Catholic and Islamic scholars and believers recently gathered at Notre Dame to discuss the relationship between the two faiths. “The Church and Islam: An International Colloquium,” sponsored by the Institute for Church Life, took place on campus April 19 – 20, 2012. The conference brought prominent scholars of both faith traditions from around the world to offer their thoughts on Muslim views of the Bible, the Church, and saints, as well as Christian views of the Quran and Islamic teachings about Mohammed.
“The colloquium emerges from a shared conviction that interreligious dialogue is best conducted by believers speaking from the heart of their traditions,” said Gabriel Said Reynolds, associate professor of theology at Notre Dame. “Such exchanges should naturally develop in Catholics and Muslims a mutual and sympathetic appreciation for the beauty of both beliefs.”
Slated to present on April 19th about “Pope Benedict XVI and Islam” were Samir Khalil Samir, S.J., professor at the Pontificio Istituto Orientale in Rome and at the Université Saint Joseph in Beirut, and Abdolrahim Gavahi, Ph.D., president of the World Religions Research Center in Tehran, Iran. The following day, a panel discussion of “Christian Reflections on Holiness in Islam; Muslim Reflections on Holiness in Christianity” was held in the morning, and in the late afternoon, Samir, S.J., returned to discuss “The Classical Arab Christian Presentation of the Faith in the Islamic Milieu.”
“There is no monolithic Islam,” claimed Rashied Omar, faculty and fellow at Notre Dame’s Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace. Islam contains different interpretations locked in rivalry, “a polyphony of voices.” Omar said each different voice must be heard in interreligious dialogue. He provided the example of Islamic philosopher and theologian Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi, whose theology of revelation has traditionally been understood to show that the Torah and Scripture were corrupted. According to Omar, his polemical style “continues to bedevil Christians and Jews.”
Omar argued that Ibn Hazm’s historical critical style of interpreting revelation led to misunderstanding and irreverence but that a closer reading of Ibn Hazm’s works reveals a nuanced and different, but not necessarily incommensurable, understanding of revelation. Understanding Ibn Hazm in this way, one could assert that there could be two or more different but valid modes of revelation. Omar echoed the words of the conference’s organizers, emphasizing that to understand the theological texts of others, we must hear them in their own theological contexts.
Omar concluded his presentation by comparing St. Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews 13:2 to Quran Surah Hujurat Ch. 49, Vs. 13. Both passages encourage their readers to radically love one another through hospitality. Christians and Muslims must liberate themselves from exclusionary and limiting perspectives. Each must try to know the other, Omar exhorted, for “if we don’t, how can we know the Divine?”
Reynolds spoke about the medieval Muslim figure Ibn Taymiyyah, who has been labeled by contemporary scholars as a “troublemaker” and the father of modern Islamic fundamentalism. Reynolds, however, questioned this modern opinion of Ibn Taymiyyah, calling Ibn Taymiyyah’s teachings “full of surprises.” Reynolds noted that Ibn Taymiyyah’s method of developing doctrine was unique. Ibn Taymiyyah was a “perfect rationalist” who argued that the Quran and the Sunnah – the two sources of the Islamic religion – are rational texts. His rational interpretational method led him to pugnacious conclusions in some, but not all, cases.
For example, Reynolds cited the doctrine of hellfire. Early in Ibn Taymiyyah’s career, he argued that those in hellfire abide there eternally and that hellfire will not come to an end. But a disciple of Ibn Taymiyyah reported that Ibn Taymiyyah changed his view in prison after reading the text of an Islamic forbearer who argued that people definitely will come out of hellfire. Ibn Taymiyyah’s final teaching from prison stated that all people will be granted reprieve from hellfire, for God decreed that His mercy shall overcome His anger.
Reynolds concluded that Ibn Taymiyyah’s teachings should not be so quickly dismissed as polemical and violent. For true interreligious understanding, Christian sympathy and appreciation should extend to all Muslims, not merely Muslims whose doctrines and teachings are most convenient. This appreciation can be a form of interreligious pedagogy. Goodness can be recognized wherever it is found, even across religious borders.
Other speakers included Mehdi Azaiez, Ph.D. candidate and researcher at the Université de Provence, France, Rasoul Rasoulipour, associate professor in the department of religion and philosophy at the University of Tarbiat Moallem in Tehran and visiting associate professor in Notre Dame’s theology department, and Lawrence E. Sullivan, professor of world religions and concurrent professor of anthropology at Notre Dame.
Kyle Sladek is a junior student of philosophy and theology who thinks the Islamic practice of formally praying 5 times each day is excellent. Contact him at ksladek@nd.edu.
