Can Interfaith Research Resolve the Global Conflicts Based on Faith?

Interfaith issues are quite central in the contemporary life as they had often been in ancient times. In the light of political striving, violence, and deep global concerns for the world order and peace, a great many people have been increasingly inspired to know about religions of the world, their similarities and differences, the roles they may play in conflict and conflict resolution, and the ways most desirable to get their members to know one another in justice and peace, regardless of the size of followers a religion enjoys or the tenets of faith they enjoin. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam maintain ancestral ties with a unique origin, namely the Abrahamic scriptural and spiritual heritages the Talmud, the Bible, and the Qur’an literally contained. These holy books contain a great wealth of knowledge about God and His messengers who enlightened mankind with the wisdom of religion to pursue the good life with perseverance and moral values. The discourse of interfaith ideals and practices has been in great demand globally, despite a few endeavors to enhance authentic knowledge about religion, in general, and the monotheistic religions, in particular. The need of the world is largely felt to appreciate the true meanings of religious life for individuals and social groups in order to advance the cause of peaceful co-existence between peoples of the world, especially in areas suffering deep ideological hostilities or prolonged violence through the negative influences of religious intolerance

Pan-African Judgments on the Gulf Investments in Oppressive Governments

The African ancient civilizations played influential roles in global trade and power relations; in recent histories and contemporary times, persistent failures of dependent economies and political leaderships underdeveloped the continent by oppression and manipulative investments. Focusing on the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, our paper applied a Pan-Africanist framework to assess the impact of Gulf States’ investments on the African setting. The paper stressed the predetermined cycle of investments that exchanged massive flows of the collected and/or accumulated surpluses into the Gulf, Chinese, and other foreign investors, whereas the poorest African most targeted recipients were the least benefitted. Despite the ambiguity and scarcity of accessible information on the Gulf/African businesses, we have heavily drawn available facts from United Nations and international sources, as well as critical views by Pan- African scholars, human rights’ activists, and political opponents. To ensure sustainable development free of exploitation and abuse of authority for the African peoples, foreign investors should avoid the past colonial and/or neocolonial ventures that dispossessed the land and manpower of the Continent, reinstated wealth-and-power thirst rulers in authoritative systems of rule, and impoverished indigenous farmers and the low-income workers and professionals with lasting poverty

Between Secularist and Jihadist Bodes, Egypt and Sudan in Crossroads

The societal conflicts between Secularist groups and Jihadist militants on the role religious orientations played in the state democratization, social justice, human rights, and population development posited national exigencies un-decisively met by governments of the African and Arab regions. Part one of our research theorized three typologies shaping the challenges of similar conflicts in the Arab-African states of Egypt and Sudan. The typologies symbolized a Sufi culture perpetuating Muslims’ humanitarian relations; Secularist thought excluding the politics of faith; and Jihadist reactionaries manipulating symbolic representation of religion in the striving for power domains. Lacking in serenity the Sufi culture maintained for ages by popular prevalence, the Jihadist reactionaries sponsored a theocratic militancy that generated instability by excessive violence. Entrenched in non-democratic authoritative systems, the state failed in both countries to end peacefully the deepened tensions of the ongoing contradictions. Preserving the popular culture and supporting democratic governance, the Sufi/Secularist groups would probably continue to resist the theocratic dogma that evidently penetrated the region. Part two of the research proposed a study on the typologies’ dynamics to project the extent of political integrity in the future of Sudan and Egypt. This paper comprised a brief summary of part one of the analysis

Comparative Research on the Zahir and Batin Thought

This research paper makes an attempt to expound the Muslim concepts of al-zahir [the evident] and the al-batin [the intrinsic] which touch deeply upon both spiritual and secular practices to ascertain possible similarities and differences between the Muslim and the non-Muslim realms. Despite centuries of economic and cultural relationships, recent times have been loaded with political and media stereotyping of Islam as a “warring” religion whose militants “threaten” the regional peace and international order. Almost nothing is mentioned about the “intrinsic” motives that underlie “evident” dictions of all parties of the conflict. To establish corrective understanding between the Muslims and the non-Muslims as a unified human family, comparative research is critically needed to educate and to disseminate the facts about Islam and the Muslim heritage to expand the peaceful co-existence and the full enjoyment of freedoms and human rights to all humans. In this context, the paper analyzes key concepts of the al-zahir and al-batin to appreciate the meanings of the Muslim Truth and the Hikmat al-Ta’aruf teachings, in comparison with non-Muslim beliefs and secular thought. To conclude, systematic research is crucial to help reconcile the parties by the establishment of comparable ontologies for the Muslim and non-Muslim thought