Page 118 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

A History of the Church in Africa

about 70 percent of Muslims practice Sufiism. According to Morin, “A
Sufi is a mystic in Islam who focuses on the internal aspects of religion
as opposed to external form and ritual. His emphasis is love of God. His
goal is union with God” (182). Arzouni adds:

Should the teaching of the Qur’an or the Hadith suggest even
implicitly that baraka could be obtained in a certain way, then
Muslims are quick to use it—often twisting whatever is said
in those teachings to justify all kinds of practices that are
essentially animistic. In our home, when each of my 11 siblings
were infants, we slept on a pillow to which was attached an
amulet containing special verses of the Qur’an. This was done
to ward off what is commonly called the “evil eye” among
Muslims. One of my sisters refused to step outside of the house
at certain hours of the day because of the strong possibility of
being harmed by evil jinn. (4)

The Christian Response

African Christians in the twenty-first century need to ask a serious
question: “Why did Islam succeed where Christianity failed?” Historical
facts indicate that Islam managed to spread its faith across the
Saharan trade routes and far to the south before the message of the
cross triumphed.

As noted earlier, the kind of Christianity that existed in North Africa
lacked vitality. May the church in Africa today respond by saying this will
not happen again. God has created every human being with the capacity
to know Him. Obviously that includes every Muslim. As David Arzouni
has reminded us, deep in the heart of every Muslim is a desire for God’s
baraka (blessings). He concludes his article by asking for a response:

The sad fact is, Islamic baraka is illusive and short lived. The
average Muslim issues and struggles are never resolved by these
practices. The fears, the longing for a good conscience, the thirst
for a lasting peace, the silent cry for real help in time of need—
none of these can be appeased by adherence to orthodox Islam.

Neither do these things deliver a person from evil or heal a person’s
body and soul. If that were so, Muslims would not constantly

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