Syed Zafar Mahmood PhDPresident, Interfaith Coalition for Peace (India)

New Delhi www.icpindia.org. info@icpindia.org

One Reality SymposiumHonolulu 10 September 2011

Interfaith   Conversation in India Status, Problems, and Opportunities

Centuries old underlying principle of Indian social order

Sarva dharma

sambhava

All faiths are harmonious

Says Islam

La nufarriqu baeena aeedeehim mir-rusulih

Do not differentiate among the

Messengers of God

BLESSEED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS

FOR THEY WILL BE CALLED THE CHILDREN OF GOD.

EVERYONE THEN WHO HEARS THESE WORDS OF MINE AND ACTS

ON THEM WILL BE LIKE A WISE MAN WHO BUILT HIS HOUSE ON

ROCK

BibleMatthew 7:24-27

DUBIDHA CHHOD BHA-AI NIRANKARI

O MAN ! SHED DUALITY

AND YOU ARE GOD

Guru Granth Sahab

coming from

Different Directions

Throughout the millennia of history

Indian Subcontinent has kept it's

Portals Wide Open welcoming the

India's spiritual belief

Human Interest is more important than

Time-guided Geographical Considerations

Indians are blissfully aware that the

Creator & Sustainer of the Worlds

is

Timeless and Spaceless

Timelessness & Spacelessness

are manifestations of

His Being

He belongs

to everybody

Never commitBlasphemy of identifying

The One Reality with

a given section of humanityliving at a given piece of

earth at a given point of time in

history

God's purpose of creating humanity

Not only performing Daily Rituals of Worship

But .....

God's purpose of creating humanity

To test each one of us,

the human beings, as to

who among us is more righteous

As per different yet converging exegetic analyses

Here

Righteousness denotes

Selfless Service to the Fellow Creatures

Human beings are God's most blessed creatures

While many other created species including the

angels, jinns and animals have been given many human faculties,

yet

'Conscience' has been bestowed only on the

HUMAN BEINGS

What is

Conscience

Capacity to differentiate between Right and Wrong

Coupled with the Discretion to choose One of the two paths

To know what is theRight Path

Evaluate whether What I am going to do will please my fellow

creatures ?

God has graciously instilled

in each human being a bit of

His own soul

Let us learn to differentiate between

SEEING

and

PERCEIVING

Piety of soul

is the essence of

Religion

Kuchh aur hi nazar ataa hai kaar-o baar-e jahaanNigaah-e shauq agar ho shareek-e beenaaee

Poet of the East, Dr Sir Mohammad Iqbal

This universe begins appearing an altogether different affair,

If we start looking around using Godly attributes within us.

For centuries, India has been a

Crucible of Interfaith Coexistence

Intermittently, it has been Enriching itself with

Additional Ingredients

At

Interfaith Coalition for Peace

At all levels, the numerically major faiths of India

Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Sikhismare equally represented

People of all other religions likeZoroastrianism, Judaism, Budhism, Bahaism

also enthusiastically participate in the deliberations and programs

Our Vision

APPRECIATION OF

COMMON DESTINY

LET US SEEK MUTUAL HELP AND FRIENDSHIP AND

STAND FIRM IN CONSTANCY AND

PATIENT PERSEVERANCE

Our Motto

We carry out Research

and

Find commonalities in Precepts and Practices

We take these to the masses all over the

country and elsewhere

We have Local Resource Groups in

24 Indian states,in South Asian Region

and inOther countries

Interfaith Gathering held at Vrindavan (Mathura) Birthplace of Lord Krishna who, according to many enlightened Muslims is among the prophets refered to in the holy Quran (2:285). Same is true for Lord Rama, Lord Mahavir, Lord Budha and many others.

Our current academic projects

Two Books1. For Primary level

childrenand

2. Glossary of Religious Terminology

We sponsor youth

We organize Women's Journeys

Our teams visit Areas of possible

conflict and

Try to preempt and diffuse the situation

Jammu & Kashmir Intervention Program

We organize Group Discussions on

Topics of common interest like

Fasting, Light, Environmental Protection,

etc

We also participate in Praxis

ICP hosted Sri Lankan Interfaith Delegation

ICP hosted the visiting Metropolitan of Russian Orthodox Church

Christian visitorsjoined Ramadan Iftar at Delhi’s Jama Masjid

ICP Interfaith Women – at Sea

Discussion with the visiting Mr Eboo Patel, Member, White House Interfaith Consultative

Committee

Audience at an Interfaith Cultural Gathering

LET’S LIGHT OUR CANDLES TOGETHER

Please do visit us atwww.icpindia.org

Thank you