From
the Editor: Akhtar
Mahmud Faruqui
December 15, 2006
Pope Benedict’s
Observations
A news story emanating from
the Vatican is heart-warming for those of us who
have watched in anguish the unrelenting and unwarranted
exchange of slurs between charged Muslim and Christian
fundamentalists. According to a report which sounds
music to the ears, Pope Benedict XVI expressed unreserved
admiration for Muslims and Islam on Wednesday, and
called for freedom of religion and faith that rejects
all forms of violence.
The pontiff, who returned on Friday from a four-day
visit to Turkey that included an unscheduled stopover
at Istanbul’s Blue Mosque, discussed his trip
during his weekly audience at the Vatican. As a
secular state with a predominantly Muslim population,
Turkey is an emblem of the challenge that lies before
much of the world, Benedict said. “On one
side, it is necessary to rediscover the reality
of God and public importance of religious faith,
on the other to assure that the expression of faith
is free, devoid of fundamentalist degeneration,
capable of firmly repudiating any form of violence.
I, therefore, was given the propitious occasion
to renew my sentiments of esteem for Muslims and
the Islamic civilization … At the same time
I was able to insist on the importance that Christians
and Muslims work together for mankind, for life,
for peace and for justice.”
The Pope described his visit to the mosque as “a
gesture that was not initially planned but that
turned out to have great significance. During a
few minutes of reflection in that place of worship
I turned to the only God of Heaven and earth,”
Benedict said. “May all believers see themselves
as his creatures and bear witness of true brotherhood.”
Towards the end of his visit to the Blue Mosque,
the Pope stood shoulder to shoulder with Istanbul’s
Grand Mufti Mustafa Cagrici for about a minute.
He kept his arms crossed at his waist. His lips
could be seen moving silently. Grand Mufti Mustafa
Cagrici prayed aloud and touched his face in the
traditional Islamic gesture at the end of the prayer.
The Pope nodded and the two exchanged gifts.
The Pope’s visit and observations should prompt
the moderate-majority among the Muslims and the
Christians to be seized of their responsibility
– to be conscious of religious affinities
and to shun age-old animosities.
In this context Professor Ralph Braibanti, an eminent
scholar who has been on the faculty of Duke University
since 1953, makes the incisive point in his illuminating
essay ‘Islam and the West: Common Cause or
Clash? : “The ecumenical decree of Vatican
Council II, Nostra Aetate (In Our Times) 1965 was
a stunning repudiation of an attitude towards Islam
regnant for more than half a millennium. It erased
in a few poetically elegant sentences the imagery
in Dante’s characterization of Mohammed as
seminator di scandalo e di scima. Its newly sensitive
appraisal of Islam eclipsed the somewhat less felicitous
but more potentially powerful final sentence of
paragraph 3: ‘On behalf of all mankind, let
them [Muslims and Christians] make common cause
of safeguarding and fostering social justice, moral
values, peace and freedom [et pro omnibus hominibus
justiciam socialem, bona moralia necnon pacem et
libertatem communiter tueuntur et promoveant].’
“This is clearly an exhortation to act. The
errors of the past were acknowledged, animosities
were to be forgotten, and points of agreement between
the two religions were portrayed without animus
or condescension,” writes the erudite professor.
Nostra Aetate unequivocally spelled out the religious
affinity between Muslims and Christians: “Upon
the Muslims, too, the Church looks with esteem [respicit].
They adore [adorant] one God, living and enduring,
merciful and all-powerful, Maker of Heaven and earth
and Speaker to men. They strive to submit wholeheartedly
even to His inscrutable decrees, just as did Abraham,
with whom the Islamic faith is pleased to associate
itself. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as
God, they revere [venerantur] him as prophet. They
also honor [honorant] Mary, his virgin mother; at
times they call on her, too, with devotion. In addition
they await the day of judgment when God will give
each man his due after raising him up… Although
in the course of the centuries many quarrels and
hostilities have arisen between Christians and Muslims,
this most sacred Synod urges all to forget the past
and to strive sincerely for mutual understanding.
On behalf of all mankind, let them make common cause
of safeguarding and fostering social justice, moral
values, peace and freedom.”
Viewed in the same vein, the visit of the late Pope
John Paul to the Ommayad Mosque in Damascus on May
6, 2001, was an event of singular importance. He
was the first Pope to set foot on a mosque and his
message on the momentous day was truly befitting
for the occasion: religious conviction was never
a justification for violence. The Pontiff who gave
a new dimension to Judeo-Christian ties with his
visit to Rome’s synagogue in 1985, said it
was now time to open a new chapter in relations
with the Muslims. “For all the times that
Muslims and Christians have offended one another,
we need to seek forgiveness from the Almighty and
to offer each other forgiveness…Better understanding
will surely lead to a new way of presenting our
two religions, not in opposition as has happened
too often in the past, but in partnership for the
good of the human family,” he said.
The Pope’s 2001 initiative could not have
been better timed and gave a boost to the inter-faith
dialogue that had been bringing Christians, Muslims
and other believers closer, particularly in the
United States. Indeed, Islam, Christianity, and
Judaism are three Abrahamic religions whose followers
have a lot in common and they ought to work for
a common cause rather than be launched on a collision
course.
Blissfully, as stated several times in these columns
earlier, there are many shining examples of Muslim
and Christian communities demonstrating a spirit
of co-existence and mutual accommodation. The Christian
population in Jordan, for example, barely makes
up three percent of the country’s total, yet
it has been treated with love and respect by the
Muslim majority. The late King Hussain and Crown
Prince Hassan bin Talal made sustained strivings
to ensure a spirit of harmony to bring the believers
of the two faiths closer. The Royal Institute of
Inter-Faith Studies established in 1994 has hosted
several conferences and published insightful books,
including Prince Hassan’s ‘Christianity
in the Arab World.’
The year 1995 saw the establishment of the largest
mosque in Europe in close proximity of the Vatican
as a testimony of an attitudinal change between
followers of the world’s two major faiths.
Another significant event took place on September
12, 1997, when the Supreme Pontiff and Prince Sultan,
the Second Deputy Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia,
met in Rome.
Quite a few other developments testify to the wholesome
change. The establishment of the Center for the
Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations of
Selly Oak Colleges in Birmingham, England; the Center
for Muslim-Christian Understanding of Georgetown
and publication of its journal ‘Islam and
Muslim-Christian Relations’; the publication
of ‘Islamochristiana’ by the Vatican’s
Pontificio Istituto di Saudi Arabia; the strivings
of UMA, AMA, CAIR, ISNA, MPAC, and ISOC, recent
PBS documentaries ‘Islam: Empire of Faith’
and ‘Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet’
provide fresh proof of this trend.
The Oxford lecture by the Prince of Wales in 1993
was also vividly indicative of the trend. Prince
Charles affirmed, “Islam can teach us today
a way of understanding and living in the world which
Christianity itself is poorer for having lost.”
Two years later, the Prince reaffirmed this view
in a televised comment when he said that he would
prefer to have the Crown’s title “Defender
of the Faith” changed to “Defender of
Faith.” He specifically mentioned Islam as
one of the faiths of Britain.
In one of his Iftar parties address at the White
House, President Bush rightly remarked: “Islam
is a religion that brings hope and comfort to more
than a billion people around the world. It has made
brothers and sisters of every race. It has given
birth to a rich culture of learning and literature
and science. Tonight we honor the traditions of
a great faith by hosting this Iftar at the White
House…We see in Islam a religion that traces
its origins back to God’s call on Abraham.
We share your belief in God’s justice, and
your insistence on man’s moral responsibility.
We thank the many Muslim nations who stand with
us against terror. Nations that are often victims
of terror, themselves…”
Muslims, Christians, Jews and followers of other
faiths, have to act in unison to arrest the current
decline of civilization so as to make the world
a more livable place.. Let’s be seized of
our religious affinities and spurn unwarranted animosities.
- afaruqui@pakistanlink.com
