Plenary address by Anwar Ibrahim at the “Common Word Between Us and You” Conference on Muslim Christian Relations in the 21st Century at Georgetown University on October 7, 2009

[See photos from the event here]

In Love’s Labours Lost, the Bard tells us that:

… when Love speaks, the voice of all the gods
Makes heaven drowsy with the harmony
Act IV, Sc. III

There are few universities that have demonstrated as profound and enduring a commitment to interfaith work and civilizational dialogue as Georgetown. Where there is a clear lack of institutions focused on the nurturing of the ideas and values that would create such understanding between the Muslim world and the West, I commend John Esposito’s vision and commitment in heading the Prince Alaleed Center for Muslim Christian Understanding. Just after the Center was established in 1993 I remember delivering a lecture here on the need for civilisational dialogue where we asserted that the way forward was the pursuit of a convivencia: a harmonious and enriching experience of living together among people of diverse religions and cultures. I returned to Malaysia after that speech inspired by this spirit of engagement and keen to apply it to our Asian context where the prominence of a Muslim-Christian dialogue was of lesser importance to the other major civilizations which intermingled in my country. Within two years hosted the first ever conference on Islam and Confucianism that brought together such intellectual luminaries as Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Tu Weiming and over 1000 participants from across Asia and led to the establishment of a permanent center of Islam and Confucianism at the University of Malaya.

The encounter between East and West has for generations been caught within the vortex of competing essentialisms. Some in the East professed undying adherence to a way of life perceived as superior and more fulfilling thus rejecting categorically any foreign elements. Others overwhelmed by the dazzling splendour of Western civilization forswore their own culture and traditions and condemned their own people for backwardness. The folly of such extremes is apparent to us now. And yet while the civilizing mission of the West is over and forgotten, its legacy remains with us in the form of mistrust and apprehension between peoples and civilizations. A sinister strand of this age-old debate has recently surfaced that pits a violent and anti-modern Islamic world against the enlightened society of the West. One wonders whether after so many years and so many attempts to build bridges of understanding, are we really making any progress?
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From Middle East Online

By John L. Esposito – WASHINGTON

The just-completed Georgetown’s Common Word conference, Oct. 7-8, occurs at a time when the need for serious engagement and cooperation between Muslims and Christians is more urgent than ever.

Islam and Christianity are far and away the two largest global religions (1.5 and 2.1 billion). Muslims and Christians together make up well over half of the world’s population. Today, more than ever before, they co-exist or encounter each other in 57 Muslim countries and in Europe and America and beyond. Despite significant doctrinal differences, they also they share much in common in matters of faith, values and interests. If religion has too often been part of the problem, it must also be part of the solution.

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Kupasan Surah An Nur dan Surah Yusuf oleh Sheikh Ighsan Hendericks tengahari semalam di kediaman saya sangat mengesankan. Majlis dihadiri beberapa teman dan pimpinan parti seperti Dr Badrol Amin, Datuk Nazri Abdullah, Sdr Tian Chua, Sdr Sivarasa dan Sdr Shamsul Iskandar. Menggali tradisi seumpama al Quran al Kareem beserta hadith Rasulullah S.A.W sebagai asas perjuangan menuntut perubahan dan menegakkan Keadilan, kemudiannya disokong pula hujah tersebut dengan pengalaman menentang apartheid di Afrika Selatan, sahabat saya dari Afrika Selatan itu ternyata mengusik sanubari mereka yang hadir terutamanya ketegasan beliau mengenai Keadilan dan Islam tidak boleh dipisahkan.

Kisah Nabi Yusuf yang dibuang saudaranya ke dalam perigi dan kemudiannya dianugerahi Allah Taala kepimpinan demi menjamin kesejahteraan manusia juga menjadi iktibar kepada semua. Sheikh Ighsan menegaskan adalah menjadi satu kewajipan untuk memenuhi tuntutan kepimpinan demi menghapuskan kebatilan serta kezaliman. Kisah ini menyorot saya ketika membentangkan belanjawan 1998 dengan menukilkan ayat 46-48 dari Surah Yusuf. Tujuh tahun makmur dan tujuh tahun yang gersang. Mudah-mudahan kita memperoleh pengajaran untuk sentiasa bersiap siaga menghadapi sebarang jerebu ekonomi.

ANWAR IBRAHIM

From Washington Post

By Fred Hiatt

“Our concern is that the Obama administration is perceived to be softening on human rights.”

If that comment came from a human rights lobbyist, you might not pay too much mind. But I heard it from Anwar Ibrahim, a Malaysian leader who is one of the world’s foremost spokesmen for Islamic democracy — and who is himself under threat from authorities at home. If Anwar says that people throughout Asia and the Middle East are wondering about President Obama’s commitment to human rights, the administration ought to pay attention.

Obama has committed himself to the cause of democracy in every major foreign policy address of his young presidency. He has met with freedom fighters, in Moscow and elsewhere. In announcing Friday that he would accept the Nobel Peace Prize, he saluted, obliquely but unmistakably, the democracy marchers of Tehran and a former Nobel laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, who, for her courageous advocacy of democracy, languishes under house arrest in Burma.

But Obama’s choice last week not to meet with the Dalai Lama, an advocate of freedom, broke with bipartisan tradition and — following several other seemingly small decisions and ambiguous administration statements — reverberated across the globe. In an odd way, it showed the flip side of the willingness that he expressed, especially during the campaign, to meet with the enemies of freedom. (more…)