Muslim Heretics Conference

A Muslim view

Islamic warfare protects noncombatants, and manipulating terrorists are violating its laws.

Annanina Joy Glover • January 16, 2009

Peace to you, dear readers. I was asked to write a reply to the letter written in the Dec. 19 Voices section (”Muslim reaction to killings sought,” by Bob W. Rush) asking for the Muslim community to respond to the terrorism/violence being perpetrated by so-called Muslim extremists.

I am an American who has embraced Islam post-Sept. 11, 2001. Islam does not teach hate, violence or exclusivity of salvation. In fact, there are rules to Islamic warfare that protect noncombatants, their property and also a cease-fire if the people pursue peaceful relations. It does not matter if the people are Muslim or non-Muslim. The point of Islamic warfare is to establish justice in a land where people are oppressed and corruption abounds or defend one’s life, home and right to practice his religion. These laws are being violated by the terrorists; their attacks harm men, women and children who offer no violence or opposition to justice. Property is stolen or destroyed, crops wiped out and no peace treaties are welcomed. So ultimately what we have are rampaging murderers and political extremists pulling the strings, manipulating the emotional state of people to convince them that they are acting to serve justice.

Killing spawns resentment

It is hard for most Americans to understand what it is that has spawned such a resentment in people, until they are offered insight into a different life that is reality on the other side of the world. To us it is articles in the newspaper, images on television and counts of how many of our people have given their lives in what we believe is a fight for freedom, justice and liberty for all. But to many ordinary people who consider themselves to be patriotic, honest, hard-working folk of Middle Eastern nations, American military action or support of certain governments results in the death of children, friends and family. We know from experience that anyone who loses a child or a beloved family member in a violent way generally becomes embittered and blames what they perceive to be the source of the problem, whether it be drunk drivers, gang-bangers or military skirmishes.

After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, our government ordered an investigation and the report concluded that the primary motivation was U.S. military aid to Israel. No matter how bitter people might be or what terrible things have been done to them or their loved ones, it does not justify the actions the terrorists took. It certainly did nothing to improve the conditions of the people trying to live alongside Israel.

No room for hate

When politically minded people gather emotionally wounded people together and focus those feelings into hate, they can manipulate them to do anything, and by perverting scripture they believe they serve justice. There is no room for hate in the heart of any true believer of God, be they Muslim, Christian or Jew. When there is arrogance (racial or social) or hate, love for God cannot be. I do understand that Israel is a very sensitive subject, but I ask you to think about the country not for religious affiliation or historical events. There are international laws that designate certain human rights, and if a country does not comply with them, we do not support their governments. Israel’s military actions violate human rights laws, and have continued to do so for more than 20 years. Yet the U.S. gives more aid to Israel (in weapons and so forth) than any other nation (to my understanding ).

The most horrifying to me, as a woman, is the checkpoint that refused to allow a woman in labor to cross to the waiting ambulance until after she and her twins had died. The most disturbing fact about the weaponry being used is the so-called “rubber bullets” that are metal rounds coated in plastic and end up killing many children, even entering their brains.

I am not calling an end to Israel or reviling the children of Israel. I am simply saying that there is another side to the story and that some of the bitterness and resentment is based in reality. I believe if we truly want peace, people (Muslim, Christian, Jew, or other) are going to have to recognize the humanity in the other and strive for a common goal: the right to live and believe free from persecution.

If you disagree, please feel free to contest my words with credible sources. If you want to know what all Muslims must abide by, try reading a translation of the meaning of the Quran. Look for a way to prove me wrong. I, as a Muslim - one who submits my whole self to God - believe in: God, the Messengers, the Angels, the Book, the Final Day, that Islam is my guide and inviolate law, that there is no compulsion in religion, other religions must be respectfully disagreed with but not reviled and to treat people gently. Most of all, I believe on living by example; clean and courteous. Religion must be lived in every breath, every word and every step - a way of life.

Annanina Joy Glover lives in Springfield.

A Muslim view | News-Leader.com | Springfield News-Leader

DOUBLE TAKE
By Eric F. Mallonga
Jewish-Muslim coexistence

PEOPLE appear to believe that the Jews and the Muslims have no points of convergence for them to stop the bloodshed in Palestine’s Gaza Strip. Reader Cizar Canlas even erroneously observes that every Muslim in Gaza has been indoctrinated by the Hamas organization to view the Jewish people as enemies to be exterminated, which means that all Muslims in Gaza Strip are threats to the life, liberty and security of every Jew. Canlas thus absurdly concludes that there is no other solution to the Jewish and Muslim Conflict in the Middle East except for the withdrawal of the Hamas and Iran, which is allegedly propagating the rift among Jews and Hamas by proxy, from the conflict or the absolute extermination of the Muslims in Gaza Strip. Canlas is wrong. With his macabre and senseless proposals for the genocidal massacre of the Muslim peoples of the Gaza Strip, it appears that there is no longer any hope for peace and progress in the conflict-riven Palestinian region. More than the audacity of hopelessness posed by Canlas, the audacity of hope must prevail for world peace to be achieved. People must appreciate historical events wherein Jews lived harmoniously with Muslims in avoiding an apocalyptic world war.

Centuries before Prophet Muham­mad’s birth, Jews were actually living in the lands now known as Saudi Arabia and the other Middle East countries. One Arabian King Dhu Nuwas, in fact, was a convert to Judaism. Arabian Jews were also indistinguishable from other Arab tribes, as harsh realities of desert life recognized no distinctions among cultural communities or religious creeds. They spoke Arabic dialects and traded with the Quraysh and other leading Arab tribes. Having descended from the sons of Abraham, Jews and Arabs were familiar to one another in language, attire and culture, except for their distinct religious practices and rites. Thus, the Arabian Jews were more familiar than alien to Muhammad as explained by Arab historian Zachary Karabell in “People of the Book: The Forgotten History of Islam and the West.”

In fact, in 622, Prophet Muhammad moved from Mecca to Medina with most of his followers from the prominent Quraysh tribe in one of the defining moments of Islamic history called the Hijra. For some period, with Muham­mad’s arrival, Medina became a unified Jewish-Muslim community as it had three powerful Jewish tribes, more particularly the Banu Qaynuqa, the Bau Nadir and the Banu Qurayza. The Constitution of Medina recognized the two religions as separate and distinct from each other, and recognized that the followers of the two religions could live side by side as equals and supported each other when and where support was needed. It created a precedent for peaceful and cordial coexistence as a hybrid community of Jews and Muslims. Muhammad has seen himself as the last in a series of Jewish prophets, and even instructed his Muslim followers to face Jerusalem when they prayed, thus gaining respect even among the Jews, who saw him as a first among equals and an arbiter of disputes. Clearly, the Constitution of Medina, which Muhammad established with the non-Jewish tribes, the three Jewish tribes and the Islamic community was a model of ecumenism.

Like any prejudice as exemplified by reader Canlas’ selective memory of the history in the long-drawn Jewish-Muslim conflict, the mutual animosity between Islam and Israel is merely fueled by ignorance and intolerance. Hatred, scorn, hostilities and offensive personalities and notorious historical events should not be emphasized because its con­tinuous proposal and replay merely enflames the social prejudices of one religion against the other rather than searching for commonalities to bind together the peoples in the conflict. Islam is not a religion of jihadist violence and suicide bombings. Islam, in its literal definition is a religion of submission to the will of God. Islam is a religion of personal struggle towards divinity, of striving to be godly, within a community of believers in the same God. Islam is a community of the “People of the Book” as Muhammad had seen the Quran as some continuation, or a replication with its own unique variations, of the writings inspired by Allah, which includes the Torah, the Old Testament, and the Christian Bible.

Thus, the commonalities among different religions must be explored in binding people in peace, common understanding, and progress. The five pillars of Islam, which involve prayer, fasting, almsgiving, pilgrimage and charity, are non-violent, morally righteous activities that are also themselves observed among Christians and Jews alike.

The legacy of religious coexistence and cultural harmony must be reclaimed. Albeit there will be tension among the variations of religious philosophies, these beliefs should not constitute the basis for a bloodbath among people descended from a common ancestor. But when Israel continues its conflict against the children of Gaza Strip with excessive aggression, it will definitely fuel the already heightened tensions in the Middle East among the Muslim peoples identifying themselves with the civilians of Gaza Strip, dangerously inviting an apocalyptic war beyond its borders.

ericfmallonga@yahoo.com

The Manila Times Internet Edition | OPINION > Jewish-Muslim coexistence

CHARLESTON, SC: “God” in Christianity and Islam: Are they the same “God”?
By David W. Virtue in Charleston, SC
www.virtueonline.org
1/16/2009
Do Muslims and Christians believe in the same God?
According to Methodist theologian Dr. William Abraham, Christians and Muslims believe the same God exists, but they do not worship the same God.
The outspoken Professor of Wesley Studies at Perkins School of Theology and an Islamic scholar told a gathering of Episcopal and Anglican bishops, clergy and laity at a Mere Anglican conference meeting in St. Luke’s cathedral, that Christians and Muslims believe the same God exists. “Christians and Muslims can identify their God as the one and only creator of the universe worthy of worship and obedience and they disagree with atheists and agnostics.”
“The question revolves around the issue of sameness of identity. Is the God of Christianity the same God as the God of Islam? Is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the same God as the God of the Muslim Prophet Mohammad?
The issue is, at bottom, a pivotal philosophical one, says Abraham.
“My thesis is this: Christians and Muslims believe in the same God; they do not worship the same God. Christians and Muslims can both identify their God as the one and only Creator of the world who is all good, all powerful, and worthy of worship and obedience. Both Christians and Muslims believe that this God exists; they disagree with atheists and agnostics on this score. Both Christians and Muslims are realists with respect to truth.”
Abraham said President George Bush is in agreement with many Muslim leaders when he claims that Muslims worship the same Almighty as Christians Dr. Richard Lund took him to task saying Bush was mistaken. “We should always remember that he is commander in chief, not theologian in chief. The Bible is clear on this: The one and true God is Jehovah and his only begotten Son is Jesus Christ.”
Abraham noted, with some irony, that an Episcopal priest, the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding has announced she is both a Christian and a Muslim. A priest for more than 20 years, her bishop handed her an ultimatum: resign the priesthood, deny being a Muslim, or be deposed.
“In the context of worship Christians insist on the identity of God as laid out in the Apostles’ or Nicene Creed; they speak of God as Father; they name God as ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit.’ The practices of the Church show that we pray to the Triune God, that we baptize in the name of ‘The Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,’ and that we praise God as the Triune God.
“These are not incidental phrases; they are canonical; they are constitutive of the identity of God in the Church. All of this is resolutely, systematically, and canonically rejected by Islam.”
Abraham said that these differences cut so deep that in this context, it is natural that we do not worship the same God.
“The same line of argument applies to Christian and Muslim references to Jesus. They have different names for Jesus, ‘Jesus’ and ‘Isa’, but they both believe that the same human agent existed. They both believe that a first century prophet, born of a virgin, known to Christ as Jesus, lived. When we shift into the context of worship, Christians and Muslims clearly do not revere the same ‘Jesus.’ Muslims and Christians believe the same Jesus existed, but they do not obey and are not devoted to the same Jesus. Thus Muslims do not believe that Jesus was crucified; and they consider the Christian attitude to Jesus to be that of idolatry and blasphemy.
“Jesus is merely one of the prophets of God, and not the most important one. The differences are too radical to allow sameness of identity in this context, for Christians revere and worship Jesus as crucified Savior, risen Lord, and Unique Son of God.”
Abraham said, in the light of this thesis, the Episcopal Church is right to depose The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding if she does not either resign her priesthood or deny that she is a Muslim She is simply mistaken to claim that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. If this were the case, then the distinctions between Islam Christianity would be akin to the distinctions between various Christian ecclesial bodies; Christianity would be a version of Islam and Islam would be a version of Christianity.
“President Bush is mistaken when he makes the same claim.”
Abraham said that when he spoke to a group of Muslims in Kazakhstan, he assumed that they believed in the same God. “I did not try to first make them into atheists or agonistics and then seek to bring them to believe in the God of Christianity. I sought to build on our shred, initial conception of God and to persuade them that the full truth about God and his great salvation had come in Christ.”
“Muslims often identify the Trinity with God, Mary, and the Holy Spirit. When it comes to references to Jesus as the Son of God, Muslims invariably think of Sonship in terms of physical paternity. There are severe linguistic challenges in enabling Muslims to come to terms with the doctrine of the Trinity.”
Abraham rejected this as all just “philosophical nitpicking” when some Christians argue that we should concentrate on more basic issues like love of neighbor, undermining religious extremism, and building peaceable, inclusive, tolerant communities. Certainly, many mainline Christians are tempted to press this kind of challenge, he said.
“The issue of the Christian and Muslim identity of God is not mere hair-splitting; mutual understanding requires that we deal with it.”
Abraham said that the challenges of virulent atheism and secularism are here to stay. The challenges of race and gender have by no means run their course. However, the challenge of Islam adds spice to the mix; it adds whole new dimensions to the epistemological and political issues that currently preoccupy us.
“We will have to revisit the complex theological foundations of Western democracies, sort through how to deal with theologically motivated terrorism, and revisit the nature and limits of religious freedom.
“Second, we will have to overhaul our current obsession with inclusivism, political correctness, and diversity. These, when absolutized, cannot begin to do justice to the deep incompatible commitments that arise when you have real diversity and radical pluralism. Third, we will have to revisit the epistemological issues that swirl around the appeal to special revelation, to public truth, and to reasoned argument.”
Abraham said Christians could no longer take refuge in philosophically oriented conceptions of God as Absolute, Being, Ground of Being and Process.
Abraham said we now face a massive doctrinal and theological deficit at the local church level. “Western mainline Christianity is in disarray. Many of its clergy and members are ignorant and unteachable; they are totally ill-equipped to understand much less offer an intelligible response to Muslim criticism. Evangelicalism is numerically strong, but it too is fragmented; in some places it is saturated in eschatologies that are out and out heretical when measured against the faith of the church.
“Currently evangelicalism is in the throes of one more face-lift in which a new disillusioned generation is madly networking, hoping against hope that something new will emerge. As I see it, cherry-picking the past together with betting the store on a shot-gun wedding with postmodern philosophy is not a recipe that will serve us well in the long run. Certainly, eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism offer vast resources and experience; but the jury is out on whether they will face up to the stewardship of those resources.
“I see the debate about the identity of God as a welcome catalyst to awaken us from our dogmatic slumbers and replenish the theological store for future generations. It calls for a fresh engagement with the canonical faith of the Church.”
Footnote: In a panel discussion, Abraham said that Pacifism is immoral in the face of Muslim terrorism. “We are not a nation state; we have shifted into a market state.”

VirtueOnline - News - Exclusives - CHARLESTON, SC: “God” in Christianity and Islam: Are they the same “God”?