Mohammed Said Farsi Chair of Islamic Peace

School of International Service, American University

Speeches

ISLAM: PEACE and RECONCILIATION

Excerpts from a Speech given by Professor Abdul Aziz Said
(On the occasion of the announcement of the Mohammed Said Farsi Chair of Islamic Peace)
Friday, December 6, 1996

ISLAM: Lexical & Conceptual
What of Islam itself—the religious faith of approximately one fifth of humanity today? Etymologically, the name islam derives from the triliteral verbal root "salima" ‘to be safe, secure, free from any evil or affliction’. We see this root meaning displayed in the taslim or exchange of Salutations of Peace (salamun `alaykum ‘May safety & peace abide with you’) by which Muslims greet one another. This greeting may also be rendered "I will not do to thee anything disliked or evil;" it is an assurance of security and of freedom from all harm.

Professor Abdul Aziz Said speaking for the World Presidents’ Organization Washington Seminar at The Ritz-Carlton in Washington, DC on April 27, 2004. Speech titled The Crisis of American Policies in the Middle East: Reflections Upon the Context of US-Middle East Relations.

The noun salaam in essence connotes ‘safety, immunity, freedom from faults & defects;’ while also embracing ‘self-resignation & submission’. Al-Salaam is one of God’s Most Beautiful Names (see Q 59:23): ‘The Author of Safety & Security,’ or according to another popular interpretation He is so denominated because of His safety and freedom from all imperfections.

The verbal noun silm (or salm) denotes ‘Peace, Reconciliation’, in the sense of becoming at peace & reconciled with others (synonym = musalaha). Salm may also refer to a person who makes peace, or is at peace with others (see Q 39:30) And a man who is at peace with respect to another). Thus the third verbal form saalama-hu ‘he became at peace/reconciled with him’ indicates the process of mutual reconciliation.

These meanings are crowded together into the name of the Faith of Islam: ‘The Faith of Peace & Reconciliation. By a linguistic process peculiar to Arabic (= tadmim or ‘implosion of meaning’) these significations melt together forming a single concept. The fourth verbal form aslama ‘he resigned, submitted (himself)’ denotes one’s entering into a state of resignation & submission, of acknowledging the truth & justice of something and conceding its truth with sincerity.

Interestingly, the verb aslama also denotes ‘to pay in advance;’ this may be relevant to the lexical formation of its verbal noun namely: "al-islam" —literally, the taking upon oneself to conform & manifesting humility and submission. It is as though one makes a down payment through the surrender of the egotist self-will to the Higher Power of one’s Maker, thereby securing genuine inner peace, becoming reconciled to the imperatives of truth, and achieving immunity and freedom from vices and evils.

The active participle from the fourth verbal form is muslim. The "muslim" is the ‘self-resigned one’, without any hypocrisy; he or she is salim ‘secure/free from evils of any kind’ (eg. qalb salim ‘a heart free from defect’); and merits the ‘Abode of everlasting Peace & Security’ (Dar as-Salaam) or Paradise.

Excerpts on Tawhid
The primary doctrine of Islam, Tawhid -- Unity of God, humanity and the universe -- prescribes that a person must cultivate in the self the character traits of God (takhalluq biakhalaq Allah). In daily Islamic life, there is a practical demonstration of how to cherish social and ethical values leading men and women to the good life. Islam offers the stimulus and the strength for performing deeds which are distinctively human in the deepest sense, to bring the human being nearer to God and to respect the sanctity of human relationships, in which must be mirrored a glimmer of divine attributes.

Tawhid is a conception whose reality enters into human life at many levels. Beyond the doctrinal and ideological planes where the oneness of humanity is stressed, tawhid mediates the direct personal relation to the Absolute, and the maintenance of harmony with the universe. It may be approached as an ecology of the spirit that reconciles the apparent multiplicity of created things within the unity of existence. It is what the "Greatest Shaykh" (shaykh al-akbar, the equivalent of the Latin doctor maximus). Ibn 'Arabi referred to as "The Breadth of the Merciful" (nafas ar-Rahman), depicting the manifestation of created multiplicity and its re-absorption into primordial singularity to be the Divine Being's drawing a breath. More precisely, God comes to self-knowledge in us.

Tawhid expresses the Islamic ideal of the fundamental unity of all humankind and rejects a vision of humanity rooted in exclusiveness. In social terms, exclusiveness implies a distinction between those who are members of the group and those who are not. Such exclusiveness has no place in Islam. Islam calls for cultural pluralism that is inextricably linked to a recognition of the fundamental solidarity and connectedness of all human beings.

Excerpts from Professor Abdul Aziz Said's speech at a dinner honoring Dr. Farsi at American University, Washington, D.C.

ISLAM AND PEACEMAKING

Excerpts from Professor Abdul Aziz Said’s USAID Iftar keynote address, September 16, 2008

Peace and Islam are not strangers. One of the key problems in discussions of Islam and peace is exceptionalism: the belief that Islam is profoundly different from other religions, and stands outside the Judeo-Christian heritage. Here in the West, we have constructed a notion of Islam as "the other" – as a reality that exists in contrast to and against Western values. We need to challenge this notion of exceptionalism, without denying the particularity and specificity of the Islamic experience.

Islam shares a great deal in common with its sister Abrahamic faiths, Judaism and Christianity and Western civilization, to which it has made vital historical contributions. Like Christianity, Judaism, and the religions of the East, Islam is rich with precepts and traditions that support peacemaking. And like the followers of other religions, Muslims have often failed to live up to these precepts and traditions.

Leaders on both sides of the Islamic-Western divide have much to gain from moving beyond preoccupation with symbols, toward genuine openness to a new experience of the "other." Only active engagement through sustained dialogue can help us to transcend the fear and anger that produces conflict escalation, and discover the common humanity that these emotions conceal. And we are only likely to commit ourselves to such dialogue if we can begin to narrate a new story, a story about complementarity instead of the dominant story about confrontation.

Muslims and Westerners need to experience themselves "in relationship" rather than "out of relationship." They have an opportunity to find meaning in the common tragedy of their estrangement as well as in the possibility of reconciliation. Establishing peace in the present climate of mutual recrimination will not be easy. Peacemaking, in contrast to war-making, is proactive and requires deliberate efforts to move: from the superficial to the essential, from morbidity to creativity, from defensiveness to openness, and from the politics of fear and projection to a politics of hope.

The fact that the "war on terror" framework for responding to our present insecurity has increasingly become the subject of constant debate suggests a need for a new strategic doctrine. Using the "war on terror" concept to justify actual wars has undermined genuine efforts to promote international security. By avoiding pessimistic oversimplifications and slogans (for example, a "long war against Islamofascism"), leaders in the West as well as in the Islamic world can set the stage for effective responses to current insecurities.

The new story of complementarity exists only in the form of a working outline, and can begin with the simplest of acknowledgements: Islam and the West are "stuck" with each other, and have no choice but to learn to coexist. Both are here to stay, prosper and learn from one another. The dignity and security of one is connected to the dignity and security of the other. We can become coauthors of this new story.

We are all heirs of the story of confrontation. When we leave aside symbols and seek to know one another, we can become architects of a humane global order based on solidarity. It involves the head and the heart.

For more information about the
Mohammed Said Farsi Chair of Islamic Peace, contact

Professor Abdul Aziz Said
American University
School of International Service
4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20016-8071
Phone: (202) 885-1632
Fax: (202) 885-6999
E-mail: tawhid@american.edu