A Wake Up Call

In April, we had the privilege of traveling to Alberta, Canada, for a ministry trip that deeply impacted us, both positively and negatively. We were invited to speak at the Engaging Islam Conference to equip believers in that region to understand Islam, reach Muslims with the Gospel, and respond biblically to what is happening in their communities.

During the trip, I taught six sessions, including preliminary sessions and practical workshops. I shared my testimony, taught on What Every Christian Needs to Know About Islam, and sounded the alarm by pointing to my home country of Iran. I explained how quickly a beautiful and prosperous nation can be transformed when Islamic ideology gains control. In a short time, Iran went from a thriving nation with a rich history and culture to a nation marked by oppression, fear, persecution, and Islamic terrorism. I also ministered on practical tools to engage Muslims with Christ and share the Gospel boldly.

What we saw in Canada confirmed the warning we have been giving the Western Church for years. Islam is no longer a distant issue confined to the Middle East or foreign mission fields. It is now shaping cities, neighborhoods, schools, and communities across the West. Muslims are pouring into our nations in large numbers, and the Church must decide whether it will remain silent and unprepared or rise with courage, clarity, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Problem is Real

Many of the Christians we met in Canada were deeply concerned. As we talked with them, they shared how rapidly their cities and neighborhoods are changing. They told us that Muslims from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Palestine, and many other places are pouring into their nation.

Some neighborhoods have completely changed. Parts of Edmonton, especially in the north, are now being referred to as “Arabia.” Mosques are being built. Halal markets, restaurants, and shops are appearing on every corner. We were told by a teacher about two new Islamic schools where only Muslims are allowed to attend because they are Sharia schools.

Even our host warned us not to walk around on our own after dark because certain areas were no longer safe. Edmonton was once known as one of the cleanest cities in the world, but no more. We saw run-down areas with trash piling up like a third-world country. Parks and nature trails that no longer looked the way people remembered them.

Christians see the changes happening around them and feel the pressure, but many do not know how to respond. Muslims are moving into their communities, yet many believers have never been equipped to understand Islam, answer Muslim objections, or share the Gospel with confidence. For years, media, academia, and even compromised pastors have trained Christians to stay quiet, avoid hard conversations, and fear offending people more than they fear God. That mindset has left many believers passive, confused, and unprepared.

In my second preliminary session, I brought the warning closer to home by sharing the story of Iran. I explained what Iran looked like before the Islamist takeover of 1979 and how quickly everything changed once Muslims gained control of the government. Iran collapsed into a hellhole of Islamofascism, unlivable for anybody who disagrees with it. What happened there should serve as a warning to every Western nation that assumes it could never happen here.

I warned the believers in Canada that the West is not immune. Canada, America, and Europe must not assume that what happened in Iran could never happen in their country. If the Church refuses to understand Islam and remains silent, nations can change much faster than people think.

What ICI Is Doing About It

We are sounding the alarm, not to produce fear, but to awaken the Church to action. We are helping believers understand the reality of Islam, the spiritual condition of Muslims, and the incredible Gospel opportunity that is before us.

We are not only reaching Muslims ourselves. We are also equipping the Church to reach Muslims with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the workshops, I taught practical ways to engage Muslims with Christ: how to share the Gospel, how to share your testimony, how to answer common Muslim objections, and how to pray for Muslims. Later, in front of many conference attendees, I had the opportunity to demonstrate this in a home church gathering where 40 to 50 Muslims and others were present.

We spent time in fellowship, and then I shared my testimony along with a clear Gospel message. Afterward, I asked if anyone wanted to accept Jesus Christ as Lord, and one Muslim said yes.
Then I asked if anyone needed prayer. One person stood up and said, “I have had pain for a long time, and I need healing.”

The Bible says in Mark 16:20, “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.”

So I prayed. As I prayed, the power of the Holy Spirit touched this person in a powerful way. She became extremely hot to the point of removing layers of clothing. Later that day, she came back to another meeting where I was preaching and testified that she was able to climb the stairs without pain — something she had not been able to do for many years.

This is what happens when the Gospel is preached with boldness. The Lord confirms His Word with signs following. I believe part of training and equipping the saints is to model the Scripture before them.
Many people attended the conference, and many were encouraged and equipped. They left with greater confidence, realizing that they do not need to be Islamic scholars before they can witness to Muslims. They do not need to wait for years before telling a Muslim about Jesus. They can love Muslims, pray for them, and boldly share the truth of the Gospel.

One of the most encouraging moments came through a young lady who was volunteering at the conference. Her father was Lebanese, and because of her Middle Eastern background, she had a special burden to reach Muslims, especially those from the Middle East.

Over the years, she had been involved with mission organizations that taught her that if she wanted to see Muslims come to Christ, she first had to build a long-term relationship with them and earn their trust before sharing Jesus.

But after attending our workshops on Effective Witnessing, she came to us deeply impacted. She asked, “Is it really that simple to share the Gospel with a Muslim? You mean I don’t need to befriend them first or learn everything about Islam before I can share the Gospel with them?”

That question revealed something important. Many Christians love Muslims and want to reach them, but they have been burdened to believe that evangelism is far more complicated than it really is.

The Answer Is the Gospel

After the conference in Edmonton, we traveled to Red Deer, Canada, where we met a remarkable family: a mother, son, and daughter who have been making a tremendous impact among newcomers in their city.
More than fifteen years ago, the son was approached by a friend who worked at a resettlement agency. His friend asked what could be done to help the growing number of Muslims arriving in the city.

The son suggested, “I have a home that is perfect for BBQs. We could do a BBQ to get to know them.”

Since then, this family has hosted weekly BBQs for newcomers. These gatherings have become a place of community, friendship, and ministry. Because the event is not a government-sponsored program, they are free to share the Gospel openly. Through this simple act of hospitality, people have come to Christ.

As they got to know these refugees, they began to see their practical needs. Out of that, they started ESL classes. Today, those classes are hosted in the basement of the son and daughter’s business and using the Bible as English literature.

Recently, they have purchased a second home, where they now provide housing for six young Muslim men. Three of them have already become Christians, and a couple of others are showing interest in the Gospel. The son is discipling them, helping them grow in Christ, and teaching them how to navigate life in a new country.

While we were there, we had the great honor of baptizing one of these young men, who is originally from Iraq.

Now imagine if this model was adopted by churches across the West. What would happen if thousands of Christian families began engaging Muslims effectively with the Gospel? Then when Muslims who come to Christ are discipled, strengthened in their new faith, and equipped to reach their own people without the same language and cultural barriers that many Western believers face.

This is how multiplication begins. One family reaches out. One Muslim comes to Christ. That new believer is discipled and becomes a witness to others. The Gospel begins to move further and deeper into the Muslim world than ever.

What is Sharia?

Islam and Sharia: Inseparable, and Incompatible with Western Christian Civilization

Western leaders repeatedly draw a reassuring line: “We uphold freedom of religion, therefore Muslims and Islam are welcome. But Sharia is incompatible with our values and has no place in the West.” President Trump combined warm Ramadan greetings with a firm policy against immigrants who believe Sharia should replace American law. Governor Abbott has defended Muslims’ right to mosques and worship while declaring, “Sharia law is not allowed in Texas.”

To Western ears, it may sound natural to separate Islam from Sharia. Many people assume Islam is simply a private religion, while Sharia is a separate legal system that only some Muslims choose to follow. But that distinction is wrong. Islam means surrender, but surrender to what? To the will of Allah. How that surrender is done? Sharia is the prescribed way of living that surrender out. The confusion comes from viewing Islam through a Western lens, where religion is often treated as a private matter. Islam, however, is a complete system of belief, worship, law, morality, family life, and public order. When policymakers fail to understand that relationship, they can make serious mistakes with consequences.

The Western View of Religion vs. Islamic Reality

In the modern West, shaped by centuries of Christianity, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment, “religion” is often understood as a personal, private matter of conscience. It concerns one’s relationship with God, moral values, and voluntary community practices. Most who are born Christians in the West today treat their faith as a matter of individual belief. One can identify as Christian while living a largely secular life. Church and state are distinct. Faith is protected but does not dictate every detail of civil law. Religious liberty means the right to believe, worship, and even change one’s faith without state coercion.

Islam operates on an entirely different paradigm. The word “Islam” itself means submission or surrender to the will of Allah. A Muslim is “one who has surrendered.” The will of Allah is not primarily a matter of inner spirituality or personal interpretation. It is explicitly and comprehensively revealed in the Quran — regarded as the literal, verbatim words of Allah — and in the Sunnah, the example of Muhammad preserved in Hadith literature.

Sharia simply is the practical embodiment of that surrender. It literally means “the way” or “the path to life,” derived from four main sources:

• The Quran
• The Sunnah/Hadith (especially Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim)
• Consensus of scholars (ijma)
• Analogical reasoning (qiyas)

Sharia is not limited to prayer, fasting, and charity (the Five Pillars, which are themselves part of Sharia). It is a total system regulating family law, diet, dress code, inheritance, criminal justice (hudud punishments), finance, governance, warfare, and social relations with non-Muslims. In orthodox Islamic theology, there is no separation between “religion” and “law,” or between “private belief” and “public order”. To be Muslim is to accept Islam and its Sharia as the guide for life.

This is why praising Islam while condemning Sharia is incoherent and self-contradictory. It is like welcoming Christianity while rejecting the teachings of Christ and the apostles.

Many politicians and citizens project their own secularized, individualized understanding of faith onto Muslims and are shocked when reality does not conform.

This conceptual mismatch leads to several dangerous mistakes:

1. Misguided Immigration and Integration Policies

Western governments often assume that Muslim immigrants will treat Islam the same way most Europeans or Americans treat Christianity — as a private Sunday (or Friday) affair that can be compartmentalized. When Muslim immigrants instead seek to establish parallel societies, Sharia councils, or enclaves where Islamic norms prevail, officials are surprised. Sharia commands separation, the doctrine of (Al-Wala’ wal-Bara’ — loyalty to Muslims and enmity or hate toward non-Muslims) is not an “extremist” aberration but a mainstream teaching of the Islamic law rooted in the Quran and Hadith.

2. Failure to Defend Constitutional Supremacy

Liberal democracies assume all religious practices must yield to core civil rights: equality under law, freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and equal protection for women and minorities. When Sharia norms clash — on apostasy, honor killing, blasphemy, women’s rights, or inheritance — officials often hesitate, citing “religious freedom.” Yet Sharia is a competing legal and political system. Granting it space through accommodations (Sharia courts in the UK, blashpemy laws, religious arbitration, or no-go areas) effectively imports a rival sovereignty.

3. The Moderate Illusion

Policymakers and many comfort themselves with the existence of peaceful Muslims. These individuals exist, but they are often “Muslim” in a cultural or nominal sense — much like many nominal Christians who ignore core doctrines. True orthodoxy demands adherence to Sharia. Turkish President Erdogan rightly observed that the very concept of “moderate Islam” is a Western invention. Projecting Western fluidity onto a legalistic faith leads to underestimating long-term demographic and cultural disaster.

4. Security and Social Cohesion Blind Spots

Doctrines of jihad, mandated enmity toward non-Muslims, and supremacism are not peripheral. They flow naturally from the comprehensive nature of Sharia. When Western authorities treat Islam as “just another religion,” they downplay patterns of radicalization in mosques, parallel legal systems, honor killings, grooming gangs, and polling data showing substantial support for Sharia in Muslim communities. The result is repeated policy failures across Europe and growing tensions in the United States.

5. Erosion of Western Christian Heritage

Christian civilization produced the very freedoms the West enjoys: the dignity of a person (imago Dei), equality before God and law, freedom of conscience, and limited government. By treating Islam as a private faith equivalent to Christianity, the West risks undermining the cultural soil that made its liberties possible. In some sense Christianity separates sin from crime like drinking at home can be morally wrong without being legally punishable. But in Sharia religous violations are also legal violations and are punishable.

Key Incompatibilities with the Constitution

Loyalty and Enmity: Quranic verses 60:4 and 3:28 form the scriptural basis for the Islamic doctrine of Love and Hate (Al-Wala’ wal-Bara’). They prescribe a framework of spiritual tribalism and supremacy, dissociation from non-Muslims, and perpetual enmity until conversion, while permitting pragmatic concealment of such attitudes when Muslims are weak.

Inequality: Dhimmi status for Christians and Jews; legal disadvantages for women.

Apostasy and Blasphemy: Severe punishments that negate freedom of conscience and religion.

Jihad: Expansion and subjugation framed as religious duty.

Totalism: No realm of life outside Allah’s law as interpreted by Sharia.

These are not some medieval relics. They remain embedded in mainstream Islamic sources and continue to shape behavior where Sharia influence is strong.

Conclusion

The West must stop projecting its privatized, post-Christian understanding of religion onto Islam. Sharia is not an optional “radical” accessory — it is the operating system of orthodox Islam. Recognizing this does require clarity: Western Judeo-Christian law must remain supreme. Religious liberty cannot extend to practices that undermine the constitutional order, equality, or public safety.

True tolerance is not self-destruction. It is the confident defense of a civilization built on Christian-shaped values of dignity, justice, and ordered liberty. Until policymakers grasp the comprehensive nature of Islam and Sharia, immigration, integration, and security policies will continue to produce predictable failures.

The distinction between “Islam” and “Sharia” is a comforting fiction. Reality demands better.

Armenia Outreach

An Open Door for the Gospel

Since January 2026, our team in Armenia has distributed 800 Bibles and seen 52 Muslims come to faith in Jesus Christ. Armenia, like Turkey is a strategic open door for reaching Iranians with the Gospel. It gives Iranian a nearby place of freedom outside the control of Iran’s Islamic regime.

As the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion in the early fourth century, Armenia also surrounds Iranian visitors with visible Christian history, creating rare opportunities for open Gospel conversations.

Our team goes on the streets at least 5 days a week to reach Iranians with the love and truth of Jesus Christ. They hand out Bibles, pray for people, share their testimonies, and clearly explain the Gospel to those they meet.

Many Iranians are surprised to meet Christians who are also Iranian, born into Muslim families but now followers of Christ. Christianity often feels foreign to them, something for Armenian, Assyrians, or Westerners. But when they meet Iranian believers who speak their language, and have come out of Islam themselves, their defenses come down and, honest questions begin.

A Divine Appointment on the Street

During one outreach, our team was evangelizing on the street when one of our workers noticed an Iranian man walking past. Suddenly, he felt a strong desire and compassion in his heart to help him.

He greeted the man and asked, “Is there anything I can do for you?” The man replied, “Find me a job.” As our team member looked at his clothes and face, he realized the man had not showered for several days. He asked him, “Where are you staying?” The Iranian answered, “On the street. I have been sleeping outside for four days, and I haven’t eaten anything.”

Our team immediately began serving him. They arranged a hostel for him and reserved it for four days. Then the brother bought him food and took him to the hostel where he would be staying.

On the way, the brother began speaking with him about Jesus Christ. The man said, “I have been reading the Gospel for several days.” The brother prayed with him, and that day the man gave his heart to Jesus Christ.

Only afterward did our team member understand why the Lord had placed such a strong desire in his heart to stop and help him. It was not only about food, shelter, or a job. God was reaching for his soul. After that, our team also helped him find work.

“The Light Finds Us”

Another time, our team met two young women and began sharing with them about Jesus Christ. As soon as they realized the conversation was about Christianity, they became excited and looked at each other in amazement.

One of them said, “See? I told you the light would finally find us!”

They explained that the night before, they had been talking about darkness and light. One of them had said that the light would find an opening and come through to find them.

Then our team gave them the plan of salvation bracelets with crosses on them.
When one of the girls saw the cross, she cried. She said, “Last night, we were talking about getting a bracelet with a cross. Not a necklace. Not a ring. A bracelet. And now you have come and given us exactly that. God heard our prayer.”

HOW YOUR GIFT MAKES AN IMPACT

Evangelism

Your monthly gift allows us to print and produce more tracts, books, and Bibles to place directly into the hands of Muslims who are earnestly seeking the truth. When Iran opens we will be the first ministry team to do mass Bible distribution in the country. A minimum of 1 Million Bible needed.

Train & Equip

Your support helps us equip and empower more believers than ever before. It enables us to hold discipleship and leadership conferences, and to translate sound Christian literature and reintroduce a Christian vocabulary into a society where Islam has erased it for centuries.

Expanding our Media Ministry

Digital evangelism is essential for reaching the unreached in areas we cannot physically go, where there are no known believers. Through their smartphone screens, we bring the message of hope and salvation to those who may never hear it otherwise. Our professional studio is being built as you reading this.

Expanding our Media Ministry

Monthly Partners are the backbone of our ministry. Your partnership is an intentional act of sowing and watering seeds to ensure a lasting and fruitful harvest. It is the consistent support from Monthly Partners that enables us to plan and carry out impactful projects across the globe.

Thank you for standing with us in the calling which God has called us to.

With love,

Mohamad Amin & Susan Faridi