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| Mustafa
Ceric, Grand Mufti of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina
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By
Dina Rashed, IOL Chicago correspondent
CHICAGO,
July 4 (IslamOnline) - Members of the Muslim World League (MWL)
delegation met with Chicago’s interfaith community on Tuesday evening,
July 2, to discuss the prospects of cooperation between Muslims and
non-Muslims inside the U.S. and internationally.
The
dinner concluded their three-day leg to the city, as part of their tour
to four major U.S. cities. For almost three hours, activists, religious
scholars and the delegation held a lively discussion in an attempt to
convey a clear message of peace, cooperation and understanding between
followers of Islam and people of different religions.
“Our
mission is not political; our mission is religious, social and cultural.
Islam calls for tolerance and cooperation, there is no coercion in
religion,” said Dr. Abdullah Al-Turki, MWL Secretary General and
president of the delegation.
“We
believe in our differences but again we have to emphasize commonalities.
We think that there will still be problems and extremists within every
society, but if we seek cooperation for what is beneficial to all I
think we will live in a better world,” Al-Turki told members of the
National Conference for Community and Justice, trustees of the Council
on Parliament of Worlds’ Religion, and leaders from the Chicago Muslim
community.
Rajindar
Singh Mago, of the Sikh Religious Society of Chicago and a trustee of
the CPWR, questioned the restrictions against opening Sikh places of
worship in some countries.
Al-Turki
answered “We are not here addressing each particular country but in
general we ask the human family to look into the common issues and to
work together on them. We shall not mix politics and religion together,
because this may lead others to abuse religion for their own political
aims. We have to let others have their own rights to practice their own
religion, but also they have an obligation to listen to the other
opinion.”
Mazhar
Ahmad, a prominent member of Chicago’s interfaith community noted that
the mission of the delegation should be an endeavor carried on a more
popular level.
“Interfaith
work should be a grass-root effort, we can not have conferences and
meetings and call it interfaith work,” she said. Ahmad also stressed
the crucial role of Muslim women in carrying out the message of dialogue
and compassion, in a time when the West mistakenly accuses women to be
subdued and oppressed under Islam.
Despite
the numerous attempts of the delegates to frame the nature of their
mission as non-political, it was inevitable to discuss the current
situation of in Holy Lands and how intricate the relation between
religion and politics in the Middle East.
Speaking
on the issue of inter-religious tolerance, Mustafa Ceric, Grand Mufti of
the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina pointed out that significance remains
to be when and how practices of tolerance are exercised.
“Islamic
tolerance is not to be proven in Mecca and Medina because over there we
are all Muslims. Christian tolerance is not in Vatican because everybody
is Christian there. I am not sure that Judaism can prove its tolerance
in Washington, but it has to prove its tolerance in Palestine. Muslims
have to prove their tolerance in East Timor and Christians have to prove
their tolerance in Bosnia-Herzegovina,” said Ceric.
He
added that all followers of the Abrahamic faith should feel ashamed for
the degree of violence and bloodshed witnessed in the Holy Land.
But
Sydney Helbraun, Rabbi of Beth El conservative congregation in the
suburb of Northbrook, said that at the time when Muslims speak of
practices of intimidation and discrimination against them in the West,
and while the government of Israel is not totally blameless of the
deteriorating situation in the Middle East, Jews around the world feel
that the existence of one third of their total population is threatened.
He
blamed Muslim religious leaders who preach moderation and tolerance for
not speaking out enough about violence from the other side, saying that
they hold a responsibility to openly state their positions.
Dr.
Kamal Abulmagd, a member of the delegation and Commissioner for
Civilizational Dialogue of the Arab League, responded by saying that
although there are extremists within every faith, the situation with
Muslims is different since all Muslims are usually held responsible for
irresponsible acts of a minority especially after the events of
September 11.
He
clarified that the core of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not
religious in nature but a political one, and warned of the increasing
signs of anti-Semitism in Europe for instance. According to Abulmagd
such signs are more worrisome than those manifested in Arab or Muslim
countries and attributed it to Israel’s policies towards the
Palestinians. He also said that U.S. policies are gaining an increasing
level of discomfort within the Arab masses who do not find the U.S. fair
enough to mediate in the conflict.
The
delegation’s mission in Chicago has been fruitful and promising, said
Dr. Ahmad Lemu, President of the Islamic Educational Endowment in
Nigeria. As he concluded the meeting, he put the responsibility to
enlighten the political leaders and to answer misconceptions about the
faith and its followers on the shoulders of Muslims and non-Muslims who
know about the real teachings of Islam.
The
Council of Islamic Organization of Greater Chicago, which facilitated
the MWL mission has been actively promoting grass-root interfaith
dialogue and opening channels of communication with U.S. government
officials to better serve the Muslim community in Metropolitan Chicago
and defend their rights, long before September 11.
The
MWL mission compliments and supports the efforts taken by thousand of
American Muslims in North America individually and collectively under
the leadership of national organizations such as the Islamic Society of
North America.
The
MWL delegation will carry out similar activities in Washington D.C. and
in Los Angeles, in the coming ten days.
