The Muslim News - Peace and understanding between Muslim and Jewish communities

Issue 227, Friday 28 March 2008 - 20 Rabi' al-Awwal 1429

Peace and understanding between Muslim and Jewish communities

On February 25, world-renowned Muslim scholar Professor Tariq Ramadan publicly signed a statement to the world’s Jewish Community calling for peace and understanding. The letter has received the support of Muslim religious scholars and leaders from around the world and has been welcomed by international Jewish leaders.
The event took place at the Woolf Institute’s Centre for the Study of Muslim-Jewish Relations (CMJR) in Cambridge.
The initiative behind the letter comes from the Muslim scholars of CMJR, Dr Amineh Hoti and Sheikh Michael Mumisa who collaborated with leading Muslims from the UK and abroad. The letter describes itself as “a call for positive and constructive action that aims to improve Muslim-Jewish relations.”
Following a lecture on the ‘Nature of God’, Professor Ramadan spoke of the significance of the letter: “I really think that this letter is a signal that we are ready to call for dialogue…We need to get beyond ‘tolerance’ which is saying that ‘I put up with you but I would rather you were not here’ to a mutual knowledge and a mutual respect.” He described dialogue with Jews as “a risk but a necessity.” Rabbi Jonathan Magonet, who responded to Professor Ramadan’s talk, said this was a significant moment in the Muslim-Jewish encounter.
The signatories of the letter include: Professor Akbar S Ahmed, American University Washington, DC; Dr Seyed Amir Akrami, the Organisation for Islamic Culture and Communication, Tehran; Professor Bunyamin Duran, Islamic University of Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Dr Shaykh Suhaib Hasan, the Islamic Sharia Council, London; Prof Abdulaziz Sachedina, University of Virginia; Shaykh Mustafa Ceric, The Grand Mufti of Bosnia; Lord Khalid Hameed, former High Sheriff of Greater London; Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, the Muslim Council of Britain; Professor Sari Nusseibeh, Al Quds University, Beit Hanina, Jerusalem, and Professor Tariq Ramadan, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford.
The letter has already been welcomed by Jewish leaders including Rabbi David Rosen, the International President of Religions for Peace and Advisor on Interfaith Relations to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and Rabbi Danny Rich, the Director of Liberal Judaism, who said, “I welcome this letter as an opportunity to strengthen relations between Muslims and Jews who, it seems to me, have more in common than divides them, and who together could contribute to making the world a more decent place for us, our children and future generations to occupy…On behalf of Liberal Judaism I am pleased to reassure the writers of the letter that Liberal Judaism will use its best endeavours to respond generously and positively to the letter’s sentiments, and will both meet the challenges and share the opportunities which follow from the letter’s distribution.”

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