Apologizing for accidentally burning Qur'ans in Afghanistan was a huge mistake. It's like a doctor apologizing for accidentally sewing his scissors into a patient after removing an appendix.
In law, and in Islam, forgiveness follows restitution. Apologizing admits responsibility. That admission makes settlement more expensive. Not only are people going to "pay" for this accident, but also people will "pay" more because of the apology.
Naveed Qamar, the head of Jamaat-ud-Dawah in Karachi, Pakistan said, “We don’t accept Obama’s apology. The Muslims don’t accept his apology, as it is nothing but a farce.” Without restitution, it is a farce; and the more sincere the apology, the greater the price of restitution.
In America's Judeo-Christian system, refusing a sincere apology is poor form, and so is meeting injustice with random violence. However, in Sharia systems, justice flows from balance. When salvation depends upon good deeds outweighing bad deeds (as in Islam), then justice depends on bad deeds and good deeds balancing between people too. People in Sharia systems restore balance by making and taking restitution, not by making and taking penance. In this case, random violence balances the offense and helps restore justice.
The Muslim and Judeo-Christian "dwellings" have different "house rules" for reconciliation. Americans cannot import Judeo-Christian "house rules" into Muslim "dwellings."
Patterns for reconciliation among Muslims do not involve taking responsibility and then apologizing. Rather those patterns involve blaming either circumstances or God ("It was God's will") and then asking for forgiveness.
In this particular situation, I understand that the Qur'ans were put in the trash because detainees had "desecrated" them by writing messages to each other in them. I would advise the President and his generals to say, "This is not our fault. Some detainees were desecrating Qur'ans by writing messages in them, and it is God's will that they have now been exposed in this way. Please forgive us."
Related Commentary:
Cultural Differences in Apologizing
Functional Differences between Holy Books
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• Excellent analysis and a very wise suggestion for the President and our Department of State
del on Feb. 24, 2012 9:43 p.m.• So what you advise a Christian to say if they had done the actions attributed to the Generals and the President? I'm not sure why it matters what politicians - elected or appointed - do in such situations, but I am concerned about how Christians respond to and in conflict.
Crusher on Feb. 24, 2012 9:49 p.m.• Crusher, Great question. I think Christians should be able to hold people in other religions to the standards the people in those religions set for themselves, even when Christians don't adhere to those standards. For example, Christians would not consider writing in a Qur'an to be desecration, but it would not be wrong for a Christian to hold another person to the standard that they say that they believe in for themselves. Contextualizing the gospel means having it make sense to the audience as well as to us.
thomas bruce on Feb. 24, 2012 10:11 p.m.• Whoever wrote the analysis is well up on the Islamic mindset. Send the analysis to Washington; White House and the Pentagon. All I can say is, the moment I saw that General apologizing, I knew that this was another Obamanation.
Crusader on Feb. 24, 2012 10:38 p.m.• Excellent analysis. The additional details provided were also instructive and confirmed my initial reaction when all I knew was the General's apology. I thought at that time is was not the most intelligent response..
Dan on Feb. 24, 2012 11:50 p.m.• Should Christians in other cultures hold themselves to Biblical standards, even if it is unsafe or "unwise" in the context of how the world judges things? If a Christian offends someone, isn't the Bible clear on how they should confess their sin and seek forgiveness regardless of how the other person sees that action? I'm not sure I see the connection between contextualizing the Gospel and holding someone to their own standard. Our standard is the Bible, regardless of the context, right?
Crusher on Feb. 25, 2012 12:22 a.m.• Crusher, Good observation. Yes, the Bible is the Christian standard with universal application to all contexts. In it, forgiveness precedes repentance, and relationship precedes both. I don't see a Biblical requirement to apologize without hope for forgiveness and without basis in relationship. Besides, disposing of a tainted book is not a Biblical sin for which one needs to repent.
thomas bruce on Feb. 25, 2012 2:22 a.m.• It's noteworthy that the Biblical condition for receiving God's forgiveness is forgiving others, not apologizing to others. The Biblical pattern for reconciliation starts with forgiving. After forgiveness apology is easier.
thomas bruce on Feb. 25, 2012 2:38 a.m.• The US army should just learn how to dispose of a quran in the right way. http://www.inter-islam.org/Quran/disposingscripture.htm
Samuel Green on Feb. 26, 2012 3:59 a.m.• And America's national leaders should abandon the mantra that all religions are the same.
thomas bruce on Feb. 29, 2012 1:37 p.m.