Chairman: Three days ago I was on my way to Abrar House when I heard a young man telling an older man that the essence of this season is love. He was obviously referring to Christmas. The young man repeated this three times with the other one, who was a Muslim, nodding maybe not sure what to say. That incident made me think of our cry for peace, love and harmony trying to use anything that has the power to bring these values into the disturbed modern world. It seems that religion has that power but religion on the other hand has been used and misused to bring about hate, discrimination and even wars.
So what could make the difference and how can we use this exceptional power of religion for good and not evil? With Christmas approaching, Christians are preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. To Muslims Jesus is one of the five greatest prophets with Noah, Abraham, Moses and Mohammed. His mother the virgin Mary delivered him but remained virgin. This is the view of both Muslims and Christmas. Perhaps these kinds of commonalities are what the world needs today to achieve harmonious relationships and peaceful coexistence.
The Virgin Mary is seen as a source of unification for people of two religions. How can common grounds be strengthened at a time when destructive forces are at work?
Sheikh Mohammad Saeed Bahmanpour: Peace be on you, salam aleikum. I would speak about the image of Mary in the Qur’an and of course the topic which is the mother of believers. The mother of believers is something which is used in Islam. I don’t know about Christianity. It is a term which is also used about the wives of the Prophets. In chapter 33 we have the prophet’s wives who are described as the mothers of believers.
The prophet’s wives and mothers of believers is just an honorary position. It is not because of them, it is because of the prophet. To honour the prophet the wives of the prophet are called on to be the mothers of the believers. Actually in Chapter 66 of the Qur’an the mothers of the believers are warned that this is an honorary title they have been given. It is something which does not belong to you – it belongs to your husband. So if you deviate from the path of God this honour will be taken from and you will be destroyed in the same way as people in the past who were attributed to certain honourable people were destined for spiritual destruction.
In Chapter 66 there is a story about two of the wives of the prophet. There was something they had done and it is stated that they had to repent because their hearts had deviated. Towards the end of the chapter there is the example of the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot. They were wives of two prophets but they betraye
