Worldview and Islam

Worldview and Islam [Excerpts]

In his excellent book, Ideals and Realities of Islam, Seyyed Hossein Nasr (prominent Islamic philosopher) outlines the basic “catechism” of Islam and some of the worldview components in it while comparing it with Christian beliefs.

The first time I attended a Muslim wedding was quite an eye-opener. The general layout for the wedding was more like a reception. People arrived and gathered around, talking and enjoying snacks. As my wife and I milled around with the guests, I begin to wonder when the wedding was going to take place. After a while, a friend asked me if I wanted to observe the wedding. I was a bit puzzled by the question but said yes. My wife was not invited. He then took me to the place where a group of men were gathered with the groom. He was talking with an official and the men signed a book. That was the wedding. After everyone had gathered again, the bride showed up with her retinue. The legal wedding had been conducted without her or any other female member of the family.

The worldview aspects of the Islamic wedding ceremony are symptomatic of the status of women in the religion and illustrate the contrast with the biblical worldview where the woman is highly regarded. In the late 19^th and early 20^th century, one of the famous evangelists among the Javanese was Kiai Sadrach. In Sri and Christ, Philip Van Akkeren records that Sadrach created a Christian marriage ceremony to replace the Islamic one (p.145). In effect, this helped change the believers’ worldview concerning marriage. In ways like this, these early leaders embedded an entirely new set of ideas and truth into the culture. In the beginning, Sadrach and others retained some of the Islamic “clothing” that was so familiar but they were continually moving away from Islamic practices that were based on non-biblical worldview. The interaction of both worldviews was constant throughout the formative years. Eventually, biblical theology and worldview became dominant in the church.

The clear differentiation of the gospel from their other belief systems has allowed Javanese to make a choice between worldviews. The gospel is not considered the completion or the apex of other systems. It stands alone as the revelation of God. It is a choice, not an echo. At certain periods of the church’s development, it depicted Jesus as the “Ratu Adil” (the Just King) who was to appear for the Javanese. At other times, Jesus was presented as the “Imam Mahdi” who completes the Muslim faith and delivers the people from spiritual bondage. Eventually, however, the dominant view of Jesus Christ became that of the Savior God who delivers from sin and demands total obedience from all people. The uncompromising message of moving away from Islamic theology and into biblical theology and worldview has produced good fruit in Java’s soil.

Today, there are cross-cultural church planters who are making catastrophic mistakes in accommodating Islamic theology and practices in their fledgling congregations. They are intentionally incorporating Islamic practices that they do not understand. Instead of allowing the converts to move away from Islam, they are encouraging them to stay within the socio-religious community and continue to participate in the practices, which are formational for Islamic theology and worldview. While it is hoped that these converts will continue to grow in Christian nurture and practice, it is difficult to conceive how this will happen as long as they are being directed back into Islam rather than out of it.

http://biblicalmissiology.org/2013/02/04/the-catechism-biblical-worldview-and-islam/