Future Prospects of Muslim-Western Dialogue

 Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri

Limits and fields of dialogue :

Dialogue, in its own right, is a vital requisite. However, dialogue can only be initiated with the peers, those who are infused with an earnest will to engage in a relationship aimed at achieving specific objectives already agreed upon. In default of these conditions, there can be no dialogue : All we will have is an absurd form of relationship, at best a peremptory dictation of opinion by one party over the other. This is sham dialogue, lacking legitimacy and hollow, filled only with despotism and arrogance, and marked by the policy of the fait accompli.

It is on these firm bases that the dialogue of Muslims with the West should be founded. After acquiring these crystal-clear meanings, it should proceed towards the fulfilment of the above-mentioned goals. It should always be kept in mind that the West with which we will engage in dialogue is, in reality, an integrated system of values and principles making up the underlying philosophy of the political, economic and social systems governing the Western countries in the general political sense, rather than in the limited geographical sense.

Yet, this West is the very West that used to harbour a long-standing animosity towards Muslims in the past, occupying our lands for long periods and depleting our wealth. It impaired our interests and wrought havoc in our lands till we waged political, economic and military battles against it, particularly in the Arab-Muslim countries which had been compelled to take arms in their wars of liberation in the face of European occupation. With this background in mind, we cannot help recollecting their moving scenes when dealing with the West.

However, we exert strenuous efforts to overcome them in order to ward off their adverse effects, with a strong will to build new relations with the West on the basis of renewed confidence, emphasizing, now and then, our resolve to enter a new phase of understanding, coexistence and cooperation.

A clear testimony to our forgetting of the fall-outs of the past is our current receptiveness to dialogue with the West and our eagerness to consolidate it, strengthen its role in enriching international relations and promoting contacts among peoples and nations. But in contrast, has the West vanquished its own historical prejudices? Has it overcome what can be called, without embarrassment, the accumulated complexes? Has the West ridden itself of the ideas and theories coined about Muslims by dint of its previous practices amidst the Arab-Muslim countries?

At any rate Muslims underline, today, their resolve to transcend the fall-outs and experiences of the past and rise up to the level of the requirements and challenges of the 21st Century.

Perhaps our mooting of the topic of dialogue with the West with such keen seriousness and interest is a cogent evidence of the Muslims' transcending of these matters in spite of their insidious workings in the minds and hearts.

Departing from these bases and spirit of serene tolerance and peace, we underline that dialogue with the West has become, today, a necessity, indeed a binding duty.

Dialogue has to be governed, though, by a set of precise rules, to be agreed upon by firm conviction. They are :

First : Dialogue must be equitable, fulfilling the conditions of equality and mutual will, and taking place on diverse levels and degrees in such a way as to be comprehensive, involving the various strata and castes, on governmental level as well as on the level of non-governmental institutions interested in the issues and fields determined for this dialogue.

Second : Dialogue must address all issues and causes of the Arab-Muslim society, with the exception of the matters falling under the sovereignty of Arab-Muslim countries. The field and course of dialogue will, therefore, be extended and deepened to involve any topic related to cultural, economic and social life or to science and technology, instead of being restricted to pure cognitive issues.

Third : Dialogue must seek to achieve the mutual goals of both parties, guaranteeing their interests relating to progress in all walks of life, on the cultural, scientific, economic and social levels. It must have a positive impact on all relations between Muslims and the West to the best interest of all.

Fourth : Dialogue must be civilized, going beyond the controversial issues which are the object of permanent discord that can only be lifted with the relinquishing, by one of the other party, of one of its sacred values. The highly sensitive issues have to be avoided because, when raised, they are likely to hamstring dialogue, or reverse its positive effects.

Fifth : Dialogue must proceed along parallel lines, in accordance with pre-established programmes. It must not stop in a given direction pending the appearance of results of the dialogue taking place in a second direction. Rather, the components of dialogue and its directions have to intertwine closely in such a way as to achieve the targeted objectives altogether.

One of the conditions of success in the achievement of the said objectives is to draw up plans for dialogue before engaging in it. It is therefore inevitable to involve the relevant institutions and organizations operating in the field of Arab-Islamic cultural and intellectual action through its official channels in order to enable these bodies to monitor the general courses of dialogue and direct them towards the goals set forth. Such planning requires coordination of the efforts exerted by actors in this field, on the one hand, and the Western parties involved in the dialogue, on the other.

It should be made sufficiently clear that dialogue with academic and cultural bodies on issues of great importance on the cognitive level will always remain the main passageway to general dialogue on topics of a comprehensive nature. Efforts need not be focused on dialogue of a religious nature although religious dialogue may be one of the bases of the coexistence and understanding that could pave the way for cooperation in many fields.