Declaration Nostra aetate and the Teaching of the Qur’ān. Similarities and doctrinal differences

Abstract

Declaration of the Second Vatican Council on the relationship of the Church to non-Christian religions (Nostra aetate) is an important document for the dialogue between the Church and Islam. The expressions that refer to common elements professed by the faithful of both religions show rather apparent similarities. The fundamental challenge is here the concept of God, which is defined as the one, the living, subsisting in Himself, the merciful, the Creator and the all-powerfull, that does not really appear to be the same God of Christianity and Islam. The doctrinal incompatibility between these two religions lays also in their understanding of Jesus and His identity, which in Christianity and in Islam greatly differ from each other.