Ecumenical & Interfaith
Network - PCUSA

A Muslim Letter

| The Letter | Resulting dialogues | Responses | Pre-dialogue Christian probing |

The letter

Common ground between Islam and Christianity is declared

On October 13, 2007, on the eve of Eid al-Fitr, 138 Muslim scholars, clerics, and intellectuals -- under patronage originating in Jordan -- sent an open letter to Christian leaders. They unanimously declare, "for the first time since the days of the Prophet," what they understand to be common ground between Christianity and Islam: using the Qur'an and the Bible, they find this in love of God and love of neighbor. Recipients of the letter, "A Common Word Between Us and You," included the Pope, the Ecumenical Patriarch, Setri Nyomi of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), and Samuel Kobia of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Breaking current tensions is an aim

The Muslim message appears to be an attempt to break current tensions. "As Muslims, we say to Christians that . . . Islam is not against them," the letter says, "so long as they do not wage war against Muslims on account of their religion, oppress them and drive them out of their homes." It appeals:

With the terrible weaponry of the modern world; with Muslims and Christians intertwined everywhere as never before, no side can unilaterally win a conflict between more than half of the world's inhabitants. Thus our common future is at stake. The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake.

The letter ends with the thought,

So let our differences not cause hatred and strife between us. Let us vie with each other only in righteousness and good works. Let us respect each other, be fair, just and kind to another and live in sincere peace, harmony and mutual goodwill.

The signatories include U.S.-based Muslims

Muslims with a U.S. base who originally signed the letter include:

• Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, founder of the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA)
• Sheikh Muhammad Nur Abdullah, vice president of the Fiqh Council of North America
• Akbar Ahmed, professor at the American University in Washington, D.C.
• Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)
• Caner Dagli, a Roanoke College professor
• Alan Godlas, a University of Georgia professor and editor of Sufi News
• Sheikh Hamza Yusuf Hanson, director of the Zaytuna Institute
• Sheikh Kabir Helminski, co-director of the Book Foundation
• Ibrahim Kalin, a Georgetown University professor
• Hafiz Yusuf Kavakci, the founding dean of Suffa Islamic Seminary in Dallas
• Sheikh Nuh Ha Mim Keller of the Shadhili Order
• Joseph Lumbard, a professor at Brandeis University
• Ingrid Mattson of Hartford Seminary, the president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)
• Seyyed Hossein Nasr, a George Washington University professor
• Imam Zaid Shakir, a Zaytuna Institute lecturer
• Muzammil Siddiqui (on behalf of the whole Fiqh Council of North America, of which he is chair).

The 138 signers also include Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu (pictured), secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), a number of present or former Grand Muftis, and representatives of a broad spectrum of the Muslim world according to geography and schools of thought. The BBC says that the signatories include persons with large followings. "The real significance of this gesture is that it is the first act of a group that intends to become the 'international voice' of mainstream Islam, missing for so long," it says. " It has been one of the problems of dialogue between Christians and Muslims that Islam has lacked a coherent mainstream view."

Resulting dialogues

Christians and Muslims set high-profile dialogue meetings

The Muslim letter, among other things, was likely an attempt to establish a positive relationship with Pope Benedict XVI. He responded through a November 29, 2007 letter from the Vatican's secretary of state, inviting a meeting. On March 4-5 representatives of the Muslim signatories and the Vatican met and agreed to establish a World Muslim-Catholic Forum that, as its first act, will bring together Muslim and Catholic representatives in Rome from November 4 to 6, 2008.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) will propose a series of Muslim-Christian consultations to work on a framework for future joint initiatives with Muslims. It will call on Muslim partners, especially the signatories to the letter, to join in forming a planning group to "seek joint Muslim and Christian initiatives of dialogue and cooperation at both the regional and global levels." At another level, the National Council of Churches (NCC) has said there will be an ecumenical response from U.S. churches in the early fall of 2008 which, in turn, should encourage local dialogue meetings around the country.

Some of the expected meetings are:

• Cambridge University - October 2008
• Rome / the Vatican - November 2008
  
• Georgetown University - March 2009
• Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute, Jordan - October 2009

The WCC, the Christian World Communions, the WEA, and the Roman Catholic Church, will enable an intra-Christian consultation in October 2008 to explore questions related to Christian self-understanding in relation to Islam motivated by the invitation of "A Common Word."

Presbyterian congregation focuses on the letter locally

A 1600-member PC(USA) congregation, Ladue Chapel in St. Louis, Missouri, hosted a local gathering of Christians and Muslims to talk about the Muslim letter. They heard presentations by one of the original letter signatories and by Presbyterian Marsha Snulligan-Haney of the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta (pictured). Mixed small groups next conversed about questions they picked out of paper bags on their tables. A final panel discussion was followed by suggestions about keeping the conversation going.

Annemarie Schimmel Forum lists practical concerns to be addressed

The Germany-based Annemarie Schimmel Forum, represented among respondents to A Common Word, is notable for its statement that "successful dialogue requires structure preconditions like . . . cooperative crisis management by religious charities or inter-religious academic acting as centers for active peace studes." It goes on to list a series of "fields of action" that are "tasks awaiting religious cooperation."

Responses to the letter

Early Christian responses are actually acknowledgements

Multiple responses came early from the Christian community, with John Borelli commenting that they are really acknowledgements and not full responses, which will take longer -- perhaps years -- to appear. He recognizes that Muslim-Christian dialogue is inhibited by newness, lack of parallel structures, and political developments, especially in the Middle East.

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Yale response

On November 18, 2007 a public Christian response, titled "Loving God and Neighbor Together" and written by four Yale Divinity School scholars and administrators, was published in the New York Times with a long, diverse list of co-signers (including a number of PCUSA-related persons from seminaries and congregations). Evangelicals are among the signatories, and the process has furthered debate within the Evangelical community. See Presbyterian Richard Mouw's statement about why he, as an evangelical, stands by his signing the document (his blog, February 18, 2008). The Yale University web site posted answers to Frequently Asked Questions culled from the considerable correspondence that it received and from public response in the media.

Roman Catholic scholars' responses

Five scholars at the Pontificio Istituto di Studi Arabi e d'Islamistica in Rome shed light on the uniquely Muslim way that the original letter's writers position themselves:

. . . we appreciate the way the authors of this text, as Muslims, see the proper definition of their own identity in these two [love] commandments. They do so not by compliance or by politicking, but truly, solely on the basis of their proclamation of divine uniqueness, (al-tawhîd), the pivot of Muslim belief. Indeed, we acknowledge that the radical acceptance of divine uniqueness is one of the most authentic expressions of love owed to God alone. In addition, as faith always goes together with good works, as the Koran never fails to repeat, (al-ladîna âmanû wa ‘amilû al-sâlihât : al-Baqara 2, 25), love of God is inseparable from love of neighbour.

A somewhat different tone was set by the response of Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. He raised in public discussion the issue of the Qur'an as "literal word of God," perhaps implying that it could not be the subject of any deep mutual dialogue. A former professor at the Pontifical Institute refuted Tauran's view, saying Muslims have always interpreted and studied the Qur'an. As background, also read "Christian-Muslim Relations in the 21st Century," a 1997 presentation by Cardinal Francis Arinze, the former president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID).

See also the responsive commentary from the Jesuit, Christian Troll, who sees in the letter the emergence of a "something like an intra-Islamic ecumenical movement" but who notes the absence of some key Muslim figures one might have expected to be in the company of the signatories. He notes the differences in approaches of A Common Word and the 2007 PCID message to Muslims, going on to question the roles of the "political order" and the "religious sphere." Even if Muslims and Christians (and Jews) could agree in the religious sphere, he implies, there are the difficult issues of their interactions in the political sphere.

A response from the World Evangelical Alliance

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) responded, saying it regrets past and present actions by Christians that "do not match the teachings and example of Jesus" and is determined to act differently. In response to the Muslim call in "A Common Word," the WEA response invites faith in God "who forgives our opposition to him and sin through what his son Jesus Christ did for us at the cross." It does so in the context of speaking about the Christian understanding of love (the central theme of the Muslim letter). The response finally raises three concerns for further discussion: the difference between Christian faith and the western world; a confusion about where Christians have "waged war against Muslims"; and the issue of Christians who cannot practice their faith without restriction in Muslim countries.

An Orthodox response from the Moscow Patriarchate

An April 15 response from Patriarch Alexy of All Russia expresses the concern that, though Christians and Muslims are drawn together by the commandment of the love of God, he does not "think it is worthwhile for us to identify a certain minimum that seems to fix our convergences in faith and to be theologically sufficient," since "any doctrinal affirmation in Christianity or Islam cannot be viewed in isolation from its unique place in the integral theological system." He goes on to see the Christian concept of the Trinity "interpreted against the background of the notion of God as love." After further explications, he rejects any fear that dialogue will lead to syncretism. See a commentary by Bp. Hilarion Alfeyev.

A response from the Archbishop of Canterbury

In mid-July, 2008 the Archbishop of Canterbury responded with a letter titled, "A Common Word for the Common Good." In it, he recognized that the Christian belief in the Trinity can be offensive to Muslims but showed that Christians see the Trinity as explaining that God is love. He called for breaking the cycles of religiously-inspired violence and said that, by breaking from coercive human power as the final arbiter, "we can together suggest a way in which religious plurality can be seen as serving the cause of social unity and acting as a force for the common good."   

Media magnify individual voices, as well

A probing response came early from Michael Nazir Ali, originally of Pakistan and now a Church of England diocesan bishop. While welcoming the letter, he said, "I would stress . . . that dialogue between partners must be conducted in the integrity of each faith. One partner cannot dictate the terms on which dialogue must be conducted. This document seems to be on the verge of doing that" by calling for dialogue on the basis of the Muslim understanding of the oneness of God, which is different from the Christian understanding."

In an unrelated article that looked also looked at the Muslim view of oneness, a Christian Century editorial moved to a less theological place by claiming a point for dialogue in the statement that "neighbor love is expressed in keeping religious belief free of political coercion." "Christians might have serious questions for Muslims," it said, "since Christian minorities in Muslim countries are often hard-pressed."

David Ford, director of the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme, said an obvious question is whether the letter will have any impact on violent extremism. He looked for four elements in a long-term solution, all of which he finds in "A Common Word," if sufficient people act on it:

• "Muslim solidarity around an understanding of their faith that clearly excludes violent, uncompassionate acts, programs and language;
• "better Christian understanding of Islam;
• "deeper engagement between Muslims and Christians that makes use of the resources at the heart of their faith, such as their scriptures;
• "a concern for the flourishing of the whole human family and the whole planet."

Peter Ochs, one of the author's of the 2000 Jewish address to Christians, Dabru Emet, says "A Common Word" "extends, affirms, and deepens the work of God that we have already seen in Jewish-Christian dialogue." Christians and Muslims now must go about the work of serious of study and fellowship uninterrupted by other partners, he says, after which Jews can enter the dialogue.

Pre-dialogue Christian probing

Princeton Seminary president hopes it will play a role

In early June 2008, the Archbishop of Canterbury convened an ecumenical group of some forty persons from a range of geographic, cultural, and denominational settings to discuss their experience of dialogue with Muslims -- "situating the significance of the open letter A Common Word within it, and determining what degree of consensus might be possible as we look forward." Scholars resourcing the meeting included Iain Torrance, president of Princeton Seminary and who also represented the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC). Torrance commented that "A Common Word" "is to be seen as a gift, coming from a culture in which gifts are given in part to transform relationships. A gift given calls for a gift in return, again as a token of changed relationships." He said he hoped that Princeton Seminary could play a role "in building trust, offering hospitality, and learning repentantly in our relations with Islam.” An early response was a Scriptural Reasoning Conference in July for shared study of scriptures.

On this web site

* Specific resources: general Christian-Muslim resources that are not issue oriented

* Muslim responses:  Muslim and Christian responses to current events

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