Dialog:

Grass-root work for dialogue and social harmony 

at

the Islamic-Christian Study Centre 
of Copenhagen

by Aminah Tønnsen

Friendship can often lead to unexpected results, and when a group of 10-15 Christians and Muslims some 6-7 years ago decided to meet regularly once a month to talk more deeply about their faith, most of them surely did not imagine their talks would lead to the establishment of an Islamic-Christian Study Centre in October 1997.
    Situated at the very heart of Copenhagen - at Sortedam Dossering - in a quarter, where people of different cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious faith live and work together, the centre has become a meetingplace, where people seek information and advice, attend training courses, debate and make friends.
    The Islamic-Christian Study Centre is unique in the sense that it was established jointly by Muslims and Christians, that the board is composed of an equal number of Muslims and Christians who cooperate in an atmosphere of friendship and mutual respect - and that it is totally independant of religious and political institutions.

Our goal is to provide sober-minded and prejudice-free information about Islam and Christianity and to promote dialogue and peaceful co-existence between people of different religious faith.
    Interfaith dialogue is a reciprocal testimony of faith involving equal parties. It is not a question of trying to convince the other, but to know more about and understand each other in total respect of religious diversity. Dialogue is a goal in itself - not a means of conversion.
    According to the Koran my duty as a Muslim is to bear witness to my faith - to "call people to God and faith". That's where my duty in this respect ends. It is up to "the other" to reach out for God and find his own way and make his own choice.

God is great - greater than anything else in this universe. He surely could have created mankind as a uniform entity, but He gave us intellect, free will and the right to make our own choices. Our differences are a trial - and a challenge to prove that we are able to create unity in total respect of diversity - that we are able to communicate and to interact to defend common values.
    It has become quite common to talk about "tolerance"; but literally speaking, tolerance is negative - meaning to tolerate or to bear with someone or something considered inferior: The powerful tolerates the week, the clever bears with the stupid - and the rich tolerates the poor. 
    But this is not enough for me: Although I'm a Muslim this is still my native country, and I want to be respected as a citizen with full rights and duties.
    Real dialogue requires equality and mutual respect - and will fail, if there is any hidden agenda.

At the Islamic-Christian Study Centre COURSES are given by Muslims, when the subject is Islam - and by Christians, when the subject is Christianity. Introductory courses have been given to Islam, to Christianity, to the new tendencies in interpretation of the Koran, to the life of Prophet Muhammad, to Søren Kierkegaard and Islam, to Muslim-Christian relations in history etc.

OPEN DEBATES about current social and ethical issues take place once a month on issues such as human rights, bioethics, religion and identity, individual and state, teaching of islam in public schools, religious liberty etc. - each time with both Muslim and Christian (sometimes also Jewish) lecturers.

Groups and individuals - even from England, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Palestine, Zambia and Pakistan - VISIT the centre to acquire knowledge about our dialogue-experiences and Muslim-Christian relations in Denmark. Students of all levels seek guidance to prepare papers and theses, and professionals of every kind contact us for lectures - especially about islam, integration and interfaith dialogue.

A NEWSLETTER is published 4 times a year - and smaller publications on Islam, Christianity and interfaith dialogue are in preparation.

We are in the process of building up a LIBRARY containing relevant books and journals - mainly in Danish and English. Articles are being registeret electronically. Our DATA BASE will be available on the internet by the month of May, and we hope that the Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs, Johannes Lebech, will be there when our reading and studying room will be officially inaugurated during the month of May.

Last but not least: The DIALOGUE GROUPS are still the Alpha and Omega of the Islamic-Christian Study Centre.
    The dialogue group that was the origin of all this is still going strong. Besides we have a womens' group, a group of young students, two "ordinary" groups - and a multifaith group uniting Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Sikhs.
    Each groups consists of 10-15 members and decides its own ways and topics. It might be a video followed by a discussion, or an exchange of views on the basis of extracts from the Bible and the Koran.
    A theological question will automatically lead to a discussion of its actual social application - and vice versa.

INTERfaith dialogue in an atmosphere of complete trust will automatically lead to INTRAfaith dialogue.
    I can assure you that it is extremely interesting for Muslims - especially for converts - to listen to a Lutheran, a Quaker and a Catholic's discussion of the "trinity" or "baptism and salvation".
    And a Shia, a Sufi, a Qadiany, a european reformist and a hardcore Sunni will have different views upon how to read and understand the scriptures or even upon terms like "sacrifice", "destiny" or "salvation".
    The hard-core Sunni will say "you are wrong" to his fellow-Muslims - but in time he might change and say "in my opinion..." instead, and thus accept diversity even inside Islam, which is an extremely important achievement.

ISLAM is ONE, but the texts allow different interpretations - and thus there are different currents or tendencies inside Islam.
    The main question is: Shall we read the Koran and the socalled "Islamic Law" literally and imitate the Prophet as to every minor detail - or shall we interpret the verses "ayat / signs" of the Koran and follow the Prophet by finding the aims and objectives of the teachings and applicate them to the actual circumstances by "reasoning / ijtihad"?
    This discussion has always been going on - I suppose you have heard about reformists like: Al-Afghani, Muhammad 'Abduh, Rashid Ridâ, Muhammad Iqbal, Hassan al-Bannâ, Ali Shari'ati, Ghulam Parwez and others.
    At the present time we have reformists like Farid Esack, Ismail Faruqi, Tariq Ramadan, Mahmod Mohammed Taha, An- Na'im and Muhammad Arkoun.
    We have had the same discussion here in Denmark some 150 years ago, when Søren Kierkegaard insisted upon the fact that "efterfølgelse or following" Jesus is not the same as "efterlignelse or imitation".

Tariq Ramadan (who is the grandson of Hassan al-Banna) has written an interesting book entitled "To be a european Muslim". He comes up with this diagram:

SCHOLASTIC TRADITIONALISTS
refer to the literal meaning of the texts and schools of law WITHOUT any interpretation (Taleban or Tabligh Jama'at) - strict religious practice - refuse any social or political envolvement in European society.

SALAFI TRADITIONALISTS
also refer to texts WITHOUT interpretation - and to the salafis (first muslims) but do NOT accept the schools of law - not at all influenced by European society: a BLACK scarf is a BLACK scarf and NOT a SYMBOLIC or even a WHITE scarf.

POLITICAL SALAFI
is a reaction to the feeling of being oppressed and discriminated - talk about power, state & authority - argue in favour of an "islamic State" and JIHAD against the West - refuse any social or political envolvement in European society. 
    You surely know the Hizt ut-Tahrir (HT). It is  an example of a political salafi group. 
   Such groups or individuals will seldom be able to enter into a real dialogue, as each of them claim to represent the absolute truth - and consider everybody else as heretics.

LIBERAL REFORMIST
At the other end of the scale we find the secularized Muslims, who do not practise their faith, who even do not know the religious texts. They follow humanism and REASON. They call themselves "cultural" or "ultra-light Muslims".

It is EASY blindly to follow the secularized majority - or to follow the religious authorities blindly (taqlid) but ISLAM defines itself as the MIDDLE PATH

SALAFI REFORMISTS
refer to the AIMS and objectives of the texts & original sources - use IJTIHAD (reasoning) to make the message fit all times and all circumstances - they use their individual freedom to act in a responsible manner - they practise - and accept European laws and regulations and are involved in their society.

SUFISM
many different SUFI-currents go deeper into the texts - often by meditation, and they are envolved in their society.

TEXTS + PRACTISE + REASONING are IMPORTANT to be a well-balanced and good individual and citizen.

DIALOGUE is a process - interreligious education in primary and secondary schools is an important FIRST STEP - where you as teachers have an important role to play.
    DIALOGUE opens our mind and develops our faith. The questions that "the other" asks us make us reflect upon our own faith.
    Talking about SIMILARITIES makes trust grow so that it becomes much easier to talk about, to accept and respect diversity and plurality.

INTERFAITH dialogue makes us realize that belief in God binds people together despite religious, social, cultural, ethnical, national and political differences - and that the bonds of faith can make us interact to create a harmonious and prosperous society.

INTERFAITH dialogue makes it clear to us that we share numerous values: We are all concerned about the future - about how to keep our children away from alcohol, drugs, violence and criminality.
    We are all equally  concerned about poverty, human rights, ecology, war and peace. We all trust in God.

DIALOGUE transforms people from being "hard" and "exclusive" to becoming "soft" and "inclusive".

The Islamic-Christian Study Centreog Copenhagen is a unique combination of a training, documentation and dialogue-center and has thus become the social network for many of its members.

Knowledge, trust, equality, respect and diversity are key words in interfaith as well as intrafaith dialogue.

© Aminah Tønnsen, february 2002    

The above lecture was given at Zahle Seminarium, Copenhagen, on March 7, 2001. Dominic Moghai, director of the Christian Study Centre in Rawalpindi, Pakistan gave a lecture on the same subject seen from a Christian point of view.
   See his interesting paper titled "Major Issues Confronting the Religious Minorites especially the Christians in Pakistan" in Nyhedsbrev om islam & kristendom 1/2001 (udg. Islamisk-Kristent Studiecenter)