SPIRIT OF ISLAM APRIL 2O18

45 Spirit of Islam Issue 64 April 2018 a matter of social ethics. A matter of belief is a personal matter, while religious diversity is a social question. It poses the issue of how to live in a religiously diverse society, a religiously-diverse world. It is a fact that there are differences in every aspect of life. These differences are due to the law of nature and cannot be eliminated. In such a situation, it is unrealistic during dialogue to try to establish one’s superiority. The purpose of dialogue is to find out how different sections of society can co-exist peacefully. Diversity in society can never be eliminated. So, bringing an end to diversity can never be the goal of dialogue. Its goal is to search for a solution of peaceful co-existence. Then, what is the truth? It is a subject of personal pursuit, and not of social discussion or social gatherings. Everyone wants to find out the truth in which they can believe, as human beings cannot live without conviction. This issue, therefore, has two aspects. One aspect relates to the individual. As every individual wants to live in conviction he tries to know the truth. The other aspect is to maintain social harmony. Experience shows that social harmony can be achieved only by adopting the formula of co-existence. In this aspect there is no other option before us. Everyone is free to adopt whatever religious beliefs they want to, but, at the same time, we all live in society, and so we must learn to live peacefully with people who may hold other religious beliefs. Believing strongly in a particular religion, being firmly convinced about it, and at the same time living peacefully with people who follow or believe in other religions are not contradictory to each other. The human mind has enormous capacities, including being able to believe in something and at the same time being committed to living at peace with people who believe or think differently. Allow me to cite my own example. I believe in one Reality or in one religion, but, at the same time, I can say that I have love for everyone. I believe in Jesus Christ’s call to love one’s enemies. If you operate on my heart, you will find that there is no hate inside it for anyone, that I love every person. While the Prophet of Islamwas in Madinah, one day a funeral procession of a Jew passed by. The Prophet was seated at that time. On seeing the procession, he stood up in respect. One of his Companions said to him that the deceased was a Jew, not a Muslim. And the Prophet responded, “Was he not a human being?” So, as this example teaches us, every human being has equal status in his or her capacity of being human. There’s no difference whatsoever.