Editorial

Freedom Never Dies

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI; https://sipri.org) said on June 15, 2021, that India, which has 156 nuclear warheads, appears to be expanding its nuclear arsenal. No need to mention its hordes of conventional weapons, borne by 1.4 million active duty personnel and supplemented by 2.1 million reserve personnel.

This might went into a tailspin on Sept. 1, when a 91-year old individual breathed his last. The force that caused India to tremble was Syed Ali Gilani — not a personality, but the name of the Kashmiri self-determination movement — who passed away in Srinagar, Illegally Indian-occupied Jammu & Kashmir, after being under house arrest for more than a decade. His “crime”? Leading several protests against India’s ongoing illegal occupation of the former princely state.

India was keeping a strict watch. The moment his spirit departed his body, occupation troops heightened their siege of his house and imposed a curfew across the occupied territory. In a flash, the troops barged into his house and snatched his body, which they buried — according to their account — in an undisclosed location.

The Duke of Wellington said of his opponent Napoleon: “His presence on the battlefield was worth 40,000 fighting men.” If a 91-year-old man’s body could cause India to mobilize its multi-trillion-dollar war machine, imagine what his presence was worth. Imagine what his legacy is worth.

Rest assured; India cannot roost forever on stolen land. The lion has left for a journey of eternal peace. His soul could never be enslaved, nor his voice silenced or his vision deviated.

Before his burial, despite India’s forced entry and massive deployment at his residence, Syed Ali Shah Gilani was draped in the Pakistan flag. His declaration Hum Pakistani Hein, Pakistan Hamara Hai (We are Pakistanis [and] Pakistan is ours) will stay with 8 Muslim Kashmiris [living under Indian occupation] as they continue their struggle for self-determination — a right enshrined in successive UN Security Council resolutions.

Kashmiris didn’t choose to live under Indian occupation, and they have every legal right to demand an end to it. They will prevail. Only, very recently, a South Asian occupied people have proved this in the face of a coalition of the world’s mightiest powers.

This year, ISNA was once again obliged to host a virtual convention — its 58th. More than 3,000 registered participants heard 81 renowned speakers address 24 sessions, six of which were plenary and 16 of which were parallel sessions. In keeping with tradition, two entertainment sessions were also held.

For this issue, we invited Pashmina Rashad and Khalid Iqbal to discuss the important issue faced by all men and women: when and whom to marry. Of course, both authors dwell on the issue from the Muslim perspective.

Monia Mazigh writes on why France is producing such a high level of Islamophobia. Sean-Habib Tu, a Cham Muslim living in Saigon with his family when that city fell, shares his memories, and Luke Peterson analyzes how neoliberalism’s hollowing out of academia contributes to Washington’s foreign policy disasters.

The ISNA Green Initiative Team continues to alert us to the challenges that face our world and the need to proactively create and leave a better world for our future generations.

While we were preparing this issue, the Muslim world lost another luminary: Dr. AbdulHamid Ahmad AbuSulayman, a founding member of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and the Association of Muslim Social Scientists in the U.S. and Canada). During his career, he headed several international and academic organizations, including holding the post of rector at the International Islamic University, Malaysia (1989–99). ih

PUBLISHER The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)

PRESIDENT Safaa Zarzour

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Basharat Saleem

EDITOR Omer Bin Abdullah

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Iqbal Unus, Chair: M. Ahmadullah Siddiqi, Saba Ali

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