Islamic scholars dissent with Pope - cordially

A welcome development.

Folks, according to the Catholic News Service (CNS)...

...International Islamic scholars published an open letter to Pope Benedict XVI, taking issue with what they described as mistakes and oversimplifications of Islam in a recent papal speech to German academics.

The cordial critique of the pope's speech was offered in a "spirit of open exchange," said the 38 Muslim leaders who signed the text. It was published online Oct. 15 by Los Angeles-based Islamica Magazine.

The meat in the CNS report is found in these paragraphs:

The pope had also quoted an Islamic thinker, Ibn Hazm, on the idea that in Muslim teaching God is absolutely transcendent. That is a simplification that can be misleading, said the Islamic scholars, who described Hazm as a "very marginal" figure not representative of Islamic thought today.

They said it was a mistake to think that in Islam God is not tied to human categories, including reason, and to conclude that Muslims believe "in a capricious God who might or might not command us to evil."

The scholars said the relationship between reason and faith is rich and complex in Islam and not a simple dichotomy. Islamic tradition, they said, has managed to avoid two extreme forms of error: making the analytical mind the "ultimate arbiter of truth" and denying the power of human understanding to address ultimate questions.

In other words, they contend that the Pope's main assertion, that God according to Islam was so transcedent as to be "irrational," is a miscontruction, according to these Islamic scholars. CNS reports that Signatories of the letter included grand muftis of Egypt, Turkey, and several other countries, as well as Islamic authorities and academics from the Middle East, Asia, North Africa, Europe and North America.

Commentary. Finally, a much belated respectful, charitable, and scholarly response which stands in sharp contrast to the initial manifestations, rallies, threats, and violence coming from the too-easily-offended Muslim street.

I welcome this development. Now we can take the dialogue to a higher level which I suspect was what Pope Benedict XVI wanted in the first place, a dialogue which will marginalize the mob from the streams of meaningful, rational discourse. I think that the Pope will take this overture seriously and that pretty soon we'll see a coordinated reaction from the Holy See to open a serious civilizational dialogue with world-class Islamic leaders.

- You may read the entire letter here.