Though Islam, like Christianity, is a global religion that seeks the conversion of all people, Islam is challenged by a particular approach unavoidably tied to
seventh-century Arab culture. Muslims around the world struggle to pray in the Arabic language, memorizing a holy book only available in Arabic.
Christianity, in contrast, translates into local human cultures and languages. In the Christian faith, the eternal God of all creation translated Himself into a local human form and adopted the language and culture of the Jewish people. In the same way, Christianity has advanced by translating that eternal gospel into local cultures.
Around the world, Christian communities worship God in their own language. They call God by a thousand different names, each infused with meaning by the translated Bible that reveals to them the “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5) that we all share.
While the gospel is being faithfully translated into every language on earth, it remains the same faith that was “once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3).
It’s become popular for some Christians to draw the line of faithful translation at the name “Allah”. Apologists have argued that Allah is, in fact, a different god. Some even point to its roots as an ancient Babylonian moon goddess. Other philologists argue that the name “Allah” more likely relates to the ancient Semitic word for God (Elohim) that appears in our Hebrew Bibles.
What is irrefutable, though, is that Muslims do not worship a moon goddess, nor even admit the existence of a moon goddess; Christians must certainly agree with this. Perhaps more important is that Arab Christians worshiped God as “Allah” long before the birth of Muhammad. Arab Christians, and indeed several other major language communities such as the Hausa of West Africa (35 million) and the Indonesians of Indonesia (250 million), continue to use the name “Allah” exclusively to refer to the God of the Bible. They recognize, as all believers should, that the importance of a name lies in the sacred revelation—in our case, the Bible—that gives it its meaning.
Every movement of Muslims to faith in Christ today has coincided with a local language translation of the Bible. Translators call these local translations in Muslim communities, “Muslim idiom translations”.
The beauty of the Christian faith is that it translates into local cultures and languages. We should rejoice that God has chosen to reveal Himself to each people group in their own language and culture. The nonnegotiable in this translation is the Bible meaning that infuses each word.
LET’S PRAY
- Pray for the continued translation of the Bible into local Muslim languages and dialects so that all Muslims will understand
the gospel message. - Pray for unity among Christians who make efforts to convey the truth of the gospel to the Muslim world.
- Pray that non-Arab Muslims will recognize that they don’t have to abandon their own language and culture to approach and worship the God of all creation.
Post credited to the editors at Worldchristian: visit http://www. worldchristianconcern.org/donate to support mission efforts to reach the unreached for Christ.
