‘Acceptance of plurality the way forward’

Compilation of essays by Toheed Ahmad launched at NCA.

LAHORE:

A compilation of more than 10 essays dealing with a diverse range of subjects, A Large White Crescent; Readings in Dialogue among Civilizations: The Pakistani Experience was launched at the National College of Arts on Monday.

The compilation includes works and essays by Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, AR Cornelius, Al Beruni and Dara Shikoh.

Toheed Ahmad, the book’s editor, said that it had taken him 20 years of research and another 10 to compile it. A retired diplomat, Ahmad, said the message of the book was tolerance.

Special advisor to the UN secretary general, Syed Iqbal Reza gave a talk on the occasion.

Reza stressed the need for accepting plurality. He said the Muslim nations needed to come to terms with plurality, “each Muslim country has its unique character”.

He questioned the “self-imposed” limitations on plurality, “Why can’t we accept plurality beyond the Muslim world?” he asked.

He called Turkey “an inspiration” for the Muslim world.

For Reza the biggest failure of the Muslim world has been a lack of interest in education.

Reza said the divide between the Muslim and the Western worlds was largely due to the exploitation by certain elements, “Religion was never the root cause,” he said.

Exploitation, said Reza, takes place when the western media focuses on images of public execution and beheadings in the Muslim world while the media in the Muslim world focuses on bombings in Afghanistan. “History is shaped by power,” said Reza.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2012.