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The Soft Voice of Nuance
by Hennie de Pous-de Jonge26 May 2006
Politicians, journalists, opinion leaders, all of us are challenged to look further, listen better and think deeper before we offer our opinion.
Some weeks ago the Scientific Council for Government Policy in the Netherlands (WRR) caused a lot of controversy. The Council came out with a report called ‘Dynamics in Islamic Activism’, in which research was done on points of contact in Islam with democracy and human rights. Some of the recommendations hit the headlines: we should be open to the diversity of points of view in Islam and it might be a good idea for our government to talk to the democratically chosen Hamas.
Some politicians and opinion-leaders reacted as if they’d been bitten by a wasp. With qualifications like ‘unworldly’ and ‘bungle’ the report was directed straight to the rubbish-bin.
Reading the 334-page report convinces me that the superficial polemic that dominated the news for a few days does not do justice to it. ‘Dynamics in Islamic Activism’ is a courageous endeavour to find a way out of the dilemma concerning Islam that we are all in. But the soft voice of nuance is not making itself heard above the verbal violence.
The polemic shows that there is possibly less of a divide between the western and Islamic world than there is between those in both worlds who seek confrontation and those in both who keep on believing in dialogue. The authors of this report clearly belong to the second category. A phrase that is used through out the report is ‘points of contact’. The authors look for points of contact to lessen the tensions and to support the processes of democratisation and an improvement of human rights. But the ‘West’ should not impose this from a superior attitude – the desired changes should come from within.
It is a difficult task that the WRR has set itself. We face an Islam which is as multiform as any other religion and the present world situation is sharpening the tensions. The report’s recommendations were for the government, but can also help the ordinary citizen to focus his or her position. The focus is mainly on the relationship with Islamic countries but the report could also help lessen the mistrust of the Islamic population in Europe. A complete turn around is needed.
The Western world, concludes the WRR, does not have a monopoly on the interpretation of human rights, nor on the behaviour that goes with it. We need self criticism. Not so long ago women in the Netherlands did not have the same rights as men (and there are still some areas of inequality). Can the foreign policy of Western countries, of which the Netherlands is part, always stand the test of the human rights? We should look at our own, still recent, bloody history.
When we descend from the heights of our moral indignation, we can see points of contact with Islamic activism for democratisation and human rights. The Dutch report shows that – just like in Christianity – there is in Islam a whole spectrum of convictions, of faith. And this has been true for centuries. There were and are thinkers who take the Koran literally, and there are reformers who appeal to look more to the spirit of the Koran. The WRR portrays some pioneers from the past who have resisted the ‘degeneration’ of the Islam into a religion which is purely pre-occupied with what one should and should not do. And then there is a whole set of current reformers in Europe and in the Islamic countries who seek a connection between Islam and modernity. One of these is the Egyptian professor Nasr Abu Zayd, who is professor both at Leiden University and at the University of Humanistics in Utrecht. His study on ‘A reformation of Islamic thought’, on which the WRR study is partly based, came out at the same time.
If one reads the Koranic texts in their historic context, space is created to look at their meaning for our present time. What matters is the power of these text for circumstances other than when they were written. In this way space is created for human innovations like democracy and human rights.
A big part of the report deals with human rights. It shows that, at least in theory, Islam is not irreconcilable with democracy and human rights. But these concepts need to be universalised and internalised. They are still seen as something that comes from the west. A groundswell in favour of greater human rights coming from within the Islamic countries has more chance of success than pressure from outside. In several Muslim countries there is for example an important civil society movement in favour of greater rights for women. An interesting example is Morocco where in 2004 a new family law was promulgated, giving greater rights to women. Education for women is taking giant strides, as we see in Iran.
In Europe there are tensions and a danger of radicalisation among well-integrated and educated Muslim youth. The WRR suggests that we can help to release the tension and build a bridge by opening our eyes to the diversity within Islam. Nasr Abu Zayd when he came to the Netherlands some ten years ago hoped that in the free and tolerant climate of Europe a modern and liberal Islam would develop. He has less hope now. Fear of Islam has decreased tolerance and increased radicalisation. Emotions rule. And everyone, often not hindered by any thorough knowledge of the issue, puts in his opinion. The polarisation also increases through what the well-known Moslem figure Tariq Ramadan calls ‘leaflet-Islam’. ‘Cyber-imams’ and violent films through the internet offer young searching Moslems dogmatic truths as if they were the only possible interpretation of Islam. Authors who stress a positive relation between Islam, democracy and human rights are much less known.
Confrontation can help to expose abuses. But when confrontation is followed by polarisation and we get stuck there, we don’t get any further! Politicians, journalists, opinion leaders, all of us are challenged to look further, listen better and think deeper before we offer our opinion. Let us make the soft voice of nuance audible.
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