This groundbreaking tome by Sudibyo Markus provides a comprehensive analysis of the history of Muslim-Christian relations, from the early spread of Islam to the present day. The author identifies four historical events that have profoundly affected these relations, beginning with the Crusades War, explained as the catalyst for the ensuing hostilities that persist between Muslims and Christians today. With references to the Qur’an, the work of notable scholars, and relevant statistical data, Markus details the causes and effects of prejudices and makes a case for peace. He points to several successful inter-civilizational dialogues for religious peace in modern history: The Nostra Aetate Declaration of the Second Vatican Council, the open letter to Pope Benedict XVI “A Common Word” (“Kalimantun Sawa”), the 2016 Agenda for Humanity, and the Dubai Declaration on “Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” along with the Encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti.” He insists that religious congregations worldwide must transform themselves into instruments for peace, especially in a time where so many people are displaced due to religious and ideological conflict. In addition to a broad discussion of the phases and processes of the global interaction between East and West, the book integrates a case study of Indonesia, the country of Markus’s birth, from the era of colonialism until its independence. He attributes much of his perspective to his years of work with a team of anthropologists in Indonesia. Islam and the West is an important and necessary read for not only religious scholars, practitioners, and workers in religious and civic activities, but anyone who seeks to foster a more peaceful world.

Contents

Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
A Reflection for Peace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Life of Sudibyo Markus: A Short Sketch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
The Western and Muslim World: An Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
A Light on the Horizon: An Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Executive Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
PART 1
ISLAM AND THE WEST. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
1 Socrates, Jesus and Muhammad. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Two Big Problems 45
Long Historical Interaction 46
Subconscious stereotype 47
The Western View of Muhammad in the Past 48
Indonesia’s Case 52
2 The Western-Christian World and Islam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Historical Grudges 55
Gallup Polling Challenges the Clash of Civilizations Theory 57
Shift of the West-Islam Pendulum 59
Three Challenges of Islam Against European-Christianity 63
Five Theories of Philosophy of History 66
3 Toward a Europe-Arab Axis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Is Islam the Fastest-Growing Religion? 68
Growing Number of Muslims in Europe 71
Pew Research Center’s Prediction for 2050 72
Summary 73
4 The Future of The Western World and Muslim World Relations. . . 76
Europe as a Christian Continent 76
Current and Recent Attitudes in the West Toward Muslims 81
Measuring the Future of Western World and Muslim World Relations84
Eurabia: Reviewing the New Beginnings of the West-Islam Relationship 89
Longing for a new spiritual renaissance 91
PART 2
THE STAGES OF RELATIONS BETWEEN THE WEST AND ISLAM. . 95
5 Europe’s Dark Ages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
The Peak of the Roman Empire 97
State’s Church 99
Church in The Dark Ages 101
6 The Encounter of Islam and the Western World. . . . . . . . . . . . 112
The Early Encounter of Islam and the Western World 112
Direct Encounter between Islam and the Western World 119
The Encounter of Two Civilizations 122
Toledo as Europe’s Cultural Center 128
Zero: The Development of Algebra 129
Medical Science Development 130
7 The Crusades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Pre-Crusades 131
Beginning of the Crusades 134
Stages of the Crusades 136
Periodization of the Crusades 141
The Impact of the Crusades on the Muslim World 142
Lessons from the Crusades 144
8 Renaissance and Reformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Renaissance 147
Some Renaissance Figures 148
Reformation 153
Letters of Indulgence 154
The Schism, the Rift of the Church 155
9 Colonialism Era. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Reform and the Rise of Modern Capitalism 163
The Rise of the West and its Invasion of the Muslim World 164
Colonialism in the Indonesian Archipelago 167
Perceptions of Christianity in Dutch East Indies 171
Between Toynbee and Steenbrink 173
10 Orientalism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Inaccuracy of Studies 175
Three Dimensions of Orientalism 177
Pre-Orientalism 178
The Turning Point 181
The Error of the Orientalism Approach 181
Muhammadiyah and the Relationship between Islam and Christianity 186
11 Missionary Adjustment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Van Lith: the Father of Change 192
The Demands of the Times 195
12 The Second Vatican Council. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
From Inward-Looking to Dialogue 201
The Result of the Second Vatican Council 202
The Second Vatican Council and Church Renewal 205
The Church’s Mission and Dialogue 206
Nostra Aetate 207
Outside the Church There is No Salvation 208
Stages of Church transformation 210
PART 3
A COMMON WORD BETWEEN US AND YOU. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
13 From Muhammad’s Letter to “A Common Word
Between Us and You”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
The Holy Prophet Muhammad’s Letters 219
Letter to Emperor Heraclius 221
Background: Deviation from the monotheism principle 224
14 A Common Word: From Pure Monotheism to Peace. . . . . . . 228
The Genesis of “A Common Word” 228
The Historical Strategic Significance of the Pope’s Visit to Istanbul 230
Against Huntington’s Theory 233
Historical events after the Second Vatican Council 234
From A Call for Monotheism to A Call for Peace 236
Surah Ali Imran verse 64 is not a Dialogue Reference 237
The Momentum for Peace 238
Support for “A Common Word” 240
15 Contents of and Responses to “A Common Word
Between Us and You”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Love of God 247
Love of the Neighbor 250
Come to a Common Word Between Us and You 251
The Power of “A Common Word between Us and You” 257
PART 4
THE WAY FORWARD TOWARD THE AGENDA FOR HUMANITY. . 261
16 Toward the Agenda for Humanity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
World Interfaith Harmony Week 263
World Humanitarian Summit 264
One Humanity, Shared Responsibility 265
Commitment to Actions 267
17 The Shrinking of Humanitarian Space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
The Shrinking of Humanitarian Space and its Impact 270
The Virtuous Triangle and the Fourth Dimension 274
The Bekaa Valley Incident: Cooperation with the military 274
Dialogue with Atheism: China 276
18 Toward a New “Religion of Humanity”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Humanitarian Forum, London 281
Against George W. Bush’s War on Terror 282
Humanitarian Principles 283
Partnership Principles 284
From London to Jakarta 285
The Imam and the Pastor in Nigeria 289
19 Human Fraternity, Abu Dhabi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Pope Francis’ visit to Abu Dhabi 291
The Role of the Crown Prince of UAE 292
Continuation of the spirit of Nostra Aetate and A Common Word 293
The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity 296
20 Toward a Base Community. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
The Awakening of Base Community 302
‘Out There’ and ‘In Here’ Phenomena 303
G20 Interfaith Forum, Bolivia, and World Interfaith Harmony Week,
Indonesia 305
Singapore and Minahasa: Study cases 306
The Decision-Making Process for Action 308
PART 5
TOWARD A UNIVERSAL HUMANITY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
21 Between Dialogue and The Clash of Civilizations. . . . . . . . . . 313
Dialogue among civilizations 313
The Clash of Civilizations 315
The Clash of Civilizations is Not an Academic Theory 317
22 The Struggles of European Muslims. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Challenges for Muslim Migrants 321
Muslims’ Identities 323
23 Reenvisioning a Global Humanity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
The Enabling Environment 327
Reenvisioning a Global Humanity 327
Pope Francis’ Encyclical: Fratelli Tutti 330
International Humanitarian Law 331
Conclusion 333
APPENDIX I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
APPENDIX II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
APPENDIX III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
APPENDIX IV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
ABOUT THE AUTHOR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386