CMTS: Peace and Non-Violence.
A Framework for Islam
BY EMAN LIM
On 12th December 2008, CMTS held the latest edition of its series of Prime Lectures, entitled "The Alternative Vision: Peacebuilding and Nonviolence in Islam". It featured our guest speaker, renowned Interfaith Peace Builder and acclaimed author, Dr. Mohammed Abu-Nimer.
With about 120 participants packing the auditorium at the Toa Payoh Community Club, Dr. Abu-Nimer capped a week of enthralling Interfaith Discourse and Peacebuilding workshops and roundtables, by enlightening participants with first-hand insights on Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding from the perspective of a frontline practitioner in "Conflict Zones" over and above the academic scope of the lecture. It was this sharing of personal experiences and stories that provided the meat that substantiated and brought life to a topical discourse which, to the uninitiated, may otherwise normally be perceived as "dry".
This contextualisation resulted in a more lively discussion during the Q&A segment of the evening. In Singapore where audiences are better known for being reserved, participants of this CMTS event where more willing to engage in committing questions and opinions, no doubt due to the intellectual and emotional comfort zone established by Dr. Abu-Nimer's presentation.
During the lecture Dr. Abu-Nimer touched on many learning points. However, since some of the lecture content can be found in Dr. Abu-Nimer's paper 'A Framework for Nonviolence and Peacebuilding in Islam' (part of the recommended readings which is available upon request from the organisers), I will not be touching on those points and shall instead focus on the value-added content which was delivered in his presentation:
Value added takeaways from the lecture include:
- - Conflict is part and parcel of everyday life. Conflict is basically
a 'differing opinion/position on an issue'.
- - There is no 'one size fits all' solution to Conflict Resolution,
every situation has its own context and solutions need to be 'customised'
based on the understanding of the context of each situation. Solutions
must be 'relevant' to the context of their application. Hence most
effective Peacebuilding movements have developed organically and
have sprouted from stakeholders 'on the ground'.
- - Conflict Resolution and Peace Building is a process that may
take considerable time and resources (intellectual, emotional, physical
and/or financial), and all parties must be prepared to invest these
resources in order for the process to have a realistic chance of
succeeding.
- - We must accept that 'Islamophobia', the fear of Muslims and
Islam, is a real phenomenon, that it can be found where there are
communities or individuals that form opinions based on available
media references or third party personal opinion, and that it has
been in existence since day one of Islam.
- - There has been a disproportionate amount of English language
resource texts on Violence/Terrorism as compared to Non-violence/Peace
linked to Islam in the US Library of Congress, this is due in part
to the fact that most resource texts on the latter are written in
eastern languages and aren't usually translated into English - hence
not yet searchable using English-based search engines. This is may
be a significant factor influencing US-Islam Relations, the availability
of more resources on Non-violence/Peace in Islam would make it possible
for the English reading publics/audiences to understand Islam and
its positions on Non-violence/Peace.