Shine (Holy Week - Day 4)

I've been woking on this book review and presentation that I'm doing for my Introduction to Islam class, and it's blowing my mind.  The book is a memoir by a man who grew up as a Jew and converted to Islam.  He wasn't satisfied with Judaism, so he became interested in the concepts behind Islam.  He thought that the rules and regulations that drove Islam were practical and would help him develop his faith in God.

He never really developed his own faith though.  He kept running into people, with different versions of Islam, and would try their versions on for a little while.  He eventually found one he liked.  It's called Sulafism.  In Sulafism, women are inferior to men, the Jews despised, and people who get out of Islam - if they live in an Islamic state - are killed.  Under the guise of submitting to the way of Allah, the man deepens his faith within the context of extremist Islam.  He works for a year inside of an Islamic charity that is eventually linked with Al Queida.  

For seven years, he journeys from experimenting with the faith to being completely manipulated into the "right" version of Islam.  He's not allowed to listen to music, shake hands or hug women, wear shorts that expose his ankles, or have any sort of credit that involves interest.  He's convinced, however, that everything he's doing is for the sake of Allah.  

After his year with the extremist group, he begins doubting.  There's something in his mind that keeps saying, Develop your own beliefs.  Reread the Qur'an.  Get some books from authors you trust.  Keep seeking the truth.  He's at the point of spiritual despair, and as he looks back over his life and where he went wrong, he walks into a United Methodist church.  The pastor is a woman and Communion is served to everyone, not to mention that grape juice is served.  It was forbidden in Sulafism to drink alcohol or to have a woman in an authoritative position.  

The man found this very compelling, especially since his last few years had been spent avoiding at all costs women and wine.  He calls an old friend and asks him about getting a Bible.  His friend sends him a religious care package, and as soon as he opens the package, he compares the narratives of Christ's death and resurrection.

Sitting in a sermon one day, he hears a message that God loves him just as he is.  He hears that the death of Christ provided forgiveness for his sins.  He hears that Christ conquered hell and death, and came back to life.  If Christ could conquer death, then I can too, he thought.  He converts to Christianity, and reaches out to Christian groups that minister to Muslims.  He also becomes a counterterrorism consultant to the F.B.I., and sees his old community of radical Islam crumble to the ground because of its links to al-Queda.  

What I didn't know going into this book was that the author would eventually convert to Christianity.  I had no idea.  As I was reading last night, I realized that I would essentially be telling a class of Islam about the story of Christ through this man's memoir.  

I feel intimated about it, but at the same time I feel excited.  I'm not the type that goes around proselytizing and preaching to the masses, but this is a unique opportunity.  I get to share the message of Christ, and how it differs from Islam.

What started as a hefty homework assignment is turning into an opportunity to do something I've never done before.  There is a light inside of me that is flickering, and as I read this story, the light became brighter and brighter.  I couldn't relate with any of the man's story, as I have never been a part of any other religion than Christianity.  But, as the story unfolded, I realized I had much in common with him. Doubts, fear, isolation, being afraid to share with my friends and family about my struggles with my faith, even jumping from one extreme to another inside of Christianity.  

As I read through the thoughts he was experiencing in his transition from Islam to Christianity, they were the same thoughts that I had experienced in my conversion from a rule-driven Christianity to a grace-driven Christianity.

Jesus tells us in today's passage out of John that the light is within us.  He says to believe in the light, so that we'll see our way through the darkness.  After all, if everything is dark how can we see where we're going?  He doesn't say that we have to pray a prayer or go get baptized.  He says to believe in something that is already within us.  The light.  He doesn't talk about a right lights and wrong lights, good lights and bad lights.  He talks about light and darkness.  In the book of Romans, we're told that "the Law of God is written on our hearts."  Jesus came to fulfill the law, to become the perfect upholding of the Law as well as the human inability to follow the Law.  He took on perfection and utter failure, and everything in between, so that we wouldn't have to keep checking over our shoulders to make sure we were doing it right.  

The Law of guilt was replaced with forgiveness and grace, written on each of our hearts. Jesus invites us to wake up to the light within, to believe, and to follow.  We all have the Law of light written on our hearts, but not all of us are awakened to it.  May we tap into the source of light as we go into the world today, what some of us would call the place of darkness, and live in the light to expose the path to freedom.