Diplomats, professors and journalists attend a lecture on "Religion as a re-emerging factor in international relations" by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) spokesman Rizwan Saeed Sheikh in Jedddah, recently. — SG photo by Roberta Fedele Roberta Fedele Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Religion has proved to be a factor of identity in international relations and as a driving force for political mobilization and shaping of political entities from the ages of dynasties and empires, during the period of the birth of nation-states, until today, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) spokesman Rizwan Saeed Sheikh has said. “Religion is a source of identity for people. It's a philosophy of life and code of ethics. This would explain why tensions stemming from religious heterogeneity have been the most common denominator in the European, American and South Asian history,” he said. Sheikh was speaking at the the 9th Library Lecture organized by the OIC recently with the theme “Religion as a re-emerging Factor in International Relations: Combating Discrimination and Intolerance on Religious Grounds.” Sheikh was trying to identify the reasons behind the constant role that religion played, at different levels, in the context of international relations and the possible means to address the current phenomenon of Islamophobia. Particularly significant, said Sheikh, is the European experience from which the concept of nation state was matured. “The 1648 Peace of Westphalia ratified in Europe the autonomy of nations-states from the empire and inaugurated a new international order based on the sovereignty of those states, independently from the faith (Catholic or Protestant) of the single ruler. Thus, it is possible to say that the path to European nation-states' formation passed through the challenge of religion as a form of identity.” Always present throughout the centuries, at a more evident or latent stage, religion has strongly re-emerged, according to Sheikh, in the era of globalization as a major force of legitimateness in international, regional and local politics. “Today religion is again at the forefront in international relations and Islamophobia is a manifestation of religion being exploited for political reasons. There is a huge literature dealing with this subject. The rise of far-right parties in the West and the violent reactions to defamation of Islamic symbols in various Muslim countries demonstrate that religion continues to be a force for political mobilization and contestation. “We live in a diversified world that new medias are unifying in the so-called global village. This can be of course a cause of friction. There are different degrees of attachment to religion in the world and the common man in the West finds it difficult to understand why the Eastern thinking about religion is so passionate.” The degree of identification with religion is, in Sheikh's opinion, at the heart of inter-cultural misunderstandings and by implication at the heart of their solution. Developing a sense of religion through the study of history would help, said Sheikh, to foster common sense and respect for religious faiths as essential factors in shaping international relations. “Before Islam, Christianity and Judaism have suffered from religious discrimination. If we don't learn from history we are compelled to relive the same problems over and over again,” said Sheikh. After presenting Islamophobia as a contemporary manifestation of religion in politics, Sheikh highlighted the OIC position in this regard and the organization's efforts to concretely address the issue at a diplomatic, operational, institutional and legal level. “Islamophobia is a political and sociological concern for the OIC, an organization that searches for international consensus and constructive engagement rather than confrontation. The OIC constantly takes part in human rights forums, monitors and reports on cases of religious discrimination and highlights gaps in domestic implementation of international law. “The organization's political ability to address sensitive issues at a multilateral level is reflected by the adoption of Resolution 16/18 at the UN Human Rights Council calling for concrete measures to combat religious intolerance and the Istanbul Process, an initiative to implement measures against speeches that negatively stereotype Islam and Muslims,” said Sheikh who foresaw two possibilities. “Either we acknowledge the importance played by religion in international relations and address religious discrimination through an intercultural approach or we will make it a long-term point of contention in international politics. Sheikh concluded his intervention trying to debunk the widespread myth that the OIC plays the role of a religious organization. “The concept that the OIC represents an institutional expression of a pan-Islamic sentiment has been misunderstood, misrepresented and overplayed. The OIC isn't a religious organization issuing religious edicts and fatwas. Religion is only a cementing and unifying force behind an institution that is essentially political and modeled on the UN system. “The members of the OIC are nation-states belonging to different regional groups (Asian, African and Arab) whose divergent interests sharply limit and make it impossible for the organization to deal with religious issues. The OIC is only the political voice of Muslim majority states trying to defend the interests of Muslims rather than their ideology.”
