Interreligieuze dialoog - wahhabi-stijl

22 juli 2008    Lees de reacties   

Op de van 16 tot 18 juli 2008 in Madrid gehouden Saoedische World Conference on Dialogue stellen Saoedische notabelen hun islamitische ethiek ten voorbeeld aan de wereld, die moreel in verval zou zijn. Gelijktijdig met de conferentie rijzen uit een studie van het Amerikaanse Center for Religious Freedom ernstige vragen op over de Saoedisch-wahhabistische moraal ten opzichte van de ‘anderen’.

“Moreel verval van de wereld”

Op initiatief van de Saoedi-Arabische wahhabistische organisatie Muslim World League vond van 16 tot 18 juli 2008 in Madrid de World Conference on Dialogue plaats. Een kleine 300 deelnemers uit ruim vijftig landen, vele verschillende religies in de wereld vertegenwoordigend, bogen zich over het vraagstuk hoe godsdienst kan bijdragen aan het keren van het “moreel verval” in de wereld. Zoals de initiatiefnemers het in een voorafgaand statement stellen:

”...mankind suffers from family disintegration and moral decay, environmental pollution, wars and conflicts…”

“Morele kracht van de islam”

Directeur Nihad Awad van de in Washinton gevestigde Council on American-Islamic Relations – gelieerd aan de Muslim World League – leverde een belangrijke bijdrage aan de organisatie van de conferentie. In zijn paper The State of Morality in the World Today and the Need for a Common Code of Ethics bewierookt Awad de morele kracht van islamitische samenlevingen als alternatief voor de morele teloorgang in de rest van de wereld, met name de Verenigde Staten. Enige “politieke en economische instabiliteit” in de moslim-wereld ten spijt, bieden volgens Awad islamitische samenlevingen met hun nadruk op familieleven een goed voorbeeld van sociale stabiliteit en openbare moraal:

“The Muslim world and Middle East, though sometimes politically and economically unstable, provide a good example of social stability and public morality. At the core of society is the family, and strong family values are at the heart of Muslim society and the Islamic religion. This creates a sturdy, wholesome foundation on which to build a healthy society.”

“A new language into the Islamic religious discourse”

Deelnemer Michael Lerner, een progressieve maar in eigen kring nogal controversiële rabbi van de Beyt Tikkun Synagogue in San Fransisco, steekt in een persoonlijk verslag zijn enthousiame over de conferentie niet onder stoelen of banken: My Talk with the Saudis, and What I Learned from Them:

“The overwhelming majority of people in the room were leaders from Muslim countries around the world. It appeared as if they were the King’s primary audience. He was introducing a new language into the Islamic religious discourse, and it was a language that has in the past largely been rooted in Western humanism and human rights. Many Muslims in the room mentioned to me or to others that they felt that this speech was actually a significant breakthrough, because the King is one of the more influential figures in Islam, since his role as “Protector of the Two Mosques” (in Mecca and Medina) gives him immense influence in the Islamic world.”

“Imperative to expand on the verses calling for compassion”

Veel kritischer is de redactie van de website Political Islam op de conferentie terug: A Country Failing its King (pdf). Reacties in de Saoedische media leveren weliswaar positieve lippendienst aan het initiatief voor deze conferentie, maar gaan er aan voorbij dat aan een inter-religieuze dialoog een intra-religieuze omslag vooraf moet gaan, waarin radicale interpretaties van de islam worden vervangen door een vredelievende benadering van andersgelovigen. Political Islam citeert de kritische Iraaks-Britse oud-medicus en intellectuele activist Abdul-Khaliq Hussein:

“Hussein calls for a campaign to stimulate a cultural awakening among Wahabi clerics, leading to a rational re-interpretation of the religious texts. He points out that there are as many verses in the Quran calling for brotherhood and forgiveness as there are calling for violence and the extermination of non-Muslims. It is imperative in schools and other institutions to expand on the verses calling for compassion and forgiveness and to drop the violent verses from the discourse. These aggressive verses were, Hussein argues, the product of the time and no longer apply in the modern world.”

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Studie: hardnekkige intolerantie jegens andere religies

Ongeveer gelijktijdig met de conferentie publiceerde het Amerikaanse Center for Religious Freedom of the Hudson Institute een rapport over de hardnekkige intolerantie jegens andere religies in schoolboeken van het Saoedi-Arabische ministerie van Onderwijs. Het rapport 2008 Update: Saudi Arabia’s Curriculum of Intolerance (pdf) vergelijkt educatief materiaal uit het schooljaar 2007-2008 met dat uit een vergelijkbare studie in 2006. Het blijkt dat dezelfde gewelddadige en intolerantie opvattingen ten opzichte van andere religies nog steeds voorkomen in de nieuwe versies van het onderwijscurriculum. De strekking is dat ongelovigen, zoals christenen, joden en moslims die niet de Wahhabi-versie van de Islam aanhangen, “vijanden” zijn. Wereldwijde jihad wordt in de ministeriële tekstboeken gepromoot als een “inspanning om strijd te voeren tegen de ongelovigen”.

Hieronder: Voorbeelden uit het Saoedische onderwijsmateriaal

Selected Quotes:
2007-2008 Textbooks of the Saudi Ministry of Education

􀀁 “The Jews and Christians are enemies of the believers, and they cannot approve of Muslims.”
􀀁 “The clash between this [Muslim] nation and the Jews and Christians has endured, and it will continue as long as God wills.”
􀀁 “He (praised is He) prohibits killing the soul that God has forbidden [to kill] unless for just cause… [such as] unbelief after belief, adultery, and killing an inviolable believer intentionally.”
􀀁 “Major polytheism makes blood and wealth permissible.”
􀀁 “Building mosques on graves is an expression of polytheism” [Condemns Shiite practice]
􀀁 “The punishment for homosexuality is death.” …“Ibn Qudamah said, ‘The companions of the Prophet were unanimous on killing, although they differed in the description, that is, in the manner of killing. Some of the companions of the Prophet stated that [a homosexual] is to be burned with fire. It has also been said that he should be stoned, or thrown from a high place. Other things have also been said.”
􀀁 “In Islamic law, however, [jihad] has two uses: One usage is specific. It means to exert effort to wage war against the unbelievers and tyrants.”
􀀁 “In its general usage, ‘jihad’ is divided into the following categories: …—Wrestling with the infidels by calling them to the faith and battling against them.”
􀀁 “In these verses is a call for jihad, which is the pinnacle of Islam. In (jihad) is life for the body; thus it is one of the most important causes of outward life. Only through force and victory over the enemies is there security and repose. Within martyrdom in the path of God (exalted and glorified is He) is a type of noble life-force that is not diminished by fear or poverty.”
􀀁 “As cited in Ibn Abbas: The apes are Jews, the people of the Sabbath; while the swine are Christians, the infidels of the communion of Jesus.”
􀀁 “The decisive proof of the veracity of the Protocols [of the Elders of Zion] and the infernal Jewish plans they contain is that the plans, plots, and conspiracies they list have been carried out. Whoever reads the protocols – and they emerged in the 19th century – will realize today how much of what they described has been implemented.”
􀀁 “You can hardly find an example of sedition in which the Jews have not played a role.”
􀀁 “The new approach to the crusades took several forms, including …[t]he establishment of schools. They founded many schools in the Islamic world at various educational levels. These include: the American Universities of Beirut and Cairo, the Jesuit University, Robert College in Istanbul, Gordon [Memorial] College in Khartoum, and others too numerous to mention.”
􀀁 “[Baha’ism] is one of the destructive esoteric sects in the modern age… It has become clear that Babism [the precursor to Baha’ism], Baha’ism, and Qadyanism [Ahmadiyyaism] represent wayward forces inside the Islamic world that seek to strike from within and weaken it. They are colonial pillars in our Islamic countries and among the true obstacles to a renaissance.”
􀀁 “Lesson goals: The student notes some of the Jews’ condemnable qualities”

^{Over dit Hudson-rapport, zie ook: New Report Shows Saudi Ministry Textbooks Still Teach Extreme Intolerance en Saudi schoolbooks teach piety, hate.}