Jesuit explains interfaith dialogue from Christian perspective

New Delhi: Jesuit Father Victor Edwin is a lecturer at Vidyajyoti College of Theology, Delhi, where he teaches Christian theology and Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations. He is also director of the Vidyajyoti Institute of Islamic Studies. Besides, he serves as Secretary of the Islamic Studies Association (ISA), Delhi, and edits “Salaam,” the Association’s quarterly journal that seeks to promote understanding between Muslims and Christians.

He holds a Master’s degree in Islamic Studies from Aligarh Muslim University. He earned his Licentiate in Theology from Vidyajyoti College of Theology before gaining an M Phil in Christian-Muslim Relations at the University of Birmingham, UK. He has a doctorate in Islamic Studies from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

In India, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and adherents of other faiths have been living together for centuries. They share sociopolitical responsibilities. Sad to say, however, they remain largely unfamiliar with the culture and religion of each other. Their knowledge about each another is generally superficial and often unauthentic. More painful is the fact of mistrust and hate on the basis of religious identity.

In this background, there is urgent need for interfaith dialogue and positive personal interaction between people from diverse religious backgrounds, which is something that Fr. Edwin passionately advocates.

He spoke with Javed Akhtar, who teaches in the Department of Islamic Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia. Excerpts:

Javed Akhtar: You are a Jesuit priest. Tell us, why does the Catholic Church give importance to interfaith relations? How significant is interfaith dialogue for the Catholic Church in a diverse nation like ours?

Father Victor Edwin: In 1965, when Pope John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council, he said that the image of Church at that time was something like a castle on a hilltop, closing its doors and windows all the time and fighting with others in the name of defending its faith. He said that this should not be the image of the Church. It should not be the way in which the Church functions in the modern world. The doors should be opened, the windows should be opened, and fresh air should be allowed in.

On October 28, 1965, an important document was published by the Second Vatican Council, in which the Catholic Church expressed a bold idea. It said that the Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in other religions. People of other faiths may differ from the faith convictions of Catholic Christians, but we all form one common human family. So, we need to learn from one another, know one another and appreciate one another’s faiths. We can express ourselves in a new way as brothers and sisters belonging to different faiths. This is now being emphasized as part of the teachings of the Catholic Church.

India is a very diverse country, with many cultures, religions and ways of life. Even within a single faith tradition there are several interpretations and expressions. In this situation, a Christian is called upon to engage with others, in a spirit of respectful dialogue.

The Church teaches us that every religion reflects a ray of truth. This really motivates us to learn from others what sustains them, what motivates them and how their life is organized around their faith. That’s why it is very significant that Christians open themselves to learning from others. And they should do this in a very different ways, such as the dialogue of life, where we live together and support one another in our life struggles; the dialogue of spirituality, where learn from the spiritual giants of each religion and their teachings; and the dialogue of action, a common shared responsibility—we work together for the preservation of mother earth, or any other common cause. There is also theological dialogue, where people from different religious backgrounds come together and learn about the teachings of each other’s faith traditions.

You are a student of Christian-Muslim relations. What are some lessons that you think we can learn from the history of relations between Christians and Muslims?

This is a very important question. A first lesson we can learn from this history is that if there is no familiarity between people from different religious backgrounds, there are almost inevitably bound to be prejudices. Conversely, when there is face-to-face meeting between people, that opens the way for them to communicate, to establish rapport with one another.

At the time of the Prophet Muhammad, there were at least two occasions when he met with Christians. Once, he sent a group of Muslims to Abyssinia, where the Christian ruler took care of them well. This Christian ruler received the Muslim refugees. He welcomed them and took care of them. So, that’s a very positive experience of interaction. Also, you know that the refugee Muslims recited the Surah Maryam of the Quran, which brought tears to the eyes of the king.

On another occasion, a Christian delegation from Najran came to meet with Prophet Muhammad in Medina. They had a conversation. They both had different opinions on Christ, but they accepted that this difference existed. The Prophet allowed these Christians to pray in his own mosque according to the Christian way of praying. When the Christian delegation’s prayer time came, the Prophet permitted them to pray and he even hosted them in his mosque. This is a great example of mutual respect expressed through interpersonal interaction.

Interactions like this between individuals from different faith backgrounds are really important. They are a great way to dissolve prejudices.

At the same time, look at history again – a lot of prejudice about the Prophet Muhammad and the Holy Quran was spread by Christian chroniclers, writers who had no personal experience of Muslims. These writers wrote really very negative things. They didn’t have any experience of living with Muslims and observing their faith.

So, the first lesson is that where there is familiarity with people of other faiths, prejudices can dissolve and mutual appreciation can grow.

A Second learning lesson we can draw from the history of Christian-Muslim relations is that when Christians and Muslims are self-confident and if they have a common ground, their dialogue, their interaction, their engagement, can be fruitful. We see this in the 9th century, when the Bait ul-Hikmah was established in Baghdad under the Abbasaids, where Christian scholars and Muslim scholars worked together on equal terms. They had a common ground—Greek philosophy. They knew Greek concepts. They could easily interact with each another. There was this common ground and self-confidence, and so their contribution to the world was huge. The Greek texts which these Christian and Muslim scholars translated to Arabic preserved the Greek legacy and ignited the Renaissance in Europe.

A third lesson one can draw from the history of relations between Christians and Muslims is that polemics and debates do not shed any light. They can only generate heat and noise. You see the example of what happened in the Mughal ruler Akbar’s court, whereJesuit priests were engaged in debates with others. They were simply not speaking to one another: they were speaking at one another. There was a lot of polemics but no real light. Similarly, later, in the period of British rule in India, when the German missionary Carl Pfander debated the Muslim scholar Kairanvi. Though they both of them claimed victory, their debate did not bring any real fruits.

So, one important lesson is that polemics and debates they don’t bring real fruits. So, that’s a third important lesson.

A fourth important lesson is that despite the chequered history of Christian-Muslim relations, with several ups and downs, a lot of polemics and wars and violence, there were also some voices for peace, and these voices can be an inspiration for us today. I think that is how God works. God works through humble, feeble, peaceful voices. A beautiful example is Saint Francis of Assisi. He went and met Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil during the Fifth Crusade. He went as a humble person and Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil recognized in him a man of God. Similarly, Francis recognized in Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil a man of God. So, they met as men of God in humility and friendship. We celebrated the 800th anniversary of this really important event last year. So, the lesson here is, always listen to the humble and feeble voices that call for peace. There, God speaks to us.

A fifth lesson relates to the artistic dimension in dialogue. Often, we look at history more in terms of written or spoken words, but there is the artistic dimension. For an example, when the second mission of Jesuits reached Lahore, to Akbar’s court, they had a Portuguese artist. He was commissioned by Akbar to make paintings. He made a number of copies of paintings, and even the European renaissance paintings were copied. So, there was this very robust artistic activity. This is a form of dialogue that quite often we missed. And this is an important lesson, to look at the alternative forms of expression of interaction.

I think that among the many lessons that the history of interactions between Muslims and Christians can teach us these five lessons are very impressive for me as a student of Christian-Muslim relations.

What do you think could be the foundations for Christian-Muslim relations? And, what are the barriers you find while seeking to promote such relations?

For a Christian, our understanding of God is relational. God seeks fellowship with human persons. According to the Christian understanding, The Bible teaches that all human beings are created in the image and likeness of God. So, when we recognize that every person is an image and likeness of God and God is a relational God, it motivates us or leads us to relate with others. God is relational, and we are created in God’s image and likeness, and we also must be relational. Reaching out to the other then is at the heart of the Christian-Muslim relations.

Secondly, we also know experience that the spirit of God is active everywhere. The Catholic Church teaches that the ray of light is present in every religion. God’s presence is everywhere. So, when we see God’s presence elsewhere, we need to enter into the place with humility, whether it is the life of a Muslim family or a mosque or a temple or a Guruwadra or wherever. There is the presence of God. So, we enter there in humility, in a way metaphorically saying ‘remove your shoes and enter as a humble human being’.

Thirdly, our Christian belief is that the Word of God is spoken to us in Jesus in a defining way. Something like the word of God spoken to our Muslim brothers and sisters in the Holy Quran in a defining way. For Christians, Jesus is the message and the messenger. The Holy Qur’an and Jesus Christ are the windows through which they apprehend truth. We must remember that we do not comprehend truth. People of other faiths see through their windows. We see reality through a particular window, but we need to listen to one another to contemplate better the mystery of God in a deep personal way. The word of God is understood, experienced and responded to in very different ways.

As regards promoting Christian-Muslim relations, there are also many barriers both from the Christian side and the Muslim side. I have been teaching Islam, Christian-Muslim relations for the last 20 years or so. Many Christians have prejudices about Muslims. Generally, the prejudices are based on what they gather from the media and hearsay. These are major sources of prejudice. But there are some positive comments some of them may also make about Muslims, and generally that happens if they have had personal experience of interacting with a Muslim person. So, a very important lesson here is that there is no substitute for personal interaction.

Some of the prejudices are a result of not knowing or not being aware of facts. So, if you give them the right information and facts, these prejudices can be overcome, provided people are ready to learn. There is also another type of ignorance that I have found, which one could call ‘culpable ignorance’. That is born of ideological roots. It’s very difficult to engage with this, but we need to keep trying to.
A second barrier is the essentializing of Islam. Many Christians are not aware of the diversity among Muslims. We must recognise that Muslims have settled across the world and have roots in different cultures. They respond to their call as Muslims in many diverse ways. A very helpful publication in this regard is What is Islam: The Importance of Being Islamic authored by Shahab Ahmed. Christians must understand the diversity among Muslims for meaningful relations with Muslims.

From the Muslim side also I find prejudices. I take our students to madrasas, I take them students to Muslim friends, to meet them and interact. Especially in madrasas, some Muslims will say something to the effect that Christianity is a corrupted form of religion. They are very good, very hospitable and very generous hosts, but they try to always see Christianity from an ideological lens, from the lens of the medieval Muslim jurisprudence. It is not something strange for me, though, for many Christians see Muslims from a Christian lens. My effort is to help both sets of believers to listen to one another.

You serve as the Secretary of Islamic Studies Association (ISA). What are some of the ways in which the ISA promotes interfaith dialogue in India?

Islamic Studies Association is a small group of Catholic scholars, men and women, who are interested in Islam and Muslims and open to other religious faiths. They are men and women in dialogue. One of our major contributions is running a journal for the last 42 years—the “Salaam” quarterly—to promote understanding between Christians and Muslims. We have published many experience-based articles. The journal is being sent to many Christians and also to several Muslim friends and also people of other faiths.

Secondly, some members of Islamic Studies Association regularly teach Islam Christian-Muslim relations in a number of Christian seminaries—it’s like a Christian madrasa in a sense, where we teach and help Christian students who are going to be priests or who are going for special ministries. So, we try to help them to understand Islam and the importance of Muslim dimension. There are two components of this process. The first component is the input from us. We provide them some inputs about Islam and Muslims.

The second component is taking the students to meet Muslims, to madrasas, to a mosque, to a Sufi shrine, to interact with a Muslim a social activist, and so on. So, they are introduced to Muslims from different walks of life of Muslims. These people the students meet talk about their faith and what it means to be a Muslim today and how the Holy Quran and the Hadith of the Prophet helped them to be a better Muslim and a better person. So, this component is experiential.

ISA has also had some very illustrious members who made a significant intellectual contribution to the field of Islamic Studies, such as Fr. Christian Troll, who has now returned to Germany, and the late Fr. Paul Jackson, who was an important scholar of Sufism. They made a huge contribution to the Christian-Muslim relations, and we try to continue that legacy.