A Difference Between Words and Reality

Those who love peace had to rejoice at the recent letter released by 138 Muslim scholars and clerics titled “A Common Word Between Us and You.” The 29-page letter dated Oct. 13 — the last day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan — argued that the basis for peace and understanding between Muslims and Christians already exists. “It is part of the very foundational principles of both faiths,” they wrote. The basis for peace and understanding is “love of the One God, and love of the [neighbor].” 
  
The letter quotes at length from the Quran, the Muslim holy book, and the Bible to show that both Muslims and Christians believe in love of the one God and in love of neighbor. For example, the letter quotes the Prophet Mohammed saying, “None of you has faith until you love for your brother what you love for yourself” and “None of you has faith until you love for your [neighbor] what you love for yourself.” 
  
From the New Testament, the letter quotes the words of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 22:38–40: “This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your [neighbor] as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” 
  
The letter also quotes Leviticus 19:17–18 that declares, in part, “[B]ut you shall love your [neighbor] as yourself.”
  
The scholars conclude that the love of the one God and the love of the neighbor are an area of common ground and a link between Muslims, Christians and Jews. 
  
While not minimizing differences between the various faiths, the letter writers observed that together Christians and Muslims make up more than half the world’s population, “making the relationship between these two religious communities the most important factor in contributing to meaningful peace around the world.” Christians constitute more than one-third of the Earth’s population; Muslims about 20 percent. 
  
“Without peace and justice between these two religious communities, there can be no meaningful peace in the world. The future of the world depends on peace between Muslims and Christians,” the letter states.
  
The letter concludes with a call for peace and religious liberty. “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 goodwill.” 
  
The words are beautiful. They outline a hope deep in the heart of all men of goodwill. But reality is far different from a world free of hatred and strife based on religious hatred. 
  
During the weekend of Oct. 6–7, Rami Ayyad, a prominent Baptist and the manager of a Christian bookstore owned by the Palestinian Bible Society, was murdered in Gaza. It is believed he was murdered because he was a Christian. The report of his death pointed out that in recent months, tensions between Muslims and Christians have escalated in the area. The Bible society bookstore was bombed, and other Christians have been robbed and threatened. When evangelical Christians number only 2,000 out of a population of 1.5 million people in Gaza Strip, the source of the rising tensions is obvious. 
  
The next week in Kaduna, Nigeria, Henry Emmanuel Ogbaje, a 24-year-old Christian, was murdered by Muslim extremists. The next day, Oct. 13, a young Christian identified only as Basil was beaten to death. According to the secretary of the northern Nigeria chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, these deaths occurred after Sheik Gumi, an Islamic leader, preached on television during Ramadan that Muslims should kill Christian young people as a jihad (holy war).
  
As unfortunate as it is, these incidents illustrate what transpires in most places where Muslims dominate. Religious freedom, as outlined in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, does not exist in any historically Muslim nation.
  
Still this letter is another positive step in our polarized world. It is “another positive step” because the letter has a history. In 2004, Muslim scholars and theologians from around the world issued The Amman Message. The Amman Message was the first public step by moderate Muslim leaders to curb the theological justification for much of the violence and terrorism experienced in our world. 
  
In part, The Amman Message states, “On religious grounds, on moral grounds, we denounce the contemporary concept of terrorism which is associated with wrongful practices wherever they come from — including assaults on peaceful civilians, killing prisoners and the wounded, unethical practices such as the destruction of buildings, and ransacking cities. These despotic attacks on human life transgress the law of God, and we denounce them.” 
  
In 2005, that document was endorsed by the Organization of the Islamic Conference summit, making it the binding legal opinion in the Muslim world. But the action did not come without danger. One only has to read some of the Web sites related to The Amman Message to see that perpetrators of violence have called for actions against these Muslim scholars and theologians who dare to disagree with them.
  
Two years ago, Shaykh Mustafa Ceric, grand mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina, visited Alabama. During a dialogue with him hosted by Southside Baptist Church, Birmingham, Ceric related that he is now a target of the more violent elements of Islam because of his participation in The Amman Message efforts and his call for peace and religious liberty for all people. 
  
In the face of threats to their personal safety from fellow Muslims, 138 prominent Muslim leaders signed the recent letter. They are to be commended. Let us pray that their fellow Muslims will heed the call for peace and religious liberty. 
  
Maybe someday the world described in the words of this letter may be a reality.