Packing the right book for a break can be tricky. Do I really want an action adventure in an imaginary world while I restfully, peacefully soak in the sun? The gentle lap of water, warm sand, the distant giggle of children seem an ill-fitting ambience for Jack Ryan, Jack Reacher or Captain Jack.
So I packed The Saint and the Sultan – A refreshing look at the desire for peace that two men had during the heat of a war. It read well on the beach, even more so on the quiet balcony of the apartment. Sitting at the corner cafe I hid the cover feeling a little uncomfortable about my reading about the crusades here in this Islamic country. Occasionally I imagined an Emirati watching me, reading my Christian guilt, my faith connection with Cardinal Pelagius a blood thirsty hater of the other.
By the time I reached the chapter with Francis the Saint from Assisi risking a visit to Malik al-Kamil the Sultan from Egypt, I had discovered the Abrahamic Family House here in Abu Dhabi. This is a project hard to have imagined 800 hundred even eight years ago. Walking around the Abrahamic site with its Synagogue, Church, and Mosque, it made some kind of sense. Thoughts of Francis daring to walk over the blood-soaked battlefield to meet a stranger in hope of friendship are a challenge to any of us wanting a world more at peace.
Walking from the Synagogue to the Mosque a man standing near spoke words I will never forget. I’ve heard these words a thousand times or more. I have used the phrase or sentiment they create on multiple occasions. But this felt like a moment in life when words spoken in a context create a deep channel of lasting thought. “Fills me with hope – this place,” said the Canadian Jew standing next to me. What a thought, a Jew telling a Christian about hope at the entrance to a Mosque.
Hope for peace filled the conversation Francis had with Al-Kamil. Hope was filling the mind and heart of my fellow tourist and I at the Abrahamic Family House. Imagine what we might find if we walk over to the camp of the people we are at odds with?
One of Saint Francis’ treasured verses and his most clear call to action was the words of Jesus, “Blessed are the peacemakers…”
We need some peacemakers today.
Rob Wykes 