The confounding and conflicting reports surrounding the Muhammad ‘toons are still pouring in. The fast breaking news – cartoon authenticity, religious blasphemy, riots and deaths – is providing a window into the soul of the Muslim community. This time, however, the events can’t be pinned on a few Islamic fanatics. The magnitude and scope of Muslim reaction is revealing the hostile mindset of the broad Muslim world. It ought to evoke both pity and caution.
Muslims worship the god Allah; I worship God Who became Man, Jesus Christ. I would choose to die rather than deny Christ is God. Millions of other Christians share the same conviction. When we see images of Jesus submerged in urine, depictions of Him as a sodomite, or movies portraying Him as an adulterer, we’re insulted, grieved and angered – but we don’t set out to kill the culprits responsible. At least not en masse.
But provoked Muslims are a different story. The demeaning Danish cartoons have ignited mass rage in the Islamic world. We’ve bewilderedly witnessed the demand for blood, the burning of buildings, threatenings and death. If one compares the Christian community’s restrained response to the defamation of Christ with the murderous Muslim outrage over denigrating cartoons, a clear truth emerges – Christians and Muslims are different from one another. Our differences are rooted in our vastly divergent beliefs about God.
As a Bible believing Christian, I know myself to be created in God’s image, marred by sin, and loved by God. Jesus Christ died for me, and when I put my faith in Him, God forgave all my sins, and accepted me into His family. I can now talk to God, and know Him personally. I’ve been promised eternity in Heaven with Him. Not so with the Muslim.
A Muslim worships Allah, but Allah is completely incomprehensible to him. Muslim scholars call this “The Difference.” There is nothing about Allah that is comparable to man. To compare Allah to man or to man’s thoughts is forbidden. When Allah describes himself in the Quran as “merciful” or “compassionate,” he is not to be understood in terms of human mercy and compassion. Such a comparison is considered blasphemous. What does Allah mean then, when he so describes himself? No one knows. No one can know Allah, or be sure of his ways. That’s “The Difference.”
I’ve dialogued with a number of Muslims over the years, and they’re usually offended at my assurance concerning Heaven. They have no such assurance, for Islam offers no personal relationship with Allah. The relational basis for my relationship with God is that I’m created in His image and likeness. Muslims regard the biblical teaching that man is created in the image of God as perverse.
Islamic theology decrees that man is not made in the image of Allah, cannot comprehend Allah, nor have a direct relationship with Allah. Because Allah is under no obligation to any man, he may cast the most devout Muslim into hell, should he choose to do so. Of course, blowing ones’ self up in jihad for Allah will likely tip the balance in one’s favor – a strong motive for Islamic martyrdom.
The bottom line is that Allah’s complete incomprehensibility and total “otherness” leaves a huge void in the heart of the Muslim. Because man is driven to worship something he can relate to, the vacuum created by the incomprehensible Allah is often filled by Muhammad. Although worship of the prophet of Islam is forbidden, the practice is revealed in the constant reverencing of his name. The problem is, Muhammad makes for a very vulnerable god.
Insult is inflammatory when it strikes a note of truth (like a cartoon can do), and Muhammad’s dubious legacy and integrity are defended furiously. The recent Islamic uproar reminds me of the old joke about the preacher who was writing out his sermon notes. Toward the end, he jotted to himself in the margin “Weak point – pound fist, speak loudly.” Likewise, in the Muslim rioting and burning, we’re seeing evidence of vulnerable weakness, not zealous conviction. I despise public denigration of Jesus Christ, but He needs my defense about as much as a lion needs help from a duck.
I have a sense of pity for these rioting, Muslim crowds. In defending Muhammad (and previously, the flushed Quran), there’s a desperate attempt to show some fealty to Allah, the unrelatable one. There’s also reason for caution in these events. We’re not watching the actions of a few, fundamentalist radicals. These are the actions of a huge, violent and deadly dysfunctional religious family now living in our midst. May the love of Christ – and not resentment – prevail in our hearts.
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