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Dr. Moin Qazi is a well-known banker, author and journalist. He holds doctorates in Economics and English. He received an Honorary D Litt at the World Congress of Poets at Istanbul in 1991. He is author of several books on Islam including bestselling biographies of Prophet Muhammad and Caliph Umar. He writes regularly for several international publications and was a Visiting Fellow at the University of Manchester. He is also a recipient of UNESCO World Politics Essay Gold Medal and Rotary International’s Vocational Excellence Award. He is based in Nagpur and can be reached at moinqazi123@gmail.com [/symple_box]
Man has all along struggled to ensure human dignity and equity without discrimination and bias. The message of Islam, on the other hand, has consistently and universally promoted human rights and freedoms as fundamental for human development. In Islam, the origins and implications of human rights are supported by the revelations in the Qur’an, God’s promise and message to all of mankind. The Qur’an is meant to be universal, and clearly speaks to all of humanity: “O mankind! We have created you from a single (pair) of male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other. Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is the most pious of you. And God has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things)” [Q49:13].This single Qur’anic verse is alone a testament to the foundation of diversity and pluralism in Islam. It is important to note that in the above mentioned verse, God is addressing all of mankind not just one kind; stating that all of humanity is one, created by the One.
Islamic literature is full of injunctions about the centrality of an education based on ethics and proper ends. Individual responsibility, when it comes to communicating, learning and teaching is central to the Islamic message. Muslims are expected to be “witnesses to their message before people”, which means speaking in a decent way, preventing cheating and corruption, and respecting the environment. Integrity in politics and the rejection of usurious speculation in economics are principles that are pushing Muslim citizens and scholars to explore new avenues that bring public life and interpersonal ethics together.
The Islamic tradition does not inherently commend any particular form of government. The diversity of governance and participation models in both contemporary Muslim-majority nations and in Islamic history attests to this. What the Islamic tradition does commend in the socio-political sphere is the practice and exemplification of certain values, including equality of all individuals, the respect for diversity and the respect for the communal whole.
A striking example of the pluralism’s central values is found in Islam’s earliest socio-political context, the city of Medina under the leadership of Muhammad. Muhammad came to Yathrib (later renamed Medina) to act as an arbitrator among various warring factions in the city. His leadership role and socio-political vision was subsequently outlined in the Mithaq al-Madinah, the Contract of Medina.
This contract placed all groups within the city into a mutual alliance in which they agreed to protect the city, to come to the aid of allies, and to embrace Muhammad as a political and military leader. Notably, this alliance was in no way contingent upon religious affiliation or homogeneity. There was no obligation to adhere to the religious rites practiced by Muhammad, and in fact, religious communities were explicitly granted rights to autonomy and self-determination.
Among all the scriptures of the theistic religions the Qur’an is unique in that it sets its worldview within the context of divine Oneness and human diversity, including the plurality of religions. Furthermore, it regards religious diversity as one of the signs (aya>t) of God, second in importance to the “creation of the heavens and earth.”(Q 2:213 and 5:48) The Qur’an does not directly and categorically deny the validity and truth of any religion. Rather it is concerned with individuals and nations and their faith (Imām), or rejection of faith (kufr) in God, witnessing (shahādah) to His Oneness (tawhīd) and acceptance of humankind’s accountability before Him on the Day of Judgment.
The Qur’an presents its view of religious pluralism in a somewhat progressive manner. In a preliminary statement it simply enumerates the religions known to the Prophet’s listeners and leaves the question of their truth for God to judge on the Day of Resurrection. It states: “Surely those who have accepted faith [that is the Muslims], those who are Jews, the Sabaeans, the Christians, the Magians and those who have associated other gods with God, God will judge among them on the Day of Resurrection. God is witness over all things.”(Q. 22:17)It should be observed that the verse under consideration first lists the legitimate religions and then mentions those who associate other beings or things with the worship of God alone as people without a legitimate religion. God says, “We did aforetime send messengers before you. Of them, there are some whose story we have related to you, and some whose story we have not related to you.” (Q40:78.)
The Qur’an mentions only twenty-five prophets. Five of these are called Ulu al-‘Azm (prophets of power or strong resolve). They were sent by God as messengers not only to their own people, but to all of humankind.7There is no great difficulty in identifying such prophets in the monotheistic traditions, namely Judaism, original Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Arabia before Islam.
The Quran asserts that monotheistic religions derive from the Divine: “The same religion He has established for you is as that which He enjoined on Noah — and what We now reveal to you — and enjoined on Abraham, Moses, Jesus, saying, ‘Establish the religion and do not become divided therein'” (Q42:13).
The Qur’an further states, “Say, ‘We believe in God and in that which He has revealed to us and to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, the descendants and that which was revealed to Moses, Jesus and that which was revealed to the prophets from their Lord, We make no difference between one and another and we bow in submission to Him'” (Q2:136).
Thus, the Qur’an makes the belief in all the prophets — from Adam to Noah to Abraham to Moses to Jesus — incumbent upon Muslims. All those prophets should be respected, as should their followers. The Quran instructs, “Help one another in benevolence and piety, and help not one another in sin and transgression” (Q5:2). As such, Muslims are spiritually prohibited from oppressing the adherents of other faith groups. Thus, killings, mutilation, burnings, discrimination and violence against minority religious communities by Muslims is wrong.
Next, Islamic doctrine provides for religious freedom. The Qur’an states, “Let there be no compulsion in religion” (Q2:256) and “Will you then compel mankind, against their will, to believe?” (Q10:99) Neither the Qur’an nor the Prophetic tradition demands of Jews and Christians that they give up their religious identity and become Muslims unless they freely choose to do so. This is a categorical command, not a statement of fact.
Maulana Rumi wrote, “I do not know whether I am a Christian, Muslim, Jew or a Zoroastrian. I do not know if I belong to the East or the West. I do not know if I am Indian, Chinese, Bulgarian, Iraqi or Afghani. I do not know if I have an appearance or not; whether I have an existence or not. I do not know if I am a body or soul. But I do know my soul is the soul of souls. When I put my name with the Lord’s, I saw the Universe as One. I see One, I sing One, I read One and I know One”.
