Conver(sa)tion - An Evangelical-Muslim dialogue with Dr Chawkat Moucarry and Rashad Ali

As a follow-up event to the consultation "Interfaith Encounter from an Evangelical Perspective"  we would like to invite you to another open conversation on a controversial issue of interfaith relations. Islam and Christianity are both invitational faiths, each seeking to share their particular revelation with others, and in some ways in competition. What does this mean for the nature and purpose of inter-religious dialogue?
Dr Chawkat Moucarry and Rashad Ali will lead a participative discussion on how Christians and Muslims as adherents of missionary religions can become involved in interfaith engagement. How does Evangelism / Da'wa and dialogue relate to each other?  We also want to discuss the challenges and concerns regarding attempts to spread the Christian faith in Muslim-majority countries as well as the Muslim faith in Europe. How do we deal with converts in our faith communities?

To register for this event click HERE or visit www.stethelburgas.org. 

Dr. Chawkat Moucarry - Director of Inter-faith Relations, World Vision U.K.
Chawkat Moucarry was born in Aleppo (Syria) and grew up in a Catholic home. He lived in Paris for twenty years. In 1994 he moved to England where he taught Islamic and Middle-Eastern Studies at All Nations Christian College. In September 2006 he joined World Vision International, a Christian Development, Relief and Advocacy organization, as the director of inter-faith relations. He is fluent in Arabic (mother tongue), French and English. Chawkat has a Masters degree in Christian theology and a PhD in Islamic Studies from the Sorbonne University (Paris). He wrote several articles and books including Faith to Faith. Christianity & Islam in dialogue (IVP: 2001), The Search for Forgiveness. Pardon and Punishment in Islam and Christianity (IVP, 2004) and Two Prayers for Today. The Lord’s Prayer and The Fatiha (CSS Books: Tiruvalla, 2007).

Rashad Ali - A reader in comparative religion and Islamic Studies in particular - Comparative Theology and Law.
Has researched, lectured and taught as well as devised programmes for instruction on Islam, modernity and various aspects of Islamic Law.
Has taught widely across Medina and Jeddah Universities and been involved with research and faith related awareness with various think tanks and bodies in the UK and abroad.
He has currently co-authored a theological critique on Islamist separatists regarding Political Participation. He has written for The Telegraph, The Observer, The Independent and regularly comments and takes part in productions for the BBC Radio 4 show, 'Beyond Belief' and appears on TV discussion programmes.
He is currently director of CENTRI - www.centri.org.uk

A Plea for Dialogue Between Christians and Muslims

The following is an extract from an article by Dr Chawkat Moucarry written for the Lausanne Global Conversation.

I have never understood why some people look at dialogue and mission in either-or terms. In my experience, these words belong so much to each other that they should never be divorced. Evangelical Christians (whose theology I share) have shown an unwarranted suspicion of dialogue, simply because some have used it as a substitute for mission. Not only are the two words compatible, but they must shape each other.

…

What is dialogue? 

I take dialogue to mean a deliberate effort to engage genuinely and respectfully with each other; a willingness to listen and understand; a readiness to learn and be challenged. It is also a desire to relate to, communicate with, and be understood by one another. Christian-Muslim dialogue focuses on the two faiths and their implications for individuals and communities in this life and the next.

For many centuries, Christians in the Western world have either ignored or confronted the Muslim world. Ignoring Muslims is no longer an option in our "global village," where Muslims and Christians live next to each other. Some Christians relate to Muslims in a confrontational way. They consider polemics a perfectly legitimate way to approach Islam. Polemics, as its derivation from the Greek (polemik&243;s, "of war") suggests, is about waging a war of words against Muslims by attacking their religion. This approach is counterproductive. It usually provokes a defensive response—Muslims becoming more radical in their beliefs—and often an offensive reaction too—Muslims attacking Christianity even more vehemently. A polemical engagement with Islam produces more heat than light, and is incompatible with "the gospel of peace" (Eph. 6:15), which is about reconciliation, love, and forgiveness.

Welcome and witness 

We often think of dialogue as verbal engagement, but this is a very narrow view. Dialogue is first of all about an open attitude toward others, a disposition that reaches out and welcomes people who are different or even antagonistic. Dialogue is a way of life. Understood this way, Christian-Muslim dialogue is an encounter at three distinct and interrelated levels. Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-26) is paradigmatic.

First, Christians and Muslims meet each other as human beings. They have much in common—physical and emotional needs, human and spiritual aspirations, joys and sorrows, hopes and struggles.

Second, they meet as monotheistic believers who share many beliefs (for example, creation, human stewardship, divine guidance, sin, forgiveness, final judgment) and ethical values (for example, moral standards, the sacredness of human life, sexual fidelity, a commitment to the poor), even though the way they think of these is not exactly the same.

Finally, Christians and Muslims claim to be God's witnesses on earth. Christians and Muslims have huge misunderstandings about each other's faith. Removing the misunderstandings is an integral part of dialogue. As we explain our faiths to one another, each community bears witness to the Creator according to its own perspective. 

We can measure a fruitful dialogue by its outcomes. 

It should result in a better understanding of each other's faith and of one's own. 

Dialogue should lead to better relationships between the two communities and strengthen their social commitments.

Dialogue is also an excellent school for tolerance. It helps us overcome our ignorance, our prejudice, our self-centeredness, our fanaticism, and our spiritual pride.

Is conversion a legitimate goal in dialogue? Yes. It is perfectly legitimate for believers who take seriously the exclusive claims of their religion to try to persuade others of the truth they proclaim. There is nothing wrong with hoping and even expecting that some people, having carefully examined these claims, will make a life-changing decision as a result of transparent and free dialogue. Unless we accept conversion as a possible outcome for dialogue, our claim to be tolerant remains unproven.

READ THE FULL DOCUMENT HERE

About the author:

Chawkat Moucarry is World Vision International's director of interfaith relations. He has written several books and articles, including The Prophet and the Messiah: An Arab Christian's Perspective on Islam and Christianity (IVP, 2001); The Search for Forgiveness: Pardon and Punishment in Islam and Christianity (IVP, 2004); and Two Prayers for Today: The Lord's Prayer and the Fatiha (CSS Books, 2007).

Hope for safe space for honest and supportive discussion

I echo Sarah’s comments below – for the hope that this blog can become a space for open and frank discussion about the effect interfaith work has on our personal faith journeys and provide encouragement for us along the way. As the ‘used-to-be-evangelical’ referred to by Sarah, I was unsure whether I was entitled to contribute to a blog for ‘Evangelicals in Interfaith’. However, having had Christoph’s blessing over a coffee last week, I am pleased to be able to take part in the discussion!

I am aware that part of the anxiety for evangelicals in getting involved with interfaith work is about the effect it may have on the faith of their fellow believers. I, in turn, am anxious that by contributing to this blog I may not help diminish those evangelical anxieties! However, I do firmly believe that a true and living faith in the creator God can only really be so if it is capable of engaging in open and honest discussion about challenging questions and experience. Furthermore, what I have found is that even though encountering interfaith has often challenged my faith so deeply that I am not sure whether I actually believe in it anymore, the flip side is that my moments of faith now are far richer and deeper than I could previously have imagined.

Possibly the closest I have come to being able to ‘reconcile’ the impact of encountering other faiths and holding onto my own Christian faith in the last few years followed on from reading a passage in Kenneth Cragg’s book where he explains the Christian view of the Trinity. The part that is relevant here is his description of the first two members of the Trinity, the Father and the Son. He explains how Jesus’ disciples would have been staunch mono-theists, in line with their Jewish tradition. Like the Muslim belief, to associate any partners to him or suggest that the one true God could become human, would have been blasphemy of the highest order.

However, the gospels tell the story of how these mono-theists were increasingly perplexed as they encountered a person who defied their assumptions about God. Who on earth is this person who forgives sins, calms the winds and the waves and gives sight to the blind? They can’t make sense of it because it is so beyond their understanding of how God works. Only after years of following him can they start to comprehend that perhaps this man could indeed be God, and they only become more assured after the resurrection. It takes decades, if not centuries, for a semblance of a doctrine about the Trinity to emerge after this. At that moment before, when this group of mono-theistic disciples stand in utter confusion about how to reconcile their Jewish belief in God with their encounter with Jesus, they can not properly explain it, but they have a deep conviction that somehow God is at work there.

And in some way this is how I have come to feel about my encounter with people of other faiths. I try to hold onto a belief that Jesus is the only full revelation of God but am confronted by stories of the integrity of the Prophet Mohammed and his claims to have received God’s final revelation. And this final revelation continues to inspire many of my Muslim friends and colleagues to devote their lives to seeking justice, serving the poor and oppressed and worshipping one God. The theological clarity of Islam and the deep spirituality of my dear Muslim friends has at times drawn me near to a place where I feel I have no choice but to embrace it as my own faith. Resisting this has often resulted in me not feeling able to have a theology which isn’t entirely pluralist, which in turn starts to undermine the faith I try to have in Jesus as I have been conditioned to believe that true Christian faith and pluralism can’t mix.

So at present, the best I can do is reflect on Cragg’s story of the first disciples and feel something of the same bewilderment; I have a tradition instilled in me that equates Christianity as the only true faith, yet I sense and observe a deep and inspiring faith and spirituality in my Muslim, and more recently Jewish, friends. Like the first disciples in the days around Jesus’ death and resurrection, I have no theological structure to understand how faith in the Christian God can coexist with the incredible spirit I see in Muslims and Jews, but my faith and hope is that somehow, beyond my current comprehension, they can and do.

Andy Pring, Cohesion Project Officer (Youth Worker) at Wandsworth Borough Council