Franciscan Spirituality and Islam

What is Islam?

Islam is one of the three Abrahamic religions. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all claim Abraham as their father. 1 The founder of Islam, Abu al-Qasim Muhammad, commonly referred to as Muhammad, was, according to Scriptural tradition, a descendent of Ishmael, son of Abraham and Hagar, Sara’s female slave. After Sarah gave birth to Isaac, Hagar and Ishamel were banished by Abraham and fled into the desert. Muhammad was believed to have been born in Mecca in 570 CE and died in 632 CE, on his 63rd birthday. 

Muhammad brought all the Arabic religions into one monotheistic religion—Islam.

Because Abraham is the father of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, I believe we have much more in common than opposition to each other. Despite conflicts between these religions over the centuries, I believe we do have some core beliefs that are similar. So, let us take a look at the core beliefs of Islam and then compare them to Franciscan spirituality. more deeply into Islam. 

The Five Pillars of Islam

The five pillars of Islam are: 

1. Shahada: Belief in Allah as one God and belief in Muhammad as the chief Prophet of God. 

2. Salah: Praying five times a day facing Mecca is done privately during most of the days of the week. Faithful Muslims pray five times during the day: daybreak, noon, afternoon, evening, and nighttime. On Friday, the Muslim holy day, Salah is performed as a communal prayer in the mosque. 

3. Zakat, or charity: Zakat may be more familiar to Christians and Jews as almsgiving. A good Muslim must give a percentage of their income to charity. These charities can help refugees, orphans, or other causes. Many charities have been formed to help Muslims fulfill their Zakat. 

4. Sawm: Fasting during the month of Ramadan. Ramadan is always the ninth month of the Muslim calendar year and can be twenty-nine or thirty days long. This fasting period is much like the fasting periods Christians observe during Lent. However, Ramadan is much more stringent than what most Christians observe. Ramadan starts at sunrise and ends at sundown. During the day, a Ramadan observer must not only refrain from partaking in food and drink, he or she must also refrain from activities such as sexual relations with their spouse, gossiping, swearing, and gambling, among other things. This comprehensive giving up is an example for all religions to follow.  

5. Hajj: Visit Mecca at least once during a lifetime. This pilgrimage began in the seventh century. 

As we look at the core beliefs of Islam, we see that any of Islam’s teachings are similar to Judaism and Christianity, most likely because Abraham is the father of all three. Some Jewish and Christian traditions require fasting and praying five times a day, just like Islam.  When I visited Egypt, praying five times daily was very edifying. My hotel was next to a mosque, and I could hear the calls to prayer throughout the day. Even though I didn’t understand Arabic, it was beautiful. Although annoying to some, I found the call to prayer a beautiful experience and it reminded me to say my own Christian prayers.

In Egypt, I saw many men with discolored markings on their foreheads. When I asked about these markings, our guide said these were holy men. The mark on their forehead signifies a constant prayer posture. Muslims pray using a prayer mat. They bow down on these mats, facing Mecca during prayer time. The markings are smudges left when their foreheads touch the ground.  Such dedication is inspiring and echoes Franciscan spirituality. 

Franciscan Spirituality as It Relates to Islam

Let’s compare Islamic tenets with Jewish and Christian beliefs, especially Franciscan spirituality. 

1. All three religions steadfastly believe in one God. They are all monotheistic. Christians, however, believe in a triune God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Even with that difference, there is still a strong compatibility with Franciscan thought. Even though Saint Francis believed in worshipping God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, he was extremely devoted to God the Father, praising God’s Creation constantly. St. Francis was also devoted to God the Son, especially through the Holy Eucharist. He wrote a beautiful poem 2 about how meaningful it was in one’s life. A strong belief in God is apparent in both Christianity and Islam. 

2. Saint Francis believed in prayer to the extent Muslims do. Saint Francis required the members of his order to pray the Divine Office daily as with many other orders. In fact, it is believed the Muslim practice of praying five times a day has its roots in the Divine Office, which priests and Deacons along with many lay people, still practice today. Saint Francis’ spirituality revolved around prayer.

3. Zakat, or charity, is also something Francis practiced, although he did not give it a formal name. Zakat is almsgiving. Saint Francis was very close to the poor. He believed strongly in supporting poor and marginalized people, such as lepers. Francis is known for his love for lepers. In fact, his conversion experience was guided by his encounter with a leper. When Francis kissed the leper on the mouth and the hands, he said it was the most beautiful scent he had ever smelled. Most people feel uncomfortable among poor and marginalized people. Think about the poor and marginalized in our world. In Francis’ and Jesus’ world, it was the lepers who were separated from the rest of society.  Saint Francis views are very much in line with giving to the poor. 

4. As in Islam, Francis required fasting from the members of his order. At one point in time, members of Francis’ order wanted to impose harsher fasting restrictions, for example, limiting the times when they could eat meat. Fasting during Lent was very important, especially on Fridays. The Roman Catholic Church today follows Friday fasting and abstinence in its Lenten guidelines. 

5. One area of divergence from Islam was that Francis did not require, nor does any Christian practice require, a trip to the Holy Land during one’s lifetime. Francis, however, did travel frequently to convert people and to make peace. One of the things that connects him to Islam is his visit to the Sultan Malik al-Kamir. 3 The trip was made during the Fifth Crusade. Francis and Peter Illuminati (given that name because he experienced the light of Christ) went to visit the Sultan Malik al-Kamil in Egypt. They walked into a war zone without weapons of any kind, bare foot—typical of Francis' followers. His experience with the Sultan was remarkable. 

Francis had experiences as a knight when he was young. He was from a wealthy merchant family and aspired to be a knight.  He could afford good armor and a horse so he was equipped to realize his dream of becoming a knight. He was leading a life of luxury and trying to impress the ladies. When Assisi was fighting Perugia, two cities in Italy at war with each other, Francis went to war against Perugia as a knight. His experience was believed to be devastating. He was taken into captivity and put into an underground dungeon with very little food and no light. After a year in prison, he came home physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually depleted. Today, many men and women come home from war with physical, emotional, and spiritual afflictions we call PTSD. After this experience, he could no longer agree to support war in any form and spoke out strongly against the Crusades. 

During the Fifth Crusade, Francis and Peter Illuminati went to see the Sultan in an effort to bring about a peaceful resolution to the conflict between Christians and Muslims. The Muslim soldiers wondered who was crazy enough to enter a war zone barefoot, in ragged garments, with no weapons. The soldiers thought they were lunatics. 

There are many stories about why Francis went to the Sultan. Hagiographers such as Bonaventure, think he went there to be a martyr. There are early accounts of him being aware that walking into an enemy line would get him killed. I tend to agree with recent scholars who dispute this theory. My personal opinion is that if he wanted to be a martyr, he would not have taken his friend with him. He would have gone alone. He kept crying out, “Sultan, Sultan!” possibly the only Arabic words he knew. Francis was determined to meet al-Kamil. Ultimately, because of their persistence, the soldiers did take them to see the Sultan. 

Sultan Malik al-Kamil was also a peace-loving man. He had previously approached Pope Innocent III and offered to give back the city of Jerusalem to the Christians in exchange for peace. The Pope did not accept his offer.

Francis’ encounter with the Sultan is important because they were both peace-loving men. Both men were up against criticism for wanting peace. The Sultan’s army wanted to fight for what was theirs. The Christian army wanted to convert the Muslims and destroy Islam.  The Sultan’s first impression was that Francis was an emissary for the Pope sent to accept peace terms. Francis replied that he was not sent there by the Pope. “I come as a representative of Jesus Christ.”   

The Sultan was well-versed in Christianity. He was a learned man. He, his advisors, and Francis spent several days together talking about a way to bring peace. The desire for peace was something they had in common even though others on both sides disagreed with their positions.  

Even though the Crusades continued, Francis and the Sultan remained friends. When Francis took his final leave, the Sultan wanted to give him gold, silver, jewels, and fine clothing.  Francis did not want any of these gifts. Instead, Francis asked for the opportunity to sit together and break bread. The act of sharing a meal is a symbol of friendship and love in both cultures. Having that meal together left an indelible impression on both the Sultan and Francis.

How Can Modern Day Christianity, Judaism, and Islam Learn from Francis’ Experiences in Egypt?

We can learn much from Francis’ experiences in Egypt. The first lesson is to get back to the basics of our belief system. I know we hear many things about how bad Muslims are, that they always want to fight wars and don’t treat their women well. We hear all this rhetoric and think we do not have much in common. But we do. The Islamic faith is very much like Christianity and Franciscan spirituality in its basic practices. At their cores, both believe in peace. Both believe in love and worshipping one God. The basic religion that both Jesus and Francis taught us was to love one another. As Jesus reminds us, everyone is our neighbor. 

Francis learned this lesson from Jesus who, among his many travels to non-Jewish territories, went to the country of Samaria. Samaria practiced a religion different than Judaism (they were a sect that had broken off).  Samarians believed they were worshipping God in the right place, while Israel believed Jews had to worship in Jerusalem. Jesus made friends with the Samaritans, using them as an example of charity in action. For example, Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan and he spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well. Francis, likewise, reached out to other people of many different cultures. Yes, he tried to convert people, but mainly to bring them love and peace. He wanted them to understand how we could work together. 

If we can respect and understand each other’s beliefs and religion, our world will be a better place. People on either side, Christian or Muslim, make rash judgments and judge the other religion. Through the example of the Crusades, we may feel justified as to why Christians and Muslims don’t like each other. They were killing each other all the time and neglecting each other’s peaceful offerings. 

The encounter between Francis and al-Kamir left him open to being killed. But the Sultan, like Francis, was a peace-loving man. Both men advocated for peace with their respective religious leaders. This is what we need today. 

We cannot judge each other’s religion. Someone recently said in my presence that Muslim men don’t treat their women well. I replied, “Do you think Christians always treated their women well? Think back to the Salem Witch Trials, where women were thrown into the water to see if they would drown. If they drowned, it was determined that they weren’t witches, but they were dead. If they did not drown, they were deemed a witch and burned at the stake. Also, dead.” 

We cannot make rash judgments about another religion without understanding and learning to respect it. That is the greatest lesson Francis taught us. Yes, Francis’ goal was to convert the Sultan to Christianity, but he respected the Sultan for who he was and the peace he was trying to bring about. He learned to understand the Sultan. The Sultan, likewise, respected Francis and his beliefs. Although the Sultan did not convert to Christianity, nor did Francis convert to Islam, there was still mutual respect and understanding. This mutual respect and understanding are what we should strive for today. If we can learn to understand other religions and not listen to the media rhetoric, we can move toward peace. 

Yes, there are extremists in every religion – Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. But if we can learn to make peace like Francis did, understand the basic tenets of faiths not like our own, and make an effort to bring about peaceful resolutions to conflict. This is the great example we find in Francis and the Sultan.  

How Can We All Use the Five Pillars of Islam in Our Lives?

1. Belief in one God—trusting in our Triune God and following the principles of our faith in our everyday lives. 

2. Praying five times a day—praying for ourselves, others, and our world. We can pray the Divine Office, the Rosary, pray using Scriptures, or simply converse with God.

3. Zakat—taking care of the poor and marginalized through charitable works.

4. Fasting—giving up not only food but things to which we are overly attached.

5. Pilgrimage—even if we cannot visit our holy lands, we can take time for a retreat or a mission to reflect and contemplate.

1 Feiler, Bruce, Abraham A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. 2004.

2 Francis of Assisi, Let Everyone Be Struck with Fear.  The exact date when St. Francis wrote this prayer is not specified, but it is believed to have been composed around the early 13th century.

3 Moses, Paul, The Saint and the Sultan. New York: Doubleday Religion. 2009.