Daily Times

Since the events of September 11, 2001, most of the western world came to believe that Islam was irredeemably addicted to war. This falsified image gradually became a stereotype which did much damage to the Muslim world.

The voice of Muslims to rebut these allegations had lost all relevance. It was in this background that the voice of Karen Armstrong, who is the greatest authority on monotheistic religions spoke out in favour of the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) and his message of peace to convey to the world that Islam was deadly against all types of violence and that the Prophet’s own life was a model of the finest human conduct. This she did in her famous book ‘Mohammad: the Prophet of our Time.’ She has written extensively on Judaism, Christianity and Islam and her targets are religious fundamentalism on the one hand and militant atheism on the other.

Karen Armstrong’s perspective is that each faith tradition is in peril of betraying its own unique strength: Islam is gradually abandoning its natural pluralism in the same way as the Christian tradition of tolerance is being undermined. Thus like an alchemist of yore, searching for a unifying spiritual principle which is equally applicable to all religions, she clings to the Golden Rule which says: “Do unto others as you wish them do unto you.” As an historian she is the compassionate face of religion.

She believes that “if your understanding of the divine made you kinder, more empathetic, and impelled you to express sympathy in concrete acts of loving-kindness, this was good theology. But if your notion of God made you unkind, belligerent or cruel, it was bad theology.” She believes that if one’s faith is not tempered by compassion, and empathy, the dry reason can lead men and women into a moral void. Thus compassion is not only central to religious life, it is the key to enlightenment and it is the true test of spirituality.

Very few people must be aware that In 2011, the Oxford University Press published a small booklet by the title of ‘A Letter to Pakistan’ written by Karen Armstrong addressing the people of Pakistan on their sufferings during the  terrorist attacks and devastating floods causing huge loss of life. In this background she urged the people of Pakistan to rediscover compassion in their daily lives to adhere to the ‘Charter for Compassion’ as a way to overcome the clash of cultural and religious traditions in a globalized world. She copiously quoted references from the Quran as well as other religious texts, elaborating a thought-provoking programme for integrating compassion in our thoughts and actions to make the world a better place to live in. Her primary focus has been to help develop a better understanding of Islam.

In February 2008, she won the TED Prize which is sponsored by this non-profit TED NGO devoted to organizing its conferences on ‘ideas worth spreading’. Frustrated by the faith communities of the world which instead of contributing to the world peace had become part of the problem, Karen Armstrong with the help of prize money, launched a programme to propagate a Charter for Compassion which was to be crafted by the leading thinkers of various religions of the world to restore compassion to the heart of religions and morality. Thus TED put a draft charter on a multi-lingual website and invited people of all languages and races for their proposals, on the basis of which 20 notable leaders from six religions finalized the draft of the Charter.

Mohammad (S.A.W) was our Prophet, because he was the very epitome of Compassion. Had we been austerely trained in this glorious tradition, we would not have seen the recent gory scenes of loot and arson on the roads on the crest of wild religious frenzy

The Charter aimed at treating everybody with absolute justice, equity and respect; refraining from inflicting pain and stopping all acts which breed violence, hatred or disdain etc. An elaborate network to give it practical application was also devised which is reportedly working satisfactorily. She also wrote a book ’Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life’to introduce her principles in detail. In her letter to the Pakistanis, she has attached very high priority to the life and teachings of the Holy Prophet(PBUH), and has suggested that it should be included as a subject in the curriculum of Pakistani Universities. For Muslims, to act upon the Golden Rule which says that ‘Treat others as you would like them to treat you’ is the basic tenet of their faith, and here she has quoted the saying of the Holy Prophet (PBUH): ‘Not one of you can be a believer unless he desires for his neighbour what he desires for himself.’

Today the world is so inter-connected that what happens at one place is likely to be repeated at the other. According to her our chief aim should be to create a global society where all people can live together in mutual harmony and respect. It looks quite ominous when small groups acquire means to cause large scale destruction. We must negotiate our differences more equably than before. Any ideology — religious or secular, which spreads hatred, misinformation, prejudice or contempt must, therefore failthe test of our time. Thus it is ever more important to follow the principles agreed to in the ‘Charter for Compassion.’

The principles enunciated in the ‘Charter’ are indeed the distilled wisdom of five thousand years of known history of mankind, which must be followed if human race has to survive honourably on this earth. During this period countless sages and wise men have passed and all have contributed their share to reform humanity, but despite all this, violence, fear, hatred and strife has not decreased.

We Pakistanis keep our faith and the personage of our Holy Prophet very dear to our heart, which is the single unifying factor for our otherwise divisive entity. We are unluckily divided in our individual sects and ideologies most of which bear the scars of various accidents of history. But to our good luck, the history and precepts of our Holy Prophet are well preserved and intact. There is no reason why we can’t forget our sectarian differences, and stick fast to the life and precepts of the Holy Prophet to become a vibrant nation.His life should serve us as a beacon light to guide us at every step of our life so that we should feel impulsively driven to act precisely in the manner in which he would have acted had he been in our situation.

This is the crux of the letter written by Karen Armstrong for the consideration of Pakistanis, according to whom, Mohammad (S.A.W) was our Prophet, because he was the very epitome of Compassion. Had we been austerely trained in this glorious tradition, we would not have seen the recent gory scenes of loot and arson on the roads on the crest of wild religious frenzy.

The writer is a former member of Provincial Civil Service. He can be reached at zafar.aziz.ch@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, December 24^th 2018.