Sculler\’s Weblog

Pictured here with Andrew, is Sheikh Khalid-al-Mullah, a Sunni leader in Baghdad, in February 2012, just after a fatwah had been issued commanding Sunnis to respect Shia Muslims.

I first came across Canon Andrew White when visiting Israel ten years ago. Andrew was the preacher at Christ Church Jerusalem one Sunday, it was a full church, with many visitors from the USA, in Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Booths. While in Jerusalem, I stayed first at St George’s Cathedral guest house for several days, then a few days in Galilee sightseeing and visiting Arab Christian friends, returning to Jerusalem to stay at Christ Church. I was testing out whether God wanted me back in the Middle East.  I then met Andrew again at a Cyprus and the Gulf diocesan synod a year or so later, and have been to several meetings with him since in the U.K.

Andrew’s recent interview by John Humphrys, on the BBC Today programme is well worth listening to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p023n73x

Andrew blogs at: http://www.frrme.org/canon-andrews-blog.  Sign up for frequent news updates at email: office@frrme.org

This was the title of a Durham Masters thesis (1992), begun in Oman and completed in Morden. I then published it under the title “Christians in Oman” (1995) with permission from the Oman Ministry of Information, to circulate it privately there.

Some of the book could have been sensitive then but life moves on, and after the BBC World Service recently put out two excellent radio programmes about Ibadism, I decided to publish as an e-book. It can be downloaded with this link – it is 80 MB, and takes roughly a minute…

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rpzd4610wd107tm/Christians%20in%20Oman%202014.pdf

Relationships between Christians and Arabian Muslims who trace their origin back to the first century of Islam, I believe offer valuable lessons for the wider world.