I have been studying Islam a little lately because I want to understand it more. I am amazed at the similarities between Islam and Christianity and Judaism, although given the history of these religions these similarities should not be surprising. Even some of the prophecies are similar. For example, there is an 'antichrist' prophecy in Islam (look here) that references Jesus. In fact, it's very similar to Christianity's antichrist prophecy. It's very interesting to see the similarities and differences of the world's largest monotheistic religions.
One difference that I stumbled upon is quite interesting, I think. Apparently the Quran says: "Invite mankind to the way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious." (16:125).
Contrast this with 1 Corinthians 1:17 -- "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel -- —not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power." (emphasis added)
Or the same verse in The Message: "God didn't send me out to collect a following for myself, but to preach the Message of what he has done, collecting a following for him. And he didn't send me to do it with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the powerful action at the center--Christ on the Cross--be trivialized into mere words." (emphasis added)
I'm not sure exactly what conclusions are to be drawn here, but I find it very interesting that the two religions give almost the exact opposite direction for spreading their faith. Obviously it has something to do with the message of the cross in Christianity. If Jesus did indeed die completely innocent of all sin and his sacrifice has brought about forgiveness for all, that is quite a compelling fact on it's own. In fact, I would reason that if someone is inclined to believe that statement then no argument or artful speechcraft will be nearly as compelling as the simple telling of that fact. Furthermore, if one is not compelled to believe that Jesus did indeed do this thing, then it doesn't matter how much you win them over with speaking, they still miss the point of Christianity.
Islam, on the other hand, has no single, simple event to sway non-believers. Rather they have a systematic theology and history that they find compelling. To convince someone of such a theology probably needs a good deal of conversation. Christians, I think, find the same thing when they try to add other doctrines to their core beliefs. In fact, they have to spend a great deal of effort just to convince other Christians of their doctrines, let alone non-believers. Getting someone to believe and conform to a set of theological principals is far more difficult and intellectually engaging than to tell them about a single event, the belief of which is the only core need at the heart of a religion.
So, from what I can tell a major influence in the different approaches by Islam and Christianity to proselytizing is the sheer volume of information that needs to be presented. Christianity is a very simple faith, at its heart, and Paul teaches in his letter that trying to add anything more takes away from the message. Islam, comparatively, is a large and complex religion. To make a real convert you must convince them of a number of truths and discuss many doctrines. I'm not implying that there is not complexity to Christianity, nor that it is without its layers of doctrine. The difference is that you can be a Christian with belief in only a very small, simple set of doctrines. To be a Muslim there is much more that you must first accept.
Of course there is always my belief that Christianity will be compelling without much human effort because God is involved... and I tend to believe the same cannot be said of Islam. However, I hardly think that argument will seem valid in an audience of any but Christians, and that is why I have included the above conclusion about this difference between the two. I just didn't want anyone thinking I was a Universalist ;)
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I think you're on to somethign here and that you've carefully stated a difficult position. Good work. Yet I think you ought to be very careful when quoting the Koran because it is a large and complicated book and much work would be required to ensure you're not taking passages out of context. For example, you could easily have quoted the many passages about Paul arguing doctrine and theology with the Rabbis throughout the middle east, and from that said that Christianity is a religion based on doctrine and requires systematic theology and argument to evangelize as well. You've done an excellent job of summarizing how Christianity approaches the idea of what it means to be a believer, but I wonder if you may have too tightly categorized Islam?
Well, I am no expert on Islam, and I can't vouch that this website is correct. But assuming it is, this article may shed some more light on the nature of Islam:
http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/archive/article.php?lang=E&id=40348
Here is a particularly relevant quote:
"Islam is universal and therefore addresses the entire community. This flows firstly from the fact that Islam is the religion prescribed by Allah the Almighty to the whole mankind. Secondly, Islam being a complete code of life, providing clear-cut criteria for man's activity in all domains of life, social, economical, political and ideological alike, possesses an all-embracing characteristics." (emphasis added)
Now, I suppose that you could say that Christianity is also a complete code of life. But I would argue it is in a much different way. Islam details very specific things that people should do and ways they should act. To accept Islam is to accept a very specific way of life. Christianity, on the other hand, offers more principles for life and leaves the actual practice open to your discretion. It seems to me that some Muslims have loosened the Quranic mold to more fit this 'principles' model, and of course there are many examples throughout history of Christians trying to impose specific ways of living. But, the difference is which is prescribed by the Holy book of the religions. Islam's book has detailed directions where Christianity's has far more principles. However, I may be compeletly wrong about this, since I have not read the whole Quran. It's just my impression from what I do know. In short it seems that Islam is a lot more like ancient Judaism in the way that it includes specific acts that must be done where Christianity offers more freedom and only requires a few core beliefs.
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