ISLAM-CHRISTIAN DIALOGUE

244 THE CROSS AND THE CRESCENT 16/3 - 2010 There are people that no one really loves, because no one really knows, and that no one really knows, because no one really loves, and this people are the Muslim pe- ople. I feel the duty to dedicate my whole life to making them known and loved by the Christians". Louis Massignon Dear Madam, Allow me to comment on the article The Cross and the Crescent on the monthly magazine of the Parish. Your article deals with both Islam and the Islamic, (I would call themMuslims); in the case of the Muslims the header of the ar- ticle could very well take up the quotation from Massignon. As for Islam, I think some passages of the article are misleading and confusing, making Islam appear almost a derivation of Christianity. It is a strategy adopted by Islam to conquer Jerusalem as far back as 638AD. The massacres of Otranto and Rome precede the first Crusade. Even today, the strategy of setting foot in the West through Islamic enclaves and con- versions based on ignorance and rain mo- ney is repeated: how many times have I heard Christians say "but we are all equal there is no difference! This is the impres- sion that your article in the Bulletin of the Parish could provoke! (files 1-3 attached) Of the four and a half million immigrants, about two thirds are not Muslims, they try to integrate without regrouping in areas in which they have a majority; why? To combine the Koran with the Gospel does not seem to me to be correct; the dif- ference is substantial! Of course, Abraham is our father in the faith, in the sense that he is the first who believed and obeyed the one God who revealed himself to him, giving rise to Judeo-Christian Revelation. Beware, our faith is not only in the one God but also one and triune; the Christian root is found in Christ, God made man, who died for our salvation; he is our Father! Monotheism, even if shared, is not based on the same God; we are not a religion of the book, combining simplistically Islamic Judaism and Christianity. The Koran does not speak of Love! (Attachments 4, 5). The Sufi ascetics were inspired by Chri- stian mystics and the numerous Sufi quo- tations reflect the beliefs of an infamous minority of Muslims who are not recogni- zed by the majority currents, let alone by the mosque of Segrate. I could mention many others of the same spirituality te- nor but also others highly offensive, also found in the Koran itself (Annex 6). The school texts in the middle and high scho- ols of the "moderate" Arab countries are particularly virulent against Christians! To be correct, information must reveal the two sides of the coin. If you have time available, you will be able to realize this with a visit to the library of the mosque of Segrate. A great master of modern Islamic thought, Taha Hussein, during a meeting promoted by the Cini Foundation of Venice at the Center of Culture and Ci- vilization, recognized the vocation, of whi- ch the Arab Christian is the bearer, to be the intersection of two worlds of which he can make a synthesis aimed at the revival and development of the Arab world from which it comes. Today it has been put on the index and Said El Ashmawi under fire. Averroe had an influence on St. Thomas