Between February 5 and February 7, I had an opportunity to join approximately 400 other faith leaders at a conference in Washington, D.C. entitled “Alliance of Virtue for the Common Good.” The organization “Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies,” whose president is His Excellency Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, sponsored the conference. In January 2016, Shaykh bin Bayyah issued “The Marrakesh Declaration,” a document signed by more than 250 Muslim leaders and scholars, as a way of supporting efforts towards building peace and coexistence with minority populations living in Muslim-majority lands. At that initial document signing, a handful of leaders from other faiths were present.

The recent conference in Washington brought more of us for two days of speakers, breakout sessions, shared meals, and further dialogue. A partner in the process was the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, whose Director Emeritus, Rabbi David Saperstein, a former United States Ambassador for Religious Freedom, tried to ensure that there would be a large contingent of Reform rabbis present for the occasion. Given our synagogue’s involvement in the past few years regarding multi-faith dialogue with members of the Muslim community, and our award winning in “Muslim-Jewish Dialogue for Teens” shared with Peace Islands Institute in 2015, we received a humbling invitation to attend and participate.

At the conclusion of the conference, the “Washington Declaration” was affirmed and signed, representing an effort by the Abrahamic faiths to work together amidst our differences to engage in activities that collectively bring healing to the world. Each of the speakers acknowledged that religion can and should be used as a force for good, not evil. It was very rewarding and heartening to meet people from Israel, the United Kingdom, Mauritania, Italy, Finland, Algeria, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, elsewhere internationally and throughout the United States, who are engaged in various multi-faith initiatives including dialogue, retreats (for example, between evangelical pastors and imams), aid organizations, academic work, social justice projects, and national organizations who are responding to acts of religious extremism (throughout the Islamic world, too).

A few of the speakers offered some poignant words. Speaking in Arabic through a translator, Shaykh bin Bayyah taught, “Religious leaders are obligated to search their sacred texts to find stronger sources for tolerance. We need to develop and promote a narrative and vision of Islam that calls for peace and tolerance. The distorted perspective of extremists goes beyond the pale of our tradition. Literal interpretation does not employ figurative understandings and results in alternative perspectives. There are irrefutable proofs that our religions are not causes of hate and violence.”

Timo Soini, Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs explained, “How we practice our religion holds a mirror in front of us.” He reminded his audience, “Freedom of religion belongs to everyone, to people of all faiths. Freedom of religion also entails the freedom to not believe or share in a particular faith. Finally, freedom cannot exist without responsibility. There is no freedom to be intolerant of the faith of the other. On the contrary, we have an obligation to be vigilant in preventing any kind of discrimination on religious grounds. If religion is part of the problem, then it also must be part of the solution.”

Admittedly, this was my first time in the presence of numerous Christian evangelical clergy. Pastor Bob Roberts, who has partnered regularly with Shaykh bin Bayyah, instructed us that to discover common ground, can yield common actions, and ultimately result in a common good. Pastor Roberts has been involved in efforts to build bridges with the Islamic community focusing on clergy becoming acquainted with one another. After a relationship is forged between pastor and imam, the circle expands to include the clergy member’s family (if they have one) and their congregation. In due course, knowing one another leads to opportunities to stand up for another. Going on dialogue retreats together and participating in projects in underdeveloped neighborhoods deepens the process. “We all bleed the same,” he said. “If we quit the hatred, we might learn to love each other.” As Pastor John Jenkins, Pastor Roberts’ colleague, offered, “The imam has the same thing in his heart that I do, but the media won’t tell you that story. We need to get the media to tell the other story.”

While the event predominantly featured Muslims, Christians, and Jews, as well as a few people of other faiths, I am hoping that those who identify as secular, atheist, or do not identify as religious, will eventually be welcomed at this table, too. Thinking that religion has cornered the market on “virtue,” “being a good person” or can speak to everyone’s “common good” is simply not true and this notion of “virtue” needs to also include voices from those who do not identify with a religion or with a faith practice.

Still, it was interesting to be involved, to be a fly on the wall – and even more enlightening to gather awareness of others who are deeply involved in the work of trying to improve our world, day by day. The most critical piece to emerge from the Alliance Conference is making sure that what was discussed in Washington becomes actionable in our own communities.

How remarkable and how disappointing is it that in 2018 we are still preaching lessons and holding conferences on how to talk to one another, how to be in relationship with one another, and how to see the Divine in other human beings and in other communities beyond our own.

If the Washington Declaration is a piece of paper that is ultimately just filed somewhere, then this was nothing but a talkfest. If the experience continues to translate into action, there’s a lot of healing that can be done.

Time to get to work.

As an Australian citizen who has been enriched by the years of interfaith engagement in his local Sydney community, I immediately accepted an invitation to attend my first interfaith gathering after living in the USA for nearly two years. Three things stood out for me. 

First, I was moved by a very special moment when a choir of young Muslim children was called up onto the stage (after they had already performed) to sing the famous “Qasida Burda” (a traditional poem sung in praise of the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh) in order to welcome the respected Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah into the synagogue. This taking place on a Shabbat night in a Synagogue made it even more special. I would love to see more such examples of this, perhaps such as when a senior priest or rabbi enters a mosque and a song praising Moses and Jesus (peace be upon them) is sung for them.

Second, after the speech of Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah and its translation by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf (both of whom I was privileged to see for the first time), there was a very symbolic song sung for Jerusalem, that describes three brothers (representing the three Abrahamic faiths) worrying about their inheritance shares whilst forgetting their sister (which represented faith or the holy city itself). The song was “Three Brothers” by David Wilcox. Overall, I remember a genuine feeling of tranquility and I think it was due to the sincerity of the organizers and participants.

Finally, I happened to wander into a room before the program began (later I realized it was for the panelists only) and the Rabbi was going through the procedures and protocols with the guests. Before doing so however, he thanked them for coming, knowing that by doing so they will be subjecting themselves to negative criticisms or worst (God forbid) from sections of their communities who don’t support such interfaith work. I truly appreciated that thank you, as it reminded me the core duty of faith leaders – to represent the values taught by their faith traditions and the Prophets of their faiths despite the risks they may incur. Indeed, if a faith leader is not willing to advocate and represent the core ethical values of their faith (regardless of which faith it maybe), they are no leader in my eyes.

Religion is one of the many factors that we define ourselves with. While many people around the world express frustration with organized religion, or feel distant to the idea of a merciful God, religion – along with the belief in a superior Being as the Creator of the universe and life – is still an important dynamic that shapes our individual and social being.

Many people live in countries in which their religious traditions do not constitute the majority. This results in serious challenges to discovering a sense of belonging and also hampers a person’s ability to effectively search their own soul.  Muslims living in overwhelmingly non-Muslim countries are no exception. While there are still ongoing population movements from conflict zones, there are millions of Muslims who live in big chunks across Europe and the U.S. As decades pass younger generations tend to reduce, or even lose, their ties with their “home” country and culture. In their adopted home in the West, they speak less of their mother tongue and in many cases lose respect for the values of their parents. Concerned with similar challenges of the American Muslim community, Professor Jihad Turk says there a need to develop “a coherent and unified identity as both American and as Muslim.” President of Bayan, a division of Claremont School of Theology in California, Professor Turk believes the solution lies in “having leaders that can help the families and the young people [develop] a unified identity that is fully Muslim but also fully integrated into the modern world and to the United States of America.” One of the leading figures of the American Muslim community, Professor Turk shares some important insights about having faith and religious identity in a modern era. In our interview with him, he argues that many values of Islam live in the West while non-existent in the Muslim lands.

The Washington Hebrew Congregation had a special event in February. Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, a renowned Muslim scholar, was a guest speaker at the Sabbath of Peace event. In this issue, we cover this visit and share observations of visitors about this magnificent interfaith event which was hosted by Rabbi M. Bruce Lustig. Shaykh Bayyah’s call to be “firefighters” to rush to extinguish the fire of violence around the world, instead of seeking the one who started it, is surely the take-home-message from his speech. Special thanks to Layne Weiss, Executive Assistant to Rabbi Lustig, for helping us bringing together this coverage.

The National Football League in the United States shook with a different kind of protest in 2016 and 2017 because some players refused to stand during the national anthem. Based on some approaches in psychology, M. Tarik Ozgur writes on what might have been in the minds of these players and why others reacted to this protest in various ways.

We recently lost a dear friend, Professor Stanley Ridge, the former Vice Rector of the University of Western Cape in South Africa. He was not only a successful academic who had previously contributed to The Fountain, but also a sincere dialogue activist. We are deeply saddened by his loss. What you will find in this issue is one of his recent talks on the importance of dialogue in which he endorses the dialogue and educational activities of the Hizmet community in South Africa.