October 16, 2006 03:53 PM
Oct. 16 (CWNews.com) - In an open letter to Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news), a group of 38 Muslim religious leaders have taken up the Pontiff's invitation to a serious dialogue between Christianity and Islam.
In their 4-page message, the Islamic scholars offer a detailed response to the Pope's lecture at the University of Regensburg. They write:
While we applaud your efforts to oppose the dominance of positivism and materialism in human life, we must point out some errors in the way you mentioned Islam as a counterpoint to the proper use of reason, as well as some mistakes in the assertions you put forward in support of your argument.
The open letter is signed by representatives of every major branch of Islam, including the grand muftis of Egypt, Russia. Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Oman, and Uzbekistan; the Iraqi Ayatollah Mohammed al Tashiri; Prince Ghzi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan; and authorities from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Pakistan, and Morocco. Their message was decribed by FAther Justo Lacunza, the former rector of the Vatican's Islamic institute, as a gesture "of great importance" to inter-faith dialogue.
The full text of the Islamic leaders' letter has been reproduced on the American Islamica web site, through which the message first appeared.
The letter respectfully cites what the authors see as errors or oversimplications in the Pope's treatment of Islam during the Regensburg speech. The authors argue, for example, that the teaching in the Qu'ran that "there is no compulsion in religion" is intended to restrain Muslim leaders from any attempt to force conversion. They say that the term "holy war" is foreign to traditional Islamic languages, and the term jihad is properly used only to refer to the believer's struggle to be faithful. Rejecting any use of violence in the name of religion, the Islamic scholars cite their belief that Allah is all-merciful and all-compassionate; they ask rhetorically: "Is it not self-evident that spilling innocent blood goes against mercy and compassion?"
The open letter assures Pope Benedict that Islamic thought does not see a conflict between faith and reason. The text says:
There are two extremes which the Islamic intellectual tradition has generally managed to avoid: one is to make the analytical mind the ultimate arbiter of truth, and the other is to deny the power of human understanding to address ultimate questions.
Welcoming the Pope's clarifications of his Regensburg speech, the 38 Islamic leaders express their own desire for a "frank and sincere dialogue." They say: "We hope that we will all avoid the mistakes of the past and live together in the future in peace, mutual acceptance and respect."
"Christianity and Islam are the largest and second largest religions in the world and in history," the letter notes. "Together they make up more than ??% of the world’s population, making the relationship between these two religious communities the most important factor in contributing to meaningful peace around the world."
