Islam Explained for Christians

How well do you know your neighbour’s faith? Well enough to discuss both your and their beliefs, comparing similarities and differences? Well enough to know the way their beliefs shape how they see the world? Can you identify how those same beliefs shape their daily lives and habits? I imagine most of us are aware our beliefs are different, but we are content with small talk about the weather or our busy week. Added to this, religion is a volatile topic. This is especially true when it comes to Islam.

Why? There are many presumptions and fears surrounding Islam. It feels as if one is walking on eggshells when engaged in conversations about it. The search for understanding and truth often results in controversy. Therefore dialogue with Muslims is daunting and complex.

This book is a compassionate response to Muslims, based on reliable evidence about their beliefs.

 

Enter John Azumah’s book, My Neighbour’s Faith: Islam Explained for Christians. Throughout this work, Azumah seeks to provide understanding about Islam, in the face of Western censorship and cancel culture society, particularly in the African context. He shows that Islam isn’t a detached religious institution, as many think or experience it. Rather, Islam is made up of people. Azumah gives Islam a human face: an aunt or uncle in the family; your neighbour across the street; a vendor selling bunny chows; friends at university; work colleagues; or the friendly mom at school.

Islam is Full of People Like You and Me

Though the book is scholarly, it is easy to follow, making it suitable for all types of readers. As a scholar himself, Azumah offers a faithful, detailed glimpse into Islam based on empirical, historical, and cultural evidence. Throughout his book he backs this up with reliable sources while providing commentary on the Muslim faith. Standing behind his careful and scholarly commentary is the primary intent of Azumah’s book: a compassionate response to Muslim communities, based on reliable evidence about their beliefs.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE GOSPEL COALITION

Islam And Judaism: Choosing To Be Chosen And Plural Relationships – OpEd

A major misunderstanding of the Biblical concept of God choosing a people or a prophet is caused by the use of the word ‘the’ chosen when a better translation would be ‘a’ chosen prophet or people. Relationships are always unique and exclusive, but just as a parent can and should have a loving relationship with several different children; God can and does have unique and exclusive relationships with many different prophets and many different religious communities. 

As a well known Hadith says, “Prophets are paternal brothers (sons of one father by co-wives). Their mothers (mother tongue, motherland etc.) are different but their religion (from the one and only God) is one.” (Bukhari Vol. 4: Book 55  #651 and Muslim Book 30: #5834-6). 

According to the Bible the relationship between God and Israel is similar to a marital partnership, as can be seen from the following Biblical verses. 

God proposes a marriage covenant at Sinai.

God said to Moses “Speak thus to the house of Jacob, and tell this to the children of Israel… Now if you listen to me and keep my covenant, then you will be my special possession out of all the peoples, for the whole earth is mine. You will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation. These words you shall speak to the people of Israel” (this is the proposal) 

“Moses came and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all these proposals as God had commanded him. All the people answered together, “All that God has proposed, we will do. (the acceptance, like “I do” at a wedding). Moses brought this answer back to the Lord.” (Exodus 19:5-8)  

Why the Jews?  Because God loved their ancestors. 

“The Lord cared for your ancestors, loving them and chose their descendants after them from all nations, as you are this day.” (Deuteronomy 10:15) “I will fulfill my covenant between myself and you (Abraham) and your descendants after you, generation after generation, an everlasting covenant, to be your God, yours and your descendants after you.”  (Genesis 17:7)”All the families of the earth shall be blessed through you (Jacob) and your descendants.” (Genesis 28:14)

FULL ARTICLE FROM EUROASIA REVIEW

Modern Islam and the West

Khurram Hussain, associate professor of religion studies, takes a human-centered approach to reimagine where modern Islam belongs in the West. 

According to Gallup, 52% of Americans agree the West does not respect Muslim societies, and studies show negative public opinion of Muslims continues to increase in the United States. Can Islam be compatible with the West? Are we paying attention to the fundamental humanity that people share? These are questions that prompted Khurram Hussain, associate professor of religion studies and director of Lehigh’s Humanities Center, to write The Muslim Speaks, published by Zed Books. 

Hussain takes a human-centered approach in his research and finds modern Islam and the West intertwined in more ways than one. With nearly 2 billion Muslims in the world with different experiences and views, Hussain sees Islam as an integral extension of the West and not an isolated identity or concern. 

An interdisciplinary background, Hussain’s research involves subjects and scholars from areas such as religion studies, international relations, philosophy and sociology. 

History has shown that sharing different cultural, ethical and philosophical perspectives is how the modern world started, and the movement of the modern mind comes from a certain kind of curiosity, says Hussain. In this work, he expands on the importance of recognizing the way humans change and evolve, and not reducing society to a stagnant, “perfect culture.” 

Identifying the way the West talks about Islam through themes of freedom talk, culture talk, and reason talk, Hussain makes an appeal to “let the Muslim speak,” and listen to different perspectives, with the goal of generating new ideas. 

The point isn’t to support or reject Islam, says Hussain, but to build community between Muslims and the West. Hussain stresses the importance of figuring out the parameters of our common existence–something that is easier said than done, he adds. 

FULL ARTICLE FROM LEHIGH UNIVERSITY BLOG

What Pope Benedict got wrong about Islam

(RNS) — In a barbed valedictory, my colleague Tom Reese portrays the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as the quintessential German professor, a brilliant theologian “who was not interested in listening to people who had other views.” I couldn’t agree more, and, as Reese points out, few episodes from his papacy show that better than the controversy Benedict stirred up by taking a swipe at Islam in the lecture he gave on faith and reason at the University of Regensburg in 2006.

What follows is an updated version of a look I took then at how Benedict stepped wrong.

It is hard to resist seeing the commotion stirred up by Pope Benedict XVI’s speech as an example of the perils of putting professors in positions of power. The temptation to value provocation over discretion, to wing it on subjects outside your proper ken, to show that you’re the smartest guy in the room — these would appear to have gotten the better of a pontiff returning to the academic podium where, 35 years earlier, he discoursed on theology to all comers.

What got Benedict into trouble was his quotation of a nasty put-down of Islam by the learned Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus, delivered in a debate with a Persian professor on the relative merits of Christianity and Islam near the end of the 14th century. But even before trotting out the quote, the pope took aim at the principal proof text used today to claim Islam is committed to religious tolerance.

Manuel, Benedict mused, must have known the Koranic verse (Sura 2.256) that proclaims, “There must be no compulsion in religion.” Explained the pope, “According to the experts, this is one of the suras of the early period, when Muhammad was still powerless and under threat.”

Snap!

Actually, the pope’s own expert begged to disagree. “The consensus of scholars, both Muslim and non-Muslim, is that Sura 2 is from the Medinah period, when Muhammad had increasing political power,” said Kevin Madigan, S.J., president of the Institute for the Study of Religions and Cultures at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, in an interview with “Commonweal Magazine.” 

FULL ARTICLE FROM RELIGION NEWS

Staring at the heavens: Astronomy in medieval Islam

What lies beyond what is known? Who is responsible for the majesty of the stars? Since the revelation of Islam, the night sky has offered philosophers and theologians alike a window into understanding God, heaven, and our unique journey to salvation.

Social media users rarely if ever agree on anything.

As an active Twitter poster, I can testify first-hand that cyberspace is, most of the time, a cesspit of interminable disagreements and vexatious quarrelling.

Every now and then, however, users find common ground, a happening that brings them together, at least temporarily. The most recent unifier came after NASA published the first images of the James Webb Telescope.

Everyone was taken aback by the never seen before and breathtakingly beautiful photographs of deep space.

“To the medieval Muslim astronomers and scientists, the heavens provided a heady language of admiration and thoughtful reflection. Numerous verses in the Quran, the earliest surviving text from early Islam, instruct believers to ponder over the signs of God scattered all over the heavens”

Few today would disagree that there is something mystifying and humbling about the heavens and the starry night sky.

Like us, our ancient predecessors found much delight in their nocturnal sky gazing. But for ancient religionists and scientists, there was more to it than sheer curiosity and admiration.

NGC 3324 in the Carina nebula [photo credit: Nasa/Getty Images]

To stare at the heavens was to communicate with the gods and reach into the realm of metaphysics. The practice belonged to astrology and good-natured magic.

We are told as much in the ancient Greek novel Aethiopica by Heliodorus. When the Egyptian priest admonishes the young Theagenes, he informs him that to study the heavens is to tread the path of wisdom and honesty:

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE NEW ARAB (UK)

There is no one Islamic interpretation on ethics of abortion, but the belief in God’s mercy and compassion is a crucial part of any consideration

As a scholar of Islamic ethics, I’m often asked, “What does Islam say about abortion?” – a question that has become even more salient since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed 50 years of constitutional protection for the right to get an abortion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling on June 24, 2022.

This question really needs to be reframed, because it implies a singular view. Islam isn’t monolithic, and there is no single Islamic attitude about abortion. The answer to the question depends on what kinds of Islamic sources, scriptural, legal or ethical, are applied to this contemporary issue by people of varying levels of authority, expertise or religious observance.

Muslims have had a long-standing, rich relationship with science, and specifically, the practice of medicine. This has yielded multiple interpretations of right and wrong when it comes to the body, including ideas about and practices surrounding pregnancy.

Islamic frameworks for thinking about abortion

The typical framing of the question of whether abortion ought to be legal hinges upon American Christian debates about when life begins. Muslims who get abortions don’t always ask “when does life begin?” to ascertain Islamic positions on the matter. Rather, as my research in the Abortion and Religion project and forthcoming book “Women as Humans” has found, Muslims who get abortions generally consider under what circumstances abortion would be permitted in the Islamic tradition.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE CONVERSATION

The centrality of the Muslim world to Shakespeare’s work

Ignored for centuries, the presence of Muslims are prominent in the oeuvre of one of Britain’s most quintessential figures.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616), England’s most famous playwright and symbol of Britishness, was closely connected to the Islamic world through his extensive body of beloved work.

“Without Islam, there would be no Shakespeare,” Mathew Dimmock, Professor of Early Modern Studies (English) at the University of Sussex, matter-of-factly states.

“Without Tudor and Jacobean England’s rich and complex engagement with Islamic cultures, the plays written by William Shakespeare would be very different, if they existed at all,” Dimmock told TRT World.

Due to Queen Elizabeth I’s political and trade alliances with the Muslim world, in particular the Ottoman Empire and the Moroccan Kingdom, the influence of Muslim culture on England was immense and this penetrated into literature and theatre.

FULL ARTICLE FROM TRT WORLD

Why a Presbyterian Elder Defended Muslims Building a Mosque in Middle Tennessee

Eric Treene has gone to court to defend Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims, and people from other minority faiths for more than 25 years. If you ask him why, he points to the Bible and the Westminster Confession. Treene, an elder in the Presbyterian Church in America, is motivated by his faith to defend religious freedom—especially the freedom of those he disagrees with.

Treene was a lawyer for Becket and then, for nearly 20 years, special counsel for religious discrimination in the civil rights division of the United States Department of Justice. He developed and oversaw the enforcement program for the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). Since leaving the federal government, Treene has taught the First Amendment at Reformed Theological Seminary and Catholic University and continues to litigate discrimination cases as a senior partner at Storzer and Associates in Washington, DC. This spring, Treene was honored by the Freedom Forum as a “champion of free expression.”

He spoke to CT about the problem of religious discrimination in America and why it’s so important that Christians advocate for religious freedom.

You’ve spent a lot of your career defending religious land use. Why do government officials in America today oppose religious land use?

Usually it’s because they’re zeroed in on developing commerce. A lot of what you see is the demands of the marketplace steamrolling religion.

One of my early cases, for example, was a church that had very carefully gathered several plots of land at a key intersection, but the town wanted Costco to have that spot. The town tried to use eminent domain to seize the property to build a Costco.

Is it because they hate churches? No. Again and again, what we see is discrimination against places of worship not so much out of animus but because they would rather have a commercial property that’s generating tax revenue.

There’s a very powerful economic engine in our society that often trivializes faith. The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) is one way churches can push back against that.

FULL ARTICLE FROM CHRISTIANITY TODAY

How a Book on Islam Strengthened my Catholic Faith

I do not pretend to be as devout a Catholic as I should be. Too often, I am not even a particularly good one. Nonetheless, I am and was raised a Catholic, so I tend to view nearly every theological topic through a Catholic lens. David Pinault’s The Crucifix on Mecca’s Front Porch gave me the chance to do exactly that. 

I have long been curious about Islam, and The Crucifix on Mecca’s Front Porch provides a Christian – and particularly a Catholic – guide to understanding Islam. Though not impartial, Pinault draws on his own extensive experience to provide an expertly researched and respectful analysis of the theological differences between Islam and Christianity, with particular focus on the two religions’ competing conceptions of the nature of Jesus Christ. The book is simultaneously detailed and readable, and Pinault ably emphasizes the need for Christians and Muslims to learn from one another even as he is careful not to minimize the significant differences between the two faiths.

Pinault, a longtime professor of religious studies at Santa Clara University, has a lifetime of experience researching “comparative Christology and the status of Christian populations in Muslim-majority societies.” He has conducted extensive fieldwork in Egypt, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Yemen, among other places. Pinault’s comparative study of Islam starts with the life of Muhammad, and concludes by addressing contentious contemporary issues such as increasing Muslim migration into Western countries and the rise of Islamic extremist terrorism. 

Pinault draws on his own extensive experience to provide an expertly researched and respectful analysis of the theological differences between Islam and Christianity.

Straightforward about his own status as a Catholic Christian, Pinault critically examines pre-Islamic Arabia, the Koran, the life of Muhammad, the development of Islamic thought, Shia-Sunni relations, and more. Pinault draws from various Islamic primary sources translated from the original Arabic, Persian, or Urdu, many of which he translated himself. He compares and contrasts these materials with excerpts from the Bible and other Christian texts, examples from the life and works of Jesus Christ, and even primary sources written in Latin by Christian crusaders. 

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE MICHIGAN REVIEW

An immigrant Muslim finds his model of empowerment in Black American Islam

One in a new series of interviews with contemporary faith-based leaders reinventing American faith.

(RNS) — Rami Nashashibi, who founded the Inner-City Muslim Action Network on Chicago’s South Side 25 years ago, is a community builder, a teacher and a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” award. Georgetown University has called him one of the world’s 500 most-influential Muslims.

What he is not is an imam. He is part of a rising generation of lay leaders blending ancient tradition with modern activism to mobilize their faith communities. Leaders such as Nashashibi are not replacing traditional institutions or houses of worship, but they bring an immediacy to their faith-based work that is re-energizing American religion. 

Born in Jordan to Palestinian parents, Nashashibi founded IMAN in 1997 with his friend Abdul-Malik Ryan, a lawyer and Muslim convert, in Chicago Lawn, a traditionally Black neighborhood that was rapidly becoming a hub for Arab Americans. The two had the goal of providing a place where first-, second- and third-generation Muslim Americans, converts and non-Muslims would all feel included.

FULL ARTICLE FROM RELIGION NEWS SERVICE