SHARED WISDOM

LEARNING FROM OTHERS inter-religious dialogue is concerned, we need to take it as a means for learning, exchanging ideas and experiences, and sharing. By following this method, we can achieve two goals simultaneously: to grow in our realization of truth and to promote harmonious relations between individuals who subscribe to different belief systems. This is according to the Laws of Nature, or the Creation Plan of God. This, to me, is the only meaningful model for interreligious dialogue. Dialogue for the sake of dialogue is nothing. We must be very clear if we want dialogue to have some purpose. According to my experience, the purpose of such dialogue should be sharing, mutual learning, and interaction between people with different religious beliefs or understandings, which helps all parties in a dialogue to grow as human beings and thereby lead a more meaningful life. LEARNING FROM OTHERS Not benefitting from others is the greatest loss. If someone finds something lacking in himself, he can compensate for it by learning from others. This can happen, for instance, through inter-religious dialogue, where one can learn many good things from people of different faith backgrounds, each of whom has their own insights and experiences. According to a Hadith report, the Prophet of Islam once remarked: “Seek guidance from the wise, and you will be