Islam: A Guide for Jews and Christians - Electric Scotland
Islam: A Guide for Jews and Christians - Electric Scotland
Islam: A Guide for Jews and Christians - Electric Scotland
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GOD’ S WAY t 159<br />
pels’, even though the exemplars in the two instances may be sending<br />
somewhat different messages by their personal conduct. And<br />
though both men had the same concern <strong>for</strong> ritual purity—the Jew<br />
Jesus arguably somewhat less than the more “Jewish” Muhammad—neither<br />
redrew the strict lines between the sacred <strong>and</strong> the<br />
profane that are found in the Torah. If the Torah, looked on this<br />
life as a dangerous place, it was not by reason of its attractions but<br />
because its clustered yet clearly marked l<strong>and</strong> mines of impurity<br />
threatened (apparently) both God <strong>and</strong> humans. The Jew, properly<br />
cautious of where the dangers lay, was free to enjoy the rest of the<br />
terrestrial l<strong>and</strong>scape. The Christian <strong>and</strong> the Muslim were under a<br />
different kind of restraint, as we shall see.<br />
Note: Though perhaps some small case might be made <strong>for</strong> an inclination<br />
toward the good things of the table (Luke 7:34), the Jesus of the<br />
Gospels appears to be not so much denying himself as uninterested in<br />
the pleasures <strong>and</strong> pursuits of the world. He was more focused on the<br />
faith in God that made such a lack of interest <strong>and</strong> concern possible<br />
than on the dangers of indulging in them. A craftsman in Nazareth,<br />
Jesus gave up his profession to become an itinerant preacher, or perhaps<br />
even something of a scholar, in his native Galilee, supported, it<br />
appears, by friends <strong>and</strong> followers, many of them women (Luke 8:3).<br />
He was unmarried, we assume <strong>and</strong> the Christian tradition dogmatically<br />
asserts, although at least one of his followers, Peter, is so casually<br />
revealed to have had a wife (Mark 1:30) that we must wonder<br />
about all of them. Celibacy, at any rate, does not appear to have been<br />
an issue with Jesus. He associated easily with women, some of whom<br />
were devoted followers—Mary <strong>and</strong> Martha in Bethany (John 11:1–<br />
2) <strong>and</strong> Mary of Magdala (Luke 8:2), <strong>for</strong> example—<strong>and</strong> it was women<br />
who first bore witness to his resurrection, or at least to the empty<br />
tomb (Mark 16:1; Matt. 28:9; John 20:11 ff.).<br />
Although the distinction between this world <strong>and</strong> the next, each<br />
with its own set of values, is clear, it is not fully fleshed out. The<br />
sins of this world seem to be chiefly of the spirit: lack of trust in<br />
God, lack of generosity toward the poor <strong>and</strong> needy. Intoxicating