Podium: Islam is a religion of tolerance

Akbar Ahmed

From a lecture given by the fellow of Selwyn College, Oxford,

at London's Liberal Jewish Synagogue

AS WE enter the new millennium, we need to think of the world that is forming around us, a world that juxtaposes different cultures, religions and traditions. We need to appreciate that in this world unexpected allies and opponents will be lining up. It is essential to keep before us the one point that links us and provides the greatest bridge between the Jewish and Islamic civilisations: belief.

We need to be aware of this link and move towards each other - not for negative reasons such as the need to ally ourselves against hatred of Islam or hatred against Jews, but because of the common source that nourishes us, the idea of the one God and the examples of the great Prophets.

Whatever its critics say, Islam is above all a religion of compassion and tolerance. As a Muslim, I am proud of this great legacy and heritage of Islam, and it is this sense of pride that prepares me for the troubled times ahead, as the planet itself, beset by ecological, economic and demographic problems, seems on the point of exhaustion.

In sharp contrast is the anti-Semitism prevalent in Europe. Christians widely believed that Jews were Christ-killers and so had to be punished. Christian crusaders against the Muslims often began their European journeys by slaughtering Jews. European history is drenched in Jewish blood. Hitler's Glaubenskrieg - the war against Jews as a people - was the culmination of a millennium of anti-Semitism. It has rightly come to be seen as one of the darkest stains on the human conscience.

Anti-Semitism is far from dead in Europe today. As a Muslim I know that whenever there is evidence of Islamophobia, or hatred against Islam and Muslims, the signs of anti-Semitism are not far behind. Perhaps it is this generalised anti-Semitism that has prompted Jewish intellectuals to yearn for the ordinary life, to be left alone to get on with their lives. That is what traditional Jews hoped to find in Israel.

But there was the reality of having to deal with another ancient people already living there, the Palestinians. Forced expulsion from their homes, and countless other humiliations, are at the core of the present tragedy between Jews and Muslims. The irony is that in the Middle East neither civilisation is able to live fully in the ways either of the Torah or the Qur'an because of their intense and violent confrontation.

Just as there is anti-Semitism in society, so there is Islamophobia, which is pervasive and dangerous and influences people at all levels of society. These critics cite terrorist outrages or isolated infringements of human rights while completely ignoring the extraordinary achievements of Muslim civilisation, such as the architectural wonders of the Taj Mahal and the mosque in Crdoba, and the many and varied contributions to the arts, science and engineering.

The general hatred against Muslims brings consequences. There is a cause and effect. We have seen this in the Balkans only recently. The death and rape camps in the Balkans and the outside world's general indifference to them served as a reminder that Islamophobia is very much alive and with us. I want to put on record that in the anguish and anger felt by Muslims over the Balkan horrors, perhaps the most notable sympathisers were the Jews. It was obvious that the sufferings in the Balkans echoed their own terrible sufferings half a century before.

Muslims must, therefore, stop seeing everything negative that happens in the Muslim world in terms of a Jewish conspiracy. It is patently not.

By the same token, Muslims cannot be anti-Semites. The early Muslims - the Arabs - were themselves Semites. Anti-Zionism is a separate matter. Having been founded in modern Europe, Zionism is seen as a foreign import to the Middle East. Its success in creating Israel complicates matters for Muslims. Thus the loss of Palestinian lands are seen with a sense of injustice and anger among Muslims.

It would be foolish to think there can be a quick end to the confrontation that exists between religions and nations today, unless Muslims feel that some genuine sense of tolerance and compassion is shown towards the Palestinian people; unless Muslim rights to one of their holiest cities, Jerusalem, are acknowledged; and unless the sense of hostility expressed in the media is checked.

Muslims, Jews and Christians must find a way of living peacefully together. If we cannot think in terms of our common noble religions as representing the ideal, then let us think in terms of our common cultural heritage. Let us try to live up to the best they can achieve, and look away from the baseness and violence that is sometimes expressed as part of the response.