Don't you love a question that comes at you like a challenge.
"If the Qur'an says Muslims are supposed to be respectful of other religions," a business associate taunted, "how come I heard an Imam say that all Jews were Muslims?"
It's the Humpty Dumpty language problem again. (Click here for the initial post.)
Muslim مسلم is an Arabic word that means one who submits to the will of God. The word can be used two ways.
With an uppercase M, Muslim carries the commonly understood meaning: a follower of Islam who believes that Muhammed is the final and true Prophet.
With a lowercase m, muslims are followers of other faith traditions who submit to the will of THEIR God. And that includes Jews.
Same word. Different capitalization. Different meaning.
Compare, "Wow. Look at that purple dress! She doesn't have a very conservative wardrobe," with, "Oh, the new folks? I hear they're Conservative Jews."
That's the situation with muslims and Muslims.
Every Friday morning I study the Qur'an with Muslims. On Saturday mornings I study the Torah with muslims.
All of a sudden I have an overwhelming craving for M&M's.
'tis a fine point. I wonder how many jews/Jews/muslims/Muslims are aware of this?
ReplyDeleteAnd where can the proof of this explanation be found?
Thanks for the comment. If you look up the word MUSLIM (here's an online Arabic dictionary: http://www.islamic-dictionary.com/index.php?word=muslim) you get both definitions:
ReplyDelete1) A follower of the religion of Islam
2) A person who submits their will to God and believes in Him
Knowledgeable Muslims would know the difference. I would expect an Imam who says, "Jews are muslims" to know the distinction between uppercase and lowercase MUSLIMS. I can't speak to how common the knowledge is in the general Muslim population. (Maybe someone else can???) Perhaps it's like most religions. Do all Jews know what Reconstructionist Judaism stands for? Or why Jews observe certain customs? It's the journey...
This is a very important you are learning and teaching the general public and I thank you for that,keep it up. How many Muslims know this? Out of 1.3Billion very few, yet Muslims have read it in Quran repeatedly that Prophets prior to Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) were muslims,but reading and understanding is different.Once this concept is understood may be the monotheistic faiths can sit across a table and find a common language to talk to each other.
ReplyDeleteAfter acknowledging Omnipotence, an act of submission follows naturally. Here is a recent example:
ReplyDelete"... kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side of Chicago, I felt God's spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth." -- Barack Obama, THE AUDACITY OF HOPE (2006), p.208.
Obama is expressing an idea that is embraced by all the children of Abraham.
The distinction between "Muslim" and "muslim" has a parallel in the distinction between "Catholic" and "catholic". In the US today, "Catholic" is taken to mean "Roman Catholic", but in Athens today the "Roman" would be not be redundant.
With a lower case, the adjective "catholic" means something like "almost universal", "unrestricted", "wide-ranging", and we can refer to a chef being catholic in the ingredients she uses, or to music lover displaying a catholic range of appreciation.
The last affirmation in the Apostles' Creed includes "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, ...". Methodists and Presbyterians recite those words without thereby acknowledging the primacy of the Bishop of Rome.