Two friends who are working at a faculty of engineering met on the train traveling from Aswan to Cairo. Since they had a long journey ahead, they decided to spend the time in a reasonable and beneficial dialog that went as follow.

X: Based on our long friendship, can we discuss one of the most important things that may appear to be critical and untouchable between us though its being the crux of the whole life?

Z: You mean our religions! You agree that we belong to the same country, share the same history, and worship the One God. I think there should be no sensitivity in this since we will tackle the issue with objectivity.

X: The main purpose of religion is the purification of man’s soul and heart and makes him feel the Greatness of Allah and fulfilling His commands by being an example of righteousness. Therefore,   there is no place for bias or hatred in our discourse and you know how close we are. The main purpose here is to foster this love and respect. We are searching for the truth which is an instruction of Jesus Christ as well as a clear command of the Qur'an:

“O mankind! The messenger hath come unto you with the truth from your Lord. Therefore believe; ( it is) better for you. But if ye disbelieve, still, lo! unto Allah belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and the earth. Allah is ever Knower, Wise.”[1]

  I will always adhere to the verse that reads:

“And argue not with the People of the Scripture unless it be in (a way) that is better, save with such of them as do wrong; and say: We believe in that which hath been revealed unto us and revealed unto you; our God and your God is One, and unto Him we surrender.”[2]

Z: It is really a good start since we both believe in the One God, and we are the followers of similar monotheistic religions. In Matthew and Mark and the rest of the books of the New Testament, it is written:

“And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandment is, Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; this is the first commandment.” (Mark: 12: 28-30)

Also in John, Jesus used to talk to God saying:

“that they might know thee the only true God.” (John: 17: 3)

Also in Matthew, “None is righteous except God.” He also said:

“To the Lord your God, your shall prostrate and Him only your shall worship.”

The enemies of Jesus tried to accuse him of polytheism so as to bring him to the court but his assertion that he believes in one God did not allow them to do so.

X: That is really good since we cannot see any difference between us. God has reiterated and highlighted this fact, that the belief in the one God is the common ground that brings us together. Almighty Allah says:

“Say: O People of the Scripture. Come to an agreement between us and you: that we shall worship none but Allah, and that we shall ascribe no partners unto Him, and that none of us shall take others for lords beside Allah.

And if they turn away, then say: B

ear witness that we are they who have surrendered (unto Him).”[3]

Z: True Christianity commands the belief in the one true God of course.

X: I agree and the Qur'an even tells us that you are near to us in kindness and care. We read:

“Thou wilt find the most vehement of mankind in hostility to those who, believe (to be) the Jews and the idolaters. And thou wilt find the nearest of them in affection to those who believe (to be) those who say: Lo! We are Christians. That is because there are among them priests and monks, and because they are not proud. When they listen to that which hath been revealed unto the messenger, thou seest their eyes overflow with tears because of their recognition of the Truth. They say: Our Lord, we believe. Inscribe us as among the witnesses.”[4]

When we were still student, I admired a Christian writer very much. It was Nazmy Luqa who wrote a paper entitled: ‘Muhammad, the Message and the Prophet;. The paper showed me how much love do those Christians carry for Islam and Muhammad. Also note that we were all sons of same forefathers. Our forefathers embraced Islam while yours kept their faith and so we are originally related to each other.

Z: We really love you, we share the same country, the same language, the same God and the same blood. I really hold your Prophet and his Companions in high esteem. You do the same when you show a lot of respect to Jesus and his mother. Our Pope and clergymen memorize many Qur’anic verses and repeat them in so many places and public events.

X: Muhammad and Jesus tread on the same path. Muhammad is the natural successor of Jesus. Both call for peace, love, salvation and lofty manners. We all believe in Jesus who said:

“What if man gains the world but loses himself”

and

“Son of man came not to destroy the souls of people but to save them.”

All these texts show how great manners are there in Christianity. We also respect Virgin Mary and the Qur'an says:

“And when the angels said: O Mary! Lo! Allah hath chosen thee and made thee pure, and hath preferred thee above (all) the women of creation.” [5]

True Muslims can never deny that Christianity had a great role in purifying the hearts of early Christians who supported Islam at its early stages. One of those is Waraqah ibn Nawfal, the cousin of the Prophet’s wife Khadijah. When Khadijah took the Prophet to him to inquire about the nature of that thing that was revealed unto the Prophet, he told him that he is the long-awaited Prophet and it is the revelation coming to him from the Creator. Also, we all remember the King of Abyssinia who protected early Muslims who migrated to his country and even embraced Islam himself later on. Hercules, the King of the Romans, was convinced with the truthfulness of the Prophet and even tried to convince the delegation of pagan Arabs coming from Mecca that Muhammad is a true Prophet. We had so many of them including Solomon the Persian who converted to Christianity in search of the truth and then was informed by Christian priests that the true Prophet is about to appear in Makkah and then, based upon their instruction, he came to Madinah and waited for the Prophet. People knew Moses and Jesus as Prophet and Muhammad was nothing new then. Furthermore, the world at that time was really in need of a Prophet. I myself listen to the sermons delivered in many Masses and find that the values and morals propagated in these sermons are in no way different from those propagated in Friday sermons.

Z: ok, then our dialog is then based on this love propagated by our religions and our main goal here is to find the truth. We should never insult the thinking or the creeds of each other; rather, we should be objective and fair so as to succeed.

X: The Qur'an gives us an example of a very polite and excellent dialogue between Abraham and his father

“O my father! Lo! there hath come unto me of knowledge that which came not unto thee. So follow me, and I will lead thee on a right path.”[6]  

This should be our guide throughout this dialog and I suggest that we record this dialog so that other people could benefit it.

Z: With pleasure!

[1] An-Nisa: 170

[2] Al-`Ankabut: 46

[3] Al-`Imran: 64

[4] Al-Ma’idah: 82-83

[5] Al-`Imran: 42

[6] Mary: 43