Reading 'your' Scripture through the eyes of 'the other': case study in inter-religious dialogue (original) (raw)
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In the winter of 2009, two organizations in Los Angeles partnered to establish a novel program using Islamic and Judaic religious texts to foster intergroup dialogue and intentional conversations with the aim of enhancing and bridging relationships between the two communities. The “Muslim-Jewish Text Study Program” was initiated by the Center for Jewish Muslim Engagement,1 a partnership project of Hebrew Union College,2 the Omar Ibn Al Khattab Foundation,3 and the University of Southern California’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture.4 Collaboration on the project was formed from the beginning with NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change.5 This essay, which describes our experience with this pilot program, integrates a series of oral and written evaluative instruments with the aim to provide guidance for those who are interested in considering intergroup dialogue through text study. Elsewhere in this essay we provide links to some of the documents involved with this program, including text samples and evaluative instruments.
This article responds to Middle Eastern Christian positions concerning the Other, which have been dominant in most Christian–Muslim relations in the past, through the centuries , and is still prevailing in the Middle East through several Christian voices. As these positions, directly or indirectly, endeavor to appropriate the tradition of the Other and make it fit within the boundaries of one's own theological heritage, the present article suggests the need for a genuine turn to the Other, in order to make the true perception and the understanding of the tradition of the Other possible. Hence, a method of rejuvenation is proposed, which implies first a critical consideration of one's own tradition and then a genuine turn to the Other, making the meeting and the reading of the holy texts together possible with the Other in terms clarified through the post-critical method of scriptural reasoning.
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Interfaith dialogue is a crucial technique for mitigating interreligious tensions that exist around the world. However, It is in the name of religion that we see many heinous crimes being perpetrated resulting in the deaths of many innocents despite the fact that every religion promotes universal love and compassion for other people .Today, Islam has been misunderstood due to the lacking of proper Islamic knowledge. So research is needed to mitigate ambiguity regarding Islam’s proper knowledge and Islamic perspective on interreligious dialogue. This article has been designed to go through the Qur’an and the Prophet’s ﷺ way of life in order to clarify how Islam views interfaith dialogue and also to warn of various hazards to be guarded against while in dialogue. The study demonstrates how Islam plays a unique role in encouraging interfaith dialogue by ensuring justice, equal rights, and religious freedom for all religions, cultures, and civilizations, as well as accepting all prior p...
2007
The starting point for the reflections presented in this paper is the monastery of St Catherine at Sinai. This monastery has the distinction of being the oldest continually inhabited monastic establishment in Christendom. It not onlyy exists as a witness to the continuing dynamism of the contemplative ideal in our days in the sister faith/wisdom tradition of Christianity but also offers a concrete evidence of the inter-religious co-existence― indeed harmony― that has permitted it to remain unmolested in its overwhelmingly Muslim environment for close to fourteen centuries. Two vivid symbols of this harmony are to be found within the walls of the monastery: the first is a mosque, built by the monks for the Bedouins; and the second is the famous charter of protection granted by the Prophet to the monastery. The monks themselves are convinced that this charter, sealed with an imprint of the Prophet’s own hand, was instrumental in maintaining the safety and security of the monastery. Th...
The Qur’Ān in Christian-Muslim Conversations: Negotiating Through Difficulties
2021
Introduction Before we present the interview, it will be helpful to lay the context for the question regarding the value of Christians exploring the holy book of Muslims, the Holy Qur’ān. This interviewer is often asked by Christian students: Can Christians read and understand the Qur’ān? How should a Christian assess the Holy Qur’ān? Can the reading of the Qur’ān nourish the spiritual life of Christians; and by Muslim students: What do you say about the Qur’ān? Though they look simple, these questions lead a student-scholar into a chequered history of Christian-Muslim Relations. Moreover, they cannot be considered in isolation but with the companion questions from the Muslim approach to the Holy Bible. In the context of such questions, we recognise that the Scriptures play an important role in shaping the faith of the people who adhere to a certain faith tradition. In interfaith dialogue, it is important to understand the Scriptures of the others for a fruitful conversation. This p...