Muslims and Christians together make up well over half of the world’s population. Without peace and justice between these two religious communities, it is difficult to have meaningful peace in the world.
The basis for this peace and understanding already exists. It is part of the very foundational principles of both faiths: love of the One God, and love of the neighbour. These principles are found over and over again in the sacred texts of Islam and Christianity. The Unity of God, the necessity of love for Him, and the necessity of love of the neighbour are thus the common ground between Islam and Christianity. The following are only a few examples:
Of God’s Unity, God says in the Qur’an: Say: He is God, the One! / God, the Self-Sufficient Besought of all! (Al-Ikhlas, 112:1-2). Of the necessity of love for God, God says in the Holy Qur’an: So invoke the Name of thy Lord and devote thyself to Him with a complete devotion (Al-Muzzammil, 73:8). Of the necessity of love for the neighbour, the Prophet Muhammad said: “None of you has faith until you love for your neighbour what you love for yourself.”
In the New Testament, Jesus Christ said: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. / And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. ’This is the first commandment. / And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself. ’There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31)
About Author:
Lejla Demiri is a postdoctoral fellow with the "Europe in the Middle East - the Middle East in Europe" project. Her research focuses on respective Muslim and Christian understandings of the religious ‘other’, as expressed in Arabic and Ottoman Turkish theological writings. From 2007-10 Demiri was a Research Fellow at Trinity Hall College, Cambridge University and she taught courses on religious pluralism and interfaith dialogue at the Cambridge Muslim College. Demiri holds a BA and MA from Marmara University, a licentiate degree and postgraduate diploma from the Pontifical Gregorian University, and a PhD from the University of Cambridge.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 112
Publisher: Muslim Academic Trust
Published: 2011
Dimensions: 20 x 11 x 0.8cm