Islamic prince to attend Pope's interfaith meeting in Assisi

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ahimsa
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
A

Ahimsa

Guest
"Jordanian Prince Ghazi** bin Muhammad bin Talal** - promoter in 2007 of the letter of 138 Muslim scholars for dialogue with Christians - will attend the next interfaith meeting convened by Pope Benedict XVI due to take place on 27 October in Assisi.
…
Like all members of the Hashemite royal family, Ghazi - a cousin of the King of Jordan Abdallah II - boasts the title of a direct descendant of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. But beyond his family tree, what counts above all is the commitment to inter-religious dialogue…
…
Already in 2006 - the day after the controversy erupted around the Regensburg speech - Ghazi had distinguished himself by writing his first open letter to Benedict XVI in which, instead of attacking him, he explained his point of view on what the relationship between faith and reason meant to Muslims, referring back to the Pope’s speech. A year later, at the end of Ramadan in 2007, “A Common* Word*” arrived (“A common word between us and you”), signed by** 138 well known Islamic figures from around the world. This document put across for the first time the need for the dialogue between Christians and Muslims to find common ground in the commandments about the love of God and neighbors…"**
 
Ahimsa said:
will attend the next interfaith meeting convened by Pope Benedict XVI due to take place on 27 October in Assisi.
Click to expand...
What is the expected output of those interfaith meetings http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon4.gif

Will they allow the following:
  1. Allowing Churches to be built in Saudi Arabia.
  2. Allowing Hard-Copy Bible to enter Saudi Arabia.
  3. Allowing the converts in Saudi Arabia to live peacefully without the fear of being killed.
  4. Stopping Imams from cursing the Christian & Jews at every Friday prayer in all SA mosques.
  5. Stopping the public & private press from keep attacking Christians & Jews in their newspapers and TV stations.
    .
    .
    .
    etc
 
Sam_777 said:
What is the expected output of those interfaith meetings http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon4.gif
…
Click to expand...
You should read up on your Vatican II documents:

The Declaration Nostra Aetate taught the following with regards to the relationship between the Church and non Christian religions:
The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men. Indeed, she proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ, “the way the truth, and the life” (John 14, 6), in whom men may find the fullness of religious life, in whom God has reconciled all things to Himself (4).

The Church therefore, exhorts her sons, **that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men. **
​
 
I have wondered for some time now whether there is a hidden message in “A common word between us and you”. In English, putting yourself first is considered poor etiquette, as though you considered yourself superior to the person you were addressing. Thus, we say “you and me” or “you and us” in the case of the plural.

I have read the letter, and the folks who wrote it are quite eloquent in English, so it seems unlikely that they would have overlooked something like that.

P.S. Was there ever a Vatican response to it?
 
sedonaman said:
I have wondered for some time now whether there is a hidden message in “A common word between us and you”. In English, putting yourself first is considered poor etiquette, as though you considered yourself superior to the person you were addressing. Thus, we say “you and me” or “you and us” in the case of the plural.

I have read the letter, and the folks who wrote it are quite eloquent in English, so it seems unlikely that they would have overlooked something like that.

P.S. Was there ever a Vatican response to it?
Click to expand...
Try this. Excerpt:
Perhaps the best place to begin trying to understand the motivation of A Common Word is at the end. The authors note that, since together we make up more than half the world’s population, there will be no peace in the world unless Muslims and Christians find a way to live at peace with one another. They surely echo the feelings of many when they say that “our common future is at stake. The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake.” In a world that increasingly ready to see our current situation as a winner-takes-all struggle between two incompatible civilizations, this is a welcome reminder that there is an alternative: we can still try to envision a common future.

The signatories rightly believe that the resolution of our conflicts lies not merely in political negotiation but in finding a common theological basis that can ground our mutual commitments and give them an authority beyond the calculations of temporary expediency. So they undertake to demonstrate the common ground we share in our belief in the unity of God, in the necessity of complete devotion to God and of love towards the neighbour. They quite rightly refuse to accept the idea, all too often expressed even by members of the Roman Curia, that Muslims are incapable of entering into theological dialogue.
Click to expand...
 
Ahimsa said:
…The Church therefore, exhorts her sons, **that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men. **
[/INDENT][/INDENT]
Click to expand...
I take it that “good things” applies also to the good socio-cultural values.
 
Sam_777 said:
What is the expected output of those interfaith meetings http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon4.gif

Will they allow the following:
  1. Allowing Churches to be built in Saudi Arabia.
  2. Allowing Hard-Copy Bible to enter Saudi Arabia.
  3. Allowing the converts in Saudi Arabia to live peacefully without the fear of being killed.
  4. Stopping Imams from cursing the Christian & Jews at every Friday prayer in all SA mosques.
  5. Stopping the public & private press from keep attacking Christians & Jews in their newspapers and TV stations.
    .
    .
    .
    etc
Click to expand...
Is that all true in Saudi, brother? No wonder the Indonesian Muslim who get closer to SA today, became more violent. Historically, Islam was brought to Indonesia by the muslims trader from Gujarat, India. Since they were not Arab, there must be some sort of “inculturation” (if I refrain from saying sincretism) of the teaching of Islam from Arab, and the Indian culture. Today the Indonesian muslim has the tradition of going to the graveyard of their ancestors and pray for them, there. As far as I know, there is no basis of praying for the death relatives in their graveyard from Quran and Hadiths. So, when more Indonesian muslim “learn” from the SA Islam, more mass-organisation are formed with the mission of returning back to the “true” Islam of SA. Unfortunately, that means more violence and intolerance toward the non-muslims like me. To me, they even forget that they are Indonesians not Arab people.
 
swariffin said:
Is that all true in Saudi, brother? No wonder the Indonesian Muslim who get closer to SA today, became more violent. Historically, Islam was brought to Indonesia by the muslims trader from Gujarat, India. Since they were not Arab, there must be some sort of “inculturation” (if I refrain from saying sincretism) of the teaching of Islam from Arab, and the Indian culture. Today the Indonesian muslim has the tradition of going to the graveyard of their ancestors and pray for them, there. As far as I know, there is no basis of praying for the death relatives in their graveyard from Quran and Hadiths. So, when more Indonesian muslim “learn” from the SA Islam, more mass-organisation are formed with the mission of returning back to the “true” Islam of SA. Unfortunately, that means more violence and intolerance toward the non-muslims like me. To me, they even forget that they are Indonesians not Arab people.
Click to expand...
It is all true, brother. Saudi Arabia restricts religious freedom to non-Muslims.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom lists Saudi Arabia under countries of particular concern (CPC). Here is the Commission’s 2011 Report, excerpt page 141:

FINDINGS: During the reporting period, systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious
freedom continued in Saudi Arabia despite improvements. Almost 10 years since the September 11, 2001
attacks on the United States, the Saudi government has failed to implement a number of promised reforms
related to religious practice and tolerance. The Saudi government persists in banning all forms of public
religious expression other than that of the government‘s own interpretation of one school of Sunni Islam;
prohibits churches, synagogues, temples, and other non-Muslim places of worship; uses in its schools and
posts online state textbooks that continue to espouse intolerance and incite violence; and periodically
interferes with private religious practice. Ismaili Muslims continue to suffer repression on account of their
religious identity and there have been numerous arrests and detentions of Shi‘a Muslim dissidents, in part
as a result of increasing regional unrest. Members of the Commission to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice
(CPVPV) continue to commit abuses, although their public presence has diminished slightly and the
number of reported incidents of abuse has decreased in some parts of the country. In addition, the
government continues to be involved in supporting activities globally that promote an extremist ideology,
and in some cases, violence toward non-Muslims and disfavored Muslims.

Read more here.

In addition, Saudi Arabia funds terrorism through their fundamentalist strain of Islam, Wahhabism.
 
Sam_777 said:
What is the expected output of those interfaith meetings http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon4.gif

Will they allow the following:
  1. Allowing Churches to be built in Saudi Arabia.
  2. Allowing Hard-Copy Bible to enter Saudi Arabia.
  3. Allowing the converts in Saudi Arabia to live peacefully without the fear of being killed.
  4. Stopping Imams from cursing the Christian & Jews at every Friday prayer in all SA mosques.
  5. Stopping the public & private press from keep attacking Christians & Jews in their newspapers and TV stations.
    .
    .
    .
    etc
Click to expand...
Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal is from Jordan, not Saudi Arabia. Why would output from the interfaith meetings with a Jordanian prince change anything in Saudi Arabia?
 
antonivs said:
Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal is from Jordan, not Saudi Arabia. Why would output from the interfaith meetings with a Jordanian prince change anything in Saudi Arabia?
Click to expand...
He will be one of many Muslims representatives, here is the link for the Pope announcement back in January.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top