AT 4:55 A.M. THE MINARET LOUDSPEAKER BLARED OUTSIDE MY WINDOW. It was early September. I was in Damascus, Syria visiting relatives, and hundreds of mosques all over the city were calling Muslims to prayer. This day was no different from any other — the breaking of dawn signals the expected stirring from bed and attending to one's ritual duties of morning prayer. This is the first of five daily prayers which faithful Muslims weave into their everyday lives — if they forget their duties in the midst of the details of life, muezzins from minarets throughout the Muslim world cry "Allahu akbar" ("God is great") at the appointed times to bring them back to this most basic of religious tasks.
Throughout the Middle East and in much of North Africa and lower Asia, Islam dominates the religious landscape. The sing-song chanting of the Quran (Islam's holy book) often serves as a background for marketplace conversations. Public artwork in Arabic-speaking countries often consists of beautifully calligraphied Arabic script portraying verses of the Quran. Lyrics to popular music are often religiously inspired and sometimes created to arouse opposition to the enemies of Islam. Commerce and public activities slow down or cease during the appointed times of prayer, as Muslim men are expected either to attend the mosque or pray wherever they find themselves, after engaging in ritual washing and facing the direction of Mecca, the seat of Islam's holiest shrine.
Of course, Islam is not monolithic, though Muslims like to talk of one universal community of faith. In every country, whether predominantly Islamic or not, Muslims vary by culture and local belief. There are two major sects of Islam: the Sunnis who comprise roughly 85 percent of all Muslims, and the Shiites who comprise around 10 percent. Within these larger groupings and apart from them there are numerous splinter groups and movements, the most well-known of which may be the Sufi mystics (sometimes remembered from the caricature "whirling dervishes"). Most Muslims you will come into contact with are probably Sunnis.
Where the infidels live
In this day and age, the United States is viewed by many in the Muslim world as at least a threat and at most an outright enemy. Of course, this is not true of all Muslims. Many in this country and in Western societies generally wish to live in peaceful coexistence with America, or even sing the praises of much of what America stands for. But they represent a small slice of the roughly 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide. For the vast majority of those, the United States represents the stronghold of the "infidels," those who refuse to bow the knee before Allah (the God who Muslims believe rules over all creation), and who therefore must be opposed or even destroyed.
Why does America spark such a negative reaction among Muslims? How can religious schoolteachers in Muslim Pakistan, like Fazal Hussein, train students for physical warfare? Hussein, quoted in the Chicago Tribune, said, "From young boys to men of 55, we are teaching jihad. Jihad means fighting America. We will sacrifice ourselves." Radical Muslims in Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, Iran, Indonesia and elsewhere regularly take up the chant, "Death to America! Death to the Great Satan!" Certainly some of this is posturing for CNN, but the fact that such chanting can even take place indicates the brewing of a major storm for which America is the tallest lightning rod. Why?
Learning from Hollywood
There are at least five reasons, probably more. The first is a media-fed perception of American immorality. The U.S. is seen worldwide by religious Muslims as the primary exporter of immorality, particularly through entertainment channels. The international marketing of Hollywood sex, scandal and slasher movies paints a lurid picture of American life for the sheltered Third World. The fact that reruns of "Dukes of Hazzard," "Dallas" and "Baywatch" are played around the world lead those who have never been in American homes to assume that illicit sex, fast cars, guns and intrigue are the daily menu of average American lives. Young people see MTV and get a very distorted idea of their American counterparts. Many Muslim governments have sought to stem the flow of cinematic corruption into their country through censorship, but with the advent of satellite dishes and other technological advances this is becoming impractical.
America the puppet?
Second, Muslims see the United States' foreign policy as a political puppet of Israel and American Jews. They perceive in our government's positions over the last 50 years an unbending, blind support of a nation which in the eyes of most Muslims has been the cause of untold suffering among the Arabs throughout the Middle East. Many followers of Islam are gripped by a paranoia drummed into them by their religious traditions that Israel and the Jews have concocted a global conspiracy against Islam. It does not help matters any that in the Quran Muhammad bitterly calls the Jews the greatest enemies of Islam (from Sura "The Table," 5:82).
One of my close Syrian relatives told me in early September that the Jews were behind the repressive Arab regimes in the Middle East, having installed these governments in secret ways and paying these Arab leaders to keep their Arab peoples oppressed. She went on to say that both America and NATO have declared that since the fall of communism the greatest enemy left to defeat is Islam. Another cousin of mine points to all the Jewish-sounding names in Cabinet-level and Congressional positions and declares, "The United States is in the pocket of the Jews." Since Israel is the great enemy of the Arabs especially, and of all Islam by extension, and since the United States has allied itself so unstintingly with Israel over against Arab concerns and issues, we by our actions have declared ourselves enemies of Islam and the Middle East (in Muslim minds).
Cries ignored
Third, Muslims perceive an anti-Arab bias not only in foreign policy but in human rights issues as well. Muslims point to the ignored cries of the Palestinians, not just over their displacement from their homeland but over the ongoing oppression and violence which they suffer under the rule of Israeli authorities. It is American planes, they say, which bomb their villages, and American helicopters which fire missiles into their apartment buildings, and American bulldozers which knock down their settlements, and American bullets which shatter their children's skulls. True, Israeli fingers are on the triggers, but American money and support are behind these police actions. Three weeks ago, one of my Syrian cousins declared to me with undeniable passion, "If I could go to occupied Palestine (Israel) and fight against the oppressors and give my life to help liberate Palestine, I would count it a privilege. I would count it an honor!"
Muslims point as well to the decade-long sanctions against Iraq which, though justified against Saddam Hussein and his government, are causing deep suffering among the people. Estimates are that close to a million children have died due to the embargoes and sanctions engineered and supported by the United States. To most Arabs, it doesn't matter that Saddam Hussein could alleviate the desperation of his people. The fact that the U.S. government has allowed this failed policy to continue at the expense of innocent Arabs is inhumane.
A `Christian' enemy
Fourth, Muslims (especially non-Western ones) view the United States as a Christian nation, and therefore the most powerful rival to their faith. Though we know that there is no such thing as a "Christian nation" since God has not called us to a kingdom of this world, the Muslim mind cannot conceive of religion apart from political realities. For Islam the kingdom of Allah must in the end become the unrivaled kingdom of this world. Since the United States is not in the fold of Islamic nations, it is labeled as Christian and thus seen as an adversary to be opposed. In many quarters of the world, there is a sense of jealousy among Muslims as they look at the military strength of America projected across the globe, the standard of living and technological advantages of our society, the freedoms and pioneering spirit which characterize our way of life. American influence in the world translates for some Muslims into Christian advances into Muslim territory, and that cannot be tolerated.
Particularly aggravating is the significant American military presence in Saudi Arabia, the cradle of Islam and home of its holiest shrines. Osama bin Laden's call for a jihad against America, while more extreme than what many Muslims are comfortable with, nonetheless illustrates what many are thinking — America's "crusader forces," to use bin Laden's words, must be opposed by every true Muslim, lest they infiltrate and undermine the strength of Islam.
A world under Allah
This leads to the final reason why many Muslims struggle with antipathy toward the United States. Even if we were not a "Christian" nation, in their eyes, as long as we are not Muslim, we are an enemy to be conquered. For theologically, Islam is committed to the complete subjugation of the entire world to Allah. Though there is not consensus among Muslims concerning the use of force to advance Islam, there is unanimity concerning three fundamental principles: 1) Islam is the one true religion, meant to be accepted universally; 2) its ultimate goal is the establishment of a one-world theocracy where the laws of Islam (Sharia) become the laws of all societies; 3) all human beings will one day be either converted to Islam, or subjugated under Muslim rule (as second-class citizens who must pay a poll tax and abide by Islamic laws regardless of their beliefs), or eliminated by the sword. For many Muslims, the United States stands as the greatest present barrier to the fulfillment of this ultimate goal, and they feel duty-bound to work for the downfall of our nation or its transition to a fully Muslim country.
What about holy wars?
Since Sept. 11, the world has become a more fearful place for Americans. Terrorists in the name of Allah slaughtered thousands of Americans and internationals from over 80 countries. Their justification was the declaration of jihad against the enemies of Islam, principally in their minds the infidels (unbelievers) of the United States. The term "jihad," often translated "holy war," leads those unfamiliar with Islam to ask, "Is such violence sanctioned by Islam?" Moderate Muslim leaders assert that Islam is a religion characterized by peace (in fact the word "Islam" comes from the root "salaam," the Arabic word for "peace," or more technically "surrender"). They claim that terrorism has no place in Islam, and point to a verse in the Quran which says, "There is no compulsion in religion" (Sura 2:256). Fundamentalists, on the other hand, point to numerous texts in the Quran where Muhammad as Allah's spokesman commands his followers to fight and subdue all who resist Islam, if necessary by killing them. For example, Sura 47:4 directs, "So, when you meet (in fighting in Allah's Cause) those who disbelieve smite at their necks till when you have killed and wounded many of them, then bind a bond firmly on them (i.e. take them as captives). ... "
Jihad literally means "struggle" or "exertion" in the cause of something good. In Islam it is considered the duty of all Muslims. Moderates argue that jihad has first and foremost a spiritual meaning, not unlike Paul's statement in Ephesians 6:12, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers ..." Muslims are to subdue evil in their own hearts, and then peacefully to engage in the jihad of mouth and pen — apologetics and evangelism. Fundamentalists do not dispute the goodness of these activities, but point out that strong textual support from the Quran, traditions from Muhammad's own life, the early spread of Islam by the sword under the approval of Islamic caliphs, and Islamic law as finalized in the second century after Muhammad's death all clearly support the main definition of jihad as armed aggression against those who resist the advance of Islam. What non-Muslims call terrorists, they instead call holy warriors. What the media refers to as "suicide bombers," they praise as martyrs.
Eternal hedonism
What leads Muslim men to volunteer for death, even young men with all their lives before them? Principally it is the fact that the religion of Islam offers no certain hope of heaven to any of its adherents (the final decision is up to sovereign whims of Allah) with one exception. Those who die while fighting militarily in a jihad are promised immediate access to Paradise, the highest level of heaven with the greatest sensual delights imaginable. For those trapped in a religious system where you can never be sure you have done enough good to please God eternally, and whose lives amid poverty, oppression and despair do not guarantee much of an earthly future, the assurance of a reward of eternal hedonism is undeniably attractive. Add to this the high tribute in the minds of the faithful left behind and the thought of being an underdog who in the name of Allah does grave damage to the Great Satan, and you have a recipe for conflagration.
Let me stress again that not all Muslims think this way — to be a Muslim is not necessarily to condone the use of terrorism or others means of violence to advance the cause. But there is sufficient evidence in the history of Islam and in the clear teachings of Muhammad and the Quran to show that such an approach to the non-Muslim world finds a natural home in the religion of Islam.
Grace, love, and listening
How should Christians respond? Confidence and love are the first two words which come to mind. Paul reminds us in 2 Tim 1:7, "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-control." Jesus teaches us that to live by the sword is to die by the sword — his followers are to love enemies and pray for those who engage in persecution. Since our futures are secure in God's hand because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, we are not to fear those who make threats against our lives, nor to seek to destroy them in return. Rather, we are to approach them with the same love by which Jesus first approached and won us to Himself.
In the end, it is not really a question of what Muslims think of America, or of Christians. It is much more a matter of what Christians think of Muslims. Will we extend them Christ's love, the only real hope for peace and transformation, or will we turn away in fear or anger? The future is not in the hands either of Muslim terrorists or of Muslim moderates. It is in the hands of Jesus Christ, and He still calls the Church to meet the world with grace and love. The next months and years will show whether we are listening or not.
Dr. Elass is senior pastor of Immanuel Presbyterian Church (EPC) in Warrenville, Ill. A graduate of Stanford University and Fuller Theological Seminary, he was raised in Saudi Arabia and is both a New Testament scholar and an authority on world religions.
