Christian History Institute Samuel Zwemer Sailed to Work with Muslims ©2007

he toughest ideology for Christianity to penetrate is said to be Islam. Nevertheless, Samuel Zwemer purposed in his heart to minister to Muslims. On this day, June 28, 1890, he set out to fulfill that goal, sailing from his homeland in the United States on a Dutch liner called the Obdam. He stopped briefly in Europe to contact the only other evangelical group working among the Muslims and then by train and boat headed for Beirut. In London he bought a copy of Doughty's Travels in Arabia Deserta. Years later he sold it to Lawrence of Arabia.

Zwemer's exploits have none of the popular renown of T. E. Lawrence's, but were of equal boldness. By January 12th he was in Arabia itself. On his first lengthy trek he took fever from continual exposure to outside temperatures of 107 degrees. He allowed no impediment to deter his work, however. In the end he would travel to many of the bastions of Islam in the world: the Balkans, India, China, Africa, the Mid East. For example, on this date June 28th, 1933, he was traversing China to bring the gospel to the Chinese Muslims.

But his greatest achievement was to penetrate Sana'a in Yemen, a place no lone white man had ever gone before. At one point his life was saved only when a Bedouin guide swore a great oath that Zwemer was neither Englishman nor a government agent. At another point, Arabs argued whether to hold him for ransom. In spite of adversities, not the least of which were annoying bedbugs, he managed to distribute Christian literature the entire way.

"No agency can penetrate Islam so deeply, abide so persistently, witness so daringly and influence so irresistibly as the printed page," he said. Nothing but confiscation could stop him from distributing Arabic leaflets and Bibles. Everywhere he went he wrote and preached: to Arabs, salvation; to Westerners the soul-need of Islam. He lived, breathed and thought of one thing alone: cracking open the Moslem world for Christ. From the start Zwemer's work was allied to that of his fellow laborer James Cantine. When he married, his wife also worked persuasively with Islamic women.

Zwemer set up presses, especially under British protection in Cairo. These poured out a continual stream of books to educate Westerners about the need of Islam, and Arabic language books to educate Arabs about Christ. He authored or co-authored at least 48 books in English, titles such as Arabia, The Cradle of Islam; Childhood in the Moslem World; and The Moslem Doctrine of God. He noted that in Islam the tender fatherhood of God was unknown. Printed Christian prayers from his presses were prized by some Islamic people who found them to have more meat than their own. Zwemer penetrated Islam, but the great work he began remains unfulfilled to this day.

Bibliography:

1. Moreau, A. Scott, Editor. "Zwemer, Samuel Marinus." Evangelical Dictionary of World Missions. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2000.
2. Neill, Stephen. A History of Christian Missions. The Pelican History of the Church #6. Hammondsworth, Middlesex, England: Pelican Books, 1964.
3. Wilson, J. Christy. Apostle to Islam; A biography of Samuel M. Zwemer. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1952.
4. "Zwemer, Samuel Marinus." Anderson, Gerald H. Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions. New York : Macmillan Reference USA; London : Simon & Schuster and Prentice Hall International, 1998.

Last updated April, 2007.