MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN DIALOGUES
Under the leadership of Dr. Terence Nichols and Dr. Adil Ozdemir, scholars were invited to write short commentaries on specific themes related to Muslim and Christian theology and spirituality. The fruits of this labor are presented below.
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Muslim Diversity
Adil Ozdemir and Liyakat Takim
Islamic revelation given to and through Muhammad is known among world religions as the faith of radical monotheism. This revelation has affirmed and confirmed the Abrahamic religion of one God in a way that closed the door to all shades of idolatry. Qur'anic revelation has unified the divine truth ones for all times. It unified revelations and prophethood stating clearly that all the revelations and the prophets stem from the same source.
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Other Religions
Hamid Mavani and Peter Feldmeier
The word ‘islam’ is derived from the root S L M which connotes surrender, submission, peace, security, safety, serenity, wholeness, healing and restoration. It is employed in the Qur’an and in the hadith literature in its etymological sense such that the entire creation of God is rendered to have submitted to God, or have become ‘muslims’ (the active participle of ‘islam’) with the exception of human beings who have been afforded the privilege of choosing to be or not to be ‘muslims.’
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Peace
Liyakat Takim
The Qur’an asks human beings to be morally upright and help establish a peaceful and just social order. The Qur’anic view of a peaceful world and tolerance between human beings is interwoven to its view of a universal moral discourse that unites all earthly citizens. For the Qur’an, human beings are united under one God (2:213).
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Pilgrimage
Sheikh Odeh Muhawesh and Steven J. McMichael
The Muslim pilgrimage, known as Hajj, is an obligatory ritual that all able bodied, financially capable Muslims must perform at least once during their life time. Both males and females who reach the age of sexual maturity and possess the means, and whose personal circumstances permit them to do so, are required to make the journey to the city of Mecca.
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Politics
Liyakat Takim and Michael J. Hollerich
The Qur’an issues a challenge to human beings. They are to strive to create morally upright individuals (based on the concept of God–awareness - taqwa) and to establish a just social order. It is the latter dimension that this article will focus upon.
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Prophethood
Sheikh Odeh Muhawesh and Paul Niskanen
Allah created Adam and Eve to dwell on the Earth along with their descendants, the human race, and were given dominion over the Earth and all that it contains.
He it is Who created for you all that is in the earth. (I, 29)
But a condition was laid upon them to exercise their authority in accordance with Allah’s laws. If people adhere to the laws, peace and harmony will exist on Earth and Allah will reward the law abiding ones with Paradise in the Hereafter.
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Revelation
Paul Niskanen and Liyakat Takim
The idea of revelation, common to the three great monotheistic religions, is based upon the understanding of a personal God. What humans can know of God is not simply the result of human reason seeking to grasp the divine. It also entails God’s actions of communicating something of himself and his will to human beings.
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Rituals and Sacraments
Thomas Fisch, Adil Ozdemir, and Liyakat Takim
Christians, like their Islamic brothers and sisters, pray to God regularly. Much like Islam, the most important Christian prayer is praise and thanksgiving given to God. Christians pray morning and evening, either alone or with others, and at meals. But among the most important Christian prayers are the community ritual celebrations known as "The Sacraments" [from Latin, meaning "signs"]. Christians also celebrate seasons and festival days [see Feasts and Seasons].
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Salvation
Terence Nichols, Adil Ozdemir, and Liyakat Takim
Salvation in Christianity means being saved from sin and damnation. In other words, salvation means eternal life with God and Jesus Christ with the company of the saints in heaven. Loss of salvation means ending up in hell, cut off from God and from others as well. Hell is often pictured as a place of fire and demons. But it is not necessarily a place, certainly not a place on earth, so much as it is a state—a state of isolation from God and from others.
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Scripture
Paul Niskanen and Adil Ozdemir
The Christian Scriptures consist of both Old and New Testaments, which are viewed as a unity containing God’s revelation for human salvation. While Christians believe that “the Word of God… is presented and shows its force supremely in the writings of the New Testament,” they also maintain that the books of the Old Testament, “written as they are under divine inspiration, retain lasting value” (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation §§17, 14).