A GUIDE TO MISSIONARY TACTICS
iqbal
This guide is intended to improve awareness about the tactics used by some
groups and cults. The tactics of missionaries and missionary groups may
vary, but there are some basic guidelines to keep in mind that will be
helpful in dealing with them.
HIDDEN AGENDA
Some missionaries attempt to develop a rapport with their subject without
divulging their own religious affiliation or intention. As an example to
make making them seem less "Christian" missionaries are coached by their
superiors to avoid using words such as "Christ", "savior" or "baptize" (or
Bahaullah or Mirza Ghulam Qadiani).
If you are not sure about the religious identity of the stranger who begins
talking to you about religion, ask him directly about his beliefs and
agenda. Be suspicious of an indirect answer. Remember these people aren't
interested in dialogue or trying to improve Anglo-Muslim links but are often
in SECURE PAID EMPLOYMENT to Sell Christianity (or Bahaism or Qadianism).
CREATING DOUBT
When talking to a Muslim about religion, a missionary may attempt to elicit
as many "I don't know" responses as possible, in order to establish his
superiority in matters of religion. Don't allow yourself to be intimidated!
Remember, the missionary has studied Islamic beliefs for the sole purpose to
sell Christianity to Muslims (i.e. they only follow a template given to them
and do not have an overall understanding of Islam). Their hearts are sealed
and they are no longer interested in truth. Keep in mind that he is not
speaking to you in order to exchange ideas, but rather to create as much
doubt in your mind and lead you away from your faith. If you want to learn
more about the Quran, do so from someone who doesn't have hidden motives.
Therefore, feel free to simply end the conversation and walk away.
Remember that many of these questions and associations they are trying to
sell have been debunked many times by more learned Muslims. If they were
interested in dialogue the would be speaking to respected elders and
community leaders exploring common ground improving understanding and faith
in the community, but all one sees are the often the same question again to
unsuspecting victims. Ask yourself what do they hope to gain?
However, some of you may want to listen to their arguments and then learn
the Muslim response, in order to be better prepared for future encounters.
One must also remember that many missionaries intentionally go into Muslim
areas (in Britain) so they train themselves and create the most seductive
"Sales Pitch" they can manage. Once they have finished there training in
salesmanship they will target unsuspecting Muslims (the lonely, vulnerable
and weak) lacking in knowledge.
The following pointers should give you a basic idea of what to look for.
DECEPTION
The missionary may tell you that he (or a Christian friend or acquaintance)
was once a Muslim, or that he had a solid Muslim education, a traditional
Muslim family life, etc. This is almost always a lie, so don't let him fool
you. The hidden message that he is attempting to convey is that he came to
accept Christianity after knowing and overcoming all of the Muslim
objections (Jesus being son of god, Bible being corrupted by man etc.), and
therefore, why should you bother to check it out?
He may drop certain Islamic phrases or talk about the details of his
"traditional" Muslim upbringing, in order to lend more credence to his
story. In fact, his "memory" is often the result of careful coaching.
The missionary might tell you that he knows the Islamic objections to his
arguments, and will then proceed to show how such objectives are
ill-founded. Don't expect to hear the real Islamic response from such a
source.
GOOD, BAD OR UGLY
Don't be taken in by the "good cop - bad cop" routine. This routine involves
a "bad cop" who threatens the subject, and a "good cop" who protects him
from the "bad cop". The subject is so grateful to the "good cop", and so
worried about losing the good-will of his protector, that he invariably
shows his appreciation by telling the "good cop" what he wants to hear. In
similar fashion, the "good" Christian talks about how much he loves and
respects Muslims, while denouncing the "bad" Christians who hate and have
persecuted Muslims. The naive and ones lacking in knowledge of Christian
history and bigotry will feel grateful to the "good cop", and may
automatically judge him to be a friend and reliable ally. Watch out for
hidden motives behind such "friendship".
WHO BELIEVES IN THE SON OF GOD?
At the outset, the missionary will talk about his belief that Jesus is the
Messiah. Many Muslims don't find out until later, often after they have
joined a Christian friendship group, that their fundamental belief is that
Jesus is god. Any talk about "the Messiah" or "son of god" is merely a cover
for that belief, basic to Christianity . However, since such a concept is
repugnant in Islam, this most basic belief of Christianity is glossed over
as much as possible when missionaries talk to Muslims.
PROOF or SPOOF?
Don't be impressed by the claim that Christians have 50, or 100, or 300
"proofs" that they are correct in their claims about Jesus. As proof after
proof is shown to be meaningless, the missionary will hide behind his
numbers, as if to say: "Well, we have so many more proofs, what's the
difference if you can disprove some of them". He will attempt to "split the
difference" with you: "Well, even if half our proofs prove nothing, we still
have another 25 or 50, or 150". Remember, all of their proofs can be shown
to be untenable. Keep in mind that a faulty point is not worth 50% of a good
point, or 25%, or 10%. It is worthless. The simple mathematics are: 50 x 0 =
0, 100 x 0 = 0, 300 x 0 = 0.
CIRCULAR REASONING
Very often, the reasoning used by Christian missionaries is circular. That
is, the "proof" only points to something if you believe it in the first
place, and therefore there is no proof at all.
MISTRANSLATION
Be aware of the problem of mistranslating. A person who is not familiar with
Arabic can be lead to accept a mistranslating which puts a Christian "twist"
on a verse that never had such a meaning in the original. If you can't check
it out yourself, talk to a reliable person who can. Remember, it is no
coincidence that the Muslims of past generations, who were much better
versed in the Arabic, never had any serious problems refuting Christian
missionary arguments.
In addition beware of Christian Translations of the Quran, many date from
sixteenth to the eighteenth century with the sole intention to discredit
Islam.
Please keep in mind ANY translation (interpretation) of the Quran will most
definitely contain errors from its natural language (Arabic), the Quran is
the direct Word of Allah (God) to mankind through the Prophet Muhammad
(peace be upon him). Any translation of the Quran no longer retains that
'official' and perfect status, however it can be tremendously helpful to
beginning students wanting to learn more about Islam.
We would strongly encourage those wanting to learn about Islam to purchase a
copy of the Quran but with the following conditions:
get one with commentary (tafseer)
make sure the tafseer is scholarly (e.g. references to reasons behind a
verse, references to hadith and sunnah, etc.).
QUOTING OUT OF CONTEXT
Often a verse will be quoted to you that has been taken entirely out of
context. When the entire chapter that contains that verse is read, it
becomes clear that it does not corroborate the Missionary.
Conclusion : Selling Timeshare or Christshare? (or Qadianism or Bahaism)
You may recognize many of the tactics used by some Missionaries in selling
their faith as they have similarities to disreputable Timeshare and Double
glazing salesman, and this raises some interesting points:
Why would one propagate faith in such a deceitful and underhanded way, is it
because:
God will not aid ones seeking the true path?
A bad product is difficult to sell unless you dupe someone?
If you are genuinely interested in faith
Why don't you go ask someone with a sound knowledge and understanding of
Islam, instead of targeting the naive, vulnerable and the weak.
Why do you seek out the naive and week and then intentionally ask
Mischievous questions, when they have been answered many times by learned
scholars and by people that you have approached over the years? Surely this
does not add to knowledge or understanding.
Why do you target Muslim.
Considering the moral depravity often in your own family and neighbourhood
and within so called Christians.
Is it because Muslims are wealthy in faith?
Is it because you have so much hatred for us and you are unable, incapable
or tired of other methods?
RIDICULE There is a very large number of publications by Muslims explaining
Islam in plain and simple English. Look in any public library for books on
Islam, a large proportion of them will be by orientalists and Christian
missionaries, what do you think motivates someone to write a book on a
subject one does not believe in and an area that has been already covered by
numerous other books?
Remember Christian "Translations" of the Quran whose sole intention was to
discredit Islam.
CRUSADES Butchered everyone including defenseless women and children or any
one else that got in there way. Although it has taken many hundreds of years
Crusaders have improved they now only kill some women and RAPE THE REST. The
twentieth centuary has seen "Ethnic Cleansing" replace the word Crusade, in
1996 one of the youngest recorded victim of rape in Bosnia was a baby of 4
Months old. Many women and children had two of there fingers severed by the
Serbs so that the three remaining fingers would remind them of the Trinity.
Jochen Katz
In article <6ov1j8$i2n$1...@usenet01.srv.cis.pitt.edu>,
"iqbal" <iq...@mailbox.co.za> writes:
} A GUIDE TO MISSIONARY TACTICS
} This guide is intended to improve awareness about the tactics used by some
} groups and cults. The tactics of missionaries and missionary groups may
} vary, but there are some basic guidelines to keep in mind that will be
} helpful in dealing with them.
I am starting to read some dawah manuals. Maybe I should write
of my experiences of Muslim dawah and their methods?
} HIDDEN AGENDA
} Some missionaries attempt to develop a rapport with their subject without
{ divulging their own religious affiliation or intention. As an example to
} make making them seem less "Christian" missionaries are coached by their
} superiors to avoid using words such as "Christ", "savior" or "baptize" (or
{ Bahaullah or Mirza Ghulam Qadiani).
} If you are not sure about the religious identity of the stranger who begins
} talking to you about religion, ask him directly about his beliefs and
{ agenda. Be suspicious of an indirect answer. Remember these people aren't
} interested in dialogue or trying to improve Anglo-Muslim links but are often
} in SECURE PAID EMPLOYMENT to Sell Christianity (or Bahaism or Qadianism).
At least nobody can accuse me of not saying plainly what I think
and who I am. I hope that gives one plus point in our interaction.
And I have never been paid by anyone for any of my postings or
the web work in general. I wonder how negative Muslims see those
full time imams and da'is who make a living of it?
} CREATING DOUBT
} When talking to a Muslim about religion, a missionary may attempt to elicit
} as many "I don't know" responses as possible, in order to establish his
} superiority in matters of religion. Don't allow yourself to be intimidated!
Well, I do ask questions quite a bit. But has it ever entered your
mind that some of these questions are actually important and essential?
If you don't know what the answer is, you should go and think about
it and research the issue. The question is not intimidation but that
you may start to think about important questions.
} Remember, the missionary has studied Islamic beliefs for the sole purpose to
} sell Christianity to Muslims (i.e. they only follow a template given to them
} and do not have an overall understanding of Islam). Their hearts are sealed
} and they are no longer interested in truth. Keep in mind that he is not
} speaking to you in order to exchange ideas, but rather to create as much
} doubt in your mind and lead you away from your faith. If you want to learn
} more about the Quran, do so from someone who doesn't have hidden motives.
} Therefore, feel free to simply end the conversation and walk away.
I wonder how often you entered a conversation with a Christian
interested in understanding and truth, with the openness to change
your religion if the Christian can give you good answers? If that
openness was not even considered, does that mean you were not
interested in truth and your heart is sealed?
} Remember that many of these questions and associations they are trying to
} sell have been debunked many times by more learned Muslims. If they were
} interested in dialogue the would be speaking to respected elders and
} community leaders exploring common ground improving understanding and faith
} in the community, but all one sees are the often the same question again to
} unsuspecting victims. Ask yourself what do they hope to gain?
That was a precious piece of writing.
Do you ever ask your co-religionists why they are passing out
Islamic leaflets and pamphlets and booklets to Christians who
are not educated very much about their own faith or Islam?
Why do you do such a despicable thing, instead of going to the
spiritual leaders and educated Christians to ask your questions?
I wonder how many Muslims who do dawah are indicted by this
above paragraph? I would think the majority of all of them.
Ask yourself, what do they hope to gain?
} However, some of you may want to listen to their arguments and then learn
} the Muslim response, in order to be better prepared for future encounters.
} One must also remember that many missionaries intentionally go into Muslim
} areas (in Britain) so they train themselves and create the most seductive
} "Sales Pitch" they can manage. Once they have finished there training in
} salesmanship they will target unsuspecting Muslims (the lonely, vulnerable
} and weak) lacking in knowledge.
Okay, let me be very concrete. Why do Muslims very specifically
target the underprivileged group of African Americans? And why
do Muslims do a lot of prison ministry? Could it be that they
are doing their sales pitch to the lonely and vulnerable and weak?
It's the speck and the log thing, you know...
} PROOF or SPOOF?
} Don't be impressed by the claim that Christians have 50, or 100, or 300
} "proofs" that they are correct in their claims about Jesus. As proof after
} proof is shown to be meaningless, the missionary will hide behind his
} numbers, as if to say: "Well, we have so many more proofs, what's the
} difference if you can disprove some of them". He will attempt to "split the
} difference" with you: "Well, even if half our proofs prove nothing, we still
} have another 25 or 50, or 150". Remember, all of their proofs can be shown
} to be untenable. Keep in mind that a faulty point is not worth 50% of a good
} point, or 25%, or 10%. It is worthless. The simple mathematics are: 50 x 0 =
} 0, 100 x 0 = 0, 300 x 0 = 0.
That is a good point. I wonder if the insight is ever applied to
the many "proofs" for Islam? I have not yet been presented even
one solid piece of evidence that the Qur'an is from God.
And when one after the other of those claims falls apart, the
Muslim feels it doesn't matter, because there are still many
others.
} CIRCULAR REASONING
} Very often, the reasoning used by Christian missionaries is circular. That
} is, the "proof" only points to something if you believe it in the first
} place, and therefore there is no proof at all.
I am glad you recognize that. You mean a reasoning like this:
The Qur'an is the word of God because the Qur'an says the Qur'an
is the word of God?
The Qur'an is from God, because it was brought by a prophet of God,
Muhammad? And Muhammad is a prophet because the Qur'an says so.
Take your pick. Which one do you like better?
} MISTRANSLATION
} Be aware of the problem of mistranslating. A person who is not familiar with
} Arabic can be lead to accept a mistranslating which puts a Christian "twist"
} on a verse that never had such a meaning in the original. If you can't check
} it out yourself, talk to a reliable person who can. Remember, it is no
} coincidence that the Muslims of past generations, who were much better
} versed in the Arabic, never had any serious problems refuting Christian
} missionary arguments.
That is a good one too.
I am discovering more and more Muslim mistranslations of the Qur'an
made deliberately to fool people and make it more useful to bash
Christians.
If you want to know about some of them, have a look at
http://answering-islam.org/Quran/Versions/
I am collecting them now, as they come up.
} In addition beware of Christian Translations of the Quran, many date from
} sixteenth to the eighteenth century with the sole intention to discredit
} Islam.
And beware of the 20th century Muslim mistranslations of the Qur'an
too. See above.
} QUOTING OUT OF CONTEXT
} Often a verse will be quoted to you that has been taken entirely out of
} context. When the entire chapter that contains that verse is read, it
} becomes clear that it does not corroborate the Missionary.
That is a favorite one too. I see it all the time on Muslim web
sites. Complete and utter nonsense the quotations they rip out
of the Bible, and sometimes even those out of the Qur'an.
You need an example? Just ask me for those out of context quotes
from the Bible. I have plenty. The Qur'an ones I will have to dig
for. But I have seen them.
} CRUSADES Butchered everyone including defenseless women and children or any
} one else that got in there way. ... Bosnia ...
I agree, horrible and sinful and un-Christian.
Shall we point to the genocide of the Christian south by the Islamic
government of Sudan? Shall we point out the recent and seemingly
well planned and systematic rapes of non-Muslims by Muslims in
Indonesia? Shall detail the ongoing oppression of the Christian
minority in Egypt and Pakistan by the Muslim majority? Maybe you
would consider condemning the anti-non-Muslim laws in those
countries, the discrimination of non-Muslims and actually do
something about it?
I know you were not the author of the posting, but you posted
it and as such you agree with it. I would like to discuss this
and not just leave it at those accusations.
Sincerely,
Jochen Katz
Jochen Katz
} In fact it has also been histirically true over the recorded history. The
} colonization of Africa actually was paved by missionaries like Dr Livingston who
} used an abominable intellectual fraud: by leading the simple West African folks
} to believe that Medicine was actually Christanity via the miracles of Christ.
I think you meant to write "hysterically" not "histirically". :-)
But before some people swallow your claim as fact, would you please
document your accusation? When and how and where did Dr. Livingston
present his medical help as a "miracle of Christ"? As an act of the
love of Christ in his own heart that moves him to help those in need.
That is appropriate. And then every doctor knows that it is not just
"pills", and a Christian doctor naturally combines his medical help
with his prayer for the suffering. And answered prayer is indeed the
active miracles of Christ among us. But the pills themselves are not
other than in a very indirect way.
One thought that just comes to mind that might be similar to this
thinking. We see a lot of Muslim web pages about the achievements
of Muslim scientists (particularly in earlier centuries) and the
message is clear: These pages do credit those achievement to Islam,
the religion.
If that is a proper way to look at it, if science that is done
by Muslims is to the credit (and somehow is viewed as evidence for
the truth) of Islam itself, why would you find it improper if the
medical progress made by Christian scientists and doctors is
credited to Christianity?
I don't think this should be done, but Muslims do this all the
time, and as such I find it hypocritical when Muslims then turn
around and think it is intellectual fraud when others do the
same.
Jochen Katz