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Malaysian Scholars' Perspectives on the Role Of e-ISSN 2785-9444 VOL. 1, NO 1 (JUNE) 2021: 59-73 Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM) Malaysian Journal of Islamic Movements and Muslim Societies مجلة ماليزية للحركات والمجتمعات اﻹسﻻمية Submission Date: 5/04/2021 Accepted Date: 3/05/2021 Publication Date: 30/06/2021 MALAYSIAN SCHOLARS’ PERSPECTIVES ON THE ROLE OF DIALOGUE OF CIVILIZATIONS AS AN APPROACH IN PROMOTING WORLD PEACE Muhamad Razak Idris Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia [email protected] (corresponding) Abstract This paper seeks to contribute to the narrative of the role of dialogue in promoting world peace in human society. It will focus primarily on the extant scholarly discourse on this theme and will be governed by two crucial questions: ‘what are the perspectives of Malaysian scholars towards the practical achievement of world peace?’ and ‘how can dialogue be extensively applied to attain this? At the core of this discussion rests the idea of ‘dialogue of civilizations’, proposed by a number of prominent Muslim intellectuals such as Khatami, Ahmad and Al-Tauwijri as an effective model for promoting peace and justice across the globe. ‘Dialogue of civilizations’ suggests that despite the differences that characterize world civilizations and culture, there is room for dialogue between these cultures. It sprung up in the late 1990s as an alter-theory for the scenario of a ‘clash of civilizations’ that some scholars projected as a future possibility. It consolidated in the early 2000s. Over the years, it has stimulated mounting interest and debate among scholars, mostly regarding its practicality, importance and principles both ethical and methodological. Overall, the theory has been warmly received across the board. In 2001 the UN adopted it as a theme for promoting peace. Given its strong underlying religious roots, dialogue as a means of promoting peace among cultures, has caught the attention of many scholars in Malaysia including Uthman El-Muhammady, Osman Bakar and Chandra Muzaffar who have explored the challenges and prospects of implementing a dialogue of civilizations and discussed in detail the role of inter- religious dialogue in promoting world peace. This is a qualitative studies based on analytical review of several writings on the theme of dialogue of civilizations posed by those three prominent intellectuals in Malaysia. Their views are selected as they are among the most referred scholars in Malaysia on the issues of Islam and contemporary global challenges. The research found that Malaysian scholars 59 Malaysian Journal of Islamic Movements and Muslim Societies Vol. 1, No. 1, 2021 emphasized the need for promoting a universal mindset founded on universal values as a basis for world peace. Nonetheless, no attempt has yet been made to synthesize all their perspectives and to highlight the emerging trend in this discourse. This is what this paper seeks to accomplish. Keywords: Dialogue of civilizations, multi-cultural societies, international relations, contemporary Islamic thought, Malaysian Muslim scholars. INTRODUCTION There is a significant number of writings published by several prominent Malaysian scholars on the idea of dialogue of civilizations, its essentiality and challenges, in relation to its role in promoting world peace. The perspectives of Malaysian scholars like Muhammad Uthman El Muhammady, Osman Bakar, Chandra Muzaffar, to name a few, will be analyzed to illuminate the level of intellectual awareness about the concept of dialogue of civilizations in Malaysia. Uthman El-Muhammady (1943-2013) was a prominent religious intellectual in the field of Islamic studies in Malaysia. He was an Academic Fellow at the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), Malaysia until he passed away in Mac 25, 2013. Uthman El-Muhammady contributed significantly to Islamic knowledge in Malaysian publishing several major books on Islam and its civilization, one of his major works is Al-Quran al-Karim (1992), which is a full translation of The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an by Abdullah Yusuf Ali (Ghazali & Sabjan, 2018: 108-110). Osman Bakar (1946-) is a well-known Muslim scholar-philosopher in Malaysia. He was among the founders of the Malaysian Academy of Islamic Sciences (ASASI) in 1977 and a former deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malaya. He is currently a scholar of Islamic thought at the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), Malaysia. Among his major works are Tawhid and Science (1991), Classification of Knowledge in Islam (1992) and Islam and Civilizational Dialogue (1997) (ATMA, 2021: 1). Chandra Muzaffar (1947-) is a Malaysian political scientist and Islamic reformist and activist. He was a primary founder of Malaysian human rights NGO Aliran established in 1971 and its president until 1991. He has been the president of the International Movement for a Just World since 1991 and its current president. Among his major works are The Universalism of Islam (1979), Islamic Resurgence in Malaysia (1987), Human Rights and the New World Order (1993), and Alternative Politics for Asia: A Buddhist-Muslim Dialogue (1999). Muzaffar was the first Director of the Centre for Civilizational Dialogue at the University of Malaya (Oxford Islamic Studies Online, 2021: 1). 60 Malaysian Scholars’ Perspectives on the Role of Dialogue of Civilizations as an Approach to Promoting World Peace This article reviews the perspectives of the above-mentioned Malaysian scholars on the role of dialogue of civilizations as an approach to world peace. Their perspectives on this theme are found in several academic works such as Uthman El- Muhammady’s Dialogue For Peace: Building A Partnership Between Muslims and Christians (2005), Osman Bakar’s “Challenges to Dialogues of Civilizations and Ways of Overcoming Them” (2008) and Islam and Dialogue of Civilizations (2007) and Chandra Muzaffar’s “Towards a Universal Spiritual-Moral Vision of Global Justice and Peace” (2010). This analysis aims to examine the perspectives of these Malaysian scholars towards the ideal of world peace and how the approach of dialogue can be applied to attain this ideal. It also will show the pattern of understanding and attitude of Malaysian society towards the issue of the diversity and plurality of human society in the world today. DISCOURSE AND INITIATIVES OF INTER-CIVILIZATIONAL DIALOGUES TODAY Discourse on the role of dialogue of civilizations as an approach in promoting world peace has been well-received and is now expanding. The reality of the globalized world today confronting mankind has brought him to realize the essential role of dialogue in initiating opportunities for mutual cooperation between different human societies. As social beings, human societies depend on each other to sustain worldly life. Dialogue promotes interaction at multiple levels and establishes mutual cooperation between different human groups enabling them to achieve progress and happiness in this world (Yakunin, 2019: pp.16-19, Kayaoglu, 2012: pp. 129-32). The initiation of dialogue as an approach towards world peace was a response to idea that the diversity of human society is a threat to the harmony of human life in this world. This idea is based on the assumption that differences between human societies, especially the diversity of beliefs and values in life will lead to civilizational tension and conflict. Inter-civilizational dialogue has been proposed as a civil way to overcome the gloomy attitude of ‘civilizational clash’ subscribed to and adopted by certain individuals and groups in the world today (Heynes, 2019: pp.1-3, Bilgin, 2012: p. 1103). In this regard, Samuel P. Huntington’s thesis of the ‘clash of civilizations’ in post-Cold War 1990’s, was the example of the ideas that foresee the threat of diversity to the future peace of world society. Huntington states: Conflict was on the other hand, a product of difference, particularly the Muslim concept of Islam as a way of life transcending and uniting religion and politics versus the Western Christian concept of the separate realism of God and Caesar. So long as Islam remains Islam, which it will, and the West remains the West (which is more dubious), this fundamental conflict between two great civilizations and ways of life will 61 Malaysian Journal of Islamic Movements and Muslim Societies Vol. 1, No. 1, 2021 continue to define their relations in the future even as it has defined them for the past fourteen centuries (Huntington, 1996: p. 193). Huntington’s thesis envisioning that the future relationship between human civilizations especially between Islam and the West will be a state of tension due to their inherent differences in religious culture and practice has invited multiple responses from world scholars including Muslims. Muslim scholars began to propound the concept of ‘dialogue of civilizations’ with the aim of promoting the Islamic approach in dealing with the reality of human diversity and plurality in the world. For Muslim scholars, this type of attitude that sees diversity and multiplicity of human societies as a threat to world peace is against the Islamic vision of ‘a global pluralistic society’. This idea of a peaceful pluralistic world society is found in the Quran, which is the fundamental source of Islamic teaching. It proposes the idea that the diversity in human society is God’s creation. According to the Quran, human diversity creates opportunities for human beings to ‘know each other’ (ta’aruf) as it states, ‘O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other) (The Qur’an, 49: 13) In other words, diversity is a fundamental tenet of group social behavior and the mutual interaction between different peoples will lead to human progress in this world. This Quranic vision of world unity and peace in diversity is the philosophical ground for contemporary Muslim scholars’ efforts at developing the concept of inter-civilizational dialogue and promoting its essentiality in the globalized world of today.
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