“Presbyterian Church USA offers prayers to Allah, acknowledges Muhammad as prophet”

Thanks to Jeff Schrade for bringing this item to my notice:

Presbyterian Church USA offers prayers to Allah, acknowledges Muhammad as prophet

I respect Robert Spencer.  He’s very bright, and quite well informed.  And I, too, am concerned about political correctness.  I, too, want clarity in our understanding of Islam (as of other subjects).  And his worries and criticisms aren’t without basis.  Not by a long shot.

That said, we disagree about many important things related to Islam.  (We publicly debated the subject several years ago at a large gathering in Las Vegas.)

And I’m not nearly as alarmed about this story as he is.  In fact, I’m not indignant at all.

For one thing, I fully expect Muslims to speak as Muslims, and I’m not offended or worried when they do.  I like it when Mormons speak humbly but explicitly as Mormons.

For another, Allah is simply the Arabic word for God.

Did Presbyterians offer prayers to Allah at this gathering?  I’m not sure that they really did.  But even if they did, that would be fine with me.  Arabic- and Turkish-speaking Latter-day Saints regularly pray to Allah.

Did Presbyterians actually acknowledge Muhammad as a prophet?  I don’t see that they did.  But Latter-day Saint leaders themselves have had some very positive things to say about Muhammad, as I’ve pointed out many times, including this passage from an old article of mine:

What should Latter-day Saints make of Muhammad and Islam? If Qur’anic statements against the divinity of Christ accurately represent the teachings of Muhammad—and there is no evidence that they do not—then we cannot accept him as a true prophet in the full sense of the word. We have little choice in this matter because, as Revelation 19:10 explains, “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (emphasis added). But it is virtually certain that Muhammad was sincere, and it may well be that he was inspired by God to do and say much of what he said and did.

Elders George A. Smith and Parley P. Pratt of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles had a high opinion of him in 1855, at a time when just about everybody else in Europe and America thought it obvious that Muhammad—along with Joseph Smith, incidentally, who was often compared to him—was a cunning fraud.  And that high estimation has continued into recent times. In a 15 February 1978 declaration, the First Presidency paid tribute to Muhammad, among others, as a divinely inspired religious and moral leader: “The great religious leaders of the world such as Mohammed, Confucius, and the Reformers, as well as philosophers including Socrates, Plato, and others, received a portion of God’s light. Moral truths were given to them by God to enlighten whole nations and to bring a higher level of understanding to individuals.”

Finally, I note that, very recently, Latter-day Saints and Muslims in one area have actually met together for prayer much as the Presbyterians and Muslims did in the case that so offends Robert Spencer.  I’m fine with that.  Had I been in the vicinity, I would have participated myself.  I have participated in such meetings.

Posted from Park City, Utah