Another great article by Srdja Trifkovic:
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/cgi-bin/newsviews.cgi/Islam/Faith_Logos_a=
nd_A.html?seemore=3Dy
Faith, Logos, and Antichrist: A Post Scriptum on Regensburg
=E2=80=9CGod is not pleased by blood=E2=80=94and not acting reasonably is c=
ontrary
to God=E2=80=99s nature=E2=80=9D is the essential statement in Emperor Manu=
el=E2=80=99s
verbal duel with his Persian interlocutor, which Pope Benedict quoted
in his now famous Regensburg lecture last September. =E2=80=9CFaith is born
of the soul, not the body.=E2=80=9D
The world outlook based on this simple yet essential adage is light
years away from the Verse of the Sword (9:5), the essential message of
the Kuran. It is, in fact, so diametrically opposed to it that we may
be forgiven for concluding that Muhammad=E2=80=99s =E2=80=9Cinspiration=E2=
=80=9D was
indeed supranatural, but not divine.
The timeless Kuranic dictum to all faithful, to fight the rest of us
infidels until we pay the poll tax (Jizya) with the trembling hand of
abject submission, has a whiff of sulphur to it. It conclusively denies
the possibility of =E2=80=9Cpeace=E2=80=9D (short of Islam=E2=80=99s global=
triumph), or
even of peaceful co-existence. =E2=80=9CKill the unbelievers wherever you
find them=E2=80=9D is an injunction both unambiguous and powerful.
Of course, Karen Armstrong, John Esposito et al. will reply with the
verse =E2=80=9Cla ikraha fiddeen=E2=80=9D (=E2=80=9Cno compulsion in religi=
on=E2=80=9D), but
they will do so to deceive and misguide us. Verse 2:256 is not at all a
proof that forced conversion is against Islam. Verse 2:256 does not
leave non-Muslims free to make their religious choices unmolested and
un-coerced, in accordance with their conscience and free will. As
contemporary Islamic scholars explain, there is no compulsion in making
the choice of whether you want to be a Muslim or not. Once that choice
is made, however, your options are bleak=E2=80=94death or submission=E2=80=
=94if it
is the wrong choice: =E2=80=9CFaith and rejection, iman and kufr, cannot be
forced upon one by others. So Islam does not say that others must be
forced into Islam; that if they become Muslims, well and good, and if
they do not, they are to be killed, that the choice is theirs.=E2=80=9D (In
the same spirit, there was no compulsion to accept Communism under the
1936 Soviet constitution, but its insufficiently enthusiastic embrace
meant death in the Gulag.)
The difference among Islamic scholars on 2:256 is that of degree, not
kind. Some assert that it has been abrogated not only by 9:5 but also
by 9:73 (=E2=80=9CO Prophet, struggle with the unbelievers and hypocrites,
and be thou harsh with them=E2=80=9D). Other scholars=E2=80=94more =E2=80=
=9Ctolerant=E2=80=9D
ones, we might say=E2=80=94said 2:256 has not been abrogated, but it had a
special application: it was revealed concerning the People of the Book
(Jews & Christians), who should not be compelled to embrace Islam if
they submit to the rule of Islam and pay the Jizya. It is only the idol
worshippers who are compelled to embrace Islam and upon them 9:73
applies. As al-Nahas points out in An-Nasikh wal-Mansukh, =E2=80=9Cthis is
the opinion of Ibn =E2=80=98Abbas which is the best opinion due to the
authenticity of its chain of authority.=E2=80=9D In exempting the Jews and
the Christians from 2:256, the ulema agree that pagans and atheists can
and should be compelled to accept Islam by force.
The foremost Islamic scholar of all time, Ibn Khaldun, summed up the
mainstream consensus=E2=80=94the consensus that is valid to this day=E2=80=
=94when
he defined systemic violence as a religious duty based on the
universalism of the Muslim mission and the obligation to convert all
men to Islam either by persuasion or by force. He readily concedes that
=E2=80=9CIslam is under obligation to gain power over all nations.=E2=80=9D
The orthodox Islamic rationale for compulsion=E2=80=94e.g. that given by Ibn
al-=E2=80=98Arabi=E2=80=94is worthy of dialectical materialism=E2=80=99s so=
mersaults; we
find that =E2=80=9Cno compulsion=E2=80=9D actually means compulsion, and th=
at
=E2=80=9Cfreedom=E2=80=9D is only the freedom to accept revealed truth:
The Prophet said: I have been ordered to fight against the people until
they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah. This
Hadith is taken from the words of Allah, =E2=80=9CFight them on until there
is no more tumult and religion becomes that of Allah=E2=80=9D (2:193). If
someone asks how can people be compelled in the truth when the mere
fact of compelling indicates a violation of the will of the one
compelled?=E2=80=94the first answer is that Allah sent Mohammad calling
people to Him, showing the way to the truth, enduring much harm . . .
until the evidence of Allah=E2=80=99s truth became manifest . . . and His
apostle became strong, He ordered him to call people by the sword . . .
hence there is no more an excuse after being warned. The second answer
is that people first are taken and compelled, but when Islam becomes
prevalent . . . their faith strengthens and finally becomes sincere.
Translated into the language of contemporary and equally mainstream
Islamic discourse, with =E2=80=9Creasonable=E2=80=9D people there is no nee=
d for
compulsion because =E2=80=9Cafter all the clear proofs, the logical reasoni=
ng
and the manifest miracles there is no need for force at all.=E2=80=9D But
with those who persist in their obstinate refusal to be reasonable and
convert (or submit), coercion is both legitimate and necessary. After
all is said and done, the authorities at al-Azhar hold, jihad is =E2=80=9Ca
divine obligation: the Muslim is always mindful that his religion is a
Qur=E2=80=99an and a sword . . . the Muslim is forever a warrior.=E2=80=9D
It is therefore inevitable that imperialism is immanent to Islam, as
Ephraim Karsch argues persuasively. The apologists assert that Muslims
are called by the Kuran to strive for peace, but the =E2=80=9Cpeace=E2=80=
=9D is
possible only under an all-pervasive Islamic rule. Such =E2=80=9Cpeace=E2=
=80=9D
does not only have the negative meaning of the absence of war. It is a
positive state of security, attainable once all infidels are killed,
converted or subjugated.
Islam may use the rational form, but in substance it is implacable in
the view that only Allah creates our acts and enables us to act, and we
are but transmission belts with a preordained balance of debit or
credit that determines our destiny in the hereafter. A Muslim=E2=80=99s
prayer is not =E2=80=9Ccommunication,=E2=80=9D and it is offered in the hop=
e of
placating a capricious and unpredictable Master. The Master, Allah, is
so transcendent as to be devoid of personality.
As then-Cardinal Josef Ratzinger wrote back in 1979, =E2=80=9Cthe unrelated,
unrelatable, absolutely one, could not be a person. There is no such
thing as a person in the categorical singular.=E2=80=9D In the end, Allah t=
he
unknowable and un-personable, is served out of fear, obedience, and
hope of bountiful heavenly reward. Islam explicitly rejects the notion
that =E2=80=9Che who has my commandments and keeps them, he is it who loves
me.=E2=80=9D (John, 14:21) The Kuran states the opposite: =E2=80=9CSay, If =
ye love
Allah, follow me; Allah will love you and forgive you your sins.=E2=80=9D
(3:31) This =E2=80=9Clove=E2=80=9D is a means of winning love and forgivene=
ss. It
is the =E2=80=9Clove=E2=80=9D of the self, the very opposite of true love; =
pure
sulphur yet again=E2=80=A6
=E2=80=A8In lieu of the sordid =E2=80=9Cinterfaith dialogue,=E2=80=9D the l=
asting benefit
of the Regensburg controversy is that it forced some of us to
reconsider the claim that three =E2=80=9Cgreat monotheistic religions=E2=80=
=9D
share common roots and =E2=80=9Cbelieve in the same God.=E2=80=9D But do Ch=
ristians
believe in the same God that Muslims say they worship?
Of course we do not.
The formal argument first. It is clear and fairly simple. The Christian
God of the Creed is trinitarian: the Father, the Almighty, maker of
heaven and earth, of all things seen and unseen; the Son, our Lord and
Savior, eternally begotten of the Father; and the Holy Spirit, the
giver of life. This is the orthodox faith, =E2=80=9Cwhich except a man shall
have believed faithfully and firmly he cannot be in a state of
salvation.=E2=80=9D
The doctrine of the Deity of Christ is essential. Unless the Son is
truly God and =E2=80=9Cone with the Father,=E2=80=9D Christians would be id=
olaters.
If He were but a prophet, Christians would be foolishly entrusting
themselves to a created creature in the vain hope of salvation. Islam,
on the other hand, violently and explicitly rejects and condemns the
Christian doctrine of God (Kuran 4:171), the Trinity (5:37), and the
deity of Christ (5:72, 5:17), and Allah unambiguously condemns
Christians as disbelievers worthy of destruction (9:29-30).
Muhammad=E2=80=99s insistence that there is a heavenly proto-Scripture and
that previous =E2=80=9Cbooks=E2=80=9D are merely distorted and tainted copi=
es sent
to previous nations or communities means that these scriptures are the
=E2=80=9Cbarbarous Kuran=E2=80=9D as opposed to the true, Arabic one. (Let=
=E2=80=99s
leave aside for a minute the puzzling question of how any degree of
=E2=80=9Cdistortion=E2=80=9D of the Kuran could produce either an Old or a =
New
Testament.) The Muslim Tradition also regards the non-canonical Gospel
of Barnabas, and not the New Testament, as the one that Jesus taught.
To cut the long story short, orthodox Islam teaches that it alone
worships one true God that Judaism and Christianity tell lies
about=E2=80=94lies for which Christians and Jews will be punished in hell.
=E2=80=9COne God=E2=80=9D cannot be trinitarian and infinitely transcendent.
Christians and Muslims cannot be both right. Their convergent paths do
not lead to the same hilltop.
Unlike the Christian faith in God revealing Himself through Christ, the
Koran is not a revelation of Allah=E2=80=94a heretical concept in Islam=E2=
=80=94but
the direct revelation of his commandments and the communication of his
law. Christian God =E2=80=9Ccomes down=E2=80=9D and seeks man because of His
fatherly love. The Fall cast a shadow, the Incarnation makes
reconciliation possible. Allah, by contrast, is unknowable and so
purely transcendent that no =E2=80=9Crelationship=E2=80=9D is possible. He =
reveals
only his will, not himself. Allah is =E2=80=9Ceverywhere,=E2=80=9D and ther=
efore
nowhere relevant to us. He is uninterested in making our acquaintance,
let alone in being near to us because of love. We are still utterly
unable to grasp his purposes and all we can do is what we have to do,
to obey his command.
Allah=E2=80=99s absolute transcendence means that he cannot be fathomed, on=
ly
worshipped. It is by virtue of being infinite, not loving, that he is
inseparable from his creation. His absolute sovereignty means that his
=E2=80=9Ccloseness=E2=80=9D to man is not a two-way relationship; man=E2=80=
=99s
experience of Allah is impossible. Any such attempt would imply
heretical encroachment on his absolute transcendence. Ultimately,
Allah=E2=80=99s absolute transcendence means that he is everything and
nothing. He cannot be grasped by the human mind and is greater than we
can comprehend. Every thought about him is insufficient and false.
This is emphatically not the =E2=80=9Csame God=E2=80=9D we believe in. Judg=
ing by
Islam=E2=80=99s fruits through the ages, we=E2=80=99d be fully justified to
conclude that =E2=80=9CAllah=E2=80=9D is His arch-enemy . . .
-----------------------------------
BM
.
|
