Let's be conciliatory rather than contentious
People who consider themselves religious often seem to have this destructive yet predictable habit of engaging in the relentless pursuit of being argumentative on virtually every aspect of any discussion on religion, writes Sadullah Khan.
Agree to disagree agreeably
People of faith are supposed to be people of akhlaq, people of ethics. It behooves people of faith to more than believe in the importance of ethics, it requires sensitivity to the ethical implications of our decisions, our actions and reactions. It is significant to exercise the use of the most basic universal ethical theory, often referred to as the Golden Rule or the Rule of Reciprocity; "desire for others what you desire for yourself" or " treat others as you would like to be treated"
Endless issues and unnecessary contempt
Whether it be the 'Eid issue, the celebration of Moulood, the Mi'raj or Ruwa issue or the Mazhab issue (there are so many to pick from and the list seems endless); we should by now have matured enough to acknowledge the fact that on many issues intelligent people of character may hold differing perspectives.
While it is most appropriate to advocate and defend one's own views with passion, it is illogical and unethical to reflexively treat those who have differing views as enemies. Worse still is to hold those who disagree with us in contempt or to suspect them of disbelief thereby intensifying our hostility towards them, legitimizing our demonization of them and making them targets of our vengeance. It is as demeaning as it is unfair to be insulted by people of one's own faith who jump to erroneous conclusions about one's views. It is even more disgusting when they unleash irrational anger and outright viciousness with an air of moral supremacy.
This kind of moral arrogance ravages our relationships with distrust and hatred, eventually coarsening our communities by replacing civil discourse and common courtesy with name-calling and hatred.
Builders or wreckers
In many Muslim communities there is often the tendency to misconstrue differing perspectives as opposing forces, the tendency to divide the community into enemy camps over secondary issues rather than uniting them on greater common issues, the unfortunate tendency to be wreckers rather than builders. Let us reflect on the following poem about a person observing a demolition team in action.
I watched them tearing a building down
A group of men in a busy town
With all their might and a great big yell
They knocked the beam and the wall fell
I asked the foreman if those men were skilled
Like those usually hired to build
Laughingly he replied "No, indeed
Just common unskilled labor is all I need"
These wreckers can wreck in a day or two
What it takes builders years to do.
Now ask yourself if you are a builder who works with care
Contributing to the community you share
Or are you a wrecker who walks the town
Content with the habit of tearing things down?
Narrowly defined self-interests is our major problem
Many of us have unfortunately become adept at pointing out flaws in others and highlighting unseen (often unfounded) dangers of associating with those who differ with us. Such attitudes emanate more from the challenge posed to our vested interests than from any imminent danger. Remember that any decision to act; however seemingly ethical, is bound to be weakened by a sanctimonious, over critical, judgmental or self-righteous attitude.
The vast majority of our internal battles are as a consequence of dogmatism and narrowly defined self-interests of differing religious groups. We have made that universal, ever relevant Islam a cause of major conflicts by infighting over insignificant issues. We turn minor points of jurisprudence into major ideological conflicts; sadly, all this in the name of Islam.
Let us make a resolution be genuinely more loving, more respectful, more accommodating of each other; and less hurtful,
less demeaning and less confrontational.