Many Jesuits work in countries where Islam is the predominant religion, such as Kyrgyzstan, where 90% of the population are Muslims, notes Fr. Remigiusz Kalski SJ in his report from a Jesuit meeting in Berlin. Fr. Kalski serves as the superior of the Jesuit community in Kyrgyzstan.

To better respond to God's expectations for the Society of Jesus, around 30 Jesuits gathered from July 1-6, 2024, in Berlin at the hospitable Catholic Academy. Through prayer at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, meetings, presentations, discussions, expert lectures, and visits to centers of Muslim thought and Islamic cultural centers, they sought to discern the Lord's guidance for their "smallest Society," writes Fr. Remigiusz.

St. Ignatius of Loyola recognized the unique nature of work in the Muslim world. In the Formula of the Institute, he stated that Jesuits should be ready to undertake missions "among the Turks" without hesitation—an extraordinary challenge in 1540.

Participants in the Berlin meeting included Jesuits from African countries, where political violence and radical Islamic rhetoric are prevalent. The situation in the Gaza Strip, Syria, and Lebanon is similarly dire, as reported by residents from these regions.

Despite these challenges, the emphasis was on fostering dialogue through mutual understanding and deepening knowledge of religious roots. The Gospel of St. John often depicts the Lord Jesus, the eternal Logos, engaging in profound conversations with individuals like the Samaritan woman and Nicodemus. This meeting of "two logoi"—God and man —illustrates the essential path of dialogue, even from a pragmatic perspective, explains the Polish missionary from Kyrgyzstan.

A symbolic curiosity of the meeting's location is the proximity of Dorotheenstadt cemetery, where the idealistic German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel is buried. Fr. Remigiusz refers to Hegel as a "great philosophical pest." In contrast, the participants of "Jesuits among Muslims" aimed to be realists, hoping that idealistic German philosophy is now passé.