Jesuits In Pakistan

Making friends with the Taliban

By Fr. Herman Roborgh, S.J. May 01, 2009

Popular accounts of present-day Pakistan often present Muslims there as uniformly intractable and intolerant, and Muslim-Christian relationships as uniformly hostile. All is seen through the lens of the Taliban.

This is a distortion. The history of Jesuit involvement in Pakistan suggests a more complex picture, reflecting the diversity among Muslims there.

Jesuit involvement in the region goes back to the 16th century when the Mughal Emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar invited Jesuits to engage in religious debates. This set the tone for later engagement.

In 1961, a Swiss Jesuit, Fr Robert Butler, came to Lahore where he gathered important books on Islam written in the Islamic languages (Arabic, Persian and Urdu) as well as books and international journals on Islam and Christianity written in various European languages. The library in Lahore became a basis for scholarly contacts between Fr Butler and various Muslim intellectuals throughout the following decades.

After Fr Butler left there was less opportunity for scholarly dialogue with Muslims. A new approach had to be found. It lay in the development of personal relationships, which is the foundation of all dialogue.

The Jesuits opened two schools for the Urdu and Punjabi-speaking people of Lahore. About 40 per cent of the children who attend these schools are from Muslim families. Some of the teachers are also Muslims.

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Herman Roborgh SJ lived in Pakistan for eight years before going to India where he completed a PhD in Islamic Studies at Aligarh Muslim University. He currently resides in Australia.