Middle East (MNN) — A senior cleric made waves in Iran earlier this month by saying Islam was weak. Roughly two-thirds of Iran’s mosques have closed, he said – a “worrying admission” for a state built around the principles of Islam.
Uncharted Ministries’ Tom Doyle says it’s part of a broader trend. “There’s just not that general excitement, that fervency to spread Islam that we saw when we started going to the Middle East 25 years ago,” he explains.
“We see tolerance for it. In places like the Gaza Strip, people are forced to make that the issue. For at least ten years, we’ve seen attendance [declining] in mosques, and many Muslims, especially young ones, becoming agnostic.”
Additionally, “we’ve been privileged to go into Iran a couple of times, and [in] the mosques that we visited, we didn’t see any young people; just a bunch of old people, and there weren’t that many of them. We saw the same thing in Syria, in Iraq,” Doyle says.
“I think we’re seeing the collapse of Islam.”
You could say the same about Christianity in America. Church attendance is down across denominations. However, Muslims in the Middle East are not only turning away from Islam. Many are turning to Jesus.
You won’t see them listed on a church roster. “Former Muslim communities meet together in secret,” Doyle says.
“They can’t go into a regular above-ground church; they go to an underground church. An online community of believers meets in several formats because of fear and the need for security.”
Uncharted Ministries partners with secret Christians throughout the Middle East, and you can, too. Contact Uncharted here to learn more.
“You can give and help support the underground churches in difficult places like Iran, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan,” Doyle says.
Or, get training from Uncharted so you can reach a Muslim neighbor for Christ. “We do a seminar [called] ‘How to love Muslims to Christ,’” Doyle says.
“Start learning how to build relationships with Muslims, getting some practical help; [there is] inspiration, and then some on-the-job training.”
Header image is a stock photo depicting an empty mosque. (Photo courtesy of mohammad ramezani/Pexels)