superiority

It should not have surprised me, but it did nevertheless: one of our Muslim visitors told us that Muslims feel generally superior to Christians. It should not have surprised me, because the other way around is true as well. Christians feel that Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life, so what more do you need?

The claim for Muslims' superiority is based on the fact that Muhammad is the last prophet. He was given the Qur'an, the final and ultimate revelation of Allah. It sums up and corrects everything that went before it and it cannot be outdone by anything which follows it. It is without equals.

Our visitor was at some pains to add that for some Muslims this meant that all people of other persuasions are unbelievers and should not be called brothers and sisters, but that he himself did not go as far as that. He felt that Muslims and Christians have enough in common to consider each other as members of an extended family.

On the other hand the claim to superiority has more to it than a doctrinal basis. In the minds of many Muslims it is also borne out by the fact that Christians on the whole are not as committed to their faith as the Muslims are. Obvious are the largely empty churches and the full mosques, and the practice of Ramadan compares very favourably with that of Lent. Muslims take their faith seriously and their impression is that Christians do not. It certainly means that for us, Christians, to merit their respect as a credible partner in dialogue we have to be much more than just Christians in name. Christ has to be the true centre of our lives.

Strangely enough our visitor felt somewhat lucky that Christians do not practice their faith as much now as before. He seemed to imply that English society would not be as liberal as it is regarding Muslims if the Christians would have remained true to their faith. This got me really thinking. Freedom of religion has been a difficult point in the history of our own Catholic Church. It was only proclaimed as a value at the Second Vatican Council, after nearly two thousand years of Christianity. Apparently, it will take a few more years before it is acknowledged as a universal value, at least the full version of it.

Ton