This Muslim Turk promotes interfaith harmony in Phl

Cihangir Arslan, PhD, is a Muslim with a mission. As president of the Pacific Dialogue Foundation, he aims for tolerance among religions around the great ocean. It’s tough work for this Turkish national based in Manila since 2003. He is up against an unspoken yet palpable bias of predominantly Christian Filipinos against Muslims. That’s partly due to bad press. Also because of bad coreligionists like the bloodthirsty Abu Sayyaf that swears allegiance to whoever is the terrorist group in season, Taliban or al-Qaeda, Boko Haram or ISIS.

But his long stay in the Philippines makes Cihangir (pronounced Ji-han-gir, or plain Hans for the tongue-twisted) understand Filipino Catholics. Speaking in Tagalog, he says all his Catholic friends are Marianists. That puts him at ease, for Mary is part of Turkish history: the Catholic and Muslim shrine Meryemana, Virgin Mary’s House, where she lived in the care of John the Apostle after Jesus’ crucifixion, is located on Mount Koressos, near the ancient city of Ephesus.

More than that, Mary is so important a personage in Islam that the Quran devotes an entire chapter to her. This, Cihangir frequently lectures on, to make Christians and Muslims know more about their commonalities. Excerpts from his presentation in schools, military camps, and civic groups:

• Mother Mariam is the only woman mentioned by name in the Muslim holy book. Her name directly is stated or she is referred to in 35 verses in 12 chapters. Chapter 19 is named after Mother Mariam, and Chapter 3 is about the Family of ‘Imran (Father of Mariam).

• One verse (3:42) is equivalent to the Christians’ Annunciation: “And (in due time came the moment) when the angels said: ‘Mariam, God has chosen you and made you pure, and exalted you above all the women in the world.’”

• “Allah’s Messenger said, ‘Many amongst men attained perfection but amongst women none attained perfection except Mariam (Mary), the daughter of ‘Imran, and Asiva, the wife of Fir’aun (Pharaoh).’” (Note, the Messenger here is Archangel Jibrail, or Gabriel to Christians.)

• In Chapter 3, Al ‘Imran (The Family of ‘Imran), is a verse (3:33) that traces Mary’s special lineage: “(They refuse faith in you and some of the Prophets because you did not appear among them, but Allah favors whomever He wishes with Messengership, and) Allah made pure Adam and Noah and the House of Abraham and the House of ‘Imran, choosing them above all humankind.”

• Two verses follow about the offering of Mariam by her mother to God: “(Remember) when the wife of ‘Imran entreated: ‘My Lord, I have dedicated that which is in my womb to Your exclusive service. Accept it, then, from me. Surely You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.’” (3:35)

• “When she delivered of it she said: ‘My Lord, I have given birth to a female.’ - Allah knew best of what she was delivered, (so she did not need to be sorry, because) the male child (she expected) could not be the same as (the) female child (whom We bestowed on her and would honor with great favor). – I have named her Mariam and commend her and her offspring to You for protection from Satan eternally rejected (from Allah’s mercy).’” (3:36)

• And then the equivalent of the Christian dogma of the Birth of Mary’s Son without Original Sin: “The Prophet said, ‘When any human being is born, Satan touches him at both sides of the body with his two fingers, except Jesus, the son of Mariam, whom Satan tried to touch but failed, for he touched the placenta-cover instead.’”

Not surprisingly, Cihangir’s lectures on Mary amazes his Christian audiences to research more. They would find out that after the Pentecost, the Apostles assigned themselves to certain lands to proselytize. John volunteered to go to Asia Minor, in what is now Turkey. He brought along Mother Mary, for Jesus had so wished, one of the Seven Last Words on the Cross: “Woman, behold thy son; son, behold thy mother.”

A small brick cottage, Meryemana consists of one room with a kitchen in one corner. Catholic (Franciscan) friars and nuns maintain it for pilgrims, mostly Muslims outnumbering Christians 12 to 1.

Perhaps not by incidence of Turkishness but inspiration that Cihangir chose to expound on Mary in the Quran to foster understanding with Christians. Even among once bitterly divided Christian groupings, Mary is becoming a unifying character. The Anglicans have apologized for smashing statues of Mama Mary in England after Henry VIII’s breakaway from Rome. Born-Again Christians who once abhorred “Marianist idolatry” have come to consider Mary a focal point of faith. Marian devotion is thus isolating the evil one.

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