From Indifferent Tolerance to Critical Engagement

By Ibrahim Kalin

In no period of recorded history have human beings known about different cultures as much as we do today. Thanksto thepervasive nature of globalization,what happens in Washington, London or France has an immediate impact on what positions are taken in Istanbul, Cairo or Kuala Lumpur. Our global public space is so powerful yet so elusive that it leads many to believe that more information brings more understanding. Getting to know others from close up, however, is not always a smooth and easy experience. It may result in some pleasant surprises and enriching experiences. Yet it may also result in disappointment, frustration and mistrust. In the current state of relations between Muslim and Western societies, we are doomed when we refuse to recognize each other in one way or another. Yet, we also face tremendous difficulties when we show the courage and honesty of knowing each other closely for there is too long a history of doubt, mistrust and refusal.

Today, living together is no longer confined to living in the same city or country. Geographical and political boundaries turn into trivial details when it comes to the shared space of thought, imagination and feeling. Living together becomes a burden and threat when this space, so dear to the heart and mind of every human being, is ridiculed, underestimated, attacked or destroyed. It is at such moments of violence that we lose our resolve to defend the middle path and begin to see extremism of various kinds, economic, military, political, religious, or cultural, as a refuge and basis for our oppositional identities. This is where Muslim sentiments collide with those of the West: ordinary people with sound minds become suspects or enemies. Our “information age” gives us not understanding but misguided intellects and hardened souls. As we experience it today, the form and scale of living together is a new phenomenon in human history. In no other period have human beings been so open and vulnerable to what others think and do. Blessed ignorance or calculated indifference is only a luxury that comes at a high cost. A New Yorker can no longer ignore the Middle East peace process, nor can an Egyptian turn a blind eye to the uninspiring and tasteless work of a few Danish cartoonists. Whether we see it as a challenge or threat, we live together and try to make sense of our lives through the lenses of such real and demanding experiences.

This is especially true if we consider the large number of Muslims living in Europe and the United States. Today, about one-fourth of world’s Muslim population lives as minorities from India and Western China to Africa and Europe. This is a drastically new phenomenon in the Muslim history and will take generations to adjust to. Muslims have always lived as a majority politically, economically and culturally, even when they were outnumbered by the locals they ruled. The modern period has brought an end to this and a new situation has emerged where living together with communities of different religious and cultural traditions has become a prominent fact of our lives.

Living together is one thing; being aware of it something quite different. At the risk of being simplistic, we can divide our experience of sharing the world into three periods. The first is what pre-modern cultures and societies have experienced. The traditional societies were able to exist as more or less independent and integral units. Internal coherence, both metaphysical and social, had given them the ability to grow organically without much need for interaction with the outside world, different cultures and societies. There have always been interactions with others, of course. But this was not a condition for the long and healthy existence of a civilization. A Chinese painter could have easily produced some of the most beautiful works of art without knowing anything about Islamic miniatures or Christian icons. Today, no matter how close one tries to remain to his or her tradition, it is no longer possible to remain oneself without recognizing the reality of others, both close and distant.

Curiously enough, in the Middle Ages there were two major civilizations that were exceptions to this rule. It would not be a stretch to say that no two world civilizations have been as intimately intertwined with one another as the Western and Islamic civilizations. We cannot understand, for instance, the development of Islamic science, philosophy and arts without recognizing the significance of what Muslim scholars did with the Greek and Byzantine lore available to them. Nor can we talk about medieval Europe without acknowledging the heavy influence of Islam on everything from the scholastic tradition and rise of colleges to Beati miniatures and even Dante’s Divine Comedy. It is because of this long history rather than its absence that the two civilization have seen the other as a worthy rival.