Interfaith dialogue helps to understand similarities

Dubai: An interfaith dialogue held recently at the Knowledge Village helped people appreciate and better understand Islam and Christianity, participants said.

The dialogue titled, "Who is Jesus Christ? In the light of the Bible and the Quran", was organised by the Muslim Student Association and Christian Fellowship Club from the University of Wollongong in Dubai.

Steven Chike, a student, said he learned a lot about Islam that he did not know previously, specially the similarities between Islam and Christianity.

"It gives you something to think about," said Johanna Samson, 21, a knowledge consultant.

New perspective

Saud and Sara Jubran, both students, said it was an interesting dialogue. "I learned to look at Jesus in the perspective of other religions and to understand the differences and similarities," said Saud.

Uthman Barry, a Muslim convert and a host of an Islamic programme at Sharjah TV, said he enjoyed the discussion. "Muslims and Christians must come together. We have a common enemy, and that is secularism," he said.

Two Muslim converts said the pastor's speech was "honey on the surface. He did not clarify the concept of Trinity", one of them said. Alexandra Wantke, a 23-year-old student, said: "I thought people would be aggressive, but the dialogue was in a friendly manner."

Senior Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile, Pastor of First Baptist Church, Cayman Islands, said there are similarities between Islam and Christianity but that "the differences are quite vast".

Hamed Hamed, a young scholar on Islam and comparative religion, spoke about the similarities between both religions and clarified the perceived differences among religious scholars in light of the Quran, Gospels and Torah.