to the view that not all Muslims are bad people. The idea that Muslims, like Christians, and every other ideological group on the face of the earth is anything but homogenous and monolithic is appalling to folks like Sam, Wood, Dakdok and Howse, and it is a blessing for Islam.

Rather than having to do counter-missionary work and teach Muslims how to counter basic arguments used against Islam, God has provided us some reprieve by making Christians fear and hate us. Rather than witnessing to us, we are being left alone…for the glory of Christ (as Sam would say)! My job has never been easier and without the support of Sam Shamoun and his crusade against Christians who are friendly with Muslims, he’s effectively become a hero to Muslims.

and God knows best.

Categories: And Now for Something Completely Different, Christian extremism, Christianity, Extremism, Islam, Life in the West

Tags: apologetics, Brandon Howse, david wood, hero to Muslims, James White, missionary work, sam shamoun, Usama Dakdok, witnessing to muslims, Yasir Qadhi