Scholars prefer religious dialog to Islamic proselytization

Scholars prefer religious dialog to Islamic proselytization

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Departing from the concept of disseminating Islamic teachings
(dakwah) with the purpose of converting people from other
religions, Muslim scholars here agreed over the weekend that a
departure from that method could in fact open up the possibility
of an inter-religious dialog.

Speaking at the conclusion of a two-day seminar jointly
organized by the International Center for Islam and Pluralism
(ICIP) and the European Union (EU), the scholars stressed that
the propagation of Islamic teachings was actually an invitation
to the message and discourse about Islam and did not involve
conversion.

Scholar Imtiyaz Yusuf of Bangkok's Assumption University said
in the midst of religious militancy that tended to alienate and
anger people from other religious beliefs, the time was right to
remind Muslims that the Koran indeed teaches about religious and
cultural pluralism.

"Through the Koran, God plans to build a peaceful coexistence
between societies... besides, there should be no coercion with
regard to a religious conversion," Yusuf told the seminar, adding
that Prophet Muhammad prohibited all attempts to force people to
believe in Islam.

Islamic militancy has come under the spotlight following a
series of terrorist attacks worldwide, including Indonesia, which
have largely been blamed on Muslim groups such as Jamaah
Islamiyah.

Yusuf said the cross-cultural dakwah aims to present the
message of Islam to humanity in a comprehensive manner, and
should not be restricted to mere politics.

"Its cross-cultural dimension also requires contemporary
Muslims to expose themselves to learn about other religions and
cultures they encounter each day," he said.

Fellow scholar Maarof Haji Salleh of the Institute of
Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore said that a dakwah had
to be conducted democratically.

"It (the propagation of Islamic teachings) has to respect
differences and freedom of choice. Muslim scholars should not
have the view that Islam is superior to other religions," he
said.

He said that dakwah must take into account the fact that
there are many people with other religious beliefs.

Ahmad F. Yousif of the University of Brunei Darussalam said
that respect for pluralism should not be confined to clerics who
propagate Islamic teachings. "We also know that there are
Christian groups that attempt to convert other religious
believers. We must not repeat their mistakes," he explained.

In their recommendation, the Muslim scholars also said that
respect of other religious beliefs could start from educational
institutions by teaching students about all the different
religious beliefs in the world.

"It would be better if schools at all levels taught students
about all the religions in the world," ICIP executive director M.
Syafii Anwar said while wrapping up the seminar.

Muslim scholars who took part in the seminar also agreed to
strengthen their ties in the future to bolster efforts to promote
pluralism.

The scholars also called on the media to be more sensitive to,
and less prejudicial of, communities with a different religion or
ethnicity. "The media is a powerful vehicle to perpetuate wrong
perceptions about certain groups in the community. In the
Philippines, the villain in all the movies is always a Muslim,
and people, in general, tend to take that for granted," stated
Carmen Abubakar of the University of the Philippines.

Syafii said recommendations from the seminar would be relayed
to over 2,000 Islamic boarding schools (madrasah) across the
country, so that the message could reach the largest possible
number of Muslims who regularly promulgate Islamic teachings.

Dialog -- Page 6