Within the world-wide initiative "A Common Word Between You and Us", started by Muslim leaders in response to the speech delivered by Pope Benedict XVI on September 13, 2006, at the Regensburg University, the first seminar of the Catholic-Muslim forum was held in Rome today. Similar seminars were held at the Yale University (July 28-31, 2008) and the Cambridge University (October 12-15, 2008).

It is of particular importance in this meting between 24 Muslim and 24 Catholic theologians-intellectuals, in that this is the first time that Catholics and Muslims will exchange opinions about joint themes, such as love toward God and love toward neighbour.

The Muslim delegation, comprising prominent Muslims such as Prof. Seyyid Husein Nasr, Dr. Abdul Hakim Murad Winter, Prof. Tariq Ramadan and others, is led, in this historical dialogue between Catholics and Muslims, by Reisu-l-Ulema Dr. Mustafa Ceric. The Catholic delegation is led by His Eminence, Jean-Louis Cardinal Taurani, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, who in his opening address stressed:" The interreligious dialogues has no alternatives therefore it is a duty of each sensible and responsible person to promote the spirit of dialogue, especially the interreligious one".

In his response to the greetings by Cardinal Taurani, Reisu-l-Ulema Ceric, on behalf of the Muslim delegation, said:"

Your Eminence Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran,  
Eminencies, Excellencies, Distinguished Scholars:

It is a great privilege for me to accept your courteous invitation and to respond to it on behalf of Muslims with good will for peace. We are commanded to do this by the Last Revelation of God, the Holy Qur’an: - If you are greeted by good will, you shall respond with best of it (4:86). [و إذا حُيّيتم بتَحيّةٍ فحَيُّوا بأحسَنَ منها ...].

We have come to Rome to demonstrate the good will of Muslims for peace and desire for justice in the world. We have come for an honest and constructive dialogue based on the Common Word between us and you that we shall love God, and that we shall love our neighbors (and we consider that all human beings are our neighbors). We know that whoever loves God, sees in the other a being which God has willed to be, and which he thus must love. And he, who truly loves his neighbor, finds himself. Only by being truthful and by acting honestly in our day-to-day relationship with our neighbors can we fully claim the humanity we share. For our heart is made for sharing life with others; and we share the clay from which we all came and to which we will all return once again.

We share much else. We share the belief in One God who created us from a single soul then scattered us like seeds into countless human beings; we share the same father Adam and the same mother Eve; we share the air we breathe and the rise of the sun we see every dawn;  we share Abraham’s faith, and we all came on Noah’s salvific Ark; we share  love and respect for the Blessed Virgin Maryam (Mary) and for her son Isa (Jesus) whom we both believe to be the unique Messiah; we share the true parables about Moses and his divinely guided people around the Sinai desert; we share the happiness of good tidings and the sorrow of dreadful sounds; we share the pleasure of our success and the pain of our failure; we share fear and hope; pain and joy; hearts full of Charity and minds in quest of Truth. We all believe that ours is the time of the Ethics of Sharing that should lead humanity forever away from death camps, the gulags, Communism, Fascism, Anti-Semitism, the Holocaust,  Islamophobia, Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide, towards a decent life, freedom, justice, human dignity, democratic values and prosperity. And we as Muslims have also the clear word of the Holy Qur’an and the exemplary life of the Messenger Muhammad (a.s);

This is the right place for us to say to our Christian neighbors around the world that Islam is the faith of peace and, overwhelmingly, Muslims are peaceful human beings. It should be obvious by now that the ill intended accusations of some against the Muslim Holy Book, the Muslim Holy Prophets from Adam through Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (a.s.) will not resolve the problems of drugs, AIDS, abortion, human slavery, sexual exploitation, environmental pollution, hate-crimes, abject poverty, disease, homicide and terrorism in the world. On the contrary the solutions for these and the other evils of our times lie in our love of God and our love of neighbor.

Ours is the middle way from the eternity (ezel) that is behind us to the eternity (ebed) that is before us. Through God’s love we are no longer alone in our journey through and beyond time. So together we have also the Common Word of Love that was in the beginning, and that will be in the end.

We are aware that people around the world are waiting to see the results of this First Seminar of the Catholic-Muslim Forum. We all hope it will help lead to a world that is a better and safer place to live.

Now, I would like you to join me in this Bosnian prayer:

We pray to Thee, Almighty God
May Almighty God be with us every step that we take!
May God guide us with each decision we make!
May God help us when life gets tough!
May God give us patience when we had enough!
May God hear us when we call!
May God lift us when we cannot stand!
May we always be in God's loving care!
May grief become hope!
May revenge become justice!
May mother’s tears become prayer!
That Srebrenica never happen again
To no one and nowhere!  Ameen!