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Islam, Holy War, and the Possibility of Rapprochement Chad Owen Brand

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Islam, Holy War, and the Possibility of Rapprochement Chad Owen Brand As Far as the East Is from the West: Islam, Holy War, and the Possibility of Rapprochement Chad Owen Brand Chad Owen Brand is Associate Pro- Introduction 622 (a date known as the Hijra, the Flight, fessor of Christian Theology at The Some religious traditions are extremely now the beginning of the Muslim calen- Southern Baptist Theological Seminary complex and defy attempts to dissect or dar), to the city of Medina, where he and at Boyce College. He is the author analyze them. Hinduism, for instance, is became the leader of the city and com- of numerous articles and reviews and extraordinarily convoluted, and the vari- manded a powerful army. After a series of has served as pastor or interim pastor ous schools and sects within that heritage battles against his enemies, Muhammed in a number of churches. Dr. Brand also seem virtually to be completely different successfully invaded Mecca in 630 and serves as an editor for the Holman religions. At its core, though, Islamic faith instituted his faith by mandate on the city. Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Broadman is fairly easy to grasp. This may be one Two years later he was dead, but the and Holman, 2003). of the reasons why it has had marked Islamic religion continued to flourish. success in expanding to cultures foreign to its roots, such as Indonesia and West Basic Beliefs Africa. We will briefly examine the histori- The Muslim faith is built on the Five cal foundations of Islam, its basic doc- Pillars of Doctrine and the Five Pillars of trines, and the duties required of its Practice. The five doctrinal pillars are belief devotees. From there we will attempt to in the prophets, in the Qur’an, in God, in determine the meaning of “holy war” in angels, and in salvation at the last day. the Islamic heritage, and attempt to decide Muslims affirm many prophets, but five whether conflict between Islam and West- are preeminent: Noah, Abraham, Moses, ern culture is inevitable and interminable. Jesus, and Muhammed. Of these, Abraham and Muhammed are the most important, Historical Foundations Muhammed himself being the crown of the Muhammed was born around A.D. 570 prophets. Jesus is important to Islam, but in Mecca. Orphaned at the age of six, he Muslims do not believe him to be the Son was raised by his uncle, Abu Talib. At the of God, since the Qur’an states that God age of twenty five, while working as a cara- has no son (Surah 19:35).1 Muhammed is van trader, Muhammed married a wealthy not worshiped, but devout Muslims con- widow named Khadija. In the year 610, he tend that one cannot be saved without began to receive what he interpreted to be affirming his role as Prophet. prophetic messages from God, brought to The Qur’an is the verbatim account of him, as he claimed, by the angel Gabriel. the “revelations” given to Muhammed by These messages were a call to a monothe- Gabriel. Muslims accord to their holy book istic faith in the one god, Allah, and a new extraordinary characteristics. Not only is theology based on this belief. it God’s greatest Word—it is also written Rejected by most Meccans, Muhammed in the language Allah himself speaks (Ara- fled with 150 followers on September 24, bic) and is an exact replica of part of a book 4 that can be found in heaven, known as the These biblical texts make the strong Mother of the Book. Since orthodox Muslim assertion that God is sovereign even in the scholars understand speech to be an actions of the wicked, but that is not the attribute of God, many of them believe the same thing as saying that all other agents Qur’an to be uncreated, a virtual attribute are passive and that God alone is active. of God himself.2 They thus actually per- Christians would contend that God does form an act of religious veneration that not directly cause humans to commit acts conservative Christians are sometimes of sin (James 1:13) and that God often pur- (wrongfully) accused of doing—the virtual sues his purposes in this world through worship of a book. While Muslims reject secondary causation.4 Islam asserts that any notion of an Incarnation of God as a Allah is the primary cause even of sin and human, many of them substitute for that a moral evil in the world.5 doctrine of Inlibration—God with us in a Furthermore, Allah has no interest in document. entering into a personal relationship with Islamic theology is radically committed humans, nor does he even have the ability to the oneness of Allah. Muhammed to do so, since his distance from the cre- worked out this doctrine in conscious ated world makes such an experience a distinction both to the polytheism of metaphysical impossibility.6 There is a vast traditional Arabic religion and to the difference between the Muslim god and trinitarianism of Christians. Allah’s domi- the God of the Bible, who is the God and nance over his world is striking in its Father of Jesus Christ. sweep, so that he causes all events by his direct actions. In the words of one Muslim Duty and Salvation in Islam scholar, “He is actually the only One who Though Allah is sovereign, he has cre- does anything. When a man writes, it is ated other powers to do his bidding. The Allah who has created in his mind the will Muslim universe is peopled by angels, to write. Allah . then brings about the archangels, Satan, and the Jinn, a race of motion of the hand and pen and the beings half-way between angels and men. appearance upon paper. All other things Humans are brought into this world in a are passive. Allah alone is active.”3 state of innocence. Of course, they will all Christians affirm the sovereignty of God eventually commit sins, yet what they over the affairs of men, and many Chris- need for salvation is not atonement, but tians would hold that nothing in history a reminder of their duty.7 Such duty is is ever completely outside the plan of spelled out in the Five Pillars of Practice, the God, for he uses even the sinful acts of way of salvation in Islam: the wicked to accomplish his will (Acts 2:22-23). 1. Repetition of the creed (the Shahada). La ilaha illa Allah; Muham- med rasul Allah. (“There is no God but The Lord works out everything for Allah; Muhammed is a messenger of his own ends—even the wicked for Allah.”) The mere utterance of this the day of disaster. creed makes one a devout Muslim, The Lord detests the proud in heart. and one should say it as often as Be sure of this: They will not go possible. unpunished (Prov 16:4-5). 2. Daily Prayer. Muslims are to pray five times a day, bowing in the direction of Mecca. 5 3. Almsgiving. Muslims share their cal patriarchs, our respective doctrines of possessions with the poor of the community. Begging is not dishon- God, of Scripture, of Jesus, and of salva- orable, since it is the will of Allah tion are miles apart. The burden of proof, that the beggar is poor in the first then, rests on those theologians who con- place. 4. Fasting. During Ramadan, Mus- tend that Christians and Muslims worship lims must fast all day. They may not the same God. I would say that we clearly eat, drink, smoke, or engage in sex do not. until night-fall. 5. Pilgrimage. At least once in life, devout Muslims must make a pil- Jihad, Crusades, and Militancy grimage to Mecca during the month After the death of Muhammed, the of Dhu al-Hajj. After the pilgrimage, they are known as Hajji. Caliphs who succeeded him spread their empire and their faith by conquest.11 There Keeping these five duties qualifies one is little doubt that they believed this to be for heaven, though one must also live a life the will of Allah, since the Qur’an gives worthy of Allah in order finally to be saved. numerous injunctions to take arms against Even many Muslims will be lost in the end, unbelievers. “Fight and slay the Pagans for they will not have lived a life sufficiently wherever ye find them” (Surah 9:5). “Fight devout to be pleasing to Allah. In the case those who believe not in God nor in the of the Muslim who fails to reach paradise, Last Day” (9:29). “When ye meet the his failure is not due to sin-not-atoned-for, Unbelievers (in fight) smite at their necks” but to his lack of dedication to his faith.8 (47:4). In addition, Paradise is promised to We might well make a couple of obser- those who fight such wars: “I will blot out vations here about Islamic soteriology. from them their iniquities, and admit them First, pleasing Allah is clearly not an easy into Gardens with rivers flowing beneath” task, since he demands extreme levels of (3:195).12 devotion to duty. The faithful follower then Muhammed’s followers took such texts might well be driven to radical demonstra- literally.13 In rapid succession they con- tions of commitment in order to ensure that quered Babylon, Damascus, and Jerusalem. his god is pleased with him. Second, it also To the East, they conquered much of the seems clear that this is a religion with little Indus Valley and moved to the borders of sense of assurance given to anyone, with China.
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