In a recent message to my email list subscribers I touched on the fact that we need a new strategy for interactions between Muslims and Christians, whether in America or in other countries throughout the world. I suggested Jesus of Nazareth as a model for our interactions. He demonstrated how to respect and strengthen relationships with those who were like him and those who were very different from him. He pointed people to God and painted a picture of what God’s Kingdom is really like.

One of the ways we begin to be able to connect to others different from ourselves is to understand them; eliminating barriers or unnecessary misunderstandings between us. An issue I hear over and over from Christians who struggle to understand Muslims is the belief that we worship two different Gods and that Allah is a false god.

This is one of the most painful misunderstandings. Many Christian laymen and leaders feel that Allah is not the same God as the God of the Hebrews, or Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Ishmael. In fact, they will often argue Allah is a moon-god. Televangelist Benny Hinn has commented, “This is not a war between Arabs and Jews. It’s a war between God and the devil.”

It would be wonderful if Christians and Muslims could get beyond the basics of respecting another’s name for God and reach a consensus. It would open doors to desperately needed dialogue and communication, allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal common ground as to the nature of God. Let us make sure this “feeling” towards Allah is not merely a trained cultural response and/or an emotional one, but instead cultivate a view founded on fact and linguistics, seated in an understanding of the history and culture surrounding the origins of the names for God. Let us also approach this issue asking God to reveal the truth to us, as much as we are able to understand.

Seminary Students Consider: Is Allah a moon-god?

I recall speaking to an assembly of seminary students in Lancaster, PA a few years ago. When questioned, their view was unanimous that Allah was a false god and in fact, derived from a moon-god of ancient times. They were ready and had a prepared statement to read:

During the nineteenth century[1], then later in the 1940’s[2], and finally during the 1950’s[3], archeologists’ digs gathered from both North and South Arabia depict evidence of a moon-god (called Hubal during pre-Islamic times). This deity was worshiped even in the Prophet Muhammad’s day. According to inscriptions, while the name of the moon-god was not Allah, his title was al-ilah, i.e. “the deity,” meaning that he was the chief or high god among the gods.

The moon-god was called al-ilah, “the god.” However, this name (Arabic: Il or Ilah) did not originate as a title for the moon-god. Thousands of years before that, Semites used variations of Il/El and Alah to refer to their high gods.

Noted Christian historian Philip Hitti also feels the designation of Allah as a moon-god is not correct. [4][5][6] The Islamic symbol of the crescent moon is often raised as evidence reflecting a moon god. However, history reveals that the Ottoman invaders of the Byzantine Empire simply adopted their defeated Christian foe’s symbol of the crescent moon and continued using it.[7]

Muhammad viewed monotheists in history such as Abraham and those in his time as haneef, believers in the One Supreme God, creator of the heavens and universe, inspirer of the prophets through the Rouh Qudus, the “Holy Spirit.”And the word he used for this God was Allah.

I shared with the seminary students,

“If Allah was indeed one of the 360 gods represented in the Kabba in Mecca prior to Muhammad, it does not preclude one of them being the One True God of the Old and New Testament. It could be considered similar to Paul on Mars Hill in Acts 17, identifying the true God from all the false idols. Muhammad did the same by destroying all the other idols in the Kabba, leaving the one ilah. The Apostle Paul faced similar push back with the Greek pagans as Muhammad did with the Arab pagans. After gaining their attention by quoting various Greek philosophers, Paul announced that he knew the name of this ‘unknown god’ and proceeded to teach of the one true God. The scripture says that while ‘some mocked…many followed and surrendered’ to God. The point being, that the origins of a name do not always reflect on the later application.”

The seminary students were listening, but I could tell they were not with me yet.

To further emphasize and explain this topic, I will delve further into the origins of the name “God” from a linguistic viewpoint on this blog in the coming weeks. Please feel free to follow along with us in exploring this issue.

Shalom, Shlama, and Salaam,

[1] Amaud, Halevy and Glaser went to Southern Arabia and dug up thousands of Sabean, Minaean, and Qatabanian documents that depict Allah as a moon god. Robert Morey, The Islamic Invasion: Confronting The World’s Fastest-Growing Religion (Harvest House Publishers, 1992)

[2] Archeologists G. Caton Thompson and Carleton S. Coon made discoveries in Arabia. Morey.

[3] Wendell Phillips, W.F. Albright, Richard Bower made similar discoveries as they excavated sites at Qataban, Timna, and Marib. Morey.

[4] Tracing the origins of ancient gods is often tenuous. If the name Hubal is related to an Aramaic word for spirit, as suggested by Hitti, then Hubal may have come from the north of Arabia. Philip K. Hitti, History Of The Arabs (1937), 96-101.

[5] Welllhausen indicates that Hubal was regarded as the son of al-Lat and the brother of Wadd. Wellhausen (1926), 717, as quoted by Hans Krause, Hans Krause’s Research Reports, http://hanskrause.de/HKHPE/hkhpe_32_01.htm.

[6] Attempts to identify Hubal with Allah have been notably popular among evangelical Christians, but even they acknowledge that this hypothesis is speculative, and it is contradicted by the Islamic-period texts from which most knowledge of pre-Islamic Arab religion derives. Answering Islam, Moon God, http://www.answering-islam.org/Index/M/moongod.html (Jul. 29, 2009).

[7] Rick Brown, “Who is ‘Allah’?” International Journal of Frontier Missions, 23:2 (Summer 2006), 80 (http://www.commonpathalliance.org).

The conversation surrounding A Deadly Misunderstanding and the Muslim-Christian divide has been picking up the last few weeks, and we thought it would be great to highlight several bloggers that recently made ADM a focus on their blogs.  Seth McBee is fostering an ongoing conversation over at Contend Earnestly regarding Islam and Christianity and made Mark one of his resources for that conversation, starting with his review of A Deadly Misunderstanding and continuing by featuring several of Mark’s YouTube videos.

“This book will stretch anyone who reads it. There is so much “good” in this book and so much that the reader will realize about their own journey towards truth (if they are honestly trying to learn), that it is well worth the read. If you like where you are currently in your understanding of the world and are enjoying what is portrayed in American media, don’t read this book. But, if you want to see what is actually happening elsewhere, what Muslims actually believe, what the Bible actually says in certain points and desire to be stretched, you need to read this book.”

Seth is also involved with supporting an upcoming Muslim-Christian dialogue event at Harambee Church in Renton, WA on March 27.

Richard Dahlstrom is raincitypastor in Seattle, WA.  He wrote Digesting the “Deadly Misunderstanding” at his blog Fibonnaci Faith:

“The book is a blend of narrative (Mark’s own expanding web of relationships with Islamic leaders, teachers, and scholars), and theology (Mark’s ever expanding discoveries of common beliefs between Christians and Muslims). I won’t reveal those points of common interest because I think you should take the time to read the book. After all, nearly every nation in which our military is involved in conflict has a sizable Muslim presence. Conventional wisdom, even, would tell us that we should know our enemy. Jesus would tell us that we should love our enemy. Mark will tell us that when we begin to study our enemy, we realize that he might not even BE our enemy, that we perhaps share more in common, than we differ.”

Dan Martin of California recommended A Deadly Misunderstanding as a must-read on his blog Nailing it to the Door…:

“I want to be clear: this is no milquetoast universalist pablum. Siljander is NOT claiming some notion of all roads leading to God. What he’s doing is far more careful and well-thought than that. He is demonstrating the frequency with which fundamental–often violent–differences between the Abrahamic faiths are based on ignorance: not only ignorance of the “other’s” faith, but all too often ignorance of the actual text and context of our own faith and its creeds. In this, he’s coming to a conclusion a Muslim roommate and I (with far less scholarship) came to more than 20 years ago: if both of us and our brothers merely were careful to follow what OUR OWN SCRIPTURES actually said, we’d find a lot of common ground, and at the very least, we couldn’t fight each other.”

All of these reviews kicked off a flurry of comments at their respective blog pages.  We really appreciate the level of dialogue and critique that these bloggers are nurturing.  These issues run deep and as Seth mentioned, can be difficult to articulate without being misunderstood, “The written word can be misleading and very difficult to convey at times, especially on such touchy subjects as this.” Mark found that this was especially true when attempting to write a book appropriately encouraging and challenging for both a Muslim and Christian audience.  We’re happy to have bloggers who are seeing the “heart” of the issue and willing to discuss and dialogue on this new approach for bridge building.  This only helps all of us to grow.  Thank you.

And from the other side of the world, we are excited to see that Salim Al-Hasso has created a page on his website dedicated to sharing about the work Mark is doing.  Salim saw Mark on Al Jazeera at home in Iraq and was moved to make information on his work more widely available.  He has gathered an impressive resource page by linking to one Al Jazeera video and various reviews of A Deadly Misunderstanding.

Every day I open my email inbox and find messages alerting me to the concerns and fears people have towards Muslims and Islam. Such a reality only underscores that we need ways to talk about the fears continually generated and fostered in today’s political, economic and cultural climate.

I, along with others, have begun trying to resource this conversation, such as with the Good News Memo I sent out this fall to nearly 100,000 Christian leaders. The Good News Memo explores a strategy of engaging Muslims that releases hope rather than fear. Several other books, websites and events occurring around the country are helping us move beyond fear and consider what it really means to love our neighbor as Jesus taught. As I encouraged a Muslim audience in Chicago recently, there is a cost to seeking the path of peace, but what a reward to see people, cultures and countries built up, rather than torn down!

My friend Carl Medearis is hosting an online web event, Why Do You Fear Me? in conjunction with the release of his new book co-authored by Ted Dekker. I was able to read and endorse an advance copy of Tea with Hezbollah, and they are doing very dynamic work. Their Jan. 28 web event is a new way to become part of this ongoing conversation and come away changed by what you learn.

Join Carl, Ted, and Gov. David Beasley for a conversation on America, the Middle East and Jesus.

The title of Martin Sieff’s review in today’s Washington Times, “From enmity to friendship” encapsulates the core message Mark shares in ADM.  Focusing on the timeliness of this book in an era that “hinge[s] to an unprecedented degree” on the discord between Muslim and Christian, Sieff highlights the extraordinary support the book has received from both political and religious leaders, and the strong ties that Mark has in both spheres of influence.  Acknowleding Mark’s unorthodox approach to conflict resolution, Sieff goes on to state “Yet Mr. Siljander is no pie-in-the-sky impractical dreamer. As a veteran politician, he understands the nature and danger of the extreme Islamist fundamentalist challenge exceptionally clearly, and his insights on the problem are some of the clearest and most cogent that have yet been published.” Click here for more.

Martin Sieff is defense industry editor for United Press International. He has been nominated three times for the Pultizer Prize for international reporting. His latest book is “The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Middle East.”

Thursday April 16, 3PM ET: Mark will join host Mark Pulver as the featured guest on Jesus21 a new show out of San Francisco. Listen In!

ABOUT Jesus21

Mark Pulver hosts Jesus21, a new media radio program that is focused on exploring the person and teachings of Jesus and how they intersect with key spiritual, social, vocational, economic and political questions of the 21st century. Jesus21 surveys a variety of topics through interviews and conversations with leading pastors, authors, scholars, business leaders, scientists and government officials. Mark received his Masters of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and an undergraduate degree from Cal Poly, SLO. Mark lives with his wife and five children in the San Francisco Bay Area.