Dr Kamar Oniah delivered a talk on this.Of cos' she is an authority..having been one of the founders of the original Interfaith Dialogue group before it became something else (Oni and Chandra Muzzafar withdrew, along with other people who believed in having dialogues and NOT using the platform to convert/change others)
Oni said one main criterion in initiating interfaith dialogue (or any other dialogues) is sincerity.And sincerity is transparent. If we go into a dialogue trying to change the other for our own agenda...we can..we can blah. :)) We dialogue becos we wanna understand, not to condemn or boast I am better than you, etc.
She said in engaging in a dialogue, the other impt thing to observe is your willingness to listen.Jangan masuk2 dah nak bagi lecture/nak mengajar orang/nak marah orang.People will leave you and will never come back.
She was in Spore recently and entah macamana they arranged for her to have a dialogue with Ambassador of Israel (in Spore). Kak Oni is known for her bluntness. So she and the ambassador
got into a ping pong game.Ha ambik kau sebiji! Heaayah, ini utk kau! Ping! Pong! Ping and de pong!
Orang Israel tu tanya kenapa Malaysia larang rakyat visit Israel? Kami orang baik..tak ajar anak2 kami violence, etc.
Kak Oni: kerajaan kami larang kami ke China/South Africa satu masa dulu tapi bila dasar mereka berubah, kami semua boleh pergi bebas keluar masuk.Kalau Israel nak Msians datang, berubahlah! (ha ha..I thot this so cute)
Kak Oni: Kita bertanggungjawab di atas waktu ini dan masa hadapan bukan sejarah lampau! Israel asyik terkenangkan sejarah silamnya.Yang merebus kamu orang Jerman bukan orang Islam.Kenapa lanyak kami? (why take out on us?)
Kak Oni nasihat budak2 (yang datang dari troubled regions also in Africa/Middle East, etc): when things get worse, look into the eyes of the young ones not your parents cos' the eyes of your parents are filled with hatred,revenge, anger, etc.Lihatlah mata anak2 yang tidak berdosa dan menaruh harapan that the future is waiting for them.
She spoke of many sincere Xtian and Jewish friends who defended Muslims during the Intifada (one Jewish lady mati kena bulldozed when they were doing human shield to protect Palestinian kids who wanted to go to sch but harassed by the Israeli armies).She also spoke of good ties between Xtian,Muslims and Jews but this group is also dying out sebab byk sgt propaganda after Sept 11.
But peace is impt and it is everyone's responsibility to restore/sustain it, regardless of creed/colour/nationality.
4 comments:
Dr. Faridah,
Masa attend Criminalizing War 2007 yg lalu, teringat sesi "Adab berdialog" yg disampaikan oleh Dr. Kamar Oniah ni ... isinya sama macam yg Dr. tulis ni lah ... tapi, ada 2-3 orang yg tak boleh terima begitu ... maka, hujah mereka, kalau dah dialog, mesti ada elemen compromise, negotiation etc ... sedangkan, isi utama dialog untuk memaham ... Dan, inilah masalah yang membelenggu kita semua .. baik sesama Islam, dan terlebih lagilah dengan bukan Islam ...
Gagal dialog, Islam selalu tampak buruk dan huduh ... sedangkan Allah dah gariskan ... berhujahlah dengan penuh hikmah ... namun, kebanyakan kita ini suka belasah dari berhikmah ... (mungkin nakkan kepuasan yang bersifat segera) ... Malang sungguh!
Dear Dr Faridah,
When U talk about Interfaith Dialogue, it remind me of Ahmad Deedat.
Whats the purpose? To get everybody to embrace just one faith? Impossible... biarlah dia dgn ugama dia, kita dgn ugama kita
Salam to both Fisha and Dato' Sham,
You have both raised valid concerns.Not everyone can go into interfaith dialogues.One must have respect for religion and religious people as well as patience to sit in their dialogues.Dr Oni has 3 degrees (first it was English Lit, then she did Law.Finally she did Comparative Religion so her knowledge of world civilisations is really broad).And I think most religious leaders have this persuasion as well (I met an American Black Muslim not too long ago.He was trained as a pastor before he converted to Islam.His mom loved him so much for this that she threw him outa her house.He had studied other religions as well so when he got involved in interfaith dialogues with people of other religions, he was warmly received cos' he didn't condemn but point to differences and similarities without offending anyone.It is also I guess about good communication)
Interfaith Dialogue is not about wanting to convert others or to say semua agama is the same (Prof Naguib Alatas is against this statement as well).It is about understanding the religion as it is.The spirit is of Al Hujarat, verse 13.Allah created us of nations and tribes so that we know each other and NOT despise each other and teh most honoured of us in the sight of Allah is he/she who is the most righteous.
Wallahualam.I am also a student when it comes to understanding religion/s.
Fisha should blog on this since she has Islamic Revealed Knowledge b/ground. I will try get Kak Oni to blog but she's working on a book.One is already out (meant for beginners).When she spoke on this at Harvard recently, wah..Prof yang mula2 anti-Islam tu jadi kawan akhirnya.Sebab Kak Oni says she does not want to waste time just by talking,arguing over religious 'superiority' or intellectualising religion.She wants to act (helping needy people)We don't need any more divides (for this she is also against the divide of gender)
Blog on this interfaith dialogue?
Fuh, what an expectation! Tapi, I take it as challenge ... mungkin boleh (even sekarang nampak macam tak boleh jer .. hehehe) ...
Dulu memang nak ambik comparative religion ni .. tapi ... [bencilah ingat peristiwa tu ...] ...
Saya akan cuba ... tapi, tak tau bila ...
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