Prince Charles addresses Islam – can the world hear? HA Hellyer
- Last Updated: July 06. 2010 8:15PM UAE / July 6. 2010 4:15PM GMT There’s very little that is less controversial than “caring for the environment”. It’s one of those issues that people can (and should) embrace without finding themselves besieged. How can anyone disagree about the need to take better care of the world we live in? After all, it’s just (cue background music) one world, right? But there’s always a first time for everything. The prince who would be king, Charles of Wales, found himself speaking about this entirely non-confrontational issue and was lambasted for it. At a recent conference at the University of Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre, he spoke of the sacred duty of human beings to maintain this world in a way that befitted its creator, and the need for human beings to remind themselves of that duty. Naturally, he spoke as a believer – Prince Charles is a Christian and will become the leader of a national church, if he ever succeeds to the throne. That’s perhaps two strikes in one, as it were. While the republican tendency of the British isn’t strong enough to encourage the royal family to depart our shores, it’s often the case that when the royals do speak, they are attacked by certain sections of the press for offering any opinion at all. When they speak as believers in God, our secularist sensitivities often find it quite distasteful – we generally “don’t do God”, whether in private or public. Our type of secularism means that the very mention of God or religion in the public sphere is recognised as rather out of order. But the prince went one step further than that. He spoke not of Christ and his disciples – he spoke flatteringly and sophisticatedly of the Quran and the spiritual doctrines of Islam pertaining to the environment. It’s an incredible thing to consider that in the 21st century, when Muslim political leaders worldwide rarely present Islamic doctrines with any public relevance, the possible king of England and leader of the Church of England speaks about Islam in the following way: “The inconvenient truth is that we share this planet with the rest of creation for a very good reason – and that is, we cannot exist on our own without the intricately balanced web of life around us... Islam has always taught this and to ignore that lesson is to default on our contract with creation.” The audience, arranged by the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, gave the prince a standing ovation, as might have been expected. There were dignitaries from afar – the Islamic affairs minister of Morocco, for example, dispatched by the king. Other attendees included the Lord Mayor of Oxford, John Goddard, Prince Turki al Faisal, Prince Mohammad bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom, and other religious scholars and leading figures. What also was fairly expected was the backlash to his speech. The prince has previously “gone against the grain” as it were, when speaking about Islam. Years ago, he said something quite similar, also at Oxford, reminding those in attendance that man and nature were in a holistic relationship and that to forget that would invite (as it already had, in his view) catastrophe. In this regard, we westerners would do well to learn certain lessons from all sacred traditions, but particularly from Islam, where they are especially emphasised, he suggested. Then, as now, it was not quite the popular thing to say. These days, however, such remarks raise more than eyebrows. In response to his observations on Islam and environmentalism, the prince was accused of being a closet Muslim (quite an insult – ask President Barack Obama) and a dhimmi (a conquered non-Muslim). It was also suggested that he was just plain crazy – after all, how else could a western non-Muslim talk positively about the principles of Islam without something deeply being wrong? This public flailing occurred as other commentators are attacking Muslim communities for failing to integrate into British society and build good relationships with non-Muslims. It seems the subtext is this: integrate into our society but be prepared to leave your religion at the door. We’re not interested in it, we don’t want it, and let’s not muck about that, shall we? When communities become integral to societies, they must be able to contribute something of themselves. In this regard, the prince has done community cohesion in the UK a great service. He spoke eloquently about a contribution Muslims could make, based not on rejecting themselves or their traditions, but on finding the best parts of those traditions and bringing them to bear on a problem that affects all of us, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. When the future king speaks like this, the effect on a young Muslim boy or girl in the UK cannot be underestimated. Beyond these domestic considerations, the prince also made a wider point. The world’s financial crisis has shown vividly how greed (which unrestrained capitalism certainly encourages) can indeed harm us collectively. Yet, societies in the West, and in the Muslim world, appear to be competing to satiate their greed – without, it seems, looking beyond the immediate consumerist desire. If people are honest, they can see this also in the Muslim world. When the prince says that the West has been “de-souled” by consumerism, his point is well-taken, and not just for the West. Whether one’s a believer or not, an agnostic or an atheist, one cannot fail to recognise that the unbridled satisfaction of one’s basest desires cannot be a way to a more humane society. It is, alas, a point that will be lost on most Britons – and certainly most people in the Muslim world. *Dr HA Hellyer is a fellow of the University of Warwick and the director of the Visionary Consultants Group* * * http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100707/OPINION/707069946/0/FRONTPAGE ----- Abdulrehman Mohammed -- Nor can Goodness and Evil be equal. Repel (evil) with what is better; then the enmity between him and you will become as if it were your friend and intimate! Visit: sultan.org Subscribe: [email protected] Post to group: [email protected]
