“The Quran demands us to use our mind, not just to depend on ancient traditions, and take new ideas and adapt them to the present. Through our preaching we can encourage people to use their minds to think”, states Suad Tershan, a dentist assistant , who teaches in the Abu Bakr Asadiq mosque in tybee, a suburb of Damascus. Ms. Tershan wishes to motivate people through her teaching, to help them become a lively part of their community and contribute to the development of their society. Religious leaders have been becoming more involved in the development process in recent years. At the World Peace Summit (2000) religious leaders of all perssuasions met to explore ways in which they could co-operate with the United Nations and work in partnership to reduce conflict, poverty and environmental degradation. Two years later, the World Council of Religious Leaders was established in Bangkok, a permanent body creating a community of world religions and aiming to inspire, and promote the practice of, the human values that are shared by all religious traditions. It's mission is not only to resolve conflict but also to adress social and environmental problems of global importance.
Photo credit: Ahmad Sheikhani.
Religious leaders have also been contributing to the development process in the Arab world. This is important because in the Arab region religious leaders hold great influence over attitudes and behaviour, second only to the family. After the UNDP initiative HIV/Aids Regional Programme in the Arab States (HARPAS) in 2004, religious leaders in several Arab countries started to inform their large audience about HIV, one of society’s least adressable issues. In 2005, the Syrian Ministry of Awqaf (Religious Affairs) in cooperation with UNDP started to organize lectures and workshops about social and environmental issues and the role religious leaders can play in drawing attention to them. “We want to provide knowledge about these issues and also clear up misconceptions about development” explains Mr. Haytham Idlibi, the UNDP national project director.
The lectures and workshops which are offered by the project are open for everyone to participate in. In addition, a three month intensive course, for 30 male and 30 female, specially selected Muslim and Christian religious leaders, was carried out in Damascus. Participants to the course were given detailed presentations in areas such as economics, education and environmental issues as well as about media, and new technology, inlcuding facts and figures relevant to Syria and the region, by specialists in their respective fields. The presentation on education, for example, dealt with it’s relation to poverty and also explored issues of student health safety and female education. One concern of the media course was how to gain reliable information from the internet. Besides this, awareness was also raised about the aspects of delivering a sermon.
In discussing their experiences, most of the religious leaders talk enthusiastically about the new concepts they have been introduced to. “For me the courses in emotional intelligence and logical thinking were extremely interesting.” states Mohammad Kheir Ghantous, Scheich in the Khalid ibn al Walid mosque in Ayntrma, a suburb of Damascus.“Now I feel that because of them I can relate better to my audience and also to deliver messages to those who are usually difficult to reach” he says. In order to better reach his audience, Amar Abou Alschamat, Iman in the Keymaria Mosque in the old city of Damascus, has even started to hand out questionaires to find out what people would really like to know about and discuss.
Photo credit: Ahmad Sheikhani.
Mouhamad Kergantos explains that the courses have helped him to think critically about development and pass on the messages he has learnt to others. " I try to animate people to think in a more practical way, to organize their life in a better way and to waste less resources, be it on a private or on an environmental level,” he states.
For Dr. Alia Tunbakgi, a dermatologist and Teacher in the al Hadith school, near al Keymaria, development starts with each individual. She tries to “put the community back on the right track”. “In my sermons, I don’t want to tell people what to do,” she explains. “I want to help them to find out for themselves what is the best for them and the society. I use the hadiths and tell stories as examples from everyday life to motivate them to add value to the country. I succeeded to motivate somebody who was unemployed to start working again so he could be a useful member of society.”
So far listeners in mosques and churches throughout Syrian cities profit more from speeches concerning critical thinking and religion, whereas listeners in the countryside are introduced to the internet and the new media. This remarkable project is still evolving and will continue in 2007 with an increased budget. It will now be applied to the more rural eastern regions of Syria where, compared to the cities, the trust of the local population in religious leaders is even stronger.
By Dominique Marr, UNV Human Development Advocate