Jordan Times
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Pope Invites Muslim Scholars
By Mahmoud Al Abed
AMMAN - Pope Benedict XVI has invited an array of Muslim scholars, led by HRH Prince Ghazi, to discuss a letter they sent to Christian leaders last month urging a search for common moral ground, according to a Thursday statement by the Vatican.
Replying to Prince Ghazi, who chairs the board of trustees at the Royal Aal al Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said the pontiff felt deep appreciation for the initiative, "for the positive spirit which inspired the text and for the call for a common commitment to promoting peace".
The meeting is expected to add a new achievement to Jordan's track record in interfaith promotion, together with successes the Kingdom has recorded in the intrafaith arena: bringing Muslim groups together.
Efforts in both directions witnessed a high level of involvement by His Majesty King Abdullah. The first landmark achievement was the Amman Message, which defined basic principles of the way Islam should be introduced to others and the faith's outlook on the universe and its engagement with other partners in human society.
Another milestone came less than a year later, when representatives of the eight schools of Islamic jurisprudence issued a historic document that prohibited declaring any adherent to any one of the eight schools of jurisprudence or to Sufism an apostate and acknowledged the agreement among the eight schools on the fundamental principles of Islamic belief and practice, among other resolutions seen as timely with the rise of sectarian differences, and even bloody fighting, among Muslim groups.
Many of these very Sunni and Shiite clerics who met in July 2005 to produce the document joined ranks again in 2006 and addressed a letter to the Pope, with an answer to his controversial remarks about Islam a month earlier. The Aal al Bayt Institute then said that the letter was meant as “open intellectual exchange”.
“Muslim scholars from every branch of Islam spoke with one voice about the true teachings of Islam,” the statement said.
The final form of the most recent letter to Christian leaders was presented at a conference in September 2007 held under the theme of “Love in the Koran”, by the Royal Academy of the Royal Aal al Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Jordan, under the patronage of the King.
“Indeed, the most fundamental common ground between Islam and Christianity, and the best basis for future dialogue and understanding, is the love of God and the love of the neighbour,” an Aal al Bayt statement said.
The letter endorsed by the conference, signed by 138 Muslim religious authorities, invited Christian representatives "to come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions", and warned that the survival of the world could be at stake if they failed.
Bertone said the Pope had been "particularly impressed by the attention given in the letter to the two-fold commandment to love God and one's neighbour". He proposed a joint working group that would include officials from the Vatican department for inter-religious dialogue.
"His Holiness would be most willing to receive Your Royal Highness and a restricted group of signatories of the open letter, chosen by you," read the letter dated November 19 but only released on Thursday.
According to international press reports, the Muslim scholars’ letter had already won plaudits from many non-Catholic leaders, including Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Lutheran World Federation head Bishop Mark Hanson, World Council of Churches head Rev. Samuel Kobia and US Presbyterian Church head Clifton Kirkpatrick.
An expert in the interfaith field described the Christian leaders’ response to the letters as “another very important and positive step in the direction of the commitment to promoting peace in the world and mutual respect and acceptance”.
“The real and vital challenge ahead of us is to consolidate these efforts and construct on this momentum, by enhancing unity and translating the good will into the everyday living reality,” said Baker Hiyari, deputy director of the Amman-based Royal Institute for Interfaith Studies.
“Jordan has invested a great deal in this direction, and I am sure we will continue to spend, serve and lead this important and very much needed noble effort in the future,” he said.