ARTICLES
January 2002 ARTICLES
Contents © 2002
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
Islam May Be A Heresy
But Is It Peaceful?
By Norris Archer Harrington
In the aftermath of the horror of September 11, 2001, many were the proclamations that Islam is a peaceful religion and one of the world's greatest faiths. Cardinal Mahony issued a statement that included, "the traditions of both Islam and Christianity implore their followers to foster peace. I urge Catholics to stand with our Muslim brothers and sisters who share the same deep desire for peace and unity throughout our country and in our world." Catholic bishops and Muslim leaders issued a statement which emphasized that both Catholics and Muslims share faith in the same God. It further stated that none of the traditions, sacred scriptures, or revelations found in either religion could justify terrorism. The statement was issued on September 14 jointly by the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the American Muslim Council, the Islamic Circle of North America, the Islamic Society of Orange County, the Islamic Society of North America, and the Muslim American Society.
Despite declarations that Islam is peaceful, many Americans remain unconvinced. Indeed, it is likely that this deep cultural skepticism is the factor motivating politicians, religious leaders, and newsroom editors to make sure that the message gets out loud and clear, "Islam is a religion of peace." This message has a number of obstacles to overcome.
The American public is not ignorant of Islamic terrorist organizations, such as Hamas or Hezbollah, for whom suicide bombings of innocent civilians is a divine calling. Certain words, phrases, and names can by themselves recall images of terror in the name of Islam: the 1972 Olympics, Achille Lauro, Lockerbie, Tehran, Beirut, Marine Barracks, TWA Flight 103, jihad, Salman Rushdie. Even the phrase "World Trade Center Bombing" has been in use since 1993. Then there is video footage of Palestinians cheering in the street upon hearing of the destruction of the World Trade Center and of the incineration of thousands of innocent people. It is only natural that Americans are a bit worried about Islam.
There are over 1 billion Muslims in the world, and it is widely reported that Islam is the fastest growing religion, both in the world and in America. According to a spokesman at the Muslim Public Affairs Council, there are 215,000 Muslims in Los Angeles. That is over a three-fold increase from one 1990 estimate of 71,200. Additionally, Los Angeles County is the home to around 75 masjid and Islamic centers (masjid is the proper name for an Islamic place of worship). When considering these statistics in light of the historically unique fact that Islam does not lose its faithful to other religions by conversion, it becomes evident that the local cultural impact made by Islam is just beginning. Sooner or later, Angelinos will be getting acquainted with Islam.
Muslims are followers of the faith of Islam, which is based in the Koran (or Qur'an). They believe that the Koran (when written in Arabic) is the actual word of God as revealed to Mohammad by the angel Gabriel. Mohammad is revered as the greatest and last in a line of prophets that include Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Though they deny the divinity of Christ, they recognize His birth of a virgin and refer to Him as a Messiah who will return in the last days to battle the Anti-Christ. Those who battle with Jesus will be victorious and blessed by God. Muslims use the phrase "People of the Book" to describe Jews, Christians, and themselves. It is held that we all share a common origin, and worship the same one God; but here, as with other points, there seems to be a contradiction. Muslims acknowledge "The Book" yet claim that our scriptures are false; only the Koran is sacred scripture. Also, the claim of worshiping the one true God is contradicted by Islamic claims that the doctrine of the Trinity is the worship of three gods. Yahiya Emerick -- an author and American convert to Islam -- has written, "understandably, the Qur'an completely rejects the Christian Trinity theory. It answers the idea of a three-in-one God with these words: 'They are blasphemers, those who say that God is the third of three in a Trinity. There is no god except the One God.' (Qur'an 5:73) In the same spirit, Islam would also respectfully disagree with the Jewish belief that God has an all-time covenant with them and a special relationship that divides the entire world by race into Jews and Gentiles."
St. John's Seminary in Camarillo sought during its sixth annual Eberhardt Lecture on September 13 to increase awareness and advance religious tolerance by spotlighting Islam. The featured speaker was Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, and the evening's formal topic was religious pluralism. As president of the Islamic Society of North America, Dr. Siddiqi was a signatory to the joint statement of Catholic Bishops and Islamic leaders. He was a participant with President Bush, Cardinal McCarrick, and others at the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance, and also serves as the director of the Islamic Society of Orange County. Dr. Siddiqi spoke for some minutes before addressing the topic of pluralism: "I must say, there are some differences between Western pluralism and Islam, but there are many areas of commonality, there are many areas in which we share the same thing; for example, Islam is decided belief in God. And there is only one God. Here, for the pluralist, as if God was separate. because there are many gods and people have rights to think [sic]. I mean, people ah, can think of this god or that god. No. From Islamic perspective, there is only one God. And Muslims believe in one God. So whatever has been revealed, you have to take, you have to follow it, you cannot say, 'this is one way of understanding God.' For us, for Muslims, this is the way of understanding God. It is this way that we have to follow what we believe, our spiritual life or religious life; there is no different understanding from revelation."
Islam is a religion of law. The Sunna is a collection of writings developed after the death of Mohammed, and with the Koran it forms the basis of Islamic law known as the Shari'ah. It is the Shari'ah that forms the judicial system of countries such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan, and to a certain extent, Jordan. Dr. Siddiqi appeared to rule out any chance of religious liberty under a system of Shari'ah. Yet, when he spoke with me he was emphatic that Islam was a champion of individual rights. He explained that the Shari'ah has two aspects: the personal aspect which dictates the methods of worship and prayer for Muslims, and the political aspect which is a system of civil and criminal law in places "where Muslims are a majority and Muslims have established that kind of system." He went further to say that when the rules of that system were applied, "non-Muslims will be free to practice their religion; so, Christians living in a Muslim state which implements the Shari'ah, they are free to pray the way they want." However, in matters of criminal law, "then Islamic law is the one that will be applied to everyone." I asked Dr. Siddiqi about reports of religious intolerance in places such as Saudi Arabia where the judicial system is based upon Shari'ah. "There should not be [such problems]. Actually, Islamic law guarantees non-Muslims freedom to worship. [The problems have] nothing to do with Shari'ah, more to do with their own local problems. Social, economic, and political conditions in those countries. It is not because of Shari'ah that they are having these kinds of things."
This point of view seems to be supported by Shaykh (Sheik) Sa'dullah Kahn, the religious advisor for the Muslim Student Union at the University of Southern California and a lecturer for the Academy for Judaic, Christian, and Islamic Studies at UCLA. Shaykh Kahn intimated to me in an interview that one of the causes of Islamic violence is oppression and lack of democracy. "The problem that occurs," he said, "is sometimes you find that some of the people who lead this call [for tradition] are from a very traditional orthodox school -- I have nothing against orthodoxy by the way -- but the point we find is that the Taliban for example, they are scholars that have studied Islam somewhat and so on and so forth, but in a very, very narrow environment and fail to intermix with other people. Even those countries that are friendly with our country, with America, for example, like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, they are repressive regimes. But because they are friendly with us, we overlook the fact that they are not democracies. The same thing you find in the Taliban's mentality, a similar mentality is well known in the Saudis, and we know that. But we don't make an issue of it because they are our friends; we get oil from them, don't we."
Shaykh Khan spoke passionately and convincingly of his faith as one of great peace and justice; and though originally from South Africa, he never failed while speaking in his use of "we" in reference to America. And Saudi Arabia is indeed a repressive regime. It is a state with a Shari'ah judiciary informed by a fundamentalist brand of Islam called Wahhabism. According to a report in the Weekly Standard by Stephen Schwartz, "Wahhabism is based on the justification and promotion of violence against all, including Muslims, who do not share the Wahhabi outlook." This may account, in part, for the apparent lack of loud Islamic voices speaking out against violence.
Islam grew rapidly among pagan Arab tribesmen. Through war and conquest, the Islamic world grew to include much of Christendom. And it is here that many Catholics intuitively recognize that something is amiss in the media coverage of Islam as a peaceful faith.
When President Bush used the word "crusade" to describe our war on terrorism, he offended many Muslims, both in America and around the world. Speaking about the president's use of "crusade" on NBC's Today Show, Kahlil Jahshan of the American-Arab Anti-discrimination Committee said, "It was a slip of the tongue. It was unfortunate. And we were assured by the White House that this word would be dropped from the lexicon of the White House." The implication is clear; the Crusades are offensive to Islam because they were an abuse by the West and a militant Catholic Church.
Hilaire Belloc wrote that there were five great heresies in history. Despite the fact that Islam actually developed outside of the Church, it was nevertheless a heresy in that it picked those elements of Christianity of which it approved, while discarding the rest. In The Great Heresies (1938), he details the extent to which Europe and Christendom were almost destroyed by the advancing armies of Islam. The Holy Lands was a part of the Roman Empire from before the time of Christ. It became a Christian land as Rome itself became Christian. When Pope Urban II called for the first Crusade in 1097, Islamic Turks had conquered Syria, Palestine, and much of the Christian Byzantine Empire. The Christians were successful in reclaiming Jerusalem, but by the middle of twelfth century the Islamic forces began to retake land. The second Crusade failed with the unsuccessful attempt to retake Damascus. The third Crusade was a response to the rise of the Muslim ruler Saladin who conquered Egypt and Jerusalem. Over the years, Islam advanced across the whole of North Africa, took all of Spain, crossed the Pyrenees, and advanced into the heart of France from the south. Constantinople fell and became Istanbul. The Crescent Moon ruled over the Balkans, Crete, Rhodes, Greece, and the Danube Valley.
It is hard to understand why Muslims are so offended by references to the Crusades. Not only was Islam the aggressor, but also on the whole the Crusades were a disaster for Christendom and a success for Islam. In the end, Islam held far more land than before, including the Byzantine capital of Constantinople. Many Catholics know this, and so they are troubled about claims of Islamic pacifism that are delivered in the same breath that apologizes for the Church's self-defense. One such Catholic is Rev. Fr. Jacob Kattackal, professor emeritus of St. Thomas Major Seminary in India, and one of the secondary speakers at the Eberhardt Lecture at St. John's Seminary. It was clear from his statements following Dr. Siddiqi at St. John's Seminary that Father Jacob had difficulty seeing Islam as a peaceful religion.
Speaking with me from the rectory of Sacred Heart Church in Covina, Father Jacob expanded his position. According to Father Jacob, in Islam, "no other religion has a right to exist, no bells, no Cross, no habits, there are non-Muslim taxes that go to build mosques." He went on to spell out why Islam is a false religion. First, Mohammed cannot be a prophet because the whole of Divine Revelation is realized and communicated by the Incarnation. Also, the Koran is a poorly cribbed and expanded version of the Bible wherein the ideas have been "mangled and twisted." Then there is "jihad" or "struggle." Muslims will say that this is primarily an inner spiritual struggle. But, Father Jacob said, history testifies that jihad has meant primarily a real war against infidels. Respect for "People of the Book," he insisted, is "lip service." The non-Muslim has no rights in Islam.