Post 100—Conversion in Islam

Though Muslims, as I explained in Post 99, use the term “reversion” for anyone converting to Islam, call it what they may, others, including myself, consider it “conversion” plain and simple. So, our topic for today is the place of conversion in these two religions, which is not quite the same as defining the term, for they do not quite mean the same thing in the two religions.

Conversion is, of course, usually the result of a mission or evangelistic outreach by a Muslim or Christian, whether individual or organization, to another individual or community, usually with the explicit goal to bring someone or a community to conversion.  I say “usually.” It does not always come about that way. For example, many are the Muslims throughout the world who dream of a person dressed in a white robe who invites them to come to Him, who is often then identified as Jesus. Thousands of Muslims the world over have such dreams and they usually end up in accepting His invitation. There are entire books written about this kind of conversion invitation. These are not the result of any human outreach or other effort and certainly not of any “obsession” that WCC talked about in Post 98.

 There are indeed forms or styles of mission outreach to convert that are objectionable to people who do not adhere to the religion practicing it but that are usually perfectly acceptable to the adherents themselves. Muslims often quote the Qur’an that says there is to be no compulsion in religion, but they employ all kinds of compulsion and force. You ought to read the Christian volumes of my Studies in Christian-Muslim Relations to see how frequently Muslims use force to “revert” people to Islam according to Christian complaints (www.SocialTheology.com/islamica, volumes 3, 5 and 7).                                                 

Allow me one example from Nigeria. A Nigerian pastor friend of mine borrowed money from the government to establish a chicken farm. He was not able to keep up with the payment schedule and ran the risk of losing his business along with his investment. Christians did not offer to help him out with loans. When the Muslim community heard about this, they offered to pay his entire debt provided he become Muslim. Being desperate, my friend accepted and became Muslim. This has been years ago and he has not changed his mind ever since. The moment he does change his mind and returns to Christ, the Muslim community will demand repayment and, failing to come through, he will be hauled to court. (For the full story see our memoirs Every Square Inch, vol. 2, pp. 59-62 on our website < www.SocialTheology.com/boeriana >).  If that is not force, I don’t know what you call it. And if that is not a contradiction to that earlier statement about no force in religion, I don’t know what that is either.

However, you must be careful about accusing a religion not your own of contradiction, for I find that when non-Christians accuse us of contradictions, it is usually due to ignorance or, using more gentle language, misunderstanding. It is easy for us to fall into the same trap with respect to Islam. The above story is typical, not an exception. Muslims use both the stick and the carrot methods to induce “reversions” in all kinds of ways. As I said above, read my series and you’ll find a dizzying range of variations of force and “tricks” on their part. Another clever way is to surround a Christian business with such stiff competition that the owner either becomes a Muslim or closes his business—all perfectly legal!  And on and on and on…. Muslim authorities all over the world are known to create legal demands and restrictions on the Christian community with respect to registration of churches and building permits.  We have arrived at the border here between persecution and a campaign to “revert.” It’s a very thin line and it all smells of compulsion, even if called “reversion.” Word juggling does not change all of reality!

But do understand the Muslim position. If you are convinced that being a Muslim is the greatest gift you can wish for a person, then such tactics may seem minor in comparison to the magnificent gift they turn into. After all, adults punish wayward children in love for their own good.  An adult non-Muslim may not be a child, but she is in a state of jahiliya, an Arabized Hausa word for “ignorance.” She doesn’t really know what she is doing. A little push in the right direction seems a small price to pay for the end result that can only be described as magnificent. My experience in Nigeria as I record it in my series is that Muslims just don’t comprehend why not everyone wants to become a Muslim. What greater good can you possibly imagine for yourself?

So, they really are obsessed by wanting to con—or revert everyone, but that’s a good obsession and not a negative you would ever think about giving up on.  However, when someone is obsessed about trying to convert his neighbor or community to another religion, say Christianity, well, yes, such an obsession is unhealthy and must be let go. And so Muslims signed that declaration in all seriousness and good faith. To adherents of other religions this may seem like duplicity and hypocrisy; to a Muslim it is the only way to go. You have to think yourself into the other’s skin in order to understand correctly and not judge wrongly. 

In other words, to expect Muslims to give up on conversion is to ask them to give up on a core component of their religion.  That is not what the WCC conference that published the declaration expected of any religion.  The religions were not expected to surrender any part of their core; they were to remain true to themselves. Whether the declaration and the expectation can co-exist, is another question. 

Post 99—Conversion: An Obsession?

A Peek Behind the Scenes 

You may be wondering how I choose my subjects for these posts. It may seem to you that I move from pillar to post without any obvious rational. To some degree that’s true. I do not have a well worked out schedule of topics that rationally follow each other. It goes like this. I come across a discussion or opinion during the course of my readings and find myself reacting, “Oh, I should do a post on that subject.” Or an important event takes place. I have a whole list of subjects waiting to be tackled. Then, as I write on it, the subject itself calls up a related subject that then needs attention to round off the one I am working on. And so I move today from a WCC interfaith conference to conversion. Before I even begin writing on it, the subject has already led to a consideration to, of all things, total depravity for a next post.  And so it goes. If I’ve made you curious, then I’ve succeeded!

Conversion among Religions

So, conversion. In the light of the above paragraph it will not be difficult for you to understand why I take on that subject. That conference called on all the faithful of all religions to do away with their “obsession” with conversion.  That decision is not difficult to follow for some Eastern religions or Judaism and others, for those are not traditionally missionary religions. They are more like tribal religions that are restricted to and identified with one distinct people, like the Jews. Or they may largely be concentrated in one geographical region like Hindus and Buddhists.

My Christian reading of the Old Testament (OT) makes me wonder why Judaism is not a missionary religion. I read in the OT that God’s plan for Israel was temporarily to focus on Abraham’s offspring. But the long-range plan was for Abraham’s seed to become a blessing to the entire world. Well, don’t have the space to treat this more extensively. The last half century, Buddhism, one of the Eastern religions, has become quite active in the West, not only following its immigrant adherents, but finding ready soil among fall-outs from either Christianity or secularism. For these and other non-missionary religions, it is not difficult to follow the demand to drop the obsession to convert. They never had it to begin with, except then this recent exception.

Conversion in Islam--No/Yes

Two religions that are particularly missionary minded both in theory and practice are Christianity and Islam. For these two religions, a call to drop their “obsession” with conversion amounts to considering the religions themselves as “obsessions,” for their missionary character is part of their core or essence. You take away this missionary thrust and you end up with a stultified version no longer true to its deepest core.

I can somewhat understand Muslim leaders signing on to this declaration. They do not talk of conversion so much as reversion, that is a coming back, a coming home.  That is to say, to them everyone is by nature and by birth a Muslim. When a person leaves another religion to become a Muslim, he does not convert but revert. She returns to what is the created natural religion; she returns home where she belongs. Secondly, calling people back to Islam, though a drive deep within the religion, is also considered a natural pose. Of course, you want people to become Islam. That’s not an obsession; that’s the best thing you have in mind for them, the greatest gift one can offer to your neighbor or entire nation. So, when Muslims sign on to such a document, they are thinking not of themselves but of Christians with their aggressive missionary approach. When they sign but nevertheless continue to preach their gospel, to Christians that seems like duplicity and hypocrisy. Not so to Muslims. They merely do what comes and is natural. According to Muslims, it is Christians who are doing the unnatural, which thus amounts to an obsession.  

However, when Muslims are busy urging folks to "revert," to other religions they are converting, while they pledged to quit. It's one of the many reasons people tend to mistrust the words of Muslim leaders. 

Concluding Remarks

Well, too late in this post to start talking about this Christian and, as other people see it, Muslim “obsession,” even though I have not yet reached the quota of 750 words. But I’ll let it go for now and come back to the subject in the next post.  This implies that the subject of “total depravity” will be pushed ahead one slot.  I think you can live with that, for it is not a very pleasant subject! No one is eager to think about that subject, let alone talk about it!  BBBRRRR! How awful!