Riding the Interfaith Express… have we checked the destination?

Welcome once again to those who have accepted my invitation to visit and share your thoughts here. It is good to have you.

During my internet search for suitable people to invite to this blog, I was taken by surprised at the number of organizations worldwide that are dedicated to the aspect of “interfaith” activities.

Not only is this done at local level, even the United Nations is involved in some way or other. Governments are actively involved in promoting this phenomenon.

The time is overdue, I believe, for us to pause, sit back, take a deep breath and reflect on this?

The storyline is very simple. There is great diversity in our religious beliefs and practices. This is a fact. In society there are times when people act violently or disparagingly towards others. This too is a fact. We are told that this is due to “religious intolerance” or prejudice. This is a theory that is presented as fact. Based on this we find hundreds of organizations springing up ostensibly to help people understand each other so that these unwanted acts may no longer happen.

Another objective of “interfaith” discourse apparently is for us to get to know each other’s faith. It appears that attempts are made to understand other faiths, and in so doing discover some “common ground” between them, study these and then work towards formulating a code of practice that in some way incorporates the essential aspects of everyone’s belief. In this way we all become as one.

Let us begin by examining the first.

Who becomes a member of such groups if not people who are already tolerant of the views of others? They are the ones who are prepared to meet and discuss and work with people of different beliefs. Those who really need to learn to interact with other groups usually never join, and if they do, because of their “disruptive” ideas, are usually the ones that are kicked out.

The very people that need to be there are the ones that are explicitly excluded. There is no hope ever of these groups solving the problem of religious intolerance. In fact, the intolerance displayed by members of such groups to those who are perceived as being “intolerant of others” makes the whole situation farcical.

Intolerance of others by some will always be a fact of life. Religion is not the only factor. Social standing, education, assets, physical appearance popularity, nationality, race are all factors that separate us and which form the basis of “intolerance”.

We do not solve the problem of intolerance by bringing together people who are already tolerant of the views of others. We solve this problem by strengthening the existing religious institutions (not dismantling them), fostering the bond of family (the building block of society), by ensuring proper and relevant education (not destructive indoctrination with politically motivated ideologies) and by developing a system that ensures swift and efficient justice.

None of this is possible in a slave world. This only happens when people are free. This objective can therefore not be met under the prevailing political environment and neither is the problem of intolerance solved by these interfaith groups.

Let us look briefly at the second aspect, where we come together, understand each other, and formulate a code of practice “respectful of all groups present”. Have we actually stopped and asked ourselves what is actually happening here?

Those of us who have a close association with God are convinced that our belief and practice is God ordained (we act in terms of God's guidance to us, not on some arbitrary personal preference). We practice this “religiously” to gain God’s blessing. If we are right, there is no need to make any change to our practice. If we are wrong, and someone else is correct, then we have to adopt their practice so as to obtain the blessing of God since we only obtain Gods blessing if we act according to His guidance.

If we come together and make up our own practice by bringing together practices from different faiths, we are now creating our own religion. We are no longer worshipping God but ourselves.

Those who think and act in this way have not truly “found” God, do not appreciate that true “religious” practice is God inspired and do not understand the need to heed Gods advice as a means of earning God’s pleasure, and are, at best, nominal members of a faith, if at all.

The danger here is that these people may cause their confusion and lack of true faith to confuse and mislead those of faith who are not learned enough to recognize such people. They serve not to promote interfaith cohesion, but faith destruction. Such groups serve the fanciful egos of those who actually have no true connection with God.

An organization that is true to interfaith discourse is one which shows its respect of other beliefs by respecting the other person’s determination not to have his belief challenged or interfered with in any way. Working together is not about having common ground in belief, but common ground in issues that are of common concern. Our faith and its practice can never be on the agenda. We accept as a given fact that common ground exists between our practices because we believe all are originally inspired by God. We do not need to meet to spell out the similarities.

If the stated purpose of the group is to learn about the faith of others, then they are being deceptive, since everyone with a little common sense knows that we learn about a faith from the source material, not the fallible people who are always getting things wrong. If I truly wanted to learn about Islam and I chose to learn this from Muslims, I would never be a Muslim today, and I am quite certain the same applies to other faiths as well. These groups become a forum where one persons part perception of his supposed faith is debated with another person’s distorted version of his supposed faith, and in the end everyone leaves with no faith at all.

These groups therefore serve as a platform for the eventual destruction of ones association with God. They should more correctly be called the “out – er – faith groups”.

Let us examine the aspect of interfaith studies as manifested in the practice of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

A close and pious companion, Umar (RA) obtained a few pages of the Torah, and when Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) saw this, his displeasure was evident. He explained that if Prophet Moses (PBUH) was present, he too would have followed the teachings as God had revealed to them (and by implication, not that which was in the pages he held).

He was making it clear that we do not need to study all the old texts, because God had crystallized the essential teachings for all mankind and for all time. Our duty is to try and learn and understand this properly, rather than wasting precious time with older and outdated texts, without this in any way intending to be any disrespect to them. They are teachings from God also, but the latest edition was the most relevant, and we have hardly enough time to study, understand, and apply this alone, without having to incur the added burden of studying the teachings which have already been rescinded.

From this we can deduce that interfaith studies which encompasses the study of older religious texts for what ever purpose was not sanctioned by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

When Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) migrated to Medina, and established the first “state”, a treaty was entered into with the other major group in Medina, the Jewish community, which laid down many guidelines not least of which was measures to ensure their mutual freedom and safety. Such “interfaith” activities, therefore, are supported.

Interfaith groups help bring together tolerant people who can work with others. This is good as a start, but to be of any real relevance, it must form the platform for political change that will bring about our freedom and so bring an end to a myriad problems that beset us.

Through these forums, people who are capable of living and working with people of different faiths need to use this new found unity to overcome our common problems, and the highest on the list is the need to replace our slave like system with one which ensures freedom for all.

If it becomes a substitute for political action, or acts to prevent participation at the political level, or worse, joins with the political establishment to preserve and protect it in return for small favors, then we are best served by excluding ourselves from them.

One aspect of interfaith discourse has seen different groups coming together to “solve” social problems, such as by way of hunger relief. The danger here is that the perception is created among the masses that this is how we solve these problems. The true solution lay in addressing the cause, not the manifestations. Slavery in its diverse ways has the effect of creating the poverty and starvation that we see. When we feed the starving, we are actually hiding from view the evil manifestations of our slave like system.

We solve the problem by ending the slavery. Feeding them makes us feel good, but is not the solution. If we are honest that our actions are a stop gap measure, then plans to end the slavery have to be a part of our strategy. If not, then we are no longer a part of the solution, we have become a part of the problem.

We must not paint all groups with the same brush; some may involve people sincerely trying to learn about other faiths. If this applies to you, my advice is to approach a reputable institution of that faith, get a list of recommended reading material, and obtain these from libraries of that faith, or over the internet. When faced with questions, bring these to a recognized learned elder of that faith. This is the responsible way of learning about God’s teachings.

The views of the man on the street regarding people of other faiths is influenced not by seeing clerics of different faiths working together, but by his personal relationship with members of other faith of a daily basis. His view is not affected by what these clerics mouth in public, but by what is said in the relative privacy within the walls of the places of worship. If we truly wish peace between people, the clerics must spell this out from the pulpits and the mimbars. There is no need for public displays of “unity”.

When we become a part of “interfaith” groups, we need to clearly define why we join and what we hope to achieve. There is a danger that these groups may be as great a threat to those of us with true faith in God as the problems we are trying to solve, if not greater.

The devil always makes his deception appear appealing to us.

We, the true believers in God (of every denomination), must exercise extreme care and caution lest this vehicle becomes the Trojan horse of our time.

Until next time (God willing).