Muslim, Buddhist leaders forge ties to promote interfaith relations

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- A Muslim politician and a local Buddhist group have taken the first step in fostering interfaith relations between the two religions.

<< Malaysian Muslims were upset that a prayer room (surau) of a holiday resort was used by Buddhists to conduct prayers and meditation.

The duo - Parit Buntar Member of Parliament Mujahid Yusof Rawa and a leader in the Buddhist Vajralink Movement, Sherab Wong - noted that to promote relations, individuals and associations must continue "healthy, positive and proactive" dialogue.

"Each religion must be proactive in ensuring their members understand the meaning of respect for each other and totally avoid extremist views which are of no benefit in a multiracial society," they said in a statement.

They pointed out that in recent times, interfaith relations have become challenging particularly when questions about sensitivities of either faiths were not addressed, adding that this would undermine the relations.

They referred to the surau issue in Kota Tinggi, Johor, as an example.

The manager of the resort had allowed a group of Singaporean Buddhists to use a surau at the premises for their meditation. The incident had caused an uproar among Muslims and the manager was detained by police on Sunday to assist in investigations.

"This happens when there is no sense of sensitivity among certain quarters which would result in heightened tension between the different religions," they said.

Both men asserted that the element of respect for one another has faded over time while the multiracial fabric of society continues to be threatened.

"What is worrying is that certain quarters are taking advantage of the matter to further incite this fragile situation by causing hatred between religions."

In an attempt to defuse the situation, the two leaders urged Malaysians to look at the Federal Constitution which states that Islam is the official religion of Malaysia but there is freedom of religion for other faiths.

They called on the authorities to act on those who purposely create hatred among citizens, stressing that they needed to be firm in their actions against those who deliberately hurt religious sensitivities, regardless of who they are.

"The police should be independent of any political influence, and work hard to eliminate the rising crime in our midst," they said.

"The past incidents were not real serious problems between two religions but made to appear as such by those who harbour ill motives for their own personal interest.

"We hope everyone can view the current issue with a matured, open mind and heart so that our thinking and actions are not influenced or tarnished by irresponsible parties," Mujahid and Wong said.

Mujahid is a chairperson of Southeast Asia Inter-religious Dialogue for Peace, which has links in Indonesia and Thailand.

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Muslim council meets Buddhist high priests on halal matters

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Colombo, Sri Lanka -- The Mahanayakas (Buddhist High Priests) of the Kandy Malwatte chapters met a delegation of the Sri Lanka Muslim Council (SLMC) yesterday morning and discussed the issue arising from the issue of Halal certificate, ‘Colombo Gazette’ reported.

The Mahanayakas were briefed by the delegation led by the President of the SLMC N M Ameen on the concerns of the Muslim population as a result of the tensions that have arisen in the country following stiff opposition being raised against the Halal certificates being issued by the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulema (ACJU).

The SLMC had said that Sri Lankan Muslims wish to co-exist with all other communities in the country and in response the Mahanayakas said that efforts should be taken to strengthen the ties between Buddhists and Muslims in the country.

Objections have been raised by some Buddhist groups including Body Bala Sena (BBS) and Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) to the Halal certificate being issued by ACJU in Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, ‘The Nation’ reported that if problem persists, the ACJU has expressed willingness to handover Halal certification to the government, giving a twist to the Halal controversy after they met the Chief Prelate of the Malwatta Chapter Ven.

Tibbatuwawe Sri Sumangala Thera who had called upon the ACJU members to remain calm and preserve the long standing friendship between the two communities.

“He referred to the Halal issue citing that an amicable agreement could be reached easily through dialog.”

“The ACJU is willing to co-operate with the Parliamentary Sub-committee appointed to look into the issue but however feel that the issue of Halal certificate is blown out of proportion.”

The member said adding, “Due to the many problems that have arisen, the certification could be handed over to the SLS or the Ministry of Religious Affairs.”

‘The Nation’ also reported that, earlier, the Lanka Jamiyyathul Ulema (LJU) remained polarised, over the issuance of Halal certification and alleged that the ACJU had erred on their part.

“We do not wish to comment on the matter as we have been cooperative with the government and still render our support to come to a conclusion over the matter,” said Aslam Zubair, the media coordinator of ACJU.

Clarifying the matters with relation to the Halal certification, the ACJU stressed that they do not compel any company to obtain their certification no do they charge hefty fees for the procedure.

All their accounts have been submitted to the National Investigation Bureau and have always conducted their affairs in a transparent manner, the Consultant Shaikh Fazil Farook claimed.  

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Religious sensitivities no excuse for violence in Muslim world

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Ramu, Bangladesh -- Religious sensitivities cannot be used to justify violent attacks. A perceived insult against one’s faith is simply not an excuse for breaking the law. And it is not an excuse to persecute people with different religious beliefs.

The looting and destruction of Buddhist temples and monasteries in Bangladesh by thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims is the latest example of this dangerous and warped way of thinking.

The mob’s rationale: they were angry about a photo of a burned Koran allegedly posted on Facebook by a Buddhist boy. While these protesters demand respect for their religion, where is their respect for the religion of others?

The Buddhist minority in Bangladesh, a country of 150 million, has traditionally coexisted peacefully within the majority Muslim society; however, there are now fears of further sectarian violence. For its part, the government blamed the attack on Islamists, as well as on Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.

But the incident is not an isolated one; it comes on the heels of last month’s protests in Muslim countries over the offensive depiction of the Prophet Mohammed in a low-budget film produced by an Egyptian Copt living in the U.S.

This pattern of intolerance is alarming, and should concern religious leaders, as much as governments, because the violence is being committed in the name of Islam, and subverts what the religion actually stands for. Of course, minority religions across vast swaths of the world are subject to attacks, but religious minorities in the Muslim world, including Baha’is, Ahmadis, Zoroastrians and others, are particularly vulnerable because of the failure in many countries to guarantee freedom of religion, as well as the rise of Islamist governments in the wake of the Arab spring.

In Egypt, Christian Copts are concerned about the erosion of their religious rights. In Pakistan, the country’s blasphemy laws were recently used to arrest a Christian girl with mental disabilities who was accused of desecrating the pages of the Koran. A furious mob demanded she be punished. Last year, the country’s national Minister for Minorities – a Christian and a critic of the blasphemy law – was shot dead, In Nigeria, churches in the North have been destroyed by Boko Haram, the militant group trying to establish an Islamic state.

These acts of persecution against should be condemned. Entire communities should not have live in terror that a perceived insult of one’s faith will prompt indefensible acts of aggression.

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Letter: Buddhist temple with Muslim architechture directive

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I'm not sure of the reaction of the Kelantanese Buddhists but I am in the opinion that this is not an issue at all.

Buddhism has been a religion of tolerence due to its emphasis on Metta (loving-kindness), Panna (Wisdom) and its universal feature inclined towards non-attachment.

Now if the state government of Kelantan is moving towards Islamizing the state architechture,it is not an issue. There is nowhere in the Tipitaka that states all temples built in the name of 'Buddhism' must have 'Buddhist features'.

Thai Buddhist Wats have been incorporating Hindu elements in its architechture for ages without any much hoohah. Islamic architechture can be another enriching feature to Kelantanese future temples.

I can also see no harm in following the state directive disallowing the display of religious icons clearly in the open. Buddhism, after all began without images. Images were Greeco Buddhist innovation and it spread like wild fire throughout the Buddhist world since it was first created. Buddha images,if the temple wants to have it,can be displayed within the temple premises for devotional purposes. Examplirary forest monks like the late Ajahn Buddhadassa never had any Buddha images in his practice centre. All he had was the Patimokha,that's it.

Having Metta, Buddhists should always be sensitive to the needs of others. Having Panna, Buddhists should weigh the wieght of this issue,is it harming Buddhism,or it's stepping on our ego? Contemplating on non-attachment, one can clearly see this whole issue is but worldly.

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‘Muslim for a Month’: It’s just wrong

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Gandhi, born a Hindu, once said: “I am also a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist and a Jew.” Most people will never achieve such enlightenment (or spout such pious tripe, if you are of a less reverent turn of mind). But such thinking certainly creates an opening for innovative programs like Muslim for a Month.

No, really. There is an organization that invites people of other religions or none to come to Istanbul and live as Muslims for a month. Well, not a month, exactly: the nine-day Explorations program costs $900 and the 21-day Ruminations program costs $1,890.

“We like to think that Muslim for a Month facilitates more understanding of a religion which gets a lot of bad press,” explained Ben Bowler, who lives in Thailand and runs similar “religious immersion tours” in Buddhism for the same organization. “There’s a huge difference in the public perception of Buddhism, for example, and Islam — Islam is thorny, while Buddhism is warm and fuzzy.”

People who think Buddhism is warm and fuzzy would probably benefit from Bowler’s Monk for a Month program in Thailand. People who think that Islam is a religion of hatred and terrorism would likewise benefit from the Muslim for a Month program. Indeed, if all that’s going on here is a simple download of information and perspective, you could argue that every religion should be doing it.

Much of the human race lives in places where two or more major religions coexist — Buddhists and Muslims in Thailand; Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs in India; Christians, Hindus, Muslims and Jews in South Africa. Not to mention countries where up to half the population are non-believers (like Britain and Korea). A crash course in your neighbours’ religious beliefs ought to be part of the school curriculum. In some places, it already is.

But there is still something disturbing about the very idea of religious tourism. Immersing yourself in the prayers and rituals of a religion even though you think its god is false smacks of condescension at best, blasphemy at worst. And although a sense of politeness prevents most people from saying it loudly in public, religious people generally believe that the gods of all religions but their own are indeed false.

Non-believers go even further. As Richard Dawkins, the world’s leading advocate of atheism, once put it: “We are all atheists about most of the gods that people have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.” Fine. That’s a perfectly respectable position to hold. But if that’s what you think, then pretending to pray to Allah as a “cultural experience” is downright disrespectful.

The people who are organizing Muslim for a Month have the best of intentions. The Blood Foundation is a Thailand-based enterprise whose goal is “to promote the ideal of the sister/brotherhood of all humanity. We operate cultural exchange programs that build bridges of understanding between diverse peoples through the means of shared, authentic experience.”

According to the Blood Foundation, the Muslim for a Month program aims “to foster a spirit of good will and increased mutual understanding between Muslims and the west. It is not the purpose of the program to bring converts to the Islamic faith but rather to strive towards a greater sense of unity among people.”

I believe that is truly their goal. I also very much like the Sufi tradition of Islam, one of the most attractive forms of religious expression that I have ever encountered, and it is the Sufis who are providing the facilities and the teachers for the Muslim for a Month program in Turkey. But it still doesn’t feel right.

Here’s the thing. Almost all of the “modern” religions that have arisen in the past 2,500 years (and Judaism, which is much older) have sacred texts that are held by the believers to be divinely revealed truth. They are not negotiable or mutually compatible, like the old pagan beliefs were. To believe in any of the modern gods requires the faithful to reject all the others as false.

If Muslim beliefs are right, then Christian beliefs are wrong, and vice versa. If the Sikhs are right, then the Baha’i are wrong, and vice versa. If the Buddhists are right, then the Jews are wrong, and so on ad nauseam.

Why stop there? If the Mormons are right, then all the other Christians are horribly, catastrophically wrong. If any of the other Christian sects (or any of the non-Christian faiths) is right, then Mormon beliefs are downright ridiculous. If the Shia are right, then the Sunnis are wrong, and vice versa. So in a world where something like 90 per cent of the population is still religious (though much less in the developed countries), what is one to do?

We minimize conflict by simply not talking about the huge, irreconcilable differences in our religious convictions. (The non-religious play the same game: they rarely challenge the beliefs of the believers either.) It’s not an attractive behaviour, and it doesn’t always avert conflict, but most of the time it works. On most of the planet, we are no longer at each other’s throats about religion.

The world does not need Muslim (or Sikh, or Christian) for a Month. Let sleeping dogs lie.

Gwynne Dyer is a London-based independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.

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