Islamic Scholars Arrive in Rome for Landmark Muslim-Catholic Talks

Christian Post ^ | November 3, 2008 | Eric Young

[NYer]

A team of Muslim scholars arrived in Rome Monday ahead of a landmark meeting with top Catholic officials.

The Muslim scholars, who will meet Pope Benedict XVI and Vatican officials for a series of talks starting Tuesday, hope the Nov. 4-6 meeting will help defuse ongoing tensions between Islam and Christianity.

"It is clear that the time has come to open debate on the common theological underpinnings and the shared foundations of the two religions," wrote Professor Tariq Ramadan, president of the European Muslim Network (EMN), in a commentary appearing in the U.K.-based Guardian. Ramadan is part of the delegation of Muslim scholars taking part in the first round of interfaith talks with the Vatican.

“Our task is not to create a new religious alliance against the ‘secularized’ and ‘immoral’ world order, but to make a constructive contribution to the debate, to prevent the logic of economics and war from destroying what remains of our common humanity,” the Brussels-based professor continued.

“Our task will be to assume our respective and shared responsibilities, and to commit ourselves to working for a more just world, in full respect of beliefs and liberties.”

It has been over two years since Catholic-Muslim relations notably soured following Pope Benedict XVI’s speech in Regensburg, Germany, in which he quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor's criticism of Islam, linking it to violence.

One year earlier, violent protest broke out in Muslim countries after a Danish newspaper printed a series of cartoons of Islam’s most revered prophet, Mohammad. Over 50 people died in the ensuing deadly clashes, which some say could have been averted had Christians and Muslims jointly denounced the violence.

"We should develop a crisis reaction mechanism so if there is another cartoon crisis, we could get together and make a joint statement," said Ibrahim Kalin, an Islamic scholar from Turkey who is spokesman for the group attending this week’s closed-doors talks, according to Reuters.

Led by Mustafa Ceric, the Grand Mufti of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the 24 Muslim scholars attending the Nov. 4-6 gathering will represent the Common Word Group, a broad coalition of Muslim leaders and scholars who are pursuing dialogue between the world's two largest religions.

Since the group issued The Common Word Manifesto last October, a total 275 prominent Muslims have signed the document urging Christian churches to reach mutual understanding to safeguard global security, based on shared principles of loving God and their neighbors.

Common Word delegates have also met this year with a number of Protestant leaders, proposing regular dialogue sessions, student exchanges, suggested reading lists and other ideas to help Christians and Muslims learn more about each other.

At the most recent Muslim-Christian conference, hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, 17 prominent Muslims met with 19 Christian leaders and denounced the persecution of Iraqi Christians, saying that there was no justification in Islam for the attacks.

During their Oct. 12-15 meeting, participants addressed issues such as the global economic crisis, interfaith education, different understandings of scriptures, shared moral values, respect for foundational figures in the respective faiths, religious freedom, and the persecution of minorities in Iraq.

Pope Benedict, who will address the Rome gathering, is expected to deplore prejudice against Muslim minorities and immigrants in Europe while also calling on Muslims to help defend Christian minorities persecuted or endangered in the Middle East, including Iraq.

At the talks, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Vatican's top interfaith body, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, will lead the Catholic delegation comprised of 24 Vatican officials and Catholic experts on Islam, including Miguel Angel Aysuso Guixot, president of Italy's top Islamic studies institute, the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI).

The team of delegates will meet on the theme of "Love of God and love of neighbor" and will address theological-spiritual themes on the first day. On the second day, they will turn to "Human dignity," exploring issues related to human rights, religious freedom, and religious respect, possibly alluding to the freedom to convert and change religions. And on Thursday, the delegates will have an audience with Pope Benedict before holding a public discussion session that afternoon.

The gathering concludes Thursday.

[NYer]

A Cardinal (L) looks at a religious book with a Muslim scholar during a meeting at the Vatican November 4, 2008. Muslim scholars due to meet Pope Benedict and Roman Catholic officials this week hope the Vatican will agree to joint crisis management plan to defuse tensions that flare up between Christianity and Islam. Violent protests in the Islamic world after a Danish newspaper printed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad might have been averted if Christians and Muslims had spoken out jointly against such unrest and the provocation behind it, they say.
REUTERS/Osservatore Romano (VATICAN)

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[massgopguy]

“Muslim scholars”? That’s an oxymoron.

[allmost]

islamic scholar...
Why does that phrase seem contradictory to me.

[DieHard the Hunter]

Take ‘em hostage and chop of their grubby heads./s

[Twinkie]

Ha. “Bipartisan Christian Reaching Across the Aisle”. We know how that goes.

[Elian Gonzales]

“based on shared principles of loving God and their neighbors. “

Short meeting.

[NYer]

“Muslim scholars”? That’s an oxymoron.

How so?

[allmost]

The Pope cannot go to meet them. They would kill him. That whole tolerant muslim myth thing the ‘islamic scholars’ perpetuate.

[PGR88]

They think they are there to negotiate the surrender of the West....

[allmost]

Scholar- A learned person.
Do you consider imams crawling out of wells to save the world a scholarly belief? Or Jews descended from pigs and monkeys. Maybe suppressing (jizya) all non believers or killing them is a learned viewpoint? Females as property, touching pig blood sends you to hell, the list goes on and on...

[gitmogrunt]

http://www.prophetofdoom.net/Islamic_Clubs_Ustashi.Islam

[IbJensen]

A Cardinal (L) looks at a religious book with a Muslim scholar during a meeting at the Vatican November 4, 2008.

Ecumenical motions towards a religion so diametrically opposed to the Roman Catholic Church are not only a waste of time, but appear to some Catholics as heretical.

Is the Muslim 'scholar' attempting to convert the cardinal to the religion founded by a pedophile pervert whose phony religion has caused more anguish and death than Stalin and Hitler combined?

This gathering assembled by our new pope is more valuable time wasted that could be spent in unifying the Church in a way pleasing to The Holy Trinity. It appears that Benedict is following the same ruts dug by his Vatican II predecessors who had much to answer for to their Maker.

[Brouhaha]

“Attention adherents of the satanic moon-idol death cult (heretofore known as ‘Islam’). Stop molesting Christians and Jews or face retaliation. That is all. Goodbye.”

I think this would be a good way to open the dialog.

[AliVeritas]

Tariq Ramadan? (shakes head). You don’t deal with the devil... period.

I attempted to explain to a brother this a.m., that it didn’t matter if Farrakhan apologized to Malcolm’s daughter, all muslims (mind you they couldn’t stand NOI and didn’t consider them such then, but X had made the Hajj, broke away toward sunnah and spoke out on NOI hypocrisy), understood he had to be killed, hence... no real apology. It’s in the Quran period.

What Tariq should be doing... is getting his brothers together. Which they can’t, since the Quran is it. They’ll have no Vatican II, trust me.

Oh well, guess i’ll read Ezekiel 37-38 again.

[sageb1]

Tariq Ramadan is a snake oil salesman.

[NYer]

The Pope cannot go to meet them. They would kill him.

The pope has already met with Muslim leaders, in Turkey. Perhaps you have forgotten about that visit in November 2006.

Pope Benedict XVI joined Istanbul's Mufti (top Islamic cleric) Mustafa Cagrici in prayers under the towering dome of Istanbul's most famous mosque in a powerful gesture seeking to transform his image among Muslims from adversary to peacemaker. The pope's minute of prayer was done in silence, but the message of reconciliation was designed to resonate loudly nearly three months after he provoked worldwide fury for remarks on violence and the Prophet Muhammad.

"This visit will help us find together the way of peace for the good of all humanity," the pope said inside the 17th-century Blue Mosque — in only the second papal visit in history to a Muslim place of worship. Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, made a brief stop in a mosque in Syria in 2001.

The only way to breach the gap is through dialogue. And no one is more qualified to do this than Pope Benedict XVI. He is one of, if not the greates theologian of our time.

[NYer]

Oh well, guess i’ll read Ezekiel 37-38 again.

Perhaps it's time to move on to Ecclesiastes.

[allmost]

in only the second papal visit in history to a Muslim place of worship. Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, made a brief stop in a mosque in Syria in 2001.

From your post. The muslims are meeting with the Pope/in the Vatican for 3 days. If you don't see the obvious difference then I'm not sure what to say. A brief symbolic stop was all they could risk.