Saudi Voicing Openness to Religious Dialogue
This is very interesting and if genuine, encouraging. Here is the the short report in the Gulf News here in Dubai.
Riyadh: A senior Saudi cleric said that inter-faith dialogue was among the best ways to defend Islam.
Shaikh Abdul Rahman Al Sudeiss, chief imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah voiced support for a proposal made earlier in the week by Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz for inter-faith talks between Muslims, Christian and Jews.
The initiative "is one of the best ways to defend the Prophet" Mohammad (PBUH).
I hope they might consider including dialogue between Muslims, Christians, and Jews who are not scholars. I would hope that with as much training in the Koran as they get in Saudi that they would be equipped to have discussions with people of other faiths.
Maybe they'll let us help ;)
4 comments:
Sura (5:51) - "O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people."
When you have a teaching like this from the Quran, how can you expect them to hold an interfaith dialogue? Just a thought.
m - you're doing the usual thing you Christians are good at, taking the Quran out of context.
This should enlighten...
http://www.answering-christianity.com/sami_zaatri/friends.htm
its not much of a surprise why M left Islam....
HE DOESN'T EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT HE SUPPOSEDLY LEFT!
:-)
Idu and Bassam, I used to have the same reaction when I first heard about Muslims leaving Islam. I could never understand why Muslims would leave Islam which makes perfect sense and logical. I would be angry and mad. I think in all fairness, it's rather premature to jump to conclusions as to why I left Islam. You may think I don't understand Islam, and I think it's premature for you to say that.
Idu, Thanks for sharing the link. I had a read through it. I apologize if my taking verse out of context offended you (I learned how to do that from Dr. Zakir Naik!) Didn't mean to do that. Sorry.
What I was really referring to was Saudi's attitudes towards non-Muslims. Having lived there my entire life, I have seen up close and personal how Saudis treat Christians in the country. I am seeing the same treatment meted out to Christians here in Pakistan. When I ask my Muslim friend why they degrade Christians so much, it is this verse which Muslims tell me that instructs them to not trust Christians and Jews, hence I shared this verse here.
Yes Muslim men can marry Christian and Jewish women hence proving this verse wrong, but not vice versa. A female Muslim friend of mine asks me why she cannot be "friends" with her Christian friend and marry him?
You are Muslims who would actually spend some time studying the Quran and understanding the verses in it's entirety. I am happy to see that. Most wouldn't study the Quran in depth. May Allah continue to show you the Straight Path.
I am currently going through Quranic studies with my cousins here in Pak. It's been interesting.
M
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