Platform for interfaith dialogue must be provided, specialized forces must be trained

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): In the webinar “The role of Islamic science centers in interfaith dialogue”, the president of the International University of AhlulBayt (a.s.) said, “The Second Council of the Church in the Vatican organized the dialogue, requiring churches to devote a section to dialogue with Muslims. So in Christianity, dialogue is a movement to defend the sanctity of the church, and in Islam, it is an opportunity to introduce this religion.”

On Wednesday, June 23, 2021, the Interfaith Dialogue Center of Razavi Islamic Sciences University held the third webinar of the “Imam of Dialogue” webinar series on “The Role of Islamic Science Centers in Interfaith Dialogue”, via SkyRoom environment. In the webinar, Hojat al-Islam Saeed Jazari Ma’moui, President of the International University of AhlulBayt (a.s.) delivered his speech.

Hojat al-Islam Jazari said, “Dialogue is one of the key issues in Iran, which gained its path thanks to the Islamic Revolution and the blessed breaths of late Imam Khomeini. The subject of the lecture is “The role of Islamic science centers in interfaith dialogue”. To enter into the discussion, I must give an introduction.”

“The date of the dialogue must be considered. It has existed for a long time. In ancient Iran, ancient Greece, the beginning of Islam, among the AhlulBayt (a.s.), Abbasid and Umayyad rulers and caliphs, there were bilateral dialogues in the field of politics, jurisprudence, and Sharia,” he added.

“The main dialogue, meaning dialogue between religious leaders, is the result of the efforts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There was no such argument during the Crusades. In the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution in Europe, powerful currents emerged against the Church; the institution that had been in power for hundreds of years. After the Industrial Revolution, the fall of the Church in Europe provided a series of preliminaries that called into question the sanctity of the Church. The blows of the community and the people hit the church directly, and this sanctity collapsed,” Jazari clarified.

“Before the fall of the church, there was the monologue (that is, I say, I condemn and I have authority). But with the movements that raised against the church, and as the opposition to the church intensified, the policies of the church changed. For the first time, from 1869 to 1870, the Vatican began to reconsider its policies. The result of these revisions was the formation of the First Vatican Council,” continued the President of the International University of AhlulBayt (a.s.).

“New issues were held in this council, one of which was apostasy – the departure of the Christianity of the Church. The cardinals hold sessions to decide what to do if someone is apostatized from Church’s Christianity. Here, for the first time, the confrontation or interaction between reason and faith was introduced, and whether it is possible to accept a secular philosophy and at the same time be Christian. This was the case in Austria, Germany, and France so that secular thinkers who had completely abandoned religion emerged from the hearts of the church and Christian families,” Hojat al-Islam Jazari stated.

“The Vatican Council faced prominent not the common people. In the council, key issues were raised, the first of which was the relationship between reason and faith. Because the church had previously declared that it does reason on behalf of the people, “You do not need to think or reason, just believe in the church!” And so, in the face of such thinking, the opposition movement emerged, and the result was that the church’s view had to be reconsidered,” he said.

“The Vatican Council did not reach the desired results but tried to amend the laws. Another important issue was “Papal Infallibility", and whether the pope was infallible or not. While many believed that this official is not infallible and has mistakes,” Jazari emphasized.

“From 1950 onwards, certain events took place. First, major Catholic centers in the West were attacked and protests spread. People in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia in Africa, and in Europe the colonies of the Catholic Church rose and stood up to the church. Churches were destroyed in Algeria and mosques were built in their places. Even in the Anatolian Peninsula and Turkey, anti-church movements intensified,” Jazari continued.

“The second crisis was the migration of the Muslims of the colonies to the West. During that time, immigrants from Algeria, Morocco, Africa, and Lebanon migrated west, and as a result, Muslim-Christian coexistence was formed, and the birth rate among Muslims increased. On the other hand, the mosques were built next to the churches. In addition to the church’s internal problems, the Muslim population in Europe grew rapidly, Muslims and Christians coexisted, and mosques and mosques were built next to the churches,” stated the President of the International University of AhlulBayt (a.s.).

“The church faced a massive wave of the rise of Islam in the West that could not be controlled. Gradually, the Second Vatican Council was formed. In this council, the cardinals and bishops met to find a solution to the problem of the rapid growth of Islam in the West. Because history has shown that in the past centuries fighting Islam has been fruitless,” said Hojat al-Islam Jazari.

“The result was the need for dialogue to reduce tensions. In the dialogue that the church began, the principle was that “We can live together, not fight each other, not be afraid of each other, and not act against one another.” The Second Church Council organized the dialogue, requiring every church in each district to devote a section to dialogue with Muslims,” he added.

“Thus, dialogue in Christianity was a movement to defend the sanctity of the church. But for us Muslims, dialogue has been an opportunity to introduce Islam, not Christophobia. At this point, the space and context for the emergence of dialogue changed completely,” Jazari emphasized.

“Now that our approach to dialogue is to introduce Islam and explain Islamic law, our Islamic
science centers must participate in the “Dialogue” issue to provide a platform inside the country and introduce Islam and religions within the country to students of religious sciences. Some clergies have no knowledge of religions and consider the term “Dialogue” to refer to everyday conversations. Providing opinions in the field of interfaith dialogue, and recognizing the opportunities and harms in this field, are of other responsibilities of Islamic centers. These centers need to identify the challenges of interfaith dialogue,” he stated.

“In Islamic centers, a platform should be provided for dialogue and Shiraz, and specialized forces in the field of religions, with different specialties, should be trained. Now, Egypt is aware of this and has activated training centers,” stated Hojat al-Islam Saeed Jazari.

“Imam Reza’s dialogue with Christianity was a kind of debate that led to the realization of the truth. The Imam wanted to say that “this is pure and true Islam”, and the other side did not want to reach a common ground and only wanted to be a listener. Imam Reza (a.s.) provided us with a model that “listen and answer”, because he was like this,” Jazari reminded, emphasizing that Imam Reza (a.s.) took a step for dialogue between religions.

“We must update this path, that is, take a step in this direction, and know the contents and texts. Therefore, it is the duty of Islamic science centers, such as Qom University and Shahid Motahari University, to cultivate elite individuals based on temporal and spatial requirements who teach and provide genuine goals in the form of dialogue. Both the local community and the Muslims in the surrounding countries should be aware of these goals, and in addition to creating a culture in the local community, pure Islam should be introduced to the others,” he added in the end.

It should be mentioned that at the end of the webinar, a question-and-answer session was held.

In response to a participant’s question on the need for a dialogue in the seminary in order to have a dialogue with other religions, Jazari said, “This is a necessity, and we will not achieve the positive points until we hear it. The evolution of theology is the result of new debates that the Ulama (Islamic Scholars) have been listening to.

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