‘The world needs to find solutions to their problems in religious texts’

The world needs to peruse religious texts to finds solutions to the problems created by globalisation in this modern age, said the participants of the International Seerah Conference 2020, which opened on Saturday.

The theme of the two-day conference is ‘Prophetic Teachings: Peace, Coexistence & Reconciliation’, and it has been organised by the Seerat Chair, Faculty of Islamic Studies, University of Karachi. The programme is being held at the Professor Salimuzzaman Siddiqui Auditorium, International Centre for Chemical & Biological Sciences, KU.

Expressing his views at the inaugural ceremony, United States Consul General in Karachi Rob Silberstein, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said that the significance of KU sponsoring the conference cannot be understated.

Quoting the Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Silberstein said the Father of the Nation always talked about equal rights for different minority communities living across Pakistan, adding that minorities in the country have been living peacefully with complete freedom.

“With 52,000 students, and graduates succeeding in fields from physics to politics, the arts, the sciences and religious scholarship, the University of Karachi has an important role in shaping the intellectual tapestry of this nation and our world.”

He said that promoting religious freedom has always been an important part of the US foreign policy because it is a foundation for peace and prosperity.

He also said that both the countries had recognised the high importance of religious freedom when their representatives had signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Together with almost every other country, the two agreed that a high standard was needed to protect the human rights of the people of all faiths, he added.

Silberstein said that the incentives for us to work together to build societies that respect religious freedom are great. A society that accepts and embraces diversity in religious thought creates space for economics, trade and people to prosper and thrive together, he added.

“I commend the efforts of the Seerat Chair and particularly the KU vice chancellor to promote a deep understanding of Islam and of other religions. Your quest for diverse religious perspectives is building a strong foundation for your students and your country’s future.”

Pursuit of peace

Acting VC Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood Iraqi said KU has organised the history-making two-day International Seerah Conference based on interfaith cooperation in pursuit of peace and harmony, with the hope that a positive message will be spread around the world.

He said that delegates from the continents of Asia, Africa, Australia, North America and Europe are participating in this grand event to present their papers and share valuable views to support the cause of global peace and fraternity among various societies.

“Seerah conferences and seminars have been an old tradition for Muslims all over the world, including Pakistan. It is a matter of particular pride for me that KU is organising this Seerah Conference, which is unique in that it is for the first time in our history that this event is being attended by scholars of Islam and other notable faiths followed by a large population of the world.”

He said the event will communicate a very positive message to the world with regard to coexistence founded on peace and respect of the beliefs and faiths of one another. This spirit of sitting together for interfaith dialogue will pave the way for developing a sense of acceptance through reconciliation, he added.

Iraqi said that modern highly-advanced scientific technologies, despite numerous discoveries and inventions, remain unable to shrink the gap between major religion-based societies of the world. As a matter of fact, he added, there is a large-scale political and social decline in many communities due to hesitation in coming forth for dialogue.

“Today, at a time when communities in the world are obviously divided on the basis of race, region and religion, there is a massive need for all the nations on this planet to ensure practical measures to respect religions and beliefs of one another, and develop an environment of acceptance and fraternity. This spirit of understanding among nations and communities is of key significance for the peaceful survival of the entire humanity.”

Globalisation

Delivering his keynote speech, Prof Dr Ioan Dura from Romania said that the social reality of the 21st century offers a new framework in which religions and cultures are situated and we can refer to it as globalisation.

He said that this socio-economic dynamic determines that we rethink the dimension of a specific religious identity and its relation to otherness under a double aspect: either a closure in one’s own values up to the extent of isolationism or an exit from one’s own identity towards understanding and accepting the other. He added that the religious morphology of today is one of the substrates of religious pluralism.

New solutions

Prof Dr Dan Chitoiu from Romania said that spiritual practices, as they are made in diverse religious contexts of today, can offer new solutions to the social, cultural and political challenges.

He said that spirituality understood as practice following a particular religious tradition and aiming at personal and community betterment has the ability to develop empathy for the other: somebody pursuing a spiritual practice can recognise the similar needs of any other human.

“For this ability to be effective, an understanding is required of the self and of the other, i.e. a form of wisdom, something not theoretical but acquired by effectively following a spiritual path. To reconcile can have many meanings, from reconciling individuals to reconciling neighbourhoods, communities, entire countries, or even reconciliation with your own self. Reconciliation without empathy is just a formal act having no real value, just a temporisation of tensions and crises.”

Moulding minds

Bushra Iqbal Malik from Germany informed the audience that influential Prussian German philosopher Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative as an unconditional moral law for the will’s choice of action represented ethical voluntarism. She discussed how teachings mould the minds and thoughts in different schooling systems in different societies and parts of the world.

She shed light on how teachers and writers affect the thoughts of students and readers, and discussed why hatred and war enter society, how speech and writings grasp human minds, and how good deeds and happiness dissolve in hate and anger.

She said that modern anthropologists and sociologists say that power is often preferentially bestowed, it is not natural. “Hate is not a cultural or natural thing, and there will be a discussion for finding the difference between hate and greed. The difference in a steadfast commitment to moral principles varies with the condition under which anything has any worth.”

She said that intelligence and pleasure are worth having only under some conditions, and these notions require giving up one’s fundamental moral convictions. The value of goodwill changes their morals in certain conditions, which is difficult for maintaining definable goodwill, she added.

Interaction

Marina-Roxana Cretu from Romania said that the world of the 21st century inevitably lies in the dynamics of interaction between religions. The way in which religious cultures interrelate within pluralism is one of the major challenges of today, for which we must articulate concrete solutions, she added.

She said that the effort is not a singular one but a common one to establish the parameters in which peace will govern in a pluralistic world.

She also said we should aim to explore the dimensions of peace — peace with ourselves, peace with the other, peace with God. A reconsideration of peace on these three vectors offers an integrative solution in minimising religious conflicts, she added.

Dialogue

Prof Dr Jamal Malik from Germany said that trying to conceive Seerat as a field to reflect on ways for meaningful dialogue in the light of the need for a hermeneutical shift in Muslim historiography we have to develop some approaches as to how to develop an intra- and inter-religious dialogue in the context of Pakistani cultures.

He said that the German Council of Science & Humanities, the leading advisory body in the German Education Policy, in 2010 recommended the establishment of degree courses in Islamic studies at German universities to allow theologians, imams and, above all, Islamic religious studies teachers to be trained.

He also said the council considers rationality to be essential. The newly established centres of Islamic theology in various German universities reflect the need for such a paradigm of rationality, which is of the utmost importance for meaningful dialogue and integration, especially in the wake of the return of right-wing parties in German political culture, he added.

Evil

Uzegbu N Rosemary from Nigeria said that scholars have described evil as a perennial and an insoluble problem, and that humanity has become a victim.

She said evil, wars, quarrels and hostilities have always existed since Adam and Eve were chased out of the Garden of Eden, but what globalisation did was to introduce new dimensions, intensifying its pattern, form and propensity.

She added that the contemporary world is bedevilled by all sorts of conflicts, wars, quarrels and hostilities, and torn apart by divisions within and without.

Prof Dr Imtiaz Ahmad from the US, Dr Moulana Shabbir Ahmed from Australia, Prof Dr Michal Val o from Slovakia, Mustafa Mehmood Hussain Sha’ban from Egypt, Amina Talek and Yousuf Talek from Thailand and others also spoke on the occasion.