Interfaith

Why This Christian Studies Islam

Dr. Craig Considine

People often ask me, Why do you study Islam if you are a Christian?

Here is my answer:

I am hungry for meaning, wherever it might be found. I do not care if it is in a desert of Arabia or a small village in France. I want to bridge the perceived worlds, through meaning-making. I want to find the sources that lead to peace.

I like stories about ancient times. I like stories about humanity. Through history I find direct connections to my spirit, or what I like to call my essence. Spirituality helps me overcome my pride, my own sins. That helps me grow. And growth is healthy. It makes me a better, more balanced person.

I have to leapfrog obstacles to find inner peace. One of those obstacles is ignorance. To knock that wall of ignorance down, I have to understand the common realities that we all share.

I am believer that human beings have a higher conscious, that there is a higher way of being, and that we are all capable of getting there. This is my reality. Reaching that state of being is my goal. The state of being is peace.

As a human being, I want to live with and meet God. To do so, I know that I need to be transparent towards the divine. I need to purify my heart and mind so I can heal my own personal pain and rage. Only then can I help others.

How do we deal with people who are unable to transcend their own self, their own immediate circles? We need to raise them from their lower state.

Human beings need more perspective and bigger views of the world.

Sometimes we retreat into our ignorance, into our own comfort zones. Take religious fundamentalist movements. These are mundane movements. They dull the spirit. They are full of darkness. They isolate. They restrict. They cannot see goodness. They have lost touch with Christian and Muslim spiritualities. They have forgotten Saint Anthony. They have forgotten Rumi. They have forgotten the soul.

To make peace, we have to stop radicalism in all its forms. The problem with radicals is that they are not at peace with themselves. If they are not at peace with themselves, it is impossible for them to be at peace with others.

The problem is not how radicals read the Bible or the Quran. The problem is arrogance. The radical thinks he or she knows it all. That is a psychological issue. The radical does not know how to be humble. The radical is selfish. The radical needs to be shown how to love. The radical needs psychotherapy of the soul.

I say this humbly. I am trying to be a transformative human being. I do not want to be from one place; I want to be from all places. I want to find that extraordinary illumination that can liven the souls of others.

So I say: let us follow the way of inner healing so that we can be how God wants us to be – at peace with each other. If we want to taste the atmosphere of love, we have to humble the self and the presence of others. We need human interaction. We need to shut down our televisions. They keep us hypnotized, in a state of imagination. We need to abandon our fears. You cannot have both fear and faith. And you cannot have peace without faith.

To begin the process of learning, the greatest spiritual journal, I go and find a place of solitude. I enter into a state of the soul. I like to feed my spirit by learning through others. I like to use my imagination. I like to visualize.

The first stage of peace is imagining that there can be peace. Together, we need to overcome the illusion that peace is impossible. Human beings are not naturally selfish and egotistical. Our humanity is a common humanity. One soul.

To encounter everything – that is a true spiritual experience, and that is my personal preference. It is not easy. It requires spiritual warfare, but I would rather fight my ego than fight another human being.

15 thoughts on “Why This Christian Studies Islam”

  1. Pingback: Why This Christian Studies Islam | Sonora del Norte Press

  2. I can’t deny when I first started following you, it was something I wonder about you. Thank you for writing an answer down for me and also people wondering the same thing. World need more people like you. Peace!

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  3. You inspire us.. Thank you for being you.. I started reading your writings just few months ago & now im an eager reader of your thoughts n words.
    Please keep it up & never stop.
    You give us hope.
    Salams/ Peace .

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  4. There is no spirituality in wanting a sexuality names dead wanting to sever human body parts thinking that is a good thing to do taking pleasure in it. It is not spiritual to be offended by everything imaginable. How can you think there is?

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  5. Pingback: Why This Christian Studies Islam | zooforyou

  6. But why study Islam? The author does not answer his own question.

    I could understand him studying Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism and various other religions if he is looking for peace and wants to overcome pride, pain and rage but not Islam which is precisely the religion of pride, rage and pain.

    Pride and rage from Allah who flies into a fury at any hint of having to share the universe with any other deities. And pain for those who don’t believe in him, in fact a lot of it for a very long time.

    If the author found out that his neighbour had a dungeon in his basement where he tortured anyone who refused to acknowledge him as the one and only lord of the universe I expect he would be fairly shocked and immediately call the police. But for some reason, which he does not explain, he does not object to such behaviour from a supposed god. We can only speculate as to why not. I don’t suppose it could be that those who claim to be seeking to transcend their egotism, pride, selfishness and rage have a sneaking admiration for a god who revels in them could it?

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    1. ResPeter sir ECAW u don’t believe in God yet he gave u everything u can feel proud of. And he is still blessing u with everything. He didn’t make u African negrow slave cz u r diobeying Him n disgracing him. Still u think God is ever furious??? If God is ever furious then he wud have shown his furry when Christ was being crucified…. But the point is u r not the reader of Bible. U don’t study any religion n don’t follow any religion. Ur religion is ur material desires….

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      2. Africans are Negro slaves because allah is angry at them? You racist bigot – if everyone followed your fatalist determinism, slavery wouldn’t have been abolished. Well, it was abolished in Western, White Christian nations by Western, Christian White men (God bless them – I guess they were just akbar than allah 🙂 ), and they pressured other nations to end it as well. Nowadays, slavery is endemic in muslim-majority countries – probably because muslims think that if allah didn’t want slaves to be slaves then they wouldn’t be slaves, like you ungraciously demonstrated.

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  8. A person like you, remembering us of Abu Tholib. He is the great uncle of Muhammad PBUH, whom has been loved so much but ended with tears.

    Learn about Muhammad history, seek the peace, but more important is seek the thruth.

    Praise be upon you,
    With love for Abraham, Moses, Maria, Jesus, Anda of course Muhammad PBUH.

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