Subject: CLASH BETWEEN RABBI AND IMAM IN PALESTINE!
Assalaamu alaykum
Any interfaith dialogue we participate in must always be premised on the obligation to convey Islam to others as the ONLY EXISTING DIVINELY-REVEALED WAY OF LIFE. Now, this may seem as intolerant to other faiths with their own views, but it is the reality we must never lose sight of. As a friend would say: "The truth hurts but the fact remains!"
The Prophet (SAW) would never meet nonbelievers except to call them to Islam, whether they appreciated the call or not, nor would he participate in a meeting which would somehow equate Islam with kufr in any way. As for "not mixing politics with religion", the fact is that Islam is a political way of life (i.e. comprehensive ideology covering all aspects of human life) based upon a spiritual creed (i.e. a rational creed in the Almighty Creator). So anyone who tells us not to mix politics with religion in order to get along, s/he is calling us to abando!
n Islam for some false secular model which pleases none but the devil! Actually, those kuffar who organise these official interfaith meetings have their own kufr political agenda which they seek to propagate to us, so we must be very wary.
As Allah ta'ala says: The Jews and Christians will never be pleased with you until you follow their faith [TMQ Surah Al-Baqarah]
Associated Press
3/23/2000 17:28
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http://www.boston.com/dailynews/083/world/Interreligious_meeting_turns_i:.shtml
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Interreligious meeting turns into political feuding
By Julia Lieblich
JERUSALEM (AP) The dialogue with Pope John Paul II was supposed to promote
harmony between Muslims, Christians, and Jews. But the Muslim cleric
railed against Israel before walking off the stage, leaving the pope and a
rabbi alone to plant a tree for pea!
ce.
Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, Sheik Taysir Tamimi and the pope met Thursday
at a Catholic conference and study center in Jerusalem, where the pope
called for ''closer ties among all believers.''
Those ties became strained, though, when the Jewish and Muslim leaders
mixed politics with religion.
Lau, Tamimi and the pope began the evening sitting in throne-like chairs
on a stage in front of a mural of a dove flying over Jerusalem. Choruses
of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish schoolchildren sang songs of peace in the
Pontifical Institute of Notre Dame, formerly on the border of east and
west Jerusalem.
''Religion is not, and must not become, an excuse for violence,
particularly when religious identity coincides with cultural and ethnic
identity'' said the pope.
But Lau drew a heckler when he said the pope's visit indicated the
recognition of Jerusalem as ''a united capital eternal city'' for Israel;
Palestin!
ians claim part of Jerusalem as their own capital. And Tamimi,
deputy chief justice of the Palestinian Islamic courts, gave an angry
litany of Israeli aggression against Palestinians, including confiscation
of land and Israeli occupation of Jerusalem.
Rabbi David Rosen, an interfaith activist with strong ties to the Vatican,
said Lau's comments ''were less than tactful.''
''But I think the sheik outdid him in inappropriateness,'' Rosen said.
''This is normal for those of us involved in interfaith work.''
Many Palestinians applauded during Tamimi's talk, but the response from
the audience was mixed. Sister Hortense Nakhleh of the Rosary Sisters
school in Jerusalem said many Palestinian Christians who work for peace
were offended.
''At the beginning of each encounter between religions, we expect some
explosions, but not in the presence of the pope,'' she said.
Kitty Cohen, a veteran of interreligious work, said d!
ialogue remains
possible between the sides, but not by religious leaders with political
agendas.
In his remarks Thursday night, the pope called on Christians, Muslims and
Jews to ''find in our respective religious traditions the wisdom and the
superior motivation to ensure the triumph of mutual understanding and
cordial respect.''
Religion, he said, ''is the enemy of exclusion and discrimination, of
hatred and rivalry or violence and conflict. ... We must do all we can to
turn awareness of past offenses and sins into a firm resolve to build a
new future in which there will be nothing but respectful and fruitful
cooperation between us.''
Afterwards, Cardinal Edward I. Cassidy, the Vatican official in charge of
interreligious dialogue, summed up the night: ''Nothing is perfect in a
situation like this. But that we could have it at all was already
something.''
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