Part One :
THE IMPORTANCE OF DIALOGUE AND THE BASIC FACTORS FOR ITS SUCCESS

If the importance with which dialogue is characterized is well-known to everybody, it cannot be achieved so long as a number of factors - which underlie the conditions for its success - are not present. Thus, in spite of the many attempts in which dialogue has been tried, it appears that those who seek to engage in it must realize how necessary it is and how important is the style in which it must take place. It is these aspects that this part will clarify, through the examination of the following points :

1. Conditions that must be present in any dialogue,

2. Facts about its history,

3. The great need for it and how it must be.

Conditions that must be present in any dialogue

We would like to state, from the outset, that for a dialogue - any dialogue - to succeed some conditions must be present. These can be summed up as follows:

1. A dialogue requires that there be two or more parties so that it may not be simply a dialogue with oneself.

2. Its point of departure is the acceptance by each of the parties on one another. Each party must begin by getting psychologically prepared for opening up oneself to the other, with tolerance; that is, by accepting him as he is.

3. This acceptance must go hand in hand with the holding of a balanced view about the other and a shared desire to engage in fruitful dialogue. It must also be coupled with mutual respect, the desire for exchanging views and readiness for being influenced by the other and exercising influence on him.

4. The necessity to open oneself and to come out of the silence and isolation wherein one may be and to abandon all that can lead to the development of selfishness and a bad impression about the other. The consequence of not taking this course of action is to allow for ignorance, hangups and complexes to overrule one’s behavior; one must also avoid any orientation aiming to ensure victory, hegemony and domination.

5. Reaching agreement, at the outset, concerning a minimum number of concepts and values to be used as reference.

6. Ensuring access to correct knowledge, having the capability to share it with calm and poise, and seeking to convince the other parties without belittling them or their reaction and their point of view, or intending to reject their distinguishing specificities.

7. Seeking to have the dialogue take place within a framework based on givens and perspectives that do not provoke the mind and the feelings, represent a shock for the values of any of the parties, and conflict with the identity of the individual as concerns its material and spiritual dimensions.

8. The desire to get rid of disputes, erase the differences, disregard the factors of contradiction, to bridge the gap that separates between parties and to strengthen common bonds.

9. Making all the parties feel equal; that is, no party is to feel that it is in an inferior position and hence lacking the capability to adjust to, and keep pace with, the proceedings of the dialogue. This starts from the ability to follow it and ends with that of give and take, if not the capability of measuring up with the other and entering into competition with him.

10. The requirement to define the goal sought by the dialogue and the desire to reach it, sincerely, with confidence, moderation and equity, through planning for it and laying down its condition and goals and determining who is to engage in it.

These conditions, although general , can be applied to any of the kinds of dialogue and at any of its levels, as is illustrated by what is taking place during the contemporary period, for example :

1. The Arab - European dialogue.

2. The dialogue between North and South.

3. The dialogue between countries located on the banks of the Mediterranean sea.

4. The dialogue between East and West

5.The dialogue between religions.

6. The dialogue between Islam and Christianity

7. The dialogue for narrowing the gap between the Islamic doctrines.

8. The political, social and cultural dialogue within one country.

Some of these types of dialogue that are going on now - in particular between North and South - take as points of departure the legacy of the colonial period and the situation whereby the other side seeks to impose its hegemony. This side may be so self-confident to the point that it will ignore the minimal conditions necessary for dialogue to take place and disregard whatever the side that is considered weak can put forward, if not in the economical and technical domains then in others, particularly the cultural one. Other fields, where the weak side may make a contribution, have to do with whatever has an effect on man’s life (be it at the individual or the societal level), with the fashioning of links between people and narrowing the gap between them.

The placing of this kind of dialogue in its true framework requires that it be taken out of the traditional conception, which amounted to discussing ways for the strong side to lend a helping hand, with all that this entails in terms of feelings of superiority, of distending the self and taking it as the model and the examplar. There also results from this traditional conception the holding of a view that belittles and demeans the assisted side.

There is no doubt that a stand such as this incites the subordinate side to be suspicious of the sincerity and the usefulness of dialogue. Therefore, it accepts it only because it has to and does so only with great caution. This is so because it feels that, in its present situation, it cannot succeed in coming out of underdevelopment, in order to be integrated in the advanced world and participate in it through fruitful cooperation, and hence in bridging the gap - let alone fill it - between the two worlds.

The continued existence of this gap, with its depth and width, calls for all the parties in the dialogue - in particular the strong ones - to reflect on it and on the doctrinal and intellectual questions which it raises. These questions concern the respect of religious and moral values, the forgetting of which has become a factor for the disengagement from faith, for throwing oneself into the bosom of permissiveness, and for the spread of drug addiction, anger and violence.

In this regard, the importance of a dialogue between the heavenly revealed religions becomes clear. It requires reflecting on it and looking into it through the facts of its history - especially as concerns the dialogue between the Moslems and Christians - and on the basis of how necessary it is today and how it must be.