Obituary: Shirley W. Madany

Shirley W. Madany nee Dann, age 84, of South Holland , IL , passed away on Sunday, August 24, 2008. Mrs. Madany is survived by her husband Rev. Bassam Madany, six children,16 grandchildren, two step-grandchildren and one great grandchild. Mrs. Madany was preceded in death by two brothers and two sisters. Shirley W. Madany, assisted her husband in the Arabic Broadcast Department for 25 years.  Besides her secretarial duties, she assumed responsibility for the monthly follow-up mailings, which went to a list of over 30,000 names in more than 65 countries.  She gained a working knowledge of the Arabic language in that process.  She also contributed monthly articles about their work to the Missionary Monthly Magazine. Born in Portage la Prairie , Manitoba, Canada, Shirley was secretary to Grant Dexter, editor of The Winnipeg Free Press before her marriage.  In those early years of radio ministry Shirley expanded the work by producing a flyer describing all the evangelistic Arabic publications available.  Their first English publication The Bible and Islam was edited from lectures given at Reformed Bible College, in Grand Rapids , Michigan .  It has reached well beyond the 15,000 mark and has been twice published in Nairobi , Kenya for East African readers.  Likewise twice published in the Russian language. The Madanys have worked as a team both in radio and now on the Internet.  In 2005 Shirley's first book,  Muslims Meeting Christ, appeared in print. Rev. Bassam Michael Madany was born in Seleucia , in the province of Antioch , Syria .  He received his education in British and French schools in the Middle East prior to, and during World War II.  In 1950, he came to the United States and studied at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , graduating in May 1953.  During 1957-1958, Rev. Madany took further studies at Calvin Theological Seminary, in Grand Rapids , Michigan . He holds a Bachelor of Divinity degree from that institution. In June 1958, Rev. Madany was appointed as Arabic Broadcast Minister, in the Christian Reformed Church.  He pioneered Arabic radio missions and developed a Bible-based ministry, which emphasizes the centrality of the Word of God in missions to Muslims.  He has authored several books in Arabic for his follow-up ministry.  He has authored several books in Arabic for use in the spread of the Word of God among Arabic-speaking people. He has published two books in English, The Bible & Islam, and An Introduction to Islam. The former book has been translated into Russian, and has already gone through two printings.