by Michael Jaffarian 20 September 2001

The better we understand something, the better we will be able to respond to it with Christian wisdom. For most of us, this attack is hard to understand. The question that has haunted me is, "Why such hatred?"

There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world, or nearly 20% of the world's population (in 2000). Most of them are decent, ordinary people, seeking to live their lives and raise their families in peace, with no strong feelings one way or the other about America. Many of them love and appreciate America. Many migrate here, and are grateful to be Americans, as grateful as any of us. Many others wish they could migrate here. But then, many Muslims hate America. Some of them hate America vehemently and violently. Why?

When I was thinking about this I remembered an article I read several years ago. I went to my files, found it, and re-read it: "The Roots of Muslim Rage" by Bernard Lewis (from The Atlantic, September 1990). Lewis, a professor at Princeton, is one of the leading scholars of Islam and the Middle East in the English-speaking world. Though the article was written 11 years ago, when America was more concerned about Iran and Ayatollah Khomeini than about Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden, most of the ideas still carry.

>From Lewis and from my own thinking on this, I believe many Muslims hate

America because:

1) For the first 1000 years of Islam's history, it was advancing and Christendom was retreating and threatened. But then, "For the past 300 years, since the failure of the second Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683 and the rise of the European colonial empires in Asia and Africa, Islam has been on the defensive, and the Christian and post-Christian civilization of Europe and her daughters has brought the whole world, including Islam, within its orbit" (Lewis, p. 49). Some Muslims hate America because they resent the advance of the West and the retreat of Islam, particularly the colonial rule of the West over many Muslim nations in the 18th to 20th centuries.

2) In the 19th and 20th centuries, the leaders of many Muslim nations found Western ideas and technology attractive, and brought them into their nations. They promoted Western economic ideas, like loaning and borrowing with interest, which is condemned by Islam. They promoted Western political ideas, like democracy, which is not the way of Islam. They promoted Western social ideas, like education for women, which is not the way of Islam. They promoted Western dress, which is foreign to the Muslim world, and which, in the case of women, is repugnantly immodest by Muslim standards. They promoted Western ideas, like the liberal, open spirit of inquiry, that is not the way of Islam. These leaders saw the West as successful and prosperous, and tried to lead their nations in those ways. But these actions were bitterly resented by many of their tradition-minded Muslim subjects and citizens, and the blame is pointed at the West, and at America.

3) Many Muslims see America as evil and corrupt. They see America as a land of crime, violence, alcoholism, drug addiction, sexual immorality, pornography, homosexuality, greed, racism, materialism, consumerism, selfishness, and arrogance. And then they see America spreading these wicked things around the whole world through TV, movies, the global expansion of American companies, and the like. They see young people from Muslim homes wearing American clothes (immodest and promiscuous), eating American junk food (unhealthy and expensive), listening to American music (dissonant, disrespectful, and mean), and watching American movies (smutty and violent), and they get angry.

4) Many Muslims see America destroying their families. They see America planting rebellious, godless ideas in the heads of their young, and liberationist, modern ideas in the heads of their women. For them, this is too much, and it foments hatred.

5) Many Muslims see America as crass. "America was the ultimate example of civilization without culture: rich and comfortable, materially advanced but soulless and artificial; assembled or at best constructed, not grown; mechanical, not organic; technologically complex but lacking the spirituality and vitality of the rooted, human, national cultures of (other nations)" (Lewis, p. 52). They don't see America as a spiritual nation. Many Muslims see their traditional way of life, their traditional cultures, their traditional values - all rooted in their religion, Islam - as under threat, from this great, international, money-loving giant of American influence and culture. So they respond in hatred.

6) America supports Israel, and most Muslims feel more strongly about how the Jews have been oppressive to the Palestinians, than about how the Palestinians have attacked the Jews (in fact, both have happened). Again, they believe Islam is the right way, that it is God's truth. They consider it abhorrent that the followers of a wrong religion (Judaism) would rule over and even oppress the followers of the true way (Islam). So they hate Israel, and with that, they hate America.

7) Many Muslims hate America because America has supported and aided a number of regimes that are seen by many of their people as impious, corrupt, and tyrannical. The Shah of Iran is one notable example. His secret police were brutal. Through them he imprisoned, tortured, and killed many clergy, political dissidents, journalists, poets, and ordinary people. There are other such examples also. Neither Kuwait nor Saudi Arabia, important American allies, are democracies - not even close. Both countries have dissidents who consider their rulers to be oppressive.

8) Alongside the reasons listed above, Osama bin Ladin in particular hates America especially because of the presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia. He sees Arabia as a particularly holy place, a place where no non-Muslims should even be present. In his mind, it's like a bunch of pork-eating, idolatrous Assyrians camping out in Solomon's temple - an abominable desecration. Osama wrote in 1998, "For more than seven years the United States is occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of its territories, Arabia, plundering its riches, overwhelming its rulers, humiliating its people, threatening its neighbors, and using its bases in the peninsula as a spearhead to fight against the neighboring Islamic peoples."

Some of the above reasons for Muslim hatred of America we can understand, at least partially - though still not condone. Some of the above reasons we have a very hard time understanding at all. But we should want to understand as best we can, and we should try to understand. Understanding is important, not only because it allows us to respond in wisdom, but also because it allows us to respond in love.

This is not to say or imply that there was any valid or sufficient reason to attack America in such a terrible, brutal way on September 11th. There was not. This was a great, unjustified evil, plain and simple. It's a staggering, frightening display to all of us of how great evil can be.

But, in the face of it, we need to remember again that most Muslims do not hate America. Some do. But even at that, only a very small minority hate America to the point of fomenting, or celebrating, an attack like this. The TV cameras managed to find the minority of Palestinians who rejoiced in our suffering, but in fact even most Palestinian Arabs deplore this. Rick Love, the General Director of Frontiers, a mission agency focused on the Muslim world, wrote, "To lump all Muslims together as terrorists would be comparable to saying that all white Christian men in the U.S. are part of the Ku Klux Klan or the Neo-Nazi movement. This is unjust, un-loving, and un-Christian. And it's plain wrong." He also said, "Muslims are not the enemy - terrorists are. I have personally received many testimonies from our workers about Muslims who have visited them during this crisis to give their condolences and offer comfort."

This essay is not about how America as a nation should respond; it is about how we as Christians should respond. There is a difference. One of the first and most important duties of a nation is to protect its people from outside aggression. At times, that requires war. This is clearly one of those times. It is also a duty of a nation to punish those who do evil. This was clearly a great evil. The Bible teaches that God has put the sword in the hand of the state. "(The ruler) does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer" (Romans 13:4).

Some Christians are pacifists, opposing all war, but they are a minority among us. Most Christians believe that there are times and circumstances when a state should go to war, and that God approves, as long as the war is just and is carried out in a just manner. Most Christians believe that even Christians can participate as combatants in wars of that kind, and can, in those circumstances, kill people without violating the sixth commandment. They are not then acting on their own as individual Christians; they are then acting as agents of a state fighting a just war. Their Christian convictions should still guide them. They would be wrong to be more cruel than necessary. A just war should be fought in a just manner. There are such things as war crimes. But war is always, by its nature, brutally violent and destructive, even when no war crimes or atrocities are involved.

Much of our response to this attack has already sprung up, naturally and spontaneously. We couldn't help ourselves. We have felt shock, fear, grief, and anger. We have reached out to our loved ones, our neighbors, our friends, even strangers. We have prayed. We have looked to God. Now some time has passed, and we need to stand back, look at the Word of God, and think about things. Now our responses should be guided by the wisdom of God and not just our immediate gut reactions.

So - how should we as Christians respond to this?

1. We should draw strength from the Lord.

This is a time to turn to the Word, a time to meditate on verses like these:

God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; The God of Jacob is our fortress. (Psalm 46:1-2, 6-7)

Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. (Isaiah 43:1-3)

It's natural to feel fear. But we don't need to fear, because we belong to God and he is with us. He is powerful, and he is loving. He is infinitely greater and stronger than any force or power on earth.

America is a powerful nation. Usually we can trust in the might of our country to protect us from foreign aggression. But not always, as we learned on September 11th. Our prayer to God is, "Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless" (Psalm 60:11). America is powerful, but God is infinitely more powerful. "Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal" (Isaiah 26:4).

2. We should help each other.

Many people, Christians and non-Christians, are hurting right now. They are afraid. They feel insecure. They are grieving. We should draw strength from the Lord, and then turn and help each other. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God" (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

3. We should love our enemies.

Jesus said, "But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:44-45).

Hatred is wrong, always wrong, even now. We need to guard our hearts against any part of hatred. God himself does not hate the terrorists who killed so many innocent people. He loves them. And we should too.

It's appropriate to call for justice, but not to call for vengeance. Justice comes from righteousness; vengeance comes from hatred. Since there should be no place in the heart of a Christian for hatred, there should be no place in the heart of a Christian for vengeance. "Do not repay anyone evil for evil. . Do not take revenge, my friends. On the contrary: If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:17, 19, 20-21).

4. We should remember the order of our loyalties.

I have been thinking about this point a lot these days. This one is very much on my heart.

Americans, and Christians, are flying flags right now, and wearing red, white, and blue ribbons. There is nothing wrong with this, in itself. Our family also has put a flag in our window, and I am now wearing on my jacket a pin with the stars and stripes (Actually, it's a Hard Rock Café pin from D.C. :-) ). There is nothing wrong with this as long as it is an expression of patriotism, instead of an expression of nationalism.

There is a difference. Patriotism says, "I love this country. I am grateful for it, and grateful to be a citizen of it. I appreciate the good things we enjoy here." Nationalism says, "Our country is the greatest and best. All other countries are not as good as we are. We need to do whatever it takes to keep our country on top." Patriotism has a spirit of gratitude. Nationalism has a spirit of arrogance. The Bible praises gratitude, but condemns arrogance. As a missionary who has lived overseas, I have seen how the arrogant words and attitudes of some Americans look from the other side. It's ugly. Most of us are more arrogant about America than we realize.

Is America the greatest nation on earth? If we're honest, we have to admit that in some ways it is, and in some ways it is not. We have the largest economy, but we don't have the greatest cuisine. We have the greatest army, but we don't have the greatest art. We have the greatest blues artists, but we didn't write the greatest symphonies. We might even have the best Constitution, but we don't have the lowest divorce rate. And so on. The nationalist will magnify America's strengths and minimize America's weaknesses. The patriot doesn't need to participate in either distortion. The Christian measures all things against the Word of God, and against the standard of truth, and by those rules, finds things about America to rejoice in, and things to grieve over.

Which speaks to the order of our loyalties. We love America and are loyal to our country, and that is a good thing. But as Christians we love God and are loyal to him, and that stands above our loyalty to our country. If we ever have to choose between the two loyalties, we would be right to choose God over country. Many Christians in other countries, throughout history, have had to face that painful choice. Though their countries have reviled them as traitors, we Christians honor them as martyrs.

For me as a missionary, and as a World Christian, there is a third loyalty also that comes to mind in times like this. That is a love for, and a loyalty to, every people and nation on the earth. God loves everyone, in every nation and people, everywhere. "The Lord . is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).

God's love for everyone is unlimited. He does not love me more than he loves you. He does not love the saint more than the sinner. His relationship with the Christian is different, yes, because of his adoption of those who trust in him. But his love is the same. I do not believe God loves the Christians of the world more than he loves the Muslims of the world. His love for both is infinite. I do not believe God loves America more than he loves Japan, or China, or Iran, or Afghanistan, or any other nation. His love for each is infinite.

We, as Christians, are God's children. We should love as he does. We cannot love infinitely, but we should love equally. So I believe we should love the people of Japan as much as we love the people of America. And the same goes for China, and Iran, and even Afghanistan. If God loves the Afghan people just as much as he loves the American people, so should we.

The day after the Attack on America, our newspaper in Richmond ran an editorial cartoon that called for Uncle Sam to "nuke Afghanistan". A Christian friend said the same thing to me the other day. I think that attitude is way out of line. A letter to the editor in _Time_ magazine (24September 2001) said, "As far as I'm concerned, we should already be bombing Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan until there is nothing left but rubble-filled craters." I hope that writer was not a Christian. If she was, I think she was responding to this attack in a very un-Christian, disobedient manner.

Maybe 6,000 Americans were killed on September 11th. That is horrible, and we grieve. Do you know how many Afghans were killed in the 20 terrible years of war that the country suffered between 1989 and 1999? More than a million. That is also horrible. Think about it: what if America suffered a day like September 11th nine times every year, for 20 years in a row? That's about what Afghanistan has suffered, from a much, much smaller population.

God loves every one of those precious souls that died, not only the (maybe)

6,000 in the U.S.A., but also the one million plus in Afghanistan. I think we should grieve for them both. In fact, as bad as our suffering has been, and I don't want to diminish it, the suffering of Afghanistan has been far worse. Does that mean we should take no military action in Afghanistan? No. I'm afraid we probably should. But we should certainly take no glee in it.

So, I love America and I am loyal to America. I would fight in our army if called upon. But I personally consider my loyalty to America to be third in order, after my loyalty to God, and my loyalty to all people.

5. We should talk to people about Jesus.

I hope our non-Christian friends and neighbors will see that we are different. I hope they will see that we don't fear as they do, because we can draw strength from God, from the Word, and from our brothers and sisters in Christ. I hope they will see that we don't hate as they do, because we love all people of all nations, as our God does, and because we love even our enemies, as Jesus taught us to. And when they notice we are different, I hope we are ready to talk about Jesus. "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect" (I Peter 3:15-16).

I think we have a great opportunity right now to go to non-Christian friends, neighbors, and relatives and talk about the Lord. We can say, "A lot of people died very suddenly on September 11th. Probably none of them imagined when they woke up that morning that that they were going to die that day. But they did. It's a great reminder to all of us of the uncertainty of life. We can't assume anything about our own safety or security. I believe each one of us needs to be ready every day to die, to meet God, and to give an account for our lives .." and so on. Take it from there.

Right now there are a lot of people coming to church who usually ignore church. There are a lot of people praying who usually never pray. Right now is a special opportunity for evangelism - for personal evangelism, for church evangelism, for literature evangelism, for evangelistic rallies and events, and so on. And this window of opportunity is limited. You know how people are. As the weeks and months roll on, the power of this moment will dissipate. People will settle back into their ordinary lives and forget about God again, until the next crisis hits. But maybe this can be the time when they can hear the gospel in a clear, direct, understandable way, and believe. Maybe this is a time when the soil is ready for the seed.

6. We should make the most of this unique opportunity for Muslim evangelism.

There are some Muslims who hate America. But most do not. Certainly most of the Muslims who are Americans or who are now living in America do not hate this country that has welcomed them. In fact, many are here because things did not go well for them in the Muslim countries they or their forefathers left. Most Muslims are as upset as the rest of us about this horrible act of war. For many, both in the U.S.A. and around the world, this terrible attack makes them even more unhappy with Islam.

When the Ayatollah Khomeini took over Iran in 1979, many Iranians fled to other countries. There was a great turning to Christ among Iranians outside of Iran, all over the world. Many of them looked at the Muslim theocracy of the Ayatollah and they did not like what they saw. I believe a very similar thing may take place right now. It may be that many Muslims right now, all over the world, are thinking about what kind of evil and destruction can come from radical Islam, and are starting to look for something different to believe in.

So this may be a unique, vital day of opportunity for Muslim evangelism. And for us as Christians, we would welcome that, since we believe that Jesus alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Islam represents the greatest single bloc of non-Christians in the world's population, and therefore our greatest missionary challenge. This could be a day of harvest - if we build bridges of love, and if we make opportunities to tell the story of Jesus.

Some of our fellow Americans are expressing hatred toward Arabs and Muslims. Some are lashing out in racist attacks. If we Christians, in this day, make a special effort to show love, support, care, protection, and interest in our Muslim neighbors, who knows how the Lord might work? Many Muslims hold a cultural tendency to long remember acts of kindness in times of stress. They could write back to their relatives overseas and tell them of the special love Christians showed to them in their hour of fear.

Remember, they face a double fear. They face the same fear we all feel as our country is now under attack from destructive terrorism. And they face the fear that their fellow Americans will direct racist hate crimes against them. Today I read (20 September) that a national Muslim organization in Washington D.C. has already recorded 350 incidents of harassment against Muslims, and a national Sikh organization has recorded nearly 200 incidents directed against Sikhs. Hate is irrational. Sikhs are neither Muslims nor even from the Middle East - they have their own, distinct religion, and their homeland is in India - but they are targeted, I suppose, because most of the men wear turbans and look foreign. Crazy. And yesterday was the funeral of Adel Karas in Los Angeles, a man who was shot dead in his shop, a victim of a racist hate crime, in response to the Attack on America. He was an immigrant from Egypt. He was also a Christian, a Coptic Christian who had fled to America 22 years ago because of how his people were discriminated against and persecuted in his home country by the Muslim majority. Tragic!

A Bosnian Muslim family lives in our neighborhood. Sunday afternoon we took them a gift of a home-made pizza (my specialty, with non-pork pepperoni in this case), and visited with them for a while, to tell them that we cared about them, we hoped no one was being mean to them, and we wanted them to consider us as their friends in this time of crisis. In turn, they served us some of their wonderful Bosnian expresso coffee, and we had a good visit. It's a small gesture, but it's a start. Do you know any Muslims? What can you do at this time?

7. We should pray.

We should turn to the Lord in prayer, to draw strength from him. We should pray for those around us, and ask for God's help and mercy to them. As the Bible has instructed us, we should pray for our enemies. We should ask the Lord to guard our hearts against hatred, bigotry, or fear. We should pray for our fellow Americans who need Jesus, that this will be a time when many will see their need for him, will turn to him, and believe. We should pray for this unique day of opportunity for evangelism, and for Muslim evangelism, in America and around the world. We should pray for justice and victory, but also that the war will be merciful and short, that the suffering on both sides will not be any worse than it must be to bring evildoers to justice and to make our country, and the world, a safer place.

In our prayers, let's guard our hearts against selfishness or self-centeredness, which is not the way of Jesus. Let's not just pray for ourselves and our own safety and comfort. Let's not just pray for our own loved ones, or even just for our own country. Jesus is our model here, who prayed, "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing", even when he was being crucified. When we pray for the safety of America, let's also pray for the safety of other nations, many of whom have suffered much more from the violence of war than we have in recent decades. Remember, God loves all nations and peoples equally, and so should we. Let's retain that World Christian perspective. When we pray for the safety of our military people, let's pray also for the countries where they will fight, that the loss of life and destruction will be no greater than it must be. When we pray for our friends, let's also pray for our enemies.

That is not the natural response. But this essay is about the Christian response. Those are two different things. We have the Holy Spirit of God in us. Through him, we are able to respond in ways that are not natural, but supernatural. Let's pray for ourselves, for the Christians of America, that we will all respond to this in ways that bring glory to God, and that demonstrate his love and goodness.

Michael Jaffarian is a Missionary Researcher CBInternational

4805 Penick Road Richmond, Virginia 23228 U.S.A.

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