By DNA Agency, *Soft power on show at Ajmer and Mumbai* - Daily News & Analysis - Mumbai, IndiaMonday, September 6, 2010
Israel’s ambassador in India, Mark Sofer, visited the shrine of renowned Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer last Friday.
Israel’s move to reach out to Muslims in India and Muslims in general is both shrewd and right.
That India should be the place for the conciliatory move is hugely significant. Sofer acknowledged the common heritage of Jews and Muslims as children of Abraham, and made a significant political statement that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not a religious one. It is a political issue.
The senior caretaker of the shrine, Syed Sarwar Chishty, apparently told Sofer about the Sufi shrine being the real face of Islam, and Sofer responded by saying that Osama bin Laden is not Islam.
This is indeed the encounter of religions in the classical Indian sense where faiths jostle with each other and flourish. Representatives of the other Abrahamic tradition — various church leaders — also reached out to Muslims in Mumbai the other day to prevent any communal fallout if a lunatic pastor in America carries out his threat to burn the Koran on 9/11.
There is, of course, a need to understand this meeting of minds as one of limited impact. Sofer and Sarwar cannot hope to resolve long-standing disputes just by reference to Sufi and Indian traditions.
The talks between Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas in Washington will not be affected by the encounters in Ajmer or Mumbai. It is not going to restrain the fanatical Jewish settlers on West Bank from building new settlements or zealots in Hamas from attacking civilians.
India is perhaps best placed for every one to recognise that the coexistence of people with different beliefs need not spell irreconcilable differences or unending strife. India is not, to be sure, a paragon of virtue in this matter. It does, however, show more willingness than any other country in the world to accept that pluralism and diversity are facts of life and not merely constitutional credos.
This is India’s unheralded soft power. Our multi-cultural society stands out as a beacon in a troubled world.
[Picture from the Dargah Ajmer Website]
Israel’s ambassador in India, Mark Sofer, visited the shrine of renowned Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer last Friday.
Israel’s move to reach out to Muslims in India and Muslims in general is both shrewd and right.
That India should be the place for the conciliatory move is hugely significant. Sofer acknowledged the common heritage of Jews and Muslims as children of Abraham, and made a significant political statement that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not a religious one. It is a political issue.
The senior caretaker of the shrine, Syed Sarwar Chishty, apparently told Sofer about the Sufi shrine being the real face of Islam, and Sofer responded by saying that Osama bin Laden is not Islam.
This is indeed the encounter of religions in the classical Indian sense where faiths jostle with each other and flourish. Representatives of the other Abrahamic tradition — various church leaders — also reached out to Muslims in Mumbai the other day to prevent any communal fallout if a lunatic pastor in America carries out his threat to burn the Koran on 9/11.
There is, of course, a need to understand this meeting of minds as one of limited impact. Sofer and Sarwar cannot hope to resolve long-standing disputes just by reference to Sufi and Indian traditions.
The talks between Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas in Washington will not be affected by the encounters in Ajmer or Mumbai. It is not going to restrain the fanatical Jewish settlers on West Bank from building new settlements or zealots in Hamas from attacking civilians.
India is perhaps best placed for every one to recognise that the coexistence of people with different beliefs need not spell irreconcilable differences or unending strife. India is not, to be sure, a paragon of virtue in this matter. It does, however, show more willingness than any other country in the world to accept that pluralism and diversity are facts of life and not merely constitutional credos.
This is India’s unheralded soft power. Our multi-cultural society stands out as a beacon in a troubled world.
[Picture from the Dargah Ajmer Website]
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