by: It is a common paradox that one can find remarkable examples of
interfaith cooperation within the most sectarian, conflict-ridden
corners of the world. Such is the case with Adyan, a Lebanese foundation
promoting interreligious engagement in a region where religious
identities are often a source of division. Established in 2008, Adyan’s
educational efforts include courses in cross-cultural studies,
curriculum development in co-existence, media training, and annually
hosting a national day of interfaith prayer.
Adyan’s concept of “spiritual solidarity” undergirds all these
efforts. Adyan co-founders Fr. Fadi Daou, a Catholic priest and theology
professor, and Nayla Tabbara, a Muslim professor of science of
religions and Islamic studies, explain. This interview has been edited
for length and clarity.
Tabbara: The expression itself is not an invention of Adyan.
It is taken from the 1994 pastoral letter of the patriarchs of the
Orient, “Called Together in Front of God.” The document’s definition of
spiritual solidarity is “including the other in my prayer.”
From the beginning, we considered spiritual solidarity as the outcome
of dialogue. Dialogue should not stop at dialogue, but should go beyond
into spiritual solidarity. The more we move, the more we go forward,
the more we discover the meanings of what spiritual solidarity is, as we
are living it and experiencing it.
Spiritual solidarity recognizes the richness and authenticity of the
other’s spiritual experience. It is including the other in my theology.
When I think of Islamic or Christian theology, I cannot develop this
theology as if I lived on an island, as if only my community lived with
me. I can only develop it while taking into consideration the other,
that together we constitute society. So I cannot think of a political
theology, a social theology without including the other.
But even more than that — because this goes to fundamental theology
— the other becomes a part of me, becomes a part of my mind.
NCR: What do you mean “the other becomes a part of my mind”?
Tabbara: When we stop at dialogue only, it is me and the
other. We are just facing each other at a table, discussing. Then when
we finish, each one goes back home, maybe with some questions. But I am
me. I am fully me. The other is fully him, and each goes their own way.
But when we move beyond more than dialogue to real encounter, that
leads to spiritual solidarity. I believe that when I go home, there is a
space I gave within myself where the other dwells. I do not think
anymore as if the other is outside. It’s as if I am carrying the other’s
memories, the other’s history, the other’s hopes and fears with me.
To give you an example, in a country like Lebanon, where you have
these communities that have hurt each other in the past, when I think
about the other, it is not only the religious other, it is the other who
has suffered from my group, or that my group suffered from during armed
combat between the different groups.
When I allow the other space to be there, to be in me, it means I am
no longer on the defensive, I am no longer legitimizing the violence
that has been done toward the other group. On the contrary, I am in a
place where I take on the responsibility of what has happened in the
past from my own group, what my group has inflicted. I carry the hurt of
the other with me, so that together we can build.
