Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR.
MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : IKIM, KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 25/05/99
Tajuk/Title : THE SEMINAR ON "THE ROLE OF
ISLAMIC CIVILISATION IN
FOSTERING INTER-RELIGIOUS
UNDERSTANDING"
Firstly I would like to thank the Institute of
Islamic Understanding Malaysia (IKIM) for inviting me
to deliver the keynote speech at this Seminar on "The
Role of Islamic Civilisation in Fostering Inter-
religious Understanding".
2. Today we are on the brink of a new millennium. It
is a good time to reflect seriously on what has
happened and what might happen. The former is of
course, the easier of the two.
3. The last time the world ushered in a new
millennium, Islamic civilisation was perhaps at its
peak. But as we approach the third millennium of the
Christian era, Islamic civilisation seems to be at its
lowest ebb. The Muslims, although they have achieved
political independence, are very much dominated by
other people. Muslims are being massacred by the
hundreds of thousands without their co-religionists
being able to do anything to help. We should not be
surprised therefore if it is difficult to believe that
Islamic religion and Islamic civilisation had played a
role in inter-religious understanding.
4. I say this because the present-day perception of
Islam both by Muslims and by non-Muslims is quite
different and very often at variance with the teachings
of Islam as practised by the early Muslims,
particularly during the period when Muslims were
revelling in their glorious civilisation.
5. Today Muslims are seen to be aloof and isolated
even when they live in communities which have large
numbers of non-Muslims. They are seldom regarded as
practising and contributing towards inter-religious
understanding.
6. The non-Muslims are at least partly to blame
because they often propagate ideas about Islam and
Muslims which are negative. Among ethnic Europeans the
memories of the Crusade and the conquest of European
land by Muslims many centuries ago are kept alive.
Every fault of the Muslims is enlarged and linked with
the religion even though it may have nothing to do with
Islam. It is not acknowledged that Muslims are
ordinary people divided by race and culture and are as
subjected to ordinary human weaknesses as anybody else.
Instead they are regarded as a monolithic group. This
perception leads to frequent generalisations so that
the crimes or misbehaviour of a few are attributed to
the culture and practices of all the Muslims.
7. Thus the stereotyping of the Muslims as
undisciplined backward people, unsociable, fanatical
fundamentalists who are given to terrorism. That
terrorism is not a monopoly of the Muslims is ignored
entirely. Every terrorist act is attributed to Muslims
until proven otherwise.
8. In terms of terror and systematic oppression the
ethnic Europeans have no match. Hitler's massacre of
six million Jews ranks as the most heinous in the 20th
Century. And now we are witnessing the mass-killings
of the Albanians in Kosovo, which was preceded by the
massacre of hundreds of thousands of the Muslims in
Bosnia-Herzegovina. Yet all these acts by ethnic
Europeans are never described as European terrorism or
Christian terrorism.
9. Even Buddhists have thrown up a number of
terrorists as witness the killings by the shadowy
Japanese Buddhist cult. Hindus have massacred Muslims
off and on in India.
10. But acts of terrorism or even simple self-defence
by Muslims in Palestine are invariably described as
Muslim terrorism. The terrorists, if they are
terrorists and in many instances they are not, are
labelled Muslim terrorists. Terrorism by others, by
ethnic Europeans, by intolerant Christians and Jews, by
Buddhists are never linked to their religions. There
are no Christian terrorists, or Jewish terrorists or
Buddhist terrorists or Othordox Christian terrorists
which the Serbs no doubt are.
11. That more Muslims have been terrorised by
Christians and Jews has never been mentioned.
Terrorism is made out to be a Muslim monopoly and
others are just terrorists unconnected with their
ethnic group or culture or religion.
12. There can be no doubt that today the most
oppressed people in the world are the Muslims. Their
independence and their rights as members of the human
race have been ignored and violated over and over
again. Their countries have been subjected to
sanctions, to bombings, to all kinds of humiliation.
Is it any wonder that Muslims seem to be perpetually
resentful and antagonistic towards non-Muslims, to cut
themselves off from the others and to reject the norms
and the way of life that is common among the rest of
the world? They seem to reject the religions of others
and they do not seem to contribute to inter-religious
understanding.
13. But the Muslims are equally to be blamed for their
ugly reputation, their poor image and their isolation.
However, this has not always been so. The early
Muslims were outgoing people who tolerated and
associated closely with people of other religions.
Islamic teachings did not and does not proscribe such
tolerance and association. Islam in fact enjoins upon
the Muslim to accept that there are people of different
faiths who worship in different ways. They are not
asked to force these people to accept Islam.
Obviously, they must tolerate and understand these non-
believers, not regard them as enemies.
14. What is it that is part of the teachings of Islam
which the early Muslims practised? As has been pointed
out the Quran specifically mentioned that there would
be people of other faiths who worship in other ways.
Indeed, the Quran went further to advise the Muslims
that they should not be critical or pass disparaging
remarks about the practices of adherents of other
religion for this may result in these people making
similar remarks about Islam.
15. Forced conversion to Islam is not sanctioned by
the Quran. Indeed, the Prophet (S.A.W.) was told not
to be disheartened if non-Muslims did not convert, for
if Allah so wishes, they would convert. If they didn't
it was because Allah had not yet willed it. And indeed
many of the early enemies of Islam accepted the faith.
16. The Quran also pointed out that Allah has peopled
this world with people of different races so they may
know each other. And the Arabs were not superior to
the others except when they prostrate before Allah and
practise the teachings of Islam thoroughly and
sincerely.
17. And so the early Muslims were not only tolerant of
non-Muslims but in their search for knowledge as
enjoined by Islam they were willing to study the
sciences and the mathematical knowledge of the non-
Muslims, in particular the Greeks. They translated
Greek works into Arabic, studied them and developed
them further. Soon their universities and their
learned men lead the world and the European Christians
were seeking knowledge at their feet.
18. Islamic civilisation in Spain reached its peak of
glory when Muslims were tolerant of others and were
prepared to learn from them. In Muslim Spain
Christians, Jews and Muslims lived side by side. Many
were the Jews and Christians who served in the courts
of the Muslim rulers and in their Governments.
19. Then came the decline, earlier in Spain than in
Eastern European. Muslim religious intellectuals and
jurists began to reinterpret the teachings of Islam.
They postulate that the Muslims had departed from the
teachings of Islam when they seek other than religious
knowledge and associated with non-Muslims. The
learning of the sciences and mathematics pioneered by
the Christians was regarded as worldly and not desired
by Islam. Instead Muslims must lead a life dedicated
entirely toward gaining merit for the life in the here-
after. Much stress was laid on Islamic jurisprudence,
on punishment for those who had allegedly deviated from
the religion. The Spanish and Jewish people who had
converted to the Islamic faith were regarded with
suspicion and toleration towards them began to
diminish.
20. As the Muslims turned away from all learning which
were not exclusively about religion, their skills
deteriorated. They became weak and were unable to
match the sophistication of European sciences, weaponry
and military prowess. Eventually they lost their
Spanish Empire. They were expelled from Spain unless
they converted to Christianity.
21. The same fate later befell the Turkish Empire. At
the height of their glory they were assailed by doubts
about the quality of their Islam. While the Europeans
modernised and were discovering new ways of defending
themselves against the redoubtable Turkish forces, the
Turks were concerned over trivialities such as whether
tight trousers and peak caps were Islamic or not.
Whereas the earlier Turkish forces were well-equipped
with the best weapons of their time, their knowledge
and their industry did not keep up with the knowledge,
industrial skills and manufacturing capabilities which
were rapidly making the Europeans superior in all
fields.
22. The Turkish religious leaders were only concerned
about ensuring that their narrow interpretations of
Islam were adhered to strictly by the state and the
people. They were not concerned over the weakening of
the Turkish state and its defence capability. Parts of
the Empire peopled by non-Turks began to break away to
establish independent states. The Europeans encouraged
this and even aided the Arabs to fight for their
independence from the Turks.
23. The Arabs expected to be independent but in the
end they found that their European allies replaced the
Turks as their masters. They all became colonies of
the French and the British. In North Africa Muslim
lands were conquered and occupied by the Spanish and
the French while in Central Asia the Russian Communists
imposed not only their rule but also their atheistic
ideology on the Muslims.
24. By the time the Muslims realised that their days
of glory were over, they had become an extremely
backward and weak people. Initially they submitted
meekly to foreign rule. They deluded themselves into
believing that this worldly life is not for them and
that heaven awaited them in the after-life. That the
Quran clearly states that they should seek 'hassanah'
or 'bounty' in this world was ignored by them. They
expect to achieve merit for their after-life purely
through the performance of religious rituals. They
ignored the injunction to look after their community's
well-being and interest in this world, and they refused
to acquire knowledge except those related to what they
interpreted as the teachings of Islam.
25. And so from being the most knowledgeable and
advanced people the Muslims regressed in every field.
Hegemonised and oppressed by the non-Muslims they
developed extreme resentment and hatred of their
detractors. They blamed their enemies entirely for
their misfortunes. They hardly ever examined and
questioned their own role in their downfall and
subsequent oppression.
26. Actually their downfall was at least partly due to
their narrow interpretation of their own religion after
the initial flowering of their civilisation.
Discarding the so-called worldly knowledge and
quibbling about what constituted the true teachings of
Islam, they neglected some of the most important
injunctions of Islam. They neglected even the
injunction to prepare for their defence by taking the
word of the Quran too literally.
27. True the Quran enjoined upon the Muslim to strike
fear among their enemies by readying their war steeds
and their swords. If the Quran had mentioned steel
tanks, rockets, aircraft, bombs and guns, the teachings
of Islam would not have been credible, much less
accepted by the ignorant Arab at the time of the
Prophet. To ready horses and swords was more
understandable in the days of the Prophet. But the
real message of the Quran is to deter the enemy with a
credible defence force. Had this message been
understood then, the Muslims would not have forsaken
the study of the sciences and other allegedly worldly
learnings necessary for the invention and production of
the ever changing weapons for defence.
28. The result is the defeat of the once mighty Muslim
armies and the fall of all Muslim lands to the
European. Having fallen they still failed to diagnose
the cause of their downfall. They went on with their
endless debate on Islam, Islamic jurisprudence and
Islamic practices. This debate only lead to their
fragmentation as new sects, cults and teachings threw
up frequently antagonistic groups. Even the
achievement of national independence did not result in
the realisation of the need to acquire the skills and
knowledge to defend the country and the religion and to
catch up with the progress of the developed countries.
Instead everywhere there was a tussle between the
religiously educated and those educated in other
disciplines for control of the state apparatus. There
can be no doubt that the desire for power was not
motivated by religion as much as personal greed and
ambition.
29. As most Muslims are religiously inclined, each
side tried to outdo the other by professing to be
guided by the teachings of Islam. Each tried to be
more Islamic than the others. That what they were
doing was against the true teachings of Islam did not
deter those who saw in their profession of faith a
means of getting popular support and power.
30. The rallying cry of the orthodox religiously
trained group is 'secularism'. Anything at all that is
not directly concerned with worship, rituals and the
gaining of merit for oneself is classified as secular
and therefore irreligious or anti-religion.
31. It is unfortunate that Mustafa Kamal, the Turkish
patriot, had wrongly blamed Islam and not the narrow
interpretation of Islam as the cause of the collapse of
the Turkish Empire. Believing that the solution to
Turkey's problems lie in rejection of Islam, Mustafa
Kamal made secularism the Turkish state creed. Islam
was proscribed in his belief that to be secular the
Islamic religion must in no way influence the affairs
of state. Thus he expected the country he had saved
from Greek occupation would be like the European
countries where there was a separation between the
Church and the State. He attributed the progress and
success of the Europeans to this separation and the
secularisation of the Governments.
32. Mustafa Kamal's secularisation of Turkey angered
the Muslims in Turkey and the Muslim world in general.
They attributed it to associating and accepting
European (Christian) values. They accordingly
developed a fear of whatever was regarded by them as
secular. In their anger and fear they did not pause to
think about what was meant by secularism. They
certainly did not examine it in the context of Islam.
33. Separation of Church and State, separation between
the secular and the religion may be possible in
Christianity. But it is impossible in Islam. Islam is
a way of life and a way of life cannot be confined to
pure worship and rituals only. It cannot be about the
here-after entirely. A way of life must involve
everything that we do in our daily life.
34. Thus the study of science and technology is
related to the provision of a good life for the Muslims
and certainly is concerned with the safety and defence
of the Muslim ummah. Doing business and acquiring
wealth is also for the well-being of the ummah in this
world for how else can the alms, and the zakat be
expected to help the needy. Even improving the means
of travel is related to the performance of the Haj.
Today millions of Muslims are able to perform the Haj
because of the new modes of transportation developed by
non-Muslims. The Muslims cannot claim they made this
contribution to the performance of the Haj.
35. The development and the prosperity of the Muslim
country, good Government, a good and just legal system,
rules and regulation and laws, indeed everything that
has to do in this world is a part of the way of life.
The only thing that is required is that they do not go
against the injunctions of Islam, that they do not lead
to such arrogance that it denies that God exists. The
Communists for example are so taken up by human skills
and power that they reject God and religion.
36. The way of life of the Muslim does not include
being ignorant, being without modern knowledge, being
without skills, being poor and being forced to buy from
others including from those whom they regard as being
secular, for sustenance and for defence. Surely the
present inability of Muslims to protect other Muslims
who are being butchered and expelled from their
countries is not in keeping with the Muslim way of
life. And yet the inability of the Muslim to protect
other Muslims in distress is entirely due to their
backwardness and their general poverty.
37. There is nothing secular about learning the
sciences, the skills and the technologies that can
undoubtedly contribute towards the well-being and the
safety of the Muslims. Merit for the here-after does
not come from the performance of various rituals and
worship and the study of religious matters alone. The
whole community of Muslims will be committing a sin if
none of them is able to perform 'fardu kifayah' i.e. to
provide for the needs of the Muslims' well-being in
this world.
38. The lack of understanding of secularism within the
Muslim context, the fear of a repeat of the Turkish
'secularisation' has resulted in the Muslim becoming
ignorant and backward and incapable of defending
themselves. The blame must be put squarely on the
Muslims for their inability to perform an essential
part of the teachings of Islam.
39. But the fear of secularisation has lead Muslims
into trying to insulate themselves from outside
influence. To do this they try to physically isolate
themselves from the non-Muslims. This they do by
propagating the fear that contact with non-Muslims
will lead to contamination of their religion and what
they regard as their Islamic way of life. As a result
they do not contribute towards inter-religious
understanding as was done by the early Muslims.
40. In Malaysia today, there is a disturbing trend
among religious teachers to influence children into
avoiding contact with non-Muslims. Because Muslims
should only eat what is halal, the teachers try to
create fear among the children that they may be eating
food that is not halal. They create such doubts in the
minds of the children that they do not trust even the
food prepared in their own homes and in restaurants
where their parents take them to.
41. This lead to a fear that association with non-
Muslims would cause them to be contaminated with what
is 'haram' to Islam. In a country where there is a
substantial number of non-Muslims, the Muslim children
are being taught to keep away from the non-Muslims, to
be unsociable. They cannot therefore contribute
towards inter-religious understanding.
42. This attempt to isolate the Muslims from the non-
Muslims is not limited to kindergartens. Today in
schools and universities Muslim students are urged to
keep to themselves, to avoid activities which cannot be
confined to Muslim students only. As a result it is
rare for Muslim students to have non-Muslim friends,
something that can contribute to inter-religious
understanding.
43. The old generation was gregarious. They mixed
well with non-Muslims and they were able to interact
with them without in any way becoming any less Muslim.
But we see the new generation already quite unable to
adjust to a multiracial and multireligious country.
44. This insulation and isolation will not help foster
interreligious understanding. Indeed in multiracial,
multireligious Malaysia these Muslims are not going to
be able to adjust and live harmoniously and to benefit
from the numerous and varied opportunities such an
environment offers for the prosperity and advancement
of the Muslims. And what is happening in Malaysia, in
terms of isolating and insulating the Muslims
ostensibly in order to preserve the purity of their
religion, is happening all over the Muslim world. If
today the Muslims are misunderstood and are unable to
create understanding of themselves and their religion,
it is because they chose to create this
misunderstanding by keeping themselves apart and so are
unable to show the true teachings of Islam.
45. But isolating and insulating themselves is not all
that the Muslims do to cause the non-Muslims to have a
biased and unfriendly view of them. The oppression of
the Muslims in many parts of the world, in Palestine,
Eastern Europe and elsewhere has caused deep bitterness
and anger among them. Unable to fight back because
their countries are weak, many have resorted to
violence, to acts which are described as terroristic,
in order to vent their anger and frustration.
46. They very quickly learnt the methods of terrorism
invented in the West. They hijack airplanes, they bomb
buildings, they kill people, innocent and otherwise,
and they indulge in other violent activities in order
to further their cause.
47. Unfortunately, their cause is not served but they
do bring about greater condemnation and
misunderstanding of their religion and the Muslim
people.
48. Today, as has been pointed out earlier, Islam and
the Muslim have been made almost synonymous with
terrorism. The whole world has this perception of
Islam and the Muslims. It is as if Islam itself
advocates irresponsible terroristic acts.
49. Between their use of their religion to isolate
themselves and their violent reaction to oppression,
the Muslims have contributed much to the lack of
understanding between them and the followers of other
religions. But does Islam in fact teach the Muslim to
isolate themselves, to create misunderstanding between
them and the others?
50. Actually Islam does not teach this or advocate the
isolation and the insulation of the religion. From the
very beginning the Prophet and the Muslims were made to
understand that Allah S.W.T. created the peoples of
this world of different races and kinds so that they
may know each other. These people and even the Arabs
may not all accept Islam. The Quran clearly states
that there will be those who will worship in their own
way and their religion would be theirs. Their refusal
to accept Islam must be accepted. The Prophet (S.A.W.)
must accept this because his duty was to spread the
message. If Allah so wishes then everyone would
embrace Islam. If they don't it is Allah's wish and
the Prophet need not despair.
51. In other words Muslims must accept that there will
be people of many races and creeds who profess
different religions and that they are so created that
they may know each other, i.e. that there should be
understanding between peoples of different religion.
52. And so the first Muslim community in Madinah was
able to live among the Hebrews and the Christians. No
attempt was made to force the others to become Muslims.
If later on the Jews were expelled from Madinah it was
because they abetted and sided with the enemies who
attacked Madinah and the Muslims. It was not because
of religious differences.
53. The early Muslims conquered many lands where the
people were of other religions and these people
retained their faiths to this day. In Muslim Spain,
Jews and Christians were able to practise their
religions and way of life, and even participate in the
administration of the country. It is significant that
following the reconquest of Spain by Ferdinand and
Isabella, non Catholics disappeared. Jews and Muslims
either accepted Catholicism or migrated to Muslim North
Africa.
54. In Eastern Europe the Christians were happy to
accept Turkish Muslim rule because of the very heavy
taxes imposed by their former Christian rulers. These
Christians remained as Christians although a few chose
to embrace Islam.
55. It is a testimony to Muslim tolerance and
understanding that in practically all countries ruled
by Muslims there was and there still is a significant
non-Muslim minority. By contrast the European
countries had in the past only an insignificant number
of Jews and almost no Muslim or people of other
religions. Whereas the Jews thrived and even prospered
in Muslim countries, they were subjected to periodical
pogroms in Europe. This culminated in the Holocaust
when some six million Jews were exterminated.
56. The early Muslims adhered closely to the teachings
of Islam which recognise the rights of the 'Dhimmi',
the non-Muslims who had no quarrel with the Muslims.
Right through the period of Islamic glory the non-
Muslims were not only tolerated but played important
roles in the Muslim countries.
57. This tolerance and cooperation with non-Muslims
began with the Madinah Charter enacted by the Prophet
(S.A.W) which encouraged solidarity among Muslims, Jews
and Christians of the City of Madinah. Succeeding
Caliphs all showed tolerance and understanding of the
non-Muslims and their religions. After the surrender
of Jerusalem the Caliph Omar in the treaty of surrender
assured Sophronius, the Patriach of the City that "The
Caliph Omar Guarantees (the Christian) the safety of
their persons, their goods, their churches and crosses,
whether in good state or otherwise and in general their
religion. Their church will not be turned into
dwellings or destroyed ....... etc". And the Caliph
honoured his treaty undertakings. Even on his death-
bed Omar reminded the Muslims to show kindness to their
non-Muslim neighbours.
58. The same terms and conditions were granted by
Muslim leaders to the inhabitants of Damascus, al-
Hijrah and others. Count Leon Ostrorog, a Western
scholar wrote, "The Muslim thinkers of the Ninth
Century have expanded a doctrine of toleration of non-
Muslims".
59. The culture of tolerance of other religions and
faiths developed by the Islamic civilisation was
totally in keeping with the teachings of Islam. This
tolerance was not passive. In medicine Jewish and
Christian doctors worked closely with Muslim doctors
and produced medical research works together. Even
comparative religion was studied together by the
scholars of the three monotheistic religions.
60. In administration the Muslim rulers of the Umayad,
Amirid and Taifa periods employed Jews in diplomacy,
finance and public administration. Hasday ibn Shaprut
was a Jewish physician in the Caliphs court and he
openly looked after the interest of Jews in Muslim
Spain.
This practice of employing Jews in positions of
importance was found also in the Fatimid, Ayyubid and
even the Mamluk periods.
61. Further East, the Muslims came into contact with
polytheistic religions. Although there was practically
no reference to these religions and their adherents in
the Quran, the Muslims found little difficulty in
according to them the same treatment that they gave the
monotheists. Thus Hindus and Buddhists were able to
thrive in land conquered and ruled by the Muslims.
That this is so is seen from the existence of Buddhists
and Hindus in lands still ruled or formerly ruled by
Muslims.
62. When the Sultan of Malacca embraced Islam he did
cause to be destroyed all the Hindu temples where his
people used to worship. But there is no evidence that
he forced the foreign Hindus and Buddhists in his
country to convert to Islam or to destroy their places
of worship. And so to this day these people, although
they had adopted the Malay language and culture,
retained their religious beliefs.
63. This tolerance and understanding of other
religions, as has been pointed out, is a part of the
teaching of Islam. Throughout history this teaching
was accepted and practised. Of course like other
teachings, there were, in practice, frequent deviations
and distortions. Those with their own agenda may twist
the interpretations in order to serve their purpose.
And so throughout history and also presently there
would be incidences of inter-religious misunderstanding
between the Muslims and others. But these merely serve
to prove the rule.
64. The Islamic civilisation has indeed contributed
much towards inter-religious understanding. This is
borne out by the fact that whereas in Muslim countries
there are almost always thriving and prosperous non-
Muslim communities, in most non-Muslim countries only
one religion is found and practised. It is only lately
that mosques and temples are found in Europe and
America for example. It is also significant that there
are hardly any Europeans who are Muslims, or Buddhists
or Hindus.
65. This is not an attempt to make comparisons or to
say that non-Muslims and the Civilisations that they
built contribute less towards inter-religious
understanding. It is merely to emphasise that Islam
and the Muslims believe more in religious tolerance
and understanding than they are made out to be.
66. It has been pointed out that the Muslim of today
seem to be isolating themselves and to resort to
violence, but they are a minority. Despite the decline
of the Muslim civilisation, the majority of Muslims
throughout the world today still tolerate and show
understanding of other religions and their adherants.
Thus in Bosnia, despite the massacre of Muslims by the
Serbs, the Muslims never wavered from their objective
of building a multi-religious nation in which the Serbs
have an active share in the Government. The same is
true of Lebanon. With few exceptions, in Muslim
majority countries throughout the world, non-Muslims
are free to practise their own religions. And in
Malaysia the Muslim Malays who make up the majority
have deliberately opted to form multi-racial and multi-
religious Governments which work assiduously for inter-
religious tolerance and understanding.
67. Islam and the Islamic Civilisation have indeed
contributed much towards inter-religious understanding.
This is the direct result of the teachings of Islam.
It is perhaps difficult to acknowledge this but it is
nevertheless true. If there are Muslims who seem not
to be contributing towards inter-religious
understanding today it is not because of the Islamic
civilisation or the Islamic religion. It is because
circumstances have given rise to many misinterpretation
and deviations from the true teachings of Islam and
because Islamic civilisation has declined somewhat.
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