From the President: Ramadan and Reason

By Dr. Chris Seiple on 06 October 2006

Last night, it was my honor to participate in Iftar, the meal that breaks the daily fast of Muslims during Islam's holy month of Ramadan.¹ Fasting takes place in the Muslim tradition "so that you might remain conscious of God" (Surah 2:183). Ramadan, therefore, is an individual time of focusing on God, spiritual discipline, seeking forgiveness, and the strengthening of family and community bonds as a result.

Christians fast for the same reasons. Fasting, as the prophet Joel records, is an opportunity to demonstrate repentance and "return" to God (Joel 2:12-15). Through the weakness of hunger, Christians are reminded again to "look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always" (Psalms 105:4).

Foremost, however, fasting is a time of profound humility in our attempts to come to terms with the mystery and majesty of our Creator. The Qu'ran teaches that "no human vision can encompass Him, whereas He encompasses all human vision: for He alone is unfathomable, all-aware" (Surah 6:103). God responds to the human arguments of Job with holy sarcasm: "Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? ... Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? ... Who endowed the heart with wisdom or gave understanding to the mind?" (Job: 38: 2, 4, 36).

Christians and Muslims cannot help but acknowledge that the absolute of God is absolutely unknowable. Yet, they are also clearly called to exercise the gifts of understanding and wisdom given to them, and to "give to God the most precious thing you have, that is, your mind, for you have nothing better than that."²

Indeed, the people of the book are encouraged to practice that first part of wisdom — naming (Surah 2:31; Genesis 2:19) — and to seek understanding through reason. In particular, the Qu'ran records that God "creates man out of a [mere] drop of sperm: and lo! This same being shows himself endowed with the power to think and argue" (Surah 16:4; 36:77). Further, God "forbids all that is shameful and all that runs counter to reason" (Surah 16:90).

It is not surprising that the tradition of ijtihad developed in the first centuries of Islam. Ijtihad is a legal process of reason and interpretation that developed before the four traditional schools of Islamic jurisprudence were officially established.³ Its Arabic root is jahada, "to struggle with oneself." This same root is the basis for jihad, which most Muslims first define as the "greater jihad" because it is an internal struggle of spiritual purification.

In this scriptural context, Islam has produced some of the most creative and scientific minds our common civilization has known, from Spain to Central Asia. In the 9th century, Ibn Firnas built the first glider; Al-Battani determined the solar year to include 365 days and provided the basis for trigonometry; Jabir ibn Hayyan established chemistry as a legitimate science; and Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarismi, the father of algebra, wrote the first book on linear and quadratic equations.

In the 10th and 11th centuries, Avicenna not only memorized the Qu'ran but also published The Book of Healing and The Canon of Medicine. In the same time period, Al-Zahrawi wrote a thirty-volume set on the practice of medicine, Al-Tasrif, and is widely considered the father of surgery. In the 13th century Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi wrote some of the world's greatest poetry, inspiring worship through dance and music. And in the 15th century, Tamerlane's grandson, Ulug Beg, tracked the earth's rotation around the sun to within one minute of its actual time while building a seminary where science and theology could be studied together.

Unfortunately, ijtihad was officially stifled and essentially stopped during the Abbasid Dynasty (750-1258) which sought to control Islam by limiting different sects and interpretations in order to maintain political stability in the empire. Unofficially, however, ijtihad has continued and Muslims everywhere continue to debate its role, as well as its relationship to today's issues.

Still, with ijtihad's official removal from theological life in the 13th century, the God-ordained role of reason began to diminish in the Islamic tradition, setting the stage for today's crisis: too large a minority of unreasonable Muslims matched by too many non-Muslims who take this minority as representative of true Islam.

We children of Abraham, however, have a choice. Christians and Muslims can invite the clash of civilizations by indulging in stereotypes of the other, or we can work together to solve the differences within our common civilization, a civilization created by God. The key is respect for the other, something that is best understood through the use of faith and reason. Five steps lead us forward.

First, we should acknowledge and celebrate the similarities between Muslims and Christians.

We are fearfully made by the Creator of the universe and we must respect each of those creations. Muslims and Christians are in awe of God's sovereignty; we share a passion for justice and mercy done in His name.

Second, we must know our own faith at its deepest and richest best, and enough about our neighbor's faith in order to respect it; to include acknowledging the deep differences instead of wishing them away with ecumenical platitudes.

The primary difference is this: in Islam, the Divine, as transmitted to the human prophet Mohammad, expressed Himself through the written word of the Qu'ran; in Christianity, the Divine became the living Word in the person of Jesus Christ (John 1:14).

Muslims regard the Qu'ran as the inerrant and breathed word of God. He is a God so unfathomable and powerful that it is simply inconceivable that He could suffer or would be blasphemed. In this context, for example, the non-violent Muslim reactions to the Danish cartoons are not unreasonable. Christians, on the other hand, worship a God who became human, suffered, and was blasphemed. The resurrection of Jesus Christ confirms His divinity making it inconceivable not to follow His teachings.

Third, we cannot be afraid to name the problem properly.

That problem today is quite clear. While others have committed violence unjustly in the name of their religion throughout history, especially Christians, many of today's terrorists are apostates who justify their actions through their perversion of the Islamic faith.

Reflecting on the 2004 terrorist attack in Beslan, Russia, which killed 346 civilians, among them 186 children, Abdel Rahman al-Rashed, general manager of Al-Arabiya articulated the perception rampant in the West today: "It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims."⁴

Only Islam will defeat the problem of apostate terrorism. And the re-claimed tradition of ijtihad will play a significant role.

Still, it is the responsibility of Christians to not stereotype, to love their neighbor, and to understand that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are peaceful people who share a common, God-based worldview, and who desire the same thing for their children as Christians do for theirs: the opportunity to grow up in a terrorist-free world.

Meanwhile, Christians, especially those who happen to be American, must not contribute to the problem, by naming it improperly. For example, the new term of reference is "Islamo-Fascism." Somehow, by dusting off the name for a 20th century concept rooted in the extreme nationalism and totalitarianism of the state, we are supposed to understand the theological roots of a non-state group that thinks of itself as religious. The phrase is substantively unhelpful while broad-brushing the entire faith as fascist. Or consider the use of the word "jihadis" to describe these apostate-terrorists. By using this word, we validate the terrorists' perception of themselves as religious and insult true Muslims who disavow terrorism.

Fourth, we Christians and Muslims must work toward answers with great humility.

We do recognize that God is sovereign, and we both accept that He will judge us. As Hannah prayed: "Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed" (1 Samuel 2:3). Or as the Qu'ran reminds: "He is God in the heavens and on earth, knowing all that you keep secret as well as all that you do openly, and knowing what you deserve" (Surah 6:3).

If we want to honor God, we must proceed with humility, serving His creation as we do. "What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." The Qu'ran demands no different: "Behold, God enjoins justice, and the doing of good, and generosity towards [one's] fellow-men" (Surah 16:90).

Fifth, Christians and Muslims must rely on faith. At the end of the day, faith is belief in the unseen, something that cannot be reasoned yet something that beckons us forward. If God is truly sovereign, then we must depend on Him to guide us through the seemingly intractable international issues that plague us today.

And so we must pray together.

And we must fast together, to be closer to Him in order to serve His creation. If we can fast in faith, then perhaps we just might set a different example — together — as we "loose the chains of injustice ... set the oppressed free ... share food with the hungry ... [and] provide the poor wanderer with shelter." (Isaiah 58:6-7).

Last updated 12 January 2009