By Bob Owen

Sometime following 9/11/01 Barbara Walters hosted a TV special which revealed that Saudi Arabian children in public middle schools, where religious education is mandatory, have been systematically taught that Jews and Christians should be viewed as enemies of Muslims. Writings of the prophet Mohammed are used to plant seeds of mistrust and hatred, even encouraging the killing of Jews. (Saleeb)

Some moderate Saudis, while recognizing their hatred of non-Muslims, have been struggling with the way in which the world has come to view them since the attack on the U.S. (MacFarquhar)

"We have to confront a lot of things that we thought were normal," said Khaled M. Batarfi, the managing editor of Al Madina, a daily newspaper pushing the limits of what can be published. "We have to examine the opinions that resulted in these bad actions and see if they are wrong, or people just took them out of context."

"Before Sept. 11, it was just an opinion, `I think we should hate the others,' " he said. "After Sept. 11, we found out ourselves that some of those thoughts brought actions that hurt us, that put all Muslims on trial."

Are we misjudging Islam by saying that its teachings promote hatred? When a talk show caller protested to Christian philosopher Ravi Zacharias that such an image was unfounded, Zacharais graciously referred to the counsel given by St. Augustine in the 300’s: Do not judge a religion by the abuses of its adherents; rather, judge it through a careful analysis of the essential teachings of that religion, its sacred writings. We all certainly know people who profess to be “Christians” who twist the image of what that means by either their beliefs or their behavior. We would not want such people to serve as the grounds for a judgement of Christianity. Likewise, Islam should be judged by what would be produced in a life that correctly interpreted and put into practice its sacred writings. Let us take a look at what the Koran teaches regarding the opponents of Islam.

Sura 3: about 79 – “Whoso desires another religion than Islam, it shall not be accepted of him; in the next world he shall be among the losers.”

Sura 4: about 91 – “Whom God leads astray, thou wilt not find for him a way. They wish that you disbelieve as they disbelieve, and then you would be equal; therefore take not to yourselves friends of them, until they emigrate in the way of God; then, if they turn their backs, take them, and slay them wherever you find them, take not to yourselves any one of them as friend or helper …”

Sura 4: about 102 – “And when you are journeying in the land there is no fault in you that you shorten your prayer, if you fear the unbelievers may afflict you; the unbelievers are for you a manifest foe.”

Sura 5: about 56 – “O believers, take not Jews and Christians as friends; they are friends of each other. Whoso of you makes them his friends is one of them.

Sura 8:65 – O Prophet, urge on the believers to fight. If there be twenty of you, patient men, they will overcome two hundred; if there be a hundred of you, they will overcome a thousand unbelievers, for they are a people who understand not.”

Sura 9:29 – “Fight those who believe not in God and the Last Day and do not forbid what God and His Messenger have forbidden – such men as practice not the religion of truth … until they pay the tribute out of hand and have been humbled.”

Sura 9: 125 – “O believers, fight the unbelievers who are near to you, and let them find in you a harshness; and know that God is with the godfearing.”

Sura 47: 4-5 – “When you meet the unbelievers, smite their necks, then, when you have made wide slaughter among them, tie fast the bonds; then set them free, either by grace or ransom, till the war lays down its loads.

Abdul Saleeb, a former Muslim who has become a Christian, now lives in the U.S. ministering to Muslims. In his radio interview with R.C. Sproul he cited the collection of what Mohammed taught according to Islamic traditions. They serve as a major influence in educating Muslims. One example: instructions for night raids on “pagans” orders sparing only those who are willing to say, “None has the right to be worshipped other than Allah.” (Do not confuse this as a call to submit to the God of the Bible. Comparing Biblical doctrine to that of the Koran will clearly show that “Allah” is not the same as the God of the Bible. The Koran explicitly labels essential Biblical doctrines about God as heretical and damning for its advocates.) The women and children can be killed as long as it is not a deliberate act.

Aleesha Khan is an American who met and married her Muslim husband, a professed atheist, while a college student in the USA. She went to Bangladesh to live with his family. Considering herself to be a Christian, she apparently had no intention of forsaking that adherence. That very liberal Muslim family accepted her with her Christian background and made no attempt to evangelize her. However, a fanatical Islamic element in the community became a very real threat to her well-being. The family tried to shelter her so the radicals would not know her presence in their home. Eventually Ms. Khan’s fear drove her to desert her husband and return to the USA and eventually to divorce. Since then she has come to know the Christ whom she formerly had only heard about. Her article about the Islam she saw first-hand is quite revealing.

Islam is very fragmented; there are sects within sects. Ms. Khan chose to write about 2 within the Sunni division. Deobandism took refuge in Pakistan after 1947 where their interpretation of Islamic law was coupled with Pashtun tribal customs. They started schools called madrasahs, monastery like institutions that cultivated many men who became leaders in the Taliban government that ascended to rule in Afghanistan, while others ended up in the training camps of Osama bin Laden to become part of the Al Qaeda. The first of the schools once ordered their entire student body to fight with the Taliban in that country.

The madrasahs were a magnet for boys from poor families because they provided free food and education, and the potential for climbing upward in society. With students ranging from 9 years old to 35, the largest of the schools had a population of about 3000. Education focused on learning by rote memory the Koran in Arabic.

It is not a coincidence that the boys educated at these schools harbor an abhorrent attitude toward women. Consider Sura 4:38:

Men are the managers of the affairs of women … Righteous women are therefore obedient … And those you fear may be rebellious admonish; banish them to their couches, and beat them. If they then obey you, look not for any way against them …

The training motivated responding from fear rather than love or trust. Fear of common enemies served to unify them. They were taught that their paramount enemies were Israel and the USA. (Khan)

In Saudi Arabia the Muslim division that dominates the country is Wahhabism; controlling not only religion, but also law and education. Khan describes it as “a violently puritanical version of Islam” that was imported into the country in the 1700’s. This was the form of Islam that the Taliban imposed in Afghanistan, which should not surprise us since Osama bin Laden is a native of Saudi Arabia.

MacFarquhar in his article on the public questioning of Islam intolerance of outsiders, cited Wahhabi influence in Saudi Arabia today:

After scores of Saudi religious scholars and academics issued a manifesto this spring suggesting that Muslims might find common ground with the West, they were subjected to withering rebuke by those who accept the Wahhabi notion that Islam thrives on hostility toward infidels.

"You give the false impression that many people condemned the war against America," read one such denunciation on a popular Web site, "But the truth is that many people are happy declaring this war, which gave Muslims a sense of relief."

In another, Sheik Hamad Rais al-Rais, an elderly blind scholar, suggested the manifesto writers showed too much sympathy for the victims of Sept. 11 and debased Islam by neglecting to mention that jihad, or holy war, remains a central tenet.

The clerics believe that holy war is an essential element of Islam. The faith must be spread, with the elimination of those unwilling to join the ranks being an option when necessary. The Wahhabis view even Muslims of other sects as infidels. (Khan)

Are all Muslims to be viewed as longing for the downfall of the USA? Both Khan and Saleeb believe that this would be a mistaken notion. Saleeb says that the majority of Muslims ignore the Koran and the writings of Mohammed where they condone, even require, violence. Before the attack of 9/11 Saleeb refrained from revealing the “dark side of Islam”, thinking it could effect a reluctance in American Christians to reach out in friendship to evangelize Muslims living in the U.S.; the events of 9/11 caused him to forsake his reticence. He was alarmed by the media in the U.S. portraying “true Islam (as) a religion of peace and love”.

In his radio interview Saleeb anticipated a denunciation of Biblical faith in light of the Bible’s inclusion of accounts of God’s people being commanded to employ violent tactics, such as the destruction of the Canaanite culture and people by the Israelites invading Canaan. He reasons that such action was demanded for one geographical location, one culture, and for one short period of time in history. The later teaching of the Bible opposes such deeds. However, the teaching in the Koran that those who resist its teaching are to be killed is relevant at all times and for all places. Militant action is required against those who will not submit to Allah.

Saleeb is on target when he says that Christians are not to use military muscle or the threat of death to coerce professions of conversion. The New Testament gives a different strategy and a different set of weapons for carrying out that strategy:

(1 Peter 3:15) … always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; …

(1 Corinthians 1:21) For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

(Ephesians 6:13) Therefore, take up the full armor of God, … HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith … And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

(Mark 6:11) "And any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake off the dust from the soles of your feet for a testimony against them." (Rejection did not call for use of the sword.)

When Saleeb was questioned about the cause of the hatred for the USA in Mid-East nations dominated by Islam, he cited two roots. They envy our prosperity. If they are the people of the only true religion, why do they lag far behind in world power and cultural progress? The other cause should embarrass us: they despise the fruits of western secularism that has crept into their culture, for example pornography. They are repulsed by our decadence. (I wonder where such indignation was when national Muslim political leaders sanctioned the building of gambling casinos in their lands; Muslims are forbidden to either gamble or to drink alcoholic beverages. Such places were built to attract wealthy foreign neighbors and tourists. You might also wonder about such indignation toward us if you have read media reports of the way many of the 9/11 attackers spent their last days before carrying out their plans.)

We have difficulty understanding the mind of a person who would commit a suicide bombing, or the mind of adult leaders who would encourage their young people to volunteer for such actions. Saleeb said that Muslims are taught that any one who participates in Jihad would gladly return to this world from "Paradise" to be martyred 10 more times in light of the dignity that is bestowed by Allah for such deeds. They are taught that killing an infidel will assure their never going to hell. The men who sacrifice life on earth to destroy infidels will be served eternally by “celestial virgins” in Paradise.

Khan had no fear of the moderate Muslims with whom she first experienced Islam. Later she learned that Jihad, holy war, is taught in the Koran. It teaches believers to compromise when they are in a position of little power in a society, but to seek to conquer when their power merits it: evangelization being the initial tactic, but if that is unfruitful, then by militant action. She did learn to fear, and consequently fled, the radical element in Islam in a place where they had the freedom to exercise power. Many of the Muslim people who have come to the United States probably came to get away from such radicalism. Her former husband came to get a college education.

How should we respond to Muslims with whom we have contact? Perhaps it would be good to end with the admonition of Jesus:

NIV Matthew 10:16 I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

Let’s be good neighbors, exercise love and Christian concern; but let us not be naïve about the essence of Islam and the ambitions of those who seek its worldwide advancement and its absolute dominance of culture.

This time in history could be a prime time for Christians to extend themselves to Muslims with whom they have opportunity. Sensing themselves as objects of hatred in the Western world could make them willing to listen to an expected enemy who would treat them with dignity and love.

REFERENCES

· Arberry, Arthur J., The Koran Interpreted, Oxford U. Press, 1964.

· Khan, Aleesha, “The Radical Islamic Mind – When Faith Embraces Violence”, Spiritual Counterfeits Project Journal, Vol. 25:2-26:1, 2002, pp. 43ff.

· MacFarquhar, Neil, “A Few Saudis Defy a Rigid Islam to Debate Their Own Intolerance”, New York Times, July 12, 2002.

· Saleeb, Abdul (taped radio interviews with R.C. Sproul), “The Dark Side of Islam”, Ligonier Ministries.

· Zacharias, Ravi, “An Interview With Ravi Zacharias on National Public Radio Station WILL-AM” (audiotape), post 9/11/01.