Martin Luther (d.1546 CE) On Why Christians Convert to Islam
Martin Luther (d. 1546 CE) theorizing about why Christians converted to Islam:
โLuther thought that there were many reasons one might convert to Islam. In spite of some contemporaneous reports, ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ค ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ค๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ง๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฌ.80 Instead, he favoured other explanations. He believed that Christianity had for so long been led astray by papal innovations that Christians were duped into thinking external appearances (rites, piety, customs, etc.) were the marks of true religion. So when a Christian accustomed to the papal religion encountered Islam whether as a prisoner, slave, or free person they became mesmerised by the great display of religiosity. โThis is the reason why many persons so easily depart from faith in Christ for Muhammadanism and adhere to it so tenaciously,โ he suggested.81 ๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ค๐๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฌ๐ฅ๐๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐๐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ, ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ง ๐ญ๐๐๐๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ง๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ, ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ ๐ง๐จ ๐จ๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ซ๐๐๐ฌ๐จ๐ง. Other explanations were also given. For example, on one occasion he expressed that on account of the manifest success of the Turks he โbelieve[d] that in places which are close to the Turk many Christians lose courage because of this stumbling block and fall away from the faith, because they see that they are unlucky, but that the Turks are very prosperous.โ82 And yet another reason was that those from the โwild crowdโ were attracted to what he perceived as permissive sexual promiscuity.83 Whatever the reasons, though, he was convinced that both the Pope and the Turks were part of the same demonic plot: to lead Christians from faith and to wreak havoc on the world.84โ
- Adam S. Francisco, ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐ฟ๐ข๐กโ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ผ๐ ๐๐๐: ๐ด ๐๐ก๐ข๐๐ฆ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ก๐๐๐๐กโ-๐ถ๐๐๐ก๐ข๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ด๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ , pp. 88-89 (bold emphasis mine)
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I'm not so sure that the "rituals" argument is a strong one, since Islam places emphasis on "external rituals" as well.
As for promiscuity, this is just Luther just trying to come up with any excuse. First, it wouldn't explain the female converts. Secondly, concubinage was quite rampant in the Christian world historically.
One can notice how, oftentimes when Christians are confronted with the fact that Muslims are actually the ones striving to look, eat and worship like Jesus/Isa (a.s), that they retort exactly with what he Luther mentioned regarding "external appearance".
Christian: "Oh you see, looks and outward worship aren't that important but it's the belief in the heart, that is important."
And then you hear their proto-Murji`i, sola fide-type of "belief" explained to you...
>I'm not so sure that the "rituals" argument is a strong one, since Islam places emphasis on "external rituals" as well.
Yeah, that is the point.
>He believed that Christianity had for so long been led astray by papal innovations that Christians were duped into thinking external appearances (rites, piety, customs, etc.) were the marks of true religion. So when a Christian accustomed to the papal religion encountered Islam whether as a prisoner, slave, or free person they became mesmerised by the great display of religiosity.
Essentially, Martin believed external practices weren't actually important or marks of religiosity, and that Catholics had started believing tte contraty due to the papal deviancy and innovation. As such, due to the Catholics placing importance on external rituals, they were attracted to the Muslim way of life since it had even more external rituals of that sort.