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The Sacredness of Diversity
By: Ayesha Siddiqua Chaudhry
November 6, 2003
Congregation Habonim, Toronto
"O you who believe! Stand firmly for justice, as witnesses
for God, even though it be against your own selves, your
parents and kinsfolk."
I am here today….to share my reflections
on the Holocaust. I will center my reflections of the Holocaust
on a trip I took to Poland this past May with the March
of Remembrance and Hope. I first heard of the March of Remembrance
and Hope trip to Poland in the Spring of this year. When
I first referred to the website for this program, the idea
of such a trip attracted and intrigued me….but I was
not sure whether I was personally interested in participating
in it. This uncertainty was due to a number of reasons….one
of which was my own discomfort coming out of my impressions
of the complex and uneasy relationship between the Muslim
and Jewish peoples. After giving the matter some thought,
I decided that I should not only be able but also willing
to step out of my frame of reference … to whatever
degree possible. It quickly became clear to me that if I
really was committed to inter-communal dialogue…as
I say I was…where people-in-conflict would make an
attempt to confront and recognize the fundamental humanity
of the other…then I should be able to at least attempt
to see the world from a different frame of reference. In
this way, I came to pose my participation in the trip as
a test for myself…and once I did this…it became
imperative for me to undertake the trip…if for no other
reason than…to prove to myself that I was committed
to what I verbally claimed.
The trip turned out to be as much thought-provoking
as it was emotionally draining. I came face-to-face with
the utter fragility and the extraordinary resilience of
the human being. I experienced the ease with which human
beings are able to demonize and dehumanize other human beings…and
then…after going through such horrid and hideous experiences…
I witnessed the victims' ability to not only continue to
exist…but also to create dynamic communities.
There were many moments during the trip
that left me at a loss of words. I attempted to make some
sort of sense of all that I saw and heard. Some of these
experiences centered around the gas chambers of Auschwitz,
...and the displays of human hair, eye-glasses, suitcases,
shoes and children's clothing… in the various concentration
camps. One of the most poignant experiences for me was the
experience of standing on the Field of Ashes…over the
killing grounds of countless individuals…whose lives
had been taken unjustly. They were killed for no other reason
than for the fact that they belonged to a particular community.
Being Jewish was a sufficient crime to deserve persecution…
humiliation…and genocide. The realization of this injustice…a
personal confrontation with its reality…was tremendous…a
very heavy burden to bear. We had a moving ceremony on this
sacred site. The two most meaningful moments for me…during
this ceremony…were the experience of reciting words
from the Qur'an, God's revealed scripture…over these
souls…and hearing the recitation of the Kaddish by
Holocaust survivors. These were experiences that I will
never forget…experiences that leave a mark on one's
consciousness and…on one's conscience.
I am going to try and put these experiences
within the context of the Qur'an…whose discourses and
narratives inform my own moral framework. In the Qur'an…the
story mentioned and repeated most often…is that of
Prophet Moses…peace be upon him…and his people.
The narrative of Pharaoh and the Children of Israel is an
archetypal representation of a crime that humanity has suffered
from for a long time…the crime of genocide and ethnic
cleansing. Pharaoh ordered the killing of every male child
born among the Israelites. Morally unjustified killing is
abhorrent in itself…since God made human life sacred…but
Pharaoh added an…institutional dimension…to the
sin of murder. He discriminated against an entire people
based on their race…their ethnicity…and their
religion. Such demonizing…and dehumanizing…of
a group of people is strongly condemned in the Qur'an. Regarding
Children of Israel, the Qur'an notes that Pharaoh "resolved
to remove them from the face of the earth," as a punishment
for which God drowned Pharaoh and all those who were with
him. Furthermore, God made Pharaoh and his treatment of
the Israelites and….then God's wrath upon Pharaoh as
a result for his behavior…a sign for all those who
would come after him.
Discrimination…political oppression…and
mass killings based on a perception of racial or ethnic
or religious superiority… is among of the most horrendous
sins. Race, religion, ethnicity and cultures are considered
sacred in the Qur'an. Such distinctions are here to stay…and
the Qur'an recognizes them as…signs of God. Consequently,
human beings have an obligation…to preserve and celebrate…such
phenomena…rather than to eradicate them. I will quote
two verses from the Qur'an:
And among God signs is the creation
of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your languages
and your colors; in this there are signs for all those who
possess knowledge.
And again:
O humankind! We created you from a single
pair, a male and a female, and made you into nations and
tribes, so that you may come to know one other. Verily,
the noblest of you in the sight of God is the one who is
most pious and God-conscious. God is all-knowing, all-aware.
If "languages" stand for cultures…"colors"
for race…and "nations and tribes" for ethnicities…then
it is clear that the Qur'an recognizes and acknowledges
these…differences…and distinctions. These are
signs of God…ways of knowing each other…and ways
of appreciating the presence of the Divine…and not
justifications for oppression. If we restrict our acquaintances…and
our good will…and our compassion…to those who
are like us…in one way or another…and refuse to
constructively engage with those who are different and distinct
from us…then we are limiting our understanding and
experience of God…since God is manifested and disclosed
through God's creations.
Indeed, we all have a common humanity…yet
we have different histories…and different identities.
And according to the Qur'an it is not only OK to have these
differences…it is actually a cause for celebration…since
God did not make us all alike in every way but made us different…and
therefore interesting and intriguing...to each other. At
the same time…because of our common humanity…because
of the similarities in our experiences…we are not entirely
strangers to each other.
I am unable to completely free myself
from the limitations that come from my being grounded in
a particular historical and cultural tradition…but
this is not necessarily an impediment. This could be a means
for a greater acknowledgement and recognition of the Other.
I may be an outsider…an Other…to the Jewish community…but
this does not necessarily make me insensitive to the pain
and suffering of Jewish people. It follows then, that as
I pause to consider the experience of Holocaust and its
effects on the Jewish people…I cannot help but relate
that to moments of suffering and trauma that have come upon
my own people…whether such moments happened in the
past…or are taking place right now…even as I speak…for
this is the only way through which I can empathize with
an other.
As I ponder over the suffering of the
Jewish people, I am reminded of a saying that Islamic tradition
attributes to Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him…he
said: "The same will happen to my community as happened
to the Children of Israel, just as one shoe resembles the
other." Despite our differences…I see how we can
be united in our suffering. As I mourn over the oppression…humiliation…and
genocide of millions of European Jews during the Second
World War…I cannot help but wonder if we have really
learned our lessons from that experience…if we are
ready and eager to stop wherever we see similar tendencies
developing…or we are as complacent as we were sixty
years ago.
There are a number of Muslim thinkers
who compare the position of Muslims in the West today with
that of the Jewish community in Europe at the beginning
of the 20th century. They argue that Muslims are the "New
Jews" of the West as they have come to represent the
"alien, Oriental intrusion" into the West that
the Jews represented to the Christian West a century ago.
Jewish people know very well how it feels to be looked at
with suspicion and distrust…to be considered legitimate
targets for defamation on one pretext or another. Many Muslims
in the West today find resonance in such comparisons…especially
with the current climate in the United States.
Human experiences are hardly unique…despite
obvious differences in historical circumstances. The experience
of discrimination and alienation causes the same sort of
pain…irrespective of the identity of the victim. This
became fully clear to me in my interaction with a Holocaust
survivor who is here with us today…Nate Leipciger.
I remember when Nate Leipciger related his experience of
Auschwitz in the bunker where he had stayed during WWII.
I remember sharing his pain as he spoke of his sister and
mother being gassed on Yom Kippur and the condition of the
men who prayed and cried and stood silently, utterly helpless,
in the bunker. He spoke to us of those who lost faith in
the camps…of those who came to believe more fervently…and
of those for whom faith was hardly an issue. Later…one
night…well past midnight…I remember him telling
a captive audience the story of how difficult it was to
create a new life once the war was over…and the hurdles
he faced in the process of re-establishing himself on another
continent. I was able to empathize with him because his
experience was by no means unfamiliar or strange to what
many Muslims have faced…or are facing.
There were moments during the trip when
I felt hopeful and inspired…but there were also moments
when I felt hopeless and dejected. I thank God for both
because each taught me something valuable. More than anything
else…I think the trip to Poland…with the March
of Remembrance and Hope…forced us all to transcend
our religious…political…and cultural boundaries
in order to bear witness to the common humanity we all share…the
common humanity that speaks in the language of life and
death…hope and despair…joy and pain...acceptance
and alienation. These are emotions and experiences that
we all feel…despite the different colors of our skins…the
countries of our birth…and the names of our ancestors.
This common humanity is what should unite us when injustice
is inflicted upon any one of us…on the basis of these
differences. This is not to eradicate the differences…but
to transcend them when there is a need to embrace a higher
ideal.
Before ending, I would like to thank
Eli Rubenstein as well as all of you for inviting me to
your synagogue tonight to speak at this very important occasion.
I am grateful for this opportunity, and indeed… honored
to be here. I would also like to pay a tribute to everyone
who participated in the March of Remembrance and Hope, for
it was because of the supportive and caring atmosphere that
their presence created… that made the reflections that
I have shared with you today, possible.
I would like to end with a quote from
the Qur'an…that is a call to action in the pursuit
of justice. It reads:
O you who Believe, stand firmly for
God, bearing witness to the truth in all equity; and do
not let the animosity of anyone lead you into the sin of
deviating from justice. Be just: this is closest to piety.
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