Catholic-Muslim Forum

The Catholic-Muslim Forum is an event that aims to promote interreligious dialogue between Catholics and Muslims .

The impetus for this event was a speech by Pope Benedict XVI. in Regensburg 2006, in which he spoke about the role of violence in Islam and also quoted an old Byzantine emperor who stated that Mohammed only brought "bad and inhumane" things. In October 2007, 138 Muslim leaders and scholars addressed a “Letter to Leading Christians” entitled “ A Common Word between Us and You ” in which they expressed an interest in such a dialogue.

Then the 1st seminar took place from November 4th to 6th, 2008, it was held in the Vatican . Most of the Muslims came from the moderate spectrum. One of the goals was to ensure more “understanding on both sides” and to break down prejudices. Another topic was the image of women and their “traditional disadvantage” in both communities. “Discrimination and violence in the name of religion” are also clearly rejected in a joint declaration. There was some criticism of the event from Muslim conservatives.

The 2nd seminar took place in Jordan from November 21 to 23, 2011, in the conference building of the Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, under the direction of Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad . The theme was Reason, Faith and the Human Person . 24 Catholic and 24 Islamic representatives each took part in the dialogue, and the joint final declaration proclaimed, among other things, that the "God given human dignity" must be respected by all people.

The 3rd seminar took place from November 11th to 13th, 2014 in Rome. The motto was Working Together to Serve Others . In their final declaration, the representatives again distance themselves from religiously based violence, stating that it is “never acceptable to justify such acts with religious motives or to mix them with religion”.

The fourth seminar was held from 6 to 8 November 2017 in Berkeley ( California ) in the United States instead. The theme was Integral Human Development: Growing in Dignity. Catholic and Muslim perspectives . Many of the participants in the Muslim delegation (led by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf ) came from Zaytuna College , where the forum was taking place.