May 2007 Print

The taking of Granada in 1492–the fall of its last bastion–marked the end of Muslim domination in Spain. Nearly eight centuries had passed since the invasion of Spain by the Moors in 711: the Reconquista had been accomplished. Today, five centuries later, we are witnessing a reversed movement: while the number of Christians in the Middle East has diminished continually for nearly a century because of the conditions to which they are subject in predominantly Islamic countries, Europe is facing a grave problem of Muslim immigration. In the year 2000 the number of Muslims in the world exceeded that of Catholics and will probably, around the year 2050, exceed that of all Christians.

Let us therefore look at how, in the course of history, this question has been discussed, and how the Church has tried to respond to it. We will also consider how we should try to respond to the providential challenge which is the evangelization of these Muslims who have arrived in our countries and who, in most countries, are free to become Christians–a freedom unknown in Islamic countries.

In those countries, missionaries are limited to baptizing the dying, caring for the sick, teaching children in a strict spirit of religious neutrality, inculcating moral principles superior to those they have, and working for the development of material civilization, while they wait for the moment chosen by God for more exalted work.¹ Certainly, there have always been conversions of Muslims. They are generally conversions of individuals, and they remain more or less secret, but the phenomenon is known.

In fact, direct ministry with Muslims has proved to be possible only in a political régime which grants the freedom to embrace the Catholic Faith. That has been the case only in Palestine and in Syria during the two centuries of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099-1291), in Africa during the French presence in the colonial period (1830-1960), and again in the Levant during the French Mandate (1918-43). In practice, it was first necessary for French education and culture, generally provided by religious orders and missionaries in these regions, to calm the apprehensions of the Muslim populations, and for the example of charitable activities to predispose them to the message of the Faith. This was well under way, as first thousands and then millions chose, for various political, economic, or family reasons, to live in France after decolonization–proof that they appreciated French culture and would have been able to appreciate its Catholic dimension.

It was at precisely this moment that a major event occurred in the Church: the Second Vatican Council (October 11, 1962-December 8, 1965), which sought to be pastoral and to recognize the "signs of the times." Under its influence, the Church might have found a new missionary inspiration. To judge by the results, however, this was not at all the case. A new theological "appreciation" of religions, inspired by Karl Rahner, profoundly influenced the missionary action of the Church, which from then on emphasized dialogue and the positive appreciation of other religions–an attitude adopted by most Catholic specialists of Islam.

Thus we moved from an attitude hostile to Islam, prevalent until the 19th century, to an exaggerated appreciation that has ended up paralyzing the mission of the Church. Although it is impossible to engage in the direct evangelization of Muslims in Islamic territory, and all missionary work is more or less unthinkable when relations between Christians and Muslims only breathe hostility and wars, the Western Church had an unhoped-for chance to evangelize those populations coming from Muslim countries. But instead of attempting anything whatsoever, Catholic clergy offered them places to worship. Similarly, while a certain publicity was given when Christians went over to Islam, the conversion of Muslims to Christianity met with a deafening silence–in order, no doubt, not to cast a shadow on the inter-religious dialogue churchmen were trying to establish. As we will see, a change took place in the last years of the 20th century.

The Fate of Christians under Moorish Occupation

What became of the Church and of Christianity in the regions conquered by Islam? Once the country was conquered, Christians, as long as they were submissive and paid their taxes, were not molested. But the difficult situation of these second-class citizens led a number of them to renounce Christianity in order to obtain certain advantages–though in some cases they returned to the Christian Faith when circumstances changed. In Africa, for example, according to Ibn Khaldoun, the Berbers committed apostasy 12 times in 70 years.

In order to evaluate correctly this tolerance, so often broadcasted high and low, it must not be forgotten that each Christian was a tributary, and that only conversion could change this. So there is nothing surprising if, under duress and in order to avoid taxes, sometimes involving marriage or social ambition–to say nothing of great moral degeneration and other elements–there were numerous apostasies. In Spain, this gave rise to a new social class called mudalies (Arabianized Christians) facing the class called "Mozarabs" (musta'rib), i.e. those who remained faithful to the Catholic religion. The former took up the Muslim style of life and social structures, while the latter retained their own social, administrative, and religious organization.

Emigration of Christians to free territory or lands reconquered by Christian arms is a recurring phenomenon. In the first decades after the conquest of their country by the Arabs, Rome received a number of Syrians. Their influence and their numbers must have been considerable, since several of them, such as Sergius I (687-701) and Constantine I (708-15), became popes. For a long time in Spain, Mozarabs made up the majority of the population, but their numbers diminished constantly.

It was the same in North Africa. As the Arabs advanced farther and farther to the North, many families fled across the Mediterranean into Italy, Gaul, and as far as the depths of Germany. The victors at first permitted those who remained to continue to practice their religion, on condition that they pay a tax for this favor. Such a regime did not last long. Around 717, Khalif Omar II withdrew this privilege from the Christians, who were required to embrace Islam or leave the country. From that time on, apostasies, already frequent in the preceding period, were multiplied, while Christian sanctuaries were transformed into mosques. The African Church, once flourishing, was soon reduced to nothing. Here and there, however, in the towns and the tribes, a few Christian communities kept on, humble vestiges of the past. Tolerated by the Muslims, but always living precariously, they extended the death throes of this glorious Church.

The Reconquest

The Reconquest came about in the South of France and in Spain where, preoccupied by the struggles with the Franks and internal discord, the Arabs neglected the Christian kingdom of Asturias. This made it possible to extend the frontier to the South, re-peopling the liberated regions with the help of the Mozarabs who had fled the Muslim zone, as well as that of the monks who established monasteries throughout the newly-conquered regions. The religious nature of the struggle was powerfully reinforced by devotion to the Apostle St. James. From the 9th century on, the news of the discovery of his tomb at Santiago deeply impressed people's minds and made this location an international center of pilgrimage. The cult of St. James was one of the most important elements of the spirituality of the Reconquest: the apostle quickly became the patron saint of Spain and the heavenly soldier against the Moors. The first step of the Reconquest ended with the liberation of Toledo (1085) by the troops of Alfonso VI.

In the ensuing period, with the help of the Cluny Benedictine monks, many of whom became bishops, the popes continued the reform of the Church and the unification of the liturgy. Their action was also decisive in the reinforcement of the political power of Castile for the sake of the Reconquest. The Holy See exhorted French lords (in particular those of Provence and Languedoc) to come to the aid of the Spanish Christians. The apex of this papal policy was the victory of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), a new departure point for the rapid completion of the Reconquest of the country (with the exception of the Kingdom of Granada).

Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny

It is here that a word should be said about Peter the Venerable (1092-1156), who, setting out in 1141 to inspect the Spanish Benedictine monasteries subject to his Abbey, saw that the military successes of the Christian Reconquest, already well under way, were not contributing to the conversion of the conquered Muslim population. For that, spiritual means were necessary. But in order to convince the followers of Mohammed it was necessary to know what they believed, to know their mentality in order to discuss religious subjects with them. This brought about the first Latin translation of the Koran. In spite of a few inaccuracies, the translation, finished in 1143, gave a relatively exact version of the essence of the text and was used for a great many subsequent works and for all the translations of the Koran into the vulgar languages until the 17th century. In the preface it is said that the Latin world is unaware of Islam: no one is interested, no one thinks of refuting the error of it, and even less of converting those who suffer from it. They are driven back by force of arms, but they are not sufficiently subjected to the force of truth. It was therefore necessary to start a new kind of crusade.

Peter the Venerable had sent to St. Bernard a notice on Islam, with the translation of the Koran he had had done, hoping that the latter would produce a refutation. Since his repeated requests met with no answer and the Abbot of Clairvaux was not doing anything, he undertook the task himself. Adversus Nefandam Sectam Saracenorum (Against the Nefarious Sect of the Saracens) was supposed to contain five books, according to its plan, but only the first two are extant.

Having stated the purpose of his book and expressed the desire to see it translated into Arabic in order to help lead toward God, immediately or in the future, all those who were to be touched by grace, Peter the Venerable addressed the Muslims directly. He understood their surprise at seeing him write to them, and warned that he was undertaking a peaceful crusade against them. He wrote out of love and wanted to do them good: he loved the Saracens because he is a Christian, and although they are not, he loved them because he is a man and so are they. He did not take up arms against them but rather desired their salvation and invited them to it: "Ad salutem vos invito." This work, which sought to win the hearts of Arabs, is an admirable example of the delicacy to which Christian charity leads, as well as of the zeal and the prudence which must accompany all missionary work.

St. Raymond of Penafort

The work of the well-known canonist St. Raymond de Penafort (1177-1275) is also situated in the context of the Reconquest. Becoming a Dominican at the age of 45, in 1238 he was elected Master General, a responsibility from which he resigned two years later in order to devote himself completely to missionary work among the Jews and Muslims of Spain and North Africa. Encouraged by the new Master General, Humbert de Romans, he set five objectives for the Dominicans in Spain: the spiritual care of Christians, the reconciliation of the apostates, the defense of Christianity against calumny, caring for Christian captives (in Muslim hands), and setting a good example for the edification of the Muslims.

After encouraging St. Peter Nolascus and King James I of Aragon to found the Order of Our Lady of Mercy for the ransom of captives, he set up, in Spain and in North Africa, studia arabica–Arab study centers for the training of missionaries. The centers taught the language, mentality, and religion of the Muslims, in order to make it possible to go out among them and preach our Lord Jesus Christ. In the course of the 18th century, such centers were founded in Tunis, Barcelona, and Valencia.

The Time of the Crusades and the Latin States in the Middle East

The Franks Settle in the East

Coming from a country where a single religion was practiced by all of the population, Jews excepted, the Franks found themselves in the midst of a multi-confessional Middle East, with different sects of Christianity and people who were not Christian. They adapted to the situation and allowed these infidels "who worship Mahomet" to practice their religion. There was, however, a condition, which was also the sign of the Franks' sovereignty: the public call to prayer had to be discreet. But there is no trace of religious persecution of the Muslims by the Christians. No doubt out of necessity, there was mutual toleration. The Muslims could not rebel against the Christians, who themselves had need of the Muslims.

The Frankish lords transferred to the Kingdom of Jerusalem the French custom according to which the lord owed protection to local inhabitants, and they treated their subjects more humanely than did the Middle Eastern lords. The condition of Muslim farmers scandalized, as it were, a Muslim traveler, who wrote:

They have to give up half of their crop at harvest-time, and pay a tax. The Christians ask no more than this, except for a small tax on fruit-trees, but the Muslims are masters of their houses and manage things as they see fit. These are the conditions, in all of Syria, in every small town and village inhabited by Muslims. Most of them are tempted by the devil, and compare their circumstances with those of their fellow Muslims in the cantons governed by Muslims, which are the very opposite of security and well-being. One of the misfortunes that afflict the Muslims is that, under their own government, they always have reason to complain of the injustice of their leaders, while they can only praise the conduct of their enemies on whose justice they can rely.

In fact, this is still true today. Recently a German newspaper published a study of the most corrupt countries in the world. It showed that a great many of the most corrupt countries were governed by Muslims. The question is whether the Muslims living among us are tempted to become Christians–"tempted by the devil," as the Muslim traveler said.

The first conversions to Christianity in the Kingdom of Jerusalem were accidental. There exist two well-known accounts concerning this. The first is a response from Innocent III to the Archbishop of Tyre in 1198:

You questioned us about infidels who have converted to the Faith: those among them who were married before their conversion in degrees of consanguinity permitted by the Old Law or by their traditions but forbidden by canon law–must these people separate? The answer to your questions is that a marriage contracted before conversion must not be broken after baptism. Indeed, questioned by the Jews, who asked him whether it was permitted to send away one's wife for any reason, our Lord responded "What God has brought together, let man not put asunder," signifying by these words that there was a true marriage between them.

The second account is the same Pope's answer to the Bishop of Tiberiad in 1202: "We rejoice in the Lord...that He has filled the hearts of numerous pagans with a desire to come to the Christian Faith." The question concerns polygamous persons who have converted. The Pope's answer is that polygamy is forbidden, and that a polygamous Muslim who converts must keep his first wife. If he has repudiated her, he does not, as long as she is living, have the right to take another, unless the first refuses to live in peace with him or, although agreeing to live with him, she entices him to mortal sin. In this latter case, the person who has converted can resort to the choice given by the Apostle Paul, and known as the Pauline privilege (I Col. 7:15).

It is only in the 13th century that we see institutions (very discreet, for it seems that the Frankish lords did not tolerate them very well) for the evangelization of Muslim subjects. It should be noted here that the Roman breviary for August 5 says that St. Louis ransomed a great many Christians enslaved by the Middle-Eastern barbarians, converted numerous infidels to faith in Christ, and rebuilt, at his own expense, several Christian cities during his five-year stay in Palestine and Lebanon.

Missionaries Among the Muslims

Who are the missionaries who went into Muslim countries, into the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, and whose names we know? It should be said that St. Thomas Aquinas wrote the Summa Contra Gentiles around 1264 in order to make a manual of Catholic doctrine available to missionaries working among non-Christians who did not recognize the authority of Holy Scripture. You do not, indeed, deal with Muslims as you deal with heretics: the latter recognize the value of the holy Gospel, which can therefore be used to point out the falsity of their doctrine; the former do not admit the Gospel, and therefore must be convinced of their errors by natural reason alone. If it is a question of truths about God which are available to reason, such as His existence and certain attributes of His, we proceed by demonstrative reason capable of convincing the adversary. But for the mysteries of the Faith which cannot be proven it is necessary to defeat the objections of the infidels, since natural reason cannot go against the truths of the Faith. It is then possible to attempt a clarification of these truths by means of arguments of probability or likelihood, which manifest the beauty of the Christian Faith but which cannot suffice to convince the adversary. Consequently, it is necessary not to give the impression that we adhere to the truths of the Faith because of these practical arguments, since that would only confirm the adversaries in their error.²

The difficulty of refuting Muslim errors resided in the fact that their doctrine was very little known–a state of affairs which has not changed much. The Dominican Master General was not perhaps exaggerating a great deal when he wrote:

There are few people who know more about Mohammed and the Saracens than this: they are infidels, they do not believe in Christ, and they adore Mohammed as their God–which is, by the way, not true.

St. Thomas himself had only a fairly rudimentary understanding of the Muslim religion, whose followers he called "Gentiles," like the pagans. But he was aware of the limits of his knowledge: it was much easier for the first Doctors of the Church, he said,³ to refute the errors of the pagans whom they could know with precision because the pagans were their fellow-citizens, and they were themselves sometimes converted pagans. St. Thomas, when he wrote the Contra Gentiles, knew Islam only through the Arab philosophers and a translation of the Koran, which he had, no doubt, occasion to consult.

A few years later the Doctor communis wrote De Rationibus Fidei Contra Saracenos, Graecos et Armenos. Of all his works, this is the one with the strongest missionary intention. Also titled Ad Cantorem Antiochenum, it is a response to certain Muslim objections to the Christian Faith as those objections were described by a Dominican cantor in the convent of Antioch. A reading of this work shows that the Muslim objections to the Faith were the same as they are now:

The Saracens, according to what you told me, make fun of the fact that we call Christ the Son of God, when God has no wife. They think we are crazy because we believe that there are three persons in God, and they think in fact that we believe in three gods. They also deride the fact that we affirm that Christ, the Son of God, was crucified for the salvation of the human race [they think someone else was put on the cross in place of Jesus]....They insult Christians because "they eat their God on the altar" every day, and so the body of Christ, even if it was as big as a mountain, would be consumed by now.

Among the missionaries of this period I will mention:

William of Tripoli (1220-1297)

Born in Lebanon, this missionary, whose ancestors were crusaders, entered the Dominican convent of Acre. He said he baptized more than a thousand Saracens. Since they lived under Christian domination and were liberated from the social pressure and the threats coming from Islamic law, which considered them apostates, their conversion was made easier. In a treaty finished in 1273, entitled Tractatus de Statu Saracenorum et de Mahomete Pseudopropheta et Eorum Lege et Fide, William presented his method: the preaching of the Word of God in all its simplicity, without philosophical argument and without recourse to arms. He attributed the extraordinary success he had with Islamic populations during the Arab conquest to this method.

St. Francis of Assisi (1181 or 1182-1226)

St. Francis of Assisi himself was concerned with Islam; in Chapter 16 of his Rule he spoke of Brothers who would go into Muslim countries, and gave them this advice:

All those Brothers who, through divine inspiration, wish to go to the countries of the Saracens and other infidels can do so with the permission of their minister and servant. And let the minister grant this permission, and not refuse it, if he deems them apt for this mission, because he will owe an explanation to the Lord if he acts imprudently–for that as for other things.

The Brothers who leave have two ways of behaving among the infidels. The first is not to enter into discussion, but to "submit to every human creature, because of God" (St. Paul) and to affirm oneself as a Christian. The second is, when they sense that God wills it, to announce His Word, so that the pagans believe in the omnipotent God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, receive baptism and become Christians, for "he who is not reborn of the water and the Holy Ghost cannot enter into the Kingdom of God" (Jn. 3:4).

They can preach these thoughts, and all others that are agreeable to God because, as the Lord says in the Gospel, "Whoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father who is in heaven, and whoever shall be ashamed of me and of my word, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he comes in his glory, with his Father and the holy angels" (Mt. 10:32; Lk. 9:26).

Let all our Brothers everywhere remember that they have given themselves utterly to our Lord Jesus Christ. For the sake of His love they must expose themselves to all visible and invisible enemies, for, as the Lord says, "He who loses his soul for my sake shall gain it for all eternity."

For St. Francis, the spreading of the Gospel does not come first, because it is first necessary to be accepted as Christians by the infidels, but it is not secondary: it is the final cause. The moderns interpret St. Francis's attitude as the "dialogue" we speak of today. But dialogue–that is to say, knowing the Muslims, and living with them–is not an end for St. Francis; it is a means. And this is one of the handicaps of today's Church: it no longer wishes to convert, and it preaches only dialogue.

Blessed Raymond Lulle (1235-1316)

As for the Franciscans, we should mention Blessed Raymond Lulle, the Franciscan tertiary, who was called the greatest of the medieval missionaries among the Muslims, not because of his numerical success, but because of his ideas, which went beyond those of all his contemporaries. His works reveal a profound knowledge of Islam, such that certain persons would like to see in him a precursor of ecumenical dialogue.

At his instigation, the Council of Vienna created, in 1312, university chairs for Arabic, and the Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldean languages in Paris, Bologna, Oxford, and Salamanca. But this decision, although renewed by the Council of Basel in 1434, had no great success. The definitive failure of the Crusades, as well as the partition of the world into two enemy blocks, the Christian kingdoms and the Turkish empire, made the apostolate among the Muslims very difficult. The existing contacts were necessarily those of war, and this was for centuries an obstacle to any attempt at conversion. The division of Christianity and the wars which resulted from the Protestant Reformation put off missionary zeal. When zeal was revived with the foundation of the Jesuit order, it was oriented toward the new countries of the Americas and the Far East, where missionary conquests proved to be easier and more fruitful.

Scanning through history: after the Crusades, the conversion of the Muslims was no longer possible. There were, certainly, the Christian trading posts which the sultans authorized in North Africa and on the coast of Turkey. These were districts reserved for Christians, where they had their shops and a church. But these quarters were closed in the evening, and during the Friday prayer no Christian had the right to leave them. The Muslims could not be converted. In a Muslim country, even if Christians are sometimes tolerated, conversions are impossible.

What was possible was to ransom captives.

The Situation of Christians in the Turkish Empire

Ransoming Captives

The failure of Charles V of Spain before Algiers in 1541 was to a considerable extent the origin of the Barbary corsairs' reputation for invincibility. The Christian powers abandoned control of the Mediterranean to them⁴ and they continued their brigandage, overtaking Christian ships, enriching the cities of Barbary (the name for North Africa) with the spoils and filling their prison camps with slaves. Some of these corsairs were apostates who had bought their liberty by denying the Christian Faith and becoming Muslims.

From ancient times, those who were captured in war were sold as slaves; the Roman Empire itself abandoned those of its soldiers who were taken prisoner. Religious orders were soon founded to ransom those who had been captured by Muslims. Captive Christians were prevented from practicing their religion and constantly harassed so that they would renounce their faith; they were in great danger of apostasy, since this generally resulted in a better life. That is why this work of ransoming began alongside the Crusades.

Attempts to escape were very cruelly punished and were relatively rare. St. Vincent de Paul's account is particularly interesting. In July 1605, as he was returning by sea from Marseilles to Narbonne, his ship was attacked by corsairs from Tunis. He and his companions in misfortune were taken prisoner and sold as slaves in Tunis:

Merchants came to inspect us as if we were horses or cattle for sale, making us open our mouths in order to see our teeth, feeling our ribs, probing our injuries and making us walk, trot and run, carry burdens, and then fight to determine each individual's strength, and a thousand other brutalities. I was sold to a fisherman, who soon had to get rid of me. [He was prone to seasickness. The fisherman sold him to an old man, a very humane physician; he had to look after the fires of ten or twelve ovens. The physician left him to his nephew, who sold him soon after the death of his uncle. An apostate from Nice, in the Savoy, bought him.] One of his three wives was a Greek Christian, but schismatic; another was Turkish, and served as the instrument of God's mercy in withdrawing her husband from apostasy, returning him to the Church and delivering me from slavery. Since she was curious to know how we lived, she came to see me every day in the fields where I was digging, and one day she ordered me to sing the praises of my God. Remembering the Quomodo Cantabimus in Terra Aliena of the children of Israel in the Babylonian captivity, I began, with tears in my eyes, to sing the psalm Super Flumina Babylonis, and then the Salve Regina, and several other things, in all of which she took astonishing delight. That evening, she told her husband that he had been wrong to quit his religion, which seemed to her a very good religion because of the description I had given her of our God. And the praises I had sung in her presence, she said, had given her such divine pleasure that she no longer believed that the paradise of her forefathers, which she hoped one day for herself, was as glorious, and full of joy, as the delight she had experienced when I was singing the praises of my God. Her husband told me, the very next day, that some practical problem was all that kept us from going off to France, and that in a short time he would resolve that problem so well, that God would be praised. The "short time" was ten months, during which he held me in vain but ultimately fulfilled hope, and then we were able to escape in a little boat, and went, on June 28, to Aigues-Mortes.

This picturesque letter helps us understand better why St. Vincent de Paul never forgot the country in which he suffered as a slave for two years. In the midst of everything that he did to relieve suffering humanity, he thought also of using all his strength to aid the unfortunate Christian captives, sending some of his priests to Algiers to console them, share their fate, and intervene in their favor. But they were not to try to reach out to the Muslims and the apostates, since that would have made it impossible for them to remain with the Christian slaves:

You have another obstacle to avoid among the Turks and the apostates: in the name of our Lord, have no contact with those people; do not expose yourselves to the danger which could result from this because, as I have said, you would thereby risk everything, and do great wrong to the poor Christian slaves, who would no longer be assisted, and you would in the future close the door to the freedom we now have to serve God a little in Algiers and elsewhere.

Consider the harm you would do for a small apparent good. It is easier and more important to keep several slaves from embracing evil than to convert a single apostate. A physician who prevents illness has more merit than one who cures it. You are not responsible for the souls of the Turks and the apostates. Your mission does not extend to them. It is limited to the poor Christian captives.

The Conquest of North Africa

In 1827, the sovereigns of Europe, gathered at Aix-la-Chapelle, asked the King of France, Charles X, to put an end to the attacks on ships, the massacres, and the unceasing kidnappings carried out by Muslim pirates. "Cleaning up the Mediterranean" was the real reason for the French intervention and the conquest of Algeria. One of the consequences envisaged in the report presented by the Duke of Clermont-Tonnerre before the Algiers expedition was also "to civilize the Arabs and make Christians of them." But the Revolution of July 1830 overthrew Charles X and put in his place a king less well disposed to the Church.

The First Bishops of North Africa

On August 10, 1838, Pope Gregory XVI restored the ancient episcopal seat of Algiers. The first bishop, Antoine-Louis-Adolphe Dupuch (1800-56), consecrated Algeria to our Lady and undertook charitable work for the Muslims, as well as certain indispensable constructions. His cathedral was a former mosque. In the choir he had preserved, in Arabic, an elegy to Mary taken from the Koran: "God has chosen thee, He has exempted thee from all filth, He has elected thee from among all women" (III, 39), in order to show that we too venerate the Holy Virgin. With a rather small number of clergy, Bishop Dupuch took care of a population of 60,000 soldiers and 25,000 settlers, but when he turned to the native population he ran into difficulty with the French Administration. On July 5, 1830, General de Bourmont had said, in the name of King Charles X and of France, "the practice of the Muslim religion shall remain free." Subsequent governments had interpreted this article very strictly, forcing Arabs to remain Muslim by means of legal or paralegal barriers. The first bishops of Algiers who rose up against these measures were told by imperturbable civil servants, "Avoid all proselytizing for fear of stimulating fanaticism and provoking reprisals"–thus, although France conquered the body, it prevented the Gospel from conquering souls and the fatherland from conquering the hearts.

Bishop Pavy, Bishop Dupuch's successor, erected a sanctuary on the heights of Algiers, dedicated to Our Lady of Africa. In the back of the apse, above the altar, he had the following inscription engraved: "Our Lady of Africa, pray for us and for the Muslims." On May 31, 1858, he founded an archconfraternity of prayer which soon spread into France and, within a few years, had 80,000 members. He composed and caused to be recited a prayer to Our Lady of Africa for the conversion of the Muslims:

O Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary, so full of mercy, may you be moved by the blindness of the Muslims. Mother of God made man, obtain for them knowledge of our holy religion, and the grace to embrace and practice it faithfully, that through your powerful intercession we all may be united in the same faith, the same hope, and the same love of your divine Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified and died for the salvation of all men and who, gloriously risen, reigns in the Unity of the Father and the Holy Ghost world without end. Amen.

Our Lady of Africa, pray for us and for the Muslims.

In 1868, as soon as he obtained from the Emperor Napoleon III the principle of freedom of action for the missionaries, the new archbishop, Charles-Martial-Allemand Lavigerie (1825-92), founded the Society of African Missionaries (the White Fathers) and the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa. His goal was to begin a policy of cooperation with the native population through orphanages, schools, medical assistance, and hospitals–through charity in all its forms, in order to predispose souls by "discreet preaching, prepared for by a wide distribution of the benefits of Christian charity."

Archbishop Lavigerie had maintained the Prayer Society founded by Bishop Pavy. His successor, Archbishop Leynaud, fourth Bishop of Algiers, tried in these terms to reactivate it:

We no longer pray, or we pray too vaguely, for the conversion of the infidels....The Prayer Society itself–what has become of it, here in our dear Basilica of Our Lady of Africa? Where are its 80,000 members? Alas! This Prayer Society is no longer active.

Blessed Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916)

His most ardent wish was that

the entire country would be covered with priests, Brothers, Sisters, and good Christians remaining in the world, in order to come into contact with all these poor Muslims, to approach them gently, educate them, civilize them, and in the end make Christians of them.

And so he deplored the indifference of the French Christians with regard to the Muslims of North Africa:

Pray also for all the Muslims of our North-West African Empire, now grown so vast. This is a solemn moment for their souls, as it is for France. In the eighty years that Algiers has belonged to us, we have done so little for the salvation of the souls of the Muslims that one could say that we have done nothing. If the Christians of France do not understand that it is their duty to evangelize their colonies, it is a fault for which they will have to answer, and it will be the loss of a multitude of souls that could have been saved.

And he gave out this prophetic warning:

If France does not govern the native people of its colony better than it has, it will lose its colony, and these people will fall back into barbarism, with the end of all hope of Christianization for a long time.

Charles de Foucauld knew that the work he had undertaken would require a great deal of time. He wrote to a friend:

It seems that with Muslims, the right way is to civilize them first, to educate them first, to make them like us. Once this is done, their conversion will almost be a fait accompli, because Islam cannot withstand education: history and philosophy vanquish without a struggle. Islam yields as night does to day. The work to be done here, and with all Muslims, is one of moral elevation: raising them morally and intellectually by all means available to us; getting near them, being in contact with them, being friends with them; removing their prejudices against us through daily contact and conversation with them, and the example of our own lives; modifying their ideas; making proper education available to them; providing at last for the education of these souls: teaching them, in elementary and secondary schools, what is taught in such schools; teaching them, through daily, intimate contact what one learns in a family; becoming their family....When this is achieved, their ideas will be infinitely changed; their morals improved by the same process, and passage to the Gospel will occur without difficulty.

Catechumens Coming from Islam

There are, indeed, people who convert to Islam, and for various reasons: a first discovery of faith in God after an atheistic childhood, the influence of Muslim friends, the attraction of the Muslim mystique, a need for firm and strict law in a permissive society, the reconversion of leftist militants who consider Islam the religion of the Third World, idealization of a more family- and community-oriented Islam in an excessively individualistic world, forced conversion in the case of certain mixed marriages, or someone who feels frustrated because he or she imagines Islam to be more permissive than her or his original religion. This phenomenon of conversion can also be explained by the fact that Catholics no longer dare speak of God, and that the Church has become silent. According to certain analysts, converts to Islam come principally from families that have not practiced their religion for several generations and have for a long time been critical of the local priest.

If some people make a lot of noise about these conversions, it would be a great mistake to think that there is some sort of landslide: all considered, the contemporary movement toward Islam is hardly stronger than the movement in the opposite direction, Islam toward Christianity. According to the official figures of the Mosque of Paris, it may even be diminishing. There are a rather large number of adult baptisms of persons of Muslim origin, and it is in constant progression (currently 350 to 400 per year recorded by diocesan catechumenates). And nearly ten percent of catechumens are of Muslim origin.⁶

A priest told me that, for several years, certain people have been saying, "I'm quitting Islam. What should I do to become Christian?" The occasion for this may have been the assassination of the Atlas monks, or shame at what is happening in Afghanistan, for example. In Munich, in the subway, I met an Iranian who told me, "I became a Christian several years ago." According to some people, you must never speak of these conversions, lest you be accused of proselytizing. But today, even in the modern Church, many are convinced that we should no longer be silent about this phenomenon; on the contrary, we should speak about it and inform our diocesan catechumenates. What must at all costs be avoided is to give the name of the persons who have converted...because the neophytes, as well as their families in France or abroad, could pay the price.

Persons from the Maghreb are often among the candidates for baptism in France today; baptism is also requested by people from black Africa, Turkey, the Middle East, the Indian Ocean, and Asia:

The religious itinerary of these catechumens, and their view of Islam, are necessarily influenced by the relationships they have had with their original community. For some of them, adopting the Christian faith is the ultimate result of a religious journey which began in Islam. For others there is a radical rejection of Islam, often linked to unhappy family or community experiences.⁷

In order to avoid intense family tensions, many Christians coming from Islam do not reveal, even to members of their own families, that they have adhered to the Christian faith. Although conversions to Christianity are more readily accepted by sub-Saharan Africans than by Maghreb or Turkish families, the family generally feels ashamed and disoriented if one of its members turns publicly from Islam in order to embrace another faith. From the very beginning, it is important to assure the catechumen of utter discretion.

The infinite variety of persons and situations makes it difficult to classify different kinds of conversion.

Fr. Jean-Marie Gaudeul, the new Secretary of the SRI (Secrétariat pour les Relations avec l'Islam [Secretariat for Relations with Islam]), composed a few years ago a work on catechumens of Muslim origin: Called by Christ: They Come from Islam. The roads which lead from Islam to Christianity are numerous, he says, but they can be classified in five categories in which God calls these Muslims who wish to become Christians. Without wishing to give too much importance to classifications, we can mention:

l Those who are fascinated by the personality of Jesus, to whom they begin to pray, experimenting with His power and goodness, and who finish by recognizing Him as the Son of God;

l Those who seek a community according to God: a community they find in the Church;

l Those who, after realizing that they are sinners, seek the experience of gratuitous forgiveness–which is interpreted in various ways by Muslims;

l Those who seek first of all a message coherent in itself and with regard to life, and who need intellectual certainty: trained in polemics, they have discovered the Bible, and the coherence of the Gospel attracts them;

l Those who, most of all, want to encounter God, to pray to Him heart to heart–which is not the case in Islam, where prayer is an ensemble of rites.

In addition to these motivations, two other causes deserve to be mentioned. The first is that of meeting Christians who live the Gospel:

More and more frequent relations between Christians and Muslims can lead certain Muslims to put the question of God differently, and to seek out what inspires Christians. The desire to live a life of faith in the context of French society can lead these Muslims to follow the path of their Christian friends.

They appreciate their "spirit of welcome, their open minds, their sharing, their freedom and their seriousness." On other occasions, the road is that of a dream–which can seem disorienting to the Western mentality. This is most often the case for Muslims who seek a personal relationship with God and a life of prayer not found in Islam: dreams and visions very often punctuate the itinerary of those who seek God. This road is often the only one that makes it possible for profound hopes to emerge in spite of the psychological conditioning which is violently hostile to any kind of "apostasy." God can in this way take the itinerary of conversion in hand and supply by these means extra spiritual force in order to continue to the very end.

Whatever the explanation we may give to these phenomena, it is important to take into account the words of the candidate for baptism, without contesting this kind of experience. It is indeed by the seriousness and the generosity of the catechumen that we can judge his action.

Appropriately, prudence is recommended:

Certain Muslims may be curious as to how the Church acts with regard to catechumens coming from Islam. Malevolence cannot be excluded.

It is advisable

to be cautious, and to be sure that testimony given cannot be suspected of proselytizing or lack of respect for Islam; never engage in dialogue on the telephone or by mail with persons whose true intentions you do not know.

The Church Must Be Missionary

True Missionary Ecclesiology and Theology

Weary of fighting its enemies, the prelates of the Catholic Church, in a kind of euphoria, opened up to the world during the Second Vatican Council. One might have thought that the Church had no more enemies. With the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes and its declarations on religious liberty and non-Christian religions, the Council tried to put the Church in tune with the modern world, with which it was entering into dialogue; it adopted the strategy, if not the principles, of the liberal Catholicism it had up to then condemned, for example in the Syllabus.

Islamic-Christian dialogue as it is practiced in Europe has grave deficiencies. It brings out the weakness of contemporary Catholic theology, which seeks to approach the mystery of salvation through modern individualistic philosophy much more than through Revelation. Only what Pope John Paul II called the "dialogue of life" is truly useful, because it can be an effective means of integration. These contacts break down barriers, help Muslims have conversations with Christians, and thus integrate the country they have come to. But a Christian cannot stop there. A converted Muslim said so himself:

There is no dialogue, and there will be none. It's an illusion, because Muslims, when they are together, begin with the principle that they possess the truth. Christianity doesn't interest them, and so they're not ready to discuss religion. In doing so, they would have the impression of doubting themselves. In addition, their arguments are puerile, feeble, unconvincing. But even if they don't know it, many Muslims are waiting for the truth, and it is at that level of personal relationships that the priests have a role to play. If they love the truth, they must share it, at any price; that should be the natural act of any Christian. And this is possible when, as in France, Muslims are not subject to the influence of their community. Believe me, more than one Muslim living here is thinking about Christianity. Teaching them to love the true God, that is what the dialogue should be. Alas! Out of lassitude, out of cowardice, the Church has given up.¹⁰

Raymond Lulle said:

Let the Church cease to be missionary and it will immediately be threatened with internal weakness. The loss of the initial fervor explains the thrust of Islam, which has already cut off half of Christianity's territory and faithful.

History shows that very little has been done for the evangelization of Muslims, even when the apostolate among Muslims would theoretically have been possible. There was too much to do elsewhere: we did what was easiest, and what we thought was most urgent.

If dialogue cannot replace the Word, evangelization does not consist only of spreading the Gospel. There is, for example, preaching; there is also the effectiveness of prayer, more or less ignored today.

Official texts are most often silent on this subject and, consequently, there are few people today who pray for the conversion of Muslims, think of converting them, or study in order to do so. For that matter, we often hear that the followers of Mahomet are impossible to convert–this is a lack of faith in the power and grace of God. Certainly it is a very difficult thing, especially in a country with Muslim law, since he who converts risks a death sentence.¹¹ But the facts prove that it is not impossible, especially when Muslims live among Christians.

Since Vatican II, the new principles of evangelization have come down to a dialogue which seeks to discover in non-Christian religions those riches which the Holy Ghost may have placed in them. More than a missionary method emphasizing the importance of preparing souls for the preaching of the Gospel through education and charitable acts, this dialogue consists in discovering part of the Word of God in what the other believes, and in marveling at this. Not only is this method based upon a false conception of religions, which is neither founded upon Holy Scripture nor confirmed by history, but in particular it is helpless before Islam. This theological dialogue practiced with Muslims can only increase their contempt for Christians and confirm them in their errors because they see in it either a trap or a sign of weakness.

Lowering the barrier that separates Muslim from Christian, eliminating prejudices through education and charitable acts–this is what true dialogue should be. It is a long-term undertaking to seek, by all possible means and with clear respect for Muslim individuals, to open them to Christian civilization. In a word, it is a question of showing them true values, rather than turning them into atheists or rootless persons who are disgusted with a European civilization that rejects its own roots and embodies the "culture of death."

Genuine Studies of the Koran

Since it is necessary, in order to speak with a Muslim, to be familiar with those objections that prevent him from approaching Christ, a missionary among Muslims must study their doctrine. But if there are today numerous Christians well versed in Islamic studies, there are very few whose thinking is not preconditioned by the indifference to religion inculcated by the last Council.¹² This new teaching has killed the missionary spirit and led many Catholic specialists in Islam to approach the study of the Koran as if it were a book revealed by God. And if they do not go quite so far, they take as their starting point the Muslim tradition–an unscientific approach that explains the Koran with oral traditions invented as the need for clarification arose during the first two or three centuries after it was written: the hadith. This is done in such a way that the Koran becomes incomprehensible, and we find ourselves in a vicious circle: we explain the Koran with the hadith, which are clarifications meant to explain the Koran. It is then impossible to discover the true sense of this book and the real conditions in which it was written.

It is urgent to apply to the study of the Koran the critical method that would make it possible to formulate intellectually rational hypotheses about the creation of the sacred book of Muslims and therefore of Islam. And independently of any missionary view, it can only be advantageous for scientific research to do away with the Islamic tradition of the Koran, which came to Mohammed during the night of the revelation and is said to have been withdrawn from him subsequently, and then restored according to need.

For a Muslim, the Koran must not become the object of historical or psychological research, since the a priori of revelation is opposed to any desire for research. If the Muslim has the faith, he ignores its real content, as well as the origin of his religion, and the historical scope of the Koran and its relationship with the Bible, the Old Testament and the Gospel. Helping Muslims free themselves from their arbitrary or unfounded convictions could indeed be the result of Koran studies, but only if they themselves are free of Islamic prejudices.

A Policy That Seeks the Common Good

If the "dialogue of life" is not enough, if modern theological dialogue is impossible, indeed harmful, if our secular world is repulsive to the Muslims and Islamization fanaticizes them, what solution can be found for the conversion of Muslims? Cardinal Lavigerie gave the response and others have repeated it after him: a policy which moves from the secular world to Islamization is doomed to failure, and this has been amply proven by history. The solution, which would have been the means of assimilating North African populations, and which will be the key to the integration of Muslims present in France and Europe, is to restore a society that renounces neither its roots nor its Christian culture. We are obviously a long way from that,¹³ mainly because the men of the Church are no longer principally inspired by the data of Revelation and of the Faith, and because politicians are no longer guided by the search for the common good. They are all guided by an ideology: that of the rights of man, supposedly theologically justified by a new concept of the Faith and of the relationship of man to God.

Thus, while present conditions are ripe for a fruitful apostolate (the possibility of missionary dialogue exists, as does that of acquiring preliminary knowledge to facilitate it), religious indifference on the part of the government and of the Church hierarchy is such that what could have been a marvelous missionary opportunity has already become a serious danger.

It was a grave error to export secularity to Muslim countries. The Muslim is an essentially religious being, sensitive to all forms of piety. What disgusts him profoundly is the absence of faith. In the eyes of a Muslim, a man who does not pray is a kelb, a dog.

Even a secular state should be able to realize that its lax immigration policy serves neither the common good nor the immigrants, who are dissatisfied and rootless. If ideology did not blind it, it would not maintain, in parallel, a suicidal family and social policy that ruins all chances of control over immigration. Like a sick organism suffering from anemia and paralysis, having lost its immune defense system, modern Western society, not satisfied with its physical decline through abortion, the drop in the birth rate, drugs, and general delinquency, is no longer capable of maintaining its identity, and no longer even wishes to.

Finally, Islam a la française, as some people desire it, is a dangerous gamble: is it not a desire to "de-Islamize" Islam? Like it or not, there is still an official, vigorous, and contemporary interpretation of Islam and of Sharia which turns Islam into fertile ground for fundamentalist Muslim and terrorist movements. If the government, in order to please or placate them, plays the game of Islamization by constructing mosques and cultural centers, it is playing a game it may well lose, as was the case in North Africa.

A counterbalance to Islam requires something very different from abandoning all reference to religion.

The Faith must be preached and, most of all, lived–showing, by example, that the authentic religious values of Islam are kept by Christianity in a more sublime form. Most Muslims who convert do so because of the example of their Christian friends, not because of an interreligious dialogue which, although it is supposed to be part of the Church's mission, is not meant to favor conversion. Does it contribute to conversion? No doubt it does, insofar as it removes barriers and animosities between Christians and Muslims. But any "dialogue" can do that–nd it is certainly not necessary for Christians to give the impression that they revere the Koran or Islam.

In any case, in the current state of things–unless we imagine a new Pentecost converting to Christ all those Muslim immigrants who have taken refuge here from the inhumanity of Islamic fundamentalists, before they in their turn convert their fellow Muslims in their adopted country–in the current state of things an enormous danger is appearing as we go down our blind alleys. It is therefore necessary to hope for the best and fear the worst, because the situation is extremely grave.

Let us hope that the following prophetic words will also become reality:

Learn by heart that it is only by Christianizing the Muslims that you will civilize them, that it is by civilizing them that you will integrate them, and that by integrating them that you will help produce more Cyprians and Augustines, more people like Vincent de Paul and the Curé d'Ars.¹⁴

Let us conclude with Cardinal Biffi:

I think that Europe will again become Christian, or will be Muslim. What seems to me to have no future is "the culture of nothingness"–of liberty without limits and without content, which seems to be the dominant attitude among European peoples; it will not be able to withstand the ideological assault from Islam which is sure to occur: only the rediscovery of the "Christian event" as man's only means of salvation–hat is to say, only the determination to resuscitate the ancient heart of Europe–will be able to offer an alternative result in this inevitable confrontation.¹⁵

In conclusion, I will summarize: Muslim doctrine, confirmed by experience in Muslim countries, makes conversion of a Muslim almost impossible under Sharia: he who preaches the doctrine of Christ, like the one who converts, is subject to severe penalties, including death. Even when the Church benefits from some liberty in a few Muslim countries (Morocco, Tunisia), Christian doctrine can be preached only to Christians. On the other hand, where Christianity dominated, Muslims were free to convert if they wished. This was the case in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It is the case today in Europe, but neither the secular government, nor the Church with its inter-religious dialogue and its New Theology, seeks this.

And so we understand better why St. Paul invited Timothy to pray for governments, that a calm and peaceful social life might take place amidst piety. Indeed, God wants all men to be saved and to know the truth–which is very difficult to achieve when the government is opposed to the Catholic religion. In a word: missionary action must make the social doctrine of the Church known without cutting it off from its foundation, which is the doctrine of Christ the King.

 

This is an abridged version of a conference given in Paris on March 8, 2006, by Fr. Patrice Laroche (SSPX), Professor at the Seminary of Zaitzkofen in Germany, and author of a doctoral dissertation on "The Evangelization of Muslims in France" (Strasbourg, 2001). The complete conference was published in DICI's bimonthly Christendom, No.7, September-October 2006, available online at www.dici.org. Edited by Angelus Press.

 

 

¹ Apostolic Vicar, and later Archbishop of Dakar from 1947 to 1962, Archbishop Lefebvre was familiar with the difficulties of converting a Muslim. See L'Eglise infiltrée par le modernisme (Eguelshardt: Fideliter, 1993), pp. 119-120.

² Contra Gentiles, I, c. 2 and 9.

³ Contra Gentiles, I, c. 2 in fine.

⁴ On the seas of the Levant, only the flags of the Most Serene Republic of Venice and of France had the right to be flown.

⁵ Service National du Catéchuménat, Catéchumènes venant de l'Islam (1999), 55pp.

⁶ Indeed, for the second consecutive year, the National Office of the Catechumenate has provided statistics and published a national study. The main figures are the following: in 1999, there were, officially, in France, 8,290 catechumens and 2,329 baptisms (the proportion of former Muslims is not given). On Easter, 2000, there were 9,474 catechumens and 2,503 baptisms, of whom 9%–about 225–came from Islam. Easter 2001: 8,945 catechumens and 2,363 baptisms, of whom 7%–about 165–came from Islam. The regions of Ile de France, Provence-Méditerranée, Center-East (Lyons), the East and the North recorded the largest numbers of Muslim conversions. This corresponds to the regions where the density of the Muslim population is greatest.

⁷ Ibid., p. 15 (fiche 3: Their relation to the Muslim community and the family [French]).

⁸ According to the Minister of Social Solidarity, Mrs. Livia Turco, there were, in the year 2000, 1,280,000 Muslims in Italy. Seventy thousand of them may be Italians who have converted to Islam (cf. La Repubblica, September 14, 2000).

⁹ Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, Pastoral Letter, September 12, 2000, entitled Note pastorale: la Citta de San Petronio nel terzio Milenio. Excerpts in French taken from Action Familiale et Scolaire, 153, February 2001, pp.61-65.

¹⁰ S.-P. Kerboua, l. c., p. 272.

¹¹ Questioned on this subject during the audience granted to President Chatami by John Paul II on March 11, 1999, the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran declared that this was an "internal Iranian question" (DT, March 13, 1999).

¹² Nostra Aetate, §3.

¹³ At the European Summit in Nice (December 2000), under a French presidency, a charter of fundamental rights was adopted. The project included a preamble, the second paragraph of which began, "Drawing upon its cultural, humanist and religious heritage, the Union is founded...." The French Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, considered it necessary to telephone Roman Herzog, President of the commission in charge of drafting the charter, to demand the correction of this preamble, on the grounds that for France, "a secular republic," the reference to a religious heritage was "unacceptable." "Religious" was replaced by "spiritual." But spirituality evokes an attitude or a disposition; it indicates no content whatsoever.

¹⁴ La XIIe Croisade, p.177.

¹⁵ Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, Note pastorale (September 12, 2000).