<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
Historically, Muslims have gone to great\nlengths, even waging wars, to impose Islam, their version of what they deem to\nbe the one and true way. The attitude and position of \u2018exclusivism\u2019 adopted by\nMuslims, that Islam is the only true religion and rejecting the legitimacy of\nother faith traditions, does not help in developing a spirit of religious pluralism\nin society. The principle of \u2018one truth, one religion\u2019 or Exclusivism\u201d lies at\nthe heart of Islam. For the Muslims, the teaching in Islam represent the \u2018best\npath\u2019 and their egocentric attachment to their religion obstructs them from\nseeing the value of other religious traditions. They will not accept the\npluralistic perspective of \u2018many truths, many religions\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is time that Muslims of Sri Lanka,\nespecially their leaders realize that without developing a genuine spirit of\ninter-religious understanding or a spirit of religious pluralism, there is no\nhope for the development of harmony based on true interreligious understanding.\nFrom the Buddhist point of view, there is tremendous diversity among sentient\nbeings and individuals and groups find different ways of approaching and\nseeking spiritual development. This standpoint allows one to develop a sense of\nappreciation of all faith traditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the Buddhist point of view, the belief in\nAllah with its emphasis on the idea of a \u2018first cause\u2019 that in itself is\nuncaused, amounts to falling into extreme absolutism, a view that obstructs the\nattainment of enlightenment. If one believes that the entire cosmos,\nincluding the sentient beings within it, is the creation of one all-powerful\nand compassionate Allah, then, the inescapable consequence is that other faith\ntraditions are also Allah\u2019s or God\u2019s creation. If this is not the case, then\nAllah is not omnipotent or the implication being that although these other\nfaiths are \u2018false ways\u2019, Allah was incapable of stopping their\nemergence. If one maintains that although Allah or God is perfectly\ncapable of preventing the emergence of these \u2018false ways\u2019 but he chooses not to\ndo so, then one rejects Allah\u2019s or God\u2019s all-embracing compassion. This is\nbecause, if Allah is all-powerful and compassionate, why did he choose to\nexclude millions of His own children, from following the so-called \u2018false ways\u2019\nthat would lead to their damnation? So the logic of monotheism in Islam, the\nstandard version that attributes omnipotence, omniscience, and all-embracing\ncompassion to Allah, inevitably entails recognition that the world\u2019s many\nreligious traditions are in one way or another related to Allah\u2019s or God\u2019s\ndivine intentions for the ultimate well-being of His children. This means that,\nas a devout follower of Allah, one must accord respect, and if possible,\nreverence to all religions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The highly tolerant nature of the large\nmajority of Buddhists of Sri Lanka should not be taken for granted.They are becoming increasingly\naware of the various forms of threats to which they are subject without good\nreason, and\nas proven repeatedly in their nation\u2019s long history of foreign aggression and\nmisdemeanors, they will rise to the occasion when necessary, to save their Buddhist\nnorms and principles forming the foundation of the national culture of their\nnation, their only motherland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Daya Hewapathirane<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dr. Daya Hewapathirane Historically, Muslims have gone to great lengths, even waging wars, to impose Islam, their version of what they deem to be the one and true way. The attitude and position of \u2018exclusivism\u2019 adopted by Muslims, that Islam is the only true religion and rejecting the legitimacy of other faith traditions, does not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-daya-hewapathirane"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87591\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}