islam today - issue 14/ December 2013

The Invention of Holidays

Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi: The star finder

Britain moving ahead on Islamic Finance

issue 14 vol.2 December 2013

UK ÂŁ3.00

Universality of human rights::

Between truth and fantasy

Editorial team December 2013 Issue, 14 Vol, 2

Published Monthly

islam today magazine intends to address the concerns and aspirations of a vibrant Muslim community by providing readers with inspiration, information, a sense of community and solutions through its unique and specialised contents. It also sets out to help Muslims and non-Muslims better understand and appreciate the nature of a dynamic faith.

Managing Director

Mohammad Saeed Bahmanpour

Chief Editor

Amir De Martino

Managing Editor

Anousheh Mireskandari

Political Editor

Reza Murshid

Health Editor

Laleh Lohrasbi

Art Editor

Moriam Grillo

Layout and Design

Sasan Sarab - Michele Paolicelli

Design and Production

PSD UK Ltd.

Contact us Information

info@islam-today.net

Letters to the Editor

letters@islam-today.net

Contributions & Submissions submit@islam-today.net Subscriptions

subscriptions@islam-today.net

www.islam-today.net Follow us on facebook

www.facebook.com/islamtodaymag

Alexander Khaleeli

Mohammad Reza Jozi

Ali Jawad

Mohsen Biparva

Batool Haydar

Muhammad Haghir

Cleo Cantone

Muhammad Reza Amirinia

Frank Julian Gelli

Nehad Khanfar

Hannah Smith

Sabnum Dharamsi

Heidi Kingstone

Back Cover Cyrus the Great cylinder is considered the first charter of right of nations in the world dating back 539 BC. The cylinder was excavated in 1879 in the foundations of the Marduk temple of Babylon, Iraq.

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

ISSN 2051-2503 Islamic Centre of England

2

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.

19

Malay Silverware Cleo Cantone follows the trail of the Lotus tree through the rooms of London’s V&A museum

From the Editor 5

Time for a new ‘Declaration’

Politics 22

News 6

US eavesdropping on Germany is yet more evidence that the country’s exceptionalist mentality prevents it from extending its influence around the globe, argues Reza Murshid

News from around the world

Life & Community 10

Britain moving ahead on Islamic Finance

Feature

Nehad Khanfar is enthusiastic about the British government’s pledge to become the first country outside the Islamic world to issue Islamic bonds (sukuk)

12

The Follies of American Intelligence

26

Healthcare - America’s big ideological battleground Will ObamaCare genuinely extend healthcare to the poor or will it create a two-tier healthcare system? Heidi Kingstone investigates

“Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright” Sabnum Dahramsi observes the different attitudes of British Muslims to Christmas

28 Arts 16

Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi: The star finder Mohammad Reza Jozi celebrates the life and unique discoveries of the Persian mathematician and astronomer, Azophi

In the Spotlight Ibrahim El-Salahi - Sudanese contemporary painter

Review 32

Masterpiece

What lies behind the current nostalgia for the Ottoman Empire, especially when Turks themselves have historically tried to forget that legacy? Mohsen Biparva reviews the BBC documentary ‘The Ottomans: Europe’s Muslim Emperors’

‘Grounds for standing and understanding’

by Babak Golkar - Iranian Artist

17

Photography ‘Camouflower’ by Arwa Abouon – Libyan artist

Cover 36

18

The Nostalgic Man of Europe

The Place to BE

Differences on account of culture or religion should not be used an excuse to shy away from the brutal reality suffered by billions around the world, says Ali Jawad

P21 Gallery, London Exhibition of contemporary Middle Eastern and Arab art and culture

Addendum ‘In the City’ Graphic design and sound-art exhibition on Alexandria, Algiers, Baghdad and Nablus

Universality of human rights: Between truth and fantasy

Faith 40

‘Read, in the name of your Lord!’

Any discussion of developing Islamic literacy must, first and foremost, begin with the Qur’an, says Alexander Khaleeli

3

44

Travelling Light

64

Batool Haydar finds a poignant analogy between preparing for travel and undertaking the most important journey of all

Interfaith 46

Hermit of the Sahara Frank Gelli recalls the remarkable figure of Charles de Foucauld and explains how he remains a symbol of ongoing spiritual struggle

The honeybee is dying out: urgent attention required!

Hannah Smith examines the plight of the honeybee and explains how Muslims can help prevent them from dying out

What & Where 66

Listings and Events Friday Nights Thought Forum - Islamic Centre of England Spiritual Mysteries and Ethical Secrets - Islamic Centre of England The New Middle East – London School of Economics

Health 50

The ghost of DU lingers on in Iraq and Afghanistan The dramatic increases in birth defects in both regions requires urgent multifaceted international action, says Laleh Lohrasbi

Becoming Politically Savvy and Political Participation – Sabeel The Unique Necklace by the Andalusian, Ibn Abd Rabbihi – SOAS Classical Arabic courses - Ebrahim College Jameel Prize 3: The shortlist - Victoria & Albert Museum

52

Is Islam really responsible for the rising incidence of multiple sclerosis?

Laleh Lohrasbi examines the claims of a connection between increased rates of (MS) among Iranian women and their Islamic code of dress

The Dilemma in Contemporary Iranian Art (Seminar) SOAS The case of transitional justice in Tunisia - St Antony's College – Oxford Fakhruddin Razi, Kalam & al-Tafsir al-kabir - Islamic Circles Intensive Classical Arabic - Ibn Jabal Institute

Opinion 54

The Invention of Holidays Mohammad Haghir investigates the origin of the modern culture of holiday-making and its relation to the global industrial economy

Andalucian Routes - Islamic Spain Experience Forgotten Heroes: North Africans and the Great War: 1914 – 1919 Pearls - Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Places 58

Granada; City of light Muhammad Reza Amirinia reminds us of everlasting signs of Islamic rule, Moorish art, culture and tradition in Andalucía

Science 62

The scientific power of prayer Hannah Smith reflects on the biological ways God has programmed us to connect with Him

4

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.

From the

Editor

Time for a new ‘Declaration’ cult to claim any kind of universality for such rights. He also expresses concern at the politicisation of human rights by governments and states considering it a major obstacle towards improving its status.

O

ver the last couple of years we have witnessed the roaring sound of thousands of people across the world yearning to be heard. Various nonviolent protests have been organised in capitals across the world from North Africa to Europe and America to support the fundamental rights of all persons without distinction of any kind, calling for respect, dignity and self-determination in political and economic life.

These events have reminded us that people’s desire for a justice that guarantees their rights is as fresh today as it was 63 years ago when the UN General Assembly proclaimed the 10th of December as Human Rights Day. This was followed two years later by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document laying the foundation for safeguarding the rights of people across the world.

The universality of the Declaration was questioned from the outset as it was seen as a messenger of a very specific ethical and cultural vision unquestionably rooted in Christianity and the European Enlightenment. Today the question still remains as to the proper source from which human rights should be drawn; “fundamentality”, “universality”, “inviolability” or “indivisibility”?

In the cover story of this issue Ali Jawad has highlighted certain paradoxes that exist in the current understanding of the concept of human rights resulting from the presence of many cultures and ideologies in our world, making it diffi-

Theorists have identified three possible foundations of human rights: Divine authority, laws of nature and ratification of international treaties (ie. the “consent” of States).

The American legal scholar Michael J. Perry suggests that only by thinking of men as the work of God (thereby “sacred”) can we believe in the “universality” and in the “mandatory nature” of human rights (aiming to protect “dignity”).

In today’s world the problem with this view is that not everyone accepts the existence of an omnipotent God. There also remains the problem that the world has many different religions. So how can a vision tied to a specific religious view be universally shared?

Those who subscribe to the religious view of human rights have to accept that the God-based argument cannot provide the basis for a wider agreement - at least not at present. A better option would be to find a framework based on consultation, agreements and consent among states.

The example of the life of the Prophet provides for Muslims a guideline for action in this respect. When the Prophet Muhammad(s) was invited to take the leadership of the city of Yathreb after his migration from Makkah, not everybody accepted him as the Prophet of God, especially not the members of other religions already present in that city. The Prophet was certainly not going to impose himself by force. What he did instead was to come to various agreements and understandings of a practical and expedient nature to enable the city to function under his

leadership. He put aside his ‘mantle of prophet’ for those of other faiths that had not accepted his Divine Mission.

Muslims believe that despite all difficulties humanity is on a course towards a better life. And like many other religions, Islam supports the theory that, ‘God’s promise of a time when injustice and suffering will be overcome’. In Islamic eschatology this will take place under the leadership of a very special man, known in Islamic traditions as the Mahdi. His greatest achievement will be to remove all those obstacles that prevent us from seeing the universality of our destiny and our unique relation to our Benevolent Creator. Only then will we be able to fully appreciate the concept of universality.

In the meantime there is still much work to be done to filter a theory of universal human rights from a quintessentially western ethnocentrism. This could be achieved by establishing a nucleus of universally shared values.

The core could easily include the most serious violations of human rights on which the majority of states agree.

These are: genocide, racial discrimination (especially apartheid), torture, inhuman or degrading treatment and the violation of the right of peoples to self-determination. The list could gradually be extended to include the right to nutrition, access to water, health and safety, security, freedom of expression, and the participation of citizens in decision-making of their governments through free elections.

There is a need for a review of the original UN declaration. The Second Declaration of Human Rights would respond to the need to identify those very few rights that can truly be called “universal”. A goal probably too ambitious, but one with which the international community will sooner or later have to come to terms. •

5

News AUSTRALIA

Rugby Player Converts to Islam Blake Ferguson has revealed he converted to Islam because his life as an ex-rugby player was spiralling out of control on alcohol-fuelled benders.

The exiled NSW State of Origin star told the press it was also a decision made to save his stalled rugby league career.

‘Alcohol is completely forbidden in Islam,’ he said, ‘and that’s been my problem for the last five years. It’s brought me down to where I am now. I enjoyed a drink but it just creates problems. I’ve had enough. I really have.’

Reports in the press revealed that Ferguson was encouraged by Anthony Mundine, a Muslim boxer, to make a commitment to the Islamic faith.

to make me a better person and better rugby league player,’ Ferguson said.

- this index will be another global first for the City of London.

‘It’s going to make me more focused, more dedicated, more devoted. Being an NRL player is really a 24-hour job.

I haven’t appreciated that in the past.

According to Cameron, the UK government is partnering with the Shell Foundation to create a new £4.5 million grant to boost the work of the Nomou initiative - a growth fund that provides skills and finance to small businesses across the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, which will provide opportunities for British companies in the longer-term

Mundine said he was confident his ‘brother’ would stay focused and commit to the religion long term. ‘It’s pressure for a boy like him to convert,’ Mundine said.

BRITAIN

Cameron Unveils Islamic Index on London Stock Exchange

They were photographed together praying at Zetland Mosque. Ferguson, who earlier this year failed in attempts to give up alcohol, says he is aware of the doubters.

‘I’ll prove them wrong, God willing,’ he said, ‘It was always going to be the reaction. I expected that. Everyone’s out there to watch me fail. I’ll just prove them all wrong if you know what I’m saying.’

Ferguson lived with Mundine before converting to Islam.

‘Living with Choc made me realise what I’ve done to myself. He is clean-living with amazing dedication. That’s what drew me towards Islam. I’ve never been baptised before. I was always fearing God.’

Cameron delivered his message to more than 1,800 political and business leaders from over 115 countries who travelled to London for the ninth World Islamic Economic Forum – and the first held outside a Muslim country.

Mundine previously help to convert superstar Sonny Bill Williams to the Islamic faith when he was facing similar challenges in his life and football career.

Global Islamic investments have soared by 150% since 2006 and are expected to be worth £1.3 trillion next year.

6

Islamic finance has also helped transform London’s skyline by financing in whole or in part developments such as The Shard, Chelsea Barracks and the Olympic Village.

Author Slams Former Justice Secretary on Women’s Veil British Prime Minister David Cameron recently unveiled ground-breaking plans for a new Islamic index on the London Stock Exchange as he declared Britain is open for business at the opening of the World Islamic Economic Forum.

‘So far it hasn’t been hard (off alcohol) because I’m around good influences and good people. My face has changed.

I’m looking and feeling fresh. My whole physique has changed. This will make me strong, God willing. Islam is going

The London Stock Exchange is an attractive draw for Islamic finance listing with over 49 Sukuk (an Islamic bond which pays investors a fixed return based on the profit generated by an underlying asset) listings valued at US$ 34 billion over the last 5 years.

Cameron said that London Stock Exchange is creating a new way of identifying Islamic finance opportunities by launching a world-leading Islamic Market Index; strengthening FTSE’s leading position as a developer of innovative, alternatively-weighted indices

A British author has criticised former Justice Secretary Ken Clarke for describing the Muslim women’s veil as ‘a kind of bag’.

Writing for British daily The Telegraph, Cristina Odone, asked Clarke to respect other people’s choices: ‘Ken Clarke says the veil is “a kind of bag”. I wonder what he would have made of the nuns who schooled me?’

Raised as a Catholic, Odone has been a journalist, novelist and broadcaster and served as the editor of Catholic Herald.

She asked Clarke who is now a minister without portfolio: ‘Would the minister

without portfolio have called Mother Teresa’s habit “a kind of bin liner”?’

Odone found it reprehensible that that some Westerners were bullying Muslim women for observing their religious dress code.

and launched an emergency appeal to provide shelter, food and other essentials as the people of the Philippines struggle to rebuild their lives in the wake of what threatens to become the country’s worst natural disaster.

‘Women’s religious dress code, however, poses all kinds of challenges to the Western eye. Or rather, Muslim women’s religious code does: I haven’t heard anyone complain about Orthodox Jewish women wearing a wig and sober dresses. But mention the veil, and critics instantly claim that this is no display of piety but a submission to some horrid chauvinist,’ Odone wrote.

The storm is one of the fiercest to make landfall since weather records began.

The typhoon left at least two million people in 41 provinces affected and at least 23,000 houses damaged or destroyed.

According to Odone, Muslims are already under pressure and the suggestion to ban the veil will add further pressure on the community: ‘As Muslims, they feel stigmatised already: their faith schools are under attack, their traditions rubbished, and their allegiance to this country suspect. Now, their clothes are being portrayed as unacceptable.’

Ships were tossed inland, cars and trucks swept out to sea and bridges and ports washed away.

Muslims Assist Typhoon-Stricken Philippines British charity Islamic Relief has provided an immediate grant of £50,000

Large areas along the coast were transformed into twisted piles of debris, blocking roads and trapping decomposing bodies underneath.

The United Nations said officials in Tacloban, which bore the brunt of the storm, had reported one mass grave of 300-500 bodies.

“Many of those in the path of the storm are very poor, making it more likely that their homes will be damaged or destroyed and that they will need support to rebuild their lives,” Islamic Relief said in its appeal.

Philippines President Benigno Aquino III said he was considering declaring a state of emergency or martial law in

Tacloban.

A state of emergency usually includes curfews, price and food supply controls, military or police checkpoints and increased security patrols.

As the ‘super typhoon’ battered communities in the Philippines, American Muslims were preparing to present help from thousands of miles away.

Both the Zakat Foundation of America and Helping Hand USA also issued immediate appeals for help.

Muslims make up nearly eight percent of the total populace in the largely Catholic Philippines.

The mineral-rich southern region of Mindanao, Islam’s birthplace in the Philippines, is home to five million Muslims.

Islam reached the Philippines in the 13th century, about 200 years before Christianity.

FRANCE

Islamophobic Mayor Attempts to Bully Muslim-Run Women-Only Gym There is seemingly no controversial aspect to this brand new women-only health club in the upscale Parisian suburb of Le Raincy. Fire and security officials have confirmed the gym meets all safety codes, and an eager young couple have worked hard to make their new business a success.

But the owners say that since the town’s right-wing mayor discovered they were Muslims, he has tried to shut down their business in order to keep his suburb Muslim-free. For many this is a perfect case of Islamophobia, because there is no religious aspect to this story. The gym happily serves clients of all races and beliefs, with no restrictions whatsoever. The only problem appears to be that the owners are openly Muslim.

Islamophobia is a convenient tool: The

7

News mayor has an election next spring, and many believe he is trying to ruin the lives of two innocent people in order to win the conservative vote in this bourgeois suburb.

The flustered boy couldn’t find his card and sought a little divine assistance.

But there is a deeper political message as well: Le Raincy is telling those in nearby Muslim-majority suburbs, ‘You are not welcome to move here.’

The plea worked. The boy found his card and started to board again.

They say there is no such thing as bad publicity, but the owners have had their grand opening clouded by powerful enemies who are still pushing to shut down their business.

For many Muslims in France such thinly-veiled Islamophobia may be routine, but they are increasingly less tolerant of such harassment. Analysts say the hardest step is convincing the average French citizen that their strict idea of secularism is so easily and so often used as tool for exclusion and discrimination.

US

Driver Throws Muslim Boy Off Bus for Reciting Prayer A 10-year-old Brooklyn boy recited a Muslim prayer in Arabic to help him find his MetroCard on a city bus - prompting the driver to call him a “terrorist” and toss him off, a new lawsuit charges.

“I start in the name of God, the most merciful, the most beneficent,” the boy said, according to the suit.

But the unidentified driver had a racist meltdown as soon as he heard the Arabic, spewing the slur and forcing the boy back and closing the doors, the suit says.

When the child got home, ‘he told his parents what happened, and they were obviously upset by it,’ Naqvi said.

The Transport authority’s representatives have met with the family and provided pictures of various drivers to identify the accused bigot — but the family was never told who the person was, the lawyer said.

“They decided at that point to seek counsel,” Naqvi said.

Charging religious discrimination and civil-rights abuses, the family is suing the agency and the driver for unspecified damages.

THE UNITED NATIONS

The prayer is a common Muslim phrase used sometimes in the face of a challenge. ‘[The child] said it as he was trying to find his card so he could get’ home, said Hyder Naqvi, lawyer for the boy and his family.

‘He’s a young boy, but he’s old enough to know what discrimination is.’

The disturbing incident occurred as the child was boarding the B-39 bus on his way home from school in Sheepshead Bay around 2:45 p.m. in October 2012, according to the Brooklyn Federal Court suit.

8

US and Israel Lose Voting Rights in UNESCO UNESCO has suspended the voting rights of the United States and Israel,

two years after both countries stopped paying dues to the UN’s cultural arm in protest over its granting full membership to the Palestinians.

The US decision to cancel its funding in October 2011 was blamed on US laws that prohibit funding to any UN agency that implies recognition of the Palestinians’ demands for their own state.

Israel also pulled its funding, objecting to what it called ‘unilateral attempts by the Palestinians to gain recognition of statehood’.

Both countries missed the deadline to provide an official justification for nonpayment and a plan to pay back missed dues. That automatically triggered suspension of their voting rights.

The Palestinians have so far failed in their bid to become a full member of the UN but their UNESCO membership is seen as a potential first step towards UN recognition of statehood.

The United States has characterised UNESCO’s move as a misguided attempt to bypass the two-decade old peace process. Washington says only a resumption of peace talks ending in a treaty with Israel can result in Palestinian statehood.

DIGITAL EDITION 6 months £10.00 12 months £18.00

PAPER EDITION 6 months £25.00 Subscribe online:

12 months £48.00

http://www/islam-today.net/subscribe.asp or at For subscriptions by post, send a cheque payable to the Islamic Centre of England Write ‘islam today magazine’ on the back.

Please note that the above fees are for the UK only and include postage.

For subscriptions outside the UK please write to: subscriptions@islam-today.net

9

BRITAIN MOVING AHEAD

ON ISLAMIC FINANCE

10

The UK government’s commitment to offer Islamic financial services to the world, and the possibility of other western countries following suit, can be considered an historical moment for the global future of Islamic finance, says Nehad Khanfar

I

n his speech addressing the 9th World Islamic Economic Forum held in London in October 2013, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said: “I don’t just want London to be a great capital of Islamic Finance in the Western world, I want London to stand alongside Dubai and Kuala Lumpur as one of the great capitals of Islamic finance anywhere in the world.”

George Osborne - UK Chancellor of the Exchequer - had earlier announced that Britain would be the first country outside the Islamic world to issue Islamic bonds (sukuk). The bonds, worth £200 million, bring to mind the history of Islamic finance development in Britain, when in 2006, the then UK Chancellor Gordon Brown expressed his intention to make London a global centre. Since then London has hosted dozens of events related to Islamic finance. These have covered most areas related to the growing industry of Islamic insurance (takaful), bonds (sukuk), banks, risk management, derivatives, and so on.

The UK’s familiarity with Islamic finance makes it easier to understand the British government’s enthusiasm for it. But the question remains as to what the government hopes to achieve through encouraging Islamic finance.

Some believe that the government is now convinced that Islamic finance including sukuk could offer solutions to the UK’s financial problems and for this reason is ready to allow Islamic finance to play a greater role in the British banking market.

However should the UK government plan to compete with other major players, it should recognise the growing role of Islamic finance in the global financial markets and incorporate Islamic finance into the British financial market. This means giving over a greater portion of the British market to Islamic finance. Attracting Middle Eastern investors to the British market in order to help its deeply damaged economy requires an interactive rela-

The reality is that Islamic finance has now proved itself to be a successfully functioning model to parallel the wellestablished western model of finance.

Western countries have finally started to realise that Islamic finance can benefit non-Muslims and Muslims alike.

A logical outcome would be that Islamic finance, with its Islamic Sharia compliance and its flexible nature, can be regulated within Western legal systems.

All this requires is a well-organised hosting financial structure and a willing investing country.

Such positive progress to promote Islamic financial products and make them available on the London market can also provide an opportunity for presenting Islam to non-Muslims. By being an international financial platform, Britain can offer and promote Islamic products to an already large array of existing clients from Europe and the rest of the world. There is much hope that Cameron’s recent announcement can create a positive ground for more understanding between the Islamic world and the west.

The British government’s latest involvement in Islamic finance has generated great interest worldwide. This kind of exposure can show the practicality of Islamic financial law, its suitOsborne’s announcement is ability in a modern financial a step forward in enhancing context and its applicability the position of London as The reality is that Islamic finance has now under non-Islamic laws as the strongest Islamic finana viable investment option. proved itself to be a successfully functioning cial centre in the western Cameron’s announcement can model to parallel the well-established world. London is not a new be used as a vehicle to drive the player - academic British western model of finance. financial sectors to accept new institutions, UK banks, methods and models to help financial institutions and damaged economies across the legal firms based in the world. capital have long shown a practical tion between Britain and the Middle Whatever the government’s motivainterest in this field.

East whereby one party offers cash and tion behind the latest announcement, the other provides experience and a In a further statement the Prime Britain can be credited for thinking out stable financial environment.

Minister also announced that the of the box in trying to introduce new government has already removed the Could it be possible that the UK governand innovative methods to encourage double tax on Islamic mortgages and ment has considered the intrinsic moral economic growth. • extended tax relief on Islamic mortvalue of Islamic finance, seeing it as a gages to companies and individuals as possible ally in creating a more just Dr Nehad Khanfar is a lecturer in Islamic Finanwell as introducing commitments to economic system? It seems unlikely. cial/Banking Contracts and Comparative Conopening up new forms of student loans Hard-headed financial considerations tract Law at the Islamic College for Advanced and business start-up loans. are what is driving the government’s Studies in London. interest at this time.

11

Christmas approaches and it is impossible to ignore the spangly party atmosphere. For Muslims who live in non-Muslim countries, the season of good will presents many challenges, says Sabnum Dharamsi 12

I have come across many different attitudes to Christmas, and so I decided to take a closer look at the way we do things, in the hope of finding a way to get through the festive season unscathed!

dence that comes from Christmas being something you’ve practised, rather than just observed. And it may lead to situations in which you would feel guilty or compromised. So you are holed up at home, an outsider and excluded.

First of all here is a slightly tongue-incheek guide to some of the attitudes we adopt over Yuletide.

3) JOIN IN: So perhaps you’ve given up on wanting, and have gone for it. For many Muslims, Islam is not so much a religious as a cultural identity, and only a part of that identity. So although you might not share this with family elders, you feel comfortable with going to the parties, doing the countdown shopping, playing charades and maybe

Canterbury. It can be quite nice too, to compare the tone of sacred festivities in Islam and Christianity, and find differences and similarities between our Eids and Christmas: we all overeat, we all have lovely rituals, Eid is less commercialised and more sacred, Christians have more fun etc. But where do you draw the line? You believe in live and let live, but you’re really not sure about your child being in the school nativity play.

1) AGAINST: There are many Muslims who bunker down, deciding perhaps that nothing useful can be got from the 5) FORBIDDEN: Some Muslims feel outside world at this time. Some aspects that Christmas is firmly un-Islamic on of Christmas can assault or even offend religious grounds. They will often be our Islamic sense of sobriety. aware of the historical origins People around us are planning of Christmas and how many on overeating, over-indulging, of the symbols of Christmas drinking to excess and dressing The clashing of beliefs and cultures, so evident (Christmas tree, decorations, in immodest or undignified ways. In response, Muslims in the Christmas season, challenges us to explore Santa) are not part of early Christian religious tradition, but develop a hyper-awareness of our self-concepts and intentions more closely. are pagan elements that have the outsider and take a strong been grafted on. They often dislike to the rampant matewithdraw children from the rialism and frivolity. You may last week of school so they are even spearhead a Facebook campaign even getting a tree.

Some of you will protected from the Christmas hype and about Xmas being an absurd waste do this with other Muslims, some with don’t feel they’re missing out. They may of money, and find yourself shouting non-Muslims and some with a mixture. be charitable givers, aware of Islam’s loudly at largely disinterested people Some of you will get a halal turkey. association with modesty, but also feel about the huge amounts of debt that Some of you will even get into the strongly that celebrating Christmas is to people get into, not to mention the age-old Christmas pastime of family participate in the false idea that Jesus(a) ecological damage wrought by tonnes arguments, such as the one that comes is the son of God. They will often be of excess packaging. of trying to explain to the children why critical of other Muslims above.

2) FOMO: Fear of missing out. For some you can’t have a dog….(great-grandma One of the key things that strikes me of us, there is a lot more ambivalence. wouldn’t like it??) is that we all have multiple identities, Perhaps it is something that one doesn’t 4) PLURALISTIC: Many Muslims, while and often these clash with each other. feel entirely comfortable about, but the practising, see no harm in some ways of Just as it’s hard to be both a perfect energy that surrounds Christmas can be joining in, when the festivities don’t clash son and perfect husband, especially quite overwhelming. It looks fun, and overtly with Islamic teachings.

There in the same house, it’s hard to be everyone seems to be having a great are often talks at this time reminding both Muslim and British, especially as time. You would love to be a part of it, us of what we share with Christianity, our own understandings of these are but you realise you can’t be. If you have (a) and how Jesus is significant for both constantly changing, both at an indikids, maybe you’ll indulge them a bit, faiths.

You love your faith, and feel vidual and societal level. And we also but really you would love to have your connected to the more religious aspects all have contradictions within ourselves. own excuse to go out, dress up, laugh of Christmas and Christianity.

Perhaps Particularly in respect of religion, it can irrationally loudly, sing songs and make you connect with the carol singing, and be extremely hard to know and accept merry. Even if you were invited, you’d enjoy the speeches of the Archbishop of where we are in relation to it; on the one still be different, and lack the confi-

14

hand we understand that this is meant to be a priority in our lives, but we may not always feel it inside. On the other hand we may be extremely religious on the outside, but that may also mask a fear that our hold on our faith identity is more fragile than we project.

So what to do? God tells us “O mankind!

We created you from a single [pair] of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other (not that you may despise [each other]. Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of God is [he who is] the most righteous of you. And God has full knowledge and is well acquainted [with all things].” (Qur’an 49:13) I believe that the clashing of beliefs and cultures, so evident in the Christmas season, challenges us to explore our self-concepts and intentions more closely. Working out who we are and how we are go together. Indeed, Islam is a way of life, and God has decreed not only the times that we live in, but also where we live. He created us to inhabit a world of hardship, “Verily We have created man into toil and struggle.”(90:4) So it’s incumbent on each of us to work out how to be Muslim in the time and place in which we find ourselves. In a way Islam - submission - means working out what it means to be Muslim in this day and age and this place. For each of us Xmas is a bit like being a Muslim who drives a taxi on a Saturday night.

You are in it but not of it. The question is whether we conduct ourselves with compassion, with mercy, with understanding, with discernment, or whether we are judgmental towards others?

Perhaps it isn’t about whether we are

in or out, but about our niyyah (intention), and how that is manifested in our actions.

The question of how we conduct ourselves is particularly salient when applied to those who are more vulnerable. For example, take new converts who want and need to be more open to other established Muslims. I find that often those who’ve been brought up as Muslims can be quite harsh about converts participating in Christmas with their families, forgetting that Christmas is a huge test for them. Similarly, with young people, adults often forget how essential a part of a young person’s development it is to make friends, to not be too different, to form their own social networks and to experiment.

Christmas is a huge test for them too, and adults can be part of creating an overly rigid and therefore dismissive response to their needs rather than understanding them.

There are often no clear-cut answers to how to respond to challenges, but what is important is to foster joy and zest for living in our children, to develop nurturing environments where possible so that not only do they have the capacity and confidence to make mature choices, but also so that they associate spirituality with joy.

Perhaps the most important lifelearning for Muslims and Christians alike is being compelled to engage with diverse perceptions and values through which we are also encouraged to disidentify with the narrowness of our concepts, and respond to the deeper truth of who we are. •

‘There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear’. (New Testament 1 John, iv. 18) ‘Each man’s work will become manifest.’ (New Testament 1 Corinthians iii.

13) ‘The true servants of the Most Merciful are those who behave gently and with humility on earth, and whenever the foolish quarrel with them, they reply with [words of] peace.’ (Qur’an 25: 63) ‘And follow that which is revealed to you, and be patient until Allah issues [His] judgement, and He is the best of judges’. (Qur’an 10:109)

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

15

ARTS Art Editor Moriam Grillo

Considered a pioneer in African art, Ibrahim El-Salahi is a Sudanese contemporary painter who studied Art at the University of Khartoum.

His artistic studies were extensive.

During the 1950s and 1960s he studied in London, Italy, the US and South America. In 1966 he led the Sudanese delegation in the first World Festival of Black Arts in Dakar, Senegal.

El-Salahi taught Applied Arts in Khartoum and was a member of the Khartoumi School founded by the Sudanese calligrapher Osman Waqialla.

His time in Europe and the Americas were crucial to expanding his knowledge of Renaissance art. These experiences have been fundamental in developing his own style. From the exposure of other artists and contemporary western art forms, El-Salahi developed a unique style

16

which is based on his own African and Islamic heritage. It is a style which has built bridges and enabled modern art to be recognised beyond Europe.

Recognised as a visionary modernist, El-Salahi’s painting expands the narrative of global artistry by forging a cross cultural and cross continental link. The narrative El-Salahi has brought to the art world tells of another story which can connect to other cultures and customs.

The Last Stand 1964 - Oil on canvas

His work has developed over the decades from elementary lines to abstracted and, more often, organic forms. His paintings have a meditative quality, which assisted by the muted colours and earthy tones, highlight the aesthetic style of the Khartoum School. He is documented as one of the first painters to incorporate Arabic calligraphy in his paintings El-Salahi’s is a visual style in keeping with many artists outside Europe and America.

Last summer a major retrospective of El-Salahi’s work was mounted at the Tate Modern in London.

Grounds for standing and understanding - Acrylic, wood, wool

MASTERPIECE ‘Grounds for standing and understanding’ - Babak Golkar Babak Golkar is a Vancouver based artist of Iranian origin who is internationally recognised for his imaginative conceptual artwork.

When I first saw his work, I was filled with a range of emotions. Firstly, I was surprised by the candour of his work and the pared down complexity of his ideas. I was stunned, puzzled and intrigued.

Having studied art for many years, I appreciate how important the vertical and horizontal axes are in the formation of sculpture. As an artist, one’s first and foremost role is to engage the viewer. This is, of course, mainly executed through firmly rooted concepts and an informed choice of materials. But, what every artist engages in are ideas around the collaboration of positive and negative space just as a composer considers the notes, the pace and the pauses of a piece of work. And any listener of classical music will have concluded that the silent punctuations are equally relevant to the notes that precede or follow.

Likewise, the artist, practitioner of matter, vies with material in relation to space and time.

Art is an opportunity to convey something; a message or simply a feeling. Here, Golkar expresses many things. When I first saw this piece from a distance, it resembled the model of a New York skyline rendered in white on an interesting landscape. On closer inspection, I

realised that the white figures were fixed upon a rug of Eastern origin. A more detailed inquiry helped me to recognise that the figures themselves were actually part of the rug from which they materialised. For me, there are so many metaphors that arise from this piece, the strongest being ones that centre around time - the rug representing antiquity and the geometric shapes that arise from it modernity, East meeting West, past shaping the present, a moment born out of a mass of time, a lifetime.

My final feelings on this piece were that not only did it skilfully pay homage to a celebrated past - one that the maker could relate to and was born of, but that the visual language used built bridges between the vast identities of the East and West. Looking at this piece, I found myself pondering on the healing quality of time, the power of time and space and how this model, this microcosmic space, reflects our modern world. That this could represent a thousand landscapes in a thousand places, perhaps even a thousand moments in a thousand lives, with all lives and locations sharing a similar story, a story rooted in time and space.

Reflecting on his work, Golkar says: “I started imagining the patterns as three-dimensional forms. Because of the intense colour contrast of the dyes used in nomadic Persian carpets, the shapes began to vibrate if looked at for a long period of time”.

PHOTOGRAPHY ‘Camouflower’ Arwa Abouon, 2004 Arwa Abouon was born in Tripoli, Libya. Currently living in Montreal, she studied Design at Concordia University.

She produces light-hearted photographic representations, based on portraiture and still life, about identity and belonging. Her finished work is highly graphic; each image conveyed through simple blocks of colour or pattern. Often employing

monochromes as a basis for her images, Abouon uses old-fashioned postures and compositions, making her subjects appear to have been recorded in a bygone era even though her images are obviously produced in the 21st century.

Her photographs are simple yet complex, in form and meaning.

A woman of deep thinking, her work reflects her own personal journey through life. With many of her images furnished by family members, Abouon’s underlying narrative is laden with a deep sense of love and belonging. Her style is unassuming and presented without the aggressive undertones of many artistic representations of identity.

17

“The themes addressed in my works stem directly from my life experience as a female artist living and working that possess much wider social effects by collapsing racial, cultural and religious borders. In other words, the images, which are seemingly autobiographical in nature, move beyond mere autobiography,” she explains.

Although it would be easy to regard

her work as administering an element of pastiche this appears to be simply a revision of the formality of portraiture. She uses portraiture to question and study human behaviour and ideas of familial and social conditioning that shape us as people. Repackaging these studies with a balance of humour and homage, Abouon infuses her own Islamic identity into the mix to

provoke deeper contemplation and discussion.

She says: “I question my own place within a so-called Western culture on the one hand and an upbringing in a Muslim household on the other.

My ultimate aim is to sculpt a finer appreciation of the Islamic culture by shifting the focus from political issues to a poetic celebration of the faith’s foundations.”

TO PLACE TO BE

ADDENDUM

P21 Gallery, London

In the City

In The City is a graphic design and sound-art exhibition that provides a rare glimpse into four enigmatic, but overlooked Arab cities - Alexandria, Algiers, Baghdad and Nablu - by recapturing and re-imagining elements of those cities. The collection explores each city’s panorama through its streets, landmarks, people, signage and sounds. Each room contains elements borrowed from the city it represents, forming a variety of installations that will entice interaction between the audience and the work.

The exhibition runs until December 15 at the P21 Gallery, London.

The P21 Gallery, designed by the award winning Egyptian architect, Professor Abdul Halim Ibrahim, is an independent London-based nonprofit organisation established to

18

promote contemporary Middle Eastern and Arab art and culture.

P21 Gallery 21 Chalton Street London NW1 1JD

Moriam Grillo is an international artist. She holds Bachelor degrees in Photography, Film and Ceramics. She is also a freelance broadcaster,photographer and writer.

European Style Box - Malay Silverware

Malay silverware

The rich tradition of Malay silverware is being showcased in an exhibition at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. Cleo Cantone went along to take a look

I

have often dreamed of travelling to Southeast Asia and my Malaysian friends have encouraged me to do so. With its majority Muslim population, the region boasts the co-existence and shared cultural heritage of different religions: Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. Situated at the crossroads of trade between East and West, Islam penetrated the Malay Archipelago in the 16th century, largely through commerce. Indeed, up until the European ‘spice rush’, the spice trade was in Muslim hands and was mostly water borne. Spices were not the only means

by which Islam spread in the region: medical knowledge and by extension the Arabic language of medical texts became the lingua franca of medicine in Southeast Asia.

Malay arts were no less affected by Islamic influence, which continued to blend with pre-existing Buddhist and Hindu traditions. Indeed, intricate metalwork has a long history in Malaysia and was traditionally a royal craft. The sultans would provide their silversmiths with European coins or Chinese ingots to be melted down and turned into various accessories;

hence they were mainly for royal use.

The practice of melting down silver was copied by the notables who exchanged old silverware for new items, making the survival of pre-nineteenth century silver something of a rarity.

Enter British colonial administrators making the precious, vanishing old silverware at once sought-after and collectable. These collections found their way to Europe and to the great exhibitions of the 19th and 20th centuries: in 1886 such an exhibition was held in London featuring Perak Sultanate regalia. The following year, electrotype

19

image 1: Presentation boxes

the saucer’s broad rim is in the shape of lotus petals and embellished with scrolls in low relief.

Even the daggers (krises) are for ceremonial use and their sheaths are embellished with floral motifs. Used both in Java and in the Malay Archipelago, they have a straight or wavy iron blade and gold or silver casing. Primarily destined for royalty and nobility, these daggers are also used in wedding ceremonies by grooms. Their undulated handles are made with wood or water buffalo horn. (image 2)

Image2: Daggers (krises)

Floral ornamentation also permeates two presentation boxes that belonged to Sultan Abdul Rahman of Riau and Lingga (ruled 1883-1911). The floral pattern is carved in low relief while the segments of the lid are hammered on the reverse - a technique known as embossing - then worked with a fine tool on the front using ‘chasing’. (image 1)

Image 3: Large Tray (talam)

copies of the regalia were made for the rim are such examples. In addition, the Among the utensils was a large tray South Kensington Museum with the scalloped edge resembles the petals (talam) marked with Jawi script naming object of inspiring students and artiof the lotus flower with its Buddhist its owner. Here, the geometric designs sans. In the following decades, several associations and symbolic allusions to gifts of Malay silverware were purity. (image 3) donated to the museum.

A magnificent pedestal tray, used These items were eloquent for presentation of gifts at weddings proof of elaborate craftsThe trail of the lotus flower […..] is a symbol belonged to the mother of Sultan manship, using a variety of Abdul Rahman. He ruled over the techniques. shared by different cultures, uniting them like Riau Lingga kingdom which was The V&A’s collection of suppressed by the Dutch colonial the multiple petals of the covered silver dish.

Malay silverware is kept in government, sending the sultan the Silverware galleries in a into exile in Singapore. single case including houseThe smallest boxes were used to hold items and accessories for royal use bear witness to the influence of Islam store betel nut (image 4) but a particularly or rites of passage, such as births and on Malay arts: the two overlapping large and beautifully adorned example weddings. There are ceremonial boxes in eight-pointed stars in the middle of the consists of multiple segments divided the shape of favoured fruits: the Dorian tray and the twelve-pointed stars on the by gilded bands. The decoration is described as the ‘king of fruits’ or the distinctly European and coconut, ‘the heart and soul compares to contemporary of Malay cooking’, the bitter examples from England and fruit, gelugor, used in curries France. Originally owned by to add acidity. Bowls, batil, the Sultanate, it then came used for drinking or finger into the possession of a washing before a meal and British colonial adminissaucers, ceper, which held trator and historian. the drinking bowl are funcPerhaps the least intricate tional as well as ornamental. but no less splendid covered As meals were taken on the dish brings me back to the floor, bowls were not placed original trail: used to hold directly on it but on the food or sweetmeats, this accompanying saucer. Here

20

Image 4: Small betel nut boxes

dish is entirely covered by lotus flower petals and the handle on the top is in the shape of a lotus bud. (image 5)

The technique known as Bidri consists of objects cast from a high zinc alloy inlaid with silver which is then covered in a mud paste; once the paste is removed, the alloy changes from a dull grey to black, leaving the silver inlay unchanged. The earliest of such

by different cultures, uniting them like the multiple petals of the covered silver dish. •

Silver from the Malay World, Victoria and Albert Museum, Room 66 15 July 2013 – 16 March 2014 Admission Free

image 5: Covered dish

Here we see an example of the embossing and chased technique balanced by blank, darker spaces that accentuate the carving.

The dish originates from Indonesia but we see it appear equally on Iranian or Afghan copperware.

In the Jameel gallery, on the ground floor of the museum, you can find such a dish dating to 1496. Made with tinned metal, it is said to have once shone like silver and its recessed background is filled with black. Interestingly, in the Asia galleries on the same floor, you will find the so-called Bidri ware from the Deccan city of Bidar in India.

objects dates from the 16th century and the example displayed is an over-sized lime box used to store betel mixed with spices and chewed after meals or offered to guests.

The traditions of hospitality and ceremonies in the Muslim world find expression in these exquisite objects, carved by masters of their trade, utilised by the powerful and brought to the cases of this museum for all to enjoy.

The trail of the lotus flower took me from the monasteries of Bangkok (in the Southeast Asia gallery), through Iran and to the Malay Archipelago of the present display. It is a symbol shared

Dr Cleo Cantone holds a PhD from the University of London. Her book “Making and Remaking Mosques in Senegal”, based on her doctoral research, has recently been published

by Brill.

21

The Follies of Ame The recent revelations of NSA eavesdropping on Germany shows that the American intelligence machinery actually militates against spreading American influence around the globe, argues Reza Murshid

22

rican Intelligence

23

T

he twentieth century has been billed by most liberal political commentators as ‘the American century’ because of the prominent and decisive role that the United States played in shaping modern geopolitical realities.

But in recent years many who have seen the insurmountable challenges that this superpower has faced both at home and abroad - from the recent government shutdown in Washington DC to the US failure to create a robust alliance in its much-touted War on Terror - have started wondering if the 21st century can also be called the same.

House. The movement was not given due attention by the spy masters in Washington. That is why the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran has been termed ‘an unpredicted revolution’ because the whole intelligence apparatus in the United States failed to see it coming. Large numbers of CIA agents had been stationed in Iran during the Shah’s time but they failed to report the simmering discontent back to headquarters.

The more recent Arab Spring also took the same intelligence machinery by surprise. This is probably because the machinery on the whole is so Islamophobic and devoid of sympathetic experts on Islam that it is loath to admit that the Arab Spring is actually a sequel to the Islamic awakening that started

war of liberation in Afghanistan in the 1980’s. It is now an open secret that Al-Qaeda, the supposed perpetrator of 9/11, was the baby Frankenstein that was nursed in the lap of its mother, the CIA, in the battlefields of Helmand and the Hindu Kush.

After the devastating shock of 9/11, the United States has been attempting, but failing miserably, to build permanent allies in the War on Terror. In the past century, creating an alliance with European powers was much easier for the American strategists despite the fact that most of the twentieth-century European governments were led by leftist politicians who were ideologically aloof to the ideals of the world’s number-one capitalist country.

From the ashes of the Second World War, the United States emerged as a global power, only matched by the Soviet Union for its military and But take a look at American efforts to espionage prowess as well as build an alliance now, and its global influence. Over four it is clear that Washington decades later, after engaging has fallen flat on its face. in bitter Cold War rivalries The failure to discern the changes in the Islamic world An example of this can be with the communist bloc seen in the current state in the last century to this day plagues the American which included its disastrous of US ties with Germany. intelligence apparatus vis-à-vis the Muslim world. misadventure in Indo-China In the twentieth century, and the deranged brinkmanthe United States and its ship in the Cuban Missile allies were able to crush Crisis, the United States was Nazi Germany and then instrumental in putting an end to the initiate a Marshall Plan to ensure that in the 1950’s in the region, leading to Soviet era and effectively destroying the post-war Germany would be reborn the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the mystique that socialism had for a vast with a robust economy, the best antistruggle to drive the Red Army out of population around the globe. During dote to Hitler’s National Socialism.

Afghanistan. these four decades, the US espionage Consequently, following the partition of network played a pivotal role in ending The failure to discern the changes in Germany, West Germany was a close US the Soviet reign. the Islamic world in the last century ally throughout the Cold War until the to this day plagues the American inteldissolution of the Eastern Bloc.

But it was intelligence gathering with a ligence apparatus vis-à-vis the Muslim myopic vision. As the United States was But as it stands now, US-German world. Lack of proper, in-depth inteldefeating its arch enemy in Moscow, a relations are characterised by mutual ligence means that the US is always new rival to the American power was distrust mainly because of the follies lagging behind reality as it develops. emerging. The emergence of this new of the US intelligence apparatus. It is Most observers believe that the inability rival was not properly noticed by the fair to say that the most embarrassing of US policymakers to deal with the U.S. intelligence analysts who were too moment of Barak Obama’s presidency shifting landscape of this Islamic movehell-bent on only observing the events occurred recently when his administrament has meant that even today they in the Eastern Bloc to notice tectonic tion was found with its hand in the are unable to adopt a coherent strategy shifts in the Muslim world.

German information cookie jar. towards Iran or other key players in the In the last decades of the American century, a robust Islamic movement opposed to the unelected Shahs, Sheikhs and ‘unelected presidents’ mostly allied with Washington emerged and threatened to destroy the alliance between these tyrants and the White

24

Muslim world.

Unintelligent way to treat an ally The most important challenge that the United States is facing today is rooted in its shady alliance three decades ago with fighters who were active in the

Thanks to Edward Snowden’s latest revelations, Germans came to know that Angela Merkel’s phone had been bugged by US National Security Agency (NSA) for more than a decade. This fiasco caused the US ambassador to be summoned - for the first time in living

memory - to provide an explanation for the unnecessary snooping on the Chancellor. Obama offered his apology to Merkel when she called him to demand an explanation, but the damage was already done.

Only weeks earlier, Obama had been in Germany making one of his grandiose statements. Merkel was present on the same stage and smiling throughout Obama’s speech. But had she known how the US spy network was eavesdropping on her phone conversations, it is unlikely she would have been such a polite host.

by the same intelligence apparatus), and the powerful diplomacy of Russia, the new century promises to have no room for American exceptionalism.

The American Century was built and buttressed by American intelligence gathering. But it is less certain that the current century will follow suit because of America’s continuing myopia and unwillingness to understand new world realities. •

To make things worse, Obama later claimed that he had no idea that the spying was being carried out. The US officials and commentators appeared quite nonchalant about what their government had done, adopting the following line of argument: Every government is at it and the US is no different. They conveniently forgot to mention the rather obvious fact that you don’t eavesdrop on your friends, let alone someone who does not pose a threat.

One American commentator wrote: ‘An apology would be ludicrous, given the behaviour of other countries.’

We are not sure what other countries have done to justify the action of the bumbling idiots who run the US intelligence apparatus. An apology is offered when a person becomes aware of the wrongdoing. The behaviour of others should not play any part in it.

The reluctance to apologise is rooted in the notion of ‘American exceptionalism’ which is deeply ingrained in most American strategists. In the recent Syrian chemical dossier, when US commentators were discussing whether the US should bomb Syria, a number of American pundits appeared to favour a US air strike on Syria despite the absence of a United Nations resolution simply because they believed in this hackneyed notion.

The expiry date of this notion is long past. With the impressive rise of China and India, the strong economic performance of Brazil (also spied upon

Reza Murshid is a political analyst and freelance writer.

25

Feature

Healthcare

America’s big ideological battleground With ObamaCare health reform moving towards completion, America’s political forces find themselves in a tussle between two contrasting philosophies on the role of the state, says Heidi Kingstone

F

rom a British perspective, it’s next to impossible to understand what so horrifies Americans when you mention these words - universal healthcare – as it is such an integral part of our DNA. In many ways it is also a fundamental part of American ideology to mistrust ‘big’ government. The notion of the individual over the collective is a concept that stretches back to The Constitution and the ‘Bill of Rights’, and even beyond, to colonial times. Each divides and defines our nations – UK, US, (Europe, Australia, Canada) – in a manner unlike anything else.

With the rollout of ObamaCare, which

26

will hopefully make things better for most Americans, the landscape is subtly shifting.

ObamaCare is shorthand for what is actually the Affordable Care Act. In 2010 the American President signed the complex 2000-plus page law that reforms and restructures the $2.6 trillion dollar healthcare industry.

To its many American critics, universal care conjures up nightmares of creeping socialism, something definitely used by its Republican detractors to whip up opposition.

To its many Democratic supporters, however, healthcare reform will finally bring about long awaited financial

accountability and universal coverage for every American. It will be an inclusive plan to cover most of the country’s citizens.

For those who can afford it, they will have to buy coverage on health insurance exchanges by 2014 or pay a monthly fee. By law insurance companies will no longer be able to drop a client if he or she is sick, and it protects against gender discrimination (women will get paid more), and expands free preventative services and health benefits.

However, the October 1st rollout (when the exchanges opened for business – or not as the case may be) has been beset by massive technical glitches. The data

centre hosting the website at the heart of Obama’s reform crashed. But this is only the first step in a long process that will continue for several years and in various stages.

Until now tens of millions of poor Americans have remained uninsured.

One of the key features of ObamaCare is that it proposes to give 30 of 44 million of those Americans access to health insurance.

As it stands the US spends twice as much per capita as the UK on healthcare – (£5300.00 per person or 17.7 per cent as a percentage of GDP – a very poor aggregate of health performance) without superior outcomes. Shockingly, Families USA, a healthcare advocacy group that supports ObamaCare, estimated last year that in the world’s wealthiest nation, a person dies every 20 minutes for lack of insurance.

insurance more affordable, individuals will start to be penalised in 2014 if they don’t comply.

Most people who get health insurance through their employers like their plans and don’t want to lose them or have to pay more. Individuals who either don’t want insurance or who have low cost plans, or whose income is just above the threshold for subsidies, are also worried about the cost. Healthy young individuals don’t want to buy expensive insurance plans. Small ‘c’ conservatives simply don’t like the idea of government telling them what to do.

The issue is if Americans don’t sign up and prices don’t come down, then it will not have the hoped for result. Think of it this way: If an insurance company only insures young healthy people who pay in but almost never claim, then the company can keep rates low and make

of these huge industries make their profits through traditional US insurance. Powerful, well-resourced, highly skilled lobbyists are able to manipulate the American system because there are more points of access for special interest groups in the American presidential system. The parliamentary system is reasonably disciplined and accountable.

Like everywhere, only a small percentage of Americans take a big interest in politics. As each Congressman or woman runs campaigns on their own resources, most deals are done behind closed doors, mostly while the rest of the country is watching TV.

One benefit of the new legislation will be a reduction of unnecessary operations and treatments. These were often prescribed for a number of reasons including patient demand and doctors’ own financial interests, such as ownership stakes in labs and In a recent column Nicholas testing equipment. All healthcare It is estimated last year that in the world’s Kristof, a New York Times joursystems have to find ways to nalist, told the story of a middlewealthiest nation [USA], a person dies every ration care. But in the US, it is aged truck driver who opted out of not based on evidence, science, 20 minutes for lack of insurance. buying a plan when his company or cost-benefit; it’s based on the no longer offered healthcare. ability to pay.

When he tried to purchase a lots of money. That was the situation According to Paul Krugman, The New replacement, as a lifelong smoker, he before - lots of cheap insurance plans York Times Op-Ed columnist and Nobel couldn’t afford the premiums. Having existed that “cherry picked” healthy laureate, “the health reform fight has had insurance for decades, he took a individuals and offered competitive always been about more than health chance, and as chance would have it, prices. reform. Liberals have long viewed he developed colon cancer. As Kristof Old people were left with Medicare; health reform as the opening wedge, a points out, with ObamaCare the man large employers or the public sector sort of proof of concept, in a campaign would have sought treatment with the kept prices for their plans lower because to strengthen the US safety net and first symptoms. Now, it might be too they enrolled so many people.

The new reduce income inequality.” late. requirement now means that insurance It is a fight between those who believe In the past, roughly 80 per cent of companies can’t deny anyone insurgovernment has a role in promoting Americans were covered by their ance, so all sorts of unhealthy people social welfare and social justice employers for health insurance. If can now not be dropped or ignored. outcomes and those who believe that you lost your job or quit, you couldn’t But, the cost can only come down if things should be left to individuals and transfer the plan. Private plans also enough young, healthy people who will the market. It’s a critical dividing line dropped people when they became contribute but not make claims, join. If in American politics. • ill. The federal government sponsored they don’t, costs won’t come down and Medicare programme primarily covers politically, this could spell trouble for Americans over 65. Medicaid is for low Obama.

Heidi Kingstone is London income families. based foreign correspondThe powerful lobbyists have been the ent and features writer. She industries around healthcare, like pharhas lived in Afghanistan, Small businesses worry they will have and reported from Iraq and maceutical companies, hospitals, health to pay a penalty starting in 2015 if they Sudan. She is currently care providers, doctors and insurance don’t provide coverage and it can be writing a book on Afghanicompanies. They worry they will lose stan. very expensive. While the plans are out as a result of the reforms, yet most state-based and are poised to make

27

Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi: The star finder

“What, have they not beheld heaven above them, how we have built it, and decked it out fair” (Qur’an, 50:6).

astronomer who is known to westerners with various titles but most often with the Latinised name “Azophi” (al-Sufi).

T

Sufi started his work when the Greek tradition of astronomy had died out centuries before but was revitalised during the second half of the eighth century by Muslim astronomers such as Abu Ma‘shar (Albumasar), al-Fazari, al-Nairizi, and al-Battani.

he above verse of the holy Qur’an, as well as several others, invites Muslims to look into the sky and ponder on its amazing creation. One of the

28

Muslim scientists who responded to this invitation and contributed to the progress of the science of astronomy, was Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Umar al-Sufi al-Razi, a Persian mathematician and

Building upon and surpassing previous knowledge Islamic scientists blazed a trail for new discoveries in the 9th century. Mohammad Reza Jozi takes a look at the life of Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi

Sufi was born on 8th November 904 in the city of Raay near modern Tehran. Of his early life and education not much is known but we know that in 948 when he was in his mid-forties he travelled to the city of Dinawar and Isfahan for further education.

In 969 Ahud al-Dawla, king of the Buyid dynasty invited Sufi to Shiraz and appointed him as the chief astronomer

of his court until his death in May 986.

Sufi’s relationship with Ahud al-Dawla was so close that the latter regarded himself as a friend and pupil of Sufi. It was in this city that Sufi compiled his magnum opus Kitab Suwar al-Kawakib al-Thabita (Book on the Constellations of the Fixed Stars).

Arabic language, such as on the use of the astrolabe, the celestial globe, and an introduction to the science of astrology.

Sufi wrote several books on the subject of astronomy all of which are in the

Sufi is however well known for his Kitab

He also crafted a celestial globe of silver for Ahud-al-Dawla which was later exhibited in 1043/44 in the public library of Cairo by the Egyptian astrolabe maker Ibn al-Sinbadi. (Image 1)

29

Suwar al-Kawakib which he authored when he was 61 years old and which he dedicated to his patron. In this book Sufi gives the detailed specifications of 48 constellations which Ptolemy introduced in his “Almagest”.

These specifications are from the perspective of the observer, not from the perspective of the globe. The main purpose of the Suwar al-Kawakib is to guide the observer who looks at the sky.

Sufi’s profound knowledge of astronomy becomes evident when he recalculates and corrects the positions and the magnitudes of many stars already listed in Almagest by Ptolemy. Further to this, he describes each constellation with full details and then draws a table which consists of the location, longitude, latitude, colour and magnitude of each star inside the figure of that constellation.

Suwar al-Kawakib are preserved in the libraries and museums of the world.

One of the most valuable manuscripts of this work which belonged to the celebrated Muslim astronomer Ulugh Beg (1394-1449) and was made around 1430 is now kept at Bibliotheque Nationale de France.

rantum Positiones. (Image 3) As a tribute to this distinguished Muslim scientist the lunar crater “Azophi” and the minor planet 12621 “Alsufi” are named after him. •

However the oldest manuscript of Suwar al-Kawakib is now kept in Bodleian Library in Oxford - it was inscribed 26 years after his death by his son Abu’l-Hussein Sufi. (Image 2) Suwar al-Kawakib became a classic text in astronomy for many centuries both in Islamic lands and later in the Latin west. The first Persian translation of this book appeared in the hand of Nasir al-Din Tusi in the 13th century and its first Latin translation was produced by the order of the Alfonso X (12521284), king of Castile. It was from this Latin translation that the western world became acquainted with the name of

Sufi managed to observe 1027 stars in general and give the minutest details of each of them. This includes the name and the description of 40 stars from his personal observations which had not Sufi’s profound knowledge of astronomy becomes been discovered before nor were listed. Furthermore, he gives evident when he recalculates and corrects the the first known record of the positions and the magnitudes of many stars already Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) listed in Almagest by Ptolemy which some centuries later was observed by Amerigo Vespucci and Ferdinand Magellan and also three nebulous objects i.e. the Sufi (Azophi) and Suwar al-Kawakib.

Andromeda Galaxy, Brocchi’s Cluster In 1533 Petrus Apianus (1495-1552) and the Omicron Velorum Cluster. from Ingolstadt published a star map Also in this book Sufi complemented in his Horoscopion generale (and also the 48 constellations introduced in in his Instrument Buch of 1533) which Almagest with useful information about contained several ‘Arabic’ asterisms the derivation of the names of the (cluster of stars) apparently based on stars in Arabic and their equivalents in an Arabic copy of Sufi’s star atlas in his Greek. possession.

One of the innovations of Sufi is his In 1665 Thomas Hyde, the English artistic illustration of the constellations orientalist and keeper of the Bodleian which helps the reader to memorise Library, in the commentary to his and locate the position of the stars in edition of Ulugh Beg’s Zij-i-Jadid the sky. This was an advantage which Sultani introduced several quotations Almagest totally lacked. These illustrafrom Sufi’s book. This in turn became a tions represent the constellations twice; Muhammad Reza Jozi is gradusource for Italian astronomer, Giuseppe ated from Tehran University in first in mirror image, as they appear on Piazzi, who in 1814 extracted many Sociology. He is editor of An a celestial globe, and second as they Anthology of Philosophy in Pernames and fragments from Sufi and actually appear in the sky. sia and consultant editor of the Ulugh Beg and incorporated them Today more than 90 manuscripts of

30

in his Praecipuarum Stellarum Iner-

Great Islamic Encyclopedia.

a azophi Abenezr

6 h1

09 craters 4

The const ellation A ndromed

a in the D

oha manu

script

Image 2

Folio 1 al-Su 65 from m fi 1009 's treatise anuscript -10 B o odleia on the fix f ed n Lib rary, stars Oxfor d

Gemini Constellation al-Sufi

Image 1

Image 3

31

Review

The Nostalgic Man of Europe

Was the Muslim Ottoman Empire a European empire? What does the Ottoman Empire mean for both European and Middle Eastern nations? Mohsen Biparva examines the BBC production ‘The Ottomans: Europe’s Muslim Emperors’

T

here has been a tremendous nostalgic romanticisation of the Ottoman Empire in recent years, and the BBC is no exception. The Ottomans: Europe’s Muslim Emperors a three-episode series broadcast in October 2013, is one example. The series was replete with references to the Ottomans’ past glories

32

with presenter Rageh Omaar constantly reminding us that the Ottomans ruled for 600 years over three continents and that theirs was an empire of tremendous wealth ruling over one million square miles of land.

The series is packed with elaborately captured views from the picturesque landscapes of the Bosphorus and

beautiful architecture of Istanbul that sometimes resemble holiday adverts.

The nostalgia for the empire fits into a contemporary fondness for all things Ottoman – the documentary itself mentions the recent Turkish TV series, The Magnificent Century, which has attracted 200 million viewers worldwide and made the cast and crew interna-

partitioning of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the First World War is perhaps the most significant of them, and as the film stresses quite rightly, has shaped the current geopolitics of the Middle East and Eastern Europe, if not the entire world. Without knowing Ottoman history, it is truly impossible to understand the current situation of the Middle East: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the civil war in Syria and the political turmoil in Egypt, all of which are in a sense by-product of the Ottoman demise.

Portrait of Mehmed II by Venetian artist Gentile Bellini

The series is a product of the BBC’s Religion and Ethics Department which has also recently produced ‘The Life of Muhammad(s)’. The Ottomans can also be seen as the continuation of another series presented by Rageh Omar in 2009, An Islamic History of Europe, focusing on Islam in Spain, Sicily and France. The connection between these documentaries is their emphasis on ‘European Islam’ and the thesis that Islam is not alien to Europe. They would also have us believe that Europeans and Muslims have lived alongside one another for a large part of history, not as two inherently different people, but as one. According to this view, Islam has been and still is an integral part of Europe and European identity.

tary renders a romantic picture of Byzantium, its glory and its demise.

Episode Two for instance talks about the Turks’ atrocities against Christians, and particularly about the practice of enslaving Christian boys and girls; boys for the Sultan’s elite troops known as Janissary (yeniçeri in Turkish) and girls for the harem. We learn that because of religious restrictions, Turks were allowed to capture only non-Muslim (Christian) boys for the Sultan’s Janissary. One of these enslaved Christian boys was Mimar Sinan, the great architect and civil engineer of the Ottoman court, who built a number of iconic Ottoman mosques and palaces.

The Ottomans’ director, Gillian Bancroft, has other documentaries on his CV which have also been broadcast by the BBC: A History of Christianity, Bible Mysteries and When God Spoke English about the making of the King James Bible. Knowing his interest in the history of Christianity, one would expect Bancroft to look at the Ottomans from a Christian point of view. And this is not entirely untrue as the documen-

During the film we also learn about the key moments of the Ottoman Empire: the fall of Constantinople to Muslims in 1453; the battle of Vienna in 1683 and the consequent Ottoman defeat that for many historians marks the beginning of its end, followed by the 1917 fall of Jerusalem and the fall of Istanbul a year later, all of which have their resonance in contemporary societies. The

tional celebrities.

Another key date in Ottoman history was 1798 when a French expeditionary force commanded by the young general Napoleon Bonaparte invaded and governed Egypt. The French occupation was short-lived and soon replaced by the British invading force, but it was the first time that the Ottomans and Muslims in general had to learn the harsh lesson of their decline and the rise of Europe.

Sometimes it is hard to imagine the intensity and severity of the Ottoman fall. The Treaty of Sèvres (1920), later replaced by the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), partitioned the entire Ottoman territory into pieces and if it wasn’t for the Turkish independence movement and Ataturk’s leadership, there would be no Republic of Turkey as well.

From a variety of different opinions

and theories about Ottoman decline, the one advocated by this film, is in keeping with the established narrative of the West, which blames the lack of modern institutions, modern technology, freedom of individual and the rule of law; a theory that can be traced back to the words of mainstream historians such as Bernard Lewis and Niall

33

Ottoman Empire Symbol

Ferguson. On the issue of their decline, the Ottomans themselves had arrived at the same conclusion when they began their modernisation programme in 1839 known as Tanzimat. During this period, they published their first

34

newspaper, established a parliament, abolished slavery, established a central bank, modern style schools, post office, modernised the army and so on. In imitating every detail of the west they even adopted a national anthem and a

national flag. The quest for modernity however did not stop with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. The new republic too followed the same path and with much more intensity.

To divorce modern Turkey from its

Ottoman past, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk introduced the principals of Kemalism in six so called ‘arrows’: populism, republicanism, nationalism, secularism, statism and reformism. He replaced the Islamic calendar with the Gregorian calendar, abolished the caliphate, prohibited the fez (the traditional hat worn by males) and more importantly decreed that the Roman alphabet replace the Arabic script. The ultimate goal of Kemalist reforms since then has been to be considered part of Europe. This ninety-year old dream is yet to be achieved.

For many years, Turkey’s weak economy was cited as the main reason for Europe not to accept it. Nonetheless in recent years with its economy stronger than many of its European neighbours, very few excuses remain. Turkey first applied for European Union membership in April 1987, after thirty five years of membership in NATO. During the following years, most East European countries as well as the Baltic republics succeeded in acceding to the EU. For Turkey who joined NATO based on the geopolitics of the Cold War, the demise of the Soviet Union was not good news; not only did it not help its EU membership, it even jeopardised its standing in NATO as one of the alliance’s bulwarks against the Red Army.

Having been denounced by non-aligned

countries in the 1960s, disillusioned by its treatment by the EU, and rejected

by Islamic and Arab countries in the 1990’s because of its close relations with the United States and Israel, the government of the then president Turgut Ozal turned its attention to the newly independent Caucasian and

Central Asian republics with the hope of leading an alliance of the so-called ‘Turkic’ nations.

In the 1990s, leaders of Turkey and other nations ‘stretching from the Adriatic to the border of China’ had the vision of building a community of ‘Turkic’ people. In 1991-92 Turkey started a series of activities to strengthen its ties with these nations. It included long-term low-interest loans, direct aid, satellite TV, tourism, and scholarships for Turkish speaking students. However, Turkey’s activities in the Turkic republics suffered a setback both because of limited resources and because of the rise of Russia reasserting its influence in the region after a period of decline.

This failure might in part explain recent enthusiasm for the Ottoman Empire, especially when Turks themselves have historically tried hard to forget or distance themselves from that legacy.

Failing to establish a league of Turkic nations, and finding itself rejected

by Muslim nations, reviving Ottoman memories may be a defiant reassertion of Turkish identity.

The film tries to portray the Ottomans as a ‘European’ dynasty, which may sound paradoxical. As Edward Said argues in his book Orientalism, the orientalist discourse not only shaped what he calls the ‘imaginary geography’ of the Orient (or the Middle East) but the European identity too is constructed through the establishment of difference, in opposition to this imaginary ‘Other’. For Europe as a culturally constructed identity with relatively undecided geographical eastern frontiers, it would be extremely difficult to accept the Muslim Ottoman Empire as a ‘European’ empire, without facing an identity crisis. It is not just the Middle Eastern nations that have to know Ottoman history to understand their current position. Europeans also need to keep the memory alive in order to understand their own identity. Ê BBC - The Ottomans: Europe’s Muslim Empires, Director: Gillian Bancroft, 2013

35

Universality of

36

human rights For those sincerely seeking to improve the human condition and upholding the basic rights of their fellow humans, it requires a solemn sense of personal duty away from the prejudiced involvement of politicians and statesmen says Ali Jawad

A

s one of the most talked about ideals in modern political discourse, the subject of human rights is at once very straightforward and painfully nebulous.

Human rights is the buzzword that ticks across media screens when highlighting issues of oppression, injustice or unfair treatment. Its slogans are raised by politicians, intellectuals, trade unions and activists of all shades and colours.

Indeed our political and social culture seems woefully deficient without reference to human rights.

Each one of us assents to the notion of human rights, and factors it in one way or another into an outlook on the general human condition and wider global reality. The preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) proclaimed on 10th December 1948 points to some of the underlying reasons for this universal association to human rights.

The UDHR begins by affirming the inherent dignity, equality and freedom of human beings. It then proceeds to condemn oppression, tyranny and

37

‘barbarous acts’ that have “outraged the conscience of mankind” in indirect reference to the horrors of the Second World War. It would be difficult to find an individual who does not agree with both facets of this preamble, let alone openly oppose them.

Despite our initial assent however, question marks begin to stack up when tasked with defining these terms. For example, how do we define freedom, dignity, equality, oppression and so on?

What sources do we rely on to come up with these definitions? These questions open up a Pandora’s Box of sorts when we put them alongside notions of universality.

composition of human beings both in their individual ‘selves’, and how this in turn influences their collective social existence. Similarly, the concept of ‘rights’ and its variants rooted in legal jurisprudence throw up a rich diversity of opinions. This diversity is simply carried forward when coming up with a working definition, even if we were to define human rights as ‘the rights you have simply because you are human’.

As with all political documents and charters, the UDHR is also rooted in a particular historical context and experience. To its critics, the claim of universality is simply code-word for the imitation of a uniquely western understanding. It would be wrong to assume that the critics of the UDHR are exclusively individuals with cultural

understandings of the fundamental ideals - such as dignity, freedom etc.

- that form their bedrock. The UDHR emanates from a very particular context and claims of universality overlook this diverse tapestry. Nevertheless, one still notices a broad consensus on what we consider to be basic human rights; an outcome, no doubt, of our common human nature and experience. Differences largely arise out of interpretation concerning the ‘form’ of these rights, rather than their very being.

The building blocks of the various charters of human rights that we have today - be it the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) or the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights (CDHR) At the same time, we are faced with - originate from the same spring of certain absurdities in the application human experience. In fact, one notices of human rights. For instance, we a great deal of simiwitness wars advolarity between the cated ostensibly in two documents and defence of human “[…] all human cultures have a lot in common [..]. We need the rights that they rights which end up stipulate. To overlook to understand the logic of diversity versus unity by realising exacting untold loss the commonality that the poetry of unity in the constitution of self and society.” of human life, pain exists would be akin and suffering. Or the Ayatollah Mohamed Taqi Jafari to not seeing the wood forceful proselytisafor the trees. Indeed tion of aggressive free scholars like the late market policies in or faith-based sensitivities.

For postAyatollah Mohamed Taqi Jafari viewed the name of creating open, democratic modernists, the very notion of history as human rights discourse as an imporand human rights-upholding sociea single, unified process that produces tant step towards creating a common ties, whereas these very policies have a coherent and universal human rights human culture: noticeably widened the economic discourse is void, particularly in an divide between the so-called ‘haves and “Beyond their appearance, all human age in which instrumental reason has have-nots’ and doomed millions, if not cultures have a lot in common and become the reigning yardstick. For billions, to half-lives of virtual slavery are inseparably associated. We need to those who look upon the subject of and unfulfilled potential. understand the logic of diversity versus universality from an anthropological unity by realising the poetry of unity in When confronted by such dilemmas, angle, there is a seemingly unresolvthe constitution of self and society.” we are impelled to develop a more able paradox: how can we speak of precise view of human rights, firstly as a the universality of human rights in the Human rights and their concept, and then proceed to examine absence of a universal human culture? politicisation its application in real-world contexts. To Obviously, there exist lines of defence do such, we inevitably gravitate towards “It is an undeniable fact that human life against such arguments. For instance, the UDHR and its role in defining has never been as universally treated to those who solely rely on the culturethe contours of this discourse in our as a vile and perishable commodity as argument, the immediate rebuttal tends present day. during our own era.” – Gabriel Marcel to take the following shape: should we More than sixty years after the UDHR treat cultures and cultural values as Human rights and their was proclaimed, we observe a precarious sacred or sacrosanct regardless of what universality human condition. Unspeakable crimes they promote?

Discussions concerning human nature such as ethnic cleansing, or attempts at Putting aside the associated polemics, it have taken place for millennia. Different it, are still taking place with frightening is evidently clear that there exists a rich outlooks have posited their own frequency. In the last few decades, we diversity of views concerning human unique views about the character and have also witnessed an unmistakable rights, as well as in our conceptual

38

trend towards the militarisation of politics; a situation in which military might is frequently resorted to in the resolution of political conflicts. Additionally, the dividing gulf between the haves and the have-nots is widening by the day.

And despite the Millennium Development Goals, certain rights stipulated in the UDHR remain a distant goal for a large portion of humanity. All these realities either point directly to worsening human rights conditions or serve as alarm bells for the same.

For those sincerely seeking to uphold the basic rights of their fellow brethren and aspiring to better the general human condition, the reality of the world that we live in today requires a solemn sense of personal duty and commitment.

Human rights is not simply an abstract social aspiration, rather it affects the lives of each and every one of us. It is a notion that shapes our daily lives, colours our dreams and fulfils some of our deepest hopes. As members of the human family, we have an individual duty to better our surrounding reality, and to exhibit genuine empathy towards those who live in far-off lands, or those who are of a different race, or those who belong to a culture or religion different to our own.

In our current context, the politicisation of human rights presents a formidable challenge. Certain states seemingly motivated by a sense of national exceptionalism have come to regard themselves as sole owners of enlightened human values. Coupled with this, Regardless of whether the UDHR is the notion of humanitarian interventruly universal on a conceptual level or tion often resorted to by the same political powers, has arguably drained the Human rights is not simply an abstract social term of all proper meaning.

In truth, human rights has aspiration, rather it affects the lives of each and been employed as a flag of every one of us. convenience and moralising rallying cry to justify imperial agendas and hegemonic plots. not, differences on account of culture or religion or any other ‘ism’ for that Under the garb of human rights, matter, should not be used an excuse to political powers have committed some shy away from the brutal reality suffered of the most egregious violations and by billions around the world today - let contributed to a wider climate that is alone be used to justify oppression and inimical to the protection of the basic tyranny. The profound spirit embedded rights of individuals and entire commuin the words of the famous leader of the nities, such as has been witnessed in civil rights movement, Martin Luther the aftermath of the so-called War on King, ‘injustice anywhere is a threat Terror. Experiences of the recent past to justice everywhere’, can serve as a give further credence to the belief guiding light during these adverse times. that human rights should be removed Lastly, we should speak out clearly and from the embrace of politicians in the unequivocally against the politicisation absence of proper mechanisms and of human rights, if indeed human rights institutional frameworks. is to be the basis for the ideal human Moreover, it appears increasingly clear societies of the future. • that there is an urgent need for real dialogue, at a global level, about our human rights aspirations on the one hand, and the extent to which political powers can influence and exploit these on the other. Moments of crisis such as the recent NSA and GCHQ spying Ali Jawad is a human rights activist and fiascos provide fertile ground for such political analyst with a keen interest in efforts. international diplomacy.

39

‘Read,

in the name of your Lord!’

40

R

ead! (iqra’) was the first word of the Qur’an (96:1-2) revealed to the Prophet Muhammad(s); a command enjoining him not only to read to himself, but to read aloud to others (qira’ah). The verse continues, ‘…in the name of your Lord who created; created man from a clinging mass.’ The command to read is then repeated again: ‘Read!

And your Lord is most generous, who taught by the Pen, taught man what he knew not.’ Whereas the first command is connected to the act of creation, the second command is connected to knowledge, suggesting that attaining knowledge is the purpose for which Man was created, and that this act of reading is what conveys him to this ultimate purpose. This is, of course, no ordinary knowledge, but knowledge of the Divine. Nor is the act of reading here ordinary, it is reading the revelation aloud to mankind to convey that knowledge of the Divine.

The Qur’an frequently describes itself as a book (kitab), the last of many books which God has sent to mankind, including the Torah and the Evangel.

In this way it situates itself in a literary tradition of divine scriptures. Scattered throughout its verses are allusions to the implements of writing; pens (68:1), ink (18:109), parchments (52:3) and scrolls (21:104), as well as the act of writing itself in many forms.

This association between the Qur’an and a written tradition stands in stark contrast to the environment in which it was revealed; the literary tradition of preIslamic Arabia was primarily aural in nature. The poetry of the Jahiliyyah (time of ignorance) was fluid and transmitted orally, while the Qur’an is a fixed, inscribed text. Its self-description as a written book would have great import for the early Muslim community.

Literacy naturally became of paramount importance, such that after the Battle of Badr, the Prophet himself promised to set free

any prisoner who taught ten Muslims to read and write. He also appointed scribes – one of whom was Ali ibn Abi Taleb(a) – to write down the revelations he received and oversaw their arrangement into surahs (chapters). We also see that this had implications beyond the Qur’an itself. Because Islamic knowledge comes not only from the Qur’an, but from the Sunnah (words and deeds) of the Prophet, the Sunnah by extension became something people wanted to write down and preserve. In a famous incident, a companion by the name of Abu Shah asked for something the Prophet said in writing, to which the Prophet asked his companions to ‘write this for Abu Shah.’

The emphasis on literacy that began with the Prophet continued with the classical scholars, who saw writing as the foremost means of preserving and transmitting knowledge. This is reflected in the fact that major Islamic centres of learning, such as the Dar al-Hikma in Abbasid Baghdad, began collecting, translating and copying manuscripts on a near-industrial scale. Discussing the relative merits of speaking and writing in his Munyat al-Murid, the great Lebanese scholar, al-Shahid al-Thani (d. 1558), ranks writing as superior because it persists in its existence and remains useful even after the death of its

author, whereas speech vanishes from the external world nearly as quickly as

41

it appears. In this way, a written book becomes an ongoing source of divine reward (sadaqa jariya) for its author.

The written text, it would appear, is a divinely-favoured mode of communication from many angles. But, as I alluded to initially, the act of “reading” (qira’a) retains an aural aspect in that the verb actually means to read aloud to an audience. In fact, the word Qur’an means a text that is recited, not merely read. Classically, reading was a collaborative process; a teacher would read a religious text aloud to his students and comment upon it, they would copy it down and annotate it; they would then rehearse the text between themselves (mubahatha) before later reciting it back to the teacher and having it corrected before receiving a licence (ijaza) to teach it. Whereas today, reading is very much seen as an individual activity, the Islamic tradition maintained a communal aspect to it.

Today, one of the major problems facing Muslim communities in the West is a lack of Islamic knowledge.

One reason for this is a shortage of scholars who are fluent in the languages of Europe and America (especially languages other than English), familiar with the cultures of this region and equipped with the necessary level of Islamic knowledge to offer guidance to others. This problem is compounded by the fact that levels of secular education in the West are very good, whereas Islamic education is widely-perceived to be lagging behind.

We are in a situation in the West where basic literacy (the ability to read and write), thanks to the advent of nearuniversal education, is widespread. This is, without a doubt a positive development. But unless it is accompanied by a correspondingly well-developed programme of Islamic education and learning, it is likely that many of those who enjoy the benefits of a good secular education will turn their backs on what appears to be an illogical and out of date religious tradition. It is unthinkable that the Ummah (community) of the Prophet whose revelation began

42

with the command “Read!” should be virtually illiterate with regards to his teachings! Any discussion of developing Islamic literacy must, first and foremost, begin with the Qur’an. The Qur’an has to be one of the most-read but leastunderstood books in human history.

Whether it is a recitation for a deceased loved-one, the month of Ramadhan or an istikhara (seeking guidance from God), the Qur’an is often opened and recited, but if this act of reading is to bring us to knowledge of God, it must be accompanied by a genuine understanding of the words being read. As God’s final revelation to mankind, is it really befitting that we should understand so little of its meaning while we read so many of its words?

To remedy this, a working knowledge of Arabic is essential. It is not enough to read translations of the Qur’an without being able to refer to the Arabic, as God says ‘Indeed We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur’an so that you may apply reason.’ (12:2) First, part of the miraculous nature of the Qur’an is the peerless eloquence of its elegant, rhyming prose, which can only be appreciated if someone, has at least a working knowledge of Arabic. Second, there are many verses of theological or legal significance whose meaning is subject to disagreement amongst different schools of thought. Take the Verse of Purification (ayat ul-tathir 33:33), for example. Without knowledge of Arabic, how will the reader know that the pronouns in this verse are all masculine, while the pronouns in all the verses around it are feminine, indicating

a shift in the object of purification?

Different translations will only reflect the biases of their translators; without Arabic, the reader will not be able to discern which one is most faithful to the text. Fortunately there are now many excellent courses online, as well as textbooks, teaching both Quranic Arabic and Arabic in general. This must also be accompanied by an effort to develop a familiarity with the Qur’an by reading the Arabic in parallel with a reliable and scholarly translation (such as that by Ali Quli Qara’i) on a regular basis, preferably a little (even a page) every day. Setting aside thirty-minutes for Qur’an study and noting down any questions or interesting points that emerge from the text will also help to nurture a basic understanding of the text and its contents.

But as well as striving to acquaint ourselves with the Arabic language, it is also essential that we strive to bring books from Arabic (and other Islamic languages) into English through translations. It is only in this way that we will be able to provide educational resources to the next generation of our own communities, a generation whose mother tongue is largely that of the country which they grew up in, and also produce materials that will benefit non-Muslims interested in learning more about Islamic wisdom.

It is only through this reciprocal movement into and out of Arabic that we can hope to fully emulate the multifaceted reality of the injunction “Read!” •

43

Travelling Light Batool Haydar explores the joys and frustrations of packing for a long trip and reflects on the wonderful analogy this provides for the greatest journey of all

44

I

recently had to pack all my worldly possessions and move to a new country.

When I mentioned to family, friends and colleagues that I was migrating, the response I got most often was, “It’s going to be a big change, isn’t it?”

Moving from one location to another sounds exciting and adventurous and to some extent, it is. There’s a new place to explore, new people to meet, a new environment to immerse oneself in and of course the proverbial ‘culture shock’ to experience. There is much to learn not just about the surroundings, but also about yourself and your own ability to adapt to unfamiliar surroundings.

However, in my journey to The Move, I discovered another lesson that both disturbed and inspired me. I learnt the subtle meaning of the word ‘attachment’ and ‘material value’. It began with the battle I had to initiate with my bags.

With an allocation of a few meagre kilograms to carry my life’s worth with me, I was first torn between the essentials and the accessories. What I wanted to take versus what I needed to take. It seemed easy enough at first as two distinct piles grew. Then came the actual packing and after putting in the absolute necessities, I weighed the two suitcases I was to carry with me…

That was when things started to look not-so-rosy. I had pruned my clothes, my books, my toiletries down to what I would need for the first few weeks until the rest of my things would be shipped, but it was still too much! I went through the process of unpacking and re-packing five more times, and with each cycle I found one item (or two) that seemed dispensable even though I had been absolutely sure I would not be able to survive without them in the previous round.

I did manage to get what I needed within my weight allowance, but it got me thinking about two things: 1. The level of emotional or personal importance I had given to my various possessions. How much of my material wealth was I attached to and how strongly?

2. The time that it takes to prepare for a move that you consider to be longterm or permanent. It took me weeks to decide what I needed to take immediately and what could wait. And then more hours of soul-searching and common sense to narrow down the list even further!

human ability to undergo difficulties for something we believe in. But it is not easy. Among his companions there were those who did think about their homes, their families, their wealth and possessions first. And there were those who followed him without a thought for anything else except their duty.

In the end, what I did bring with me was actually more than enough and despite the fact that my boxes haven’t arrived, I don’t miss anything. In fact, if it weren’t for the checklist of contents, I would barely be able to recall what is in them! Which also leads me to question how much of the importance I gave to each item is real and how much of it is imagined.

The main wealth that all these unique personalities carried with them were hearts filled with love, souls radiating with faith and a loyalty to the Truth that kept them steady and certain even though they had no more than the garments on their backs.

At the end of the day, I’m left wondering at the beautiful analogy this has provided for The Biggest Move of all - the one from this dimension to the next. There are so many difficult questions that arise: yy If I am so attached to my belongings that leaving them in a different country for a temporary while affects me, how will I be able to abandon them without a second thought when I have to leave them behind forever?

Will this attachment interfere with a smooth transition for me? yy It took a lot of forethought, planning and weighing of priorities to decide what I would really need and what I thought I would need. Do I spend that much time preparing for the inevitable Move that awaits me? If I don’t, then what happens if I end up taking the wrong things with me that I cannot make use of?

We may think these queries are farfetched and that when the time comes, we will be overwhelmed with love and loyalty and do the right thing. Sadly, this is not true. When we look at the history of Islam we can find many examples of renunciation of worldly belongings.

The historical plight of Imam Husayn(a) - the Prophet Muhammad’s(s) grandson - who was forced to abandon Medina during the month of Muharram with his companions in 680 CE, provides lessons on the

Perhaps this is one of the important lessons - understanding the value of being able to travel lightly in possession, but heavy with piety. Because there is no doubt that each and every one of us will have to migrate one day from this life to the next. The manner in which we prepare for that journey is what will determine the quality of life after we cross over.

If we put as much effort into making sure we have all that we need, if we ponder on the currency of exchange required and how to collect enough of it, then we will naturally become more aware of the reality of our existence. The automatic reaction to this awareness will be a realisation of how illusionary the material gain we covet is and how it is possible to become attached to something that isn’t even real.

I believe that Islam is such a beautiful way of life because its lessons and principles are found in the most common, everyday goings-on. If you feel like you’ve been slightly disconnected from religion and faith, I would highly recommend trying to take a trip on a minimum - and then observe yourself as you get ready for that journey! You might discover aspects of travelling that no tourist guide book will ever mention! •

45

Interfaith

HERMIT OF

46

THE SAHARA

Looking at the life of Charles de Foucauld, Frank Gelli believes that if alive today, this Christian mystic would find it much more difficult to live in the spiritual desert of the Western world than the Sahara

47

T

he life of Blessed Charles de Foucauld reads like a novel.

Born a French Viscount, a cavalry officer from the elite Saint-Cyr military academy, young Charles was worldly and dissolute.

He took a beautiful lover called Mimi, gambled and got drunk. Until, fatally, the Sahara beckoned.

In 1883, accompanied by a native rabbi, he undertook in disguise a dangerous Reconnaissance au Maroc, basically as spy on behalf of the French army.

Charles had rejected God – sigh…ever so tempting to a debauched young man. But God had not repudiated him.

A priest told him to follow Pascal’s advice to an unbeliever who would like to believe: “Behave as if you already believed. Go to Mass. Pray. Receive the Eucharist…” It worked! Conversion followed. And a priestly vocation. To the Trappist Order, the most extreme, austere, world-denying of all monastic communities.

Here he compiled a Berber dictionary.

Dressing in a white robe, he lived in a small shack of rough stones and reeds, surviving on a meagre diet of dates and meal. Communion was celebrated daily – a visiting French general remarked that watching a transfigured Fr Charles saying Mass in his primitive hut was a well-nigh supernatural experience, like beholding a ministering angel. (What would former lover Mimi have thought, I wonder?)

The Sahara solitary did not seek to convert the villagers. Instead, he desired them “to look on him as their brother, un frere universel.” Well and good. Yet, there are paradoxes. He appears to have baptised a blind slave woman –

think Fr Charles was quite a bad chap.

Blessed Charles’ allocated Feast Day is on 1st December. The beginning of Advent – the holy season immediately before Christmas, the Feast of the Incarnation. A time of preparation not only for the birthday of Jesus(a) but also for the Second Coming of Christ as Judge at the Last Day, an awesome concept.

Methinks it suitable that such a stern and rigorous holy man should inaugurate Advent. To remind Christians, insh’allah, of the ongoing spiritual struggle and warfare.

Although small religious communities have arisen inspired by him, Blessed Charles’ ascetic example is hardly flavour of the month. Who cares for self-denial in a rampantly hedonistic age? Yet, his radical call to the wilderness is thoroughly rooted in Christian spirituality - St By telling God to get out of their lives, Antony of Egypt and his Europeans have allowed foul, dark, desert hermits being the most illustrious examples. unspeakable things to creep in instead.

Not converting Arabs but re-Christianising The desert is an ideal The order was founded by habitat for training in tranChristians, that’s the challenge for you today. l’Abbe’ de Rance’, another scendence. A stark place of reformed rake who described searing extremes of trial and La Trappe as training for ‘daily temptation. But also a space dying’. A Trappist monk is where man is utterly thrown mostly silent. He eats no meat, upon himself, alone, stripped fish or eggs. Fasts are frequent. He of civilised accoutrements, fit to wrestle she later lapsed. As a former French sleeps on a straw mattress in a common with and to encounter the Absolute.

Army officer, locals inevitably regarded dormitory, rising at 2am for the Night Moses, Jesus and Muhammad knew it. him with suspicion.

In 1916, after Office. He prays seven hours a day and Senoussi rebels broke into the monk’s In his essay, Charles de Foucauld au is committed to manual labour… little little house and shot him dead, arms regard de l’ Islam, the Muslim author wonder that philosopher Nietzsche, were found in the hermitage.

I guess the Ali Merad relates how the thing the that titanic enemy of transcendental Vatican advocatus diaboli – the priest hermit particularly appreciated in Islam values, detested La Trappe with a appointed to examine critically the life was its simplicity: ‘Simplicity of dogma, special loathing. Yet, this self-denial was of a candidate for beatification - must simplicity of hierarchy, simplicity of not quite enough for de Foucauld. (His have had a field day at the condign morality.’ Indeed, he often acknowlfamily motto was ‘Never Retreat’.) So he Vatican trial. Yet, on a Sunday in 2005, edged the attractions of the Muslim went to Palestine, to labour as a lowly amidst the pomp and grandeur of St religious life. Like another great French servant of nuns in convents at Nazareth Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the Catholic admirer of Islam, Louis Massignon, and Jerusalem. There he rejoiced in Church beatified him – the first step to Charles’s spirituality was stimulated, unlovely duties like raking manure. The sainthood. fertilised and enhanced by his passion goal was imitating ‘Christ the poor’ – for the land and people he loved with a the young Messiah’s mysterious, hidden De Foucauld’s end would not seem to robust love: Africa and the Arabs. life in his own land. commend him to conventional interLater Charles returned to North Africa.

Not a soldier but as a monk. He settled as a hermit at the oasis of Tamanrasset in the Sahara, near the nomadic Tuaregs.

48

faith dialogue. Yet, turbaned and veiled Tuaregs in blue robes attended the St Peter’s ceremony and shook hands with the Pope afterwards. Surely they did not

To be sure, Merad is no starry-eyed fan.

He is perhaps a little ungenerous to his subject at times. As when he lays partial and dubious stress on de Foucauld’s

Frenchness, his Army background and connections. As if it was possible for Charles, or indeed anyone else, to have had a history different from the one he actually had. The truth is that like another Saint who had been a soldier prior to his conversion, St Ignatius of Loyola, the hermit found a higher, bloodless and perfect militancy in the service of Jesus Christ.

If you push God out, something else will creep in. By telling God to get out of their lives, Europeans have allowed foul, dark, unspeakable things to creep in instead. Not converting Arabs but re-Christianising Christians, that’s the challenge for you today.”

Yes, Blessed Charles. Golden words.

Were he alive today, would Fr Charles live out his vocation in the same way?

Many would say that withdrawing to the wilderness smacks of escapism. Or, worse, of religious tourism. It solves nothing, they argue. Besides, why travel that far? The desert’s denizens now dwell in our midst. The exotic Arabs who fascinated men like Sir Richard F. Burton, T.E. Lawrence, Louis Massignon and de Foucauld are ordinary fellows living in familiar, unromantic places, amongst them the Parisian banlieues and London’s Edgware Road and Bayswater. And why aim at converting Muslims, when they can be the Church’s good allies in the fight against godless secularism?

“You put your finger on it, mon cher Pere” I can hear Blessed Charles sighing. “The desert has now come in Europe. No, not the desert beloved by my brothers, the monks and the mystics.

Not the spiritual battlefield we yearned for. Fighting demons? Contending with warlike tribes? Tropical diseases?

Fending off wild beasts? Tarantulas, scorpions, serpents, white ants? Mere bagatelles. Who’s afraid of those? I’d handle them with my little finger. Your plight is infinitely worse. Present-day Western wastes beat any Sahara.

Nothing to do with materiality or wealth.

Don’t be deceived by professional do-gooders. Europeans are bloated with grub, goodies and gadgets galore. You are choke-full of them. But your crass fullness is really a dire emptiness. A frightful void created by the deliberate, intentional expulsion of God from the culture, the societies, the institutions of what used to be Christian heartlands. (Something my beloved Berbers would never understand...) And nature, spiritual nature too, abhors a vacuum.

Popes Benedict and Francis argue the same. Of course, sceptics demur. Only recently some wise guy was having a go at the Holy Father about that. ‘No longer credible trying to bring God back into Europe’, he wrote. Hmmm… it depends. It’s up to God, mate, surely.

With men many things are impossible, but with God all things are possible. •

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

49

Health Medical Editor Laleh Lohrasbi

The ghost of DU lingers on in Iraq and Afghanistan Years after the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, the use of depleted uranium by the US army still haunts all those exposed to it. Laleh Lohrasbi looks at the devastating effects of the poisonous material

T

en years after the Iraq war, and twelve years after the western intervention in Afghanistan, the dramatic increases in birth defects and cancer in both regions have alarmed medical experts. Scientists believe lead, mercury, white phosphorus, nerve gas and above all uranium contamination during US-led military assaults is to blame (See islam today September 2013 ‘The Deadly Legacy of Depleted Uranium’).

Aiad, a five month-old Iraqi baby was born with a complex congenital heart defect. Fortunately for Aiad, his parents were wealthy enough to take him to

50

the private Kasra hospital in Tehran for heart surgery. Aiad was lucky. There are thousands of babies just like him born with similar defects.

Unfortunately, for Mubin, living in Kabul with one hand and one and a half legs, life has not been as generous. Spiralling numbers of birth defects ranging from congenital heart defects to brain dysfunctions, malformed limbs and leukaemia, are the legacy that western forces have left for Iraqi and Afghan children.

Depleted uranium [DU] was used to give extra weight to bullets. The US and the UK military used nearly 2,000 tons of depleted uranium bombs during the early years of the Iraq war alone. It is believed that they are still being used in Afghanistan. A Canadian research group found very high levels of uranium in Afghanistan during a series of tests in 2002-2003 just after the US-led invasion. A decade after the Iraq war of 2003, a team of scientists based in Mosul, northern Iraq, has also detected high levels of uranium contamination in soil samples at three different sites in the province of Nineveh.

Depleted uranium, or spent nuclear fuel, is twice as dense as lead, making it an effective material for armour-piercing shells and bullets. On explosion they disintegrate with up to 40 per cent of the uranium, which is still radioactive, turning into fine powder. The particles are so small that rather than fall back to earth they hang around in the atmosphere. The dust particles are not only poisonous but they can enter the bloodstream and become lodged in the lymph glands from where they emit radiation causing cancer.

Although depleted uranium is 40 per cent less radioactive than natural uranium, it remains a significant danger to human health. Exposure to it has been linked with genetic damage, birth defects, cancer, diabetes, immune system damage, and other serious health problems. The World Health Organisation has strongly recommended against using depleted uranium because it has a half-life of 4.4 billion years. Once it

gets into the environment, it remains there forever, leaking into the water system. People drink and bathe in it, and the long-term health effects are extremely serious.

The latest study found that in Fallujah (Iraq), more than half of all babies surveyed were born with a birth defect, and one in six of all pregnancies ended in miscarriage between 2007 and 2010.

The same survey showed a four-fold increase in all cancers, a twelve-fold increase in childhood cancer in under14s and a thirty eight-fold increase in leukaemia. By contrast, Hiroshima survivors showed a seventeen-fold increase with regard to the latter.

What is more disturbing is that due to the increasing number of cancer cases in Afghanistan local doctors are advising women not to have children.

In Kabul and Kandahar, a number of health conditions, including birth defects, doubled in less than two years of the invasion in 2001.

American servicemen were also victims of their own devastating weapons.

According to the Birth Defect Research for Children (BDRC) of America, children of veterans face a much higher risk of birth defects than the general population. Betty Mekdeci, founder and executive director of BDRC says: “Veterans are dying, but even more tragically, the children they’ve left behind are suffering”.

Paul Sullivan, a highly respected veterans’ advocate who works at Bergmann & Moore, a law firm that solely represents veterans, says: “Toxic exposures are prevalent among our deployed troops because there are no enforceable environmental laws on the battlefield for ingestion, inhalation, or absorption of hazardous chemicals.”

Sullivan believes that there was widespread depleted uranium dust contamination, affecting hundreds of thousands of US service members during the 1991 Gulf War.

veterans, even though this is a known carcinogen and associated with birth defects in animal studies.”

Even as the Pentagon continues to claim against all the scientific evidence that depleted uranium poses no hazard to human health, it has reportedly told US troops in Iraq to avoid sites where these weapons have been used - destroyed Iraqi tanks, exploded bunkers, etc.and to wear masks if they do have to approach. Many burnt out vehicles have been brought back to the US, where they have been buried in special sites reserved for dangerously contaminated nuclear materials.

Dr Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, an environmental toxicologist based in Michigan, has done a comprehensive study on epidemic birth defects in Iraq. She believes her observations collectively suggest an extraordinary public health emergency in Iraq and Afghanistan. Such a crisis requires urgent multifaceted international action to prevent further damage to public health. She suggests a comprehensive large-scale environmental testing of the cities where cancer and birth defects are rising. Food, water, air, and soil must be tested to isolate sources of public exposure to war contaminants. This is a necessity to discover the source, extent, and types of contaminants in the area followed by appropriate projects to prevent further exposure to toxic war contaminants.

Savabieasfahani says that the epidemic of birth defects in Iraq is mainly Folate dependent, so treatments can be offered

by Folate and vitamin supplements.

Administration of chelating agents to remove heavy metals from the body may also be explored for appropriate candidates.

This year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3rd December would be a good opportunity to highlight the plight of victims of this kind of human induced disability. •

“However, the VA (US Department of Veterans Affairs) has refused to perform long-term, post-deployment scientific medical research on Desert Storm

51

y l l a e r m a l s I s I e h t r o f e l b i s n o f resp o e c n e d i c n i rising

Multiple Sclerosis?

An increase in cases of multiple sclerosis in Iran has been attributed to Islam’s insistence on women dressing modestly. Laleh Lohrasbi assesses the evidence behind the claim

R

ecent research by Julia Pakpoor and Sreeram Ramagopalan - both genetics students from Oxford University - published in the journal Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, has sparked a heated discussion in the medical world.

The duo claim their research shows a connection between increased rates of multiple sclerosis (MS) among Iranian women - between 1989 to 2006 Iran experienced an 8.3-fold rise in cases of the disease - and the requirement for women to cover themselves in public in accordance with Islamic rules and lifestyle changes brought about after the 1979 revolution.

This claim has raised many eyebrows, including my own, and after researching

52

the issue I remain sceptical that religion is at the root of this worrying rise.

Causes of Multiple Sclerosis What causes multiple sclerosis is not yet known. What is universally accepted is that MS is an autoimmune disease but the reason as to why multiple sclerosis develops in some people and not in others is still a mystery.

In general MS is a neurological disease in which the body’s immune system attacks myelin - the sheath surrounding the nerves. In the process the myelin - essential for the transmission of the nerve pulses between organs and brain or spinal cord - gets destroyed causing varying problems of mobility. Destruc-

tion of the myelin may lead to nerve deterioration which is irreversible.

The symptoms of disease depend on the amount of damage to the nerves.

In severe cases the affected person may lose the ability to walk or speak.

A combination of factors ranging from genetics to childhood infections may play a role in the myelin being attacked.

Vitamin D Deficiency Vitamin D Deficiency is an important factor in the onset of Multiple Sclerosis Disorder. Considering that Iran is blessed with long summer days and lots of sunshine, one may conclude that Iranians ought to be at low risk of developing MS. However studies carried out in the cities of Isfahan and Tehran

suggest that the rate of vitamin D deficiency among the Iranian population is high, more so among women and young people. Radical lifestyle changes in Iran in recent decades such as urbanisation, living in apartment blocks and an increase in air pollution may well have contributed to increased vitamin D deficiency, along with insufficient consumption of vitamin-D-rich foods, widespread use of sun screens, sun creams and avoiding sun exposure for fear of skin cancer or for aesthetic reasons. In other words differences in the rate of exposure to sunlight between men and women should be understood in line with culture and lifestyle changes rather than attributed to religious dress codes.

Environmental factors The distribution of MS around the world shows that white people in northern Europe, southern Canada, northern USA, New Zealand and southeastern Australia have the highest rate of the disease with considerably higher rates in high latitude countries such as Sweden. In comparison Asians, Africans and the descendants of native Americans have shown the lowest risk.

The reason why MS is linked to high latitude countries is unclear but some scientists have suggested that exposure to sunlight may reduce cases of the disease by generating higher levels of vitamin D.

Age, family and gender MS is mostly found among the 20-40 age cohort and women are about twice as likely as men to develop the disease.

Family history is another factor. For example if one of the parents or siblings has multiple sclerosis, there is a 1 to 3 per cent chance of family members developing the disease, considerably higher than those with no history. The youthful profile of Iran’s population – over half of all Iranians are under 35 - could be a possible explanation for the increased incidence of MS.

Global Incidence of MS Multiple sclerosis is found in every region of the world and according to the

most extensive survey ever done on the disease in October 2013, the number of people living with MS has increased by 10 per cent to 2.3 million in the last five years.

rosis International Federation. It offers many support programmes for patients and their families including financial support, group therapy, physiotherapy and online consulting.

A research published in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences in 2008, reviewing the frequency and clinical patterns of multiple sclerosis in Arab countries, showed that the clinical pattern of MS covering Kuwait, Jordan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Palestine (including Arabs living in Israel), and Oman, was generally similar to that in western countries.

The society has recently announced that the formula of ‘Fingolimod’ – a new medicine used in the treatment and control of MS - has been successfully decoded by Iranian pharmacologists.

The licence for mass production of Finglomid has now been granted by the Iranian Food and Drug Administration and doctors are being offered training courses to administer the medicine.

Fingolimod, the first oral diseasemodifying drug, works to reduce relapses and delay disability progression in patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis.

Covering the skin with items of clothing, sunscreens, creams and make-up decreases the level of sunlight absorbed by the skin which can result in vitamin D deficiency. However in the case of Muslim women, especially in Iran, as hands and faces are not covered, there is sufficient time for skin, even if it is just for a couple of hours per day, to supply enough vitamin D to the body.

After getting his own blood tested, Iranian researcher Amir-Hadi Maghzi, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California San Francisco, discovered that despite moving to California he continues to suffer from a lack of Vitamin D. He believes that an increase in levels of vitamin D intake and a good diet can reverse vitamin D deficiency which in turn can control the rising incidence of MS.

Brighter future Iran has certainly proven that improvements in hygiene and health care, which can delay the exposure of individuals to common viral agents and certain infections such as Epstein-Barr virus believed to be associated with multiple sclerosis - has reduced the risk of MS in the country. Better hygiene translates into better diagnostic tools, and general awareness has also improved the diagnosis of this disease.

Iran’s strong experience in the treatment and support of MS patients is worth mentioning. Iran’s Multiple Sclerosis Society, founded in 1998, is the 44th member of the Multiple Scle-

Conclusion It might be tempting to accept that due to Islamic dress codes, Muslim women in particular have less exposure to the sun and suffer Vitamin D Deficiency.

However as many other factors are also involved, singling out women’s Islamic attire for increased MS is simplistic.

Pakpoor herself acknowledges that her MS theory is speculative. MS rates are going up in many other places around the world and there is insufficient data showing exactly when MS rates started to rise in Iran. And it is still not known how much of the increase in MS may be the result of better diagnoses.

The fact is that MS is a very complex disease and combinations of factors are needed to trigger it. Vitamin D deficiency – although important – might not fully explain its increasing frequency. •

Dr Laleh Lohrasbi is a pharmacologist. She has worked as an editor for the medical section of “Hamshahri”, a daily newspaper in Tehran.

53

The Invention Mass tourism has changed the reasons and the ways we travel. Mohammad Haghir describes the history and philosophy behind the relatively modern phenomenon of holiday-making

54

of Holidays

55

W

travelled for reasons of study often accompanied by their servants, and poor people who travelled primarily for religious reason such as pilgrimages.

The idea of going away somewhere on holiday means different things to different people. We go away in order to leave behind the normal routine of our daily lives for a while and for different reasons. We may want to explore and understand new things in the world, or we may want to forget something bad (the loss of a dear one) or celebrate something good (a honeymoon).

Eventually the wealthy middle classes began to copy the upper classes - the idea being to spend a part of their summer time in “the villa” in the countryside away from the heat of urban centres. Schools would start to adapt to these new requirements allocating a

ith Christmas just around the corner and another holiday season looming, many will stay at home for the festivities but a sizeable number of us will hop on a plane or catch a train to sunnier/snowier climes. But what do most of us really know about the drive to escape our ‘real’ lives and about the normality with which ‘getting away from it all’ is viewed?

The concept of holiday-making emerged in Europe in response to industrialisation in the early 19th century and the subsequent process of large-scale urbanisation that resulted in the populations of many European states expanding greatly (over 150% in Great Britain, more than 100% in Germany and 42% in France).

typology of holidays became connected to the developments or advancements in the field of individual mobility.

What we now call tourism or organised mass travel has a more certain date and an identified inventor hailing from the British Isles. In 1841 Thomas Cook, a Baptist church minister campaigning against liquor, arranged to take a group of 540 campaigners by train from Leicester to Loughborough. Taking advantage of the new possibilities offered by the railway, Cook began to organise and offer even more specialised group travels. His destinations would include Egypt and the Middle East. His enterprise has been identified as the starting point for the modern tourist industry and the modern idea of group travel.

Today we are witnesses to an extension of that idea - sometimes extreme – to the boundaries of human behaviour. Daniel Bragg’s study (broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Thinking Allowed’) is an excellent description of some extreme ideas as to how holidays have come to be understood, at least by a sizeable number of the younger European population, in the 21st century.

Whatever the reason, most people expect to return from a holiday refreshed in some way, What we now call tourism or organised mass whether this is physical, spirtravel has a more certain date and an identified itual, intellectual, emotional, inventor hailing from the British Isles; Thomas etc. However the idea of getting away is a relatively Cook, a Baptist church minister recent phenomenon. It was only at the beginning of the 19th century in Europe that the seeds of a new culture of excursions were sown. Today, holidays constitute a whole industrial holiday in their calendar to facilitate “a ‘Getting everything’, ‘boys’, ‘girls’, complex of the global economy along break from business life”. ‘drunk’, ‘smashed’, ‘loud music and with all their related industries such as In 1822 at Dieppe in France, the first people’, ‘everyone is buzzing’, and transport, tourism, entertainment, food bathing establishment by the sea on the crucially, ‘living the dream’ are all and beverages, and even drugs.

English Channel was born. First used terms with which people interviewed But where did the culture of holidays start? And what are its function(s) in relation to other aspects of society: economy, geography, history, psychology, knowledge, expectations, etc?

Apart from the geographical discoveries history tells us that early travellers were mainly aristocratic families who

56

as a holiday centre for the military, Dieppe represented a shift in holiday destinations. After the development of the railways the sea began to grip the imagination of the aristocracy and the wealthy middle classes. This opened up a fundamental connection between holidays and mobility. Successive developments in the evolution of the

in the BBC programme describe their holiday experiences in Ibiza. Bragg’s research reveals how a pathological process advertised through the mass media promotes a certain kind of holidaying. In this pathology, young people are duped into thinking that they are making free choices but it is rather ‘the fiction of choice’ and ‘unfreedom’.

Accordingly, those who sign up to these kinds of holidays are the manipulated masses of new liberalism, created and maintained by the needs of the organisations operating them.

The object of this brand of holiday makers is not to develop a better understanding of the world, for example showing interest in learning the local languages, or getting involved in local culture by trying the local food. Rather, when on holidays they maintain what they do back home over the weekends, multiplied by one hundred. In other words, this is no longer an excursion or exploration but only a highly intensified repetition of already existing experiences that serve the interests of particular economic and cultural concerns.

means a time structured with various activities, all pre-arranged, only because an independent excursion is often more expensive than a group one and is also perceived to be less safe. In this sense, enlightened holidaymakers are few and far between.

The process follows a well-established pattern. Firstly, a dream life is propagated to the masses by the industry.

Then dream locations and transport to and from these locations are arranged.

Holiday companies then provide for perceived holiday activities which are planned in advance. In all of this there is little sense of adventure and excitement involved in encountering truly novel experiences - its all a false, packaged dream created and sold to the people as the real thing. This is how many

At the same time it is also commonplace that, through this culture, many [‌] many people who go to a place for the people who go to first time on a two-week excursion return a place for the first with assertions of knowledge about that new time on a two-week place [‌..] and all on the basis of experiences excursion return with assertions of gathered somewhat superficially over a short knowledge about period of time. that new place; its people, culture, history, geography, etc., and all on the modern holidaymakers are duped. basis of experiences gathered somewhat superficially over a short period of time.

The New Year is a time when many of Thus, in terms of an understanding of us plan our summer break, with no end the world, holidays could, as indeed they of tourist companies offering us that do, act as contributing factors about dream ticket. However, next time we some of the false knowledge claims want to get away, we ought to consider made by the so called holidaymakers. the purpose of our excursion and ask ourselves who really benefits from the Of course, there are many enlightened kind of holiday we choose. • holidaymakers that use the opportunity offered by something new to enrich their own and the lives of others.

However, given the modern idea of holiday-making, it is more likely that for most ordinary holidaymakers, a holiday

57

Places

Granada City of Light

Wall pattern - Alhambra Palace, Granada

Muhammad Reza Amirinia takes us on a tour of the city of Granada, once the jewel in the crown of the European Islamic civilisation of Al Andalus

T

he old city sings songs of life and death: Granada, the city of light and delight, a beautiful and exciting place with spectacular views. When I walk through it, I hear sounds of people from ancient times. The cries, laughter, happiness, sadness, sweetness and sourness of the families who used to live here, still lingers in the air. The clay houses which reflect the influence of Moorish culture, tell the story of a civilisation that resided in this area for centuries and put down deep roots. With every step, I walk through history.

The orange and citron trees are scattered all over green gardens and perfume the air. The beautiful AndalucĂ­an flowers, plants and fountains create a spiritual feeling. It is fascinating that the narrow alleys still carry Arabic names. Everything has the impression of an exotic Arabian culture; the cultural combination appears so strong that, despite the passage of over five centuries, the town appears frozen in time.

59

Cityscape of Granada - beautiful city in Andalusia, Spain

Granada in Spanish means pomegranate, a lavish fruit grown locally from which the city’s name may have derived. It could also have originated in its early Jewish settlers called Karnattah (Gharnatah) in Moorish or Gamata al-Yahud, which means “Hill of Strangers”.

Granada is surrounded by peach-coloured brick walls, which bend around the charming old quarter of Albaicin. The old city fascinates visitors with its narrow paved streets and Moorish style houses, mansions and old Arab baths. The Darro River passes through the city, separating Albaicin from the hill of Alhambra. There are five stone arched bridges crossing the river joining two hilly parts of the city. The ancient Carrera del Darro is a lovely street running parallel to the river, which leads to the hilly alleys of Albaicin and its narrow stairways. This route offers one of the most picturesque scenes in Granada.

The city comprises many remarkable architectural and artistic monuments from the Moorish, Jewish and Catholic past, loading several layers of history around the old town. Granada is the bishop’s archdiocese, and is scattered with elaborate and decorative churches, convents and monasteries. The Gothic Cathedral of Santa María de la Encarnación, which was built over the city’s central mosque, stands at the centre of the city with a display of extravagant decoration and many fine paintings and sculptures. The Church of Santa Ana, built over a mosque, is another example of the city’s Islamic past.

The University of Granada, founded in 1526, attracts many young people to the city and creates a vibrant student life, which fans out around the old city and cathedral. The nearby market and souvenir shops are housed in the arcades of the Arab bazaar. The city’s courts and squares are filled with

raphy, finely carved Arabic scripts displaying the name of God in holy religious messages.

One phrase; “There is no Conqueror except Allah”, adorns the walls and columns of the palace throughout.

The Alhambra has its own tales. The empty and silent halls of the palace, enclosed by the symbols of royalty, speak of the glorious days of Andalucía.

The ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Granada began with the Christian re-conquest in 1492. The eventual mass expulsion of the remaining Muslims in the 16th century is one of the darkest points in the history of Spain. Granada Narrow street in the ancient Spanish city Granada experienced a bloodbath and there was no escape for the flowers and majestic fountains, with people who did not submit small cafes, bars and restaurants dotted themselves to the will of the new rulers around. The Plaza Bib Rambla is a and embrace Christianity. popular place for locals and tourists. In Tyranny and rigidity swept away the the evening, the square’s terraces fill up fragile union of these people, shattering and entertainers find an opportunity to the hope of coexistence in a nation showcase their talents. where Jews, Christians and Muslims had While the Albaicin fascinates visitors lived in peace. and attracts them to its hidden places Granada, which has witnessed both and secretive gardens, the modern corrupt Muslim and Christian rulers, is commercial city with its shopping now secular. The younger generations centres, boutiques, cafes and restauare less inclined towards religion. The rants and boulevards is a different, busy city that used to have 300 mosques in and dynamic world. the 15th century now only has a solitary Granada is next to the hill of the new purpose-built mosque. There are Alhambra, which is located in the many churches that are either closed foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The or converted into museums. Others Alhambra is a palace city and the jewel offer prayer services but very few people of Granada with its beautiful gardens, attend. stunning landscapes and amazing The history of Al-Andalus raises many architecture. The rooms and halls are questions. To what extent does religion decorated with engraved wood ceilinfluence the culture and traditions ings, ceramic tiles, cast-plaster walls, of a nation? And how, despite the and decorated windows. Unlike the re-conquest and the fall of Islam and paintings and sculptures in Christian the extensive efforts of subsequent churches and palaces, Muslim artists rulers to wipe out all signs of Islamic avoided representing images of living rule, Moorish art, culture and tradition creatures. remain as poignant reminders of a The Alhambra is decorated with calligbygone age. •

61

Science

The scientific power of prayer: How God has programmed us to connect with Him Prayer or salah in Arabic is one of the pillars of Islam. The Qur’an commands believers to perform the ritual prayer five times a day: Extol, then, God’s limitless glory when you enter upon the evening hours, and when you rise at morn; and seeing that unto Him is due all praise in the heavens and earth, glorify Him in the afternoon as well, and when you enter upon the hour of noon. (Qur’an 30:17-18)

T

he purpose of prayer in Islam is manifold: to instil peace, discipline, commitment, and remembrance of God but fundamentally its perfection is to connect with God, the imperceptible entity who created us and upon which our existence and reality is dependent because He is the only thing that truly exists, He is the Real or Truth (Al-Haqq).

But how does a human being connect with his Lord who has told him that he is unknowable by human perception and unlike anything within the created universe that he can perceive?

Connecting to God in prayer cannot be like conversing with another human through direct exchange of words: God is One, He has no parts, whether they be limbs or a tongue

62

or ears. And how does God, the Real, connect with us, the unreal?

The mystics and saints (awliyah) of Islam, whether they be Shi’a or Sunni, have taught us that the secret lies with the abasement of the ego, or that body of thoughts and emotions that is unique to our individual selves, that which begins with ‘I’ or ‘me’.

The prayers of the mystics have been differentiated from those of the average Muslim by their length and deep meditative qualities. Ayatollah Bahjat, the famous mystic of Qom who passed away in 2009, was known to stand in prayer for hours oblivious to the surrounding conditions. One story relates that he was once stooped in ruku’ for such a long time that a foot of snow was able to accumulate on his back. Similarly

Imam Ali(a) to whom many Sufi orders trace their teachings, was known to fall down in a trance-like state when in prayer, so consumed by it, that it was the only time in which his murderer was able to attack him.

It is through this deep meditative form of prayer that Muslim believers report connection with God characterised by feelings of transcendence and oneness or unity with the Sublime. However these feelings of oneness and transcendence are not restricted to Islam and are reported by followers of other faiths or no faith when they engage in prayer or meditation.

Scientists have attempted to explore a neurological basis of belief and spiritual practices in what is sometimes called neurotheology or spiritual neurosci-

For Muslims and people of diverse faiths, prayer and meditation are central to their religious observance.

Hannah Smith highlights scientific research which supports what believing people have known for millennia; that such spiritual practices are a means by which to detach from the world and come closer to God

ence. Although limited research exists at present, there is a growing body of evidence which suggests that prayer and meditation are key to obtaining the theistic transcendence and closeness to a supreme being whose worship is central to so many faith traditions.

In 2012, scientists at the University of Missouri found strong evidence after examining the religious beliefs of people who had suffered brain damage to the right parietal lobe that impairment to this region of the brain can lead to greater feelings of selflessness, transcendence from physicality, and closeness to God. The scientists surveyed 20 people with traumatic brain injuries to the right parietal lobe, the area of the brain situated a few inches above the right ear, and found that the participants exhibited greater feeling of closeness to a higher power than an uninjured control group. These findings correlate with previous studies linking impairment to the right side of the brain with a decreased focus on the self.

meditation has shown that these activities can enable humans to mimic the effects of the brain injury by impairing or shutting-down activity in the right parietal lobe. This suggests that the guidance of the Qur’an, other holy scriptures and the spiritual practices of the Prophets and saints are providing us with a template by which we can detach ourselves from our worldly ego, physical

Truly, to a happy state shall attain the believers: those who humble themselves in their prayer, and who turn away from all that is frivolous, and who are intent on inner purity. (Qur’an 23:1-4) As we have learned, prayer is one method through which Muslims can efface their ego and self, extinguishing their contingent reality to that which is truly Real. It is important to remember however that to achieve the enlightenment of the great mystics a believer must also embark on the other means by which to achieve closeness to God: the journey to achieve ‘inner purity’. Like the challenge to achieve perfect prayers, this involves an arduous journey to extinguish selfish egobased tendencies by controlling personal desires, turning the physical self of thoughts and actions away from ‘all that is frivolous’, and ultimately making one’s nature closer that of God, the Source of Good (Al-Nafi), and the Real. •

To achieve the enlightenment of the great mystics a believer must also embark on the other means by which to achieve closeness to God: the journey to achieve ‘inner purity’.

Imaging of the brain activity of Buddhists and Francescan nuns during prayer and

perceptions and obtain nearness to God. Such a state could be construed as the highest form of peacefulness, in which one is utterly oblivious to the stresses of the material world and able to achieve the ultimate contentedness, happiness and peace that all humans seek in this life, and for which many turn to Islam.

63

The honeybee is dying out: urgent attention required!

Research shows that the honeybee, central to the production of most of the world’s food crops is rapidly dwindling in numbers. Hannah Smith examines the plight of the honeybee and explains how Muslims can help prevent them from dying out

64

S

cientists warn that the humble honeybee, soldier of the natural world, essential to production of 90 per cent of the world’s food crop, is rapidly declining in numbers. The worrying decline, which if left unchecked will have a huge impact on global food production and the world economy, began almost a decade ago. In the past six years more than 10 million beehives have been lost and in the past winter alone one-third of US honeybee colonies died or disappeared.

The mysterious phenomenon in which entire beehives full of tens of thousands of bees disappear leaving only a queen bee and a few workers behind has been named Colony Collapse Disorder.

What is causing Colony Collapse Disorder?

Scientists suggest a combination of factors including poor nutrition, pesticide use and diesel exhaust fumes are responsible for causing Colony Collapse Disorder.

The use of pesticides and herbicides that are used in modern agriculture to kill crop pests are responsible for a number of life-threatening effects on the bee. Researchers at Royal Holloway University who fed bees neonicotinoids, a newer class of pesticides, found that at sub-lethal levels typical of real-life exposure they cause disorientation and impair normal bee behaviour. When a large enough number of bees are exposed, computer modelling shows that the functioning of the colony breaks down as it relies upon efficient cooperation of all worker bees to coordinate activities such as foraging for food, keeping the hive warm and looking after young.

New research published in October this year suggests that exhaust fumes produced by diesel-powered engines also play a key role in disorientating bees leading to Colony Collapse Disorder. A group of researchers from the UK’s University of Southampton have found that the pollution produced by diesel combustion reduces bees’ ability to recognise the scent of various flowers, a key sense they use in navi-

gating and finding food sources.

Fungicides, although not directly harmful, show equally powerful indirect links to Colony Collapse Disorder.

Fungicides whose use is not regulated can increase a bee’s susceptibility to Nosema cerenae, a parasite that has been linked to CCD. Scientists have discovered that bees in colonies with high concentrations of fungicides are three times as likely to be infected by Nosema.

The culture of monocropping in modern agriculture, whereby huge swathes of land are given over to a single crop such as corn or wheat, is also of concern. Monocrops threaten bees by systematically removing the flowering plants whose pollen bees feed off replacing it with lower quality nutritional sources.

Why should we care about the decline of honeybees?

Although more easily identified with the honey they produce that is a source of excellent human nutrition and has natural medicinal properties, the decline of the honeybee and its potential extinction have much more terrifying consequences for food crop yields and the global economy. Honeybees are the sole pollinators for a large number of food crops; as they travel from plant to plant they transfer pollen which is necessary for the fertilisation of many plant species. Since WWII the number of crops relying on bee pollination for reproduction has increased 300 per cent and of the 100 crop species responsible for providing 90 per cent of food worldwide, 71 are dependent on bee pollination equalling one third of the world’s crop production, according to UN estimates. The financial cost of bee extermination is estimated at between $37bn and $91bn annually.

How can Colony Collapse Disorder be prevented and what is currently being done?

There are a number of ways in which humans can halt the decline of the honeybee from macroscale agricultural policy changes to microscale action in individual households. In Europe, the

European Commission has passed a temporary ban on the use of three types of neonicotinoid pesticides. At the same time, individuals at the grass-roots level are being encouraged by a number of newspapers and campaigns by nongovernmental organisations to take up a number of easy initiatives to create a ‘bee-friendly society’. Remedial actions include planting flowers that bees feed off all year round wherever possible such as in home gardens and windowboxes, and eradicating domestic pesticide use. Some people have even gone as far as setting up their own beehives; beekeeping on rooftops and in backyards has become very fashionable among young, urban professionals.

However campaigners recommend against beekeeping, favouring plantbased remedies because of the fragility of hives and the ease with which bees can die over winter months from starvation.

As Muslims we should readily take up this cause and become part of global initiatives to save the plight of the honeybee because environmental stewardship is the example of our exemplary Prophet Muhammad(s) and God has appointed humans as vicegerents of the precious natural world which we have a duty to conserve for generations to come. •

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.

65

Through December

Friday Nights Thought Forum London’s weekly open gathering.

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

Every wednesday through December

Spiritual Mysteries and Ethical Secrets

Venue: Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House, LSE Web: www.lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/ Events/events2013/New-Middle-East.aspx Tel: 020 7955 6198 Email: s.masry@lse.ac.uk

7-8 December 2013

Becoming Politically Savvy and Political Participation Speaker(s): Dr. Haitham al-Haddad

Islamic Centre of England adult learning programme

Dealing with Politics: Becoming Politically Savvy and Political Participation

Based on the famous work of Allamah Fayd Kashani “Al-haqa’iq fi mahasin alTa’wil”

Organiser’s statement: “As Muslims we feel caught in a perpetual dilemma. We live in a world and a time far from the utopia that we would so love to experience. We face daily challenges in being able to live in an Islamically conducive environment. So how do we tackle those challenges today? Not living in an ideal situation has led some to involve themselves in the political forum to exact our God-given rights. But others consider the process itself a contradiction and an undermining of the Laws of God - so how do we exact our rights?”

Taught by: Shaykh M.S. Bahmanpour

Course fee: Regular rate: £30 Student rate: £20 Time: 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM Venue: Islamic Centre of England, 140 Maida Vale, London W9 1QB Web: www.ic-el.com Email: education@ic-el.com Tel: 02076045500

4 December

The New Middle East: Protest and Revolution in the Arab World Speaker : Professor Fawaz Gerges, LSE; Professor Madawi al-Rasheed, LSE; Dr John Chalcraft, LSE Chair: Dr Toby Dodge, LSE The New Middle East is a comprehensive book to critically examine the Arab popular uprisings of 2011-12. While these uprisings prompted a number of cursory publications, this volume according to its publisher contains reflections on the causes, drives and effects of these events on the internal, regional and international politics of the Middle East and North Africa.

This event is free and open to all on a first come first served basis.

Time: 6.00pm-7.30pm

66

Time: 8am Venue: London (TBC) Web: http://www.sabeel.org.uk/ Email: info@sabeel.org.uk Tel: 0203 514 3077

9 December 2013

The Unique Necklace by the Andalusian, Ibn Abd Rabbihi: Arab Identity in the Making?

Organiser: Prof. Ben Fortna The Faculty of Arts & Humanities, History Department, African History Seminar Series

Open to members of the public.

Time: 5.15pm – 7.15pm Venue: Room: G3, SOAS, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H OXG Web: http://www.soas.ac.uk/history/events/ Email: bf7@soas.ac.uk

Classical Arabic courses The programme incorporates modern and classical Arabic as well as grammar.

It is a comprehensive coverage of classical Arabic and grammar. The organisers advise students who are looking for serious and focussed study of Arabic in order to access the language of the Qur’an and Hadith should consider completing the whole programme.

Fees: £125 (12 weeks) Venue: Ebrahim College, 80 Greenfield Rd. E1 1EJ Web: www.ebrahimcollege.org.uk/ flexiblelearning/

11 Dec 2013 - 21 April 2014

Jameel Prize 3: The shortlist Organiser: Victoria & Albert Museum Organiser’s note: “There were almost 270 nominations for the Jameel Prize 3 from countries as diverse as Algeria, Brazil, Kosovo, Norway and Russia. A panel of judges, chaired by V&A Director, Martin Roth, selected the shortlist of ten artists and designers.

Although the shortlist is diverse, all the artists and designers are directly inspired by sources rooted in the Islamic tradition. The works on show will range from Arabic typography and calligraphy to fashion inspired by the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul and from social design and video installation to delicate and precise miniature drawings.”

The winner of the Jameel Prize 3 will be announced at the V&A on 10 December 2013.

Time: 10:00 AM-5:00 PM Venue: Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL Web: www.arabbritishcentre.org.uk/events/ jameel-prize-3-shortlist-exhibition

11 December 2013

16 December 2013

Collecting from the Past or Appropriating the Present: the Dilemma in Contemporary Iranian Art (Seminar)

Level 1 Intensive Classical Arabic (Ibn Jabal Institute)

Islamic Art Circle Lectures Series Organised and chaired by: Professor Doris Behrens-Abouseif

Time: 7.00pm-9.00pm Venue: Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H OXG Web: www.soas.ac.uk/art/islac/ Phone: 01608 730769 Email: RosalindHaddon@gmail.com

12 December 2013

‘The revolution devours its own children? The case of transitional justice in Tunisia’ The Middle East Centre Friday Seminar Series

Speaker: Dr Doris Gray, Al Akhawayn University, Morocco.

Affiliation: Middle East Centre, Oriental Institute and St Antony’s College.

Time: 5.00pm Venue: The Middle East Centre, St Antony’s College - Oxford Web: www.sant.ox.ac.uk/mec/ middleeastlectures.html Phone: 01865 284780

14 December 2013

Fakhruddin Razi, Kalam & al-Tafsir al-Kabir Organiser: Islamic Circles

Delivered: Dr Ayman Shihadeh, SOAS University of London

Time: 9am - 5pm Venue: Birkbeck College, Malet St, London WC1E 7HX Web: www.islamiccourses.org Phone: 07956983609

Time: 10:00am -1:00pm 3 Week Intensive Venue: 29-31 Oxford Street, London W1D 2DR Contact and more information: Web: www.bit.ly/HZCJtR

16 – 28 December

Islamic Spain Experience Organiser: Andalucian Routes Organiser’s statement: “Join one of our guided tours and discover the history of Islam in Spain. A period in time that has been written out of the history books. Andalucian routes brings alive the rich heritage with a step by step detailed itinerary of the rise and fall of Islam in Spain. With presentations and talks throughout you are guaranteed to leave with a better understanding on how the Moors of Spain came to be so successful and how their rule fell apart.”

Time: 12pm Venue: Malaga Airport Web: www.islamicspain.co.uk Email: info@islamicspain.co.uk Phone: 0034 958 221 860

31 December 2013

Forgotten Heroes: North Africans and the Great War: 1914 – 1919 Organiser’s statement: “Visitors to the Menin Gate in Ypres are often surprised to find the names of Muslim soldiers who died on the Western Front. The contributions and sacrifices of soldiers and workers from North Africa to the Great War have not been given the recognition which

they are due. Colonial subjects worked, fought, were captured and died in their thousands between 1914 and 1918.

This is the first international exhibition to pay tribute to the citizens of North Africa who served on the Western Front.

The men of North Africa, Berbers and Arabs alike, had no stake in the European war that erupted in August 1914.”

Time: 11:59 Venue: Various locations Web: www.forgottenheroes.eu Tel: + 32 2658 02 70 Email: pressandcommunication@ forgottenheroes.eu

Through January 19

Pearls Pearls, an exhibition of the V&A and the Qatar Museums Authority, explores the history of pearls from the early Roman Empire to present day. Their beauty and allure, across centuries and cultures, have been associated with wealth, royalty and glamour - but also with the brutal and dangerous labour of the divers who bring them to the surface. Natural oyster pearls were fished in the Arabian Gulf from as early as the first millennium until the decline of the trade by the mid-20th century, caused largely by the development of cultured pearls. Yet natural pearls have always been objects of desire due to their rarity and beauty, and goldsmiths, jewellers and painters have exploited their symbolic associations.

Time: 10.00 to 17.45 daily 10.00 to 22.00 Friday Venue: Victoria and Albert Museum, London Web: www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/ exhibition-pearls/

67

From Cyrus the Great cylinder

..I never let anyone oppress any others, and if it occurs, I will take his or her right back and penalise the oppressor. And until I am the monarch, I will never let anyone take possession of movable and landed properties of others by force or without compensation. Until I am alive, I prevent unpaid, forced labour.

Today, I announce that everyone is free to choose a religion. People are free to live in all regions and take up a job provided that they never violate other’s rights. No one can be penalised for his or her relatives’ faults. I prevent slavery and my governors and subordinates are obliged to prohibit exchanging men and women as slaves within their own ruling domains. Such a traditions should be exterminated the world over..