FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)–With more than 1 billion Muslims worldwide and 6 million to 9 million in the United States, the numbers of the world’s fastest-growing religion are imposing and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is responding.
In its continuing effort to equip Christian leaders and laypeople to minister to members of the Muslim faith, Southwestern will hold the Summer Institute of Islamic Studies beginning in 1999.
According to Samuel Shahid, director of the Islamic Studies Center at the Fort Worth, Texas, seminary, the number of Muslims in the United States is rising because of immigration from 60 countries, a high birth rate among Muslims and the conversion of Americans to mainstream Islam.
“Jesus died for Muslims, too,” Shahid said. “We have, as Christians, a responsibility to reach out to them”
Southwestern, the only Southern Baptist educational institution to offer a program in Islamic studies, will provide the summer institute’s six courses to help anyone who feels called to a ministry to Muslims. A special certificate will be awarded for the completion of all six classes, but any number of courses may be taken. During the six weeks of intensive study, students can earn up to 12 hours of credit in Islamic studies.
Shahid encourages students to meet Muslims and learn about the religion and the reasons people became Muslims. He wants students to discover the obstacles to faith that hinder Muslims who consider Christianity.
According to Shahid, Islamic studies give students a deeper, more objective knowledge of Islam as a religion, culture and political movement. The program helps students discover the basic similarities and differences between Christians and Muslim and to devise loving and sensitive ways to effectively reach out to the myriad Muslim people.
“We have to keep in mind that the Muslim world is not a homogenous world; it is heterogeneous,” Shahid said.
While the basic doctrines are the same, various Islamic sects have different practices, even different levels of tolerance, he added.
Bryan Pinson, a master of divinity student at Southwestern, said that before enrolling in the current Southwestern course, “Islam: A Christian Inquiry into Islamic Faith and Practice,” he had very little understanding of Islam but now knows more about the origins of Islam and the similarities between it, Judaism and Christianity.
“Hopefully it will help me have more compassion,” Pinson said.
Though the courses are electives, there has been an excellent response to them. Shahid said plans include expanding the program into a research center where trends in the Islamic world would be monitored, and consultation and motivation for missionaries returning to the field would be given.
Shahid, who earned his Ph.D. in Middle Eastern and Islamic studies from the University of Chicago and has written more than 36 books in both English and Arabic, was named director of the Islamic Studies Center in March.
For more information about the Summer Institute of Islamic Studies or the Islamic Studies Center at Southwestern, contact the World Missions Center at P.O. Box 22418, Fort Worth, TX 76122 or (817) 923-1921, ext. 7500.
