What Americans Misunderstand About Islam

Another resource for you, re: Islam.

Reading the Quran Through Christian Eyes

As a contrast to the Al-Queda reader and the discussion in class about lack of understanding of Islam, I thought I would share my notes from a lecture I attended last semester by Fr. Michel. His lecture was entitled "Reading the Quran Through Christian Eyes". I hope this can be helpful to other members of the class in providing a different perspective on the Quran, a perspective that is not often portrayed in the media today. I know it's a super long post, but I hope you find it useful!

Fr. Michel began by first asking the audience, “Why would a Christian read the Quran?” He gave two reasons why a Christian would be interested in reading the Quran. The first reason he gave is that God uses the scriptures of other religions to deepen their followers’ relationship with God. The second reason is that scriptures of other religions have elements of grace and goodness. Therefore we, as Christians, can read the Quran and have a pleasant spiritual and learning experience. Fr. Michel quoted Pope John Paul II who in 1998 said “Every quest of the human spirit for truth and goodness, and in the last analysis for God, is inspired by the Holy Spirit.” The most characteristic expression of our quest for God is prayer.

Fr. Michel laid out some important guidelines for speaking about other religions that are not our own. The first guideline is that a statement must be recognizable to those who follow that religion. Secondly, it must agree with our own experience and observations of the other, meaning those who are members of the religion must have experienced and observed the statement as well. Finally, it must hold up to scientific scrutiny. All of these criteria must be met in order to make a statement about the religion of another individual.

Fr. Michel gave some background and history of the Quran. The Quran was revealed to Muhammad by God around 610-632 CE. This is considered to be a final, complete, and perfect revelation. Many Muslims strive to memorize the Quran because it is believed to be God’s own word. The meaning of the word Quran is “recitation of God’s revealed word.” The Quran is God’s book: by, about, and leading to God. God is, rules, creates, sends, guides, ordains, has mercy and judges. According to Muslims, God does all those things and so much more. It is difficult to compare the Bible to the Quran because the Bible deals with how God is involved in our everyday life.

There are two aspects to the central teachings of the Quran, theological and ethical. The theological message of the Quran is that there is one God alone, there are no rivals to God, no Arab deities, and no “perennial” rivals, like wealth, power, beauty, etc. The ethical teaching of the Quran is that there is a moral will for all of humankind. The Quran is a book of praise, praise for God in His many names and praise for all of His creation. God is described as merciful and compassionate. There are three key characteristics of God as explained in the Quran. The first key characteristic is that God is the creator and we need to glorify His creation. The second characteristic is God as a teacher and we need to learn His lessons. The final characteristic is God as a commander and we need to obey His commands.

Fr. Michel addressed the questions “What kind of Muslim does the Quran try to form? And what is true righteousness for Muslims?” Muslims are identified by their ritual obligations of prayer. Some other qualities that are key to being a Muslim are believing in God’s teachings, assisting those in need, undertaking the obligation to worship God, and finally, being trustworthy, patient and God-fearing.

Fr. Michel closed by giving examples of the Quran as a teacher and also as a reminder. The Quran has many stories about God’s creation and these are full of signs of God’s glory, but most people do not notice these signs. The stories in the Quran about the glory of God’s creation are to teach us to notice the glory of creation. The Quran as a reminder suggest that sin arises from thoughtlessness or forgetfulness rather than willful obstinacy. This connects with the Muslim requirement to pray five times a day. This requirement to pray serves as a reminder of commitment to God.

Terms for the Exam

Hey guys! I just wanted to discuss some of the terms from our notes and readings to brainstorm about what we might have to know for the exam. Here's what I've come up with so far:

phantom war: idea presented by Susan Sontag, which defines a war that is not focused on attacking a particular nation-state with a questionable enemy; question of when this type of war comes to an end

grief: emotion marked by personal sadness, reflection, and disbelief--think Bruce Springsteen songs

grievance: emotion marked by anger, action, need for compensation and vengeance--think Toby Keith song

alabanza: praise

"found" poetry: form of poetry that includes real quotes from real people

Muslim ummah: the worldwide community of Muslims; includes all Muslims, even the ones living in America

I'll still be searching through the text and the notes to try and find some other terms that may appear on the exam. I hope you guys can help me out as well.

Happy studying!

Islam at Face Value: Violent or Not?

Before I begin my post, I want to make it clear that I am not nearly as informed as I would like to be about the Islam religion and the basis for Muslim beliefs. With that being said, I will only use the textual support provided in "The Al-Qaeda Reader" to pose my questions about Islamism.

The parts that struck me most about “The Al-Qaeda Reader”—aside from the obviously controversial messages straight from the mind of Bin Laden—were the excerpts from the Qur’an that seemed to encourage violence similar to those tactics present in the 9/11 attacks. When we first discussed radical Islamism, I was convinced that the members of al-Qaeda found violent messages in the Qur’an due to their own unfounded interpretation. However, some of the quotes provided in the Qur’an seemed pretty straightforward and certainly did appear to promote violence. As a reference, here are some of the quotes that I found particularly discomforting: 

“You have a good example in Abraham and those who followed him, for they said to their people, “We disown you and the idols which you worship besides Allah. We renounce you: enmity and hate shall reign between us until you believe in Allah alone” (60:4)

“Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever you find them—seize them, besiege them, and be ready to ambush them” (9:5)

“Fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and all religion belongs to Allah” (8:39)

Although I believe that the passages speak for themselves, I will elaborate to provide some more clarity to my point. The first passage includes messages of “enmity and hate” and threatens that those emotions will not die “until you believe in Allah alone.” This part stood out to me because I feel Bin Laden’s message reiterates this mentality—he is willing to fight until we all believe in Allah. Additionally, the next two passages encourage readers to “seize” “besiege” “ambush” and “fight.” That message sounds very straightforward; fighting in the name of religion is not only accepted but encouraged.

I realize these passages may be taken out of context, so I’m cautious to make any general statement about Islam. However, I want to point out that I’m not so sure how radical the practice of radical Islamism truly is. While I know that each person will interpret a holy book in his or her own way, I find it easy to interpret these specific passages from the Qur’an as ones that encourage violence in the name of Allah. With that being said, are Bin Laden and the rest of al-Qaeda simply reading the Qur’an literally? And if that is the case, is Islam the problem?

Sorry for the length of the post! It usually takes a long explanation for me to get my thoughts straight.

Close Reading Al-Qaeda

Following the questions in the syllabus, and connecting this to our conversations about Al-Qaeda, start the conversation on the blog about the relevance of these messages. Are these communiques to be taken seriously, or, as Elshtain would have it, are they simply beside the point, the ravings of the evil or pathological? One thing you might do is to google some or even just one of these grievances, to see what you find online.

Revisiting Elshtain

Revisiting Elshtain’s writing, I was reminded of how bitter and angry her tone is. Even though this is supposed to be academic writing, as she herself, explains, I feel that it has too much personal anger and bias to be taken very seriously. This is ironic because she is arguing the fact that usual academic writing is too leftist, the exact opposite of her own.

I think she makes an interesting point with stating that to be an intellectual or an academic you must side with the dissenters of the overall public view.  This got me thinking of my political science classes and the tendency or characteristics of certain individuals and their political ideology. More often than not, further education tends to make people more liberal in their ideology. This is a fact I’ve learned since my government classes in high school. This in a way supports the idea that if you are an academic you tend to be more liberal.

For Elshtain, as an academic who sides with the right she feels out of the ordinary. However she uses the same tactics that she condemns her leftist intellectuals for using. She is very general in the way she explains that the Afghani people want Americans there. It would have made her article much more credible had she used direct quotes or numerical survey figures. She dated the article in her writing in 2002. I wonder if her tone or argument has changed ten years later? I bet should would not be as vindictive and come to a more middle level ground, using both logical and emotional appeals.

Female songwriters on 9/11

I'm not sure why we did not pick any songs written by female songwriters for discussion in the class.  There are some beautiful songs out there.  I have posted two below.