RELIGIOUS HARMONY — Not Religious Uniformity

Now, a factor that needs to be noted here is that when any religion, having reached this stage of antiquity, has secured a sacred place in the hearts of its believers, it becomes impossible to bring about any changes in the attitude of those who claim to be its followers. Efforts to bring about a change can produce a new religion, but they can never succeed in changing the old religion. There are many examples of such failures in the past. A very important point from the practical point of view is that although the necessity to bring about harmony among the different religions is not a newly-felt imperative, endeavours towards that end are still only in the formative stages. If progress towards that goal has been slow of attainment, it is because of the established positions which ancient religions have secured in the hearts of their followers, simply by virtue of their antiquity. Trying to bring about changes in these religions per se has never brought about harmony, because instead of old religions being brought closer together by this process, they have developed, rather, into new religions — a process which has either left the problem of disharmony unsolved or has further aggravated it. There are many examples of such abortive efforts in the past. Encourage people to show respect for others’ beliefs and to be humanitarian at all times in their dealings with adherents of other religions. In view of this historical reality, it is clear that the suggestions made by Islam with regard to promoting harmony among the followers of different religions is the only viable solution. Any alternative suggestion, however attractive it might appear, would be either impracticable or counter-productive. Once, when discussing this point with me, a religious scholar said, ‘We have been attempting to bring about interreligious harmony for the last one hundred years, but the results have been quite dismal. It would seem that there are insurmountable obstacles in the way.’ I replied that the goal we want to attain is certainly a proper one; it is simply that the strategy we employ is impracticable. Religious harmony is, without doubt, a desirable objective. But it cannot be