A Common Word Between Us and You: a New Departure in Muslim Attitudes Towards Christianity
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A COMMON WORD BETWEEN US AND YOU: A NEW DEPARTURE IN MUSLIM ATTITUDES TOWARDS CHRISTIANITY by JOSEPH VICTOR EDWIN A dissertation submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Theology and Religion College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham March 2010 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract In October 2007, 138 Muslim scholars signed a document entitled “A Common Word between Us and You” (ACW) and addressed it to 28 Christian leaders worldwide. ACW invited Christians to a common ground; the belief in one God to work for peace in the world along with Muslims. ACW makes a case for this common ground with scriptural, Qur’anic as well as Biblical, underpinnings. This structure raises two important theological issues in the context of Christian- Muslim relations: first, the use of the Bible in ACW and secondly the belief in the unity of God. The dissertation analyses and evaluates the contribution of this Muslim initiative to Christian-Muslim relations based on the following question: “What does ACW do to promote a new understanding between Christians and Muslims?” The study focuses on the above two theological issues that are central to ACW. The first chapter presents a discussion as to how these themes were treated by Muslim scholars in the early centuries of Islam. The second chapter considers how these same themes are treated in ACW with critical comments. The third chapter analyses how some selected responses from Christians evaluate this initiative. It shows that ACW sits well within the classical frame of Islamic thinking in its attitude towards the Bible and Christian belief in one God. What is noticeable is that, it avoids the polemics of the past and treats the biblical verses that it cites with respect and seriousness. By juxtaposing verses from the Bible and Qur’an it invites Christians and Muslims to live up to a common word. Dedication I dedicate this dissertation: To the Children of St Joseph’s School, Baramulla, Kashmir who showed me a Way to enter into the lives of Muslims and to love them To Shinoo and family who consider me one of their family and represented my Parents at my ordination to diaconate at Vidyajyoti, Delhi To Maulana Abdul of Civil Lines Masjid who considers me his brother and Taught me the even-sweet Urdu with love -------------- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply grateful to Jesuit confreres Paul Jackson and Christian W Troll who facilitated my discernment to enter into the ministry of dialogue with Muslims. Prof David R Thomas, my supervisor who has guided me in my academic work. I am grateful to him. I wish to formally acknowledge Dr Chris Hewer and Dr Sigvard von Sicard without whose inspiration and help the task of writing this thesis would have been impossible. I am grateful to the Jesuit Community at Manresa for providing me a caring and joyful home in Birmingham. I am grateful to my Jesuit superiors for their sustained support and encouragement. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1 MUSLIM THINKING IN THE EARLY CENTURIES OF ISLAM Introduction 1.1 Corruption of the Bible 24 1.1.1 The Qur’an about the Bible 24 1.1.2 The Muslim intellectual traditions 26 1.1.2.1 Is the biblical text altered? 26 1.1.2.2 Is the biblical texts interpreted erroneously? 33 1.1.3 A summary 36 1.2 The Trinity (The Unity of God) 39 1.2.1 The teaching of the Qur’an 39 1.2.2 Theological exchanges between Christians and Muslims on the Trinity in the early centuries of Islam 41 1.2.3 Muslims Theologians: Christian faith in the Trinity can not be rationally sustained 47 1.2.3.1 Abū ‘Īsa al-Warrāq 48 1.2.3.2 Al-Nāshi’ Al-Akbar 51 1.2.3.3 Abū Bakr al-Bāqillānī 54 1.3 A summary 55 Chapter 2 ANALYSIS OF A COMMON WORD Introduction 57 2.1 Placing ACW in its immediate historical context 59 2.1.1 The Amman Message and the Amman Interfaith Message 60 2.1.2 Pope Benedict XVI’s Regensburg and the Address and the Letter of 38 Muslim scholars 65 2.1.3 A summary 68 2.2 A Common Word: origin, recipients, and structure 69 2.2.1 Origin and recipients 69 2.2 Structure of ACW 71 2.2.2.1 Love of God and love of neighbour in Islam and in Christianity 72 2.2.2.2 Come to a Common Word between Us and You 76 2.3 An analysis of ACW 80 2.3.1 The Bible and the Qur’an in ACW 81 2.3.1.1 The choice of the Pentateuch and the Synoptic Gospels 90 2.3.1.2 Jesus: a Jewish teacher 90 2.3.1.3 Traces of tahrīf in ACW 91 2.3.1.4 ACW: a way forward 92 2.3.2 Belief in one God 96 2.3.2.1 ACW: a title taken from the Qur’an 96 2.3.2.2 Invitation to a Common Word 100 2.3.2.3 ACW affirms the Unity of God 103 2.3.2.4 ACW offers a minority exegesis 103 2.6.2.5 ACW fails to acknowledge the differences between Christians and Muslims 105 2.3.2.6 A way forward 109 2.4 A summary 110 Chapter 3 ANALYSIS OF THE RESPONSES TO ACW Introduction 112 3.1 A brief summary of these responses 116 3.2 Discussion on the themes 141 3.2.1 Use of the Bible in ACW 141 3.2.2 The Unity of God in Christian understanding 147 3.2.2.1 Love of God 153 3.2.2.2 Love of Neighbour 160 3.2.2.3 Dual commandment of love: a common foundation? 166 3.2.2.4 Political implication of the love of God: theological key for relations between Christian and Muslims 164 3.3. Theological evaluation 168 3.3.1 Theological basis 170 3.3.2 Methodology and mode of discourse for Muslims 180 3.3.3 The centrality of Muhammad for Muslims 183 3.3.4 A Common Vision 186 3.4 A Summary 189 Conclusion 191 BIBLIOGRAPHY 197 Appendices 1. The Amman Message 2. The Three points of The Amman Message 3. The grand list of endorsements of The Amman Message and its Three Points 4. The Amman Interfaith Message 5. Lecture of Pope Benedict XVI at the University of Regensburg 6. Open Letter to Pope Benedict XVI by 38 Muslim scholars 7. A Common Word Between Us and You 8. Christian Responses as given in the official website of ‘A Common Word’. 9. Towards common ground between Christians and Muslims? – Christian W Troll 10. A Common Word Between Us and You: Some initial reflections -Daniel A Madigan 11. Response to the Letter of 138 Muslim scholars to the Pope and Christian Leaders – Samir Khalil 12. A Common Word for the Common Good – Archbishop R Williams 13. Loving God and Neighbour together: A Christian response to A Common Word between Us and You – The Yale scholars 14. An interview with Tim Winter 15. The verses in the Qur’an that refer to Love 16. How Christians and Muslims see each other? Abbreviations AM The Amman Message AIM The Amman Interfaith Message OL-38 Open Letter of 38 Muslim scholars ACW A Common Word between Us and You Q Qur’an 1 INTRODUCTION On October 13, 2007, an open letter entitled A Common Word between Us and You (ACW) signed by 138 Muslim scholars and leaders was addressed to some 28 Christian leaders and their churches, inviting them to agree a basis for relations with Muslims.1 This dissertation seeks to analyse and evaluate ACW and its contribution to Christian-Muslim relations based on the research question: “What does ACW do to promote a new understanding between Christians and Muslims?” ACW and its significance for the present times ACW is an important initiative as it appeared when tensions between Christians and Muslims were in a heightened state in the wake of the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2001, the US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and several bomb attacks on civilian populations involving European Muslims.2 The Pew Global Attitudes Project in its report released on June 22, 2006 noted: “Many in the West see Muslims as fanatical, violent, and as lacking tolerance. Meanwhile, Muslims in the Middle East and Asia generally see Westerners as selfish, immoral and greedy – as well as violent and 1 The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, A Common Word, http://www.acommonword.com/index.php?lang=en [accessed on December 10, 2010]. See: Appendix 7. 2 The Madrid train bombings (March 11, 2004), the London bombings (July 7, 2005) and some 30 major failed plots in Europe happened in the five years following the Twin Tower attack. See: M. Perry and H.E. Negrin, eds., The Theory and Practice of Islamic Terrorism: An Anthology [New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008], 92.