SLR: What I Learned About Islam?

Background

Islam as a religion has existed nearly 1400 years, but only in recent decades its influence has reached a new height. The oil resources controlled by Islamic countries are great assets, which in their own ways steer the politics and economics of the whole world. Worldwide migration of people has formed Muslim minorities in traditional Christian countries, and also Christian minorities in traditional Islamic countries. Wars and famines are also causing great migrations, bringing cultures together for better and for worse.

I have not had extensive cooperation or dealings with Islamic culture, and I have not really had any Muslim friends. I have not dealt with the “folk Islam”, which is effectively guiding the behavior of majority of Muslims. I have not needed to. However, nowadays Finland has also a populous Muslim minority, who are being watched by the media and suspicious eyes of phlegmatic Finns. How should I face this new situation? What can I learn about Islam? It turned out that there are plenty I could learn and do.

Religious Essentials

I took a course named “Introduction to Islam”, and thought it to be interesting and contemporary. It provided a lot of information regarding the history, essentials, and many facets of Islam. Here I am listing few items which were new to me or otherwise made an impression on me:

• Qur’an is the holy book of Islam, and it is recited everywhere in Arabic, which is held as the divine language.
• By reciting Qur’an in Arabic, Muslims experience the connection with God
• There were no diacritical marks nor vowels in written Arabic Qur’an, allowing for some degree of ambiguity in interpretation
• Prophet Muhammad had a rich life, and was a capable leader who cared for the poor, the weak, and the needy
• The Arabic culture prior to Islam was full of scattered idol worship, and in general not held in high esteem
• Islam means submission, practically submission/obedience to God and His prophets
• Muslim denotes a person who submits and yields his life to God according to Islam
• Hadith denote the whole collection of the actions and sayings of Muhammad, which are to be followed precisely
• Sunna means the conducts of Muhammad as a man
• Together, the Qur’an, the Hadith, and the Sunna mark the detailed ways of life all Muslims are to follow
• The 5 pillars of Islam are the creed (shahada), prayers (salat), fasting (sawm), alms (zakat), and pilgrimage (hajj)
• Umma denotes the “Islamic community” as one single nation, similar as Christian concept of church as the body of Christ. In this definition, Islamic view of the world is simply divided into the House of Islam and the House of War, basically Muslims and non-Muslims
• The concept of Jihad and power of Islam are rooted to the very beginning of Islam, when wars were fought and won and the House of Islam was quickly expanded to become a world power
• Folk Islam is a concept which describes the beliefs and practices of majority of Muslims, which are not according to orthodox Islam, but which are the way these Muslims live out their religion. Fold Islam contains such things as e.g. superstition, amulets, talisman, the evil eye, and various spiritual things.

There are of course more to Islam than above list. For example, a big surprise for me was how Christians are seen by the Muslims.

Christianity in the Eyes of a Muslim

Just as I did not know about Folk Islam, the Muslims are seldom aware about liberal theology or so called nominal Christians. Most of Muslims think that Christian West really means that all the people in Christian countries are Christians. No wonder Muslims have really low appreciation for Christianity.

Another major tenet I did not know was that Qur’an speaks very positively about Jesus, and that Muslims hold Jesus in very high honor! Connected to this, the deity of Jesus is refuted by Islam, but this relates to their understanding about Christianity: Jesus had the message from God, but Christians replaced/corrupted it by changing the content to the “gospels” in New Testament. In the same line, the concept of Trinity of Christianity is idol worship, where three gods are worshipped: God the Father, Mary, and Jesus. Huge misunderstandings!

Another major issue seems to be the crucifixion of Jesus. I did not know that Qur’an actually talks about this: “but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, …, for a surety they killed him not – Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself” (Sura 4:155-158). So, Islam has interpreted this text to mean that Jesus was NOT crucified at all, but a substitute was crucified, which Jews thought was Jesus. There are other theories also, but this is the majority view. Islam cannot understand, how God could give an innocent man like Jesus to be crucified on others behalf, it is against Islamic understanding of justice of God.

There seems to be many conflicts regarding who Jesus was, did He really die, and who is right about God: Islam or Christianity? At this point, I would like to consider, whether it is possible to find harmony between these two groups?

How to Live in Harmony?

When studying the course Introduction to Islam, at times I had difficulty to breathe: the tight grip of Islam on its adherents took my breath away. There are social, economic, and cultural implications for a Muslim to convert to another faith. The worldview built into Islam is totalistic and requires absolute submission, which the term Islam means. The division of House of Islam from House of War automatically puts non-Muslims into a secondary position, and any amount of oppression seems to be justified.

How does Christianity respond to this? All I can think of is Love. The Agape -love of God that Christians keep on talking about, it encompasses all people on earth, including Muslims. If there are wrongs done to them, Christians would love back, as Jesus taught in New Testament (Matthew 5:43-48). Of course, back in the history there has been plenty of violent responses from Christians to Muslims, but were those done in the spirit of God or in the spirit of man? There has been many a dark moment in human history, when men have erupted against other men and killed, tortured, wronged them, simply because they were somehow different.

Despite the history, I believe there can be harmony. The harmony of Love, which “keeps no record of wrong”, “always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1^st Cor. 13:5, 7). Though it IS unfair, the Love of God is able to take all the beatings, humiliation, tortures, and offences. All this, because “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth” (Job 19:23). God will have his fair and just judgement, and by trusting Him in Jesus Christ, anyone can learn to Love.

Without Love, it is impossible to reach harmony, because hate and vengeance are never-ending cycles. Despite the possible absolute submission to Islamic teachings about what is orthodox, in the deep heart of every man and woman, adult and child, there is the need to be loved. So, regardless are you a Christian or a Muslim, I call you to surrender to the Love. It is not blind, it is not cheap, it does not change your circumstances nor history, but it will change you! The Love of God was demonstrated: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). And through Jesus: “to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12)!

How Do I Choose to Live?

Now in everyday life, how should this Love be seen? How it should affect my life? What I have come to understand is this:

1. Recognize my prejudices and repent about them
2. Pray and ask for Love from God
3. See Muslims first of all as men/women loved by God, and then as friends God has put into my life
4. Spend time together, do something fun, learn language, help with daily chores…
5. Share the Love of God via warmth, actions, and words.

There is always a risk of becoming hurt or deceived, if one chooses to Love. Then again, we are not called to love dumbly, but there are wise principles and safe limits that help us to Love consistently. To Love is not to forget rationale, but an attitude of life.

Conclusions

What has this blog text brought to your mind? Do you agree or do you object strongly? Your feedback is more than welcome! Our lives are always undergoing processes, because we are human, tied in time and given only each moment we live in. Fortunately God has put eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11), so it is not only a meaningless ride, but every moment really counts! Make your words and actions count, not towards worldly and passing things, but towards eternal and meaningful things.

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1^st Corinthians 10:31)

Friendship: Now and Back Then

Finally, I aim to clear my list of blog topics by posting the thoughts. This one is about friendship, what's different now and back then?

When I was a kid, friends came easy, because I was good at school and generally held to be a "good kid". This was of course in China, where the goodness of a person (even a kid) is measured by how useful he can be. Well, fortunately not always. Anyhow, I was a good kid, obedient to the teacher (mostly), diligent with my home works (comparatively), and eager to play with other kids (always). Friends meant having good time, being out from home and doing things other than school work. Friends came easy and brought many good adventures and joys of childhood.

Due to moving from China to Finland, I lost most of my childhood friends, simply because of lack of communication, and later on the lack of common topics to talk about. In Finland friendship is different: you are a friend if we get along, if we enjoy things together, and if we have time to be together. My early Finnish friends were from school, and church. The friends from church stayed quite well for some years to come, friends from school vanished mostly due to time and life.

I wasn't until high-school that I started to make best friends, the definition being: consciously forming and up-keeping the friendship. At the same time I experienced the possible shallowness of human relationships, in addition to the pain of having friends: separation by time and space is a vital part of any friendship on earth.

At some point, years later, I really felt that my heart was divided into many pieces, some left in USA with warmth, some left in Russia with appreciation, some left in China with a sense of belonging, some left all over Finland with smiles and fond memories. The pain of the divided heart became so great that I doubted my will to move anywhere anymore, I just wanted to settle. Until, a godly friend commented to my feelings: the divided heart is not a problem, as long as they are divided according to the will of God. Eureka! My pains settled, my heart stopped bleeding, and I started to value friendship with an open arm, again.

The recent years, due to dating, engagement, marriage, and eventually the birth of Viivi, I have found that the role of friendship has unfortunately decreased, quantitatively. There simply isn't enough time to care for the existing friendships, not even talking about creating new ones! I've felt sad that my path has been separated from my friends and we are growing apart. Family is of course top priority, but isn't there a way to keep up the friendships as well? The bottom line seems to be: our society (Finland) cruelly separates people into categories: children, teenagers, students/young adults, singles, couples, families, work communities, church communities, etc. Any lasting friendship between categories seems to be hard to establish, or keep up. Inevitably friends drift away, not willingly, but passively, time for sharing grows few, chances to travel or do things together become rare, even a deep discourse about vital issues has a time limit. I am sad, again.

The old saying goes: new friends are like silver, old friends are like gold. I want to treasure the gold God has bestowed in my life, at the same time I long for the ability to engage with new friends. Fortunately, family as such is not a restraint for new friendships, rather it opens up doors to a completely new world of people and lives. My current conclusion is thus: at every stage of life there are valuable friendships to be formed, and all friendships should be cherished and tended to. Everybody needs somebody, a friend is a friend, no matter the circumstances or time or space. "Friends are friends forever, if the Lord's the Lord of them..." True friendship is also possible with people of different religion or worldview.

 Friendship, in its true sense, should never be despised nor overlooked.

If I ... can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, but ...

It's amazing how can one be so blind. Talking about myself, my blindness struck me right at my face very recently.

The Bible place summarizes it so well:
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
- Paul from Tarsus, Letter to the Corinthian church, 1st century. Chapter 13, verses 1-3.

The blindness meant in my case, that I thought I was a loving person. Not necessarily easily lovable, but at least loving. I concentrated on things and issues, instead of love. I pushed for matters and changes, instead of more love. I aimed for perfection and to glorify God, but missed love.

Well, waking up, thanks to a friend and Holy Spirit, I now see what I've been missing: love. I can't say I've been very loving. For what love is? The same Bible place continues from above:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
- Chapter 13, verses 4-8.

The standard of Love is devices by God Himself. It doesn't work if I try to put my name in the places of "love" in above passage. Only the name "Jesus" fits, only He is able. However, as a Christian, a follower of Jesus, I am called to aim for it. I've been promised Holy Spirit to help me, mold me, change me. Now I see, now I want, I'm willing. And He can.

I thank God for this wake up call, perhaps I can start a new era in this field in my life. Hopefully.

Comforting:
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.
- Letter of Paul to the church in Ephesus, 1st century, The Bible.