AUSTRALIA

Ramadan and Easter: Multiplicity of doors to God’s mercy

Dr Patrick Mclnerney

Introductory address at the Interfaith Iftar c0-hosted by the Diocese of Parramatta and the Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations on Wednesday 20 April 2022 at Novotel, Parramatta.

Ramadan is a wonderful time of grace. According to a hadith, a saying of the Prophet Muhammad (s):

When there comes the month of Ramadan, the doors of heaven are opened; the doors of Hellfire are closed; and the devils are chained.

Such is indeed a propitious time. However, a similar Islamic account of God’s abundant bounty almost killed me! Many years ago in Pakistan, I was weaving my motorbike through the traffic of Lahore, dodging motorbikes, cars, buses, trucks, rickshaws, bicycles, pedestrians, horse-drawn tongas, and the occasional camel-cart, all of which claimed the right of way. I was thinking about my homily for the following Sunday. The text was from Matthew’s Gospel: Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find

Bishop Antoine Tarabay, Bishop of the Maronite Eparchy (sixth from left) and Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammad, the Grand Mufti of Australia (fifth from right) joined Bishop Vincent (third from right) and Fr Patrick McInerney (fourth from right) and other faith leaders and Members of Parliament at the Interfaith Iftar Dinner on 20 April 2022. Image: Diocese of Parramatta.

it. (Mt 7:13-14)

As I was thinking about the “narrow gate”, a hadith came to my mind, with the prayer that is said on entering a mosque, the prayer that is often inscribed above the door of the mosque:

Allahumma iftah lī abwāba rahmati-ka

O God, open to me the gates of Your mercy.

And as I thought about that plural—not the narrow single “door” of Your mercy, but the plural wide-open “doors” of Your mercy—I felt the superabundance of God’s mercy, and tears started streaming down my face. And that is how Islamic sentiment nearly killed me – when you are dodging through Lahore traffic, you can’t afford for your eyes to become blurred with tears!

Does that mean that Islam is more generous in dispensing God’s mercy than Christianity? Not at all! Just this past weekend, Christians commemorated the death and resurrection of Jesus. Muslims cannot accept that Jesus died on a cross, for it would be a failure of one of God’s prophets. For Christians, the cross is not failure, but the necessary way which opens to the “success” of resurrection.

More to my point, Jesus stretching out his arms on the cross is God’s universal embrace of all people and all creation. The Gospel states that at the moment of his death, “the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom” (Mt 27:51, see also Mk 15:38). This is a symbolic way of declaring that in Jesus, God is not concealed in one place, for one tribe, or one people, but is open to all nations.

Even more dramatically, the Apostles’ Creed states, “He descended into hell”. As God is the author of life, and death the antithesis of life, all who died were considered consigned to hell. Jesus “descended into hell” to open the doors of hell, not to let souls in, but to release all the dead who were imprisoned there since the beginning of human history. Thus, the risen Jesus is Lord of the living and the dead. In Christianity too, God’s mercy is superabundant.

It is perhaps ironic that Islam, which insists on tawhid, the oneness of God, also insists on the multiplicity of doors to God’s mercy; and Christianity, which confesses the Trinity, three Persons in the one God, insists on the oneness of the door to salvation (c.f. Jn 10:1-10) – but that one door is universal and open to all.

The medium in each case is different, but the message of Islam and Christianity is the same. God’s mercy is abundantly available to all, freely given, freely poured out. We Christians and Muslims, therefore, must show mercy to one another, and to all others, for we are all sisters and brothers.

That is the common message of Ramadan and Easter.

Rev Dr Patrick McInerney is the Director of the Columban Mission Institute and Coordinator of its Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations and is based in Sydney.

Role of religion for our contemporary harmonious living

Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed we live in a world that suffers from moral crises and spiritual drought, and in its dealings only the interests and ambitions that Keynote address at the Interfaith Iftar on have brought us wars, ruin and murder, is Wednesday 20 April 2022 at Novotel, Par- known. Neglecting the great role of religion ramatta. in the life of societies inevitably means so-

I begin by thanking my dear brother and cial collapse and the dominance of violence friend, Vincent Long, and my dear father and hatred, and the absence of moral values. and friend, Patrick, and the rest of the stake- The thinker and writer, philosopher Volholders of this council, for this kind invita- taire, turned to this devastating danger when tion. he warned, “Why do they doubt in the exist-

I am pleased to see you all in this gather- ence of God, without whom my wife would ing, which builds bridges of understanding betray me, my children would disobey me, and establishes love within our communi- and my servant would steal from me” ty. Tonight, we represent how our beloved And what this great thinker pointed out country, Australia, remains a model of mul- and warned against means that the absence ticulturalism and acceptance. of religions and the disruption of their role

Ladies and gentlemen: Religion in its at the level of individuals, societies and true and divine essence, was and still is the countries constitutes a human catastrophe founder of human civilization, the incubator that creates areas of moral chaos that make of science, the guardian of the human mind, extremists, racists, advocates of hatred and the protector of freedoms, the supporter of outlaws the ones who lead the world. the oppressed and a deterrent to the aggres- It allows them to hold the reins of legissors. lation and laws and pushes their agenda to

Religion, as we learned from its pure tamper and threaten the natural order of the sources, was and still is an approach to jus- universe. tice, protection for people, architecture for One of the challenges that affect the credthe universe, and an enemy of poverty, dis- ibility of religious leaders is that it is neither ease, hunger, and everything that humiliates reasonable nor acceptable to turn our faces human dignity. towards God in the places of worship and

It is a call for peace that rejects wars, and then turn our backs on the oppressed and a call for security that rejects violence, ter- homeless people in Ukraine, Palestine, Myrorism, and intimidation of people. anmar and the Uyghurs; they ignore rather

It is an invitation to the mind to think and than condemn the events in the city of Jerube guided, and an invitation to the heart to salem, where worshipers are assaulted and believe and be reassured, and an invitation prevented from attending their prayers in to the soul to be filled with love and joy. the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the most holiest of

Respected guests: Societies in which rac- months. ism and hatred prevail, and where regimes This is unacceptable and needs to be adtake an anti-religious stance, and do not dressed by our leaders loud and clear. trust its strength and ability to create values Hence, it is our duty as leaders of reliof love, tolerance, and justice, will fall into gions to ignite the light of faith in the depths chaos because it will not be able to impose of the human soul so that man returns to his an external obligation on a person who has instinct that promotes faith and what it conlost all sense of self discipline. tains of love, so that the purity of the soul,

Ladies and Gentlemen: One of the biggest the radiance of the heart, and the genius of challenges facing religious leaders is that the mind return to him, and turn towards societal reconstruction instead of conflicts and wars. Playing this role is a living response to the call of the great messengers to spread love and make peace. Respected guests: We have the right to be happy because God chose us as advocates of love and peace. God is love, and John wrote in his first epistle: “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” He also said: “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” The same message was addressed by the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (s): When he said, “One does not enter Paradise until they believe, and you do not believe until you love one another, shall I tell you of

Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, Grand Mufti of Australia.

something that if you do you it will cause you to love one another? Spread peace among you.” Ladies and Gentlemen: I do not need to remind you that if it wasn’t for the Islamic and Arab culture, the works of Socrates and Aristotle would not have been known. As the Arabs and Muslims were the one who interpreted their work and dispersed it to the rest of the world. Finally, let us be mindful of how the media can warp our views of one another. We must be wary of this and make the effort to truly understand without the hindrance of those who wish to divide us. I would like to end with the verse: “O you who have believed, enter peace completely [and perfectly] and do not follow the footsteps of Satan. Indeed, he is to you a clear enemy.” (Quran 2: 208) We pray for peace to prevail across the world. May Allah protect Australia and its citizens. Ramadan Mubarak to you all.