Evangelical Alliance welcomes letter from Muslim scholars

Today’s letter from 138 Islamic scholars expresses that which is common between Christianity and Islam.

11 October 2007

The Evangelical Alliance welcomes today’s letter from 138 Islamic scholars expressing that which is common between Christianity and Islam.

The letter rightly draws attention to the fact that love of God and love of neighbour are central to the Qu'ran and the Bible.

Any approach that is seeking to draw different religions into dialogue for the purpose of peace must be encouraged.

The Rev Joel Edwards, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance, said: “I welcome any movement from the Islamic world that is directed at peaceful engagement between faiths. This is a new and important development, and I would like to echo the Bishop of London’s challenge against cynicism and the victimisation of Muslims.

“Any dialogue, if it is to be useful, must also include a common concern for religious liberties in other parts of the world and a combined effort to resist radicalisation. Faith mustn’t go into denial, and must face up to the historic relationship between religious conviction and extremism.

“We must find a way to recognise together that today, Islam is identified with extremism more frequently than other religions. But this work must be honest without being superficial. It must be critical without condemning, so we applause the letter.”

Rev Edwards added that this task must be carried out with mutual respect and tolerance, and this does not prevent the two faiths from having genuine and important differences.

“It must ask penetrating questions about a religious attitude to tolerance and what this means to us in a culture where convictions are often presented as a political liability,” he said.

“In this dialogue, tolerance must mean a non-negotiable commitment to mutual respect, but also allow a Muslim to say that Mohammed is God’s prophet and a Christian to claim salvation is found in Jesus alone.”

He added that exclusive theological claims are no more intolerant than party political speeches or pre-election budget claims.

“And when we have closed the debate, we must search together for ways in which faith works with communities to tackle the intractable problems of our day in ways in which politicians cannot,” he said.