On 4 July 2008, a seminar entitled An Islamic Perspective on the Commitment to Inter-Religious Dialogue organised by the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies, was held in the premises of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) in Kuala Lumpur. Fr Michael Chua and Br Sherman Kuek of the Kuala Lumpur Archdiocesan Ministry of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs (AMEIA) were invited participants.

The distinguished scholar invited to be the presenter in the seminar was Dr Syed Farid Alatas, Associate Professor of Sociology in the National University of Singapore.

Dr Farid aptly began by noting the importance of dialogue for national integration and racial harmony. In other words, dialogue was a non-negotiable. He expressed a concern that dialogue had thus far been relegated to the mere exchange of theological ideas among scholars rather than being embodied as a joint effort to solve very practical issues facing a multi-racial society.

Using a host of historical examples, Dr Farid elaborated his insightful observation that the positive elements of modern civilisation found their roots in multi-cultural - and to be more precise, inter-religious - encounters. Such encounters were, in his assessment, focused on understanding and appreciating rather than converting “the other”.

At a very practical level, Dr Farid expressed his view that for such inter-religious encounters to take place authentically within Malaysia, the manner in which education took place had to be revised. The present education system, particularly its contents, caused polarisation more than giving rise to healthy dialogue. Since the way subjects were taught should propagate respect for various cultures, Dr Farid suggested that textbook contents should be changed. Should this effort be undertaken with utmost seriousness, he was quite confident that the next generation of people would be inherently dialogical in their view of inter-religious interactions.

The presenter was extremely and eloquently forthcoming with his views regarding the state of inter-religious dialogue in Malaysia. He commented that if real dialogue was actually taking place in Malaysia, the Muslims would be upholding the rights of Christians to, for example, erect crosses on their religious buildings instead of feeling threatened by such religious expressions. He emphatically stated that Muslims had a duty to help persons of other religions to solve their problems at a very practical level.

Listening to Dr Farid’s exposition on inter-religious dialogue from an Islamic perspective was extremely refreshing and hopeful. It is our hope that more Muslim scholars like him will rise up to reflect the spirit of Islam for what it really is - a religion of love and compassion.