Author: Prof. Syed Anwar Husain
Source: Our Faith, The Daily Sun
Examples from the life and activities of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his Companions abound as guidelines for Muslims on their relations with followers of other faiths. The outstanding example set by the Prophet himself in this respect was in what followed from the Charter of Madina. Dictated by the Prophet himself the Charter of Madina was indeed the first written and modern constitution of the world. The Charter laid the foundation of a pluralistic and tolerant polity in a somewhat acephalous socio – polity of Madina. In the pluralistic society and polity of Madina comprising 4,500 majority Jews, 4000 pagans, and 1,500 Muslims (of both Makkan and Madinian origin) the Prophet provided an empirical example of how Muslims should deal with people of other faiths. For a decade from 622 through 632 he led this composite community in an environment of what may be termed in contemporary parlance good governance. Moreover, in Madina he permitted the members of the Christian delegation from Najran to say their evening prayer in the same mosque where he himself led maghrib prayer for Muslims. It was indeed a quintessential example of interfaith harmony. Muslims and Christians prayed under the same roof, but facing two directions. They differed in their directions, but converged on their main act of praying for the same supreme being, albeit differing in how they addressed Him. This example strongly demonstrates the apparent superficiality of religious differences, but an undeniable commonality of real goal and spirit. We should pause and ponder the question whether such a scenario could be repeated these days.
As for Jews the Prophet demonstrated his respectful attitude when on one occasion he rose from sitting and stood in solemn silence as a funeral procession of a Jew passed by. When the disbelieving Companions informed Him that it was Jewish, not a Muslim funeral the Prophet retorted sharply: “Death is a fearful event. So when you see a funeral stand up and show respect.” This anecdote may be a news to the Muslim fanatics who are very often found reticent in showing respect to funerals of other faiths.
This mindset of tolerance and respect for other faiths induced the Prophet to allow Jews Mukhairiq and Nadri to participate in the Battle of Uhud. Allah supported such an act of his Messenger by revealing that, “Those who believe (in the Quran), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures) and the Christians and the Sabian... any who believe in Allah and the Last Day and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord. On them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve” (Baqarah 2 : 62). The exegetist Abdullah Yusuf Ali interprets the term sabians as comprising “the followers of Zoroaster, Buddha, Cpnfucius and other Teachers of Moral Law;” and the Prophet was respectful to all.
In one hadith the Prophet is quoted as having exhorted his people to travel as far as China in quest of learning. One is inclined to believe that the underlying tenor and spirit of this suggestive exhortation still remains to be properly comprehended by the target group who have done nothing so far to follow the same, except muttering the words contained therein. China of the 6th – 7th century was inhabited by Buddhists and followers of such great moral teachers as Confucius, Lao-tse and Mencius; and certainly not any Muslim. Although differing in religion and culture China was known to the outside world as a rich storehouse of civilisational knowledge; and this was what the Prophet had drawn attention of Muslims to. In other words, His teaching was to learn from other civilisations and cultures in perfect keeping with the spirit of Islamic Ta’aruf. The second underlying meaning was that the Prophet exhorted His people to undergo the ordeal of journeying to such a far off place as China for the sake of knowledge. It may be mentioned that according to the geographical knowledge of Arabs during the Prophet’s time China (known as Cathay) was the farthest limit of the known world.
Perhaps the best testimony of Islam’s universal and egalitarian outlook was put across through the Last Sermon of the Prophet. He had a mixed audience; and besides Muslims, there were people of other faiths as well. As it were, the target group was not only those who had assembled before Him, but the whole humanity; and the words were couched accordingly. The most pertinent part of the Sermon was as follows:
“O, people, Your Lord is One and your father is one. All of you are traced back to Adam, and Adam was created from the dust. No previlege of a certain person over the other save by righteous deeds. O, people, hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and indeed He will reckon your deeds ... All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no-superiority over a non - Arab nor a non - Arab has any superiority over an Arab, also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over a white except by peity and good action. Do not therefore do injustice to each other. Remember one day you will meet Allah and answer your deeds.”
The whole address ranks as the most suggestively significant one in the list of famous speeches. The above quoted part has significance for reasons more than one. Firstly, by stressing the common anthropological origin of humans universalism is made an essential feature of all religions, including Islam. Second, egalitarianism is highlighted by playing down colour - based superiority or inferiority; and also by making piety as the qualifier for entitlement to divine blessing. Thirdly, doing good and avoid doing harm mutually are presented as articles of faith. Fourthly, moral accountability of every human being is stressed - a recipe for building a strong moral society. Above all, this part as well as other parts of the Sermon did foreshadow the spirit of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights as sponsored by the United Nations.
By way of illustrating how the illustrious Companions of the Prophet felt or acted vis-a-vis other faiths a reference may be made to an example set by Ali (R), the fourth Khalifa. While on a walk a companion of him after having seen Christians praying at a church remarked that Kafirs (unbelievers) were praying. Visibly annoyed, All (R) retorted: “Do not call those who pray Kafirs” This retort may appear to be a poser to those obscurantist and fanatic Muslims who are often found to call people of other faiths Kafirs.
Islamic perspective of interfaith dialogue:
Interfaith Dialogue (IFD) is generally defined as a discussion between people of different religions on a particular or general issues with an intention to establish common good. Reinhard Pummer suggests that IFD “aims at representing all religious faiths in such a way that respective members find themselves in its description ... no value or truth judgments are made from a point outside a given religion. It becomes immediately evident that such an approach can correct many misconcepts.” The rationale for pursuing IFD comes out quite poignantly as Marmaduke Pickthall writes: “If Europe had known as much of Islam as Muslims knew of Christendom in those days those mad, adventurous, aoccasionally chivalrous and heroic, but utterly fanatical outbreaks known as the crusades could not have taken place, for they were based on a complete misapprehension.”
Ta’aruf, as discussed above, provides the Islamic basis for pursuing IFD. The Quranic prescriptions for IFD are numerous; and, of those some are referred to here:
—“All of them (Muslims) believe in Allah and His Angels and in His books and in His Messengers saying, we make no distinction between any of His Messengers” (Baqarah 2 : 285);
—“I believe in whatever Scripture God has revealed, and I am commanded to be just among you. God is our Sustainer and your Sustainer. We are responsible for our actions and you for yours. There is no argument between you and us. God will bring us together, and to Him is the final return” (ash - Shura 42 : 15).
These kind of statements are common to all religions. With specific reference to Christianity, for example, the Vatican Council II in the “Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions” recognises the equality of all human beings, and states, “All men form but one community.” On 30 November 2007, leaders of Islam, Christianity and Jews met in Washington in what was apparently an interfaith dialogue. At this meeting, Dr. Samuel T. LLoyd, Dean of Washington National Cathedral said, “A wall has been created between Christians and Muslims because we haven’t given sufficient attention to the latter.” The Jewish rabbi Jack Luxemberg shared the same sentiment in his statement. IFD is meant to tear down such a wall between and among faiths of the world.
IFD should produce a moral and ethical code drawing upon all religions. Such a code should have the UN Charter like acceptance across the world. Governments should see to it that such a code can find its way into the educational curriculum at the appropriate levels of their respective countries. Governments, backed by civil society elements should also see to it that the message of the code gets filtered down to the mass level. Unless tasked with such action-plans IFDs are bound to be infructuous.
Concluding observations:
The Quranic Islam and sunnah accept and honour religious pluralism, and accord due respect to other faiths. What some misguided Muslims say and do out of their myopia is certainly at variance with such an Islam; but this does not mean that Islam is at fault. Those who fault Islam suffer from the same type of myopia. As it is, one wrong cannot be righted by another wrong. There is thus a pathetic divergence between the Islamic ethos and the psyche of some Muslims. As long as Islam remains to be presented and represented by such- Muslims Islam would be in crisis. Thus Muslims of the contemporary world faces two specific daunting tasks. One, to retrieve and save Islam from fanatics and detractors. Two, to practise Ta’aruf so that a bridge can be built across the religions of the world.
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