Engaging with Islam’s Various Faces

Engaging with Islam’s Various Faces

By the Rev. Loren Fox

We have heard about Islam, mosques, and freedom of religion a whole lot lately. Much of that conversation has been energized with passions and fears. In light of it all, I find myself really torn by the whole discussion about Islam and the Church’s response. Let me be clear it is fair to be confused by Islam, even concerned by it.

Most of us do not know the difference between Sunni, Shia and Sufi Muslims, or how to read the Quran or each Hadith. In the midst of the current conversation, I offer my own perspective. My experience of Islam is very different than what I most often see in the media here in the US--for two key reasons. First, my experience with Islam really began in Southeast Asia where the Muslims see themselves differently than those in the Middle East.

Second, and more importantly, my focus in Southeast Asia was to share the Good News of Jesus with Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and Freethinkers alike. As a result, I am fascinated by the variety of expressions of Islam. There the three main schools, Sunni, Shi’ite and Sufi—which have protestant, catholic and charismatic qualities. They also have their own progressives, secularists, fundamentalists, off-shoots, and cults.

Furthermore, I have a deep assurance that Islam does not stand up well to the witness of Jesus Christ. I have been blessed to see Muslims come to faith in Jesus when believers in Jesus have lived out their faith with humility and boldness. Quite simply, the Gospel is far more attractive and satisfying than the Quran. The single most important observation that I can share about the diversity within Islam is simply that Islam is not united; it is in fact much divided. In Malaysia, there is a huge political and spiritual battle going on among the Malay Muslims to define what Islam is.

The party in power has been known for decades as a conservative Islamic party--but the opposition has tried to stake a position to the right in favor of Fundamentalist Islam. The ruling party has countered not by claiming to be moderate but insisting on a Progressive or National Islam (Islam Hadhari). The philosophy of al-Ghazali, who lived in the 1100’s during Islam’s golden age, is key to this National Islam. Thus the debate from both parties is to stake out what they believe to be the real Islam or the best Islam for Malaysia today.

For the time being the majority of the Malays have favored Islam Hadhari over the Fundamentalist Islam. How can Islam be debating what is Islam? The doctrine of abrogation states that not all portions of the Quran are equal, more specifically, that some, usually later, passages have authority over earlier passages. (Likewise, the Quran is understood to abrogate or supercede the Bible which the Quran also teaches is revealed by God.) Rather than generating consensus, this doctrine actually encourages different teachers to assert that their teaching is better than other versions and to compete for supremacy.

Thus Osama Bin Laden has tried to one-up the Faud royal family in Saudi Arabia who follow the very austere school of Wahhabism--while Indonesia's Muslims, in spite of all their divisions, have stood aghast at and opposed to the violence of Bin Ladin and the Jemaah Islamiyah which bombed Bali a year after 9/11 and two more hotels in Jakarta a year after that. Indonesia, the largest Islamic country in the world, like Malaysia, has opted for a different more civil Islam: the current president has recently been re-elected over the more fundamentalist candidates.

The debate over the identity and meaning of Islam remains lively in Southeast Asia and the world. The amazing thing in the midst of all of this however is the opportunity for the Church to show Jesus Christ to Indonesians, Malays, Iranians, Kurds, Baluchi, Urdu, Iraqi, Saudi and other Muslim peoples--and to see many coming to faith in Jesus, and discovering the joy of the Spirit for themselves. In the Baluchi mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan, many are turning to follow Jesus specifically because they are disenchanted with all the fighting between the various imams and sects.

In Saudi Arabia, women and children are coming to faith in Jesus because of the witness of the believing Philipina maids who care for the children. In Indonesia, the Christian schools are usually left untouched even though some Churches are burnt to the ground. The Muslims want to protect the schools where they send their children and even allow them to go for special events on Sunday.

In Bangladesh, there are villages where so many are coming to faith, including the imams, that they have begun to preach the way of Jesus in the mosques. I still do not know how best to engage the conversation here in the US—but I will continue to pray for Muslims around the world that they will discover the joy of following Jesus. Many Muslims are looking for a good Islam that speaks to their own lives, and I rejoice that many will discover that the best way to serve God is to follow Jesus.

An excellent resource is the Bridges DVD series, which is produced by the Crescent Project. You can find details at www.crescentproject.org.

Loren Fox+ , rector of Church of Our Savior, Palm Bay, served as a missionary with Anglican Frontier Missions in Southeast Asia for more than seven years, and continues to remain active in cross-cultural ministry and networks locally and internationally.