March 27, 2008

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GODSPY Discussion Forums Members must log-in before posting. If you are not a member, click here to join. Take a moment to read our frequently asked questions. And check the today page for announcements from the editors. Navigation: Select WHO'S ON: 6:50 PM Faith Life Culture Issues Meditations News Opinion Misc. join search today help faq home login FORUMS > ISSUES Replying to Thread: The Dialogue with Islam  [Feature] Created On October 25, 2006 1:54 AM by Godspy Username: Password: Remember my login Forget your login information? Godspy Posts: 13 Joined: Sep 2003 October 25, 2006 1:54 AM Neither Islam nor Christianity is going away, so we�ll need to find ways of speaking to each other. Is the Open Letter recently addressed to the Pope a sign that a moderate and rational Muslim consensus is beginning to emerge? Reply Quote Top Bottom M.F.Rahman Posts: 1 Joined: Oct 2006 October 25, 2006 12:00 PM Stratford Caldecott has written eminently and wisely in the profoundest sense. Christian comment is sincerely invited. MFRahman. Reply Quote Top Bottom BP Posts: 7 Joined: Jun 2006 October 25, 2006 5:27 PM The elephant in the room that I have yet to see any Catholic writer (ordained or lay) explicitly acknowledge is that the Catholic Church does not recognize the divine inspiraration of the Qur�an. Maybe it's me, but I get the impression that this important point is being swept under the rug. I'm not trying to be rude or disrespectful to Muslims just honest. The fact that Christians do not recognize the divine inspiration of Qur�an (as opposed to the the Old Testament) puts us on a completely different ecumenical footing with Muslims as opposed to Jews. Because of this, I think there are severe limits to how far theological rapprochement with Islam can go. In my opinion, dialogue with Islam is limited to the practical matter of reciprocity. That is, how can both religions peacefully co-exist in spite of our differences. Reply Quote Top Bottom klossg Posts: 6 Joined: Nov 2005 October 26, 2006 9:56 AM I am interested in the link "fascinating figure" that looks as if it should go to Lumbard1.htm. The link is broken. Can this link be fixed? Also, anything that gets Muslims and Christians speaking is a good thing. I would love to see some articles and information on today's best Catholic scholars on Islam. Thanks, George Kloss ------------------------- George - God is good! Reply Quote Top Bottom Corvus Posts: 1 Joined: Oct 2006 October 29, 2006 9:57 PM At issue with Islamic mysticism is the fact that sufism is not a uniform body of thought and practice. The author mentions Muhammad Ibnul Arabi the Andalusian mystic whose thought intrigues many of the west today. However, the bulk of Muslims are unfamiliar with his work and it is largely relegated to the specialization of scholars for discussion of little import to issues which concern Muslims in ther daily lives and practice of faith. There is no intact school of his thought in transmission today which has a claim to any influence. Sufism and islamic philosophy took a hard turn away from hellenistic peripatetic and neoplatonic influences after the publication of the Ihya Ulum ad Din (Revival of Religious Sciences) and the Tahafut al Falasafiya (Incoherence of Philosophers) by the sufi mystic Muhmmad abu Hamid Al Ghazali in the 12th century. The gist of his teaching was to question the foundations of rationalism and to exhort Islamic scholars to focus on the sciences beneficial to the Ummah, those of Quran and Sunnah and to shum innovations brought in from the world of the kafirun (unbelievers). This was to have a devastating effect given witness that the production of Islamic science came to an abrupt stop shortly thereafter. While perhaps this can be blamed on the Mongol incursions as well, nevetheless the intellectual traditions which had sustained Islamic culture up untill the 12th and 13th centuries were undone and incapable of revival in the aftermath. This same shunning of innovations obtains in the current salafist thought which spurns any influence of outside textual methods and dialog. Given this, it is difficult to see how this much desired dialog between cultures will take place given a lack of common ground. Certainly dialog may take place with academicians and legists at the liberal margins of the Din al Islam, however, these are not representative of the majority. What will be necessary first is an opening within Islam itself to consider prior methods of textual interpretation which came to be discarded after the propagation of the Tahafut and the Ihya Ulum ad Din. Reply Quote Top Bottom troubledgoodangel Posts: 29 Joined: Dec 2006 February 03, 2007 1:35 PM When it comes to ecumenism, the primary issue is not which text is inspired and which is not. A larger issue and a more important one is who is holy and who is not! For holiness is the ground in which the Holy Spirit sows inspiration! It is through the Holy Spirit that Christians know their text to be inspired. And it is also through the Holy Spirit that they can tell which is not. But I repeat, judging texts is not helpful for ecumenism. Instead, let's focus on the holiness of the persons, not their written word! If a Moslem is holy, he will find a common ground with a holy Christian ... and with his Scripture. Furthermore, a holy Moslem will also know where there is holiness in a text and where there is not!Then, and only then, both will know whose texts are inspired and whose are not! And then, inspired by the Spirit of Holiness, they will both find the desperately needed common ground! 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