Energizing Vision and Pioneering Mission: Jesuits in Pakistan 

Victor Edwin SJ 

Jesuits in Pakistan celebrate fifty years of Jesuit Mission in Pakistan! Where do they come from, what they did for the last fifty years for the people of Pakistan, how do they celebrate this golden jubilee and how do they envision their future, are some of the questions that interest the readers. However, while presenting the Jesuit contribution to Pakistan mission, it is also equally important to discover the Pakistan Jesuit mission’s contribution to the field of Catholic Muslim Dialogue. It is amazing to find that the Jesuits who spent some years of their ministry in Pakistan, have turned out to be important contributors to this particular field globally. This note refers to the Jesuits working in Pakistan as Jesuits in Pakistan not Pakistani Jesuits because at the moment except John Imran SJ other Jesuits either came/come from Germany, Australia or Sri Lanka.

 South German Jesuits: the pioneers 

Late bishop Ray Marcellus Rogerius of Lahore invited the South German Province Jesuits to the Pakistan mission. The first Jesuits arrived in Pakistan in 1961. They bought an old house situated in the central part of Lahore for their residence. They opened a research library in the house and named it Loyola Hall. Soon Loyola Hall became a place in which Muslims and Christian intellectuals met and exchanged ideas. How do Muslim scholars view the Loyola Hall Library? Here is a Muslim testimony on the library. Ikhram Chaghatai, one of the Muslim scholars who worked in the Library wrote: “it is a very selective library of rare books mainly in the area of religion and meant for advanced students of religions. It has also a section of Journals in the different European languages, rich particularly in the areas of Christianity and Islam”. Loyola Hall is indeed a pioneering venture in Pakistan. It was an ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking of those Jesuits. A regular and time tested method was opening ‘chapel-school-dispensary’ when missionaries arrived in new places. In Pakistan those pioneering Jesuits did not simply follow this familiar and beaten path. They chose a new way of being missioners that is more challenging than the familiar ones. In this new path the first Jesuits followed a two-way process that directed them to be sensitive to the Muslim thinking and way of life in Pakistan and contribute to the cultural and religious life of Muslims in Pakistan. The first Jesuits in Pakistan thus discerned and envisioned a deeper involvement and engagement with Islam while serving the local Church.

 The Australian Jesuits and the Sri Lankan Jesuits who followed the South German Jesuits in Pakistan mission continue to commit themselves to make interreligious dialogue an integral aspect of their lives. Following the pioneers, the present day Jesuits continue work in this field and also pay special attention to train their collaborators this vision and mission for interreligious dialogue. Various groups come to Loyola Hall to organize workshops and programs related to Scripture, theology, women’s issues and interfaith relations. A group of Junior Sisters regularly use the facilities for their Juniorate program and a small group of candidates for the Society now resides at Loyola Hall as well.

These pioneering efforts make clear that Christian-Muslim dialogue/engagement is an effective channel to deal with the deep seated prejudices among Muslims and Christians. Dialogue is not just sharing of information, though that is desirable as a first step, but it is also an authentic way of living and sharing one’s faith with the partner, and at the same time allowing the faith convictions of the partner in dialogue to challenge and purify one’s own faith. While prejudices clog-up meaningful interaction between Muslims and Christians the lack of critical understanding of dialogue would leave the practitioner of dialogue naïve and ignorant. The Jesuits in Pakistan commit themselves to discover and foster ways of making inter– religious dialogue an integral aspect of our lives and ministries.

While the German Jesuits paved a new path in dialogue, Jesuits from Sri Lanka pioneered to establish schools with an interreligious dimension educating Catholics and Muslims together. It is their conviction that it is only through education that the Christian community can rise up in Pakistan and hence our commitment to this ministry. They strive to integrate the Muslim community with the Christian community. So our schools opted to have Urdu as the medium of instruction having English as a second language (GC 35, D/3, No.14). It is a mission of reconciliation that Jesuits in Pakistan preach, not in words but in action.

 Celebrating pioneering ways: the golden jubilee 

 Fr Herman Roborgh SJ, a friend of this present writer, who was present at the Jubilee, described the celebration in the following words. “The Jubilee celebrations stretched out over a few months and consisted of special programs on Ignatian spirituality at Loyola Hall. The celebrations culminated on the 8th February 2012 at a sung Mass in the cathedral of Lahore where the first Jesuits had resided for some weeks while they were searching for the bungalow into which they eventually moved. The Bishop of Lahore and several diocesan priests attended the Jubilee Mass as well as the children of the two Jesuit schools in Lahore and some long standing friends of Loyola Hall. Fr. Imran John S.J., the first local Pakistani Jesuit priest, who was ordained in 2010, was the main celebrant and sang the Eucharistic prayer in Urdu to the stirring accompaniment of drums and flutes.

 After the Mass, everyone moved from the cathedral to Loyola Hall, a distance of only a few kilometers, where the Jubilee celebrations continued in a big tent set up on the lawn. The school children performed a drama expressing some of the special characteristics they observed in the Jesuits who are active in Lahore. Speeches were made expressing the hope that the Jesuits would continue to serve the people of Pakistan according to the Ignatian charism”.

 Beyond the Golden Jubilee: strengthening mission from within and without 

Fr Jeyaraj, the Sri Lankan Jesuit provincial, who is the major superior for the Pakistan mission, noted that the mission would like to continue to advance the frontiers of Inter-Faith collaboration as our top most priority for the good of the Church and of the world. Planning to intensify the work of Loyola Hall, Fr Herman Roborgh said: “… the number of scholarly visitors to the library has dwindled in the last few years. One decision made during the recent Golden Jubilee celebrations was to organize a scholarly symposium on an aspect of Islam and Christian-Muslim relations for a limited group of local Muslims and Christians each year in order to give new life to the intellectual dimension of the original vision of the pioneer Jesuits”.

 The Provincial, Fr. Jeyaraj, also stressed that the Pakistan Jesuit Mission depends on having more Pakistani Jesuits. He affirmed that while the Sri Lanka Province would continue to hold the responsibility and support the mission in whatever way that is needed, his province’s first priority was to train more Pakistani Jesuits. It is important to have the formation program of the young candidates to the Society in Pakistan itself, he emphasized.

 He continued that, through education, as a next step, we would be able to uplift the economic standard of the poor at least in the next generation. Further, through our schools we will also continue to promote greater understanding and cooperation among the Christian and Muslim communities. Taking into consideration the changing realities of Education in Pakistan, the Jesuits in Pakistan are also already reflecting on whether a time would come when we would need to offer professional courses at the higher level, in different institutions.

 Further he said that the province is aware that while more and more people are becoming aware of their own rights, there is also need to conscientize people to stand up in a constructive manner for their own rights. For this the Jesuits would like to concentrate on the youth and organize them as a viable force as they are the future of the Church and the nation, he indicated.

 In the past years the Jesuits have been assisting the priests and religious of the country, in various ways, especially in their formation and spiritual welfare. There is greater need today for more concerted effort to continue to commit to be at the service of priests and religious in Pakistan. Though Jesuits in Pakistan have been involved in pastoral ministry for some time, this has been discontinued due to lack of personnel. This ministry could be revived and added to the kitty of services to the people of Pakistan.

 Mutually fruitful mission: world to Pakistan and Pakistan to the world 

 The Jesuit missioners from different parts of the world contributed to the Pakistan mission in pioneering ways especially in the field of Christian-Muslim relations and dialogue. The Pakistan Mission has indeed contributed by shaping some of the fine theologians and interlocutors in Christian-Muslim relations among Jesuits who spent some years of their mission life in Pakistan. Among many the following three Jesuits stand out shining.

 First among them is Robert Andreas Bütler SJ who arrived in 1961and lived in Lahore. As a scholar of Islam, he searched for “common ground between Islam and Christianity with a positive acceptance of the unbridgeable differences.” Ikhram Chaghatai, a Muslim scholar who spent a number of years with Bütler wrote: “… a praiseworthy characteristic of Bütler’s approach to Islam and Muslims was one of respect and appreciation as well as a meticulous sensitivity to the religious feelings of adherents of faiths and persuasions other than his own. For him, research and study was not in order to score points and win an argument, but a way to had many who valued his friendship and views”. On returning to his native Switzerland, he continued to promote and foster Christian-Muslim relations working to integrate Muslim immigrants in the social fabric of his country.

 The next important figure is Christian W Troll SJ who is considered by many Jesuits, who work in the field of Christian Muslim relations, as the unofficial dean guiding and coordinating this mission all over the world. He spent a few years during his formation in Pakistan. Without doubt, his years in Pakistan helped shaping the way he approaches Jesuit mission among Muslims. He worked fruitfully in many places: as a professor of Islamic studies at the Institute of Religious Studies Vidyajyoti in New Delhi (1976-1988), as a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations in Birmingham (1988-1993), and as a professor of Islamic institutions at the Pontifical Oriental Institute (1993-1999). It is important to note that he lectured in some of the Turkish Muslim Theological centers; from 1992 to 2001, he gave annual lectures and seminars at the University of Ankara Ilahiyat Fakültesi. In the fall of 1999 he moved to Berlin and worked as director of the Christian-Islamic Forum of the Catholic Academy in Berlin. In 2001 he was appointed Honorary Professor of Philosophy and Theology, University of Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt. He rendered his service to the Vatican from 1993 to 2005 as a member of the Sub-Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims of the Catholic Church, which is part of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID). Since the summer of 1999 he is member of the Commission of the German Bishops' Conference for Inter-religious Dialogue.

 Daniel Madigan SJ is an Australian Jesuit who teaches at Georgetown University’s Department of Theology, Washington from 2008. He spent three years at Loyola Hall. He worked as the Assistant Director and Dean of Students at Loyola Hall and cared for undergraduate and graduate students living in multi-religious environment teaching them English, Urdu, Chemistry and Church History. He was also the librarian of the Loyola Hall library. Then he was the director of Murree Language Program conducting three-month residential intensive language courses in Urdu and Punjabi. He is the Founding Member, Pakistan Association for Inter-Religious Dialogue and worked as a member of Catholic Diocese of Lahore Commission on Muslim-Christian Dialogue. He is currently Director of Graduate Studies at Georgetown Uni. He is also a Senior Fellow of The Al-Waleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, and of the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown, where he is directing a project on Christian theologies that are responsive to Islam. Fr. Madigan is also Honorary Professorial Fellow of the Australian Catholic University's Asia-Pacific Center for Interreligious Dialogue. Before moving to Georgetown he taught in Rome (2000-7), where he was the founder and director (2002-7) of the Institute for the Study of Religions and Cultures at the Pontifical Gregorian University. His main fields of teaching and research are Qur'anic Studies, Interreligious Dialogue and particularly Muslim-Christian relations. He has also taught as a visiting professor at Columbia University, Ankara University, Boston College and Central European University.

 Conclusion 

 Jesuit mission in Pakistan is significant as it began and grew in pioneering ways. Its contribution to the field of Christian-Muslim relations is something that really needs to be celebrated. In other words, the Pakistan mission has enriched the world mission in the field of dialogue. As the Sri Lankan provincial rightly emphasized, dialogue efforts need to be strengthened further. It has become increasingly difficult for dialogue in Pakistan as Christians find that their space is getting narrower in the face of fundamentalism in that country. It would be of interest to see how the dialogue mission in Pakistan develops in the coming years. In difficult times and with small number of Jesuits, the mission flourishes in the service of faith that does justice with a preferential option for the poor in their educational, spiritual and other pastoral ministries. This distinguishes the Jesuit mission in Pakistan.

Dear Readers:

Welcome to July 2012 issue of Salaam.

Thanks for your encouragement and support.

Pushpa Anbu SVD editor

Victor Edwin SJ managing editor

Articles

How do Muslims Understand Jesus? Packiam SJ

“Dialogue is essential for a thoroughly self-reflective look at our own tradition” Ben Bowler

Experiences with Hizmet and the Followers of Fethullah Gülen

Leo D. Lefebure

Can I pray with a Muslim? Victor Edwin SJ

The 10 Values I Have Learnt from Afghanistan David Raj SJ

The Pope in Lebanon for the mission of Christians and the Arab Spring Samir Khalil Samir

Peace is the Way: A Christian-Muslim conversation VE

“Hizmet reaches out to others giving much ground for hope” tells Prof Leo D Lefebure VE

How do Muslims Understand Jesus?

Packiam SJ

Introduction

Muslims revere Jesus as one of their prophets. The Qur’an and Hadith refer to Jesus several times. Three of its Sūras, namely, Al-‘Imran, Al-Maida and Maryam are so named because of their references to Jesus and his work[1]. There are about ninety verses spread across fifteen Sūras of the Qur'an that refer to Jesus[2]. A second source for the Islamic understanding of Jesus is the numerous Hadith that portray his teaching and the ultimate purpose of his first and second coming. There are many references to Jesus in other Islamic literature too. But I would like to restrict my study within the Qur'ānic literature. The Qur'ān is the fundamental book of Muslims’ beliefs and principles. So it is apt to see from the perspective of Qur'ān about the mission and the person of Jesus.

The primary objective of this paper would be to explore the Muslim understanding of Jesus and to study the Muslim attitude with respect to Jesus and his portrayal in the Qur'ān. And also to look for a platform strong enough to encourage a fruitful search for new insights and new dimensions of faith that may appear when Christians and Muslims talk together about the Messiah and the wisdom they detect in his personality. Today, it is an age of dialogue and mutual understanding. Through dialogue we can promote Christian-Muslim relations on the level of spiritual communion and theological reflection. For Christians, in many parts of the world today Muslims are next-door neighbors. Therefore, an attempt to understand them and their spirituality is an important task.

1. Jesus in the Qur'ān 

In the Qur'ān Jesus is called ‘Isā. ‘Isā appears in the Qur'ān twenty-five times[3]. The word ‘Isā’ comes from the Syriac ‘Yeshu’ which is derived from the Hebrew ‘Yeshua’[4]. In the Qur'ān Jesus is given more honorific titles than any other prophet (including Muhammad). Those titles include ‘prophet’, ‘messiah’, ‘word’ and ‘spirit and mercy of God.’ These titles are found in the following verses: Q. 2:81-87; 3:40-45; 4:156-157; 5:50-46; 6:85; 9:31; 19:35; 23:52; 33:7, 42:11-13; 43:63, 57:27 and 61:6 of the Holy Qur'ān[5].  As already noted, that in Islam Jesus  is considered to be a Prophet of God, who was sent to guide the Children of Israel. Jesus was given the Injīl   Moses received ‘Torah’ and ‘Zabur’ was given to David, and ‘Qur'ān’ to Muhammad (Q. 5:46). Qur'ān states that Jesus was born to Mary (Maryam) as the result of virginal conception, a miraculous event which occurred by the decree of God (Allah). And he was given the ability to perform miracles such as healing the blind, bringing dead people back to life, etc., all by the permission of God rather than of his own power. Jesus is also at times called ‘Seal of the Israelite Prophets’[6], because in general Muslims consider that Jesus was the last prophet sent by God to guide the Children of Israel. “We…have appointed him to be a parable for the children of Israel” (Q. 43:59).

1.1            Birth of Jesus

The Qur'ān gives an important place for Mary, the chaste mother of Jesus, who surrendered her will to the will of God. She was called pure, spotless and sinless because of God’s intervention in her life[7]. Qur'ān speaks of Mary not only as the mother of Jesus, but as a righteous woman in her own right[8]. Chapter 19 of the Qur'ān has the title ‘Mary’ and it focuses on Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary is the sole woman who was specifically called by name in the Qur'ān. “O Mary! Lo! Allah hath chosen thee and made thee pure and hath preferred thee above the woman of creation” (Q 3:42, 21:91). She humbly accepted the will of God saying, ‘behold the servant of the Lord’ (Q 3:43). This total surrender to the will of God is fundamental to the Qur'ān.

Sūra 19 gives the account of the birth of Jesus. The birth of Jesus is seen as an aya, a sign of God's power. The Qur'ān describes that an angel appeared to Mary to announce the “gift of a holy son” (Q 19:19) while she was praying in the temple. She was astonished at the news and asked: “How shall I have a son, seeing that no man has touched me and I am not unchaste?” (Q 19:20). Then the angel explained to her that she had been chosen for the service of God.

The angel told Mary that she was to give birth to a son, named Jesus, who would be a great prophet and to whom God would give the Gospel (Injil). The angel further told Mary that “He would speak unto mankind in his cradle and in his manhood” (Q 3:46). Therefore, the Qur'ān states that Jesus was created from the act of God’s will. The Qur'ān compares this miraculous creation of Jesus with the creation of Adam, where God created Adam by His act of will[9]. The Qur'ān further describes that Mary retreated from her people and gave birth to Jesus underneath a remote date palm tree in the desert. The tree miraculously provided nourishment for her during labour and birth[10].

Forty days later she carried him back to her people. The Qur'ān describes that Mary vowed not to speak to any man on that day as God was to make Jesus, who Muslims believe spoke in the cradle, perform his first miracle. The Qur'ān narrates that Mary then brought Jesus to the temple, where immediately she began to be taunted by all men, excluding Zechariah, who believed in the virgin birth. The Israelites accused Mary of being a loose woman and having touched another man whilst unmarried. In response, Mary pointed to her son, telling them to talk to him. They were angered at this and thought she was mocking them by asking them to speak with an infant. It was then that God made the infant Jesus speak in the cradle, and he spoke of his prophecy for the first time. He said, "I am a servant of Allah. He will reveal the Book to me and make me a prophet. He blessed me wherever I am. In the rules revealed to me there will be a special attention given to prayers and charity. Allah predestined that I will be kind to my mother and not a tyrant with a bad ending. Peace was on me the day I was born, peace will be on me on the day I will die, and on the day I am raised alive again!"(Q 19:30-33).

1.2 Jesus’ public life and mission

The Qur’ān portrays that Jesus healed the blind and the lepers and raised the dead to life[11]. Jesus is also said to have raised the dead but much details are not given in the Qur'ān. We can find evidences to these miracles in Sūras 5-110, 61- 6, 2-81 of the Qur'ān. The Qur'ān enumerates these miracles as signs of his prophecy[12]. Jesus produced these miracles by the will of God in order to convince those who doubted his mission. Q 3:43/49 says, ‘I have come to you with a sign from your Lord that I shall create for you from clay the form of a bird and I shall breathe into it and it shall become a bird by the permission of God, and I shall heal the blind and the leprous and bring the dead to life by the permission of God and I shall announce to you what ye may eat, and what ye may store in your houses; verily in that is a sign (aya) for you if ye are believers.’

Jesus’ mission is indicated already in the annunciation of Jesus’ birth to Mary by the angels, “O Mary, God giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him; his name will be the Christ Jesus, Son of Mary; he will be honoured in this world and in the next, and he is of those nearest to God. He will speak to the people in the cradle and when of mature age, and he will be one of the righteous ones. He will teach wisdom ‘I have come to you with wisdom’ in order to make clear to you some of things which you don’t understand”[13]. So the mission of Jesus in the Qur'ān is that of bringing the Good News (Injil), confirming the Torah, showing the Wisdom, teaching prayer and almsgiving and being a sign and witness to the people[14].

Jesus is said to be strengthened with the “holy Spirit”. The Qur'ān understands Angel Gabriel as the holy spirit (Q. 2:87). Jesus preaches true Islam, submission to the will of Allah, which is found in the Gospel (Injil) which Jesus has been taught by God (3:48) just as the Qur'ān would be later revealed to Mohammad. Thus, Jesus is presented in the Quran not simply as an ordinary prophet but as an apostle or messenger of Allah with the Injil. Hence, the Qur'ānic conception of Jesus’ mission can be described in the following words: Christ is then a prophet, a teacher, a healer of the sick, a spirit from of God.

1.3 Final days of Jesus

During the last days Jesus was strongly opposed and harassed by the Jews. They did not understand him. They did not accept his preaching and teachings. Though they had been long awaiting a Messiah to relieve them of their miseries, they did not believe Jesus to be the true Messiah. Out of their disappointment, hatred and enmity towards Jesus, they finally accused him of rebellion against the emperor, whose officers gave orders for his arrest and eventual crucifixion. Muslim commentators believe that the Jews failed in their treacherous plot, that the Roman soldiers arrested a person who had a striking resemblance to Jesus, while Jesus himself was lifted alive to Heaven. Qur'ān clearly states that Christ did not die by crucifixion but being ‘called away’[15] by God. “When Thou didst take me up Thou wast the Watcher over them” (Q. 5:117).

1.4 Summary

We see that Jesus has been described by various means in the Qur'ān. He has been called son of Mary, messiah, prophet and messenger[16]. The Qur'ān gives high regards to Jesus and Mary. The Qur'ān also describes Jesus’ mission as healer and savior[17]. Islam regards all prophets, including Jesus, to be mortal and without any share in divinity.

But whatever Islam claims, it does not believe in the biblical Jesus because-

First, Islam asserts that Jesus was only one of God‘s many prophets, and not God’s only begotten Son (Q. 112).  Muslims strongly reject the idea that Jesus is the Son of God. The Qur'ān repeatedly emphasizes that Jesus Christ is not the literal Son of God. The Christian view of Jesus Christ as God’s literal Son is blasphemy to the Muslim.

Second, Muslims do not believe that Jesus was crucified and died on the cross.

Third, Islam teaches that Muhammad was a superior prophet to Jesus because he brought God’s final revelations to man.

2. Qur'ānic christology of Jesus

The first section of this paper portrays the Qur'ānic understanding of Jesus. The following section considers some of the elements of Qur'ānic christology. The word Christology, according to Christian understanding is the theological portrait of Jesus as the second person of the Trinity. Now we would see that Qur'ān rejects any such notion, hence, christology is used in a sense the theological portrait of Jesus in Muslim understanding.

The Qur'ānic christology is not given in one piece. It is has been growing in different stages. Here context plays an important role. The christology which I am dealing with is limited to the Qur'ānic presentation only. As mentioned earlier that the Qur'ān refers Jesus in fifteen Sūras and devotes ninety three verses to Him, serves the foundation for Muslim christology.

2.1 Jesus in the Meccan Sūras

The Meccan Sūras came from the first segment of Muhammad’s career as a prophet, when he simply called the Meccans to a monotheistic faith. Meccan Sūras of the Qur'ān are those Sūras which, according to Islamic tradition revealed before the Hijrah, the pilgrimage of the prophet Muhammad from Macca to Medina. Meccan Sūras are typically shorter with relatively short ayat (verse) and mostly come near the end of the Qur'ān[18].

At that time of Muhammad many religions were present, including polytheism, animism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity marked by chronic conflict in West Asia. In this atmosphere prophet Muhammad started preaching his basic teaching that there is only one God and the pagan faith has no value. Along with his handful of followers he tried to turn people from idolatry to the worship of the one true God but he encountered rejection and ridicule[19]. He accepted this because he could see himself in comparison with that of other prophets and their work.

Muhammad’s preaching to the Meccans involved two crucial claims that Muhammad was a messenger sent by God and the bearer of a divine revelation. At the heart of this vision was the belief that God had repeatedly sent messengers entrusted with divine revelations to provide guidance for human beings. Thus, the Qur’ān portrays Jesus as one of those messengers sent by God to guide his people. But Qur’ān does not say who Jesus is in himself. Jesus is portrayed as prophet in relation with Muhammad. The Maccan Suras speak about Jesus as merely a prophet and servant of Allah and his word. Scholars like Bell and others point out that during the Meccan period Muhammad’ s attitude to the People of Book was friendly[20]. Christians are described as ‘believers and shun idolatry’[21]. They were portrayed as models for Muhammad’s followers.

2.2 Jesus in the Medinan Sūras

The Medinan Sūras of the Qur'ān are those Sūras which were revealed at Medina after Muhammad’s hijra from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE. These Sūras appeared when the Muslims were in large numbers rather than being an oppressed minority as in Mecca. They are mostly placed at the beginning of the Qur'ān. These Sūras more often deal with details of legislation and warfare. They are also concerned with social legislation, the political and moral principles for constituting and ordering the community[22]. There are 28 Medinan Sūras in the Qur'ān and out of these 10 Sūras speak about Jesus.

The Medinan situation was quite different from Mecca. Here Muhammad became a powerful statesman, warrior, religious leader and ruler. He was more of established. He continued to say that Jesus was a prophet expecting that all the Jews and Christians would accept him. But they did not accept him.

Muhammad had a significant contact with Jews and Christians in Medina.  Christians During this period Jesus was presented as one sent by God whom the Jews rejected him. However, God frustrates the schemes of the unbelievers and vindicates his servant by raising him to heaven.

In Sura 61 Jesus is portrayed as a messenger of God addressing the children of Israel, confirming the Torah, summoning helpers and provoking a mixed response among the Jews[23]. He also announces the coming of a future messenger, ahmad. ‘Jesus, son of Mary, said: “O children of Israel, I am God’s messenger to you” (Q. 61:6).’ So Jesus was presented as his forerunner. One of the titles which is given to Jesus in the Qur'ān is Messiah and this title appears only in the Medinan Suras[24]. Muhammad was unaware of this title until he moved to Medina and came in contact with Christians over there. So he became aware of the unique appellation given to Jesus and simply adopted it himself and included it in the Qur'ān.

2.3 Summary

Islamic theology divides the Qur’an into ‘Meccan’ and ‘Medinan’ Sūras. The Meccan Sūras came from the first segment of Muhammad’s career as a prophet, when he simply called the Meccans to Islam.  They are earlier Sūras of the Qur'ān revealed before the Hijrah. The Medinan Sūras are filled with matters of law and ritual–and exhortations to jihad warfare against unbelievers.  Both of these categories of Sūras speak about Jesus and his message to the people with different emphasizes.

3. Conclusion

We have discussed the different elements of Qur'ānic christology. The Qur'ān speaks about Jesus but it does not tell much about his life as mission and his intimacy with God. Hence, the Qur'ānic Jesus is not the Jesus of Christian faith. The essential element of Christian faith on Jesus is either ignored or mistakenly represented. Poor representation of Christian faith in Jesus is misleading. It does not help the readers to understand better. The portrait of Jesus in the Qur'ān is inadequate because, intense devotion to Jesus and worship is the central characteristics of Christian faith. Though their understanding of Jesus is inadequate,  their special love and respect for Jesus should not be ignored.

His life is the gospel, the good news. Not only what he did or said is significant, but also significant is the way he was present among his contemporaries, as one who embodied God's affirming, unconditional love toward his creatures. This love was not merely taught, but manifested in a life of vulnerable availability to the neighbor, poor and rich, friend and enemy, sinner and victim. In embodying this divine love, Jesus was more than a prophet. The cross is not an isolated event, as in the Qur'ān, but the supreme disclosure of his sacrificial, unconditional and divine love. This way of life of Jesus, a way of life in which there is no place for vengeance and hate, is affirmed as the true way of life, intended by God for human beings created in his image. The Jesus of Islam is only a prophet of God, though a very holy one, only a creature of God and not the son of God. He is the messenger of God with the Injil but not the savior of the world.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Parrinder, Geoffrey. Jesus in the Qur'ān. London: Sheldon Press, 1965.

Schumann, H. Olaf, Jesus the Messiah in Muslim Thought. Delhi: ISPCK, 2002.

Tirimanna, Vimal, C. Ss. R., ed. Asian Faces of Christ. Bangalore: Asian Trading 

        Corporation, 2005.

Ridgeon, Lloyd, ed. Islamic Interpretations of Christianity. Great Britain: Curzon Press, 2001.

Hahn, Ernest, Jesus in Islam: A Christian View.  Vaniyambadi: Concordia Press, 1975.

Zahniser, Mathias A. H., The Mission and Death of Jesus in Islam and Christianity. New York:  Orbis Books, 2008.

Pashan, Tobias, “Jesus in Islam” Sevartham, 1987, Vol. 12.

---

[1] G. Parrinder, Jesus in the Qur'ān [London: Sheldon Press, 1965], 18.

[2] Ibid., 18.

[3] H. Ernest, Jesus in Islam [Vaniyambadi: Concordia Press, 1975], 28.

[4] G. Parrinder, Jesus in the Qur'ān, 16.

[5] Ibid., 18.

[6] Ibid., 38.

[7] Ibid., 62.

[8] Ibid., 62.

[9] Ibid., 69.

[10] Ibid., 77.

[11] Ibid., 83.

[12] Ibid., 85.

[13] Ibid., 90.

[14] Ibid., 91.

[15] O. Schumann, Jesus the Messiah in Muslim Thought [Delhi: ISPCK, 2002], 27.

[16] V. Tirimanna, ed. Asian Faces of Christ [Bangalore: Asian Trading Corporation, 2005], 138.

[17] G. Parrinder, Jesus in the Qur'ān, 84.

[18] L. Ridgeon, Islamic interpretation of Christianity [: Curzon Press, 2001], 3-4.

[19] Ibid., 4.

[20] Ibid., 8.

[21] Ibid., 8.

[22] Ibid., 10-11.

[23] Ibid., 14

[24] O. Schumann, Jesus the Messiah in Muslim Thought, 28.

“Dialogue is essential for a thoroughly self-reflective look at our own tradition”

Ben Bowler

Ben Bowler is an Australia social entrepreneur and spiritual adventurer. He and his wife Jildou are the founders of Blood Foundation, Monk for a Month, Muslim/Sufi for a Month and World Weavers. Ben believes in the emergence of convergence and the gradual coming of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Ben speaks to Victor Edwin for Salaam.

How did you get interested in inter-religious dialogue?

Being raised a Catholic, while also being exposed to various cultures through experience in China and with native Australians had me thinking at an early age of the diversity of world-views and the lofty idea of a transcendental truth. I always felt that genuine spiritual experience has more in common among the various traditions, than we often realize.

Why do you think that dialogue between religions is essential?

I believe that all of man's religions are evolutionary vehicles and that dialogue between traditions is not only conducive to greater understanding and affection for one another but such dialogue is also essential for a thoroughly self-reflective look at our own tradition. I see this as a necessary step towards an expansion of cosmic understanding and fostering the evolutionary process of our spiritual perception.

What is the idea behind the unique concept of Muslim for a Month (MfM)?

Muslim for a Month is built upon the unique value of actual experience. We tend to have many opinions that we "acquire" through the media or other second hand channels, we believe that there is altogether too little first-hand experience between Muslims and non-Muslims. The point of the program is to achieve a greater realization of our greater humanity and to dispel fears and unwarranted suspicions though the bonds of friendship and love.

What does the program focus to do?

The point of the program is to achieve a greater realization of our greater humanity and to dispel fears and unwarranted suspicions though the bonds of friendship and love.

What does it mean to live as a Muslim during MfM? Will participants give attention only to Spirituality? What about the Islamic law?

For Muslim and Sufi for a Month there is a broad spectrum of activities. Much accent is placed on the high-minded spiritual wisdom of Rumi, though we also learn about Islamic history and there are lectures on Theology and Sharia 

More critically, is it really possible to live as if one belongs to another religion? Does one need to suspend one's own religious beliefs? Will it not be an indication of compromise: which is against the spirit of dialogue? 

We are experiencing Islam from the inside, just for a short moment. There is no need to suspend one's own beliefs at all, it is a short exploration into (for most) an unfamiliar land.

Who are the participants? Are they only seekers, who have not settled in any particular religious tradition or other committed Buddhists, Christians and Hindus? 

The program has been host to Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Hindus, Agnostic, Atheists, and secular modernists. People come for many different reasons.

Do they discuss their personal faith during MfM?

Yes indeed. All our programs are a rich opportunity to explore our own personal faith and spirituality. By operating inside other point of view, we give ourselves a great basis for discussing and renewing and expanding our own walk with God.

Have any one turn to Islam as the fruit of doing MfM?

No. Conversion is not encouraged on any of our spiritual development programs. Having said that, many of our guests have come much closer to the Islamic faith by doing the Muslim for a Month program.

Can I pray with a Muslim?

Victor Edwin SJ

I enjoy meeting Muslims in their homes, mosques, in the university class rooms, and in their places of work. Such meetings establish and deepen relationships.  Several years ago I was introduced to the Awan family by a mutual friend.  The Awan family live in the Turkman Gate area in New Delhi, close to the famous Ram Lila Maidan. Over the years our steady ‘reaching out’ brought us closer to one another. The family considers me as their son. I feel it is a privilege to be loved by a Muslim family as their son.

Some time ago, the father of the family told me: “The media portray Muslims as violent people. There is an effort to paint Islam as one of the main sources of evil in the world. What do you feel about such propaganda? Are such efforts based on a mixture of ignorance and prejudice?” These words express fears and concerns of Indian Muslims and demand a personal answer from a Christian son.

The apprehension and distress of Muslims are not unfounded. Both subtly and overtly the media portray Islam as a religion of the sword. Several academic as well as popular accounts that were published in the past two decades depict Islam as inherently violent. 

In the context of such negative publicity on Islam: can I stand with the Muslim family that considers me as one of its members in their moments of fear? Will I identify with them continually even if the propaganda against Muslims keeps mounting?  How would I express solidarity with them as their Christian son? These questions keep coming to me every time I visit them.  I feel that sitting with the family and talking to them on faith matters, sharing concerns, and partaking in family meals are sacred moments of dialogue. Over time, I have noted some moments of deep silence that prevails punctuating our conversations. I have come to consider those moments of silence as moments of prayer. My solidarity with them is deepened in those sacred moments of prayer.

I gather myself and direct my attention towards God on those moments. I am convinced that God whom I recognize as Father, as Jesus revealed, is the One God to Whom Muslims surrender their lives and turn their hearts and minds in prayer. The Church teaches that Christians and Muslims “worship God, who is one, living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the creator of heaven and earth.” I am convinced that the father of that family too raises his heart towards Allah, the one God. In those rich moments of silence I am deeply convinced that we pray together. Together we respond to God’s redeeming grace that embraces all men and women. I believe that the Spirit of God binds both of us in prayer.

A recent Catholic Church’s document: Meeting God in Friend and Stranger beautifully explains such possibility of prayer together. The numbers 135 and 136 of this document expresses this in the following way:

Pope John Paul II explains that his initiative of inviting all religions to Assisi in order to pray for Peace was rooted in his conviction that every authentic prayer is called forth by the Holy Spirit, who is mysteriously present in the heart of every person. This perception that every authentic prayer is the Holy Spirit’s activity means that all genuine prayer is in fact the work of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the one God at work within us. It is the Father, through the risen Christ, who bestows the Spirit when we are moved to pray; and when we pray it is in fact the Spirit prompting us to pray to the Father through the one Mediator, the risen Lord Jesus Christ. It follows then that although other religions are not Christian, and we must not call them such, they are in the Spirit related to the Church in one and the same movement of prayer, prompted by the Spirit, through Christ to the Father. 

When the Spirit of God binds both a Muslim and a Christian, is there anything specific a Christian brings into the experience of praying together? A Christian brings in an eschatological perspective into the experience of praying with a Muslim.  A Christian bearing the seal of the risen Christ not only recognizes that the Spirit of God is crying Abba Father in the praying hearts of every member of the human race but also glimpses that the intimacy with God as God’s children that is realized in the Risen Christ. A Christian prays as a son or daughter of God to God the Father in and through Christ. This is the newness in Christian prayer that binds us even more closely with our Muslim brothers and sisters. Our love for Muslims is deepened and qualified in the light of Christ who embraces all humanity and especially those [Muslims] who adore with us one God.   

Over the years I have recognized that not only we can pray together ... but it is also essential that we do pray together. In prayer we express our solidarity for one another in a profound way. We assure one another that we are united in prayer. Prayer intensifies our love for one another.  In the ambience of love, we share and listen to joys and sorrows of one another. Our faith convictions are tested and confirmed and as a result we grow in our openness towards the other.   I believe prayer is essential for deepening interfaith relations. V. Courtois, a pioneer in Christian- Muslim relations in India wrote: “This study of Islam should lead to greater love and better appreciation of Muslims. Insistence should always be made not on what separates Christians from Muslims, but on what may rapproach them, bring them closer to each other and to the Heart of Christ.  We study them not as enemies but as Brothers [and Sisters]. To study we shall add much prayer.

Turning my heart to the counsel of V. Courtois, I pray that through my life and attitude I may be able to communicate my love for Jesus. Muslims respect Jesus as a Prophet. Silent moments of praying together somehow may help the Muslim family to understand that I love Jesus in a way that is different from their understanding. They know that Jesus is precious to me. I pray that they may come to know Jesus and love him. I think it is the mission that I am involved in. My mission is to help others to know Jesus and love him.