islam today - issue 1 - November 2012

issue 1 vol.1 November 2012

The Innocence of Muslims Sacrilege Channel 4 not telling the full story

UK ÂŁ3.00

The Fellowship of Faiths Unity of God manifests itself in the unity of His revelations

Contents Arts Chief Editor

Amir De Martino

Publisher:

Managing Editor

Anousheh Mireskandari

Islamic Centre of England 140 Maida Vale London, W9 1QB - UK

Health Editor

Laleh Lohrasbi

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News

Art Editor

Moriam Grillo

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Analysis

ISSN 2051-2503

Science Editor

Hannah Smith

Illustrator

Ghazaleh Kamrani

Layout and Design

Sasan Sarab

Design and Production

PSD UK Ltd.

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In brief

Khayaal Theatre Company

Heritage Lustre Tile from Kashan

Channel 4 not telling the full story: Islam: The untold story

Literature

A revelatory new perspective on the origins of Islam or a historical hypothesis.

By Ahmad Haneef

The Conference of the Birds

Films

Life & Community 10

The Willow Tree A Balanced Living Faith

Places to be

Religion brings radical changes in the lives of those who wish to live by it says Amir De Martino

Letters to the Editor

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letters@islam-today.net

Integration

The Islamic World at the British Museum

Politics 24

Children are an ideal place to look for examples of integration.

By Iman Zamani

Contributions and submissions submit@islam-today.net

The latest exposé by a Jewish author to uncover the pernicious workings of the pro-Israel lobby by Shabana Syed

www.islam-today.net

12 Contributors

November 2012 Published Monthly Vol. 1 No. 1 islam today magazine intends to address the concerns and aspirations of a vibrant Muslim community by providing readers with inspiration, information, a sense of community and solutions through its unique and specialized contents. It also sets out to help Muslims and non-Muslims, further understand and appreciate the nature of a dynamic faith.

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Ali Carlentini Ali Jawad Aliya Azam Bonnie Evans Hills Frank Julian Gelli Iman Zamani Mirsaed Mohammad Ali Shomali Mohsen Biparva Omid Safi Mohammad Reza Amirnia Saeed Naeimi Shabana Syed Tahereh Shafiee

Policy changes ‘undermining’ religious education

Non-Aligned Movement a viable force for humanity A report from Shabana Syed on the NAM summit and Ayatollah Khameni’s inaugural speech

Feature 14

Adjusting to University Life

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As universities open their doors to a new batch of students, Mirsaed has a few words of advice for the Muslim fresher.

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Mediator

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Cover 32

Saeed Naeimi explains how we can create the initial spark of creativity in children’s minds.

The Fellowship of Faiths Muhammad Ali Shomali explains why inter-faith dialogue is both a social necessity and an Islamic imperative

Halloween just a bit of fun

The magic of storytelling

“Innocence of Muslims” The circulation of the film trailer adds to a growing list of hate-expression targeting Muslims argues Faisal Bodi

Mirsaed shows how often the best mediator is an impartial one who can see the picture from the outside

Tahereh Shafiee explores the pagan origin and nature of Halloween practices Disclaimer: Where opinion is expressed it is that of the author and does not necessarily coincide with the editorial views of the publisher or islam today. All information in this magazine is verified to the best of the author’s and the publisher’s ability. However, islam today shall not be liable or responsible for any loss or damage arising from any users reliance on information obtained from the magazine.

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Aliya Azam explains how plans to shake up the educational system appear to be shaking out RE

Youth Matters

Gilad Atzmon and The Wandering Who?

Faith 34

Moderation Moderation is rooted in justice and justice is putting things in their proper place says Abdolhussain Moezi

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Editorial

Contents 36

Intolerance: the enemy within

Health

Ali Jawad talks about how we should conduct ourselves and deal with some of the challenges we confront today.

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Building a better world, together

The challenging senses of the human body Laleh Lohrasbi provides an insight into how our bodies’ senses work.

Marriage A Religious Devotion Anousheh Mireskandari compares concept of marriage in Islam and in Christianity

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Interfaith

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Q & A: Hair Interesting facts about our hair

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Revd Bonnie Evans-Hills explains how scriptural reasoning helps religious students to view their scripture through the lens of another faith perspective

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Does Islam belong to Muslims and does Christ belong to Christians?

islam today interviews Sayeda Habib the author of “Discover the Best in You’! Life Coaching for Muslims”

Amir De Martino Chief Editor

Inspired by a Catholic Minister

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The Museum of Dar Belghazi, Sidi Bouknadel Cleo Cantone explores a phenomenal collection housed in a concrete block warehouse.

Sarajevo 2012 “Living together is the Future”

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Ali Carlentini reports on an important interfaith gathering

In launching this magazine we offer a further voice to those who believe that cooperation, mutual understanding and respect are key factors in shaping the world of tomorrow.

The Bravade in Fréjus Walking through the streets of Fréjus South of France, with M. Reza Amirinia

Our intention is to provide informed and honest opinions for our readers on contemporary issues from the perspective of individuals who consider all human beings as members of the same global family.

Opinion 44

It’s time to occupy Mecca Omid Safi’s call to save Mecca from destruction

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What & Where 62

Muslims are right to protest vitriolic attacks against their faith states Revd Frank Julian Gelli

“Allamah Tabataba’i Lecture Series (2012 - 2013)”

Eid Dinner and Awards Dinner - Glasgow Before Qasim Amin: Light from the Middle East:

Science

Women and the Arab Spring:

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Crustal Thickening in the Qur’an ‘Qur’an refers to mountains having deep roots like pegs’; Hannah Smith explains

Arabic and arabesques: Setting Goals & Procrastination & Motivation Training Introduction to Islamic art

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When security brings fear Physical privacy is a boundary that security technologies should not cross claims Julie Van Rossom

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While our focus will be on Islam and the Muslim world, the approach is inclusive and broadminded, promoting constructive interaction with people of other faiths in discussing issues that are of common concern.

Being Your Own Boss Sacrilege

ISLAMIC CIRCLES Courses

It is a ruthless action which demonstrates the inhumanity of the individuals who perpetrate it.

Aided by today’s means of communication these actions are transformed into a powerful tool creating havoc in the world community. At present, international institutions have been unable to address in any constructive way the problem of an evident discrepancy that exists between safeguarding freedom of expression and allowing any kind of abuse to be hurled at religious communities. Today more than ever, there is a need to come together and to single out individuals or organizations working against the benefit of humanity by fanning the flames of discord.

Places

How diversity and opposite realities in nature could be a perfect teaching paradigm for respectful interreligious dialogue.

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Life Coaching

hile the editorial team was working on the first issue of islam today magazine, the Islamic world was once again called upon to defend the honour of Prophet Muhammad(s). The attempt to desecrate and humiliate Muslims is nothing new. The actions of individuals or organizations that are moved by hate are often against symbols and personalities held dear to those towards whom their hate is directed. The main logic behind attacking religious symbols is to advance one’s own power or prestige against other groups; it is to inflict maximum pain in the heart of entire communities.

Glossary of Islamic Symbols The letters [swt] after the name of Allah[swt] (God), stands for the Arabic phrase subhanahu wa-ta’ala meaning: “Glorious and exalted be He”.

The letter [s] after the name of the Prophet Muhammad[s], stands for the Arabic phrase sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam, meanig: “May Allah bless him and grant him peace”.

The letter [a] after the name of the Imams form the progeny of Prophet Muhammad[s], and for his daughter Fatimah[a] stands for the Arabic phrase ‘alayhis-salaam, ‘alayhassalaam (feminine) and ‘alayhimus-salaam (plural) meaning respectively: (God’s) peace be with him, her, or them.

In choosing islam today as the name for this magazine, we wish to draw people’s attention to the present, to the world in which we are living now, and to the future we can build.

As for our decision to write islam in lower case, this is for two reasons. The first is linguistic; since there is no capital letter in the Arabic language it seems more appropriate to write it in its original intended form. The second is to do with a differentiation between the general meaning of the word and its technical one. The word written with the small “i” refers to the actual action of a desired submission to God. It is a universal principle encompassing all creation and part of our primordial nature. On the other hand Islam written with the capital “I” stands for the religion as we know it and to which the first level of adherence is by simply proclaiming “There is none worth of being worshiped but God and Muhammad is the messenger of God”.

We begin our first publication in modesty and in the hope of fulfilling the responsibility of articulating the views of a community from whom we draw our strength and from whom we request help, support, patience and understanding while remaining fully convinced of the fact that any success must ultimately emanate from His Will • Wa salam

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In brief Controversy over Tom Holland’s ‘Islam: The Untold Story’

Muslim groups. Similar agreements exist with Christian and Jewish communities in the city.

Hamburg’s mayor, Olaf Scholz, said that

“The parents of these girls are not letting them go to school, which can lead to the child welfare services taking them away,” Rakhimov said.

He could not explain the authorities’ sudden change in school policies.

“There have not been any problems before this month.”

The British TV Channel, C4 recently aired a controversial documentary by Tom Holland, a British non-fiction novelist, which sparked a deluge of criticisms and complaints. The program generated a response from British Muslims, with more than 1000 complaints received by Ofcom and Channel 4. The program was basically a rehash of a historical hypothesis that prior to this had circulated only in academic circles. The major thesis is that Islam is basically an Arabization of Judeo Christian beliefs that were used to legitimize and support early Arab empires. Regurgitating of the ideas of the likes of Michael Cook, Patricia Crone and John E Wansborough, Holland, who is not an historian himself, proposed the idea that Islam, did not become a distinctive religion until two centuries after the Prophet Muhammad[S}.

A planned screening of Islam: The Untold Story before an audience of historians was cancelled, due to security concerns raised from threats received by Holland as a result of the documentary.

Hamburg becomes first German city to officially recognize a Muslim holiday Authorities in Hamburg have become the first in Germany to officially recognize Islamic holidays so Muslim employees and students can celebrate them at home.

The decision forms part of an agreement between the north German city and local

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he hopes the decision would serve as an example for other German cities.

Authorities estimate some 150,000 Muslims live the city of almost 2 million people.

Outrage in Russia over hijab school ban

One such institution is a rural public school in the village of Kara-Tyube, close to the overwhelmingly Muslim region of Dagestan.The school’s list of rules posted on its website says that students’ appearance should be in line with the “business style used in a secular society, excluding provocative elements”.

Russia’s pro-government newspaper Izvestiya quoted the school’s director Marina Savchenko as saying that girls would not be permitted in class in their hijabs, but that they could wear ordinary headscarves instead.

It added that the parents had filed a complaint with the local prosecutor.

There are about 20 million Muslims in Russia, most of them living in the mountainous North Caucasus, as well as in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan on the Volga River

Bosnian woman 1st mayor to don hijab Moscow (Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Several Muslim families pulled their daughters out of schools in Russia’s south after the girls were told they were not allowed to wear their hijabs, a top Muslim said in October.

Amra Babic, the newly elected mayor of the Bosnian town of Visoko, is the first mayor to wear hijab

In an interview after her victory Amra Babic said: “Islam is very clear regarding the woman. It reserves for her a place in the public life and all those who interpret it correctly know that this is the way it is”.

She added: “This is a model for Europe but even beyond, for the East and the West which meet here in Bosnia….. I believe that my headscarf should not be a hindrance… Europe will understand that it has to do with people who respect their own identity, but who are tolerant enough to respect the rights of others”; said Babic who is a member of Bosnia’s main Muslim Party of Democratic Action (SDA).

Muslims are the biggest religious group in Bosnia and make up about 40 percent of the country’s population of 3.8 million. The hijab was banned under Communism when Bosnia was part of the federal Yugoslavia from 1945 until the early 1990s.

PRESSTV, Oct 10, 2012

‘Dialogue between Muslims vital’

Christians,

AMMAN: The Latin patriarchal vicargeneral in Jordan, Bishop Maroun Lahham, stressed that Christian-Muslim dialogue in the region is as old as the faiths and should never stop.

The vicar was speaking while paying a visit to the UAE mission in Amman.

UAE ambassador to Jordan Dr Abdullah Nasser Sultan Al Ameri received the bishop in the presence of minister plenipotentiary at the embassy Ahmed Mohamed Al Tenaiji.

The Mufti of the southern Stavropol region Muhammad-Haji Rakhimov said he had received complaints from several parents whose daughters were for the first time not being allowed into their schools wearing their hijabs.

The situation resembles a “stalemate” because both the Muslim parents and school authorities refuse to budge, and several girls including second-graders have not been to school for two weeks now, he said.

of Sarajevo.

The 43-year-old mother of three and an economist, Amra Babic, won 30 percent of the votes in the October 7th local elections in Visoko, a town of some 40,000 inhabitants near the capital city

The patriarch spoke during the meeting about the importance of peaceful religious coexistence, unity, renunciation of violence and narrow-mindedness, and of respect for freedom of faith to establish peace all around the world.

WAM- October 2012

Muslim world questions West freedom of speech Muslims call for rules on blasphemy United Nations: Muslim leaders at the United Nations claimed the West was hiding behind its defence of freedom of speech ignoring cultural sensitivities in the aftermath of anti-Islam slurs that have raised fears of a widening East-West cultural divide. The crisis deepened when a French magazine published caricatures of the Prophet. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the 193-nation UN General Assembly on Friday 28th September: “it is time to put an end to the protection of Islamophobia masquerading as the freedom to speak freely.”

Another report said that Islamic organization OIC, has called for a global ban on offending the character of the Prophet Muhammad(s), saying that it should be equated with hate speech.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation representing 57 Muslimmajority countries in an interview said: “The proposed ban would demonstrate how an interconnected world respected different cultural sensitivities” He said: “Such provocations pose a threat to international peace and security and the sanctity of life.” “We respect the right of freedom of expression, but believe that a line had to be drawn at incitement.”

Many of the protests were led or provoked by hardline puritan Muslims, who form small but growing minorities throughout the Islamic world.

Ihsanoglu’s call also echoed the views of other Muslim scholars and leaders, who have urged the UN and international bodies to define global standards on religious expression and to help prevent incitement - particularly Islamaphobia.

that Ihsanoglu announced that the OIC would not revive its long diplomatic campaign for ban on blasphemy.

Ihsanoglu’s statement clarified the OIC stand at a time when Muslim religious leaders have stepped up demands for an international blasphemy law and politicians have accused Western states of spreading anti-Muslim hatred under the protection of their free-speech laws.

Earlier in September The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit had expressed great “regret” on the making of the film “The Innocence of Muslims”. He called the film as “ insult to the heart of the Muslim faith” and “to all peoples of faith.”

In a statement issued on 14 September, Tveit urged non-violence, respect for religions and Christian and Muslims to “stand together in condemning such insults.”

Tveit said that “the film was produced and distributed by particular individuals who are not in any way representative of the attitudes of any mainstream religious group, nor indeed of particular countries or governments.”

Another report early in October indicated that Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, who made the trailer for the film Innocence of Muslims was held and questioned by US authorities. Nakoula, 55, has a criminal history that includes bank fraud by using false identities and a drug conviction. He was under investigation for violating terms of his parole. Nakoula was barred from using the Internet without permission.

Another twist to the story was revealed when Cindy Lee Garcia, an actress in the movie trailer, sued Nakoula, claiming that he used the name Sam Bacile and misled her about the content of the film to get her to participate.

Leading Islamic diplomats have been reported as saying that their calls for a ban on blasphemy, including anti-Islamic videos and cartoons that have touched off deadly riots Reuters also reported

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Analysis

Channel 4 Not Telling the Full Story

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lar teachings all proceeding from the one God, the similarities between Islam, Judeo-Christianity and Zoroastrianism are seen as a product of the influences of the older religions on the younger ones. From this perspective Zoroastrianism influenced Judaism, Judaism influenced Christianity and because Islam is the most recent, it was influenced by all the previous religions.

slam: The Untold Story was presented as a revelatory new perspective on the origins of the world’s fastest growing religion. Yet in essence the programme was nothing new, rehashing a historical hypothesis that has long circulated in academic circles.

The major thesis is that Islam is basically a mish mash of Judeo Christian and Zoroastrian beliefs that were used to legitimize and support early Arab imperial expansion and consolidation.

Regurgitating the ideas of the likes of Michael Cook, Patricia Crone and John E Wansborough, Tom Holland, who is not an historian himself, re-presented the idea that Islam did not become a distinctive religion until two centuries after the Prophet Muhammad[s], that Mecca was originally in a different geographical location and that the Qur’an only took on a completed form in the last two decades of the 7th century.

This is not the place to outline both sides of this debate, but even a superficial analysis would readily show that for decades now these ideas have been refuted and discarded in the very western academies from where they arose, on the basis of poor methodology, lack of impartiality, dismissal of the evidence of key scholars, as well as other scientific grounds. Thus Holland’s contention that, “the themes it explores are currently the focus of intense and escalating academic debate” is disingenuous to say the least.

Despite his assertion that the essence of modern historiography is based upon skepticism, Holland places great confidence in speculative argument to arrive at what he sees as convincing evidence.

For example, he dismisses all ahadith literature (Prophetic narrations) as completely fabricated on the basis that these were created to justify the rule of Arab dynasties and empires. But this is hardly news to Muslims. Being aware that many

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Channel 4’s

recently-aired religious documentary Islam:

“ The Untold Story ”

sparked a deluge of criticism and complaints.

The broadcaster was forced to pull the rest of the series but its decision is too little too late, according to Ahmed Haneef ahadith were fabricated, the great scholars and compilers of traditions devised stringent criteria to ascertain the veracity of the reporters and classify them in terms of level of reliability, and they cannot be dismissed in so cavalier a fashion.

This point of view on Islamic history reflects the obsession many western scholars have in trying to prove a secular hypothesis of the origin and history of religion. That hypothesis is that since God does not exist, or at least cannot be proven, then religion is a product of society. So rather than being seen as simi-

The sudden appearance of Islam as a fully developed religion in the principles of theology, law, cosmology and spiritual practice goes against the social-evolutionist view of religion which requires more time for this to happen. Crone and others ended up violating the very objectivity they claimed by being selective in the sources they cited to support their case and by dismissing all other evidence to the contrary. Their methodology is a clear case of cutting the feet to fit the shoes and so blatant was their attempt that it wasn’t long before this school of thought ended up in the dustbin of academic scholarship.

Channel 4’s rehashing of an already well-flogged academic thesis that casts unjustifiable doubt upon the sacred history of Muslims in this virulently Islamophobic environment is not only irresponsible but provocative. In terms of offensiveness the programme is tantamount to airing scientific justifications for racialism without hearing its corresponding rebuttal.

Channel 4 has discontinued the series in the face of swingeing criticism. However many will feel that this is an inadequate response. When the damage has been done and viewers are left with a skewed idea of the history of Islam it is irresponsible to leave them hanging by the flimsy thread of a discredited academic argument •

The Sixth Annual Conference on Proximity amongst the Islamic Schools of Thought

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ifferences of opinion amongst the ummah have always been a feature of Islamic thought.

Even during the time of the Prophet his companions often differed amongst themselves over how to interpret his commands and sometimes even had alternative viewpoints to the Messenger of God. The Prophet himself saw nothing inherently wrong with this. Indeed he is reported to have said: “Differences of opinion amongst my ummah are a mercy”.

Differences of opinion are an inevitable outcome of human nature. They are a function of our individuality. Every human being is unique from the point of view of his social conditioning, personal experiences, thought processes, abilities, and personal circumstances. The viewpoints he forms and the decisions he arrives at are the result of a complex interplay of these and other factors.

Over the centuries Islamic thought itself has been marked by its many differing positions on issues. Yet behind these differences is an underlying commonality and unity that often struggles to make itself heard. It is with a view to exploring and emphasising these similarities that the Annual Conference on Proximity Amongst the Islamic Schools of Thought was inaugurated six years ago.

This year’s theme was “The Civilizing

Role of Proximity in Achieving Social Peace”. Held at the Islamic Centre of England last September the conference was attended by a variety of distinguished Islamic personalities, intellectuals and scholars from Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria, Iraq, France, Pakistan, India, Yemen, Australia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Kingdom In his keynote speech the Imam and director of the Islamic Centre of England, Hujjatulislam Abdul Hussein Moezi, reminded the participants that Islamic unity is a lofty ideal and a Qur’anic demand, something rooted in the nature of humanity itself. He called upon all Muslims to strive to carry out Islamic unity especially in the light of the Islamic Awakening Movement, more popularly known in the West as the Arab Spring. Referring to the aim of the conference he emphasised utilizing common experiences and ideas to get as close as possible to the realization of a unified Islamic community and create a brighter future for Muslims.

The General Secretary of the International Assembly for Proximity among Islamic Schools of Thought, Ayatollah Araki, referred to the Qur’anic decree of common identity and unity among the Muslim community and said that this directive has echoed in the Muslim world throughout history despite racial, geo-

graphical and cultural differences. He said that human communities gravitate to the leadership of one whose values and behaviours are crystallised in his own character. The Muslim community finds its identity in the person of its Prophet and should attempt to forge a civilization which is the essence of his being and his character, and this can be the basis of unity among Muslims.

In a letter to the conference Shaykh Muhammad Abdul Ghani Ashur, former secretary of the Al-Azhar University of Egypt and member of the Islamic Research Association, traced the emergence of various schools of thought in Islam to the propagation work by the Companions of the Prophet after his death and to the variety of Islamic opinions based on diverse understanding dictated by various circumstances. He also pointed out that these differences existed in an atmosphere of tolerance and not extremism.

The conference showed a consensus and a common desire between the participants that inspired hope for the ideal of Islamic unity.

This was reflected in their fourteen point resolution underlining the importance of the role of culture. •

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A Balanced Living Faith

By Amir De Martino

INTEGRATION:

LET CHILDREN SHOW US THE WAY

By Iman Zamani

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he most significant change taking place in our contemporary world is in the sphere of religion. In general, humanity is going through a period in which the role of religion is on the increase.

Obviously, taking into account the fundamental character of religion as an entire philosophy of life, we cannot compare it to any other phenomenon.

Religion conveys changes in all aspects of one`s life; moral, spiritual, political, economic, educational, interpersonal relations and in so many others that in short, religion brings about radical changes in the lives of those who wish to live by it.

Among the major religions of the world, Islam has always been known for the comprehensive character of its teachings. Its history offers glorious examples of human models of liberation and revolutionary change. Highest among these models stands the figure of our beloved Prophet Muhammad(S).

We must, therefore, not be surprised if today we see Islam, in spite of all opposition, emerging on the world stage to usher in a new era for humanity.

The aim of Islam is to transform societies, but this can only happen if the transformation first happens on a personal level. The biggest inadequacy of modern materialistic culture is its blindness to the true meaning of the human being; its incapacity to comprehend and achieve the highest aspiration which is the elevation of the human soul.

The revolutionary role of Islam in the contemporary world must be understood in the light of its profound capac-

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ity to help the human being to become what he can and should become.

The Holy Qur’an, the life and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad[S], his Sunna, and the example of the pure individuals within his family, the life and the precious work of thousands of pious Muslim scholars, mystics, jurists, and philosophers have highlighted the interest that Islam has in helping the human being “to become what he can and must become”.

In other words they are there to help us to achieve the perfection which we are capable of, which our inner selves desperately aspire to, and for which God has created us.

Their examples must be studied, analysed, understood and consciously imitated if we want to become human beings worthy of this name and especially if we want to acquire the right provisions for our “final journey”.

The Islamic system of life is based on equilibrium between the spiritual and material. Its belief system takes human nature into account and has therefore laid a path configured as a middle way between the two, producing reconciliation and a fusion between these two ‘apparently’ contrasting aspects of human life.

In reality anyone who wants to be a “complete being” cannot walk a different walk. Islam in its teachings and educational work has taken into consideration the environment in which men and women live their material lives. We are referring here to the social aspect of life in which an individual has to make use of all the material means at his/her dis-

posal in order to live.

Taking into consideration human nature and its particular essence, Islam has established norms of a general and particular character. Such norms represent the “Islamic Programme” for the education and development of the human being. A part of these precepts concerns the duties of men and women in relation to God, such as the acceptance and recognition of one’s own dependence in relation to His majesty; one’s own poverty and indigence in relation to His richness and self-sufficiency; one’s own ignorance in relation to His omniscience, one’s own weakness in relation to His power and our submission to His will.

Another part of Islamic precepts concerns the duties of men and women as members of society and in relation to other human beings. Obviously in trying to fulfil these particular type of duties, one has always to keep in mind ones responsibility towards the Divine, the only One to whom we submit. In the system established by the Islamic religion, social life is configured as a nurturing ground for the spiritual life. The spiritual light that radiates from a Muslim who puts Islamic precepts into practice truly illuminates all their social actions.

In this way while one is with other human beings he is also fully with God. Even though he lives among many, the individual remains engaged in his own spiritual quest. Everyday life, with its many twists and turns, might be a struggle but the heart continues to strive for the serenity that comes from seeing everywhere the “face of God” •

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ntegration may be a topical subject but it is rarely one that is seen from the viewpoint of children.

Yet my experience as a Muslim woman and mother allows me to see that it is children who are able to provide us, on a daily basis, with examples of integration, without being unaware of it and without spending rivers of words on the subject.

Naturally for this to work, it requires that there be no intervention from adults who tend to contaminate the innocent minds of children with preconceived ideas.

Children are extremely spontaneous in their interactions and at times quite unforgiving in their judgment of others. At the same time however, they are less inclined to be conditioned by the need to keep up appearances. That is why they are an ideal place to look for examples of integration.

So what is integration?

Integration is a Muslim girl who goes to school wearing hijab (headscarf) with the same innocence with which her Christian classmate wears a hat.

Integration is her Christian friend telling her: “I like you more without it “, and she replies: “Well, I don’t have to please you”, and a few seconds later they are still happily playing together.

Integration is a little girl who at first has fun by pulling the hijab of her Muslim friend but then wants to try it on to see how she looks and tells her that the scarves she wears are very beautiful.

Integration is a Muslim girl who turns up to a fancy-dress celebration at school in her “Persian princess” dress, fully veiled, and steals the show.

Integration is a Muslim girl visiting her friend and being told that her father is still at home and that she will have to wait until he leaves before she can remove her veil.

Integration is a Muslim girl who takes part in a volleyball tournament wearing a tracksuit and scarf while her teammates are in vests and shorts.

Integration is a teacher who submits the text for a Christmas recital to the parents of a Muslim child to see if it is acceptable for her to participate in it.

Integration is a Muslim girl who is told

by her mother that she can take part in the recital since it does not contain anything that is against their religion, with the exception of a small sentence, which can be elided when that part of the recital is reached.

Integration is a group of children attending the home of their Muslim classmate and taking off their shoes at the entrance because they know that it is an Islamic custom that seeks to prevent the carpets on which Muslims pray from becoming impure.

Integration is a Muslim girl who shares with her non Muslim friend her free time and interests on the basis of a relationship of mutual respect and common principles, indifferent to the fact that there are other aspects of their lives that are different.

What matters to them is the fact that they have been able to find common points of encounter beyond their objective differences. All this is possible because children unlike adults are not intimidated by diversity but intrigued.

So, integration does not need too many words, it just needs a little understanding. •

Policy changes ‘undermining’

religious education

By Aliya Azam

R

eligious education has been an integral feature of the country’s educational fabric ever since the foundations of universal education started to be laid in the 19th century. However that provision is now in peril. Education Secretary Michael Gove’s rapidly implemented plans to shake up the educational system appear to be shaking out RE.

The government’s decision to exclude RE from the English Baccalaureate1 (EBacc) a new system for comparing the performance of different schools which recognises achievement in English, Mathematics, Science, a foreign language and ‘a Humanities subject’ has led to a drop in the overall number of pupils studying RE at GCSE level as schools shift pupils towards Baccalaureate subjects in order to climb official league tables.

Being left out of the EBacc is already having devastating consequences on RE schools. A survey by the National Association of Teachers of RE (NATRE) based on evidence from over half of all state maintained secondary schools in Eng-

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land found that a quarter of all academies and community schools are not providing statutory RE for 14-16 year olds. This non-compliance is predicted to increase during 2011-12. GCSE RE entries between 2010-11 and 2011-12 have dropped by more than a third in academies and community schools. In those schools where entry levels have dropped, over half of respondents attribute the drop to the impact of RE being excluded from the EBacc.

Amongst the most vocal critics is the Church of England, which accused the government of having “no will” to address the problem. In a recent report, “The Church School of the Future”, it criticised the exclusion of RE from the English Baccalaureate and also highlighted a decline in the number of new RE teachers being trained. The government has cut the number of RE teacher training places by 45%, a move which the Church believes will prevent schools from delivering the subject properly to students.

The report also condemned the refusal to include RE in a major review of the

National Curriculum, which will set out the essential knowledge that all children should acquire at each stage of their educational development. The omission was having a “damaging effect on the status of the subject”, it concluded “GCSE Religious Studies is a subject that requires high standards of knowledge and evaluation of evidence. It explores religious and cultural topics and engages in debates over issues of diversity and conflict, ethics, philosophy and social change,” said Ed Pawson, Chair of NATRE. “It has grown massively in popularity over recent years because students recognise it as a subject of significant relevance to the world they encounter. By excluding RS from the EBacc Michael Gove is effectively squeezing it out of the curriculum in many of our schools across the country. This truly is a cruel blow.”

In the light of new evidence about the negative effects of RE having been excluded from the 2010 EBacc, The Religious Education Council of England and Wales (REC) which includes NATRE, along with the Church of England and

the Catholic Church education bodies, has called for RE to be included in the EBacc.

For children and young people, RE is an important opportunity in the curriculum to be taught to recognise and respond to the challenges of growing up in a diverse, multi-cultural society. Established in 1973, REC represents the collective interest of its fifty nine member bodies, including both professional associations and faith and belief organisations in deepening and strengthening the teaching and learning of RE. The organization has initiated a national Subject Review of Religious Education, to parallel the review of other subjects on the curriculum that is currently being undertaken and funded by the government.

RE is about challenges; it challenges young people to think about the meaning and purposes of life, what belief about God means; to ask about right and wrong to consider what it means to be human. RE can encourage a sense of identity, community and citizenship as well as respect for all and sensitivity towards others. It can help children

learn how to combat prejudice and encourage understanding and empathy for people who hold different beliefs and worldviews.

Recent research on attitudes to RE by YouGov on behalf of the Religious Education Council of England and Wales (REC), presented to the All Party Parliamentary Group on RE last June uncovered especially positive views of RE from those with most recent experiences of school; of those with an opinion, 60% of full time students agree RE is essential to a multi-faith society while 65% agree that RE is a beneficial subject to study.

With religious and non-religious diversity increasing, these figures reflect the value adults attach to young people being able to articulate their own beliefs, as well as engaging with, respecting and understanding others. Half of all those who gave an opinion said RE was an essential component of a multi-faith society, as it promotes mutual respect, tolerance and understanding. This rose to over half among 18-24 year olds (52%)

and 25-34 year olds (56%). In contrast, only 9% said they thought it was ‘harmful’ for pupils to study RE and only 13% thought it should not be taught in schools at all.

The findings appear to show that government policy is out of kilter with public opinion and that rather than marginalize RE the government would do better to support and promote its continued teaching in schools • Note: 1http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/qualifications/englishbac/ a0075975/the-english-baccalaureate Aliya Azam is a board member of REC. She holds a MA in Islamic Societies and Cultures from SOAS University and a PGCE from the Institute of Education. She is currently Head of Science .

13

Youth Matters

Y

ouths throughout the UK are getting ready to face the challenge of starting student life.

For some the academic year at university will involve having to leave the comfort of the family home and the daily care and attention of parents. For Muslim students the whole process may be even more daunting, as they tend to live in closer-knit family environments, making the transition to living in university campuses quite difficult, especially if the university is in a different city. It is a well known fact that many students may find the first year of university to be relatively stressful. This is true for both resident and commuter students alike.

Homesickness is a common ailment, the effect of living away from family and high school friends. But it also brings opportunities and new challenges as students are forced to meet and adjust to new environments and people. Living with roommates might seem easy but for the uninitiated it can prove daunting as they learn to compromise, negotiate, respect and share a confined space. Academically, the step up to university might pose problems for those coming from a structured learning environment in high schools into a more liberal one.

There are however, things which could help students make the transition to university much easier such as attending campus events or university activities and meeting new people.

Another typical burden on many students’ shoulders is the need to adapt to a new fiscal regime. For many this will be the first time they have had to manage their own finances as well as stand on their own feet. Self-discipline and prudence are essential if students have to make do on a limited budget.

Student life is usually very entertaining and some students may even forget the reason they are in university in the first place. So it’s important for newcomers to stay focussed on why they are there and not succumb to the temptation to

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skip lectures or leave assignments until the last minute. Students who fall into difficulties or need extra assistance have a host of support services available.

Campus resources, such as the Student Health Centre, Career Development, the Academic Development Centre, Campus Religious Association, and the Counselling Centre all exist to help students and make their lives on campus easier and smoother.

Unlike ten years ago Muslim students today have it relatively easy. Most universities have dedicated prayer rooms in order to meet the religious requirements of their Muslim population. Islamic societies have multiplied with university Muslim students forming one of the most vibrant forces in campus life.

Alongside all these developments, the doors have also opened up to extremist elements. The latter hold exclusivist views, try to highjack places of worship and impose their views upon other worshippers. It is therefore important for students to know their rights and to understand that university authorities allocate areas and spaces for religious worship for all. No one has the right to intimidate others because of differences in their religious practice.

One should also remember that university is not a place for preaching but is a place where ideas are presented in a rational and persuasive manner.

The concept of education has changed a lot over the years. Today many university students tend to look at their studies merely as an investment for a better future and view universities as places to acquire the skills and expertise to find lucrative jobs.

For a practising believer this very materialistic concept of knowledge presents a problem. Islam places a high premium on knowledge and education; after all the Prophet Muhammad(S) was the teacher par excellence. His teaching and the knowledge that he imparted that serves as a bridge between our worldly

g

to University Life Adju s ti n As universities open their doors to a new batch of students, Mirsaed has a few words of advice for the Muslim fresher.

existence and the spiritual dimension of life.

Muslim scientists of the past had no problem in seeing science as a tool to discover the beauty and complexity of Allah’s creation. Their contribution and endeavour provided humanity with the most valuable instruments towards human progress. They were able to operate with the full agreement of their faith, in contrast to the situation faced by their Christian counterparts.

On starting the new academic year let us remember that a complete, worldly and spiritual education should supply us with the best means of promoting intellectual, moral, physical and economic well-being. In a university environment we will most probably be confronted by new ideas, philosophies and worldviews, some of which could throw our belief system out of balance if we are not adequately prepared..

Modernity has been a major challenge for religious worldviews and in many cases has been able to undermine weak and superstitious belief systems, exposing their inadequacy.

Islam however, stands out amongst other belief systems. With its profound rational and spiritual basis, Islam has been able to re-tune itself according to time and space whilst keeping its core beliefs intact.

Over the last thirty years, Muslim scholars and scientists have been able to reclaim a presence in the field of research and innovation in many fields of natural and social sciences as traditional centres of Islamic teaching struggle to provide individuals with the intellectual instruments necessary to develop the kind of critical thinking that can help them formulate intellectual responses to the challenges of modern life. Muslim students need to keep up to date with the latest Islamic thinking and to network with Muslim scholars and intellectuals who have a good critical understanding of the latest ideas •

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By Mirsaed

S

ometimes situations arise which help people have a clearer view of life and society. There is a counselling centre at the university where I study. The counsellors, with the help of other experts, deal with students’ problems.

I am training in this centre and as the subject matter is related to my study I am permitted to sit in when the group is reviewing the files. This gives me the opportunity to learn about a variety of problems and possible solutions.

I remember one of the cases was about a male student called Taher. A few years earlier he had lost his mother to a horrific road accident, after which she was in a coma for almost four months before she died. Since then Taher lived with his father and his younger brother, Taha. Initially Taha seemed to cope well with the death of his mother but as time went on the emotional strain began to affect him.

Taha’s father was a religious person; however the pressures foisted upon him by single parenthood prevented him from providing his sons with a religious education. He expected the boys to commit to prayer, fasting and other religious obligations simply out of obedience to him. But now the boys were older they refused to accept everything the father requested.

Taher was completely oblivious to religious principles and Taha, the younger boy who modelled himself on the elder brother, always looked to escape from his religious practices and obligations. The father was extremely upset about this issue, and was constantly annoyed.

Father and son talks always ended in a row. Taher had reached an impasse in solving problems with his father.

The keenly felt absence of his mother aggravated the situation. Things came to a head with his father when he began dating.

16

Taha’s girlfriend was from an irreligious family. She encouraged Taher to disobey his father whom she saw as “backward”, and a “religious fanatic”.

The father on the other hand considered Sarah to be unsuitable for his son and his family, and would constantly remind Taher. This would upset Taher and he would respond by using bad language and shouting.

Their quarrel became so serious that one day Taher left home in bitterness.

Only then did the father realize the depth of the problem, but by then things had gone too far.

He decided to call the University Counselling Centre. The counsellor and her colleagues began to examine the issue and called the father in for a meeting. They agreed that Taher was finding it hard to cope with the trauma of his mother’s death. On the other hand the inability of the father to create an emotional bond, coupled by his obsessive rigor and expectations of Taher made life difficult for the teenager. They found that Taher was mixing with the wrong crowd and his licentious relationships fuelled his dispute with his father. They also said that the father’s attachment to a very traditional understanding of religion turned the boys into two religion-fleeing and conflicting individuals.

Since father and son were no longer on talking terms, it was agreed that Taher’s aunt should go and talk to him. Taher had a lot of respect for his aunt and the father trusted her to be a fair judge. Instead of criticising his behaviour the aunt asked Taher to arrange a meeting with Sarah. Taher welcomed his aunt’s suggestion and soon the meeting was held. In the first encounter the aunt noticed the unrestrained attitude and character of the girl, but she kept her opinion to herself. On the contrary she complimented Sarah on her appearance and beauty. Taher’s aunt told him that she

understood his fascination with Sarah but asked permission to carry out further investigations into her.

A few days passed and finally, the aunt called her nephew and asked him to be present in a certain place at a certain hour. Taher turned up at the meeting point only to see Sarah in the company of another boy who was clearly more than just a friend.

Taher was devastated. Without blaming Taher the aunt comforted him and asked him to be more cautious and measured in his future social relations.

The aunt asked Taher to return home and to discuss his problems with mutual respect and courtesy with his father. She also asked her brother to stop giving constant advice and counsel and to speak without prejudice, sarcasm, irony or blame. She pointed out to him that his boys were now young, proud adults who needed love and sympathy from their father rather than constant ordering and forbidding.

By browsing through photos and memorabilia and recalling memories of their mother, the aunt was able to impress on the boys that their mother always wished to have God-fearing sons. She also asked the boys to understand that their father may also be feeling lonely and that he needed sympathy and help from his children.

The aunt’s successful intervention showed that often the best mediator is an impartial one who can see the picture from the outside. Fortunately this file was closed on a happy note, showing that what can seem like an intractable dispute can be satisfactorily resolved.

Illustration by Ghazaleh Kamrani

The Mediator

Halloween:

Just a bit of fun?

Before participating or sending our children to Halloween celebrations, is it not necessary to know about the origin and nature of Halloween practices, asks Tahereh Shafiee

F

ar from being an innocent and value-free event, Halloween is replete with anti-religious symbolism and significance.

The pagan origins of Halloween are well known. Halloween originates from the ancient Celtic Festival of Samhain (pronounced ‘sau-en). The Celts, who lived 2000 years ago, in the area that is now Ireland the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their New Year on 1st November. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the New Year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of 1st November, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. With the advent of Christianity a new commemoration was superimposed on this day, making it the day of “All Saints and of all Dead”.

Today however the festivity has returned to its origins and is infused with elements of esoterism, magic and witchcraft. It is not a coincidence that Halloween is celebrated at the time when so-called witches celebrate the Harvest and invoke the goddess Mother Nature.

Even the colours used in Halloween (orange, brown and dark red) symbolise this event.

Many Christians have themselves have cautioned their co-religionists against celebrating such holidays. The minister

Kimberly Daniels1, sees Halloween as a dedication to Lucifer [demonic godhead]. She is amazed how some people unwittingly go on celebrating it not realising that Halloween is believed to be the time when the demonic powers are let loose to accept the offerings laid by the witches in act of worshiping the gods of Harvest and thanking them for the four elements; air, fire, water and earth.

Even those Christians such as pastor Ken Eastburn from The Well Community House Churches in the Southern California, who see Halloween as just a bit of fun and throwing on a costume and doing trick or treat, accept that: “it is undeniable that Halloween has pagan, if not satanic, roots”.

Assuring Halloween’s popularity is the fact that it has also become a huge commercial event in which paraphernalia associated with witchcraft such as masks and broomsticks are marketed at this time of year.

As long as Halloween continues to symbolise these rituals, Muslims and all believers of monotheistic religions should be wary of its original meaning.

As Kimberly Daniels puts it: “The word ‘holiday’ means ‘holy day’, but there is nothing holy about Halloween.”

While it would be an exaggeration to call modern day Halloween a diabolic rite, it certainly has diabolic origins and retains much diabolic symbolism. These symbols and practices can become a doorway to a range of influences relat-

ed to the occult. And the festival itself contributes to the creation of a magicdemonic mentality that can be attractive to the curious young mind.

There are other dangerous aspects to this annual celebration. The rise of Satanism or devil worshipping has been a phenomenon amongst some rock/heavy metal music groups searching for a more spiritual dimension of existence. In this context Halloween with all its messages, stories and practices complements this push towards the occult, further popularising and legitimising black magic, the occult and the worshipping of demonic entities.

Islamic teachings are very clear of the dangers of meddling with the forces of the occult and magic, which do exist. All Islamic jurists have declared the learning and practising of magic to be unlawful and prohibited. Scholars explain that while the two realities, the physical world in which we live and the occult dimension, are not normally directly connected they do have points of access with dangerous consequences for the trespasser.

So as a precaution if we are not sure of the effects of Halloween on our children, it would be advisable to stay away from any kind of celebration involving magic and occultism • Note: 1

http://www.charismamag.com/blogs/prophetic-insight/7134-the-danger-of-celebrating-halloween

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of

The Magic

By Saeed Naeimi

W

hen I was only five or six, some nights when my parents would go out, they would leave me with our next door neighbour, an old lady in her 70’s. In those days we did not have access to so many means of entertainment such as the internet and videogames so I was content to be looked after and entertained by a pleasant old lady who filled fill my evenings with the magic of her delightful stories.

Thirty odd years later, translating folklore stories from around the globe for children, I still reminisce about how much I enjoyed those nights and how effortlessly the old lady’s stories together with her seemingly cinematic motions transported my imagination into a fantasy world I would never forget. As Hafiz, the famous Persian poet says;

many writing courses in universities but none of them address writing for children.

Illustration by Ghazaleh Kamrani

Storytelling

For an enjoyable life even Noah’s life is short, For a life not enjoyed, even a breath is too long.

Children literature is artistic and reflects religious and social knowledge.

Children’s stories stimulate in their minds the love of art and science. They also project our Islamic values to the world and in doing so attract people to the richness of Islamic civilisation.

Unfortunately in many Muslim countries this important cultural expression is not afforded the value it merits. There are

In contrast, in western universities children’s literature is considered an important and necessary step in a child’s development. After all if the most interesting and fascinating subjects for children are not presented in an entertaining and enjoyable way subject matter will fail to create the initial spark of creativity in children’s minds.

O

The eldest boy and his sister took turns in taking the cow to a pasture to graze.

The smallest boy, Yunes, would have liked to do the same, but he was small

18

and his parents did not allow him. He was repeatedly told that when he could carry the bucket of water like his sister or when his height reached that of the fence like his brother he could take the cow to the pasture. His mother never tired of telling him that “that time would come soon”.

The promised day came much earlier than he thought. One day the father

cow and holding a cloth wrapper, similar to the one he was carrying under his arm.

Yunes went forward and offered the bundle of pastries to the boy: “These are walnut pastries. My mother made them.

There’s a lot here, eat as many as you want”.

Children’s literature needs an independent body of expert writers and authors working solely in this area. Our intellectuals should begin to raise the status of this form of literature to the level it deserves.

Children’s stories are often derived from life experiences and this simple world of storytelling can help children to begin to know, love and be kind to themselves and others. It can show children the possibility of formulating different solutions to their problems. Childhood events are important lessons for later life, especially if parents are on hand to present correct and adequate responses.

In islam today we will provide a number of stories that parents can read to their children. All the stories will have an educational value encompassing a lesson of ethics designed to develop a sense of justice and fair play within children •

‘The Walnut Pastry’ nce upon a time, there was a small hut in the middle of a vast valley. In it lived a farmer, his wife, their two sons, daughter, and outside, a couple of chickens and a chubby cow.

Illustration by Ghazaleh Kamrani

Children’s Corner

said: “today Yunes will take the cow to pasture”.

Yunes rushed to the stable, led out the cow and followed her.

The pasture contained several green hills. Normally his eldest brother and sister would go up to the third hill, but Yunes passed the third hill and went to the fourth one where there was fresher and fuller greenery.

The boy took the bundle and gave his own cloth wrapper to Yunes. “These are also some pastries that my mother made.

Eat as much as you like”, said the boy.

On top of the hill he sat down to have a rest. He closed his eyes and pictured his family praising him for his courage but he soon fell asleep.

When he woke up the cow had disappeared. He jumped to his feet and shouted: “Oh, where is my cow?”

He suddenly heard a mooing sound coming from the fifth hill. A boy was sitting near the cow with his arms around the cow’s neck. He looked at Yunes from afar. A rather worried Yunes shouted: “Hey boy. That cow is mine”. He ran towards the fifth hill. But before he could say anything else the other boy said: “Would you swap your cow with my walnut pastry.”

Yunes said: “No”. The boy replied: “This is a delicious pastry, it is full of walnuts.”

Yunes took the pastry and ate a small piece; it really was delicious. He cut another piece and ate that too, then another and another. He was about to eat the last piece when the boy told him: “Now that you have eaten all my walnut pastry, your cow becomes mine.”

The boy took the collar of the cow and started walking away. Yunes was shocked: “Wait!” he shouted. “But we only have one cow.” The boy replied: “and I had only one pastry.” And off he went with the cow.

Yunes found himself pinned to the floor.

He couldn’t move or utter anything.

“Why did I eat that pastry?” he repeat-

edly asked himself.

He finally plucked up the courage to return home. His sister was waiting for him at the entrance. She saw Yunes but not the cow. She asked: “Yunes, where is the cow? Have you lost her?”

Yunes burst into tears and said: “No”.

One by one all the family members asked him about the cow. Yunes continued crying and eventually said: “I wish I had lost her, or an eagle or wolf would have taken her. But in fact, I swapped our cow for a pastry that belonged to a boy on the fifth hill.”

Nobody could believe what they heard.

They did not even notice he had said ‘the fifth hill’. In a kind voice Yunes’ mother asked: “How did it taste? I will make some exactly the same as you had, then you can take it to the boy and get our cow back.”

Yunes stopped crying and replied: “It was sweet and full of walnuts”.

His poor mother spent all day baking pastries to get the right texture, but every time Yunes would reply that they weren’t the same. Finally she managed to bake some large, sweet and walnutfilled pastries which met with Yunes’ approval.

“I have come to get our cow back” said Yunes. The boy replied: “And I have come to give your cow back. My mother told me that even with thousands of these pastries I cannot buy a cow.”

Yunes felt happy and relieved. But before the boy went away Yunes said: “I want to take the cow to pasture, do you want to come?” The boy agreed.

The two boys became good friends.

Every time Yunes took the cow to graze in the pasture, his friend used to join him and guess what? They both would have under their arms a wrapper full of walnut pastry •

The above story is an example of how an important lesson can be encapsulated within a seemingly simple story. Here the parents of the boys provide a solution to their children’s “huge” problem.

Their evident ability to resolve a difficult situation with wisdom and calmness, place the parents in a high position in the minds of their children. The parents’ actions give their children the confidence to ask for advice and protection if ever it is needed again.

The mother wrapped a few pastries in a cloth and gave them to Yunes so that he could get back the cow. He passed the hills and on top of the fifth hill he saw the boy holding on to the collar of the

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ARTS

THEATRE Khayaal

T

he award winning Khayaal Theatre Company has been serving up its formula of wisdom and humour since 1997.

The company was founded to provide dramatic expression to one of the most under-represented canons of world liter-

HERITAGE Their recent work ‘Hearts and Minds’ explores ideas of identity. It tells the story of Asif, a young schoolboy of Pakistani decent, as he tries to reconcile the internal conflicts of being a young Muslim growing up in Britain. His life is juxtaposed with the experiences of his peers and elders; each expressing their individual values and aspirations. It is a complex story which highlights not only

Luqman Ali, Artistic Director of Khayaal said: “We are also developing a new original play entitled Coffee which will explore the fascinating and often hilarious history of the beverage’s introduction to Britain and its origin in the Muslim world.”

Lustre Tile from Kashan, Iran, late 13th Century

lar source of artistic expression, used within the home as basic utensils as well as architecturally for mosques and shrines.

T

The inscriptions on each tile were, either from the Qur’an or Persian poetry are in relief and are often glazed in cobalt blue or turquoise.

he Artistic heritage of Islamic art was formulated with the advent of Islam itself and abides by the strictures of the Sunnah of our Prophet(S). Before

This tile depicts a lustrous shimmer

“This play will illustrate the way in which we initially perceive and engage with otherness and how over time and through understanding and appreciation attitudes can change and mature.

Although the play is set some 400 years ago, the parallels between the debates around coffee and its Turk and Moor inventors and contemporary debates around identity, faith and influence are staggeringly cogent and as stimulating as coffee itself.” •

Moriam Grillo Every month our arts editor Moriam Grillo will explore the wealth of creativity inherent in the Islamic world and highlight the achievements of contemporary Muslim artists as they convey the richness of Islamic culture through the pure principles of the faith.

‘Hearts and Minds’ is available on DVD from Khayaal Theatre Company info@khayaal.co.uk

ature theatre while also articulating the contemporary Muslim experience.

Its first production, ‘Conference of the Birds’ by Farid Ud-Din Attar was performed in London in 1998 by a multifaith and multicultural cast for a similarly diverse audience. Khayaal has continued to demonstrate the same bridge-building and inclusivity in all of its subsequent work with an express mission to celebrate and nurture the universal human aspiration of virtue. Earlier this year, the company delivered drama workshops for school groups visiting the British Museum’s critically acclaimed Hajj Exhibition as well as contributing public and private performances to the event.

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play depicts a day in the life of a modern Pakistani American Muslim family with humour, suspense and drama.

the changing face of Muslim identity, but the differing worlds young Muslims inhabit even while they share the same physical space.

The play itself was a response to the London bombings in 2005 and the result of several focus groups with schoolchildren ranging in age from 13-18. Its plain, honest and unapologetic dialogue is simply a reflection of the hopes, fears, anxieties and concerns of these young people and their questions and dilemmas about being young, Muslim and British.

The company is currently working to bring Wajahat Ali’s Domestic Crusaders to Britain next year. This award-winning

This tile is also on display at the British Museum this art in Arabia was influenced by the icon-oriented Christian world. The material trends previous to its inception in China, Arabia, Persia and the West were to create items in gold, silver, less precious metals, ceramics and glass. As Islam spread, the use of non-figurative styles grew with meaning being conveyed through word rather than form.

Uses in materials also changed as artistic wares became accessible to all.

Ceramics [clay] became a very popu-

which has become synonymous with ceramics from the Islamic world. This style of tile was developed primarily to decorate the shrines of the Imams[a].

Further reading on this subject can be obtained through the thesis of Oliver Watson entitled ‘Persian Lustre Tiles of the 13th and 14th Century held at the British Library •

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FILMS The Willow Tree

The Conference The Birds

The Willow Tree (in Persian Bid-e Majnoon) is an Iranian film made in 2005 and directed by Majid Majidi.

Of

‘The Willow Tree’ is an exposition, through metaphor and poetic discourse, of the frailties of the human condition. It

PLACE TO BE

THE

LITERATURE

film begins with Yusuf talking to God. It is through these conversations that he finds peace and we are reminded of our inherent need to seek nearness to God. As a result of his prayers being answered, he begins to see the world in a new way. But it is neither what he had hoped for, nor what he expected. This

T

he Conference of the Birds is a story of belief, hope and endurance. It was written in 1177 by the Persian poet Farad Ud-Din Attar, who is said to have spent most of his childhood being educated at theological school attached to the shrine of Imam Reza [as] in Mashad, Iran.

The story itself is conveyed in a series of poems and depicts the journey of thirty birds in their search for a spiritual king. The journey is a long and arduous one fraught with tests that challenge each character’s weaknesses and fears.

In search of the Simorgh, which is likened to a mystical bird such as the phoenix, each character begins a quest in search of its own truth.

“One of the birds let out a helpless squeak:

The poems themselves are parables for the life of this world and each character represents a quality or trait present in human nature. Attar detaches this ‘truth’ from his words by referring our attention to an unfortunate group of birds who are both foolish and animalistic in their nature. It is up to us, as the readers, to recognise ourselves in the characters and to understand the true nature of their search.

The Islamic World [Room34] at the British Museum Anyone who has experienced the Arts as a practitioner or audience knows that there is a sense of peace and well-being that comes from these interactions. In this section, you are invited to involve yourself in some way in something creative. This month I would like to invite you to take a look at the Islamic Collection at the British Museum. The displays “explore Islamic faith, art, calligraphy and science, and Islam’s prominence amongst world cultures.” It is free to enter and there are many beautiful pieces to see. The tile mentioned above is on display here and it is exciting to witness such brilliance at close range. Enjoy.

The Islamic world [Room 34] is in the John Addis Gallery British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG

This is a book to be reflected upon. It is important to note that Attar, during his life, paid no allegiance to kings and

Tube: Tottenham Court Road, Holborn, Russell Square and Goodge Street

“True prayer seeks God alone; its motives start

‘I can’t go on this journey, I’m too weak.

Dear guide, I know I can’t fly any more;

Deep in the centre of a contrite heart.

I’ve never tried a feat like this before.

Tell them to turn from all that is not Me;

This valley is endless, danger lies ahead;

To worship none but God continuously.”

The first time that we rest, I’ll drop down dead.

Volcanoes loom before the goal is won Admit this journey’s not for everyone.

The blood of multitudes has stained the Way; A hundred thousand creatures, as you say, Address themselves to this great enterprise How many die, a useless sacrifice!

On such a road the best of men are cowed, Hoods hide the frightened features of the proud What chance have timid souls, what chance have I? If I set out it’s certain I shall die!’

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in his writings encouraged his readers to ‘look beyond the mortal plane’ for sovereignty. His words encourage us to reflect upon the transience of the life of this world and toward a more lasting end. During the course of the story, the characters travel through seven valleys: Yearning, Love, Marifat (Gnosis), Detachment, Tawheed (Unity of God), Hayrat (Bewilderment), and, finally, Selflessness or Annihilation.

The story hopes to take us from a place of yearning to a point of realising, through our own personal journeys, that there is only God •

tells the story of Yusuf, a man blinded in a fireworks accident when he was eight years old. The story spans the emotional journey he experiences as he regains his vision after an operation. Yusuf lived in a world of darkness and isolation comforted only by the voices of his wife and daughter which punctuated his solemn thoughts and gave him hope. A lecturer in Sufi poetry and literature, Yusuf spent much of his time pondering the works of Jalaludin Rumi and Shamsi Tabriz. He used their philosophical approach to life to elevate himself from what, for him, appeared a desperate situation.

We come to realise, through his example, that it is largely in moments of desperation that we seek solace. The

new world that he encounters is a cruel world, one that overwhelms and confuses him, where people steal the possessions of others, in his case, his own heart.

Returning to his philosophical writings help him to reconcile the worlds of his past and present lives. “...My eyes opened to see the beloved and I thank God for that...”

It is these philosophies that redeem him and eventually restore the solace that he had always yearned for.

‘The Willow Tree’ is in Persian with English subtitles and is available to view on Youtube.

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Politics

&

Gilad Atzmon

The Wandering Who?

by Shabana Syed

G

ilad Atzmon the famous ex Israeli musician, philosopher and writer whose new book, “The Wandering Who?” has caused a fury amongst pro Israel groups, is no stranger to controversy.

Last year he caused a stir when the Palestinian leader Sheikh Raed Salah was arrested during a visit to the UK following huge pressure from the Israel lobby.

Atzmon wrote: “Welcome to the United Jewish Kingdom”.

The Wandering Who? is the latest exposé by a Jewish author to uncover the pernicious workings of the pro-Israel lobby.

IPAC’s enormous influence across the pond is well-known. The USA is currently suffering one of its worst ever economic crises, yet Congress voted again this year to continue its annual $3 billion aid package to Israel.

When Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stood in Congress in May to say that Israel will never go back to the 1967 borders, he received 29 standing ovations and according to ABC’s Jonathan Karl, “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before a joint meeting of Congress had all the trappings of a State of the Union address by a president with

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sky-high approval ratings.”

Instead of dealing with constituents who are facing economic disaster 81 Congress members took a free all-expenses paid holiday to Israel this year.

Alison Weir, founder of “If Americans Knew” wrote: “This is an extraordinary situation. No other lobby on behalf of a foreign country comes anywhere near to controlling such wealth or taking so many of America’s elected representatives on a propaganda trip to their favourite country.”

A report by Rajeev Syal in The Observer stated that Britain’s most active proIsraeli propaganda organisation Bicom “which flies journalists to Israel on factfinding trips and organises access to senior government figures — has received nearly £1.4m in two years from a billionaire donor whose father made a fortune manufacturing arms in Israel.” It was also revealed that the billionaire was the prominent pro-Israeli Poju Zabludowicz.

In Britain any criticism of Israel is muzzled and suppressed through howls of “anti Semitism”. The BBC has already been caught many times propagating the hasbara propaganda; when Israeli commandos attacked the Mavi Mara in international waters killing nine Turkish peace activists the BBC’s Panorama

programme on the subject was slated by many for its pro-Israel approach.

Atzmon’s book aptly named The Wandering Who? looks at these powerful lobbies and examines Jewish identity politics and the Jewish Diaspora’s relationship with Israel. The book has provoked a storm and Atzmon himself has become the subject of a vicious smear campaign.

Atzmon is one of a few Jewish writers such as Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein who breaks the norms and political taboos and ‘says it like it is`. He neither tiptoes or sugar coats the facts even though as he puts it “you will have to face an orchestrated smear campaign, you will be then called ‘anti Semite,’ a ‘new historian’ and even a ‘Holocaust denier.”

It has been easy for pro Israel supporters to stifle and suppress critical discourse about Israel, however in the case of Gilad Atzmon their attempts to silence him is causing them a massive problem, as the terms used to silence most critics won’t stick on Atzmon. How can one call Atzmon who was born a Jew and brought up in Israel, served in the Israeli army, had a relative who died in the Holocaust, “anti Semitic or racist?”

According to ‘The Community Security Trust` which monitors anti-Semitism in the UK and was also one of the pressure groups calling for the arrest of Sheikh Salah, the book is “utterly contemporary cultural racism.”

Writing in New York Jewish Week, anoth-

Atzmon who lives in Britain is not only famous for his music but also one of the most prominent advocates of Palestinian rights; his life philosophy stems not from any form of ‘tribalism’ but from a deep belief in humanity. His book has received critical acclaim and

A report by Rajeev Syal in The Observer stated that Britain’s most active pro-Israeli propaganda organisation Bicom “which flies journalists to Israel on fact-finding trips and organises access to senior government figures — has received nearly £1.4m in two years from a billionaire donor whose father made a fortune manufacturing arms in Israel.” er critic Ben Cohen, argues that Atzmon is an anti Semite who “traffics in anti Semitic tropes - for example describing the “credit crunch as a ‘Ziopunch’, or declaring that The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an accurate reflection of the global power of American Jews.”

been endorsed by prominent academics like Professor John Falk, Professor John J Mearsheimer and Professor William A Cook.

Mearsheimer has also been the subject of a smear campaign after he endorsed

Atzmon’s book as ‘Essential to an understanding of Jewish identity politics and the role they play on the world stage.’

Defending his book Atzmon writes “it’s also obvious to every person who reads me that there is not a drop of racism, bigotry or anti Semitism in any of my writings. In my entire writing career I have never criticized Jews as people, ethnicity or race. Nor do I criticise Judaism. What I do is to scrutinize Jewish ideology and culture and I argue that if Israel defines itself as the ‘Jewish State’ and drops bombs on civilians from airplanes decorated with Jewish symbols, then it is our moral duty to question what this ‘Jewishness’ is all about.”

He also examines the baffling question of “what it is that leads Diaspora Jews to identify themselves with Israel and affiliate with its politics.”

For anyone with an interest in Palestinian rights, Atzmon’s book is an illuminating probe that sheds light on the murky workings of Zionist groups and the Machiavellian methods they use to acquire and exercise power • The Wandering Who? A Study of Jewish Identity Politics by Gilad Atzmon is published by Zero Books.

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NAM

Non-Aligned Movement a viable force for humanity Ayatollah Khameni’s keynote speech at the movement’s recent summit hosted by Iran was ‘a breath of fresh air’, according to

Shabana Syed.

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he 16th summit of the NonAligned Movement (NAM) held in Tehran, where heads of states from 120 countries took part in one of the most important diplomatic gatherings after the UN General Assembly, was viewed as not only a diplomatic success but has also positioned Iran as a rallying point for nations disillusioned with the US, Israel and its allies war-mongering strategy.

Gordon Duff, senior editor of Veterans Today, an American military and foreign affairs website wrote: “In Tehran, 120 nations got together, risking car bomb retaliation and the scorn of Mitt Romney and Sheldon Adelson to discuss why they think the UN is a cheap con and America and Israel are ‘full of it’.”

The conference was unprecedented in scale and content. Many international issues that are being sidelined by the western media were discussed openly without fear of a veto or a walkout.

The conference discussed the most important international developments ranging from the crisis in Syria, Iran’s nuclear program, to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Unlike UN gatherings the narrative was not western centric but human centric.

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Christians and Jews – should take part in a carefully supervised and confidence-building referendum and choose the political system of their country, and all the Palestinians who have suffered from years of exile should return to their country and take part in this referendum and then help draft a Constitution and hold elections. Peace will then be established.

This was clearly seen in Ayatollah Khameni’s inaugural speech in which he referred to nations that have “gathered here from different geographical locations, far and near, and they belong to different nationalities and races with different ideological, cultural and historical characteristics, but just as Ahmad Sukarno, one of the founders of this movement said in the famous Bandung Conference in the year 1955, the basis of establishing the Non-Aligned Movement is not geographical or racial and religious unity, but rather unity of needs.

At that time, the member states of the Non-Aligned Movement were in need of a bond that could safeguard them against authoritarian, arrogant and insatiable networks and today with the progress and spread of the instruments of hegemony, this need still exists”

Khameni said he believed the NonAligned Movement, which represents two-thirds of the global population, can play a major role in shaping the future by pooling resources and capacities in order to rescue the world from insecurity, war and hegemony.

He said: “We should consider the will of God and the laws of creation as our support. We should learn lessons from what happened to the communist camp two decades ago and from the failure of the policies of so-called “western liberal democracy” at the present time, whose signs can be seen by everybody in the streets of European countries and America and in the insoluble economic problems of these countries.

The Non-Aligned Movement which consists of nearly two thirds of the United Nations body is the second largest international organization; it began with just 29 members but today the membership has grown to 120.

During the summit, the rotating presidency of NAM was handed over to Iran

by Egypt’s President Mursi; Egypt had been in charge of NAM’s presidency since 2009.

The NAM summit took place against a background of Israeli threats of war against Iran.

So it was not a surprise why Israel’s underwriter, the US, along with its other allies went out of their way to prevent many nation states from attending the summit, and one of their main fears was that NAM under Iran’s presidency could finally ignite a spirit of resistance against imperialism and colonialism, an aspiration held by its founding fathers, President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Yugoslav President Marshal Josip Broz Tito.

The West’s hostility to Iran is nothing new; it is still smarting over the Islamic revolution and has spent three decades undermining the country.

One of the ways in which the US and

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Israel are trying to initiate regime change in Iran is through international isolation so it does not help their cause when the country hosts a major conference that increases its international profile and standing.

Attending NAM was also a symbolic act on the part of nations who after 9/11 have seen the so called war on terror bring death and destruction to their countries, sometimes with the blessing of the UN. Iran’s leader questioned the validity of the UN calling it “an illogical, unjust and completely undemocratic structure and mechanism. ….It is through abusing this improper mechanism that America and its accomplices have managed to disguise their bullying as noble concepts and impose them on the world.”

“They protect the interests of the West in the name of “human rights”. They interfere militarily in other countries in the name of “democracy”. They target defenseless people in villages and cities with their bombs and weapons

in the name of “combating terrorism”.

From their perspective, humanity is divided into first, second, and third-class citizens. Human life is considered cheap in Asia, Africa and Latin America and expensive in America and Western Europe. The security of America and Europe is considered important, while the security of the rest of humanity is considered unimportant. Torture and assassination are permissible and completely ignored if they are carried out by America, the Zionists and their puppets” He also addressed the key issue of nuclear weapons, which the west is using as a beating stick to attack Iran: “A bitter irony of our era is that the US government, which possesses the largest and deadliest stockpiles of nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction and the only country guilty of its use, is today eager to carry the banner of opposition to nuclear proliferation. The US and its western allies have armed the usurper Zionist regime with nuclear weapons and created a major

threat for this sensitive region. Yet the same deceitful group does not tolerate the peaceful use of nuclear energy by independent countries, and even opposes, with all its strength, the production of nuclear fuel for radiopharmaceuticals and other peaceful and humane purposes. “

“.....Political and military leaders of the usurping Zionist regime have not avoided any crimes during this time: from killing the people, destroying their homes and farms and arresting and torturing men and women and even their children, to humiliating and insulting that nation and trying to destroy it ...

He said those “who stockpile their antihuman weapons in their arsenals do not have the right to declare themselves as standard-bearers of global security.”

He went on to offer a solution that would resolve the Palestinian issue:

His proposition that the Middle East should be a nuclear free zone was welcomed by most of the attending nations.

Ayatollah Khameni also addressed the most important yet intentionally misrepresented issue of Palestine and the enduring suffering of the Palestinians.

“Palestine has been taken away from its people through the use of weapons, killings and deception and has been given to a group of people, the majority of whom are immigrants from European countries.

“Our standpoint is that Palestine belongs to the Palestinians and that continuing its occupation is a great and intolerable injustice and a major threat to global peace and security. All solutions suggested and followed up by the westerners and their affiliates for “resolving the problem of Palestine” have been wrong and unsuccessful, and it will remain so in the future. We have put forth a just and entirely democratic solution. All the Palestinians – both the current citizens of Palestine and those who have been forced to emigrate to other countries but have preserved their Palestinian identity, including Muslims,

“And finally, we should consider the Islamic Awakening in the region and the fall of the dictatorships in North Africa, which were dependent on America and were accomplices to the Zionist regime, as a great opportunity.

“We can help improve the “political productivity” of the Non-Aligned Movement in global governance. We can prepare a historic document aimed to bring about a change in this governance and to provide for its administrative tools. We can plan for effective economic cooperation and define paradigms for cultural relationships among ourselves. Undoubtedly, establishing an active and motivated secretariat for this organization will be a great and significant help in achieving these goals.”

The NAM Summit will go down as a huge success. It gave a sense of empowerment to most of the nations attending and most agreed with Iran’s leader when he said there is an achievable alternative to the current world order •

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Feature The circulation of the film trailer “Innocence of Muslims” on the internet has ignited a storm of protest in the Muslim world. The production adds to a growing list of hate-expression targeting Muslims in recent years and highlights the need for immediate political action, argues Faisal

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Bodi.

innocence of Muslims

hen the Satanic Verses Affair erupted in 1988 the man on the Clapham Omnibus could have been forgiven for scratching his head over the fury an alleged work of fiction had aroused in the global Islamic community.

and themselves as keyboard warriors spearheading an existentialist conflict between liberal western values and religious intolerance. In 2005 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten ignited a fresh outburst of rage across the Muslim world.

trails hanging out, a punishment for breaking away from Christianity and founding a new religion. Representations like Dante’s were echoed by artists such as Giovanni da Modena whose 15th century fresco “The Last Judgement” shows Muhammad tethered to a rock in Hell and being clawed by demons.

To the western mind, desacralized by decades of materialism, the idea that people could still be offended by the satirisation of their sacred history and the parodying of their religious figures was genuinely alien. Popular culture was already replete with irreverent and mocking references to Christianity’s foremost personages and beliefs. Monty Python’s box office hit, “The Life of Brian”, and Madonna’s pop song “Like A Prayer” both attested to the extent to which secularisation had driven religion out of once staunchly Christian societies.

Today it is the turn of “Innocence of Muslims” to rile the Muslim masses. The 13-minute trailer to the movie, reportedly directed by an American-Egyptian Christian Copt, has already triggered a deadly attack on the US ambassador to Libya and bloody demonstrations against western interests and symbols across the world.

Although non-Muslim commentators and politicians down from President Barack Obama have condemned the film - his secretary of state Hilary Clinton called the trailer “disgusting and reprehensible” - it has done little to allay Muslim outrage.

But however much they vilified Muhammad, medieval characterisations were a product of their time and reflective of the highly antagonistic climate in which Christians and Muslims existed. By the 11th century the conquest of Christian heartlands by the Seljuks spawned a series of wars including the Crusades, providing a sanguinary canvas for their representations of Islam. Today that open hostility from mainstream Christianity has disappeared only to be replaced by Christian fringe firebrands and liberal extremists bent on fomenting a new conflict with one quarter of the world’s population.

Attacks on Muhammad are nothing new.

Criticism and calumny have followed the Prophet ever sinc e he announced his divine mission. Medieval Christendom revelled in such obloquy. In his Divine Comedy, considered one of the world’s literary masterpieces, Dante depicts a naked Muhammad in the 8th circle of Hell with his belly sliced open and en-

What the recurring crises illustrate is that the hatemongers are encouraged by the absence of any legislative or political will to stop them spewing their obscenities. Soon after the anti-film protests broke out, US President Barack Obama went on TV to say his country rejects “all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others”. However he stopped short of

Yet despite the reams that have been written to explain why Muslims find the depictions so offensive new controversies continue to surface. The increasing presence of Muslim journalists in the West and the explosion of internet and social media appear to have done little to arrest the production and publication of ever more offensive material.

To the contrary western editors saw the issue as something of a cause celebre

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calling for concrete action that would prevent any repeat of this scenario.

Across the pond, the secular fundamentalist French state did not even bother to comment on the apparently gratuitous publication of fresh caricatures of Muhammad by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, whose offices have already been burnt down once before as a result of the same provocation.

The absence of adequate legislative deterrents in the West is fuelling repeated attacks and increasingly vitriolic attacks against Islam. If editors, artists and writers know they are operating in an atmosphere of total impunity it only encourages the irresponsible amongst them to overstep the mark.

It is not a coincidence that Muslim protestors have targeted US and other western embassies: by failing to act against the culprits western states are seen as complicit or indifferent to the offence.

Throw in a popular perception in the Muslim world of malevolent western involvement in their affairs and you have an understandably combustible cocktail.

Thankfully though, the tide of opinion seems to be turning. Unlike their stance over the Satanic Verses Affair the chattering classes seem to be coming around to the view that this kind of attack is an unacceptable exercise of free speech – the Guardian’s film critic Peter Bradshaw called the trailer “ugly Islamophobia”, “a nasty piece of work” and “a bigoted piece of poison calculated to inflame the Muslim world”.

It is not as if constitutional obligations prohibit legislating against this type of hate speech. The statute books of most western jurisdictions already outlaw incitements to various types of hatred as well as offensive communications.

Only last September, 19 year-old Azhar Ahmed was convicted in the UK of posting what the judge in his trial called a “derogatory” and “inflammatory” message on Facebook. Ahmed had written following the deaths of six UK servicemen in Afghanistan that all “soldiers should die and go to Hell.”

The regard in which Muslims hold the Prophet of Allah cannot be understated.

As the beloved of God he is closer to God than anything else in creation. Muhammad is also the Messenger of God, the vehicle by which God conveyed his final and most complete revelation, the Qur’an, to mankind. Muhammad is also the perfect role model and the perfect man whose example fellow believers should strive to emulate. In fact in the Islamic weltanschauung, no one or nothing even comes close to Muhammad as a figure of awe and reverence.

Yet despite this Muslims have never claimed nor expected any special immunity from criticism for the Prophet from those outside the faith. It is clearly unrealistic to expect people who do not accept Islam to view Muhammad or other Islamic figures and values in the same light. But it is realistic, indeed imperative in today’s highly interconnected world, for any criticism or debate to respect the boundaries of civilised discourse and not to deliberately trample on the sensitivities of others. Free speech is not and has never been a substantively absolute right: it has always stopped at the point that it starts to trespass on other fundamental rights such as the right to life, personal and communal safety and peaceful social existence. As more and more people gravitate to this viewpoint, it is high time that politicians translate public opinion into laws that banish material such as “Innocence of Muslims” from the civilised world • Faisal Bodi is a freelance writer specialising in Muslim affairs.

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Cover Story

The Fellowship of Faiths

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s a teenager I used to attend a local mosque in Tehran for congregational prayers, called “al-Anbiyaa” (the Prophets).

As recommended in Islamic narrations, the last two verses of the second chapter of the Qur’an were frequently recited in our mosque and for many days I listened and reflected on them. The first verse reads as follows: “The Messenger believes in that which has been revealed unto him from his Lord and (so do) the believers. Each one believes in God and His angels and His scriptures and His messengers.” “We make no distinction between any of His messengers” - and they say: “We hear, and we obey. (Grant us) Your forgiveness, our Lord. Unto You is the journeying”. (Qur’an 2:285) This verse like many other verses of the Qur’an puts great emphasis on the uniformity and continuity of the prophets, their scriptures, and their missions. It makes one believe that he is part of a great community of faith that includes all believers throughout the history of mankind who have followed the same path. Later I realized that this idea of the uniformity of all religions is a very profound aspect of the Islamic conception of monotheism. Islam like other Abrahamic faiths believes in the unity of God. God is ONE; He has no partner or children and there is nothing like Him. God is SIMPLE; He has no parts or constituents. He is the only Creator and He is the only object of worship. The obvious result of this conception of God is that the universe must be harmonious and consistent; indeed one of the signs of the unity of God is the fact that there is no separation or isolation of any part of creation. The Qur’an says: “Had there been in them (the heavens and the earth) gods other than God, they both had been in disorder.”(2 1:22) This harmony and consistency in the divine creation extends to God’s revelations, Divine messages communicated

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Muhammad Ali Shomali explains why inter-faith dialogue is both a social necessity and an Islamic imperative

to the people through His messengers are to be harmonious too. If they are revealed by the same God to the recipients (human beings) who have the same nature and the same fundamental needs

in order to show them the path towards perfection and happiness it follows that they must be similar in nature and identical in essence. Of course, depending on varying conditions and factors some details may change over time, and also the depth and the extent of the ideas expressed in the scriptures may increase in accordance with developments in human understanding.

Thus, Muslims believe in the mutual conformity of all divine revelations and prophecies. They confirm and believe in all the Prophets and consider all believers in God to be members of the same community of faith: “Say; “We believe in God and in what has been revealed to us and what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes and in (Books) given to Moses, Jesus and the Prophets from their Lord; we make no distinction between one and another among them and to God do we bow our will (in Islam)”. (3:83) Unity of God manifests itself in the unity of His revelations and must be echoed in the unity of all believers in God. Particularly during its early years Islam brought unity and solidarity for those who suffered a great deal from enmity and hostility (3:103).

This act of unifying people is highly esteemed as a divine act (8:63). On the contrary, the aim of tyrants and disbelievers such as Pharaoh was to divide people (28:4). The Qur’an warns believers that if they start disputing with each other they will become weak and be defeated (8:46). It should be noted that the call for unity is not limited to Muslims. The Qur`an invites all people of faith such as Christians and Jews to unify their efforts and concentrate on their common ground (3:64). One of the best means of achieving this unity and brotherhood is to know each other, to overcome historical prejudices that prevent objective understanding between each other and to build upon commonalities. According to what Imam Ali (a), the first Imam of the Shi‘a Muslims and the fourth Caliph of all Muslims has said, “People are enemies of what they do not know”. Thus, as a Muslim, I have no need to compromise

my faith in order to enter into a genuine, sustainable and productive dialogue with those who believe in God. Entering into such a dialogue and building upon commonalities is rooted in the Qur’an, and is not just a fashion or formality.

It was in this spirit and because the UK is a majority Christian nation that I started to establish relations with Christians.

Our aim is to look for practising Christians who can help us discover our commonalities, and exchange our experiences in facing the challenges of living a life of faith in this modern or post-modern world. Through our acquaintances with such people we have been impressed by the many similarities we have noticed between Islam and Christianity. We have also seen how a sincere love for God and fellow humans can give a new spirit to life and a new life to modern society.

I have now come to the conclusion that the Qur’anic description and praise of the Christians of the time of the Prophet Muhammad (s) is still in effect. There are sincere, truth-seeking, humble and sympathetic Christians who have devoted their lives to God. I see no reason why one cannot accept these people as real representatives of Christianity, instead of those who call for separation, enmity and fighting between believers and are a long way from implementing the Christian commandment of love.

Unfortunately today it is very easy to be deceived. There are “Muslims”, “Christians” or “Jews” whose faith can by no means be determined by their behaviour. And this gets worse if there is a deliberate attempt to misrepresent religious life in general and certain religions in particular.

Let us hope and pray that soon we will be able to witness the unity of God echoed in the unity of mankind and that all the wounds of hostility and injustice will be healed by the return of global society to God • Mohamad Ali Shomali is author of Self Knowledge (2006), Ethical Relativism: An Analysis of the Foundations of Morality (2001)

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Faith

Moderation “The conduct of our noble Prophet as a role model was one of moderation and temperance”

by Abdolhussain Moezi causes life to flourish so too can man’s existence blossom in the atmosphere of moderation; it is only in the atmosphere of equability that s/he can get ever closer to God. Thus it is important to learn the value of moderation and temperance in the individual and social life of Muslims with reference to the Noble Qur’an.

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he Holy Qur’an states that the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of night and day are constant reminders for us to ponder why we are here. Likewise, the four seasons also alternate as a result of the movements of the earth, moon and the sun, giving us further food for thought.

Among the seasons, spring, which begins with the sun passing the line of the Equator, is called the season of moderation or the season of the equinox.

The lesson learned from the season of spring is very important as it teaches us to engender moderation in our views, temperament and behaviour. Just as spring is moderate in climate, neither burning hot nor biting cold, it is also a season when buds and flowers grow and the trees start to bear fruit.

Just as the moderate climate of spring

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Most people, by nature, regard immoderation and activities that lead to extreme forms of behaviour as reprehensible and unacceptable. As such we are constantly advised that we should avoid extremes in all our activities and this is something that agrees with common sense. Someone who is moderate in their behaviour is usually considered to be worthy of merit. This is because moderation is rooted in justice and justice, according to Imam Ali, is putting things in their proper place.

Therefore actions that are moderate are actions that are correct and those that are immoderate are those actions that are corrupt. The Qur’an uses the term “qasd” (to adopt a middle course) to convey the idea of moderation, just as it uses such words as “wasat” (middle), “sawaa`” (equality), and “haneef” (straight, undistorted) to convey the same meaning.

In the teachings of the Qur’an moderation is found in every situation that is

proper and correct. It would suffice to quote the words of Moses in the Qur’an concerning the value and merit of moderation when he uses the term ‘sawaa’ in saying, “Maybe my Lord will show me the right (sawaa) way.” (28: 22) The Qur’an warns us about extremism in different aspects of faith. In this regard, the views that the Arab Christians and Jews of the time of the Prophet had about Abraham is condemned as extremism. “Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, rather he was a haneef, a Muslim, and he was not one of the polytheists.” (3:67) This statement of the Qur’an shows that the Jews and the Christians arrived at extremes regarding Abraham. One of them went to extremes in literalism and the other to extremes in seeing him from a non literalistic point of view. One was attached to the world and to a very exacting law and the other with a law that was so exceptionally lax that it could be said that it did not have a law at all. One was completely earthly and this worldly, and the other completely heavenly and other-worldly. For this reason the Qur’an says that the religion of Abraham is a religion of the middle way (haneef) and it is not one of extremes.

Islam, as the very religion of Abraham, attaches high importance to moderation and temperance; the Muslim community

by virtue of the teachings of the Qur’an can be understood as the sublime society based on moderate beliefs and conduct. The Noble Qur’an explicitly and clearly describes the Islamic community as such, “Thus We have made you a middle nation (one of moderation between two extremes) so that you may be a witness to mankind and the Messenger be a witness to you.” (2:143).

This sublime verse calls on Muslims to aspire to the lofty standards of moderation in all dimensions of life and to avoid all forms of immoderation and over-restraint. It can thus be said that Islam is the religion of moderation and that Muslims are the community of moderation.

Indeed we can say that the middle way is the very Straight Path (Siraat alMustaqeem) to which we ask God to guide us in our everyday prayers keeping us away from being among those who earn His wrath (maghdoobin), which refers to those who are immoderate, and among those who go astray (the dhaallin) which refers to those who are over restrained.

The conduct of our noble Prophet as a role model was one of moderation and temperance. The Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali(a) who walked in the footsteps of the Prophet, used to say that “We are the middle post, whoever

has fallen behind should catch up with us and whoever has gone ahead of us should return back to us.” He also said “The right and the left lead astray; the only path is the middle way, upon which the Book of God and the way of the Prophet remain”.

Based upon what the Noble Qur’an teaches, whenever the middle way is violated and there is the tendency towards extremism such an activity falls under the term, “extravagance” (israf).

The word israf and its derivates occur in the Qur’an 23 times and have a wide scope in meaning. In general terms israf means that which is opposed to the moderate values of the Qur’an including disbelief, wrongdoing, corruption, etc. It also includes every type of deviation in doctrine, morals, society, economy, etc.

One expression of extremism in morals, for example, is sexual extremism as typified by the community of Lot which, according to the Qur’an, was the first community to be guilty of sexual extravagance. Concerning this, verses 80 and 81 of Surah al-A’raaf calls them people who are excessive: “And Lot, when he said to his people, ‘What! Do you commit an outrage none in the world ever committed before you?! Indeed you come to men with desire instead of women! Rather you are a people of extravagance!’”

otherwise known as waste, God calls the wasteful the brothers of the devils (17:27). Cases of such waste are the distribution of wealth for wrong purposes, such as disobedience, corruption, using wealth to show off or to brag, or any unwise use of wealth that departs from proper standards. This is true in all circumstances, and includes public as well as private wealth.

To summarize: ignorance, hedonism, following one’s lower desires, selfishness, forgetfulness of God, thanklessness, ingratitude and many such actions are all indications of straying from the middle path and falling into deviation.

Verses 124-127 of Surah Ta Ha, inform us about the horrifying consequences of excessiveness in the Hereafter: “Whoever disregards My remembrance, his shall be a wretched life, and on the Day of Resurrection We shall raise him blind.

He will say, ‘My Lord! Why have you raised me blind though I used to see?’

He will say, ‘So it is. Our signs came to you, but you forgot them and thus you will be forgotten today.’ Thus do We requite him who is excessive and does not believe in the signs of his Lord.” • Abdolhossein Moezi is Imam and Director of The Islamic Centre of England in London

Regarding extravagance in economy,

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Ali Jawad talks about how we should

conduct ourselves and deal with some of the challenges we confront today

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acial, ethnic and ideological intolerances, as well as the often more destructive yet rarely highlighted frictions that arise from inter-state politics and rivalries have all featured in one way or another during our lifetimes and always with calamitous results.

Below are three common characteristics that unite so-called ‘religious preachers’ of sectarian hate and intolerance:

that ‘language’ becomes increasingly less inclusive and filled with virulent abuse towards the ‘other’.

1. Chopping the Faith: Islam in its

2. The Enemy Within: As a result of

pristine and pure essence is indivisible. To drink from its streams of truth and knowledge, one must experience and internalise the seamless coherence between its doctrine, morality, spirituality and jurisprudence.

their constricted interpretation of what constitutes faith, the first adversaries confronted by intolerant factions are often those from within their own sect who refuse to acquiesce to narrow interpretations.

In recent times, western media outlets have zoomed in on Islamic radicalism and sectarianism as leading headlines One of the tell-tale signs of an ad During the occupation of Iraq and for intolerance. Through this associavocate of intolerance is the striking the spike in ‘sectarian-driven’ attion, false assumptions concerning reliabsence of this inclusivity. As a retacks on open markets and mosques, gion and Islam in particular, armed groups that are regurgitated whilst polisubscribed to a militicians conceal hegemonic tant-Wahhabi outlook (a) “The school of Imam Jafar Al-Sadiq in the holy plots beneath the shockcarried out numerous ing sights of “sectarian viocity of Madinah, and the uninterrupted line of assassinations of Sunlence”. ni scholars in a classi-

scholars throughout the ages have taught us to our fellow Muslims as our brothers”

Despite this functional bias towards a particular strand regard of intolerance, we as Muslims must not lose sight of the bigger picture or shy away from dealing with our own challenges. Intolerance and radicalism are neither exclusive to the Muslim world, nor are we somehow insulated from their perfidious reach and effects.

For Muslims, the presence of figures and groups who advocate intolerance from within our midst should elicit a proactive and solemn sense of duty. To put it simply, Muslims who advocate intolerance strike their first arrows at the heart of Islam, and at their respective sects, before their harm reaches anywhere near the claimed targets of their hate.

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sult, intolerant figures tend to focus on specific aspects within the Islamic tradition; be it a stubborn focus on particular episodes in history or aspects of doctrine. When questioned about how their particular narratives fit alongside other aspects within the much wider and richer religious heritage, they instantly mumble out words of warning or entirely unrelated justifications.

As a result of this conceptual constriction of Islam, their discourse becomes similarly narrowed. And the immediate consequence of this is

cal illustration of this tendency. In the Shi’i sphere, previously unknown clerics who have made a name for themselves by foul-mouthing Sunni figures and symbols actually intertwined their tirades with the most vulgar abuse of leading Shi’i scholars.

Those who simplify the actions of advocates of sectarian hate in a purely inter-sectarian framework do an injustice to the essential resolution of the problem, because these sectarian warmongers usually begin by directing their spite at those from within their own sect often terming them traitors or enemies within.

3. Image vs. Reality: Human beings

tend to portray themselves as what they are in fact not. Advocates of intolerance and hate-speech are a prime example of this human flaw.

No person in their mind would describe him/herself as a racist or instigator. Intolerant scholars and sectarian instigators in particular, often represent themselves as puritanical revivalists who are fixed on setting the record straight. They wail against accommodationist accretions that have eroded into the original pristine-ness of ‘faith’.

This factor serves to create a vicious counter-circle. By highlighting particular grievances, they amplify certain issues within the faith at the expense of others thereby dividing the wholeness of religious heritage for their own sinister goals. These preachers of hate and division drape themselves in strong religious symbolism to arouse the masses, particularly the energetic youth.

For example, certain divisive Shi’i scholars’ point to the injustices committed against the Ahlulbayt, and thereby justify the need to break off ties with our Sunni brothers. By doing so, they market themselves as real defenders of the Ahlulbayt. Yet these so-called scholars fail to mention how the Ahlulbayt dealt with those who wronged them, let alone point to the directives left behind by the noble Imams concerning how we

should interact with our fellow Muslims.

Throughout Islamic history, we have faced the challenge from divisive figures. Often they have been closely tied to the seats of authority. We have heard the terms ‘scholars of the court’ and ‘jurists of the Sultans’ used to describe this class of preachers. In the modern age of global interests, imperialists and tyrannical monarchies, rulers have an even more pronounced need for this class of ‘scholars’. The fact that sectarianism has risen to become an issue when leading Islamic visionaries of our time have underlined the importance of ‘Islamic Unity’ should in itself be sufficient to unmask the hidden hands that are at work.

Nevertheless, historical experience must have taught us by now that divisive figures who preach hate and rabid sectarianism will continue to exist. The shifting sands of global power and the mad scramble for dominance in strategic regions such as the Middle East will merely add to the levels of complexity.

What we need to do as individuals and communities is to exercise vigilance and shoulder our responsibilities. We must equip our communities, particularly our youth, with the conceptual tools to combat intolerance. Our pulpits must be safeguarded from divisive figures masquerading as puritanical revivalists.

Those who speak in our name to incite hatred must be exposed for what they are with a unified voice.

For believers the finest examples can be found in the lives of the noble Imams.

The school of Imam Jafar Al-Sadiq(a) in the holy city of Madinah, and the uninterrupted line of scholars throughout the ages have taught us to regard our fellow Muslims as our brothers, to afford them respect, protect their dignity and possessions, stand alongside them in prayer, visit their sick and participate in their funerals In his final will, Imam Ali(a) beautifully expresses the deeply-grounded Islamic relationship between obedience to Allah and service towards fellow creation. Through this deep statement, he provides an unfailing counsel on how we should conduct ourselves and deal with some of the challenges we confront today: “I advise you, and all my children, my relatives, and whosoever receives this message, to be conscious of Allah, to remove your differences, and to strengthen your ties. I heard your grandfather, peace be upon him, say: “Reconciliation of your differences is more worthy than all prayers and all fasting.” • Ali Jawad is a human rights activist and political analyst with a keen interest in international diplomacy.

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By Anousheh Mireskandari

By Anousheh Mireskandari

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he institution of marriage as we know it today has evolved over many centuries and has been influenced by traditions and customs.

In Christianity marriage finds its roots in the Bible in verses such as: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh”. (Genesis 2:24) Marriage by choice arrived slowly in the West. However, fathers retained an undisputed right to dispose of their daughters according to family interests. This is the origin of the expression “giving the bride away”. Marriage laws in Western Europe were influenced by Roman law which was the earliest form of written law in Europe.

Unlike Islamic marriage law, where the groom is responsible for the dowry to be given as an obligatory marriage con-

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dition to the bride, who retains it completely, in Christian Europe the dowry was the responsibility of the bride’s father or her family.

Islam transformed marriage from an institution which was characterized, at large, by unquestioned male superiority, to one in which the woman became a major interested partner. The Shari’a also changed the nature of marriage from “status” to “contract”. It is often said that in Islam marriage is not a sacrament as in Christianity but a civil contract.

In Islam marriage is considered the nucleus of society and one of the foundations of social harmony.. “And of His signs is that He created for you mates from your own selves that you may take comfort in them, and He ordained affection and mercy between you. There are indeed signs in that for a people who reflect.”(Qur’an 30:21)

The religious importance of marriage is also supported by several prophetic narrations. In the words of the Prophet Muhammad (s) marriage is a religious devotion. “There is no institution in Islam more beloved and dearer to Allah than marriage,” and “the worst ones among your dead are the single ones.”

On the same basis Imam al-Kazim(a) said: “One type of people who will be shaded by Allah’s Throne on the Day when no shade will avail apart from it is the one who facilitates the marriage of a fellow-Muslim brother.”

For Muslims marriage is an act of obedience to God, and the act is thereby invested with a sense of seriousness and solemnity which carries God’s blessing.

It is also fascinating to see how Muslim scholars such as Ibn Arabi have viewed marriage as one of the tools with which Allah implements His desire and wish for His creation. Marriage not only

brings two people together so they live in harmony and affection, it prepares the basis for Allah’s manifestation of his order. Children are born as a result of this union, “Allah only says the word, Be! And it is.”

Looking at the creation of Eve from Adam, the Qur’an says: “It is He who created you from a single soul, and made from it its mate, that he might find comfort with her. So when he had covered her, she bore a light burden and passed [some time] with it. When she had grown heavy, they both invoked Allah, their Lord: ‘If You give us a healthy [child], we will be surely grateful” (7:189)This verse clearly shows Allah’s use of marital union as a means of bringing human beings into this world.

Something as pure and beautiful as that which Allah has ordained for us should not become a burden for us. However, today marriage seems to have lost much

of its sense of religious purpose.

Nicky Falkof, author of the book “Ball and Chain - the Trouble with Modern Marriage”, criticises“ society’s obsession with marriage”. She calls the contract of marriage a “restrictive legal contract” which creates paternity rights and consequently puts men in charge of women’s bodies.

In a rage against the “outdated tradition of marriage” she denounces traditions such as exchanging rings, white wedding dresses, changing names, etc.

She does not call herself a feminist but she is strongly opposed to the Victorian notion of the “little woman, a woman who is so delicate that she is “not suitable for the harshness of life outside the home”. She cannot see how women could ever benefit from marriage, and why women tie themselves to these “restrictive legal contracts”?

ciety’s obsession with a perfect wedding, or beautiful dress, or expensive honeymoons, but what if in our opposition to all these traditions we overlook the reality of benefits that marriage has on the individual and society.

The Prophet (s) recommends: “A man’s telling his wife “I love you” never leaves her heart”. In another place Prophet is reported to have said: “The archangel Gabriel continues to bring down so much advice with regard to the treatment of the woman that I think she must never be divorced unless she has committed adultery.”

The Qur’an tells us (man and woman) to become one and draw affection from each other. But this is not the only reason which makes marriage divine. What Allah brings into it as a result of this union makes it divine too •

One cannot deny Falkof’s disdain for so-

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Interfaith

Does Islam belong to Muslims and does Christ belong to Christians?

Revd Bonnie Evans-Hills explains how scriptural reasoning helps religious students to view their scripture through the lens of another faith perspective.

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n 1995 a group of academics, professors Peter Ochs, David Ford and Dan Hardy, developed a method of comparing Holy Scriptures. Prof.

Ochs had been working with a group of Jewish university students who wished to know more, informally and outside of their academic study, about their own scripture – a practice called ‘textual reasoning’. Eventually Christian students sought to join them, and later Muslim students. This eventually developed into the practice known today as scriptural reasoning. Scriptural reasoning involves students of different faiths coming together in order to study, share and discuss passages relating to a particular topic or theme. Out of this process each views their scripture through the lens of another faith perspective, hoping to learn something more of their own faith, acquire a deeper understanding of it, whilst also learning something of their companions’ livies of faith. Through this process authentic friendships have formed - authentic because of the honesty of heart and vulnerability of faith that must necessarily be expressed in exchanges such as these.

But as these types of exchanges proliferated, there naturally grew a body of challenges to the process. There are those for whom the sanctity of their respective scripture is paramount, for whom challenges from ‘outside’ are an indication of lack of understanding, disrespect, and even hostility. They began to question whether the ‘other’ had a right to hold the very paper on which scripture was

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printed, or to carry it away with them, let alone to pass comment or consider it critically.

So for whom is holy scripture written?

Is it written only for those already ‘converted’, for those who accept without question, for those who will put it on a high shelf and never take it down to read? Or is holy scripture written to be a message and an inspiration for us, to excite us to question our lives, the world around us, to question scripture itself?

Is holy scripture written to be a pointer to God, to be shared with the world? Or is it to be hidden away and kept only for some holy hierarchy, out of reach of the very poor and sick and vulnerable of the world that the message of God was sent to heal and make whole?

Throughout the Gospels of Christ, we hear of Jesus and his disciples going throughout the land, proclaiming the kingdom of God and good news to the poor, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. The gospel, the good news, is for the whole of creation.

The Bible itself begins with the story of creation, of how a wind from God spread over the face of the darkness and God said, using words, communicating: let there be light, and there was light. The sky and the waters were separated, the waters and the dry land, the plants of the field and the trees of the forest, the creatures of the land, sea and sky were created, and last of all humankind. The whole of creation is described. In this is a com-

munication to that creation, a communication, a voice, a word that brings into being all that is. Is this not an indication that the Bible is a communication of the story of that creation, and as such is for that creation? Is not creation a holy scripture in itself, a book upon which is written the story of our lives? And the revelation to the Prophet Muhammad!

Was this not also a communication of creation? Was not the first revelation to him to read, to recite, and to declare in the name of the God who created humankind from a single clot? Is this not a revelation for the whole of humankind to ponder and consider?

Each of these could be the subject of a dissertation in their own right. But each could also be answered with the same question: how can there be any doubt holy scripture is intended for the whole of humanity? We are given minds to consider, hearts to bear and bodies to experience the grace of God. Scripture is living, something we are meant to engage with fully - even in our deepest doubts - through our exultant joy and in our cruellest suffering. It is something with which we are to be in a relationship, and each relationship has moments of painful growth, growth which comes about through a stretching of our minds, our bodies and our hearts. That relationship cannot grow if scripture is placed on a high shelf, if it is not shared with others, if it is not honest in its interrogation.

The relationship is not something static and concrete, never-changing. Relation-

“We are given minds to consider, hearts to bear and bodies to experience the grace of God” ships change with the circumstance.

And the beauty of scripture is its ability, like the heart, to expand to contain new contexts, new experiences, new points of view. Such sharing is challenging, especially for those who want to hold tight to their own perspective, who don’t wish to share. Allowing exploration with others takes courage, and it takes strength of faith. But relationships that have come through challenges, relationships that have allowed others to enter, relationships that reach out to others in a spirit of openness and vulnerability, are the relationships that withstand the test of time and of trial.

There was an urban myth going around Iran during the months and years following the takeover of the US embassy in Iran after the 1979 revolution. The story goes that someone asked Imam Khomeini what would happen if America invaded and took over the country. His calm reply was the invaders would all convert to Islam. For Imam Khomeini, his faith in Islam was a calm centre which no challenge was able to

shake.

Whenever I speak to Christians who are fearful about a mosque in their neighbourhood or Islam taking over the world, the kind of unhelpful, tabloid rhetoric some have imbibed, I tell them this story. I challenge them to have the same faith, to consider we are all in God’s hands and all shall be well in the end. This is not about who is right or who is wrong, but rather it is about a loving communication from a loving God that we are loved, that God loves us, we love God, and we are all called to love one another •

Bonnie Evans-Hills is a priest and Acting Interfaith Adviser to the Bishop of Leicester and serves on the national Presence & Engagement task group mandated by General Synod. She is co-writing with Michael Rusk the book ‘Engaging Islam: a Christian perspective’ for Peter Lang Publishing.

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By Anousheh Mireskandari

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urfing the internet, I was pleasantly surprised to stumble across an article in The Huffington Post titled: “What Catholics can learn from the Qur’an” written by a Christian school minister.

The article describes the experience of Kathleen K. Duff, a campus minister at Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons School in Schenectady, New York, when she took up reading of the Qur’an during the Islamic month of Ramadhan.

Reading her blog I felt both shame and admiration. Shame because as a Muslim I have never read the Bible in ‘solidarity’ with my Christian sisters and brothers as she puts it, nor did I appreciate the possibility that the Qur’an can and should actually hold me ‘in a meditative mode of peace’.

Duff explains how she read the Qur’an not randomly, but with the understanding that “Muslims believe the Qur’an was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad[S] during the holy month of Ramadhan”.

She confirms that she has previously used the Qur’an as a ‘sporadic reference and resource to better understanding Islam’ but like many traditional Muslims, she has also ‘sat it on the top shelf of her bookcase among other sacred texts’ for years.

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Her sudden realization of being in fact a ‘Roman Catholic’ did not deter her from continuing on her quest ‘to read the Quran in its entirety’.

She writes: “.....something at the core of my being was calling me” “Each day and evening, the prayerful poetry in the Quran held me in a meditative mode of peace as I read without being aware of the passage of time.”

How many Muslims can say that?

Probably the most recognisable part of her experience can be identified in the following statements: ‘The Qur’an was almost endless’ and that she ‘didn’t want [it] to end. To many this is an emotion that is felt every year when the holy month comes to an end and the final parts of the Qur’an are read.

In Islamic mystical tradition it is often said that: ‘to know your God, you should know yourself’. Kathleen also reaches this realization with the following words: ‘remembering my essential holiness and how that holiness in the image of God should be reflected in the world.’

The minister stresses how God in the Qur’an has manifested His being as ‘a gracious and merciful God who cherishes humanity and cherishes all of creation’.

Her understanding makes her conclude that there is no limitation for God’s

Divine love which transcends ‘any one language, symbol and imagination’ and how the realization of this concept has deeper implications such as ‘how we treat each other and care for the world’.

“Living together is the Future” Twenty years after the war, Sarajevo re–invents itself as a new paradigm of peaceful coexistence. Ali Carlentini reports on an important interfaith gathering.

She refers to the constant reminder, through the chapters of Qur’an, of ‘the diversity and opposite realities in nature (night/day, male/female, darkness/light, beginning/ending, and life/death)’ as an ‘affirmation of the existence of God in both extremes.’

Kathleen then gracefully relates ‘this sacred polarity’ as a ‘perfect teaching paradigm for respectful interreligious dialogue’.

She ends her thoughts by identifying herself with the closing thoughts of the author of the translation of her copy of the Qur’an: “What can we do to make Allah’s light shine forth through the darkness around us? We must first let it shine in our own selves. With the light in the niche of our inmost hearts we can walk with steps both firm and sure: We can humbly visit the comfortless and guide their steps.

Not we but the light will guide. But oh the joy of being found worthy to bear the torch and to say to our brethren: I too was in darkness, comfortless, and behold, I have found comfort and joy in the grace divine.” •

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etween 9th to 12th of September, Christians, Muslims, Jews and Asian leaders met to hold dialogue and prayer upon the invitation of the Comunità di Sant’Egidio in the city of Sarajevo. The event has been an annual occurrence since it was inaugurated in the city of Assisi-Italy in 1989.

Sarajevo still carries the signs of a horrifying war which left 12,000 Bosnian Muslims, Catholics and Serbs dead. Certainly the history of this city adds a great poignancy to the term dialogue between religions as it has lived through the reality of a divisive war.

The question being posed was is it possible to live together when we are ethnically and religiously so different? After three days the reply came out strong and clear; religions have to establish the

foundations of peace enabling people to live together in a globalized world where the “other” is ever closer.

The participants in Sarajevo represented those who reject hate and violence in the name of God. The presence of the Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Irenej who came to assist the mass conducted by the cardinal Vinko Puljic illustrated how old barriers were melting away. The words spoken by the Bosnian Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric were also poignant: “the victims of the last war deserve our sincere efforts for peace and reconciliation”.

Cynics might ask if dialogue really changes relationships among people.

Against the background of the infamous film “Innocence of Muslims”, designed to disunite religious communities across the world, we should be more convinced

than ever of the need to engage in dialogue to increase mutual understanding.

The same applies to the value of prayer.

Prayer is a hope that despite all the problems around the world, Divine intervention can happen if we deserve it.

In its final appeal the gathering stressed the increasing danger of new cultures of resentment, hate and fear. The conference also underlined the necessity to find courage to face new difficulties by understanding that the war was a great evil and left a poisoned heritage. Gatherings like this help to detoxify the past and build the foundations of a better future •

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Opinions

picture 1

By Omid Safi

picture 2

It’s time to occupy Mecca

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t is time, and past time, to occupy Mecca. I am not talking about a disastrous US occupation, a la Iraq and Afghanistan.

What I am calling for is nothing less than millions of faithful pilgrims saving Mecca from destruction. I would call the destruction imminent, except that it is not imminent. It has already happened.

No, it’s not the Americans, or the Israelis, who would be destroying Mecca.

It’s the so-called Guardians of the two holy sites (Mecca and Medina), the Saudi royal elites, who have negligently stood by over the last two decades as the majority of holy places in these two most sacred Muslim cities have been destroyed, sacrificed to the false gods of modernisation, capitalism, and progress.

Saudi Wahhabis have a long history of destroying shrines, including those of the family of the Prophet in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The historical cemeteries of the families and companions of the Prophet, have been completely transformed. (picture 1 & 2 )

The early Wahhabis even had plans to destroy the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina1, as they assumed that Muslims who were offering blessings and salutations on the Prophet (as the Qur’an commands them to do) were in fact idolaters.

The Saudis have destroyed or bulldozed some 300 sacred sites and shrines in Mecca and Medina in creating what many are calling the new “Las Vegas.”

Here is what some local experts in Saudi Arabia have to say about this cultural and architectural genocide: “No one has the courage to stand up and condemn this cultural vandalism,” says Dr Irfan al-Alawi who, as executive director of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, has fought in vain to protect his country’s historical sites.

“We have already lost 400-500 sites. I just hope it’s not too late to turn things around.”

And here is what a Saudi architect, Dr. Angwai, has to say:

The graves of the descendants of the Prophet are now dusty rubble, with only stones to identify them.

“The house where the Prophet received the word of God is gone and nobody cares. I don’t want trouble. I just want this to stop.”

Armed Saudi policemen beat away and arrest pilgrims who stop to pay their respects.

The Gulf Institute estimates that 95% of Mecca’s historical religious structures have been destroyed in the last two dec-

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ades.

The rush to build 5-star hotels for the richest pilgrims comes at the expense of historical mosques, shrines, cemeteries, and homes that are being bulldozed one after another to make room for new hotels and shopping malls. Many Muslims all over the world see the crass commercialism of these sites as a gross violation of the radical egalitarianism of Islamic teachings so beautifully emphasised in the Hajj pilgrimage.

What was intended to be an occasion to symbolise the unity of humanity standing before the Divine in the most basic of garments has been turned by the Saudi royal elite (working in tandem with Wahhabi clerics) into an occasion to create the world’s largest market for spiritual tourism.

The new Clock Tower in Mecca dwarfs the significance and centrality of the Ka’ba, which is considered by Muslims to be the centre of the Earth and the Temple of God built by Abraham.

The sacred places rooted in Muslim memory have literally been turned into toilets. The house of the Prophet’s wife, Khadija (may God be pleased with her) was recently turned into a row of latrines.

The Wahhabis don’t hate all buildings.

They are spending more than a billion dollars to build the world’s largest tower.

This in an age where one out of every five of God’s creation lives on a dollar a day. Surely we could find a place for this one billion dollars: the wrinkled stomachs of the poorest of God’s children. It is time and past time to start an Occupy Mecca movement, to save what’s left of Mecca and Medina. What we would be saving would not just be the last remaining pieces of the Islamic architecture of Mecca and Medina; it would be our own dignity as Muslims •

Note: 1. Wahhabism and Early Reforms in the Ottoman State, Prof. Hamid Algar (YouTube. com) Omid Safi is a Professor of Islamic Studies at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, specializing in contemporary Islamic thought and classical Islam. He is a current Chair for Islamic Mysticism Group at the American Academy of Religion. In 2009 he was recognised by the University of North Carolina for mentoring minority students, and won the Sitterson Teaching Award for Professor of the Year in April 2010. He is the author of “Memories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters” published by Harper Collins ( Nov 2010)

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Sacrilege has become so commonplace in today’s world that it barely raises a whimper. Muslims are right to protest vitriolic attacks against their faith but they should never take the law into their own hands. That is God’s role argues Revd Frank Julian Gelli.

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he Second Book of Kings relates that one day the Prophet Elisha was going on his way when a gang of boys came out of the city of Bethel. They saw the holy man’s bald pate and jeered at him: ‘Go up, you baldhead, go up!’ A mere prank? No way. No one can take liberties with a Prophet of the Lord. Elisha turned around and, in the name of God, he cursed them. Thereupon two huge she-bears came out of the nearby woods and tore the miscreants to pieces – all 42 of them. The Prophet then continued on his way.

ing up Sir Henry Spelman’s History of Sacrilege. A valuable 1698 essay. I already knew of Spelman from that favourite book of mine, John Aubrey’s Brief Lives. Sacrilegious people and sacrilegious acts - that is what Sir Henry writes about. A topical subject, you will grant me.

The sorry episode of the murder of the US Ambassador to Libya by a mob, in reaction to a film besmirching the figure of the Prophet Muhammad, presages more painful trouble to come. I don’t know but...a peculiar conjunction of events makes me wonder. First, the deed fell on the anniversary of 9/11. Second, very recently the priest went to a seminar at Abrar House on Libya – some interesting, voluble characters around. Third, on the way back home, on the Hammersmith platform a sad-looking youth called Muhammad asked me for directions.

Non sequitur, perhaps. Or maybe not...

The author stresses one fundamental point: sacrilege brings misfortune to its perpetrators. The example of the urchins who dared to mock Prophet Elisha speaks volumes, naturally. Another is the fate of Israel’s wicked King Ahab. Egged on by his mushrika, pagan Queen Jezebel, Ahab set up idolatrous shrines in his kingdom, thereby offending the one true God. Eventually, Ahab was fatally wounded in battle. His men took the King’s body back on his chariot to Samaria. They washed the chariot by a pool and, shamefully, the dogs licked Ahab’s blood, ‘and the harlots washed themselves in it’, as Elisha’s predecessor, Elijah, had prophesied. (I Kings 21:19).

Henry VIII, by the way, suffered a similar destiny. The coffin in which his massive, bloated corpse lay at Windsor burst and the dogs lapped up the syphilitic blood and pus. That too had been predicted.

What is no coincidence is my look-

Sacrilege is of course an offence against

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the sacred. Sacred persons or sacred things. A History of Sacrilege is especially concerned with robbers of church property and sacred buildings, following the great spoliations in England after the Reformation. Spellman points out that those guilty of sacrilege actually bring a curse upon themselves. A man of God, like Elisha, can publicly utter the curse but the thing that follows is automatic, it follows the very act – God will do it if no one else does. But sacrilege not only entails punishment of those who commit it – it also falls on their families and their descendants. Long lists of examples are offered as proof. Grim!

So perhaps the hot-headed multitudes who are now preparing to shed more blood to avenge the insult done to their Prophet should be told. First, by hypothesis fierce punishment awaits the guilty in the next world. The torments the Qur’an so vividly describes will be their lot. Like drinking, boiling water and... no, enough - otherwise I will be accused again of overdoing these things. Second, the posterity of those gentlemen, Mr Sam Basile and non-rev. Terry Jones, stand to suffer, too. Third, why take it out on the innocent? Poor envoy Chris Stevens had no hand in the wretched business. Ambassadors by definition are trained to be diplomatic – the last thing an ambassador seeks to do is to insult what is most sacred to a believing people; its religion. So why kill him and the others? It is so brutal, so senseless.

Thank God there are plenty of thoughtful, good Muslims around who disagree with the ghastly violence. A splendid Arab chap on Twitter tweeted that ‘the killers were away from Islamic ethics’.

Absolutely right. Furthermore, there is an established legal mechanism, a procedure in Islam for dealing with insults to the Prophet Muhammad. Sharia courts, the right bodies to investigate these matters, have nothing to do with mob rule, kangaroo courts, lynching or the like. It is for a scrupulous judge to examine the evidence, hear witnesses, establish intention and so on. Pity there is no let out, as far as I know, for being idiots, because, from the clip I saw online, the authors may qualify. One Jew and one Christian they are said to be but one thing I do know – they are a

disgrace to their religions.

has only two cheeks to turn!

Christians are of course all too familiar with the situation. Their faith is attacked and insulted daily in countries which used to be called ‘Christian’. Jesus Christ is fair game. His sacred person is made the object of the most profane and foulest blasphemies. A few evangelicals make mild noises and protest but nobody does anything. ‘Why do you take it lying down?’ a Muslim asked me recently. Good question. Maybe too easy to bleat the obvious truisms: love your enemies, turn the other cheek...but a man

The Bible says that at the foot of the cross Christ prayed for his persecutors: ‘Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they do.’ Note, however, he asked his Father to forgive them – he did not say ‘I forgive you’.

Do Christians lack guts to oppose sacrilege and blasphemy? Certainly hurting the innocent would be no way of defending Christ. Nor is violence per se justified. That is not in accordance with Christian ethics, I tell you. Yet I seem to

recall to what John Henry Newman once wrote. I quote from memory: ‘It would be better if this country was a little bit more fanatical, a little bit less tolerant.’

Does it alarm you? Does it scare you?

I hope so! • Revd J. Frank Gelli is an Anglican priest working on religious dialogue. He is a cultural critic and a religious controversialist on TV and Radio.

His last book is: ‘Julius Evola: the Sufi of Rome’.

Available on Amazon Kindle.

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Science To mark the first publication of this magazine, I would like to open the science section by examining a scientific theory mentioned in the Qur’an which was a pivotal factor in my conversion to Islam. I hope to provide a modern scientific discussion of the ayah in the Qur’an that refers to mountains having deep roots like pegs. (Qur’an 78:6-7)

The Qur’an describes the earth’s mountains as pegs rooted in the planet’s crust. As Hannah Smith explains, the description is not only metaphorical but supported by modern scientific analysis.

Crust

T

he chemical structure of the solid Earth can be considered to comprise three basic layers like an egg, there is a thin crust within which most human endeavours such as mining are restricted, a thick layer called the mantle extending approximately half way to the centre of the Earth, and a core at the centre.

The crust is made of rock of an average granitic composition. The mantle is also made of rock but of a higher density than the crust and this rock flows very slowly at the rate of around 5 cm per year. The core is made mostly of iron, with outer liquid and solid inner sublayers.

The structure of mountains have a likeness to the previously mentioned Qur’anic description in that the crust beneath mountains is markedly thicker than that of the surrounding continental crust, for example the average thickness of the continental crust is approximately 40 km whereas the crust beneath the Himalayan Mountains extends to almost 100 km below the summit on the land surface. Mountain roots are analogous to the greater volume of iceberg ice that exists below water than above, such that mountain roots “float” in the mantle and their crust protrudes into it.

48

Since the deepest drilling has only reached a depth of 12 km, knowledge of deep Earth structure has come from remote sensing by geophysical methods.

Geophysics, the subject I studied and researched at university uses the ideas of physics such as gravity, magnetism, waves and electricity to probe and explore the substructure of the solid Earth.

The existence of mountain roots was first suggested by British scientists in the 1850s while measuring the value of the gravitational strength, amongst other places, near the Himalayan Mountains.

Sir George Everest’s team found that a pendulum bob was deflected by an unexpectedly small amount indicating a deficit of mass beneath the mountains.

To explain the mass deficit, George Biddell Airy suggested that mountains were underlain by deep roots of crustal rock that has a lower density than that of the mantle rock below.

A more detailed structural analysis of mountain roots has only however been possible with the advancement of extensive seismic networks in the past 40 years which has facilitated the creation of detailed seismological images. The passage of seismic waves through the Earth can be analysed to provide clues about the internal structure of the Earth.

In a similar way to the discernment of organs in the body by a CAT scan, seismic wave data from seismograms can be analysed to create images of the deep

5 to 50km

Mantle

vection currents in the mantle below.

Some of these plates are comprised entirely of denser basaltic rock, and some contain landmasses of lighter rocks within them.

Outer Core Inner Core

6400km 1300km 3500km

Earth whereby the speed and behaviour of seismic waves is altered by the chemistry, temperature, and fluid properties of the rocks through which they traverse.

The presence of crustal thickening can be detected beneath mountains because seismic waves travel at different velocities in crustal and mantle rocks.

The basic scientific model used to ex-

plain the formation of ‘peg-like’ mountain roots is that of Archimede’s principle or buoyancy. Elevated mountain topography is initially created on the surface when two or more continental plates collide. The crust of the Earth is broken into fifteen major tectonic plates and a number of smaller plates which are dragged around the surface of the Earth, shifting positions, driven by con-

When two continental land masses collide some of the continental crust is pushed upwards creating a mountain; a modern geological example are the Himalayan Mountains following the collision of the Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate. The thickened mountain crust pushes down on the mantle below and the fluid mantle rock below slowly flows out from underneath the mountain area to rebalance the pressure in this region.

The thickened mountain crust then sinks until Archimedes’ principle is satisfied; a volume of mantle rock of equal weight to the excess mountain crust is displaced. The resulting state is known as isostatic equilibrium •

Hannah Smith has an undergraduate degree in Geophysics from Imperial College London and the University of Oxford, and a Masters degree in Geology from the University of Michigan. She currently works as a Physics teacher at a secondary school in London

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S

ecurity is at the top of every political agenda.

But can the same be said for respect for the vital individual freedoms needed for democracy to function?

Anxious to reassure its citizens and to steal a technological competitive advantage, the EU has not yet defined a clear policy. As so often happens, the technology is progressing faster than the debate on its potential abuses. It is a gap that the Commission is trying to bridge, in particular with the aid of human science.

Since the attack on the World Trade Center’s twin towers on 11 September 2001, the world has been in the grip of a security frenzy.

The New York attack was shortly followed by the Madrid and London attacks, which heightened the public’s fear still further. It is perhaps this irrational fear that has led to the widespread introduction of new security measures (like America’s Patriot Act) that undermine many of the fundamental rights essential to our democracies. In the face of this potential threat, the European Commission grouped under the umbrella term ‘security’ the prevention of a huge number of risks of diverse nature and origin (ranging from natural disasters, terrorism and the regulation of illegal immigration to computer infrastructure security), so technical solutions have come to be considered as essential allies.

“Things have moved very fast since 2OO1. There has been enormous political pressure for organising a rapid response to security threats, from both the international community and citizens at home.

Although it is true to say that the Commission has responded highly effectively, its zeal has helped to obscure the security research agenda,” explains J. Peter Burgess, a researcher at PRIO, the Peace Research Institute (NO). “The Commission’s designated security threats are so diverse that it is extremely complex to identify all the impacts and ethical implications of the various technologies concerned.”

J. Peter Burgess currently coordinates INEX(1), a research project financed under the “security” portfolio of the Seventh Framework Programme (PP7).

The project aims to determine the ethical implications of recent developments in security strategies, characterised mainly by a gradual rapprochement between defence and internal security policies. “Our goal is to place people, that is to say citizens, back at the centre of the security issue. As is so often the case, legislation lags far behind innovation. This sometimes means that new security devices are introduced without first conducting an exhaustive study to evaluate their

ethical and legal implications,” adds J. Peter Burgess.

“The Commission appears to be keeping a watchful eye on the situation though, as the second EP7 call for security proposals includes more human science projects on such subjects. Similarly, the European Security Research and Innovation Forum (ESRIF), which was set up in September 2008 to develop a strategy for civil security research and innovation in Europe through public/private dialogue, includes an ethics working group. In spite of all this, more research is needed to strictly control the use of these new technologies. Human science and legislation are clearly lagging behind security solutions. Christiane Bernard, who is in charge of ethics at the Security Research and Development Unit of the European Commission Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry, agrees but wishes to set our minds at rest; “Although it is true that the ethical aspects lag somewhat behind technological advances, the Commission takes special care to ensure that ‘security’ projects are developed in a way that respects individual rights and freedoms.

Ethical compliance is studied for the first time upstream when projects are selected(2) , a second time when the midterm report is reviewed and a final time downstream, when the research results are evaluated, As a general rule, the Commission also ensures that the most sensitive projects systematically include an ethics committee, to enable researchers to develop technologies that respect individual freedoms?

Catching up. ..

Ethical problems are particularly acute when it comes to surveillance technologies, the long list of which includes cameras equipped with facial recognition programmes, computer systems capable of intercepting telephone calls and emails, radar that can see through walls and databases. But what about the right to privacy? Researchers for PRISEG(3),

one of the few human science projects to be launched under the Preparatory Action on the enhancement of the European industrial potential in the field of Security Research (PASR), which was in operation prior to the FP7 security portfolio, have devised a methodology to guarantee that, throughout their development, security solutions comply with this fundamental right to privacy. “It is in the interests of the industries involved in security research to respect individual freedoms so as to guarantee support from civil society. Otherwise these technologies may never he introduced, with a huge loss of potential earnings” stresses Walter Peissl, Deputy Director of the Institute of Technology Assessment (AT), the research centre responsible for coordinating PRISE. As part of the PRISE project, a consultation was conducted to ascertain which boundaries citizens place on security technologies.

There was general consensus among the respondents that under no circumstances does the terrorist threat justify restricting the right to privacy and that devices that invade a person’s physical privacy are not to be tolerated. They also stressed the danger of security technologies being misappropriated for criminal ends or for purposes that contravene fundamental rights and they deemed it unacceptable for technology or personal information to be used for purposes other than the original purpose for which the technology or information was introduced or collected. Most of the respondents believed that the use of security devices should be strictly controlled by the judiciary. ...before it’s too late?

“As the consultation gathered the views of 160 people who had been fully apprised of security development issues in Europe, it could never be described as representing all of Europe’s citizens,” Walter Peissl explains. “Nevertheless it does provide us with useful insights into the public’s expectations regarding secu-

rity.” On the basis of these results, supplemented by a study of legislation on the respect of privacy and other fundamental rights that could be affected by surveillance technologies, the researchers were able to draw up two analytical matrices, one for research proposers and the other for Commission evaluators.

The aim? To develop surveillance devices that comply with the rules on individual rights.

This is essential if citizens’ interests are to be kept at the centre of new security system developments. Nevertheless, the PRISE methodology was not used when implementing the FP7 security portfolio. “The simple reason is that the projects results have only just been submitted and the Commission has yet to approve them,” explains Christiane Bernard. Meanwhile, the gap between security technology and fundamental rights seems to be growing inexorably.

Even though PRISE consultation participants defined people’s physical privacy as a boundary that security technologies should not cross, it has not prevented a number of European airports, including Luton (London) and Schiphol (Amsterdam) from introducing body scanners that can see through passengers’ clothing •

By Julie Van Rossom (1) Converging and conflicting ethical values in the internal/external security continuum in Europe (2)

See “End of the mad professor? page 80 of this edition

(3)

Privacy enhancing shaping of security research and technology – A participatory approach to develop acceptable and accepted principles for European Security Industries and Policies Research*eu N0. 60 \ JUNE 2009

Health

The challenging senses

of the human body W

e use our five vital senses to discover the world from our very first breath. Step by step the anatomy and physiology of our sensing organs develop with us. We could smell like a dog, see like an eagle or even hear like a bat but we don’t. Why?

Hearing Sense We hear hundreds of different sounds on a daily basis, all of which express real events happening around us, from a baby’s cry to a falling spoon hitting the floor or even the blaring of a car horn being activated. But what exactly is this thing called sound?

Sound is a vibration transmitted to our senses through the mechanism of the ear, and recognized as sound by the brain through our nerves. For example if a tree growing on an uninhabited island falls to the ground there will be no

52

sound because there is no ear to translate the vibration produced by the falling tree into “the sound of a falling tree”. So we can say that there is no sound that is a physical reality and that sound is more of an experience engraved in the mind of the person perceiving it.

Sense of vision This sense is even more challenging.

We see and recognize almost everything around us with our eyes and we believe and rely on things we see. A light reflected from an object enters the eye, and after passing through the eye’s lenses, the eye makes a picture of that object on the retina, which is located at the back of the eye. Nerves then transfer this picture to the brain allowing us to see objects.

So if there is no light then there will be no sight. However this by no means suggests that there is nothing out there in the physical world.

The eye is connected to the brain by the optic nerve. The point where the nerve is connected to the eye is called the blind spot. This point is not sensitive to light so if the picture of an object falls on this point it cannot be seen.

On the other hand our eyes are sensitive only to light in the interval of 430,000 – 750,000 gigahertz. It is hard to even imagine what would happen if human eyes were able to see lower frequencies such as infrared light radiation, microwaves and radio waves or in higher frequencies; ultraviolet rays, X rays and gamma rays. It would be visual chaos!

What we can conclude from the limited extent of our sense of vision is that what we see around us is just a tiny fraction of what is really out there.

Sense of tasting and smelling When we want to taste something our

We think nothing is more definite than what our senses perceive, but the truth is far removed from this. What we can sense is not exactly what exists in the physical world. The main thing about our senses is that they help us to understand the physical world surrounding us, but do they tell us the full story?

Dr Laleh Lohrasbi provides an insight into how our senses work

brain immediately directs us to our mouth where most of the taste buds are found, especially on the tongue. An average person has about 10,000 taste buds inside their mouth which are responsible for the four basic tastes of salty, sweet, bitter and sour.

However we would not be able to taste things properly if we did not also have the closely allied sense of smell!

We’ve all experienced loss of taste when we have a cold. This problem is not because our taste buds are affected by our illness but it is due to the inflammation process inside the nose which disables the sense of smell.. This can be sensed even when we are healthy. If you hold your nose while eating some food you will notice that what you’re eating does not taste the same as when you eat it normally.

This is why smokers often have poor

taste. Smoking damages the nasal membrane and destroys the cells that are responsible for smelling in the nose.

Sense of touch The skin that covers our body has millions of nerve endings, responsible for feeling heat, cold, contact and pain. If we enter a place with no light we begin to use our sense of touch to recognize the surroundings; we can touch a chair, fruit, water, and even wind.

If our sense of vision is not working we rely on touch even more – this is especially true of blind people. However the sense of touch is not also as complete and reliable as it seems.

All touching aspects have a threshold.

What this means is that for example there must be enough heat affecting the skin to enable us to feel the heat.

Or in the case of contact there must be

enough molecules accumulating in a determined place to be contacted - this is why we cannot touch the air or some other gases. So if we enter an empty garage with no light but an an odourless gas like carbon monoxide has filled the air, we might faint and before anybody realises we might even die. This is just one example of how all our five body senses can betray us.

Nevertheless, what is noticeable is that however inaccurate our body senses may appear to us, they are appropriately and delicately tuned to enable us to understand the universe and advance our knowledge of God’s creation without damaging us • Dr Laleh Lohrasbi is a pharmacologist. She has worked as an editor for the medical section of “Hamshahri”, a daily newspaper in Tehran.

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Life Coaching Q & A: Hair Q. Do chemical dyes damage hair?

A . Chemical dyes remove the protective lipid layer on the outside of the hair and the process of dying makes hair lose its moisture and become dry. Both these processes destroy the shiny appearance of hair and make it dry, dull and frizzy.

Q. Does sun exposure damage hair?

A . Yes. Hair can get tanned and damaged just like skin. The ultraviolet rays of the sun weaken the structure of hair which can cause hair loss or breakage. In this case white hair is more susceptible to be damaged by the sun followed by blond hair. Covering hair with a hat, scarf or umbrella may be helpful. Dark hair exposed to sun is less susceptible to damage than blond hair.

Q. Does blow-drying damage hair?

A . Yes. Blow-drying dries hair and destroys the moisture inside the hair stem. The hair stem is responsible for the hair’s flexibility. In addition heat makes hair look fizzy; smell burned and can easily lead to breakage of hair. Heat damaged hair will never get back to normal but using moisturizers can make it look better. Damaged hair should be cut off and allowed to re-grow to become healthy again.

Q. Do I have to use moisturizers every time I wash my hair?

A . Yes especially if you have long dyed hair. Dying dries hair and makes it more susceptible to breakage, so using moisturizers provides the moisture your hair needs and removes knots formed during the washing process. Using moisturizers will also protect your hair against blow drying and against the heat of the sun. .

Have you ever wondered why your hair appears dull and tired after dying? Or why it’s thinner at the ends than at the roots? Dr Laleh

is the next best thing to having your own personal life coach’ says Sayeda Habib .

Lohsrabi answers.

will stimulate the blood circulation of the scalp and will help your hair to get nourished and grow faster.

Q. Do pony tails make my hair fall out more?

A . Pony tails and braids both can damage your hair and result in breakage especially if you do them tightly. It is better for the hair to be loose, so if you cannot let your hair down, then wear your hair in such a way that you do not have to tie it up. Braiding or putting hair in a pony tail when it is wet is even worse as wet hair is more prone to breakage.

Q. How many times a week should I wash my hair?

A . This totally depends on the nature of the hair and scalp.

The aim of washing hair is to keep it clean and remove the excess oil accumulating on the scalp and hair. If you have greasy hair then you may shampoo your hair for up to three times a week while for people with dry hair once or twice a week should be enough. Over-shampooing of greasy hair may stimulate the oil glands of the hair follicles to produce more oil.

Q. How many hairs do we have?

A . An average person has about 100,000 hair follicles.

Q. Does cutting hair make it grow longer or thicker?

A . It is a fallacy that if you cut your hair it will become stronger or grows faster. Hair is thicker near the root and gets thinner towards the tips and that is why when we cut our hair it seems thicker. Sometimes our hair becomes damaged by dying, perming or using hot blow dryers, and this is another reason it seems thinner at the ends. In this case cutting off the damaged parts may help it look stronger and thicker.

Q. Does brushing damage hairs?

Q. Does smoking make hair grey?

A. It totally depends on how and when you brush your hair. If you brush your hair when wet or without detangling it first then brushing will probably damage your hair, but if you detangle your hair first and brush it when it is completely dry then brushing will not damage your hair. To the contrary it

A . Yes in fact smokers are four times more likely to develop

54

‘Discover the Best in You’

grey hair, besides the fact that smoking also accelerates hair loss.

S

ayeda Habib is a qualified and experienced life coach. Her work has been featured on radio and television in the UK, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan.

She writes a regular column for a Muslim woman’s magazine.

Here she talks about her book and her desire to help Muslims find their true self.

What is Life Coaching and how does it work?

“Life coaching is the process of collaboration and partnership where the coach supports the client to realize their individual potential and produce the results they want to achieve in their personal and professional lives. A coach asks their clients the right questions to help them find solutions to the issues that the client is facing. The process of coaching assists clients to raise their awareness, generate solutions, and take actions. All these steps result in clients feeling inspired to make changes towards a better quality of life”.

Why we could benefit from Life Coaching?

“Coaching allows you to target your learning to the areas that are most relevant to your life right now. You either know exactly what you want to achieve, but haven’t yet done so, or perhaps you’re not very clear; either way, wherever you are, that is the best place to start. You know that you need a change, but you are not sure what kind, or how

to go about it. For example if you’re extremely stressed or busy, coaching can help you achieve a better work-life balance. Perhaps you’d like to improve certain relationships, then coaching can help you find ways to do that, and to enhance your communication skills.”

Your book has focused on Muslims, how can Muslims in particular benefit from your book?

“This book contains verses from the Qur’an, as well as some prophetic traditions which demonstrate the importance of personal development within Islam.

These beautiful verses and narrations encourage readers, and help them to focus on their personal development because they will notice the emphasis that Islam places upon Muslims to live the best quality of life they possibly can. This book also contains stories from people who have changed their lives for the better, all providing the reader with the motivation to stay on track.”

How does reading your book guide readers to change their thinking?

“Firstly, the most important thing to keep in mind is that this book is not something you just read; it is something you work with. It contains exercises, tips, and tools that will help the reader to gain clarity, and focus on the areas that are the most important to them. The reader can begin their work on any area of their choosing. For example, if time management is an issue, start there, if self-esteem needs a boost, and then start there.

Readers can work with this book at their own pace, and I recommend that they focus in on one area at a time. Readers have the freedom to use these tools in the way that suits their lifestyle.” • ‘Discover the Best in You’! Life Coaching for Muslims by Sayeda Habib first published in Paperback in England by Kube Publishing Ltd., in September 2012.

196 pages | Trade Paperback Original | Price £7.95

www.lifecoachingformuslims.net

55

Places

The Museum of Dar Belghazi

Sidi Bouknadel

S

ituated between the capital, Rabat, and the French colonial establishment of Kenitra, is the millionaire’s family villa and museum, Dar Belghazi. Rather than occupying a historic ryad in one of Morocco’s many imperial cities, Mr. Belghazi’s phenomenal collection is housed in a concrete block warehouse preceded by a huge unkept garden and furnished with an array of carved and painted doors and windows undoubtedly taken from disused or abandoned ryads.

As a tourist, this is perhaps not an essential stop: Fes has far more sophisticated and better labelled collections displayed in period architecture but as a recent settler in the country, I felt it my duty to inspect what really amounts to a series of cabinets of curiosity of an extremely eclectic collection which is more a reflection of the owner’s eccentricity than anything else.

The Rough Guide to Morocco remarks that the collection holds nothing compelling; this of course depends on the

56

visitor’s interests. If Islamic art is your thing, then there is plenty to whet your appetite: contract scrolls, beautiful Qur’anic manuscripts, Torahs and even an Ethiopian Bible are all held in the first room which is reserved, allegedly, for manuscripts but which in reality holds an array of objects ranging from fossils, mosque finials, textiles, carpets, utensils for carving decorations into leather and a Royal embroidered parasol, the likes of which were used by Fatimid rulers and here are depicted in photographs with the late Moroccan King Hassan II. Most interesting were a pair of minbars, one used by nomads from the south of Morocco made of wood and carved with characteristic roundels which are divided into segments and painted in different colours; the other dates from the Merinid period, 13th-14th century, and can be entirely unassembled because it was used for ‘Id prayers. This beautiful piece, as well as being undeniably practical, is carved out of cedar wood and painted with vegetable dyes, now sadly fading.

The adjacent room is dedicated mostly to costumes, some children’s, including what appears to be a child’s set of armour, and men’s. The apologetic note informs visitors that further information about the displays will become available. In the third, much larger room, carved wooden ceilings, doors as well as some marble fountains and even Turkish toilets either hang on the walls or are simply laid on the ground. At the far end of the room is a reproduction of the carved wooden exterior mihrab at the Karawiyyine mosque in Fes, known as Al-Anjaa which is used in the summer months to perform the prayer in the beautiful marble-clad courtyard. The intricate mashrabiyya that forms a geometrical pattern is called Tibhe is still used in the said mosque to separate the women’s area. It is carved in cedar wood and painted somewhat garishly (it is disputable whether vegetable dyes are still used and therefore modern reproductions of such colours belie their artificial origins). In the corner, there is a sheepskin with leather appliqué background and which is used for prayer and very similar in design to Mauritanian decorated and painted prayer skins.

The fourth room is split into two regional themes: Meknes and Southern Morocco. Here various bridal attires, including silk sashes woven in Marakkesh hang on the wall, the elaborately painted boxes which carried them on camel back as well as some pieces of jewellery (these were on display in the first room). There were also children’s toys, such as dolls and dolls’ furniture which one would imagine only a privileged few could afford. A recreation of a Moroccan ‘salon’, the low seating that is covered with mattresses surmounted by quilted toppings in contrasting silk fabrics. Every traditional and even modern Moroccan

household still includes these types of couches, although decor has undergone considerable change. Hanging above the couches were the fabric patchwork representations of arches which usually adorn saints’ tombs. When seen in the context of a sumptuous drawing room, they look like colourful wall adornments, not unlike Eyptian appliqué tent hangings. This bizarre combination of the secular with the religious, the domestic with the funerary, adds to the unpredictability and specificity of the experience of this museum.

There was surprisingly little pottery: only a few Fassi pieces, mostly dating from the 19th century which included conical plates known as mokhfia, pastilla plates for the famous dish prepared for festive occasions, a pitcher and a jabban or dish with a lid. In a passageway leading from this room to the last, which is based on a Fassi theme, is a collection of carved wooden doors from the southern region of Morocco. These simple and bold geometrical motifs contrast sharply with the delicate vegetal motifs, the arabesques and the calligraphy on the Islamic prototype woodwork. Inadvertently, the fact that both styles are juxtaposed actually achieves something

remarkable: rather than perpetuating the hierarchy of luxury and refinement, embodied by the ‘high’ arts and crafts of the elite as opposed to the more functional but no less ornate implements or ‘low’ art of the masses, this amalgamation of objects instead proposes a more democratic outlook on the arts of Islam.

Following Robert Redfield’s model, it is more appropriate to speak of a ‘great’ and ‘little’ tradition which is often interconnected as opposed to being polarised. Nevertheless, it would be misleading to think of it as a museum of Islamic art, rather, this is an ethnographic collection which could be better promoted by means of an accompanying catalogue and even more importantly deserves to be curated so as to give greater value to the objects themselves and to inform visitors, whatever their background.

The final room, a long hallway covered on both sides by displays of arms from various parts of Africa: shields, daggers, spears and headgear amongst which appeared embroidered babouches; whereas in the centre of the hall were glass cabinets containing an array of what looked like French colonial memorabilia, medical equipment and even rather mundane glass containers.

In comparison to other well-curated and presented museums in the country, admittance to Bar Belghazi is not cheap.

Granted that this is a private foundation rather than a national museum, the owner would benefit from encouraging students of Muslim cultures as well as art historians to collaborate on the study, conservation and documentation of the collection. Indeed, although primarily Moroccan in origin and flavour, the collection includes pieces that come from further afield: West, East and Central Africa, India and possibly even China. Until a deeper study of the collection is undertaken, visitors to the museum will be charmed and guided by the resident ginger cat • Cleo Cantone obtained her PhD from the University of London (2006). Her book Making and Remaking Mosques in Senegal, based on her doctoral research, has recently been published by Brill. Currently she is working on a joint research project on Sufi architecture in Senegal. She lives in Morocco.

57

Fréjus

© M.R. Amirinia

The Bravade in

© M.R. Amirinia

Written & Photographed by Mohammad Reza Amirinia

I

love going to the south of France. I have been going there every year for the last 6 years and never get bored.

This year, I decided to spend more time in Fréjus and other beautiful villages in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.

My main objective was just to walk around the historic parts of Fréjus to discover a Roman town which was founded by Julius Cesar in 49 BC. My wife and I arrived in the main square where the town hall and Saint-Pol-de-Léon Cathedral is located. The square was not crowded, people were scattered around, sitting in cafes and restaurants. We start-

58

ed our sightseeing by visiting the Cathedral. It was an amazing place of worship.

We realised that a man followed us inside the church. A strong smell of alcohol came from him and I could hardly understand what he was talking about.

He called a church worker who greeted us with a smile. I spoke to him with my poor French, but we continued our conversation in English about Christian beliefs. Our conversations soon lead to discuss about the universe and our destiny.

After a while another senior priest, the 55 year old Father Benoit arrived and spoke to us in broken English. We were engaged in a deep philosophical conversation and were not aware of what was happening outside the Cathedral.

The man who had followed us inside the church interrupted our conversation and called us to go outside. We found a large crowd, dressed in a variety of different costumes, with some, dressed in uniforms resembling soldiers during Napoleon’s time that kept shooting into the air with the guns they carried. It was an extraordinary scene with the sounds

of army drums, flutes and traditional dancing in medieval Provencal costume.

Soon we realised what was going on, and that was when the procession departed in a very orderly manner.

The drunken man asked us to go with him in another direction, through dark

and quiet streets. My wife was not very keen. I had the feeling that he wanted to take us to the front of the procession through a shortcut. Soon, we found ourselves in front of Saint Francois church and the procession was arriving in groups. After a short prayer in the

church they continued their ceremony; shooting guns, followed by chanting around a tree which they put on fire in the middle of the square. The long night passed, but I was still not sure what was the history and background to the ceremony.

After breakfast we went back to the square. My wife was sitting on a bench talking to a 70-year old woman called Monique Bletterer. It was a relief to find someone who could explain things without language barriers. The people were dispersing and nobody was left by the

59

© M.R. Amirinia

© M.R. Amirinia

church, but Monique patiently carried on telling us about the story of Saint Francis of Paola and how he cured the plague and other lethal infectious diseases which had killed many people.

Monique, who is a councillor and active community worker said: “Saint Francis lived a spiritual and simple life in Paola, south of Italy. He arrived by boat in Fréjus port in 1482 to pray for those who were severely ill and dying.” “His prayer was answered. It cured the people who were infected” Monique said.

This historical visit by the saint became a significant date in the calendar of this town. The people have celebrated the “Bravade” (meaning boldness) three weeks after Easter in his honour every year since.

60

Monique’s fascinating story engaged our minds and changed our plan completely.

Monique said the procession which is a religious and traditional ceremony would carry on for another two days. We spent the whole day on Sunday and the better part of Monday with Monique and other locals, going through small and narrow alleys of the old town from one church to another, gathering in several squares.

It was a colourful display of Provencal costumes, full of energy and joy. Lovera Alain, 50, The General, who led the procession is a postman in real life. He said: “I have attended Bravade since my childhood and Saint Francis is in my heart. It is the third year that I have had the honour to be the General in leading the procession.”

Pictures of Saint Francis, red and white flowers and flags decorated the buildings and houses to celebrate the tradition. The whole town was immersed in the memory and glorification of Saint Francis. On Monday, “Bravade” ended with prayers in Saint Francis Church and the people returned to the main square to finish their festivities in the town hall.

with no sign of tiredness. This was the first time that had I witnessed such an extraordinary celebration in South of France.

Sylvie Scaletta, 40, the secretary in the Town Hall and her daughter Maiget, 16, described the Bravade as a wonderful occasion, especially for children who look forward to participate every year.

We were so much engaged in Bravade that we did not get a chance to visit the L’Esterel Safari Park, a zoo which can be visited by car, and Aquatica, a huge water park in the west of the town.

Martha Ceppi, 81 and France Lemetais, 77, who had participated in the procession for three days talked with joy about their love for Saint Francis and the parade of Fréjus to honour his memory,

I look forward to going to Fréjus again to meet its friendly people and visit the attractions I have missed and I highly recommend this beauty spot to anyone.

Fréjus , which merges with nearby St Raphael has a small marina port and a fine narrow sandy beachside strip.

We drove around to see the town’s preserved architectural heritage, famous for its amphitheatres, pillars and arches.

If you are on a budget then you can book a prestige luxury mobile home, with a large fridge freezer, dishwasher and LCD TV, 2 bed and shower in a Holiday Park, at a rate as low as £19.00 per person per night.

Holiday Park is a lovely and pleasant park with cafes, restaurants and three swimming pools •

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Tickets: £10 Adult, £5 Child Time: 5:30 PM- 9:00 PM Venue: Kabana Function Hall, Glasgow Contact: For further information please contact Afia 07732877104

work reflects on the political events that have affected the region over the past 20 years, as well as the social and religious life of its people.

Gallery talks last 45 minutes.

Time: 13:15 Venue: British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG

Before Qasim Amin:

Time: 10am-5.45pm, daily, until 10pm every Friday Venue: V&A, Cromwell Rd, London, SW7 2RL Registration: 0844 209 1770 or vam.ac.uk, fees apply

Writing ‘Local’ Histories of Gender in 1890s Egypt (Seminar)

13 November 2012

Setting Goals & Procrastination & Motivation Training

12 November 2012

“Allamah Tabataba’i Lecture Series (2012 - 2013)” At the Islamic College.

Lecturers in the field of Islamic Studies are invited to cover contemporary topics relating to the Muslim world.

Marilyn Booth, Edinburgh.

Organised by Department of History, SOAS. Seminar on the History of the Near and Middle East. Admission free

Date: starts on Wednesday 10 October 2012 Time: 3:00pm – 4:30pm.

Venue: The Islamic College 133 Willesden High Road, London, NW10 2SW

Time: 5:15 pm Venue: Room G3, SOAS, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

2 November 2012

13 November 2012

Being Your Own Boss

Light from the Middle East:

Women and the Arab Spring: feminine voices in a time of transition (Lecture) Speaker: Nimah Nawab, author, poet and activist Organised by: London Middle East Institute, SOAS (LMEI). Admission free.

Venue: Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS. School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

17 November 2012

Speakers: Saqib Khan, Dora Mabrouk, Farzana Rahman At this event, inspiring entrepreneurs who left various careers to set up their own businesses share the dos and don’ts of starting a business. They will take us through their business adventures todate and give us a glimpse into what it’s really like to be your own boss.

They are given by Museum staff or guest speakers and are suitable for all levels of knowledge.

22 November 2012

Find out what motivates you & tap into ALL of your self-esteem potential and make the most of the REAL YOU.

early da’wah to the pioneering journeys of the greatest naval commander in Chinese history, Admiral Zheng He, a Muslim population exceeding 100 million people.

the Pyrenees in France to Kashghar in China. It was a time of conquest, civil strife and tribulation, classical administration and wealth – The “Classical Islamic State” was born.

Islam and Muslims have made a significant contribution to China and Chinese civilisation and vice versa. Muslims have a rich and unique relationship with China.

Delivered by: Professor Hugh N Kennedy [University of London] Author of “The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates”

Delivered by: Professor Jonathan Lipman [Mount Holyoke College, USA] Author of “Familiar Strangers: A History of Muslims in Northwest China”

Training Fee: £35 per delegate each training, If you book more than 1 place per training, cost will be £30 for 2nd delegate (Lunch Included), men & women both welcome.

Time: 10am - 4pm Venue: Froud Community Centre, 1 Toronto Avenue, Manor Park E12 5JF Contact: Please contact Khaleda Khan for booking on any of the trainings 078 1496 0713 khaleda@womensconsortium.org.uk

Time: 9am – 5pm Venue for all the courses: Birkbeck College, Malet St, London WC1E 7HX Costs: Students / Unemployed – £20 Employed – £25

22 November 2012

Introduction to Islamic art A gallery talk by Roberta Marin, independent speaker.

Time: 18:45 - 20:30 Venue: Abrar House, 45 Crawford Place, W1H 4LP

Gallery talks last 45 minutes.

Time: 9am – 5pm Venue for all the courses: Birkbeck College, Malet St, London WC1E 7HX

They are given by Museum staff or guest speakers and are suitable for all levels of knowledge.

Saturday 1st December 2012

11 November 2012

Time: 13:15 Venue: British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG

Eid Dinner and Awards Dinner - Glasgow

Saturday 24th November 2012

Join Islamic Releif and the Well Foundation for a volunteers Eid dinner and awards ceremony: • Awards • 3 course meal • Comedy and nasheed

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Contemporary photography from and about the Middle East by 30 artists working across 13 countries, including Abbas from Iran, Egyptian Youssef Nabil and Walid Raad from Lebanon. The

Arabic and arabesques: themes in Islamic art | A gallery talk by Carolyn Perry, independent speaker.

ISLAMIC CIRCLES Courses Islamic History of China Islamic presence in China is as old as Islam itself. With covers 1200 years of Sino-Islamic relations, ranging from the

Islamic History of The Umayyad Caliphate Following the Khulafah Rashideen, after the first Fitna, Muawiyah ascended as Caliph of the Muslims and on his passing, was succeeded by his son, Yazid I, thus the house of the Umayyad family, started the hereditary rule which lasted till their eventual overthrow by the Abbasids. The Islamic State, moved its capital to Damascus, and was an age of massive expansion, stretching from

Disclaimer We do not necessarily endorse or recommend any of these events or their contents. It should be clear that the sole purpose of this listing is introduction and not endorsement. We are not responsible for their contents or anything related to them including their fees or venues. Events might be cancelled or changed without any notice by their organisers. For further information, please contact the organisers.

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