Interfaith conference & root cause of conflict

M Ashraf Mirza
Published on : Pakistan Observer
The Declaration issued at the end of the two day UN Conference on Interfaith harmony held at its Headquarters in New York has expressed concern over the serious instances of intolerance, discrimination, hatred expressions and harassment of minority religious communities of all faiths and called for the promotion of dialogue, understanding and tolerance among human beings as well as for respect for all religions, cultures and beliefs. It also called for mutual understanding through dialogue and respect for human rights among proponents of various faiths, cultures and civilizations.
The declaration read out by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at a news conference rejected the use of religion to justify killings of innocent people and actions of terrorism, violence and coercion, which directly contradicts the commitment of all religions to peace, justice and equality. Mr Ban said ‘the challenge today was to move beyond positive words to dialogue that delivers’. The idea of the conference mooted by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to focus the imperative need of interfaith harmony was attended by a galaxy heads of state and government, special envoys and officials from about 70 countries including US President Bush, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Israeli President Shimon Peres, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Jordan’s King Abdullah and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari.
Never before in the world history the need for interfaith harmony was so imperative as it’s today in view of the prejudice, hate expressions and writings of the Western religious scholars and leaders, who are deplorably resorting to widen the wedge between different religions. Islamophobia and anti-Semitism are the two forms of bigotry that needs to be combated with resolve and prudence in order to promote interfaith understanding and peace. A cursory look at the world scenario reveals a depressing state of anti-Islam drive in the Western countries as a result of the prejudice of their religious scholars and leaders against this great religion. Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance, forgiveness and compassion, yet it’s being misinterpreted by the vested elements to incite hatred to promote their so-called theory of the clash of civilizations. Islam is tolerant of other religions and cultures as well as of dissent within. Yet unfortunately Islam and Muslims are still being subjected to hate, injustice and discrimination due to its imaginary fear being propounded by such elements.
The conference has, however, failed to address the real cause of confrontation and conflict between Islam and other religions that is more political in nature. As is evident the Muslims are at the receiving end for quite sometime now and are being massively subjected to injustice and discrimination. Issues like Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya, Iraq and Afghanistan are the symbols of injustice being perpetrated against them. Palestinians were driven out of their hearths and homes and made to live in the refugee camps on the soil of their own homeland. They are being butchered by Israel with no qualms whatsoever. Kashmiris are being subjected to worst form of brutalization and human rights violation with unabated bloodshed. Afghans have been deprived of their freedom and are being killed and maimed by the occupation forces. Iraqis have had a nightmare of death and destruction since the US invasion. Chechans are enduring bloodbath over centuries. Muslim blood is thus being spilled mercilessly across the world. Isn’t it natural that the Muslims should respond to the injustice and discrimination to which they are being subjected in order to guard their faith? It’s here that the world peace, security and harmony is threatened. It was, therefore, pertinent that the fundamental causes of confrontation and conflict between religions should be addressed to promote interfaith harmony.
Any attempt to do it otherwise will remain an elusive and futile exercise. And it’s incumbent upon the religious scholars and political leaders of all religions to shun prejudice against Islam and try to understand its teachings, values and virtues in right perspective. It’s simply disgusting that an attempt has been made by the Western media to disrespect the Holy Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) through humiliating caricatures in recent years. It’s, in fact, a religio-political problem and needs to be tackled accordingly. The conference is, however, a positive development to focus the urgent need for interfaith harmony. Though belated it marks a good beginning.
The conference should, therefore, not be the end of the matter in itself. It needs to be pursued in a bi-partisan manner by scholars and leaders of all religions with a sense of scrupulousness and prudence. The Muslim scholars, writers and analysts especially owe it to their origin to correct the Western scholars’ prejudiced perception about Islam with logic and argument so as to repudiate the so-called fear of Islam that they are focusing to mislead the world opinion. Let it not be ignored that there are elements in the world who thrive in chaos and derive sustenance in pitting other religions against Islam. A persistent effort in this regard, therefore, needs to be made in order to project the values and virtues of Islam in order to blunt their negative propaganda. Pakistan obviously has a special interest in the conference as no other country has suffered so much as it has as a result of the fallout of this hatred and prejudice incited by the Western scholars through their negative contributions in the form of extremism and terrorism, which is the natural consequence of the hate expressions and projections of the Western religious scholars and writers.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia certainly deserves appreciation for taking the most appropriate initiative to convene the Interfaith conference under the auspices of the United Nations. It’s a timely initiative to retrieve the situation of inter-faith confrontation and conflict that has led to Islam bashing and Muslim discrimination on the one hand and invasion and occupation of Muslim countries on the other. And there could obviously be no other suitable leader to do so than King Abdullah in view of the respect and influence that he commands internationally as a result of his great services to the cause of Islam besides being the Custodian of the Holiest of the Holy places on earth viz., Khana Kaaba and Masjid-i-Nabvi. The initiative represents his concern to steer the world out of the Islamophobia and anti-Semetism scenario that has disgustingly destroyed the world peace. The dirty role played by the neo-cons of the Bush administration over the last eight years has undoubtedly deepened the mistrust and hatred between the followers of Islam and other religions without justification. Islam is a progressive, moderate and compassionate religion and, therefore, its distortion by certain Western religious scholars preaching the so-called clash of civilizations needs to be corrected.
The conference has, therefore, afforded an opportunity to highlight the necessity for interfaith harmony besides focusing the urgent need to create understanding among the scholars and leaders of different religions. The conference will hopefully prove a turning point in the inter-religion harmony for the betterment of humanity at large.