Can Southeast Asian Muslims spearhead interfaith dialog?

Nazry Bahrawi, Singapore

When Australian-based Muslim scholar Prof. Abdullah Saaed delivered a series of lectures in Singapore last month, he verbalized an important point, which challenges the fallacy that Muslims are a monolithic bunch, when he rightly pointed out that what is considered Islamic changes depending on the contemporary ideas and values subscribed to by a specific group of Muslims in a certain context.

A meeting of minds recently between leading regional Muslim leaders and thinkers in Jakarta lends credence to Prof. Saeed's astute observation. Jointly organized by the International Centre for Islam and Pluralism (ICIP) and the European Union (EU), participants in the two-day seminar spoke out against equating the notion of da'wah to aggressive Islamic proselytization efforts in light of current global conditions where increased religious militancy among Muslims is often misconstrued as being sanctioned theologically.

Instead, Muslim scholars at the seminar have come to a resounding consensus that the propagation of Islamic teachings should be centered on shared values between different faith communities, and thereby form the basis for constructive inter- religious dialog.

Herein lies an affirmative trend on the uptake. In the spirit of contextualizing Islamic teachings, the move towards establishing an inclusive and value-centric worldview is gaining currency amongst contemporary Muslim leaders in Southeast Asia. In parts of the region, manifestations of this inclusive Muslim worldview have given birth to some encouraging pragmatic initiatives.

In Singapore where Muslims make up a sizable minority community, the Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP) has been holding monthly closed-door sessions with key members of Singaporean society, regardless of race or religion. They deliberate upon pertinent issues like increased religiosity and secularism. Volunteers at Darul Arqam Singapore, a non-profit outfit that looks after the welfare of new Muslims, have also been proactive in organizing a series of exchange programs with members of the Archdiocese Catholic Methodist Association (ACMA) and the Buddhist Lodge in a bid to better understand their counterparts.

Even non-Muslim institutions are getting into the act. Think- tank bodies like the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) and the Institute of South East Asian Studies (ISEAS) have held seminars that feature renowned international Muslim scholars like US-based Prof. Ibrahim Abu-Rabi' and Malaysia's Chandra Muzaffar, both of whom spearheaded lively discussions with participants on how Muslims can live amicably alongside practitioners of other faiths in contemporary times.

On the regional front, delegates to the Regional Islamic Da'wah Council of South East Asia and the Pacific (RISEAP) at its 12th General Assembly held in Sarawak earlier this year, unanimously acknowledged that inter-faith dialogs were important platforms that could improve relations between different faith communities in their respective countries.

Optimistic developments are also taking place across the causeway in Malaysia where Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, who also chairs the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), encouragingly exemplified the true spirit of religious harmony when he delivered an emotional speech urging Muslims and Christians to "work together for the sake of peace and justice". Badawi made the speech during a week-long conference held by the World Council of Churches in Kuala Lumpur just days before officially opening the RISEAP conference, despite dissenting voices from conservative factions within the Muslim community.

Despite these positive developments, the violent social unrest in Southern Thailand indicates that things are not all hunky-dory yet in the Malay Archipelago. Before inter-religious initiatives can enhance ethnic and religious harmony though, such outstanding sensitive issues, arising from tense socio-political relations in parts of Southeast Asia, need to be given much more serious attention from members of ASEAN. Once such bread-and-butter concerns have been addressed and resolved, the presence of a vibrant interfaith culture could ideally transform Southeast Asia into a model region where diversity is respectfully acknowledged and commonalities widely celebrated.

The writer is the managing editor of two Muslim magazines published in Singapore.