First Parish Sermon

In thinking about this morning’s sermon I had a strange sense of what Yogi Berra once said: “It’s déjà vu all over again.” I’ve been there and done that too many times in the course of my ministry over the years. I preached about it when Iranian Muslims stormed the U.S. embassy and held American diplomats and envoys hostage for months on end. I preached about it when Ayatollah Khomeini issued a religious decree calling for the death of author Salman Rushdie and his publishers for his novel Satanic Verses because it blasphemed the prophet Mohammed. I preached about it when we went to war, with UN backing, against Saddam Hussein because Iraq invaded Kuwait and threatened to take over the oil reserves in the Middle East. I preached about it when we went to war in Bosnia to protect Albanian Muslims from Yugoslav tyrant, Milosevich. 

Ten years ago, when George Bush senior was President, I was against our taking sides in a dispute between two Islamic countries, but once we did so, I never could understand why we didn’t finish the job and get rid of Saddam. That was because the Saudis, who asked us to establish a base on their soil to protect them from Saddam, preferred we not do so. Saddam, you will remember, played the jihad or holy war card. He said that the infidels had stationed their troops on Islamic holy territory and he called for all Muslims to band together in a holy war against America and the western nations. 
The U.S. has maintained a base in Saudi Arabia ever since to the dismay of Osama bin Ladin and his followers who are once again calling for a holy war against the infidels. It’s déjà vu all over again only more so.

Time and again it seems we have made mistakes and miscalculations in our relations with Islamic nations and cultures. We sided with Saddam and Iraq in their long war with Iran and thought he was our political ally. We were wrong. We supported the Mujadeen and the Taliban against the Soviets in Afghanistan and thought that was the end of it after the Russians pulled out. We were wrong. We keep getting Islamic blow back and now we are at war again. What have we gotten ourselves into?  How do we get from jihad to salaam, from holy war to peace? How can we appreciate the religion of Islam when we keep getting burned by its fanatical representatives? 

First of all, we need to educate ourselves about one of the great world faiths that has more representatives than any other religion except Christianity. There are more Muslims in this country than UU’s and Episcopalians, and they may already outnumber Jews in America. We’d better learn to make peace with our neighbors and fellow citizens. Most Americans know next to nothing about Islam and confuse it with Hinduism and Sikhism. Arab Americans are being discriminated against, threatened and even killed for no other reason than their being Arab or Muslim. Acting out of ignorance, hate and fear is no solution. Tolerance, understanding, mutual respect and appreciation are what is needed.

It is helpful for Americans to know that there are less strident versions of Islam in the world than that portrayed and popularized by Islamic fundamentalist extremists. To characterize Islam as a militaristic faith is no more accurate than to characterize Christianity as a militaristic religion based on the action of Christians during the Crusades. Both Christianity and Islam have some pretty violent chapters in their history. But it is not fair to judge the whole book by the worst chapters.

What are we to make of all this talk about jihad or holy war? Islamic scholars say that to describe "jihad" simply as a "holy war" applying to conflict in battle both trivializes and misinterprets the term. The term jihad derives from the Arabic word "tujahiduna", meaning, "to strive." A more accurate translation of "jihad" is "striving toward excellence," or a "supreme effort to fulfill the will of God," which may be achieved through "fasting, prayer and striving for justice." Jihad can be both internal and external. It is a struggle to overcome evil and actualize goodness within oneself, to become a better person, and also the ongoing work and struggle to establish justice and make a better world through support of worthy social causes. Yes, it can apply to circumstances of fighting and war, but only for defensive reasons involving a direct threat to Islam. 

Islam has been characterized as a religion of the sword. It is true that Mohammed was a religious prophet, political administrator and military leader all in one and that he and his future followers conquered the Arab world and much of the West till they were eventually driven out of Spain. But as rulers they were tolerant of other faiths, much more so than Christian rulers ever were. It is interesting to note that when Spain was ruled by Islamic Moors religious tolerance was permitted for Christians, Jews and Muslims, the reason being that Mohammed himself taught, “there must be no compulsion in religion.” He told his followers, “If God had pleased He would have made all humankind people of one religion. But he has done otherwise, that He might try you in that which He has severally given to you: wherefore, press forward in good works. Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion.” When Christian militia drove the Moors out of Spain that was the end of religious tolerance. Muslims were killed and Jews were forced to convert to Christianity or face exile or death.

Muslims have a deep appreciation for the religious traditions and scriptures of Judaism and Christianity. They recognize Moses and the Hebrew prophets and Jesus to be forerunners and revealers of God's truth to previous times. They even believe that Jesus had a miraculous birth and was the Messiah, but they do not believe that he was divine or part of the Godhead. The revelation of God to Mohammed in the Koran is considered to be the last and final revelation of God to the Arabs and through the Arabs for all peoples who will receive it. We forget that not all Arabs are Muslims, and that not all Muslims are Arabs. In fact, Arabs do not even constitute a majority of Islamic adherents in the world today. They come from all races and cultures.

The God of the Koran is very much akin to the Old Testament deity of judge, lawgiver, and sometimes the One who leads his followers into battle. God is described in the Koran as merciful and compassionate, but He is also a stern taskmaster. Islamic theology is very fatalistic. God has set and determined all things. On Judgment Day He will be merciful to all believers and will send infidels and unbelievers to the fires of hell. Human freedom is an illusion though we are all judged by our actions and deeds. 
This is not a God that would appeal to most Unitarian Universalists, even though God is One and not Three in One as in the Trinity.

Muslims recite the declaration that "there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet." UU’s would agree that Mohammed was fully human and a great religious leader, but we would not agree that he was the last and final of God's appointed prophets, and certainly not the greatest. Though Mohammed was himself human and fallible, and not to be worshiped as some Christians worship Jesus, his book or revelation, the Koran, is considered absolute and infallible, much as Christian fundamentalists consider the Bible. Mohammed was probably illiterate, but his followers memorized or transcribed his revelations after his death into the Koran, which means "recitation." 

The Koran was received and written in Arabic and is very difficult to translate into other languages. Muslims consider only the original Arabic version of the Koran to be the authoritative revelation of God. There were a number of different versions of the Koran after Mohammed’s death. But soon thereafter one of his closest followers was appointed the task of compiling a single definitive version, which was then declared absolute and infallible. All the other versions were destroyed. That is why there has never been a tradition of comparative historical Scriptural criticism in Islam. As UU’s we would find it difficult to accept that a fallible human being could be the source of an infallible divine revelation, and that another fallible human being could determine which of the various versions of this revelation is to be considered the one and only infallible and authoritative text.

Muslims have a proud historical heritage of scientific and intellectual achievements from the 7th to the 16th centuries. Arab scholars were the first to translate Plato and Aristotle and to make their philosophical thought available to the west. They developed new theories of geologic formation of metals, magnetism, and the astrolabe. They developed the science of mathematics giving to the world the Arabic numerals and the decimal system. They developed trigonometry and algebra. 

They published geographic encyclopedias, including the first complete map of the Eurasian continent, inspiring Columbus to explore the globe. They wrote authoritative works in medicine and pharmacology. They discovered the use of the pendulum and made clocks long before they were used in Europe. They developed the use of public sanitation in the 9th and 10th centuries 700 years before Christian Europe realized it was important to take a bath. They discovered nebulae in the stars, nitrate of silver and sulphuric acid. They wrote great stories and poetry from The Thousand and One Nights to The Rubaiyyat of Omar Khayyam. 

The Islamic philosopher, Averroes said, "The most sublime homage that can be offered to God is to know His work." And so Islamic scholars and philosophers set out to do just that. They prepared the way for the Christian Renaissance of the west, but unfortunately never had one of their own. As noted by William Pfaff in the CHRISTIAN CENTURY:
Despite its brilliant intellectual, as well as political-military accomplishments from the 8th century to the late Middle Ages, Islam never reconciled religion with secular thought, as Christianity did when Aquinas reconciled Greek philosophy and science (transmitted to the West by the Arabs themselves) with a Christian rationalism. Islam never had its (Protestant) Reformation or anything comparable to Europe's Renaissance or Enlightenment. Its science and technology, more advanced than the West's in the Middle Ages, never made the transition to modern empirical science and modern industrial technology.

And, I would add, to modern western democracy. One of the reasons for this cultural lag is the difference in views regarding the relationship of religion and the state. The predominant view, which has emerged in the West, is that of the separation of church and state, derived from the Puritans and enshrined in our constitution and Bill of Rights. For most Muslims religion and politics are two sides of the same coin. Mohammed was himself prophet and commander, preacher and soldier, Imam and magistrate, and the Koran lays down laws for the order of society. Radical Muslims want to reconstruct the unity of religion and politics as modeled by their founder and find the secular accomplishments and democratic ideals of the west a threat to their way of life. 

There is, of course, resentment over the establishment and expansion of the state of Israel which they view as supported by American policy and which they see as blind to legitimate Arab interests and concerns. However, as news columnist, William Pfaff, states, "The political fault-line of modern Islamic society is its failure to reconcile Islamic culture with the modern West. How can Muslims (he asks) be modern, which is to say, Western (there being as yet no other universal form of modernism) and be faithful to their religion at the same time?" A successful answer to that question, says Pfaff, is as important to the West as it is to Islam. And today it is more critical than ever. 

We live, whether we like it or not, in a global village. No nation or people, religion or culture, can any longer live in a cocoon in isolation from the rest of the world, and seal itself off from the exchanges of thought and commerce, which such a world demands. 

It is in our interest, and the interest of the world at large, that Islam's conflict and struggle with modern western culture be as peaceful and nonviolent as possible. It will take a great deal of reason, patience and tolerance on our part, and a willingness to appreciate the universal and humane values, which are part of Islamic faith and culture. It must be a painful thing to bear for main stream Muslims to see their faith high-jacked by fanatical extremists who elevate suicidal martyrdom and the killing of the innocent as a guaranteed ticket into paradise. The Koran teaches, “If you kill an innocent person, to God it looks like you are killing all innocent people on earth. If you save an innocent person, it looks to God that you are saving all human life on earth.” 

It pleases me that our UU hymnal has some beautiful prayers from Islamic sources, like this one from a writer named Saadi: “To worship God is nothing other than to serve the people. It does not need rosaries, prayer carpets, or robes. All peoples are members of the same body, created from one essence. If fate brings suffering to one member the others cannot stay at rest.” I prefer to honor and remember the best in Islamic spirituality rather than to let myself be swayed by those who violate the tenets of their own faith.  In the words of Rumi, “Let the beauty we love, be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to knell and kiss the ground.”