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June 2008
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Islam in our Parish Hall
By Allan Whittow

Islam was first up in the ‘Sharia and Shalom’ series, sensitively introduced by the Revd Alwin Samuel, a fourth generation Christian from Pakistan who now leads Islamic understanding and liaison in the diocese of Oxford. Like Judaism and Christianity, Islam worships the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so to some extent we are ‘joined at the hip’, but other fundamental beliefs make these three religions hard to reconcile.
Islam is the most recent; their Year 1 is our AD 622.

Islam’s key beliefs
Islam is Arabic for ‘submission’, and is based on six key beliefs:
  1. There is One God – Allah in Arabic: to show him disrespect is unforgivable.
  2. Angels, including Gabriel, are there to record everything we do.
  3. The Prophets, include Isaac, Jacob, King David, Jesus and Muhammed – the ultimate prophet.
  4. Sacred Books include the Qu'ran (a.k.a. Koran) and others, about 100 in all, which are the verbatim words of God (in Arabic).
  5. The Last Day of judgment/ resurrection, whose approach will be heralded by 25 signs.
  6. The Decrees of Allah carry his authority and are therefore good .
Several of us were surprised to hear the Qu'ran gives good coverage to Jesus and Mary. Judaism and Islam both recognise the historical Jesus, but neither accept that he is the Christ/ Messiah, let alone the Son of God. So while a casual glance at Middle Eastern politics might make one think Judaism and Islam have the widest gulf of the three Abrahamic religions, it is Jesus who is theologically the most obvious odd man out - or more strictly the odd God out, since it is his divinity, not his humanity, which is their main stumbling block.

Five pillars of observance
Every believer's Islamic observance is based on five pillars:
  1. Affirmation of Islamic beliefs – aloud, in Arabic.
  2. Prayer – ritual repetitions after washing: some 95% of Muslims pray five times a day.
  3. Alms giving – both zakat, their share to keep their mosque running, and exceptionally sadaqa for extra projects which bring honour and merit to the giver.
  4. Fasting during daylight hours during the month of Ramadan.
  5. Making the Haaj pilgrimage to Mecca at least once.
Complete submission / observance is a feature of Islam: popular discussion of theology or spirituality is rare not merely because political or philosophical debate does not thrive in many of the countries where Islam is a majority, but also because it is considered no translation can fully reflect the connotations and ambiguities inherent in the actual words of God, so many non-Arab Muslims cannot read or understand the scriptures they recite. There are however differences of emphasis and detail between different sects, e.g. Sunni and Shia.

Understanding and respect
Our questions naturally focussed on allegedly uncompromising Islamic viewpoints, but Alwin Samuel countered with his personal experience of great gentleness and generosity shown by Muslims to Christians, e.g. one who publicly welcomed into his home as guests a Christian family facing an unfriendly crowd.

The media are always drawn to the most vivid emotions of any organisation, for example their fascination with those Christians who wish to block the church careers of anglicans who happen to be gay.

Alwin's most positive recommendation is that we progressively develop respect, friendship, openness and unashamed / uncompromising explanation of our own faith and values. He strongly backed Bishop John's welcome of a measure of muezzin or public call to prayer from Oxford's mosque, and, no less, his call for reciprocal tolerance of Christian worship in Islamic countries.

Meanwhile assume every short picture of Islam, including this, is either deliberately selective or at best a drastic simplification. We should be aware that many glib generalisations about Islam will be partisan, consciously or not, and any summary at best a drastic simplification.
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