According to the correspondent of Taqrib News Agency, the fourth session of the series of meetings of the “Compassionate Ummah” on “Studying the Causes and Grounds of Religious and Sectarian Conflicts in the Islamic World and Ways to Deal With It” was held with the presence of Hujjat-ul-Islam wal-Muslimin Mohammad Mehdi Taskhiri (Head of International Affairs, University of Religions and Denominations and Seminary and University Lecturer), Mostafa Zolfaghar Talab (Faculty Member of Theology and Islamic Studies at University of Tehran), Mohammad Javad Shams (Associate Professor of Religions and Mysticism at Imam Khomeini International University of Qazvin), Seyyed Mohammad Reza Marandi (Head of Political Jurisprudence Department at Shahid Beheshti University).
Mohammad Javad Shams, Associate Professor of Religions and Mysticism at Imam Khomeini International University of Qazvin, said at the beginning of the meeting: “If we want to find the roots of differences among Muslims, we must examine the history of Islam from both internal and external factors.”
He added: “Studying other ethnicities and religions is a positive event that has been taken place in recent years and a lot of research has been done in this field; Of course, we must be aware that powerful countries want to pursue their own interests in this direction; So the first step is to get to know a nation well and explore its weaknesses; Unfortunately, it must be said that the West has studied this well and identified the weaknesses of the Islamic world, especially Britain, which has infiltrated the body of the Islamic world; Of course, the purpose of these is quite clear, and that is to divide the Muslims.”
Shams stated: “When we talk about unity, difference, and division, we must classify the meanings of these; In fact, it should be said that differences are useful in some cases, but differences that cause conflict, distance, etc. are not good.”
Associate Professor of Religions and Islamic Mysticism at Imam Khomeini International University of Qazvin stated: “The most important root of differences among Muslims is ignorance; One is ignorance of what we have and the other is ignorance of what is in front of us; It should be said that ignorance of oneself and one’s possessions does not exist only among the masses and may also be seen among the scholars.”
He continued in this regard: “Ignorance of oneself, apart from the harm they do to society, causes the most harm to oneself; We have seen the first Takfiris in the history of Islam in the Kharijites; They could not recognize the status of Imam (AS) at that time; Therefore, it is the duty of Muslims to first know what they have.”
Shams by stating that ignorance on the other side means that we have no knowledge of the other side and we reject it, stated: “We should know that we will never reach ignorance with knowledge and awareness, that is why in the Western world, in order to know a sect, they live with them at the beginning of the path; One of the causes of ignorance is exclusivism because we do not know what the other party has and we do not even know what we have.”
Associate Professor of Religions and Islamic Mysticism at Imam Khomeini International University in Qazvin stated: “The next issue is legitimacy, which is very important and we must pay attention to it, it has been proven, people who are religious have everything; Religious people, for example, are calmer and less stressed; It is religion that blesses life; Therefore, it is the duty of the scholars and thinkers of the Islamic world to examine whether there is a problem in religion or in religious people who differ in some cases or not. Therefore, it must be said that our problems are both scientific and practical; If these are not removed, unity will not be realized in the true sense.”
Shams added: “Today, chanting slogans will not solve the problems of the Islamic world; In fact, it should be said that the works can be done by real action not just by saying words; We always say that religion is separate from politics, but this is not the case, and we have seen that politicians have abused religion many times to achieve their goals.”
Associate Professor of Religions and Islamic Mysticism at Imam Khomeini International University in Qazvin said: “Today in the United Kingdom and the United States, there is chairs for Shite Studies and Religious Studies; Why don’t we have such chairs in Islamic countries? For example, we can hold a chair of Hanafi studies in the whole country, but before holding such a chair, it is necessary to understand the reality of our religion and know what we have and what other denominations have.
Shams, stating that one of the most important currents in the world is the Islamic current, clarified: “The Islamic world has a problem in the issue of oral tradition today. We must act impartially and this issue is very important; Today, Muslims must come to terms with each other and know that they have a common goal anyway; Those who have a duty to do this empathy and unity must be trained in the ways in which religions are close to one another.”
Pointing out that self-refinement and self-improvement are other factors in preventing conflict and division among Muslims, he said: “We must put a lot of emphasis on self-improvement so that we can spread unity in Islamic society.”
Seyyed Mohammad Reza Marandi, Head of Political Jurisprudence Department at Shahid Beheshti University, continued the meeting: “Excommunication approach is not a bad phenomenon that we should say should not exist at all; Many times our scholars excommunicate some, but the place of excommunication is very important.”
He added: “Another important factor in Takfir and excommunication is not paying attention to the element of reason in inferring the Shari‘a ruling; Just as not everyone can issue a religious ruling, because not everyone has expertise and ijtihad; One of the reasons for being a Takfiri is that non-experts get involved in this issue; In addition, the jurisprudential approach is very important.”
Marandi stated: “The point that is important in strengthening the Takfiri currents is the lack of distinction between the necessities in religion and the theory of religion, which some do not distinguish.”
The Head of Political Jurisprudence Department at Shahid Beheshti University acknowledged: “According to studies, if jurisprudence and denomination replace religion, Takfir will occur; So the solution is emphasizing on the Unified Ummah Theory; For example, if everyone in a country has the same religion, all the people of that country practice their religion and adhere to it; But today societies have expanded and the multiplicity of different religions is seen in societies, and we must accept this cultural diversity in society.”
“It is the duty of Muslims to be tolerant towards each other and to reason in this way,” Marandi said.
In the end, he said: “Emphasis on commonalities is one of the factors that should be paid more attention to reduce conflicts and differences; We have to see the full half of the glass; If we do this, there will be no conflict and unity will be created.”
Mostafa Zolfaghar Talab, Faculty Member of Theology and Islamic Studies at University of Tehran, said in the continuation of the meeting: “The factor of foreign interference may be one of the causes of differences between Shiites and Sunnis; Today we are in a new world and new organizations have been created in countries that can adopt strategic policies to prevent differences among Muslims.”
He continued: “It is in the interest of arrogant countries to make conflicts between the two religions; In the time of Sheikh Muhammad Abduh and Sayyid Jamaluddin Asadabadi, we witnessed these events more; But today, with the development of the world, it is necessary for countries to plan their own strategic policies, we must strengthen the Ummah-Centered Theory before accusing others; Islamic countries must have a clear strategy for themselves, and this is very important.”
Zolfaghar Talab stated: “Takfir exists in all religions. We must first define our duty about Takfir. Kharijites in the era of Imam Ali (AS) were people who excommunicated everyone who committed a deadly sin. It means that they were aware of jurisprudential decrees. However, what made them one of the first group of Takfiris? The reason is that they fell into ignorance; They may draw swords in the circle of Islam, but they did not know the meaning of this sword-wielding and they hit the structure of Islam; Because they were not familiar with the main spirit of religion and Shari‘a, and this is what we call it ‘the holy ignorance’.”
Hujjat-ul-Islam wal-Muslimin Mohammad Mehdi Taskhiri, the Head of International Affairs, University of Religions and Denominations, said in the continuation of this meeting: “We should examine the causes of the systems that divide and rule. If we look at history, we see that it is full of anxiety; It is full of anger towards each other; Today, those who are the scales and create a Unified Ummah in the Islamic world are never given a role to play in resolving disputes.”
He added: “I have dealt with Muslims for more than 30 years in the World Forum for the Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought and almost 10 years in the University of Religions and Denominations; We have never seen religions or denominations have a problem with differences; All religions and divine prophets have preached to the people to avoid idolatry and division; The dominant powers have always taken advantage of these conflicts and divisions.”
The Head of International Affairs, University of Religions and Denominations stated: “Unfortunately, today we have an important issue to know what the solution to the differences of Muslims is. We must show the people the realities of Islam, the beauties of Islam, and the basic criteria for the unity of Muslims, which are less paid attention to.”
Hujjat-ul-Islam wal-Muslimin Taskhiri acknowledged: “Who thinks he will go to heaven by blowing himself up and thousands of others? They are arrogant in understanding religion. All negative issues such as hatred, resentment and division, etc. are injected into these people from childhood.”
The Head of International Affairs, University of Religions and Denominations said that today the problem of the Islamic society is petrification and that anyone who does not have the power to know the religion and the Islamic society is considered petrified. He stated: “Today, we can promote proximity and unity among Muslims by making cultural movies or clips.”
He added: “Jurisprudence must exist in religion, jurisprudence means different ijtihads and it does not take the place of religion, but it is the need of the Islamic society and we must teach this to families from the beginning.”
Hujjat-ul-Islam wal-Muslimin Taskhiri acknowledged: “Our duty is that we should seek a solution to strengthen the proximity; We must emphasize our commonalities more than ever and ignore minor differences; We disagree on some issues, but we have 90% in common; Therefore, the truth does not allow us to put aside the commonalities and move towards differences.”
In the end, he said: “Today, the duty of Muslims is to support meritocracy and emphasize authentic traditions and make Islam-centrism one of their main principles; Muslims should spread the culture of proximity in the society through well-organized planning and have the foresight to use it to interact more with each other.”
