Encounters in Delhi and New Delhi

Leo D. Lefebure

I arrived at the international airport in Delhi early on the morning of February 9, 2014.  Turkish Airlines had notified me that the flight would arrive twenty minutes later than originally planned, but in fact it arrived at the original time.  I sped through the passport control, baggage claim, and customs, arriving outside the terminal earlier than anticipated.  Because of the dense fog in Delhi that morning, my host, Victor Edwin, SJ, had not yet arrived.  So I observed the people coming and going around the terminal for a while until he made his appearance.  The drive to St. Xavier’s School in Delhi went smoothly despite the fog.

The following day we went to Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi.  Earlier, in September 2013, I had delivered a lecture on Pope John XXIII and Bediuzzzaman Said Nursi at an international symposium in Istanbul; at the symposium I had also chaired another panel, which included Professor Iqtidar Mohd. Khan, the director of the Department of Islamic Studies of Jamia Millia Islamia University.  After the panel had concluded, I told him that I would be visiting his university the following February, and he had graciously invited me to address his students.  As I arrived at Jamia Millia on Feb. 10, Dr. Khan welcomed me warmly.  I found that the room where I was to lecture was packed with students, with more arriving all the time.  Prof. Akhtarul Wasey, the Director of Zakir Husain Institute of Islamic Studies of Jamia Millia, introduced me; and then Dr. Mufti Mohammad Mushtak Tijarwi spoke about the commitment of Jamia Millia to providing students with knowledge of comparative religious studies.  I spoke for about 45 minutes on the variety of methods involved in the contemporary comparative study of religion.  I began by noting the similarity between the commitment of Jamia Millia to the comparative study of religion and the priority that Georgetown University, where I teach, places on interreligious understanding.  Then I distinguished religious studies, which seeks to be neutral by bracketing explicit religious commitments, from the theology of religions, which seeks a broad understanding of how religions relate to each other, and also from comparative theology, which pursues detailed investigations of particular aspects of two or more religious traditions.  Students seemed most attentive.  A number of professors and students posed questions after I had finished my remarks.  After leaving Jamia Millia, we had an enjoyable lunch at the center for Catholic religious communities, which was nearby.

The following day, February 11, marked the opening of the conference, “Building Communities of Peace: Muslim-Christian Relations in Asia,” which was co-sponsored by Francis Xavier Movement, Henry Martyn Institute, Interfaith Coalition for Peace, Zakir Hussain Institute of Islamic Studies of Jamia Millia Islamia, Indialogue Foundation, and the Islamic Studies Association.  The opening session was held at St. Xavier’s School on Raj Niwas Marg.  Some participants were unable to be present in person but sent papers commenting on Muslim-Christian relations in various areas.  In the afternoon Padmashri Prof. Mushirul Hasan offered an overview of the relations between C.F. Andrews and Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan, stressing their intellectual curiosity and desire for respectful interreligious relations.  That evening we went to the Indian Islamic Cultural Center, where Joe Kalathil, SJ, discussed his work seeking reconciliation between India and Pakistan and Rev. Thomas Birla commented on the work of the Hizmet movement, which is inspired and led by the Turkish leader Fethullah Gülen.

On the morning of February 12, the conference continued, and we returned to Jamia Millia Islamia for my lecture on Pope Paul VI and the new spirit that he brought to Christian-Muslim relations.  Again the room was packed with students.  It seems that originally only graduate students had been invited to join the participants of the conference, but undergraduate students had heard about it and wanted to be present as well.  There was tremendous excitement in the room as extra chairs were brought in; even with the additional seating, there were still people standing near the door.  The chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia spoke about the importance of Muslim-Christian conversations.  Then Prof. Kahn spoke briefly, and Victor Edwin introduced me.  After my presentation, Dr. Wasey spoke about the Muslim initiative to Christians in which he participates, “A Common Word between Us and You.”  He was the only Indian Islamic leader to sign the original statement in 2007.  Georgetown University is now the center for continuing this interreligious initiative in North America.  There were a number of comments and questions from participants in the conference and from the faculty and students of Jamia Millia.  One young man protested to Dr. Wasey that I had used the word “Saracen.”  Dr. Wasey pointed out that I had put the word in quotation marks in my lecture, and that I was simply reviewing the historical practice of earlier generations of Christian leaders.  He lectured the student on the need to interpret texts properly, he praised my remarks for being honest and objective, and he told the Muslim students that they had been privileged to hear such a talk.  Afterward, a light snack was served outdoors. 

I was delighted that my colleague and friend, Vincent Sekhar, SJ, was able to attend the conference.  He had organized my very first trip to India in the fall of 2007, when I was teaching at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Doha, Qatar.  Now he serves as the executive director and dean of research at the Institute of Dialogue with Cultures and Religions at Loyola College, Chennai.  He presented me with a copy of his recent book, Religions, Ecology and Environment: Sacred Texts That Shape Perspectives (Bangalore: Claretian Publications).  He is currently traveling the world making contacts to enhance the work of his Institute, and he will be visiting me at Georgetown University this coming spring.

On Thursday, February 13, Victor Edwin and I went to Delhi University, where we met with the director of Buddhist Studies and various faculty and students of his department.  We had had a conversation with a professor of Arabic Studies.  Afterward, we drove past St. Stephen’s College, where Adhip Chaudhuri, a Hindu friend of mine who recently died of cancer, had studied many years ago.

On Friday, February 14, I spoke about my new book, True and Holy: Christian Scripture and Other Religions (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books), at the Indian Social Institute in New Delhi.  A number of Jesuits and women religious attended the talk and posed many interesting questions for further discussion.  Afterwards as we were conversing in the Jesuit lounge, the breaking news was broadcast that the anti-corruption activist, Arvind Kejriwal, had just resigned from his position as the Chief Minister of Delhi.

On the morning of Saturday, February 15, I visited the beautiful and elegant site, Humayun’s Tomb, which had been renovated since my earlier visit in early 2008.  Work was still in process touching up the paint.  That evening we watched a documentary film, “Muslims and Police: A Perspective,” which explored the difficulties and challenges facing the Muslim community in India today.  Of particular concern was the low literacy rate and the need for more and better schools.  An animated discussion followed.

On the afternoon of Sunday, February 16, Victor and I went to visit Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, a noted Muslim leader and the founder of the Centre for Peace and Spirituality.  In the midst of crowded Delhi, the balcony of his home overlooks a beautiful garden with trees and flowers.  His daughter and a number of his followers were also present, and they discussed the work of CPS in combatting terrorism and violence in Kashmir and around the world.  We discussed mutual efforts to improve Muslim-Christian relations both in India and in the United States.

That evening I gave a talk on “Spirituality and Interreligious Relations: Pope Francis and Fethullah Gülen,” to the faculty and students of Vidyajyoti School of Theology in the Jesuit Residence.  There were questions both about Gülen and about the response to Pope Francis from conservative American Catholics.  Afterward we had dinner with the Vidyajyoti community.

All in all, it was a week filled with discussions, with encounters with interesting people, with renewing old connections and making new ones.

Faith in Jesus motivates me to seek respectful, harmonious relations with followers of other religious traditions

 Leo D Lefebure tells Victor Edwin SJ

Leo D. Lefebure is the Matteo Ricci, S.J., Professor of Theology at Georgetown University.  He is a Roman Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago.  He is the author of numerous works, including most recently, True and Holy: Christian Scripture and Other Religions (Orbis Books 2013).  He is the co-author of The Path of Wisdom: A Christian Commentary on the Dhammapada, which received the 2011 Frederick J. Streng Book of the Year Award from the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies of North America.  He is also the author of The Buddha and the Christ and of Revelation, the Religions, and Violence, which received the Pax Christi U.S.A. 2001 Book Award and which was translated into Indonesian and published in Jakarta.  He is an Honorary Research Fellow of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a Trustee Emeritus of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions.  He was a participant in the Catholic-Muslims Dialogues in the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic Regions of the United States, as well as numerous other dialogues with Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists. He was in Delhi recently on the invitation of Islamic Studies Association. He spoke to Victor Edwin SJ for Salaam. Here are the excerpts…

Edwin: This is your third trip to Delhi. You have travelled to a number of places, visited different religious institutions, and met people of different religious convictions. This is the first time you have addressed the students of Jamia Millia Islamia. What are your memorable experience with the student community and the faculty?

Leo: This was my fourth trip to India and my third trip to Delhi.  I was most impressed by the interest of the students of Jamia Millia Islamia in interreligious concerns.  For each of my talks, the room was packed, extra chairs were brought in, and there were still students standing.  Each time the students listened very attentively.  The most memorable experience was with one particular male student who was very assertive.  After my first talk, this student claimed that until the Renaissance people believed that scriptures were revealed by God; beginning with the Renaissance, he claimed, people thought religions came merely from human evolution.  I responded that this secular perspective became influential only after the Renaissance, during the European Enlightenment, especially in thinkers such as David Hume.  I tried to explain that it is not universally held by contemporary scholars of religion.  Nonetheless, before my second talk, the same student approached me and asserted once again the same claim as if he had not heard my earlier response.  After my second talk, the student questioned Dr. Wasey about my citing the word “Saracen,” which had been used in earlier Catholic documents regarding Muslims but which is no longer used.  Dr. Wasey told the student that he had misunderstood me, that my remarks were objective, and that every Muslim student present was privileged to have heard my remarks.  I was very moved by Dr. Wasey’s endorsement of my remarks.

Edwin: How did they respond to the idea of dialogue?

Leo: For the most part, the students did not respond to the idea of dialogue.  My first talk was on methods in the comparative study of religion, including both religious studies, comparative theology, and theology of religions.  Most questions involved methodology in the academic study of religion.  My second talk was on changes in Catholic attitudes brought about principally by Pope Paul VI.  Most questions after the second talk were not from students but the conference attendees and faculty members.  The same assertive student approached me after my second talk, prepared to continue challenging me.  A young Muslim woman came up and cut him off, telling me at length how much she enjoyed my talk and apologizing for other Muslims who were critical of me; the young man listened in silence and then walked away.

Edwin: What could be the special contribution of India to Christian Muslim dialogue in the larger world context, in your assessment?

Leo: The greatest contribution that India could make would be to promote reconciliation between India and Pakistan and to help resolve the situation in Kashmir.  This would have world-wide repercussions and would be a marvelous model of dialogue and inspiration to others.

Edwin: Coming to your academic expertise ... you are a trained theologian in the area of Catholic-Buddhist dialogue.  What led you to enter into the world of Islam and reflect on Christian Muslim relations?

Leo: In the late 1990s a representative of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops invited me to be a resource person for the Midwest Dialogue of Catholics and Muslims.  I was already involved in this dialogue and was teaching at Fordham University in New York City on the morning of September 11, 2001.  After the tragic attacks, I gave numerous talks on Islam to audiences in the New York metropolitan area and participated in a number of dialogues with Muslims.  I also joined the Mid-Atlantic Dialogue of Catholics and Muslims, presenting papers on violence in the Bible and the Christian tradition to both the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic dialogue.  Then during the 2007-08 academic year, I taught a Muslim-majority student body at the campus of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Doha, Qatar.

Edwin: What are your dialogical activities with Hizmet Movement and Rumi Forum?

Leo: The Rumi Forum, which represents the Hizmet Movement in the Washington, DC, area, used to participate in  dialogue at Georgetown University.  I was a regular participant in this dialogue, where I got to know a number of the leaders of the Rumi Forum.  I have spoken at the Rumi Forum, attended functions that they have sponsored, and witnessed the whirling dervishes dancing both in a room of the U.S. Congress and in a synagogue in Washington, DC.  In my travels, I have lectured at Fatih University in the western suburbs of Istanbul, and I have met Hizmet representatives in Melbourne, Australia, in Kiev, Ukraine, in Kolkata, and in Delhi.  I am not currently involved in a formal dialogue with Hizmet, but I have informal contacts on a regular basis.

Edwin: What motivates sustains and energizes you for the mission of dialogue?

Leo: My faith in Jesus Christ motivates me to seek respectful, harmonious relations with followers of other religious traditions.  Tragically, religious traditions all too often are in conflict in many regions of the present world, and many Americans harbor negative views of other religious traditions, especially Islam.  I find energy and support from the many wonderful colleagues whom I have met in interreligioius activities.

Edwin: You are a professor of theology and religions in the Jesuit-run Georgetown University. How does your university promote Christian Muslim dialogue?

Leo: Georgetown University is one of the leading schools in the U.S. for studies of Islam and Arab Studies.  Georgetown has a School of Foreign Service, which addresses Muslim-Christian issues through the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.  Georgtown’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs has a unit that studies Islam and Politics.  Georgetown is the home of the Building Bridges to Solidarity project, which was founded by a former Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury.  Georgetown is also the home in North America for A Common Word between Us and You, a leading Muslim initiative in Muslim-Christian relations.

Edwin: You are a Emeritus trustee of A World Parliament of Religions. How does this institution promote dialogue in the world?

Leo: The Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions organizes the largest world-wide interreligious gatherings, which met in Chicago in 1993, in Capetown, South Africa in 1999, in Barcelona in 2004, and in Melbourne, Australia in 2009.  CPWR also sponsors ongoing contacts among persons interested in interreligious activities and in nonviolent conflict transformation: https://www.parliamentofreligions.org

Edwin: As a Catholic believer what have you learnt from 'dialogue with people of other religions and people who do not subscribe to any specific religion'?

Leo: I have long been involved in Jewish-Christian dialogue, where I have learned much about the Jewish roots of Christian faith and also much about the tragic history of Christian anti-Judaism and the necessity of transforming Christian attitudes towards Jews and Judaism.  Changes in this relationship have important ramifications for every other interreligious relation.  I have learned much about Buddhist perspectives and meditation practices, which have greatly enriched my life as a Catholic.  I am now involved in a Christian-Vaishnava dialogue, where I am learning more about this strand of the Hindu tradition.  I have not been involved in formal dialogues with people who do not subscribe to any specific religion, but I have learned much from the writings of thoughtful non-believers.