ARAM, 20 (2008) 299-316. doi: 10.2143/ARAM.20.0.2033134A. UNSWORTH 299

LOUIS MASSIGNON, THE AND THE ECCLESIAL TRANSITION FROM ‘IMMORTALE DEI’ TO ‘NOSTRA AETATE’: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF CATHOLIC TEACHING ON MUSLIMS AND THE RELIGION OF ISLAM FROM 1883 TO 1965

Dr. ANDREW UNSWORTH (Heythrop College, University of London)

INTRODUCTION

The documents of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) presented a positive evaluation of Muslims and the religion of Islam.1 As Robert Caspar reflects; when in 1965 the first sentence of Nostra Aetate art.3 says: ‘Upon the Moslems, too, the Church looks with esteem’, it is significant in that it is, ‘the first time in the history of the Church that the Magisterium, in solemn Council, advocates an attitude of esteem and of friendship towards Islam and the Mus- lims’.2 This institutional change of heart and mind was precipitated, largely, by the great Catholic scholar Louis Massignon (1883-1962); French intellectual, Churchman, social activist, and latterly Catholic priest of the Melkite (Arabic- speaking) Rite. Although Massignon died the same year that Vatican II began the influence of Massignon and his associates was strongly in evidence. Two short statements made by the Council refer to the Muslims, and both Lumen Gentium 16 and Nostra Aetate 3 owe much of their content to his intellectual and spiritual legacy.3 Massignon had early associations with Charles de Foucauld whose irenic approach to the Muslims was a considerable influence on the young Mas-

1 In this paper I will refer to the Second Vatican Council as ‘Vatican II’. 2 Robert Caspar, ‘Islam according to Vatican II: On the Tenth Anniversary of Nostra Aetate’, Encounter: Documents for Muslim-Christian Understanding, 21, (Rome: Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies, January 1976), p. 3. Henceforth the Pontifical Institute will be re- ferred to as P.I.S.A.I. See also Georges C. Anawati’s brief commentary, ‘Excursus on Islam’, Simon and Erika Young, trans., in Herbert Vorgrimler, (ed.), Commentary on the Documents of Vatican II: Volume III, (London: Burns and Oates, 1969), pp. 151-154. 3 Mary Louise Gude, Louis Massignon: The Crucible of Compassion, (Notre Dame: Univer- sity Press, 1996); David E. Burrell, ‘Mind and Heart at the Service of Muslim-Christian Under- standing: Louis Massignon as Trail Blazer’, in The Muslim World, LXXXVIII, Nos. 3-4, July- October, 1998, pp. 268-278.

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signon, and a lifelong inspiration for his life and work.4 Massignon in turn ex- erted a great personal and academic influence on many friends and colleagues who became committed to a positive reappraisal of the relationship between Christians and Muslims. These ‘disciples’ have worked at theological, reli- gious, spiritual, political, diplomatic and socio-cultural levels to build better relationships, both locally and globally, between the adherents of the two world faiths.5 Since the Council this has given rise to an extensive number of magisterial interventions in the area of Christian-Muslim relations.6 In this paper I will attempt to suggest how, and in what ways, Massignon’s life and work were influential on Vatican II, but also on contemporary Catholi- cism’s attitude towards the religion of Islam, and its adherents.

BACKGROUND

The encounter between the Catholic Church and Islam has a long history and has given rise to a well developed tradition of theological reflection.7 The history of the teaching documents, which refer to Muslims and Islam produced by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, are representative of a particular type of discourse, that is, they contain officially sanctioned and authoritative teaching. According to the Church’s understanding, these documents are the most important form of theological and religious discourse in which the Church seeks to propose and interpret the deposit of faith, and to guide and exhort the faithful. On many occasions these have reflected not only the pre- vailing theological opinions of the Magisterium of the Church, but also the prevailing socio-cultural attitudes of its members. In these texts produced by the Magisterium the Church has interpreted and described Muslims and their religious beliefs, values and practices in various ways relative to the time. Teaching documents have contained accurate infor-

4 Jean-Jacques Antier, Charles De Foucauld (Charles of ), Julia Shirek Smith, trans., (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1999) [original French edition (Librairie Academique Perrin, 1997)]. 5 The most significant of these associates, as far as Massignon’s influence on the Council was concerned, were Giovanni Battista Montini, who later became Pope Paul VI (who had known Massignon since the 1920’s), Georges Anawati, an Egyptian-born Dominican (since the late 1930’s), who, along with the White Father Robert Caspar was to compose the sections of the Council documents which refer to Islam; Patriarch Maximos Saigh IV, the Melkite Patriarch (since the mid 1940’s), and Archbishop Joseph Descuffi, Latin Rite Metropolitan of Smyrna, Turkey (since the early 1950’s). 6 See the documentation contained in Francesco Gioia, ed., Pontifical Council for Inter- religious Dialogue: Interreligious Dialogue – The Official Teaching of the Catholic Church (1963-1995), (Boston: Pauline Press, 1994). 7 Ovey N. Muhammed SJ, Muslim-Christian Relations: Past, Present, Future, (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1999).

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mation about dogmatic differences, but have also contained inappropriate judgments about the Muslim other based on distorted images, and one would have to admit that there has been much misrepresentation and intolerance on both sides.8

LEO XIII AND THE NINETEENTH CENTURY OFFICIAL CATHOLIC VIEW OF ISLAM

Louis Massignon was born in 1883. At this time the teaching documents of the Catholic Church reflect a somewhat negative image with regard to Islam and the Muslim, although the documents are not polemical in the manner of earlier times.9 Such an image of Islam was familiar to the young Massignon. In 1885, two years after his birth, Leo XIII’s letter Immortale Dei asserted that the Christian European nations had, once and for all, …victoriously rolled back the tide of Mohammedan conquest [quod Maometha- norum incursiones victrix propulsavit] retained the headship of civilization; stood forth in the front rank as the leader and teacher of all, in every branch of national culture; bestowed on the world the gift of true and many-sided liberty; and most wisely founded very numerous institutions for the solace of human suffering…in large measure, through religion, under whose auspices so many great undertak- ings were set on foot, through whose aid they were brought to completion.10 Massignon grew up during a time of European Christian ascendancy and self-assurance. France was one of the largest colonial powers in the world dur- ing this time. Much of Muslim North Africa was under French political and economic influence, and Massignon himself would ultimately become one of France’s colonial ‘agents’. Ironically, Massignon’s exposure to and subsequent interest in Islam was the very consequence of this sitz im leben. During the Leonine papacy, and the subsequent pontificates of the early twentieth century, up until the reign of Pius XII, several further references were made to the Muslims in similar vein. These documents demonstrate on the one hand a time-honoured distrust of Muslims and the religion of Islam

8 Hugh Goddard, A History of Christian-Muslim Relations, (Edinburgh: University Press, 2000); Rollin Armour Sr., Islam, and the West: A Troubled History, (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2002). 9 For instance during the period of the Mediaeval Church Councils. See Norman Tanner SJ, ed., Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils – Volume I (Nicaea I to Lateran V), (London: Sheed and Ward, 1990). 10 Latin text: Acta Leonis, Volume V, (Rome: Typographia Vaticana), p. 132 [henceforth ref- erences to these original Latin documents in the Acta will be made in an abbreviated standard form showing volume and page numbers]. English text: Claudia Carlen (ed.), The Papal Encycli- cals: Volume II, (U.S.A.: Pierian Press, 1990), p. 112 [from this point I will make references to Carlen’s five volume collection of English translations of the papal from 1740 until 1981- showing in an abbreviated standard form the volume and page numbers]. Leo reigned from 1878 until 1903.

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(invariably epitomized by the Ottoman Turks). On the other hand there was willingness, when the necessity arose, to work with Muslim rulers in a prudent fashion, for the sake of safeguarding the interests of Christian minorities in Is- lamic lands, but beyond this there was something of a theological and cultural stalemate.11 The threat posed by ‘the errors of Mohammed [Muhumetis errorum]’12 from a doctrinal point of view, were clearly in sight. Adherence to Islam entailed a denial of the central Christian dogmas of the , the Incarnation and the Redemption; and the ‘ of Muhammad’ was not generally considered to be the one true God. The Islamic Weltanschauung was, in terms of its moral val- ues, and in many important religious respects, regarded as a dangerous diver- gence from orthodox Christianity. Leo’s encyclical In Plurimis, in 1888, condemned the Muslim-run slave trade, endemic and aggressive at the time, particularly in Africa. This docu- ment encapsulated a commonly held Christian view of Islam as decadent and barbarous. In this document Leo also alludes to ‘the religious rites of Mahomet [sacra Mahometi]’13 (i.e. the ritual prayers or salat, the Meccan Hajj and sawm or fasting during the month of Ramadan). It would be true to say that, at this time, the Church did not recognize, in any formal manner, a spiritual or reli- gious value or efficacy in such ‘rites’. Leo implies that such practices ought to be regarded as existing in sharp contrast to the religious rites of the Catholic religion, primarily the seven , which he exhorts Catholic missionar- ies to bring to the African peoples: …let apostolic men endeavour to find out how they can best secure the safety and liberty of slaves….they will shine indeed as worthy ministers of salvation, authors of consolation, messengers of peace, who, by God’s help, may turn solicitude, desolation, and fierceness into the most joyful fertility of religion and civiliza- tion.’14

In Catholicae Ecclesiae (1890) Leo makes reference to one such perceived apostle of true religion, namely Cardinal Lavigerie, founder of the ‘White Fa- thers’ (later ‘Missionaries of Africa’) to whom, among others, this charge was eventually given.15

11 See Leo XIII, Paterna Caritas, 1888, Acta Leonis, Vol.VIII, pp.267-275; Carlen, Encycli- cals, Vol. II, pp. 187-190. 12 Benedict XIV, Quod Provinciale, 1754. Latin text: Bullarium Pontificium Sacrae Congregationis De Propaganda Fide: Tomus II, (Rome: Typis Collegii Urbani, 1840), pp. 333- 336. English text: Padraig M. O’ Cleirigh, trans., in Carlen, Encyclicals, Vol. I, pp. 49-50. 13 Latin text: Sanctissimi Domini Nostri Leonis Papae XIII Allocutiones, Epistolae, Consti- tutiones, Aliaque Acta Praecipua, Volumen III (1887-1889), (Typis Societatis Sancti Augustini, MDCCCXCIII), p.81; English text: Carlen, Encyclicals, Vol. II, p. 165. 14 Latin text: Sanctissimi (above), p.83; English text: Carlen, Encyclicals, Vol. II, p. 166. 15 Acta Leonis, Vol.X, pp.312-318; Carlen, Encyclicals, Vol. II, pp. 233-235.

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MASSIGNON AND THE TEACHING OF VATICAN II

Massignon’s contribution slowly, but surely, overturned this well-estab- lished view, at least at the official level. It is interesting to see that in 1915 his article in the journal The Moslem World16 largely reflects the picture painted by Leo and subsequent Church documents during most of the early half of the twentieth century. However, as Massignon progressed in his work, the bold- ness and originality of his personal vision of Islam became increasingly dis- tinct from mainstream Catholic opinion. It is a testimony to his greatness and genius that by the time of his death, among those Catholics involved in his field, his vision had been of such influence on opinion that, in more or less all essentials, it had itself become the consensus view. By the end of 1965 the Council too had adopted his vision. The strength of Massignon’s view came from a strong religious and moral impulse, i.e. that despite any perceived errors and deficiencies in Islam, and despite the enmity which had developed over the centuries between Christians and Muslims, nevertheless the proper attitude of true Christians ought to be to love one’s friends and enemies alike; to attempt to understand their life to the best of one’s ability, to do good to them, and to pray for them. This impulse was given a concrete expression in the formation by Massignon and Mary Kahil of the Badaliya. The Badaliya was an association of (mainly Catholic) Christians who prayed daily for Muslims and offered themselves as spiritual ‘substitutes’ for them. By means of their prayers and supplications, fasting and acts of charity on behalf of, and towards, the follow- ers of the religion of Islam, they hoped that their example and witness would elicit a deeper ‘conversion’ of Muslims to faith in God, and, ultimately con- tribute to their eternal salvation. It is significant that at this time it was com- monly held among the faithful of the Church that the only possible meaning of ‘conversion’ meant to become a member of the Catholic Church in full com- munion with the Roman pontiff; and that the salvation of those outside of this communion was uncertain. Massignon’s understanding was somewhat ‘sub- versive’, perhaps to the point of being considered ‘unorthodox’. With regard to his opinion about Muslims, Massignon wrote to the members of Badaliya in 1943 that, …salvation did not necessarily mean exterior conversion. It is already a great deal to obtain that a large number belong to the soul of the Church, and live and die in a state of grace.17 Along with this view Massignon’s most influential theses with regard to Islam, at least in terms of his influence on Vatican II, are contained in his im- 16 Louis Massignon, ‘The Roman Catholic Church and Islam’, in The Moslem World, Vol. V, 1915, pp. 129-142. 17 Massignon cited in Gude, Compassion, p. 135.

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portant work ‘The Three Prayers of Abraham’.18 Massignon was reluctant to have this published because of a concern that the Magisterium would de- nounce it for its controversial religious ideas.19 Massignon elsewhere conven- iently summarized the essential theses of this longer and richer piece in a sin- gle line. In September 1953 Massignon made the assertion that the one ‘who believes in the original equality of the three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), knows that they each refer to the same God of Truth.’20 This statement, among other similar formulations, especially his opinion about the ‘conversion’ and ‘salvation’ of Muslims, presented twentieth century Catholicism with various searching theologoumena for its considera- tion. Massignon therefore believed: 1. That Muslims, specifically by virtue of their religious faith as a response to God’s grace (i.e. conversion), could achieve salvation, despite living outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church. 2. That Christians, Muslims and Jews, despite significant differences, never- theless believe in the one true God, the God of Abraham. 3. That Abraham is the common ‘father in [the order of] faith’ of all three religions.21 At Vatican II these theses (what we may call Massignon’s most significant theologoumena) were incorporated into the statements on the Muslims found in Lumen Gentium 16 and Nostra Aetate 3. In the final official text of Lumen Gentium 16 we read that in the view of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church: …the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place among these there are the Muslims, who, professing to hold the faith of

18 Original French Text: Louis Massignon, ‘Les Trois Prières D’Abraham Père De Tous Les Croyants’, in Parole Donnée: Dossiers des «Lettres Nouvelles» Collection dirigée par Maurice Nadeau, (Paris: Julliard, 1962), pp.257-272; English translation: ‘The Three Prayers of Abraham (1949)’ in Herbert Mason, ed., Testimonies and Reflections: Essays of Louis Massignon, (Notre Dame: University Press, 1989), pp. 3-20. 19 See Gude, Compassion, p.118. Hebblethwaite tells of a situation in 1961 in which the then Mgr. Montini had to defend Massignon against those in the Holy Office who found his views on ‘Abrahamic religions’ to be ‘perilous and scandalous’. See Peter Hebblethwaite, Paul VI – The First Modern Pope, (London: Fount, 1993), n. 1, p. 374. 20 Original French Text: “Mais le musulman, lui, qui croit a l’égalité originelle des trois reli- gions abrahamiques, Israël, Chrétienté, Islam, sait qu’elles referent au même Dieu de vérité”, Louis Massignon, ‘L’Islam et le Témoignage du Croyant’, in Parole Donnée, p. 241; English translation: Louis Massignon, ‘Islam and the Testimony of the Faithful’, in Mason, Testimonies, p. 53. 21 A theologoumenon can be described as: ‘A non-binding theological thesis which is neither found clearly in scripture nor in the definitive teaching of the magisterium. Theses of… theolo- gians can have the status of theologoumena and may later in some way enter the teaching of the church’, Gerald O’Collins SJ and Edward G. Farrugia SJ, eds., A Concise Dictionary of Theol- ogy, (London: Harper-Collins, 1991), pp.239-240. See the discussion in Sidney Griffith, ‘Sharing the Faith of Abraham: The ‘Credo’ of Louis Massignon’, in Islam and Christian-Muslim Rela- tions, Vol. 8, No. 2, 1997, pp. 193-210.

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Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge humankind.22 From the theological point of view this is a profound assertion, because it clearly implies that Muslims are incorporated, albeit in a mysterious and provi- dential way, within the divine economy; although this truth is not expressed in an overly definitive way, as the earlier drafts of this document seem to be.23 Nevertheless Massignon’s influence is clear: as Adrian Hastings notes, this is where Massignon ‘told us to begin’.24 The single most important aspect of the small section of Lumen Gentium art.16, from a Catholic theological perspec- tive, is the recognition that both religions worship the one true God (Latin – ‘nobiscum Deum adorant unicum’).25 In Nostra Aetate 3 we read: [The Religion of Islam]: The Church looks with esteem also upon the Muslims [muslimos]. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself, merciful and all powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth who has spoken to humanity; they strive to submit wholeheartedly even to His incomprehensible decrees, just as Abraham submitted to God, to whom the faith of Islam [fides islamica] takes pleasure in linking itself. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they re- vere Him as a prophet. They also honour Mary, his virgin mother; at times they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the day of judgement when God will reward all those who have been raised up. Finally, they esteem the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting. Since in the course of centuries not a few quarrels and hostilities have arisen be- tween Christians and Muslims, this Sacred Synod urges all to forget the past, and to work sincerely for mutual understanding and to preserve as well as to promote together social justice, all moral goods, as well as peace and freedom, for the ben- efit of all humankind.26 In their commentaries on these texts Robert Caspar and George Anawati, the two main experts who were responsible for the drafting of the Council statements on Muslims and Islam, provide many helpful insights into why the texts appear in their final form. Caspar concludes that: ‘We [Catholics] cannot ever say again that we do not adore the same God, even if we call Him by dif-

22 Walter Abbott, ed., The Documents of Vatican II, (Dublin: Geoffrey Chapman, 1966), p.35. I have used the more accurate ‘Muslims’, instead of Abbott’s ‘Moslems’, and ‘humankind’ replaces Abbott’s ‘mankind’. 23 I will briefly discuss these earlier drafts in a later section. 24 Adrian Hastings, A Concise Guide to the Documents of the Second Vatican Council: Vol- ume I, (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1968), p. 201. 25 See the similar reference in Nostra Aetate 3: ‘qui unicum Deum adorant’ and ‘Deum maxime in oratione, eleemosynis et ieiunio colunt’. See the Latin texts of Lumen Gentium and Nostra Aetate in Norman Tanner SJ, ed., Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils – Volume II (Trent to Vatican II), (London: Sheed and Ward, 1990). 26 Unpublished English translation distributed to the English-speaking during Vati- can II. Found among the papers of the late Brian Foley of Lancaster Diocese (U.K.) kept in the Talbot Library, Preston. I am grateful to the staff there for giving me permission to consult these papers. I have made minor modifications.

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ferent names’.27 Such an assertion is not without its hermeneutical complexi- ties and needs careful clarification in order to be understood properly. How- ever, Caspar’s theological opinion, on this issue, certainly seems to be in line with the official interpretation of the contemporary Magisterium of the Catho- lic Church.28

MASSIGNON AND BADALIYA

The origin of the ‘sodality of prayer’, called the Badaliya, lay in a solemn dedication which Massignon made, along with his spiritual friend Mary Kahil, at Damietta in Egypt on February 9th 1934. The statutes of the sodality were ‘formally approved’ by the Church in January 1947. This request for formal approval was assisted by the Melkite auxiliary Archbishop Kamel Medawar, who gave the Badaliya the ‘imprimatur’ of the Catholic Church to their ‘cause’ therefore providing official acceptance of its statutes.29 It is very inter- esting to note that according to a letter written by Massignon to Kahil in 1934, on July 18th of that year, Massignon claimed that in a private (and presumably informal) meeting with the then pope Pius XI, the Holy Father ‘blessed by name our offering of Damietta.’30 It is significant that one such member of the Badaliya, in its ‘chapter’ in Rome, was Mgr. Giovanni Battista Montini, who was to become Pope Paul VI. Montini was pope at the time at which these revolutionary statements about Islam were made at Vatican II; indeed he was instrumental in their inclusion in the agenda of the Council. Montini was for many years a major influence on the inner workings of the Vatican Curia, serving as private secretary to Cardi- nal Pacelli, who later became Pope Pius XII. It is beyond doubt that Montini had the ear not only of Pius XII, but also Pius XI. Montini was a long-standing friend and associate of Massignon and was profoundly influenced not only by Massignon’s learning, but also by his piety. We know from the corpus of Massignon’s correspondence that this regard was mutual, and Massignon would always call on Montini, when possible, during visits to Rome.31 In this sense one discerns below the surface subtle yet important developments al- ready occurring during the pontificates of Pius XI and Pius XII, at an informal level, which perhaps prepared the way for the Holy See’s final reception of Massignon’s key ideas. It is also possible to suggest that more formal official developments, which in time occurred with regard to the Magisterial view of

27 Caspar, Encounter, p. 3. 28 See Gioia, Interreligious, passim. 29 See Gude, Compassion, pp. 155-156 and p. 179. These were circulated privately as early as 1943. 30 Cited in Gude, Compassion, p. 135.

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Islam, may have been influenced by ‘off the record’ meetings between Mas- signon and Montini, Pacelli, Ratti, Roncalli, and others such as Tisserant, dur- ing this period. The force of Massignon’s personality seems to have been such that he had a way of influencing those who met him in powerful life-changing, opinion-altering ways.

THE PONTIFICATE OF PIUS XI (1922-1939)

The official documents which refer to the Muslims during the pontificate of Pius XI show a certain ambivalence with regard to the status of the adherents of Islam. In Rerum Ecclesiae, in 1926, Pius called on the faithful to ‘extend farther and farther the light of and make easy for heathen nations [ethnicis gentibus] the way unto salvation….those unfortunate souls who live in error outside the Fold.’32 He also speaks of the need specifically to ‘bring the pagans to a knowledge of the Catholic religion [traducendis ad catholicam religionem ethnicis]’.33 The Pope also calls for ‘special prayers for the mis- sions and for the conversion of the heathen to the true Faith [pro ethnicis ad fidem deducendis]’, in order that ‘those who are still deprived of the fruits of the Redemption’ hear the Gospel.34 In the context of this document he is refer- ring not to Muslims but to those who follow the primal religions of Africa and Asia, and various other parts of the earth. However in his encyclical Rite Expiatis in 1926 in a clear reference to the Muslim lands under the jurisdiction of the Franciscans, he describes them as the ‘lands inhabited by the heathen [habeant ethnicorum regiones].’35 On the other hand, at that particular time, in the Raccolta or Collection of Indulgenced Prayers and Good Works of the Catholic Church, a clear distinc- tion is made between Muslims, Jews and others, be they referred to as ‘hea- thens’, ‘pagans’, or by some other similar term, for example in the ‘Prayer for the Conversion of the Mahomedans’. In the ‘Dedication of the Human Race to Jesus Christ the King’, in which prayers are offered for non-Catholic Chris- tians, Muslims, Jews and others, there is a reference to ‘those who are still in- volved in the darkness of idolatry or of Islamism [tenebris idolatriae aut islamismi]’’36 And yet for these seemingly pessimistic official statements, Pius

31 Massignon was visiting Montini in this way as early as the 1930’s. Montini was aware of and interested in Massignon’s academic work at this time, especially on al-Hallaj; Gude, Com- passion, p.149. Hebblethwaite traces the beginning of their association back to the period 1927- 1929, Hebblethwaite, Paul VI, p. 84. 32 Latin text: Acta Apostolica Sedis, Volume XVIII, p.66 [henceforth AAS with volume and page numbers]. English text: Carlen, Encyclicals, Vol. III, p.282. 33 AAS 18, p.69; Carlen, Encyclicals, Vol. III, p. 283. 34 AAS 18, p.69; Carlen, Encyclicals, Vol. III, pp. 283-284. 35 AAS 18, p.169; Carlen, Encyclicals, Vol. III, pp. 301. 36 The Raccolta, Ambrose St. John, original trans., ([12th Ed. Confirmed to the decisions and grants 1857 to 1934] London: Burns and Oats and Washbourne, 1935), p. 463 and pp. 186-187

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XI was reported to have said to his Apostolic delegate to Libya as he em- barked on a papal mission to the country: ‘Do not think you are going among infidels. Muslims attain to Salvation. The ways are Providence are infinite.’37 There is, one would have to admit, rather more than a hint of Massignon’s in- fluence in this sentiment. On another rather more positive note, in 1928 the encyclical Rerum Orientalium was promulgated, essentially to establish the first Catholic chair of Islamic Studies in Rome.38

THE PONTIFICATE OF PIUS XII (1939-1958)

The pontificate of Pius XII saw small but significant changes in the way in which the documents of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church described Muslims and the religion of Islam. His encyclical Fidei Donum contained the last important reference to Islam by the Magisterium prior to the beginning of the Vatican II period. Robert Caspar suggests that, in terms of its view of Is- lam, …the Church was still in the Middle Ages up to the eve of the Council, as can be seen from her last pre-Vatican [II] official document referring to Islam, the encyc- lical Fidei Donum (1957), where Islam’s advance in Africa is looked upon as a threat to the Church.39 I disagree with Caspar’s somewhat dismissive view. A brief commentary will, I hope, facilitate a more nuanced understanding of the text. Fidei Donum ought to be seen not as a continuation of the Church’s suspicion and condem- nation of the Muslims and their religious beliefs and practices but rather as the point of origin in the development of a novel way of referring to Islam in the official teaching documents of the Catholic Church. It was much less condem- natory and supportive of openness to Muslims ‘of good will’ in a way not ex- pressed in a solemn Magisterial document before. Pius XII’s earlier allusions to Islam, in encyclical letters between 1948 and 1952, were also generally sympathetic towards Muslims, in that they sought to address the humanitarian plight of Arab Christians and Muslims in Palestine during that time.40

respectively. For Latin text of ‘Christ the King’ see AAS 19, 1927, pp.32-33. [My italics]. John XXIII (1958-1962) called for these prayers to be removed from the Raccolta out of respect for Muslims. 37 Cited in Tobias (Ali Musa) Mayer, ‘A Muslim Speaks to Christians’, Priests and People, January 2003, Vol. 17, no.1, p. 9. 38 AAS 20, p.286; Carlen, Encyclicals, Vol.3, p.333. This institution was the precursor of PISAI. 39 Caspar, Encounter, p. 3. 40 See Carlen’s collection for Auspicia Quaedam (1948); In Multiplicibus Curis (1948); Redemptoris Nostri Cruciatus (1949); and Orientales Ecclesias (1952). There is evidence that Massignon had pressed Pius XII to make these statements. See Anthony O’Mahony, ‘Le Pelerin De Jerusalem: Louis Massignon, Palestinian Christians, Islam and the State of Israel’, in Pales-

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Fidei Donum marks a growing sensitivity to the issues involved in making statements with regard to Islam, and in many ways acts as a ‘bridge’ document between the earlier negative tradition, in which Islam was interpreted accord- ing to a ‘hermeneutics of suspicion’, and a more irenic tradition ushered in by Vatican II, under the influence of Massignon. Fidei Donum (27-4-1957) teaches that: Of course, that religious system of life [religiosae vitae rationes] is not unknown to you whereby, although it contends that it professes the worship of God, never- theless attracts many minds into another way which is not that of Jesus Christ, Saviour of all peoples. Our mind as the common Father of all is open to all people of good will; nevertheless, representing on earth him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, We cannot consider the possibility of such a state of affairs without great distress.41

This section of Fidei Donum contains a specific reference to Islam.42 Pius does not rule out entirely Islam’s claim to be a form of monotheism akin to Christian monotheism, but nevertheless he is uncertain in what way to affirm it. In the text, Islam is understood to at least profess the worship of the one true God. Pius is not necessarily implying that Islam does in fact worship the one true God; but the God to whom they refer could, in principle, be identified with the God to whom Christians also refer. Ultimately the fact that this mono- theism is not that revealed in ‘Jesus Christ’ is crucial to Pius’ eventual ambiva- lent conclusion. Fidei Donum conveys the overall sense that Islam, as a ‘religious system of life’, is difficult to evaluate from a Catholic perspective. Importantly however, he encourages the view that Muslims of good will are to be respected, and im- plies that Catholics are to be open and compassionate towards Muslims as per- sons, as he himself demonstrably was.

THE PONTIFICATE OF PAUL VI (1963-1978)

Pope Paul had what has been referred to as a ‘more positive attitude towards Islam’ not least because of his association with Louis Massignon via his mem- tinian Christians: Religion, Politics and Society in the Holy Land, (London: Melisende, 1999), p. 180. On the basis of the assistance given to Muslims during this time many Muslim countries established diplomatic relations with the Holy See. See Giulio Basetti-Sani, The Koran in the Light of Christ: A Christian Interpretation of the Sacred Book of Islam, (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1977), p. 193. 41 AAS 1957, pp. 225-48. My own translation. See also the version in Carlen, Encyclicals, Vol. IV, p. 323. Indeed Pius XII further clarified this final sentiment when he said in a less for- mal context that: ‘All that is good and just in the Koran cannot reveal its deepest meaning or its perfect fulfillment except in our Lord Jesus Christ’, cited in Basetti-Sani, Koran, p.xvi. My sin- cere thanks to Revd Laurence P. Hemming and Revd Francis Selman (Allen Hall Seminary, Lon- don) for their advice concerning the translation of the extracts of Fidei Donum, Spiritus Paracliti and Ecclesiam Suam contained in this paper. 42 See John L. Coonan, ‘The Future of Africa: A Commentary on the Encyclical “Donum Fidei”’ [sic], The Tablet, June 8th 1957, p. 534;

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bership of Badaliya.43 Under the leadership of Paul the Council sat in three sessions, during which the impetus for the inclusion of material on the Mus- lims came mainly from the Eastern Rite Catholic bishops. As Caspar observes, Pope Paul ‘took the initiative of personally asking the conciliar commissions to prepare a text on Islam each time there was to be a mention of the Jews.’44 The Eastern Rite Bishops represented Christians living in lands with major- ity Muslim populations, and who shared an Arab heritage with Muslims. Their contributions were often motivated by what have been called ‘political’ con- cerns, related to the Arab-Israeli tensions in the Middle East at the time, al- though, while this was one motivating factor behind their desire for a section on the Muslims to be included it was by no means the exclusive reason for their insistence. Again, Massignon’s personal influence on these men had been substantial. During the second session of the Council in November 1963 a statement on the Jewish people, prepared under the direction of the Secretariat for Christian Unity, appeared as an attachment to the proposed teaching docu- ment On . The Patriarch Maximos IV, on behalf of many other Eastern Rite bishops, requested a similar statement to be made concerning Is- lam.45 He spoke for many, in a memorable intervention, when he said: ‘If we are to discuss the Jews, then we should likewise take up the question of Mos- lems, among whom we must live in a minority.’46 One may say without fear of exaggeration that, at an official level at least, with the promulgation of the documents of Vatican II, a paradigm shift in Catholic attitudes towards Muslims and the Islamic faith had occurred. Caspar argues that such a shift in attitudes is remarkable given the ‘paucity of interest’ in Islam even at the beginning of the Council.47 Only a small number of ‘Christian dignitaries’, some ‘intellectual’, others ‘apostolic’, were willing and able to provide the Council with a ‘positive vision of Islam’. Caspar suggests that at the time the Council was called, the Church had ‘no intention of speak- ing about Islam’; in fact such matters had been ‘definitely eliminated from the programme proposed by the preparatory commission’. All the indications were that the majority of those consulted would be more in favour of a ‘condemna- tion’ of Islam.48 In this sense the aetiologies of the Council documents which 43 Caspar, Encounter, pp. 1-2. 44 Caspar, Encounter, p. 2. 45 He was consecrated Melkite Patriarch in 1947 (the year Badaliya was officially recog- nised). It was Maximos who allowed Massignon’s ordination to the priesthood in his own Church in 1950. See Gude, Compassion, pp. 179-180. 46 Xavier Rynne, The Second Session: The Debates and Decrees of Vatican II September 29 to December 4 1963, (London: Faber and Faber, 1963, 1964), p. 239. 47 Having said this it is important to note that references to Islam and Muslims were not ab- sent from the original vota when Bishops and theologians were consulted on the prospective is- sues that ought to be treated by the forthcoming Council. By the time the original documents were completed by the Preparatory Commission what references there were to Islam had all been removed. 48 Casper, Encounter, p. 1. There is certainly evidence of this attitude in the preliminary vota. See Giuseppi Alberigo and Joseph A. Komonchak, eds., The History of Vatican II – Announcing

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refer to Islam, namely Lumen Gentium and Nostra Aetate, are some of the most fascinating of the whole Council. Two brief but important statements of Paul VI’s reign, contained in Spiritus Paracliti in April 1964, and Ecclesiam Suam, in August 1964, give an indica- tion of the direction which would be subsequently taken by the Magisterium at the Council on the issue of Islam. The existence of these documents, however, tends to gently challenge the consensus that has arisen that the Council’s state- ments on Islam came only from ‘political’ and pragmatic concerns arising dur- ing the period of the Council. In some sense this was the case, but Mas- signon’s work had had such an influence on those who were present that the Council, in my view, merely presented an opportunity for those who already had something important to say about Islam and the Muslims, to say it. It is significant that the apostolic letter Spiritus Paracliti and his first encyc- lical Ecclesiam Suam were promulgated during the conciliar period by Pope Paul, but in a very self-conscious way, independently of the Council. Using his Papal Magisterium these texts gave a subtle indication that Paul was prepared to make a measured but nevertheless unequivocal judgement about those who believed in the one true God. Given Paul’s intimate association with the per- son and ideas of Massignon, and that it was his personal decision to put Islam on the agenda of the Council; it seems to me that these documents demon- strate that it was Paul’s desire, regardless of what the Council Fathers were to say about Islam, to finally make some positive mention of the Muslims in line with the theological stance of Badaliya. The obvious way to do this was to make the cautious sentiments expressed in Fidei Donum appear less ambigu- ous.

Spiritus Paracliti, Apostolic Letter, 30-4-64 In terms of groundbreaking Catholic teaching on Christian-Muslim rela- tions, no year was as significant as 1964, which saw the promulgation of Spiritus Paracliti, Ecclesiam Suam, Lumen Gentium 16 and the production of an enlarged draft of Nostra Aetate, including more material on the Islamic faith. A papal visit to the Holy Land in early 1964 gives Spiritus Paracliti its im- mediate context. This visit was the very first papal visit of Paul’s tenure in of- fice. Many saw in this pilgrimage a profound symbolism.49

and Preparing Vatican Council II Toward a New Era in Catholicism: Volume I, (Maryknoll/ Leuven: Orbis/Peeters, 1995), n. 99 and n. 100, p. 392. 49 Hebblethwaite, Paul VI, p.374. Perhaps this gesture could be seen as a papal act of badaliya on a grand scale. It is interesting to speculate as to whether Montini had a sense of liv- ing out Massignon’s ‘prophetic’ words of 1948: ‘…and one day the bishops, even the bishop of bishops must return to Jerusalem’, in Dieu Vivant cited by Anthony O’Mahony, ‘Louis Massignon and Jerusalem’, (London, unpublished conference paper, 2006), p.1. My sincere thanks goes to Anthony O’Mahony, my supervisor, for his encouragement during the preparation of this paper.

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One of the aims of the visit was to show solidarity with Arab Christians, encouraging support for the aims of the Council among them, and by exten- sion the Muslims. This was a key task given some of the objections voiced from the Arab world because of the perceived pro-Israeli stance adopted by the proposed declaration on the Jews. It has to be said that in terms of those who knew of the relationship between Paul and Massignon, the latter’s influence and concern for the question of the peace and security of the Holy Land could also be clearly seen. In this sense Paul, …was also groping for the mysterious key to the unity of Judaism and Islam and Christianity. He knew it was somehow tied up with the city of Jerusalem, the city of peace, sacred to all three religions. More profound still was his conviction that the reason why Jerusalem was sacred to all monotheists was that it was associated with Abraham, “our Father in Faith”. In Jerusalem he used the phrase “the Three Abrahamic religions” that he borrowed from the French Islamic scholar Louis Massignon…..Paul had another historical memory at the back of his mind. The last pope who planned to go to the Holy Land was Innocent III who wanted to carry out a decision of the Fourth Lateran Council by leading a Crusade against the “Saracens”….Paul went as a humble pilgrim, risking the buffeting of the crowds…50

In Spiritus Paracliti, in which Paul later reflects on his pilgrimage, we read: When on that occasion, We went to venerate the sacred memorials of Christ the Saviour, a vast crowd of people of all kinds pressed Us from every side to offer Us their greetings. It was then that We came to the stirring realization of how ar- dent must be Our zeal, and with what burning charity – stretching out even be- yond the confines of the Christian religion – It is urgent that our thoughts should be directed equally to all souls and all peoples who worship and venerate the One God. For therein lies our hope of promoting true unanimity, mutual love, and un- troubled social peace…51

By the time of the promulgation of Spiritus Paracliti some of the cautious- ness with regard to the status of Islamic monotheism displayed in Fidei

50 Hebblethwaite, Paul VI, pp. 373-374. I was unable to find Paul’s reference to ‘the Three Abrahamic religions’ in Jerusalem in any of the major sources. This reference seems to be inac- curate. I suggest that the address Hebblethwaite intended to refer to was in Bethlehem (6-1- 1964). He addressed Christians of various Rites, Jews and Muslims with these words: ‘those who profess monotheism and with Us direct their religious worship to the one true God, most high and living, the God of Abraham, the supreme God….May these peoples, worshippers of the one God, also welcome Our best wishes for peace in justice’ (‘….a quiconque professe le monothéisme et avec nous rend un culte religieux a l’unique et vrai Dieu, le Dieu vivant et suprême, le Dieu d’Abraham, le Très-Haut….Qu’a ces peuples adorateurs d’un Dieu unique aillent aussi Nos voeux de paix dans la justice’). This speech is also significant because it pres- ages the language of the next pronouncement of the solemn magisterium which refers to Islam, Ecclesiam Suam, in its mention of monotheism. Original French text in AAS 1964, p178; English text in Gioia, Interreligious, p. 119. 51 Latin text: ‘…mentes nostrae dirigendae sint ad omnes animos omnesque populos, qui unum Deum colant ac venerentur’, AAS 1964, p. 354; Gioia, Interreligious, p. 63, slightly modi- fied – the italicized text is my own translation.

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Donum seems to have disappeared. In this sense Spiritus Paracliti represents an advance in the solemn official teaching of the Catholic Church, in that it implies that those who profess worship of the one true God, at least in the case of observant Muslims, actually do worship the one true God.

Ecclesiam Suam, Encyclical, 6-8-1964. In Ecclesiam Suam Paul says: Then there are those who, it is said, worship God according to a monotheistic form of religion, especially the Muhammedans who adhere strictly to this way. For this reason their true and demonstrable piety merits our admiration.52

In Ecclesiam Suam Paul VI was prepared to identify Muslims by name for the first time in history, at such a solemn level of teaching authority, as those who worship the one true God. There is a strong sense that the ‘sacra Mahometi’ could be seen rather differently when understood as demonstrable acts of piety directed towards worship of the one true God. Observant Muslims were worthy of respect and ‘admiration’.

The importance of the drafting process at the Council.

The first reference to Muslims in the Council texts occurred in the second draft of the document of Lumen Gentium. It read: The sons of Ismael, who recognise Abraham as their father and believe in the God of Abraham, are not unconnected with the Revelation made to the patriarchs.53

In ‘The Three Prayers of Abraham’ Massignon had favoured this very the- sis. He believed that Judaism, were united not only in terms of their Abrahamic faith, but also in terms of their Abrahamic ancestry, perhaps even through a ‘genetic’ or ‘genealogical’ relationship at their origins. However the thesis that the Muslim Arabs are the descendents of Ishmael (sometimes referred to as ‘Ishmaelitism’) is fraught with historical-critical and religious problems. The view of Massignon, which seems to involve the con- clusions of an earlier stage of historical-critical scholarship, had, by the time of the Council, become highly questionable. Catholic scholars, by the time of the 1960’s, had moved beyond such thinking, and for reasons of doctrinal clarity the thesis was not favoured in this specific form of words which corresponded to Massignon’s rather idiosyncratic articulations. References to the ‘Ishmaelite thesis’ were removed.54 Nevertheless, it can be agreed, as an important teach-

52 ‘My own translation'. Latin text: ‘…deinde de iis, qui Deum adorant religionis forma, quae monotheismus dicitur, maxime ea qua Mohometani sunt astricti; quos propter ea quae in eorum cultu vera sunt et probanda, merito admiramur’, AAS 1964, p. 654. 53 See Caspar, Encounter, p. 2. 54 See Kate Zebiri, Muslims and Christians: Face to Face, (Oxford: Oneworld, 1997, 2000), pp. 192-193.

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ing in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, despite other differences of interpreta- tion, that true believers among Jews, Christians and Muslims are Abraham’s ‘spiritual heirs’ in the order of faith.55 Indeed the Council documents were to retain this sense. The essence of Massignon’s thesis on Abraham was officially accepted and endorsed. The first draft of Nostra Aetate to include a reference to Muslims was, on the whole, well received by the Council. I want to suggest that the 90th General Congregation of the Council Fathers assembled in solemn session on 29th Sep- tember 1964 was crucial in terms of the development of the final statement on the Muslims; made just over a year later on 28th October 1965. An analysis of the most important intervention by a Council Father in this regard was deliv- ered by Archbishop Joseph Descuffi of Smyrna. It is clear that his intervention provided the material content for almost all of the final expanded text of Nostra Aetate.56 Of great significance is that Massignon had collaborated closely with Descuffi on the development of the shrine of the Virgin Mary at Ephesus, and again, had greatly influenced Descuffi’s theology of Islam.57 That his contribution should furnish Nostra Aetate 3 with its final content is both fitting and symbolic; and seen through the eyes of faith, somewhat provi- dential. Again the intervention is replete with ‘Massignonesque’ expressions: I rejoice to see at the end of paragraph 33 the name of the Muslims who are con- nected to our common father Abraham, not through Israel but through Ishmael son of Hagar….What is said here about their faith in a single personal God who rewards [the just], their religious sense [and] their progress to a higher level of human civilization in certain regions, is undeniable. But let me add, to their credit, that in their religion there are found many elements in common with ours, from which they were borrowed. Although they have no knowledge of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Redemption, they nevertheless recognise Jesus Christ as a true prophet….they teach that he will come to judge the living and the dead, including Muslims. They affirm his many miracles, his miraculous birth. They recognise the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, her purity and virginity, her singular perfection, and, praying to her as their Mother with a sincere and devout heart, they confidently ask of and obtain from her remarkable favours, healings and even miracles….What I am now saying is not the figment of my imagination or the product of exaggeration in the hope of some gain, but the fruit of ten years’ experience, what I have seen for myself in Ephesus, in the place called Panaga Kapula, i.e., the House of Mary, Our Lady Mary. For the last ten years I have seen about 100,000 Muslims throughout the year join the same number of Chris- tians and together with them, and this is the only place in the world where this happens, venerate the Virgin Mary the Mother of Jesus….If we may add to these particular facts the fact that Muslims observe the of the Decalogue, fasting, almsgiving and prayer, we can say that we find them closer to us than the Jews….So if a heavenly dialogue has already begun between Mary and the Mus- 55 Muhammed, Relations, p. 52. 56 This is confirmed by Robert Caspar in ‘La Religion Musulmane’, in Henry, A. M., ed., Vatican II, Textes et commentaires, Les relations de l’Eglise avec les religions non chrétiennes: Déclaration “Nostra aetate”, Unam Sanctam 61, (Paris: Les Editions Du Cerf, 1966), p. 222.

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lims, why should we not declare that we desire that with them an earthly dialogue, a human dialogue be undertaken in sincerity and charity, with a desire for peace- ful coexistence with true religious freedom, in the social and political order so that it may be evident to all that we embrace all men as our brothers, sons of God, with the same charity, so that there may redound on all people the truth and true happiness promised by God to men of good will…58

The periti responsible for the reworking of Nostra Aetate realised the im- portance of this intervention and within what Anawati called the ‘very narrow limits’ given to them, incorporated its major aspects, even to the extent of us- ing exact or approximate phrasing; whilst using also their own specialist judgement to expand and improve upon the previous draft.59 Thomas Stransky testifies that the resultant draft section on Islam presented to the working committee was a prepared text, in French, submitted by Ana- wati, Caspar and their colleagues.60 Stransky reflects on the role of the major- ity of the Council Fathers when he says that: The quiet majority [of Council Fathers] had no competence to judge the accuracy of the descriptions [of Islam]. Implicit was their…‘we have to trust the bishops in Africa and Asia, and trust that the SPCU adequately consulted’… Bishop Blomjous [of] Tanzania, a Pere Blanc, had his contacts, some of whom also saw the Islam draft…No writer’s cramps, no procrastinating advisors. Within two weeks we had the new enlarged text, including a few revisions of De Judaeis, ap- proved by the plenary and sent to the presidents and co-ordinating committee.61 By the end of October 1964 the expanded text had been prepared for the in- spection of the Council Fathers. This text was distributed and voted on. In the final draft the first paragraph of article three is a concise appreciation of cer- tain aspects of the ‘Islamic faith [fides islamica]’ from a Catholic perspective, but which is nevertheless sensitive to the Muslim position. There are obvious and significant omissions; namely, explicit reference to the Qur’an, to Mu- hammad and to the Hajj. It is obvious even from an analysis of Descuffi’s in- tervention, other such interventions, and from the Expensio Modorum pro- duced by the periti, that the Qur’an and Muhammad were respectfully discussed and referred to during the congregations, in written submissions, and

57 See Neal Robinson, ‘Massignon, Vatican II and Islam as an Abrahamic Religion’, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Vol.2, no.2, December 1991, p.195. Also see the discussion in Anthony O’Mahony, ‘Louis Massignon, the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus and the Christian-Mus- lim Pilgrimage at Vieux-Marche, Brittany’, in Craig Bartholomew and Fred Hughes, eds., Explo- rations in a of Pilgrimage, (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004), pp. 136-137. 58 My sincere thanks to Revd Paul Dean for producing an English translation of this important intervention which was originally delivered in Latin. 59 Anawati, Commentary, p. 152. 60 See Caspar, Unam Sanctam, p. 206. 61 An extract taken from private notes kindly given to me by Revd Thomas Stransky of the Tantur Institute, Bethlehem. I would like to express my sincere thanks to him for his help, kind- ness and encouragement. Where I have felt the need to make modifications I have indicated this clearly by the use of square parentheses.

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in the working groups who constructed the texts. I have not found a reference to Hajj in any of the records of the conciliar deliberations, but Descuffi cer- tainly honours the Muslim commitment to pilgrimage in general terms, and gives a moving account of his experience of the faith of Muslim pilgrims. This goes some way to giving us an appreciation that these issues were carefully and sensitively considered. I agree with the assessment of the periti that al- though in some ways these omissions were unfortunate, it was necessary to omit them for, what were considered at the time, serious prudential reasons.62

CONCLUSION

There is often a desire on the part of many in the Church to say something positive about Islam, but often this is expressed in such a way that the material pertaining to the Muslim faith only sees Islam in terms of, or at least in rela- tion to Christianity. In his brief commentary on the Vatican II documents the former peritus Georges Anawati, in rhetorical vein, asks the question of Nostra Aetate 3: ‘how far does the description of Islam in the Declaration cor- respond to what actually is?’63 As Caspar makes clear, the periti and bishops at Vatican II were (to a greater or lesser extent) aware of ‘the question of the method to be followed in Muslim-Christian dialogue with regard to terminol- ogy’ that is, ‘how to express a doctrine in the language of the Muslim partner in dialogue’. Nevertheless, a ‘major fault’ of the conciliar texts lies in their ‘subjecting the other to our own [Christian] categories, deforming his [the Muslim’s] beliefs where necessary or retaining only those elements of his reli- gion which concur with ours [i.e. Christian ones]’. What we learn from Massignon’s contribution is that ‘[o]ur [Christian] aim should be to have a true image of the Muslim, such that he can recognise himself’, and yet we must acknowledge that despite the progress made by the Magisterium of the Catho- lic Church in the past half century, nevertheless, ‘[t]here is still a long way to go on the road to mutual understanding.’64 Nevertheless, Massignon influenced the Council in that he gave it a positive vision of Islam and a methodology with which to approach Islam, that is, a ‘decision to study Islam from within and to understand it on its own terms.’65 Most importantly since the Council many Catholic’s have developed a deeper respect for Islam. The attempt to describe Islam in terms that a Muslim would recognise as a fair account of their own religious beliefs, values and practices ought to be the aim of sound Catholic teaching. In adopting this approach Catholics will remain faithful to Massignon’s vision.

62 See Anawati, in Commentary, and Caspar, in Encounter. 63 Anawati, Commentary, p. 152. My emphasis. 64 Caspar, Encounter, p. 6. My additions are in parentheses. 65 Gude, Compassion, p. xi.

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