A Common Word Between Us and You

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A Common Word Between Us and You is an open letter, dated 13 October 2007, from leaders of the Muslim faith to leaders of the Christian faith. It calls for peace between Muslims and Christians and tries to work for common ground and understanding among both faiths based especially on the two main commandments: (1) love God; and (2) love one's fellow man (neighbor).

Contents

[edit] Background

This letter is a follow up to a smaller letter in 2006, which had been a response to Pope Benedict XVI's 12 September 2006 lecture at the University of Regensburg.[1] This lecture, on faith and reason, focused mainly on Christianity and what Pope Benedict called the tendency to "exclude the question of God" from reason. Islam features in a part of the lecture: the Pope quoted a Byzantine emperor’s strong criticism of Muhammad's teachings. Pope Benedict clarified that this was not his own personal opinion, describing the quotation as being of a "startling brusqueness, a brusqueness which leaves us astounded".

One month later, 38 Islamic scholars representing all branches of Islam, replied to Pope Benedict, in "An Open Letter to the Pope", dated 13 October 2006. [2] In "A Common Word", dated 13 October 2007, 138 Islamic personalities wrote to promote interfaith dialog and to declare that there is some common ground between Islam and Christianity.

[edit] Addressees

The letter is addressed to Pope Benedict XVI, the patriarchs of the Orthodox churches, the leaders of the larger Christian denominations, and to leaders of Christians everywhere.

[edit] Authorship

The letter is signed by 138 prominent Muslim personalities from a large number of countries from several continents. These include academics, intellectuals, scholars, government ministers, political advisors, authors, muftis and media chiefs. Of the signatories, nearly half are university academics or scholars. A group of scholars affiliated with the non-governmental, international independent research institute The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Amman, Jordan [11], the sponsors of the letter, helped in drafting it over a period of three years. A number of signatories of the letter have large followings throughout the Islamic world and beyond.

[edit] Contents of the Letter

  • List of Addressees
  • Summary and Abridgement
  • Love of God
  • Love of God in Islam
  • Love of God as the First and Greatest Commandment in the Bible
  • Love of the Neighbour
  • Love of the Neighbour in Islam
  • Love of the Neighbour in the Bible
  • Come to a Common Word Between Us and You
  • Notes
  • Signatories

[edit] Main quotations from the Letter

“The basis for this peace and understanding already exists. It is part of the very foundational principles of both faiths: love of the One God, and love of the neighbour. These principles are found over and over again in the sacred texts of Islam and Christianity. The Unity of God, the necessity of love for Him, and the necessity of love of the neighbour is thus the common ground between Islam and Christianity.”

“Whilst Islam and Christianity are obviously different religions—and whilst there is no minimising some of their formal differences—it is clear that the Two Greatest Commandments are an area of common ground and a link between the Qur’an, the Torah and the New Testament.”

“Finding common ground between Muslims and Christians is not simply a matter for polite ecumenical dialogue between selected religious leaders. Christianity and Islam are the largest and second largest religions in the world and in history. Christians and Muslims reportedly make up over a third and over a fifth of humanity respectively. Together they make up more than 55% of the world’s population, making the relationship between these two religious communities the most important factor in contributing to meaningful peace around the world. If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace. With the terrible weaponry of the modern world; with Muslims and Christians intertwined everywhere as never before, no side can unilaterally win a conflict between more than half of the world’s inhabitants. Thus our common future is at stake. The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake."

“And to those who nevertheless relish conflict and destruction for their own sake or reckon that ultimately they stand to gain through them, we say that our very eternal souls are all also at stake if we fail to sincerely make every effort to make peace and come together in harmony.”

“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.”

[edit] Reaction

Although many Christian leaders, scholars and lay persons have made public statements or replies to the letter, there has not yet been an organized joint response from the addressees as a group.

Some Christian leaders and lay persons and academics welcomed this letter as a basis for promoting mutual understanding and furthering dialog between Islam and Christianity, including Catholic Church officials, the Archbishop of Canterbury the Most Rev. and Rt. Hon. Rowan Williams, Bishop Rev. Mark S. Hanson, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Rev. David Coffey of the Baptist World Alliance, Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, Rev. Michael Livingston, President of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, Very Rev. Professor Iain Torrance, President of the Princeton Theological Seminary, and the Deans and faculty members of the Yale, Harvard, and Cambridge University Divinity Schools.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, a Vatican official, whilst welcoming dialog, commented that real dialog with Muslims is difficult. He pointed out imbalances, such as opposition or limitations to the building of churches in some Muslim countries, whilst in Christian countries, Muslims are free to build Mosques. He also said, "Muslims do not accept that one can discuss the Koran in depth, because they say it was written by dictation from God... With such an absolute interpretation, it is difficult to discuss the contents of faith." [3] However, Cardinal Tauran is quoted as saying that his remarks were not exclusivist and that Muslims and Christians are to engage in a substantive dialogue concerning theological and spiritual foundations. [4]

The Yale Divinity School's positive reply to the open letter, entitled "Loving God and Neighbor Together: A Christian Response to A Common Word between Us and You" was organized by leading theologian Professor Miroslav Volf and his Yale colleagues and released on October 12, 2007. On November 18, 2007 it was published as a full page advertisement in the New York Times with nearly 300 signatories. The letter has garnered over 300 signatures to date on the Yale Divinity School website. [5]

Jewish academics and leaders have also welcomed this letter as a basis for further dialog as have the Chief Rabbis of Israel. [6]

Some conservative political commentators such as the leading American political columnist Mona Charen,[7] have criticized it for failing to address the main complaints against the customs and practices of some Muslims, particularly in parts of the Islamic world, including:

  • discrimination against persons of different religions and non-believers, e.g. prohibiting non-Muslim religious activities, especially proselytizing for Christian denominations;
  • imposing "backward customs", such as forcing women to veil, female circumcision, prohibiting women from driving vehicles, and other such constraints; and
  • violent reactions for even the slightest criticism or humor directed at Islam or Muslim customs. For example, see the reaction to cartoons of the Prophet. Innocent actions can also provoke violent responses as in the Sudanese teddy bear blasphemy case.

Robert Spencer, an American conservative commentator, writes, "The persecution of Christians is the primary indication of the letter’s inadequacy as the basis for any real dialogue between Muslims and Christians. Genuine dialogue must focus, or at least be cognizant of, the reality of what separates the two parties. Nothing can be resolved, no genuine peace or harmony attained, except on the basis of confronting those differences."[8]

An analysis of the letter by Patrick Sookhdeo of the Barnabas Fund, an evangelical Protestant Christian missionary organisation, points out some significant issues which he feels are not addressed. His analysis claims that while the letter implies that there is a global war on Islam by Christianity, it gives no indication of sorrow for current or historical wrongs inflicted on Christians by Islam. Nor does it acknowledge that Muslim actions may have contributed in any alienation between Christians and Muslims. There is no acknowledgement that in many areas, such as parts of Iraq, Sudan, Nigeria, Indonesia and Pakistan, rather than Christianity fighting a war to destroy or displace Muslims, the reverse is the case. [9]

The Common Word website Frequently Asked Questions section [10] addresses much of the criticism of the letter's perceived lack of inclusiveness: "This document is a first step, but one that strives to lay a solid foundation for the construction of many worthy edifices. The document can not be expected to do everything at once. Moreover, many of these issues were already addressed in the Amman Message (see: http://www.ammanmessage.com)." The website further acknowledges concerning the letter being a form of "propaganda": "If you mean by that witnessing and proclaiming one’s faith with compassion and gentleness, then yes. If you mean forcing one’s views on others, then no."

[edit] Follow-up

On March 5, 2008 a delegation of five Muslim signatories to a Common Word and the Vatican agreed to found a permanent "Catholic-Muslim Forum" which would meet bi-annually and communicate on a regular basis. The first session which will be addressed by His Holiness Pope Benedict will take place on Nov. 4-6, 2008 in Rome with 24 religious leaders and scholars from each side. The themes of the first session will be "Love of God, Love of Neighbour", "Theological and Spiritual Foundation", and "Human Dignity and Mutual Respect". Also included will be a 'public session.'

[edit] Website

A website associated with the letter exists at http://www.acommonword.com was launched on October 10, 2007. The site displays a pop-up dialog box asking readers to "fully endorse" the letter. As of March 6, 2008, the site had recorded 5,255 endorsements of the letter and approximately 99,000 visitors.

The official website contains: the text of the letter (entitled "A Common Word Between Us"), a list of signatories, recipients, Christian responses, Jewish responses, media resources (includes a comprehensive list of media comments which is regularly updated), downloads and translations, new signatories, pictures, comments, etc.

The website has a page where site visitors can leave comments [12].

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ A Common Word Official Website [1]
  2. ^ Open Letter to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, 13 October 2006[2]
  3. ^ Tom Heneghan, "Cardinal Signals Firm Vatican Stance With Muslims", Reuters 19 October 2007 [3]
  4. ^ Dialogue without taboos. Even on religious freedom [4]
  5. ^ Yale Center for Faith and Culture website [5]
  6. ^ Archbishop of Canterbury Meets Chief Rabbis in Jerusalem [6]
  7. ^ Charen, Mona (2007) 'About that Muslim letter to the Pope' Jewish World Review, 19 October 2007 [7]
  8. ^ Robert Spencer, 'The Muslim Letter to the Pope' In Jihad Watch, Human Events website, 22 October 2007[8]
  9. ^ Barnabas Fund, "Response to Open Letter and Call from Muslim Religious Leaders to Christian Leaders" [9]
  10. ^ A Common Word FAQ [10]
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