[Dialogue] Muslim letter in BBC

[Charles or Doris Hahn]

George, Thanks for this very powerful and
overwhelmingly important document.  What good news!
Let's hope the Christian world responds.
Charles
--- George Holcombe <geowanda at earthlink.net> wrote:

> This may be the most important piece of news of the
> year.
> 
> George Holcombe
> 14900 Yellowleaf Tr.
> Austin, TX 78728
> Home: 512/252-2756
> Mobile 512/294-5952
> geowanda at earthlink.net
> 
> 
> Emerging voice of mainstream Islam
> By Robert Pigott
> Religious affairs correspondent, BBC News
> 
> A total of 138 of the world's top Muslim leaders,
> clerics and  
> academics have written an open letter to the Pope,
> the Archbishop of  
> Canterbury and other leaders of the Christian world.
> 
> 
> 
> It warns that world peace depends on better dialogue
> between them,  
> and points to the fundamental beliefs each have in
> common.
> 
> But the real significance of the initiative lies in
> the creation of a  
> powerful new lobby in world politics.
> 
> It is certainly not the first time that Christian
> and Muslim leaders  
> have referred to their shared values and traditions.
> 
> 
> 
> In the years of tension since 9/11 it has been a
> frequent  
> accompaniment to inter-faith meetings and projects
> aimed to mend the  
> fractured and suspicious relationship between some
> Muslims and  
> Christians.
> 
> But the letter, written by ayatollahs, muftis,
> sheikhs, sultans,  
> professors and ministers, has taken this assertion
> of cousinly - even  
> brotherly - relations to another level.
> 
> That is partly because the signatories have a
> considerable personal  
> influence, in countries as diverse as Russia, Egypt,
> Nigeria, Saudi  
> Arabia, Malaysia and Yemen.
> 
> 
> 
> Scripture
> 
> "Looking down the list of signatories, there is one
> person after  
> another with large followings, often numbered in
> millions," said  
> David Ford, professor of divinity at Cambridge
> University.
> 
> "The fact that they've signed it means it will be
> taken seriously at  
> the grass roots."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now finally there is a platform, a mode, for the
> moderate,  
> mainstream, traditional Muslim leaders to come
> together and find  
> consensus
> David Ford, professor of divinity at Cambridge
> University
> Just what are the revelations that this impressive
> cast-list has  
> signed up to?
> 
> The letter contains a clearly written account of the
> passages in the  
> Koran and the Bible that illustrate close
> similarities in the most  
> fundamental doctrine of Christianity and Islam.
> 
> For example each of them insists that followers
> worship only one God,  
> and requires them to love their neighbours as
> themselves. Other  
> passages strike a note of conciliation, even
> humility.
> 
> For example, there is the Koran's acknowledgement
> that the truths  
> revealed to the Prophet Muhammad - the founder of
> Islam - had already  
> been shown to the prophets of the Old Testament (the
> Jewish Torah)  
> and the New Testament, including, of course, Jesus
> himself.
> 
> The document also picks out the verses in the Koran
> which tell  
> Muslims that they should treat the followers of
> these Jewish and  
> Christian prophets with particular friendship and
> respect.
> 
> It also cites the Koran's specific instruction that
> these "people of  
> the Scripture" worship the same God as Muslims.
> 
> But 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's easy to see how dangerous it is for there to be
> so little  
> understanding
> Professor Aref Ali Nayed
> 
> 
> It has been one of the problems of dialogue between
> Christians and  
> Muslims that Islam has lacked a coherent mainstream
> view.
> 
> It has little of the hierarchies that characterise
> Churches, headed  
> by leaders who can credibly represent the faith.
> 
> Not only is there no Muslim pope, but there is
> barely a single voice,  
> or even group of voices, generally acknowledged to
> speak for "global  
> Islam".
> 
> It has produced a vacuum into which it has been easy
> for extremists  
> to move, whether locally in a town or city, in a
> country or in whole  
> regions.
> 
> Extremists, from maverick imams to the leaders of
> al-Qaeda, have  
> found it easy to claim to speak for Islam.
> 
> 
> 
> Response
> 
> "So often the extremists have been able to use the
> modern media,"  
> says Professor Ford.
> 
> "Now finally there is a platform, a mode, for the
> moderate,  
> mainstream, traditional Muslim leaders to come
> together and find  
> consensus."
> 
> Moderate Muslims have often been criticised for what
> is perceived to  
> be their failure to speak out on more difficult
> issues than the  
> shared basics of faith.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As well as Muslim terrorism, they include the lack
> of democracy in  
> Muslim countries and the often violent treatment of
> Christian  
> minorities, especially converts to Christianity.
> 
> One of the authors of the letter, Professor Aref Ali
> Nayed, says: "We  
> can't solve all of Islam's problems with a single
> document."
> 
> However he agrees that what the 138 have begun with
> their statement  
> 
=== message truncated ===>
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