Dear Readers:

Welcome to October 2013 issue of Salaam.

Thanks for your encouragement and support.

Pushpa Anbu SVD editor

Victor Edwin SJ managing editor

Editorial: REBUILDING A BEAUTIFUL WORLD TOGETHER

Islam and Christianity: Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

DIALOGUE A NEW WAY OF BEING HUMAN - Tom Kunnunkal SJ

MILAP initiative: shared responsibility for a harmonious India – Victor Edwin SJ

“Mysticism in East and West – The Concept of the Unity of Being: A Christian-Muslim Symposium - Heike Stamer

Transformation through Interfaith Dialogue - Herman Roborgh S.J.

Maulana Azad and Education - Irfan Engineer

Shia Doctrine and Sectarian Rivalry in the Muslim World Today - David Pinault

The parable of the loving Father - Victor Edwin SJ

Iftar Party at St. Xavier's School, Delhi - Santosh Benedict SJ

Editorial

REBUILDING A BEAUTIFUL WORLD TOGETHER

In so many ways, our world is beautiful. But in so many other ways, it is also an ugly and violent world. Our great multi-dimensional human self is being made to shrink to view everything from the economy of money and profit. Money is fast becoming the sole currency for all human transactions. So, the only question we seek an answer for: what profit will it bring to me? When mixed with power and ably supported by arms capable of great destruction, you have a powerful weapon to make many kinds of coercive and unjust decisions. Politics is entering into all sectors of life. It is a sacrilege that it has also been allowed to enter into the sacred domain of religion, lured by the short term interests it will provide to key functionaries.    

The quest in the minds of many good-willed persons across all religious traditions is to find effective ways to contribute to rebuild our planet earth and make it once again beautiful, a spiritual quest.        

                        

Faith, human and divine, has been providing the underpinning and motive power for many great human endeavours. We humans are meaning seekers and meaning makers. As a nation, we have sought God with a relentless desire for countless centuries. Human history is filled with inspiring deeds of light, produced by men and women who dared to see beyond the limiting borders of self and had set larger goals and targets by accessing their deeper connections and capabilities. Such faith has produced many miracles of life, several of which were indeed very spectacular, be they in the realm of sport and adventure, in war or peace, in science and technology or in arts and architecture or in inspired sacred writings and actions by spirit-filled persons.  

The United Nations, while searching to find a solution for the great violence in the world, brought together the spiritual and religious leaders of the world to New York in August, 2000. The reason: in a survey it found that more than 80% of the people had a faith or belief system to power their lives. In spite of the giant progress that we have made in modern times and more so, in the recent decades, there is clear evidence that many are still searching forsomething more from life than what we have so far been able to master and use. We are moving from the Information and Communication Age to the Wisdom Age, inspired by the wisdom of the Spirit. As a result, spiritual is in. We are more than just body, mind and heart. We have also a spirit. There is growing acceptance of the fact that we are all connected beyond the global internet connectivity we already have. We are divinely rooted in God and cosmically linked to our deepest human resources. It is the great tragedy of life that most of this vast resource, human and divine, is not used by us and so we live lives of scarcity.

 The three-word mantra invitation from life:

     Discover  the aadhaar and foundation for life and living, both natural and super natural.

     Connect with these immense resources, found in the many faith traditions and so connect with persons across borders and boundaries

     Live the New and abundant life that it opens before you. The current economies, based on money, arms, technology and domination and control of others, have not produced peace and wellness of life. So, discover and live the economy of communion.

The present edition of Salaam presents many articles, which open the doors to build a new world through dialogue. Is Islam for dialogue? Yes, says Maulana Wahiuddin Khan and provides several Quranic quotes to prove it.  Victor Edwin reports the MILAP initiative that brought several scholars, searching for shared responsibility to promote union of minds and hearts. Tom Kunnunkal seeks an affirmative answer from Christians to the question: Are only a very select few called to engage in dialogue or is it a Christian imperative for all?  Herman Roborgh  explores ways to be a transforming presence in a milieu when the majority belong to another religion. Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad’s liberating views  open new windows on how education can provide personal and societal transformation. David Pinault provides insights into the sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni Muslims and the political interventions that aggravate the confrontation.   

Read, get inspired and discover a new way of being a Muslim or Christian!

Islam and Christianity

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Islam and Christianity have a common origin that is the Semitic tradition. Both are Semitic religions. Although the advent of Christianity was about six hundred years before that of Islam, there are great similarities between the two religions. There is much common ground between Islam and Christianity.

The Quran is the authentic text of the religion of Islam. In regard to the Muslim-Christian relationship it is worth mentioning that there are frequent references to Christianity in the Quran. For example, Muhammad and Ahmad are referred to in the Quran five times, while Isa and Masih are mentioned thirty-six times, and Maryam (Mary) is referred to thirty-four times. This shows that Islam gives special regard to Christianity and desires that Muslims develop high respect for it.

The Quran praises the Christian community in these words: “We gave him the Gospel and imbued the hearts of those who followed him with compassion and mercy.” (57:27). In another verse the Quran mentions the Christian community in these words: “The nearest in affection to them are those who say, ‘We are Christians.’” (5:82).

In Chapter 61, the Quran enjoins the Muslim to follow the method of the Christians: “O believers, be God’s helpers, as Jesus, son of Mary, said to the disciples, ‘Who will be my helpers in the cause of God?’ The disciples said, ‘We shall be God’s helpers.’”(61:14)

Greater than this is that according to the Prophet’s tradition, all the Muslims believe in what is called “the second coming of Jesus Christ”. According to Muslim belief this coming is not just for the sake of coming, it is for the sake of performing a great role. It is the final role of the history of mankind. At that time, Muslims are required to follow Jesus Christ and by joining him, they must fight against dajjal, the great deceiver. This belief is common among all Muslims.

According to a saying of the Prophet of Islam, in the later period of history, two religious communities will emerge as the greatest communities in terms of number. By seeing the above references from the Quran and the Hadith, it can be said that Islam wants that Muslims and Christians should join together in the later period of history for the cause of Allah, and they must eliminate evil by joint effort. According to the Islamic teaching, this is the greatest mission of both the communities.

Interfaith Dialogue

We are living in an age of information – the age of the knowledge explosion. Today, everyone wants to know more and more about everything, including religion. The result is that today on the subject of religion, people are far better informed than ever before.

At the same time, we are living in a world of differences – of multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic societies. To remove these differences people fight amongst themselves, not realizing that differences cannot be removed. A reformer has rightly said that Nature abhors uniformity. This means that ‘difference’ is a part of Nature and it exists in every aspect of life including religion. What we need to do is simply learn the ‘art of difference management’ rather than the art of difference elimination. Who has the power to remove all differences?

How do we manage differences? In ancient times, people used to take a confrontational course whenever differences arose. They knew only one way to settle disputes, and that was war. But democracy put an end to this way of settling matters and introduced the culture of dialogue leading to peace.

We should also understand that difference is not a curse, but rather a blessing. History shows that difference of opinion leads to dialogue, and dialogue results in intellectual development, which is a boon for everyone concerned. Difference of opinion also leads to high thinking, which is the sole key to all kinds of human progress.

In the realm of religion, today, differences are managed only through meaningful and positive ‘inter-faith dialogue’ between people of world religions. The aim of dialogue is to seek peaceful solutions to controversial matters, in spite of differences. There may be differences in religion and culture, but there is absolutely no difference or discrimination made between people in terms of respect and honour.

The principle of dialogue is that the parties should present their viewpoints supported by arguments, while remaining ever ready for give and take — a pre- requisite of a successful dialogue — rather than insist on all demands being unconditionally met.

Dialogue in Islam

Dialogue or peaceful negotiation, is the path prescribed by Islam. Islam is based on the principle of dawah, which is another name for peaceful negotiation. Violence is totally forbidden in Islam. There is only one exception to this ban and that is when it is engaged in self-defense. This can take place only at the time of external invasion, and such action is the prerogative of an established government. Non-governmental organizations have no right to wage a war in the name of justice or even in self-defense.

The Prophet of Islam started his mission in Makkah in 610 A.D. This mission was to communicate his ideology to people by talking to them, listening to their objections and trying to convince them of his viewpoint by means of arguments. One of the initial Quranic verses revealed to him was that the ideology given by God to the Prophet should be spread by him among the people (93:11) The Prophet’s ideology was based on monotheism, whereas his Arab contemporaries believed in polytheism. It was but natural, therefore, that his mission should become subject to bilateral negotiation.

He would communicate his point to people, listen to their responses and then give them further explanations. In this way his mission became a practical demonstration of what we now term dialogue. To make this dialogue fruitful, the Quran lays down certain meaningful guidelines: “Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and fair exhortation, and reason with them in a way that is best.” (16:125)

This verse shows that your conversation with others should be carried on in the best and most gracious way, hence, any bickering with other parties has to be avoided. After listening to their objections, the point should be made in such a way that appeals to their minds. That is, it should not end in mere debate, but should be result-oriented. The conversation should not appear to be between rivals, but should aim at mutual understanding.

The Quran makes this quite explicit: “Good and evil deeds are not equal. Repel evil with what is better; then you will see that one who was once your enemy has become your dearest friend.” (41:34)

This verse of the Quran tells us that no one is Mr Enemy. Everyone is potentially Mr Friend. This is so because everyone is born with the same nature. From this Quranic principle, we learn that the beginning of any dialogue should not be marked by any sign of despair about the possible outcome. The right approach is to display a hopeful attitude and at the very outset to suppress any tone which would suggest low expectations of success.

Common Word

In this regard, another verse of the Quran is as follows: “Say, ‘People of the Book! Let us come to a word common to us that we shall worship none but God.’” (3:64)

We learn from this verse, what should be the subject of discussion when a conversation is being held between two parties? That is, the beginning of a dialogue should not start with a controversy. Instead, a common ground should be sought on which the discussion should begin. The sequence of the discussion, therefore, should be from agreement to difference of opinion and then back to agreement.

In Islam, the formula for social peace, social harmony and interfaith dialogue is based on peaceful coexistence as has been given in the following verse of the Quran: “To you, your religion, and to me, mine.” (109:6)

In other words, the principle of dialogue given by Islam is, “Follow one and respect all”, or the method of ‘mutual respect’. As per the teachings of Islam, while respecting others, we have to welcome differences wholeheartedly without any reservation. It is hatred, which has to be eliminated and not difference of opinion. People may have their differences in belief, religion, culture, etc., but while following their religion, they have to have mutual respect for others and discover a common bond between them, which shows them that all are human beings.

The following is another relevant verse: “Do not revile those [beings] whom they invoke instead of God, lest they, in their hostility, revile God and out of ignorance.” (6:109)

We gather from this verse of the Quran that, when dialogue takes place between two parties on a controversial subject, it is essential that an amicable atmosphere be maintained. If both parties set about arousing animosity and people on both sides are engaged in spreading antagonistic feelings, such an unfavorable atmosphere will be created that no fruitful dialogue can take place.

It is a fact that the result of dialogue is not solely dependent upon the atmosphere of the immediate surroundings, but depends rather upon whether the external environment favors or disfavors it.

Another principle of dialogue is supported by the tradition of the Prophet of Islam concerning the via media arrived at in drawing up the Hudaybiya Peace Treaty. This treaty was signed only after long negotiations between the Prophet of Islam and the Quraysh. It is a matter of historical record that the conclusion of this treaty was possible because the Prophet unilaterally accepted the conditions laid down by the Quraysh.

The principle of dialogue derived from this Sunnah of the Prophet is that both the parties should present their viewpoints supported by arguments, while remaining ever ready for give and take — a prerequisite of a successful dialogue — rather than insist on all demands being unconditionally met.

In practical matters, Islam advocates flexibility to the ultimate possible extent.

We learn from a number of examples throughout Islamic history that Islam not only lays down principles of dialogue, but gives also practical demonstrations. In the Makkan period of his mission, the Prophet of Islam repeatedly practiced the principle of dialogue. For instance, once the Quraysh sent their leader, Utba ibn Rabiyya, as their representative to the Prophet of Islam so that an atmosphere of peace might be arrived at through negotiation on the subject of mutual differences. The traditions tell us that Utba heard the Prophet out patiently and with full attention. Then he conveyed what he had said to the Quraysh. Similarly, at the invitation of his uncle, Abu Talib, representatives of the Quraysh gathered at the Prophet’s home and held negotiations there peacefully on controversial matters.

This principle of peaceful negotiations can also be witnessed in the negotiations held at Hudaybiya between the Quraysh and Prophet of Islam that continued for about two weeks, culminating in the treaty of Hudaybiya. This event, without doubt, is a successful example of peaceful negotiation. Again, in the presence of the Prophet of Islam, tripartite talks were held between representatives of three religions – Islam, Judaism and Christianity, in the Prophet’s mosque in Madinah. This historic event, which took place in the sacred place of worship, shows the importance given to peaceful dialogue in Islam.

Such examples, which are many in number, relate to the golden age of the Prophet and his companions. That is why the practice of dialogue in terms of bilateral negotiation enjoys the position of an established principle in Islam.

In Conclusion

It becomes clear from the above discussion that the method of Islam is that of peaceful dialogue. The Quran tells us that the way of peace is the best way. (4:128). There is another verse, which tells us that the way of negotiation and arbitration should be adopted in controversial matters. (4:35)

There is a tradition of the Prophet to this effect: “Do not desire or seek confrontation with the enemy, but rather ask for peace from God.”

The objective of Islam is to bring about divine revolution, to invite people to worship God, to strive for a society in which spiritual, ethical, and human values are cherished. Islam advocates an atmosphere where peace, tolerance, love and well-wishing is the order of the day — an atmosphere where controversies are resolved without the use of violence. This is the desired world of Islam and such a world can be established only through peaceful dialogue. The truth is that Islam is based on monotheism, with regard to God; and on peaceful dialogue, with regard to methodology. This is the essence of Islamic teaching. No other way is possible in Islam.

DIALOGUE A NEW WAY OF BEING HUMAN

 Tom Kunnunkal SJ

We live in a multi-cultural and multi-religious world.

We live in a world that makes us feel good. We also live in a world that is not at ease. Many, in our world, experience a lot of tension and fear about what could happen that would cause them injury, even serious injury or death. We live in a modern world created through knowledge and technology, a world of great  abundance. Side by side, we also find many, both the rich and the poor, experiencing lack or absence of inner peace and hence a scarcity mentality. Adding more items to the many items we already have will not help us to find a solution. We need a new mindset, a new relationship, a new connection, a new way of being human. God in his wisdom has created a beautiful world. One great reason that the world is so beautiful is that it is so diverse. We see it well illustrated in Nature. We see it in every human being as well, so uniquely different from every other, with no duplicates. It does not take much imagination to realize how quickly we will get totally bored with a world and its peoples if everything and everyone looked the same and behaved the same way. That will be an insufferable hell on earth. So we thank God for diversity. We thank God for the diverse, multi-religious and multi-cultural India we have. Each community and its peoples have made so many significant contributions to create the beautiful India we have. This is also the strength of India. Therefore, inter-faith dialogue must remain a non-negotiable constituent of the new India we want to build together. We then see Dialogue as a planned effort to sustain and take forward this beautiful India. That is why we need to resist strongly any attempt to make India a mono-cultural, a mono-religious society.

What are the stumbling blocks?

Religions were meant to promote togetherness and communion and not to divide people. I find a fundamental cause for division in the three religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, which share a common Abrahamic spiritual foundation. Each makes the claim that they have the truth and the whole truth and that God has made a special revelation to them alone.  God’s saving presence in the world and the way God reveals Self to us humans is a mystery. God is beyond any borders and boundaries that we humans create. Can truth be proprietary to any one group or religious tradition? Obviously, only God can claim to be the sole and ultimate proprietor of all truth. But God shares His truth with all of us and to some of His saints and prophets, He shares more specially and deeply.

Restoring the integrity of God’s world, a world corrupted by our human actions, can only be a joint venture, by persons of all religious traditions. Why do I say that? Such a huge cosmic project cannot be successfully achieved, by any single group. Christians and Muslims, forming nearly 40 percent of the world population, have a major share of that responsibility.

Dialogue is an effective strategy to recreate God’s beautiful world. It is a strategic instrument for this re-creation and for the fashioning of an alternate human society. If we see dialogue as an opportunity to convince the other of our truth and show them their error, we will surely fail, as we have numerous records of such failures in the past.  Today’ world is an inter-connected world, with many wide open spaces in all sectors of life that are accessible to those who wish to do so. While this “open space” is expanding greatly in many sectors of life, there is a growing tendency to shrink within narrow borders, whether as a philosopher, a scientist or a believer in a particular religious tradition.

In the present state and conditions both globally and in India, the invitation is that we seek strategies to create an alternate universe, a new human community, the India without borders, as envisioned by the Constitution. 

ISA, founded 33 years ago, is a small organization but with a large objective. It works to build harmonious relationships between Muslims, Christians, Hindus and other faith traditions. Specifically it aims to provide opportunities for Christians to have an experience of Muslim life. Listening to several of our Muslim brothers and sisters talk of how their Islamic faith is guiding and directing their practical life and decisions will provide great inspiration to us, Christians.  

We are all pilgrims seeking to find God in our human hearts. The invitation is that we join hands and travel together as fellow pilgrims. Commitment to integral human liberation can become the meeting point for all religions. The invitation is to develop a culture of dialogue in our life. It will demand that we respect all that the Spirit of God brings about in our human history, including the multiplicity of religions. While engaged in dialogue, we remain rooted in our own religious identity. We have beautiful instances of many persons from different religious traditions (true of many Christians and many Muslims) who have successfully built bridges of understanding with other faith traditions. There is enough evidence that those who approached followers of other faith traditions with preparation, knowledge and respect, have often found that a fruitful dialogue is indeed possible. We accept the mystery of God who is in constant dialogue with all whom He has created and in imitation of God, we are also invited to engage in dialogue with others.    

MILAP initiative: shared responsibility for a harmonious India

Victor Edwin SJ

Asad Mirza, Muslim Outreach Officer with the British High Commission (New Delhi) invited a number of religious leaders, students and research scholars on religious studies to discuss the importance of Interfaith dialogue from the perspective of our responsibility towards building a more humane and inclusive India as citizens and religious believers.  At the outset a few leaders from different religious communities spoke on the need of interfaith dialogue. This was followed by a short fruitful discussion. This short note highlights both the salient points of the presentations and significant features of the discussion.

Rev. Dr M.D. Thomas, Director, Institute of Harmony Studies, New Delhi spoke on harmony between one and the many. He stressed that ‘plurality’ and ‘difference’ is a positive reality. It needs to be nurtured and shared. Drawing on from his experience of working with people of different religions, Dr Thomas noted that it is rewarding and mutually enriching when one becomes a bridge-builder between different religious traditions.  He emphasized the focus of interfaith relations is to remove some of the human made borders that alienate one from other. He laid out three beautiful biblical images: human person as image and likeness of God, Man/woman temple of God, and all are children of God. That enables human person to build a harmonious world.  It should be mentioned that there was a tinge of syncretism when he used the image of brooks (tributaries) gushing towards the river and the river flowing towards the sea. Such images have its limited value.  In a deeper theological sense this image does not honor ‘difference’ and specificity of each religion.

Janab Iqbal Mulla, the assistant secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami insisted on the necessity of interfaith meetings. He said such gatherings give a learner an opportunity to clear the prejudices he/she has about the faith of others.  He said that the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad are God’s gift to the whole humanity. Interestingly he touched upon a very relevant issue between Christians and Muslims: religious freedom.  It appears that he seemed to have in mind the freedom to worship in a particular way. The impression this present writer gathered was that he was not taking about the ‘freedom to choose a religion according to one’s conscience’. It is important that this issue should be reflected upon in depth and see whether Indian Muslims and Indian Christians could give a response that is born of our living together in harmony for centuries. The West may have another experience.

Swami Nikhalanand Saraswati, the director of Chinmaya Mission called for a deeper experience of God in order to live a life of honesty and integrity. He observed that the knowledge of God and knowledge of Ethics come from God and found in the Vedas. If God does not reveal, man and woman cannot have the understanding of who God is and what should one do or not do.  In other words, human cannot have access to the mind of God through his intellect.  Some Indian systems, it should be noted, do recognize the human ability to discern which is good or bad /what should be done and what should not be done. Swami Saraswati noted that God is the final goal of every path.

Rabbi Ezekiel Isaac Malekar, Rabbi of the Delhi Synagogue stressed that humanity is the true religion and tolerance for differences and respect for human rights are essential aspects of living in a plural society.  He also emphasized that we need to highlight the commonalities between religions with a sufficient and proper understanding of differences in interfaith fellowship. He advised his listeners that reading the holy scriptures of various religions will help one to respect the diverse religious beliefs.

Prof. Akhtarul Wasey who chaired the proceedings emphasized that plurality is God’s design for the world. Indian Muslims have learnt to live in harmony with the majority Hindus in India. Muslims are in India for the last fourteen hundred years and have fully participated in the ups and downs of this great nation.  The secular democratic setup of India gives Muslims freedom to practice and propagate their faith.  He also stressed that the era we live in is an era of dialogue. We are not living in an era of debate and polemics, he said.

Interestingly, in the discussion followed after these presentations, a number of issues that affect everyone were highlighted.  It is worth mentioning them here: abuse of women and children, moral degradation of youth and human rights violations were noted as major challenges of the present day Indian society. The participants felt that they should face these issues jointly as concerned citizens and religious believers. The change for good must start from me and from my family as the first step, affirmed the participants. Working together for change in society is only the next logical step.

To sum up: this meeting was something special in a sense; it did not stop with waxing eloquently about the religious teachings of each religion. It brought to the awareness of the participants common responsibility for the good of the society at large. It went much deeper to say that we need to change ourselves, first. This change that comes from within will produce the critical mass that is needed for societal change. Secondly, meetings such as this remind everyone that our future is a shared future. The harmony of this shared future is ensured when everyone does his/her bit to build that shared harmonious world. Except Dr Thomas and the present writer there were no other Christians in the meeting. Often this been the case, it would be profitable if many Christians participate and share and learn from such initiatives. It will be an eye opener for many Christians and discover that there are a lot of kingdom builders, out there, among people of other religious traditions. Is not our future a shared future?

“Mysticism in East and West – The Concept of the Unity of Being: A Christian-Muslim Symposium

Heike Stamer

A Muslim-Christian symposium on the topic: “Mysticism in East and West – The Concept of the Unity of Being” was held on 20^th – 21^st February 2013 at the Jesuit Centre Loyola Hall in Lahore. The symposium was a step towards bridging the divisions between doctrinal interpretations and creedal assertions in Pakistan.

The inspiration for the symposium emerged from conversations between Fr. Christian W. Troll, S.J. (a visiting Jesuit priest and Professor of Islamic Studies in Germany) and Ms. Heike Stamer (a scholar engaged in research for a PhD on religious minorities in Pakistan) at the Jesuit Centre in Lahore. Fifteen scholars, mostly local, were invited to present papers. One half of the speakers was Muslim and the other half was Christian.

To enable both Christian and Muslim speakers to participate in a discussion concerning the ‘Unity of Being’ (waḥdat al-wujūd), which has been a specific issue in Islamic theology for centuries, the subject of the symposium was opened up for a discussion about God’s immanence and transcendence.

In order to enable serious scholars to engage in a frank and open discussion, the symposium was not open to the public. But a complete record of what was presented – including the gist of the discussion that followed the presentation of each paper – would be made available by means of the proceedings which will be published from Lahore.

Topics shared

The papers that were presented at the symposium reflect an interesting mix of viewpoints expressing a deep and broad grasp of the subject. The Muslim speakers – as well as some of the Christian speakers – tackled a variety of topics on the subject of Islamic mysticism, such as the monistic views of Ibn ‘Arabī’ and the criticisms he subsequently encountered. Other papers defended the argument for waḥdat al-wujūd through a presentation of the Akbarian (Ibn ‘Arabī), Suhrawardian (Shaykh al-Ishrāq al-Suhrawardī) and Iqbālian (Dr. ‘Allāma Muḥammad Iqbāl) schools of thought. Others again recalled the historic debates on the two conflicting concepts of waḥdat al-wujūd (unity of being) and waḥdat al-shuhūd (unity of witnessing), terms that reflect the views of major intellectuals like Aḥmad Sirhindī and Shah Walīullah from the Sub-Continent of India and Pakistan.

A unique contribution was a consideration of the tension between panentheism and pantheism. While the concept of pantheism as "All is He" can be problematic for the traditional Islamic understanding of Unitarianism and for the philosophy of monotheism (falsafa-e-tawhīd), the doctrine of divine oneness, panentheism, is more acceptable because of the inclusion of the word "in" in the phrase "All is [in] Him".

Christian speakers presented topics such as Merkabah Mysticism (based on the Old Testament), the Christ mysticism of the apostle Paul (d. ca. 67 AD), and the mystical poetry of the Spanish priest St. John of the Cross (d. 1591 AD).  Intellectual discussions during the symposium were enhanced by the beauty of mystical renditions of the subject of the symposium, the ‘Unity of Being’, from the mystical poetry of Bulleh Shah and Mīr Dard, both renowned poets from the Sub-Continent.

Evaluation and Outlook

Feedback from the participants was positive and enthusiastic. New insights were gained and speakers found that they had benefited especially from the group discussion of their own papers. Within the course of two days, participants in the symposium had grown closer together and developed new friendships. No religious or sectarian divisions had emerged and the atmosphere remained friendly and polite throughout the entire duration of the symposium.  In fact, the participants had taken positive steps towards reconciliation in a region marked by intolerance and suspicion.