The Eternal Values 

Global Forum on

Changing Values for Human Survival

The Late Shaykh Ahmad Kuftaro, Grand Mufti of Syria
Kyoto, Japan, 17–23 April 1993

 

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, the Lord of all creation. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, I greet you with the greeting of Islam: peace be on you all. As the spiritual co-chairman of the Global Forum, I express my joy and optimism in meeting you in this beautiful city of Kyoto, Japan’s religious, cultural, and historic center.

Despite the dazzling advancements of human society in science, technology, culture, and art, man is still a victim of misery and suffering everywhere. We see examples of hunger and homelessness in the most advanced nations, including the industrialized countries of Europe, Asia, and the Americas, where many live below the poverty level.

We see oppression and persecution as regional wars motivated by outdated fanatic thinking, of which true divine religion is innocent. Though major world organizations — the United Nations, its Security Council, and the European Community — were formed to promote peace and safeguard the world community, they stand powerless. This questions whether such agencies have any real value and, specifically, whether they are working for world peace or the sole interests of the powerful.

We see the ease and speed with which these organizations implement some resolutions. But, on the other hand, we see their procrastination in executing other ones, which remain on paper only, as though they have two sets of values. Moreover, the Big Powers occasionally resort to the veto on essential measures in the Security Council, which makes us ask if they are genuinely acting for international peace.

Twentieth-century man faces serious dangers, such as AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, ethnic disruptions, and misuse of the environment. Insofar as the latter is concerned, the Earth’s atmosphere, water, and soil have become so polluted that man is facing the real threats of desertification and global warming because of emissions of greenhouse gases and the depletion of the ozone layer.

However, an even greater danger confronts the man: the loss of love and compassion in most people’s hearts. The fragmentation of the family structure, the intrinsic unit of any society, is due to the lack of emotion that creates the sense of an individual’s responsibility towards his family. As a result, we find an increase in the divorce rate, children running away from home, brothers fighting with each other, the misuse of intoxicants, and drug addiction. This disintegration is not limited to the family but is seen in the general distancing of man from his fellow man.

Let’s ask ourselves the reason for this deterioration, which threatens man’s very existence. First, we must acknowledge its origins in individual, nationalistic, or religious egotism, which has weakened man’s link with the divine law. This situation has allowed man’s baser self to dominate his reason, crippling his humanity. As a result, we see him uttering the wisdom of the prophets and sages without putting it into action.

A group of people today consider themselves superior to the rest of humanity. Consequently, they believe they have the license to commit atrocities such as rape, enforced migration of peoples from their homeland, and persecution to the point of genocide in the name of ethnic cleansing. Therefore, in the struggle for material dominance, man has adopted a new set of values that have spread in the form of aggression, terrorism, and organized crime, which controls arms, sex, and drugs. Is this the New World Order with its global justice that humanity aspires to?

To rescue the ship of humanity from sinking and thus save humanity, we must resort to the divine laws, which have no bias towards anyone, be the prophet or man of power, except to the truth, whatever it may be. Further, we must liberate man from ignorance and immorality. Such noble values, however, require complete and total dedication, self-sacrifice, and coordinated, willing efforts for the good of all humankind.

There is no peace so long as there is the oppressor and the oppressed, the over-fed and the hungry. We must return to the essence of religious values, which were perfected by the teachings of Muhammad (peace be upon him), the messenger of Islam, who described himself in the following words: “The likeness of the Prophets and I before me is that of a building which they completed except for the last stone, and I am that last stone.”

When a man of reason adopts knowledge, wisdom, and a purified soul, these values are instilled in his love for his fellow man, a love so comprehensive and sincere that he prefers his fellow brothers to himself. As Muhammad, in concert with all the Prophets, says,

None of you is a believer until he loves for his brother that which he loves for himself.

These values liberate man, freeing him from worshipping his fellow beings, from ignorance, sectarianism, superstition, and religious fanaticism. They release him from worshiping his baser self to the worship of God, the Creator, Whose justice does not discriminate between white and black, strong and weak, or rich and poor.

Prophet Muhammad describes the justice of the Creator in the following terms:

“Should you not side with those who have rights? Verily they have the right to proclaim them.”

The Holy Quran says,

Be fair and witness for God even against
yourselves, your parents, or your next of kin. T.Q., Sura 4, The Women, verse 135.

It also says,

God enjoins the doing of justice, benevolence, and help to relatives
and forbids inequity, wrong-doing, and transgression. T.Q., Sura 16, The Bee, verse 90.

Prophet Muhammad further emphasizes this by saying,

God has no regard for a nation that acts unjustly by
not permitting the weak to receive their rights from the powerful.

He also called for high moral values and standards, which he applied first to himself, perfecting them to the point that if he wronged someone, he hurried to compensate him, and if he distributed charity, he did so without bias.

He condemned the maltreatment of any person on the grounds of color, race, or religion. He called people to regard the revealed religions with respect and commanded adherence to them by their respective followers. All this was done to create a productive human society in which the individual was favored based on his righteousness, observance of duty, rights protection, and avoidance of evil.

Should international organizations not protect these rights and values assiduously, or should they follow the example of the fabled judge? The fame of this judge grew when his neighbors visited him complaining that their ox had run into his field, trampling his vegetables and flowers and killing his chickens.

Upon hearing this, the judge grew furious and started yelling abuse at his visitors, demanding compensation and the immediate slaughter of the rampaging ox. At this point, his guests replied, “Your Honor! Sorry, it seems we have made a mistake. It is not our ox that has marauded your field but yours that has entered our field and done the damage.” The judge paused momentarily, coughed politely, and then bellowed for the books of law and new world order to be brought to him. At the same time, he turned to his visitors and said, “We must study the case more closely and consult the legal specialists in such matters. Perhaps,” he stammered, “we may find an explanation as to what our ox has done.”

I wonder at the wisdom of the powerful in the world organizations as to why they act like this judge who measures with two scales of justice. Can this bring about peace?

The man now fears his fellow man and is more at home with the beast of the jungle, which only attacks its prey when hungry. As for man today, he devours his prey despite his satiety. He has infected himself with the virus of lust and greed. He spreads his disease through the bitterness of his plight, broadcasting promiscuity and pornography worldwide using satellites as if he aims to erase any remnants of purity and virtue left in humankind. An Arab poet said,

A wolf howled, and I found the company.
A man spoke, and the world narrowed in my fright of him.

We all know our world is now but one global village or a ship that plows the seas of the universe. To avoid wrecking this ship upon the rocks of selfishness, corruption, and oppression, men of wisdom and heralds of justice must join with the men of religion to lay down a blueprint for a building furnished with the best values from all revealed religions. Thus, they will create a structure that invites men of all nations to enter, live under its security, and roam freely through its rooms.

Hence, I call for a book, each chapter specializing in each religion, to be taught by qualified and sincere teachers in schools worldwide. It should express the importance of knowledge, wisdom, self-purification, and the brotherhood of humanity. It must advocate for justice and equality and instill compassion toward God’s creation in the reader. Muhammad says,

All creatures are God’s dependents; the most beloved by God are those most helpful to them.

In short, this book must represent the mission of the Prophets of all revealed religions. God defines this mission by addressing Muhammad in the Holy Quran:

We have not sent you except as a Mercy to all the Worlds. T.Q., Sura 21, The Prophets, verse 107.

Peace be upon you all.