Defilement and Cleansing

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Defilement and Cleansing: A Possible Approach to Christian Encounter with Muslims Richard Y. Hibbert Missiology 2008 36: 343 DOI: 10.1177/009182960803600306 The online version of this article can be found at: http://mis.sagepub.com/content/36/3/343

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Defilement and Cleansing A Possible Approach to Christian Encounter with Muslims RICHARD Y. HIBBERT

Beginning with the observation that many Muslims seem less concerned about sin and guilt than they are about dejlement and pollution, this article explores anthropological perspectives as well as those of formal and folk Islam on defilement and cleansing. It argues that avoiding and dealing with defilement i s central to the worldview and daily lives of most Muslims, and that it pervades both formal and folk expressions of Islam. Perspectives on defilement and cleansing in Islam are then compared with biblical understandings, leading to suggestions for initial encounter with Muslims and for discipleship and worship practices among Muslim Background Believers.

Introduction he gospel is often misunderstood when Christians share their faith with Muslims. Misunderstandings between Muslims and Christians arise because the worldviews of these two religions are built on significantly different sets of assumptions. The lack of felt need for a Savior is perhaps the major challenge in witnessing to Muslims. Kateregga, a Muslim, notes:

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Islam does not identify with the Christian conviction that man needs to be redeemed. The Christian belief in the redemptive sacrificial death of Christ does not fit the Islamic view that man has always been fundamentally good, and that God loves and forgives those who obey his will. (Kateregga and Shenk 1997:175)

The challenge of helping Muslims discover their need of a Savior is also illustrated by Bruce Thomas, a Christian living in south Asia, who writes: I have discovered that one of the most difficult aspects of evangelking Muslims is getting them to appreciate their need of a Savior. I have found the Islamic doctrines Richard Hibbert works with WEC International, where he focuses on providing in-service training and consultation for church planting. He was involved in church planting and leadership development for emerging churches in Turkey and Bulgaria for 12 years. ~~

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Missiology: An lntemutional Review, Vol. XXXVI, no. 3, Julv 2008

344 Richard Y. Hibbert of God and man to be such that Muslims tend to be unaware of their sinfulness and inability to save themselves. (Thomas I994:284) An assumption informing this article is that the felt need for cleansing and purity shared by many Muslims may be used to help them recognize their need of a Savior. In order for Muslims to make a cognitive, evaluative, and affective connection with the gospel, followers of Jesus will need to make deliberate connections with the Muslim understanding of the world, and in particular, with their understanding of good and evil and their felt needs in this area. Emphasizing that we must begin with the concepts people already have when sharing our faith with them, Hiebert and his co-authors (1999:222) write: “Their understandings are not biblical, but they often provide a beginning point for teaching biblical concepts of sin.” This article presupposes that a person will more easily understand a message when it is framed in terms of the hearer’s frame of reference or worldview. To be effective in communicating the gospel with Muslims, Christians need to do their best to understand the themes that make up the worldview of Islam. This article explores one of these themes -that of defilement and purity.

Evidence for the Importance of Defilement and Cleansing from Daily Life The subject of defilement and cleansing emerges from my own experience in Turkey and in Bulgaria, working as an evangelist and church planter among Turks and the Muslim-background Millet people. In sharing the gospel with Muslims in these two countries, my co-workers and I found that a major obstacle to people coming to faith in Christ was their anxiety about who would wash their body when they died. Although some of these people were seriously considering following Christ, they were horrified at the thought that their corpse might not be washed. We also began to notice that Muslims identified with the need to have a clean heart. It soon became clear to us, however, that our understanding of purity was not the same as that of the people among whom we were living. On one occasion, I was standing outside the church’s meeting place to welcome people when a young (unmarried) man arrived late and came up to me. After greeting me, he whispered in my ear that he had just had sexual intercourse, but that he had not washed. Could he go into the meeting, he wondered. He did not think so, and I realized that in his mind the problem was not the illicit sex itself, but the fact that he had not washed to ritually remove the uncleanness before approaching God. I was so bewildered that I ushered him into the meeting room, after hastily telling him it would be good to talk together afterwards. Thomas’s experience is similar: While my Muslim friends and neighbours do not worry much about “little sins” like lying and cheating, their daily lives and religious rituals seem to revolve around something which I would consider to be even less significant, namely their ceremonial purity. (1994:284) Thomas explains that one of his Muslim friends used to check whether her mother’s hair was wet in order to work out whether she had slept with a man that night. He suggests that “perhaps the greatest need felt by these Muslim people is not

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for assurance of salvation but for deliverance from the tyranny of being in a near constant state of defilement” (Thomas 1994:287). Both his experience and mine suggest that, for many Muslims, ritual uncleanness is seen as more dangerous for the individual than the possible sin or guilt associated with illicit sex.

Understanding Defilement and Cleansing from Three Perspectives Western Christians find the concept of defilement difficult to understand, as it has almost disappeared as a conscious category in Western cultures. In order to understand the popular need among Muslims for cleansing and purity, and so understand this potential point of contact, we need to understand what they mean by “defilement.” Insights about defilement and purity can be gleaned from anthropology, the literature of formal Islam, and descriptions of Muslims’ daily lives. Anthropological Perspectives on DeJlement and Cleansing Elements of formal and folk Islam are mixed in the minds and hearts of many Muslims (Musk 1989). While formal Islam is concerned with questions about the ultimate origin, purpose, and destiny of the universe and humans, folk Islam seeks to provide answers to the daily problems of sickness, guidance, death, and what is right and wrong. Patai notes: “Beneath the thin veneer of official doctrine are old popular beliefs, held by the masses who know little of the theological tenets of their religion” (1983: 145). The theme of defilement vs. purity is part of the larger concern with what is right and what is wrong. Hiebert and his co-authors note that “Concepts of a moral order based on mechanistic notions of purity and pollution are almost universal” (1999: 208). Although formal Islam borrowed much of its code of purity and pollution from Judaism (Woodberry 1996), it is likely that its worldview has just as much in common with the pre-Islamic religion and culture of those who have embraced it (cf. Schreiber 1998, iii-iv). To be defiled is to be dirty, but not in the sense of a lack of hygiene or the presence of bacteria. Douglas (1966) theorized that, in most cultures, dirt is essentially matter that is out of place. Wherever there is the concept of dirt, she writes, there is a system, since dirt is “the by-product of a systematic ordering and classification of matter” ( 1 966:36). The state of defilement, in this conceptualization, is seen as dangerous, in that it is a threat to the moral order. Priest’s (1993) ethnographic work led him to question Douglas’ well-known theory and to propose instead that dirt is not so much a threat to the moral order as it is something which invokes disgust and threatens safety and well-being. Despite the differing understandings of the nature of defilement in Douglas’ and Priest’s analyses, they both emphasize the link between defilement and danger. Whatever the precise reason for considering defilement to be dangerous, people need to deal with this danger. They generally do this in two ways: by avoiding it if possible, and by using rituals to protect themselves from defilement and to purify themselves when they are defiled (Hiebert et al. 1999:211). Islam prescribes in minute detail how each activity of the body must be done, so much so that one writer has described Islam as “a constant attention paid to one’s own body” (Bouhdiba 198555). Many bodily functions, such as defecating, menstruating, sexual intercourse, and childbirth are inherently defiling, and each necessitates ritual washing for purity to be restored. Nearly all defiling actions are involuntary and

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essential for life. Being polluted over and over again is part of having a body. Thus, defilement is unintentional and inevitable. Almost every person will be in a state of defilement for some period of each day. Western missionaries need to recognize their cultural blind-spot in this area, in that they have traditionally relegated the idea of pollution to sanitation and health, without appreciating its spiritual and moral dimension. They have also reduced the category of pollution to extra-body aspects of the environment, such as air or water, and do not normally apply the concept to people. This blind-spot makes it difficult for Western missionaries to see the connection between defilement and sin, and between holiness and ritual cleanness. Islamic Perspectives on DeJlement and Cleansing Formal Islam and folk Islam provide significantly different perspectives on defilement and cleansing. Therefore, this article will examine them separately.

Formal Islam Three of Islam’s five pillars - Salat (the daily prayers), Ramadan (the month of fasting), and Hajj (pilgrimage) are strongly associated with purity. So important is purity that one of the early Shiite imams placed it as the second pillar of Islam in his scheme of seven pillars (Cragg and Speight 1980:146). The most important prerequisite for doing Salar, or prayers made five times a day, is ritual washing to remove ritual impurity. Before a Muslim prays, “he must be spotlessly clean and pure” (Kateregga and Shenk 1997:94). Khouj, in explaining how this is done, also gives a list of defiling actions, which illustrates the pervasiveness of defiling actions in daily life: Wudu,ablution, is made during the day if one urinates or defecates, sleeps deeply, faints or temporarily loses sanity, touches one’s private parts with the hand or in order to obtain a pleasurable reaction, and red’ah, (to perform an act or speak words that temporarily negates one’s belief), . . .touches a wife sensually, or if the wife to do the same with her husband (sic). (Khouj 1994:27)

This ritual ablution is thus repeated many times a day by devout Muslims, reinforcing the necessity of purity, the awfulness of defilement, and the boundary between the two. Ablutions need to be performed from the beginning again if during them or during prayer anything escapes from the urinal tract or anus, or the person vomits. The high point of any Muslim’s life, the Hajj or pilgrimage, is also focused on purity. The pilgrim must be mentally and physically clean as he makes his way toward the Kaa’bah, which itself “symbolizes the purification and unification of belief.. .. and thus Muhammad cleansed it and “removed every impurity and remnant of idolatry” from it because Allah “wanted all physical, moral, and mental pollutants removed from His House” (Khouj 1994:39). The pilgrimage is essentially “a journey of selfpurification” (Khouj 1994:44), and as a result of it, the pilgrim is believed to attain the same position of that of an innocent newborn infant (Parshall 1994:89). The time of fasting is clearly demarcated as sacred, and those fasting must keep themselves pure. The Qur’an forbids sexual intercourse or the touching of one’s wife while fasting during Ramadan (Parshall 1994:78-79). Fasting is thought to purify the ”

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person, as illustrated by one teacher of the Qur’an, who related that “his concern about sexual lust leads him to fast every Friday in an effort to obtain mental purity” (Parshall 1994:31). According to Sufi Islam, “The purity of hearts is the key of the unseen” (Juji 1938:121). Thus, each of the rites above should involve an outward purification of the body, accompanied by a prayer for an inner purification. Repentance, a central feature of Islamic piety, is something that is done repeatedly and is linked with ritual purity in the sense that it is seen as a kind of inward purification (Denny 1979:657). While doing the ablutions, the Muslim “prays to God to cleanse him of the sins he has committed with his two hands knowingly and unknowingly, to cleanse him also of the sins committed by the mouth.. . . (Ashraf 1987:ll I). In addition to the outward form of ritual prayer, there is also internal prayer ” . . . which purifies the heart” (Ashraf 1987:112). Fasting is also both external and internal. The primary condition of the Hujj is, according to Sufis, “purity of intention” (Ashraf 1987:120). The boundaries between what is sacred or pure and what is profane or polluting are clearly demarcated in Islam. The sacredness of certain spaces, certain times, and certain objects is clear. The ultimate example of sacred space is the city of Mecca, and especially the Kaa’bah. Only Muslims are allowed to enter. Sacred time is exemplified in the ritual prayers offered at five defined times of day and in the month of fasting. Only the ritually clean can participate. Sacred things include copies of the Qur’an, and people feel they need a ritual wash before touching the book, which is usually stored at an elevated location to mark its sacredness. ”

Folk Islam In the minds of most Muslims, people become ritually defiled most frequently and seriously though sexual intercourse. Other bodily functions also defile but seem less serious, as does contact with the ground or carcasses. People who are ritually unclean are not allowed either to enter sacred places, such as mosques or shrines, or to contact things that are considered to possess holiness or blessing (buruka). If they break this rule, it is believed they will suffer illness or other injury to themselves, their families, or their property. Holy places, times, and things are believed to have a positive beneficial energy for pure people, but are dangerous for unclean people. Some of the things that are considered holy in various parts of the world include grain, bees, and horses, and these things are spoilt or injured by contact with the defiled person. Women are often considered especially dangerous and polluting, especially during their periods and after childbirth, and in this condition they are prohibited from entering mosques or shrines. or from visiting the dead (cf. Westermarck 1968, vo1.1:230-237; vol. 2: 107). There is a link between pollution and evil spirits. Ritually unclean people are more vulnerable than others to injury and illness, and to attack by evil spirits (jinn). “Moors say that a scribe is only afraid of evil spirits when he is sexually unclean, because then his reciting of the Koran - the most powerful weapon against such spirits would be of no avail” (Westermarck 1968, vol.l:231). One young Muslim related that he was terribly afraid when he woke up after a nocturnal emission to find that he was not wearing his charm, which would protect him from jinn (Richards 1998). Evil spirits seem to live in polluted places, such as toilets, near dead bodies, and around ritually unclean people (Westermarck 1968, vol. 2528). Turks, for example, believe

348 Richard Y. Hibbert that dirt is inhabited by evil spirits, so that when a woman cleans her home, she is also eliminating the evil spirits (Magnarella 1998:123-124). Thus, according to Musk (1979:218), folk Muslims reinterpret the ablutions before prayer as removing demonic pollution. “The dead body is regarded as a seat of infection, which defiles anything in its immediate neighbourhood” (Westermarck 1968, vol. 2522). The body of the dead person is meticulously washed according to detailed prescriptions of Islamic law to remove the impurity, and the dead person is clothed in white. The person doing the washing must be ritually clean, and any unclean person who sees the naked body after it has been washed makes the body unclean again, necessitating a repeat of the washing ritual. The water used in washing, once used, is polluted and polluting, and can cause illness or sterility (Westermarck 1968, vol. 2:443447). There is a hint in Islam, on the basis of one Hadith written by Imam al-Munthari, that sacrifice has the power to atone for sin (Schreiber 1998:103). In this writing, all Muslims are encouraged to offer sacrifices so that their sins can be washed away. Popular views on blood sacrifice entered into the Muslim community through the Hadith, and the idea of sacrifices atoning for sin is strong in folk Islam. At the same time, though, this idea is mixed with many other ideas about the meaning and purpose of sacrifices, the most important of these being protection from evil (Westermarck 1968, vo1.2:302-323,446). For example, Schreiber (1 998: 1 10-1 59) describes the great variety of sacrifices among the Muslim Worodougou of Ivory Coast and points out that the purposes of the sacrifices are protection from evil, bestowal of blessing, pardon for sin against the living or the ancestors, and pardon from God for the sins of one’s ancestors. Dejilement and Cleansing in the Wider Context of Sin and Salvation in Islam The topic of defilement and cleansing needs to be understood in the broader context of Islam’s view of sin and salvation. For the Muslim, sin is breaking God’s law and refusing to submit to God’s will. God’s law includes both personal piety and physical purity. Muslims believe that everyone inevitably sins, but that no person is inherently evil, and each child is born sinless (Dharmaraj and Dharmaraj 1998:212, 218). Muslims are not generally much concerned about sinning, unless they are caught. Their emphasis is not so much on avoiding sin as on obeying God’s requirements, such as the daily prayers (Christensen 2001: 268; Burns 1994:48-50). Parshall states that “most Muslims I have met are quite passive over the impact of sin in their lives” (1994:31). My experience and the observations of others (e.g. Westermarck 1968) indicate that, although Muslims are often not concerned about sin in general, they are anxious about defilement. Salvation in Islamic thought is finally based on the mercy of God, which is unknowable. “Theologians of Islam almost all agree that. . . whatever qualities of mercy and compassion there may be they are utterly dependent on the will of God, which no man can presume to know” (Christensen 1977:377-378). Many Muslims believe that having made the confession of faith will mean that even if they have to suffer temporary purgatory, they will go to Paradise. Others believe that Muhammad will intercede for them (although several verses in the Qur’an contradict this, e.g. Sura

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2:48 and Sura 3953-54). The most prevalent view is that they will be saved if their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds (cf. Goldsmith 1982:98). But in practice Muslims never display any assurance about whether or not they will ultimately be forgiven. The deathbed utterances of some of Islam’s great men highlight the uncertainty about salvation in Islam. Despite their exemplary lives as Muslim teachers, Abu Bakr and Umar each displayed extreme fear and uncertainty about their future after their deaths, and questioned out loud whether God would forgive them (Christensen 1977:378-380). Even Muhammad was reported to be afraid for his soul (Lindholm 1996:147). God is understood to deal with people as he pleases, and thus whether or not he will forgive an individual is unknowable and unpredictable.

A Biblical Perspective on Defilement and Cleansing No one theory of redemption can cover the whole story of what God has done through Jesus’ death and resurrection (LaHurd 1996:290). The dominant theories of the atonement in Western thought since the Reformation have been the legal formulation of justification and the relational formulation of reconciliation. But the New Testament does reveal other important aspects of the atonement, including the aspect of cleansing or purification from defilement. The Old Testament presents two purity systems: (1) the ritual purity system, which has similarities to that of Islam and is concerned with natural and unavoidable defilements, such as menstruation, seminal emissions, childbirth, infectious skin diseases, dead bodies, and unclean foods (Lev. 11-15; Num. 19), and ( 2 ) the moral purity system, which is concerned with the defiling force of sexual transgression, idolatry, and murder (Lev. 18:24-30; 19:31; 20: 1-3; Num. 35:33-34). Ritual defilement threatened the individual and anyone he touched (for example, a defiled person entering the temple would die, and also defile anyone and anything he or she touched), whereas moral defilement threatened the whole society. It polluted the land, leading to expulsion from the land, as well as separation from God (Lev. 15: 1-33; Numbers 35: 30-34; Ezek. 36: 16-19; Klawans 2001:153-154). Sin, guilt, and defilement are intimately intertwined in the Old Testament. People who touched anything unclean (even if they were unaware of it) became both unclean and guilty, and offenders needed both to confess their sin and to bring sacrifices for atonement (Lev. 5:2-3, 5-1 3). After the unavoidable time of ritual uncleanness after childbirth, a woman needed to bring sin and guilt offerings, and the result would be both atonement and ceremonial cleanness (Lev. 127-8). The temple, the land, and even God’s name were defiled by the sinful behaviour of the Israelites (Ezek. 5: 11; 22:4; 36: 17; 45:8; Jer. 2:7; 3: 1). Defilement is thus directly linked with sin. Ceremonial and inner purity are also linked in the Old Testament. People needed to be both ritually and morally pure to approach God. This is illustrated in Psalm 24:34: “Who may ascend to the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart.. , . One of the prophets’ key messages to God’s people was that ritual purity without moral purity was an abomination to God, so they must repent and look after the poor and the oppressed justly (e.g. Is. L:10-20). The people are urged to “wash and make yourselves clean. . . ,” here referring to inner rather than external purity (Is. I :16). ”

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The defiling power of sin is also a theme in the New Testament, even though the words for defilement and uncleanness are rarely used (cf. Heb. 12: 15; 2 Cor. 7: 1). The focus is not ritual defilement, but moral or whole-person defilement. For example, Jesus annuls the food laws in Matthew 15:l-20 and points to their true meaning, the need for people to be cleansed from the uncleanness inside them. True defilement is, first and foremost, a problem of the heart. The shift of emphasis to inner moral purity is illustrated by the way the main word for purity in the Septuagint (hagnos and its cognate hagnizo [to purify]) is used in the New Testament to express moral purity (Brown 1978:101- 102). The New Testament emphasis with regard to defilement and cleansing is that through the death of Christ, God’s people are cleansed and purified from the defilement of sin (Tit. 2:14; Heb. 9:14, 22; 10:22; 2 Pet. 1:9; 1 Jn. 1:7, 9). The book of Hebrews, especially in chapters nine and ten, provides an understanding of salvation in terms of cleansing. Describing worship under the old covenant, the writer shows that ritual purity through blood sacrifice of animals only brought outward, symbolic purity, but did nothing to cleanse the conscience of the worshipper (Heb. 9:6-13). The blood of Christ, however, achieved “decisive purgation of conscience and the effective removal of every impediment to the worship of God” (Lane I991 :240; Heb. 9: 14). Worshippers under the old covenant had to offer sacrifices in order to be repeatedly externally purified, but Jesus’ sacrifice of himself makes his people holy forever (Heb. 10: 1-14). The blood of Christ, signifying all that he accomplished in his death, completely purifies those who confess their sins to God and walk in the light (1 Jn. 1:7,9). The church was set apart and cleansed by Christ “by the washing with water through the word” (Eph. 5:26; cf. 1 Cor. 6:ll). Calvin emphasized this understanding of Christ’s sacrifice as washing away uncleanness or defilement (Kehm 1977,4546). Additionally, one may argue that baptism is primarily a symbol that depicts this complete purification and washing away of sin (Erickson 1985, 1095; cf. Acts 2:38; 1 Pet. 3:21; Tit. 35).

Commonalities and Differences between Islam and Christianity Concerning Defilement and Cleansing Islamic and Old Testament understandings of defilement and cleansing are similar. In each tradition, bodily discharges, contact with dead bodies, childbirth, contact with unclean animals, and sexual intercourse within marriage cause defilement, which requires ritual cleansing. In Israel, cleansing was accomplished either through washing or sacrifice or by being sprinkled with the water of cleansing. In the latter two cases, sacrifice was a dominant and memorable part of the process. This sacrifice points to the ultimate cleansing sacrifice of Jesus, which becomes the focal point of difference in the understanding of cleansing between Islamic and Old Testament traditions (cf. Heb. 9: 13-14). There are also fundamental contrasts between cleansing in Islam and cleansing in the New Testament. First, cleansing in the New Testament is cleansing of the whole person, including the heart, and not just the body. Second, it is a cleansing accomplished by Christ, not by people’s own actions. In Christianity, it is only through God’s initiative to send Jesus, and in turn, through Jesus’ death, that believers can be cleansed. Islam focuses on the body, both in its ability to defile the person, and in

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its need to be kept ceremonially clean. It also assumes that believers can keep themselves purified through their own efforts (even though there is never any assurance of having done enough). Underlying the differences between Islamic and Christian perceptions of defilement and cleansing are differing basic assumptions. Christensen rightly emphasizes this difference: Until the Jew, the Muslim and many a so-called Christian has learned to differentiate between the sinful perfection attained to by keeping certain relatively good laws and the sinless perfection which God demands of man, he will not be able to understand why his own righteousness is not enough to make him well-pleasing in God’s sight. (Christensen 2001 :268)

While ritual defilement is central to Islam, moral defilement is far more significant in Christianity. The awfulness of moral defilement, according to the Bible, is that it defiles God’s name and prevents God from living among His people (Ezek. 43: 69j. The relationship between people and God, a relationship that is characterized by mutuality because people are made in the image of God, is therefore broken. The only way to be cleansed is if God initiates the cleansing. This contrasts with Islam, in which the relationship between people and God is not mutual because people’s response to God can make no difference to him, and people have the ability in themselves to do what is right (Glaser 1986). Although adherence to Old Testament purity laws was not required of Gentile believers, it seems that Jewish Christians in the early church largely continued to abide by them. Jesus, Paul, and the writer to the Hebrews built on Old Testament understandings of defilement and cleansing; Jewish followers of Jesus in the book of Acts continued to engage in Temple activities and kept Old Testament-based purity laws, including the tradition of washing the dead (Acts 9:37); and Paul engaged in purification rites (Acts 21:24, 26). This suggests that Muslims who embrace Jesus’ cleansing of them may be able to continue some of their practices for ritual cleansing in modified form.

Implications for Initial Christian Encounter with Muslims The following suggestions are an attempt to help Muslims understand how the gospel addresses their need for cleansing and their fear of defilement. 1. Lxt Muslims know by our Iifeestvle that we ure striving for purity -inwardly and outwurd1.y. This is part of identifying with Muslims and helping them to trust us as people of purity and righteousness. It will include not eating pork and not drinking wine. Woodberry (1997: 182) illustrates how not washing was a stumbling-block in a Muslim country where a team of Christians had gone to help in response to a natural catastrophe:

Their work was appreciated, but their Muslim neighbours would not eat the food they gave them. It was assumed that the Christians were “unclean” when they prepared it because they did not bathe (ghusl) in the morning when they may have had sexual relations the night before. When they changed their bathing habits, their Muslims neighbours ate their food. (Woodberry 1997: 182)

352 Richard Y. Hibbert 2. Ask Muslim friends about their concept

of dejilement and pollution. We must not assume that all Muslims are the same, and it is important to draw out the individual’s or group’s understanding of this. Stories, parables (e.g. the Pharisee and the tax collector), verses from the Qur’an (e.g. “ . . . if you are in a state of pollution, purify yourself” [5:9]),and other illustrations can be used to focus first on the reason behind the requirement for ritual purity. Why is this purity necessary? What is the purpose behind ablutions? What is the problem with praying without washing? Is there any danger in going to the mosque in an unclean state? 3. Build on the theme of outward ritual purity b,y discussing purity of the heart. This may be brought up by Muslim friends. Mallouhi’s description of her conversation with her Muslim sister-in-law provides a brief example: ‘No use fasting if your heart isn’t pure.’ ‘Yes,’ I replied, ‘you are in agreement with Jesus. That’s what he taught us. God wants to purify us from the inside out, not outside in’ ” (2000:197). Another way of approaching this might be to discuss the Sufi view of prayer, fasting, and the Hajj, with its emphaqis on inner purity. Which is more important to God -inner or outward purity? How can we get inward purity? What are the obstacles? How can we keep it, when we keep getting defiled all the time? These questions could lead to an explanation of the sacrifice of Christ. As much as possible, we should follow Troger’s (1997:119) ideal for dialogue in our witnessing: “Every term and concept shared by each partner in the dialogue must be set in the total context of the Bible and the Koran in order to unfold their meaning and value.” 4. Frame the gospel in terms of pollution and purity. One possibility is to highlight Christ, the Pure One, coming to make us pure by becoming defiled instead of us and, so, taking away our impurity (cf. Heb. 9:13-14). 5. Assure Muslims thutfcdlowing Jesus will not mean becoming “unclean”and thut ufer death their bodies will be washed. This will necessitate groups of Muslim background believers having access to the equipment needed for washing a body, as well as two or more people of each gender who are willing and knowledgeable enough to perform this task. ‘I

Implications for Discipleship and Worship among Muslim Background Believers Zahniser (1997) has cogently argued that words alone, especially for people coming from other religious communities, are not sufficient to enable new believers to bond to the Christian truths as well as their new Christian community. He shows how symbols, ceremonies, and rituals can be very powerful in connecting Christian truth with life’s daily routines. Several possible rituals, which could be part of discipling and worship in an emerging, Muslim background church, and which could help believers grow in their experience of Christ’s cleansing, are listed below. In these ceremonies, it will be important to maintain the dual emphases of the once-forall cleansing, which Jesus’ death accomplished, and the need for daily confession, repentance, and cleansing to stay in fellowship with God. I . Make baptism a special communal emphasis on cleunsing,from sin. Baptism can be taught as a symbol of inner purification, a ghusl (thorough washing) of the heart, a picture of the once-for-all purification of the heart, which Jesus’ blood has brought. Woodberry (1 996: 175) suggests that baptism can be viewed as an ablution when he writes that “it might be possible to perform Christian baptism as proselyte ghusl.” 2. Keep the ablutions (in u modijiedfimn) as part of prepurution,for worship. This needs to be worked through with the first believers, as they may or may not feel it is appropriate. If it is adopted, care needs to be taken that the meaning of this ritual becomes rooted in

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what Jesus has already done to cleanse us. Properly understood, this ritual could reinforce the reality of the washing of the heart that Christ has accomplished, as well as the need to maintain this purity. As they wash, the people can say something like: “As we wash, we remember how you, Isa al-Masih, washed the feet of your disciples and said, ‘you are clean,’ and how you then gave your life and shed your blood to cleanse us completely. We wash our hands from the evil things we have done, so that we can do the things you want us to do. We wash our eyes so that we can see the things you want us to see. We wash our ears so we can hear your voice and not the voice of the world. We wash our feet so that we can walk in your path.” (cf. Goble and Munayer 1989:72) 3. Suggest ci regular ceremony ($,foot-washing, following Jesus’ example in John chapter thirteen. This action is likely to have great symbolic significance for Muslims, is in accord with Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet, and points to the complete cleansing Jesus’ death brings. “The action of Jesus is parabolic of the greater cleansing that he is about to achieve through his redemptive death.. .. ” (Beasley-Murray 1999234). 4. Celebrate the Lord‘s Supper frequently as a symbol of once-for-all purijication and consequenf fellowship with Cod. At times, this could be combined with ablutions andor foot-washing.

References Cited Ashraf, Syed Ah 1987 “The Inner Meaning of the Islamic Rites: Prayer, Pilgrimage, Fasting, Jihad.” Islamic Spirituality. Vol. 1. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, ed. New York: Crossroad. 111-130 Beasley-Murray, George R. 1999 Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 36: John. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. Bouhdiba, Abdelwahab 1985 Sexuality in Islam. Alan Sheridan, trans. London: Routledge. Brown, Colin. ed. 1978 The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. Vol. 3. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. Burns, Lisa I994 “Islamic Understandings of Sin and Forgiveness: Perceptions of Converts to Christianity and Christian Missionaries.” Ph.D. dissertation, Trinity International University, Deerfield, IL. Christensen, Jens 2001 [ 19771Mission to Islam and Beyond: Apractical theology of mission. Blackwood, South Australia: New Creation Publications. Cragg. Kenneth, and Marston Speight 1980 Islam from Within: Anthology o f a Religion. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Delaney, Carol 199 I The Seed and the Soil: Gender Relations and Cosmology in Turkish Village Society. Berkeley, CA: University of California. Denny, Frederick M. 1979 The Qur’anic Vocabulary of Repentance: Orientations and Attitudes. Journal of the American Academy of Religion 47(4): 6 4 9 4 6 4 . Dharmaraj, Glory E., and Jacob S. Dharmaraj 1998 Christianity and Islam: A Missiological Encounte,: Delhi: Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

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Douglas, Mary 1966 Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concept of Pollution rrnd Rihoo. London: Routledge. Erickson, Millard J. 1985 Christian Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker. Glaser, Ida 1986 “The Concept of Relationship as a Key to the Comparative Understanding of Christi‘anity and Islam.” Themelios I I(2): 57-60. Goble, Phil, and Salim Munayer 1989 New Creation Book for Muslims. Pasadena, CA: Mandate Press. Goldsmith, Martin 1982 Islam and Christian Witness: Shuring the Faith with Muslims. Downers Grove, IL: IVP. Hiebert, Paul, R. Daniel Shaw, and Tite Tienou 1999 Understanding Folk Religion: A Christian Response to Popular Beliejs mid Pructices. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker. Kateregga, Badru D., and David W. Shenk I997 A Muslim and a Christion in Dialogue. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press. Kehm, George H. 1977 “Calvin on Defilement and Sacrifice.” Interpretation 3 1 ( I): 39-52. Khouj, Abdullah Muhammad 1994 Islam: Its Meaning, Objecrives, and Legislative System. Washington, DC: The Islamic Center. Jurji, Edward J. 1938 Illumination in Islamic Mysticism. Princeton, N J : Princeton University Press. LaHurd, Carol Schersten 1996 “SoThat the Sinner Will Repent:”Forgiveness in Islam and Christianity. Dialog 35(4): 287-292. Lindholm, Charles 1996 The Islamic Middle East: An Historical Anthropology Oxford, U K : Blackwell. Magnarella, Paul J. I998 Anutolia ‘sLoom: Studies in Turkish Culture, Society, Politics. nnd Lrrw Istanbul: The Isis Press. Mallouhi, Christine 2000 Waging Peace on Islam. Downers Grove, IL: IVP. Musk, Bill 1979 “Popular Islam: The Hunger of the Heart.” The Gospel and Islam: A I978 Compendium. Don M. McCurry, ed. 208-224. Monrovia, CA: MARC. 1989 The Unseen Face of Islam: Shciring the Gospel with Ordinary Muslims. Speldhurst. Kent: MARC. Parshall, Phil 1994 Inside the Crimmuniry. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker. Patai, Raphael 1983 The Aruh Mind. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. Priest, Robert J. 1993 “Defilement, Moral Purity, and Transgressive Power: The Symbolism of Filth in Aguaruna Jivaro Culture.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, CA. Richards, David 1998 Interview by author, May 1998, Kurdjali, Bulgaria. Schreiber, Dale. 1998 “The Role That Blood Sacrifice Plays in the Worodougou Practice of the Religion of Islam.” Ph.D. dissertation, Trinity International University, Deerfield. IL.

Defilement and Cleansing 355 Thomas, Bruce 1994 “The Gospel for Shame Cultures.” Evungelicul Missions Quarter1.v 30 ( 3 ) : 284-289. Troger, Karl-Wolfgang 1997 “Christian-Muslim Dialogue.” Theology Digest 44(2): I 17-124. Westermarck. Edward 1968 Ritual und Belief in Motr~cco.New York: University Books. Woodberry, Dudley 1996 “Contextualization Among Muslims Reusing Common Pillars.” Interndonu1 Journul of Frontier Missions 13(4): I7 1 - 187. Zahniser, A. H. Mathias 1997 Symbol und Ceremony: Making Disciples Across Cultures. Monrovia, CA: MARC.