Islam today - issue 7 - May 2013

issue 7 vol.1 May 2013

UK ÂŁ3.00

Labour in Islam Of Thatcher & Her Sons Biological Computing

Contents

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The Al-Hambra; a paradise for those enchanted by the beauty of bygone eras

Editorial team May 2013 Issue, 7 Vol, 1

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, further understand and appreciate the nature of a dynamic faith.

Heritage

Managing Director

Mohammad Saeed Bahmanpour

Chief Editor

Amir De Martino

Managing Editor

Anousheh Mireskandari

Political Editor

Reza Murshid

Science Editor

Hannah Smith

Health Editor

Laleh Lohrasbi

Art Editor

Moriam Grillo

Layout and Design

Sasan Sarab - Michele Paolicelli

Design and Production

PSD UK Ltd.

The great mosque of Djenné - Mali

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Editorial 5

‘The Wall’; Mixed media on canvas by Abed Abdi

The uplifting value of generosity

Politics In brief

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News from around the world

Sukuk

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Nehad Khanfar explains Islamic Bonds and their role in redistributing wealth

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Letters to the Editor

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Contributions and Submissions

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www.islam-today.net

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Ahmad Haneef Alexander Khaleeli

Feature 32

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Frank Julian Gelli

Why Islam prohibits the recreational use of marijuana Drawing on the rulings of Muslim scholars from different schools Hamid Waqar clarifies Islam’s attitude towards the drug

Hamid Waqar

Cover 38

Hanif Lakdawala

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Mohammad Haghir

Mohsen Biparva

Nehad Khanfar Yasser Ahmed

View of the old city of Sana’a – Yemen. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986

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.

Opinion 42

Muhammad Amin Evans

Arts 22

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Ceramics Contemporary Islamic art by Tunisian painter, sculptor and potter Khalid Ben Slimane

Bertrand Russell; Fear and the new Atheism Despite the new evangelical atheists, God is not dead: God is back!’ Says Frank J. Gelli

In the spotlight The unusual self-portraits of Julien Breton, a photographer and artist from Nantes, France

Eradicating poverty: more than just entertainment Yasser Ahmed spells out the principles underpinning Islam’s approach to tackling poverty

‘The importance of fatherly love Hanif Lakdawala believes quality time spent between a father and his children is essential for both parties

Mohammad Sobhanie

The Cross and the Crescent: The power of humanity On May 8th, the world pays homage to the rescue work undertaken by the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Yasser Ahmed takes us through the history of the movement.

Youth Matters

Ali Jawad

Of Thatcher & her sons Controversial remarks by the UK pension secretary Iain Duncan Smith, reflect how out of touch some politicians are, argues Reza Murshid

Acculturating our faith For an indigenous Islamic society and culture to develop organically in the West requires a shift in our understanding of the meaning of Islamic culture and our attitudes towards the host country, according to Ahmed Haneef

Contributors

The Invention of the White Race Is ‘white race’ a social and economic construction or is it a fixed biological attribute?

Mohsen Biparva reviews the classic work of Theodore W. Allen

Labour in Islam: As the world marks International Labour Day, Ali Jawad describes how the Islamic view of labour incorporates an ethical and participatory form of engagement

Mandela and the West’s persistent demons As Nelson Mandela’s health makes news, Reza Murshid reminds us how the South African leader stood up to Western pressure to disassociate himself from certain countries

Life & Community

Contact us Information

Masterpiece

‘Charity begins at home, but justice begins next door’

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Back Cover

The Place to Be

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Western sociology and its application to non-western societies Mohammad Haghir critiques the development of sociology questioning whether the outcome and application of its theories reflect Western-centric interest

Islamic Centre of England

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Editorial

Contents

Faith

What & Where 46

The wisdom of Luqman An insight into Chapter Luqman of the Holy Qur’an by Mohammad Sobhanie

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The month of Rajab in history of Islam ‘Rajab, the month of God’

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Deconstructing the New Atheists Alexander Khaleeli explores the connection between new Atheism and Imperialism

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Listings and Events

the narrative of suffering, connecting with them by means of a simple home visit, trying to make sense of why the suffering exists.

Friday Nights Thought Forum - Islamic Centre of England Beyond the Chador: Dress From the Mountains and Deserts of Iran.

Irfan and the Qur’an with special reference to Rumi Producing colonial space and colonised bodies in Italian Libya (Lecture) From sedentism to nomadism: the development of Iranian nomadism (Lecture) Tafsir of Surah al-Anbiya

Science

Recent archaeological fieldwork in Sudan

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What do the new pictures of Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation tell us?

Scientists recently unveiled the most detailed images to date of Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. Hannah Smith explains the science behind it

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Biological computing produces a bacteria-based transistor Velcro™: an invention inspired by nature

A New Middle East: Palestine, Peoples and Borders (Lecture) Sectarian Gulf: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the Arab Spring that wasn’t Early Islamic Enamelled Glass and Its Iconography (Lecture) Islamic Glass in a Chinese Context (Lecture) The Prophets of Allah(swt) Instructor: Daood Butt Rare Persian Map Collection Launch Event IFN Europe Forum 2013

Health 58

Cleft lip and palate

The role of the PDRY in creating a South Yemeni identity (Lecture)

11-18 May marks Cleft Lip and Palate Awareness Week, Dr Laleh Lohrasbi outlines all there is to know about the condition

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Brain Damage

Places 62

Gateways, Domes, and Minarets Muhammad Amin Evans looks at the evolution of Islamic architecture through mosques as they dot the Islamic world

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‘Charity begins at home, but justice begins next door’

This well-known phrase found in the writings of Charles Dickens is often uttered without the second part thus becoming a tempting excuse for limiting our generosity to those who are close to us. Yet our accumulated wisdom is able to produce principles that make sense for both the intellect and the heart such as: “Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself”. These intuitions become a wave of goodness when they filter through the light of faith.

The flourishing of countless voluntary religious organisations, independent of governments, tells us that our innate desire to help others does not depend on state engineered policies but on a sense of duty that transcends politics and allegiances.

Golden Silence A little-publicised medical condition that causes people to want to hear less is more common than we might think

The uplifting value of generosity

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.

The paths to charity have no borders and are open to all individuals. Human suffering affects the life of every one of us; those who don’t notice it are blind and those who don’t take care of it heartless.

Problems of sustenance should be unknown in our welfare society but the reality is that next to the opulence we also have legions of poor.

In Europe alone we have millions of them. The immigrants, the marginalised, the “others”. There are the sick affected by life consuming illnesses, an area were hospitals alone cannot provide all the care they need. Only the work of volunteers fills part of that huge welfare hole not on the technical side, but by their presence next to the sick and needy, humanising

There is also the domain of the physically impaired where it is not enough to remove architectural barriers if we don’t also remove human barriers. Another area is related to psychological problems that are today mysteriously exploding especially among youths manifesting themselves in difficulties in relationships, personality disorders, family conflict, the fear of living or rather loss of the sense of life, maladjustment, miscomprehension and loss of hope. This is the mass of pain that like a thin imperceptible ash, settles in the soul producing a situation of injustice that if left to itself can lead to destruction.

There is no evidence at present that “institutional” initiatives can answer the call of justice. Their involvement, itself suffering from cultural myopia, requires that the image of having be stronger than the one of being.

We can no longer make distinctions between `those who suffer`. To help others requires that we stop thinking in terms of in group (my family, my friends, my clients, my compatriot, my coreligionist etc..) and out group (the other, not one of us…).

We cannot multiply like ants and remain strangers to one another crowding the desert of our cities and still ignore those within our reach, becoming indifferent to the distressed; the one who is hiding in the corner, the girl raped in the subway of the metro or the overdosed youth agonising by the side of a public garden.

How much do we care about the other? Real solidarity does not allow us to ask questions such as; what is my duty or whose turn is it to help? It is always our duty, it is always our turn.

This is the kind of motivation that we find in many spontaneous voluntary organisations who find their inspiration and nourishment from another treasure of knowledge away from the corridors of government, in the principle of love inspired by their Faith.

Within this fragmented horizon that asks for “human attention” we can all, if we want, find our space and time for participation until it becomes a lifestyle that has much to do with giving, with charity.

The difference between ordinary people and those near to God is basically this: we chase a dream of justice through recurring promises of economic miracles; they don’t speak miracles, they simply live them through charity and justice. •

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In brief

UK

New UK curriculum ignores Muslim contribution to western civilisation

enhancement of ancient Greek and Roman learning by classical Muslim civilisation, which percolated into Europe via Spain and Italy, leading to the European Renaissance’.

Nor does the curriculum take into account Britain’s history of trade, diplomatic and other relations with Muslimmajority regions, or the longstanding presence of Islam in Britain.

The council concludes that the present draft curriculum would fail to teach a ‘true picture of the past that prepares our children for life’ in 21st-century Britain.

One of the UK’s leading Islamic organisations has warned that plans to revise the school history curriculum risk ignoring the Muslim contribution to western civilisation – an omission that will only foster alienation among Muslim Britons.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), which claims to represent more than 500 Islamic organisations, is calling for ‘everyone who cares about the education of British schoolchildren’ to lobby the Department for Education (DfE) as the end of the consultation period on the plans looms.

While conceding that history ‘has always been the most controversial subject in the school curriculum’, the MCB says it is ‘deeply disappointed’ that the DfE’s draft specification makes no reference to Muslims and Islam.

An estimated 10% of children in Britain’s schools are Muslim, but the MCB says the proposed new curriculum will not recognise the role Muslims have played in shaping a multicultural Britain and Europe.

The MCB says the plans ignore the contribution of Indian Muslim, Hindu and Sikh soldiers to two world wars, particularly on the western front in the First World War. They also fail to acknowledge ‘the preservation and

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‘British Muslim children will see no place for themselves in their country’s history, creating the risk of alienation,’ the MCB said in a statement. ‘At the same time non-Muslim children will grow up believing that Muslims have contributed nothing of value to Britain.’

It is not the first body to criticise the proposals. In a joint statement the Historical Association and the Royal Historical Society claim the curriculum has been drafted ‘without any systematic consultation’.

United for the Beloved An event organised by LAFZ online magazine under the chairmanship of Yasmeen Qureshi MP provided an opportunity to discuss the imperative of unity among Muslims in the light of recent attacks on the Muslim Shi’a minority in Pakistan.

‘A time for love, a time for respect and a time for understanding’ was chosen as theme for this event which was held in House of Commons on 17th of April.

The Key speakers Sheikh Muhammad Bahmanpour from the Islamic Centre of England and Shaykh Faid Muhammad Said both highlighted the importance of following the example of the Prophet Muhammad(s) as model of tolerance and humbleness in dealing with those around us.

A representative from the Pakistani embassy in London was also present.

The attendees all shared a concern for the killings in Pakistan urging the Pakistani authorities to do more to find the perpetrators.

FRANCE

France is home to a Muslim minority of six million, Europe’s largest.

Muslims and their customs and traditions have been under the spotlight in recent years in France.

Former president Nicolas Sarkozy had adopted a series of measures to restrict Muslim freedoms in an effort to win the support of far-right voters.

France plans further restrictions on Hijab

Under Sarkozy, the French government had held a national debate on the role of Islam in French society.

Plans by French President Francois Hollande to impose further restrictions on the wearing of hijab in public are sparking deep concerns among Muslims

The French government has also outlawed Muslim street prayers, a sight far-right leader Marine Le Pen likened to the Nazi occupation.

Muslims have also complained of restrictions on building mosques to perform their daily prayers.

French Muslims banned from working during Israeli president’s visit about their future in the southern European country.

Fear has gripped French Muslims after Hollande reiterated support to a crossparty move to extend the ban on the wearing of hijab to the private sector.

The move followed a ruling by France’s top court that the dismissal of a Muslim woman from a private nursery school for refusing to remove her hijab amounted to ‘religious discrimination’.

The French government criticised the verdict, with Interior Minister Manuel Valls describing the ruling as putting ‘secularism into question’.

Muslim leaders have warned of repercussions of imposing further restrictions on hijab wearing in France.

‘The balance is living our religious life in freedom and dignity and at the same time avoiding anything that may provoke the other,’ Mohammed Moussaoui, President of the umbrella French Council of Muslim Faith, said.

State of Israel’. Peres and a delegation of other senior Israeli officials arrived on a morning train from Belgium and were greeted by staff from SNCF and their baggage-handling subsidiary, ITIREMIA. But the day before, a site manager told all workers at the station about the ban on black staff, and those of North African descent, because they might be Muslim.

SUD-Rail said in a statement it was assumed by management that anyone from a ‘black or Arab’ background might be Muslim - an assumption ‘based on the appearance of the workers.’

According to the report, SNCF initially blamed the discrimination on ‘security protocol’ advised by the French Interior Ministry and the Israeli Embassy in Paris, but this has been emphatically denied by both. Instead, the order came from SNCF’s own management, with a spokesman for the state-run company pledging ‘a full investigation.’

The row is said to be particularly embarrassing for SNCF because of the part it played in the extermination of Jews and other minorities during the Second World War.

GERMANY German government rejects gender separation for sports classes

German government has waded in a new controversy, rejecting the idea of separate sports classes for Muslim girls and boys as sending a wrong signal on the country’s ‘integration,’ ‘Integration is very important to the chancellor,’ Georg Streiter, a government spokesman, told Rheinische Post newspaper. ‘People being separated from one another is the opposite of integration,’ he said.

The subject of how to treat Muslim schoolchildren when it comes to sports instruction is becoming a hot election topic. The issue was raised when Peer Steinbrück, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Social Demo Adhan cratic Party opponent in the September national vote, waded into what in the past has been a source of hot debate in Germany.

Steinbrück expressed support for physical education classes in German schools to be divided by gender. ‘If schools are able to do it, then they should,’ Steinbrück said in response to a question from the audience during a campaign appearance in Berlin.

Steinbrück then added that the step should be taken ‘out of consideration for religious convictions.’

Germany is believed to be home to nearly 4 million Muslims, including 220,000 in Berlin alone. The country is home to Europe’s second-biggest Muslim population after France, and Islam comes third in Germany after Protestant and Catholic Christianity.

France’s national railway company, SNCF, banned its black and North African employees from working during Israeli President Shimon Peres’ visit in March over fears they ‘might be Muslim’, according to reports in the British press.

The alleged discrimination took place when Peres arrived at the Gare du Nord station in Paris, the hub for high-speed trains travelling to cities including London, on March 8. The SUD-Rail transport union filed an official complaint saying everything was done to ensure there were ‘no Muslim employees to welcome the head of the

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Community leader demands legal recognition of Muslim holidays

has ‘no Muslim tradition.’

In some German states, Muslims already have the right to take time off for religious holidays. Hamburg, for instance, grants this right to Muslims, and last year the city’s mayor, Olaf Scholz, signed a law giving Muslim holidays the same status as non-statutory church holidays.

Both Berlin and Baden-Württemberg followed suit, implementing the right to religious holidays for Muslim employees and students.

Aiman Mazyek

A leading member of Germany’s Muslim community has called for legal recognition of two Muslim holidays, drawing criticism from among Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling conservatives.

In 2010 former German President Christian Wulff made the assertion that, ‘Islam belongs in Germany,’ provoking a conservative backlash. Now, Germany’s Central Council of Muslims (ZMD) is bringing the topic back into the public eye and suggesting the introduction of statutory Muslim holidays throughout Germany.

Council chairman Aiman Mazyek told the regional daily Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) that granting one day during the holy month of Ramadan and another on the fast-breaking day of Eid would be ‘an important sign of integration’ and ‘would emphasise tolerance in our society.’

These holidays would not be work-free days for all citizens, specified Mazyek, but rather would serve to give Muslims the legal right not to work on these days. He added that Muslims in public services such as police could stand in for colleagues over Christian holidays like Easter. The legal recognition of Islam has been a controversial issue in Germany where Muslims have been accused of not doing enough to integrate.

Wolfgang Bosbach, a prominent member of Merkel’s traditionally Catholic Christian Democratic Union (CDU), told WAZ that he sees ‘far and wide no need’ for the legal recognition of Muslim holidays, adding that Germany

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Visiting the Fittja Great Mosque, Swedish Minister of EU Affairs Birgitta Ohlsson underlined that the Botkyrka Municipality’s decision was very positive. ‘I will visit the mosque to listen to the adhan,’ Ohlsson also said.

Construction on the Fittja Ulu Mosque began in 1998 and it opened for worship in 2007.

SWEDEN

AUSTRALIA

Stockholm in landmark decision to allow Adhan

The Assembly of the Municipality of Botkyrka, in the Swedish capital of Stockholm, has approved a request from the Fittja Great Mosque to publicly make the adhan from its minaret every Friday. The decision signifies the first time the Islamic call to prayer has been officially approved in Sweden.

Mehreen Faruqi, a Muslim academic, will represent the Greens Party in the Upper House in the New South Wales (NSW).

Chief of Stockholm Police, Gunnar Edeland, also stated that the chanting of the adhan from a minaret for Friday prayers posed no harm in regards to public order and traffic.

‘As the first Greens MP in NSW from a migrant background, I’m also excited about building stronger relationships

origin, was elected a member of parliament for western Sydney. He swore the oath of service on a copy of the Holy Qur’an.

New South Wales is home to 168,788 Muslims, about 4.96 per cent of the total population, making the state home to the largest Muslim population in Australia, according to the 2006 government census. Muslims, who have been in Australia for more than 200 years, make up 1.7 per cent of its 20-million population. In post 9/11-era,

First Muslim woman MP elected to Australian Parliament Making history in the multicultural country, a Pakistani-born woman has been appointed as the first Muslim woman in the Australian parliament.

The written decision delivered to Botkyrka Islamic Cultural Association President Ismail Okur by the police department indicated that the adhan can be recited live from speakers at the Fittja Ulu Mosque on Fridays between the hours of 12:00 to 13:00 for 3 to 5 minutes.

an ’environmental engineer, climate change and education activist, proud union member and feminist.’ She won the Greens pre-election following a postal ballot from among a field of seven women-only candidates, in another first for the party. The move makes Dr Faruqi the first Muslim woman appointed to any parliament in Australia, the party said.

‘We do need a spectrum of diverse politicians in Australian parliaments who can represent our communities,’ Faruqi told reporters. ‘It shows the world that we really value multiculturalism,’ she added.

She will replace Cate Faehrmann who will resign in June to run for a seat in the Senate.

‘Mehreen’s Pakistani heritage not only breaks new ground for the Greens but it breaks new grounds for politics in NSW, and indeed the whole country,’ Faehrmann said in a statement.

Migrating from Pakistan with her family in 1992, Mehreen describes herself as

12th anniversary of September 11, 2001 attacks in the US. The 2,998 reportedly represents the number of people who were killed in the attacks that destroyed the twin World Trade Centre towers in New York.

The radical Florida-based pastor burned copies of the Holy Qur’an on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in 2010, which caused angry protests in several countries.

In November, 2012, an Egyptian court sentenced Jones, in absentia, to death for his role in the production of a blasphemous anti-Islam US-made movie called Innocence of Muslims.

The irrationality of pastor Jones actions becomes all the more apparent when one is reminded of the fact that among the many victims of 9/11 were tens of innocent Muslims, ranging in age from

between the Greens and communities,’ Faruqi said.

migrant

Taking pride in her multicultural background, Faruqi said her Islamic faith was only ‘one element’ of her background. ‘I am proud of my culture and heritage but I’m also proud of my professional achievements,’ she said.

‘I believe I might be the first environmental engineer in the NSW parliament as well.’

Dr Faruqi said her appointment was a ‘very progressive’ move for Australia, and she would seek to build stronger relationships with migrant communities in her new role.

Though being the first Muslim woman in any Australian parliament, she is not the first Muslim to hold a parliamentary seat. In 2010, Ed Husic, of Bosnian

Australian Muslims have been haunted with suspicion and have had their patriotism questioned.

USA

Extremist Pastor set to burn Qur’an again Infamous US pastor Terry Jones has once again announced plans to desecrate Islam’s holy book Qur’an by burning it, a move likely to spark worldwide outrage.

Jones’ organisation has announced that members of the group will hold an event, which they call ‘International Burning of 2,998 Qur’ans,’ to mark the

their late 60s to a couple’s unborn child. Six of these victims were Muslim women, including one who was 7 months pregnant.

Many such Muslim victims were stockbrokers or restaurant workers, earning a living to care for their families. There were converts and immigrants, hailing from over a dozen different countries and the U.S. There were heroes: a NYPD cadet and a Marriott hotel worker, who sacrificed their lives attempting to rescue others.

The Muslim victims were parents to over 30 children, who were left orphaned without one or both of their parents.

According to the BBC, among those killed in the Twin Towers were an estimated 70 Muslims. •

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Labour in Islam:

Rights, Roles and Responsibilities As the world marks International Labour Day, Ali Jawad describes how the Islamic view of labour incorporates an ethical and participatory form of engagement.

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conomic activity has been an integral feature of human existence. Since the beginning of time, humankind has used its precocious talents of imagination, creativity and sheer determination to seek optimal means to secure its most essential needs and attain a more comfortable life. Groups, communities and nations have been brought together by this struggle.

Quite naturally, questions concerning fairness, equity and justice in the division of labour and distribution of gains have never been far behind. Defined by its unique worldview and inspired by its strong attachment to the ideal of justice, the religion of Islam situates economic activity within a greater whole. By fusing ethics and economics, Islam does not simply determine how economic activity should be handled, but it also establishes the order of priorities for society.

I. Concept of Wealth in Islam “O mankind! You are the ones who stand in need of God, and God - He is the All-sufficient, the All-laudable.” Holy Qur’an, 35:15 According to Islam, the true Master and Owner is God, be He exalted. Humankind is equal before His greatness and each one of us stands in constant need of divine providence for our existence and sustenance.

In a famous narration from the sixth Imam, Ja’far al-Sadiq(a) to an elderly man named ‘Unwan al-Basri, the Imam responds to a question about the reality of servitude by relating it first to the concept of ownership: “Firstly, a slave does not see ownership for himself of the things that God has entrusted to him, because slaves do not possess ownership. Slaves see wealth as that of Allah and place it wherever He has commanded them to.”

In line with this understanding, Islam regards wealth as a divine trust and looks upon it as a means and not an end.

Attachment to worldly wealth, monopolisation and exploitation are thus characteristics of those who betray the divine trust, and choose instead the path of arrogance.

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II. Earning a Lawful Livelihood Islam places great emphasis on the earning of a lawful livelihood. On the other hand, it heavily proscribes laziness and indolence. The Holy Qur’an speaks of various Prophets of God who toiled on the land and partook in different occupations.

The Prophet David(a) was a blacksmith; Moses(a) engaged in agriculture and rearing livestock and so on.

The Holy Prophet(s) is reported to have said: “No one has a better living than the one who has earned with his own hands”. In another tradition narrated from Imam al-Sadiq(a) it is stated: “No good is he who does not earn wealth in a lawful way whereby he protects his honour, discharges his debts and fulfils his obligations to his near relatives.”

In Islam, the earning of a lawful livelihood is considered an act of worship. Working hard and earning a lawful living is an integral part of the greater goal of seeking proximity of God and eternal bliss akin to other acts of worship like prayer and fasting.

III. The Value of Work

the rights of employees. In the narration quoted below, the Prophet(s) intertwines the treatment of one’s workers with the values of justice, fairness, moderation, human dignity and generosity: “Your brethren are your servants whom God has made your subordinate. So, the man who has his brother as his subordinate should give him to eat what he himself eats, and to wear what he himself wears. And do not put on them the burden of any labour that may exhaust them. And if you have to put any such burden on them, then help them yourselves (in their work).”

The above saying captures the essential ethos of the Islamic conception concerning the relationship between the employer and employee. It establishes a relationship of brotherhood and equality between the two, and extends this parity to food and dress, thereby introducing an entirely novel moral standard of rights and responsibilities.

Obviously, these rights and responsibilities cannot be fully applied in lieu of an Islamic state, since the economic system is an indivisible whole that embraces unique economic prescriptions, and fits alongside other branches of the state such as the judiciary.

Yet despite this, the ethical principles set forth by Islam with respect to the role, responsibilities and relation between employers and their subordinates provides the basis for a fairer and more compassionate system even when considered in a constricted sense.

One of the central bases of the Islamic conception of the human being, including within the economic sphere, is the innate God-given dignity provided to one and all. As such, the Islamic state conceives of an ethical and participatory form of engagement in which the God-given dignity of a worker is upheld and avenues for its expression are provided. On the other hand, the worker is similarly motivated to regard his/ her work highly and perform to the best of their abilities, since by so doing one is simultaneously gaining proximity to God. •

In the view of the late Shaheed Muhammad Baqir Al-Sadr in his acclaimed book ‘Our Economics’, one of the key functions of the Islamic state is to provide individuals with the opportunity to gain a generous share of fruitful economic activity, based on the principle that states: ‘It is the right of a worker to keep the fruit of his labour’.

The nature of the economic problem according to Shaheed Al-Sadr derives from two principal causes: unjust distribution of wealth on the one hand, and exploitation and extravagance with respect to natural resources and factors of production. In our age, both these conditions apply particularly to the human workforce given the rise of phenomena such as globalisation and the impact it has had on trade and employment.

IV. Rights, Roles & Responsibilities

Ali Jawad is a human rights activist and political analyst with a keen interest in international diplomacy.

The Holy Prophet(s) set out comprehensive guidelines detailing

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I

n simple words Sukuk is the Islamic version of bonds. Sukuk is plural of Sak which in Arabic means a document or certificate.

Commonly Sak would be used as an ownership certificate (sak mulkiyyah). Sukuk represent an equal share in undivided proportional ownership in a project based on real assets, which grants a corresponding right to income generated by those assets.

Sukuk

(Islamic Bonds)

and their role in redistributing wealth

By Nehad Khanfar

It is important to notice that Sukuk cannot be issued without the backing of real assets, as Sukuk represents a direct right of ownership over these assets. Unlike conventional bonds, Sukuk are not supplied or established to fund a debt. Instead Sukuk are used to fund a real business through making its holders an original part of the business project.

Currently the Sukuk market is growing and there is an increasing trend towards Sukuk from issuers and investors. This is because Sukuk has proved a capable alternative instrument to attract investors who are interested in medium and long-term investments. Unlike conventional bonds, Sukuk holders focus on the real value of the asset and the feasibility of the business as well as the credit of the issuer.

In a way, Sukuk is an innovative Islamic financial instrument that encourages the establishment of new businesses or the expansion of existing ones. The established relation between the issuer of Sukuk and Sukuk holders is built on the concept of business partnership. The relation in conventional bonds is between borrower (bond issuer) and lender (bond holders). These rely on a fixed interest return that is agreed with the bond issuer. Under this arrangement, bond holders would expect returns regardless of whether the issuer makes a profit or loss. But in Sukuk the situation is completely different.

The Sukuk holder and issuer both share the profits or losses pro rata.

Among the Muslim countries adopting this system, Malaysia enjoyed a 35% growth in 2012 and represents the single largest Sukuk market.

This demonstrates that Sukuk is seen in a positive light by both Muslim investors and institutional investors on a global level. It is expected that Sukuk could see record growth levels in 2013. Malaysia will keep its leading position in this market as Middle Eastern countries - in addition to South Korea - plan to issue more Sukuk in the Malaysian market.

It is worth noting that Islamic Sukuk is mainly a way of encouraging financial involvement of individuals in real, productive businesses. They therefore play a significant role in encouraging small investors to partake in major projects (public or private), such as airports, railways, power plants, oil/gas fields, etc.

Attracting and encouraging individual small savers and depositors to invest and participate as real stakeholders is a viable means of redistributing wealth among the community.

This represents a strong opportunity to inject cash into the arteries of the economy. Sukuk issuers are not under pressure to repay the debt to Sukuk holders on maturity, especially if the project did not achieve a profit, as is the case with conventional bonds. This is simply because Sukuk relations are based on a real partnership, which is a reasonable way of sharing the responsibility towards a risk, rather than borrowing and lending with interest.

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It is important to note that Sukuk are freely tradable at par (ie. they can be bought and sold in the secondary market) which makes them attractive investment propositions. Undoubtedly there is a political trend towards increased public participation, partnership, decisionmaking and sharing responsibility in community management. Sukuk fits well within current economic trends by promoting responsible partnership among the investing parties. Sukuk maximises the number of small investors which results in better distribution of wealth and the generation of employment at local levels.

Indonesia and Kuwait are also actively developing their presence in this field as well as Iran and Saudi Arabia. In Dubai, Sukuk are listed on the Nasdaq Dubai (Dubai’s stock exchange) making them commercially available and proving their flexibility and practicality.

Dr Nehad Khanfar is a Lecturer in Islamic financial/Banking Contracts and Comparative Contract law at the Islamic College for Advanced Studies in London

Although Malaysia currently leads the world in dealing with and regulating Sukuk, there are many encouraging examples that reflect the remarkable development of the Sukuk industry.

Luxembourg was the first country in Europe to issue Sukuk in 2002 and strong central bank support has ensured rapidly rising interest.

Bloomberg recently reported that the British government is considering revising plans to promote and sell Sukuk as part of a strategy to enhance Britain’s role as a centre for Islamic finance. This would be a new means of helping to revive the depressed economy by bringing more people on board to fund and benefit from real economic activity. •

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Acculturating

our

faith For an indigenous Islamic society and culture to develop organically in the West requires a shift in our understanding of the meaning of Islamic culture and our attitudes towards the host country, according to Ahmed Haneef

T

here have been frustratingly many definitions of culture, but perhaps in distilling all those meanings we can say that culture is the behavioural and cognitive patterns generated from the interactions between a society’s beliefs and its environment. This environment could include such things as the physical, social, ethnic or historical conditions that influence society.

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Culture determines our instinctive behaviour by giving functional expressions to our beliefs and values and it functions as the context within which we think and act. In this way it makes it comfortable for us to live our lives in accordance with our beliefs in a particular subjective or objective environment.

Thus, as the environment changes, culture must change too in order to re-establish that harmony between beliefs, behaviour and that particular environment.

certain pre-Islamic cultural practices and attitudes, such as certain types of pre-Islamic dress like the turban and the cloak or abaya, and cultural attitudes such as the Arab custom of generosity to the stranger were incorporated within the local Islamic practice.

This process was followed wherever Islam had a foothold or became the dominant religion. The synthesising process of confirmation, modification, incorporation and proscription led to the emergence of different Muslim cultures unified by an ever pervasive universal set of Islamic practices and values. In these cultures, Islamic principles and the Prophetic traditions as sources of divine grace dominate, but each cultural group has the freedom to realise its own cultural possibilities within the tradition of Islam itself.

for example, translated into Mandarin is Qïng Zhën Jiao, which means, “The Religion of the Pure and the Real” in place of the word “Islam” which in their pictorial script and speech would have been alien and meaningless to the people of the area. It thus made a connection between the religion and the intellectual and philosophical environment integrating it with the culture of the Chinese.

Thus in each area one would find variations in the cultural expressions and manifestations of Islam such as differences in architectural styles, local For Muslim communities in the West costume, in ceremonies commemothe issue of the cultural status of Islam rating rites of passage such as births, is pivotal in deciding how Muslims deal weddings and funerals. From place with their environment and the extent to place some aspects of the sunnah to which non Muslims accept Islam as (inspired Prophetic practice) are an indigenous religion. observed, neglected, or even opposed The Islamic world consists in cultures where such of many diverse cultural a practice is at variAlmost all of the institutions, centres and mosques that practices subsumed under ance with embedded one Islamic culture spanwe build are constructed to satisfy this ethnic need psychological attitudes. ning a wide multi-ethnic Even Islamic law recogto feel at home or more accurately, to recreate the domain that includes nises cultural diversity. familiarity of the mother country outside the homeland Africa, Asia, and even parts Through the concept of of Europe. Many scholars than to reflect and aid our integration in our adopted ‘urf’ or customary prachave divided the cultural tice, it accommodates countries. zones that comprise the local culture by making Muslim world, into the rulings that incorporate Arabic, Persian, Turkish, a wide range of behaviour that translate Among the different factors that African, Indo Pakistani and Malay, Islamic rules into action. Although play a central role in this synthesis is all of which while being Islamic, have less authoritative than other sources language, which is the outward expresstrikingly varied cultural expressions of of law and subject to criticism and sion of the intellectual genius of a Islam. modification, nevertheless, the concept people. Language also had a powerful of ‘urf’ is very important, for through When it comes into contact with other effect in building bridges between Islam it Islamic law considers and validates cultures, Islam has a threefold reaction. and local cultures. In many parts of the local customs and requires Muslims to It condones forces and ideas that agree Muslim world the interaction between conform to them. with it, such as the belief in one transIslam and these cultures has resulted cendent God, life after death, marriage In terms of its integration into Western in the creation of hybrid languages, as the only legitimate context for sexual culture and its “naturalisation”, Islam such as Swahili, Hausa and Urdu that relations, etc. Secondly, it reinterprets in the West displays both a cultural are mixtures of the local languages and and appropriates other aspects of that incongruence - hence alienation from Arabic. To be a knowledgeable Muslim culture that do not contradict the prinits surroundings - as well as trends in these societies knowledge of Arabic ciples of Islam but are peculiar to that towards “indigenousness”. and fluency in these hybrid languages society and finally rejects those ideas are all required. These languages There are many indications of cultural and cultural forms that contradict its played a crucial role in making Islam a incongruity, most important of which principles, doctrines and morality. religion familiar to the local people and is the domination of immigrant ethnic contributed significantly to its spread This process of acculturation, approattitudes over western nationality. This among these people. priating what is in conformity with the is the source of the vast majority of Islamic ethos and rejecting what is not, our community’s ills, from our inability Chinese Islam for example, has been began in Arabia itself with the spread of to influence our society to our lack of articulated in terms of Chinese civilisaIslam in the Arabian Peninsula. There, unity and social cohesion. Almost all of tion and thoughts. The name of Islam,

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the institutions, centres and mosques that we build are constructed more to satisfy this ethnic need to feel at home or more accurately, to recreate the familiarity of the mother country outside the homeland than to reflect and aid our integration in our adopted countries. Thus we end up not being able to politically and economically manoeuvre successfully as a community in our new environment despite the fact that we have a large number of professionals among us as well as growing individual wealth.

This alienation has come to be reflected in an ideology that sees Islam as a monolithic culture narrowly defined in a literalistic application of the practice of the Prophet. Whatever practice that is at variance with the outward form of the Prophetic practice is not seen as Islamic. The argument of those who hold this view is that since Islam is a superior religion and culture, all other religions and cultures must be eliminated and only Islamic culture, as a rigid set of formal behaviours precisely defined, should remain. Not only is this school of thought hostile to their country of residence which they determine as the land of the infidels, but it is equally hostile toward understandings of Islam that are at variance with their own.

peculiar to the intellectual environment of the West.

It would take too long for an indigenous Islamic society and culture to occur naturally, but the process could be assisted. For this to occur, it requires a shift in our understanding of the meaning of Islamic culture and our attitudes to the host country.

It also requires the development of local scholars and intellectuals with a profound knowledge of the history of Islam, the humanities and culture. They should be completely familiar with the eternal principles of Islam and how to apply them to the immediate environment using as a base, the attitudes, beliefs and behaviours that are compatible with the Islamic ethos. •

It is interesting that right-wing nationalist Islamophobes in these countries have the same uncompromising idea of Islam as the media stereotypes which stem from this alienation. This type of opinion has given impetus to the idea of Islam as a monolithic culture that is incompatible with the Western way of life and which must be reformed in order to coexist with western society.

According to the proponents of this view, Islam should exist only as a set of personal beliefs without any outward manifestation.

The other, more positive, trend is the growth of a thriving Muslim subculture, grounded in the western environment and proud of its Islamic heritage and practice. This culture is expressed in many forms, from stand-up comedy, to the writing of penetrating books and articles on Islam from perspectives

Ahmad Haneef is a Canadian convert and Islamic scholar.

He currently lives and works in London as researcher and lecturer on Islam.

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Youth Matters

Why Islam Prohibits the recreational use of marijuana Drawing on the rulings of Muslim scholars from different schools Hamid Waqar clarifies Islam’s attitude towards the drug

M

arijuana is the most widely used illegal narcotic in the United States and Europe.

According to some annual surveys, after 2007, more teenagers smoked marijuana than cigarettes in the United States. Many young Muslims need to become aware of the Islamic position on marijuana because of its popularity. Does Islam condone the use of marijuana? Does Islam forbid it? If Islam forbids it, what does it say about cases of medical necessity? It is imperative that young Muslims know the answers to these questions.

One must refer to religious authorities in order to ascertain the Islamic position on this drug. These authorities review the verses of the Quran, the prophetic traditions and Islamic principles in order to derive religious rulings. Various schools of thought within Islam agree on some fundamental principles. Sayyid Ali Khamenei, a religious authority and the current head of the Islamic Republic of Iran, was asked a question about the use of drugs, including marijuana.

The following is quoted from his book Practical Laws of Islam: “Q[uestion]1392: What is the ruling in the matter of using narcotics, such

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as hashish, opium, heroin, morphine, and marijuana, be it by way of eating, drinking, smoking, injecting or applying them anally? And what is the view on selling, buying, and dealing in them in general, i.e., carrying, transporting, storing, or smuggling? A[nswer]: It is haram [religiously forbidden] to use narcotics in any way because it results in considerable adverse effects in terms of personal health and social cost. By the same token, it is haram to deal in narcotics in any way, i.e., carrying, transporting, storing, selling, buying, etc.”

Sayyid Ali Sistani, another popular religious authority currently residing in Iraq who oversees the Islamic Seminary in Najaf, was asked about hashish.

Hashish is a drug which is derived from the same plant as marijuana. Marijuana is derived from the dried flowering tops of the cannabis plant while hashish is made from the resin and is more potent.

They are both classified as cannabis.

On his website he is asked about the Islamic ruling of the consumption of hashish. He states: “It is impermissible.”

Sunni scholars also prohibit the use of marijuana. As an example, in the question-and-answer section of the sunnipath website Shaykh Muhammad

bin Adam al-Kawthari of Dar al-Iftaa in Leicester states: “Drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, opium, etc are all unlawful (haram) due to the various harms connected with them.” He then establishes that marijuana is an intoxicant and supports his verdict with a tradition from Sahih al-Bukhari which states that the Messenger of God said: “Every intoxicant is prohibited.”

One can examine the effects of marijuana on one’s brain in order to understand why it is religiously prohibited. Most drugs, including marijuana, produce a ‘high’ by stimulating brain cells to release a chemical called dopamine. The active ingredient in marijuana, delta-9-tetrohydrocannabinol, commonly referred to as THC, stimulates specific receptors in the brain called cannabinoid receptors.

When these receptors are activated THC interferes with normal brain functioning. Most of the cannabinoid receptors are found in parts of the brain that influence pleasure, memory, thoughts, concentration, sensory perception, and coordinated movement.

Marijuana disables one’s ability to create new memories. Memories are formed in a part of the brain called

the hippocampus. THC alters how information is stored in this area of the brain. The majority of evidence supporting impaired memory stems from studies performed on animals. A study performed on rats shows that rats exposed to THC in utero or adolescence displayed severely impaired memory in the later stages of their lives. The hippocampus of these rats’ brains even showed structural changes as they aged.

marijuana does not intoxicate; rather it merely relaxes one who consumes it and increases their appetite. This argument cannot stand up to the scientific evidence.. First, THC stimulates brain cells to release dopamine which causes one to become intoxicated. Then, it impairs one’s memory, disrupts one’s coordination, and alters one’s sensory perceptions. Therefore, marijuana is definitely an intoxicant.

Balance is regulated in the cerebellum and basal ganglia. THC interferes with the normal functioning of these parts of the brain leading to a loss of coordination. Therefore, driving while under the influence of marijuana is incredibly dangerous. Furthermore, the performance of difficult tasks and athletics in this state would be greatly impaired.

There is another group of Muslims who ask about the use of marijuana in specific circumstances. For instance, they state that cannabis can be used as an effective analgesic for pain relief, can be used as an effective treatment of glaucoma, and can stop breast cancer from spreading to other areas of the body, thus becoming a non-toxic alternative to chemotherapy.

Finally, marijuana also affects cannabinoid receptors found in the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is responsible for sensory perception. Therefore, THC may cause one to have an altered sensory experience in areas such as taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing.

A few supporters of marijuana approached me and tried to argue a case for the permissibility of this drug. One of the arguments that they used was that

permissible or in case that it is the only way of treatment?” (Question 1393) His answer was: “There is no objection to it provided that the treatment and the eventual recovery are dependent on their use and it is prescribed by a trustworthy physician.”

Due to the popularity of marijuana amongst teenagers in the United States and Europe, it is imperative that young Muslims know the Islamic stance on the drug. Religious authorities have clearly stated that the narcotic is religiously prohibited. One of the reasons that it is prohibited is because it is an intoxicant which, in addition to stimulating the brain to release dopamine, affects one’s memory, coordination, and sensory perception. Therefore, Muslim youth must be weed-free and “just say no.” •

Apparently, one would be able to consume cannabis if the treatment of these, or other, diseases is dependent upon it and a trustworthy physician prescribes it.

Once again, in Practical Laws of Islam, Sayyid Khamenei was asked “Is it permissible to use narcotic drugs for the treatment of diseases? And assuming that it is permissible is it absolutely

Hamid Waqar is an American revert to Islam. He is graduated from Islamic seminaries and currently delivers lectures, translates books, and writes articles.

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The importance of fatherly love ‘Aziza, 21, is engaged to a civil engineer whom she does not want to marry. She hates her father for forcing her to marry a person whom she cannot tolerate even for a few hours.’

By Hanif Lakdawala

‘Karim, 19, is stuck in a BSc (IT) course in which he has no interest. He says his life has become miserable as he has no aptitude and interest in computers. But his father insisted on him taking BSc IT. Karim too hates his father for ignoring his real interest.’

‘Rehana, 27, hates both of her parents for not being concerned about her marriage and devoting more of their time to community and social work.’

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egative parental experiences are a familiar refrain from today’s children. Better educated and informed than previous generations, they are more capable of making their own decisions but find their ability to do so hampered by overbearing parents. The result is that many children hate their parents for failing to understand them.

Some parents push their children hard financially and materially. Others destroy children by foisting their own will on them, forcing them to live out their own unfulfilled dreams.

They usually want their sons and daughters to attend a good college and marry the partner of their personal choice irrespective of their own desires and aspirations. Such parents are very attached to their own expectations of their children, but they forget that their children have claims on them too.

Rehana complains that her father hardly spends time with the family. “My father spends long hours away from our family serving on masjid committees, counselling strangers for their problems, organising fund-raising events, and attending endless meetings. When he is at home, he talks on the phone for hours, sits with all kind of files, and then collapses, exhausted into bed, ” she explains “Why does he not have time for me? Why he is not taking an interest in finding me a good life partner? I am 27, why he is not realising that I also need a stable life and that I desire to have a good life companion?”

The male as breadwinner stereotype is one that afflicts many fathers. However it is not enough for the father just to bring home the money and feel he has done his job. Sons and daughters need their fathers to spend time with them. Sons who are deprived of their father’s companionship and affection are more likely to become delinquent or deviant in their teens.

Daughters who fail to receive their father’s attention and moral

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support are more vulnerable to sexual predators as they unconsciously search for a loving father replacement.

One needs only to look around to see how a desperate need for love and validation has led many teens to forbidden and self-destructive behaviours. Conversely, children who have affectionate and caring fathers tend to have fewer social problems such as smoking or drinking.

They are also more likely to have stable and fulfilling marriage relationships in later years.

Quality time spent between a father and his children is essential for both parents and children. The children need to know that their father loves and cares about them.

Take the example of the Prophet Muhammad(s). When his daughter Fatimah(a) would come to him, the Prophet used to stand up, kiss her, take her hands, and give her his seat.

This kind of personal affection is much more of a positive influence on children than showering them with gifts.

The Prophet was always patient and considerate with children and was careful not to hurt their tender feelings. Likewise fathers should show restraint and patience with their young

ones. Instead of becoming irritated when they “interfere” in their activities they should try and engage them, especially in simple tasks.

prayer). Make the youngest one the salat ( prayer) manager at home, taking care of prayer rugs, timing, and inviting everyone to salat.

Children often get great joy from doing things which adults consider to be work. Parents, especially fathers, can spend time playing with their children and helping with their homework, showing them that they are truly interested in their education and life. Children cherish this special time together as a family.

Fathers can take children to the masjid (mosque). This is an excellent way to develop the father-child relationship and nurture children’s Islamic character.

Fathers can teach children to make wudu (ablution) and pray with them. If at home, praying together as a family is better than praying alone. Children love to call adhan (call to

Above all fathers should be available for their children, giving them the assurance that someone close is always on hand to discuss their concerns or problems. If parents aren’t available to talk to their children, somebody else might be, and it may be the wrong kind of person. •

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ARTS Art Editor Moriam Grillo

IN THE SPOTLIGHT “The ink becomes light, the paper becomes photography and the calligraphy itself becomes choreography”- Julien Breton Julien Breton is a French photographer and artist from Nantes, France.

His work is unusual, not just in the fact that many of the photographs that he takes are self portraits, but because his photographic compositions are of light.

The work comprises of photographic manipulation of light through the use of long exposures and choreographed movements. Producing work influenced by traditional Arabic calligraphy but more akin in its appearance to graffiti, his creative influences are Islamic art, European philosophers, Arab poets and rap music.

Initially introduced to calligraphy by the work of artist Hassan Massoudy in 2001, Breton remarked on first seeing a book by the artist: “It was so beautiful; I could not take my eyes off of it.” Not interested in replicating the traditional calligraphic qualities, Breton developed his own particular style which was influenced by graffiti although he admits that he was never involved in its practice.

“I was mesmerised by the beauty and sensuality of the line. The art was both ethereal and rigorous and covered a whole spectrum of aesthetics from Kufic to diwani. However, at no time did I want to learn a particular script. Instead, I wanted to invent my own.”

His photographs are taken in the dark with the shutter exposing the film for several seconds as opposed to a millisecond used in the conventional camera shot. Breton is always in the frame often dressed in black so his image does not appear on the final exposure. Using choreographed movements, Breton ‘paints’ letters with a torch in place of ink. The result is a breathtaking illumination of key text which has accompanied his own spiritual journey.

His work is often set against the backdrop of urban architecture or ancient historical sites. By using these reference points, he manages to create a dialogue between the past and present. Defining a seamless discourse, this fuses traditional references with modern cultural identity.

As with his own culture his work connects eastern and western ideals. Growing up in a predominantly Arab area of France, although European in origin, Breton describes himself as bicultural. His childhood, steeped in a tradition and culture of Arabic influence, made Islamic art a familiar starting point for Breton’s creative journey.

He describes his craft as being similar to a martial art in that it is necessary for him to use his whole body to create a line or curve of imagery. He also feels that a meditative approach is needed as in tai-chi; a surrendering to the moment which is captured on film for eternity.

“Light calligraphy is such a special and unique process. It takes place in the dark and outside and thus unlike traditional calligraphy it takes you out of the studio.

When working on paper there is a limit in terms of size but also involvement. With light calligraphy, the scale is limitless and the practice involves the whole body.

Like choreography, it requires numerous repetitions because in a performance there can be no false move or hesitation. “

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CERAMICS Khalid Ben Slimane Khalid Ben Slimane is a Tunisian painter, sculptor and potter. Originally from the region of Nabeul, known for its established tradition of pottery-making, Slimane also studied in Japan and Spain. His work, influenced by Berber traditions and Andalusian themes, represents contemporary Islamic art.

I first came across his work several years ago at the British Museum and was impressed by the painterly style and understated beauty of his work.

Each piece embodied a uniqueness and familiarity simultaneously, and is connected to the others by the selective use of colours and forms. Through the use of simple techniques, the complexity of his creative skill is honed yet accessible. It assimiliates a beauty which refers to many historical contexts but clearly establishes a fundamental attachment to its origin.

Slimane’s intention through his work is to reinvigorate the Islamic heritage of his forefathers through the craft of pottery, creating a dialogue which emanates from the East, establishing itself in Western artistic thought. Conscious of this power of duality in his work, and not content in repeating the past, Slimane has devised a new and dynamic way of bringing an Eastern spirituality in to the western sphere through art.

His pieces are constructed using one of three forms: the cone, the cube or the cylinder. The French painter Paul Cezanne is well known for thinking “all of nature comes in the shape of one of these three forms.” Slimane has transferred this theory to his 3D work, changing the perception of Islamic art from its architectural heritage to a new sculptural beginning.

Taking key elements from Moroccan and Spanish pottery traditions, Slimane is able to create work that is refreshing and captivating. Using objects such as canvas he gives precedence to inscriptions of colour. Bold brush strokes are executed in multitude, and painted in four basic colours representing earth, fire, air and water.

The surface decorations of his vessels are identical to maiolica, a traditional Spanish style of surface decoration which uses bright colours painted on a white background. Slimane fuses this with an even older formula of inscribing Islamic insignia, presenting it in a free and fluid manner that exhibits influences of his time studying in Japan.

Written on the surface of each form is a repetition of the same phrase in Arabic with the letters “huwa” [ha waw] meaning “HE”. This phrase is accompanied by other indelible expressions taking the form of a talisman or religious prayer written

to bring solace to its keeper. There is a distinctive energy that emanates from these pots that attracts the viewer and conveys a sense of calm.

Viewing his work requires reflection and prolonged observation. References from the Qur’an demand meditative contemplation. Slimane’s work is an expression of a spiritual journey, both for the maker, Slimane himself and us as the seekers of something new.

It seems as if each aspect if Slimane’s creativity journey has been enlightened by a different cultural aesthetic which has informed his work. Whether it’s the influence of Spain through Maiolica, or French philosophy through the choice of form, each element has enlivened his work in a different way.

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THE PLACE TO BE Located in Grenada, southern Spain, the Al-Hambra is a haven for those enchanted by the beauty of bygone eras.

The original palace and fortress was constructed in 889, having undergone many renovations, the most notable being undertaken by the Duke of Wellington in 1812. The surrounding forests, which were filled with roses and myrtles, have English elms and of wildflowers overflowing in the spring.

AlHambra

The Al-Hambra is regarded as “a pearl set among emeralds” because of the colourful buildings surrounded by forests, and in its heyday, “paradise on earth”. Measuring 142,000 square feet, it is one of the most enduring examples of Islamic art and architecture that receives admiration from every walk of life.

Made entirely of biodegradable materials, namely, mud, clay and palm, this building serves as a beacon for ecological living and architectural beauty. The Great Mosque of Djenné is the largest mud brick building in the world. It measures approximately 75 square metres and is located in the city of Djenné, on the flood plain of the Bani River. It was first built in the 13th century although the current structure dates from the early 20th century. It is one of the most famous landmarks in Africa and was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988.

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Abed Abdi The Wall 2005

mixed media on canvas

In February 1870, in recognition of its important role in the culture and architecture of Spain, the Spanish government declared Al-Hambra a national monument.

HERITAGE

MASTERPIECE

Great Mosque of

Djenné Mali

When I first saw this piece by painter Abed Abdi, I was impressed by its honesty. The Wall is a humble and straightforward message, which, through its simplicity seeks to highlight a complex and difficult truth. A founding member of the ‘Ibda’ Society for the Promotion of Visual Arts in the Arab Israeli Sector’, Abdi’s work focusses on the promotion of visual arts in Palestine, his ethos being to create a platform for intercultural dialogue through the arts.

The Wall depicts an image of two individuals standing at the wall that separates Palestine from its Israeli neighbour. The painting itself is primitive and innocent in its exposition. A reflection, perhaps, of the crude and heartless occupation of an innocent people. The choice to use a variety of media to tell the tale assists in outlining the many features that make up such a complex story of occupation, injustice and lies. Although the tale is gloomy to say the least, the atmosphere portrayed by the background is bright and filled with optimism. Abdi’s continual work to forge peace between two opposing

nations is evidence of his own optimistic approach. The two figures standing side by side appear to be symbolic and not real, seeming only to be shadows walking beside a fence of barbed wire. On closer inspection, I see they are only shadows of shadows. Is this a metaphor? For me, it is a message of a time past. A hopeful representation of a place overcome by positive change. This is what was and is no more. Perhaps he is presenting occupation as a horrid dream; an implausible nightmare. I am curious to know who the two figures are. Friends?

Martyrs? Or perhaps an idealistic vision of Israeli and Palestinian walking side by side with common purpose and humane goals. As absurd as this idea may seem to an observer witnessing the regime from the outside, Abdi, through his craft, is telling us that this is not at all impossible.

The flag itself is an inherent part of the

whole, not only showing where the allegiance of this tale lies but also where the historic precedence lies and whose identity is relevant for the purpose of posterity. Abdi is giving voice to the silent and often forgotten causes. Each nail placed in the picture represents a hammering home of a story, cause, or issue of injustice that has fallen on death ears and gone unnoticed.

It’s a poignant reminder that the ever decreasing Palestinian lands have a relevant position in our ever-changing world. •

Moriam Grillo is a visual artist, broadcaster, author and part time art teacher. She holds Bachelor degrees in Photography & Film and Ceramics. Her current work involves two public Islamic commissions.

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Politics

Mandela &

the West’s Persistent Demons As Nelson Mandela’s health makes news again, Reza Murshid reminds us how the South African leader stood up to Western pressure to disassociate himself from certain countries

M

illions in South Africa, and certainly millions more in Africa and other continents, breathed a sigh of relief when they heard the news about the release of Nelson Mandela from hospital in early April.

The ailing founding father of modern South Africa had been struggling with a number of health problems but the tough guy who survived detention for 18 years on wind-swept Robben Island proved to be still resilient. The prayers of multitudes for a long life for Madiba (Mandela’s tribal name) have so far been answered.

As Mandela went back home in a military ambulance to Houghton, a suburb of Johannesburg, he may have been reminded about the day 23 years ago when he was released from prison.

It was soon after his release that he was elected president of post-apartheid South Africa.

His illness these days has its roots in the lengthy incarceration. He contracted tuberculosis in the eighties while still a prisoner of the apartheid regime and a figure detested by mainstream Western media. His lungs are said to have been weakened as a result of work in the prison quarry.

reconciliation. He is now a brand that many politicians want on their side.

Mandela’s endorsement of any cause almost guarantees its success. He has received a Noble Peace prize and most world celebrities would jump at the opportunity to be photographed alongside him.

But the Western media, especially the right-wing press, has a convenient memory. I remember the days when defending Mandela would have gained his supporters epithets such as ‘communist sympathiser’. Leaders of advanced industrialised nations of the West (most notably the late Margaret Thatcher of the UK) preferred to see Mandela and all those who were struggling against white settlers’ oppressive rule as mere ‘terrorists’.

Mandela and his comrades were certainly receiving help from African nations such as Libya under Gaddafi.

Other Muslim states also helped Mandela’s cause. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the government in Tehran stopped the flow of Iranian oil to the apartheid regime in a show of solidarity with the oppressed masses of South Africa.

Convenient Memory of the Hypocrites

Not long after Mandela came to power, the very Western nations that refused to raise a finger to help the cause of racial equality in South Africa started demanding that Mandela abandon his erstwhile backers.

During the past two decades Madiba has emerged as an icon of peace and

But a man whose life has been marked by tremendous courage, excellent

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judgement, and magnanimity, did not sell out his friends now that he was an international luminary. On 22 October 1997, ignoring US objections, and punishing United Nations sanctions against air travel, Mandela travelled 100 miles by car from the Tunisian border town of Ras Adjir to the Libyan capital of Tripoli for an official visit.

In response to a chorus of Western leaders who demanded that he dissociate himself from Gaddafi, who had fully backed the anti-apartheid struggle, Mandela said that Gaddafi ‘helped us at a time when we were alone. And the ones who are stopping us from coming here were helping our enemies at that time.’

Reacting to then US president Bill Clinton’s comment that Mandela’s visit to Libya was ‘unwelcome’, he said: ‘No country can claim to be the policeman of the world and no state can dictate to another what it should do. Those that yesterday were friends of our enemies have the gall today to tell me not to visit my brother Gaddafi. They are advising us to be ungrateful and forget our friends of the past.’

But it is of note that while Mandela may have forgotten the actions of his enemies inside South Africa to pave the way for reconciliation inside his nation, he did not forget how the West actively backed the apartheid regime.

To this day, the West has failed to exorcise its own demons. It is not truly sorry for its past support for the apartheid regime because it is still backing new apartheid states such as Bahrain where the majority of the population has no say in the running of their country.

Despite naming streets and monuments after Mandela, the Western leaders appear to be insincere because they continue to wage war against the very countries that backed his struggle to establish a more equitable society, countries such as Iran that decided, after a cataclysmic revolution, to forgo the much needed oil revenue from a major client such as South Africa. The same Western leaders who wined and dined the racist regime in Pretoria, are ratcheting up pressure on Iran, under the pretext that Tehran may be developing nuclear weapons while at the same time ignoring the huge stockpile of nuclear warheads held by Israel, a regime which was one of the apartheid state’s closest allies. • Reza Murshid is a political analyst and a freelance writer.

Mandela’s sense of loyalty is laudable even though it goes without saying that not all of Gaddafi’s policies were defensible and his death at the hands of his own people showed the extent of hatred that people felt against a man who may have helped other nations in their struggle for self-determination but denied his own people those very same rights.

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Book review

By Mohsen Biparva

The Invention of the White Race: Racial Oppression and Social Control in Anglo-America Is ‘white race’ a social and economic construction or is it a fixed biological attribute? Mohsen Biparva reviews the work of Theodore W. Allen as he tries to answer in the context of Anglo-American white supremacy and racial slavery.

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he hallmark of racial oppression, as argued in this book, is ‘the reduction of all members of the oppressed group to one undifferentiated social status, a status beneath that of any member of any social class within the oppressor society.’

until his death in 2005. He was the author of several books and many essays, championing the argument that the white race is more a social construct than a natural attribute. This was of

a natural attribute.’ With his radical approach and extensive research he tried to challenge the master narrative of the white race, best enunciated in his book the Invention of the White Race first published in 1998.

Allen argues that not only is white race a relatively recent invention (a social construct) but also that racism in itself is a product of slavery and not the other way round. To begin his argument, Allen goes back to historical records of the first settlers and the arrival of first groups of African-American labours from the 1600s until 1660. He shows that in this period the African labours were the same as European labourers, not lifetime hereditary bondsmen but rather

According to Virginia Law in 1910 ‘ever person in whom there is ascertainable any Negro blood ...[was to] be deemed a coloured person.’

This two volume series is indeed in many respects a classic text in understanding and documenting slavery and white-race supremacy in the United States. It is perhaps the most significant legacy of Theodore W. Allen after a fortyyear career in research, writing and activism. Born in 1919 in Indiana, Allen began his long struggle against white supremacy in the 1960s and continued

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course a challenge against what he called ‘The Great White Assumption”, ‘the unquestioning, indeed unthinking acceptance of the “white” identity of European-Americans of all classes as

limited-term bond workers. Readers can find this assertion on the back cover of the first volume: ‘When the first Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619, there were no “white” people, nor, according to the colonial record, would there be for another sixty years.’ Although it was known that slavery pre-existed racism, the socio-cultural environment of America needed that bold reminder.

To make his argument, Allen uses a framework to analogise between the

oppression of the Irish in Ireland under ‘Anglo-Norman rule and under ‘Protestant Ascendancy’ on one hand and the white supremacist oppression of Blacks and Indians in America on the other. He calls this framework ‘the Irish mirror’. This is important for his argument since Irish history, according to him, ‘presents a racial oppression without reference to alleged skin

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colour.’

Through historical records, Allen shows how arbitrary was the racial classification. For example in 1890, a Portuguese emigrant living in Guyana (British Guiana) would learn that he/ she was not “white”; while at the same time a sibling of that same person in

is ascertainable any Negro blood ...[was to] be deemed a coloured person.’

Later in this book Allen goes into a detailed comparison between the Irish under English rule up until 17th century and the condition of so-called coloured people in the United States and finds compelling parallels. For example from

their freedom so in Ireland in the beginning of the 14th century any document of Englishness was cherished. It was also the case for crimes like rape and murder committed by a white or English person against ‘unfree’ people.

Under Anglo-American slavery ‘the rape of a female slave was not a crime but a

the victim was Irish.

One striking similarity between the Irish and African-American people under racial oppression was the illegalisation of literacy. An English law enacted in 1695 mades it illegal to teach ‘Papists’ (Irish Catholics) to read and write. Similarly in Virginia in 1832, it was made a crime to teach a free African-American to read and write. The same law also forbade the return to Virginia of AfricanAmericans who went to be educated in the North.

The law was passed on the grounds that education makes them ‘unsuited for slavery’.

safely rely on the Irish of New York because they hate the [African-Americans] as they do the devil.’ In coordination with the slaveholder Confederacy, pro-slavery, anti-Negro elements tried to influence the ‘Catholic Irish’ and the ‘white worker’ front. These efforts took place mainly by publications directed

today’s racially oppressed group can become an oppressor group tomorrow.

And if it took some four centuries for the Irish-Americans, we can name other racially oppressed groups who turned into oppressors in less than half a century. •

An English law enacted in 1695 makes it illegal to teach ‘Papists’ (Irish Catholics) to read and write.

Allen applies his so called ‘Irish mirror’ method to determine and highlight aspects of racial oppression. Through this he defines racial slavery as a sociogenic rather than a phylogenic (skin colour, etc) phenomenon. He also shows how racial oppression can be displaced and renewed by deliberate ruling-class decisions. He then demonstrates that racial oppression can be sustained only by a military establishment, except where the oppressor group is in the majority.

the United States would be considered “white”. In Cuba of the 1900s Mexican Indians and Chinese were classified as white but in 1907 in the United States the same people were classified as “coloured”. According to Virginia Law in 1910 ‘every person in whom there

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the beginning of the 18th century in Anglo-America the term ‘negro’ meant slave, so under English law the term ‘hibernicus’ (Latin for ‘Irishman’) was the legal term for ‘unfree’. If AfricanAmericans were obliged to keep safe any document that might attest to

mere trespass on master’s property’ and the same was true of raping an Irish woman in the 13th century. Like a law enacted in 1723 in Virginia asserting that ‘manslaughter of a slave is not punishable’, under Anglo-Norman law there was no punishment for murder if

He also shows the relativity of the concept of race by examining what he calls the ‘sea-change’ by which he means the oppressed Irish Catholics’ transformation into ‘white American’ and some into avid defenders of racial slavery and oppression in the US. This sea-change occurred according to him between 1820 to 1860 when Ireland and America became interlinked by two historic developments: first the maturation of the struggle against racial slavery and second, massive emigration from Ireland to the United States. (Readers may remember from the film Gone with the Wind that the O’Hara family, the owners of Tara cotton plantations, were Irish).

According to Allen, Charles Spencer of Mississippi, spying out the North some five weeks after Lincoln’s election, reported that the ‘slaveholders could

at a Catholic-Irish readership in New York such as the New York Freeman’s Journal, Irish-American and Irish News.

While showing the white-supremacist and pro-slavery attitudes and behaviours among Irish-Americans Allen intends to assert that they were not the originators of white supremacy; but they adapted to and adopted into an already ‘white’ American social order. However the entire story reveals the relativity and socio-economic definition of the white race. The Irish-Americans chose the form of white-skin privilege as a token of their membership in the American ‘white race’.

Theodore Allen has established his argument based on historical evidence and detailed analysis. Given the scarcity of reliable records from early Anglo-American slavery, his efforts in finding and examining those records are very valuable and an asset for other researchers. The immediate conclusion, the fact that white race is not a fixed phylogenic and biological attribute but rather a social/cultural construct, is very useful in understanding our current situation. It also allows us to understand the struggle of poor migrants to Western Europe and especially the United States and their endeavours to be accepted by a white society. This is a process that in many ways could be seen as a process of ‘becoming white’. After all, if whiteness is a social construction, it can be gained and also can be lost. Also,

The Invention of the White Race: Racial Oppression and Social Control,

by Theodore W. Allen, Edited by Jeffrey B. Perry, second edition, 2012, Verso Books, £19.99 (first volume)

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Feature

Of Thatcher Her‘Sons’

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he political establishments in most Western countries pride themselves in being in touch with their people. After all, the definition of democracy is that a government has to be ‘of the people, by the people’ and the ‘elected’ derive their legitimacy from the ‘electorate’. But there are many elected politicians who have either forgotten their own popular roots or who were born into a life of privilege and hence cannot identify with the suffering of others.

The most recent example of such a callous attitude towards the pains of the under-privileged occurred in the UK where Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith claimed that he could live on £53 a week, a target that even the most parsimonious individuals could not meet in a country well known in Europe for its high cost of living.

Following such an outlandish remark, for almost a week, the British media was abuzz with angry comments from citizens who found his boast ludicrous.

Almost half a million people have so far signed an online petition set up to challenge him to prove his point by actually living on £53 a week.

So far Mr Smith has not taken the bait.

But in a land where reality TV reigns supreme, one could easily imagine Mr Smith accepting the challenge (perhaps after he loses his seat in the next election) and participating in a TV show in which he would eat out of cans in an unheated bedsit in East London huddled inside a warm blanket and trying to live on £53 per week.

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Controversial remarks by the UK pension secretary Iain Duncan Smith last month, reflect how out of touch some politicians are, argues Reza Murshid Later the British tabloids revealed that Mr Smith lives in a £2million mansion he shares with his wife Betsy Cottesloe and has recently applied and won planning permission to build what is called ‘ha-ha walls’ on the grounds of his house that could cost as much as £15,000. If Mr Smith spent this amount as a cost-conscious benefit scrounger that he claims he could be, he could live on it for 283 weeks, or five and a half years.

Ha-ha walls are built in ditches so they keep out livestock but do not ruin the view. The walls were popular among the landed gentry in the 17th and 18th centuries. Mr Smith’s wall will act as a barrier between the domestic garden and a grazing paddock on the Buckinghamshire estate he calls home.

The press also revealed that Mr Smith lives rent-free in the mansion at Swanbourne after he was allowed to move in by the previous owner, his father-inlaw Baron Cottesloe. The mansion is thought to have five bedrooms, a pool and tennis courts.

It is extravagance like Mr Smith’s that makes the public doubt whether the politicians (most notably the Thatcherite Tories) are in touch with their problems. According to Tim Montgomerie of the conservative blog, Conservative Home, ‘when you have PMs who have spent tens of thousands of pounds on kitting out a new kitchen in Downing Street, then there is a risk

you are feeding a perception that you aren’t in touch with public opinion.’

The high expenditure on personal (or spousal) tastes and the lifestyles of these politicians takes on a much more grotesque dimension when you realise that they are willing to pummel the under-privileged in the gut. The squeeze on the British poor, initiated by the Conservatives and their Liberal Democrat accomplices, is happening after a good part of the country’s resources have been squandered in successive wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in the past decade. The resources are not just financial ones; there are also human resources that are put to waste. Body bags containing corpses of young British soldiers are brought back from Helmand and other provinces in Afghanistan on a monthly basis and the radio announcements of such casualties are followed by the formulaic tag: ‘his family have been notified.’

The double wars are themselves a good indication of how out of touch and out of tune the decision-makers have been in the UK. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair decided to follow in Bush’s footsteps into the landmines of Afghanistan and Iraq despite the fact that the majority of British voters were against the wars. (But the reality could well be more sinister than we think. It is not that the politicians are just ‘out of touch’. Some of them, as we shall see later, just ‘don’t care’ what the public thinks.)

Thatcher’s Children Mr Smith comes from a long line of politicians such as the late Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher may well have been accorded all sorts of accolades during her lifetime by those on the right, both in the UK and the US, but the news of her death brought about a flurry of activities on the Twitter-sphere. Some of Thatcher’s critics could not hide their glee at the news of her death. Some tweeted sections of anti-Thatcher songs dating back to the turbulent 1980’s in which the Iron Lady was calling the shots from 10 Downing Street.

Derek Hatton, a leftist activist even went as far as to say: ‘“The issue isn’t about whether she is now dead, I regret for the sake of millions of people that she was ever born.’ Lindsey German, convenor

of the Stop The War Coalition, said: “Margaret Thatcher laid the basis for policies which wrecked the lives of millions in Britain. But she should also be remembered as a warmonger. She led alongside Ronald Reagan the escalation of the Cold War. She introduced cruise missiles to Britain and fought the Falklands War. Her arms deals with Saudi Arabia were notorious. Her legacy was Tony Blair who built enthusiastically on her record.’

Why the vehement anti-Thatcherism?

Was Thatcher so out of touch and out of tune as those who followed in her footsteps? As the daughter of a grocer, she certainly knew more about the life of the average man and woman than the “Eatonite” David Cameron.

In the movie Iron Lady, we see her

boasting to her cabinet members that she knows the cost of a pint of milk. And she was certainly adept at portraying herself as ‘the daughter of the people’, as someone who rose to prominence against all odds.

Thatcher may have been more intelligent at hiding her own lack of regard for the suffering of the poor, but she was as insensitive as the politicians who followed her path. Those who followed her were out of touch, but she herself was in touch but did not just care because she was more ideological and believed all things should be sacrificed at the altar of free market capitalism. •

Reza Murshid is a political analyst and a freelance writer.

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The power of humanity

The Cross and the Crescent:

On May 8th, the world pays homage to the rescue work undertaken on a daily basis by millions of volunteers of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Yasser Ahmed takes us through the history of the movement.

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n the first half of the last century, in Europe, wagons were used to transport the wounded in wars. These did not have identification marks that distinguished them from other vehicles of the armed forces, nor was it possible to identify them from a distance. Every health service of the armed forces had its own distinctive markings.

Austria, for example, used a white flag, France a red flag and Spain a yellow one. It is easy to imagine the potentially tragic consequences caused by such a confusing situation. Soldiers could barely recognise their own ambulances, even less those of the enemy. Doctors and nurses were exposed to attacks as much as combatants. In addition health services were not considered as neutral but as fighting units which made them even more of a target.

The turning point came after the infamous battle of Solferino on 24 June 1859

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when the Austrian army fought a 14-hour battle with the Franco-Piedmontese army. Some 300.000 men faced one another under the bombardment of 1000 cannons.

One of those to witness the immediate aftermath of this event was the Swiss businessman and humanitarian Henry Dunant. He came across tens of thousands of wounded, dying and dead soldiers strewn across a battlefield that stretched 15 kilometres.

The view and the stench shocked his conscience, and inspired Dunant to write his best seller, A Memory of Solferino. More than merely describing the horrors of war, he used the last third of the book to propose a solution. He proposed that relief societies should be formed in every nation of the world to provide care and comfort to the

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wounded in wars and catastrophes.

the majority of Muslim states.

He founded the Geneva Society for Public Welfare in 1863 using his own personal fortune. This society later became the International Committee of the Red Cross. The founding group hosted its first Geneva Convention in 1864, laying the foundation for the concept of international law.

But the adoption of the Crescent did not settle the dispute surrounding choice of emblem. Now there was a concern that this humanitarian movement was identified with only Christianity and Islam.

The idea that led to the adoption of a distinctive symbol (a red cross) was born out of the necessity to confer a neutral status on those who succoured the injured, assuring their protection on the battlefield. But neutrality demanded the choice of a single emblem.

The Committee chose the emblem of the Swiss flag (inverting the colours) not as a religious symbol, but based on Switzerland’s history of neutrality.

European powers did not envisage that the choice of a cross would lead to disputes. However problems soon began to surface.

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provide assistance to vulnerable people by coordinating internationally with disaster relief organisations and governments in an effort to prevent and alleviate human suffering.

The Red Cross and Red Crescent are the most recognised emblems across the world. These symbols declare to people that men and women of the movement are present in the area to work and help. Even those who cannot

Countries that have Red Cross and Red

Society (IRCS) played a vital role within hours of the earthquake striking. IRCS rescue teams were mobilised and pulled hundreds of survivors from the rubble of their homes. Soon dozens of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

teams in the least accessible areas following the earthquake.

Closer to home the Red Cross and Red Crescent have been monitoring the growing desperation of millions affected by the European financial crisis. On the 1st of January 2013 the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) expressed concern for the millions affected by unemployment, rising poverty, homelessness and general uncertainty about their futures.

EU statistics show that over 25 million people are currently out of work across the 27 member states with many more across the rest of Europe and in Central Asia. Red Cross and Red Crescent organisations (known as National Societies) are reporting an increase in the number of people approaching them for help and support.

Last year the Spanish Red Cross supported over a million people affected by the economic crisis. A number of Red Crescent societies in Central Asia are also assisting citizens who are returning from decreasing work opportunities abroad to unemployment at home.

Henry Dunant

Balkans War 1912-1913.

In 1876 when the Balkans was engulfed by a bloody war between the Russians and the Ottomans, many rescuers captured and killed by the Ottomans had armbands with the symbol of the Red Cross. The Turkish authorities, illustrating the particular sensibility of the Muslim soldiers to the symbol of the cross, adopted unilaterally the Red Crescent on a white background to distinguish their own rescue services.

The request was also officialised after the Turkish authorities informed the Swiss government, which was the depositary of the first Geneva Convention, that they would henceforth use the Red Crescent. Persia and Egypt also requested that the Red Crescent and the Red Lion and Sun be recognised.

To avoid any possible cracks in the unity of the movement the International Committee acknowledged the decision of the Ottomans. Later after a long series of conferences in 1929 the committee officially recognised the existence of the new symbols. In 1980 after the Islamic Revolution in Iran the new government dropped the Red Lion and Sun and adopted the Red Crescent. Today the crescent is used by

Red Crystal was approved on the 8th of December 2005 with 98 votes in favour, 27 against and 9 abstentions. It is now an official symbol of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent.

Gulhan Hospital-Women of the Turkish Red Crescent’ Turkish Red Crescent

Ottoman Red Cross

Today the movement is made up of almost 97 million volunteers, supporters, and staff in 186 countries. It has three main components: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

The ICRC’s headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland, and the organisation has more than 12,000 staff in 80 countries around the globe. Around 30 per cent of the ICRC’s operational activities are carried out in cooperation with National Societies of individual nation states.

To respond to the possible refusal of some nations to accept the emblems of the Cross and the Crescent it was proposed that a third symbol, acceptable to all nations independent of culture or religion, be created. And so the Red Crystal was born, a red diamond with a white interior, making it possible for countries to insert another local symbol in the middle if desired. The

read or write can easily recognise the emblems and associate them with help and protection.

Today the scope of activities of the association of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, the largest humanitarian organisation in the world, is much wider than its original conception. Humanitarian activities of National Societies

Crescent Societies on their ground can benefit from worldwide expertise in disaster rescue. In December 2003 a massive earthquake destroyed almost the entire city of Bam in Iran killing more than 25,000 people and inflicting an even higher number of lifelong injuries. The Iranian Red Crescent

from around the world sent emergency response teams, field hospitals and relief goods to the stricken city. As a direct result of the earthquake, the Iranian Red Crescent saw the number of its volunteers increase from 400 to 3000.

This was attributed to the extraordinary work done by the IRCS relief and rescue

Despite the success story and the growth in volunteers across the world the global financial crisis has taken its toll. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is itself suffering from shrinking funds putting at risk many valuable projects underway or scheduled to start in the near future. •

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Cover

Eradicating poverty: more than just entertainment

Despite the role of religious charities in helping to ease poverty worldwide, more is needed. Yasser Ahmed explains the fundamentals of Islam’s strategy towards the eradication of poverty As the British charity, Comic Relief, announced its record raising £75m this year, one could not but admire the actions of those who dig deep into their pockets to donate to worthy causes.

Induced by the seductive power of the media and celebrities and the continuous exposure to images of suffering in Africa, people continue to donate year after year. And yet, away from the one-off trip to an African village, the glitter, the glamour and the acclaim of the ‘charity entertainment industry’ there are thousands of organisations and ordinary volunteers that work with donations given without enticement by those who feel a religious sense of duty and responsibility.

Analysis on charity giving trends in the USA has shown that the largest recipients of charity were religious organisations and in 2012, UK religious charities attracted the largest donations on average. However the eradication of poverty will require a new more holistic approach.

Can an Islamic approach give a vital boost?

The basic principle upon which the Islamic goal of human and socioeconomic development rests is the attainment of God’s pleasure. But in doing so we are requested to interact with all of God’s creation in the best possible way. Naturally, this process entails a degree of participation in the affairs of the world in general and human societies in particular.

In the Qur’an we have a very explicit exhortation by God to: ‘…

Cooperate in charity and God wariness, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression, and be wary of God.’ (5:2) The Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said: “Believers are with other believers like parts of a structure that tighten and reinforce each other.” This represents a clear indication of the need for cooperation and mutual assistance. Despite (s)

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periods of prosperity in our history human societies have been unable to eradicate poverty and social injustice continues to exist today.

Islam’s concern for the betterment of society is reflected in the abundance of advice, exhortations and directives that are found in the Qur’an and the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad(s). From this body of materials we can extrapolate an organic understanding of an Islamic approach towards the alleviation and eradication of poverty.

In general we can identify two Islamic methodologies for poverty reduction in society. The first one is focused on direct charity and assistance. This is a non-profitable approach (at least not in a this-worldly sense) and has a number of tools at its disposal. One of these is sadaqa, a broader term indicating all type of charitable acts given voluntarily. These have spiritual rewards but are not obligatory upon the believer.

Voluntary charitable acts can also be fixed for an indefinite time acquiring the character of an endowment which in Islamic terms is known as waqf. Waqf can take the form of land, properties or physical assets for charitable purposes.

Since waqf applies mostly to non-perishable assets its benefits and usufruct can be extracted without eroding it so it carries the advantage of longevity in its benefit as charity. From a spiritual aspect, a waqf can still benefit the donor after his/ her death.

In addition to the above, Islamic charitable transactions are also recognised in the Qard Hasan. The term itself means ‘beautiful loan’, a Qur’anic term that reflects its character.

This is a charity given for a benevolent cause regarded as a loan to be repaid by God either in this world or the next.

“Indeed the charitable men and charitable women, and those who lend God a Beautiful Loan - it shall be multiplied for

them, and there is a noble reward for them.” (57:18) Recently, the usage of the term has been extended to include totally interest free non-profit loans given to needy persons who will repay it whenever their condition improves.

Among the mandatory charitable acts prescribed by Islam Khums and Zakat are considered fundamental pillars of Islam.

These taxes, obligatory on the believers (the nature of which varies between different Sunni and Shia traditions) entails the giving away of a specific percentage of one’s surplus wealth to be distributed among the poor and the needy. In terms of microfinance the distribution of these taxes aims at empowering the recipients into becoming individuals who will themselves one day be in a position to give.

The textual foundation of charity in Islam is found in many verses of the Qur’an describing the value and benefit of this charitable act. As the Qur’an puts it: “The parable of those who spend their wealth seeking God’s pleasure and to confirm themselves, is that of a garden on a hillside: the downpour strikes it, whereupon it brings forth its fruit twofold; and if it is not a downpour that strikes it, then a shower, and God sees best what you do.” (2:265)

The Holy Qur’an also defines the recipients of the charity in the following verse: “And worship God and associate naught with Him, and show kindness to parents, and to kindred, and orphans, and the needy, and to the neighbour who is a kinsman and the neighbour who is a stranger, and the companion by your side, and the wayfarer, and those whom your right hands possess.

Surely, God loves not the proud and the boastful.” (4: 37) Displaying remarkable insight into human nature, other verses of the Qur’an also encourage the rich to contribute towards the welfare of the poor segments of society to seek the blessings of God without taunting those less fortunate: “O you who have faith! Do not render your charities void by reproaches and affronts, like those who spend their wealth to be seen by people and have no faith in God and the Last Day.” (2:264)

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However Islam does not restrict the concept of charity to merely a donation in cash or kind. It encourages Muslims to voluntarily participate in welfare projects. The idea is to share and transfer knowledge and expertise to the needy and poor thereby improving their economic position, which is often caused by the unequal distribution of wealth in society.

“It is not your wealth, nor your children, that will bring you close to Us in nearness, except those who have faith and do good works. It is they for whom there will be a twofold reward for what they did, and they will be secure in lofty abodes.”

(34:37)

In its articulated forms, the concept of Islamic law or ‘Sharia’ in the field of finance provides many more rulings on economic transactions that produce more a equitable system of distribution of wealth by facilitating access to credit and funds to lower income groups. The Islamic finance approach is participatory and represents a major strategy in a movement aimed at eradicating poverty. •

The above represents the second approach towards poverty alleviation, where help with the gaining of profits is endorsed.

It encourages trade and business. In fact in another prophetic tradition - symbolic of this approach - Anas Ibn Malik narrated how the Prophet Muhammad(s) put more emphasis on solving poverty with trade, where he told a poor man to sell some articles from his house and buy an axe to cut wood from the jungle and sell it in the market to earn money. This simple but effective advice encapsulates a paradigm of self-sufficiency.

The most powerful character of Islamic economic transactions is undoubtedly the prohibition of any transaction that involves taking of interest as it is considered an oppressive and exploitative practice.

In the Qur’an it is clearly stated that: “God brings usury to naught, but He makes charities flourish. God does not like any sinful ingrate.” (2:276) or “O you who have faith! Be wary of God, and abandon [all claims to] what remains of usury, should you be faithful.” (2:278) All of the above mechanisms stem from an Islamic world view that rejects the idea of any single human being or any particular class of human having the exclusive right to the available natural resources.

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Opinions

Bertra n d Russell; Fear and the new Atheism ‘Despite the new evangelical atheists, God is not dead: God is back!’

Says Frank J. Gelli

‘My own view on religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race.’

Bertrand Russell - 1930’

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trong words. Like those of Lucretius, the Latin writer Russell admired. ‘So potent was religion in persuading to evil deeds’, he argued. However, what Lucretius meant by ‘religion’ was actually superstition. The example he gave was that of Iphigenia, daughter of the Greek King Agamennon. Angry with the father, the goddess Artemis demanded the innocent girl’s life and, in one version of the myth, she was indeed sacrificed by her own father. You could have pointed out to Russell that monotheistic religions in fact abhor and condemn superstitious acts like human sacrifice but I doubt that would have appeased his hostility.

Russell (1872-1970), whose birth anniversary falls on April 18th, was a very great man. Logician, mathematician, philosopher and historian, he excelled at all those subjects. The powerful school of analytical philosophy, which today dominates Western universities, can be traced back to his work on logic.

He was not infallible, however. The even greater thinker and friend Ludwig

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Wittgenstein scoffed at Russell’s later popular writings on subjects like politics, pacifism and religion. He thought they showed signs of mental enfeeblement. Nonetheless, Russell’s aggressive and cantankerous attitude towards the Transcendent finds influential heirs in our time in the guise of writers like Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and the late Christopher Hitchens.

They represent what is called the New Atheism. Science is ostensibly what they invoke in order to execrate religion but I believe they are chiefly motivated by fear. Religion to them is a great danger to humanity; hence their religiophobia is, in their eyes, justified. And, not to beat about the bush, their real major phobia is, in my opinion, ‘Islamophobia’.

When Russell wrote his anti-religious pamphlets like ‘Do We Survive Death?’, ‘What I Believe’ and ‘Our Sexual Ethics’ he was explicitly gunning for Christianity. Indeed, he entitled another tirade ‘Why I am Not a Christian’. (Muslims back then were still called ‘Mohammedans’ in the West and regarded as remote and backwards.) As an open

advocate of free love, unconstrained by what he thought as bogus conventions, for example, Russell considered the churches’ traditional teachings on sex and marriage repressive and wicked.

Also, he claimed that it is not rational arguments but ‘emotions that cause belief in a future life’. Chief among those emotions, according to Russell, was the fear of death.

Two points. First, it is curious how a great mind like Russell’s seemed to confuse the concept of cause with the concept of reason. Wittgenstein later pointed out that when it comes to intentional human conduct and actions, as opposed to machines, we properly understand them in terms of reasons, not causes. Maybe some people have a pathological ‘cause’ for some of their beliefs, because they suffer from a psychiatric illness or hallucination.

It is different from thoughtful, rational believers in God. After all, both the Bible and the Qur’an contain many arguments, parables and reasons that are not merely emotional but do appeal to the mind, the intellect of the believer.

As for analytical philosophers, there is an ongoing, technically tough debate about the logical possibility of survival or continued personal existence after bodily death. The question is not over.

And it is far from a foregone conclusion, either way.

Second, there is an instructive talk

by Christopher Hitchens on YouTube in which he is asked about Freud’s view of death. The gist is roughly that if, as Freud contended, religion is an illusion caused by fear of death, why is it then that today, when belief in a future life has largely waned, religion is everywhere? That we are witnessing a surprising ‘return of religion’? God, pace Nietzsche, is not dead: God is back!

Hitchens’ answer is interesting. He immediately mentions ‘Islamic suicidal murderers’, who are not afraid of death but welcome it, have made a cult of it and look forward to paradise’s rewards, where ‘there will be more sex than they have in Afghanistan’, he crudely jokes.

Clearly, it is above all the religion of Islam, or a certain caricature of it, that the atheist Hitchens is targeting.

Russell also specifically criticises Muslims when he writes of the ‘military value’ of faith in afterlife as strengthening ‘natural pugnacity’. Of course, he could also have mentioned all the good works, the charity, the care, the active love of neighbour which so many members of all religions actively pursue, often at great personal cost, for the sake of a blessed life to come. Alas, he does not, because it would not suit his very one-sided argument.

molecule, how did it arise? And what about the still wonderfully unexplained, luminous reality of human consciousness? How did that come about? That consciousness which is not only capable of self-reflection, of understanding itself – unlike non-human animals – but also capable of understanding reality, the universe , the cosmos of which it is part.

How did that miracle happen? Could science even in principle ever explain that? I doubt it.

Paradoxically, there is even a hint, no doubt unintentional, of anti-Semitism in the philosopher’s polemical articles.

When attacking cases of Christian intolerance in history, for instance, he blames their origins...on the Jews, particularly on Jewish righteousness and ‘the exclusive reality of the Jewish God’.

Would he say that today, I wonder?

Someone once asked Russell what question he would ask of God if, after death, he unexpectedly encountered him. ‘Why did you not make evidence for your existence stronger?’ the philosopher replied.

Russell and the new ‘evangelical atheists’, as Roger Scruton has termed them, of course use science as a stick with which to beat religion, proclaiming their alleged incompatibility. Dawkins’ selfish gene is meant to replace the Creator.

But the gene itself, that complex

‘And why did you not look deeper?’ I daresay the Creator might counter. • Revd Frank Julian Gelli is an Anglican priest working on religious dialogue. He is a cultural critic and a religious controversialist on TV and Radio. His last book is: “Julius Evola: the Sufi of Rome’.Available on Amazon Kindle.

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Western sociology & its application to non-western societies Mohammad Haghir critiques the development of sociology questioning whether the outcome and application of its theories reflect Western-centric interest

M

odern sociology, as taught and studied in colleges and universities, is a Western phenomenon that began in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Western Europe. This timing also corresponded with the emergence of industrial society in Western Europe.

Thus, the development of both industrial society and sociology became intertwined where the latter increasingly explained the former.

The development of sociology was the product of European intellectual circumstances from around the 1750s onwards. In that, philosophical conceptions of the idea of progress – that is, a continuous forward movement of human society towards a better and more complete future as an end – led some thinkers to conceive of the idea of sociology as a means of explaining, and later delineating the future movements of, human society. Thus, in 1832, August Comte coined the term ‘Sociology’.

However, the method of sociological enquiry, in the light of Newtonian science, was to be based on the same rules as the natural sciences. Here, social changes could be accounted for in as rigorous a manner as material laws in physics. In this process the development of positive philosophy was born, through which the science of society (sociology) studied the society of science (Industrialism) which was itself a product of scientific application.

Sociology thus explained the processes

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of industrialisation which were marked by a radical departure from the past and the materialisation of new social formations such as secularisation, urbanisation, demographic changes, the decline of community, and a complex and specialised division of labour. In all of this the British model of industrialisation was taken as the blueprint of that process (subsequent models have shown that others could industrialise through different cultural and historical circumstances, even if the same social formations as above continue to manifest themselves wherever industrialisation appears).

Further developments in the early 20th century, saw sociology move to study precisely these new social formations. However, the discipline was now unfolding with an increasingly revolutionary posture. Instead of just explaining society, sociology now examined the interrelationships between social institutions, from family to government, education to health, and social policy to culture, etc.

By the 1960s, sociology’s subject matter displayed an ambiguous picture of itself. On the one hand, post industrial society (in which scientific knowledge is the core element) displayed yet more departures from the past, i.e. a change from a manufacturing economy to a service economy and the corresponding changes in occupational structure that such a movement involves. On the other hand it displayed continuities such as

the centrality of scientific knowledge.

This was understood as a process of hyper-industrialism which embodies its own problems: limitations imposed on individuals by social institutions and bureaucratic organisations; social control; de-skilling of work; and the manufacture of culture, etc. In such dynamics, resentment and the expression of discontent naturally flow.

In the late 20th century, sociology witnessed the input of postmodern philosophy. That is to say, from a postmodern perspective, society did not follow the theories and analyses of traditional sociology. Here, history itself determined a radical departure from modernism. Historical narratives, including sociology, became fluid, breaking through many aspects of traditional society.

Without attempting to discuss the history of sociology, I want to highlight what can be seen as the problem of the application of Western sociology to the world at large, even if developing countries attempt to industrialise within the Western model of that process.

From this perspective, the question of how useful Western sociology is for understanding the development of nonWestern societies looms large.

As R. Brenasconi has highlighted in his “Kant as an unfamiliar source of racism”, the writings of many major modern Western philosophers (out of whose thinking sociology was born)

also contain their views of non-Western societies (even if these are almost never taught). By and large these largely rest on the assumption that the latter are primitive and that, generally, Western civilisation has a duty to civilise the rest of the world. Discussing the ways in which racism could be deduced from some of Kant’s writings, Bernasconi says, “some of Europe’s greatest minds appear to have held beliefs that strike us as contradictory.” At least to this extent, Western sociology, in its very inception, has an inherently Orientalist approach to the study of its own subject matter when it is applied to non-Western societies. This alone is a good reason for non-Western societies to reject Western sociology as biased at best and develop their own ways of understanding themselves and others.

However, Western sociology has not remained traditional. There have been many research innovations designed to account for what traditional sociology had missed or simply got wrong. In other words, current sociological method is developed in line with a continually changing society which is now, from its post-modern perspective, global. Science and technology are still central characteristics of 21st century society. At the same time, just like variations in historical and cultural circumstances can and do lead to the

that exist between people.

same kind of industrialism, so, the same variations can and do lead to indigenous and independent scientific and technological developments.

In contrast, currently we are witness to another, conscious or subconscious, Orientalist view of the world as a globalised village – globalisation theory itself being a Western product – where many interests intersect and where the general way of life or culture – has become one. This view becomes inadequate when we consider the globe in terms of the diversity of cultures and peoples that inhabit it. In other words, concepts such as globalisation, with the entire theoretical and empirical edifice of support they claim, are artificially manufactured and, as such, do not explain the natural cultural differences

Furthermore, conducting research on certain subjects is, more often than not, not permitted. For example, say a research project wanted to conduct a study of the possible relationship between Hollywood and influential political, financial, and military decision makers in Washington, Wall Street, and the Pentagon. The chances for such research to be authorised and cooperated with, for an outsider of these establishments, are guaranteed to be zero. Thus, sociological research projects are generally authorised and funded by parties, whether governments or private concerns, that have a definite interest in certain outcomes and in the studies they commission. One implication of this is that not all subject matter is approved for research and, therefore, many that are of interest to SOCIETY at large but not to the said concerns are never authorised and/or funded.

Even from such a short exposition as the above, it seems to follow that, sociology as an academic subject and in the way that it is practiced in the Western world, is biased towards maintaining the interests of the elite and powerful and few, if any, developing countries benefit from subjecting themselves to a field of study which aims at maintaining the status quo. •

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Faith

Luqman

The wisdom of

by Mohammad Sobhanie

C

hapter 31 of the Holy Qur’an speaks about a man who as much as he was underprivileged in society was hugely privileged by God. This man is none but the black slave Luqman who was given great wisdom and is known as Luqman the wise.

The chapter was revealed in Makkah and introduces the Qur’an as the Book of Wisdom; a source of guidance and mercy for those who do good and righteous deeds. Those who are arrogant will, naturally, not benefit from it.

In verse three of this chapter, three characteristics and traits of those who do good and righteous deeds (Mohseneen) are mentioned. They offer prayers and give charity and they have strong faith in the Hereafter. As a result, these people receive guidance from their Lord as if they are riding on the divine ship of guidance which is taking them to the shore of prosperity.

Luqman was not a Prophet but he was an obedient servant of God whose words of advice are conveyed to us in the Holy Book. This is because, as we said, he was blessed with divine wisdom (31:12). Luqman is described as a perceptive man, always watching the world around him and trying to make sense of it. Some of the words of wisdom, with which Luqman advised

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his son, are mentioned in this chapter.

Prophet and hearing his message (71:8).

‘O my son! Do not ascribe any partners to God, for that is indeed a great injustice….Maintain the prayer and bid what is right and forbid what is wrong, and be patient through whatever may visit you. That is indeed the steadiest of courses…...Do not turn your cheek disdainfully from the people, and do not walk exultantly on the earth.

Indeed God does not like any swaggering braggart…Be modest in your bearing, and lower your voice. Indeed the most ungainly of voices is the donkey’s voice.” (31:12-19)

This is while Noah exhorted his people to contemplate the universe to acknowledge, rationally, the generosity of God and not take his favours for granted out of ingratitude and arrogance.

The Qur’an emphasises that God did not create this universe in vain (3:191); but this chapter tells us that there are always people out there who try to insinuate the vainness of creation; they try to distract men’s attention from the path of God by promoting and propagating idle discourses and ridiculing verses of wisdom. A characteristic of these individuals is that they turn away in arrogance when parts of the wise Book are read to them, as if there is heaviness in their ears and they did not hear them.

The Qur’an, for example, mentions that whenever the Prophet Noah(a) called his nation to the divine path, they plugged their ears and covered their faces with their garments to avoid seeing the

Chapter Luqman invites us to such an acknowledgement.

Further, the earth’s crust is divided into a number of large plate-like sections that move 5-10 cm per year. Consequently this produces a slow change in the earth’s geography. Each year, for instance, the Atlantic Ocean becomes slightly wider. Scientists use the term continental drift to describe this motion.

their orbits. These forces are referred to in the Qur’an as “invisible pillars “(31:10-11). Revealed at a time when man had no knowledge of physics and astronomy, the revelation points to the divine origin of the Qur’an.

The earth’s crust, on which we live,

“He created the heavens without visible pillars, and placed mountains upon the earth, lest it shakes with you, and spread in it all kinds of creatures. And we sent down water from the sky, and caused to grow on earth every noble pair. This is the creation of God. Now show Me what those besides Him have created? Nay, the unjust are in manifest error. “(31:10-11) There is a fundamental rule in all sciences that for every cause there is an effect. Islam teaches us that this universe, including mankind, has a wise, knowledgeable, powerful creator. The universe contains hundreds of millions of galaxies. A galaxy is a system made up of hundreds of millions of stars. In our solar system, the earth spins on its axis once a day and orbits the sun once a year. The moon orbits the earth once a month.

Today we know that the balance of gravitational and centrifugal forces keeps the earth and the moon in

The chapter tells us that the mountains are a means of stability for the earth (31:10). Their deep foundations, as explained earlier, increase the stiffness of the earth’s crust protecting the earth against its own inner pressure and heat.

The physical mass of the mountains resists the gravity of the moon and sun.

If it was not for the mountains, there would be a high tide on the continent’s surface similar to the Earth’s oceans and seas.

uq

n a m

Surah Luqman, invites us to ponder:, “This is the creation of God. Now show Me what those besides Him have created? Nay, the unjust are in manifest error.” (31:11). •

floats on the dense, hot and molten layer of mantle, like an iceberg on the ocean. This molten layer is a dense “magma” that supports the earth’s crust.

L

The crust’s thickness extends some 10 km below the oceans, about 35 km below the flat continental surface, and about 65 km below the great mountain ranges.

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The month of

Rajab in History of Islam Rajab is the name of the 7th month of the lunar Islamic calendar, but it was also a well-known month in the preIslamic age. The word ‘Rajab’ means to ‘respect’. At the time, this month had a strong religious undertone as during its course a pilgrimage-like ritual was held among the Arabs which included devotional acts at the centre of the sanctuary of Makkah, the Ka’ba, then the host of the anthropomorphic idol called Hubal (probably from “Ha-Ba’l”, ‘the God’) and several other deities. It was believed that these deities would fulfil the wishes of the non-Makkan visitors. The sacrifices used for these pagan cults were composed mainly of newly born lambs and goats, and were called rajabiyya (those of Rajab).

During the Islamic age, the sacredness of this month was kept not on the basis of the polytheistic worship of Hubal but on the basis of prophetic traditions since the time of Abraham, when the Arabs learnt to perform

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the lesser pilgrimage (umrah) in this month. Muslims believe that during its days, God will more readily grant the prayers of the faithful.

The Prophet Muhammad(s) is reported to have said: “Rajab is the month of God, Sha’ban is my month and Ramadhan is the month of my followers. Whoever keeps one fast during Rajab becomes entitled to the great pleasure of God, the wrath of God remains at bay from him and a gate of hell is closed for him.”

God Almighty, in his infinite bounty, has provided us with ample opportunities to elevate ourselves spiritually. The approach of Rajab represents a master key to enter the domain of spiritual rewards and it would be a shame for any of us to lose the opportunity to gain the benefits which are readily available during its nights and days.

Highly meritorious during this month is fasting. Traditions from our Prophet

and noble Imams of his progeny have identified the particularly rewarding days at the beginning, the middle and the end of the month.

Traditions have highlighted the spiritual value of this period that extends over three months (Rajab, Sha’ban and Ramadhan). There are many events in Islamic history that took place during these three months.

It is within this period that an event of cosmic importance occurred. The Prophet Muhammad(s) received the first revelation from God, thirteen years before the beginning of the Hijra era. This event marked the beginning of Muhammad’s prophetic mission, which is also used to reference dates before the Hijra. Muslims believe that the first revelation received by the Prophet was the following verse: “Read in the Name of your Lord who created; created man from a clinging mass. Read, and your Lord is the most generous, who taught by

the pen, taught man what he did not know.” The Holy Qur’an (96:1-5) In the 2nd year of the Hijra when the Muslims began to establish their community in Medina under the leadership of the Prophet, another event of historical significance took place, the changing of the Qiblah (the direction of the place toward which Muslims turn for their daily prayers). For over thirteen years the Muslims had turned towards the Noble Sanctuary (Jerusalem, the destination of Muhammad’s night journey - the Isra’ - and the starting place of his ascent to heaven - the Mi’raj - as the first Qiblah). Acting on a divine ordinance brought to him by the archangel Gabriel while in Medina and during the midday prayer, the Prophet was ordered to change the direction of prayer from Jerusalem to Makkah.

“We certainly see you turning your face about in the sky. We will surely

turn you to a qiblah of your liking: so turn your face towards the Holy Mosque, and wherever you may be, turn your faces towards it! Indeed those who were given the Book surely know that it is the truth from their Lord. And Allah is not oblivious of what they do.” (Qur’an 2:144) The holy month of Rajab this year is expected to start on 12 May. It is outside the scope of this article to list all prayers, supplications and devotional acts prescribed for this month - which in many ways is considered as the spring of the spiritual season culminating with the month of Ramadhan. The believers are advised to consult the available compendiums of prayers that list such practices.

We have here however included a well-known daily supplication for the month of Rajab that was transmitted by the great grandson of the Prophet, Imam Ja`far as-Sadiq(a), that can be

recited after every obligatory prayer. “..O He from whom I hope all goodness And I am safe from His anger at every evil. O He who gives a lot in exchange for a little. O He who gives to one who asks Him. O He who gives to one who does not ask Him and does not know Him, out of His affection and mercy. Give me, for my request is only to You alone, all the good of this world and all the good of the Hereafter. Keep away from me, for my request is only to You alone, all the evil of this world and the evil of the Hereafter. For indeed what is given by You is not diminishing.

Increase (for) me from Your bounty, O The Generous.

O The Sublime and The Distinguished, O The Bountiful and The Magnanimous, O The Gracious and The Mighty, Save my grey hairs from the fire (of Hell).” • From the editorial desk

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Deconstructing the New Atheists Alexander Khaleeli explores the connection between New Atheism and Imperialism, arguing that the bottom line has more to do with self-acquired privileges than self-proclaimed critical thinking

Recently, two of the founders of so-called New Atheism, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, have independently become embroiled in accusations of militarism, bigotry and chauvinism. Followers of a movement whose worldview relies on the principles of scientific naturalism, the New Atheists portray themselves as rationalists extraordinaire. The very name ‘New Atheism’ suggests a radical, hitherto unknown form of disbelief that challenges ‘old’ conventions about the world. But what will become clear by the end of this article is that, far from being paragons of critical thinking, leading New Atheist ideologues paradoxically reserve their most withering scepticism for God and religion (especially Islam) while supporting a reactionary status

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quo in all other areas.

In short New Atheism is an ideology of white male privilege. Demographically speaking, this assertion should not come as a surprise; most of the major figures in New Atheism are privileged white males. But it is nevertheless a glaring contradiction that a movement that prides itself on attacking the manifold irrationalities and injustices of religion at every opportunity finds itself so closely wedded to the irrationalities and injustices of modern secular societies.

Much has already been said about the ideological affinity between New Atheism and US militarism. It is no accident that the foundational texts of New Atheism – texts such as Harris’ The End of Faith (2004), Dawkins’ The

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God Delusion (2006) and Hitchens’ God is Not Great (2007) – all appeared at the height of the War on Terror. The War on Terror provided New Atheism with much of its intellectual appeal; Islam and Muslims – or rather, their portrayal in the mainstream – provided a convenient straw man for New Atheist polemics against religion in general.

In return, the New Atheists reduced the many complex explanations for terrorist attacks against the US and her allies to just one: Islam (‘They hate our freedoms’ – sound familiar?). Harris wrote: ‘It is time we admitted that we are not at war with terrorism. We are at war with Islam.’ Moreover, Harris and Hitchens were staunch advocates of the Iraq invasion (Dawkins, to his credit, was not; though he was still happy to blame Islam for terrorist attacks). The former went so far as to write: ‘civilised human beings are now attempting, at considerable cost to themselves, to improve life for the Iraqi people.’ Far from questioning the official justifications for war – terrorism, weapons of mass destruction – Harris says no such justification is necessary; he is all too happy to support it as an imperial enterprise in the fashion of nineteenth century colonialism – “the White Man’s burden” to civilise the savage. Note also the implicit double-standard; American violence against Muslims is “civilised”, while the opposite is “barbaric.”

As well as justifying imperialism abroad, New Atheism fosters intolerance at home, with Islam and Muslims as its most visible target. In some recent tweets, Dawkins said that he thinks ‘Islam [is the] greatest force for evil today’ (while admitting that he had never actually read the Qur’an) and described a Muslim woman in hijab as ‘dressed in a bin-bag.’ Similarly, Sam Harris has said that ‘Islam simply is different to other faiths,’ described it as a ‘death-cult’ and said that allowing the Park51 Islamic Centre to be built in New York was ‘liberal cowardice.’ The implication of this is clear: Muslims should not be afforded the same legal protections for their faith that followers of other religions enjoy because there

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is something uniquely evil about Islam.

There is little separating New Atheist rhetoric against Islam and that of anti-Muslim bigots all over Europe and America. Most frightening of all is Harris’ claim that ‘the people who speak most sensibly about the threat that Islam poses to Europe are actually fascists.’ Instead of using their wellhoned critical faculties to challenge the irrationality of bigotry and intolerance, Dawkins and his colleagues stand firmly on the side of prejudice. They make no effort to interrogate their own civilisation’s idiosyncrasies, content to sit back and wag their fingers at others.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the generally hostile attitude of New Atheists towards feminism. Female atheist activists often complain about sexism in the community and these complaints are often met with hostility (by the mostly white and male community).

One would expect that the luminaries of the movement, who are so keen to champion issues like homosexuality which draw the ire of the religious right, would be the first to speak out. Sadly, in at least one instance, the opposite was the case. In 2011, Rebecca Watson – an American sceptic and blogger – was at an atheist convention in Dublin, Ireland. While she was alone in the elevator of the hotel at 4am a fellow attendee approached her and invited her back to his room for coffee and conversation. Later, she mentioned this incident in a video blog and said that the man’s advances had made her feel sexualised and uncomfortable. Richard Dawkins responded by writing a satirical letter comparing Watson’s plight to that of a Muslim woman undergoing genital mutilation, saying that Muslim women have to deal with “real” misogyny and that Watson’s experience by comparison was no more troubling than being stuck in an elevator with someone chewing gum. It is a poignant irony that New Atheists (white, privileged men) criticise Islam for its supposed maltreatment of women while here Dawkins uses the same Muslim straw man to silence the legitimate complaint of a Western woman.

What do the above three attitudes have in common? Privilege. Harris privileges one act of violence over another; 9/11 is “barbaric” but the devastation of Iraq is not only “civilised” but a civilising act. Dawkins and Harris privilege one culture over another: Western culture is allowed its Christian roots (Dawkins advocates the reading of the Bible as a work of literature) so long as “irrational” faith is jettisoned but Islam is cast as evil beyond redemption. Finally, Dawkins privileges his experiences as a man by comparing the unwanted sexual advances of a stranger in an elevator to the annoyance of someone loudly chewing gum! New Atheism, far from challenging the status quo, actually perpetuates it.

The support of many leading New Atheists for imperialism abroad and repression at home, as well as the movement’s relative silence on real-world political issues, is telling. Far from encouraging a broad-spectrum of critical thinking, New Atheism paradoxically inhibits it. By debunking God and religion, its adherents are encouraged to believe that they are thinking critically. Caught up in the appearance of critical thinking, they see themselves and their mainly white male European culture (of which New Atheism is the apex) as innately superior to others. As a result, this culture and identity is accorded a privileged position such that it does not need to justify its own excesses and irrationalities - not even the most reprehensible instances of them. This shows us that far from being a movement founded on reason, New Atheism is a new form of cultural imperialism in which the illusion of critical thinking is used to denigrate the culture and identity of others. •

Alexander Khaleeli is a researcher and student of the Islamic Seminaries. He has a BA and MA in Islamic Studies.

Science Science Editor Hannah Smith

What do the new pictures

of Cosmic Microwave

Background Radiation tell us?

Scientists recently unveiled the most detailed images to date of Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation.

Hannah Smith explains the science behind Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation which provides clues about the Universe’s earliest history and formation.

I

n March this year, the European Space Agency released the most detailed image of Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) ever generated from data collected by the Planck telescope. Over the preceding fifteen and a half months the Planck telescope, which detects signals in the

microwave and infrared frequency band, measured the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation radiating in all directions within the Universe.

Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation is a form of thermal radiation from the microwave portion

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of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is almost perfectly homogenous in strength and detected uniformly in all directions across the night sky.

Microwave radiation like all nonvisible radiations such as radio waves, x-rays and gamma rays, cannot be seen, and lies in the same region of the electromagnetic spectrum as the wave radiation that is used in microwave ovens and mobile phone communication. CMBR was first discovered accidentally in 1964 by Arnos Penzias and Robert Wilson while they conducted research using

radio telescopes. The peculiarly uniform energy levels and emanation from all directions meant that the origin of CMBR could not be ascribed to any particular star or galaxy.

Penzias and Wilson suggested that it could be the radiation ‘afterglow’ of the Big Bang first predicted by scientists in the 1940s.

CMBR is a predictive output of the Big Bang theory which postulates that the entire Universe as we know it began with an explosion and extremely high temperatures before continued cooling and expansion to its present state. In the earliest period of the Universe’s history, after the initial explosion, scientists believe that all matter in the Universe existed in a plasma state, in which sub-atomic particles such as protons, neutrons, electrons, and other particles from the Standard Particle Model existed in a free state, whizzing around unbound by familiar structures such as the atom. Photons, the massless particle which transfers light energy were also thought to have been bound in this early plasma, unable to travel freely because of their interaction with free electrons.

The plasma, which would have required extremely high temperatures to exist, persisted until approximately 380,000 years after the Big Bang when it would have cooled enough for protons, neutrons and electrons

to bind together to form individual hydrogen atoms. Once the electrons had been tied up in neutral hydrogen atoms, the light photons would have been able to break free from the plasma and travel across the universe.

The liberation of light photons would have caused the Universe to change from an opaque, ‘fog-like’ panorama to the transparent structure that we can now see through. CMBR is the relic of this ancient light; the expansion of the Universe would cause the light to stretch so that after 13.7 billion years its wavelength has increased so much that it now belongs to the lower energy, longer wavelength and lower frequency part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Upon liberation 380,000 years ago, the temperature of the radiation would have measured around 3000 o Kelvin (K) or 2700 o Celsius (C), and over time it has cooled to its current frigid value of approximately 2.7 o K or -270 o C. The Planck telescope was built to study the CMBR in more detail. Although

the CMBR exhibits a remarkable uniformity, it does however feature miniscule temperature perturbations that are thought to have seeded the entire stellar and galactic structure of the Universe. Without these tiny temperature fluctuations that measure 100,000th of a degree Kelvin, matter in the Universe would not have clustered together to form stars and galaxies. These temperature fluctuations likely arose immediately after the Big Bang and correlate with regions of differing densities. In cooler areas, matter will form higher density structures sparking the growth of stars and galaxies by continued aggregation of particles under the influence of the force of gravity which strengthens with increasing mass or density. As the Universe expanded, the initial structural blueprint laid out by these temperature fluctuations is thought to have spread out to form the current picture of matter clumped in distant galaxies. The Planck telescope has been able to image the CMBR structure to higher

resolutions than previous telescopes as well as confirming the existence of some features that challenge scientists’ current understanding of the Universe.

One discovery that has surprised scientists is the size of CMBR temperature-fluctuations from smallscale structures that are not as large as predicted by the standard model of cosmology. Planck also confirms the reality of an asymmetry in the average temperatures in opposite hemispheres of the sky, and the presence of an anomalously large cold spot. Explaining these features may require the creation of new theories in the fields of Physics and Cosmology. •

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Velcro™:

an invention inspired by nature On May 13th 1958, the world famous Velcro™ trademark was registered by its inventor, Swiss electrical engineer, George de Mestral. Fifty five years later, Velcro™ is a household name and a ubiquitous feature of clothes, shoes, and innumerable textile products.

of fabric. Mestral was inspired to create a fabric fastener that would mimic the adhesive qualities of the natural bur.

Mestral collaborated with weavers in Lyon, the centre of the weaving industry in France, to design and manufacture his idea. Initially, Velcro™ was constructed from cotton,

The name Velcro™ was derived by combining the French words velours, meaning velvet and crochet, meaning hook, which reflect its two material components; one-part smooth fabric and one-part hooked.

Mestral was inspired to develop Velcro™ in 1941 after returning covered in burs from a hunting trip in the Alps with his dog. Burs are plant seeds that are surrounded by tiny barbs which help them cling to animal fur for dispersal.

Upon noticing the remarkable ability of the burs to bind to his trouser leg and canine companion, Mestral examined the burs under his microscope to find that they were covered in tiny barbs which hook onto fur or the fibre loops

but this proved an insufficiently strong fibre and the final product was created from newly invented nylon. By trial and error it was discovered that nylon fibres would naturally form barbs when woven under infrared or heat radiation.

Velcro™ was patented in 1955 and mass-scale production began in the late 1950s. Today Velcro™ production is a multi-million pound industry. •

Biological computing produces a bacteria-based transistor moves forward with the construction of a bacteria-based transistor

Researchers at Stanford University announced at the end of March this year, the successful construction of the first biological transistor or ‘transcriptor’ as they have named it.

The transcriptor, built from biological tissue, performs the same function as a traditional silicon transistor; the key component in modern computers that allows switching between two states and the conduction of logical operations.

Instead of metal and silicon, the building blocks of the biological transistor are E. Coli bacteria.

Strands of DNA within the bacteria act in a similar way to wires within a traditional transistor and enzymes flow along these strands in a manner analogous to the flow of electrons in

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a silicon transistor.

Modern computers are built by combining billions of transistors.

Scientists hope that by combining biological transcriptors, living computers could be created that could perform useful jobs within living cells such as monitoring and regulating chemicals, or regenerating and replacing dead or diseased tissues and organs.

The transcriptor is one of an increasing number of computer components and devices built from biological matter that have been developed over the past 10-15 years as part of a growing academic field called synthetic biology.

Synthetic biology aims to design and construct biological devices and

systems for useful purposes including processing information, manipulating chemicals, fabricating materials and structures, producing energy and food, and maintaining and enhancing human health and our environment.

A huge array of components that act as the ‘bricks’ of biological machines have been developed and these are catalogued in the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. An assortment of exotic biological machines have been created using these biological parts including a bacterial system that alters the colour of water if arsenic is present, and E. Coli bacteria that generate different coloured pigments. •

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

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Health Medical Editor Laleh Lohrasbi

Cleft lip and palate 11-18 May marks Cleft Lip and Palate Awareness Week, Dr. Laleh Lohrasbi highlights some basic facts about this relatively unpublicised condition

A

cleft is a type of congenital deformity caused by abnormal development of the foetus face during gestation. Cleft refers to a fissure or a gap due to incomplete fusion of the facial bones and flesh. A cleft may happen in different parts of the face such as lips, palate, eyes, ears, nose, cheeks and forehead.

Paul Tessier described fifteen lines of cleft in 1976 but the most common forms are cleft lip and cleft palate which may occur individually or together.

A cleft lip is the splitting or separation of the two sides of the upper lip which makes a narrow gap in the skin of the area between lip and nose which sometimes extends to the nose or the bones of the upper jaw or gum. In around the fifth to sixth week of pregnancy, the two sides of the upper lip fuse together. A cleft palate is a split or opening in the roof of the mouth which can involve the hard part of the palate (the bony part in front of the mouth roof) or the soft part of the palate (the soft back part of the palate). Between the eighth and twelfth week of pregnancy, the roof of the mouth is formed. A cleft palate may connect the mouth directly to the nose area.

Lips and palate are developed separately so it is possible that cleft lip

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happens without a cleft palate or cleft palate without a cleft lip, or they may occur together. A cleft lip may occur in one side or in both sides of the mouth.

It can be identified by prenatal ultrasound, while cleft palate cannot be seen and is hard to detect using this method.

Cleft lips and cleft palates are among the most common of all birth defects and occur in both sexes and across all races. However cleft lips and palates are twice as common in boys as in girls, while a cleft palate alone is more common in girls. Americans and Asians are the most affected races while Africans have the lowest rates of incidence.

A cleft palate occurs in about 1 in 700 live births worldwide and three babies are born every day with a cleft.

Causes Although the cause of clefts is mostly unknown, most scientists believe that clefts are caused by a combination of genetics and environmental factors. It appears that the chance of developing clefts in new-borns with an affected parent is much higher. In this situation both mother and father can pass on the genes. Sometimes cleft lips and palates are part of a syndrome involving birth defects in other parts of the body too.

Some medication taken by pregnant mothers may also lead to this condition especially anti-seizure/anticonvulsant drugs, acne drugs containing Accutane and Methotrexate, or drugs commonly used for treating cancer, arthritis, and psoriasis. Smoking and drinking in early pregnancy and a lack of folic acid in the mother’s diet are other factors contributing to this condition.

Complications If not treated early cleft lips and palates may cause other problems including feeding difficulties, middle ear fluid build-up, hearing loss, dental and orthodontic abnormalities and speech difficulties.

Feeding can be a big problem in cleft palate condition because the palate which normally prevents food and liquids from entering the nose is defective making food intake difficult.

Another problem is that malfunctioning of the Eustachian tube may cause fluid build-up in the middle ear which may lead to hearing loss. In this case a small tube is placed in the eardrum so that the fluid can be drained out.

Children with a cleft lip and palate also frequently have dental problems including missing teeth, small teeth,

extra teeth and gum defects.

Children with cleft palates also experience speech difficulties as the cleft is needed for pronouncing specific sounds and letters. Sufferers often seem like they are talking through the nose.

Treatment In the UK, all children born with a cleft are referred to a specialist cleft clinic.

During the first 6 weeks the affected child and his family will receive a care plan consisting of counselling for parents and hearing test and feeding assessment for the child. Cleft lip repair surgery is usually scheduled in the third month of age and palate surgery takes place between the ages of 6-12. Speech

assessments can start from 18 months onwards. When a child is 8 years old doctors can consider a bone graft to the cleft in the gum area. Orthodontic treatment usually has to wait until the patient is at least 11. Other procedures such as teeth replacement or jaw, lip, and nose surgery to improve the appearance and function of the lips and mouth takes place once the patient has reached 18 years.

Prevention In many cases it is not possible to prevent cleft lip and palate, but taking some precautionary steps during pregnancy can lower the risk. Avoiding smoking and taking folic acid supple-

ments are highly advised. The Department of Health recommends 0.4 mg of folic acid daily for all women before getting pregnant and for the first 12 weeks while the baby’s spine is forming.

Taking folic acid is known to cut down many birth defects apart from cleft lip and palate. A study of 11,000 babies born in Ireland in 2012 found that the risk of having children with cleft lip or palate was four times higher in mothers who did not take folic acid in the first three months of pregnancy.

Cleft Lip and Palate Awareness Week which takes place 11th to 18th May is an opportunity to spread the word and educate the general public about a serious condition that remains relatively unpublicised. •

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S

ound intolerance, also known as Misophonia - miso for “hatred” and phonia for “sound” - is a neurological disorder characterised by hypersensitivity to some specific sounds which are easily ignored by other people but can actually trigger a reaction of rage or severe anxiety in others.

The trigger sounds are mostly connected to eating and breathing. The reaction starts with a sound and often develops to include actions associated with that sound and even anticipation of those actions. These trigger sounds may be very loud or even very low such as clipping nails, brushing teeth, eating, breathing, sniffing, talking, sneezing, yawning, walking, chewing gum, laughing, snoring, whistling and coughing. Even certain consonants; or repetitive sounds may trigger sound intolerance.

The Misophonia sufferer simply wants the sound to be stopped and usually has a panic attack to the noise that he cannot control. Those suffering from this disorder often concentrate on a certain noise and cannot focus on anything else until the offending sound stops. The lack of control of the noise and the patient’s own reaction causes them to react in the first instance.

In the past these patients were wrongly diagnosed with having anxiety, anger disorders, or even post-traumatic stress disorder and were confined to isolation or forced to shy away from public life. The sufferers usually feel a tremendous level of guilt due to their reactions and fear a lack of tolerance and increasing restrictions imposed on them by this condition.

In 2001 two American neuroscientists, Pawel and Margaret Jastreboff, dubbed the disorder ‘Misophonia’. However many physicians are still not fully familiar with the condition. Diagnosis usually requires a meeting with a consultant audiological physician or otolaryngologist.

It is difficult to imagine the suffering of a person who is hard of hearing but it is unimaginable to think that there are people who crave to hear less.

Although scientists in places such as the UK continue to carry out research into the condition, just how many people are affected by Misophonia is currently unknown and this is mainly due to the fact that it is almost certainly under-reported by patients and under-diagnosed by doctors. A 2010 study registered a 10% occurrence but this figure seems to be just the tip of the iceberg.

Unfortunately there is no cure for this condition and an effective therapy is many years away. There are some treatments such as Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and psychotherapeutic hypnotherapy, which have all been reported to have beneficial effects for some patients. Whether these therapies have effective long term effects needs more research. Although these treatments do not cure Misophonia they may help to mask the offending sounds, making life more tolerable.

Learning coping skills to deal with Misophonia such as breathing techniques or focusing on something else rather than the annoying sound has also proved useful.

Even simply knowing that the disorder exists and that the sufferer is not crazy or simply making it up can help both patient and family cope better with the situation.

The fact is that Misophonia can and does lead to serious social problems such as family break-up, unemployment and social exclusion.

The organisation Misophonia UK aims to improve the recognition of this condition by the medical profession and increase public awareness. •

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Brain damage

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he human brain is responsible for almost all the body’s functions.

The brain controls our speech, movement, sight, hearing, smell, taste, pain, temperature, pressure, memory, will, behaviour, emotions, reasoning, intelligence and judgement. Packed tightly inside the skull to minimise movement, the brain passes messages by means of trillions of neurons. If these message pathways are damaged or inhibited, it causes problems to some or all of the above functions.

Brain damage or brain injury causes destruction or deterioration of the brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to both internal and external factors.

Internal factors cause damage at cellular level and are known as acquired brain injuries. External factors such as blows to the head cause skull breakage or brain movement and the consequent damage is known as traumatic brain injury. The most common category is traumatic brain injury followed by acquired brain injuries, and then brain injuries due to congenital malady.

It is estimated that each year more than one million people in the UK attend hospital A&E due to head injuries while many more go unreported; among these more than 500,000 people aged 16-74 are living with long-term disabilities. The most common causes of head injuries are falls, assaults and road traffic accidents. In the UK children, who have high energy levels and little sense of danger, account for 40-50% of head injuries. Adults aged 75 or older are another high risk group for traumatic brain injuries.

There are also more than 650,000 cases of brain injury in the UK caused by internal factors such as stroke, brain tumour, viral and bacterial meningitis and hypoxic injuries such as drug overdose, exposure to toxic substances, heart attacks, near drowning, electrocution and suicide attempts.

The severity of the brain damage is categorised as mild, moderate and severe depending on the type of injury. Mild brain damage may cause temporary headaches, confusion, memory problems, and nausea, while in moderate brain damage the symptoms may last longer and be more distinct. In severe brain injuries, life changing and debilitating problems may occur, which consist of cognitive, behavioural, and physical disabilities. The most severe cases can lead to coma or even put the patient into a persistent vegetative state.

Mild and moderate brain injuries usually require no treatment other than rest and over the counter painkillers to treat the headache. However the injured patient should be monitored closely for any persistent, worsening or new symptoms.

In severe brain injuries the immediate priority is to make sure that the patient has an adequate oxygen and blood supply. To limit secondary damage to the brain medication therapy is necessary. These drugs include diuretics which help reduce the pressure inside the brain by increasing urine output and anti-seizure drugs which reduce the chance of having seizures during the first week. In some cases surgery may be needed to remove probable clotted blood, repair skull fractures or to open a window in the skull to let the accumulated cerebral spinal fluid drain out or to provide more room for the swelling tissue. •

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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Places

Gateways, Domes, and Minarets Muhammad Amin Evans looks at the evolution of Islamic architecture through mosques as they dot the Islamic world

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he earliest form for a mosque was simply an open space marked for prayer. Archaeological evidence indicates that one of the distinctive footprints for shrine buildings at trading settlements of ‘Arab’ people from at least the eighth century BCE was a ‘U’ shaped structure.

Yet it is the dome that has become most associated with Islam and has been used in numerous Muslim cultures as a symbol of religious and temporal authority. However, the assumption that domes were borrowed from Rome is not proven. Domes existed in first century CE Nyssa, they were used in Iran for mausoleums, and pictorial evidence of their use prior to the eighth century in Soghdian funerary rituals. The oldest

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dome in India is the third century BCE Great Stupa at Sanchi built by Ashoka.

Domes as visual analogies for the sky, evoke feelings of greatness and natural order. However, there was no theological reason for Islam to adopt domes or make them essential features of mosques although their visual power and the emotional attachment are now a reality for Muslims. After the construc-

tion of the ‘Dome of the Rock’ in 691 the dome was adopted for Mosques perhaps to enlarge the space near to the mihrab (the niche that indicate the direction of Makkah) but it was certainly adopted by those regions of Islamic influence that used burnt-bricks or stone for structures, as an available technology to cover large areas uninterrupted by walls

or columns.

The early development of mosques owes much to the response of Muslims to other religions.

Minarets have little theological significance, having originally functioned to aid an unamplified human voice calling the time for prayers but by the twelfth century they were a means of ensuring that the mosque was taller than the buildings

nearby. They became statements of authority. Churches were also intended to be taller than other religious buildings as Pope Innocent III made clear to Philip Augustus of France in 1204, “we refer to it with shame-the Jews of Sens built next to a certain old church a new synagogue, not a little higher than the church.”

Central mosques became a response

to Christian and Jewish buildings and symbols of Muslim authority during the eighth and ninth century. If the word bayt is understood to mean both home and place of worship, the ‘Pact of Umar’ addresses the concern of Muslim rulers to build higher and be recognised as superior to non-Muslims. Yet today, almost everywhere the tall towers, slender minarets and lofty domes built by princes, popes or caliphs as symbols of wealth and power, seem to be dwarfed by the gigantic triumphal towers of a secular ‘global’ hegemony which despite grossness do have the

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merit of commercial functionality.

The interior of Al-Aqsa is little different from churches in the region and it displays the obvious advantages of stone as the building material. The original mosque was in existence in 679 CE and a wooden dome was added in c. 1034 when the entire building was rebuilt after an earthquake.

Mosques in the Sahel, Sub-Sahara and West Africa are traditionally of wood and pisé, similar to multi-storey structures of the Yemen with multiple internal columns supporting flat roofs.

The pylons seen at the Great Mosque of Djenné, are reminiscent of Egyptian temple approaches and there are also pyramid mosques in the region which may suggest the sharing of non or preIslamic architectural features at various times throughout the region’s history via the caravans which connected the Sahel with the ancient kingdoms of Kush, Ethiopia and Aksum via KanemBornu.

Traditional West African mosques have flat or pitched roofs, although some newer mosques feature domes, with towers at each corner, one of which may function as a minaret but may also serve as a form of malqaf or wind-tower, a form of air-conditioning first found in the pre-Islamic Iranian architecture of the Persian Gulf which when added to the thermal properties of mud-brick creates oases of coolness.

Although there is no single Islamic public or ritual

architecture other than that which satisfies the need for a prayer space, once a tradition has formed in the popular imagination (or academic opinion) it is hard to question its validity, and architects often find themselves pressed from many sides into articulating mosques with double-ogee windows and fibre-glass domes of no structural or architectural merit.

‘Islamic Architecture’, with the exceptions of a mihrab and a space in which to pray, is a list of features that are often employed in Islamic buildings but not in all of them or not in all regions.

However there are a small number of Islamic functions that are aided by architectural features.

The orientation of buildings for Muslim usage has important implications that may affect the effective placement of service outlets. Where churches, and homes, are oriented throughout the world upon an east-west axis purpose built mosques are oriented in the direction that worshippers must face, with one wall that excludes all other worldly sights that is tangential to a circle centred upon Makkah.

In mosques this wall is easily recognised by the mihrab, an

alcove or recess that is often highly decorated, from where congregational prayers are led.

In Muslim homes the direction of prayer may be indicated by a wall lacking photographs and mirrors or a corner without a television or computer. It follows that the clusters of sockets and cable outlets that feature in many newly built dwellings should be situated with users in mind. Also Muslims, as a mandatory act of respect for the holy city and the sanctity of prayer, are required to not use a toilet facing or with their backs towards Makkah. Thus a fundamental design feature that is more than desirable in any architecture intended for or converted to Muslim use is to align or realign toilets obliquely to the direction of prayer in both domestic and public structures.

We may state that the architecture used by generations of Islamic people derives from earlier types of architecture but not necessarily the one from the ancient west.

Some features have histories in eastern lands untouched by the classical world whereas others have an ancient presence throughout south-west Asia and Africa. For example the ancient temples had door-like niches wherein stood altars or idols. Once doorways were seen as passages through which people believed gods entered the world of men. However the image of a doorway, without an altar, has become the focal point for man’s spiritual journey of awareness of the infinite God. The mihrab, indicating the direction of Makkah set

in a mosque wall, has become a powerful

symbol for the impossibility of objectifying and containing an omnipresent God. It moreover demonstrates symbolism and structures being adopted, redefined and changed by men and for men. •

Shaykh al-Hajj Muhammad Amin Evans holds an MA in Islamic Studies. He is the Director of Theology for the Association of British Muslims and currently is a Committee Member of the British Chapter of the International Association for Religious Freedom.

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Through May

FRIDAY NIGHTS THOUGHT FORUM

London’s weekly open gathering.

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

Beyond the Chador: Dress From the Mountains and Deserts of Iran.

Beyond the Chador: Dress from the Mountains and Deserts of Iran showcases the diversity, bright colours and shapes that exist in the Islamic Republic. The country’s complex geography, climate and human history are reflected in a wide diversity of cultures and traditions. Although rapidly vanishing in some areas, many aspects of these traditions can still be found in Iranian regional dress, especially that worn by women. Most of the outfits in the exhibition date from the late 19th and 20th centuries and were collected between 1998 and 2003.

Venue: Textile Research Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands

Irfan and the Qur’an with special reference to Rumi Continuing lecture series on the mystical (‘irfani) understanding of the Qur’an, the Qur’anic roots of Islamic mysticism, and Islamic mystical expression.

Method: The lectures will examine classical Qur’anic understandings as well as well-known masterpieces of mystical literature, especially Rumi’s Mathnawi (in English and Persian).

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Lecturer: Ahmad Jalali, prominent lecturer and author.

No charge; however, participants must register, attend all lectures, and be punctual.

Registration: email to j.hussain@islamiccollege.ac.uk Dates: Every Tuesday of month until further notice Time: 18.30pm – 20.00pm Venue: The Islamic College, 133 Willesden High Road, London, NW10 2SW Phone: 020 8451 9993 | Fax: 020 8451 9994

8 May 2013

Producing colonial space and colonised bodies in Italian Libya (Lecture)

By David Atkinson, University of Hull.

Organised by: The Society for Libyan Studies.

Tickets: Admission free Time: 5:30 pm Venue: The Lecture Theatre, The British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH Email: shirleystrong@btconnect.com Web: www.societyforlibyanstudies.org

10 May 2013

From sedentism to nomadism: the development of Iranian nomadism and its changing demographic significance through time (Lecture)

By Dan Potts, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University. Organised by: The London Centre for the Ancient Near East.

Tickets: Admission free Time: 6:00 pm Venue: Room B104, SOAS, School of Oriental and African Studies, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG Email: ag5@soas.ac.uk Web: www.soas.ac.uk/nme/ane/lcane/

11 May 2013

Tafsir of Surah al-Anbiya Instructor: Shaykh Ahmed Faruq The British Academy of Quranic Studies (BAQS) presents its Monthly Quran Seminars.

A one-day intensive course on: Prophetic Reminders, Tafsir of Surah al-Anbiya

Tickets: £25 – Before 5th May £30 – After 6th May [Course material and refreshments included] Time: 9.00am – 6.30pm Venue: Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS Registration: Online at www.IIDR.org Information: Tel: 07092 813 541 Email: info@iidr.org

13 May 2013

Recent archaeological fieldwork in Sudan Organised by: Sudan Archaeological Research Society.

Every year the Society organises a programme of events including a one-day international colloquium on Recent Archaeological Fieldwork in Sudan.

Among the speakers at least one eminent archaeologist is invited from overseas and slide illustrated papers are delivered on work undertaken in Sudan over the previous winter along with others of a more general nature.

Organised by: LSE Middle East Centre.

Chaired by Fawaz Gerges, LSE.

Tickets: Admission free Time: 6:30 pm Venue: New Theatre, East Building, LSE, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE Tel: 020 7955 6250 Email: r.sleiman-haidar@lse.ac.uk Web: www2.lse.ac.uk

15 May 2013

Sectarian Gulf: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the Arab Spring that wasn’t (Seminar)

By Toby Matthiesen, LSE Kuwait Programme. Organised by: Kuwait Programme on Development, Governance and Globalisation in the Persian Gulf States and LSE Middle East Centre.

Matthiesen shows how the regimes in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the Persian Gulf states have encouraged sectarian divisions to undermine protests, effectively creating a sectarian Gulf and warns of the dire consequences this will have.

Tickets: Admission free Time: 4:30 pm Venue: : STC.S421, St Clements, LSE, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE Telephone: 020 7955 6639 Email: i.sinclair@lse.ac.uk Web: www2.lse.ac.uk

Time: 6:30 pm Venue: Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 14 Stephenson Way, London NW1 2HD Tel: 020 7388 4539 Email: cl@royalasiaticsociety.org Web: www.royalasiaticsociety.org

Islamic Glass in a Chinese Context: an Aspect of the Famensi Reliquary Deposit (Lecture)

By Roderick Whitfield, SOAS. Organised by: Islamic Art Circle at SOAS. Part of the Islamic Art Circle at SOAS Lecture Programme. Chaired by Doris Behrens-Abouseif, SOAS.

Tickets : Admission free Time: 7:00 pm Venue: Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS, School of Oriental and African Studies, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG Tel: 0771 408 7480 Email: rosalindhaddon@gmail.com Web: www.soas.ac.uk/art/islac/

18 - 19 May 2013

The Prophets of Allah(swt) Instructor: Daood Butt

A New Middle East: Palestine, Peoples and Borders (Lecture)

By Tanja Tolar, SOAS and Sami De Giosa, SOAS. Organised by: Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

Part of the Society’s Student Series.

The stories of the Prophets are mentioned throughout the Qur’an and provide an insight into the key incidents in the lives of those chosen by God. In each of these incidents are preserved timeless lessons for every person looking to follow in the footsteps of the most blessed of mankind. This course will study these important stories in order to reflect upon the lessons contained therein and what can be learned in order to better our own character and conduct. The legacy of Prophethood is something intrinsically linked to the Muslim faith and as such all should be familiar with the stories of our noble Prophets and how they apply to contemporary life.

By Ahmad Khalidi, Oxford University.

Tickets : Admission free

Time: 8:30am - 7:00pm

Tickets: Various ticket prices Time: 11:00 am Venue: British Museum, Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DG Tel: 020 7323 8500/8306 Email: SARS@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk Web: www.sudarchrs.org.uk/Events.htm

Early Islamic Enamelled Glass and Its Iconography + Being a Sultan in Style: Calligraphy and Decoration in the Arts of the Late Mamluk Period (Lecture)

Venue: Birmingham - UK web:www.alkauthar.org/course. php?course=397

22 May 2013 Rare Persian Map Collection Launch Event Organised by: Centre for Iranian Studies, LMEI, SOAS. An event to mark the rare Persian map collection donated to the Centre for Iranian Studies at SOAS

by Dr Cyrus Ala’i.

Tickets : Admission free Time: 6:00 pm Venue: Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, SOAS, School of Oriental and African Studies, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG Tel 020 7898 4490/4330 Email: vp6@soas.ac.uk Web: www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/events/

28 - 29 May 2013

IFN Europe Forum 2013 Interest in Islamic finance amongst the European countries has increased tremendously. The 2013 IFN Europe Issuers & Investors Forum will take you around the continent and explore the growth opportunities, potential and challenges of Islamic Finance.

Organised by: REDmoney events Venue: The Guildhall, London Web: http://www.redmoneyevents. com/2013/2013_IFNforum_EUROPE.asp Contact person: Rachael Lim

Disclaimer: islam today does not necessarily endorse or recommend any of these events, their contents and individuals or groups involved in them. We are not responsible for changes to times, fees or venues. Further information should be sought directly from the organisers.

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