Why God and Allah Don't Talk
Sarah Spaulding
Issue date: 10/6/08 Section: News
Many struggle to obtain a profound awareness of Islam and the Middle East.
There have been many myths and beliefs about the Islamic people that have caused collective behaviors and attitudes toward the Middle East.
In this issue, we provide an interview that may bridge the gap between
Islam and the West and help discover cross-cultural commonalities between the
two.
First off, what are the major similarities and differences between Islam, Judaism and Christianity?
Historically they developed in sequence and can be seen as an ongoing expression of monotheism originating in the Middle East. Islam regards itself as the continuation and completion of Judaism and Christianity. Like Judaism, Islam has a very strong emphasis on law, and like Christianity it has a very strong teaching about a judgment day and heaven and hell. Like both religions, Islam has a particular (and to us, familiar) rule of moral and ethical behavior. Additionally, the Qur'an contains many stories from the Bible, so if you look at the Qur'an you have a lot of things that would be familiar to Jews and Christians. As far as differences, the most notable thing would be the exclusive way that each religion regards, or has tended to regard, its scripture. Along these lines, I always find it interesting that students who accept the resurrection of Jesus as a natural fact also regard Islam's account of Muhammad's revelations as far-fetched. Then again, some people have a more tolerant approach.
What causes the conflict between Christians and Muslims?
It comes down to a number of things. First, it's the history of competition for land and power, because as Islam developed it created an empire and all empires spread by force. Islam conquered a tremendous amount of territory in the largely-Christian Byzantine world of the Mediterranean in the 7th and 8th centuries, and very quickly too, and so it presented a serious political threat to Christian Europe. Out of that political challenge there came a lot of religious dispute and rancor, and a long history of polemical attacks from both sides. Later on we have more unpleasant history: the Crusades in the 11th-13th centuries and European imperialism in the 18th-20th centuries, to name just two examples. All of this history has shaped Christian-Muslim relations.I think ultimately the conflict is a combination of political history and religious intolerance: disputes about who has the "correct" version of True Religion. This kind of thinking, which we might call Absolutism, is the cause of a lot of conflict.
There have been many myths and beliefs about the Islamic people that have caused collective behaviors and attitudes toward the Middle East.
In this issue, we provide an interview that may bridge the gap between
Islam and the West and help discover cross-cultural commonalities between the
two.
First off, what are the major similarities and differences between Islam, Judaism and Christianity?
Historically they developed in sequence and can be seen as an ongoing expression of monotheism originating in the Middle East. Islam regards itself as the continuation and completion of Judaism and Christianity. Like Judaism, Islam has a very strong emphasis on law, and like Christianity it has a very strong teaching about a judgment day and heaven and hell. Like both religions, Islam has a particular (and to us, familiar) rule of moral and ethical behavior. Additionally, the Qur'an contains many stories from the Bible, so if you look at the Qur'an you have a lot of things that would be familiar to Jews and Christians. As far as differences, the most notable thing would be the exclusive way that each religion regards, or has tended to regard, its scripture. Along these lines, I always find it interesting that students who accept the resurrection of Jesus as a natural fact also regard Islam's account of Muhammad's revelations as far-fetched. Then again, some people have a more tolerant approach.
What causes the conflict between Christians and Muslims?
It comes down to a number of things. First, it's the history of competition for land and power, because as Islam developed it created an empire and all empires spread by force. Islam conquered a tremendous amount of territory in the largely-Christian Byzantine world of the Mediterranean in the 7th and 8th centuries, and very quickly too, and so it presented a serious political threat to Christian Europe. Out of that political challenge there came a lot of religious dispute and rancor, and a long history of polemical attacks from both sides. Later on we have more unpleasant history: the Crusades in the 11th-13th centuries and European imperialism in the 18th-20th centuries, to name just two examples. All of this history has shaped Christian-Muslim relations.I think ultimately the conflict is a combination of political history and religious intolerance: disputes about who has the "correct" version of True Religion. This kind of thinking, which we might call Absolutism, is the cause of a lot of conflict.
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