138 Muslim Scholars Petition Pope

The letter quoted several passages from the Qur'an, including Aal 'Imran 3:31, "Say, (O Muhammad, to mankind): If ye love God, follow me; God will love you and forgive you your sins. God is Forgiving, Merciful." The letter then stated: "As we can see from all the passages quoted above, souls are depicted as having three main faculties: the mind or the intelligence, which is made for comprehending the truth; the will, which is made for freedom of choice; and sentiment, which is made for loving the good and the beautiful." Right: John Lindner (WCM photo)

Of course, we already know that loving God is the first commandment as stated in the Bible (eight times in Deuteronomy, once in Joshua, and twice in the gospels). The letter then said, "What all these versions thus have in common ... is the command to love God fully with one's heart and soul and to be fully devoted to Him."

The 16-page text of the letter (plus notes and signatures) then turned its attention to the second commandment: love of neighbor. It said, "There are numerous injunctions in Islam about the necessity and paramount importance of love for--and mercy towards--the neighbor.... Because in Islam without love of the neighbor there is no true faith in God and no righteousness."

I hope Christians, who spend themselves worldwide raising and educating unwanted orphans, rebuilding homes destroyed by natural disasters, and bringing medical and relief help to millions, don't need to be reminded that love of neighbor is the second greatest commandment.

The letter goes on to explain that love of neighbor means, "Let there be no compulsion in religion" (Al-Baqarah, 2:256). I wonder if the Taliban knows that!

Urgent need for consensus

The scholars then state, "As Muslims, we say to Christians that we are not against them, and that Islam is not against them--as long as they do not wage war against Muslims on account of their religion, oppress them, and drive them out of their homes." They then quote the words of Jesus, "...for he who is not against us is on our side" (Luke 9:50) and "invite Christians to consider Muslims not against, and thus with them, in accordance with Jesus Christ's words here."

"Let this common ground be the basis of all future interfaith dialogue between us," the letter says, referring to the God of Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and Jesus. They conclude that the God of each is the same God."We make no distinction between any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered" ( Al-Baqarah 2:136-137).

The letter pointed out that one-third of the population of the world follows Christianity and another one-fifth, Islam. "Together they make up more than 55% of the world's population, making the relationship between these two religious communities the most important factor in contributing to meaningful peace around the world. If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace. With the terrible weaponry of the modern world, with Muslims and Christians intertwined everywhere as never before, no side can unilaterally win a conflict between more than half of the world's inhabitants. Thus our common future is at stake. The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake."

"So let our differences not cause hatred and strife between us. Let us vie with each other only in righteousness and good works. Let us respect each other, be fair, just and kind to another and live in sincere peace, harmony and mutual good will."

They conclude with another quote from the Qur'an, "So vie one with another in good works" (Al-Ma'idah 5:48).

What difference does it make?

The October 13 letter was sent on the one-year anniversary of a letter by 38 Muslim scholars to Pope Benedict XVI. I believe the sentiments expressed are wonderful and acceptable, but what difference does it make? It seems to me the letter might better have been addressed to Muslim state and political leaders, and leaders of Hamas, al-Qaeda, and other jihad groups.

I wanted to address these points with one or more of the signatories of the letter, about 15 of whom reside in the U.S. I tried to contact about a half-dozen of these who live along the East Coast, but was unable to do so. I finally connected with Dr. Yusuf Z. Kavakci, Founder and Resident Scholar Instructor at the Islamic Association of North Texas Qur'anic Academy, and founding dean of the Suffa Islamic Seminary in Dallas. I found it interesting that he came to the U.S. from Turkey 20 years ago so his daughter could wear a head covering while attending college. She was not allowed to do that in 99.8% Islamic Turkey, which is trying to avoid Sharia law and become a part of the European Union.

Violence in Nigeria

I reminded him that Muslims in Kano state of northern Nigeria recently went on a rampage and murdered a bunch of Christians, burned churches, and destroyed homes and businesses belonging to Christians. "Not a single Christian church, house or business has been left undamaged," said UK-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

According to CSW, the violence started September 28 when Muslim students accused Christian students of drawing a picture of Mohammed on the wall--a non-documented accusation. CSW photo shows one of the destroyed Kano churches.

In the aftermath, local authorities reportedly transported Christians out of the area, hindered outsiders from entering the area--even to aid survivors--and removed all corpses in a possible attempt to obscure the true death toll. CSW suggested the death toll was probably "much higher" than originally stated. One policeman reportedly said he was "fed up with packing corpses."

According to the Christian Association of Nigeria, more than 2,000 non-Muslims died in the last major bout of violence in Kano in 2004. A full report can be read at www.csw.org.uk.

Who is my neighbor?

So I asked Dr. Kavakci, "Is there some twist in Islamic law that makes these Christians not neighbors?" "I read about those things here and there," he replied. "How much religion was a factor, ... I do not know. If this was purely a religious action coming from Muslims, I condemn them."

He said that doing even the smallest amount of harm to another individual was "wrong, wrong, wrong," according to the Qur'an.

"So how does a Muslim define 'neighbor'?" I asked him.

Made short, his answer was, "everyone who is not a relative."

"I am talking about theological Islam, scholarly Islam, bookish Islam," he added. "Muslims, like anybody in any religion, may be sinners, may fail to follow the precepts of their religion. That's the problem."

Indeed. Now if these Muslim scholars could convince Hamas, al-Qaeda, and other jihadic groups--not to mention a few thousand militant imams--that they should love their neighbors and not do them harm, then I don't think they would not have to worry about what the Pope or other Christian leaders think about Islam. I hope they sent a copy to Osama bin Laden.

God bless,