Pillars: How Muslim Friends Led Me Closer to Jesus

Jones (Stronger than Death) and her husband have lived in Africa since 2003, first in Somaliland, then in Djibouti, where they now run a school. Jones’s Evangelical upbringing, though it provided her with a happy and secure childhood, tended to focus on legalisms. Her untested faith was challenged while she lived in the Horn of Africa, among Muslims who were as devout in their beliefs as Jones was in hers. Islam’s Five Pillars—Shahadah (There is no god but God), Salat (Prayer), Zadat (Almsgiving), Ramadan (Fasting), and Hajj (Pilgrimage)—provide the basis for Jones to reflect on her eye-opening experiences while immersed in a culture that is foreign to her. The author’s soul-searching leads her to understand that her Muslim friends and neighbors live out ideals and values that run parallel to those of aspirational Christianity.