Reaching Muslim friends with the gospel does not always include apologetics conversations where you debate the Quran and its contents or meaning.A great way to share the gospel with a Muslim is to provide them with the Bible – it is the living message from God that is entirely different from the Quran or anything your Muslim friend has ever read or experienced. Sharing the Bible with a Muslim is one of the greatest gifts you can give them, and the Holy Spirit will take it from there.
The Bible is different from the Quran on countless levels, including its accuracy, truthfulness, and teachings. While the Quran does not name any woman except for Mary directly, the Bible is full of stories of women that reflect God’s heart toward women and His ultimate plan of restoring their relationship with Him.
We love seeing Muslim women’s hearts and minds open up when they discover how our Lord elevates women in His word. Sharing these Bible stories can plant a seed in your friend’s heart. We always recommend that Christian women reach Muslim women since Muslims are very careful about boundaries with the opposite gender.
For Christian men, this doesn’t mean this blog post isn’t for you! Sharing the Bible with your Muslim friend is always important, and you might be surprised by their response to stories that elevate women in the Bible.
One of the stories we suggest sharing is that of Ruth the Moabite, who married into an Israelite family. Her story is so important that she has an entire book named after her. Ruth is a great example of a foreigner who chooses to leave everything to follow the True God and eventually enjoy His blessings.
A key point in Ruth’s story to share with your Muslim friend
The story of Ruth starts in Israel during a famine while the Israelites were under the rule of judges, instead of kings or emperors like the countries around them. A man moved his wife, Naomi, and two sons to a country next to Israel, Moab (current Syria/Southern Turkey); his sons married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth.
Ten years later, all three men died. This left Naomi, the mother, and Orpah and Ruth, the two Moabite wives. The famine was over in Israel, so Naomi prepared to go back to her homeland. Orpah and Ruth followed her. At Naomi’s urging, Orpah turned around to return to her people and marry from within the Moabites, but Ruth clung to Naomi and said:
“Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” (Ruth 1:1-18)
God is gracious to accept everyone
In Ruth and Naomi’s time, different countries and tribes worshiped different gods and tied their allegiance to them. Ruth declares that she will leave behind the Moabite god and people and worship the God of the Israelites, which essentially means leaving behind everything she grew up knowing.
The Covenant God had with humanity in the Old Testament was through the Israelite nation. Still, being the gracious and loving God He is, He adopted people from other nations and groups who were willing to leave what they knew behind to have a true relationship with Him.
Today, when Muslims reach out to our ministry with questions about Jesus, they usually have a question similar to this: “Did Jesus only come to save Christians? Or can I also have a relationship with Christ?”
Ruth could have asked the same thing. Was God only interested in a relationship with the Israelites? But apparently, she learned about this wonderful God from her mother-in-law and she chose to sacrifice everything to be part of His family.
The generational results of Ruth’s faith
There is a whole book about Ruth’s story of obedience, faithfulness, and love where she serves Naomi and takes care of her. She also finds a new husband, Boaz from the tribe of Judah, by following Naomi obediently and trusting in the Lord to provide for both of them.
The Lord honors Ruth’s loyalty and faithfulness by giving her a son, Obed. Obed fathers Jesse, whose youngest son is named David, one of the most influential Kings of Israel and who is prophesied to have the Messiah come through his bloodline. The gospel of Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus to confirm this. Matthew includes five women in the genealogy, which was unheard of at that time, but they were mentioned because of their influence in the Bible’s story: Tamar, Rahab, Uriah's wife (Bathsheba), Mary, and Ruth.
Talking about Ruth with a Muslim woman
Sharing this story with your Muslim friend can open her eyes to many different facts, like God’s true desire for women to be valued, the second opportunity He gives a widow when she puts her trust in Him, or His grace that allows anyone to be in a relationship with Him through grace.
To have a greater understanding of where a Muslim woman is coming from, we suggest reading these posts about Islam’s treatment of women and what the Bible says instead:
Prayer
Dear Lord, thank you for loving men and women equally. Thank you for stories like Ruth’s that show us Your goodness and Your providence. Please give me the words to share this story with my Muslim friend so she might also come to know you. Amen.
