INTERFAITH DIALOGUE FOR PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE
There are differences in the beliefs of the different religions. However, moral values cut across religions and are a common ground for achieving the goal of peaceful coexistence.
There is a great deal of interfaith dialogue activity happening nowadays. However, what is the true meaning of dialogue?
Some people confuse inter-religious dialogue with inter-religious debate. However, there is a big difference between the two. In a debate, a person advocates a particular position and seeks to prove the other side wrong. Such an approach is not conducive to promoting understanding and tolerance. Instead, it promotes hate and intolerance.
Dialogue, in contrast, is based on the principle of live-and-let-live, of mutual respect. Therefore, one has to acknowledge the other party’s point of view fully and, simultaneously, present one’s view in a manner understandable to the former. In this way, dialogue conduces to peace and harmony, whereas debate produces hatred and distrust.
Given this, we have no viable option before us but peaceful dialogue. In the present situation, this kind of dialogue is essential because human beings have experimented unsuccessfully with the culture of war for a very long time, and now they are left with no other recourse but to experiment with the culture of peace.
Religion has two fundamental aspects—theology and moral values or ethical principles. As far as theology is concerned, there are obvious differences in the beliefs of different religions. However, moral values cut across religions and are a common ground for achieving the goal of peaceful existence. The Quran refers to the common ground between religious communities in these words: “Say, ‘People of the Book, let us come to a word common to us that we shall worship none but God and that we shall associate no partner with Him and that none of us shall take others, besides God, for lords.’” (3:64)
The ethical principles of all religions can serve as a common ground to initiate inter-religious dialogue. However, the present age is an age of global interaction. Now, the whole world has become a global village, and all the boundaries have been merged. In such a scenario, the formula of peaceful co-existence between adherents of different religions, which is based on acknowledging and celebrating the common ground between the religions, is very important.
There is a great deal that Islam shares with other religions. This common ground provides a sound base for a joint platform to establish a new world of peace and tolerance. This fact has been successfully demonstrated by many Sufis, for instance. Using the potential presented by common grounds between religions, they established a rich history of peaceful coexistence between people from different religious backgrounds. Many Sufi hospices were international religious centres for the followers of various faiths. One of the greatest contributions of Sufis was their application of the principle of peaceful coexistence in the field of religion. The secret of the Sufis’ success was that they kept their activities in the non-political field. As a result, they distanced themselves from all kinds of controversies.
The approach of the Sufis can be best expressed in a term that they coined, sulh-e-kul, that is, ‘peace with all’. The spirit of sulh-e-kul needs to be adopted and adapted for the modern age. It is a fact that peaceful coexistence, peace with all, is the only sensible and affordable way of existence in this world.
Many Sufis worked in an age long before the advent of the modern mass media when the means of communication were few and opportunities for interaction were very limited. However, today, in an age of almost instant communications, we have vast opportunities to spread the message of peace worldwide. We can rightfully say that what was earlier possible only at a local or regional level has now become possible to achieve at the global level.
