How Muslims and Christians Can Practice Wilayat (Support) toward Each Other? A Response to Nostra Aetate

Abstract

28 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 42, No.1, Fall 2018 How Muslims and Christians Can Practice Wilayat (Support) toward Each Other? A Response to Nostra Aetate1 Sayed Hassan Akhlaq* Introduction All the Abrahemic religions consist of theology, moral values, mysticism, and canon law, in different degrees of emphasis, thus we cannot reduce them to just one. The aim of religion seems to transcend each of these aspects; it wants to form the entirety of a human being according to truth throughout living, promoting, and expanding experiences of religious life. Neither Jesus nor Muhammad wanted to present a system of theology. Although they greatly contributed in the promotion of both private and public virtues and linked morals to spirituality, they are much more than mere ethical instructors. The same thing is true about mysticism and canon law. There are two examples which manifest the real nature of Jesus and Muhammad with regards to people: “I am the way and the truth and the life.”2 *Akhlaq obtained his Master of Art degree in the field of western Philosophy from the Imam Khomeini International University and a doctorate in western philosophy from Allameh Tabatabai University. Akhlaq has published four books, numerous chapters, editorials , encyclopedia and dictionary entries. He has been involved in comparative study and inter and intra-faith dialogue. He is also a member of the American Academy of Religion and an adviser for the Center for the Study of Islam and the Middle East in Washington DC. 1 A short version of this paper was published in Nostra Aetate; Celebrating 50 Years of the Catholic Church’s Dialogue with Jews and Muslim, Pim Valkenberg and Anthony Cirelli (Ed.), CUA Press: 2016, PP. 146-157. 2 The New American Bible (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), John 14:6. 29 “O prophet! Truly we have sent you as a witness, a bearer of glad tidings, and Warner; and a caller to God by his permission, and as a lamp spreading light.”3 The way is the same as the truth and also the life. Clearly it is not an ordinary way alongside many other ways; it is identical with the truth and the life. Also it is not simply a metaphysical truth because it is the life and the life entails both metaphysics and physics. This life, in addition, is not the already given life to humanity because the distinction between current life and ideal life is an initial starting step of faith. The usual life is open to many paths and neutral regarding the truth if not confusing and more comfortable with ignoring the truth. The particular way is something relevant to the essence and true nature of the way, the truth, and the life which requires totally a new self-identification and self-realization like a new-birth in faith. There is a very significant story told about the Prophet Muhammad by the great Sufi Jalal al-Din Rumi. He shows surprise that people used to ask the Prophet about when the resurrection day is to appear. Rumi highlights the irony by saying that asking the [the Prophet] about the Resurrection Day is like asking a present person about when he will be present! The Prophet was embodying resurrection and people did not understand that in looking for a promised resurrection day!4 A similar thing can be said about Jesus. He is the living way to the truth but theology wants to stabilize the living truth to fixed concepts and system. Of course, theology is related to Jesus but does not equal Jesus. The same story is about the Prophet Muhammad. This is the critical question in Islamic faith: How can a Muslim experience the Prophet as a witness to his or her life? Could theology give this impression? How can Islamic theology reflect the Call of the Prophet by its polemical nature? Surely, the richness and vitality of Islamic “guidance” and Christian “salvation” cannot be fulfilled through merely theology or ethical instructions. It requires a real meeting with the resurrected truth which shakes entirely a human being as well. Such a meeting does not occur without leaving already-established boundaries and openness to...