Worshipping with music on Tyre streets
Backsliding and Losing It All
Now came a more subtle enemy into Muhammad's camp—his personal ambition. Speaking slower and softer, he explained: " Because I came from a poor family, I always had an ambition to 'make it' in life . I forgot what is permanent in life and sacrificed it for 'the immediate. ' " At age 25 and now married with children, he owned four retail stores in Beshamoun and in close- by Beirut. He had accumulated $500, 000, then went bankrupt—a crime on Lebanon—and was imprisoned for four months. He left prison still "hard-headed" about ambition , "but God had His way…and I surrendered to it. "
In 2008 in Beirut, he was " stripped naked and had lost everything" . He went to his wife and said, "Honey, I'm quitting everything ." She was shocked, Mohammad remembers. He liquidated what was left of any assets and started evangelizing on the streets. Three months later his wife once again questioned his sanity when he announced the family was moving to Tyre, where nearly everyone was a Muslim. " But my wife was a Godly woman, and agreed to move. "
For four months , Muhammad and his wife and five children slept on a concrete floor of the building that would become their ministry headquarters. Muhammad was keen to have his children well-educated in a Christian school but was disheartened upon learning the total annual tuition would be $12,000. The family prayed. Within a few days the school principal asked Muhammad to send his wife to office, where he not only hired her for a "good" salary with benefits, but also enrolled the children tuition-free.
For fun, Muhammad plays basketball with friends on a court in Tyre . He also enjoys the family's pets: turtles, a parrot, a cat, and dogs ( a beagle , Belgium shepherd, and a Dachshund ) . "I've raised pets all my life so they came with me to the marriage. My pets were good schooling for my children; they taught them responsibility, cleanliness, love and compassion…At one time we had a puppy who died and all my children were crying and I could see they were learning to love. "
This missionary said he reads all kinds of books ( mainly in English) about politics. He has no time for television or movies, though he did enjoy seeing the movies "Ben Hur", " Quo Vadis ", and " Gone with the Wind. "
What do you want people to say about you after you die ? I asked. His reply: "I don't want people to say anything about me. " I pressed him , and after a deep sigh he said, "He served. "
The Awesome Variety of Refugees and Religion
Lebanon and its capital , Beirut—once known as the Switzerland of the Middle East—defies updated demographics because of frequent oceanic waves of refugees and the multiplicity of religious faiths the refugees bring with them into the country, Muhammad pointed out . In fact , no official census of Lebanon has been taken since 1932 . Muhammad cited Lebanon's likely population as an estimated 4.4 million people, and today the country is struggling to absorb a refugee population of 7o0,000 Palestinians and more than one million Syrians.
Writing for the "Internet Business Insider, Inc. " ( May 13, 2014 ) , Michael Kelley stated that the UN " is still registering one person [ refugee ] each minute... Nine million people out of a population of 27 million have been displaced by the war [ in Syria ], which has killed at least 150,000 people, and Lebanon has bore the brunt of the 2.5 million who fled the country. "
Kelley quoted United Nations high commissioner António Guterres : “ 'The influx of a million refugees would be massive in any country. For Lebanon, a small nation beset by internal difficulties, the impact is staggering . " This deluge of humanity , Kelley pointed out, " has overwhelmed Lebanon's schools and public services, strained its economy, and stoked the sectarian and political tensions that continue to fuel the war in Syria. "
These and other demographics vary from source to source.
[ " Lebanon is in the throes of a crushing economic crises described by the World Bank as one of the deepest depressions in modern history ,blamed on decades of political mismanagement and corruption ," reported Doreen Abi Raad. a correspondent in the June 15-18 , 2022 edition of the National Catholic Register . " Poverty is now a reality for nearly 80 % of the population ." ]
" The Syrian refugees come with just the clothes on their backs," Muhammad said. His refugee ministry center is part of the Emmanuel Baptist Church of Tyre , a city of 300,000; he himself claims no religious denomination but all churches in Lebanon, he said, must operate under a "legal umbrella" of a denomination. At his center, Muhammad and his volunteer aid workers give out food, clothing, eye glasses, medicines, and New Testaments . " We give these regardless of whether the refugees have accepted Jesus as Lord. " Last Easter , Muhammad's center boiled 5,000 eggs and gave to each refugee a loaf of bread and a New Testament.
At a nursery , Muslim children learn Biblical verses taught by South Korea youth volunteers who write the scripture on a blackboard. "I have found Korean [ Christian ] believers more zealous than others to reach out to [ evangelize ] Muslims ," Muhammad said. " They do this by being hospitable and socializing. "
A bookstore at the center called "Noah's Ark " provides free coffee and Internet service in a room usually filled with more than 285 refugees. " We also have a summer camp where 60 or so kids come for five days to enjoy Jesus," Muhammad said. "Last year I took it upon myself to put 50 children in a school. We try to do everything to show them the love of Jesus. Today the people know that Jesus loves me. "
Christianity , Muhammad will tell you, has a long and continuous history in Lebanon as well as a rich history of ethnic and religious diversity. He reminded me that the Bible tells of Jesus' visits to the southern territories where He performed many miracles. And , he added, Lebanon's cedar trees are mentioned in the Old Testament and today the cedar tree remains the country's national emblem . A Roman Catholic saint named Sharbel Makhlūf , whom Pope Paul VI called the "admirable flower of sanctity blooming on the stem of the ancient monastic traditions of the East ," tended sheep in the early 19th Century in Lebanon's wilderness. Though a civil war—it occurred after Lebanon gained independence as a mandate of France in 1943—in the 1970's and 1980's was said to have wrecked the country's economy and infrastructure, many tourists still remember Beirut's heyday as a charming and sophisticated city . ( I saw a bit of it briefly in the 1960's . )
Muhammad's church is less than a year old , and its Sunday attendance is about 20 people . The country has 17 sects with Christian population of 31 to 41 per cent (21% Maronite, 8% Greek Orthodox, 5% Melkite Catholic ) . Other sects , as reported by Statistics Lebanon, a Beirut-based research firm, are : 54% Muslim (27% Shia; 27% Sunni), 5.6% Druze ( they do not consider themselves Muslims ) , and 6.4% other Christian denominations like Armenian Orthodox, Syriac Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Syriac Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Chaldean, Assyrian, and Copt . Most Protestants (Presbyterian, Congregational, and Anglican ) reports Wikipedia, were converted by missionaries , primarily English and American, during the 19th and 20th Centuries . Roman Catholics, under the leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome, number about 1, 200, 000. Most are Maronites.
The Volatile Topic of Islam and Its Koran
Mohammad asked about lunch as he noticed that Hicham and Rick were waiting for us in the church narthex, and I grew anxious about the questions I had held until last . I believe I opened a safety pressure valve in this missionary with the question, " What is repellant to you about the Islamic faith?"
'There is no love . I do not see love in the Koran. I see a lot of selfishness , especially with marriage issues , like my mother's first husband being able to divorce her so easily . Also, a man can marry four women ? A religion that promotes hatred and non-tolerance of others, and a social life that is contradictory to human values ? "
He went on for 20 minutes.
" And when you confront them [ radical fundamentalists ] with this, they tell you that you read a wrong translation of their Koran. "
Muhammad had touched a nerve in me, too . Some Suras in the Koran I had found disturbing , notably Sura IX 5 (known as " the verse of the sword, " Ayat-as-seif ) : Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them… And Sura IX 29 : Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the religion of the truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low. And Sura VIII 39: fight then until …religion is all for Allah. (These citations are from what many Muslim scholars consider the most authoritative Koran text in English, The Glorious Qur'an , rendered by Mohammad M. Pickthall . ) Added to all this later would be this lead paragraph from the Wall Street Journal article (" Christians in Iraq Get Death Threats ", July 19-20 , 2014 ) dispatched from Baghdad: " The Islamic militants who seized large swaths of Iraq last month have threatened Christians with death if they don't convert to Islam, pay a tax or flee insurgent-held areas by Saturday. "
None of this was news to Muhammad , nor , I assume , was the following statement of Seth G.Jones, associate director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corp.: " The number of jihadist groups world-wide has grown by 58% , to 49 from 31; the number of jihadist fighters has doubled to a high estimate of 100,000 ; and the number of attacks by al Qaeda affiliates has increased to roughly 1,000 from 392. " Jones cautioned the U.S. not "to turn its attention elsewhere and scale back on counterterrorism efforts . " He added that "current trends suggest that the struggle against extremism is likely to be a generational one, much like the Cold War. " ( Soon after his return to Lebanon several weeks later , a jihadist group would be invading his country and taking over small city. )
Muhammad now waxed philosophical: " I'm not saying that the Western world is a Christian world, which is a fantasy, for if it were totally Christian , there wouldn't be any tolerance for any other religion. But the Western world is secular and this is why all people from all religions come here ; it's a safe haven. God allowed people to have the freedom of choice. "
Mohammad went after Middle East dictators like Assad, Mubarak, and Ghadafi , each whom he said didn't care about the people and "have used religion to usurp power and to stay in control . " He reminded me that several American politicians, powerful and otherwise, had used a similar strategy to win election. "All monarchs of the past in the Middle East, " Muhammad continued, "thought of themselves as Gods and made rules to control the people. "
I broke a journalist's rule and , for a moment, got emotionally involved in my interviewing. "That kind of manipulation and hypocrisy has been going on forever in most Arab countries !" I said . " Yet the people keep electing these tyrants . You'd think by now that the people, the ordinary citizens would put a good man on the ballot and get him elected ! "
Mohammad frowned . Then loud enough for Rick and Hicham to hear him, he exclaimed, " The people are afraid ! Fear is the key ! That's why they need Jesus to overcome their fear, and that's why I'm there. "
Some Tough Words for American Christians
Muhammad's passion for evangelism I had witnessed a few days earlier when he spoke at Hicham's church in Lombard. He had been invited as a guest of honor months ago but his visit had been delayed for a several weeks while his ministry was being investigated by the powerful Hezbollah party . The party , he told me, had once warned him not to stay in Tyre if he continued evangelizing. The implication was that Hezbollah had serious concerns that Muslims would start believing in the words of Jesus rather than the Koran.
Sitting in pews that night were an estimated 100 people, many of them Missouri Synod Lutherans, several former Muslims who had converted to the Christian faith, and a few curious visitors from Middle East countries. Muhammad had commandeered the microphone for more than an hour , speaking fervidly in English which the Rev. Hicham translated into Farsi, a Persian language which many Arabs understand. ( I attended despite my wife's concern about terrorist extremists who had once placed Hicham on their hit list for evangelizing a faith forbidden by Islamic teachings. )
Muhammad had reprimanded all Christian missionaries for "compromising" their faith by not fighting for it for fear of persecution . "There are Christians today in the Middle East who stand with dictators to protect themselves , " he had told his audience. Only two per cent of all the world's Christian missionaries go to the Middle East, he said. His voice pitched higher and louder , reminiscent of the fire and brimstone sermons of old time , American tent crusaders. " American Christians are not living up to their standards of being holy for a holy God…It's all for Jesus or nothing at all….There are many things that we hide in our life that keep us unholy…If your give God ninety-nine per cent of your life and you keep one per cent, you are unholy !" A small group of young women in front pews raised their arms with "halleluiahs."
After giving a power point presentation of refugee scenes in Lebanon, his voice raised even higher: " We don't need methods to reach Muslims. .. It's simple: You love them ! Give them a hug, take them to lunch, visit them in prison…the Gospel is so sweet and awesome because it's simple ! "
In closing—now gently— he had said: " The Middle East is where the blood is pumping. If we make a change there we will make a change throughout the Muslim world . I call on you to see the door that God has opened for you. Tell the people about Jesus…"
He then called a to the microphone a Syrian physician who said he had come to America with empty hands, having left behind home, his practice , and property. "This war there is like a knife in the heart of the church…I have surrendered my life to Jesus, " he said , choking.
Lunch, Final Reflections, and a Prayer
After the interview, the four of us drove to a café and took an inordinate amount of time filling our plates with a variety of oriental and Middle Eastern food spread upon six long buffet tables and two dessert bars . Hicham prayed: Majestic God in heaven…I appeal to You to set Muslims free…give them wisdom, intelligence and sharp insight to realize that it is pointless to build their belief system on fables and traditions of humans. Rescue them from the grip of a merciless enemy that is plotting their ruin and doom. ..
By dessert time, though it was obvious no one had any stomach for any more "serious" talking , I was still the "serious " journalist and felt obligated to ask Muhammad one more question . " Tell me, Muhammad , " I said, "what's your personal challenge in life ? "
" To live in purity, " he replied. " To not defile myself, to not let sin creep into my soul. I face that challenge daily. "
"I think we all face that challenge," Rick said.
We rose to leave . I think Rick and I would have liked to have come up with a Hitler or a Stalin to blame for much of the violence on earth today. " Dealing with evil that is woven into the fabric of the world's culture is tortuous ," I told my friend . When we were to meet the next time for coffee at McDonald's , he would proffer to me a line from Holy Scripture ( Ephesians 6:12 ) ; it identified , he believed , the real culprit, whether of war in the Middle East or a gangbanging in Chicago: For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Soon after day in McDonald's, Rick was to hand me a Wall Street Journal interview ( March 6-7, 2010—but timely ) of a former Palestinian who had converted to the Catholic faith while serving as a spy for Israel. Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of the founder and then leader of Hamas , stated his belief that terrorism can't be defeated without a new understanding of Islam. "The problem is not in Muslims, " he told the Journal's editorial board member Matthew Kaminski . " The problem is with their God. They need to be liberated from teir God. He is their biggest enemy. It has been 1,400 years they have been lied to. "
Walking in camaraderie to the cafe parking lot, I , for one, still wondered what was my role as an American and a Christian was in the scheme of all this . Maybe it was as simple as writing this article. Life had shaped Mohammad, Hicham, Rick and I into different people with vastly different likes and dislikes , drives, and personalities . Yet what we had in common was clear : a bonding relationship with a Jew born 21 centuries ago in the Middle East. It was a good start.
Driving home with Rick that day, I told him of my encounter with a Muslim taxi driver who had taken me home from O'Hare International Airport . For fifteen minutes this man from Pakistan had been explaining to me what he thought were the many similarities between Islam and Christianity. He had obviously s seen his share of violence and hatred and how it had been tolerated—if not encouraged— from father to children to grandchildren to great-grandchildren and on and on. In my driveway as he unloaded my luggage , I briefly thought of how unbridled hatred and lust for revenge can perpetuate themselves , making peace impossible in spite of the desperate desire for it —conscious or not—by all humans— weak or strong.
I handed my tip to the Muslim man and, looking at him with a smile, I politely said: " Many of we Christians actually do practice something which you Muslims don't… We forgive our enemies, sometimes even pray for them. " The Muslim opened his mouth as if stunned by such a preposterous thought. He stared at me for a few seconds , then got in his taxi and drove off. I hoped he would be deprived of a good night's sleep. It was too late to mention one of life's three fundamental temptations stated by a saint name Benedict , founder of Western Monasticism , that being anger and revenge.
Afterwards, I recalled one of my most memorable literary quotes; this one from a character in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov : “Without God all things are permitted.” A week later I felt more comfortable—though remaining vigilant—upon seeing the National Catholic Reporter headline (June 15, 2014 ) , " Religious Tolerance Surges in the Persian Gulf."
THE END
Mr. Schwarz is a retired newspaper editor and
former manager of leadership development
for Lions Clubs International.
You can email him at
rrschwarz777@gmail.com
© 2014,2022, 2024 Robert R. Schwarz
"exodustrekkers.blogspot.com"
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