Many people send us emails asking who we are, what are our qualifications to speak on Islam, what is our statement of faith, etc.

Some say, that they love our site, and would like to recommend it to others, but cannot do so before they know who we are and what exactly we believe.

If you are one who seeks answers to these questions, we would like to ask you: What would you need these answers for? Why is the (usually acknowledged) quality of our material not enough for you?

We have no desire that people believe our arguments just because some respectable names of persons, organizations or churches are attached to the site. Often the question comes from Christians who want to be sure, we are evangelical Christians, before they can trust or recommend us.

We do not want Christians (or anyone else) to believe what we write is correct just because we claim to be evangelical, or because we can tout some academic titles to the names of our authors, but because the arguments are biblical, well documented, and logically sound.

The Bible praises these critical believers:

Now, the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Acts 17:11

The Bereans believed not because it was Paul, the honored apostle, nor because he could claim the endorsement of the Jerusalem Apostolic Council, but because they examined his arguments themselves to find whether they were scriptural and true.

Let our readers be Bereans. We want that Muslims come to faith because they become convinced of the truth of the Gospel through the soundness of the material we present, and we want our Christian brothers and sisters to develop their convictions about their own faith and about Islam for the same reasons: Because it is true.

The sad thing is, not everything that evangelical Christians write about Islam is true (not even everything they write about the Bible and the Christian faith). We would not doubt their Christian faith, but we cannot agree with their statements about Islam. We cannot recommend their writings just because they are Evangelicals, and—to remain consistent—we do not want others to believe us, just because we wear that label.

The same holds for the question of academic qualifications. Some of our authors are teaching Theology, Religious Studies or even Islamic Studies at Universities. But there are too many professors of Islamic Studies who spread false information about Islam, while some self-taught laymen have a much deeper understanding. Evaluate the quality of our writings for yourself, and do not fall into the fallacy of appeal to authority.

This all said, we are Evangelical Christians and agree without reservations with the statement of faith as given, for example, by the World Evangelical Alliance and the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization.

May the Lord God bless you and guide you as you seek to know Him and His Truth.

Your Answering Islam team

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