Tag: Abrahamic Faiths

The Holy City

In the little town of Madaba in the Jordanian highlands, the pavement of the Greek Orthodox parish church includes pieces of an ancient mosaic. The mosaic dates from the year 565 and is in the form of a map depicting Biblical Palestine and parts of neighboring countries.
The most famous section of the map portrays the city of Jerusalem. Although it seems at first blush rather simple, it is actually a faithful representation of the layout of the Byzantine city — so much so that when Jerusalem’s Jewish quarter was being excavated and rebuilt by the Israelis, they used the Madaba map as their guide to the archeology of the city.
The inscription on the map, incomplete because some pieces are missing, says “HAGIA POLIS IEROUSA” or “The Holy City of Jerusa”.
For Jews, for Christians, and for Muslims — that is, for almost half the human race — Jerusalem always has been The Holy City. In fact, that is still its proper name in Arabic.
For Jews, Jerusalem is the city that King David captured from the Jebusites and made his capital three thousand years ago. It is the city crowned by the temple built by King Solomon, the privileged and special place of communication with the God of Israel that housed the Ark of the Covenant, the chest that contained the tablets of the Law.
Jerusalem is the immemorial symbol of Judaism’s heart. Through the long centuries, every Passover wish and prayer has been “Next year in Jerusalem!”
As the psalmist poignantly cries, “If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand be forgotten!”

Christians remember Jerusalem also as the place where Joseph and Mary presented the infant Jesus to the Lord in the temple, where the boy sat in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking questions, where the man often came to pray and teach and finally to face his crucifixion and death.
Above all, Jerusalem is the place of the resurrection, the place of the descent of the Holy Spirit, the place where the Church was born.
For the followers of Jesus, Jerusalem is the focus of their earthly pilgrimage and the symbol of ultimate redemption. “I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
Muslims venerate Jerusalem as the place where Abraham offered his first-born son to God, as the home of the prophets, especially the Lord Jesus, and most of all as the place where the prophet Mohammed had his great mystical experience, riding up to visit the highest heavens.
Jerusalem houses the Al Aksa, the farthest mosque, and is the holiest city of Islam after Mecca and Medina.
Jerusalem is not just a territory in the Middle East, but a value in the hearts of 2,700,000,000 people. Jerusalem, the place of encounter with the divine, the symbol of peace is truly “The Holy City.”


(Published in
Catholic Near East, 23:3, May 1997)

We Believe in One God . . .

What does the believing Christian think about the believing Muslim?
The Second Vatican Council, in its declaration, Nostra Aetate, taught:

The Church has also a high regard for the Muslims. They worship God, who is one, living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has also spoken to men. They strive to submit themselves without reserve to the hidden decrees of God, just as Abraham submitted himself to God’s plan, to whose faith Muslims eagerly link their own. Although not acknowledging him as God, they venerate Jesus as a prophet, his virgin Mother they also honor, and even at times devoutly invoke. Further, they await the day of judgment and the reward of God following the resurrection of the dead. For this reason they highly esteem an upright life and worship God, especially by way of prayer, alms-deeds and fasting.
Over the centuries many quarrels and dissensions have arisen between Christians and Muslims. The sacred Council now pleads with all to forget the past, and urges that a sincere effort be made to achieve mutual understanding.

Reading history, it is clear that the message of Islam often was accompanied by political conquest — as happened with the message of Christianity. When the Byzantines and other Christian nations resisted, there was open warfare, but not always. For example, the introduction and penetration of Islam into Christian Egypt took place gradually over a period of several centuries.

Through the years, Christians in Muslim lands adopted a defensive cast of mind and retreated within themselves. Until recently, the Christian and Muslim worlds had remained very separate with little mutual comprehension.
How should the believing Christian approach the believing Muslim?
The first challenge is to find a common ground and vocabulary. There are many aspects of Christian faith that Muslims share but many they do not understand and reject. It is difficult to say whether they reject them having fully understood them or whether they reject them because of their misunderstanding. The reverse also holds true.
Take prophets, for example. A prophet is one who speaks the word of God. Christians may not accept that Muhammad is “the Seal of the Prophets” as Muslims believe. But, if almost one billion people in the modern world are striving to find their way to God and live a life of prayer, fasting, and sacrifice because of the teachings of Muhammad, can not and should not Christians consider Muhammad as a prophet, as one whom God uses to bring his word to many of humankind?
Once John said to Jesus, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow in our company.” Jesus said to him, “Do not prevent him, for whoever is not against you is for you.”


(Published in
Catholic Near East, 20:5, September 1994)

Brotherhood of Believers

Whenever I visit Damascus, I try to make a courtesy call on each of its religious leaders. Besides paying my respects to the Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs and the apostolic nuncio, I usually ask to be received by the Grand Mufti of Syria.
The mufti, Sheikh Ahmad Kaftaro, is the spiritual leader of Sunni Muslims in that republic. An elderly man, he has devoted much of his life to improving relations between Muslims and all believers.
On 28 January, he sent his grandson — a singular honor — to bring me and my three associates to a meeting with him.
Much to my surprise, when we reached the mufti’s Abu Nur headquarters, instead of escorting us up the stairs to his study, his grandson asked us to take off our shoes — a certain indication that we were about to enter the mosque.
It was noon on Friday, the day of Muslim observance. The mosque was carpeted with men, literally thousands, sitting on the floor, while other men and women looked down from tiers of galleries.
Although the service had already begun, the Mufti’s grandson led us down the center, making a way among the worshipers. We were given special places in the front, next to the central dais upon which the sheikh was seated.
Even simultaneous translation from Arabic into English had been arranged for us, and small radio receivers were at our chairs.
The mufti began to speak. He welcomed me as a representative of the Vatican and the American Catholic Church! Then, he set the theme of his sermon:
How necessary is solidarity and mutual understanding among the followers of Muhammad, Jesus, and Moses.

Confronted by the problems and evils of the modern world, all believers in the one God must stand together as brothers, he said. We are all children of Abraham.
During his long discourse, the sheikh spoke of Mary, the only woman mentioned in the Qur’an. He told his congregation how the Prophet Muhammad taught them to respect Christians.
It was truly extraordinary. Everyone in the mosque hung on his every word.
When he and another speaker concluded, he invited me to speak too! My words were translated into Arabic over loudspeakers in the mosque.
After expressing condolences — for Syria was mourning the recent tragic death of the president’s son — I told them what a treasure they had in their mufti.
If we could behold the throne of God, I said, surely we would see Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, and all the prophets gathered around it. And, if we come one day to paradise, surely we will be all together with them. So truly we must seek to be together in this world.
If the one God sends different messengers to us over the years, I added, how can the messages be contradictory? We are the ones responsible for division and misunderstanding, because in appearance, language. and ways we are strange one to another
Strangest and most wonderful of all—the mufti and a Catholic priest together speaking of God to the children of Islam.


(Published in
Catholic Near East, 20:2, March 1994)