Ramadan a good opportunity to learn about Islam, authors write

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This article was published 21/02/2026 (199 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ramadan began this past week, and it runs until March 19. For Muslims, it’s a sacred time when they pray and fast daily from dawn to sunset, seeking to grow closer to God.

While Ramadan is for Muslims, other religious groups can see it as a good opportunity to learn more about Islam — including during Christian worship services.

That’s the view of Anna Piela and Michael Woolf in their new book, Confronting Islamophobia in the Church: Liturgical Tools for Justice. (Judson Press.)

In the book, the married couple say that taking time to learn about Islam at church can help Christians combat Islamophobia and be better neighbours to Muslims in their communities. As a bonus, it can also help them develop a deeper understanding of their own Christian beliefs.

“By studying Islam and engaging with Muslims, you can be a better Christian,” said Piela, who is an American Baptist USA minister, a senior writer at American Baptist Home Mission Societies, and a scholar of Islam.

“By engaging with other traditions and their scriptures, you are better able to better define what your own beliefs are,” she added.

Woolf is the senior minister at Lake Street Church, an American Baptist church in Evanston, IL. “We really firmly believe that to know only one religion is to know none,” he said. “Knowing more about other religions is actually really important for growing your own faith.”

By way of example, the couple noted that it was discussion with Muslim scholars during the 8th and 9th centuries that helped Christians better define their belief in the Trinity, an idea that was developed at the Council of Nicaea in 325.

“For several hundred years, Christians tried to explain it, but it was hard,” Piela said.

When Islamic scholars started asking questions about how a monotheistic religion like Christianity could have a trinitarian view of God, Christian theologians realized they needed to clarify what that meant. This helped the whole church understand the concept better, she said.

Similarly, talking with Muslims today about the differences between Islam and Christianity can help Christians “arrive at a much better understanding of their faith, rather than just accepting it as a doctrine you don’t think about critically,” she said.

One way they can do that, Piela and Woolf say, is by incorporating teachings from the Quran into worship services. This would be particularly useful for churches that use the Revised Common Lectionary, a three-year cycle of Bible readings used by many Protestant churches around the world.

The couple’s new book “makes it truly easy for people to follow along,” said Woolf, noting it pairs up verses from the Quran with verses used by the Lectionary.

Worship leaders can say, “’I’ve got this reading this week, and here’s some readings from the Quran that are wrestling with the same issues as the Bible,’” he said.

By way of example, he cites the story of Mary in the New Testament, which Christians read at Christmastime.

“Mary has her own chapter in the Quran, in which she’s given more attention,” he said, adding “it’s a really beautiful birth narrative.”

Other people in the Bible that also appear in the Quran include Noah, Abraham, Lot, Joseph, Moses, Solomon, Jonah and Job, along with New Testament figures such as Jesus and John the Baptist.

The book also includes things like prayers of confession about Islamophobia and fear of Muslims; intercessory prayers for Muslims, especially when they experience hate crimes; hymns and worship songs that affirm religious freedom and encourage solidarity with marginalized communities; tools to help preachers address issues related to justice and love of neighbours; and stories that reflect Muslim perspectives on issues of concern to the wider community.

It also offers ideas for how Christians can respond when there is hate directed towards Muslims, including things like holding prayer vigils and laments.

Piela and Woolf acknowledge that for some churches, using verses from the Quran will be a stretch. But they believe God rejoices in diversity, and that God wants members of different religions to learn from each other.

It’s also a way for Christians to counter misinformation about Muslims, including the belief held by some that Islam is a violent and terroristic religion.

“If Christians understood Islam as a tradition that has rich and nuanced ideas about God, it would do a lot to challenge the idea that it’s a violent ideology that is trying to undermine Western civilization,” Piela said.

Piela and Woolf believe that confronting Islamophobia is something all Christians should want to do, along with addressing hate and prejudice of every kind. And the best time to do that is before hate incidents occur.

“You really have to build the ark before the flood,” Woolf said. “You have to build relationships, and you have to know people in the community to be able to actually mobilize folks before Islamophobic and hate-filled events happen. Otherwise, you’re going to be at a real disadvantage.”

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