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Trialogue Among the Abrahamic Faiths

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Trialogue Among the Abrahamic Faiths Trialogue among the Abrahamic Faiths RIFFAT HASSAN e are undoubtedly living in the age have had the Nivilege of participating in many of dialogue. Dialogue, in the sense interreligious conferences bringing together Nvof conversations between persons adherents of the three Abrahamic faiths— or groups is, of course, nothing new, but dia- Judaism, Christianity and Islam. logue in the sense of Martin Buber's "I-Thou" What I state in this paper thus comes from encounter is something relatively novel. Sub- more than two decades of intensive and sequent to the Second World War there has extensive involvement in a variety of tria- been much ecumenical dialogue between logues in many countries. It is very difficult Jews and Christians and among Christians for me to express in words what I have themselves. Since the 1970s, Jewish-Chris- learned and gained from these experiences. tian dialogue has been expanded in some Suffice it to say that they have not only places to include Muslims and has popularly enriched but transformed my life, and that come to be known as "trialogue". It is my through them I found a community of faith good fortune that I was invited to be part of which has been a source of great strength and the first major trialogue of about 20 Jewish, support to me in more ways than I can enu- Christian and Muslim scholars which was ini- merate. As I share my reflections on the prob- tiated by the Kennedy Institute of Ethics in lems and possibilities of trialogue among the Washington DC in the late 1970s and con- Abrahamic faiths, I want to express my deep tinued until the mid-1980s. gratitude to all those partners in dialogue— Another trialogue, which began in the 1980s Jews, Christians and Muslims—who helped and continued for a number of years, was that of me to know and to grow. It is because of them Jewish and Christian women, with myself as its that interreligious dialogue became for me sole Muslim member. This trialogue was spon- not something I do for academic credit or sored by the American Jewish Committee and social pleasure, but a life-commitment. Church Women United in New York. Another long-lasting trialogue of which I became a part Muslim Hesitancy was sponsored by the National Conference of Central as trialogue has been to my life for Christians and Jews. This trialogue, which con- more than two decades I do not regard either sisted of about 30 scholars, continued until organising a trialogue or participating in one 1994. In addition to these long-term trialogues I as an easy enterprise. Anyone who has ever 44 tried to organise a dialogue or trialogue be paying for this failure in perception) needs involving Muslims knows how difficult it is to to be made, it also needs to be said that Mus- find Muslims who are able and willing to lims themselves have generally neither under- engage in such encounters. There are a taken the critical self-study which is a prereq- number of reasons why Muslims are reluctant uisite for self-understanding, nor interpreted to participate in a dialogue with non-Muslims. their religion for other people. A partial expla- Some Muslims see it as a plot to draw Mus- nation of this attitude may be found in the lims in and drain them of emotional and spiri- claim of Arnold Toynbee in his book An Histo- tual resources through the illusion of an ide- rian's Approach to Religion (1956) that all alism that does not go beyond words. Others three religions of revelation which spring from see it as a threat to their Muslim identity. Yet a common historical root—Judaism, Chris- others see it or pretend to see it as unneces- tianity and Islam—not only have a tendency sary: they feel that there is really nothing to towards exclusivism And intolerance, but also talk about. Islam is a simple and clear faith to ascribe to themselves an ultimate validity. and you can either take it or leave it. Muslims, who consider themselves to be the I, as a Muslim, am acutely and painfully recipients of God's final revelation, have taken aware of the negative consequences that follow the truth of Islam to be self-evident. They have from the unwillingness of Muslims to represent expressed little interest in having an open- Islam or to let a non-Muslim speak for Islam. ended philosophical and theological dialogue My personal commitment to interreligious dia- with people of other faiths, except perhaps in logue arises from my sense of responsibility as places where they have formed a minority a Muslim to share my perception of Islam with component in a pluralistic environment. Also, those who stand outside my tradition. Like the fact that until colonial times it was rela- other Muslims, I am indignant about the carica- tively easy for Muslims to assume the superi- tures of Islam that have been popularised in the ority of Islam to all other religions is, at least in West since the confrontation between Muslims part, responsible for their unwillingness to and the world of Christendom during the early probe deeply into the nature and implications centuries of Islam. However, since attention of their Islamic identity. focused on the so-called Islamic revival through the impact of events such as the Arab The Need for Trialogue oil embargo of 1973, the Iranian Revolution, For many reasons, then, Muslims are the resistance by Afghan Mujahideen to Soviet rather new, and sometimes hesitant, entrants occupation and intervention, and other momen- in the field of ecumenical dialogue. There tous events such as the Salman Rushdie crisis, are, however, at least three reasons why it is there seems to be an awareness among more vitally important for Muslims to participate thoughtful Westerners that the West has read in such dialogue. The first relates to Islam's Islam too simplistically and superficially, and contemporary situation. To quote Wilfred that trying to understand the enigmatic world of Cantwell Smith: Islam through categories alien to its deeper ethos may ultimately prove to be fruitless. Islam is today living through that crucial While the point that the Western world has creative moment in which the heritage of not understood Islam aright (and seems now to its past is being transformed into the herald 45 of its future. Outsiders may study, analyse, from a discussion of what forms the core of interpret the process; Muslims themselves the Abrahamic faiths is surely not a minor not only may but must participate in it. For omission. I hope that the situation will both outsiders and Muslims the most change; perhaps it is already changing since important, most interesting chapter in more and more people are becoming inter- Islamic history is the one that is today in ested in the concept of trialogue. process of being enacted.' The third reason is that there are many areas of concern to modern humanity where The second reason relates to the issue of Islamic insights may prove of vital interest peacemaking. The three Abrahamic faiths and significance. To give two examples: in are an important element in numerous con- recent years much work has beert done by the- flicts in the world today. In order that the ologians analysing women-related issues in resources of these faith-traditions may be the context ofJewish and Christian scriptures. used constructively as a basis for conflict- On the basis of my similar work in the context resolution rather than destructively it is nec- of the Qur'an, I believe that Islam has some. essary to have a tripartite "I-Thou" new ideas to offer here which might be of encounter so that the mistrust and fear gen- great benefit to women in the other two tradi- erated by ignorance or prejudice are dis- tions. Another area in which the Islamic per- pelled. In my opinion, bilateral dialogues spective can be very useful is in any discus- such as those between Jews and Christians, sion of what is sometimes described as "the or Christians and Marxists, although histori- new socialism" of Latin America and other cally significant, no longer provide the best Third World countries, relating to the search framework for the kind of dialogue needed at for an alternative to traditional capitalism and the start of the new millennium. traditional socialism. Some people assume that dialogue Having pointed out why I think Muslims between two parties is easier than dialogue should be included in Jewish-Christian and between three parties. I do not believe that other dialogues, I would like to speak briefly this assumption is necessarily valid. On the about the Islamic basis for interreligious dia- basis of my lived experience I consider tria- logue. Before one can talk of what is logue to be in some respects easier than dia- "Islamic", one must obviously first define logue, the third party often serving as a kind what "Islam" is. A good deal of confusion of neutral (or non-aligned) entity able to mon- exists regarding the term "Islam" in the mind itor or moderate the discussion between the of an "average" Muslim. To such a Muslim, two others. The mere presence of a third party "Islam" consists of the Qur'an (the Book of adds an entirely new dimension to the Revelation), the sunnah and hadith (the prac- process. It not only lends the encounter a tice and the oral traditions of the Prophet), the broader base but also makes it more real given madahib (the schools of law or the science of the actualities of the world.
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