USA, October 8, 2007: (HPI note: We found this interesting informaton.)
In September of ’06, author Howie Gardner, Pastor of Bel Air Assembly of God in Maryland, composed a letter to the Muslim World league in Saudi Arabia. The letter has been revised a number of times at the suggestions of various missionaries and theologians. It can be seen in its present form at http://www.cmdialogue.com.
The following January, PrimeStar Publicity head, Helen Cook published an article about the letter which went out over the Christian Newswire. The response was far greater than anticipated. Letters came in from Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, and the Americas. Three Bible Colleges asked permission to use the letter in their curriculum. Even the chaplaincy of the United States Pentagon responded.
Ultimately Gardner came in contact with Kamal Nawash, President of the “Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism” (FMCAT), in Washington D. C. Nawash invited Pastor Gardner and Evangelist Angel Berrios to a Muslim service in Anandale, Virginia and then on to address a group of clerics at a luncheon that afternoon. Gardner reported “we had a very positive and encouraging exchange.”
“We did not take the usual evangelical approach of trying to convince them that the Bible is superior to the Quran. Certainly as Evangelical Christians we believe that and it would make for an interesting dialogue on another occasion. However in this forum we have attempted to stress the concept that one can denounce terrorism with denouncing Islam. There are a number of verses in the Quran which call for Muslims to take arms against ‘infidels’ and today many Muslims understand the verses to be a call to arms against Christians and Jews with the latter seeing them as an affront against themselves. In reality though, Muhammad did not regard either Christians or Jews to be infidels, quite the contrary. Rather these verses are aimed at two groups who were contemporaries of Muhammad-the Quraishi and the Collyridians. Muhammad actually makes direct reference to the latter group twice in Surah 5. Both of these groups apparently advocated not only the worship of multiple gods but also the sacrifice of innocent human beings as part of their worship.”
Our main goal has been to convince Muslim leaders, particularly those from the Muslim World League, to declare a fatwa against school curriculum being used in Saudi Arabia, Palestine and elsewhere which encourage small children to pursue the life of a terrorist.
FMCAT posted Gardner’s letter on their web site and allowed for a free exchange between him and other Muslims as well as Christians and Jews. “Much of the response was hostile” Gardner says. But there were positive signs as well. “One Muslim woman wrote saying ‘Most of us agree with you but we do not have the courage to speak up'” he says.