Qatar World Cup shows that a lack of religious literacy can lead to division - Qari Asim

Online stories, often unverified, get blown up and multiply. Suddenly, the World Cup is being played in the devil’s lair. Read on and you learn that in fact FIFA has given much assurance to same-sex fans but few readers get that far. The critics seem to have already made their minds up. The fact that Qatar is a Muslim majority country just reinforces what they think they know about the religion Islam. Intolerance is the judgement they make, and ironically, this only hardens their own attitude.

We’ve just had Interfaith Week. The theme this year was ‘religious literacy’, which at a basic level, is about being aware of other’s faiths, beliefs and common cultural practices and respecting those practices.

For instance, understanding that Muslim women wear scarves or head coverings not because they’ve been subjugated or oppressed, but because they choose to cover their head and that is important in their faith. Sikh men also choose to cover their head with a turban. This, too, is based on what they see as important in their faith.

A lack of religious literacy can lead to suspicion, distrust, division, even hostility. The alternative to religious literacy can be religious intolerance, religious demonisation.

Religious literacy is for everyone, not just diversity teams within organisations, although they have a critical role to play. At its best, being religiously literate means knowing enough about other’s faiths and beliefs, learning what, how, and when they celebrate, what they do as part of their daily lives, what it represents or symbolises. Once you start, it’s surprising how many similarities you find.

When someone learns a little bit about Islam, they will know that there is an enormous difference between the beliefs of Islam and the actions and atrocities of terrorists who commit crimes in the name of Islam. The difference is night and day, but many people conflate the two. They see these abominations and form a view that Islam is a violent, backward religion, incompatible with British values. This could not be further from the truth.

Often common misunderstandings about faiths are fuelled by sections of the media and populist leaders, who have an interest - and a skill - in pushing these misperceptions. The echo chamber of social media only amplifies and spreads these false narratives. For me, the solution lies in education at an early age. Schools can give pupils the tools to discern and analyse for themselves the fundamental values and intersections of religion, not see them through the political or extremist lens.

Shared values, respect and bonds of trust have also enabled faith leaders to take courageous steps for the common good. Recently, I witnessed UK Chief Rabbi Mirvis speak at Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace, which was attended by over 500 Muslim and other faith leaders from across the world. Such symbolic and significant engagement had only become possible due to the cultivation of connections and relationships between the global Muslim and Jewish leadership.

So, as the World Cup kicks off, and our interest in the football grows, my hope is that our intrigue in other faiths grows too.

Qari Asim MBE is Imam at Makkah Mosque in Leeds, Chair of MINAB and trustee of Christian Muslim Forum. He can be reached at @QariAsim.