About tolerance in our culture

Tolerance in the word means to be kind, gentle, compassionate and gentle (Dehkhoda culture).

Tolerance is also the conscious act of accepting or allowing something I personally do not accept and can not accept or allow. Tolerance, therefore, is different from surrender, compromise, or indifference.

Tolerance is one of the concepts that Western culture, especially liberalism, emphasizes today and it is considered to guarantee individual and social freedoms.

I try to briefly discuss the historical, religious and literary roots of tolerance in our Iranian culture.

You can not drink seawater, you may taste it as much as thirst (Masnavi Molavi)

Historical roots of tolerance

It can be said with certainty that the oldest historical document that mentions tolerance is the charter of Cyrus or, as the Westerners say, the cylinder of Cyrus.

Cyrus opened the city of Babylon in 539 BC and founded the first multinational empire in human history. One of the requirements of running such an empire was respect for different religions, beliefs and languages ​​or tolerance. He also freed the captive Jews of Babylon to return to their homeland and rebuild their temple.

The Cyrus Charter was discovered in 1879 in Babylon following archaeological excavations. This cuneiform document, written in cuneiform, is now housed in the British Museum in London. There are several points in this that refer to tolerance in different directions. The charter states:

1- I commanded that all people be free to worship their God. I ordered the closed shrines to be opened. (Religious tolerance)

2- My army entered Babylon peacefully. (Political tolerance)

3- I did not allow the people of this city and this land to suffer. I restored all the people who were scattered and displaced, and rebuilt their ruined houses. (Individual and social tolerance)

Tolerance in the Quran

Numerous verses in the Qur’an directly or indirectly refer to the matter of tolerance. Here are some examples of these verses.

And do not create the people of the Book except for those who are virtuous, except for those who are oppressed by them (Ankabut, 46).

And do not argue with the People of the Book except in a better way, except with those who have wronged.

Say: O people of the Book!

Say: O People of the Book! Come to terms with what you and I have in common.

The call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and the preacher of goodness and their magic in a state that is good (Nahl, 125)

Argue in the way of your Lord with wisdom and good advice, and argue in a way that is better.

In Surah An-Naml, at the end of verse 64, God says to the unbelievers who deny the divine revelations: قُلْ هَاتُوا بُرْهَانَكَمْ ِْنْ كْنْتُمُ صَدِقِينَ In the heart of this verse lies tolerance. After enumerating his reasons, God asks the Prophet to ask those who do not believe in these reasons to state their reasons.

Argument is one of the main conditions of tolerance.

Strong reasons must be spiritual and not neck veins to a strong argument (Saadi Boostan)

Commitment to rationality and reason is a tool that helps bring people together, even with different opinions. In this verse, even God patiently asks the unbelievers about their reasons.

In Surah Zumr, verse 18, God describes the attributes of the believers as follows:

Those who listen to the words, follow their good deeds (Surat az-Zumar, 18)

(Those who listen to the word carefully and follow it best).

One of the tools to hear the opinions of others is tolerance. Perhaps this verse also refers directly to freedom of expression. Believers patiently give others the opportunity to express themselves professionally. Another attribute of them is reason, that is, they listen to different opinions and choose the best with reason.

Tolerance in hadiths

The Prophet of Islam has mentioned tolerance in several hadiths, some of which we will mention.

“My Lord has commanded me to be patient with people, just as He commanded me to do my duty.” (Kafi)

“The wisest people are the ones who are more tolerant of people.”

“Whoever has benefited from tolerance, has undoubtedly benefited from the good of this world and the hereafter.” (نهج‌الفصاحه)

“It’s a circuit of the moment.”

“It’s based on reason.”

“Tolerating people is half faith and half happiness.”

“Tolerating people is charity.”

In Nahj al-Balaghah, the Commander of the Faithful has repeatedly mentioned tolerance.

The fruit of wisdom is to be patient with people.

Tolerance in Iranian literature

The brilliance and beauty of Iranian literature is due to the fact that it has different aspects. Philosophical, historical and moral issues can be seen in Iranian literature. In a way that even its cultural and national identity lies in it. There are many aspects to it that refer to tolerance.

Here we will make only a brief reference to this great sea.

The comfort of two universes is the interpretation of these two words with the friends of Marwat with the enemies of tolerance (Hafiz)

Tolerance was the wisdom of a brother Wisdom was the knowledge of an officer (Ferdowsi)

When it is thanks to the ball and tolerance and the people who accept the heart in the rope (Golestan)

To God-fearing and mystical, this is the path to salvation, and that is enough (Ferdowsi)

To be patient with our subordinates from the black soil of Musk Sara. (Ferdowsi)

You want the ignorant enemy not to bite you, be kind, tolerant and humble, and Jude (Saadi)

Do not do evil to the one who did evil to you, do good if you are a gentleman (Attar)

Breaking the back of Qaf mountain is not so much that whoever endures is Suleiman (Saeb Tabrizi)

Make it easy for you, O fortunate one, that God will not take it hard on you tomorrow (Boostan)

Know what was the perfection of man with the enemy and the friend of grace and benevolence

Mourning the friends of God to comfort the enemies of tolerance (Golestan)

When I arrived in Bilqan, I told Abedi to cleanse me from ignorance

You said go and bear the dust, O jurist, or bury whatever you read

What came was a drop from the boundless sea. Advice to tolerance in our culture came from many angles. I am neither a historian, nor a writer, nor a religious scholar. It is good that the elites of each of the above sciences have come together to address our subject in detail from different angles.

Tolerance is one of the effective tools of human social life. Tolerance certainly has its own uses, which is not the subject of this article.

Human society and our society in particular face the specific complexities and problems of their time. One of the tools that will undoubtedly help solve these problems is the circuit. Tolerance is able to bring together people with different ideas and tastes to help solve problems together. Perhaps a very tangible example is a music orchestra or a sports team. Each person in these teams does a different job, but for a single goal, they present a result that is desirable. Yes, it can be taken together with the world. An event that requires patience.

Dr. Reza Saeedi Firoozabadi