by Aref Ali Nayed

In an era of hateful, vengeful, and destructive discourses, every human community, religious or otherwise, is called upon, for the sake of God, and for the sake of our common humanity, to develop, articulate, and clearly proclaim alternative discourses; discourses that are loving, forgiving, and constructive.

Discourses directly affect actions, and, are as a matter of fact, already an important category of actions. Discourses that are hateful, vengeful, and destructive, can only lead to actions of grotesque cruelty and mayhem. Discourses that are loving, forgiving, and constructive, can only lead to actions marked by compassionate gentleness and harmony.

The deeper the creedal roots of a discourse, the more potency and efficacy it has in the arena of action. Hateful and destructive creedal discourse is catastrophically destructive to humanity. Loving and constructive creedal discourse is wholesome and nourishing.

Again, the more authoritative the source of the discourse is, the more potency and efficacy it has, at the level of action. Discourses coming from a community’s leadership are of utter importance, and effectiveness. They have an immediate effect on teaching, preaching, and individual and communal conduct.

The Muslim community, like any other human community, is called upon, for the sake of God and His beloved creatures, to articulate a wholesome creedal discourse that is truly in line with its God-assigned duty on earth, and that leads to proper loving conduct towards God’s beloved creatures.

Such wholesome Muslim creedal discourse must not be that of a few scattered individuals. It must be a communal discourse built upon communal consensus, and rooted in the revelatory sources of Islam: the Qur’an and the Sunnah (tradition) of the Prophet of God, Muhammad (peace be upon him), and in the communally inherited and transmitted example of his blessed companions, and righteous kinship and followers. Furthermore, it must clearly and unanimously come from the very leadership of the Muslim community.

The criteria of wholesome creedal discourse have been endowed to us by God Himself in the glorious Qur’an:

“See you not how God sets forth a parable? — a goodly word as a goodly tree, whose root is firmly fixed, and its branches (reach) to the sky (i.e. very high). Giving its fruit at all times, by the leave of its Lord and God sets forth parables for mankind in order that they may remember” (14: 24-25).

Thus all proper and wholesome creedal discourse must be:
1. Rooted.
2. Open-ended.
3. Ever fresh and fruitful.

Muslim creedal discourse today must strive to abide by these divine criteria. It must be firmly rooted in: the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the Ijma’ of the Ummah. It must be open-ended through the dialectical and respectful dialogue with other religions and philosophies. It must be constantly refreshed and focused on bearing fruits that can serve the community and humanity at large.

In an unprecedented, and immensely important, communal consensus (constituting a spiritual, moral, and juridical normative ijma’ or accord), one hundred and thirty eight prominent Muslim leaders got together and planted a wholesome seed for such a wholesome tree: a healing creedal discourse of “Love of the One God, and Love of the Neighbor”.

The one hundred and thirty leaders, collectively guiding and influencing millions of Muslims all over the globe, include religious authorities, scholars, teachers, intellectuals, and media leaders, from Sunni, Shi’a (Ja’fari, Zaidi, and Isma’ili), and Ibadi schools.

They jointly launched the document as an “Open Letter and Call from Muslim Religious Leaders” addressed to the heads of all prominent Christian Churches, and to the “leaders of Christian Churches, everywhere”. They titled the document, following a Qur’anic phrasing, “A Common Word between Us and You”.