Muslim Scholar Akbar Ahmed and Dr. Judea Pearl engaged in their second interfaith dialogue on Jan. 20. The event, "Choosing Hope - A Dialogue in Search of Common Ground," was held at Harrison Auditorium, in the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. It provided Pearl and Ahmed the opportunity to reach out and address the need for dialogue and understanding between Muslims and Jews.
Pearl is the father of Daniel Pearl, a journalist killed while on assignment in Pakistan.
"Next month crosses the second anniversary of Danny's murder at the hands of people who know no talking," Pearl said. "Danny was killed for what he represented and what he represented was each one of us, namely, the ideals that each of us upholds: open mindedness, respect for others and recognizing the dignity of differences."
Pearl and Ahmed's first dialogue was held in Pittsburgh last October.
"The dialogue in Philadelphia was different because the audience had a better understanding of what the dialogue was about and what the two men were going to discuss," said David Shultman, executive director of the American Jewish Committee in Pittsburgh. "In a sense the dialogue in Philadelphia was more successful because it had over 500 audience members and greater support from the community as well as more dignitaries from the Jewish and Muslim communities."
Ahmed and Pearl shared what they learned from their first dialogue in Pittsburgh.
"I learned that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are more religious than I imagined and that they genuinely feel under siege, something that might seem absurd, considering their numbers and the fact that they control such vast amounts of energy resources," said Pearl, a professor of computer science at UCLA.
"Although he was taking a secular stance, I learned Judea was a very spiritual man who converted a terrible tragedy into a triumphant dialogue," said Ibn Khaldun, chair of Islamic Studies at AU. Pearl pointed to the phenomena of exclusivists reason for continued misunderstanding between Muslims and Jews.
"We have exclusivists in every culture and every religion, Pearl said. "Some orthodox Jews and some fundamentalist Christians are exclusivists. However, whereas these last two groups are marginalized minorities in Judaism and Christianity, exclusivist is a mainstream phenomenon in Islam and, in some Islamist states it is openly supported by the regimes."
The most effective way to combat exclusivism in the case of Islam is to convince Muslims that inclusivism is an integral part of fundamental Islam, Pearl said, referring to this as Neo-Fundamentalism.
Moderator Larry Kane asked Ahmed, "How do you cross the lines between inclusivist and exclusivist?"
"The first step is to become aware that we are living in a mutual global predicament and we can only become aware of the other side and the other argument if Jews and Muslims recognize that both sides feel they are under siege, otherwise we are not going to understand our mutual predicament," Ahmed said.
"We also need to understand in the Muslim world there is already a strong established Muslim model of inclusivist and we must be aware of this and strengthen it if we are to marginalize exclusivist," Ahmed said, using the example of Jinnah and his model of a moderate Muslim state with respect toward women's rights and other religions in Pakistan as an example of inclusivism.
Members of the audience had the opportunity to direct questions to Ahmed and Pearl. The questions ranged from the education that children in Pakistan and the United States receive to what was being done to prepare people for dialogue in other parts of the world including the Middle East and Europe.
A Pakistani woman from Karachi asked Ahmed what he or people like him were doing on the political level to address the problems with immigration between Pakistan and Israel. She cited the fact that the government of Pakistan does not recognize the state of Israel on its passports.
"The Council General of Israel and the deputy ambassador of Pakistan are both here and have shaken hands and for me that is a very positive step forward," Ahmed said.
The deputy ambassador to the U.S. from Pakistan, Mohammed Sadiq, spoke about the continued need for dialogue and understanding.
"There is more common ground between Islam and Judaism than we may think, not just the common ground of the scriptures and past histories of societies living together but there is a common ground of the present and a common ground of the future," Sadiq said. "All of us want to live in peace and all of us want our children to live in peace, and all of us want humanity to prosper and that is the common ground of today and the common ground of tomorrow."
In a personal interview, Pearl said, "Daniel symbolizes the goodwill of the West and his murder spotlights the dangers of dehumanizing others in this case Americans, Jews and Israelis."
Ahmed and Pearl will continue their message of hope and have been invited to speak in Boston, Los Angeles, England, Jerusalem and some Middle Eastern countries.
"Hope keeps us alive, it keeps us human and makes us aware that we are part of the same world civilization, and this is reinforced by our common Abrahamic tradition," Ahmed said.
