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In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
A Common Word between Us and You
(Summary and Abridgement)
1
Muslims and
Christians together make up well over half of the world's population. 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 basis
for this peace and understanding already exists. It is part of the very
foundational principles of both faiths: love of the One God, and love of the
neighbour. These principles are found over and over again in the sacred texts
of Islam and Christianity. The Unity of God, the necessity of love for Him, and
the necessity of love of the neighbour is thus the common ground between Islam
and Christianity. The following are only a few examples:
2
Of God's
Unity, God says in the Holy Qur'an: Say: He is God, the One! / God, the
Self-Sufficient Besought of all! (Al-Ikhlas, 112:1-2). Of the necessity of love
for God, God says in the Holy Qur'an: So invoke the Name of thy Lord and devote
thyself to Him with a complete devotion (Al-Muzzammil, 73:8). Of the necessity
of love for the neighbour, the Prophet Muhammad r said: "None of you has
faith until you love for your neighbour what you love for yourself."
3
In the New
Testament, Jesus Christ u said: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is
One. / And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your
soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first
commandment. / And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbour
as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." (Mark
12:29-31)
4
In the Holy
Qur'an, God Most High enjoins Muslims to issue the following call to Christians
(and Jews-the People of the Scripture):
Say: O
People of the Scripture! Come to a common word between us and you: that we
shall worship none but God, and that we shall ascribe no partner unto Him, and
that none of us shall take others for lords beside God. And if they turn away,
then say: Bear witness that we are they who have surrendered (unto Him). (Aal
'Imran 3:64)
5
The words:
we shall ascribe no partner unto Him relate to the Unity of God, and the words:
worship none but God, relate to being totally devoted to God. Hence they all
relate to the First and Greatest Commandment. According to one of the oldest
and most authoritative commentaries on the Holy Qur'an the words: that none of
us shall take others for lords beside God, mean 'that none of us should obey
the other in disobedience to what God has commanded'. This relates to the
Second Commandment because justice and freedom of religion are a crucial part
of love of the neighbour.
Thus in obedience
to the Holy Qur'an, we as Muslims invite Christians to come together with us on
the basis of what is common to us, which is also what is most essential to our
faith and practice: the Two Commandments of love.
Im Namen Gottes des
Barmherzigen, des Gnädigen
And may peace and blessings be upon
the Prophet Muhammad
A COMMON WORD BETWEEN US AND YOU
6
Call unto
the way of thy Lord with wisdom and fair exhortation, and contend with them in
the fairest way. Lo! thy Lord is Best Aware of him who strayeth from His way,
and He is Best Aware of those who go aright. (The Holy Qur'an, Al-Nahl, 16:125)
(I)
Love of God
Love of God in Islam
Testimonies
of Faith
7
The central
creed of Islam consists of the two testimonies of faith or Shahadahsi (i), which state that: There is no god but God, Muhammad is the
messenger of God. These Two Testimonies are the sine qua non of Islam. He or
she who testifies to them is a Muslim; he or she who denies them is not a
Muslim. Moreover, the Prophet Muhammad r said: The best remembrance is: 'There
is no god but God'...(ii)
The
Best that All the Prophets have Said
8
Expanding on
the best remembrance, the Prophet Muhammad r also said: The best that I have said-myself,
and the prophets that came before me-is: 'There is no god but God, He Alone, He
hath no associate, His is the sovereignty and His is the praise and He hath
power over all things' (iii). The phrases which follow the
First Testimony of faith are all from the Holy Qur'an; each describe a mode of
love of God, and devotion to Him.
9
The words:
He Alone, remind Muslims that their hearts (iv) must be
devoted to God Alone, since God says in the Holy Qur'an: God hath not assigned
unto any man two hearts within his body (Al-Ahzab, 33:4). God is Absolute and
therefore devotion to Him must be totally sincere.
10
The words:
He hath no associate, remind Muslims that they must love God uniquely, without
rivals within their souls, since God says in the Holy Qur'an: Yet there are men
who take rivals unto God: they love them as they should love God. But those of
faith are more intense in their love for God .... (Al-Baqarah, 2:165). Indeed,
[T]heir flesh and their hearts soften unto the remembrance of God ....
(Al-Zumar, 39:23).
11
The words:
His is the sovereignty, remind Muslims that their minds or their understandings
must be totally devoted to God, for the sovereignty is precisely everything in
creation or existence and everything that the mind can know. And all is in
God's Hand, since God says in the Holy Qur'an: Blessed is He in Whose Hand is
the sovereignty, and, He is Able to do all things (Al-Mulk, 67:1).
12
The words:
His is the praise remind Muslims that they must be grateful to God and trust
Him with all their sentiments and emotions. God says in the Holy Qur'an:
And if thou
wert to ask them: Who created the heavens and the earth, and constrained the
sun and the moon (to their appointed work)? they would say: God. How then are
they turned away ? / God maketh the provision wide for whom He will of His
servants, and straiteneth it for whom (He will). Lo! God is Aware of all
things. / And if thou wert to ask them: Who causeth water to come down from the
sky, and therewith reviveth the earth after its death ? they verily would say:
God. Say: Praise be to God! But most of them have no sense. (Al-'Ankabut,
29:61-63) (v)
For all
these bounties and more, human beings must always be truly grateful:
God is He
Who created the heavens and the earth, and causeth water to descend from the
sky, thereby producing fruits as food for you, and maketh the ships to be of
service unto you, that they may run upon the sea at His command, and hath made
of service unto you the rivers; / And maketh the sun and the moon, constant in
their courses, to be of service unto you, and hath made of service unto you the
night and the day./ And He giveth you of all ye ask of Him, and if ye would
count the graces of God ye cannot reckon them. Lo! man is verily a wrong-doer,
an ingrate. (Ibrahim, 14:32-34) (vi)
Indeed, the
Fatihah – which is the greatest chapter in the Holy Qur'an (vii) – starts with praise to God:
In the Name of God, the Infinitely Good,
the All-Merciful. /
Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds.
/
The Infinitely Good, the All-Merciful. /
Owner of the Day of Judgement. /
Thee we worship, and Thee we ask for help.
/
Guide us upon the straight path. /
The path of those on whom is Thy Grace,
not those who deserve anger nor those who are astray. (Al-Fatihah, 1:1-7)
The Fatihah,
recited at least seventeen times daily by Muslims in the canonical prayers,
reminds us of the praise and gratitude due to God for His Attributes of
Infinite Goodness and All-Mercifulness, not merely for His Goodness and Mercy
to us in this life but ultimately, on the Day of Judgement (viii) when it matters the most and when we hope
to be forgiven for our sins. It thus ends with prayers for grace and guidance,
so that we might attain-through what begins with praise and gratitude-
salvation and love, for God says in the Holy Qur'an: Lo! those who believe and
do good works, the Infinitely Good will appoint for them love. (Maryam, 19:96)
13
The words:
and He hath power over all things, remind Muslims that they must be mindful of
God's Omnipotence and thus fear God (ix). God says in the Holy Qur'an:
... [A]nd
fear God, and know that God is with the God-fearing. / Spend your wealth for
the cause of God, and be not cast by your own hands to ruin; and do good. Lo!
God loveth the virtuous. / .... (Al-Baqarah, 2:194-5)...
[A]nd fear
God, and know that God is severe in punishment. (Al-Baqarah, 2:196)
Through fear
of God, the actions, might and strength of Muslims should be totally devoted to
God. God says in the Holy Qur'an:
...[A]nd
know that God is with those who fear Him. (Al-Tawbah, 9:36) ....
O ye who believe!
What aileth you that when it is said unto you: Go forth in the way of God, ye
are bowed down to the ground with heaviness. Take ye pleasure in the life of
the world rather than in the Hereafter ? The comfort of the life of the world
is but little in the Hereafter. / If ye go not forth He will afflict you with a
painful doom, and will choose instead of you a folk other than you. Ye cannot
harm Him at all. God is Able to do all things. (Al-Tawbah, 9:38-39)
14
The words:
His is the sovereignty and His is the praise and He hath power over all things,
when taken all together, remind Muslims that just as everything in creation
glorifies God, everything that is in their souls must be devoted to God:
All that is
in the heavens and all that is in the earth glorifieth God; His is the
sovereignty and His is the praise and He hath power over all things.
(Al-Taghabun, 64:1)
For indeed,
all that is in people's souls is known, and accountable, to God:
He knoweth
all that is in the heavens and the earth, and He knoweth what ye conceal and
what ye publish. And God is Aware of what is in the breasts (of men).
(Al-Taghabun, 64:4)
15
As we can see
from all the passages quoted above, souls are depicted in the Holy Qur'an 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 (x). Put in another way, we
could say that man's soul knows through understanding the truth, through
willing the good, and through virtuous emotions and feeling love
for God. Continuing in the same chapter of the Holy Qur'an (as that quoted
above), God orders people to fear Him as much as possible, and to listen (and
thus to understand the truth); to obey (and thus to will the good), and to
spend (and thus to exercise love and virtue), which, He says, is better for
our souls. By engaging everything in our souls—the faculties of
knowledge, will, and love—we may come to be purified and attain ultimate
success:
So
fear God as best ye can, and listen, and obey, and spend; that is better for
your souls. And those who are saved from the pettiness of their own souls, such
are the successful. (Al-Taghabun, 64:16)
16
a) In summary then, when the
entire phrase He Alone, He hath no associate, His is the sovereignty and His is
the praise and He hath power over all things is added to the testimony of
faith-There is no god but God-it reminds Muslims that their hearts, their individual
souls and all the faculties and powers of their souls (or simply their entire
hearts and souls) must be totally devoted and attached to God. Thus God says to
the Prophet Muhammad r in the Holy Qur'an:
"Es gibt keinen anderen Gott außer Gott"
Say: Lo! my
worship and my sacrifice and my living and my dying are for God, Lord of the
Worlds. / He hath no partner. This am I commanded, and I am first of those who
surrender (unto Him). / Say: Shall I seek another than God for Lord, when He is
Lord of all things? Each soul earneth only on its own account, nor doth any
laden bear another's load.... (Al-An'am, 6:162-164)
b) These verses epitomize the Prophet
Muhammad's r complete and utter devotion to God. Thus in the Holy Qur'an God
enjoins Muslims who truly love God to follow this example (xi), in order in turn to be loved (xii) by God:
Say, (O
Muhammad, to mankind): If ye love God, follow me; God will love you and forgive
you your sins. God is Forgiving, Merciful. (Aal 'Imran, 3:31)
c) Love of God in Islam is thus part of
complete and total devotion to God; it is not a mere fleeting, partial emotion.
As seen above, God commands in the Holy Qur'an: Say: Lo! my worship and my
sacrifice and my living and my dying are for God, Lord of the Worlds. / He hath
no partner. The call to be totally devoted and attached to God heart and soul,
far from being a call for a mere emotion or for a mood, is in fact an
injunction requiring all-embracing, constant and active love of God. It demands
a love in which the innermost spiritual heart and the whole of the soul-with
its intelligence, will and feeling-participate through devotion.
None Comes with Anything Better
17
We have seen
how the blessed phrase: There is no god but God, He Alone, He hath no
associate, His is the sovereignty and His is the praise and He hath power over
all things-which is the best that all the prophets have said-makes explicit
what is implicit in the best remembrance (There is no god but God) by showing
what it requires and entails, by way of devotion. It remains to be said that
this blessed formula is also in itself a sacred invocation-a kind of extension
of the First Testimony of faith (There is no god but God)-the ritual repetition
of which can bring about, through God's grace, some of the devotional attitudes
it demands, namely, loving and being devoted to God with all one's heart, all
one's soul, all one's mind, all one's will or strength, and all one's sentiment.
Hence the Prophet Muhammad r commended this remembrance by saying:
He who says:
'There is no god but God, He Alone, He hath no associate, His is the
sovereignty and His is the praise and He hath power over all things' one
hundred times in a day, it is for them equal to setting ten slaves free, and
one hundred good deeds are written for them and one hundred bad deeds are
effaced, and it is for them a protection from the devil for that day until the
evening. And none offers anything better than that, save one who does more than
that. (xiii)
In other
words, the blessed remembrance, There is no god but God, He Alone, He hath no
associate, His is the sovereignty and His is the praise and He hath power over
all things, not only requires and implies that Muslims must be totally devoted
to God and love Him with their whole hearts and their whole souls and all that
is in them, but provides a way, like its beginning (the testimony of faith) –
through its frequent repetition (xiv) – for them to realize this love with
everything they are.
God says in
one of the very first revelations in the Holy Qur'an: So invoke the Name of thy
Lord and devote thyself to Him with a complete devotion (Al-Muzzammil, 73:8).
LOVE OF GOD AS THE FIRST
AND GREATEST COMMANDMENT IN THE BIBLE
18
The Shema in
the Book of Deuteronomy (6:4-5), a centrepiece of the Old Testament and of
Jewish liturgy, says: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! / You
shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your strength. (xv)
Likewise, in
the New Testament, when Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is asked about the Greatest
Commandment, he answers:
But when the
Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. /
Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, /
"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" / Jesus said to
him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all
your soul, and with all your mind.' / This is the first and greatest
commandment. / And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbour as
yourself.' / On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
(Matthew 22:34-40)
And also:
Then one of
the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that he
had answered them well, asked him, "Which is the first commandment of
all?" / Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is:
'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. / And you shall love the
LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and
with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. / And the second, like
it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' There is no other
commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:28-31)
The
commandment to love God fully is thus the First and Greatest Commandment of the
Bible. Indeed, it is to be found in a number of other places throughout the Bible
including: Deuteronomy 4:29, 10:12, 11:13 (also part of the Shema), 13:3,
26:16, 30:2, 30:6, 30:10; Joshua 22:5; Mark 12:32-33 and Luke 10:27-28.
19
However, in
various places throughout the Bible, it occurs in slightly different forms and
versions. For instance, in Matthew 22:37 (You shall love the LORD your God with
all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind), the Greek word for
"heart" is kardia, the word for "soul" is psyche, and the
word for "mind" is dianoia. In the version from Mark 12:30 (And you
shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all
your mind, and with all your strength) the word "strength" is added
to the aforementioned three, translating the Greek word ischus.
The words of
the lawyer in Luke 10:27 (which are confirmed by Jesus Christ u in Luke 10:28)
contain the same four terms as Mark 12:30. The words of the scribe in Mark
12:32 (which are approved of by Jesus Christ u in Mark 12:34) contain the three
terms kardia ("heart"), dianoia ("mind"), and ischus
("strength").
In the Shema
of Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! / You
shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your strength). In Hebrew the word for "heart" is lev, the
word for "soul" is nefesh, and the word for "strength" is
me'od.
In Joshua
22:5, the Israelites are commanded by Joshua u to love God and be devoted to
Him as follows:
"But take
careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the
LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep
His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and
with all your soul." (Joshua 22:5)
20
What all
these versions thus have in common – despite the language differences between
the Hebrew Old Testament, the original words of Jesus Christus in Aramaic, and the
actual transmitted Greek of the New Testament-is the command to love God fully
with one's heart and soul and to be fully devoted to Him. This is the First and
Greatest Commandment for human beings.
21
In the light of
what we have seen to be necessarily implied and evoked by the Prophet
Muhammad's r blessed saying: 'The best that I
have said—myself, and the prophets that came before me—is: 'There is no
god but God, He Alone, He hath no associate, His is the sovereignty and His is
the praise and He hath power over all things'(xvi) , we can now perhaps understand the words 'The
best that I have said—myself, and the prophets that came before me' as
equating the blessed formula 'There is no god but God, He Alone, He hath no
associate, His is the sovereignty and His is the praise and He hath power over
all things' precisely with the 'First and Greatest Commandment' to love
God, with all one's heart and soul, as found in various places in the Bible.
That is to say, in other words, that the Prophet Muhammad r was perhaps, through inspiration, restating and alluding to the Bible's
First Commandment. God knows best, but certainly we have seen their effective
similarity in meaning. Moreover, we also do know (as can be seen in the
endnotes), that both formulas have another remarkable parallel: the way they
arise in a number of slightly differing versions and forms in different
contexts, all of which, nevertheless, emphasize the primacy of total love and
devotion to God xvii.
(II) Liebe deinen Nächsten Die Liebe zum
Nächsten im Islam
Love of the Neighbour
in Islam
22
There are numerous
injunctions in Islam about the necessity and paramount importance of love
for-and mercy towards-the neighbour. Love of the neighbour is an essential and
integral part of faith in God and love of God because in Islam without love of
the neighbour there is no true faith in God and no righteousness. The Prophet
Muhammad r said: "None of you has faith until you love for your brother
what you love for yourself." (xviii) And: "None of you has faith until
you love for your neighbour what you love for yourself."xix
However,
empathy and sympathy for the neighbour-and even formal prayers- are not enough.
They must be accompanied by generosity and self-sacrifice. God says in the Holy
Qur'an:
It is not righteousness
that ye turn your faces (xx) to the East and the West; but righteous
is he who believeth in God and the Last Day and the angels and the Scripture
and the prophets; and giveth wealth, for love of Him, to kinsfolk and to
orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and to those who ask, and to set slaves
free; and observeth proper worship and payeth the poor-due. And those who keep
their treaty when they make one, and the patient in tribulation and adversity
and time of stress. Such are they who are sincere. Such are the pious.
(Al-Baqarah 2:177)
And also: Ye
will not attain unto righteousness until ye expend of that which ye love. And
whatsoever ye expend, God is Aware thereof. (Aal 'Imran, 3:92)
Without
giving the neighbour what we ourselves love, we do not truly love God or the
neighbour.
Love of the Neighbour
in the Bible
23
We have
already cited the words of the Messiah, Jesus Christ u, about the paramount importance,
second only to the love of God, of the love of the neighbour:
This is the
first and greatest commandment. / And the second is like it: 'You shall love
your neighbour as yourself.' / On these two commandments hang all the Law and
the Prophets. (Matthew 22:38-40)
And the
second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' There is
no other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:31)
It remains
only to be noted that this commandment is also to be found in the Old
Testament:
You shall
not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbour,
and not bear sin because of him. / You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any
grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbour
as yourself: I am the LORD. (Leviticus 19:17-18)
Thus the
Second Commandment, like the First Commandment, demands generosity and
self-sacrifice, and On these two commandments hang all the Law and the
Prophets.
(III)
COME TO A COMMON WORD BETWEEN US AND YOU
A Common Word
24
Whilst Islam
and Christianity are obviously different religions-and whilst there is no
minimising some of their formal differences-it is clear that the Two Greatest
Commandments are an area of common ground and a link between the Qur'an, the
Torah and the New Testament. What prefaces the Two Commandments in the Torah
and the New Testament, and what they arise out of, is the Unity of God-that
there is only one God. For the Shema in the Torah, starts: (Deuteronomy 6:4)
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! Likewise, Jesus u said:
(Mark 12:29) "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the
LORD our God, the LORD is one". Likewise, God says in the Holy Qur'an:
Say: He, God, is One. / God, the Self-Sufficient Besought of all. (Al-Ikhlas,
112:1-2). Thus the Unity of God, love of Him, and love of the neighbour form a
common ground upon which Islam and Christianity (and Judaism) are founded.
25
This could
not be otherwise since Jesus u said: (Matthew 22:40)"On these two
commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Moreover, God confirms in
the Holy Qur'an that the Prophet Muhammad r brought nothing fundamentally or
essentially new: Naught is said to thee (Muhammad) but what already was said to
the messengers before thee (Fussilat 41:43). And: Say (Muhammad): I am no new
thing among the messengers (of God), nor know I what will be done with me or
with you. I do but follow that which is Revealed to me, and I am but a plain
warner (Al-Ahqaf, 46:9). Thus also God in the Holy Qur'an confirms that the
same eternal truths of the Unity of God, of the necessity for total love and
devotion to God (and thus shunning false gods), and of the necessity for love
of fellow human beings (and thus justice), underlie all true religion:
And verily
We have raised in every nation a messenger, (proclaiming): Worship God and shun
false gods. Then some of them (there were) whom God guided, and some of them
(there were) upon whom error had just hold. Do but travel in the land and see
the nature of the consequence for the deniers! (Al-Nahl, 16:36)
We verily
sent Our messengers with clear proofs, and revealed with them the Scripture and
the Balance, that mankind may stand forth in justice.... (Al-Hadid, 57:25)
Come to A
Common Word
26
In the Holy Qur'an,
God Most High tells Muslims to issue the following call to Christians (and
Jews-the People of the Scripture):
Say: O
People of the Scripture! Come to a common word between us and you: that we
shall worship none but God, and that we shall ascribe no partner unto Him, and
that none of us shall take others for lords beside God. And if they turn away,
then say: Bear witness that we are they who have surrendered (unto Him). (Aal
'Imran 3:64)
Clearly, the
blessed words: we shall ascribe no partner unto Him relate to the Unity of God.
Clearly also, worshipping none but God, relates to being totally devoted to God
and hence to the First and Greatest Commandment. According to one of the oldest
and most authoritative commentaries (tafsir) on the Holy Qur'an-the Jami'
Al-Bayan fi Ta'wil Al-Qur'an of Abu Ja'far Muhammad bin Jarir Al-Tabari (d. 310
A.H. / 923 C.E.)-that none of us shall take others for lords beside God, means
'that none of us should obey in disobedience to what God has commanded, nor
glorify them by prostrating to them in the same way as they prostrate to God'.
In other words, that Muslims, Christians and Jews should be free to each follow
what God commanded them, and not have 'to prostrate before kings and the like' (xxi); for God says elsewhere in the Holy
Qur'an: Let there be no compulsion in religion.... (Al-Baqarah, 2:256). This
clearly relates to the Second Commandment and to love of the neighbour of which
justice (xxii) and freedom of religion are a crucial
part. God says in the Holy Qur'an:
God
forbiddeth you not those who warred not against you on account of religion and
drove you not out from your homes, that ye should show them kindness and deal
justly with them. Lo! God loveth the just dealers. (Al-Mumtahinah, 60:8)
27
We thus as
Muslims invite Christians to remember Jesus's u words in the Gospel (Mark
12:29-31):
... the LORD
our God, the LORD is one. / And you shall love the LORD your God with all your
heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'
This is the first commandment. / And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall
love your neighbour as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than
these.
As Muslims,
we say to Christians that we are not against them and that Islam is not against
them – so long as they do not wage war against Muslims on account of their
religion, oppress them and drive them out of their homes, (in accordance with
the verse of the Holy Qur'an [Al-Mumtahinah, 60:8] quoted above). Moreover, God
says in the Holy Qur'an:
They are not
all alike. Of the People of the Scripture there is a staunch community who
recite the revelations of God in the night season, falling prostrate (before
Him). / They believe in God and the Last Day, and enjoin right conduct and
forbid indecency, and vie one with another in good works. These are of the
righteous. / And whatever good they do, nothing will be rejected of them. God
is Aware of those who ward off (evil). (Aal-'Imran, 3:113-115)
Is Christianity
necessarily against Muslims? In the Gospel Jesus Christ u says:
He who is
not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters abroad.
(Matthew 12:30)
For he who
is not against us is on our side. (Mark 9:40)
... for he
who is not against us is on our side. (Luke 9:50)
According to
the Blessed Theophylact's (xxiii) Explanation of the New Testament, these
statements are not contradictions because the first statement (in the actual
Greek text of the New Testament) refers to demons, whereas the second and third
statements refer to people who recognised Jesus, but were not Christians.
Muslims recognize Jesus Christ as the Messiah, not in the same way Christians
do (but Christians themselves anyway have never all agreed with each other on
Jesus Christ's u nature), but in the following way: .... the Messiah Jesus son
of Mary is a Messenger of God and His Word which he cast unto Mary and a Spirit
from Him.... (Al-Nisa', 4:171). We therefore invite Christians to consider
Muslims not against and thus with them, in accordance with Jesus Christ's words
here.
28
Finally, as
Muslims, and in obedience to the Holy Qur'an, we ask Christians to come
together with us on the common essentials of our two religions ... that we shall
worship none but God, and that we shall ascribe no partner unto Him, and that
none of us shall take others for lords beside God ... (Aal 'Imran, 3:64).
Let this
common ground be the basis of all future interfaith dialogue between us, for our
common ground is that on which hangs all the Law and the Prophets (Matthew
22:40). God says in the Holy Qur'an:
Say (O
Muslims): We believe in God and that which is revealed unto us and that which
was revealed unto Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes,
and that which Moses and Jesus received, and that which the prophets received
from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and unto Him we
have surrendered. / And if they believe in the like of that which ye believe, then
are they rightly guided. But if they turn away, then are they in schism, and
God will suffice thee against them. He is the Hearer, the Knower. (Al-Baqarah,
2:136-137)
Between You
and Us
29
Finding
common ground between Muslims and Christians is not simply a matter for polite
ecumenical dialogue between selected religious leaders. Christianity and Islam
are the largest and second largest religions in the world and in history.
Christians and Muslims reportedly make up over a third and over a fifth of humanity
respectively. 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.
30
And to those
who nevertheless relish conflict and destruction for their own sake or reckon
that ultimately they stand to gain through them, we say that our very eternal
souls are all also at stake if we fail to sincerely make every effort to make
peace and come together in harmony. God says in the Holy Qur'an: Lo! God
enjoineth justice and kindness, and giving to kinsfolk, and forbiddeth lewdness
and abomination and wickedness. He exhorteth you in order that ye may take heed
(Al Nahl, 16:90). Jesus Christ u said: Blessed are the peacemakers ....(Matthew
5:9), and also: For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and
loses his soul? (Matthew 16:26).
31
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. God
says in the Holy Qur'an:
And unto
thee have We revealed the Scripture with the truth, confirming whatever
Scripture was before it, and a watcher over it. So judge between them by that
which God hath revealed, and follow not their desires away from the truth which
hath come unto thee. For each We have appointed a law and a way. Had God willed
He could have made you one community. But that He may try you by that which He
hath given you (He hath made you as ye are). So vie one with another in good
works. Unto God ye will all return, and He will then inform you of that wherein
ye differ. (Al-Ma'idah, 5:48)
Wal-Salaamu
'Alaykum,
Pax
Vobiscum.
(c) 2007
C.E., 1428 A.H.,
The Royal
Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Jordan.
See:
www.acommonword.org or: www.acommonword.com
NOTES
i In Arabic: La
illaha illa Allah Muhammad rasul Allah. The two Shahadahs actually both occur (albeit separately) as
phrases in the Holy Qur'an (in Muhammad 47:19, and Al-Fath 48:29,
respectively).
ii Sunan Al-Tirmidhi, Kitab Al-Da'awat, 462/5,
no. 3383; Sunan Ibn Majah, 1249/2.
iii Sunan Al-Tirmidhi, Kitab Al-Da'awat,
Bab al-Du'a fi Yawm 'Arafah, Hadith no. 3934.
It is important to note that the
additional phrases, He Alone, He hath no associate, His is the sovereignty and
His is the praise and He hath power over all things, all come from the Holy
Qur'an, in exactly those forms, albeit in different passages. He
Alone-referring to God Y-is found at least six times in the Holy Qur'an (7:70;
14:40; 39:45; 40:12; 40:84 and 60:4). He hath no associate, is found in exactly
that form at least once (Al-An'am, 6:173). His is the sovereignty and His is
the praise and He hath power over all things, is found in exactly this form
once in the Holy Qur'an (Al-Taghabun, 64:1), and parts of it are found a number
of other times (for instance, the words, He hath power over all things, are
found at least five times: 5:120; 11:4; 30:50; 42:9 and 57:2).
iv The Heart In Islam the (spiritual, not
physical) heart is the organ of perception of spiritual and metaphysical
knowledge. Of one of the Prophet Muhammad's r greatest visions God says in the
Holy Qur'an: The inner heart lied not (in seeing) what it saw. (al-Najm, 53:11)
Indeed, elsewhere in the Holy Qur'an, God says: [F]or indeed it is not the eyes
that grow blind, but it is the hearts, which are within the bosoms, that grow
blind. (Al-Hajj, 22:46; see whole verse and also: 2:9-10; 2:74; 8:24; 26:88-89;
48:4; 83:14 et al.. There are in fact over a hundred mentions of the heart and
its synonyms in the Holy Qur'an.)
Now there are different understandings
amongst Muslims as regards the direct Vision of God (as opposed to spiritual
realities as such) God, be it in this life or the next-God says in the Holy
Qur'an (of the Day of Judgement):
That day will faces be resplendent, /
Looking toward their Lord; (Al-Qiyamah, 75:22-23)
Yet God also says in the Holy Qur'an:
Such is God, your Lord. There is no God
save Him, the Creator of all things, so worship Him. And He taketh care of all
things. / Vision comprehendeth Him not, but He comprehendeth (all) vision. He
is the Subtile, the Aware. / Proofs have come unto you from your Lord, so whoso
seeth, it is for his own good, and whoso is blind is blind to his own hurt. And
I am not a keeper over you. (Al-An'am, 6:102-104)
Howbeit, it is evident that the Muslim
conception of the (spiritual) heart is not very different from the Christian
conception of the (spiritual) heart, as seen in Jesus's u words in the New
Testament: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matthew
5:8); and Paul's words: For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to
face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I am known. (1
Corinthians 13:12)
vi See also: Al-Nahl, 16:3-18.
vii Sahih Bukhari, Kitab Tafsir Al-Qur'an,
Bab ma Ja'a fi Fatihat Al-Kitab (Hadith no.1); also: Sahih Bukhari, Kitab
Fada'il Al-Qur'an, Bab Fadl Fatihat Al-Kitab, (Hadith no.9), no. 5006.
viii The Prophet Muhammad r said:
God has one hundred mercies. He has
sent down one of them between genii and human beings and beasts and animals and
because of it they feel with each other; and through it they have mercy on each
other; and through it, the wild animal feels for its offspring. And God has
delayed ninety-nine mercies through which he will have mercy on his servants on
the Day of Judgement. (Sahih Muslm, Kitab Al-Tawbah; 2109/4; no. 2752; see also
Sahih Bukhari, Kitab Al-Riqaq, no. 6469).
ix
Fear of God is the Beginning of Wisdom
The Prophet Muhammad r is reported to
have said: The chief part of wisdom is fear of God-be He exalted (Musnad
al-Shahab, 100/1; Al-Dulaymi, Musnad Al-Firdaws, 270/2; Al-Tirmidhi, Nawadir
Al-Usul; 84/3; Al-Bayhaqi, Al-Dala'il and Al-Bayhaqi, Al-Shu'ab; Ibn Lal,
Al-Makarim; Al-Ash'ari, Al-Amthal, et al.) This evidently is similar to the
Prophet Solomon u words in the Bible: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
Wisdom .... (Proverbs 9:10); and: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
knowledge. (Proverbs 1:7)
x The Intelligence, the Will and
Sentiment in the Holy Qur'an
Thus God in the Holy Qur'an tells human
being to believe in Him and call on Him (thereby using the intelligence) with
fear (which motivates the will) and with hope (and thus with sentiment):
Only those believe in Our revelations
who, when they are reminded of them, fall down prostrate and hymn the praise of
their Lord, and they are not scornful, / Who forsake their beds to cry unto
their Lord in fear and hope, and spend of that We have bestowed on them. / No
soul knoweth what is kept hid for them of joy, as a reward for what they used
to do. (Al-Sajdah, 32:15-17)
(O mankind!) Call upon your Lord humbly
and in secret. Lo! He loveth not aggressors. / Work not confusion in the earth
after the fair ordering (thereof), and call on Him in fear and hope. Lo! the
mercy of God is near unto the virtuous. (Al-A'raf, 7:55-56)
Likewise, the Prophet Muhammad r
himself is described in terms which manifest knowledge (and hence the
intelligence), eliciting hope (and hence sentiment) and instilling fear (and hence
motivating the will):
O Prophet! Lo! We have sent thee as a
witness and a bringer of good tidings and a warner. (Al-Ahzab, 33:45)
Lo! We have sent thee (O Muhammad) as a
witness and a bearer of good tidings and a warner, (Al-Fath, 48:8)
The love and total devotion of the
Prophet Muhammad r to God is for Muslims the model that they seek to imitate.
God says in the Holy Qur'an:
Verily in the messenger of God ye have a
goodly example for him who hopeth for God and the Last Day, and remembereth God
much. (Al-Ahzab, 33:21)
The totality of this love excludes
worldliness and egotism, and is itself beautiful and loveable to Muslims. Love
of God is itself loveable to Muslims. God says in the Holy Qur'an:
And know that the messenger of God is
among you. If he were to obey you in many matters, ye would surely fall into
misfortune; but God hath made the faith loveable to you and hath beautified it
in your hearts, and hath made disbelief and lewdness and rebellion hateful unto
you. Such are they who are the rightly guided. (Al-Hujurat, 49:7)
xii This 'particular love' is in addition
to God's universal Mercy which embraceth all things (Al-A'raf, 7:156); but God
knows best.
xiii Sahih Al-Bukhari, Kitab Bad' al-Khalq,
Bab Sifat Iblis wa Junudihi; Hadith no. 3329.
Other Versions of the Blessed Saying
This blessed saying of the Prophet
Muhammad's r, is found in dozens of hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad r)
in differing contexts in slightly varying versions.
The one we have quoted throughout in
the text (There is no god but God, He alone. He hath no associate. His is the
sovereignty, and His is the praise, and He hath power over all things) is in
fact the shortest version. It is to be found in Sahih al-Bukhari: Kitab
al-Adhan (no. 852); Kitab al-Tahajjud (no. 1163); Kitab al-'Umrah (no. 1825);
Kitab Bad' al-Khalq (no. 3329); Kitab al-Da'awat (nos. 6404, 6458, 6477); Kitab
al-Riqaq (no. 6551); Kitab al-I'tisam bi'l-Kitab (no. 7378); in Sahih Muslim:
Kitab al-Masajid (nos. 1366, 1368, 1370, 1371, 1380); Kitab al-Hajj (nos. 3009,
3343); Kitab al-Dhikr wa'l-Du'a' (nos. 7018, 7020, 7082, 7084); in Sunan Abu
Dawud: Kitab al-Witr (nos. 1506, 1507, 1508); Kitab al-Jihad (no. 2772); Kitab al-Kharaj
(no. 2989); Kitab al-Adab (nos. 5062, 5073, 5079); in Sunan al-Tirmidhi: Kitab
al-Hajj (no. 965); Kitab al-Da'awat (nos. 3718, 3743, 3984); in Sunan
al-Nasa'i: Kitab al-Sahw (nos. 1347, 1348, 1349, 1350, 1351); Kitab Manasik
al-Hajj (nos. 2985, 2997); Kitab al-Iman wa'l-Nudhur (no. 3793); in Sunan Ibn
Majah: Kitab al-Adab (no. 3930); Kitab al-Du'a' (nos. 4000, 4011); and in
Muwatta' Malik: Kitab al-Qur'an (nos. 492, 494); Kitab al-Hajj (no. 831).
A longer version including the words
yuhyi wa yumit-(There is no god but God, He alone. He hath no associate. His is
the sovereignty, and His is the praise. He giveth life, and He giveth death,
and He hath power over all things.)-is to be found in Sunan Abu Dawud: Kitab
al-Manasik (no. 1907); in Sunan al-Tirmidhi: Kitab al-Salah (no. 300); Kitab
al-Da'awat (nos. 3804, 3811, 3877, 3901); and in Sunan al-Nasa'i: Kitab Manasik
al-Hajj (nos. 2974, 2987, 2998); Sunan Ibn Majah: Kitab al-Manasik (no. 3190).
Another longer version including the
words bi yadihi al-khayr-(There is no god but God, He alone. He hath no
associate. His is the sovereignty, and His is the praise. In His Hand is the
good, and He hath power over all things.)-is to be found in Sunan Ibn Majah:
Kitab al-Adab (no. 3931); Kitab al-Du'a' (no. 3994).
The longest version, which includes the
words yuhyi wa yumit wa Huwa Hayyun la yamut bi yadihi al-khayr-(There is no
god but God, He alone. He hath no associate. His is the sovereignty, and His is
the praise. He giveth life, and He giveth death. He is the Living, who dieth
not. In His Hand is the good, and He hath power over all things.)-is to be
found in Sunan al-Tirmidhi: Kitab al-Da'awat (no. 3756) and in Sunan Ibn Majah:
Kitab al-Tijarat (no. 2320), with the difference that this latter hadith reads:
bi yadihi al-khayr kuluhu (in His Hand is all good).
It is important to note, however, that
the Prophet Muhammad r, only described the first (shortest) version as: the
best that I have said-myself, and the prophets that came before me, and only of
that version did the Prophet r say: And none comes with anything better than
that, save one who does more than that.
(These citations refer to the numbering
system of The Sunna Project's Encyclopaedia of Hadith (Jam' Jawami' al-Ahadith
wa'l-Asanid), prepared in cooperation with the scholars of al-Azhar, which
includes Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abu Dawud, Sunan al-Tirmidhi,
Sunan al-Nasa'i, Sunan Ibn Majah, and Muwatta' Malik.)
xiv Frequent Remembrance of God in the
Holy Qur'an
The Holy Qur'an is full of injunctions
to invoke or remember God frequently:
Remember the name of thy Lord at morn
and evening. (Al-Insan, 76:25)
So remember God, standing, sitting and
[lying] down on your sides (Al-Nisa, 4:103).
And do thou (O Muhammad) remember thy
Lord within thyself humbly and with awe, below thy breath, at morn and evening.
And be not thou of the neglectful (Al-'Araf, 7:205).
... Remember thy Lord much, and praise
(Him) in the early hours of night and morning (Aal 'Imran, 3:41).
O ye who believe! Remember God with
much remembrance. / And glorify Him early and late (Al-Ahzab, 33:41-42).
(See also: 2:198-200; 2:203; 2:238-239;
3:190-191; 6:91; 7:55; 7:180; 8:45; 17:110; 22:27-41; 24:35-38; 26:227;
62:9-10; 87:1-17, et al.)
Similarly, the Holy Qur'an is full of verses
that emphasize the paramount importance of the Remembrance of God (see:
2:151-7; 5:4; 6:118; 7:201; 8:2-4; 13:26-28; 14:24-27; 20:14; 20:33-34; 24:1;
29:45; 33:35; 35:10; 39:9; 50:37; 51:55-58; and 33:2; 39:22-23 and 73:8-9 as
already quoted, et al. ), and the dire consequences of not practising it (see:
2:114; 4:142; 7:179-180; 18:28; 18:100-101; 20:99-101; 20:124-127; 25:18;
25:29; 43:36; 53:29; 58:19; 63:9; 72:17 et al.; see also 107:4-6). Hence God
ultimately says in the Holy Qur'an:
Has not the time arrived for the
believers that their hearts in all humility should engage in the remembrance of
God .... ? (Al-Hadid, 57:16);
.... [S]lacken not in remembrance of Me
(Taha, 20:42),
and: Remember your Lord whenever you
forget (Al-Kahf, 18:24).
xv Herein all Biblical Scripture is taken
from the New King James Version. Copyright (c) 1982 by Thomas Nelson,Inc. Used
by permission. All rights reserved.
xvi Sunan Al-Tirmithi, Kitab Al-Da'wat,
Bab al-Du'a fi Yawm 'Arafah, Hadith no. 3934. Op. cit..
Christianity and Islam have comparable
conceptions of man being created in the best stature and from God's own breath.
The Book of Genesis says:
(Genesis, 1:27) So God created man in His
own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
And: (Genesis, 2:7) And the LORD God
formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life; and man became a living being.
And the Prophet Muhammad r said: Verily
God created Adam in His own image. (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Kitab Al-Isti'than, 1;
Sahih Muslim, Kitab Al-Birr 115; Musnad Ibn Hanbal, 2: 244, 251, 315, 323 etc.
et al.)
And We created you, then fashioned you,
then told the angels: Fall ye prostrate before Adam! And they fell prostrate,
all save Iblis, who was not of those who make prostration. (Al-A'raf, 7:11)
By the fig and the olive / By Mount
Sinai, / And by this land made safe / Surely We created man of the best stature
/ Then We reduced him to the lowest of the low, / Save those who believe and do
good works, and theirs is a reward unfailing. / So who henceforth will give the
lie to the about the judgment? / Is not God the wisest of all judges? (Al-Tin,
95:1-8)
God it is Who appointed for you the
earth for a dwelling-place and the sky for a canopy, and fashioned you and
perfected your shapes, and hath provided you with good things. Such is God,
your Lord. Then blessed be God, the Lord of the Worlds! (Al-Ghafir, 40:64)
Nay, but those who do wrong follow
their own lusts without knowledge. Who is able to guide him whom God hath sent
astray ? For such there are no helpers. / So set thy purpose (O Muhammad) for
religion as a man by nature upright - the nature (framed) of God, in which He hath
created man. There is no altering (the laws of) God's creation. That is the
right religion, but most men know not-/ (Al-Rum, 30:29-30)
And when I have fashioned him and
breathed into him of My Spirit, then fall down before him prostrate, (Sad,
38:72)
And when thy Lord said unto the angels:
Lo! I am about to place a viceroy in the earth, they said: Wilt thou place
therein one who will do harm therein and will shed blood, while we, we hymn Thy
praise and sanctify Thee ? He said: Surely I know that which ye know not. / And
He taught Adam all the names, then showed them to the angels, saying: Inform Me
of the names of these, if ye are truthful ./ They said: Be glorified! We have
no knowledge saving that which Thou hast taught us. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the
Knower, the Wise. / He said: O Adam! Inform them of their names, and when he
had informed them of their names, He said: Did I not tell you that I know the
secret of the heavens and the earth ? And I know that which ye disclose and
which ye hide. / And when We said unto the angels: Prostrate yourselves before
Adam, they fell prostrate, all save Iblis. He demurred through pride, and so
became a disbeliever... / And We said: O Adam! Dwell thou and thy wife in the
Garden, and eat ye freely (of the fruits) thereof where ye will; but come not
nigh this tree lest ye become wrong-doers. (Al-Baqarah, 2:30-35)
xviii Sahih Al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Iman,
Hadith no.13.
xix Sahih Muslim , Kitab al-Iman, 67-1,
Hadith no.45.
xx The classical commentators on the Holy
Qur'an (see: Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Tafsir Al-Jalalayn) generally agree that this
is a reference to (the last movements of) the Muslim prayer.
xxi Abu Ja'far Muhammad Bin Jarir
Al-Tabari, Jami' al-Bayan fi Ta'wil al-Qur'an, (Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah,
Beirut, Lebanon, 1st ed, 1992/1412,) tafsir of Aal-'Imran, 3:64;Volume 3, pp.
299-302.
xxii According to grammarians cited by
Tabari (op cit.) the word 'common' (sawa') in 'a common word between us' also
means 'just', 'fair' (adl).
xxiii The Blessed Theophylact (1055-1108 C.E.)
was the Orthodox Archbishop of Ochrid and Bulgaria (1090-1108 C.E.). His native
language was the Greek of the New Testament. His Commentary is currently
available in English from Chrysostom Press.