¹ For the commentary on the text concerning Islam, cf. Caspar, R. pb, ‘La religion musulmane’, Vatican II. Les relations de l'Église avec les religions non-chrétiennes, Collection Unam Sanctam, Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 1966, pp. 201-36Google Scholar, ‘L'Église et l'Islam à la lumiere du Concile’, Parole et Mission, Vol. 34, 1966, pp. 453-473Google Scholar.

² Karl Rahner also attests that it was an ‘Arab lobby’ that insisted that the document not treat of Judaism solely. Rahner, Karl & Lapide, Pinchas, Encountering Jesus – Encountering Judaism: A Dialogue, New York, Crossroads, 1987, p. 4Google Scholar. See also, Oesterreicher, John, ‘Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions: Introduction and Commentary’, Commentary on the Documents of Vatican II, Edited by Vorgrimler, Herbert & Rahner, Karl, New York, Herder & Herder, 1969, Vol. 3, pp. 1-137Google Scholar. For an account of the policy of the Holy See to Jerusalem and the Middle East see, O'Mahony, A., ‘The Vatican, Jerusalem, the State of Israel, and Christianity in the Holy Land’, International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, Vol. 5, no 2. 2005, pp. 123-146CrossRefGoogle Scholar; ‘The Vatican, Palestinian Christians, Israel and Jerusalem: Religion, Politics, Diplomacy, and Holy Places, 1945-1950’, Studies in Church History: The Holy Land, Holy Lands, and Christian History Vol. 36, 2000, pp. 358-374CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

³ Recognizing the sensitivity of the this issue, in his presentation of the text of Nostra Aetate to the general congregation on 25 September 1964, Cardinal Bea made a specific disclaimer that the sections of the document on Judaism were entirely of a religious and not a political nature, “So far as the Jewish people are concerned, it is necessary to say, again and again, that we do not treat here any political question whatever, but a purely religious question. We do not speak here of Zionism or of the political state of Israel’, but of the followers of the Mosaic religion, wherever they live throughout the world”, Council Daybook: Vatican II, Session 3, Edited by F.Anderson, Washington, National Catholic Welfare Conference, 1965, pp. 62-63. For some observations on the religious and political context see, O'Mahony, A., ‘Le pélerin de Jérusalem: Louis Massignon, Palestinian Christians, Islam and the State of Israel’, Palestinian Christians: Religion, Politics and Society, Edited by, O'Mahony, A. (London: Melisende, 1999, pp.166-189Google Scholar.

⁴ See the important studies by Jacquin, Françoise, ‘Prière trinitaire et expérience hindouiste: la voie ouverte par Jules Monchanin’, La vie spirituelle, no 727, 1998, pp 247-254Google Scholar; ‘L'abbé Monchanin et l'Islam’, Islamochristiana (Rome), Vol. 23, 1997, pp 27-42Google Scholar; ‘Louis Massignon et l'abbé Monchanin’, La vie spirituelle, no 694, 1991, pp 175-183Google Scholar; Histoire du Cercle Saint Jean-Bapiste. L'enseignement du père Daniélou, Paris, Éditions Beauchesne, 1987.Google Scholar

⁵ Tanner, Norman sj., Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, London/Washington, Sheed/Georgetown, 1990, Vol. 2, p. 861Google Scholar. Some Islamic opinion object to the statement of Lumen Gentium–‘with us they worship the one merciful God’; as there are Muslims who attack the Christian claim to monotheism. The origins of this might be that in the Qur'an contains a reference to a Trinity consisting God, Jesus and Mary (Q 5:116). Christians may reply that the Qur'an is denying a false Trinity; but they will still be considered by some Muslims to be mushrikûn (associators), Kâfirûn (unbelievers). This critique has roots in early Islam, where the question of the unity or diversity of the polytheistic world is discussed; see Friedmann, Yohanan, Tolerance and Coercion in Islam: Interfaith Relations in the Muslim Tradition, Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. 76-80CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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⁷ Caspar, Robert pb, A Historical Introduction to Islamic Theology, Rome, Pontifico Istiuto di Studi Arabi e d'Islamistica, 1998, p. 97Google Scholar; and H.Griffith, Sidney: Sharing the Faith of Abraham: the ‘Credo’ of Louis Massignon, Islam and Muslim-Christian Relations, Vol.8, no.2, 1997, pp. 193-210CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁸ Caspar, Robert pb, A Historical Introduction to Islamic Theology, Rome, Pontifico Istiuto di Studi Arabi e d'Islamistica, 1998, p. 98Google Scholar.

⁹ Al-Hallâj was executed in Baghdad in 922 having scandalized the authorities by claiming to have achieved union with God and uttering the words ‘anâ al-haqq’[I am the Truth]. He went to the gibet willingly, declaring God's love to the last. Massignon set out to proved beyond reasonable doubt not only that al-Hallâj was innocent of heresy, but also that his miracles and mystical experiences were as well-documented as those of any Christian saint in his classic work, La Passion d'al-Hosayn-ibn Mansour al-Hallâj, martyre mystique de l'Islam Paris: Geuthner, 1922, First Edition, 2 Vols. Massignon continued to work on a new edition of this work until his death in 1962. After his death, the new edition was assembled by a group of scholars working together with the Massignon family and friends, which was published as: La Passion de Husayn ibn Mansur Hallâj, martyre mystique de l'Islam Paris: Gallimard 1975Google Scholar, Second Edition, 4 Vols. The second edition was translated into English by Herbert Mason, The Passion of al-Hallâj: Mystic and Martyr of Islam, Bollingen Series XCVIII. Princeton University Press, 1982, 4 Vols. Arnaldez, Roger, ‘Hallâj et Jèsus dans le pensèe de Louis Massignon’, Horizons maghrébins. Louis Massignon. Hommes de dialogue des cultures, no. 14-15, 1989, pp. 171-178Google Scholar. Massignon in a place close to Baghdad had a conversion experience to Christianity ‘via Islam’, Ian Latham, ‘Louis Massignon and Iraq’, forthcoming.

¹⁰ Robinson, Neal, ‘Massignon, Vatican II and Islam as an Abrahamic Religion’, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Vol. 2, no.2, 1991, pp. 182-205CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹¹ Massignon's vision of Islam as an Abrahamic religion was popularized by several of his devotees. The Maronite priest Youakim Moubarac, in his remarkable, controversial doctoral thesis at the Sorbonne tried to prove that the message of the Qur'an right from its inception centered on the figure of Abraham, Abraham dans le Coran. L'histoire dans le Coran et la naissance de l'Islam, Paris, Vrin, 1958Google Scholar.

¹² Moubarac, Y., ‘Abraham en Islam’, Cahiers sioniens:‘Abraham, père des croyants’, Vol. V, no. 2, 1951, pp. 104-120Google Scholar.

¹³ Moubarac, Y., ‘Moïses dans le Coran’, Cahiers Sioniens,‘Moïses, l'homme de l'alliance’, Vol. 8, no.2-3-4, 1954, pp. 373-393Google Scholar.

¹⁴ One series of Abraham references in the Qur'an finds no parallel in either the Bible or later Jewish traditions. These associate Abraham, and often Ishmael, with the building of the Ka'ba, with Arabian cultic practice and with terminology of Islamic religious conceptions. Firestone, Reuven, ‘Abraham's association with the Meccan sanctuary and the pilgrimage in the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods’, Le Muséon, Vol. 104, 1991, pp. 365-393CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Journeys in Holy Lands: The evolution of the Abramic-Ishmael Legends, Albany, State University of New York Press, 1990Google Scholar. Platti, Emilio OP, ‘Le sacrifice en Islam’, Le sacrifice dans les religions, Ed. Neusch, M., Paris, Éditions Beauchesne, 1994, pp. 157-174Google Scholar. See the account given by Firestone, Reuven, ‘Abraham’, in: The Encyclopedia of the Qur'an, Vol. 1, pp. 5–11Google Scholar.

¹⁵ Daniélou, Jean sj, ‘Abraham dans la tradition chrétienne’, Cahiers sioniens:‘Abraham, père des croyants’, Vol. V, no. 2, 1951, pp. 69-87Google Scholar.

¹⁶ For an understanding of the Qur'an as scripture and the quranic view of religion see the work of Monnot, Guy OP, ‘Le corpus coranique’, La formation des canons scripturarires, Ed, Tardieu, M., Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 1993, pp. 61-73Google Scholar; ‘L'ideé de religion et son evolution dans le Coran’, The Notion of Religion in Comparative Research, Ed, Bianchi, U., Rome, L'Erma di Brettschneider, 1994, pp. 97-102Google Scholar. I am indebted to the account given by McAulitte, Jane Dammen, ‘The Abrogation of Judaism and Christianity in Islam: a Christian Perspective’, in: Concilium, no. 3, 1994, pp. 116–122Google Scholar; and Friedmann, Y., Tolerance and Coercion in Islam: Interfaith Relations in the Muslim Tradition, Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. 16–17CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁷ On Abraham, see, Caspar, R. pb, ‘Abraham in Islam and Christianity, Encounter: documents for Christian-Muslim understanding, no. 92,1996, pp. 1-17Google Scholar; Ska, Jean-Louis sj, ‘Abraham dans le Coran ou le prototype du, “musulman’, Abraham et ses hôtes. Le patriarche et les croyants au Dieu unique, Bruxelles, Éditions Lessius, 2001, pp. 61-84Google Scholar. Ska, Jean-Louis sj, ‘Abramo nella tradizione musulmana’, La Civiltà Cattolica, No. 3617, 2001, pp. 497-484Google Scholar.

¹⁸ Fitzgerald, Michael L. pb, ‘From Heresy to Religion: Islam since Vatican II’, Encounter: documents for Christian-Muslim understanding, no. 296, 2003, pp. 1-13Google Scholar.

¹⁹ Tanner, Norman sj., Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, London/Washington,Sheed/Georgetown, 1990, Vol. 2, p. 861. pp. 969-970.Google Scholar

²⁰ Caspar, Robert, Traité de Théologie Musulamne, Rome, Pontifico Istiuto di Studi Arabi e d'Islamistica, 1987, pp. 83-87Google Scholar.

²¹ Platti, Emilio OP, ‘Islam: Dialogue or Confrontation?’, Philippiniana Sacra, Vol. 37, no. 111, 2002, pp. 497-496, 487-488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

²² This analysis owes much to Troll, Christian SJ, ‘Changing Catholic Views of Islam’, Islam and Christianity: Mutual Perceptions since the Mid-20^th century, Edited by Waardenburg, Jacques, Leuven, Peeters, 1998, pp. 23-27Google Scholar.

²³ ‘The Speech of the Holy Father John Paul II to Young Muslims, Casablanca, Morroco, 19 August 1985’Encounter: documents for Christian-Muslim understanding, no. 128, 1986, pp. 1-12Google Scholar.

²⁴ One would do well to listen to the warning of Roger Arnaldez, “Hence, the problem of the diverse messages stubbornly remains. There is no way of reducing it to a common core so long as we situate ourselves within one of the three religious families. [Judiasm, Christianity, Islam] One must be Jewish, Christian, or Muslim, adhering to a faith that excludes the other two. If we want to extract some monotheism-in-itself, a monotheistic theology or morality as such, we must simultaneously depart from the three monotheistic religions and place ourselves outside or above them. To put it most forcefully, we would have to neglect the particularities of their messages, ignore the characteristics of each, and repress the very notion of a Messenger”. Three Messengers for One God, Notre Dame, Indiana, University of Notre Dame Press, 1994, p.3Google Scholar

²⁵ Caspar, Robert, ‘The Permanent Significance of Islam's Monotheism, Concilium, no. 177, 1985, pp. 67-78Google Scholar; Samir, Samir Khalil sj, ‘L'Unicite absolue de Dieu: regards sur la pensee chretienne arabe’, Lumiere et Vie, no. 163, 1983, pp. 35-48Google Scholar.

²⁶ The letter was written in AD 1076. See Courtois, C., “Grégoire VII et l'Afrique du Nord”, in Revue Historique, T.CXCV (1945), p.97-122; 193-226Google Scholar.

²⁷ The Qur'an teaches in Islamic tradition that prophets have been sent by God to all peoples giving the same guidance and warning. As a result all the prophets recognized in the Qur'an are accorded equal status. Muhammad is regarded as the ‘Seal of the Prophets’ because Muslims believe that his teaching has been preserved without corruption. He is given the title ‘rasul’ or ‘the one whom God sends’ and this reflects the Muslim belief that the scriptures were given to him as a universal revelation. Every community has received a ‘rasul’, but Muhammad was sent to a people who had not previously received one. Muslims regard a ‘rasul’ (prophets such as Noah, Moses or Jesus) as being free from sin. See Jomier, Jacques OP, ‘The Idea of the Prophet in Islam’, Bulletin: Secretariatus pro non-Christianis (rome), no. 18, 1971, pp. 149-163Google Scholar.

²⁸ One of the essential differences between Islam and Christianity is that of their understanding of the revelation from God and therefore a major difficulty is in Christian-Muslim dialogue is the fact that while Muslims accept Jesus as a genuine prophet and messenger of God, Christians do not accord the same status to Muhammad. See Jomier, Jacques OP, ‘The Problem of Muhammad’, How to Understand Islam, London, SCM Press, 1989, pp. 140-148Google Scholar. Maurice Borrmans pb, in Gardet, Louis & Cuoq, J. pb, Guidelines for Dialogue between Christians and Muslims, Rome, Ancona, 1969Google Scholar, states, “Christians are inclined to perceive that Muhammad was agreat literary, political and religious genius, and he possesses particular qualities which enabled him to lead multitudes to the worship of the true God. But, at the same time, they find in him evidence of mistakes and important misapprehensions. They also discern in him marks of prophethood”, pp. 57-58. See also, ‘Muhammad's Prophetic Office and the inspired nature of the Qur'an’, Caspar, Robert pb, A Historical Introduction to Islamic Theology, Rome, Pontifico Istiuto di Studi Arabi e d'Islamistica, 1998, pp. 89-134Google Scholar.

²⁹ In an important interview entitled, ‘Le Signe Marial’ given to a Catholic review in 1948, Louis Massignon, offered his most succinct theological account of Muhammad's prophethood. His primary focus seems to have been to defend Muhammad from the charge of being a false prophet. In definition Muhammad's authentic prophethood, however, he introduced a distinction between ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ prophecy which can easily mislead. Far from contrasting true and false prophecy he used between ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ to distinguish two attributes of authentic prophecy. Positive prophecy challenges and reverses human values which are prone to weakness and sin. While this accounts for much of Muhammad's ministry as social reformer, Massignon wanted to say more: that Muhammad was a negative prophet in the sense of bearing witness to ‘the final separation of the good from the evil’. Negative prophecy is therefore an eschatological category in Massignon's thought, the ultimate concern of a negative prophet being to bear witness of the Last Day when God would disclose “the transcendent secret of the glory of the just God’. Rythmes du Monde (Paris), no. 3, 1948, pp. 7-16Google Scholar. see also, Harpigny, Guy, ‘Muhammad est-il considéré prophète?, Revue Théologique de Louvain, Vol. 6, 1975, pp. 311-323CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

³⁰ Tanner, Norman SJ., Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, London/Washington,Sheed/Georgetown, 1990, Vol. 2, p. 861. pp. 969-970Google Scholar.

³¹ Caspar, Robert pb, Traité de Théologie Musulamne, Rome, Pontifico Istiuto di Studi Arabi e d'Islamistica, 1987, pp. 87Google Scholar

³² Anawati, Georges OP, ‘Exkurs zum Konzilstext über die Muslim’, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche. Das Zwite Vatikanische Konzil, Frieburg, Herder, 1967, Vol. 2, pp. 485-487Google Scholar, quoted in Christian Troll SJ, ‘Changing Catholic Views of Islam’, Islam and Christianity: Mutual Perceptions since the Mid-20^th century, p.27. See also, Anawati, G., ‘L'islam à l’heure du Concile. Prolégomènes à un dialogue islamo-chrétien', Angelicum, Vol. 41, 1964, pp. 145-166Google Scholar.

³³ R. Caspar pb, ‘La religion musulmane’, Vatican II. Les relations de l'Église avec les religions non-chrétiennes, p. 215.