Guest article by Matt Johnson
Just 13 minutes into his lecture on Islam and Christianity last month in the Herak Club at Gonzaga University, the Rev. Patrick Baraza posed a difficult question to the members of his audience: “What stereotypes of the Muslim world do Westerners have?” he asked.
The public crowd on hand offered a few answers: Muslims are non-Christians, don’t appear to believe in equality of women, and — one audience member ventured to say —they want to bring about genocide of Christians.
But it was Baraza who brought up one of the central stereotypes being debated allover the national news.
“That is why we’re here: ‘Muslims are terrorists.’ Is that correct? … You cannot lumpall the people and say all these are terrorists,” Baraza said. “No. No, they are not.”
Not backing down from issues steeped in controversy, Baraza also tackled ISIS and rights of Muslim women in an 85-minute lecture and Q-and-A that investigated the historical and spiritual roots of Islam. After using much of his lecture to discuss the distinctions between Islam’s various sects and its connections with other monotheistic religions such as Christianity, the lecture ended by addressing the sources of extremism and conflict in the Middle East.One of Baraza’s main points was to distinguish the misunderstanding of the word “jihad” and its connotation with holy war.
“Many people say jihad is holy war. No. In Arabic, the word jihad come from theword ‘jahada,’ and ‘jahada’ means struggle, is to struggle. So how do you struggle? The struggle of the jihad of the eyes, to see good things. The jihad of the hands, the jihad of the heart, the jihad of the knowledge, the jihad of your legs, to do good. Not holy war,” he said.
Baraza then went on to make a distinction between the two types of jihad, the second defined as a defense against attack. This second definition of jihad has been a factor in the development of Islamic extremism, Baraza said.
“In Islam, according to the teaching of Islam, you can only talk of defense if you have been attacked. Do not be the first to throw the stone. But if you have been attacked, you have the right to defend yourself. So what is going on in this [extremism]? They feel theyhave been attacked, and so they are defending themselves,” he said.
When asked in the question and answer session about Islamic women’s rights, Baraza defended Islam for giving women a substantial amount of power. The ability of women to ask for divorce, as well as the fact that dowries are given to women directly rather than to their parents, are evidence of that power, Baraza said. However, he clarified that he did not believe it fair for some Muslim women to beforced to wear veils or to be forbidden from driving cars.
Rachelle Strawther, the coordinator of Gonzaga’s Comprehensive Leadership Program, attended the lecture and said she left with a better understanding of the similarities between Islam and Christianity. She said she hoped to gain knowledge about Islam because her best friend from college was a Muslim.
“Because of that relationship with [my friend], I’ve always felt like those of us who come from Christian backgrounds or Jewish backgrounds need to be stronger advocates and help others to learn more about Islam before we start condemning it,” she said.
Is this the same event that our writer Jim Downard also wrote about?
Whatever the case, this talk seemed like rehashed pr points at least based on the review.
“It not our fault, they are not us, you attacked us so it all fair, yah we do this to women but we also do this”, on an on. Sorry but the realities of the war of terror spread across Africa, when my soninlaw is engaged in the war, or the middle east, or France, Belgium, Asia and America, demand more than these shallow answers in my opinion. Rape, beheadings, homophobic atrocities, slavery and mass murder with chemical weapons demands more than deflection, scapegoating and thin apologetics. How about a significant critique of Saudi Arabia etc?