Traveling
in the Middle East
A challenging dialogue
Last in a three-part series on Father Gregory Fairbanks’ journey
through Middle East countries.
Egypt was quite a different country from Jordan. While Amman, the capital
of Jordan, was very modern and Western in appearance, Cairo was an eclectic
mix — an overcrowded, underdeveloped inner city with a similarly
overcrowded modernity. The emphasis is definitely on the word overcrowded.
A particular treat was visiting the Orthodox Coptic Cathedral of St. Mark
in Cairo. That ancient patriarchate, recently renovated, is the spiritual
center of Egypt’s small Coptic Orthodox Church community. We also
visited several sites that tradition identifies with the Holy Family’s
sojourn in Egypt.
I had an opportunity, for the first time, to watch Al Jazeera, the controversial
independent cable news station from the nation of Qatar, on the hotel
television at night.
The television carried both Al Jazeera (in English) and Al Jezerra Arabic.
While I do not understand Arabic, just by watching the images on the screen
I could tell the two stations were quite different, despite being run
by the same company.
A particularly interesting meeting took place on our visit to the office
of the General Secretariat of the Arab League in Cairo. As I’ve
mentioned, the Gaza conflict was constantly in the news at the time. When
we entered the office of Hesham Youssef, the chief of the Cabinet of the
Secretary General, I immediately noticed a television on in the corner
of the office. The sound was turned off but the channel was tuned to Al
Jezzera Arabic.
We met with Youssef for some time, discussing mostly the recent reprinting
of the offensive Danish cartoons about the prophet Muhammad. Youssef noted
that the American press had refrained from printing the cartoons, but
also said reprinting them was particularly offensive to Muslims. He said
that perhaps printing them the first time was a mistake that was made
without an understanding of how offensive the cartoons were to Muslims.
But, he added, reprinting the cartoons a year later left such an explanation
impossible.
We spoke of the challenges of freedom of the press, and I pointed out
that we have the same challenges in the West with objectionable, anti-Christian
cartoons. Just before my trip to Egypt, The Philadelphia Inquirer had
published an offensive cartoon that attacked the spiritual foundation
of the Catholic Church. I noted that there is a difference of what “can”
be printed, and what “ought” to be printed. I agreed that
sensitivity and respect for the holy ought to be practiced by responsible
journalists.
Youssef said in certain countries in Europe there are laws that outlaw
denying the Holocaust, adding that, therefore, the principle of limits
on free press was present in European law.
While I have heard this argument before, notably the first time the cartoons
were printed, it became even more apparent in our conversation that we
were speaking the same words but had vastly different cultural understandings
of “freedom.”
The facts that such laws were imposed after World War II on nations that
carried out the Holocaust — because of its unique, catastrophic
events — and that such laws do not apply in countries such as Denmark,
seemed to make little impression on Youssef.
Following up on the point, I noted that Al Jezzera was on in his office,
and that I had been watching it for the last few nights. I noted that
the visual images seemed at best one-sided and highly inflammatory, even
though I was unable to understanding the words.
“Should this be censored also,” I asked?
He stated that Al Jezzera was inflammatory but professional and reflected
the opinions of people in that region. I pressed further and asked whether
it reflected the opinions, or formed the opinions, by now debating rather
than having a dialogue.
What did I learn from these experiences? One lesson is that the conflicts
between East and West are far deeper than religious controversies. They
are cultural as well as religious.
The concept of listening to one another seems to have different meanings
in the region. Many Westerners who work in the Middle East have noted
that, culturally, it is more important to be heard than to be understood
in the region. That, in itself, makes real dialogue challenging.
There is a real fear of the perceived moral decay in the West. Does the
overwhelming cultural influence of the West on the East constitute a threat
in Eastern eyes? For the Muslim world in the Middle East, it seems to
me that this is the greatest threat. There is a great admiration for much
that the West offers, but there is fear of what goes along with that progress.
That fear is manifested in a return to religiosity and a form of nationalism.
The most hopeful aspect of the trip was our dialogue with the Imams who
had traveled to the United States as part of the program last year.
Many of their misperceptions about America were overcome in their travels.
Muslims do enjoy freedom and toleration here in the United States, and
the visiting Imams saw that local immigrant Muslim communities in the
United States often have warm relations with local Churches and some synagogues.
One Imam mentioned that he had a home stay with a Jewish family in the
United States, and that it was the first time he had spent any real time
with Jews.
Many barriers were broken down by that simple visit. It became even more
apparent to me that experiencing the culture of the “others,”
as well as possible through their eyes, is the best way to overcome the
cultural and religious barriers that separate us.
I am grateful to Amideast for the 50 years they have worked, one small
group at a time, to make that possible.
Father Gregory J. Fairbanks is director of the Office for Ecumenical
and Interreligious Affairs of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. In June
he becomes an official in the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian
Unity in Rome.