In the “Timeline: The September 11 Terrorist Attacks,” Katherine Huiskes described the horror of the Islamist terrorist attacks in the United States that led to the destruction of the World Trade Center and the deaths of about three thousand people, which she said still lingers in the minds of many Americans.1 The horror for Americans and the Western world is unforgettable. This horrific scenario exposed to the whole world the evil of Islamism—a hateful Muslim ideology that pursues fidelity to the Quran by seeking to destroy and terrorize Western civilization.
1. Katherine Huiskes, “Timeline: The September 11 Terrorist Attacks,” Miller Center University of Virginia.
In describing the horror of Islamist groups in Paris, Beirut, and Nigeria, Kenan Malik states that, “faced with such atrocities, we can often do little but reach for adjectives such as ‘barbarous’, ‘depraved’—even ‘evil’.”2 One wonders why Islamists would attack the World Trade Center without considering that the people in the building could be Muslims and non-Muslims. This attitude is indicative of the ideology of Islamists, who are preoccupied with hatred of Americans and the Western world in large part because of the perception that anything American or Western is related to Christianity.3 This ideological disposition is completely irrational, and it only exposes the horror of Islamism to the world. The impact of Islamism awakened the consciousness of non-Muslims around religious ideology, particularly those masterminded by global Islamist groups. For many Islamists, the source of their hostility is rooted in the Quran (Quran 8:12, 35; 9:5, 29; hereafter “Q”) and Islamic teachings about infidels (non-Muslims), according to Moshe Dann.4
2. Kenan Malik, “Why Do Islamist Groups in Particular Seem So Much More Sadistic, Even Evil?” The Guardian, November 21, 2015.
3. For example, Usama bin Laden—the mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center—wrote, “The United States shall pay for its arrogance with the blood of Christians and their funds.” See Usama bin Laden, “To the American People,” Office of the Director of National Intelligence, 2016.
4. See Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, trans. ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd Ṣiddīqī, “The Book of Faith,” no. 22, Sunnah.com. See also Moshe Dann, “The Challenge of Islamism,” The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune, April 2026.
Islamists claim to be authentic Muslims and are polemical towards other Muslims who disagree with their ideological disposition.5 In his article, “Muslims vs. Islamists,” Soner Cagaptay postulates the idea that Islamists are not actually Muslims, but they represent a political ideology that seeks legitimacy from Islam.6 However, Islamists and Islamism are primarily rooted in Islamic sources, as the drive is anchored in the literalist interpretation of the classical Islamic source. This is well echoed in the analysis of Malik, which reveals that those who view jihadis or Islamists as unreal Muslims miss the point because they are not less Islamic, as they claim that they are warriors against Western influences.7 But how do non-violent Muslims react to the deeds of Islamism?
The Horror of Islamism and Its Impact on Muslims
In Being and Belonging: Muslims in the United States Since 9/11, cultural anthropologist Katherine P. Ewing reports on the analysis by Craig Joseph and Barnaby Riedel of a Muslim private school in Chicago’s response to September 11 and to increasing ethnic diversity. In light of these two factors, the school shifted from a curriculum of religious doctrine to a secular educational program that teaches universal values. Ewing states that a series of poignant interviews reveals that the school’s students clearly understand that “while 9/11 left deep wounds in their community, it also created a valuable opportunity to teach the nation about Islam.”8
5. See Ayman S. Ibrahim, A Concise Guide to the Quran: Answering Thirty Critical Questions (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020), 96–100.
6. Soner Cagaptay, “Muslims vs. Islamists,” The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, July 8, 2016.
7. Malik, “Why Do Islamist Groups in Particular Seem So Much More Sadistic, Even Evil?”
In the same vein, the horror of Islamism leads other Muslims to question their religious beliefs, just like Chandler Peterson reported in “A Former Islamic Extremist’s Miraculous Conversion to Christianity.” Peterson described the frustration of Ahmed, an Islamic extremist, who was devoted to Islam and faithfully following the Muslim sources to fight and persecute Christians, who were considered polytheists and infidels, according to Ahmed. In his confession, Ahmed said that his devotion to Islam has never given him peace because he was always disturbed and dissatisfied with a religious ideology that burned and ransacked Christian homes, churches, and kidnapped Christian girls. In his frustration with the horror of Islamism, Ahmed questioned the credibility of Islam, wondering what kind of God would want people treated like this.9
8. Katherine Pratt Ewing, ed., Being and Belonging: Muslims in the United States Since 9/11 (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2008), catalogue description.
9. Chandler Peterson, “A Former Islamic Extremist’s Miraculous Conversion to Christianity,” Global Christian Relief, April 19, 2024.
This encounter reveals that Islamists, though passionate about Islam and the exemplary lives of Muhammad and his companions, are haunted by the horror of what Islamism leads to, namely dissatisfaction, lack of fulfillment, and lack of peace. The only way to true satisfaction, fulfillment, and peace is in Jesus Christ, as Scripture says, “he [God] satisfies the longing soul” (Ps. 107:9a) and “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).
Disappointment with the Horror of Islamism Creates a Gospel Opportunity
In a life encounter with the horror of Islamism in Africa, a Somali former Muslim shared his experience of dissatisfaction with Islam when his father was brutally killed in his presence by Al-Shabaab, the deadliest Islamist group in Somalia, and a radical Islamic movement.10 He shared that after encountering the horror of Al-Shabaab Islamists, he couldn’t imagine himself as a Muslim, submitting to Muhammad and the Quran. His internal struggles and quest for a legitimate religious answer to his questions culminated in his gospel encounter with faithful Christians, which led to his conviction in Christianity by faith in Jesus Christ.
10. Ayman Ibrahim, A Concise Guide to Islam: Defining Key Concepts and Terms (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2023), 149.
In the statistical report on Muslim converts to Christianity, Tobin Perry stated that one reason Muslims encounter the gospel of Jesus and convert to Christianity is “disillusionment with Islamic extremism.”11 However, it is important to note that Muslims’ disappointment, in itself, is not the means of their conversion. The gospel of Jesus Christ, faithfully proclaimed by Christians, is the exclusive means of legitimate conversion. Jesus Christ is the exclusive way to God, the Father (John 14:6), and salvation exists exclusively in Christ (Acts 4:12). Christians are to see Muslims’ dissatisfaction and discomfort with the horror of Islamism as an opportunity for gospel conversation.
11. Tobin Perry, “How Many Muslims Convert to Christianity Each Year?” Global Christian Relief, May 13, 2025.
A Powerful Tool for Gospel Conversation
The good news is that, as Islamist groups around the world consistently mastermind their Islamism, more Muslims are exposed to the illegitimacy of their religious views, leading them to abandon Islam after encountering the horror of Islamism. These scenarios are opportunities for Christians to present the legitimate religious view found in the gospel of Christ. Christians are invited to “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). Therefore, Christians ought to engage our Muslim neighbors apologetically and polemically.
From an apologetic perspective, it is appropriate to engage our Muslim neighbors with challenging questions about disillusionment with Islamism. In Reaching Your Muslim Neighbor with the Gospel, Ayman Ibrahim suggests using the Jesus method of asking questions to draw out your Muslim friend.12 For example, you might ask: if Islam is a religion of peace, as Muslims claim, why do some Muslims kill other Muslims and justify their actions in the classical Islamic sources? Or you might say: how do you interpret the violent texts of the Quran, and especially the beginning of Surah 9:5, “kill the polytheists wherever you find them, and seize them and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush”? When asking questions about Islamism, be prepared to defend the Christian faith as the only legitimate faith tradition (1 Pet. 3:15). These conversations can expose the horror of Islamism and further reveal the illegitimacy of Islam and its practices, while also contrasting with the truth of the gospel.
12. Ayman Ibrahim, Reaching Your Muslim Neighbor with the Gospel (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022), chap. 9.
I used this approach with a Muslim friend, and he expressed dissatisfaction with Islamism. He said that the Islamists are ignorant, referring to the Islamic Jahiliyyah—‘age of ignorance’ or spiritual darkness, meaning that he believed that Islamists are in spiritual darkness. However, Islamists claim they are the authentic Muslims instead of non-violent Muslims, since Islamists follow the whole Quran. So what’s the answer? This is a good opportunity to transition to the Bible to talk about spiritual darkness, Christ as the Light and Prince of peace, and the peace that Muslims desperately need.
We ought to engage our Muslim neighbors in one-on-one persuasive debates to expose the illegitimacy of Islam by pointing to the horror of Islamism, and by pointing out how Islamists claim authenticity over non-violent Muslims. This persuasive tool is an evangelistic engagement aimed at taking captive every Islamic thought and making it obedient to Christ. This approach also creates an opportunity to share with dissatisfied Muslims that some Muslims abandon Islam because of the ideological disposition of Islamists. For example, NBC News reports the testimony of a Muslim who said, “If ISIS represents Islam, I don’t want to be a Muslim anymore. Their God is not my God.”13 In another horrifying encounter, a Muslim woman testified, “If heaven is made for ISIS and their belief, I would choose hell for myself instead of being again with them in the same place, even if it’s paradise.”14
13. Farhad Jasim, 23, who attends the Church of the Brethren, told NBC News. See Yuliya Talmazan, “Life Under ISIS Led These Muslims to Christianity,” NBC News, February 3, 2019.
14. Talmazan, “Life Under ISIS Led These Muslims to Christianity.”
Conclusion
Recognizing that Islamists are literalists who use the Quran and Sunnah to justify jihad today, Christians must know that some Muslims disagree with Islamists and reject the literalist approach to interpreting the classical Islamic sources. This ‘bone of contention’ over the legitimate interpretation of Islamic sources and who qualifies as an authentic Muslim is a ground for Christians to engage Muslims with the gospel. Christians should boldly ask the right questions, as dissatisfied Muslims are questioning Islam, and be prepared, seeking opportunities to build gospel bridges and witness to Jesus Christ among their Muslim neighbors. Christians, as disciples of Jesus Christ, are commanded to obey the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18–20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8), proclaiming the good news of salvation to Muslims as the necessary means to a right relationship and satisfying intimacy with God (Rom. 5:1; 2 Cor. 5:21).15 By showing Muslims the horrors of Islam and its inability to satisfy humanity’s deepest needs, Christians may lead Muslims to gaze instead on the beauty, peace, and saving grace of Christ.
