The House of Islam, Dar
al-Islam in Arabic, is “the name Muslims give to an invisible religious
empire that stretches from West Africa to the Indonesian archipelago,
encompassing 49 nations and 1.6 billion Muslims” (5). David Garrison’s thesis
is that ‘a wind’ is blowing through the house: “Christianity’s re-emergence”
from centuries of decline and in many cases obliteration (6).
Clearly by Garrison’s own assertion and from the many
stories that are reported, this book needs to be studied by all who have an
interest in the progress of the gospel in the Muslim world. If the stories and
statistics are to be taken at face value there is an astonishing and
unprecedented turn to Christ taking place in many locations and among many
distinct communities at this time, for which we should give thanks to God. But
such claims need to be critically evaluated rather than simply accepted at face
value. In this review article, I want to do just that in the hope that further
research will be more fruitful. I will start by outlining the book using
Garrison’s headings.
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