Inflated estimates of Muslims converting to Christianity are putting the lives of these vulnerable followers of Jesus Christ at risk, warns an expert on Islam and Christianity.
Reports in recent months have cited “astounding statistics of conversion”, noted Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, international director of the persecution watchdog group Barnabas Fund, in a newsletter Wednesday. These exaggerated figures incite Muslim violence against converts and inspire greater Muslim evangelism, he said.
“Muslims view apostasy from Islam as bringing shame and humiliation on the Muslim community,” Dr Sookhdeo, a former Muslim, explained. “Publicising that there are large numbers of converts deepens the shame and loss of face.”
In response, many Muslims believe the shame is best removed by the shedding of blood of not only the convert, but those who seek to convert Muslims, he said. Some may even go further to take revenge and restore honour to Islam by attacking anyone associated with the “Christian” West.
Dr Sookhdeo offered several reasons behind the exaggeration of the number of converts. Sometimes it is due to pure miscalculations stemming from the lack of clear information, such as names of the converts, when collecting data. At other times, it is because cross-cultural missionaries misinterpret what they see. For missionaries who grew up in an individualistic Western culture, he said, they might mistakenly believe that 1,000 responding to an “altar call” means that 1,000 people have accepted Christ into their lives.
But in many local cultures, people are more likely to go to the altar because of their community mindset than because they believe in Jesus Christ. In other words, they see their neighbour going to the front of the church and they follow.
Another reason behind number inflation is that people are unaware of historic indigenous churches in many Muslim-majority countries. So when someone sees a large Christian congregation, such as in Egypt, they mistakenly assume that all the worshippers must be converts from Islam.
There are also cases of deliberate efforts to exaggerate the numbers of converts. Muslim leaders have sometimes offered false numbers of Muslims becoming Christians in hope of alarming Muslims to persuade them to give more generously to Islamic missionary efforts.
