The following is an example taken from the Universalis Encyclopedia (Encyclopedia
Universalis) vol. 6. Under the heading Gospels (Evangiles) the author alludes to the
differences between the latter and the Qur'an: “The evangelists (. . .) do not (. . .), as in the
Qur'an, claim to transmit an autobiography that God miraculously dictated to the Prophet . .
“In fact, the Qur'an has nothing to do with an autobiography: it is a preaching; a
consultation of even the worst translation would have made that clear to the author. The
statement we have quoted is as far from reality as if one were to define a Gospel as an
account of an evangelist's life. The person responsible for this untruth about the Qur'an is a
professor at the Jesuit Faculty of Theology, Lyon ! The fact that people utter such untruths
helps to give a false impression of. the Qur'an and Islam.
There is hope today however because religions are no longer as inward-looking as they
were and many of them are seeking for mutual understanding. One must indeed be
impressed by a knowledge of the fact that an attempt is being made on the highest level of
the hierarchy by Roman Catholics to establish contact with Muslims; they are trying to fight
incomprehension and are doing their utmost to change the inaccurate views on Islam that
are so widely held.
In the Introduction to this work, I mentioned the great change that has taken place in
the last few years and I quoted a document produced by the Office for Non-Christian
Affairs at the Vatican under the title Orientations for a Dialogue between Christians and Muslims
(Orientations pour un dialogue entre chrétiens et musulmans). It is a very important
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document in that it shows the new position adopted towards Islam. As we read in the third
edition of this study (1970), this new position calls for 'a revision of our attitude towards it
and a critical examination of our prejudices' . . .'We should first set about progressively
changing the way our Christian brothers see it. This is the most important of all.' . . .We
must clear away the 'out-dated image inherited from the past, or distorted by prejudice and
slander' . . . , and 'recognize the past injustice towards the Muslims for which the West, with
its Christian education, is to blame.'[46] The Vatican document is nearly 150 pages long. It
therefore expands on the refutation of classic views held by Christians on Islam and sets out
the reality.
Under the title Emancipating ourselves from our worst prejudices (Nous libérer de nos
préjugés les plus notables) the authors address the following suggestions to Christians: “Here
also, we must surrender to a deep purification of our attitude. In particular, what is meant by
this are certain 'set judgements' that are all too often and too lightly made about Islam. It is
essential not to cultivate in the secret of our hearts views such as these, too easily or
arbitrarily arrived at, and which the sincere Muslim finds confusing.”
One extremely important view of this kind is the attitude which leads people to
repeatedly use the term Allah' to mean the God of the Muslims, as if the Muslims believed in
a God who was different from the God of the Christians. Al lâh means 'the Divinity' in
Arabic: it is a single God, implying that a correct transcription can only render the exact
meaning of the word with the help of the expression 'God'. For the Muslim, al lâh is none
other than the God of Moses and Jesus.
The document produced by the Office for Non-Christian Affairs at the Vatican stresses
this fundamental point in the following terms:
“It would seem pointless to maintain that Allâh is not really God, as do certain people in
the West! The conciliar documents have put the above assertion in its proper place. There is
no better way of illustrating Islamic faith in God than by quoting the following extracts from
Lumen Gentium [47]. 'The Muslims profess the faith of Abraham and worship with us the
sole merciful God, who is the future judge of men on the Day of Reckoning . . .'”
One can therefore understand the Muslims' protest at the all too frequent custom in
European languages of saying 'Allâh' instead of 'God' . . .Cultivated Muslims have praised D.
Masson's French transition of the Qur'an for having 'at last' written 'Dieu' [48] instead of
'Allah'.
The Vatican document points out the following: “Allâh is the only word that Arabicspeaking
Christians have for God.” Muslims and Christians worship a single God. The
Vatican document then undertakes a critical examination of the other false judgements made
on Islam.
'Islamic fatalism' is a widely-spread prejudice; the document examines this and quoting
the Qur'an for support, it puts in opposition to this the notion of the responsibility man has,
who is to be judged by his actions. It shows that the concept of an Islamic legalism is false;
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on the contrary, it opposes the sincerity of faith to this by quoting two phrases in the Qur'an
that are highly misunderstood in the West:
“There is no compulsion in religion” (Sura 2, verse 256) “(God) has not laid upon you in
religion any hardship” (Sura 22, verse 78)
The document opposes the widely-spread notion of 'Islam, religion of fear' to 'Islam,
religion of love'-love of one's neighbor based on faith in God. It refutes the falsely spread
notion that Muslim morality hardly exists and the other notion, shared by so many Jews and
Christians, of Islamic fanaticism. It makes the following comment on this: “In fact, Islam
was hardly any more fanatical during its history than the sacred bastions of Christianity
whenever the Christian faith took on, as it were, a political value.” At this point, the authors
quote expressions from the Qur'an that show how, in the West, the expression 'Holy
War'[49] has been mistranslated; “in Arabic it is Al jihâd fî sabîl Allâh, the effort on God's
road”, “the effort to spread Islam and defend it against its aggressors.” The Vatican
document continues as follows: “The jihâd is not at all the Biblical kherem; it does not lead
to extermination, but to the spreading of God's and man's rights to new lands.”- “The past
violence of the jihâd generally followed the rules of war; at the time of the Crusades
moreover, it was not always the Muslims that perpetrated the worst slaughters.”
Finally, the document deals with the prejudice according to which “Islam is a hidebound
religion which keeps its followers in a kind of superannuated Middle Ages, making them
unfit to adapt to the technical conquests of the modern age.” It compares analogous
situations observed in Christian countries and states the following: “we find, (. ..) in the
traditional expansion of Muslim thought, a principle of possible evolution in civilian
society.”
I am certain that this defense of Islam by the Vatican will surprise many believers today,
be they Muslims, Jews or Christians. It is a demonstration of sincerity and open-mindedness
that is singularly in contrast with the attitudes inherited from the past. The number of people
in the West who are aware of the new attitudes adopted by the highest authorities in the
Catholic Church is however very small.
Once one is aware of this fact, it comes as less of a surprise to learn of the actions that
sealed this reconciliation: firstly, there was the official visit made by the President of the
Office for Non-Christian Affairs at the Vatican to King Faisal of Saudi Arabia; then the
official reception given by Pope Paul VI to the Grand Ulema of Saudi Arabia in the course
of 1974. Henceforth, one understands more clearly the spiritual significance of the fact that
His Grace Bishop Elchinger received the Grand Ulema at his cathedral in Strasbourg and
invited them during their visit to pray in the choir. This they did before the altar, turned
towards Makka.
Thus the representatives of the Muslim and Christian worlds at their highest level, who
share a faith in the same God and a mutual respect for their differences of opinion, have
agreed to open a dialogue. This being so, it is surely quite natural for other aspects of each
respective Revelation to be confronted.