Issues relating to the presentation and propagation of Islam in the West
Perhaps the greatest hindrance to the
presentation and propagation of Islam in the West is the way Islam and Muslims
are depicted in the media. One gets the impression that Islam can only, or must
necessarily, produce adherents who are extremists, fanatics, or terrorists. No
real effort is made by the media to investigate Islam further or to determine
whether those Muslims who are extremists, fanatics, and terrorists are that way
because of their religion or because of external factors (oppression, poverty,
etc). A part of this problem is the way that some Islamic terms are used in
Western discourse. In a certain newsmagazine a year ago, I saw a story about a
celebrity's "crusade" against cancer, and another story about a
politician's "jihad", throwing "fire-bombs" at his
opponents. Other terms are used negatively as well, for instance the word "mullahs"
along with the word "ayatollahs" is used to mean
"fundamentalists" (e.g., "The mullahs of the Republican
Right were outraged when he..."). Because of these factors, it often
requires a definite commitment towards moving past often stereotypical
portrayals and undertaking a study and exploration, in order to even see
anything about Islam that would make it appealing as a religion to
potentially convert to.
Therefore, the first priority of those who would present and propagate Islam in
the West is to encourage Westerners to look beyond what they see in the media.
Perhaps an invitation along the lines of "Islam: It's not what you
think". Related to this, it is very important for those who are engaged in
this work to follow the Qur’an 16:125 and other verses, and to present Islam
in "the most beautiful way". They should be honest in their
presentation of Islam and not try to gloss over the question of abuses in Muslim
countries. They should be open to criticism and challenge and able to respond in
a reasoned and moderate way. They should be sympathetic when presented with the
mistakes or ignorance of others and present correction in an encouraging rather
than harsh way. Above all, they should present proof-texts (Qur’anic verses, hadiths)
that show that such excellent behavior is in fact a part of Islam; it is a way
that a Muslim has been commanded to behave, not a personal idiosyncrasy of this
particular individual.
The second priority in the presentation and propagation of Islam in the West is
to understand the audience, and what their concerns are. People in the West can
be divided into three broad categories: Christians, Jews, and "neither of
the above". Many people in the West may be nominally Christian, and may
even have been brought up as Christians, but they do not hold religious beliefs,
nor are they religiously observant. Such people have different concerns than
religious Christians do, and must therefore be approached differently. In
addition to skeptics, agnostics, and atheists, there are also people who follow
other religions. Even aside from immigrants who practice these as their native
religions, there are Westerners who may follow Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism,
Native American religions, Wicca, or other traditions. On account of this
diversity, it is best to have a number of different presentations of Islam
available, each tailored to a different audience. These presentations should be
written by people who are familiar with the mindset of each audience (e.g., for
presenting Islam to Buddhists, it is essential to know how Buddhists understand
God and His relationship with His creation and with humanity because this
understanding will determine what questions they have about Islam. And the same
is true for
other religions, of course.)
For the remainder of this essay, I will, inshallah, concentrate on the
presentation of Islam to Christians and Jews. A significant issue in this
presentation is showing how Islam is related to the Judeo-Christian tradition.
Very few non-Muslims are aware that Muslims consider Noah, Abraham, Moses, and
Jesus, among others (peace be upon them all), as prophets. Most people assume
that because Muslims have a different scripture (i.e., the Qur’an instead of
the Bible) Islam has nothing whatsoever to do with the Judeo-Christian
tradition.
This is an area where Jews and Christians have very different perspectives, so
each group needs to be addressed individually. The question that Jews may have
is why God has sent down a new Scripture. My understanding of the Qur’an on
this issue is that God had first singled out the Children of Israel to receive
His scripture and establish His religion. For this purpose, He
revealed the Torah to them. Later, God desired to establish His religion for all
of humanity. Even aside from any other issues relating to it (preservation of
the text, the question of abrogation, etc), the Torah is directed at, and
therefore addressed to, the Children of Israel as a particular nation. It would
not be suitable as a Scripture for all of humankind, and thus God sent a new
Scripture (the Quran) that is addressed to and suitable for all the nations.
Therefore, the presentation of Islam to a Jewish audience should focus on the
question of God establishing a religion for the Gentiles (non-Jewish nations).
In particular, Jews participating in this dialogue should be invited to consider
and reflect on why they may not believe that it is part of God's plan to do
this. Only once the need for God to establish His religion among the Gentiles
has been agreed on should we move on to what the Qur’an has to say about the
Jewish practice of religion. In my opinion, this is an area that is not
sufficiently emphasized in the presentation of Islam.
For Christians, a different approach is required. Christians agree with Muslims
that God's plan did not stop at establishing His religion for the Children of
Israel, and that God has sent down a new Word in order to establish His religion
for all humankind. However, Christians and Muslims disagree on what this Word
is. For Christians, it is Jesus, while for Muslims, it is the Quran. Therefore,
the presentation of Islam to Christians needs to focus on the true nature of
Jesus and his message, in order to show that Christianity as it is practiced
today is not true to what Jesus taught and therefore does not represent the
religion established by God. In particular, this presentation should focus on
what Jesus actually taught about himself and his relationship to God, and on the
correct interpretation of the Paraclete passages (Gospel of John 14:16-17,
14:26, 15:26-27, and 16:5-15) to show what Jesus taught about one who would come
after him, and what his followers should do in regard to this. The idea is to
show that a person who is sincere in believing in Jesus and in following what he
taught will be led by Jesus' own teaching to accept the Qur’an, and to realize
that Trinitarian Christianity is not the true way.
The above are just some of the issues relating to the presentation and
propagation of Islam in the West, but I feel that they are where we, as Muslims,
need to start. Most people in the West know little or nothing about Islam, but
they may have many preconceptions about it, and these need to be addressed
before any other work can be done in showing them the way to Islam.
May Allah SWT guide us all to His way.