We like reading José Rodrigues dos Santos' romances. However, as far as facts go, after his interview to magazine "Visão" on his last book "Divine anger", I am led to believe that his knowledge regarding Islam, its history and the deeds of Prophet Muhammad, are far from informed; in fact, they are rather distorted from reality.
He should have talked with me instead, and I would have loved to give him a few references and texts. Some are key to the understanding of the problems with literal reviews of biblical texts, and its direct, partial and biased interpretation of a world of believers as plural as diverse as Islam and all its communities of interpretations.
Reuven Firestone, for example, has an awesomely interesting book entitled: "Jihad. The origins of the holy war" which destroys immediately thesis like JRS's.
Without wanting to simplify what is complex by its nature, and that need attentive reading, Firestone argues that the main reason for the Qur'an to have so many passages inciting to Jihad (literally meaning: to supersede oneself in search for his faith), different from the word HARB (War), or QITAL (to kill, to destroy), is because Islam emerges in a tribal context and wishes to build a different kind of social cohesion based on faith and not on tribalism. What Muhammad constantly finds is that among his followers there is a tendency to not react defensively against those who risk Islam from emerging as the new ideology.
Thus, the Prophet incites his followers to rebel against members even of their closest families, if need be. What we generally tend to ignore is that plurality and acceptance of diversity of faiths is also part of the Revelation.
The idea of Sacred War, as we understand it today, says Firestone, is a product of modern European historiography, when scholars looked at the Crusaders and the Inquisition. Until then, Muslims did not share this same view.
JRS' interview reveals deep ignorance. In fact, it reveals the vast majority of the modern European intellectual thinking and imagining of Islam. He says he spoke with various Muslims to confirm his views. I am sure he looked for the wrong sources and did not do his homework for interpreting the Muslim World.
Muslims who he spoke are also to be blamed: on the one hand the secular schools do not teach anything relevant about the Muslims which the Muslims do not already know about; on the other, we have to admit, you do not to be a theologian in order to believe. What Muslims need to do is read more, and learn, raise some questions, and make space for discussion, which they hardly do. And unfortunately, JRS could only meet with Muslims of the ignorant batch. Too bad! Had he really wanted to learn something, he should have met with the informed ones.
In conclusion, the knowledge gap is so deep both for JRS as for most Muslims that I am glad the latter ones still do not produce romances in Portugal. And if they will do, I hope that at least they stay with that: only fiction writing.
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*A Salaam means peace
