Muslims’ Respect and Love for Jesus

The American Model versus the Pope and the European Model

 

By

Prof. Mashhad Al-Allaf

Imam Khattab Endowed Chair of Islamic Studies & Prof. of Philosophy

Department of Philosophy

The University of Toledo

 

 

 

“And dispute ye not with the People of the Book, except with means better (than mere disputation), unless it be with those of them who inflict wrong (and injury); but say, "We believe in the Revelation which has come down to us and in that which came down to you; our God and your God is One; and it is to Him we bow (in Islam)." (Qur’an 29:46)

 

1. Vision

The relationship between Islam and the West is a permanent relationship; it was, it is, and it will be. This permanent relationship requires a permanent agenda. Although the permanency of this relationship is temporal but it is so consistent in its temporality as if it was predetermined. We should be very careful in choosing the intellectual model for this relationship, because no matter what we choose it is going to be a permanent practice for a long time.
 
Although many people today perceive this relationship in forms of tension, negativity, clash, and war, I do optimistically perceive it as an open horizon for moral competition in the areas of care, love, etiquettes, tolerance, tactfulness, and conscientiousness. 

 

2. The case of the Pope

I really like the topic that was chosen by Pope Benedict XVI in his speech at the University of Regensburg on September 12, on the issue of the relationship between reason and revelation. This relationship is one of my favorite personal quests of knowledge.

 

I also think it is necessary for the Pope and the Catholic Church to bring such a discussion into light (especially at universities) because the history of the church on issues of rationality and science has been labeled (by Western scholars) negatively since the time of Galileo.

 

In this specific intellectual endeavor, I think the Christian theologians are lucky and can benefit from Muslim philosophers who have already set precedence on the issue of the relationship between reason and revelation. Many Muslim scholars thought of and practiced rationality and scientific method as another way of seeking the truth that complement revelation and the teaching of the Qur’an. Many examples can be brought here from the Islamic heritage, such as Al-Kindi, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, and from Spain Ibn Tufail, Ibn Baja, and Ibn Rushd (Averroes) (1126-1198) who summarized this issue in his celebrated book called the Decisive Treaties on the Relationship between Reason and Religion (Fasl al-Maqal fima bainal Hikamti wash Shari’ati minittisal). Averroism was the most influential school of philosophy in the West.

 

We should not forget here the Jewish tradition and the contribution of Musa Ibn Maimon (Maimonides) (1135-1204) who thoroughly discussed this issue in his book Guide for the Perplexed. Also Christian philosophers, such as St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), who left good legacy in regards to this issue. Unfortunately, the Christian church did not invest in this tradition until lately, and the church’s appreciation for the role of rationality and scientific research is coming late in time, but I am glad it is coming.

 

In his recent speech, The Pope quoted part of a dialogue between the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam. This dialogue took place at the end of the fourteenth century, as the Pope said could be between 1394 and 1402. The emperor asked the educated Persian: 

 

“Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

 

3. The moral side of the issue: Clarification and understanding

Respect and love for Jesus and Mary (peace and blessings of God be upon them) is not only considered as one of the highest values of the Islamic code of ethics, but also part of Muslims’ faith itself; Muslims were commanded by God to respect, love, co-exist and interact with the people who believe in the Divine revelation of Christianity. This Islamic command of God is rational because co-existence requires respect, love and understanding. In one word, it requires peace. Muslims indeed manifested this respect by words and actions; since the time of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him) and all the way through 1,427 years, Muslims said nothing negative about Jesus and Mary. In fact Muslims do name their children after them; many Muslim females are named after Mary. In contrast, during the same time period Muslims and the Prophet of Islam (Muhammad) were negatively approached by an exceptional effort of western scholars through different means of communication.

In the negativity of the Dutch newspaper about the prophet Muhammad, Muslims were trying to bring attention to the fact that peace and co-existence cannot be established by slandering the faith of other people and making fun of them, yet at the same time asking them to cooperate and keep silent. What is worth mentioning here that Muslims did not reply by saying anything negative about Jesus or Mary. By respecting Jesus, Muslims manifest the logical thesis that such incidents are not the fault of Jesus, rather it is the fault of humans who do not apply the moral teaching of Jesus and do not know how to interact and tolerate the faith of other people.

 

4. The logical and theological side of the issue: Clarification and understanding

Does God “will” things because they are rational and good, or they are good and rational because God “willed” them?

 

This is a philosophical question that I discuss in my ethics class and under which I cover three theories of ethics: The Divine command theory, Natural law theory (St. Thomas Aquinas) and Divine law theory (or Maqasid theory).

 

Part of the above philosophical question can be traced back to Plato in his dialogue the Euthyphro in which he had Socrates raising a similar question making the answer of his opponent both ways contradictory. Socrates asked: ‘is an action good because gods commanded it, or gods commanded it because it is right?’

To answer the first part positively, Plato (through Socrates) objects that this answer makes the commands of God arbitrary; meaning that God can just command anything good or evil, but this is contradictory to the goodness of God.

To answer the second part positively, Socrates objects that there is a theological problem where God and the standard of moral values are both eternally co-exist.

 

Philosophically speaking, Plato is wrong because his conception of God and the divine attributes was based on Greek mythology, which is a concept very different from the monotheistic theology. God in the teaching of Islam legislate based on his Wisdom not based on his Goodness.

Take this example for the sake of clarifications: if X wears some kind of perfume because she smells good, smellness becomes very important. Now imagine one day X came to use the perfume and found that all these bottles of perfume are empty except one bottle of bug spray, do you think that she is going to wear bug spray (although it has a smell)? Of course not; because she knows that this bug spray smells Bad. Then X (with limited human rationality) is not managing her life based on smellness rather on knowledge. Same is with God (may God be exalted from any analogy) His legislation is not based on goodness rather on wisdom

 

God in the Islamic teaching is the absolute wisdom and does not command evil even though He is able. There is a difference between the ability/power of God and what God actually commands. God will not command anything that is contrary to His wisdom and thus contrary to rationality. The main reason of revelation in Islam is to achieve the benefits of people on earth. God, for example, in the Islamic teaching commanded the prohibition of drinking alcohol (or any other similar substance that causes intoxication), because intellect in the Islamic teaching is one of the five necessities that Muslims should preserve in order to live a good life. With His absolute vision, God -the Exalted- legislated the prohibition of alcohol because it is harmful. Now we understand with our limited vision and growing rationality that alcohol is harmful and the state’s legislation is going toward more restrictions of the consumption of intoxicant substances (such as prohibition of drinking and driving). Through a deeper vision from biology, we understand now that a pregnant woman who consumes alcohol will harm the fetus; we are moving toward a personal moral prohibition of alcohol.

Had God willed and commanded the opposite then that ‘will’ can be approached as irrational. God does not legislate out of His nature of being “good”; instead God legislates out of His “Wisdom”. The logical order of the most essential divine attributes in the Islamic theology is: Life, Knowledge, Will, and Power. (There are other divine attributes but this is not the place to go over them).

 

Muslim scholars from studying the Qur’an were able to develop the most essential principle in the Qur’anic knowledge, i.e., the principle that there is no contradiction between reason and revelation and both reason and revelation are necessary for the balanced knowledge of mankind on earth. This principle helped Muslim scholars to advance science and medicine in the Middle Ages while Europe was living in the age of darkness.

 

5. No compulsion in religion

There is no compulsion in Islam as the Pope referred to Qur’an, chapter 2, verse 256. This means that Muslims cannot force or coerce people to accept Islam as their system of belief. There are good reasons showing why this is impossible in Islam:

 

First: forcing people to accept Islam as a religion is against the command of the religion itself; it is against the command of Allah –the Exalted- who clearly said in the Qur’an:

 

“There is no compulsion in religion. Verily, the Right Path has become distinct from the wrong path. Whoever disbelieves Taghut [false deities] and believes in Allah then he has grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah is All-Hearer, All-knower.” (Qur’an, 2:256)

 

Second: religion is a faith that settles deeply in the heart. People cannot be forced to believe something in their hearts. People can say something by tongues and have the exact opposite in their hearts.

 

Third: Allah wants people to worship Him out of their total acceptance and absolute devotion.

           

Fourth: Islam is a choice of voluntary surrender and submission of the human will to the will of the Creator. It would be, therefore, contradictory to force someone to submit his or her will to Allah.

 

6. The paradigm shift

I think the American paradigm of the relationship between Muslims and Christians is much more successful than that of Europe. We should be aware that the social-interaction model of the Middle Ages has changed with most of its world view, social norms, and its intellectual perception. We are moving toward a very different paradigm in which the medieval perception might not be applicable; look at this poem from the Middle Ages which was written by the Jewish scholar and poet Abraham ibn Ezra:

 

The Muslims sing of love and passion

The Christians of war and revenge

The Greeks of wisdom and devices

The Indians of parables and riddles

And the Israelites-songs and praises to the lord of Hosts.[1] 

 

It will be an epistemological mistake to bring some of negative perception of the Middle Ages thinkers and apply it on today’s reality.

 

It is wrong to describe the leaders of non-violence (such as Muhammad, peace be upon him) as people of the sword. An analytical observation based on psychology was given by Montgomery Watt describing the negative image of Islam in Europe (this negative image was presented as a struggle between truth and falsehood, between light and darkness) Watt said: 

 

“The war of light and darkness sounds well, but in this post Freudian world men realize that the darkness ascribed to one's enemies is a projection of the darkness in oneself that is not fully admitted. In this way the distorted image of Islam is to be regarded as a projection of the shadow-side of European man. The violence and the excessive sexuality ascribed to Saracens [Muslims] existed also in Europe, even if contrary to the Christian ideal. According to Christian theory sexuality was 'carnal', and what was 'carnal' prevented the soul, the true man, from attaining eternal life. It followed that monastic celibacy was a higher life than that of marriage. Yet one wonders whether ordinary men, even when they paid lip-service to the belief in the superiority of celibacy, did not in practice proceed on the assumption that the exercise of sexuality was a great good. It is evidence of the growing self-awareness of European Christendom that some leading figures came to understand how 'Islam' in the image stood for what was evil in Europe itself.”[2] 

7. Three criteria need to be followed:

Muslims and Christians share physical reality, common codes of ethics, intellectual reality, and virtual reality. The followings are a few principles to be followed for a better understanding and better relationship:

 

 

 

 

About this God said in the Qur’an:

 

“O ye who believe! let not some men among you laugh at others: it may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): nor let some women laugh at others: it may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): nor defame nor be sarcastic to each other, nor call each other by (offensive) nicknames: ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness, (to be used of one) after he has believed: and those who do not desist are (indeed) doing wrong. (Qur’an 49:11)

 

And about the positive intentions and ideas of the “other people” God said in the Qur’an:

 

O ye who believe! avoid suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is a sin: and spy not on each other, nor speak ill of each other behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Nay, ye would abhor it. But fear Allah: for Allah is Oft-Returning, Most-Merciful.” (Qur’an 49:12)

 

Both lines of love and respect of the “other” were embraced by the Qur’anic teachings as in the verses quoted above and many other verses.

 

 

 

Mashhad Al-Allaf

Imam Khattab Endowed Chair of Islamic Studies & Prof. of Philosophy

Department of Philosophy

The University of Toledo

 



[1] Abraham ibn Ezra, translated by B. Lewis, Music of a Distant Drum, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 2001, p. 193.

[2] Watt, M: The Influence of Islam on Medieval Europe, The University Press, Edinburgh, 1972. p. 83.