Growing up my understanding of Islam was largely informed by Christian sources telling me what was wrong.

 I actually remember a book I owned called ‘why are there so many gods?’ In and of itself this is not a terrible question, but the contents of the book included a 1-2 page summary of all the major (and many minor) religions of the world. And at the end of each one it had ‘the catch’ - a couple short sentences on why it was false.

Of course on the page about Christianity ‘the catch’ section said ‘there is none!’

These days I find the project a book like that is trying to engage in preposterous and arrogant. I would much rather look for the common ground across spiritual traditions. I’m happy to acknowledge and discuss differences, but I’m not looking for ‘the catch’ in every view that differs from mine! 

Speaking of common ground, this week I had a conversation with Adis Duderija, a scholar of contemporary progressive Islam. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised to discover so much of what Adis outlines in terms of his approach to faith is deeply resonant with my own. And many of the tensions he describes within the tent of his tradition…sound like they could just be describing the same trends within Christianity.

I desire a spirituality that sees people from all perspectives as conversation partners and fellow learners. So I was very grateful for this chat with Adis. There’s so much more we could have explored. But if, like me, your engagement in inter-faith dialogue has been more limited than you’d like, I hope this provides an opportunity to listen, learn and see common ground in our pursuit of a good, just and beautiful life.


About Adis Duderija:
Adis Duderija is an academic, working at Griffith University. Teaching and researching on contemporary Islam with a special focus on the theory of progressive Islam, salafism and religious extremism, Islam and Gender, western Muslims’ identity construction and inter-faith dialogue theory and practice.

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