Hamida and I were engaged in an intense discussion about Islam and Christianity. We were going around in circles getting nowhere. I knew that the root issue of sin needed to be discussed for that is where everything breaks down. Finally I took a band aid out of my purse. “I want to tell you a story, Hamida, about my daughter.”
I shared with her about the time when Christina kept putting band aids on one of her fingers every time she had her flute lesson. So one day I asked her why she was always wearing band aids. “Because I have a wart on my finger and I don’t want my teacher to see it.” “Oh!" I exclaimed to Christina. “You need medicine to take the wart away, not just cover it up.” Soon after medicine was applied and the wart was gone.
Hamida instantly understood when I explained how we think we can cover up our sin by wearing a hijab, doing some good deed, giving money to the poor, keeping Ramadan faithfully, and saying our prayers five times a day. We don’t want anyone to see our sinfulness – not people and not God. She affirmed that and laughed nervously. We feel ashamed of our sinfulness much like Christina felt ashamed of her wart. When we feel shame we want to cover up our shame in some way that will make everything look okay. Just like Christina needed the right medicine to apply to the wart for it to be gone, likewise we need the right medicine to take away our sin. All those “band aids” we use to cover up our sin don’t take it away. Our sin needs the blood of Jesus Christ for it to be removed. His blood is the "medicine" provided. She looked at me shocked and said, “that is very haram to say according to the Qur’an.” That led into sharing about how sheep were sacrificed in the Prophet Musa’s time to cover our sin but how Jesus became the perfect Lamb of God who was sacrificed for our sin. It was His blood that atones for our sin.
It is not easy to talk about the subject of sin but it is absolutely necessary. It is important to talk about the blood of Jesus and the meaning of the cross. No Muslim can understand the preciousness of the blood of Jesus shed on the cross without understanding the seriousness of sin and that we can do nothing to remove our sin and shame. Spiritual "band aids" will not get to the root of our sin. Hawa shared with me recently that not only Christians get born again but Muslims do, too. An imam had explained to her sons that when they say the shahada everything from the past is washed away and they become like a new born baby. I refuted that explanation and said, "It is not possible for the shahada to wash away our sins. Only the blood of Jesus can do that." Any other way or device is a "band aid" but does not heal us from our sins.
Next time you go out and take your purse slip a band aid in it. Perhaps you will have an opportunity to explain the spiritual lessons we can learn from it.
Dear heavenly Father, please help my Muslim friend to accept the free gift of salvation. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
