Abdolhossein Khosrowpanah had been an active figure in interfaith dialogue events across the world between Christianity and Islam, especially with Vatican. In his most recent lecture in the 10th round of such dialogues, he was surprised by the amount of affinity Vatican and Pope Francis felt with Iran as presenting more tolerant version of Islam, where there was an opportunity to live with peace and symbiosis; “in the current situation, a minority group imposes its narrow reading of the Islam which prescribes virtually all sorts of atrocity and violence. This minority is insisting upon its reading as the best possible version of true Islam,” he told the press on Tuesday.
“Their acts as abominable as they are, is totally divergent from Islamic teachings which fosters peace and friendship and fellow feelings; their acts are rejected and condemned as aberrant and immoral; on meetings with Pope and other Vatican officials, I found striking affinity they evinced toward Iran in terms of culture and the morality they preach; Pope himself hailed the Muslim delegation to the meeting,” Khosrowpanah added. “The collective thinking dominant in the Vatican had issues with understanding of the fact that whether all traditional readings of the Islamic scriptures espouse violence; the interfaith dialogue helped present them with a positive face of Shi’ism, and now they see Iran in good terms, a place rationality would rule and a peaceful religious life can be lived,” he concluded.
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