Ad Spijkers
C S KarimHasan Zillur Rahim
Karen Armstrong and the Charter for Compassion
In October of 2004, I had the privilege of attending a lecture by Karen Armstrong, renowned author of comparative religion and spirituality, at Stanford University. The title of her talk was “Muslim history and resonance for today.” Three years after 9/11, Americans were still fearful and suspicious of Islam and its followers. The large auditorium was packed with people yearning for a deeper understanding of the faith than the hysterical and divisive stories propagated by the media.
The gist of Armstrong’s talk was that the test of religion – any religion – was not belief but practice. Belief is easy, practice isn’t. To make her point, she quoted the Egyptian grand mufti, Muhammad Abduh, who traveled to Paris in early 1930s and remarked: “In Paris I saw Islam but no Muslims. In Egypt, I see Muslims but no Islam.”
“It is a myth,” she said, “that in Islam there is no separation between mosque and state. In fact, Islamic history shows secularism at work often. Religion and politics are kept distinct. The Sunni court was ruled by ethos. Sharia, which means “The way,” came about as a counter-cultural protest by the Ulama against autocratic, anti-social rulers. In other words, the Sharia began as a protest movement, not the medium of misogyny it has now become for fanatics.
Likewise, democracy is not a foreign idea in Islam. Muslim law cannot be promulgated without consent of the people. Armstrong found that secularism, pluralism, and democracy were germane to Islam.
That being the case, what went wrong? As Armstrong saw it, a militant form of piety called fundamentalism developed. It emerged after World War I. Every single major religion saw the emergence of fundamentalism. The idea of compassion inherent in all religions was marginalized, replaced with hatred, revenge and violence by fanatical exponents.
I recalled Armstrong’s Stanford lecture when she recently received a TED prize (http://www.ted.com), given annually to the best thinkers and innovators of the world. TED started out in 1984 as a small non-profit organization bringing together people from three worlds, Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has expanded to include Business, Science, and Global Issues.
In her acceptance speech, Karen Armstrong echoed and expanded on the ideas she presented at Stanford. “Religion isn’t about believing things. It’s about behaving in a way that changes you, that gives you intimations of holiness and sacredness.” Studying the world’s religions, she realized that belief, about which we make such a fuss today, was a very recent religious enthusiasm that surfaced only in the West, in about the 17th century.
The word ‘belief’’ originally meant to love, to prize, to hold dear. It meant, “I commit myself. I engage myself.” From the 17th century onwards, however, the word narrowed its focus to mean merely an intellectual assent to a set of propositions: a credo. It lost its transformational power. Instead, ‘belief’ came merely to mean, ‘I accept certain creedal articles of faith.’ It lost its moorings.
What Armstrong found in her research was that across the board, religion is about behaving ethically and morally. Instead of flaunting your faith and engaging in religious chauvinism, do something positive. Behave in a committed way. Then, and only then, you begin to understand the truths of religion. Religious doctrines are meant to be summons to action; you only understand them when you put them into practice.
The pride of place in religious practice is given to compassion. “In every single one of the world’s major faiths, compassion – the ability to feel with the other – is not only the test of any true religiosity, it is also what will bring us into the presence of what Jews, Christians and Muslims call “God” or the “Divine.” Why? “Because in compassion, when we feel with the other, we dethrone ourselves from the center of our world and we put another person there. And once we get rid of ego, then we are ready to see the Divine.”
Armstrong hopes to restore the Golden Rule as the central global religious doctrine for our times. The Golden Rule can be stated either positively or negatively, both equally meaningful. “Do to others what you would like others to do to you.” (Treat others as you would like others to treat you.) Or, “Do not do to others what you do not want others to do to you. (Do not treat others in a way that you would not want yourself to be treated).
Practicing the Golden Rule is difficult. And unfortunately, a lot of religious people prefer to be right, rather than compassionate. It is also time for us, said Armstrong, to move beyond mere toleration and toward appreciation of the other.
Every TED winner is granted a wish. Armstrong wished for the creation and propagation of a Charter for Compassion, to be crafted by a group of inspirational thinkers from the three Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and based on the fundamental principles of the Golden Rule.
She reminded her listeners that we could not confine our compassion to our own group or countrymen or co-religionists. We must have what one of the Chinese sages called “jian ai”: concern for everybody. Love your enemies. Honor the stranger. The Quran states: “O mankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one other.” (49:13)
“We need to create,” Armstrong elaborated, “a movement among people who want to join up and reclaim their faith which has been hijacked … We need to empower people to remember the compassionate ethos … Jews, Christians and Muslims, who so often are at loggerheads, have to work together to create a document which we hope will be signed by people from all the traditions of the world … I would like to see it in every college, every church, every mosque, every synagogue in the world, so that people can look at their tradition, reclaim it, and make religion a source of peace in the world.”
I request you to find ways to promote wide dissemination of such writings as those of Hasan Zillur Rahim and of commentators thereupon such as Anwar A Khan, Rudra Firakh, Shottovashi, Nasim Ahmed and others, in English and in all different native languages of the various states in the Indian sub-continent. There are interested litterateurs, publishers, rationalistic groups, individual translators and translation houses interested in such activities in India, and I’m sure in all neighbouring countries too. We could utilise them to promote these ideas. I’m sure that this will greatly remove stereotype ideas of Muslims and non-Muslims, regarding how they view each other and also regarding their blinkered views of their “own” and “other” religions. In this way, we can hasten the day when spiritualism and humanity will transcend systems and practices of faith. I feel that much credit should go to Bangladesh and Bengalis.
We need to promote the ideas of pluralism enunciated in faith systems and thus gain universal respect for all humanity.
I feel that the bane of faith systems are the idea of caste, and the idea of any superior religion to which the whole world must be converted. We should in fact teach our children humane ideas before imparting any religious education, in our families and through community and state institutions.
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Thanks a million for introducing us to Karen Armstrong and your thoughtful piece (Karen Armstrong and the charter for compassion).
Please let us know more about her writings along with your valuable comments through http://www.bdnews24.com
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Sadly faiths or beliefs or religions are putting the human beings in a tightly isolated follower groups who are probably becoming more and more compartmentalized when one is failing to appreciate others’ faith. Its a pity that god has failed to reconcile the differences of the elements he created, its a shame that we are fighting to death only to prove whose faith is superior to others. I imagine god is disenchanted with the whole faith sheet and taken his eyes away.
Karen Armstrong could have done much better concentrating on how to restrain people in lesser practice/worship as practice of faith in a unjust environment only makes you a fanatic.
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BD News 24 appears to be biased towards right-wing fundamentalists by publishing most of their articles and very rarely publish any article from progressive writers.
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I can understand the plight of common people, who basically love to live in harmony irrespective of the their faith & belief. And in this regard, people like Karen Armstrong scores well. But then again, problem is always within. We all know that every religion has good things to offer. Surah Baqara from Holy Quraan is an example, rightly mentioned by Mr. Taj Hashmi. Problem really arises from other Surahs like Surah Ali Imran verse 85, Surah Al-’A`rāf verse 179, Surah Hud verse 119. Not to mention the most talked about [among Non-muslims, of course] Surah At-Tawbah verse 5.
Even I have to differ with Mr. Hashmi, when he says in regard to Surah Baqara,”Islam, on the contrary, promotes pluralism.” Going through that particular verse one gets clear indication about Quran’s promoting only those religion or people who believe in “Allah”. One must not forget in Islam, the word “Allah” holds more significance than any other other name representing God. These are really confusing for common people. It would have been better if Ms. Karen could actually clear those confusion on priority basis or else like her critics we might have to say…”At the end of the day she’s a theologian who likes to sell.”
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I hope that Cohen’s comment, “Muslims have not any great thing for last 100 years,” only meant that Muslims were passive watchers of the destructive activities such as the Gulf Wars (WMD!) and in Palestine, and similar great feats of the ‘civilized nations’.
Musharraf Hossain
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Karen Armstrong’s books are elegantly written, very thoughtful and contemporary. “Muhammad – a prophet of our time” – a very compassionate book, recommended for all ages, all faiths.
Faith and Belief cannot be dissected, they are Siamese. Without belief, one cannot simply practice religion. A deeper understanding of religion surely strengthen your belief. having a contemporary world knowledge will definitely demise the misconception and exorcism from religion; vastly ingrained in many Muslims.
With 1.5 billions believers, Muslims have not any great thing for last 100 years.
There is something to ponder?
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Hello Roger,
Thank you for your thoughtful comments. I find Karen Armstrong’s books on religion and spirituality unique. That is because she approaches her subject with deep compassion and without any bias. I particluarlly recommend “The Spiral Staircase.” Her two books on the Prophet (pbuh) of Islam (both the original and the revised version written after 9/11) are excellent and, as you point out, recommended readings for people of all faiths.
Do note that in the last 30 years, two Muslim scientists have won the Nobel Prize, one in physics and one in chemistry. Two Muslims also won the Nobel Peace Prize. So there is contribution, although it could be more than what it is.
Warmly,
Hasan Zillur Rahim
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Karen Armstrong’s beautiful analysis of the treaty of Hudaybiyah can be a very effective guiding force in the present Afghan crisis faced by USA and Obama admn. Sincerely hope that Obama reads the analysis.
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The article by HZR is possibly as good an account as could have been written of the religions today without any guilt or criticism of bias. The lines from Egyptian Mufti reminds me of Bernard Shaw, who said “When I read Quran, I felt like converting myself to be a Muslim; But I gave up the idea when I saw one.” The whole problem of today’s and yesterday’s world is/was that the religions are/were sold as substitutes of humanity. Once you allow that, even the basic level of humanity is compromised. One must understand and realise that religion is to refine the humanity, not other way round. The pre-requisite of picking up a religion ought to be a HUMAN-FIRST, as the religion is meant solely for Homo sapiens. Modern world and contemporay laws/acceptance is based on conscience.The religions should enhance that conscience, not degrade it. Most of the today’s religious problems lie with the prejudice, as the source of our individual faith lies with being born with a religion i.e. Religion by birth. Religion by birth becomes a part of the organ for our soul and we tend to protect it subconsciously at any cost and by any means, be it violence or nonsensical/ inhumane act. We should teach our children to learn and value humanity first before embarking on the religion to sharpen that humanity along with the spiritual ingredients. Never use your religion to justify your inhumanity. Similarly, never use the word Democracy to justify your Anarchy by virtue of popularity.
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Dear Shottovashi,
Your heartfelt comments made me happy and proud. It is exactly as you say: If our understanding of religion makes us forget our basic humanity, it simply means that our understanding is deeply flawed. Two most frequently used names of the Creator are Rahman and Rahim. How can we ever justify cruelty and oppression in the name of religion? No mortal has a monopoly on truth. Instead of pointing fingers at others, let’s first cleanse ourselves of arrogance and intolerance. Religious chauvinism is the bane of our times. From what I have seen, more and more people around the world are beginning to recognize that in serving our fellow beings, through charity or even with a kind word or a smile, we serve God.
Warmly,
Hasan Zillur Rahim
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Salamu Alaikum Dear H. Zillur Rahim,
Reading your description of Karen Armstrong’s Lectures and views was a pleasure (so was recognizing you after 40 years). May Allah grant you His shade on the day of judgment.
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Dear Musharraf,
Thank you for your kind remarks. Meeting old friends through BDNews24.com after 40 years also gives me great pleasure. Karen Armstrong’s is a sane voice that people of all faiths should listen to and benefit from.
With warmest wishes,
Hasan
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A big salute and thanks to Mr. Hasan Zillur Rahim for his wonderful articulation of the thought of Karen Armstrong. It’s necessary to spread the idea of compassion instead of hatred. As Prof. Taj Hashmi also reconfirmed that Islam believes in pluralism and has preached for broadness but some people made it narrow and some other made use of that narrowness to blame the Muslims collectively. We need more Armstrong in our time who can disclose the truth. The nature of the world is so beautiful because it has many colors and dimensions as the people on this earth has many colors, many languages and many religions. It makes us different. It helps us to know each other and find difference in orders to be united for a collective world of peace.
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Dear Mr. Baten,
Your views of Karen Armstrong and people like her who focus on compassion rather than hate are precisely what we need in these troubled times. People of all faiths have more in common than not. If we built on what unites us rather than what divides us, we would all be better off. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Hasan Zillur Rahim
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Undoubtedly Dr. HZ Rahim’s compilation is one of the best about religious thoughts relating ‘practice’ – the ultimate goal of the creator – God, Allah, Khoda, Ram or Krishna what ever he or she is – to make the creature good ‘human being’! What we found in Dr. Rahim’s whole writing and assertions from different thinkers mainly from Karen Armstrong is “religion – was not belief but practice. Belief is easy, practice isn’t”. That’s what100% true for a person who knows and devoted to his or her religion as a whole – to attain the ultimate goal of the Creator/Almighty who the person worships! Not only a few chapters or verses from their holy books or a few Quotes from their scholars / leaders!
Definitely – “Islam does not preach Muslims to be the ‘chosen people of God’”, for sure Islam claims to be best acceptable religion to Allah for real practicing believers “as a religion of peace, justice and tolerance” that – one can only expect from a person who is “truely religious” not necessarily a Muslim, Christiam, Jew or Hindu. The holy book of Muslims’ “The Quran” means ‘study’! The main aim of ‘study’ is to perceive a ‘theme’ after carefully gonging through whole study! Most of the times a partial ‘Quotation’ from a study – could not reflect the study aim and/or the theme – rather may give an adverse effect. If eome one doing so – need to be careful!
In whole article Dr. Rahim didn’t mention and/or refer to his any other thinker blaming any particular section of world people or religion any wrong doing in the present world order – rather very firmly referred to the collective mishandling of the theme of religions! That is what made his article a ‘Master piece’! Great Dr. Rahim – you deserve the salute!!!
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Fantastically put together. I have never read in such vivid detail a capsule of the thoughts that Karen Armstrong stands for and its that kind of a voice that ’s lacking in the mainstream media today. We hope you will endeavor to bring us more of the same as often as you can.
God bless.
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Matthew,
Deeply appreciate your comment. Karen Armstrong is a self-taught authority on comparative religion and spirituality. We need more compassionate people like her in the world. All her books are excellent but I recommend this one the most because it is autobiographical and it shows what one can accomplish in spite of tremendous adversity. “The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness.” When you have time, visit http://charterforcompassion.org/
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I congratulate Dr Hasan Zillur Rahim for this interesting and thought-provoking posting on Karen Armstrong’s objective appraisal of Islam and its true followers. However, there is a small inadvertent error in Dr Rahim’s article. He has attributed the famous utterance by Jamal al-Din Afghani (1838-1897), “In Paris I saw Islam but not Muslims. In Egypt, I saw Muslims but not Islam”, to his Egyptian disciple Shaikh Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905). Both Afghani and Abduh were champions of liberal and modern Islam, free from the close-mindedness of the mullah.
One cannot agree more with the view that despite the demonization of Islam due to the deviant behaviour of its followers, Islam is a religion of peace, justice and tolerance. It neither justifies prejudice against non-Muslims (or even atheists) nor aggression in any name and form. Very few Muslims and non-Muslims know that Islam does not preach Muslims to be the “chosen people of God” or Islam as the “best and only religion acceptable to God”, as mullahs have been telling us since long. Islam, on the contrary, promotes pluralism. One may cite verse 62 of Chapter 2 (Surah Baqara) where we see God telling us (as we Muslims believe) that Muslims, Jews, Christians and others those who believe in God and hereafter and do good they have nothing to fear from God; there is specific rewards for them.
Karen Armstrong is leading among Western scholars having an open mind, free from any prejudice against Islam. Hasan Zillur Rahim deserves our thanks for tabling this information for us.
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Taj,
Thank you for your comment. Karen Armstrong quoted Muhammad Abduh in her Stanford lecture, which I attended and where she very kindly gave me the transcript of her talk. But now I have learned from you that it was actually Jamal al-Din Afghani, not Muhammad Abduh, who made that remark. Thank you for the correction. For readers of bdnews24.com, you can affirm Charter for Compassion at http://charterforcompassion.org/
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This is in reply to what Mr.Taj Hashmi has written in his posting dated the 8th of December,2009. It is hundred percent correct that Islam is a Deen (not religion) which stands for peace, justice and tolerance but one cannot justify this by following the so called mullahs or for that matter by the present followers of Islam. Islam should only be understood by understanding the Quran (the only scripture which has survived its pristine purity from the time of its revelation and shall remain so till the last day of this universe). It is not the mullahs who tell us that Islam is the best and only Deen (not religion) acceptable to God, but God himself has claimed in the holy Quran in chapter 3 verse no.18. and people who will live their lives in absolute obedience to the way of life prescribed in the Quran will be known as “chosen people of God”. As explained in chapter 58 verse 22. For your kind information I would like to correct you that Islam does not promote pluralism at all. It is a monotheistic Deen. (Here I would like to mention that in the Quran the word “Deen” has been used to mean Islam and the English translation of this word as Religion does not at all represent the inherent concept contained in the word Deen, as such I prefer to call Islam as Deen-of-Allah).The English translation of the verse from the Quran you have quoted in support of your claim that Islam promotes pluralism, has not been correct, Before I write the correct exposition of the verse (verse 62 of chapter 2)I would like to mention two very important points, amongst many, which one should follow to understand the Quran in its true perspective.
1) The Arabic words used in the Quran, specially the terminologies,can never be translated into any other language in the world.This is the opinion of many thinkers, writers, and philosophers who have devotedly done extensive research work on the Quran, specially opined by H:A:R: Gibb in his book Modern Trend in Islam. One simple example is the word Salat which has been translated as Namaz. Namaz is not an Arabic word, it is Persian word besides it does not at all carry the connotation which is inherent in the word Salat.
2) Secondly, the formation of the Quran is not like human-written books. The information, laws, principles, explanation etc given in the Quran are not concentrated in any particular Chapter or verse. It is spread all over the Quran. For example, the order for establishing the system of Salat has been given in Chapter 2 and what benefit one derives out of establishing this system is given in chapter 29 verse 45 and again its further explanation has been given in another chapter. So, to have complete information about the system of Salat one has to have all these information gathered in one place. God himself has taken the responsibility of explaining and making it clear for human beings. (Chapter 75 verse 19.). That means Quran explains itself and how it does has been explained in Chap.6 verse 106; chap.17 verse 41 and chapter 17.89.
On the basis of this information I would like to forward the exposition of verse 62 of chapter 2 as follows:
Allah says: “Our law is that irrespective of origin, any person from amongst the following:
1) Jews, Christians, Sabaeans,
2) those who believe in Allah without formally adopting any particular religion, and
3) those who are Muslim only by virtue of being born in a Muslim family
who believe in Allah (His laws of requittal) and leads his life accordingly will be duly compensated. Such a person will lead a life of heavenly bliss, free from fear,grief and anxiety.
From above it becomes clear that Jews and Christians have been urged to believe in Allah and in life hereafter; whereas they claim that they believe in God and life hereafter. So, it is clear that Quran does not accept the way they believe in God. Quran says: Belief (Iman) does not mean that any one simply say that I believe in God, rather it should be according to the concept as given in the Quran in Verse 137 chapter 2 which says: If they believe as ye believe (the way you have established faith O, Jamaate Mu’minin) only then will it be considered that they have Iman in Allah and they are on the right path. Similarly, Muslims who claim to be Muslims by virtue of their birth have been urged to establish faith (along with Jews and Christians) according to the concept given by Quran. Verse 136, chapter 4.
So, it is clear that Islam does not preach or promotes pluralism rather it is absolutely a Monotheistic Deen.
(I may mention here that I have written some booklets in English, besides some books in Bengali, if you so desire I can send it for your reading, of course, free of cost and if I get your postal address).
You can write me if there is anything I have not been able to explain properly. I live in Sweden and my mail address is: ali.shaukat@glocalnet.net
With regards,
Syed Ali Shaukat
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