November 2, 2010

Imam Feisal Presidential Lecture Remarks: Jakarta, Indonesia

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf
Presidential Lecture
Jakarta, Indonesia

As Prepared for Delivery
November 5, 2010

“The Cordoba Initiative: Promoting Moderate Islam and Striving for Harmony Among Civilizations in the 21^st Century”

I invoke the name of the all merciful and compassionate Creator of the heavens and the Earth, and all that is between them, the God of Abraham, the God of Ishmael and Isaac, the God of Moses and Aaron, the God of Jesus and Mother Mary, and the God of Muhammad. Peace and blessings be upon all of these noble prophets and messengers.

Thank you for your kind words. Good morning everyone.

It is a privilege to take part in this prestigious Presidential Lecture series. I am honored to be in such distinguished company.

Ladies and gentlemen, just over a year ago, at Harvard University, our host today, His Excellency President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, gave an important speech about hope, optimism, and the possibility of creating harmony among civilizations. He talked about the importance of improving relations between Muslims and the West, which he sees as an essential to the creation of harmony.

He spoke with great pride about the recent Indonesian experience, about the roller coaster years following independence, the separatist threats, the insurgencies, the ethnic differences and the religious conflicts.

Despite it all, democracy has taken firm root in your country. Your success at bridging the gap between the Muslim and the Western traditions is deeply admired. Your rising power and influence among nations is a testament to your impressive economic, social, and political accomplishments. Your love of pluralism, tolerance, and openness sets an example for the world.

I have great respect for your President. His response to the recent volcano and tsunami that have inflicted great losses in your country has been inspiring, and we are grateful for the speed with which he has directed emergency relief to the suffering.

For the departed, we pray for their souls, that they may be the beneficiaries of the highest rewards in paradise bestowed upon innocent victims of natural disasters.

The President’s remarkable ability to lead in response to natural disaster was already known to the world after the tsunami of December 2004.

In the earliest hours, he grasped the magnitude of the crisis and understood the need for a strategic campaign to organize and deploy resources adequate to the scale of the disaster. He realized that Indonesia could not do this on its own. Even the international aid organizations could not do it. And so he made the unprecedented decision to open up the devastated Aceh province to foreign armies from around the world.

This was a truly bold and historic stop. The choice to allow armed military personnel from other countries on a nation’s soil can never been an easy one, and President Yudhoyono had to overcome considerable political opposition. But the President believed that saving lives was more important than politics, and he pushed ahead swiftly, and with determination.

And so the foreign armies and relief workers from all over the world poured into Aceh and worked side by side with Indonesians, with striking and positive results.

But that is not the end of the story. In the midst of a humanitarian crisis, the President caught sight of something greater. He realized he could take the domestic and international attention that was focused on the natural disaster and redirect it to a longstanding political conflict.

He saw an opportunity. He seized the opportunity, and after 29 years of conflict in the Aceh region– after an entire generation of fighting and bloodshed – an environment conducive to reconciliation emerged. Two seemingly irreconcilable sides came together. And peace has prevailed. It was truly a remarkable and historic accomplishment.
Once again, President Yudhoyono had to fight opposition from all sides. He had to argue, debate, persuade. He had to win hearts and minds. There were many who thought the negotiations were the right thing to do, but the wrong time. There were many who had become skeptical and no longer thought change was possible. There were many who’d become cynical and didn’t believe in the possibility of peace.

The President prevailed because he was a man of strategy and vision. He understood the power of psychological momentum and he used it strategically.

That insight is critical. How do you create harmony in the world today? You do it by waging peace. Yes, waging peace! Usually we talk in terms waging war, but the time for war has passed. Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come to wage peace.

How do you do this? You do it with strategies, with mechanisms that build alliances between people, so that living and working together in peace and harmony becomes the only credible, meaningful, and viable option.

President Yudhoyono often talks about the importance of turning a crisis into an opportunity. His attitude has inspired me personally to take on the challenge of waging peace.

As this audience knows very well, a firestorm erupted last summer over our plans to build a cultural center in Manhattan. The furious public debate that broke out undermined relations between Muslims and non-Muslims across the United States, with effects that have reverberated around the world.

But the strident opposition to our plans was only one part of the response. From all over the country, from all over the world, came an outpouring of support. People of goodwill of every nationality, race, and faith tradition have come forward, expressed solidarity, and said, “Your struggle is our struggle. What can we do?”

The crisis also ignited a rare and honest discourse about values, priorities, and what the United States is all about. What do we stand for? Who are we as a people? What values do we want to impart to our children?

Many people have come to me with open hearts and genuine curiosity. Many wanted to know more about Islam. They are asking, how can we help turn around the relations between Islam and the West?

I have seen how a crisis can galvanize right-thinking, peace-loving people into thoughtful action. Ladies and gentlemen, I feel the opportunity for change. I am here today to tell you that, just like in Aceh, an opportunity now exists to implement a plan to wage peace.

Out of the crisis of last spring and summer has emerged the opportunity to launch a broad-based, multi-national, multi-faith movement – one that would deploy the mechanisms and tools available to undermine conflict and build understanding and trust among people of all cultures and faith traditions around the world.

We call it the Cordoba Initiative, named for the time in Cordoba, Spain when Christians, Muslims and Jews lived together in the most tolerant and enlightened society on Earth.

I have great hopes for this Movement because of the important changes I’ve seen taking place. In my country and all around the world, I see societies emerging that are more open, more diverse, and more pluralistic than ever before.

I’ve seen this in my own country. Have you seen a photograph of President Barack Obama’s extended family, with aunts and uncles and cousins and their spouses and children standing together, their arms around each other?  It looks like the United Nations!

There are black, white and brown faces, people of European and African and Asian descent. It’s all one family. This, my friends, is the emergence of the new pluralistic society, and it’s happening all over the world.

In a few days, President Barack Obama will visit Indonesia and deliver a speech. In his autobiography, Dreams from my Father, he writes about his years in Indonesia, and he reminds me of my own childhood when my family moved from England to Malaysia.

My father was an Islamic scholar sent in 1955 by al-Azhar University in Egypt—after having spent five years in London—to open a Muslim college that would help students make the transition from the religious school—which in Indonesia is a pesantren, and in other Muslim countries a madrassah—to the university level.

I remember how new and surprising everything was. The tropical vegetation. The unfamiliar language. The music on the radio, there was no TV then. I remember singing with the Muslim College students Effendi’s hit songs, especially Aku Pulang Dari Rantau, Bertahun-tahun Di-Negri Orang, Allah Sayang, and Indonesian classics like Rasa Sayang Eh. Such songs spoke to me as I had come from a distant land, and who doesn’t love to love?

I was six when we got to our home in Kampong Jawa in the Royal Capital of Kelang of the State of Selangor—another connection with Indonesia, and I learned to count to ten in Javanese: sichi, loro, telur, papat. I remember a very nice man gave my family a gift of two durian fruits. They were so different from any fruit I’d seen – big and spiky and strange. My mother put them in the refrigerator, and you can guess what happened next. The whole fridge and its contents took on the flavor of the durian! Durian sure makes its presence known.

So my mother said, let’s try this fruit. We all watched while she cut it open.

“I think this must’ve gone bad,” she said, and threw it away.

She cut open the second one. “This one’s bad too.” She threw it away.

Some time later Mr. al-Habshi, a friend of my father, came over and he said, “No, no, you have to be introduced to the durian.” One day he brought a pile of durians, and proceeded to open them one by one, and not only taught us how to appreciate it. He transformed our dislike and hatred of the smell of durian into a complete love and appreciation of the fruit.

That made a deep impression on me. Not only do I now love durian, I have my favorite varieties from D24 and Musangking to durian kampong, and I have a special person in Kuala Lumpur who supplies me with top quality durian anytime of the year. But I had to be introduced. And I have learned to introduce many people to durian.

I’ve often thought of the lesson of the durian and how it applies to other aspects of our lives. Many things in life seem strange and unpleasant until we get to know them. Many people may seem strange and make us uncomfortable until we get to know them – until we are introduced to their ways, and they to ours. And then our dislike can and often gets transformed into love.

The Quran says we were all created the same, all originating from one male and one female. We were forged into different tribes – “li-ta`arafu” – which means to get to know one another – to be introduced to one another – and to celebrate our variety. We may even say therefore that getting to know one another is a Quranic imperative, a command from God.

We must never forget that we all have a common identity as human beings. The mistake people make is that we tend to look at another human being who’s different and form a judgment – I don’t like that person, just because they are different.

That is why Allah says: “The best of you with Allah are the most pious of you.” Value lies not in our ethnicity, but in our ethics. Ethnicity is our given but ethics is our choice.

After Malaysia my father was asked to help build the Muslim community in New York. I was 17 when we sailed into New York harbor and I saw the Statue of Liberty, a beacon for immigrants from all over the world.

I grew to love the United States, the most diverse country in the world, and in 1979 I became an American citizen. I take deep pride in my country’s history of pluralism and tolerance. America was founded on certain principles.

The Founding Fathers believed in protecting the rights of all people to worship as they choose. Within the governing documents they created – the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution – they affirmed everyone’s basic right to freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

The events of last summer have strengthened my love for America. People are now asking out loud important questions about Islam and the West. The thirst for knowledge is sincere. The momentum for change is overwhelming.  Our task is clear.

To create harmony among people who are different, we must wage peace. There are strategies for creating harmony and strategies for creating conflict. If we are to actively engage in the process of overcoming our differences, then we must willfully pursue those specific paths that lead to harmony and peace.

Ashutosh Varshney, a political scientist at Brown University, has studied these mechanisms. His expertise is ethnic strife, and in particular, he looks at the violent conflicts between Hindus and Muslims. He asks why these riots have been so common in certain Indian cities, erupting year after year, while in others Hindus and Muslims co-exist quite peacefully.

Varshney has found that the peace of nonviolent cities is built into the fabric of the communities. It is created through strands of civic and personal connection that weave the two communities together.

Associational connections – political parties, business associations, trade unions, reading clubs, sports clubs, festival associations – all these bind the two groups together through ties of affiliation and reciprocity. These ties foster peace and harmony. These are the connections we must create if we want to build toleration and acceptance into the fabric of our societies, if we want to celebrate our variety and not be fearful of it.

By creating the opportunity for human beings to come together and creating ties of affiliation, the Cordoba Initiative will foster understanding among people. One of the elements of the Cordoba Initiative is the Cordoba House, a multi-faith, multi-cultural institution that will help make possible those one-to-one introductions so necessary to harmonious engagement.

Our dream is to have a Cordoba House in every nation, especially those where religious tensions exist – in order to build the kind of associations that Professor Varshney endorses. People who work together, learn together, celebrate together, help one another in daily life have no motive, inclination or wish to destroy one another.

But I want to go further. It is not enough for me that you tolerate me, just like Mr. Al-Habshi who transformed our dislike of durian into love, I want you to love me.

But how do you transform dislike into love? Just like in durian, you have to make sure you expose the person to the best quality durian, not the poorest quality. We must have good quality control in our stock.

Analogously, we have to be the best Muslims and show the best of who we are, and we must reject those of our community who claim to be Muslim but do not exhibit the ethics commanded in the Quran and in the exemplary behavior of the Prophet. Muslims must have good quality control, and this is where proper education comes in.

Second and no less important, we must love each other. Love is shown by caring for the interests of others, being just to them; and not to treat them differently just because they are ethnically, linguistically or religiously different.

Each Cordoba House will provide the physical space and house the programs to bring different people together – a place to gather, to take classes and learn together, to pray together, to eat together, to relax together, to exercise together, to dance together, to sing together, to become familiar with different ways of life and different kinds of people. And through such activities to forge and multiply the bonds that transform human dislike into human love.  That is what the global Cordoba Initiative is all about. To expand rasa sayang.

The Cordoba Initiative will provide a remedy for a problem common in Western societies – that Muslims have too few ties with people of other faiths. A majority of Americans say they do not even know any Muslims. To most Americans, Muslim customs and cultures are strange and unfamiliar.

According to a poll by the Gallup organization, Americans who personally know a Muslims personally are twice as likely to express positive feelings about Islam as those who do not know any Muslims. Is it any wonder that people are afraid? Is it any wonder there are so many negative stereotypes?

But getting to know another person who is different from you is not so easy. You have to be introduced, like the friend of my father who introduced us to the durian. The Cordoba Initiative will provide that introduction.

As I said earlier, the events of last summer surrounding the Cordoba House in Manhattan were profoundly distressing. I have also been moved and encouraged by the outpouring of support we’ve received. People of goodwill from every corner of the world – people of every nationality, race, and religion have come forth, expressed solidarity, and said, “Your struggle is our struggle. What can we do?”

That is why I spoke of the example of the work of President Yudhoyono: it is so critical. We are inspired by his vision, and we are emboldened to direct the energy surrounding Cordoba House and Islam towards the greater goal—the goal of the Cordoba Initiative. It is the goal of peace and conciliation, of harmony and love.

Is this possible? My friends, I know it is.

Even though generations have grown accustomed to conflict. Even though inertia has set in, and complacency, and bitterness seems to prevail in some quarters.  Even though hearts have grown weary. Even with all that — we know it is possible.

The real battlefront today is not between Muslims and the West. It is not between Muslims and Hindus. It is not between Jews and Arabs. The real battleground is between people who embrace peaceful coexistence – and extremists on all sides. It is time for the great majority of peace loving moderates around the world to reclaim the discourse from the extremists.

It is up to all of us to work together to help break the cycle of fear, misunderstanding, and violence that threatens the stability of the world.

Our call is for a coalition of moderates from all countries and all faith traditions to work together to build bonds of affiliation and trust. We must not let the extremists – whether they are in the West or in the Muslim world – derail our mission.

The potential that President Yudhoyono saw in the ruins of Aceh is the same potential we see, after a season of turmoil and heartache.

This is a historic moment. We have an opportunity. We call on all countries and all people of goodwill to do the hard work of fighting extremism and creating just, tolerant, and compassionate societies. I invite you to join me in calling upon others to help support the Cordoba Initiative and build Cordoba Houses all over the world. You can find out more about our plans and how to help on the internet at cordobainitiative.org.

We have publicly launched the Cordoba Initiative today, and making this announcement from here in Jakarta. We can start with right here in Jakarta. Encourage more multi-cultural programs, educational, religious and interfaith programs that are open to everyone.

Wherever there are conflict zones, that’s where the Cordoba Initiative is needed.

What about Cordoba Houses in Kosovo? Moscow? Mumbai? Jerusalem?

With these as our building blocks, we will be the architects of the Cordoba Initiative. We will build bridges that span the gulfs that divide us one from another. We will design solutions that engender trust and understanding and create harmony among humankind.

When my father was just a boy, his father – my grandfather – asked him:

“Can you imagine a person loving somebody more than he loves himself? Muhammad, my son, I love you more than I love myself.”

Most of us want more for our children than we want for ourselves. We want to be able to say that we left the world a better place for our children and grandchildren. With your help, I know we can achieve this future for ourselves and for our children.

I pray to the Almighty God, Creator of us all, to bless you, to bless this great nation, to bless the people of Indonesia, and to bless all the nations of the world. We ask you O Allah to bless us with that Peace that is one of Your Divine Names: As-Salam – Your Name that with which we greet each other. And as I now thank and greet you – assalamu alaykum.

Thank you all.

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