“Pluralism means not only accepting, but embracing human difference.”
The more we listen to Khalil Andani, the more we appreciate his brilliance. He is a disciplined scholar and a fantastically clear communicator. In this video, recorded last month, Mr Andani gives us a wonderful summary of the Aga Khan's view of pluralism, its origins in Islam and in the global situation, and its application to today's world.
Here are the highlights of Mr Andani's interepretation of the Aga Khan's ideas:
INSEPARABILITY
Ismailism is advanced as 'monorealism' as opposed to monotheism. Rather than there being a separation between the Creator and creation, God is the ultimate reality or matrix that envelops the whole cosmos.
For the Aga Khan, there is no separation between the spiritual and material realm. This is not a question of the political separation of church and state but an argument at the level of personal ethics. He argues not for a theocracy but for civil institutions to be informed by the values of religion.
STATE OF THE WORLD
Pluralism is the only antidote to the twin, opposing evils of globalisation and tribalism. The former is causing a homogenisation of society and culture that threatens the beauty of diversity. The latter is the polarising view of some groups that define themselves by what they're against.
Pluralism, then, is a necessary paradigm.
THEOLOGY
The theological argument is three-fold;
- The diversity of creation is a divine gift.
- People can attain self-knowledge through learning from diversity.
- God is the only ultimate reality. Everything else is relative.
COSMOPOLITAN ETHIC
In advancing pluralism, the trick is to balance the universal with the particular. A cosmopolitan ethic is the Aga Khan's answer, an attempt to balance freedom and responsibility. A set of universal values can be acknowledged across religious and cultural divides, but freedom given to individual societies to decide their own criteria for quality of life.
A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE
SIMILARITIES
No Christian can argue with the Aga Khan's vision to promote "goodness, tolerance, peace and progress". It was Jesus who built a fundamentally Christian ethic in a decidedly pluralistic environment when he expanded on the Jewish notion of loving one's neighbour and insist that Christians love even their enemies. (Matt 5:43-44) No one should be excluded from this all-encompassing virtue of love.
Where Surah 4:1 of the Qur'an teaches that all mankind is created from a Single Soul, the Bible first taught that "[f]rom one man [God] made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands." (Acts 17:46)
Just as in Ismailism, this diversity is to be celebrated. In fact, at the greatest celebration of all, the worship of God in Paradise, the Bible notes there will be people " from every nation, tribe, people and language", not one homogenised mass. (Revelation 7:9)
Such diversity does, indeed, enlarge the self. Present in every culture and context is the Divine hand. As we understand more of creation, we comprehend more of the Creator.
To some extent, there is even a cosmopolitan ethic present in Christian theology. We call it a conscience, the inner corrective voice that everyone alive is born with and which can direct ethical behaviour. (Romans 2:14-15)
DIFFERENCE
There is, however, a limit to the overlap in Ismaili and Christian thought. Mr Andani suggest that the Qur'an condemns the idea that only one group (the Muslims) will be saved. The third Aga Khan expressed the same sentiment, saying,
“And I further pray, that all who truly and sincerely believe in God, be they Christian, Jew, Buddhist or Brahmin, who strive to do good and avoid evil, who are gentle and kind, will be joined in Heaven and be granted final pardon and peace.”
The Bible, however, expresses something different. It emphasizes the commonality of man, but in a way that might surprise us:
“There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
Far from being united in Paradise, then, we all share a shared shame, the shame of our first parents and are cast out of God's presence together. Mercifully, Almighty God has not left us without hope. The passage quoted above continues,
"and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus"
The solution is universally available but uniquely offered. The Christian contention is that
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.””
In that sense, Ismailis believe little differently, only that their savior, the one they look to for guidance along the right tariqah, is the Aga Khan. In holding such a view, the Christian is not to show arrogance or intolerance. The Bible commands us to "do everything in love" (1 Corinthians 16:14). Though we insist on the truth of Jesus' claim that "no one comes to the Father except through me", (John 14:6) we do so to invite dialogue and the stretching of the soul, where
“the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith”