islam today - issue 19 / May 2014

issue 19 May

vol.2 2014

The story of

Resistance Soldiers coming home to shoot Islam: a theology of liberation Le Festival de Cannes

UK ÂŁ3.00

Editorial team May 2014 Issue, 19 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.

Heritage Mohanna DURRA (Jordanian, b. 1938)

From the Editor 5

Honouring the memory

6

News from around the world

18

Cleo Cantone visits the Courtauld Gallery, where she explores a masterpiece from Northern Iraq

News 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.facebook.com/islamtodaymag

24

Healing through conflict

Politics

Arts 14

28

In the Spotlight

15

Sculpture Saddek Wasil - Saudi Arabian sculptor

Ali Jawad

Review 32

Batool Haydar

16

Graphics Basma Felemban- Graphic designer.

Jalal Parsa

Cover

Mohammad Haghir

36

Mohammad Reza Amirinia

Sarah Mohanna Al Abdali - Graffiti Artist

Faith 17

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

The story of Resistance 25 May marks the liberation of southern Lebanon from Israeli occupation. Ali Jawad underlines the importance of remembering an achievement obtained with great sacrifices

Masterpiece

Sabnum Dharamsi

Back Cover Glass vase by J&L Lobmeyr, Austria 1878.

The vase has Persian and Islamic motifs and enamelled decoration - a technique that had been employed for centuries in the Islamic world and copied in Europe. Collection of the Corning Museum of Glass - Corning, NY

Liberalism & Slavery Jalal Parsa highlights the unlikely association between Liberalism and Slavery in his review of Domenico Losurdo’s ‘Liberalism: A Counter History’

Cleo Cantone Frank Julian Gelli

Soldiers coming home to shoot Reza Murshid interviews Gordon Duff from Veterans Today to assess the current condition of American war veterans in the USA

Abdullah Murad - Syrian expressionist

Ahmed Haneef

Not for an Age, but for all Time Batool Haydar questions whether the inclusion of Muslim characters in Shakespearean writing is worth a second glance or just ‘Much Ado About Nothing’

To become God’s representatives on Earth, human beings must learn to embrace diversity and to resolve their inner conflicts, says Sabnum Dharamsi

www.islam-today.net Follow us on facebook

Feature

Life & Community 10

It’s all in the bag

ISSN 2051-2503

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

Addendum Abdulnasser Gharem -‘The Path (Siraat)’

42

Islam: a theology of liberation Ahmed Haneef explains how Islamic thought incorporates broad and specific concepts of Liberation Theology for the social and private sphere

Islamic Centre of England

2

3

From the

Editor 46

Month of Rajab: Beyond Intentions The Islamic month of Rajab presents a great opportunity for spiritual development. Batool Haydar provides a few helpful tips

Syria Awareness Workshop - North London Muslim Community Centre Women and Islam in South Asia – SOAS, University of London Arts and Culture - Publishing and Prizing Muslims University of York ‘Religion and Remembering’ - Queen’s University of Belfast

Opinion 48

World Bank, International Monetary Fund vs. underdeveloped world As major Western finance providers rushed to offer the Ukrainian government billions in ‘aid’, Mohammad Haghir examines the motives underlying their apparent willingness to help

3rd ‘The Great Wall of China Sponsored Trek’- Muslim Hands

T

o reify memory and justice is one of man’s primary needs, but it is also a way of understanding the meaning of ‘Resistance’ in the face of prolonged occupation and systematic acts of repression.

Interfaith 52

On the way to England Frank Gelli recalls how a reluctant prior from Rome carried out his mission to convert England to Christianity more than 1400 years ago

The history of Europe during World War II offers many examples of patriotic resistance and sacrifices born out of the desire to liberate one’s land from an invading power and its collaborating agents. Out of such acts of sacrifice are born great ideals that feed on individual and collective memories and are kept alive in the rituals of remembrance marking the calendars of many nations.

Health 56

Medical ethics; an Islamic perspective Laleh Lohrasbi outlines some of the ethical principles that should guide the work of Muslim medical practitioners

Places 60

While the individual memory retains the images of the life of a single individual, the collective memory contains events that unite a people, a nation, thus giving rise to a past that profoundly affects our being and our vision of the world.

Awareness of this memory is essential as it allows us to have a critical view of the past and the present in order to shape tomorrow.

Le Festival de Cannes From May 15-24 Cannes will host its annual Film Festival. Mohammad Reza Amirinia takes a look at its history and its position within the film industry

What & Where 66

Listings and Events Friday Nights Thought Forum - Islamic Centre of England Islam Awareness Week - University of Bedfordshire Islamic Society Migration, Faith and Action: Shifting the Discourse University of Oxford Islam, art and belief - British Museum School Gallery Session Muslim-Jewish Relations Panel Series - University of Cambridge Digital Islam - British Museum School Session Prison Mentor Recruitment Evening- Muslim Aid

4

Honouring the Memory

‘Jesus and Mary – A Mystical Perspective’ - St Anne’s College

Glossary of Islamic Symbols The letter (s) after the name of the Prophet Muhammad(s) stands for the Arabic phrase sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam, meaning: “May God bless him [Muhammad] and grant him peace”.

The letter (a) after the name of the holy 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/ or them.

The role of remembrance commemorations is to keep alive the memories of the suffering and the heroic struggles of our people. Man’s ability to latch on to historical memories can prevent the recurrence of the mistakes of the past.

Justice on the other hand, through the reconstruction of facts, has the task of ascertaining individual responsibilities.

There are, between memory and justice, common elements; to reconstruct reality and fix the recollection, to arrive

at a value judgment on actions and those responsible for them, and to make public the sentiments of people that would otherwise remain in the personal domain.

Muslims alike in the face of oppression.

Unfortunately it also provides proof of the wilful inaction of the international community and of its sense of selective justice.

In the cover story of this issue Ali Jawad looks at the 25th of May, commemorated in Lebanon as Liberation and Resistance Day marking the withdrawal of the Israeli Army from southern Lebanon in 2000, after 22 years of occupation. While we rejoice at the victory and liberation of any nation or people who have been oppressed, the liberation of southern Lebanon is a particularly sweet event for the world’s Islamic community of whom the Muslim people of southern Lebanon are an integral part.

The Lebanese Resistance’s achievements are directly proportionate to the support it receives from the local people.

A study of such interaction can also be a lesson and a powerful reminder to the rest of the Arab world of the need for legitimacy acquired through an overwhelming public consensus.

The absence of exclusivist tendencies and behaviour among the ranks of the Resistance greatly improved its chances of victory.

The liberation movement of South Lebanon was and is the representation of a local movement born out of a local reality and supported by the people. It had clear objectives and aspirations: the removal of an occupying force and the establishment of the sovereignty of the Lebanese people.

Their history is one that does not end in tears and resignation, it is a history accompanied by supreme sacrifices conducted against an overwhelmingly powerful enemy.

Once the skins of political prejudice and bias are peeled away the real scale of the victory of the Resistance in South Lebanon can be appreciated.

As Ali Jawad explains the event provides a powerful example of resilience and determination for all Muslims and non-

The celebration of Liberation and Resistance Day is not an exultation of war but a jubilation of the success of freedom over occupation making it a date to remember for the Islamic community, with a lasting meaning for future generations.

The successful effort of the Lebanese Resistance has taught us a lesson.

Future generations will need to demonstrate that they have learned from the sacrifices of those who preceded them.

Their history is part of our memory and part of a common essential culture that underlines resilience, faith and trust in God; a culture that has regard for human dignity and life even in war. It stands in stark contrast to the violent ideology that has engulfed areas of the Middle East today with the support of some Western and Arab governments. •

5

News Myanmar

UN Raises Alarm over Rohingya Muslim Abuse A UN human rights envoy says severe shortages of food, water and medical care for Rohingya Muslims in western Myanmar are part of a long history of persecution against the religious minority that could amount to ‘crimes against humanity’.

The statement by the UN special rapporteur on Human Rights, Tomás Ojea Quintana, followed the evacuation of hundreds of international humanitarian workers from Rakhine state, home to almost all the country’s 1.3 million Rohingya Muslims, tens of thousands of whom have been forced to live in sub-human conditions in crowded displacement camps.

The aid workers left after Buddhist mobs attacked their offices and residences two weeks ago. Some have tried to return, but have been barred by the government.

by the authorities as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Quintana said the government’s decision not to allow Rohingya Muslims to register their ethnicity in the March census meant that the population tally was not in accordance with international standards.

The outspoken envoy, who is approaching the end of his six-year tenure, urged the government to address ‘systematic discrimination and marginalisation’ of the Rohingya Muslims in his final report on the country.

Eyewitness reports said that census workers in Rakhine were seen asking households to identify their ethnicity.

When the answer was ‘Rohingya’, the census workers reportedly said ‘thank you’, turned around and walked away.

Burma, a predominantly Buddhist nation of about 60 million, only recently emerged from half a century of military rule. It held its last count in 1983 and experts say the information gathered from 30 March to 10 April is crucial for national development and planning.

Quintana said the developments in Rakhine were the latest in a ‘long history of discrimination and persecution against the Rohingya Muslim community which could amount to crimes against humanity’.

But the inclusion of questions about ethnicity and race – approved by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) – have been widely criticised. Experts warned they could inflame tensions at a delicate stage in the country’s transition to democracy.

More than 170 aid workers were pulled out of the state as a result of the latest unrest, the first time they have been forced to leave en masse, and there are fears that the entire relief infrastructure has been severely damaged.

In the past two years, the Rohingya neighbourhoods have been targeted by rampaging Buddhist mobs. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of people have been killed and another 140,000 forced to flee their homes.

The exodus has deepened an already dire health situation for hundreds of thousands reliant on international medical relief, with some 140,000 in the camps, as well as more than 700,000 vulnerable people in isolated villages severely affected.

The UN agency said it had received assurances from the government that everyone in the country would be allowed to self-identify their ethnicity.

Tensions have been heightened by Myanmar’s recent census, the first in three decades, which has stoked anger among Buddhists that it might lead to official recognition for the Rohingya Muslims, a religious minority viewed

6

On the eve of the census, however, presidential spokesman Ye Htut announced that anyone who called themselves Rohingya would not be counted. Though many members of the religious minority were born in Burma to families who arrived generations ago, the government considers them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Ye Htut said only those who called themselves Bengalis would be included in the official tally. The UN agency said that went against earlier promises.

‘In its agreement with the United Nations … the government made a commitment to conduct the exercise in accordance with international census standards and human rights principles,’ it said in a statement. ‘It explicitly agreed with the condition that each person would be able to declare what ethnicity they belong to.

‘Those not identifying with one of the listed ethnic categories would be able to declare their ethnicity and have their response recorded by enumerators.’

The UN said it was deeply concerned by the government’s about-face, saying it could heighten tensions in Rakhine state and undermine the credibility of data collected.

The census – funded largely by the world body and international donors – was estimated to cost $74m. Rights groups and analysts have repeatedly criticised the UNFPA for failing to properly consult a broad range of ethnic groups before the count, which took years to plan, and ignoring warnings about the potential dangers of including complex, politically sensitive issues about ethnicity.

Malaysia

Crazed Isalmophobes Try to Get Mileage Out of Flight 370 The anti-Muslim movement recently capitalised on the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 to showcase their obsessive tendencies to connect any tragedy back to Muslims and Islam.

Although the aircraft’s whereabouts have not yet been determined, an ongoing investigation continues to understand what led to its fate. Experts say they are not ruling out an intentional diversion of the plane and that they are investigating all possible scenarios.

However, this has not deterred the

anti-Muslim cohort from taking to their respective platforms to stir up fear that Muslims played a role in the plane’s disappearance.

Once again, these writers, pundits and activists have spirited away the human pain and suffering in this tragedy in order to advance a collective antiMuslim agenda and raise their own individual profiles.

Fox News continues to be a major culprit in this effort and has featured noted anti-Muslim activists - with no notable expertise on plane crash investigations - to comment on the disappearance. The most frequent guest is ‘national security analyst’ Ryan Mauro, who works for Clarion Project, an organisation known for its production of Islamophobic films.

As a segue into Mauro’s baseless conjecture, a Fox News host began by saying ‘there’s no credible evidence that this was terrorism or even a criminal act at this point, but, if it were terrorism …’

Mauro then took over, speculating that Chinese and Indonesian Muslim terrorist groups were responsible for the plane vanishing. He said he reached this conclusion by talking to his sources in the ‘intelligence community’ who suggested it might be terrorism, but threw in the remark that there is ‘no proof at this point.’ Instead of stopping there, Mauro later released a report saying it has ‘become extremely likely that the disappearance was the handiwork of one or both of these groups.’

Fox News’ Sean Hannity hosted the

notoriously anti-Muslim ACT! for America founder Brigitte Gabriel on his show to speculate about what could have happened. ‘We live in a post-9/11 world,’ Hannity stated, asking his guests if their thoughts gravitated toward terrorism. ‘I am unapologetic in saying that’s where my thoughts go to.’ Gabriel played right into his rhetoric, saying the Malaysians and Chinese ‘believed immediately that it had something to do with terrorism.’

She said she was confident the aforementioned groups had played a role. However, the Chinese government has since ruled out that any citizens on board had ties to terrorism and could have been responsible. Investigators have also begun to look at the two pilots to understand what happened, which has led to a yet another set of conspiracy theories. Anti-Muslim activists and writers Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller focused on Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah’s support of Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of Malaysia’s opposition party, to suggest he had hijacked the plane.

Spencer took to his blog to connect Ibrahim to the Muslim Brotherhood, and thus claim this explained Shah’s possible motive to steer the plane off course. Citing William Dobson in Slate, Robert Mackey of the New York Times agreed that ‘hearing that someone is a ‘fanatical supporter of Anwar Ibrahim does sound scary — as long as you know nothing about Mr Ibrahim, who is not a zealot but a committed democrat.’ Geller focused on a picture of Shah wearing a ‘Democracy is Dead’ T-shirt, a slogan that became popular in response to the disputed Malaysian general election in May 2013. ‘This tee shirt speaks volumes,’ she wrote on her blog, desperately trying to connect the pilot and the Muslim group. The shirt was said to be a protest directed at the election results and was worn by thousands as a peaceful means of expressing their frustration.

The Islamophobes continue to prove they are more than willing to exploit any tragedy to further their own agenda.

And, with high-profile as Fox News willing their propaganda and continue to reach a

platforms such to play along, fear-mongering wide audience.

us

Muslim Family Thrown Out of Empire State Building for Praying A Muslim family from Long Island slapped the owners of the Empire State Building with a $5 million lawsuit that claims they were evicted from the building’s observation deck for praying.

Fahad and Amina Tirmizi said their civil rights were violated when they were ‘assaulted, battered and forcibly removed’ from the famed observatory last July.

The suit, filed against Malkin Properties, security company Andrews International Inc. and others, claims that Fahad, 32, and his 30-year-old wife were unfairly targeted because they were Muslim and wearing traditional Muslim attire.

‘We weren’t doing anything wrong,’ Fahad said. ‘We just wanted to enjoy the view like everyone else.’

The couple and their two children were on the 86th-floor outside deck when they walked over to a quiet spot to recite evening prayers, the suit says.

Although Amina briefly prayed without incident, a security guard quickly confronted Fahad and ‘menacingly poked’ him and loudly told him he was not allowed to pray on the deck.

Another guard joined the fray and told all the family members that they had to leave and ‘forcibly escorted’ them down to the lobby and out of the building, the suit says.

Fahad told the New York press that he has prayed in public before and tries to be respectful.

‘Earlier that same day at the Staten Island Ferry terminal, I needed to pray the afternoon prayer and wanted to make sure I’m not in the way,’ he said.

7

News ‘I confirmed with a police officer who was standing right there to make sure it was a good spot. The officer responded, ‘Go for it, it’s not illegal to pray.’ ’ The Tirmizis’ lawyer, Phil Hines, said the family outing became a harrowing experience of intolerance.

‘To most, the Empire State Building is one of the great landmarks of this city, but for my client and his family, it is a building of ignorance and injustice,’ Hines said.

‘A family trip to enjoy the cityscape was cut short after security officials threw them out of the building for exercising their religious beliefs.’

Minnesota Bank Closes Accounts of Muslim Customers The letters arrived at the end of a busy semester, the middle of summer, and even as recently as a few weeks ago, according to the Minnesota Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN).

They notified Minnesota students, families, and business owners that their TCF Bank accounts would be closed. Despite the fact that none of the letters provided an explanation for the accounts’ closure, TCF Bank maintains that they did not discriminate against their former customers. However, all of the account holders happened to have Muslim-sounding names.

‘None of these individuals have been charged with any crimes or engaged in any transaction that violates United States law. The only thing these individuals have in common, aside from TCF abruptly and without explanation closing their bank accounts, is that they have Muslim names.’

CAIR-MN argues that the accounts were closed without a legitimate reason. ‘Our clients’ accounts did not show any unusual activity and our clients never engaged in any activity that would warrant the closure of bank accounts,’ Abd Alla said.

CAIR-MN first learned of the issue in January 2013 after TCF Bank closed the accounts of about a dozen Iranian students. More clients with closed accounts came to CAIR-MN in August, and Alla said they have had ‘many others come forward since then.’

Initially, CAIR-MN tried to work directly with TCF Bank to resolve the issue. ‘We provided TCF Bank with the clients’ names, and TCF Bank conducted an internal investigation but did not provide a satisfactory response as to why the accounts were closed,’ Alla said.

CAIR-MN decided to file a complaint with Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights because, ‘an external, independent investigation was needed.’

On February 27, CAIR-MN welcomed the decision by the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights (MDCR) to file a Director’s Charge investigating the situation. CAIR-MN hopes that the investigation will reveal why TCF Bank closed the accounts and also hopes that this policy can be changed.

The manner in which the accounts were closed also upset CAIR-MN and their clients. Although TCF claims that all of the people whose accounts were closed were approached by TCF prior to the closure, Alla stated that only one of CAIR-MN’s clients was contacted.

‘Only one of our current clients was offered a questionnaire to fill out, and their accounts were closed despite the fact that they provided TCF Bank with all the information they requested. The majority of our current clients never received a request for information. In fact, our clients asked their branches for questionnaires to fill out in order to keep their accounts open, and TCF Bank refused to provide a questionnaire or request for information.’

In its latest press release, CAIR-MN Civil Rights Director Saly Abd Alla said,

In the midst of this conflict are the people whose accounts remain closed

Since 2012, more than 30 bank accounts of Minnesota Muslims have been closed

by TCF Bank. According to CAIR-MN, there are reports that account closures are also happening in other states.

8

despite the efforts of CAIR-MN. Those affected by the account closures have since been able to make other arrangements, but they faced several challenges due to TCF Bank’s actions. According to Abd Alla, ‘It was a hardship to determine why they were not getting their pay cheques . . . One of our clients was using his account to pay his dues on his dental licence and the check bounced, causing embarrassment and issues with the licensing board. Additionally, some of our clients had business accounts with TCF Bank that were closed causing problems for their businesses. The clients were so upset by the damage that they transferred mortgages that they had with TCF Bank to other banks as well.’

Iraqi Refugee Gunned Down in Sacramento Hassan Alawsi left Iraq because of the violence. But violence, like a spectre, would follow him to the United States.

So the man who left his homeland and became a refugee for his own safety, ended up dead with gunshots to his body in a parking lot in Sacramento, the victim of a random hate crime.

Alawsi’s assassin stalked him in the Home Depot parking lot for about eight minutes – cutting up and down aisles as he followed his victim to his car – before felling him with two gunshots in a racially motivated killing, according to Sacramento County sheriff’s detectives.

Two weeks after the shooting, detectives are awaiting transfer of their suspect, Jeffrey Caylor, from Butte County, where he is being held on charges related to the crimes leading up to and following Alawsi’s March 16 death. When Caylor, 44, returns to Sacramento County, he will be booked on suspicion of murder, as well as other charges.

Caylor’s girlfriend, Kari Hamilton, is also in custody in Butte County. Detectives allege the 42-year-old woman was in the car with Caylor at the time of the fatal shooting – along with her

12-year-old son – but prosecutors have not determined what charges she will face in connection with Alawsi’s death.

Detectives allege that Caylor did not know Alawsi, 46. But they believe he had a ‘severe hatred’ of people of Middle Eastern descent, Bowman said, and began following the victim after seeing him with his sister, who was dressed in an ‘Arabic-style dress’ and headscarf. A relative of Caylor later told detectives that hatred stemmed from an ongoing dispute with a former landlord.

Alawsi was pronounced dead at the scene, less than one hour after he and his sister arrived at the store to buy gardening supplies.. Alawsi’s sister ducked back into the store to use the restroom as Alawsi headed out to the car. When she tried to go back outside, employees had locked the doors, telling customers there was an emergency outside, according to the warrant affidavit.

She eventually made it outside, only to find deputies and police tape surrounding the area where she and her brother had parked, according to the warrant request. Deputies soon told her that her brother was dead.

State records available online indicate that Alawsi had been a licenced security guard since 2008, and his permit was due to expire this summer. He was an Iraqi refugee to the United States and a fine arts graduate of the University of Baghdad, according to Alawsi’s Facebook page, which is now being used to spread information about his death.

University Revokes Degree Award to Career Islamophobe Brandeis University in Massachusetts has announced that it has withdrawn the awarding of an honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-Dutch Islamophobe who has made a career out of bashing not only Islam but also Muslims of all persuasions.

The withdrawal came after strong protests from students and faculty.

The university said in a statement posted online that the decision has been made after a discussion between Ali and university President Frederick Lawrence.

‘We cannot overlook certain of her past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University’s core values,’ the statement said.

Ali, a member of the Dutch Parliament from 2003 to 2006, has been quoted as making highly inflammatory remarks about Islam and Muslims. That includes a 2007 interview with Reason magazine in which she said that Muslims ‘are not interested in peace. I think that we are at war with Islam. And there’s no middle ground in wars.’

Ali, who was raised in a Muslim family, claims that after surviving a civil war, genital mutilation, beatings and an arranged marriage, she renounced the faith in her 30s. She has not commented publicly on the issue of the honorary degree.

More than 85 of about 350 faculty members at Brandeis signed a letter asking for Ali to be removed from the list of honorary degree recipients. An online petition created by students had gathered thousands of signatures from inside and outside the university within one day.

Before the university rescinded the invitation, there was an atmosphere of anger and distrust among Muslim students at Brandeis.

‘This is a real slap in the face to Muslim students,’ said senior Sarah Fahmy, a member of the Muslim Student Association who created the petition.

‘But it’s not just the Muslim community that is upset but students and faculty of all religious beliefs as well,’ she said. ‘A university that prides itself on social justice and equality should not hold up someone who is an outright Islamophobe.’

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim advocacy group, said, ‘It is unconscionable that such a prestigious university would

honour someone with such openly hateful views.’

‘This makes Muslim students feel very uneasy,’ Joseph Lumbard, chairman of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, said in an interview. ‘They feel unwelcome here.’

A day before the university changed its mind about conferring the honour on Hirsi Ali, an editorial appeared in Brandeis University’s own student newspaper, saying she was not fit to receive the honorary degree.

The editorial said ‘Hirsi Ali has been outspoken about her Islamophobic beliefs. We urge University President Frederick Lawrence to rescind Hirsi Ali’s invitation to receive an honorary degree at this year’s commencement.’

The editorial added: ‘Her derogatory comments toward Islam warrant a closer look at the administration’s choice to award her a degree. In her 2010 memoir Nomad: From Islam to America, Hirsi Ali states that Islam is “not compatible with the modern Westernised way of living,” that “violence is an integral part [of Islam],”… These comments ignore the fact that there are multiple views of Islam, insist that violence is inherent in Islam and that one culture is fundamentally better than another. Her remarks alienate not only our University’s Muslim community, but also run counter to the beliefs of our entire campus. Her phobia does not fit Brandeis’ ideals or values of our inclusive community and the goal of reflecting “the heterogeneity of the United States and of the world community whose ideas and concerns it shares,” according to Brandeis’ mission statement.’

‘The selection of Hirsi Ali threatens to taint what should be a celebration for seniors and their friends and families.

Graduating seniors should not have to sit in the presence of their University’s support for a message that devalues an entire religion,’ the editorial concluded.

9

Healing through

Conflict Resolving internal conflict and accepting differences can be an important step towards a greater understanding of ourselves and of our true responsibility as Gods’ 3 viceroys on Earth, says Sabnum Dharamsi

“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. Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of God is he who is the most righteous of you” (Qur’an 49:13)

10

11

T

his is a beautiful verse, one that we repeat to remind ourselves that we need to understand each other, despite our differences. And yet, in the world today, on both the international stage as well as in individual circumstances, events show that we really

His plan for Adam, “When your Lord said to the angels, ‘Indeed I am going to set a viceroy on the earth,’ they said, ‘Will You set in it someone who will cause corruption in it, and shed blood, while we celebrate Your praise and proclaim Your sanctity?’ He said, ‘Indeed I know what you do not know.’

(2:30)

This verse is important because it tells Islam tells us we are born innocent and that us that we all God guides us, but also that we (necessarily) have a destruccontain both a destructive aspect as well as tive side to us.

It tells us somethe capacity to develop our potential to be thing about our higher than the angels. fundamental nature. Understanding that we have this propensity can help us to understand don’t know each other. Indeed, our and accept that this is part of our differences have become a source of nature. violent conflict. What is wrong with us It’s true that people have had different that we know so little about how to get ideas about the nature of man, and along? Can this side of humanity ever these ideas inform our beliefs and our be eradicated? actions. For example, Carl Rogers, the The above Quranic verse resounds founder of client-centred counselling, a powerful warning in my head and believed that people are fundamenheart. As a counsellor I have worked tally good, and that premise defined with those everyday situations of men his whole therapeutic model and and women who are tortured inwardly techniques. Conversely, Christianity by relationships that have broken down teaches that there is original sin, which due to what are called “irreconcilable is carried by all humanity, so therefore differences”. I have worked with people only Jesus(a) can redeem humanity. hardened by the trauma of war, in situations where neighbours and friends have turned into bitter enemies.

The common theme here is differences that could perhaps be resolved by a deeper understanding of the universality that connects us. We know at a gut level that we’re connected by our humanness - that we’re created from nafsun wahida (single soul) and yet we are sometimes confronted by situations where peace seems impossible.

These inner and outer conflicts, even if not directly experienced, can lead to feelings of hopelessness and despair.

We should not see this despair as a weakness or blame anyone for these feelings – after all, even the angels objected when God informed them of

12

Islam tells us we are born innocent and that God guides us, but also that we (necessarily) contain both a destructive aspect as well as the capacity to develop our potential to be higher than the angels. In other words we are designed to come to know the truth for ourselves, through life, through our own nature and with His Guidance. Islam teaches us that we have been given everything we need to fulfil that deepest aspiration that is encoded within our hearts, which is to want, love and worship Him. If we can only learn to see who we are and why we behave the way we do, then perhaps that intrinsic inner love for goodness, that love of God, can transform our lives.

It is because we know this destructive capacity that we can also know and value the opposite – peace. Knowing our own nature - intimately – and learning to appreciate and choose the good over darker aspects of our being, is what gives us the potential to be His Khalifa (viceroy), guardian and protector, upholders of justice and right living.

Our design is based on learning through these opposites. God’s response to the angels was ‘… I know what you do not know’ meaning that our creation – with its capacity for destruction – is meant to make (big) mistakes. We all have within us the capacity to create havoc in our lives and ruin those around us. And yet, despite the whole of human history telling us otherwise, we struggle and strive also for reconciliation, for love and understanding. At some deep level we desire goodness, and we believe in it, even if we can’t see a way to make that happen. I call this desire for goodness, peace and love a belief in God, who is Al-Barr (the Source of All Goodness) As-Salaam (the Source of Peace) Al-Wadud (the Source of All Love). To dream about peace is to dream of God. He is Good and He is Great.

In working with my students and clients I notice that we tend to have stock responses to situations of difficulty, which can prevent us from seeing things as they really are. We can develop blinkers to situations that inhibit us from accessing that inner guidance.

These blinkers are so powerful that they can blind us to the extent that even the best advice or religious teachings can become dangerous weapons in our hands. We often believe what we want to believe, twist the facts to suit ourselves, so eventually even we can’t tell the difference anymore.

While people who are depressed often blame themselves, it’s interesting that the majority of people tend to blame others, irrespective of the truth. Indeed, psychology recognises these patterns or rather biases of attribution (our beliefs about the causes of events and behaviour). One of these biases is known as the fundamental attribution error

(blaming the victim or judging others).

So for example, rather than being compassionate, one blames the victim of domestic violence or rape.

Another bias is the self-serving bias, where one attributes success to one’s own qualities rather than external factors, but attributes others’ success to luck. These patterns have a huge influence on what we do and how we interact with others. They may make it easier for us to cope in the short term, allowing us to protect ourselves from feeling we may be wrong or that we need to help someone. But they can also polarise situations of conflict and block our hearts from being compassionate. The key here is that we are driven by our need to survive, to protect ourselves from pain. Our minds make up things that seem plausible but which aren’t true.

the outside world, unaware that this self-protective bubble is one in which our identities and our past habits are determining how we encounter new experiences, especially ones that challenge our ideas. It’s like the tribe that keeps out intruders, but ends up suffocating itself. Another way of putting this is that it is natural that the conditioning that was intended to protect us, and the mental habits that we acquire to help us, are essential in our development but inevitably these habits will be challenged. It is God’s design, part of the guidance that He places within us, that our love for peace and harmony drives us to want to integrate, even with those who challenge us the most.

At the beginning I called that potent verse (49:13) a warning, but it is also a healing and a solution. Like so many Quranic verses, it has multiple meanings. God is telling us that He has created In the very personal stories that I work differences that must be acknowledged, with, I have seen how painful conflict and in doing so we will come to know can be. How can you accept someone ourselves and each other. In cultivating who does things you have always understanding, in learning how to believed to be wrong, and should you? work through outer differences without Fear and ignorance make us blind to denial, we can go beyond our shallow accepting differences, because they personas and come closer to our potenchallenge our own beliefs, values and tial as vicegerents. God is telling us that practices. But it is precisely these chalthese paradoxes will compel us towards lenges that we need to help us evolve, discovering taqwa. This is translated as to discover what is most important, to righteousness, but it means developing the capacity for Fear and ignorance make us blind to accepting self-restraint, differences, because they challenge our own for sacrifice, beliefs….. But it is precisely these challenges for love for the sake of God. that we need to help us …. to learn that

sometimes it is not about superficial ideas …., but about wisdom, about forgiveness, about courage, about humility.

learn that sometimes it is not about superficial ideas of right and wrong, but about wisdom, about forgiveness, about courage, about humility.

As Muslims - people of faith – in a diverse community, we can easily place ourselves in a bubble, sheltered from

He says, “O you who have faith!

Be maintainers, as witnesses for the sake of God, of justice, and ill feeling for a people should never lead you to be unfair. Be fair; that is nearer to God wariness, and be wary of God. God is indeed well aware of what you do.” (5:8) •

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

13

Art Editor Moriam Grillo

In the spotlight Abdullah Murad

“I am not the one who decides; each painting is a living creature [which] explains [its] own meaning.”

Abdullah Murad was born in Syria in1944 and graduated from the University of Damascus in 1970 with a degree in Fine Art. Murad is a member of the Syrian Syndicate of Fine Arts as well as the Arab Artists Union and considered to be a pioneer of abstract expressionist Arab art.

14

Sculpture For more than three decades Murad’s work has generated a substantial amount of critical acclaim and he is considered one of the most celebrated abstract painters in the Middle East. A reflection of this success is the fact that Murad’s paintings can be found in public and private collections around the world and are highly coveted.

Murad’s paintings and drawings are an interesting fusion of European and Arabic visual languages. They feature arabesque concepts which are influenced by abstract expressionism and elements of Fauvism. Fauvism is a form of Expressionism using vivid unnatural colour which was popular in Paris in the early 1900s where it is reflected in the work of Matisse and other artists. Although short-lived, its influences became entrenched in the German art scene. In similar ways, Murad’s paintings are experimental and wild in their use of colour and movement. A closer look at his landscapes reveals layers of detail which range in brush application from thick impasto to transparent colour washes.

By also mixing media in his work, Murad creates textures using newspaper collages and cut-outs, components which are also influenced by an art movement which began in Western Europe. Murad’s palette is pleasant, although lacking in natural colour references, and lifts his everyday imagery from the mundane to the imagined. This style of exposition allows Murad to infuse mood and imagination into each piece, recording for posterity his own personal perception of reality.

Murad has exhibited his work in the Middle East and Europe. His work is also forms part of several public and private collections in France, Germany, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Turkey, Bahrain and the Sharjah Museum, UAE.

Noha Al-Sharif

Saddek Wasil

“I work in iron, taming it with a violence of vision until it assumes the form I desire.” - Saddek Wasil Saddek Wasil is a young sculptor from Saudi Arabia whose main medium of expression is metal. Sculptures are Wasil’s opportunity to share his concepts of spirituality and human endeavour within an Islamic framework.

Through the use of created objects, Wasil explores key aspects that affect man’s existence and search for meaning in life.

“Many people carry a void within their souls - be it spiritual, emotional or educational. Far from being a weakness, I believe this void is strength! For it is this sense of lacking or need that drives and motivates a human being to search for God, love or enlightenment. Sometimes I think that contentment is tantamount to complacency. If one is content, would we ever strive to evolve and better ourselves?”

- Al Sharif

Wasil’s current work conveys the importance of our struggle against materialism for the sake of spiritual freedom.

The mastery of his work is drawn out through the contemplations of the onlooker forming a contract which is unspoken but nonetheless necessary if one is to truly come to terms with the meaning of his work. In his piece Moallakaat*, Wasil responds to the power of narrative and the depth of meaning steeped in historic tradition which enables us to find meaning in life.

What thrills me about Wasil’s work is the apparently effortless way he uses a material which is staid and resolute in order to convey fluidity and dynamism. He also manages to convince us, through his whimsical responses, that his endeavours are easy. His work leaves us oblivious to the countless number of stages necessary for each design to be fulfilled, as well as the fact that brute force is often needed to bring his conceptions to fruition.

Wasil has not only carved out a niche for himself in the art world, he has also reconfigured the playing field with a visual language that is more akin to intricate jewellery than the vastness of lifelike sculptures. *’Moallakaat’ refers to The Suspended Odes or The Hanging Poems and is the title of a group of seven Arabic poems.

Saddek Wasil Moallakaat 3, 2010 Metallic Sculpture 175 x 20 x 5 cm (68 7/8 x 7 7/8 x 2 in.)

SAW0061

Noha Al-Sharif is a Saudi sculptor.

Like myself, she is interested in the representation of groups and how multiplicity can be used to reflect the strength of unitive action and intention. She is also concerned by notions of sculptural history as well as how different figures can and often do relate to one other. Her work ranges from photographing the human form to 3D sculpture.

The finished pieces are simple and black in colour. The lack of detail assists in allowing her meaning to be conveyed more readily. Al Sharif’s work is driven by her thoughts and worldview; it is these latent qualities that add gravitas to her art, making it an innovative representation of Islamic culture which in turn, allows for a fairer appraisal of a spiritual outlook which is often hidden from the public gaze.

By disclosing her thoughts on this issue, Al Sharif opens a space for dialogue and greater awareness. These qualities make her work compelling and convey a greater sense of what art can and should be.

15

Masterpiece Sarah Mohanna Al Abdali Graffiti Artist

“I like street art because it’s a simple way of expressing yourself and it’s free.”

- Al Abdali

Graphics Basma Felemban

Basma Felemban is a young internationally renowned graphic designer.

Many may remember seeing her work presented as an adjunct to the critically acclaimed Hajj exhibition at the British Museum in London in 2012.

Her work, in general, is a contemporary response to her love of Islamic art and uses key aspects of the craft with modern materials. Felemban’s use of geometry and pattern reflects traditional interpretations of sacred space as an outward aesthetic which encourages inward focus. Whilst her finished pieces are influenced by a contemporary perspective, the notion of

16

the inner and outer aspects of human existence is curtailed by more populist concepts of identity and ego. Felemban has admitted that her favourite artists are Leonardo da Vinci and Banksy, and it is possibly these influences that have influenced her work to take its current direction. I do look at Felemban’s work, and beyond the professional execution, notice a naive interpretation of traditional concepts. But, I must remind myself, Felemban only graduated from high school in 2011 and has achieved an incredible amount in a very short time.

Felemban describes herself as an amateur artist and there is no doubt her youthfulness gets in the way of deeper thinking. But, at the same time, she offers a vital and refreshing look at tradition and considers its current standing in a modern ever-changing world.

Before travelling to Mecca, I had a rather idyllic notion of a city unchanged by modernity. On arrival, I became aware that even the sacred mosque which houses the Kaaba has been revamped a number of times. As enamoured as I was by the physical immediacy of the focal point of my prayer and the collaborative struggle infused in each of the spiritual rites, I was unimpressed by the infamous clock-tower which stands over 600 metres above ground and twinkles when the adhaan is uttered so those living miles away receive notice of prayer time. For me, it is an idiotic monstrosity, which, in its grandiose nature, attempts to overshadow the beauty and majesty of the Kaaba itself.

I mention these feelings because when I came across the work of this artist, I felt I could relate to her work through my own experiences. Sarah Mohanna Al Abdali is a young Saudi artist who lives in Mecca and her work is a response to the geographical landscape which is her home.

Al Abdali executes her creativity without caution, a brave move in a country driven by conformity. Her craft is not conventional and is more an act of rebellion than compliance. But what impresses me most about her engagement with her work is how she presents her creative suppositions as openers for informed conversation. Al Abdali uses her art to spark conversation. Whilst some artists’ works arrive as monologue, hers is distinctly a dialogue based on current issues which affect those who have experienced similar concerns. Her piece entitled ‘Mecca’ is a response to a fast-changing environment which is steeped in sacred history yet is being forced to align itself aesthetically with the present day. Al Abdali is displeased, as I was, that the city she knows and loves has become filled with icons

of modernity which overshadow the sacredness of its past and distinctiveness of its present. Through the use of grafitti, a medium recognised for its representation of anarchistic protest, Al Abdali sets a tone which is hard to ignore. Al Abdali has sprayed her Mecca sign on walls around the historic area of Jeddah with the intention that it would be seen by as many people as possible.

In this way, her art is not only used to inform thought, it is also used to embellish and inform public space.

Through the imitation of a visual signature often used to inform residents of the direction of prayer, Al Abdali succinctly articulates two apparent but often ignored notions. One, which used to be a vast canyon which housed the Kaaba in the centre of its valley, has now become a bumbling metropolis, and the other, that metropolitan picture of modernity, has become the focus [or qibla] of daily life.

“I didn’t want it to be a beautiful artwork, I want to create debate.” - Al Abdali

Art is an opportunity to connect through shared thoughts and feelings. Often contemporary western art attempts to shock and dissuade us from maintaining conventional attitudes towards ourselves and the world around us.

Islamic art references something which is latent, and often forgotten, inside us.

Its reference to the sacred means its message is subtle and nourishes our spiritual aspect.

Al Abdali’s work does this while maintaining strong references to contemporary life, connecting them to a timeless reference point which resides within us all.

Addendum

Heritage

Abdulnasser Gharem ‘The Path (Siraat)’

Mohanna DURRA (Jordanian, b. 1938)

Abdulnasser Gharem lives and works in Riyadh, sharing his time between working for the armed forces and as an artist.

For his art, Gharem works with a range of media which he employs to depict his views on a variety of issues which affect him as a Saudi resident.

‘Woman from Salt’ The original was painted on wood panel; dimensions 81 cm x 70 cm A Jordanian postage stamp featuring this work was released July 2002

His piece entitled ‘The Path (Siraat)’ was produced in 2009 and is the scene of a bridge in Southern Saudi Arabia which was used as a refuge by villagers in the early eighties.

Attempting to safeguard themselves from flash floods, people took shelter on the bridge which was not structurally capable of bearing their weight.

This resulted in the bridge collapsing and the loss of many lives.

Gharem, who often uses the theme of multiples in his work, repeatedly spray painted the word ‘siraat’, meaning ‘path to God’, on the bridge, drawing together the physical, intellectual and metaphysical meanings this image has come to represent.

His work is part of a series in the Art Fund Collection of Middle Eastern Photography at the V&A and the British Museum

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

17

,

It s all in the bag Following the trace of Islamic Art in the Western Galleries, Cleo Cantone visits the Courtauld Gallery; Court and Craft exhibition in London, where she explores a Masterpiece from Northern Iraq

Picture 1 ‘A contemporary metal bag’

F

ashion is a curious thing, seldom known for producing practical items.

Accessories are no exception: made from materials varying from leather to sequins, canvas, fabrics, plastic but less commonly metal. Browsing the net I found a contemporary equivalent to the 14th century Mosul brass bag (Picture 1).

Although the Courtauld gallery in Somerset House may not be your first port of call when it comes to collections of Islamic art, the current exhibition, nestled among rooms containing Renaissance and Impressionist masterpieces, will not disappoint.

This single room exhibition holds a collection of treasures from Islamic art museums and libraries from around the world. Arranged around the centrepiece of the Mosul bag are an array of objects and manuscripts dating from the 13th to 15th centuries and each with a connection to the brass bag.

18

19

1b. Courtauld Court and Craft - Islamic bag lid

1a. Courtauld Court and Craft - Islamic bag

1c. Courtauld Court and Craft - Islamic bag roundel

This unique piece was probably made for a noblewoman in the court of the Il-Khanids, the Mongol dynasty who ruled over much of present-day Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkey in the 13-14th centuries.

The shape of the bag is reportedly ‘unknown in metalwork’ and has variously been described as a wallet, a work basket and a saddle bag to carry a prince’s documents and seals (Picture 1a).

It is intricately incised with geometric T-fret designs and medallions and contains images of courtly life echoing Mongol paintings, manuscripts and tiles. The court scene depicted on the lid of the bag is a microcosmic view of life in the Middle Ages: eating, revelling, playing music (Picture 1c), but also in diminutive form are portrayals of contemporary furnishings, crockery, vessels and costumes that provide a glimpse into Mongol mores and customs (Picture 1b).

A noblewoman and her husband are surrounded by their attendants, one of whom, a page boy, wears a similar bag hanging from his shoulder indicating that such an item was in vogue at the time. Recent research suggests the boy is in fact carrying the bag for the noblewomen - an indication both of its weight and the importance of its owner.

Double hinges allowed the lid to open easily and the interior of the bag would have been lined with fabric. From the hole on the front flap and the damage

20

on the image on the upper side of the lid, there is evidence that the bag was adapted possibly into a lockable box. Another distinguishing feature is the inscription framing the freeze on the lid, wishing the owner prosperity, grace, fulfilment of wishes, respect and good fortune. The Arabic words to the poem can be heard on headphones and a video of the box produced with the latest imaging and scanning technology can also be viewed. The latter is particularly helpful as the details on the bag’s carved surface cannot fully be distinguished by the naked eye behind a glass case.

In this exhibition there are objects depicted in the court scene: a 15th century Chinese lacquered table from the Victoria and Albert Museum, for instance, can just be seen on the bag but is equally found on Il-Khanid paintings and may have been imported to the Il-Khanid court along with other luxury objects such as textiles and porcelain.

A couple of figures carved on the bag are seen holding bottles and goblets. A Mamluk glass enamelled bottle and a beaker (both from the British Museum, Picture 2) illustrate the kind of vessels that might have been used as well as a silver bowl from Iran or Central Asia and a leather bag from present day Afghanistan. Even the handle of a spoon in the court scene provides an idea of the kind of crockery used: a spoon from eastern Iran or Afghanistan made of tin bronze because this material did not corrode or leave an unpleasant taste.

2. Courtauld Court and Craft - Glass bottle, British Museum

21

A cast brass ball joint inlaid with silver and gold from either Mosul or western Iran and dated to the 14th century depicts a horseman in Mongol dress and might have been used in furniture or a joint for windows or screens.

Mosul was famous for its inlaid metalwork craftsmanship as noted by the Andalusian traveller Ibn Sa’id in 1250: “there are many crafts in the city, especially with inlaid brass vessels which are exported to rulers”. After the city’s conquest by the Mongols in 1262, however, craftsmen who mainly originated from Khurasan, began to implement the tastes of their new patrons in their work. This impact is evident on the Courthauld bag as the court scene depicts Mongol courtesans. Since gold and silver were in short supply and brass was relatively cheap, it was the latter material that became widely used and the addition of silver and gold inlay bestowed a layer of sophistication on the objects.

A splendid array of metalwork is displayed to the right of the Courtauld bag: among them, the famous Balcas Ewer (at the British Museum, Picture 3) whose inscription firmly dates it to 1232 (Rajab 629) and the nisba (Arabic, ‘onomastics’) ‘al-Mawsili’ points to a determinate location.

3. Courtauld Court and Craft - Blacas Ewer, British Museum

5. Courtauld Court and Craft - Qur’an

Mention of the location of production on objects is very rare so by comparing the geometric designs of the ewer with those on the bag, scholars have been able to establish the latter’s place of production.

al-Husayn for the great khan, Öljeitü (ruled 1304-17) who ordered the Qur’an interred with him in his mausoleum in Sultaniyya located in North Western Iran.

Along with two three-legged incense burners is a spherical one from the Museo Bargello in Florence (Picture 4).

The exhibition’s focus is primarily metalwork, nevertheless, the courtly and hunting motifs found on bags find echoes in other media, not least tiles and textiles. The 14th century Kashan tiles from the British Museum are particularly relevant as they would have adorned the walls of Il-Khanid palaces.

The fragment of textile from the V&A known as nasij, or cloth of gold, was highly prized by merchants in Asia and Europe for its delicate golden thread woven into silk.

Made in Mosul and ascribed to Öljeitü’s son, Sultan Abu Sa’id (ruled 1317-35), it was said to have been rolled on the floor to dissipate the perfume from the incense.

As well as several manuscripts, from the narrative paintings of the Shanama to leaves from the book by Al-Qazvini, are two volumes of Öljeitü’s Mosul Qur’an (Picture 5). These large format, ink and gold volumes were executed by the Mawsili scribe ‘Ali ibn Muhammed

22

4. Courtauld Court and Craft - Spherical incense burner, Bargello

This particular piece includes lotus flowers, clearly inspired by Chinese

textiles, and contains a partial inscription which reads “the wise, the sultan”.

A similar inscription appears on a pen box from the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore depicting a Mongol horseman. It reads: “Your government shall rise without declining, if it has as its basis the largest number of people from every place.”

It is worth pondering on these invocations, for encrypted in these inscriptions is the craftsman’s advice to his ruler (and presumably patron) whose wisdom and leadership is measured against the wellbeing of his subjects. Thus, although the primary function of luxury objects in the medieval Islamic world was to ingratiate rulers, as patrons of the arts, they had a responsibility towards the craftsmen whose skill and dedication

produced some of the most beautiful objects still appreciated and valued by collectors and audiences today. What differs substantially between medieval Islamic fashion accessories (and luxury objects in general) is their didactic as well as aesthetic quality, not something most contemporary fashion brands can claim to pride themselves on. •

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.

23

Feature

Not for an Age, but for all Time

Batool Haydar questions whether the inclusion of Muslim characters in Shakespearean writing is worth a second glance or just ‘Much Ado About Nothing’

“

It is sometimes suspected that the enthusiasm for Shakespeare’s works shown by some students is a fiction or a fashion. It is not so. The justification of that enthusiastic admiration is in the fact that every increase of knowledge and deepening of wisdom in the critic or the student do but show still greater knowledge and deeper wisdom in the great poet. When, too, it is found that his judgment is equal to his genius, and that his industry is on a par with his inspiration, it becomes impossible to wonder or to admire too much.” - George Dawson Why have the thirty-seven odd plays that the ‘Bard of Avon’ wrote continued to attract the attention of amateur readers as well as expert critics for over four hundred years? The mere fact that he has survived the ever-changing literary climate and still continues to be one of the most-read authors in the western world is enough to warrant some interest in the source of his enduring appeal to the masses.

The eternal ‘all-ages’ magnetism of Shakespeare’s works could be attributed to some of the following aspects of his writings: A. Empathy: The ability to condense a wide variety of complex human emotions into a ‘play’ which would otherwise be considered pure entertainment. By doing this, the Bard was able to reflect to his audience their deepest inner hopes, desires and fears and see themselves mirrored in his characters.

B. Great Stories and Great Story-telling: Shakespeare was not restricted by genre and embraced comedy, tragedy, history, melodrama, adventure, love stories and fairy tales. There is something for everyone is his works C. Memorable Characters: Even the best stories can be destroyed by flat, two-dimensional, cardboard cut-out characters. Shakespeare understood this in a unique way.

His main characters are neither pure villain nor pure hero, their struggle between right and wrong is a battle that every audience across time and culture can relate to.

D. Turn of Phrase: Did you know that modern phrases such as ‘to refuse to budge an inch’, ‘be a tower of strength’, ‘to have seen better days’, ‘be tongue-tied’, declare ‘the game is up’ or state ‘the long and short of it’ all find their first recording in Shakespeare’s plays? While he may not have been the inventor of all these (and many more) common phrases, they were certainly made famous and firmly embedded into the English language by his use of them.

24

25

Truth will Out…

uniting after death.

As with all artists, William Shakespeare used his talent to express his deepest feelings and opinions. He wrote not purely for fame (the popularity of his works was largely posthumous) and for those who study his works and their impact, there are many questions about the Bard’s underlying intentions.

He writes: “…this union of Soul and Spirit is only virtual; it marks the outset of the spiritual path, not the end, and symbolises initiation rather than realisation; and the first scene opens upon the devil preparing to do all in his power to wreck the marriage before it can come to fullness…. Only then, after it has passed through the ‘narrow gate’ of death, is the Soul truly united with the Spirit.” (The Secret of Shakespeare)

Although arguments continue to rage about whether Shakespeare was secular, humanist or whether he infused his writing with Christian ideas, the general agreement is that he did not use religion as a major force or motivation in his stories.

Spirituality and morality, on the other hand, seem to play a large part. Whether it be the ‘gods’ or one ‘God’ that the various characters call upon, they are all affected by the knowledge there is a better choice and a worse one.

Some argue that his writings show no inclination towards Christianity. He is sympathetic to suicide for example in Romeo and Juliet, Anthony and Cleopatra and Hamlet, yet the funeral rites for Ophelia – who took her own life – are described as perfunctory because of the Christian view that her death was one of ‘sin’.

Overall, his opinions seemed coloured by the perspective of the Elizabethan era of the time, so Shylock, his play about a vengeful Jewish money-lender, would be considered prejudiced and discriminatory if it had been written today, but the stereotype was perfectly acceptable to his audience.

It should come as no surprise then, that a writer, who drew so much from the people and circumstances around himself, would refer to and include the Arab/Muslim influence in his works. The ‘Moorish’ relationship with England had developed over hundreds of years of trade and war. During Shakespeare’s own lifetime, Moroccan diplomatic delegations had visited and spent time there, exposing the general public to their foreign culture and customs.

The Moors (or Turks) were seen as conflicted: civil and/or savage in turn or simultaneously. They were alien entities, ‘others’ who had come into contact with the English ‘own’. The Bard makes reference to the derogatory implication of their behaviour through phrases such as ‘stubborn Turks’ and ‘hard-hearted Turks’.

Those who believe that he had a specific bias against Islam will often cite Othello as an example. Othello, the protagonist, is a Moor converted to Christianity and thus redeemed with noble behaviour and allowed marriage to the beautiful Desdemona.

However, through the play, he struggles against ‘turning Turk’. In the end, he gives in to suspicion and jealousy and murders his wife. After he realises his mistake, he takes his own life, describing himself as ‘a malignant and a turbaned Turk’.

Interestingly, there is a faction that uses the very same Othello – along with the other plays – to attribute a far deeper meaning to the writings of Shakespeare. Dr Martin Lings (1909 – 2005), a respected academician and adherent of Sufism, was well known for his theory of Shakespeare and his sympathy towards Sufi theology.

As a convert and former Keeper of Oriental Manuscripts at the British Museum, Dr Lings was interested in Islamic texts and their relationships with other writings. In Shakespeare, he seemed to have found a fellow soul travelling the Path towards the One.

The mere fact that he has survived the ever-changing literary climate and still continues to be one of the most-read authors in the western world is enough to warrant some interest in the source of his enduring appeal to the masses.

….the general agreement is that he did not use religion as a major force or motivation in his stories. Spirituality and morality, on the other hand, seem to play a large part.

As has often been the norm, two opposing parties of thought use the same source to defend their stand. It may speak volumes about the very reasons why Shakespeare is so famous. The questions will no doubt keep being asked about what his stories really meant and we may not find the answers as soon as we’d like, but to quote the Bard himself, “at the length truth will out” (Merchant of Venice).

‘All’s Well That Ends Well’ There is an urban legend that William Shakespeare was actually born an Arab Muslim in Basra called Sheikh Zubayr, and that his name was mangled when the English tried to pronounce it. When the humour of this tale passes, there is a lingering question: Why would the Muslims be so eager to claim this particular writer of all other English writers for their own?

The plays of Shakespeare have been translated into almost all the major languages in the world, and the earliest translation and production of Othello into Arabic (the play of most interest to the Arab world) was in 1884 in Egypt. It appealed to the masses because the main character, the ‘other’, was in this case one of their own and they could see themselves in him – a lone foreigner trying to hold on to his identity in a strange world.

However, beyond this appeal of cultural affiliation, it is possible that other Muslims – like Dr. Lings – sensed a deeper connection to the subtle messages in these writings. While stories like Ibn Tufail’s Hayy bin Yaqzan told of the essential fitrah (nature) that reaches out to universal truths in the absence of distinctions of race, religion and cultural norms, Shakespeare spoke of these truths in spite of the overwhelming influence of these structures of ‘civilised’ society.

According to Dr Lings; “It is too often said that the marvellous variety of Shakespeare’s characters makes it impossible to derive anything about the author himself.

About his temperament this may be true to a certain extent, but as regards his outlook and ideals it is altogether false.”

Thus, while the ‘outer’ Shakespeare may be hidden behind his writings, the ‘inner’ Bard speaks out clearly to the masses, calling them to aim for greater heights, grander ideals and to forever hope to achieve the status of recognising and accepting the Truth regardless of how treacherous or confusing the journey may be.

And perhaps it is for presenting this mirror to our souls and allowing us to see ourselves conquering and winning against all odds that Shakespeare is and will continue to be, arguably, one of the most famous writers of all time. •

Dr Lings’ most famous work on the subject is ‘The Sacred Art of Shakespeare’ where he seeks to explain the symbolism used by the Bard to describe the inner journey of the soul through the outer drama of a play. King Lear, Measure for Measure and The Tempest were seen as being representative of the various struggles of the self that Sufic tradition upholds.

Othello in particular is analysed in detail by Lings as a story about the coming together of Soul (Othello) and Spirit (Desdemona) after struggling through the vicious attacks of the Devil (Iago). Their physical coming together in this world is seen by Dr Lings as a beginning whose logical end must come to pass through

26

Batool Haydar is a wordsmith who has written many articles and blogs

27

Soldiers Coming Home

to Shoot The effect of wars has long term repercussions on soldiers’ health. Following yet another shooting episode involving a US serviceman Reza Murshid interviews Gordon Duff from Veterans Today to assess the current condition of American war veterans

T

hey were wars that were supposed to bring peace and stability to both countries, Iraq and Afghanistan, destroy any vestiges of extremism and but the ill-conceived wars of the Neo-Cons failed on both fronts. Not only did the twin wars fail to curb extremism and bring about peace and prosperity, they also played havoc with the lives of those who were sent there to fight.

The deleterious effect of these wars can be seen not only in the number of the dead in Iraq, eight thousand killed in violence over the past 12 months, but also in the lives of those who have returned to the US, and find it ever more difficult to put their shattered lives back together. Most of them are psychologically bruised and in need of rehabilitation.

28

The latest US casualties of the so-called War on Terror were three American servicemen in Fort Hood, Texas. On April 2, within a span of eight minutes, Specialist Ivan A. Lopez fired 35 rounds at soldiers on the base. Military sources later admitted that Mr Lopez had been suffering from psychological problems and opened fire on fellow soldiers following an altercation. Mr Lopez ended his shooting spree by committing suicide. This was the same base where only five years earlier thirteen people were killed after another serviceman turned on his compatriots.

Five decades ago, the late Malcolm X used the expression ‘Chickens Coming Home to Roost’ to refer to the assas-

sination of JF Kennedy. He meant that the United States was only reaping what it had sown. Are such shootings also a case of Chickens Coming Home to Roost?

To answer this question and to get to know the complex problems facing the US veterans of foreign wars, I interviewed Gordon Duff, a senior editor of Veterans Today. Mr Duff is himself a disabled veteran and a former Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. He has been a campaigner for veterans and POW issues for decades.

Gordon Duff’s views are sought by leading media organisations around the globe on such issues as US foreign policy and security arrangements around the globe:

29

Gordon Duff from Veterans Today

Q. Are sufficient resources allocated for veterans’ mental health care?

A: President Obama has promised to allocate more resources for mental health for the veterans. Literally tens of billions of dollars have been spent on mental health for veterans. It is one thing to spend money on mental health care; it is another thing delivering effective mental health care. The Department of Veterans Affairs has typically used dangerous and certainly irresponsible cocktails of anti-psychotic drugs.

Remember that these people who are being released from the military were diagnosed while they were within the military. Up to 70 percent of the combat veterans in the military were being treated for mental illness while they were in the military. An average of 28 percent of all members of the military, and that included those who were never deployed, are on anti-psychotic medication.

These soldiers, being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress, were strolling the streets of Afghanistan and Iraq carrying all types of weaponry; they were loose in Iraq and Afghanistan with tanks, machine guns and jet planes, whereas if they came to the States, they would

30

not be entrusted even with a BB gun.

With its mismanagement and systematic cruelty towards the veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs has caused more suicides, more damage and mental health problems among the veterans than the wars in which they fought.

Q. How has the US treated its own veterans in the past?

A: It has always treated its POWs poorly. It has not cared to get them back after the war. Even in World War II, some 9000 of our prisoners of war who had been liberated by the Russians were put in Russian prison camps and died there. We never asked for them back. We didn’t get many of the Korean POWs back, and we abandoned hundreds in Vietnam.

As for veterans, we had nearly two million at one point, waiting to be processed for disability application.

We have speeded this up considerably now. What we do is that we deny their request initially and let them go through an appeal process that might take five or six years to get through.

Q. Considering the latest shooting at Fort Hood, should there be a preference given to the veterans who may have suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder?

A: I really don’t think so. I think there is

a certain amount of abuse, and I hate to say this, but there are a lot of veterans applying for benefits for psychological damage who never served in anything resembling a serious war. Iraq and Afghanistan had minimal combat, nearly a tenth of the casualties of the war in Vietnam. I think there are people who chose to go into the military because they already had [psychological] problems or because they had very little money. I see that there are typists, clerks and truck drivers who are suffering from ‘post-traumatic stress from combat’, which is very unlikely.

Q. Are you saying that there are individuals who look at their military service as a sort of cash cow that will guarantee their financial well-being for the rest of their lives?

A: Absolutely. Here in Toledo, OH, it is really difficult to find a job for 10 dollars an hour and yet the disability compensation through the Department of Veterans’ Affairs along with Social Security Disability will pay about $3500 (per month), tax free. Even with a college degree, it is impossible to get a job paying that much in Toledo.

Jobs simply aren’t just there. So you just get disability compensation or you are homeless. We have a lot of people applying for disability compensation and they are turned down, and because they have been unable to support

themselves or their families, they have killed themselves. As a result, close to 30,000 veterans [from Iraq and Afghanistan] have killed themselves in recent years. Suicide is by far the major source of casualties in the so-called War on Terror. The veterans return to the United States and this is not a good place to live. We have a divisive society; we have a horrific economy; we have a terrible government; people are radicalised in this society. It is a miserable place to live.

Q. Can you give a breakdown of these suicides?

A : By 2007, there were 20,000 such suicides. At that point they quit counting.

You don’t have figures anymore because no one asks. No one wants to know.

I can tell you this about the Vietnam veterans. By 2005, of the 2.9 million Vietnam veterans, there were less than one million alive: Two thirds had died. The average life expectancy for a Vietnam veteran was 46 years. That figure was altered significantly because 50,000 veterans died between 1975 and 1980, a large number of them from suicides, but also from Agent Orange.

Based on the figures that I have there are now less than 500,000 Vietnam veterans. Many of my friends did not reach the age of 50. Four years ago, my squad leader from Vietnam, Ralph Eckhard, died at the age of 61 while talking to me on the telephone.

Veterans are now marginalised in our society, something that we never had before. Our wars are fought by reservists and National Guard. So we have people who are not professional soldiers, never seriously decided to join the military, other than as a part-time job and they managed to be deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan, or both, four, five or more times. After the first deployment, they have a family. After the second, a lot of people are not the same. These are generally six-month deployments. A lot of families would not stay together.

We have a lot of veterans who lost their families through divorce. Many of them can’t even see their own children because the courts would not allow them to see their own children because the courts would not see them as fit parents.

Fort Hood Memorial for Three Victims of April 2nd Shooting

The situations are quite tragic but let’s not lose sight of the tragedy that was created in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The war continues in Iraq. Close to 8000 civilians have been killed in Iraq this year alone. The war destroyed Afghanistan. It is now a nation addicted to drugs; it is now the largest narcotics producer in the world. We don’t speak openly about the situation there. We have created a mythology where we don’t admit that Karzai is kept in power by paying off his opponents, certainly bribery. Karzai’s government has been a minority government of Uzbeks and Tajiks, in a largely Pashtun country. •

31

Book review

a pa

Liberalis m & Slavery

ra

dox

? n ical relatio

Jalal Parsa reviews Liberalism: A Counter History, by the Italian philosopher Domenico Losurdo, uncovering the startling fact that the “godfathers” of Liberalism were supporters of slavery until the eleventh hour

“

Liberalism is a tradition of thought whose central concern is the liberty of the individual, which is ignored or ridden roughshod over by organistic philosophies of various kinds.” Domenico Losurdo after citing this usual definition of liberalism asks: “if that was the case, then how should we situate John C. Calhoun?” Calhoun, a statesman and vice president of the United States in the mid nineteenth century, was in fact an impassioned defendant of individual liberty especially against interference by the state. However unlike many of his contemporary liberals such as Thomas Jefferson he did not see slavery as a “necessary evil”, rather a “positive good” that civilisation could not possibly renounce. He is famous for his opposition to what was called

32

33

North America, similar to the way that Spaniards used their model of Reconquista to colonise and exploit South America.

“crusading spirit”, which in his time was a term to describe abolitionists (those who advocated the abolition of slavery). Readers may know that during Calhoun’s years in office between 1825 and 1832, the slave trade was already outlawed by the British, yet widely practised in North America.

Domenico Losurdo shows that Calhoun, as a major author and a great mind of the liberal tradition, was also greatly suspicious of democracy. Calhoun is said to have been against any kind of absolutism including “democratic absolutism”. The question remains that although Calhoun was a vigorous individualist, was he a liberal? The question does not emerge only in the context of the history of the United States, Losurdo asserts, but also in the context of the French Revolution in which figures widely recognised by French scholars as liberals, were also firmly committed to the defence of slavery. Losurdo refers to characters like Pierre-Victor Malouet and the members of the Massiac Club, who were “all plantation owners and slaveholders”. John Locke on the other hand, who is labelled the father of liberalism, was “the last major philosopher to seek a justification for absolute and perpetual slavery”. While Calhoun was a slave owner, the English philosopher had sound investments in the slave trade. The central question here for the author is the following: is there a contradiction between liberalism and slavery? Is it really paradoxical to believe in slavery as a just system, and being a liberal?

Losurdo names more liberals from the same period. Francis Lieber was according to Losurdo one of the most eminent intellectuals of his time. He was a critic of slavery and hoped one day that through gradual transformation a kind of servitude would replace the institution of slavery. He however owned and, from time to time, rented male and female slaves. When one of his female slaves died following a mysterious pregnancy resulting in the death of the foetus, he recorded it in his diary as a painful financial loss. After all he was not a landlord nor a planter like Calhoun, but rather a university professor. The English liberal thinker and writer Francis Hutcheson is another example. Although a critic of hereditary, racial slavery he was an advocate of slavery as a type of punishment regardless of one’s skin colour. He considered slavery a “useful punishment” that could be “the ordinary punishment of such idle vagrants as, after proper admonition and trials of temporary servitude, cannot be engaged to support themselves and their families by any useful labour”.

Liberalis m & Slavery The English liberal thinker and writer Francis Hutcheson … considered slavery … “the ordinary punishment of such idle vagrants as, after proper admonition and trials of temporary servitude, cannot be engaged to support themselves and their families by any useful labour”.

George Washington (the first president), Thomas Jefferson (author of the Declaration of Independence) and James Madison (author of the Federal Constitution of 1787) were all slave-owners

Modern slavery stood in contrast to the ancient slavery in Rome where a slave would reasonably hope if not he himself, his children or grandchildren would be able to free themselves and even achieve an eminent social position. This was not a possibility in the racial slavery of modern Europe and North America in which the slave is treated not as a human but as a beast. Even in ancient Rome, Islam or Christianity we do not see this kind of racial slavery. Islam for instance had an active policy of emancipation and never banned intermarriage nor treated slaves as nonhumans. Hence, this kind of chattel racial slavery, unknown to Elizabethan England and also classical antiquity, triumphed in its most racial form in the “golden age of liberalism and at the heart of the liberal world”. This is acknowledged by James Madison, slave-owner and liberal who famously said: “the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over man -based on mere distinction of colour- was imposed in the most enlightened period of time”. But the liberal economy of the American colonies was so linked to slavery that in 1696, South Carolina declared that it could not prosper “without the labour and service of negro and other slaves”.

Domenico Losurdo asks if there is any paradox here? Is it paradoxical that almost all protagonists of liberalism and founding fathers of the United States were slave owners or in some way legitimised or supported the institution of slavery? Or in other words, was it only a coincidence that at the height of the liberal movement and in its heartland, there existed the vilest form of slavery? The author believes there is no paradox. He demonstrates a close symbiosis between racial slavery and liberalism.

In fact not only did slavery not impair the spirit of freedom, but the people of the southern colonies appeared much more strongly attached to the notion of liberty.

Slave-owners were liberals and championed liberty genuinely and enthusiastically.

However for them liberty was freedom from the restrictions imposed by the state and religion on their private property... So we should ask ourselves when speaking about liberty; whose liberty and from what? Only then can we understand why the American Revolution not only did not finish slavery but extended it in the United States for more than 50 years after it was abolished in Britain. Independence and freedom from Britain left Americans free to continue with their notorious practices. •

On the other hand someone like Adam Smith in his book Lectures of Jurisprudence argues in defence of despotic systems, by saying that slavery could be more easily abolished under a “despotic government” than a “free government” since “every law is made by their masters, who will never pass anything prejudicial to themselves”.

As Losurdo reminds us the great economist was right in his prediction since slavery was abolished in the United States not by democratic methods, but by the “iron fist of the Union’s army and the temporary military dictatorship imposed by it”.

Losurdo shows that during years of Americans’ struggle for independence they would polemically accuse the British and King George III of violations against liberty, slavery being among these. However in contrast he reminds us that George Washington (the first president), Thomas Jefferson (author of the Declaration of Independence) and James Madison (author of the Federal Constitution of 1787) were all slave-owners. The state or colony of Virginia, which played a central role in the American Revolution, would host 40 percent of the country’s slaves and at the same time the majority of the authors of the rebellion unleashed in the name of liberty. “For thirty –two years of the United States’ first thirty-six years of existence, slave-owners from Virginia occupied the White House”. In the first 60 years, from the first 16 presidents of the United States, all but four were slaveholders from the South. Losurdo also shows that the eminent figures of liberalism such as Jefferson, apart from being happy with slavery, would endorse war against the native North American Indians. Jefferson even writes about their “obligation” to “exterminate” the Indians. They used the British Empire’s model of colonising Ireland to colonise

34

Liberalism: A Counter History, By Domenico Losurdo, English Translation from Italian by: Gregory Elliot, Verso, London, New York, 2014 (paperback, £14.99)

35

The story of resistance The importance of memory in the destiny of the Muslim world Ali Jawad briefly looks at the bitter legacy of the occupation of southern Lebanon leading up to its liberation on 25th May, 2000 and discusses the role of memory and its importance in shaping the future

36

37

from the consciousness, precisely due to the instruction they provide and the legacy they leave behind. In this sense, memory is a coveted asset of power – to control one’s memory is to shape identity and destiny.

The 25th of May is one such day. Each year, the 25th of May is commemorated as Resistance and Liberation Day in Lebanon. It marks the day on which the popular grassroots resistance in the smallest Arab nation fought off and successfully expelled one of the mightiest military forces on earth. After more than 20 years of occupation, the resistance comprising different factions from Lebanese society kicked out the occupier from its lands without making any concessions or compromises. The feat they achieved is simply the stuff of legends and fairy tales.

If being the smallest and most fragmented nation in the Middle East was not enough of a hindrance, Lebanon was also caught up in a bloody civil war at the time of the Zionist invasion of 1978, which later climaxed in the occupation of Beirut in

T

he value of freedom is intrinsically embedded in human nature. We are captivated by the legacy of heroes and enthralled by the glorious epics scattered across the annals of history, in which human dignity, indomitable resolve and the spirit of self-sacrifice emerge triumphant over all odds.

From the earliest fiction stories and fairy tales taught to our children, the beauty of freedom and the repugnance of oppression and tyranny are established as axiomatic truths. These tales often feature a villain who schemes for control through the dark powers of wizardry, and in the process turns the lives of innocent characters into a living hell. Then, just as we are about to lose hope in the face of the unspeakable, the books of early fiction introduce for us a hero. A hero who exhibits valour, courage and a spirit of self-sacrifice in putting right all the wrongs. There is something uniquely inspirational and delightful in these stories when the hero eventually triumphs, so much so that we desire to pass on this spirit to our children. Through such stories, we desire to imprint in their personalities a firmness of principle and an unwavering attachment to what is ‘right’.

Although time is an abstract concept, certain times and moments also come to epitomise some of these grand struggles for the sake of freedom and liberation.

At times these commemorations are of significance only to particular communities, sometimes to entire nations and at times the orbit of influence can be much wider. These commemorations hold immense potential in shaping consciousness and identity, albeit to varying degrees of intensity. It is for this reason that those in positions of authority place strong emphasis on marking out certain dates in the calendar as ‘special’.

Quite naturally however, some dates are meant to be forgotten. Wherever we find the mention of glorious heroes, there must also be depraved villains. As such, in the eyes of some, certain dates ought to be thrown down a memory hole and erased

38

From the earliest fiction stories and fairy tales taught to our children, the beauty of freedom and the repugnance of oppression and tyranny are established as axiomatic truths.

1982. The Lebanese confessional system is based on a delicate balance of power distribution, formed in response to the assortment of sects and confessions that make up the nation. The complex set of inter-relationships that holds the country together is captured in the popular saying that goes: “If you’re not confused by Lebanese politics, then the subject has not been explained to you properly.” When that balance is disturbed, be it as a result of domestic in-fighting or the influence of external pressures, the consequences can be destructive as witnessed during the civil war. That the Zionist entity pounced on a tragic situation, whilst not being unusual, speaks of the heartless vindictiveness that has come to characterise its conduct.

It is quite easy however to understand why the commemoration of 25th May as a Day of Resistance and Liberation is as unsettling as a speck in the eye for some. It also underlines why some are adamant to erase its memory and taint its achievements in the consciousness of the Arab and Muslim world principally, and to the wider global population secondarily.

39

side of the suffering and occupation.

The lead characters of the series, Ali and Fares, are young college graduates who have just been awarded scholarships to embark on further study at universities in France. The unforeseen invasion forces them to confront a fateful dilemma: to continue with their education and career ambitions, or stay to assist their families and nation at its time of greatest need. The series masterfully sheds light on this forgotten element of occupation.

Yes, there is the daily humiliation at checkpoints, the violation of basic sanctities and the destruction of livelihoods, but the very personal touch makes it a powerful reminder of the brutal nature of military occupation. It tells the story of how occupation ruptures dreams, cuts short the stories of innocent love and divides the fabric of families and communities, with some choosing to side with the aggressor in search of short-term personal benefit.

Each year, the 25th of May is commemorated as Resistance and Liberation Day in Lebanon.

It marks the day on which the popular grassroots resistance in the smallest Arab nation fought off and successfully expelled one of the mightiest military forces on earth.

At one level, it speaks of the abysmal failure of the international system to put right an atrocious wrong. Although Resolution 425 was passed in 1978, the most powerful nations not only did nothing to force an end to the Israeli occupation, but instead continued with arming and bolstering the occupier. The 25th of May thus exposed the charade of the modern international political system, which on the surface gave the impression of lending support, whilst reality spoke of an altogether different set of facts.

However, just as in our tales of childhood where villains feature, the legacy of the 25th of May also speaks of the glorious feats of heroes. A society seemingly paralysed by civil war and internal division gave rise to one of the most principled resistance movements in contemporary history. Indeed, a society of resistance was born – differences in religion, sect or political ideology did not matter when it came to uniting under the single aim of fighting oppression, attaining liberation and affirming one’s existence and intrinsic human dignity.

Each year, the 25th of May is commemorated as Resistance and Liberation Day in Lebanon.

It marks the day on which the popular grassroots resistance in the smallest Arab nation fought off and successfully expelled one of the mightiest military forces on earth.

The memory encapsulated in the commemoration of Resistance and Liberation Day can serve to re-align the compass of the Ummah to its real priorities. A nation that lacks heroes and perpetually finds itself under a dark cloud offers no scope for progression and development. The social and political repercussions of this kind of collective memory should be eminently clear to all.

The legacy of 25th May discloses the underlying hypocrisy of the international order.

It makes a clarion call on the futility of waiting in expectation for decrepit Arab monarchies to finally make a stand for the greater interests of the Muslim world, when the centre of their focus is the preservation of their thrones at the cost of the destiny of millions. It re-focuses attention on an existential enemy that continues to violate fundamental rights and sanctities on a daily basis, and would not hesitate to expand its aggressions if conditions are opportune.

Whilst one can mention countless examples of how efforts are being directed at tarnishing the memory of Resistance and Liberation Day, it seems far more appropriate for the occasion to instead mention a story of success.

In the Summer of 2011, a series entitled Al-Ghaliboun (The Victorious) was aired in the month of Ramadhan to wide acclaim. The series was a first of its kind, aiming to chronicle the story of the popular resistance in its struggles against the Zionist occupier. Directed by the Syrian-Palestinian director Basil Al-Khatib, the series uniquely shed light on the human cost of occupation. At times, numerical facts can obscure comprehension – after all, human beings should not be ‘able’ to mentally picture 20,000 dead human beings. Or the destruction of 80% of a region’s neighbourhoods and villages. Or perhaps, the detention of half the male population of a region in the space of a year. Or the systematic destruction of an entire region’s local produce, so that the occupying entity could introduce its own surplus for economic gain. Although these are just a fraction of the facts of the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon between 1982 and 2000, they are often hard to picture or conceptualise, and understandably so.

In the current context of the Arab and Muslim world, the 25th of May arguably holds even greater significance. The Muslim world is gripped in a quagmire of engineered sectarian divisions and plagued by the rise of blind extremism buttressed by an ominous alliance. How did it come to be that the Arab Spring that promised so much has withered into a lifeless shell? Even more perturbing is the withdrawal of the Palestinian cause from the list of priorities. Perhaps this is an understatement, since mention of the Palestinian cause has seemingly been exorcised from the realm of concern.

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

At its heart, however, the day provides a message of hope to the Ummah and the wider world at large. It gives voice to an unshakeable resolve when faced by the enormity of challenges. It underlines the value of human dignity and sacrifice for the greater good of entire communities and nations. It sheds light on the profoundness of spirit — undeterred by the odds and by the woeful disparity in material capabilities — which places principle before all else, and sticks to doing what is right. These are the indeed qualities of the heroes of our childhood, and we are immensely fortunate to have witnessed the spectacle in real life in our own age. It is for this reason and yet more that the 25th of May cannot simply be just another day. •

The masterstroke of Basil Al-Khatib in Al-Ghaliboun is his focus on the human

40

41

Islam

A Theology of Liberation Considering Liberation Theology to be a Christian response to social injustice and oppression in the world, Ahmed Haneef asks if Islam also encompasses a similar concept within its theology

T

he anticolonial movement of the 1950’s and 60’s in most Third World countries succeeded in achieving nominal independence but social and economic power remained in the hands of local elites who served the interests of Europe and America. The Second World War had so taxed the old colonial powers that their position was taken over by the United States. Sitting safely on the other side of the Atlantic, the US emerged largely unscathed from the devastation the two World Wars wreaked on Europe and it easily supplanted Europe as the dominant power over these former colonies.

By the 1970’s, both in the Asian East and the Latin American West, the new international system was now called neo-colonialism, reflecting the reality that nothing had changed in the relationship between the powerful and the powerless. There was no longer the presence of troops from the “mother” country, new national flags flew over these countries and they now had their own ‘national’ governments. However, the pattern of domination not only remained unchanged but had become more sophisticated. It became evident that the problem of exploitation was international in scope; that it was not just an objective system of exploitation but it was subjective as well, insofar as it permeated people’s way of thinking. Nationalism had been appropriate as an ideological framework for the anti-colonialist movement; however it was inadequate as a response to the new colonialism. Marxism and variants of socialism became the dominant ideological frameworks for combating this neo colonialism.

Socialist ideology in parts of the oppressed worlds of Asia, Africa and Latin America did not have a long life. It was attractive in terms of its commitment to the redistribution of wealth and democratising government control of such sensitive areas such as transport, health and of key economic resources that the whole country depended on, but in its totalitarian applications, such as collective farming, and the dictatorship of the party in the name of the proletariat, it contradicted the natural entrepreneurial spirit of humanity and the centrality of religion in these countries.

By the end of the 1970’s the ideological current started to shift in the direction

42

43

The role of Western banks in creating and maintaining Third World poverty and dependence is through the imposition of usurious conditions on lending them funds. This is another way that developing countries are oppressed by the power of foreign western capital. Indeed, the major cause for Third World economic stagnation is the fact that they are saddled with paying huge compound interest that is many times greater than the income generated by their own economies. Islam has very harsh words to say about usury, or riba. The Qur’an says:

of a mixed economy that incorporated elements of a free market and socialism within democratic/parliamentary systems. Another significant phenomenon was the development of a religious based justification for the struggle against social and economic domination. This political/theological development reached its peak in Latin America and in the Middle East. Wherever Muslim or Christian clergy were occupied in serving and ministering to the poor and oppressed, they developed or discovered theological arguments to not only justify the participation of the clergy in the struggle, but also to inform the creation of alternative, more just systems.

It is in this context that the concept of Liberation Theology was coined. Introduced by the Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutierrez in 1971, Liberation Theology, in the words of Phillip Berryman, was “an interpretation of Christian faith through the poor’s suffering, their struggle and hope, and a critique of society and the Catholic faith and Christianity through the eyes of the poor”. Guiterrez said, “Poverty is not fate, it is a condition; it is not a misfortune, it is an injustice. It is the result of social structures and mental and cultural categories; it is linked to the way in which society has been built, in its various manifestations.” Love and identification with the poor was the motivating factor that spurred Catholic clerical activism, but with the dearth of clear economic and political guidelines in the teachings of the Catholic Church and in Christianity in general, activist priests had to adapt Marxist ideas to compensate for these deficiencies.

On the other side of the planet, in the Muslim world, a similar phenomenon was taking place in Iran. The dynamics, however, were somewhat different. The Muslim clergy had for many centuries been involved in revolutionary activism. In the 1970’s they found themselves competing with an immensely popular Marxism in their efforts to create a popular revolutionary movement to overthrow the American puppet king, Shah Reza Pahlavi. Unlike the Latin American clergy, however, they did not have to adapt Marxist ideas in their theological position since the Qur’an and the teachings of the Prophetic Household were already replete with concepts that had tremendous political and social implications for the struggle against neo colonialism in the modern world. The result was that the Iranian clergy were able to lead a successful revolution firmly grounded in Islamic teachings with no need for ideas extraneous to classical Islamic sources.

Let us look at some of the radical ideas that made Islam a genuine Theology of Liberation by looking at the social and political aspects of this religion.

Islam strongly emphasises business and trade as ideal occupations to secure one’s livelihood above mere employment. Nevertheless it is anti-capitalistic insofar as it condemns the use of the advantage of one’s wealth in controlling the resources and economic activities of others. The Holy Qur’an says: “Do not consume your wealth among yourselves wrongfully, nor proffer it to judges in order to eat up part of the people’s wealth sinfully, while you know.” (2:188) We see this process in the activities of powerful corporations and financial consortiums buying up land and resources in underdeveloped countries under the deceptive title of “development”, increasing unemployment as it moves people from the status of small business entrepreneurs and managers to that of underpaid workers.

The international expansion of companies such as Walmart both in the developed world and in countries like India where they eliminate small retailers by selling at vastly cheaper prices is a prime example of this.

44

“O you who believe! Be wary of Allah and abandon all claims to what remains of usury, should you be faithful. And if you do not, declare a war on Allah and His Messenger.” (2:278)

Wherever Muslim or Christian clergy were occupied in serving and ministering to the poor and oppressed, they developed or discovered theological arguments to not only justify the participation of the clergy in the struggle, but also to inform on the creation of alternative, more just systems.

Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutierrez

Usury does not only have deleterious effects upon developing countries - it also has economically disastrous consequences for developed countries. It is such an easy way to amass huge wealth with little effort that it becomes attractive as an alternative to production. The seduction of the “financial sector” as a replacement for production is already being felt as it is the most rapidly growing sector of these economies, while they “outsource” their productive energies to the very developing countries that they already exploit, underpaying workers with wages impossible to live on. Most sports products, mobile phones and cheap clothing are made in this way.

The Prophet said, “Wronging the worker his wage is a grave sin” (Bihar al Anwar v.103 p170). Imam Ja’far al Sadiq(a), explained the justification against usury thus: “Were usury to be permissible, people would abandon their trading and other necessities, so God prohibited usury in order that man may flee from the unlawful towards trade, and resort to buying and selling, and this, in turn, facilitates borrowing from each other.” (Bihar al Anwar, v 103, p 119) Islam also sees the oppressive tendency as something that originates from imbalances within the self and it gives prescriptions to redress this. Although it encourages free enterprise and gaining wealth, it warns against amassing too much wealth because of the deleterious effects on the soul.

Ali ibn Abi Taleb(a) said: “too much wealth corrupts the heart and produces sins.”

Thus the way to deal with wealth is to grow in charity. The Islamic alms-giving known as zakat (lit. ‘That which purifies’) has a dual purpose: purification of the heart for those who give it and alleviation of poverty for the recipients. Islam, however, does not leave the spending in charity to just an individual endeavour, indeed the zakat is a tax that is levied by a government which has the prerogative to levy other forms of taxation as it sees fit in order to facilitate the just redistribution of wealth in society.

Muslims are encouraged to oppose oppressive governments and rulers in any just way feasible; ‘by direct action, by the word, or at least disliking it in their hearts’ as a famous tradition of the Prophet(s) says. Islam does incorporate within its teaching a clear concept of Liberation Theology, one that not only aims to liberate man from the oppression of others but also to liberate man from himself.

“Why should you not fight in the Way of God and (for) those dispossessed men, women and children who say, ‘Our Lord, bring us out of this town whose people are oppressors, and appoint for us a patron from You, and appoint for us a helper from You.” (4:75) •

Ahmed Haneef is a Canadian Islamic scholar.

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

45

A

s we begin the second half of the Islamic year, we enter the period of time that is often referred to as the ‘Season of Worship’. The importance of the sacred months of Rajab, Sha’ban and Ramadhan is mentioned in abundance in both the Qur’an and traditions.

These ninety days are considered to be elevated in status and blessed above other days.

A season for the soul

Month of Rajab: Beyond Intentions Batool Haydar considers the opportunities available for preparation in Rajab that would allow the reaping of a most excellent harvest in Ramadhan

“Rajab is the month of God, Sha’ban is my month and Ramadhan is the month of my Ummah.” – Prophet Muhammad(s)

Rajab, the month that starts off this season holds a special place in the hearts of the faithful. With the sighting of its new moon, there is talk of the approach of the days of fasting and many believers begin to observe fasts in this month in preparation for Ramadhan.

Many important events in the history of Islam came to pass in this month including the change of the Qibla (direction of prayer) from Jerusalem to Makkah, Mab’ath (the start of the Prophet’s Apostleship) and Me’raj (the Prophet’s Ascension to the Heavens).

According to Imam Musa al-Kadhim(a), Rajab is the name of a river in Heaven, whose waters are reserved for those who fast in this holy month. It is a month that is considered unique and given the title of ‘Al-asabb’ (The Effusion or The Pouring) because the Mercy of God pours down in abundance. For this reason, Rajab is considered the best month in which to do istighfar and seek forgiveness for one’s sins.

For this reason, Rajab becomes the perfect time to bring about a change in ourselves and prepare our souls to be more receptive of the blessings of Ramadhan when it comes around.

One of conditions of seeking forgiveness that has been stated by Ali ibn abi Talib(a) is that the sin being admitted should not be committed again.

Perhaps the best act for this month of tawbah (repentance) is to seek out the elimination of those negative habits that we find most challenging by dedicating our efforts towards removing them from our character.

46

Seeking from the Most Powerful Repentance is a form of supplication and the various recommended supplications for Rajab are full of beautiful verses that place the reciter in the rightful, humbled position for seeking out his or her Lord.

In one supplication, we beseech God and say: “I ask You with the request of one who is a wrongdoer and a sinner, whose sins have destroyed him, whose flaws have bound him, his lifestyle of faults has gone on for too long and his affairs have been filled with affliction. He asks you to turn to Him and a good return, abstention from sins and safety from the Fire, and forgiveness from his sins.”

As we read these words, we are made aware of our true state. We can each apply our unique personal circumstances to this description, recalling the individual debts we have to God and the many times we have slipped up in obedience or service to Him. This creates the perfect atmosphere for a sincere seeking of forgiveness.

The four A’s of Achievement As Muslims, our aim is always to seek nearness to our Creator. We often yearn to be closer to Him and to find our way to that place of inner peace that can only be achieved through communion with our Lord. However, intention alone is not enough, it must be accompanied by action.

The verses of yet another recommended supplication fills us with hope of God’s Mercy, stating: “O He Who gives a lot in exchange for a little / O He Who gives to one who asks Him / O He Who gives to one who does not ask Him and does not know Him, out of His Mercy and Affection.”

If God gives out to those who do not even ask, then how much more can we get if we not only ask but match our requests with effort? Just as filling a vessel with clean water requires that you first wash out the container, the goal of infusing our souls with piety during Ramadhan requires that we first

prepare the ground by removing some of the darkness that may have filled us.

Analyse: Ask some good friends to be a ‘mirror’ and give you some unbiased advice on those habits you could do without, or simply think about the way people describe you. Do they say you have a ‘short fuse’ or are known for being ‘frank’ or even that you are a pro at ‘sarcastic wit’? These are all backhanded compliments that could point to a habit you need to tame.

Acknowledge: Make a list of the above and honestly acknowledge what your biggest problem traits are. You have to be willing to accept your flaws before you can work on them. Pick four habits you want to tackle and then allocate each one to one week in the month. Keep a diary of your efforts; when you succeed, be grateful and if you slip up, then turn back to God for help.

Apologise: When you admit you are in the wrong, it is natural to realise the need to say you are sorry. Thus, create a habit of daily istighfaar. Repentance creates a sense of self-awareness; you are forced to face your flaws and to realise how dependent you are on forgiveness from God. This awareness is the beginning of an intense journey towards understanding exactly how connected you are to Him in every state of existence and that there is truly no relationship stronger than the one between Creator and creation.

Avoid: Having sought forgiveness, realise that if you continue the habit then you are only paying lip-service to your words. In order to be genuine, you must avoid repeating the mistake. The more you repent, the more you avoid and the more you avoid, the more you become aware of how far you have fallen back and need to repent. This makes your journey of change a full circle.

coming of this month. However, it takes more than warm, fuzzy feelings to implement change, especially long-term change.

The analogy of a long-awaited guest has been often used for Ramadhan, and it is perfect for reflection. If a loved one was to visit after being away for a year, and we neither prepared a room for their comfort nor organised to spend time with them, then by any measure, we would not have fulfilled our responsibilities as hosts and they would feel unwelcome.

We are told that in Ramadhan we are the guests of God, but we forget that Ramadhan is our guest. The blessings and abundance of Grace from the Main Host is so great that even the spiritually-disconnected Muslims feel a change of ‘atmosphere’ and ‘mood’ from the very first night. As secondary hosts, we should follow this example and give our full attention and focus to laying the foundation for the arrival of these days.

Every year, this season is the time during which we are given an opportunity to plant the seeds of change and revolution within ourselves. The downpouring of Mercy in the days leading up to and including Ramadhan waters our efforts and provides the perfect ground for us to reap great spiritual rewards. We are promised an excellent harvest if only we care to make an effort towards realising this objective.

That being the case, the days of Rajab serve as the perfect practical preamble for beginning the journey of a lifetime whose end is with the Only Beloved!

Next month, God-Willing, we’ll look at what opportunities Sha’ban hold for the dedicated and sincere traveller.

Until then, may you be blessed in your endeavours. •

The Journey of a Thousand Miles We all say that we look forward to Ramadhan. The many Facebook Memes, 100 day countdowns and cheesy status updates show that, emotionally, we are hugely invested in anticipating the

Batool Haydar is a wordsmith who has written many articles and blogs

47

&

World Bank International Monetary Fund vs. under-developed world Day by day, more under-developed countries are placed under heavy debt by international financial institutions purely for their own financial enrichment.

Mohammad Haghir asks if a change of paradigm from material to spiritual can wipe away financial dependency

48

49

T

oday we live in a world where the more developed nations claim a desire to help their less or under-developed counterparts to achieve some degree of development.

In the case of the Western world, this attempt to help others has always been accompanied by political demands for reform in every field that the provider of developmental help has deemed necessary. Thus, real Western intentions in offering aid for development are always cloaked in a series of slogans that we keep hearing: economic reforms, democracy, human rights, freedom of expression, etc. What is worse is that the receiving nations always end up being indebted to the helper and have to pay back the debt somehow. And since, more often than not, paying back the debt with interest becomes an impossible task Western powers always have the developing nations ‘in their pockets’.

Real Western intentions in offering aid for development are always cloaked by a series of slogans …: economic reforms, democracy, human rights, freedom of expression. What is worse is that the receiving nations always end up being indebted to the helper ...

This process has become institutionalised in Western global politics through organisations such as the World Bank (WB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or any other major so-called investor. The history of the world after the Second World War is full of examples that show how Western aid to developing countries has had directly negative consequences, so much so that the developing nation has remained undeveloped or has even gone backwards. In these cases Western aid intentionally contributes to a definite lack of development for the receiver of that aid!

The WB was created in Washington D.C. at the end of the Second World War with the official goal of reducing world poverty. It purports to achieve this goal by crediting developing countries to implement infrastructural changes to bring them in line with what the WB sees as a sound economy, one that would be able to repay the aid (or, more correctly, the loan) with interest. All WB presidents have been US citizens and include Paul Wolfowitz (2005-7), the famous neo-conservative hawk of American politics, who was also a high ranking official in the US defence department (2001-5). The US reserves the right to appoint the WB’s presidents.

The IMF, along with the WB, was also created in Washington D.C. at the end of the Second World War. It aims to secure global ‘monetary stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and [like the WB] reduce poverty around the world’. The IMF and the WB represent two major, Western-created, financial centres with definite global aims, influence, and impact. They work very closely together.

The objectives stated in the WB’s and IMF’s aims sound noble enough. That is to say, on the face of it, meanings that an ordinary person would assign to WB’s and IMF’s terminology are all good and agreeable. Who would not want to benefit from financial and political security and positive economic development? However, looking at the state of our world today, we are not dealing with meanings we would normally assign to words such as stability, development, security, freedom, etc. Indeed, we see a world that is unstable, under-developed, insecure, and in chains. How should we understand this contradiction? One answer has been provided

by John Perkins in his book, Confessions of an economic hit man (2004). Perkins, as an effective operative of corporate America, was in a good position to understand the reality of developing countries that were receiving Western aid through his work. Suffice to quote Perkins’ opening paragraph. Characterising himself and the nature of the work he did, he says:

Currently, there is a lot of talk in mainstream Western media about providing aid to Ukraine. … major Western finance providers, including the IMF, rushed to offer the Western-influenced Ukrainian government billions as part of what they called an ‘aid package’.

Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign ”aid” organisations into the coffers of huge corporations [i.e., Halliburton Kellog, Brown & Root , Bechtel, Enron, United Fruite, ITT, etc.] and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet’s natural resources. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder.

They play a game...that has taken on...terrifying dimensions during this time of globalisation. I should know; I was an EHM.’ Given the picture Perkins draws for us, it did not come as a surprise to hear George W Bush during his presidency characterising the world’s problems as no longer between ‘haves and have nots, but between haves and have mores’. The ‘have nots’ no longer count.

Currently, there is a lot of talk in mainstream Western media about providing aid to Ukraine. Following the outbreak of disturbances there, the European Union (EU) and major Western finance providers, including the IMF, rushed to offer the Western-backed Ukrainian government billions as part of what they called an ‘aid package’.

However, in contradistinction to the Western media, a select number of nonWestern-influenced members of global media outlets, such as Press TV, also inform us that these so-called packages are aid only in name. In reality they are loans that must be paid back with interest and come with many strings attached. For example, Ukraine would have to accept and implement the IMF’s austerity plans before it is given anything at all. This means deep cuts in Ukrainian ‘social services, education[al] funds’ and labour force, as well as a devaluation of their ‘currency’ which leads to increased prices for Ukraine to ‘import’ goods and services. In short, Western governments and financial power houses are asking Ukraine to open up its ‘assets to takeover by Western corporations’. In effect, all of this would amount to the ‘looting’ of Ukrainian resources whilst at the same time attempting to obtain legitimacy for a Kiev puppet government. Thus, the West is asking Ukraine to suffocate itself with its own hands.

The same scenario that has historically played out around the world (especially in the Middle East and Latin America) in which the WB, IMF and others including giant multi-national companies, exploit developing countries, is currently unfolding in Ukraine. If the experiences of these other countries are anything to go by, we can confidently assume a bleak future for Kiev too. Moreover, as Ukraine becomes dependent on Western help for its development, the West can count on Ukrainian support for their policies in the international arena.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, what if true human development does not so much depend on material acquisition as it is the result of spiritual enrichment?

What if our wellbeing depended on taking steps away from a world that is divided between a handful of capitalists who constantly attempt to control everything and the rest of us as if we did not exist at all? What if, instead, we worked towards a world that offered spiritual unity amongst all? What if we respected everyone else as human beings, regardless of their race, gender, nationality, etc., in the expectation that our respect would be reciprocated? Is this not what every genuine religion and belief system teaches us? Who would lose and who would gain if the Western culture of worshipping a material world was transformed? In such a world, organisations such as the WB would become superfluous and Western aid for development would become redundant. •

‘Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World

50

51

Interfaith

On the way

to England Tracing the journey of St Augustine, Frank Gelli describes how the man who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury and a Saint, successfully spread Christianity in England

52

53

H

ow did Christianity come to be the religion of England?

The name of St Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, whose feast day falls on May the 26th, has something to do with it.

The story may start in 597 AD, with Augustine and his monks landing on the island of Thanet, in Kent.

have looked angelic to Pope Gregory but their tribes also had a reputation for ferocity.

They were war-like, barbarous peoples, not at all kind to strangers. Their language was strange, their habits odd and primitive. Nor did crossing the sea to reach their destination particularly appeal to the hesitating missionaries.

They therefore deliberated to send Augustine back to Rome, to persuade Gregory to change his mind. Had the Pope listened to their lamentations, it might well have spelled out the end of the great enterprise.

From a woman whose daughter had been at the point of death to the saving of some children from the clutches of an evil magician. Naturally, the people were awed. It did wonders for Augustine’s fame but…could it not also have rendered him very proud of his charisma, puffed up with a sense of his own sanctity? A real risk.

So Gregory, a deep knower of the human heart, out of pastoral care Powerful King Ethelbert, the heathen and concern, wrote to his missionary.

Anglo-Saxon ruler, had a Christian wife, ‘Always inwardly judge yourself. Beware Queen Bertha. It was probably due to of vainglory. Be careful not to offend her influence that Ethelbert agreed to your Creator by harbouring a haughty receive baptism in Canterbury at the pride in your achievements. If hands of St Augustine. From miracles have been wrought then on, the faith of Jesus through you, remember that Christ began to spread far God has not operated them and wide across the island of ‘Always inwardly judge yourself. Beware for your sake, but for the Britain. of vainglory. Be careful not to offend your sake of the salvation of your However, the man behind neighbour. You are only an Creator by harbouring a haughty pride in Augustine’s mission was instrument. A tool in God’s your achievements. If miracles have been St Gregory the Great, the loving hands. Feeling pride Pope himself. One day in the wrought through you, remember that God in miracles cannot be from Rome slave market, Gregory God. If it is from anyone, it is has not operated them for your sake, but for had been struck by the fair from man’s eternal enemy: the the sake of the salvation of your neighbour. and charming appearance Devil.’ Salutary words indeed. of some slaves. ‘Where are You are only an instrument. A tool in God’s Converting King Ethelbert was these remarkable people loving hands. Feeling pride in miracles only the first step. The problem from?’ he had inquired. ‘Sir, for Augustine was how to win cannot be from God. If it is from anyone, they are Angles and their land over the remaining Angloit is from man’s eternal enemy: the Devil.’ is England’, the reply came.

Saxon tribes and their rulers.

‘No, they are not Angles, but Pope St Gregory He knew that Christianity had angels!’ Gregory exclaimed. reached Britain well before And he went on to ask: ‘Are the Germanic tribes – the they Christians?’ The answer ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons was that they were not – they Yet Gregory exhorted Augustine not to of his time – had gradually invaded and belonged to a pagan race. ‘It is not right give in. ‘Do not be a quitter’ he told him. conquered from the continent after that a people with such angelic looks ‘The temptations to abandon your work the Roman legions had pulled out in should be pagans’, Gregory thought. ‘I are perhaps not just human timidity but about AD412. The ancient Britons of must do something about it.’ That is demonic suggestions. Resist the Evil course were not Anglo-Saxons. They how, according to tradition, the Pope One, as Our Lord did in the wilderness, were a race of Celtic stock, which had determined to send St Augustine to at the beginning of his own mission!’ inhabited the island for centuries. As England to make the English Christians.

Thus the Pope instilled into Augustine a the Roman Empire had embraced An edifying account. However, it should renewed sense of purpose, whatever the Christianity, many Britons had accepted not be forgotten that saints are human. challenges and the dangers. It worked. the new faith. Then many years later They too can fear and waver and be The Saint went back, rallied his fellow the heathen invaders had seized the discouraged. So indeed did St Augusmonks and accomplished the task with best lands, pushed the natives westwhich Gregory had entrusted him. tine, on his way from the warm South wards and driven them into the wild of Europe to the remote, foggy island In fact, Augustine was so successful mountains of Wales. As a Christian, in the North called England. He and that it worried the Pope a bit. Only a Gregory naturally sympathised with the his monks had got as far as the French spiritual worry, but a grave one for a underdog – in this case a race which city of Aix en Provence when doubts monk, because God granted the Saint had been subjugated, dispossessed and assailed them. The English slaves might the gift to perform many miracles. subjected to humiliations and abuses.

54

Furthermore, he hoped that those Celts who were of his faith could have helped him in his apostolic work. He ardently desired them to be his partners in mission. But God was to test Augustine sorely on this matter.

Over the years the Celtic Christians had developed their own traditions and rites. Some differed from the usage which Augustine brought from Rome.

The most serious divergence was over the date of the celebration of the great feast of Easter, the festival of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The Celts did not celebrate it at the same time as the Western Church.

As Easter is not a local feast but a universal one, uniformity in celebration is a key requirement. Augustine strove to persuade the Celts to fall in line with the rest of Christendom. They were stubborn, however. Could miracles again help?

shone and was made manifest through his good deeds.

Still, the Gospels relate how even Jesus’ miracles did not always persuade the hard of heart. Likewise the Celts, though accepting Augustine’s holiness, still carped and quibbled over the date of Easter. It fell to the Synod of Whitby, many years later, after the Saint’s death, to settle the thorny issue but leaving the Celts isolated and embittered.

Labouring amongst the ‘angelic’ English must have been occasionally frustrating for Augustine. I am sure that before the real angels conducted his soul to his eternal reward, he trusted in the promise of the Saviour: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter now in the joy of your Lord.’ •

During a gathering with the Celts, Augustine had a blind fellow brought in. The idea was to test by whose prayers the man would benefit more.

The Britons and their priests had a go first, to no effect. When Augustine’s turn came, he got down on his knees.

He prayed that the light of the blind man’s eyes may be restored. Equally, he implored God that his ‘blind’ opponents may see the light. Whereupon, the story goes, the blind man instantly recovered his sight and the chastened Britons readily acceded to Augustine’s requests.

A necessary aside. Accounts of miraculous and wonderful deeds are dotted throughout the narratives of Saints’ lives. The science devoted to studying them is termed ‘hagiography’.

This writer believes that the Creator is capable of intervening in his creation and moulding it as he pleases. That does not mean that all reports of miracles are necessarily true. Nonetheless, accounts of miracles, authentic or not, always have a meaning. They generally express deep-seated yearnings and longings of the human heart. Hence, Augustine’s wonders at the very least tell us how the people around him perceived his person, what impact he made on them and how his holiness

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.

55

Health Medical Editor Laleh Lohrasbi

Medical ethics AN Islamic perspective Physicians are amongst the most highly respected and trusted people in society. At the same time however, unethical physicians can do a world of damage. Laleh Lohrasbi outlines some of the guidelines Islam provides for medical practitioners

M

edical historians generally look to Hippokrátes of Kos - the Greek philosopher / physician of the 4th century - as the founder of medicine as a ‘rational science’ and the person who finally freed medicine from the fetters of magic, superstition, and the supernatural.

Hippokrátes is known as an ideal, wise, caring, compassionate and honest physician.

He encouraged physicians to follow medical ethics. He is most remembered today for his famous oath, which set high ethical standards for the practice of medicine in the western world today.

The Oath reads: “….I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.

I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.

But I will preserve the purity of my life and my arts.

I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art.

In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing and all seduction and especially from the pleasures of love with women or men, be they free or slaves”...

Medicine is and always has been a Divine Art. The ability to heal and cure diseases seems to be beyond belief. The Bible is filled with the miraculous stories of the healing performed by Jesus(a). Every traditional culture has heroes who are associated with the art of healing.

The Qur’an has its own share of stories of Prophets who have been given the benefit of healing in the name of God. But what is the definition of an ethical physician?

Professionalism, alongside piety and truthfulness, can mark the basic characteristics

56

57

of a good physician. But they should also be accompanied by competence.

Medical science is continuously expanding; a Muslim physician should always update his/her knowledge of medical developments.

Islamic law tells us that if a physician practises medicine without adequate knowledge and expertise, and his action causes patients death or harm, then the physician is liable to pay compensation (diyah).

Trust, respecting patients’ privacy and showing courtesy towards patients are other important practices a physician should adopt. These were virtues of the Prophet Muhammad(s), and all Muslims are encouraged to show the same tendency.

Imam Jafar al-Sadiq says: “Men of all professions including physicians should follow these three principles: proficiency, trusteeship and good manners.” (a)

A Muslim physician’s concern for his patient may go beyond his normal call of duty. In his book, Al Nazarat, the Egyptian writer Al-Manfaluti (1876-1924) narrates the story of a patient who went to visit a physician. After describing his illness, the physician found out that malnutrition was in fact the cause of his ailment. The physician gave him a box with the following sentence engraved on it: “use whenever needed”. The man took the box home. Being thankful for getting what he thought was free medicine, he opened the box and found 10 golden dinars in it.

According to this criterion, it is part of the job description of a doctor to financially help his patients where possible, and conversely it is unethical to become a doctor in order to amass wealth from the profession.

The 9th century physician Al-Ruhawi outlined the ethics governing medical practice in his seminal work Adab al-Tabib. His treatise covers all aspects of medical practice during his time, and many are comparable with those of today, such as proper qualifications of the practitioner, choice of drugs, avoidance of harm and the dignity of the physician himself. There is no doubt

58

however that present day advances have generated a whole new set of ethical issues for us.

Although the main principles of “western” medical ethics (autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice) can find parallels in Islamic theories, interpretations of them can differ. For example, there is a limit on autonomy. In Islamic discourse the interests of society usually take precedence over individual rights.

In Muslim countries, in any discussion on bioethics, there is a tendency to look towards religion. Islam has not been affected by the opposition that has characterised the relationship between Christianity and science through the centuries. To the contrary Islam is in complete harmony with science. In view of this, its principles can be used to extrapolate guidelines for bioethics and solutions to ethical problems.

At the base of Islamic ethics lie respect for human dignity, eternity of life (immortality of the soul and life after death), altruism, benevolence to fellow human beings, seeking perfection and eternal salvation, and establishing a close connection with God and His creation.

Some religious principles such as eternity of life or seeking perfection are very important in ethical decision-making in an Islamic setting. For instance, in the issue of the end of life, suffering extreme pain cannot justify ending the life of a terminally-ill patient. According to Islamic teachings, pain has an educational and redemptive purpose and it is a means to self-purification .

Equipped with Islamic teachings, Muslim scientists have proposed some well-known Islamic principles to consider for ethical decision-making, such as the principles of ‘the public interest’ or ‘do no harm’. This dynamic jurisprudence has paved the way for approval of some laws in the field of medical ethics.

Islamic medical ethics, governs a physician’s conduct in sensitive and complex areas of medical practice, such as abortion, euthanasia and establishing death.

For example Islam forbids euthanasia on principle, as it violates the principle of the sanctity of life, and physicians are there to preserve life.

Islam also considers the human embryo to be a single living creature, and abortion is considered a means of destroying that life, and is therefore equivalent to murder. If a physician is involved in an abortion, the punishment would be to pay atonement (diyah). However in some exceptional instances the physician cannot be blamed for allowing abortions to happen. (see islam today issue 11, September 2013 & issue 16 February 2014) Countries with Muslim majority populations have developed tailor-made codes of practice for physicians and international conferences are providing platforms for fruitful interactions between Islamic and non-Islamic physicians to exchange ideas. In 2005 the Medical Research Centre of Tehran University published a list of Moral Principles and Ethical Codes that are to be followed within the country.

DIGITAL EDITION 6 months £10.00 12 months £18.00 PAPER EDITION 6 months £25.00 12 months £48.00

Among these codes some of the most intriguing ones are: Genetic research including ethics in gene therapy and ethics in genetic consultation, using organs or tissues obtained from human embryo or foetus in transplantation research, and guidelines for research on animals.

Concerns about the ethical issues of modern biotechnology and recent innovations have also prompted attempts to adopt new policies and regulations worldwide, with Islamic scholars and practitioners working hard to provide new answers in line with international regulations and Islamic principles. •

Subscribe online: http://www/islam-today.net/subscribe.asp Dr Laleh Lohrasbi is a pharmacologist. She has worked as an editor for the medical section of “Hamshahri”, a daily newspaper in Tehran.

Hard copy of the magazine can be obtained from the Islamic Centre of England’s bookshop.

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

www.facebook.com/islamtodaymag

59

Places

As the razzamatazz descends on the southern French city of Cannes, Mohammad Reza Amirinia looks at the history and evolution of Europe’s most distinguished showcase of cinematic productions; the Cannes Film Festival

60

Š 2014 - Amirinia.com

61

The Cannes Film Festival emerged as a result of fascism in Europe and in competition with the Venice Film Festival. In 1938, the French film “La Grande Illusion”, an anti war film, was disregarded for the top prize, despite being favoured by jury members and critics. The official selection committee gave the honour to a German film, “Olympia”, which documented the Nazis’ success at the 1938 Olympics.

The festival clearly favoured the countries of the Fascist Alliance. The French withdrew from the festival and other jury members also resigned in protest that artistic appreciation was being shunned in favour of political and ideological ambitions.

Venice’s bias led to a turning point and victory in the history of Cannes. The film makers and critics persuaded the French Government to sponsor a new festival to compete with Venice. The Cannes municipal authorities agreed to build a dedicated venue for the festival.

The Cannes Film Festival was eventually born on September 1939 but it was immediately closed after the opening night due to the outbreak of war. The festival emerged again in 1946 and despite financial problems in the early years it has been celebrated continuously every spring since 1950.

In the past decade, the image of the festival has been cast in the world mind with extravagance, self-indulgence and excess. The off-screen activities of celebrities and festival attendees including lavish parties in expensive hotels, luxury villas and yachts boosted this image. It overshadowed the real aims of the festival which is to present a range of top films and be a place of business for the film industry. The

62

glamour and networking in parties are an integral part of the festival but the intellectual aspects of the festival and its cultural and political influence go beyond that image.

In the 1960s the Official Selection of the festival was a showcase for Cannes alumni to present their best films every year. However, it was making it increasingly more difficult for new filmmakers to have their films screened at the festival. As a result, “International Critics’ Week” was founded in 1962 in parallel to the Official Selection to enable first and second time directors to present their films.

As the festival is sponsored by the government, it has always been subject to political and diplomatic influence.

The disputes between authorities and filmmakers in 1968 led to the emergence of a new forum as a sidebar to the festival’s line up. A group of filmmakers formed “Directors’ fortnight” which was intended to be free from all forms of censorship and political influence.

In the 50s and 60s, films were nominated by the participant countries and the idea was to promote all the films and award them accordingly. In 1972 the board of directors of the festival made a radical change to its policy and decided to move towards processing the selection of films by itself. Then the festival adopted a competition style and introduced the Palme d’Or as the top prize for the best film.

Despite all the criticism Cannes Film Festival can still be considered a gathering of intellectuals and visionaries beside artists and entertainers. Filmmakers lead our modern world with their ideas and philosophies by way of moving images. Cinema is a powerful tool which can be utilised in the right hands for good causes, or in the wrong hands to promote immorality, violence and self-destruction.

© 2014 - Amirinia.com

C

annes in the south of France has gained its importance from its status as host to one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, the Cannes Film Festival. The city, which hosts no other significant feature, has long been considered a luxurious resort attracting not only filmmakers, artists and investors but numerous tourists and paparazzis.

It is common to find films that appeal to a wide variety of tastes.

The festival provides a platform for critically acclaimed films to premier and boosts their appeal. There is a wide range of films in different categories

63

which are carefully selected.

It is perhaps expected that as the festival is organised in Europe, an European vision dominates the selection process which is different from Hollywood and the rest of the world. Hollywood blockbuster films are made commercially with very high budgets targeting a worldwide audience. Their producers are mainly looking for commercial success. However, the Cannes Festival looks more for arty films.

Non-Western films generally have a very limited presence at the festival. Selectors seem to favour those which oppose their own culture and political system.

This is particularly evident in relation to Islamic countries where religion is a dominant force in society. In respect of these productions cultural incomprehension and bias does undoubtedly influence the selection process.

© 2014 - Amirinia.com

There are different views towards the festival in Muslim countries among intellectuals and film critics. Some look at the festival very positively as a platform to promote their films and as a gateway for their films screening in Europe. Others are very suspicious of the festival. They see it as a political tool to narrowly zoom into the negative aspects of their society giving an opportunity to a few selected individual filmmakers to highlight problems.

64

Rachid Bouchareb’s Outside the Law was screened in 2010 despite showing disturbing scenes of the massacre of Algerian nationalist marchers by French soldiers, a sweeping historical melodrama of the Algerian struggle for independence against French colonial oppression. The film was an Oscar nominee for best foreign-language film in 2011.

Notwithstanding, some criticise the festival for having a bias towards the pro-Israeli lobby. In 2013, Hany AbuAssad’s ‘Omar’ won the Jury prize in the Uncertain Regards section of the festival.

It was also nominated for an Oscar for best foreign-language film in 2014. The film looks at Israeli-Palestinian politics and violence showing extremism on both sides of the conflict.

The Past (2013), a French-made film directed by Asghar Farhadi, an Iranian filmmaker, leapt further onto the world stage following his success with A Separation (2011), awarded Best ForeignLanguage Film Oscar. The film explores broken families, broken emotions, motives and deals deeply with other human elements. Farhadi’s extraordinary directing skills lead to striking performances by French-Argentine actress Berenice Bejo who won the Best Actress prize.

A glance at the past films and prize winners show that there is no fixed pattern in the selection process. In 2004, Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 which exposed the contradictions surrounding the Bush government’s War on Terror, won the Palm d’Or. It was clearly a political stance against the policy of the American administration.

In 2011, Terrence Malick’s Tree of life, a deeply spiritual film won the first prize and in 2012, Amour (Love) by Michael Haneke, about an elderly couple in love won the top honour. There is always much speculation and debate about which titles are going to be screened in the Big Show on the Croisette every year. This year’s festival will kick off with a flashy gala premier of Grace of Monaco on May 14. The New Zealand director, Jane Campion, a Palme d’Or winner, will preside over the Jury of the 67th Festival de Cannes. Renowned Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami will form part of the Cannes Festival’s Cinefondation and Short Films jury.

As ever, whatever the line-up of films, there are bound to be surprises and controversies. ••

Mohammad Reza Amirinia is a freelance writer and photojournalist. www.amirinia.com

65

Through May

Friday Nights Thought Forum London’s Weekly Open Gathering.

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

6 - 9 May

Islam Awareness Week University of Bedfordshire Islamic Society Interactive Stalls, Exhibitions, Literature, Calligraphy, ‘Try on Hijab’, Talks on Introduction to Islam, Misconceptions about Islam, Women’s Rights, Islamic Civilisation and History and Distribution of White Roses.

Stalls and Exhibitions: 11.00 AM to 4.00 AM all week Talks: From 6.00 PM Venue: A004 Lecture Theatre, University of Bedfordshire Email: bedsisoc@gmail.com

8 & 9 May

The fee will cover lunch and coffee breaks on both days of the conference.

Time: From 8:30 AM Location: Mathematical Institute, Humanities Radcliffe Building, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, University of Oxford, Woodstock Rd, Oxford OX2 6HD Web: migrationfaithaction.org

13 - 15 May

British Museum School gallery session – Islam, art and belief Students will discover the part religious belief has played in Islamic design. By focusing closely on objects in the gallery, they will explore the creative influences on artists in the context of Islamic life and history.

Maximum group size: 30 Key stage 2 Venue: Room 34, Islamic World Gallery, British Musem Time: Variable Web: www.britishmuseum.org/learning/ schools_and_teachers/resources/cultures/ middle_east_and_islamic_world.aspx Phone: +44 (0)20 7323 8181 Tickets: £50 Ticket Desk in Great Court

15 May

22 May

At a time when globalisation emphasises the free flow of ideas, goods, and capital, migration appears at the forefront of political agendas in many countries around the world. This conference will explore the ways in which religious and faith traditions contribute, challenge, and shift the discourse about migration. The first day of the conference will feature a documentary screening and discussion with Norma Romero, a member of “Las patronas”, Mexico’s 2013 National Human Rights Award winners.

Convenors: Alejandro Olayo-Mendez and Paul J Kellner.

Registration Fee: £10 payable upon arrival.

66

Muslim-Jewish Relations Panel Series: Cultural Interactions The third in the Muslim-Jewish Relations Panel Series, this event will address the theme of Cultural Interactions. The panel will be chaired and introduced by Yaron Peleg (University of Cambridge) with contributions from Michael Rand (University of Cambridge) and Charlotta Salmi (Queen Mary, University of London).

Venue: Rooms 8&9, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Sidgwick Site, Woolf Institute, University of Cambridge.

Time: From 5.00 PM Web: www.woolf.cam.ac.uk/events

erary celebrities seen as spokespeople on “Muslim” issues, and the publishing world.

Organiser: Muslims, Trust and Cultural Dialogue Time: 10.00 AM - 4.30 PM Venue: The Treehouse, Berrick Saul Building, Heslington West Campus, University of York Web: www.muslimstrustdialogue.org/index.php/ arts-and-culture#sthash.0HBMmv3I.dpuf

23 & 24 May

Digital Islam – British Museum School Session Explore the world of Islamic art and belief through modern technology. Lead your students on a digital trail around the Islamic galleries using mobile devices from the museum. The trail explores Islam through key themes in the RE curriculum such as pilgrimage, prayer and expression of spirituality through art.

Digital activities are designed to encourage personal reflection and discussion between students. Photographs captured during the session can be accessed online from school. A facilitator from the museum will offer basic support for the activity.

Maximum group size: 15 - Key Stage 3 & 4 students.

Venue: Room 34, Islamic World Gallery, British Museum Time: 10.30–11.30 & 12.30–13.30 Phone: +44 (0)20 7323 8181 Tickets: Free but booking essential, Ticket Desk in Great Court

16 May

Migration, Faith and Action: Shifting the Discourse

Venue: North London Muslim Community Centre, 66-68 Cazenove Road, N16 6AA Time: From 2.00 PM Contact: 07535 895470 / 07983 577043

Muslim Aid: Prison Mentor Recruitment Evening Learn how to offer support, advice and guidance to Muslim Prisoners to help them on their path to rehabilitation

Venue: Muslim Aid HQ, LMC Business Wing, First Floor, 38-44 Whitechapel Road, London, E1 1JX Time: From 6.00 PM Email: nafisah.kara@muslimaid.org with your Name, Date of Birth and Address

18 May

Syria Awareness Workshop Half day programme that includes speeches by Ibtihal Bsis and Leyla Habebti, Workshops, Stalls, Food Fundraiser and Auction all in support of Syrian refugees.

gether people from many different fields and traditions, including scholars, students, and anyone interested in what Ibn ‘Arabi had to say. Speakers will include: Jane Baun (Oxford), Laura Soureli (Cambridge), Jaume Flaquer (Barcelona), Denis Gril (France), Zahra Langhi and Michael Sells (Chicago)

Venue: St Anne’s College, Oxford Cost: £65 Web: www.ibnarabisociety.org/events.html

30 May – 8 June

Enmeshed Socio-Economic Legalities - Women and Islam in South Asia Part of the ‘MUSA “Big Star, Rising Star” Speaker Series’ presented by Professor Werner Menski / Associate Professor Gopika Solanki. Discussions will revolve around the much-misunderstood followup of the Shah Bano case regarding maintenance rights for divorced Indian wives. It critically explores the boundaries of public law and private law in India, asking to what extent Muslim personal law has been used as a testing ground for constitutional guarantees that apply to all citizens. They will also trace new legal developments affecting matrimonial laws.

Venue: Brunei Gallery Room: B102, SOAS, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

23 May

Arts and Culture - Publishing and Prizing Muslims Trust is central to the relationships of literature: between author and editor, author and publisher and author and reader to name only three. This workshop considers the negotiations around the production, design, publication and dissemination of works by authors of Muslim heritage. It offers an opportunity to explore book history in general, and experiences of the publishing industry, prize culture, and literature festivals for such authors in particular. A panel of international experts in the field will explore the paratexts that surround texts by culturally Muslim authors. Main areas of discussion are: prizes, festivals, lit-

ISASR 2014 cross-disciplinary conference: “Religion and remembering” Memory studies has become one of the most popular research areas in the humanities and social sciences producing a vast number of studies examining how nations, communities and cultures remember, re-construct or indeed forget the past.

The Irish Society for the Academic Study of Religions (ISASR), in collaboration with Queen’s University of Belfast, present the third annual conference on ‘Religion and remembering’. This conference is open to scholars of all disciplines that approach religions, both past and present, from a non-confessional, critical, analytical and cross-cultural perspective.

The theme of the conference encourages paper proposals across disciplines, being open to topics such as remembering in the form of rituals, public commemorations, anniversaries, festivals, bodily practices, physical objects and places or in the form of orality, literacy, narratives and language.

Time: From Friday morning to lunchtime on Saturday Venue: Queen’s Quarter of Belfast Web: isasr.wordpress.com/events/isasr-2014conference/

3rd ‘The Great Wall of China Sponsored Trek’ Muslim Hands runs 11 purpose-built schools throughout Sudan, Niger, Mali, Senegal, Mauritania and Gambia that support over 4,420 impoverished children. All the facilities for the children are paid for including school fees, textbooks, exercise books, stationary and uniforms. Sponsored orphans are provided a nutritious meal at school, medical checks and transportation if applicable.

The sponsored walks provide finance for constant and ongoing maintenance for these schools.

Registration holding fee: £300 Sponsorship required: £3000 per person Registration and details: http:// muslimhands.org.uk/events/2014/the-great-wallof-china/

24 & 25 May

‘Jesus and Mary – A Mystical Perspective’ The 31st annual Symposium of the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society in the UK will be held this May. These international gatherings bring to-

67