Are you from the Guardian or the New York Times? Are you confused why interfaith dialogue keeps not working. This is being taught to Muslim six year olds across the world:
FIRST GRADE
” Every religion other than Islam is false.”
“Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words (Islam, hellfire): Every religion other than ______________ is false. Whoever dies outside of Islam enters ____________.”
Here’s the money question: what happens to the kid who screws up and puts “Judaism” in the first blank? Or like “a modern medical system” for the second one? Our problem is that we thought this was a madlib, and came up with “Every religion other than Sherlock Holmes is false. Who dies outside of Islam enters bubblegum”. Which obviously makes no sense. Fifth grade clears up all our confusion:
FIFTH GRADE
“Whoever obeys the Prophet and accepts the oneness of God cannot maintain a loyal friendship with those who oppose God and His Prophet, even if they are his closest relatives… It is forbidden for a Muslim to be a loyal friend to someone who does not believe in God and His Prophet, or someone who fights the religion of Islam… A Muslim, even if he lives far away, is your brother in religion. Someone who opposes God, even if he is your brother by family tie, is your enemy in religion.”
Yeah, so not so much with the interfaith dialogue:
Christian / Jew: “We’d like to begin by expressing our belief that there are rays of Truth and the divine in every way of relating to God”
Saudi first grader: “You will burn in hellfire, you enemy ________ (insert as necessary: pig/ape)”
But Juan Cole says that Muslims respect ethical Christians, going so far as to say that they have nothing to fear in the afterlife:
Quran 5:69 says (Arberry): “Surely they that believe, and those of Jewry, and the Christians, and those Sabeaans, whoso believes in God and the Last Day, and works righteousness–their wage waits them with their Lord, and no fear shall be on them, neither shall they sorrow.” In other words, the Quran promises Christians and Jews along with Muslims that if they have faith and works, they need have no fear in the afterlife. It is not saying that non-Muslims go to hell – quite the opposite.
Juan Cole’s commentary on the Koran: “It is not saying that non-Muslims go to hell”. That’s an interesting interpretation of the Koran, since the interpretation of the Koran presented in what Muslims believe is the divinely-inspired hadith is completely and precisely the opposite:
Then it will be said to the Jews, “What did you use to worship?’ They will reply, ‘We used to worship Ezra, the son of Allah.’ It will be said to them, ‘You are liars, for Allah has neither a wife nor a son’… they will fall down in Hell (instead). Then it will be said to the Christians, ‘What did you use to worship?’ They will reply, ‘We used to worship Messiah, the son of Allah.’ It will be said, ‘You are liars, for Allah has neither a wife nor a son’… they will fall down in Hell (instead).
Are you beginning to get the sense that maybe (just maybe) Juan Cole is not telling the whole truth about what Muslim holy scriptures teach – or that he’s (at best) telling what he thinks they mean and not what the vast majority of Muslims think they mean (which begs the question: what good is he for explaining them?) Good thing for the sanctity of Islam that his potentially heretical interpretations of the Koran – “non-Muslims [don't] go to hell – quite the opposite” vs. “the Jews [and]… the Christians… will fall down in Hell” – aren’t being taught to millions of schoolkids around the world. Those kids are being taught good solid Saudi interpretations:
And just in case you were hoping to try some kind of dialogue divide-and-conquer strategy, don’t even think about it:
The Saudi public school system totals 25,000 schools, educating about 5 million students. In addition, Saudi Arabia runs academies in 19 world capitals, including one outside Washington in Fairfax County, that use some of these same religious texts. Saudi Arabia also distributes its religion texts worldwide to numerous Islamic schools and madrassas that it does not directly operate… Education is at the core of the debate over freedom in the Muslim world. Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden understands this well; in a recent audiotape he railed against those who would ‘interfere with school curricula.’”
Maybe if the Pope engaged them in a dialogue they’d change their minds.
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