Thoughts of the Aga Khan

As long time readers will probably recognize, I am not a great supporter of organized religion. Every religion by definition believes itself to be manager of the exclusive truth, a condition that gurantees an exclusionary point of view, and conflict with the managers of other exclusive truths. I believe that everyone should believe exactly what they want to believe and leave everybody else alone.

That being said, I have, of course, come across shining examples of active religiosity leading to good works: The Quackerism of the Berrigans always so prominent in their activism for peace; the conviction that leads members of the Salvation Army to minister on the meanest streets and in the lowest prisons; and the extraordinarily brave work of the "liberation theology" priests who (until they were fiercely suppressed by the neanderthal John Paul II) attempted to protect their parishioners from the brutal depredations of the thug dictatorships that the US established throughout Latin America.

In the mid-1980s, I worked for a year in Kenya. While there, I was profoundly impressed by the medical and other welfare services provided by the Ismaili Muslims, to all comers it seemed. Most significantly, I remember the smiles of the workers in their clinics and offices; they were genuinely pleased to be of service. Here in Vancouver today, my pharmacist for the last dozen years has been an Ismaili chemist and his family. Their warmth to everyone who visits the shop, and the above-and-beyond service they are willing to extend, remind me of those workers in Nairobi and Mombasa. Like my earlier contacts in Africa, my pharmacist has a portrait on his shop wall of the Aga Khan, 49th Imam of the Shia Ismaili faith.

It was with all this in mind that I read with interest a report at Tikkun of a speech that the Aga Khan gave in Ottawa this week. While I obviously distance myself from his concentration on "democracy" as the prime condition for progress, his thoughts on what strengthens and leads to "democracy" are valuable in general.

"A healthy, civil society is an essential foundation that provides citizens with multiple channels through which to exercise effectively both their rights and duties of citizenship. Only a strong civil society can assure isolated rural populations, and the marginalized urban poor, of a reasonable prospect of humane treatment, personal security, equity and access to opportunity.

The second precondition is pluralism — peoples of diverse backgrounds and interests, coming together in organizations of varying types and goals, for different kinds and forms of creative expression, which are valuable and deserving of support by government and society as a whole ... We must accept that pluralism is no less important than human rights for ensuring peace, successful democracy and a better quality of life."

One of the secrets to the success of Ismaili projects over the years, in my view, has been their concentration on local initiatives, attending to the smallest and most parochial needs. For instance, in Northern Pakistan

"[w]e established more than 3,900 village-based organizations, from women's initiatives and water usage to savings and credit groups. The quality of life of 1.3 million people dramatically improved. Per capita income has increased by 300 per cent, savings have soared, and there have been marked improvements in male and female education, primary health, housing, sanitation and cultural awareness. Former antagonists have worked together to create new programs and social structures in Northern Pakistan, and more recently in Tajikistan. Hope in the future has replaced conflict born of despair and memories of the past."

The Aga Khan suggests that a lack of comparative education in the West is a leading cause of the world's current dangerous situation:

"How many Western leaders are aware that the historic cause of the Middle East conflict was a legacy of the First World War? That the tragedy of Kashmir is another unresolved colonial legacy? And that neither had anything to do with the faith of Islam? Or that the use of Afghanistan as a proxy by both sides in the Cold War is a major factor in that country's recent tragic history? Such matters touch the lives of all world citizens. Yet they're simply not addressed by general education in most Western countries.

Humanities curricula in the West rarely feature great Muslim philosophers, scientists, astronomers and writers of classical Islam, such as ibn Sina, al-Farabi and al-Kindi, Nasir Khusraw and al-Tusi. This lack of appreciation of the Muslim world's civilizations is a major factor that colours media stereotypes. So does the tendency to concentrate on political hot spots in the Muslim world, and to refer to organizations as terrorist and Islamic first, and only obliquely, if at all, to their national origins or political goals. No wonder that the bogey of a monolithic Islam, irreconcilable with Western values — or, worse, a seedbed of violence — lurks behind Islam's depiction as a faith opposed to, and incapable of, pluralism."

As always, the Aga Khan brings an interesting perspective to the debate. I'll not quote the rather nice things he has to say about Canada; you can read those yourself.