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EDITORIAL
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3
FRO M T H E PU LPIT
I
n the heat of the battle, Imam Ali found himself straddling his enemy. A skilled
and stealthy warrior, the fourth Caliph of Islam was always decisive in battle.
Fighting only when the cause was just and necessary, he now held his sword high,
ready to deliver the final blow. Then came the great insult. The enemy, seeing his end
was near, spit violently into Imam Alis face. The sword came down suddenly,not into
the mans heart, but back into its sheath. Imam Ali quickly got up and withdrew
from the fight. The spared combatant looked relieved and exasperated. Why had the
great Ali let him live? I was fighting you for the sake of Allah, in the name of God,
Imam Ali declared. When you spit in my face I felt anger rise up within me, he con-
tinued, and I realized that I was going to smite you, not in the name of justice, but
out of revenge for your insult that was something that I could not do. Muslims
would be wise to embrace Imam Alis convictions.
Dazed and confused, we have become a reactionary community. Our circumstances
are difficult, but it does not help that we often allow our public discourse to be driv-
en by anger and resentment. Within days of 11 September 2001, Q-News sidestepped
the conspiracy theorists, the Bin Laden apologists and the blind patriots and took a
less popular course. Articulated by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf and others, we set out on
the path of introspection. Along the way we didnt forget the massacre at Jenin (in
fact, Fuad Nahdi was one of the first journalists inside the devastated camp),
Guantanamo Bay, the bombing of Afghanistan or the illegitimate war on Iraq. What
we called for was balance. Our faith instructs us to hold ourselves to account, before
holding others to account. It was unpopular and at times we stumbled, but we have
tried to stay true to the sentiments of Imam Ali. We will not stay silent and let our
community be guided by anything but love, mercy and justice.
In an exclusive interview with Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, we explore the path of intro-
spection once again. It is a clarion call for spiritual excellence in an age that cele-
brates the ego and elevates the passions. His ongoing dialogues with leading thinkers
like Noah Feldman, also featured inside, continue to give the message of Islam rele-
vance and vibrancy.
The cover story on, Islam and Democracy has been several months in the making.
Polarized between the party of rejection, who equate democracy with unbelief, and
the party of accommodation, who are content with photo ops and token representa-
tion, we have sought to find a middle ground. We believe that Muslims are capable of
intelligent and meaningful participation in society as full citizens and stakeholders in
the future of the countries we call home. We have brought together some of todays
most visionary and exciting voices to challenge the status quo. People like Tariq
Ramadan, Salma Yaqoob and Khalida Khan are not just thinkers, but activists. They
are ruffling plenty of feathers, but their ideas will impact the direction of the commu-
nity for years to come.
Q-News has for over a decade pushed the envelope of Muslim discourse in Britain
and beyond. Our readers have never been passive. They have always willingly jumped
outside the box to see the possibilities of our faith. These are debates about your
future. You have nothing to lose but your illusions. And all success is from Allah.
Fareena Alam
contents contents contents con
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CONTENTS
Edi t o r - i n- C hi ef
FU A D N A H D I
M anagi ng Edi t o r
FA REEN A A LA M
Int er nat i o nal Edi t o r
SID EK A H M A D
C o nt r i but i ng Edi t o r s
FO Z IA BO RA
A BD U L- REH M A N M A LIK
N A BILA M U N AW A R
H ead D esi gner
A IYSH A M A LIK
Event s C o o r di nat o r s
W A H EED M A LIK , SA BA Z A M A N
& T H E C REW
FEAT U RIN G
Fauzi a A hmad But r o s A l - Bak r
M o hamed Bak ar i N azi m Bak sh
N adeem Bhat i i K amr an Bo k har i
Indl i eb Far azi H asna Fat eh
A k ht ar Far uqui G er Fr anci s
K hal i da K han Les Levi do w
C at her i ne M aker eel A nt ho ny M cRo y
A r zu M er al i M S Seddo n
H assan Sco t t Far az Rabbani
Sal ma Yaqo o b
H ead O ffi ce
Q-N EW S M ED IA LT D
PO Bo x 4295
Lo ndo n
W 1A 7YH
U ni t ed K i ngdo m
Int er nat i o nal O ffi ce
Q-N EW S M ED IA SD N BH D
173b, Jal an A mi nubdi n
Bak i Taban Tun D r Ismai l
60000 Kual a Lumpur
M al aysi a
w w w.q- new s.co m
REG U LA RS
7 classic q
Tr o ubl e at ho me and abr o ad. Raci al abuse i s o ne
t hi ng, but t hi s i s t he fi r st t i me I w as at t acked fo r
bei ng M usl i m.
W A SEEF A SG H A R.
8 scrutiny
Tr eadi ng new gr o und i n Ramadan.
IN D LIEB FA RA Z I
U nt yi ng t he k no t .
FA U Z IA A H M A D
Raci st s fr o m t he Left .
G ER FRA N C IS
O ppo si ng Br i t i sh t er r o r at ho me.
LES LEVID O W
18 legacy
A t t he hei ght o f Br i t i sh co l o ni al i sm an
advent ur o us br eed o f M usl i m t r avel l er set o ut t o
ex pl o r e t he empi r e o n t hei r o w n t er ms.
M S SED D O N .
45 correspondence
Secul ar i sm, hijab and i dent i t y. C AT H ERIN E
M A K EREEL w r i t es fr o m Fr ance.
45 counsel
FA RA Z RA BBA N I answ er s yo ur quest i o ns o n
hajj and o t her mat t er s o f fai t h.
54 write mind
Fundament al l y funny: my sho r t car eer as a st and-
up co medi an. N A D EEM BH AT T I.
PLU S
C O N T RIBU TO RS 6 | SU BSC RIPT IO N S 24 | T V REVIEW 48
BO O K REVIEW 49 | IN VO C AT IO N S 50 | BO O K EX T RA C T 51
VO X PO PU LI 52
INSIDE
ents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents
ents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents
ents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contentscontents contents
ents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents
ents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents contents
16
carnage in istanbul
M O H A M ED BA K A RI r epo r t s o n a ci t y
co mi ng t o t er ms w i t h t he aft er mat h o f
t er r o r.
22
a subsersive presence
T he st r uggl e o f A mer i can Jew s and
C at ho l i cs dur i ng t he 1920s sho ul d be a
so ur ce o f ho pe fo r t o days M usl i ms, ar gues
A N T H O N Y M C RO Y
.
27
portfolio:
islam and democracy
FEAT U RES C O VER
20
the oxbridge connection
T he el ect i o n o f M i chael H o w ar d t o t he
To r y l eader shi p has br o ught a fami l i ar cl ub
back t o t he fr o nt benches.
H A SN A FAT EH co mment s.
25
eclipses of apocolypse
BU T RO S A L- BA K R
ex pl o r es t he fur o r e
o ver t he suppo sed emer gence
o f t he M ahdi
Lo ve i s
et er nal
because
l o ve i s
t he r easo n
yo u w er e
cr eat ed.
Yo u
w er e
cr eat ed
t o ado r e
G o d.
40
6
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Q - N EW S
WHOS WHO
G ER FRA N C IS
IS A COMMUNITY WORKER. HE ATTENDED THE
2003 EUROPEAN SOCIAL FORUM IN PARIS AS A
DELEGATE FROM THE BIRMINGHAM STOP THE
WAR COALITION.
LES LEVID O W
IS A LONDON-BASED SUPPORTER OF
CAMPAIGN AGAINST CRIMINALISING
COMMUNITIES (CAMPACC).
K A M RA N BO K H A RI
IS A WASHINGTON DC BASED DOCTORAL STU-
DENT. HE IS INVOLVED IN THE ASSOCIATION OF
MUSLIM SOCIAL SCIENTISTS AND THE CENTER
FOR THE STUDY OF ISLAM AND DEMOCRACY.
M . SID D IQ U E SED D O N
IS A RESEARCH FELLOW AT THE ISLAMIC
FOUNDATION, LEICESTER. HIS FORTHCOMING
PUBLICATION, ISLAM IN BRITAIN: A CONCISE
HISTORY IS OUT IN 2004
A RZ U M ERA LI
IS A CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY ALUMNI. SHE IS
CO-FOUNDER OF THE ISLAMIC HUMAN
RIGHTS COMMISSION.
M O H A M ED BA K A RI
IS A PROFESSOR IN THE DEPARTMENT OF
ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE AT
FAITH UNIVERSITY IN ISTANBUL.
SA LM A YA Q U B
IS A PSYCHOTHERAPIST, CHAIR OF THE BIRM-
INGHAM STOP THE WAR COALITION AND A
MOTHER OF THREE YOUNG CHILDREN.
N A Z IM BA K SH
IS A JOURNALIST AND PRODUCER WITH THE
CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION. HE
LIVES IN TORONTO WITH HIS FAMILY.
CONTRIBUTORS
contributors contributors contributors
contributors contributors contributors
contributors contributors contributors
contributors contributors contributors
A N TO N Y M C C RO Y
IS AN IRISH EVANGELICAL RESEARCHER. LAST
YEAR HE COMPLETED HIS PHD ON BRITISH
MUSLIMS, RUSHDIES LEGACY: THE EMER-
GENCE OF A RADICAL MUSLIM IDENTITY.
CLASSIC Q
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H E W A S BLU N T, G O T
T H E F- - - IN G KO RA N
H AVE YO U ? G O T BLO O DY
ISLA M ? G O IN G RO U N D
D RESSED LIK E T H AT, W H O
T H E H ELL D O YO U T H IN K
YO U A RE? RA C IA L A BU SE
IS O N E T H IN G BU T T H IS IS
T H E FIRST T IM E I H A D
BEEN A BU SED FO R BEIN G
A M U SLIM , W RIT ES
W A SEEF A SG H A R.
M y shalwar khamiz flapped in the wind
as I walked towards the train. A young
woman rushed in. Im really sorry about
that, she gasped. And she jumped out just
as quick as the train pulled away from the
platform of Reading station.
I was shaken and confused and as I
slowly gained my composure I attempted to
digest what had happened.
I questioned the way I had handled the
situation. I had walked away. Was that
right? Or should I have confronted him in
some other way? Perhaps I should have
come out with some smart retort, or simply
punched him in the face. Would it have
made any difference? To be honest, I didn' t
know then and I still don' t know now.
When it eventually dawned on me that
this man hadnt been the stereotypical
drunken yob, but a respectfully dressed,
middle-aged chap, completely ordinary in
every way, I was more shocked than any-
thing else, had a hatred of Muslims and
Islam, fuelled by an ongoing media cam-
paign really penetrated the common psy-
che? It is the sort of thing which is almost
impossible to prove beyond doubt, but the
situation in Europe provides serious indica-
tors that this is so.
The extreme chauvinism gripping France
is particularly disconcerting. Charles
Pasquas policy of terrorising the terrorists
is merely a cynical excuse to round up inno-
cent Muslims. To date more than 30,000
Muslims have been systematically targeted
for identity checks for no reason apart from
their religion. Although it is French-
Algerians who face the brunt of the hostility,
Africans and Pakistanis resident in France
have also been subjected to vile abuse.
Perhaps we should not be too surprised.
Remember, it is in France that institutional
racism has governmental consent. The ban-
ning order preventing Muslim schoolgirls
from wearing hijab is but one example.
What is surprising, however, is that meas-
ures such as these could only be implement-
ed with the underlying support and consent
of the majority of the French people.
Unfortunately for Muslims, in a country
where 10% of the population voted recent-
ly for the fascist National Front, support for
anti-Muslim rhetoric and policy is only too
easily forthcoming. Given that the French
people suffered under the yoke of Nazi
occupation within living memory, such reac-
tions are sad. Maybe it is an indication that
many more people collaborated with the
Vichy regime than todays Frenchmen
would care to admit. Muslims are thus chal-
lenged by the state and the populace and
face an insecure future.
France is not alone in its state-sponsored
racism. Even quiet and affluent corners of
the continent have become increasingly
hawkish. Only recently, two Muslims who
were inter-railing across Europe were taken
into police custody in Monaco, the princi-
pality best-know for being the playground
of the rich, gambling and, at the moment,
for exporting Jurgen Klinsmen to
Tottenham Hotspur. Their crime? They
were praying in public. A uniformed police
officer attempted to stop them and, after
ignoring him and finishing their prayer, they
were duly escorted to the police station.
There it was explained to them in no uncer-
tain terms that Monaco is a Christian prin-
cipality and, as such, Muslims are not
allowed to pray in public areas.
The men concerned had their papers
confiscated and were asked to provide the
names of their employers who, it was said,
would be contacted in the future. The police
escorted them to the railway station and
they were ordered to leave immediately. So
much for the tolerance of post-Renaissance,
post-enlightenment, post Final Solution
Europe!
Was the behaviour of that ignorant
bloke at Reading station a result of hysteria
imported from the continent? Many would
like to think that British sensibility and
sobriety, which has led to a spirit of general
tolerance - especially among the middle
classes - will always halt moves towards
extremism in society. British tolerance was
exemplified by the apologetic young woman
on the train. But given the general onslaught
against Muslims and the determination to
present us as the new threat to world peace
and civilisation - and the British govern-
ments appalling stand on Bosnia - it is diffi-
cult to sustain any degree of realistic hope.
Indeed, one friend of mine who is in the
habit of wearing a turban recently had a
brick thrown at him while walking in
Croydon. When you see the clothes worn by
people in the streets these days - or even the
clothes not worn! - why pick on someone
wearing a turban? It can only be because he
is a Muslim.
Confusion reigns in such matters. Yet
another acquaintance is regularly subjected
to verbal abuse normally spat at Jews - and
yes, he is a Muslim! Would the law allow
him to press charges of anti-semitism
against his abusers? It is an interesting
thought which serves to highlight the lack of
protection Muslims as a community have in
English law.
My confidence was shaken by my own
experience and I find it difficult to believe
that things wont be getting a whole lot
worse before they get better - even here in
Britain.
T RO U BLE AT H O ME & A BRO A D
16- 23 Sept ember 1994,
Vo l 3, N o . 25
SCRUTINY
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RA M A D A N W IT H O U T
C H A RIT Y IS LIK E A
M O SQ U E W IT H O U T A N
AD H AN - IT JU ST
D O ESN T W O RK . BU T, IT
T U RN S O U T, G IVIN G
C H A RIT Y IS N O T A S EA SY
A S IT SEEM S. IN D LIEB
FA RA Z I FO LLO W ED T H E
T RAVA ILS O F T W O
U N IQ U E PRO JEC T S TO
FIN D O U T W H Y.
Reaching out to Londons homeless is
something that is difficult under the best of
circumstances. The challenges for a Muslim
organization were unique indeed.
The City Circle, established almost five
years ago by a group of young Muslim pro-
fessionals who wanted to give back to the
community, has been providing free hot
meals to Londons homeless. Their second
Feeding Londons Homeless project dur-
ing Ramadan 2003, receiving 7,500 in
pledges. More than 4,000 meals were dis-
tributed to hostels across the city.
Project manager, Waheed Malik, said,
It was a struggle to get started as some
hostels were wary of receiving food from us.
Many of them thought our free service
would take business away from their exist-
ing caterers. They were also cautious
because they werent sure why a Muslim
organisation wanted to help them.
The Circle clarified they would only be
providing meals during Ramadan weekends
and it was not a permanent set-up. Our
motive was purely to help those less well off
than ourselves as this is an essential part of
Ramadan and the Muslim identity, said
City Circle volunteers.
The Circles persistence paid off. Soon
they were able to provide food to seven
receptive hostels including the Dellow
T REA D IN G N EW G RO U N D
tor, said, One of the children wrote a note
on their gift box that they hoped it would
make a child smile and we thought that
this was a great name for the project.
Due to confidentiality concerns, the
Society was unable to meet the children in
person but were provided with a list of the
childrens age and gender.
Khalida Khan, director of An-Nisa said,
We know that 50 percent of the kids are
teenagers and that is the really worrying
thing. Many of them have come to this
country to seek asylum and have been put
into care usually in non-Muslim house-
holds. These kids have not had any interac-
tion with the Muslim community since
arriving here and our Eid gift project will
hopefully make them remember part of
their Muslim identity.
Janet Palmer, Head of Childrens Services
in Brent, received the presents on behalf of
Brent Council. She said, We are delighted
with the response the project has had and
look forward to exploring new projects in the
future with the An-Nisa Society.
Ms Khan, said, We are targeting
Muslim kids as there is nothing done espe-
cially for them. We are tackling our own
backyard first and trying to get behind the
closed doors of social services. Eventually
we would like to help Muslim kids right
across London.
Interested volunteers please e-mail An-
Nisa@btconnect.com for future projects.
Centre in Whitechapel. John Beswick, the
centres project manager said, We have all
sorts here: Christians, Muslims, Hindus,
Jehovahs Witnesses, atheists. We dont
judge the people on their belief.
Dellow has 48 residents and opens as a
day centre to more than 200 people, many
who live on the streets, who come in for a
free meal, a chance to wash, change clothes
and most importantly, to meet socially.
Receiving the food from a Muslim
community is much appreciated and it
shows such partnerships can aide cultural
integration, said Mr Beswick.
Charity is in total opposition to the
stereotypical view most Britons have of
Muslims. It is refreshing to see Muslim
groups working with the wider community
to make a difference.
Mr Malik said, Ramadan is a month
where you dont distinguish between people
who are in need. The people we are helping
are not just Muslims. Islam is about helping
all our neighbours.
Across town in Wembley, the An-Nisa
Society, organised the Make a Child Smile
Eid project.
Children aged between five and 16-years,
from the Societys Supplementary Muslim
School, were moved to learn Brent Council
has 100 Muslim children in care. They col-
lected gifts in shoe boxes for the younger
children and gift vouchers for the teenagers.
Humera Khan, the schools co-ordina-
SCRUTINY
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Q - N EW S
M O RE A N D M O RE
M U SLIM W O M EN A RE
ST EPPIN G FO RW A RD TO
REPO RT M A RITA L A BU SE IN
T H E A BSEN C E O F LEG A L
PRO T EC T IO N FRO M T H E
STAT E. BE W A RN ED ,
T H E PRO BLEM IS BIG G ER
T H A N W E T H IN K .
A bout two years ago, on these very
pages, I reviewed what was then a new
report entitled Muslim women, divorce and
the Shariah in the UK by Sonia Nurin Shah-
Kazemi. The report remains groundbreak-
ing, but it has not received the attention it
deserves from policy-makers in family law.
Many of the issues it raised remain urgent
and are worth re-visiting given current pub-
licity and controversies around Muslim mar-
riages conducted in the UK. At a time when
Britain is moving towards the recognition of
same sex partnerships, we need to ask why
members of Britains faith communities are
still having to prove the validity of their reli-
gious marriage vows.
In September, the leader of the Muslim
Parliament called for more mosques to regis-
ter their premises to conduct civil marriages
and urged Imams to ensure that couples reg-
istered their marriages in a civil ceremony.
There a variety of reasons why individuals
and mosques would fail to register their mar-
riages or premises ranging from ignorance,
idealism - what could possibly go wrong if
we marry Islamically? - through to a refusal
to entertain un-halal civil laws that would
curtail polygamous marriages. Responding
to an increase in the numbers of calls he was
receiving from individuals who realised, too
late, that their legal status amounted to that
of a co-habitee, his call for greater awareness
amongst the Muslim community was neces-
sary.
While it is difficult to assess the number
of unregistered marriages taking place, con-
cerns from within the Muslim community
around marriage are not new, and encom-
pass a broad range of issues from forced
marriages, domestic violence, polygamy,
divorce and child custody. We need to con-
textualise our discussions however, to also
explore the quality of service received by
Muslim clients from solicitors and legal pro-
fessionals, particularly when dealing with
cases that involve either potential conflicts or
applications of Islamic law in English courts.
Awareness raising within a multicultural,
multi-faith context, is a two-way process.
In May this year, the Muslim Womens
Helpline held a symposium on Marriage and
the Dissolution of Marriage in Shariah for
Imams, scholars and community leaders in
response to a sense of grievance and injus-
tice felt by many as a result of the often iniq-
uitous application of Shariah. With a
keynote address given by Tariq Ramadan,
the conference called for, amongst other
things, regulation and consultation between
Imams and Shariah bodies with the forma-
tion of benchmarks for standardised, equi-
table practice. It highlighted some of the key
difficulties Muslims and women in particular
faced in marriage and divorce but failed to
attract much publicity in either the Muslim
or non-Muslim media. Lord Ahmed, in
1999, in a debate on marriage in the House
of Lords, noted that legal professionals often
placed the burden of religious expertise on
the shoulders of their clients and called for
Islamic marriages to be recognised under
British lawii. In the 1995 Noel Coulson
Lecture at SOAS, Judge David Pearl dis-
cussed some interesting cases and ways in
which Islamic law had been received in
English courts and barrister Ayesha Hasan
similarly, examined the outcome of more
recent cases.
It is not, as the recent Guardian headline
suggests, Islamic marriages that fail to pro-
tect women. It is a complex mix of issues-
from ignorance to systemic discrimination -
that present Muslim women seeking divorce
with a number of social and structural barri-
ers that act to marginalise and disempower.
When we consider the efforts channelled into
encouraging Muslim women to leave abusive
marriages, which for anyone is a traumatic
decision to make, it is odd that similar efforts
are not extended towards improving the
quality of service they receive from the wel-
fare and legal professions. Research from
various quarters instead, has pointed
towards faith-blind, sexist, racist and
Islamophobic attitudes from the very bodies
that women are expected to turn to, with the
assumption often being that a Muslim
woman, once free from an abusive relation-
ship is somehow liberated from her oppres-
sive religion and culture.
Legal professionals have noted an
increase in the number of civil law claims for
the haq mahr following divorce. Regardless
of the length of the marriage, civil claims for
the haq mahr, if sizeable, can be a valuable
tool for women to employ, especially if
claims for maintenance fail or are deemed
inapplicable as in the case of short marriages.
However, the process of enforcing any claim
is complicated and costly, even when mar-
riages have been legally registered.
One recently completed case was that of
Salma (not her real name), a highly educated
professional practising Muslim from south
east London, who at 29, found herself leav-
ing a particularly difficult arranged marriage
after just four weeks. Both her nikah and
civil marriage were conducted in the UK. Her
case is interesting because even for a short
marriage, Salma was able, eventually, to seek
a form of re-dress that was only available to
her under Islamic law but enforced by
English law. The specifics of her case high-
light the complexities involved in the inter-
face between Islamic family law and English
law and displayed the flexibility of the
Shariah. It also raised questions about the
availability of appropriate Islamic and legal
expertise and the training of legal profession-
als including judges, to meet the needs of a
multi-faith society.
Briefly, Salma successfully gained an
annulment on the grounds of non-consum-
mation but there were significant other fac-
tors that led to the breakdown of the mar-
riage, such as her husbands admitted apos-
tasy and a series of lies that were revealed
once married. Apart from the personal trau-
ma the whole process of seeking both civil
and Islamic terminations to her marriage
caused, some of the most significant sources
of anguish arose from Salmas experiences of
the judge at her nullity hearing and the lack
recognition of her faith-related reasons for
terminating the marriage. For instance, at
her nullity hearing, she was obliged to sub-
mit medical evidence and give detailed testi-
mony to the judge about the non-consum-
mation of the marriage, despite pleas from
her lawyer highlighting the offense such a
line of questioning posed to a devout Muslim
woman. The judge concluded that although
U N T YIN G T H E K N O T
SCRUTINY
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11
he believed Salma to be manifestly honest
he felt that her religious concerns were irrel-
evant. He further added that he felt she
should have made more of an effort to offer
herself to her former husband a comment
that even the least hardened feminist would
find hard to stomach.
This experience, not to mention the per-
sonal injustice she felt and some deeply
unpleasant personal insults and lies from her
ex-husband, motivated Salma to pursue a
civil claim for her haq mahr. This had been
set at 10,000, deferred. After receiving her
decree absolute, Salma petitioned for an
Islamic divorce from the Muslim Law
Shariah Council (MLSC) and was awarded
a full claim to the mahr on the grounds of
DHIRAR or harm which is Islamic grounds
for granting a divorce to the wife against the
wishes of her husband. They distinguished
between a khula divorce where the wife
seeks a divorce for no particular reason, and
that of a faskh of the nikah, where a Qadi
intervenes to dissolve the marriage under cer-
tain conditions where the husband is found
to be at fault. The process of gaining the
Islamic divorce was again slow, largely due
to her ex-husbands continued refusal to
grant her a talaq unless she gave up her claim
to the haq mahr. This was viewed by the
MLSC, in a report written by Dr Zaki
Badawi for Salmas case, as an unacceptable
form of blackmail and proof of the intention
to harm the interests of the wife and result-
ed Salma gaining the Islamic divorce in her
favour and awarded the haq mahr in full.
However, the MLSC lacks the legal mus-
cle to enforce any decisions they make which
need to be taken to the civil courts as a
breach of contract law. Furthermore, the
absence of any recent case law or legal prece-
dent, the lack of knowledge of the validity or
even existence of similar claims by many
solicitors, and the expense and length of time
such cases can take, are factors that act to
deter women pursuing Islamically sanctioned
claims in the civil courts.
One of the significant developments
Salmas case established was on the matter of
jurisdiction and enforceability, won in July
2001 at a preliminary hearing at Reading
County Court. Her ex-husbands barrister
challenged the authority of the MLSC and
argued that the nikah contract was in effect,
a pre-nuptial agreement, made outside the
scope of English law and as such should be
viewed as repugnant. They also argued that
Salma was in breach of the contract as she
failed to show absolute obedience to her
former husband. One of the most ridiculous
claims made was one stating that in accor-
dance with Shariah law, all the earnings of
the Claimant during the subsistence of the
marriage are properly the property of the
Defendant...!
The judge recognised Salmas right as a
British citizen to have her religious claim
heard and jurisdiction and enforceability was
established. The next step was to pursue the
actual claim. In accordance with current
rules, both sides had to employ a single joint
expert to give evidence at the main trial hear-
ing. This took another year of legal wran-
gling since the Defence rejected Dr Badawis
evidence as biased, but then also proceeded
to dismiss every other credible expert offered
without suggesting suitable alternatives.
Much of the research was conducted by
Salma herself who sought both noted
Muslim and non-Muslim experts in Islamic
family law. Even here, there was considerable
discrepancy between Muslim and non-
Muslim authorities with the latter more like-
ly to be unaware of the right wives had to
petition for divorce without losing their
claims to the mahr, but also lacking the reli-
gious authority to engage in Ijtihad and chal-
lenge Dr Badawis decision.
In the end, Salmas ex-husband offered to
settle out of court after she was able to prove
he committed perjury. Her case took six
years to complete (including a year to actual-
ly force her ex to pay-up the agreed sum) but
aside from being a personal victory, exempli-
fies many of hurdles Muslim women face
when attempting to enforce their religious
rights. No wonder so many give up.
Recognising some of the problems both
Muslim men and women can encounter with
family law professionals who are often
unaware of the best ways to address their
clients needs, the Legal Action Group
(LAG), an organisation based in London,
which aims to improve access to justice
through training lawyers, is introducing an
accredited course called Family Law:
Applying English Law to Secure Islamic
Matrimonial Rights. The course, to be
launched in the new year, aims to provide
legal practitioners with knowledge about the
scope of Islamic rights and how these could
be secured using English law. It is also hoped
the course will encourage practitioners to
network and share case information and to
recognise legitimate authorities in Shariah
law.
Such steps forward need to be supple-
mented by some honest reflection from with-
in our communities about the ways we con-
duct our marriages and, increasingly our
divorces. The current situation is chaotic and
marred by hypocrisy and narrow interpreta-
tions of Islamic family law. If we are to
demand better services from those outside
the Muslim community, it is incumbent upon
us to ensure that we are equally rigorous in
ensuring our own houses (and mosques) are
in order.
FA U Z IA A H M A D
is a Research Fellow at the Department
of Sociology, Bristol University.
accused of pandering to anti-semitism. In
Britain, this charge has already been lev-
elled at the Stop the War Coalition by
B52 liberals, pro-war journalists like
Nick Cohen and David Aaronovitch, who
claim t hat at heart it is an unholy
alliance between Muslim fundamentalists
and unprincipled socialists. These criti-
cisms have thankfully failed to gather any
ice here as opposition to the Bush-Blair
axis of evil continues to grow.
In France however, the situation is
more serious. At the recent European
Social Forum in Paris, attended by more
than 50,000 people who convened to dis-
cuss the building of a union of European
countries that puts people before profit
and peace before war, a huge row broke
out over allegations that one of the invited
speakers, t he Muslim scholar Tariq
Ramadan, was anti-semitic and should
therefore, be banned from speaking at the
event.
The allegations rested on an article he
SCRUTINY
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then, however, the damage was done.
The controversy surrounding Dennis
McShanes comments was quickly fol-
lowed by the race to uncover terror cells
with police raids in a number of Muslim
communities throughout Britain. A climate
of fear is being created.
As I write, armed police are patrolling
Birmingham city centre. More raids are
planned because, according to the police,
suicide bombers here are about to go
operational.
A new angle is being introduced. Those
who opposed the war in Iraq are now
accused of creating the conditions for a
new wave of anti-semitism in Europe.
This is nothing more than a desperate
attempt to slander the anti-war movement.
The unity between Muslims and non-
Muslims within Europes huge anti-war
movement and the spectacular growth of
solidarity with the Palestinian struggle
arising from it, presents the most serious
challenge in t he West ern world t o
American policy in the Middle East and de
fact o Israels policy t owards t he
Palestinians.
The hypocrisy of politicians justifying
war in Iraq on the grounds of defending
democracy while the Palestinian people are
denied the most elementary democratic
right, the recognition of their own identity,
was not lost.
The murder of Western peace activists
like Rachel Corrie and the shooting of Tom
Hurndall has highlighted the raw brutality
of the Israeli state.
It has brought home to a new genera-
tion in the West the realisation that if the
Israelis can get away with killing American
and British citizens, what must they be
doing to the Palestinians?
In an attempt to undercut the growing
criticism of Israels treatment towards the
Palestinians, the anti-war movement is
REC EN T EVEN T S
H AVE G IVEN
BRIT ISH M U SLIM S
A FO RETA ST E O F T H E
FU T U RE: A S
G EO RG E W . BU SH
A N D TO N Y BLA IR D ELVE
D EEPER IN TO PO LIT IC A L
C RISIS O VER IRA Q ,
A N D W IT H ELEC T IO N S
LO O M IN G , T H EY
RESO RT TO T H E U SE O F
T H EIR O W N
W EA PO N O F M A SS
D IST RA C T IO N :
ISLA M O PH O BIA .
Soon after the last of the demonstrators
against Bushs visit had left Trafalgar
Square, after the largest weekday protest in
British history, Minister for Europe Dennis
McShane set the tone for the ensuing
debate.
British Muslims, he claimed, had to
make a choice between the British way or
the values of terrorism. The message was
loud and clear: there is a clash of civilisa-
tions. All Muslims are under suspicion.
Extremism and Islam go hand-in-glove.
The comment s were condemned.
Trevor Philips, t he chairman of t he
Commission for Racial Equality, was quick
to retort that Muslim leaders since 9/11
had been exemplary in their opposition to
terrorism.
Anyway, it was a bit rich for the gov-
ernment to be proclaiming the merits of
British values when anybody who hails
from a colony could adduce several cen-
turies of evidence to the contrary.
McShane event ually apologised. By
RA C IST S FRO M T H E LEFT
Sho ck i ngl y, t he Fr ench l eft has co nveni ent l y j umped
o nt o t he bandw ago n i n campai gni ng aggr esi vel y fo r t he
banni ng o f M usl i m femal e st udent s fr o m w ear i ng t he
headscar f i n scho o l s and i n ID po t o gr aphs. Such ar e t he
w eapo ns o f mass di st r act i o n o f o ur t i me.
had written in which he brought to task a
number of high-profile Jewish intellectuals
in France who supported the overthrow of
Saddam Husseins government in Iraq,
because their interests as Jews or as
nationalists or as defenders of Israel came
before equality and justice.
The organisers of the ESF rejected the
allegations and Ramadan spoke at the
event as planned (see opposite page).
The debate about Islam continued in
different forms at a number of meetings at
the ESF. At a meeting on Islam and Europe,
attended by over 1,000 people, the audi-
ence was split down the middle on the
question of whether it was right for the
French state to ban the wearing of the
hijab in schools.
The meeting reflected wider divisions
in French society. The achilles heel of the
anti-war movement in France there has
been the fact that on this issue the left echo
arguments we associate with the right.
Both speak of the Muslim community as if
it is one monolithic bloc, supposedly unit-
ed in its support for the repression of
women, denial of human rights and sup-
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13
The Islamophobia we are wit-
nessing is not merely accidental. It
provides the important distraction for
the powerful elite to literally go
about their business, away from the
scrutiny of ordinary people.
An example of this is the issue of
banning Muslim female students
from wearing the headscarf and also
the requirement that headscarves be
removes for ID photos. This extreme
measure, which attacks the right of
Muslim women to wear what they
want, has been supported by both the
right and the left.
In my opinion, I think that there
is a certain irony in this policy, which
in effect is a mirror image of the
imposition on women in relation to
their attire by the Taliban. I say why
shouldnt Muslim women choose for
themselves: headscarf or no head-
scarf? And in the scheme of things, is
an item of clothing on a woman more
important than the brutal killing of
innocent people, the rape and occupa-
tion of foreign countries, the increas-
ing poverty gap and debt? It is a very
effective red herring in political dis-
course right now. Weapons of mass
distraction certainly are no less dan-
gerous than weapons of mass destruc-
tion.
It has become acceptable for
many to make sweeping negative gen-
eralisations about what the Muslim
community. Yet such generalisations
are rarely made about other faiths.
Nobody would dare lump all
Christians together as reactionary
bigots on account of George Bush
who loudly proclaims his Christian
values while sanctioning the murder
of innocent people in Iraq.
The irony is that the very things
that many Muslims consider as fun-
damental to their faith - respect for
freedom of choice, importance of
human rights, equality of men and
women, emphasis on solidarity and
fighting for justice - are the things
least associated with Islam. Yet these
are the values and principles which
many of us are motivated by on a
daily basis.
SA LM A YA Q O O B AT T H E
EU RO PEA N SO C IA L FO RU M
IN PA RIS, FRA N C E
13- 15 N O VEM BER 2003
port for fundamentalism.
Under the guise of defending secular
values Muslim girls have faced suspension
or expulsion from schools for wearing
hijab. Right -wing polit icians are now
going further and calling for the official
banning of the hijab in the schools, the
civil service and in state institutions.
Such rhetoric has led to a climate of
racist hostility towards Muslims.
In her speech at the ESF, the Chair of
the Birmingham Stop the War Coalition
Salma Yaqoob t alked about t he way
weapons of mass distraction were being
employed to turn ordinary people against
each other.
Expect greater resistance.
In Britain a new generation of young
Muslims has burst onto the political scene
confident in its identity, its determination
to redress injustice and its ability to forge
alliances with non-Muslims. It is with this
generation that great potential and real
hope lies.
In these dark times, British Muslims
should look to the future with confidence.
G ER FRA N C IS
SCRUTINY
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LO N G BEFO RE BU SH
D EC LA RED A W A R O N
T ERRO R , BRITA IN
A LREA DY H A D A
H EA D STA RT IN
T ERRO RISIN G M IG RA N T
C O M M U N IT IES A N D
PO LIT IC A L PRO T EST
T H RO U G H A N T I- T ERRO R
M EA SU RES. T H E C A M PA IG N
A G A IN ST C RIM IN A LISIN G
C O M M U N IT IES T ELLS T H E
STO RY O F H O W O RD I-
N A RY PEO PLE A RE C H A L-
LEN EG IN G BRIT ISH STAT E
T ERRO R AT H O M E.
Since early 2000 these measures have been
opposed by many groups, especially the
Campaign Against Criminalising
Communities (CAMPACC). This article tells
the story of how the campaign has helped to
oppose British state terror at home.
T ERRO RISM RED EFIN ED
As an imperial power, Britain has a long
history of demonising resistance of the
colonised, e.g. in Malaya, Kenya and
Ireland. During its war in Northern Ireland,
special laws were used to label many Irish
people as terrorist suspects, thus stigmatis-
ing them and deterring protest against
British state terror. As the war there wound
down in the late 1980s, there were hopes
that the anti-terror laws would lapse.
However, the government extended its
special powers through the Terrorism Act
2000. This broadened the definition of ter-
solidarity with people resisting oppression.
On May Day weekend 2000, a few dozen
people assembled at Highbury Fields for a
photo shoot. Dressed up as famous free-
dom-fighters, they protested against new
powers which could have criminalised
Nelson Mandela as a terrorist.
Under the Terrorism Act 2000 the
Home Office banned 21 organizations,
many of which have roots in ethnic minori-
ty communities in the UK, e.g. the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the
Tamil Tigers. In response, CAMPACC
helped to organise a May 2001 protest at
the Home Office, where over 6000 demon-
strators ridiculed the ban on various organ-
izations. Many wore T-shirts which said, I
am the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party),
while asking why the police did not arrest
them as terrorists.
In 2002 some of those protesters were
prosecuted for terrorist links, i.e. associa-
tion with the PKK. In reality they were car-
rying funds for a Europe-wide campaign to
defend Kurdish language rights in Turkey.
In court, the defence was able to educate the
jury about the Turkeys oppression of the
Kurds, and comments from comedian-
activist Mark Thomas led the jury to break
out in laughter at the prosecution. The jury
would not convict, and the court case was
eventually abandoned. Nevertheless
Kurdish activists continue to undergo
harassment under anti-terror laws.
IN T ERN M EN T O F M U SLIM S
After the 11 September attacks, the gov-
ernment claimed that we face a public emer-
gency which requires even greater powers.
The Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act
(ATCSA) 2001 authorised the internment of
non-UK citizens in circumstances where
the state had a suspicion of terrorist links,
but where the person could not be safely
returned to their own country. Since
December 2001, 16 Muslims have been
interned under those powers. Their lawyers
appealed to the Special Immigration
Appeals Commission (SIAC). In parallel,
CAMPACC publicised the injustice among
journalist circles, thus gaining wide publici-
ty for lawyers arguments against the deten-
tion powers.
O PPO SIN G BRIT ISH
T ERRO R AT H O M E
rorism to include simply the threat of
serious damage to property, in ways
designed to influence the government for a
political cause. Organizations could be
banned in the UK on the basis that their
activities in other countries fit that broad
definition of terrorism.
To oppose that law, a public meeting
was held at the House of Commons in
February 2001. It attracted lawyers, civil
rights groups, and migrant communities tar-
geted by the new powers (Kurds, Tamils,
Sikhs, etc.). The meeting founded the
Campaign Against Criminalising
Communities (CAMPACC), its name cho-
sen to emphasise that the new law aimed to
criminalise communities, especially those in
D r essed up
as famo us
fr eedo m- fi ght er s,
t hey pr o t est ed
agai nst new
po w er s w hi ch
co ul d have
cr i mi nal i sed
N el so n M andel a
as a t er r o r i st .
SCRUTINY
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15
the mass media spread scare stories drawn
from the secret police. These joint press-
police operations served to frighten the pub-
lic, thus justifying anti-terrormeasures at
home and the military attack on Iraq.
PA RLIA M EN TA RY REVIEW
The campaign has also intervened in the
Parliamentary review of the anti-terrorism
legislation. Civil liberties organisations had
already denounced the injustice of the spe-
cial powers. CAMPACC went further, by
demonstrating how these powers are used
to persecute activists and terrorise entire
communities especially migrants,
refugees and Muslims. Indeed, that is the
governments main purpose.
CAMPACC circulated a draft statement
to such communities, in order to gather
more evidence before finalising its submis-
sion. In this way, the campaign has encour-
aged a wider debate which could help to
counter the widespread fear of British state
terror at home. In July some CAMPACC
supporters met with the Privy Council
reviewing the legislation. In August the
campaign submitted its statement to the
Privy Council, Terrorising Minority
Communities with Anti-Terrorism Powers:
their Use and Abuse (see below).
G U A N TA N A M O LIN K TO U K
More recently the campaign has linked
Guantanamo Bay with internment in
Britain. CAMPACC organised the first pub-
lic meeting on this issue, held on 16th
September in the House of Commons, spon-
sored by Kevin McNamara MP. The meet-
ing highlighted an Early Day Motion, spon-
sored by Geraint Davis MP and signed by
250 MPs, demanding that all the detainees
either be given a fair trial or be returned to
their country of origin. Speakers included
the fathers of two UK citizens detained at
Guantanamo, as well as lawyers and politi-
cal figures.
As solicitor Gareth Peirce argued, the
UK was fully complicit in the detentions,
while using them to justify its own domestic
measures which infringed civil liberties.
These state attacks were even more danger-
ous than those in the 1980s against Irish
people, because todays internees had no
legal safeguards and evidence could not be
challenged in court. From other speakers
there were indications that Britain was col-
luding in the kidnap and torture of
detainees. Under pressure from public
protest, the Prime Minister was forced to
become explicit about his stance which
was, unfortunately, overt support for the
detentions at Guantanamo.
After its public meeting, CAMPACC
began to organise a national campaign
against internment. This is being launched
with a petition whose demands include: an
end to arbitrary imprisonment in the USA,
Guantanamo and the UK; a fair trial or
immediate release for the internees; efforts
by the British government to free the UK cit-
izens being held at Guantanamo; and an end
to British government harassment of
migrant and Muslim communities.
A PERM A N EN T STAT E O F T ERRO R?
Since George Bush declared that the
war on terror would continue without
limit, the UK authorities too have been pur-
suing that aim. CAMPACC has been
analysing and opposing them for the last
two years. Now a new book reflects the
issues of the campaign: A Permanent State
of Terror? Indeed, we will continue to be
terrorised until resistance and ridicule
undermines the war on terror.
LES LEVID O W
In July and October 2002 SIAC held
hearings, where CAMPACC organised
protests. Eventually SIAC criticised the
internment powers for racial discrimination,
on grounds that they were applicable only
to non-citizens, yet it also implied that some
UK citizens may pose a terrorist threat.
CAMPACC handed out leaflets denouncing
the fake public emergency, while attacking
SIAC itself as a star chamber which col-
luded in the deprivation of liberty.
According to the leaflet, the right of habeas
corpus must be preserved for everyone.
Supporters held placards in front of the
court building, and their press interviews
were included in the television and radio
news. Another picket was held when SIAC
started to report its findings in October.
T ERRO RIST SC A RES
In the run-up to the US-UK attack on
Iraq, the government sought to link Iraq
with terrorist threats at home. A CAM-
PACC leaflet emphasised how the war on
terror at home turns us all into targets of
the state targets of political intimidation,
or of scare stories about threats to our lives.
CAMPACC organised a public meeting on
the night before the 15th February anti-war
demonstration. Speakers emphasised how
the anti-terrorism powers were being used
to intimidate migrant communities. Lawyer
Gareth Peirce made a plea for extending the
slogan, Not in My Name, to support the
people being victimised in Britain.
Since then CAMPACC has emphasised
that the so-called war on terror threatens
us all. This was the title of a public meeting
held on 13th May in the incongruous setting
of the Moses Room in the House of Lords.
Beneath a painting of the prophet, several
activists and lawyers told a packed audience
how the anti-terrorism laws are being used
to persecute ordinary political activity and
especially refugees, often in collusion with
oppressive regimes abroad.
At the May meeting, barrister Mike
Mansfield QC (Honorary Chair of CAM-
PACC) argued that the government was
portraying refugees as bogus, as criminal
and as ultimately a potential terrorist. So
people must come together in solidarity to
oppose any use of the Terrorism Act.
Lawyer Gareth Peirce emphasised that
national security should mean protection
from oppressive regimes, yet this security is
being taken away by anti-terrorist laws.
The fake emergency was the focus of a
further meeting, held jointly with the
National Union of Journalists on the 2nd
anniversary of the Twin Towers attack
(11th September). Speakers analysed how
T he w ar o n
t er r o r at ho me
t ur ns us al l i nt o
t ar get s o f t he
st at e t ar get s
o f po l i t i cal
i nt i mi dat i o n, o r o f
scar e st o r i es
abo ut t hr eat s t o
o ur l i ves.
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A S ISTA N BU L RESID EN T S REEL FRO M N O VEM-
BER S D EVA STAT I N G T ERRO R AT TA C K S,
MO H A MED BA K A RI TA K ES A C LO SER LO O K AT
A C IT Y PIC K IN G U P T H E PIEC ES A N D T RYIN G
TO FIN D IT S SO U L.
T
he British Consulate in Istanbul is a drab, non-descript grey
building tacked, at the back, in an overcrowded alley, and
at the front, over- looking the main-road leading to Taksim
Meydan and Istiklal Caddesi, Istanbuls answer to
Londons Trafalgar Square and Oxford Street. It is only the long
queue of visa applicants, almost invariably Turk and Muslim, that
betrays it as a building of some importance. Although I frequented the
neighbourhood often for almost one year when I first arrived to teach
in Istanbul, it never occurred to me that that was the British consulate
until I had a need to apply for a visa to come to London, that it was
pointed out to me by a simit seller. The flag actually flies at the back,
rather than the front of the building. The neighbourhood where the
Consulate is located is upmarket and it is known by its Ottoman
derived name of Beyoglu, which literally means The Lords Son.
The suffix oglu meaning son of attached to names is indicative of
its Ottoman antecedents. Beyoglu and Levent were especially reserved
for foreigners and non-Muslims for their habitation. This would have
included Christians and Jews. Not far from the British and, until
recently, American Consulates are close to another building famous in
the Western imagination, the Pera Hotel, where British spies used to
frequent and where Agatha Christie wrote her famous, and to the
Turks notorious, novel The Orient Express.
Although Beyoglu by European standards looks a bit decrepit, it
is actually the culture, I mean the Western culture centre of Istanbul,
where there are Art galleries, bookshops and saloons for the aficiona-
dos of things western. It is here where you find young people with
pierced noses and ears with rings walking up and down the Caddesi
with no particular purpose other than just to be there, as young peo-
ple are wont to do in Oxford Street or Venice Beach in Santa Monica.
It is often these young who are to be found most often in the long line
at the British Consulate attracted by the mystique of London or in
pursuit of studies in British institutions which have an almost mysti-
cal attraction to them. It is these young people who were the most vic-
tims of the fateful November 19th bombing of the Consulate. Young
people also died at the Synagogues of Neve Shalom and Beith Israel,
not far from Beyoglu, in Levent. This fact was drawn to me by a
Jewish postgraduate student of mine, Tina Jebahar, whom I had
taught for the past five years after I had sent her a condolence email
note. Tina wrote to me that there is this gentleman in his late teens,
Yoel Kohen, whose death is consuming me. He was not supposed to
be there that morning but he went there in place of one of his friends.
Yoel went on a volunteer duty as a staff and death got hold of him.
Dont you think it is very cruel Professor Bakari? Some others are hav-
ing psychiatric treatment in order to dismiss the great shock. Our
daughters have felt deeply threatened and insecure...it is very cruel to
burden the young people with such hatred.
Tina Jebahar is a descendant of the earliest Jews expelled from
Spain together with Muslims by the Catholic rulers who had retaken
power from Muslims during the Reconquista in 1492, after almost
800 years of Muslim rule. This date also coincides with the discovery
of America by Christopher Columbus. It was the Muslim Ottoman
Sultans who provided succour and sanctuary to these refugees. They
were among the earliest asylum seekers in the modern times, and the
Ottoman sultans rose to the occasion by welcoming them to their
lands. Istanbul had been conquered by Fatih Mehmet in 1453, a date
that all Turks are proud of. Over the years and over generations they
have been assimilated into the mainstream of Turkish culture and
society to such an extent that it is difficult to physically distinguish
them from other groups in the country. While the minorities had suf-
fered certain legal and political disabilities in the Ottoman empires
occasioned by the then current interpretation of the prevailing law, all
these disabilities were swept off during the Kemalist changes that
came with the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923.All the
minorities have the same rights as other Turkish citizens who perceive
themselves as the majority. Also, a significant proportion of Jews and
Christians, of their own volition, converted to Islam, and have
remained Muslim. It is the assimilative capacity of the Turkish
Muslim culture and its consistent ability to make people feel welcome
, regardless of their ethnic or religious background, that has enabled
minorities here to find a place to feel at home. Jews here have classic
names that I was only familiar with because I read the Quran. Uzair
Garih was such a name, the name of a prominent Turkish industrial-
ist who a few years ago was murdered by hoodlum muggers while vis-
iting the grave of a well- known Muslim sufi mystic in an area where
the famous Sahabah Ayub al Ansari is buried. There are presumed to
be well over 26 sahabah who are buried in Istanbul. Their grave sites
have been turned to shrines and are prominent places of visitation by
C A RN A G E IN
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17
the believers. As we will later discuss, these places are a magnet for
popular veneration of saints.
The bombing in Levent shook the headquarters of the British
based bank HSBC to its core. Some people died both inside the bank
and outside, the innocent passers-by. Just two days after the bombing
I went to a local bank, Garanti Bank , to transact business when I was
served by a petit looking, elegantly dressed young lady in a feminine
version of the male business suit down to pin stripes. In the course of
serving me she enquired whether I was a Muslim, for a black man
here is still a curiosity, and I answered in the classic Turkish manner
when asked such an audacious question. I said Alhamdulillah, which,
without adding anything further is automatically understood to be an
affirmation of ones faith as Islam. It also turned out that she was not
only a lip-service Muslim but was actually fasting, as I myself was.
The saddest part was when she told me that her boyfriend, read
fianc, was hurt during the bombing at HSBC and her fiancs closest
friend died in the carnage. Which now brings me to the moral ques-
tion of not only taking the lives of Muslims but of any one in fur-
therance of a particular political course, whether in Istanbul, Palestine
or Bali.
The press is always counting how many Westerners have been
killed in this and that place, and the term westerners of course does
not count Muslim victims. In reality, except for the few Muslims who
died at the Twin Towers, the majority of people killed in the name of
Islam in terrorist attacks worldwide have actually been Muslim. The
Istanbul bombings claimed a total of over 40 lives and the over-
whelming majority of these have been Muslims, although the intend-
ed targets were the British and Jews. By any standards bombings,
whether suicide or otherwise that are executed in over crowded places
where there are invariably civilians are simply unacceptable, if they
are acceptable at all. To me what these self-righteous murderous
zealots are doing is not further removed from the deliberate killings of
civilians in Palestinian refugee camps ordered by Ariel Sharon in his
comfortable office in Jerusalem and carried out by American,
Australian and British zionist zealots in the uniforms of the Israeli
Defence Forces. In a few remarkable programmes broadcast by the
BBC it was obvious that both the die-hard settlers and those seventeen
year old soldiers wearing Kalashnikovs were recent immigrants to
Israel in pursuit of some identitarian utopia of an ethnically pure
Jewish homeland. In the 21st Century, the idea of an ethnically pure
Shangrila populated by a group paying allegiance to a religious myth
is to be as anachronistic as the eugenic experimentation of the Third
Reich. The notion of a pure state for a pure race is now as laughable
as it is dangerous. The idea of a state for Arabs only is as misguided
as that pursued by Israel. It will be a sad day when Palestinians, hav-
ing a state created for them , includes this racial proviso. Some
Muslims states are also guilty of this. One can work for years in a lot
of Arab Muslim states and entertaining any idea of full integration in
it and becoming a citizen is pure pipe-dream because there are thou-
sands of foreign workers in these societies who are never given the
option of acquiring citizenship after having contributed to their devel-
opment. Part of the insularity and their intolerance, these Muslim
states, is both their unwillingness and inability to co-opt the ethnic
others into their body politic. Neither do these rich states, despite their
fabulous wealth, have social welfare as a safety net for their citizens.
There are no unemployment benefits, nor subsidised housing nor reli-
able medical health system that one can be proud of, except for a few
places. Are these terrorist cells sure magnets for the unemployed, the
frustrated and the alienated in these Muslim states? The education
systems in Muslim societies are so antiquated and irrelevant that
thousands of their students seek out better education outside in
Europe and the United States. Muslims need to search themselves
inward to come to a solution for the general malaise that have made
them uneasy citizens of the world. They have vulgarised the message
of Islam to such an extent that Muslims are now routinely demonised
everywhere.
Nor are the Muslims the only guilty party. You just need to trav-
el the Western world to see how Muslim baiting has become a growth
industry. Every time I have travelled around Europe I have met an
overzealous immigration officer, holding a piddling of a job , who
would turn my passport upside down, question me why I was going
to a particular destination and make me feel as an unwelcome guest.
There seems to be an unhealthy mix of bigotry and racism in a lot of
these encounters. In order to make my potential tormentors comfort-
able I usually wear a Pierre Cardin suit and make sure too that I am
clean shaven like a Greek statue. It is these European and American
gatekeepers who drive a lot of middle class Muslims to be indifferent
to the Western calls for Muslims to be more proactive in denouncing
acts of terrorism. Western policy makers have to moderate the policies
of their governments that that trample on the rights of people simply
because they carry Muslim names or have been profiled. This term
profiling belongs to the same league as collateral damage and
smacks of Orwellian Big Brother undertones.
The carnage in Istanbul this past week completely wrecked what
would otherwise have been a very joyous bayram , as the Turks affec-
tionately refer to Eid al Fitr.
N ISTA N BU L
LEGACY
18
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Q - N EW S
M
irza Itisam ud-Din came to Britain in 1766 as
an emissary of the Mughal Emperor, Shah
Alam, to petition King George III over dis-
agreements on tax and revenues between the Nawab
and the East India Company. However, Lord Clive
instead delivered the letter of protest and Itisam never
met the King. He travelled and resided with Archibald
Swinton before extensively journeying around Britain.
Itisams refinement created quite an impression
amongst the English. Unfamiliar with educated Indian
elite, their images of South Asians were largely shaped
by vagrant Lascars. The emissary was considered a
great man of Bengal if not the brother of a noub
(nawab). For others his exotic otherness had a dis-
tinctly feminine quality that they though reflected the dress of the Harem and delicate females.
He became a popular sight and was visited by hoards of curious onlookers. But the observer
had become the observed and after an invitation to an evening of music and dance at an assem-
bly room, he remarked, I, who went to see a spectacle, became myself a sight to others. Itisam
visited the theatre and enjoyed the privileges of the Georgian ruling classes which, he conclud-
ed, reflected their superior status. He remarked that ladies who could neither dance or sing was
a reflection of ' mean parentage' and that as a result they had little chance of marrying as they
were considered ' inferior' . As a religious man, his writings reflect his concerns that Georgian
society was in wilful neglect of its religious observances, noting that Britains inhabitants attend-
ed Church on Sundays only. Itisam admired the newly developing architecture of London and
was particularly impressed with St Pauls Cathedral. He also observed the effects of the
Enlightenment and its impact on English intellectualism, replacing the traditions and teachings
of religious Prophets, which he compared with the rise of Muslim rationalists and materialists.
The desire to learn Eastern languages had become a career essential in eighteenth century
Britain. As a result, munshis were found in regular employment. Munshi Ismail was brought to
England in 1772 under the patronage of Claud Russell of the East India Company and was
employed as his Persian language tutor. The munshi was based in London, presumably at the
private residence of Russell, where he found the unusual uniformity of Londons architecture
rather unsettling to the point that he feared losing his way in the bland similarity of the
Georgian capital. Another munshi, Mohamet Saeed, teacher to Mr Frederick Stewart, adver-
tised his skills in ' Persian and Arabick (sic) languages in a London newspaper of 1777. After
the East India Company opened a company college in Haileybury, Hertford, a number of mun-
shis like, Mirza Khaleel, were employed to teach oriental languages.
Mir Muhammad Hussain was a scientist who visited Britain in 1776 in his quest for new
developments in anatomy and astronomy. He believed that Britains prosperity and global dom-
inance was not, as others had assumed, attributed to its naval supremacy. Rather, he believed
the discovery of the new world had helped to advance scientific ideas in geometry and astron-
omy. Hussain acknowledged that the Enlightenment had advanced learning beyond tradition-
al Greek sciences which, he predicted, might cause immense amount of bewilderment amongst
many scholars. As an educated man Hussains interaction with the English would have pre-
sented an interesting anomaly compared to the many destitute Indians wandering the streets of
prosperous Georgian cities.
Abu Talib Khans visit to Europe, Britain and Ireland between 1799 and 1803 produced a
two-volume work detailing his experiences. Travels of Mirza Abu Talib Khan, in Asia, Africa
and Europe, was translated into English in 1810 but with many omissions from the original
Urdu. Emanating from Lucknow in India, Khan enjoyed his status as a celebrated other being
dubbed the Persian Prince by the popular press. He was often a guest of royalty and his
engagements where regularly announced in the newspapers. Nobility vied with each other in
their attention to me, revels Khan, who considered English hospitality as one of their most
esteemed virtues. Travels documents Khans fascinating visit to Britain, including access to the
Kings private library, where he saw many Persian and Arabic manuscripts. He recalls visiting
the poor houses around the country established by Parish relief missions and even took part
in a fox hunt with hounds! But Khan was critical of English society and he catalogued a num-
ber of English traits. He considered the English attachment to materialism, their frivolous
nature, arrogance and contempt for other civilisations, even those far more progressive or supe-
rior to their own, as some of the more unpleasant British characteristics. However, Khan also
enjoyed much of the lavishness of Georgian society courting the company of artists, actors and
writers. Describing London as the largest city he had ever visited, he commented on the geog-
BY T H E EIG H T EEN T H
C EN T U RY, W IT H IT S
EC O N O M IC A N D
M ILITA RY D O M IN A N C E
A LREA DY G LO BA LLY
W ELL ESTA BLISH ED ,
BRITA IN BEG A N TO BE
VISIT ED BY A N U M BER
O F ED U C AT ED A N D
IN Q U ISIT IVE M U SLIM
T RAVELLERS FO R A
VA RIET Y O F REA SO N S.
T H EIR U N IQ U E
EX PERIEN C ES W ERE
O C C A SIO N A LLY
C O M M IT T ED TO PRIN T,
O FFERIN G A
FA SC IN AT IN G A N D
REM A RK A BLE IN SIG H T
IN TO AT T IT U D ES
TO W A RD S T H E M U SLIM
O T H ER IN N A SC EN T
IM PERIA L BRITA IN .
M .S. SED D O N O FFERS
SO M E EX A M PLES.
M U SLIM
TRAVELLERS IN
EIG H T EEN T H
C EN T U RY
BRITA IN
LEGACY
Q - N EW S
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19
raphy of the citys numerous squares exclusively inhabited by the rich. In Oxford, Khan likened
the sandstone buildings with those of Hindoo temples in India. The bustling cities of Europe,
with their pollution and over-population, produced a deafening noise from the thousands of
horse-drawn carriages.
He was impressed with Britains industrial progress and linked it directly to the fortunes of
the British East India Company in South Asia. He believed that the countrys maritime domi-
nation was the key factor in her entrepreneurial success. Whilst Khan praised British societys
apparent positive role with regards to women and was impressed by the division of labour,
which seemed to protect women from more labour-intensive jobs, he could not help notice com-
plete areas of female exclusion in society. For example, the absence of legal status for women
and property and inheritance rights, denied any real equality to women. Unlike Muslim women
of India, noted Khan, who had enjoyed such equality as an unchanged and unchallenged divine
right whereas property and inheritance rights were only granted to British women after the
Married Womens Property Act of 1882, almost one hundred years after Khans visit.
Sake Dean Mahomet (Shaykh Din Muhammad) was born in 1759 into a noble family who
were administrators to the Mughal Empire. At the age of ten he joined the Bengal regiment of
the East India army and in 1772, motivated by his desire to visit Britain, he accompanied his
army captain, Godfrey Baker to Ireland. He travelled to Cork via Dartmouth in 1784 to be
employed in the Baker residence as a House Manager. Mahomets wife, Jane Daly, was a local
woman from a wealthy Irish family and the couple met whilst Mahomet was studying English.
After eloping together, possibly because the Janes family would not consent, they were married.
When Abu Talib Khan was visited Baker in 1799 he met Mohamet and his family. Like Khan,
Mahomet published a book of his adventures, Travels of Dean Mahomet, in 1794. Travels,
believed to be the first account in English of an Indian to Britain, challenged the British accounts
of the occupation and colonisation of India.
Mahomet moved to London in 1807 and applied his skills as an Indian Shampooer (aro-
matherapist) establishing a vapour bath at the home of returnee nabob, Sir Basil Cochrane in
the fashionable Portman Square. Later, Mahomet became the owner of the first Indian restau-
rant in Britain and is recorded in The Epicures Almanak,1809, as proprietor of the Hindostanee
Coffee House, 34 George Street, London, a place for the nobility and Gentry where they might
enjoy the Hookha with real Chilm tobacco and Indian dishes of the highest perfection. The
nabobs could relive their colonial experiences in an authentic setting with real Indian cuisine.
Unfortunately, the venture was short-lived and Mahomet was forced into bankruptcy within
two years of the enterprise. In 1814, after falling on hard times, supported only by his son
William, a postman, Mahomet moved to Brighton and revived his shampooing business at the
Devonshire Place Bath House. The move was fortuitous as Brighton was becoming a popular
retreat for the rich and bathing by the sea a favourite pastime. The Brighton Pavilion, patron-
ised by the Prince of Wales, King George IV, reflected the British fascination with all things ori-
ental and it provided an ideal setting for Mahomets new Indian vapour baths. Marketed as a
treatment for rheumatic illnesses, his venture was first met with scepticism. However, after sig-
nificant reported successes, in 1822 he became the shampoo surgeon to George IV and the
appointment was continued by William IV. Mahomet capitalised on his royal patronage and
illuminated his premises during official occasions as an opportunity to exert his distinctly British
identity. His popular treatment book, Shampooing or Benefits Resulting from the use of Indian
Medical Vapour Bath, published in 1822 became a bestseller and the trend soon caught on with
exotic Indian and Turkish baths established nation-wide.
Sake Dean Mahomets children continued the family business after their fathers death. A
branch was opened by Dean Mahomet at 7 Ryder Street, London and Arthur Akbar Mahomet
continued the baths in Brighton whilst Frederick Mahomet opened a fencing academy in
Brixton. Mahomets grandsons had more mixed fortunes with Frederick Akbar Mahomet
(1849-1882), becoming a doctor of medicine at Guys Hospital in the 1870s contributing two
major developments to medical practice; the sphygmomanometer, the first blood pressure
measuring instrument and the data collation system known as collective investigation, still
used by doctors today. Another Grandson, James Deen Kerriman, became an Anglican vicar
and a graduate of Keeble College, Oxford.
Despite the diverse reasons for their visits to Britain, all the eighteenth century Muslim trav-
ellers became aware of their difference because of their religion and race. Similarly, all were
subjected to various degrees of othering through their exoticisation by the indigenous popula-
tion and whilst a few apparently enjoyed the attention brought upon them by alterity, others
simply turned their difference into economic enterprise. Though removed by more than three
hundred years, one cannot help noticing distinct similarities from amongst experiences of
racism and exclusion faced by British Muslims today.
M usl i m
t r avel l er s
chal l enged
Br i t i sh acco unt s
o f co l o ni sat i o n
o f Indi a.
20
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Q - N EW S
T H E O X BRID G E
C O N N EC T I O N
T H E ELEC T I O N O F M I C H A EL
H O W A RD TO T H E TO RY
LEA D ERSH I P H A S BRO U G H T A
FA M I LI A R C LU B BA C K TO T H E
FRO N T BEN C H ES O F T H E
C O M M O N S. H A SN A FAT EH
EX PLO RES T H E SC O PE O F
BRI TA I N S M O ST C ELEBRAT ED
A C A D EM I C FELLO W SH I P.
B
alance has been restored to the Chamber. This must
have been the reverberating thought of most in the British
Establishment when varsity, the traditional rivalry
between Oxford and Cambridge, returned to the dispatch box at the
House of Commons in November 2003 following the unanimous
election of MP Michael Howard as the leader of the Conservative
Party. A lawyer like his counterpart, Howard, a Cambridge graduate,
would now be sparring with British PM Tony Blair, an Oxford grad-
uate, and suddenly the fortunes of the Conservative Party seem to be
in reverse. Every MP knows that every premier of this country since
Oxford-educated Robert Walpole in 1721 has been to Oxbridge,
apart from a handful like Disraeli and Major. So, is there an
Oxbridge Connection at work here?
At the helm of Her Britannic Majestys Government is an Oxford
graduate, Tony Blair, who has decided to compose half his cabinet
with Oxbridge connections. Nine cabinet ministers are Oxbridge.
Across the dispatch box, Michael Howard is a Cambridge graduate,
unlike his non-University educated predecessor, Iain Duncan Smith.
Two-thirds of Howards cabinet has Oxbridge affiliations, like former
Tory leaders, William Hague and IDS. However, Howards ascension
to Conservative Leader is pioneering for another reason. Howard
(ne Hecht) is Jewish, with his faith an important guide and influ-
ence on his life, and he was elected as the leader of the political party
of British tradition, identity and the Establishment. This positively
signifies a strong affirmation of the multi-culturalism of British socie-
ty. Nevertheless, Howard has demonstrated to British Muslims that
his views should be treated with caution. He is a member of
Conservatives Friends of Israel and is the founder of the Atlantic
Partnership, a right-wing think-tank supporting the neo-conservatism
currently inhabiting the White House. Moreover, perhaps Howards
policies will be far more lenient towards genuine asylum seekers and
refugees than previous Tory leaders, because his parents and grand-
parents arrived from Romania, seeking asylum from Nazi persecution
and pogroms. One of Howards grandmothers was a victim of
Auschwitz, one of the most infamous Nazi concentration camps - a
distant horizon from the British Establishment of Cambridge and
Parliament.
If the dispatch box today is dominated by Blair and Howard
today, in nineteenth-century Victorian England, it was dominated by
two politicians, Gladstone and Disraeli. Disraeli was of Italian Jewish
origin but baptised a Christian, and was not educated at University.
This did not prevent him embarking on a career in politics opposite
the aristocratic, Oxford-educated sometime-Tory and Liberal oppor-
tunist, Gladstone. In Disraelis time, Jews were not allowed to become
MPs until 1858, and its was only in the 1950s that they began to
appear sparsely on Tory benches. In February 1868, Disraeli became
Prime Minister of Britain, which Howard naturally aspires to, and
having lost power, as Howard did under the Major government,
returned to power in 1874. One wonders the extent to which Howard
will be as astute as Disraeli, who apart from being accused of British
Islamophilia, once held a copy of the Holy Quran in Parliament and
told the House that we will never be able to defeat the sons of the
Muslims as long as they hold fast to this [The Quran]. Even so,
Disraeli did have that Oxford-affiliation conferred upon him when he
was appointed Earl of Beaconsfield, Oxfordshire.
Whilst Gladstone and Disraeli were exchanging the British pre-
miership in 1868, the following year saw the preliminary visit of Sir
Syed Ahmed Khan, one of the reformers of the thirteenth Islamic cen-
tury, from India to Oxford and Cambridge. He was fully aware that
Oxbridge, like all other universities of Europe, was based on univer-
sities in the Islamic world. Studying the British educational system at
Oxbridge allowed Sir Syed to return to India to establish Aligarh
FEATURE
Q - N EW S
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21
University, creating a legion of Muslims stu-
dents who spearheaded Indian independence,
filling the ranks of South Asian leadership.
Whereas the Deoband seminary seems to have
spawned the Taliban in the modern era, two
Islamic vestiges of nineteenth-century India
synergised their efforts in the twentieth centu-
ry. The Chancellery of Aligarh University in
co-operation with the traditional Islamic
scholars group of India, Nadwat el-Ulema,
Lucknow, sought to establish a centre for the
study of Islam at Oxford. In 1985, this aim
succeeded in establishing the Oxford Centre
for Islamic Studies (OCIS), with prominent
Indian scholar, Syed Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi,
as its Chairman of Trustees. In its new build-
ing, complete with a minaret amongst the
dreaming spires, to be completed next year,
OCIS is envisaged to be the leading centre for
the study of Islam in the West. From al-Azhar
University, Egypt and its affiliate institution,
Mahad al-Fath, Syria, to the International
Islamic University, Malaysia, scholars and stu-
dents alike are visiting OCIS, keen to be part
of the revival of Islamic Studies in the West. It
has also been the arena for landmark speeches by its Patron, Prince
Charles (Cambridge), Nelson Mandela (Oxford) and UN Secretary-
General Kofi Annan (Oxford).
Prior to receiving his honorary degree from Oxford in June 2001,
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had visited Oxford as the guest of
OCIS, further contributing to his subsequent decision to attend
Organisation for the Islamic Conference (OIC) Summits.
The last OIC Summit convened in October in Malaysia, had one
well-publicised speech that received a standing ovation from all the 57
heads of states in attendance. Unlike his predecessor, Tunku Abdul
Rahman, outgoing Malaysian PM Mahathir bin Mohammad was not
Cambridge-educated, but a doctor working in a poor rural area before
he joined politics. He has been credited with spearheading Malaysias
transformation from a backwater, rural country to a hi-tech modern
power guided by an Islamic vision. During his tenure, incomes have
tripled and poverty levels fallen to 5% of all households, from more
than 35% in 1982. What could he have said to warrant that standing
ovation?
In his address, Mahathir called on Muslims to to work hard and
affirm their personality and spoke of the need for the Ummah to proac-
tively unite itself. But, overwhelmingly he emphasised how Muslims
must reject violence brought on by revenge and anger, and to be far
more systematic and strategic in their aims, condemning suicide bomb-
ing, Is there no other way than to ask our young people to blow them-
selves up and kill people and invite the massacre of more of our own
people? However, it was his comments about Jews which earned con-
demnation. The statement in question, The Europeans killed six mil-
lion Jews out of 12 million. But today the Jews rule this world by proxy.
They get others to fight and die for them.
When faced with the ensuing barrage of criticism from the West,
Mahatir said that the main thrust of his speech was condemning vio-
lence, even suicide bombings, but they picked up one sentence where
I said that the Jews control the world. Well, the reaction of the world
shows they control the world. US President Bush spoke to Mahathir
at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Thailand,
denouncing the remarks as, wrong and divisive where as his fellow
man of peace, Israeli PM Ariel Sharon slammed the remarks as
slanderous. The November bombings in
Istanbul were a further reminder that
Mahathirs alternative to violence namely to
think and to win hearts and minds is still
in its early stages of development.
Incidentally, the alleged perpetrators were
members of a Turkish group working with al-
Qaeda. Given the global influence of the
Oxbridge connection, one wonders whether
al-Qaedas head, Usama bin Laden, and sen-
ior lieutenant, Ramzi Yousef, had chosen
their future careers when they visited Oxford
as students.
In contrast to their type of Islamist terror-
ism, Mahathirs opinion in mid-October that
the United States and Israel were engaging in
state terrorism that was far more destruc-
tive than that practised by irregulars,
seemed to be vindicated by a survey held by
the European Commission about the views of
its citizens. Published in November, the poll
of 7,500 EU citizens voted Israel the greatest
threat to world peace, with America and
North Korea joint in second place. This sub-
stantiated earlier findings in 2002 survey by
the International Herald Tribune, where European respondents said
they sympathised more with the Palestinians than Israelis. In contrast,
that survey depicted 41% of Americans saying that they sympathised
with Israelis and only 13% with the Palestinians.
Some envisaged the potential annihilation of the British monar-
chy in November, when Cambridge-educated Prince Charles was the
victim of allegations of an unspecified but lurid nature in the tabloid
media. Commensurate to Prophetic wisdom, Prince Charles had cho-
sen to continue his duties, dignified in silence in deference to the gut-
ter-press tittle-tattle. Islam institutionalises protection against slander
and defamation with its intent to protect the ird (honour) of all its cit-
izens. Though the work of Prince Charles accorded for the benefit of
the Muslims is world-famous, one is reminded of the Christian king
of Abyssinia, the Negus, who accepted the first migration of Muslims
to his land. For an heir to the British throne to be well-versed in the
teachings of Islam is remarkable and bodes well for the future of the
United Kingdom. One marvels at the words of a future monarch who
is astute enough to say that not only Christians and Jews, but
Muslims as well, could do worse than return to the Sufi texts which
deliver not a message of hate and intolerance, but the message of
ihsan - doing that which is beautiful. It is of little surprise, there-
fore, to see that it is the Sufi aspects of Islam, which represent the
living spirit of the tradition, which have had most impact at
Oxbridge, from Idries Shah (Oxford) to Abdal Hakim Murad
(Cambridge).
So does an Oxbridge Connection exist? Of course it does.
Kindred spirits do harmonise, and those with similar aims and ambi-
tions will work together for their own ends. However, Muslims are
measured by a different benchmark. They work for their place in the
Hereafter, and any bonds which are to endure in the Hereafter must
be based on iman, as all other bonds will be discarded. The best exam-
ple of this notion takes place at Makkah, where the rites of the Hajj
demand that both the Oxbridge-educated king and the field labourer
don their white cloth of ihram, and stand shoulder to shoulder, ankle
to ankle, in prayer before The King of Kings, Allah Most High.
Hasna Fateh is a writer with Alpha1 Media.
T he N o vember bo mbi ngs
i n Ist anbul w er e a
r emi nder t hat M ahat hi r s
al t er nat i ve t o vi o l ence
namel y t o t hi nk and t o
w i n hear t s and mi nds i s
st i l l i n i t s ear l y st ages o f
devel o pment . Inci dent al l y,
t he al l eged per pet r at o r s
w er e member s o f a
Tur k i sh gr o up w o r k i ng
w i t h al - Q aeda. G i ven t he
gl o bal i nfl uence o f t he
O x br i dge co nnect i o n, o ne
w o nder s w het her O sama
bi n Laden and Ramzi
Yo usef cho se t hei r fut ur e
car eer s w hen t hey vi si t ed
O x fo r d as st udent s.
22
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Q - N EW S
FEATURE
A SU BVERSIVE PRESEN C E
C AT H O LIC S A N D JEW S IN 1920s A M ERIC A
T H E ST RU G G LE O F A M ERIC A N JEW S A N D C AT H O LIC S FO R REC O G N IT IO N A N D
C IVIL RIG H T S IN T H E 1920S SH O U LD BE A SO U RC E O F H O PE A N D IN SPIRAT IO N
FO R TO D AY S M U SLIM S, W RIT ES A N T H O N Y M C RO Y
I
magine an America where people are vilified for their religion
or race by the movie industry and religious leaders, told that
they cannot be loyal Americans because of their faith by the
media, face organised electoral lobbies determined to keep people
out of office because of their religious beliefs. No, we are not talk-
ing about the present - this was America in the 1920s, and the eth-
nic and religious minorities were not Arabs and Muslims, but Jews
and Catholics.
Around the turn of the century, the arrival of millions of
Eastern and Southern European Jews and Catholics caused a
major demographic shift in America, changing its self-image as a
Nordic-Protestant nation. Protestant diatribes against Catholics in
the 19th century had sometimes provoked Catholic violence, lead-
ing moderate Protestants to view Catholics with alarm. By the
1920s some Jews and Italian Catholics like Meyer Lansky and
Lucky Luciano were notorious gangsters, further provoking prej-
udice. Nativism, the belief that only those born in America and of
Nordic-Protestant heritage were the true Americans was a major
ideological current, felt that non-Nordic/Protestant immigration
threatened traditional American values. Compare this with the
words of Daniel Pipes, frequently condemned as an Anti-Arab
racist and Islamophobe by US Arab and Muslim groups, written in
the National Review:
Western European societies are unprepared for the massive
immigration of brown-skinned peoples cooking strange foods and
maintaining different standards of hygiene...All immigrants bring
exotic customs and attitudes, but Muslim customs are more trou-
blesome than most. (National Review, 11/19/90)
There was strong feeling at the time that Jews and Catholics
were unfit for public office because of their distinctive religious
and thus un-American values, explaining why Al Smith, the
Catholic Presidential candidate in the 1920s, had to take what
would otherwise have been considered the superfluous step of
underlining that he was a Catholic and Patriot, just as Arab-
Americans and Muslims feel obliged to do today. The media lam-
basted him, with cartoons showing him as President with a
Cabinet made up of priests, whilst others accused him of wanting
to violate the separation of Church and State. In an article from
Atlantic Monthly, April 1927, about Smith' s bid, lawyer Charles
Marshall argued that loyalty to the Catholic Church conflicted
with loyalty to the United States: that Church, if true to her
basic political doctrine, is hopelessly committed to that intolerance
that has disfigured so much of her history there is a conflict
between authoritative Roman Catholic claims on the one side and
our constitutional law and principles on the other. Compare this
with this statement by Pipes, The presence and increased stature,
and affluence, and enfranchisement of American Muslims...will
present true dangers to American Jews.
Catholics were seen as superstitious, ignorant, and dominat-
ed by their priests. They were accused of wanting to undermine
America' s republican democracy, of loyalty to the Vatican rather
than to America, and hell-bent on turning the US into a Catholic
State - the Catholic conspiracy theory so-beloved of bigots in
the 1920s. Alabama Senator Heflin stated in Congress in 1928:
The Roman Catholic edict has gone forth in secret articles,
Al Smith is to be made President. Doctor McDaniel said: Of all
countries the Pope wants to control this country. The Knights of
Columbus slogan is make America Catholic they will force
the propaganda of Protestants to cease, they will lay the heavy
hand of a Catholic state upon you and crush the life out of
FEATURE
Q - N EW S
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23
Protestantism in America.
Pipes says something similar: all Islamists (fundamentalist
Muslims) have the same ambition, which is what they call the
Islamization of America. By this, they mean no less than saving
the US through transforming it into a Muslim country. Jews were
often suspected of Communist sympathies as the Red Scare
gripped the decade. The Palmer Raids of 1920 saw the FBI deport
alien subversives without trial. Compare this with contempo-
rary FBI/INS raids and deportations of innocent Arabs and
Muslims. Here is Pipes again: Muslim visitors and immigrants
must undergo additional background checks. Mosques require a
scrutiny beyond that applied to churches, synagogues and temples.
Muslim schools require increased oversight to ascertain what is
being taught to children.
Arabs and Muslims often complain about contemporary
Hollywood Islamophobia and Ant i-Arabism in films like
Executive Decision, Rules of Engagement and series like The West
Wing, but its nothing new. Perhaps the worst example of movie
industry racism in this era was the notorious 1915 film by D. W.
Griffith, Birth of a Nation. Its most negative feature was the por-
trayal of blacks as savages bent on deflowering virginal white
womanhood.
The release of the film aided in the re-constitution of the Ku
Klux Klan in 1915, partly because of the case of Leo Frank, a
Northern Jewish industrialist in Georgia who was wrongly con-
victed of the sexually-motivated murder of a young Christian girl
Mary Phagan two years previously. Frank was then lynched by a
group calling themselves The Knights of Mary Phagan, which
metamorphosed into the KKK. Anti-Semites were able to draw on
the Frank case to support traditional smears of Jewish ritual mur-
der, just as Arabs and Muslims face the terrorist smear today.
These attitudes were not restricted to ignorant pub talk. Henry
Ford, the famous industrialist was an infamous anti-Semite, noted
for his notorious book The International Jew, where he lauded
the Tsarist forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Furt hermore, a mixt ure of ant i-Hispanic racism and ant i-
Catholicism also played an important role in the international
sphere, galvanising the US public in support of to repeated mili-
tary interventions in Latin America, Haiti and the Philippines, just
as anti-Arab sentiments and Islamophobia allow US intervention
in the Muslim world today.
It is worth remembering that Americas worst pre-Watergate
scandal occurred during the 1921 Administration under President
Harding, namely the Teapot Dome affair, when Secretary Albert
Fall corruptly leased the Navys Teapot Dome reserve in Wyoming
to his friend Harry Sinclair of Mammoth Oil, receiving a hefty
bribe to do so. Significantly, there are echoes of Teapot Dome in
the way the US government has awarded oil and reconstruction
contracts in Iraq to American firms. Oil continues to cause US
politicians to act unjustly and unwisely, and Arabs and Muslims
pay the price.
Just as today evangelists like Franklin Graham smear Arabs
and Muslims, whilst others say that they cannot be loyal
Americans, the decades most famous evangelist, Billy Sunday,
waged a holy war against Al Smith in 1928 because he was a
Catholic. Other Evangelicals - who combined Judeophobia with
Christian-Zionism - distributed both Fords book and The
Protocols. Again, just as Islamophobes and anti-Arabists can
drum up some academic to support their views, the same was true
of the 1920s.
Harvard scholars like Lothrop Stoddard and Madison Grant
were influential figures in the nativist movement, castigating
Catholic and Jewish immigration from undesirable parts of
Europe, just as today bigots seek to specifically restrict Arab and
Muslim immigration.
The anti-Arab and Islamophobic Axis of Evil consisting of
neo-conservatives, the pro-Israeli lobby (especially AIPAC) and
Christian-Zionists often seems omnipotent and invincible, but
Jews, Blacks and Catholics faced a similar antagonistic and pow-
erful caucus in the 1920s - the Klan. Today we tend to think of the
KKK as Black-lynching Rednecks, but in the 1920s it was millions
strong, holding its own million man march in Washington,
greeted and approved by President Coolidge. His predecessor,
Harding, was even a member.
The Klan controlled not only the South, but also many mid-
western states, Oregon and heavily influenced California, Maine
and Pennsylvania. It was seen as a benevolent fraternity, bestow-
ing charitable gifts and was respected so much so that Billy Sunday
and other Protestant religious leaders endorsed it. Its electoral
clout was demonstrated in the defeat of Smith, just as AIPAC top-
ples or frustrates candidates it dislikes.
Equally, and ironically if not paradoxically, the outbreak of
full throttle Islamophobia and anti-Arabism in America since 9/11
has caused many Arab-Americans and Muslims to wake from their
political slumber, often through groups like the Arab
American Inst it ut e, t he American-Arab Ant i-
Discrimination Committee and the Council
on American-Islamic
Relations.
From coast to coast,
Muslim and Arab-
American groups are
organizing as never before
to make known their con-
cerns about civil liberties.
They have gone beyond sign-
waving demonst rat ions t o
hold voter registration drives,
meet with politicians and form
alliances with other civil rights
and religious organizations.
One major fact or t hat
Catholics especially had to live
down was the association with
repressive, sect arian Hispanic
regimes oppressing Protestants. By
contrast, Ilford Muslims invited the
ambassador of Saudi Arabia - a state
devoid of religious liberty - to open a
new mosque, and Birmingham
Muslims are stuck with an imposing
edifice called Saddam Hussein Mosque. What on earth did they
imagine native Britons thought about such actions?
Significantly, much of the oppression, discrimination and ter-
rorism Hispanic Protestants faced ended when President Kennedy
- a Catholic - after talking to Billy Graham, pressured Latin
American states to change. He thereby showed that whilst
American Catholics shared the same theology as their Latin
brethren, in terms of democratic values they were truly American.
It is essential for the future of Western Muslims that they do like-
wise, and the lesson of 1920s America is that even this most
enduring racism and sectarianism can be defeated and excised
from the body politic.
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FEATURE
I
slamic forums on the Internet have been rife with posted mes-
sages and e-mails about the imminent emergence of the Islamic
eschatological figure, the Mahdi, following a phenomena which
took place in the month of Ramadan 1424/ October-November
2003. The speculation is mainly due to the occurrence of a lunar
eclipse on 9th November, and a solar eclipse on 23rd November,
signs thought to be amongst the most authentic indicators of the
enigmatic figures appearance and have been mentioned by some of
most eminent traditional Islamic scholars.
Enthusiasts have been publishing research from astronomical
authorities such as NASA and the Astronomical Research Centre in
Vienna, detailing where, when and how the lunar and solar eclipses
will occur for the next decade, appearing to substantiate the claims.
There has been a deluge of elaborate and technical information,
detailing when the lunar and solar eclipses would enter and leave
its umbra and penumbra stages, the magnitude of the eclipses, the
regions of Earth from where the eclipses would be visible, so on
and so forth.
In addition, the last significant time this phenomena was cited
as evidence for the emergence of the Mahdi was by the head of the
Ahmadiyyah sect, Mirza Ghulam Ahmed of Qadian, India, who
proclaimed himself the Mahdi, Messiah and Prophet, after a lunar
eclipse occurred on 13th Ramadan and the solar eclipse occurred
on the 28th Ramadan in 1894. However, this phenomena is being
cited as evidence once again, and in order to avoid the re-occur-
rence of this e-phenomena every Ramadan, and to understand it in
the context of the revival of traditional Islamic scholarship, the
veracity of these claims will be examined.
The first narration, which appears to be the one alluded to in
the Internet frenzy, regards lunar and solar eclipses in Ramadan.
The narration is from Muhammad al-Baqir, the great-grandson of
Imam Ali (may Allah be pleased with him): For Al Mahdi, there
are two signs that have never before existed since Allah created the
Heaven and Earth. The moon will eclipse on the first night of
Ramadan, and the sun will eclipse during its middle - this has never
occurred since Allah created the Heavens and Earth. This is the
narration of Muhammad ibn Ali which is quoted by Imam al-
Barazinji in al-Ishaa l-Ishrat as-Saah and Shaykh Abu-Fadal al-
Ghimmari in al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, two of the most eminent tra-
ditional scholars in hadith and also in Islamic eschatology. The
hadith is originated to Imam al-Darequtni in the hadith collection,
Sunan, as being related from Amar ibn Shamir who has reported
it from Jabir who has reported it from Muhammad ibn Ali. Some
have attributed this narration to Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya, the
son of Imam Ali, instead of Muhammad al-Baqir, who also related
many narrations about the Mahdi from Imam Ali. However, the
dates do not align. Muhammad al-Hanafiyya died in 700, and Jabir
al-Juafi died in 750 at the latest, making the link between the two
at the least fifty years. Moreover, Jabir al-Juafi is said to have nar-
rated this from Muhammad al-Baqir, who died in 731, making the
link between the two twenty years. Indeed, in both the Shia and
Qadiani tradition, it is Muhammad al-Baqir who is stated to have
authentically related this narration.
However, the narration which is related in Sunan is considered
suspicious al-Darequtni himself according to the extensive research
conducted by scholars such as Mufti Ebrahim Desai of South
Africa. al-Darequtni, analyses the narrators in the chain of trans-
mission (isnad) of this hadith, according to a procedure called Jarh
wa Tadeel, whereby hadith authorities comment on the reliability
of the narrator (rawi). The chain of this narration is from al-
Darequtni from his teacher, Abu Saeed al-Istakhri from
Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Nawfal from Ubayd ibn Yaeesh
from Yunus ibn Bakeer from Amr ibn Shamir, from Jabir from
Muhammad ibn Ali. Hafiz al-Dhahabi is unanimously considered
an expert in the analysis of hadith and their narrators, and for this
particular narration, his words prove unequivocal, According to
its authenticity, this saying attributed to Imam al-Baqir is extreme-
ly weak, outcast, and rejected. The two main narrators cited prior
EC LI PSES
O F A PO C A LYPSE
T H E LU N A R A N D SO LA R EC LIPSES O F
RA M A D A N H AVE C A U G H T T H E IM A G IN AT IO N
O F SO M E M U SLIM S W H O SAY T H E
PH EN O M EN A H ERA LD T H E C O M IN G O F T H E
M A H D I. BU T RO S A L- BA K R TA K ES A N O T H ER
LO O K AT T H E EVID EN C E.
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Q - N EW S
to Muhammad ibn Ali are Amar ibn Shamir and Jabir al-Juafi.
According to al-Darequtni himself, both these two figures are con-
sidered unreliable narrators whose narrations are not admissible
as proof to substantiate any claim. Scholars consider Jabir al-Juafi
matruk al-hadith, meaning his narrations are literally ignored.
Scholars such as Hafiz ad-Dhahabi, Abu Hanifah, Ibn
Hajar, Ibn Maeen, Layth ibn Abi Sulaym, al-
Jauzjaani, Ibn Uyaynah, Ibn Kharraash, Saeed
ibn Jubayr and others described him as an
outright liar. The second narrator , Amar
ibn Shamir is subject to equally scathing
criticism as a narrator. Hafiz al-Dhahabi,
Ibn Maeen, al-Jauzjaani, Ibn Hibban,
al-Bukhari, Yahya, Suleimani, Abu
Hatim, Ibn Sad, Ibn Hajar call him a
liar and a weak narrator. The fabrica-
tor alliance of Amar ibn Shamir and
Jabir al-Juafi is criticised by al-
Azeemabadi and al-Hakim who states
There were many fabricated reports
from Jabir al-Juafi, and no one narrated
these false and fabricated reports from Jabir
except Amr bin Shamir. Therefore, this narra-
tion should be considered a weak narration at
best, and a fabrication at worst.
However, it may then be asked why luminary scholars
like al-Barazinji and Shaykh al-Ghimmari have chosen to include
the narration, riddled with accusations of fabrication and weak-
ness, in their works. There are a number of legitimate and valuable
reasons.
The first is that the muhadditheen have derived a principle
about hadith on the Mahdi which is that if the narration solely con-
cerns the Mahdi, then there are weaknesses in the narration, but if
the Mahdi is mentioned in context of something else, then the nar-
rations reliability improves. Therefore, it may not be the specific
details of the narration which are sound, but the general details of
eclipses as signs may be valuable.
Secondly, as the narration is from Muhammad al-Baqir, direct-
ly descended from Imam Ali, the muhadditheen also have another
principle that if Imam Ali provides a narration commentating on a
Prophetic hadith, then it can be considered as being authorised
from the Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him) himself.
Thirdly, there are two separate chains for the narrations from
Muhammad al-Baqir via Imam Ali, and another of Shariq via Umm
Shariq about two lunar eclipses, which mean that there may be
some credence to the claims, especially as the first narration of a
lunar and solar eclipse has continued to be transmitted by Islamic
scholars, despite its weaknesses, since inclusion in al-Darequtnis
Sunan written before the authors death in 995.
Fourthly, the narrations about the signs of the Mahdi are
sparse, notorious for having weaknesses in chain and text, prone to
fabrication for political purposes, and therefore, to merely list the
narration can be deemed valuable for scholars and students alike.
In this sense, an ecliptic phenomena of some sort may take place
before the Mahdis emergence, due to the cyclical nature of eclipses
every twenty-one years. Some would cite that the cycle of eclipses
at the dawn of the fifteenth Islamic century in 1981 are being
repeated currently in eclipses during the War on Terror and the
cycle of eclipses will re-occur in 2025, which according to Shaykh
Ahmad Yasin, spiritual leader of the Palestinian Islamic resistance
group, Hamas, heralds the destruction of the Zionist state of Israel.
Does this constitute a definitive proof? Unanimously, the answer
must be in the negative. However, another luminary Islamic schol-
ar, Ibn Kathir, in his section on The Signs before the Day of
Judgment in al-Bidayah wal-Nihayah does not mention any eclip-
tic phenomena as a sign for the emergence of the Mahdi. The
primer on Islamic millenarianism, Millennium Islam, con-
curs with Ibn Kathirs perspective. Therefore, other
scholars are exonerated from choosing to state
the narration, as their intention have always
been that it would not be considered a defin-
itive proof.
Overall, there are a plethora of narra-
tions of ecliptic phenomena occurring
before the emergence of the Mahdi. They
have been related by eminent scholars of
this Ummah, rahimhum Allah, in their
books, because of the value of a narra-
tion about the emergence of the Mahdi.
However, this is where the Prophetic in
Prophetic hadith would be so important, as
only a hadith from the Prophet Muhammad
verifying this phenomena would be worth
deliberating and researching about - this has not
been cited anywhere. The hidden gem of a
Prophetic hadith is finally unveiled with an authentic
hadith about the Prophet Muhammad speaking about eclipses
as signs, a hadith conspicuously absent from these forums. When
Prophet Muhammads son, Ibrahim, died, the sun was eclipsed.
Some people thought that this was connected with Ibrahims death,
but the Prophet soon clarified this. The sun and the moon are two
of Allahs signs, he said. They are not eclipsed because of anyones
birth or death. When you see these signs, make haste to remember
Allah in prayer.
Eclipses do not constitute a sign of birth, death or emergence
for anyone, according to the Prophet Muhammad. Therefore, if
one desires to know authentic information about the Mahdi,
authenticated hadith from the Prophet Muhammad (may the peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him) represent the best evidence to
act upon and disseminate. As such, neither Shaykh Hamza Yusuf
has mentioned this phenomena as a sign, nor has Shaykh
Muhammad al-Yaqoubi in his lectures on Islamic eschatology and
Shaykh Ahmad Ali has stated that the authenticity of the narration
is questionable and has not been verified.
Eclipses aside, Imam al-Mahdi is the first major sign of apoca-
lypse, and represents the visible sign of Allah Most High fulfilling
His promise to the Muslims for proactively changing their condi-
tion based on the Quranic verse which has been the bedrock of
modern Islamic thought, Verily, Allah does not change the condi-
tion of a people until they change themselves. Only when Muslims
become Mumineen, convinced of Islam, and reach a critical mass
of conviction which only Allah Most High knows, then Imam al-
Mahdi will emerge. Till that time, Allah Most High has said that
He is able and willing to stretch the fabric of time itself till Muslims
fulfill the Divine Trust. Consequently, it would be wise to put the
speculations about the emergence of the Mahdi to the side, perform
the eclipse prayer if one occurs, and always allow Ramadan to be
an opportunity to renew their relationship with the Book, the Holy
Quran. Indeed, it is the renewal of this Ummah with this Book
which constitutes a genuine unwritten sign heralding the advent of
the Awaited Imam.
Butros al-Bakr is a writer with Alpha1 Media
Ecl i pses
do no t
co nst i t ut e a si gn o f
bi r t h, deat h o r
emer gence fo r anyo ne,
acco r di ng t o t he
Pr o phet .
PORTFOLIO PORTFOLIO
Q - N EW S
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27
I
n November, more than 200, 000
people jammed the streets of
London to protest their opposi-
tion to the state visit of President
George Bush and their dismay at
the policies that he and Prime
Minister Tony Blair are executing
abroad, particularly the continued military occupation of Iraq. It was the largest weekday political demon-
stration in British history and we were there. Walking under the magnificent Big Ben clock tower that dom-
inates the Houses of Parliament and joining the crowd in chanting our discontent with Mr. Blair in front of
his official residence at 10 Downing Street, we were energised by the spirit and incredible diversity of
the crowd.
Men in long beards and flowing robes walked beside decorated war veterans; brash students waving
provocative banners mixed with well-heeled office workers from the city; Members of Parliaments joined hands
with anarchists; and the ardently secular and uncompromisingly faithful stood together as speaker after
speaker denounced the war on terror, the attacks on civil liberties and the continued occupation of Iraq. It
was a genuine expression of citizenship and an embracing of what we feel are the core values of democracy: civic
participation and civic empowerment.
No state program or government intervention has been able to do in three decades what these demonstrations
have done in less than a year: to galvanise globally broad cross-section of people in a common political proj-
ect. The transformation of this project into a broader vision of social change has already begun.
Today, we are on the cusp of a global civil society a complex, interconnected web of networks, institutions,
organizations and communities committed to equity, liberty and justice. It is a messy picture, not easily defined.
Yet, throughout the world, the slogan another world is possible is inspiring millions to work towards a new
deal for the planets most marginalised and disadvantaged.
The Islamic tradition recognised long ago our common human destiny. The spiritual call to devoted service
for humanity and the common good is as Prophetic as ritual prayer and fasting in Ramadan. Today Muslims are
once again at the heart of this civic awakening.
While bombs go off in Istanbul and Riyadh and the angry margins of political Islam call for jihad against a
monolithic west, Muslims the world over are questioning the logic of bombs and terror, of hate and anger.
As hawks - some calling on Allah, others appealing to the stars and stripes prophesise a
great clash of civilization, an armed jihad pitting believer against infidel, gathering
voices do not want a future shaped by violence and confrontation.
They reject the autocrats who rule the Islamic world and
in the same breath wonder about American
promises to bring democracy to the
Muslim world. Will this democracy come on
the back of a tomahawk cruise missile? Will it
be engineered in Washington by policy
wonks and technocrats? Or will it grow by the
bottom-up from the vibrant communities
of faith, engaged in civil society, both here and
abroad.
Moreover, how do we open a dialogue
between Islam and democracy, when Muslims of
the West are on the receiving end of
Islamophobia and a legislative claw back on
civil liberties in their own countries? Isnt the prom-
ise of our own democracy unfulfilled?
Perhaps democracy is a work in progress. It will
only grow and change if it is challenged and
shaped by the citizens who live within its frame-
work, as most of us do.
And thus, we believe that dialogue and
encounter are the only ways to achieving a social-
ly just world. It is a discussion of some urgency.
Q-News knows that this dialogue is not a
new one, but we hope that these pages will carry the dis-
cussion forward, intelligently, into the public square
where it rightfully belongs.
A N D
ISLA M
D EM O C RA C Y
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Q - N EW S
PORTFOLIO PORTFOLIO
I
dont think a clash of civilizations is inevitable, but I do think that
there are many people in the world who want a clash of civiliza-
tions. I want to charge that North American Muslims in general
are uniquely and historically well placed to help avoid a clash which
will have enormously bad consequences for the rest of worlds 1.2
billion Muslims and for the people in the west as well.
For the last 50 yers the west in general, and the United States in
particular, has engaged in a fundamentally cynical, misguided and
incorrect approach to its engagement with countries everywhere in
the Muslim world. That approach has been pretty simple. We sup-
ported any dictator no matter how nasty he was so long as that dic-
tator would promise us that he was not a Communist and later,
when the threat of Communism seemed to wane, that he would
keep in check potential radicalism arising from within his people.
This was done in the name of an ideal known as stability, the avoid-
ance of an Islamic revolution of the kind that took place in Iran.
This policy has led to pretty deep hostility towards the United
States in particular. What is striking and what is hugely important is
that it has not lead to a deep condemnation of the idea democracy. In
fact in the last decade throughout the Muslim world, an increasingly
large number of Muslims have been saying the values of democracy
are not incompatible with the values of Islam. The United States and
most of the rest of the West fail to live up to the values of democracy,
due to their support of autocratic regimes, but Islam has no quarrel
with democracy as a phenomenon if only democracy were properly
expressed. There are also people in the Muslim world who have taken
the position that democracy in its very essence is incompatible with
Islam. A standard argument runs something like this: Islam stands for
the sovereignty of God, democracy stands for the sovereignty of the
people what could be more incompatible than that? This sounds like
a powerful argument. Of course its true that in Islam ultimate sover-
eignty rests in God, but to apply the law requires human effort. The
act of fiqh, the interpretation and application of divine law to partic-
ular cases, has to be done by humans. If we had continuing revelation
it may be different, but we dont. The process of shaping government
is the responsibility of human being trying to be faithful and respon-
sible to the values of their traditions and their beliefs.
On the side of democracy, the statement that democracy is the
sovereignty of the people is a fundamental misunderstanding of what
we mean by democracy today. No one in a liberal constitutional
democracy believes that all of our fundamental rights and liberties are
determined by the people, because if they were, whenever a majority
of the people wanted to harm a minority there would be nothing
wrong with it. But we believe we have certain fundamental rights that
exist independently of what the majority says. Where do they come
from? Some people think they come from nature, others believe they
come from God. In fact, the writers of the Declaration of
Independence of the United States said explicitly that they came from
God. It stands for the idea that the people make laws insofar as that
those are compatible with some fundamental values that transcend
human decision-making. There are scholars in the Muslim world who
are saying that once we properly understand democracy there is no
reason to conclude that it demands a notion of sovereignty that is
incompatible with the ultimate sovereignty of God.
Noah Feldman is a professor at New York University and author of
After Jihad: America and the Struggle for Islamic Democracy. He
is the former Senior advisor for constitutional law to the Office of
Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance in Iraq.
ISLA M A N D D
IS A C LA SH O F C IVILIS
ISLA M STA N D S FO R T H E SO VEREIG N T Y O F G O D,
D EMO C RAC Y STA N D S FO R T H E SO VEREIG N T Y O F T H E
PEO PLE W H AT C O U LD BE MO RE IN C O MPAT IBLE T H A N
T H AT ? IT S T RU E... BU T TO A PPLY T H E LAW REQ U IRES
H U MA N EFFO RT. T H E PRO C ESS O F G O VERN MEN T IS T H E
RESPO N SIBILIT Y O F H U MA N BEIN G S
Excerpted from a dialogue between Noah Feldman and Hamza Yusuf on 5 December 2003 in Toronto, Can
Q - N EW S
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29
PORTFOLIO PORTFOLIO
T
he ultimate belief of many fanatics within the secular western
and religious western traditions is that we must all become
western. Democracy is the end-all and that there is nothing
beyond the western liberal society.
What I find difficult about this thesis is an incredible act of denial
in which it is assumed that something is innately wrong with the
Muslims. This is like the old white view of blacks in America, Why
dont they just pull themselves up by their bootstraps; Whats wrong
with these people? There is always a racial undertone in that ques-
tion. Well, like Dr Martin Luther King said, If they stole your boot-
straps from you, how do you pull yourselves up?
Its really interesting to me that in 1953 a democratically elected
Prime Minister in Iran was overthrown by a coup detat that has
been incredibly well documented. Every taxi driver in Cairo knows
that Dr Mosaddeq was overthrown in 1953. I would challenge any-
body to prove to me that one out of a hundred or even one out of a
thousand Americans knows that our democratic government under-
mined another democratically elected Muslim government in Iran. A
legitimate government was replaced with a tyranny.
Thus, I believe that the real question is not whether Islam can
embrace democracy, I believe the real question is can the west truly
embrace Islam as a full-fledged member of the international commu-
nity. There are 1.2 billion people on this planet that are Muslim, with
varying degrees of education, but they do believe that Islam is a rev-
elation from God. The mujtahid always recognised that he was not
speaking on behalf of God and that the overwhelming majority of
laws in the Islamic tradition are not seen as theocratic but rather they
are laws that are derived from the efforts of human beings attempt-
ing to understand the Divine will. So it is important for Muslims to
recognise that rather than looking at Islamic law as a monolithic
theocratic system that was sent from on high, it must be recognized
as Divine principles that were given to us. Most of them are com-
pletely congruent with the very same principles that are working in
this society. These principals are an attempt to establish the most just
ruling in any given situation.
We will differ on the particulars, but on general principles, I think
many Muslims will be deeply shocked to find that the very same legal
principles working in western constitutional law are the same legal
principles working in Islamic law. What I find very unfortunate is
that most of our Muslim legal scholars are almost entirely ignorant
of western legal theory and systems. Islam is a legal system that can
absorb much of what we hold dear in the west in terms of our dem-
ocratic ideals.
If by democracy we mean a citizenry in which human beings do
participate in achieving the quality of life that they desire for them-
selves, for their children and for others, then I would say that democ-
racy is absolutely compatible with the Islamic tradition.
A tyrant does not adhere to the law but he follows his personal
whims and this for too long has been the norm in Muslim countries
and there are many reasons for it. This has led to social conditions in
the Muslim world that are both degrading and also debilitating. They
actually cause an enervation to occur in the will and spirit of the
people. When we ask what went wrong, we must recognize that
Muslims have proven to be amongst the most productive minds of
our current civilization holding some of the highest positions in cor-
porations, in medicine and in engineering. We have had Nobel Prize
winners and have participated in making this world a better place
when the breath of freedom has been there to nourish it, but too
often that spirit as been missing.
D EM O C RA C Y
LISAT IO N S IN EVITA BLE?
M A N Y M U SLIM S W ILL BE D EEPLY SH O C K ED TO FIN D
T H AT T H E VERY LEG A L PRIN C IPLES W O RK IN G IN
W EST ERN C O N ST IT U T IO N A L LAW A RE T H E SA M E
PRIN C IPLES W O RK IN G IN ISLA M IC LAW . M O ST M U SLIM
LEG A L SC H O LA RS A RE A LM O ST EN T IRELY IG N O RA N T
O F W EST ERN LEG A L T H EO RY A N D SYST EM S.
nto, Canada. Organised by Ihya Foundation. Audio recordings coming soon from Alhambra Productions.
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PORTFOLIO PORTFOLIO
O
rdinary British Muslims, who have traditionally voted
Labour, are finally expressing themselves through the bal-
lot box. Nowhere was this more blatant than in the recent
by-election in the London constituency of Brent East. The histori-
cally strong Labour seat, formerly held by the now Mayor of
London Ken Livingstone, fell dramatically with an overwhelming
majority to Sara Teather of the Liberal Democrats. The substantial
Muslim population of Brent East, formerly unshakeable Labour
supporters, finally had enough and told the Labour party what it
could do with its foreign policy. The shock result not only made
Labour sit up and take note but also spurred the opposition parties
to seek disaffected Muslim voters and steal them from Labour.
The Brent East defeat has provoked major policy changes with-
in the Labour, which has thus far been quite happy to field token
Muslim candidates in unwinnable seats. It has taken more than
three generations of being taken for granted for the British Muslims
to wake up to the fact that their frustrations and anger can be reg-
istered effectively through the ballot box. Until recently, it was
believed that Muslims could be ignored, as they could never get their
act together. Now, Muslims can be taken as a serious threat or
opportunity depending on who you are.
Hence, Shahid Malik, who sits on the Labour National Executive
Committee, is now being considered as a possible Labour party can-
didate for Brent East at the next General Election in an attempt to
herd the lost Muslim sheep back into the fold and salve Labours tat-
tered pride. During the by-elections Maliks name was not considered
because a Muslim candidate was not felt to be necessary.
The fact that all major political parties are now scrambling for
the Muslim vote, isnt necessarily cause for celebration. The ques-
tion is: how sincere are the politicians? Without even attempting to
understand the real concerns of British Muslims, overtures and
alliances have been made to certain Muslim organisations and indi-
viduals who, it is believed, will be able to cater to the needs of the
Muslim community.
To give credit where it is due, New Labour has made significant
strides in reaching out to faith communities, particularly Muslims.
In retrospect, however, the appointments - for the first time - of
Muslims to the Houses of Lords, hosting of Eid parties at 10
Downing Street and Houses of Parliament, the appointment of
Muslim advisors by the government and other such moves can now
be legitimately viewed as tokenistic considering the numerous other
opportunities that could have been taken during the last decade.
However, having dangled the carrot, the government subse-
quently led the way in countenancing political subterfuge and mak-
ing sweet heart deals with ineffectual male-led Muslim organisa-
tions.
The initial gratification that faith communities were at last going
to be recognised gave way very quickly to well-rehearsed feelings of
disillusionment. One of the very first actions of the government was
to play delaying tactics with legislation on the matter of religious
discrimination. With such a huge majority it could have easily taken
it on and got it through as it has done on much more controversial
legislation such as the ban fox hunting. But it did not. Rather it car-
ried forward the last governments delaying tactics of going ahead
with research to look into whether Islamophobia existed and to
what extent. This piece of research by the University of Derby
became broadened to include general religious discrimination total-
ly diluting Islamophobia and its devastating impact on the Muslim
community; an early indication of the governments intentions and
level of sincerity with regards to Muslim issues.
Whilst on the one hand the government gives importance to
Muslim leaders by inviting them to Downing Street for tea and
photo opportunities albeit on the eve of blanket bombings in
Muslim countries, on the other it continues to drag its feet on any
real institutional changes that will make life easier for its Muslim
citizens. The impression of most people is that the government
speaks with a forked tongue. This perception is not helped by the
way the Government continues to tolerate the persistent inflamma-
tory anti-Muslim statements by the Home Secretary, David
Blunkett.
No wonder then that most British Muslims feel the Government
is playing games: it seeks to distract Muslims by offering titbits and
taking their attention away from the real issues. And the gambit
seems to have worked with the Muslim leadership making them
useful only to rubberstamp government agenda.
At a more local level, Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, due
to be up for re-election, has also woken up to a large Muslim con-
stituency in London and has started his own political manoeuvrings.
It has finally struck home that London is home to the majority of
British Muslims, the most diverse and multi-ethnic group in the
country with every tenth person in London being a Muslim. The
Mayor, if he wants to be confident about his re-election, has to
clinch the Muslim vote and the way to go is by courting organisa-
tions already favoured by the Government.
In the aftermath of September 11th, following an initial consul-
tative meeting facilitated by the Mayors Muslim Advisor Kumar
Murshid at the Greater London Authority (GLA), an advisory
group was set up to look into the needs of Londons Muslims. From
T H E RA C E FO R
T H E M U SLIM VO T E
A FT ER D EC A D ES O F IN VISIBILIT Y, PO LIT IC A L PA RT IES
A RE C LA M O U RIN G FO R T H E M U SLIM VO T E.
A PPRO A C H W IT H C A U T IO N , U RG ES K H A LID A K H A N .
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PORTFOLIO PORTFOLIO
this organic group came the London Muslim Coalition (LMC), an
organisation made up predominantly of grassroots organisations
with the intention of working collectively for strategic change in
London. Last April, the LMC was launched at City Hall with the
Mayor personally opening the proceedings. However, since the
launch, the Mayor has pushed the LMC aside and gone out of his
way to support two major conferences led by the favoured organ-
isations.
This marginalisation of the LMC by the Mayor became more
apparent by the lack of representation and involvement at the recent
GLA Eid Reception. The event fielded the usual suspects droning on
about Muslim family law, international politics and defensively
pleading that Muslims are not terrorists.
The Mayor, supposedly a man of the people and an ardent
champion of race and gender issues, was prepared to share a plat-
form with men who are hardly well informed about the concerns of
the community and without an adequate representation of women
and young people. This begs the question. How would other minor-
ity communities tolerate such antics by the Mayor of London?
If Muslim society is to be regenerated, it needs new ideas and
new blood. Without a doubt it needs the wisdom and experience of
the elders but it also needs the dynamism and energy of its young
people. It needs to engage all the elements that make up the com-
munity, women, for example, make up more than half of its con-
stituents, as do young people.
Despite the fostering by the government of these leaders and
their largely ineffective organisations they have been unable to make
any real impact on policies and issues. This is because most of them
do not have a background in the issues they want to represent and
have also allowed themselves to be drawn into the tried and tested
divide and rule strategies played by the politicians and decision
makers, undermining the grassroots organisations who have real
knowledge and understanding of the concerns on the ground. It
seems their overriding aim is to push themselves as the only voice
for the Muslim community by deliberately excluding other Muslim
groups and representatives.
The Muslim community is always accused of marginalising
women and young people. However, the government, political par-
ties and local authorities themselves also choose to bypass these
huge constituencies and give precedence to male-led organisations.
They only wish to talk to women if it concerns forced marriage and
domestic violence but for wider issues they prefer to approach the
men. Muslim women are not taken seriously despite their leading
the way on health and social welfare issues. It seems that Muslim
women can be liberated in Afghanistan but British Muslim women
are forced to languish in the margins.
Recently, Baroness Pola Uddin hosted a successful Eid reception
for Muslim women at the House Lords. It was the first time that
such an event had been held. Over a hundred Muslim women
activists, professionals and community workers from across the
country were delighted to be given the opportunity to get together
and meet at the very heart of British democracy. The atmosphere
was vibrant and buzzing. Female members of Parliament who
attended the event expressed amazement at the breadth of experi-
ence and the quality and confidence of the women. Of course there
are many proficient Muslim women who do not need to be spoon-
fed and liberated by Western feminists or Muslim female apologists;
they are quite capable of taking forward their own issues and setting
their own agenda. They only need to be given a chance.
The future of British Islam depends very much on what we invest
now in terms of goodwill and relevance. Policy makers must under-
stand that they need to have more depth than politicians in dealing
with the plethora of issues affecting the community. We cannot afford
tokenism and duplicity. The issues confronting British Muslims - of
neglect, marginalisation, frustration and fear - are real ones.
Our political strength now and in the future will depend on the
kind of leadership we produce. At the moment the state of our lead-
ership leaves a lot to be desired. Most lack the basic skills and intel-
ligence to interface and negotiate with different organs of state.
Despite the numerous opportunities we have failed to make the
authorities accountable and as a result they have managed to get away
with less than the basic minimum that we as a community deserve.
Unless a confident, relevant and capable voice emerges from the
community we shall continue to used and abused. This leadership
can only be built on the principles of honesty and fear of God.
Those presently masquerading as our representatives should realise
their limitation and facilitate the emergence of a new order.
The new lot need to have a much more bigger and healthier
agenda for our community. When they meet the authorities, they
must behave as proud, effective and unapologetic British citizens -
not some shadowy confused people with a hidden foreign agendas.
They should be able to articulate the fears and concerns of their
communities in an intelligent and relevant way: making demands
that are fair and just and in the spirit of pluralism and tolerance.
To be taken seriously this leadership needs to be honourable and
accountable, representative and capable: most important of all it
needs to be one that is thinking Muslim and Britain.
CONVERSATION
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Q - N EW S
Tell us about your new book. What is it calling for and why are
you writing it now?
Being a European Muslim was theoretical compared to my new
book. I look at how we can re-read our scriptural sources to come
out with new answers befitting the new environment we find our-
selves in. This new book recaptures the first book but with more
practical answers to what we are experiencing on the ground - after
all, the essence of Islam is about dealing with practical issues.
So what are we facing on the ground?
Well, firstly there is confusion between emotions and reality.
Secondly, I am concerned with education. One example is Islamic
schools. I' m not against them in principle. But I wonder if we are
creating parallel systems in favour of an artificial atmosphere. We
may be bringing Muslims together but we are not helping them
relate to wider society. Thirdly, I am concerned with social and
political participation. We live I democratic societies which requires
us to be involved at different levels. For now and for our future, we
must have a deep discussion about the specific ethics of citizenship.
We need to widen our circles beyond our spiritual and intellectual
communities and work with other partners in the name of our com-
mon values and common principles.
What is your concept of Muslim citizenship?
The ethics of citizenship are based on our loyalty to principles such
as justice, social equality, the work against all racism and discrimina-
tion. These principles are common with the West. The problem is that
we approach this with a minority mentality. There is no minority in
the West. You are either a citizen or not. You are involved in the sys-
tem or not. Constantly speaking as a minority is not going to help us.
When I speak as a Muslim for justice and equality, I am not speak-
ing about minority values, I am speaking about majority values. I
know how to speak about being inclusive instead of confining
myself to a very narrow identity as a minority.
The controversy leading up to the ESF put you once again in to
the limelight - describe to us the nature of the controversy, what
criticisms were made of you and how you and the Muslim com-
munity in France were impacted by it.
I have always condemned anti-semitism in verbally and in writing.
However, certain people who feel they must protect the interest of
Israel and Ariel Sharon are spreading the untruth that a new Judeo-
phobia is rising from Muslims. This has always been a tool against
those who dare criticise Israeli policies. I, and others, should be
allowed to criticise people who use this tool because they are play-
ing a bad role for the future. Increasingly, even socialists fall into
this category. For example, they say things like, millions of Muslims
means millions of potential extremists - as if it is natural to say
things like that. This episode reveals many things which were hid-
den amongst our own partners. They have always been very suspi-
cious about us. They have questions about feminism, women, vio-
lence. Our eyes have been opened - we need to have a deep discus-
sion about who we want to be partners with.
So how do you reconcile this with your call for wider partners?
How do we know who our friends, and therefore, partners, are?
It only shows that it will be a long difficult road but there is no other way.
This is the only way for us to be part of Europe. We need mutual trust but
this also means that we are ready to ask as well as answer all questions.
Muslims in the west have to be wary of superficial partnerships.
Increasingly evident is that our involvement at the local level is not
going to be free from what is going on at the international level.
Whether you are speaking about Israel, Palestine or Iraq, what you
say is connected to what you are doing at the local level.
Do you think the western Muslim has an important role to play to
help the general state of the Muslim world?
Ofcourse. This is one of the objectives of my book - Western
Muslims and the Future of Islam. We live in democratic societies
where Muslims and non Muslims live together relatively peacefully.
If we cannot build the partnerships here, who will? As a result of
these partnerships and bridge-building, I have seen in my travels
throughout the Muslim world that our answers to our problems are
becoming more and more sophisticated and useful.
How so?
Well, just the way we are helping to democratise the Western soci-
eties we live in. Until we realised that democracy does not contra-
dict Islam, how could we have participated? The lessons from our
struggles with prove useful to the Muslims world.
What do you say to groups that say Islam and democracy are not com-
patible, and that our God-given solution is to establish an Islamic state
or better still, have the Islamic flag flying over 10 Downing Street?
I am very critical of this stance. Firstly, this is a very superficial
understanding of Islamic teachings. Secondly, this is a very superfi-
cial understanding of European and American society. Thirdly, it is
simply dangerous. I consider this a binary vision of us versus them.
These people live in the West but say they should not be involved. I
have always maintained that deciding not to be politically involved
is a political decision, whether you like it or not. To say that we
should not respect the surroundings we live in is totally wrong. They
are living in Europe so they have to respect the rules. Muslims, like
all citizens, have an implicit contract with the society. We are bound
by the constitution and the law.
What are your thoughts on the social forum movement? What should
the priorities of Muslim participants be within the social forums?
I advocate our participation in these forums. I was in Florence last
year and again in Paris in November this year. I was also invited to
the World Social Forum in Porte Allegro. It' s important for us to
participate, not as minority voices but as Europeans or Americans
with a Muslim background. We too are capable of working against
injustice for the sake of another world.
We agree on so many things with others who participate in these
forums. We disagree on other matters, ofcourse and we must pro-
mote a mutual respect. We need to accept our differences and keep
TA RIQ
Q - N EW S
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33
working together.
Our problem in the West is not legislation. The problem is very bad rep-
resentation. They themselves are responsible for this change. We are
responsible for changing the fact that people don' t like us or don' t like
Islam.
Let's be visionary - give us your vision for Islam in Europe?
A silent revolution is taking place. More and more Muslim men and
women are changing their perception of Europe and of their identi-
ty. The perception that our identity is bound by country of origin of
our parents for example or our race is also changing very fast.
Slowly but surely, this visible presence of Muslims is going to be more
greater and more active. It is up to us to prepare people to be who
they want to be but at the same time, involved and engaged in a pos-
itive way. My question is not whether we are ready to integrate but
rather, are we ready to contribute because integration is already done.
Silent revolution sounds daunting. Should the West be scared?
It' s a positive thing. It' s an internal revolution - Muslims are chang-
ing perception of themselves and of the old binary vision of reality.
It will enrich Europe because we can push our fellow citizens to live
up to their talk of pluralism. It was easy when these societies were
largely homogeneous. Now it' s not homogeneous so can we imple-
ment the idea of real pluralism, which means understanding the
other from the other' s perspective. This is not easy. We must con-
front these important questions that will change the way we live
together. At the end of the day, while we widen our circles, its impor-
tant to remain spiritually linked to our Islamic values. Even though I
was born in Europe, I realise that remaining spiritual at heart in this
capitalist consumer society is difficult. These questions on the deeper
meaning of life, why we are here, why we do the things we do could be
our most important contribution to this world.
At the social forum you publicly supported France's secularism law
from the early 20th C. How should Muslims approach secularism?
Secularism is the way the European society reached the reality of reli-
gious freedom. Secularists don' t necessarily oppose religion. Secularism is
a process by which European societies have allowed for freedom of prac-
tise and worship. It is really important we understand this, as opposed to
the more common and simplistic understanding of secularism.
In countries like Algeria and Turkey and even now in Iraq, the experience
of secularism is different. Secularists were actively against Islam.
Colonists deliberately imposed a system against our heritage and religion.
However, the brand of secularism in Europe is different - it is not
imposed on people. Quite the opposite. Collective psychology of
secularism creates a pluralistic society where the different religions
can exist and be respected. Mind you, amongst the different under-
standings of secularism is also the narrow strand promoted by cer-
tain French intellectuals. They are dangerous because their ideolog-
ical reading of secularism is divisive. We have to struggle to promote
a broader understanding of what secularism is and could be.
Why do you think the French state and its apparatus discriminate
against the Muslim community as demonstrated by the headscarves
controversy?
Firstly, French society hasn' t forgotten the colonisation of Algeria.
Their perception of French Muslims is connected to this history.
Secondly, French Muslims are very poorly represented. These poor
representatives are spreading fear that there are millions of very vis-
ible Muslims in France now and they are about to invade the French
way of life. This fear is wrong but it should be kept in mind. We can-
not just brush away the fears of our fellow citizens.
Thirdly, the scarf issue is filling the lack of political debate between
the left and right. When the right-wing party started to build rela-
tions with the Council of French Muslims, and succeeded where the
left had failed only a few years before, the socialists made a contro-
versy out of the scarf issue. The left used the scarf to demonstrate
that only they, not the right, had the interests of France at heart. It
is an excuse, an alibi used mainly by the French left.
Unfortunately, this political discussion has done nothing to abate the real
problems faced by French Muslims. They are facing discrimination and
deprivation on many levels in their daily lives. What' s the point of ban-
ning the hijab if you isolate an already ghettoised Muslim community?
By filling the lack of debate, France is avoiding any real discussion
of what policies will really prevent further alienation and depriva-
tion amongst immigrants.
How do we restore Muslim women to their rightful role as full partici-
pants in the process of citizenship and community building in the west?
Muslims still have a very superficial understanding of Islamic teachings
with regards to women. Many find it difficult to differentiate between
what Islam teaches and what their cultures teach. What was done in
Pakistan, India or the Arab world - mainly patriarchal societies - isn' t
the only way to understand how Islam should be implemented.
Secondly, we have different readings amongst scholars. We have the lit-
eralist and the reformist readings, for example. The interpretation you
will get is often affected by the mindset of the scholar reading the text.
That' s why we need women involved in the reading of our sacred texts.
Very importantly, we need to avoid thinking it' s about women
against men. When we organise conferences for and about women,
it' s as if a man shouldn' t be allowed to speak. Why are the women
always speaking amongst themselves?
Do you think this comes out of an overly strict interpretation of segregation?
This is a very superficial, narrow and wrong interpretation of our
sacred texts. This kind of segregation is not acceptable. It is a very
tremendous responsibility of men to promote this change.
In my new book, I discuss Islamic feminism. I know some Muslims
are not happy about this concept but my point is that feminism is a
way for women to ask for the rights that Allah has granted them.
Lastly, it is high time women spoke out and got involved in the net-
working process. Whatever a women chooses - scarf or no scarf,
involved or not involved, she needs to speak out that it is her free-
dom to make this choice. The more our women speak the more
credible, trustworthy we will be as a community.
It' s a tragedy and a distortion that we always have men speaking on
behalf of women.
Q RA M A D A N
CONVERSATION
W H AT IS T H E FU T U RE
O F M U SLIM S IN EU RO PE?
FA REEN A A LA M TA LK S TO
O N E O F T H E M O ST
IN FLU EN T IA L T H IN K ERS
O F O U R T IM E.
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T
he United Kingdom has been dubbed as a hotbed of radical
Islamism outside the Muslim world. It is here among the Muslim
community in the United Kingdom that we find perhaps the single
largest gathering of radical and militant Muslim groups such as Hizb
al-Tahrir, al-Muhajiroun, and a host of other Neo-Salafi and Jihadi
outfits. It is rather ironic that those who would vehemently argue that
democracy is antithetical to Islam are able to propagate their ideas
within a non-Muslim democratic political system. This is not possible
anywhere else, most especially not in the Muslim world. It was just
recently, that Pakistan outlawed Hizb al-Tahrir along with a host of
other sectarian and militant groups. Even while advocating their pre-
ferred mode of Islamist authoritarianism and rejecting democracy,
groups such as Hizb al-Tahrir unabashedly avail of all the freedoms in
the UK to advance their global agenda.
The essential problem with the argument of those Islamist indi-
viduals and groups that claim democracy has nothing to do with
Islam is the way in which they define both Islam and democracy.
Most Muslim opponents of democracy construct their arguments on
two false assumptions. On the one hand, they assume that Allah has
provided a specific political system in the divine texts of the Quran
and the Sunnah. At the same time, they think that the only real
democracy is the western secular brand.
This article is an attempt to illustrate the intellectual discrepancies
inherent in the notion that Islam is incompatible with democracy, by
deconstructing the understanding that radical Islamists have regard-
ing both Islam and democracy. It will conclude with an explanation
of what does Islam, basically, say about governance, and how democ-
racy is nothing more than the best way, man has thus far devised, to
conduct governance while minimizing conflict.
R
adical Islamists see Islam as containing within itself, a well-
defined timeless system regarding government and politics. The
sundry groups that constitute the universe of radical and militant
Islamism disagree amongst each other about the political components
of Islam, however, they seem to agree on one essential thing - Islam
provides for a well-defined political system that is unchanging, which
with slight adjustments is applicable in all times and places. Most of
these groups refer to this system as the Khilafah system, and one
can find multiple tracts floating around in the public domain entitled
The Ruling System of Islam or something similar.
Even a cursory glance at the historical development of Islamic
political thought and practice is sufficient to make one realize that
there is no such thing as The Islamic Political System or The Ruling
System of Islam or The Khilafah System. Not only do we see an
enormous amount of variance in the way the different jurists
approached the subject of Islamic governance, but also in the prac-
tice of the various caliphates from 632 to 1924. Furthermore, the
mere fact that all such theses are the ijtihad of individuals, clearly
underscores that there is no one particular system, which Islam pre-
scribes. In fact, there can be multiple ruling systems of Islam,
because the Quran and Sunnah do not privilege one particular sys-
tem. Instead, the divine texts contain only general principles regard-
ing the issue of governance, on the basis of which scholars in any
given spatio-temporal setting can construct political systems. Thus,
the various prescriptions in circulation are nothing but someones
interpretation, which at best can be referred to as an Islamic sys-
tem pertaining to governance.
Moreover, concepts such as Islamic state, Islamic political system,
sovereignty of Allah or of the Shariah, or of the ulema, and so on are
also products of the modern age and did not exist in the glorious
past, to which the radicals advocate a return. Radical and militant
Islamists do not realize that this terminology is itself a synthesis result-
ing from the Muslim encounter with the west in the crucible of
modernity after a long interregnum, during which Islamic discourse,
for the most part, remained frozen in time. Those who advocate
archaic political prescriptions do so by the process of selective incor-
poration of medieval fiqh, because they have anachronistically con-
structed false continuums. One such false continuum is the existence
of a single monolithic khilafah. This ad hoc cutting of time-bound
prescriptions of historical fuqaha and the subsequent pasting on to
altered contemporary realities in the here and now is because of the
undue privilege given to the ulema of the past.
Many Muslims overlook the fact that shariah and fiqh are not
synonymous. While the former is the law of Allah, the latter is a
human interpretation of that law. The principles in the Quran and
Sunnah need to be operationalised, which involves the human agency
of reason. Ignoring the impact of interpretation on knowledge forma-
tion, radical Islamists view original texts as manuals containing step-
by-step procedures on how to establish an Islamic state. What needs
to be realized is that the Quran and the Sunnah are the primary
sources from which rules, processes, and systems need to be system-
atically distilled. Therefore, those who insist upon the existence of
The Ruling System of Islam not only exclude Islams juristic heritage
but also treat conclusion after interpretation as God sent revelations.
N
ot only do radical Islamists suffer from a misunderstanding of
what Islam has to say about governance, their tracts also betray
their simplistic conceptualization of democracy. Just as radical
Islamists engage in the gross essentialization of the notion of Islamic
governance, they exhibit a similar attitude toward democracy. For
them, democracy is also a well-defined system in which, according to
them, man as opposed to Allah enjoys the right to legislate.
IS D EM O C RA C Y D ISBELIEF?
K A M RA N BO K H A RI C H A LLEN G ES T H E T IRESO M E M ILITA N C Y
O F T H O SE W H O SEEK A M YT H IC A L ISLA M IC STAT E
PORTFOLIO PORTFOLIO
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Radical Islamists almost always quote Abraham Lincoln;
Government of the people, by the people, for the people, as THE
definition of democracy. They love to quote it, thinking that they have
clearly established what democracy really is. What they have done,
however, is only privilege the western forms of democracy as the only
true democracy. Democracy in reality and in the words of W.B. Gallie,
is an essentially contested concept, which means that there is no
one brand of democracy that is more authentic than the other. Hence,
the argument about the Islamist rejection of people make the legis-
lation in terms of what is right and what is wrong, is moot.
Moreover, by arguing that democracy is majority rule they tend to dis-
regard the role of constitutionalism and rule of law.
Even in an Islamic state (man or men depending on whether it is
a democracy or an authoritarian type of an Islamic state) are sover-
eign. The problem is how Islamists define sovereignty. The hyper-
tendency of Islamists to view almost everything as black and white
prevents them from understanding many complex concepts
such as sovereignty. A prominent American Muslim politi-
cal scientist Dr. Muqtedar Khan eloquently demonstrates
how the Islamist opponents of democracy have misunder-
stood sovereignty. He argues that while Allah exercises de
jure sovereignty, He has allowed man de facto sovereignty
over practical matters. The proof of this is that he gave us
the choice to do haram or halal, and will judge us accord-
ingly. Allah through his Rasul (peace be upon him) made
the Quran and Sunnah as the primary sources of legislation
and not legislations in of themselves. However, it is up to
human beings to implement them or not, which in both
cases requires legislation. Texts are texts unless people choose to fol-
low them. Hence, man is sovereign. So, it is wrong to place this issue
in an either or type of argument. In the words of a brilliant
Palestinian scholar Raja Bahlul, an Islamic democracy may be a dif-
ficult concept to accept, but it should not be rejected on the basis of
some perceived difference in the location of sovereignty, which is
clearly not an argument.
I
n essence, the problem of radical and militant Islamist political
ideologies is that they are constructed on the basis of literalist
readings of Islam and simplistic conceptions of democracy. The
expertise of most radical Islamist ideologues is in the natural and
applied sciences and not the social sciences. Thus, disproportionate-
ly they are not just ill-qualified about Islam, but politics as well.
Furthermore, they also do not have any practical experience in
Islamic or democratic governance. The sad part is that their follow-
ers view their ruminations as being equivalent to hukm sharii.
Muslims need to become more sophisticated about specialisation of
knowledge. We should be able to understand that any hafidh,
mufassir, muhaddith , alim of a particular Islamic topic is not a
faqih or mujtahid capable of issuing fatwa. Moreover, even a muj-
tahid is limited to engaging in ijtihad on the topics he or she has
been trained in. On top of all this, the bifurcation of educational
curricula in the Muslim world has led to the situation where dis-
proportionately those trained in ulum al-deen have little or know
understanding of ulum al-dunya and vice-versa. A very tiny minor-
ity of people have been able to acquire the best of both worlds, and
hence moved beyond their original training. The vast majority of
scholars are stuck in the uni-dimensional nature of their academic
universes. A dangerous consequence of this situation is that we have
traditional ulema engaging in political activism and not being able
to offer the masses anything but slogans. They are unable to distill
public policy from their theoretical Islamic knowledge.
For Muslims, Islam is indeed a way of life prescribed for all
times and places. The divine texts, however, are limited in number.
The only way in which a limited number of texts can continue to
provide guidance over time is by being general in nature. In other
words, that there are eternal principles in the Quran and Sunnah in
so far as governance is concerned, but Allah has left to the believers
the mechanisms by which they can operationalize these principles.
There are serious doctrinal implications in the way radical Islamists
understand Islamic governance. If we accept the argument that there
is a single political system that Allah has ordained for the believers
for all times to come, then this flies in the face of social development
that has occurred over time. Such an understanding is not just super-
ficial, but it also contradicts the belief that Islam is a way of life for
all times and places. The only way in which Islam (given the fact
Allah meant for human beings to develop complex and dynamic
social organizations) remains as such is if Allah provided the funda-
mental principles and left the issue of crafting implanting, and mod-
ifying political systems up to the believer.
As for democracy, broken down to its essentials, it is nothing
more than the most efficient means of political management avail-
able today. The political systems of all societies at a certain time
were autocratic in nature, which is why we saw kingdoms and
empires all over the world. This same political structure was the case
with the khilafah envisioned by radical Islamists. This is because the
structure of any polity has nothing to do with ideological and or
religious concerns. Political systems are the products of human
social and intellectual innovations. The state of tangible material
devices are dependent on the state of the available technology, sim-
ilarly socio politico-economic systems rely on the level of intellectu-
al and political sophistication enjoyed by a society. A small dose of
counter-factual history is enough to make one realize that had
Muslim world not suffered from intellectual stagnation, it just might
be the case that it would have been the one to lead the way away
from authoritarianism to democracy, instead of the west. Then of
course, the democratic system(s) that would have merged would
have been in keeping with the Islamic ethos. The problem is that
radical Islamists and many ordinary Muslims view democracy as
being synonymous with western secularism. The two are entirely
different concepts and do not have a necessary relationship with one
another. What needs to be understood is that democracy is about
providing a constitutional framework, which would ensure, legiti-
macy of the government, accountability, transparency, rule of law,
regulation of state-society relations.
Since, Islam has not provided any specific political system for
the believers to adopt, and democracy is nothing more than the most
proficient means of organising the political affairs of a people, then
where is the haram or kufr in this? While, it is true that a workable
model of an Islamic democracy has yet to emerge, this is not because
Islam and democracy are antithetical to one another. On the con-
trary, it is a function of the perpetuating state of arrested state of
political development in the Muslim world.
N o t o nl y do r adi cal Isl ami st s suffer
fr o m a mi sunder st andi ng o f w hat
Isl am has t o say abo ut go ver nance,
t hei r t r act s al so bet r ay t hei r si mpl i st i c
co ncept ual i sat i o n o f demo cr acy.
PORTFOLIO PORTFOLIO
A
s a Muslim psychotherapist who is also involved in a polit-
ical arena through being active in the anti-war movement I
am increasingly forced to reflect on how Islamic notions of
the self both relate to and explain socio-political realities. What does
my faith demand of me in terms of my role in wider society and pol-
itics? In view of the world post 9/11 I think such reflection and
analysis is more relevant and urgent than ever.
Even the stage of beginning to articulate the questions is reflec-
tive of my struggle. Indeed, it is not until we begin to ask the right
and relevant questions of ourselves as individuals and a community,
can we begin to make the most appropriate responses. In this way
we have to constantly check that we are not merely still enacting a
response to a question which has long become irrelevant.
How can individuals carry out their responsibilities to develop
themselves to fulfill their highest potential, whilst at the same time
enabling others around them to fulfill their highest potential, such
that society as a whole is moved towards a positive direction?
I feel the emphasis on principles and self development in Islam is
an important framework which enables the believer to have an
anchor of stability in an ever-changing environment. No matter
what else is going on we know that there are some goals in our daily
life which remain fixed: maintaining a close relationship with Allah
which provides the foundation of all our other relationships and
interactions. By remaining clear about our intentions and con-
sciously taking care of our inner spiritual state we may hold on to a
sense of calm and clarity. With this central spiritual relationship we
find the strength to hopefully enact some kind of consistency in our
external behaviour, such that it reflects sound underlying principles.
This principled behaviour should be reflected in our interactions
with our families, our friends, with strangers and society at large. If
we are not being reactive and not acting simply from our lower
selves it is more difficult for those around to do so too. Also, by
remembering that every other person, by virtue of their God-given
innate nature - their fitra- has the potential to be the highest of cre-
ation, we are able to continually see the best in each person. People
rise or stoop to your expectations of them. So by remaining vigilant
36
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about our own
state, I believe we
can certainly influ-
ence those out-
side of us.
In this way I
believe the same
p r i n c i p l e s
employed to deal
with intra person-
al and interperson-
al are relevant to -
and I would argue
of essential
importance - in
politically chal-
lenging situations. These include very
basic and simple principles which can get lost in political maneu-
verings and apparent complexities of political dilemmas. For exam-
ple, being scrupulously just, feeling and showing genuine respect,
treating others as you would want to be treated yourself, giving ben-
efit of the doubt, seeking to build on the positive, not assuming a
suspicious or negative stance, seeking to understand from the others
viewpoint, being sincere in the interaction, being patient, compas-
sionate and generous etc.
Such principles, in a political context, can be employed to build
genuine alliances. Trust between individuals and groups relies on the
personal integrity of the individuals involved, hence the degree to
which they are genuinely principled will influence the quality of any
bond, and in turn the amount of influence they exert. Such an
approach is the direct opposite of a Machiavellian approach to rela-
tionships and politics with its emphasis on manipulating people,
stating one agenda whilst having another - in short, the kind of
duplicitous and insincere behaviour which has lead the word poli-
tics to be automatically associated with dirty, in the same manner
that the word Islam is now (wrongfully) associated with the word
PO LIT IC A L EN G A G EM EN T IS N O T
O N LY C O M PAT IBLE TO T H E Q U EST FO R
IN D IVID U A L SPIRIT U A LIT Y,
IT FO LLO W S FRO M IT,
A RG U ES SALMA YAQOOB
T H E PERSO N A L IS
PO LIT IC A L
PORTFOLIO PORTFOLIO
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37
terrorism.
The concept of fitra in Islam implies that all humans
having already experienced the Divine (Quran, 7:172)
contain the blue print of perfection within themselves.
Such concepts provide a powerful means of challenging a
cynical view of human nature. They help to highlight our
shared nature with an emphasis on positive potential - a
much needed reminder when we are constantly confront-
ed with the negative consequences of human behaviour,
especially in the current political context of increasing wars
and artificially contrived push towards a clash of civilisa-
tions.
Most people cherish the values of honesty, justice,
peace and equality and there is a lot of overlap in the hopes
and aspirations of huge amounts of people. Alliances made
on the basis of such values are to be encouraged, and should
not be seen to be a dilution or compromise of Islamic prin-
ciples, but an enactment of them. It follows that joining with
others, and encouraging others to work with us, in doing this
is not only to be encouraged but actually a religious duty. This
moral approach is further reinforced by the fact that even on a
strategic level, it is more effective for Muslims to participate in
united front activities as our concerns will be taken up in wider
arenas and not simply be consigned to minority issues.
And such alliances should not only be formed when it comes to
simply protecting our interests - we should be equally ready to par-
ticipate in issues which are of general importance, or when it comes
to protecting others rights. I believe that such an attitude is more
reflective of a sincere approach to issues of justice and oppression.
After all we are told in the Quran that the Prophet Muhammad,
peace be upon him, came as a mercy to Mankind - and not just as
a mercy to Muslims. I acknowledge that in the present climate there
is still an alarming lack of awareness, activism and co-operation
amongst Muslims, but as a point of principle the importance of our
relations with non-Muslim activists need to be addressed.
A point that can be raised here is: whilst acknowledging that
everyone has potential for good as well as a shared humanity, how
do we explain the oppression and extremism in the world today, and
how do we respond to the oppression around us?
Islam acknowledges that all of us fluctuate between different
states of emotion and spiritual connectedness at different times.
Just as we have a higher self which enables us to strive for and man-
ifest noble virtues such selflessness, truthfulness, and firmness of
resolve leading to inner peace (nafs mutmainna), we also have a
lower self, which pulls us towards selfishness, dishonesty, and laxi-
ty (nafs ammara). Injustice is the result of the lower instincts win-
ning over the higher instincts - both in personal and political set-
tings. When lower instincts dominate, harmony, equality and bal-
ance (the important states encompassed in the meaning of the very
word Islam) are disrupted, and discord and oppression result.
I would suggest, for example, the processes that occur in an abu-
sive personal relationship, are not so different from the process that
occur between nation states when they are based on exploitation
rather than fair dealing. In this way I believe some political
approaches and ideologies e.g the current neoliberal agenda are
unIslamic because of their inherently exploitative nature which
seek to enrich some nations and peoples at the expense of others.
They can be seen to be an institutionalised form of the lower self.
Greed, selfishness and arrogance dominate with no regard for con-
sequences for other people or the environment. For example, wars
take place to ensure that natural resources can be guaranteed for
oneself (because they often happen to inconveniently lie under
someone else' s land), ones superiority is assumed and this arrogance
allows the demonisation and persecution of other people.
Just as a Muslim has a duty to be aware of personal vices and
strive to overcome them in themselves, a Muslim has a duty to chal-
lenge institutionalised vices in society. The process is similar. First
there has to be an awareness, and hence self knowledge, and knowl-
edge of society is important. Only when there is a realistic assess-
ment of the situation, can personal and societal weaknesses be
addressed. Addressing both personal and societal issues successful-
ly involves clarity of intention and active effort.
Also, whilst understanding the horrendous nature of the oppres-
sion of states we still cannot endorse an extreme response, for exam-
ple suicide killings which involve innocent civilians. An unjust
response which essentially arises from feelings of despair, humilia-
tion, anger and bitterness - rooted in the lower, reactive self, cannot
yield the fruits of a pro-active response which arises from a healthi-
er place in the self. Testing and difficult as it is, Muslims still have a
duty to safeguard justice, and act in relation to a higher moral pur-
pose. Identifying and following the middle way: the hallmark of
our deen is incumbent on us. The other extreme of descending into
apathy and disengagement is, of course, equally unacceptable.
In Islam therefore, the personal is political, and the political is
personal. How else can we understand and act upon certain sayings
of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) such as, He who
sleeps with a full stomach whilst his neighbour is hungry is not one
of us?
Clearly we have a duty not only to alleviate the impact of pover-
ty and oppression through acts of charity on a personal level - but
to challenge and aim to eradicate the causes of poverty and oppres-
sion - a challenge which necessitates societal and political participa-
tion.
There are many significant related points and concepts that are
unable to be explored in a short article. However, if there is a single
point that is being attempted to be conveyed, it is this: according to
an Islamic perspective political engagement is not only not incom-
patible with the pursuit of individual spirituality- it follows from it.
When we act to combat injustice in society, it is simply an exter-
nal manifestation of our internal desire for freedom - which ulti-
mately is attained when we surrender our hearts to our Lord - peace
through liberation, and liberation through peace of heart: Islam.
T H E C O N C EPT O F FIT RA IS A
PO W ERFU L O N E BEC A U SE IT IS T H E
BLU EPRIN T FO R A PO SIT IVE FU T U RE,
N O T A C LA SH O F C IVILISAT IO N S. IT
G IVES U S H O PE A S W E ST RU G G LE TO
BU ILD A LLIA N C ES W IT H O T H ERS.
PORTFOLIO PORTFOLIO
I
f you value democracy, if you vote
Conservative or broadly support the Blair
Government; if you are pro-Establishment
and a monarchist; if you are a military or
police officer or a merchant banker, if you
are a Muslim or attracted to Islam, is there a
place for you in the Muslim ummah? If so,
should you feel guilty about what you are or
what you believe? At best, are you a lesser
believer than one who is engaged in ' jihad' ,
who rejects the essentials of a democratic
society and has a more ' halal' ' livelihood? In
the days when the likes of Lord Headley were among the few converts
to Islam, when Yusuf Ali saw few contradictions in supporting the
British Empire and countless Muslims volunteered to fight with the
Allies in two world wars, the question would not have been asked.
There are contemporary Muslims who have joined the Establishment,
but they are frequently criticised for so doing - even if they are con-
structively critical of it. But what is unusual is to see statements in the
media, or Muslim forums explicitly promoting conservative (with a
small ' c' - that is broadly supporting the status quo and favouring
gradual change) values and policies.
As will become clear, I see no significant conflict between sup-
porting conservative values and being Muslim. Rather, I would see a
conservative approach as more compatible. You may disagree or say
that this is a non-issue, but I think that it is clear that the current
orthodoxy among many Muslim leaders and in the Muslim med ia is
one which is ambivalent if not critical of democratic institutions and
the Establishment. This ' radical' view sets and limits the ' agenda' in
the Muslim media and many mosques. This is not to say that there is
no space for critical views, but there is a point when criticism
becomes, or is seen as, rejection - particularly if voices which are
broadly supportive of the decisions of government are not often
heard.
It has long been difficult to stand out against this orthodoxy, and
it has become more difficult' since 9/11. Q-News has run several
excellent articles, stressing the need for a more spiritual or ' cool'
response to events, but even here little has been said explicitly to lend
support to a more conservative response to events. George Bush
asserted, post 9/11, that you could only choose to be ' for or against
us in the ' War on Terror' and I would argue that Muslim opinion -
formers are only offering the same, false, choice. Even the Muslim
Council of Britain in their book, ' The Quest for Sanity' seems more
concerned with the consequences for Muslims of the ' War on Terror'
than the very real threat to democracy and civil life - to Muslims and
non-Muslims alike - posed by terrorism. To quote: Dutifully the
British government and others joined this ' war' that really has no
frontiers, no laws and no scruples (page 19) . ' The Quest for Sanity'
contains little advice as to what governments should actually do to
combat terror, given its ruthless and secretive nature - apart from the
general and long-term advice of bringing about a more just world - or
about how Muslims could help to combat extremism.
I am not excusing the excesses of this ' war' , or denying the tragedy
that has flowed from this, but pointing out that there is another, often
ignored, side to the argument. Moreover, if Muslims were able to put
there own ' house in order' - as they did in past times when tyrants and
schismatic were suppressed, we would not be confronted with the lim-
ited choice between ' supporting' or ' oppos-
ing' such wars.Whether in relation to the
' War on Terror' or the war in Iraq, there are
events and outcomes that Muslims may have
to accept rather than ' support' or ' oppose' . It
is not for me to say whether the outcome of
the Iraq war, for example, was Allah' s will
(perhaps His response to the final du' a of
countless murdered Iraqis), but neither can I
deny this possibility. However, to read the
Muslim media you might think that Allah
Almighty plays no role in history.
When I made comments to this effect at a recent meeting on events
post-9/11 (also suggesting that the Muslim Ummah had much to be
grateful to the Allies for in the defeat of Fascism and Communism)
you could have heard a pin drop. Why? This reaction was not to do
with a disagreement about historical facts, but a divergence of world-
view. In my opinion, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf was correct in pointing out
that much of the Muslim ummah has been influenced by a ' discourse
of anger' ' ; they have come to see themselves solely as victims and to
see conspiracies around every corner - and this has stifled debate.
My experience and feelings are not, of course, the issue. What I
fear is that many good, but non-radical, people may be deterred from
viewing Islam sympathetically or even saying La illaha ' illlah
Muhammad Rasul' Allah by explicit or implicit suggestions that radi-
calism is a prerequisite for the Muslim in his political views and per-
sonal life (no more birthday celebrations, art or music). I also fear that
many younger Muslims are being presented with a false choice: be
radical and ' true to Islam' or be assimilated in ' kuffar' society.
The conservative approach is not against progress. It is not reac-
tionary. It recognises the need for greater justice and moral probity,
but it is realistic about the reformability of mankind and is deeply
sceptical of utopian visions and simplistic divisions between ' good'
and ' evil' . That ' the road to hell is paved with good intentions' (or
what we believe are good intentions) could be the motto of the con-
servative view precisely because the conservative begins from reality -
with institutions and people as they are, not as we would like them to
be. It is capable, unlike the radical view, of bringing about real change.
The message of Islam is profoundly relevant to the many ills
which we now experience - and Muslims have a real and challenging
jihad (that is struggle) in bringing this message to bear, but we cannot
be part of the solution if we are unwilling to use democratic process-
es or are constantly cynical about the decisions reached. Of course, we
may - as many non-Muslims have done - see democracy (any elected
and accountable form of government) as the ' lesser of evils' or as the
best adapted political system yet devised for the modern world, not as
a perfect solution.
In many respects we are at a watershed, where the choice for
Muslims in the west is between a pragmatic and inclusive da' wa and
rejectionism and ivory tower isolation - although Allah alone knows
what the future may bring. I hope we can also avoid the ' discourse of
anger' among ourselves and ' hold fast (together) to the rope of Allah' .
But I believe that this can only be achieved if we acknowledge that
there are genuine dilemmas about how we live as Muslims in the mod-
ern world and no easy answers. A more honest, open and transparent
debate would be a good start.
RIG H T T H IS W AY
C O N SERVAT IVE VA LU ES A RE
M O RE C O M PAT IBLE W IT H
ISLA M T H A N T H E M U SLIM
C O M M U N IT Y IS
REA DY TO A D M IT,
W RIT ES HASSAN SCOTT
PORTFOLIO PORTFOLIO
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41
LO VE
EVEN
T H O SE W H O
REVILE
YO U
T
he convenient response to those who revile your religion is to return the favor. The
more virtuous position however is to forgive. Forgiveness as you know, while less
in virtue when compared to love, nevertheless, can result in love. Love, by defini-
tion, does not require forgiveness. What many Muslims today seem to forget is that
ours is a religion of love and our Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, was the Habib,
the Beloved. How did love, the defining virtue of our community, come to be replaced by an
urge to redress wrongs, to punish instead of to forgive?
It is the result of Muslims seeing themselves as victims. Victimization is a defeatist mentality.
It' s the mentality of the powerless. The word victim is from the Latin victima which carries
with it the idea of the one who suffers injury, loss, or death due to a voluntary undertaking.
In other words, victims of ones own actions.
Muslims never really had a mentality of victimization. From a metaphysical perspective,
which is always the first and primary perspective of a Muslim, there can be no victims. We
believe that all suffering has a redemptive value.
If the tendency among Muslims is to view themselves as victims which appears to me as a fall
from grace, what virtue must we then cultivate to dispense with this mental and physical state
that we now find ourselves in?
The virtue of patience is missing. Patience is the first virtue after tawba or repentance. Early
Muslim scholars considered patience as the first maqam or station in the realm of virtues that
a person entered into.
Patience in Islam means patience in the midst of adversity. A person should be patient in
what has harmed or afflicted him. Patience means that you dont lose your comportment or
your composure. If you look at the life of the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and
blessings, you will never ever find him losing his composure.
Patience was a hallmark of his character. He was the unperturbed one which is one of
the meanings of halim: wa kaana ahlaman-naas. He was the most unperturbed of humanity.
Nothing phased him either inwardly or outwardly because he was with Allah in all his states.
Patience is a beautiful virtuethe cry of Prophet Yaqub.... " fa sabran jamil." Patience, it
appears, is not an isolated virtue but rather it is connected to a network of virtues. Should
Muslims focus on this virtue at the expense of the other virtues?
The traditional virtues of a human being were four and Qadi Ibn Al-Arabi considered them
to be the foundational virtues or the ummahatul fadaa'il of all of humanity. They are: pru-
dence, courage, temperance, and justice.
Prudence, or rather practical wisdom, and courage, are defining qualities of the Prophet.
He, upon him be peace and blessings, said that God loves courage even in the killing of a
harmful snake.
Temperance is the ability to control oneself. Incontinence, the hallmark of intemperance,
is said to occur when a person is unable to control himself. In modern medicine it is used for
someone who cant control his urine or feces. But not so long ago the word incontinence
meant a person who was unable to control his temper, appetite or sexual desire. Temperance
is the moral virtue that moderates ones appetite in accordance with prudence. In early
Muslim scholarship on Islamic ethics, justice was considered impossible without the virtues of
prudence, courage and temperance.
Generosity as a virtue is derived from courage because a generous person is required to be
courageous in the face of poverty. Similarly, humility is a derivative from temperance because
SH AYK H
H A M Z A YU SU F
TA LK S TO
NAZIM BAKSH
A BO U T T H E
SEA RC H FO R
VIRT U E, BEA U T Y
A N D LO VE IN
A N A G E O F
H AT E, A N IM O SIT Y
A N D
RESEN T M EN T.
42
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the humble person will often restrain the urge to
brag and be a show-off because he or she sees
their talents and achievements as a gift from Allah
and not from themselves.
Patience as a virtue is attached to the virtue of
courage because the patient person has the
courage to endure difficulties. So 'hilm' (from
which you get 'halim'), often translated as for-
bearance or meekness if you wish, is frown upon
in our society. Yet it is the virtue we require to
stem the powerful emotion of anger. Unrestrained
anger often leads to rage and rage can lead to vio-
lence in its various shades.
Our predecessors were known for having an
incredible degree of patience while an increasing
number of us are marked with an extreme degree
of anger, resentment, hate, rancor and rage. These
are negative emotions which present themselves as
roadblocks to living a virtuous life.
A patient human being will endure tribula-
tions, trials, difficulties, hardships, if confronted
with them. The patient person will not be
depressed or distraught and whatever confronts
him will certainly not lead to a loss of comport-
ment or adab.
Adab, as you know, is everything.
Allah says in the Quran: Isbiru was-sabiru.'
Have patience and enjoin each other to patience.
The beauty of patience is that inallaha ma'as-
sabirin Allah is with the patient ones. If God is on
your side you will always be victorious. Allah says in the Quran
"Ista`inu bi-sabiri was-salat.'" Isti'aana is a reflexive of the Arabic verb
`aana which is to help oneself. Allah is telling us to help ourselves
with patience and prayer.
This is amazing because the Prophet, peace be upon him, said if
you take help, take help from God alone. And so in the Quran Allah
says: ista`inu bi-sabiri was-salaat. This means taking help from
patience and prayer because that is the means by which Allah has
given you to take help from Him alone.
How is it then that a person sees himself as a victim when all
calamities, difficulties and trials, are ultimately tests from Allah. This
does not mean the world is free of aggression and that victims have
suddenly vanished. What Im talking about is a persons psychology
in dealing with hardships.
The sacred law has two perspectives when looking at acts of
aggression that are committed by one party against another. When it
is viewed by those in authority the imperative is to seek justice.
However, from the perspective of the wronged, it is not to seek jus-
tice but instead to forgive.
Forgiveness, `afwa, pardon, is not a quality of authority. A court
is not set up to forgive. Its the plaintiff thats required to forgive if
there is going to be any forgiveness at all. Forgiveness will not come
from the Qadi or the judge. The court is set up to give justice but
Islam cautions us not to go there in the first place because by the
standard which you judge so too shall you be judged. That' s the
point. If you want justice, if you want God, the Supreme Judge of all
affairs, to be just to others on your behalf, then you should know that
your Lord will use the same standard with you.
Nobody on the Day of Arafat will pray: Oh God, be just with
me. Instead you will hear them crying: O Allah, forgive me, have
mercy on me, have compassion on me, overlook my wrongs. Yet,
these same people are not willing to forgive, have compassion and
mercy on other creatures of God.
We are not a people that are required to love
wrong-doers. We must loath wrong actions, but at
the same time we should love for the wrong-doers
guidance because they are creatures of God and they
were put here by the same God that put us here. And
Allah says in the Quran we made some of you a
tribulation for others, will you then not show
patience. In other words, God set up the scenario,
and then asked the question: will you then not show
patience? Will you subdue the inordinate desire for
vengeance to achieve a higher station that is based
on a conviction that you will be forgiven by God if
only you can bring yourself to forgive others?
Imam Al-Ghazali and earlier Miskawayh in his
Tahdhib al-akhlaq, argued that for these virtues to be
effective they had to be in harmony. Otherwise, they
said, virtues would quickly degenerate into vices. Do
you think that these virtues exist today among
Muslims but that they are out of balance? For exam-
ple, the Arabs in the time of the Prophet had courage,
but without justice it was bravado. Prudence without
justice is merely shrewdness. Do you think that
Muslims are clamoring for justice but have subsumed
the virtues of temperance and prudence?
Yes. Muslims want courage and justice but they
don' t want temperance and prudence. The four
virtues relate to the four humors in the body.
Physical sickness is related to spiritual sickness and
when these four are out of balance, spiritual and moral sickness
occurs. So when courage is the sole virtue, you no longer have pru-
dence. You are acting courageously but imprudently and it' s no
longer courage but impetuousness. It appears as courage but it is not.
A person who is morally incapable of controlling his appetite has
incontinence and thus he cannot be prudent nor courageous because
part of courage is to constrain oneself when it is appropriate. Imam
al Ghazali says that courage is a mean between impetuousness and
cowardice. The same is true for incontinence. The person who has no
appetite is not a temperate person but an impotent person and that' s
also a disease. Someone may have immense business acumen but uses
it to accumulate massive amounts of wealth. That is not a prudent
person but a crafty or clever person. Prudence is a mean between the
extremes of stupidity and craftiness or what the Arabs call makr. The
maakir is the one who is afflicted with the same condition that has
afflicted Iblis the maakir, the clever.
The interesting point to note about the four virtues is that you
either take them all or you dont take them at all. Its a packaged deal.
There is a strong argument among moral ethicists that justice is the
result of the first three being in perfect balance.
That's Miskawayh?
Yes, Miskawayh and Aristotle as well.
What I've realized is that people who don't have patience are often
ridden with anxiety and tend to behave as if they can control the out-
come of events in their lives. They even think that destiny is in their
hands. They argue that if you do this and this you will achieve power,
as if we have the ability to empower ourselves. Most of the contem-
porary Islamic movements seem to think that without state power a
moral or an ethical Islamic society is impossible to achieve. Why do
you think that is the case?
O ur pr edeces-
so r s w er e k no w n
fo r havi ng
pat i ence w hi l e
w e ar e mar ked
w i t h anger,
r esent ment , hat e,
r aco r and r age.
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I think victimization is the result of powerlessness.
The point is that powerlessness is our state.
Powerlessness is a good state, not a bad one because
all power is with God alone and He will make you
powerful or powerless. I' ll give you an example. If
you go into the Alhambra Palace in Granada you
will see written everywhere al `izu-lillah which
means that strength, dignity and power is with God
alone. By the time you get to the end of the last room
it is changed to al` izu li maulana Abi `Abdillah or
power and authority is with the protector Abu
Abdallah, the last Caliph of Andalus or what is now
southern Spain. So it begins with power and strength
is for God alone and it ends with power, strength,
and dignity is for our master Abu Abdillah.
The point here is that if you want power, God
wont give it to you, but if you want to be powerless
for the sake of God, God will empower you. That' s
just the way it works and here I am talking about the
people of God.
Allah has divided the world into two types of
people - those who are God- focused and those who
are focused on other than God. The people that are
focused on God will always follow certain principles
and God will always give them the same results. The
people who think that they are focused on God, but
in fact are focused on other than God will never get
success from God. The reason is that if they did
indeed get success from God they would end up dis-
gracing the religion of God by claiming to be people
of God.
There are many outwardly religious people on the planet that
think they are the people of God and they get frustrated when they
are denied victory. This causes them often to get angry and you see
their methods becoming more and more desperate. They fail to rec-
ognize that authority is not given to them because theyre not truly
focused on God. They are instead focused on worldly power and they
are self-righteous and self-centered in their arrogance, thinking that
they are right while everyone else is wrong.
The verse in the Quran that sums this up is in Sura Baqarah. Allah
says, They say no one will enter paradise unless they be a Jew or a
Christian, These are vain wishes. Say to them, bring your evidence if
you are speaking the truth. Balaa man aslama wajhahu lillahi wa
huwa muhsinun. No, rather the one who resigns his entire being to
God is the one. Ibn Juzay al Kalbi says: aslama wajhahu means he
who submits his entire being to God which is Ihsan or excellence in
ones worship.
When the human being is in a state of submission - wa huwa
muhsinun - everything that comes from him is beautiful and virtuous.
Ihsan - ethics, virtuous, beauty, excellence - indicates that a human
being will have his reward from his Lord. This is not from the God
of a religion, but the God of the individual in a state of absolute sub-
mission. Upon them there is no fear nor will they grieve.
To me, this is the greatest testimony that Islam is not about iden-
tity politics. Some among us want to reduce Islam to identity politics.
They label themselves and point accusing fingers at each other. Allah
says indeed the one who has resigned his entire being to God and is
virtuous, that is the one whose reward is with his Lord and upon
them shall come no fear nor will they grieve.
Replace the Jew and the Christian for some modern-day Muslims
and you end up with the same phenomenon described above. The
hadith says you will follow the Jews and the Christians to the extent
that if they go down a lizards hole you' ll go down
with them. This is an authentic hadith. The hadith
says every child is born with an inherent nature.
The Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings,
didn' t say every child is born a Muslim as a soci-
ological identity. It says every child is born in a
state of fitra and its the parents who determine its
sociological category, to give it a modern interpre-
tation.
You have painted a very interesting landscape in
terms of Muslim behavior in the contemporary
period but we are seeing evidence of resentment
among some Muslims today which is very strange
indeed. I am wondering how this might be related
to a sense of victimization?
Of course it is. Look for example at the word
injury. It comes from injuria, a Latin word that
means unjust. So if I perceive my condition as
unjust it is contrary to the message of the Quran.
Whatever circumstances we find ourselves in we
hold ourselves as responsible. It gets tricky to nav-
igate especially when it comes to the oppressor
and the oppressed.
The Prophet, upon him be peace and bless-
ings, along with the early Muslim community,
spent 13 years purifying themselves in Mecca.
These were years of oppression and thus serious
self-purification accompanied by an ethic of non-
violence, forbearance, meekness, and humility.
They were then given permission to migrate and to defend them-
selves. At this point they were not a people out to get vengeance and
they were certainly not filled with resentment because they saw every-
thing as coming from God. Im not talking about being pleased with
injustice because that' s prohibited. At the same time we accept the
world our Lord has put us into and we see everything as being here
purposefully, not without purpose, whether we understand it or not.
We believe evil is from the Qadr (decree) of Allah and it' s for a
purpose, but there are two sides to choose from - the side of good and
the side of evil. In order for you not to fall into the Manichean falla-
cy, God reminds you that not only is the struggle an external struggle
but evil is an internal struggle as well. Therefore, those very things
that you see on the outside they are also on the inside and to make it
even clearer, the struggle inside is the greater Jihad because if you are
not involved in the internal struggle you are not going to be able to
fight the external one.
Maulana Rumi said whenever you read Pharaoh in the Quran
dont think that he is some character that lived in the past, but seek
him out in your own heart.
So, if we've got all these negatives, vices, not virtues active in our
hearts, love, it appears is an impossible task.
The modern Christian fundamentalists always talk about Islam as a
religion devoid of love. Its a very common motif in these religious
fundamentalist books that attack Islam. They say our religion is the
religion of love and Islam is the religion of hate, animosity, and resent-
ment. Unfortunately, many Muslims have adopted it as their reli-
gion, but that doesnt mean resentment has anything to do with Islam.
Love (Mahabba) is the highest religious virtue in Islam. Imam
Ghazali said that it is the highest maqam or spiritual station. It is so
because trust, zhud (doing with out), fear, and hope are stations of
this world and so long as you are in this world these stations are rel-
T her e ar e o ut -
w ar dl y r el i gi o us
peo pl e w ho t hi nk
t hey ar e t he peo -
pl e o f G o d. T hey
get fr ust r at ed
w hen t hey ar e
deni ed vi ct o r y.
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evant, but once you die they can no
longer serve you. Love is eternal
because love is the reason you were
created. You were created to adore
God. Thats why in Latin the word
adore which is used for worship in
English is also a word for love, adora-
tion. You were created to worship
God, in other words, to love Him
because you can' t truly adore some-
thing or worship something that you
don' t love. If you are worshipping out
of fear, like Imam al Ghazali says, it' s
not the highest level of worship, but
its lowest.
In other words, if you are wor-
shipping God out of fear, if the reason
that you are doings things is because
you are afraid of Him, that he is going to punish you, thats the low-
est level of worship.
Thats why it was said about the Prophets companion Suhaib al
Rumi that had there been no fire or paradise he still would have wor-
shipped Allah.
A vast number of young Muslims today who have the energy to run
down the road of hate do so thinking that it is a display of their Iman.
What do you say to help them understand that hating wrongs has to be
balanced with the virtues of mercy, justice, forgiveness, generosity, etc.
I think one has to recognize that there are definitely things out there
to hate but we have to be clear about hating the right things for the
right reasons in the right amount.
The challenge is to get your object of hate right and hate it for the
right reason. In other words, there are things that we should hate for
the sake of God. Oppression is something that you should hate. Its
not haram to hate the oppressor, but dont hate them to the degree
that it prevents you from being just because that is closer to Taqwa
(awe of Allah). The higher position is to forgive for the sake of God.
God gives you two choices -- the high road or the low road - both of
them will get you to paradise. We should strive for the highest. Anger
is a useful emotion. God created anger in order that we could act and
respond to circumstances that need to be changed. Indignation is a
beautiful word. Righteous indignation is a good quality and even
though it is misused in modern English its actually a good thing. It
means to be angry for the right reasons and then it is to be angry to
the right degree because Allah says, Do not let the loathing of a peo-
ple prevent you from being just.
In other words get angry but dont let that anger get the best of
you, dont allow it to overcome you to the point where you want
vengeance because vengeance is Gods alone. Allah is al-Muntaqim,
The Avenger of wrongs. Human beings are not here to avenge wrongs
they are here to redress wrong, not to avenge them.
The ideal of loving those who revile you is the station of the
Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. In the midst of the worst
battle of his career, the battle of Uhud, he prayed, Oh God guide my
people for they do not know what they are doing. He could not have
uttered that if he had hatred in his heart. He could not have embraced
Wahshi as his brother, the man who killed his most beloved uncle, if
he had hatred in his heart. He could not have taken the oath of alle-
giance from Hind who ordered and paid for the assassination of
Hamza and then bit into his liver to spite the Blessed Prophet if he
had hatred in his heart. He took her oath of allegiance and she
became a sister in faith. The Messenger of Allah is the best example.
He is the paragon who said:
None of you truly believes until he
loves for his fellow man what he loves
for himself. And the reason why I
say fellow man is that I think its a
very accurate translation because
Imam an Nawawi said that he is your
brother because we are all children of
Adam and Eve. So we should want
for our fellow man guidance, a good
life, and a good afterlife. None of you
truly believes, in other words our
Iman is not complete until we love for
others what we love for ourselves and
that includes the Jews, Christians,
Buddhists and the Hindus.
That breaks down the 'us versus
them' paradigm that tend to inform the way Muslims see the world
and themselves in it. That has been taken to a new level now in some
of our mosques where the kuffar is a degree under and we don't have
to pay attention to anything they say either about us or to us. Did our
Prophet, upon him be peace and blessing, behave like this at all? I
mean was he dismissive of anyone who wasn't from his community?
It seems preposterous to convince anyone that we care about their
welfare when we deride them.
The point is that if you want to guide them then you have to be con-
cerned with the way they perceive you. You have to be concerned
with how they feel.
The reason the Prophet upon him be peace and blessings, did not
kill hypocrites was because he did not want the non-Muslims to say
Muhammad kills his companions as a way of scaring people from
entering into Islam.
So he preferred an action that will cause non-Muslims to look at
Islam as a religion they would prefer to enter. The Prophet, peace be
upon him was concerned to such an extent with what others thought
that when one of his companions said that the Persians and
Byzantines did not take letters seriously unless they had a seal on
them, he told his companion to make him a seal.
He was concerned about how he presented himself to the people.
Once he was combing his hair and Aisha, his blessed wife, asked him
why he did that before he went out and he said my Lord command-
ed me to do this. In other words, to go out looking presentable to
people is not vanity. Some Muslims get caught up in clothes and they
get upset when others wear a tie and suit. They think its hypocrisy
and that it is inappropriate. On the contrary, if ones intention is cor-
rect, its actually an act of worship because you are doing it in order
to present Islam, not yourself. You are, like the Prophet, recognizing
that you are an ambassador of a religion and it becomes like the seal
that the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessing, pressed onto the
letters.
Many Muslims have divided the world into two groups - us and
them. They will support Saddam Hussein because hes a Muslim. In
other words, they will support a man who may have killed more
Muslims than any Muslim leader in the history of Islam or perhaps
all of them put together. The argument from this segment of our
Muslim community is that I will back a mass murderer and go to a
demonstration with his picture because hes a Muslim and other peo-
ple are Kuffar. On the other hand, many Americans will back unjust
American intervention simply because they believe my country right
or wrong. Both sentiments is a form of tribalism and we are people
of faith in God Almighty, not people of tribal allegiance.
Q - N EW S
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45
CORRESPONDENCE
exploited and
stacked in shabby
dormitory towns on
the outskirt of big
cities. They endured everything
without protest while regularly sending
money back home. As for the rest of the
French society, they were trying very hard to
forget their existence. But soon, parents,
wives and children were repatriated to France
and the Muslim community started organiz-
ing itself. Various Muslim associations and
meeting places were set up. Muslims started
to ask questions about their condition and
their rights. In 1989, the community experi-
enced the first shocking response to their
increasingly public presence: three young
muslim girls were asked to take off their
' chador' while at school and refused, thus
provoking a national psychodrama. On one
side, the Muslim community asked for a real
recognition of their religion and culture. On
the other side, the rest of the society, still
filled by the old fear of the Arab and
marked by the scars of the war in Algeria,
expressing its feeling of insecurity in the sup-
port of extreme right wing movements like
Jean-Marie Le Pen' s National Front. Despite
the disturbing signs of unease in France,
Muslim representatives remain confident in
the future. This political and social unrest is
a necessary consequence of the mutation
process caused by the settling of a new com-
munity in a country, Mr Lasfar explains.
So, if second and third generation
Muslims feel that their life is now inevitably
linked to France, what is the future of French
Islam? Is it possible for these citizens to adopt
French laws, values and lifestyle while retain-
ing their Muslim identity? To have the
Muslim culture coexist with the basic princi-
ples that rule the French state, is one of the
challenges Mr Lasfar had in mind when he
founded the first Muslim school of France.
The ' Lyce Averros' opened its doors in
I
slam, the second religion in France, has
turned this country into the first Muslim
power in Europe. From 5,000 in 1913, the
number of Muslims in France today has
reached five million, of which three million
are French nationals. Considering this daz-
zling increase, one might think that the
Muslim community would have found its
place in the French society by now. Couscous
and ra music have had an undeniable impact
on France' s cultural landscape. The success
stories of young Maghrebis like Zinedine
Zidane, a football star or actor Jamel
Debbouze fill the celebrity columns each
week. Thousands of mosques have sprang up
all over the country. Does this mean that
Islam has achieved recognition in France ?
Some speak of an Islam of France, as
opposed to an Islam in France. Mr Omar
Lasfar, Imam of the mosque in Lille and
founder of the first Muslim school in France,
wants to emphasize the importance of this
Franco-Muslim identity. According to him, it
is the logical consequence of Muslim settle-
ment in the country. Recent statistics (unfor-
tunately approximate because of a French
law forbidding all statistics to take into
account religious or ethnical considerations),
show that between 60% and 80% of
Muslims are well integrated. Proof of this
success: Franco-Maghrebi marriages rank
first on the list of mixed marriages and the
number of Maghrebi women getting married
to non-Muslim men is also rising.
Integration will be achieved thanks to the
new generation, Mr Lasfar insists, because
they already feel, above all else, French.
Take the example of young Laila who says
I go back to Algeria every summer to see my
grand-mother but I don' t feel home. When
I' m over there and they call me ' la
Franaise' . Ask a young North African boy
where he comes from and he is likely to
answer I' m from Marseille or I come
from Lille.
This represents the main change in the
Muslim situation in France nowadays. If one
retraces the history of the Muslim presence
on French territory, one fact seems to stand
out: the thousands of immigrants who came
half a century ago to help rebuild a country
that had been destroyed by the Second World
War, thought for a long time that their stay
would only be temporary. These men came in
great numbers after 1950 for their labour
and few cared what would become of them
once the reconstruction was over. They were
September this year, bringing a radical
change to the bipolar French educational
system, traditionally based on strong secular
foundations. Defined as a ' quality school for
all, whose curriculum includes the Muslim
culture' , Averros was created to give
Muslim parents the opportunity to choose a
school based on an Islamic ethos, training the
next generation of French Muslims to play an
active role in French society.
Today, the Muslim community is still
barely represented in government or the civil
service. The creation last year of the Conseil
Franais du Culte Musulman (French
Council of Muslims) has given Muslims a
voice to participate in political debates on
religion and secularism. Today, representa-
tives of the Muslim community are being
called upon to help propose solutions to to
the problematic issue raised by the ' chador'
in particular.
The chador! It has become the subject of
main subject of controversy. It encapsulates
the whole Franco-Muslim conflict, as if
the protagonists in this situation tried to hide
their convictions behind this piece of fabric.
There can be no discussion about Muslims
without the ' chador' being mentioned.
Whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims,
atheists or religious, liberal or conservative,
they all want to have their say on the issue.
Even within the Muslim community, it gives
rise many extreme and opposed positions.
However, the hidden reason behind the
heated debate on the headscarf is the fact that
is provokes fear. A fear linked to images of
extremism within the Muslim world and
relentlesly fuelled by the media. A recent
news report about two young Muslims girls,
expelled from their school for wearing their
scarves, was immediately followed by a
report on the ' scarf game' , a dangerous activ-
ity that kills several children each year.
To overcome the suspicions surrounding
Islam, especially since 9/11, is just one more
addition on the list of the challenges facing
French Muslims. Just as they struggled to
establish themselves in a country that was
still affected by the Algerian drama, they now
have to fight against the image of the Muslim
as an evil international force. In a country
like France, with the highest number of
Muslim intellectuals and citizens in Europe,
the seeds of success have already been
planted.
Catherine Makereel
LET T ER FRO M FRA N C E
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46
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Q - N EW S
EX PIAT IO N
FA RA Z RA BBA N I
I understand that intentionally breaking
your fast through eating or sexual relations
requires a person to make up that fast plus
60 days fasting for each broken day of
fasting (kaffara). I have worked out (realis-
tically) that from the last seven years I owe
approximately 55 days. Do I then have to
fast ten years in expiation?
Note that two things are required:
a) it is obligatory to make up all missed
fasts in the past;
b) one expiatory fast - 60 consecutive
days, as described in lesson two of The
Essentials of Fasting at www.sunnipath.com
is necessary for all major past errors.
D EBT, BRO T H EL, A N D H A JJ
FA RA Z RA BBA N I
A brother is planning to go for hajj but he
has a problem. In the past he went to a
brothel. He had no money so he borrowed
money from a friend. Considering he com-
mitted fornication with this money does he
still have to pay it back? Later, he visited
the brothel again. He had no money then
either so he told the prostitute that he will
pay her next time. However the police raid-
ed the brothel and closed it down before he
could pay her. What should he do with the
money? He is worried his hajj wont be
accepted if he has unpaid debts.
1. The debt is still due. It is he who
sinned with the money. Ones errors do not
wipe out others dues.
2. He does not need to pay the prostitute
or do anything to clear his own dues. The
contract between him and the lady was
Islamically invalid in the first place.
Imam Sarakhsi (d. 483 AH) said in his
Mabsut, a 30-volume work of fiqh, legal
reasoning, and comparative fiqh discussion,
which he dictated from memory to his stu-
dents while unjustly jailed in a pot-well in
Central Asia, Hire is not valid for any [sin
such as] singing, wailing and other base-
less matters, because it is sin and hiring for
sin is invalid. This is because the conse-
quence of a contract is that the item of hire
becomes legally binding to provide, and it is
not permitted for a person to be legally
obliged to sin. [Sarakhsi, al-Mabsut,
16.38] And Allah alone gives success.
PERFO RM IN G H A JJ BY PRO X Y
M U FT I YU SU F M U LLA N
Can I perform hajj on behalf of some-
onewho failed to do so before he died?
The hajj offered on behalf of another
may be voluntary or it may be obligatory.
1. In the case of a voluntary hajj offered
on behalf of others who are alive or
deceased, it is valid and the reward will
reach them even in the case of their being
unaware of the hajj being offered on their
behalf, such as in the case of deceased loved
ones.
2. As for the obligatory hajj which
becomes obligatory on an individual but
due to illness or any other reason that indi-
vidual is unable to fulfill it, an essential
condition for the discharge of this obliga-
tion on behalf of that person is he or she
must expressly command another to carry
out the hajj on their behalf, or at least the
hajj should be performed with their permis-
sion.
Given this, if a person upon whom hajj
was an obligation and he did not fulfill it,
nor did he expressly request a relative to per-
form it from his estate after his death, upon
this persons death if a relative chooses to
offer the hajj on behalf of him from their
own personal wealth (not the estate of the
deceased), the obligation should not be dis-
charged, due to absence of express request.
However it is reported from Imam Abu
Hanifah that he held the hajj discharged
based an a certain Hadith he interpreted to
mean as such, emphasising that this is more
close to Allahs mercy and compassion with
his slaves. [Mufti Mohammed Shafi:
Jawaahirul Fiqh vol. 1 page 501]
And Allah knows best.
W H Y LIE W H EN A SK ED A BO U T T H E PA ST ?
FA RA Z RA BBA N I
When asked point blank, Have you ever
xyz? with reference to a past sin, you said
that the right answer, Islamically, is to say
no. However, it seems that you are recom-
mending people to lie. Secondly, is this
advice not contrary to the ayats that say az
zaani laa yankiHu illa zaaniyyah? (24:2)
Marriage being a solemn contract - more
important than any business contract, how
could it be recommended to lie or conceal
the truth? What about venereal diseases,
illegitimate children? Is it allowed for our
young Muslim men to ignore their off-
spring)? What does that tell the general pub-
lic to whom we are obligated to give
dawah? What about when the mother of the
abandoned child seek s child support
through the civil court (with the attendant
paternity tests) and exposes the fathers lies?
It is not a recommendation to lie.
However, the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless
him and give him peace) has commanded us
not to talk about sin, and has explained to us
that sins of the past that have been repented
from are as if never performed.
This is a great mercy for those who
erred in the past, and then returned to the
way of uprightness. Think of this: many of
the Companions were previously idol-wor-
shippers, who drank, fornicated, and did
other immoral things. But their Islam was
repentance: it wiped their slate clean.
As for diseases, top contemporary schol-
ars say that Muslims should not marry
before thorough and proper physical and
blood testing, because of the many ways
that modern disease can affect people. This
is not obligatory, but is praiseworthy.
As for child support, it is the financial
responsibility of the father, Islamically. Who
exactly has right to the child is a detailed
matter that depends on circumstances,
which this is not the place for.
In closing, it is important to understand
that fiqh is not simply the result of the edu-
cated beard-scratching of some scholars.
Rather, it is an operationalisation of the
Quran and guidance of the Messenger of
Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace),
according to sound principles. Its essential
guidance and rules are for all times; particu-
lar details may, however, be subject to time
and place considerations.
And Allah alone gives success.
PU N ISH M EN T O F EAT IN G H A RA M
FA RA Z RA BBA N I
Is it true that if one consumes haram even
unintentionally, ones prayer is not valid for
40 days.
No. Eating haram intentionally or out of
undue laxity may well affect the acceptance
of your prayer. However, Allah does not
punish us on hidden technicalities. Mistakes
are forgiven or overlooked.
However, one should be careful regard-
W H AT
YO U
O UG H T
TO
KN O W
A BO U T
H A JJ
A N D O T H ER A FFA IRS
COUNSEL
Q - N EW S
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47
And Allah alone gives success.
EA RRIN G S A N D BRA ID S FO R M EN
FA RA Z RA BBA N I
Is it permissible for men to pierce one or
both their ears or braid their hair?
It is agreed upon that men cannot wear
earrings or other jewellery (except for a ring
from silver alone). [see: Ibn Qudama, al-
Mughni, 2.324; al-Mawsu`a al-Fiqhiyya]
As for braids, the condition is that they
not be like the braids of women and not
entail imitation of non-Muslims in ways
characteristic of them, and that one undo
them before ghusl.
D H IK R A FT ER PRAYERS
SH AYK H A BU U SA M A , SO U T H A FRIC A
What dhikr is appropriate after the five
daily prayers? What du'as and tasbihaats
did the Prophet (SAW) read after salaat?
The fuqaha have stated that, based on
the Prophetic hadiths, after the five daily
prayers it is recommended to seek the for-
giveness of Allah Taala by reciting
Astaghfirullah thrice. Is also recommended
to recite 33 times SubhanAllah, 33 times
Alhamdulillah, 33 times Allahu akbar and
once la ilaha illallah wahdahu la sharika
lahu lahul mulku wa lahul hamdu wa huwa
ala kulli shay in qadir.
It is mentioned in a hadith that whoever
recites the above after every salah his sins
will be forgiven if they are as much as the
foam of the ocean. (Sahih Muslim)
Besides the above it is also recommend-
ed to recite Sura al-Ikhlas (112), Sura al-
Falaq (113) and al-Nas (114) (reported by
al-Tirmidhi) and Ayat al-Kursi. (Reported
by Al-Nasai)
There are also many other dhikrs and
invocations that may be recited. It is best to
ing what one eats, and if one errs, even by
mistake, one should realise ones shortcom-
ings and seek Allahs forgiveness.
The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him
and give him peace) is reported to have said,
Allah has overlooked my communitys
mistakes, forgetfulness, and that which they
were forced into. [Ibn Maja]
And Allah alone gives success.
W A SH IN G M A C H IN ES
FA RA Z RA BBA N I
Can I make my filthy (najis) clothes clean in
a washing machine?
According to the fatwa of top contem-
porary scholars, in application of the princi-
ples related to removing filth:
1. If one washes clothes with filth in a
washing machine, they are considered to be
ritually purified (tahir) if they come out
without any perceptible trace of filth.
2. It is best to wash the clothes in three
cycles of water.
3. It is religiously more precautionary to
wash away the filth from the clothes, to
avoid differences of opinion. As the scholars
say, There is nothing like safety.
[see Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar 1.222]
And Allah alone gives success.
IN T ERC U LT U RA L M A RRIA G E A N D D O W RY
FA RA Z RA BBA N I
I have a Malaysian family friend who has
been through many trials. His second child
now is pursuing her education at a local col-
lege and has received a proposal from her
lecturer, a Bangladeshi Muslim. The man
came to propose with his mother, but insist-
ed that the father pay a high dowry for him.
This is not part of the Malaysian culture,
and certainly not Islam. The father of the
bride is very angry that the Bangladeshi
man insists he is of a high status in
Bangladesh and requires a significant
dowry. However, he is torn apart as his
daughter is head over heels in love, and
seems willing to do anything including pay-
ing the dowry. I assume she is also rebel-
lious, as is common today. What do you
advise that he does for the sake of Allah?
The dowry - given from the girls family,
unlike the mahr, which is from the husband
to his wife] is a cultural matter, which is per-
mitted when within reasonable bounds. [al-
Fatawa al-Hindiyya, 1.327]
Excess of any kind is disliked by the
Sacred Law of the Beloved of Allah (Allah
bless him and give him peace).
The best matter would be to proceed
with wisdom. Often, bringing in a wise and
learned third party, such as a respected
scholar, is effective.
do that which one can do consistently,
because, as the Prophet (Allah bless him &
give him peace) told us, The most beloved
of actions to Allah are those its performer is
constant on, even if little. This is because
such actions transform a persons life.
The time after the five daily salah is also
a time when duas are accepted. Hence, this
opportunity to seek from Allah should be
realised. [Based on Durr al-Mukhtar, Radd
al-Muhtar]
May Allah grant us all the ability.
IN H ERIT IN G FRO M M Y N O N - M U SLIM M O T H ER
W H O O W N S A PU B
FA RA Z RA BBA N I
I have a Muslim friend who is a new convert
to Islam. Her mother is not a Muslim.
Would it be alright for my friend to accept
her mothers inheritance even though she is
not a Muslim? If yes, then would it be
alright for her take the largest share of the
inheritance even though she has a brother
(non-Muslim) who is to receive a small
share of the inheritance for whatever rea-
sons her mother has decided. Also this
inheritance is a pub which will be sold after
her mothers death.
It is permitted to accept bequests from
non-Muslim parents, but one cannot inherit
from them.
A bequest is, A gift by will especially of
money or other personal property.
(Merriam-Websters Unabridged
Dictionary)
Inheritance: the acquisition of real or
personal property as heir to another : the
perpetual or continuing right which a per-
son and his heirs have to an estate or prop-
erty. (ibid.)
In the case mentioned, it appears that
the sister would be receiving from her moth-
ers estate by way of bequest. As such, it
would be permitted for her to take it.
As for the earnings being from a pub:
the earnings of non-Muslims from wine and
pork are permitted for them. We are
allowed to deal with them in lawful ways
(such as accepting a gift or bequest, or buy-
ing and selling permitted items), even when
their wealth is based on these items. [Fatawa
Hindiyya, Radd al-Muhtar]
And Allah alone gives success.
RA BBIT M EAT
FA RA Z RA BBA N I
Is rabbit meat halal?
It is permitted to eat rabbit meat.
[Hamawi/Ibn Nujaym, Hashiyat al-Ashbah,
3.232]
And Allah alone gives success.
REVIEW I TV
48
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Q - N EW S
I
fell asleep twice within the first twenty minutes of Witness:
Inside the Mind of the Suicide Bomber (Channel 4, 10th
November 2003, 9 p.m.). No mean feat given the amount
of caffeine I was tanked up on and the fact that the programme
was made by the same team that made the nefarious
Correspondent: The siege of Bethlehem (BBC2, 17th June
2002) - a programme so biased towards the Israeli Defense
Force, even the BBC governors apologized for broadcasting
what was basically gut-wrenching propaganda.
I thought before watching it, I would try and write a dis-
passionate and painfully objective review, but the programme
itself was so poor it just didn' t merit the credibility of such crit-
icism.
The Israel Goldvicht and Tom Roberts team' s portrayal of
the siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in April
and May 2002, earned the ire if the BBC' s topdogs due to its
almost exclusive focus on the narrative of a general in the IDF
whilst they actually were surrounding the holy site. They con-
ceded that the Israeli production team' s programme should
have been flagged at the beginning as a one-sided look at
events.
Witness was less dramatic - hence its slumber inducing
quality, but equally biased. Focussing on Palestine the ' the' in
the title implied its conclusions were generic - even scientific.
The programme was structured around interviews with five
prisoners in Israeli jails. Three were Palestinian men who had
intended to undertake suicide or martyrdom operations but
whose detonator failed to explode or who had second thoughts
and a bomb maker and a recruiter.
All five were handpicked by the IDF, which in itself leaves
you to question the relationship between filmmaker and army
of illegal occupation without knowing about the past connec-
tion between the crew of this and the discredited
Correspondent.
Interviews with the men - all in their early twenties or late
teens were sliced with shots of bus wreckage and what
appeared to be staged scenes of caf life and bus journeys -
scenes which interestingly involved only women in skirts,
flouncey tops and high heels and children.
Strange on any analysis but particularly when you bear in
mind that most bus bombs target buses taking IDF soldiers and
reserves to and from their daily mobilizations. Nevertheless
Witness portrayed the potentiality of horror in the minds of the
audience, thinking as they would of mangled children and
flouncey blouses in mangled bus wreckage.
The soundtrack consisted of permanent background whine,
low enough to nauseate without being too obvious. The over-
all effect and message was clearly these bad men are doing bad
things because their belief and their environment are bad. The
causes as identified by the production team (without any input
from psychologists, analysts, academics or indeed anyone
remotely competent to examine the mind of anyone let alone
the ambiguous suicide / martyr bomber), were the usual poli-
tics, religion (although in the Channel 4 webchat later, writer
Roberts denied that the programme claimed religion was a
cause) and, well, Palestinian TV.
Roberts, whose commentary was either interjected value
statements in interviews or worked as all-encompassing narra-
tor, conceded that Palestinians were beset with violence and
economic desperation (the latter credited to the Israeli regime),
the causes of Palestinian violence were essentially the political
and religious mindset of Palestinians themselves fuelled by
images of violence repeatedly shown on the box. What else, one
might wonder would broadcasters in an illegally occupied land
show? So bad is the level of portrayal, according to Witness, a
pop video where a woman is killed by an Israeli sniper trying to
cross a barricade to her greet her lover is cited as ample evi-
dence of causality. No doubt Romeo and Juliet would be just
as inciteful.
Witness tedious stupidity however is an indicator of it per-
niciousness. Instead of the adrenalin-pumping anger or stunned
horror that such programmes inspire, Witness just lolls along.
It' s not really focussed too well on a narrative except to say that
' surviving' suicide bombers are either desperate, ideological
automatons or repentant, misguided youth.
The responses to the programme have been many. From the
Muslim community there has been the assumption that our
response should be to revisit the argument of the (in)validity of
suicide / martyr operations.
There is little utility in writing to Channel 4 and asking why
they didnt get an Islamic scholar to condemn suicide bombings
or mention that such acts are forbidden in Islam. Likewise
pseudo-defences of these operations e.g. that many non-
Muslims like philosophy academic Michael Neumann consider
them not only necessary but ethical, are better used (if you
dare) to challenge a response when the issue is not under dis-
cussion.
It' s not an issue that we have resolved and responding to a
racist and Islamophobic programme is not the right time to
rehash old arguments. This programme lacked credibility as any-
thing other than propaganda. We shouldn' t be afraid to say it.
A RZ U M ERA LI
W IT N ESS
TO H AT RED
REVIEW I BOOK
Q - N EW S
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49
A
prediction of
the Prophet,
peace be upon him,
embellishing the
first paragraph of
this books intro-
duction says it
all: There will
be a time when
your religion
will be like a
hot piece of
coal in the
palm of your
hand; you
will not be
able to hold
it. The
Prophet of
Islam was
g a z i n g
into the
f u t u r e
while he talked to his
followers early in the seventh century in
Arabia. They will be large in numbers, more than ever
before, but powerless like the foam on the ocean waves.
Tragically, this has come to be the lot of Muslims today.
Adherents of a faith that teaches tolerance and peace, Muslims
are summarily dismissed as wayward philistines treading a
messy course. Bill OReilly unabashedly equates the Holy
Quran with Mein Kempf, the reverend Jerry Vines describes
Prophet Muhammad as a demon-possessed paedophile, and
the Reverend Jerry Falwell calls Islam a very wicked and evil
religion. Pat Robertson makes equally offending comments.
The debate on Islam that is in full cry in the West since
September 11 is too often little more than a parading of deep-
rooted prejudices, says Dr Akbar Ahmed. True. The present
time thus is a time of challenge, not despair. Muslims have to
break the siege - through conciliation, not confrontation;
through dialogue, not clash - and this theme is the one that Dr
Ahmed explores in his illuminating book with characteristic
perspicacity.
As an anthropologist I will attempt to explain what is
going wrong in the Muslim world; why it is going wrong, and
how we, because my explanation involves Muslims, and non-
Muslims, are to move ahead if we wish for global stability and
even harmony in the future, writes Dr Ahmed.
The way forward is by way of initiating a dialogue
between the West and the Muslim world. The West is also
obliged to build bridges of understanding with the Muslim
world. It must evolve a long-term strategy to interact with the
Ummah, a strategy that should not be driven by interests of the
corporate world or the multinationals, trading empires in their
own right.
The West needs to respond to the Muslim world firstly by
listening to what Muslims are saying and secondly, by trying to
BREA K IN G T H E SIEG E
understand Islam. With some patience and understanding the
general desire to assist the Muslim world will take shape....The
West must send serious signals to the ordinary Muslim people -
via the media, through seminars, conferences, meetings - that it
does not consider Islam to be the enemy, however much it may
disagree with certain aspects of Muslim behavior, says Dr
Ahmed. Above all, the western media must dispel its ignorance
and shed its long-lingering prejudices.
Dr Ahmeds prescription for the Muslims is simple: practice
a working democracy, promote education, upgrade madras-
sahs, demonstrate tolerance, show respect for adl, ihsan and
ilm, and be mindful of the social and demographic trends. In
short, they need to rebuild an idea of Islam which includes jus-
tice, integrity, tolerance, and the quest for knowledge - the clas-
sic Islamic civilization - not just the insistence on the rituals; not
just the five pillars of Islam but also the entire building.
Islam Under Siege answers many of the questions
Americans are asking after September 11: Why do they hate us?
Does the Quran preach violence? Do Muslims hate Jews and
Christians? Are we at the start of a final crusade between Islam
and the West? Dr Ahmed responds to common criticisms such
as Islam is a violent religion and it encourages the subjugation
of women. He also explores how the war against terrorism is
perceived in other countries. For many developing nations, Dr
Ahmed writes, the war against terrorism is seen as a violent
expression of threatening Imperial America.
The book is a work of scholarship. In the words of
Professor Stanley Wolpert, it should be required reading for all
Members of Congress and our Nations Cabinet, as well as for
most of the Pentagons top brass. And, according to Professor
Tamara Sonn, President of the American Council for the Study
of Islamic Societies, This is the most important book to date
on life in the post 9/11 period.
In the post-September 11 period, a few individuals stand
out who have stoutly and effectively defended Islam and its fol-
lowers and who have raised their voice of moderation to bring
the West and the Muslims together. Dr Ahmed is one of them.
He has appeared on television shows, including Oprah thrice
last year and his C-Span covered debates have been repeatedly
televised on demand. Suave and blend, he makes a convincing
case for a much-needed dialogue of civilizations.
In one of the chapters Dr Ahmed mentions several discus-
sions with Professor Sonn before September 11 in which she
spoke of the United States as a new Andalusia - a tolerant soci-
ety in which the great faiths live in harmony and contribute to
a rich, mutually beneficial culture. She was right. But after
September 11, the freest, most welcoming country in the world
for Muslims turned threatening to and suspicious of Muslim
belief and practice.
Would a dialogue suggested by Dr Ahmed reverse the pres-
ent trend? Would the United States be a new Andalusia again?
Muslim America seems to provide a glimmer of hope, however
imperceptible though. One only wishes that there were more
than one Dr Akbar Ahmed to explain the peaceful content of
the message of Islam in the West. The dialogue of civilizations
must be sustained - with renewed momentum.
PRAYER O F W O M EN
Dua of Aisha
(May God be pleased with her)
The Emissary of God (may God bless him and grant him peace) said
to Aisha, You must use the perfect prayer, whose use is general. Say:
O God, I ask You for all kinds of good,
temporal and otherworldly,
the good which I know and which I do not know.
I take refuge with You from all kinds of evil,
temporal and otherworldly,
the evil which I know and which I do not know.
I ask you for heaven and the work which brings us thereto,
and I take refuge with You from Hell
and the work that brings us thereto...
I ask You to bring to a right end by Your mercy,
the course of the things which You have decreed for me.
O Most Compassionate of the compassionate!
Book of Invocations & Supplications - Imam Al-Ghazali
Dua of Fatima
(May God be pleased with her)
The Emissary of God (may God bless him and grant him peace) said, O Fatima,
what prevents you from listening to what I bequeath to you? You may say:
O Loving, O Self-Subsistent!
By Your mercy, I beseech for help.
Leave me not to myself even for the blinking of an eye.
Improve my condition entire.
Book of Invocations & Supplications - Imam Al-Ghazali
Dua of Rabia Al-Adawiya
(May God be pleased with her)
O God!
If I worship You in fear of Hell,
burn me in it:
and if I worship you in hope of Paradise,
exclude me from it;
but if I worship You for Your own being,
do not withhold from me
Your everlasting beauty.
Rabia al-Adawiya d 801
The prayer of a mother:
A mother bore many children in succession, but none of them lived beyond the age
of three or four months. In great distress she cried to God, and then beheld in a
vision, the beautiful gardens of Paradise, and many fair mansions therein, and
upon one of those mansions she read her own name inscribed. On looking again,
the woman beheld in Paradise all the children she had lost, and she cried, O Lord!
They were lost to me, but safe with Thee!
Jalaluddin Rumi d 1273
GLEANINGS
Q - N EW S
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51
M
evlana Rumi said, If you are looking for a friend who is fault-
less, you will be friendless.
There was a young man who had a group of friends who were
not very good. They took him in a direction which was not pleasing
to his father. Finally one day his father said to him, Look, my son,
get rid of your friends. I' m going to teach you the meaning of friend-
ship. The son obeyed and abandoned his friends. His father took
him to the back of the house, and there he killed a sheep. He slit the
throat of the sheep, took its bloody carcass, and he put it into a huge
sack. One could see bloodstains soak-
ing through the canvas cloth.
Now my son, he said, You
know Ahmet who lives down the road.
Were the best of friends, as you know.
Go and bring this sack to him, and tell
him that your father accidentally killed
someone. And ask him to help dispose
the body.
The young man took the sack, and
carried it down the road to Ahmets
house. He knocked, and Ahmet opened
the door. Im the son of Habib, the
young man announced. Theres been a
terrible accident. My father has killed
someone. The body is in this sack. My father asks that you help him
dispose of this body, please!
Wait a minute, Ahmet said, and went back into his house.
Soon he returned with a sack filled with gold coins. Handing them
over, he said, Here take this to your father. With this money he will
surely be able to get someone to dispose of this body. The son went
back to his father and told him the story.
His father said, My son, this is half a friend. Then he contin-
ued, Now take this sack and tell the same story to Hussein who
lives on the other side of town. You remember him, we were once
very good friends. But lately weve disagreed on a lot of things, and
actually in the last several months we havent even spoken to each
other. But take it to him.
He took the sack, walked across town, and knocked on
Husseins door. When the door opened, the young man said, Im
the son of Habib. Theres been a terrible accident. My father killed
someone. The body is in this sack. He asked if you could please help
him dispose of the body. Hussein looked at the boy, grabbed the
sack, and pushing him away, said, Tell your father Im not inter-
ested in him. And you, get out of here. Dont ever tell anyone youve
seen me! He slammed the door shut, but he kept the bloody sack.
The young man went home. He told his father the story of what
had happened with Hussein. His father smiled and said, That my
son, is a friend.
At the time of the Ottoman Empire in Turkey, one of the viziers
told the sultan about a great shaykh who lived in Anatolia. He
warned the sultan to be careful of this sheikh, because he had hun-
dreds of thousands of followers. And if this shaykh decided to turn
against the sultan, the whole country would be in turmoil and he
could even lose his throne. The sultan got quite concerned. He sent
for the shaykh to come to Istanbul. When they met, the sultan said,
What is this I hear, you have hundreds of thousands of dervish fol-
lowers?
FRIEN D SH IP A N D LO YA LT Y
No, that is not so, the shaykh answered.
Well how many do you have? the sultan insisted.
I only have one and a half.
If you only have one and a half, why is everyone telling me that
you have the power to overthrow this entire country? We shall see.
Theres a huge field at the edge of town, and tomorrow everyone is
going to meet at that field.
The sultan sent out messengers to announce that anyone who
was a follower of this great shaykh should come to this field the
next day, because the shaykh would be
there. Above the field there was a hill
where the sultan set up a huge tent.
Inside the tent he put several sheep, but
no one could see this.
The next day, hundreds of thousands
of people came to the field to see the
great shaykh. In front of the tent the sul-
tan stood next to the shaykh and said,
You said you didnt have many follow-
ers. Look at all these people who believe
theyre your followers.
They are not, the shaykh said. I
only have one and a half dervishes. Youll
see.
The shaykh has committed an indiscretion, the sultan said.
And unless ten of his dervishes give up their life for him, his life
will be taken. There was a great rumbling in the crowd. He is my
shaykh and teacher. Whatever I know came from him, one man
came forward and said, I will go and give my life for him.
The sultans men marched him up the hill, took him into the
tent, and slit the throat of a sheep. Everybody saw the blood flow-
ing out from the inside of the tent, and this made them very nerv-
ous. The sultan declared, Is there anyone else willing to give his life
for his shaykh? Silence.
Then one woman stood up and said she would. They marched
her up and into the tent, and again they slit the throat of another
sheep. Seeing more blood, the crowd began to disperse. Soon there
was no one left in the field. The shaykh turned to the sultan and
said, You see, I told you, I only had one and a half dervishes.
The sultan said, Oh, the man is your dervish and the woman is
half a dervish?
No, no, the shaykh said. The woman is my dervish, and the
man is half a dervish.
Seeing the surprised expression on the sultans face, the shaykh
explained, The man did not actually know that he was going to be
killed when he entered the tent. But the woman knew, and she still
came forward. She is my real dervish.
That is loyalty. Loyalty and friendship go together. We have to
understand how to be friends. We wish to know Allah, but we dont
know ourselves. We must begin to see in a way that we can learn
about ourselves. Learn about this blessing that Allah has given us.
Because we are, each of us, a blessing. Allah has placed a part of His
beauty in each of us. And what He has not given to one Hes given
to another.
Excerpted from When you hear hoofbeats think of a zebra: Talks on
Sufism, by Shems Friedlander. Mazda Publishers. Page 69-72.
VOX POPULI
LETTERS
52
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Q - N EW S
O N LIVIN G
I was recently researching the
heroic Yusuf Islam when I
came across the October issue
of Q-News. The editorial really
affected me. To give a little
background, I began practising
Islam after the events of
September 11th. Ive been
studying Islam, listening to
lectures by scholars and so on.
I grew a beard, put on a topi
and raised my joggers above
my ankles. Since the change in
lifestyle, I have encountered
one obstacle after another,
living in a society where
Muslims are hated. I am now
an outsider at my own college.
It is depressing that I am 17
and have my whole life ahead
of me but what is the point of
studying so hard when no
employer will hire a beareded
man wearing a jubbah? Is it
wrong for me to expect to be
hired for my knowledge and
skills, rather than my
appearance?
I feel like it is just going to get
worse and the only remedy is
to exclude myself from
everything and just keep myself
engaged in the remembrance of
my Creator.
Muzafer, UK
D IAT RIBE
I could not believe the editorial
by Fuad Nahdi in Issue 351,
November 2003. It was utterly
negative rubbish, a diatribe of
misery and immature anger.
Who is he to declare that
Muslims are heading into a cul
de sac?
There are many things
happening in the UK muslim
community which are great. In
November, George Bushs
statue was bought down in
front of the whole world. Who
organised this? Stop The War
and MAB. No muslim
organisation would be able to
do this a few years ago.
Clearly, some progress has been
made. Our young are adept at
chanting slogans but struggle
with simple dhikr is a cheap
shot at young Muslims in UK
whose lives are very hard.
Many of them are doing
excellently and are coming
back into the fold of Islam.
Fuad Nahdi has written some
good articles in the past but
this was nonsensical.
What is this magic formula
he writes of? He did not offer
constructive criticism, just
anger. Please do not open
future Q-News issues with this
kind of miserable outburst.
Yayha Ayyaash, UK
Sadly, I have to agree with
many of the sentiments
expressed by Fuad Nahdi in his
editorial in Issue 351,
November 2003.
One of the most worrying
things is the state of Muslim
organisations.
I do believe all those working
in one way or other with such
organisations are sincere in
intention and make many
sacrifices.
Nevertheless, there is a need to
scrutinise the work more
closely, not just internally but
identify public perceptions, be
brave enough to identify the
problems and propose
solutions.
Organisations have a greater
responsibility to be broad
based, be socially inclusive and
seek to serve the community
not themselves.
I find it ironic that different
groups who claim to be calling
to Islam cannot even speak to
one another as they perceive
threat, competition or simply
reflect different approaches
that are deemed incompatible
or not mutually respected.
There is a need to be open
minded and to join hold hands
vox populi vox populi vox populi vox populi vox populi vox populi
populi vox populi vox populi vox populi vox populi vox populi vox
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LET T ER O F T H E M O N T H
Jack OSullivans thought-provoking piece (Issue 350,
November 2003, British Muslims - The New Irish?)
raised interesting issues. Whilst drawing out similarities
between the perceived threat posed by the Irish com-
munity in earlier times, and the British Muslim commu-
nity today, the discussion also highlighted the striking
differences in the states response to these groups.
It might be of interest to your readers that Liberty are
currently undertaking research focusing on similar
issues. A decade ago Liberty produced a damning
report on the way anti-terror laws were criminalising
the Irish community. Our new research will consider
the legislative response to the events of 9/11, the cre-
ation of a new suspect community of British Muslims,
and the growth in Islamophobia.
Admittedly, the world is dealing with a very different
kind of terrorism. But were existing measures so inade-
quate as to be unable to deal with post 9/11 dangers?
Were these new measures necessary to fill a gap in our
laws? In practice, the provisions introduced under the
Act have in fact done little in ensuring Britain is safer.
Since 9/11, the majority of those arrested under terror-
ism acts have been Muslims, many of whom have been
released without charge. Furthermore, a great deal of
these arrests could have been made under the ordinary
criminal law, rather than special anti-terrorism laws.
Libertys earlier publication Anti-Terrorism Legislation
in the United Kingdom, noted that of the more than
7,000 people detained in Britain under the Prevention
of Terrorism Act, the vast majority have been released
without charge and only a small fraction have ever
been charged with terrorism related offences. Almost
without exception these people could have been arrest-
ed under the ordinary criminal law.
Suspects falling within the ambit of special anti-terror-
ism legislation have fewer rights. The safeguards pres-
ent within ordinary criminal law are absent. The infa-
mous miscarriages of justice which involving Irish sus-
pects are a reminder of the dangers this can present.
There is disillusionment within the Muslim community
with a government which, rather than protecting them
from Islamophobia, is instead effectively criminalising
them as a community. The media has played a part in
fuelling this. Irresponsible and unbalanced reporting
has helped foster stereotypes and misconceptions.
Unfortunately, for the many people who rely on the
media as a principle source of information, these
images are all too easy to believe. The news images are
too often of extremist Muslim action, without equal
representation of majority moderate Muslim followers.
A link is commonly made between Islam, terrorism and
(an emotive and often sensationalised media issue in
itself) asylum seekers.
Tazeen Said, Liberty, UK
LETTERS
Q - N EW S
|
53
MESSAGES
FROM
THE
MASSES
USE YOUR
VOICE
WRITE
Q
:
Q - LET T ERS
P.O .BO X 4295
LO N D O N ,
W IA 7YH , U K
l et t er s@ q- new s.co m
G o t
so met hi ng t o
SAY?
W eve
so met hi ng t o
G IVE!
W r i t e t he Let t er
o f t he M o nt h and
w i n t he l i mi t ed
addi t i o n
BEYO N D
SCH O O LIN G
pr i ze pack -
bo o k l et & 2C D
set feat ur i ng
H amza Yusuf
H anso n and Jo hn
Tayl o r G at t o !
W O RT H 20!
Pl ease i ncl ude ful l po st al
addr ess and co nt act det ai l s.
genuinely. That would only be
a beginning, and Inshallah
there will be baraka in our
work.
Dr K Sultana, UK
BIT O F A JO K E
There is a running joke within
the Bangladeshi community
and the migrant and refugee
communities about the Home
Secretary David Blunkett.
It is rather nasty but
encapsulates the sentiments
towards the government and
the Home Secretary.
The following is a crude
translation into English, so do
forgive me: Its a good thing
that the Home Secretary is
blind. Imagine what damage
this man could do if he was
able to see.
Although it may seem cruel to
the ears of a sensible person, it
demonstrates how much fear
the Home Secretary evokes and
how much he is disliked
amongst the migrant, refugee
and BME communities.
What have people done to
deserve a Home Secretary like
this?
Layli Uddin, London
EM PLO YEE
RIG H T S
In the UK, the govt has passed
a law, whereby people of faith
and belief are to be given rights
according to their religion. For
example, Muslims can now
apply for work hours which
work around their salah times,
this type of flexibility is ideal
for Ramadan when the days
are short and Iftar is at 4pm.
Secondly, the law also states
that the employer needs to
provide facilities which are
required by people of certain
beliefs, this includes Muslims
and prayer rooms.
As an example, we here in
London have asked for this law
to be exercised in regards to
prayer rooms. Hence by the
grace of Allah, the Opener, we
now have prayer rooms in all
four offices within London.
My nasiha to other Muslims in
the UK who find salah a
struggle would be to: Contact
their building managers for
facilities and demand a prayer
room.
Describe to them their
obligation by law the following
act: The Employment Equality
(Religion or Belief) Regulations
2003.
Faisal Aziz, Keighley
ED U C AT IO N
I am a MA student studying at
a red brick university
somewhere in England. During
a recent seminar we were
having I was bold enough to
question some of the
contemporary theories being
thrown my way by a lecturer
regarding childrens cognitive
and emotional development.
My lecturer responded by
asking what alternative I
proposed, I replied saying that
we, as a Muslim community,
do have solid paradigms but
theyre in old Arabic books
that most people dont read.
I am frustrated by the lack of
academic material being
produced by Muslims but am
confident that, as Shaykh
Hamza said in the kindly
reproduced transcript of his
talk in London, this will
change.
I hope Q-news can act as a
catalyst for Muslims, such as
the shaykh, who have a classic
education, to come forward
and make these classic texts
relevant for a 21st century
audience.
Wassalam
Muhammad A Ismail
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WRITE MIND
54
|
Q - N EW S
A
couple of years ago, I was in the happy position of having
given up a full time post as a GP and looking for some pur-
suit to give me a sense of renewal. Well I found it: an advert
giving novices the chance to go through a six week course and hope-
fully emerge on the other side as a tested stand-up comic. Yes this
nice Scottish-Pakistani doctor was going to be a stand-up comedian.
Actually the truth is that it would only be for five minutes and a
one off performance at that but hey that was enough for me!
Some may wonder whether this has anything of relevance to the
concerns of the Muslim Ummah. I maintain that it does on many
levels. Comedy is important, a sense of humour matters and its
development in relation to the British Muslim community is a
barometer that we should look at - the absence of which should
make us stop and reflect - why not?
Even non-Muslims would have difficulty denying the charisma
of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. How is it
possible for a man so staggeringly successful not to have a humor-
ous side to him or for that matter not to be able to appreciate a
joke? Think of the most charismatic person that you know - chances
are they can make you laugh!
Anyway, for Dutch courage I persuaded an old pal of mine
Qalib Hussain to come along as a fellow guinea pig. Surprisingly he
was quite obliging and so we went along for our first tutorial at
The Stand- the first purpose built comedy club in Scotland.
What followed was a once weekly series of six sessions in which
we developed and performed five minutes of humorous or so we
hoped, live material. Each week this was critiqued by an experi-
enced and professional comedian who would advise, inform and
basically shape us up into what we hoped would be passable stage
performers, even if as a one off at least. It is surprising the amount
of preparation that goes into a mere 300 seconds of an onstage per-
formance. Thankfully none of us were told to hang onto our day
jobs - at least not to our faces anyway.
The course organisers, themselves veterans of the professional
circuit, were encouraging and the whole experience was a lot of fun.
From fresh faced beginners who couldnt hold up a mike stand
properly we graduated six sessions later with a virginal five minute
performance that was performed to a live audience of the paying
public. I cant say we gave Billy Connoly anything to worry about
but at least we did it.
Real professional stand up though takes serious commitment and
hard graft. Its a true art form. There are amazing highs and crushing
lows. Ive seen comedians almost rapturous on a good audience
response and Ive seen them visibly shrink with a bad one - a prospect
every comedian has to face before he dances out on stage.
From a muslim perspective, can the world of contemporary
stand up comedy be accessed? There are issues. Most comedy clubs
sell booze, you often swim through a haze of cigarette smoke and
colourful language is frequently used. Does this mean we wont
be seeing any Islamic Robin Williams, Eddie Murphies or jasper
Carrots? Not necessarily so...comedy in the Jewish diaspora has
developed gradually from the Marx brothers of the 30s to the
Seinfelds of the present day. This hasnt happened overnight and it
must surely be a matter of time before the same happens in the
British and American muslim communities.
The best comedy seems to come from communities where there
is something to rail against - the catholic and Jewish communities
demonstrate this. Surely Muslims have enough to rail about - adver-
sity is often dealt with by wit. Whether the material is halal will
depend greatly on the reaction and response of the market audience,
that is, us! We may well have to endure a few years of tired stereo-
types and Peter Sellers type Indian accents before we see something
really fresh and authentic. Some might even say that weve already
gone through that barrier with the likes of Goodness Gracious
Me which is often cited as a pioneer in Asian British comedy .
Population tastes change radically with time and age. In the days
of the Roman Empire, crowds would gather in the coliseum and
watch a person being enclosed in a figurine of a bull. When the fig-
urine was heated with the person inside the sound of the person
screaming inside would resemble that of a charging bull. The
Romans thought that was hilarious!
Thankfully audiences wouldnt appreciate that nowadays. I dont
know what halal comedy as such might be but certainly a home-
grown comedic strain that has its roots in the present muslim com-
munity seems hard to grasp at the moment. However it happens its
survival depends on one important bottom line - it has to be funny!
FU N D A M EN TA LLY
FU N N Y
W H O SAYS M U SLIM S D O N T H AVE A SEN SE O F H U M O U R?
NADEEM BHATTI A LM O ST G AVE U P H IS D AY JO B TO
G IVE BILLY C O N N O LY A RU N FO R H IS M O N EY.
,th .xxu.i .xss

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coxvvvvxcv
svvzvvvs:
dr. taha al alwani
.
asmat ali
.
prof. zaki badawi, obe
.
muhammad brich
.
shaikh rashid
ghannoushi
.
dilwar hussain
.
ahmad al katib
.
m.s. khilkhali
.
dr. bustamy
khir
.
dr. muhammad mestiri
.
dr. fadhil al-milani
.
dr. abdul majid al
najjar
.
dr. ihsan yilmaz
.
hamza yusuf (to be confirmed)
vzvvvs:
.
Axioms of Usul al Fiqh
.
Minority Fiqh Between Macro & Micro Fiqh
.
Pluralism: Islamic and Non-Islamic Law
.
The Need for A European Fiqh & the Normalisation of Islam in Europe
.
The Problem of Sexual Relations Among Muslim Youth in the West
.
The Group Dimension in a Fiqh for Minorities
.
Islamic Juristic Views on the Political & Legal Status of Muslims in Non-Muslim Countries
.
From Fiqh for Minorities to Fiqh of Citizenship
.
Micro Mujtahids & Implementation of Fiqh al-Aqaliyyat
.
The Role of Politics in Reinforcing Identity
.
Fiqh for Minorities and Maqasid al-Shariah
For Muslims living in the West contemporary life presents many challenges but where to go
for solutions? Because of the absence of credible alternatives and ijtihad Muslims are fast
becoming their own muftis coming up with their own answers to daily problems. Confused
adaptive strategies are being used right across these communities leading to serious prob-
lems. Yet how do we make sure that we are not crossing Muslim law? This conference aims
to bring this confusion to light and recommend possible approaches. Above all it is argued
that we need a special fiqh, a Fiqh for Minorities, designed specifically for the needs of
Muslim communities living in the West. This conference attempts to bring Shariah scholars
and social scientists together to debate these issues and to work towards an interdiscipli-
nary convergence.
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