Peace on Earth -- Goodwill Toward Christians and Muslims

WORLD NEWS

by David Hinz

A Christmas message of peace, sent by 138 Muslim scholars representing all sects of Islam, has called for peace on earth, and goodwill toward all men. Yahoo News of India reports that:

The greetings, sent by a group of 138 Sunni, Shi'ite, Sufi and other scholars who recently proposed a dialogue with Christian leaders, called for peace on earth and thanked church leaders who have responded positively to their invitation.

The message, as the dialogue proposal made in October, was unprecedented because there has not been until now such a large group of Islamic scholars that could draft a common letter.

Islam is a decentralised faith, with no pope or archbishop who can speak for believers as a group. While individual Muslim clerics have exchanged holiday greetings with Christians in the past, nothing on this scale has been possible before.

The message is linked as a PDF file here, and begins with a greeting in Arabic, English and Latin.

Al-Salaamu Aleikum; Peace be upon you; Pax Vobiscum

Peace be upon Jesus Christ who says: Peace is upon me the day I was born, the day I die, and the day I am resurrected (Chapter of Mary; the Holy Qur’an; 19:34).

During these joyful holidays we write to you, our Christian neighbors all over the world, in order to thank you truly for the beautiful and gracious responses that we Muslims have been receiving from the very first day we issued our invitation to come together to ‘A Common Word’ based on ‘Love of God and love of neighbor’ (see www.acommonword.com for the document and the responses).

We thank you and wish you all a joyous and peaceful Christmas Holiday Season commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ.

The group of scholars first came into being as a response to Pope Benedict's Regensburg speech in 2006, during which he cited Islam as a religion of violence. The group of scholars first sought to correct what they saw as inaccuracies in the Pope's presentation, and then began to explore ways to bring the Christian and Islamic communities closer together.

They have developed a website, A Common Word, and seek a greater understanding between the religions. In the summary on their homepage, the clerics spell out their intent.

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. The Unity of God, the necessity of love for Him, and the necessity of love of the neighbour is thus the common ground between Islam and Christianity.

The website links to The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute in Amman, Jordan, headed by Jordanian Prince Ghazi bin Mohammed bin Talal. According to the Aal al-Bayt website:

The purpose of the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought is to serve Islam and humanity at large. Among its objectives are: promoting awareness of Islam and Islamic thought, rectifying unsound ideas and misconceptions about Islam, highlighting the Islamic intellectual contribution and its impact on human civilization, deepening the dialogue and fostering cooperation between the schools of Islamic jurisprudence, highlighting the achievements of Aal al-Bayt (Household of the Prophet) and their calling for middle ground, moderation and tolerance, fostering the encounter of Muslim scholars, the strengthening of their intellectual links and exchange of opinions, and cooperating with research centres, institutes, academic entities and universities in accordance with the objectives of the Institute.

For those many of us who have decried the emergence of a moderate Islamic response to the radical Islamists that wage war against the West, this all comes as welcome news. While some Catholic scholars have expressed skepticism about the sincerity and motives of the Islamic group, many see this as a step closer to world peace.

We can only hope.