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ABSTRACT Conceiving Coexistence: an Exposition on the Divergent ABSTRACT Conceiving Coexistence: An Exposition on the Divergent Western and Islamic Conceptualizations of Tolerance Aaron M. Tyler, M.A. Mentor: Derek H. Davis, Ph.D. Is a “clash” between Western and Islamic civilizations underway? For some, Samuel Huntington’s prescient thesis is being realized. For others, his “clash of civilizations” paradigm only obfuscates with generalizations the complexities and confluences of world cultures. Cognizant of its potential deficiencies, this project utilizes a cultural comparative paradigm as an expressly limited systematic methodology for examining intercommunal, transcultural conflict and possible paths to reconciliation and coexistence. After demonstrating the reality of a multilevel conflict between Western and Islamic civilizations, the cross-cultural, interreligious conception of tolerance is proffered as one essential strategy for affecting a mutually desired level of peaceful coexistence. Tolerance is a strategic attitude for living with difference, and how this attitude is manifested largely depends on context, tradition, and the nature and extent of diversity. This dissertation provides a brief analysis of select writings and practices of tolerance in Western and Islamic histories to show how an intercultural understanding of tolerance is well within the philosophical, theological, and practical parameters of both traditions. Islamic and Western civilizations each have a unique hierarchy of values that have motivated conceptualizations of tolerance. Yet, despite their varying orders of supremacy, intercultural values of significant worth to both civilizations are apparent—liberty, justice, humility, human dignity, and charity, for example. In addition to the confluence of virtues that have quickened conceptualizations of tolerance, this project also examines how both traditions have found pragmatic, temporal stimulants for developing this important strategy. Beyond important virtues such as liberty or justice, the geopolitical desire to peaceably coexist has proven to be an equally important pragmatic incentive. This, of course, does not diminish virtue as a critical motivator for tolerance; it simply highlights the historical complexity of this pan cultural strategy for meaningful coexistence. Page bearing signatures is kept on file in the Graduate School. Copyright © 2006 by Aaron M. Tyler All rights reserved CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vi DEDICATION viii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. COLLIDING OR CONVERGING CIVILIZATIONS? 17 Limitations of a Comparative (Cross-Cultural) Paradigm 18 Capturing the Conflict 25 Western Fears: Real and Imagined 27 A Multidimensional Conflict 37 What is Religious Freedom 44 Crusade vs. Jihad 48 Conceiving Coexistence: A Strategy of Tolerance 53 3. A HISTORICAL GLIMPSE OF TOLERANCE IN THE WEST 58 Tolerance and the Transcendency of Religion 62 A Fourth-Century Plea for Tolerance 65 Tolerance and the Medieval Epoch 71 Ramon Llull: Tolerance via Dialogue 78 The Gentile 83 A Sixteenth-Century Expression of Interreligious, Cross-Cultural Tolerance 86 Las Casas on Intercivilizational Tolerance 87 Jean Bodin: An Evolution of the Interreligious Dialogue 94 iii The Colloquium 95 Synthesizing the Discussion 100 4. MODERN TOLERANCE: A PRACTICAL AND THEORETICAL CRITIQUE 104 Contextual Significance: Considering France 104 Distinctives and Deficiencies of Modern Tolerance 108 A Communitarian Critique 111 Engaging Liberalism: An Appraisal of Rawlsian Tolerance 115 Tolerance Rightly Conceived: Strategy or Virtue? 119 UNESCO Declaration of Tolerance: A Gauge of the Modern 122 Conceptualization France Reconsidered: The Case of Marseille 126 Summary 130 5. DISCOVERING ISLAMIC TOLERANCE 132 Tolerance: The Complicated Impact of Civil Society 135 Fundamental Intolerance 136 Maududi on Tolerance and the dawla 138 Qutb and Jahiliyya 141 Mechanical Intolerance of the Muslim Extremist 146 Theological Foundations for Tolerance 151 Metaphysical Justifications for Tolerance 161 Islamic Humanism of Abdolkarim Soroush 163 6. A DIVERSE SAMPLING OF TOLERANCE IN THE HISTORY OF ISLAM 167 The Dhimma: Contracting Coexistence 168 iv Tolerance in Ottoman Turkey: Secularism on the Periphery 174 A Turkish Intellectual’s Quest for Coexistence 181 Historical Role of Tolerance on the Indian Subcontinent and the State of Pakistan 187 A Brief History of Tolerance under the Mughal Dynasty 191 An Islam of Tolerance: The Muslim Intellectuals of Pakistan 196 A Complex Assortment of Ideas and Practices 206 7. A CONSENSUS FOR COEXISTENCE: EMPLOYING A STRATEGY OF TOLERANCE 212 Intercultural Significance of Tolerance 221 Conceiving Tolerance: A Contextually Relevant, Cross-Cultural Definition 229 Contemporary Challenges to Tolerance and Coexistence 234 Conclusion 237 BIBLIOGRAPHY 242 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This acknowledgment has proven to be the most formidable task of my dissertation, as it is here that I attempt to express an inexpressible gratitude to those who helped me complete what has been a truly collective endeavor. I am indebted to an exceptional committee for their valuable time, penetrating wisdom, and thoughtful insights. Deserving special mention is William Brackney, who graciously volunteered his time, productive criticism, and invaluable wisdom throughout. As well, I must thank my outside reader, Cary Nederman. He provided me with a wellspring of ideas and suggestions, all of which guided my research and enhanced the caliber of this dissertation. Any success ascribed to this project is largely attributable to the combined influence and encouragement of these remarkable scholars and friends. Far from being a reputed ivory tower experience, any preoccupations I developed with intellectual considerations during my doctoral studies were always tempered by the practical blessings I received from everyday life as a husband, father, and minister. The past four years of my academic journey were percolated with the encouragement, long- suffering, and infectious optimism of two wonderful sons, loving parents, and an amazing wife. Benjamin and Luke provide a taproot of endless joy and contentment to a proud dad. Their enthralling smiles, inquisitive minds, and endless imaginations remind me often of God’s divine goodness. To my father- and mother-in-law Bruce and Gloria vi Lomax I am truly thankful. Their patience and dependable encouragement helped mitigate any difficulties my family and I encountered along the way. My parents deserve the credit for so much. Their unconditional love, ceaseless affirmations, and fervent prayers are priceless foundations underpinning my entire person. Above all else, I am thankful for my wife, Lori. She is a loving and nurturing mother, a woman of God, and wife beyond compare. Her enduring love, unshakeable character, and intimate friendship have been my sustenance throughout. She has stolen my heart, and without her, this academic accomplishment was simply unattainable. Ultimately, for the accomplishments made and blessings received, my gratitude rests with God. This dissertation is a testimony to his matchless grace and provision. vii To Lori and the Honor of God viii CHAPTER ONE Introduction Samuel P. Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations (1997), acclaimed by many policy makers and foreign affairs analysts in the West for its reasoned realism but also castigated by academics for its infidelity to liberalism and challenge to multiculturalism, attracted international attention for its assertion, following the end of Cold War rivalries, that Islam would emerge as the most potent and violent challenge to Western civilization.1 In a 1999 keynote address delivered at Colorado College, Huntington stated: “For the foreseeable future, the relations between the West and Islam will be at best distant and acrimonious and at worst conflictual and violent.”2 Following the attacks of 11 September 2001, many again harkened to Huntington’s prescient thesis. The September 2001 al-Qaeda attacks, described by most world leaders as senseless and cowardly acts of violence, inaugurated what has become a global war on terrorism. While careful to emphasize that Islam is a peaceful religion and that most Muslims are peaceable, law-abiding citizens, Western leaders and citizens are cognizant of how the recent rise in terrorism is a product of Muslim extremism. 1Huntington’s hypothesis was first articulated in a 1993 Foreign Affairs article, entitled, "The Clash of Civilizations?” The hypothesis was expounded at book-length in 1997. Samuel P. Huntington, “The Clash of Civilizations?”, Foreign Affairs 72 (Summer 1993): 22-28; and Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New York: Touchstone, 1997). See also, Stanley Kurtz, “The Future of History,” Policy Review 113 (June/July 2002): 43. 2 Samuel Huntington, Keynote Address, Colorado College's 125th Anniversary Symposium: “Cultures in the 21st Century: Conflicts and Convergences,” 4 February 1999. 1 2 For many in the West, Islam has become, in large measure, the scapegoat of terrorism.3 Deemed the impetus behind recent terrorist attacks on Western soil, Islam— more pointedly, its perversion by militant extremists—has become the chief fear of many Westerners. With the new “enemy” identified, attempts to excise Islam’s radical elements, whether through banal discrimination upon Muslim immigrants in the dar al- harb (“abode of war”; non-Islamic regions of the world) or military, economic, and diplomatic pressure against the dar al-Islam (“abode of peace”; regions under Islamic law) , are now underway. One
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