Pope Shenouda III, rest in peace

On this feast day of St Patrick, another great man of God has fallen asleep in the Lord--Pope Shenouda III, shepherd of the Coptic Orthodox Church. A great man of God, he led his flock faithfully and I am fearful for his flock. In this most difficult of times in Egypt it will be extremely difficult to find a man adequate for the task.

Pray for the Egyptian Church. Pray for a worthy successor. Thank God for the fruitful life of his servant Shenouda.

--Abu Daoud

Comments on Christ at the Checkpoint, 2012, Bethlehem

Hi All,

Well, if you are anywhere in the Arab world then you have heard of this meeting. It was sponsored by Palestinian Christians living in the occupied West Bank mostly, though some are Israeli citizens and live in Israel. They tackled a lot of thorny topics, and I plan to write something about it for St Francis Magazine, so make sure to add SFM to your RSS feed so when it comes out you can read it.

There were several key points presented, including a robust argument that a) the State of Israel as it exists today is NOT in continuation with the Israelites of the Bible, and b) that evangelicals have misunderstood the meaning of words like 'Jew' and 'Israel' in the New Testament, especially when used by Jesus and (more importantly for American evangelicals) St Paul. Also, there was a statement of fellowship towards Messianic Jews (and equally tiny and despised group of people, at least in Israel-Palestine). And also an affirmation of non-violence.

Anyway, will go more into it in the April article, but for now here is a journalistic summary of the events from Palestinian reporter Daoud Kuttab (who was there).
Christian Zionism challenged in Bethlehem, Palestine

I am curious to know where my readers stand on this topic. Do you see the State of Israel today as the fulfilment of biblical prophecy? Do you believe that Jews are saved by the covenant of God with Abraham, apart from faith in Christ and incorporation into the Church? These are thorny questions, I know. But do leave your comments and keep it civil.

--Abu Daoud

Christ at the Checkpoint
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Abu Daoud on Microsoft Academic Search

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Abu Daoud's thoughts on the Arab Spring

From Part II of my interview with Don Warrington. Read it all at his blog and leave some comments already! Here is one of the questions:

6) Where do you see MENA going, especially in view of events such as the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and the Arab Spring?

This is the million-dollar question, isn’t it? First, the people who protested didn’t take political control, so as much as they wanted freedom and democracy, they just won’t get it, I’m sorry to say. The Egyptian elections were demonstrably corrupt, though the international press has not said so—I have no idea why. The Islamists will take power and they will not let it go. And why is this surprising? That is precisely what Muhammad did—engaged in diplomacy and compromise and so on, but once he had power he was ruthless. In the end, an Islamic society cannot be a free society. Islam and freedom are mutually exclusive.

The question I have is this: will it be like Iran? After the revolution in `79 Islam had a chance to prove itself in the political arena, and Islam, unlike Christianity, makes substantial guarantees in this area. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians have concluded that Islam failed—it did not deliver politically so it must be false in terms of its religious and spiritual claims too. They have turned to Christianity some of them, and some to secular humanism or atheism. Will this happen in these newly Islamist states? Perhaps. I pray it will. Islam’s love of political power may well be its Achilles’ heel. Meanwhile, that means the native Christians need to stay as long as they can, and foreign missionaries like me need to stay no matter what. I will do it. Maybe the kids and wife need to go back to the US, I will do everything I can to stay here even if all hell breaks loose.

Don Warrington interviews Abu Daoud, Part 1

Don Warrington over at Positive Infinity keeps a fine blog which has been on my blogroll for years over at Islam & Christianity. Don interviewed me about being in the mission field in the Middle East, and the first part of the interview has been posted. Check it out HERE.

Here is one section of the interview:

2) What type of training did you obtain for this? Was it helpful? For others who might be considering this, what kind of training is best?

My own training was largely on my own. I will say that having a background in philosophy from a secular university is great. I mean, philosophy is all about listening very carefully to what people say and write, to the point where you understand them better than they understand themselves even. We debated and thought about the big questions—the relation of the soul to the body, the existence of God, the nature of good and evil, and so on. With that sort of background you are really able to interact with Muslims on a whole different level than what folks learn at the local bible college or what have you. Also, Muslims are aware that in the distant past they produced a couple of outstanding philosophers. I mean, these were the people with whom Thomas Aquinas was interacting! So when you say you are a scholar of philosophy and religions, which is what I am, and what I tell people when they ask me, ‘What do you do?’ they really respect it.

For more Click Here.

Response to Warrick Farah's questions on conversion and the word 'Christian'

Warrick Farah at Circumpolar, a blog on the topic of mission to Muslims, asks some interesting questions about converts from Islam to Christianity. In a nutshell, he is wondering if avoiding words like ‘Christian’ and ‘conversion’ in Islamic countries (like Somalia, if you can even call that a country anymore), would not lessen persecution. He poses three questions. Here they are, with my answers.

1. People can be persecuted for Christ, or they can be persecuted for Western Christianity by calling themselves “Christians.”  Of course the difference between the two is really difficult to discern, and I don’t pretend to know in Musa’s case here.  But some persecution is unnecessary and more a result of association with the immoral West than with the glorious Jesus.  I do wonder about Sayed Musa and this Somali MBB- what if they chose not to call themselves “Christians”?

Abu Daoud’s answer: I think it is a bit unfair to ask Muslims who decide to follow Christ to not call themselves Christians. They know the language of Christian and Christianity, and they find it in their history and in their book, the Qur’an. The concept of following Christ from within Islam is a Western, modernist construct—it represents an attempt to renegotiate boundaries traditionally considered as immutable and objective. Not to be confrontational, but it is akin to same-sex marriage in this respect. All of this to say, these are not 21st Century Americans who can deconstruct and reconstruct terms in order to fir their picture of how reality should be, and we should not expect them to act in such a way. (Anyone interested in further exploring this critique of modernity should read Peter Berger’s important book The Heretical Imperative.)

2. The language of “conversion” is politically loaded, and whenever persecution hits international headlines there are always other factors involved, as the article clearly shows.  The NT language is really rich and diverse in describing the concept of conversion.  Is there a better English word?

Abu Daoud’s answer: This is an interesting question, and I think there is more room for discussion here than with the word ‘Christian’, which, I think, need not and can not be tossed out (with the possible exception of Jews). The key word used in the NT to talk about people deciding to be disciples of Christ is repentance. But that is a technical word that will not make sense to people who do not know the NT well (including most Christians I think). How would we say that? He repented and decided to follow Christ? It lacks the concise nature of the word ‘convert’ that people in all fields understand to mean a significant turning away from something and to another thing, in this case away from Islam and to Christianity. So is there a better English word? For internet material meant for a wide audience of non-specialists? I don’t think so. Is there a better word in Somalian? I have no idea.

3. Public advocacy for the persecuted usually puts governments in very awkward situations with the end result usually ending in deportation.  How should we stand for religious freedom without shaming Muslim governments into overreacting?

Abu Daoud’s answer: I think this is the most complex question, and all I can say is that it needs to be handled on a case-by-case basis. Ultimately the West needs to wake up and realize that Human Rights and Islam are, I am sad to say, irreconcilable. I mean, the Prophet very clearly said, ‘whosoever changes his religion, slay him.’ That does not leave a lot of room for creativity, does it? This problem has been around for a while, and it led Kenneth Cragg to the conclusion that Christian mission to the Muslim world must contain a strong element of advocacy for religious freedom.

Please chime in, either here or over at Circumpolar. I enjoy this sort of conversation, just keep it civil ;-)

--Abu Daoud

Albion Land interviews Abu Daoud

Some time ago I had the privilege to be interviewed by Albion Land, founder of the blog The Continuum. I think I mentioned it a long time ago but I recently re-read it and I think you might find it quite interesting.

Here it is:

Albion Land interviews Abu Daoud