Inspiration for this little bit of wisdom: another set-to about the God of Judaism and the God of Islam — or depictions, expressions, instructions, etc. seemingly attached to the construction or perception (in mind, of course) of each.
And God must have put us here to prove how right we are about God.
Something like all of that plus the bloody historical baggage that has been dragged through time with that kind of thinking.
Ethnolinguistic cultures on earth: about 7,000 (fewer, actually).
There are many ways of looking up at the stars and experiencing or interpreting the divine.
In the Torah, God hears Ishmael’s cries too.
The more true challenge of the present lies in handling the habits attending medieval politics and worldviews that better account for turning something we cannot know — God, as we think of God, is greater than our observational capabilities — into something we think we know.
Judaism represents the Tribal Way of the Hebrews, an old People with a calendar to prove it and a distinct trail through time planted on or in the earth in built space or artifacts. Rather than mosey on to other civilizational uptake, adaptation, and competition, it might prove healthier to visit the present, take a deep breath, and have both a broad and long view backward, the better perhaps for considering and taking the next step forward.
Having given up the burning of witches and largely ejected “contra-lateral amputation” as inhumane (although there are some barbaric, malignant, primitive, and sadistic holdouts), we might do better than eternally trying to erase one another.
Call it a plea for peacefulness momentarily enshrined in a blog post . . . also a plea to perhaps stand together for a broad and great gaze backward from this extraordinary plateau in human communicating and social interaction — and then: think fresh; think forward; think next.
The “New Nationalists” — there’s a term that’s getting around — are old feudal reactionaries. Each — start with Erdogan in his White Palace — means to live as if in a castle socially surrounded by nobility and attended by peons and slaves.
BackChannels hopes they will one day find themselves left floating in their own blood-dimmed and greed-soaked clouds and the better world, broadly inclusive, culturally self-sustaining (we should be concerned with keeping and growing our 7,000 or so living language cultures), earth conscious, still in awe of the universe, and beautifully interwoven will look back on them with a shudder.
The prompt: an account of a conversation in which Deist prophets were characterized as representing human perfection as provided by God Almighty Himself.
Judaism separates God and His powers from man absolutely. The theme is recurring in the Torah, starting, perhaps, with the masking off of the Tree of Life from Adam and Eve and moves on to Pharaoh in his political hubris and Moses with his stuttering but divinely guided diplomacy, as it were, and on to the “Binding of Isaac” where God sets out to “prove Abraham” but whether for blind obedience or the possession of conscience (should not Abraham have spoken “truth to power”) we are left to argue.
The Roman and Arab uptake of Judaic lore bends content toward the evolving cultural behaviors of each and semi-idolatry, however dressed, becomes part of our bloody medieval merry-go-round (perhaps the idea should be labeled “horror-go-round”) in the conflation of religion with political power.
Whether divinely imparted or wisely composed, the First Commandment would seem most well chosen.
There must be differences between being revered or thought holy and being regarded as God’s perfect expression of humanity.
I think God forbid Jews that option at the very start of the instructions, so as to eliminate too great an idolatry for either any one leader and the leader’s followers.
The prompt: in relation to anti-Semitism, a statement suggesting Muslims, in general, know little about Islam, and anti-Semitic sentiment in Islam relates directly to the conflict in the middle east.
Religious identification serves as a powerful discriminator and tool for the purposes of leadership in the medieval world, and for some portion of the “Ummah”, small or large, the bond of Muslim identification against the Jew serves to sustain anti-Semitic thought wherever that may be promoted to serve the interests of leaders or spoilers for power.
While the notion that in some general way Muslims know nothing about Islam would seem to confront multiple cultural histories of written clerical thought largely expounding on Qur’an, Hadith, and Sunnah, much of which may indeed have been self-serving — or serving the subscriptions of noted institutions or scholars. In the medieval world, much of power would be suspended between the church (mosque, or temple), then seats of education, and political authority whose legitimacy rested on convincing clerical validation (predicated on beliefs installed).
The “Educated Modern” has a much widened field of view as regards phenomenology associated with psychology, religion, and spirituality. We’re aware of the world’s approximately 7,000 living languages and associated ethnolinguistic cultures; we’re aware of the histories of religions “across the campus”; perhaps most importantly, we’re aware of our own foibles. 🙂 The modern may face some puzzles as regards the perpetuation of the medieval suite of opposed and similar philosophies, but first on the agenda should be the question of how to bring forward those living in the medieval world.
One may practically skip church with that kind of Sunday morning sermonette.
However,the world’s educated and dedicated or leisured may support their “team”, the same have also access to a sophisticated awareness of their rivals plus awareness and knowledge sufficient to sink everyone’s ship: the good must ask wherever there is conflict what the fighting is about.
BackChannels simple answer to that question: power.
And there follows a question: medieval or modern?
“Medieval v Modern” has been chatted up quite on this blog, so I’ll spare ye another ramble.
I would accept the validity of the interest in religion, not the laws, policies, or practices promoted in the interest of its related fascism.
Even Pakistan has differentiated itself from Islam in its “realpolitik” law.
As regards reform — i.e., an end to Islamic supremacism, supersession, bigotry regarding others, barbaric advisement — YES!
Intellectualized Islam — e.g., Qanta Ahmed and others who bring a modern sensibility to Qur’anic ambiguity and move away from the supremacist mark, much preferring “no compulsion”.
Heretical Islam — e.g., M. Zuhdi Jasser and others in the Islamic Reform Movement who prefer contemplation and worship to “political Islam” and related militancy.
Renewal Through Reinterpreting Translation (goodbye Pickthall) and narrowed focus on the Qur’an — the claimed “word of God” — so as to diminish the merely mortal factor in the receiving of the Qur’an.
If any should think up other Islamic Reform options, let me know.
There is a greater and more challenging anachronism in the persistence of medieval worldviews about God and about power in a modern day that requires for greater wealth and security and the wider distribution of both plus justice a greater cooperation and integrity in global social relationships.
Apparently, if one is not close to a monk or priest (or perhaps a recluse with a library), one may be in danger of trusting an untrustworthy friend.
Note: one might ask whether caliphs, kings, and emperors are not inherently arrogant in their assumptions of power over all others, and therefore particularly sensitive to arrogance in those whom they would subjugate.
Compact between shaman and chief and cleric and king spans the ages but may not be a permanent feature in humanity’s intellectual and political evolution. That may be something to think about in the experience of language, both in political rhetoric and in scripture (no matter to whom the words belong), and that of power as dominion over others.
The region of the Qur’an cited, 5:82 and 5:83 presents in English through several well-remarked translations — and of a standard four — Asad, Malik, Pickthall, and Yusuf Ali — the conveyances of none would seem as sweet as the statement quoted as the prompt.
One thought attending the description of “men devoted to learning” and “who have renounced the world and are not arrogant” is that such men would seem less than challenging to martial or political power and therefore dismissible by any speaker intent on monopolizing and wielding such power.
If thou woulds’t be apostle, caliph, king, or emperor would though not note the sweetness of the complete and grateful surrender of thine greatest potential resistance?
Given that question and thought, one might appreciate attempts at transitional revisionism.
Defiance! The word is not a bad one when it comes to religion. Because it is on the heels of many, an act of defiance that religion has become healthier, stronger, more tolerant, and certainly more enjoyable. Martin Luther hammered his edict into a wooden door, and the empire of the Catholic Church was shaken. Colonists fled Europe. Their defiance against the belief that the state had any right to meddle in the private worship of the citizen proved a powerful motivation to escape. Resistance against government constraint of private acts of worship caused them to load onto their wooden ships and set sail. The Mayflower Compact sprang to life at Plymouth Rock, and the giant-hearted turned their faces into the harsh wind. Some shivered and died from the cold, while other starved to death in Jamestown. But the strength in their bones carried fires of conviction into the marrow of their future generations.
Defiance. America remains a powerful societal example today because of acts of religious defiance.
Wasatia is a movement that advocates achieving peace and prosperity through the promotion of a culture of moderation that would walk away from the current climate of religious and political extremism that escalates fear and violence. Wasatia claims the centrist position—that balance, between passion and hate, between amity and enmity, between deep despair and false hope, would lead the Middle East out of its chronic conflict and despair.
Wasatia name derives from the term wasatan which appears in verse 143 of al-Baqarah Surah in the Holy Quran. The term wasatia in Arabic means center and middle. In the Holy Quran it means “justice, moderation, balance and temperance.” The word wasat appears in verse 143 of the second chapter, which is 286 verses long, so it appears exactly in the middle. The verse says: “And We have created you a middle ground (moderate) nation” or “a centrist ummah [community].” The passage demonstrates that the need to be moderate and temperate is a central message within Islam.
Wasatia addresses all aspects of life: the way you eat, the way you dress, the way you spend money. Those of us in the movement interpret this to indicate justice, balance, moderation, middle ground, centrism, and temperance. In studying other faiths, particularly Judaism and Christianity, it becomes clear that they too uphold the same values, thus offering fertile ground for inter-faith understanding and peaceful co-existence.
But it’s not merely moderation as a religious principle that should replace the radicalizing rhetoric of militant extremists. It is at its core a deeply human principle, a willingness to see those on the other side of the conflict not as “the enemy” but as fellow human beings, shaped by different histories but all looking towards the day when they can live in peace and security.
This belief may seem an incongruous attitude, coming as it does from someone who, as a Palestinian university student in the humiliating aftermath of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, espoused guerilla warfare as the only possible way to achieve justice for his people. But then I left to pursue post-graduate studies, first in England and then the United States. It was an enlightening experience. Viewing the situation from a distance and with new knowledge, I came to reject any notion of violence as an answer to the problem.
Later personal experiences strengthened my belief that at a human level, where bigotry and hatred are replaced by moderation, empathy, and understanding, there exists a common desire for peaceful accommodation.
In late 2006, during the month of Ramadan, I observed from the balcony of my house, which overlooked the Dahiet al-Barid/Ram Checkpoint in East Jerusalem, a situation that had the potential to escalate into violent confrontation. Hundreds of Palestinians from the West Bank were trying to pass into Jerusalem to pray in al-Haram al-Sharif and al-Aqsa Mosque. The Israeli soldiers pushed them back and threw tear gas grenades at them, but to no avail. I was waiting for gunfire to erupt when quite quickly the volatile standoff appeared to have been defused. I soon discovered that the leading officer had agreed to a compromise. Buses were arranged to take the Palestinians, who agreed to hand over their ID cards, into Jerusalem to pray. Afterwards the buses brought them back to the checkpoint where their cards were returned.
It struck me as very significant that these Palestinians, religious though they clearly were, favored a negotiated solution. Had they been extremists, they would have escalated the event in the hope of precipitating a violent clash that could then be used to further their narrative of a demonic Israeli enemy. On their part, the Israelis recognized the Muslim faithful for what they were, religious yet moderate people. This in turn prompted me to ask myself who represents such religious moderates in Palestine and, as a response, to found Al Wasatia.
I believe that part of the religious animosity problem is related to ignorance—both about our own religion and that of the ‘other’. Religion has played a big role in agitating the conflict to date, and I believe it is time that religion becomes a catalyst in resolving it. Many Muslims don’t know very much about Judaism or Christianity, and what many of them know about Islam is distorted. Interfaith dialogue helps to dispel stereotypical images, myths, and misperceptions. In any conflict, religious peace is a prerequisite for a sustainable political peace.
Achieving our goals will take time, probably a long time, because it involves overcoming the malevolent influence of the religious militants, their distorted interpretation of the Qur’an, and the deeply ingrained attitudes and prejudices thus engendered, particularly among the poor, young, and uneducated. But it’s no good standing by and doing nothing—not when we are confident that our message of moderation is the key to a much brighter future for all sides.
Mohammed S. Dajani Daoudi, the founder of the Wasatia Movement of Moderate Islam, is also the inaugural Weston Fellow at The Washington Institute. He previously worked as a professor of political science at al-Quds University in Jerusalem and served a visiting fellow at the Institute in 2012.