A Common Word Between Us and You
Encyclopedia
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, in line with the Qur'anic commandment to "Say: "O People of the Scripture! come to a common word as between us and you: that we worship none but God" and the Biblical commandment to love God, and one’s neighbour. In the short time since its release, “A Common Word” has become the world’s leading interfaith dialogue initiative between Christians and Muslims. It is unprecedented in its scope and success in both the Christian and the Muslim world. The success of the initiative was acknowledged in its being awarded the “Eugen Biser Award” in 2008. That year saw “A Common Word” also receive the “Building Bridges Award” from the UK’s Association of Muslim Social Scientists.
’s lecture at the University of Regensburg on 12 September 2006
. This lecture, on the subject of faith and reason, had focused mainly on Christianity and what Pope Benedict called the tendency in the modern world 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.”
Throughout the world, however, many people thought the Pope’s use of the quote insensitive. A very strong sense of injustice was expressed by many Muslims in response to the speech. 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. One year later, 138 Islamic personalities co signed an open letter entitled “A Common Word between Us and You.” The letter aimed to promote inter faith dialogue.
, the Patriarchs of the Orthodox Churches, the leaders of the larger Christian denominations, and to leaders of Christians everywhere. A list is as follows:
, of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Professor David Ford
, director of the Cambridge
Inter-Faith Programme, helped launch the letter. The following month, Ford was also one of the signatories on a Christian response seeking Muslim forgiveness.
. 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."
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, a Vatican official, welcomed dialogue but 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." 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.
A conference, titled “A Common Word and Future Muslim-Christian Engagement,” was hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury in collaboration with the University of Cambridge Inter Faith programme and the Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute and held at the University of Cambridge with a final session at Lambeth Palace between 12 and 15 October 2008. The conference brought together a small group of scholars and religious leaders from the Muslim and Christian communities for discussion and fellowship. A communiqué was issued at the end of the conference which included the following: “we are conscious that our meeting represented the most significant gathering of international Muslim leaders ever to take place in the United Kingdom, matched by a similarly wide diversity of traditions and geographical backgrounds amongst the Christian participants....We have committed ourselves to the following over the coming year:
Between 4th–6 November 2008 the first seminar of the Catholic-Muslim forum was held at in Rome, sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Inter Religious Dialogue and the Royal Al-Bayt Institute in Amman. The seminar culminated in an audience with Pope Benedict XVI at which an address was made by Sheikh Mustafa Ceric and Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr.
Pope Benedict’s address included the following: “I am well aware that Muslims and Christians have different approaches in matters regarding God. Yet we can and must be worshippers of the one God who created us and is concerned about each person in every corner of the world. Together we must show, by our mutual respect and solidarity, that we consider ourselves members of one family: the family that God has loved and gathered together from the creation of the world to the end of human history.”
Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr’s address included the following:”With so many profound similarities, why then have we had such a long history of confrontation and opposition? The answer is that we of course also have our differences which have providentially kept Christianity and Islam distinct and separate. Let us mention just a few of them. We emphasise Divine Unity and reject the idea of a triune God while you emphasise the Trinity while believing God to be One. We and you both revere Christ but in a different manner, and we do not accept the Christian account of the end of His earthly life. And yet, we Muslims also accept Christ as the Messiah (al Masih) and expect his Second Coming at the end of the history of present humanity. We emphasise Divine Law (al- shari’ah) as rooted in the Qu’ranic revelation, while Christ asserted his break with the Law in the name of the Spirit. Therefore, Christians do not have the same conception of Divine Law as do Jews and Muslims. Nor do Christians have a sacred language as does Islam, but have used, and some still do use, several liturgical languages. You and we, we both believe in religious freedom, but we Muslims do not allow an aggressive proselytising in our midst that destroys our faith in the name of freedom any more than Christians would if they were in our situation. The encounter of Christianity with modernism, including secular humanism and rationalism associated with the Age of Enlightenment, has also been very different from the experience of that encounter with Islam. Perhaps then we can each learn something from the other in this very significant matter. We should join together in the battle against the desacralising and anti religious forces of the modern world, and joining effort should bring us closer together. Secularism would certainly not be a source for the creation of further distance between us.”
The Final Declaration of the Catholic Muslim Forum at Rome included the following: “We profess that Catholics and Muslims are called to be instruments of love and harmony among believers, and for humanity as a whole, renouncing any oppression, aggressive violence and terrorism, especially that committed in the name of religion, and upholding the principles of justice for all.”
During a visit to the Middle East by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on 9 May 2009, His Holiness made a speech to an assembly of religious leaders at the King Hussein State Mosque, Jordan. In the course of that speech he said the following about “A Common Word”:
“Such initiatives clearly lead to a greater reciprocal knowledge, and they foster a growing respect for what we hold in common and for what we understand differently. Thus, they should prompt Christians and Muslims to probe even more deeply the essential relationship between God and His world so that together we may strive to ensure that society resonates in harmony with the divine order. In this regard, the co operation found here in Jordan sets an encouraging and persuasive example for the region, and indeed the world, of the positive, creative contribution which religion can and must make to civic society.”
The Eugen Biser Award was conferred on HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad
, Sheikh Al –Habib All-Jifri and Reisu –l-Ulema Dr Mustafa Ceric on 22 November 2008. The award was received by HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal
, Sheikh Al-Habib All-Jifri and Reisu –l-Ulema Dr Mustafa Ceric, in recognition of their contribution to Muslim – Christian dialogue. In the course of his speech of acceptance HRH Prince Ghazi said: “We were aiming to try and spread peace and harmony between Christians and Muslims all over the world, not through governments and treaties but on the all-important popular and mass level, through the world’s most influential popular leaders precisely – that is to say through the leaders of the two religions. We wanted to stop the drum beat of what we feared was a growing popular consensus (on both sides) for world wide (and thus cataclysmic and even apocalyptic) Muslim –Christian jihad/crusade. We were keenly aware, however, that peace efforts required also another element: knowledge. We thus aimed to try to spread proper basic knowledge of our religion in order to correct and abate the constant and unjust vilification of Islam, in the West especially....I would like to say that “A Common Word” does not signal that Muslims are prepared to deviate from or concede one iota of any of their convictions in reaching out to Christians – nor, I expect, the opposite. Let us be crystal clear: A Common word is about equal peace, NOT about capitulation.”
Numerous conferences, workshops, speeches and other inter faith activities inspired by or exploring “A Common Word” have appeared spontaneously, throughout the world. These have included lectures and workshops in Cambridge University in February 2009, in Oman in March and April 2009, and, also in 2009, in the USA, Egypt and Sudan. Symposiums took place at the Mediterranean Dialogue of Cultures in 2008, the Brookings Institute in Qatar in 2009, the Fuller Theological Seminary in 2009, the Islamic Society of North America Conference in 2009 and Yale University in 2009.
A Conference, hosted by Georgetown University, the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Centre for Muslim-Christian Understanding and the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought and entitled “A Common Word between Us and You A Global Agenda for Change” was held between 6 and 8 October 2009 at Georgetown University. The purpose of the conference was to identify suitable projects to further the aims of “A Common Word” across the world.
References to A Common Word in Speeches
Reference to A Common Word has been made in a number of important speeches, including the main sermon at the traditional, presidential post inauguration service at the National Cathedral, Washington DC for President Barack Obama on 21 January 2009. The reference was made by The Reverend Sharon E Watkins during the course of her sermon. Elsewhere, the former US Secretary of State, Madeline Albright, referred to A Common Word during her testimony before the US Senate in February 2009, and Pope Benedict XVI referred to A Common Word on several occasions, on 8 and 9 May 2009, during the course of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Practical Projects inspired by A Common Word
In the course of 2008 “A Common Word” inspired a number of initiatives between Muslims and Christians. Examples are as follows:
The official website contains the full text of “A Common Word between Us and You,” a list of signatories, addressees, responses, media resources (including a regular update of media comment), downloads and translations, new signatories, pictures and a variety of other information about a variety of other activities and events related to “A Common Word.” The website includes a page where visitors are able to leave comments.
Open letter
An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally....
, 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, in line with the Qur'anic commandment to "Say: "O People of the Scripture! come to a common word as between us and you: that we worship none but God" and the Biblical commandment to love God, and one’s neighbour. In the short time since its release, “A Common Word” has become the world’s leading interfaith dialogue initiative between Christians and Muslims. It is unprecedented in its scope and success in both the Christian and the Muslim world. The success of the initiative was acknowledged in its being awarded the “Eugen Biser Award” in 2008. That year saw “A Common Word” also receive the “Building Bridges Award” from the UK’s Association of Muslim Social Scientists.
Background
“A Common Word between Us and You” is a follow up to a smaller letter, sent in 2006, in response to Pope Benedict XVIPope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
’s lecture at the University of Regensburg on 12 September 2006
Pope Benedict XVI Islam controversy
The Regensburg lecture was delivered on 12 September 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI at the University of Regensburg in Germany, where he had once served as a professor of theology. It was entitled "Glaube, Vernunft und Universität — Erinnerungen und Reflexionen"...
. This lecture, on the subject of faith and reason, had focused mainly on Christianity and what Pope Benedict called the tendency in the modern world to “exclude the question of God” from reason. Islam features in a part of the lecture. The Pope quoted a Byzantine Emperor’s
Manuel II Palaiologos
Manuel II Palaiologos or Palaeologus was Byzantine Emperor from 1391 to 1425.-Life:...
strong criticism of Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
’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.”
Throughout the world, however, many people thought the Pope’s use of the quote insensitive. A very strong sense of injustice was expressed by many Muslims in response to the speech. 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. One year later, 138 Islamic personalities co signed an open letter entitled “A Common Word between Us and You.” The letter aimed to promote inter faith dialogue.
Addressees
“A Common Word between Us and You” is addressed to Pope Benedict XVIPope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
, the Patriarchs of the Orthodox Churches, the leaders of the larger Christian denominations, and to leaders of Christians everywhere. A list is as follows:
- His All Holiness Bartholomew, Patriarch of ConstantinopleConstantinopleConstantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
- His Beatitude Theodoros IIPatriarch Theodore II of AlexandriaTheodore II is the current Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa...
, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa - His Beatitude Ignatius IVIgnatius IV of AntiochPatriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch and All The East is the current primate of the "Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All The East".-Life:...
, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East - His Beatitude Theophilos IIIPatriarch Theophilos III of JerusalemPatriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem is the current Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem...
, Patriarch of the holy City of Jerusalem - His Beatitude Alexy II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
- His Beatitude Pavle, Patriarch of BelgradeBelgradeBelgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
and Serbia - His Beatitude DanielPatriarch Daniel of RomaniaDaniel, born Dan Ilie Ciobotea is the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The elections took place on September 12, 2007. Daniel won with a majority of 95 votes out of 161. He was officially enthroned on September 30, 2007 in the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest...
, Patriarch of Romania, - His Beatitude MaximPatriarch Maxim of BulgariaPatriarch Maxim is the current head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.He was the second of two children of Nayden Minkov Rachev, but very little is known about his parents' background...
, Patriarch of Bulgaria, - His Beatitude Ilia II, Archbishop of Mtskheta – Tbilisi, Catholico-Patriarch of All Georgia
- His Beatitude ChrisostomosArchbishop Chrysostomos II of CyprusArchbishop Chrysostomos II, Archbishop of Nova Justiniana and All Cyprus is the incumbent Archbishop of Cyprus.He was born in Tala village, Paphos. At the age of 10 he lost his father and two years later, after finishing his elementary education, he joined the monastery of Ayios Neophytos in...
, Archbishop of Cyprus - His Beatitude Christodoulos, Archbishop of AthensAthensAthens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
and All Greece - His Beatitude Sawa, Metropolitan of WarsawWarsawWarsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
and All Poland - His Beatitude AnastasiosArchbishop Anastasios of AlbaniaArchbishop Dr Anastasios of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania is the Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania and as such the primate and Head of the Holy Synod of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania. He was elected on June 1992...
, Archbishop of TiranaTiranaTirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...
, Duerres and All Albania - His Beatitude ChristoforosChristopher (Pulets) of PragueHis Beatitude Christopher of Prague, given name Radim Pulec is the Orthodox Metropolitan of the Czech lands and Slovakia since 2006 and Archbishop of Prague. He has participated in numerous theological conferences and has represented the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia in many venues...
, Metropolitan of the Czech and Slovak Republics - His Holiness Pope Shenouda IIIPope Shenouda III of AlexandriaPope Shenouda III of Alexandria is the 117th Pope of Alexandria and the Patriarch of All Africa on the Holy Apostolic See of Saint Mark the Evangelist of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria...
, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa on the Apostolic Throne of St Mark - His Holiness Karekin IIKarekin IICatholicos Karekin II is the current head of the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church.He was born as Ktrij Nersessian in Voskehat, Armenia, on August 21, 1951. He entered the Gevorkian Theological Seminary at Echmiadzin in 1965 and graduated with honors in 1971. He was ordained to the diaconate deacon...
, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians - His Beatitude Ignatius Zakka IIgnatius Zakka I IwasIgnatius Zakka I Iwas is the 122nd reigning Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and as such, Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church. Also known by his traditional episcopal name, Severios, he was enthroned as patriarch on 14 September 1980 in St. George's...
, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Supreme Head of the Universal Syrian Orthodox Church - His Holiness Mar Thoma Didymos I, Catholicos of the East on the Apostolic Throne of St Thomas and the Malankara Metropolitan
- His Holiness Abune PaulosAbune PaulosAbune Paulos is Abuna and Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church . His full title is "His Holiness Abuna Paulos, Fifth Patriarch and Catholicos of Ethiopia, Ichege of the See of St...
, Fifth Patriarch and Catholicos of Ethiopia, Tekle Haymanot, Arcbishop of AxumAxumAxum or Aksum is a city in northern Ethiopia which was the original capital of the eponymous kingdom of Axum. Population 56,500 . Axum was a naval and trading power that ruled the region from ca. 400 BC into the 10th century... - His Beatitude Mar Dinkha IV, Patriarch of the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East
- The Most Reverend and Right Honourable The Archbishop of CanterburyArchbishop of CanterburyThe Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
, Dr Rowan WilliamsRowan WilliamsRowan Douglas Williams FRSL, FBA, FLSW is an Anglican bishop, poet and theologian. He is the 104th and current Archbishop of Canterbury, Metropolitan of the Province of Canterbury and Primate of All England, offices he has held since early 2003.Williams was previously Bishop of Monmouth and...
DD - The Right Reverend Mark S Hanson, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and President of the Lutheran World FederationLutheran World FederationThe Lutheran World Federation is a global communion of national and regional Lutheran churches headquartered in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish city of Lund in the aftermath of the Second World War in 1947 to coordinate the activities of the...
- The Reverend George H Freeman, General Secretary, World Methodist CouncilWorld Methodist CouncilThe World Methodist Council, founded in 1881, is an association of churches in the Methodist tradition which comprises most of the world's Wesleyan denominations.- Extension and organization:...
- The Reverend David Coffey, President of the Baptist World AllianceBaptist World AllianceThe Baptist World Alliance is a worldwide alliance of Baptist churches and organizations, formed in 1905 at Exeter Hall in London during the first Baptist World Congress.-History:...
- The Reverend Setri Nyomi, General Secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed ChurchesWorld Alliance of Reformed ChurchesThe World Alliance of Reformed Churches is a fellowship of more than 200 churches with roots in the 16th-century Reformation, and particularly in the theology of John Calvin...
- The Reverend Dr Samuel KobiaSamuel KobiaRev Dr Samuel Kobia , is a Methodist clergyman and the first African to be elected General Secretary of the World Council of Churches , a worldwide fellowship of 349 global, regional and local churches representing a Christian population of over 590 million people...
, General Secretary, World Council of ChurchesWorld Council of ChurchesThe World Council of Churches is a worldwide fellowship of 349 global, regional and sub-regional, national and local churches seeking unity, a common witness and Christian service. It is a Christian ecumenical organization that is based in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland...
Authorship
The letter is signed by 138 prominent Muslim personalities from a large number of countries from several continents. These include academics, politicians, writers and muftis. Nearly half of the signatories are university academics or scholars. According to the letter’s website, its author was HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin TalalPrince Ghazi bin Muhammad
Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan is a Jordanian prince, professor of philosophy, and is a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. He is the son of Prince Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan and his first wife, Princess Firyal...
, of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Professor David Ford
David F. Ford
David Frank Ford is an academic and public theologian. He has been the Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge since 1991...
, director of the Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
Inter-Faith Programme, helped launch the letter. The following month, Ford was also one of the signatories on a Christian response seeking Muslim forgiveness.
Signatories
Since the letter was originally sent on 18 October 2007, there have been a number of new signatories with the result that there are now over 300 Muslim signatories. Great effort was made to ensure signatories represented as broad a range of viewpoints from the Muslim world as possible. Signatories included:- Mustafa Cerić
- Timothy WinterTimothy WinterTimothy John "Tim" Winter , also known as Abdal Hakim Murad, is a British Sufi Muslim researcher, writer and teacher. His profile and work have attracted media coverage both in the Muslim World and the West...
- Feisal Abdul RaufFeisal Abdul RaufFeisal Abdul Rauf is an American Sufi imam, author, and activist whose stated goal is to improve relations between the Muslim world and the West...
- H A Hellyer
- Nihad AwadNihad AwadNihad Awad is the Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations .- Early life :Nihad Awad was born in Amman New Camp, a Palestinian refugee camp in Amman, Jordan. He studied at Second Amman Preparatory School for Boys, located at the camp and belongs to UNRWA, and at Salaheddine...
- Hamza YusufHamza YusufHamza Yusuf Hanson is an Islamic scholar of the Sunni tradition, and co-founder of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California, United States. He is an American convert to Islam, and is one of the signatories of A Common Word Between Us and You, an open letter by Islamic scholars to Christian leaders,...
- Tareq Al – SuwaidanTareq Al-SuwaidanDr. Tareq Mohammed Al-Suwaidan is a Kuwaiti entrepreneur, Islamic author, speaker and director of the arabsat TV channel Alresalah as well as a leader of the Kuwati Muslim Brotherhood . He is well-known in the Middle East and in Muslim communities throughout the world for his management/strategic...
- Zaid ShakirZaid ShakirZaid Salim Shakir is a prominent American Islamic scholar and writer who is a co-founder, , and faculty member, of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California, United States, where he teaches courses on Arabic, Law, History, and Islamic Spirituality...
- Ayatollah Al-Faqih Seyyed Hussein Ismail Al Sadr
- Anas Al –Shaikh-Ali
- Kabir HelminskiKabir HelminskiKabir Helminski is the Co-Director of the Threshold Society , a non-profit educational foundation that has developed programs that provide a structure for practice and study within Sufism and spiritual psychology...
- Murad Hofmann
- Ali Ajifri
- Anwar IbrahimAnwar IbrahimAnwar bin Ibrahim is a Malaysian politician who served as Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister from 1993 to 1998. Early in his career, Anwar was a close ally of Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad but subsequently emerged as the most prominent critic of Mahathir's government.In 1999, he was sentenced...
- Ekmeleddin IhsanogluEkmeleddin IhsanogluEkmeleddin İhsanoğlu is a Turkish academic, diplomat and currently the Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation , the second largest intergovernmental organisation after the United Nations...
- Nuh Ha Mim KellerNuh Ha Mim KellerNuh Ha Mim Keller is an American Muslim translator of Islamic books and a specialist in Islamic law, as well as being authorised by Abd al-Rahman al-Shaghouri as a sheikh in sufism in the Shadhili Order...
- Mohammad Hashim KamaliMohammad Hashim KamaliMohammad Hashim Kamali is professor of law at the International Islamic University of Malaysia. He has taught Islamic law and jurisprudence there since 1985....
- Amr KhaledAmr KhaledAmr Mohamed Helmi Khaled is an Egyptian Muslim activist and television preacher. The New York Times Magazine, in reference to Khaled's popularity in Arab countries, described him in its April 30, 2006 issue as "the world's most famous and influential Muslim television preacher." Amr Khaled has...
- Ali LakhaniAli LakhaniM. Ali Lakhani is a writer, lawyer, and editor whose works focus on Islam and the Traditionalist School.-Biography:Born in England in 1955, Lakhani was educated at The King's School, Canterbury before getting his undergraduate and graduate degrees in law from Cambridge University...
- Aref Ali NayedAref Ali NayedDr Aref Ali Nayed is a Libyan Islamic scholar, and Libyan Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. He is also the founder and director of Kalam Research & Media , based in Tripoli, Libya and Dubai...
- Rawil Gaynetdin
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
Main quotations from the Letter
“Muslims and Christians together make up well over half of the world’s population. Without peace and justice between these two religious communities, there can be no meaningful peace in the world. The future of the world depends on peace between Muslims and Christians.”
“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.”
““Of God’s Unity, God says in the Holy Qu’ran: “Say, He is God, the One! God, the Self Sufficient Besought of all! (Al – Ikhlas 112:1–2).” Of the necessity of love for God, God says in the Holy Qu’ran: “So invoke the Name of thy Lord and devote thyself to him with a complete devotion (Al-Muzzammil 73:8).” Of the necessity of love for the neighbour; the prophet Muhammad said: “None of you has faith until you love for your neighbour what you love for yourself.”
“In the New Testament, Jesus Christ said: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One./ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” This is the first commandment. / And the second, like it, is this: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12: 29–31)
“In obedience to the Holy Qu’ran, we as Muslims invite Christians to come together with us on the basis of what is common to us, which is also what is most essential to our faith and practice: the Two Commandments.”
(In Islam)...”the call to be totally devoted and attached to God, heart and soul, far from being a call for a mere emotion or for a mood, is in fact an injunction requiring all-embracing, constant and active love of God. It demands a love in which the innermost spiritual heart and the whole of the soul-with its intelligence, will and feeling – participate through devotion.”
“The Shema in the book of Deuteronomy (6:4–5), a centrepiece of the Old Testament and of Jewish Liturgy, says: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!/You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.””
“In the New Testament, when Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is asked about the Greatest Commandment, he answers: “But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, the gathered together./Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,/”Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?”/Jesus said to him, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”/This is the first and greatest commandment./And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” /On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:34–40).”
“The commandment to love God fully is (thus) the First and Greatest Commandment of the Bible.”
“There are numerous injunctions in Islam about the necessity and paramount importance of love for – and mercy towards – the neighbour. Love of the neighbour is an essential and integral part of faith in God and love of God because in Islam without love of the neighbour there is no true faith in God and no righteousness. The Prophet Muhammad said: “None of you has faith until you love for your brother what you love for yourself.” And: “None of you has faith until you love for your neighbour what you love for yourself.””
“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 Qu’ran, the Torah and the New Testament.”
“In the Holy Qu’ran, God Most High tells Muslims to issue the following call to Christians (and Jews-the People of the Scripture): “Say: O people of the Scripture! Come to a common word between us and you: that we shall worship none but God, and that we shall ascribe no partner unto him, and that none of us shall take others for lords beside God. And if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we are they who have surrendered (unto Him).” (Aal’Imran 3:64)”
“As Muslims, we say to Christians that we are not against them and that Islam is not against them – so long as they do not wage war against Muslims on account of their religion, oppress them and drive them out of their homes, (in accordance with the verse of the Holy Qu’ran (Al-Mumtahinah, 60:8)”
“Muslims recognise Jesus Christ as the Messiah, not in the same way Christians do (but Christians themselves anyway have never all agreed with each other on Jesus Christ’s nature), but in the following way: ...the Messiah Jesus son of Mary is a Messenger of God and His Word which He cast unto Mary and a Spirit from Him..(Al – Nisa 4: 171). We therefore invite Christians to consider Muslims not against and thus with them, in accordance with Jesus Christ’s words here.”
“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 communities the most important factor in contributing to meaningful peace around the world. 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.”
“Let us respect each other, be fair, just and kind to one another and live in sincere peace, harmony and mutual good will.”
Positive Reaction
- Response by Professor David F. FordDavid F. FordDavid Frank Ford is an academic and public theologian. He has been the Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge since 1991...
, Director, Cambridge Inter–Faith Programme 13 October 2007: “This historic agreement gives the right keynote for relations between Muslims and Christians in the 21st century...there are three main reasons why this is so important. First, it is unprecedented in bringing together so many of the leading religious authorities and scholars of Islam and uniting them in a positive, substantial affirmation. This is an astonishing achievement of solidarity, one that can be built on in the future. Second, it is addressed to Christians in the form of a friendly word, it engages respectfully and carefully with the Christian scriptures, and it finds common ground in what Jesus Himself said is central: love of God and love of neighbour....third it opens a way forward that is more helpful for the world than most others at present in the public sphere....it challenges Muslims and Christians to live up to their own teachings and seek political and educational as well as personal ways to do this for the sake of the common good.”
- Response by the Right Honourable Tony Blair 13 October 2007: “This is the only way, in the modern world, to make sense of different history and culture, so that, instead of defining ourselves by reference to difference, we learn to recognise the values we share and define a shared future.”
- Response by Yale Divinity School’s Centre for Faith and Culture 13 October 2009: “What is so extraordinary about A Common Word between Us and You” is not that its signatories recognise the critical character of the present moment in relations between Christians and Muslims. It is rather the deep insight and courage with which they have identified the common ground between the Muslim and Christian communities. What is common between us lies not in something marginal, nor in something merely important to each. It lies, rather, in something absolutely central to both: love of God and love of neighbour...that so much common ground exists – common ground in some of the fundamentals of faith – gives hope that undeniable differences and even the very real external pressures that bear down upon us can not overshadow the common ground upon which we stand together. That this common ground consists in love of God and of neighbour gives hope that deep cooperation between us can be a hallmark of the relations between our two communities.”
- Response by the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dr Rowan Williams DD: “We are deeply appreciative of the initiative you have taken and welcome “A Common Word between Us and You” as a significant development in relations between Christians and Muslims...to your invitation to enter more deeply into dialogue and collaboration as part of our faithful response to the revelation of God’s purpose for humankind, we say: Yes! Amen.”
- Comment by H.H. Pope Benedict XVI at the King Hussein Mosque in Jordan on Saturday 9 May 2009:
‘ …. and the more recent Common Word letter which echoed a theme consonant with my first encyclical: the unbreakable bond between love of God and love of neighbor, and the fundamental contradiction of resorting to violence or exclusion in the name of God (cf. Deus Caritas Est, 16)’.
Negative Reaction
The Common Word website Frequently Asked Questions section 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 MessageAmman Message
The Amman Message is a statement which was issued on 9 November 2004 by King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, calling for tolerance and unity in the Muslim world...
. 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."
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, a Vatican official, welcomed dialogue but 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." 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.
Follow-up
A Workshop and Conference was held at Yale University, USA between 24 and 31 July 2008. The conference was entitled, “Loving God and Neighbour in Word and Deed: Implications for Muslims and Christians.” The conference was convened by the Yale Centre for Faith and Culture in collaboration with the Royal Al –Bayt Institute and held at Yale University. Over 120 leading Muslim and Christian leaders and scholars attended the event. A statement was issued at the end of the conference which included the following: “Participants of the conference agreed that: 1. Muslims and Christians affirm the unity and absoluteness of God. We recognise that God’s merciful love is infinite, eternal and embraces all things. This love is central to both our religions and is at the heart of the Judeao-Christian-Islamic monotheistic heritage.2. We recognise that all human beings have the right to the preservation of life, religion, property, intellect, and dignity. No Muslim or Christian should deny the other these rights, nor should they tolerate the denigration or desecration of one another’s sacred symbols, founding figures or places of worship.3. We are committed to these principles and to furthering them through continuous dialogue. We thank God for bringing us together in this historic endeavour and ask that He purify our intentions and grant us success through His all encompassing Mercy and Love.4. We Christian and Muslim participants meeting together at Yale for the historic “A Common Word” conference denounce and deplore threats made against those who engage in interfaith dialogue. Dialogue is not a departure from faith; it is a legitimate means of expression and an essential tool in the quest for the common good.”A conference, titled “A Common Word and Future Muslim-Christian Engagement,” was hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury in collaboration with the University of Cambridge Inter Faith programme and the Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute and held at the University of Cambridge with a final session at Lambeth Palace between 12 and 15 October 2008. The conference brought together a small group of scholars and religious leaders from the Muslim and Christian communities for discussion and fellowship. A communiqué was issued at the end of the conference which included the following: “we are conscious that our meeting represented the most significant gathering of international Muslim leaders ever to take place in the United Kingdom, matched by a similarly wide diversity of traditions and geographical backgrounds amongst the Christian participants....We have committed ourselves to the following over the coming year:
- To identify and promote the use of educational materials, for all age groups and in the widest possible range of languages, that we accept as providing a fair reflection of our faiths
- To build a network of academic institutions, linking scholars, students and academic resources, with various commitments and teams which can work on shared values
- To identify funds to facilitate exchanges between those training for roles of leadership within our religious communities
- To translate significant texts from our two religious traditions for the use of the other
- As we prepare to return, each to our own countries and contexts, we resolve to act on the oft repeated desire to find the means of ensuring that the two letters we have discussed and the wonderful fruits of our time together are spread amongst our co religionists, that the spirit of collaboration, mutual respect and desire for greater understanding may be the mark of our relationship for the benefit of all humankind.”
Between 4th–6 November 2008 the first seminar of the Catholic-Muslim forum was held at in Rome, sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Inter Religious Dialogue and the Royal Al-Bayt Institute in Amman. The seminar culminated in an audience with Pope Benedict XVI at which an address was made by Sheikh Mustafa Ceric and Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr.
Pope Benedict’s address included the following: “I am well aware that Muslims and Christians have different approaches in matters regarding God. Yet we can and must be worshippers of the one God who created us and is concerned about each person in every corner of the world. Together we must show, by our mutual respect and solidarity, that we consider ourselves members of one family: the family that God has loved and gathered together from the creation of the world to the end of human history.”
Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr’s address included the following:”With so many profound similarities, why then have we had such a long history of confrontation and opposition? The answer is that we of course also have our differences which have providentially kept Christianity and Islam distinct and separate. Let us mention just a few of them. We emphasise Divine Unity and reject the idea of a triune God while you emphasise the Trinity while believing God to be One. We and you both revere Christ but in a different manner, and we do not accept the Christian account of the end of His earthly life. And yet, we Muslims also accept Christ as the Messiah (al Masih) and expect his Second Coming at the end of the history of present humanity. We emphasise Divine Law (al- shari’ah) as rooted in the Qu’ranic revelation, while Christ asserted his break with the Law in the name of the Spirit. Therefore, Christians do not have the same conception of Divine Law as do Jews and Muslims. Nor do Christians have a sacred language as does Islam, but have used, and some still do use, several liturgical languages. You and we, we both believe in religious freedom, but we Muslims do not allow an aggressive proselytising in our midst that destroys our faith in the name of freedom any more than Christians would if they were in our situation. The encounter of Christianity with modernism, including secular humanism and rationalism associated with the Age of Enlightenment, has also been very different from the experience of that encounter with Islam. Perhaps then we can each learn something from the other in this very significant matter. We should join together in the battle against the desacralising and anti religious forces of the modern world, and joining effort should bring us closer together. Secularism would certainly not be a source for the creation of further distance between us.”
The Final Declaration of the Catholic Muslim Forum at Rome included the following: “We profess that Catholics and Muslims are called to be instruments of love and harmony among believers, and for humanity as a whole, renouncing any oppression, aggressive violence and terrorism, especially that committed in the name of religion, and upholding the principles of justice for all.”
During a visit to the Middle East by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on 9 May 2009, His Holiness made a speech to an assembly of religious leaders at the King Hussein State Mosque, Jordan. In the course of that speech he said the following about “A Common Word”:
“Such initiatives clearly lead to a greater reciprocal knowledge, and they foster a growing respect for what we hold in common and for what we understand differently. Thus, they should prompt Christians and Muslims to probe even more deeply the essential relationship between God and His world so that together we may strive to ensure that society resonates in harmony with the divine order. In this regard, the co operation found here in Jordan sets an encouraging and persuasive example for the region, and indeed the world, of the positive, creative contribution which religion can and must make to civic society.”
The Eugen Biser Award was conferred on HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad
Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad
Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan is a Jordanian prince, professor of philosophy, and is a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. He is the son of Prince Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan and his first wife, Princess Firyal...
, Sheikh Al –Habib All-Jifri and Reisu –l-Ulema Dr Mustafa Ceric on 22 November 2008. The award was received by HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal
Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad
Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan is a Jordanian prince, professor of philosophy, and is a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. He is the son of Prince Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan and his first wife, Princess Firyal...
, Sheikh Al-Habib All-Jifri and Reisu –l-Ulema Dr Mustafa Ceric, in recognition of their contribution to Muslim – Christian dialogue. In the course of his speech of acceptance HRH Prince Ghazi said: “We were aiming to try and spread peace and harmony between Christians and Muslims all over the world, not through governments and treaties but on the all-important popular and mass level, through the world’s most influential popular leaders precisely – that is to say through the leaders of the two religions. We wanted to stop the drum beat of what we feared was a growing popular consensus (on both sides) for world wide (and thus cataclysmic and even apocalyptic) Muslim –Christian jihad/crusade. We were keenly aware, however, that peace efforts required also another element: knowledge. We thus aimed to try to spread proper basic knowledge of our religion in order to correct and abate the constant and unjust vilification of Islam, in the West especially....I would like to say that “A Common Word” does not signal that Muslims are prepared to deviate from or concede one iota of any of their convictions in reaching out to Christians – nor, I expect, the opposite. Let us be crystal clear: A Common word is about equal peace, NOT about capitulation.”
Numerous conferences, workshops, speeches and other inter faith activities inspired by or exploring “A Common Word” have appeared spontaneously, throughout the world. These have included lectures and workshops in Cambridge University in February 2009, in Oman in March and April 2009, and, also in 2009, in the USA, Egypt and Sudan. Symposiums took place at the Mediterranean Dialogue of Cultures in 2008, the Brookings Institute in Qatar in 2009, the Fuller Theological Seminary in 2009, the Islamic Society of North America Conference in 2009 and Yale University in 2009.
A Conference, hosted by Georgetown University, the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Centre for Muslim-Christian Understanding and the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought and entitled “A Common Word between Us and You A Global Agenda for Change” was held between 6 and 8 October 2009 at Georgetown University. The purpose of the conference was to identify suitable projects to further the aims of “A Common Word” across the world.
Publications
A number of academic books and journals have emerged in the past 12 months dedicated to “A Common Word:”- HRH Prince GhaziPrince Ghazi bin MuhammadPrince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan is a Jordanian prince, professor of philosophy, and is a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. He is the son of Prince Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan and his first wife, Princess Firyal...
, Professor Miroslav VolfMiroslav VolfMiroslav Volf is an influential Christian theologian and currently the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale University Divinity School and Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, which focuses in part on workplace spirituality. He has been a member in both the Episcopal...
and Merissa Yarrington edited a book about the initiative for the publisher Eerdmans - A book was prepared by Georgetown Professor Ibrahim Kalin for the academic publisher Palgrave – Macmillan (which is due to be released in 2010)
- Georgetown University’s Centre for Muslim – Christian Understanding has published an Occasional Paper on the initiative entitled “A Common word and the Future of Muslim Christian Relations”
- The Washington DC based academic journal Sophia, and the Beirut Theological Seminary have dedicated issues to “A Common Word.”
- The Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought issued a booklet summarising issues related to “A Common Word.”
- Islamica Magazine dedicated a dossier to the document, Issue 21 released February 2009.
References to A Common Word in Speeches
Reference to A Common Word has been made in a number of important speeches, including the main sermon at the traditional, presidential post inauguration service at the National Cathedral, Washington DC for President Barack Obama on 21 January 2009. The reference was made by The Reverend Sharon E Watkins during the course of her sermon. Elsewhere, the former US Secretary of State, Madeline Albright, referred to A Common Word during her testimony before the US Senate in February 2009, and Pope Benedict XVI referred to A Common Word on several occasions, on 8 and 9 May 2009, during the course of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Practical Projects inspired by A Common Word
In the course of 2008 “A Common Word” inspired a number of initiatives between Muslims and Christians. Examples are as follows:
- A project sponsored by the NGO “Habitat for Humanity.”
- The establishment of C1, a high level, international forum for the improvement of Muslim Christian relations, co chaired by The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dr Richard Chartres, Lord Bishop of London, and His Excellency, Dr Ali Gomaa, Grand Mufti of Egypt
- A film documentary produced in Arabic and English, by “Ten Thousand Films” will help in spreading “A Common word” around as wide an international audience as possible
- The establishment of an office in Sohan, Islamabad dedicated to the improvement of Muslim Christian relations in Pakistan
Press
Nearly 700 articles have appeared about “A Common Word” in English language press outlets around the world. Virtually every newspaper in the Middle East, and the West has run at least an article on the initiative. There is a long list of press cuttings about the initiative on the A Common Word website.Website
The website for A Common Word was launched on 10 October 2007 at http://www.acommonword.com. The site includes a “pop up” box which asks visitors to endorse the letter. As at 26 August 2010 the site had recorded 8,109 endorsements of the message, out of around 350,172 visitors to the website.The official website contains the full text of “A Common Word between Us and You,” a list of signatories, addressees, responses, media resources (including a regular update of media comment), downloads and translations, new signatories, pictures and a variety of other information about a variety of other activities and events related to “A Common Word.” The website includes a page where visitors are able to leave comments.