Spirituality and Other Religions: Meditations upon Some Deeper Dimensions of “A Common Word Between Us and You”

The relationship between mysticism and “A Common Word” is not readily apparent. Nothing particularly mystical is to be found in this historic interfaith document, and the goals and means set out in it are not mysterious or esoteric at all. Indeed, if we look at the actual text of “A Common Word,” we notice that very little recourse is had to the Islamic intellectual tradition. No theologian, philosopher, or mystic is quoted as an authority in the text. Of course the mainstream interpretations of the Qur’ān and the hadīth given rely upon the scholarly tradition, but the reasoning in the document is taken directly from the so-called transmitted sources (mainly the Qur’ān and the Bible), as opposed to the intellectual tradition which grows from those sources. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.