Skeleton 03 - The Constantine Codex (20 page)

Mustafa Selim announced the rules of the debate, which both sides had agreed upon weeks earlier. It would be a much freer exchange than U.S. presidential debates, in which the contest was merely “Who can answer the same question better?” rather than the rough-and-tumble of give-and-take. Next, Patriarch Bartholomew presented a brief commentary on the rules, promising that both moderators would intervene as little as possible and cautioning the audience against raucous responses of any kind, which would result in ejection by government police. Both parties in the debate were then invited to offer brief opening statements.

Abbas won the coin toss but elected to go first. He began with an air of confidence. “I am honored to have this discussion with one of the foremost Christian authorities in the world today, a man whose scholarship is admired by all, including Islamic scholars. But I will try to show him—and the world—that Islam has superseded both Judaism and Christianity as Allah’s, as God’s, greatest, fullest, and final revelation and that the prophet Muhammad—may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him!—is greater than the other prophets that we both respect, namely Abraham, Moses, and Jesus of Nazareth.

“I will liken Judaism to the elementary school in our knowledge of Allah, Christianity to the secondary or high school, but Islam as the university. I will point out the impossibility that God could be three rather than one or marry a human woman and have a son by her. I will honor Jesus of Nazareth as a great prophet, to be sure, but not as God or the Son of God. Nor was he crucified, as claimed by the Christian Scriptures, which suffered errors early on in their transcription from the original authors.

“I will also demonstrate that Islam has higher moral standards than Christianity, and for that reason Allah has blessed his believers with greater territorial success and conversion rates than Christianity. And at the close of our debate, I hope that Professor Weber will recognize the truth of Allah’s revelations through his holy Prophet—may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him!—and perhaps even accept the one true religion as proclaimed in the Holy Qur’an.”

At that, Abbas sat down and received thunderous applause from the eastern side of Hagia Sophia.

Jon had taken in every syllable of al-Rashid’s opening statement, parts of which were predictable, others not, such as his opponent’s ingenuous hope for his conversion. Jon squeezed Shannon’s hand and walked to the dais.

Noting the contrast between the two halves of his attentive audience, he began. “I find it a privilege to dialogue with one of the great theologians of Islam. Grand Sheikh Abbas al-Rashid is known not only for his vast knowledge but also for his generosity and wisdom. If you’ll permit a personal reference, his was the major voice in averting great danger from me some months ago due to a mistranslation in one of my books. I remain in your debt, my friend.”

Spirited applause broke out from both sides of the sanctuary, which al-Rashid acknowledged with a gracious nod of appreciation to both Jon and the audience.

Jon resumed. “As a Christian, of course, I will have to maintain that all knowledge about Jesus Christ is
far
more reliable from contemporary and eyewitness sources rather than from a differing version that first arose six centuries later. I will have to correct some misinterpretations that Islam has about Christianity and its doctrine of the Trinity and affirm that Jesus did indeed die on a cross, and that he rose again as he and the prophets had predicted. I will have to challenge the claim that the Qur’an is God’s greatest revelation—” he heard murmuring from the eastern half of the sanctuary—“and that the Christian Scriptures suffered errors as they were recopied across the centuries.

“While I have great respect for the second largest religion on earth, I shall have to point out problems in the claims of Islam, while finding those of Christianity provable by a massive amount of outside evidence. In any case, I look forward to a fascinating interchange with the grand sheikh.”

As Jon left the podium, parallel applause broke out on the Christian side.

The debate then moved into the format they had agreed to, which was now announced by both moderators:

Islam’s problems with Christianity

Christianity’s defense

Christianity’s problems with Islam

Islam’s defense

(Both parties are limited to fifteen minutes each in the above segments)

A general exchange

Final summation: Christianity

Final summation: Islam

The moderators also announced the schedule: two morning sessions, separated by a break, and two similar afternoon sessions following an interim for lunch. “And lest anyone complain that this is too long,” Patriarch Bartholomew added in a genial touch, “debates in the past lasted for
days
, not hours. Martin Luther’s famous debate at Leipzig in 1519, for example, lasted
eighteen days
. We don’t intend to inflict that on you!” Laughter followed intermittently, depending on the varying speed of the translators.

Jon and Abbas now took their seats, each at the end of a table on the dais so that they could face one other, while the two moderators sat in the middle. Both sides had agreed that only the person speaking at a given time would stand and use a lectern.

Abbas al-Rashid stood and opened with warm enthusiasm. “Thank you, people of all faiths, for joining us today for what we believe will be a very important discussion, which is long overdue. And yet this is not the first time Christians and Muslims have debated their respective beliefs. In fact, major discussions have taken place for the past fourteen
centuries
, and we are pleased to add our own efforts to that proud tradition.

“As for problems I find in Christianity, let me begin with simple logic and mathematics. The program began today at a specific time—not three different times. And so, if Christianity confesses one God—as do Jews and Muslims—they cannot also confess that God is three. This is not monotheism, but polytheism, specifically, tritheism: the worship of three different gods. To be sure, Christians try to speak of one divine essence and three personalities in what they call the Godhead, but this doctrine of the Trinity, so-called, fails all tests of logic. By no calculation does one equal three, or three equal one. This point alone, I believe, refutes Christianity as a viable religion for any who believe that God is one.”

Loud partisan applause again broke out, until silenced by the moderators. Jon was less than comfortable in realizing that Abbas had immediately attacked the one logical weak point of Christianity. Only the problem of evil was greater, but that was common to all three monotheistic religions. Jon looked at Osman Al-Ghazali to see if the Arabic translator was doing an accurate job. Much of Abbas’s Arabic Jon could understand, but he wanted to be sure. He had had a bitter enough experience with mistranslations! Each time that he heard “Allah” in Arabic, the translator rendered this as “God,” which was perfectly acceptable, since that was the generic term for God in Arabic.

Abbas seemed to press his lips together, perhaps to keep from smiling. He glanced quickly at his notes and then resumed. “We who follow the Prophet—may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him!—also find it nearly blasphemous that Christians should think that almighty God had a marital affair with a human woman in conceiving Jesus. The sovereign Lord is certainly beyond that sort of thing, unless you equate him with mythologies invented by the Greeks and Romans: Zeus and his many affairs with anyone in skirts in heaven or earth.” He paused briefly for the laughter greeting his remark. “We esteem Mary highly, of course, but we refuse to make her part of the Godhead. We also regard Jesus as a great prophet. Indeed, we believe that he was virgin-born and that he shall return, as he has promised. But to include him in what you call your Trinity? Never!

“And speaking of Jesus, whom we call Isa, we agree that he performed miracles and wonders, but he did so as God’s prophet—no more, no less—a holy man who was so favored by God that he never would have permitted him to suffer such a horrible death as crucifixion, as Christians claim. Never! Allah could not have done that to his faithful prophet. And this very point proves the greater reliability of the Holy Qur’an over the Bible. Your New Testament—all four Gospels—claim that Jesus died at Jerusalem, and he most certainly did not. Sad to say, errors intruded into the Gospels when the manuscripts were recopied across the decades and centuries since, which is why God had to correct the record by revealing to his holy Prophet what truly happened—may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him.”

Shannon looked carefully at her husband. She noticed a slight tightening of his jaw muscles, although his face registered total neutrality. She knew that hers did not, since she was angry at what she thought a mistaken attack on her faith, and the murmuring behind her from the Christian audience showed that she was not alone in that respect. Osman, sitting to Shannon’s right, merely seemed fascinated by Abbas, while Richard Ferris, on her left, wore an eloquent frown.

Abbas swallowed a sip of water and continued. “And of course, there are many other teachings in Christianity that we cannot accept, such as the supposed resurrection of Jesus. That prophet died a normal, natural death, as did the blessed Muhammad—may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him!—so no resurrection was needed for either of them. The story that Isa—Jesus—rose from the dead was merely what psychologists call ‘wish fulfillment’ by his partisans, perhaps grieving that he had somehow forsaken them. Furthermore, his supposed suffering and death had no redemptive quality, as the Christians claim, nor are they saved by faith in what never happened. What they call their ‘sacraments’ are fine—
if
they find comfort in them—but intrinsically they are useless. The water of their ‘baptism’ is just plain water, and if they feel cleaner afterwards, fine. The bread and wine in what they call their ‘Eucharist’ cannot have been ordained by God or Isa, since all strong drink is forbidden in the Holy Qur’an—just another example of how their Scriptures have been corrupted.

“And finally, while many of Jesus’ teachings are noble and we Muslims can support many of them, they do not seem to have had the power of those taught by Muhammad—may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him—because look at how, generation after generation, century after century, Christians have failed to follow the high moral teachings of their master. If Jesus taught peace, then why did they go to war? If he taught giving to the poor, why did they steal and seek after riches? If he taught the commandments, why did they break them? If he taught purity, why did they indulge in impurity? If he taught humility, why did they prefer pride and adorn their highest officers with embellishments that would have embarrassed their founder?

“It is for these reasons that the teachings of Muhammad—may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him—clearly have had greater divine sanction than those of Jesus, which is why we regard him not only as greater than Jesus, but as Allah-God’s final revelation for all mankind. Thank you, Professor Weber and everyone here, for your kind attention.”

Thunderous applause erupted from the eastern half of Hagia Sophia, punctuated by cries of
“Allahu Akbar!”
“God is great!” While Christians sat on their hands, the ovation across the aisle was not only loud but apparently interminable. The clapping and shouting cascaded everywhere, reverberating up to the golden dome, then down across the galleries and reechoing over the entire audience.

Shannon looked pointedly at the moderators. Wasn’t this the sort of emotional display they were supposed to contain? Patriarch Bartholomew finally lifted his gavel and started pounding. His Muslim counterpart seemed hesitant but eventually did the same. The double pounding, augmented electronically, had its effect, and the vast sanctuary stilled to a hush.

She was relieved when Jon stood up to his lectern. Thank goodness they’d hear the truth now. He began, “Thank you, honored Sheikh, for your candor, which is clearly the product of honest conviction. You’ve presented the principal objections Islam finds in Christianity with eloquence, and I’m sure there are more.”

Following the ripple of laughter, he continued. “At this point in our debate, I am to respond to those objections, and the first is certainly of paramount importance, namely what you claim as ‘the mathematical impossibility of the Trinity.’ In fact, in many of the historic encounters between Muslims and Christians across the ages, this doctrine has prompted the most debate.

“I’m reminded of the celebrated discussion between Caliph Muhammad ibn Mansur al-Mahdi of the great Abbasid dynasty and Timothy I, patriarch of the Assyrian Church. This took place in 781, when the caliph opened the debate by asking, ‘If God is one, he is not three; and if he is three, he is not one. What is this contradiction?’ The Christian patriarch replied that the sun also has three dimensions—spherical shape, light, and heat—and yet it remains one sun. Similarly three golden denarii are three in number but one in essence: gold. The one does not contradict the other. But I would add to the patriarch’s explanation the fact that we cannot hope to know and understand the ultimate essence of God, who is so dimensionally different from his creation that the mystery of the Holy Trinity stands at the ultimate threshold of our attempt to understand God with this message: ‘Unless three equals one, thus far, and no further.’ For this very reason Augustine could say,
‘Credo
ut
absurdum est!’
—‘I believe
because
it is absurd,’ in the sense that human logic alone could not have ‘invented God,’ as it were.”