Sunnis. Shi’ites. Kurds. Insurgencies. Jihadists. What’s up with Islam, and why does it seem so warlike?
During a recent discussion, someone asked my opinion about Islamic extremism, and whether there’s any hope for peace with a religion that teaches war. In particular, they wondered about my interpretation of the Quran, and why it’s so different from the New Testament.
Leaving aside the selective, and debatable, choice of the New Testament as the only guide for Christians, there are some interesting implications (and politics) behind that question, and while Polimom’s not a theologist (or politician, or strategist, or anything else that makes me special…), it’s a subject I’ve thought and read about a lot.
There are a few qualifications to offering an opinion on this, though:
First: My Arabic is rusty in the extreme, and these days, I read the Quran as a translation. Some translations are better than others; mine is a side-by-side version (English down one column and Arabic down the other), so I trust it more. Still…
Second: I’ve come down pretty hard on the Islamic extremists, consistently, in my writing. I want to get that out there on the front end of this, to avoid confusion.
Third: I’ve met all kinds of Muslims, under lots of conditions. I started out seeing them as just another major world religion, went to not liking them at all for how I was treated in some of the countries, and then met some folks in other of the countries that moved me away from my judgments.
And that third clarification is really the key to it all for me.
There are environments where extremism is mainstream. There are (from my eyes and experience) entire countries that struck me as extremist when I traveled there… and the US isn’t currently fighting with them.
It is very much like Christianity, which, in spite of how some have presented it recently, has also given rise to terrorist actions and extremism — even in modern times. Think of the abortion issue: how else can someone who blows up doctors or nurses at a clinic be labeled, if not as a terrorist?
So does an extreme fundamentalist Christian like that differ from his/her Islamic counterpart? Individually, no, he doesn’t.
Does that mean that those fundamentalist Christians are somehow more religious than…. say… the minister at my church? Does this mean that folks who do not kill to end abortion are lukewarm in their faith? Of course not!
Part of the difference is that we have the separation of Church and State. It’s one of the most important aspects of western thinking, and must be preserved at all costs. We do not teach our children in religious schools as part of our public education. If we did, though, Polimom thinks some schools would be teaching that people who have abortions, or assist in abortions, or even support them from afar, are murderers. Those schools would likely produce a much higher percentage of violent radicals.
Some Muslim countries are much more moderate, because they are teaching their children to be, and their parents are part of that thought process. The moderates in Islam, wherever they live (the US, India, or the MidEast) are absolutely not impressed with the fundamentalists in their religion — anymore than most Christians are impressed with ours.
However, if I were to try to put my thumb on the biggest disconnect between Islam and Christianity, it would be that Muslims are vehement monotheists. There is only one God. Mohammed is not God. Jesus is not God. Moses is not God. And any attempt to claim that a prophet is God (as Christians basically do with Jesus, as part of the Holy Ghost, and/or as God’s son) would, in fact, be blasphemy.
Polimom asked an online Muslim friend for input on this question, and he was (as always) very helpful. Here’s part of what he said:
I would first dispute that most scholars agree that the Koran teaches war. That is not a correct statement.
The Koran is not written like the Bible. It is not a book of laws. The verses of the Koran were revealed in two parts – the Mecca surahs and the Medina surahs. One tends to be more general advice and the other tend to be revelations in response to particular events. Most critics of the Koran like to take the verses of the Koran revealed during battles or in response to acts of persecution as an exhortation to violence. Given the historical nature of the Koran, without looking at the circumstance of how and when a surah was revealed, it is very easy to take one sentence out of context of a battle and suggest that the Koran is advocating war.
The Koran does no such thing. There are very clear verses in the Koran that preach no compulsion in religion. There is also no forced conversion in Islam. To be a Muslim, according to the Koran, one has to believe in one God. That is it. That cannot be forced. Saying you are a Muslim is not the same as being a Muslim.
No, we can’t make peace with extremists. I do think, though, that in time, they’ll fade out — mature, if you will. As I’ve written elsewhere, I believe some parts of the Islamic “world” are several centuries behind. But we’re already at peace with most Muslim countries, and we have been for a long time.
Unfortunately, the voices and views of Muslim moderates are being marginalized by the war, just as moderates are being marginalized here in the US. You’ve noticed, I’m sure, that any time someone writes something that isn’t wholly in support of the war, or Bush, or even fundamentalist Christianity, they’re verbally attacked. Times of war bring increased nationalism and emotion; it’s difficult for moderate or peaceful voices to be heard anywhere right now, regardless of religion.
If we continue (as a nation) to make the mistake of attacking the religion rather than the action, we’re going to slow forward progress and further distance the moderates in those countries from people who are extremist as well as from those who are just flat-out ticked off that we’re messing around in their countries.
Extremism in all religions, and in all forms, is what we need to be condemning. All over the world.
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And a footnote: What’s been hardest for me about the Iraq War is that every Iraqi I have ever met, bar none, was tolerant and moderate (and at one time, I knew more Iraqis than from any other Muslim country). The sectarian violence between Sunnis, Shi’ites, and even Kurds is the product of ethnic hatred. Their civilization is ancient, as are many of their long-held grievances.
I knew, long before it was obvious that we were in trouble in Iraq, that it wasn’t going to work. The US absolutely didn’t understand what it was getting into… and I still don’t understand how that was possible.
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Update: Gordon Nickel at Canada’s National Post has a very long article up on exactly this same subject, with a particular emphasis on chronology and interpretation. His conclusion, while focuses on Canada, applies to everyone:
Interpreting the words of Muslim scripture so that they pose no threat to peaceful coexistence with non-believers thus seems a large challenge. In view of the high stakes in the world today, however, it is certainly a challenge worth taking up. Otherwise, Canadian proponents of multiculturalism will have a harder time arguing that traditional Islam is just another peaceful element in Canada’s multicultural quilt.
The Jawa Report is also wrestling with this subject.