Shukry Cattan and Victor NarroThe recent hateful rhetoric from GOP presidential candidates and other political leaders and radio/TV talk show personalities connecting the Muslim community in the U.S. to “Islamic extremism” and “Islamic terrorism” point to our inability in this country to cope with a world that is fractured by racial differences, conflicts among different ethnic groups and nationalities, different lifestyles, orientations and philosophies of life, and different cultures and religions. Our inability to deal with these differences except by means of hostility and violence is destroying families, cultures, societies, and our essence of humanity.
The “Islamophobic” attack on the Muslim community today has been the norm since the violent post-9/11 backlash against Muslims throughout the U.S. Within a week of the terrorist attacks, Arabs, Muslims and South Asians registered more than 1,000 incidents of criminal discrimination, including murder, assault, vandalism and verbal harassment. According to crime statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), anti-Muslim hate crimes in the U.S. increased by 1,600 percent between 2000 and 2001. Islamophobic violence is not a thing of the past, and unfortunately, we don’t have to look far to find a tragic example. Abdisamad Sheikh-Hussein, a Somali Muslim teen, was hit by an SUV and killed in Kansas City, Missouri. Although the driver’s hatred of Muslims created a horrible tragedy for Abdisamad’s family, it also moved the multi-faith community to speak out against violence towards Muslims.
One of the most disturbing elements of Islamophobia is the ignorance and blind hatred it produces in people. The Sikh community has lost many individuals to acts of violence, including the 2012 attack on a temple in Wisconsin that left 6 people dead. Even though Sikhs are not Muslim, they have been targeted based on their appearance and the traditional garments they wear.
More recently, extreme right wing groups in Texas have been a group of armed anti-Muslim protesters in Texas posted the addresses of dozens of local Muslims and “Muslim sympathizer(s)” to Facebook. In fact, we are witnessing a more toxic anti-Muslim environment or atmosphere than we have seen since 9/11. National immigrant rights organization South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) captured this troubling dynamic in their September 2014 Under Suspicions, Under Attack, which found a 40% increase in xenophobic political rhetoric from a previous report in 2010. They found that 90% of these comments were motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment.
Within this anti-Muslim climate, Pope Francis recently told worshippers in a mosque in the Central African Republic that “Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters.” He was speaking to Muslims who had sought shelter in the capital Bangui after nearly three years of violence between Christians and Muslims. The mosque visit was seen as perhaps the most difficult part of his African tour. His message of reconciliation appeared to have an immediate impact, as a reporter from the AFP news agency spotted a group of Muslim rebels turn up at the Mass wearing t-shirts with the Pope’s image on them.
Pope Francis’ statement is a direct connection with a historic, but little known, meeting between a Muslim leader and a Christian leader that took place eight hundred years ago, and one that brings a strong voice in the struggle for racial harmony and reconciliation today. It is the story of St. Francis of Assisi and Sultan of Egypt, Malik al-Kamil (Sultan al-Kamil) meeting and embracing to say that there was a better way than resentment, suspicion and warfare. They opened a door to respect, trust and peace. This important engagement speaks a strong truth to power today and we must revitalize its significance today and let it guide us.
To better understand the significance of this historic meeting and why it speaks truth to power today, we must begin with the historical context under which it took place. We must look at both men’s lives – at St. Francis’s attitudes to war and peace, which were shaped by his own traumatic experience as a soldier, and at Sultan al-Kamil’s extensive dealings with Christians in Egypt, where the Copts regarded him as the most tolerant of Egypt’s sultans. They were both men seeking peace and reconciliation.
St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) was a peace-maker and social justice activist who lived a life of evangelical poverty, humility and peacemaking during the most violent years of the Middle Ages. This humble person transformed his world and renewed the Catholic Church by simple but revolutionary acts of practicing his faith as it had never been practiced before. St. Francis was a man of peace who was known for building bridges of communication, understanding, and cooperation between warring people, groups, and nations. St. Francis lived in the political turmoil of the 13th Century “Holy Roman Empire,” locked in a culture of war, fought both within the empire as city fought city and without, as the empire united in a series of Crusades against Muslims, Jews and others labeled as “heretics.” Christians in his time viewed The Crusades as holy; a complete reversal of the first 300 years of Christianity when disciples of Jesus would not participate in any killing. Having been a soldier involved in bloody conflicts during his young years before his conversion to a peace activist and follower of the Gospel, St. Francis was no stranger to the cruelties of men at war.
The Western portrait of Sultan al-Kamil was skewed by Crusader propaganda and lack of basic knowledge by Christian writers of Muslim society and faith. In Egypt, he was known for his tolerance toward the Christian minority. He was a cultured man who loved learned conversations with scholars in his court. He preferred to negotiate with enemies rather than engage them in combat. He was the fourth Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt to rule for forty years as viceroy and then sultan. He was a statesman and a leader who used teachings from his faith on how to engage in warfare and understood the value of human life. There is a verse in the Qur’an that explains how a person killed unjustly is as if whole people were killed unjustly, but a life saved is as if all of mankind is saved. Sultan al-Kamil was rooted in this spiritual belief of peace and compassion, eventually leading him to broker a peace with the Crusaders by ceding Jerusalem to the Christians in an attempt to save the lives of the people in the city.
St. Francis began his prophetic resistance to the violence of the Crusades by meeting first with his own religious leaders, begging Cardinal Pelagius, the Christian commander, to stop the fighting. Cardinal Pelagius refused. St. Francis embarked on dangerous journeys three times, and strong weather storms prevented him from successfully crossing the sea to get to Egypt. His goal was to visit Sultan al-Kamil and deliver for him his message of peace. St. Francis did not buy the Pope’s call to war, but he went instead to embrace the Muslims. His moment finally arrived during the summer of 1219 in the midst of a Crusade that was killing thousands of people in the sweltering heat on the banks of the Nile River. At that time, the Muslims still controlled Jerusalem, but to reach there, the crusaders decided to first capture the fortress of Damietta in Egypt and gain control of the Nile. St. Francis was warned by the leaders of the Christian army not to cross the bloody battlefield between the two armies to seek out the Sultan. He knew full well the potential torture and mutilation that could fall on him if he were suspected of being a spy. He was fed all the rhetoric demonizing the Sultan as a monster tyrant who would most likely torture and kill him.
St. Francis and his traveling companion, Friar Illuminato, crossed the treacherous battlefield and set foot on the outskirts of the Muslim camp. The Muslim soldiers seized them and upon their cries of “Sultan! Sultan!” took these two barefoot monks dressed in worn out patched brown tunics to appear before Sultan al-Kamil. What happened next is the story of how St. Francis tried, in his own way, to stop the vicious cycle of violence inflicted on many lives by the Crusades. No one actually knows what was said since St. Francis did not speak Arabic and Sultan al-Kamil didn’t speak whichever French-Italian dialect St. Francis used. Most historians do not explain how they were able to bridge the language gap, but Sultan al-Kamil had allowed Western Catholic priests into his court to teach Western languages, so it is possible that he was able to understand St. Francis. Also, translators would have been available for such an important encounter. Most importantly, it was their way of being together, the attitude of mutual respect and understanding, as well as their belief in one God, prayer, charity, and peace that certainly appealed to both men. Sultan al-Kamil did have his circle of Sufi holy men with him to help him with the translation.
“May the Lord give you peace,” was St. Francis’ greeting, which surprised the Sultan with his words. Giving words of peace was unusual for Christians during the Middle Ages, especially during the time of war and bloodshed with the Crusades. When St. Francis made it clear, he was not there on behalf of the Pope’s army, but as an ambassador of his God, this intrigued the Sultan even more. St. Francis even resembled the severely dressed Sufi holy men the Sultan kept in his circle to provide him with mystical insights into Islam.
When Sultan al-Kamil saw St. Francis’ enthusiasm and courage, he listened to him willingly and pressed him to stay with him. St. Francis’ desire to share his spirituality and message of peace with the Sultan, without insulting Islam or refuting Mohammed, was unique and disarming. By starting with those things that they held in common, such as belief in the one true God, the centrality of God’s will in our lives, charity for the poor, and the desire for peace, their dialogue turned into an embrace of each other as human beings driven by their religious belief for a higher good. They accepted this common truth about each other, that they believed in a supreme being that was all good and that compassion and understanding lied at the core of their spirituality. According to many accounts, they both shared a meal together. The image of St. Francis peacefully breaking bread at a banquet with Sultan al-Kamil indicates the appreciation that they had for each other and the respect for their differences.
St. Francis was changed by the experience and came away deeply impressed with Islamic spirituality. Upon his return to Italy, he encouraged his brothers and sisters of his order to live peacefully among Muslims, even as the Fifth Crusade was entering into its bloody and fruitless conclusion. St. Francis’ yearning for peace with Islam is especially apparent in his suggestion that his brothers and sisters live quietly among Muslims and “be subject” to them rather than engage in disputes, a provision that appears in an early version of the code of conduct for his order. He wrote it shortly after returning in 1220 from his trip to Egypt – convincing evidence that the encounter with Sultan al-Kamil affected him deeply.
When St. Francis was ready to leave and return to Italy, Sultan al-Kamil showered him with many gifts and treasures. Because he had no interest in worldly wealth, St. Francis refused them all, except one special gift: an ivory horn used by the muezzin to call the faithful to prayer. St. Francis used it to call people for prayer or for preaching. St. Francis was especially struck by the Muslim’s five times daily prayer, and his letters urged Christians to adopt a similar practice: To make prayer a part of everyday life, in effect to remember God in everything you do.
When St. Francis of Assisi died in 1226, the Catholic Church moved quickly to institutionalize his movement and revised many of his radical teachings and rules to conform more to the doctrinal influences of the powerful medieval Popes. The early biographies of St. Francis immediately after his death either downplayed or failed to mention his meeting with the Sultan al-Kamil. For hundreds of years, there was a cover up of the truth of St. Francis’ relationship to Islam and to the Crusades. St. Francis was opposed to the Fifth Crusade. He saw himself on a mission to proclaim peace and to exchange with the Sultan his spirituality rooted in the teachings of the Gospel in exchange for learning more about the Islamic faith.
St. Francis and Sultan al-Kamil can teach us today about compassion and understanding in how we accept one another and embrace our differences. They engaged in active listening with their hearts, which enabled them to speak through compassion or loving speech, and not anger, frustration or fear. Really listening, and hearing without judgment, is a gift that we can give to each other to enhance all of our lives. St. Francis and Sultan al-Kamil teach us that when we are really hear, and the other understands our meaning and emotions, we feel valued and respected. There is a no more precious gift, to give or receive, than to listen to the words of another. This process of active listening and loving speech will enable us to be mindful of and respect the dignity within each one of us.
If the greatest Christian Saint since the time of the Apostles had opposed the Crusade and peacefully approached Muslims at a time when they were supposed to be mortal enemies, that action can inspire and instruct us today. It takes true courage to confront people we believe to be our enemy with an open mind and with an open hand of friendship. We might find that there are more people like Sultan al-Kamil who are waiting to embrace us with that same courage. Even a great Sultan of Egypt, was capable of the same tolerance and love that St. Francis had. Both St. Francis and Sultan al-Kamil stepped out of the dominant institutional rhetoric and narrative of their respective faiths – St. Francis went against the Papacy and the Crusades, and Sultan al-Kamil went against the more anti-Christian conservative forces of other Muslim leaders in his court.
This episode in history, and many others like it, call out to be recovered and provide a glimmer of hope today. We must not forget that our history is filled with these acts of kindness, love and understanding between groups who have fought and opposed each other. The blindness and ignorance that hate generates leads us to believe a human narrative that is doomed to destroy itself. If that were the case, then why did Coptic Christians protect Muslims as they prayed during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution? Why did Muslims shield Christians on a bus attacked by Al-Shabaab in Kenya?
A good example is the recent case of Associate Professor of Political Science Dr. Larycia Hawkins of Wheaton College, an evangelical Christian school in the suburbs of Chicago. Last month, the college administration suspended Dr. Hawkins because of her vow to wear a hijab to work during Advent to stand in religious solidarity with Muslims. Administration officials placed her on administrative leave because of “significant questions regarding the theological implications of statements” she made about Islam and Christianity. As the case of Dr. Hawkins demonstrates, having open conversations today about building bridges through compassion and understanding involves taking risks with consequences, much in the way of St. Francis and Sultan al-Kamil deciding to have a dialogue eight hundred years ago.
For social change lawyers, policy activists, and organizers the story of St. Francis and Sultan al-Kamil teaches us that understanding and compassion are ways towards healing and building bridges of understanding. From time to time, we may be called upon to take courageous steps and counter the narrative placed on us by the institutional social justice framework in order to achieve true justice.
It is the simple truth that the story of St. Francis and Sultan al-Kamil lives in us all today. Muslims and Christians continue to share a desire to connect and make peace. Groups like the Christian-Muslim Consultative Group, Abrahamic Faiths Peacemaking Initiative and Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace exist today to build bridges between religious communities and to find the common threads between their faiths. The journey towards peace and understanding is open to all, sometimes it takes one humble person in tattered robes and bare feet to make that trip and change the world.
References:
Spoto, Donald. Reluctant Saint: The Life of St. Francis of Assisi. Penguin Books. (2002).
Moses, Paul. The Saint and the Sultan: The Crusades, Islam, and Francis of Assisi’s Mission of Peace. Double Day. (2009).
Vauchez, André. Francis of Assisi: The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval Saint. Yale University Press. (2012).
GREAT ARTICLE! thanks for letting us discover the possibilities inherent in our seemingly divergent faith traditions. We need these kinds of examples to emulate. These attitudes are the opposite of “Manifest Destiny” or the war making foreign policy of the U.S., and also the opposite of exclusionary ideologies like Zionism.