Tariq Ramadan: Why I’m going to meet the Pope

Muslims and Catholics are holding a religious forum to better improve their relations. It is a round-table dialogue being held in Rome, November 4 thru 6, and is delegated by Swiss philosopher, Dr. Tariq Ramadan.

Dr. Ramadan wrote an op-ed piece in London’s Guardian newspaper about his raison d’être for conducting this event. Fascinating. Read on about it.

Why I’m going to meet the Pope

It is a matter of greatest urgency that a Christian-Muslim dialogue on theological issues and broader values takes place

Tariq Ramadan

Now that the shock waves touched off by Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks at Regensburg on September 12 2006 have subsided, the overall consequences have proven more positive than negative. Above and beyond polemics, the Pope’s lecture has heightened general awareness of their respective responsibilities among Christians and Muslims in the west.

It matters little whether the Pope had simply mis-spoken or, as the highest-ranking authority of the Catholic church, was enunciating church policy. Now the issue is one of identifying those areas in which a full-fledged debate between Catholicism and Islam must take place. Papal references to “jihad” and “Islamic violence” came as a shock to Muslims, even though they were drawn from a quotation attributed to Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos. It is clear that the time has come to open debate on the common theological underpinnings and the shared foundations of the two religions. The appeal by Muslim men of religion, “A Common Word“, had precisely this intention: our traditions have the same source, the same single God who calls upon us to respect human dignity and liberty. These same traditions raise identical questions concerning the ultimate purpose of human activity, and respect for ethical principles.