One other thing that came up with Adel yesterday is how he viewed Jesus. Moslems consider Jesus (Issa, PBUH in Arabic) to be the 2nd most important prophet behind Mohammed (PBUH). Adel believes that Jesus was sent to correct the followers of Moses and that Mohammed (PBUH) was sent to correct the mistakes of the followers of Jesus. I have a slightly different take. If I assume that Mohammed (PBUH) really was a prophet, I think that there might have been something else going on than "correcting" the Christians. After all, it's my understanding that most Arabs were not Christians when Mohammed (PBUH) started to preach, they were polytheists. It took some time before there was contact with a Christian nation, so when did the "correction" start? I think that God may have sent another prophet because the Arabs were not (and are not) able to respect, let alone worship, anyone they perceive as weak.
Even the Bible mentions the stereotypical Arab mentality when it describes the descendants of Ishmael. In Genesis 16:12 it says (referring to Ishmael), "This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives." To be fair, the bedouin life was pretty tough, and lead to some tough people. By all accounts, the people that Mohammed had to deal with were a little rough and tumble, and there's still a lot of that kind of attitude around today. The stereotypical Arab (and there's always a grain of truth in stereotypes) is quick to anger, prone to vengeful thoughts, and doesn't hesitate to judge. It shouldn't be any surprise that the concepts of self sacrifice, pacifism, forgiveness, and subjecting oneself to persecution does not sit too well with a lot of people over here. The culture that has been developed over millennia has systematically disparaged the the core teachings of Christianity.
Instead of "correcting" Christians, I believe that Mohammed (PBUH) was sent to the Arabs so that they could channel their culture into useful and good purposes. That hasn't always worked out of course (name one religion that has) but I believe that the overall impact on the Arab culture has been a positive one. There are many Christians that would like nothing more than the entire middle east to be converted to Christianity. That thought has some appeal, but aside from the obvious problems, I just don't think that it's realistic to expect Christianity to be persuasive in this culture.
One of the things that has stuck with me from my Buddhist studies is the concept of "skillful means." In that context, a Buddha can teach in a way that makes sense to that person in order to lead them to enlightenment. They were adamant that there wasn't one way of doing that, there were an infinite number of ways. I don't think that it's unreasonable to think that God does the same thing. Or maybe actually is the same thing... Anyway, I'm willing to believe that some messages will be accepted by some people and not by others. And I'm also willing to believe that none of us have the complete picture, none of us is capable of it. So different people get different glimpses and do the best they can with things that make sense for them...
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