ISLAM CONFUSES ME!!!! Does it Encourage Violence?
An American soldier rolls live grenades into the tents of his comrades killing two and injuring 13 others. He, as a convert to Islam (a rising phenomenon in the Black community) is troubled that he is part of an attack on a Muslim nation. He resolves his conflict by allowing his brand of religion to overpower his patriotism and brotherhood in arms. This resolution takes the form of violence, which SEEMS to be sanctioned by his insight into Islam.
A former member of the National cabinet, in an interview that very day, was even more troubling. He noted that there are 13 Muslim military chaplains, nine of whom are Wahhabis, the notoriously strict Muslim sect which maintains superiority over the whole Muslim world. He asks, " What are the young American Muslim soldiers being told"?
We have many Questions to ask!
Did Muslims from Beirut and Baghdad and Indonesia cheer and dance in the streets at the news of 9/11? Were there clear condemnations coming from major Muslim groups in this country? If not, why not?
Was George W. Bush right in asserting that terrorists violate Islam, which is essentially a peaceful religion? And those terrorists are simply that- pure and simple terrorists who have NOTHING to do with Islam?
What does it mean to be a practicing Muslim? What are the Five Pillars? Is there any kind of link between violent behavior and some Muslim teachings? If so, is the link accidental? Correlative?
Is there any link that might be predispositive to violence? And the ultimate fear: is the link integral to violence?
As a Catholic, I am deeply influenced by the teachings and positions of the Pope of Rome, the successor of Peter and Vicar of Christ on earth. He, John Paul II, teaches in his best selling book, CROSSING THRESHOLD OF HOPE, that Islam thoroughly deserves our respect and admiration, particularly in the Muslim fidelity to prayer. They, the believers in Allah, care nothing about time or place, fall to their knees and immerse themselves in prayer.
Yet, Islam completely reduces Divine Revelation.
All the richness of God's self revelation has been set aside in Islam. By that is meant that the heritage of the Old and New testaments has been definitely sidestepped. Nonetheless, some of the most beautiful names in human language are given to the God of the Koran. However, within that framework, He is ultimately God OUTSIDE OF THE WORLD. He is God Who is only majesty but never Emmanuel, God with us. Islam is not a religion of redemption. There is no room for the Cross and the Resurrection. Jesus is mentioned only as a prophet who prepares for the last prophet, Mohammed. Mary, the Mother of Jesus is mentioned but there is NO mention of the tragedy of the Redemption. Both the theology and anthropology of Islam are VERY distant from Christian perspectives- - - and probably from Jewish ones. So, speaks my spiritual Leader.
He also notes that where fundamentalists rule, freedom is interpreted in a very one-sided way. Religious freedom, to fundamentalist Islam, means freedom to IMPOSE on all citizens the True Religion. He finds this very disturbing. And indeed so do I! I recall my own years in Southern Africa and my few attempted interactions with the " Malays" - - i.e. Muslims from Malaysia. They, with a self imposed religious Apartheid, were notoriously unfriendly to Christians even though they themselves were a terribly oppressed minority. They glared at Christian clerics with suspicious mien, even though they religiously heeded the Iman's (?) call to prayer from the local Mosque's turret. Do I base my discomfort with Islam on experience from years ago?
How am I (having had a Jewish father) to understand the report of Jack Kelly of USA TODAY where he describes a jarring incident that he witnessed at a Hamas school? He saw a kid of eleven years old stand up and make the following report:
" I will make my body a bomb, " said the boy, " that will blast the flesh of the Zionists, (I read Jews) the sons of pigs and monkeys���.I will tear their bodies into little pieces and will cause them more pain than they will ever know." His classmates shouted in response, "Allah Aakhbar" (God is great) and his teacher shouted, "May the virgins give you pleasure."
Why did an Air Egypt pilot drive a passenger filled 747 into the sea just after takeoff from JFK, killing all, and shouting " ALLAH IS GREAT"? How does killing several hundred people glorify the Almighty? Was this barbarous act solely the result of a delusional/ psychotic professional? Was it partially fueled by the aura of the Qur'an?
Such an unthinkable question arose in my mind after reading ISLAM UNVEILED by Robert Spencer (Encounter Books, San Francisco, 2003)
In this book It is reported that the Canadian Muslim journalist Irshad Manji draws a fundamental conclusion from what he calls mainstream Muslim thinking:
"It's time to question publicly whether Islam lends itself to Fundamentalist (i.e., a literal reading of Qur'anic exhortations to violence) more easily than other world religions. Here's my case for why it might. We Muslims are routinely taught that the Holy Koran is a book about which there is no doubt. By building upon the Torah and the Christian Bible, the Koran perfects their teachings. No need to interpret the final draft of -G-d's manifesto. It is what it is and that is that."
If a Christian fundamentalist is someone who " strictly" maintains the traditional core teachings, Spencer maintains, by analogy a Muslim fundamentalist would simply be someone who upholds the Five Pillars of Islam. He claims that virtually all muslims are fundamentalists. His conclusion? " To isolate Islamic terrorists as " Muslim fundamentalists" is absurd because it suggests something that those who use the term deny; that violence and terror are fundamentals of Islam."
What do I do with that? I am confused. I know Muslims who are quiet, family oriented and law abiding. Sometimes, I do feel somewhat uncomfortable with their mode of clothing, speech and even food. But they can feel uncomfortable with me-- in my funny clothing, sporting a clerical Roman collar and verbalizing my extraterrestrial somewhat off-the-wall thinking!
I want to understand my Moslem brethren and treat them with respect and hopefully admiration. Yet concerning me (us) the non-Muslim, the Koran teaches: "Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal vigorously with them. Hell shall become their home: an evil fate.."(Sura 9:73)
And "The true believers fight for the cause of God, but the infidels fight for the devil. Fight then against the friends of Satan." (Surea 4:76) War. Fight. Words that link to my unease with the "jihad." I understand that jihad can mean the inner war with evil, comparable to the Christian notion of Spiritual Combat. But there is also the unmistakeable implication of taking up arms against the "enemies" of Islam.
Sheikh Omar Bakri ( who mutedly applauded bin Laden's terrorism) said: "The Koran lays down that the Muslim must be capable of bearing arms and should be ready for the Jihad." There has always been a martial element in jihad. I read that in the 7th century Hajjaj, a governor of Iraq proclaimed: " The Great God says in the Koran: 'O true believers, when you encounter the unbelievers, strike off their heads'. The above command of the Great God is a great command and must be respected and followed."
How typical is this mood in Greater Islam? I did find the following passages in the Qur'an which seem to reinforce such a stand.
When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield, strike off their heads and, when you have laid them low, bind your captives firmly. (Sura 47:4)
When the sacred months are over slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them and lie in ambush everywhere for them. If they repent and take to prayer and render the alms levy ( i.e., the JIZYA, the special tax on non-Muslims) allow them to go their way��. (Sura 9:5)
�..Slay them wherever you find them. Drive them out of the places from, which they drove you��.( Sura2:190-1)
The scary part is exploring who are the " idolaters"? Sometimes, apparently, they are atheists, pagans or polytheists. Sometimes, Jews and Christians and even Zoroastrians. Sometimes, Jews are excluded and sometimes Christians are guilty of SHIRK, because of our belief in the Trinity and our worship of Jesus Whom they consider " created." While Jesus is respected in Islam, I note that the 12th century Persian poet Farid Attar sums up the prevalent view of Jesus as "a blasphemous disgrace."
In this attempt to understand the Islamic definition of "Idolater", one might consider what happens to those captured after a Muslim declaration of Jihad.
For example, various American Muslim personalities tried to effect the release of Daniel Pearl, the American journalist captured by terrorists, but their pleas went unheeded. Cat Stevens and Cassius Mohammad Ali did their best to find somewhere an explicit Qur'anic text extending mercy to an unbeliever. Pearl's captors could simply invoke Sura 48:29 according to which he was entitled to no compassion.
One might easily find apparently equivalent texts in the Hebrew and Christian bible which would make one cringe in embarrassment. But are they really equivalent? I don't know any modern Jew or Christian who uses the bloody Bible stories as guides for behavior IN THE PRESENT!
Spencer uses Kenneth Woodward of Newsweek to make the distinction:
"The Qur'an does contain sporadic calls to violence, sprinkled throughout the text�.The Bible, too, has it stories of violence in the name of the Lord. The God of early Biblical; books is fierce indeed in his support of the Israelite warriors.. but these stories do not have the support of divine commands. Nor are they considered God's own eternal words as Muslims believe Qur'anic verses to be."
Christians are embarrassed by the behaviors of the Conquerors of the New World with their brutality and oppression. However, such behavior -even if done by so-called believers in Christ--- was contrary to the teachings of the Faith. There is no way one can justify the ruthlessness practiced by so many of these early American explorers. What they did was AGAINST the Faith. We now wonder whether some other religious predatory behavior (perhaps by Islamics) was done IN AGREEMENT with their Faith!!!!
In June of 2001, Sheikh Ibrahim Mahdi proclaimed on the official TV station of Palestine the following invocation: " Blessings on whoever has put a belt of explosives on his body and plunged into the midst of the Jews." The rewards for such suicidal behavior are well known: a heaven filled with the delights of the flesh, dark eyed maidens, non intoxicating liquors�.(Sura 65:24)
Nevertheless, throughout the centuries there have been numerous instances of real religious tolerance on the part of the Muslim Majority. We know that. Then what are we facing today? What happened to the Catholic Cathedral in Libya?
Even the Moslem majority cannot easily be read out of Islam if the terrorists hold that Allah is God and Mohammad is his prophet! A manual of Islamic law says that to classify as Muslim as an unbeliever IS ITSELF AN ACT OF APOSTASY.
But how am I to react to all of this? I am Christian and believe that all people are children of God who must be treated with respect and trust. Yet, I am human and fearful. I read William J. Bennett who compares Islam with Christianity:
"To put the issue at its starkest: there is simply no equivalent in the Koran to the New Testament's admonition to 'turn the other cheek'; conversely there is no equivalent to 'kill the disbelievers wherever you find them'." �..Muslims have nothing akin to the New testament corrective of the gospel of mercy. Osama insists that his victims were not innocent (?) He plots to strike as hard as he can at the nation, in his view, which has humiliated and oppressed the House of Islam. Is this because the Qur'an told him so?
Spencer writes: " For all too many, being a serious Muslim means doing Allah's work BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY"
But doesn't a Christian say the same essential thing? Yes, but in terms of what one means by necessary!!!!!
So it is a puzzlement. It is unclear. God is good and great and works through His people who include Islam. There are saints in Islam as well as evil ones--- as in Christianity! The UMMA of the Muslim majority follow their consciences and the urges of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray that the frightening factors of this piece will be erased and love and respect for all people will happen. Let there be peace. May people live and let live. May people accept one another's imperfections and failures and strive to grow in the real spirit of God------peace and goodness here and hereafter. I lay this confusion at the feet of Mary, Mother of God.