Beyond tribalism. An imam’s account of Pope Francis’ Iraq visit

During his trip to Iraq, Pope Francis landed in and departed from Baghdad. Newspapers present this city as the capital of a region heavy with misery, exhibiting the signs of destruction left by the fratricidal conflicts of opposing nationalisms or the violence of the militants of terror.

These signs seem to mark the faces of the people who live in Baghdad and the region, leaving them without hope and, perhaps, with a faith that closes up because of the distrust of the other, distrust of the neighbor, distrust of the believer, distrust of the government. A closure of the soul that causes people to think only of themselves and to live in the here-and-now, to worry about the health emergency that spreads disregarding borders.

Pope Francis’ journey had the effect of overturning this social depression, it nourished hope in the faces, souls, minds and hearts of citizens and believers, Eastern Christians and other faith communities living in the region, even the Jews and Sabeans minorities (a community that remained faithful to the teachings of John the Baptist).

Now that the journey has ended, which scenario will prevail, that of mistrust or that of brotherhood? And how will the vision of politics, religion, and the dignity of pluralism change in the West, in light of the testimony of Pope Francis in Najaf, Mosul and Ur of the Chaldeans, the house of the prophet Abraham, the patriarch of monotheism?

Pope Francis fulfilled the desire of his predecessor Saint John Paul II. Looking for the blessing of Saint Francis – the patron saint of Italy – in Assisi, he was able to bring together various representatives of religions to pray for peace in 1986.

He wanted to go on a pilgrimage to Abraham’s birthplace, but another war prevented him from travelling. These journeys, in fact, are pilgrimages, they are not tourist visits or diplomatic meetings, they are journeys that change hearts and convert souls and minds. These trips remind us of when St. Francis travelled to Damietta with the intention of continuing towards the Holy Land. When the saint returned from Egypt to Italy, the Franciscan disciples found it hard to follow him, to understand him, because certain experiences transform and change the sensitivity and dimension of life. Will it be the same for Western Christians upon Pope Francis’s return from Iraq?

Also, will life in Baghdad never be the same, or will we revert to being “the old ones,” desperate and indifferent? And yet, Baghdad has been the capital of scientific, cultural, commercial, philosophical, political, intellectual and spiritual exchanges.

The heritage of reflection and deepening of the Islamic thought drove to this region al-Hasan al-Basri, al-Khwarizmi, al-Muhasibi, al-Jahiz, al-Kindi, Junayd, al-Hallaj, al-Razi, al -Farabi, Ibn Sina, al-Biruni, al-Mawardi, al-Ghazali, Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, Ibn ‘Arabi, in the span of four centuries at the turn of the previous millennium, and with fruitful contributions from the Far East to the Far West. Could it be possible that in this last century, only the extremism of barbarism and the forgetfulness of human nature has remained?

Pope Francis managed to recall the roots of monotheism, identifying them with the house of Abraham, in the place where the prophet was born and from where he was ordered to migrate to abandon the desolation of idolizers who were irreversibly insensitive to the worship of God.

In that migration is the key to the movement of life, the rediscovery of the true roots that lead to true fruits and that leave footprints for posterity to walk in. It is about the inheritance of prophecy, in the authentic wisdom of identity, and the perspective of the service of man and woman on this Earth.

The opposite process is stubborn fixation in tribal paganism. Monsignor Khaled Akasheh, Director of Relations with Islam at the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, recently participated in an international debate promoted by Abu Dhabi by the WMCC, World Muslim Communities Council, in which he testified how Pope Francis’ journey and Abraham’s migration teach us to get out of what is tribal and discover community brotherhood, “respecting God’s call.”

It is a journey from the difficulties towards hope. It entails opening up to an irradiation of relations that from Ur of the Chaldeans reaches Baghdad, find peace in Jerusalem and even goes back to the West, where it seems necessary to rediscover a new hope of faith and brotherhood between society, politics and the sacred, avoiding any politicization or discrimination of religion.

At the same conference, the deputy mufti of Greece Sherif Damadoglou intervened, clarifying that the difference between good and evil should not be confused with the differences in cultural and religious pluralism, in order to prevent the damning mistake of expressing a claim of hegemony of one community over the partisan demonization of another community.

This is the barbarism of the arrogance of tribalism which, after the journey of Pope Francis and the inter-religious meeting in Ur, must be overcome by recognizing the light of prophecy and the message of mercy, common to every religious doctrine.

Finally, a thought by a European and Sunni Muslim on Ayatollah al-Sistani and his meeting with Pope Francis in the holy city of Najaf. Of course, they are both – asymmetrically – points of reference for the interpretation of religion in public life, respectively for Shi’ite Islam and for Catholic Christianity. But both are also authoritative interpreters of God’s Revelation and teachers of profound spirituality. The dialogue on interreligious brotherhood seems to benefit not only from a focus on the root of prophecy and on the social and regional repercussions, but also on the essence and mystery of universal Truth.