We All Worship Allah! A Brief Introduction to Islam

What do you know about Islam, the religion of Osama bin Laden? Since that terrible day, Sept.11, many Catholics in our Diocese have asked me questions about Islam, a major world religion. Several have asked me to give a series of lectures on what to them is a “mysterious” religion, which is suddenly in the news every day. Perhaps this brief introduction will help. Let’s begin with Our Lady of Fatíma.

Mary, the mother of Jesus of Nazareth, is venerated by Catholics around the world as the model of faith and the perfect example of Christian discipleship. October, like May is month during which we traditionally strive to pray and live in fidelity Mary’s response when she was asked to be the mother of Jesus. “Let it be done unto to me according to your word.” Pope John Paul II has asked Catholics around the world to pray to God for peace in our world during these uncertain days since the terrorist attack, the start of the U.S. “war” on terrorism that began with the bombing of Afghanistan, and the Anthrax scare. The Pope urged us to pray the rosary, a prayer that meditates on Mary’s closeness to God through her son, Jesus, making her “full of grace.” October is also a very appropriate time for Catholics to correct any misunderstanding that Christians of other traditions and those who are not Christians at all may have about our devotion to Mary. While Catholics venerate and honor Mary, we do not worship or adore her as some have thought. We worship only God.

Since 1917, Mary has been venerated in a city in Portugal where three small children encountered her in a vision or apparition. She told the children to ask all people to pray and work for peace in the world. Because the name of the city is Fatíma, Mary became known all over the world as “Our Lady of Fatíma”. Did you know that Fatíma is not a Portuguese word? It is Arabic. Because of the spread of Islam from North Africa to Portugal and the South of Spain, the city takes its name from Fatíma, the daughter of Muhammed, the prophet of Allah and the founder of Islam! Muhammed was born in Mecca, in present day Saudi Arabia in 570 A.D.

Many Catholics are aware that the Catholic Church is the largest Christian community in the world, with over one billion members. However, they may not be aware that there are over one billion followers of Islam as well. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are sometimes referred to as Abrahamic faith traditions because all three trace their roots to the patriarch, Abraham who worshiped only one God, which was something radically new in the Middle East. If you accept monotheism, the belief that there is only one God, you realize that Yahweh, The God of Israel, Abba Father, the God of Jesus Christ and Allah the God of Islam is the SAME God, since there is only one God. Judaism does not have God, Christianity does not have God, Islam does not have God. If the God in whom we believe IS God, then we do not have God. God has us!

Allah, originally the name of an Arab tribal god, is now simply the Arabic word for God as Deus, Dieu, Dios, and Gott are the Latin, French, Spanish and German words for God. Thus, we all worship Allah. You might be surprised to learn that the Koran, the Holy Book of Islam recounts many narratives in the Old Testament concerning Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Solomon, and David. The Koran also reveres the Virgin Mary and her son, Jesus Christ, acknowledging His miraculous birth and resurrection, though not His divinity. Muhammad, unlike some radical extremist Islamic groups today, taught that Muslims must treat Jews and Christians in their countries as guests, not enemies. The followers of Islam believe that God’s revelation did not end in Christianity. Judaism and Christianity are extended and, in a certain sense, fulfilled in Islam.

Islam, as taught by Muhammad in the Koran (sometimes spelled Quran), believed to be the inspired literal word of God, is built upon five duties called the Five Pillars. These are:

1) The Creed (Shahada): Every Muslim must be able to proclaim this simple creed with absolute conviction of its truth. “There is no god but Allah and Muhammed is his messenger.”
2) Prayer (Salat): Faithful Muslims pray a standardized set of prayers five times a day: dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, dusk, and evening. Friday is the traditional day for praying as a community at a mosque. The prayer contains very little ritual or ceremony. It consists of the praise of Allah taken from chapters of the Koran.
3) Alms-Giving (Zakat): Once a year Muslims must give a “loan” to Allah based upon their net worth. This is their alms for the support of the poor in their community.
4) Fasting (Swam): Throughout the daylight hours of the lunar month of Ramadan, observant Muslims must fast. No food, drink, smoking or sexual activity.
5) Pilgrimage (Haj): If they are physically and financially able, all Muslims must go on pilgrimage once in their lifetime to Mecca’s holy sites, during the official three days of the Great Haj.

Islam stresses the centrality of the Koran and its purity it the original Arabic language. It also holds a literal belief in heaven and hell and affirms the existence of angels and other spiritual beings. Since Muhammad was both a political and a spiritual leader, the “Islamic Way” or “Shariah,” derived from the Koran and other Islamic texts, has led to the Shariah Law which governs the way modern Islam interacts with the non-Islamic world. Like Christianity, Islam has a vision of how people should live in this world, and it strives to create social and political structures in which people live according to this vision, sometimes down to the last detail.

There are about five billion people in the world. About one billion (20%) of the world population is Catholic and about one billion (20%) is Muslim. Catholics live largely in Europe, North America, South America and sub Saharan Africa. Muslims live largely in North Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Asia, and Eastern Europe. Due to complex economic, political and religious developments, many governments in largely Islamic countries are confronting increasingly radical even violent Islamic elements. Most (95%) of all Muslims are Sunni Muslims who believe that their leaders should be chosen by consultation and consensus. A small (3%) group called Shiite Muslims believes that only direct descendants of Muhammad can be Muslims. It was a group of radical Shiites who assassinated Egyptian President Anwar el-Sedat in 1983 because he went to Jerusalem seeking peace with Israel. Both groups embrace the Five Pillars. But they differ significantly on how Muslims should live in religiously and politically pluralistic societies.

There are several million Muslims in the United States, including a substantial community in nearby Houston. No doubt there are Muslims in Lake Charles. Many American males (especially African Americans) are converted from Christianity to Islam while in prison. Some join Louis Farrakhan’s sect, the Nation of Islam. Others join mainstream Islam. Over two million American Muslims worship at mosques each week. Perhaps the renowned athlete, Mohammad Ali (formerly, Cascius Clay) is the most famous American Muslim.

During the main Islamic worship service at noon on Fridays, all worshipers remove their shoes at the door of the mosque. Men and women pray in separate prayer rooms. After a ceremony of purification and washing, worshipers sit in rows facing a mark on the wall, which signifies the holy city of Mecca, the direction towards which they are praying. The brief service (less than an hour) consists of a series of memorized prayers prayed in different postures such as standing, bowing, lying prostrate and kneeling and bending forward with hands and head touching the prayer rug. After the prayers there is a reflection or sermon by the Imam explaining a passage form the Quran. There is no singing or ritualized ceremony like the Mass or Eucharist. Islam has very strict dietary laws concerning what Muslims may eat, somewhat similar to Jewish Kosher regulations. There are also definite requirements concerning cleanliness and modesty, especially strict for women.

Since Islam has no worldwide central authority, fragmentation and sectarianism are not uncommon. This may be especially the case regarding the issue of how faithful Muslims should live in pluralistic, democratic societies like the United States, which sanctions no state religion and which welcomes diverse religious traditions. Some Muslims prefer an Islamic state, like Iran or Saudi Arabia, where religious leaders who apply the Koran to everyday life making no distinction between secular and religious life hold the highest political positions. The most famous of these leaders was Iran’s late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who in 1989 issued a fatwa (official religious ruling) accusing novelist Salman Rushdie of blasphemy because of his book, The Satanic Verses. One very austere Islamic sect called Wahabism (started by Muhammed bin Abd al-Wahhab (1703-87), the co-founder of Saudi Arabia) calls for the strictest interpretation of the Koran. It forbids close contact with non-Muslims, mingling of the sexes, the education of women, living in communities where alcohol or mood altering drugs are consumed, and eating pork. Its followers reject what they see as the materialistic, self-indulgent secularism of western (especially American) culture. It is the Wahabi sect from Saudi Arabia that has shaped the violent extremism of Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammed Omar the leader of the Taliban government in Afghanistan.

You might be surprised to know that “Islam” is derived from an Arabic word which means “peace”. Islam means abandoning oneself, surrendering oneself in peace to Allah. There is nothing intrinsically violent about Islam. The vast majority of the worlds Muslims want to live in peace with others. The primary meaning of the Islamic term “Jihad” is not “holy war against infidels” as you sometimes hear on television. “Jihad” means to “exert oneself” or to struggle, for example, by working hard, fighting to do good, striving to spread Islam all over the world. This can also include using political structures and military strength to spread Islam. Jihad can be a call to war to defend Islam but this can only be invoked by a legitimate head of state in unique circumstances. Islam also teaches that suicide (e.g. terrorists in the four planes) is a sin, punishable by damnation. Like Christians, Muslims become martyrs only when they are put to death for their faith.

Islam has a rich history of culture, scholarship and care for those in need. Certainly the vast majority of its adherents interpret the Koran as a path for peace not war. If current events make us painfully aware that a small, vocal, fanatical and influential minority harbor a fierce hatred for the United States, perhaps more for political, economic and cultural reasons than for theological ones, we should be mindful of the unfortunate history of Christianity, during which Christians were equally fierce in their conflicts with Muslims, to whom they referred as savages and pagans.

The only way for us to begin to understand those who do not view the world as we do is to learn about their beliefs and strive to truly understand them, to stand under their world in order to see as they see. I hope this very inadequate introduction gives you a better understanding of Islam. Remember this. By whatever name, there is only one God. Our Lady of Fatíma, pray for us!