Saw something online that made me wonder. I know there are some countries where LDS missions are not allowed. But where LDS missionaries are allowed, including in the US, are Mormon missionaries allowed to proselytize Muslims?

They are in countries where it is not forbidden. There is nothing in mormon doctrine or policy that prevents proselytizing muslims.

See this from a promormon site

https://www.cumorah.com/articles/ldsGrowthCaseStudies/461

"A few Muslim-majority nations that are secular or have populations with no strong ethnoreligious ties to Islam have LDS missionaries who openly proselyte Muslims and non-Muslims alike, such as Sierra Leone and Albania."

For Muslims, the penalty for conversion is death. Isn't proselytizing to Muslims culturally insensitive? Or do Mormons consider the conversion worth a fatwa?

> For Muslims, the penalty for conversion is death.

Wild exaggeration. There are countries where that is true but equally as many in which it is not.

"I was called to be a volunteer in Turkey, but then my church de-volunteered me..."

Personal worthiness?

Way back in the mid 80’s when I served my mission, Muslims were the group of people that had the biggest curiosity in what we were all about. The only place I’ve been where the church forbid proselyting was Israel.

It was the year 1995 or 1996 and the young women and young men were doing missionary splits. Basically 1 missionary with one youth talking to people. The sister missionary who was assigned to said to me that when someone says that they are muslim we are supposed to wish them a nice day and not teach about Mormonism. In Germany most people are either catholic or protestant so I ask if we can talk to the catholics or protestants and the sister missionary said yes that was allowed. Not sure if today in the year 2024 the rule of not trying to convert Muslims in Germany to Mormonism the case.

They already have a strong testimony of Jesus (Isa to them). Islam and Christianity are so intertwined that Mary is the only woman referred to by name in the quran. Their eschatology dovetails with traditional Christian eschatology. They believe Jesus will return as the Messiah, and Muhammad will be his helper. Obviously there's more nuance, but just making this brief.

There's a big lean into what they know of Christianity and how it factors into their end days scenario. Links together well.

Now a Mormon encounters a Muslim and all of a sudden everything they know about Jesus, including where he'll be returning to, is like bizarro world. This Jesus of the levant had a layover during the resurrection to visit the Americas, of all places, to make peace with a bunch of lost israelite but really very much natives to the Americas, and there's all this other stuff to learn about Jesus, when their Jesus knowledge is enshrined in their quran. They'd have no way to contextualize layover Jesus.

And then the eschatology... totally different than what they know of jesus' comeback. When it comes to Christian and Muslim eschatology, it's like same, same, but different. Mormon vs Muslim end times scenario is like... there's no way the connect Mormon Jesus as Jesus Jesus. It's a really poor fit. And I suspect any Muslims willing to engage the missionaries would teach them a lot and divest them of certain realities about other perspectives of Jesus and other things to chew on. Muslims might be the most dangerous prospects, they'd probably win over way more missionaries than the Mormon mish would win over.

It's easier for a Mormon to hear their version of Jesus in the end days and for Mormons to believe "yeah, I guess that does make more sense than a gathering in garden of Eden at Adam ondi Amon (sp), MO. And so he's still head dude with Mohammed as his helper, that's easy to digest. I'd love for a Muslim to present the Quran to a mish as "another testament of Jesus Christ" It would be interesting.

My dream crossover- Sufi Muslims converting missionaries, inviting them to whirl with the dervishes. No fed or drapey clothing needed for first timers. They can wear temple clothes. No fez? Baker's cap. No blousy skirt? cape and apron. SOmone needs to make this happen, but I'd settle for an interfaith dialogue.

I agree strongly with your treatment of Christianity and Islam as related phenomena. That's why I have on several occasions written here about of the Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Their basic mythology is identical and their values are 80% the same--and maybe more than that.

I will quibble, however, with your description of Jesus's status in Islam. Islam has no messiah and, having not accepted a first coming, does not believe in a second coming. Jesus--and I believe Mohammed as well--will play no role in the end of the world.

Jesus's status is as "the miracle of God," which counts as a uniquely important Jewish prophet. But as a Jewish prophet, his gospel was superceded by the Quran, which makes the scribe Mohammed more important than Jesus.

Having refreshed my memory, I was a too critical of anonynon's post.

The Quran does describe Jesus as a "messiah," but that term is used in the Jewish sense of the word meaning a human who will do important secular things for God and humanity but not a returning God per se. Jesus in fact did not die 2000 years ago but was lifted up into heaven, where he will remain until just before the end of days at which point he will return to earth not as a savior but as the aide to an Islamic messiah--the Mahdi (sp?)--who is also a human.

As a messiah, Jesus will stop Christians from worshiping him and return them to the Islamic God. Jesus and the Mahdi (sp?) will reign for 40 years and then die, gaining resurrection later when Allah raises all from the dead.

Islam thus teaches that Jesus was a precursor of Mohammed. The human Abraham brought the true religion, and the Jews strayed. God sent the human Jesus as a new prophet to restore the truth, but his teachings were then distorted by those who claimed to be his followers, necessitating the dispatch of the greatest prophet, Mohammed, who was likewise a human vehicle for the word of God.

The story varies considerably from the Jewish, Christian, and Mormon religions but the most important proposition is very Jewish: there is but one God and none but he should be worshiped. Which brings us back to anonynon's main thesis: that the three religions are very closely related.

There are restrictions in the Mission Presidents' handbook on teaching muslims. If I remember correctly, they cannot teach a muslim who could be deported back to a country in which they would be executed for conversion. They cannot teach minors that come from muslim families or women without the husband's permission because of the dangers that would present themselves in those scenarios.
My nephew taught a woman who was a convert to islam and as such, didn't have any familial or legal ties if she converted, so it was okay (at least that's what I remember from his letter).

This thread reminds me very much of my time in Brazil (late 1960s).

We had 2 issues. First, divorce was not legal, but legal separation was. If a couple was living together. but not married because of a previous marriage, they had to be legally separated from previous spouse, and they had to be living a life where it was clear that they would be married if they were permitted to be.

To verify those conditions, a "living together" couple had to be interviewed by the MP before they could be baptized. This often took a fair amount of time for the MP to show up in a particular city close enough to the couple to arrange an interview. The geographic spread of the mission was enormous back then. I had two 1,500 mile transfers.

The second issue was African ancestry. We were expected to visually screen potential street contacts. If we got to the "discussions" stage with a family, we were supposed to do things like pretend interest in the family history, and ask to see family photos, to see if parents or grandparents appeared to have African ancestry.

If they did appear to have African ancestry, or claimed they did, even if it was not visibly apparent, we were supposed to thank them for their time, and try to gracefully skedaddle.

If they were insistent about learning about/joining the church, and this actually happened from time to time, they could do so, but they had to be interviewed by the MP to make sure they were fully aware of the restrictions on members with African ancestry, and were OK with that.

That was a pretty high bar to clear, and there were not many "lineage" baptisms, as we referred to them.

BTW, we also had an extra part of the "sixth discussion" (i.e. the last one prior to baptism) about the lineage restrictions in Mormonism. That was also the tithing lesson. We lost a lot of converts then, but quite a few were still baptized. We always approached the sixth discussion with trepidation.

I am so glad those days are over. I suspect all or nearly all former Brazilian missionaries were thrilled with the priesthood change. Lineage was a very uncomfortable part of our missions, and I am embarrassed that I went along with it as much as I did. Yeah, I was young and dumb, but still.


The restrictions listed on Muslim baptisms sound about right, and I would bet an MP interview is required for a Muslim to be baptized.

What a cringe/laugh it is now to think of some 19 year old kid questioning adults about their marriage arrangements, lineage, diet, etc. How intrusive. That alone should warn people to stay away from that kind of religion.

On my mission in Australia, we met a muslim family while tracting. Actually, we met the wife who asked us to return when her husband was home.

When we did, they fed us dinner, listened to the first discussion which led to a compare/contrast with Islam, which I found interesting and informative.

They declined a second discussion, but sent us on our way with leftovers and good wishes.

No christian person who was uninterested in converting to mormonism treated us as well. (or were as interesting to talk to...)

LDS missionary lessons are tailored towards poaching from other churches. A Muslim geared lesson would probably start by discussing angels and new scriptures and things from that angle.