Coexistence between Islam & Christianity
By Dr Samiullah Koreshi

THESE days a campaign that has official patronage in Pakistan is the need for “co-existence” between religions but particularly Islam and Christianity. Of course coexistence is necessary and of course presenting the true picture of Islam to the ignorants in the West is our responsibility. There be no quarrel with the two ideas.

But, if we examine this matter closely we will find that the real purpose of this campaign is entirely different from what this otherwise a desirable objective and laudable idea conceals.

Coexistence is being preached to Muslims as if we are the intolerant persons and this impression is based on the ongoing insurgencies in various places specially Iraq, Afghanistan and other places (in Kashmir it is not a conflict between Muslims and Christians., but one thing is common between all such insurgencies is conflict between the Occupier and the Occupied.)

The auxiliary theme is that we must give a better image of Islam to let the west know what Islam really is, which means that all these insurgencies are due to intolerant Muslims who are fighting the Christian occupation forces. It is said that the West does not have a correct picture of Islam so we should promote a dialogue with the West to explain the real image of Islam.

Only he can start preaching the coexistence to the Muslims who does not know three basic facts about Islam. How can a Muslim dispute about Christianity and Islam being similar if not the same message, according to Islamic faith, Christianity was earlier and Islam was revealed about six centuries later.

We the Muslims believe that Christianity is a Divine message, that Christ is a Prophet of Allah with special attributes having been born of immaculate conception.

Incidentally we are the only people, besides Christians who believe in his immaculate conception of Christ and none others. Our faith is not complete unless we believe in Christ as a Prophet with special attributes, and in all the Biblical prophets and all the revealed books. It is part of our Kalima.

Then there are two ayats in the Holy Book: Lakum dinokum walia din (to you your religion, to me mine) and then the second La ikraha fiddin (there is no compulsion in faith) that is that is faith cannot be imposed on others.

So there is no religious intolerant in Islam and certainly coexistence with Christianity is part of Islam . Now there is a fallacy in this argument which equates the Western neo-imperialism with Christianity.

West is in reality not Christian but Neo-Roman civilization It is like this :If you are fighting or rising in arms against the Western occupation than you are up in arms against Christians and thus against Christianity . West is Christianity.

This is where the fallacy occurs. What the West- US in particular, is doing in Iraq or Afghanistan, is an action of the troops who call themselves Christians but in reality the action is imperialism pure and simple.

The oppressed is Muslim in this case, but this conflict cannot be labelled as an attack on Christianity, If this message of coexistence is to be translated as a preaching that Muslims should accept Western Imperialism and consider acceptance of occupation as acceptance of Christian Muslim Coexistence and thus stop resisting the Occupation than it is misuse of the word ” Coexistence”.

Any Christian should hang his head in shame on the happenings in Iraq, on massacre of Falluja, on treatment to detainees in Abu Ghraib prison, in Guntanamo Bay modern Gulag . No voice of remorse has come from any Christian in the West or US. Nor on the desecration of the Holy Qur’an in that Modern day Gulag. Coexistence is not a one way street nor a neo-doctrine of acceptance of colonialism .

As regards presenting “the true face of Islam” there are three implications of this preaching. First what Islam is in fact. In the West but in US in particular there are three type of persons. One who need to be told what Islam is and what Jihad is, what has been described in this article as “ignorants” because in reality they have no idea of Islam.

They need to be explained what Islam is. Then there is another circle of neo-Conservatives ( neo-cons) who have crusaders approach towards Islam. They spread a false view about Islam.

This need to be counteracted , but the neo-cons are supported by a team of scholars who are their think-tanks and churn out all kinds of schemes against Islam.

They are scholars like Bernard Lewis who can teach Islam in Arabic language to the most learned of the Ulema. Scholars like Lewis are the new breed of Orientalists.
They are the dominant group in the United States and are the mischeif makers.

They started raising their heads since the 70s after Khomeini’s Islamic revolution. They started producing books on Militant Islam, then the word militant was replaced with fundamentalists and then Jihadis, and now extermists and simply Islamists and Muslim nationalists.

Our own leaders followed their line and called Muslim “extermism” as a great danger and denounced the Muslim insurgencies in Iraq, in Afghanistan and now even in Palestine.

Sharon the butcher of Sabra and Shatilla who in 1982 in his attack on Lebanon had two thousand men, women, children, old men massacred , and whom the Israeli Knesset during that campaign strongly criticized for the massacre of the Palestinians is being glorified .

Even recently the Mayor of London has described Sharon as a War Criminal . He said; “Today the Israeli Government continues seizer of Palestinian lands for settlement, military incursion into surrounding countries and denial of the right of Palestinians expelled by terror to return . Ariel Sharon, Israel’s Prime Minister is a war criminal who should be in prison, not in office. Israel’s own Kahan Commission found that Sharon shared responsibility for the Sabra and Shattila massacre”.

I salute the Mayor of London who ended his talk with” They are also fuelling anger and violence throughout the world. For a Mayor of London not to speak out against such injustices would not only be wrong but to ignore the threat it poses to the security of all Londoners.” S

uch voices of sense are few, very few in the West perhaps once a while in England one hears them , but they are so rare that they are an exception rather than a rule.

One wishes that instead of Lord Mayor of London making this statement it was one of our tall leaders to say that unless US and the West change their neo-colonialist policies, peace in the world will be threatened.

Look at the descriptions they are using in Iraq, “the Sunni” triangle, the Shia majority, the Kurd areas and enshrined it in their Constitution as a sectarian powder-keg in the Arab Middle East and Muslim world to be used at leisure.

How would they like if the same denominational terminology was used for the so-called Coalition Forces as Christian American. Forces, Greek Orthodox Christian Ukrainian Forces.

The Americans believe that they have a licence to chisel history and coin slogans and terminologies but not others. Now in Pakistan one cannot see Al Jazira which was easily on cable channels because they are afraid of their real face being shown and prevail on pliant countries to stifle its voice.

It is wise not to whitewash the problem of confrontation with neo-imperialism as a problem of “Coexistence” between Christians and Muslims , and advising Muslims to be tolerant to the brutalities of occupation.

Let the occupier show the real face of Christianity which is in turning the other cheek and not “ Falluja massacre” and Gontanamo Bay Gulag. Newton’s Third Law of Motion is as true in politics as in physics. To every action there is a reaction, equal in magnitude but opposite in direction.” ●

© 2005 Dr Samiullah Koreshi