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