Nabeel T. Jabbour's Blog, page 5

Refugees... Lord, what can I do?

In early September 2015, TV channels reported the huge numbers of refugees, mainly from Syria, heading to Europe. On Sunday morning, September 6, 2015, I was doing my morning exercises while watching the TV reports about the refugees and wondered: Lord, what can I do? It was overwhelming. 

Political Islam: Questions 8, 9 and 10

In the previous two blogs Colin Chapman addressed seven important questions that appeared in my previous two blogs and in this blog he has addressed the final three questions 8, 9 and 10.

 

8. What are the other faces of political Islam today?

9. What are the most appropriate responses to political Islam?

10. What are the most appropriate Christian responses to political Islam? 

Political Islam: Questions 4, 5, 6 & 7

In the previous blog Colin Chapman addressed the first three important questions:

1. What do we mean by 'Political Islam' and how does it differ from other kinds of Islam?

2. Is Islam essentially more political than Christianity?

3. Why has political Islam become so significant in recent years?

 

In this blog he has addressed questions 4, 5, 6 and 7.

4. Where has ISIS (ISIL) come from?

5. Is it true to say 'ISIS has nothing to do with Islam' or to say 'ISIS is nearest to real Islam than moderate Islam?'

6. Some say that the root of the problem is Islamic scripture and dogma, while others say it's a matter of history and politics. Is it either/or or both/and?

7. Is political Islam always likely to tend towards violence?

Political Islam: Questions 1, 2 & 3

A presentation by Colin Chapman took place at a meeting in London, England, on June 16, 2015,  when the main speaker was David Garrison, author of A Wind in the House of Islam'. Colin Chapman has worked in Egypt and Lebanon for 18 years in three different spells, and is now enjoying semi-retirement in Cambridge, England. In his last full-time post he was teaching Islamic Studies at the Near East School of Theology in Beirut, Lebanon, and he is at present a visiting professor in the master's program at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Beirut. His books include Cross and Crescent: Responding to the Challenges of Islam (IVP) and Whose Promised Land? (Lion Hudson UK, with a new edition to be published in October this year).

Political Islam: 10 questions

Recently I taught a course on “Islam and Current Events” at Denver Seminary. I taught the intensive course the week of June 22-26, 2015 – seven hours a day, each day. On the fourth day, one of my students came to class in the morning and he was obviously distraught. When I asked him what was wrong, he told me that the previous night he had watched an ISIL video where men were murdered; not through decapitation, but through other disgusting ways. I asked him to send me the link, and I watched it. This was the first time that I watched an ISIL video where the execution was fully shown and the ugly segment was not cut out by the U.S. media. The following night I couldn’t sleep. It was disgusting and I could only conclude that it was something driven by the demonic. 

Judeo-Christian-ism Meets Islam-ism

Early in May 2015, two gunmen were shot dead in Texas after opening fire outside the prophet of Islam cartoon competition. One of the articles that I read on this topic resonated with me. It is written by Dr. Martin Accad. Martin is the Director of the Institute of Middle East Studies at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Lebanon. He teaches also at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, CA. He teaches primarily in the fields of Islam, Middle East and North Africa Christianity and Christian-Muslim Relations. He blogs on the following sites: www.abtslebanon.org, IMESLebanon.wordpress.com

Trust List

In the previous blog, I shared with you the first six points in my Trust List, and in this blog I want to share with you my total list. As you see, my list is:

The Key is Trust

Just before Easter weekend 2015, I had the flu. Sometimes the flu comes with mild symptoms; sometimes the symptoms are severe. In my case, it was the latter. Even seven days later, when I thought I was recovering, the cough continued with such severity that I coughed and coughed until my body ached. On Wednesday evening, a week after I got the flu, I was talking with a friend on the phone when we were interrupted by my uncontrollable cough. I went to bed that evening harassed by the devil. I spiraled down as my mind was crippled with anxiety over the following questions. 

ISIL Theological Roots: The Last Two Men

As previously mentioned, in my teaching at seminaries I have told my students that Abu Mus’ab al-Suri, Abu Bakr Naji and Fouad Hussein, are going to become so famous that they will overshadow Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Finally it happened, although not exactly how I thought it would happen. ISIL is the product of the writings and thinking of these three men and others. In my first blog on this subject, I gave a bird’s eye view of five men whose writings have had the greatest impact on ISIL, and then in the next blog I addressed three more.  

ISIL Theological Roots: The Next Three Men

For years in my teaching at seminaries, I have told my students that Abu Mus’ab al-Suri, Abu Bakr Naji and Fouad Hussein are going to become so famous that they will overshadow Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Finally it has happened, although not exactly how I thought it would happen. ISIL is the product of the writings and thinking of these three men and others. In the previous blog, I gave a bird’s eye view of the first five men whose writings have had the greatest impact on ISIL. I will address the next three in this blog and in the blog that follows I will address the last two.