Inter-Faith Dialogue

Pope Benedict XVI stood in prayer alongside the grand mufti of Istanbul in one of Islam’s greatest places of worship.


Pope Benedict XVI visited the ‘Diyanet,’ Turkey’s presidency for religious affairs on 29th November 2006, where he met with Ali Bardokoglu, president of that department, and with various Turkish Muslims leaders, among them the Grand Mufti of Ankara and the Grand Mufti of Istanbul, as reported by Independent Catholic News.


The Pope began his English-language talk by greeting “all the Muslims in Turkey with particular esteem and affectionate regard.” He also recalled how Turkey “is very dear to Christians: many of the earliest Church communities were founded here and grew to maturity, inspired by the preaching of the Apostles, particularly St. Paul and St. John. This noble land has also seen a remarkable flowering of Islamic civilization in the most diverse fields, including its literature and art, as well as its institutions. There are so many Christian and Muslim monuments that bear witness to Turkey’s glorious past,” in which “you rightly take pride.”


Pope Benedict continued, “Christians and Muslims, following their respective religions, point to the truth of the sacred character and dignity of the person. This is the basis of our mutual respect and esteem, this is the basis for cooperation in the service of peace between nations and people.”


“Christians and Muslims belong to the family of those who believe in the one God and who, according to their respective traditions, trace their ancestry to Abraham. This human and spiritual unity in our origins and our destiny impels us to seek a common path. ... As men and women of religion, we are challenged by the widespread longing for justice, development, solidarity, freedom, security, peace, defense of life, protection of the environment and of the resources of the earth. This is because we too, while respecting the legitimate autonomy of temporal affairs, have a specific contribution to offer in the search for proper solutions to these pressing questions.”


“Above all,” he added, “we can offer a credible response to the question which emerges clearly from today’s society, the question about the meaning and purpose of life, for each individual and for humanity as a whole. We are called to work together, so as to help society to open itself to the transcendent, giving Almighty God His rightful place. The best way forward is via authentic dialogue between Christians and Muslims, based on truth and inspired by a sincere wish to know one another better, respecting differences and recognizing what we have in common.”


“As an illustration of the fraternal respect with which Christians and Muslims can work together, I would like to quote some words addressed by Pope Gregory VII in 1076 to a Muslim prince in North Africa who had acted with great benevolence towards the Christians under his jurisdiction. Pope Gregory spoke of the particular charity that Christians and Muslims owe to one another ‘because we believe in one God, albeit in a different manner, and because we praise Him and worship Him every day as the Creator and Ruler of the world.1


The Pope completed his address by thanking God “for this happy occasion that brings us together in His name,” and expressed the hope that Christians and Muslims “may come to know one another better, strengthening the bonds of affection between us in our common wish to live together in harmony, peace and mutual trust.”


(The writer can be reached at sj.terence@gmail.com)

“There are fascinating details about that promised messenger in the Vedas and I have no doubt that the messenger was Prophet Muhammad, (Pbuh),’’ said Sanskrit scholar, Gajendra Panda.


Uzma Naheed of the IQRA education foundation, which runs educational institutions in several countries across the world, recently organised a well-attended inter-faith dialogue on ‘Quran and Ved: Kitne Door Kitne Paas’, in Mumbai. Sanskrit scholar, Gajendra Panda and Islamic scholar, Tariq Abdullah pointed out several similarities between Islam and Sanatan Dharma. Lacing their lectures with quotes from the Vedas and the Quran, the two speakers emphasised the need to appreciate the commonalities between the two great religions.


“The Islamic concept of tauheed resembles the philosophy of Ekam Brahma. Ved has repeatedly reiterated that there is one God,’’ said Panda who, apart from teaching Sanskrit at a college in Ahmedabad also heads Ved Quran Research Centre there.


“Atharva Ved had prophesised that there would be a noble soul like Prophet Muhammad, (Pbuh) much before he was born 1,400 years ago in Makkah. There are fascinating details about that promised messenger in the Vedas and I have no doubt that the messenger was Prophet Muhammad,’’ said Panda. Noted Islamic scholar, Tariq Abdullah deplored the fact that both the followers of Adi Ishwarvani (first religion) and Antim Ishwarvani (last religion) had deviated from the true path as shown by their respective faiths. “Most Hindus don’t know about the message of Ved, just as most Muslims read the Quran without understanding it,’’ he said.


Quoting relevant verses from the Quran, Abdullah explained that even the Quran talks about appearance of earlier prophets and divine books in other countries and cultures. “Nobody forces you to follow a faith, but we must learn to appreciate what is good about others,’’ he said.


Citing an example, Abdullah insisted that Islam’s origins lay in the Indian sub-continent. Adam, according to Islam, was the first prophet. A majority Muslim view is that he reached Indian shores after Allah banished him from paradise. “That establishes Islam’s first connection with India,’’ explained Abdullah who has more than a dozen books on religion to his credit.

The most extraordinary challenge that I faced was to bring together two parties that did not see eye to eye on the issue of Islamophobia.


On Dec. 4, 2006, the national leadership of American Muslims met with key senior US government officials to discuss the state of Islamophobia in America and US-Muslim relations. The conference was organised by the Bridging the Divide Initiative of the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution. It was co-sponsored by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding and the Association of Muslim Social Scientists.


As the conference chair of the program, the most extraordinary challenge that I faced was to bring together two parties that did not see eye to eye on this issue. While American Muslim leaders and participants were arguing that Islamophobia was not only a reality but rapidly increasing phenomenon in America, the government’s position was that while there have been increased incidences of anti-Muslim episodes in the US, the word Islamophobia deepens the divide between the US and the Muslim world. Other representatives of the government also suggested that the fear that Muslims were referring to was not the fear of Islam, but the fear of Muslim terrorism as manifest on Sept. 11, 2001.


Stephen Grand, the director of the US-Islamic World program welcomed the forty plus participants from the US government and the Muslim community and launched the conference. The government was represented by several participants from the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security and associated agencies. The keynote address was delivered by Alina Romanowski, the deputy assistant secretary of state for professional and cultural affairs. She was introduced by Ambassador Martin Indyk, director of the Saban Center. He argued the importance of such dialogues at a time when the gap between America and the Muslim world appeared to be widening.


Romanowski reiterated the vision and objectives that Ambassador Karen Hughes seeks to advance at the State Department on public diplomacy. She talked about the three key public diplomacy objectives — offering a positive vision of hope and opportunity around the world that is rooted in America’s belief in freedom, justice, opportunity and respect for all; isolating and marginalising the violent extremists and confronting their ideology of hate and tyranny; and fostering a sense of the common values and common interests between Americans and peoples of different countries, cultures and faiths around the world.


Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, argued that Islamophobia was a new word, but not a new phenomenon. He presented data to indicate that hate crimes against Muslims had risen by 29 per cent in the last one year, and in the ten years since 1995, that his organisation had collected data on Islamophobic episodes, it has shown nothing but a steady increase. He concluded that being critical of Islam and Muslims is not Islamophobia, but to ridicule the faith and the faithful, certainly is.


Louay Safi, the executive director of the ISNA leadership Development Center, insisted that Islamophobia deepens the divide between the US and the Islamic world. He argued that increasingly Islam is being presented as a violent and intolerant religion and this message is spreading from the margins to the mainstream.


Imam Mahdi Bray, the executive director of MAS Freedom Foundation, expressed concern that in spite of the fact that most Muslims cherish American values, they are portrayed as seditious.


The final panel of the day included, Ahmed Younis, the national director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists and myself. This panel sought to balance the debate by arguing that while there are disturbing indications of the growth of anti-Muslim prejudice in America, there are several surveys which speak to this reality and that American Muslims must be careful how they talk about Islamophobia.


(The writer is assistant professor at the University of Delaware and a Nonresident Senior Fellow with the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution)

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