Incredible stuff coming across the news today. A group of leading Islamic scholars and imams have written a letter, called A Common Word, to the leaders of the major Christian denominations, offering an olive branch of peace between the faiths. The rationale for the bond of unity is the observation of the common threads of 1) the love of One God and 2) the love of neighbor as ourselves which, according to the Muslim authors, form the essential core of both faith traditions.
In essence, these leading Muslim scholars are arguing for peace between the religions on religious grounds.
I can't recommend enough to you to drop by the BBC website and download the full document and read it.
A few observations from my first read of the letter:
1) This is no denial of the dissimilarities of the traditions--the fact that Islam and Christianity are different is affirmed in the very first sentence... so we're not talking here about "all religions being the same" or "all religions leading to the same place." We're not being called to meld the two religions or dismiss the differences (which I believe are truly substantial).
2) The first half of the letter is a review of the common threads of "the two loves" as they appear in the Torah, Christian Scriptures, and Qur'an.
3) On pg. 13 of the letter, there's a powerful passage that I excerpt here in full:
Come to a Common Word!
In the Holy Qur’an, God Most High tells Muslims to issue the following call to Christians (and Jews—the People of the Scripture):
Say: O People of the Scripture! Come to a common word between us and you: that we shall worship none but God, and that we shall ascribe no partner unto Him, and that none of us shall take others for lords beside God. And if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we are they who have surrendered (unto Him). (Aal ‘Imran 3:64)
Clearly, the blessed words: we shall ascribe no partner unto Him relate to the Unity of God. Clearly also, worshipping none but God, relates to being totally devoted to God and hence to the First and Greatest Commandment. According to one of the oldest and most authoritative commentaries (tafsir) on the Holy Qur’an—the Jami’ Al-Bayan fi Ta’wil Al-Qur’an of Abu Ja’far Muhammad bin Jarir Al-Tabari (d. 310 A.H. / 923 C.E.)—that none of us shall take others for lords beside God, means ‘that none of us should obey in disobedience to what God has commanded, nor glorify them by prostrating to them in the same way as they prostrate to God’. In other words, that Muslims, Christians and Jews should be free to each follow what God commanded them, and not have ‘to prostrate before kings and the like’xxi; for God says elsewhere in the Holy Qur’an: Let there be no compulsion in religion…. (Al-Baqarah, 2:256). This clearly relates to the Second Commandment and to love of the neighbour of which justice xxii and freedom of religion are a crucial part. God says in the Holy Qur’an: God forbiddeth you not those who warred not against you on account of religion and drove you not out from your homes, that ye should show them kindness and deal justly with them. Lo! God loveth the just dealers. (Al-Mumtahinah, 60:8)
The passage indicated that Muslims are to call Christians and Jews to the worship of One God as "God commanded them." The call is not to become Muslims (to convert), but to ensure that our worship is of God and not of "kings and the like." The following line suggests that Islam holds as a core value that there can "be no compulsion in religion" so that religious liberty and justice for all are core values in this letter's interpretation of the Islamic faith. This may sound extraordinary to modern ears and minds that flash to Iran and Saudi Arabia, but we should just as quickly remember that Cordoba (in modern day-Spain) under Muslim control in the 10th century was the world center of religious freedom and pluralism....
4) The letter goes on to make a fair statement of what is required from Christians for peace:
As Muslims, we say to Christians that we are not against them and that Islam is not against them—so long as they do not wage war against Muslims on account of their religion, oppress them and drive them out of their homes, (in accordance with the verse of the Holy Qur’an [Al-Mumtahinah, 60:8] quoted above).Seems fair to me....
5) The rationale for unity from a Christian Scriptural perspective is a direct quote from Mark's and Luke's gospel:
We therefore invite Christians to consider Muslims not against and thus with them, in accordance with Jesus Christ’s words.
6) And the letter does not leave out the practical rationale for peace between the religions. This logic is also impeccable and precise:
Finding common ground between Muslims and Christians is not simply a matter for polite ecumenical dialogue between selected religious leaders. Christianity and Islam are the largest and second largest religions in the world and in history. Christians and Muslims reportedly make up over a third and over a fifth of humanity respectively. Together they make up more than 55% of the world’s population, making the relationship between these two religious communities the most important factor in contributing to meaningful peace around the world. If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace. With the terrible weaponry of the modern world; with Muslims and Christians intertwined everywhere as never before, no side can unilaterally win a conflict between more than half of the world’s inhabitants. Thus our common future is at stake. The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake.
7) The closing is poetry:
So let our differences not cause hatred and strife between us. Let us vie with each other only in righteousness and good works. Let us respect each other, be fair, just and kind to another and live in sincere peace, harmony and mutual goodwill.
Does this kind of letter do anything?
I suspect it will. Millions--hundreds of millions of clear-headed Christians and Muslims want nothing more than to practice our faiths in a context of mutual respect, honor, and mutually-assured safety. Only a militant few from each faith want conflict. The letter is a powerful statement from within Islam that there is a core of faithful Muslims who are willing to go on the public record as declaring their religiously-based conviction to the life-affirming ideas of religious pluralism and justice.
The One God smiles. His children have made him happy, if only for a day...
This is beautiful David, and all well and good. However, it is not the clear headed Christians/Jews/Muslims who cause the trouble. Clear headed Christians were not the ones who started the Crusades. Clear headed Muslims did not fly planes into our buildings. The extremists on both sides cause all of the confusion. I feel we are preaching to the choir with this message, as beautiful as it may be. Maybe I am just too cynical, but I dont see this treatise inspiring an insurgent to not walk into a cafe with a bomb strapped to him. I hope it will.
ReplyDeleteB.Flood
“Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” Galatians 6:1-2
ReplyDeleteI stress "but watch yourself". It is so easy to fall into the trap of sentimentalities nowadays, not that we should not give it, but neither should we give into it so easily also. I myself have many interactions with muslims, living in a country that have many muslim extremists and non-extremists alike, we have had terrible terrible experiences and therefore know that there are irreconcilable differences in our faiths. Let me post my thoughts: Even entertaining the thought of agreeing to this offer would indirectly be agreeing to their quran, which of course have also said that Jesus is not God (which is the basis of our faith of course) and also the fact that Ishmael was the one sacrificed and not Isaac (which logically means, they are the "children of faith" and not us), and many more.
ReplyDeleteWe need to be careful, of course we need to learn to love our enemies, just as Christ did, but He did not compromise His stand on anything just for the sake of "peace".
"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword...Anyone who loves their father more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves a son or a daughter more than me in not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it." Matthew 10:34, 37-39
Are we afraid?
Still, we must follow our Lord's example. We must show them the love of Christ. Yes, I am fully aware of our own misgivings as well as theirs. But there is so much more to Christianily than just preaching the Word. More than just showing hollow "love". We must share their hurts, share their pains, if we must, bare their crosses with them. Isn't this what Christ did?
I think maybe it would help for people who will be responsible to make this decision to actually immerse themselves in other countries where life is not so convenient, where the reality of true muslim culture and Christianity intermingle, where the reality of poverty, famine, sickness and spiritual emptiness is overwhelmingly stark, where babies were born on an overpopulated mountain of garbage, a place where a canal washes in the feces of the inhabitants of the area into their own houses made of worn out pieces of roof...And in there, experience even at the midst of all the heartache and desperation of the people around them, can pursue God and make Him known where the harvest is TRULY ripe. Then, when you go back, and be faced with this kind of decision at hand, maybe you will have more wisdom to bring along with you.
It truly is not easy for any of us. But that is why a cross to bear is a cross to bear. If God finds us worthy to bear His same cross not for the sake of peace and harmony, but for the sake of love for Him, then so be it, may He give us His grace, let us love them on our Lord's terms, but not on human sentiments.
The love of Christ has no terms.
ReplyDelete-Bryan
Thanks for the postings. I'm honored by the thoughtfulness of each.
ReplyDelete"domster," where are you living, if I might ask? Your post is powerful.
If I might clarify my own perspective a bit on this, I don't think I give in too easily into sentimentalities about these two faiths. They're not the same. They're quite different. Very different. I find Islam, for all I know about it (which is necessarily insufficient because I do not practice it), to be strange and discomforting.
What's interesting about the letter, I think, is that it makes a case for living together in unity, while acknowledging critical differences.
Too often in interfaith dialogue, we identify commonalities in the faiths and allow ourselves to believe that "down deep, we're just the same." That our similarities are greater than our differences... but that can devalue what's so precious and unique about our faith. In most cases, because Christ is unique to Christians, interfaith dialogue seems to encourage us to devalue Christ... for me and for many Christians, this is simply impossible.
So, OK. The faiths are different. But that only underscores the challenge: how does our or any faith lead us to encounter difference? One test of any faith is how it leads people of that faith to treat those who are not of that faith.
I've always sensed that the Christ-like way was a way of peaceful, powerful love directed toward the other.
domster, would you say that love of God and obedience to God in Christ will bring us into a posture toward Muslims other than peaceful, powerful love?
Again, blessings to each of you for commenting. I'm grateful.