Monday, May 29, 2012
http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2012/05/moroccan-muslims-and-pluralism.html
Pluralism (Interfaith) dialogue with international delegates. In the last five years I have met religious, academic and civic leaders from Central Aisa, Middle East and North Africa.
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| International Visitors.Interfaith Dialogue with Mike Ghouse |
L-R : Siham Faouzi, Mike Ghouse, Dr. Mariam Ait Ahmed Ouli, Dr. Samir Boudinar, Ed Thomas, Mohammad Ait Rhanimi, Emad Hussein and Dalia Ibrahim. All pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeghouse/sets/72157629941859588/
This is the third group of people I have met from Morocco and I am amazed at the pluralism stories.
Everyone was thrilled and the conversation went from intense to humorous exchanges.The story is same three years ago, I hosted a luncheon for a 12 nations delegation from Middle East and North Africa – they were so excited to talk about interfaith… and one of the assistants of the man who issues opinions (Fatwa) on Islamic matters at Al-Azhar university was delivering the verses from Quraan for every piece of pluralism conversation and I recall the Imam from Oman was incredible in supporting my understanding of Pluralism from Quraan. Some four years ago, my guru Dr. Imam Yusuf Zia Kavakci and I were addressing the Students body at SMU, I was thrilled with the opportunity, same thing happened there, Dr. Kavakci wanted me to address the questions from the students first, and then he would say Brother Ghouse’s statement is reflected in Quraan Verse…
The group was incredible, I told them the story of how I rejected Islam and became an atheist, they expressed curiosity but no judgment and I loved that. Then I shared with them what made me come back to Islam after almost 30 years – it was a verse in the Hindu Holy book, Bhagavad Gita which said, finding the truth is your own responsibility. I shared with them my talk on Scriptural reading at the Parliament of world’s religions, and the powerful Quraan conference held in Dallas – it was a culmination of my research and subsequently my faith, pluralism was the reason I chose Islam.
They did not even flinch when I said, Islam was a choice and I would have been equally comfortable choosing any one of the 10 major religions, the goal would have been the same.
Dr. Ouli, added that the interfaith dialogue should include the “role of religions in pushing knowledge, the knowledge we shared about Quraan 49:13 – the best among you is the one who learns about each other. There is a presumption that by knowing each other and respecting the otherness of other, we can create cohesive societies.
The translators always amaze me, two weeks ago, I had an interfaith conversation with an Imam from China and the translator amazed me with the accurate and moment to moment translations and now Emad Hussein floored me with quick translation of the words like pluralism and wrote for me in Arabic (in the pictures).