An authentic heritage or an urgent concept?

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates in its eighteenth article the right of everyone to freedom of belief, thought, conscience and worship, and the prohibition of all forms of discrimination and persecution for religious reasons. Many philosophers and thinkers consider this right to be the father of all human rights, because without it justice, equality and respect for human dignity can never be guaranteed.

This right is also considered to be one of the most important, if not the most important at all, indicators of the extent of democracy and justice in any society or system of government. But unfortunately, this right is the most violated of all other human rights mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the violation of this right is a major cause of many conflicts and crises in different parts of the world. , and this is not limited to our present time but rather to an old problem. Human foot on this earth

In a time of escalating nationalist trends and policies focused on cultural and religious identities, it seems we are heading towards a new world order that differs from the one that emerged following the fall of communism and the end of the cold war. To understand these changes, it is necessary to take into account the role that religion plays in public life in the Arab world and try to harmonize this role and employ it positively so that religion plays a role that encourages virtue, justice and a dynamic for democracy and good governance. This requires the concerted efforts of Arab politicians and thinkers to develop models compatible with the heritage and culture of the region and avoid the mistakes made by Western elites, whether liberal, Marxist or secular, as they considered religion as a marginal factor and tried to isolate or ignore it and deny its importance, which caused a series of catastrophes such as the Balkan wars and failed policies. Migration and integration, leading to the rapid rise of new national trends.

The Arab world emerged exhausted and underdeveloped after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, with hopes of establishing a modern state that would catch up with human civilization, but it soon fell prey to the Sykes Accord. -Picot, who further divided and exhausted him and established the Israeli-Arab conflict, which gave an excuse to political currents that adopted the principles of national and religious fascism and corrupt and authoritarian regimes. Sectarianism and racism have been used to maintain power, which has led several Arab countries, such as Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, and Sudan, to disasters whose effects will not last end before long.

Specialized research in this area indicates that the rate of aggression on religious grounds in the Arab region (Middle East and North Africa) is four times higher than the world average, and that six countries of the Middle East, namely : Israel / Palestinian Authority, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, suffer from very high rates. Religious and sectarian violence. The conflicts in the Middle East, all of which are conflicts in which religion plays a leading role, including the Arab-Israeli conflict, have also resulted in the displacement of more than twenty million people. These unfortunate data lead us to believe that the Arab region urgently needs to revise its laws and regulations and to reform them radically, by abolishing all forms of religious discrimination and sectarian policies, by supporting projects of democratic modernization, by spreading and promoting a culture of human rights and equality. Eliminating all forms of injustice and achieving justice is the best way to resolve conflicts and achieve peace. Sustainable.

The concept of cultural pluralism and religious freedoms is not an urgent concept in the Arab world. The Arab heritage, both ancient and modern, before and after Islam, is full of many traditions and examples that can be inspired, revived and developed instead of importing other models that can do more harm. only good. From the rich religious diversity of the pre-Islamic Arabian Peninsula to the Medina Document and certain golden periods of the Umayyad and Abbasid eras up to the Andalusian era, the history of the region is replete with positive experiences that have contributed to enrich human civilization as a whole, without neglecting the bitter experiences that the peoples of the region still pay for some of them. So far, these experiences need to be critically analyzed and studied to learn from their lessons, and it is interesting to note that the periods that have seen the greatest contributions of Arab civilization are those that have been characterized by a high degree of acceptance and respect for cultural and religious diversity and pluralism, which confirms what we are going to do in this short article and reinforces the conclusion What we have come to is that the Arab world is storing beautiful traditions that can complement human civilization and make it more beautiful if the legal frameworks and regulations are available that allow the release of these potential energies.

Despite the gloominess of the current scene, there are initiatives and positive indicators issued by several Arab countries which carry with them the hope of a better future, from Morocco to Tunisia via Egypt, Jordan and Kurdistan, and from Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Oman, the encouraging news of reforms aimed at widening the field of cultural and religious diversity and countering extremism and incitement to hatred. The historic visit of the President of the World Muslim League last January to the Auschwitz concentration camp sent a moving message to the world about the feelings of compassion and human brotherhood inherent in Arab culture, genuine feelings that have been suppressed, suppressed and absent in favor of a nationalist and religious discourse which hijacked the Arab scene and terrorized it for long periods. In this context, we cannot fail to mention and praise other initiatives such as the Rabat Declaration of Human Rights and Al-Azhar’s efforts to resist and dismantle extremist rhetoric. The efforts may still be in their infancy, but they carry great symbolism, and we can only praise and encourage them, for the road is still long and arduous, and as the English proverb says: The road to a thousand miles begins with one step.

** Joint article written by:

Dr .. Jan Figel, former Commissioner of the European Union and Special Envoy
Dr .. Kataza Gondoy is Research Director at the International Organization for the Study of Human Rights and Religious Freedoms
Dr .. Wael Al-Ajji, Secretary of the Middle East Conservative Association