Humanity Needs Shades of Godly Grey

It is almost impossible to argue for religious tolerance anymore without sounding like an apologist. Moderates are forced into this position by the current jingoistic nature of the "War against Terrorism" and the fundamentalist's attitude of "you are either for us or against us". To argue for religious tolerance is to argue for shades of grey, not black-and-white. It is arguing that the "enemy" is not as evil as he has been painted by political and religious extremists. Of course, as soon as you defend "the enemy" you can be safely ignored, dismissed - the messenger can be attacked instead of the message.

I recently received an email from my friend, Bernadette. She is retired from the medical profession and now grows roses and works for the peace movement in Australia. The subject was Islamic culture and how it had impacted the West.

Some years ago I was travelling on a well known French airline from Mauritius to Singapore via Kuala Lumpur. Between KL and Singapore I suffered an extreme bout of food poisoning. On arrival at Changi Airport I signed into a one day hotel room and called a doctor. The Muslim woman in charge of the rooms came and asked me how I was feeling. She cared for me ,bringing me water and kept my room for me for a time after I left it. As I was leaving, I thanked her and put out my hand and touched hers. She put her hand on my arm, and we stood there together like friends who had been through something together, as indeed we had.

Kindness to strangers and looking after the interests of travellers are what Muslims do best. It is part of their culture along with tolerance of others and in fact part of the lessons from the Prophet. Once when a funeral went past, the Prophet who was sitting, rose to his feet. The onlookers told him it was a Jewish man who was dead, and the Prophet replied, “But he is human like us”.

The chivalry of English knights is something learnt from Islam... The knights in these days were uncivilised beings who slept in hovels with the stock. They were smelly and had no concept of decency towards each other or to themselves.

The first meeting with Islamic people was a shock for the knights, their squires and followers. The Muslims lived in luxurious castles and homes, surrounded by art and music; they had invented the concept of zero, the numerical system and were far ahead of any other country with mathematics. The Muslims had a culture that included chivalry towards others. They lived this in their lives and carried it onto the battlefield.

The movie "The 13th Warrior" is a good example of the cultured Arab compared with the Europeans and Vikings with whom he found himself. The Crusaders learned new standards of hygiene and cleanliness, tolerance of others, and the chivalrous attitude that accompanied the life of the Muslims. They returned to Europe with new ideas which they put into practice immediately, and the chivalrous knight of European history was born. They built castles, bedecked them with fine hangings and art and emulated the Muslims in every way. They developed a new attitude towards women, holding them in reverence and going off to battle with their ladies’ ribbons flying from their lances.

The European knight had always adhered to the idea that a knight had to be loyal and brave and godly, but now they added something new; he must be courteous, he must be brave in spirit and he must be noble.
In warfare, instead of all-out slaughter, a knight must raise a fallen enemy to his feet; he must not ride over a fallen person struggling to his feet, and he must treat his prisoners with compassion.

Although ideas in Islam have ebbed and flowed for 1000 years, the main principle of graciousness and tolerance, kindness to strangers and the giving of alms has been a constant.

This is all true, but it is also at odds with car bombs in busy marketplaces or beheading hostages. We can only reconcile the extremes by admitting to shades of grey. The truth is that the Muslim religion encompasses everyone from my friend Attar, who worries about his sin if he breaks his fast a few minutes early at Ramadan and prays for foregiveness, through to an extremist lunatic who will gladly spill the blood of innocents in the name of Allah. Likewise, the Christian religion spans a spectrum from my old Latin teacher, a kindly but eccentric Episcopalian minister (who wore a kilt whenever possible because he was a terrible driver and no policeman would ticket a man of the cloth in a kilt!) through to the IRA and UDA terrorists who murdered innocents in the name of the Catholic/Protestant divide in Ireland or the American group Christian Identity with their squalid ties to white supremacists and armed militants.

Arguing for religious tolerance means arguing the whole spectrum, on every side and for every religion. The extremists will attack any attempt like rabid rottweilers so make sure you hit them with the whole newspaper, not just one page. Just because you are a progressive, a peace-lover, a liberal, doesn't mean you have to play nice with the naughty puppies.