Contents

Dialogue among Religions

and Cooperation among Peoples

Mr. Mohamed Al Sammak(*)

Islam recognizes the unity and diversity of humankind and sets foundations and principles for the respect of diversity, and ethnic and cultural multiplicity. These foundations and principles constitute the essence of the Islamic faith and the prerequisite condition for the achievement of true belief.

The Holy Quran is replete with verses that confirm that. Allah the Almighty has honoured human beings. This divine honour has been bestowed indiscriminately on every human being.

Allah also granted in the land inheritance of power, and did not grant it to one nation to the detriment of another.

Allah created all people from a single person, to confirm their equality, and then He made them into nations and peoples with different languages, colours, races and beliefs. Had He willed otherwise, He would just say to it: “Be, and it is.”

To detail these general rules, I will take three verses from tens of the verses of the Holy Quran:

The first verse says: “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you.” (1)

This verse reveals three rules:

The first rule is the unity of mankind, which means that all people constitute one nation created from a single person. The Holy Quran also says “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female”.

The second rule is the diversity of mankind. The verse goes on to say “and made you into nations and tribes”. This means that diversity stems from a divine willingness, and that its existence embodies and expresses the divine willingness.

The third rule is that the objective sought from diversity is to know each other, in order to achieve a unity that preserves and maintains diversity. The verse ends by revealing the underlying reason behind diversity, which is “that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you.”

Mutual understanding is the bridge that links the different communities. But no mutual understanding can be achieved without knowledge. This supposes that others should be different so that we seek to know them. It similarly supposes that we are also different; this difference is what justifies the need for getting to know each other. Hence the Quranic call upon people to know each other is in itself a call to know and to recognize each other’s differences, in order to shape a homogeneous human society.

Many are the mentions to difference and diversity in the Holy Quran. Of these, I will cite the following:

“Mankind was but one nation, but differed (later)” (2)

“If thy Lord had so willed, He could have made mankind one people: but they will not cease to dispute”(3)

“If God had so willed, He could have made them a single people; but He admits whom He will to His Mercy; and the wrong-doers will have no protector nor helper”(4)

The divine wisdom has willed to make mankind into different nations and peoples though they have One Creator. This unity is based on diversity, not similitude or conformities. For that reason, diversity is a prodigy bestowed by God, and it is a manifestation of his glamour and perfection in creation.

The Holy Quran says: “And among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the variations in your languages and your colours: verily in that are signs for those who know”(5). Accordingly, ethnic differences do not constitute the basis for either priority or inferiority. It is a difference in the totality of human nature. One should respect the other as he is and as a different creation of God.

Respect of the other’s ethnicity and culture is a basis for Islamic religious behaviour. Respect of the other’s religion and belief is respect of freedom of choice, and of the principle of non-coercion in religion. The Quran says, “And every one has a direction to which he should turn,”(6). Another clear sign that points to the multiplicity of trends is mentioned in the following verses: “Neither are they the followers of each other's qiblah”(7)

“To every nation We appointed acts of devotion which they observe, therefore they should not dispute with you about the matter and call to your Lord; most surely you are on a right way.”(8)

“Every nation shall be called to its book: today you shall be rewarded for what you did.”(9) All these verses mean that for the different languages and colours Allah prescribed different approaches and laws, as confirmed by the Quran: “To each among you have we prescribed a law and an Open Way. If God had so willed, He would have made you a single people, but (His plan is) to test you in what He hath given you: so strive as in a race in all virtues"(10). Cultural, ethnic, religious and doctrinal differences are meant to remain until the Day of Judgement. Differences should not be negated or ignored. Rather they should be made known, accepted and respected as a permanent natural way of the Universe.

Abu Walid Al-Baji, one of the prominent Muslim scholars, says in his book Ahkam Al Foussoul Fi Ahkam Al Ossoul: “He who innovates and proves to be right deserves double rewards: one reward for his innovation, and the other reward for being right. He who innovates and commits an error deserves one reward for his innovation.” Thus, we deduce that that effort, like any other human attribute, can either be wrong or right; that trying hard when doing any deed, or thinking of any human idea, may result in being wrong or right. Innovation is not sacred, absolute, or permanent; it is human, limited and changeable.

Abu Hanifa says: “My opinion is right and could be wrong, and the other’s is wrong, yet it could be right.”

Arguing that only one group could understand correctly the religious text, hence is the authorized representative of religion, contradicts the essence of religion as a divine reality, as well as the religious intellectual heritage as a cultural and interpretative reality, which both constitute an intellectual wealth of a rich series of human experiences in the human understanding of the sacred text. Islam lays foundations for the relation of a human being with himself, with other humans, be they believers or non-believers, with society and with God. These general rules constitute issues related to the daily life, and change with the changes in times and societies. Therefore, the divine wisdom has it that the religious texts are formulated in a way that leaves room for the human thought to grasp them, digest them and deduce provisions from them in the light of the latest developments and changes of the human evolution.

Basically, there would be no unity with the other, unless that other is different from us. This means that the preservation of unity implies the preservation of the other. Which leads us to say that unity should not mean negation of the other; otherwise, it becomes nothing less than a unity with the self. Unity cannot grow and prosper without recognizing the other, and any disdain of the other will only lead to the collapse of that unity.

Freud talks about the narcissism of difference and considers that though the differences may be minor, they are still at the heart of everyone’s identity. Difference does not contradict human unity. Rather, the two complement each other, as highlighted by the three following Quranic principles:

First principle: tadawul (succession or alteration) “We bring these days to men by turns”(11). If the people had one ethnicity, one belief, and one way of thinking, there would not be any alteration. It is because they are different, and because Allah willed them to be so, that alteration is necessary. Tadawul means a continuing dynamism of the humankind, which is exactly the opposite of what is argued by the thesis on the end of history. Therefore, the tadawul is life, and the end is death.

The second principle: Tadafu’ (gentle conflict–interplay) “And were it not for Allah's repelling some men with others, the earth would certainly be in a state of disorder;”(12). Tadafu’ does not necessarily mean fighting or collision, but means an evolutionary competition of the different human communities. Communities are like waters. If they are stagnating, they become murky, but if they are running and pouring, they embrace the movement of light and wind, and gain freshness, purity and vivacity. Without an intellectual close contact, a cultural cross-fertilization and civilizational competition, the mind loses its thirst for knowledge which is what sharpens it. Difference among people, hence the Tadafu’ among them, is one of the prerequisites that save the earth from becoming in a state of disorder.

The third principle: Taghayur: “And there is no animal that walks upon the earth nor a bird that flies with its two wings but (they are) genera like yourselves”.(13)

“And every nation had an apostle”(14) “And thus We have sent you among a nation before which other nations have passed away”(15) Difference, which is a rule that is difficult to go beyond, constitutes the permanent constant in human societies since the genesis until the end of time.

Therefore, Allah has set the rule of mutual understanding to complement that of difference. The two rules constitute the basis for human brotherhood, which is the only way conducive to peace and stability.

Islam preordains mutual understanding, rather than tolerance, among human communities. Nietzsche is right to say that tolerance is a humiliation of the other, for it involves supremacy of the tolerant over the one whom we tolerate.

The relation of Islam with monolithic revealed religions is not a relation based on tolerance, but one based on belief in them. The belief of Muslim cannot be complete unless he /she believe in Christianity and Judaism. The Holy Quran makes a clear reference to that: “Say: We believe in Allah and (in) that which had been revealed to us, and (in) that which was revealed to Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq and Yaqoub and the tribes, and (in) that which was given to Musa and Isa, and (in) that which was given to the prophets from their Lord, we do not make any distinction between any of them, and to Him do we submit.”(16).

What a wide difference is indeed between a relation based on belief and another based on tolerance. The first recognizes the right to difference and respects it, while the second rests on a negation of the right and involves haughtiness in the behaviour with the different party.

The second verse I would like to discuss here concerns the People of the Book: Christians and the Jews. The verse states: “Say: O followers of the Book! come to an equitable proposition between us and you that we shall not serve any but Allah and (that) we shall not associate aught with Him, and (that) some of us shall not take others for lords besides Allah” (17). The call for an equitable proposition is chiefly a call for finding common ground for relations among those people who believe in One God, though their ways of expression and practices of that belief differ from one another.

The third verse “Repel (evil) with what is best, when lo! he between whom and you was enmity would be as if he were a warm friend” (18) calls for addressing differences and disparities through finding compromises. The call for embracing that kind of treatment even with the enemies has nothing to do with resort to violence, terrorism, negation and Takfir. The Divine call for resorting to the best compromising option is not limited to relations among Muslims in particular or believers in general, but covers relations among all people.

Religious fanaticism would build remote diverse islands ignoring one another, thus making the other parties sceptical and alert to face it. This is diversity beyond unity. Adversely, mutual understanding builds unity within a diversity that recognizes the other, and treats them with respect, trust and love. And this is diversity within unity.

In human relations, there are two situations with negative results: “an abusive forced unity that effaces diversity (as it was the case in the then Soviet Union), and an absolute, uncontrolled multiplicity turning its back on the different other and rejecting unity with them, or even recognizing them (such is the case in the Balkans and in other parts of the world). The call for mutual understanding which rests on knowledge is one of the most sublime calls by Allah to Man, and is the basis for a human brotherhood respecting difference and making of it the cornerstone of alliance, concord and love.

(*) Secretary General of the Christian-Muslim Committee for Dialogue, and the Islamic Permanent Committee, and a member of the World Council of the World Conference of Religious for Peace.

- This paper was distributed in the Symposium.

(1) Hujurat: 13

(2) Yunus: 19

(3) Hud: 11

(4) Shura: 8

(5) Rum: 22

(6) Baqara: 148

(7) Baqara: 145

(8) Hajj: 67

(9) Jathiya: 45

(10) Maïda : 48

(11) Al-i-Imran: 140

(12) Baqara:251

(13) An’am:38

(14) Yunus:10

(15) Ra’d: 13

(16) Baqara:136

(17) Al-i-Imran: 64

(18) Ha-Mim:34

Publications of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

-ISESCO- 1428H/2007 A.D