Saturday 11/12/1438 AH – 2 September 2017 (last updated) 15:47 (Mecca), 12:47 (GMT)
Khamis Ben Brik – Tunis
Tunisian thinker Abu Yaarub al-Marzouqi has called for the creation of an institution that would serve as an intellectual parliament bringing together the various secular and Islamic currents, following a series of intellectual dialogues held in several cities among thinkers of diverse backgrounds. The aim is to establish a space for communication and joint action that would ease the prevailing tensions, conflicts and polarisation.
Saturday 11/12/1438 AH – 2 September 2017 (last updated) 15:47 (Mecca), 12:47 (GMT)
Khamis Ben Brik – Tunis
Tunisian thinker Abu Yaarub al-Marzouqi has called for the creation of an institution that would serve as an intellectual parliament bringing together the various secular and Islamic currents, following a series of intellectual dialogues held in several cities among thinkers of diverse backgrounds. The aim is to establish a space for communication and joint action that would ease the prevailing tensions, conflicts and polarisation.
The call follows a series of meetings attended by al-Marzouqi with Arab thinkers and politicians from the secular and Islamic currents. The four meetings, held in Geneva, Istanbul, Amman and Doha, were intended to bring the two sides’ views closer together.
The workshops brought together figures from Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar, Turkey, Mali and Switzerland, under the auspices of the Cordoba Foundation of Geneva and the British institute Chatham House.
According to al-Marzouqi, a “serious discussion” took place between secularists and Islamists on how to overcome the rift between them and move beyond the particularities of each current towards shared values serving the common good, although he did not hide the difficulty of arriving at practical results.
In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, al-Marzouqi said that disagreement persists between the extremists of all these currents, and stressed the need for mutual recognition among secularists, liberals, nationalists and Islamists, as well as those who prefer not to belong to any of these currents.
As to how a space for dialogue between the various secular and Islamic currents might be achieved, al-Marzouqi says that the Arab League, through the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO), could provide such a space, which would become a kind of intellectual parliament for the Arab elites.
He proposed that this intellectual parliament meet twice a year, each session lasting one month. As for its funding, he says ALECSO could oversee its financing and organisation, so as to avoid the travel restrictions and obstacles to attendance imposed by some Arab states.
As for the purpose of founding this intellectual parliament, the first of its kind, al-Marzouqi says it could change the culture of the Arab elites, attract the attention of the media, become a source of culture for Arab thinkers and political elites, and enrich the culture of dialogue on contentious issues.
The Tunisian thinker expects this intellectual parliament to ease the ideological polarisation between the various secular and Islamic currents in order to “serve the common good and facilitate a shared life that frees them from what resembles a permanent civil war between them”.
Al-Marzouqi is a professor of philosophy. After the Tunisian revolution, he served as an adviser in the Troika government led by the Ennahda movement, and was a member of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the constitution after the revolution.
Source:
دعوة لإنشاء مؤسسة تجمع التيارات الفكرية المختلفة (external website, opens in a new tab) · Al Jazeera
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