With so much vented about the clash of civilizations, comes now a soon-to-be-released book about the “community of civilizations.” Instead of highlighting what divides Islam and Christianity, the book identifies what unites the two great faiths by spotlighting commonalities between Roman Catholicism and Shi’ism. The book, Roman Catholics and Shi’i Muslims: Prayer, Passion, and Politics, co-authored by James A. Bill and John Alden Williams (University of North Carolina Press, 2002) is the first major academic attempt to juxtapose two key faith systems rooted within Christianity and Islam.
James Bill, an award-winning author, is a world-class authority on Iran and is Reves Professor of International Studies at the prestigious College of William and Mary, and John Williams is a noted historian on Islam and Professor Emeritus in Religion at the same college.
The Catholic-Shi’i comparison draws parallels between the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the martyrdom in the field of Kerbala of the Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) grandson, Imam Hussain. Both, it is posited, made the ultimate sacrifice to renew their faith: “Each hero foresaw his fate as martyr. Each had the choice of passing up this painful role. Each feared the suffering that such a role entailed. And each chose death, apparently for similar reasons. Each understood that this kind of gesture, the ultimate sacrifice, would leave a lasting legacy . . . .” (p. 49). The great 20th Century freedom fighter, Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar, proclaimed in a verse that Islam is revived after every Kerbala.
Sayyida Fatima, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), wife of Ali, and mother of Hussain, is linked with sorrows as is the Virgin Mary (Maryam) after the crucifixion of her son, Jesus. Comparing the two, the book presents Mary and Fatima each as central female members of a holy family and models of extraordinary purity who empathized with the poor and the deprived while themselves enduring great poverty and deprivation. Mary and Fatima continue to remain sources of consolation and inspiration (p. 55). In the authors’ view, Fatima “served as an active and inspiring companion to her father, a staunch defender of the family, the conscience of the earliest community of Muslims, and a model for women and men who suffer through extraordinary trials and tribulations.” (pp. 52-53).
The book affirms that “Catholics and Shi’is have long histories of mourning processions and passion plays . . . suffering and martyrdom . . . which have strengthened the faith systems of both Catholics and Shi’is” along with the “willingness to make ultimate sacrifice, as a living model that provides the path to redemption and salvation.” (pp.74-75).
The authors also see similarities between Catholic mystics and Islamic Sufis and the role of saints in the respective faith systems as intercessors, alongside devotion at shrines.
Analogies are also drawn between the Catholic Church’s liberation theology in Latin America and the anti-Establishment politics of populist Shi’ism, as exemplified by Ayatollah Khomeini’s leadership in revolutionary Iran.
Concluding, the book underscores the deep commitment shared by both traditions to the oppressed, dispossessed, and distressed (p. 144).
It is an erudite and enlightening book, which cogently brings together unifying strands between two very influential faith systems embedded within Christianity and Islam. The authors display acute scholarship in a lucid style on a complex subject matter, along with the wisdom to draw from a common reservoir of hope and affinity in deeply polarized times. The book sends a timely message that, in a globalized world, exploding bombs and flying bullets won’t discriminate between Christian and Muslim victims. It merits wide dissemination, particularly among those circles that believe (or are led to believe) that ‘they are not like us’ and that the Christian West and the Muslim East are fated to be foes.
Professors James Bill and John Williams have left the beaten track to take a step towards the path of greater communication and understanding and, in doing so, have honored the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) toward the pursuit of knowledge.