Dare to Speak: Islam vs Free Democracy and Free Enterprise (I)
Chapter 2: A personal realization
Growing up in a small Pennsylvania town during the ‘60s and ‘70s, Islam was so far removed from my experience that I did not even realize that Muslims were Islamic. I was surprised when I found out that these terms applied to the same group of people.
I met my first Muslim in 1979 while attending college. I had decided to hitch-hike home rather than ride a bus, and one of the truck drivers was an African-American who had just converted to Islam and was very excited about it. He told me that Islam held the answer to every question, and handed me a book on Islamic law. Being curious, and not wanting to offend the big guy as we bounced along in his cab, I took the book and began reading it. The rules I remember were things like “A wife must walk 20 feet behind her husband,” “you must eat using your right hand and wipe yourself using your left hand (toilet paper not required),” and instructions for washing yourself, which included “if water is not available, you can wash yourself with clean sand.” I did not ask about how this might apply to the section on wiping.
My general impression was that, while Islam might have all the answers, its answers did not appear to make much sense. After reading this book for a while, I was asked by the trucker if I wanted to convert to Islam. I told him that I would keep reading, but would probably not be ready to convert by the end of the ride.
My next contact with Islam was through the Iranian hostage crisis: a former neighbor was one of the hostages. When he finally returned to the United States, everyone in the neighborhood watched him kiss the ground on national TV.
After that, however, events became more tragic. A former classmate of mine from high school was one of the 240 Marines killed in 1983 during the Beirut bombing of a U.S. Marines barracks.
At the time, I did not see a direct link between Islam and political strife in the Middle East. Everyone I knew thought that the Middle East’s problems were a result of its culture, not its religion. I wondered how religion could be separated from culture, but decided to leave this question for another day. It was an esoteric issue, and I was focused on personal dreams of family, career, and prosperity. I made no time for anything that was not directly related to my own ambitions.
After college, I went to grad school, found the girl of my dreams, got a great job at a top company, and bought a house, all by the age of 25.
After achieving these trappings of success, my little paradise started to feel empty and I began opening my eyes to the world around me. I started doing volunteer work in local schools and joined an organization that tutored inner-city kids after school.
It was through this organization that I had my first real contact with Muslims. One of my fellow volunteers was a coworker from a different part of the company. He had immigrated to the United States from Africa to go to college, and subsequently got a job with my firm. In working together with students, we became friends ourselves. As a couple of workaholic professionals, we had little spare time to hang out or get into deep discussions. However, our friendship was good enough that, when he and his wife had their first child, he invited me to be a part of the baby naming ceremony, which was celebrated six months after the baby’s birth.
Through the course of my volunteer activities, I became acquainted with other Muslims. All of these contacts left me with favorable impressions of Islam. I certainly did not consider it a threat. In discussions on problems in the Middle East and Africa, I was assured that the troubles were cultural, not religious, and that Islam was a religion of peace. None of my friends seemed to follow those strange rules that the truck driver had shown me.
When I was growing up, I avoided religious discussions because I felt that I did not know enough to engage in an intelligent conversation. I had what seemed to me a reasonable set of Christian beliefs, but knew that they were all based on second-hand information. I had studied neither the Bible nor any other source texts, and was therefore defenseless whenever someone started quoting scripture to me.
While in college, I decided to cure this weakness by reading the entire Bible, cover to cover, and then reading other religious texts as well. I approached this reading with the critical eye of an academic, looking for useful knowledge and subjecting all claims to my own critical thought.
It turned out that the Bible was quite different from what I had expected. It was mostly history, as told through the lives of its characters. Much of it was gruesome, but I could still relate to many of the stories and learn valuable insights about human nature and how to deal with people.
After reading the Bible, I found that it had been such a valuable experience that I leapt right into the scriptures of other religions to seek other valuable insights. I read a number of books on Buddhism, the Tau Te Ching, and a book by Mercea Eliade called Essential Sacred Writings from Around the World, which was a smorgasbord of essential scriptures from over 80 religions, including Islam. Many of these passages were poetic and powerful, and the Koranic ones got me curious about the Koran as a whole.
A few years later, while attending business school, I came across several other references to the Koran, including an article that praised the Koran highly and claimed that it was the only book one needed to read. Shortly thereafter, I got a copy of Understanding Islam and the Muslims, published by The Embassy of Saudi Arabia’s Department of Islamic Affairs. This booklet presented a beautiful and compelling picture of Islam and the Islamic world, with many inspiring quotes from the Koran. It also had some intriguing passages, such as:
- Islam may seem exotic or even extreme in the modern world. Perhaps this is because religion does not dominate everyday life in the West today, whereas, They believe that the Divine Law, the Shari’ah, should be taken very seriously, which is why issues related to religion are still so important.
At about this time, my impression of Islam began to darken. In 1992, the spiritual and political leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Khomeini, declared that Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses was an Insult to Islam, and issued the following fatwa against him: [1]
I would like to inform all the intrepid Muslims in the world… that the author of the book titled The Satanic Verses, which has been compiled, printed, and published in opposition to Islam, the Prophet, and the Koran, as well as those publishers who were aware of its contents, have been declared madhur el dam (‘those whose blood must be shed’). I call on all zealous Muslims to execute them quickly, wherever they find them, so that no one will dare to insult Islam again…
In addition to this fatwa, Iran also offered a bounty of several million dollars for the assassination of Salman Rushdie. This was a very disturbing development, but I was still willing to believe that Khomeini was an extremist who did not represent true Islam. His behavior, though, piqued my interest in the Koran even more.
During this time, I graduated from business school, returned to my employer for a year, and then left to start my own business. A few months later, on February 26, 1993, the Twin Towers were bombed for the first time. Fortunately, the bombing only damaged the base of one tower and killed six people. The schemers behind the blast turned out to be a small group of Muslims who were led by a New Jersey resident named Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman. Again, I was willing to believe that these bombers were extremists who did not represent their faith. I decided, however, that it was time to read the Koran and find out where all this behavior was coming from.
When I began reading the Koran in the summer of 1993, I expected something very profound, given the wonderful praise I had heard, the snippets I had seen, and the devastating actions committed by Muslim extremists.
What a disappointment! After all of the build-up, I found the Koran to be a legalistic, domineering, and rather mean-spirited text that was also very disorganized. It seemed to jump from one topic to another almost randomly. It also had some very militant passages that specifically and repeatedly told Muslims not to be friends of Christians and Jews, and described in detail the properly devout way to divide booty after military conquests.
While there were also well-reasoned sections that flew to the heights of inspiration, my over-all impression was so negative that I actually began to question the translation. The highlighter originally intended for the Koran’s most inspirational passages was used to mark its most troubling ones instead.
Suspecting nefarious machinations on the part of the translator, N. J. Dawood, I decided to find out more about him. He turned out to be a true Muslim, and his introductory message made clear that he was sincerely doing his best to share the Koran in a way that would inspire English-speakers to adopt Islam.
Hoping that another translator would be more successful in this pursuit, I got another version, written by Muhammad Marmaduke William Pickthal, and discovered that both translations were very similar. I was left with a feeling of foreboding, and with the dark realization that, despite oft-repeated claims to the contrary, the Koran was definitely not a book of peace.
My consolation was that the Old Testament also has many violent passages, and even the New Testament had an occasional verse that one could say endorses violence, [2] so I decided that the real test of a religion was not simply its scripture, but also the actions of its practitioners. I consoled myself with pleasant memories of my Muslim friends from work and volunteer activities.
During this time, I happened to see a news show where Louis Farrakhan was being interviewed. Farrakhan had recently returned from a visit to several Islamic African nations and was telling the interviewer both about the terrible things that whites had done through the enslavement of Blacks, and also about the wonderful spirit of brotherhood he experienced while visiting Islamic Africa.
When the interviewer asked Mr. Farrakhan about the fact that one of the Islamic countries he visited (Sudan) still practiced slavery, Farrakhan gave a two-pronged response. His first response was to claim that slavery was different and more humane over there. When the interviewer pressed him to describe what he meant, he said that it would be divisive to talk about it further, implying that if the interviewer pressed him, Farrakhan would terminate the interview. The interviewer, demonstrating his political correctness, ended this line of questioning.
Until then, I had been unaware that slavery was still being practiced anywhere in the world. I was shocked to discover it in, of all places, Africa! [3]
At about this time, my wife and I purchased a home and began attending a local church, and I was soon drafted into the Sunday school program for the high school students.
The lesson plans I used came from a publisher of religious materials, and, one day, as I was preparing for an upcoming lesson, I discovered that we were to do an investigation of other religions. To prepare, I had to go to churches of other denominations and develop a report for the students on what I found. The goal of the lesson was to demonstrate that all churches, regardless of denomination, were essentially teaching the same lessons and that we were all part of one big ecumenical family.
I decided to make the lesson interesting by using it to investigate Islam. I picked up the yellow pages and found the local Islamic Society, called them up, and asked if I could come to one of their services. The person on the other end of the phone gladly welcomed me and suggested that I come over that Friday. I decided to take my highlighted Koran and questions with me.
When I got there, the gentleman I spoke with was waiting for me and welcomed me in. It turned out that he was the leader of this Islamic Society, although he had no religious title.
The first thing I noticed was that there were shoes all over the place just outside the worship area. Also, among the shoes, were dozens of women and children. When I asked about the women, children, and shoes, I was told that only men were allowed into the worship area, and they had to leave footwear, women, and children outside. The gentleman then did something very gracious. He invited me to participate in the service, and guided me to sit among the brethren on the carpet.
We kneeled together with a quiet reverence, and I kept my eye on the others to make sure I followed the motions properly. Then a visiting cleric began to speak from the front. I cannot pretend to remember exactly what he said, but it was to this effect:
- At one time, Islam was the greatest faith on earth. We commanded the world; we had the greatest minds, and the noblest men. But now we are humiliated, a beaten people, dominated by Christian nations. Why? Because we have become corrupt. We have strayed from the true teachings of the Koran. If we want to regain our proper place in this world, we must return to Islam’s roots. Only through the teachings of the Holy Koran can we hope to achieve our mighty destiny.
As I listened, all I could think about was “What is this guy talking about?” We are all here in the United States; we are all free to worship as we wish. No one is persecuting any of us. No one is humiliating any of us. As for the rest of the world, no one is specifically targeting Muslims for persecution, except for rogue nations like Yugoslavia and arguably Russia.
It was then that a disturbing realization began to dawn on me: The people I was sitting with saw the world in a completely different way. They did not view themselves as Americans, but as persecuted members of a nation dominated by Christians. I later discovered that this “nation” is the Ummah Islamia, which translates to English as the Community of Islam, or Nation of Islam.
After the service, a group of men came over to talk with me. They were all very excited and friendly, and asked if I was ready to accept Allah as the one and only God, and declare Muhammad his prophet. I answered that I had some questions about the Koran that I would like to discuss first, and proceeded to open my Koran and ask about the passages that discussed killing infidels, the proper sexual relations between a man and his slaves, and the proper way to split up booty after vanquishing an enemy.
They were a bit disconcerted at my questions, but assured me that these kinds of behaviors were not required, and quickly invited me again to convert. I then asked whether Islam considered the Koran to be an addition to the Old and New Testaments, or something to be read instead of the Bible, noting that the Koran refers to many Biblical characters.
The leader of the Society told me that he had never read the Bible because it was a corrupted work. This is when I had my second realization: If a leader could say this, then the Bible must not be valued by Muslims at all. At this point, I began to perceive looks of suppressed outrage among the brothers, though we were able to remain courteous. I told them that I was not ready to convert to Islam, but wished them well. We had a cordial, if awkward, goodbye.
That Sunday, I decided to limit my discussion to Christian churches. I did not want to scare my students with what had I discovered about Islam.
I was still not ready to give up on Islam, though. Despite the inflammatory rhetoric I heard, I still did not see anyone act in a frightening way. I was still able to cling to the comforting thought that the Middle East’s troubles came from regional factors, such as cultures, ethnic groups, or national policies. I tried to dismiss a growing perception that the actual cause of those troubles was a religion that was becoming a force in my own country.
At this time, my wife and I had no children to fill our four-bedroom house. To keep ourselves from rattling around too much, and also get the house to help pay for itself, we rented out a bedroom, and at one point rented it to an Islamic immigrant whom I will call “M.”
I knew that we were dealing with someone from a different culture from the first phone call. While most people accept the advertised rent as given, M negotiated. He was an independent contractor from another state who was assigned to a local firm for a few months. I suggested that he come over to see the room and verify whether it was worth what we were asking.
After visiting our home, M said that he liked the room but it was too expensive. He then offered to pay substantially less. Knowing that we charged a fair price, I politely turned him down.
I figured that this was the end of it. However, a few days later, M called again. He asked if the room was still available and I told him it was. It appeared that, after looking around, he was now ready to rent from us. But again, he tried to negotiate. Again, I politely refused.
The following week we got another call, and again we went through the same discussion. I realized that he was trying to see if we would lower our price out of desperation to fill an empty room. What he did not know was that my wife and I had decided long ago that it was better to go without rent than to compromise on any of our terms, because doing so would set a bad precedent. Also, I knew that he needed a room more than we needed a renter, so again, I politely turned him down. Later that week, he called again.
[1] Salman Rushdie, by Jame Harrison, Twayne Publishers, New York, NY, 1992.
[2] The NIV Study Bible, General Editor: Kenneth Barker, Zondervan Publishing House, 1985, Matthew 10:34-39:
- Do not suppose that I [Jesus] have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.”
- Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Many people have accused Jesus of inciting violence because of these verses. Christians, however, view them differently: they believe that these verses describe what happens when a person accepts Christ and leaves the religion of his family. As we will see in reports of what happens to people who convert from Islam to Christianity, provided later in this book, this interpretation is valid. This interpretation is further reinforced by the fact that Jesus is quoting the Old Testament (Micah 7:6), in a passage describing the Prophet Micah’s struggle to remain faithful to God during his wretched times, which preceded the reformations of Judah’s king Hezekiah.
[3] While I haven’t been able to identify this exact interview, my memory was confirmed by finding an interview in the July 23, 1996 issue of The Final Call (the Nation of Islam’s weekly newspaper), where Minister Farrakhan questioned the motives of those who criticized slavery in the Sudan. In the interview, he implied that Sudan was being targeted “because this Islamic government is trying to build an Islamic nation.”
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