Not all news of Islam is bad
There has been a great deal written lately about problems between the Islamic and Christian worlds. And indeed there has been quite a lot to write about. But Jesus called us to an attitude of hope, and in the past week there have been a couple of events that I think are positive signs.
Abu Dhabi’s Minister of Higher Education Scientific Research, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, hosted a symposium at Zayed University on Christian-Muslim relations. The symposium was titled Fifteen Centuries of Love and Affection, and was sponsored by the university and Abu Dhabi’s General Authority for Islamic Affairs.
In his keynote speech, the minister (who is also president of Zayed University) said, “We must affirm through word and deed that the Christian Arabs are noble brothers who stand together with their fellow Muslims in a single rank to serve the cause of the nation and preserve the welfare of the nation. There is no difference between a Muslim and a Christian in this respect as both support each other in honest fraternity.” He added that during more the fourteen centuries since the advent of Islam, the relationship between Islam and Christianity thrived in the context of the divine command in the Quran, “There is no compulsion in religion,” as well as God’s proclamation “Had your Lord willed, He would have made the mankind a single nation.”
We need to stop and celebrate the fact that many influential Arabs joined together to talk about Muslims and Christians coexisting peacefully.
A week earlier, a diverse group of leading Iraqi clerics gathered in Copenhagen for a conference called the “Emergency Summit for Inter-faith Dialogue in Iraq.” (Apparently they like frequent flier miles as much as we do.) The group included Shiite, Sunni, and Christian leaders who discussed the recent surge in attacks on Christians. According to the Iraqi Minister of Displacement and Migration, Dindar Najman Doski, more than 5,000 Christian families moved out of Iraq in 2010.
The conference ended with the signing of the Copenhagen Relief and National Reconciliation Agreement, which stresses that violence is not compatible with Islam, and calls on the government to make the incitement of religious and cultural hatred a criminal offense.
As we hear conflicting reports of violence being committed by Islamists while others talk of Islam being a religion of peace, many have asked why Muslim leaders aren’t speaking out against the violence. The reality is, they are. Our media will continue to pepper us with stories about mullahs (usually in Iran) who are stirring Muslims up. They are a concern, certainly. But let us take hope in–and wrap prayer around–the growing indication that there is a significant number of moderate Muslims who are trying to show that those extremists are renegades who don’t represent Islam.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” May we follow him.
