Asia: the Land, the Men, the Gods

A aventura humana e a convivência com o estrangeiro, o diferente, assume formas diversas, seja um acercamento generoso e solidário, seja o afastamento xenófobo e preconceituoso. O tal equilíbrio do “caminho do meio”, que o Budismo prega, requer grande capacidade de compreensão com relação aos que não compartilham as nossas raízes, os nossos valores e a nossa história. 

O impulso hegemônico de um grupo sobre outro tem sido a tônica da curva das civilizações. Porém, essa curva é mutante. Só no século passado o planeta assistiu ao fim melancólico do império britânico, que reinara soberano sobre grande parte do mundo no século XIX; à divisão do planeta entre as duas superpotências nucleares – Estados Unidos e União Soviética; à dissolução desta última, em 1991, e à cristalização do poder dos Estados Unidos e dos valores do Ocidente planeta afora. Agora, a China emerge e disputa a liderança da geoeconomia. Quem será o próximo?

A luta pela descolonização ganhou força em escala mundial a partir da segunda metade do século passado. Se olharmos para o mapa-múndi ao final da Primeira Guerra Mundial, vamos verificar que os únicos países asiáticos que mantinham total independência eram o Império do Japão e o Reino do Sião, hoje Tailândia; os demais eram colônias ou vassalos das potências europeias e, no caso das Filipinas, dos Estados Unidos. Porém, antes de emergirem como elemento maior nas relações internacionais, essas ex-colônias tiveram que absorver o impacto e administrar o desafio da liberdade que tão traumaticamente alcançaram, sobretudo no que toca às fronteiras forjadas de forma artificial e arbitrária pelos colonizadores.

Já neste início de século, a emergência da Ásia nos obriga a conhecer as suas civilizações, a sua história e os seus valores, a fim de melhor convivermos com o planeta indissoluvelmente interconectado. Fica a pergunta: será, em última instância, que os valores ancestrais perdurarão numa Ásia cada vez mais imbricada com o Ocidente... e vice-versa? Quão “inegociáveis” são esses valores? A resposta é certamente difícil e nunca deixará de ser incompleta. Não obstante, essa equação precisa ser resolvida se quisermos encontrar um padrão razoável de convivência entre os indivíduos e os povos. 

Neste processo, talvez a melhor solução seja buscar entender o fenômeno sem parti pris, sem verdades absolutas, hierarquia de conceitos civilizatórios ou imposição de valores, abrindo-se espaço para o diálogo construtivo. Não é um projeto fácil, contaminado que está pela intransigência e pelo fanatismo dogmático. Daí a necessidade cada vez maior de buscarmos encontrar as raízes do problema, que, para mim, estão na impermeabilidade dos espíritos à convivência com a alteridade. É este, em suma, o objetivo da ala asiática do MON, renovada e voltada para as diversas interpretações do colonialismo no continente. 

FAUSTO GODOY // Curador da exposição e doador da coleção

The West's closest contacts with the East began in the 4th century BCE, with the incursions of Alexander III of Macedonia – which history has dubbed “The Great” – across Asia, in his urge to reach the “ends of the world and reach the Great Outer Sea”. With this obsession, he spent most of his years in power conducting a long military campaign throughout West Asia and northeast Africa. Therefore, it was that at the age of 30 he had already created one of the greatest empires in history, which stretched from Greece to northwest India. 

After his conquest of Asia Minor – present-day Turkey – in 334 BCE, Alexander defeated the mighty Achaemenid Empire of Persia, and from then on began a series of campaigns eastward of the Eurasian continent that lasted about ten years. At that time, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River on the Indian subcontinent. In 326 BCE, he invaded India, only to retreat to the River Beas in present-day Pakistan under pressure from his troops. They, fearing the prospect of facing other great armies and exhausted by years of campaigning, mutinied at the River Hyphasis (Beas), refusing to continue their march. This river marks the easternmost extension of Alexander's conquests. He then returned to Greece/Macedonia but did not reach his destination, dying at age 32 in Babylon in 323 BCE.

With his death, the empire he had created, divided among his generals, was dissolved. His legacy includes the spread of Greek culture in South Asia and syncretism with the indigenous religions that his conquests generated, such as Greco-Buddhism and Hellenistic Judaism. He founded more than 20 cities named after him, most notably Alexandria, Egypt. Many of these areas remained under Macedonian or Greek power or influence for the following 200/300 years. The Greek language became the lingua franca of the region and was the predominant language in the Byzantine Empire until its end in the mid-15th century CE. The successor states that emerged after Alexander's death, at least initially, remained the region's dominant force. The settlements of Greek settlers and the spread of Greek culture resulted in the Hellenistic civilization which, leveraged by the Roman Empire, became the basis of modern Western culture. The successor states that emerged after Alexander's death, at least initially, remained the dominant force in the region, and over the next 300 years, they offered the world the so-called "Hellenistic period".

THE GREEK-BUDDHISM

Greek-Buddhism is the cultural syncretism between Greek culture and Buddhism. It developed over 800 years, between the 4th century BCE and the 5th century CE in South Asia, the territory that currently constitutes Afghanistan and Pakistan. Greek-Buddhism influenced the artistic and conceptual development of Buddhism, in particular the Mahayana School, or the Great Vehicle. This is because Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, never allowed himself to be represented because he recognized himself as a teacher and not a deity. Therefore, at his death, there was no form to identify him. That is when the Greek statuary that existed in the region came to serve as a model for its first representations, although there are controversies about it. The traits of the Grand Master, as well as the clothes, represented in the imagery of that period, reveal the Greek aesthetic matrix.

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Sufism is the mystical and contemplative current of Islam that seeks to commune with the Divine through meditation. Its practitioners, known as Sufis, seek to develop an intimate, direct, and continuous relationship with Allah/God.

The roots of Sufism are to be found in asceticism – Zuhud – which developed in the early days of Islam, in the period of the Umayyad Caliphate (661-750 CE), as a reaction to the worldliness and luxury that flourished in Muslim society at the time. It strengthened in the Middle East in the 8th century, as a reaction to what was considered the decline of Islam. Its followers wanted to experience the spirit of thrift and modesty that characterized the beginnings of the faith and that had enabled the Prophet Mohammed to receive the revelations of the Qur'an. Where the ulema (clerics) and the jurists, when interpreting the Holy Book, described a God of strict justice, the Sufis spoke of a God of Love.

Sufism remained a fringe movement until the Sufi masters formalized as an exoteric movement that would captivate most Muslims. For the great Muslim sage Abu Hamid Muhammad al Ghazzali (?-1111 C.E.), Sufism was the reliable guide to spiritual matters beyond reason; the answer to spiritual doubts because strict discipline could lead the individual to the direct apprehension of the Divine.

Nevertheless, the Sufi orders follow the Quran. To meditate, Sufis perform the ritual of Zikr, which means “the remembrance of God”, through the spiritual practices transmitted by Mohammed, with emphasis on prayers and fasting. They also incorporate other practices such as chants, music, and movements whose “legality”, followed by the austere interpretation of Islamic law – the Sharia –, is the object of divergence between theologians and jurisprudence.

Unlike the major currents of Islam – Sunnism and Shiism – Sufism has not apolitical philosophy/ideology view. Its followers seek God in the depths of their being and not in society. Sufism is most strongly observed in the Sunni strand of Islam. However, Sufi orders are associated with both Sunnism and Shiism, as it is not a division within religion, but an inner–esoteric view of life. Sufism is now all over the world. One of its greatest exponents is Jalâl ad-Din Rûmî(1207/1273) – Rumi – Persian poet, jurist, and theologian of the 13th century.

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Muhammad was born in Mecca, present-day Saudi Arabia, in 571 CE. He belonged to the poorer branch of the most influential tribe in Mecca, the Quraish, from the Hashemite clan. He was a merchant for the first part of his life. At the age of 25, he married an older widow, Khadija, and began to manage her business, reserving, however, a good part of his time for meditations.

In 610 CE at the age of 40, when he was on one of these spiritual retreats in one of the caves on Mount Hira, outside Mecca, the Angel Gabriel visited him. The angel informed him that God/Allah had chosen him as the last Prophet to be presented to humankind and ordered him to recite the verses sent by Him. That was the first revelation of the Al Quran. Frightened by the encounter, Muhammad kept it a secret for a while, sharing it only with his wife and best friend Abu Bakr. However, he later decided to transmit the teachings to the people of Mecca, arousing the animosity of his polytheistic clan, which felt threatened by monotheistic concepts that suggested the existence of superior universal power.

The hostility of his persecutors convinced Muhammad that he had to flee. In 622, he arrived at Medina, then known as Yathreb, accompanied by some faithful. This arrival took place on the 12th of the ancient month Rabia, which corresponds to September 622 in the Julian calendar, the date that marks the beginning of the Muslim year.

Muhammad, in addition to being a religious leader, was also a military man, as he led the armies of his followers. This is fundamental to understanding several themes that are specific to Islam, such as Jihad, an Arabic term that means “struggle”, “effort”, and “commitment”. This concept has two meanings for Muslims: firstly, the effort for self-improvement under Islamic laws, but also the struggle in search of a better humanity, through the spread of the faith. Jihaddoes not just mean “holy war”, as it is commonly understood in the West, but the individual's internal struggle to improving itself and the world around him. The second meaning, external jihad, is contained in the teachings of Muhammad, whereby Muslims are instructed to use combative means to spread peace and justice to areas not under the influence of Islam. In the same way, Christians have done throughout the ages.

Muslims believe that the Al Qur'an is the literal word of Allah/God revealed to Mohammed over 23 years. It describes the origins of the universe, the individuals, and the relationships between them and theirs with the Creator. For Muslims, the Al Qur'an constitutes the last of the holy books revealed to humanity and sets the laws for society, morals, economics, and many other subjects. It was written to be recited and memorized. It contains in its totality diverse nuances, such as happiness, reform among men, and concord in the present and the future.

Among its six articles of the Faith – arkā al-īmān – is the belief in the existence of books whose author is Allah/God: the Al Qur’an revealed to Muhammad; the Gospel revealed to Jesus Christ; the Torah, revealed to Moses; and the Psalms, revealed to David. It is written in Surah 2 – Al-Baqarah – verse 136: “We believe in Allah, and in what has been revealed to us and to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the descendants (of Jacob) and in what was given to Moses and Jesus and in what the other Prophets received from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and we are those who submit to Allah”.

Old Testament prophets from Adam, including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Solomon, Elijah, and Jonah, as well as John the Baptist and Jesus are considered the predecessors of Muhammad. Jesus (Issa, for Muslims) was the last prophet before him, as Surah 5 - "Al-Maida" - verse 46 teaches: “We sent Jesus, the son of Mary, after those Prophets, confirming the truth of whatever there still remained of the Torah. And We gave him the Gospel, wherein is guidance and light, and which confirms the truth of whatever there still remained of the Torah, and a guidance and admonition for the God-fearing”. In addition, it states in Surah 3 – Al Imram – verse 48: “He will teach him writing and wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel”. Muslims also believe in the Day of Judgment, when humanity will be divided into two groups - those who will go to Heaven and those who will go to Hell. They believe in the existence of God's predestination for Good and Evil.

Islamic peoples form just over 1/5 of the world's population. However, in every three births on the planet, one is a Muslim. By 2060, they are expected to tie with Christians, who will still be 1/3 of the world's population. Even if these two religions grow above the world rate of 32%, Islam is predicted to grow much more (70%) and Christians much less (34%).

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