THE TIME OF DIALECTIC SPIRITUALISM From Medina to Mecca Charter Cover Image

VRIJEME DIJALEKTIČKOG SPIRITUALIZMA Od Medinske do Mekkanske povelje
THE TIME OF DIALECTIC SPIRITUALISM From Medina to Mecca Charter

Author(s): Mustafa Cerić
Subject(s): Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Diplomatic history, Islam studies, International relations/trade, History of Religion
Published by: Centar za dijalog - Vesatijja
Keywords: Islam; Peace; Dialectical Spiritualism; the Spirit of the Age; Medina Charter; Magna Carta Libertatum; Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Nostra Aetate; Declaration of European Muslims;

Summary/Abstract: A crisis is a call for change and creative thinking that initiates a dialectics of thought and action. Also, the challenge for nations as well as individuals in crisis is to figure out which parts of their identities are already functioning well and do not need changing, and which parts are no longer working and do need changing. Indeed, Muslim thought today needs the courage to recognize what must be changed in order to deal with the new circumstances. But, at the same time, Muslim scholars need to draw a line and stress the elements that are so fundamental to the faith and culture of Islam that they refuse to be changed. This state of affairs we call dialectical spiritualism, as opposed to Marxist „dialectical materialism“. It is time for humanity to meet the Zeitgeist, „Spirit of the Age“, which is „the Spirit of Peace“ among religions and nations across the globe. History, past and present, is not void of good examples of accords, charters, declarations and commitments to peaceful coexistence between religions and nations from the Medina Charter (622), the Magna Carta Libertatum (1215), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the Nostra Aetate (1965), the Declaration of European Muslims (2005), the Common Word Between Us and You (2007), the Marrakesh Declaration (2016), the Alliance of Virtue for the Common Good (2018), the Declaration of Human Fraternity (2019) to the Mecca Charter (2019). All these initiatives, past and present, promote the idea of „the Spirit of Peace“ of all times, but this current time has the biggest need of all times for the Zeitgeist, „Spirit of the Age“, which is the „Spirit of Peace and Tolerance“. This paper attempts to explain this need from a Muslim perspective with a comparison with other initiatives.

  • Issue Year: 1/2020
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 137-190
  • Page Count: 44
  • Language: Bosnian, English
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