The last two weeks have passed in my little corner of the world with my husband reaching his mid-semester break and with me having my final, never-to-be-repeated, thank-you-jesus-that-this-will-soon-be-over, taught class. Despite the fact that I usually hate taught classes and much prefer to study on my own in my own space at my own pace, I have really really enjoyed the course I have been doing. It really has made it feel like I am leaving the taught class world on a high.
The course I have been doing is one on Christian engagement with Islam, taught by Peter Riddell from Melbourne University. Peter is internationally recognised as a Western scholar of Islam, dedicating many years of his life to understanding the teachings and practices of this growing religion. He has been part of committees in Britian discussing Muslim and Christian engagement and is well respected for what he does.
In short, he's the boss!
Not only is Peter highly intelligent and full of information, but he is engaging, approachable and funny, as well as being able to speak Arabic which sounds so cool! (Peter, if you are reading this, I am aiming for an A+ from this blatant and free advertising).
I approached this topic with some fear and trepidation. I knew next to nothing about Islam, was worried that it would be really anti-Islam at the expense of intellectual discourse, and was also apprehensive about some of my pre-existing ideas about Islam that had been informed by the media and were therefore all about suicide bombers and female subjugation. I started by throwing all my preconceived notions out the window and waited to be informed.
And boy, have I been informed.
I have so much information floating around in my head now that I feel the need to get it out here in order to be able to process and digest properly. So all you suckers are now my sounding board for my external processing.
Have fun with that.
But I digress.
I have come up with a short list of things that I found extremely informative, challenging, and down right disturbing that have not only shaped my understanding of Islam but have also drawn me unequivocally closer to Jesus.
Studying Islam has made me a more devout Christian. But I will be looking at that more in Part two of this blog. There is too much to say here.
So here are my musings on why I could never be Muslim. I hope you find them informative and helpful in shaping your understanding of Islam as it grows in population and influence in the West.
DISCLAIMER: These points are IN NO WAY to denigrate, ridicule or revile anyone who is a Muslim. They are simply my own personal musings and have NOTHING to do with the views of Peter Riddell or anyone else. This is not an exhaustive list about what Islam is or what it stands for but are merely points of contention for me. If you want to know about Islam then RESEARCH it and don't rely on this blog to give you an in depth and accurate portrayal of the faith of many Muslims worldwide (who differ in practices and beliefs as much as Christians do). If this post in anyway offends anyone please be aware that these are genuine concerns I have as well as being stated in an often tongue in cheek way.
You have been warned.
1) Muhammad - role model and prophet.
Ok, so saying that Muhammad is a problem with Islam seems like a rather large call to make seeing as he is their ultimate prophet, was their leader while alive, and was given the words of God to give to the faithful. It seems like to claim that Muhammad is a problem is to have a problem with the whole of Islam.
This is not what I am saying.
The problem I have with Muhammad is that as a role model, which some Islamists follow down to how they trim their beards and finger nails, he doesn't seem like a very good one. The Qu'ran shows us that Muhammad started of quite a peaceful man who encouraged Jews and Christians as people of the same faith. As he became more powerful his writings changed to be much more aggressive, warlike, and vengeful. He became the ultimate ji'hadi. He agreed with slaughter, advocated murder, and killed those who disagreed with him. According to one way of interpreting the Qu'ran (quite a popular way I should add) the later verses that contradict earlier verses abrogate, or override, the earlier verses. This means that the violent verses override the peaceful ones. This makes Muhammad seem like a very dangerous man to follow.
He also married a 6 year old. Granted, it wasn't consummated until she was 9 (!!!!) but if people are going to literally interpret his actions and follow them then we end up with child brides and horrific stories of abuse like this one
here that are totally justifiable if one adheres to this mimicking principle. Don't know about you but that scares the bejeezus outta me. The majority of Muslims are disgusted by this too and wouldn't practice their faith this way, but there is room for it to be interpreted this way and that alone is enough for me to be put off.
2) Qu'ran - historicity and reliability.
The Qu'ran as a document is not as infallible as Muslims claim. Recent scholarship (most significantly Gerd Puin in Germany on the video
here) has highlighted the need for the same historical critical analysis that the Biblical manuscripts have undergone to be applied to the Qu'ran manuscripts. This is not relished by a large proportion of the Muslim community as the do not accept that the Qu'ran could hold any issues, textual deviations etc. However, this has appeared to be the case with the Qu'ran manuscripts.
There are not any manuscripts that can be found of the Qu'ran, as is, until years after Muhammad had died. These manuscripts have been edited and compiled from other sources (see Puin's video, it's good stuff). There have even been scholars who have argued that there is no evidence that Mecca and Medinah (the places were Muslims claims Muhammad and Islam originated from) are the places that Muhammad lived, or that Muhammad was actually a real person at all!! This is in direct contrast to Biblical texts (see part two of this post).
This makes the text of Qu'ran extremely inaccurate in providing the necessary information we need in order to ascertain whether or not this religion is the 'true' religion or if Allah is the true god. As someone who likes using her noggin I find this very hard to accept if I am to follow this faith. I don't like anti-intellectualism at all, particularly in faith terms, and this lack of deep scholarship worries me.
3) The Role of Women in the Qu'ran.
Colour me a raging feminist but this is one of the biggest issues I first had when coming to this class and so made it a mission of mine to try and find out what the Qu'ran actually says about women. It actually isn't that bad, it is the Hadith, or extra writings that have been recorded about things Muhammad said and did, that contains more information on this.
In the Muslim world there is no such thing as an 'average Muslim' just as there is no such thing as an 'average Christian'. Faith differs, interpretations differ, societies differ. All these things lead to different ways of worshipping and following in faith. Still, I was surprised when I came across
Sisters In Islam in Malaysia. They are an advocacy group for Muslim women who work to promote the rights of women in Islam. Despite their impressive work there are still groups out there who think
stoning of women is ok. The problem is BOTH parties can justify their actions through their sacred writings and through the words of their prophet. This makes this issue very blurry.
One thing that is clear though is that in the majority of Muslim countries women do hold a lower place in society than men. They may have rights but they are limited and are often much less than what men would be offered. Though this isn't only an issue in Islam, it is one that we cannot ignore or wash over with claims of cultural preferences. Any subjugation of any woman at any time for any reason is not ok and is not something that I can easily ignore.
4) The (un)Freedom of Faith.
Though many Muslims will claim that there is no compulsion to believe in Islam, in many countries, such as Malaysia, it is illegal for a Muslim to convert from Islam to any other religion. This can be meet with prison time, isolation from family, and even death. This is a huge issue for anyone researching Islam. In Western countries there is a growing call for the recognition of Muslim customs and faith and yet in Muslim countries minorities and those of other faiths are often persecuted and refused a voice. One cannot demand rights when they are the minority if, when the majority, they refuse them to others.
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These are four small, quickly overviewed points of contention I have with Islam. People may, and will, disagree with me but I cannot find any Islamic literature that satisfactorily answers these issues. While I believe in dialogue and community and loving your neighbour, I do not believe that these issues can not be addressed by Muslims or remain unasked by the Christians who work with Muslims. For true, open, honest dialogue to occur we need to be really true, open and honest with each other about our faiths and the problems we have with each others faith.
Islam is a world that fascinates me and I will continue to read much more on (so expect a few more posts like this). But I cannot just say why I don't like Islam and not have some kind of retort as to why I like Christianity better. So part two of this blog will look at these same four points and the reason I like Christianity when it comes to these issues.
Stay posted.
