JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1995, Pages 66, 79-80

Christianity and the Middle East

UWM Honors Co-Founder of Islamic-Christian Dialogue

By the Rev. L. Humphrey Walz

When interviewed about the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee's presentation of its 1994 Distinguished Public Service Award to Abbas Hamdani, Franciscan Sister Lucille Walsh described that Islamic scholar and professor of history as "magnanimous in giving of himself, his time and expertise." In voicing that judgment Dr. Walsh, better known as Sister Lucille, was speaking from long experience. She had been Dr. Hamdani's student before she joined the faculty of nearby Cardinal Stritch College. With Dr. Hamdani, as the weekly UWM Report noted in describing the award, she had co-founded the Islamic-Christian Dialogue in 1982.

Encouraged by the prompt blessing of the Archdiocesan Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission, they soon involved local Muslim and Christian teachers, clerics and business and professional people. Together they hosted three three-hour gatherings each spring and again each fall on campuses, in Protestant and Catholic churches, at the Islamic Center and at Archdiocesan headquarters. With Western and Oriental refreshments facilitated by Abbas's wife, Zubeda, and Cardinal Stritch College's Sister Jessine Reiss, the Dialogue's open exchanges of views have covered Muslim and Christian histories, social concepts, art, worship, theologies, fundamentalisms and orthodoxies. Candid conviction, mutual enlightenment and deepening friendships have been Dialogue hallmarks from the start.

That Dr. Hamdani was a major contributor to these developments will not come as a surprise to readers of the UWM Report feature, which acknowledges that he "has probably done more to educate Milwaukeeans about Islamic religion and culture than anyone in the community. He also has been a leader in giving voice to Arab and Muslim views of issues in international relations."

Before becoming a professor of history at UWM in 1971, Dr. Hamdani, a native of Surat, India, and a Ph.D. graduate of the University of London, taught at the University of Karachi and at the American University in Cairo.

In nominating him for the Award, Professor Margo Anderson, chair of the history department, wrote: "He is always patient, always respectful, always kind, and his very demeanor brings a measure of civility to debates too often characterized by stridency, if not fear of violence." History professor David Buck, associate director of the UWM/Marquette Center for International Studies, adds, "Our community is a better place because of Abbas' public expressions, based on his faith, his broad knowledge, and his authority as a scholar."

Orthodox Clerics Call for Replacing Chauvinism With Tolerance

Cairo-based Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III and Eastern Orthodox patriarchs Parthenios of Alexandria and Teoctist of Romania have issued an appeal for "peace and tolerance" in areas "dominated by violence, chauvinistic nationalism, territorial revisionism, religious fundamentalism and fratricidal wars." Their joint statement—originally released right after the September meeting in Bucharest, Romania of the World Council of Churches executive committee, in which all three participated—continues to be widely circulated.

It commends those of "the Orthodox faithful" who have promoted friendship with members of other churches and faiths, and "especially of Islam." Increasing and strengthening such endeavors, the appeal notes, is most urgent where "radical groups or particular powers" are making use of "religious faith and feeling" to "sow and nurture hatred." It goes on to urge not only the Orthodox, but other Christians, as well as Muslims, "to rediscover and follow the path of love...good will and mutual respect promoted and pursued by our common forerunners."

The proximity of Bucharest to the former Yugoslavia suggests that the clerics had Serbian Christians and Bosnian Muslims in their thoughts as they prepared their appeal. Because two of the three clerics are Arabs, however, the Middle East undoubtedly also was in their minds. The text itself puts no limits on its applicability.

Middle East Church Leaders Consider Satellite Telecasts

The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) has long been aware of the mixed benefits and detriments of the foreign satellite telecasts increasingly inundating their region. Violent and erotic behavior, once relatively rare on Middle Eastern TV, now is commonplace. Formerly unacceptable attitudes and values come across daily in newscasts, talk shows, dramas and commercials. Even more disturbing to local churches are those Western "Christian" broadcasts which belittle non-Christian Middle Eastern religions or insensitively misapply excerpts of biblical history and geography to current events, especially in the Holy Land.

The challenges that these pose prompted the MECC to invite church leaders to meet for four days with media experts from three continents at the Holy Bishopric, Limassol, Cyprus to devise remedial action. The consultation took place Oct. 24 to 27 under the title "Confrontation or Kairos: Satellite TV, Religion and the Middle East." (Kairos is a versatile term in classical, biblical and modern Greek. It can be translated "opportunity" and can imply a special time—even a divinely appointed time—for active accomplishment.)

The concerned men and women representing Cypriot, Egyptian, Jordanian, Lebanese, Palestinian and Syrian churches focused on the "impact of 'foreign' programs, including those labeled 'Christian,' currently being transmitted into the region by satellite," and on promotion of programs featuring monotheistic values and faith.

Since the conference adjourned, the determination to acquire a satellite channel in 1995 for shared use by the cooperating church bodies has grown. The budgetary challenges have been squarely faced, and fund-raising responsibilities divided. Scheduling program time slots among the projected joint owners is getting high-priority attention.

MECC Encourages Studies in Middle East Christian Heritage

According to its News Report, the Middle East Council of Churches, in consultation with a specialized committee related to the Family Bookshop Group, is encouraging studies, research and publications on Middle East Christian heritage. The MECC Desk for Research in Beirut indicates that prominent specialists in the field would like to see increased scholarly activity in these disciplines: Preparing and distributing indexes of the material available to the churches in the region; identifying and preserving related manuscripts; and researching the history of the monasteries and their role in human services, the history of the churches (people and monuments), the place of Christian art (icons, symbols, etc.), the Arab Christian heritage, the history of the ecumenical movement, and the Christian contribution to Arab Muslim culture.

Gulf Archeological Dig Reveals Early Christian Presence

Archeologists from London University's School of Oriental and African Studies have unearthed Christian relics among ancient ruins of the Gulf island of Sir Bani Yas, off the coast of Abu Dhabi. There they found five small, intricately carved stucco crosses. Discovered near a collapsed wall in what had already been recognized as a once-flourishing Christian community, these artifacts may have been part of the doorway of a fifth-century church. Just such a structure, excavated four years ago on the Kuwaiti island of Failaka, gives support to this hypothesis. The team expects to come up with a clear answer in the course of its 1995 digging.

Describing the walls and doorways of the buildings excavated so far, Geoffrey King, field director since the project's 1993 beginning, says, "From the first, we were struck by the fine quality of the plasterwork featuring classical vine-scroll and grape-cluster designs." Regarding the crosses, he adds: "Though the discovery of a pre-Islamic Christian community was completely unexpected, finds over the past eight years have revealed churches in Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia which also dated from the first centuries of the Christian era."

Historians affirm that by the end of the fifth century, five bishoprics had been established on the eastern shores of Arabia, in Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. In the New Testament, Acts 2:11 tells of Arabians present at the first Christian Pentecost, and Galatians 1:17 gives St. Paul's tantalizingly brief account of visiting Arabia, perhaps for rest and reflection, right after his conversion.

Sir Bani Yas is now a wildlife reserve notable for its thousands of gazelles. Why its human inhabitants abandoned it, possibly around the eighth century, is being investigated by interested scholars. There is no sign of any deliberate destruction.

Annual Middle East Christian Conference To Be Held in Illinois in March

In the last three years, Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding (EMEU) has held one of its annual conferences in Washington, DC, and two in the Middle East. This year's conference, with the theme "Christ in the Middle East Today," will be on the Wheaton College, Illinois, campus March 9-11. A special seminar March 8 and 9 on "Christianity in Egypt" will be available for early arrivals.

Participating Middle Eastern theologians and other major church leaders addressing the conference will include Eastern Orthodox lay leader Dr. Gabriel Habib, former general secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches; Dr. Mitri Rahab, a Lutheran pastor and theologian from Bethlehem; Lucien Accad, president of the Bible Society for Lebanon and Syria; Dr. Michel Nijim, theologian of the Antiochian Orthodox Church; and a bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt. Dr. Myron Augsburger, former president of the Christian College Coalition and pastor of the Washington (Mennonite) Fellowship on Capitol Hill, will deliver the banquet address.

Information and a brochure may be secured from Rev. Donald Wagner, EMEU, 847 Chicago Ave. #C3, Evanston, IL 60202. The EMEU video, "That They May Be One," completely re-edited and updated in December, can be ordered at $12.95 ppd. from the same address.

Quakers Mobilize Pressure for Palestinian Family Reunification

"A common challenge for people working on Middle East human rights issues in the United States is to humanize the effect of Israeli military rule on Palestinians living in the occupied territories. Exposing the effects of administrative procedures and collective punishments that constitute daily hardships for Palestinians who desire to remain in their homeland is particularly difficult. One such issue concerns Palestinian residency rights."

Those words introduce an article in the December Link(570 Interchurch Center, 475 Riverside Dr., New York, NY 10115) entitled "Focus on Family Reunification." Written by Quaker Jennifer Bing-Canar, Middle East Program director for the American Friends Service Committee's (AFSC) Chicago office, it tells of efforts being made to get Israeli government permits for Palestinian husbands and wives with West Bank or Gaza residency status to rejoin their East Jerusalem spouses in either area. Such permits to end the separations caused by Israeli political or military initiatives are hard to get without outside help.

The article credits a coalition of Israeli, Palestinian and international non-governmental organizations (Al-Haq, the Alternative Information Center, B'Tselem, Hotline and UNRWA) with initiating joint efforts to identify and resolve related problems. Member groups invited AFSC to link its Family Reunification Project with their parallel undertakings. Some of the results follow:

From the countless Jerusalem families seeking Israeli reunification permits, nine were selected for initial help. On their behalf AFSC encouraged concerned people to call 1 (800) 946-7846 to authorize sending a signed mailgram to Israeli Prime Minister Rabin saying:

"I urge the Israeli government to immediately address the needs of Palestinians who seek permanent residency status for their families in Jerusalem. In particular I am concerned that the following families have not been granted formal family reunification:"

(Selected names and ID numbers of candidate families were added at this point.)

Some hundreds of such mailgrams went out last summer and fall. These, along with letters to the Israeli embassy in Washington, to Israeli legislators and to the Jerusalem Interior Ministry, have been credited with reunification, so far, of four of the nine "adopted" families. Keeping the toll-free number open may, it is hoped, lead to reuniting at least another family or two.

This, however, is just the tip of the iceberg. Therefore, to broaden public awareness, AFSC further agreed to publish Tarrance Rempel's narrative compilation of pertinent little-known data under the title, "Jerusalem—Reclaiming a Divided City." Its 16 8-1/2-by-11-inch three-column pages start off with a clear presentation of the importance of Jerusalem in the eyes of Palestinians and Israelis. They go on to recount the human impact of the continuous Israeli evictions of Palestinians from their homes in Jerusalem and other occupied areas since 1948, and the allocation of their confiscated properties to Jewish immigrant settlers.

Statistics on over-taxing and underserving of Palestinians gain life and breath in the telling. Maps make intelligible how the dislocations resulting from travel restrictions imposed on Palestinian Muslims and Christians by the March 30, 1993 "closure" prevent them from reaching essential jobs, shops, markets, schools and hospitals and also how the restrictions separate families.

The publication's declared primary goal is to "reclaim Jerusalem for all of its people." It derives hope from the spirit of such Israeli and Palestinian peace activists as Mikado Warshawski and Sari Nusseibeh. From Warshawski it quotes the statement that "real reunification is only possible on the basis of equality, mutual respect, recognition of the bi-national character of the city with a dual sovereignty—Israeli and Palestinian—and the readiness to consider Jerusalem as the joint capital of the Israeli state and the Palestinian state."

The AFSC document quotes Nusseibeh as predicting: "If we can make enough spiritual and national room for each other, there is reason to hope for a future for our two peoples which will have a significant impact not only on our countries and our region, but on the entire world."

The full text of this concise and valuable reference work may be ordered from the Family Reunification Project, c/o American Friends Service Committee, 59 E. Van Buren #1400, Chicago, IL 60605.