Islam's transcendent challenge

[Uthman]

November 4th will be historic not only because the U.S. will elect its first black president or its first female vice president, but also because Pope Benedict XVI will convene the most important interfaith conference in recent history.

Responding to his controversial 2006 speech at the University of Regensburg -- in which he seemed to imply that Islam is inherently violent and irrational -- 138 Muslim leaders sent an open letter to Benedict and the heads of other Christian denominations titled "A Common Word Between Us and You." The letter said, in effect, "We need to talk." The Vatican subsequently announced the formation of a new Catholic-Muslim Forum. Its first meeting will be held on Election Day.

Islamica magazine explained the letter's significance from a Muslim perspective: "All eight schools of thought and jurisprudence in Islam are represented by [its] signatories. In this respect the letter is unique in the history of interfaith relations." According to the "A Common Word" website, "138 Muslim scholars, clerics and intellectuals have unanimously come together for the first time since the days of the Prophet to declare the common ground between Christianity and Islam."

For better or worse, absent in Islam are the established hierarchies found in Christian religions. As a result, many in the West have complained that it's impossible to know where the Muslim middle stands on any given issue. The fact that representatives of a broad swath of Islam will come together for the first time to speak to Christianity with a unified voice is, at the very least, encouraging.

While there are countless similarities among the Abrahamic faiths, there are also important differences. Without a basic understanding of these differences productive interfaith dialog can't happen, and common solutions to taming religious extremism will remain elusive.

Islam holds that God is absolutely transcendent. He is so great he exists beyond humanity's capacity to comprehend him. Christianity holds that God is all knowing and all powerful, but that he is also interactive, that man can come to know God, even if imperfectly.

Christian scholars have at times argued that because Muslims believe that God is transcendent there's no place for reason in the practice of Islam. To wit, Australian Cardinal George Pell has declared: "In the Muslim understanding, the Koran comes directly from God, unmediated. Muhammad simply wrote down God's eternal and immutable words as they were dictated to him by the Archangel Gabriel. It cannot be changed, and to make the Koran the subject of critical analysis and reflection is either to assert human authority over divine revelation (a blasphemy), or to question its divine character."

Islamic scholars argue that although Muslims don't interact directly with God, they do interpret his perfect word and apply it in their daily lives in different ways. An overwhelming majority of Muslims read the Koran fully. In the case of the Koran's various references to jihad, they believe it is both an ongoing spiritual struggle for the eternal soul and a physical war that is justifiable only in self-defense. Their belief that God is transcendent in no way precludes reasoned faith.

Modern Islamic scholars interpret the Koran through an historic lens that takes into account the language, the customs, the society, and even the archeology and geology of the time. There is a rather large rift within Islam between forward-looking progressives who accept the Koran as God's perfect word but believe it must be interpreted in context, and backward-looking fundamentalists who believe the word of God as conveyed to Muhammad in the 7th century and recorded in the Koran is, as Cardinal Pell said, "eternal and immutable". This rift is proving to be difficult for Muslims to reconcile.

Benedict knows full well that Islam is neither inherently violent nor irrational, that most fundamentalists, or strict literalists as some have called them, are peaceful. When read fully the Koran offers more than enough scriptural evidence for the Muslim middle, progressives and fundamentalists alike, to know that Islam is first and foremost a religion of peace.

Among Islamic fundamentalists however are extremists who are both violent and irrational. They teach a selective version of the Koran, and they use the concept of God as absolutely transcendent to fend off anyone who might question them. What Benedict seems to find most troubling is that those doing the twisting are among Islam's learned -- its clergymen, scholars, professionals and the like.

The extremists' pitch goes something like this. The Koran contains God's perfect word. Violent jihad is a sacred duty. God is unknowable. To question his perfect word is blasphemous. Do as he has [we have] commanded and heaven will be yours. The extremists cherry pick the parts of the Koran that support their violent cause -- a cause that many think is more political than religious -- and ignore the parts that don't. Benedict no doubt finds these sophists to be entirely unreasonable.

Seven years after the 9/11 attacks, most Muslims are still in a quandary. They are angry that their peaceful religion has been co-opted by a small number of violent extremists. They are fearful because these extremists have shown a willingness to kill anyone who opposes them. And they are frustrated because they've been forced to defend their religion to Westerners who have condemned it without first attempting to understand it.

In the middle of a war they did not start and have no desire to participate in, peaceful Muslims are caught in the crossfire. The instinctive human reaction when faced with such a threat is to duck. Having done so, the peaceful Muslim majority has lost its voice.

If in the upcoming forum a broad cross section of Muslim leaders can be self-critical, if they can condemn the extremists, not for being un-Islamic as they have often done, but for using the Islamic belief that God is transcendent to sell their twisted interpretation of the Koran as his unquestionable will, Christians will embrace them.

Benedict is singularly positioned to lead all people, despite their important differences, to agreement on what it means to be faithful to the God of their choosing. The world will be well served to follow his lead.

Michael Gonyea is a freelance marketing writer. He welcomes comments at mgyea@comcast.net.Source

[Uthman]

Faith leaders promote peace

The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams is to join Christian and Muslim scholars for the start of a conference aimed at promoting understanding between the two faiths.

Dr Williams and the Grand Mufti of Egypt Sheikh Ali Gomaa will be among those addressing A Common Word, a conference at Cambridge University involving academics from around the world.

The event coincides with the first anniversary of the publication of A Common Word Between Us and You, a letter from 138 Islamic scholars, clerics and intellectuals.

Addressed to Pope Benedict XVI and other Christian leaders, the letter warned that the survival of the world could be at stake if Muslims and Christians could not make peace with each other.

"If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace. With the terrible weaponry of the modern world - with Muslims and Christians intertwined everywhere as never before - no side can unilaterally win a conflict between more than half of the world's inhabitants.

"Our common future is at stake," the letter said. "The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake."

The scholars also used quotations from the Bible and the Koran to illustrate similarities between the two faiths, such as the requirement to worship one God and to love one's neighbour.

In a letter of response published earlier this year, Dr Williams welcomed the document as a "significant development" in relations between Christians and Muslims.

The organisers of the conference said it would examine practical and "ground-breaking" steps that the two religious faiths could take to ensure they deepen mutual understanding, action and friendship.

The event comes after Dr Williams was heavily criticised earlier this year following a BBC interview in which he suggested that the adoption of some aspects of Islamic sharia law in the UK seemed "unavoidable".

Source

[جوري]

frankly I am in the mood for war.
I just saw them open fire on Indonesian Muslims, as the dolt of a commentator closed with, 'they are making their last pray to contemplate the actions before the God they have killed for'-- and then the other media w h o r e, nodded with 'these are chilling words that will linger with us'
I wanted to throw a brick on my TV.
I tell you crap like that makes me lose my reason. I wonder, how Khalid ibn ilwaleed or Omar ibn ilkhtab would have taken this?

We have let Islam down, and these herders or swine just fuel the world for a battle... I don't think it will get better at all with us coaxing them. They want war. let them have it!

Al ayam bynana ya 3obad al'asnam!

[wth1257]

frankly I am in the mood for war.
I just saw them open fire on Indonesian Muslims, as the dolt of a commentator closed with, 'they are making their last pray to contemplate the actions before the God they have killed for'-- and then the other media w h o r e, nodded with 'these are chilling words that will linger with us'
I wanted to throw a brick on my TV.
I tell you crap like that makes me lose my reason. I wonder, how Khalid ibn ilwaleed or Omar ibn ilkhtab would have taken this?

We have let Islam down, and these herders or swine just fuel the world for a battle... I don't think it will get better at all with us coaxing them. They want war. let them have it!

Al ayam bynana ya 3obad al'asnam!

:raging:



You may wish to calm down the internet tough talk:uuh:

Who exactly is "them"?

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[wth1257]

November 4th will be historic not only because the U.S. will elect its first black president or its first female vice president, but also because Pope Benedict XVI will convene the most important interfaith conference in recent history.

Responding to his controversial 2006 speech at the University of Regensburg -- in which he seemed to imply that Islam is inherently violent and irrational -- 138 Muslim leaders sent an open letter to Benedict and the heads of other Christian denominations titled "A Common Word Between Us and You." The letter said, in effect, "We need to talk." The Vatican subsequently announced the formation of a new Catholic-Muslim Forum. Its first meeting will be held on Election Day.

Islamica magazine explained the letter's significance from a Muslim perspective: "All eight schools of thought and jurisprudence in Islam are represented by [its] signatories. In this respect the letter is unique in the history of interfaith relations." According to the "A Common Word" website, "138 Muslim scholars, clerics and intellectuals have unanimously come together for the first time since the days of the Prophet to declare the common ground between Christianity and Islam."

For better or worse, absent in Islam are the established hierarchies found in Christian religions. As a result, many in the West have complained that it's impossible to know where the Muslim middle stands on any given issue. The fact that representatives of a broad swath of Islam will come together for the first time to speak to Christianity with a unified voice is, at the very least, encouraging.

While there are countless similarities among the Abrahamic faiths, there are also important differences. Without a basic understanding of these differences productive interfaith dialog can't happen, and common solutions to taming religious extremism will remain elusive.

Islam holds that God is absolutely transcendent. He is so great he exists beyond humanity's capacity to comprehend him. Christianity holds that God is all knowing and all powerful, but that he is also interactive, that man can come to know God, even if imperfectly.

Christian scholars have at times argued that because Muslims believe that God is transcendent there's no place for reason in the practice of Islam. To wit, Australian Cardinal George Pell has declared: "In the Muslim understanding, the Koran comes directly from God, unmediated. Muhammad simply wrote down God's eternal and immutable words as they were dictated to him by the Archangel Gabriel. It cannot be changed, and to make the Koran the subject of critical analysis and reflection is either to assert human authority over divine revelation (a blasphemy), or to question its divine character."

Islamic scholars argue that although Muslims don't interact directly with God, they do interpret his perfect word and apply it in their daily lives in different ways. An overwhelming majority of Muslims read the Koran fully. In the case of the Koran's various references to jihad, they believe it is both an ongoing spiritual struggle for the eternal soul and a physical war that is justifiable only in self-defense. Their belief that God is transcendent in no way precludes reasoned faith.

Modern Islamic scholars interpret the Koran through an historic lens that takes into account the language, the customs, the society, and even the archeology and geology of the time. There is a rather large rift within Islam between forward-looking progressives who accept the Koran as God's perfect word but believe it must be interpreted in context, and backward-looking fundamentalists who believe the word of God as conveyed to Muhammad in the 7th century and recorded in the Koran is, as Cardinal Pell said, "eternal and immutable". This rift is proving to be difficult for Muslims to reconcile.

Benedict knows full well that Islam is neither inherently violent nor irrational, that most fundamentalists, or strict literalists as some have called them, are peaceful. When read fully the Koran offers more than enough scriptural evidence for the Muslim middle, progressives and fundamentalists alike, to know that Islam is first and foremost a religion of peace.

Among Islamic fundamentalists however are extremists who are both violent and irrational. They teach a selective version of the Koran, and they use the concept of God as absolutely transcendent to fend off anyone who might question them. What Benedict seems to find most troubling is that those doing the twisting are among Islam's learned -- its clergymen, scholars, professionals and the like.

The extremists' pitch goes something like this. The Koran contains God's perfect word. Violent jihad is a sacred duty. God is unknowable. To question his perfect word is blasphemous. Do as he has [we have] commanded and heaven will be yours. The extremists cherry pick the parts of the Koran that support their violent cause -- a cause that many think is more political than religious -- and ignore the parts that don't. Benedict no doubt finds these sophists to be entirely unreasonable.

Seven years after the 9/11 attacks, most Muslims are still in a quandary. They are angry that their peaceful religion has been co-opted by a small number of violent extremists. They are fearful because these extremists have shown a willingness to kill anyone who opposes them. And they are frustrated because they've been forced to defend their religion to Westerners who have condemned it without first attempting to understand it.

In the middle of a war they did not start and have no desire to participate in, peaceful Muslims are caught in the crossfire. The instinctive human reaction when faced with such a threat is to duck. Having done so, the peaceful Muslim majority has lost its voice.

If in the upcoming forum a broad cross section of Muslim leaders can be self-critical, if they can condemn the extremists, not for being un-Islamic as they have often done, but for using the Islamic belief that God is transcendent to sell their twisted interpretation of the Koran as his unquestionable will, Christians will embrace them.

Benedict is singularly positioned to lead all people, despite their important differences, to agreement on what it means to be faithful to the God of their choosing. The world will be well served to follow his lead.

Michael Gonyea is a freelance marketing writer. He welcomes comments at mgyea@comcast.net.Source

:D

good news

[جوري]

:raging:



You may wish to calm down the internet tough talk:uuh:

Who exactly is "them"?

Don't like the way I write-- don't read what I write. I am not in the mood for condescension!

Don't like the members here, don't be a member here it is simple!

[wth1257]

Don't like the way I write-- don't read what I write. I am not in the mood for condescension!

I was not being condescending in any way, I did offer the advise that you may wish to tone down the internet tough talk.

It had nothing to do with the why you write but what you wrote, and I believe I have every right to comment on that and in fact that such interaction is exactly the point of a forum, and indeed that super cool "quote" button.

I don't want this to cause an argument, it was just some advise, please do not take it the wrong way.

Don't like the members here, don't be a member here it is simple!

I like everyone here

[جوري]

I was not being condescending in any way, I did offer the advise that you may wish to tone down the internet tough talk.

It had nothing to do with the why you write but what you wrote, and I believe I have every right to comment on that and in fact that such interaction is exactly the point of a forum, and indeed that super cool "quote" button.

I don't want this to cause an argument, it was just some advise, please do not take it the wrong way.



I like everyone here

If I wanted advise I'd ask for it!

cheers

[wth1257]

If I wanted advise I'd ask for it!

cheers

fair enough

[Uthman]

A Common Word and future Muslim-Christian engagement

A major international conference of Muslim and Christian scholars and religious leaders began at Cambridge University this weekend.

"A Common Word And Future Muslim-Christian Engagement", opened last night (Sunday, October 12th) with presentations by both the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Sheikh Ali Gomaa.

The event is the second in a series of conferences which aim to continue the dialogue between the two faiths prompted by the release of A Common Word Between Us And You - a letter from 138 Islamic scholars, clerics and intellectuals published in October 2007.

This letter was a statement of peace and friendship which stated that the two most important teachings for both Muslims and Christians are the love of God and love of one's neighbour.

In July 2008, the Archbishop of Canterbury, after extensive consultation with scholars and leaders from many churches, sent a substantial letter in response: A Common Word for the Common Good.

The Cambridge event will, in the light of these two letters, examine a programme of practical steps that the two religious faiths can take to ensure that they deepen mutual understanding, action and friendship.

"The Common Word letters are probably the most important step forward in Muslim-Christian relations in 50 years," Professor Ford, Director of the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme, said.

"They engage with each other from the core of each faith and they face up to many big issues, including practical matters of violence, religious freedom and how to collaborate for the sake of peace. They also touch on some of the deepest religious issues to do with God, prayer, love of one's neighbour and dealing with global problems.

"The Cambridge conference will carry this process further. We aim to offer a model of partnership between Muslims and Christians at the highest level of intellectual engagement and the deepest level of scriptural attentiveness."

The conference was due to open at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, last evening, where the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Sheikh Ali Gomaa, were both expected to give addresses to an invited audience of about 40 religious scholars and leaders from four continents.

There will follow two days of closed, intensive discussion and study before a final press briefing at Lambeth Palace on Wednesday, October 15th.

The Cambridge conference is part of a series of consultations around A Common Word. The first took place at Yale University in July, 2008. Future gatherings will take place in Rome in November 2008, at Georgetown University in March 2009 and Jordan (date yet to be decided).

A Common Word

Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme

Source

[The_Prince]

A Common Word between Us and You



Sami Zaatari





As many of you might know there has been a recent initiative by over 250 Muslim scholars which has been called A Common Word



The initiative of this group is to find a common ground between the 2 faiths of Christianity and Islam, to not look at our differences and argue/debate them, but to rather ignore the differences and concentrate on the similarities:

Never before have Muslims delivered this kind of definitive consensus statement on Christianity. Rather than engage in polemic, the signatories have adopted the traditional and mainstream Islamic position of respecting the Christian scripture and calling Christians to be more, not less, faithful to it.

It is hoped that this document will provide a common constitution for the many worthy organizations and individuals who are carrying out interfaith dialogue all over the world. Often these groups are unaware of each other, and duplicate each other's efforts. Not only can A Common Word Between Us give them a starting point for cooperation and worldwide co-ordination, but it does so on the most solid theological ground possible: the teachings of the Qu'ran and the Prophet r, and the commandments described by Jesus Christ u in the Bible. Thus despite their differences, Islam and Christianity not only share the same Divine Origin and the same Abrahamic heritage, but the same two greatest commandments.

&



So let our differences not cause hatred and strife between us. Let us vie with each other only in righteousness and good works. Let us respect each other, be fair, just and kind to another and live in sincere peace, harmony and mutual goodwill.



So this is the basic outline of what this group is all about.



Now off course it would be very nice for all of us to sit around a table and unite solely on our similarities, however so this is not the reality.



The fact is this, Christianity is false, the Bible is false, and the truth must be known. You cannot say that we encourage Christians to be more faithful to their religion when their faith is completely wrong, and when this means they should not come to Islam.



As the Quran itself says:



004.171
YUSUFALI: O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: Nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) a messenger of Allah, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah and His messengers. Say not "Trinity" : desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is one Allah: Glory be to Him: (far exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.



005.017
YUSUFALI: In blasphemy indeed are those that say that Allah is Christ the son of Mary. Say: "Who then hath the least power against Allah, if His will were to destroy Christ the son of Mary, his mother, and all every - one that is on the earth? For to Allah belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and all that is between. He createth what He pleaseth. For Allah hath power over all things."



003.085
YUSUFALI: If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah), never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter He will be in the ranks of those who have lost (All spiritual good).



So as you can see the Quran condemns the Christian belief of the Trinity, and even states that anyone who desires any other religion than Islam will be lost.



Hence how can we as Muslims tell Christians to HAVE MORE FAITH in a belief system in which the Quran explicitly condemns? The answer is you that can't!



It is our duty as Muslims to expose their false beliefs, and make them see the light of Islam or else they will be lost.



Now I am sure that this will be unpopular with many, as many would simply like to dialog and forget the differences, and just get on with it. However so unpopular or not the truth cannot be compromised, so while I am sure that many will disagree, I am also sure that many will agree with my stance and will feel the same way as I do.



Now there is a fundamental problem with the document of a Common Word, for instance they write:



So let our differences not cause hatred and strife between us. Let us vie with each other only in righteousness and good works. Let us respect each other, be fair, just and kind to another and live in sincere peace, harmony and mutual goodwill.



This is simply mere ignorance and ignoring the reality my friends. The Bible in which Christians believe contains full of horror stories of mass genocide and murder, mass genocide and murder which CHRISTIANS ARE ALLOWED TO CARRY OUT, and will carry out according to their Bible. For all the references visit these links:



Is Christianity a Religion of Peace debate?



http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=e8VghX...eature=related Part 1

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ9yOD...eature=related Part 2

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YbtfuE...eature=related Part 3

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vEJe1xClfEY Part 4





Genocide, terrorism, and violence in the Bible:



http://muslim-responses.com/Violent_..._Christianity_

http://muslim-responses.com/Terror_i..._in_the_Bible_

http://muslim-responses.com/Commenta...iolent_verses_

http://muslim-responses.com/Biblical...al_on_Slavery_

http://muslim-responses.com/Biblical...d_Orders_Rape_

http://muslim-responses.com/Is_the_B..._a_Book_peace_

http://muslim-responses.com/Violence...Old_Testament_

http://muslim-responses.com/Hate_Speech/Hate_Speech_



So the fact is this, the Bible allows Christians to commit mass genocide against none-believers, and every true Bible believing Christian believes they will kill us all when Jesus returns according to the parable of Luke.



Hence it is simply fallacious to want to live in peace with Christians when their own Bible allows them to kill us all, and promised that we will indeed be all killed by their hands according to Luke 19!



Now off course many of the Christians today are a peaceful people, but what is to stop the next generation or the ones after from committing the brutality and genocide of their ancestors based on the Bible?



Secondly we are ignoring a fact, most peaceful Christians today are mainly liberal seculars who hardly read their Bible! Hence their peaceful nature is not due to the Bible, but due to their own kind and humble nature, it is the Bible that turns the heart rotten and makes one into a violent person.



So in reality the document a Common Word is not a reality, and it contains some serious flaws, we simply CANNOT ignore the violence of the Bible as it poses a serious threat to our safety!



Now I completely agree that we and the Christians must find a common word as the Quran states, hence I have come up with these fundamental common issues we can agree with:





The Bible is filled violence, terrorism, and genocide.



The Bible allows Christians to follow the violence, genocide, and terrorism of the OT.



The New Testament says that Jesus will return and that all none believers shall be killed before him.



That Christians have used the legitimacy of the Bible to commit their violence throughout the generations of the past. So there is nothing to stop them from doing it again as it is fully lawful and advocate by their Bible.



Christians must condemn, and apologize for the genocide and terrorism of the Bible.



Christians must revoke, remove, and change all violent passages of the Bible.



Christians must cease their unlawful worship of the man Jesus, and acknowledge that he was a prophet, the messiah, and that he was not God as he himself taught within the Bible.



Christians must cease their belief in the pagan ritualistic supposed sacrifice of Jesus for their sins, Jesus never died rather he was saved as God has told us.



Christians must accept the prophet hood of Muhammad as he was foretold in their own scriptures and has met the true criteria and obligations of a true prophet according to their own Bible.



This I believe is the common ground that we Muslims and Christians must come to for there to be any real and TRUE unity.



Now off course I am not demanding they come to these terms, they are more than free to continue and practice their beliefs, however so what I am saying is that IF we Muslims are looking for a Common Word then the Common Word MUST BE based on the above, and not based on ignoring our core differences and just concentrating on the similarities since truth is truth and falsehood is falsehood.



I urge all Muslims who agree with the outlines of this document to pass it around and get the truth out!



And Allah Knows Best!



http://www.muslim-responses.com/





Appendix



Just incase some may think I am being harsh or spreading discord, simply go to this Christian link to see what many Christians feel about the Common Word initiative:



http://www.********************/Letters/common_word.htm



Even after the Muslim scholars have offered dialog and unity the above evangelical Christian missionaries are yet to be satisfied which is why I firmly believe that we must not compromise with falsehood but expose it head on until it is crushed.



In fact the above site with the support of many other Christians have often called for us Muslims to change our Quran and main beliefs to suit their own false doctrine of Christianity. Hence why should we Muslims sit back and call for unity when they call for us to change our book and beliefs?



I say the opposite, if these false preachers have a right to tell us what to change and believe, then us Muslims who are on the path of truth DEFINATELY have a right to tell the army of falsehood to change their lies and distortions for the truth.

[Uthman]

:sl:

Akhee, I don't think the Muslims have called for the Christians to be more faithful to their religion. It's about living with each other peacefully so that we don't destroy the world due to our differences.

:w:

[Uthman]

Muslims and Christians do not fully understand each other says Rowan Williams

The Archbishop of Canterbury says theological differences separate Islam from Christianity

Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, admitted yesterday that the Christian and Muslim faiths are so fundamentally different that both sides are still unable to understand each other properly.

Dr Williams, speaking at an interfaith conference in Cambridge, said that it was possible for Islam and Christianity, two of the three Abrahamic faiths, to agree around the imperatives to love God and "love your neighbour". Muslims and Christians agree about the need to alleviate both poverty and suffering, he said.

But at a theological level there was still massive disagreement. Dr Williams contrasted the "self-emptying" aspect of Christianity, a faith built on the failure and weakness of its founder through his death on the cross, to the Islamic narrative of "trial and triumph".

The Archbishop said: "Even in its narratives of Jesus, [Islam] questions or sidelines the story of the death of Jesus as Christians tell it – an issue that is still a live one as between our faiths."

He said that the two faiths' concepts of martyrdom were also different. In Christianity, martyrdom was a way of validating failure while in Islam, it constituted part of the "struggle" in fighting evil. "And how far an Islamic ethic would see love of neighbour as essentially involving the kind of self-abnegation privileged by Christianity is a point worth exploring," Dr Williams said.

The Archbishop was criticised earlier this year following a BBC interview in which he suggested that the adoption of some aspects of Islamic sharia law in the UK seemed "unavoidable". His lecture in Cambridge, however, illustrated a clear understanding of the issues at stake between the two faiths. Dr Williams did not in any form come across as an apologist for Islam but as someone using his formidable intellect in an attempt to bridge the divide.

Dr Williams was one of a number of leading Christian and Islamic scholars addressing the conference, A Common Word at Cambridge University. It marked the first anniversary of the publication of A Common Word Between Us and You, a letter from 138 Islamic scholars, clerics and intellectuals promoting understanding and tolerance between the two faiths.

Addressed to Pope Benedict XVI and other Christian leaders, the letter warned that the survival of the world could be at stake if Muslims and Christians could not make peace with each other.

"If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace. With the terrible weaponry of the modern world - with Muslims and Christians intertwined everywhere as never before - no side can unilaterally win a conflict between more than half of the world's inhabitants.

"Our common future is at stake," the letter said. "The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake."

The conference will make recommendations on how the two faiths can work better together, to be unveiled at Lambeth Palace, the London office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, on Wednesday. The closer cooperation will not just be at the level of religious organisations but will be enacted across charities and secular bodies at all levels of society.

The Grand Mufti of Egypt, Dr Ali Gomaa, who also addressed the conference, welcomed the Archbishop's speech. "It is clear from your response that you are fully prepared to enter into dialogue on a profound level. For our part we would like to tell you that we share your willingness for dialogue and that we take this great deal of common ground to be a foundation for promoting respect and understanding that will in turn lead to a deepening of our relationship. We hope this conference will result in new, practical, and groundbreaking recommendations," he said.

"Effective communication is our powerful tool for containing and managing crises.....Every action now in any place will affect others either positively or negatively. Isolation and seclusion are no longer an option. The only choice is to live together on this Earth. So what should we do? We must engage in dialogue and lay down foundations for it as God intended."

He said he hoped the two sides would be able to transcend dialogue and find partnership.

Source