How to build a bridge: Obama's mission

Picking up from where I concluded my last post, President Obama's quote about dusting ourselves off is inspiring. As a lover of history, I understand that in order to comprehend our own present and plan our future, we need to have a total understanding of history. History repeats itself. The bridge of communication that President Obama is promoting is adherent to the dreams and hopes of Muslims across the globe, including yours truly.

When President Barack Obama landed in Ankara, Turkey on April 6, 2009, he came with a mission and a statement: "the importance of Turkey, not only to the United States, but to the world." Why Turkey? Because of its strategic position as a crossroad between East and West lying across two continents: Asia and Europe, its rich heritage, its blended ancient tradition with modernity, its membership in NATO, and its Muslim majority.

Turkey's rich heritage goes back many centuries when it rose in 1299 as the Ottoman empire that assumed the leadership of the Islamic world until World War I. It was able to rule over three continents during much of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: its' territory expanded to Southeastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and North Africa. Ottoman leadership was called in the Arabic curricula that I studied back home,the "High Door," reflecting an authoritarian environment. As the empire started to weaken, it started to lose territories. On the eve of its downfall in 1923the empire became "Europe's Sick Man."

Modern Turkey rose when Kemal Ataturk established the republic of Turkey in 1923, but it wasn't until after World War II that Turkey enjoyed a multiparty democratic government. In 1952 Turkey joined NATO, and in the 1980's it applied for acceptance in the European Union, an ongoing debate. In 2005, Turkey and Spain initiated the "alliance of civilizations," a forum that looks into the roots of polarization between societies and cultures. American members of this alliance include Professor John Esposito and Rabbi Arthur Schneier.

Hence, when Saudi King Abdullah initiated an interfaith conference last year, he chose Spain for its historical significance as a lighthouse of Islamic history and religious toleration. Arabs have traditionally been famous for the wealth of literature they produced. Many of their poems and prose lament over the ruins of past civilizations and dear losses. I feel this weeping crave coming to me as I think back of the past of our Muslim civilization; its rise and fall. It seems to me that both King Abdullah and President Obama are aware of the significance of the two cities they had chosen and who knows, maybe a beacon of hope is glittering somewhere in the hazy horizon of our present.

So President Obama sees an ally in Turkey and has great hopes to turn it into a great opportunity to mend differences with the Muslim world and bring back America its popularity in the Muslim streets. But you may ask: what? America was ever popular in Muslim lands? Yes. Muslims and Arabs look up to what America stands for. They love the freedom, rights, civility, and order that makes up America. But they dislike wars and bombs dropped by American F-16s on the heads of innocent Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq. Even though Muslims are no longer united under the leadership of the Ottoman empire, they still hold brotherly bonds amongst them. They sort of have their own "NATO" rules: an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. That is why they dislike American politics, but not the American people by any means.

Back to my passion for history, I am glad to see world leaders like the Saudi king and our president going back to history and aspiring for some insights. I need to polish my memory in this regard, but for now, President Obama is confident about his visit to Turkey. He hopes it will shape the strategies to "bridge the divide between the Muslim world" and the West. To this I say Amen..

Tolerance: A Compromise and not a Concession

Let me take you through a leap from Madrid to Texas, where a local newspaper, Star Telegram, had published one of my letters to the editor.

Here is part of what I wrote:

“Spain had a history of more than 800 years of Islamic rule ending in 1492. The Islamic civilization of Andalusia led Europe out of the Dark Ages with lighted and paved streets, public libraries with tons of volumes, hospitals and universities. That civilization granted tolerance among neighboring Muslims, Christians and Jews most of the time. The Jews enjoyed unprecedented rights under Muslin rule, leading to the Golden Age of Judaism where a great philosopher, like Maimonides, re-adopted classical philosophy.”

A couple of readers left me comments on the newspaper’s website. Basically, they agreed to the historical facts that Muslims had a great civilization. However, they criticized the present status-quo of repression inside our Arab and Muslim countries, where, those American readers said, tolerance did not exist.

At least my readership agrees with me on some common grounds. They did not change history and deny that Islam brought a life-changing civilization. They would probably be surprised to find out that there are a lot more in common between us than they realize. This blog exists partly to put those common things under the spotlight, and then build a bridge of communication.

Tolerance is a subject of debate surrounding Islam and Muslims. So what is tolerance anyways?

Tolerance in Islam, a basic principle and a religious moral duty, is the respect of the rights of other people who differ with our own beliefs or practices. It is not overindulgence in the others’ beliefs or concession of our principles in front of the other. It does not mean accepting aggression while keeping a big comfy smile on the face. It is simply a comfort zone of acceptable compromising to beliefs and practices that are not our own, as long as the essence of our religion is not at stake.

In practice, Muslims have a present crisis in tolerating one another as well as non-Muslims. Ignorance and overreactions to differences are the reasons and conflict and division are the results. But that is not an excuse to deny the authentic teachings of Islam that promote equality, unity, tolerance, and peace. It just means we all need to work harder to correct people’s attitudes (with peace and love) so that the whole world can coexist peacefully.

The dialog must keep flowing.

Viva Espana!

I have never been to Spain before and I surely miss on a great opportunity.

In the eighth century, Muslims ruled this part of the world for almost six hundred years. The Muslim caliphate brought Spain as well as the rest of Europe (and consequently the world) out of the Dark Ages.

Under Muslim Spain, Christians, Jews and Muslims lived side by side with toleration and peacefully coexisted. Jews further enjoyed their Golden Age of Judaism in Andalusia ( Muslim Spain) and reported enjoying rights no other Jews anywhere else enjoyed at the time.

No wonder the Saudi King Abdullah chose Spain, a historical sanctuary of freedom, for an interfaith conference.

Read on to find out more about July 2008 Interfaith Conference in Madrid.