[R-G] A Muslim Letter to Christians

[Richard Menec]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21248862/site/newsweek/?from=rss

Oct 11, 2007 Newsweek

A Muslim Letter to Christians

In an unprecedented letter, Muslim leaders across the globe invite the 
worlds Christians to the table.

By Emily Flynn Vencat

Oct. 11, 2007 - Getting religious leaders to agree on anything is 
notoriously difficult. So this mornings announcement"that 138 of the worlds 
most powerful Muslim clerics, scholars and intellectuals from all branches 
of Islam (Sunni and Shia, Salafi and Sufi, liberal and conservative) had 
come together to write a letter to the worlds Christian leaders"is being 
hailed as something of a miracle.

In a display of unprecedented unity, the letter"which calls for peace 
between the worlds Christians and Muslims"is signed by no fewer than 19 
current and former grand ayatollahs and grand muftis from countries as 
diverse as Egypt, Turkey, Russia, Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Iraq. It is 
addressed to Christianitys most powerful leaders, including the pope, the 
archbishop of Canterbury and the heads of the Lutheran, Methodist and 
Baptist churches, and, in 15 pages laced with Quranic and Biblical 
scriptures, argues that the most fundamental tenets of Islam and 
Christianity are identical: love of one (and the same) God, and love of ones 
neighbor.

On this basis, the letter, entitled A Common Word Between Us and You, 
reasons that harmony between the two religions is not only necessary for 
world peace, it is natural. As Muslims, we say to Christians that we are not 
against them and that Islam is not against them"so long as they do not wage 
war against Muslims on account of their religion, oppress them and drive 
them out of their homes ] Our very eternal souls are all at stake if we fail 
to sincerely make every effort to make peace, the letter reads. Its an 
astonishing achievement of solidarity, says David Ford, director of the 
Cambridge Universitys Interfaith Program. I hope it will be able to set the 
right key note for relations between Muslims and Christians in the 21st 
century, which have been lacking since September 11.

One profound obstacle to establishing positive relations among mainstream 
Muslim and Christian groups, argues Ford, has been the lack of a single, 
authoritative Muslim voice to participate in such a dialogue. This letter 
changes that. It proves that Islam can have an unambiguous, unified voice, 
says Aref Ali Nayed, a leading Islamic scholar and one of the letters 
authors.

Getting the letter written was no mean feat. Highly placed and extremely 
well-connected leaders at Jordans Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic 
Thought in Amman have been working for more than three years to make it 
happen. The institute wont say who was the driving force behind the 
effort"if indeed it was any single person"because that would undermine its 
collaborative nature. But Nayed, whom experts believe was one of the key 
draftsmen, says that the country of Jordan and its leaders played a very 
important role. Jordan is the Switzerland of the Middle East, Nayed says. 
The Royal Institute was responsible for the widely read Open Letter to the 
Pope following his controversial speech last year, which was signed by 38 
high-level Muslim leaders.

Prince Ghazi Bin Muhammed, the Royal Institutes chairman, was likely 
instrumental in bringing the signatories together this time. As a member of 
the Jordanian royal family, Prince Ghazi is a powerful politician, and he is 
also considered by Muslims to be a direct descendent of the Prophet 
Muhammad. The contacts wouldnt be an issue [for him], says John Esposito, 
Director of the Center for Muslim and Christian Understanding at Georgetown 
University.

Early responses indicate that Christian leaders are welcoming the Common 
Word with open arms. In Britain the bishop of London told NEWSWEEK that the 
letter would invite young people to view the world as a place where dialogue 
is possible, instead of a place full of threats. Americas evangelical 
Christian leaders are being similarly positive. Rod Parsley, senior pastor 
of the World Harvest Church in Ohio, says, My prayer is that this letter 
begins a dialogue that results in Muslims and Christians uniting around the 
love we have for each other as Gods children.

Even with such endorsements, the question remains: Will the letter have any 
practical impact? Could it possibly help reduce the incidence of violent 
extremism and terrorism? Experts hope that because the letters authors have 
millions of followers in both the Muslim and Christian worlds the answer is 
a (very qualified) yes. Given that theres no simple one-off solution to 
terrorism, says Cambridges Ford, this letter does have all the elements 
necessary to move in that direction. Among those elements are the authors 
solidarity on the subject of nonviolence and their clear plea for greater 
understanding between followers of the two faiths.

Jordans Royal Institute sees the letter as the first step in a long process 
of opening up peaceful dialogue between Muslims and other religions around 
the world. A letter to the Jews is already in the works; the seeds of the 
next effort are evident in the current letters quotations not only from the 
New Testament but also from the Torah. Eventually, says Nayed, the Muslim 
signatories plan to write a missive to the secular community. The world is a 
garden, says Nayed. We can focus on the weeds or we can focus on the fruit. 
And we are choosing to focus on the fruit.

(c) 2007 MSNBC.com

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