Christian Engagement with Islam

The programme was begun by Bishop Tom Butler who gave an inter-faith overview.  I have never met or seen this man before.  Even though I had been given a brief note about his work, I tend not to read these as I like to listen to people without forming any preconceived views.  Bishop Tom Butler gave me some foundation in relation to the early developments of church co-operation, with a key pivotal event occurring back in 1987 when Cardinal Basil Hume moved from a position of co-operation to commitment in his and the Catholic Church’s relations with other Churches.  On an International level this was then extended by Pope John Paul II in 1986, when he held an Inter-Faith Conference in Assisi with sixty other faith leaders. Bishop Tom Butler then brought the subject of inter-faith relations down to a regional level by giving examples of his time as Bishop of Leicester which has a wide and varied faith background, and has from time to time brought about periods of instability. Bishop Tom Butler helped bring about inter-faith dialogue.  It was this strength of co-operation between faiths that he felt helped ensure that Leicester did not fall victim to the recent English disturbances.

 

The next speaker was Helen Reid,  the tin stated that she was going to speak about Islam in England. I certainly came away with my head spinning at this point.  I thought I knew something about the Islamic Faith in England. Maybe I have travelled in too many taxis in Leeds, and therefore my understanding was somewhat narrow. Helen certainly made me think about all the different religious groupings.  Sunni, Shi’a, and Sufi.  How these are reflected within the country through the different representative groups and how they view themselves.  An example given was that over 100,000 Turkish Muslims live in London, and they have a more positive outlook, stemming from once ruling the large Ottoman Empire.  Whereas Azad Kashmiris come from an area that has been partitioned following the break-up of India after British rule.  It was also interesting to understand the different types of Mosques.  Where some are very inward looking or traditional, others are looking for dialogue with other faiths, being involved in the Bradford Council of Mosques, The Dialogue Society (Turkish), Islamic Education & Research Academy, and MINAB.  I think what I learnt here was that I should go out and find out.

 

Well it was a well deserved coffee break, and some nice biscuits.  It was lovely to meet so many nice people from all walks of life.  That is what the Christian Muslim Forum is all about.  Richard McCallum gave a presentation on the Christian Perspectives on Islam in the last 50 years.  Now Richard has spent a long time in North Africa, and had returned to the UK following the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers.  Although Race is still an issue within our society, religion has more recently become the topic of the day for direct discrimination. Historically it had been those people who had previously engaged with Islam that were used in an advisory capacity.  This tended to link into what Bishop Tom Butler had said about the meeting in Assisi, and the involvement of the Churches in such incidents as the Iranian Uprising, and the Salman Rushdie affair.  It is recognised that these traditional forms of Christian Churches have been on a decline for many years, and there is now a rise in Pentecostal Churches who seem less concerned about Islam.  These Churches may have some concerns with dialogue as they may be perceived as a compromise.  A little bit too in-depth for me and I was glad that it was lunch time.  I was looking forward to the afternoon sessions now that I had eaten well and had good company.

 

Phil Lewis & Anjum Anwar teamed up to give a talk on Christian and Muslims working together for a healthy society.  Anjum is the living proof that Christians and Muslims working together can both improve relations and make you a better Christian or Muslim.  Anjum works with the Canon at Blackburn Cathedral.  Really enjoys working with schools, colleges and universities.   Phil Lewis explained that integration is expanding in the UK. 1st generation Muslims had language barriers, whereas the 2nd generation Muslims started to challenge and explain what their needs were, whilst the 3rd generation are making impacts within their community and nationally.  Also there are new demands on Imams.  Phil continued to give the Bradford context.  In 2011, Bradford suffered a riot which occurred as a result of heightened tension between the large and growing ethnic minority communities and the city's white majority, stoked by confrontation between the Anti-Nazi League and far right groups such as the British National Party and the National Front.  However, Bradford has recovered from this with a new generation emerging.  Young Muslim Women setting up groups, and being leaders within their communities.  The English Defence League visited Bradford last year, and had been confronted by a Peace Movement led by young women from all cultural and race groups.  It is now time for the discussions groups.  

I think I took the soft option here and chose – What are you doing on the ground in social action?  It was great to hear other people talk about where they live, how they involve their Church within the community, and what they had learnt from the guest speakers, and how they were going to use some of the information to engage with the wider community.  Are we talking ‘Big Society’ here?  I saw it as community cohesion and common sense.

 

The day was drawing to an end and all those concerns that I had at the start of the day had disappeared.  Last up was Julian Bond and Ibrahim Mogra giving a quick presentation on Misson and Dialogue in Christianity and Islam: reconciling opposites.  Julian explained the background to this piece of work which had started about two years ago. As a result of all this hard work the Ethical Guidelines for Christian and Muslim Witness in Britain was born.   What I understood from it was that there were differences between sharing and converting, that it is used at all Christian Muslim Forum events, and is recognised both nationally and internationally as a good practice document for engagement and dialogue. It would be especially important as a key document when either Christian or Muslim youth leaders work with a multi-faith community. There was recognition that this document would meet stiff resistance within some Christian and Muslims circles. As indicated within the presentation given by Richard McCallum it might be difficult to get some Evangelical Christians to adopt it. Anjum also felt that some Mosques in the North West of England would find it difficult to sign-up to the declaration.  I shrugged my shoulders at this point as reading the Ethical Guidelines it all seemed perfect common sense.  Ibrahim Mogra explained quite clearly that it was not the role of a Muslim to continuously look to convert non-believers to Islam.  This was a pleasant change from all the media hype that seems to tell us different, especially as many Imams now have to learn new skills such as crisis management, counselling, and hospital or prison visits in their chaplaincy work.  The day has come to an end and with a little prayer I have come away with more knowledge, and understanding.  I met some extremely nice people and would like to personally thank Julian Bond for allowing me the opportunity to attend.  

 

By Allan Mann