islam today - Issue 13 -November 2013

issue 13 vol.2 November 2013

Mass Media; a Misplaced Trust?

Karbala: Keeping the message alive Halal Food Festival: A taste of things to come When Rouhani Talks, the World Listens

UK ÂŁ3.00

Editorial team November 2013 Issue, 13 Vol, 2

Published Monthly

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 specialised contents. It also sets out to help Muslims and non-Muslims better understand and appreciate the nature of a dynamic faith.

Managing Director

Mohammad Saeed Bahmanpour

Chief Editor

Amir De Martino

Managing Editor

Anousheh Mireskandari

Political Editor

Reza Murshid

Health Editor

Laleh Lohrasbi

Art Editor

Moriam Grillo

Layout and Design

Sasan Sarab - Michele Paolicelli

Design and Production

PSD UK Ltd.

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‘The Wonder Of You And Me’ by Khaver Idrees - British mixed media artist

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From the Editor 5

info@islam-today.net

Letters to the Editor

letters@islam-today.net

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subscriptions@islam-today.net

www.islam-today.net Follow us on facebook

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www.facebook.com/islamtodaymag

‘Visionary Awakening’ - Exhibition by Saudi Arabian artist Nasreen Shaikh Jamal al Lail

Alexander Khaleeli

Hassan Jaber

Ali Jawad

Heidi Kingstone

Batool Haydar

Mohsen Biparva

Elham Ostad-Saffari

Mohammad Haghir

Frank Julian Gelli

Sabnum Dharamsi

Hamid Waqar

Yvonne Ridley

Halal Food Festival: A taste of things to come?

Certainty in an uncertain world We spend a lifetime searching for security and happiness. However the truth is that satisfaction never comes from outside, says Sabnum Dahramsi

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Could Muslims produce a Bannockburn-style victory for Scotland?

The success or failure of Scottish independence could be determined by the country’s small Muslim community, according to Yvonne Ridley

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Addendum ‘Moharram – 3 Generations’ – Poster Art created by three generations of Graphic Designers

Book Review 28

Hannah Smith

Blood Banks or Banking on People’s Blood Mohsen Biparva reviews the book ‘What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Market’, by Michael J. Sandel

Politics 32

When Rouhani Talks, the World Listens The thick ice of mistrust between the USA and Iran can begin to thaw only if the major powers give Tehran the respect and attention it deserves, says Reza Murshid

Mirror, Mirror Is Islam something we take convenient practices from or is it who we become, asks Batool Haydar

Cover 36

Arts 24

The Place to BE Islamic Human Rights Commission – London

News from around the world

Hannah Smith was one of the thousands who sampled the UK’s first ever Halal Food Festival

Contributions & Submissions submit@islam-today.net Subscriptions

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Life & Community

Information

Heritage ‘Robed Figures’ - Oil on Canvas by Ismail Al Sheikhly

One Year On

News 6

Contact us

Mixed Media

Mass media; a misplaced trust?

Hassan Jaber identifies some of the underlying problems in the way news is produced and consumed

In the Spotlight Samir Malik - calligrapher, photographer and graphic designer

Back Cover

Feature

View of Imam Husayn’s(a) shrine in Karbala-Iraq

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

ISSN 2051-2503

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 authors’ and the publisher’s ability. However, islam today shall not be liable or responsible for loss or damage arising from any users’ reliance on information obtained from the magazine.

Masterpiece ‘Blue Maze’ and ‘Guide Us On The Right Path’ by Nasser Al-Salem - Saudi Arabian artist and calligrapher

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Reporting War and the Effect of New Media Heidi Kingstone highlights the concerns and challenges facing war reporters in the rapidly changing world of the mass media

Islamic Centre of England

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From the

Editor Opinion

What & Where 44

The Politics of Labelling Mohammad Haghir investigates the nature of labelling in today’s geopolitical discourses, particularly with regards to the Middle East and the Islamic world

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Listings and Events

Faith in Finance Christian / Muslim Forum - Crypt of St Paul‘s Cathedral

In the Footsteps of the Righteous

The Qur’an: Text, Society & Culture - SOAS, University of London

By remembering Imam Husayn(a) and the epic of Karbala one can find rejuvenation, says Ali Jawad

The New Internationalism - SOAS, University of London

Faith

and themselves in this world and the hereafter.

Turkey and Security Issues in the Middle East – London School of Economics

We also want to dispel myths and stereotypes that result in labelling individuals, societies and nations, Muslims and non-Muslims.

Dancing Under the Beloved’s Sword - Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh

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Karbala: Keeping the message alive

Egyptian Foreign Policy towards Israel - London School of Economics

Alexander Khaleeli reflects on ways in which we can publicly transmit the message behind the sacrifice of Imam Husayn(a) in the West

Muslim Logic in Fictional Narratives - The University of Edinburgh

Divine Destiny and Decree Total reliance on divine destiny and decree can impact the way we shape our actions, says Hamid Waqar

Islamic Finance (course) - www.euromoneytraining.com The Development of Iranian Cuisine - SOAS, University of London Narratives of Education in Islam - Birkbeck College US Foreign Policy and the Iranian Revolution - London School of Economics Muslim Women and Anti-Muslimness in Scotland - The University of Edinburgh

Interfaith 54

The Souls of the Righteous Go Marching On

“The sense of the original”, translating the Qur’an in the West - The University of Edinburgh

The feast of All Souls - November 2nd - is truly about the occupants of the undiscovered country, Death, where one day we shall all dwell, says Frank Gelli

Health 58

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) Seven per cent of the British population is affected by SAD. Laleh Lohrasbi believes our fickle weather is the main culprit

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Reconstructive Surgery In the light of recent innovations in organ restoration, Laleh Lohrasbi examines the progress made in reconstructive organ surgery

Science 62

Nature vs. Nurture or neither?

Elham Ostad-Saffari says the influence of free will and faith is too often ignored in discussions about what shapes our character and personality

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One Year On

Friday Nights Thought Forum - Islamic Centre of England

Glossary of Islamic Symbols The letters [swt] after the name of Allah [swt] (God), stand 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, meaning: “May Allah bless him and grant him peace”.

The letter [a] after the name of the Imams from the progeny of the 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/ them.

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y this time last year the team of islam today had been working for several months to put together an idea that had been conceptualised even earlier.

Having scanned the market for Islamic magazines already in circulation we concluded that there was scope for a magazine that would present to the readers the intellectual abilities of a community whose interests can embrace many fields of human interests.

Hence islam today took shape with its fourteen sections: community issues, art, politics, interfaith, and science to name a few.

Our writers are not exclusively Muslims.

What unites all our contributors is a sense of social responsibility that is evident in their choice of topics and writing styles, reflecting a philosophy that commands us to use our faculties of observation, reason, reflection and insight to inspire and educate people and not injure them for the sake of self-promotion.

Our guidelines are based on a universal Islamic principle which is to promote what is right and just and denounce what is wrong. We aim to encourage social participation, to mobilise public opinion and to persuade individuals to work for the collective good of society

In this thirteenth issue, marking our first year of publication, the cover story written by Hassan Jaber looks critically at the role of the mass media, identifying the character of the current system as ‘non-democratic and non-participatory, with serious limitations in conveying the truth’.

To this we would add that today’s motives behind mass media structures, practices and processes appear to be based on sales values and governed by market mechanisms. A prevailing social order that pursues the private good effectively dictates the media’s code of ethics, with media practitioners having to adapt to it in order to survive.

Values such as justice and accountability that informed the founders of democracy and the free press have long been supplanted by material interests.

As far as faith and religion are concerned there is an insistence that these are worth reporting only in the political domain, and in the context of confrontation. This is a phenomenon also affecting Muslim publications.

When writing we must remain true to our objectives and principles. We believe that content, purpose, as well as the process of gathering facts and information must be done within the framework of the concept of social responsibility in mind.

Our ethical considerations when writing are faith-based. This however should

not imply that we overlook strong critical evaluation of sources and sound methods of verification.

In our case, in reporting events and opinions we have tried to do it in a way that fulfils the needs of Muslim society and which leads to peace and stability in conformity with the moral and ethical principles of Islam. We have no time for individual or groups who propagate hatred and ridicule against other communities at national or international level.

Twelve months ago we asked ourselves if it would be possible to produce a magazine reflecting all of the above and do it in a way that is professional but also graphically and artistically appealing.

The best evaluators of a magazine are its readers and judging by the feedback we have received from you, we are satisfied that our time and efforts have been well deployed. This is not to say that there is no room for improvement. Far from it. Our real work has just begun and your advice, encouragement and criticism are still hugely welcomed.

On the eve of islam today’s birthday I’d like to take the opportunity to thank all those who have contributed to our magazine in whatever form, those whose names have appeared in the list of contributors and those who have worked behind the scenes. A final thank you goes to all our readers who have shown interest by writing or sending messages to us.

One year ago we asked ourselves: “Can we do it?” Now we can reply; yes we have done it and God willing, we will continue. •

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News EGYPT

Egypt’s Nour Party steps into void left by Muslim Brotherhood

Party is being seen as the face and the sole representative of the Islamist movements in the current political scene not because it is becoming more popular while the Brotherhood is declining, but because it is the only Islamist party that agreed to join those who conducted the coup.

FRANCE

“Islamophobia” dictionary published in France After the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the College of Commissioners’ decision to dissolve the group, and consequent arrest of officials in the group’s guidance office and in its right arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, the Salafist Nour Party has emerged as the representative of Egypt’s Islamist current.

The Nour Party is now seen as a substitute in the negotiations among the existing political forces in the process of establishing new constitutional mechanisms for Egypt.

The Nour Party is the second-largest Islamist party in Egypt. It won the second most seats in parliament after the Freedom and Justice Party. Although Nour had previously rejected the military’s roadmap toward a civil state, it recently said that it will participate in the 50-member committee preparing a new constitution and, unlike the Muslim Brotherhood, will form electoral alliances and participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

In a recent interview, Mohammad al-Saghir, a member of the higher committee of the al-Gamaa al-Islamiya’s Building and Development Party, which is part of the National Alliance for Supporting Legitimacy, said the Nour

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A dictionary on the topic of “Islamophobia” has been published in France.

It includes words and expressions used

by French politicians, writers and artists in the field of Islamophobia.

This book was compiled and published by the French journalist and researcher Kamel Mezity. This dictionary is an attempt to bring together all the concepts and meanings connected with Islamophobia. The author intends to focus public attention on the phenomenon which he believes is getting worse in France and has the effect of isolating Muslims from wider society and creating a climate of fear around their faith.

IRAN

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s Hajj message In his annual message to Hajj pilgrims Ayatollah Khamenei said the enemies that do not countenance the “glory and awakening” of the Islamic community are resorting to whatever military, psychological, economic and propaganda means available to them to

suppress Muslims.

The current conflicts in countries stretching from West Asia to North Africa are clear examples of such schemes, Ayatollah Khamenei noted.

Ayatollah Khamenei said civil and sectarian wars, political instability, the spread of terrorism and the emergence of extremist groups are the result of sinister plots hatched by the enemies and their regional allies.

Takfiri groups that are committing heinous crimes and shedding the blood of Muslims as well as innocent people are supported by Zionists and their Western allies, said the leader.

Sunnis who have shunned sectarianism and vile ideological extremism; who have rejected terrorism, al-Qaeda, booby-traps and acts of violence.’

The spike in violence, which has included a number of sectarian attacks, has raised fears of a relapse into intense Sunni-Shi´a bloodshed that peaked in 2006-2007 resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

education and women’s rights activism.

She was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year.

In her latest interview with BBC’s Michal Husain, Malala defended her campaign for girls’ education in Pakistan, asserting that Islamic teachings mandated that everyone must be educated.

RUSSIA MALAYSIA

PAKISTAN

Ayatollah Khamenei said fanning the flames of discord among Muslims as well as the desecration of the sanctities of other Islamic groups or excommunicating any of the Islamic sects is religiously unlawful.

Elmir Kuliyev

Court bans translation of the Qur’an

IRAQ Malala Yousafzai

Grand Ayatollah issues edict against insulting Sunni sanctities As Iraq continues to suffer from internecine sectarian bloodletting, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has issued a fatwa (religious ruling), stating that the abuse of Sunni sanctities ‘is to be condemned and denounced, and is contrary to the instructions of Shi‘a Imams.’

Other major Shi´a institutions and figures inside Iraq, such as the Imam al-Khoei Foundation, and influential Shi´a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have condemned sectarian violence.

Muqtada al-Sadr condemned the violence by calling it the actions of ‘some feeble minds’. He decried the recent wave of bomb attacks, and tried to distinguish between moderate and extremist Sunnis. He said: ‘I salute Iraqi

Christians in Indonesia and much of the Arab world use the word Allah when referring to God. They have no other word to use and they have never faced opposition from Islamic authorities for using it.

Malala warns Obama against drone attacks Malala Yousafzai has warned US President Barack Obama against the use of drone attacks in Pakistan.

Speaking to the press after her meeting with Obama at the White House, Malala said that she expressed her ‘concerns that drone attacks are fuelling terrorism. Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people.’ She said: ‘If we refocus efforts on education it will make a big impact.’

Malala defied Taliban orders not to go to school - a decision which resulted in her being retributively shot by the group. She has been praised for her

‘Allah’ only for Muslims!

A Malaysian appeals court ruled that only Muslims can use the word “Allah” to refer to God, upholding a government ban on the word being used in a Catholic publication. The ruling reverses an earlier lower court decision.

“Our common finding that the use of Allah is not an integral part of the Christian faith, so we find no justification for why they insist on using the name or word in their publication,” said Justice Mohamed Apandi who read a summary of the more than 100-page ruling.

He said the three-member appellate court panel also noted that allowing non-Muslims to use the word would cause confusion and could jeopardise public order.

Christians in Malaysia had used the word “Allah” for decades in churches and Malay-language Bibles.

A court in the southern Russian city of Novorossiisk has banned a translation of the Qur’an by Azeri theologian Elmir Kuliyev which the court said ‘promoted extremism’. The ruling called for the Kuliyev translation to be banned and copies of it ‘destroyed.’

Among the court’s complaints are that Kuliyev’s translation contained ‘statements about the superiority of Muslims over non-Muslims,’ ‘negative evaluations of persons who have nothing to do with the Muslim religion,’ and ‘positive evaluations of hostile actions

by Muslims against non-Muslims.’

With that ruling, that edition of Islam’s holy book joins some 2,000 publications banned over the last decade in Russia.

Not surprisingly, the move angered Muslims across the world, including in Russia, where they comprise a significant minority of around 15 percent of the population.

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News Rushan Abbyasov, Deputy Head of Russia’s Council of Muftis, an Islamic organisation with ties to the Kremlin, told the press, ‘Russian Muslims are very strongly indignant over such an outrageous decision.’

king and cannot make laws but only issue recommendations. However, in

UK ‘Connecting Communities’ The UK based organisation, Faith Matters, has launched a new project titled ‘Connecting Communities’ aiming at mobilising the Pakistani diaspora community in order to re-enforce the need for minority rights in Pakistan, particularly after recent attacks on the country’s Shia Muslims and Christian communities.

Lawyers representing Kuliyev called the move ‘pure idiocy,’ while Akhmed Yarlikapov, an expert on Islam with the Russian Academy of Sciences, said: ‘This is one step away from banning the [entire] Qur’an....You could ban the Bible just as easily because it also has passages that talk about the spilling of blood.’

the past these recommendations have often prefigured Saudi reforms.

In an open letter to President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s Council of Muftis reminded him of the repercussions of past decisions to ban or destroy the Qur’an, including by American pastor Terry Jones, who threatened to burn the Qur’an on Sept. 11, 2010.

Conservative Saudis say letting women drive would encourage the sexes to mix in public un-chaperoned and thus threaten public morality, but it is an important demand of many women who now rely on expensive private drivers to perform basic daily tasks.

‘Is it necessary to discuss how the destruction of books, especially sacred religious books, has been received in Russia in the past?’ it read. ‘We recall how the burning of just a few copies of the Holy Qur’an by a crazy American pastor elicited a firm protest not just from Russian Muslims but from our entire society, in solidarity with the stormy and long-lasting anger of the global Muslim community and all people of goodwill.’

There is no specific law to prevent women from driving in Saudi Arabia, but they cannot apply for driving licences and have previously been arrested on charges relating to public order or political protest after getting behind the wheel.

One of the objectives of the project is that it should take such steps which would help eliminate terrorism, protect the rights the minorities and eliminate social inequalities.

Hanan al-Ahmadi, one of 30 women appointed by King Abdullah to the Council in January, said: “The issue of letting women drive came up during the latest meeting, apparently spontaneously, in the context of discussions about the transport ministry’s performance.”

The launch was attended by Dr Rowan Williams (former Archbishop of Canterbury). In his inaugural speech Dr William expressed his support for such initiatives “at a moment when so many are determined to push communities further apart in suspicion and recrimination”.

“Men and women members were discussing the obstacle of women’s transportation and how it’s a burden for women working with families and the lack of other options like public transport”, she said.

The Director of Faith Matters, Fiyaz Mughal, stressed: “It is absolutely essential that the diaspora community of Pakistani heritage stand up and promote equal rights in Pakistan at a time when minority groups feel real fear.

SAUDI ARABIA Women members of Saudi Shoura Council oppose driving ban Women members of Saudi Arabia’s influential Shoura Council which advises King Abdullah have proposed allowing women to drive, challenging a tradition upheld by the deeply conservative clerical establishment.

The council is the nearest the kingdom has to a parliament, though its members are not elected but appointed by the

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The Shoura Council’s transport committee must now decide whether to accept the recommendation and put it to the Transport Ministry, something not likely to happen for several weeks.

If it rejects it, the speaker may ask members to vote on whether to discuss the ban as a separate issue, Ahmadi said.

in order to demand reparations for slavery. A group of Caribbean nations is demanding to be repaid for the continuing disastrous legacy of the Atlantic slave trade.

Caricom, a group of 12 former British colonies together with the former French colony Haiti and the Dutch-held Suriname, argue that the European governments are morally and lawfully obligated to pay compensation for the painful legacy they have left behind. The

60 million people were shipped into bondage.

A Third of Britons cannot recognise their next-door neighbours

MINAB Issues Guidelines on Nikah

More than a third of Britons cannot recognise their next-door neighbours, according to a new poll.

The Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB) has adopted a stance on the issue of Nikah in the UK in reaction to reports of the possible practice of ‘under-age marriage’ conducted in some mosques in the UK.

Dr Rowan Williams

Former colonies sues Britain for slavery reparations Fourteen Caribbean countries have hired a British law firm to sue Britain, together with France and Netherlands,

In a statement, MINAB reminded its ‘600 plus member mosques, as well as other mosques that compliance with all the laws of England, Wales and Scotland is of fundamental importance.’

British law firm Leigh Day recently won compensation for hundreds of Kenyans tortured by the British colonial government during the Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s.

The official British position is that paying reparations for slavery is the wrong way to address ‘an historical problem. It took years of campaigning by anti-slavery activists such as politician William Wilberforce before Britain banned the trade in slaves from Africa on March 25, 1807. Nevertheless, slavery itself was not outlawed by Britain until the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, which excluded the Territories in the Possession of the East India Company, the “Island of Ceylon and the Island of Saint Helena”. These exceptions were eliminated in 1843. Nevertheless, the transatlantic trade continued under foreign flags for many years. According to some estimates, approximately

MINAB also reminded mosques that they have to abide by the rules on marriage in the United Kingdom and urged them to maintain proper records of the marriage.

The statement read: ‘Before accepting a request to book a Nikah ceremony, an Imam concerned should be sure that parties have the legal capacity to get married. In this context, the Imam should require the parties to produce proof of age, preferably demanding to see their passports, and by checking their immigration status in the United Kingdom…. and should make sure that the marriage is not done under duress.’

‘It is also the duty of the Imam who carries out the Nikah to make sure that the parties to the Nikah give their consent freely, without undue influence and that neither party has been subjected to any coercion or financial inducement’, the statement said.

It reveals 36 per cent of residents would not be able to pick them out in a line-up or if they met them in the street, despite living just feet away.

51 per cent of people cannot recall the first name of their neighbour and seven in 10 are unaware of their full names, according to the Churchill home insurance survey.

The research also revealed that many people are ignorant of what their neighbours do for a living or if they have children or pets.

The nationwide poll of 2,000 adults disclosed many residents did not even know how long their next-door neighbours have lived there.

Martin Scott, head of Churchill home insurance, which conducted the survey, said: ‘Relationships have changed because the way we live, work and socialise has evolved. We move homes more frequently, spend a lot less time communicating face-to-face and are more cautious about who we welcome into our homes.’

He added: ‘The lack of trust and familiarity does have implications. People may be less willing and less able to watch out for each other. Realising there is a stranger on a neighbour’s property is very difficult if we cannot recognise the person who lives there.’

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A taste of things to come

HALAL FOOD FESTIVAL

islam today visited the UK’s first ever Halal Food Festival: a slick, professional event, exemplifying the Muslim community’s potential, and a foretaste of things to come in the halal food economy

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O

ver the weekend of 26th – 29th September, London’s ExCel exhibition venue hosted the UK’s first ever Halal Food Festival. The festival was the first of its kind to cater solely for halal food-eaters, and was attended predominantly by British Muslims from all over the country. When islam today Magazine attended, the single 2,500-capacity hall was bursting with Muslim visitors and the event managers were on target to meet their target of 20,000 visitors over the three days.

up the halal food industry to large scale corporate investment. The Muslim population continues to grow rapidly having almost doubled in the past decade from 3 to 4.8 per cent of the UK population. At this pace of growth, the market for halal food products will soon form a sizeable chunk of the UK food economy.

Buyers from all the major supermarkets were in attendance and Dr Kauser stated one of his objectives was to make it easier for Muslims to make their grocery purchases. Imran explained that market research and personal insight showed that a large proportion of Muslims make the majority of their grocery purchases at large mainstream supermarkets but typically shop elsewhere for their specialist halal items such as halal meat which, with the

perhaps even necessary, that halal food will need to be sold to non-Muslims.

Building up the choice of halal food products for Muslim consumers, in which there is currently very little processed meat, is certainly a welcome improvement for Muslims living in the UK, but I am concerned that without proper attention, Muslims and our religious principles could be exploited for the profit of corporations owned by non-Muslims and run in a profit-driven manner that contravenes Islamic values such as economic justice and equity.

It could be a missed opportunity for Muslim communities to provide for the demands of their halal food consumers and boost their economic standing.

Transferring the retailing of halal meat will certainly impact small family-owned halal butchers.

The festivities included a ‘Live Demo Kitchen’ and cookery school with demonstrations by internationallyrenowned celebrity chefs of both Muslim and non-Muslim demoninations including Rachel Allen, Jean Christophe Novelli and Amina El Shafei, a large market of There is also a danger that stalls selling a selection of the if non-Muslims get heavily finest gourmet halal produce involved in the development and other products designed of the halal food industry, it An interesting feature of the festival was the for Muslims or in keeping could replace the religious with the Islamic lifestyle such marketing of halal food at non-Muslims and the motivation to abide by Islamic as Islam-inspired art, clothing, principles in favour of a separation of halal from its religious roots. and holidays, and an entercommercial one. One need tainment stage with nasheed only think of the recent scare artists Mesut Kurtis and Saif of pork contamination in Adams raising money for halal meat products or the Human Appeal. exception of a couple of brands, is only way in which some airlines wrongly sold in small family-owned butchers.

As well as being a national first for halal define halal dishes as those that are Increasing the number of halal food food, the Halal Food Festival was quite pork-free forcing halal-meat eaters items in the mainstream food market noticeably different from many Islamic to choose vegetarian options. The whether in supermarkets or restaurants events in its contemporary, professional organisers of the Halal Food Festival would “contribute humongously to the finish. When asked about his inspiration had clearly made a great effort to dispel economy” said Abdul Yaseen Haseeb, for the event, independent organiser such fears and develop a sound strategy Head Chef at Cinammon Kitchen, one Imran Kauser said he was motivated to to ensure that all food on-site was halal. of London’s best restaurants. “lead by example” and “raise the aspiraDr. Kauser explained that all festival tions of the type of event that Muslims can hold”. The professional organisation of the event was only possible with serious investment, the employment of professional management, and fresh, colourful branding by leading international designer Peter Gould who designs for Zaytuna Institute, Etihad Airlines and the Sultanate of Oman.

Although the festival was marketed as a gourmet food experience for Muslim foodies, or ‘Haloodies’, it was clear from the website and the organiser that the event had other aims, mainly opening

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An interesting feature of the festival was the marketing of halal food to non-Muslims and the separation of halal from its religious roots; this was evident in the creation of the new term ‘Haloodies’ and the discussion of those that eat halal food, which is really only Muslims, as ‘halal-food eaters’ rather than Muslim consumers suggesting that there are people other than Muslims interested in eating halal food. In order to achieve the large-scale investment necessary to create a professional high quality halal industry it is likely,

food was vetted through one of a long list of halal regulatory/authentication bodies selected for their complimentarily similar rules and regulations.

Meanwhile non-Muslim celebrity chef Rachel Allen could be heard extolling the virtues of the festival for which she felt it was “important that people know they can eat everything under the roof”.

The method of halal slaughter has also been a subject of controversy.

Non-Muslims have accused traditional methods of slaughter in which the animal is not stunned before it is killed

as being cruel and inhumane. (see islam today August 2013 ‘Eating with God’s Permission’). The Halal Food Festival was not immune from such attacks: prior to the festival its Facebook page received 3,500 complaints including criticism from the right-wing fascist English Defence League (EDL), who are responsible for a large number of attacks upon British Muslims and mosques. In the light of such criticism, the festival organisers were advised to hire extra security by the police.

activities and spiritual lessons.

A pleasing feature of the festival was the emphasis on healthy food and lifestyles.

Unfortunately the Muslim community and its major ethnic groups are more susceptible to a number of serious diseases such as diabetes and heart disease because of genetic disposition, unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyles. Muslims are known more for gorging on kebabs and fried chicken than consuming healthy, nourishing foods. The market area only featured selected high quality purveyors of fresh, healthy and organic food alongside much-needed female fitness groups.

One Muslim lady from Birmingham who was “really interested in organic” foods after a health scare explained that the culture of poor quality halal food is because “people put profit over quality”

professionalism, attracting a multicultural audience and keeping healthy eating high on the agenda. However for next year’s festival and further events planned around the world, the organisers should learn from some of the failures of the event including high pricing, inadequate catering and lack of spirituality. As one Muslim punter said, “first impressions are last impressions”. • Report by Hannah Smith.

One of the major successes of the Halal Food Festival was the sheer number of visitors and the accuracy of the predicted visitor demographic. Scanning the hall it was clear that most of the visitors were from the young, female and educated target audience advertised on the website and Dr Kauser explained that this challenging demographic was targeted because research shows women wield most […] high-end gourmet products and restaurant influence when it comes choices available particularly beyond traditional to grocery purchases in ethnic fare, is certainly a welcome improvement the home. Moreover a wealthier audience that for Muslims living in the UK. could afford high ticket prices was required to pay for the re-investment for in planned future events. Unbelievably and that we’ve “become addicted to most of the advertising and marketing cheap food”, echoing Abdul Yaseen had been achieved through Facebook.

Habeeb’s comment that we need to One Muslim man who had travelled “take away the criticism that halal is 200 miles with his family from their just kebabs”. home in Manchester said that “the hype Equally pleasing was the multicultural on Facebook was huge”. atmosphere of inclusion. Rachel Allen, In fact the Halal Food Festival may have been a victim of its own success; festival-goers complained of queuing for 45 minutes only to find that gourmet market vendors had run out of food.

Festival-goers also complained of high ticket prices and the need to buy meals on top of the ticket price. However the provision of tasters by vendors is standard practice at food festivals which indicates the initial challenge of introducing the food festival concept to a majority of new initiates from the Muslim community. Other reported visitor grievances included a lack of seating for those eating, children’s

who is of Irish ancestry, chose to cook traditional English and Irish recipes including scones with jam and clotted cream and Irish apple pie which the audience loved, suggesting that ethnic minority populations which made up the overwhelming majority of visitors have developed a taste for traditional British cuisine. Rachel remarked that she “was surprised how many Muslim people enjoy baking with English and Irish recipes”.

Considering the enormous challenge and risks of carrying out a first event of its kind the organisers of the Halal Food Festival have to be applauded for their

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Certainty in an uncertain world

As humans we need security, peace and tranquillity. We need to know that we won’t be left alone. As children we yearn to feel satisfied and our adult lives are spent searching for it. However, the truth is that satisfaction never comes from outside, says Sabnum Dahramsi

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very child needs security. To know that when they cry out someone will come, that they are not alone, that they will not be left in the cold or dark, or be hungry or frightened and that they will be provided for in all the infinite ways in which their tiny bodies demand to be satisfied.

As adults, we are not so different. Our needs become more complex, perhaps, but the crying child remains within, longing for satisfaction - the dream of peace in which body mind and heart can rest. And yet life is disturbing.

From the moment we burst into the world grasping for air we experience our neediness, and for most of us that state of need is one that drives us through life. Whether it is searching for ways to overcome illness, or to identify a companion, or simply somewhere settled to live, we are in a constant state of turmoil.

What is this turmoil that life flings at us?

It is maddening to lurch from one crisis to the next. If we get a few moments of respite, we might have a chance to figure out what it all means!

We can categorise these ups and downs of life into two main groups. The first is external - the school has gone downhill, a family member is not well or the plumbing has sprung a leak. They are

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generally things that we thought were taken care of but in reality are in a state of flux.

But they also come from within us like our need for water, shelter and good health, a sense of tiredness that arises out of nowhere, or the need for a friend, or muscles that need to be exercised.

An infinite number of variables ranging from macroeconomics to the well-being of family and self, all interact upon us.

There are times when we navigate this maelstrom of activity well, and even welcome it. It can feel amazing to be in charge of a fluid constantly changing environment, to experience the adrenalin rush of change. And there are other times when the juggling is overwhelming.

I know clients of all ages and backgrounds who say “I can’t cope anymore.”

These are people who are tired of struggling to make everything work, who badly want to give up, or who dream of winning lottery tickets and far corners of the world in which they will find havens of peace. We all fantasise about escape, ways in which we’ll be able to run from where we are now.

But the truth is that satisfaction never comes from outside - that is, not in any reliable way. God tells us that there is no satisfaction in the dunya (the material world). Wanting more money is really about wanting the security and power it gives, and although it does that to a degree, the longing for power and security is not satisfied by it. Everything in our lives is changing all the time, and yet there’s a part of us which longs for stability, for a deeper sense of peace.

And nothing and no one can ever satisfy that inner longing.

Carl Jung, the eminent psychotherapist, said, “Nobody, as long as he moves about among the chaotic currents of life, is without trouble.” To realise this is a form of acceptance, but it can feel sad, like you’re giving up on life. It can also alienate you from what everyone else is doing. It is spiritual because it means that perhaps you can start to become less attached to all the outer stuff of life that you’ve been feverishly chasing. And

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perhaps that means that your fulfilment is less of a danger in the world, that your drives for security and peace won’t be so aggressive or at others’ expense.

Things like: “I have to make my mark on the world otherwise I am useless”, “My children never visit me so I have failed”, or “I am always unlucky”.

So what to do? God tells us in the Qur’an that there are signs upon the horizons and within our own selves. If we look inside ourselves, we will discover some extraordinary things. We can realise that we are chasing beautiful, enticing shadows that only fleetingly give us happiness, never contentment. If we pay attention, we can even hear ourselves sounding like scratched records, the patterns we are etching, often damagingly, on our own hearts. We begin to recognise the truth of what God says: “God did not wrong them, but they used to wrong themselves.” (16:33)

Knowing yourself is valued by almost every spiritual path, and for a reason.

Because you have discovered your own vulnerabilities, your own motivations and hang ups, the less vulnerable you are to the ups and downs of life, and more compassionate to others’ mistakes. You become more reliable.

You become more inwardly certain.

When we discover our relationship with our own selves, it is empowering because then we can begin to understand, accept, or change that relationship. We can recognise, for example, that all our energy has been devoted to pleasing someone who will never appreciate our actions or that what began as discipline has now become rigidity.

With these kinds of recognition comes relief. You feel liberated from the things that were suffocating you. You start to see these demons of the dunya for what they are. The light of knowledge relieves you from the shadows. And with this also comes the possibility of changing things for the better, stepping out of self-created storms. In other words, we start to learn about and direct our own selves, to take responsibility for our lives rather than blaming others or the world.

This is a tough process (where therapy can really help as it involves someone who can help you see your blind spots with compassion and humanity). This inner work requires courage, because you are fighting with your own self, your ego, your entrenched ways of doing things and your habits. Especially as those patterns are uniquely our own, often emotionally loaded, and are maybe even things that appear to make sense. We all have them, and they are always easier to see in other people.

DIGITAL EDITION 6 months £10.00 12 months £18.00

“Every day He is engaged in some work” God says in the Qur’an, (55:29) pointing out to us the importance of understanding the constancy and never-ending variability of change.

Uncertainty is the constant certainty, and it’s the challenge that motivates us to seek understanding.

PAPER EDITION 6 months £25.00 12 months £48.00

Yet even with all this, difficulties continue to appear in our lives, and there are some pains in life that are so challenging that even with all this inner work they throw us to the ground. In these states, we realise our own inadequacy. We call out. We feel acutely the longing for something else - something that is not what we are going through, pain-free, beyond our reasoning and control, perfect, something still. What is this? When we finally give up the illusion of control, we realise that we are in love with Perfection, with Beauty, with Truth, and that the shadows, outer and inner, were pointing to Him all the while.

If we walk in that garden of longing, if we have taqwa (God-conscious awareness), we may come to know that the longing in our hearts is God-given love, and that therein lies a never-ending source of contentment, and peace. This is especially so when we are confronted by difficulties, when we are compelled to be awake and alive to the truth with every fibre of our being. •

Sabnum Dharamsi is a therapist and co-founder of Islamic Counselling Training. www.islamiccounselling.info

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Could Scottish Muslims Produce a Bannockburn-style

The famous words of the celebrated Scottish poet, Robert Burns in his song, ‘Scots Wha Hae’, could be an inspiring force for Muslims hoping to help their country break free of Westminster domination, says Yvonne Ridley

Victory for Scotland?

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n under a year the people of Scotland will head for the polls and vote on the future of their nation.

September 18 could see the birth of a new country free from the shackles of Westminster rule in the independence referendum.

As the Yes campaign gains in momentum there is still an uphill struggle ahead but the success or failure of this latest battle for independence could be determined by an unlikely source … the small Muslim community which has made the northern third of the British Isles their home.

They represent just under two percent of the Scottish population but in a battle which has divided public opinion, politicians are beginning to wonder if Scotland’s Muslims could swing the balance of power.

A vote in favour of independence would certainly mean an end to nuclear weapons in Scotland and there are those who are already speculating that the cost of moving Britain’s nuclear submarine base south of the border would be so prohibitive that it could signal the end to the UK’s global influence as a nuclear power.

Faslane, situated just 25 miles from the west of Glasgow, is otherwise known as Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde in Argyll and Bute on the Gare Loch and is home to Britain’s strategic nuclear deterrent … a group of nuclear submarines armed with Trident missiles.

It certainly has not been lost on the Yes campaigners that Bannockburn’s 700th anniversary will be marked next year.

The iconic battle remains one of the cornerstones in the history of Scotland.

The stuff of legend, it proved to be one of the most decisive battles in the first war of Scottish Independence.

Bannockburn’s significance is undisputed although there are varying tales of how the battle was actually won. The celebrated bard, “Independence is about enabling us to Robert Burns, produced the belong to a country with the power, most commonly held view in his The truth is that since the Scotresources and ambition to build an inclusive song, ‘Scots Wha Hae’, known tish National Party (SNP) was and sung by just about every society, nurture world class public services, elected six years ago most of descendant of Scotland. It’s also the polls (commissioned by the tax fairly and be a good global citizen.....”: probably one of the first songs London-based media) showing a Humza Yousaf learned by Muslims who want to swing in favour of independence prove they’re more than happy to have barely moved. immerse themselves into Scottish It could be that the canny Scots have empire and possibly even a seat at the culture without having to reach for a no intention of sharing their innermost G8 are at stake it is easy to see why dram of whisky! hopes and fears with English pollsters the majority of the political parties in Census figures released at the end of and so will take it to the wire, making Westminster have formed an unholy September show that in the last decade up their minds in the final weeks alliance using “better together” slogans the number of Muslims in Scotland has leading up to the referendum, which while smiling unconvincingly at each risen to 77,000 from 40,000. More conficould ultimately see the breakup of the other across the table. dent than their English counterparts United Kingdom and hammer another And apart from a few diehard socialist it seems integration, while preserving nail in the coffin of the British Empire. strongholds in the north of England religious identity, has been much easier Until then, Scottish politicians will and Wales it could also signal the end of than elsewhere in the UK. This was have their hands tied on bringing any Labour government taking overall supported in 2010 by a poll, for the about fiscal and foreign policy change, power in the House of Commons ever British Council Scotland, which found although so far they have been able to again. six out of 10 Scots believed Muslims change domestic policy by introducing were integrated into everyday Scottish So the stakes are very high and as the legislation enabling free bus travel for life. countdown begins, the YES campaign pensioners, no university fees and free will need to convince more people over The survey, carried out by Ipsos Mori, medical prescriptions. the next 12 months than it has over also revealed that 46% of those quesThe appeal of the independence the past 40 years from the hundreds of tioned thought that Muslims living movement, spearheaded by the Scotthousands of voters still undecided. in Scotland were loyal to the country. tish National Party (SNP), was given a Will that loyalty prove stronger than As it stands campaigners on both sides further boost with the promise of early loyalty to the Union? A leading question are slogging it out for every single vote retirement for Scots in the event of a indeed and one that, for the time being, and the final battleground could be Yes vote in 2014; a promise with appeal remains unanswered. fought in those households belonging given at a time when Westminster says to Scotland’s Muslim community.

Rowena Arshad, director of The Centre it will increase the state retirement age for Education for Racial Equality in to 67.

That the Muslims in Scotland could

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Given that one of the last outposts of

produce a Bannockburn-style victory for the Yes campaign has not been lost on the SNP. They might represent only 1.4% of the population in Scotland but in a country which could be split down the middle come next year, Muslims could tip the vote in favour of independence.

Scotland (Ceres), said at the time: “The finding that 65% of survey respondents have some degree of favourability towards Muslims is, to some extent, reassuring, regarding the future of Scottish ‘community relations’.

his selection as an SNP candidate: “The lack of any Asian or ethnic minority voice in the Scottish Parliament has been felt deeply in my community. But SNP members have righted that wrong.

By doing so, they have proved that the SNP aspires to lead a Scottish Parliament that will represent all of Scotland – a truly national parliament.

“Scotland is a small country but, as the research shows, there is potential that it is not a country of small minds.”

There was also a strong view among those polled that the younger generation of Muslims and non-Muslims were more integrated than previous generations. But since the concept of independence is nothing new for the older generations in the Muslim community their influence could also sway younger Muslims, especially those drawn from Pakistani and Indian communities which emerged as sovereign nations following the end of the British Raj in 1947.

The Bangladeshi communities had to wait until 1971 before enjoying the same status.

The first recorded Muslim in Scotland was a medical student by the name of Wazir Beg who studied at Edinburgh University from 1858-59 but the majority of Muslims immigrated during the late 20th century with strong representations in both Edinburgh and Glasgow.

“I firmly believe the SNP can now earn the trust of the Asian community throughout Scotland and that this will be a bond that endures for generations.”

Humza Yousaf

“...the success or failure of battle for independence could be determined by an unlikely source … the small Muslim community which has made the Northern third of the British Isles their home.”

One of the leading lights of the Yes campaign, and someone who is held in high regard and pride by most Muslims in Scotland is Humza Yousaf who has served the SNP as a member of the Scottish Parliament since 2011.

The following year he was appointed Minister of External Affairs and International Development.

While Scottish politics does not get bogged down with the cult of celebrity as in Westminster, Yousaf, the son of immigrants who arrived in Britain in the 1960s, is regarded as a rising star in the Scottish Parliament.

He said: “The prime motivation to vote Yes in the referendum will be the same for Muslims as it is for every other community in Scotland. It’s about what is best for our families, for jobs, the cost of living and communities. These moti-

vations and values are shared across communities.

So if Humza Yousaf is right then the prospect of Scotland seceding from the union formed with England back in 1707 is no longer consigned to the realms of Hollywood blockbusters such as Braveheart.

A tartan clad Mel Gibson portraying Robert the Bruce’s doomed brother-in-arms William Wallace, may have rallied millions of cinemagoers’ sentiment against Westminster rule but it will take more than the rousing words of a scriptwriter to impress the wily Scots … including those from the Muslim community. •

“Independence is about enabling us to belong to a country with the power, resources and ambition to build an inclusive society, nurture world class public services, tax fairly and be a good global citizen.

“A lot of people in Scotland’s Muslim community were inspired, as I was, by the words of the late and great Bashir Ahmed who said it doesn’t matter where you come from but where we are going to go together as a Nation that matters.”

The late Bashir Ahmed, who died in 2009, was a successful businessman and an SNP politician who made history when he became the first Asian Scot and Muslim to be elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2007. It seems his legacy lives on through the next generation.

Yvonne Ridley is a British journalist and political analyst.

As the1995 founder of the Asian Scots for Independence movement, he said of

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Mirror, Mirror Batool Haydar muses on how clearly we reflect Islam in our daily lives and the impact this may have on the public stereotyping of Muslims and their faith

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s Muslims, we often take our faith and the influence it has - or should have - on our lives for granted. We never realise this more strongly than when under attack for our beliefs. In a recent conversation I had regarding the issue of terrorism and whether Islam in any way contributes to or promotes this level of extremism, a friend of a friend made a comment that struck me as being profound in more ways than he meant it.

This person, who was trying to defend his Muslim friends, said: “I don’t know these people as ‘Muslims’. I know them as people. They also happen to be Muslims.”

It got me thinking… do I want to be known as a Muslim or just as someone who ‘happens’ to be Muslim. Is Islam something we take convenient practices from or is Islam who we become?

Does surrender to God mean adopting certain habits that we believe will please Him and grant us entrance to Heaven or does it mean to immerse oneself so wholly in Him that our likes, our dislikes, our mannerisms and our

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speech are mirrored from His Perfection?

Most of us try to follow the religious principles and recommended acts so we pray, we fast, we give out in charity, we observe hijab and generally do what Muslims are supposed to do. But our general morality tends to be based on what any good human being would do.

Our tendency towards being honest, polite, generous, helpful, friendly, easygoing, interesting, sociable, and all the other admirable habits, are often no different from similar tendencies that a non-believer or even an atheist might have.

The majority of people in the world are good so then how can we make ourselves stand out?

How do we differentiate between generic goodness and the specific goodness that elevates Islam as a faith with great depths of morality and etiquette. Over the centuries, Muslim scholars have made positive impacts on history through their words and their behaviour, so why then are we now associated with violence and extremism rather than the inherent goodness that should be obvious in

Muslims, not because they are human, but because they are Muslims?

We have tried to speak out and disassociate ourselves from the pockets of fanatics who distort our faith and promote disharmony in the name of Islam, but actions will always speak louder than words and unless we begin to act with Islam in mind, we may never change the public opinion of our faith.

Any action begins with an intention and the question we need to ask ourselves is how many of our daily habits are preceded with a conscious intention to earn the Pleasure of God? It could be something as simple as smiling at a neighbour and asking how they are or returning extra change back to a teller; it could be internal as in controlling one’s anger or external as in refraining from using foul language.

Most strongly, our presence on social media has the greatest influence on how people see and think of our faith.

While some of us may choose not to be part of this network, those of us who do - especially youth - have a responsibility to represent Islam in a manner that is not aimed at blending in or gaining popularity for being ‘reasonable’, ‘moderate’ or ‘liberal’, but rather in a way that encourages positive questions.

Our status updates, our tweets, our ‘shares’ and ‘likes’ contribute towards

a ‘profile’ or ‘stereotype’ of the kind of ideas and habits that a Muslim is likely to have. If our social presence revolves around movies, music, friends and fashion, and we never share an opinion on current affairs that affects Muslims, we become no different to the thousands of other users of these networks.

Something as simple as sharing words of wisdom from Islamic literature and from the Qur’an itself opens doors to the public that they often think are shut. Many a non-Muslim has never opened the Qur’an because they don’t even know a translation exists. Many more have no clue about the principles of truth, peace and harmony that are taught to us.

When we begin to express a set of opinions that stand out as being of a higher moral standard, people will inevitably wonder and question the motivation behind those opinions.

George Jurdaq, a Lebanese Christian, mentions in his book al-’Imam ‘Ali, sawt al-’adalah al-’insaniyyah (Imam ‘Ali, the Voice of Human Justice) that he is amazed at those who wish to trace Abu Dharr’s staunch stand against tyranny to foreign sources outside of Islam. He says it is as if they see someone standing at the side of a sea or river with a pitcher of water in his hands, and begin to wonder from which

pool he has filled his pitcher, and then, completely ignoring the nearby sea or river, go off in search of a pool or pond to explain his full pitcher of water.

What source other than Islam could have inspired Abu Dharr? And we must encourage people to ask the same of our behaviour - what source other than our faith would prompt us to behave with the highest morality? In doing this, we may succeed in raising enough curiosity about Islam for people to want to study it and learn more about its ways and teachings.

God says in the Qur’an that “the right way has become clearly distinct from error.” (2:256) The issue is that often the right way has not been shown to people for them to explore it. Were we to invite and encourage those unaware of the message of Islam to question us and to learn more about it, the chances are that we will be a catalyst for them to start off on a journey of internal enlightenment. It is not our responsibility any more than it was of our Prophet(s) or Imams(a) - to guarantee the conversion of a person, but rather to provide them with all they need in order to be able to make an informed decision.

What we need to realise is that many a time, we follow Islam like a guide book.

We stay true to schedules and cross check rules to ensure that we remain within its boundaries, but always there

is a silent, subtle rebellion within ourselves.

We try to find loopholes that will allow us to bend a rule here and carve out a corner there, attempting to adapt and mould Islam to our way of life, when in fact we should be submitting and surrendering our likes and dislikes, our choices and decisions, our thoughts and actions to what Islam expects of us.

As long as we try to draw our own version of Islam, we will always be presenting a distorted image of it, diluted by our flawed opinions and coloured by our personal biases. What we need to do is strive to absorb the teachings of our faith and internalise it to such an extent that we become true reflections in the mirror of Islam.

When we fail to do this, we leave our religion in the hands of those who transmogrify it to suit their own selfish and twisted causes as in the case of recent terrorist attacks in Kenya and Pakistan and those that are ongoing in the Middle East on a daily basis.

If instead we manage to connect all the good that people see in us to our faith and the essence of humanity that is in it, then perhaps, with time, we will be able to - by living Islam - undo the damage done by those who have hijacked it and claim to die in its name. •

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ARTS Art Editor Moriam Grillo As we approach the month of Muharram, the beginning of the new Islamic year, some will look forward to celebrating it whilst others will look back at the tragic historic events it has come to represent. The tragedy of Karbala is an opportunity to reflect on the quality of one’s actions and the true nature of one’s belief. This month’s contributors explore their faith through their crafts. It is evident that their creative expression is solely informed by their belief in God. Each section is adorned with verses of the Holy Qur’an that, for me, express a clear message within each of these works.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT Samir Malik

“Say: ‘Praise be to Allah. He will show you his signs and you will recognise them.”(Qur’an 27:95) “My faith influences everything.

My creativity is a means to explore that.

To understand that, for myself, and to share that knowing”.

Samir Malik is a calligrapher, photographer and graphic designer. He learnt calligraphy whilst on a sabbatical in Damascus in 2002. Since Malik believes his craft is a gift with which he has been blessed he is keen to develop and share its expressive potential. Of his photography he says that it is like writing with light. With calligraphy, he believes the process is more subtle and fundamental - expressing spiritual awareness, journeying toward truth and

Nasser Al-Salem

seeking purification.

As well as being an artist, Malik is also a mentor and therapist. It appears that he has learnt from his craft a way to communicate with hearts and develop intimate arenas for spiritual and emotional development.

His art has a subtlety and grace which lend a sedating air to his compositions.

Colour plays a huge part in his craftsmanship and adds an extra dimension to the aesthetic of work. His style, although steeped in tradition, has a unique vitality which relates to the way he chooses to translate the qualities within the words that he writes.

These qualities are not hindered by the often limited nature of words when imposed upon varying intellects, nor are they confined by naive translation.

Instead, Malik’s work speaks volumes through the use of simple and concise words, conveying dynamism of meaning.

He explains that before he starts a piece, he reflects on the words, what they convey and how he understands them: “When you create a piece of art and you want to make it authentic and real, all of your experiences of your entire life go into that one single moment when you create that piece of art.”

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MASTERPIECE

“And whosoever obeys Allah, He will make for him a way out of his troubles and provide for him from where he does not expect” (65:3) The work of Saudi Arabian artist and calligrapher Nasser Al-Salem is a sight to behold. Although his craft is essentially that of a calligrapher, he has reinvented its exposition from simple reed pen, ink and parchment to mixed media.

His first piece that I was introduced to was inspired by an extract from the Qur’an, “And Whoever Obeys Allah - He Will Make For Him a Way Out”. Made in a series out of a range of materials from stained wood to patented acrylic, this piece, a three dimensional sculpture, was created in the form of a maze.

Miniature though it may be, at three

feet by four, it serves as a metaphor for the potentiality of each Quranic verse. He made this piece because he firmly believes that if someone believes in God and turns constantly to Him in worship, He will help him to find a way out of his predicament. Al-Salem designed the Arabic script to represent a maze as he believes when we are in trouble, this is how it feels. Comfort can be found in the words, the reading of which leads one to hope after despair.

He also believes that the maze is symbolic of the life of this world, which is reflected in the nature of the lines which construct the piece; short, sharp, suddenly coming to an end. Al-Salem has mastered a way to convey, through his artistry, the dynamism of this Holy Book. For this reason, in my opinion, each of his works that I have seen so far is a masterpiece. But, there is an exception to every rule, and life is filled with contradictions. Al-Salem has created a work of art that, again, takes its title from a Quranic verse and is infused with symbolism and potency. This piece for me supercedes the others and stands alone in its ingenuity. It is indeed a pièce de résistance. Entitled “Guide us on the straight path” it is made up of a fifteensecond video which loops a sequence of highly stylised Arabic words. Through his witty translation of an ancient utterance using modern iconography, Al-Salem plays with preconceived feelings or associations and uses them as an analogy to reinforce literal concepts.

Al-Salem uses the repeated movement of a hospital cardiograph to convey its title in Arabic. Whilst the cardiograph refers to the fact that life is still apparent, these potent words uphold the earnest request of those who chose to not just exist but remain truly alive. It may not be the most refined calligraphic piece but it is powerful in drawing one closer to the understanding that reliance on God is paramount.

“Although my work is very much inspired by my religion, I by no means have a specific audience, and hope that my messages have a spiritual or historical significance for everyone.” Al-Salem

resemblance to the work she produces in 2D. “Hearts find peace in the remembrance of God.” (13:28) Khaver Idrees is a British mixed media artist of Pakistani origin. Her work, for me, represents the primacy of love and a quest to belong, two divergent themes which carry their own energy and are reflected in very different ways.

Throughout her work, each theme is dealt with independently in order for the message being conveyed to be able to remain undiluted and filled with its own clarity.

Idrees is able to convey different aspects of her emotions and differing ideas and thoughts about life by making a simple shift from one creative material to another. By doing this, she gives herself the freedom to maintain several conversations at the same time.

One exploratory focus can be put on hold while other creative enquiries are addressed. This also enables her to create work that is unique, instead of revisiting the same theme through the use of different materials. As such her three-dimensional work bears no

I first saw this piece a year ago. As an artist myself, I was intrigued by her use of multiples and the primal nature of the work. Both approaches reflect my own current themes and I am always intrigued by how clay takes on a different appearance in each maker’s hands, although the material itself is the same. At first glance these miniature terracotta tiles appear to be nailed into place in a rather crude way, but these small punctuations are in fact mirrors.

Some of the tiles have been glazed and embellished, whilst others have not. For me, this piece is about identity and fitting in, finding one’s place and perhaps, and if needs be, conforming.

The Arabic script used is barely legible, but Idrees has admitted to reusing the Quranic verse: “Hearts find peace in the remembrance of God.” This work also, in a bizarre way, resembles the structure of a periodic table. From its title we are led to believe that the verses and attributes superimposed on it and the clay, from which it is made, may depict a culmination of our elemental selves. Idrees herself is very interested

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HERITAGE Ismail Al Sheikhly

“They will come to you on foot and every lean animal...and invoke Allah’s name.” (22:25-26) I have a copy of this original, 1971 Oil on Canvas, hanging on my wall. I bought it in Iraq in 1996 oblivious of its calibre. It was reproduced extensively by the Iraqi Tourist Board. In all this time, I still find it visually appealing. Most of all because it reminds me of my first visit to Karbala.

THE PLACE TO BE Islamic Human Rights Commission - London

“The affair is Allah’s from beginning to end.” (30:3) Visionary Awakening is the title of an exhibition by Saudi Arabian artist Nasreen Shaikh Jamal al Lail which is currently taking place in the Gallery of IHRC. Responding to the recent controversy surrounding the wearing of the niqab [veil] Jamal al Lail’s response is youthful, refreshing and mildly audacious.

The gallery opening times are Monday to Friday 9am-5pm and Saturday 10am6pm.

School visits or an opportunity to meet the artist can be arranged by appointment.

IHRC 202 Preston Road Wembley, HA9 8PA events@ihrc.org or 02089044222

in science and using her knowledge of it as an underlying premise in her work.

“Colour is a sensation experienced through the eyes because of the differing wavelength of lightwaves.”

This second piece represents the mainstay of her two-dimensional work and is homage to her love of colour and the circle which is oft-repeated in her paintings. Idrees uses colour to express emotions, especially those felt in the heart. This work is undoubtedly about love, whether for the simple things in life, the material or the transcendental.

Each of those is reflected and each refers to our human needs and desires.

Idrees uses this form of study to emphasise what we as humans have in common and how we are intrinsically connected. Her continued referencing of the Arabic script allows each piece to remain anchored in her personal

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worldview whilst inviting others to relate through common themes and individual enquiry.

“I have drawn and painted many circles in my life. I’ve gone round in circles just to explain my view point. I’ve even driven round and round roundabouts, just for the fun of it, but there’s one circle that intrigues me most. One that will complete itself with or without my active participation and it is the Great Circle of Life. One day, my body will return to its humble beginnings, the earth. My spirit will rise and soar above the clouds to its Noble Source. One thing I do know is that I was created with love and with love I must complete my circle.” - Idrees Idrees’ is represented by the Mica Gallery in London

ADDENDUM “This is clear insight for mankind and guidance and mercy for people with certainty.” (45:19) Poster Art is an often ignored art form which has been used as advertising, propaganda but most relevantly as a means to promote awareness and foster cohesion in society.

This poster was designed for the commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Husayn(a). It was created by three generations of Graphic Designers creating artwork for an exhibition on the theme of Ashura [which simply translates as ‘tenth’] which took place in Iran at the beginning of 2008. The event displayed work from notable artists and designers which included

Ebrahim Haghighi, Ghobad Shiva, Farzad Adibi, Masoud Nejabati, Reza Abedini, Bijan Seyfoori, Mahdi Saeedi and Mohammad Ardalani.

The image itself refers to the sacrifice that took place on the tenth of Muharram on the plains of Karbala, Iraq in the 7th century, and the blood that was shed in order to uphold truth.

There is also a contemporary reference to the ceremony of flagellation which has become synonymous with the event. • Moriam Grillo is an international artist. She holds Bachelor degrees in Photography, Film and Ceramics. She is also a freelance broadcaster,photographer and writer.

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Book review

Blood Banks or Banking on People’s Blood The Moral Limits of Market Do we want a market economy or a market society? What role should the market play in social life? How can we decide what should be bought and sold and what should be governed by non-market values? Mohsen Biparva searches for answers in a recent book

by Michael J. Sandel

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Some of the good things in life are corrupted or degraded if turned into commodity’: Micheal J Sandel

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wo months ago, British blood donors found themselves in a moral dilemma when they learned that ‘Plasma Resources UK, which provides blood supplies to the NHS, has been sold to “Bain Capital”, a private equity firm set up by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.’ Yes, it is true, and for some people it is hard to accept that their blood is turned into a commodity and is used to make profit.

friendly liberalism expanded under Bill Clinton and Tony Blair who tried to moderate and at the same time consolidate faith in the market as the only mechanism for achieving public good.

Today after the financial crisis of 2008, most of that faith is gone. The crisis brought up questions about the moral effect of the free market. It seemed that markets have become separated from morals, and someone has to reconnect them.

greed; rather we need to rethink the role of market in our society. It is widely believed by economists and politicians as well, that markets are inert and they do not affect the goods they exchange.

But the book argues that this is not true. In fact markets not only allocate goods, they promote certain attitudes and sets of values toward those goods.

For example we don’t sell our right to vote, regardless of how much demand is there. Sandel puts it simply: ‘some of the good things in life are corrupted or degraded if turned into commodities’.

their moral and spiritual convictions behind in any political debate. Public debate has adopted market reasoning since markets don’t pass judgments on what they satisfy. But in his view, our reluctance to engage in moral and spiritual arguments together with our market reasoning has made us pay a heavy price.

For Sandel there ought to be limits - on what is allowed in the market such as health, education, family life, nature, art, civic duties and so on.

In a society where everything is for sale, life is harder for those with moderate incomes. Markets can deprive ordinary people of the good things in life by selling them to the wealthiest at the highest price. Sandel says ‘if the only advantage of affluence were the ability to buy yachts, sport cars, and fancy vacations, inequality of income and wealth would not matter very much.’

But these days when money buys political influence, good medical care, safe neighbourhoods, and high quality schooling for children, the distribution of income does matter. It is true that the last few decades were harder on poor and middle-class families. Two factors have hit them simultaneously, the expanding gap between rich and poor and the commodification of everything.

According to the author, this debate has been largely neglected during the era of Michael Sandel begins his book by Some people blamed greed, says Sandel. market triumphalism. As a result, he reminding us that ‘We live in a time They argued that greed was the main argues, ‘we drifted from having a market when almost everything can be bought factor that led markets to irresponsible economy to being a market society’. and sold.’ These days you can buy or risk taking. They suggest at least two The debate should tackle quesrent pretty much everything, tions like: do we want a market including upgrading a prison cell economy or a market society? for $82 per night, hire an Indian What role should the market play surrogate mother to carry a ‘[…..] these days when money buys in social life? How can we decide pregnancy for $6,250, the right to political influence, good medical care, safe which good should be bought immigrate to the United States for and sold and which should be neighbourhood, and elite school for children, half a million dollars and even the governed by non-market values? right to shoot endangered species the distribution of income does matter.’

These are the questions that such as black rhino for $150,000. have remained unanswered due Even the global warming predicato the lack of a public debate. ment can generate money in today’s market; the European Union allows companies to buy and sell the right to pollute the environment - one metric ton of carbon costs €13. There are even ‘line-standing companies’ in Washington DC that charge $10 to $15 per hour to hold a place for lobbyists who want to attend congressional meetings.

What brought us to this stage is what Sandel calls ‘market triumphalism’, the characteristic of an era leading to the financial crisis of 2008. The era, according to him, begins in the early 1980s with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher advocating the idea that markets, not governments, held the key to prosperity and freedom (Thatcher’s slogan that ‘there is no alternative’ even has its abbreviation- ‘TINA’). Market

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solutions. The first solution is to insist on greater integrity and responsibility among bankers and at the same time to put in place more sensible regulations.

The other solution, which has been already implemented in many areas, is to incorporate morality into the market. It is to pay a certain amount of money for philanthropy in any market exchange; like buying ‘Fair Trade’, ‘Rainforest Alliance’ and the ‘Forest Stewardship Council’ (FSC) goods.

Sandel however argues that greed cannot be the sole cause of the problem.

In his view the most significant change in the last three decades was not an increase in greed, but an expansion of markets and market values to the every realm of life. So in order to solve the problem we do not need to go against

He then draws his attention to the obstacles in the way of such debate.

One he calls ‘the persistent power and prestige of market thinking, even in the aftermath of the worst market failure in 80 years’. The other factor in his view is ‘the rancour and emptiness of our public discourse, as no main political party has become involved in this debate’. This created a vacuum that was filled by two extremes of the Tea Party movement, with its hostility to government and over confidence in the free market on one hand and the Occupy Wall Street movement on the other.

This lack of public debate in turn is due to the absence of morality and spirituality in our politics. In the hope of staying impartial and non-judgmental, he argues, we often ask citizens to leave

The fundamental question here is why worry that we are moving towards a market society in which everything is for sale? The author gives two main reasons: inequality and corruption.

Sandel reminds us of a classic study on the commodification of everything and market crowding, done by the British sociologist Richard Titmuss. In his 1970 book The Gift Relationship, Titmuss compares the system of blood donation in the United Kingdom where all blood is given by unpaid, voluntary donors, and the system in the United States where some blood is donated and some bought by commercial blood banks from poor people. Titmuss argues in favour of the UK system and against treating human blood as a commodity.

He presents, based on data, that in general British blood collection systems work better while the American system leads to ‘chronic shortages, wasted blood, higher cost and a greater risk of contaminated blood’. His argument is not all about efficiency; it is based on

moral values too. Commercialisation of blood leads to inequality in which blood is supplied by the poor, unskilled and unemployed, who are forced to do so due to their poverty.

There is another feature to Titmuss’ argument: “turning blood into market commodity erodes people’s sense of obligation to donate blood, diminishes the spirit of altruism, and undermines the ‘gift relationship’, an active feature of social life”. He then shows a decline in voluntary blood donation in the United States and attributes it to the commercialisation of blood. He shows that once people begin to see their blood is being commercialised, bought and sold and making profit for private companies, they are less likely to feel a moral responsibility to donate it.

What Money Can’t Buy is an attempt to open the debate on the moral questions regarding the role of the market in our lives and decide what kind of society we want to live in a market society or a moral society. •

What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Market, by Michael J. Sandel, Penguin Books, 2013, Paperback £8.99 Michael J. Sandel is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass professor of Government at Harvard University. He has delivered lectures at Oxford, and been a visiting professor at the Sorbonne, Paris. His recent book What Money Can’t Buy is an international bestseller.

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When Rouhani Talks the World Listens In the aftermath of President Obama’s direct phone exchange with President Rouhani, the world talks about a possible rapprochement.

Whatever the future holds, ties cannot revert back to the pre-revolution era when Iran was a subservient client state says Reza Murshid

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he international community was taken by surprise recently when it heard that Iranian President Hasan Rouhani and U.S. President Barack Obama had held direct talks over the phone. The cause for surprise was clear: This was the first time in 34 years that the two countries’ heads of state had engaged in direct talks.

The historic conversation happened after Rouhani’s charm offensive and robust diplomatic manoeuvres by his foreign minister Javad Zarif in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly’s annual convention. Rouhani’s pronouncements and interviews were top of the agenda for major news organisations and TV channels for almost a week during his U.S. visit.

News reports suggest that Obama called Rouhani minutes before he was about to board his flight back to Iran. It came after a possible meeting between the two men had been averted after President Rouhani decided against attending a banquet for heads of state after it was learned that alcohol would be served.

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According to the reports, during the telephone conversations, the two sides talked about the Iranian nuclear programme, ending the short conversation with pleasantries, with Obama bidding the Iranian cleric goodbye in Farsi, “Khodahafez”, and Rouhani telling his interlocutor in English ‘Have a nice day’.

Prospects for a Thaw Iran and the United States have been at loggerheads for over three decades since the United States adopted an inimical stance towards the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ended monarchical rule in Iran and initiated the beginning of the Islamic Republic.

use of chemical weapons in Syria when it did not raise a finger in 1988 when horrific images of Kurdish victims of Saddam’s chemical aggression hit the world press.)

A decade after the end of the Iran-Iraq war, ties between the two sides slightly improved under Iran’s reformist president Mohammad Khatami as long as Bill Clinton was in the White House.

After 9/11, despite Iranian contributions to the formation of an alternative government to that of the Taleban in neighbouring Afghanistan, Iran suddenly found itself on the receiving end of George Dubya Bush’s foolish rant against an “Axis of Evil”, which included Iran.

So for now it is conceivable to see Iran developing friendly ties both with the United States as well as with the wealthy and highly successful expatriate Iranian community who have made the country their home.

There are thousands of Iranian-born physicians, engineers and professors who help make up the backbone of the U.S. health system, industries and academic community. Most of these professionals went to the United States as young men and women before the revolution when tens of thousands of Iranian students were attending American universities and even high schools courtesy of friendly ties between the Shah and Washington. (One such student was Javad Zarif, current impresario of Iranian diplomacy, who went to the States as a high school student.)

While history will guide Rouhani to Over the past three decades, the United States has accused Iran of sponsoring terrorism while Iran has served as the One of the cornerstones Iran and the United States have been at main voice opposing Amerof President Rouhani’s loggerheads for over three decades since ican intervention and advenpolicies is to tap into the turism in the Middle East. The the United States adopted an inimical immense resources of this takeover of the U.S. embassy vibrant community to not stance towards the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Tehran led to the severing only nurture better ties of ties between the two counwith Washington but also tries. During the eight-year to help develop various Iran-Iraq war in the 1980’s, infrastructure projects inside the United States tacitly approved of remain wary in his efforts to reestabIran. During his visit the Iranian presiSaddam Husain’s military adventurism lish ties, he also realises that there is dent made serious overtures to this to attack his neighbour and did not nothing in the fundamentals of the resourceful community. raise any objections when Saddam used Islamic Republic that says it should not A thaw between Tehran and Washington chemical weapons against Iranians and have cordial relations with Washington. can become a reality if the elements even his own Kurdish minority in the (Israel is the only country with which of hegemony and condescension are Iraqi village of Halabja near the Iranian Iran does not have normal ties because deleted from the equation. The ties border. (It is, therefore, quite ironic to Tehran views it as illegitimate.) cannot revert back to the pre-revolution see Washington so alarmed over the

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era when Iran was a subservient client state and American statesmen adopted a patronising attitude towards Iran.

bomb he carried onto the UN General Assembly podium in 2012 to warn of the Iranian threat.)

Sober American strategists admit that because of its strategic location, Iran has been a power to be reckoned with since the Second World War. Its status as a regional power needs to be recognised and its global importance appreciated and respected. A country with a young, dynamic, well-educated population, which has held tens of elections over the past three decades in a region where elections were virtually unheard of before the Arab Spring, demands and deserves the respect of the major world powers. With Rouhani’s imposing presence, in the coming four years, the major powers will be listening more attentively to what he has to say.

Having failed to generate a conversation on the supposed threat that Iran poses, Netanyahu attempted a new trick. This time he gave up his global ambition and focused on presenting a new exhibition of the Iranian horror show - for 77 million Iranians themselves - on BBC Radio’s Persian service.

Odd Man Out! While the world is eager to hear what Rouhani has to say, there is another man who is not getting much respect of late.

The outcome of his interview proved to be extremely embarrassing. What was meant as a charm offensive towards Iranians actually ended up antagonising them.

of decades out of date.

The interview prompted a massive reaction by Iranian youth on social media.

Thousands of Tweets were fired and thousands of photos of Iranian boys and girls in jeans uploaded to the internet.

One of them belonged to a child whose father was assassinated because he worked in the Iranian nuclear industry (a number of Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated in recent years with suspicion for their murders falling on Tel Aviv).

Iranians who listened to the interview could not help feel that as their newly elected president pushes ahead with his policy of rapprochement with the US Netanyahu insulted Iranians by telling and other Western powers, Netanyahu will begin to look more and more isolated as he attempts to portray Iran as a maniacal monster bent It is quite ironic to see Washington so alarmed on destroying itself and over the use of chemical weapons in Syria when the region. •

it did not raise a finger in 1988 when horrific images of Kurdish victims of Saddam’s chemical aggression hit the world press

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who addressed the UN General Assembly only days after Rouhani left New York, described Rouhani as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The audience of his address seemed unconvinced as Netanyahu failed to persuade them that Iran poses an imminent nuclear threat. (The world must still remember the cartoon

them that Rouhani, the man they had brought to power in a landslide victory, did not represent them.

Netanyahu also showed his ignorance of all things Iranian by airing ridiculous assumptions about what Iranian youth are not allowed to wear, including jeans.

Netanyahu’s data was at least a couple

Reza Murshid is a political analyst and a freelance writer.

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Mass media; a misplaced trust?

Media monopoly is a major obstacle in the battle to establish an impartial flow of information. Despite liberalisation and the free market, there are still underlying problems in the way news is produced and consumed, says Hassan Jaber

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he search for the means of technologies to manage and control information has characterised the history of every civilisation. Instruments of communication have profoundly transformed cultures and societies. Their progress has changed lifestyles, the ways in which we communicate as well as social and political mechanisms that govern us.

The influencing role of the media on the individual and public opinion is undeniable. In stable democracies the combination of electronic devices connected to digital communication networks has opened up new opportunities for citizens. Communication and information has become essential in contemporary societies making the study of their role and development just as important as mass communication itself.

The term mass media once included newspapers, radio and television. Today we see the preponderance of new media such as cable and satellite TV, multimedia computers, and the internet, with information reaching us via mobile phones and all manner of handheld devices.

racy and veracity of the information remains a major issue leaving readers unable to ascertain the reliability of what they are told or read. In fact media diffusion on a world scale has brought to light an unhealthy concentration of power, characterised by the control and spreading of information by multinational agencies and local oligopolies both at national and international levels.

The voices that warned us about this “unequal relation” go back to the early 80s when the UNESCO International Commission for the study of Communication Problems, published the document “Many Voices, One World” which criticised the monopoly on news exercised by western news agencies and the unidirectional flow of information from industrialised countries towards the developing world as well as the stereotypical way events in the southern hemisphere were reported with a focus on wars, natural disasters and political instability.

ments and the liberalisation of markets.

The giant protagonists of this process are located in developed countries especially in the US: Aol-Time Warner, News Corporation, General Electric, Sony, Vivendi, Viacom, Televisa and Globo, are just some of them.

Recent financial cuts in broadcasting, the concentration of media ownership, the dominance of global media corporations and of commercial imperatives has had considerable impact on the extent to which the public are well informed, especially on international affairs. Literature on the mass media highlights the extent to which commercial television journalism has turned news into infotainment, marginalising serious reporting.

Studies conducted after 9/11 show how the media has been conscripted into supporting patriotic, nationalist causes, in the process abandoning traditional journalistic values.

However traditional journalistic values continue to have strong defenders, among western practitioners. In January 2012, Jonathan Steele from the Guardian newspaper reflected on “The current system of media is nonthe state of information coming democratic and non-participatory. As from Syria, underlining how the western media’s coverage was media consumers we must be aware of its Despite the growing influence of becoming a propaganda weapon the internet, television remains the limitations in conveying the truth”. against Syria. He was one of a dominant player. According to a very few voices from the British report commissioned by Ofcom in Unfortunately after decades the press analysing the Anglo-Saxon media 2010 at the time of News International’s situation has not changed, the first approach to the Syrian conflict (very bid for BskyB, television accounted for inequality is presented by an overview similar across the western world) with a 73% of broadcasted news. The same of the press agencies - 95% of the news critical eye underlining the omission of report also highlighted the fact that and images in circulation come from important - or at least relevant - news the BBC accounts for 70% of TV news eight major agencies of the northern such as the pro-Assad demonstrations coverage, as well as making its domihemisphere: CNN, BBC, AP, Reuters, taking place or an official survey commisnance felt on the internet.

AFP, DPA, EPE, ANSA. The picture sioned by Qatar showing the majority of In our global age, our appetite for suggests that big media names still the Syrian population openly objected to information has increased consideroverwhelmingly provide coverage of the deposition of Bashar. ably resulting in the mushrooming events, often singing the same tune.

Studies related to the perceived ability of news outlets with a multiplicity of The independence and objectiveness of the media to influence political events views. Information can be dissemiof ‘official’ mass media has been the have shown that real-time television nated widely and rapidly using mobile subject of many studies and research, coverage will create emotions but ultiphones or the internet by unaccredited raising doubts about media neutrality mately make no difference to the fundaindividuals who can bypass established in today’s democratic nations. mental calculations in foreign policy‘gatekeepers’ in news organisations News groups which also own prominent making. The case of the 2003 London and provide information based on their names in the printed press have gradumarch against the Iraq war is a visible personal perspectives to a global audially gained control within the system of example of how despite overwhelming ence via a website or blogs. communication at a global level, taking public opposition the UK government Even with such developments the accuadvantage of technological developpressed ahead with conflict. Caution

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must be exercised when analysing the relationship between new media such as the internet, and complex processes behind policy-making and national interest.

In conflict zones the established media hold an indisputable credibility with trust being the only source to draw upon in the absence of verifiable proofs.

At time of war or soon after, big public relations agencies often orchestrate targeted awareness campaigns. In 2005 it was revealed that during the invasion of Iraq, the American army paid local Iraqi journalists to publish articles with happy endings to shape a positive indigenous opinion of the military occupation.

The Lincoln Group, a paid intermediary media group, helped to translate and publish these articles.

In these articles, the United States of America is described as a ‘democratic liberator’, which had removed years of brutal dictatorship. As reported by USA Today, in 2005, the Lincoln Group, along with other organisations, went on to win other contracts with the Pentagon worth approximately $100 million per year, in order to produce slogans, newspaper articles, radio commercials, and give support and credibility to soldiers in Iraq.

As Herman and Chomsky remind us, the ‘media constructs a narrative which it asserts, defends against alternative narratives by relying on experts and authority figures, and establishes it as the only true and genuine story; other dissenting views are as a result rejected as they would contradict popular beliefs and feelings which further solidifies the monopolising narrative’.

In terms of new developments, the advent of non-Western global media is altering the ‘mediascape’. Unfortunately these developments have not been well received by the dominant powers.

In 2011, Hilary Clinton, the U.S. secretary of State declared that the American media were under threat from foreign media. She was referring to alternative media based in countries opposed to US policies: Russia Today a registered autonomous non-profit organisation, China CCTV with a network of 22 chan-

nels and Iran’s Press TV are among the offending networks. Clinton perceived alternative views, broadcast by foreign media, as a ‘war’ and exhorted American institutions to provide more financial assistance for the American mass media.

In recent months Press TV and other Iranian satellite channels broadcasting in English were taken off satellites as part of unilateral economic and financial sanctions clearly outside the UN sanctions framework imposed on Tehran. The removal of Iranian satellite channels has been tied to American sanctions against the Iranian government, passed by US President Obama in 2012. These actions are in breach of human rights conventions such as the European Convention on Human Rights which uphold the ‘freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers’.

To be able to assess the limits of mass media in liberal democracies we need to access alternative sources of information. Information and news should be classified as a basic right of all.

If there is a problem it is not with the media in general but with those media that are produced by a small number of people in relation to the number of those who receive them offering minimal participation to the great majority. Most big newspapers, TVs and radio stations reflect this description.

The current system of media is nondemocratic and non-participatory. As media consumers we must be aware of its limitations in conveying the truth.

Being sceptical of what we hear or read is essential but we must also be ready to voice our complaints to media companies and participate in debates. We should not support censorship but the representation of all parties in an issue.

Perhaps, more radically, we could change the way we consume media and be more involved in genuine alternatives. •

Hassan Jaber is Media Studies graduate.

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Feature

Reporting War and the Effect of New Media

Heidi Kingstone highlights the concerns and challenges facing war reporters in the rapidly changing world of the mass media

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hat happens to truth during war is a question that journalists and others have asked for decades, and one that remains relevant.

With newspaper readership in decline, cuts across the industry, the rise of social media, and the 24-hour news cycle, reporting from war zones has inevitably changed.

The pressure on journalists, local as well as foreign, is far more intense than ever, and correspondents are no longer seen as neutral or as invulnerable as they once were. With fewer available resources, reporters are stretched and have to serve more outlets.

through which to view war. In parts of the world prone to paranoia and conspiracy theories, social media has made things worse.

New media has made sourcing and verification more difficult; technology has put so much power into the hands of people who can communicate the event that it can become the truth.

“What came out of Iraq from US and UK soldiers” says John Lloyd, contributing editor to the Financial Times and Director and co-founder of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, “was often very interesting, but of course subjective.”

Changes in technology have also altered the industry. A television crew of three would once arrive with a truckload of equipment. Now a lone ranger reporter only needs a handheld camera and a satellite connection.

Foreign correspondents on the other hand are often parachuted into a country they know little about to report on complex subjects of which they can only skim the surface.

Within 30 minutes of arriving they can be doing a piece to camera from a hotel rooftop before leaving a few days later.

With the advent of social media the world has opened up at the same time as the appetite for foreign news has shrunk. We also consume news differently. Newspaper and magazine content was decided by editors and journalists and delivered to us in bundles.

Today disaggregation allows consumers to pick and choose the news they want in the format they want it. We can also access considered expert analysis in the blogosphere, as well as news and opinion from ‘the other side’.

New media has given rise to a potentially infinite number of new prisms

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One African-based journalist with a recent string of exclusives acknowledges she has got them at a price.

“There are many parts of the country in which I operate where the real stories of war and conflict are happening.

They don’t get reported because the military restricts access, so I can’t go without a military escort. I have been able to use my access to position myself as someone who can get exclusives. I do some editing and blur the lines to create an image that what I have gotten has been on my terms, when I know it has not.”

She continues: “I don’t explain to the audience that I am not in complete control and that the itinerary has been

totally dictated by the military. I don’t tell them that I have been allowed 15 minutes and restricted to three streets, and that I am always in their presence.

I get the story of the conflict, but what the viewer sees is totally manipulated.

I can’t tell them because I don’t want to undermine my own credibility. As journalists we are now brands, and I have to shape mine. On a positive note, the military in this country has a lot of pressure on it from the media, and can’t do whatever the hell it likes as it did in the past.”

The truth is no different when it comes to embedding journalists with the British military, particularly in Helmand, Afghanistan.

Frank Ledwidge is a criminal barrister, a former Naval reserve military intelligence officer who has written two books on the British military’s role in Iraq and Afghanistan.

His swingeing criticism is levelled at this system of embedding, and the BBC for its compliance with the narrative the military and the government pushed.

“Journalists who request embeds have to be cleared by diplomats or military officers,” says Ledwidge, “and they have to sign the Green Book. This document governs their behaviour. They agree as well to their material being vetted whether it’s audio, video or print.

The authorities look for a) information that could assist the enemy, understandable, and b) bias. Who decides the bias? Some young army officer.”

Ledwidge, who has served in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan, refers to the ongoing situation in Helmand, which was and is a complete mess.

The narrative of both the military and the BBC embeds, not necessarily specific journalists, was that “our boys” were doing a great job, and that “we were winning”. The brutal reality is that, “nothing has been achieved and

nothing has been achieved at very great cost,” he says.

A perfect example is a headline that ran in a 2007 New York Times article: “Marines in Afghanistan have “routed” Taliban”. The article stated that the British “reported a similar finding”.

This was far from the reality. In fact no foreigner could go to the region without being killed or kidnapped.

That journalists can get caught up in the story is nothing new. During the war against the Soviets, western journalists travelling with the Mujahideen lionised resistance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud - hardly objective reporting.

We also have a tendency to paint people as heroes or villains and to tell a simple story, even if it is often very complicated.

Ledwidge argues in relation to embeds in Helmand, where the bulk of the British forces were based: “the BBC failed to report accurately what was going on. It’s their duty and in their charter, which mandates them to report independently, but they have allowed themselves to be censored and coopted.

There has been no push back, no protest, no open discussion about the Green Book.”

US reporters rarely do British embeds because, as Ledwidge points out, “they have a quaint belief in freedom of information”. US Marines and others can talk relatively freely to the press while British soldiers are mandated to speak from a script. If they deviate, if they step out of line, he says, they lose any chance of promotion. “That speaks to me of fear.”

His more recent concern is about Syria.

Very few British outlets have reported on the fact that the intelligence used to make a case against the president, Bashar al-Assad, is to a great extent based on Israeli signal intercepts. “This might not invalidate the information, but it needs to be challenged. We are taking their intel without it being scrutinised. Why haven’t we heard the debate that must be going on within the Services,” he asks?

Other ways of controlling the press

can be equally insidious. Just ask Jean MacKenzie, who reported on the collateral damage in Helmand, and as a result became persona non grata.

MacKenzie believes that in response to her reporting the British government pulled the funding for her project, although that cannot be proven. A highly respected American journalist, she worked for many years in Afghanistan as the director of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), an initiative that builds local journalistic capacity in conflict stricken areas.

“The British talk a good game about promoting freedom of the press, but when push came to shove freedom was not a good thing if it made them look bad,” says MacKenzie, who works for the online site GlobalPost. “I’m not sure when reporting shifted to propaganda.”

There are of course many excellent journalists who know very well what is going on, but “some are simply arrogant and others are seduced by access. It’s very seductive to be taken to a battle scene that no one else has access to, or to have an exclusive interview with a high ranking commander,” she says.

Reporting through the fog of war can be especially difficult in a complex place like Afghanistan where you have to know about and pick through tribal and ethnic loyalties, regional and political affiliations and religious differences.

It’s also horribly corrupt. “Afghans will tell you what you want to hear because everyone is peddling a point of view, and it’s difficult to unravel when you are in the middle of a war zone and thinking about safety on top of everything else,” MacKenzie says.

How do we even choose which wars to cover? Usually they are the ones with easy access, close to an international airport, with nice hotels, and a good bar that you can return to after a hard day in the field. “That’s why Israel-Palestine gets more coverage than Kashmir,” says Jonathan Foreman, author of Aiding and Abetting, a book that dissects the ineffectiveness of foreign aid. “It’s much more difficult to access Kashmir, and Congo is never going to

be covered because it’s uncomfortable and dangerous.”

The methods used have also become more secret. “Nobody could have covered the attack that killed Osama bin Laden,” says Lloyd.

According to him, politicians have become anaesthetised to the media’s call of “something must be done”. “It’s not like it was in the 90s,” he adds.

“Journalists don’t have the moral polemical power to force political or military decisions. This has been reduced significantly.”

Social media has become an effective means of organisation - ie, galvanising many people, letting them know where to gather for demonstrations, but as a form of propaganda, it’s too diffuse, lacking a central, controlled message, with too many conflicting and competing agendas. Its capacity to actually set the agenda and win converts is overplayed. People tend to rely on mainstream media rather than social media for news.

During the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Major Gen Tim Cross was the most senior British officer involved in planning, briefing then Prime Minister Tony Blair on a number of occasions. He says: “The media’s job is to influence opinion, but it’s not going to shape strategy. It’s not good or bad, the media just is. It’s not a conspiracy, although it may be incompetent at times.”

Over time, as journalism moves more completely onto the Net, the edges between new media and old media will blur, says Lloyd. “Whether this will mean that objectivity is more difficult, or easier, is a really open question: the BBC/NY Times mission to tell the truth has followers in the new media too.” •

Heidi Kingstone is London based foreign correspondent and features writer. She has lived in Afghanistan, and reported from Iraq and Sudan. She is currently writing a book on Afghanistan.

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attributed to them can easily be made to stick in the public consciousness.

This is because of the cultural manipulation involved in politically motivated branding processes which are carried out on a daily basis by the political establishments and the mass media (see Islam today, July 2013).

Indeed, the current crises in Syria and elsewhere could be understood in terms of an ongoing attempt to manipulate events solely for the purposes of securing the implementation of a certain global agenda. We can clearly see that the involvement of foreign powers in the Middle East is maintained and justified largely through attributed labels for example, Islamic militants, fundamentalists, Jihadists, etc. It is not that these words have no meaning, rather, that they are used in the effort to generalise and categorise whole nations and their cultures.

The Politics of Labelling What is the nature of the labelling exercise prevalent in today’s geopolitical discourses, particularly with regards to the Middle East and the Islamic world?

Mohammad Haghir investigates

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Take the word Jihad, for example.

Every Muslim knows that Jihad is a call to collective effort in any field: arts, economics, health, education, housing, politics, etc. However, only one meaning is propagated by the mass media constantly. Ask any non-Muslim what the word Jihad means and the response invariably refers to some kind of violence committed by Muslims. Here, the conversant is not at fault as s/he can only refer to one’s own knowledge of the subject which is, not surprisingly, readily disseminated through the use of labelling by politicians and partisan mass media. What remains hidden from people’s consciousness is the fact that they are as much the victim of this labelling fashion as are the ‘Others’.

One is being portrayed wrongly, and the other is being fed false information.

However, just because a person decides to label ‘Others’ with X, Y, or Z, this action does not necessarily turn the labelled into X, Y, or Z. Nevertheless, an association between a (person or) country and particular characteristics

Another pertinent example of political labelling and its use is during and after the tenure of the last Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He was labelled by Western media as an apocalyptic figure who would herald the imminent danger of a destructive end of time. He became ‘the evil man of Tehran’ (my emphasis). However, immediately after the victory of the current Iranian president Rowhani (on a platform of

n his State of the Union address in 2002, G.W.Bush famously labelled three countries (North Korea, Iraq and Iran) as “rogue nations constituting an axis of evil”. Thus, regardless of whatever else these countries are, all three of them, complete with their peoples, histories, and cultures, became the reference point for words such as ‘rogue’ and ‘evil’.

moderation), the same media began insinuating that it made no difference who the president in Iran was, since Tehran was bent on the acquisition of nuclear weapons. Thus the phenomena of labelling countries such as Iran as rogue nations is a constant that could utilise other variables such as particular presidents, policies, or anything at all, in order to maintain and justify itself and its objectives.

This is a well-known ‘Orientalist’ formula: the constant process of labelling with a definite objective and the variables are whatever is deemed fair game to achieve that objective.

One example is the use of the label ‘terrorists’ (often accompanied by other adjectives) as widely used in today’s politically and culturally polarised world. This has become more evident when talking about the Middle East.

Many labels are put together under the umbrella term ‘terrorism’. The mass media then propagates these labels in order to drill into the public consciousness the official meaning that the political establishment has decided should be given to such terms. It must also be noted that, from the perspective of world policy makers, everyone has to tow the official line. No deviation or questioning, objections to, or criticism of the official-read ‘Orientalist’ policy are tolerated. Not observing this line can turn one into an object of rejection and all the manifestations it might take; wars, invasions, and sanctions.

Labelling is part and parcel of an enduring ‘Orientalist’ culture as an approach to the world. To exalt its civilisation the ‘Orientalist’ mentality needs to value the ‘Other’ as its negative opposite (rogue, uncivilised, primitive, etc.).

The sad thing is that a small but significant minority of those Middle Easterners perceived as ‘Others’ such as the ruling elites of some Arab nations have given themselves over to the ‘Orientalist’ perception. That is to say that they have taken on the personality that ‘Orientalism’ has labelled them with. This minority has accepted the

labels given to them.

A rogue person (or country) is uncontrollable, destructive, unprincipled, unpredictable, and defective and therefore a stranger to general norms.

But a simple and superficial look at the current geopolitics of the Middle East would reveal who is really behaving in a rogue-like way and who has given support to such behaviour. Who can forget the images of extremists in Syria beheading people in the open with an audience, or cutting out the heart of a soldier and eating it? These are the most vivid expressions upon which ‘Orientalism’ feeds and are much sought after by the media. Why? Because such images can be manipulated to portray the wild ‘Other’ in contradistinction to the civilised.

Here, a sort of complicity by Western nations can be detected. Western powers have helped bring about situations in which such acts of cruelty occur with tacit support for extremists in an attempt to bring down a government considered as unaligned to Western geopolitical objectives with regards to the Middle East.

Furthermore, propaganda machinery facilitates the promotion of these horrific true images of uncivilised behaviour (through YouTube, etc.) defining and denoting the way all Muslims are supposed to behave.

Today ‘Orientalist’ philosophy pervades a whole cultural world outlook. Today’s Orientalism is no longer trying to investigate and understand the culture of the ‘Orient’. It is rather aimed at ‘civilising’ the world’s uncivilised population as per its own vision and to standardise the cultures of ‘Others’. If the current state of the world is something from which we can imagine a future, one has to ponder: do I want to be ‘civilised’ by a bullying culture and, thereby, not only accept that I have always been uncivilised but also, lose all the cultural and historical civility that I, as an ‘Oriental’ individual, do have? •

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‘justice’ in Islam, a particularly prickly subject that formed the backdrop for a number of conflicting schools of thought.

It is of little doubt that religious fatalism played a contributing role in influencing the attitudes of the Muslim masses towards issues of political authority and dissent; however it seems easy to overstate its importance. There was yet a second factor that went beyond theological rivalries and reached out to strike at the very psyche of the Muslim community.

In the Footsteps of the Righteous The uprising of Imam Husayn(a) is a truly exceptional reality. Those who have sought to enliven the epic of Karbala have found that it is them who have found life through its remembrance, says Ali Jawad

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s the day of Ashura (the tenth of Muharram) approaches, we are overcome by a strange sense... We are seemingly transported to an alternate plane of existence. We suddenly find ourselves in Karbala beside the commander Hurr ibn Yazid al-Riyahi as he hovers before his decisive choice separating heaven from eternal doom; we measure our attachment to this world as we witness Zuhayr ibn al-Qayn forsake vast material wealth for certain martyrdom; we turn towards the burning tents of the household of the Holy Prophet(s) to gain glimpses of patience and honour from the heroine of Karbala, Lady Zaynab(a).

One cannot help but be overcome by bewilderment in the face of such an overpowering influence. What is the secret that attracts millions to this

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holy personality and his mission in this manner? And what universal messages are brought forth by his stand, which make it resonate in the hearts of humanity across all times and ages?

Finally, what does it mean to follow in the footsteps of Imam Husayn(a) in the present day?

These questions are implicit in the very act of remembering Imam Husayn(a).

Indeed they are inescapable for those who gather to commemorate the sorrows of that fateful day. The answers on the other hand are contingent on the measure of our understanding, awareness and spiritual consciousness.

Nevertheless, it is useful to picture the general context of the Muslim community in 61 A.H/680 C.E. in order to unearth the causes, content and consequences of the Husayni uprising.

Sources of Deviation Question: How did it come to be that the grandson of the Holy Prophet of Islam was mercilessly slaughtered along with his companions and family less than 50 years after the demise of his grandfather, by such a large faction of the ‘Muslim’ community claiming to follow the religion of Islam and justifying such a heinous crime in its name?

Historians are unanimous about the incidence of the fabrication of traditions during the first century after Hijra.

This phenomenon rapidly accelerated during the Ummayyad era beginning with the rule of Muawiyah ibn Abu Sufyan. Consequently, central tenets and beliefs of the Islamic faith were distorted - foremost amongst them, differences concerning the concept of

surprise that one of the central goals of Imam Husayn’s uprising was aimed at curing this paralysing malady.

Goals of Revolution Throughout the various phases of his uprising, one notices a singular theme consistently emphasised in the words of the Imam. Indeed, this theme is so pervasive that it can be traced back even to the letters of the Imam during the reign of Muawiyah.

Shortly before his departure from Medina, the Imam clearly stipulates the goal of his uprising in his will to Muhammad ibn Al-Hanafiyya:

table resolve and clarity of purpose.

His message is addressed to all open minds and receptive hearts. Considerations of social norms, stature or political compromise are totally absent in his words and those of his followers.

Instead, one scents the aroma of sincerity, responsibility and duty towards the Divine in a social context polluted by selfishness, indifference and injustice.

For Muslims today, Karbala symbolises the realignment of our life compass. The message of the grandson of the Prophet asks us turn introspectively, into our own selves, and to question our hearts about the reality of faith. Is religion a mere set of empty rituals devoid of true life and essence? Are we similar to the Kufans (those who betrayed Husayn) such as to attest to the righteousness of the Imam and yet remain lined up against him?

Even during his era, the virtue and faultless character of Imam Husayn was widely attested. His name was “I have taken this stand not out of synonymous with deep knowledge, arrogance or pride, neither out of piety and bravery. Divine revelation mischief or injustice. I have risen attested to his purity and prophetic to seek reform in the community narrations confirming his lofty status of my grandfather. I would like to still reverberated across the community. enjoin good and forbid evil, and On the other side, there was Yazid, a renowned playboy with his obsessive drinking habits and “It is as if through proximity to this unique utter disregard for even the most man of God [Husayn(a)], one is fast-tracked to basic Islamic injunctions.

Virtue and vice could not be more starkly placed.

And this was certainly not lost on the masses. En route to Kufa, Imam Husayn encountered the illustrious poet Al-Farazdaq. Asked about the allegiance of the people of Kufa, he replied: ‘the hearts of the people are with you, but their swords are against you’. His response clearly illustrates that the Muslim masses clearly understood on which side truth lay. Yet despite this knowledge, they lacked the resolve and commitment to act upon what their hearts had ascertained.

What factor/s are responsible for breeding such a social condition? The answer to this sheds greater light on the debilitated condition of the community at the time. It exposes the culture of indifference and heedlessness that had overtaken Muslims; a condition in which religion had become little more than an empty shell. Whilst Muslims may have observed prayers and fasting, the essence of their faith was being corrupted from the root. It is of little

grasp the inner secrets of existence” [in this] follow the tradition of my grandfather and my father Ali bin Abi Talib.”

The Imam again voiced this duty in his famous sermon in Mina in which he almost exclusively focused on the importance of enjoining good and forbidding evil. In his address to Muslim scholars, the Imam chastised them for disregarding this fundamental duty, detailed its repercussions on society and warned them of the grave consequences that would ensue. This sermon is perhaps the most comprehensive in depicting the social reality of the time and the indifference that had engulfed it. It also outlines the calamitous situation that had arisen in which religious scholars had become lackeys of tyrants and propagandists for their injustices.

Modern-day society promotes indifference towards issues of right and wrong. We are taught to regard morality and active participation in society as mutually exclusive objects. Justified by post-modernist notions of truth and falsehood, we are ironically taught to view these ideals as ‘absolutely’ relative and ultimately meaningless in the social sphere. To be trapped in this mentality under false pretexts of ‘living with the times’ is to commit the same blunders as those who either rose up to fight the Imam or stood on as silent bystanders.

Final Thoughts

In the epic of Karbala, there is a clarion call for those who profess to be religious individuals: it is totally unacceptable to simply profess faith and acquire religious teachings from any and every claimant of Islamic knowledge, regardless of the respect that society affords them.

To do so would be to align ourselves with the killers of the Imam on the day of Ashura. The Imam’s followers are distinguished by clear-sightedness, firm belief, sincerity and an unshakeable resolve in the face of the gravest odds.

When one looks at the uprising of Imam Husayn(a), one notices indomi-

Salutations be upon you, O the honourable martyrs of Karbala. •

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KARBALA: Keeping the message alive

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Is the message behind the sacrifice of Imam Husayn(a) getting lost in translation and, if so, what can we do about it? Alexander Khaleeli reflects on the ways in which we publicly commemorate this occasion in the West

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t’s a day like any other. You are walking or driving down the street, when suddenly you see the road ahead is closed. On the other side of the steel barriers, you see a long procession of people surging past dressed in unusual clothes, shouting strange words, waving banners covered in unfamiliar writing. As you get closer, drums and horns drown out all other sounds. Someone presses a leaflet about ‘A-z-a-d-a-r-i’ into your hand, but you don’t brother to read it. You are utterly clueless as to the purpose of this procession which has delayed your journey. This is how many Westerners feel when they come across the Ashura procession that takes place every year in cities all over the Western world. It is a disconcerting, occasionally frustrating, encounter.

Compare this to the people who encountered the caravan of Imam Husayn(a) himself. From the beginning of his journey until its tragic conclusion, he wasted no opportunity to tell people about his mission; he wrote letters, gave speeches and even invited travellers he met to sit and hear what he had to say. Even when he and his party were surrounded by enemies, denied access to drinking water and could not fail to see the utter hopelessness of their situation, he continued to proclaim the rightness of his cause and invite the soldiers who were there to kill him to reflect on his message.

What a bitter irony it is, then, to think that our commemorations of Husayn’s martyrdom might be obscuring the very message for which he gave his life.

At its heart, this discussion is about Islam and culture. Quite often we juxtapose culture with Islam; when the liberally-inclined wish to criticise the niqab or gender segregation, they will call them ‘culture.’ By the same token, those who search for a return to the “pure” teachings of Islam will dismiss anything they deem less than authentic as ‘culture.’ In fact, when you speak to a lot of brothers and sisters about the

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sort of procession mentioned above they complain that it has nothing to do with Imam Husayn’s(a) message – it is culture. Culture, then, frequently denotes something extraneous and un-Islamic that we desire to jettison; cultural baggage springs to mind.

But this mentality does not do justice to the power of culture to promote the message of Islam in non-Muslim societies. Historically, the peoples of the world did not flock to Islam solely because of the rational apologetics of its theologians, but because of the power of its culture – from the awe-inspiring architecture of its cities to the simple manners of its people – and the way in which this culture communicated its teachings. ‘Show, don’t tell’ is a mantra that may have some relevance here; it is one thing to ‘tell’ people about Islam,

What a bitter irony it is, then, to think that our commemorations of Husayn’s(a) martyrdom might be obscuring the very message for which he gave his life.

it is another thing entirely to ‘show’ it embodied in a cultural form, whether this is something artistic – a play, a novel, a video-game – or something social such as manners, rituals or festivals. In this way, culture becomes a medium through which the transcendent truths of Islam can be made manifest and accessible. Not everyone has the patience to read a philosophical treatise, but everyone loves a good story – why do you think Malcolm Gladwell sells so many books?

The very mission of Imam Husayn(a) exemplifies this principle. During his life, there were many people speaking out against the tyranny of the Umayyad regime, but no one was willing to take any action. Had Husayn restricted himself to delivering speeches against

the government, his message would not have had the same impact. But by exemplifying his message through action and paying the ultimate price for it, Husayn taught not just the people of his own time but people for centuries to come how to resist tyranny. Similarly, culture should not just be words but action too; an exemplification of our beliefs rather than just a statement of them.

And if Husayn and his companions were willing to give everything for the sake of their message, then our public commemorations of their sacrifice must convey that same message to our audience today.

Culture, then, should give a tangible, visible form to Islamic teachings. But what about when it has the opposite of the desired effect? In these situations the problem lies in a disjunction between culture and context. The science of rhetoric teaches us that eloquent speech must not only be formally correct (fasih) to deliver its meaning, but also appropriate to the setting in which it is being uttered. The Arabic word for eloquence (balagha) literally means ‘to reach,’ so eloquent speech is speech whose meaning ‘reaches’ its audience through excellent delivery. A similar principle applies when talking about culture; good culture is culture which effectively conveys its underlying message, and to do that it has to be appropriate to its setting. In other words, we need to know our audience.

To return to the original example of the ‘Ashura marches that take place in Western cities every year, which usually consist of a long procession of people, dressed in black, beating drums and chanting slogans in their native languages (Arabic, Farsi, Urdu) with little or no English on display, perhaps with a few volunteers rushing from one bemused onlooker to another trying to explain what all the commotion is about, we must ask ourselves: what is the purpose of these marches? If it is to raise awareness of Imam Husayn’s(a)

message, how can we achieve that if our slogans and banners are not in the language of our host country? On the other hand, if the only reason we are marching through our local city centre and shutting down roads and public transport for several hours is to replicate the kind of experience we have “back home”, then this is more for ourselves than Imam Husayn(a), and we ought to seriously consider whether this is something he would have approved of?

no knowledge of Islam witnessed this particular activity, would they be able to understand what was going on and appreciate its significance on some level without needing anyone else to explain it to them? Compare the bemusement many people feel when they first witness an ‘Ashura procession to how they would feel entering a well-planned ‘Ashura exhibition.

Finally, universality means that the message we are trying to convey is something that all people can appreciate. This doesn’t mean we have to please everyone, only that the message we are trying to convey – for instance, through a play or a documentary – is something that a non-Muslim can draw inspiration from. Perhaps a play emphasising the intercessory powers

in mind that technology is not culture; just because something is on a television station, YouTube or uses modern technology does not automatically make it appropriate for a Western context.

These are all mediums, ways in which culture can be delivered to people, but they are not the culture itself. So while it is necessary to adopt these vehicles for delivery, if the content we put in them is not suitable, their benefit to our cause will at best be negligible and at worst harmful as they will expose a wider audience to regressive and obscuring cultural forms.

However, there have also been some good examples of matching culture to context. In Britain, there is an annual When the survivors of Husayn’s(a) expeblood donation drive in Ashura, univerdition returned to Medina, they pitched sity students hold ‘Ashura awareness their tents at the edge of the city and week’, Islamic centres host exhibitions invited people to come and hear the and invite people from the local nonstory of their ordeal. Today, centuries Muslim community to visit; there have passed, but the power of are plays, poetry recitals and Husayn’s message lives on in no historical-style documentaries. small part because Zaynab(a) (the All of these are excellent initiasister of Imam Husayn) and the tives which serve to spread the rest of the Prophet’s Household …good culture is culture which effectively message of Imam Husayn(a), and were determined that his sacrifice conveys its underlying message, and to do we need plenty more of them. But should never be forgotten. Today, aside from personal intuition how we have been entrusted with his that it has to be appropriate to its setting. can we tell culturally-appropriate message. It’s up to us to do it activities from inappropriate justice. • ones? What criteria can we rely on? I would like to propose three interrelated principles: authenticity, (shafa’ah) of Imam Husayn(a) on the Day accessibility, and universality. of Judgement would not resonate well with your average Westerner, but one Authenticity means a number of things; stressing Islam’s concern for justice and first of all, that there is a genuinely human dignity would.

Islamic message at the heart of this cultural form (rather than, for example, a nationalistic one); secondly, that nothing in this cultural form goes against the teachings of Islam (for instance, turning the Ashura procession into a carnival); and thirdly, that this is something organic to the environment in which we wish to hold it and not simply “imported” wholesale from somewhere else.

Accessibility means that the cultural form in and of itself succeeds in conveying an Islamic message to its audience. For this, we must ask: If a non-Muslim Westerner with little or

To these principles I would add the recommendation that whatever we do takes into account as much as possible the local culture of where we live; we talk about the ‘West’ but – while all ‘Westerners’ certainly exist in the same cultural universe – there is not one monolithic ‘Western’ culture (no more than there is one monolithic ‘Islamic’ one); culture varies right the way down to the local level. So our most successful public activities will be those that are best adapted to the culture where we operate.

By the same token, we must also bear

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for the being to come into existence.

Each theological belief we hold affects how we behave and worship God. The belief in divine destiny and decree helps us to shape our actions.

Divine Destiny and Decree

The belief in divine decree leads us towards an understanding of the unity of divine actions. Man is dependent on his existence and in everything stemming from his existence while God is the necessary existence (wajib al-wujud). An understanding of the unity of divine action holds us to the belief that our actions need God’s final seal of approval and that nothing can happen outside of the divine will. This was confirmed by Imam Jafar As-Sadiq(a) who stated: “There is no compulsion (by God), nor is there absolute delegation of power (from God to man); but the real position is between these two”.

Each theological belief we hold affects how we behave and how we worship God. The belief in divine destiny and decree can impact the way we shape our actions, says Hamid Waqar

“Oh God, make me content with your destiny, satisfied with your decree.”

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hese are the precious words of Ali bin al-Husayn(a) taken from one of his supplications. As he did on many occasions, this grandson of the prophet Muhammad(s) would teach Islamic concepts through the medium of supplication.

The Arabic term for destiny (qadar) literally means “to weigh” while the Arabic term for decree (qada) has various meanings, all of which lead to the infinitive “to complete.” The term destiny is sometimes used to imply the entire creation, as in the verse: “Surely, we have created all things in proportion and measure.” (Qur’an 54:49). It is

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also used to denote particular things such as the sun, moon, rain, seasons, the flood during the Prophet Noah’s(a) lifetime, and the story of Moses(a).

The Arabic term for decree is used in the same two ways. It is sometimes used to imply universality, as in the verse: “When he decrees a matter, he says to it: ‘Be and it is.” (2:117) It is also used to denote particular matters, such as the death of man, legislation of important matters, divine judgment, and the birth of Jesus(a). In all of these cases it is used to indicate completion.

To understand the meaning of decree and destiny from a faith-based position, we need to reflect upon creation.

Nothing can come into existence unless its causes are actualised. Every being has limitations and specific qualities.

Take a small plant as an example. One can see that its existence is dependent upon, firstly the will of God, and on a system of cause and effect that He controls. The seed must be planted in fertile soil, it must be provided with the necessary amount of water, and the plant must receive sunlight.

This applies to all created things. It even applies to actions. For instance, in addition to the will of God, for man to be able to eat he must have a healthy digestive tract, edible food must exist, he must be able to obtain the edible food, and he must have the free will to decide to move towards the edible food in order to eat it.

The limitations of each being are found in its quantity, quality, location, and time. When all of the conditions for its being are collected then its creation becomes necessary. This being assumes the condition of a non-essential necessary existence and its limitations are termed ‘destiny’ and its certain existence is called ‘decree’.

Mohammed Bin Yunus, one of the companions of Imam Ali Ibn Musa al-Redha(a) narrates a conversation he had with the Imam in regards to the meaning of destiny and decree. The Imam said: “Nothing exists unless God desires it, wills it, destines it, and decrees it.

The Imam further explained that desire is the beginning of the action, will is making it steady, destiny is the quality and quantity of the being and finally decree is His seal and confirmation after which nothing else can happen except

The second effect is to encourage one to accept that everything, including ourselves, is reliant on God. A precise understanding of divine destiny and decree dispels the theory that God’s will diminishes the need for us to make an effort and accept responsibility in shaping our destiny. The Qur’an has commanded mankind to think. What we accomplish in life is greatly influenced by our own thoughts and decisions.

Another consequence of accepting the divine decree is that we take up the practice of consultation. When one is unable to reach a decision he should consult with those who are qualified (i.e. scholars and experts). The Prophet Muhammad’s(s) cousin and son in law Imam Ali bin Abi Talib(a) said: “One who thinks that his reason is sufficient and does not consult with those deemed fit will destroy himself.” And the Qur’an says: “And consult them in affairs.

Then, when you have made a decision put your trust in God.” (3:158) This verse clearly indicates we must make the most out of the limited ability granted to us and hope for God’s approval.

An example of such a process would be a patient who is told by specialists that the only remaining course of action is surgery. The patient is understandably

apprehensive. In this case the person has to accept the recommendations and leave the rest to divine destiny and decree in recognition of the fact that whatever God wills to happen will happen. One should be satisfied that he has done all that is humanly possible to rectify his problem; however at the end he must willingly surrender himself to God’s will.

Accepting divine destiny and decree and being content with God’s will is a quality of the true believer. Such a person implements all of the divine commands and does not consider himself independent of his Creator.

Imam Ali(a) summarises the pillars that hold up our faith as: “Satisfaction with the divine decree, reliance upon God, leaving matters to him, and submission in obeying his commands.”

A beautiful example of such obedience and submission lie in the simple words of the Prophet Muhammad’s granddaughter, Zaynab(a). After the tragedy of Karbala – in which her brother and 72 members of her family and close companions were massacred by order of the tyrant of the time Yazid ibn Muawiya, – Zaynab(a) met him. Referring to the beheaded corpse of Husayn(a), Yazid asked Zaynab(a) how she had found her brother’s disposition in Karbala. Zaynab(a), a strong believer in divine destiny and decree, and showing contentment in her destiny and satisfaction in the decree of God, responded with words that show her sense of deep acceptance. She said she had not seen ‘anything, but beauty’.

The attitude of total reliance on destiny and decree, which all believers must strive to attain, is summarised in the following prayer: “O’ God, I ask you for faith which will lighten my heart; certitude to the extent which I will know that you would not harm me except with that which is written for me; and satisfaction with the livelihood which is ordained for me, O’ the Most Merciful of the merciful.” • Hamid Waqar is an American revert scholar, graduated from Islamic seminaries.

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Interfaith

The Souls of the Righteous

go marching on

Remembering and praying for the dead is a practice encouraged by both Christianity and Islam. Frank Gelli explains the significance of the Christian commemoration of All Souls marked on 2nd November

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“...Death, the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns...” Hamlet, 3.1.78

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n the face of it, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet contains a glaring contradiction. The poet describes the world beyond the grave as ‘the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns’. As yet his play opens with the celebrated ghost scene – patently a splendid instance of a returning voyager from the Beyond. The immortal Bard could be inconsistent and why not? He had a right to be so. Shakespeare the universal artist was large – he contained multitudes.

But traffic between the two realms has by no means always been one-way. In the ancient world, Odysseus and Aeneas dabbled in such occult matters but Orpheus is perhaps the exemplary hero who dared to cross over. His intention was commendable. When his wife Eurydice died from a snake bite, Orpheus ventured into the undiscovered country to bring her back. His plea was granted, but he lost his beloved forever when he failed to obey a key condition: he should not look back at her until they had reached the world above. Moral: trespassing into the underworld may spell disaster.

The great breakthrough came with monotheism. After his death, Christ descended to the souls in darkness below, so that he might bring them the light of the Gospel and deliver them from death. As the Bible has it: “He went and preached to the spirits in prison” (I Peter, 3:19). Indeed, Jesus’ descent into Hell is part and parcel of Christian doctrine, enshrined in the Apostles’ Creed. But, beware! The ‘prison’ visited by the Lord was not Hell proper. Rather, it was a sort of antechamber, an intermediate place or state where the souls of the righteous

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had to wait for the ultimate redemption through the sacrifice of the Cross.

This happy theology is perhaps best grasped in pictures. So, let me take you with me on imaginary wings to Istanbul, once the glittering Constantinople.

The sacred city on the shores of the Bosporus, straddling Europe and Asia.

The second Rome founded by Emperor Constantine, the self-styled “thirteenth apostle”. Let us take together a taxi (or ‘taksi’: Turkish has no letter x) to the Edirne Gate. Through a maze of little streets we make our way to the incomparable Kariye Cami, formerly the church of Our Saviour in Chora. Its inner walls are covered with some of the most stupendous Byzantine mosaics in the world. Once in the numinous inside, lift up your eyes at the apse or semi-dome. It takes your breath away! In a mosaic of amazing colours a tremendously dynamic, white-clad figure, almost like a wrestler, powerfully lifts up a man and a woman from out of a dungeon. Christ, the vanquisher of death and liberator of humankind, frees Adam and Eve from Hades. Under him the gates of Hell’s antechamber are burst open, while Satan trussed up like a chicken, now impotent and deprived of his captives, are trodden under the Saviour’s feet. Flanking Christ, on either side, stand our forefathers and the prophets, Abel, Abraham, Moses, King David, the Old Testament saints, witnessing the Redeemer’s triumph.

Drink it all in, allow yourself to be submerged in admiration. It is Christ’s Harrowing of Hell. A stunning theology in pictures, you are staring at it right there, like another St John, gaping at one of his end-of-the-world vision on the island of Patmos.

Or, closer to us, let us make it to Flor-

ence. The extraordinary Dominican Convent of St Mark. Where that angelic Renaissance artist, Beato Angelico, aiming at contemplation and instruction, daily painted his frescoes in devout prayer and meditation. And edifying his works definitely are. Particularly the one showing Christ smashing down the portal of Hell. He does so with such a force that Satan is squashed right under it, like a pathetic, wretched lizard. What a painting! The devil really has got his comeuppance. The message, once again, is the gates of Hell are thrown open and the imprisoned spirits are let out. Wonderful!

Islam too of course has bracing teachings on this subject. Life after death is certainly a major theme in the Qur’an.

In numerous passages the Book teaches that God created death and life; it also contrasts the possessions of this world with ‘things far better than those’, namely the joys of the Garden – Paradise or Heaven (e.g. Qur’an 3: 14-15). Of special fascination to me are those Quranic verses (17:1 & 53:1318) and prophetic traditions alluding to the Night Journey by the Prophet Muhammad to Heaven. Moreover, at the level of popular piety, the late-medieval Arabic Book of the Ladder elaborates further on the Prophet’s nocturnal journeys, under Gabriel’s guidance, into a prodigious, astounding Hereafter.

Mentioned should also be made of the moving celebrations of the Day of Ashura, falling this year on mid-November. This festival marks the martyrdom of Iman Husayn and his followers at Karbala.

The public mourning, the processions and the rituals connected with Ashura are not only a powerful reminder of Husayn’s struggle against tyranny and injustice. They also witness to the Muslims’ profound faith in Divine Judgment and vindication of the saints and the righteous in the next life.

Certainly, pious Muslims’ preoccupation with salvation and the Beyond is wholesomely evident in the title of conferences and meetings I have sometime attended. Such as: ‘Immortality’, ‘The Second Coming’, ‘The Day of Judgment’ and the like. By contrast, I don’t recall

coming across many church gatherings delving in such crucial subjects.

Christians are supposed to believe in the Hereafter but in reality they do not seem much interested in it. It really is shocking.

Falling shortly after Halloween, a depressingly heathen and dangerous nonsense, the feast of All Souls November 2nd - is truly about the denizens of that ‘undiscovered country’ where one day we shall dwell. Pace Hamlet’s doubts, this spiritual feast offers a suitable antidote to paganism.

All Souls is a celebration of the glorious Christian assertion of immortality, of the soul’s continued existence beyond the horrors of the grave. Crucially, the Church rightly invites all men to pray for the departed. Ancient luminaries like Tertullian, St Clement, Origen, St Cyprian and St Augustine all praise and support the practice. Inscriptions in catacombs testify to its early Christian use. Later, such prayers were connected with the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory, a veritable red rag to the Protestant bull. As the damned are eternally in Hell, and the saved everlastingly in Heaven, what’s the point of praying for the departed, unless you postulate an intermediate state, i.e. Purgatory, some carp? But try to say that to the millions of people mourning after the carnages of wars, or any human catastrophe or indeed to any bereaved person. In other words, prayers for the dead, whatever their theological rationale, are a pastoral necessity.

Besides, such prayers and petitions may well benefit the departed in ways known only to God. Prayers for the departed are an essential part of funeral services. Apart from offering consolation, they indicate awareness of God’s promises: death is not the end, as unbelievers foolishly opine, but, as Scripture affirms, a door affording the righteous entrance into another, fuller and glorious existence.

‘Absent thee from felicity a while’, the dying Hamlet implores his friend Horatio about to swallow poison. To me, it suggests that the author of Hamlet was too much of a genius not

to trust in eternal life. Another gigantic writer whom I much admire also had no doubts. I mean Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Maybe the most telling passage in that tremendous religious novel, Brothers Karamazov, comes at the end. A boy has tragically died, his schoolmates gather around their teacher, young Alyosha Karamazov and eagerly seek reassurance: ‘Karamazov, is it true what religion says, that there is another world, that death is not the end, that we shall see our dead friend again?’ ‘Yes, it is true’, Alyosha confidently replies: ‘We shall all see each other again and rejoice together blissfully in the Kingdom of God.’ •

Revd Frank Julian Gelli is an Anglican priest, cultural critic and a religious controversialist, working on religious dialogue. His last book “Julius Evola: the Sufi of Rome’ is available on Amazon Kindle.

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Health Medical Editor Laleh Lohrasbi

A couple of friends realised her anxiety and tried to take her mind off the British weather by suggesting going on a short trip up north. However, the closer they got to Scotland, the more depressed and blue she got. None of the breathtaking views and landscapes of Caledonia seemed to interest her.

She could not understand what was happening.

Little did she know that the weather was the culprit. In fact, she was suffering from a disorder known as SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).

The Office for National Statistics estimates that seven per cent of the British population is affected by SAD, with around 17% of individuals suffering from a milder form of this condition known as Subsyndromal SAD which has similar effects but on a milder scale.

Seasonal Affective Disorder is a mood disorder that happens at the same time each year. It is a type of depression that has a seasonal pattern and that is why it is also called winter depression or winter blues.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) Feeling lethargic, tired and irritable? If you dread the coming of winter, you might be one of the many sufferers of a syndrome directly related to the weather.

Laleh Lohrasbi explains the facts about SAD

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M

any years ago in London, I came across an Egyptian medical student. While I was dreading the coming of the British winter, for Mariam who came from a country with midsummer temperatures of around 45˚-50˚C, the idea of cold and wet weather seemed delightful and refreshing.

Mariam spent her first summer in London enjoying the occasional shower, breeze and warm sunshine. Soon the cool breeze gave way to cold wind and heavy rain. Day after day, the cloudy and rainy weather became more frequent.

Finally a bitterly freezing winter arrived.

Mariam’s smile changed to a frown and gradually to a sulk. She became irritable and appeared to have lost the motivation to get up and head for college or work.

Symptoms of this disorder usually begin in autumn and get more severe towards the winter, peaking in January and February. The symptoms gradually improve in spring. This disorder is categorised as 1) Unipolar depression; where the patient experiences depressive symptoms, or 2) Bipolar depression; when depressing periods (lows) are followed by manic periods (highs) where one feels happy, energetic and much more sociable.

Symptoms of SAD are much the same as those of depression and include irritability and despair, lack of energy, loss of concentration, increased appetite and anxiety. However with bipolar depression the patient may experience periods of elevated mood, hyperactivity, agitation, rapid thoughts and rapid speech.

Although scientists know that SAD is linked to the shorter days of the year - when the body receives less exposure to sunlight - its exact cause is still a mystery. Most explanations revolve around changes in hormone levels.

Hormonal changes Hypothalamus is a gland in the brain that when exposed to light regulates many bodily activities, including sleep and appetite. It also regulates the circadian rhythms or the body’s internal clock. Exposure to light in the day balances the amount of some internal hormones including melatonin and serotonin.

Melatonin is an internal hormone produced by a small gland in the brain called the pineal gland that regulates sleep. In daylight, the pineal gland gets a message from the hypothalamus to stop producing melatonin but when it becomes dark the pineal gland begins to produce melatonin to induce sleep. What happened to Mariam, the Egyptian student, was that during the shorter and darker winter days, the amount of melatonin produced in her body increased and made her feel drowsy, moodier and less energetic.

Serotonin is another internal hormone that affects mood and sleep. The amounts of Serotonin can increase with the amount of daylight. The more we are exposed to light, the more Serotonin is produced. When the amount of Serotonin is less than average the symptoms of SAD appear.

Periods of exposure to light followed by a period of darkness creates a hormonal and behavioural rhythm in the body called the circadian rhythm. Lack of sunlight during the day may muddle up this subtle timing. People who are living far north or south of the equator are more likely to be affected by SAD. Patients such as Mariam are normally recommended one of the treatments mentioned below together with a prescription of medicines.

This therapy is more effective if started in early autumn before the symptoms appear. The light coming from the light box resembles sunlight and encourages the brain to reduce the production of Melatonin and increase the production of Serotonin.

Sitting in front of a large high lux light box (light intensity is measured by lux), for 45 minutes a day and taking one fluoxetine (Prozac, Sarafem) capsule daily soon made Mariam feel better and less gloomy.

Vitamin D Deficiency Lack of Ultraviolet-B on the skin (normally associated with sun exposure) reduces the level of vitamin D. Increasing the body’s intake of vitamin D by taking supplements is an alternative to bright light treatment.

Antidepressants Drugs used for depression can also be used for severe forms of SAD. Some specific anti-depressants increase the levels of serotonin in the brain and lift one’s mood. It may take 4-6 weeks for these drugs to take full effect.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy As with any other form of sion, cognitive behavioural is an option which helps the to reconsider h/her reaction extreme mood swings.

deprestherapy patient to the

Physical Exercise This has been shown to be an effective form of depression therapy, particularly in addition to other treatments.

Adding twenty minutes of exercise to a treatment usually helps the patient to recover quicker. •

Light Therapy Light therapy is the first in line of treatments. It is fast responding with few side effects. Specially designed light boxes with a very bright high lux light are placed in front of the patient. The patient sits in front of the light source but not staring at the light directly.

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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Reconstructive surgery

R

econstructive surgery is the use of surgery to restore the form and function of the body. Injuries and degenerative diseases like severe infections and cancer are the main reasons for deformation or loss of all or a part of an organ. Reconstructive surgery has been practised for many years now using prosthesis, animal cartilage and human cartilage. Today the preferred method involves using the patient’s own cartilage and skin to reform and reconstruct the missing tissues.

Twelve year-old Marwa Naim lost her mother in a US missile strike on her home in northern Baghdad in April 2003. The attack also took off the tip of her nose. Three years later, with the help of humanitarian agencies, she travelled to California in order to undergo reconstructive surgery to repair the damage.

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that there would be very little chance of viably grafting cartilage in the area; instead they built a nose on the forehead of the patient. Doctors will later

to fashion a new nose. They then took cartilage from her ear to rebuild the tip and give shape to the new nose.

Following Marwa’s successful procedure, another similar surgery on a Chinese patient in September 2013 highlighted the level of progress doctors had made in reconstructive organ surgery.

Surgeon Guo Zhihui from Fujian Medical University Union Hospital constructed an extra nose out of a man’s rib cartilage and implanted it under the

Marwa spent four months undergoing a series of reconstructive surgeries at the UCLA Medical Centre, where plastic surgeons agreed to rebuild her nose pro bono.

During four operations, doctors expanded her forehead skin and removed a rectangular skin flap her forehead. The skin was then

first then from used

cut off the new nose while a little part of the skin will remain attached. Then they will rotate the nose and reposition it in its proper place.

In Xiaolian’s case the skin of the forehead was first expanded by implanting some expandable spongy material under the skin over a period of three months. Then the rib cartilage was used to build the nose under the expanded skin and shaped to form the nose bridge and nostrils. The reason why the skin of the forehead was chosen is that this skin has the same structure and texture as that of nose skin. Although the nose seems a little big now doctors say that after emplacement surgery the swelling will go down and the nose will

assume a normal size.

Surgeons have previously used the patient’s own cartilage for rebuilding the nose and then grafting it into place using the patient’s expanded forehead skin, without growing it under the skin first.

In the case of nose reconstruction surgery if the damage from disease or injury goes all the way through the nose, then all three layers of the skin on the outside, the cartilage, and the soft lining inside the nose must be replaced. The skin of the forehead is a good choice for the outside skin layer and the rib cartilage is a straightforward alternative but the most challenging issue is the inner lining and its blood supply. Prelamination, or implantation of tissue or cartilage to a skin flap while preserving blood supply, provides that inner layer. The skin graft is put on the under-surface of the skin flap. The skin will heal under the surface of the forehead, so two layers are created. By splitting the layers and putting cartilage grafts inside, rather like a sandwich, the final shape of the nose will be achieved.

In other cases surgeons have used patients’ own cartilage to rebuild organs. In October 2012 a patient who had lost her left ear due to cancer had it rebuilt under her forearm using her own rib cartilage. Maryland resident Sherrie Walter had an aggressive skin cancer that rapidly spread to part of her skull, salivary gland and inner left ear canal, which had to be surgically removed. Between January 2011 and

September 2012, Walter had a series of operations to remove pieces of rib cartilage for her new ear. More than a dozen pieces of reconstruction material from Walter’s own body were used.

Surgeon Patrick Byrne, an associate professor in otolaryngology - head and neck surgery - at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, implanted the skinless ear under her forearm so it could be nourished and grown before being attached to her skull.

“It’s my skin, my bone, and the most realistic surgical replacement to what my ear was before my cancer,” Walter said.

The knowledge of growing nose on forehead or ear on arm before transplanting them to their normal place, based on surgical reconstruction techniques, is centuries old. But modern applications have truly revolutionised these techniques. It is hard to grasp the extent of what scientists have achieved in so little time, but what is certain is that the process of using nature’s own remedies to repair and replace damaged organs still has a long way to go. •

skin of his forehead to be used later as a substitute for his damaged nose. Xiaolian, aged 22, injured his nose in a car accident in August 2012 but couldn’t afford to pay for remedial surgery. Due to the delay an infection gradually ate away much of his nose cartilage.

Dr Zhihui’s team examined what remained of the nose and concluded

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Science

Nature vs. Nurture or neither?

The Nature vs. Nurture debate has raged for years. Amid all the claims and counter claims what is clear is that the more we learn about our genes, the more relevant and important our environment becomes.

However Elham Ostad-Saffari questions if in this debate we are forgetting another important component – the influence of free will and faith

I

n the past most of us would have been killed by diseases caused by our environment such as starvation, tuberculosis, cholera and filthy water. However, thanks to medical advances, now we are imperilled by the emergence of heritable diseases such

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as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

It looks more and more likely that our future resides in our DNA. Interestingly we find that as scientists learn more about our genes and DNA, the less they seem to understand. The notion that every gene is linked to a

simple condition was quashed by the findings of the human genome project (1990-2003). Indeed until today scientists have not found the genes for basic human attributes such as height.

Adding to this complexity is the understanding that genes always work within

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childhood IQ studies this accounts for up to a quarter of the difference, while in late adolescence this correlation appears to disappear. Interestingly adoption studies show that in late adolescence as well as adulthood adoptive siblings become no more similar in IQ than strangers, while full siblings show an IQ correlation of 60%.

Twin studies also reinforce this pattern.

Identical twins raised separately have a highly similar IQ of approximately 85%, while non-identical twins are 60% similar and adoptive siblings are nearer 0%. When it comes to IQ nature seems to be a far more important component than ‘nurture’ in explaining differences within the general adult population.

an environmental context, the separation of the two being impossible. The nature versus nurture debate centres on an individual’s innate qualities (‘nature’ – our genes) versus personal experiences (‘nurture’ – the environment we grow up in) in determining individual differences in physical and behavioural traits.

Early ideas came from philosophers such as Plato and Descartes who suggested that certain things are inborn, or simply occur regardless of environmental influences.

Charles Darwin’s cousin, the scientist Francis Galton, began exploring this issue over a century ago. Today we find nearly

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1.5 million twins worldwide are at the heart of this debate, taking part in the plethora of studies to determine the roles of genes and the environment.

Studies range from aging and disease as well as bullying and belief.

Twin studies are interesting as twins often grow up together and share the same environment. Identical twins develop when a fertilised egg splits in two resulting in their DNA being exactly the same. By contrast non-identical twins develop when two separate eggs are fertilised by separate sperm resulting in their DNA being different.

If identical twins are more similar with respect to a particular trait such as hair

colour, compared to non-identical twins, the assumption is that this difference is down to their genes. However, if identical twins are dissimilar with respect to another trait such as language development and speech, then the assumption here would be that this difference owes more to the environment in which the children were raised.

For over a century now the orthodoxy has been that we are a product of both our genes and environment. Although there has been fierce debate over which is the most important, most scientists would agree that it must be a mixture of both. Evidence suggests that family environment has an effect on IQ. In

Personality traits are another nature vs nurture battleground. Twin and adoption studies have long observed that personality is strongly influenced by nature. Indeed identical twins raised separately are more similar than nonidentical twins. Similarly biological siblings are more similar in personality than adoptive siblings. However these studies also directly measure shared family effects/environments and allow for the examination of the environment as well as genes. The personalities of adopted siblings who share the same family environment are no more similar by the time they reach adulthood than random pairs of strangers indicating that a shared family has no effect on personality. Therefore when it comes to the development of the personality, it appears that nature has the upper hand over nurture.

But maybe this debate is not that simple!

Perhaps obesity is a good example to show how the nature verses nurture debate has become a little muddied.

Scientists have found a gene mutation which they believe causes obesity; this mutation restricts the production of a hormone called Leptin which works in the brain by inhibiting one’s appetite.

Interestingly one in 30,000 children are born with this mutation and are unable to gauge appropriate eating limits for themselves. However one could also argue that if someone is educated about the dangers of over-eating, particularly

junk food, then perhaps this would be less of a problem. Indeed overweight parents have overweight children, as well as overweight cats! The causes of these overindulgences are highly likely to be down to overfeeding rather than our genes.

Criminality is another good example of where the debate has become even more confusing. A gene which has an impact on the production of an enzyme called Monoamide Oxidase A has been shown to influence one’s response to fear. A third of people have lowactivity of this gene and are therefore less responsive to fear. So perhaps one’s responses to such emotions are controlled by genes. Take another genetically-controlled substance which is also known to influence criminality - testosterone. Indeed men are 10 times more likely to kill than women, with this risk peaking when they are in their mid-20s. These distinct differences are the same around the world. However why is it that in some US states the rate is as much as 1,100 murders per million people, while in the UK, it is as low as 25 per million. This example shows that perhaps in this instance, genetics plays a less of a part in criminality than an environment of guns, gangs and acute poverty.

If genes do indeed contribute significantly to the development of personal characteristics such as intelligence and personality, some argue this may in turn imply that genes determine who we are, negating the significance of free will and faith. Looked at in a different way, if our traits are indeed determined by our genes, our environment, by chance, or by a mixture of all these things acting together, then this leaves little room for free will and faith. One could argue that while the nature versus nurture debate is interesting, it does tend to overplay one’s prediction of a specific individual human behaviour based on our knowledge of genetics and the environment. Thus while science may determine our abilities, our free will and faith still determine what we can do with our abilities. It might be that our free will and faith are often overlooked

because of our obsession with genetics.

Some argue that with this knowledge of the nature vs. nurture debate, our idea of in-born or set IQ is indeed dead.

Generally as a human species, the older we get the smarter we get, and generally we are getting smarter. Perhaps we are not doomed to simply play out with limited control the destiny that is programmed in our genes.

Perhaps we cannot blame our genes for mediocrity and bad behaviour. You may have heard of stories where cancer patients who have been given months to live miraculously end up in remission years later, defying all scientific facts.

Perhaps within this debate, we also need to consider a role for something far greater than you or I, something far greater than the environment, something like faith, and a greater being who ultimately has control over all creatures great and small, genetics and the environment. •

Dr Elham Ostad-Saffari has a PhD in Medical Genetics from Imperial College London. She is currently working in the pharmaceutical industry.

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Through November

Friday Nights Thought Forum London’s weekly open gathering.

Time: 19:30 - 21:00 Venue: Islamic Centre of England

5 November

Faith in Finance Christian / Muslim Forum This event held in partnership with the St Paul’s Institute explores the guidance that the wisdom of Christian and Muslim teaching has to offer on current discussion around the nature of money and finance.

Speakers: • Bishop Peter Selby - Interim Co-Director, St Paul ‘s Institute • Tarek El Diwany - Senior Partner, Zest Advisory LLP • Faizal Manjoo - Head of Research Islamic Finance and Management, Islamic Foundation • Patricia Alexander - Managing Director, Shared Interest This event is free but advance registration is required.

Time: 18.30 - 20.00 (followed by reception) Venue: Crypt of St Paul ‘s Cathedral Please contact Robert Gordon at Email: institute@stpaulscathedral.org.uk Tel: 020 7489 1011.

7-9 November

The Qur’an: Text, Society & Culture, 2013 (Conference) Centre of Islamic Studies, SOAS, University of London

Conveners: Professor M.A.S. Abdel Haleem & Dr Helen Blatherwick

Time: 10:00 AM-6:00 PM Venue: Brunei Gallery, SOAS, University of London, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG Web: www.soas.ac.uk/islamicstudies/ 66

conferences/quran2013/ Email: conference@how-foundation.org

12 November

The New Internationalism, HighRisk Activism, and Popular Struggle against the Israeli Occupation in the West Bank London Middle East Institute and the Centre for Palestine Studies A talk by Joel Beinin, researcher and writer focusing on workers and minorities in the present Middle East. Chaired

by Gilbert Achcar.

Time: 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM Venue: Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS, University of London, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG Web: www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/ Email: vp6@soas.ac.uk Tel: 020 7898 4330 / 4490

13 November

Turkey and Security Issues in the Middle East Speaker : Dr Giray Sadik Chair: William Park This talk is about the transformation of Turkish foreign policy and its ongoing challenges on the Transatlantic, European and Middle Eastern fronts. Turkey, with its geostrategic location bordering Syria, Iraq and Iran, has been bound to be at the heart of any major Western engagement in the Middle East.

This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

Time: 6.30pm-8.00pm Venue: Room 1.04, New Academic Building, LSE, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE Web: www.lse.ac.uk/publicEvents/events/ Tel: 020 7955 6198 Email: s.masry@lse.ac.uk

14 November

Email: s.masry@lse.ac.uk

“Dancing Under the Beloved’s Sword”: Classical Mystic Poetry in

27 November

Modern Iran

Muslim Logic in Fictional Narratives

Classical Persian mystic poetry, which advocates non-violence and a philosophy of love, was transformed during the Iran-Iraq war to fit the violent and bloody realities of conflict. In this special lecture, Dr Asghar Seyed-Gohrab (University of Leiden) will examine the application of classical mystic concepts in modern Iran, and especially the use of medieval ideals of mystic love to convince people to offer their lives in defence of their country. Followed by a reception.

A talk by Aberdeen-based Sudanese author Leila Aboulela in partnership with the Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World and the Encyclopaedia of Women in Islamic Cultures.

Time: 6pm - 7.30pm Venue: Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh Web: www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/ literatures-languages-cultures/alwaleed/ islamic-civilisation/islamicci2013

25 November

Egyptian Foreign Policy towards Israel under Mubarak: From Cold Peace to Strategic Peace.

Speaker: Dr Amnon Aran Chair: Dr Toby Dodge This lecture will focus on the conventional wisdom that Egyptian foreign policy towards Israel has been, and remains, one of cold peace. Instead, Dr Aran will argue that Egyptian foreign policy under the Presidency of Hosni Mubarak has shifted from cold peace to strategic peace. He will also reflect on the implications of his findings to the post-Mubarak era.

This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

Time: 6.30pm-8.00pm Venue: Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE Web: www.lse.ac.uk/publicEvents/events/ Tel: 020 7955 6198

Time: 6pm - 8pm Venue: Appleton Tower, Lecture Theatre 1, The University of Edinburgh, 16 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LD Web: www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/ literatures-languages-cultures/alwaleed/ news-events/upcomingevents

27-29 November

Islamic Finance (course) This course introduces the basic pillars of Shari’ah Law as applied to finance, explores its various interpretations, and highlights the best practice. The course discusses the functions of the Islamic financial system including products and services such as Murabaha, Mudarabah, Musharakah, Bai Salam, Istisna and Ijarah.

Price: £3,845.00 Venue: Central London Hotel Venue, London Web: www.euromoneytraining.com/ Course/1574/Financial-Training-UK-andIreland/CourseInfo.html

29 November

The Development of Iranian Cuisine in the 16th and 17th Centuries Shahrzad Ghorashian, Food and History Writer, and Co-Author of New Persian Cooking: A Fresh Approach to the Classic Cuisine of Iran

Time: 1:15 PM- 2:45 PM Venue: Room 4426, SOAS, University of London, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG Email: soasfoodstudies@soas.ac.uk

Web: www.soas.ac.uk/foodstudies/forum/ seminarfilm/

30 November

Narratives of Education In Islam: Towards a Transformative Philosophy of Islamic Education Delivered by: Dr. Abdullah Sahin [The Research Centre for Muslim Educational Thought & Practice] The main focus of the seminar is to develop a transformative narrative on philosophy, theology and pedagogy for the practice of modern Islamic education.

Time: 9am - 5pm Venue: Birkbeck College, Malet St, London WC1E 7HX Web: www.islamiccourses.org

2 December

US Foreign Policy and the Iranian Revolution: the dynamics of engagement and strategic alliance Speaker: Dr Christian Emery Chair: Dr Roham Alvandi Dr Emery will discuss the main findings from his new book, US Foreign Policy and the Iranian Revolution: the Cold War Dynamics of Engagement and Strategic Alliance. He will also discuss how Cold War dogma and a range of misperceptions undermined America’s ‘new’ policy, providing a fresh perspective on the origins of one of the most bitter and enduring confrontations in international relations.

This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

Time: 6.30pm-8.00pm Venue: Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE Web: www.lse.ac.uk/publicEvents/events/ Tel: 020 7955 6198 Email: s.masry@lse.ac.uk

Muslim Women and AntiMuslimness in Scotland With much written about Muslim experiences in England and Wales, Dr Rahielah Ali (University of Newcastle) wanted to explore the experiences of Muslim women living north of the border. Here Dr Ali reflects on her doctoral research findings.

Time: 5.30pm - 7pm Venue: Chrystal Macmillan Building, George Square, Seminar Room 3, The University of Edinburgh, 16 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LD Web: www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/ literatures-languages-cultures/alwaleed/ muslims-in-britain/mib2013

4 December

“The sense of the original”, Translating the Qur’an in the West A lecture delivered by Professor Alastair Hamilton (the Warburg Institute, London) In the preface to his English version of the Qur’an published in 1734 George Sale wrote that the translations aimed to represent “the sense of the original”. The means of doing this, as well as the decision as to what the “sense” really was, however, has differed greatly through the ages.

The lecture will survey European translations of the Qur’an from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century with particular emphasis on developments and changes in Germany.

Time: 6pm - 7.30pm Venue: The Play fair Library, Old College, University of Edinburgh Web: www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/ literatures-languages-cultures/alwaleed/ islamic-civilisation/islamicci2013

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