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Seeing the World Through Islamic Eyes
By Herbert W. Armstrong
It is time to dispel widespread myths and misconceptions about this important religion and to see what the Bible says about Islam and the world's future!
NOT SINCE the days of the Crusades has religion played such a crucial role in world affairs.
From Morocco to Indonesia, Islam is reemerging as a political and religious force that cannot be ignored. Moslems are reasserting their faith--culturally, spiritually and politically.
"God may be Head in the West," one observer has commented, "but He is very much alive in the Middle East!"
Westerners Confused
Few topics have created as much misunderstanding in the Western world as that of Islam. Most Westerners do not begin to comprehend even the most basic tenets of that important faith. They view it largely from a standpoint of ignorance and uninformed impressions.
Yet few topics arc as vital to understand during this momentous last quarter of the 20th century!
Moslems are well aware of how Western cartoonists depict them, how Hollywood portrays them, how Westerners write about them. The exaggerated and misleading stereotype of the robed, hook-nosed camel driver is well known--and widely resented--throughout the Middle East.
Events in the Moslem world are too often interpreted through Western eyes. Western observers often impose their own preconceived notions onto events there and interpret them according to Western criteria. They see the Islamic faith from the vantage point of their own limited Western, largely Judeo-Christian experience.
Here lies the root of the West's gross misunderstanding of the Moslem world.
Proper "Camera Setting"
To properly comprehend the Moslem world, it is necessary to put oneself into Moslem shoes, to think in Moslem terms, to see the world through Moslem eyes. From that perspective one can begin to acquire a deeper insight into Islam and its role in world events today.
A century ago, when Britain was wrestling with troublesome problems in Egypt and the Sudan, Prime Minister Gladstone thought it wise to study the Koran, Islam's Holy Book. Only that way, he asserted, could he really come to know the people and the faith with which he was contending.
Despite the questionable results of his Middle Eastern policies, Gladstone had at least understood in principle the importance of viewing the Moslem world from the proper vantage point, the proper "camera setting."
It is also time to understand what the Bible says about the Moslem faith and about the significance of events in the Moslem world--now and in the tumultuous years just ahead!
Popular Religion
Understand, first, the importance of Islam as a contemporary world force. Islam is a global faith. Nearly one person in five in the world today some 800 million people in more than 75 countries--is a Moslem. This is a sizable bloc and one with great potential power.
Islam is also one of the world's most popular religions, possibly the fastest growing faith on the globe. In sub-Saharan Africa, Islam is reportedly winning 10 times as many converts as traditional Christianity!
It is important to understand, too, that not all Arabs are Moslems (some 10 percent are Christian), nor are all Moslems Arabs.
Introduced among the Arabs in the seventh century, Islam spread swiftly throughout the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. Multiple millions of non-Arabs were added to the fold of Islam. Within a century Islam controlled an empire more vast than that of Rome or Alexander the Great.
Submission to Allah
Islam means many things to many Moslems. Literally, the word Islam means "submission to Allah." A Moslem is "one who submits." Moslems, however, have differing ideas of their faith according to their social class, education, political leanings and cultural background.
Like other religions, Islam has become fragmented over the centuries by theological feuds and disagreements. Today, Islam is split into two main branches, the Sunni and Shiite groups. These two branches resulted from a major schism over the issue of who should succeed to Moslem leadership following the death of the Prophet Mohammed, the religion's founder, in A.D. 632.
Mainstream Sunni Islam--accounting for nearly 90 percent of all Moslems--is divided into four "schools" of interpretation. By contrast, the 10 percent of all Moslems who are Shiites--located primarily in Iran, Iraq, Yemen and Oman--are split into dozens of sects, sub sects and offshoots, some of which are considered heretical by Sunni Moslems.
The centuries-long quest for Islamic unity remains a distant dream, due largely to a lack of effective leadership. Disunity and fragmentation have been the general rule within the Islamic ummah, or community. It is therefore difficult to generalize about Islam as if it were a single, coherent bloc.
Nevertheless, all Moslems share certain basic beliefs and outlooks. First and foremost is their one-sentence creed, called the shahadah: "There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is His Messenger." A solemn recitation of this confession of faith (just eight words in Arabic) is the only requirement for becoming a Moslem.
According to Moslem belief, an archangel--Gabriel -- descended to Mohammed, first in A.D. 610, and imparted to him the wisdom of the Koran. At first, Mohammed was afraid he was going insane or was possessed by an evil spirit. But he soon became convinced that his calling was truly from God.
Moslem Holy Book
Moslems consider the Koran's 114 suras or chapters as the literal word of God, superseding all previous revelations (including the Bible) and correcting the alleged "errors" that had crept into Christianity and Judaism. In length, the Koran is somewhat shorter than the New Testament.
Mohammed contended that Jews and Christians had been worshiping Allah all along, but under a different name. The Koran recognizes Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other biblical personalities as genuine prophets through whom God spoke. Mohammed's family lineage is traced to Abraham through the patriarch's grandson Kedar, son of Ishmael (Gen. 25:13).
Moslems, however, regard Mohammed as the greatest and the last (or "seal") of the prophets. Moslems deny the divinity of Jesus, as well as his crucifixion and resurrection. "They do blaspheme who say: 'God is Christ the son of Mary,' " the Koran asserts.
Despite the high position they accord to Mohammed, Moslems do not venerate him as a divine being. They take offense at being called "Mohammedans," feeling that that term implies they worship Mohammed.
In addition to the Koran, most Moslems also pay heed to the sunna (the traditions of what Mohammed did) and the hadith (the traditions of what he said).
Compared to other religions, Islam is loosely organized. There is no formal institutional hierarchy of authority--no Moslem pope or cardinals--nor a centralized world headquarters, such as the Vatican. The ulemas, mullahs, mujtahids or ayatollahs, as Islamic scholars and teachers are variously called, are the closest thing Moslems have to a religious clergy.
Way of Life
To see the world through Moslem eyes, it is necessary to understand that to the vast majority of Moslems, Islam is a way of life.
Many Westerners--to whom religion means merely attending church services for an hour or two on Sunday--simply cannot comprehend the all pervasive nature of the Islamic faith in the lives of its followers. Most Westerners have long abandoned the challenge of actually living their professed faith.
Islam, however, is central to every aspect of a Moslem's life. It is far from a Friday-go-to-mosque kind of religion. The average Moslem takes the Koran seriously. He strives diligently to obey its precepts. Islam guides thought and action to a degree virtually without parallel in the West. Religion and life are inseparable.
Western visitors to Islamic countries often make the mistake of assuming that because many upper-class Moslems speak European languages, dress like Westerners and may have been educated in the West, that they also have adopted Western attitudes toward religion.
Not so.
The overwhelming majority of Moslems of all classes and stations diligently follow the precepts of their faith. They pray toward the holy city of Mecca five times each day. On Friday, Moslems observe a special day of public prayer in the mosque.
During the entire holy month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Moslem year, Moslems refrain from food and drink from dawn ("as soon as you can discern a white thread from a black one") to dusk.
Moslems are also expected to make a hajj or pilgrimage to sacred Mecca at least once in their lifetime, if financially and physically able. Almsgiving to the poor, aged and orphans is also an obligation to Moslems. An annual 2.5 percent zakat tax is levied against one's total assets.
In addition to these major directives, the Koran forbids the eating of pork, the drinking of alcohol and gambling. In more liberal Moslem circles, however, these particular observances are sometimes relaxed.
But Islam is much more than a set of prescribed ritualistic observances. The Koran contains detailed secular as well as religious injunctions. It lays down standards for a wide range of personal, social, economic and political relationships, and both civil and criminal law. This makes it virtually impossible to confine Islam to spiritual matters alone.
In the Islamic world, separation of church and state is unknown. From its inception, Islam has been a state religion. No distinction is made between "God and Caesar," such as spelled out by Jesus in Matthew 22:21.
Of course, the Islamic revolutionary government in Iran is vastly different from the government in Saudi Arabia. This, in turn, is different from that of Egypt, or Pakistan or Libya. Moslem governments range from semi feudal monarchies to parliamentary democracies.
But regardless of these differences, there is no question among Moslems that religion and government are-- and should be-- inseparable.
Talk of a "secular Moslem country" is generally considered a contradiction in terms. The ultimate failure of the late Shah's attempt to set up a Western-style state in Iran, minimizing the role of the mullahs, is attributed in part to this deepseated Moslem view of the necessity of church-state union.
Moslems see government as a major vehicle for accomplishing good in this world. Much more than among professing Christians, whose hope often lies primarily in a "next life," Moslems are committed to the monumental mission of taking history into their hands and fashioning it to what it ought to be.
The realization of good, Moslems believe, is possible in this world. They generally do not view this life as an ordeal laden with trials and sorrows through which the faithful must laboriously pass to achieve salvation in the "next world." Instead, the Koran lays out a social and legal order aimed at happiness, prosperity and well-being here and now.
This is not to say that Moslems do not believe in an afterlife as well. Punishment in hell or reward in paradise is vividly described in the Koran.
One of the most publicized aspects of Moslem life is the strict Koranic code of justice, in force in increasing numbers of Moslem countries.
The Sharia. or Koranic canon law, has been condemned in the West as cruel and barbaric. The severity of Koranic punishment shocks most Westerners. For habitual thievery, the penalty may he the loss of a hand. For premarital sex, 100 lashes in public. For false accusation, 80 lashes.
Most Moslems, however, are little concerned with the objections of the West. The Koran sanctions the Sharia law. and that is sufficient. Moreover, Moslems daily read of the growing crime rate in permissive Western society. "How can the crime-ridden West criticize us?" they ask. Moslem countries have considerably lower crime rates than most Western countries.
The Islamic eye-for-an-eye Sharia law, they also note, is not much different from those civil and criminal laws of the Old Testament given by God to ancient Israel (see Exodus 21-23). Moslems also point out that in their countries, unlike in the "decadent" West, the seriousness of sin is stilt recognized and dealt with accordingly.
Another point must be recognized. Like many Westerners, many Moslems have themselves been horrified by the trials and executions that have taken place in Iran under the Khomeini regime. They point out that those trials and executions are not a true reflection of Islam, but are instead associated with the political turmoil in that country.
Moslems also observe that the taking of hostages--especially diplomatic ones-- is clearly forbidden by Islamic tradition "I do not break treaties, nor do I make prisoners of envoys," Mohammed once insisted. Many Moslems saw the Khomeini regime's actions in this regard as an embarrassment and a demeaning of Islam before the world.
Actually, the Koran specifies strict limitations on the power of the Moslem religious courts. Accused persons are considered innocent until proven guilty. In addition, the standards of proof are so exacting that the severe punishments widely publicized in the West can rarely be carried out. In the case of adultery--punishable by death in some Moslem countries-- four eyewitnesses are required for conviction.
Another question often asked in the West is whether Islam can be successfully adapted to a modern technological society.
This question is almost always asked by non-Moslems. Moslems themselves do not see Islam as any barrier whatever to modern life. They believe that Islam fits all times and cultures. Moslems are often genuinely surprised that such a question should even be asked.
Let us look at this issue through Moslem eyes. No reading of the Koran could ever produce the notion that Islam is reactionary or tailored only to a primitive desert society. Development and change are not contrary to the spirit of Islam. In fact, the seeking of knowledge and the desirability of progress are heavily stressed in the Koran.
Why, then, the controversy over whether Islam can keep pace with modern times?
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About the author:
Herbert W. Armstrong was a God-send to restore long lost truths; stood against traditional Christianity's error and taught the plain truth of the Bible; restored our Hebrew roots; warned world leaders about a German-dominated European Union and offered the hope and comfort of Christ's return to save us from its nuclear holocaust. |
