Tao_Equus said:
I have recently been researching on the topic of Muhammads' life and the origins of Islam. I find myself with many questions I would like to debate but find that I am reluctant and unsure how to go about this without offending Muslims. Do others here feel this same 'intimidation', for thats what I feel it to be, and find like me that this is unique to Islam?
As Bruce has already pointed out, Christians also have their hot buttons. But of course you’re right that not all traditions are equally “hot” – and take this from someone prone to pushing buttons.
Historically, Christians & Muslims have been the hottest, for the simple reason that these two traditions were unique as religions of conversion claiming exclusive ownership of the absolute truth. As someone said on the Muslim board, if you believe that ignoring this truth leads to eternal damnation then it’s your duty to aggressively proselytize others (Christianity) or aggressively defend your own (Islam).
Christianity still has its aggressive types, but it’s currently cooler than Islam for several reasons.
First, as Brian rightly points out, there was the Reformation and the rise of the spirit of free inquiry in Europe & the West. I would say most Christians outside the most extreme fringes are habituated to a culture of inquiry and so have a higher tolerance for self-examination. I can’t help noticing, for example, that in discussions on the Islam board Muslims not only tend not to want to give personal perspectives on issues, they take positive pride in only quoting authority. It’s hard – even for a non-Muslim more diplomatic than me – to have what we with a “Western” mentality would call a straightforward, person-to-person conversation. Often the result are discussions that never really happen or happen at cross-purposes.
Second, not having undergone anything analogous to a Reformation, Islam retains in its mainstream features that have become marginal among Christians, attitudes toward apostasy, for example, and hot language drawing down curses, etc., on their opponents. Pre-Reformation, this mindset would have seemed perfectly normal to most Christians. Now, it seems decidedly “hot’.
Third, Islam in general is flavoured by the lack of development and social disarray in many Muslim countries. Muslims are correct that they shouldn’t be judged by the extremists, by ranting clerics in Afghanistan or practices like female genital mutilation in Africa. But I think these concrete social conditions drag down the tenor of discourse for Islam as a whole, especially because the felt need to protect the ummah, and the sense of historical grievance, leads even moderate Muslims to defend or at least pass over in silence many of these abuses.
Finally, there is the fact that Islam itself is in a unique state of crisis. Whatever you may say about the problems of other traditions, no faith is contested the way Islam is in its relationship to the contemporary world, its political mandate and most importantly in its justification for the use of violence to attain political ends. Unfortunately – if understandably – the reaction of many Muslims is to retreat further into their tradition as self-defence, on the principle that their problems are rooted not in Islam but in not being Islamic enough. In any case, fierce Muslim pride deeply resents outsiders, especially loose canons like me, offering any prescriptions or criticisms.
So, yes, I would agree that it’s not your imagination. Under present historical conditions, Islam is definitely a special & sensitive case.
Sincerely,
Devadatta
