Historically, "Allah" existed pre-Islam as the pagan Arabian moon-god. Christians and Jews who've studied Islam do not view Allah as the same God.
Bruce http://www.the-tidings.com/2007/010507/yearislam.htm A 'total honesty' approach to violence in the name of religion Pope Benedict XVI's remarks on Islam in Regensburg, Germany, followed by his bridge-building trip to Turkey have opened a new chapter in the Vatican's 40-year dialogue with the Muslim world. <http://www.the-tidings.com/2007/010507/yearislam1.htm> As he made clear when he stood and prayed next to a Muslim cleric in Istanbul's Blue Mosque, the pope wants to emphasize that members of both faiths worship the same God and share many religious values. In Turkey, he expressed his deep respect for Muslim believers. At the same time, the pope is not hesitating to raise some uncomfortable questions about the religious foundations of Islam and its cultural and political influences today. In line with what he once called a "total honesty" approach to interreligious dialogue, the pope is asking Muslims to examine sensitive issues like violence in the name of religion. Against a backdrop of global tensions, the pope believes the question cannot be ignored and that moderate voices must be heard. "Many people, including the pope, are asking whether there is not perhaps a link between certain interpretations of the foundations and sources of Islam and what is being done by Islamic extremists," said Jesuit Father Christian W. Troll, professor of Islamic studies at the Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in Frankfurt, Germany. While the pope would not fall into the mistake of overly generalizing about radical Islam, he would like Muslim dialogue partners to take a closer look at the interpretation of the Islamic heritage, in particular those elements that can be misused in the direction of violence, Father Troll told Catholic News Service. _____ Pope John Paul frequently spoke to Muslims about interreligious tolerance, cultural cooperation and reciprocal respect for religious freedom. Pope Benedict has touched on the same points, but with more direct language. _____ In his first major encounter with Islamic representatives in 2005, the pope asked Muslim elders to make sure their young are formed in attitudes of tolerance and cooperation. "I am profoundly convinced that we must not yield to the negative pressures in our midst, but must affirm the values of mutual respect, solidarity and peace. The life of every human being is sacred, both for Christians and for Muslims," he said. Vatican officials say that statement signaled a new manner of dialogue with Islam, but not an entirely new direction. "Pope Benedict XVI is carrying on the work of John Paul II with a style of his own: It's a work of continuation, not imitation," said Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. In fact, over the course of his pontificate, Pope John Paul frequently spoke to Muslims about interreligious tolerance, cultural cooperation and reciprocal respect for religious freedom. Pope Benedict has touched on the same points, but with more direct language. He has also tended to avoid the public gestures of interreligious friendship that were a trademark of his predecessor. One major exception was Pope Benedict's prayerful visit to the famed Blue Mosque in late November. After removing his slippers and taking a religious tour of the interior, the pope stood facing Mecca, folded his arms and "turned his thoughts toward God," as a spokesman said later. It was not a formal Christian prayer, which would have been seen as inappropriate by members of both faiths, but a spiritual meditation that in its simplicity showed what unites Christians and Muslims. The event was broadcast live on Turkish TV and appeared to win over many hearts and minds. Less noticed but equally significant in Turkey was how the pope quietly emphasized to his Muslim hosts that human dignity, human rights and especially religious freedom must be the measure for Christian-Muslim relations. In essence, the pope is identifying crucial issues and putting them "on a plate for the church and the Muslim world to discuss," said Father Justo Lacunza Balda, an official of the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies in Rome. "Today, these problems include the relationship of faith and reason, the link between religion and violence in the minds of some supposed religious leaders, the question of religious liberty, and questions about science, democracy and freedom," Father Lacunza said. At the University of Regensburg in September, the pope touched on several of these themes in language that he later acknowledged was open to misinterpretation. Most of the Muslim criticism focused on the pope's quotation of a medieval Byzantine emperor, who said the prophet Mohammed had brought "things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith." The pope afterward clarified that he was not endorsing the emperor's words. Much less attention was given to a broader question the speech posed about Islam: whether God is absolutely transcendent for Muslims and therefore not bound up with "any of our categories, even that of rationality." That echoed a question that arose last year, when the pope hosted a two-day, closed-door seminar on Islam with some of his former graduate students: If Muslims understand the revelation of the Quran, their sacred book, as literally divine and unadaptable, can Islam really engage the modern world and accept concepts like democracy? According to one participant, Jesuit Father Samir Khalil Samir, the pope believes Islam and democracy are compatible, but not without difficulty. Father Troll, the German Islamic scholar who gave a presentation at the papal seminar, said the pope avoided categorical judgments about Islam. But he said the pope understands that the traditional, mainstream theology of Islam may make it difficult for Muslims to critically evaluate how their faith interacts with history. The pope has long held that Islam's all-encompassing approach makes it a challenging dialogue partner. As he said in the 1997 book, "Salt of the Earth," the Quran is "a total religious law, which regulates the whole of political and social life and insists that the whole order of life be Islamic." Father Samir, an Egyptian-born expert on Islam, said in a recent article that Pope Benedict is one of the few figures to have understood Islam's struggle to find a place in modern society. He said this awareness has led the pope to broaden Christian-Muslim dialogue, emphasizing cultural issues above strictly religious aspects. "The essential idea is that dialogue with Islam and with other religions cannot be essentially a theological or religious dialogue, except in the broad terms of moral values; it must instead be a dialogue of cultures and civilizations," Father Samir said. That interpretation would explain why the pope, as one of his first reorganizational acts at the Vatican, made Cardinal Poupard, who is president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, the head of the interreligious dialogue council. Cardinal Poupard told CNS that this was a natural move, given the complementary nature of religion and culture. "There is a close connection between faith and culture and, therefore, between cultural dialogue and interreligious dialogue. The faith is not 'born' in a vacuum, but inside a culture," Cardinal Poupard said. In promoting what he calls a "dialogue of cultures and religions," the pope also has outlined a potential area of Christian-Muslim cooperation -- the struggle against secular trends in contemporary society. As the pope said in Regensburg, it's a society that risks becoming "deaf to the divine" and that "relegates religion to the realm of subcultures." Cardinal Poupard said the pope was, in effect, offering "an outstretched hand" to Islam in the battle against an oversecularized global culture. But the pope has also made it clear that for Christians, the struggle against a godless society is based on a rational approach, one that rejects violence, that does not see faith and reason in conflict, and that affirms the centrality of the person. His Regensburg speech, then, could be viewed as an invitation for Muslims to clarify the teachings of Islam on the same points. The strong initial criticism of the Regensburg speech has given way to more thoughtful evaluation by Islamic scholars. Even though the Muslim commentary is still largely unfavorable, Vatican officials now say the papal speech may turn out to be providential in promoting a frank, in-depth look at Christian-Muslim issues. One problem demonstrated by the controversy, however, was that Islam speaks with many voices. In the absence of a Muslim hierarchy, a small group burning an effigy of the pope may make a greater global impact than a group of Islamic scholars calmly dissecting the pope's arguments. That's something the pope has long recognized. In "Salt of the Earth," he said the currents of Islam run from "noble Islam" to "extremist, terrorist Islam." The Islamic religion as a whole should not be identified with a militant minority, he said. "I think that first we must recognize that Islam is not a uniform thing. In fact, there is no single authority for all Muslims, and for this reason dialogue with Islam is always dialogue with certain groups. No one can speak for Islam as a whole; it has, as it were, no commonly regarded orthodoxy," he said. An important issue the pope and his aides have raised with diverse Muslim audiences is the need for mutual respect for religious rights, including those of minority Christian populations in majority Muslim countries. But reciprocity is not seen at the Vatican as a prerequisite for dialogue, nor is it a Pope Benedict invention. Pope John Paul repeatedly raised the issue, notably in a 1985 speech in Morocco -- at a soccer stadium appearance where he was cheered by 70,000 Muslim youths. Pope Benedict has said he wants to build on the work of his predecessor and the relations of trust that have developed between Christians and Muslims. He has described his own approach as recognizing with joy the shared religious values and respecting "with loyalty" the differences. His recent prodding on some of the differences, his aides say, only illustrates the high importance he gives to this dialogue. As the pope told Muslim leaders in 2005: "Interreligious and intercultural dialogue between Christians and Muslims cannot be reduced to an optional extra. It is, in fact, a vital necessity, on which in large measure our future depends." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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