Notes from the MLT Plenary session: "New ideas and competing values"

Shamill Idriss -  Panel moderator's thoughts and questions:

•    How do we raise our children in conflicting societies?
•    Are there conflicting values between different societies?
•    What are the differences and how do we deal with them?
•    Different times, different values. Time changes History and historic values
•    Values are not different, but are perceived differently, depending on the development of history in time
•    We need to find the balance between freedom of speech and respect

The Panel:

Mona Eltahawy - USA
Imam Abu ‘Eesa Niamatullah - UK
Malik Dahlan – Saudia Arabia
Osama Saeed Butta - Scotland
Madiha Younas - Pakistan

MLT Poll:

Are there Islamic values that are in fundamental conflict with Western Values?

61% - Yes
39% - No

Quotes from the panelists:

Mona Eltahawy – USA:

•    Don’t westerners care about their families and don’t Muslims care about human rights?

•    There are no Islamic values & there are no Western values, there are Human values.

•    Both Muslims and Western People have conflicts over human values and human rights. With many of us feeling defensive, we tend to take sides. Essentially we are human beings, who value human values.

Imam Abu ‘Eesa Niamatullah - UK

•    We should be very specific when speaking about values

•    We know that western values are composed of Roman values and a combination of Judeo - Christian values. You have that combined in the American constitution.

•    We have to define, what are Islamic values?

•    Human values can’t be claimed by the West

•    Classically, in the society of true Islam the individual does have the right to express it’s values, but the individual is part if a collective framework

Osama Saeed Butta - Scotland

•    Freedom and democracy are long processes, it can’t be bombed into people

•    You don't have to enforce your values on others

Madiha Younas - Pakistan

•    Living in Pakistan I see in the community that there is a clash between western and eastern society

•    A lot of our cultural values are seen as religious values and used for wrong doing. The same is happening in the west where people want the absolute freedom for the individual and yet call themselves “Muslim”.

•    We need to clarify what an Islamic value is

Malik Dahlan – Saudia Arabia

•    There are differences in our perception about values.

•    Freedom is the absolute freedom that we have in Islam

•    On freedom. What are our concepts of freedom in Islam?

•    We have to think what we are offering to the generations to come

Comments

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