Embracing the "Other" as an Extension of the Self: Muslim Reflections on the Epistle to the Hebrews 13:2
2009; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 91; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2163-6214
Autores Tópico(s)Medieval and Classical Philosophy
ResumoThere is an urgent need for interfaith dialogue to get past cucumber sandwiches and samoosas to real business of truly loving each and embracing the other as an extension of ourselves. One way of moving interreligious dialogue to a higher level of engagement beyond mere tolerance to deeper, more enduring interreligious cooperation is to read and embrace sacred texts of religious traditions than one's own for inspiration. Most religious traditions celebrate hospitality and welcoming of stranger. This paper explores such an ethical and moral teaching within Christianity. The search is undertaken by a Muslim scholar. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. (Hebrews 13:2, KJV) I will begin with three preliminary observations. First, idea of reading sacred texts of religious traditions than one's own is not a new and novel phenomenon . Regrettably, our interreligious history is replete with endeavors aimed at refuting and rebutting authenticity of each others' sacred texts. One of die most well-known Muslim examples that comes to mind is that of eleventh -century Spanish Muslim scholar Abu Muhammad Ali ibn Hazm (d. 1064 ce). Ibn Hazm wrote perhaps one of earliest systematic textual critiques of Old and New Testaments. In his five-volume work, Al-FUd Fi al-Milal Wa-al-Ahwa Wa-ai-Nihal An Analysis of World Religious Communities, Ideologies, and Sects), ibn Hazm employed Muslim theology of revelation wahy) to prove that Torah and gospels had been historically corrupted.1 Ibn Hazm is progenitor of Muslim doctrine of tahrif, charge that Jews and Christians had corrupted their divinely revealed scriptures. His polemical style is an abiding legacy that continues to bedevil Muslim relations with religions, and in particular Muslim dispositions and consequently readings of sacred texts of Jews and Christians. This leads to my second preliminary observation.2 One of most critical challenges in interfaith dialogue is question of language, in both its literal as well as symbolic forms. The interfaith encounter is not only biased by language within which it occurs, it is also conditioned by a powerful symbolic language, namely predominant categories of thought within which it occurs. Global realities dictate that we live within hegemony of English language, which inevitably privileges those who are more proficient in English and disempowers less proficient or non-English speakers. This is illustrative of power dynamics and partiality of hegemonic contemporary discourses on interreligious dialogue. In order to meet subtle but powerful pressures on non -Western traditions to conform to prevailing discourses of civility, non-Western scholars often inadvertently shore up concepts and texts from dieir own traditions that appear to correspond to fashionable Western concepts. This was precisely faultline in ibn Hazm s methodology. He was employing a peculiarly Muslim discourse and theolog)' of revelation and exegetical tradition in order to read and critique Old and New Testaments. The result of his flawed analysis was misunderstanding and irreverence. A more careful examination of nature of different sacred texts, however, may suggest that in fact Muslims, Jews, and Christians operate with radically different theologies of revelation. Supporting such a view, Muslim comparative religionist Mahmoud Ayoub has argued that one may be able to differentiate between valid but distinct modes of revelation. The Bible, according to Ayoub, is more a revelation of action or a record of Gods acting in history of humankind.3 On hand, for Ayoub, Qur'anic mode of revelation is more direct communication or commandment from God to human beings. Whether one accepts veracity of Ayoub s depiction is not my point; I am essentially arguing that a deep sensitivity to and appreciation of differences in our tbeologies of revelation may assist us in building bridges of understanding between interfaith communities. …
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