The Christian /Muslim Connection and their Point of Departure...
By P. Felix Miheso
Shivanda
Introduction
Islam
is one among the three major monotheistic religions in the world, who claim to
have a common ancestor, Abraham as the foundation of their faith. The rise of
Islam has mixed influence on both Christians and Muslims. The occurrences in
the day today unfolding comes with its challenges amidst the branding of Islam
as a terrorist religion and that brand is stuck and it will take long time to
be purified.
The Meaning of Islam
The
term ‘Islam’ comes from the Arabic word Salam
which means peace. Arabic 'islām, submission,
from 'aslama,
to surrender, resign oneself, from Syriac 'ašlem, to make
peace, surrender, derived stem of šlem, to be complete; see šlm in Semitic
roots. According to Mvumbi,
says,
“With
time it came to acquire the current meaning that is submission to the will of
Allah (God). Islam means peace attained through voluntary self-surrender to
God. Therefore, a Muslim is the one who strives to submit himself to Allah.”[1]
When
a person totally surrenders himself or herself to the will of God, he or she
will have peace because God will be always guiding him or her. Moreover,
El-falah argues that “literally,
Islam means peace, submission and obedience.
The Religion is the complete acceptance of the teachings and guidance of God as
revealed to his prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him).”[2]
However,
Islam is not just a religion but a culture and everything pertaining to human
life. Here Mvumbi argues,
“Islam is not simply a system of doctrines
and religious practices; it is a complete civilization. Islam is a faith; a
rite; a law; ethics; Islam is a political institution; it is a culture and also
a spirituality.”[3]
This
is evidently seen in the expansion of Islamic states.
The Rise of Islam
You
cannot talk of Islam and at the same time disassociate it with its founder and
prophet who preached it, Muhammad ibin Abdallah. However, the Muslims do not
believe that their religion began with Muhammad for he is just the last prophet
among many other predecessors in the line of prophetic tradition that runs from
Adam through Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah, Amos, John the Baptist, Jesus and many
others.[4]
This
clearly indicates that even Muhammad himself never believed to be the founder
of a new religion but rather the prophet who was sent by God to preach and
correct the monotheistic religion which was distorted by Judaism and
Christianity. Muhammad, according to R. Maqsood, was born in the year of the
elephant (570 C.E.). This year is called the year of the elephant, which is
named after the failed destruction of Mecca that year by the Aksumite king
Abraha who had in his army a number of elephants. Mohammad was a member of the ruling
Quraysh, a tribe that claimed to trace its lineage back to Ishmael, son of
Abraham. Muhammad’s grandfather is remembered as having rediscovered the site
of the Well of Zamzam in Mecca, the place where Hagar found water for her son,
Ishmael.
According to ancient Arabic tradition. Arabic
tradition before Muhammad also held that Abraham and Ishmael had built the
Ka‘bah, which contained within it a mysterious and large black stone. By the
time of Muhammad this shrine had come to house many religious deities, among
them one who was called Allah, Arabic for “the God.”
This tracing of the lineage in Arab tribes back to
Abraham and Ishmael can be the foundation of monotheistic faith in Muhammad and
Islam, since they share a common ancestor with other monotheistic religions
(Judaism and Christianity) which also trace back to Abraham as their foundation
of faith. However, Muhammad’s father, Abdallah died when Muhammad was not yet
born.
He
was then raised by his uncle Abu Talib from the age of eight after his mother
and his grandfather died. His uncle, Abu Talib introduced him in trade
activities on caravans. The experience of caravan routes made him to be well
known and liked to the point of being nicknamed ‘the trustworthy’ (al Amin).This
was due to the fact that he was an honest, fair, and a pious man. Muhammad was
later employed by a wealthy widow who later on became his wife.[5]
Muhammad began to receive revelations at the age of forty in the year 610 C.E.
It was the angel Gabriel who revealed the prophetic role of Muhammad by
ordering him to recite certain words. Although Muhammad refused to recite them
because he was unable to read, he managed to do so after having been forced by
the angel. “He was ordered to learn them, and repeat them to others. Thus, came
the first revelation of verses of the book now known as the Qur’an (the
Recitation).”[6]
Moreover, these revelations took place for about twenty-three years and were
later written in the book (Qur’an) by his followers under the great influence
of his successors, the caliphs.[7]
Muhammad
then preached the devotion and submission to Allah (God) who is only one,
transcendent, and immanent. This is why he “was commissioned to warn his people
to abandon their idolatry and greed, and to urge them to worship God alone.”[8]
When Muhammad started preaching his new religion in his hometown of Mecca, his
message was not received well by his people and he encountered a lot of
resistance from his kinsmen.
His effort drew the opposition of the leaders
of the Quraysh as well. The financial benefits Mecca reaped from those who came
to worship the various deities housed in the Ka‘bah were significant. They were
more than 360 idols of tribal patron deities and was the site of annual
pilgrimage.
Muhammad’s
activities and preaching about worshiping Allah alone were soon to pose a
threat to the city’s revenues. Jomier argues,
“Rejected
by his clan, Muhammad had to find new protectors at any price; otherwise,
according to the law of the desert, the first comer could assassinate him
without any fear of reprisal”[9]
Because of this, he and his followers
had to flee the town because of fear of persecutions. So, he decided to accept
the invitation from Yathrib, sending the majority of his followers ahead to the
city to wait for him. Then one evening under the cover of darkness the Prophet
and his closest associates fled Mecca.
They were pursued by their opponents
in the city but managed to escape by hiding out in the caves nearby. It was in
the year 622, when Muhammad fled to Yathrib (Medina) where he was welcomed by
residents who saw him as the new ruler who can reconcile them. This emigration
to Medina is called the Hijrah
(migration) and it marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar.[10]
The Muslims’ numbers rapidly increased in
Yathrib. Muhammad’s reputation as a political leader began to spread to other
cities and among the tribes in the countryside. A military force was organized
from among the people of Medina to extend and defend the Muslim religion,
laying the initial foundations of a new monotheistic political state.
The revelations the Prophet continued
to receive instructed the Muslims to exterminate polytheism and idolatry. The
choice they were called to offer idolaters was simple: worship the one true God
or face death. In 630, Muhammad and his companions conquered Mecca, destroyed
the idols present in the Kaaba (the
temple) and made it the mosque.[11]
They met no resistance, and all of
Mecca shortly thereafter became Muslim. Most of Arabia was by this time united
under the Prophet’s rule, with Mecca and Medina, the two cities of the Prophet,
forming its symbolic center. In 631 Muhammad ruled that no unbelievers could
henceforth enter Mecca. Pilgrimage to that city continued to be a central Muslim
practice, but now to a Ka’bah cleansed of all idols.
In
the course of the next two years most of the remaining Arab tribes joined the
new Islamic movement, and an initial military expedition had even been carried
out against several cities in southern Mesopotamia. Among those over whom the
Prophet’s political control now reached was the Christian community in the
south that was centered in the city of Najran.
The Influence of
Christianity on Islam
Christianity
and even Judaism influenced Muhammad to the great extent. During the years of
his youth, he went several times on caravans with Abu Talib. Muslim tradition
tells of one such journey to Syria when Muhammad was twelve. The travellers
were staying at a monastery when a Christian monk saw a bright light over the
young boy’s head, leading the monk to prophesy that Muhammad would one day
become a great prophet.
Other
Muslim sources tell of Christians who influenced the Prophet in Mecca,
including an Ethiopian Christian slave named Jabr.[12]
Moreover, Jacques Jomier argues that in Mecca there were Christian slaves,
merchants and itinerant monks who came to preach in the town and that even
among Mohammad’s followers some were Christians who knew the scriptures.[13]
This may be the reason of his knowledge about Christianity which appears in the
Qu’ran even if with a lot of misunderstanding and contradiction with the
doctrines of Christian mainstream. This indicates that the knowledge that
Muhammad had about Jesus and Christianity may be from apocryphal writings which
was a result of Christian heretical movements such as Jewish-Christianity.
Quoting Joseph Kenny, Mvumbi says,
Jewish-Christianity was
a form of Christianity best known by Arabs at the time of Muhammad. It’s
doctrine must have strongly influenced Islam for we find many parallels between
Jewish-Christianity and the form of Christianity mentioned in the Qur’an. Some
of these similarities are: Jewish – Christians accepted only the Torah and the
Gospel of Matthew as inspired book; Jesus was not divine but an angelic
creature; they prayed facing Jerusalem which was also the first qibla of the
Muslims before they turned towards Mecca. Jewish – Christianity, in its many
forms, may not be considered a new religion but a practice of people who had
not embraced Christianity in total since it was regarded as a blend of Judaism
and Christianity. Thus Jewish – Christians were those Jews who acknowledged
Christ as a prophet or messiah but not as the son of God. Jesus is no more than
a man; he is a creature in the order of an angel. This is the type of
Christianity the Qur’an refers to.[14]
In
order to understand why and how Muhammad was influenced mainly by heretical
movements, let’s look into the Arabian context. The Arabia had long been a land
on the margins of two world empires. For centuries its people lived on the
borders of the Roman and Persian states without having been absorbed into
either one. Several small Arab kingdoms were also formed along the borders where
they had become client-states of either empire. Mostly, they were organized
according to traditional tribal patterns. In addition, the Arab people were
both farmers (nomads) and traders. This is the result of two prominent cities
of Yathrib (Medina) and Mecca. Moreover, the Christian movements could only
claim a scattering of followers in Arabia during these years.
A number of individual ascetics had immigrated
into the deserts in the North. Some were refugees from East Roman persecutions
directed towards non-chalcedonians, while others were escaping Persian
persecutions. So, up to 6th century, both Christian and Jewish
numbers were on the increase in Arabia. What are Muhammad’s teaching concerning
Christianity and Jesus?
Concerning
Christianity, Muhammad taught that Jesus (called Isa in the Qur’an) had been a
great prophet who was especially chosen by God (3:45-60). The Qur’an accords a
great deal of honour to his mother, Mary (3:40-47;19). When Mary’s family
challenged her for having a child out of wedlock, the baby Jesus spoke in her
defense (19:30-33), a miracle that substantiates for Islam both the virginal
birth and the prophetic office of Jesus.
According to Surah 19:3, Jesus’ birth took place under
a palm tree whose fruits nourished his mother, a story that reflects a
tradition also found in the apocryphal Gospel
of Pseudo-Matthew. Echoing a tradition found in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, another early Christian book considered
apocryphal, the Qur’an says that as a child Jesus made clay birds and breathed
life into them to make them fly (5:10).
Jesus is called the Messiah in the Qur’an (4:171), a
title no other prophet receives. The Qur’an assigns to Jesus a special role as
well in the final resurrection of the dead on the day of judgement. These are
strong themes that pervade all of Islamic teaching. Jesus is called the Word
(kalimah) (4:171) and had the Holy Spirit from God in a special way (5:110).
His spiritual empowerment was witnessed to in his miracles and healings, which
included raising some from the dead (3:49).
One of the miracles he performed was to call down from
heaven a table for his disciples that was set with food, a reference to the
Christian Eucharist (5:111-115). By way of contrast, Muhammad is said to have
performed no miracle other than that of delivering the Qur’an. For this last
reason alone, Mohammad (and not Jesus) is the final prophet and the seal of the
prophets.
At two specific points the Qur’an, and with it the
entire Islamic faith, breaks sharply with orthodox Christian belief regarding
Jesus. First according to the Qur’an, Jesus was not crucified; God only made it
appear thus to his enemies (4:157). Although the Qur’an speaks of an eventual
ascension of Jesus (echoing in Surah 4:158 the New Testament phrase that God
raised him up), the Qur’an is otherwise silent regarding the death Jesus
suffered.
The second, and by far the more important challenge,
is to the orthodox Christian doctrine of the Trinity, which Islam believes to
be in error. The Qur’an categorically rejects the notion that God has a Son,
along with what considers to be the Christian practice of saying that Jesus and
his mother, Mary, are equal to God. “Believe in God and His Apostles, and do
not call him ‘Trinity,” it strictly enjoins (4:171). Jesus was a man through
whom God chose to reveal the gospel. He never called upon others to worship
him, according to Surah 5. Muslims believe the statement that God is three is a
blasphemy that Jesus’ followers, the Christians, later introduced.
Had the revelations Muhammad received pertained only
to such doctrines concerning the nature of Jesus and his relation to God, Islam
might have been perceived to be simply a new Christian party. Through the ages
many Christian theologians have in fact regarded Islam in this way, seeing it
essentially as a Christian heresy. From the Qur’an itself, however, it is clear
that Muhammad and the Muslim community understood themselves to be
institutionally distinct from Christianity.
The basic tenets of Islam practice, often called the
five pillars of Islam, were instituted early in Medina. To this day Muslims
observe these five fundamental exercises of their faith. They recite the Shahada,
or witness that there is no God, but God and that Muhammad is his messenger (“ashadu al-la ilaha illa-llahu wa ashadu anna
Muhammadan rasulu-Alla”). This is the most important pillar and a
foundation for all other beliefs and practices in Islam.
The second is Salat
(prayer). This is offered five times a day (similar to the monastic Christian
tradition of prayer being offered seven times each day).
The third
pillar is the Zakat, (alms-giving). Muslims give alms to the poor, and the
miserable; to stranded travelers and for sustenance of new converts; to the one
who collects the Zakat and for the spread of Islam.
This amounts to
around 3 per cent of their annual income. The fourth pillar entails fasting (Sawm) from sunrise to sunset during the
month of Ramadan each year. Muslims are called to abstain from eating, drinking
and sexual intercourse in order to encourage a feeling of nearness to God by
expressing their gratitude for and dependence on Allah, atone for their past sins and think of the needy.
This is an exercise that again is similar to the
Christian fast of Lent. The fifth pillar is the Hajj. This is the
pilgrimage during the Islamic month of Dhu
al-Hijjah in the city of Mecca. If possible, every Muslim is required to
make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his or her lifetime. Rituals of the
Hajj include walking seven times around the kaaba, touching the black stone,
running seven times between mount Safa and mount Marwah, and symbolically
stoning the devil in Mina. Moreover, the pilgrim (Haji) is honored in his/her
community. This is another means of gaining social status.[15]
Moreover,
there are also three additional practices essential to Islam. The first one is Jihad.
This is striving in the way of God. It is exerting one’s utmost power, efforts,
endeavors, or ability in contending with an object of disapprobation, depending
on the object being a visible enemy, the devil, and aspects of one’s own self.
This is used in general term (s. 2:190).
The
second is Amr-Bil Ma’rufu. This is the enjoining to do good which calls
for every Muslim to live a virtuous life and to encourage others to do the
same. The third one is Nahi-Anil-Munkar. This is the
exhortation to resist from evil. It tells Muslims to refrain from vice and from
evil actions and also to encourage others to do the same.
Even though these pillars resemble the Christian
practices (especially those of monasticism) on many fronts, the differences are
enough to make clear to the followers that they were not simply a branch of
Christianity.
Apart
from the Qur’an, Muslims also draw their teaching from Hadith. These are oral
traditions relating to the words and deeds of the prophet. They are regarded as
important tools for determining the Sunnah
(Muslim way of life). The hadith can be divided into three categories based on
their content: A statement of the prophet; an action of the prophet; the
prophet’s affirmation of an action done by someone other than him.
The Effects of Islam on
the Church
Islam
brought a lot of effects into Christianity. It should be noted that when
Mohamed fled to Yathrib (Medina), formed a military campaign both for religious
and political purposes. A military force was organized from among the people of
Medina to extend and defend the Muslim religion, laying the initial foundations
of a new monotheistic political state.
In
the case of the Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians, the Prophet was told not to
seek to exterminate their religion and communities. These three faiths were
monotheistic and were founded upon earlier revelations of divine scriptures.
Despite the distortions that had been introduced into each religion, according
to Surah 5:69, their members will be spared on judgment day.
Believers
from among the other monotheistic religions were invited to convert to Islam,
but Muslims were not to compel them in the same way as the idolaters.
Christians and Jews who chose not to join the Muslim movement were eventually
granted limited legal status within the Islamic state as dhimmi (“protected people”). Their members continued to be
encouraged to convert to Islam, while being strictly forbidden to try to
convert anybody among Muslims.
Due
to these limitations, many Christians joined Islamic religion for different
reasons which include political, economic, social, and philosophical as well as
spiritual. This was evident especially under the expansion of Islamic states
through conquering non-Islamic states. This started with Muhammad himself when
he conquered Mecca and continued by his successors (Caliphs) and followers.
According to Ruqaiyyah Maqsood, “The formula was ‘Islam, tribute, or the
sword’, the sword being reserved for those who refused to cooperate and pay the
appropriate taxes. Those who did convert to Islam lived tax-free.”[16]
From
this motto you can see the tribulations upon which almost half of the Christian
world underwent. This was a great setback to Christianity as it lost its
territories and many Christians gave in to Islam. Moreover, “The dhimmis as
non-Muslim subjects of a state were governed in accordance with a sharia law.
The term connotes an obligation of the state to protect the individual,
including the individual’s life, property, and freedom of religion and worship
in exchange for subservience and loyalty to the Muslim order.
The
dhimmis were forbidden to bear arms. They were refrained from mounting on
saddles. They had to wear clothes with special emblems and rise in the presence
of Muslims. They were also not allowed to display non-Muslim religious symbols
such as crosses and icons on buildings or on clothing. A dhimmi man was not
allowed to marry a Muslim woman, and the punishment was death.
When
a non-Muslim wife is converted to Islam while a non-Muslim husband is not,
their marriage is annulled. The dhimmis were also barred from government and
responsible administrative offices for fear of treason and treachery. Moreover,
the Dhimmi communities were subjected to the payment of taxes in favour of
Muslims. Surah 9: 29 stipulates that jizya be exacted from non-Muslims as a
condition required for Jihad to cease. Failure to pay the Jizya could result in
the pledge of protection of a dhimmi’s life and property becoming void, with
the dhimmi facing the alternatives of conversion, enslavement, imprisonment, or
death.”[17]
With all these kind of humiliations, segregations, and torture, it becomes
clear why many non-Muslims especially the Christians gave in to Islamic
religion.
Conclusion
We
have seen how Islam was influenced by Christianity and how it came to affect
Christianity to the point of creating enmity and even engaging in warfare
against each other. The Jihad (for Moslems) and the Crusades (for Christians)
are the result of this enmity. What is initially considered to be the religion
of peace (from the term Islam as seen above) becomes the religion of the sword.
Hence, hatred and enmity among Muslim and non-Muslim communities is inevitable
under the name of true religion.
However, history tells us that the use of violence cannot
solve the problems. What is needed is dialogue between parties to discuss and
understand their differences in search
for the proper and enduring peace among the parties. Thanks to the Catholic
Church for promoting this dialogue to strengthen a healthy relationship between
the Christians and Muslims.
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ADAMS, C. J., “Islam”,
in The World Book Encyclopedia, Chicago:
Field Enterprises Educational
Corporation, 1973.
DHARMARAJ, G. E. – DHARMARAJ, J. S., Christianity and Islam: A
Missiological Encounter,
Delhi: The Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1999.
EL-FALAH., Islam
At a Glance, Cairo: El-Falah foundation, 1997.
JOMIER,
J., How to Understand Islam, London:
SCM Press Ltd., 1989.
MAQSOOD,
R., Islam, Chicago: NTC/ Contemporary
Publishing Company, 2004.
MVUMBI,
F. N., The
Journey into Islam: An Attempt to Awaken Christians in Africa,
Nairobi: The Catholic university of
Eastern Africa Publications, 2006.
ROBINSON, N., Islam: A Conscience Introduction, Washington D.C: Georgetown
University Press, 1999.
VERHOEVEN,
F. R. J., Islam: Its Origin and Spread in
Words, Maps and Pictures, New York: St.
Martin’s Press, 1962.
The Koran,
Trans. DAWOOD, N. J., Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd., 1959.
