16/3 – 2010
There are people that no one really loves, because no one really knows, and that no one really knows, because no one really loves, and this people are the Muslim people. I feel the duty to dedicate my whole life to making them known and loved by the Christians”.
Louis Massignon
Dear Madam,
Allow me to comment on the article The Cross and the Crescent on the monthly magazine of the Parish.
Your article deals with both Islam and the Islamic, (I would call them Muslims); in the case of the Muslims the header of the article could very well take up the quotation from Massignon.
As for Islam, I think some passages of the article are misleading and confusing, making Islam appear almost a derivation of Christianity. It is a strategy adopted by Islam to conquer Jerusalem as far back as 638AD. The massacres of Otranto and Rome precede the first Crusade. Even today, the strategy of setting foot in the West through Islamic enclaves and conversions based on ignorance and rain money is repeated: how many times have I heard Christians say “but we are all equal there is no difference! This is the impression that your article in the Bulletin of the Parish could provoke! (files 1-3 attached)
Of the four and a half million immigrants, about two thirds are not Muslims, they try to integrate without regrouping in areas in which they have a majority; why?
To combine the Koran with the Gospel does not seem to me to be correct; the difference is substantial! Of course, Abraham is our father in the faith, in the sense that he is the first who believed and obeyed the one God who revealed himself to him, giving rise to Judeo-Christian Revelation. Beware, our faith is not only in the one God but also one and triune; the Christian root is found in Christ, God made man, who died for our salvation; he is our Father! Monotheism, even if shared, is not based on the same God; we are not a religion of the book, combining simplistically Islamic Judaism and Christianity. The Koran does not speak of Love! (Attachments 4, 5).
The Sufi ascetics were inspired by Christian mystics and the numerous Sufi quotations reflect the beliefs of an infamous minority of Muslims who are not recognized by the majority currents, let alone by the mosque of Segrate. I could mention many others of the same spirituality tenor but also others highly offensive, also found in the Koran itself (Annex 6). The school texts in the middle and high schools of the “moderate” Arab countries are particularly virulent against Christians! To be correct, information must reveal the two sides of the coin. If you have time available, you will be able to realize this with a visit to the library of the mosque of Segrate. A great master of modern Islamic thought, Taha Hussein, during a meeting promoted by the Cini Foundation of Venice at the Center of Culture and Civilization, recognized the vocation, of which the Arab Christian is the bearer, to be the intersection of two worlds of which he can make a synthesis aimed at the revival and development of the Arab world from which it comes. Today it has been put on the index and Said El Ashmawi under fire. Averroe had an influence on St. Thomas Aquinas, philosopher, saint, doctor of the Church but he was threatened and had to flee!
Cardinal Martini was a forerunner of the path of dialogue in a spirit of truth and respect; to dialogue it takes two people and in the Islamic world there is a profound ignorance, I would say antagonism, of our faith which unfortunately has not been heard by the political authorities. (annex 7).
Finally, I agree with its conclusion, an experience of daily life, advocating our values to the new immigrants, becoming aware of the basic identity and values on which our civilization has developed but to which many of us have become accustomed. In order to establish a dialogue between two worlds that have hitherto been culturally separate, it is necessary for both sides to make an effort (the Ijtihad) to rediscover their own identities. Take every opportunity to propose a copy of the Gospel to those who have never had the opportunity to know it except through the Koran; agree that we must take every opportunity to bring together and involve the Muslim, the person, the family, with our initiatives. (attachments7,8).
I do not want to bore her anymore and she will forgive me for the frankness perhaps due to my experience in the world of Islam. Her article shows her keen interest in the subject, and I was prompted to attach some cards that illustrate my thoughts.
22/3/2010
Dear Mr. Giuseppe, I am so honored that such a cultured and prepared person as you wanted to stop and comment on my article in the Bulletin. Surely you are more knowledgeable than me of the Islamic world, but I can also respond to some observations.
As for the common origin of Father Abraham, this is an affirmation that I drew entirely from Martini’s letter and undoubtedly a common origin of peoples is underlined by the Old Testament itself. The Christian faith has developed a Trinitarian concept, which is not original because we find it in a much older form in the Indian Trimurti, which the Koran does not have, but we must also consider the language of each book adapted to those who were to listen to it and as you well know the synoptic gospel texts were however reworked later by already more evolved communities and perhaps of Greek origin who may have developed concepts that perhaps the simple oral speeches of Jesus did not report.
As for the fact that the Koran does not speak of love, I invite you to read attached that interesting document that was sent to Ratzinger by 138 illustrious exponents of current Islam, whom you may already know, in which this concept is deepened by dealing simultaneously with the Islamic text and the Christian texts. Unfortunately, the interpretation of the sacred texts changes according to the eyes that study it and, for the obvious economic reasons of which I have already said, the Islamic fundamentalist currents have underlined the most useful passages for their purposes of inciting violence. But if we were to go through the Bible in the slightest detail, especially, we too would be disconcerted by the violence and cruelty of certain passages (see attachment The Bible and the Koran)!
I really hope that religion will cease to be exploited for political purposes and will return to being that nourishment of the soul that is its true origin and strength. The dialogue with the moderate Muslim world can be done when the economic conditions of the poorest strata of the population are improved and people do not need to believe that only through a fratricidal war can you get a better life. Of course, the West has expanded, devouring and consuming much more than necessary and without any regard for other peoples, and now that globalization has developed a greater awareness even in the “small”, we will have to pay the price. They will still associate evil with Christianity, which has preached well and substantially racist evil. Some young boy I meet tells me: you know, when I think the Pope says that we have to fight poverty and hunger in the world, and all he needs to do is sell half of the Vatican’s works of art to do so, I feel deeply mocked: “I can’t blame him and therefore we too, together with our Muslim brothers, are the first to have to set a better example. The example alone is worth more than a hundred words and a thousand encyclicals! And then, the language of love is universal!
I greet you with cordiality!
Elizabeth
Free web translation from the original in Italian
The published articles intend to provide the tools for a social inclusion of the migratory flow, shed light on human rights and the condition of life of Christians in the Islamic world from which the author come from. Knowledge of the other, of cultural and religious differences are primary ingredients to create peace in the hearts of men everywhere, a prerequisite for a peaceful coexistence and convinced citizenship in the territory.