In the ancient city of Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman on the northeastern shores of the Arabian Peninsula, several American Christian college students and local Muslims sat cross-legged on an oriental rug around printed passages from the Bible and the Quran. In the traditional Omani reception room lined with plush red mattresses and matching pillows, they discussed the phrase in John chapter 1 “the Word became flesh” and its Islamic parallels.
Two senior leaders—one Christian and one Muslim—guided the proceedings. They instructed the Americans to not place copies of the holy texts on the floor and assured the Omanis that these papers would not be thrown in the trash. Their primary goal that May afternoon was to avoid debating or comparing the texts academically, but rather to engage in a process called “scriptural reasoning.”
Though the concept was developed in the 1990s by Christian, Muslim, and Jewish philosophers, the term scriptural reasoning is a bit of a misnomer. Participants read and reflect on the selected passages with inquisitive curiosity, not logic. The point is self-discovery—and sharing—of one’s personal reasons for faith.
The Christians approach the Bible with love and reverence, describing the message they see within. Muslims do the same with the Quran, and the two groups exchange observations and ask questions, seeking to understand the passages’ meanings from the other side. Both Christians and Muslims listen attentively, free from the burden of convincing the other.
In Oman, where proselytization is illegal, al-Amana Center (AAC) uses exercises like scriptural reasoning to help bridge divides between Muslims and Christians, Arabs and Americans. Leaders said such activities by the current incarnation of the Reformed Church in America’s (RCA) 130-year ministry in Oman, now an independent partner institution, builds trust and mutual respect.
Justin Meyers, executive director of AAC, led the May session of scriptural reasoning. The students came from Hope College, a small Christian school from Michigan, as part of a senior seminar course involving an immersive exploration of Arab and Islamic culture. AAC’s Arabic teacher, Mohammed al-Shuaili, led the Muslim contingent and had already done this exercise dozens of times.
“It becomes hard to tell the Bible and Quran apart,” Shuaili said. “Scriptural reasoning brings people together, to discover the common threads.”
The scriptural reasoning website offers 34 topics—including things like modesty, fasting, and reconciliation—and looks at how passages in the Hebrew Bible, New Testament, and Quran discuss these themes. Shuaili said he especially appreciated its focus on Abraham’s hospitality.
Meyers, an RCA pastor from Grand Rapids, described how Christians get to experience the impact of quranic recitation while Muslims discover the beauty of the biblical text. By creating safe spaces for religious conversation, he said, interfaith relations are strengthened in Oman, the Persian Gulf region, and the world.
Oman’s nearly 5 million people are a diverse mix of Sunni, Shiite, and Ibadi Muslims as well as Christians (4%) and Hindus (5%), mostly from the substantial immigrant community.
While appreciating sincere Muslim engagement with the Bible, many evangelicals may view scriptural reasoning as a step down from evangelism. Shuaili’s response suggests he equates the two religious texts and downplays the differences. In a good-humored comment of commonality, he said he expects to see Meyers in heaven one day, where they can play pickleball together. But at no time, the scriptural reasoning website emphasizes, is anyone called to compromise their faith commitment.
Prior to AAC, Shuaili was a strict and traditional Muslim who would have never interacted with believers of other religions. This indicates the promise of interfaith relations to better integrate communities, but is Christian-Muslim dialogue a proper substitute for the RCA’s once-vibrant missionary heritage?
Open Doors ranks Oman at No. 32 on its World Watch List of nations where it is hardest to be a Christian. (Part 2 of this series discusses why AAC disputes this ranking.) Yet while Open Doors’ annual report praised AAC for “helping to create a more tolerant attitude towards Christians,” it also said that the center is “very much intended to boost Omani diplomatic ties.” With churches monitored and proselytizing illegal in the country, the report said that government support for AAC’s interfaith dialogue helps Oman keep a “friendly face” toward the world.
The AAC website states it differently. The center began in 1987 when the RCA closed the al-Amana American school in Muscat. At a time when Americans were growing increasingly distrustful and fearful of Islam and the Arab world, the denomination repurposed its building for interfaith activities to better educate American Christians and contribute to peace between East and West. Dozens have come every year since, except during the COVID-19 lockdown.
The RCA first arrived in Oman in 1893 as part of the Arabian Mission that also ministered in modern-day Iraq and Kuwait. Samuel Zwemer, the “Apostle to Islam,” was an early member. Though few Muslims converted, Omanis today still recall with appreciation how later missionaries Sharon Thoms and his son Wells served thousands through their selfless medical care.
But as the region experienced an oil boom, the Omani government nationalized the RCA’s hospital in 1973. Christian institutions, once the only providers around, suffered a double blow: As costs and local competition increased, it became harder to maintain their service. They also suffered personnel shortages, as denominational priorities shifted and fewer members were called to missions.
Meyers came to AAC in 2013 as associate director, seeking to imitate Jesus in his peacemaking convictions. He said other Christians criticized him for not “standing with the truth” by condemning Islam and for not trying to convert his friend Shuaili. Meanwhile, Shuaili faces criticism from his Muslim peers for befriending a pastor and associating with Christians, whom they believe have an “outdated version” of the true faith of Islam.
They pushed forward anyway, primarily with non-Omanis. An Emirati imam in Abu Dhabi protested that scriptural reasoning did not sufficiently honor the Quran, until a senior cleric said he should give it a try. Jewish rabbis have joined as well. A delegation of Nigerian pastors and imams visiting Oman decided to continue meeting after returning home—for a joint meal, not a religious debate.
Shuaili grew up in a village near Nizwa, 90 miles southwest of Muscat. One of the oldest cities in Oman, Nizwa was the home of the founder of Ibadi Islam who aimed to moderate between nascent Sunnis and Shiites. Within this conservative religious ethos, Shuaili ignored video games and devoted himself to quranic study during his teenage years.
Shuaili understands the reluctance of the Emirati cleric to scriptural reasoning. Muslims are trained to repeat the various Islamic interpretations of scholars, not to offer their own reflections on the text. Shuaili was incredibly nervous that he would say something wrong the first time he participated. But over time, combined with teaching Arabic to AAC students, he grew more comfortable meeting the diverse international participants.
“I can earn three times my salary elsewhere,” Shuaili said. “But here my job has meaning.”
Meyers became executive director in 2021 and shortly after appointed Shuaili as associate director. It was the first time AAC had a Muslim in leadership. But he “will never have my job,” Meyers said, as it’s important for AAC to be Christian-led. In Arabic, al-Amana means “sacred trust,” a principle he honors in his attitude toward his RCA forerunners, his local hosts, and his Lord and Savior.
Meyers said that he is public about his faith and seeks to represents Christ in everything he does. By honoring the Omani law against proselytizing, he seeks to respect social peace between religious groups, which he says the law desires to preserve. This enables him to lead activities like scriptural reasoning, explaining the tenets of Christianity to curious Muslims with no implied pressure for anyone to change their religion. And any Omani who shows further interest in converting he refers to the official churches in Muscat.
Yet Christians should honor the good in Islam, Meyers said, such as trust in Allah’s sovereignty, gratitude for his blessings, and humility in prayer. Meanwhile, Christians should build up a positive understanding of the gospel rather than tear down a rival faith. An earlier Arabian Mission pastor, James Cantine, had a similar opinion, which he wrote about in his 1912 essay “The Nearest Way to the Moslem Heart.” Cantine believed Christians could demonstrate the love of Jesus by building hospitals and schools.
Today, much of the Muslim world no longer needs those services. Peacemaking and interfaith dialogue can be the new vehicles, Meyers believes, and like the RCA missionaries of old, he is keen to bless the Omanis. Prior to COVID, he estimated that 95 percent of AAC activity did not involve local citizens, only expats and immigrants. Today, the organization serves 300 people a year and has increased Omani involvement to about 40 percent. A favorite activity is Interfaith Photovoice, where participants capture religious images and share their meaning.
Meyers and Shuaili visited three Omani universities in the past year, speaking with college officials and attending an intercultural fair. Students in return visited AAC, hanging out with foreign visitors. AAC has also reversed the immersive experience, taking some Omanis to Hope College, where they discovered the joy of barbecue and church potlucks.
Additionally, the center has hosted Omanis at the Muscat-based Protestant Church of Oman. Meyers lectured to local businessmen about the history of al-Amana, who then placed the center on the tourist map of Muscat’s Old City. And Shuaili joined him to assist the Omani Cultural Center in its soon-to-be-released documentary about Thoms and the Arabian Mission.
Author Lewis Scudder writes that the Arabian Mission workers eventually “Arabized,” discovering the sincerity of local people and the sophistication of classical Islamic philosophers. Without giving up the uniqueness of Jesus, they moved away from comparative gospel presentations that pitted Christianity against Islam, which locals only found hurtful.
“We have to first know the Muslim heart and the things he holds dear,” Cantine wrote. “We want to enter into his life and forget the things in which we think our own civilization is superior. … It is only by such a way of self-denial and service that we can get near enough to show forth the things that commend our faith.”
Meyers hopes to build on this legacy to create a staff of equal parts Omani and Christian expats. He said the government allowance to expand their work with local citizens was built on 12 years of trust, and he has no plans to leave. He calls his wife the “saint of the mission,” and his two boys feel at home.
“I came to Oman and said, ‘Peace,’ receiving ‘peace’ in return,” Meyers said, referring to Luke 10:5–6. “They let me stay and speak of my faith.”
Part 2 discusses the foreign Christians Open Doors says Oman does not let stay and how Ibadi Islam sheds light on Omani culture.
