Interfaith meeting on Tolerance
in an
Intolerant world
Dr Mozammel Haque
The Islamic Cultural Centre, Director General Dr. Ahmad Al-Dubayan and Her Excellency Rouda Alotaiba, Deputy Head of Mission UAE Embassy in London held an Interfaith event during interfaith week. This Inter faith event entitled “Tolerance in an
Intolerant World” was held on 13 November 2019 at the Conference Library Hall of the Centre. It is the Year of
Tolerance in the UAE and Interfaith Week in the United Kingdom. Mr. Ahmed Alabdooli , Head of Political Affairs, UAE Embassy London attended the conference and
welcomed the audiences.
A number of special guest, faith leaders and
diplomats including Deputy Ambassador of Sudan embassy in London attended the
event which were attended by more than 130 attendees.
Head of Political Affairs, Embassy of UAE
Welcoming the gathering,
Mr. Ahmed Alabdooli, Head of Political Affairs, Embassy of the United Arab Emirates
(UAE) London said, “I have the honour to be invited to say a few words at this
very important event not only as a representative of the UAE Embassy in London
as well as to support this outstanding event and also as a young Muslim man who
believes that the sustainable peace and security for all people in unity and
tolerance towards each other.”
“Regardless of our faith
and our beliefs and our racial and cultural differences, the world is facing
with so much intolerance, seeing the representatives from every faith here
today in one of the most multicultural and multi religious city in the world,”
mentioned Mr. Ahmed Alabdooli added, “Its gives me and my generation the hope of better
future for us can be achieved if we come together. It reminds us and inspires
us to carry the beckons of peace and to advocate for the UAE’s and for the UK’s
share values of religious diversity and peaceful coexistence wherever we do.”
Speaking about the
construction of Hindu Temple and Abrahamic Faith House, Mr. Alabdooli said, “My
government, the UAE government, is doing an incredible job in the field of
tolerance. I am glad to tell you that as we speak tonight the construction of
the first traditional Hindu Temple in Abu Dhabi that will serve 3.3 million
Indian nationals is underway; together with the Abrahamic family house
consisting of synagogue, the church and mosque which is designed by a very
talented British architect; his name is David Agey. Those new places of worship
with so many immigrants throughout Emirates will be serving for more than two
hundred nationalities living peacefully and the tolerant and inclusive UAE.”
Referring UAE to be the
first country of the world to restore holy places, Head, of Political Affairs of the
UAE Embassy London mentioned, “I am proud that the UAE is the first country in
the world to restore holy places destroyed by ISIS. It has partner with UNESCO
and pledged to reconstruct the 12th century-old Annoor Mosque,
800-years old and At-Tahera Church, of the old city of Mosul. “
UAE decided to celebrate
2019 as the Year of Tolerance. Referring to this year 2019, Mr. Alabdooli mentioned, “In Abu Dhabi as part of the Year of Tolerance 2019 the UAE has
renamed Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayeed Mosque to Maryam, Umme Essa in Arabic, Mary,
the mother of Jesus, Mosque and February this year UAE hosted His Highness for
the first time visit by Pope to the Arabian Peninsula who paid the tribute to
the UAE as a land that is trying to be a model of coexistence for human
brotherhood and a meeting place among the diverse civilization and cultures.”
Mr. Alabdooli also mentioned
UAE is hosting World Tolerance Summit in Dubai. He said, “Today and tomorrow
the UAE is marking another chapter in history by hosting the World Tolerance
Summit in Dubai, the largest gathering of the world leaders and peacemakers to
promote tolerance and acceptance of multi-culture.”
UAE government was also
the first one to appoint the Minister of Tolerance enforcing the UAE’s commitment
to eradicate ideological cultural and religious differences in the society,
said Mr. Alabdooli.
Mentioning what the
different faith communities think about toleration, Mr. Alabdooli said, “When
Christians say do to others what you have them do to you. And Jews say the
same; Love your neighbours as yourself; or when Muslims say no one of you is a
believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself and
Hindu say some of duty do not until others which would cause pain if done to
you. Buddhists say hurt not others and which you yourself would find her fault.
And when Sikhs say treat others as you would be treated.”
“This tells us that
tolerance is a virtue and integral part of every faith and every belief,”
emphasized Mr. Alabdooli. .
Concluding his speech,
Mr. Alabdooli urged the gathering, “Let us stand together and call off any
intolerance; take this determination not to hate others, no matter where we
find it. Our differences must be subjective not objective; they must unite us
not divide us.”
Dr. Ahmad al-Dubayan
Dr.
Ahmad al-Dubayan, Director General of the Islamic Cultural Centre welcomed the
audiences with saying: Peace be upon all of you. He acknowledged: I know I am
late. But I welcome all of you to the Islamic cultural centre, in the beginning
and at the end. I just come from the airport.”
Speaking
about tolerance, Dr. al-Dubayan said, “Indeed tolerance is one of the rules and
values all religions talk about and all religions encourage their followers to
do it; but always religions have; all we know; problems with interpretations
what does sermon means.”
Dr.
al-Dubayan said, “Now we know or we should know about other people, those who
live on the other side of the world. We should know more about the history, we
should know more about the faiths, we should know about the traditions. They
should know also about us; and for us Muslims, as we know Let me say
Muslim, in many many cases, is misunderstood, misinterpreted actually by
Muslims themselves; by non-Muslims because they rely on some sources which are
not reliable.”
Speaking
about this interfaith meeting on Tolerance, Dr. al-Dubayan mentioned, “I hope
this evening can bring some thoughts or highlights some meanings of tolerance
for all of us. The Islamic Cultural Centre following the instructions of the
Trustees their Excellencies, we love everybody to be here. This is our message,
our mission and the British society, is to open doors not only to the Muslim
communities but also for other friends who live and share with us in the
society.”
Speaking
about Islamic history, Dr. al-Dubayan mentioned, “Let we see the history of
Islam, as for example, our faith followers play major role and what we call it
today Islamic civilizations. Since the first day of Islam when the Prophet
(peace be upon him) was alive and after that many Muslims actually lived in
Iraq, Syria, Egypt, north Africa, Persia and Central Asia everywhere; of course
in all these areas there were minorities; Jewish communities, Christian
communities and not only one type of Christians, but many, the protestants,
Catholics, orthodox, they all lived there.”
Mentioning
about minorities under the Islamic Civilizations, Dr al-Dubayan said, “During
the Umayyad times, immediately after the Prophet (peace be upon him) and also
during the Abbasid times we see many of these Christians they were secretaries
to the Caliphs, some of them physicians, some of them participated really in
writings lots of books, many of them of course survived, we have been today.
Also it is the same case with the Jews. We know Musa al-Maimun the famous
Jewish philosopher; he was physicians of Salauddin al-Ayyubi, the secretary of
the Caliph al-Mehdi, and his son Harun ur Rashid. Actually one of them is one
of the great historians patriarch in the north of Iraq. And in their historical
accounts we found lot of news and lot of things about Muslim cities and Muslim
states at that time. They were respected and they shared many many things; and
I think when you have somebody you make him your private physicians that means
you trust him so much. Because he is the one who is giving you medicines and
organising your food for you. There is nothing beyond this trust and that is
the highest trust. And this happened.”.
Dr.
al-Dubayan also mentioned about al-Andalus in Spain. He said, “We should
remember always the model of al-Andalus in Spain when Muslims Christians and
Jews were lived together; till today many academics call that time is the
building time for the Jewish literature. Many of the grammarians in Hebrew
language, poets also flourished there during those days of al-Andalus under the
Islamic government. What does this mean?”
“This
model we can take. During those days we had also at the same time some of the
greatest scholars ever in the history of Islam, the four imams, for example.
They lived during that time. Other great imams those who were imams in the
Islamic jurisprudence they did not say to this relation, to this appointment of
many of the non-Muslims in the state itself. If you go back to this kind of
history we will see how the society during those days was,” mentioned Dr.
al-Dubayan.
The
ICC chief said, “Of course sometimes wrong decisions, myths, people who really
do not want to forget the history they will always like to repeat it with all the
atrocities and problems. They don’t want
to leave this beautiful image last for long time. They always want to disturb
this. Whenever we talk about history, we have to be very careful; and I am
mentioning here particularly to the young people; do not let history disturb
your business and destroy your future.”
Reminding
as well as advising the people, Dr. al-Dubayan said, “Every country; every
nation on earth have good days in the history and of course bad days. We
remember the good things in history and try to repeat them; try to be inspired
by them; but we remember the bad days not to take revenge but really not to
repeat them again. To avoid and to take lessons from them. This is how we
should see the history and we always remember it.”
Giving
a cautious note to those who blame somebody for some wrongs, Dr. al-Dubayan
said, “If we try to put blame on somebody who is living with us today, among us
today, and we blame him something happened three hundred, five hundred, one
thousand and two thousand years ago that will never come to an end. Never,
never. Because we all have some problems in the history, all of us. But what we
should try, we try to understand it, try to study it; we try not to repeat it.
This is a message I think of today and that brings tolerance and good relations
to all people. This is very very important.”
Canon Mark Poulson
Canon Mark Poulson,
Canon for Presence and Engagement & Interfaith Relations, St Paul’s
Cathedral, said, “Tolerance is active; not passive. Of the world which is
nervous about people of faith and sometimes openly hostile.”
Canon Poulson mentioned,
“Our role is to describe the world, where we can open and flourish and all can
thrive. Jesus told the most important commandment to: call to love of God to
all our being, and to love our neighbours as ourselves. If we truly desire as
people of faith to be allowed to worship freely then the bigger faith we must
allow others the right not to worship; or the right to change how we worship
and there we will say who we will worship.”
Canon Poulson said, “If I
follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and believe him to be the apostle
of love, and if I desire his kingdom here on earth, then surely I would desire to
work with others together to see that
kingdom emerge, not through force or compulsion but through love and through
grace.
Canon Poulson concluded
his speech by saying, “God bless you tonight, as we discussed on our tables
what tolerance means. But never let us to come to the contemptation to think
the tolerance is passive.”
Rabbi Jeff Berger
Rabbi Jeff Berger,
Interfaith Adviser at Mitzvah Day mentioned, “As many of us are also aware,
this is Interfaith Week in the United Kingdom and thus far it has been quite
busy. Please accept my belated wishes for Milad un Nabi Mubarak – the Birth of
the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) which was commemorated this past Sunday. On Monday
as a nation we marked Remembrance Day, paying tribute to fallen soldiers mostly
from the 1st & 2nd World Wars. Yesterday was the 550th
anniversary since the birth of Guru Nanak, the founder and first Sikh guru born
in 1469. And today is World Kindness Day – a day to highlight good deeds in the
community focusing on the positive power and the common thread of kindness
which binds us together!”
Speaking about the topic
Tolerance in an Intolerant World, Rabbi Berger mentioned, “At first I was
troubled by the topic Tolerance in an Intolerant World because an example
includes tolerating my children’s bad behavior though it doesn’t mean I accept
it. Few of us want to be tolerated, we’d rather be appreciated. Then it was
explained to me that in the context of International Tolerance Day established
by UNESCO in 1995, it means to Accept, Respect and Embrace those who are
different than me. The most important 2 lessons I’ve learned over the years are
that:
1) ‘All change begins
from within’ and 2) ‘there is no substitute to dialogue, engagement and
action’. Words alone are no longer enough.”
Because of the limited
time, Rabbi Berger sought the permission to close with a prayer and said, “Our
time today is limited so with your permission, I’ll close with a prayer that
was used earlier this week. ‘Almighty God. I
pray to recognise in others the image of G-d by which you created each of us. I
pray to recognise, respect and celebrate the diversity that makes us great. I
pray that we might learn to live together and actively build a world where Your
Divine presence can reside. I call out to you, with like-minded colleagues, in
humility from all our different denominations and spiritual paths. Amen.”
Dr.
Sheikh Khalifa Ezzat, Head of Religious Affairs of the London Central Mosque
Trust Limited, explained at first the place of tolerance in Islam. He said, “Tolerance
is a basic principle of Islam. It is a religious moral duty. It means that one
is free to adhere to one’s own convictions and accepts that others adhere to
theirs. It means accepting the fact that human beings, naturally diverse in
their appearance, situation, speech, behaviour and values, have the right to
live in peace and to be as they are. It also means that one’s views are not to
be imposed on others.’”
He
also spoke about the conditions of Tolerance in the Muslim history. He said, “Throughout
history, Muslims lived with non-Muslims in peace, coexistence, and
tolerance. The history of Islam proves this very well when Muslims,
Christians, and Jews lived together in dominant Islamic societies. We can
contrast this to the Muslims who lived in Christian Spain when they were persecuted
and prejudiced against on account of their faith.”
Speaking
about tolerance in Islam, Dr. Khalifa mentioned, “Islam teaches tolerance on
all levels, individual, groups and states. Tolerance is the mechanism that
upholds human rights and the rule of law. Tolerance should be practiced between
family members, between husband and wife, between parents and children, between
the members of the community: tolerance in views and opinions, tolerance
between the madhahib [Islamic Juristic Schools], between Muslims and the people
of other faiths [interfaith relations, dialogue and cooperation].”
Sheikh
Khalifa then mentioned about the present situation of tolerance in the world.
He said, “Intolerance is on the increase in the world today, causing death,
genocide, violence, religious persecution as well as confrontations on
different levels. Sometimes it is racial and ethnic, sometimes it is religious
and ideological, other times it is political and social. In every situation it
is evil and painful.”
Dr
Khalifa raised so many questions about resolving the problems. He raised such
as these questions, “How can we solve the problem of intolerance? How can we
assert our own beliefs and positions without being intolerant to others? How
can we bring tolerance into the world today?” and promptly answered: “The
Qur'an speaks about the basic dignity of all human beings. The Prophet [pbuh]
spoke about the equality of all human beings, regardless of their race, colour,
language or ethnic background. Shari`ah recognizes the rights of all people to
life, property, family, honour and conscience.”
Imam
Sheikh also mentioned about equality and justice. He said, “Islam emphasizes
the establishment of equality and justice, both of these values cannot be
established without some degree of tolerance. Islam recognized from the very
beginning the principle of freedom of belief or freedom of religion. It said
very clearly that it is not allowed to have any coercion in the matters of
faith and belief. The Qur'an says, [There is no compulsion in religion]
[2:256].”
Sheikh Khalifa quoted from the Qur’an many verses. He
mentioned, “In another place Allah says, [Invite [all] to the Way of your Lord
with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best
and most gracious. Your Lord knows best, who have strayed from His Path, and
who receive guidance] [16:125]”
After
quoting so many verses from the Holy Qur’an, Sheikh Khalifa said, “All these
verses give note that Muslims do not coerce people; they must present the
message to them in the most cogent and clear way, invite them to the truth and
do their best in presenting and conveying the message of God to humanity, but
it is up to people to accept or not to accept. Allah says, [And say, 'The truth
is from your Lord, so whosoever wants let him believe and whosoever wants let
him deny’] [An-Nahl 16:29]”
Rev. Michael Redman, Bishop of
London
Rev. Michael Redman, Interfaith Adviser, and Interfaith
Adviser to the two cities London and Westminster, started saying as an Anglican
priest, “I have to confess that my church has often resisted toleration. But
toleration has often come about through outside pressures. The Toleration Act
of 1989 took away many of the disabilities facing what were then known as
non-conformists – we now say free churches We have to wait until the Catholic
Emancipation Act of 1829 and 1871 for the disabilities to be removed for
Catholics.”
“But although legal disabilities have gone, we know that
the toleration has a long way to go in this country. It has to be continually
striven for. Discrimination takes place in employment, housing and social life.
The legislation on toleration and discrimination can only go so far,” Bishop of
London said.
Rev. Redman wonders whether toleration is a right word. He
said, “We need a change of heart. I wonder whether toleration is the right
word. As a lawyer and also as a priest I am familiar with the limitations of
law. What we need to engender is not just toleration but compassion and
empathy.”
Religious people speak about compassion. Rev Redman
mentioned, “Religious people have the resources to speak about compassion – and
more importantly – to act with compassion. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus meets a
deaf-mute in Decapolis – a territory which foreign to him. The deaf-mute he met
was a foreigner. The deaf-mute was healed. Before he heals him, Mark told us
that Jesus sighed. He sighed with compassion to this foreigner towards this
deaf-mute. His heart reached out to him.
Speaking about Compassion, which is, according to Rev
Redman, is common to every religious tradition. He mentioned, “Compassion is
common to all our religious traditions. In the Hebrew Scriptures, we read about
God’s compassion to his people and the need for compassion to the foreigner
living in the midst of the people of Israel.
In a well-known Hadith, on the Throne of God is written
‘Verily my mercy and compassion precede my wrath.’ It is an integral part of
Muslim traditions. In the Bhagavsad Gita, the Lord says: Situated in their
being out of compassion for them, I put to flight the darkness of their
ignorance with the bright lamp of knowledge.” Compassion is in the heart of
Hinduism. In Buddhism, and especially Mahayana Buddhism, compassion – Karuna –
is a virtue of the Buddha and to be practised by its adherents through
meditation and mindfulness.”
Concluding his speech, Rev. Redman said, “We are people of Compassion
just as God is Compassionate. We need to show not only toleration but we need
also to show Compassion especially to all in varying ethnic groups and
religions.”
Jasvir Singh OBE City Sikhs
Jasvir Singh, OBE, City Sikh, Representative of several
thousand Sikh living in the United Kingdom, introduced himself first: “We are a
nationwide organisation; we have 7,000 members in the country and we are based
on Sikhs principles of recognising the whole humanity as one and ensuring we
have goodness and compassion and celebrating the well-being of every one in
society.. That is the organisation I am part of.”
Speaking about Tolerance, Mr. Jasvir said, “This evening we
are of course talking about tolerance and the importance of tolerance
especially in an intolerant world. We
are living in a difficult time; this is the case across the world sadly at the
present time. We are living at a time where we are saying rising hatred.”
Referring to Interfaith Week Jasvir said, “The fact that we
are all here in this room together. People from different faiths different
backgrounds, different practices; different ways of praying; different ways of
worship; we are all here together for this one event.”
Mr. Jasvir Singh said this is an important occasion to
remember, to celebrate. He said, “They have different faiths; all different
roots, all different rites; to the same master; to the same creator; to the
same sense of creation. And that’s important for us to remember; but it is also
important to remember that it should not be just tolerance but it should be
about celebration; now at the moment.”
Mr. Jasvir Singh said this is an important occasion to
remember, to celebrate. He said, “They have different faiths; all different
roots, all different rites; to the same master; to the same creator; to the
same sense of creation. And that’s important for us to remember; but it is also
important to remember that it should not be just tolerance but it should be
about celebration; now at the moment.”
Dr. Vyas Lakhsmi
Dr. Vyas Lakshmi, President of the Hindu Forum of Europe
said, “I am generally going to talk on toleration. What is tolerance, one sense
toleration means disagreeable and the unacceptable this is a negativity
tolerance? It means you dislike or disagree with thing but you put up with it
for one reason or the other; the reason may be personal professional social
economic legal or statutory. Technically this is not tolerance but pretends of
tolerance. Your heart and soul are not in it but mentally you reside yourself
to accept it. You put up with it for fear or under duress. This is toleration
for many people.”
Dr. Lakshmi said: “There is another kind of tolerance which
is very positive and divine. It is accepting and respecting wilfully the
differences exist in the world as part of God’s creation and diversity. It is
acknowledging and respecting the subtle nuances the rich diversity we perceive
in God’s creation without being disturbed by them or abandoning our own. It is
acknowledging the rights of others to live according to their own choices and
preferences while respecting our own. It is honouring the ultimate truth of God
and God’s numerous manifestations and each aspect of his creation is as sacred
and things important as ourselves.”
She said, “This kind of toleration is true kind of
toleration in letters and spirits which arises from your convictions, beliefs,
knowledge, vision, understanding, empathy and compassion. For the purpose of
our discussion we will accept this definition of tolerance.”
Dr. Vyas Lakshmi said, “Religious tolerance is a compelling
necessity. No country can make progress if its people remain divided.”
