Fr Michael Chua
September 28, Kuala Lumpur -- “In today’s globalised world, Muslims and Christians need to cooperate and unite in meeting the challenges posed by secularism through the personal witness of their faith in a Creator God.” a Vatican scholar made this call at a forum organized by the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) and officiated by the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi. Revd Fr Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot, MCCJ, the Rector of the Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) in Rome, spoke to both members of faculty and student body at an interreligious forum entitled “The Importance of Muslim Christian Dialogue.”
Fr Ayuso began his lecture by stating that interreligious dialogue and cooperation is necessitated by the demands of a globalised world desiring to overcome every kind of communal tension and which lives with the hope of peaceful coexistence. In face of the process of dialogue being threatened and derailed by ignorance, suspicion and prejudice, he spoke of the need of ‘critical dialogue’ that preserves and promotes human dignity. According to him, the current perspective of Muslim-Christian dialogue involves the necessity of strengthening certain key elements, such as educating persons and communities to dialogue, continuing the search of shared common values and finally, the reciprocal collaboration to create a harmonious and peaceful society.
"Educating people in how to dialogue presupposes a good knowledge of one's own religious tradition and openness towards the knowledge of the other," explained Fr Ayuso as he also gave a short description of the mission and nature of formation given at his institution. PISAI provides its students with training in the Arabic language and an objective presentation of Islam and its different sciences.
"The purpose of interreligious dialogue," he added, "is not some agreement on the beliefs of different religious traditions, a melting pot of sort, but rather the common search of shared values to encourage the encounter in a spirit of respect, trust and friendship." He emphasised that partners to the dialogue should remain faithful in their own religious and faith convictions and indeed will experience enrichment and deepening of their faith when they come to know the other.
Finally, he explains how both Muslims and Christians can collaborate to build a peaceful and harmonious society. "Following their own respective traditions, (they) draw attention to the truth of the sacred character and dignity of the person. This is the basis of our reciprocal respect and esteem and the conditions of service for collaboration for peace between nations and peoples, the strongest desire of every believer and every person of good will."
At the beginning of the forum, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdullah Badawi in his opening address had also pointed out that there is great potential for both Christianity and Islam to benefit from mutual enrichment and cooperation. He also noted the need for religious leaders to teach the new generation the essential message that mutual respect is fundamental for the survival of humanity. He concluded by remunerating the ten key points of the civilisational renewal of Islam (Islam Hadhari) which he had advocated during his premiership which contained universal values common to all religious traditions.
Fr Ayuso, a Spaniard, had spent many years living and working among Muslims in the Nile Region of Egypt and Sudan. During this visit to Malaysia, Fr Ayuso preached a retreat for the clergy of Peninsular Malaysia at Stella Maris, Penang. He also paid a courtesy call on the Rector of IIUM, Prof Datuk Dr Zaleha Kamarrudin and later made another visit to the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS). He was feted in a dinner organized and hosted by Archbishop Tan Sri Datuk Murphy Pakiam, the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, which was attended by the Honourable Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon and other religious leaders who had visited PISAI earlier this year and in the past year.
September 28, Kuala Lumpur -- “In today’s globalised world, Muslims and Christians need to cooperate and unite in meeting the challenges posed by secularism through the personal witness of their faith in a Creator God.” a Vatican scholar made this call at a forum organized by the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) and officiated by the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi. Revd Fr Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot, MCCJ, the Rector of the Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) in Rome, spoke to both members of faculty and student body at an interreligious forum entitled “The Importance of Muslim Christian Dialogue.”Fr Ayuso began his lecture by stating that interreligious dialogue and cooperation is necessitated by the demands of a globalised world desiring to overcome every kind of communal tension and which lives with the hope of peaceful coexistence. In face of the process of dialogue being threatened and derailed by ignorance, suspicion and prejudice, he spoke of the need of ‘critical dialogue’ that preserves and promotes human dignity. According to him, the current perspective of Muslim-Christian dialogue involves the necessity of strengthening certain key elements, such as educating persons and communities to dialogue, continuing the search of shared common values and finally, the reciprocal collaboration to create a harmonious and peaceful society.
"Educating people in how to dialogue presupposes a good knowledge of one's own religious tradition and openness towards the knowledge of the other," explained Fr Ayuso as he also gave a short description of the mission and nature of formation given at his institution. PISAI provides its students with training in the Arabic language and an objective presentation of Islam and its different sciences.
"The purpose of interreligious dialogue," he added, "is not some agreement on the beliefs of different religious traditions, a melting pot of sort, but rather the common search of shared values to encourage the encounter in a spirit of respect, trust and friendship." He emphasised that partners to the dialogue should remain faithful in their own religious and faith convictions and indeed will experience enrichment and deepening of their faith when they come to know the other.
Finally, he explains how both Muslims and Christians can collaborate to build a peaceful and harmonious society. "Following their own respective traditions, (they) draw attention to the truth of the sacred character and dignity of the person. This is the basis of our reciprocal respect and esteem and the conditions of service for collaboration for peace between nations and peoples, the strongest desire of every believer and every person of good will."
At the beginning of the forum, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdullah Badawi in his opening address had also pointed out that there is great potential for both Christianity and Islam to benefit from mutual enrichment and cooperation. He also noted the need for religious leaders to teach the new generation the essential message that mutual respect is fundamental for the survival of humanity. He concluded by remunerating the ten key points of the civilisational renewal of Islam (Islam Hadhari) which he had advocated during his premiership which contained universal values common to all religious traditions.
Fr Ayuso, a Spaniard, had spent many years living and working among Muslims in the Nile Region of Egypt and Sudan. During this visit to Malaysia, Fr Ayuso preached a retreat for the clergy of Peninsular Malaysia at Stella Maris, Penang. He also paid a courtesy call on the Rector of IIUM, Prof Datuk Dr Zaleha Kamarrudin and later made another visit to the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS). He was feted in a dinner organized and hosted by Archbishop Tan Sri Datuk Murphy Pakiam, the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, which was attended by the Honourable Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon and other religious leaders who had visited PISAI earlier this year and in the past year.
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