Love Language: Lessons from the Bible and Qur’an
By Ida Glaser
The very first hate speech is air-brushed out of the Bible. “Cain said to his brother,” Genesis 4:8 tells us. But it does not tell us what he said—only that. Later when the two were in the field, Cain killed his brother. Ancient translations, Jewish, Christian, and Qur’anic re-tellings of the story all give their versions of what Cain said. The Qur’an gives voice to Cain’s murderous intent: “I will surely kill you!” (Qur’an 5:27), but many translations of Genesis follow the ancient Septuagint, simply stating, “Let us go out into the field.”
If we consider the words alone, we might say that the Qur’an records hate speech, while the Septuagint records a neutral proposition. From the Masoretic text of Genesis, Cain could have said anything. He might even have said, “Dear brother, I love you. Let us go out to the field to celebrate the acceptance of your sacrifice!” Hatred can be veiled behind words of apparent love, and a murderous intent behind a neutral proposition.
Re-reading Genesis 4, I note that it is not the words from Cain’s mouth that matter, but the state of Cain’s heart. Before we read of Cain’s hate speech – whether couched in hateful, neutral, or deceitfully loving terms – we read of what we might call God’s love speech.
Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it. (Genesis 4:6-7, ESV).
This is not the sort of love speech which declares love and affirms everything about the addressee: on the contrary, it attends to the body language which communicates so much more than words, and identifies the root of the problem. Not only so, for it offers hope of change. Even if Cain felt too weak to ‘rule over’ his sin, surely God would have helped him had he sought help!
Yet this love speech from the greatest of all lovers—God—did not change the direction of Cain’s hatred. The first speech that we hear from Cain is after he has killed his brother, and it is, perhaps, the famous question which underlies all hatred and therefore all hate speech, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). In Cain’s mouth, it assumes the answer, “No!” But the implication from here and into the whole of the rest of the Bible is that the correct answer is, “Yes!” For God will call us to account for every human being, every “brother,” we do not “keep.”
There is, in Northern Nigeria, a Christian project called Love Language. It was initiated following an outburst of violence between local Muslim and Christian communities, which had been followed by several years of tension and further violence. Its basic course starts by identifying the root of the problem. This is namely that the enemy is not the religious other, but rather Satan who, like the ‘sin’ of Genesis 4:7, is trying to trip us up. Satan is the enemy, who uses and instigates physical violence. Jesus is the friend, who defeats Satan with spiritual weapons, changes hearts, and calls us to obey Him. While violence is the mother tongue of Satan’s children (whether Muslim or Christian), love and truth are the mother tongue of God’s children, and Muslims as well as Christians may ‘speak’ it. The next stage is to teach love language, and that language itself is primarily an expression of loving actions. After that come studies of Christianity and of Islam, urging Christians to study and follow their own faith deeply and to let God change them, and clearing misperceptions of Islam. Only then are participants helped to process the trauma that they have experienced, and to think through the requirements of justice.
I observe that ‘Love Language’ echoes God’s love speech from Genesis 4 as it helps people who have been traumatized by violence and who are tempted to commit murderous hatred. It calls them to first see that any murderous intention is wrong, and that they themselves need to be changed. Second, it sets them on the road of seeing themselves as their “brothers’ keepers,” whoever those brothers may be. Only then does it go on to the educational process of interfaith understanding, to the psychological process of dealing with trauma, and to the crucial question of what they can actually do to bring justice for all. This is the essential basis for positive peace.
The big question is, of course, how the hatred of the heart can be transformed into love. And that is a question for all of us. We may like to think that we are Abel, but we can all find vestiges of Cain within. Can it be done through education or exhortation? Don’t get me wrong—I think that education is of huge importance here; but, if exhortation and education from God Himself did not change Cain, we obviously need something more.
Remarkably, the Qur’an points to the key in what I sometimes think of as its summary of the Christian Gospel. In the context of a rebuke to Christians for unnecessary religious practice, it tells us, “We ordained/created in the hearts of those who followed him (Jesus) compassion and mercy” (Qur’an 57:27). All the religion practiced around the world will not replace murderous intent with compassion and mercy. Indeed, history and experience indicate that it might do the opposite. We need God to change our hearts. And, in different ways, the Qur’an and the New Testament agree that Jesus opens the way.
Biography
Professor Ida Glaser is responsible for the 'Reading the Bible in the Context of Islam' research project and oversees the International Partnership and the Langham Bible Commentaries from Muslim Contexts projects on behalf of the Solomon Academic Trust. Previously, she taught in the areas of Qur’an, Bible, and History of Muslim-Christian Dialogue at the University of Edinburgh. Her personal research focuses on reading the Bible in the context of Islam. She currently holds a position as an Associate Staff member at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. Her diverse background includes teaching physics in Islamic contexts and engaging in church-based outreach in multi-racial, inner-city Britain. She has also worked extensively among people of other faiths for Crosslinks, the Anglican Mission Agency, and served as a past director of Faith to Faith, a Christian consultancy focusing on other faiths. Her doctoral research examined Genesis 1-11 in relation to parallel Qur’anic material and mission among Muslims. She has taught courses on Muslim-Christian relations at the post-graduate level in various countries including Jamaica, Nigeria, the Philippines, and the UK.