Our Neighbors: The Muslims
By the Rev. Alex Awad, a Methodist minister who
teaches at Bethlehem Bible College.
[9-10-02]
This thoughtful look at Christian attitudes toward
Muslims has come to us from Witherspooners Darrell and Sue Yeaney of
Iowa City. They received it from Sandra Olewine, United Methodist
liaison in Israel/Palestine. Perhaps we can hear some important things
from a Christian for whom Muslims are "neighbors," and not
"the Enemy."
One American pastor offers
his comments.
We'd appreciate hearing your thoughts, too. Just
send a note!
A high-spirited televangelist stands before a crowd of
thousands. He knows the very words that will bring a thunderous applause
from the crowd that packs the stadium. Beside him stands an Israeli
official who he is equally anxious to impress. With high evangelistic
fervor, he launches a verbal attack on Islam and the founder of the
Islamic faith. Then he ends his statement with the highest praise for
the State of Israel. His words sound like music to his listeners' ears.
He feels good about his rhetoric; so do his guests and his fired-up
audience. However, in this age of advanced communications, the
televangelist's remarks also reach the homes of the many Muslims who
live with us on this planet, and it should be noted that they do not
feel so good about the messages they are getting. In fact, most Muslims
in Indonesia, Palestine, Morocco and the United States - just to name a
few countries - are wondering why Evangelical Christians in America are
so zealously bashing their faith, and this is a question that should
concern us as well.
Since September 11, 2001 a wave of anti-Muslim feeling
has taken over much of America and is now spreading like wild fire among
Evangelical circles in the United States and other countries. Officials
of respected Evangelical denominations and presidents of esteemed
Christian organizations have joined the new trend. Some are publicly
insulting Islam and its founder, while others are attacking the Koran
and those who follow in its path.
Christians in general, and Evangelicals in particular,
would do well to stop and think about where this crusade may be leading
us and how it will impact Christian/Muslim relationships around the
world. Evangelicals would also do well to consider carefully whether
their public, rhetorical war against Muslims would advance or hinder the
cause of Christ throughout the Muslim world. Furthermore, Christians
might also consider taking a fresh look at the history of
Muslim-Christian interactions throughout the last 14 centuries before
waving a banner in the current anti-Muslim war of words.
During the Middle Ages, Pope Urban II, campaigned to
unite the various competing armies of Christian Europe in a crusade to
liberate Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims. The Pope blessed
the Crusades and the brave fighters of Europe joined to fight what they
perceived to be the enemies of God. The church sanctioned the killing of
Muslims and other so-called infidels and heretics. Muslim men, women,
and children were butchered in great numbers. The Crusaders also killed
many Jews and great numbers of non-Latin Christians. But the sword of
Islam turned against the invading armies, and most of the crusaders
never returned to see their homelands again. They killed and were
slaughtered in the name of Christ, all the while deeming that they were
fighting for Christ and for His church. After 190 years of unspeakable
bloodshed, the Muslims recaptured Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy
Land, bringing an end to the Crusades. However, the Crusades created
deep wounds in Muslim-Christian relations that have yet to be healed.
Today's rhetoric of hate against Islam clears the path
for tomorrow's wars against Islamic nations. When our preachers,
teachers, TV evangelists and politicians condition us to hate Muslims,
they prepare us to kill Muslims or to watch their slaughter without
having feelings of guilt, pity or remorse.
Before getting caught up in the spirit of the season
and joining the crusade of attacking Muslims, American Christians today
need to learn what Middle Eastern and European Christians learned
centuries ago. The lesson is simple: Live in peace with your Muslim
neighbors and they will live in peace with you; oppress them and they
will fight back. Even if we believe or assume that Islam is evil, are we
called to "repay evil for evil" or "overcome evil with
good" (Romans 12:17-21)?
I lived most of my life as a member of a small
Christian community within a large Islamic population. The Church that I
now pastor in East Jerusalem is located in a predominantly Muslim
neighborhood. I know from first hand experience and from daily contacts
with Muslims, that most Muslims do not hate Christians. Most Muslims
have nothing to do with terrorism. The radical Muslim factions, who are
involved in militant acts against Israel or its allies, are Muslims who
are driven more by political reasons than religious agendas.
Palestinians, for example, wanted for years to be rid of the Israeli
occupation of what they perceive as their homeland. They appealed to the
United Nations and the UN failed them. They appealed to the super powers
and to Arab states who also failed them. Alternately, they sought the
help of more than a thousand peace conferences, but the frequent peace
conferences did not stop the confiscation of their land and the denial
of their human rights. During their struggle, they turned to non-violent
resistance and violent uprisings (intifada), all to no avail. In their
utter frustration with all options, some of them turned to radical
Islamic movements. As a last resort the cry became: "Islam is the
answer." Islamic movements such as Hamas and Hezbollah are
relatively new in the long history of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Nevertheless, most Muslims do not subscribe to these movements.
Moreover, we err greatly if we insist on seeing all Muslims in the light
of the bloody crimes of September 11 or in view of the dreadful suicide
bombings on the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
If we want to find the enemy, we must look within us
rather than at Islam and Muslims. The enemies of the United States and
the Western world are found mainly within the United States and within
the Western world. Greed, pride, hypocrisy, racism, atheism, moral
corruption, xenophobia and social injustices are our worst enemies.
These are the sins that make us hate, humiliate, kill, starve whole
nations and pollute our planet. For example, over half a century Arabs
and Muslims have been pleading with the West for a just resolution of
the Arab-Israeli conflict. Instead of responding fairly, we allowed
domestic pressures and lobby groups to steer our foreign policy in
supporting one side of the conflict against the legitimate rights of the
other side, with disastrous consequences. Instead of promoting justice,
our intervention became a factor in complicating and worsening the
situation and hindering the cause of peace. Quite often, the arrogance
of governments in the West and their unjust policies in the Middle East
are the fuel that inflames Islamic fundamentalists.
One out of every five humans is a follower of the
Muslim faith. One out of every five humans, each of whom Christ calls us
to love as we love ourselves, is a Muslim. Attacking Islam or hating
Muslims will not only hinder the cause of Christ in the world, but it
will also endanger the lives of Christians who live as minorities in the
Islamic world
The good news is that we do have a criterion to guide
our path in our treatment of our Muslim neighbors. We find this
criterion in the example and teachings of our Lord. As we allow His
message of love, forgiveness and humility to shine through us before our
Muslim neighbors, they will, as Christ said: " . . . see your good
works and glorify your father which is in heaven". Whether we live
at peace with our Muslim neighbor or not depends as much on us as on
them.
Rev. Alex Awad
Bethlehem Bible College
bethbc@planet.edu
