Harry's Place

As Gene highlighted earlier, Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, head of the Cordoba Initiative (the organisation behind the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ plan), made the following statement at a 2003 memorial service for victim of jihadism Daniel Pearl:

We are here to assert the Islamic conviction of the moral equivalency of our Abrahamic faiths. If to be a Jew means to say with all one’s heart, mind and soul Shma` Yisrael, Adonai Elohenu Adonai Ahad; hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One, not only today I am a Jew, I have always been one, Mr. Pearl.

If to be a Christian is to love the Lord our God with all of my heart, mind and soul, and to love for my fellow human being what I love for myself, then not only am I a Christian, but I have always been one, Mr. Pearl.

And I am here to inform you, with the full authority of the Quranic texts and the practice of the Prophet Muhammad, that to say La ilaha illallah Muhammadun rasulullah is no different.

It expresses the same theological and ethical principles and values.

Now, this all sounds very nice – Jews, Christians, and Muslims are all united in their monotheism, therefore even an Imam is happy to refer to himself as being a ‘Jew’ or a ‘Christian’ as well as a Muslim. In fact, however, there are a number of problems here.

The most pertinent question to look at is how ‘the full authority of the Quranic texts and the practice of the Prophet Muhammad’ relates to Rauf’s claim that, as a Muslim, he is also a Jew and a Christian.

In saying this, in a certain sense Rauf is indeed conforming to the message of the Qur’an, for time and again there are references to the ‘People of the Book’ who it is said have been given the message of Allah and can be saved in the world to come. However, the question is: will they be saved as Jews and Christians, or only if they go on to become Muslims? In other words, does the Qur’an, as Rauf seems to suggest, view Jews, Christians, and Muslims as being on an equal footing?

The reality is, not at all. While both Jews and Christians are said to have received communications from Allah, they are at the same time presented as deviant and corrupted Muslims. While Rauf appears to be saying it doesn’t matter which faith you follow, that is very unlikely to be the case.

In the Qur’an, the understanding of Judaism and Christianity is very muddled, and the approach to Jews and Christians is far from coherent, although the general message is that Jews and Christians are Muslims, just by a different name. Their belief in strict monotheism and a history of God sending prophets to the Middle East, their reverence for Abraham, and so on, are taken as proof of this. In the Qur’anic understanding, ‘Jew’ and ‘Christian’ means nothing more than ‘Muslim’, as, for the Qur’an, the ‘original’ message of Judaism and Christianity is Islam. As I noted in this study of The Qur’an and the ‘Abrahamic religions’:

According to the Qur’an, it contains a ‘perfect’ message from the creator of the universe, and it is held that previously two peoples have been granted books similar to the Qur’an – Jews and Christians – but that they have somehow deviated from and corrupted the original revelations. As such, Jews and Christians are held to be Muslims who have strayed from the original path given by Allah, and the Qur’an is seen to ‘correct’ the supposed ‘errors’ found in the Old and New Testaments (i.e. wherever they disagree with the Qur’an) and to finalise God’s message to humanity.

By way of contrast, a rather more obvious and plausible intepretation of the elements of the Qur’an that overlap with Judaism and Christianity is that Muhammad took what he liked from the Old and New Testaments and ignored the rest; or, in the case of Jesus, simply fabricated new sayings. Muhammad clearly admired aspects of Judaism and Christianity and when he set out creating his own Arab monotheism borrowed heavily from their sacred texts, in particular from the Hebrew Bible. In the Qur’an, we find many of the Israelite characters taken over by Muhammad as ‘prophets’ of Islam, with their Jewish names replaced by Arab names. Likewise, Jesus becomes ‘Isa’, a ‘prophet’ of Islam who bears almost no relation to the Jesus of the New Testament and is instead found exhorting his listeners to follow ‘Allah’. The claim that the Qur’an shows respect to the ‘prophets’ of Judaism and to Jesus is rendered problematic by what the Qur’an does with these characters. Take Abraham, for example – a foundational figure in Judaism. In the Qur’an, Abraham becomes ‘Ibrahim’ and it is claimed that he was a Muslim; indeed, Adam is presented as the first Muslim, and every character ‘borrowed’ from the Old and New Testaments are seen as Muslims, not Jews in the religious sense.

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All of this raises the question of how much the Qur’an really shows ‘respect’ for Judaism and Christianity, given it basically raids their books, renames their ‘prophets’, and places plainly unhistorical Islamic sayings on their lips. Some say that imitation is the highest form of flattery, so perhaps this is the most charitable interpretation of this use of material lifted from the Bible, but when it comes to the Qur’an’s verdict on Jews and Christians themselves, the flattery is much less in evidence.

Insofar as Rauf gives a highly reductionist ‘definition’ of Judaism and Christianity, he is able to be fully consistent with the teachings of the Qur’an in saying that as a Muslim he is also a Jew and a Christian. Notice how he words his definitions of what it is to be a Jew and a Christian:

If to be a Jew means to say with all one’s heart, mind and soul Shma` Yisrael, Adonai Elohenu Adonai Ahad; hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One, not only today I am a Jew, I have always been one, Mr. Pearl.

If to be a Christian is to love the Lord our God with all of my heart, mind and soul, and to love for my fellow human being what I love for myself, then not only am I a Christian, but I have always been one, Mr. Pearl.

In both cases, Rauf reduces what it means to be a Jew or a Christian to an Islamically acceptable understanding (‘If to be a Jew…’, ‘If to be a Christian…’). In other words, he takes two ideas – belief in one God and loving one’s fellow human being – and defines this as Judaism and Christianity. However, this does not address key problems that get in the way of this conception. To be a Jew or a Christian is not simply to follow a stripped down form of Islam – to be a Jew or Christian is to hold beliefs radically at variance with the Qur’an – first and foremost at variance with the idea that Muhammad was a prophet sent by the God of Judaism or Christianity.

Absolutely central doctrines of Christianity in particular violate Islam and the Qur’an’s commands. The vast majority of Christians believe in the divinity of Jesus and in a triune understanding of God. To be a Christian is not simply ‘to love the Lord our God with all of my heart, mind and soul, and to love for my fellow human being what I love for myself’. Far from it. To be a Christian is to hold an entirely different concept of God, God’s relationship with humanity, the nature of salvation, and so on. And, significantly, those key differences which make Christianity Christianity are explicitly and forcefully condemned in the Qur’an:

Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely Allah, He is the Messiah, son of Marium; and the Messiah said: O Children of Israel! serve Allah, my Lord and your Lord. Surely whoever associates (others) with Allah, then Allah has forbidden to him the garden, and his abode is the fire; and there shall be no helpers for the unjust. Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely Allah is the third (person) of the three; and there is no god but the one God, and if they desist not from what they say, a painful chastisement shall befall those among them who disbelieve (5.72-3).

In the Qur’an, contrary to popular liberal misunderstanding, practising Jews and Christians are not also offered salvation. Jews and Christians are indeed offered salvation, but only on the basis that they actually become Muslims by denying beliefs central to their faiths. Sometimes, the Qur’an appears to speak favourably of Jews (less so) and Christians (more so) who have not converted to Islam. Take this passage for example:

Certainly you will find the most violent of people in enmity for those who believe (to be) the Jews and those who are polytheists, and you will certainly find the nearest in friendship to those who believe (to be) those who say: We are Christians; this is because there are priests and monks among them and because they do not behave proudly (5.82).

You’ll immediately note the anti-Semitism, of course, but does it not appear that Christians are viewed in a far better light? Yes, until you read on:

And when they [Christians] hear what has been revealed to the apostle [Muhammad] you will see their eyes overflowing with tears on account of the truth that they recognize; they say: Our Lord! we believe, so write us down with the witnesses (of truth). And what (reason) have we that we should not believe in Allah and in the truth that has come to us, while we earnestly desire that our Lord should cause us to enter with the good people? Therefore Allah rewarded them on account of what they said, with gardens in which rivers flow to abide in them; and this is the reward of those who do good (to others). And (as for) those who disbelieve and reject Our communications, these are the companions of the flame (5.83-6).

In this passage, the Christians are presented as easy converts: when Muslims tell them of Muhammad’s message, ‘you will see their eyes overflowing with tears on account of the truth that they recognize’. But, if they recognise the Qur’anic teachings as truth then they must reject Christianity in all but name – no Son of God, no Trinity, no Atonement, etc. – and essentially become Muslims. And what of those Christians who hear of Islam and reject it? ‘These are the companions of the flame’.

When Rauf appears to consider Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as one and the same, and proclaims himself a ‘Jew’ and a ‘Christian’, this is undoubtedly the type of Jew or Christian he actually envisages – a type of ‘Jew’ or ‘Christian’ who is actually a Muslim – given his view is based on ‘the full authority of the Quranic texts’.

If to be a Jew and if to be a Christian fits Rauf’s narrow, reductionist definition (a definition not at variance with the teachings of Islam), then he is respectful of Jews and Christians and shows solidarity with them. If to be a Jew or a Christian is to hold to completely different views of the nature of God to Islam, and completely different views of the history of God’s interaction with humankind, the beliefs and practices necessary for salvation, and so on, and if to be a Jew or Christian is to consider Muhammad a fraud and the Qur’an of no importance, will Rauf still make the statement of human solidarity with Jews – ‘I am a Jew’ – in response to the religiously inspired murder of a Jew? Or is such solidarity only possible if ‘to be a Jew’ is essentially to be a Muslim?

Post script:

I should add that my comments here are far from specific to Rauf, but rather are relevant to a far larger issue, which is the ‘interfaith’ project in general.

Put simply, the interfaith approach is fundamentally flawed because it is based on a false premise. Interfaith dialogue is entered into by people who are convinced that their faith is the true one, or the truest. As a result, the first thing they do is look for traces of their own faith in the faiths of others. The obvious temptation is then to offer a reductionist version of the others’ faith that does not truly respect the differences that make that faith what it is. Christianity without salvation through Jesus isn’t Christianity, and Islam without exclusive claims about Muhammad isn’t Islam.

A far better approach than ‘interfaith’ reductionism (in which each party is usually aiming to assert that the other faith is OK as long as it contains some of their own, rather than fine independently of any supposed overlap) is simply pluralism within a secular framework. There is no need for Jews and Christians and Muslims to pretend they worship the same God, rather they should simply respect the others’ right to worship who and what they wish, provided they do so within a secular framework of mutual respect for each others’ rights and freedoms.

I’m an atheist, but I don’t expect everyone else to be. Believe in whatever Gods, prophets, and stories you wish, so long as you respect my right to not believe in them and to not have to order my life around them. We don’t need ‘dialogue’ and theological fudging – we need mutual respect along lines that are agreed independently of reference to any theological concepts.

This is why, in an increasingly pluralistic and globalised world, secularism is of such vital importance to us all, believers and unbelievers alike.

Alan A adds: