King: The ties that bind Christians, Muslims and Jews
BILL KIN, Houston Chronicle Copyright 2011 Houston Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
By BILL KING
Updated 08:33 p.m., Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Page 1 of 1
When the Sept. 11 attacks occurred, I knew exactly two Muslims. Both worked for me, and both were two of the most dedicated, kind and considerate people I knew. One was highly observant and the other not so much. What I knew of them stood in stark contrast to the images I saw of the Arab Street rejoicing at the deaths of nearly 3,000 innocent people.
That contradiction convinced me that there was something going on in Islam that I did not understand. My puzzlement over the issue ultimately led me to become active in the interfaith movement. There are many organizations involved in interfaith initiatives, but their principal goal is to promote dialogue between the various faith traditions in the hope that this contact will engender mutual respect, understanding and tolerance.
In the process, I have come to know thousands of Muslims. While I certainly do not claim to be an expert or even a serious student of Islam, I have learned that many of the impressions Americans have about Islam are wrong.
First, while many Americans see Islam as a monolithic global force, it is actually highly fragmented, with countless sects. It is also ripped with schisms, some ferociously bitter, that date to its origins. For example, the first priority of al-Qaida, which claims adherence to the Sunni tradition, is to kill all of the Shia Muslims, then get around to the Christians and Jews.
Also, Islam has been interpreted through the lenses of the various nationalities and cultures into which it has spread. In some cases, it is almost impossible to tell that the various traditions within Islam are even the same religion. For example, the comparison of the radical Wahhabi sect that grew out of the Saudi peninsula to the mystical, pacifist Sufi tradition predominantly founded in Turkey could not be starker.
The second aspect of Islam missed by most Americans is the remarkable number of beliefs that Muslims hold in common with Christians and Jews. Of course, all three religions claim Abraham as the father of their faiths. But I suspect that most Americans would be surprised to learn that much of the story of Jesus' life is told in the Quran and that he is held in a very special place of respect and esteem by most Muslims. Observant Muslims safford Jesus the same respect shown to Mohammed by reciting the phrase "may peace be upon him" any time his name is mentioned. Most Muslims believe in the virgin birth of Jesus and that his second coming will mark the end of the Earth as we know it.
A couple of years ago, I visited a shrine in Turkey that is reputed to be where Jesus' mother, Mary, is buried. There is a wall where people place prayers written on small scraps of paper, asking for Mary's intercession. There were long lines of both Christians and Muslims waiting to pay their respects and place their prayers on Mary's wall.
Americans also tend to vastly overestimate the number of Muslims who are sympathetic to extremists claiming the mantle of Islam. Polling consistently shows that Muslims, and especially Muslim-Americans, reject the more extreme expressions of Islam. The truth is that the terrorists who claim adherence to Islam are no more representative of Islam than Irish Catholic and Protestant terrorists were representative of Christianity.
The truth of this was most poignantly made by the life of Cpl. Kareem Khan. Khan grew up in New Jersey and was in high school when the World Trade Center was attacked. As soon as he was old enough, he volunteered for the Army to prove that not all Muslims were terrorists and that there were Muslim-Americans willing to sacrifice their lives for America. He made that ultimate sacrifice on Aug. 27, 2007, when he was killed in a roadside blast in Iraq. He was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
When I make this point to friends not acquainted with many Muslims, I am frequently asked why more moderate Muslims do not speak out against the terrorists and violence. The answer is that they have and they do. Muslim groups have taken out full-page ads in newspapers condemning extremism. They have started websites, such as www.acommonword.com, devoted to promoting relations between Muslims and other faiths.
Unfortunately, however, people speaking out for moderation and tolerance are not fodder for the 24-hour cable news cycle. But put 20 kooks in Central Park with a sign that says all Christians should be beheaded and every cable news network in the country will carry it as breaking news. Fox will have a two-hour special.
Like so many other areas of our civic discourse, we want easy answers to the riddle that is Islam. Unfortunately, the answers are not easy. There is no question that Muslims, and even Muslim-Americans, see the world and this country differently than those of us who have not shared that tradition. But to lump all Muslims into a one-size-fits-all caricature is fallacious and in the end serves the interests of the extremists.
It is also true that Islam is in a great state of flux and evolution at this moment in history. Next week, we will look at some of the things happening inside Islam, especially as it relates to the Arab Spring. I think you may be quite surprised.
King is a frequent contributor to Outlook. His email address is BKing@weking.net.
المشاركات
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق