Isalm Part 1
Islam with Dr. Nafez Nazzal February 17, 2006
Dr. Nafez Nazzal was born in Nablus and raised in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, Jerusalem. He earned his doctorate in Middle East history from Georgetown University, Washington, DC. He is presently teaching at Alcouds University in East Jerusalem. In summers he teaches at UCLA and Harvard.
Dr. Nazzal describes himself as a politically moderate Palestinian. He believes both Palestinians and Israelis are here to stay together in the Holy Land. He has observed that Muslims and Jews are not in the habit of forgiving and forgetting. They don’t let each other forget. Palestinians and Jews each feel they have a monopoly on a history of suffering.
How do we learn about religions? From where do we get our impressions of a religion? Muslims receive their understanding of Christianity through the behaviour of Christians. Westerners view Islam through the behaviour and actions of the followers of Islam. Throughout the world approximately 80% of Muslims are illiterate and very few have read the Q’uran. Their understanding of the Q’uran comes largely from illiterate parents and talk on the street. To understand Christianity they depend heavily on what they hear and what they see from Christians or the media, although few have access to the media. One must ask what has Christian history taught? Christians have taught that Christianity is about building empires and Crusades and forcing others to submit to its values and religion and culture. Today the western world is synonymous with Christianity. Those Muslims who do have excess to the world media learn that Christianity (the western world) is about money, capitalism, and a superior attitude and denigrating Islam.
Muslims believe that Abraham and Moses, etc are prophets. They believe that Jesus was a great prophet, but not the son of God. Further, they believe that Jesus’ mother was a virgin unlike all other prophets, that he was not crucified, did not experience death, but rather that Jesus ascended to heaven and is still living. They believe that Jesus will return and that his return will be one of the signs of the last judgement.
Muslims use the term "believer" to refer to Muslims, followers of Islam. Dr. Nazzal observes that Islam focusses on the Prophet Muhammad and his revelation at the expense of the words discerned by all other prophets. When Dr. Nazzal asks his Muslim students why they chant "There is no God but God and Muhammad is his prophet" they respond that Muhammad is the LAST prophet and therefore the MOST important to them.
In the past, Arabs were traditionally held together by the need for self-defence, and the dangers and hardship of desert life, survival. Today, they continue to be united by what is called "blood line relationship" which is descent through the male line. Traditionally, Arabs were Nomadic and tribal in nature. They consist of clans and tribes. The western world makes the mistake of assuming that all Arabs are Muslim. This is not true. There are Arab Christians and there are Arab Jews and a smattering of Arabs who associate themselves with a variety of other religions. Only one in five Muslims is Arab.
The term "Arab" is more correctly described as a "race." Arabs, by tradition are the descendants of Ishmael, a son born to Abraham and Hagar. In the Muslim perspective there is no difference between being descendants of Ishmael or of Abraham’s other son, Isaac in the promise by God of the promised land to the people. They do not appreciate being left out of that promise today. The term Arab has mean different things throughout history. After the rise of Islam in the 7th century, the term "Arab" referred to persons living in the Arabian Peninsula and a Muslim, secondarily it meant a person who was originally from the Arabian Peninsula. Today, "Arab" is one who identifies "self" with culture, language, history and has no connotation of religion
In order to understand the values of the Prophet Muhammad, one must understand the values of the Arab people living in the Arabian Peninsula at the time of Muhammad. We must ask what were the situations and conditions in the Arabian Peninsula? Over the centuries the Arab people located in the Arabian Peninsula were a part of various empires or they were ignored by nearby empires because they were traditionally uncontrollable and of a different religion. The empires which came and went were never homogeneous in that they demonstrated a variety of forms of religion even among Christianity. They fought continuously and were in conflict over power and wealth.
When nationalism began to sweep the world in the 19th century Arab nations began to arise – Turkey, Morocco, Iran, etc. Each nation had its own ethos and emphasis. There was no such thing as separation of church and state in Muslim countries and regions. Having developed in an area where the example was division, conflict and fighting, Islam continued the unfortunate tradition because that is what it knew. Today Islam is divided into many sects and experiences little unity.
Dr. Nafez Nazzal was born in Nablus and raised in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, Jerusalem. He earned his doctorate in Middle East history from Georgetown University, Washington, DC. He is presently teaching at Alcouds University in East Jerusalem. In summers he teaches at UCLA and Harvard.
Dr. Nazzal describes himself as a politically moderate Palestinian. He believes both Palestinians and Israelis are here to stay together in the Holy Land. He has observed that Muslims and Jews are not in the habit of forgiving and forgetting. They don’t let each other forget. Palestinians and Jews each feel they have a monopoly on a history of suffering.
How do we learn about religions? From where do we get our impressions of a religion? Muslims receive their understanding of Christianity through the behaviour of Christians. Westerners view Islam through the behaviour and actions of the followers of Islam. Throughout the world approximately 80% of Muslims are illiterate and very few have read the Q’uran. Their understanding of the Q’uran comes largely from illiterate parents and talk on the street. To understand Christianity they depend heavily on what they hear and what they see from Christians or the media, although few have access to the media. One must ask what has Christian history taught? Christians have taught that Christianity is about building empires and Crusades and forcing others to submit to its values and religion and culture. Today the western world is synonymous with Christianity. Those Muslims who do have excess to the world media learn that Christianity (the western world) is about money, capitalism, and a superior attitude and denigrating Islam.
Muslims believe that Abraham and Moses, etc are prophets. They believe that Jesus was a great prophet, but not the son of God. Further, they believe that Jesus’ mother was a virgin unlike all other prophets, that he was not crucified, did not experience death, but rather that Jesus ascended to heaven and is still living. They believe that Jesus will return and that his return will be one of the signs of the last judgement.
Muslims use the term "believer" to refer to Muslims, followers of Islam. Dr. Nazzal observes that Islam focusses on the Prophet Muhammad and his revelation at the expense of the words discerned by all other prophets. When Dr. Nazzal asks his Muslim students why they chant "There is no God but God and Muhammad is his prophet" they respond that Muhammad is the LAST prophet and therefore the MOST important to them.
In the past, Arabs were traditionally held together by the need for self-defence, and the dangers and hardship of desert life, survival. Today, they continue to be united by what is called "blood line relationship" which is descent through the male line. Traditionally, Arabs were Nomadic and tribal in nature. They consist of clans and tribes. The western world makes the mistake of assuming that all Arabs are Muslim. This is not true. There are Arab Christians and there are Arab Jews and a smattering of Arabs who associate themselves with a variety of other religions. Only one in five Muslims is Arab.
The term "Arab" is more correctly described as a "race." Arabs, by tradition are the descendants of Ishmael, a son born to Abraham and Hagar. In the Muslim perspective there is no difference between being descendants of Ishmael or of Abraham’s other son, Isaac in the promise by God of the promised land to the people. They do not appreciate being left out of that promise today. The term Arab has mean different things throughout history. After the rise of Islam in the 7th century, the term "Arab" referred to persons living in the Arabian Peninsula and a Muslim, secondarily it meant a person who was originally from the Arabian Peninsula. Today, "Arab" is one who identifies "self" with culture, language, history and has no connotation of religion
In order to understand the values of the Prophet Muhammad, one must understand the values of the Arab people living in the Arabian Peninsula at the time of Muhammad. We must ask what were the situations and conditions in the Arabian Peninsula? Over the centuries the Arab people located in the Arabian Peninsula were a part of various empires or they were ignored by nearby empires because they were traditionally uncontrollable and of a different religion. The empires which came and went were never homogeneous in that they demonstrated a variety of forms of religion even among Christianity. They fought continuously and were in conflict over power and wealth.
When nationalism began to sweep the world in the 19th century Arab nations began to arise – Turkey, Morocco, Iran, etc. Each nation had its own ethos and emphasis. There was no such thing as separation of church and state in Muslim countries and regions. Having developed in an area where the example was division, conflict and fighting, Islam continued the unfortunate tradition because that is what it knew. Today Islam is divided into many sects and experiences little unity.
posted by Philip | 6:56 a.m.
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