Syria's intellectual elite have spoken...someone pass me the oxygen!
"Do you know that Grand Mufti of Syria Sheikh Ahmad Hassoun has recently directed for the renovation of the Damascus Synagogue? Do you know that the Mufti has accompanied himself a Jewish Rabbi to one of the mosques and told worshippers we should always seek interfaith dialogue?" asked university professor Sami Moubayed.
5 comments:
this is really pathetic.
"This is Syria's way of telling the world it is promoting a tolerant Islam. This kind of Islam, similar to that in Turkey, is one that can accommodate with the West, and helps to curb radicalism."
literally sums it all up. As long as it is within the lines that they (the west) put it, then we are fine.. otherwise we if we decide on our own how it islam should be practiced then it becomes extremism, radicalism, fundamentalism, fascism, intolerance, etc..
In essence I have no problem with that, the opposite - I promote it! Why do you oppose interfaith dialogue? I sharply oppose ZIONISM, not JUDAISM, the religion ...
Indeed Karin. In fact, doesn't the mufti's action help to remove the straw man that the west so often attacks when it comes to supposed radicalism: the idea that anti-Zionism is somehow anti-Semitic and all that?
That is not the point. The point is that to reduce the conflict in the region to a mere lack of dialogue between faiths is wholly idiotic. Today Obama praised the "wise" Saudi King for his interfaith dialogue, while he reasserted the US's "unbreakable" relationship with "israel." It is as if he views us as a collection of morons who have no clue what is going on. And when so-called "intellectuals" make statements such as that of Sami Moubayed, he reinforces that view in Obama's mind.
Nour, I do not perceive the interfaith dialogue as an attempt to reduce the conflict of the region to a mere lack of dialogue between faiths but rather to find a starting point, a common denominator!
I am wholeheartedly with you when you criticize him for praising the "wise" Saudi King and mentioning or rather emphasizing the "unbreakable relationship with Israel" ... but try to consider his position as new president: he CAN'T behave like an elephant in a porcelain store and overturn everything in a heartbeat (he'd like to survive .. and not ONLY politically) but needs to walk a very tight and narrow rope of diplomacy! He certainly does NOT view you all as a "collections of morons who have no clue what is going on", rest perfectly assured of that - he does respect you and is more than willing to listen! I wish you would give him a wee-bit more credit ...
Interfaith dialogue - in my opinion - should be a PART of the process, nothing more, to finding a common denominator and to defuse religious tensions and misunderstandings. As long as it stays in this capacity - I don't see a problem!
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