|
Muslims further Inter-Faith Dialogue |
|
|
|
|
Written by Guy Dinmore
|
|
Saturday, 22 December 2007 |
More than 130 Muslim scholars and religious leaders will issue a Christmas
message of thanks and greetings to the Christian world this weekend.
The message, hailed as unique and historic by theologians on both sides, follows
a letter by the same group to Pope Benedict XVI, accepting his invitation to the
Vatican and proposing outlines of an agenda focusing on theological, social and
moral issues.
Stressing the sanctity of every individual life and calling for healing and
peace in a suffering world, the 138 signatories ask for repentance before God
and forgiveness between communities.
“Mainstream Islam has regained its voice once again,” said Aref Ali Nayed, one
of the signatories and co-ordinators. “Some minority voices, because of their
extreme and violent nature, managed to capture media attention. This has
resulted in a very skewed and distorted picture of Islam.”
He said individual Muslim thinkers had greeted their Christian counterparts at
Christmas throughout history. “However, this is the first time a large group of
Muslim scholars from across the schools greet their Christian neighbours,” he
added.
The Christmas letter, to be published on Sunday, thanks the prominent Christians
who responded positively to the group’s first letter – published on October 11 –
calling for dialogue with the Christian world. That letter, entitled “A Common
Word”, gave warning of those who “relish conflict and destruction”. It said:
“The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake.”
The 138 include senior figures from across the Muslim world. The grand muftis of
Egypt, Russia, Bosnia and Kosovo, two ayatollahs from Iran, and European and US
scholars have signed. The October appeal for dialogue was welcomed by Rowan
Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and other leading Christian figures,
culminating in a letter bearing 300 signatures and published in the New York
Times on November 18.
Miroslav Volf, a Yale University theologian involved in this letter, welcomed
the Christmas message, saying it was important that the historic initiative of
the Muslim intellectuals “contains every affirmation of sanctity of every single
human life”.
The Pope replied to “A Common Word” in late November, expressing “deep
appreciation” and inviting representatives of the 138 to the Vatican.
He has expressed regret since his speech in 2006 in which he deeply offended
Muslims by quoting a 14th century Byzantine emperor saying the Prophet Mohammed
brought “things only evil and inhuman”, such as “his command to spread by the
sword the faith he preached”.
However, the time he took in answering the October message, and the framework he
offered for dialogue – with an emphasis on social rather than theological issues
– raised concerns.
Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan, chairman of the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute
for Islamic Thought, diplomatically addressed those concerns in his recent
reply.
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the pope’s council for inter-religious
dialogue, told the Financial Times last night that events were moving positively
and that a preparatory meeting would take place in the spring. But it was too
early to talk of an agenda.
Prof Nayed, who has taught at the Vatican’s Gregorian University, says he has
“lamented the negativity being fed into the Pope’s perspective on Islam by some
of his closest advisers. This negativity is very dangerous and leads the Vatican
to make some truly dangerous mistakes”.
Source: Financial Times
Comments posted are the sole opinion of the author and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of AIM. |
