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Notes

1. Translations of passages from the Qur’an are based on the widely available translation by ‘Abdullah Yusuf ‘Ali, frequently reprinted since it was first published in 1934. All otherwise unattributed references of the type ‘5:82’ should be understood to refer to the Qur’an; the first number, or a number on its own (e.g. ‘112’), refers to the Qur’anic sura (chapter), and the number after the colon to the aya (verse).
2. On the Gospel of Barnabas see note 73 below.
3. Biblical quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version.
4. Ibn Sīnā (980-1037), Ibn Khaldūn (1332-1406), Muhammad ‘Abduh (1849-1905), Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817-1898).
5. ‘Abbās Mahmūd al-‘Aqqād (1889-1964), author of the life of Jesus ‘Abqariyyat al-Masīh (1952) – see Olaf H. Schumann, Der Christus der Muslime, Böhlau, Cologne/Vienna, 1988, pp.111-131; Fathī Uthmān (b. 1928 in Upper Egypt), author of Ma’a al-Masīh fi anājīl al-arba’a (With Christ in the four Gospels) (1961) – see Olaf H. Schumann, op. cit., pp.132-146; Khālid Muhammad Khālid (b. 1920), author of Ma’an, ‘ala al-tarīq, Muhammad wa-l-Masīh (Together on the way – Muhammad and Christ, 1958) – see The Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Modern Islamic World, II, pp. 412-413.
6. Mohamed Arkoun (b. 1928, Algeria), Professor of the History of Islamic Thought and Culture at the Sorbonne, Paris; Nasr Abu Zaid (b. 1943, Egypt), Professor of Islamic Studies at Leiden.
7. Norman P. Tanner (ed.), Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, Volume 1, London/Washington, 1990, p. 232.
8. Geist und Leben, 46, 1973, pp. 81-85; p.82 for this quotation.
9. 2^nd Vatican Council, Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions: Nostra Aetate, 4. Quotations from the documents of the 2^nd Vatican Council in this volume are from The Documents of Vatican II, eds Walter M. Abbott and Joseph Gallagher, Geoffrey Chapman, London/Dublin, 1966.
10. Islam’s central sanctuary: a large cubic building, now situated at the middle of the great mosque at Mecca.
11. The term ‘Hijra’ refers to the migration of the Prophet Muhammad in September 622 from Mecca to Yathrib (later known as Medina, i.e. ‘the city [of the Prophet]’).
12. See the following comments of Werner H. Schmidt and Gerhard Delling on prophecy in Wörterbuch zur Bibel, Furche, Hamburg, 1971, p. 442: ‘The prophet speaks from the future; he does not start from the present in order to proceed into an unknown future, but rather takes coming events as his starting point. He does not seek to proclaim the Law, to apportion blame, or to criticize prevailing circumstances, but rather to announce judgement or promise salvation; the present must be seen in the light of what is to come. Awareness of the future brings insight into present reality and how events are developing – not the other way round.’
13. For Justin on ‘seeds of the Word’ (logoi spermatikoi), see his 2^nd Apology 8.1.
14. GRIC, Ces Écritures qui nous questionnent: la Bible et le Coran, Le Centurion, Paris, 1987 (English translation: The Challenge of the Scriptures: the Bible and the Qur’an, Orbis, New York, 1989).
15. Kenneth Cragg, Muhammad and the Christian: a Question of Response, Darton, Longman and Todd, London and Orbis, New York, 1987.
16. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: Lumen Gentium, 16; Nostra Aetate, 3.
17. These observations are relevant where dialogue takes place between Christians and Muslims who wish to remain faithful to their respective beliefs. Naturally Christians have the duty – as indeed do Muslims, on the basis of the Qur’an – to proclaim their faith. How exactly this should happen and what are the proper means to do so, however, is a problem beyond the scope of the present work.
18. Nostra Aetate, 3.
19. How to Understand Islam, SCM Press, London, 1989, pp.140-148.
20. See in particular the following chapters of this study: ‘The Divinity of Jesus and the Incarnation’; ‘Cross, Sin, Redemption’; ‘God the Three in One’.
21. There is evidence in the Qur’an of the influence of contemporary Christian groups which thought in terms of a Trinity of God the Father, God the Mother and God the Son. ‘In the Arabic Infancy Gospel Mary is repeatedly referred to as “exalted, divine Mary”.’ See Martin Bauschke, Jesus – Stein des Anstoßes, Böhlau, Cologne, 2000, p.155.
22. 2^nd Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation: Dei Verbum, 4.
23. Nostra Aetate, 1.
24. The concepts ‘nature’, ‘substance’ and particularly ‘person’ originate from the philosophy of that time, when their meanings were different from what they are today. The doctrinal content of these concepts can only be correctly preserved by identifying the metaphysical significance which they had at the time of the Councils. Thus ‘person’ (translating hypostasis) indicates that God acts and lives in relationships. However, if one understands ‘person’ in the sense of an individual personality, an autonomous centre of psychological consciousness, then one is making the Councils mean precisely the opposite of what they intended. ‘Person’ would then indicate what the Councils sought to express by the concept ‘nature’, and it would thus follow that there are three distinct ‘natures’ in God.
25. If one wishes to use Arabic terminology, the Trinity should be referred to not by the noun tathlīth, but rather by the adjective thalūth. Tathlīth conveys the inappropriate idea of the division of an object into three parts.
26. With regard to the dialogue over Jesus as the Son of God, one does well, bearing sura 112 in mind, to use the concept ibn Allāh and never walad Allāh. To convey a metaphorical sense, Arabic only ever uses ibn, e.g. ibn al-sabīl. In this context, a passage from the famous Muslim scholar al-Biruni (973-c. 1050) is of interest: ‘Passing from the word God to those of father and son, we must state that Islam is not liberal in the use of them; for in Arabic the word son [ibn] means nearly always as much as a child [walad] in the natural order of things, and from the ideas involved in parentage and birth can never be derived any expression meaning the Eternal Lord of creation. Other languages, however, take much more liberty in this respect; so that if people address a man by father, it is nearly the same as if they addressed him by sir. As is well known, phrases of this kind have become so prevalent among the Christians, that anybody who does not always use the words father and son in addressing people would scarcely be considered as one of them. By the son they understand most especially Jesus, but apply it also to others besides him. It is Jesus who orders his disciples to say in prayer, “O our father which art in heaven (St. Mt 6,9)”, and informing them of his approaching death, he says that he is going to his father and to their father (St. John 20,17). In most of his speeches he explains the word the son as meaning himself, that he is the son of man.’ (Al-Biruni, Ta’rīkh al-Hind, Ed. Sachau, London, 1919, chapter 3; here we have reproduced the English translation by E. Sachau, Alberuni’s India, English text. Volume 1, p. 38.)
27. This explanation should be clearly distinguished from the so-called Modalism of the 3^rd century. The Modalists were ‘monarchian’ in their understanding of God, saying that there is only one God, the Father, with whom Jesus, as Christ, is identical. Consequently they said that it is the Father who became human, suffered and died on the cross (Patripassianism); the Son and the Spirit are only different ‘names’. This doctrine, which occurred in various different shades and colours, developed into Sabellianism, named after Sabellius, who lived at the end of the 3^rd century. Finally, in the 4^th century, it took the form of Arianism, which asserted that the Son is no more than a created being. This all developed as a reaction against trinitarianism and reflected the monotheism originating in the Hellenistic philosophy of the Stoics and the Neo-Platonists. It was the Council of Nicaea (325) which condemned these heresies with the affirmation that the Son is at one and the same time truly God, ‘consubstantial’ with the Father, and truly human.
28. Wahhabis are followers of the teaching of Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhāb (1703-1793), who strove vehemently against every form of mediation between the Creator and the creation, such as the cult of saints, Shi’ite concepts of the imam and monistic tendencies in philosophy and mysticism.
29. Unless otherwise indicated, ‘Catholic’ here means ‘Roman Catholic’ and ‘Protestant’ refers to the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Germany.
30. During the first Christian decades it was chiefly adults who were admitted to the Church through baptism. The New Testament does not provide conclusive proof of the baptism of children, but neither does it exclude it. The practice of baptising the children of Christian parents at a very young age is justified on the grounds that the parents undertake to bring children up in the faith, so that at a later stage they might consciously confess the faith for themselves and commit themselves as adults to the Church. Some churches baptize only adults and maintain that the baptism of children contradicts the Gospel.
31. Confessio Augustana, article 7.
32. Lumen Gentium, 21 (in communione hierarchica); cf. also Lumen Gentium, 8 and 10.
33. The Arabic-Muslim terms ma‛sūm and ‘isma are often rendered as ‘infallible’ and ‘infallibility’. However, they express rather more the idea of being protected; their more exact meaning is ‘protection from sin’. This can apply to the prophets, or, for the Shi’ites, to the successors of ‘Ali whom they know as ‘imams’. The concept is thus normally understood in the sense of  ‘freedom from sin’, rather than in the sense of ‘infallibility’.
34. Lumen Gentium, 12
35. Lumen Gentium, 25, referring to the 1^st Vatican Council.
36. Lumen Gentium, 12.
37. Before being sent to a parish, a priest undergoes spiritual and theological formation in a seminary. After his ordination by the bishop, which takes place in a special festive liturgy, he is sent by the bishop to a particular congregation. There is no fundamental objection to priests being married. In the Middle East there are many married priests and most Orthodox priests are married with children. In the West, in the Latin Church, it has been a canonical regulation since the 7^th century that priests should remain unmarried. But this regulation could be changed because priests are not members of religious orders. Priests should not be equated with members of religious orders, even though many members of religious orders are also priests. Members of religious orders, whether men or women, are Christians with the vocation to dedicate their lives to God in a particular way. Their consecrated life finds concrete expression in the three vows of poverty, chastity (celibacy) and obedience. Members of religious orders live in communities (such as convents) under the authority of a superior. Some orders dedicate themselves above all to prayer (contemplation). Others are chiefly occupied with spiritual teaching and/or the education of young people, others again with medical or general social welfare, and so on. Where their activities are related to the life of a diocese, members of religious orders come under the authority of the bishop.
    Among Protestants also, church workers are theologically trained, with ministers and theologians undergoing college courses. In most cases, ordination accompanies their sending out to work with congregations or for other church duties.
    Other church workers are, for example, deacons, church musicians, youth workers and social workers.
38. In the 4^th century the Council of Nicaea (325) condemned Arius and the Arians, who considered the Son of God to have been created by the Father. Arian ideas are found today among the Unitarians, who reject the doctrine of the Trinity.
    In the 5^th century the Council of Ephesus (431) condemned Nestorius and the Nestorians, who claimed that there are two persons in Christ. Some ‘Nestorian’ groups, known as ‘Assyrians’, have survived in Iraq and Iran. However, in the course of history most of them entered the Catholic Church and are known as ‘Chaldaeans’.
    Also in the 5^th century the Council of Chalcedon (451) condemned Eutyches and the Monophysites, who recognized only the divine nature in Christ. Monophysitism is maintained by the Coptic Church in Egypt and its sister church in Ethiopia, as well as the Jacobites in Syria (the ‘Syrians’) and the Armenians. The Syrian and Egyptian Christians who rejected Monophysitism, accepted the Council of Chalcedon’s definition of faith and remained loyal to the Emperor in Constantinople became known as ‘Melkites’ (derived from the Syriac malkaya, i.e. ‘the Emperor’s people’). Today this term is applied to Christians of the Byzantine rite who belong to the Patriarchates of Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria, whether Orthodox or ‘Uniate’ (i.e. united with Rome).
    In the 11^th century a great schism took place between the Eastern Church, under the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople, and the Western Church, led by the Pope in Rome. Thereafter the Eastern Church designated itself as ‘Orthodox’ (holding true doctrine) and the Roman Church as ‘Catholic’ (universal).
    The churches of the Reformation arose in the 16^th century. Through the work of Martin Luther (1483-1546) the Lutheran churches arose, while the Calvinist or Reformed churches go back to John Calvin (1509-1564). In England the Church separated from Rome during the reign of Henry VIII in the 1530’s, with the distinctive Anglican tradition developing over the rest of the 16^th century.
39. It should further be noted that in each of the Eastern churches a group of believers (‘Uniates’) has become reunited with the Catholic Church. There are consequently Orthodox and Catholic Melkites and Orthodox and Catholic Syrians. The same applies to the Copts, the Assyrians and the Armenians. In contrast, the Maronites are all Catholic.
40. Some of the Muslim questions listed in section I above have already been addressed in the course of section III.
41. Legends about the ‘wealth’ and the ‘power’ of the Vatican are regularly repeated, with reference, for example, to the ‘artistic treasures’ in the Vatican Museum. Much of this relates to the political power of the Papacy in earlier times. The money necessary today for the administration of the Vatican and to help the worldwide Church is raised almost exclusively from the giving of believers all round the world.
42. In the Protestant churches infallibility has traditionally been ascribed to the word of God. Synods and other church bodies might wish their decisions to be binding but they can always be revised.
43. On ijmā’ and the question of infallibility in the Umma, see the discussion above in section II of chapter 6.
44. According to a tradition (hadith), circumcision is obligatory for boys and beneficial for girls; according to another tradition, the circumcision of the clitoris should only be partial. Even today, female circumcision is said to be in accordance with the Sharī’a by some Muslim legal scholars: cf. the following hadith: Ibn Hanbal 19794; Abu Dawud 4587; Ibn Maja 600; al-Tirmidhi 101.
    Female circumcision is practised by Muslims, and also by non-Muslims, particularly in Africa, chiefly because it is believed to encourage large families. On the other hand female circumcision is rejected today in non-Muslim and to some extent also in Muslim circles, including on the grounds that female circumcision can have seriously damaging emotional consequences. In conditions of low hygiene, performing female circumcisions carries a high health risk. Even in Germany, where it is a criminal offence, female circumcision still presents a continuing problem.
45. The principle ecclesia semper reformanda (the Church must constantly be reformed), which was freshly emphasized in the 2^nd Vatican Council Decree on Ecumenism: Unitatis Redintegratio, 6, has been a basic feature of the Church from the beginning onwards and was an essential source for the Reformation, which led to the formation of the Protestant churches.
46. In everyday usage the meanings of the Arabic term hulūl can include: ‘descending’; ‘stopping’; ‘staying’; ‘overtaking’; ‘arrival’. In Islamic mysticism it indicates the indwelling light in the human soul. It is also used by Christian Arabic authors to translate ‘Incarnation’, God’s becoming human in Christ, though the Arabic text of the Christian Creed uses the term tajassud, literally ‘taking bodily form’, ‘materialization’.
47. On this story see above in section II of this chapter.
48. The text of the Fātiha (sura 1) is as follows:
    In the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful.
    Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds,
    Most gracious, most merciful,
    Master of the day of Judgement.
    You alone do we worship and to you alone do we pray for help.
    Guide us in the straight path,
    The path of those on whom you have bestowed your grace, not of those against whom you are wrathful, nor of those who go astray.
49. The painting of icons has its origins in Byzantine art, from where it entered into the life of the Orthodox Church. Icon (from the Greek eikon) means picture or image. Justification for icons in biblical terms was found in texts such as Colossians 1:15: ‘He (Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.’ Icons are representations of Christ and the saints. They are symbols of the mystery of Christ. One might say that the painters, who are mainly monks, are writing the Gospel in colours; they see what they are doing as a holy calling. A collection of icons is presented on the iconostasis, the screen separating the sanctuary from the rest of the church in Orthodox churches.
50. In Catholic belief, the saints are men or women of faith who lived in exemplary ways in their particular situations in life and are therefore an encouragement to believers in their various situations. So, for example, the mother of Jesus, grieving for her son, bearing her pain, is a source of consolation for women in the midst of life’s troubles. Catholics are thus accustomed to entrusting their problems and troubles to saints, asking for their prayers. Saints are also intimate companions in life; with their protection one feels safe at home or with the family, for example, or in traffic, on a journey, in sickness and finally at the time of death. St Joseph, for example, is understood to be the patron saint who helps one to achieve a good death. Protestant Christians do not pray to the saints; they do, however, make use of their written prayers.
51. See note 48 above.
52. If the Fātiha is recited together, this must be on the assumption that the reference in verse 7 to those who ‘go astray’ from the ‘straight path’ is not taken to apply to Jews and Christians.
53. In the 20^th century such ideas are expressed in the apologetic writings of the significant reformers Muhammad ‘Abduh (Egyptian, d. 1905), Rashid Rida (Syrian, d.1935) and the Algerian ‘alim Ibn Badis (d.1940).
54. See above in chapter 4, section II.
55. Al-Baidāwī (d. c. 1290) was a famous commentator on the Qur’an. His much-quoted commentary is to a large extent a revision and summary of the celebrated commentary by al-Zamakhsharī (d. 1144).
56. The most famous advocate of such reform was the al-Azhar shaikh ‘Ali ‘Abdurrāziq, author of the 1925 publication Al-Islām wa usūl al-hukm (‘Islam and the Sources of Power’ [French translation by L. Bercher in Revue des Études Islamiques, 1933/III and 1934/II. The text of this translation together with a thorough assessment by the Moroccan scholar Abdou Filali Ansari can be found in ‘Ali ‘Abdurrāziq, L’Islam et les Fondements du Pouvoir, ed. Abdou Filali Ansari, Éditions Découverte, Paris, 1994]). ‘Abdurrāziq argues that the message of the Qur’an is essentially religious and that the organisation of a Muslim state can in no way have been part of Muhammad’s task as a prophet. ‘Abdurrāziq was condemned by his colleagues, in whose opinion the Medinan period, with its emphasis on the social and political side of the revealed message, represented the intrinsic development and completion of the prophetic task and career. Muslim thinkers who support the separation of state and religion must therefore interpret the Qur’an in a way which, at the most basic level anyway, does not agree with the way in which Islamic tradition has consistently articulated the Medinan period of the Prophet’s career. ‘Ali ‘Abdurrāziq’s supporters, in contrast, seek to convince their co-religionists that the traditional interpretation is in error.
57. Especially noteworthy here are the Muslim Brotherhood of Hasan al-Banna (1906-1949) and the Jama’at-i Islami of A. A. Mawdudi (1903-1979).
58. Plato’s view was that the human being is essentially a soul, confined in the body, from which it tries to liberate itself in order to find its way to God, free from all hindrance. The Platonic conception of the human being has had a far-reaching influence on Christian thought, up to our own time. Under the influence of modern anthropology, there is a strong tendency today to return to the biblical conception of humanity.
59. With reference to the duties of Christians towards pagan rulers, see Romans 13:1-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-2; Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 2:13-15.
60. ‘We must obey God rather than any human authority’, say Peter and the apostles (Acts 5:29; cf. 4:19; Matthew 10:18).
61. Until recently, the ideal situation for Christians, according to statements in official documents, was to live in Christian states, even when the Popes, beginning with Leo XIII (towards the end of the 19^th century) proclaimed the division of Church and state (against the idea of the theocratic state), while reminding the state of its duty to protect the rights of God and of his Church. Cf. the 1885 Encyclical of Leo XIII Immortale Dei and the 2^nd Vatican Council Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: Lumen Gentium, 38.
62. This was especially clear in the Declaration on Religious Freedom: Dignitatis Humanae, where it is acknowledged that ‘In the life of the People of God . . . there have at times appeared ways of acting which were less in accord with the spirit of the gospel [than the teaching of Christ and of the Apostles] and even opposed to it.’ (12)
63. Cf. Dignitatis Humanae, 4; the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: Gaudium et Spes, 76 and the Decree on the Bishops’ Pastoral Office in the Church: Christus Dominus, 19-20.
64. The Marxist Utopia, in contrast, claims to be able to bring to effect in the course of history the complete reconciliation of opposing forces.
65. Cf. Gaudium et Spes, 43, a text which emphasizes both the relevance of the Gospel to all political programmes, but also its transcending of them.
66. Christianity has reached the point of submitting its revealed sources to a new, critical examination; modern Islamic thought is more and more confronted by the same challenge. This comes about particularly through the impact of humanistic and secular movements which emphasize the autonomy of secular structures, and on the basis of historical experience which has shown how significant amalgamation with politics can lead to religion losing its true spirit. This is leading some thinkers in a number of Islamic countries to support the independence of Islam over against the state, and of the state over against Islam. See note 56.
67. The documents of the 2^nd Vatican Council, especially Dignitatis Humanae and Gaudium et Spes, along with the Encyclical Populorum Progressio, are helpful in this context.
68. The 2^nd Vatican Council invites Christians and Muslims ‘to make common cause of safeguarding and fostering social justice, moral values, peace, and freedom’ (Nostra Aetate, 3).
69. See Hans Bauer, Islamische Ethik. Nach den Originalquellen übersetzt und erläutert. Volume II. Von der Ehe, Max Niemeyer, Halle, 1917, see esp. pp. 3-48; also photographically reprinted, Olms Verlag, Hildesheim, 1979. (This is a translation of the 12^th book of al-Ghazāli’s major work Ihyā ‛Ulūm al-Dīn [The Revival of the Religious Sciences].)
70. Ibid., p.48.
71. See Islamochristiana (Rome) 9, 1983, pp. 158-159.
72. With the 2^nd Vatican Council’s Declaration on Human Freedom: Dignitatis Humanae, the Catholic Church committed itself irreversibly to the principle of religious freedom in society.
73. Many Muslims are convinced that the original Gospel revealed to Jesus, as it was before it was ‘corrupted’, has come to light again recently thanks to the ‘discovery’ of the ‘Gospel of Barnabas’. In reality this is a forgery from the 16^th century, produced either by an Andalusian Muslim who had been forcibly converted to Christianity, or by a Muslim living in Venice. Cf. Christine Schirrmacher, Der Islam, Volume 2, Hänssler, Neuhausen/Stuttgart, 1994, pp.268-289; Jan Slomp, ‘The Gospel in Dispute‘, Islamochristiana (Rome) 4, 1978, pp. 67-111; and, for a brief discussion, Kate Zebiri, Muslims and Christians Face to Face, Oneworld, Oxford, 1997, pp 45-46.
74. Al-Wādi al-Muqaddas (The Holy Valley), Dar al-Ma’arif, Cairo, 1968. English translation: The Hallowed Valley. A Muslim Philosophy of Religion, Cairo, 1977.
75. Ibid., p. 31 of the English translation.
76. The Qur’an also speaks of the love of God in words with powerfully emotional resonances: mahabba, mawadda, rahma.
77. See the discussion of this point in section IV of chapter 2 and section IV of chapter 5.
78. See the discussion in section IV of chapter 6.
79. In English, the term ’humanism’ is sometimes associated with the rejection of religious belief; here, however, it denotes ways in which, within specifically religious frames of reference, both Muslims and Christians understand the nature, dignity and destiny of the human race.
80. In a profound meditation on Qur’an 33:72, the famous contemporary thinker Muhammad Talbi (b. Tunis, 1921) expounds how God offered the amāna (possession of the faith as a trust, or, alternatively, responsibility for governing the world) to the heavens, the earth and the mountains, but they refused, while humankind was foolish enough to accept it. In this acceptance Talbi sees the ‘tragic’ dimension of human destiny. (Comprendre [Paris] 98, November 1970)

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