dossier

thecommonworddossier

AnInterviewwithRowanWilliamsThe Archbishop ofCanterbury 50ThePromise ofACommonWord byarefalinayed 56SeekingCommonGround betweenMuslims andChristians by ibrahimkalin 58ACommonWord for aCommonFuture bymiroslav volf 63WeandYouLet usMeet inGods Love by seyyedhosseinnasr 69HumanDignity andMutualRespect byabdalhakimmurad 73Saudi Interfaith Initiative byusraghazi 78

L'OSS

ERVA

TORE

ROMANO

islamica february 200950

islamica: in your speech at the Zaki Badawi memorial lec-ture 2007, organized by the association of muslim socialscientists (amss), in conjunction with lambeth Palace, youspeak about islam, christianity and pluralism. The late DrBadawi was an ardent proponent of interfaith understand-ing. Given your experience of the anglican and muslim com-munities, what, in your view, would be the actionablepriorities from which we can derive measurable improve-ments in interfaith understanding?DR ROWANWILLIAMS: The two main priorities are at twodierent levels. At the level of theory, I think we need togo on talking more about our understanding of faith insociety: Christians tend to see Muslims as making nodistinction between the religious and the political; Mus-lims tend to see Christians as having no eective doc-trine of social morality. At the level of practice, it has tobe learning how to inhabit a neighborhood togetherhow to work together for a moral and humane environ-ment at street level, at city level and in the internationalcontext. These questions come together when we tryand think through the relation between divine law andthe law of the society were actually in, for example; orwhen we reect on what Gods view is of economic jus-tice and what our current global economy takes forgranted. How do we live with the awareness that divineand human law dont always t together, withoutassuming that the only answers are privatized religion(a typical Christian temptation), or some attempt attheocracy (a certain kind of Muslim temptation)? Howdo we work with what is constructive and God-orientedin our social environment, neither ignoring it nor seek-ing to take it over and dominate it?

The Head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop of CanterburyDr Rowan Williams, speaks to Islamica about the challenges ahead

in improving Christian-Muslim relations, and his concerns about thedirection of the Christian community in an increasingly secular Britain

ANINTERVIEWWITHTHEARCHBISHOPOFCANTERBURY

RowanWilliams

PA

ULMCER

LANE/

REUTE

RS

the common word dossier rowan williams

51

The chair of amss UK, Dr anas al-shaikh-ali,spoke at length of the dangers of succumbingto a climate of fear and education as theprima facie force of reform. in your own assess-ment of rising levels of islamophobia, how fardo you believe focusing on eective changethrough the national curricula is a viable long-term strategy?It is denitely a long-term strategy, but weneed such long-term vision in a world ofquick xes. But it wont work if the study ofIslam becomes the study of some exotic andalien thing. Muslims living in the West andcoping with the often-chaotic Western cul-tural agenda honestly and creatively are thebest educators in this connection. Youngnon-Muslims in schools need to hear fromthe real-life young, educated and profes-sional Muslims in their environment, notjust to have a picture of distant cultures.

The late Dr Zaki Badawis visionary leadershipof The muslim college included establishmentof interfaith courses to consolidate multicul-tural understanding and eect intelligent, and

enlightened discourse with members of otherfaiths. in your opinion what wider implicationsdoes an award like the Building Bridges award,presented to you by the amss UK at Badawismemorial lecture, have over and above that ofrecognizing the outstanding achievements offar-sighted individuals and the merits of theirwork?I was humbled and rather astonished toreceive the award; but what I think it recog-nizes is that there are contexts in which it ispossible to discuss dierences with candorin a spirit of friendship. Its a happy coinci-dence that the annual seminar I chair onChristian-Muslim dialoguea seminar inwhich Zaki was a deeply valued memberis also called Building Bridges. Zaki wasalways keen to insist that Muslims shouldlearn from Christians about Christianityjust as Christians should learn fromMuslims about Islamso that we dontassume too quickly that we know what theother is talking about! But that means fac-ing our dierences with patiencetakingreal time to understand.

in recent times, there has been a general rise inevangelical movements across the variouschristian denominations and increasinglythorny questions posed by progressive theolo-gians, together with the reassertion of conser-vative faith perspectives, in particular, fromafrica, south america and asia. as head of theworldwide anglican communion, how do youpropose to address the challenges of maintain-ing doctrinal unity across this broad spectrum?I wish I had a neat answer to this! But forme the doctrinal essentials are already con-tained within the actions we performinthe sacraments and the disciplines ofprayer. When we nd ourselves sayingthings that make nonsense of these basicpractices, we have left the doctrinal heartof things behind. And when we nd our-selves reading our Scriptures in ways thatare in tension with these practices, some-thing has gone wrong. So my constanthope is to bring people back to these essen-tialsmost of all to the central belief thatthe Christian Church exists not by humanchoice and planning but because of a spe-cic action and call uttered by God in thelife and death and resurrection of JesusChrist. If we believe this, we may nd itpossible to argue our other dierenceswithin the Church a bit more patiently. Itisnt just a stando between people with aconservative attitude to doctrine andpeople who are liberalthats a lazy bitof journalistic labelling. Its to do withwhere you see the centre of thingsinideas alone or in those ideas embodied inthe shape of common life and prayer andthe constant acknowledgement of ourindebtedness to God.

With the emergence of modernity, the values ofindividualism and freedom of expression havebecome dening qualities of enlightenedsocieties. This seems to have led to tensionsbetween institutionalized interpretation ofreligion and an increasingly personalized inter-pretation. Though, of course, all religions must,at some level, operate in the personal domain,it still seems important to strike the right bal-ance between institutionally informed scholar-ship and individualism. This seems to aectcertainly both christianity and islam. How doyou see this challenge and how do you expect toaddress it?This relates very directly to the precedingquestion, doesnt it? There is a tendency toapproach religious faith in a consumeristspiritwhat can I get from it?and to ig-nore the element of a call to service and lov-ing devotion. Christianity and Islam both

THE AMSS LIFETIME Achievement andBuilding Bridges Awards are presentedannually to recognize and highlight theachievement of individuals who have madea significant contribution either to theirfield of expertise, to the promotion ofsocial harmony, to interfaith dialogue, or toIslamic thought.

The Building Bridges Award for 2005 waspresented to the Rt Revd Dr Rowan DWilliams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, byDr Anas al-Shaikh-Ali, Chairman of AMSS(UK), at the First Annual Zaki BadawiMemorial Lecture, held at Lambeth Palace,London, on 26 April 2007. Living andworking together in diversity is a challenge,especially where religious beliefs and

cultural differences are concerned. TheAward pays tribute to DrWilliams effortsto generate a climate of respect, peacefulcoexistance, social harmony, andunderstanding through the promotion ofinterfaith dialogue, conflict resolution, andintellectual discourse.

Recipients of the Awards have been:LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDProfessor Seyyed Hossein Nasr (2008)Sheikh Dr Mustafa Ceric (2007)Prof. Muhammad Abdel Haleem (2006)Professor Fuat Sezgin (2005)Dr Martin Lings (2004)Professor Edward Said (2003)Dr Zaki Badawi (2002)HE Alija Izetbegovic (2001)Professor Ali Mazrui (2000)

BUILDING BRIDGES AWARDA CommonWord Project (2008)HE Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu (2007)HE Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoganof Turkey (2006)HE Prime Minister Jose Luis RodriguezZapatero of Spain (2006)Archbishop of Canterbury, Rt Revd RowanWilliams (2005)Karen Armstrong (2004)Charles le Gai Eaton (2003)

SOURC

E:W

WW.ACO

MMONW

ORD

.COM

Dr. Rowan Williams receives Building Bridges Award

the common word dossier

have a major task in challenging pure indi-vidualism: not in the name of suppressingdiversity or liberty of thought, but so as todemonstrate that the fulllment of the per-sons destiny is a shared wisdom, not just anindividual set of convictions. One of my fa-vorite Christian writers said that it was cru-cial to distinguish between the individualand the personthe person being the indi-vidual when he or she has grown up into thefullness of relationship with others andwith God.

Today, we see some theological schools havingtheir conception of God subordinated to scien-

tic principles and subject to the laws ofnature rather than being, lets say, to their cre-ator. Yet others are comfortable with a divide,externalizing God from His creation and there-fore not subject to His laws of nature. What isyour perspective on this?For traditional Christiansand in this re-spect I am certainly onethe Law of God,both in the processes of nature and in the or-dering of human aairs, ows from and re-ects the Being of God. God is not subject toany external law or force, and so is thesource of all law; yet this does not mean thatHis Law is only the decision of an arbitraryeternal will. He wills in accordance with His


roWan Williams onTHe common WorD

On 11 October 2007, the Archbishopof Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williamswelcomed the Common Worddocument issued by 138 leadingMuslim clerics and scholars, and in apress release said that it was a clearreaffirmation of the potential forfurther development of existingdialogue and common action betweenChristians and Muslims and otherfaith communities.

He said: The theological basis of theletter and its call to vie with eachother only in righteousness and goodworks to respect each other, be fair,just and kind to another and live insincere peace, harmony and mutualgoodwill, are indicative of the kind ofrelationship for which we yearn in allparts of the world, and especiallywhere Christians and Muslims livetogether. It is particularly important inunderlining the need for respecttowards minorities in contexts whereeither Islam or Christianity is themajority presence.

The Archbishop said that the lettersemphasis on the fundamentalimportance of belief in the unity ofGod and love of ones neighbor iswelcome. He said, the letter rightlymakes it clear that these are scripturalfoundations equally for Jews,Christians and for Muslims, and arethe basis for justice and peace in theworld. Dr Williams continued: Thereis much here to study and to build on.The letters understanding of the unityof God provides an opportunity forChristians and Muslims to exploretogether their distinctiveunderstandings and the ways in whichthese mould and shape our lives. Thecall to respect, peace and goodwillshould now be taken up by Christiansand Muslims at all levels and in allcountries and I shall endeavor, in thiscountry and internationally, to do mypart in working for the righteousnesswhich this letter proclaims as ourcommon goal.

For more details seewww.acommonword.com

PA

ULGRO

VER

/RE

XFEAT

URE

S

the common word dossier rowan williams

own nature; His commands are the free anduntrammelled expression of what He is. Ithink some of the medieval discussionsin which Christian, Jewish and Muslimthinkers were all involved bring this outvery clearly. All our traditions have someschools or elements that stress divine willand can make it sound arbitrary or irra-tional; but all also have elements that con-nect will and divine nature.

recently we have heard an increasing amountof voices declaring that the God of muslims isdierent from the God of christianity andJudaism. others continue to underscore thatthe God of muhammad is the God of abrahamand of Jesus (peace be upon them all). Withineach of the abrahamic faiths, while there aredebates about nuanced dierences of the con-ception of God, there has traditionally beenagreement about His being the same entity. Doyou conceive of God as the same entity acrossthe three monotheistic faiths?This is a more complex question than it mayseem to be. Certainly, when I look at the wayin which God is understood in the Abra-hamic faiths, it seems to be the same kind ofbeing that is spoken ofeternal and freeand purposive, just and compassionate,sovereign over the universe. We all agreeabout the divine nature, it seems, and wehave much of the same history in common.But between the three monotheistic faiths,there is evident disagreement about how tospeak of the divine person. For Christians, itis impossible to speak ofor speak toGod without the acknowledgement of thedivine agency in Jesus bestowing upon usthrough the divine Spirit the freedom to callGod our Father. We think in terms of God asrst a source of life, but then also as an eter-nal response to that sourceboth a givingand a receiving within Gods life, with JesusChrist as the historical embodiment of thateverlasting response of loving devotion tothe everlasting giftand also as the over-owing of that divine loving mutuality inthe Spirit. And so we speak of God in threepersonsa very misleading phrase inmany respects, as it doesnt mean that Godis three individuals, or that the real God isaccompanied by lesser beings. Its more thatGod is eternally actual in a threefold move-ment and interrelation, like a chord ofmusic. So I recognize that we are speakingabout the same divine nature; yet when wepray a real dierence appears. It is this close-ness in thinking about what God is and thedierence in how we understand our rela-tion with Him and the character of His per-

sonal action that makes the dialogue so ab-sorbingly interesting and challenging. Ihave several times had to speak about basicChristian doctrines in a Muslim context,and the great challenge is to see if I can makewhat Ive just been saying at all intelligible tothe philosophically educated Muslim. Thatfor me is an enlargement and enrichment initself.

since 9/11, muslims have been feeling increas-ingly beleaguered. We, the mainstream mus-lims, seem to be caught between on one sidethe indiscriminate collateral damage befallingus from the War on Terror and on the other theeorts of extremists within islam to denethemselves and their religion in one-dimen-sionally hateful terms. indeed the War on Ter-ror and the extreme islamists seem to feed oeach other, consuming the middle ground in theprocess. many attempts have been made bymainstream muslims such as with the ammanmessage without moving the needle or get-ting noticed more broadly. in your view, whatother actions can mainstream muslims take tohelp unwind this destructive process and maketheir voices heard?

I think it is important to help people under-stand that many Muslim radicals are thosewho have largely turned their backs on theactual tradition and history of Islam, repu-diating the whole history of interpretationand discoveryvery much like the Chris-tian fundamentalists who behave as if therehad never been a history of reading and dis-cussing the Bible. But I think alsoand Ihope I speak with proper caution andhumility hereit matters that the rest ofthe world hears Muslim voices that are nottrapped in a narrow self-image as victims.The reduction of a whole complex set ofglobal conicts to a series of variations onone theme, the victimisation of the Islamicworld, leaves many outside Islam baed

and frustrated. Granted the absolutely un-deniable fact of huge anti-Muslim prejudiceand the rhetoric of some in power in theWest, the truth is surely more complex. Boththe Western Christian and post-Christianworld and the Islamic world in the West andEast need to be self-critical about their his-tory; both need to get out of reactive andresentful postures. And, to go back to an ear-lier answer, the active presence of the youngand educated Muslim in public debate andin the processes of education and opinionforming is going to be crucial to movingbeyond the reactive rhetoric of mutualblame.

What ought to be the role of religion in Britishpublic life in the 21st century? is the emphasisupon restating core christian values as thebedrock of the nations spiritual inheritance, oris it upon an inclusive christian leadership ofpublic religion in an increasingly multifaithBritain?We need to be clear that communities offaith are primary contributors to the healthand openness of society; and that meansthat we must continue to challenge thewidespread idea, connected to the Frenchvariety of secularism, that religion shouldnever be seen in public. A sensible politicalorder, I believe, is one in which the state se-cures the liberty of religious groups andtheir freedom of conscience, but also en-gages them in collaborative projects, educa-tional and social, for the common welfare.In an historically Christian country, wherethe Church has a specic public identity andtherefore a particular sort of leverage, itsnatural that the Church should be in some-thing of a coordinating role here: the factthat the Church of England has representa-tion in every community still means some-thing. But this has to be eshed outas inpractice it regularly isby the Church beingwilling to act at times as the defender or ad-vocate of religious minorities in the publicsphere. Im a bit cautious about the lan-guage of promoting Christian values ifthose values are seen as exclusive of othersor as denying what we actually share withthe other faiths. But equally Im not keen ona pluralism that pretends we havent gota largely Christian history or that refusesto use the resources of the mainstreamchurches creatively in our public life. A cul-ture that recognises its dominantly Chris-tian roots as a matter of history certainlydoesnt have to be hostile towards minori-ties or ideologically oppressive. I think wehave a reasonably good balance in the UK

february 2009 islamica 53

When we nd ourselvessaying things that makenonsense of these basic

practices, we have left thedoctrinal heart of things

behind. And when we ndourselves reading our

Scriptures in ways thatare in tension with thesepractices, something has

gone wrong


about this; the threat is from a historicallyand religiously illiterate secularism whichimagines that, if we are a multifaith soci-ety, this means that all religions are equallyirrelevant and equally to be tolerated as pri-vate eccentricities. Neither the Church norIslam can regard this as the right way for-ward. I am strongly committed to the ideathat the Church has to use its resources forthe sake of all communities of faith inBritain, so that all may play their proper rolein public. The support that has been forth-coming from many Christians for Muslimschools is a good example.

as the Vatican has done previously, will thechurch of england seek to state in clear theo-logical terms the relationship between islamand christianity, as it rightly does quite natu-rally with Judaism, in the 2008 lambeth con-ference?As it happens, we have been working on adocument that is meant to clarify our inter-faith vision, and we hope it will be discussedat the Lambeth Conference. It is importantto remember, though, that the AnglicanChurch worldwide is a far less institution-ally unied body than the Roman CatholicChurch, so that we dont generally havecompletely binding statements. The impor-tant work is done by the international net-works of the Anglican Communion, in thiscase our interfaith network, which seeksconstantly to build relations and strengthenlocal cooperation.

is the governments rebalancing of its relation-ship with British muslims, in counter-terrorismterms in autumn 2006, as stated by the minis-ter for communities and local Government,unbalancing relations between faith communi-ties in the UK? and if so, how ought the churchof england and the other faith communitiesrespond?Id guess that a British Muslim, faced withsome of the governmental language of re-cent months and years, might well feel thathe or she was being treated as primarily aproblem, and that they might equally feelthat it would be welcome to be regarded assimply a particular kind of citizen amongother kinds of citizens. I wish we could getto this point. And Id like the government tothink about how it positively encouragesMuslim citizenship not only by worryingabout it as an issue but by providingas thePrime Minister has saida social and inter-national vision that people of deep moraland religious conviction think worth sup-porting.

Without wishing to appear boastful, thereadership of Islamica Magazine tends to beopen-minded, intellectually discerning andspiritually aware. Beyond the scope of your an-swers to the foregoing questions, what wouldbe your most important message to them?Id refer back to the very rst answer. Carryon contributing to public debate at everylevel about these basic issues of commonmoral vision in society; dont be afraid ofself-criticism; in every context, ask, Howdo I, with others of dierent conviction,help to build an inhabitable human neigh-borhood?

Do you believe that the common Word docu-ment recently endorsed by 138 leading muslimclerics and leaders could be instrumental inpromoting reconciliation between muslims andchristians?

The Common Word statement is a welcomecontribution, not least because it quotesJewish and Christian scripture directly andso tries to engage other faiths in their ownterms and on their ground, which is essen-tial to proper dialogue. Im sure it will opensome new doors in constructive relationsbetween us.:

d R ROWA N W I L L I A M S wasProfessor ofTheologyatOxford; hewasmadeBishopofMonmouthand thenArchbishopofWales beforebecomingHeadof theAnglicanChurchasArchbishopofCanterbury in2002.Hehaswrittenworks on theology, spiritualityandpoetry

We would like to thank Dr Anas al-Shaikh-Ali,Shiraz Khan and Yahya Birt for their assistance~Editors


The reduction of a whole complex set of globalconicts to a series of variations on one theme, the

victimization of the Islamic world, leaves many outsideIslam baed and frustrated

NIRELIAS/R

EUTE

RS



ALL

PHOTO

SSO

HAILNAKH

OODA/ISLAMICAMAGAZINE

Clockwise from top: H.r.H. Prince Ghazi bin muhammad speaking at the Plenarysession with the archbishop of canterbury at lambeth Palace at the end of thecommon Word conference organized at cambridge; senior muslim leaders andscholars at the opening of the common Word conference in cambridge; The openinglectures at the common Word conference were delivered at emmanuel college,cambridge; Dr. rowan Williams with the Grand mufti of egypt, sheikh ali Gomaa

LA

MBE

THPA

LACE


IN AN ERA of hateful, vengeful, and destructive discourses, everyhuman community, religious or otherwise, is called upon, forthe sake of God, and for the sake of our common humanity, todevelop, articulate, and clearly proclaim alternative discourses; dis-courses that are loving, forgiving, and constructive.

discourses directly aect actions, and are, as a matter of fact, al-ready an important category of actions. discourses that are hateful,vengeful, and destructive can only lead to actions of grotesque cru-elty and mayhem. discourses that are loving, forgiving, and con-structive can only lead to actions marked by compassionategentleness and harmony.

The deeper the creedal roots of a discourse, the more potency andecacy it has in the arena of action. Hateful and destructive creedaldiscourse is catastrophically destructive to humanity. Loving andconstructive creedal discourse is wholesome and nourishing.

Again, the more authoritative the source of the discourse is, themore potency and ecacy it has, at the level of action. discoursescoming from a communitys leadership are of utter importance andeectiveness. They have an immediate eect on teaching, preach-ing, and individual and communal conduct.

The Muslim community, like any other human community, iscalled upon, for the sake of God and His beloved creatures, to articu-late a wholesome creedal discourse that is truly in line with its God-assigned duty on earth, and that leads to proper loving conducttowards Gods beloved creatures.

Such wholesome Muslim creedal discourse must not be that of afew scattered individuals. It must be a communal discourse builtupon communal consensus, and rooted in the revelatory sources ofIslam: the Quran and the sunna of the Prophet of God, Muhammad(peace be upon him), and in the communally inherited and transmit-ted example of his blessed companions, and righteous kinship andfollowers. Furthermore, it must clearly and unanimously come fromthe very leadership of the Muslim community.

The criteria of wholesome creedal discourse has been endowed tous by God Himself in the glorious Quran: See you not howGod setsforthaparable?agoodlywordasagoodly tree,whoseroot isfirmlyfixed, and its branches (reach) to the sky (i.e. very high). Giving itsfruit at all times, by the leave of its Lord and God sets forth parablesformankind inorder that theymayremember (14: 2425). Thus, allproper and wholesome creedal discourse must be:

Rooted Open-ended Ever fresh and fruitful

Muslim creedal discourse today must strive to abide by these di-vine criteria. It must be rmly rooted in: the Quran, the sunna, andthe ijma of the Umma. It must be open-ended through the dialecti-cal and respectful dialogue with other religions and philosophies. Itmust be constantly refreshed and focused on bearing fruits that canserve the community and humanity at large.

In an unprecedented, and immensely important, communal con-sensus (constituting a spiritual, moral, and juridical normative ijmaor accord, 138 prominent Muslim leaders got together and planted awholesome seed for such a wholesome tree: a healing creedal dis-course of Love of the One God, and Love of the Neighbor.

These 138 leaders, collectively guiding and inuencing millionsof Muslims all over the globe, include religious authorities, scholars,teachers, intellectuals, and media leaders, from Sunni, Shia (Jafari,Zaidi, and Ismaili), and Ibadi schools.

They jointly launched the document as an Open Letter and Callfrom Muslim Religious Leaders addressed to the heads of all promi-nent Christian churches, and to the leaders of Christian Churches,everywhere. They titled the document, following a Quranic phras-ing, A Common Word between Us and You.

The hope-giving promise of this Common Word is worthy ofdeep reection, and is of immense importance for at least the fol-lowing ten reasons.

1. It is addressed by leaders who collectively guide and inuencemillions of Muslims to leaders who guide and inuence millionsof Christians.

2. It is deeply rooted in the scriptures of both Islam and Christianity,and as such, already uses a dialogical scriptural reasoning fromthe very start. This is solid foundation of all sorts of dialogicalengagements in future stages.

3. It goes back to the very foundations, and with utter and humblesimplicity reinvigorates, rehabilitates, and re-proclaims thesimple but immensely powerful theology of love of the One God,and love of the neighbor.

4. It appeals to foundational revelatory and scriptural consensusupon which sensible human beings can agree, and that can serveas the solid basis for further elaborations and constructs.

5. It retrieves the gentle invitational mode of discourse that isfounded in the true recognition of the other, and that trulyrevives the proper Muslim discourse of wisdom and fairexhortation that is mandated by God in the Quran.

6. It speaks prophetically and invokes the collective prophetic andrevelatory inheritance of all of humanity. Thus, it restores andheals prophetic kinship between the Muslim, Jewish, andChristian communities.

7. By invoking both Torah and the New Testament, it addressesChristians, but already prepares the ground for a much-neededfurther discourse towards healing relations with the Jews.

8. The document retrieves the very roots of a proper Muslimtheology of gratitude. By invoking the saving ecacy of divinecompassionate-grace (rahma), and seeing all of religiosity as anattitude of thanksgiving and appreciation of divine generosity,

ThePromiseofACommonWordOver 130 Muslim scholars signed a landmark document calling for peaceful coexistence

with fellow Christians. A leading theologian explains why this is a signicant document forboth faith communities BY AREF AL I NAYED

the common word dossier promise of a common word


the document lays a solid foundation for grace-lled theology,teaching, and preaching that will result in grace-based actions inour troubled world.

9. A Common Word denitively and authoritatively retrieves andrearticulates a solid Muslim theology that responds to divinegraceful generosity with sincere devotion and exclusive worshipof the One God; but a theology that also sees that such responseto God must concretely manifest itself in the love of ourneighbors and all of Gods creatures.

10. Finally, the document invokes key realities and notions that willbe the seed for much further theological and spiritualelaboration in future documents: the heart, wisdom,paradigmatic example-following, divine remembrance, anddivinely-endowed human dignity and freedom.

Finally, I wholeheartedly believe that the true promise of this vitaldocument, A Common Word, is that it is a rst, but monumentalstep, towards retrieving and reliving the true Muslim way that wasvividly described, long ago, by a spiritual master called Sidi Ahmedal-Rifai:

Master Ibrahim al-Azab (may God be pleased with him) said: Isaid to Master Ahmed (al-Rifai): My Master, the seekers dis-cussed the way to God, and had many opinions. He replied: Myson, the ways to God are as many as the breaths of creatures! OhIbrahim, your grandfather (referring to himself) left no waywithout exploring (except those ways that God did not will forhim). Oh Ibrahim, I explored all ways, and found no way closer,

more-giving, more-hopeful, and more lovely than the way ofmeekness (ajz), brokenness (inkisar), bewilderment (hayra),and poverty (iftiqar) (before God).1

The document reopens precisely this way to God, the way of utterdevotion to the One God, and utter love for His creatures. Such asimple, but profound way consists of:

1. Continuously remembering God and His compassion towards us.

2. Living in gratitude for Gods compassion, through total devotionto Him.

3. Living as intensely as possible in mutual compassion (tarahum)with our neighbors.

The sooner we Muslims rehabilitate and mend our classical net-works and institutions, and reconnect them with the rest of human-ity in sincere and humble dialogue, the more able we will be to serveGod and humanity. This Common Word is a great rst step alongthe way."

A R E F A L I NAY E d is currentlyanAdvisor to theCambridge InterfaithProgramat theFaculty ofDivinity inCambridge, and isManagingDirector ofAgathonSystemsLtd.He is oneof thekey Islamic scholars responsible forACommonWord, adocument ofhistorical importance in thedialoguebetweenMuslimsandChristians.

R E F E R E N C E :1. Muhammad Abul-Huda al-Siadi,Qiladatal-Jawahir. Maktabat al-Rifai,

Cairo, 2004.

HARO

LDSH

APIRO


GIVEN THE DIFFICULTIES of interreligious and intercul-tural dialogue between Islam and the West, a historicstep was taken in Rome on 4-6 November 2008. Therst Seminar of the Catholic-Muslim Forum was held at theVatican with the participation of about 60 Muslim andCatholic religious leaders and scholars from around the world.For two days in workshops closed to the public, the partici-pants discussed the love of God, love of the neighbor, humandignity and mutual respect in the two traditions of Islam andChristianity. On 6 November, the delegation was received byPope Benedict XVI inside the Vatican where Mustafa Ceric, theGrand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Seyyed HosseinNasr, the renowned scholar of Islam, spoke on behalf of theMuslim delegation representing the signatories of the Com-mon Word.

Establishing religious and cultural accord is dicult any-where in the world. This is especially true for the long andcheckered relationship between Islam andChristianity. Islams meteoric rise to thestage of world history in the 7th centurywhen Christianity was struggling both inthe East and in Europe created a sense of ri-valry and urgency among Western Chris-tians. Islams claim of restoring Abrahamicmonotheism and rejection of the ChristianTrinity was received as a theological chal-lenge. Its rapid expansion into areas thatwere once under the Byzantine rule led to aheightened sense of political and militarythreat. Finally, the dominance of Islamicculture and civilization after the 10th and 11th centuries wasa cause of alarm to many Christians in Europe. Periods ofpeaceful co-existence in places like Andalusia, Baghdad andIstanbul have not changed this fact. As works of Southern,daniel, Kedar, Tolan and others show, the attitudes of pre-modern Christendom towards Islam remained mostly hostileand exclusivist, and some of these attitudes continue to formthe views and perceptions current in Western societies today.

GOING BEYOND THE REGENSBURG DEBACLEThe Pope Benedicts 2006 Regensburg address came as ashock to many in the Muslim world because it reiterated theold misconceptions of Islam as an irrational and violent reli-gion. The Regensburg speech claimed that Islamic faith left

little or no room for human (natural) reason and asked itsfollowers to blindly follow a stern and rule-driven God. Thisimplied that Islam was unable to develop a rational discourseabout its religious tenets and thus invited its followers to sub-mit to God rather than to think about or love Him. Further-more, Islam spread through violence, which is an extensionof its irrational nature. On both counts, Christians, the Popeimplied, cannot have religious or theological dialogue withMuslims. Even though the Pope Benedict was quoting someprovocative medieval sources about Islam, it was clear that histypology of religions accorded a place to Islam only as a cul-ture, not a religion. In addition toSalt of theEarth:TheChurchat the End of the Millennium (1997), Benedict reiterated thesame point in an address to a Muslim audience in August 2005where he used a distinctively socio-cultural language to de-scribe the importance of Muslim-Christian relations.

There are two main problems with these arguments. Firstly,the claims of irrationality and violence arebased on a shallow and distorted reading ofIslamic intellectual and political history.Neither the strict literalism of the now de-funct school of Ibn Hazm mentioned in theRegensburg speech nor the military con-quests of medieval Muslim empires are suf-cient for such a judgment. What isintriguing is that the long and honorabletradition of rst rate Catholic scholarshipon Islam is alarmingly absent in some of theVatican statements about Islam and Mus-lims. Secondly, one can easily use the two

arguments of the Regensburg against the Catholic Church it-self. As a matter of fact, it was primarily arguments of this sortwhich Enlightenment thinkers used to envisage a post-Chris-tian Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The Common Word letter, out of which the rst Seminar ofthe Catholic-Muslim Forum developed, addressed these andother issues to open up new lines of communication betweenMuslims and Christians. Taking its cue from the Quran, itclaimed that there is a ground for theological engagementwhile religious dierences are to be admitted as part of a gen-uine dialogue and ethics of co-existence. At another level, thisis a call for the acknowledgement of a Judoe-Christian-Islamic tradition. As the Pope underlined in his address to theMuslim delegation, We can and must be worshippers of the

SeekingCommonGroundbetweenMuslimsandChristians

The dierences between Islam and Christianity are considerable,but not impossible to discuss BY I BRAH IM KAL IN

In any interfaithengagement, one

wonders if oneshould concentrateon practical issues

and avoid theologicaldebate as it will

likely not goanywhere

the common word dossier seeking common ground


Clockwise from above: SheikhHamzaYusufwithAbdallah Schleifer andAbdalHakimMurad; Pope Benedict XVI delivering a sermon at St. Peters,Vatican; Final session of the first Catholic-Muslim Forumat theGregorianUniversity in Rome SOHAILNAKHOODA/ ISLAMICAMAGAZINE

Pope Benedict XVi greetingsheikh Dr mustafa ceric, head ofthe muslim delegation to the rstcatholic-muslim Forum, Vatican losserVaTore romano


one God who created us and is concerned about each personin every corner of the world. In addition to the intricacies ofChristian and Muslim theology, there are also grounds forpractical cooperation between the two largest religious andcultural communities of the world.

In any interfaith engagement, one wonders if one shouldconcentrate on practical issues and avoid theological debate asit will likely not go anywhere. Many engaged in interfaith di-alogue prefer to deal with practical issues with the hope thatthis would produce concrete results on the ground. Interreli-gious dialogue, however, cannot function in a beyond-the-truth kind of attitude because, for one, all religions lay a claimto the truth (regardless of how one understands it). One has totake these claims seriously. Secondly, one is expected to re-main loyal to ones tradition in broad outlines while reachingout to the other; otherwise a dialogue without a center wouldbe without meaning and substance. Plus, it will have no rep-resentation and thus no impact on the larger community. Onboth counts, the Vatican meeting exceeded expectations. Themeetings, speeches and the Final declaration are punctuatedwith points of theological reasoning and practical concerns.This is an encouraging outcome and shows that careful andpatient work can break new ground in bridging the gap be-tween Muslim and Christian communities. (For the texts ofthe Vatican meeting as well as the Common Word, seewww.acommonword.com)

DIFFERENCES, OBSTACLES, FAMILY RESEMBLANCESOne of the outcomes of the Vatican meeting is the recognitionthat one does not need uniformity to seek common grounds.The theological and historical dierences between Islam andChristianity are considerable but not impossible to discuss.The Christian view of Christ as the Son of God and sueringsavior is dierent from Islamic notions of salvation and escha-tology. In hisTruth and Tolerance: Christian Belief andWorldReligions (2004), Benedict arms, faith in Jesus Christ as theonly Savior and the indivisibility of Christ and the Church isthe foundation. The Muslim concept of Jesus, however, re-mains within the connes of Islamic prophetology and ac-cords him a central place in the history of revelation. As forVirgin Mary, she is mentioned more in the Quran than in theBible and her name decorates the mihrabs of countlessmosques around the world. Together with Fatimah and otherwomen of early Islamic history, Mary is also one of the tower-ing gures of Islamic spirituality. The Christian tradition onother hand rejects the Quran as a revelation and ProphetMuhammad as a messenger of God. While even the most big-oted religious zealots in the Muslim world would not say any-thing against Jesus or Mary, Prophet Muhammad is routinelyinsulted by numerous Christian circles. Fortunately, theCatholic-Muslim Forum took a clear position against anyform of mockery or ridicule of the sacred gures and symbolsof Islam and Christianity.

Both traditions emphasize love as an essential quality of thedivine but assign dierent functions to its application inhuman life. Unconditional love is central to Christian theologybecause God is love (John 4, 16). Expanding upon the sameprinciple of love, Islamic scriptures also stress mercy (rahma)and justice (adl) as complimentary qualities of the divine. AHadith of the Prophet Muhammad, quoted in the Final dec-

laration, states, Gods loving compassion for humanity iseven greater than that of a mother for her child (Muslim, Babal-Tawba: 21). Islam and Christianity agree that the divinelysanctioned love guides all commandments and extends to allof Gods creation. While everybody accepts the command tolove thy neighbor as extending to all human beings includ-ing those outside ones spiritual communion, the challenge ishow one puts it into practice with patience and consistency.despite the assurances of Catholic and Muslim theologians,one wonders why and how these two religions that place loveand mercy at the heart of their theologies can harbor so muchmistrust, fear and occasionally hatred of one another.

Besides theology, the two religions have followed dierenttrajectories in their encounter with modernity and secular-ization. From Jacques Maritain to Pope Benedict XVI, Catholictheologians appear to have embraced the basic values of sec-ular modernity on personalism, human rights and socialethics in order to secure a breathing space for the Christianfaith in an increasingly secularizing, individualistic and ma-terialistic world. Yet seeking to use the arguments of a post-Christian philosophy in favor of traditional Christianity hasnot always worked to save the Church from the onslaught ofan aggressively secular and skeptical age. A major philosoph-ical dierence separates the post-Vatican II notion of thehuman person from that of Islam. The Vaticans concept ofthe dignity and inalienable rights of the person echoes wellwith the broad outlines of Kants post-Christian and post-metaphysical theology. And it can be perfectly justied on thebasis of biblical and Quranic pronouncements about theunique position of the human state in the great circle of cre-ation. But it comes close to erecting a subjectivist theology onthe basis of a secular anthropocentric humanism. In eithercase, the modern autonomous individual and his/herchoices in the Weberian sense of the term seem to have thenal say over what counts as the basis of normative theology.

Modern Islamic thought has largely stayed away from em-bracing the secular humanism of the Enlightenment. Even inthe case of such modernist gures as Muhammad Iqbal andFazlur Rahman we do not nd either an anthropocentric cos-mology or a notion of religion reduced to social utility. Mus-lim personalism, attempted by Iqbal, Lahbabi and others,remains within the connes of Islams monotheism and moralcommunalism. despite Pope Benedicts criticisms of extremesecularization and rampant relativism shared by many Mus-lims, the way in which Islam and Catholicism are dealing withthe challenges of our secular age reects dierent philoso-phical positions.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND THE LEGACY OF COLONIALISMSimilarities and dierences extend to practical issues as well.While Christians insist on freedom of religion and conscienceas a universal human right, which the majority of Muslims ac-cepts, missionaries interpret it as a license to proselytize inMuslim countries, which Muslims reject. This is where PopeBenedicts view of mission and dialogue as the two sides of thesame coin enters in. While it is true that every religion is mis-sionary in the sense of witnessing ones faith, there are worldsof dierences in the way religious communities make theirmessage (and witnessing) available to others. Many in theMuslim world see the aggressive missionary work of Euro-


the common word dossier seeking common ground

Clockwise from Above:Professor IngridMattson;ProfessorMiroslavVolf, RobertH. Schuller andProfessorHarryAttridge; Professor TahaAbdurrahman; Professor JohnG. Stackhouse, Jr;SheikhHabibAli Al-Jifri; Professor Peter Kuzmic,ProfessorDavid Ford andAyatollahDamad


ALL

PHOTO

SHARO

LDSH

APIRO


pean and American religious organizations as part and parcelof the Western power structure and indeed instrumental to it,and denounce it as a continuation of 19th century colonialism.Given the painful memories of European colonialism and thepolitical realities of the current world order, which is domi-nated by countries that are at least nominally Christian, it isnot possible to speak of religious freedom in the abstract.

The deplorable human rights record of Muslim countriesmakes life miserable for both Muslim and non-Muslim com-munities. The reality of corrupt and autocratic regimes inMuslim countries does not prove the absence of a democraticand participatory culture in Muslim societies. Rather it pointsto a source of extreme frustration among the Muslim masses.Nevertheless, none of these should be an excuse for the op-pression and humiliation of non-Muslim communities inMuslim majority countries. Muslim nations have a religious,moral and civic duty to work for the protection of the rights oftheir non-Muslim neighbors and fellow citizens as equalmembers of society. But it is obvious that equal rights and civilliberties will not be secured for everyone until an eective sys-tem of representative democracy is established for Muslimcountries. This, in turn, brings us back to the global balance ofpower that dictates the parameters of regional and nationalpolitics in much of the Muslim world.

At this point, the Muslim world needs to recover the spirit ofcosmopolitan Islam which generated and nurtured the classi-cal Islamic civilization. Striking a balance between recogniz-ing the plurality of religious and cultural communities on theone hand, and remaining loyal to ones own spiritual traditionon the other was the hallmark of Muslim societies from thegreater Mesopotamia to al-Andalus. Such cosmopolitan cen-ters of Muslim culture as Baghdad, damascus, Cordoba,Alexandria, Sarajevo and Istanbul were among the nest ex-amples of the Quranic injunction of striving for the commongood (al-khayrat) of Gods creation. Responding to Gods willto create diverse nations and tribes did not diminish but in-creased and deepened the Muslim sense of the serving God byloving Him and ones neighbor. It is this spirit of cosmopolitanIslam that has been lost in the modern maelstrom of opposi-tional identities, religious formalism and profane politics.

dierences do not obviate serious intellectual engagement.The current global problems call for a dialogical conversationbetween Christians and Muslims as well as others. As religionshave to learn to live in an increasingly pluralistic world, theyare bound to listen to one another more attentively. Muslimsand Christians should mobilize their resources to address thespiritual crisis and social problems of our day and age. It is en-couraging to see that the Catholic-Muslim Forum has agreedto explore the possibility of establishing a permanentCatholic-Muslim committee to coordinate responses to con-icts and other emergency situations. Such measures couldprove to be vital to diuse communal tension and misunder-standing.

Centuries of conict, suspicion, mistrust, rivalry and vio-lence will not be resolved over the course of several or moremeetings. But the Common Word initiative and the PopeBenedicts positive response to it represent a major step to-wards a historical reconciliation between Islam and theWest. The Pope has already made some goodwill gestures be-fore meeting with the Muslim delegation of the CommonWord on 6 November. His stance against the Iraq war, his callfor a just solution to the Palestinian problem, and his positivemessages during his visit to Turkey in 2007 should be seen asimportant steps in the right direction. But much more workremains to be done in order to bring to life the message of loveof God and love of the neighbor."

I B R A H I M K A L I N isAssistantProfessorat theSchool of ForeignServiceatGeorgetownUniversity,USAand the founding-director of theSETAFoundation forPolitical, EconomicandSocial Researchbased inAnkara,Turkey


Above:Cardinal TheodoreMcCarrick andArchbishop Pier Luigi Celataat the final session of the First Catholic-Muslim Forumat theGregorianUniversity in RomeRight:DrArefNayedwith Seyyed Javad al-Khoei at theVatican forum

IMAGES

SO

HAILNAKH

OODA/ISLA

MICAMAGAZINE


GLOOMY CLOUDSSUNS RAYSMost people today see a heavy and dangerous storm of tensionsbetween Christians and Muslims as menacing the world. Since theCrusades, relations between these two faith communitiescur-rently comprised of just slightly under half the human race haverarely been at a lower point than they are today. Tensions, deep con-flicts, and often murderous violence between them are leaving atrail of blood and tears as well as a mounting deposit of deeplypainful and potently dangerous memories. These clashes under-mine the hopes and efforts of many to live in peace, to flourish asindividuals and communities. Worse still, this stunted livingenveloped in hopelessness often sucks people even deeper downthe whirlpool of violence.

But many Muslims and Christians sense a new wind of hopebeginning to blowthey feel the warm suns rays penetrating thestormy gloom around us. A Common Word Between Us and Youlikely the most important interfaith document to appear in the pastfour decadesis one such ray shining through the barely partingclouds. The central message of this Muslim letter, endorsed by someof the most prominent Muslim leaders worldwide and addressed toChristian leaders across the planet, is as sim-ple as it is profound: What binds Muslims andChristians together is common belief in theOneness of God and the commitment to loveGod and neighbor. This same belief and thesame commitment, of course, bind Christiansand Muslims to their elder sibling Judaism,the original Abrahamic faith that has trans-mitted to the world these two divine com-mandments in the first place.

SIGNS OF HOPEAs a reminder, A Common Word was issuednot just in an atmosphere of stormy relationsbetween Muslims and Christians but as a re-sponse to what many Muslims have experi-enced as a Christian provocation. Its occasionwas the famous Regensburg address of PopeBenedict XVI delivered in September 2006. Init Pope Benedict quoted the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleolo-gos, who in a debate with a learned Persian Muslim said: Show mejust what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will findthings only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the

sword the faith he preached. Many devout Muslims worldwide feltinsulted.

Yet despite the perceived provocation, uttered in a context of dete-riorating relations between Muslims and Christiansperhaps inpart because of the provocationkey Muslim leaders gatheredaround A CommonWord did not respond in kind. Notwithstandingthe present conflicts, they chose to speak of benevolence and benef-icence, not to express hatred or to seek revenge. They turned theirfelt provocation into an occasion to send into the wider world whatseemed to many an utterly novel idea: For Muslims, the commit-ment to love God and neighbor is central, and they share it withChristians (as well as Jewsreligiously, their common elder sib-lings). It has been said that God knows how to write straight even oncrooked lines. The signatories of A Common Word also wrotestraight on the crooked line of deep tensions. The whole Christiancommunity, indeed the whole world, should be grateful to them.

I trust it will not be taken as self-serving if I mention another,much smaller ray that penetrated the stormy clouds of Christian-Muslim relations. It was the Yale response toACommonWord, titledLoving God and Neighbor Together. Whats significant about the

Yale response, of course, is not so much that itwas writtenrather, that it was endorsed byover five hundred Christian leaders, many ofwhom are heads of large, worldwide con-stituencies comprised of literally hundreds ofmillions of believers. Why did they endorse it?Because their holy book tells them to live inpeace with all people and because they senseda danger of global proportions if a just peacebetween Muslims and Christians does not tri-umph over tensions and injustice. The Yaleresponse, though early and widely endorsed,was not the only response toACommonWord.Many Christians from all corners of the worldhave responded favorably as well, mostrecently and with great theological depth andecumenical sensitivity Archbishop of Canter-bury Rowan Williams. The broad support ofACommonWord in the Muslim community and

the favorable response to it in the Christian community suggest thatwe may be poised for a sea of change in MuslimChristian rela-tions. A day of transition from deep conflicts to mutually beneficialcoexistence may be dawning.

Acommonwordforacommonfuture

Despite an all-time low in Christian-Muslim relations, many sense a feeling of renewed hopeBY MIROSL AV VOLF

To the surprise of manynotably those who believe

that religion willgradually retreat before

the light of reason and thewonders of technologicaldevelopmentthe worldtoday is becoming a more

religious rather than aless religious place

COMMONALITIES AND DIFFERENCESLest someone suppose that this assessment is a. too-quick andsomewhat cheap triumph of religion over conflict, let me make plainwhat I amnot saying about the significance of finding commonalitybetween Christianity and Islam in the dual command of love. First,to have the dual command of love in common does not equate withamalgamation into one and the same religion. Even if there is signif-icant agreement on love of God and neighbor, many differencesremaindifferences that are not accidental to each faith but whichdefine them. Some of these differences concern their basic under-standings of God, love and neighbor.For instance, Christians believe that the One and Unique God, whois utterly exalted above all creation, is the Holy Trinity, and that Godhas shown unconditional love for humanity in that Jesus Christ asGods Lamb bore the sin of the world. Muslims generally do notshare these beliefs. Other differences concern the sources of revela-tion. Muslims revere the Prophet Muhammad as the seal of theprophets and the Holy Quran as sacred Scripture. Christians donot. Significant agreement on love of God and neighbor does noterase significant differences. What agreement does is this: It enablesthose of deep faith to respect and protect others despite these differ-ences, leads them to get to know each other in their differences,and helps them live together harmoniously notwithstanding theirdifferences.

Second, to agree on the dual command of love is not to say that allthe practical problems causing tensions between these two commu-nities have now been resolved. Many thorny issues remainlargeand small wars in which Christians and Muslims are involved, perse-cution and lack of full religious freedom, problems concerningevangelism anddawa, and many others. The common commitmentto love of God and neighbor does not eliminate all conflicts. Whatcommon commitment does is this: It provides a basis on which Mus-lims and Christians can productively discuss and overcome theseconflicts.

Thirdly, and equally significantly, agreement on the dual com-mand of love encourages each community to hold the otheraccountable to its best insights and commitments. A Muslim as thetarget of Christian verbal attacks can now say to a Christian, Howcan you claim that you love me when you only speak ill of my God,when you malign my Prophet, and when you despise my way of life?

A Christian convert from Islam can now say to a hostile Muslim,How can you say that you love me if you want to kill me because Ihave followed my conscience and embraced the Christian faith?The common commitment to love of neighbor has real conse-quences on the ground. If practiced, it has the potential to defusemany serious conflicts of a global reach (such as that of the danishcartoons of the Prophet Muhammad).

TRANSFORMING LOVE AND ORIENTING FAITHBut can one bring about a shift from what feels like a clash of civi-lizations to conviviality of faith traditions by promoting what somepeople may deem as an esoteric feeling of human devotion to Godand a soft and nebulous sentiment of love? Should we not be grap-pling with the harder realities of life? Should we not be discussingpoverty and economic development, freedom of expression, educa-tion, stewardship of the environment, pluralism and democracy, thebalance of power, resistance to extremists of all stripes, or modes ofcountering violence with effective force? If religion has anything todo with conflicts between Christians and Muslims, the critics maycontinue, religious passions stemming from single-minded devo-tion to God as the champion of ones cause are the source of theseconflicts, not a means to overcome them. Less religion is what weneed, not more. Take God out of it all, critics conclude, and let peo-ple keep religious devotion locked in the privacy of their hearts, andrestrict the virtues and delights of love to friendship and family. Letinstead individual and national interests, as well as the balance ofpower tempered by the claims of hard-nosed justice, regulateworldly affairs.

So what worldly good can come of promoting love of God and loveof neighbor? Why do we see a sign of hope in A Common Word?Partly because, properly understood, love is not a soft and a nebu-lous emotion but a tough, practical virtue of benevolence and benef-icence toward all, a virtue of which justice is an absolutely integralpart. And religious faith is not impractical at all! For people of faith,Christians and Muslims alike, God is a motivating and sustainingpower, the Holy One who gives meaning, weight, and direction totheir life. In the current jargon, faith is what makes them tick.

FAITH MATTERSIts not just loves toughness and the orienting character of faith,


1730s1770sTheGreatAwakening sparked religious revivalismin England and theAmericanColonieswithprominent Evangelicals preaching at the forefrontof themovement.

GeorGe WHiTeFielD (17141770), born to animpoverishedwidow inGloucester, England,wasknown for hispassionate andtheatrical sermons,many taking place inopen-public areas.Whitefield is known as

one of the foundingleaders of theMethodist

Movement.

8 July 1741Enfield, Connecticut:ProminentmissionaryJonaTHaneDWarDspreachedthe now famous fireand brimstone sermon,Sinners in theHands ofanAngryGod.

JonaTHaneDWarDs (17031758), born in EastWindsor,Connecticut, was the only son of aNewEnglandMinisterlater ordained inNorthampton,wherehe inherited his grandfathers post as pastor. Thiswaswhere he first gained recognition. TheEvangelical LutheranChurch inAmerica annuallycommemorates Edwards as a teacher andmissionary on 22March.

1801CaneRidge, Kentucky: An interdenominationalcampmeeting of 25,000marked the secondGreatAwakening and the spread of the revivalistmovement catalyzing reforms such asabolitionism, temperance, andwomens suffrage.

1800sConservative Protestantswere a substantial part ofthe faculty ofHarvard, Yale, and Princeton.

1816ricHarD allen (17601831)founded theAfricanMethodistEpiscopal Church in Philadelphiajoining theAfricanAmericancongregations of theMethodistChurch in Philadelphia, NewYork,New Jersey, Delaware, and

EVANGELICAL TIMELINE

the common word dossier common word for a common future

65

Maryland. Born into slavery in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, he joined theMethodist society atthe young age of 17. Six years later, Allen boughthimself and his brothers out of slavery.One yearlater, hewas ordained as aminister of theMethodist Church ofNorthAmerica.

1821Religious revivalistcHarles FinneY (17921875) joined theabolitionistmovement,refusing communion toslaveholders in church.Originally apprenticing tobecomea lawyer, Finneywas ordained as aministerin the PresbyterianChurchat age 29.

1860s1900sAs a result of theCivilWar, urbanization, andindustrialization, American evangelicalswerechallenged by an emphasis on scientific naturalismin academia, a growing non-Protestant immigrantpopulation and increased biblical criticism.

1872Dl mooDY (18371899)gained a reputation asone of the greatestEvangelists of his timeas he preached tostadium-packedcrowds across Englandmaking an impact oncross-cultural Christianmissions. He encouragedhis congregation to

volunteer formissions as far away asChina.Moodyis best known for founding theMoodyBibleInstitute,Moody Publishers, and theNorthfieldMountHermonSchool.

1914AsWorldWar I raged on,local papers reported on andprinted the sermons ofBillYsUnDaYs (18621935)evangelistic campaignsacross the states. A formerpro-baseball player fromIowa, Sunday is said to havepreached fromaconservative Evangelicalstance tomore people thanany otherChristian of histime.

CRUCICENTRISM: Central to the Evangelicalmessage is the Good News, that God theFather sent Jesus to die on the cross asatonement for individual sins. In theEvangelical worldview, all peoplewithoutexceptionare doomed to eternaldamnation. Christs crucixion opens thedoor to eternal life.

CONVERSIONISM: Theoretically,Evangelicals believe that no one can be born aChristian, so everybody must have anindividual conversion experience (be bornagain), or make a conscious decision to

accept Christ into their hearts in order toescape the penalty for their sins and securesalvation.

BIBLICISM: Evangelicals consider the Biblethe source of all truth in terms of religiousdoctrine, and rely upon it as a guide topractical living. To varying degrees they tendto take its teachings literally. MostEvangelicals would ideally agree that daily,devotional Bible-reading, an extensiveknowledge of the Bibles contents, andmemorization of key passages are importantpersonal goals for every believer.

ACTIVISM: All believers are to help spreadthe Good News of the Christian Gospel andto generally follow Christ as a vigorous role-model for Christian discipleship. Rather thanlives of quiet monastic contemplation, theyemphasize active involvement in religiouseortstirelessly organizing neighborhoodBible studies, local churches, programs,institutions, and organizations all directed toone degree or another toward promotingEvangelism, personal piety, and humanitarianaid.Source: Van Dyk, Leanne. The Church in Evangelical Theology andPractice. The Cambridge Companion to Evangelical Theology. Ed. Daniel JTreier, NY, 2007, p128.

BILLY GRAHAM BaptistROBERT HAROLD SCHULLER Christian Reformed

BILL HYBELS Non-denominationalREV. CHARLES SWINDOLL Non-denominational

VICTORIA AND JOEL OSTEEN CharismaticLEITH ANDERSON Southern Baptist

RICHARD CIZIKPHILIP YANCEY Baptist upbringing

AMY GRANT Church of Christ

RICK WARREN Southern Baptist

BRIAN MCLAREN Non-denominational

WILLIAMH. WILLIMON United Methodist

BISHOP T.D. AND SERITA JAKES Pentecostal

RONALD J. SIDER Mennonite

TONY CAMPOLO Baptist

STANLEY HAUERWAS United MethodistREV. JIM WALLIS Non-denominational

JIMMY CARTER Baptist

MAX L

UCAD

O C

hurch

ofCh

rist

DENN

ISHA

STER

T Me

thodis

t

FRANKLIN

GRAHAM

Baptist

CHARLES W

. COLSON

Baptist

RICHARD D.

LAND Sou

thernBapti

st

REV. TONY

EVANS N

on-denomin

ational

THOMAS KI

NKADE N

on-denomin

ational

SARAH PAL

IN Non-de

nomination

al

MIKEHUCK

ABEE Sou

thernBapti

st

FAR

LEFT

LEFT

LEFT

OFCE

NTER

CENTRIST

RIGHT OF CENTER

RIGHT

EVAN

GELICAL BAROMETEREvangelicals are oftenlabeled politically left or right.

Here, we take a closer look at theirsocial, political, and theological

placement and how they relate to otherswithin their community and without.

evangelical is a denitional term that describes those who identify as evangelicals and also those who may not. allevangelicals are Protestant. The following is a fourfold denition of evangelicalism, as originally put together in 1989by Dr DW Bebbington of the University of stirling in scotland.

however, that makes these two loveslove of God and love ofneighborsocially important. Consider the undiminishedvibrancy of faith in the contemporary world. To the surprise ofmanynotably those who believe that religion will graduallyretreat before the light of reason and the wonders of technologicaldevelopmentthe world today is becoming amore religious ratherthan a less religious place. The world is not progressively secula-rizing; to the contrary, it is desecularizing. The trend is likely tocontinue into the foreseeable future.

Religious faiths, notably Christianity and Islam, are reassertingthemselves in two important senses. First, the number of theiradherents in the world is growing in absolute and relative terms ascompared to non-religious worldviews. Second, religious peopleincreasingly consider their faith not as simply aprivate affair but a significant shaper of their pub-lic engagements. Religion matters profoundly, andmatters in the public as well as the private sphere.I hope this claim will not be heard as a statement ofreligious triumphalism. I am aware that religion isoften employed to wrap appallingly base causes inthe aura of the sacred and to legitimize, even pro-mote, violence. My point is not to deny this obvi-ous fact. Neither is it to suggest that disbelief willbe pushed out of existence or that non-believers freedoms ought tobe restricted. My aim is rather to remind that religion matters and topoint to a significant and unavoidable consequence of this fact.

What is this consequence? Negatively, if religion matters, nopeace between religious people will be achieved by pretending thatit is merely a veil hiding some undeniable economic, political, orother interests. Positively, if religion matters, we have to findresources for the conviviality of religious people within in each faithtradition itself.

DEEP FAITH AND SOCIAL PLURALISMIt is because faith matters that theCommonWord initiative is so sig-nificant. First,ACommonWordpoints both Muslims and Christiansto what is undeniably essential in each faith and common to bothlove of God and love of neighbor. Second, it shows how that which isessential in each faith and common to both has the power to bind

them together because it encouragesindeed, demandsthattheir adherents seek the good of others, not just their own good. If itis true that the dual command of love binds the faiths together, theconsequences are revolutionary in the best sense of the word. We nolonger have to say, The deeper your faith is, the more at odds withothers you will be! (provided, of course, that deep faith means notjust emotionally strong faith but intelligent and informed faith).To the contrary, we must say: The deeper your faith is, the more inharmony with others you will live! A deep faith no longer leads toclashesit fosters conviviality.

What some people deride as an impractical and soft commitmentto love God and neighborbut what is really attachment to theSource of all reality and practice of beneficencehas real-life

effects in defusing conflicts and fostering con-viviality. It makes possible what would otherwiseremain unattainable in a world of personallyvibrant and socially assertive faiths. We canembrace deep faith while at the same timerespecting the rights and promoting the well-being of those who do not share it. deep faithexpresses itself in love, and love, understood asbenevolence and beneficence, leads to respect ofand struggle for others rights.Putdifferently,and

maybesurprisingly to some, commitment to theproperlyunderstoodlove of God and neighbor makes deeply religious persons, becausethey are deeply religious, into dedicated social pluralists. WhenChristians and Muslims commit themselves to practising the dualcommand of love, they are not satisfying some private religiousfancy; instead, they are actively fostering conviviality in our inerad-icably pluralistic world that is plagued by deep divisions. They aremaking possible the constructive collaboration of people of differ-ent faiths in the common public space for the common good.

PLANETARY COMMON GOODThe significance of the Common Word initiative goes beyond rela-tions between Muslims and Christians. The initiative holds thepotential for providing a good platform for Christians and Muslimstogether to engage great and troubling problems facing humanitytoday. If Gods mercy encompasses all, or, as Christians might say, if


66

1920s1930sThe Fundamentalist-Modernistcontroversy pitchedConservativeProtestants against their Liberalcounterparts over control ofdenominational hierarchies, seminariesandmissions boards. Concernedwith the assimilation of trendssuch as the teaching ofDarwin inpublic schools and challenges totraditional laws against variousimmoral behaviors, Conservativeschallengedmore modernistChristians, resulting in amajorschism in subsequent years.

1925In The State of Tennessee v. JohnThomas Scopes,known as the scopes monkey Trial, a high school

teacherwas charged for teaching evolutionin the classroom.As a result,evangelicals gained a reputation in themedia as ignorant and anti-intellectualand turned inward focusing less on

social welfare.

1940sBillY GraHam (born 1918), a

Southern Baptist, has led theevangelicalmovement since hisEvangelistic Crusades gainedpopularity in the late 1940s givinghim the reputation of the onlyProtestant to preach tomost oftheworld. Having counselednumerousUSPresidents andworld leaders, his life has

become legend and a catalyst for EvangelicalChristianity in theUS.

7-9 April 1942ReverendHarolD JocKenGa (19051985) ofBostons Park StreetCongregational Churchfounded theNationalAssociation of Evangelicals(NAE), nowheadquarteredinWashingtonDC,withleading evangelicalcontemporaries.

1956ChristianityMagazinewas launched by theNAE,also based inWashingtonDC.

1974The international congress on Worldevangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland, gathered

EVANGELICAL TIMELINE

If religion matters,we have to nd

resources for theconviviality of

religious peoplewithin in each faith

tradition itself

Gods love is universal, then so should the love of Muslims andChristians belove for all humanity that is concerned for allaspects of every persons life. We live in a thoroughly interconnectedand interdependent world that is and knows itself as one world (aswe have been made painfully aware by the ongoing deep financialcrisis, and as the ecological crisis attests). Were all in the same rock-ing boat, so to speak, and the good of one is the good of all; the ill ofone is the ill of all. It is also a world caught in a whirlwind of unprece-dented change. It seems that nothing is stable and that everythingcanand eventually willbe overturned.

In the context of such highly dynamic and thoroughgoing inter-dependence, a common word between Muslims and Christiansshould not just be about mutual relations between these two faiths.It should be also, and maybe above all, about the common good forthe little boat that is our common world. In addition to sitting face-to-face and trying to make peace with one another, we need to startwalking shoulder to shoulder in trying to heal the deep wounds andinspire the noble hopes of all people in our common world. Humanflourishing and even human survival may depend on it.

AN ENCOUNTER OF SEVENBut what would it take for Muslims and Christians to have a commonword with one another aimed at a better common future? How canwe make fruitful the encounters of those committed to God andeach other as neighbors?

Someone has said, somewhat surprisingly, that in an encounterbetween you and me, four are always involved, not just two. Two ofthose four are, obviously, you and I. But also present are my image ofyou and your image of me. If this is so, then an encounter is fruitfulwhen my image of you has become more as you truly are, and yourimage of me has become more as I truly am. Thats a helpful way tothink about encounters between people of different faiths. It isntquite complete, however.

In every encounter seven are involveda perfect number forChristians. There are you and I, and theres my image of you and yourimage of methe obvious two and somewhat surprising four.

But theres also my image of myself (which may not be true to whoI am and may be very much unlike who you think I am). And theresyour image of yourself (which may not be true to who you are and

Evangelical leaders fromover 150nations that ledto the formation of a 15-point statement outliningthe task of evangelism.

1977JimmY carTer (born1924) becamePresident of theUnitedStates ofAmerica andone of themostprominent Evangelicalsin theworld. Carterallowed his Baptistfaith, and Southernroots, to influence hispresidency (from 1977-

1981). His religious practice has inspired him towork on human rights issues andwithorganizations such asHabitat forHumanity andtheCarter Center (founded after his Presidency)

which champions causes for democracy andimproved global health.

1981James DoBson (born1936) founder of Focus onthe Family, establishedthe Family ResearchCouncil, a non-profitChristian thinktank thatlobbies onCapitol Hill fortraditional family values.Identifying as aNazareneEvangelist, Dobsonhas gainedprominence inthemovementas a successor of the BillyGraham legacy,broadcasting his daily radio programworldwide tomore than 220million people.

16 August 2008PastorricK Warren (born1954) of the SaddlebackChurchin Lake Forest, California, hostedthe SaddlebackCivil Forumfeaturing the first jointappearance of JohnMcCain andBarackObamaas presumptivenominees of the 2008USpresidential election.Warren is also the authorof numerousChristianbooks and is aninfluential Evangelicalminister.

Lindsay, DMFaith in theHalls of Power:HowEvangelicals Joined theAmerican Elite. NewYork:OxfordUP, Incorporated, 2007, p5-7.

NO DRINKINGDrunkenness and alcohol abuse are uniformly viewed as sinfulbehavior. Thus, a majority of american evangelicals are

teetotalersthey abstain from the use of alcohol in anyform. This attitude has shown signs of changing, as more

and more evangelicals (particularly younger ones) feelthere is nothing wrong with drinking alcohol in moderation.

NO SMOKINGThe biblical injunction that our bodies are a temple of theHoly spirit, to be kept pure, explains the prohibition onsmoking. except for some evangelicals in the southernUnited states (where most tobacco is grown) and membersof a few small reformed denominations, smoking and tobacco

use in any form is routinely rejected.

NO DRUG USEDont even think about it.

NO DANCINGTraditionally, dancing has been viewed as a lustful exercise thatserves as a gateway sin for all sorts of other immoral behavior:drinking, smoking, premarital sex, adultery, etc. The refusal ofmost evangelicals to take part in The Dance has been one of themajor social dividing lines between themselves and theirchristian neighbors. still, negative attitudes toward dance areloosening up in recent years.

NO ENTERTAINMENTFor years most evangelicals refused to have anything to do with so-called worldly entertainmentstheaters, card and dice games,movies, most popular music. While evangelicals are nowmuch more likely to enjoy casual entertainment, a largepercentage avail themselves of inspirational,evangelical-produced alternatives which are purgedof vulgarity and immoral themes.

NO GAMBLINGevangelicals believe the lord wants them to work hard and dependupon Him for their material needs. Gamblingcard and dice games,

horseracing, sports bets, bingowith its easy moneyaura has been traditionally regarded as immoral both inessence and in association with drinking, smoking, andorganized crime. although some have begun to lightenup on this attitude, most still are unwilling to evenconsider buying a lottery ticket.

eVanGelical TaBoosThroughout the years, evangelicals have been known by their list ofDonts in social behavior and entertainment choices. While theseattitudes have eased in recent decades, evangelicals still closely guardthemselves from being polluted by the following worldly vices.

RA

MIK

ILANI

may be very much unlike who I think you are). So thats six in oneencounter. The consequence? I have to learn to seemyself as I trulyam, not just demand that you see me as I am (which is often ademand that you see me not as I truly am but as I think I am). Simi-larly, you have to learn to see yourself as you truly are, not justdemand that I see you as you are (which is, again, often a demandthat I see you not as you truly are but as you think you are).

But I spoke of seven in every encounter? Where does the seventhcome from? In every encounter there is also another One present,the categorically unique and utterly incomparable One, theabsolutely truthful and infinitely merciful One. God is present inevery encounter. As the truthful One, God sees each of us truthfullyrather than distorting our identities. And Gods truthful perceptionof us demands our truthful self-perception as well as the truthfulperceiving of others. Further, as the merciful One, God desires us tobe merciful in all our dealings with one another and with the world.Indeed, God desires of us to beas truthful andasmerciful with our-selves, with one another, and with the world as He himself is truth-ful and merciful.

If God is always involved in any fruitful encounter, then it is clearthat the seventh one is really the First Onenot first in a series, butthe first one who makes the series possible at all. Fruitful encounterbetween those who love God and neighbor is possible only becausethe God of love makes it possiblemakes possible the encounter aswell as the love of God and of neighbor around which it takes place.Hence both our love of God and our love of neighbor appropriatelymust start with the recognition that we and our world are loved bythe God of infinite love. The dual command of love is rooted in the

simple and the most sublime reality of the God who is love, as theEpistle of John states.

A MIGHTY TREE?It is not too much to say that the CommonWord initiative, with itsemphasis on the dual command of love, has the potential of becom-ing a historic watershed defining the relations between the twonumerically largest faiths in the world today for the good of allhumanity. But will it? WillACommonWord be a seed that has fallenon unfertile ground and dies? Or will it grow into a great tree underwhose branches many will be able to find shade? Will it remain justa document that gathers the dust of history? Or will it become a com-mon platform from which to address effectively many areas of ten-sion between Muslims and Christians, as well as many of theburning issues in our interconnected world?

Which of these possibilities will be realized? If Muslims andChristians embrace the initiative and commit themselves to love ofGod and neighbor, the CommonWord initiative will open up a newfuture for Muslims, Christians and Jewsa future in which manyswords will be turned into plowshares and clashes replaced byconviviality."

M I RO S L AV VO L F isHenryBWrightProfessor ofTheology, YaleUniversityDivinity School, and theFoundingDirector ofYaleCenter for FaithandCulture

Islamica thanksDr. Randall Balmer,MattCollins,Dr. LarryEskridge,Dr. BarryHankins,Dr. ChristianSmith,Dr. JohnStackhouse, andDr.Douglas Sweeney fortheir vital contributions



evangelical christians span americas landscape far and wide. But whoexactly are the practitioners of this form of christianity and howevangelical are they? islamica surveyed some leading scholars* of theeld to rate six major groups based on degrees of evangelicalism. amongthe most populous denominations in the U.s. are Pentecostals, Baptists,

independent or non-Denominational churches, methodists,Presbyterians and episcopalians. Using a ve-star rating system,

we look at three categories: historical roots in the evangelicalmovement; self-identication as evangelicals; currentprevalence of evangelical practice and belief.*Dr Randall Balmer is Professor ofAmerican religious history at BarnardCollege, ColumbiaUniversity, and author ofMine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: AJourney into the Evangelical Subculture in America (OxfordUniversity Press,2000).

Dr Larry Eskridge is AssociateDirector of the Institute for the Study ofAmerican Evangelicals atWheatonCollege, editor of the Evangelical StudiesBulletin and co-editor ofMore Money, More Ministry: Evangelicals and Moneyin Recent North American History (Eerdmans, 2000).

Dr Barry Hankins is Professor ofHistory andChurch-State Studies, DirectorofGraduate Studies at BaylorUniversity and author ofAmerican

Evangelicals: A Contemporary History of A Mainstream ReligiousMovement (Rowman&Littlefield, 2008).

Dr Christian Smith is theWilliamR. Kenan, Jr.Professor of Sociology at theUniversity ofNotreDameand author ofAmerican Evangelicalism:Embattled and Thriving (UniversityOfChicago Press,1998).

Dr Douglas Sweeney is Associate professor ofChurchHistory and theHistory of ChristianThought, director of theCarl F. H.HenryCenter forTheological Understanding at Trinity EvangelicalDivinity School and author ofThe AmericanEvangelical Story: A History of the Movement (Baker,2005).

Independent / Non-Denominational

Baptists

Pentecostals

Episcopalians

Presbyterians

Methodists

Non Historical Roots

Self-identification

Practice / Belief RAMI KILANI

BismiLlahal-Rahmanal-RahimIn theNameofGod, theAll-Good, the InfinitelyMercifuland blessings and peace be upon the ProphetMuhammad and uponall themessengers.

Your Holiness, Eminences, Excellencies, distinguished Scholars:It is asserted by the Word of God, which for us Muslims is the NobleQuran, And God summons to the Abode of Peace, and by Christ(may peace be upon him), who is the Word of God in Christianity andalso a prophet and messenger of the highest order in Islam, Blessedare the peacemakers. The goal of attaining peace is thus commonbetween our two religions and we are here precisely with the hope ofattaining peace between Christianity and Islam. Furthermore, whatcan be more important and foundational in the quest for peace thancreating peace between our religionsfor only from this peace willit be possible to establish peace between peoples and nations, morespecically the Islamic world and the West. Whether we are Chris-tians or Muslims, we are beckoned by our religions to seek peace. Aspeople of religion meeting here at the center of Catholicism, let usthen dedicate ourselves to mutual understanding, not as diplomats,but as sincere religious scholars and authorities standing before Godand responsible to Him beyond all worldly authority.

When one ponders over the remarkable similarities betweenIslam and Christianity, one wonders why there has been so muchcontention between the two religions over the centuries. As Mus-lims we share with Christians faith in the One God, the God of Abra-ham, and see in the beginning of the Catholic declaration of belief,credo in unum deum, the deepest conrmation of the rst shahadaor testimony of our religion, namely la ilaha illaLlah (there is nodivinity but God), which we consider to be foundational not only toour religion, but to every authentic religion. Our religion and yoursshare, therefore, the same foundation and basis despite dierencesamong us in the interpretation of the doctrine of tawhid, or unity,that is so central not only to Islam but also to Christianity since thedoctrine of the Trinity certainly does not negate divine Unity inmainstream Christian theology.

Moreover, for us God is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe,at once Transcendent and Immanent, as He is for you. Over themany centuries of our history men and women of our two commu-nities have stood in awe before the majesty of God as Transcendentand felt His closeness as the Immanent, for as the Noble Quran as-serts God is closer to us than our jugular vein. And there have beenthose in our two communities who have smelled the perfume of di-vine Proximity, have become immersed in the Ocean of Oneness andbeen blessed by the beatic vision of God.

For both of us God has a personal dimension and we can addressHim as the Thou to whom we both pray. For Muslims as well asChristians God is both Merciful and Just and the harmonization ofthese two apparently contradictory qualities has been the subject

of countless studies by both your theologians and ours. And ofcourse we both associate God with love with dierent interpreta-tions of this central divine quality in our two religions. Christiansspeak of the love of God and some view Islam as lacking in empha-sizing this quality. Muslims would respond that God being innite,surely His love for His creation could not have become exhaustedby the advent of Christianity. Some of that love must in fact have re-mained to be manifested in Islam and we, no less than Christians,live the life of faith in the glow of divine Love. That is why one of thegreatest spiritual masters of Islam, Jalal al-din Rumi, identied Godwith the Beloved, as did so many other Sus, and could utter in apoem:

Hail to Thee O our Love with goodly passion,O physician of all our ailments,O remedy of our pride and honor,O Thou our Plato and Galen besides.

Both you and we believe that God has created the human soulwhich is immortal and reject all those views that consider man as aclever machine brought about through accidental and haphazardbiological events. We both associate human dignity with mens andwomens eternal soul. Consequently we both emphasize the ethicalcharacter of human life and believe that having been given free willto act, we are responsible to God for our earthly actions. Our the-ologians may have debated about free will and determinism formany centuries but both religions have always insisted upon moral-ity and the ethical nature of human actions with consequences be-yond the grave. We all arm the reality of good and evil and theirbasic distinction, without which belief in ethical action and its eectupon our immortal soul would be meaningless. And our ethicalnorms are in fact similar in so many ways. That is why we both seekto avoid what classical Catholic theology calls the seven deadly sins.That is why on the social plane we both emphasize the importanceof the family and on the individual level the crucial signicance ofsexual ethics, which, although dealing primarily with the individual,has such a major impact upon society at large.

For both you and us it is our common eschatological beliefs, intheir general principles and not details, that provide the frameworkfor the religious understanding of human actions and their conse-quences upon our souls. We all believe in the reality of posthumousstates, in various paradises, infernos and at least in the case ofCatholic Christianity the purgatories. All of us expect to meet Godand rely on His mercy and forgiveness. We even have fairly similarhistorical eschatologies with of course some dierences, but in anycase we both expect the second coming of Christ, who is at once thecenter of Christianity and such a major gure in the Islamic reli-gious universe.


WeandYouLetusMeet inGodsLove

Christians and Muslims are both beckoned by their respective religions to seek peaceBY SEYYED HOSSE IN NASR



We Muslims and Christians, like followers of other religions, pray,a

dossier

Documents