What is the Anabaptist response to Islam

[barnhart]

Since this is an election year the political messaging about Islam is more intense and that shows up clearly here on MN. Maybe it would be a suitable time to think about the theological, historical and practical ways Anabaptism interacts with Islam.

How have we responded to Islam in the past, what direction do we get from our theology, and what are the dangers of integrating theology from the outside to suit this occasion?

[JohnH]

Since this is an election year the political messaging about Islam is more intense and that shows up clearly here on MN. Maybe it would be a suitable time to think about the theological, historical and practical ways Anabaptism interacts with Islam.

How have we responded to Islam in the past, what direction do we get from our theology, and what are the dangers of integrating theology from the outside to suit this occasion?

Historical:

By numbers, about 2/3 (depending on how one estimates, of course) of Hutterites ended up enslaved by Muslims during the Ottoman raids on present-day Austria and over time gradually their families all converted to Islam. There is no trace of Christianity, let alone Anabaptist Christianity, left in those circles; they are Islamic populations now (or, as is often the case in modern-day Turkey, just secular). Most of these people ended up in Cyprus and their descendants are still there.

https://hutterites.org/history/hutterit ... rkish-war/

Practically speaking, Islam is quite similar to other sects of Christianity that abandoned parts of Jesus' teachings. Muslims would believe in the virgin birth, Jesus' ascension into heaven, and his second return, for example. Like many other sects of Christianity, Jesus' teachings against nonviolence got lost. Jesus' divinity also become under-emphasised to the point it disappeared altogether (which happened in some other Christian sects as well). Like many branches of Christianity, Islam also became a religion intertwined with the state and nationalism.

So the respond to Islam should be the same response you have to Christian nationalism. They are, in fact, two sides of the same coin.

[Ernie]

Historical:

By numbers, about 2/3 (depending on how one estimates, of course) of Hutterites ended up enslaved by Muslims during the Ottoman raids on present-day Austria and over time gradually their families all converted to Islam. There is no trace of Christianity, let alone Anabaptist Christianity, left in those circles; they are Islamic populations now (or, as is often the case in modern-day Turkey, just secular). Most of these people ended up in Cyprus and their descendants are still there.

https://hutterites.org/history/hutterit ... rkish-war/

This is not only a historical tragedy but a theological puzzle as well. Why would God allow something like this? There are people who think that if all Russian Mennonites would have listened to the prophets and emigrated before the Bolshevik revolution, they could have escaped the "tribulations" and loss of ethicity.
I'm not sure what to think about such conclusions.

[barnhart]

Historical:

By numbers, about 2/3 (depending on how one estimates, of course) of Hutterites ended up enslaved by Muslims during the Ottoman raids on present-day Austria and over time gradually their families all converted to Islam. There is no trace of Christianity, let alone Anabaptist Christianity, left in those circles; they are Islamic populations now (or, as is often the case in modern-day Turkey, just secular). Most of these people ended up in Cyprus and their descendants are still there.

https://hutterites.org/history/hutterit ... rkish-war/

This is not only a historical tragedy but a theological puzzle as well. Why would God allow something like this? There are people who think that if all Russian Mennonites would have listened to the prophets and emigrated before the Bolshevik revolution, they could have escaped the "tribulations" and loss of ethicity.
I'm not sure what to think about such conclusions.

We serve a God of wonder, sometimes he delivers rapidly with a mighty hand and sometimes he lets his children be thrown right into the fire. The thing we can be certain about is his continued presence because he goes into the fire with us.

[mike]

There's no doubt that we Anabaptists prefer societies where there is economic and religious freedom. That's why we are here in the US and not in Europe. And that is why I think we will continue to prefer modern liberal democracies for our home, and have a healthy and warranted fear of repressive governments, one type of which is Islamic rule. Not that there are not others, and not that living in a liberal democracy has been good for us in every way. But frankly, I for one prefer it to what I see and hear of countries where there is Islamic rule.

[barnhart]

How have we responded to Islam in the past, what direction do we get from our theology, and what are the dangers of integrating theology from the outside to suit this occasion?

[JohnH]

How have we responded to Islam in the past, what direction do we get from our theology, and what are the dangers of integrating theology from the outside to suit this occasion?

So, the response in the past was to try to flee to the United States, Canada, Ukraine, and so forth.