COMPARATIVE RELIGION, PART II : ISLAM.
“The question is not whether Jesus is an adequate symbol of God; the question is rather whether any God that does not correspond to Jesus’ symbols is an adequate God”
(Schubert Ogden)
The notes below are based largely on Daniel Ali’s book Inside Islam: a Guide for Catholics. Daniel Ali was a Muslim Kurd who suffered under Saddam Hussein’s war on the Kurds. His early childhood memories include the Christian neighbours he knew... “Some were beautiful examples of Christ’s love”. He became a Catholic in 1998.
“Islam repeatedly used in the Koran in the sense of surrender of God’s will is in the name of religion, promulgated by Mohammed [c.570-632 who lived about 5 centuries after Christ]. One who accepts Islam is a Muslim. (Encyclopaedia Britannica v.12, p.663)
Muslims believe that the Koran is the Word of God originally delivered to Mohammed by the angel Gabriel. Muslims believe it replaces the Old and New Testaments.
However, the New Testament makes it very clear that it is God’s final word, “which once and for all times God has given to his people”. (From the letter of St. Jude, written about 75 A.D.). Also the New Testament, in a prophetic statement, says: “let me warn you that if anyone preaches a version of the Good News different from the one we have already preached to you, whether it be ourselves or an angel from heaven, he is to be condemned.” (Galatians 1:8) This letter is dated in 57 A.D., which is about 5 centuries before Islam appeared.
Muslims wrongly believe that the Bible is hopelessly corrupted and to be rejected. Jews and Christians too, from the time of Mohammed have rejected this charge and said that it is the Koran itself that is at fault. (See appendix). Hence the tensions between Jews, Christians and Muslims. Though the latter say our scriptures are corrupt, they still quote from it when it suits them, e.g. this letter in the Sunday Tribune 6/12/92 from a Muslim, Mr Faizel Khan:
MY WORDS NOT AS HARSH AS THOSE OF JESUS
“Mr Howard Joseph (November 22), may I take the time to inform you that a nom de plume is not always used to hide behind. If you see no reason to question other religions, then how is it that Christian missionaries have written 60,000 books against Islam and furthermore they have resorted to deceitful tactics to propagate their religion? Every Muslim shows the utmost love and respect towards Arabic Calligraphy of Islam in so much respect that he will not allow one word to touch the ground. Unfortunately Christian missionaries are exploiting this respect by camouflaging calligraphy to deceive the non-Arab speaking Muslims. You talk about tolerance towards people yet Jesus Christ showed no tolerance towards his elders. During his preaching he called his elders and priests “Ye hypocrites...” (Matthew 23-13); – “Ye generation of vipers...” (Matthew 23-33); - “Ye white sepulchres...” (Matthew 12-39). Is there love in these words? Jesus preached these words: “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10-34). “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me”. (Luke 19-27). I did not use such harsh words in my letter. May God give you the strength to understand the meaning of tolerance in Christianity before preaching to Muslims on tolerance.” Faizal Khan (Sea Cow Lake).
There is absolutely no evidence that Jesus advocated violence, and Mahatma Gandhi makes that clear. All the above texts are taken out of context. Texts can be taken out of context also in the Koran, e.g “No compulsion in Religion”. (Sura 2:256) In the Koran the opposite is true – coercion is advocated. (Sura 2:193; Sura 8:39). There is also no evidence for the corruption of the Bible because the Bible texts found at Qumram on the Dead Sea in 1947 by two Arab shepherds are identical with the Old Testament texts we have in our Bibles.
The following is from Encyclopaedia Britannica: “Scholars who are not Muslims – that is, who do not believe the Koran to have originated directly with God – look for its origin on earth, and find it in the mind and personality of Mohammed and in the environment into which he came. In contrast with earlier centuries, when outsiders resolutely regarded him as a mischievous impostor, it is now agreed that he sincerely believed that the koranic verses were coming to him from God through the intermediary of an angel. He apparently saw visions and more often heard voices, which modern religious psychology recognizes as exemplifying a known pattern, instanced in many parts of the world (cf. Joan of Arc). The form of his early utterances is seen as closely parallel to that of the Arabian soothsayers (singular, kahin) of the time, later enunciations, more sophisticated, as more parallel to biblical traditions. In content, also scholars find echoes of Arabian notions first informed, then gradually overlaid or replaced, by those of Christian, and especially Jewish lore largely in apocryphal versions current in the milieu. Much academic work has been, and continues to be, done in identifying sources of particular details and of general religious and moral ideas and orientation endeavours to reconstruct the chronological order of the parts of the Koran lead to careful studies of the development of Mohammed’s personality and activities and a tracing of the dialectic between his revelations and his career” ’(Enc. Brit. 13).
To understand Christianity, we need to understand the Old Testament, and to understand Islam we also need to understand the Jewish background. Judaism and Islam have a lot in common as we can see from the following comparative studies:
1. SEMITES:
Jews are Semites, but so also was Mohammed and the Arab Race from which he sprang. Shem was the eldest of Noah’s three sons (Gen. 5:32. 10:1). In the Old Testament genealogical tables tracing the origins and connections of various peoples, the Hebrews, Arameans and Arabs are counted among the descendants of Shem, and from the name Shem is derived the adjective Semitic. (Enc. Brit. 20, p.376)
2. SEMITIC LANGUAGES:
Hebrew (language of the Old Testament) and Arabic (language of the Koran) are both Semitic languages and both are written from right to left. Compare the following greetings for “peace be with you”.
JEWISH: SHALOM ALECHEM (HEBREW)
MUSLIM: SALAAM ALAIKAM (ARABIC)
3. GOD’S NAME:
The name of God in the Jewish Old Testament, and in Islam, are also alike. Elah, one of the names of God in the Old Testament (used 89 times) is similar to Allah. The ruins of early Christian churches built before Mohammed have been found all over Arabia and the Gulf states. These early Christian communities, before Islam, also translated – God as Allah. “God is great” is found in Psalm 70:4; it is also a popular expression in Arabic “Allahu Akhbar”.
4. FASTING:
It was the Jewish custom to fast from sunrise to sunset. (W. Barclay, Commentaries v.4, p.22); this is also the Muslim custom.
5. SKULLCAPS:
Both Jewish and Muslim men wear skullcaps. Early Christians also did as well, but now only bishops wear skullcaps – a remnant of our Jewish heritage.
6. WOMEN AND DRESS:
Orthodox Jewish women wore long dresses and covered their hair (and still do today). See pictures of the Virgin Mary. Muslim women do as well.
7. WOMEN AND WORSHIP:
In Judaism women were segregated in the Jewish Synagogue, if they attended at all. (W. Barclay, Commentary, v.9, p.98). This is true also of Muslim women. The Hadith (or Mohammed’s tradition) quotes Mohammed as saying: “I was shown the hellfire and that the majority of its dwellers are women” (Al Bukhuri v.1:28,30). Perhaps if more were encouraged to go to the Mosque, fewer would go to hell!
8. THE POOR ON FRIDAYS:
William Barclay said that “no nation has ever had a greater sense of responsibility for the less fortunate brethren than the Jews” – as every Friday a collection was taken up for the poor and needy. (Commentary on Acts, p.51). Muslims have a similar custom on Friday.
9. PILGRIMAGE:
It was the dream of all Jews worldwide to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem before they died. At Passover, in the time of Christ, there would be 2 million Jews in Jerusalem! Muslims, too, long to visit Mecca before they die.
10. PRAYERS FACING THE HOLY CITY:
Jews also turned their faces to Jerusalem when they prayed. Muslims also, at one time, followed this Jewish practice and faced Jerusalem, but now they face Mecca.
11. ABLUTIONS:
It was the Jewish custom from the time of Moses and Aaron to wash their hands and feet before worship. (Exodus 40:32). Muslims also have this custom.
12. CIRCUMCISION:
Jewish boys were circumcised shortly after birth. Muslim boys too. But in some Islamic societies female circumcision is also carried out. But this was never a Jewish practice. Female circumcision did not originate in Islam, but was approved by Mohammed as the discussion between him and Um Habibah shows. (Hadith: sunam of abu Dawud, ch.1888). Female circumcision leaves women with reduced or no sexual feelings and intercourse can cause great pain.
13. KOSHER AND HALAL:
Strict dietary laws were enforced in Judaism to ensure that food was fit or proper (Kosher). Also later in Islam, but called Halal.
14. BEARDS:
This was cultivated with great care by the Jews and frequently anointed. To have one’s beard shaved was a great indignity (2 Samuel 10:4; Isaiah 50:6). It was prohibited to trim the corners of the beard (Leviticus 19:27, 21:5). Obviously the beard is also very important in Islam.
15. LAST JUDGEMENT ON THE SCALES:
In Judaism: “it is God who weighs men’s deeds” (1 Samuel 2:3). In Islam: “and as for those whose scale is light [with good deeds] lose their souls” (Sura 7:9).
16. LAW:
Judaism and Islam are religions of many laws, rules and regulations. Keep all the laws and you are okay. Jesus said the whole of the law is summed up in: “love God and your neighbour”.
17. PRAYER – 5 TIMES DAILY:
The faithful Jews recited the SHEMA twice a day, and the ZEPHILLA three times a day. Muslims too pray 5 times a day.
18. JEWISH AND MUSLIM ASSASSINS:
Zealots were a Jewish group in Israel at the time of Jesus, who specialised in acts of political terrorism. They were called Sicaii or assassins. (Enc. Brit. 12, p.1053). Islam also had its assassins who killed their enemies as a sacred religious duty. (Enc. Brit. 2, p.621). This tradition is carried on by the martyrs or suicide bombers. A study of comparative religion reveals that Japanese Shintoism also had its suicide or kamikaze bombers. Dr. Baruch Goldstein was a modern day Jewish assassin as he killed 29 Palestinian worshippers in the Hebron mosque while they were down on their knees praying. The tomb of this mass murderer is now a shrine for thousands of right wing Israeli Jews. According to halakah, or Jewish law, it is okay to kill even good civilians in the cause. So Goldstein was acting according to law! (Sunday Independent, 7/12/97, p.11). The Jewish talmudic tract Avodah Zara has forbidding language about consorting with idol worshippers – including a requirement to kill them. (R. Kamenetz, The Jew in the Lotus, Harper, p.25).
19. MORALS POLICE:
Once operated in Israel to keep fellow Jews in line, by murder if necessary. Islam too has its “morals police”. In March 2002 fifteen girls were burnt to death in a school in Mecca because the morals police would not let the police or firemen rescue half dressed females.
20. GENTILES AND INFIDELS (KAFFIR IN ARABIC):
Jews would not mix with non-Jews (Gentiles, Goyiim or dogs). Muslims are forbidden to have friendship with Christians, Jews etc. (Sura 4:84, 89). So if you greet an observant Jew or Muslim and get silence or a sour face, then you know why. The Middle East is full of orthodox Jews, Muslims and Christians dressed head to toe in their religious gear, but who are a pretty unfriendly bunch. An American rabbi, Irving Greenberg, who is deeply involved in interfaith dialogue, says that if one cannot propagate his religion without using stereotypes and negative images of others, then “all religions will go down the tubes – and good riddance – because we’re a source of hatred and demolition of other people.” (R. Kamenetz, The Jew in the Lotus, Harper, 1994, p.110).
21. PRAYER FOR THE DEAD:
Jews believed it a good thing to pray for the dead that they may be purified for their sins (2 Maccabees 12:45). Muslims too pray for the dead that they may by purified for judgement day.
22. POLYGAMY:
Jews were allowed to have more than one wife right up to the First World War. Muslims are allowed to have a maximum of 4 wives, but any number of concubines (slave girls or girlfriends [harem]). The latter have no rights, but wives do. Unlike the men, a Muslim woman may only have one partner otherwise she can be stoned to death for adultery. A recent document from the Vatican, approved by Pope John Paul II, entitled The Love of Christ towards immigrants says that marriages between Catholics and Muslims are almost certain to fail. Fuad Nahdi, a Muslim editor, agreed. (Catholic Herald 212/05/04). Dr.Janet Smith says that nearly all polygamous communities become eventually monogamous: we want to be loved as a unique human being by somebody else.
23. WOMEN:
Jews believed that a woman is to be modestly dressed as her body is only for the eyes of her husband, not for every Tom, Dick and Harry. (See Ben Sirach 9:8-9 - “turn your eyes away from a handsome woman, do not stare at the beauty that belongs to her husband”). Muslims have a similar belief. The New Testament says that “women are to dress modestly with decency and propriety” (1 Tim. 2:9).
24. SLAVES:
Jews were permitted to have slaves. Muslims too are permitted to have slaves. (Sura 4:23-24) and this is very common in Sudan and Mauritania. A runaway Black Muslim slave girl from Sudan, Mende Nazer, has recently published her gut-wrenching story in London in 2004, and helped found the “Anti-Slavery International”. Her book is a fierce indictment of Sudanese slavery. She writes passionately: “But why were these men (Arab militia) now shouting “allahu akhbar” after burning our village, raping and killing?” Did they think it was halal to do this? We were Muslims just like them. So how could they think this? (p.95). Commentators today are perplexed by the Sudanese Arab Muslim militia taking Black slaves in Darfur. Is it due to the Koran or the Hadith? According to the latter Mohammed said “when Allah created Adam, he hit Adam on the right shoulder and the white race sprang out, while the black race came from the left shoulder. Allah said to those of the right hand: to paradise you are, and to the left: to hell you go” (Mishkat al – Messabih, vol. 1, no. 119). According to the Koran sura 3:106, “on the day when some faces will be (lit up with) white, and some faces will be (in the gloom of) black: to those whose faces will be black, (will be said): “did ye regret faith after accepting it? Taste then the penalty for rejecting faith.” In Saudi Arabia the common word for the colour black is Abd. It also means slave.
25. CURSES:
Early Christians saw themselves as Jews, but as Jews who believed in Jesus as the Messiah. So they went as a body to the Jewish temple in Jerusalem every day to pray. By the end of the first century they were expelled from Judaism and Jews in the synagogues began to call down curses on Christians, and Jewish Christians in particular, as part of their daily worship. (Enc. Brit. 13, p.110). Islam portrays Jews and Christians as having been cursed by Allah and transformed into detested beasts as evidenced by the apes and swine verse in the Koran. (Sura 5:59-60). When Muslims gather for prayer, Sura 42 and Sura 3 are recited, calling curses down on Jews and Christians alike. Christians have always believed (Romans 8:31-39) that no curse can harm them if they are in a state of grace and free from serious sin.
26. LIES AND DECEPTION:
In Judaism lies were considered lawful under certain circumstances. (See Gen. 12:1 or, 27:20; Judith 10, 13). In Islamic doctrine, there is a principle according to the great eleventh century Muslim theologian, al Ghazzali, where “a lie is permissible if it is the only way of obtaining a good result”, or the principle of making promises you do not mean to keep!
27. DIVORCE:
In Judaism divorce was very simple – a man would divorce his wife simply by writing her ‘a bill of divorce’ and dismissing her from his house. (Deut. 24:104). Divorce is very simple also in Islam: if a Muslim man is unhappy with any of his wives he is free to divorce her simply by saying “I divorce you”. But wife beating is not a reason for divorce by the wife, as Muslim men can beat their wives: “as for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them”. (Sura 4:34) Misogyny can be found both in Judaism and Islam: all of these quotes are taken from the Al Bukhari. “After me I have not left any affliction more harmful to men than women” (Vol. 7:33). “I was shown the Hellfire and that the majority of its dwellers are women” (Vol. 2:161; Vol. 7:124). “Bad omen is in the woman, the house and the horse” (Vol. 7:30). Mohammed asked some woman, “isn’t the witness of a woman equal to half that of a man?” The woman said, “Yes”. He said, “This is because of the deficiency of the woman’s mind” (Vol. 3:826). Mohammed to women: “I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religion than you” (Vol. 2:541).
28. LAST JUDGEMENT:
Jews believe that it will take place in the Valley of Jehosaphat in Jerusalem. So the eastern side of this valley has the largest Jewish cemetery in the world (Mount of Olives). Muslims too believe this to be the site of the last judgement, so they are buried in a large Muslim cemetery on the west side of the valley.
29. HATE:
C.S. Lewis, in his book Reflections on the Psalms says: “In some of the Psalms the spirit of hatred which strikes us in the face is like the heat from a furnace mouth.” E.g. in Psalm 37, a blessing is promised on anyone who will snatch up a Gentile baby and beat its brains out on a stone! (Vl.9). In Islam Jews are referred to as “apes and swine” (Sura 5). Mohammed is reported as saying in one Hadith that “the last hour would not come unless the Muslim will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: ‘Muslim or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him’”. This tradition is repeated with small variations, numerous times in the Hadith. (See Hadith: Sahih Muslim, book 41, no 6985). Jews are also called: ‘Sons of pigs and monkeys’ (Sura 5:59-60). In the light of these quotes one understands the hatred between Jews and Muslims. But Christians do not escape either: another Hadith says “when judgement day arrives, Allah will give every Muslim a Jew or Christian to kill, so that the Muslim will not enter hell fire”. (Mishkat al-Messabih V.2, No.5552). In other words: ‘Kill a Christian and keep out of hell!’ But for us Christians to hate anyone is to go straight to hell after death, because Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for their conversion, not their punishment or death. (See Matthew 5:23, 43-48). Hatred cannot be God’s will for people as it disfigures or contorts the face, makes them go cold with animosity, tightens the throat and invariably leads to injury or death of the victim. Is it possible to kill a person in love? It seems very unlikely, for as the militant, Che Guevara, said:... “Unbending hatred of the enemy (is necessary) so as to be transformed into an effective, selective and cold mechanism of death. That is how our soldiers must be, for a people without hatred cannot win!!” “Hate is our only enemy” Yunnus Emre (the Turkish Muslim poet),
30. COMPULSION IN RELIGION:
We read in the Old Testament of “Mattathias unleashes the Holy War” against the pagans. (1 Macc. 2 – Jerusalem Bible version) ‘Forcibly circumcising’ (V.46) and forcibly converting to Judaism. According to the Muslim mindset that part of the world not yet under Islamic control is known as “Dar Al-Harb” (House of War) and that which has been entirely Islamatised as “Dar Al-Islam” (House of Peace). It is the duty of all Muslims to wage Jihad or holy war. The Koran is quite clear about this as it contains numerous verses that state in no uncertain terms that unless a Muslim takes up arms against the infidels he is not a true Muslim and goes to hell. Many Muslims in conversation with Christians quote the Koranic verse: “There shall be no compulsion in religion” (Sura 2:256). Similar texts include Sura’s 3:20; 6:107; 16:125). Faizel Khan in the Sunday Tribune letter “My words not as harsh as those of Jesus” quoted on page 1 above, criticises Christians resorting to “deceitful tactics to propagate their religion”. But it is deceitful to quote “no compulsion in religion” when they know full well that it is abrogated, superseded or rendered null and void by later verses in the same Sura no.2; e.g. “Fight against them until idolatry is no more and Allah’s religion reigns supreme (2:193). This is repeated in Sura 8:39: “Make war on them until idolatry shall cease and Allah’s religion shall reign supreme”. Compulsion (or lack of freedom) in religion can be seen in the Jewish state of Israel where new Christian churches are not permitted. The ringing of bells, crosses on churches, public funeral displays are frowned upon and converts to Christianity are given such a terrible time that they have to leave the country altogether. Jewish Christian churches have been burnt, e.g. Tiberius and Jaffa. In Muslim lands Sharia law demands that a Christian must wear a dress that marks them off as Christian, they must step off the sidewalk to allow a Muslim to pass. They must pay a special tax as Christians for their own protection because as dhimmis (2nd class citizens) they are in danger if they do not. On top of this they must also pay a property tax as well. Western civil law guarantees equal treatment to all citizens including Muslims, but Muslims do not reciprocate these rights in Muslim countries. Minorities are penalised until they convert to Islam or leave the country altogether. Christians in Muslim lands are forbidden to ring church bells, display crosses, recite the Gospel aloud, make public display of their funerals and forbidden or hindered from building new churches. Even statues or icons inside a Christian church are not exempt from attack. In 1995 some Muslim inhabitants of Jericho complained bitterly to the Israeli military governor of then occupied Jericho against the Catholic Church for having a statue of the Virgin Mary standing on the crescent moon – an Islamic symbol. They regarded this as an insult to their faith. The Arab Catholics of Jericho had to point out that this picture of Mary standing on the moon is found in the New Testament (Apocalypse 12:1), which dates from 90 A.D. nearly 500 years before Islam! Hence the importance of dialogue with world religions as misunderstandings can lead to hatred and violence. As regards compulsion in religion – one thing that strikes Christians very forcefully when they visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, once a Jewish site, now a Muslim one, is that Christians are absolutely forbidden to pray or read the Bible there. Yet from the time of Solomon the Great, there has been in the Jewish temple the Court of the Gentiles (non Jews) as a place for them to pray. Solomon, at the blessing of opening of the temple in about 970 B.C., prayed: “if the foreigner not belonging to the people of Israel comes and prays in this temple, grant Lord that all he asks” (1 Kings 8:41f). But he won’t be able to pray anymore – it’s forbidden now! “There is no freedom where there is compulsion and where freedom is lacking, so too is righteousness”. (William of St. Thierry) That there are so many similarities in Judaism and Islam is not surprising, as Mohammed grew up amongst a Jewish-Christian people.
NASARA: The Arab writer, Nilo Geagea, gives this Judeo-Christian group as being called the NASRANIYAT, in Arabic a sect born quite early in the bosom of Christianity. It had a gospel, doctrinal system, a method, a faith and a legal code all of its own. To escape persecution those sectarians (NASARA) took refuge in Arabia, Hijaz and Mecca and they had prospered. During the first decade of the 7th century they had in Mecca their own bishop in the person of the Hebrew speaking Waraka Ben Nawjal, the uncle to the noble and wealthy Quraishi woman, Khadija, who will later become Mohammed’s first wife through the mediation of Waraka himself. They had their church in the Kaba itself, where the famous “black stone” was kept by them no less than as a ‘symbol’ of Christ and this was before the conquest of Mecca in 631, and before the purification of the Sanctuary performed by Mohammed in person where he had every image removed except the icon of Jesus and Mary which he covered with his arms to save it from destruction. (Geagea p.231). Mohammed grew up in an environment saturated with a Judeo-Christian spirit. Bishop Waraka baptised him with water from the Zemzem well, and lavished on him his support and protection during the early calls of his religious and prophetic career. Before starting his own mission, Mohammed, along with some of his relatives and tribesmen, devoted himself to exercises typical of the Hanifite religious movement – such as rising to prayer at night as Monks were in the habit of doing: taking ritual ablutions, fasting during the month of Ramadan; circumambulation, or touring around the Ka’ba seven times. This Judeo-Christian, monotheist, Hanifite religious movement left in Mohammed’s soul a deep, indelible mark. (Geagea, Nilo Mary of the Koran, Philosophical Library, New York, 1984. P.232).
That Waraka was a Christian, and before that a Jew, is borne out by the Hadith, and also by a ninth century biographer of Mohammed, Ibn Hishum. Hans-Joachim Schoeps, says that “the fact is that while Jewish Christianity in the church came to grief, it was preserved in Islam and, with regard to some of its driving impulses at least, it has lasted till our time”. (H. Kȕng, Christianity And World Religions, Doubleday, 1986. P.124)
Some important elements of Christianity can also be found later in Islam e.g.
1. The idea of submission to God (or obedience of faith): “submit yourselves to God” (James 4:7). “... a large group of priests made their submission to the faith”. (Acts 6:7)
2. The expression “God willing” (James 4:15) is also popular in Islam (In sha Allah).
31. NO GOSPEL IN JUDAISM OR ISLAM:
As we have seen, there are many similarities between Judaism and Islam. They are also similar in the fact that they do not have a New Testament, which stresses not law but gospel, not power but love. Phillip Yancey says that “although power can force obedience, only love can summon a response of love which is the one thing God wants from us, and the reason he created us.” (p. Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, Zondervan, 1995. P.78) Yancey goes on to say that: “Tears came to Jesus when he looked out over Jerusalem and realized the fate awaiting that fabled city.” He let out a cry of what Shusaku Endo has called mother-love: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” I sense in that spasm of emotional pain something akin to what a parent feels when a son or daughter goes astray, flaunting freedom, rejecting everything he or she was brought up to believe. Or the pain of a man or woman who has just learned a spouse has left – the pain of a jilted lover. It is a helpless, crushing pain of futility, and it staggers me to realize that the Son of God himself emitted a cry of helplessness in the face of human freedom. Not even God, with all his power, can force a human being to love”. (p.160)
32. GOD IS LOVE:
As Christians we cherish the beautiful fact that “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:16), and if we have been deeply converted, we experience that love in our hearts in an unforgettable way. But for the Muslim, the phrase ‘God is love’ is regarded as blasphemy. Not once in the Koran is the word ‘love’ applied to God. In the New Testament, Jesus spells out the new morality as opposed to the old. This is fully spelt out in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, 7). Jesus says, “You have learnt” (in the Old Testament) “that anyone who divorces his wife must give her a writ of dismissal. But now I say to you, “everyone who divorces his wife makes her an adultress.” Jesus said, (you have learnt eye for eye and tooth for tooth, but now I say to you offer the wicked man no resistance.” (Mt. 5:39) Mahatma Gandhi was to admit that he was to spend a lifetime working out the full implications of this verse by Jesus. (George Woodstock, Gandhi, Fontana, 1972. P.23)
33. LOVE OF ENEMIES:
And according to Gandhi “the willing sacrifice of the innocent is the most powerful answer to insolent tyranny that has yet been conceived by God and man.” Jesus said: “you have learnt: you must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But now I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt. 5:43). Nowhere does this beautiful morality appear in Judaism or Islam. In fact, the amazing peace and reconciliation in the new South Africa since 1994 could only have been achieved in a nation deeply influenced by Christianity. The bitterness and hatred between Israelis and Palestinians seems to have no end in sight, as forgiveness is not their forte. The famous South African Jewish lady, Helen Suzmann, said that she was not a believer in the Peace and Reconciliation Commission or in Amy Biehl’s parents forgiving her killers. (BBC TV Hardtalk, 20/09/04). Whereas the Christian, Desmond Tutu, favoured both, though as a black that suffered under apartheid, it was not easy for him.
34. SUICIDE BOMBERS:
The problem of violence seems to be something that is causing a lot of heart searching in Islam right now, especially the problem of suicide bombing: An influential Sunni Muslim leader has condemned suicide bombing. “Islam is not a religion founded on death”, said Sheikh Mohammed Tantawi, the imam of the Al Alzhar University in Cairo. “How can anyone think that Allah, who created us, wished us to renounce life?” The statement is a significant one, because Al Alzhar University, which was founded in the year 972, is recognized as the leading educational institution worldwide for the Sunni Muslims who make up nearly 90 percent of the world’s Islamic population. Questioned about suicide bombing during an interview with the Italian daily Avvenire, Sheikh Tantawi said: “Islam forbids suicide and considers human life a precious gift.” He stressed that Islam strongly condemns anyone who deliberately harms the innocent. What motivates suicide bombers, he said “has nothing to do with any religion.” The Sunni leader said that many moderate Islamic teachers have condemned suicide bombings. He expressed regret that the mass media tend to downplay their statements, and to ‘give greater importance to armed groups than to moderate religious spokesmen.” Although he did not mention al Qaida, the sheikh said that some terrorists are pursuing “atrocious objectives”, which “Islam cannot recognize.” These people, he said, are exploiting religious sentiments for political purposes. (The Catholic World Report, May 2004)
35. FATIMA MERNISSI:
The Muslim writer, Fatima Mernissi, maintains that violence has been a problem in Islam from its inception: “the murder of imams began very early, even before the caliphate of ‘Ali. What began with “Ali was political terrorism – killing as a plan and a program. The first caliph to be assassinated was, paradoxically, the figure with the greatest reputation for justice, Umar Ibn al-Khattab, the second orthodox caliph, who reflected deeply on his mission. He was one of the supporters of ra’y, individual judgement, as the source of decision-making. That word was to become a fundamental concept in the rationalist tradition. ‘Umar is only the first on a very long list of assassinated imams. That compiled by Ibn Hazm in his chapter “Those Among the Caliphs Who Died by Assassination and the Manner in Which They Were Killed” is one of the most fascinating. The beginning of the list sets the tone:
1. Caliph ‘Umar Ibn al-Khattab: stabbed in 23/644. He was the second caliph to govern after the death of the Prophet.
2. Caliph ‘Uthman: hacked to death by swords. ‘Uthman was the third orthodox caliph, who took power after “Umar and was assassinated in 35/656.
3. Caliph Marwan Ibn al-Hakam: smothered by his wife, Um Khalid. Fourth caliph of the Umayyad dynasty, he died in 64/683.
4. ‘umar Ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz: “poisoned, they say””. ‘Umar was the eighth Umayyad caliph,
he died in 101/720.
5. Al-Walid Ibn Yazid: hacked to death.
Fatima Mernissi, Islam and Democracy, Virago Press, 1993, p.29.
36. VIOLENCE: CHRISTIAN AND ISLAMIC:
According to the Sunday Star the famous historian “Edward Gibbon, a determined unraveller of history, gave up trying to trace Muslim pedigree. Centuries of Islamic carnage defeated him” (6/12/82). Commentators on the origin of this violence amongst Muslim brothers in the “Abode of Peace” are not sure if it is due to the example of Muhammad in wiping out hundreds of Jews in Medina, or in specific prescriptions to make war in the “Abode of War”.
Jesus said that “those who live by the sword will die by the sword”. (Mt. 26:53) and this may explain all the violence and why the “House of Peace” has never been realized. But what about violence in Christianity? What about the crusaders? Yes, Christians had killed too, but as Gandhi observed, it was against everything Christ had stood for, and thought.
One crusade wiped out: Jews in Europe, Christians in Constantinople, and Muslims in Jerusalem! Murder, rape and pillage was their style. But nowhere could they appeal to the founder of Christianity as condoning their murder, rape or pillage.
It is important to point out here that ‘Arab Christians’ reserve (or hostility) towards the crusaders was noticed and valued by the Muslim rulers of the time, but that this Christian-Muslim solidarity was shattered by the invasion of the initially ‘Nestorian’ Mongols, and that later generations then projected this damage backwards onto the crusaders.”
(T. Scudder, MECC News report, Autumn 2001, p.35).
37. FR. RANIERRO CANTALAMESSA OFM Cap:
The following is by Fr. Ranierro Cantalamessa, the Pope’s preacher at the Vatican: “The problem of violence is one that assails and scandalizes us today as it comes in new and fearsome forms, senseless and cruel, and invades even those areas that ought to be a remedy for violence: sport, art, family life. We Christians recoil in horror from the idea that one might resort to violence and kill in the name of God. Some may object: but isn’t the Bible itself full of stories of violence? Isn’t God called “the Lord of hosts?” Doesn’t it say that he gave the order to impose the ban, exterminate entire cities? Isn’t he the one who, in the Mosaic Law, prescribes the death penalty in many cases?
If someone had put the same objection to Jesus during his life on earth, he would surely have answered in the same way as he answered the question about divorce: “It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but it was not like this from the beginning” (Mt. 19:8).
On the question of violence too, “it was not like this from the beginning”. The first chapter of Genesis shows us a world where the very idea of violence was unthinkable, not only in regard to relationships of human beings, one with another, but even in regard to animals. It was not permissible to kill, or even to avenge the death of Abel (see Gn. 4:15).
What God really thinks is shown in the commandment, “You shall not kill”, rather than in the exceptions that the Law makes, allowing them as concessions to the people’s hardness of heart. Violence was a facet of those times, and in reflecting that life the Bible, in its lawmaking, and even in dealing with punishment by death, tries at least to set limits to violence, to prevent it degenerating to a matter of mere personal decision. Paul speaks of a time when ‘sins went unpunished’ because God “held his hand” (Rm. 3:25). God put up with violence, as he put up with polygamy, divorce and other things, but all the while he was teaching the people, leading them towards the time when his original plan would again be put in place, restored to honour as by a new creation. This time came when Jesus, on the mountain, proclaimed: “You have learnt how it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for tooth. But I say this to you: offer the wicked man no resistance.... If anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other one as well. You have learnt how it was said: you must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt. 5:38-39; 43-44).
God in Christ pronounces a definitive, commanding “No” to violence, and substitutes in its place not non-violence merely, but more forgiveness, meekness, gentleness. Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Mt. 11:29). Yet the true sermon on the mountain was not the one Jesus preached one day on a hillside in Galilee; it is one he preaches now, not with words but with deeds, from the cross, on Calvary hill. If there is still violence, it cannot any longer, even in the remotest sense, claim to be of God, or try to cloak itself with his authority. To do that is to drive the idea of God back to its primitive stages, which modern religious and civil conscience rejects. Better atheism than that. Better not to believe that there is a God at all than to believe in a God who would order us to kill innocents”, concludes Fr. Cantalamessa.
38. LOVE AND PEACE:
What is the difference between the Christian and Muslim views of evangelization? Don’t both seek to convert the world? The Christian is called by Jesus to spread the good news of the gospel: that God is a loving Creator who desires that all people come to a full knowledge of Him, to have a relationship of love with Him and with one’s neighbour. Christians are called to love all people, especially their enemies (Mt. 5:44). No other religion makes “the loving of one’s enemies” so essential. Jesus teaches that there is no genuine way to peace other than through forgiveness of, and love for, one’s enemies. Any religion that, in its scriptures, defines peace as doing violence to its enemies is offering a false peace based on conformity. Christian peace is based on love, which is inclusive, not exclusive, and therefore extends to all genuine peace.
39. COMPASSION : CHRISTIAN AND ISLAMIC:
Consider the difference in the following two stories, the first from the gospel of John and the second from the Hadith. In the Gospel narrative, we read about the woman caught committing adultery. Note Jesus’ response: “Then each went to his own house, while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning He arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to Him, and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to Him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?’ They said this to test Him, so that they could have some charge to bring against Him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with His finger. But when they continued asking Him, He straightened up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin, be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again He bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So He was left alone with the woman before Him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She replied, ‘No one, sir.’ Then Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go, (and) from now on do not sin any more’ (Jn. 7:35-8:11).
The following episode is from the Hadith. Note how Muhammad’s actions are in sharp contrast with those of Jesus: “There came to him (the Holy Prophet) a woman from Ghamid and said: Allah’s Messenger, I have committed adultery, so purify me. He (the Holy Prophet) turned her away. On the following day she said: Allah’s Messenger, Why do you turn me away? ... By Allah, I have become pregnant. He said: Well, if you insist upon it, then go away until you give birth to (the child). When she was delivered she came with the child (wrapped) in a rag and said: Here is the child whom I gave birth to. He said: Go away and suckle him until you wean him. When she had weaned him, she came to him (The Holy Prophet) with the child who was holding a piece of bread in his hand. She said: Allah’s Apostle, here is he as I have weaned him and he eats food. He (the Holy Prophet) entrusted the child to one of the Muslims and then pronounced punishment. And she was put in a ditch up to her chest and he commanded people and they stoned her. Khalid b Walid came forward with a stone, which he flung at her head, and there spurted blood on the face of Khalid, and so he abused her. Allah’s Apostle heard this (Khalid’s) curse that he had hurled upon her. Thereupon he (the Holy Prophet) said: Khalid, be gentle.
These examples sum up two radically different understandings of repentance. Jesus accepts the woman’s repentance and she is not punished. Muhammad accepts the woman’s repentance, but she is punished nevertheless. This also encapsulates a core difference between the messages that Christian and Muslim evangelists are spreading around the world today; one is a message of genuine mercy and love, the other is at its core one of fear and punishment. From; Daniel Ali, Inside Islam, p.126-128.
40. MUSLIMS AND CATHOLICS TOGETHER
“Test everything, Hold fast to what is Good” (1 Th. 5:20)
On September 11th 2001, Osama bin Laden launched his attack on America. Why September 11th? Perhaps because September 11th marks the anniversary of the battle of Vienna in which Catholic soldiers under Poland’s King Jan Sobieski beat back an Islamic invasion in 1683. It was “one of the most famous sieges in history” (Enc. Brit. 17, p.264). For Osama bin Laden the attack on America was to be revenge for this Islamic defeat. Then, a month later, on October 7th, the U.S.A.-led coalition launched its military campaign against bin Laden in Afghanistan. It was no accident that this date of October 7th was the anniversary of the battle of Lepanto, and a huge Catholic victory over the Muslim Turks. It was one of the largest naval engagements in history. From the time of Mohammed, the means of Muslim expansion was always the sword – by violence because Islam is unique among world religions in having a doctrine, theology, and law mandating violence against unbelievers. Mohammed himself directed: “Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war.... When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them... If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah’s help and fight them.” (Sahib Muslim, book 19, no. 4294). Mohammed also said, “Whoever changes his religion, kill him.” (Al Bukhari, vol. 9:57). In traditional Islam, Christian and Jewish states had to be destroyed, as there were only two abodes: abode of Islam (or Peace) and the abode of war. Palestine, Syria and Egypt – once the most heavily Christian areas in the world, quickly succumbed. Crusaders argued later that if seizing Christian Syria and Palestine by the Muslim sword was acceptable in the 7th century, why was it so atrocious to try to reclaim them with the Christian sword 400 years later? This helps to explain the endless wars between Christians and Muslims, and Islamic fundamentalists are quite happy to continue the wars: the Turkish Muslim who tried to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981, belonged to the Islamic militant group “Grey Wolves”. Khalid, Osama bin Laden’s ‘operational commander’ was behind plots to kill the Pope in the Philippines in 1995 and 1999. (C. Herald 15/11/02). Another plot was hatched in 1995 to kill the Pope on a visit to Tunisia to St. Augustine’s birthplace (Southern Cross 29/8/01). Even though the militants are quite happy to continue the wars, the Catholic Church decided to enter into dialogue instead with Islam and all the major world religions, as well as main protestant denominations worldwide.
From the Vatican II Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, (Nostra Aetate): “Over the centuries many quarrels and dissensions have arisen between Christians and Muslims. The sacred Council now pleads with all to forget the past, and urges that a sincere effort be made to achieve mutual understanding, for the benefit of all men, let them together preserve and promote peace, liberty, social justice, and moral values” (1965).
So, since 1965 Catholics have worked with Muslims worldwide to promote “peace, liberty, social justice and moral values” especially on Pro-Life issues in a world that is increasingly pro-abortion and anti family. In fact, Islamic countries are just about the only allies that the Vatican has in defending human life and the traditional family in the halls of the United Nations
1. Dr. Majid Katme, president of the Islamic medical association, and Catholic groups have worked together to defeat abortion on demand at U.N.O. meetings in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing and Istanbul.
2. Dr. Katme has given a talk: “Muslims and Catholics face abortion”. He has given money from “Muslim aid” to a Scottish Cardinal who set up a home for pregnant schoolgirls who did not want to abort. (Scottish Catholic Observer 15.10.99)
3. “Muslim leaders in Scotland have indicated that they will send their children to Catholic schools if the government there insists on having gay sex education taught in public schools. (Irish Family 28/0102000)
4. The Catholic university of Mozambique and the Muslim university of Mozambique have agreed to set up a joint medical faculty in the city of Beira. (Sunday Times 5/09/99)
5. “Muslims and Catholics join to protest play”. (Citizen 1/11/99). The blasphemous play, Corpus Christi, depicted Christ as gay.
6. Arab Muslims and Arab Christians joined together in Nazareth and other places in Israel in 1995, to protest a blasphemous play on Isreali TV called
‘The Last Temptation of Christ’.
7. Mohammed Al Fayed, who runs Harrods Store in London, has given millions to Christian pro-life charities. (Tablet 9/11/96)
8. Osama Saeed of the Muslim association of Great Britain has promised support to Cardinal O’Brien of Scotland, who maintains that sex education in schools is “government sponsored abuse of children”. (Catholic Herald 3/9/04)
9. The English newspaper “The Universe” stated that Muslims in Indonesia are joining the Catholic natural family planning movement because no intrusive medical procedures are required and they can regulate the method of birth control by themselves. (Southern Cross 17/4/94)
THE LAST DAY FOR MUSLIMS:
As we have seen above (No 29), the Last Day will not come for Muslims until the Jews are all exterminated. Mohammed is reported as saying that “the last hour would not come unless the Muslim will fight and kill the Jews.” (Sahih Muslim 6985)
If this sounds outrageous, we need to remember the Turkish extermination of over a million Armenian Christians beginning in 1895, when the Sultan Abdul-Hamid II ordered “large scale systematic massacres” (Enc. Britannica V.2, p.421). It was quickly forgotten about and so Hitler could say on August 22, 1939, “Who remembers the extermination of the Armenians?” Hitler used this to justify his planned extermination of Jews and Poles.
President Ahmadinejad of Iran has called for the extermination of Israel a number of times, and for it to be “wiped off the map”.
THE LAST DAY FOR CHRISTIANS:
But for Christians the last day will not come until all the Jews are saved and converted to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. (See Romans II, vv. 15-25).
“Their (Jews) sins occasioned the salvation of the Gentiles and again the incredulity of the Gentiles will occasion the conversion of Israel. You will find both in the Apostle (St Paul).
(St Jerome, Comm on the Song of Songs, Homily 1)
• “Seeing the Gentiles abusing little by little their grace, God will recall a second time the Jews”.
(St John Chrysostom, Homily en Epis. to Romans 2
• St Paul announces that the accession of Jewry to the faith will take place after “the full number of Gentiles enter in”. (Rom. 11:25)
“What I say, will such an admission effectuate, if not that it bring the Gentiles back to life? The Gentiles would be the believers whose faith has grown cold; or even that the totality deceived by the Antichrist, fall and are restored to their pristine fervour by the admission of the Jews”.
(St Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Epistle to Romans 11:15)
All from Elias Friedman, O. Carm. Jewish Identity, Miriam Press, N.Y.; 130
Foot notes:
• St, Jerome (345 - 420 A.D.) a Bible scholar chosen by Pope Damasus to translate the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate).
• St. John Chrysostom (d.407) – a Bishop and doctor of the Church.
• St. Thomas Acquinas (1225 – 1274) – the Catholic Church’s greatest theologian.
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church 674:
“The glorious Messiah’s coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by “all Israel” (Rom. 11:20-26). The full “inclusion” of the Jews in the Messiah’s salvation, in the wake of the full number of the Gentiles (Rom. 11:12) will enable the people of God to achieve “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” in which “God will be all in all” (Eph. 4:13; 1 Cor. 15:28).
PRAYING FOR THE CONVERSION OF JEWS AND MUSLIMS:
It has been the practice of many Christians to heed the call five times a day from the minaret of the mosque calling people to pray, to do just that:
To pray that all may come to know the one true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. (See John 17:3).
SUMMARY:
Islam and Conversion:
1. If you are a Jew or a Christian: convert or pay protection money, or die by decapitation.
But, as we have seen above, Allah hates Jews and Christians, so no matter what you do, you can be killed! e.g. “When Judgement Day arrives, Allah will give every Muslim, a Jew or Christian to kill so that the Muslim will not enter into hell fire” (Mishkat al Messabih, V.2, No. 5552).
2. If you are not a Jew or Christian: convert or die by decapitation!
This outrageous thinking recently spurred Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the leader of the largest Muslim country in the Northern hemisphere, Egypt, and close ally of Saudi Arabia (the Muslim Vatican), to make this passioned statement:
“It is inconceivable that the thinking that we (Muslims) hold most sacred should cause the entire umma (Islamic world) to be a source of anxiety, danger, killing and
destruction for the rest of the world. Impossible!
That thinking that corpus of texts and ideas that we have sacralazed over the centuries, to the point that departing from them has become almost impossible, is antagonizing the entire world.
Is it possible that 1.6 billion people (Muslims) should want to kill the rest of the world’s inhabitants – that is 7 billion – so that they themselves may live? Impossible!
All this that I am telling you, you cannot feel it if you remain trapped within this mindset. You need to step outside of yourselves to be able to observe it and reflect on it from a more enlightened perspective.
I say, and repeat again, that we are in need of a religious revolution. You, imams, are responsible before Allah. The entire world, I say it again, the entire world is waiting for your next move... because this umma (Islamic world) is being torn, it is being destroyed, it is being lost – and it is being lost by our own hands. (Address to Islamic scholars at Al-Azhar University, Cairo Jan 1st 2015)
