Is Islam truly innocent of ISIS?
Islam needs a Vatican II
HICHAM BOU NASSIF
Published: 24/07/2014 05:06 PM
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The historical roots of anti-Semitism in Western Christendom are complex and deep. Nazi ideology pushed anti-Semitism to its extreme criminal end, but did not invent it. For centuries, Christian faith was intertwined with hatred of Jews. The gospels placed responsibility for the crucifixion of Jesus on the Jews. In the Acts of the Apostles, Paul lashes out at the Jews who “killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets;” the Jews, according to Paul, “displease God and are hostile to everyone” (1 Thessalonians 2:14-16).
The bitterness shown in the Gospels and the Acts towards the Jews gave anti-Semitism its theological justification, and simultaneously, its oldest foundation. Church councils held Jews collectively responsible for the death of Christ. As the anti-Jewish bent of the Church spread beyond the ecclesiastical realm, it became imbricated in the social and cultural fabric of Western Christendom. It is beyond the limits and purpose of this piece to expand on the calamities Jewish communities suffered throughout centuries in Europe. Suffice it to mention the expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290; their expulsion from Spain in 1491; the 19th century pogroms in Imperial Russia; the Dreyfus affair in France; the Holocaust in Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe; and Stalin’s anti-Jewish policies in Soviet Russia.
To be sure, anti-Semitism eventually took a nationalistic and ethnic twist, beyond its theological origins. But it is also true that the religious dimension of the phenomenon was the original pillar from which other ramifications grew. A certain definition of Christianity, and what it means to be Christian, structured anti-Semitism for centuries. It was this very understanding that changed in the wake of the Vatican II Council in which the Church decried “hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone” in the name of “shared patrimony” with Jews, and the “Gospel’s spiritual love” (See the Nostra Aetate, the Vatican II Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions).
How did Jews move from being “Christ killers” to fellow human beings with whom the Church acknowledges sharing a common heritage? Beyond the outcry and sense of guilt caused by the Holocaust there was also a new interpretation of dogma. The Church did not delete the anti-Jewish paragraphs in the Gospels and the Acts. But nowadays Catholics are taught that these tirades are directed strictly against those Jews who, in the first century, called for the crucifixion of Christ – not against all Jews, everywhere, and at all time. Put differently, the sacred texts were reconciled with their social and political context, away from the ahistorical bent of old.
Fast-forward to ISIS and the unfolding tragedy of Iraqi Christians. The uprooting and destruction of Christian communities in Iraq has sent shockwaves through social media and throughout the world. What is particularly infuriating about the tragic fate of Iraqi Christians is that they had remained neutral in the ongoing conflict. They did not form militias of their own, nor did they part in acts of violence against either side. Still, the ISIS-controlled parts of Iraq have been cleansed of their Christian inhabitants. Each time a heinous crime is committed in the name of Islam, social and traditional media become awash with declarations that “Islam is innocent of such acts.”
A look at Islam’s holy book, the Quran, may qualify the vehement displays of innocence. The following verses are cases in point:
Quran (9:29): “Fight against Christians and Jews until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low.”
Quran (5:51): “Don’t take Jews or Christians for friends. If you do, then Allah will consider you to be one of them.”
Quran (2:65-66): “Christians and Jews must believe what Allah has revealed to Muhammad or Allah will disfigure their faces or turn them into apes, as he did the Sabbath-breakers.”
Quran (5:51): “O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.”
Quran (9:30): "And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!"
Anyone who takes time to actually read the Quran before stipulating what Islam is or is not will find that similar verses abound; militant groups readily cite these verses to legitimize their actions. In other words, the anti-Christian and anti-Jewish verses of the Quran have direct implications on how jihadists think and behave. Arguing, therefore, that Islam has little to do with atrocities committed in its name is simply unconvincing.
The problem, in fact, goes beyond sporadic outbursts of anti-Christian violence in the Arab world, to everyday discrimination. In constitutions of Arab countries, the first article typically stipulates that Islam is the religion of the state. This remains true even in a country like Egypt, where millions of Christian Egyptians live. Because Arab Christians are politically irrelevant, Western powers ignore their plight. But the (much ignored) fact remains that Arab Christians live as second-tier citizens in their own countries.
Think of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood declaring that Christians (and women) cannot become president of Egypt. Think, in fact, of Mahdi Akef, a senior figure of the Muslim Brotherhood, maintaining that a non-Egyptian Muslim can become president of Egypt, but not an Egyptian Christian. Or think of allowing Muslim men to marry Christian women, but not the other way around. Think, also, of the hurdles Egyptian Christians face each time they want to build a new church, or restore an old one. The list is long. If we ponder the plight of Christians living in the Arab world, it becomes clear that ISIS treatment of Iraqi Christians is not a drastic break with their lot in the region. What ISIS does is simply push an already existing bias into its extreme end – just like the Nazis did with anti-Semitism.
The ethos that surrounds Arab Christians is discriminatory. This ethos rests on a certain understanding of Islam, just like the anti-Semitism of old was informed by a certain understanding of Christianity. As long as a drastic reinterpretation of Islam is missing, the fate of Arab Christians will continue to be grim. This is precisely why the “Islam is blameless” theory is both misleading and counterproductive; it delays the much-needed soul searching that Muslims need to engage in, for their own sake and that of others. And while Islamophobia should never be condoned – because it is as shameful as the discrimination Arab Christians suffer – the “Islamophobic” smokescreen should not be thrown at anyone arguing that the roots of the problem go well beyond ISIS alone. For this is a mere fact.
Hicham Bou Nassif is finishing his PhD in political science at Indiana University this year. He will join Carleton College, Minnesota, as Assistant Professor in the political science department in August 2014.
are you gonna sit there and say that there arent fanatical muslims out there, right now, that are doing their best to follow that shyt to a T, to please 'allah'? 
i know religion doesnt deal with tangibles, but...
i find it hard to believe that it wouldnt be same/better
