Shirin Ebadi speaks at Syracuse University
SHRIN EBADI'S MESSAGE TO US
On Religion and Democracy
Hendricks Chapel
Syracuse University
May 10, 2004
The following are my rough notes on a speech given by 2003 Nobel peace-prize winner Shirin Ebadi of Iran..
Shirin Ebadi walked to the podium to a standing ovation. She smiled warmly and slightly bowed several times before her audience of approximately 500 sat down to listen to her hour-long speech, given in her language of Farsi. Her interpreter was Syracuse University Political Science professor Mehrzad Borouherdi.
Madame Ebadi had been introduced by S.U. College of Law dean Hannah Arterian, who prefaced the speech with a story about the subtleties found in this life and the experience of growing up-a child of lawyers. She used a very simple example- her own daughter whose Grandfather said to her: "
Clean your plate," and her daughter replying: "
It's not a plate, Grandfather. It's a bowl." Subtlety often makes an important and essential difference. Ms. Arterian read comments from a former law student's e-mail regarding the joy upon learning Mme Ebadi, an attorney (of all professions) had won a Nobel Peace prize. She then introduced Mme Ebadi.
Mme Ebadi explained her topic would be 'Religion and Democracy'. Philosophers have long debated the relationship between the two.
There is a certain movement within/between the Islamic states with those who believe humanity is a creation of God. Islamic state-leaders see themselves as sheer maintainers of their society's duties to God. Social rights are not the priority or focus in this movement. This belief and this movement has trans-national reach in the region.
In this movement, yesteryear's intellect is relied upon and modernity suffers as a result. Prophets are given governmental weight and popularly-elected officials can be easily rejected for their perceived failure to maintain societal duties directly related to certain interpretations of Islam. Divine law trumps civil law..period. Divine ordinance trumps parliamentary democracy.
European blueprints for democracy have long been resisted by this movement. 'State religion' weighs heavily... at a sad cost to human rights in a 'religious state'.
There are no names, no headquarters, no leaders in today's movement toward this certain interpretation of Islam...yet it is ingrained in the mind and sensibility of nearly every Muslim.
Mme Ebadi is an avowed Muslim and insists it is a religion of equality. She quoted Mohammed's doctrine of the equality of all believers.
The problem is that today's practice of state religion does not emanate from the true essence of Islam. There is an unwillingness for Islamic states to give an interpretation of Islam toward equality and human rights.
For these reasons, the dominant culture is in need of reform. An understanding and recognition of social realities compatible with the spirit of Islam is needed.
The most important step to achieve this goal is the teaching of the nature of inclusiveness of the Islamic faith itself. Mulims need to learn (and teach) the dynamic spirit of Islam and realize they can accept modernity without the risk of losing this essence.
If education becomes prevalent and citizens learn to press for their rights, religious states will be compelled to respect legal rights and civil law rather than imposing divine law which often reults in an ignorance of human rights. Islamic governments now silence laws they don't like and regard themselves as God's law on earth. This is often nothing more than convenient excuse to silence and intimidate members of their society. Often, for example, they will accuse others of having "wishy-washy" faith in order to intimidate. Being accused of abandoning your faith at a moment's notice will make you very unpopular in these societies. Freedoms are limited by the great fear of being charged with "apostacy" (deserting one's faith) when there is dissention against these authoritarian regimes.
Mme Ebadi believes that Muslims, who comprise one-sixth of the world's population, should connect with the masses by
any means available to expose false claims of despotic rulers that the true essence of Islam is represented by their rule. Mme Ebadi especially appealed to the intellectual class to reach the mass audiences so they be made to better understand that the current ruling elite in Iran and other Islamic states are violating the very core of Islamic essence.
Islamic states do not have the key to Paradise.
When it comes to democracy, all people of this world share a common thread. All people in all cultures and societies share the hope for freedom, respect for life, property, and human dignity. War, violence, and terror are not desired nor admired.
Cultural relativism and reactionary tyrants using this relativism to retain political power blinds the cultural masses and leads to violations of what should be all of our common rights as human beings.
Whether we like it or not, there is a globalization of both war and peace. We're in this venture together. If we want peace, we must struggle for peace--together. Partnerships must be consolidated and concern for humanity must transcend national boundaries and religions. We cannot be blind to human violations wherever and whenever they may occur..be it Afghansitan, Palestine, or our very own homelands.
We're all on the deck of the same ship. Every individual damage and/or violation to our sense of humunity endangers all of us. The destiny of all humanity is tied to every single person. We cannot value and enjoy freedoms and rights ourselves when we deprive others of the same freedom and right.
Mostly, we need compassion.
Mme Ebadi appeals to you--be kind to one another. Kindness is the only commodity that doesn't diminish when you spend it.
Those who seek gain in times of war find it advantageous to use Islam as a reason for terror and violence. This is wrong-minded. Think about the Bosnian war and you will see that Muslims did not blame all of Christendom for the atrocities committed against them. It is also erroneous when political opportunists erroneously claim Islamic culture is incompatible with Western culture and values. There has been a lot of blame toward the religion of Islam for acts of terror. Some have claimed that violence is reflective of Muslim values and this is often a way to cause mass-reaction and perpetuate political conflict. This is not so, Mme Ebadi said. Islam is not a religion of violence and terror should never be attributed to Islam. In the same manner, Israel's rejection of many U.N. resolutions should never be equated with Judiasm.
Actions of the masses should never be confused with the message of God. We must learn to distinguish humanity's mistakes and recognize the nature of the cultures from which those mistakes stem. Culture and civilizations do not need to be in conflict with one another. We've lived by each other's sides for ages. We must not forget our shared values and we cannot allow a civilization-clash to be used as a justification for war.
Mme Ebadi ended with an extension to all people of love and affection.
There was a question and answer session, which I will write about in another post.
Reference: Mme. Ebadi's Nobel-prize speech is [
here].
UPDATE: Newsday-Nobel winner criticizes U.S. invasion of Iraq, prisoner abuse
