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Serious Study Home / Community Door / Christianity and Islam Home Page
UNVEILING CHRISTIANITY AND
ISLAM
Session Twelve -
February 12, 2003 BASIS OF ISLAMIC THOUGHT "Islamic theology of God can be summed up by one word: ‘tawhid’, which means absolute unity", Islam and Christianity, www.answering-islam.org . Theology effects our lives because it effects our thought and attitudes, it explains the "order of things" giving us a sense of organization. Tawhid or absolute unity describes Islam practice: "There is no god but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger (prophet) of Allah." Tawhid explains why ALL Muslims around the world worship and pray according to the same rituals, see the five pillars of Islam. This theology also serves as the uniting force behind the Islamic union of religion with the state. They are one. This is how Islam, along with other religions that tie their religion and state together – Hinduism, Buddhism, etc., view the world. It is the lens through which they evaluate Western Civilization and America. Orthodox Islam does not see a division between Christianity and the American government and American culture! Many Muslims around the world are angry and upset at America’s glaring acceptance of moral evil and our export of the same to other nations. Many Muslims, and others around the world, mistakenly equate this permissiveness of evil with Christianity. After all Western Civilization is "Christian." The Orthodox Muslim sees Western Culture, American culture, as Christian culture! They see our cultural permissiveness as Christian values! Thus their hatred and fear of Christianity is confirmed by our culture! When American liberals condemn Christian attitudes as a cause of Islamic threats they don’t understand Islamic theology, which sees a country’s culture and government as an extension of their religion! Even if Western Civilization totally condemns and leaves it’s "Christian faith" it only reinforces Muslim perceptions of Christians as weak, lacking personal and religious integrity, because we would even abandon our religion if convenient! Only by accepting Islamic Law can Western Civilization be redeemed. This is why Orthodox Islam sees us as vulnerable –
THE CANER BROTHERS SUM UP THEIR FIVE PERCEPTIONS OF ISLAM TOWARD CHRISTIANS: 1. THE TRUE GOSPEL HAS BEEN CHANGED!
Because Muhammad gave the final complete revelation of Allah, only the parts of the Christian Bible that agree with the Qur’an are genuine. Thus Jesus was only a messenger, not a sacrifice for sin. The disciples were not present at the crucifixion. Jesus never died, someone was substituted in his place, The Christian Bible is inaccurate, corrupted by counterfeit followers of God. WESTERN CIVILIZATION IS NOT FOUNDED ON NOR HAS ANY TRUTH! The Muslim thinks he knows the beliefs of Judaism and Christianity. Because of this he has already concluded that Jews and Christians have changed their book – the Bible – which is untrue. The Islamic view is that Allah is THE ONLY TRUE GOD. Thus everyone born is a Muslim! Everyone worships Allah whether they know it or not. No one has the choice of the god they serve. No one has the right to call anyone or anything else God, to do so is unforgivable sin if not repented of. Hindus and Buddhists have already rejected the unity, tawhid, of God by worshiping nature rather than the true god. Thus they deserve death unless they convert. Allah and his message are unalterable; hence, it cannot be Islam that changed the doctrines of Christianity, but Christianity changed the doctrines of Islam. The People of the Book, Jews and Christians, have perverted the true teachings of Allah. They, Jews and Christians, still hold a part of the truth, since they have rejected polytheism, but they have exchanged truth for a lie. Thus they are permitted to worship as they choose as long as they pay tribute, recognize the superiority of Islam, and live by Islamic law. Because Jews and Christians have rejected truth, their religion and government are perverted and must be cleansed of non-Islamic traits. Yet in many Muslim countries the desire for the freedom found in Western Culture is alluring. Freedom is always attractive, even when it is abused.
2. CHRISTIANS ARE DIVIDED AND WEAK! This is shown by our many religous denominations and evidenced by their individual unique rituals. All Muslim worship is the same – all in the common language or Arabic. This keeps the faith pure. Most cultures respect those who have power and know how to use it, justly or unjustly, i.e. Korea and Asian cultures, Hinduism, Buddhism, Arab, and even African cultures. Power is often seen as being granted to those who are worthy of its use. To misuse power is to deny yourself. Many cultures view America with disrespect because although we hold great power we do not understand its use. The misunderstanding of the use of power is seen as a weakness on our part, and causes mistrust among the nations because our power is often used arbitrarily if used at all, even in defense of our allies, i.e. Taiwan, Israel, etc! Islam sees the Christian faith and American culture as divided and weak because of:
Each of these gives Islam a sense of superiority and a sense of American vulnerability!
3. CHRISTIANS HAVE MALIGNED TRUE ISLAM! Islam believes that Christians are organized to spread deceit about Islam. They see that Christians have two goals toward Islam:
4. CHRISTIANS ARE BLIND AND UNREASONABLE!
Remember Muslims only accept the parts of the Christian Bible that do not conflict with the Qur’an!
5. CHRISTIAN FAITH OVERLOOKS IMMORALITY! A great disgust exists among Muslims for the loose morality of "Christian" Europe and America. They believe the Christian Church ignores immorality and hypocrisy. With the current belief of total separation of Church and State, the Church has given up its voice calling sinners to repentance and America has lost its conscience! The strictness of Islam demands ALL live up to their faith commitments. The Muslim believes this should be enforced by the State! Islam sees the result of our religious acceptance of loose morals ultimately expressed through secularization and modernization.
OTHER FACTORS OF WHY ORTHODOX ISLAM FEARS WESTERN CULTURE: 1. FEAR OF WESTERN POWER AND CULTURE: American cultural and military might is an obstacle to the spread of Islam. Indeed American culture, with its emphasis upon personal freedom, is a threat to the Islamic belief in Tawhid! America’s military presence, i.e. dominance, in Islamic nations is a constant reminder of the decline of Islam. Thus America becomes Islam’s greatest threat! No amount of American, or Christian good, will change those Muslims who hold this perspective. It is an enigma, a mystery, for the people of Allah to be subservient to infidels! It is the ultimate insult to Orthodox Islam. The hatred of the Orthodox Muslim, is not just what America does, it is who we are! Islamic hostility goes beyond America’s specific interests or actions or policies or even countries, to a rejection of Western Civilization – its principles and values it practices and professes. These are seen as innately evil, and those who promote or accept them as the "enemies of God." It is the mission of Islam to bring true religion to the world, even with the use of force.
2. LOSS OF ISLAMIC SUPERIORITY: For a thousand years (632-1683) Islam was advancing. For the last 300 years "the Christian and post-Christian civilization of Europe and her daughters has brought the whole world, including Islam, within its orbit" (Bernard Lewis, The Atlantic , ‘Why so many Muslims deeply resent the West, and why their bitterness will not easily be mollified, September 1990). Lewis continues to explain that there has been a rising tide of rebellion against Western power, and a desire to reassert Muslim values and restore Muslim greatness. In the last 300 years, Muslims have suffered successive stages of defeat:
It should not be unexpected that the Muslim rage would be directed against the West and that they should draw strength from ancient beliefs and loyalties. For Islam to question their own role in their demise is to question their own foundations of faith in Muhammad and the message of Allah. It is just as hard as communists in Russia when they had to watch the disintegration of a civilization and culture which was based on a wrong ideology. The differences are that Russia’s culture was based on politics, not religion, and communist culture was only 70 years old instead of 1,300 years!
3. WESTERN INFLUENCE FAILED TO ELEVATE ISLAM – Islam’s first real attempt to "westernize" came at the end of Word War One. Their contact was Germany as the influence of Nazism was growing. Nazi thinkers, which influenced Muslim thought, held America’s cultural melting pot was directly opposed to the superiority of other "authentic" peoples. "America was the ultimate example of civilization without culture; rich and comfortable, materially advanced but soulless and artificial; assembled or at best constructed, not grown; mechanical, not organic; technologically complex but lacking the spirituality and vitality of the rooted, human, national cultures of Germany and other ‘authentic’ peoples" (Bernard Lewis). "After the collapse of the Third Reich . . . another philosophy, even more anti-American, took its place – the Soviet version of Marxism, with a denunciation of Western capitalism and of America . . . " (Bernard Lewis). While these imported philosophies gave intellectual expression of hate toward the West, they do not explain the receptivity to such ideas. Although Western colonization has been abandoned, and even the Western influenced Islamic governments have been overthrown, the resentment toward the West remains unappeased. The hatred toward Western Civilization has been accredited to
All of which have been and are in some cases is still practiced by Muslims! These are intellectual smokescreens for the true reason for resentment. Bernard Lewis claims, Islam’s war is against two enemies: secularism and modernism. The catalyst for these enemies is America because we have the power of export. Remember ancient history. Greece never ruled the world as Rome did, but her influence superceded Egypt’s and Rome’s ability to conquer. Indeed the influence of Greece is still felt today. Greece’s most important export was her culture! The war the world is fighting today is not military, but cultural. The war is for the hearts and minds of people. It is a war for values, ideals, hopes and dreams. It is a war for the future of mankind! John Tyler’s letter of July 10, 1843 speaks of America's freedom: "The United States have adventured upon a great and noble experiment, which is believed to have been hazarded in the absence of all previous precedent – that of total separation of Church and State. No religious establishment by laws exists among us. The conscience is left free from all restraint and each is permitted to worship his Maker after his own judgment. The offices of the Government are open alike to all. No tithes are levied to support an established Hierarchy, nor is the fallible judgment of man set up as the sure and infallible creed of faith. The Mahommedan, if he will come among us would have the privilege guaranteed to him by the constitution to worship according to the Koran; and the East Indian might erect a shrine to Brahma if it so pleased him. Such is the spirit of toleration inculcated by our political institutions... The Hebrew persecuted and down trodden in other regions takes up his abode among us with none to make him afraid. . . and the Aegis of the Government is over him to defend and protect him. Such is the great experiment which we have tried, and such are the happy fruits which have resulted from it; our system of free government would be imperfect without it. "The body may be oppressed and manacled and yet survive; but if the mind of man be fettered, its energies and faculties perish, and what remains is of the earth, earthly. Mind should be free as the light or as the air." |
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