Waleed El-Ansary
(Egypt)
Speech delivered
before an assembly of religious leaders gathered with
the Dalai Lama in
San Francisco on April 15, 2006
I should
begin by saying that Shaykh 'Ali (Egypt's Grand Mufti) asked me to
convey his warmest salaams to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and to
all respected guests, and that he wishes he could be here with us
today.
Now, I
wish to share with you some of the on-going interfaith efforts at
al-Azhar University. To put them in context, I should first
note that al-Azhar is the oldest university in the Islamic world,
established over a thousand years ago (969 A.D.) in Cairo, Egypt.
Most Sunni Muslims consider it to be the most prestigious school of
law, and its scholars are seen as some of the most reputable
scholars in the Muslim world. Because its students hail from
every corner of the globe, what they learn at al-Azhar is
distributed throughout the Islamic world like water flowing from a
mountaintop. Situated in the heart of that world, al-Azhar's
intellectual influence is incomparable.
Turning
now to interfaith dialogue, a survey of efforts at al-Azhar in only
a few moments is not possible. Suffice it to say here that al-Azhar
has a permanent committee on interfaith dialogue that meets annually
with representatives from the Vatican as well as the Anglican Church
and engages in other interfaith discussions, both in the country and
abroad.
What I
wish to highlight here is the approach to this dialogue of one of
the leading figures at al-Azhar, Shaykh 'Ali Juma'a, currently the
Grand Mufti of Egypt and future Shaykh of al-Azhar, insha' Allah.
His approach simultaneously avoids compromising one's religious
integrity on the one hand, or simply reducing dialogue to polite
diplomacy on the other. A master of both the Islamic intellectual ('aqli)
and transmitted (naqli) sciences, he understands and
appreciates the works of scholars of comparative religion attempting
to resolve the theological differences between religions from a
higher, metaphysical point of view. It is significant, I
think, to note that Shaykh 'Ali stated in a recent tribute to the
late Martin Lings:
|
Lings' encounter with Rene Guénon
had a considerable effect on him, resulting in the
expansion of an enlightened guidance of what became
known as the Traditionalist School (Madrasat al-Turath),
in which the materialism of the modern world was
criticized and contrasted with the wisdom present in the
heart of all revealed religions, whether Hinduism,
Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, or Islam. This
wisdom is the essential light (fitrah) God
created in the hearts of all men, by which they can be
brought to the Truth. |
In support
of this, he cites verse 30 of Surat al-Rum: "So devote thyself to
the essence of religion, as befits the upright nature with which God
has endowed Thee; God's creation cannot be changed; that is surely
the true religion, but most men know it not."
I think it is also
worthy of note that Shaykh 'Abd al-Halim Mahmud, perhaps the
greatest Shaykh of al-Azhar in the twentieth century, referred to Guénon
as an 'arif billah (a saint; literallly, a "knower by God").
There is no more crucial a problem for our day than to be able to
achieve mutual religious understanding. The guidance of spiritual
leaders engaging in discourse from a deeper, metaphysical point of
view, such as Shaykh 'Ali Juma'a, combined with the interfaith
efforts of leading institutions such as al-Azhar, will be crucial to
achieve this in the Islamic world. It is hoped that others
will follow suit. And God knows best.
