Transcript Understanding Islam - St Ann Catholic Church, Fayetteville

Understanding
Islam
A Catholic
Perspective
The Direction of Intention
My God, give me the grace to
perform this action with you
and through love for you.
In advance, I offer to you all the
good that I will do and accept
all the difficulty I may meet therein.
Our Lady of Good Counsel, Pray for us.
St. Francis de Sales, Pray for us.
Overview
• Week One
• Who was
Mohammed?
• Islam as a
Religious / Political
Movement
• The Bible and the
Quran
• Islamic view of
Judaism and
Christianity
• Week Two
• The Crusades
• Differences between
Christianity and
Islam
• What the Church
says about Islam
• Understanding Islam
from a Catholic
perspective
The Crusades
• Brief History leading up to Crusades
• From 638 – 900
• According to Arab historians of the time, In the year
638 - the Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab personally went
to the city (Jerusalem) to receive its submission,
slaughtered the garrison and population who had fled
to the citadel, and oversaw its cleaning out.
• Christians discriminated and regulated in worship,
movement, ownership of property
• Tolerated the presence of Christian and Jewish
communities in the city with the Jewish population
given the most freedom and benefices.
The Crusades
• Brief History leading up to Crusades
• From 638 – 900
• Christians were in essence second class citizens,
forbidden to proselytize, worship outside of specific
locations, limited in areas where they could travel, forced
to bow before Muslim Mosques and Imams, charged to
wear specific clothing, ordered to make way on the
streets to Muslims, and limited in the number of pilgrims
allowed to visit Holy sites.
• The Emperor Charlemagne started the precedent
of Western European influence in the region
under various treaties with the Caliphs
establishing Frankish protection for pilgrims.
The Crusades
• 900 – 1095
• Carolingian Empire collapses in the early 10th century in
Europe
• Periods of persecution of Christians in the area around
Jeruslamen by Muslims
• 1009 - The Egyptian Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr
Allah ordered the destruction of all churches throughout
Al-Islam starting with the churches in Jerusalem.
Permission was later given for its rebuilding.
• Between 1070 – 1095
• Jerusalem passes back and forth between rival
Caliphs until the first Crusade arrives in 1095
The Crusades
• Fighting between Catholic Europe and different branches
of Islam underway prior to Crusades
• Iberian Peninsula – Reconquista 1085
• Expulsion of Islam from Sicily and southern Italy 1057
• 4 Crusades lasting between 1095 and 1204
• Series of less successful crusades would continue
until 1272
• Brief time Holy Land under European protection
Some MYTHS about the
Crusades
• Myth 1: The Crusades were wars of unprovoked
aggression against a peaceful Muslim world.
• Myth 2: The Crusaders wore crosses, but they were
really only interested in capturing booty and land. Their
pious platitudes were just a cover for rapacious greed.
• Myth 3: When the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in
1099 they massacred every man, woman, and child in
the city until the streets ran ankle deep with the blood.
Some MYTHS about the
Crusades
• Myth 4: The Crusades were just medieval colonialism
dressed up in religious finery.
• Myth 5: The Crusades were a unified attempt to
destroy Islam
• Myth 6: Pope John Paul II apologized for the
Crusades.
• Pope Saint John Paul II did not apologize for the
Crusades per se. He apologized for the actions of
Christians that were against the values of the Gospel.
This is a fine but necessary distinction. Even in a just
war there can be individual actions that are contrary
to justice and morality.
Differences between Christianity
and Islam
• Christians believe Adam is guilty of disobeying God and
that we all bear this Original Sin when we are born. We
can be saved from this, and other sins, through
accepting Jesus Christ's atonement. Christians believe
that Jesus was crucified on a cross to atone for man's
sins.
• Muslims believe Adam was faultless (some refer to him
as a Prophet). They believe Jesus did not die on the
cross and consequently there is no atonement. Muslims
believe that each person is born sin-less and must take
responsibility for maintaining this state throughout life.
Differences between Christianity
and Islam
• The Islamic concept of sin.
• Human nature is essentially good. They have many
elements to their nature and each one has the potential
to bring them benefits.
• A sin is committed when someone causes harm to
themselves or to others or to any part of creation. It is
the result of poor planning. Not necessarily from a
deliberate act of the will.
Differences between Christianity
and Islam
• The Islamic concept of sin.
• Forgiveness of sin come from Allah. There is no
understanding of the communal nature of sin
• This is one of the reasons why many Muslims don’t
speak out against the “sins” of others, They have no
responsibility for their brother.
• For a Christian – we are our brothers keeper.
• In Islam there is no need for a savior or redeemer to
make atonement for sin.
What the Church says about Islam
• Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium 16, November
21, 1964
• “But the plan of salvation also includes those who
acknowledge the Creator, in the first place among whom
are the Muslims: these profess to hold the faith of
Abraham, and together with us they adore the one,
merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”
• Catechism of the Catholic Church - The Church's
relationship with the Muslims.
• 841 "The plan of salvation also includes those who
acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst
whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of
Abraham, and together with us they adore the one,
merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."[330]
What the Church says about Islam
• Catechism of the Catholic Church - The Church's
relationship with the Muslims.
• * 842 The Church's bond with non-Christian religions
is in the first place the common origin and end of the
human race: All nations form but one community. This
is so because all stem from the one stock which God
created to people the entire earth, and also because
all share a common destiny, namely God. His
providence, evident goodness, and saving designs
extend to all against the day when the elect are
gathered together in the holy city. . .[331]
What the Church says about Islam
• Catechism of the Catholic Church - The Church's
relationship with the Muslims.
• * 843 "The Catholic Church recognizes in other
religions that search, among shadows and images,
for the God who is unknown yet near since he gives
life and breath and all things and wants all men to be
saved. Thus, the Church considers all goodness and
truth found in these religions as 'a preparation for the
Gospel and given by him who enlightens all men that
they may at length have life.'
What the Church says about Islam
• "Outside the Church there is no salvation"
• 846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often
repeated by the Church Fathers?335 Re-formulated
positively, it means that all salvation comes from
Christ the Head through the Church which is his
Body:
• Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council
teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is
necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator
and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his
body which is the Church.
What the Church says about Islam
• "Outside the Church there is no salvation"
• He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and
Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the
necessity of the Church which men enter through
Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be
saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was
founded as necessary by God through Christ, would
refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.336
• 847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no
fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:
• 848 “…are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without
which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has
the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all
men."338
Understanding Islam from a Catholic
Perspective
• “Christians must work with [all] other religions to secure
peace. JP II
• “The Catholic Church intends to `share in and promote' such
ecumenical and inter-religious cooperation” JP II
• A Common Word – Joint Catholic Muslim Declaration –
2008
• Affirms respect for life at all stages and for the dignity of
each person, man or woman, respect for freedom of
conscience and religion; the rejection of discrimination on
account of faith; the importance of bearing witness
through prayer to the transcendent dimension of life in an
increasingly secularized world; an affirmation of the duty
to give young people a solid moral, civil, and religious
education, and teach them about the faith of others.