Jordan Times
Monday, January 26, 1998
Challenges facing region do not differentiate between
Muslim, Christian - Prince Hassan
AMMAN (Petra) - His Royal Highness Crown Prince Hassan said
Sunday that the challenges facing the Arab region do not
differentiate between people on religious grounds, and therefore
Arab Christians and Muslims are bound to work together to achieve
progress and better standards of living for all, and to confront
such challenges as poverty, unemployment, extremism and
ideological extremism.
Speaking in an interview with Monte Carlo Radio broadcast Sunday,
Prince Hassan laid emphasis to the need for enabling both Muslims
and Christians of the region to cling to their homeland.
In the interview about Christians in the Arab World, the Crown
Prince said: "The Arab Christians and Muslims have worked,
as we the Hashemites have been honoured since the start of this
Arab renaissance, and are bound to work at the present and in the
future, towards ensuring a better life for all."
In reply to a question on whether he perceives a common role for
Arab Muslims and Christians in establishing peace and stability
in the Middle East, Prince Hassan said: "The question
assumes that Christianity and the Christians are aliens to the
Arab and Islamic society and this is an erroneous
assumption."
Christianity, he said, contributed to Islamic history and culture
for l4 centuries and contributed in the building of the material
and moral structure of the Islamic civilisation.
In the interview which was conducted on the occasion of the
publishing of Prince Hassan's book, "Christianity in the
Arab World" that recently appeared in Paris in French, the
Crown Prince said: "The Arab renaissance requires the active
participation of Christians and Muslims so as to lay the modern
foundation of the civic society." He said it was necessary
to develop a new "Abrahamite" language, as recently
suggested by an Islamic intellectual.
He expressed his confidence that "the status enjoyed by our
Christian brothers in the Muslim society will enable them to play
a remarkable role in structuring mechanisms for dialogue among
cultures and religions."
The Crown Prince rejected claims by senior international circles
that Christians in the Orient were emigrating to other countries
in fear for their future. He also rejected attempts on the part
of certain media circles which have been trying to create
instability in the hearts of the Arab Christians.
"These attempts are far from reality and not based on the
actual situation of our Christian brothers," Prince Hassan
said.
He said that there was need for addressing social and economic
factors that influence the society which groups as a whole,
Christians and Muslims alike.
"Christianity was born in our region and it is not confined
to Western culture," he said. "Our Christian brothers'
defence of Arab values and the causes of the Arab world in all
international fora is a truthful expression of their affiliation
to their Arab patrimony."
"We have to re-establish a balance within ourselves and
among us and I hope we can motivate Christians and Muslims in our
region to hold tight to their lands and to display a clear
manifestation of their sense of belonging and avoid
emigration."
The Prince noted that factors driving people to migrate include
lack of solid democracy and respect for human rights in many of
the Third World nations.
In reply to a question about the objective of his book,
"Christianity in the Arab world", which was published
in several languages, Prince Hassan said: "The aim was to
highlight the role of Christianity and that of distinguished Arab
Christians in our region." The publishing of the book was
not meant to coincide with political events but rather to reflect
Islamic-Christian co-existence in the Arab civilisation and the
participation of Arab-Christians in building this civilisation.
Prince Hassan said that the publishing of the book in French is
part of Jordan's moderate outreach to the world and its efforts
to project Islam as a centrist religion with its humanitarian
value which has nothing to do with extremism.
In reply to a question about the conference by heads of Middle
East churches in Cyprus which was concluded Sunday, the Crown
Prince emphasised the importance of the Cyprus meeting as a tool
to further corroborate Islamic-Christian dialogue.
He said that there was need for bolstering common values and
respecting differences in views and creating a code of conduct
that does justice to all sides, one that is based on the
principle of no coercion and continuous humanitarian contact
among people.
The Crown Prince said that enhancing dialogue and promoting such
code of conduct "is the challenge that is facing all of
us."
"While the U.N. this year observes the 50th anniversary on
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights "there can be no
human rights without religious and cultural rights."