What comes into your mind’s eye when I say Islam? If you are like the majority of Americans it is a mixture of headlines, stereotypes and all the characteristics we sometimes project upon religions or cultures who seem strange, unlike us and thus provide outlets for our own hidden fears and desires. But of course you are not like the majority are you? Surely your ideas go beyond the dark eyed sheiks, tents and camels of the desert and surely it is not limited to those sad headlines: Islamic terrorists? Surely we know better or do we? Because Islam is so little known in the West we often get to know all about the worst of Islam and know so very little about the best. So we shudder at the treatment of women in Afghanistan and Iran, assume women have no rights or power in Islamic countries. And at the same time we watch Hollywood images like the old TV series I dream of Genie where women are dressed in those see through so called harem pants and men like Rudolf Valentino are dark overpowering seducers. Sex is projected on the other: the dark brown skinned men and women whom we know not know whose language and customs are different from ours and thus they mirror our own fears and desires. Not so long ago a similar image was projected on black men in much of the South. Oh, it is no coincidence. This is one of the few prejudices one can still get by with. My son, whose father, my first husband, is an Iraqi veterinarian and scientist, knows the words well. Sand nigger, camel jockey, dirty Arab was part of his High School experience. Luckily, he was not called those things often; luckily he was not beaten up. He was on the track team and could outrun them. Luckily, he looks sort of Italian and has no accent since he has lived here since he was three years old. But he calls himself Trip at work and not Talal because it is easier. Talal, his given name is too Arab, too Islamic a name for the business world. No, he is not Muslim, but if he was why should that be a problem?
Huston Smith an eminent scholar of religion writes: Of all the non-Western religions, Islam stands closest to the West-closest geographically, and also closest ideologically; for religiously it stands in the Abrahamic family of religions, while philosophically it builds on the Greeks. Yet despite this mental and spatial proximity, Islam is the most difficult religion for the West to understand. "No part of the world," an American columnist has written, "is more hopelessly and systematically and stubbornly misunderstood by us than that complex of religion, culture and geography known as Islam."
How true that is. The crusades, the inquisition, the battle over holy places like Jerusalem, where religious claims clash today, makes a neutral view all but impossible. That some people who claim to Muslims have now committed horrific acts in the name of God makes it all the more important that we understand better what this religion, whose very name means peace, is all about. Of course Muslims have no monopoly on misusing their religion, the Spanish inquisition used to burn people in the name of the gentle and forgiving peacemaker Jesus. He would have been horrified at those acts committed in his name and so would, were he alive today, the prophet Muhammad. For Jihad really means the inner battle between good and evil and wars can only be justly fought in self defense. Christians and Jews are both called people of the book and are not unbelievers. One cannot fight a Jihad against believers. But all these facts can be twisted by those who want to purify and ironically save the world by destroying it with fire.
Islam to me is a kaleidoscope of images and memories that brings back vivid images and memories of my youth, for I spent 6 years in Baghdad Iraq from 1963-69.
When I think of Islam I am 20 years old and I sit in the splendor of the golden domed Kadhumea mosque. I am dressed for respect in my black abaya, a long silk cape that covers my head. Yes, this is one Unitarian Universalist minister who have worn the veil. Over my head are the vaulted ceilings covered in intricate patterns of crystal and mirrors, reflecting the thousand candles below. The walls are blue tile in those intricate flowery and geometric patterns adopted by Islamic architects since, as in Judaism, images are forbidden, haram. Yes, that is the real meaning of that word, forbidden, not a collection of nubile women. Likely early Western visitors were told they could not enter the part of the home where the women lived, it was haram. The traveller’s imagination did the rest. In the center of this mosque, one of the holiest within Shi’ite Islam, where the martyred Hussein, son of Ali, the Prophets cousin is buried, the pilgrims move in a slow circle. They pray around his grave and tie green ribbons to the silver fence that covers it, light candles, cry. Every pilgrim carry a wish, a hope for healing, for inner peace, for a child, for no more children. They come to grieve for their dead and to celebrate weddings. Much as we come here every Sunday. And that is my point. Islam is one path of many we say we honor, a world religion whose truths we seldom, most of us, draw from. Look at our hymnal and see how many selections you find from Islam. And what I want to do today is not just give you a scholarly review of this faith but rather to put a human face on it. What I want to help us see is the core of this faith, the burning flame in the Muslim heart which is to surrender to God, to Allah. No, not to Muhammad for he was a prophet and a man, but to God. And no, not to any Ayatollah either who have taken it upon themselves, as have fundamentalist in other religions, to decide that they alone know God’s will. But I would be amiss if I did not give you at least a basic thumbnail sketch of Islam.
We share the same stories: Genesis, Moses and Jesus with the Koran. Allah, God of the Koran, literally means "the God." And as Huston Smith points out when the masculine plural ending im is dropped from the Hebrew word for God, Elohim, and the two words sounds much alike. God is one.
According to the Koran God created the world. The descendants of Adam led to Noah, who had a son named Shem. This is where the word Semite comes from. Like the Jews, the Arabs consider themselves a Semitic people. But see themselves as descending from Hagar Abraham’s second wife and her son. Ishmael. Sarah, you may remember, demanded that Abraham banish Ishmael and Hagar from the tribe. According to the Koran Ishmael then went to the place where Mecca was to rise. His descendants, flourishing in Arabia, became Muslims; whereas those of Isaac, who remained in Palestine, became Jews. Sad isn’t it, but not uncommon, family feuds are often the most violent.
Islam is about God and Muhammad is considered his messenger. To understand Islam one has to understand Muhammad. He was born into a violent and cruel time. Tribal wars were common and the harsh conditions of the desert made goods scarce. There was little mercy toward the poor or care given to the widowed and orphans left behind by the endless blood feuds. The city government had all but collapsed and Mecca was utterly corrupt. Religion of the time provided no guidelines and no check on the violence. Into this city Muhammad was born and his name means "highly praised" But otherwise his childhood was anything but auspicious.
He grew up fatherless; his mother widowed a few days before his birth. At the age of six he lost his mother too. Then at eight his grandfather who had been taking care of him also died. His uncle’s family then adopted him. The family lost their fortune and as a boy Muhammad watched his uncle’s flocks, was a shepherd. According to tradition his losses made him open to the sufferings of others and he was of an unfailing gentle and sweet disposition. What he saw around him in society though disturbed him deeply.
As a young man he went into the caravan business. There an independent businesswoman Khadija, who soon began to rely on him, employed him. And she did more than that. Despite the age difference, she was 15 years older than him, they fell deeply in love and married. As long as she lived he never looked at another woman. It was during those mostly happy years that he began to seek solitude in a cave near Mecca. And it was during his nightly meditations that he got the call. From the darkness of the cave a voice spoke to him: proclaim! His answer was very human, terrified he said: who me? I am no prophet ! But the voice would not be silent and he at last said: "Proclaim in the name of your God who created man from a clot of blood. Proclaim: Your Creator is the most generous. Who teaches by the pen, teaches man what he knew not. " Muhammad was utterly shaken and went home to Khadija and told her: I am either a prophet or one possessed, gone mad! She calmed and encouraged him and said: You will be the prophet of this people. So he took on that ungrateful role. His message was not received any better than most prophets and he eventually had to flee Mecca.
The year was 622. A new world religion had been born. The migration is regarded by Muslims as the turning point in world history and is the year from which they date their calendar.
Muhammad was a shepherd, merchant, hermit, exile, soldier, lawmaker, prophet-priest-king, and mystic; he was also an orphan, for many years the husband of one wife much older than himself, a many times bereaved father, a widower, and finally the husband of many wives, some much younger than himself. In all of these roles he was exemplary. All this is in the minds of Muslims as they add to the mention of his name the benediction, "Blessings and peace be upon him." But he is not the earthly center of their faith. That place is reserved for the bible of Islam, the Koran.
Literally, the word al-qurSh in Arabic means recitation. And the Koran is perhaps the most recited book in the world. Muslims tend to read the Koran literally. They consider it the earthly facsimile of an Uncreated Koran in almost exactly the way that Christians consider Jesus to have been the human incarnation of God.
If a Muslim were asked to summarize the way Islam counsels people to live, the answer might be: It teaches them to walk the straight path. The phrase comes from the opening surah of the Koran, which is repeated many times in the Muslim's five daily prayers.
In the Name of Allah the Merciful, the Compassionate:
Praise be to Allah, Creator of the worms,
The Merciful, the Compassionate,
Ruler of the Day of Judgment.
Thee do we worship, and Thee do we ask for aid.
Guide us in the straight path,
This straight path has five pillars. The first pillar of Islam is to proclaim your faith. This confession of faith, the Shahadah is one simple sentence: There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet. This phrase must be said slowly and with full understanding at least once. The second pillar is to pray five times a day: on arising, when the sun reaches its zenith, its mid-decline, sunset, and before retiring.
The third pillar of Islam is charity. Material things are important in life, but some people have more than others. Why? Islam is not concerned with this theoretical question. Instead, it turns to the practical issue of what should be done about the disparity. This is one reason this faith has such an appeal to the dispossessed. Islam demands that those who have much should help those who are less fortunate. The Koran prescribed a graduated tax on the rich to relieve the circumstances of the have-nots.
The figure the Koran set for this tax was 2 and one half percent. Modest you might say but this percentage is calculated from all your possessions, house, appliances, cars, stocks, clothing, jewels, everything. Poorer people owe nothing, but those in the middle and upper income brackets should annually distribute among the poor one-fortieth of the value of all they possess.
And to whom should this money be given: those in immediate need; slaves in the process of buying their freedom; debtors unable to meet their obligations; strangers and wayfarers; and those who collect and distribute the alms.
The fourth pillar of Islam is the observance of Ramadan. Ramadan is the month in which Muhammad received his revelation. Able-bodied Muslims fast during Ramadan. From the first moment of dawn to the setting of the sun, neither food nor drink passes their lips; after sundown they may partake in moderation. As the Muslim calendar is lunar, Ramadan rotates around the year. In the heat of the summer, to remain active during the long days without so much as a drop of water is an ordeal.
Why does the Koran require it? For one thing, fasting makes one think, as every Jew who has observed the fast of Yom Kippur will attest. Fasting teaches self-discipline. Human beings, it is said, are as frail as rose petals; nevertheless, they assume airs and pretensions. Fasting calls one back to one's frailty and dependence. Finally, fasting teaches compassion. Only those who have been hungry can know what hunger means.
The fifth pillar is pilgrimage. Those who are able must once in their lifetime make a journey to Mecca and circle the Kaaba, to visit the place where God’s will was revealed through his last prophet. Pilgrimage also involves an enforced equality, women and men become sisters and brothers, everyone dresses in simple garments and princes and paupers walk together.
What do I see when I hear the word Islam? I see a woman’s face, an old weathered face, a brown face, with gentle eyes, a face framed by a black scarf. Her name was Reneeie, which means gazelle, and she was my mother in law. Through the veil of years and memory I still see her kind, worn face. Five times a day she had an appointment with God. The melodic call to prayer would echo the house from the nearby minaret and she would stop whatever she was doing. She would leave the stove, the unwashed vegetables, the dirty clothes which we scrubbed by hand, or hand me back my baby son and go silently to another room. Then she would take off her shoes, wash her face, hands and feet, put a white cotton scarf over her head, roll out her rug and for a few minutes transcend her everyday world as she bowed and knelt, proclaimed her faith, faced Mecca and God. This innocent woman knew no prejudice, this woman who could barely write her name, knew more about human kindness than I can ever hope to do. She embraced me, her son’s foreign wife, a total stranger and did all she could to make me feel at home. She hated no one, understood little about politics, saw the world as a large family, other women of all faiths as allies and children as the purpose of life. Her best friend when she was young was Jewish, the two women were so close that they nursed each others children and later after that family left for Israel and the sixty day war came and the airwaves were full of angry propaganda she had only one concern she just hoped her friend was safe. That was what mattered, the rest politics, governments were of no account. It is this peace maker, this modest pilgrim, for she did at last get to Mecca on a trail ways bus, it is her face I see, when someone says Islam. She was a Shi’ite Muslim. Who helped a home sick Dane like me put up a Christmas tree so I would feel better. And yes, she died after the Gulf war because of the sanctions when she could not get her heart medicine. So around me do not ever say that all Shi’ite Muslims advocate violence. I know better.
And yes, of course there are genuine good people in all religions and yes, my view of Islam has grown beyond those early impressions. And yes, there are many things in the Koran, just as in the bible with which I do not agree. Mostly the legal parts, laws that were progressive for the times but become repressive some 1400 years later. And yet, beyond the scholarly studies somehow it is that glimpse of a transcendent God, that made her face glow with peace and solace, it is that merciful Allah, sadly veiled by politics, fundamentalists and reactionary interpretations of the Koran, it is that God that I still see in Islam. There is a saying, that she taught me, that paradise is found under the feet of the mothers. And that a veil we cannot remove separates God’s face from us. Allah to her was a refuge. God as solace and balm for human suffering. This is a God I can understand. This is the peace I see at the heart of Islam.