Adnane Mokrani, a Muslim professor of Islamic Theology, teaches at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Mokrani has advised Vatican institutions and spoken about Islam to various Catholic groups for three decades. He recently spoke in Portugal marking the 10th anniversary of the Abu Dhabi Document on Human Fraternity. Teaching Christian students, including clergy, about Islam has profoundly influenced his own theological work. Mokrani emphasizes the complexity, diversity, and pluralism within Islam, cautioning against generalizations.
25 days ago
Adnane Mokrani, a Muslim theologian from Tunisia raised in Algeria, has taught Islamic Theology at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University for three decades.1
He advises Vatican institutions, has met every pope during his time in Rome, and recently spoke at a Portuguese bishops' conference event marking the 10th anniversary of the Abu Dhabi Document on Human Fraternity.1
Mokrani teaches Catholic clergy and students, including future missionaries, emphasizing Islam's complexity, diversity, and pluralism rather than generalizations.1
His goal is to equip them with historical and theological knowledge for contexts in Muslim-majority areas, fostering curiosity and informed engagement.1
Mokrani describes his daily life as "continuous dialogue" with colleagues and students in an atmosphere of peace, which has integrated Christianity into his own theology.1
He advocates inter-religious mission focused on humanization, shared values, and bringing people to God without conflict, viewing mission beyond traditional evangelization.1
Living in Rome has taught Mokrani the complexity of Christianity through friendships with groups like the Focolare movement and the Mar Moussa community in Syria.1
He credits living Christian examples, such as Fr. Paolo Dall’Oglio, for transforming his understanding beyond books to real-life models.1
Mokrani supports the document's focus on relationships over polemical theological debates like the Trinity or Incarnation, building trust first.1
He sees dialogue as rooted in authentic spiritual experiences and friendship, enabling positive reinterpretations of doctrines.1
Mokrani criticizes anti-immigrant propaganda in Europe and the U.S. as dangerous fear-mongering, urging cultural integration via education, language, and shared destiny.1
He warns that exclusion starts with immigrants but risks targeting broader opposition, rejecting police or expulsion solutions.1
Extremists are often religiously uneducated, from technical backgrounds, and misuse selective Quranic readings, not representing mainstream Islam.1
Mokrani calls for educated religious leadership to communicate with youth, comparing extremists to the Ku Klux Klan in Christianity, and treating violence as a shared interfaith challenge.1
Non-violence is central to modern Islamic theology, critiquing exclusivism, power ambitions, and manipulation by politics.1
It promotes liberation without replicating oppression, purifying religion, and resonates with youth when presented convincingly.1
Quranic verses permit only defensive, proportionate war under strict conditions, not expansion or imperialism.1
Mokrani notes modern warfare, especially with nuclear weapons, renders all war immoral and unwinnable.1
Mokrani endorses Pope Francis's statement in Evangelii Gaudium that authentic Islam opposes violence, viewing it as aligning with his beliefs.1
He highlights Francis's knowledge of figures like Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Sufi mystic Ali Al-Khawas, defining true religion as peaceful humanization.1
Analyze Catholic teachings on interreligious dialogue with Islam
The Catholic Church's teachings on interreligious dialogue with Islam are rooted in profound esteem for Muslims as adorers of the one God, sharing spiritual heritage through Abraham, reverence for Jesus as a prophet and Mary his Virgin Mother, and common practices like prayer, almsgiving, and fasting. This dialogue, initiated prominently by the Second Vatican Council, aims to overcome past hostilities, foster mutual understanding, and collaborate for social justice, peace, and freedom, while always proclaiming Christ as the fullness of truth. Recent papal magisterium under Popes Francis and Leo XIV builds on this, emphasizing fraternity, synergy, and concrete cooperation without relativizing the Church's mission.
The Declaration Nostra Aetate (1965) marks a pivotal moment, explicitly addressing Islam in its third section. The Church "regards with esteem also the Moslems," highlighting their adoration of the one, living, merciful, and all-powerful God, Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to humanity. Muslims link their faith to Abraham's submission to God, revere Jesus as a prophet (though not acknowledging his divinity), honor Mary with devotion—even calling upon her—and await the day of judgment. They value moral life and worship through prayer, almsgiving, and fasting, practices that echo Christian discipline. Acknowledging centuries of "quarrels and hostilities," the Council urges forgetting the past to work sincerely for mutual understanding and joint promotion of social justice, moral welfare, peace, and freedom for all mankind.
This esteem extends from the Council's broader vision in Nostra Aetate's second section, which recognizes rays of truth in other religions, rejecting nothing true and holy therein. The Church exhorts dialogue and collaboration with prudence, love, and witness to Christian faith, preserving and promoting spiritual, moral, and socio-cultural goods among non-Christians. Pope Benedict XVI later reaffirmed this in Ecclesia in Medio Oriente (2012), noting fidelity to Vatican II's esteem for Muslims while lamenting how doctrinal differences have fueled intolerance and persecution.
Catholic teachings consistently underscore commonalities that form the basis for dialogue. Pope John Paul II, in addresses to Muslim leaders in Nairobi (1980), emphasized the shared worship of the "one, living, subsistent, merciful and almighty Creator of heaven and earth" as a "great link uniting all Christians and Muslims." He highlighted Islam's honor for Jesus Christ and his Virgin Mother, inviting Muslims—spiritually attached to Abraham and professing monotheism—to fully know the Catholic heritage, just as the Church reflects on shared bonds.
These elements are not incidental but foundational, as seen in historical reflections like those on St. Francis of Assisi's encounter with Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil, influencing modern approaches through figures like Louis Massignon, whose advocacy for Abrahamic dialogue shaped Vatican II documents such as Nostra Aetate and Lumen Gentium. Such shared patrimony invites an exchange, not of syncretism, but of genuine encounter.
Far from diluting evangelization, interreligious dialogue is "a part of the Church's evangelizing mission," as articulated in Redemptoris Missio (1990). It serves mutual knowledge and enrichment, linked to the ad gentes mission for those unknowing of Christ and his Gospel, often from other religions. The Church acknowledges spiritual riches in these traditions—even with "gaps, insufficiencies and errors"—as reflections of truth enlightening all, yet insists salvation comes through Christ alone. Dialogue and proclamation are distinct yet connected: the Church is the ordinary means of salvation, possessing its fullness, and does not lessen the duty to proclaim Jesus as "the way, the truth, and the life" (Jn 14:6).
Pope Paul VI's Ecclesiam Suam (1964) frames this as vital for the world: the Church desires that she and humanity "meet together, and get to know and love one another." Echoing this, Ut Unum Sint (1995) describes dialogue as an "exchange of gifts," involving the whole person and community.
Pope Francis advanced this in Fratelli Tutti (2020), inspired by dialogue with Grand Imam Ahmad Al-Tayyeb in Abu Dhabi (2019), declaring all humans equal in dignity, called to live as brothers and sisters—a fruit of common commitment, not mere diplomacy. The Synod of Bishops' Final Document (2024) commits a synodal Church to this "culture of dialogue" alongside other believers, sharing Gospel joy and receiving gifts for justice, solidarity, peace, and interreligious exchange, even in neighborhood communities for dialogue of life, action, and prayer.
Pope Leo XIV continues seamlessly. In his 2025 address to representatives of other religions, he greets Muslim brothers and sisters with esteem per Nostra Aetate no. 3, stressing mutual respect, freedom of conscience, and bridges between communities amid conflicts. His message to the 2025 Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana promotes "synergy for the future"—working together with the Divine and others, rooted in solidarity (cf. Sollicitudo Rei Socialis). The Church esteems what is "true and holy" in other religions (Nostra Aetate no. 2), contributing unique wisdom for the common good, as seen in Assisi 1986, Abu Dhabi 2019, and joint aid in disasters, poverty, and refugee crises. Differences enrich, not divide; religious leaders unite against war, arms races, and impoverishing economies.
Teachings address potential controversies: past doctrinal controversies have justified intolerance, yet dialogue demands prudence to avoid confusion with evangelization. No source suggests equivalence of faiths; Christ remains central. Recent documents take precedence, evolving from Vatican II's foundations to Leo XIV's calls for concrete synergy.
In summary, Catholic teachings on interreligious dialogue with Islam blend esteem for profound commonalities, a mandate to heal historical wounds through mutual understanding and collaboration, and unwavering fidelity to proclaiming Christ's uniqueness. This path fosters human fraternity, peace, and the common good, inviting Catholics to engage prudently as witnesses of love.