Tag Archives: Christianity

If They Only Knew…

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In the Name of the Kind and Beautiful Precious Beloved

Clearly, those Christian “patriots” who want to silence TLC’s “All-American Muslim” series have no idea what is in our scripture and our faith about Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin. Clearly, these people have no idea about Islam in general. Otherwise, they would not try to bully advertisers into dumping “All-American Muslim” for a truly silly reason: that the Muslims on “All-American Muslim” are “too ordinary.”

No, my house is not decked out with lights or a Christmas tree. Yet, I still love Jesus so very much. As this poem I penned attests:

 

What was it like, when you stood there alone?
Praying in the East, on you His Light ever shone?

What was it like, when the angel came before thee?
Frightening you greatly, shattering your tranquility?

What was it like, when you were told the news:
That unto you was born the Messiah of the Jews?

Did you not know, that you were more than worthy?
That God chose you above all, that He favored you greatly?

Did you not know, that before you came to be,
The Lord already declared that magnificent were thee?

What was it like, when the Spirit was blown:
When our master was conceived, a miracle to be shown?

What was it like, as you left in fear?
Afraid of the slander that may be placed in the ear?

How did it feel, when the pangs came in earnest?
Did you feel deserted, that the Lord had no interest?

What did it sound like, when our master to you spoke?
How soothing was his voice, covering you like a cloak?

How sweet was the fruit that fell from the tree?
Did it comfort your mind, fill you with tranquility?

How sharp were the stares when, with him, you arrived?
Did their shock give you pain, that they would think you would connive?

How powerful was his voice, when he proclaimed the truth?
Were they amazed by his grace, as he shattered the lies of the uncouth?

O Blessed Mother, upon you I perpetually pray for peace.
And also upon your son, I pray blessings cover him as a fleece.

And if, O Blessed Soul, I get a chance to kiss your hand,
It would be the most honored place I could ever stand!

Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/commonwordcommonlord/2011/12/if-they-only-knew.html#ixzz1gXn3ehZe

Washington Post: At Hajj, can peace be found?

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This was published today in the Washington Post’s faith blog.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/at-hajj-can-peace-be-found/2011/11/04/gIQAXUzmlM_blog.html

Year after year, holiday after holiday passes with no progress in the Holy Land. In August, Muslims celebrated the end of Ramadan, with no peace in the Holy Land. In October, Jews marked the High Holy Days with Palestinians still under occupation. Now, as millions of Muslims descend upon Mecca to perform the pilgrimage, or Hajj, peace between the children of Abraham remains as elusive as ever.

Indeed, there is great fear that even more violence will erupt, and the chance for a lasting peace will become even more remote that it already seems. Yet, far beyond the cynical political calculation of politicians, the Realpolitik of various world leaders, and overarching geopolitical interests of nations, there lies the lives of people, real live people, who have suffered and are suffering tremendously. That is what I see as a person of faith, who values the Holy Land tremendously.

This land is very special to me, as a Muslim. It is the land of my ethnic and spiritual father Abraham, to which he fled the oppression of his people for his staunch belief in the Lord God. It is the land in which my Master Abraham, and his sons Isaac and Jacob, are buried. The rituals of the Hajj, in fact, are all a re-enactment of the story of Abraham with his son Ishmael in the plain of Paran.

In this Holy Land, my Master Joseph, who preached the faith of the One God to my Egyptian people many centuries ago, was also laid to rest. In this land, my Masters David and Solomon ruled in justice and faith, and on this land, my Master Jesus Christ tread his holy footsteps, preaching the Gospel to the Children of Israel. And to this most holy of lands, my Master Muhammad traveled by night to lead all of the prophets in prayer. For all these reasons and more, the veneration of this land will be ingrained in and be with me forever.

In such a wondrous place, there should be no violence. In such a wondrous place, there should be no occupation; no war; no sadness for the loss of life; no cries of children attacked by rocket fire; no screams of mothers holding their dead babies in their arms. In such a wondrous place, the children of Abraham should be living and working together in peace, just as their holy fathers did all those years ago.

Yet, sadly, despite the wondrous nature of the land, these are not wondrous times. Extremists who hail from both Isaac and Ishmael are bent on seeing the other destroyed. Politicians lack the courage to make the hard choices for peace. And as diplomats wrangle over what to say and do to save political face, terrible misery continues to envelope this most wondrous and holy of lands. As those diplomats wrangle, the blood of innocents, which defiles and chokes this most wondrous and holy of lands, continues to spill with abandon.

Will this sad state of affairs fail to awaken us? Will the cries of the Holy Land, in her utter anguish, not arouse us to try to bring and end to this suffering? It brings me no pain to see Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall: this was, after all, the wall of my Master King Solomon, about whose story I read in the Koran itself. And neither should it bring any misery to our Jewish brethren to see Muslims worshipping on the Temple Mount: in the chants of the Koran is the glorification of Moses, David, Abraham, and Solomon, and most importantly, the glorification of our mutual Lord and God.

This is the middle way, about which the overwhelming majority of us can agree. There can be peace between Christian, Jew, and Muslim in the Holy Land; there can be mutual respect for the life of the other in that most wondrous land; the cries of the innocent can be quieted and replaced with the laughter of children hopeful of a bright and prosperous future. We live this reality in America, and it is most joyous indeed. It just takes courage and fortitude, and reliance upon our Lord, to make this come to pass over there. As I behold the scurrying of the politicians near and far, I realize that change cannot come from they. So let that change come about through us.

This Will Not Help Anything At All

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In the Name of the Kind and Beautiful Precious Beloved 

I was totally taken aback by this news article:

Crosses in every room at Washingon D.C.’s Catholic University of America are a human rights violation that prevent Muslim students from praying. That’s the complaint to the Washington, D.C. Office of Human Rights filed by a professor from rival George Washington University across town. GWU Law School Professor John Banzhaf takes the Catholic institution to task for acting “probably with malice” against Muslim students in a 60-page complaint that cites ”offensive” Catholic imagery all over the Catholic school, which he says hinder Muslims from praying.

The first reaction that came to mind is: really?

The article elaborates further about the allegations:

He alleges that the university, “does not provide space – as other universities do – for the many daily prayers Muslim students must make, forcing them instead to find temporarily empty classrooms where they are often surrounded by Catholic symbols which are incongruous to their religion,” according to the Tower, Catholic University’s student newspaper.

Come on.

I attended Marquette University, and there were crosses everywhere…and I was never offended. Yes, the University was kind enough to offer us a space for our Friday prayers, but even if there wasn’t, we would have made do. And if there was a cross in the room, we would have prayed anyway. Currently, I practice in a Catholic hospital, and there are crosses hanging in every single room of the hospital. I am not the least offended. In fact, I have even prayed in the chapel of the hospital, with life-size Jesus’ hanging on crosses. No big deal.

For us as Muslims, the entire earth has been made a place of prayer for us…as long as it is clean and sanitary. If the time for prayer comes, and I happen to be in a Catholic church or chapel, with crosses everywhere, I simply face Mecca and pray. The cross does not diminish my prayer, and I am not offended by the symbol at all. And I think that the majority of Muslims feel the same way that I do.

God only knows what the real motivations of this lawsuit are. But, even if we disagree about the nature of Jesus and what happened at the time of his death/disappearance, if a Catholic university wants to hang crosses everywhere, that is its right. There could be crosses all over the place, and it should not offend Muslims in the least. If you don’t like the crosses, then don’t go to that university. You have no right to force the university to take down the crosses.

This sort of suit does nothing to help promote interfaith harmony and understanding. In a time when there are so many forces in our country that are trying to divide us on so many different lines, we should be working as faith communities to come together. The last thing we need is a silly lawsuit about crosses in a Catholic university.

 This first appeared on Beliefnet. 

Chicago Tribune: Muslims Promote Ramadan, not Whole Foods

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In the Name of the Kind and Beautiful Precious Beloved Lord

This was published on the Chicago Tribune’s religion blog, The Seeker.

 

Initially, I was very disappointed in Whole Foods for apparently “caving” to the screams of a small number of bloggers and choosing not to “promote” Ramadan. Yet, neither Whole Foods, nor any other corporation needs to “promote” Ramadan. Ramadan is not a product in need of a nationwide marketing campaign.

In an e-mail, Whole Foods had this to say:

“There has been a little controversy surrounding the introduction of our Halal certified “Saffron Road” frozen products. While there has been some positive response from our Muslim customers there have been some negative comments from some other customers. While we want to continue with the program, it is probably best that we don’t specifically call out or “promote” Ramadan…we should not highlight Ramadan in signage in our stores as that could be considered “Celebrating or promoting” Ramadan.

It later reversed course, insisting that it will continue the Halal marketing campaign:

Kate here from Whole Foods. To set the record straight, Whole Foods Market is NOT cancelling our current halal promotion, which is centered around the timeframe of Ramadan. We invite shoppers seeking out not just halal certified products, but products that also meet our high quality standards to try Saffron Road and other regional offerings in our stores.

We never sent a communication from our headquarters requesting stores take down signs at all. We have 12 different operating regions and your reacted by sending out directions to promote Halal and not specifically Ramadan after some online negative comments and after viewing signage made by one individual at a store that didn’t point to these products.

We’re excited to be offering high quality halal products for our shoppers and we stand behind them and our promotion of them, just like we do with other seasonal and holiday products.

Nevertheless, they still will not “promote” Ramadan.

Ramadan is the most important spiritual month for Muslims the entire world over, during which the faithful attempt to improve their lives through fasting, meditation, prayer, and charity. Through abstaining from food and drink during the long, hot summer days of August, spending hours in prayer and the reading of scripture, and giving in charity to those who are less fortunate, Muslims all across our country are highlighting what Ramadan is all about.

Placing or taking down signage that says “Ramadan” in some Whole Foods store somewhere will neither enhance nor diminish the importance of the month. Ramadan – as with Passover, Hanukkah, Christmas, and Easter – lives in the hearts and lives of the Muslims, Jews, and Christians who celebrate and honor those times of the year.

Whole Foods can breathe a sigh of relief.

Attacking Christians

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In the Name of God, the Kind, the Beautiful

Thanks be to the Precious Beloved, this article was published on Middle East Online.

When I first learned of the attack, I was sickened to my very core. On New Year’s Day, as worshipers exited a Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt, a suicide bomb exploded killing 21 and injuring dozens more. My in-laws were vacationing in Egypt at the time, and thank God, they were not hurt. Yet, I could not believe that someone could have the audacity of attacking a house of worship and killing people whose sole crime was glorifying the Lord on the brink of a new year.

Although the investigation into the attack is still ongoing, suspicion falls upon Al Qaeda, who has attacked churches in the past, most recently in Iraq. I pray those responsible are swiftly brought to justice and rot in jail for the rest of their lives. If this is indeed Al Qaeda, who proffer themselves as “holy warriors,” they have committed treason against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad in the vilest manner.

The sanctity of human life is paramount in Islam. The Quran strongly condemns the taking of innocent life: “And do not take a life that God has made sacred, except for just cause.” (17:33) In no way, shape, or form could killing Christian worshipers at a Church be ever considered “just cause.” Never. Moreover, suicide is equally as heinous: “And do not kill yourselves, for God has been merciful to you.” (4:29) Thus, for someone to kill both himself and others in a cowardly suicide attack is doubly vicious.

What is more, the sanctity of houses of worship — any house of worship — is also strongly upheld in Islam. In fact, one of the very reasons that Muslims are sometimes allowed to take up arms is to protect houses of worship: “Permission [to fight] is given to those against whom war is being wrongfully waged [...] For, if God had not enabled people to defend themselves against one another, [all] monasteries and churches and synagogues and mosques — in [all of] which Gods name is abundantly extolled — would surely have been destroyed [ere now].” (22:39-40) Thus, once again, to attack a Church is not only heinous in its own right, but also violates a primordial principle of Islam.

In 628 A.D., a group of Monks from St. Catherine’s Monastery (also in Egypt, at the foot of Mt. Sinai) sought protection from the Prophet Muhammad. He then dictated a covenant: “This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them. Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them [...] No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims’ houses. Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God’s covenant and disobey His Prophet [...] No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).”

If those behind the attack indeed turn out to be ‘Muslim’, this crime is even more despicable because they have directly violated a directive of the Prophet Muhammad himself. The Prophet was absolutely clear in his declaration: “No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).” American Muslim blogger Peter Gray could not have said it better: “It boggles the mind how any Muslim — any person who kneels in prayer each day and solemnly bears witness that ‘there is no god but God, and Muhammad is His messenger’ — could so spectacularly betray his religion while uttering ‘God is the greatest.’”

After recovering from the shock and utter disgust of the attack, I saw right through the barbaric and Satanic aim: to foment hatred and division along religious lines in Egypt. Already there have been protests and clashes between Muslims and Christians in Egypt, threatening to make an already tense situation even worse. As an American Muslim of Egyptian descent, I call upon all Egyptians — Christians and Muslims — to stand together and deny the barbarians any semblance of victory in this violence.

As the Prophet Muhammad himself declared, Christians and Muslims the world over are his “citizens,” one people albeit with different faiths. Never can we let the crimes of barbarians tear us apart. Otherwise, the barbarians will win.

 

An Excellent Piece

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In the Name of God, the Kind, the Beautiful

In the wake of the horrific suicide bombing in Alexandria, Egypt, an American Muslim Peter Gray penned an excellent blog post about Muslim-Christian relations. Read the entire piece here.

Yet, what struck me deeply was the charter dictated by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) when a group of monks from St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai came to seek his protection. Here is the text:

This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.

Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them.

No compulsion is to be on them.

Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries.

No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims’ houses.

Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God’s covenant and disobey His Prophet.

Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.

No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight.

The Muslims are to fight for them.

If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray.

Their churches are to be respected.

They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants.

No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).

This shows that the barbarians behind this attack are not true Muslims…for if they were, they would never have done this. These people have betrayed everything for which Islam and its Prophet (pbuh) stands. I pray they are brought to justice.

Dr. Hassaballa Condemns Beheading of Monk in Istanbul

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In the Name of God, the Kind, the Beautiful
 
In keeping with my consistent policy to condemn acts of violence against the innocent, let me be one of the first to condemn the beheading of a monk in Istanbul. The monk was from the countryside, and apparently the populace was enraged at a church hymn which the monk was accused of modifying. Assailants cut off his head, placed it on a pole, and paraded with the head in the streets. This, after many parts of the city were set on fire by angry mobs.
 
Such horrific violence is abhorrent to me, and I stand and speak out against such barbarity. This is not what God has called for His servants on earth to do. There is nothing godly about beheading a fellow human being. No Prophet of God would ever condone such brutality. I condemn it unequivocally.
 
If you are confused…do not feel bad.
 
No such incident has occurred in Istanbul…in current times. But, such an incident did occur in Constantinople around the year 511. Now, in your mind (be honest) were you thinking that it was Muslims who beheaded a Christian? The truth, you may be shocked to know, is that this incident was Christian on Christian violence:
 
The church of the day had a beloved hymn, the Trisagion or Thrice Holy, which praised, “Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal” (Orthodox churches sing it to this day). But the emperor, Anastasius, wanted to revise it in the Monophysite fashion, by lauding this God “Who was crucified for our sakes.” The new formula proclaimed that it was God alone who walked the soil of Palestine in the first century and suffered on the cross, a view that ignores the human reality of Jesus. So angry were the capital’s residents that they launched a bloody riot:
 
Persons of rank and station were brought into extreme danger, and many principal parts of the city were set on fire. In the house of Marinus the Syrian, the populace found a monk from the country. They cut off his head, saying that the clause had been added at his instigation; and having fixed it upon a pole, jeeringly exclaimed: “See the plotter against the Trinity!”
 

This is taken from Philip Jenkins’ book, Jesus Wars, on page 31. The point of the exercise of this blog post is perfectly summarized by Jenkins’ himself:

 

We can imagine the response if, in the twenty-first century, a Muslim mob beheaded a dissident theologian and paraded the grisly trophy around the streets. Not only would the crime be (properly) denounced, but Westerners would assume that such behavior was part of the fundamental character of that religion – a bloodthirsty, warlike intolerance that could be traced back to the sternest passages of the Quran. The beheading would be seen as a trademark of Islamic fanaticism. Surely, we would say, Christians would never act like that. But they assuredly did. (p. 31)

 
I could not have said it better myself.

An Outsider’s Perspective

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In the Name of God, the Kind, the Beautiful

I am very interested in early Church history…it is sort of an “intellectual hobby” of mine. In keeping with this interest, I am currently reading the book, Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 Years. It is a very interesting read.

And as I was reading, I came across this section – “Christianity and Islam” - and I was blown away. I wanted to reproduce part of it for you:

Out-of-control clergy, religious demagogues with their consecrated militias, religious parties usurping the functions of the states…It all sounds like the worst stereotypes of contemporary radical Islam, in Iran and Somalia, Iraq and Lebanon. And then, as now, the problem lay not in any characteristics of the religion itself, of its doctrines or Scriptures, but in the state’s inability to control private violence. Just a century after the conversion of the Roman empire, Christian churches were acting precisely on the lines of the most extreme Islamic mullahs today. This in itself suggests that none of the violence or intolerance commonly seen in modern-day Islam is, so to speak, in the DNA of that religion but just reflects particular social and political circumstances. (p. 30)

This is precisely what Muslims have been saying ad nauseum, but it is frequently dismissed as “Muslim taqiyya.” The Islamophobes are constantly saying that the violence seen in some Muslim areas and communities is indicative of Islam’s DNA, to use Philip Jenkins’, the author of Jesus Wars, term. But an outsider, a scholar of Christian history, says the same thing.

Bill Maher, in his film “Religilous,” had a number of Muslims in his film, and when he asked them about the violence done in the name of Islam, they all said, “Politics.” He made it seem like they were all conspiring to say the same thing, that there are political and other motivations behind the violence done in Islam’s name, in order to “hoodwink” non-Muslims. Well, Jenkins seems to vindicate the notion that in many cases, the violence done by Muslims is not because of Islam, per se, but of “particular social and political circumstances.”

This is not to excuse the acts of violence done in the name of Islam…far from it. Islam demands that I stand up against any evil and speak out against any wrong, even if it be against Muslims. And I have tried to do so consistently. But, it is just interesting to read this perspective in a context that is wholly divorced from the issues of Islam and violence: namely the book Jesus Wars. And it further confirms in my mind that those who are constantly attacking Islam as “violent” and “evil” are either completely ignorant of Islam and its history, both ancient and modern, or intellectually dishonest.

Definitely check out his book and buy it. I am loving it already, and it is not because of this paragraph about Islam. It is a genuinely excellent read…and I’m not even done yet!