Mary bridges deep divides

Jusuf Salih is from Kosovo. When he received a job offer from the University of Dayton, he called his father and told him.

His father exclaimed, “The Dayton?!” To someone more than 5,000 miles from UD, Dayton is inextricably tied to the Dayton Peace Accords, the agreements reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base that brought an end to a deadly Balkan war.

Substantial differences between peoples have long been a part of Salih’s life. A Muslim, he is associate professor of religious studies at UD, a Catholic university. Holding a doctorate in religious studies from the University of Virginia, he believes that “theology should not divide us.”

For Catholics and Muslims to reach across the substantial differences between their faiths, he said there is a very good starting point — Mary, the mother of Jesus. Rather than focus on differences, such as whether Mary is the mother of God or the mother of a very great prophet, he suggests seeking points of agreement.

And he does. He noted that sometimes a professor has to focus on subjects not of his choosing but — of his fall course on Islam and Mary — he said, “I love studying and teaching about Mary. She’s a bridge between Muslims and Catholics.”

“The Quran has 109 chapters,” he said. “Only one woman is mentioned. Chapter 19 is totally devoted to Mary.”

Salih himself has a niece named Mary, a name very popular among Muslims, as it is among Catholics.

When Salih talks about Mary, the mother of Jesus, what he says may sound familiar to Catholics. Her relative, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth’s husband, Zechariah, are the parents of John the Baptist. An angel appears to Mary. She is unwed and pregnant. But she is blessed by God.

“Everything comes from God,” Salih said.

“God loves Mary. We pray to her because she is a friend of God.”

Original sin and the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception are not Muslim beliefs, but it is a Muslim belief, Salih said, that “Mary and Jesus are unique for being the only two humans in history who escaped the ‘pricking of the devil’ at birth, and the idea that is connected to the Islamic doctrine of isma, ‘the innate quality of impeccability or immunity from sin and error.’”

Salih sees Muslims and Catholics sharing values like honesty and justice. And the Marianist emphasis on hospitality — on being welcoming to others — also strikes a chord. In Virginia W. Kettering Hall, food is available that is prepared according to the dietary restrictions of halal. Muslims have on campus a prayer room and spaces where men and women can perform the preparatory ablutions.

Differences between cultures and religious beliefs may be significant. But, Salih said, “We should not have fear. My prayer is that you will be with me in Paradise.”