Muslims push for Jewish dialogue

Tuesday 26th February 2008


Jewish leaders have welcomed an unprecedented open letter from Muslim communities around the world calling for "positive and constructive action" to improve relations.

The landmark document decries tensions between the two faiths and calls for further dialogue and an end to the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

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It said: “Jews and Muslims today stand apart from each other due to feelings of anger, which in some parts of the world, translate into violence. It is our contention that we are faced today not with ‘a clash of civilizations’ but with ‘a clash of ill-informed misunderstandings’."

Signatories of the letter, launched at the Muslim and Jewish relations department of the Woolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths on Monday, included professor Tariq Ramadam, Sheikh Suhaib Hasan Secretary General of the Islamic Sharia Council, the Muslim Council of Britain’s Ibrahim Mogra, Professor Sari Nusseibeh President of Al Quds University, and Sheikh Mustafa Ceric The Grand Mufti of Bosnia.

It outlines shared values between the religions and calls for further dialogue, “We both share a common patriarch, Ibrahim/Abraham, other Biblical prophets, laws and jurisprudence, many significant values and even dietary restrictions. There is more in common between our religions and peoples than is known to each of us.

"It is precisely due to the urgent need to address such political problems as well as acknowledge our shared values that the establishment of an inter-religious dialogue between Jews and Muslims in our time is extremely important.

"Failure to do so will be a missed opportunity. Memories of positive historical encounters will dim and the current problems will lead to an increasing rift and more common misunderstandings between us."
The letter also calls for closure to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and “a peaceful resolution that will assure mutual respect, prosperity and security to both Palestinians and Israelis, while allowing the Palestinian people their rights to self-determination.”

Sheikh Michael Mumisa, lecturer at the Woolf Institute, “We believe that this is a very significant and positive development in the history of relationships between Muslims and Jews. This is as much a letter to fellow Muslims as it is to Jews. To Jews it demonstrates that Muslims realise that it is important to read and interpret the Qur'an within a context of positive interreligious dialogue and understanding between Muslims and Jews.

At the same time, it also demonstrates to other Muslims that such a reading and interpretation is legitimate and acceptable within Islam.”

Rabbi Naftali Brawer, responsible for Jewish and Muslim relations in the Chief Rabbi’s cabinet, welcomed the letter.

The Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue rabbi told TJ: “This is a very considered an enlightened document. It takes bravery to reach out across the divide in this way and it is a move that inspires hope in our shared future.”

Three Faiths Forum co-founder, Sir Sigmund Sternberg added: “I welcome anything that brings Jews and Muslims together.”


Rabbi David Rosen, International President, Religions for Peace and Advisor on Interfaith Relations to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel has said: "I wholeheartedly welcome this most important initiative on the part of Muslim scholars and representatives. The striking commonalities of Islam and Judaism and those historic periods and places of remarkable cooperation and cross-fertilization between the two faith communities, have been tragically overshadowed and even hijacked by modern politics.

"The benefits from respectful dialogue and cooperation between the Muslim and Jewish communities can be a blessing not only to the communities themselves; but can have a profound impact on wider even global relations between religions and peoples, contributing to the well being of human society as a whole."

Rabbi Danny Rich, Director of Liberal Judaism, said: "I welcome this letter as an opportunity to strengthen relations between Muslims and Jews who, it seems to me, have more in common than divides them, and who together could contribute to making the world a more decent place for us, our children and future generations to occupy. Liberal Judaism, of which I am the Chief Executive, is deeply committed to pluralism both within and outside the Jewish community, by which it means that ultimate truth is only known to our common Creator and that diversity within faiths and in the community as a whole is of itself of great value."

Dr Judea Pearl, professor at UCLA and president of the Daniel Pearl Foundation (established in memory of Dr Pearl’s son Daniel who was murdered by Islamic extremists in 2002 during his work as a journalist of the Economist), describes the Letter as "a welcome first step toward the goals we aspire to achieve through interfaith dialogues -- peace, understanding and mutual respect."

Read the latest copy of The Jewish News Online by clicking here.

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