AutoShell

dfhdfhhdfdfhdhfhfdhdfdhfdhfdfhhdfdfhdhfhdf AutoShell

?? Editing: 1733517202.M410433P198546.premium5.web-hosting.com,S=27173,W=27599:2,S

Envelope-to: dorcas.tijani@rcm.edu.ng
Delivery-date: Fri, 06 Dec 2024 15:33:22 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0
From: Udeme Edet <udemeedet983@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2024 21:33:00 +0100
Message-ID: <CABp4HfALxuiW1KbsN-rSm_2gtTGjEbK58M7Ui-Dqz=FQD-b0ZA@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: 
To: dorcas.tijani@rcm.edu.ng
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="00000000000097be7a06289fec15"

--00000000000097be7a06289fec15
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Yes,  Islam, God's plan everything that happens in the universe is already
known and predestined. This belief is called Qadar, which is Arabic for
"power" and can also be translated as "divine fore-ordainment" or
"predestination".
Here are some other aspects of God's plan in Islam:
Omniscience
Muslims believe that God is all-knowing and has known everything since
before the creation of the world.
Free will
Although everything is predestined, Muslims still believe that people are
responsible for their actions and will be rewarded or punished on Judgement
Day.
Divine mercy
Muslims believe that God is merciful and kind, and that his doors of mercy
are always open. However, the Qur'an also describes God as unpredictable
and vengeful, and says that he destroys people who deny his prophets.
The coexistence of Christians and Muslims is good for civil society because
their mutual questioning of the other's faith acts as a stimulus and leads
to deeper understanding, says a Jesuit priest who is an expert in Islamic
studies.
This is the opinion of Father Samir Khalil Samir, an Islamic scholar and
Catholic theologian born in Egypt and based in the Middle East for more
than 20 years.
He teaches Catholic theology and Islamic studies at St. Joseph University
in Beirut, is founder of the CEDRAC research institute and is author of
many articles and books, including "111 Questions on Islam."
ZENIT spoke with Father Samir regarding the June 21-22 meeting in Lebanon
of the Oasis International Foundation, which seeks to promote mutual
knowledge among Christians and Muslims.
 Father Samir: The problem we are experiencing both in the Church as well
as in Islam is that we are not always able to transmit the faith easily to
the new generation and the generations to come. The question we ask
ourselves is: In what way should we rethink the faith for young people, but
also in parishes or in mosques, in the talks that religious address to
their faithful?
 This is what we want: to make a study of the Christian experience in
Lebanon, and the Muslim Sunni experience and the Muslim Shiite experience
in this ambit. We want to compare, to identify even if it is only the
common difficulties, to seek together an answer to them. I think this has
been the main objective of our meeting in face of a dialogue of cultures in
the Christian and the Muslim faith.
What effect would the disappearance of the Churches of the Middle East have
on the Christian and Muslim world?
  The disappearance of the Churches of the Middle East would be, first of
all, a loss for Christianity, because, as John Paul II said, the Church, as
every human being, lives with two lungs: the Eastern and the Western. Now,
the Eastern Churches were born here in the land of Jesus, in the
territories of the Middle East, where Christ lived. And if this experience,
these millennia of tradition are lost, then the loss will be for the whole
Church, both of the Christians of the East as well as the Christians of the
West.

However, there is more to this: if Christian leave the Middle East, in
other words, if the Muslims remain alone, an element of stimulation will be
lacking =E2=80=94 represented, in fact, by that element of diversity that
Christians can contribute. Diversity of faith, because Muslims ask us every
day: How is it that you say that God is One and Triune? This is
contradictory. And we say: How is it that you say that Mohammed is a
prophet? What are, for you, the criteria of prophecy? Does Mohammed answer
to these criteria? And what does it mean that the Quran is from God? In
what sense do you say that it descended on Mohammed? We say that the Bible
is divine, but mediated through human authors, whereas Muslims want to
remove Mohammed's mediation.

These questions that they ask us and that we ask are a stimulus, not only
for civilization, but also for civil society. It would be a great loss
because the risk exists of wishing to found a society, a state based on the
sharia, that is, on something that was established in the seventh century
in the region of the Arabian Peninsula, even if for Muslims the sharia is
generic and true for all centuries and all cultures.

And this is Islam's great problem: how can Islam be re-thought today? The
absence of Christians would make the problem even more acute.
  Will there be at some point an enlightenment for Islam?
  For the West, for the Church, the Enlightenment meant a renewal of the
mind of the faith, which enabled us to be inspired by the culture and the
criticism that came with it. The Enlightenment meant throwing full light on
the realities of the world of faith. The risk of the believer is to begin
only from the religious phenomenon, which is a partial phenomenon in human
life and in the life of society.

If we don't confront this religious phenomenon with science, with human
rights, with the development of psychology, of the human sciences, with the
cultures of the world, we will not have an open Christianity or, in this
specific case, an open Islam.

Your question is: would Islam be capable of an enlightenment? In theory,
yes. We had an example in the ninth and 10th centuries. There was then an
enlightenment inspired by Syrian Christians coming from Syria, Palestine
and Iraq who assimilated the Hellenic culture, transmitted it, translated
it, commented upon it, were inspired by it, thus producing generations of
Muslim thinkers who did the same applying it to the Quran, to the dogmas
and sacred traditions.

This phenomenon continued until the 11th century and then it died slowly,
because there was an Islamist reaction, which translated it into a strictly
religious reaction, with the exclusion of philosophy, for example, and of
historical religious criticism. If this continues to happen, there will
never be an enlightenment. A prior condition is that Muslims increasingly
study all the sciences and agree to study the text of the Quran as any
other text of Arab literature, with the same criteria.

The main objective is to begin with a demystified history. And I hope that
we will come to this critical and also religious rereading of the Quran:
faith and culture, faith and science, faith and reason. This was the
essential point of the Regensburg address of Sept. 12, 2006, and it
continues to be this, although it was a shock for many Muslims in
particular, and for certain Eastern Christians who are culturally Islamized=
.
  In what way can we insert the birth and diffusion of Islam within the
salvific plan?

Father Samir: This is a delicate but legitimate question. We can express it
thus: "Insofar as what has been given to men to know about this, does Islam
have a place in God's plan?"

In the course of history, Christians of the East have often asked
themselves this question. The answer of Arab Christian theologians was:
"God has permitted the birth of Islam to punish Christians for their
infidelities." I think the truth about Islam leads back to the division
between Eastern Christians, a division often due to nationalist and
cultural motives hidden behind theological formulas. This situation impeded
them from proclaiming the Good News to the peoples of the region, something
that Islam has done partially.

Islam served to reaffirm faith in one God, the call to dedicate ourselves
completely to him, to modify our life to adore him. It was a healthy
reaction, in continuity with the Jewish and Christian biblical tradition.
But in reality, to come to this it eliminated everything that created a bit
of difficulty, in particular: the human and at the same time divine nature
of Christ; the One and Triune God, who is dialogue and love; and the fact
that Christ became obedient unto death on the cross, that he emptied
himself, as St. Paul says, out of love for us.

Hence, it is a rationalized religion, not in the sense according to the
Spirit and divine rationality, but in the sense of being simplified of
those aspects that human reason cannot contain. Hence, Islam presents
itself as the third and last revealed religion ... and for us, obviously,
it isn't. After Christ =E2=80=94 whom the Quran recognizes as Word of God, =
Verbum
of God =E2=80=94 it is incomprehensible that God sent another Word that is =
the
Quran.

If the Quran was in agreement and served to clarify the Gospel, I would
say: why not? Like the saints who throw light on the Gospel and on the
person of Jesus. But here, no: it is in contradiction. That is why I cannot
say that God has sent a prophet =E2=80=94 which would be Mohammed =E2=80=94=
 with a new
revelation. Even less can I say of him that he is "the seal of the
prophets," khatam al-nabiyyin, as the Quran states, namely, that he
completes and corrects and leads the revelation of Christ to fulfillment.

what is Islam's place in God's plan?
 I think that for us Christians it is a stimulus to lead us back to the
foundation of it all: God is the Only One, the Ultimam Reality =E2=80=94 wh=
ich is
the fundamental Jewish and Christian affirmation, taken up by the Quran in
the beautiful sura 112: "Yes: God is the Only One! God is the Impenetrable
One!" etc. An affirmation, which modern life runs the risk of making us
forget. Islam reminds us that, if Christ is the center of the Christian
faith, he is so always in relation with the Father; to remain in unity,
even if the Quran has not managed to understand what the Holy Spirit is.

We are questioned every day by Muslims about our faith, and this leads us
to rethink it constantly from the perspective of Islam. I thank Muslims for
their criticisms, so long as they make them as reflection and not as
controversy. I would say the same for Christians' questions.

Our vocation, that of us Christians of the East, is to live with Muslims,
whether we like it or not. It is a mission! It is difficult, but we must
live together. Because of this, I would say that it falls to Muslims to
defend the Christian presence, and to Christians to defend the Muslim
presence. It is not up to each one of us, in fact, to defend ourselves, as
this would lead to confrontation.

Therefore, I hope that the synod on the Middle East , which will take place
Oct. 10-24, will help us Christians of the West and the East, but that it
might also help Muslims, to rethink the meaning of the divine plan that we
must rediscover in friendship and at times in confrontation: why are we
together in this land of the Middle East, which is the land of Jesus =E2=80=
=94
certainly =E2=80=94 but also the land of Moses and Mohammed? This land must=
 truly
come to be "Holy Land."

--00000000000097be7a06289fec15
Content-Type: text/html; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<div dir=3D"auto"><div dir=3D"auto">Yes,=C2=A0 Islam, God&#39;s plan everyt=
hing that happens in the universe is already known and predestined. This be=
lief is called Qadar, which is Arabic for &quot;power&quot; and can also be=
 translated as &quot;divine fore-ordainment&quot; or &quot;predestination&q=
uot;.=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D"auto">Here are some other aspects of God&#39;s=
 plan in Islam:=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D"auto">Omniscience</div><div dir=3D"a=
uto">Muslims believe that God is all-knowing and has known everything since=
 before the creation of the world.=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D"auto">Free will</=
div><div dir=3D"auto">Although everything is predestined, Muslims still bel=
ieve that people are responsible for their actions and will be rewarded or =
punished on Judgement Day.=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D"auto">Divine mercy</div><=
div dir=3D"auto">Muslims believe that God is merciful and kind, and that hi=
s doors of mercy are always open. However, the Qur&#39;an also describes Go=
d as unpredictable and vengeful, and says that he destroys people who deny =
his prophets.=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D"auto">The coexistence of Christians an=
d Muslims is good for civil society because their mutual questioning of the=
 other&#39;s faith acts as a stimulus and leads to deeper understanding, sa=
ys a Jesuit priest who is an expert in Islamic studies.</div><div dir=3D"au=
to">This is the opinion of Father Samir Khalil Samir, an Islamic scholar an=
d Catholic theologian born in Egypt and based in the Middle East for more t=
han 20 years.</div><div dir=3D"auto">He teaches Catholic theology and Islam=
ic studies at St. Joseph University in Beirut, is founder of the CEDRAC res=
earch institute and is author of many articles and books, including &quot;1=
11 Questions on Islam.&quot;</div><div dir=3D"auto">ZENIT spoke with Father=
 Samir regarding the June 21-22 meeting in Lebanon of the Oasis Internation=
al Foundation, which seeks to promote mutual knowledge among Christians and=
 Muslims.</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0Father Samir: The problem we are exp=
eriencing both in the Church as well as in Islam is that we are not always =
able to transmit the faith easily to the new generation and the generations=
 to come. The question we ask ourselves is: In what way should we rethink t=
he faith for young people, but also in parishes or in mosques, in the talks=
 that religious address to their faithful?</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0Thi=
s is what we want: to make a study of the Christian experience in Lebanon, =
and the Muslim Sunni experience and the Muslim Shiite experience in this am=
bit. We want to compare, to identify even if it is only the common difficul=
ties, to seek together an answer to them. I think this has been the main ob=
jective of our meeting in face of a dialogue of cultures in the Christian a=
nd the Muslim faith.</div><div dir=3D"auto">What effect would the disappear=
ance of the Churches of the Middle East have on the Christian and Muslim wo=
rld?</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0 The disappearance of the Churches of the=
 Middle East would be, first of all, a loss for Christianity, because, as J=
ohn Paul II said, the Church, as every human being, lives with two lungs: t=
he Eastern and the Western. Now, the Eastern Churches were born here in the=
 land of Jesus, in the territories of the Middle East, where Christ lived. =
And if this experience, these millennia of tradition are lost, then the los=
s will be for the whole Church, both of the Christians of the East as well =
as the Christians of the West.</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0</div><div dir=
=3D"auto">However, there is more to this: if Christian leave the Middle Eas=
t, in other words, if the Muslims remain alone, an element of stimulation w=
ill be lacking =E2=80=94 represented, in fact, by that element of diversity=
 that Christians can contribute. Diversity of faith, because Muslims ask us=
 every day: How is it that you say that God is One and Triune? This is cont=
radictory. And we say: How is it that you say that Mohammed is a prophet? W=
hat are, for you, the criteria of prophecy? Does Mohammed answer to these c=
riteria? And what does it mean that the Quran is from God? In what sense do=
 you say that it descended on Mohammed? We say that the Bible is divine, bu=
t mediated through human authors, whereas Muslims want to remove Mohammed&#=
39;s mediation.</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D"auto">These =
questions that they ask us and that we ask are a stimulus, not only for civ=
ilization, but also for civil society. It would be a great loss because the=
 risk exists of wishing to found a society, a state based on the sharia, th=
at is, on something that was established in the seventh century in the regi=
on of the Arabian Peninsula, even if for Muslims the sharia is generic and =
true for all centuries and all cultures.</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0</div=
><div dir=3D"auto">And this is Islam&#39;s great problem: how can Islam be =
re-thought today? The absence of Christians would make the problem even mor=
e acute.</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0 Will there be at some point an enlig=
htenment for Islam?</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0 For the West, for the Chu=
rch, the Enlightenment meant a renewal of the mind of the faith, which enab=
led us to be inspired by the culture and the criticism that came with it. T=
he Enlightenment meant throwing full light on the realities of the world of=
 faith. The risk of the believer is to begin only from the religious phenom=
enon, which is a partial phenomenon in human life and in the life of societ=
y.</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D"auto">If we don&#39;t con=
front this religious phenomenon with science, with human rights, with the d=
evelopment of psychology, of the human sciences, with the cultures of the w=
orld, we will not have an open Christianity or, in this specific case, an o=
pen Islam.</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D"auto">Your questi=
on is: would Islam be capable of an enlightenment? In theory, yes. We had a=
n example in the ninth and 10th centuries. There was then an enlightenment =
inspired by Syrian Christians coming from Syria, Palestine and Iraq who ass=
imilated the Hellenic culture, transmitted it, translated it, commented upo=
n it, were inspired by it, thus producing generations of Muslim thinkers wh=
o did the same applying it to the Quran, to the dogmas and sacred tradition=
s.</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D"auto">This phenomenon con=
tinued until the 11th century and then it died slowly, because there was an=
 Islamist reaction, which translated it into a strictly religious reaction,=
 with the exclusion of philosophy, for example, and of historical religious=
 criticism. If this continues to happen, there will never be an enlightenme=
nt. A prior condition is that Muslims increasingly study all the sciences a=
nd agree to study the text of the Quran as any other text of Arab literatur=
e, with the same criteria.</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D"a=
uto">The main objective is to begin with a demystified history. And I hope =
that we will come to this critical and also religious rereading of the Qura=
n: faith and culture, faith and science, faith and reason. This was the ess=
ential point of the Regensburg address of Sept. 12, 2006, and it continues =
to be this, although it was a shock for many Muslims in particular, and for=
 certain Eastern Christians who are culturally Islamized.</div><div dir=3D"=
auto">=C2=A0 In what way can we insert the birth and diffusion of Islam wit=
hin the salvific plan?</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D"auto"=
>Father Samir: This is a delicate but legitimate question. We can express i=
t thus: &quot;Insofar as what has been given to men to know about this, doe=
s Islam have a place in God&#39;s plan?&quot;</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0=
</div><div dir=3D"auto">In the course of history, Christians of the East ha=
ve often asked themselves this question. The answer of Arab Christian theol=
ogians was: &quot;God has permitted the birth of Islam to punish Christians=
 for their infidelities.&quot; I think the truth about Islam leads back to =
the division between Eastern Christians, a division often due to nationalis=
t and cultural motives hidden behind theological formulas. This situation i=
mpeded them from proclaiming the Good News to the peoples of the region, so=
mething that Islam has done partially.</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0</div><=
div dir=3D"auto">Islam served to reaffirm faith in one God, the call to ded=
icate ourselves completely to him, to modify our life to adore him. It was =
a healthy reaction, in continuity with the Jewish and Christian biblical tr=
adition. But in reality, to come to this it eliminated everything that crea=
ted a bit of difficulty, in particular: the human and at the same time divi=
ne nature of Christ; the One and Triune God, who is dialogue and love; and =
the fact that Christ became obedient unto death on the cross, that he empti=
ed himself, as St. Paul says, out of love for us.</div><div dir=3D"auto">=
=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D"auto">Hence, it is a rationalized religion, not in =
the sense according to the Spirit and divine rationality, but in the sense =
of being simplified of those aspects that human reason cannot contain. Henc=
e, Islam presents itself as the third and last revealed religion ... and fo=
r us, obviously, it isn&#39;t. After Christ =E2=80=94 whom the Quran recogn=
izes as Word of God, Verbum of God =E2=80=94 it is incomprehensible that Go=
d sent another Word that is the Quran.</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0</div><=
div dir=3D"auto">If the Quran was in agreement and served to clarify the Go=
spel, I would say: why not? Like the saints who throw light on the Gospel a=
nd on the person of Jesus. But here, no: it is in contradiction. That is wh=
y I cannot say that God has sent a prophet =E2=80=94 which would be Mohamme=
d =E2=80=94 with a new revelation. Even less can I say of him that he is &q=
uot;the seal of the prophets,&quot; khatam al-nabiyyin, as the Quran states=
, namely, that he completes and corrects and leads the revelation of Christ=
 to fulfillment.=C2=A0=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D=
"auto">what is Islam&#39;s place in God&#39;s plan?</div><div dir=3D"auto">=
=C2=A0I think that for us Christians it is a stimulus to lead us back to th=
e foundation of it all: God is the Only One, the Ultimam Reality =E2=80=94 =
which is the fundamental Jewish and Christian affirmation, taken up by the =
Quran in the beautiful sura 112: &quot;Yes: God is the Only One! God is the=
 Impenetrable One!&quot; etc. An affirmation, which modern life runs the ri=
sk of making us forget. Islam reminds us that, if Christ is the center of t=
he Christian faith, he is so always in relation with the Father; to remain =
in unity, even if the Quran has not managed to understand what the Holy Spi=
rit is.</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D"auto">We are questio=
ned every day by Muslims about our faith, and this leads us to rethink it c=
onstantly from the perspective of Islam. I thank Muslims for their criticis=
ms, so long as they make them as reflection and not as controversy. I would=
 say the same for Christians&#39; questions.</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0<=
/div><div dir=3D"auto">Our vocation, that of us Christians of the East, is =
to live with Muslims, whether we like it or not. It is a mission! It is dif=
ficult, but we must live together. Because of this, I would say that it fal=
ls to Muslims to defend the Christian presence, and to Christians to defend=
 the Muslim presence. It is not up to each one of us, in fact, to defend ou=
rselves, as this would lead to confrontation.</div><div dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0=
</div><div dir=3D"auto">Therefore, I hope that the synod on the Middle East=
 , which will take place Oct. 10-24, will help us Christians of the West an=
d the East, but that it might also help Muslims, to rethink the meaning of =
the divine plan that we must rediscover in friendship and at times in confr=
ontation: why are we together in this land of the Middle East, which is the=
 land of Jesus =E2=80=94 certainly =E2=80=94 but also the land of Moses and=
 Mohammed? This land must truly come to be &quot;Holy Land.&quot;</div><div=
 dir=3D"auto">=C2=A0</div></div>

--00000000000097be7a06289fec15--

Path:

home / rcmewpjy / mail / rcm.edu.ng / dorcas.tijani / cur /

?? Editing: 1733517202.M410433P198546.premium5.web-hosting.com,S=27173,W=27599:2,S

Path:

?? Upload