Today, I am writing about one of the themes I explored in the book, that is efforts by religious leaders to promote interfaith harmony and pluralism. The urgency of awareness of this is apparent, as hardly a week goes by when we don’t hear about an attack on a religious leader or group such as the vicious attack that killed William Siraj, a priest and retired schoolteacher, and wounded two others on January 30 in Peshawar. Such attacks provide inspiration, however, for many religious leaders to go out into their communities and take a stand that their religion has been misinterpreted to condone violence and to stop such actions. Indeed, there are direct attempts by groups to mobilize and deliberatively do something about such acts of violence, using religion as their focal point of organizing. From the Faith Friends in Peshawar, the Interfaith Harmony group in Multan, to the promotion of the new Paigham-e-Pakistan by the International Islamic University in Islamabad, Muslim leaders throughout the country are speaking to their congregations about the traditions of the Prophet in interacting with and promoting peace with people of other groups. They are taking public stances against what Professor Ziaul-Haq describes as the “the volcanic voices of radical adherents” and are striving to recapture what they perceive as authentic Islam. They and other religious leaders have stood up as ‘sparks of hope’ throughout the country to quell violence in the name of religion and promote interfaith harmony. Dr Qibla Ayaz, Council of Islamic Ideology Chairperson, has held seminars and even a Christmas cake-cutting ceremony inside the CII building to bring together religious leaders of all faiths in Pakistan to promote interfaith harmony.
Maulana Zaheer considers that he and other ‘ulema have been struggling towards interfaith harmony and peace for the past 45 years, and he has spent a lot of time in jail after speaking out for Christians’ rights. He opens his mosque for local Christian families to use when needed, celebrates ‘Eid with the local Christian children, and on Christmas the local Christian leaders give treats to the Muslim children in the neighborhood
What is often overlooked and less understood are instances of religious leaders throughout Pakistan mobilizing to take action, organizing themselves into groups with the hope that they and their constituencies can prevent occurrences of violent extremism in the name of religion in the future. This is exemplified in the make-up and activities of the Lahore-based Interfaith Council for Peace and Harmony (ICPH). The religious leader of the Badshahi mosque, Imam Abdul Khabir Azad, has followed the example championed by his late father Maulana Syed Mohammad Abdul Khadr Azad, to organize religious leaders to have open communication with each other to promote interfaith harmony. Prominent ‘ulema members of the ICPH include Maulana Zubair Ahmad Zaheer (the Naib Ameer of the Markazi Jamiat Ahle-e-Hadith Pakistan and director of the Jamia Umer Bin Abdul Aziz mosque at Firdous Market), Dr. Raghib Naeemi (Principal of the Jamia Naeemi Hanifi Barelvi madrasa in Garhi Shahu), and Imam Hafiz Syed Qasim Raza Naqvi (Head of the Shi’a Jamiat’ul-Muntazar mosque); Christian members include Catholic Archibishop Sebastian Shaw, Father James Channan (Director of the Lahore Peace Center), Peter Jacob (Center for Social Justice), and Bishop Irfan Jamil (the Protestant Bishop of Lahore representing the Church of Pakistan). Imam Azad has brought them together to meet periodically, discuss challenges to communal harmony and overall mobilize their congregations into accepting people of other faiths. As chairperson of the ICPH, he has been especially effective in mobilizing religious leaders to come together in response to crises, first through their annual conferences and, in the past decade, in response to events as they occur. What animates him to do this is his understanding of Islam, “The Qur’an says that we should respect each other. Our Prophet says that for you to be great people, be peaceful.” He and the other ICPH members became a symbol of interfaith harmony following the violence that occurred at a Christian-majority neighborhood in Badami Bagh, Lahore, the Joseph Colony, in March 2013. A Christian man, who it later turned out was falsely accused of blasphemy, was taken into custody at a police station to placate a mob after the allegations of blasphemy spread throughout the neighborhood. The mob, consisting of over 7,000 people, returned the next day and ransacked Christian homes, setting over a hundred homes on fire. It was finally at the intervention of Imam Abdul Khabir Azad and other group members who had rushed over to Badami Bagh that finally persuaded the mob to disperse and leave. He recounts what occurred,
I went there with my team of all sects: Shia, Barelvi, Deobandi, el-e-Hadith, and Christians. I went there and said to the people -- there were thousands of people who were very angry, and they wanted to do more destruction -- I went there and told them “Like you are going, Islam does not give you permission […] you must put the tashuddud (violence) aside.” I told them it’s not their work to do this and bring this violence throughout Pakistan.
We see that many leaders of different religious communities in Lahore have sought to cooperate and promote interfaith harmony for a very long time. Maulana Zaheer considers that he and other ‘ulema have been struggling towards interfaith harmony and peace for the past 45 years, and he has spent a lot of time in jail after speaking out for Christians’ rights. He opens his mosque for local Christian families to use when needed, celebrates ‘Eid with the local Christian children, and on Christmas the local Christian leaders give treats to the Muslim children in the neighborhood. He feels these are small ways to encourage interfaith harmony, and the children grow up with positive feelings about other religions. He considers the ICPH has been playing a very important role as they have brought together ‘ulema and Christian leaders to converse because if “you don’t want to live like you’re in a jungle, you have to have dialogue.” Barelvi leader Dr. Raghib Naeemi sees the promotion of interfaith harmony being truly at his essence: his grandfather had worked together with Imam Azad’s father to promote interfaith harmony and his father, Mufti Sarfraz Ahmed Naeemi, an outspoken critic of the TTP for over a decade, was assassinated by a suicide bomber in his madrasa in June 2009. His hope for harmony in the future lies in his students, “we can prepare our students, and I think these students will bring harmony in the society […] We need to educate people in both Islamic education and modern education – we are lacking in both.” Imam Naqvi says, “There is an ayat [verse] in the Qur’an, that we have to promote peace.” His words reverberate with those of Deobandi leader Imam Azad of the Badshahi Mosque, who considers that the religious leaders who have come together in the ICPH are doing something important, exciting and innovative, “We are ambassadors of our Prophet – we tell people not to fight with each other. There is not just one platform for interfaith harmony, there are thousands. We now have a mission and thousands of people are with us.” Maulana Zaheer wants to see religious leaders come together and develop a section about all religions in the education syllabus. He and many others participating in the ICPH assert that an introduction to the basics of all religions is important to foster interfaith harmony and lessen violence against those of other religions and that it is vital that schools remove all materials that foment hate from all syllabi.
The network of religious leaders in the ICPH continues to be strengthened by proactively building community between religious groups by sharing festive occasions and by rushing to sites of violence and publicly offering assistance
Christian members of the ICPH have also been active as religion has become increasingly politicized. Bishop Jamil sees a greater separation at his school between Christian and Muslim students than has existed in the past. He finds this disheartening and has instituted programs at his school to bring students from different religious communities together in discussions. “We’re trying to show people that they are walking together on the road, and this is making a difference.” He thinks there should be more places and areas where Christians and Muslims can be seen together, not just at disasters. Then they can share the true spirit of being human and promote understanding of each other: how they live, how they die, and people come to understand and finally care about each other.
We have seen in Lahore where sudden, explosive violent acts have occurred, clergy have been taking action, going to the sites of violence and through their actions have been practicing faith as a means to counter violence and extremism. The network of religious leaders in the ICPH continues to be strengthened by proactively building community between religious groups by sharing festive occasions and by rushing to sites of violence and publicly offering assistance. We should not lose sight of how courageous these actions are, for those untouched by the sentiments they are espousing could quickly turn on them as well.
The Lahore Interfaith Council for Peace and Harmony is in no way the only organization of its kind but is rather simply the one being highlighted here given its impact in much of Punjab, the most populous province of Pakistan. It is in part due to the charisma and standing in their communities that the religious leaders discussed have rarely encountered any protest to their efforts to promote harmony. It is also the carefulness in which they engage with communities and act deliberatively in their communications. Perhaps, too, they are espousing a message, to promote peace and harmony between communities, that the vast majority of Pakistanis truly want to hear.
Note: This has been excerpted from Anita M. Weiss – Countering Violent Extremism in Pakistan: Local Actions, Local Voices (Oxford University Press, 2020)