Freedom of Religion is Meaningless
Without Freedom to Change One’s Religion

‘Freedom of Religion’ is an individual’s fundamental right and it includes ‘Freedom to Change One’s Religion’. However, there are people who stand for freedom to change one’s religion only when someone is entering into their own faith community. These people would not allow the members of their own faith community to convert to any other religion - even if they would do so out of their own free will. From the perspective of ‘freedom to change religion’, their policy involves a double standard. A self-contradictory principle is inherent in this policy; therefore, it cannot work in a plural society - a society in which various faith communities live peacefully, in spite of radical differences in their beliefs and religious practices.

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THE Qur`an on indulgence, Forgiveness and Reconciliation

FORGIVENESS is part of essential nature of a believer (mu`min) who is all the time looking for God’s forgiveness. It is so because one’s being saved depends upon one’s being forgiven. Therefore, most important consideration for a believer is that God, his/her Lord, forgives his sins. Now consider the case of a believer who does not feel like forgiving another servant of God who has offended him/her. And, suppose further, that this believer does so in spite of the fact that the offender has realized his/her mistake. The question arises, if another servant of God has developed a true repentance and is requesting this victim of his/her offence to forgive while this believer still insists upon not to forgiving, then how this victimized believer him/herself will pray for Divine Forgiveness of his/her own sins.

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1. Islamic Change as a Change in the Leadership of the Human World
What is Sayyid Abdul A’ la Mawdudi’s view of ” Islamic Change”? What is, in his view, the nature of transformation brought about by Islam in the individual as well as in the society? These and such other questions will be discussed in the following pages. In view of the radical nature of transformation, Mawdudi sometimes calls it “Islami inqilab” 1 or “The Islamic revolution”. But he holds that this revolution is altogether different from all other revolutions.2 Challenging the misunderstanding of those who viewed the formation of an Islamic State as predominantly a political change, Mawdudi emphasized repeatedly that Islamic change is much deeper than mere political change.3 He always underlined the significance of political power 4- as will be clear from the following discussion. Still according to him, in its own nature, a political change as such, remains a superficial change5. Likewise, Islamic revolution is in no way similar to a political revolution.6 Just as blood revolution can never be a way of bringing about the Islamic change. In fact, Mawdudi uses the word “inqalab” (”revolution”) in this context, only to underline that a whole new world is born out of this radical change.7

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The Islamic Community and Western Culture in Quest of a Peaceful and Just World

A Joint Project of the Interreligious Engagement Project (IEP21) and The World Council of Muslims for Interfaith Relations (WCMIR)

Irfan Ahmad Khan

Dr. Irfan Ahmad Khan is a renowned Islamic scholar and author. He is the founder and president of the World Council of Muslims for Interfaith Relations. He is former Professor of Philosophy at Aligarh Muslim University, India, and former editor of The Journal of Islamic Thought. Currently, Dr. Khan serves as Chair of the Interreligious Engagement Project (IEP21).

THE VISION
In the year 2000, President Mohammad Khatami of Iran called for a global Dialogue of Civilizations.

Believing in dialogue paves the way for vivacious hope; the hope to live in a world permeated by virtue, humility and love, and not merely by the reign of economic indices and destructive weapons.
Mohammad Khatami, President, Islamic Republic of Iran

That call was taken up by Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations and the year 2001 was proclaimed the international Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations.

The United Nations itself was created in the belief that dialogue can triumph over discord, that diversity is a universal value and that the peoples of the world are far more united by their common fate than they are divided by their separate identities. Alongside an infinite diversity of cultures, there does exist one global civilization in which humanity’s ideas and beliefs meet and develop peacefully and productively.
Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General

Recently, Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, President of the International Movement for a Just World – JUST (Malaysia) has suggested a dialogue between Islam and the West as a first step toward a global Dialogue of Civilizations.

Two organizations have come together to take up the challenge. The Interreligious Engagement Project (IEP21) and the World Council of Muslims for Interfaith Relations (WCMIR) will play the principal organizing roles in a new initiative — The Dialogue of Civilizations: The Islamic Community and Western Society – The Quest for a Peaceful and Just World.

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