The Pope,
the Christians and the Muslims
Let the Dialogue Begin – (Final)
By Professor Nazeer
Ahmed
CA
As
Muslims, we invite the Christians, and all other
faiths to a dialogue on the basis of our shared
humanity. This is the only common denominator
that unites humankind, so divided today on the
basis of race, religion, nationality, color, ideology
and culture. “O humankind!” the Qur’an
commands us, “be conscious of your Creator
(and Sustainer) who created you from a single
soul (person)”. For a Muslim, the brotherhood
of man is not just an intellectual concept but
a doctrinal belief. All men and women are brothers
and sisters irrespective of their religion, color
and national origin.
The Pope has staked out a position that the basis
of dialogue must be the Greek Logos (reason).
We have shown in this series that reason, as a
philosophical discipline, has its limitations.
It cannot address the profound spiritual questions
facing humanity. It does not address the issues
that move the hearts of men and women such as
love, compassion and mercy.
A dialogue based on logic and reason is limited
to the elite. It can only be a dialogue among
the philosophers and the pundits. Both the Christian
and the Islamic civilizations have experimented
with the rational approach over the centuries,
found it wanting and have either discarded it
or relegated it to a secondary, supportive role
in the hierarchy of knowledge.
A heaven based on cold logic is devoid of feelings
and emotion. In such a heaven, there is no color
or taste or sweet aroma or sound. In this philosophical
heaven, events are only rational or irrational.
Such a heaven is perhaps not even worth aspiring
to.
A dialogue across civilizations cannot just be
a conversation between priests and professors.
It must be an interaction that involves the elite
as well as the layman, the prince and the pauper,
the bushman from New Guinea as well the most sophisticated
from New York.
Specifically, as applied to violence, reason can
neither condone nor condemn it. The Pope in his
speech of September 12 said that violence is irrational.
The truth is that violence is neither rational
nor irrational. It is inhuman. It is born of passion,
anger, greed, aggression, revenge or a desire
to dominate. It is not cured through arguments
and logic. It is contained through a change of
heart.
A dialogue between the Catholics and the Muslims
must be scalable and inclusive. The Christians
and the Muslims do not live in isolation. They
are a part of a larger matrix which includes the
Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and the secularists and
other Christians.
The Catholics and the Muslims are brothers and
sisters in the family of humankind. So are the
Protestants, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Parsis,
Sikhs, and the Shintos. Our overarching humanity
transcends our cultural, national and religious
differences. The Asians, the Europeans, the Africans
and the Latinos have a single origin, created
from a single source.
Our shared humanity bestows upon us certain universal
physical and intellectual attributes: sensual
perceptions, reason, common sense, feelings and
a propensity for the spiritual. Sensual perceptions
form the basis of empirical science. Reason enables
us to extend the reach of perceptions. Common
sense breeds tolerance. The feelings of love,
compassion and mercy bind our hearts. The spiritual
propensity for the unseen unites us in a search
for divine presence.
To us as Muslims, the diversity of cultures is
a cause for celebration. This diversity is to
be found both within and without. The Qur’an
teaches us, “…I created you into nations
and tribes so that you may know one another”.
Diversity facilitates recognition. A monoculture
is no culture at all. It is the death of culture.
Within the overarching fold of Islam there are
the Chinese, the Indonesians, the Malaysians,
the Indians, Pakistanis, Turks, Persians, Arabs,
Africans and Europeans. Each has his own culture.
Each is beautiful. Similarly, there is a diversity
of cultures among the Christians, the Hindus,
the Jews, the Buddhists and even the secularists.
The variety in cultures facilitates an understanding
of human nature just as the dispersion of light
in a rainbow facilitates an understanding of the
nature of light.
In a planet as variegated as ours, there are bound
to be conflicts and differences of opinion. These
are driven by suspicion, hatred, passion, emotion,
greed and the urge to dominate or exploit. Where
there is a difference of opinion, let justice,
not violence, be the arbitrator of the differences.
Violence begets violence. In the long run, it
solves nothing but leaves a legacy of hatred.
A dialogue is not just an argument held behind
closed doors of a conference hall, but the daily
interactions, the rubbing of shoulders, the negotiations
and the give and take, the sharing and caring,
the compassion and love manifest when people live
close together.
America is the ideal place where such a dialogue
can take shape. Here come all the sons and daughters
of Adam, men and women of many nationalities,
with their faiths and their hopes, their cultural
baggage and their languages, in search of a common
destiny. Only in America is an Irishman the neighbor
of an Englishman, an Israeli of an Arab, an Indian
of a Pakistani, an African of a redneck, a Chinese
of a Japanese. Muslims are a part of this great
melting pot. Their beliefs, ideas, ethics, intellectual
heritage, and cultures are all input into this
great crucible to be remade and refashioned into
a unique and new Islamic identity.
Dialogue is an interface across cultures. It is
not just with words. It is also with deeds. A
good deed is worth a thousand words. The Prophet
was the personification of good deeds. The most
effective interfaith dialogues are those that
involve alleviation of the human suffering. Soup
kitchens and homeless shelters built through cooperative
interfaith efforts are worth more than a thousand
words spoken by a philosopher.
There are problems galore on the road to attaining
this vision. There are extremists within and extremists
without. They do not want a dialogue. Secure in
their myopic vision of a worldview wherein only
they are the owners of the ultimate truth, they
seek to impose their view on others. They thrive
on conflict. There are extremists among all faiths,
including the Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus
and the secularists. Let not a few detract from
the well being of the many. A dialogue must go
on continuously to isolate the extremists and
drown out their voices.
The path is steep and the horizon is cloudy. There
are challenges, large and small. The mainstream
media have given up their historical role as platforms
for public discussion and have become mouthpieces
of special interests. An orchestrated campaign
against Islam and Muslims has reached a crescendo.
Not even the Qur’an and the Prophet are
immune from the insults of an Islamophobic press.
The negative is accentuated by those who control
the megaphones while the good is discarded in
the back alleys of self-interested journalism.
There is homework to be done on the Muslim side
too. Muslims must stand up for universal justice,
and not just justice for themselves. They must
speak up against injustice even when it is committed
by their kin. The Qur’an commands us, “O
you who believe, stand firmly for justice, even
if it be against yourselves”. Muslims cannot
condone an injustice just because it is packaged
in Islamic slogans. We expect others to respect
us. We should respect others to earn their respect.
Islamic life needs a renewal. The basis for such
a renewal cannot just be the rigid orthodoxy of
jurisprudence. It must accommodate the divine
patterns in history, the divine signs in the majestic
panorama of nature and embrace the shared spirituality
of all mankind. Only such a universal vision lends
itself to cooperation in faith, science and culture.
Let religion be the voice of a common humanity.
Let the Catholics and the Muslims initiate a dialogue
on the basis of their shared human heritage. Let
it include not just the priests and professors
but men and women of all ranks. Let us invite
all men and women of faith to join in. It is time
to begin this dialogue.
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