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“Neither Oppressor Nor Oppressed Be”  The dwindling numbers of Palestinian Christians, and those Christians who live under the control of the Shari'a, Islamic law, and Muslim theocratic tyranny will not thank either the Holy Father or Cardinal Pell for references to Muslims and violence – but they will not deny the truth that lies behind such statements. The cat is out of the bag. They would, however, be inclined to say ssssssshhhh ! That's because they have long lived with fear of pogroms of one kind or another. Memories of the slashing and bloody Scimiter remain in their minds indelibly from their history. That Islam is unafraid to flex its muscles can be seen by some lurid statements calling for the killing of the Pope and the destruction of Christian churches. Stop the warring! At all costs Moderate Islam must be encouraged. We need good diplomacy. But how can we do this when we are murdering Muslims? And some of them mercilessly killing us? Wars against Muslim countries must stop immediately. Justice must be obtained in Palestine. Thirty-nine years of occupation have brought us to the brink. We must stop unless we want to be Gadarene Swine. Muslims crave peace, and so do we. But the only democratic Arab nation, Lebanon, lies in ruins. America and Israel have blood on their hands. From Aceh to Mogadishu those Christians who have lived in silence for the sake of survival do not have to be told of the dangers of even the most innocent critique of Islam. References to Muhammad, Qur'anic texts or the Shari'a law can be a matter of life or death. In Pakistan every time the country faces a crisis the Christian underclass of cleaners and street-sweepers face persecution or death. In many places mention of The Prophet, blessed be his name, in the weakest critical way is to die. And it is to die at the hands of a few fanatical people who believe that Christians are 'dogs' who worship three 'gods'. Christians under Muslim rule are no strangers to physical threats against them, nor to insults. The danger from fundamentalists — on both sides... The danger comes from Islamic fundamentalists. They have a lot in common with the capitalist Christian fundamentalists and militarists, the 'merchants of death' as Pope John Paul II described them. It is hoped by many in the West that moderate Muslims will reject their religious ratbags. But we have to ask how successful have we been in rejecting warlike religious loonies? Not very, I'd suggest. We have to take the beam out of our own eye before the splinter in our brother's.
May we hope that their leaders will turn to their holy book, the Qu'ran, and there read: 'Neither oppressor nor oppressor be.' Equally, we hope that ours will turn to the New Testament texts about turning the other cheek, of forgiving enemies. There's plenty in the Qu'ran, however, for those who want to wage war on Christians, and Jews for that matter. Muslims who worship Allah are invited in the words of Sura 9 to 'wage war' against Jews and Christians, and to pray, 'May Allah fight against them.' They are dismissed as 'infidels' and 'hypocrites' 'whose abode is hell, which is a very evil place.' [Sura 66]. Christians who claim that Jesus is the Son of God are called 'liars' [Suras 4, 10] for whom in hell 'garments of fire will be cut out' [Sura 22] and 'over whose heads boiling water will be poured– and with it shall be melted whatever is in their bellies and their skins' [Sura 22]. Father Paul Stenhouse MSC...
Those who have studied the Qu'ran like Father Paul Stenhouse MSC say that it is wrong to claim that the Holy Book of the Muslims does not incite to violence and that Jihad 'always indicates the inner struggle to be a good Muslim, never does it indicate armed or military action.' I think that a huge number of Muslims very sensibly take it that peaceful way, and the idea of waging war is abhorrent to them. They have seen a recent example in Lebanon of what war can do to hundreds of innocent civilians and their families. The shattered buildings and the new graves bear mute testimony. Who could not crave salaam, peace, if surviving in Baghdad from civil war and the US occupation? Jahada, the root of the word Jihad, appears forty times in the Qu'ran under a variety of grammatical forms , and apart from Suras 6, 16, 24 and 35, all of the other usages are in the third form of the verb Jahida, which means 'he fought, warred or waged war against unbelievers and the like'. Muslims who do not like the notion of waging a holy war, or wish to impress upon non-Muslims their true, sincere and innate desire for peace will often translate the third form of Jahada as 'he exerted himself, he strove' because that is what it does mean in the first form of the verb. This translation is used to substantiate the claim that Jihad in the Qu'ran primarily refers to 'spiritual ascetism' and not militarism. However, the same word is used to criticize those who refused to 'strive' and engage in Yujahidu – 'waging war for the sake of Allah.' The context in which some of these passages were written... We have to face the unpalatable fact that there are aggressive passages in the Qu'ran, and that they were written in a time of great upheavals when the religion of a nation or a whole people could be determined by the outcome of a battle. It would be unfair to lay them on our Muslim brothers and sisters as if they are waiting like tigers about to spring. And cannot we, too , be like tigers when the occasion arises? They love peace as much as we do. It is only a minority who call for the murder of the Pope and the destruction of Christian churches. 'Neither oppressor nor oppressed be,' saith the Qu'ran. I like the Islamic idea of Love coming in a circle – down from God into people and then back to God. Lawrence of Arabia describes it in Seven Pillars of Wisdom. I think it is foolish to believe that there are not Qu'ran passages that bloodthirsty people can use to give a religious sheen to warfare (as we do at times in Christian industrio-military Capitalism). Examples... Here are some examples of verses against the 'People of the Book', Jews and Christians: 'Wage war against those who have been given the Book who
do not believe in Allah, nor in the Last Day; who do not forbid what Allah
and his prophet have forbidden, nor do they follow the religion of truth
– until they pay the tax as an acknowledgment of their inferiority,
and they are humbled' [Sura 9.29] They are not chosen to provide verbal ammunition to back up our unholy bombs and rockets falling on innocent Arab men, women and children. Nor are they meant to deride a religion which is the source of inspiration for millions as they worship an all-merciful God, rejecting Capitalism and Materialism. The wisdom of the Qu'ran...
Many passages of the Holy Qu'ran are breath-taking in their vision of the wonders of Heaven and the justness of the Almighty, while others are tender in their treatment of the aged, of women and children, and the poor. The passages concerning violence are not read by most Muslims as aggressive incitements. However, a Christian who is contemplating whether the Qu'ran is a source of God's revelation needs to consider the whole manuscript and not in a cafeteria fashion. For example, while Suras [4.171 and 10.66] may claim that those who claim Jesus is the Son of God are 'liars' there are others that urge tolerance in religious matters and say that in the end Allah will decide who is right and who is wrong. Respect for all Peoples of the Book is promoted. We need to remember that Muslims believe that Jesus will come in the end of days to judge all people. The Qu'ran contains many contradictions., and many wonderful truths. My favourite is, 'Neither oppressor, nor oppressed be.' I hope that Usama bin Laden reads that, just as much as I hope that George
W. Bush reads in our Book that those who live
by the sword die by the sword. Cliff Cliff Baxter can be contacted at: ©2006 Clifford Baxter |
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