Promoting Peaceful Coexistence and Common Citizenship

[ 43 ] — RELIGIOUS LEADERS’ PLATFORM — then it is them who are the wrongdoers.” 10 There is no doubt that the maintenance of freedom and diversity is a collective responsibility, but it is primarily an obligation of the state, because it has the power to impose public order and to administer the law. The Commander of the Faithful, Ali bin Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, wrote during one of the eloquent epochs, in the reign of Malik al-Ashtar al-Naqa’i, describing the features of piety and the policy of the king: “...Make your heart feel the mercy of the flock, and love them, and their kindness, and do not be harmful, seize their food, they are classified, either your brother in religion or the equivalent of you and exposed to the ills, and comes on their hands in the will and error, I will give them of your disbelief and your words like the one who loves to give you Allah from His forgiveness, then you are above them, and the ruler of them is above you, and Allah is above you and you, and your commandment has satisfied them, and you possess them, and do not entice yourself to the war of Allah.” 11 In order to uphold these tenets, governments and author- ities should safeguard freedom and diversity through: v The enactment of clear laws that safeguard freedoms, protect diversity and conform to Islamic laws. v Accountability for the oppressors of freedoms and diversity, and working to lift the injustice of the groups whose freedoms are being persecuted. v Fighting extreme ideas. v Spreading a culture of diversity and safeguarding freedoms through various media platforms. v Inclusion of the values of freedom and diversity in educational curricula. v Helping religious institutions spread the principles of freedom and diversity. These are the views of the various Islamic aspects of freedom and diversity, stressing that differences between people are