Qatar wants to broaden Muslim-Christian forum to include Jews

By Agence France Presse (AFP)

Friday, May 28, 2004

DOHA: A conference on Muslim-Christian Dialogue opened Thursday in Qatar with an official call to include Judaism.

Qatari Premier Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani set the stage for two days of inter-faith talks by drawing parallels between those who believe in the oneness of God.

"Perhaps it is wise to widen the dialogue to a Muslim-Christian-Jewish dialogue," next year, he told the gathering of 200 delegates from around the world.

Officials in the maverick Gulf state, which opened commercial ties with Israel in 1996, have, off-the-record, said Doha intends to invite leading rabbis for the 2005 conference, the third in the series started here in 2003.

The cancelation of a conference called "One hundred Imams and Rabbis For Peace" set to take place in Ifrane, Morocco, next Monday appears to have spurred the Qataris.

Morocco called off the talks after major Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip.

The Doha conference should "exalt the sublime values of Islam and Christianity," the prime minister said.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, archivist and librarian of the Catholic Church, picked up on "the sound of warfare which is heard not far from us," in a reference to Iraq, but went on to lay out the essential closeness of "children of the same God." Tauran, who was involved in the opening of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Qatar as Vatican secretary for relations with states, moved on to the importance of religious freedom and mutual respect in Muslim-Christian relations.

Qatar agreed to allow Christian churches in the Wahhabi country just two years ago.

"Preventing (the practice) of religion, killing in the name of God are abominations that offend God," the cardinal said in a clear reference to extremists in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, world.

The grand imam of Al-Azhar  in Cairo, Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, also spoke out about religious freedom, saying no one should be forced into a particular faith.

"Coercion and belief are contradictory elements," he said.

Muslim cleric Sheikh Youssef Qaradawi asked the gathering: "Do all Christians recognize Islam as a divine religion?" He also reiterated his criticism of France's decision to ban Muslim headscarves in public schools. "We are for religious freedom but we strongly oppose banning the headscarf," said the Egyptian-born Qatar-based Qaradawi.

The French law, which becomes effective at the start of the next school year in September, also bans such garb as large crosses worn by Christians, Jewish skullcaps and Sikh turbans.

Among other prominent speakers and guests are Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Anba Pope Shenouda III and Archbishop Michael L. Fitzgerald, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

The conference has been organized by Qatar's Gulf Studies Center and the Vatican's commission for Religious Relations with Muslims, part of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.