Islam's Response to Contemporary Issues — Page 48
48 islam’s response to contemporary issues 2) Even if other religions cannot agree with the Islamic concept of universality of truth and even if, for instance, from the vantage point of Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, etc. other religions are all false and have nothing to do with God, then despite this negation of truth elsewhere, all religions must conform to the Islamic principle of showing respect and reverence to the Founders and holy personages of other faiths. In pursuance thereof, they do not have to compromise their principles. It is simply a matter of fundamental human rights. The right of every human being that his religious sensibilities and sentiments shall not be violated and offended must be recognised. 3) It should be remembered that the above principle cannot be enforced by any national or international law. It should be understood in conjunction with the principle that blasphemy does not warrant man-made punishment but that it should be decried and discouraged by promoting public opinion for condemning such acts as indecent, imprudent and loathsome. 4) Inter-faith conferences on the pattern introduced by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in the earlier part of this century should be widely encouraged and promoted. The soul and spirit of such conferences can be summed up by the following characteristics: a) All speakers should be encouraged to highlight the good points and attractive and distinctive features of their respective faiths without maligning other faiths. b) Indeed, speakers, preferably, belonging to one faith should genuinely try to discover the good features of other faiths, speak on them and explain why they are impressed by them. c) Speakers belonging to different faiths should pay tribute to the nobility and character of the leaders of other faiths. For instance, a