Washington National Cathedral

Christianity and Islam have spread to the point where they are present, networked, and active throughout practically the whole world. In the most varied range of combinations,

Muslims and Christians live today in nearly every country as neighbours and as fellow citizens, with shared responsibility for the common good. Both faith communities understand themselves as bearers of a universal mission which has been bestowed upon them by God and is part of their core identity. They regard every person as a potential member of their respective communities, with nobody in principle excluded. There is therefore a fundamental invitation to each and every person to become a member of the Muslim community, and likewise an invitation to become a member of the Christian community. In this sense Christianity and Islam are “in competition” with each other.

At the beginning of the twentieth century many Western scholars of Islam believed that the Islamic world and Islam itself were not able to cope with modernity, but rather would collapse in the face of its challenges. A century later, it seems as if almost the exact opposite is true and many observers of Christianity (Muslims among them) are asking whether it has the inner strength to stand up to the challenges and the impact of secularized and pluralist societies. In comparison with the rapidly growing Muslim communities of Europe, don’t the major Christian churches appear old and feeble, bloodless, weak in faith, lacking in enthusiasm, with family life in confusion and churches empty, stagnant, and exhausted? Of course, some would want to respond immediately that however accurate this description may be of the churches in the West, it hardly applies to the much younger and more energetic churches of Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

With regard to contemporary Islam, well-informed commentators, both Muslim and Christian, observe that behind the confident, often aggressive façade and rhetoric of certain Muslim circles there is concealed, consciously or unconsciously, a deeper concern or even anxiety that eventually the secularization of modern societies will also take a heavier toll on the faith of Muslims than may appear to be the case at first sight. Indeed, it is acknowledged by sensitive Muslim scholars, concerned with the core of the faith and the promotion of a genuinely religious outlook, that—at least in many parts of the Islamic world strongly influenced by modernity—authentic religious, spiritual, and ethical life have weakened and given way to the politicized ideology of the dominant Islamist movements, which are much more focused on the life of this world.

We turn now to ask what elements are shared by both religions and where they differ from each other.

2.1 Common ground in the spheres of faith and mission

Christianity and Islam have much in common. Allah, the God of the Qur’anic revelation, is closely linked to Yahweh, the God of Judaism. The Qur’an contains narratives concerning characters known to Christians from the Bible, such as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Mary, and Jesus. The God worshiped by Muslims is the creator of heaven and earth, a God who has made his will known through the prophets. He is a God who bestows the reward of paradise upon those who believe his message and obey his will and his law; but he will also punish in hell the kâum;firûum;n, those who are ungrateful and persist in their unbelief.

Both faiths have at their very core a commitment to universal mission. To be a Christian means to share in the mission of Christ through active membership of God’s pilgrim people, the Church. The Church is sent to make Christ and his message known and its identity can only be truly established in fulfilling this commission. The Christian Church, both as a whole and as its individual members, lives in, by, and for mission. Mission consists of very diverse elements, ultimately incorporating all of life where it is lived out in a Christian spirit. Especially important expressions of mission include: prayer, worship, and the celebration of the sacraments; serving the poor, sick, oppressed, and exploited; contact, exchange, dialogue, and co-operation with adherents of other religions or world-views; proclaiming the Good News and inviting men and women to become members of the people of God and to participate as effectively as possible in the all-embracing witness of the Church to the truth, which is ultimately witness to the reality of the Triune God revealed in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The situation is analogous with the Muslim community (umma). Throughout its various schools, groups, and sects, this understands itself to be called to live in practical obedience to the will of God, both collectively and individually. The great majority of Muslims understand the will of God to be laid down in revealed scripture and in the legal rulings derived from it. These rulings in their entirety, both as they exist currently and as they might potentially be further developed, are known as the Sharia.

To be a Muslim means to belong to the Islamic community, the “community of the Prophet” (ummat al-nabi), which is constituted by the Sharia derived from divine revelation and which is commissioned by the final Prophet sent by God to invite women and men to obey God’s revealed will, with constant reference to the “excellent model” (uswa hasana, Q 33:21) given in Muhammad himself. In other words, as a member of the Islamic community, a Muslim is commissioned to invite others to islam, i.e. to obedient submission to the will of the one God, as this has been formulated in the Sharia, and so to be a follower of the final, utterly uncorrupted and therefore supreme religion: Islam. “True religion, in God’s eyes, is Islam” (3:19-20); so it is to Islam that Muslims are to invite others. “Call people to the way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful teaching. Argue with them in the most courteous way” (16:125; see also 12:108; 23:73).

Any attempt to improve relations between the two religions must take into account the missionary task of each of them, as well as the content of their faith.

2.2 Significant differences and their roots

Despite the fact that Christians and Muslims have foundational convictions about God and creation in common, there are also essential differences between the two religious communities, arising from their respective holy scriptures and the ways of life of their founders. This is not simply a matter of variations in the practice of religion determined by economic and social conditions, but of differences at the normative, doctrinal level. In each case, the text of holy scripture and the lived example of the founder constantly exercise a shaping influence on the doctrine and practice of Islam and Christianity. To the extent that we are conscious of the differences between the two religions in doctrine and practice—and so also with regard to their respective historical formation—we can also appreciate why their missionary encounter is such a delicate matter, indeed a veritable minefield. We do well to take these differences seriously, precisely to ensure that enduring progress can be made in the quality of Christian-Muslim relations.

The contrasting perspectives of Muslims and Christians on Muhammad are in themselves a source of conflict. Muslims justifiably emphasize that Christians have defamed Muhammad for centuries, while, on the basis of Qur’anic teaching, Muslims have constantly preserved and protected the memory of Jesus and his mother with respect and love. In fact it was not until roughly the start of the twentieth century that Christian scholars of Islam began to try in earnest to present the Prophet of Islam more objectively, and often also more attractively and more sympathetically, and to do justice to his religious significance. The Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (Nostra Aetate) speaks in very positive words of the faith and practice of Muslims and so also, implicitly, of Muhammad, who, after all, introduced the Muslim doctrines, rites, and regulations mentioned respectfully by the Council, and who, as already mentioned, is the “excellent model” provided by God for every Muslim (Q 33:21) and also the authoritative interpreter of the Qur’an. However, the Council texts do not explicitly mention Muhammad by name. The Church and its theologians are still reflecting on how best to speak of Muhammad, in accordance with the content of the Christian faith and its own criteria.

On their side, Christians have considerable difficulties with the picture of Jesus drawn by the Qur’an and by Islamic literature based on the Qur’an. This picture is a conscious and at points thoroughly polemical attack on a doctrine right at the heart of the Christian faith, that of Jesus as the only-begotten Son of God. The Qur’an presents Jesus and his mother Mary as very holy figures, worthy of the deepest respect. Jesus is very close to God and, unlike the Muhammad of the Qur’an, he performs miracles by God’s permission. (Muhammad comes with only one miracle, the Qur’an itself; this, however, is the most convincing of all miracles according to Islamic teaching.) However, the Qur’an emphasizes repeatedly and vehemently that Jesus is no more than a human being. He is no more—but also no less—than one of God’s great servants, prophets, and messengers. The Qur’an rejects the divine sonship of Jesus decisively and passionately, as it does also Christian teaching about the redemptive power of his death and resurrection. These incursions of the Qur’an into the heartlands of Christian doctrine attack the revealed truth, as it is confessed in the faith of the Church, based upon holy scripture. Indeed, the Qur’an does not only attack Christian doctrine; it also formally denies it. It thus has no place for the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. We must take very seriously how enormous a barrier (functioning also at an emotional level) is presented by the fact that the Qur’an asserts its own distinctive understanding of “Jesus, the son of Mary” (‘Isa ibn Maryam, Q 2:87 and elsewhere) as an explicit “correction” and radical critique of the faith of the Church.

The holy scriptures and the founders of the respective faith communities certainly influence how the principles common to Christianity and Islam are understood and applied. Furthermore, differences emerge when it comes to drawing out of these shared principles ethical and social consequences for the daily behaviour of groups and individuals. The two religions have quite different foundational models in Jesus of Nazareth and Muhammad of Mecca. The total spiritual reality of Christianity is shaped by the historical figure of Jesus Christ; both the Church as a whole and the individual Christian must constantly measure themselves by the mystery and the law of the self-sacrificial servanthood revealed in the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Analogously, the reality of Islamic teaching and practice—as it occurs in all its diversity around the world and in the different traditions within Islam—is always shaped to some degree by its foundational model: the life of Muhammad and the teaching of the Qur’an. This foundational model has essential, defining features: notably the triumph (fath) of the umma, here in this world, through “striving in the way of God” (jihad fi sabil allah); and also through the establishment of the religious practices laid down by the Qur’an and the extensive system of Sharia rulings derived from the revelation. In Islamic perspective, this “triumph” of the umma is on the one hand seen as a God-given sign of the truth of Islam, but on the other hand is also considered as the outcome of Muhammad’s tireless striving, through which the message of submission and dedication to God, righteousness, and brotherhood came to be implemented in practical, political structures.

In each case the foundational model sets its stamp on the basic elements of the respective religions, despite all historical variations and the range of interpretations in practice and theory: in Islam, the exalted and transcendent God of creation and prophetic guidance; in Christianity, the triune God of free self-giving in creation, redemption, and reconciliation. In Islam the law as the normative system potentially regulating every area of life; in Christianity the normative example of the radical love shown in the self-sacrifice of Jesus, consisting in the basic commandment to serve one’s neighbour unconditionally and, as the law of Christ, claiming to represent the radical fulfilment of the old law. In Islamic perspective, the human person as the servant and vicegerent of God, called to responsibility and obedience to the will of God, as this is finally and definitively revealed in the Qur’an; in Christian perspective, the adoption of the human person as a child of God, renewed in the image of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. In Islam, the ideal of a utopian society, structured and governed by law, understood in a theocratic sense; in Christianity, at least as it is authoritatively interpreted by its main traditions today, the acceptance, indeed the demand for the recognition of pluralist structures and ways of life at political, cultural, and religious levels. Those who seek to promote dialogue and co-operation between Christians and Muslims face the demanding test of the constantly repeated experience of such deeply rooted differences in the principles and attitudes of the two faiths.

2.3 Worldwide reciprocity in relationships between majorities and minorities

In this complex situation it is essential for Christians who wish to establish relationships with Muslims and develop dialogue with them to gain an understanding of the type of Islamic outlook held by the Muslims in question, above all by listening to the Muslims themselves and also by studying the programs and literature published and distributed by the relevant mosques and Islamic umbrella organizations. It is important to establish to what extent the fundamental outlook of any particular mosque (or the umbrella organization to which it belongs) is compatible with harmonious and respectful co-existence with the laws and values of the country in which it exists. Only on such a basis is it possible genuinely to accept each other and to develop a range of forms of respectful co-existence, building on what is held in common. Furthermore, without such compatibility there is no real basis for an authentic inter-religious dialogue concerned with the meaning and purpose of the life of faith. In other words, clarifying whether there is the will on both sides to live together on the basis of the conditions and underlying assumptions of a secular, democratic society is an essential prerequisite of an honest and fruitful inter-religious encounter in which Christians and Muslims meet as witnesses to the understanding of God and of humanity derived from their respective faiths and contribute to the wider common good.

At Pentecost in 1984 the Pontifical Secretariat for Non-Christians (as it was then known) published The Attitude of the Church Toward Followers of Other Religions . The guidelines which this document sketches out remain highly relevant today. It arose from years of worldwide consultation and understands inter-religious relationships in a spirit of dialogue as an essential aspect of the mission of the Church and of the individual Christian. Furthermore, it treats mission as a multidimensional reality and offers a thorough discussion of ways in which the proclamation and the propagation of the faith can be at odds with the spirit of dialogue and are therefore possibly to be condemned.

There has long been a need for a code governing Christian-Muslim relations at national, regional, and worldwide levels. Authoritative Christian and Muslim organizations committed to a positive encounter between their communities should work together to develop such a code, which both sides should acknowledge as binding upon them. There would also be a need for a mixed commission to monitor the implementation of the agreed principles. Such a code would need to offer an answer from both communities to the following basic question: “Which methods is it appropriate and just—and, conversely, inappropriate and unjust—for adherents of the two religions to use in promoting the convictions and values which they feel called to spread in a particular socio-political context?”

Wherever and whenever they choose to live among Muslims, it is essential for Christians, through personal and communal encounter, ongoing relationships and also academic co-operation, to get to know and to value all that is positive in the faith and practice of Islam, both in its historic and its contemporary forms. This requires the effort to understand Muslims and Islam as they actually are, but also as they would ideally like to be. In this context it is especially important to note and evaluate the range of attitudes within Islam toward non-Islamic society. All said here, mutatis mutandis, would seem to hold equally true from a Muslim perspective.

Through encounter with Muslims and their understandings of Islam there constantly arise new questions addressed to one’s own faith. This in turn creates the responsibility to proclaim the Good News, with respect but, equally, without embarrassment. As the First Letter of St. Peter puts it (3:15-16), Christians are to bear witness by presenting reasons for the hope that is within them, at the very least whenever they are asked to do so. But on the other hand, what do Islam and believing Muslims have to say to those who are spiritually open toward them? The most impressive aspect of Islam, as it is lived out, is certainly the deep consciousness of the majesty and the presence of God, which is constantly renewed through the faithful performance of the ritual prayers by countless men and women. Over many years of encounter with Muslims in diverse parts of the world, I have been especially touched by their willingness to speak of the teachings and the values of Islam and so in their own lives to bear witness to their faith. Also very striking is the practice by Muslims of the other “Pillars of Islam,” such as fasting, almsgiving, and pilgrimage to Mecca, in which, among other things, the cohesion of the Muslim community is expressed so impressively.

It must be admitted that, especially in the highly secularized societies of the West, the way many Christians practice prayer and express their faith more generally has become so irregular, private, and barely noticeable that the visible and attractive witness conveyed through worship and prayer is much diminished. But precisely in the anonymity of secularized societies do people not need the confident witness of believers, not least through the public and communal expression of their religious convictions? This is a wide field, in which there is much for Christians to learn from believing Muslims.

In saying this, we have no wish to underplay what is distinctive about the Christian faith, including the points at which it differs from Islam. In Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, the fullness of the divine mystery has been revealed to us: the Good News of the liberating power of the Holy Spirit given to us in Christ, the non-violent universal brother and Son of God. The Christian faith demands that out of love for God and our neighbours we should witness to this Good News in word and deed. As “witnesses to the truth,” witnesses to Jesus Christ, we are challenged to pass on to our Muslim sisters and brothers precisely that which the first Christians shared with the Jewish believers of that time: the message of the new, transforming power of the Messiah crucified “for many” and risen from the dead. This message, convincingly lived out and confidently proclaimed, had the power to transform many Jewish believers into apostles and disciples of Jesus and thus to form and give life to the early Church.