Mouhanad Khorchide and Islamic tolerance. For an “Islamic year of mercy”?

The Jubilee of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis in 2016 had an indirect impact also on other Christian denominations and religions. In particular, it raised interest in an area of Islamic cultural thought that has been calling for a revision of the interpretative criteria – notably of the Quran – for the past decades, on which a branch of Islamic theology reposed throughout the past centuries. Among the proponents of this request, notably in the academic realm, figures University Professor Mouhanad Khorchide, whose article, explicitly titled: “Also Islam needs a year of mercy”, appeared in the latest issue of “Christ & Welt” (the religious supplement of “Die Zeit”, recognized Hamburg review).

Professor Khorchide has been furthering the proposal of historicising the Quran,

highlighting the need to recover its original meaning. He argues that the word of Prophet Muhammad has been burdened by inappropriate commentaries, the so-called “Hadith”, interpretative accretions often dictated by political interests and by the various tribal sects struggling in the contention of power after the death of the founder. 
The above-mentioned article acknowledges that for many it may sound absurd to appeal to the concept of mercy, when hearing the claim of “terror in the name of Islam.” But the answer is that “the holy book of the Muslim faith, the Quran, highlights the concept of mercy like no other sacred text. Indeed, it constitutes a pillar of Islamic proclamation, underlining that the Prophet Muhammad was sent by God as a Messenger of mercy for the whole of humanity (Quran, 21: 107). It equally states that mercy is the only thing, as reiterated in many verses of the same Book, “on which God is committed.” 
We naturally leave the responsibility of these statements to its author. However, it should be pointed out that Khorchide took part in an international conference organized in the Vatican past October, attended by Catholic and Muslim scholars, that delved into the concept of mercy in the respective religions. Moreover, Professor Khorchide is a pioneer in the promotion of this concept, with his book titled “Islam is mercy” (“Islam ist Barmherzigkeit”), published in Germany in 2012 by the prestigious Catholic publishing house Herder, which unfortunately was not received with equal interest in Italy. 
His article in “Christ & Welt” is marked by a considerable degree of self-criticism re the fact that Islam has neglected the all-Merciful God, to the benefit of a less benevolent interpretation. There ensues that many Islamic theological environments have justified – and continue justifying – violence against non-Muslims with the goal of conversion, along with women’s inferior role in society, even sentencing to death all Muslims who choose another faith as well as homosexuals. On a higher intellectual plane, they condemn philosophical research and humanistic sciences. Such claims, argues Khorchide, upset the “Quranic discourse on the mercy of God, who calls man to himself through love”, as found in many quotations by the Prophet announcing the all-Merciful God.

The Muslim scholar’s reflection ends with a set of questions

That provide the key to the problems that should be addressed in a theological reinterpretation of his world: “Hence how can the merciful God in Islam be conceived if His grace is addressed to Muslims alone? Is this the right way to worship a God only as ‘Muslim’, ‘Christian’, ‘believer’, ‘atheist’, ‘agnostic’? Does the all-Merciful God have the right to punish non-Muslims with eternal hell, not for their deeds but for whom they are: namely, non-Muslims? Only Muslims can respond to this and to many more questions within the framework of a serious theological discourse that extends beyond emotional arguments and prejudicial speculations.” These thoughts are clearly addressed to a society that is closed to the extend that Professor Khorchide, along with many intellectuals and scholars who share his same views, live under the protection of the German police, owing to the death threats they have received. But the existence of publications enabling such communication is a good sign, along with the ever-growing number of other Islamic thinkers who adhere to a tolerant and liberal form of theological interpretation, while nourishing the hope that the proposal of an “Islamic holy year of mercy” may come true.