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The Archbishop of
Canterbury,
The Most Revd and Rt Hon.
Dr Rowan Williams
My first duty, which I discharge with the most sincere
pleasure,
Is to thank His Highness the Amir of
Qatar for welcoming us to his country and doing so much to
facilitate this meeting. From earlier days when my
predecessor was welcomed here, His Highness has shown
exemplary commitment to this dialogue and has pursued it
with an energy and vision characteristics of all he has done
as ruler of this small but rapidly evolving country. He has
shown precisely the kind of enthusiasm for honest exchange
and deepened which meetings such as this are designed to
assist, and we are all profoundly grateful, it is a kind of
openness that is also making possible significant gestures
towards the Christian community here, and for that too let
me express my gratitude.
I have mentioned my
predecessor, and I cannot let the opportunity to go past of
paying tribute to the courage and imagination with which he
addressed these issues of mutual understanding across the
frontiers of our communities of faith. I hope to continue
such work, conscious all the time of doing no more than
building on foundations which he laid through much labor,
much thought and prayer, and much tireless fostering of
relationships in many lands.
For many, a real dialogue
about what we specifically believe and the thoughts we have
about our faith ought to take second place to discussions
concerning the practical tasks we can share, whatever our
faith- and this is thought to be especially true at a time
of tension. But this dialogue has been conceived rather
differently. Christians are Christians and Muslims are
Muslims because they care about truth, and because they
believe that truth alone gives life. About the nature
Of that absolute and life-giving truth,
Christians and Muslims are not fully in agreement. Yet they
are able to find words in which to explain and explore that
disagreement they also share histories and practices that
make parts of their system of belief mutually recognizable –
a story reaching back to God’s creation of the world and
God’s call to Abraham; a practice of reading and absorbing
scriptures and shaping a life in response to the World God
speaks to creation.
We are here to discover
more about how each community believes it must listen to
God, conscious of how very differently we identify and speak
of God’s revelation. It is a significant meeting not
primarily because it coincides with a time of such conflict
and anxiety but because it highlights again a deeper and
abiding need – a need which the run-up to this present
conflict has made all the more urgent.
Listening to God and listening to one
another as nations, cultures and faiths have not always had
the priority they so desperately need. So this space for
reflection is all the more important; it is both a symbol
and an example of this kind of engagement.
In this dialogue, we are
not seeking an empty formula of convergence or trying to
deny our otherness; indeed, as we reflect on the holy texts
we read, we shall be seeking to make better sense of how we
relate to the other, the stranger with whom we can still
speak in trust and love. As we do this – experience shows us
– we learn more of the depths of what nourishes us in our
own faith; and we hope to go from this dialogue better
equipped to witness in a deeply troubled world, to witness
to what faith and humble obedience to God and patient
attention to each other might have to offer to struggling
and suffering nations throughout the globe.
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