CAIRO: As terms like “multiculturalism , “inter-religious dialogue and “pluralism have become omnipresent in the post-9/11 political discourse, it can be difficult to discern when they are buzzwords and when they actually mean something.
Such concepts are broad, lend themselves to generalizations, and oftentimes look detached in their attempts to rationalize complex and not-entirely-rational human issues, like identity and religion.
Patrice Brodeur, the Canadian Research Chair on Islam, Pluralism, and Globalization at the University of Montreal, is dedicated to making sense of such issues. Indeed he believes that there is no alternative if different communities and religions are to live in harmony.
Currently, he is in Cairo as part of a project to generate inter-religious dialogue with a view to engendering peace (“the two are inextricable ), and to this end he will travel to several majority Muslim countries including Morocco, Jordan, the Gulf and Pakistan.
Brodeur will coordinate with teams of experts and researchers in each country to study the intersection of Islam, pluralism, and globalization and will look historically and contemporarily at the challenges, successes, and pitfalls of the management of different identities within these countries.
“The aim is to create shared spaces to facilitate dialogue towards peace-building, said Brodeur, speaking to Daily News Egypt at the Canadian Embassy in Cairo.
Arriving at a shared human rights language between secularism, Christianity, Islam and Judaism is central to Brodeur’s project, and this means taking into account the subjectivity of his own worldview.
“We need to have vocabulary that is inclusive, because if we start with a vocabulary that already excludes some people, we don’t start on a good foot.
“Secularism, which prevails in the West, was developed in the West. It is not good or bad in this sense, but it is important to be conscious of where it came from and what it represents. (This project) is about finding what I call an ‘inter-worldview’.
Islam and shari’a, Brodeur says, contain a rich body of human rights, though different in their language and priorities to other religious and secular systems. Essential concepts such as due process and justice, he points out, are afforded great attention in the Quran and Hadith.
Relativism aside, the UN declaration of Human Rights, which was ratified in 1948 and is widely accepted by the Western world and much of the Islamic world, arguably stipulates rights so basic – such as equality before the law and freedom from slavery – as could be acceptable to anyone concerned with the human good.
Is Brodeur willing to affirm before participating in inter-religious or -cultural dialogue that freedom from slavery, for example, is an inalienable right to anyone, anywhere?
“In the Quran, the highest deed you can do is free someone from slavery. But neither the Bible nor the Quran clearly condemn slavery.
“With the kinds of developments we’ve had in human rights and in notions of morality . I personally think these are the kinds of areas where changes are needed in Islamic law.
“As a non-Muslim of course I can say that, but this is my subjectivity. I think it’s important to enter into dialogue with Muslims about these issues . without the West imposing particular standards from outside.
Since arriving in Egypt Brodeur has held a workshop with a selection of students outlining his work, and he will give two lectures drawing on the experience of Canada entitled, “Multiculturalism, Inter-culturalism, and Pluralism in Canada and beyond: Lessons and Challenges . He is also due to meet the president of Al-Azhar University, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tayyib.
In Egypt, Brodeur says, like in the other countries he will visit, the aim is “to create spaces of encounters that are inclusive to all of the different worldviews and identities.
“It’s ok, for example, to have an Islamist agenda for the whole, but what will be the treatment of non-Muslims, or Muslims with different perspectives within that Islamist worldview?
“It is important to be inclusive in the participation and in the search together for consensual decisions for society.
