On being a pluralist Muslim
Sukidi Mulyadi, Cambridge, Massachusetts
My spiritual encounters with Christians and Jews in Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University have greatly enriched me as a Muslim. As an protagonist of interfaith dialog who has been struggling for a better understanding of, as well as practical methods for, building religious harmony and pluralism in Indonesia, I have always prided myself on being a Muslim in real direct encounters with people of other faiths in the United States.
Though I have been devout in my Islamic faith, in fact, spiritual encounters with seekers of truth in different religious traditions have enriched my spiritual insights and, it turns out, deepened my Islamic faith as a pluralist Muslim.
My spiritual shift toward being a pluralist Muslim has been a major turning point in the last two months, due to these close spiritual encounters with other seekers of truth. For several years, I have been identified as an inclusive Muslim who has recognized the presence of religious truth and salvation in non- Islamic religious traditions.
This paradigm attempts to open the doors to heaven and God a bit wider in order to allow for the admission of honorary believers who participate in non-Islamic religious traditions. My encounters with other seekers of truth have pushed me to rethink my inclusive Islamic faith in dealing with the issues of religious truth and salvation in different religious traditions.
I began to realize that my inclusive approach to religion, though truly progressive compared to an exclusive outlook, was not enough to stand side by side with other seekers of truth, because I sometimes still believed Islamic faith to be far superior to other faiths. My meeting on World Religions: Diversity and Dialog with Diana L. Eck has inspired me to take a closer look at Gandhi's thoughts on religious truth and salvation. As Mahatma K. Gandhi noted, religions are true, and as such, no one could ever hold a monopoly over truth and salvation.
His belief in both the equality of religions and the fundamental truth within all religions persuaded him to adhere throughout his whole life to the practice of ahimsa: Non-violent, mutual respect and recognition, and civic pluralism as well in modern India. Gandhi has truly inspired me to become a pluralist Muslim in a multicultural society like America.
My Islamic faith as a pluralist Muslim has been deeply shaped by interreligious encounters with many seekers of truth among students of theology at Harvard. The "dialog of faith" shares a deeper and more personal experience.
It allows us to share our personal beliefs and religious experience with great respect and mutual understanding. We see one another as an equal partner, not as having an opposing belief. I began to learn how to understand the Jewish and Christian beliefs from their own sources.
I have also convinced my fellows to understand my Islamic belief and culture from an insider perspective through the very sympathetic statement by Wilfred C. Smith: "Anything that I say about Islam as a living faith is valid only in so far as Muslims can say 'amien' to it." Such a sympathetic approach in the study of religion and interreligious dialog helps us to avoid an authoritarian and imperialistic interpretation of religious belief from the political interests of outsiders.
From the past, we learn how the orientalists became the agents and instruments of the imperialists, and their knowledge about Islam and the orient has served the political interests of western colonialism and imperialism.
Edward W. Said noted that there is no such a thing as pure knowledge, but political knowledge. Power and knowledge are thus closely interconnected in the west in French, English, and American writings on Islam and the Middle East. There has been what Said called "the scandals of scholarship" in field studies constructed academically as Orientalism.
We need to develop the sympathetic approach in the study of religion and interreligious dialog. Our deep and sincere respect for the faith of the others leads us to go beyond our own religious identity. Whatever one's religious identity is, we are all the children of God. He created us equally and showed His love for all of humankind regardless of race, color, identity, and religious association.
It is impossible for Him to discriminate between us just because of our different religious traditions. The many religions are only different ways and expressions to reach the Ultimate Truth. God is One, but has been perceived by seekers of truth in different ways and through different expressions.
Our sacred scriptures have taught us to seek the truth in many different ways and places. It is not about the final journey of finding God, but our honest and sincere intention in such a spiritual journey. The genuine process of a spiritual journey is much more important than the final goal of finding God.
The writer is a student of comparative religion at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA