At a time when there is so much need for understanding among people belonging to different religions, may these studies stimulate that exchange at a deeper level which leads to an experience of harmony, and even of a certain unity. Our conflict-ridden world is longing for this.
Archbishop Michael Fitsgerald M. Afr
'His vocation has always drawn him towards the Muslim world.'1
So wrote Charles de Foucauld's spiritual director and friend, the Abbe
Huvelin.
2 His scholarly 'successor', Louis Massignon, went
further:
'I feel that he was predestined for Islam, that his death was
for it [Islam]3.
This attraction towards Islam and the 'Muslim world' undoubtedly begins early in Foucauld's life, from his experience as a
young lieutenant of the French army in Algeria and clearly dominates
his last fifteen years in that country. It is perhaps more extensive
still. Can we add that this relationship was Foucauld's 'destiny', as
Massignon
4 implies and certainly thought? And what form did this
relationship take? We need to look more closely at Foucauld's life to
form a judgement.