Pillars

How Muslim Friends Led Me Closer to Jesus

De: Rachel Pieh Jones

Narrado por: Ewa Maria Wojcik

Personal friendships with Somali Muslims overcome the prejudices and expand the faith of a typical American Evangelical Christian living in the Horn of Africa.

When Rachel Pieh Jones moved from Minnesota to rural Somalia with her husband and twin toddlers 18 years ago, she was secure in a faith that defined who was right and who was wrong, who was saved and who needed saving. She had been taught that Islam was evil, full of lies and darkness, and that the world would be better without it.

Luckily, locals show compassion for this blundering outsider who can’t keep her headscarf on or her toddlers from tripping over AK-47s. After the murder of several foreigners forces them to evacuate, the Joneses resettle in nearby Djibouti.

Jones recounts, often entertainingly, the personal encounters and growing friendships that gradually dismantle her unspoken fears and prejudices and deepen her appreciation for Islam. Unexpectedly, along the way she also gains a far richer understanding of her own Christian faith. Grouping her stories around the five pillars of Islam - creed, prayer, fasting, giving, and pilgrimage - Jones shows how her Muslim friends’ devotion to these pillars leads her to rediscover ancient Christian practices her own religious tradition has lost or neglected.

Jones brings the listener along as she reexamines her assumptions about faith and God through the lens of Islam and Somali culture. Are God and Allah the same? What happens when one’s ideas about God and the Bible crumble and the only people around are Muslims? What happens is that she discovers that Jesus is more generous, daring, and loving than she ever imagined.

©2021 Rachel Pieh Jones (P)2021 Plough Publishing House

A challenging read

I am a Christian who has the honor and privilege to be loved and called sister by Muslim women. This book put words to so many things I have felt. I don’t agree with all of her points but I was agreeing out loud with even more.

i loved this book

This book helped me think about the experiences of minority groups in my own community and makes me want to do better at being a good neighbor to everyone. It is hard to see our own biases, but the author's desire for truth and her long experience of flipping back and forth between cultures has resulted in a book of experiences and insights that can help us all better know ourselves. A joy to read and listen to.

A special story, but poorly narrated.

What a unique and sacred experience the author shares. Unfortunately, the narrator has no emotions or character to her voice. I even wonder if it's AI. Recommend reading, not listening.