Al-Muhajabah's Islamic Blogs: dialogue and 'knowing one another'

dialogue and 'knowing one another'

Date: September 28, 2003 | 1 Shaban 1424 Hijriah

O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. Lo! the noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Lo! Allah is Knower, Aware (Surah al-Hujurat verse 13)

And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. Lo! herein indeed are portents for men of knowledge (Surah ar-Rum verse 22)

There is no preference of an Arab over non Arab, or of white person over a black person, but in piety (saying of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him)

Muhammad Nimr al-Samak has written an article called "The Culture of 'Knowing One Another' in Islam". The two Quran verses and the hadith cited above are the foundation for the idea of dialogue in Islam. Dialogue is the means by which we discover our common humanity beneath the differences.

Samak writes,

...accepting and respecting plurality as God created us, is in itself an expression of believing in God.

He cites additional verses from the Quran and incidents from the history of the Prophet (pbuh) to assert that,

One of the foundations of the Islamic civilization is respect for the other and embracing openness and rapprochement, rather than ignoring, eliminating or dissolving him. The multiplicity of religious and ethnic minorities in the Islamic world and the retention of these minorities of their racial characteristics, doctrinal and religious heritage, languages and cultures is a proof to this fact and its strength. Islam's recognition of the other and the need for a 'dialogue' in ways that are best and excepting him 'as he is' is not necessarily attributable to the tolerance of Muslims but rather to the essence of Islamic shari'a and doctrine.

Those Muslims who assert an exclusivist view are either ignorant or negligent of these fundamental bases, Samak says. They have a misguided religious thought and an unbalanced framework.

Another Quranic verse explains at greater length how the existing religious diversity is from God:

And unto thee have We revealed the Scripture with the truth, confirming whatever Scripture was before it, and a watcher over it. So judge between them by that which Allah hath revealed, and follow not their desires away from the truth which hath come unto thee. For each We have appointed a divine law and a traced-out way. Had Allah willed He could have made you one community. But that He may try you by that which He hath given you (He hath made you as ye are). So vie one with another in good works. Unto Allah ye will all return, and He will then inform you of that wherein ye differ (Surah al-Ma'ida verse 47)

Accepting a diversity of religions does not mean that one has to follow those other religions or to consider them more true than one's own. Instead, it is simply a respect for the freedom of each human being to believe as he or she chooses:

There is no compulsion in religion (Surah al-Baqarat verse 256)

~ Posted by Al-Muhajabah, a member of the reality-based community, at 07:54 PM

Comments

Andrew Reeves said:

Total comments: 1

Subject: Re: dialogue and \

Oddly enough, I've rather thought that if you must believe that your faith is the only true faith in the world and that all others are false (though some might be almost there) and that furthermore God will severely punish wrong belief, then the system of dhimmitude is probably the best way to go. It's much more systematic than the fairly ad hoc system of Christians who ruled over Muslims and Jews, and makes a good deal of sense. You don't have to compel people who insist on their obstinacy, but by the same token, you are not affronting God by tolerating people who believe that He might beget. At the same time, you are acknowledging that the protected peoples may be wrong, but they are close.

If, OTOH, you're not at all sure that there even is a God, much less whether He is Allah, YHVH, or the Holy Trinity, then such a system might seem rather cruel. It is silly, though, for unbelievers to ask believers to see the world in the same way that they do.

~ Posted at September 30, 2003 07:25 PM | Comment Permalink

Um Nur said:

Total comments: 9

Subject: Re: dialogue and \

I truly believe that one day Islam will be the dominant social order in the world. I believe also, that this domination will be achieved by winning the hearts and minds of the majority of humans (not by military conquest). There is nothing in Quran or hadith, that I know of, that says everybody will become Muslim, but rather that the political and moral system of Islam will be recognized as being of the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people. For many years, the Judeo-Christian-Humanist concept has been dominant and the experiment has nearly run its course and met its limitations. All social, political and economic indicators point to Islam replacing the present system. ("The sun rising in the West.") If we stick to the principles expounded in these and other Quranic verses, the transition will be smooth.

~ Posted at October 1, 2003 05:27 PM | Comment Permalink

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dialogue and 'knowing one another'

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