Samfund:
To
my Western Muslim brethren
and to all my Fellow Citizens
OUR
SHARED PRESENT AND FUTURE
Af
prof. Tariq Ramadan, Geneve
The
world is in a state of shock; everything has all of a sudden changed.
The worst can be expected. After
the initial astonishment and horror of the terrorist attacks, one tries to
understand: Who are the fanatics? How does their network operate? What is Islam? What
must we say? What must we do?
I feel, with a sense of urgency, the need to share publicly some
thoughts with all people of faith, my Western Muslim brethren and my
fellow citizens of the West. In doing so, my hope is that together we
become truly aware of our deep responsibilities in light of the
circumstances. Contrary to public perception, the future dialogue amongst
civilisations would probably be at stake within our own societies.
The starting point for such a dialogue is to first and foremost condemn, unequivocally
and without reservations, the terrorist attacks, no matter who was
responsible for it. It would be unfortunate if this condemnation was only
followed by as sense of dread of a backlash and stigmatization.
What I am most afraid of is that Muslims will end up wallowing in a
state of victimisation: either to feel rejected as guilty suspects or to
consider themselves as sorry victims of permanent amalgam.
Of these sad alternatives, one has to free oneself completely.
The tragic incidents in the United States are forcing all of us to
look at our reflections in the mirror with a greater scrutiny, and to stop
attributing the fault to the "other".
The aftermath of these events has demonstrated once
again the degree to which we, Muslims of the west, are isolated in spite
of our fifty-year presence. Only a minority of Muslims engage in our
discourse of civic responsibility in the United States and in Europe, the
majority is socially and culturally marginalized. At the slightest
misfortune of events (yesterday
it was the Rushdi affair and today it is the terrorist attacks)
we see fissures, suspicion and a ghetto mentality emerge quickly.
We must speak out
Following September 11th, the temptation, to isolate oneself
even more, is great; but wisdom invites us to do exactly the opposite.
It is today that one has to assert one’s presence, to speak up
and express oneself, to explain the Islamic faith, its spirituality, its
values, and its requirement for justice and peace.
More than ever, one should not use the binary logic of "us"
and "them"; instead, one must be involved in one's respective
society in partnership with those who share a concern for social justice
and a respect for the diversity of opinions, be they religious communities,
humanists, or otherwise. This commitment to work with our fellow citizens should be
accompanied by a clearer message. We cannot, under the pretext of not
wanting to hurt "our brothers", continue to engage in unclear
and contradictory rhetoric. One
has to dare to denounce dictatorial powers as well as reactionary group (who
call themselves Islamic) by
ridding ourselves of thoughts and actions
which legitimize violence and terror and which disfigure and defame
our religion.
At
the same time, we are in need of a real community dialogue among the
Muslims. We are aware of the
diversity of our thoughts, but do we realise how little we actually know
of our differences and how little we speak to each other? We have lost the sense of critical discourse and the culture
of dialogue that so enriched the heart of Islamic Civilisation and within
it thrived, and in which we are so poor today. Our struggle for power
dishonours our heritage; our divisions among the schools of thought and
our disputes are undignified and are examples of a conduct unbecoming. United only where and when we have to react against adversity,
we must learn to work together in times of peace.
Living
in the West, honour obligates us to never forget the people in the
southern regions of the world and the injustices that they suffer; our
ethics of citizenship demands that we call to task our governments and
remind them to uphold the Principles of “liberty and justice for all”.
We must ask them to terminate relationships with dictators and encourage
pluralism and democratic rights in all countries. We, the people of the west who even today engage in
ongoing struggle for justice at home, have a past and present history that
invites us to be the voice for the voiceless.
Mutual trust and respect is required
With equal passion and determination, I want to share with my fellow
western citizens that we will succeed in giving life to a true pluralistic
society only with a continuous and concrete effort.
Mutual respect and trust are required, much more than tolerance, to
listen to the other and to come to a mutual understanding.
To be successful in this endeavour, we must begin by examining
basic things; for example, our school programs do not always reflect nor
do they inculcate the new paradigm necessary to establish a pluralistic
society; furthermore, too many of our fellow citizens are satisfied with
superficial explanations and hasty judgements. It will be impossible to
live together while simultaneously ignoring each other.
Our societies have changed and each one of us should make the
effort to get to know one's neighbours better, to transcend the media
"after effects" which do not say much about any of us and
when they do, they say very little about our convictions and hopes.
In
times of suspicions
It would not be wrong to say that Islam is misunderstood.
Muslims should be the first to take the responsibility for this
perception, but it is also necessary that all citizens refuse to accept
the constant caricatures and simplifications. In the torment of these last
weeks, very positive signs have been noted.
Intellectuals and many media outlets have, unlike what we had
witnessed during the Gulf war, been searching for ways to explain, and to
demonstrate the perverted effects of simplistic and hasty conclusions.
We have to acknowledge that, internalize it, and continue along
this path.
In
times of suspicions, one should not mistake who is the enemy.
The worst case scenario would be to create a new type of racism or
an emotional Islamophobia. Some Muslims have had to face bodily injuries, to endure
insults and have been subjected to discriminatory acts because of the fact
that they looked "too Arab", because of their clothing or simply
because they are Muslim. In
our efforts to improve security, there is a tendency to put the most
vulnerable under surveillance; we forget those who are engaged in
questionable activities and who are often protected by the thickness of
their wallets: kings, princes, and businessmen. They represent a too great
an economic interest for the finger to be pointed directly at them.
Unfortunately, it is exactly in this environment that the shadiest
of financial transactions take place. The overwhelming majority of Muslims
have nothing to do with such shady financial transactions or with violence.
Islam
and the West
I would also like to ask my fellow citizens not to become blinded by the
emotional shock to the point that they no longer see the profound
evolution which has been sweeping the Muslim communities in their midst
for some years now. The
progress has not been a media event, it has been slow, but it is real.
Increasingly the second and third generations Muslims are claiming
simultaneously their Muslim convictions and their Western culture. As
upheld by the constitutions of their counties, they defend citizenship,
call for openly asserting their identity and promote "an American or
European Islamic culture".
During my last visit to Canada and the United States this
summer, like the last few years in Europe, I have witnessed these
transformations that are signs of a path to maturity.
Will we know how to commit to face the challenge together and to
bet on "living together “? In
the end, the future of our planet will in a large part be shaped in the
heart of our own societies. We
have been warned of the doom of "clash of civilisations”, but it is
up to us to create spaces of common commitments, to refuse to accept an
interpretation of the world which is dangerous and manichean.
Our best answer to respond to the logic of war or "one against
the other", which appears to be a caricatural confrontation between
the "West and Islam", is to experience the exchange and the
mutual richness of everyday existence in our cities and neighbourhoods.
We
need each other
Contrary
to first glance appearances, we have in common many universal values.
Islam calls upon us, in standing before the Creator, to have
respect for one another, to love our neighbours, and to support those in
need. Nothing can legitimize the terrorist attacks and the deaths of
innocent people. Citizens of
all persuasions and affiliations, it is time to escape from our
intellectual and social ghettos, time to learn to approach one another in
each other's complexity, and to respect the differences without
compromising the fundamental principles of pluralism, justice and equality.
This is the theme of this article : take the necessary risk to
promote critical self examination and to have the humility to recognise
that one is paralysed and can neither hope nor do anything without "the
others".
Tariq
Ramadan, professor of Philosophy and Islamic studies, University of
Fribourg (Switzerland), and College of Geneva
Author
of :
* To be a European Muslim,
1999, Islamic Foundation, UK
* Islam, the West and the Challenges of Modernity, 2001,
Islamic Foundation, UK
©
Tariq Ramadan, 2001
Ovenstående
artikel har været bragt i dansk oversættelse i POLITIKEN den 10. nov. 2001
med titlen "Islam må ud af isolationen".
