Ballari: In commemoration of the 800th anniversary of the encounter between Saint Francis of Assisi, a 12th century well-known Saint of Ecology from Italy and Sultan al-Malik al-Kāmil of Egypt; an Inter-Religious Sammelan for Peace and Harmony was held on December 8 at ArogyaMatha Shrine Church premises at Ballari in Karnataka.
The historical event dates back to 800 years ago in the Middle East where Islamic sultans were extending their kingdoms by waging wars against other nations. Similarly, they occupied Israel, which is called the Holy Land, the birth nation of Jesus Christ. Now the Christians wanted to occupy it back by retaliating through war called Crusade. But Saint Francis of Assisi said that, “Nothing can be achieved through war, except loss of life, property and bloodshed.” So he travelled all the way from Italy to Egypt and met the Sultan al-Malik al-Kāmil Damietta in Egypt in the year 1219 and stopped the war through peace and dialogue.
Saint Francis taught him the love of Jesus Christ and brotherhood. The Sultan was taken up by the simple life of this great saint and gave him the best hospitality. Thus the Inter-Religious dialogue was established between Islam and Christianity and the Holy Land was restored back to the Christians.
This encounter between Saint Francis and Sultan offers a model to respect, to dialogue and to live in peace as brothers and sisters despite the religious differences. Even though, it is 800 years ago that St. Francis undertook this journey of Peace, such an initiative is indeed the need of the hour today.
Marking this anniversary, Pope Francis undertook a historic visit to U.AE. Pope held a meeting with Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Commander of the Armed Forces Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed and Dr Ahmed Al Tayeb, Grand Imam and Chairman of the Muslim Council of Elders. This visit marks the openness towards one another, earnest desire for peace and promotion of universal brotherhood. Pope’s visit to UAE is an inspiration and an encouragement to open the avenues of dialogue with people of other faiths and promote peace in the society.
During this Inter-Religious Sammelan, the representatives from different faiths, Rev. Fr. Praveen D’Souza, Sri Charukeerti Bhattaraka Swamiji, Sri Khazi Gulam Ghouse Siddiqui Mohamed, Sri Basava Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swamiji, Sri Kalyan Swamiji, Kumari Nirmala, Sri S.C Bagrecha, Rev Gona Immanuel, Sri Giani Harcharan Singh, Sri Janablal Hussain Sab, Sri B. Sriramulu, Minister for Health, Govt of Karnataka, Sri Y. Devendrappa MP, Sri G. Somshekar Reddy MLA, Sri B Nagendra MLA, Sri Allum Veerabhadrappa MLC, Sri K.C Kondiah MLC, Sri Nara Suryanarayana Reddy, Sri Nara Bharath Reddy, Sri B. Venkatesh Prasad were invited to find the common ground for peaceful and harmonious existence in India in spite of the differences.
Most. Rev. Dr. Henry D’Souza, the Bishop of Bellary delivered the presidential address. People of different faiths, young and old, men and women partook in the celebration.