Tolerance and interfaith relations
Radwan Al Sayed
Lebanese writer and thinker
Pope Francis believes in the seriousness and usefulness of good, consultative and dialogue relations between religious bodies and institutions, international organizations and leaders of states. This has been explained by six things: First: to get out of historical religious and political conflicts, which were caused by political and strategic conditions and referred to religion, and the memory should be cleared of them.
The second is the confrontation of the existence, rivalry and phenomena of "the return of religion", which has caused a revolution in all religions, although its degrees varied, as did Protestants, Muslims, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists. The trends of militancy that have emerged require religious officials to speak with representatives of the mainstream stream or mainstream in each religion, in order to identify commonalities that will enable them to confront and absorb violent extremism and nonviolent dialogue.
Third, the pursuit of common denominators should be the result of a deep conviction of the existence of universal or universal ethics, the thesis advocated by Catholic theologian Hans Küng in the early 1990s in his famous trilogy: There is no peace in the world except in peace between the great religions, There is no peace between major religions except through dialogue.
There is no dialogue except on the basis of the conviction that there are great moral values and values in religions. Fourthly, it is necessary to win young people and women, and all groups that are discriminated against, including the hardliners, so that dialogue and consultation become a global, comprehensive and non-partisan responsibility.
Fifthly: the need for global civil society, and the United Nations working commissions, to converge and not to conflict with such issues as hunger, poverty, asylum, environmental degradation, disease and epidemics.
The sixth, for which dialogue is a humanitarian and strategic necessity, is to influence political leaders in safeguarding basic freedoms, the human right to dignity, decent life, citizenship and participation.
If these six aspects are the essentials for choosing dialogue and consultation, the value of tolerance in the eyes of the Pope is useful in the area of departure. Tolerance has been very useful in the past centuries, because it is the value that leads to self-esteem and other selves, either to share the truth and salvation, or to convince the main parties that they do not monopolize the divine truth and humanity.
After the Second War, philosophy supported the notion of tolerance that encouraged dialogue when it entered the line of recognition of the other's beliefs, sensibilities and humanity. Tolerance has thus taken on a new dimension, after non-discrimination, so that deliberation and consultation become equal in terms of human value and privacy rights to the human person. This is a challenge to the monopoly of Western culture on the meaning of civilization and civilization, and a challenge to the unilateral religious or national state to determine what is true in religion or politics.
Muslims have entered the files of dialogue, ethics and tolerance of the great churches, especially the Vatican in the eighties of the last century through the purposes of the law and its five necessities, and through dialogue values and ethics in freedom, justice and peace. But the 1990s and beyond were decades of wars, devastation, extremism and violence, even through the writings of Huntington and Fukayama, and through the actions of al-Qaeda Fadash, as if it is a conflict between Islam and the world. Therefore, with the coming of Pope Francis carrying the thesis of internal reform in the Church as a way to regain control in the field of the worlds and visited several Arab and Islamic countries, the most important of which is Egypt and Al-Azhar, it received an immediate response from Arabs and Muslims. After the year 2015, the year of mercy came 2016, and his message in the rights of neighborhood, hospitality and asylum in 2018.
In all these stages and stations was Islam, and Muslims were present in the Pope's thinking and work and visits and receptions of Arab and Muslim religious leaders. The pope was still aware of the challenges facing Muslims and realized the dangers of isolating them from the peace and security of the world. He opposed many in his rush to Muslims, even embracing asylum and emigration issues, although half of the European governments, including the Italian government, became anti-immigrant.
However, senior Arab and Muslim leaders, senior religious scholars who responded to the Pope and to the World Council of Churches were also aware of the major problems facing Islamic moderation in the Arab and Muslim countries and in the world. Therefore, since 2010, there have been conferences and programs to confront extremism and terrorism, to communicate with Arab Christians and to hold conferences with them, and at the same time to the world of major religions outside the Islamic world. The variables needed by religious institutions have been grouped into two terms: qualification and qualification. Qualifying by changing structures and ideas, gaining deeper knowledge of the times, the world, globalization, communication, and its impact on young people. And the rehabilitation of a new discourse in the Muslim community deals with the identification of true religion, and deals with relations with the world or with the other internal and global.
One of the pillars of this discourse was to focus on the issues of citizenship and the functions of the national state, and to consider the city's book and experience as an example of the constitutional state, the state of citizenship and pluralism. When the Council of Elders and the Forum for the Promotion of Peace began to work on the issues and rights of non-Muslims, or peace with the world, the horizon for tolerance and recognition widened, and the knowledge and familiarity of the Qur'an was moved forward.
The Government of the United Arab Emirates includes two ministries of happiness and tolerance. Tolerance, as a universal demand, is an Emirati demand. The country has more than 200 nationalities, and members of these nationalities follow dozens of religions and cultures. Conciliation is necessary for peace, stability and coexistence among people. We know that there are dozens of temples in the UAE for people of other faiths. The state also issued a three-year law to combat discrimination and religious hatred. The security services also announced a list of extremist organizations and organizations in the world. In order to secure people and alert the international community to the dangers of leaving these associations acting and working to incite hatred and violence or to transform terrorism. The State and its various ministries have embraced dozens of conferences for tolerance and peace. The United Arab Emirates and its working institutions are among the biggest supporters of the United Nations commissions and efforts to combat poverty, disease and environmental corruption.
The ministry of happiness has a special philosophical concept. In classical philosophy and Islamic philosophy, the goal of the political system is to achieve happiness. This requires the establishment of a good society. Therefore, some considered that the virtuous state or utopian city is utopia. John Rolls, the author of "The Naturity of Justice" (1971), supported this belief that a virtuous society or a community of good is not the work of the state, but the work of the state is to achieve political and judicial justice. National and international civil society. Many have argued and denied that utopia can not be realized; because good and justice have a close relationship, and in the state of participation, both things or values are realized; this is the ambition of the United Arab Emirates.
Pope Francis comes to the United Arab Emirates with his messages and deeds for justice and peace, the fight against poverty, the destruction of the environment, the corruption of the media, his friendship and love for Muslims, and his hope to participate in the progress, peace and security of the world.
The Pope finds in the UAE this vast area of peace, security and coexistence among people of religions and cultures. He also finds justice, mercy and happiness, and finds that the auspicious state proclaimed the world 2019 as a year of tolerance; while 2018 was the year of Sheikh Zayed, founder of the federal state, This spirit of good, civilization, peace and human humanity.