Furor over Archbishop’s remarks

Pakistan OBSERVER, Wed, Feb,20, 2008.

Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema
 

The uproar over Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan William’s remarks in a lecture and a radio interview in Britain is amusing as well as thought provoking. The remarks have elicited huge criticism from an over projected tolerant society. The Archbishop merely suggested that Britain should consider adopting some aspects of Sharia law. Clearly ruling out the ultra orthodox model, he noted in radio interview that certain provisions of Sharia are already recognized under British law. To interpret that the Archbishop was advocating the adoption of entire body of Sharia law in Britain certainly appears to be unrealistic.

Not only outrage was expressed in certain quarters and call was made for him to go but also reportedly a member of Church of England parliament or General Synod Alison Rouff even went to the extent of stressing that Archbishop’s remarks have done inestimable damage to himself as well as to the church. ‘He is not basically a leader. He has got a fine brain. He is a good man but he belongs in academia. He’s been very badly advised’ vociferously stressed by the member of Synod’.

The Archbishop neither made proposals for Sharia nor called for its introduction as some kind of parallel system of jurisdiction to the civil law. A more rational interpretation of his remarks was that he was trying to explore ways in which reasonable accommodation might be made within existing arrangements for religious conscience.

While supporting the Archbishop the Secretary of Islamic Sharia Council in Britain Shiekh Suhaib reportedly stressed that not only most of the Muslim world also rejected the ultra orthodox model but also stated that out of 57 Muslim countries, only two or three of them implemented full Sharia. It also needs to be pointed out that there are differing interpretations of Sharia within the Islamic world.

‘In the Muslim world these days Sharia means a whole variety of different things’ said John Voll, Professor of Islamic History at Georgetown University in Washington. Reportedly he further stated that Archbishop apparently had in mind a modern school of Muslim thinking that views Sharia as a system of essential Islamic values rather than a fixed code of harsh punishments.

While claiming to be multicultural societies in many countries of the West, one finds extreme intolerance when it comes to the welfare of minorities belonging to different cultures. The cover of freedom of press is a general excuse frequently employed when a particular minority or its cultural norms are targeted. The underneath force lurking under such an approach is invariably the self proclaimed superiority of their own cultures.

It is a well known fact that developed countries like US, UK, Canada, France, Germany often proudly proclaim and project themselves as having multicultural societies primarily because of large scale migration. The concept of multiculturalism not only involves mutual respect but also acknowledgment of the multiplicity of heritages that contribute towards the development of multicultural societies.

Many writers have categorically stated that ‘a situation of cultural pluralism is observed when a group is neither acculturated nor integrated’. Not only the difference between cultural norms are recognized but also accorded deserving respect. The minority groups with well developed cultural norms invariably resist the complete merger with the societal norms in which they have opted to live for one reason or the other.

The juxtaposition of two or more cultures within one country tends to influence each other. The cultures that is heavily dependent upon great religions like Islam, Christianity and Judaism have many commonalities which are practiced in daily life. The positive approach invariably entails accommodation in one form or the other particularly in areas that governs the personal law.

The tendency to judge other’s cultural values by one’s own is a common practice in the present day world. All cultures can live side by side without any friction if one sheds the tendency of projecting one’s own culture as superior than the other. Secondly it is imperative that we not only learn to respect other’s cultural norms but also make constructive effort how to accommodate the other if we want to claim a truly multicultural society.

Lack of awareness of the positive aspects of multiculturalism often leads to the problems of discrimination, prejudice and intolerance towards other cultural identities. This, in turn, tends to make life difficult for those who had migrated to another society for either economic compulsions or some other factors that may have forced them to leave their own home and decide to live in another society.

The cultural diversity is a global phenomenon and several countries around the global village we live are engaged in evolving approaches and formulating policies to address realities of multiculturalism. Over the years many have evolved some workable mechanism of dealing and living in their pluralistic and multicultural environment.

To many people all over the world, the degree of uproar witnessed recently over Archbishop’s remarks in fact reflects the biased attitude of certain influential section of the British society and its sense of superiority. A nation may be economically developed and enjoy a much better standard of living than compared to poorer nations but it does not mean that others are culturally poor.

Reacting to Archbishops remarks and subsequent outrage in the media a spokesman of British government reportedly and firmly declared that British law based on British values should be adhered to. If tolerance is one of the British value then the recent outburst certainly depicts the exact opposite. The Archbishop did not appear to be calling for a parallel penal code. All he was implying that the Muslims should enjoy parity with other religious communities like the Jews who have already set up their own institutions to arbitrate dispute and interpret religious rules.

There exist many sub-cultures in British society and people belonging to these sub cultures often regulate their life in matters like diet, inheritance and marriages in congruence with their own cultural norms and practices. Many of these practices differ rather sharply from one another. Over the years the juxtaposition of these sub cultures tends to influence the followers to extract a better value system.

The recent past has witnessed many misguided individuals tend to find ways to demonstrate disrespect to others value systems and deliberately target other religions or religious leaders in order to deliberately widen the gulf. Admittedly they may have ulterior motives in indulging such pursuits but the governments should be more rational in approaching such situations. Instead of vilifying the Archbishop, perhaps it would have been better to attempt to comprehend the underlying message and initiate a dialogue.

The writer works for Islamabad Policy research Institute.