No, I’m not talking about President Obama, who has been insisting that Islam is a religion of peace (like President Bush before him). I’m talking about Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi who has called for a “religious revolution” within Islam.
In a speech before Islamic imams in Cairo, the President declared,
“I say and repeat, again, that we are in need of a religious revolution. You imams are responsible before Allah. The entire world is waiting on you. The entire world is waiting for your word … because the Islamic world is being torn, it is being destroyed, it is being lost. And it is being lost by our own hands.”
“It’s inconceivable that the thinking that we hold most sacred should cause the entire [Islamic world] to be a source of anxiety, danger, killing and destruction for the rest of the world. Impossible! — and I am not saying the religion — I am saying this thinking.”
“This is antagonizing the entire world. It’s antagonizing the entire world! Does this mean that 1.6 billion people (Muslims) should want to kill the rest of the world’s inhabitants — that is 7 billion — so that they themselves may live? Impossible!”
This speech is revealing in many ways. First, Cairo has long been a center of Islamic scholarship and most recently a center of conflict between the Muslim Brotherhood and more “modern” Muslims. This speech was made on the observance of Muhammad’s birthday before an audience of Islamic scholars. This speech may win the Nobel Peace Prize for President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi; also it could cost him his life. Remember Anwar El Sadat? President Sadat was assassinated by extremist in his own military.
Second, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s remarks reveal the truth that President Obama refuses to acknowledge about Islam – that the essence of Islam has violent tendencies. The violent tendencies of Islam are demonstrated in the Qu’ran, and Islam’s history and traditions. The Qu’ran states,
“Fight in the cause of God those who fight you… for God loveth not transgressors. And slay them where ever you catch them…” (Sura 2:190-194; cf. Sura 9:5)
“If you encounter the disbelievers in a battle, strike off their heads… the deed of those who are killed for the cause of God will never be without virtuous results (Sura 47:4).
“Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture – fight until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled (Sura 9:29).
When Muhammad began preaching the ancient Arabs rejected his message and persecuted his small following. Muhammad responded with the sword. He conquered the Arabian peninsula and forcefully converted its inhabitants. After Muhammad’s death, the succeeding caliphs conquered two-thirds of the ancient Christian world within a decade. The Christian centers of Damascus, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria were defeated by the Muslim armies. The Christian and Jewish inhabitants were allowed to live if they paid the jizyah – an oppressive tax on non-Muslims. This tax impoverished Christians and Jews, and enriched the Muslim caliphs.
The domination of the ancient Christian world by Muslim armies led to the Pact of Umar in AD 673 which informs relationships between Muslims and the rest of the world to this day. Christians were considered “dhimma” – protected persons – as long as they submitted. The Pact forbids the construction of new churches, or the repair of older Christian buildings, in the conquered lands; prohibits the public observance of non-Islamic religious faith; prohibits the display of Christian symbols such as the cross; and prohibits the conversion of Muslims to another faith. The Pact of Umar demands that when Muslims enter a room, Christians are to show respect by standing and offering their seats. The point here is that Islam is in its essence an oppressive world view.
Islam is a closed system. Throughout the world, peoples of all faiths are welcome to enter Christian cathedrals and holy sites. Not so with Islam. Only Muslims are allowed to enter the environs of Mecca and Medina.
As a Christian, I am called to extend hospitality to strangers, love to enemies, and friendship to opponents. Therefore, I embrace dialogue between various religious faiths. But let’s do it with our eyes open to the realities before us. I believe that most Muslims are indeed peaceful, and live in tension with the violent tendencies of their faith. However, if Christians must acknowledge and repent of violence; then Muslims also should be willing to acknowledge and address issues inherent to their faith. That’s what the Egyptian President has asked.
To foster sincere dialogue, I ask the following questions to my Muslim friends:
- Are you willing to publically denounce violence in the name of religion?
- Are you willing to allow full expression of non-Muslim religious faith, including conversion, building new churches, and establishing seminaries in conquered and predominately Muslim lands?
- Are you willing to allow non-Muslim observers to visit Mecca during the Hajj?
