Christianity &
Islam
by : Ramzi Twal
As a Christian Arab,
I do not feel threatened by the rise of the religious right in Palestine.
People turn to religion when they are threatened, cornered or in a state
of despair.
Some religious zealots begin to explain religious
dogma in a very simplistic manner. The call for an Islamic rule in the
Arab world should not threaten anyone. Christianity existed in the Arab
world since its inception.
I was born as an Arab and inducted into Christianity
after my birth because that was the religion of my parents. In fact, I
have Muslim uncles. Yes we argued about the nature of Christ and the beliefs
that we each hold on various matters. I don't think that such argumeents
or dialogues were more than that.
As a Catholic, I also argue with Protestants
and other denominations. What is the difference. The main argument is :
when will we, Palestinians, be able to reclaim our rights to our homeland
.
As a Christian, it is my duty to make the
Christian West realize that we are human, we are civilized and we have
been denied the justice that should be accorded to any other people on
this planet.. It is also our duty to bring the issue to our churches and
priests and ministers.
When I hear them talking about the second
coming of Christ and the ingathering of the Jews, as they base their arguments
on the Holy Book, I cringe. It is interesting to note that as Arabs, speaking
the Arabic language, we have espoused the Muslim religion because Arabic
is the language of the Quran and Islam.
The language is the culture.
How are you? Alhamdulillah (fine), Will you
do this or that for me? Insha'Allah (yes). Do you know this or that? Allahua'lam
(I don't know) .
In our daily life we use all of these Islamic
expressions. When my father died, I and my brothers went to the priest
and he divided the inheritance according to the Islamic formula. I would
say that those who call Christians Kuffar are only saying this out of ignorance.
No intelligent Palestinian is going to drive a wedge between people on
the basis of religion. When we were chased out of our homes by the Israelis
whether we were Christian, Muslim, Druze or Arnaout, we all became refugees.
We collectively were victimized by the Israelis and the Christian West.
When Balfour made the promise to the Zionists
in Europe, he was not concerned about the Christians in Palestine, he referred
to them and the Muslims as " non-Jewish communities".
I believe that we should concentrate on liberating
the land and forget about religion as a dividing factor. Christianity is
suffering at the hands of the Israelis not the Muslims .
If going back to the fundamentals of Islam
is going to facilitate the return of the land, so be it and I am all for
it .
No Muslim ever stopped me from going to church
and no government ever confiscated Christian property.
The religious freedom was never in jeopardy.
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