Dr. Craig Considine: "I focus on where Prophet Muhammad was building bridges."

Wow, amazing.

Then, during your career, you've written extensively about Prophet Muhammad, often for a non-Muslim audience.

As a Catholic, how do you hold together your attachment to the figure of Christ with a respectful and positive view of Prophet Muhammad? Because as Christian people, usually we don't look at this aspect.

figure of the prophet with a positive mindset and how do you link this maybe with other figures like moses or abraham's that we find in the bible that we share with judaism figures common figures who connect of course jews christians and also muslims because they are in the quran

So I think my background as a sociologist is important to consider here.

Like I dabble in theology a little bit because of what I focus on, but I'm primarily concerned with the sociological elements to it.

So Dr. Ahmed, when he introduced me to Muhammad and his life, it wasn't rooted in dogmatic theological claims.

It was about the examples that we have from Muhammad's life.

that can be used constructively and fruitfully to build bridges between groups of people.

So that eventually led me to write one of my books, which is People of the Book, Prophet Muhammad's Encounters with Christians.

And while I did touch upon larger theological claims, obviously there's big differences regarding Jesus's divinity within Christianity and Islam, but I was more looking at his engagements and his encounters with the Christians in his midst, which I think a lot of people are unfamiliar with.

I was looking at these positive stories, and there are certainly stories that one can choose from Muhammad's life and his encounters with Christians that can be used to further the divide between Christians and Muslims.

What I tried to do was take these historical examples, which are supported by historical records, and I tried to put a sociological spin on them, not a theological spin.

Though, again, I do touch on theology.

I focus on where he was building bridges.

While also not ignoring the moments of conflict, I think it's important to at least provide people around the world, Christians and Muslims, these small glimmers of hope that could potentially teach us how to live in the 21st century.

So I would do the same for other biblical prophets as well.

I mean, as a sociologist, I'm interested in how they built communities, how they interacted with the periphery of communities, and less so on major theological claims.

Now, regarding Jesus's divinity, obviously, the Koran takes a different stand.

However, the Koran still acknowledges Jesus.

And I think that's important as well.

The Koran could have completely condemned Jesus and said he's a false messiah, which it doesn't do.

So, you know, this is why I get a lot of criticism, because people are saying, well, you're providing a very romantic message.

interpretation of Islam or Prophet Muhammad and Muhammad's relations with Christians.

I guess I'm an optimist in this way, and I think it's still important to look at where things went right instead of always looking at where things went wrong.