LUNCHEON : Living Where You Don’t Make the Rules - Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool

Living Where You Don’t Make the Rules (Part I)

Faith and cultural change in the age of globalization.

By Ebrahim Rasool, November 28, 2013

This is part one of a three-part series on Muslims, faith and cultural change in the age of globalization.

One of the touchiest issues in the world today is the Muslim disquiet, especially in countries where Muslims are minorities. We often miss it and call it all kinds of names.

We call it Islamism. We call it radicalism, we call it extremism, we call it fundamentalism and we call it violence. We claim it springs from conflict-driven communities.

Those labels have a semblance of truth in them, because on any given day, some Muslims may display some of those characteristics.

But those labels don’t tell the story about what the causes of the disquiet really are. They don’t even begin to describe how to deal with it and how to manage it. In particular, they don’t tell how to bring peace to the soul of a community that is often uncomfortable in the context of the disquiet.

The existing disquiet, in turn, invites fear, suspicion and often hostility among non-Muslims. In some way, we have to tackle the issue head on. How do we deal with this problem? The way in which I have come to understand it is that the key lies in the theological assumptions of the Muslim community that were formed in times of dominance.

When Islam was an empire, when Muslims were the rulers and when they moved into Spain, they made theological assumptions about how they could live. They created the rules for how to engage with those who are non-Muslim (and how those others could live). That set the tone of the lifestyle that they could lead....

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VIDEO - Annual Ramadan Iftar Dinner Series - 2011

The Rumi Forum organized numerous Ramadan Iftar Dinners in August 2011. Amongst the speakers was Ziad Alahdad, former World Bank Director, Ambassador David Newton, Ebrahim Rasool, Ambassador for South Africa, Paul Monteiro, White House, Johan Viber, Deputy Chief of Mission, Norway Embassy, Namik Tan, Ambassador for Turkey, Daniel Madigcan, Georgetown University, Tom Block, author/writer.

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MEDIA - Interfaith dialog advocated at iftar dinner in Washington

Interfaith dialog advocated at iftar dinner in Washington



23 August 2011, Tuesday / TODAY’S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL


Guests from different countries, cultures and religions gathered around the same iftar table Monday night in Washington, D.C., for the special Muslim tradition of the daily fast-breaking during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan.

The Rumi Forum and the Turkic American Alliance (TAA) of Washington, D.C., organizations in the Washington metropolitan area promoting interfaith dialog and peace, organized the Annual Intercultural İftar Dinner.

Turkish Ambassador Namık Tan was in attendance along with ambassadors and embassy officials from various countries such as South Africa, Mozambique, Norway, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Bahrain, Senegal, Fiji, Indonesia and Sweden. White House and State Department officials and some business leaders gathered around the iftar table as well.

Guests from a myriad of religious and cultural backgrounds sat down to share iftar, during which they had the opportunity to taste the unique flavors of Turkish cuisine prepared by skilled hands.

The dinner commenced with the traditional evening call to prayer, which was accompanied by the English translation projected on a screen.

Following the iftar, the evening’s speakers called for dialog and cooperation to combat religious and cultural discrimination.

Ambassador Tan, noting the shrinking of the world through globalization, said, “Everyone should work together to cooperate and understand one another.”

Merely talking is not enough, Tan said. To achieve true dialog, everyone must be able to love, respect, aid, forgive and apologize, he said. Referring to the “smart power” approach put forward by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Tan added that Turkey has found an alternative strategy to solving problems, called “soft power.”

Tan said that Turkey considers “soft power” to be the best tool in conflicts because of its central geographic location.

The Rumi Forum was founded in 1999 with the mission to promote interfaith and intercultural dialogue and to provide a common platform for education and information exchange. The Rumi Forum endeavors to foster the noble ideals of Rumi, bringing people and ideas together for a more peaceful coexistence.

The TAA is established as a broader umbrella organization for federations, councils and similar entities which bear the qualities and share the objectives of establishing closer relations with the Turkic American community and the community at large and also with the members of other ethnic communities in the US.

SOURCE: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-254713-interfaith-dialog-advocated-at-iftar-dinner-in-washington.html

ADVISORY BOARD - new board announced by Rumi Forum

Rumi Forum is honored to have the following people on its Advisory Board

Amb. Akbar Ahmed 
American University

Ziad Alahdad 
World Bank (Ret.)

John Borelli 
Georgetown University

The Rt. Rev. John Bryson Chane 
Episcopal Dioceses of Washington

John Esposito 
Georgetown University

Jack Goldstone 
George Mason University

Peter Kovach 
US Department of State (Ret.)

Flyntt Leverett 
New America Foundation

Rev. Clark Lobenstine 
Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington

Amb. David Mack 
Middle East Institute

Amb. Edward Marks 
George Mason University

Katherine Marshall 
Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, World Affairs

Ziyaad Motala 
Howard University

Amb. David Newton 
Middle East Institute

Kathryn Porter 
Leadership Council for Human Rights

Amb. Ibrahim Rasool 
Embassy of the Republic South Africa

Amb. David Shinn 
The George Washington University

Ori Soltes 
Georgetown University

Pim Valkenberg 
The Catholic University of America

Amb. Jenonne Walker 
US Department of State (Ret.)