The truth about Islam and how they treat other religions
From a religious war being
declared against Islam a thousand years ago to one of the candidates for the
Republican nominee for President suggesting that Americans should vote on
whether or not Muslims have the right to build Mosques, Islam has been met with
hatred by the West. This hatred,
however, is founded in distrust and a fundamental misunderstanding of
Islam. Many in the West associate Islam
with words like “terrorism” or “Jihad” with no regard to what Islam teaches. I would like to try to clear up some common
misconceptions of how Islam actually views and more importantly treats those of
different faiths, mainly Christians and Jews.
To do this, we must briefly look at theology, but to get a good idea of
how Islam treats others, we need to look at history and modern thought.
Before
we begin, I feel the true definition of Jihad needs to be clarified. The word Jihad is a “loaded” one for many
Westerners, who truly don’t know the beautiful meaning of it. As far back as the Crusades, Christians have
had the notion that this word means “holy war” causing many to not listen to
reason. This could be because they believe that Islam has always been in a
“holy war” against the West and Christianity.
While the word Jihad has been used by Islam in reference to military
struggles; Ernest points out that this is not the true meaning. In his book he writes, “When a troop of Arabs
returned from battle boasting of their jihad, the Prophet rebuked them, telling
them that they had engaged only in the lesser jihad, of physical battle; the
greater jihad was the struggle against one’s own basic instincts.” (117) He later notes that many Islamic legal
scholars have stated that the lesser Jihad can only be done in
self-defense. This goes against the
notion of the West of what the essence of this word means, and is a good
example of the misunderstanding that will be covered in this paper.
To
get a good foundation, let’s go over just a few basic beliefs in the theology
of Islam. Firstly, I would like to share
one of my favorite scriptures, “Surely those who
believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whoever
believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good, they have their reward with
their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve.” (Quran 2:62)
This has a feel of universalism to it, which can be further supported by
a Hadith that my Muslim friend, Salam, shared with me. The Hadith goes, “, “And argue not
with the People of the Scripture unless it be in (a way) that is better, save
with such of them as do wrong; and say: We believe in that which hath been
revealed unto us and revealed unto you; our God and your God is One, and unto
Him we surrender.” (Hadith 29 - Al-'Ankabut)
This Hadith points out the doctrine that Muslims do believe we all
follow the same God. Although we certainly have doctrinal differences, what has
been revealed unto us from God, Muslims do accept. Also, interestingly it counsels not to argue. This is consistent with what we in the LDS
Church believe. Contention is of the
Devil, and is bound to get you nowhere. Islam
also believes, as does the LDS Church, that they are the true and pure religion
of God.
While
Islam is a more tolerant religion than many understand, it does have some
unfavorable views on Christianity and Judaism.
Basically, the held belief is that when Judaism was sent to Earth, it
was pure and it was Islam, but it became corrupt. In the Quran (2:64) it states that Judaism
turned its back on God. One of the
biggest criticisms is that the message was supposed to be for everyone, yet the
Jewish people turned it into an ethnocentric religion, calling themselves the
“Chosen People”. Islam also asserts that
Christians corrupted the pure teachings of Christ by elevating Jesus to God
himself; this idea is blasphemy in Islam.
The Hadith also make claims of the deviation from tradition as well as the
changing of Holy Scripture. (Bukhari 9:92:461) This is noteworthy, since Islam
prides itself on claiming their Holy Text has not been tampered with since the
Prophet recited it. While we could go
much deeper with doctrine, I want to continue to explore how Muslims have
actually put these beliefs into practice.
For now we have a base for Islam in which we can see it is more
accepting that many believe.
From
the beginning, Muslims have tried to be tolerant and kind, with usual success,
to those of different faiths. This,
after all, is the example set forth by the Prophet Muhammad. There is a story that tells of a Jewish woman
who would throw trash at the Prophet every morning. Suddenly, one day she
stopped. The Prophet went to find out
what happen and learned she was sick. He
went to help her. Also in another Hadith
(Sahih Bukhari 2:23:438) the Prophet shows similar compassion to his Jewish
servant boy. Muslims can even point to
the actions by early Muslims during the Prophet’s time to show how to act with
justice on non-Muslims who have betrayed or broken laws. An example of this is of when Sa‘d ibn Mu’adh
inflicted punishment to the Jewish tribe, the Banu Qurayza. This tribe betrayed a treaty with the Muslims
and declared war, in turn supporting the pagan army formed by Mecca. When the army of Mecca lost, it was time to deal
with the Jews who betrayed the treaty. Some
critics of Islam view this as an evil event.
However, I and others, view the events from a different perspective. The Muslims could have done what they willed
with the Jewish population according to their own laws and feel justified in
doing so, yet out of wisdom they judged the tribe by Jewish laws. Let me
explain. In the Torah, those who are deemed
to be traitors were condemn to death, so the Muslims executed those men
responsible in the betrayal. (Way of Truth)
To me, this shows clarity and respect for those traditions that the Jews
had, to judge them based on what the Jews knew and understood. Also this is important for later
history. The kindness by the Prophet,
and justice by early Muslims set up the ground work for later treatment.
As the Islamic empire grew, a notable
difference between the empire, and it’s Christian counterparts was the idea
that “convert or die” did not exist.
Populations that were Christian, Jewish, and other “peoples of the book”
were not forced to become Muslim. This
is notably different than how the pagans were treated, but that’s another
matter. (Ernest, 90) These “people of
the book” retained the name of Dhimmis, or
“protected status”. The Hadith put forth
laws in which these people should be handled namely, ““by the rules and
regulations concerning the Dhimmis
(protectees) of Allah and His Apostle, to fulfill their contracts completely
and fight for them and not to tax (overburden) them beyond their
capabilities." (Bukhari 2:23:475)
This treatment was well retained by the Islamic Empire. When it came to taxing the “Dhimmis”, it was mainly as a way to
create equality, not to create division.
The Muslims already paid a tax called “zakat” which is one of the Five
Pillars of Islam; while Dhimmis did
not have to pay this, their tax was a way to balance that. Also, going along with the belief that these
other religions were from God, many times these minorities had the right to run
many of their communities’ own affairs.
As Ernest states, “Since Islamic theology recognized that every people
had received a particular revelation and law through their own
prophets….religious minorities in Muslim societies were allowed, or even
required, to administer their internal affairs with their own religious and
legal systems.” (118) It is not only
very liberal to allow minorities to control much of their affairs but it shows a
considerable amount of respect. While
the US is not entirely a “Christian” nation, it is for the most part run by
Christians. Many Christians become
frightened at the thought of allowing Muslims societies to practice just a
little sharia law. Actually some Western
nations go out of their way to restrict Islamic law, such as France and its ban
on the hijab. Not only were those
minorities under the Islamic Empire treated with respect, when the Empire was
at war this respect was maintained.
During
the Crusades, there was much bloodshed on each side. When the Christians conquered the city of
Jerusalem they massacred the vast majority of citizens. This mass bloodshed not only killed Muslims,
but Jews, and Christians themselves. The
city was held for decades until the Muslim leader, Saladin came to
conquer. After already defeating one of
the largest Frankish armies in the Holy Land, he marched into and took the city
of Jerusalem after ten days of siege. (Karnes) His actions after the siege show
the Islamic view of justice. Many Franks
were held at a price. If they wished to
leave the city, they could pay the ransom.
Many others were even allowed to leave without paying, if they did not
have the funds. Saladin also invited the
Jews to resettle the city. This shows
far more restraint and justice than what was showed to the Muslims less than a
hundred years before that. While some might
point out that the use of ransom was not the most progressive, the Muslims felt
that there needed to be some punishment.
I view this much like the handling of the Banu Qurayza, who needed to be
punished, yet the punishment was just and not taken to an extreme. Though, as today, there has been some
treatment that violates this idea of fellowship among the religions.
In
the twelfth century there arose to power in North Africa a fundamentalist group
of Islam called the Almohads. This group
was formed in response to what some believed to be a loosening of morals by the
current Islamic government. Their goal
was to take control. There have been stories
told of the Almohads practicing forced conversion of Christians and Jews under
plenty of death. (Roth) This is
important to note, since even with the doctrines mentioned, there are still
those who try to promote violence. The
modern day views and actions of fundamentalist Islam are not new. It is
important to note this when trying to understand how any why Muslims view and
interact with their counterparts in the way that they do.
As
we move closer to the modern day, the situation of Islam and its fellow
religions began to change. The days of
Islamic rule were fading. More Muslims
had to live next to Jews and Christians, as more of equals, and not
rulers. While the Ottoman Empire was an
Islamic government in the early 1900s they moved to become much more
secular. Under the Empire there lived,
Christians, Muslims and Jews who lived in harmony most of the time. When the government granted more liberties to
the people, the celebration that happened is one that demolishes the views of
fundamentalist Islam and extreme conservative Westerners. The belief that these people cannot live next
to each other, and not only tolerate but show love and embrace each other as
brothers was destroyed in one night. In
her book, Campos captures this scene by quoting some who were there. One such quote is as follows, “the Maronite
priest four times kiss the Moslem Sheikh and the Moselm Sheikh responded by
four times kissing the Maronite priest.
Moselms and Christians publicly embraced each other…henceforth they are
brethren, that there are Christians, Moslem, Jews…no more only loyal Ottoman
subjects standing shoulder to shoulder..” (76)
This beautifully shows how these different groups saw themselves as
equal to one another. Would a religion
that taught hate have something like this in their history? Of course they wouldn’t. It’s with this brotherhood that Islam entered
into the modern era.
While
many may ignore all this history, saying, “That was so long ago.” and believe
it has no bearing to today, I say they are wrong. I feel this spirit of brotherhood still
exists today. When discussing modern
thought, I feel it’s best to go to actual Muslims as a source. I interviewed my friend from high school,
Salam Awad. To give you some background
on her, she was born in America, but her family quickly moved back to Palestine. This is where she was raised. She has had much exposure to both the Western
world, and the Islamic world, which I believe makes her a good judge on an
issue such as this. She stated that she
has an understanding of Christianity more that Judaism. I feel this may be
caused by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, yet also it is in part caused by
her being taught that Christianity is far closer to Islam. Yet, she still confirms that both are from
God. There were some interesting things
in which she related to me about her time in Palestine.
Living
in Palestine gives one a better understanding of the cooperation between Christians
and Muslims. She said that Christianity
and Islam have lived together there in peace for centuries, which as we have
read, is nothing new. Yet, there is a
ceremony that happens every night in a certain region that is very symbolic of
this peace, which continues today. The
Imans and the Priest will meet up and hand the keys to their holy sites to each
other to lock up. This is a wonderful
example of trust that each side has for the other, and to be honest this level
of cooperation between Christian sects is fairly hard to find. Another point she mentioned was if the “call
to prayer” went out and there was not a Mosque nearby, she and her mother would
go into a Christian church to pray. This
was very surprising to me. She went on
to say that she was always taught that churches and Jewish temples were holy
sites. Both Christianity and Judaism
were of God. This is also what I learned
from the Imam from the Khadeeja Mosque when we visited. He taught that we will be saved if we follow
the Prophet we claim to believe in. If
we claim to follow Christ, then follow him and we will be judged on how we
followed him, if it be Moses, then the same applies. This is because these are men of God, and if
we profess to follow them, then it is still holy.
Salam
did mention that she feels most of the friction over Islam that occurs is due,
as stated in the beginning of the paper, to misunderstanding. Islam is a conservative religion that
requires much. According to Salam, many
in the West see that as restricting liberty.
As a member of a religion that many see to be conservative, I can
understand what she is saying. The LDS
church is a victim of the same type of misunderstandings, though not to the
same extent. To the West, the
requirements of Islam make it a religion that cannot cooperate with liberty.
However, there is a bridge being built over this gap of understanding. One such group is the Council on
America-Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR
is the modern incarnation of Islam which this paper has been trying to
show. CAIR is dedicated to showing the
world that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance. In a letter to President Obama, the National
Executive Director Nihad Awad wrote, “True peace and
understanding will only come when we all - Muslims, Christians, Jews, and
people of other faiths and philosophies - cast off the prejudices and
preconceptions of the past to engage each other based on what we have in
common, not on what has separated us for so long.” Does this sound familiar? I feel this is the understanding that the
Prophet himself wanted for his followers.
In this respect, CAIR is an organization that is trying to heal the
world.
While the views within Islam vary from liberal to
fundamental, my goal with this paper was to give a better understanding of the
essence of true Islam and its views of other faiths. Islam is not a religion of hate or
intolerance. Any hate or violence is not
from true Islam. These are opposite to
Islam’s teachings. If we all took a closer look at our own religion and it’s
doctrines, our political ideas or even our superstitions, we would most likely
find much that is misunderstood by others and therefore ridiculed. Although a lofty goal, those who understand
this should try to do something to clear up the misunderstanding when they see
the opportunity. While the pain of the
events on 9-11 is still raw in America, I hope now you can come away with a
real idea of what has been taught for 1500 years in Islam. Every religion can look back and see in its
own history, moments of violence and departures from the original message of
the faith. The point is to not repeat
history, but to learn from it.
Bibliography
Karnes, Chris The Fall of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem http://www.marshall.edu/pat/Journal/CurrentIssue/Karnes_Chris.htm
Author's last name, Author's first name. Title.
Place of publication: Publisher,
copyright date.
Ernst, Carl. Following
Muhammad; Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World. William R. Kenan Jr. Fund of the University
of North Carolina Press. 2003
Campos, Michelle. Ottoman
Brothers; Muslims, Christians, and Jews in early Twentieth-Century Palestine. Stanford, California: Stanford University
Press 2011
The Holy Quran with English Translation and Commentary, Maulana
Muhammad Ali
Muhsin Khan Muhammad, trans. Sahih Al-Bukhari; Volume 2 Riyadh: Darussalam Publishers and
Distributors 1997
Roth, Norman. The Almohads http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history/Ancient_and_Medieval_History/632-1650/Islamic_World/Jewish-Muslim_Relations/Almohads.shtml
Council on American-Islamic Relations
http://www.cair.com/Home.aspx
posted by A Liberal Mormon? @ 2:54 PM
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