Islamic problem of evangelism
Reply #7 - January 17, 2015, 04:32 PM
It illustrates something very deep and interesting: What, exactly, is a Muslim? I think there are basically three conflicting versions. Best known is the version of Islamic tradition, involving the five pillars etc., albeit with the Shiite version as well (probably more archaic).
But that is not the Qur'anic view. The other two definitions of the "Believer" are conflicting versions which seem implicit in the Qur'an, and which seem hyper-ecumenical and nonconfessional. Yet they are not consistent with each other. One (probably the older layer) is a Christian-type belief in Allah and the imminent Last Judgment with bodily resurrection -- if you believe in that, you are a believer. Unlike those who scoff and store up wealth and don't think Allah is about to judge them with hellfire. This is vaguely associated with Meccan type surahs.
Second is a rigidly monotheistic gentile Arab religion, in which the believers are defined by their heeding the messenger, believing in Allah alone with no partners, and accepting the prophetic lineage going back through the Judaic patriarchs. This is Abraham as "Muslim," the virtuous hanif despite being neither Jew nor Christian, and probably reflects the early Conquest era believers conceptualizing themselves as Arabic heirs to the Judaic prophetic tradition, Abrahamic monotheists. This is vaguely associated with Medina type surahs. The identity is primarily one of accepting the religious authority of a specific prophet, the Arabic messenger, and is tied with their community identity as Arabic recipients of the message that must be heeded (or else suffer punishments like the prior prophets).
Modern Sunni theology appears to gloss over these contradictions in an implausible way -- people are 'born Muslim,' and yet turn away. But which of the Muslim categories above do they mean 'born Muslim', and what is a 'Muslim' then? Born in the sense Abraham was Muslim? Born in the sense that believing in the last judgment and bodily resurrection makes you Muslim? That causes too much existential anxiety about what, exactly, being a Muslim is, because the Qur'an is so inconsistent with orthodox Muslim tradition on this point. So instead traditional Sunni doctrine is imported back into the 'natural Muslim' category, such that Adam was an orthodox Sunni, and so was Abraham. Although there was no Mohammed yet to follow the Sunnah of. Nor any prophet to follow. Nor any Mecca. Nor any holy books. Just obedience to Allah. And that leads to the dangerous conclusion that perhaps Jews and Christians are indeed Muslims ....
Topic: Islamic problem of evangelism