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"Religious Radicalism: Right or Wrong?" (an article from the
Christian Research Journal, Winter/Spring 1990, page 16) by Joseph
P. Gudel.
   The Editor-in-Chief of the Christian Research Journal is
Elliot Miller.

-------------

    Frequently in America today, radicalism of any type is viewed
as wrong and even repugnant. People with strongly held beliefs,
especially of the "fundamentalist" sort, are labeled as fanatics or
religious zealots. For many Americans there are no spiritual
absolutes, and thus those with firmly held sacred beliefs are
viewed as spiritual bigots or religious racists.

    This attitude is readily seen in recent cases involving
Christians reacting to the movie _The Last Temptation of Christ_
and Muslims reacting to Salman Rushdie's novel _The Satanic
Verses._[1] For many, the Islamic uproar over _The Satanic Verses_
is essentially no different from how Christians reacted to _The
Last Temptation of Christ. Time_ magazine's February, 1989 cover
story on Salman Rushdie states that "last year's furor over the
Martin Scorsese motion picture _The Last Temptation of Christ_
demonstrated that Christians, particularly those who believe in the
literal interpretation of Scripture, are similarly sensitive about
fictional portrayal of the sacred, though their protest _generally
takes less violent forms"_ (emphasis added).[2]

    Other leading journalists, news commentators, editorialists,
and so on, have written similar critiques, all suggesting that the
Muslim world's fanatical response to _The Satanic Verses_ was
horrendous but essentially no different from "fundamentalist"
Christians who objected to _The Last Temptation of Christ._ One
commentator said that "before casting stones at our Islamic
brothers, we should first take a look at our own country. If we're
honest we'll cringe at what we see...there is a difference between
the two situations, but it is only a matter of degree. In
principle, both groups preach the same message: intolerance of
views other than their own and a lack of understanding of the
importance of free speech."[3]

    Such critiques are based, however, on an ignorance of the
teachings of both Christianity and Islam. The ways in which
Christians and Muslims reacted are _fundamentally_ different, not
just different _in degree_ -- and this fundamental difference stems
from enormous disparities between the Christian and Muslim world
views.

    The real issue is not whether people should have strongly held
beliefs but how they _present_ these beliefs to those who do not
share them, and -- just as important -- how they respond when their
cherished beliefs are ridiculed and scorned. In this article, I
will illustrate this point by exploring the vastly different world
views of Christianity and Islam.


*_THE SATANIC VERSES_ AND MUSLIMS*

    Anyone even slightly conversant with the Islamic faith knows
that the Muslim holds the Qur'an (Koran) to be fully the word of
God (Allah), and likewise holds Muhammad in the highest esteem as
God's greatest prophet. For the Muslim, Muhammad -- as the "Seal of
the Prophets" -- is the epitome of all virtue and honor (Qur'an
33:40).

    Viking/Penguin Press, the publisher of _The Satanic Verses,_
describes Salman Rushdie's work as "an Arabian nights welter of
interweaving fables, folk-tales, and fierce social commentary, in
which the realistic melts into the fantastic and the past into the
present....[exploring] some of the grand polarities of the ages --
God and Satan, East and West, man and woman, as well as the blurred
boundaries between good and evil."[4]

    What the publisher does not make clear, however, is that in
this book Rushdie ridicules and attacks many of the most cherished
tenets of the Islamic faith, all in the name of "literary art."
Rushdie states that his work "isn't actually about Islam, but about
migration, metamorphosis, divided selves, love, death, London and
Bombay."[5] That may have been Rushdie's original intention, but
nonetheless the novel as it was actually written contains many
passages that could only be extremely offensive to Muslims.

    In _The Satanic Verses,_ Muhammad is referred to as "Mahound,"
traditionally a satanic version of Muhammad's name given to him by
medieval Christians. His character in the novel is flawed by
vacillation, dishonesty, and lust. One example of this is a
sequence where Salman (one of the leading fictional characters in
the book) discusses Mahound's moral failures: "Listen, I'm no
gossip, Salman drunkenly confided, but after his wife's death
Mahound was no angel, you understand my meaning. But in Yathrib he
almost met his match. Those women up there: they turned his beard
half-white in a year. The point about our Prophet...is that he
didn't like his women to answer back, he went for mothers and
daughters."[6]

    One of the most heinous passages for Muslims is the section
dealing with "the satanic verses," from which the novel takes its
title. Here the prophet Mahound, tempted by the angel Gibreel (a
not-too-subtle reference to the archangel Gabriel, whom Muslims
believe dictated the Qur'an to Muhammad), makes a deal with his
enemies to include in his holy book (the Qur'an) the worship of
three of their goddesses alongside that of the one true God. Later
Gibreel tells Mahound that this was a satanic deception, and
Mahound orders the verses accepting these goddesses to be deleted
from the text.

    Elsewhere in the novel we find descriptions of the Qur'an's
wording as having been intentionally distorted; the patriarch
Abraham as a "bastard"; and the historically revered person of
Bilal as an "enormous black monster." Additionally, the prostitutes
in a brothel are given the names of Muhammad's wives.

    This last instance is particularly offensive to Muslims, who
think of Muhammad's wives as the "mothers of all believers." This
is analogous to the way Roman Catholics would be offended if Mary
-- whom they consider the mother of all believers through her Son
-- were compared in any way to a whore. To make matters worse,
Rushdie names this brothel "Hijab" -- the Arabic term for the way
Muslim women modestly veil themselves in public. These are some of
the main elements in Rushdie's book condemned as blasphemous by
Muslims.


*_THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST_ AND CHRISTIANS*

    Just as Muslims were offended by multiple features in _The
Satanic Verses,_ so Christians were offended by more than one
aspect of _The Last Temptation of Christ._ Particular incidents and
dialogue were offensive, but the entire world view and theology of
both the book (by Nikos Kazantzakis) and the movie (directed by
Martin Scorsese) were objectionable as well.

    For many Christians, the most repugnant elements in the movie
are those in the hallucination sequence in which Jesus, while
suffering on the cross, envisions himself as having denied the road
to Calvary and having lived a "normal" life instead. He visualizes
himself as having married Mary Magdalene and having sexual
relations with her. She then dies abruptly and he marries the other
Mary, Martha's sister. Later, when this Mary is out of the house,
Jesus has an adulterous affair with Martha.

    For obvious reasons, this sequence is deeply insulting and
offensive to Christians. But the rest of the movie is little
better, for the Jesus portrayed throughout is a fetid counterfeit
of the biblical Jesus. At the very beginning, Jesus is depicted as
a coward and traitor, working with the Romans by making crosses for
their many crucifixions. Judas, a heroic and honorable figure in
the film, castigates Jesus for this:

     *Judas:* You're a disgrace. Romans can't find anybody
     else to make crosses, except for you. You do it. You're
     worse than them! You're a Jew killing Jews. You're a
     coward! How will you ever pay for your sins?

     *Jesus:* With my life, Judas. I don't have anything else.

    This rendition of Jesus as a sinner like any other man is a
dominant theme in the movie. In different places, Jesus both
confesses his sins and asks various people for forgiveness. In one
scene, Jesus is in the desert with a group of ascetics, to whom he
confesses: "I'm a liar, a hypocrite; I'm afraid of everything. I
don't ever tell the truth, I don't have the courage....I don't
steal, I don't fight, I don't kill -- not because I don't want to
-- but because I'm afraid. I want to rebel against you, against
everything, against God, but I'm afraid. You want to know who my
mother and father is? You want to know who my God is? Fear! You
look inside me and that's all you'll find."

    The Jesus of this movie is simply a man, someone chosen by God
_to become_ the Messiah, the Christ. He is not God, but slowly
_becomes divine_ by following God's will. He is portrayed as a
weak, mentally-tormented, sin-ridden person. This Jesus seems to
teach universalism, that everyone will be saved. And he plots his
own martyrdom with Judas, much against Judas's wishes, so that he
can become the Savior.

    The historical Jesus -- the Jesus of Scripture and of the
Christian creeds -- bears no resemblance to the sinful and cowardly
Jesus of Martin Scorsese. The Gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus
did not _become_ the Messiah or Christ; rather, _He was_ the Christ
from birth. Likewise, He did not _become_ a Savior. The angelic
proclamation was, "For there is born to you this day in the city of
David _a Savior, who is Christ the Lord"_ (Luke 2:11, NKJV).

    The New Testament witnesses attest that Jesus is eternal God
become a man to die and atone for our sins (John 1:1,14; 5:18;
8:56-58; 10:30-34; 20:28; Mark 2:1-11; Phil. 2:5-11; Col. 1:16-18;
2:9; Matt. 20:28; etc.). Jesus is described by all who knew Him as
being perfect and sinless (1 Pet. 2:22; Heb. 4:15; 2 Cor. 5:21;
John 8:46). Likewise, His entire life was devoted to the truth.
Jesus said of Himself: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Elsewhere,
Jesus excoriates His enemies as following their father, the Devil,
"for he is a liar and the father of it" (John 8:44).

    The mockery of Jesus which Scorsese offers is completely
foreign to the pages of the New Testament, which is the only
authentic source for knowledge of the subject. It is extremely
affronting to the historical Christian faith, which worships Jesus
as Lord and God!

    Scorsese attempted to deflect criticism by issuing the
following disclaimer at the beginning of the film: "This film is
not based on the Gospels but is a fictional exploration of the
eternal spiritual conflict." However, this hardly assuages the
personal feelings trampled on by the blatantly offensive and
unhistorical representation given.


*THE MUSLIM REACTION*

    In October of 1988 reaction against Rushdie's book surfaced in
India, which was the first nation to ban the book, followed closely
by Pakistan, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. On February 12,
1989, six people were killed and 83 wounded in Pakistan when the
police fired upon demonstrators protesting the publication of the
book in the United States. The climax came on February 14 when the
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a "fatwa" (i.e., theological
ruling) saying, in part:

     I inform the proud Muslim people of the world that the
     author of "The Satanic Verses," a book which is against
     Islam, the prophet, and the Qur'an, and all those
     involved in its publication who were aware of its
     content, are hereby sentenced to death....I call on all
     zealous Muslims to execute them quickly, wherever they
     find them, so that no one will dare to insult Islamic
     sanctity. Whoever is killed doing this will be regarded
     as a martyr and will go directly to heaven.[7]

    During the next two days, Iranian clerics posted a bounty of
more than $5 million for Rushdie's death. Subsequent riots against
Rushdie's novel in India and Pakistan claimed the lives of fifteen
more people, with an additional 140 wounded.

    Most Westerners cannot understand why Muslims have displayed
such an intense reaction to a book. By Western standards Rushdie
did not do anything that would merit such a hostile,
life-threatening response. The world view of Muslims, however, is
much different than that of Westerners -- and according to their
world view, the actions of Rushdie _do_ merit punishment.

    In the West, the ingrained ideas of separation of religious and
secular, church and public, and of individual freedom are
foundational. Most Westerners separate their religious beliefs from
their social and interpersonal relationships.

    This is unthinkable to the Muslim. The Muslim world view does
not compartmentalize and dichotomize the various areas of life. It
is holistic: its beliefs are incorporated into _every area_ of
daily living. This is evidenced by the all-encompassing Islamic
rules which regulate all aspects of daily life, including how one
should dress, bathe, eat, and so on. The devout Muslim is called to
prayer five times each day, an obligation assiduously obeyed. In
sum, no part of the Muslim's daily life is separate from his
Islamic beliefs. Even the word "Muslim" means "one who submits" (to
Allah).

    Islamic religious control of government and society is
_expected_ and is a necessary part of Muslim "evangelism and
discipleship." _Shar'iah_ (Arabic: "path, road"), or Islamic law,
governs every facet of Muslim life. The _Shar'iah_ recognizes six
specific crimes with fixed punishments. Theft (except in cases of
extreme poverty) is punishable by the cutting off of the hand or
fingers of the thief. Adultery, as well as the false accusation of
adultery, is punishable by stoning.[8] The drinking of alcoholic
beverages is punishable by 80 lashes from a whip in public. And
finally, highway robbery and apostasy (including "blasphemy") are
punishable by the death penalty.[9] Rushdie, who was raised as a
Sunni Muslim in India, falls into the latter category.

    As to the harshness of these punishments, Suzanne Haneef --
author of _What Everyone Should Know about Islam and Muslims_ --
tells us that "the Islamic punishments, called in Arabic _hudood,_
that is, the 'limits' imposed by God, are not in fact intended
merely as penalties for a proven crime but as deterrents against
further crime. As a result, in those societies in which the
punishments prescribed by the Islamic _Shar'iah_ are enforced,
there is little or no crime, and citizens feel safe."[10]

    Compounding Rushdie's "blasphemy/ apostasy" indictment is the
fact that he is fully conversant with the beliefs and feelings of
Muslims. Although he is a British citizen, he is not a Westerner
ignorant of Islamic sensitivities and thought. He was fully aware
that his book was mocking Islam and would offend Muslim believers.


*Muslims Agree with the Death Sentence*

    Many Muslims, even in the West, concur with the death sentence
passed on Rushdie by the now deceased Khomeini. For instance,
Georges Sabagh -- the director of UCLA's Near East Studies Center
-- stated emphatically that in sentencing Rushdie to die, the
Ayatollah Khomeini was "completely within his rights."[11] Muslim
convert Yussef Islam, formerly popular singer Cat Stevens, likewise
supports Khomeini's edict: "If someone defames the prophet, then he
must die."[12]

    Qur'an 5:36 demands swift "justice" against those who oppose
Muhammad and Islam:

     The Punishment of those
     Who wage war against God
     And His Apostle, and strive
     With might and main
     For mischief through the land
     Is: execution, or crucifixion,
     Or the cutting off of hands
     And feet from opposite sides,
     Or exile from the land.

    Dr. Muzammil Husain Siddiqi, the Director of the Islamic
Society of Orange County (California), and former Director of
Islamic Affairs for the Muslim World League Office in New York,
stated that this passage applies to any who are "mischief
makers"[13] -- that is, any who attack or cause trouble against
Islam.


*Some Muslims Disagree*

    On the other hand, many Muslim leaders rejected Khomeini's
unqualified _fatwa_ against Rushdie. The Shi'ite Muslims
(constituting only about 10 percent of the worldwide Muslim
population, but 90 percent of the Iranian Muslims) are usually
much more aggressive and militant in their faith than the dominant
sect, the Sunnites. Thus, there are differences between the groups
on the appropriateness of the death sentence against Rushdie, a
sentence which is still in effect today. Even among the Sunnites,
however, there is an emerging consensus that Rushdie should at
least be tried according to Islamic law, given a chance to repent,
and then sentenced on that basis.

    Sheik Abdelaziz Bin Abdallah Bin Baz, the most senior religious
figure in Saudi Arabia, recently declared that Rushdie should be
tried in absentia in an Islamic country for heretical behavior.[14]
Sheik Muhammad Hussam al Din, an Islamic theologian in Egypt,
asserts that "blood must not be shed except after a trial, [in
which the accused has been] given a chance to defend himself and
repent."[15] A senior scholar (who declined to be identified by
name) at Al Azhar Mosque in Egypt, the Sunni Muslim world's leading
center of Islamic thought and teaching, concurred: "In Islam there
is no tradition of killing people without trying them."[16]

    In summary, while the Islamic reaction against Rushdie's work
seems fanatical and unjustifiable to Westerners (who distinguish
the secular from the religious), Muslims not only see no separation
between secular and religious, they also believe that they are the
instruments for carrying out Allah's justice. To Muslims, Rushdie
deserves swift retribution, including (either without a trial or
after a trial -- if he does not repent) his execution.


*THE CHRISTIAN REACTION*

    Because Westerners tend to dichotomize life into different
realms or spheres, many people in our country have failed to
understand and take seriously the real hurt and indignation devout
Christians felt over _The Last Temptation of Christ._ They have
denounced and scorned Christians who protested this movie. For
them, the individual's freedom of expression and speech overrides
any hurt and offense suffered by others. In the critics' readiness
to condemn these Christians, they have grossly erred in comparing
the Christian reaction to _The Last Temptation of Christ_ with the
Muslim reaction to _The Satanic Verses._ There is a fundamental
difference between the two responses, based on fundamental
differences between Christianity and Islam.

    As we noted earlier, the Islamic faith justifies using force to
coerce people to follow certain rules and regulations. These are
not just _civil_ laws but laws regarding _morals_ and _beliefs_ as
well.

    Christians, however, do not believe that the church is the
instrument by which God judges and punishes the world. Instead,
Christianity teaches that the world will be judged and punished
according to how _they treated_ Christ and His Church, not _by_ His
Church.

    Christians protested the movie by exhibiting a _loving_ but
_uncompromising_ disposition to their opposers. The New Testament
vociferously opposes any notion of personal retribution by God's
people. For example, Jesus declared: "You have heard that it was
said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say
to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to
those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and
persecute you" (Matt. 5:43-44). This message of radical love is
foundational for the Christian. Elsewhere, the apostle Paul taught:
"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Rom.
12:21; cf. 1 John 2:8-11; 4:20; 1 Cor. 13:7; Gal. 5:22; Matt.
5:38-39; etc.).

    What the non-Christian often misunderstands about this,
however, is that loving one's neighbor does not necessarily mean
becoming his or her "doormat." Christians are commanded to "speak
the _truth_ in love" (Eph. 4:15). It is perfectly consistent with
love to peacefully protest such a travesty of truth as _The Last
Temptation of Christ._ In fact, love for those whose souls could be
poisoned by such a misrepresentation of the Savior _requires_ some
kind of response. But, the attitude in which one does this is
all-important: "A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be
gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those
who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance,
so that they may know the truth" (2 Tim. 2:24-25).

    To compare the Muslim reaction to _The Satanic Verses_ with the
Christian reaction to _The Last Temptation of Christ_ without
noting the differences rooted in their basic beliefs is to
demonstrate a lack of understanding of _either_ religion. The
differences between the two are not simply "a matter of degree" but
are _fundamental;_ Christianity and Islam are antithetical to each
other in many _essential_ respects.

    We should understand the legitimacy of the Islamic disapproval
of _The Satanic Verses_ as something blasphemous to their religion.
But there is a radical disparity between the gospel of Jesus Christ
and the message of Muhammad, nowhere more clearly expressed than in
the reactions to these two fictions.

    It is not without reason that Muhammad is often depicted as the
sword-wielding prophet, set out to conquer all enemies. The Qur'an
commands the Muslim as follows:

     Fight those who believe not
     In God nor the Last Day,
     Nor hold that forbidden
     Which hath been forbidden
     By God and His Apostle,
     Nor acknowledge the Religion
     Of Truth.     (Qur'an 9:29)

    In stark contrast, the ideal for the Christian is epitomized in
the words of Jesus spoken as He was dying on the cross: "Father,
forgive them, for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34).

    We therefore may conclude that religious radicalism may be
right in one instance and wrong in another. For the real issue is
not how strongly one holds his or her beliefs, but how one presents
those beliefs to others. The Christian is commanded to share his
faith with others, but to do so with a spirit of radical love, of
"meekness and reverence" (1 Pet. 3:15).


*NOTES*

 1 Salman Rushdie, _The Satanic Verses_ (New York: Viking/Penguin
   Press, 1989).
 2 William E. Smith, "Hunted by an Angry Faith," _Time,_ 27 Feb.
   1989, 32.
 3 "Last Temptation of Islam," _The (Fort Wayne) Journal-Gazette,_
   19 Feb. 1989, 6C.
 4 "The Satanic Verses," _News from Viking,_ 2.
 5 Salman Rushdie, "My Book Speaks for Itself," _The New York
   Times,_ 17 Feb. 1989, A39.
 6 Rushdie, _The Satanic Verses,_ 366.
 7 Charles P. Wallace and Dan Fisher, "Khomeini Says Author of
   'Satanic Verses' Should Be Killed," Los Angeles Times, 15 Feb.
   1989, part 1, 13.
 8 This is the _traditional_ Islamic punishment for adultery.
   However, the _Qur'an_ says the punishment should be 100 stripes
   from a whip (Qur'an 24:2).
 9 A recent Western example of this was the murder of a
   sixteen-year-old Muslim girl by her own brother in Los Angeles
   for falling away from Islam (cf. Peter H. King, "A Clash of
   Cultures -- Girl Is Slain," _Los Angeles Times,_ 14 Oct. 1985,
   part 1, 1.
10 Suzanne Haneef, _What Everyone Should Know about Islam and
   Muslims_ (Chicago: Kazi Publications, 1979), 117.
11 Smith, 32.
12 _USA Today,_ 18 Feb. 1989, 4A.
13 Handwritten comment on this and a number of other passages which
   this author possesses from Dr. Siddiqi. In this current case,
   however, Dr. Siddiqi has repudiated the threat of death against
   Rushdie.
14 Youssef M. Ibrahim, "Saudi Muslim Weighs Rushdie Trial," New
   York Times , 23 Feb. 1989, A15.
15 Russell Watson, et al., "A Satanic Fury," _Newsweek,_ 27 Feb.
   1989, 36.
16 Alan Cowell, "Clerics Challenge Rushdie Sentence," _New York
   Times,_ 18 Feb. 1989, A6.

-------------

End of document, CRJ0066A.TXT (original CRI file name),
"Religious Radicalism: Right or Wrong?"
release A, April 20, 1994
R. Poll, CRI

(A special note of thanks to Bob and Pat Hunter for their help in
the preparation of this ASCII file for BBS circulation.)

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