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Can Islam and Buddhism coexist peacefully in SE Asia?
By Dr. Imtiyaz Yusuf — International Islamic University Malaysia — July 13, 2014
In India new Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in a religious ceremony before taking office; in Indonesia Islamist parties supported presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, a general with tainted human rights record; in Ukraine Jews are fleeing resurgent anti-Semitism; in Britain Prime Minister David Cameron has asserted that the UK is a Christian
country; in Brunei Sharia law is being imposed; Nigeria is witnessing the rise of Islamist Boko Haram; and Syria and Iraq are home to the newly established ISIL Caliphate. All are evidence that religion is increasingly being employed in the public sphere. In many countries, the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion is being challenged by religious nationalists promoting religious ”majoritarianism”. Such challenges are coming from the Buddhist majority in Myanmar and Sri Lanka, while in Malaysia Muslims are demanding the exclusive right to use the word ”Allah”.
The resurgence of religion is global and it’s not limited merely to Islam. Politicians are using religions for political objectives, rather than merely balancing politics with religious ethics – the fundamental rule of political philosophies. The current critical state of Muslim-Buddhist relations calls for the development of civil relations between the two religious communities. Positive communication would help Buddhists and Muslims discover their rich shared resources and embark on a dialogical journey to build peace and overcome religious nationalism andfundamentalism. Aside from Hindu India, most of Asia is Buddhist.
Thailand has the largest Buddhist population in the world. Southeast Asian Muslims should recognise that while they may call the region ”Serambi Mekkah” – the veranda of Mecca, for Buddhists it is the ”Mecca”, or centre, itself. Myanmar, Sri Lanka, China and Japan are the ”al-Azhar” and ”Medina” – the intellectual centres – of Buddhism. Hence the importance of Muslim-Buddhist understanding and dialogue for the future of Islam in Asia.
The liberal Catholic theologian Hans Kung once remarked, ”There will be no peace among the nations without peace among religions.” The ongoing Buddhist-Muslim conflicts in Asia have to be approached with a method of historical critique at the religious and socio-political levels and addressed with pedagogical strategies and strong political will on both sides – otherwise their will be no end to obstructions for constructive Buddhist-Muslim relations.
