“We welcome them in Malta and they kill our people in Iraq. Muslims cannot be trusted.” This is what someone told me recently. Is this just the reaction of a very kind but quite a simple man, I asked myself. My fears that the feeling is widespread were confirmed when a respected professional told me exactly the same thing.

The use of ‘them’ and ‘our’ in the above statement is a typical of stereotypes. One bundles people together ignoring differences, nuances, varieties etc. In this case, on one side, ‘Muslims’ are placed as if they are all the same while on the other side Christians are considered to be carbon copies of each other. As if Christians have not murdered and butchered each other and many others as well over the centuries.

This quite naturally does not in any way excuse the barbarity and savagery that the fundamentalists are practising in Iraq. Those who follow this blog know that I have repeatedly condemned these abuses. Within the last month I dedicated three blogs to this subject.

The point of this piece is that the extremists of the Islamic state are not good Muslims. In similar fashion one could say that the IRA bombers were not good Catholics. Anyone tarring Catholics because of the IRA would be mistaken as anyone tarring Muslims because of ISIS, even though the barbarities of ISIS are worse than what was committed by the IRA.

On August 21 the Catholic news agency Zenit reported that Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, the highest religious authority in the country, has said the militant groups Islamic State and al Qaeda are "enemy number one of Islam" and not in any way part of the faith.

The mufti has condemned the Islamist groups before but according to Reuters the timing of his statement is significant given the gains by militants in Iraq.

"Extremist and militant ideas and terrorism which spread decay on Earth, destroying human civilization, are not in any way part of Islam, but are enemy number one of Islam, and Muslims are their first victims," he said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

Bishop Camillo Ballin, Vicar Apostolic of Northern Arabia (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia) said on Vatican radio that the King of Bahrain, Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, has said he is willing not only to help 200 Christian families forced from the homes in Mosul but also receive them in Bahrain.

King Hamad had told Pope Francis that he is donating 9,000 square metres of land for the construction of a Marian cathedral on his territory.

Bishop Ballin also said that “Muslim reaction is against ISIS. All Muslims are against them, especially the moderates. Even the fundamentalists have not referred to them positively and I have not found statements supporting ISIS in Bahrain or Kuwait or elsewhere.”

Some time ago BBC world service was giving extensive coverage to the fighting between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria. They interviewed a Catholic priest who gave shelter to hundreds of Muslims so that they could escape death at the hands of Catholic extremists.

The point I want to make is a very simple one. Extremism has to be fought everywhere. The same applies to intolerance. The lot of Christians in countries with a predominantly Muslim population varies greatly. The rise of fundamentalism is making it difficult for Christians in some countries to freely live their religion. This should be strongly condemned in all fora. But one cannot take a simplistic view of things. The complexity that exists has to be reflected in the arguments we make if we want to make real progress.

The Isis extremists have made advances in Iraq and Syria. But their biggest victory would be if their barbarities lead to enmity between Christians and Muslims. We cannot let the Iraqi conflict be described as a struggle between these two religions of the Book.

 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.