True, Islam does preach humility and Muslims practice personal humility to a limited extent. But this should not be confused with Christain humility.
Beside the personal humility that Muslims show to their peers, which is commendable, it is perhaps the Islamic attitude of segregationist that put off some Christians. If you are non-Muslim there is no way that you can achieve equal treatment by Muslims as compared if you are a Muslim. It can be in term of relationship, friendship or in government matters.
Looking at it from this perspective, it is quite right to say that Islam does not teach genuine humility.
I have seen plenty of segregationist attitudes on the part of Christians.
As a homeschooler in this part of the southern US, I am not welcome in the vast majority of homeschool groups because I will not sign a very literalist Christian statement of faith just to access things like a science fair or spelling bee for my child, things that feed into the regular secular activities that the public schools do. Members of these groups have flat out said that they do not want their child interacting in any way with anyone who is not their brand of Christian, much less with anyone who is non-Christian.
There are pastors in the area who will not perform mixed marriages (and by that I mean between different varieties of Christian, much less Christian and non-Christian). I haven’t seen a lot of evidence that a lot of Catholics are complacent if their child chooses to date or marry a non-Catholic who does not plan to convert.
The government and society in our area is still saturated with a very Protestant Christianity. Public meetings are still lead with Protestant Christian prayers in Jesus name, the mayor of our town lists his (Christian) prayer breakfast as one of his main accomplishments, the local newspaper gives away Bibles, prints the daily prayer and Bible verse, etc. A non-Christian candidate has yet to be elected in this area, to my knowledge. A candidate’s church affiliation is one of his or her primary points in his or her campaign.
Some of this is not even conscious. It is just the inherent assumption that of course the only possible religiion is one’s own and everything should of course be measured by and determined by the tenets of that religion.
Frankly, equal treatment to those outside one’s own group does not come naturally to humans. Take a look at the long history of theocracies of any sort. Have Jews, Muslims, and other non-Christians always enjoyed equal treatment under religiously determined laws? Not in the history books I have read. Heck, in the early days of our own country, even Catholics and Anglicans and Baptists and Presbyterians have not always been treated equally under the law. It was illegal well into the 19th century for a Catholic to hold public office in NC, as just one example. Has this changed because the nature of the teaching of Christian humility has changed over the centuries? I don’t think the Church would say so.
It seems we need to have a common understanding of what is being meant by “genuine humility” and further “Christian humility”. It would be helpful if you would list the specific characteristics of such so that we can then look at them point by point.
You appear to have offered characteristics of equal treatment in relationships, under law and in friendship. I don’t see that Christianity actually passes that test.
MugenOne equates humility with doubt, with acknowledging that the other person may be right and you may be wrong and, apparently, the democratic process. I don’t see that Christianity passes that test.
Thedavidwilson speaks of “Remain humble when you don’t have the upper hand, but when you do get the upper hand wage war on dar al harb, subjugate the people of the book, make them pay a tax and take away their rights”. Care to take a look at the historic treatment of other groups (including Muslims and Jews) when Christianity has held power?
Booklover equates humility with the agreement that other religions may also be correct, that one’s religious laws should not apply to all of humanity, not thinking that one is more pious than any other person (regardless of religion), that one’s religious laws do not necessarily come from God, and that one’s religion is not the Truth. I don’t see Christianity passing that test.
Until we come to a common understanding of what “genuine humility” entails, we have no way to measure whether Islam contains that concept or not.
