Sixty years of scholarship & direct engagement

Not Panic.
Not Posture.
Not Paralysis.

Understanding — and then acting with courage and love.

This is not a page about hating Muslims. It is a page about whether the Church — and the leaders of Western nations — still have the courage, truth, and love required to understand what they are facing, and respond wisely.

Read the 10 Things Order Future History

I have spent sixty years studying Islam, engaging Muslim communities, training Christian leaders, and watching the Western church largely fail to reckon with one of the defining realities of our age.

Dr Stuart Robinson — from the Foreword, Future History

— The analysis is of Islam as a system — its theology, its jurisprudence, its history, and its advance

— That is a very different thing from hatred of the people who have been shaped by it

— Muslims are not the enemy. They are the mission field

This resource is for:

Pastors & church leaders

Politicians & policy makers

Academics & researchers

Journalists & commentators

Anyone seeking to understand

From the companion briefing to Future History

The 10 Things the Church
Must Know About Islam

Drawn from sixty years of scholarship, direct engagement, and the research behind Future History: The Rise and Demise of Islam or Christianity. Offered to anyone who wants to understand — not panic, not posture, not be paralysed — but understand, and then act with courage and love.

Islam Is Not Merely a Religion

It is a comprehensive legal, political, and civilisational system

Most Western Christians approach Islam the way they approach other faiths — as a private belief system that shapes personal spirituality and community worship. This fundamentally misreads what Islam is and how it functions. Classical Islam makes comprehensive claims over every domain of human life: law, economics, politics, family structure, warfare, and governance.

"Islam is not merely a private faith. It is a total system with claims over every dimension of human life — including law, politics, and governance."

The Advance Is Real and Documented

Not anecdote — census data, demographics, institutional records

The global advance of Islam is not a matter of alarmist projection. It is documented in census data, demographic analysis, and institutional records across every inhabited continent. In the United Kingdom, Muhammad has become the most commonly registered name for newborn boys. In Europe, Islam is the fastest-growing religion by absolute numbers.

"The church cannot make good decisions about the Muslim world while refusing to look at what the data actually shows."

The Same-God Question Has a Theological Answer

And the answer matters for mission, worship, and truth

One of the most common pastoral errors in Western Christianity is the assumption that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, just differently. The God revealed in the Bible is triune. The God described in classical Islamic theology explicitly denies the Trinity, denies the divine Sonship of Jesus, and denies the crucifixion and resurrection as historically meaningful.

"To say 'we worship the same God' may feel kind. But it is not kind to Muslim people to agree with them on a question where the truth of the gospel is at stake."

Islamic Jurisprudence Has Specific Teachings on Non-Muslims

These require careful, accurate, pastoral engagement — not avoidance

Classical Islamic jurisprudence contains specific provisions regarding relations between Muslims and non-Muslims. These are not hidden or obscure — they are documented in authoritative scholarly texts that Muslims themselves regard as foundational. Church leaders who understand this doctrinal landscape are better equipped to engage Muslim neighbours honestly and support converts from Islam pastorally.

"Avoiding difficult content does not make it cease to exist. It simply leaves the church unprepared to engage it wisely."

Muhammad Is Not an Optional Figure — He Is the Model

The Quran itself instructs Muslims that Muhammad is 'a good example'

Muhammad is not merely a historical founder in Islamic theology. He is the normative model for human life. The Quran explicitly instructs Muslims: 'There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent example' (Quran 33:21). Understanding Muhammad's life — his teachings, his political leadership, his conduct — is essential context for understanding how significant portions of Islamic doctrine and practice are justified.

"The question 'What would Muhammad do?' carries in Islam something of the weight that 'What would Jesus do?' carries in Christianity. This is not a trivial observation."

Western Institutions Have Often Misread Islam

With real consequences for law, policy, and public life

Many Western institutions — governments, media, academic institutions, and some churches — have treated Islam primarily through the lens of religious pluralism: as one private faith tradition among many. This framework has consistently struggled to account for the civilisational, legal, and political dimensions of Islamic doctrine. The result has been a pattern of institutional underestimation.

"Many Western leaders have repeated reassuring phrases about Islam that collapse under theological and historical scrutiny. The church should not make the same mistake."

Religious Freedom Is Not Reciprocal in Many Islamic Contexts

Apostasy, conversion, and minority rights require honest pastoral understanding

In many Islamic contexts — cultural, familial, and where relevant, legal — leaving Islam carries serious consequences. In classical Islamic jurisprudence, apostasy is among the most serious offences. In Western Muslim communities, the pressure on those who leave Islam or convert to Christianity can be significant, including isolation, threats, and family rupture.

"Every church that ministers to Muslim-background believers must understand what it costs to follow Christ from within a Muslim identity. This shapes everything: pastoral care, discipleship, community, and welcome."

God Is Moving Among Muslim People — Remarkably

The largest turning of Muslims to Christ in recorded history is happening now

In Iran, following the 1979 revolution, the Islamic Republic's enforcement of Islamic law produced mass disillusionment with Islam itself. Multiple independent mission organisations report that hundreds of thousands — some estimates suggest over a million — Iranians have come to faith in Christ, largely through underground house churches. Similar reports emerge from the broader Middle East, diaspora communities in Europe and North America, and Sub-Saharan African contexts.

"The largest turning of Muslim people to Christ in recorded history is happening in our lifetime. The Western church, largely, does not know about it."

The Church Has Been Largely Silent — and Silence Is a Choice

Equipping and courage are the pastoral response

For forty days, the army of Israel stood in their camp while Goliath shouted. I believe the Western church has been in a version of that camp for a long time when it comes to Islam. A church that does not equip its members to understand Islam cannot support Muslim-background believers, cannot engage Muslim neighbours honestly, and cannot pray intelligently for the Muslim world. The pastoral response is not alarm. It is equipping.

"Day 41 in the camp is the day someone stops waiting for conditions to be comfortable and walks out. I believe the church is at day 41."

Muslims Are Not the Enemy — They Are the Mission Field

And the church is the only institution called and equipped to reach them

Everything in this briefing has been about Islam as a system. None of it has been, or should be read as, a statement about Muslim people as people. These are men and women and children made in the image of God, loved by God, and — as the extraordinary reports from Iran and beyond confirm — being reached by God in ways that should fill the church with hope and urgency. The Christian response to Islam is the gospel, offered in truth, in love, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

"Muslims are not the enemy. They are the mission field. And the church is the only institution on earth called and equipped — in Christ — to reach them."

— Dr Stuart Robinson, Future History

The full account

Future History:
The Rise and Demise of
Islam or Christianity

The ten points above are drawn from the companion briefing to Dr Robinson's most comprehensive work. The full argument — sixty years of scholarship, historical analysis, demographic data, theological engagement, and a call for the Church to respond — is in Future History.

With a foreword by Dr Mark Durie (PhD Linguistics, ThD Quranic Studies), this is essential reading for pastors, politicians, policy makers, academics, and anyone who needs to understand Islam not merely as a religion but as a civilisational and political force.

Order Future History About the Book

Future History The Rise and Demise of
Islam or Christianity Dr Stuart Robinson

"Stuart Robinson issues a clarion call to Christians everywhere to wake up, open their eyes to the gathering storm, and determine to make the Great Commission their first priority."

Rev. Dr Mark Durie — Anglican Vicar & Scholar, Melbourne

Five books on Islam & the Church

The Complete Islam Library

The Challenge of Islam

AUD $10

Islam Rising

AUD $15

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Not Panic. Not Posture. Not Paralysis.

The 10 Things the ChurchMust Know About Islam