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Impertinence?
Asking this question may seem like a guilty impertinence.
But this is only an appearance and, above all, it ignores the writings of John Damascene.
Image Source Wikipedia
John Damascene was born around 640 in Damascus. His Arabic name was Mansour. He became the financial administrator of the city of Damascus, which had been forced to surrender to Muslim invaders in 635.
He retired to the monastery of Saint Sabbas, near Jerusalem, where, after his ordination, he wrote his theological works. He died around 750, at over 100 years of age. Honoured as a saint by both Orthodox and Catholic Christians, his Source of Knowledge served as a theology textbook until the 13th century, and he was even ranked among the Doctors of the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1890.
John Damascene described Islam as the 101st Christian sect. On what grounds could he do so? To answer this question, we must first define what a sect is.
Social aspect
For sociologists, a cult or a sect is a splinter group that has separated from a parent church and is undergoing an evolutionary process that takes it through fairly clearly defined stages. For lawyers and politicians, a sect is a movement that breaks the law, particularly legislation concerning the protection of individuals. As for the theologian, he defines a sect as heresy. Finally, there are sectarian movements that have not broken away from an existing religious denomination, but which arise from a disparate conglomerate of varied religious thoughts and practices. We prefer to call them new religiosities or new spiritualities.
Sociologically speaking, Islam cannot be described as a Christian sect; its founder, Mohammed (570-632), was born into a polytheistic, perhaps henotheistic (one dominant God) environment. However, during his travels in Syria, Mohammed met the Christian monk Bahira. Later, in Marwa, near Mecca, he often met a Christian slave named Jabr (see Sirâ of the Prophet). One of his concubines, whom he took in 629, Myriam, was a Christian.
Jews lived in Mecca, and Medina was home to three Jewish tribes that made up about half of the population before their decimation. Khaibar, located some 250 km north of Medina, was a strong Jewish city. Rayhana, a concubine whom Mohammed took in 627, was Jewish, as was Saffiyya, whom he married in 629.
Although there was no complete translation of the Bible into Arabic at the time of Muhammad, stories from both the Old and New Testaments were circulating, as were Talmudic fables and legends drawn from apocryphal Christian writings.
Islam thus arose in a cultural melting pot that encompassed polytheism and henotheism, Judaism and Christianity, but also Zoroastrianism and even Hinduism. Using today’s terminology, John of Damascus would have had to describe Islam as a new religiosity.
Legally and politically, a distinction must be made between moderate Islam and fundamentalist/integralist Islam, as only the latter infringes on legislation concerning the protection of individuals.
The Quran
The Qur’an also contains many biblical references. It pays vibrant homage to both the Torah (taurat) and the Gospel (Indjil). It recognises that these books, revealed by God, are true (Sura « Al `Imran, III.3); Muslims must believe in them (Suras Al-Baqara, II.87; ‘Al `Imran, III.84; An-Nisa », IV.136).
The Qur’an testifies to the virgin birth of Jesus (Surahs Al-« Anbiya », XXI.91; At-Tahrim, LXVI.12), his messiahship (III.45; IV.157), his prophethood (III.49; IV.157, 171; Al-Ma’ida, V.46, 75; Maryam, XIX.30), his sinless life ( XIX.19; III.46) and describes him as the Word of Truth (XIX.34), the Word of God cast into Mary (IV.171), the Word emanating from God (III.39, 45), the Spirit emanating from God (IV.171; XXI.91; LXVI.12), but without recognising that Jesus is the Son of God.
John Damascene not only denounced this latter heresy, but also the one that declares that the crucifixion was a sham (IV.157, 158). Here again, the doctrine of the Qur’an diverges fundamentally from the Christian belief that the crucifixion brings salvation to the world. Not only the New Testament, but also the prophecies of the Old Testament attest to this fundamental doctrine.
Another divergence concerns the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For the Qur’an, in the verses quoted above, Jesus is indeed in heaven, with God; he was raised there, but without passing through death and resurrection.
John of Damascus was therefore right to describe Islam as a heresy or Christian sect.
Legal aspect
But what about the legal aspect? One characteristic of sects noted by legal experts is the subjugation of followers to their movement and the great difficulty in leaving it. The words « Islam » and « Muslim » mean submission, implying submission to God. This is one of the injunctions of all religions. But in Islam, this submission is essentially a submission to the laws of the Community (the Umma), within which rigorous mutual surveillance is exercised.
Islam and Christianity
It is therefore difficult for a Muslim to break free from his religious constraints and adopt, for example, the Christian faith. He is then considered a renegade or apostate and incurs the wrath of his former co-religionists, in accordance with this commandment from the Qur’an:
If they turn away, seize them and kill them wherever you find them (Sura An-Nisa’, IV.89).
The thousands of Algerian Muslims who have been murdered in recent times were killed because they were considered, due to their moderation, liberalism and openness, to be renegades of the Koranic faith by fundamentalist Islamists faithful to the above Koranic command.
It is certainly necessary to distinguish between « moderate Muslims » and « fundamentalist/integralist Islamists ». But any Muslim who takes the Koran literally can become an integralist!
One might counter by saying that the Qur’an promotes a tolerant religion and cite the following verses from the Qur’an:
To you your religion, to me mine (Al-Kafiruna, CIX.6)
or
There is no compulsion in religion (Al-Baqara, II.256)
or even
He is our Lord and your Lord…Our God, who is your God, is one (Al-Baqara, II.139; Al-`Ankabut, XXIX.46).
But these verses only appear to be tolerant, given the order to kill renegades who change religion. Furthermore, the Qur’an despises the Christian faith:
The Christians said, « The Messiah is the son of God. » May Allah destroy them! They are so foolish (At-Tauba, IX.30).
The question
Islam can therefore rightly be described as a sect, and even as a cult.
The question that now arises for our authorities is whether they are prepared to protect ex-Muslims in the same way that they protect defectors from other sects. They should, regardless of whether Islam is considered a religion or a sect.
Abd-Al-Haqq
(Servant of Truth)