Making decisions about which books to recommend is a challenge. There are a lot of books being published. Some are a waste of time, others mediocre, while others are quite worthwhile. Then there are those that I would put at the top of the list of must read books. Why? Because I believe we need to know what the book contains and the author’s message.

When this book came across my desk, I picked it up to browse through and found it impossible to put down. As I read the book, having studied and read many others on the topic of Islam, I experienced a multitude of emotions—fright, fear, some panic, challenge to get the word out, and frustration about how best to educate Christians about Islam in our own country as well as around the world. The Secrets of the Koran should be of general, urgent concern for every Christian leader. Why? Because we should have known it before and addressed it more intentionally. It took September 11, 2001 to alert us to the fact that a sleeping giant had awakened.

Prior to that infamous and momentous day, we may have heard that Islam is the world’s fastest growing religion, globally and within America. But hearing it didn’t really get our attention until highjackings and disastrously evil acts killed thousands of people.

If there is one thing we need to understand in order then to ask, God what would you have me to do, it is Islam. Is Islam a religion of peace or a religion of war and violence? Some would have you believe the former and others, the latter. Even our leaders are not that certain just what Islam is, or if they are, they do no communicate clearly to the people.

I have spoken on the topic ‘Islam in America’ on several occasions and have attempted to keep up related events. I feel this topic is crucial because many converts to the Muslim religion in America claim to have had some relation to the Christian church prior to their conversion. While Islam is a false religion worshipping another God than Elohim the Triune God of the Christian faith, many of its followers are people who need to know Jesus Christ and the Gospel. They need to understand not only that Jesus is the Son of God, the only Savior of sinners, but also everything implied by that belief.

Don Richards, known for his famous missionary story (Peace Child), has lived among Muslims for thirty years in Indonesia. He has studied Islam, its people, and its “sacred” book, the Koran. Can Christians opt to leave Muslims alone or must there be some kind of engagement with them? Do you know what is uniquely different about the Koran? Do you know what it teaches regarding violence, warfare, and world dominance?

Here’s what the book brought to mind. There are those who take the Koran, including their Shari and Hadith, literally, though the average Muslim has probably not read either of them. From that perspective, Islam is not a religion of peace but of war. They are the radical supremacists such as the nineteen highjackers and their entire network of people such as Osama bin Laden. They are dangerous because they believe they are responsible to kill the infidels.

Then there are those who claim to be Muslims who do not necessarily agree with the radicals and their literalizing terror, evil, and war. Without attempting to evaluate the difference in this review, you need to read this book. One of the rebuttals often offered by Muslims when the Koran’s teaching is challenged is that you cannot really translate it from the original Arabic. Richardson has researched eight different translations of the Koran to prepare this book. Richardson has taken what he believes are the best translations and worked from them.

With more that 1.3 billion Muslims in the world and well over six million in America, we must become knowledgeable about that religion and how it differs from Christianity. God has not told us to withdraw from the Muslims in our culture but rather to reach out and dialogue with them in hopes of winning some to Christ. To do that, we must know how to talk from a knowledgeable base, as well as from a relational base.

I think every Equip for Ministry reader should be acquainted with Don Richardson’s book in order to seek to reach Muslims with the Gospel. If the idea of Allah, the god of Islam, is an antithesis to Christian theism, then we must know something about that religion. To say that the West, and specifically Christianity, is on a collision course with Islam is no mere cliché. Richardson lays out the objectives of Islam globally and we Christians living in America need to wake up to Islam’s global objective.

In witnessing to the Muslims we need to know how to challenge the system of Islam while seeking not to alienate the individuals; after all, we are to love them for the sake of Christ. Dialogue and meetings for better understanding between Christians and Muslims are an urgent need. Perhaps many think, “Well, I do not know any Muslims.” They are in the cities and neighborhoods, in the institutions and shops of our country. God has brought them to us in order to witness, hear and see the Gospel.

Read this book carefully, prayerfully and realize that God’s objective is different from that mapped out in the Koran.

-Charles Dunahoo

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