Perspectives

Our assistant academic director, Zein, is a native Jordanian who studied at the Arava Institute in Israel. She was also raised in a Christian household and went to a private Christian high school though she herself is not practicing (familiar?). Her thoughts on Jordanian attitudes (particularly those of city-folk): Jordanian Christians have an easier time accepting Israel's right to exist, mainly because more Jordanian Palestinian Muslims had or have friends and family affected by the nakba or occupation than do Jordanian Palestinian Christians. I told her of the stock "support Israel bar none" line assumed in Tulsa's Christian circles growing up, attitudes with which Zein had no familiarity with in her secondary education. Religion is an excuse deployed by those seeking political sway, she said, adding that the multiplicity of perspectives between and within the contending monotheisms in Palestine testifies to the bunk of using faith as the dominant or rightful paradigm in approaching the conflict.

In the southern Badia we talked with Sheikh Khalid (pictured below) and several of his brothers about peace with Israel and differentiating between Israelis and Jews. The sheikh began with the "people of the book" defense (Jews and Christians, as forerunners to the Prophet's revelations, are respected and protected peoples in Muslim-controlled lands), and therefore it is also the duty of Muslims to respect these communities (here I got the expected "OSB and his terrorist cronies ain't no Muslim"). The differentiation, from their perspectives, is between Jewish/Israeli (since Israel is self-defined as a Jewish democracy) and Zionist, an ideology that they cannot accept (though it went undefined), though not for religious reasons. Peace is an important principle in Islam, with the sheikh citing a verse in the Qur'an that commands Muslims to only fight if attacked and to never be the transgressor. For them, however, true peace won't be realized until the land is returned to the Palestinian people. What was not clear was whether they were referring to the West Bank and Gaza or the whole of Israel. Seeing as how they recognized Israel and its right to exist, I'm almost positive (but again, this is memory + educated guesstimate) that it's the former. Potential research topic in the future: attitudes towards peace with Israel among Jordan's Bedu.

Unbeknownst to me, but knowst to others, the Tulsa Islamic Society hosted a discussion/debate around a focus question, "Can Christians and Muslims Be Friends?" back in January. You should watch this video of the debate between Dr. Jamal Badawi and Pastor Reza Safa. I remember when some suburban Christian Tulsa magazine (believe it was Community Spirit) devoted an entire issue to this question, the main article being Safa's resounding 'No.' I plan to weigh in heavily on this issue once I get back to the States (< one week), but I'll go ahead and offer a quick response.

Yes they can, because I have made Muslim friends. More to come, insha' Allah.