Muslims and Christians commit to moving from conflict to 'compassionate justice'

A gathering of Muslims and Christians looking at cooperation in a world of confrontation has said we must learn to move from conflict to compassionate justice.

Around 60 Christian and Muslim leaders and scholars met together at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland on 1-4 November 2010 for a top-level consultation organised jointly by the World Council of Churches, the World Islamic Call Society, the Royal Aal al Bayt Institute and the Consortium of A Common Word.

Gathering under the theme, “Transforming Communities: Christians and Muslims Building a Common Future”, the delegates considered the problems faced by religious minorities, both Christian and Muslim, and highlighted the importance of moving from a mindset of conflict to one that focused on compassionate justice.

One of the speakers at the consultation, the Lebanese minister of information Dr Tarek Mitri, said that discussion of religious “minorities and majorities” has become “a sterile duality” in political discourse.

It is more important, Mitri declared, to recognize that all are citizens with a shared responsibility for national life and a mutual obligation in securing justice for all. This corresponds to the call made by WCC General Secretary Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit during the opening session for a proper use of the word “we” in our societies.

Professor Mahmoud Ayoub of the Hartford Seminary Foundation in the USA, a member of the world Islamic council of the World Islamic Call Society, also called for followers of different faiths to “deal with our conflicts through compassionate justice.”

In the case of Muslim communities in the West, he described the “dilemma” of raising children in such a way as to maintain their traditional religious and cultural identity while also encouraging them “to live meaningfully” in their new homeland.

The panel examining the journey “From Conflict to Compassionate Justice” featured three speakers: Dr Aref Ali Nayed, director of the Kalam Research and Media Centre in Dubai; the Rev Kjell Magne Bondevik, former prime minister of Norway, president of the Oslo Centre for Peace and Human Rights and moderator of the WCC commission on international affairs; and Dr Farid Esack, a professor in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.

Nayed recommended dialogue as a means of helping “to keep each other honest” in the quest for justice and peace. Through dialogue, he added, it is possible to “grow ecologies of peace and forgiveness.”

Bondevik agreed: “I would argue that dialogue is not only a meaningful tool; it is perhaps the only tool to build better relations. It is a tool for the building of shared societies.”

Dr. Farid Esack (left), Peace for Life co-moderator, speaking
on the topic, "From Conflict to Compassionate Justice".
Seated beside him is Dr Aref Ali Nayed of the Kalam Research
and Media Centre in Dubai. [Photo © WCC/Mark Beach]

Esack, acknowledging that “ultimate answers do not belong to humankind,” suggested that one moves in the right direction if one admits one’s own culpability in systems of injustice and recognises oneself in others who suffer from that injustice: “The idea of justice without compassion is somehow a betrayal of justice.”

The consultation built on meetings that had been coordinated by the World Council of Churches over the past few years, particularly since the publication of A Common Word in 2007. The meeting highlighted the importance of education as a means for members of both faiths to come to a greater understanding about the ‘other’.

The final statement issued by the participants describes areas of common understanding, practical recommendations and concrete ways of follow-up upon which the group has agreed.

The consultation also issued a common statement condemning the attack on the Church of Our Lady of Najat in Baghdad on 31 October, and commend the implementation of the World Interfaith Harmony Week as adopted by the UN General Assembly on 20 October 2010.

Compiled from these sources:

RESOURCES: Transforming Communities: Christians and Muslims Building a Common Future – Final statement of the International Muslim-Christian Consultation, 2010 November 4

The Final Statement and other documents produced at the consultation may be downloaded
from the consultation website:

http://muslimsandchristians.net/documents/