Dr. Bari, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain, says diversity is the Commonwealth’s strength
Posted by ZoeWare - 19/01/10 at 06:01 pmDr. Muhammad Abdul Bari, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, talks about what the Commonwealth means to him and how its values of diversity and tolerance are an immense assest.
Dr. Bari, you were born in Bangladesh, have lived in the United Kingdom for decades and, through your charity and community work, have links throughout the Commonwealth. So what does the Commonwealth exactly mean to you?
Well, ever since I grew up, I heard of the Commonwealth. When I was at university, many of my colleagues got Commonwealth Scholarships, so I know about the Scholarship area because I come from an educational background. I come from Bangladesh and, Bangladesh being a Commonwealth country, I have had a lot of interest in the Commonwealth, because it’s a massive organisation with fifty-three countries, with two billion people- one third of the world’s population- so it makes sense to me.
You are a patron of the Ramphal Centre, which is an organisation that promotes the discussion of policy issues concerning the Commonwealth and its member-states. Which key issues do you personally think the Commonwealth should be focusing on in the next few years?
I think young people are our future, every society, every nation’s future, and it’s the MCB’s duty to work with young people to bring them to the heart of British society. Commonwealth countries- many of them are having economic, social, political difficulties, so if we can focus on the young people and their future education and employment, so they can contribute to the well-being of society and they are able to run all those countries in a better way- I think that would be a wonderful thing.
We’ve seen recently international concern over alleged Islamic extremists emerging from Commonwealth countries including Nigeria, Pakistan and others. Do you think that Islamic extremism poses a serious threat to the member-states of the Commonwealth?
Well, I don’t want to use the two terms together; Islam is a religion, like the Abrahamic faiths and other important world faiths, and terrorism or extremism is not a monopoly of a religion or a community, it can happen with any community, any time, for different reasons. The fact that some Muslims have done terrible atrocities doesn’t mean that is the fault of Islam. So what we have to do is create a narrative where we work with all our communities without blaming anyone, and, if there are people who need to be isolated, let them isolate these people and leave the wider society as they are.
How do you think the core values of the Commonwealth- values that you personally have long sought to promote, values like inter-faith cooperation and the celebration of diversity- how can these Commonwealth values be used, do you think, to combat religious extremism?
I think Commonwealth countries have many people with many religious backgrounds, and this diversity is the strength of the Commonwealth. What we have to do, we probably have to go beyond tolerance of each other; if we can respect each other for each other’s values, and if we can work with each other for a common good, we can create a society that gives peace and harmony to everyone. So we have to respect each other’s values, we have to work with everyone irrespective of their diversity, and create an environment where everyone feels free to work with each other, and I think religions can really beget tools for that, because all religions, in their principles and message, speak more or less of the same ethos of shared values and interests for the whole of humanity.
Category : Connecting with Young People, My Commonwealth
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