‘COME now, and let us reason together.’ These words of God, found in Isaiah’s prophecy, and understood in the sense of a gracious invitation, interpret to us the manner in which the modern preacher to Islam approaches his task. The old-fashioned Christian method of vilification and denigration of Islam and its Prophet has been largely abandoned today. An equally inadequate approach to Islam has been followed by some Christians during recent years, by which, in order to avoid giving offence to Muslims, Christians have glossed over differences or credited Islam with more Christian truth than Islam could contain; but this is also gradually being outgrown.
Neither method has been altogether without value. The former has made Islam examine its teachings to some extent, but only from the point of view of their ethical significance. There has not been any comprehensive theological restatement or enquiry. The latter policy may also be regarded as having served a useful purpose, in that it has helped to correct the unhappy human situation created by the earlier method, and has been instrumental in establishing more cordial relations between Islam and the Christian Church. The Muslim world has been very much aware of the purely conciliatory policy referred to above, and approves of the less critical attitude which that policy reveals. Islam is undoubtedly more friendly, but Muslims have not ceased to be Muslims on that account, and Islam still remains completely ignorant of the significance of Christian truth. We now hope therefore, that in this new climate of friendship, that further stage will come, when, in response to our invitation, Islam will seek to understand the significance of Christian truth itself, and also seek to interpret Muslim theology in the light of the teaching of the Bible.
This enquiry has yet to take place. Thirteen hundred years have passed since the advent of Islam, and thus far Muslims have never compared the teaching of their Faith with the genuine teachings of the Christian Church. The only kind of supposedly Christian teaching which Islam has been prepared to consider is the caricatured version found in the Quran and the manuals of Muslim theology. Although there has been much theological friction, there has been no healthy theological tension, and the faith of Islam has not been tested by its own people in the light of the Gospel of Christ.
Nevertheless one has to remember that although the Christian Church has not been able to persuade Islam to make a thorough comparison of Christian and Muslim teaching, yet (as we have already observed) Islam has been challenged in India and elsewhere in matters relating to ethical practice. Because of the impact of Western civilization and the teaching of Christian missionaries, modern Muslim theologians, such as Muhammad Abduh of Egypt, have had to answer Christian criticisms concerning the Quranic sanction of polygamy and slavery. Other Muslims (as we shall see in Chapter 4), in their desire to bring about a social and political strengthening of Islam in India, have found it necessary to ignore the central and (from a Muslim point of view) vitally important doctrine of Allah’s decree and His creation of man’s acts.
At such points, because of the ethical and political demands of the age, there has been an unsystematic treatment of theological difficulties and a certain crumbling in the social facade of Islam, but its foundations remain unmoved; and, as we may see from the writings of Muhammad Abduh and Indian Muslims, adjustments can be made and explanations can be given which still preserve the outward solidarity of Islam. If, for example, a modern Muslim refuses to explain the mystery of human responsibility in relation to Allah’s decree and His creation of human acts, on the grounds that man cannot understand such matters, that Muslim may defend himself before his Christian friend by pointing out that the Christian is also unable to explain that inner constitution of the Godhead which is suggested by the use of the words ‘Three in One and One in Three’. To seize upon isolated aspects of Islam is to invite such a retort, and the purpose of this short study is to assist the Christian, as he seeks to persuade his Muslim friend to ‘reason together’ with him, to discuss such items of dogma not in isolation, but in the light of the whole Gospel of the Grace and Truth of God. As the Christian does this, he will find that his efforts, far from being misdirected and unrelated, are continually bringing him and his Muslim friend to the point where they must discuss the source of all our differences, namely, the entirely different conceptions of God held by the Christian Church and Islam. This is the recurring theme of this book, and every chapter will, it is hoped, emphasize the fact that here, in the doctrine of God, lies the point of tension between Christian and Muslim; here is the point at which Islam has to be persuaded to ‘change its mind’, if it is to believe the Gospel.
Another purpose which the writer of this book hopes to accomplish is to remind his Christian reader that we must not assume, in using the same theological terms as our Muslim friends, that these terms convey the same meaning to a Christian and Muslim alike. When, for example, a Muslim speaks of Allah’s omnipotence, he is thinking of an omnipotence which is unmodified and absolute. When the Christian thinks of God’s omnipotence — while recognizing that finite man cannot fully understand all that God is — he nevertheless thinks in terms of Grace, the grace of a God who freely gives Himself, ‘holds out His hands all day to His rebellious children’, and in His Son has reconciled the world unto Himself. These two types of omnipotence are completely ‘at home’ in their own peculiar realms of thought, but the omnipotence of Allah is not that of God the Father, and the gracious Sovereignty of God the Father is quite different from the domination of Allah. We have to remember always that Muslim and Christian theology give to common terms their own distinctive content and emphasis. We must also remember that whenever that distinctive content is recognized, it should not only give us a point of contact from which to begin our discussion, but should also lead us to the ever-recurring and inescapable point of tension referred to above, namely, the contrast between Christian and Muslim thought upon the fundamental doctrine of God.
The writer is aware that there is a great deal of material in this book which, in unskilful hands, may be used only to prolong the controversy with Islam. That is the unhappy dilemma in which every Christian writer upon Islam finds himself — even though he seeks to be a minister of reconciliation —; but the alternative would involve a suppression of the truth concerning Islam, and an equally deliberate distortion of the universal Gospel. One can however speak the truth in love, and Christian truth, though sharper than a two-edged sword, is also lovely and gracious, and able to exercise its own persuasive power when the whole truth is set forth.
Finally, it is hoped that this book will not only make it possible for the Christian to assist his Muslim friend to compare beliefs rather than to indulge in controversy, but will also remind the Christian preacher that he is called, not to defend the Gospel, but to preach it.
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