Thy Kingdom Come!
What A Mess
In an attempt to understand a little better the context of Hanan al-Shaykh's Beirut Blues, I decided to find out a little bit about the nature of the war in Lebanon which is the setting of the book. I, like most Americans at least of my age, am not terribly familiar with the details of this war, so I turned to the ever-handy and often-reliable Wikipedia. There is in fact a lengthy article in there under "Lebanese Civil War." I have not yet had time to read through the entire thing, but I was quite amazed by what I did find out. For one thing, I had no idea that this civil war had dragged on for about 15 years. It also seems to have involved quite a few different factions, often aligned in varying ways. The article's concluding section sums up the toll involved: "Lebanon still bears deep scars from the civil war. In all, it is estimated that more than 100,000 people were killed, and another 100,000 handicapped by injuries. Approximately 900,000 people, representing more than one-fifth of the pre-war population, were displaced from their homes." The article goes on to note that the recent conflict with Israel has "'rolled back the clock' on Lebanese infrastructure and recreated similar problems created by the civil war."
It can be seen in the article that citations are still needed for the figures mentioned above (which is the unfortunate thing about the nature of this resource). I would be interested to hear some thoughts from our resident expert on Lebanon, Fr. Andre, regarding what this long and bloody strife was like, and what things are like in Lebanon today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_Civil_War
Thy Kingdom Come!
A War-Torn City
Hanan al-Shaykh's Beirut Blues is an interesting read so far. Written in the form of letters from a Lebanese woman to various individuals, it provides a somewhat impressionistic view of life in war-torn Beirut. The first of the letters is addressed to a former lover of the narrator, who has long since left Lebanon to live in Belgium. She seems to be somewhat resentful of the fact that he has left, and realizes that there is ever less that they have in common, as the reality of the war changes her daily life. At the same time, she seems to appreciate the fact that he is still concerned about the her safety, and that he continues to call her.
The style in which the book is written gives it a very "fly-on-the wall" sort of feel. We don't get a sense of the broad overview of what's going on in the war, but of how one individual is reacting to it day by day. I found particularly interesting her rhetorical question on page 3: "How can I answer your questions about the state of our country when my chief worry is the rat occupying our kitchen?" On the next page, she goes on: "Isn't it ridiculous to summarize what's going on in one sentence? The war is this, or the war is that. People are dancing, people are dying. I don't care."
Part of the sense of ambivalence that we see in this narrator comes from the fact that she has no stake in this conflict. "Belonging to some faction, however extreme or outlandish, might be preferable to this. If you make a commitment, however hard the consequences turn out to be, you can relax." (p.12) Being an uninvolved bystander caught in the crossfire of a warring city must be the worst situation of all.
Thy KIngdom Come!
Authority in Shiism and Catholicism
I have been rather intrigued, both last semester in our study of world religions and now in reading Aslan's chapter on Shiism, at the way in which similar questions and problems play themselves out in the Islamic and Christian traditions. One can perhaps detect some of the same sorts of questions which caused Western Christianity to split into Protestantism and Catholicism at work in the split of Islam into Sunni and Shiite. The difference historically would be that while Catholicism existed virtually unchallenged in the West for many centuries until the decline of the Middle Ages, the split within Islam goes has its origins as far back as the immediate successors to Muhammad.
One of the basic questions that divides the two camps, it seems, is that of authority. Who is responsible, after the Prophet's death, for the proper interpretation of his revelation? In Christianity, the same issue became a problem when the question of Scripture versus Tradition was raised in the time of the Protestant Reformation.
One can see the answers to these questions forming along different lines in the two different religions. In Christianity, the basic divide ended up being between the Protestant principle of Scripture alone, interpreted by the individual, and the Catholic approach of Scripture and Tradition, interpreted by the Church's Magisterium. In Islam, on the other hand, it seems that one could see both Sunnis and Shiites as claiming Scripture, but differing on the role of tradition and of a "magisterial" figure. The Sunnis rely on the traditions of the prophet, as well as the consensus which the community, and especially the Ulama, has arrived at over the centuries. They would thus seem to have "Tradition" on their side. The Shiites, for their part, seem in some way to have adopted the same line of thinking that leads Catholics to affirm the need for an infallible magisterium centered in a visible head. While the Imam is not seen by the Shiites as God's messenger, he is the one who translates the message for human beings. One could loosely relate this to our belief that the Pope, while not gifted with divine inspiration as the authors of Scripture were, is nonetheless given the charism of infallibly interpreting the Revelation given. And like the Imamate, the Papacy is a stable office that is passed from one individual to another.
Thus far, one could see the Shiites as leaning towards the Catholic approach to authority. However, there are of course significant differences: while the Imam position is a matter of hereditary descent, the Papacy is elected, and even more significant, the Imam is believed to be not only infallible but sinless, and in fact to be created from light. Catholic claims regarding the Pope are generally more modest, and no one has ever claimed he is impeccable. Furthermore, while the Papacy has continued to exist, amid ups and downs, the Imamate is now defunct, to all appearances, while the true Imam is hidden, to be revealed in the last days.
Finally, it should be noted that while Catholicism, like Shiism, recognizes one individual as a locus of authority, it also accommodates the idea of tradition and indeed of a consensus of the faithful, which Sunni Islam appeals to. It is in fact the union of the three pillars of Scripture, Tradition, and Magisterium which gives Catholicism a unique ability to hold on to the essential truths of the faith, while also being able to deal in an authoritative way with new questions which arise.
Finally, it doesn't seem that the Protestant principle of authority (Scripture alone interpreted by the individual) has much traction in the Muslim world, at least since the "closing of the gates of ijtihad" which Aslan speaks of as occurring around the end of the tenth century. The Protestant principle in Christianity is in fact a uniquely modern idea, and it seems that Aslan, who advocates an "Islamic Reformation", would like to see it enter the picture in Islam alongside the authority of tradition and of scholars.
Thy Kingdom Come!
Faith and Reason
I found Aslan's chapter on Islamic theology and law ("This Religion Is a Science") to be very interesting, especially seeing how some of the discussions that are present there are remarkably similar to problems that Christian theology has tackled over the years. One such area, which both Muslims and Christians wrestled with in the Middle Ages, is the relationship of faith and reason. Aslan, in a few pages which I'm sure don't do justice to the subject, talks about this in terms of the historic debate between the "Rationalists" and the "Traditionalists." It seems pretty clear, at least in Aslan's treatment, that the Traditionalists won the day, and that reason cannot play much of a role in Islamic theology.
This was also a point which Pope Benedict XVI addressed in his now-famous Regensburg lecture. While everyone reacted strongly to the words he quoted from Michael Paleologos regarding Muhammad and violence, the main thrust of the speech was the need for a rapprochement between faith and reason. To the extent that Islam has exhibited violent tendencies, the Pope suggested, it may be because of a lack of appreciation for human reason in Islamic theology.
It is interesting, therefore, to read about other Muslim thinkers, the "Rationalists", who took a more positive view of reason. One wonders if this debate will be renewed in modern Islam, and to what result. It is a question which the West had to deal with in the thirteenth century, precisely in response to Aristotle as interpreted by Ibn Rushd (Averroes). Ibn Rushd's "two truth" theory came to be held by some Christians, such as Siger of Brabant. It was St. Thomas' achievement to demonstrate that while both faith and reason can lead to truth, the truth is ultimately one, and cannot contradict itself. It has been said that while both Christians and Muslims have used Aristotle in their theology, the Muslims who did so wound up not being very good Muslims, while the foremost Christian to do so, St. Thomas, is still the Common Doctor of the Church.
Thy Kingdom Come!
Project Bibliography
Below is the bibliography for my project regarding Jihad.
Aslan, Reza. No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam. New York: Random House, 2005.
Bonner, Michael. Jihad in Islamic History: Doctrines and Practice. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006.
Hoffman, R. Joseph, ed. The Just War and Jihad: Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2006.
Kepel, Gilles. Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam. Translated by Anthony F. Roberts. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003.
Lewis, Bernard. The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror. New York: Modern Library, 2003.
Partner, Peter. God of Battles: Holy Wars of Christianity and Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997.
This may very well grow as I proceed with the project; thus far it only reflects what the Souvay Library here at Kenrick has to offer. But it's at least a start.
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