MUSLIM CHALLENGE SPURS INTER-FAITH DIALOGUE

By Nick Gier

We say that our eternal souls are at stake if we fail to sincerely make

every effort to make peace and come together in harmony.

--Muslim scholars and clerics

On October 13, 2007, 138 Muslim scholars and clerics, representing every major school of Islamic thought, issued a declaration entitled "A Common Word between Us and You," challenging Christians to come together with them in dialogue. These Muslim leaders had been moved to do this for at least two reasons:

(1) There had been an incorrect perception (they believed) that the Muslims of the world had not made their stand against Islamist extremists clear enough;

(2) Muslims had been distressed about a 2006 speech by Pope Benedict on in which he referred, without rebuttal, to a medieval Christian emperor's pronouncement that Muhammad was "evil and inhumane" and believed in spreading his faith "by the sword." In a point-by-point response, 38 Muslim scholars and clerics pointed out errors and misunderstandings in the pope's address.

The phrase "common word" comes from the Qur'an where Allah declares: "O People of the Scripture! Come to a common word between us and you" (3:64). Included in the "People of the Book" are Jews and Christians, and the meaning of "common word" for them is the love of God and love of neighbor.

The Prophet said: "If you love God, follow me; God will love you and forgive you your sins"; and he also said: "None of you has faith until you love for your neighbour what you love for yourself." In their commentary the Muslim leaders insist that "empathy and sympathy for the neighbour are not enough. They must be accompanied by generosity and self-sacrifice."

The Muslim leaders of "A Common Word" make it clear that another part of love of neighbours is respect for their beliefs and their freedom of religion, because, as the Qur'an states, "There is no compulsion in religion" (2:256). As they explain: "Muslims, Christians and Jews should be free to each follow what God commanded them, and not have 'to prostrate before kings and the like.'"

The first response to "A Common Word" was from the Yale Divinity School. Just as 142 additional Muslim religious leaders have signed their original statement, hundreds of Christians continue to sign the Yale declaration "Loving God and Neighbor Together." Miroslav Volf, the director of Yale's Center for Faith and Culture, praised the Muslim statement as "historic, courageous, and marked by deep insight and generosity of spirit."

The Yale document begins with an acknowledgment that Christians have not always loved their fellow Muslims: "In the past (in the Crusades) and in the present (in excesses of the “war on terror”) many Christians have been guilty of sinning against our Muslim neighbors."

The Yale signatories were hopeful that even "undeniable differences and the very real external pressures that bear down upon us can not overshadow the common ground upon which we stand together." The Christians signing the Yale document assumed that they worshipped the same God of Abraham and Isaac as Muslims do, something with which many conservative Christian strongly disagree.

The second major response to the Muslim challenge was a conference at Cambridge University that 17 Muslim and 19 Christian theologians attended October 12-15. Aref Ali Nayed, a senior advisor to the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme, said that “to have top Muslim theologians become personal friends of top Christian theologians [will have] a monumental effect."

In his opening address Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, praised the Muslims' choice of common ground in love of God and love of neighbor. At the same time, however, Williams urged the participants to go beyond dialogue and share their very distinctive stories, about which one cannot argue, but can only tell and share them.

This was the first time that Muslim and Christian religious leaders had actually sat down and studied each other's scripture together, correcting mutual misconceptions in the process. The conference participants agreed that it was imperative to produce educational materials that will spread these new understandings far and wide.

At recent meeting of the American Academy of Religion conference in Chicago, I attended a session on evangelical Christian responses to "A Common Word." The panel consisted of two Muslims and two evangelicals, both of whom had refused to sign the Yale document.

One panelists was knew Arabic very well and had carefully studied the Qur'an. I was disappointed about his focus on differences and pointing out texts that he thought undermined the Muslim case for common ground. For example, he claimed that the Qur'an emphasized the fear of, rather than, the love of God, and he also said that Muslims are not commanded to love their enemies.

In response one could point out the many instances of "fear of the Lord" in the Old Testament, or, more specifically, in Luther's catechism in which the command "fear and love God" appears on every page. The Qu'ran has 192 references to God's compassion but mentions God's wrath only 17 times.

Loving one's enemies is a radical command that most Christians don't practice, but here is what Muhammad said after being attacked by the people of Ta’if: “The most virtuous behavior is to engage those who sever relations, . . . and to forgive those who wrong you.” As a dramatic example of early common ground, it was a Christian slave who came to Muhammad's aid after this attack.

Christian critics of the Common Word document are correct in pointing out its many references to the unity of God and that Allah has no "associates." This of course is an indirect attack on the Trinity and the common charge that Christians are polytheists. The Cambridge conference participants, however, were adamant that getting bogged down in theological disputes of this kind was not constructive.

In contrast Cardinal Jean-Louis Taran wants to discuss theological doctrine, but he says that it would be "difficult to discuss the contents of faith" with Muslims, because they believe that the Qur'an was dictated directly by Allah. Taran was reminded that many Muslim scholars have more open views of scriptures just as do Christians.

Another dissenter is Magdi Allam, a recent convert from Islam who was baptized by Pope Benedict. Allam maintains that Islam is not a valid religion and that there is no such thing as a moderate Islam.

Despite these objections, Pope Benedict went ahead with a conference with Muslim clerics at the Vatican on November 4-6. Pope Benedict addressed the group urging Muslims and Christians to "overcome past prejudices and to correct the often distorted images of the other."

The 30 participants issued a 15-point declaration that focused on condemnation of religious violence and toleration of Muslim and Christian minorities in their respective countries. There was no delegation from Saudi Arabia, a country with which the Vatican has poor relations.

Most recently Saudi Arabia sponsored a two day conference at the UN on religious dialogue. President Bush gave a talk focusing on his own religious conversion, but most countries sent only low ranking representatives as a sign of protest.

Ali Al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs, supported the boycott saying that Saudi Arabia "is the world headquarters of religious oppression and xenophobia." The Saudis prohibit the public practice of non-Islamic religions, and they also promote Wahabi theology, a very conservative school of Islam that has been banned in some Muslim countries. For example, Morocco has deported Wahabi missionaries whom they believed had terrorist connections.

Fundamentalists of every faith will always stand in the way of interfaith dialogue, but we should all thank the moderate Muslims of "A Common Word" for initiating the most important dialogue of the 21^st Century.

Nick Gier taught religion and philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31 years. Read rough drafts of his book on the origins of religious violence at www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/orv.htm.