Recent Issues – Bulletin of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies (BRIIFS)

Prayer serves on the one hand as a method of self-expression, also a means of communication between humans, the divine realms and musical art, on the other hand, it acts as a way for conveying ideas, emotions, and facilitating communication. While we often associate “music” with musical instruments and vocals, it is crucial to acknowledge that sound itself is music, and verbal expression can also be considered the same. Religious music, found in hymns and devotional songs, often goes unnoticed in terms of its purpose, also potential spiritual and spiritual _influence. The question is If music possesses such effect, why not harness its power to serve society and humanity in general by disseminating ideas of liberation from political subjugation, oppression, material poverty, and spiritual destitution? This article sheds light on the profound influence of religious music on human consciousness, its capacity to stimulate cognition and decision-making, also its role in mobilizing individuals within religious and political contexts. The ideas of Gustavo Gutierrez, the founder of “Liberation Theology” in Latin America, and the thoughts of Ali Shariati, who drew inspiration from the Quran to advocate for the marginalized, will be explored. Relying on the intellectual groundwork laid by these thinkers, this article highlights the potential of transforming religion and faith intellectually to confront social challenges, resist oppression, and foster change by the utilization of music. Adopting an analytical theoretical framework, this article references relevant books and articles that examine the role of music in human life and its impact on the listener’s consciousness. Additionally, the theological concepts of Liberation Theology pertaining to the use of language within sacred texts for social and political liberation will be examined. The intended outcome of this article is to broaden readers’ horizons and emphasize the importance of ideas and intentions in spiritual, religious, and social development. Furthermore, it aims at underlining the significance of music as a means for achieving these objectives.

This article puts forth the argument that the times of crises in which we live are so enormous that spirituality needs to inspire creativity that is more far-reaching than hitherto considered. We live in times of ecocide and sociocide — the destruction of our ecosphere and our sociosphere. If humanity wishes to leave this path of systemic humiliation, or at least to mitigate it, it is vital to prevent cogitocide, the degradation of our cogitosphere, of our sphere of thinking. For the cogitosphere to be healed, more is needed than placing calls for peace, justice, and charity within existing frames of living and expect others to change. Ground-breaking creativity is needed, starting with deeper questioning, including one’s own assumptions. This article therefore places question marks with concepts that at first glance seem to have little significance for ecocide and sociocide, such as ‘job’, ‘leisure’, ‘work-life balance’, ‘income’, ‘poverty’, ‘charity’, ‘professionality’, ‘business’, ‘consumer’, ‘monetisation’, ‘education’, ‘national sovereignty’, ‘church’, ‘temple’, ‘mosque’, ‘worship’, ‘meditation’, ‘prayer’. The article begins by presenting the work of anthropologist Alan Page Fiske and his four models of sociality. It proceeds with inscribing the concept of dignity into these four models, highlighting the advantages of the first model. The article then offers as case study the author’s personal experience. Her life project of many decades has been to combine spirituality and creativity to try out future ways of living that would enable all people to live one comprehensive life rather than fragmented lives, and this in service of a spirituality of dignity that overarches and connects all faiths. Planet Earth is the common good of all living beings, and everyone’s livelihood should be in harmony with the planet’s carrying capacity. The planet could be seen as humanity’s true church, temple, mosque, sanctuary, and university. The article formulates a planetary call on everyone to live one holistic life as a prayer and a meditation on global unity in diversity, in fulfilment of what could be called ‘the divinity of love’.

The paper discusses the relationship between places, imagination and spirituality. Why do people have such different ways of experiencing places? How does the Cave of the Seven Sleepers exemplify the capacity of religion to promote self and mutual understanding? Is it possible to become more skilled in cross-cultural epistemology, and what might the benefits be? Are there moments in creative processes which can be described as transcendent? A case study of an educational project using creative storytelling serves as a way of gaining some insight into the ways in which cross-cultural epistemology might operate in places viewed as culturally sacred. ‬

The thirty-second sura of the Qur’ān, Sūrat al-Sajda (“the Sura of Prostration”), is a rather short text that has hitherto received comparatively little scholarly attention vis-à-vis longer suras, suras with more explicit biblical intertextuality, or even shorter yet more distinctive or peculiar suras. At first glance, there is little that distinguishes this chapter from its numerous parallels, and the tafsīr (exegetical) and asbāb al-nuzūl (“occasions of revelation”) literature is relatively brief on its precise interpretation and relevance. To help fill this lacuna, in the present article I undertake a close reading of and commentary on Sūrat al-Sajda, along with providing my own translation of the Arabic into English. Throughout I argue three things: (A) a literary interpretation of Q 32 is greatly enhanced through familiarity with biblical themes, which the sura frequently and creatively engages;1 (B) the sura is best characterized as an eschatological proclamation drawing upon the Jewish/Christian post-biblical tradition; and (C) and somewhat relatedly, the Medieval exegetical tradition (tafsīr) often does little to elucidate a literary and historical meaning and context of this sura.

This paper aims at conducting a comparative study of Naomi Shihab Nye’s poetry and Manal Deeb’s paintings, scrutinizing their personal experiences as Palestinian American artists living between borders. The study focuses on their representations of homeland and their multi-cultural identities, examining the process of crossing borders between their ancestral homeland and the current country they live in, and their historical identities and their daily-lived experiences in different cultures. This study seeks to highlight how both artists destabilize fixed notions of identity, exile, belonging and homeland, while creating and rewriting their own identities/stories to map the homeland. Hence, the phrase “crossing the border” used in this study is not a physical act of crossing from one side to another, but rather, it is more of crossing it out as it becomes a bridge connecting both sides, and claiming existence within both—or more—realities/cultures.

This contribution will explore the extent to which Abrahamic dialogue is dependent upon unity rather than diversity and will make reference to scriptural readings as well as interpretations about Moses. The setting of our conference is appropriate as it takes place near Mount Nebo, from where Moses is said to have seen the Promised Land and to have died nearby. Jews, Christians and Muslims share some of the same Scriptures and/or stories but read them in different ways. The Church Fathers, for example, were astonished at what they considered to be Jewish ‘blindness’: their failure to comprehend the truth proclaimed in their own sacred texts. This developed into what became known as the Adversus Iudeaoes literature. Likewise, Jewish writers were perturbed by Christian interpretations not rooted in the original Hebrew or that completely abandoned the simple meaning of the words in favour of other – especially messianic – significance. Muslims for their part would see their Scriptures, the Qur’an, as perfecting and fulfilling the other two. The main argument of my essay is that apologetics and polemic may be features of scriptural hermeneutics, there is however a more positive story to tell. It is a combination of the search for common scriptural ground (‘unity’) as well as the need to take difference seriously, including polemic (‘diversity’) that provides a sound basis for interfaith dialogue today.