The second issue of the Christian-Muslim digest for 2011 is now available online. The issue includes some pieces on several issues related to Christian Muslim relations in different parts of the world.

http://nifcon.anglicancommunion.org/digest/docs/digest16.cfm

The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) made a submission to an inquiry of the Australian Parliament calling for Muslims to be granted “legal pluralism”. The president of AFIC explains that in their submission they have “nominated family law and specifically divorce as an area where moderate interpretations of sharia could co-exist within the Australian legal system”. A hardline reading of sharia confers unilateral divorce rights on men, while women who initiate divorce are stripped of their property and financial entitlements.

There have been various issues regarding Christian Muslim relations in Malaysia during the last few years. The long running issue of the use of “Allah” by Malay Christians resulted in consignments of Bahasa Malaysia Bibles (Alkitab – The Book) being impounded at the ports of Klang and Kuching. These were finally released following an agreement brokered by the Prime Minister.

The ‘Arab spring’ has initiated a wider discussion among the political and religious speakers around the globe. Christian communities have been present in the region since the beginning of the Christianity. Speaking during an interview with Martha Kearney on BBC Radio 4’s “World at One” programme, the Archbishop of Canterbury expressed his continuing concern about the fragile situation of Christian minority populations across the Middle East where in places life for Christians was “becoming unsustainable”. There is a note touching on various dimensions regarding the Christians concern about the situation.  

The issue also includes a piece about a demand by a Muslim cleric in Pakistan to ban the Bible in that country. The piece contains Christian, Muslim reactions and political responses to the demand.

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Building Bridges Seminar was held in Qatar this year. The focus of the seminar was on prayer. Following the event the Archbishop of Canterbury, in an interview, explained the importance of separating Arab identity from that of Muslim identity, noting there are both non-Arab Muslims and non-Muslim Arabs.