Love, Dialogue and Relationship-Building
A particularly Christian perspective is to look at Islam as a ‘challenge’. I recently attended a seminar which was gauging the extent to which Christians feel challenged by Islam. Challenge can be a good thing but often has an air of difficulty or threat. Sometimes this is seen as a challenge to be avoided, i.e. not wishing to engage with Islam or preparing oneself to make a counter-challenge. This is present when some Christians express their perplexity that I spend so much time with Muslims, both during work hours and outside. There is sometimes an assumption that I am keen to ‘water down’ my own religion and that I am propagating the message that others should do so. My own challenge in response is that it is as a Christian (or a human being) that I want to reach out in love to Muslim sisters and brothers, to be a good neighbour. Muslim community initiatives, like Islam Awareness Week, offer a great opportunity for people to see Islam as a loving religion, which is not against Christians, or anyone else.
The counter-challenge, for Christians, is living up to the best of our religion and the example set by Jesus Christ (Christ as role model often seems to be a neglected emphasis). Living up to the heart of our traditions roots our dialogue and engagement in spiritual realities, rather than fear, and perceptions of threat. This is the challenge (another one) of inter faith and why we need to focus on the inner dimension, because some of our interactions and blockages to encountering the other are not informed by it, we can often be shaped by fear rather than propelled by love. Our two religions tell us to be motivated by one and that the other is unnecessary, sadly there are many examples where we have got the two mixed up.
Archbishop Carey highlighted this at a dinner for the Sheikh of Al-Azhar in 1997, where he said:
‘… there are still fears to be addressed. I do not fear Islam. I understand and respect its strength and those who faithfully worship according to the tenets of Islam and the Prophet Mohammed. Others, however, do retain such fears. The international strength of Islam does create fear among some other religious communities. Equally, I recognise that Muslims can often feel threatened by a culture like ours in Britain which appears so alien, and sometimes, even for the Christian communities, so anti-religion, and religious values … ‘[As] the issues facing us are so pressing that I am convinced of the need to establish fuller bilateral dialogue between Christians and Muslims around the country.’
He recognised the anxieties and the difficulties but, in talking of building dialogical relations and making what is different less alien, he is describing a structural agenda of openness and love. As the successors of that structural mutual commitment (Muslim leaders responded warmly to his invitation), the Christian Muslim Forum brought together Christians and Muslims — inter faith activists and influencers, chaplains, ministers, imams and community workers in England — to celebrate our interactions over the intervening years. Significantly the gathering took place, as did our launch, in the same place, Lambeth Palace, as the original announcement of the manifesto for Christian-Muslim relations. Our challenge, or joint aim, at the event was to identify where we were in relation to each other, the depth of our relationship and whether we were seizing the opportunities presented to us for being good role models. Following the discussions we jointly developed a shared commitment, of which these four bullets are an extract:
- We pledge, as members of both faiths, to live up to the best of our traditions by respecting, welcoming and being hospitable to our neighbours of other faiths.
- We will speak generously of other faiths, scriptures and worshippers with our own congregations, while recognising we have some critical theological differences.
- We will engage openly and honestly with each other about our own faith and scriptures … all issues of concern, including sensitive or painful issues.
- We will make a point of developing and sustaining friendships with leaders and members of other faiths in our neighbourhoods and regionally …
As the architect of the leaders encounter programme and the national gathering I was keen to do two things — to ensure, as far as possible, that the event would make an impact, not just be a place for talk and that it would build on our previous joint initiative — Ethical Witness Guidelines. This building and developing on earlier foundations sought, significantly, to go deeper. The italicised words above, as well as highlighting the key theme of each bullet, also convey the emotional content of our pledges to ourselves and each other, the spiritual fruit which we can share with each other. Having consciously pushed this loving emphasis, inevitably the commitments went too far for some in both faiths. I am aware of some of the reasons which gave cause for concern, others I can perhaps guess at and the reasons for not signing up could be described as ‘complicated’. There is also the distinct possibility that some could not express whole-hearted agreement due to their negative experiences of ‘the other’, though our intention was to offer the commitment as an antidote to negativity.
I offer the development of the Ethical Witness Guidelines as an example of dialogue
Ethical Guidelines for Christian and Muslim Witness (extract)
6) We will speak of our faith without demeaning or ridiculing the faiths of others.
7) We will speak clearly and honestly about our faith, even when that is uncomfortable or controversial.
8) We will be honest about our motivations … we will inform people when events will include the sharing of faith.
9) Whilst recognising that either community will naturally rejoice with and support those who have chosen to join them, we will be sensitive to the loss that others may feel.
10) Whilst we may feel hurt when someone we know and love chooses to leave our faith, we will respect their decision and will not force them to stay or harass them afterwards.
Full version here
The catalyst for these guidelines was Dr Andrew Smith’s experience at Scripture Union in Birmingham which highlighted a need for ground rules when introducing Christianity in schools and working young Christians and Muslims. How can Christians be involved in inter faith and fulfil the ‘Great Commission’? He found himself not in an evangelistic but a dialogical situation. The intention of the guidelines is to express the heart of each faith and demonstrate, in a joint document, shared commitment to witnessing. This dialogical approach is supported by both scriptures and is our public commitment to respecting those who receive our witness, by putting aside ungracious competitive attitudes. Scripture says:
‘be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.’ (1 Peter 3.15,16)
‘Invite (all) to the Way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for thy Lord knoweth best, who have strayed from His Path, and who receive guidance.’ (Qur’an 16.125)
Our process of producing the guidelines was itself an exercise in dialogue. Andrew describes some difficult dialogue situations:
‘Over the past 14 years I’ve spent a lot of time talking to Muslims of all ages about my faith and listening to them do likewise. Many conversations have been interesting and fruitful, and experiences I would want to repeat. However, some were competitive or aggressive and left me feeling frustrated, defensive and not wishing to go through it all again.
As a consequence of these experiences I became concerned not to stifle the conviction of those engaged in evangelism/Da’wah, but to offer an ‘ethical’ approach. The guidelines reflect both pragmatism and genuine desire to recognise and affirm those, of both faiths, who are sharing their faith and help them do it in a way that treats people honourably.
Another colleague, Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, shared more local difficulties when, at the launch of the guidelines, he mentioned taking groups of Christians to visit a Leicester mosque, where they were welcomed and given an overview of Islam. He told us that afterwards, one of the congregation said to him, ‘Brother, it’s great that you’ve brought a group of Christians into the mosque, are they going to embrace Islam?’ He understood where he was coming from, but while he had been sharing Islam with them he was not expecting their conversion. This raises the ethical questions of time, place and intention.
When the Christian Muslim Forum began we did not know that this would be an issue that we would work on. In fact, we would not have been ready in our first or second year. We had to get to know each other, build the relationships and then open up the conversation. The best conversations, those that have ‘worked’ are where we have been able to approach an issue fairly equally, where the discussions have not been one-sided or where one group has, or is, the ‘problem’. This leads into the difficulty of dialogue.
Julian Bond, Director, Christian Muslim Forum
Originally published at www.christianmuslimforum.org.
