WASHINGTON, 13 October 2007 — More than 130 Muslim scholars around the world called for peace and understanding between Islam and Christianity on Thursday, the day before Eid Al-Fitr, saying “the very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake.”
In an unprecedented letter to Pope Benedict and other Christian leaders, 138 Muslim scholars highlighted the theological synergies of the two faiths and said finding common ground between the world’s biggest faiths was not simply a matter for polite dialogue between religious leaders.
The initiative was timed to mark the one-year anniversary of the open letter issued by Muslim clerics to Pope Benedict XVI in response to his remarks at the Regensburg University. Muslim leaders called on Christians to formally recognize historical and theological ties between the two faiths to build towards future collaboration.
Relations between Muslims and Christians have been strained as Al-Qaeda has struck around the world and as the United States and other Western countries intervened in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Such a letter is unprecedented in Islam, which has no central authority that speaks on behalf of all Muslims.
The list of signatories includes senior figures throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. They represent Sunni, Shiite and Sufi schools of Islam.
Among them were the grand muftis of Egypt, Palestine, Oman, Jordan, Syria, Bosnia and Russia and many imams and scholars. War-torn Iraq was represented by both Shiites and Sunnis.
Mustafa Cagrici, the mufti who prayed with Pope Benedict in Istanbul’s Blue Mosque last year, was also on the list, as was the popular Egyptian television preacher Amr Khaled.
Dr. Mustafa Ceric, grand mufti of Bosnia and Dr. John Esposito, director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, briefed the media about the event at the National Press Club on Thursday.
The missive said Christians and Muslims make up over a third and a fifth of humanity respectively, “making the relationship between these two religious communities the most important factor in contributing to meaningful peace around the world.”
“If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace,” the scholars wrote.
“Our common future is at stake. The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake,” they wrote, adding that Islam and Christianity already agreed that love of God and neighbor were the two most important commandments of their faiths.
A Vatican official in Rome said the Roman Catholic Church would not comment until it had time to read the letter.
Pope Benedict sparked Muslim protests last year with a speech hinting that Islam was violent and irrational. It prompted 38 Muslim scholars to write a letter challenging his view of Islam and accepting his call for serious Christian-Muslim dialogue.
Benedict repeatedly expressed regret for the reaction to the speech, but stopped short of a clear apology sought by Muslims.
The new letter argues in theological terms, giving quotes from the Qur’an and the Bible that show both Christianity and Islam considered love of God as their greatest commandment and love of neighbor as the second greatest.
“The basis for this peace and understanding already exists,” it said. “It is part of the very foundational principles of both faiths: Love of the one God and love of the neighbor.”
It also refers directly to the wars that Muslims and Christians are involved in 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.
“And to those who nevertheless relish conflict and destruction for their own sake or reckon that ultimately they stand to gain through them, we say that our very eternal souls are all also at stake if we fail to sincerely make every effort to make peace and come together in harmony.”
The message closes with a quote from the Qur’an: “So let our differences not cause hatred and strife between us. Let us vie with each other only in righteousness and good works.”
