Author: Uwe Siemon-Netto
Publication: United Press International
Date: June 18, 2002
URL: http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=18062002-044316-3353r
A leader of the small worldwide
Muslim reform movement warned the West
Tuesday against wishful thinking
as the U.S. government promotes an intensive dialogue with Islam.
"The dialogue is not proceeding
well because of the two-facedness of most Muslim interlocutors on the one
hand and the gullibility of well-meaning Western idealists on the other,"
said Bassam Tibi, in an interview with United Press International.
Syrian-born Tibi, who claims to
be a direct descendant of the prophet Mohammed and teaches political science
at Goettingen University in Germany, appealed for intellectual honesty
between both parties in these exchanges.
"First, both sides should acknowledge
candidly that although they might use identical terms these mean different
things to each of them. The word 'peace,' for example, implies to a Muslim
the extension of the Dar al-Islam -- or 'House of Islam' -- to the entire
world," explained Tibi, who is also a research scholar at Harvard University.
"This is completely different from
the Enlightenment concept of eternal peace that dominates Western thought,
a concept developed by (18th-century philosopher) Immanuel Kant."
"Similarly, when Muslims and the
Western heirs of the Enlightenment speak of tolerance they have different
things in mind. In Islamic terminology, this term implies abiding non-Islamic
monotheists, such as Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, as second-class
believers. They are 'dhimmi,' a protected but politically immature minority."
According to Tibi, the quest of
converting the entire world to Islam is an immutable fixture of the Muslim
worldview. Only if this task is accomplished -- if the world has become
a "Dar al-Islam" -- will it also be a "Dar a-Salam," or a house of peace.
Tibi appealed to his co-religionists
to "revise their understanding of peace and tolerance by accepting pluralism."
Furthermore, he said, Muslim leaders should give up the notion of Jihad
in the sense of conquest -- as opposed to Jihad as an internal struggle
of the individual.
Tibi's advice comes at a time when
the U.S. government is urging American Muslim leaders to promote understanding
for the United States in the Islamic world. To Tibi, this is more of a
diplomatic endeavor than the promotion of a more profound theological understanding
between Islam and the Judeo-Christian worldview prevalent in the West.
But Muzammil Siddiqi, one senior
Islamic scholar the State Department consults with, told UPI he found that
his efforts in furthering contacts between Muslim, Christian and Jewish
theologians were having some success.
Indian-born Siddiqi is the director
of the large Islamic Center of Orange County in California. In consultation
with the State Department and in cooperation with the University of Kentucky,
he traveled back and forth between the United States and the Middle East
trying to convince Muslim theologians and jurists there to meet with American
church leaders.
"I have found that many -- though
not all -- were ready to welcome visitors from America and also to come
here to explore with Christians and Jews what we have in common," Siddiqi
said.
Though Siddiqi's center is heavily
engaged in interfaith activities, he made it clear that to him, as indeed
for conservative Christians, syncretism -- the mixing of religions -- was
anathema.
Common values should be sought out,
he explained, and the equality of all believers respected, be they Muslims,
Christians, Hindus or Buddhists. But the purity of the faith must not be
compromised.
In an article in the prestigious
Hamburg weekly, Die Zeit, Tibi, gave anecdotal evidence of how daunting
a task this dialogue with Islam can be.
The bishop of Hildesheim in Germany
paid an imam a courtesy visit in his mosque. The imam handed the Catholic
prelate a Koran, which he joyfully accepted. But when the bishop tried
to present the imam with a Bible, the Muslim cleric just stared at him
in horror and refused to even touch Christianity's holy book.
"The bishop was irritated because
he perceived this behavior as a gross discourtesy," wrote Tibi, "but the
imam had only acted according to his faith. For if an imam gives a bishop
a Koran, he considers this a Da'Wa, or call to Islam."
This, explained Tibi, must be borne
in mind when one engages in a dialogue with Muslim scholars, for it corresponds
to a verse in the Koran: "And say ... to those who are unlearned: 'Do ye
submit yourselves?'" (Surah 3:20).
