LONDON — On a day in which Boko Haram bomb attacks left more than 150 people dead in Nigeria, Sister Janet Fearns from Missio, has sent us this report on how Franciscans and Muslims are working for peace: With an 800-year-old example to show them the way! In 1219, St Francis of Assisi, alone and unarmed, astounded the warring armies of Damietta’s besieged Crusaders and the Saracens when he walked into the Saracen camp and asked to speak to the Sultan, Melek al-Kamil. Francis had a problem which he wanted to discuss: pilgrims wanted to visit the Holy Places and were prevented by the constant battles between the Christians and Muslims in Egypt. The pilgrims needed unhindered access to the sacred sites, regardless of whatever was happening around them. The Sultan agreed and so, for 800 years, that tiny joint venture in peace-making has been a treasured memory for both Franciscans and Muslims. The Damietta Peace Initiative (DPI) came into being in 2008 and is an amazing Franciscan-Muslim cooperation which arose as both Franciscans and Muslims reflected upon this unlikely meeting. There are an estimated 12,000 Franciscans in Africa, but in 2008, in true Franciscan fashion, they started small. If Christians and Muslims were to cooperate in little ways, bit by bit, they could help to bring about peace and dialogue. Each small act of love and understanding could help to build something big and beautiful. The Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood (FMDMs) have been involved in the DPI from the start. They already enjoyed many years of practical experience of Christian-Muslim dialogue as a result of their work in Palestinian refugee camps in Amman, Jordan, where several Sisters became fluent Arabic speakers, able to see and understand Islam ‘on the inside’. They also had 60 years of unbroken presence in the predominantly Muslim north of Nigeria, again caring for the poor regardless ... 
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TEL AVIV — Put an Israeli Jew, an Australian Christian and a Turkish Muslim together in a recording studio (or more accurately alone next to their own computers with file-sharing capabilities), and it may sound something like Three Waves Under the Bridge, the group effort of Ittai Shaked, Andy Bussuttil and Umit Ceyhan. The bridge of a musical composition often connects disparate sections or id
LONDON — A clash between Muslims and Christians in the Middle East is not inevitable, because of the “ample” examples of interfaith co-operation and the shared duty “to do good”. This was the message delivered by Princess Badiya bint El Hassan of Jordan, in her Friends of BibleLands annual lecture on Wednesday of last week. She is the first Muslim to give the lecture. “It is not correct to think of Judaeo-Christian values as distinct from Islamic values,” she said. “Yes, just as children from the same parents differ, we do differ . . . over certain doctrinal points and ritual practices. But we share what is most important — the belief in an all-powerful God, and, flowing from that, belief in the values of equality and practical compassion.” Given the instruction to “do good” as stewards of the world, it was “much more efficient” if members of the Abrahamic faiths “co-operate and strive to do so to-gether”. Princess Badiya described the “dwindling” number of Christians in the Middle East as “a tragedy for the region as a whole”. Many Christians in the region had come to fear
BEIRUT — Muslims and Christian leaders from across the Middle East and Denmark wrapped up a three-day conference on religious understanding Thursday in Beirut by highlighting values, such as mercy, respect and caring for the weak, which both faiths share. The conference, entitled “Building Greater Understanding between Christians and Muslims,” was organized by the Muslim-Christian Contact Group of the National Council of Churches in Denmark and the Arab Group for Muslim-Christian Dialogue. It was supported by
When I moved to Egypt to study Arabic in 2004, I was amazed how often Muslims there said alhamdulillah (i.e., praise God). When I asked friends “How are you?”, they replied alhamdulillah (praise God). When I congratulated Mahmoud’s children for their high marks in school, they replied alhamdulillah. Even when Haala cut her hand deeply with a sharp kitchen knife, she repeated steadily alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, as we worked to stop the bleeding. To my amazement, she was genuinely thankful, mindful her
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