Why is Justice Foundational to Christianity, Islam & Judaism - Shaykh Dr

Why is Justice Foundational to Christianity, Islam & Judaism

Interfaith Dialogue - Dr. Yasir Qadhi, Rev. Steve Montgomery, Rabbi Micah

Opening Welcome and Introduction

Good evening. In Hebrew, erav tov. In Arabic, (مَسَاء الْخَيْر - masa' al-khayr).

We know the guttural in Hebrew. So assalamu alaikum. On behalf of our president, Elkin Shite, and every member of Temple Israel, welcome.

Shalom, salam. I want to begin by sharing something I don't take for granted, and I hope you don't either. Whenever this Jew has a question about Muslims, Islam, or Presbyterians, I don't have to Google.

I don't have to watch TV. I don't have to listen to a commentator or leave Memphis, because two of the most knowledgeable individuals about Islam and Presbyterianism anywhere in the country or the world are on the stage with me right now. However, that's not why I feel so lucky, fortunate, and truly blessed.

Because these two, whose intellectual depth and wisdom make Dr. Yasir Qadhi a world-renowned Islamic scholar and Steve Montgomery part of a legendary chain of Presbyterian ministers, they're dear friends.

It's not just that we speak in the same places, on the same programs like tonight. We eat meals together, and we sign our private emails even when we disagree as brothers.

The Importance of Interfaith Understanding

So let me tell you what's on my heart and mind and why this evening is so important before the three of us teach how central and foundational justice is to the religions we practice. The reason I'm heartened by this crowd, as more chairs are being brought in, is because Christians, Muslims, and Jews in recent times have spent far too much time reading about each other or talking about each other rather than actually knowing one another. It's much easier for a Jew to be a stick figure to a Muslim or for a Muslim to be a stick figure to a Jew or for both Jews and Muslims to be stick figures to a Christian when you don't mix much with people different than yourself.

So here's the key takeaway of this opening part. Once you get to know a person of another faith who is just as honorable as you, even more decent and more honorable than people in your own faith, when that happens, it's happened to me, you're never the same again. Because you're no longer talking about Muslims or Christians or Jews, you're talking about my friends.

Interactive Engagement

For the next few minutes, I'm going to ask you to do something. I'm going to ask you to please get up if you're able. By the way, we'll be taking time for prayer for our friends in the Muslim communities so you don't have to worry.

I know between 7:17 and 8:27, we're going to get our prayers in. But for the next few minutes, please get up if you're able and find at least one practitioner of the faiths you are not. Now, if you can't move, someone will come to you.

And I want you to do more than introduce yourself. Let me be clear. Please find a Muslim and Christian if you're a Jew. Find a Jew and Christian if you're a Muslim. Find a Jew and a Muslim if you're a Christian. And when you encounter that person of another faith, after introducing yourself, please answer just one question, each of you you're facing.

Here's the question. Facing the person of the other faith, what is it that you admire most about the other person's religion as an outsider? As an outsider to the other's faith, what is it that you admire most? You have five minutes to meet two others and exchange your answer. Go.

Reflections on Faith Traditions

That's the whole program. Good night. Just kidding. Please find your seat. Otherwise, we are going to end on time and we are going to pray. So please, thank you for beginning the introduction.

And hopefully, you met someone you didn't know of another faith. If nothing else, that happened tonight. As everybody finds their seats, one of the many things I admire so much about Christians is the way some Christians can be totally in the moment when they pray.

You ever notice that? You probably don't if you're Christian. I was at a church way out where, I'm not making this up, it was a mechanic named Bubba. He only had a high school education and he was asked by the pastor of this church I won't mention to lead a prayer.

And this man who barely spoke in complete sentences when I met him, he opened his mouth and he sounded like Moses, Jesus, or Mohammed in offering the most beautiful, spontaneous prayer in the moment. Out of his mouth came such gratitude, sincerity, and genuine love. And when it comes to Muslims, I could speak about some of the Memphis Muslim families I'm looking at I have grown to admire and love, whether it's tonight's speaker, Dr. Yasir Qadhi, or having dinner down the block from here at the home of the Kandekar family, or longtime friendships and community work with Dr. Bashar Saleh and Nabil Biakli, so many others.

Understanding the Prophet's Story

But in studying Islam with Muslims who actually know Islam versus outsiders who do not, I'm fascinated by their prophet story, not by what some people do in Jesus's name, or Mohammed's name, or Moses's name. But I learned, and I didn't tell my friend Yasir this, I learned from another imam how Mohammed's father died before he's ever born. His mother died before he was six years old.

He's handed over to a foster mom who's poor. And I guess it's a Muslim midrash, or teaching that her breasts were not full enough even to feed him. So he grows up essentially an orphan. And only at the age of 40 does he start to get this revelation to stand up against the enslavement of people. The people who first came to this new faith, this daughter religion of Judaism, were people who were enslaved, children, women, some wealthy business folks who had made money their god. But what I've learned is that the earliest companions of Mohammed were people who needed justice, just as I've learned from my brother Steve Montgomery that the message of Jesus is a foundational message of social justice.

Structure of the Evening

But that's me as an outsider. You're going to hear from them. I've asked Dr. Qadhi and Dr. Montgomery to offer 10 minute talks on how justice undergirds the teachings of Islam and Christianity.

Following our talks, we will take a reverent break. Let me ask, no Jewish folks can answer. Just Muslims and Christians. How many times a day do Jews traditionally pray? Very good, three. OK, now no Muslims can answer. How many times a day do Muslims traditionally pray? Very correct.

So during our break, after each of us give our talks, the carpeted area in the back is where our Muslim brothers and sisters can fulfill their fourth of five prayers of the day. And then following that brief break, we'll open it up to questions. Depending on the time, we'll react to each other. We'll end by 8:30-ish. And don't worry, if you have other questions, the three of us will stay after.

Christian Perspective on Justice

Rev. Steve Montgomery - Presbyterian Minister

Ladies and gentlemen, Steve and Yasser. Oh, wow, where else, where else but in Memphis, Tennessee, can this group like this of Muslims and Christians and Jews get together? Where else in the entire nation is another temple Israel with the kind of leadership that you've had from Rabbi Wax, Herod Antigone, but also especially my good friend and brother, Rabbi Micah? Don't take my word for it. Read Newsweek and see he's one of the leading rabbis in the country.

Where else can we get together with Yasser Qadhi? Don't take my word for it that he's a leading scholar. Look at the cover of the New York Times magazine several years ago. And where else can there be a Presbyterian ministry who looks like a rabbi? It's very important for me to begin.

Can everybody hear me back there? It's very important for me to begin with some of what Micah might say, because it is vital for us as Christians to realize that the Hebrew Bible that we call the Old Testament is fully 2/3 of our scriptures. And what he will say, I think, about this Jewish perspective is also 100% true to our faith perspective as Christians as well. And it is my contention that justice is not just an issue that we deal with.

It's my contention that justice is integral to the gospel of Jesus Christ and to our faith.

Challenging the False Dichotomy

Now, I say that for several reasons. First of all, many of us Christians were raised with the idea that the God of the Old Testament is a God who is an angry God, a God bent on vengeance, ready to smite us. And then all of a sudden, just like that, God became gentle and compassionate and loving when Jesus came to earth. And we see pictures in our churches sometimes of Jesus with a sheep around his shoulder, of Jesus talking with the children. Now, just last week, I had someone in my office tell me they like the God of the New Testament, not the Old Testament.

Now, there are too many problems with that for me to get into all of them. However, let me share just a few and make it clear that the God that we worship is the one eternal God. And so the God I read about in the Hebrew Bible is a God who has a passion for justice.

And that's true for us Christians as well. That passion, that yearning for justice, is found on nearly every page in the Hebrew scriptures, from the pages of the Levitical and Deuteronomic laws in which justice for the poor, the elderly, the widowed, the sojourner were written into their legal codes. They institutionalized justice.

Now, if I'm wrong, the good rabbi will correct me, OK? It's also where the prophets declared, in no uncertain terms, let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5:24) And then there's the Psalms. Yes, some of the Psalms provide rich inspiration and wisdom to our search for inner peace and spiritual health.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. (Psalm 23:1) But we tend to neglect, as Christians, the cutting edge of the Psalms. Walter Brueggemann says, the central theme of the largest book in the Bible is that of a God with a passion for a just creation.

Jesus and the Hebrew Worldview

Now, why is all this important to Christians? Because this is the worldview from which Jesus emerged. When we forget that, the results are disastrous, even deadly. You see, those who divorce Jesus from the scriptures that nurtured him have a tendency to spiritualize Jesus.

Jesus is not concerned with things of this earth. They're concerned with things eternal, that is, a personal and spiritual concept of salvation. And there's some of that in John's gospel and elsewhere.

But eternal life for Christians takes place on both sides of the grave. In his opening sermon in Luke, Jesus quoted Isaiah. He has chosen me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to announce the acceptable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:18-19)

He is there proclaiming a kingdom of justice and liberation to be established in favor of the poor and the marginalized of history. That was his first sermon.

The Dangers of Spiritualizing Jesus

Now, what happens when we spiritualize Jesus? Two examples.

In the antebellum South, theologians and preachers, many, unfortunately, Presbyterians, develop what is called the spirituality of the church, which meant that the church should only concern itself with spiritual issues and not get involved in economic, social, or heaven forbid, political issues. And so the church had nothing to say about slavery, which was an economic, a social, and a political issue. Unfortunately, many in the Christian faith still adhere to that.

Don't bring politics into the pulpit. I come to be spiritually nourished. And the results, like I say, are devastating, even deadly.

Second example. In Germany in the 1930s, many Christian clergy followed that same doctrine. Bishop Muller, who was appointed bishop of the Lutheran Church by the Nazis, told his flock that Christians should be concerned with the kingdom of God, that is, spiritual things like getting to heaven, and leave things of this earth to the experts.

And so once again, the church had nothing to say as Jews were shipped off to Auschwitz and Birkenau and Treblinka, devastating and deadly.

Jesus's Parables of Justice

So let's take a brief look at Jesus, what he said, and what he did. Jesus told stories, of course. They're called parables. There are two I wanna highlight. One is the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Let me ask Jews and Christians, when I talk about that, do you at least know what I'm talking about? Most of you know the Good Samaritan. We have hospitals named after the Good Samaritan. The basics.

The question was posed to Jesus, and who is my neighbor? At the center of this parable is a man who's been the victim of a violent attack, robbed and leaving him half dead by the side of the road. Two religious leaders, a priest and a Levite, see him, but pass by on the other side of the road. Now, I got this from Amy Jill Levine, the Jewish professor of New Testament at Vanderbilt.

Try to put that together, okay? Jesus has set up his listeners to be prepared for a third category, priest, Levite, and Israelite. If I say Larry Moe, you will say Curly. However, I heard that show, okay.

To go from priest to Levite to Samaritan is like going from Larry to Moe to Osama bin Laden. They were the enemy back then. And Jesus' outrageous decision to lift up a despised Samaritan infidel as the moral hero leaves no doubt that the love of neighbor that Jesus has in mind is one that reaches out to people of foreign nations and foreign religions.

You think that has justice implications for the travel ban and the wall? The guide, I am convinced, to a deeper peace, a deeper sense of justice, and a deeper security is found in that kind of neighbor love that reaches across dividing lines, that provides help for the refugee and victim of violence, that binds up the wounds of the suffering and works to build an encompassing community of compassion and mutual help.

The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats

Now, there's a second parable. There's a final parable Jesus told in Matthew's gospel. It's called the Last Judgment or the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. Long story short, in the final judgment, those who help the least of these, our brothers and sisters, are those who have a place of honor at the right hand of God in the coming kingdom. They are the sheep.

Now, those who do not feed the hungry, who do not provide drink for the thirsty, who do not welcome the stranger, who do not provide clothes for the naked, who do not take care of the sick or visit the imprisoned, they are the goats, and they will be at the left hand of God. Now, I have to admit, parenthetically, I've never understood what Jesus had against left-handed people and goats. I'm left-handed, we raised goats as a kid, but that's a topic for another day, okay?

But the point here is clear, and I think here's the clincher. Those who help the suffering in all these different ways, for Christians are ministering to Jesus himself, just as you did it to the least of these, my brothers, sisters, you did it unto me. (Matthew 25:40) Now, it doesn't take any imagination at all to see the justice implications for the Christian faith.

Contemporary Applications

It's more poignant today because this parable was addressed not simply to individuals, but to the nations. Take a look. I'm starting politics now, okay? Take a look at the proposed budget that's before Congress right now.

Hungry and you gave me food? Look at the cuts to the WIC program and possibly even Meals on Wheels. Stranger and you welcome me? Did you see that colleges and universities have a 40% decrease in international applications? Sick and you took care of me? Not if you're a poor woman needing medical care from Planned Parenthood. In prison and you visited me, more prisons now are being privatized where the bottom line isn't a word, profit.

Jesus's Actions and Identity

Jesus said more about justice, but we also have to look at what he did. While he walked the earth, Jesus delivered people from paralysis, mental illness, leprosy, deformity, muteness, woundedness, blindness, and more. Without demanding any kind of religious litmus test.

But again and again, in word and deed, he returned to the plight of the poor whose poverty in true prophetic fashion he considered no historical accident, but the fruit of social injustice. He continually crossed over virtually every boundary that the legal and political and religious leaders had established. He lived with the poor and shocked respectable people by eating with social outcasts.

He went through Samaria and talked with a woman at the well and outcasts, outcasts, in the longest recorded conversation Jesus ever had. He acted and spoke in a manner that caused him to be experienced as a serious threat to the established order. That's what he did.

Well, finally, let's look at who he was, what he said, what he did, who he was. The route to discovering who Jesus really is must resemble that of his first friends and followers. When we allow that, we affirm as Christians that God has not only approached, but shared their lives to the full.

They are hungry, so is he. They are poor, so is he. Tortured, so is he. Killed, so is he. They are empowered to live lives of justice and peace, so is he. And as Christians, so are we.

Islamic Perspective on Justice

Dr. Yasir Qadhi - Islamic Scholar

I can't help with a lecture like that. Well, I'll try. So if Christians are able to say that they're able to claim the Old Testament as theirs, Muslims have the added advantage of claiming Abraham and Moses and Jesus and Muhammad as all theirs.

The Prophetic Mission

And as followers of those prophets, it is undeniable that one of the main missions of a prophet's life, one of the main articles of being a prophet is, we learned this from all of the prophets, is that those who have privilege, those who experience justice, must stand up and fight on behalf of those who don't. This is the prophetic way. Abraham and Moses and Jesus and Solomon and David and Muhammad, every one of them, there are plenty of stories in their lives and their life traditions that symbolize what it means to be a prophet.

And then for us in this room, a follower of those prophets.

Quranic Verses on Justice

In the Quran, we have so many verses about justice. In chapter four, verse 135, God addresses the faithful, O ye who have faith. In other words, if you have faith, follow this commandment. O ye who have faith, ensure that you all stand up for justice as witnesses to God, even if that means that you testify against yourselves or your parents or your relatives. (Quran 4:135)

"O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives."

In the next chapter, a very similar verse, O you who have faith, ensure that you stand up for the sake of God as witnesses to the truth and justice and make sure that your animosity against a group of people does not cause you to swerve away from justice. Be just, for that is the essence of piety, end quote. (Quran 5:8)

"O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm for Allah, witnesses in justice, and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what you do."

So in the first verse that I quoted you, we are told that the Quran says to stand up for justice, stand up for justice as witnesses to God. In the second verse, the two nouns are reversed, to stand up for God as witnesses to justice.

Justice and belief in God go hand in hand. You cannot stand up for God without witnessing truth to justice. And you cannot stand up for justice without witnessing for truth to God.

Standing Up for Justice Even Against Enemies

And we are told explicitly that at times, standing up for justice means you need to point out your own mistakes or even the mistakes of loved ones, which is even more difficult than pointing out your own mistakes. We are told explicitly in the Quran that especially when it comes to those whom you don't like, your enemies, and they might legitimately be your enemies, either doing things that they shouldn't do, they're harming, they're persecuting, make sure when you respond to them, your animosity does not cause you to, and I quote, swerve away from justice. Be just, even with your enemies, that is the essence of piety.

The Purpose of Divine Revelation

The pursuit of justice is so highly regarded in the Islamic tradition that the Quran tells us in a very explicit passage that one of the main reasons that God has sent prophets to earth, one of the main reasons that God has revealed divine books is in order that justice might be established.

The 99 Names of God

Justice and Linguistic Verification

And in our faith tradition, every one of you should know, and if you don't, then you'll learn it here right now, that Muslims believe that God has 99 perfect, beautiful, majestic names. To God belongs all perfect and all beautiful names. This is what the Quran says. One of those names, one of those 99 is al-muqsit, al-muqsit, which means the one who is just, the one who is infinitely just, muqsit, just.

Linguistic Connection: Justice in Arabic and Latin

If there seems to be an alliteration between muqsit and justice, listen to this, bit of a linguistic point here, it is because the Arabic word, the Quranic word for justice is actually adopted. It's an Arabicized adoption from Latin, the same Latin word for justice, which is justice. And that same Latin root eventually made its way to old French, justice, and from old French, middle English, and from middle English to modern English, justice. Hence, when the Quran speaks of justice, the Arabic word is qistas, justice, qistas. So when I as a Muslim say, the Quran commands us to be just and to practice justice, we don't even need a translation because quite literally the exact same word is used.

Maintaining Justice: The Prophetic Model

Now, how is justice maintained? Again, a lot can be said, time is limited. In the prophetic model, in all prophets, in the prophetic model, one of the primary ways of maintaining justice is that we need to take on the cause of the marginalized, the fringe, the downtrodden, the weak.

Of the earliest Quranic prohibitions involves the prohibition against female infanticide. Little baby girls were killed because they were women, they were girls. And of the earliest Quranic messages was, what are you gonna say to this infant on judgment day when she demands justice from the one who killed her unjustly?

In the Quran, we learn one of the earliest commandments as well, and one of the earliest prophetic teachings is that one's race and ethnicity are irrelevant when it comes to God consciousness and piety. All of us, no matter what our skin colors, are from Adam, and Adam was created from dust.

A Historical Example from the Prophet's Life

One of the most dramatic incidents in the life of the prophet, and I don't have time to mention the whole incident, but every Muslim knows this because we grow up hearing these stories, involves a case where a rich and powerfully privileged and elite member of the tribe of the prophet, which was the most elite tribe of the Arabs, the Quraysh, took advantage of his 0.1% status to trample on, to steal, to take the rights away from a person of a lower tribe, a lower socioeconomic person from a different tribe. And the prophet single-handedly risked his own life to challenge that privileged person and to secure the rights of the downtrodden person from another tribe.

For the Muslims in the audience in particular, pay attention to this fact. The person whose rights were taken away was an idolater. He was worshiping false gods. That didn't change the fact that injustice had been done. And the prophet didn't look at the fact that this was a person who was worshiping a false god. He looked at the fact that injustice had occurred.

Justice Transcends Faith

And that is why we firmly believe, and one of our greatest scholars, Ibn Taymiyyah, says that God, and this is very pertinent for America, I believe, God blesses a nation that is just, even if it's not faithful and believing in him, and takes away blessings and power from a nation that is unjust, even if they believe in him, end quote.

In other words, justice is so blessed and so important that it even, I can't use the word Trump anymore, that's the problem. Like, I was just gonna say it, and then I was like, Freudian slip. Justice is so important that it actually has a higher rank in the eyes of God than belief in him.

Contemporary Application

So when it comes to justice, and I conclude here, given the current climate that we find ourselves in, and all of us are followers of Abraham, it is imperative that those who wish to be faithful to the message of the prophets, that we stand up and assert the rights of the downtrodden, that we speak on behalf of those who might be too intimidated to speak, that we address the pharaohs of our nations, and we challenge them to let our people go free, so that they may worship God as they see fit.

And in the particular, when it comes to our context, I particularly speak of two cases that we really do need to stand up for. Those that are called, quote unquote, illegal aliens, even the term honestly disgusts me. Those that are called illegal aliens, or undocumented workers, they are just as human as the many hundreds of millions of, quote unquote, illegal aliens who came to this country without the permission of those who used to be on this land.

They're just as human as them. And also, when it comes to speaking up on behalf of those that choose to practice their faith or their religion, however they see fit, even if we don't agree with their personal religiosity, but that's between them and God, and they have the right, the God-given right, to practice their religion as they see fit, and come closer to God as they see fit.

Eschatological Note: The Return of the Messiah

To conclude, a bit of an eschatological note, and how else to end theological talks other than on eschatological notes, bit of a quirky joke here for the theologians here.

Mainstream Muslims believe, and I'm not sure about all Jews believe in this, but I know many do, and I know many Christians do, that the Messiah is going to return at the end of time. This is a mainstream belief amongst Muslims. I know segments of Jews believe this, and I know many Christians believe this. Whether it's the same Messiah that used to be here or not, let's not go down that awkward route. That's another discussion. But we do believe that the Messiah is going to come back. Believe it or not, that's our belief as well. By the way, we do it just FYI. We do believe with Christians that he shall come back.

It's not gonna be somebody different. But nonetheless, that's really not the point. The point I finished this talk off with is in our faith tradition, and with this I conclude, one of the main reasons for the return of the Messiah, and it is Jesus for the Islamic and Muslim tradition, but one of the main reasons for the return of the Messiah, and I quote the prophet Muhammad himself, is so that justice may be established before judgment day.

That is the purpose of coming back of the Messiah. So if we wanna walk on the footsteps of the prophets, let us all try our best to establish justice in whatever way we can. Thank you very much.

Jewish Perspective on Justice

Rabbi Micah - Temple Israel

Good evening. See what I mean? New York, LA, Mecca, and Jerusalem, or Bethlehem, have nothing on Memphis with these two. And before I give my seven minute talk, you'll tell me, what Dr. Qadhi just said reminds me that the only difference between our three faiths eschatologically is that, you know, Christians already believe the Messiah's come, and they're waiting for him to come back, and Muslims and Jews are still waiting for the Messiah to come.

So the only question to ask when the Messiah does come back is, have you been here before? And I'm not sure whether it was a minister or an imam, not a rabbi, who whispered in his ear, say I can't remember.

Setting the Context

So, it is 7:42, and this is the only part of the night after my talk that, at first I thought kind of, it would be awkward, because I once went to a church, and they're like, show me how to do praise, and I felt like I was like, it was a petting zoo and they were watching me. But one of the problems is that most Jews and Christians in America have watched each other pray, but never experienced prayer with Muslims.

And so, we need to get this fourth prayer done before 8:15, and so following my seven minutes, immediately after, led by an imam, if you would like to experience reverential Muslim prayer in its original way, authentically, genuinely, with our Memphis brothers and sisters in the back area, that will take place, and I'd only ask, following my seven minutes, if you don't want to experience that, or if you want to check your phone, or go to the bathroom, out that door, and then we will reconvene for our closing 30 minutes.

Judaism and the Bible

So, here we go. Judaism is not the religion of the Old Testament. Let me explain. Judaism without the Hebrew Bible is unthinkable, but Judaism with only the Bible isn't Judaism.

So, let's begin with the Bible, with a phrase from the Torah, Deuteronomy 16:20. Justice, justice, shalt thou pursue. (צֶדֶק צֶדֶק תִּרְדֹּף - Tzedek, tzedek tirdof).

The Meaning Behind "Justice, Justice"

The most important question for Jews is not what the text says, but rather, what does it mean? Justice, justice shall you pursue. The term pursue carries strong connotations of effort, eagerness. This implies more than merely respecting or even following justice. We must actively pursue it.

Then there is the redundancy of the phrase. You notice that? Since the sentence still works if the Torah had said, justice shalt thou pursue. Why? Justice, justice shalt thou pursue. This means that we must pursue justice justly.

For just goals can never be achieved by unjust means. The worthiest of goals will be rendered less worthy if we have to compromise justice to achieve it.

Jewish History and Justice

So, inspired by a justice verse like this, and the Torah's vision of a just society, and a 3,000 year history living as a mistreated minority until about the last 100 years or so, Jews repeatedly have been in the forefront of struggles for justice.

It's no accident that even though Jews comprised not even 2% of the American citizenry today, 50% of the freedom riders in Mississippi during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s were Jewish. It's no accident that the first clergyman in the city of Memphis to speak out against the Ku Klux Klan was not a Christian minister, but the rabbi of this congregation from 1915 to 1924, William Feinschreiber.

Torah as a Way of Life

In Judaism, it's not enough to be concerned for the life to come, as my colleagues have said. Our immediate concern must be with justice and compassion in the here and now with human dignity, welfare, and security. Justice is central to Torah, which doesn't mean law, but it's the same Hebrew word for a parent, hora, or a teacher, mora. The Torah does refer to the scrolls in the ark, the Pentateuch, but it refers to all Jewish teaching.

Torah is what God has revealed to us, what we discern of God, ideas, ideals, laws, commandments, opportunities for holiness, our religious heritage. It's the quest for meaning, our way of life, a path for our souls, and tonight's topic, Torah is said to be the design for a better world grounded in justice and peace.

The Names of God

God, I thought we had a lot of names for God. We only have 70. They have 99. One of our 70 is also the just one.

Perhaps Judaism's noblest teaching is that great summary of all religion from the prophet Micah. What does the Lord require of thee only? To do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly before God. (Micah 6:8) Most people don't notice, think about this, that in this exalted summation of religion's purpose, doing justly precedes even the command to walk humbly before God.

One God, One Humanity

So a passionate belief in and a concern for justice for all people is inherent in Judaism, stems not only from the biblical prophets, but from the fundamental nature of the Jewish faith. One God in Deuteronomy 6:4 means one humanity and transforming human society from a jungle of fear, hate, and violence into what we call, we all call the kingdom of God on Earth, is Judaism's justice mission.

Active Reception of Torah

Just as there is a giving of the Torah that was active and involved God and our ancestors, so too there is a receiving of Torah that is active, current, and involves every child of Israel, hopefully every child of God. To restore this world to wholeness and peace for all people requires an ongoing dialogue with the most important word or two, the other. You can't have justice unless there is an other, whether the other is Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or as Dr. Qadhi said, secular. What I'm saying is that otherness is a prerequisite for justice, including empathy and aspiring to walk in other people's shoes.

Holiness and Justice

Holiness occurs when power and justice and goodness coexist in perfect harmony. Power without justice and goodness is not holiness. We sanctify God's name by being holy ourselves, and how do we accomplish this? Through actions that promote justice, harmony, and peace.

In the end, and I'm not sure whether it was a Muslim or Christian teacher who taught me this, but it's very Jewish. In the end, God is the person you're talking to, the one right beside you, the one right in front of you, and so if our Muslim brothers and sisters now, led by Dr. Qadhi, would lead us in their prayer, whether the prayer, in the fourth prayer, do you wanna give us an overview? Do we mention that name or? Maghrib. The sunset prayer, the sun has set, so as we all say in our houses of worship, please rise.

Questions and Discussion Session

Post-Prayer Reflections

We'll resume in 10 minutes, but please, if we'll keep it reverential in the back, and then we'll resume at eight o'clock. So, ladies and gentlemen, I think the two most unforgettable parts of this evening already, other than my two colleagues' talks, for me, were the first five minutes when we met the other, the others who are just as godly, and yet we finally are facing the godly rather than talking about the godly, and I think the second most beautiful after these two talks we heard was that prayer circle and the beautiful prayers led by Dr. Qadhi. Thank you for letting us pray with you.

Micah, one thing I learned from that, at the very end, you noticed that they were turning to one another, and I asked Dr. Qadhi, what does that mean? They start with prayers to God, and at the end, they share Salaam, peace, with one another. That's a powerful symbol, something we do in the Christian church as well a lot, but that was something I noticed, I hadn't noticed before, thank you.

Yeah, salaam alaikum and shalom aleichem, and then you say, peace be with you, but you know, if you're Muslim or Jewish, you don't know you're supposed to say and also with you, so people just sit there.

Memphis Muslim Month Recognition

Okay, so we're gonna mix it up, we're not gonna do what we thought, that's why we're friends. Oh, oh, oh, very important, I wanna quote another Muslim here who just pointed out something really incredible. Dr. Nabeel Biakli pointed out to me after prayer, he said, you do realize this is the last event in Memphis for the Muslims in Memphis month, that's what March is.

First, there were three M's, now there are four M's. Muslims in Memphis month is March. The first event was at Dr. David Breckenridge's church, First Baptist Church. David, are you here? There he is, thank you, David. So, I know y'all are thinking, I can't believe it's April on Saturday, but when March started, the first event was at Dr. David Breckenridge's First Baptist Church. The last event is at Temple Israel, and as Nabeel Biakli said, and all of you would agree, only in Memphis can that happen, right? It's true.

Opening Questions

So, instead of our reacting to each other, we would love to open it up to questions now. So, if you'll raise your hand, a microphone will be brought to you. Please, in the back.

Community Member Story:

I just wanted to open by saying that I was born and raised in St. Louis, and my family's buried in a cemetery there that was desecrated, and they asked for $20,000, and thanks to the Muslim community, by five o'clock they had raised $130,000, and the Muslims came out with their scrub brushes as well as us to scrub their foot. That there are some amazing, thank you so much, there's some amazing things that have happened like that. Here at Temple Israel, Rabbi, I just drew a blank. Assistant Rabbi. Rabbi Bowman, Katie? Katie, helped provide sponsorship for Syrian refugees who are Muslim, where else in Memphis? Thank you so much for that story.

Question on Justice and Punishment

Audience Question: There's justice like an eye for an eye, and cutting off the hands of thieves, and then there's justice that's more merciful. And does justice, why is that distinction, and is that distinction true in all three faiths? And would you explain Sharia law in 30 seconds, too, since all the Jews and Christians, you know, they read the wrong thing.

Dr. Qadhi's Response: So, where does one begin, wow. So, there's no denying that you cannot have justice without meting out some form of punishment to those who deserve it. I mean, that is a part and parcel of any judiciary system in the world.

And in fact, there's a verse in the Quran that I actually had it in my notes, so I wasn't hiding it from you, but because of time, honestly, because of time, I wasn't able to do it, but I'll mention it now. So, remember

I said that God explicitly said, I revealed the prophets and I revealed the books in order to establish justice? In the same verse, God also says, and I blessed you with iron. Now, this is really bizarre. The books, the prophets, and iron? And our theologians and exegetes have extracted from this, the meaning of iron here is the strong arm of justice. Like, there are people that, through the fear of God, will act justly. And there are those who need the iron or the steel or the prison or the bars to act justly.

Islamic Law and Mercy

There's no question there are elements of perhaps even biblical law, I mean, I'm not an expert, but definitely Islamic law that are pretty strict. But there are also elements that mitigate, that talk about mercy and forgiveness. And in Islamic law, it's not constitution, it's not like the American system where the judge has a very narrow window that he or she must give punishment according to this window.

In the Islamic law, the judge actually has quite a lot of leeway. And there are a lot of mitigating circumstances that could effectively abrogate or annul the harsh penalties. And that's why, for example, so yes, everybody quotes the verse about cutting off the hand of the thief, but the reality is, in Islamic history, that punishment was rarely meted out.

It's really there as a scare tactic, as a fear factor, that, oh, be careful, don't do that, or else the Islamic court system will do that. In actual reality, this was rarely practiced. You don't go around in Islamic societies and every third person has his hand cut off, even though a lot of people steal, I mean, people steal.

And if you study Islamic law, there are a million and one ways to get out, and the judge is taught. Now, I studied Islamic law for 10 years at one of the most advanced and most prestigious and, yes, ultra-conservative seminaries in the Islamic world, in Saudi Arabia. In the holy city, you have to be a Muslim to enter the city, the city of Medina, the holy city.

So I speak from personal knowledge that, yes, there are these harsh punishments, and they're meant to be publicized to an audience. At the same time, once you get inside the system, i.e. once you're a judge, you are taught ways out, loopholes, basically. And you're taught this because God wants to have this tactic of, yes, there is this harsh punishment, but in the end of the day, the majority of people who get to that level, there are ways out.

Jewish Law Perspective

Rabbi Micah's Response: You know, Yasser, what's fascinating as you were answering his question is, most Jews, well, all of us share the Old Testament. And if you read it, there are actually four types of capital punishment. Strangling, stoning, asphyxiation, and one other that grossed me out. By the way, hanging. Crucifixion's not one of them, by the way.

That was a form of Roman capital punishment. That's how we know where it said on the cross, king of the Jews, it was the Romans who crucified. That was their form.

And when you just said, Yasser, that while those verses exist, they were rarely applied, that's the whole thrust of Jewish law. Like, most Jews don't even know about those. In the state of Israel, for instance, there's no capital punishment except for genocide, because the Jewish lawmakers, the halakhists, the jurists, always found a loophole.

They said, for instance, that you have to have two witnesses who actually saw it happening, and there has to be a court of 70, not just circumstantial and evidential, but it was, they even said in the Talmud that a Sanhedrin that executes one person in like 70 years is a bloody Sanhedrin.

So, while there is permission. So the question is, how come so many Americans who are not Muslim know this thing about the cutting of the arm and not the lack of its application in the world that you know? How come there's such a misunderstanding? Because Jews are gonna say after me, I didn't know that we had capital punishment because it was never applied.

Dr. Qadhi's Response to Media Representation: Why is it so misunderstood? I mean, I've always given this analogy. I gave it to a recent church talk I gave as well. Imagine if a person had never visited America and for a decade or so, the only information they ever had about America was by watching the Jerry Springer Show.

I'm actually being, this isn't facetious. I'm being dead serious. I actually, when you go home, please just imagine somebody like that and imagine what their perception would be of America, right? All I can say is

Question on Sectarian Conflicts

Audience Question: I see a lot of conflict between the different sects of the Muslims to killing each other, actually. So my question is, what is causing so much conflict between the various sects of Muslims?

Dr. Qadhi's Response: So there are two primary sects of Islam, Islam Sunnism and Shiism. And Sunnis are around 80 to 85%, Shiites are around 10 to 15%. Believe it or not, some of the differences between Catholics and Protestants are essentially the same as between Sunnis and Shiites.

So Shiites believe in one divine figure who is actually more powerful than the Pope than the Catholic, because he's appointed by God, and he's a descendant of the prophet, and he has supernatural powers. He's called the Imam, with a capital I. He is the one figure. And for Sunnis, it's very Protestant in that there's no one figure.

People come together and make decisions, et cetera. So I have actually given a number of talks. They're online. This is a very detailed topic, and I would not mind at all talking to you, but that's a whole different tangent.

In a nutshell, it is important to understand history and politics. Historically speaking, these two communities have had tensions. There's no denying that. But there has never been an all-out war, an all-out bloodshed between them, except in the last 30 years.

And so one needs to take a step back and ask, what's going on? Why, even though these sects go back 1,200 years, they've never actually been at each other's throats the way that they have been for the last three decades, i.e. in my lifetime and in our own lifetimes.

You go back even 50 years, to the 50s, to the 30s, there was no such thing going on. So this leads to my second point, that's politics.

The Political Dimension: It really deals with political anger and sectarian disenfranchisement. Let me give you a simple example of Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Simple example, okay? And the reason why it's awkward is because I know this from experience, because I talk about this all the time, with ISIS and the rise of radical Islam and whatnot. It's really awkward to say this because our audiences are simply unaware of the history and the baggage.

But the brutal fact of the matter is we wouldn't have this radicalism and these sectarian warfares had it not been because of our own meddling in the region, had it not been because of our own policies and what we've been doing for the last 40 years.

Politics and Religion

Question from Audience: I was gonna ask the rabbi and the minister something that happened to me yesterday. So I'm in a church yesterday. Yeah. And after it's over, do people I care deeply about come up to me and say, my wife and I are Republicans and I am having trouble continuing going to this church because they're all left-wing liberal sermons, just like the two of y'all preach.

And how is it that we can be a part of this congregation?

Rabbi Micah's Response: Well, first of all, David Kustoff is an honorable member of this congregation and so is Steve Cohen. So we don't, religion, I think the church has it right in Washington, D.C. The reason why the National Cathedral is the highest point in the city of D.C. is because religion's supposed to transcend politics, not issues and not policies.

There are Republicans who are as offended with the dropping of wastewater into Oklahoma causing 907 earthquakes as there are Democrats who do.

So I think you lose people when you start with the smallness of, politics is about interests. I hope justice is a larger interest than a party.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Dr. Qadhi's Final Words: Well, I mean, there's not much to add. That's exactly the theme of my talk here. And that is, if you want to walk in the footsteps of the prophets, those of us that have a little bit more freedoms must speak on behalf of those that don't. And one of the ways we're going to have to do that is to get to know the other, rather than to make assumptions about the other.

You need to go and interact with the very people that maybe even some of us marginalize. Maybe even our understandings are incorrect. How can we stand up and defend them when we don't even know who they are?

So really, in conclusion, just interact with people that are outside of your little niche, my little niche. And then when you realize something is going wrong, something is not right, if you and I truly believe in the prophets, we truly believe that there is a God out there who wants us to do something, well, then our faith is composed not just of theology, not just of abstract issues, but of action.

And you're not a man of God if you're not acting upon the message of God.