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News we published last week told of a gathering of Islamic scholars
from Mindanao, Malaysia and Indonesia to discuss moderation against
extremism in a three-day dialogue or forum to be held in a Makati
hotel from January 9 to 11.
The main sponsor is the Center for Moderate
Muslims (CMM), headed by Prof. Taha Basman, who is a commissioner of
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(Unesco),
The domestic and foreign participants in the
dialogue, or forum, are mostly distinguished persons. Some of them
occupy high political offices in their countries. Some are noted
diplomats. Some are authentically and international respected as
Islamic scholars and mufti (religious leaders who are, in following
and authority, like bishops or at least high pastors.) There will be
200 participants.
Prof Basman told The Manila Times correspondent
that CMM wants “Muslims to follow the real teaching of Islam which
is ummatan wasata or moderation. With this we can achieve peaceful
co-existence in the world.”
“With the extremists still finding attentive
ears in the ummah or Islamic community, a gathering of these
international Islamic leaders and their Filipino counterparts
through the CMM will help empower the moderates among us Muslims and
eventually seek to address the most important issues affecting the
Muslim world—like extremism,” Prof. Basman said.
The other concerns to be discussed are
deviation, radicalism and disunity among Muslim missionary
(da’wah) groups. Problems facing the youth (many of whom are
easily lured by extremist and violent groups. The role of women in
the family and the community. Economic economic opportunities, which
is important to many Muslim Filipino traders.
The Center for Moderate Muslims has affiliates
in the Asean countries. It has been promoting interfaith dialogue,
fostering religious tolerance and harmony, and working for peace
between Muslims and non-Muslims and among Muslims. It held its first
dialogue in 2004 and the second one in 2006.
We wish Prof. Basman and his co-organizers of
the forum success and God’s graces.
Who are the moderate Muslims?
The scholar Prof. Muqtedar Khan, Ph.D., Director
of International Studies of Michigan’s Adrian College, gives this
answer:
Both, Western media and Muslims, do a disservice
by branding some Muslims as moderate on the basis of their politics.
These people should general be understood as opportunists and
self-serving. Most of the moderate regimes in the Muslim World are
neither democratic nor manifest the softer side of Islam. That
leaves intellectual positions as the criteria for determining who is
a moderate Muslim, and especially in comparison to whom, since
moderate is a relative term.
Both Muslims and the media are generally on the
mark when they identify moderate Muslims as reflective,
self-critical, pro-democracy and human rights and closet
secularists. But who are they different from and how?
I believe that moderate Muslims are different
from militant Muslims even though both of them advocate the
establishment of societies whose organizing principle is Islam. The
difference between moderate and militant Muslims is in their
methodological orientation and in the primordial normative
preferences, which shape their interpretation of Islam.
For moderate Muslims Ijtihad is the preferred
method of choice for social and political change and military Jihad
the last option. For militant Muslims, military Jihad is the first
option and Ijtihad is not an option at all.
Ijtihad narrowly understood is a juristic tool
that allows independent reasoning to articulate Islamic law on
issues where textual sources are silent. The unstated assumption
being when texts have spoken reason must be silent. But increasingly
moderate Muslim intellectuals see Ijtihad as the spirit of Islamic
thought that is necessary for the vitality of Islamic ideas and
Islamic civilization. Without Ijtihad, Islamic thought and Islamic
civilization fall into decay.
For moderate Muslims, Ijtihad is a way of life,
which simultaneously allows Islam to reign supreme in the heart and
the mind to experience unfettered freedom of thought. A moderate
Muslim is therefore one who cherishes freedom of thought while
recognizing the existential necessity of faith. She aspires for
change, but through the power of mind and not through planting
mines.
Moderate Muslims aspire for a society—a city
of virtue—that will treat all people with dignity and respect.
There will be no room for political or normative intimidation.
Individuals will aspire to live an ethical life because they
recognize its desirability. Communities will compete in doing good
and politics will seek to encourage good and forbid evil. They
believe that the internalization of the message of Islam can bring
about the social transformation necessary for the establishment of
the virtuous city. The only arena in which Moderate Muslims permit
excess is in idealism.
Today, the relationship between Islam and the
rest is getting increasingly worse. Muslim militants are sowing
seeds of poison and hatred between Muslims and the rest of humanity
by committing egregious acts of violence in the name of Islam. In
this precarious environment, it is important that everyone finds and
nurtures the many wonderful examples of moderate Muslims one can
still find.
Chandra Muzaffar in Malaysia, Tarik Ramadan in
Europe, Maulana Waheeduddin Khan and Asghar Ali Engineer in India,
Khalid Abul Fadl and Louay Safi in the US, Karim Soroush and
Muhammad Khatami in Iran and many more who are committed to their
Jihad (struggle) to revive the spirit of Ijtihad. Fortunately the
tradition is alive globally; it needs the support and the attention
of all who aspire for peace and understanding.
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