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Crescents on the Cross: Islamic Vision of Christianity

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Crescents on the Cross By Ali Usman Qasmi

The issue of
Christianity-Islam relationship is as old as the Islam itself. Both
religions share many common beliefs and as a religion Christianity is
the one that comes closest to Islam in terms of doctrinal issues. But
still the history of relationship between the 2 religions is a
checkered one and not that of ideal cooperation. The book under review
is an attempt by an Orientalist to summarize the Muslim views and
biases regarding Christians. In the book he gives a summary of Syed
Ahmed Khan, Rumi and Maulana Modoodi s' views, compares Islamic and
Christian concept of Sin and throws light on the Islamic concept of
Jehad. But there is no denying the fact that the book is no way near
comprehensive and does not deal with the subject exhaustively. The
book actually comprises of author s' lectures and so lack a consistent
theme. His choice of the Islamic scholars to be presented as role
models is faulty as well. The author has discussed Syed Ahmed s' and
Modoodi s' regarding 3 issues which are the basic areas of
disagreement between Muslims and the Christians. These 3 issues are:
the authenticity of Gospel, the Trinity, and the
Crucifixion. According to Sir Syed, "the revelation prior to Koran,
such as that bestowed upon Jesus (or the Apostles) was of an inferior
status because it did not represent God s' words, but only the form of
the content." Further he states that if Jesus were God, Satan s'
efforts to tempt him would be pointless so the concept of trinity was
the result of an early doctrinal conflict among Christians. He does
not believe in the Crucifixion of Christ as redemption of mankind is
not required, since there is no concept of original sin in Islam. The
inclusion of Modoodi s' thought is however justified. But to treat him
at par with Syed Ahmed in terms of influence and religious scholarship
is certainly a grave injustice with the former. Regarding these 3
questions, Modoodi s' response is termed more as that of a
Fundamentalist as put by the author Lloyd Ridgeon. Modoodi believes
only those passages are authentic in Gospel which conform with the
teachings of Koran. To deify Christ as God because he was born
miraculously is an insufficient reason, argues Modoodi, since the
conception of John the Baptist too was miraculous. On Crucifixion,
Modoodi and Syed Ahmed share the same Classical Islamic view
point. Lloyd Ridgeon concludes the Chapter with some mediocre
arguments, emphasizing the need to carry out a "rational and calm
investigation of issues involving Christians and Muslims, as advocated
by Ahmed Khan, rather than Modoodi s' emotional & polemical
attacks against Christianity." Lloyd Ridgeon has than discussed the
views of Jalal Al-Din Rumi regarding Christianity, which also is
uncalled for. Rumi s' views on Christianity may be of some importance
or interest to someone specializing in Rumi s' thought but to say that
his views have helped shape Muslim outlook regarding Christians is
certainly stretching the limit to an exaggerated end. Or if he really
does have such an impact than the author should have taken pains to
prove it. But overall this chapter is much better written, original in
content & well quoted with Rumi s' couplets. Chapter 3 compares
& contrast Islamic & Christian views regarding original
sin. "Technically speaking" this issue should have been
discussed in the first chapter along with other questions of
theological conflicts. To present the Christian view point, the author
has relied upon the writings of Saint Irenaeus (c. 130 - c. 202)
"which were popularized in the 1960 s' by John Hick in his Evil and
the God of Love." He was an optimist and so presented the fall of
Adam in positive terms as something beneficial for the human
development. The Sufi perspective is provided by Aziz Nasafi who too,
like Irenaeus, was an optimist and did not believe that human fall was
a "Humpty-Dumpty Fall to disaster" but a part of series of 9
falls which lead to human perfection. His 9 levels correspond to the
Islamic cosmological view of the 7 Heavens that are mentioned in
Koran. Unlike other Orientalists, Lloyd Ridgeon has treated the
concept of Jehad more favourably. He quotes a Hadith which we seldom
get to hear in which the Holy Prophet bifurcated between Lower and
Higher forms of Jehad; while the former is fight against others, the
latter is fight against oneself. He admits that Holy Prophet was not
seeking material benefits via Jehad, rather he wanted to implant among
mankind his mission of social reform. The author believes that for
Sunnis, following the tradition of Pious Caliphs, Jehad is not merely
defensive but can be offensive as well. For Shiites however, offensive
Jehad is not permissible since the Occultation of 12th Imam, but the
defensive Jehad is permissible. He believes that Iran locking horns
with US after the revolution too was a defensive rather than an
offensive step. As a whole this chapter lacks any bias against Islam
and author is to be appreciated for not maligning the face of Islam on
the basis of activities of some terrorists. Overall, it would suffice
to say that the author has still to go miles before he can attain
perfection in the field of theology which comprises of countless
treaties and bulky volumes of Islamic theology alone. A proof reading
error in the 2nd line of the introduction, a loosely coordinated book
with successive chapters having little relevance with each other and a
lack of some genuine synthesis on the part of the author, is all that
needs to be worked upon and avoided in the future. Anyway, it is quite
naïve to expect him to write like Philip K. Hitti and Rosenthal and
match their mastery.