DOHA: A prominent Muslim interfaith activist from Lebanon yesterday called on the Arab countries to respect the rights of the Christian minorities in the region and the West to respect the rights of Muslim minorities living there.
Dr Mohamed El Sammak, who won the first Doha International Award for Interfaith Dialogue, while addressing the 10th Doha Interfaith Conference at Ritz Carlton yesterday said, “As a Muslim, I cannot claim the rights of Muslims in a non-Muslim community as long as the rights of non-Muslims in Muslim communities are not protected. The same applies to Muslim communities living in non-Muslim societies.”
He said with major demographic changes taking place in the Muslim and Christian communities the world over, both the communities should look for ways for peaceful co-existence.
Until the 19th century, 80 percent of the Christians were living in the West. Now about two-third of the Christians are living in regions like Latin America, Africa and Asia. On the other hand, some 600m Muslims are now living in Europe, America, Canada, Australia and other countries, he said.
“With such demographic transformation, should these two communities live a life of endless conflict or peaceful co-existence,” he asked, stressing the need for dialogue and mutual understanding.
He said dialogue is the art of seeking the truth through the eyes of the others. “We should learn to live with differences and accept the others. Elimination of differences will lead to elimination of the others,” said El Sammak. He urged the Muslims to think about the prophets whose names are not mentioned in the Holy Quran.
“Who are the prophets that Quran has talked about but not named? Budha or Krishna? Nobody has shed light to this aspect. There is a need to study more about the prophets who are not mentioned in the Quran,” he added. The Peninsula
