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Jesus meets the Muslim cabbie: Your answers to a dilemma

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts on Dec 25, 2007

Last night, a friend and I attended Midnight Mass at St. Joseph’s Church in Greenwich Village, New York. Heretical for a Muslim to partake? No more so than for the priest to have quoted Rumi, a Muslim, in his homily. Father John Barnabas Davis read aloud Rumi’s poem, The Guest House.

Just another reminder that there’s wisdom in transcending our puny and parochial tribes. In that spirit, congrats to the many of you who answered my question, “What would Jesus do about one Muslim’s cruelty?”

Some background: A few mornings back, a Sudanese Muslim cab driver went out of his way to show me hospitality. At the same time, however, he proclaimed the genocide in Darfur a Western lie, then endorsed the thrashing of a British teacher involved in the Mohammad teddy bear case, and finally announced that his close friend, a prosecutor in the teacher’s trial, has affirmed her ill intent.

How, I asked you, would Jesus respond to this cabbie? And how would you respond? A sample of your replies:

* “I really have no idea what Jesus would do. For myself, NO TIP to the driver and he can tell his alleged lawyer friend in the Sudan to sue me!” - Marshall

* “At times, it is prudent to do nothing. It was of no consequence whether you responded to him or not. Recognize these moments and enjoy creation.” - Hadi

Irshad to Hadi: Is passivity truly prudent in times of moral crisis? As the anthropologist Margaret Mead observed, change only ever comes about because a small number of seemingly powerless individuals choose action over complacency. Jihadists know this. When will the rest of us wake up to our own agency?

* “Maybe Jesus would speak of the children — how they talk, laugh and trust. Children like to be surrounded by things they know. What better way to see the world than by naming something according to what you love the most, The Prophet… What better way to trust those around you than to make the name of the The Prophet something that one can hug in the dark, like a toy bear? Jesus might ask the driver to to speak about the children.” – Father David O’Leary, Chaplain, Tufts University

Irshad to Father David: The cabbie and I did, indeed, speak of the children. He said they’re too young to know anything and that’s why Sudan should no longer allow foreign teachers into the country (except for science and math, where facts are demonstrable and Western brainwashing more difficult.) Sudan’s children need to be inculcated with “Islamic” values, he insisted. Only then will they be spiritually mature enough to withstand the propaganda of so-called educators from the outside.

* “You ask me what would I do? I would ask the cabbie to pull over. Then I would pay the accrued fare, identify myself, and tell him I am far too appalled by his brutal Dark Ages attitudes to ride another inch. Exit the vehicle, Irshad. Find another one.” - Steve

* “I think Jesus sees all of us as equally misguided. He calls the Pharisees ‘blind leaders of the blind.’ He sees the masses as sheep without a shepherd, and their leaders as wolves in sheep’s clothing. He sees the sinners, prostitutes and tax collectors as marginalized peoples in need of mercy.

Now, I see the cabbie as a marginalized person who is deceived. He artificially bolsters his argument about the latest ‘Islam is crazy’ media frenzy through his claim of special knowledge about the teddy bear trial. But that’s what people do when they’re outgunned in an argument.

Irshad, your whole work is devoted making known the business of the Islamic world, and seeking justice and mercy like Jesus did. I only hope you can see that many people who are part of the problem are victims of their system.” - Julie

Irshad to Julie: Being a victim of the system suggests you’re stripped of personal agency. If this driver can choose to extend his shift for me — despite working within a heavily regulated industry — surely he can choose to update his Muslim morality from the 7th century to the 21st.

In your attempt at sensitivity, you’re reducing the driver to a mere infant. That’s showing less respect for adults than having higher expectations of them. Higher expectations say: I’ve got faith in your capacity to do better. Isn’t this the essence of dignifying the other?

* “According to the Gospels, Jesus asked lots of good questions, always concerned to help people move from where they were to some place better… Ask the driver: Why does he believe the apparent suffering in Darfur is a fabrication? Why is he so offended by someone who names a teddy bear ‘Mohammad’? Why is flogging God’s first choice to deal with such people?

We don’t have Jesus’ knowledge, so we can ask more questions both for that reason and for another: that we ourselves can be improved in the conversation, receiving a gift in turn.

But we must also face up to this encounter without any Yuletide sentimentality. Not everyone wants to exchange gifts with us. Jesus himself eventually stopped talking to his enemies as they made clear their murderous disregard for what he had to say. At some point, repeatedly offering conversation becomes mere nagging. When it’s time to quit, pay the fare and get out of the cab. Pray for the cabbie as he drives away, and for that teacher, and for Sudan, and for all of us in this fractured, fractious world.” - Prof. John Stackhouse, Regent College, University of British Columbia

Irshad to Prof. Stackhouse: First, I love your blog. Second, I asked the driver all of the questions you’ve suggested and then some. He gave pat answers that can comfort only conspiracy theorists, since conspiracies, by definition, don’t lend themselves to evidence. Is there something more to be done before giving up, leaving the cab and praying hard?

* “Jesus might allow himself to miss his next appointment, buy the driver his morning coffee, and sit down over coffee to speak with him about his views. Did you try that?” - Aliya

Irshad to Aliya: I told the cabbie that I’d personally bring him a coffee if I see him in New York again. That statement was my attempt to keep the door of engagement open. But I’m still wondering what more I’d say to him.

* “What would I have done? I probably would have been speechless. But you used the cabbie’s comments to further your message on your blog. You leveraged a small and private exchange of ideas into a tool to influence many.” - Dave

Irshad to Dave: The only influence I seek is to embolden good people to speak up. Even if you can’t finish them, create conversations where none existed before. Conversations get people thinking. And thinking is the first step to informed action.

Of course, silence can be active. Meditation teaches us this. But in social justice, silence is a non-starter. Exactly because human rights are universal, opting out is copping out.

Merry Christmas, one and all.