What is it about?
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are often described as the three Abrahamic faiths, yet genuine theological dialogue between them remains difficult and sometimes superficial. This paper asks a focused question: do the writings of Paul in the New Testament and the Qur'an share a common understanding of what divine law means and what it is for? Rather than treating law as a point of conflict between these traditions, the paper argues that both Paul and the Qur'an understand law not as a burden or a set of rigid rules, but as a gift from God, rooted in a relationship of covenant and trust, and aimed at shaping people into more just and faithful communities. By identifying these shared structures of thought alongside honest acknowledgment of real theological differences, the paper proposes a framework for deeper and more rigorous dialogue among Jews, Christians, and Muslims — one that does not require any tradition to abandon its own beliefs in order to participate.
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Why is it important?
Interfaith dialogue between Jews, Christians, and Muslims has grown significantly since the Second Vatican Council's landmark declaration Nostra Aetate in 1965, yet much of this dialogue has remained at the level of shared ethics or mutual respect rather than genuine theological engagement. What makes this paper distinctive is its willingness to go deeper — to compare how two foundational scriptural sources, the letters of Paul and the Qur'an, actually think about law, covenant, righteousness, and the figure of Abraham, and to do so with scholarly rigor rather than vague generality. The paper is also timely in light of the Document on Human Fraternity signed in 2019 by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, which has renewed global interest in the possibilities and limits of Abrahamic cooperation. By situating its theological analysis within this contemporary context, the paper bridges academic scholarship and real-world interfaith encounter. Scholars of Pauline theology, Qur'anic studies, and interreligious dialogue will find this paper a valuable contribution, as will theologians, religious leaders, and educators working at the intersection of these three traditions.
Perspectives
I came to this paper with a conviction that has only deepened through the research: that serious interfaith dialogue requires more than goodwill and shared values — it requires the willingness to read each other's texts carefully, to sit with genuine differences, and to be surprised by unexpected convergences. What I found in comparing Paul and the Qur'an on law and covenant genuinely surprised me. These are texts that have historically been read against each other, used to mark the boundaries between traditions rather than to build bridges across them. Yet when read closely and without predetermined conclusions, they reveal a remarkably similar instinct — that divine law is not primarily about compliance, but about relationship, transformation, and belonging to a community called toward justice. I hope this paper encourages readers — whether they are scholars, students, believers, or simply curious — to approach the scriptures of traditions other than their own with patience and genuine curiosity. The conversations that matter most between our traditions are not the easy ones, and I hope this article makes a small contribution to making those harder, more honest, and ultimately more fruitful conversations possible.
Dr. Jamil Akhtar
University of the Punjab
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Covenant and Law in Paul and the Qur’ān: Towards a Trilateral Abrahamic Dialogue, Edinost in dialog Revija za ekumensko teologijo in medreligijski dialog, July 2026, University of Ljubljana,
DOI: 10.34291/edinost/81/01/akhtar.
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