Interfaith dialogue, suitable way to propagate religion, develop ethics: Ayatollah Ramazani

News News of Secretary General

Sunday, 11 September 2022

The Secretary-General of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly stated, “In dialogue with the followers of other religions, we must respect their sanctities, because this has an incredible impact on the audience.”

On Saturday, September 10, 2022, Hojat al-Islam Abdul Karim Paz, an Argentinian cleric and international activist, met with the Secretary-General of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly in the Assembly building in Qom.

In this meeting, on the importance of dialogue and conversation with the followers of other religions Ayatollah Reza Ramazani expressed, “Meeting with Christian leaders, especially the Pope, is a golden opportunity, and such opportunities should be seized.”

“Interfaith dialogue is very suitable way to propagate Islam and developing the ethics. In a meeting I had with Christian scholars, a priest admitted, “With ijtihad, Shiite school can answer the questions that we could not.” Therefore, dialogue can be a way of interaction and perhaps synergy,” he added.

While emphasizing the importance of the presence of Shiite clerics in the Western universities, the Secretary-General of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly expressed, “When I was in Hamburg, Germany, followers of other religions came to visit our Islamic center. Also, during a visit to the Sorbonne, I gave a lecture to students about the mysticism of Imam Ali (a.s.). It worth mentioning that in the dialogue with the followers of other religions, we should respect their sanctities, because it has an incredible impact on the audience.”

“As servants of the House of Revelation, we can introduce AhlulBayt (a.s.) in the West. Dialogue should be based on ideological issues. We should tell them about the Quran’s view of Prophet Jesus (a.s.) and Lady Mary (a.s.),” he continued.

Recommending Hojat al-Islam Paz to write a book on his memories, Ayatollah Ramazani stated, “Your presence in the field of dialogue is valuable and appreciated. Dialogue is a technique and needs content and form.”

On the different kinds of facing the Western culture, he said, “In the face of the Western culture, some are intimidated, and others are fascinated. The West has positive points. We should take the positive points of the West, and at the same time criticize its evils and ugliness. In this approach of taking and criticizing, we must be vigilant that the secularist and humanist discourses of the West do not lead us to the path they have gone.”

“Our approach must be interactive,” Secretary-General of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly added, “We should have empathy in religious and cultural activities. Because empathy is more important than cooperation. We should consider ourselves soldiers of Imam Mahdi (a.s.) and be sincere in our activities.”

At the beginning of the meeting, Hojat al-Islam Abdul Karim Paz presented a report on his international activities and talked about the methods of communication and dialogue with leaders and followers of other religions.

AhlulBayt (a_s_) World Assembly Ayatollah Ramazani ethics Interfaith dialogue propagation