By Rudy
Barnes, Jr., January 23, 2016
The greatest commandment to love God and
our neighbors as ourselves has been recognized as a common word of faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. But it begs the question: Who is my neighbor?
A
Jew posed that question to Jesus, and in Luke’s account of the greatest commandment Jesus answered it with the parable of the good Samaritan. In that story it was an apostate Samaritan—and
Samaritans were hated by the Jews—who was a good neighbor to a wounded Jew
since he showed mercy on him. (Luke 10:25-37)
If Jews, Christians and Muslims were to follow this example and be good
neighbors to apostate unbelievers, then
religious suspicion, bigotry, hatred and violence could be resolved with
religious reconciliation and peace.
Easier
said than done; but there is hope along with skepticism. In 2007 a distinguished group of Islamic scholars
embraced the greatest commandment as a common word of faith for Muslims as
well as Jews and Christians. Most of
those scholars are from Islamic nations that have retained shari’a as a sacred
rule of law, and it precludes libertarian human rights, beginning with the
freedoms of religion and speech. Many of
those scholars are from Egypt which is considered the bellwether of Sunni religious
doctrine. It is where President (and
former Army General) Abdel Fatah al-Sissi has turned to religion to bolster his authority.
President
al-Sissi has orchestrated a state of
repression in Egypt by arresting and jailing those critical of his
regime. Like other Islamic leaders, Sissi
has used shari’a with its apostasy and blasphemy laws to repress the freedoms
of religion and speech. Sheikh Ali Gomaa
is a former Grand Mufti of Egypt who is now a senior cleric at Al Azhar
University, “the 1,000 year old bastion of Sunni Muslim scholarship in
Cairo.” Gomaa is a principle sponsor of a common word with its mandate to love God
and neighbor, but he has supported the repressive policies of President Sissi
and defended the legitimacy of sharia’s apostasy and blasphemy laws.
Sheikh
Gomaa is not alone. Few, if any, of the Islamic
scholars who were sponsors of a common
word have questioned provisions in the Qur’an that condemn unbelievers
(e.g. 2:23, 2:24, 2:39, 2:126, 2:257, 3:10, 3:12,4:161, 5:17, 5:72-5:75, 9:30, 30:15,
30:16, 47:8); nor have they advocated repeal of apostasy and blasphemy
laws. Such religious laws deny the freedoms
of religion and speech and foster religious hatred and violence in a world of increasing
religious diversity. It is not enough
for Christians, Jews and Muslims to love like-minded believers. They must also love unbelievers, and that requires
abolishing apostasy and blasphemy laws and supporting the fundamental freedoms
of religion and speech.
There
is no separation of religion and politics in Islam. The Islamic scholars who sponsored a common word are as influential in
politics as they are in religion. For
there to be any credibility in their assertion that Islam embraces the love of one’s
unbelieving neighbors, Muslim leaders
must challenge provisions of the Qur’an that condemn unbelievers, seek to
abolish apostasy and blasphemy laws and promote the freedoms of religion and
speech. There is reason to be skeptical of
that happening anytime soon.
Judaism,
like Islam, began with an emphasis on the obedience to sacred law; but unlike
Islam and like Christianity, Judaism evolved into a diverse religion compatible
with libertarian democracy and human rights.
Judaism and Christianity were transformed by the advances in knowledge
and reason of the Enlightenment and they conformed their religious doctrines to
the libertarian principles of democracy, human rights and the secular rule of
law. That required recognizing the secular
rule of law and making their sacred standards of legitimacy (laws that defined what
was right and wrong) voluntary moral standards of faith rather than coercive
laws.
Fundamentalist
Jews and Christians, like their Islamist counterparts, continue to believe
their holy books are the inerrant and infallible word of God, and that their
religion is the one true faith and that all unbelievers are condemned. Such intolerant beliefs foster religious
hatred and violence. If and when believers
embrace the greatest command to love their
unbelieving neighbors as themselves and do not seek to impose their religious standards
of legitimacy and law on others, they will open the door to religious
reconciliation and peace. That is the
hope.
Notes
and References to Resources:
Previous blogs on related topics
are: Faith and Freedom, December 15,
2014; Religion and New Beginnings,
Salvation and Reconciliation into the Family of God, January 4, 2015; The Greatest Commandment, January 11, 2015;
Love over Law: A Principle at the Heart
of Legitimacy, January 18, 2015; Promoting
Religion Through Evangelism: Bringing Light or Darkness?, February 8, 2015;
Jesus Meets Muhammad: Is There a Common
Word of Faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims Today?, January 25, 2015; Religion and Human Rights, February 22,
2015; Religion, Human Rights and National
Security, May 10, 2015; Christians
Meet Muslims Today, June 21, 2015; Fear
and Fundamentalism, July 26, 2015; Legitimacy
as a Catalyst and a Paradigm to Resolve Religious Conflict, August 23,
2015; Politics and Religious Polarization,
September 20, 2015; The Muslim Stranger:
A Good Neighbor or a Threat?, October 25, 2015; and Faith, Hope and Love in a World of Fear, Suspicion and Hate,
December 5, 2015.
The
greatest commandment
is derived from two commands in the Hebrew Bible, the first being the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4 and the second is
from Leviticus 19:18. It is also found
in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke; and the Apostle Paul affirmed that “…love
is the fulfillment of the [Jewish] law” in Romans 13:10.
Those provisions of the Qur’an referenced
above that condemn unbelievers can be found in the Appendices to The
Teachings of Jesus and Muhammad on Morality and Law: The Heart of Legitimacy,
at pp 470-485. It is a study guide posted
in the Resources of this website.
The editorial Board of the Washington
Post has condemned Egypt’s state of
repression. See
Declan Walsh has commented on Egypt’s President Turns to Religion to
Bolster His Authority in the New York Times and Sheikh Ali Gomaa’s
support of the President’s oppressive policies.
See http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/world/middleeast/egypt-abdel-fattah-el-sisi-islam.html.
No comments:
Post a Comment