Why we should say good things about Islam
Originally posted on Facebook in 2011 with the title ‘Does Islam Need Good PR?’
My immediate answer is ‘No’. I also think that it is not for me, as a Christian, even if somewhat ‘expert’, to say what Islam needs, I will leave that to Muslim friends and colleagues.
Good Things to Say?
One of the problems in our society, is ignorance. I single no one out, we are all guilty of it. A small personal example, I have been meeting Sikhs for about as long as I have been meeting Muslims, I even read a book about Sikhism (a friend, another expert, told me that it was the wrong book!). Unfortunately, I am still fairly ignorant about the Sikh religion, I don’t know what makes it tick, or what is its USP. I am also fairly ignorant about football, despite supporting my son over the last few years and even having been a PE teacher once. I still don’t know all the rules or recognise all the football jargon. I would like to know more about Sikhism but I am indifferent to football. So, we can’t know everything, even if we wanted to. There are many things that we can learn if we want, but we focus on what we want to know, what interests us, what is useful, sometimes we look things up on the internet, read newspapers and watch the news on the TV. This can give us a snapshot, partial information (in both senses), if we really want to process this information, understand it and analyze it we need to do some work.
I am reminded of the famous Wittgenstein quote, another tiny piece of information in a sea of ignorance(!), ‘whereof we cannot speak, thereof we must remain silent.’ Rumsfeld was widely ridiculed for his speech about ‘known and unknown knowns and unknowns’, it was obviously tarnished by political associations and an illegal war but the point is spot on. We do need to know what we know and what we don’t, it can be an important management and personal development tool. So, returning to the theme, we hear people say — ‘I don’t know anything about Islam, I have encountered various things with little understanding, therefore it must be a violent, hateful, misogynistic religion, etc’. Those of us who are Muslim, or who connect with Muslims, have heard this many times.
But what is the reality? A good question and so little asked, it’s very challenging, it will take any of us on a journey to somewhere else, we will change and move, have our assumptions challenged and threatened, it means taking a risk. There is no chance of hiding behind ‘safe ignorance’. On 7/7, by some strange coincidence (one of my non-religious friends, to put it mildly, says that the universe gives us exactly what we need), I was at a Christian conference on the ‘Challenge of Islam’. They tend to be organised by those on the worried and conservative end of Christianity (also my friends) and if you have been to any of these, for people like me just being there is a challenge! It was an auspicious day and even without the bombings taking place the event was not a great one for Islam, which was demonised and rubbished. One session was led by Jay Smith, the polemical Christian speaker at Hyde Park Corner, who has a reputation for his no-holds barred (verbal) encounters with Muslim opponents. He asked a whole room full of people if anyone had read the Qur’an, incredibly mine was the only hand that went up, I checked the room both incredulous and unsurprised (also depressed and saddened). A room full of Christians who had some kind of interest in Islam and they had not read the Muslim scriptures. Perhaps if I’d been leading the session I would have suggested that they all go home and start reading.
My own journey started with reading the Qur’an in 2000, a new direction for a new Millennium apparently! I was ignorant when I started and still ignorant when I finished, I cannot blame the Revd Rodwell’s Victorian translation (read it!) for that, despite its oddities. I knew that I didn’t understand Islam so I set about to learn more. That was a path that took me, on secondment, from the Inland Revenue to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Initiative on Christian-Muslim Relations and from there to a role as Director of the national Christian Muslim Forum. Before joining the Initiative in 2002 I decided to read the Qur’an again, I wanted to be prepared and read all of it every year afterwards until 2007.
So are there good things to say about Islam, about Muslims, about the Qur’an, about the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)? Undoubtedly, and again it is probably not for me to say. I can offer:
- Islam is a religion of devotion to God, not a political system or movement
- I have seen the love of God and the ‘fruits of the Spirit’ shining in the lives of many Muslim friends and colleagues
- One of the Qur’an’s greatest messages is to reflect on the created order and be thankful to God
- The Prophet Muhammad, as well as bearer of the Qur’anic revelation, was a great role model and graciously allowed visiting Christians to worship in his masjid
Does much more than this need to be said? I don’t think so, as the famous Jewish scholar said after summarising the Commandments, ‘all the rest is commentary’. Is this what the average person on the street thinks? I hope so, but if people did think this then there wouldn’t be inter faith initiatives and there would be no need for a Christian Muslim Forum and that day seems a long way off. So is this good news being heard?
Often when I have said some of the things that I mentioned above someone has come up to me afterwards and said, ‘you’re not telling the truth’, or my personal (un)favourite, ‘everything moderate that the Muslims say is taqiyyah (deception for personal protection).’ Likewise, the often-heard slogan ‘Islam is Peace!’, while true, does not convince the unconvinced and can even be counter-productive. Unfortunately we, Muslims and friends of Muslims, need to find new ways of speaking and acting and doing them together, one of the reasons for the creation of the Christian Muslim Forum. We did this through our ‘Christmas Statement’, Ethical Witness Guidelines and Local Encounter letter.
The story, questions and dialogue continue, especially this one What should Christians be saying about Islam? You can join in here or with me on Twitter @julianbond12.
Read about me giving a copy of Rodwell’s Qur’an to St Ethelburga’s Peace and Reconciliation Centre here (he was the Rector of St Ethelburga’s).
