Islamic foundations amid pluralism

Sukidi, Graduate Student Ohio University, Ohio, sukidioslo@hotmail.com

The discourse on religious pluralism is a relatively new phenomena in religious studies. For a long time, many scholars have paid attention to the importance of religious understanding among religious believers. Unfortunately, religious exclusivism is often a major cause of much of the world's civil unrest and religious conflict. Therefore, religious pluralism will function as a mainstay for religious harmony among religious believers.

By definition, religious pluralism is the notion that all religions constitute varying conceptions of the Ultimate Reality. To understand the concept of religious pluralism more clearly, it has to be compared with two types of theological discourses; exclusivism and inclusivism.

Firstly, let us begin with the question; who is to be saved and allowed to go to heaven? In the Christian religion, for example, the exclusive theology answers that there is no salvation outside of Christ, who is the only way to go to heaven. To support this idea, I quote from the Bible, which very clearly teaches that Christ is the only way to salvation. Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Peter told the Jewish leaders, who where very unwilling to accept the supremacy of Christ, "salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12) ... everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved".

For many Christians, these verses seem to elevate the Christian faith above all others as Jesus is claiming that he is the only way to salvation. This is probably the most common belief of Christians in the world today. Exclusivists regard their own faith tradition as the only completely true religion. Other religions, according to the exclusivists, are largely false, wrong, and are often viewed as rivals to the one true religion.

Each religion also tends to claim a truth and salvation in its own belief because of the "accident of birth" rather than other factors. Christians, will argue Christianity is the only way of salvation. Muslims will argue Islam is the only way to heaven. Thais will argue Buddhism is the only way of salvation to attain Nirvana, while Indians will generally argue Hinduism is the only way to attain Brahman, etc.

The claim of truth and salvation among religious believers generally evokes religious conflict around the world. Religious conflicts between Christians and Muslims in Indonesia are one of the best examples of truth-claims among religious believers. In the Catholics theological reformation, the exclusive theology has been revised into the inclusive theology through Conciliation II at the Vatican in 1962-1963.

Let's return to the question above: Who is to be saved and allowed to go to heaven? The inclusive theology would open the doors to heaven a bit wider in order to allow for the admission of honorary Christians who participate in non-Christian religious traditions.

Unlike the exclusive theology, the inclusive theology does not view other religions as false and wrong. But, other religions are viewed as incomplete or partially developed faiths and are seen to be on an unequal paradigm.

Religious pluralism is a more radical conception than exclusivism and inclusivism. All religions, according to this concept, are legitimate so that religious pluralism gives an affirmation of validity to every religion. Religious pluralism accepts that all religions have their own way to heaven. The great religious traditions in the world are largely due to the different ways in which single transcendent reality is experienced and conceived in human life.

In the modern era, we live in a religiously plural world and consist of Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Sikhism, Taoism, etc. Because of religious equality, every religion has a different way to go to heaven as well as the different way in defining the Ultimate Reality. Therefore, religious pluralism is the theory that the great world religions constitute varying conceptions of, and responses to, the One Ultimate Reality. The Ultimate Reality is actually the only One God.

Since the One God is perceived and conceived in different people, the One God has been given many names; Jesus is the ultimate in Christian belief, Allah in Islam, Brahman in Hinduism, Nirvana in Buddhism, and so forth. Thus, God has many names in connection with the conception of religious believers in all religious tradition. Religious pluralism teaches us to tolerate other religious beliefs in order to maintain religious harmony among religious believers.

From my point of view, it is important to present an Islamic perspective on religious pluralism by referring to the authentic sources of Islam, the Koran and the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad. Both the Koran and Hadits have clearly affirmed religious pluralism as the law of God. It is impossible to work against it.

Islam, as the Koran has affirmed, is the religion that admits the rights of other religions to survive and retain their belief system. The Koranic acknowledgment of these rights, in my point of view, is considered to be the foundation for religious pluralism. The awareness of religious pluralism signifies the continuity of the principal religious doctrines from one prophet to another, with no exception, or distinction from one another (Koran, Al-Baqarah: 136; An-Nisaa: 163; Al-Jathiya: 16-18).

Islam serves as the foundation of religious pluralism. Therefore, religious pluralism is one of the best concepts to maintain religious harmony among religious believers in the world today.