Interfaith Dialogue

Interfaith Dialogue: A Guide for Muslims is certainly that – a practicalguide to help local Muslim leaders navigate the tricky waters of interfaithdialogue. More than that, however, it is a document intended to persuadeMuslims, who on the whole are reticent and even staunchly opposed inmany cases, to engage in interfaith dialogue in the first place.This is evident in the preface of the second edition, which begins witha 2010 incident at the Islamic Center of Rochester, New York. A scholarvisiting from the Middle East was speaking on the necessity for Muslimsto talk to people of other faiths. When he had finished, one person in theaudience strongly objected, even warning the speaker that he was in dangerof hellfire for suggesting such things. Despite the watershed initiative bySaudi Arabia King Addullah in calling together the 2008 Madrid InterfaithConference, “many Muslims who attend the mosque for daily worship areopposed or have negative opinions of interfaith dialogue” (xi). So whatneeds to happen first is an “intra-Muslim dialogue . . . that will educateworshippers on the meaning, scope, and the contemporary use of moderninterfaith dialogue from Islamic perspectives” (xi‒xii). Apparently, authorsMuhammad Shafiq and Mohammed Abu-Nimer encountered more resistanceto the idea than they first thought would happen ...