talists. Muslims, for their part, were reluctant to
participate in interreligious dialogues for sev-
eral reasons. Language posed a barrier initially,
because most Muslim religious authorities were
not conversant in the European languages. Many
thought dialogue might be a disguised mission-
ary effort by European Christian churches, and
they were wary of connections between their
conversation partners and the European colo-
nial powers that had occupied their countries.
However, the creation of new nation-states in the
20th century, growing knowledge of European
languages and cultures, and increased global
travel, immigration, and communication helped
overcome these barriers. Since the 1960s, cata-
strophic violence in the Middle East and attacks
by Muslim radicals in Europe and the United
States, especially the September 11th assaults in
2001, have also provided incentives for Muslims
to engage more actively in dialogue with non-
Muslims.
The World Council of Churches and the
Roman Catholic Church began to actively embrace
interreligious dialogue in the 1950s and 1960s.
They organized international and regional con-
ferences and published books and papers that
promoted dialogue among Christians, Jews, and
Muslims. Joined by countless other organiza-
tions on local and global levels, they continue
to promote interreligious dialogue today. Their
efforts have prompted Islamic organizations such
as the mUslim World leagUe and the World
mUslim congress to participate in and sponsor
similar activities, beginning in the 1980s and
1990s. Dialogue among Jews, Christians, and
Muslims has been further enriched by a growing
recognition that more than being monotheistic
religions, they are Abrahamic, which emphasizes
a common religiocultural heritage as “children
of Abraham,” the ancestral biblical figure who is
also highly esteemed by Muslims. Muslim-Jewish
dialogue, however, has been negatively affected by
the ongoing violence in Israel-Palestine, but this
conflict has made the need for such dialogue even
more urgent. As a consequence, leading Muslim
and Jewish organizations in the United States
are making concerted efforts to sponsor dialogue
activities, often with the encouragement and sup-
port of Christian groups.
Interreligious dialogue is also occurring on
college and university campuses in the United
States and Europe, helping to build friendships,
mutual understanding, and acceptance among
Muslims, Jews, Christians, and secularists. Pro-
gressive Muslim scholars raised and educated
in Europe and the United States such as Tariq
Ramadan (b. 1962) and khaled aboU el Fadl
(b. 1963) represent a significant new force that
is contributing to greater understanding between
Muslims and non-Muslims. On a global scale,
another noteworthy development is the forma-
tion of groups promoting dialogue, tolerance, and
understanding that have been inspired by Sufi
ideals. These include the Naqshbandi-Haqqani
Sufi Order and followers of the modern Turk-
ish thinker FethUllah gülen (b. 1941). These
groups have strong followings among young
people, many of whom are college educated and
cosmopolitan in outlook.
See also bUddhism and islam; christianity and
islam; coUncil on american-islamic relations;
dhimmi; al-haqqani, mUhammad nazim; hindUism
and islam; JUdaism and islam; mohammedanism;
mUslim pUblic aFFairs coUncil.Further reading: M. Darol Bryant and S. A. Ali, eds.,
Muslim-Christian Dialogue: Promise and Problems (St.
Paul, Minn.: Paragon House, 1998); M. Fethullah
Gülen, Toward a Global Civilization of Love and Toler-
ance (Somerset, N.J.: The Light, Inc., 2004); Yvonne Y.
Haddad and Wadi Z. Haddad, eds., Muslim-Christian
Encounters (Gainesville: University Press of Florida,
1995); Hans Küng, Islam: Past, Present and Future
(Oxford: Oneworld, 2007); Tariq Ramadan, Western
Muslims and the Future of Islam (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2004); Gerard Sloyan, ed., Religions
of the Book (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America,
1996).dialogue 197 J