USA: ISLAM'S IMAGE TO AMERICAN CHRISTIANS, IT'S JUST PLAIN WRONG

The trouble with American Christians’ image of Islam
By Rob Asghar

The “clash of civilisations” may dissipate when the West’s hawks recognise that their worst fears lie not in their imagination but their memory.

Picture Europe under siege by anti-democratic zealots. Picture a militant religious leader calling for the destruction of Europe’s Jewish communities. Picture a Talebanesque theocracy arising in a major European centre.

Given that this is no dark fantasy but simply a recollection of Europe during a Protestant Reformation that was reputedly a highlight of Western civilisation, a war of civilisations seems merely a jingoistic myth.

Frustrated by President George Bush’s relative moderation and willingness to call Islam a “religion of peace”, right-wing American pundits, historians and religious leaders increasingly portray Islam as an irredeemably violent menace.

They cite the Arab street’s anger at Danish cartoons and its hostility to Israeli policies as evidence that any attempt to “make nice” with it constitutes feckless appeasement. They celebrate that the new Pope is more belligerent in asserting the superiority of Western civilisation than his more repentant and reconciling predecessor.

Yet what should we make of a Western giant such as Martin Luther? When he wasn’t condemning the Pope as the Antichrist or insisting that popular rule is incompatible with Christianity, he raged against other targets.

“Now just behold these miserable, blind, and senseless people,” he wrote in 1543 in one of his lesser-known books, “The Jews & Their Lies”. In a manner that would fuel generations of German anti-Semitism, Luther advised his countrymen to burn synagogues and raze Jewish homes, “in honour of our Lord and of Christendom”.

Meanwhile, in Geneva, under the influence of the brilliant theologian John Calvin, blasphemy and unbelief often led to being burned or hanged. Paintings and statues of religious figures — even reverential works — were as forbidden as any caricature of a Muslim prophet. Dancing was a jail-worthy offence, as was immodest hair with women.

As Bush would say, these pillars of Western civilisation hated the freedoms that we enjoy.
American evangelicals rationalise the lapses of Protestantism’s greatest leaders in light of historical issues or the prevailing culture of that era, sixteen centuries after Christ. They are far less charitable regarding Muslims’ foibles 1,400 years into their own journey of faith.

American evangelicals can view their religion as peaceful — despite believing in the absolute authority of a Bible whose god directed his people to take conquered women as plunder (a true family values conundrum).

In Deuteronomy 20, God also instructs his followers thus: “In the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.” That includes livestock.

And he directs his people to besiege their neighbours but not their neighbours’ fruit trees — because the fruit trees have more value.

The same evangelicals who believe that such words were a direct revelation of God’s desires insist that relatively milder passages in the Koran are a sign of Islam’s inferiority.

They and their right-wing peers are rightly bothered when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad publicly claims that not as many Jews were killed in the holocaust as has been reported. Yet they neglect that Luther contended in his own day that too few Jews were being killed for his taste, writing: “We are at fault in not slaying them.” Still, Luther remains a symbol of Western achievement.

American hawks often declare that the slightest criticism of Israeli policies is tantamount to loving Hitler. Yet they are spiritual descendants of Europe’s anti-Semites, though they now claim to jealously protect Jewish people while grasping for a new, politically acceptable substitute for their rage.

A visit to the Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem reminds visitors today that, before Ahmadinejad or Luther, Muslims protected Jews in the Holy Land — whereas Crusaders typically massacred any Jews they could find en route to and in Jerusalem.

While moderate Muslim leaders such as Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah nudge embittered citizenries to see the benefits of a productive relationship with the West, right-wing American pundits who condemn Islam are polarising American and Mideastern populations into war positions.

In light of the West’s own follies, Americans would do well to extend to Christianity’s younger sibling, Islam, a bit of what is supposed to be Christianity’s essence: grace.

The Pakistani-American writer is based in Los Angeles. He contributed this article to The Jordan Times.


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1) The trouble with American Christians’ image of Islam