Interview: Sharjeel-Antoine Moutier

Axinia Samoilova (interviewer), January 2006

This interview with the France-based interculturalist covers the historical and cultural aspects of Islam, as well as the practicalities of living as a Muslim.

1. How are you personally related to this theme?

I was born into a conservative Muslim Indo - Pakistani family and brought up in Saudi Arabia. As this is seen as the center of Islam and hosts 2 of most sacred geographic Islamic icons, I have a personally lived experience of Islam. Being brought up as a child surrounded by so many different cultures and so close to the historical roots of Islam gave me tremendous opportunities to not only to discover Islamic culture for myself, but also to observe very closely how those teachings are applied in daily lives of millions of people around the world practicing Islam.

2. What is the message of the Islam to the modern world?

The message of Islam remains the same as it was 15 centuries ago. I.e. Peace; the word Islam is derived from Arabic word 'Salam ' that means peace. The essential message of Islam is peace, which encompasses brotherhood & charity.

3. Why does the image of Islam differ so much from the true teachings of the Koran and the general Islamic principles?

I strongly believe that image of Islam as perceived by others and propagated by western media is completely different from the true teachings of Holy Quran and general Islamic principals.

The image of Islam, as portrayed by most media here in the west, is based upon misunderstandings and a lack of knowledge. The Islamic world is measured and judged by the present values existing in the west, which is an inappropriate tool to judge by. The present values in the west of freedom, democracy, secularism and human rights etc have been existing in practice rather than theory for, around 50 years !. In the history time line, 50 years is only basically a very short time.

Then recent events like 9/11, the Iraqi invasion and the resulting international geopolitical mess along with global images of terrorism makes the image of Islam being portrayed as very negative. Keep in mind that the first victims of this negative imaging are Muslims themselves. Most media focuses on a very small and negligible number of radicals rather than most of the Muslim population. There is a tendency to ignore the cultural richness within contemporary civilization that was introduced by not only Muslims, but also the Arabic culture.

For example our use of spoons and notions of table manners were brought into Europe by the Spanish Moors. In Spain there is a still a city named 'Malaga' that in Arabic means spoon. The first peoples to give refuge to Jews when they were expelled from all over Europe were Muslims. Arabs developed Algebra and basis of algorithms. Similarly many of the advances of modern medicine later in Europe are based upon the initial work of Ibn Sina commonly known as Avecina. There are plenty of other examples.

What I need to emphasize is the point that to understand people and their culture well, we need to take into consideration all of their history and roots rather than focusing on only one part that deals ie in this case the extremism of a minority faction.. That is the only way I believe we can understand better the differences and go beyond mostly media induced prejudices or misconceptions.

4. What do you think interculturalists can do about improving Western-Islamic relations?

To improve Western - Islamic relations is much more in the hand of the politicians rather than interculturaists. Interculturalists can, though the sharing of knowledge, provide tools that can be used and applied for better relationships, trust building, dialogue and communication between all. This is the crucial and important role of the interculturist.

5. Islam is not only a religion, but also a cultural phenomenon. Could you suggest any successful training approaches or methods for working on the Western-Islamic relations?

Islam is considered as way of life by nearly all Muslims. How Islam is applied and integrated in the culture varies from one place to other largely. There are Muslims from Morocco till Indonesia. They may share the basic and core values of Islam but culturally are very different. Also, local culture plays a vital and crucial role as well deriving usually from the ethnicity of the community along with the historical backgrounds of the region. For example in South East Asian countries there is a mostly Chinese influence historically hence the practice of Islam is very different then say from Northern African or the Middle Eastern Gulf approach.

The basis of all the successful training approaches are the same as of any good cross cultural training. i.e. Understanding the historical influences, local values, local code of conduct, way of communications either verbal, oral or written, conception of time, relationships, family and hierarchy structure, decision making process etc. Then to find the common ground with 'universal values' that are shared by both and communicating effectively by building personal relationships with both sides taking steps towards each other. Such things can be facilitated by role playing, case studies, simulations and other more active training approaches.

6. What is Islamic banking? How does it differ from the traditional western banking system? Can this system also be used by the people from not-Islamic cultures?

Islamic banking can be compared with 'Ethical investments / banking'. Islamic banking is like any traditional banking but with some major differences. In Islam there is a prohibition to invest in areas such as speculation, gambling, adult industry, alcohol. Also, usury / interest is strictly prohibited. Islam as a religion has an emphasis, which is strong on entrepreneurship and free trade along with risk taking and partnerships. Hence for example rather than getting fixed interest on the deposits from the bank, the deposit holder shares the profits / loss of the bank. So the way financial transactions are structured may differ but they all follow typical western standards combined with the ethical preferences of Muslims. Like Halal meat they prefer Halal investments.

Oh yes this system can be used by any one and is used by many people from non Muslim cultures as well. The performance of such a system is comparable to any other system of investment and people do make decisions based upon both ethical / religious and financial return criteria.