I refer to the letter Ban on ‘Allah’ term bizarre . The writer asks, ‘What is wrong with the Christians using the term anyway? What is the real worry?’

Let me tell the writer that the real worry is the proselytising activities by evangelists in this region. It is no secret that this is part of the area has been targeted by evangelists for ‘church planting’ and it is in this light that the whole controversy about the usage of ‘Allah’ has to be viewed.

Among the evangelists’ work is The Joshua Project which states that ‘... the 10/40 Window is the rectangular area of North Africa, the Middle East and Asia between 10 degrees and 40 degrees north latitude [...] called ‘the Resistant Belt’ and includes the majority of the world’s Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists [...] (and) the 10/40 Window has several important considerations: first, the historical and biblical significance; second, the least evangelised countries; third, the unreached people groups and cities; fourth, the dominance of three religious blocs; fifth, the preponderance of the poor; sixth, the strongholds of Satan within the 10/40 Window’.

The purpose of the Joshua Project is ‘to spread passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ’. The Mission of the project is ‘to highlight the people groups of the world that have the least Christian presence in their midst and to encourage pioneer church-planting among every ethnic people group’.

So, contrary to what the writer claims, it is not Muslims who ‘can’t live with differences and try to impose their will upon others’; it is the evangelists’ striving to turn every Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist in the world into Christians and that is how ‘conflict inevitably results’.

As the letter The issue is proselytising, not terminology points out, the use of Islamic terms is a way to lure Muslims to Christianity.

The evangelists acknowledge that Muslims are the most difficult people to evangelise to. A visit to some of the evangelist links clearly shows the degree of sophistication they use to proselytise to Muslims. See here and here .

The blurb to a video called the ‘Malay Video – Malaysia & Singapore 1999' has this to say:

‘The Malays welcome both friend and stranger with warm smiles and friendly faces. Yet only a handful have chosen to follow Jesus Christ. Essentially 100% of the Malays are Muslim. In general, they are content with life, identifying with Islam to the point that they believe ‘a Malay who gives up his religion will cease to be a Malay’. Unless something changes, they will live and die beyond the reach of the gospel. Now is the time for bold, powerful prayer and strategic planning.’

Now, is this not propagation of religious doctrine or belief among persons professing the religion of Islam and how is this practice in peace and harmony with Islam?

Evangelical proselytising is a problem Muslim nations encounter, as seen in Afghanistan where missionaries go in the guise of aid workers.

In Malaysia, there are laws to prohibit the proselytising to Muslims and the Federal Constitution provides for other religions to be practised in peace and harmony with Islam.

Thus Muslims in Malaysia have to be vigilant of the Christian evangelical movement which comes in many guises seeking Muslims to apostatise, undermine the constitution and damage the fabric of the country.