Oriente OccidenteOriente Occidente Logo
Sep 08 2007 - 15:00

PALAZZO DELLA FONDAZIONE CASSA DI RISPARMIO DI TRENTO E ROVERETO

Cultural encounter in respect of diversity

Mahmoud Salem Elsheikh

A culture of dialogue is fundamentally based on listening and mutual respect. Respect does not mean agreeing on everything, but rather involves relationship and also reciprocity of dissent and critique. Dialogue is grounded in diversity as a value, with the belief that it is through openness to the other that one finds and builds one's own self, grounded in the awareness that beyond what one is and what one believes, there is always something else. It must be the other who exposes their own identity, as the greatest offense we can inflict on another is to attempt to define their identity for them. Participants in dialogue must also be aware that concepts such as "truth," "uniqueness," and "absoluteness," even within the legitimacy of a "universal" religion claiming all possible values, not only constitute an insurmountable barrier to dialogue and peaceful coexistence but especially undermine the sense, including the spiritual sense, of brotherhood.

Mahmoud Salem Elsheikh, born in Egypt in 1940, graduated in Classical Philology from the University of Cairo and specialized in Romance Philology at the University of Florence, where he currently handles international relations with Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries as Secretary of the East-West Committee. In 1997, he organized the conference Islam and Europe: Thirteen Centuries of Shared History in Florence, and in 2000, he organized the conference Europe and Islam: Perspectives and Assessment at the Dawn of the Third Millennium at the Gregorian University. In 2004, he organized two conferences in Cairo in collaboration with the League of Islamic Universities: Youth in the Society of Uncertainty and Economic Cooperation Among Mediterranean Countries (II), the proceedings of which are published by Cantagalli Editore, Siena. He writes for numerous newspapers and journals and is responsible for the television column Islam Culture and Civilization for RAITRE. He is a member of the Editorial Scientific Committee of the “Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena,” the Scientific Council of the “Laboratorio Mediterraneo” Foundation, the Permanent Council of the Vallombrosa meetings, and the Commission for Integration Policy at the Prime Minister's Office.