by Rula Samain | Feb 05, 2015 | 23:49

AMMAN — Jordan is a pioneer in international faith-based and faith-driven dialogue initiatives, and the Kingdom’s Christian-Muslim dialogue is a daily experience, according to a researcher at Humboldt University in Berlin.

Sarah Markiewicz, also a teaching associate at the university, discussed Jordan’s role in global inner-Islam and interfaith dialogues initiatives in a recent lecture held as part of a series on “Perspectives on the Modern and Contemporary Arab World”.

During the lecture — jointly organised by the Institut Français du Proche-Orient and the CBRL British Institute in Amman — the researcher gave a brief presentation on the Amman Message and “A Common Word between Us and You” initiative, among other projects.

She said her PhD on Jordan’s role in global inner-Islamic and interfaith dialogue initiatives was to investigate the “genesis and fruits” of “A Common Word between Us and You”.

“I decided to investigate [this] topic because I believed the initiative to be very important and at the time I was researching [2010-2014], there was very little information available about where it came from and who were the driving forces behind it,” Markiewicz noted.

According to the researcher, although there are many interfaith initiatives, “A Common Word” is “shoulders above the rest” since it is a Muslim-driven international dialogue initiative.

“I respect the integrity and credentials of those involved in the initiative. It was written by HRH Prince Ghazi, who is highly educated and very attuned to the contemporary challenges facing Christian-Muslim and Islam-West relations.”

The Amman Message, released in 2004 by His Majesty King Abdullah, sought to declare what Islam is and what it is not, according to its website.

Markiewicz discussed some challenges facing the promotion of the message.

“At the final seminar of the Amman Message Project, September 2014, in which I participated, youth outreach was identified as a key area for future work. I support this and agree that it is necessary, but I am sceptical as to how this can be executed within Europe and Jordan in a way that it reaches more than a handful of people.”

The second challenge, according to Markiewicz, is the need to involve the media in the message’s promotion, since it shapes public opinion.

She said that Western media outlets are full of stories that paint Muslims in a negative light, focusing on groups such as Boko Haram and the so-called Islamic State, and suicide bombers in Iraq.

“A specific concern of mine is how to achieve a ‘trickle-down’ effect so that these initiatives don’t remain restricted to lectures and meetings of like-minded intellectuals.”

SOURCE: http://jordantimes.com/scholar-examines-jordans-role-in–interfaith-dialogue