TimesTalk of January 19 discussed the controversy concerning a group of Muslims who decided to assemble and pray in a public space in Msida. Now that things have calmed down and the issue started being resolved, it is important to reflect on what happened and look forward with hope.
A term which really struck me from the whole programme was the word harmony. I personally feel that harmony should be the journey Christians and Muslims should jointly undertake in order to live together as brothers and sisters created by the oneliving God.
This goal has to be achieved everywhere, starting from our country of course. Thus, harmony includes fraternity, peace as well as the public condemnation of any violence that threatens the peaceful coexistence between the adherents of these two monotheistic faiths. Pope Francis’s address to the Muslim community at the Grand Mosque of Koudouku in Bangui in November 2015 is worth quoting.
“Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters. We must therefore consider ourselves and conduct ourselves as such... Those who claim to believe in God must also be men and women of peace. Christians, Muslims and members of the traditional religions have lived together in peace for many years.
“They ought, therefore, to remain united in working for an end to every act which, from whatever side, disfigures the Face of God and whose ultimate aim is to defend particular interests by any and all means, to the detriment of the common good. Together, we must say no to hatred, no to revenge and no to violence, particularly that violence which is perpetrated in the name of a religion or of God himself. God is peace, God salam.”
Harmony also entails getting to know better the other partner who is dialoguing with us
Furthermore, harmony means appreciating each other’s spiritual heritage. The Catholic Church started adopting this healthy and fruitful dialogical approach since 1965, principally by her declaration regarding non-Christian religions, Nostra Aetate. In this Magna Carta of a rewarding relation between the Catholic Church and the Muslim people we find:
“The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God.
“Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honour Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the day of judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting.”
Harmony means acknowledging the fundamental right of religious freedom.
When addressing the Jordanian authorities at the Royal Palace in Amman in 2014 Pope Francis said:
“Religious freedom is in fact a fundamental human right and I cannot fail to express my hope that it will be upheld throughout the Middle East and the entire world. The right to religious freedom ‘includes on the individual and collective levels the freedom to follow one’s conscience in religious matters and, at the same time, freedom of worship… [it also includes] the freedom to choose the religion which one judges to be true and to manifest one’s beliefs in public’ (Ecclesia in Medio Oriente, 26). Christians consider themselves, and indeed are, full citizens, and as such they seek, together with their Muslim fellow citizens, to make their own particular contribution to the society in which they live”.
Finally harmony also entails getting to know better the other partner who is dialoguing with us. Hence, educating ourselves on our dialogue partners is foundational. For that matter I would like to suggest a book by one of the world’s leading experts on Islam, Samir Khalil Samir’s, entitled 111 Questions on Islam and the West.
This book helps us, Christians and Muslims, to coexist together peacefully as well as promoting greater dialogue and understanding between us that will ultimately accompany us towards a concerted social, universal and political endeavor for the benefit of everyone.