GUEST EDITORIAL
PRAYER FOR GUIDANCE: AN ATTITUDE COMMON TO CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS
Reprinted from:
THE MUSLIM WORLD
Hartford Seminary Foundation, LVII, No. 4, 1967, p259-264
In the Opening Sura of the Qur’ān the prophet Muhammad places the following concluding words as a daily prayer for his followers:
With J. M. Rodwell we interpret this prayer to mean:
“Guide Thou us on the straight path,
the path of those to whom Thou hast been gracious,
with whom Thou art not angry,
and who go not astray!”[1]
Taking this prayer as the starting point of our investigation, some noteworthy and important historical as well as theological connections between Christianity and Islam can be illustrated. Perhaps this choice of subject is a daring one. I am aware of the immense wealth of research and theological thought that must already have been devoted to this prayer. I am deeply conscious of my own insufficient acquaintance with the huge complex of Islamic studies. When dealing with the topic I felt my incompetence to judge many of its aspects. And yet, in spite of all these dissuading considerations, I decided to put forward’ my modest observations, hoping that I may be able to make a small contribution to the dialogue between Islam and Christianity. One of the limitations of our present world is over-specialization. The competence of scholars has increasingly been limited to ever smaller fields of research. This specialization ensures authoritative and efficient study in any branch of science, but at the same time it seriously endangers the fruitful exchange of experience with other branches of that science. If Christian or Islamic scholars were never to overstep the boundaries of their own theologies, what dialogue would be possible? If our judgments and statements were to remain strictly confined to our own field of competence, what room would be left for searching and probing, for question and answer, for a wider and therefore truer horizon? If competence is over stressed, how can religious men grow together in their search for a common attitude towards the One, True God, the Creator, the Father and the Judge of all mankind? For these reasons I thought to be justified in partly overstepping my competence. I humbly request my readers to pardon the deficiencies that may appear in my exposition, and I kindly invite them to bring forward the modifications and corrections, the clarifications and additions which their scholarship allows them to make. It is as a spark to light thought and mutual discussion – as a means of opening the window to better understanding and closer cooperation – that I sincerely wish this present paper to serve.
Introduction: The Prayer-formula in the dialogue of Christians and Muslims during the Middle Ages.
From the beginning of Islam contact between the Christian world and the carriers of the new Islamic message led to frequent discussions and debates. As early as A.D. 639 General ‘Amr Ibn aI-cĀs conducted official talks with John the First, the Nestorian Bishop of Antioch; and four years later he approached Benjamin, the Jacobite Patriarch of Egypt, for the same purpose. The outcome of their debates was carefully noted and the text has been preserved.[2] After that a steady flow of apologetic books of Muslims[3] and Christian[4] origin appeared until the end of the Middle Ages. Among the Christian writers we find theologians such as John of Damascus, Theodore Abū Qurra, Peter the Venerable, Raymund Lullus, Raymund Martini, Ricoldus da Monte Crucis, and even the great Saint Thomas Aquinas. The Muslim apologists count among their ranks such outspoken figures as al- Ṭabarī, Qasim al-Ḥasanī, al-Jāḥiẓi, Ibn Ḥazm, Jālih al-Gha،farī, al-Qarāfī, Ibn Taimīya and Muḥammad Ibn Abi Ṭālib.
In the first half of the thirteenth century the prayer-formula of the first Sura made its entrance into this world of polemics. The Melkite Bishop of Sidon, Paulus al-Rāhib, produced a small treatise called “Risāla ilā aḥad al-muslimīn”[5] in which he proposed a rather bold interpretation of the last verses of Sura I. He maintained that the supplication should be read in this manner: “The path of those to whom God has been gracious” stands for the Christian revelation; the reference to ‘those with whom God is angry and who go astray’ is to the Jews and the pagans respectively. He concludes, therefore, that Muslims in actual fact pray to become Christians whenever they say: “Lead Thou us on the straight path, the path of those to whom Thou hast been gracious”! He goes on to say that the very fact of praying for guidance implies the admission that the supplicant is still in error!
Ahma
THE STORY OF MY LIFE
- » FOREWORD
- » Part One. LEARNING TO SURVIVE
- » origins
- » into gaping jaws
- » from the pincers of death
- » my father
- » my mother
- » my rules for survival
- » Part Two. SUBMIT TO CLERICAL DOGMA — OR THINK FOR MYSELF?
- » seeking love
- » learning to think
- » what kind of priest?
- » training for battle
- » clash of minds
- » lessons on the way to India
- » Part Three (1). INDIA - building 'church'
- » St John's Seminary Hyderabad
- » Andhra Pradesh
- » Jyotirmai – spreading light
- » Indian Liturgy
- » Sisters' Formation in Jeevan Jyothi
- » Helping the poor
- » Part Three (2). INDIA – creating media
- » Amruthavani
- » Background to the Gospels
- » Storytelling
- » Bible translation
- » Film on Christ: Karunamayudu
- » The illustrated life of Christ
- » Part Three (3). INDIA - redeeming 'body'
- » spotting the octopus
- » the challenge
- » screwed up sex guru
- » finding God in a partner?
- » my code for sex and love
- » Part Four. MILL HILL SOCIETY
- » My job at Mill Hill
- » The future of missionary societies
- » Recruitment and Formation
- » Returned Missionaries
- » Brothers and Associates
- » Part Five. HOUSETOP LONDON
- » Planning my work
- » Teaching teaching
- » Pakistan
- » Biblical Spirituality
- » Searching God in our modern world
- » ARK2 Christian Television
- » Part Five (2) New Religious Movements
- » Sects & Cults
- » Wisdom from the East?
- » Masters of Deception
- » Part Five (3). VIDEO COURSES
- » Faith formation through video
- » Our Spirituality Courses
- » Walking on Water
- » My Galilee My People
- » Together in My Name
- » I Have No Favourites
- » How to Make Sense of God
- » Part Six (1). RESIGNATION
- » Publicity
- » Preamble
- » Reaction in India
- » Mill Hill responses
- » The Vatican
- » Part 6 (2). JACKIE
- » childhood
- » youth and studies
- » finding God
- » Mission in India
- » Housetop apostolate
- » poetry
- » our marriage