How should Catholics engage with Muslims?

Muslims and Christians also have a shared religious history, as Muslims also revere the Old Testament prophets, particularly Abraham (who they call Ibrahim).

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Islam developed later than Christianity but is heavily influenced by both Judaism and Christianity – the three are sometimes called “the Abrahamic faiths”, and we therefore have some shared beliefs regarding (who Christians call) God the Father.

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However, Muslims, like Jews, do not believe that Jesus is God (for Muslims, he is a very important human prophet) and both Muslims and Jews reject the idea of the Trinity. Like Jews, Muslims emphasise that God is one and God is not human. So, although Christians and Muslims have a shared religious origin, our relationship to Muslims is more distant than that with the Jews, and our faiths differ in some very important ways. Also,Muslims predominantly use Arabic in their worship and so language is often a significant barrier between Muslims and non-Muslims.

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So, Catholics and Muslims do not easily worship together as we have differing beliefs, language and practices. In interreligious dialogue and interfaith events, it is more customary for Christians and Muslims each to offer prayers in their own tradition.