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Cross-Cultural Dialogues About Universal Values and Recognition of Diversity:
From Al-Andalus to Afghanistan and Beyond…

“Western political models for governance in the Muslim world will shrivel like transplanted trees unless they include the nourishment of Islamic culture from which political Islam emerges… [E]fforts in the Muslim world to advance political and social thought totally independent of the framework of Islamic culture is doomed to be fractured, unintegrated, rootless, and alienated. Thus the superficial “Westernization” we see at the elite level in the Muslim world provides a misleading measure of genuine political and intellectual progress within these societies, even if it commands superficial Western admiration. Westernization-by-fiat represents the imposition of a Western overlay on top of Islamic culture and practice, primarily benefiting the elites but failing to reach down into the roots of Muslim society and culture.”

Graham E. Fuller, Former Vice-Chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA

A dialogue across linguistic, ethnic, national, religious, cultural boundaries always involves the need for translation. Without translating words, concepts, ideas, values from one language, background, history, frame of reference or world view to another there is no real, meaningful dialogue or communication. Talking to each other rather than at each other - that is what the Al-Andalus Caliphate Project is truly about. And this cannot properly be done in conveniently brief sound-bites providing short and facile answers to complex and difficult questions. The central issue I will attempt to address is the key challenge of the 21st Century – which we have entered, in the words of former UN General Secretary Kofi Anan, “[t]hrough a Gate of Fire”: how do we translate the universal human rights and values formulated at an abstract level in Charters and Declarations, at a practical level - in the specific languages, histories, and traditions, of various communities, societies and cultures, in a way understandable and legitimate within their own frames of reference? Universal values and particular cultural customs, traditions, and histories are not opposing foes forever challenging the other – they are two essential faces of the same dynamic of communication and progress across time and space, proceeding dialectically in a never-ending process of interaction and change. Ensuring that universal values and diverse cultures remain constantly in touch, as part of this two-way process of communication and mutual learning from each other is the ultimate aim of Al-Andalus.

In reply to the questions raised in various media of information and discussion about the Al-Andalus Caliphate Project in SecondLife, I want to briefly address, firstly, the notion of universal human values, then that of cultural diversity and authenticity, and finally three key concepts rooted in millenary Islamic political and juridical traditions which are central to our project: that of community (Ummah), of consultation (Shurah) and of Islamic law (Shariah).

The Universal Imperative

Equality, Dignity, Democracy, Non-Discrimination Based on Race, Gender, Nationality, Religion, Respect for Diversity and all Human Rights as expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are just that: universal. Although “modern” and “western” in form and expression (without going here in detail into what these terms really mean and who they re-present), they do not belong to any one time and place. They cannot be claimed, or appropriated by one society or civilization - nor can they be rejected out of hand as alien or foreign by any community, country, culture. They are deeply embedded into what makes us all human beings and represent the best of who we are and what we strive to achieve – and are a beacon of strength and hope for millions of people across the world who are denied their enjoyment to at least some extent and struggle in their daily lives to move one step closer towards attaining them. Growing up in Eastern Europe under a repressive Communist dictatorship, I was one of those who learned how to draw strength and inspiration from these values, which guided me and my family in our long trek across countries and continents, from Ceausescu’s Romania, to an Algeria barely beginning to feel the impact of a reviving political Islam, to a still-divided Germany fearful of being the central theatre of war for a nuclear confrontation between the world’s two superpowers, and finally further away, to a Canada which had just adopted its own Charter of Rights and Freedoms. They then became the bedrock of my career as a political scientist and jurist, as I studied them in theory at both undergraduate and graduate levels in Canada and the United Kingdom, and applied them in practice in fields such as human rights and refugee law. Therefore, both personally and professionally, I cannot conceive of being involved in any project or venture whose aim is to diminish, deny, or destroy any one of these fundamental human rights which are our common heritage, as human beings, all across the world.

The Struggle for Recognition

Just as fundamental as respect for universal values is the recognition of social and cultural diversity. It is one thing to unapologetically believe in democracy and human rights – and quite another to claim that a particular version of them must be transplanted, in practice, from one culture or society to another without any prior need for local translation, communication, participation and legitimation. Respect for diversity and difference is not limited to the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the movies we see and the countries we visit: it entails, first and foremost, a genuine attempt at meaningful dialogue and critical understanding of histories, cultures, traditions, ways of life. If we have learned one key lesson in the first decade of the 21st Century, it must be that democracy and human rights cannot emerge from the barrel of a gun and be imposed by fiat from above, but can only emerge from below, from a genuine process of grass-roots participation and communication deeply anchored in the particular histories and world-views of the communities, societies, cultures desiring to adopt and practice them. This, in turn, involves a difficult and lengthy task of translation of universal values as expressed in practice in one particular environment, rooted in a specific time and place, into an entirely different environment, with its own, equally authentic, history, culture, and points of reference. Even more importantly, in a globalised world where boundaries are no longer an obstacle to the movement of people, information, and ideas, all societies are becoming hybrid to a greater or lesser extent by an increasing intermix of communities, languages, religions. Therefore, a second lesson we should have learned through bitter experience over the past two decades is that upholding democracy, dignity, equality and human rights must necessarily imply recognizing that they also belong to all individuals who are members of the increasingly diverse communities sharing the same space – be it real or virtual. Any attempt to exclude any of them from such a dialogue is a dangerous step on the road towards marginalization, denial of difference, silencing – leading ultimately on a straight path to discrimination, repression, and ethno-cultural cleansing. Such a genuine dialogue between diverse individuals and communities, both within specific societies and across cultural and political boundaries is the urgent and critical endeavor the Al-Andalus Caliphate Project aims to take part in and contribute to. A third lesson we must learn – probably the least understood yet just as critical at a time when environmental, economic, social and humanitarian challenges spill across borders and require concerted, decisive, and effective international actions, is that such a process of translation must go both ways – and that we have just as much to learn from the history of Islamic societies as they have from ours. Islam, after all, emerged in the 7th century AD in the middle of a divided, tribal, semi-nomadic society and was able, in a remarkably short period of time, to bridge these barriers and divisions of ethnicity, language, and place, and create the first truly global community and civilization, stretching from Spain and North Africa to the Middle East, India, Central Asia and the Asian-Pacific Archipelago. Trade, commerce, science, technology, music, poetry and the arts flourished and developed across this vast cultural highway based on the Arabic language and Islamic law in centers of trade, learning and justice such as Cordoba, Cairo, Baghdad, Bukharah, Delhi, Samarkand – to name just its brightest lights. United in their complex and multi-layered diversity, Islamic societies between the 7th and the 18th centuries are rich in insights for us, today, as we are confronted by another globalising phase of history where overcoming narrow ethno-national interests and boundaries, and the ability to speak the same language across political divides, are the necessary prerequisites in our efforts to address the increasingly urgent and global problems of our times.

So how do we go about promoting this difficult task of a two-way process of discursive translation from a western-based political and legal discourse into societies deeply rooted in Islamic histories, traditions, and cultures –and vice-versa? In brief, we need to undertake a careful task of retrieval of genuine, authentic, legitimate political and juridical concepts and principles rooted in the histories and traditions of Islamic societies, going back to times preceding the critical colonial encounter with Western societies in the 19th and 20th centuries and, though a dynamic investigative process of discussion and debate, reclaim them as critical cultural resources supporting and legitimating the more abstract universal values which are our common heritage. In doing so, it is vital to realize that there is no such creature as a unique, monolithic, unchanging “Islam” forever resisting and opposing “western values”. Like other cultures and civilizations, Islamic communities and societies are complex, multi-layered constructs with multiple and diverse strands of ideas, values, experiences, and histories. Some of these strands and interpretations are just as genuinely respectful of democracy, equality, the rule of law and human rights as similar western concepts – whilst others are just as dangerous, reprehensible and unjustifiable as the inquisitions, torture, pogroms, ethnic cleansings and genocides which are as much part of European and American histories as ancient Greece and Rome, the Magna Charta, the US Declaration of Independence, the French Declaration des Droits de L’Homme et du Citoyen and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Ummah, Surah and Shariah are three such concepts I wish to address now.

Islamic Principles of Government and Justice: Historical Background and Modern Relevance

Islam’s singular achievement in the 7th and 8th centuries AD was the acceptance and adoption of its universal, transcendental message of salvation through faith, prayer and social justice as a complete way of life –first by a number of fractious tribes in the Arabic Peninsula, then across even-widening spaces stretching from Iberia and North Africa to the Middle East and deep into Asia. Transcending ethnic, linguistic, tribal and cultural boundaries, the message of the Qur’an and the Prophet’s Sunna, together with the Arabic language and the Islamic system of justice (shariah) administered by the Caliph (Prophet’s successor) and the ulemas (Islamic lawyers, judges, scholars, and religious specialists) became the key unifying factors of the Ummah (community), which included both Muslims and non-Muslim communities living under the rule of the Caliph and which accorded women certain legal (albeit unequal) rights far in advance of other legal systems in Europe, Asia and Africa. The tension between the Caliph’s claim to embody both the temporal and spiritual leadership of the Ummah as the Prophet’s successor, and the ulemas insistence that they alone had the knowledge and authority to interpret and apply the shariah became the key dynamic of the Islamic system of government: -namely, who exactly had the legitimate authority to exercise critical interpretation (ijtihad) between the Objective and the Transcendental, between the Human and the Divine, between Reason and Revelation. Islamic Law (Shariah) here plays the role of medium - of tertium quid mediating between the internal dynamics of each term, in an open-ended process of continuous interaction and mutual redefinition where synthesis and equilibrium are constantly posited, yet never fully attained. Thus, the fundamental objective of Islamic jurisprudence (usul al-fikh) is to ensure the valid exercise of reason (‘aql) in light of the guidance of revelation (wahy); and therefore, its substantive and methodological content is, from beginning to end, a millenary conversation on the relationship between the two, engendering a wide variety of schools of jurisprudence, interpretation, and thought. All such discourses invariably claim to represent God’s Straight Path and, therefore, draw their symbolism and legitimation from the Prophet’s Message; yet each propounds a very different exposition of the relationship between this Message and the Ummah -that is, of the need for, and the role of intermediaries qualified to mediate between the “inside” and the “outside” of society, between God and His Believers.

Although the ulemas recognized the Caliph as the Ummah’s temporal leader, they asserted that the Qur’an and Sunna set clear limits on the powers of the Caliph, who could be righteous, and therefore legitimate, only as long as he respected these limits (hudud). Two of the most relevant such limits are spelled out in the Qur’an – namely the duty of consultation (shurah – 38th verse of 42nd Sura) and that of making lawful the good things and making unlawful impure things (157th verse of the 7th Sura). Based on these verses, the ulemas claimed the right to be consulted by the Caliph in his decision-making process, as sole competent and authoritative sources of deciding what was good and therefore lawful, or else impure and therefore unlawful. Failure on the Caliph’s part do to so would result in his loss of legitimacy as leader of the Ummah and of a call for his overthrow and replacement. This struggle between the Caliph and the ulemas for the right to be the primary intermediaries between Reason and Revelation, between God and His Believers became the driving force of the Islamic system of government and led to the rise and fall not only of individual caliphs, but of entire dynasties, as documented in his famous Muqqadimah (Book of Exemplaries) by 14th century Islamic Scholar Ibn Khaldun, considered to be the father of modern history and sociology. The very origins of Al-Andalus can be traced back to such a struggle in the 8th Century AD, as the Umayyad dynasty was overthrown in 749 AD by a popular revolt justified on grounds that the Caliph had violated Qur’anic duties of “doing the good and prohibiting the bad”. Whilst the new Abbasid Caliphs moved the Caliphate’s capital from Damascus to newly-founded Baghdad, Abd ar-Rahman, grandson of the tenth Umayyad Caliph, fled Damascus where the rest of his family was murdered towards the Berber lands of North Africa, where his mother originated from. He eventually migrated to the Iberian Peninsula and became the founder of a dynasty that ruled Al-Andalus for three centuries.

Of fundamental importance in this narrative is the understanding that limitations on the powers of the temporal ruler, the rise of an independent judiciary and rights of membership and participation in the political process in Islamic systems of government arose out of this tension between the Caliph and the ulemas over the right to interpret and apply the shariah in accordance with the Qur’an and Sunna –and not, as in western societies, by virtue of an individual’s citizenship rights derived from his belonging to a particular state or nation –and later on, to a territorially-defined, sovereign nation-state. Civil society in the Islamic Ummah developed thus historically mainly around networks of traders and merchants asking for the dispensation of justice by ulemas and for protection against the unchecked power of the Caliph. The ulemas, in turn, came to be considered sole authoritative and legitimate interpreters of the Qur’an and Sunna, entitled to issue considered opinions (Fatwah) in all such matters and capable of challenging even the temporal authority of a Caliph who failed to abide by them. Failure to know and understand these historical facts and processes are at the very source of our inability to even grasp the reasons behind the rise and fall of leaders and political systems in contemporary Islamic societies, or the emergence of political Islam over the past four decades -of the ability of an exiled Ayatollah to overthrow Shah Reza Pahlavi and establish a theocracy in Iran, of the popularity and success at the polls of such groups as Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Islamist parties in officially secular Turkey, and even the existence of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Only by becoming familiar with, and building upon, Islamic political and legal traditions, frames of reference, and world views, will universal values such as democracy, equality, dignity, and human rights be actualized in an authoritative and legitimate manner in Islamic societies. In turn, by learning from the history of Islamic societies how rights of political participation, separation of powers, justice, and the rule of law can arise authoritatively across vast geographical spaces englobing a multitude of ethnic, national, cultural and linguistic groups, those of us living in western nation-states may well derive valuable lessons about building legitimate political and legal structures across national boundaries -so as to be able to address authoritatively and efficiently the increasingly urgent and intractable challenges of environmental pollution, global poverty, and humanitarian disasters we are facing today with increasing regularity.

In conclusion, to actually equate the institution of the Caliphate to that of an absolutist ruler of all matters spiritual and temporal claiming a God-given right to universal dominion, or to assert that shariah law can simply be reduced to such unjustifiable and reprehensible penalties as beheadings, stonings, cutting of hands, and repression of women is not only to demonstrate an utter lack of knowledge of the history of Islamic politics and jurisprudence, but ironically enough also to give a fresh impetus to the claims of the most extreme Islamist groups arguing for a general struggle (jihad) against the allegedly neo-colonial design of an imperialist, monolithic “West” threatening the very values and way of life of the community of believers (ummat al-mu’minin). This is exactly where the work of translation outlined above as the main task of the Al-Andalus Caliphate Project in SecondLife inscribes itself. By retrieving authentic principles of Islamic government and justice, and recreating a virtual Ummah composed of various nationalities, religions, and creeds, conducting its affairs in accordance with a system of government and justice which will be both legitimate in Islamic terms and in conformity with universal values of equality, dignity, democracy, participation and human rights, we hope to show that there are strands of political Islam that can be developed and built upon in order to arrive at our shared goals and be able to address the common challenges we face at the start of this new millennium. Such a fresh, bold interpretation of Islamic systems of governance and justice as they apply to contemporary political and social conditions is the sine qua non of a peaceful, prosperous future for our entire (real) world. The Al-Andalus Project in SecondLife fully intends to play a small role in this vital and exciting process currently taking place in political, legal, and academic circles in Islamic and non-Islamic institutions and societies across the world, and show the extraordinary potential of the emerging Metaverse to assist in addressing real world issues in new, creative and unique ways.

Recommended Readings:

Fuller, Graham E. “The Future of Political Islam”. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Ramadan, Tariq. “Western Muslims and the Future of Islam”. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.