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Having been an active member of Muslim/Presbyterian dialogues for almost a decade, I have watched these conversations evolve from a genuine desire to understand one another to something else entirely.

We now seem to consist of a small group of Muslim men, most from India, who seek only to instruct the rest of us in the ways of the Koran. The rest of the Muslims from every Muslim country in the world, except Indonesia, who came in earlier years have dropped away.

There is a genuine desire on the part of the Protestants who attend these dialogues to become friends with the Muslims in our midst, but they too are dropping away complaining that the Muslims dominate the conversations with their own agenda, and that there is no real dialogue anymore that seeks mutual understanding.

A couple of years ago we joined with Methodists to hold a joint Protestant/Muslim women's retreat. What a wonderful difference from talking with the Muslim men who are the only ones who engage in "dialogues." The women were forthright, cheerful, outspoken with us and each other. Above all, they listened as much as they spoke. The Protestant women were thrilled and would like to hold another one.

If we are to gain any understanding among Muslims and Christians, it may be up to the women to lead the way. We know what the men have done. Now it's time for the women to stand up and be counted in working toward peace among us.
--R. Z. Halleson

 

The Crisis of Islamic Civilization

by Ali A. Allawi

A book review by R. Z. Halleson

Anyone who reads this book will likely come away from the experience with mixed feelings. Certainly I did. On the one hand I learned a great deal about the Muslim worldview that was helpful in my understanding of Islam. There was much about the history of Islamic theology and the major players who had a hand in shaping it. In much of the discussion, the reader could almost substitute the word Christianity for the word Islam in Allawi's accounts of the development of this great religion as the two share so many commonalities.

On the other hand, the author has written what becomes by the end of the book a bitter lament of how Islam manifests itself today. Allawi does what so many thinkers do who perceive that they are part of a minority. He measures his situation by the situation of the majority. In this case, he measures the Muslim world by the achievements and foibles of the "West" and the modernity it is relentlesly spreading throughout the world.

Christian believers think that Islam should be seen, not as a political entity, but as a religion as Christianity understands itself, but this is not how Islam views itself. Islam sees itself as a totality in its relationship to the Divine where every aspect of existence bows before the one God who created us all. Where Christianity has made its peace with "being in the world but not of the world" and promotes the separation of church and state (in the United States at least), Islam recognizes that all of Creation is of God and must be seen as such.

This is where Allawi really struggles in this book and at times seems to be speaking out of both sides of his mouth, sometimes saying one thing and at other times implying the opposite. So much that claims to be Islamic today has been seduced by the desire for power, for material wealth, or by the belief that violence will bring Islam onto the world stage as a major player among nations. While he attempts to understand how this came about, blaming the West as much as he blames Islam itself, he doesn't hold out much hope for traditional Islam where the individual and society seek to do the will of Allah in every aspect of life.

Christianity never had such a dream and instead emphasizes an individual's inner commitment to God that assumes the responsibility to work together in community to better the situation of people throughout the world, all the while recognizing that no Utopian society will be perfected, but nevertheless must be continually worked toward because that is what God requires of us.

Perhaps these two worldviews are what should be discussed in the many Muslim/Christian Dialogues that are taking place these days. We have so very much to learn from each other. After all, the core message that God has given through his chosen prophets throughout the ages is the same. It is consistent. We know what that is. Now we only have to discover it in ourselves and in each other.

In the name of Allah/Yahweh/God,
the Merciful, the Compassionate

 

 

© 2009 R. Z. Halleson & Associates