Muslim Views, August 2014

Vol. 28 No. 8

DHIL-QAIDAH 1435 l AUGUST 2014

Support for the Palestinians grows: world opposes savagery

Scenes of maimed children and women in the open-air-prison called Gaza has been met with rage across the globe. Whereas in the past Zionist atrocities were often met with a shrug by many, Israel’s horrific slaughter of over 1 000 civilians over the past weeks has seen the emergence of new anti-Zionist solidarity networks blossoming across the globe. In Cape Town, more than 100 000 people of conscience, of all political and religious persuasions, poured onto the streets on August 9 to show solidarity with the Palestinians.

Photo SHAFIQ MORTON

‘Without Zionism, with an open Muslim society and adherence to the principles of democracy all over Palestine, I could see myself at the station on the right journey towards peace and justice in Palestine.’

- Ilan Pappé... see page 4

Why we must support the BDS campaign - see Page 6

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Muslim Views . August 2014

represented by women is one indication, among others, that women’s roles cannot be confined to domestic or professional activity in society.

They are meaningfully represented in civil protest, resistance to injustice and political activism.

The irony is therefore all the more stark that our public and private sector institutions do not yet reflect the relevant transformation targets.

While access to social welfare services appears to indicate a wider distribution of beneficiaries, the majority of whom are women, it comes at a cost of three beneficiaries to one taxpayer. This is unsustainable say economists.

The judiciary remains untransformed in respect of gender representation.

Fairness in respect of access to health care, prevention of gender-based violence, and equality in education are AUGUST is nationally dedicated to still far below acceptable levels. the commemoration of women and a In March this year, the government focus on the rights and interests of announced that it will not succeed in women. In the past few months we meeting Millenium Development Goals have also seen a global as well as a 4 and 5 in reducing maternal, newborn national peak in public protest and child mortality rates. advocating a just peace for Of 9 million young menstruating Palestinians. schoolgirls, especially in rural areas, The two issues may be viewed as 80 per cent are reportedly unable to independent and mutually exclusive. attend school for an aggregate of three However, they do converge in months of the year because they significant ways that offer powerful simply cannot afford sanitary towels. lessons for South Africans.

South Africa’s high rate of teenage Historically, South Africa pregnancy affects girls’ ability to commemorates Women’s Month in remain in schools.

August as a tribute to the thousands of These phenomena compromise their women who marched to the Union schooling.

Buildings on August 9, 1956 in protest Similarly, the Council for Higher against the extension of Pass Laws to Education reports that women are women. under-represented in professorships, Today, 58 years after the historic departmental headships and senior march, the state of women socially, management positions because politically and economically warrants gender transformation at these serious reflection. institutions is ‘simply not a priority’.

The Israeli assault on Gaza took the Research findings further show that lives of 640 women and children. women remain under-represented in These women are part of a national senior positions in government and the struggle that is supported by millions of private sector, are held back by a glass people over the world, including South ceiling in business and are more likely Africa. to be unemployed than men.

On August 9, more than 100 000 In addition, women continue to do the people peacefully marched on majority of the household work parliament in Cape Town, demanding regardless of whether they are that the South African government employed or not. sever ties with the Israeli colonial Women demonstrate their potential to apartheid state. make meaningful contributions to a The marchers included families and a prosperous and just society. It remains significant proportion of women and the responsibility of policy-makers and children. the leaders in the public and private This demonstration of solidarity with sectors to ensure that women’s voices Palestinians and in public protest, well are heard and heeded.

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Women’s voices must be heard and heeded

Our editorial comment represents the composite viewpoint of the Editorial Team of Muslim Views, and is the institutional voice of the newspaper. Correspondence can be sent to editor@mviews.co.za

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This powerful image captured on August 9 blends three key elements in the South African struggle in support of justice for Palestinians. The image of Nelson Mandela on the Cape Town Civic Centre tower, overlooking the cityscape, connects the iconic freedom fighter with the march to parliament of at least 100 000 people in solidarity with Gaza. Mandela’s own struggle, supported by millions across the world, is inextricably and explicitly linked to the freedom of Palestine by his famous words, ‘We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.’ Some, including the South African government in its present stance, attempt to elude the embarrassment and discomfiture in their betrayal of this vital aspect of Mandela’s legacy. However, the people of Cape Town, in joining millions across the globe, have unequivocally called for solidarity with Palestine and for the isolation of Israel, as illustrated by the message on the placard raised aloft. This unprecedented mass demonstration of support for this cause also sends a clear message to the provincial government that the citizens of Cape Town are echoing a national and a global call. South Africans are justifiably expressing their discontent with their government for failing to reciprocate the support that the erstwhile Palestinian leadership afforded the anti-apartheid struggle decades ago. The historic march powerfully amplifies the voice of the people in ensuring that this betrayal weighs heavily on the conscience of our government and its leaders. Finally, the message on the t-shirt of the protester calls for a focus on a human rights struggle so that petty differences over religion do not undermine interfaith solidarity. Human rights are of universal concern to all people. All faiths universally teach respect for the other. This underlying message was clearly evident in the significant number of Jewish protesters who joined and supported the march.

Photo YUMNAH PARKER This newspaper carries Allah’s names, the names of the Prophets and sacred verses of the Holy Qur’an.

Please treat it with the respect it deserves.

Either keep, circulate or recycle.

Please do not discard.

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My South African tour: early impressions ILAN PAPPE

MUSLIM Views kindly and most generously hosted me in the beginning of August for my first ever lecture tour in South Africa.

Being a guest of this veteran and important voice of the Muslim community in South Africa, as I learned in retrospect, added a special and unforgettable flavour to my visit. I will come back to this very crucial aspect of my tour towards the end of this piece.

Travelling around South Africa, talking to big and small audiences, as well as to the press, politicians and activists, was a journey through time. The direction was forward into a future that has not as yet unfolded in my home country.

I was born in Haifa, six years after the foundation of the state of Israel in 1948, and when the state celebrated its 36th birthday, in 1984, I began my own journey which distanced me from the state and its ideologies but deepened my love for the country and its original people.

I yearned for the day when all those who lived in my country would be equal citizens of a democratic state, if not in practice, at least in principle.

The train of my life has not yet arrived at that station but, in South Africa, I disembarked at the station of my vision and hopes for my own homeland.

Many of my interlocutors tried to persuade me that this station in South Africa’s history is still hazardous and full of failures and disappointments. I could see many of them myself: personal insecurity, poverty, unemployment and remnants of racism.

In response, on several occasions on this trip, I have tried to express as well as I could my wish to be at that very difficult station where

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they find themselves today.

Getting rid of apartheid is, for me, as dramatic as getting rid of Zionism in Israel and Palestine. In both cases they, the one that occurred and the one that hopefully will occur, do not signify the end of problems, injustices and crises.

Solving those remaining predicaments is another important and essential human journey into the future. But in South Africa this new journey has begun; I am longing for the day we can start this journey in my home country.

For us, in Israel and Palestine, the longer we stay at our station of apartheid, colonisation and injustice, the tougher it will be to embark on the next important journey for social and economic justice South Africans have undertaken since the mid-1990s.

The best responses I received was when a few of my listeners told me at the end of my lectures that I took them back in time, when describing Israel and Palestine today, to a darker period they were happy to leave behind them.

But not everything I described about the reality today in Israel and Palestine resonated with my audiences and new friends in South Africa. Some of my descriptions and analyses were about a reality far grimmer and darker than even the direst moment in the history of apartheid South Africa.

My visit coincided, without my hosts or me knowing this in advance, with the new Israeli assault on Gaza.

When I referred to the carnage and suffering there, my listeners did not find any equivalent to the horror in Palestine with their own recollections of the evil they encountered in South Africa.

Talking about Gaza in South Africa also introduced me to the problems the solidarity movement with the Palestinians faces in this

country.

I am not talking here only about the powerful pro-Zionist lobby – powerful in resources, as I learned, but very weak in providing a convincing counter-argument.

None of the Zionist and Israeli spokespersons were willing to debate me publically, some withdrawing at the very last moment from such an encounter.

But there is a more serious challenge that the solidarity with the Palestinians faces. The mainstream media, politics and academics in South Africa seem still to miscomprehend the reality in Israel and Palestine.

The conflict there is conceived as one raging between two national movements with equal rights to the land and equal guilt for the lack of a peaceful solution to their conflict.

Even worse, there is a readiness to accept the Israeli version that the present conflict was begun by an unexplainable launch of Qassam missiles from Gaza into Israel.

For this reason, I strove in my lectures, to broaden the historical context in which the present carnage in Gaza should be viewed.

The Israeli killings of young Palestinians in May this year, which prompted the desperate abduction and killing of three settlers – the incident that provided Israel with the pretext for the massive arrests of the Hamas political leadership in the West Bank – is a factor missing from the South African general analysis.

The Israeli operation in the West Bank was reciprocated by low-key Hamas missiles. Israel believed that the moment to destroy the movement, militarily, had come – whatever the price to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip would be.

Hamas was targeted in that way because of its ability to find the golden mean of unity with the Fatah.

(Right) Professor Ilan Pappe speaks at the televised iTV seminar during his South African visit.

Photo M T NAKIDIEN

The newly-found Palestinian unity was accompanied by the willingness of the Palestinian Authority to move away from the deceptive ‘peace process’ and focus on galvanising worldwide pressure on Israel on the basis of human and civil rights’ agenda.

The might of the Israeli army was used to try and thwart these new developments – a strategy that, so far, has cost over 2 000 Palestinian lives.

More importantly, I attempted to provide a wider historical context that seemed to be missing not only in South Africa but also elsewhere in the world.

Gaza 2014 is the inevitable fruit of Zionism: a settler colonialist movement seeking to have as much of Palestine as possible with as few Palestinians in it as possible.

This led to the ethnic cleansing of half of Palestine’s native population in 1948, to the imposition of an apartheid regime on the Palestinian minority inside Israel and the incarceration of the West Bankers in a mega prison encircled by walls and Jewish settlements.

These means of ensuring Jewish exclusivity in Palestine were also attempted in the Gaza Strip but did not work there.

Thus, the Strip (merely 40 km long and 5 km wide) was ghettoized, starved and strangled. And when it rebelled, the Israeli response was to employ its military might (produced for the occasion of defeating huge armies in a battlefield) against the Gaza Ghetto. Ethnic cleansing thus became genocide.

Treating Zionism as an ideology of dispossession and death is not yet accepted in mainstream media and politics in South Africa. As if it were possible to avoid mentioning apartheid during the days of the struggle for freedom and justice.

To bring this message home, I

also talked about the day after for a community of Jewish settlers – now in its third generation on the land of Palestine – that would have to come to terms with its location in the midst of the Arab and Muslim world, and would have to live with it, and not instead of it.

The pluralism I found in the Muslim community here – the inclusiveness, moderation and assertiveness, bodes well for anyone envisaging a better future for all in Palestine.

It will connect the future with the golden era of yesteryear, when Jews and Arabs were the pillars of Islamic culture and civilisation while Europe was still lagging behind in its own age of darkness.

Without Zionism, with an open Muslim society and adherence to the principles of democracy all over Palestine, I could see myself at the station on the right journey towards peace and justice in Palestine.

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Why we must support the BDS campaign MARTIN JANSEN

MOST people around the world who support the ideal of democracy, freedom and a decent life for all human beings, irrespective of who they are, have concluded that Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people is nothing less than a slow and brutal genocide.

Today, nearly five million – the majority of Palestinians – are refugees in other countries. Nearly two million are imprisoned and live in the Gaza Strip, which is the most densely populated area in the world.

Israel controls what goes in an out of Gaza and does not allow sufficient food and vital supplies for life to enter Gaza.

On the West Bank, Palestinians continue to be evicted from and forced out of their homes which are then taken over by Zionist settlers with the support of the Israeli army.

Many people who have visited Palestine and Israel have concluded that the brutality of the Israeli genocide and oppression of Palestinians is in many respects much worse than what we suffered under apartheid.

Solidarity for a Free Palestine – the BDS strategy It is obvious that we must support our Palestinian brothers and sisters and show solidarity.

However, while monetary and medical support, as well as protest marches, provide necessary relief and encouragement to those suffering in Gaza under Israeli terror and violence, it does not hurt the enemy: the Israeli

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regime and their Zionist supporters all over the world, including in South Africa.

Many of us often feel powerless since we are so far away and unable to offer direct support.

However, there is much we can learn from our own struggle against apartheid since the 1970s when well-supported international boycotts, disinvestment and sanctions campaigns contributed towards isolating South Africa’s apartheid regime and big business.

Together with revolutionary mass struggles inside South Africa, the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) strategy was arguably the most effective in forcing South Africa’s ruling class to seek a way out of their crisis and ultimately negotiating a political compromise settlement with the ANC. By the 1980s, South Africa was effectively isolated in virtually every sphere of life including sport, culture, academia and, most importantly, economics.

South African companies were not allowed to trade and export their products to their main markets of Europe and Africa, with crippling effect.

Within the context of a recession, this was a mighty blow to them causing big South African business leaders and liberal politicians like Van Zyl Slabbert to run off to Lusaka to meet ANC leaders and seek a political compromise.

The BDS strategy and our challenges In many ways our tasks and challenges to effectively and suc-

cessfully implement BDS in South Africa are immense.

Israel has a much more powerful and well-coordinated support base economically and politically in the world, especially in the most powerful Western imperialist powers, namely the USA, Britain and France.

It is a similar situation in South Africa, where the powerful tentacles of Zionist power and influence reaches into the commanding heights of our economy and the ANC government through business arrangements and patronage, including President Zuma and family members.

How else do we explain the ANC’s soft approach to the Zionists, and complete refusal to do anything decisive in defending Palestinians and punishing Israel?

However, ultimately we, together with the masses of the world have the power to defeat Israel, Zionism and their Imperialist supporters.

We must remember that the BDS campaign against apartheid started out small, as early as the late 1960s, when female Irish shop workers refused to handle South African products.

They were fired for doing so but persevered and, by the late 1980s, it became a successful international mass movement against apartheid, referred to as the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM).

It was only then that governments all over the world started taking concrete steps such as BDS legislation to isolate South Africa, with even big American companies like Mobil and General Motors disinvesting.

BDS must be mass-based The BDS strategy has not been effectively implemented in South Africa, yet.

Over the past several years, it has been led by a Johannesburg NGO called BDS South Africa and supported by a few Palestine solidarity groups based in the major city centres of South Africa and university campuses.

BDS and these groups have done much to promote the idea of BDS through events like the annual Israel Apartheid Week (IAW).

However, these efforts have not been able to capture the imagination and support of most South Africans, let alone turn it into a mass movement.

Similarly, solidarity and big organisations with mass support, such as the trade unions and the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC), have formally committed themselves to BDS but have been completely ineffective in implementing it.

There are various reasons for this weakness, including political and organisational.

At the political level, it is quite apparent that the MJC, BDS and Cosatu still cling to the hope and illusion that the ANC government is an ally in this struggle against the Israeli regime and in support of the Palestinians.

Yet, other than rhetoric of outrage in response to violent Israeli atrocities by a few individual leaders of the ANC, there is absolutely nothing to show, despite a long history of support by the PLO towards the ANC. Upon meeting the relevant ANC government ministers

requesting that they support and legislate BDS, we have been told that they are unable to justify it to the other side (Israel and their supporters) and we (civil society) need to activate mass pressure to force their hand.

Yet, over the past month we’ve had the biggest protest marches in the history of South Africa in support of Palestine and against Israel with clear demands to the South African government ‘to cut all economic and political ties with Israel’.

There is still no positive movement from them.

The failure to accept that the ANC/ SACP is not our ally and, effectively, is on the other side causes weak political will and inertia for the Palestine solidarity movement.

Noteworthy, too, is the problem of leadership of the solidarity movement both in numbers and quality.

The Muslim and Christian clergy, while important and influential allies in the newly formed National Coalition for Palestine (NC4P), do not have a strong culture of mass democratic organisation and mobilisation.

Yet, they are the dominant actors in the coalition because the traditional mass organisations – our trade unions and community formations – are either too weak or lack the political will to throw their full weight behind the solidarity effort and the BDS campaign.

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Ilan Pappe visit part of probing troubling issues SHABODIEN ROOMANAY

EDUCATION opens the path to understanding the causes and effects of the many aspects that determine global issues.

The question of Israel’s political domination of the vast swathes of lands in the MiddleEast has remained an enigma because many do not remember the history of the region, how it was shaped, who designed it and who the main players were then and who they are now.

Our attitudes, understanding and responses are inevitably shaped by what we know, perhaps even choose to know, and the extent to which we have information that is more truthful, more accurate and, therefore, delivers us from the shackles of a media that has political and economic masters that prepare the daily menu for us.

And so we find the skilful manipulation of the media, powerful lobby groups and regular advocates of their cause who manage to shape the hearts and minds of nations across the world. This is the dilemma.

The Zionist Project and its attendant mastery at obfuscating facts have fogged the thinking of many, particularly the many Jews who have trekked across and from various countries to be part of the new Israeli nation – The Promised Land, a home for the lost tribe.

How did this happen? Surely there were resident Palestinians who occupied these lands before Israel came to be? Where did the Israelis then come from? Where were they before 1948? Did they take land that did not belong to

Historian Professor Ilan Pappe speaking at the University of Johannesburg Photo MERAJ CHHAYA during his South African vist in July and August.

them?

Then there are the orthodox Jews who vociferously condemn the formation of a Jewish nation state. They do not believe that the Jewish religious tradition caters for the formal occupation and establishment of a land in the name of Judaism. This is a curse, they say.

To compound matters, there are Palestinian leaders who, having tried all they could since the Nakba, the Catastrophe, have tried all at their disposal to regain lost land and property to no avail.

They then started to co-operate with the Zionist leadership to have some control of some areas of what was theirs.

This puzzling set of factors leaves many with almost a mixed sense of allegiance. There are many among the world Jewry who, understandably, are so in favour of the establishment of

Israel that they would defend their perspective with their all.

And, despite all the UN resolutions, given perhaps the USA vetoing almost all Security Council calls for resolutions other than the use of force, notwithstanding all the condemnation of their actions in the Occupied territories, the Israeli state seems to continue its disproportionate use of USA-supplied armoury to subdue and cleanse a nation.

Why is this the case? How is it that we have reached this impasse? Why do so many not sense or understand the injustice?

These are the typical questions explored by Muslim Views over the many years that it has been publishing, on any theme.

We have always raised the question of the plight of the Palestinian people and stirred debate that would hopefully shed more light on the real facts on the

ground.

We also understand that besides our regular, supportive readers, both the Zionist and ‘intelligence’ community from across the world also read our paper with interest.

The decision to invite Professor Ilan Pappe was taken against this background. Professor Pappe is a Jewish, Israeli Professor of History based at one of the most reputable educational institutions in the world, Exeter University, in the UK. Having grown up and been nurtured on the usual Zionist diet of mythologies ranging from ‘a land without a people for a people without a land’ to ‘Israel was a democratic state even prior to 1967’, it must have taken enormous courage and bravery at a very young age to break with the tradition, the consensus and the controlled environment we know Jewish people in Occupied Palestine came to accept as gospel. It would surely come at a cost. And it did.

It was this tyranny of fear, the almost blatant inability to research and understand the real history of the land that has caused the majority of those now living in settlements all over Occupied Palestine to consent to the domination of their mind and spirit.

Professor Pappe chose to be honest. He explored the real issues on the ground, asked the hard questions, was severely rebuked because he dared to tread where others feared to go.

Excommunication from his community and those close to

him followed and, finally, his right to speak his mind in the land of his birth was denied to him.

This quest for the truth finally led him to leave his homeland.

And the world has benefitted.

His thorough understanding of the region and the inevitable consequences of the Zionist project should a real solution not be found is what everyone, on both sides of the divide, needs to hear.

We tried as much as we could, within the South African context, to get the local Jewish organisations and key personalities to meet him and perhaps hear another version. We failed hopelessly.

One could sense the fear, almost rejection, of another voice.

Instead, we were told that there is no one in South Africa ‘with expertise on Middle-East matters’ from amongst the Zionist community. So it was an opportunity lost.

Did we succeed at all? I think we did. Many in the activist community needed added encouragement to lobby for improved rights for the Palestinian people.

By all accounts, there has been a marked increase in the number of activists who now better understand the deep issues relating to the region and the intractable factors that need to be first understood and then unravelled.

Could we have done more? Yes we could have. We tried to conscientise more activists from the townships but were unable to secure this, for good and understandable reasons. That should be our next challenge.

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Social media and the Cape Town march SHAFIQ MORTON

IT was the 33rd day of ‘Protective Edge’, the grotesque euphemism coined by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s generals for death and destruction in Gaza. And while Gaza was taking an absolute hammering, Israel was receiving serious hits in the social media space.

And as limp-wristed world leaders, kowtowing to the Zionist lobby, mumbled vaguely up their sleeves about Israel’s ‘right to selfdefence’ against an aggressor without an army, the rest of the world was tweeting.

So overwhelming was the traffic that Israeli propaganda was drowned out by a deluge of digital indignation not witnessed before in modern history.

Indeed, when it came to the battle of the hash tags, Israel – with its multi-million dollar PR infra-structure – lost out to Palestinian citizen journalists reporting from the ground the minute something happened.

And while the hasbara corps was trying to frame euphonies, the truth had already gone viral.

Another cogent example was Danish correspondent, Allan Sorenson, tweeting the image of Sderot inhabitants indulging in war theatre on a hilltop overlooking Gaza at the beginning of the Israeli operation.

What became known as the ‘Sderot cinema’ put paid to the notion that its people were cowering in bomb shelters in fear of Hamas’ rockets. Journalists, who now habitually tweet while on assignment, were getting the story

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One of the tens of thousands of protesters who took to the streets of Cape Town on August 9 to voice their protest against Zionist occupation of Gaza. The writer notes that the Palestinian struggle is now correctly seen as a “humanitarian and political question” rather than a “Muslims-only concern.”.

Photo Z SADAR

out before it could be filtered and sugar-coated by editors in European or US capitals. Sorenson’s image of the war, a grainy snapshot in bad light of Israelis revelling in Gazan misery, is an iconic indictment of Israeli PR. The Danish journalist was just one of many who saw their postings finding ever-expanding audiences.

Sixteen-year-old Palestinian, Farah Baker, began tweeting about the bombs falling around

her. In the space of just a few weeks, the followers on her Twitter account leapt from 800 to 207 000.

I believe it was this social media dynamic that galvanised Capetonians to turn out in their thousands on Saturday, August 9, in the biggest march I have ever seen in Cape Town – bigger than the anti-apartheid one of September 1989 and bigger than the Tricentenary one of 1994 that attracted at least 100 000 people.

Of course, the newly-formed National Coalition of Palestine had harnessed a number of significant players – the BDS, the MJC, the Palestine Solidarity Movement, Cosatu and personalities such as Ahmed Kathrada and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

These all would have been drawcards, yes, but it was social media that was informing and driving the process.

For us grizzled veterans of the protest march, though, it did have a lot of struggle-era UDF dynamics to it.

Marshalls with strict instructions to expel agents provocateur and Tutu exhorting the crowd to behave, to respect Jews – but to reject Zionist injustice – was vintage stuff but the presence of the youth with their smartphones was not.

Another dimension was the prominently raised voice of Jewish conscience.

While the anti-apartheid struggle had been well populated by those of the Judaic faith, this was the first time I could remember it being so vocal on the Palestinian issue. The crowd gave Jewish Voices for Peace a warm and welcoming ovation when it arrived.

Jonathan Shapiro, aka cartoonist Zapiro, carried a banner entitled ‘Jewish not Zionist’. I took a picture of him, and his image – which I put up later that evening on Facebook – became one of the most liked pictures I’ve posted. The following day I got a call from Al-Jazeera who asked

me to do a photo essay on the march. The essay – which included the placard-carrying Zapiro – got 30 000 views.

Suffering from the after-effects of a severe chest cold, I took refuge on the truck. From my elevated vantage point I was able to get a good view of the crowd. It reinforced my feeling that it was our biggest march, and Tutu’s sentiment that the 1989 march was dwarfed by at least three times. The Muslim community had taken to the Palestinian issue in green, black, red and white. As a result, a casual observer could be forgiven for thinking that it was a Muslim dominated affair.

On closer examination it was not.

The numbers had been swelled by ordinary South Africans of all creeds and colours.

And this is the significant shift of which the march was ample proof. The Palestinian conflict – read resistance – has moved on in the public imagination from being a Muslims-only concern to the humanitarian and political question that it really is.

Indeed, what I saw on that balmy Womens’ Day was the fact that the Palestinian issue enjoyed the ownership of all South Africans, the majority of whom instinctively understand the naked racism of contemporary Zionism.

And judging by the amount of tweets emitted from the youth in the crowd, from now on the Zionists are going to have a very hard time playing their game.

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The struggle continues but Pappe remains a man of hope MAHMOOD SANGLAY

FROM July 31 to August 7, South Africans had the opportunity, for the first time in our country, to meet and personally engage the New Historian who has definitively re-written and challenged the official narrative propagated by the colonialist state of Israel.

His narrative effectively debunks the myths that justify the colonial occupation, the displacement and the dehumanisation of millions of Palestinians.

It is the credibility of his body of work, spanning 15 full length books, 53 journal articles and 24 book chapters, that earns him a place among the most authoritative critics of Israel in the world today.

For these reasons alone this newspaper had good cause to engage in media activism and invite Pappe to our shores.

Muslim Views last hosted an international figure in 2006 when George Galloway was invited on a national speaking tour.

As an outspoken politician, Galloway thrilled and entertained local audiences with his rhetoric and diatribes against the British government, the United States and Israel.

We knew Pappe not to be politician and had vague expectations of a ‘dry academic’ with limited public appeal.

Our apprehensions were misplaced for two reasons.

First, he was no dry academic.

His calm and measured style of address was nuanced by his abiding use of the historical narrative, occasional humour and his ability to pitch the level of his talk

Even if they are not yet willing to accept that the official Zionist narrative of Israeli history is a grand fabrication, they are willing to denounce … the atrocities committed by Israel today … appropriate for the audience.

Second, the Israeli assault on Gaza coincided with his visit to South Africa, generating automatic public interest in a worldrenowned expert on Israeli history.

Muslim Views originally conceived of the trip several months prior to events in June this year that ostensibly led to the recent bout of Israeli aggression.

For these reasons attendance at almost every public forum was full. The programme, as a whole, was designed to increase public awareness of the alternative narrative of Palestinian and Israeli history, and to address the current assault on Gaza.

The objective was to educate and build an accurate understanding of past and present realities of the region.

This objective was largely achieved, judging by the attendance at the public meetings and the response of people.

However, Pappe’s visit opened another dimension of the Palestine-Israel discourse. Jews across the world committed to democra-

tic values, even those staunchly loyal to the idea of an Israeli nation-state, are increasingly appreciating the reality underlying Israel’s policy of systematic dehumanisation of the Palestinians.

These Jews are ordinary citizens exposed to the atrocities of Israel. But they are also exposed to the compelling voices of activists, academics and politicians such as George Galloway, Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein.

Even if they are not yet willing to accept that the official Zionist narrative of Israeli history is a grand fabrication, they are willing to denounce, if only passively, the atrocities committed by Israel today, in their name.

These Jewish voices are routinely muted, silenced and suppressed due to pressure particularly from Zionist extremists who wield social, political and economic power to intimidate and suppress dissent from within their own ranks.

In many Jewish communities in democracies over the world

where dissidents dare to speak out, fear and confusion is rife.

South Africa is no exception.

As the host of Pappe, Muslim Views attempted to reach out to these voices, including Jewish youth, by organising meetings with Pappe. These meetings were not intended to be adversarial or even forums of debate.

Instead, they were designated private discussions and informal meetings. However, all of these attempts failed due to fear of reprisal from within the Jewish community.

The balance in Pappe’s programme was thus compromised by the absence of Jewish dissident voices or voices that are genuinely challenged in reconciling loyalty to a colonial apartheid state on the one hand, and democratic values on the other.

In addition, the only designated debating forum, a televised iTV broadcast, was also compromised.

This was due to the failure of any representative from leading Jewish organisations such as the South African Jewish Board of

Deputies or academics from institutions like UCT to accept the invitation to debate.

Another forum, the Forum at 8, on SAfm, was compromised when the radio station acquiesced to the demands of the Israeli deputy ambassador to South Africa, Michael Freeman.

The latter declined to debate Pappe on the national broadcaster the day before he arrived in South Africa and, instead, was granted an opportunity to engage in 25 minutes of uninterrupted propaganda.

An American academic, Shalom Goldman of Duke University, writes: ‘American Jewish critics of Israel are deemed dangerous but criticism by Israeli Jews is the most feared and resented type, and the establishment Jewish organizations have worked hard for decades to keep such voices out of the American marketplace of ideas.’

Ilan Pappe is at the receiving end of this resentment in his home country. He routinely encounters professional, political and social prejudice for the position he has taken.

However, even though he believes the ‘present generation of Israeli youth are lost’ in mainstream Zionist extremism, he remains a man of hope. And he knows the struggle is long from over.

Our task remains primarily two-fold: to continue promoting robust public discourse to influence policy and legislation that will ultimately isolate Israel and compel it to accept a just peace, and to engage meaningfully with Jewish dissidents committed to democratic values.

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Muslim Views . August 2014

Living with fear in Palestine SHIREEN MUKADAM

‘IMAGINE someone comes into your home, steals most of what is inside of it and puts you into a corner. Every time that person looks at you after then, you are a reminder to him that he is a thief. He stole from you and killed your family.’

Palestinian Mohammad Eghbaria* is talking about fear.

‘I think that’s why every time they [Israelis] see us, they react in that way. They always fear us because they know they have done something wrong.’

Mohammad Eghbaria (24) was born in Um el Fahem, a city set on the slopes of Mount Iskander, just a stone’s throw away from Jenin and 70km from Jerusalem.

With a mere 25-kilometresquare area, Um El Fahem, the fourth largest Arab city in Israel, is home to 60 000 Palestinians.

In 2008, the 18-year-old Mohammad was awarded a scholarship to study in Cape Town, where he is now living while completing his final year of pharmacy studies. He lives with a host family in Surrey Estate, on the Cape Flats.

As a child, he always wanted to go somewhere. ‘Let me try and see how it goes,’ he thought when he was offered the opportunity.

He could always return home if he was not happy in South Africa.

His trip here was the first time he travelled outside of Palestine.

But when Mohammad arrived here, the welcome was unexpectedly warm. ‘When [people] hear I’m from Palestine, the way they

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Politics, he says, defines everyday life.

It made him grow up quicker – he didn’t get time to think about playing hug me, some even start crying.

The love for Palestine – it shocked me.’

His journey to Cape Town, more than 10 000km away from Um el Fahem, was an eye-opening experience for Mohammad.

‘Because I grew up in that situation, I was dispirited because the Arab nations around us have failed us for so many years. I thought the Palestinian people are alone. But coming here changed my perception.’

In South Africa, Mohammad feels free. No one stops him to ask for his ID just because he is Palestinian or interrogates him. ‘It made me feel how different it is to live in other places in the world and how it [Israel] is filled with discrimination and tension.’

Growing up in Palestine Mohammad’s grandfather was killed in 1948, leaving his grandmother, then in her early 30s, as a single mother of eleven children, the youngest just four-monthsold.

‘She’s my hero,’ he says. ‘My grandmother is an example of the

Palestinian woman. She’s very strong and stands by (her family) despite the situation, even if their life gets difficult. She has so much love for the land.’

His grandmother taught him about the Naqba (‘Day of Catastrophe’ in Arabic, which coincides with Israeli Independence Day in May, 1948) which she lived through.

For Palestinians, this day signifies a tragedy because it meant the loss of Palestinians’ traditional lands, and resulted in their displacement.

The Naqba, commemorated on May 15, followed the end of British colonial rule of Mandatory Palestine and also marks the birth of Israel.

Mohammad also speaks Hebrew. ‘I haven’t interacted much with the Jewish community but I learnt their language in school.’

As a child, Mohammad was more interested in politics than games. A defining moment for him was when, as a ten-year-old, six youths were killed in his city

by Israelis. The year was 2000,

during the Second Intifada (uprising).

Politics, he says, defines everyday life. It made him grow up quicker – he didn’t get time to think about playing.

Inferiority ‘Our part of Palestine is the most fortunate. The people of the West Bank and Gaza had it much worse than us.’ He remembers, as a child, sleeping without locking the front door. It was safe.

Mohammad always felt the way he was treated was different, however. He had to carry his blue identity card with him all the time. He was stopped daily by police within his city and subjected to interrogation.

Even entering a mall is a different experience depending on whether you are Jewish or Palestinian. ‘Jewish families enter freely,’ he says. ‘The moment they see you are Arab, they search you extensively.’

Mohammad says this type of treatment immediately makes a person feel singled out, and inferior. ‘It makes some people look

down on themselves,’ he says.

‘There’s a sense of not belonging to a place and that’s a problem.’

Time for the world to act Mohammad does not believe the attack on Gaza launched by Israel on July 8 is a war. ‘It’s a genocide against the people of Gaza,’ he says. ‘The people living in Gaza are all refugees. They’re people who lived in Haifa or Jerusalem but, in 1948, they were displaced from their homes…

‘Hamas is dealing with the fourth most powerful army in the world. Since the siege on Gaza eight years ago, no cement or bricks are allowed in. So the rockets Hamas make are handmade by the people of Gaza, with the little they have.’

According to Mohammad, Israel is pressurising the Palestinian nation so much that at some point an explosion will happen.

He says the people of Gaza are trapped. ‘They can’t leave, they’re stuck in there. It’s time for the international community to stand for what is right, and the first step is to break the siege on the people of Gaza.

‘If you want to have justice inside Palestine, the weak (the Palestinians today) have to be given power by the international community, and only then will the Israelis be serious about peace talks or having peace.

‘But, right now, as Israel is the power of the country, and no one’s there to stop them, they (Israel) will do whatever they want to.’ *This is not his real name.

Muslim Views . August 2014 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

This means that despite the current mass outrage and momentum around Palestine solidarity, the NC4P operates very much on the basis of business as usual, lacking urgency, dynamism and an effective campaign plan.

Regrettably too, many from the left intelligentsia who have dedicated their work to the community-based social movements and trade unions have failed to relate their efforts and struggles to the importance of solidarity with Palestine.

This, despite the obvious parallels of the ‘Palestinian question’ with every issue confronting oppressed and exploited people globally, and its interconnectedness with imperialism and neoliberal capitalist globalisation.

Solidarity with Palestine is the ideal political platform to raise the bigger political questions and thereby raise mass consciousness and organisation to a higher level.

Despite the positive development with the formation of a new and active coalition (NC4P), at an organisational level we still have a big gap between the mass of

Palestine supporters and the solidarity groups and organisations.

Even though the coalition consist of over 40 organisations and successfully mobilised huge support of over 100 000 people for the march on Saturday, August 9, in Cape Town, up to now it has been unable and ineffective in turning this support and outrage by the masses into a strong organised movement.

The NC4P has, however, managed to overcome one past weakness of the BDS campaign; that is, to target a few companies instead of several for a consumer boycott.

Why boycott Woolworths and G4S? Over the past few years, solidarity organisations like BDS and the PSC have written to Woolworths about their continued sourcing and selling of Israeli products.

We have tried to convince them of the nature of the Israeli regime and its continued abuse of Palestinians’ basic human rights.

Despite this, the company has refused to accede to our demand to stop sourcing and selling Israeli products even though this only makes up 0,01% of their sales.

Yet, Woolworths has branded itself as an ethical retailer with its latest Ethical Sourcing Policy Document stating that Woolworth Ltd will be ‘…sourcing its products in a responsible manner’, ‘Woolworths Limited is committed to upholding human rights, fair working conditions…’ and ‘We expect our suppliers to support the ethical standards set out in this Policy….’

This is the hypocritical nature of Woolworths’ ethical policy that they refuse to apply in the case of the rights of Palestinians and effectively supporting the Israeli regime by their refusal to support BDS. G4S, on the other hand, provides security equipment to Israel’s al-Jalame and Megiddo prisons, both of which are notorious for their detention of Palestinian children.

G4S also provides security systems for Israel’s Jerusalem (‘Russian Compound’) interrogation and torture facility.

Furthermore, Israel has established – with the help of G4S – a military ‘compound’ in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank (including a prison, army camp and a military court).

The company has also provided equipment to the West Bank Israeli Police headquarters, located in the prohibited E-1 Jerusalem area, and provides equipment and services to Israel’s illegal settlements and checkpoints (including the checkpoints of Bethlehem, Qalandiya, Irtah and Erez).

Furthermore, the Israeli government was forced to recently disclose, under the Israeli Freedom of Information Act, that ‘G4S is one of the companies that provides inspection and scanning equipment to all the Israeli checkpoints along the Separation Wall’.

In 2002, Israel began construction of its Separation or Apartheid Wall – on Occupied Palestinian land. The Israeli Wall is 8 metres high and, once complete, will be over 800 kilometres long.

In 2004, the International Court of Justice, found the Israeli Wall and its associated regime (such as the G4S-facilitated checkpoints) in contravention of international law.

In South Africa, G4S is a major company in the country’s security industry with Airports Company SA (ACSA) and several universities, companies and private

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homes contracting them for security services.

The NC4P agreed that we should overcome a weakness of previous BDS efforts by focusing on these two companies to ensure a tightly co-ordinated and unified campaign. This will make mass mobilisation easier and raise much awareness.

The campaign against these companies will hopefully build local solidarity organisations in communities, workplaces, educational institutions and trade unions.

As the BDS movement grows, the NC4P plans to include other companies as targets such as DisChem whose CEO has previously outrightly declared his support for Israel and defended the violent atrocities of the regime.

Over the next few weeks, the NC4P will be intensifying its boycott efforts against these companies.

Solidarity forever and Palestine will be Free.

Martin Jansen is a member of the Palestine Solidarity Committee, Cape Town, and is director of Workers World Media Productions. He may be reached at: martin@wwmp.org.za

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Muslim Views . August 2014

Petitioning South Why must Muslims answer?

African Muslims to condemn violence in the name of Islam DR FIROZ OSMAN

SAFIYYAH SURTEE

FAITHWORKS Network, a group of women in Johannesburg comprising activists, academics and professionals, has initiated a petition condemning acts of violence in the name of Islam.

The petition focuses particularly on the group styling itself Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Nigerian faction, Boko Haram.

The petition has received over 1 200 signatures within a few days, with many prominent South African Muslim personalities among the signatories, including Professor Adam Habib (Vice Chancellor of Wits University), Dr Imtiaz Sooliman (Gift of the Givers) and Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Enver Surty.

Mr Surty added: ‘We cannot be silent when the image of Islam is maliciously distorted in a manner that seeks to alienate Muslims from other groups.’

In addition, over 20 Muslim groupings, made up of organisations, institutions, networks and masaajid have endorsed the petition.

Amongst the signatories are members of the ulama, academics, activists, politicians and journalists; all in agreement that

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the inhumane and brutal actions of extremist groups could not be further from the essence and teachings of Islam.

The core of the petition is unequivocal in condemning acts of terror under the guise of religious justification: ‘The Islam that we know and love is centred on values of justice, mercy and compassion. It stands in solidarity with all people facing persecution. ‘These organisations – and the states that sponsor them – do not act in our name. We reject this hijacking and misrepresentation of Islam’s teachings. We further reject all forms of sectarianism in the South Africa that we love, and in majority Muslim countries.’

The response to the petition by those outside of the Muslim community has been varied; on social media forums one opinion called it ‘a brave voice of dissent’.

A Faithworks Network spokesperson responded to the comment: ‘This [calling it a voice of dissent] is surprising in a climate in which the largest Muslim religious bodies in the country, the Muslim Judicial Council and the Jamiatul Ulama South Africa, have also put out their own statements condemning the actions of ISIS. We truly believe that our statement is not at all a voice of dissent but represents the views of

IT is exasperating that Muslims are called upon to comment or condemn an individual or organisation with a ‘Muslim’ name or ‘Islam’ appended to it when the individual or organisation commits a despicable crime.

The latest call was made with the heinous beheading of photojournalist James Foley, ostensibly circulated by ISIS, in a video clip that went viral on YouTube.

Pressure mounted on Muslims as individuals and Muslim organisations to distance themselves from this crime. The question is: why should Muslims take ownership of an act that violates the very tenets of their religion?

If Muslims remain silent it will be exploited as being complicit with the groups perpetrating the crime or viewed as apologetic and guilty if they speak out; if they do speak out, it is claimed that they are not loud enough.

Muslims are no more responsible for the actions of ISIS than South African Jews are for Israeli war crimes unless, of course, they support the vile crimes and hold rallies in support of Israel.

No rabbi or any of the Israeli affiliates such as the SA Jewish Board of Deputies or SA Zionist

Federation were asked to apologise for the Israeli bombs that killed hundreds of children in Gaza.

This, despite the fact that South African Jews have been charged for violating South African law to fight in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).

SA Jews from organisations such as Not In My Name, Stop the JNF and Jewish Voices for Peace have protested against the support shown by SAZF for the murderous rampage by Israel against the Palestinians.

These groups are often maligned by the SAJBOD and the SAZF as being marginal and unrepresentative of mainstream Jewish opinion. They have not had the courage to criticise Israel for their crimes against humanity.

The claim that SA Muslims are being allegedly lured to fight for renegade groups disparages their ability to discern and select organisations fighting for a just cause. This is evident by the overwhelming support shown for the Palestinian resistance movements, not only by Muslims but by all South Africans involved in the struggle to free South Africa from the yoke of apartheid.

There will always be misguided individuals tempted to display false heroism. Ever so often,

Islamophobes in South Africa emerge from their woodwork to accuse Muslims for aiding, abetting or sheltering so-called ‘terrorists’ from other parts of the world. De Wet Potgieter made such an accusation published in Daily Maverick, and when he failed to respond to the challenge to produce credible evidence for these allegations, he was fired.

As a British writer noted, demanding that Muslims condemn ISIS is xenophobic because it implies that they are sympathetic to the terrorist group unless they state otherwise. It implies all Muslims are responsible for the actions of terrorists.

And there’s a double standard because other minorities aren’t held to the same standard.

It is worth noting that most of the victims, and most of those fighting ISIS daily, are Muslims, not Yazidis or Christians. In other words, Muslims are being criticised for not condemning a group that is mostly killing Muslims.

The media must be careful not to willfully broadcast sensational claims without investigating the source of information, lest it feeds into this Islamophobic frenzy and vilifies an entire community.

Dr Osman is a founding member and executive member of Media Review Network.

many ordinary Muslims in South Africa.’

The petition was initiated ahead of a prayer vigil to be held in Johannesburg on September 14 for the victims of the violence perpetrated in the name of Islam, which will see prominent leaders of the various faith communities join together in solidarity.

The petition can be accessed and signed at www.change.org under the title ‘Reject violence in the name of Islam’.

Claremont Main Road Mosque, which has condemned the atrocities of ISIS, will dedicate its khutbah on Friday, September 5, to denounce these acts of violence.

Omar Shaukat from the AfroMiddle East Centre (Amec) will deliver the pre-khubtah talk followed by a special supplication, led by Imam Abdur Rashied Omar, for peace in Syria and Iraq. After the Jumuah Salaah, the congregants will hold a silent vigil along Main Road, Claremont, outside the masjid.

- ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE -

Muslim Views . August 2014

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The Strangers Tour heads to South Africa AFTER a phenomenally successful tour with dozens of sold-out shows worldwide, The Strangers Tour is heading back to South African shores.

The sequel of the much anticipated Muslim event features the thought-provoking comedy of Baba Ali, award-winning poetry of Boonaa Mohammed and inspiring Islamic scholarship of Shaykh Navaid Aziz.

Encompassing the theme of ‘Back to the Straight Path’, The Strangers Tour Part 2 is targeted at teenagers and young adults; and is hosted by Islamic Relief South Africa in aid of its Palestine Emergency fund.

The show addresses the realities of the world, shedding light on the day-to-day struggles faced

by Muslims while offering practical and sincere advice on how to remain steadfast in one’s faith.

Islamic Relief Country Direc-

‘We realised more needed to be done to educate our children about the plight of the poor and the vulnerable.

This prompted us to engage the performers of The Strangers Tour. The show is good, clean, halaal fun...’ tor, Yusuf Patel, says that the show is the ideal platform to engage youth on social issues and to encourage a spirit of volunteerism.

‘We realised more needed to be done to educate our children about the plight of the poor and the vulnerable.

‘This prompted us to engage

the performers of The Strangers Tour.

‘The show is good, clean, halaal fun [and] it is seldom that we have these calibre performers on stage.

‘These artists are noble ambassadors of Islam and we can learn so much from them.’

The Strangers Tour series kicks

off at the Wits Linder Auditorium in Johannesburg, on Friday, September 26, before moving to the Durban City Hall on Saturday, September 27. It concludes in Cape Town, on Sunday, September 28, at the Oaklands High School Hall, in Lansdowne.

Tickets cost R150 per person and are available from all Com-

puticket outlets and from Islamic Relief South Africa offices nationally.

There are also a number of sponsorship opportunities available for businesses.

For more information, call Islamic Relief South Africa toll free on 0800 111 898 or email info@islamic-relief.org.za

Muslim Views

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Muslim Views . August 2014

Lessons from the life of Mahatma Gandhi SHIREEN MUKADAM

AN interfaith prayer service to commemorate a centenary since Mahatma Gandhi left South Africa, was held on Sunday, July 20, at St George’s Cathedral.

The programme included a keynote address by his granddaughter, former MP Ela Gandhi, and a history of Gandhi’s two decades in South Africa by Professor Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie, his great granddaughter.

In addition, there were prayers by religious leaders, including Imam Rashied Omar, who read chapter 49, verse 13 from the Quran: ‘O Humankind, We have created you into male and female and fashioned you into nations and tribes so that you may come to recognise and know each other (not despise each other). Surely, the most honoured of you in the sight of God is the one with the best conduct. Lo! Allah is the Knower, Aware of all things.’

There were also readings from the Jewish scriptures and the Bahai writings on peace, a Brahmakumaris meditation and a Buddhist chant.

The event was historical as Gandhi is traditionally linked to his struggles in Durban and Johannesburg.

His links to Cape Town are not often highlighted but Gandhi visited the city in 1909, 1911, 1912 and in 1914 for several months during negotiations with the government.

He had close relationships with political organisations based in Cape Town and, while he was here, often stayed at the home of Joosab Maulvi Hamid Gool.

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The equality of all people was key to Gandhi’s philosophy. Flowing from this principle is respect for all people Moreover, it was from Table Bay Harbour that Gandhi sailed when he departed South Africa for India, in 1914.

In her keynote address at St George’s Cathedral, Ela Gandhi remarked that there are important lessons we can learn from Gandhi’s life: ‘As with gender so too with the poor, the lower castes, the labourers, the masses and black people, we were all conditioned by society to believe that we were not capable, that we could not assume certain responsibilities, and so those who regarded themselves as capable took positions of authority and we believed that they had the capacity which we do not have, so we let them. The key is we let them.

‘What Gandhiji’s life has indicated is that people can make a meaningful impact on government and on our daily lives. The power rests within us.’

In an exclusive interview with Muslim Views, Ela Gandhi who was seven-years-old when Gandhi passed away, spoke of her memories of her grandfather: ‘My personal relationship with him was on the level of a child.

‘I remember him as a very good grandfather.’

Ela said she had a very good idea of Gandhi’s teachings thanks to her parents. ‘My parents continued his work in South Africa.

They taught me about his ideas.’

The equality of all people was key to Gandhi’s philosophy.

Flowing from this principle is respect for all people.

Gandhi believed that no work is below your dignity and regardless of what work a person is doing – even if it is as a street sweeper – you don’t look down upon the person. ‘Each job should have the same value. If the dignity is the same then the value is the same,’ explained Ela.

‘We must never lose sight of the fact that the Gandhian philosophy may be a key to human survival in the twenty-first century,’ said Nelson Mandela at the opening of the Gandhi Hall in Lenasia, Johannesburg, in 1992.

Ela agrees. ‘Gandhiji’s ideas are more relevant and important in our society today than ever before.’

The greatest challenge in South Africa today, says Ela, is the growing inequality alongside the growing anger and violence.

She believes that the root cause of the violence in South Africa is inequality. ‘Confronting that inequality is the use of violence, in demonstrations, the community and in the home.

‘We often learn the history of violence. We don’t look at the history of nonviolence,’ says Ela. Education on nonviolence is fundamental. ‘It’s important to know how people have

approached similar problems but from their own perspectives.’

Developing a culture of nonviolence, from infancy, is an important life lesson.

Ela is currently involved in a pilot project at five early childhood development sites in Durban where children are taught the values of nonviolence through stories, songs and artwork.

This culture of nonviolence includes forgiveness, reconciliation, national cohesion and equity. According to Ela, South Africa has highlighted many of these in the way the country was able to negotiate a peaceful settlement.

‘The way we were able to say that we want to live together, let us overcome our differences and look for similarities and live together in harmony. South Africa excelled at some of these ideas.

It’s taking the roots that were planted, and now we see the fruits of it in the country.’

Muslim Views . August 2014

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Muslim Views . August 2014

Riadhul Jannah (the Roudah) SALIM PARKER

T is stated in Bukhari that Abu Hurairah (RA) narrated that the Prophet (SAW) said: ‘Between my house and my mimbar lies a garden from the gardens of Paradise, and my mimbar is upon my fountain (Al-Kauthar).’

There are different interpretations of this hadith: some scholars say that this garden is parallel to one above it in Paradise; others say that it is indeed a part of Paradise and will one day, in the hereafter, be returned to its rightful place there; and some say that it is like a piece of Paradise as the peace, serenity and tranquillity experienced therein when engaging in the remembrance of Allah resembles that which will be experienced in Paradise.

Riadhul Jannah, the Garden of Paradise, is found in Masjidul Nabawi, the Prophet’s Mosque, in Madinah.

It is distinguished by being covered by a green carpet, in contrast to the red carpet of the rest of the masjid.

Part of it extends into the chamber called the Roza Mubarak where Nabi Muhammad (SAW) and two of his Companions, Abu Bakr and Umar, are buried.

The house of the Prophet (SAW) is the same place where his kabr (grave) is situated.

An authentic hadith narrates the Prophet (SAW) as having said: ‘A prayer in my masjid (Masjidul Nabawi) is better than a thousand prayers in other masajid, except Al-Haraam masjid (in Makkah).’

There is no hadith that specifically mentions that praying in Riadhul Jannah is better than anywhere else in the Prophet’s Mosque but it is generally accepted that all prayers and supplications are accepted when performed in that area.

Most visitors to the City of Peace try to perform at least two rakaah of prayer there.

Due to the large numbers of pilgrims trying to cram into the small space (the original area was 22 metres in length and 15 metres in width), it is not always possible to spend time there, and sometimes it is even impossible to enter the area, especially during the months of Ramadaan and Hajj.

When in the Riadhul Jannah, and facing qiblah, it is important to bear in mind that the kabr of the Prophet (SAW) and where his house was situated is but a few metres to the left.

For us mere mortals it is imperative to remember the following: ‘Be mindful that the grave is either a garden of the gardens of Paradise or a pit of the pits of Hell so prepare for it with good actions.’

For a short period, the Prophet (SAW) used to lead prayers from an area very close to the present day Ayesha’s Column.

Later, he moved to where the present-day mihrab (prayer niche) is situated, just to the right of Ayesha’s column when facing qiblah.

There was no physical structure during the time of the Prophet (SAW) or the caliphs. A mihrab was commissioned in 91AH (After Hijrah) by Umar bin Abdul Aziz, and it has been renovated frequently since then.

If salaah is performed in the present-day mihrab, known as the Mihrab Nabawi, the sajda (place where the forehead meets the ground during prostration) will be where the feet of the Prophet (SAW) used to be when he led salaah.

I

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Innocence in paradise: There is no hadith that specifically mentions that praying in the Riadhul Jannah is better than anywhere else in the Prophet’s Mosque but since it is regarded as being part of Paradise, it is every pilgrim’s wish to spend some time there. Here an innocent baby is provided the honour of spending some time in this hallowed area.

Photo SALIM PARKER

The sajdah place of Nabi Muhammad (SAW) has deliberately been incorporated in the thick walls of the mihrab. The mihrab used presently is outside the Riadhul Jannah, at the southern wall of the masjid.

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(Above) A garden in Paradise: The green carpet demarcates the area in Masjid Nabawi which Nabi Muhammad (SAW) described as being a garden from Jannah. It runs from the pillars to the burial chamber. On the right of the photograph one can see part of the mimbar, which is the opposite boundary of the Riadhul Jannah.

Photo SALIM PARKER

Prior to the qiblah being changed to Makkah, the direction of prayer was Jerusalem.

For about 16 months after arriving in Madinah, Nabi Muhammad (SAW) led salaah from a spot north of the present Riadhul Jannah.

If one were to face the Mihrab Nabawi and qiblah, Jerusalem – the previous qiblah – would be behind one. If one were to walk away from the ‘Ayesha Column’, with qiblah behind you, the fifth column will be in line with the door named Bab-e-Jibreel.

This fifth column was the approximate praying spot of the Prophet (SAW) for the above period.

It was near the extreme north boundary of the original masjid.

The Prophet (SAW) used to lean against the trunk of a palm tree when he was tired or exhausted while delivering a khutbah (sermon).

Some Helpers of the Ansar tribe wanted to assist and suggested that they could build a mimbar.

The Prophet (SAW) approved of the idea and a mimbar was constructed.

Whenever Rasulullah (SAW) had to address the people, he did so sitting on this mimbar.

The Prophet (SAW) used to stand on the third step while delivering his sermons.

When Abu Bakr (RA) became caliph, he stood on the second step and Umar bin Khattab (RA) stood on the first.

Caliph Uthman bin Affan (RA) did as Umar (RA) had done for six years before he returned to the old position of the Prophet (SAW).

Amir Muawiyyah (RA) made a mimbar consisting of nine steps.

The leaders started sitting on the seventh step.

The mimbar has since been kept in this form and the khateeb (person giving the sermon) has been sitting on the seventh step since that time.

The mimbar has been replaced on many occasions throughout the centuries.

The present mimbar was put up by Sultan Murad, in 998 AH. The Riadhul Jannah was and is still the focus of interest of the rulers of Madinah.

Sultan Selim, the Ottoman sultan, had the columns inside that area covered by white marble, enchased in red to its half.

The Ottoman sultan, Abdul Majid, renewed these columns and also embarked on remarbling them.

Over time, some damage ensued and, lately, the Government of Saudi Arabia, in 1404 AH (1994 AD), covered them with white marble to make them distinct from the other columns in the masjid.

Other noticeable changes in the masjid were the laying of the red and green luxurious carpets, and the installation of grandiose chandeliers.

No matter what changes are made, the area between Nabi Muhammad’s (SAW) house and the mimbar will remain a ‘garden from the Gardens of Paradise.’

Stories from the Hijaz is sponsored by Al-Anwar Hajj and Umrah.

(Left) Mihrab Nabawi: If salaah is performed in the mihrab known as the Mihrab Nabawi, the sajda will be where the Prophet (SAW) used to stand when he led salaah. The sajdah place of Nabi Muhammad (SAW) has been incorporated in the thick walls of the mihrab. The mihrab used daily by the imam leading the fard salaah is outside the Riadhul Jannah, at the southern wall of the masjid. This ornate wall can be seen in the background of the photograph, where the red carpet ends.

Screengrab Virtual Tour in al-Masjid al-Nabawi

(Right) Mimbar in Masjid Nabawi: The present-day mimbar and mihrab are not original. The mimbar that is now found in the Riadhul Jannah is of Ottoman design and manufacture. It was commissioned by the Ottoman Sultan Murad.

Photo SALIM PARKER

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Muslim Views . August 2014

Kimse Yok Mu: reaching out to help On a recent visit to Turkey, PROFESSOR YOUSUF DADOO had an opportunity to observe the focus, transparency, competence and dedication of one of the most effective relief organisations, Kimse Yok Mu, the Hizmet Movement’s relief organisation.

KIMSE Yok Mu means ‘Is anyone there?’ The relief organisation acquired its name from the screams that were coming from amongst the stones and wreckage after the Turkish earthquake of 1999.

Those cries gained momentum among both rescuers and victims and became the watchword among relief agencies and individuals, nationally. In March 2004, Kimse Yok Mu was formally established as a global humanitarian aid association. In the same year, their global outreach began when they assisted tsunami victims in Indonesia. In 2005, they undertook their biggest campaign to date, helping earthquake victims in Pakistan. Since then, humanitarian aid campaigns have been organised for PalestineLebanon, Peru, Bangladesh, Sudan-Darfur, Georgia, Turkey, Panama, Philippines, Myanmar, China, Gaza and Haiti. They even boast representation inside Israel.

The organisation has facilitated aid to people in sixty countries during Ramadaan and Eid-ulAdha while its broad operations have extended to 110 countries worldwide.

By now, the association already has branches in 29 cities

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In the gallery of Kimse Yok Mu (left to right): Metin Cetiner, International Public Relations Coordinator of Kim Se Yok Mu; Professor Ismail Jaffer, UNISA, and Mrs Zohara Jaffer; Mrs Mohsina Dadoo and Professor Yousuf Dadoo, UNISA; and Ahmet Coban, Nizamiye Mosque Complex, Johannesburg.

Photo SUPPLIED

of Turkey. It collaborates with relief bodies in other countries.

All kinds of relief work are carried out by volunteers.

Its focus is two-pronged: (a) disaster relief, which includes emergency aid and dispatch of search and rescue teams; and (b) long-term infrastructure construction, such as homes, hospitals, schools and health facilities.

Regarding the latter, it has arranged vocational training, like sewing and bread baking, in Darfur. Empowered individuals are then taught to market their products to local people. In other instances, Kimse Yok Mu buys products directly from such skilled people and redistributes them among other needy people.

Job creation, in brief, remains a priority. Kimse Yok Mu has supervised cataract surgery in central Africa, Sudan, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Niger. It has built four hospitals in four African countries. In Punjab, it has built an entire district comprising three hundred homes, mosques, a school and a shopping mall. Education is hugely important. Last year, it gave financial assistance to a total of 1 783

Turkish and foreign students.

More than one-sixth of its three hundred million dollar budget is earmarked for education.

Kimse Yok Mu estimates that approximately one billion people worldwide need drinking water.

In response to this challenge, it has dug water wells in eight African countries.

It has supported more than 17 000 orphans in 54 countries around the world.

It received an ‘Award of Honour’ from the Turkish Parliament in 2008 and is currently a member of Ecosoc, an organisation under the United Nations which aims to bring together all humanitarian aid groups under one roof.

Kimse Yok Mu relies on administrative efficiency. Firstly, it stipulates social investigators’ reports about deserving cases and has detailed reports on all charities it supports.

Despite this procedure, its administrative costs only average ten per cent. For orphans, its administrative costs are zero while they are 1,5 per cent for Syrian refugees residing in Turkey. This aspect carries useful lessons for charities based in

South Africa. To underline its transparency and reliability in all of its activities, it constantly invites all its benefactors to become personally involved in its activities. Benefactors are also allowed to make conditioned donations and, if requested, they can join Kimse Yok Mu’s officials when the aid is delivered. In this regard, donors can later visit their recipients directly without any intermediaries.

Prominent features of its mission statement are: l to build a more comfortable, serene and peaceful world while fighting poverty and attempting to eliminate social inequalities; l to encourage our society to be more understanding and engaging with the notion of ‘Humanitarian Aid’; l to accept and help people from all races, ages, religions and social statuses in order to spread kindness around the world and to create and follow social support models.

Its vision remains: l to oppose inequalities due to illness, unemployment, psychological and physical disadvantages with all modern instruments and most effective methods while creating a communal awareness of such issues through campaigns; l to aid in earthquakes, fires, floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters as quickly and effectively as possible;

l to offer health services to those who require them but cannot afford them; l to provide education for children and youth who don’t have access to proper schooling for economic or other reasons.

We were told that it is strategic to help non-Muslims for easing the lives of Muslims living in that vicinity as their experiences in Myanmar and some African countries confirm.

We were privileged to be briefed at their impressive monitoring centre that is manned 24 hours a day. We were also shown a brilliant video of their work.

The organisation has invested $700 000 on rescue equipment.

Huge stocks of food packages for victims and rescue teams, which are accurately detailed, together with tents and furniture, are neatly arranged in the warehouse.

Finally, Kimse Yok Mu has a multi-faceted approach to fundraising. Donations can be made via bank, online, telephone and text messages, and are appreciated all year round since the organisation needs to make timeous interventions when tragedies strike.

We felt inspired and humbled by our visit. It will be of mutual benefit if some South African relief organisations could have close working relations with Kimse Yok Mu. Professor Yousuf Dadoo is Head of the Arabic and Islamic Studies Department at UNISA.

Muslim Views . August 2014

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How much would you sacrifice?

T was a few days before Hajj and she emerged from her ultra-modern five-star hotel room in Makkah with her eyes puffy due to her tears.

Her red cheeks were not due to embarrassment or middle aged menopausal hot flushes but due to the slaps, and possibly punches, she had just endured from her husband.

‘Put on your niqab,’ one of her friends whispered to her, and she speedily transformed from a battered woman into a ... well, hardly disguised battered woman as her sad eyes revealed her ordeal.

Many were aware of the violent nature of her husband, and she has been on the receiving end of his angry outbursts on a number of occasions.

She and a friend walked into the lobby where computers with free wifi were freely available.

Waiters rapidly approached them, offering Italian cappuccinos and sweet tempting creations so perfectly crafted that it seemed sinful to bite into them.

They settled down in front of the screens, checking their mail, nibbling and sipping away. I marvelled at the eclectic sight of niqab in post-modernist surroundings, and shuddered at the ease with which all abuse is so conveniently shrouded by the elegant garb she wore.

She had consulted me once for a medical issue unrelated to her physical abuse and had asked for a highly addictive tablet that was banned in Saudi Arabia. Despite me explaining to her that I could be locked up if I possessed the medication, she persisted in asking for it and refused to leave the room until I helped her.

Reasoning with her was getting me nowhere and I asked her politely to leave. She burst out crying. ‘It’s when I perform like this that my husband hits me,’ she said out of the blue. ‘I just cannot seem to stop when I rave and rant like this. It serves me right.’

I was a bit taken aback by her reasoning about the consequences of her unreasonable behaviour. I did not know her or her husband but had heard about her episodes of abuse. These were violent enough for everyone to be aware of but not severe enough for her to seek medical attention.

‘Nothing warrants the punishment you have to endure,’ I said, and recounted our beloved Prophet (SAW) reluctantly agreeing that disobedient wives may be punished, provided that it be with ‘something as light as a feather’.

She seemed to have accepted it as part of her life, and admitted to having endured it for decades.

‘But I have always been nagging him until his patience fragmented

I

You indicate that you will attenuate your persistent demands and he has to reciprocate by promising not to raise his hand again, advised Doctor SALIM PARKER. into smithereens, and then he just hits out at me,’ she said.

I was faced with a queer set of circumstances; a lady who was clearly suffering from withdrawal symptoms due the unavailability of medication she was addicted to, and one who believed that she was being justifiably punished.

‘Why do the two of you not go to the Kaabah tonight and, after performing a tawaaf, pledge to each other to be different. You indicate that you will attenuate your persistent demands and he has to reciprocate by promising not to raise his hand again,’ I advised.

I gave her a permissible tablet and promised her that she would get a good night’s sleep.

‘How much are you willing to sacrifice?’ the shaikh asked. We were gathered the next evening for a few words of inspiration from our learned guides a few days before Hajj.

He spoke at length about what Prophet Ebrahim was asked to sacrifice: He had to leave his wife and child in the middle of the desert as instructed by Allah. He had complete faith and believed in the command despite the odds stacked against Hajira and Ismail (RA) surviving.

But not only did they survive, Ismail’s continuous kicking led to the miraculous spouting of the blessed water of Zamzam and the establishment of Makkah.

Till today, we all emulate Hajira’s (RA) desperate search for help when we traverse seven times between Safa and Marwa during the Saee. ‘Now, if a prophet is prepared to offer that much, why should we hesitate in giving up vices such as smoking, cheating on our taxes, hitting our wives or nagging our husbands?’ the shaikh continued.

‘Oh, of course, in this modern day and age, women physically abusing their spouses and men verbally driving their wives crazy,’ he added for good measure.

I saw her and her husband amongst the audience, both listening attentively, and I marvelled at the coincidence of my and the shaikh’s advice; except that the shaikh said it much, much more sagely.

I walked up to her and asked how she had slept the night before. ‘Oh, I slept like a baby,’ she replied in a monotonous, lifeless tone. I then noticed the blue-

Side view of one of the Jamaraat: As part of the rites of Hajj, hujjaaj pelt three monoliths representing Shaitaan. These huge pillars are pelted on the days after Eid-ul-Adha, symbolising the rejection of evil. After Arafah, hujjaaj spend some time on Musdalifah (at least half the night) collecting small stones for pelting, before returning to Mina to pelt only Jamarat al-Aqaba. This happens on the day of Eid-ul-Adha.

Photo SALIM PARKER

ness around her one eye which had definitely not been there the day before and which bore all the hallmarks of a punch to the area.

‘How full was the Haram last night?’ I deliberately asked.

‘Oh, we did not go,’ she said.

A few days later, a day before the Hajj, I was hurrying across a busy highway and traffic was speeding along. I saw the two of them walking along the road close to where the road emerges from a tunnel.

She absentmindedly stepped into the road and did not notice the speeding vehicle approaching them from out of the tunnel. I was too far away to shout at her but I need not have worried. Her husband immediately realised the danger and flung himself in front of her and simultaneously pushed her out of harm’s way onto the safety of the curb side.

He, however, lost his balance and fell sprawling onto the road.

The approaching vehicle was within metres of him.

He was lucky. Somehow the driver managed to swerve away from him and literally missed him by a few inches. Some pedestrians rushed to his aid but, though shaken, he was unhurt.

They both commented about how lucky they were to be spared another day, and that their Hajj would have a greater meaning now.

Everyone commended him for his bravery and his unselfish attitude in risking his all. ‘He must really love her,’ I heard someone comment.

‘How much are you prepared to sacrifice?’ the shaikh asked.

Arafah, by now, had passed and we were standing in front of the Jamaraat, ready to pelt the effigy of the devil.

‘Nabi Ebrahim was prepared to sacrifice his son and resisted the attempts of Shaitaan to lure

him away from the commands of Allah. So, I implore you, give up that which harms you and that which harms your family and society,’ he added.

I saw the couple again listening attentively, and silently prayed that their lives would finally change for the better.

I was wrong. I saw her a few days after Hajj ended, and it was evident that she had been through another battering.

When I told her that I would like to meet with her and her husband, she made it clear that they were already seeing the shaikh, and that they did not want other interference.

I thought of the supreme irony: here was a man not willing to sacrifice his weakness in beating his wife but a man who was willing to sacrifice himself in order to save her life.

Comments to: salimparker@yahoo.com Muslim Views

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Muslim Views . August 2014

AWQAF - promoting self-reliance and sustainability

Women and waqf: The more charitable of the two sexes DR GAATHIER MAHED and MAJDI RYKLIEF

WITH Women’s Day having been commemorated amid cries from Western circles related to injustices served against the better of the two sexes, it is only fitting that we examine the topic of Women and Waqf, and, more specifically, the agency women have in creating awqaf.

It is critical to note that the West has seen it fit to objectify women and afford them merely one day of the year, besides Mother’s Day. An imam once said that in Islam, every day is Women’s Day. This is evident from the numerous ahadeeth and Quranic injunctions addressing the importance of women, mothers and daughters in our religion.

Researcher Dr Al Humaidan writes in his research paper on philanthropy that the muslimah has always had an elevated status in the Muslim World.

‘Reflecting on the history of ancient and modern civilizations, we see that few are the countries that gave women that esteemed status conferred upon them by the Islamic civilization.

‘This unique status reflected itself remarkably in their generous giving, which culminated in being involved in Waqf. They assisted in bridging the many gaps in their societies without considering if that contribution will benefit a man or a woman,’ he writes.

Allah states in the Quran: ‘Those who [in charity] spend of

Muslim Views

their goods by night and by day, in secret and in public, have their reward with their Lord: On them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve.’ (2:274) In another chapter, Allah reminds humanity to spend of their wealth before death: ‘And spend something (in charity) out of the substance which We have bestowed on you, before Death should come to any of you and he should say, “O my Lord! Why did you not give me respite for a little while? I should then have given (largely) in charity, and I should have been one of the doers of good.”’ (63:10) For women, the establishment of philanthropic endowments (awqaf) was a means by which the founder brought herself closer to Allah, Almighty.

She longed for a greater reward in the hereafter through acts of generosity, ensuring that her limited time in this world was spent wisely.

Wealth accumulated during marriage, through inheritance, business enterprises and other means were used for purposes other than materialism.

These women saw the gifts the Almighty bestowed on them as loans which they would be answerable for.

Therefore, they sought to spend in the path of Allah to gain His blessings.

Baer (1984) has shown that 60% of smaller awqaf in Istanbul were donated by women during the time of the Ottoman Empire and, as research has shown, these

small waqf have been able to stand the test of time, even withstanding the destruction by colonial rule.

This is important to note as women at the time, specifically from other religions and cultures, were unable to own property, notes Baer further.

During his research on the concept of Islamic philanthropy, Singer (2008) writes that Zubayda, the wife of the Abbasid ruler Harun Rashid, constructed a large water supply system providing pilgrims with drinking water all along the route from Baghdad to Makkah.

This extensive aqueduct was solely financed by Zubayda, along with a water well in Makkah known as Ayn Zubayda (the eye of Zubayda).

Only when Hurrem Sultan, an Ottomon queen, commissioned maintenance work in the 16th century, was the extent of this charitable donation revealed.

According to a famed Book of World Records, the oldest surviving university in the world is located in Africa, in the walled city of Fes-el-Bali, in Morocco.

Established through the charitable endowment of Algerianborn Fatima Al Fihri, in 859 CE, using her entire inheritance gifted to her by her entrepreneur father, the masjid complex housing the Al Qarawiyyin University (also spelt as Al Karaouine) offers courses in Islamic and legal sciences, classical Arabic linguistics, Mathematics, the sciences and French.

Through the establishment of the university-masjid complex, millions of students, regardless of nationality or creed, found their educative needs met over the hundreds of years, thereby ensuring its donor, Fatima, infinite thawaab (reward) with her Creator.

Generosity did not end with Fatima; her sister, Mariam, also had the foresight to establish the Al Andalus Masjid, in Fes, a landmark religious centre that also stands to this day.

Although the establishment of hospitals as endowments were thought to be limited to waqifs or male donors (including sultans, caliphs and rulers), history has shown that females too were responsible for the endowments of health care facilities.

In 10th century Persia, the caliph’s mother, al-Sayyida Shaghab, donated a substantial share of her wealth to establish a centre for medical care (then referred to as a bimaristan, Persian for ‘place of the sick’), one of many such waqf institutions on which modern-day hospitals are based.

Closer to home, it has been shown that Sarah van der Kaap donated a stretch of land in order to construct the first masjid in South Africa, known as the Awwal Masjid, in Bo-Kaap, Cape Town.

After buying the property from her mother, Trijn van de Kaap who inherited it from her husband Coridon from Ceylon, Sarah decided that the best usage

for the land would be to donate it for the construction of the masjid, in 1794.

Established during an era of slavery and racial prejudice, the masjid soon became a centre for prayer, dawah (religious propagation) and social discourse.

From the examples mentioned, it is evident that the change brought about by awqaf (no matter their size), is felt at a community level.

Whether it was providing water wells or the establishment of centres of prayer and wellness, these remarkable women’s contributions to Islamic civilisation highlight the importance of waqf as a tool for social change, and its ability to impact the lives of the general public.

It is with this thinking that we could change the future and make our society self-sustainable. Join these women in leaving a lasting legacy today.

Your wealth in this world will never decrease and your rewards in the hereafter will never cease, Ameen.

And, as always, Allah knows best.

For more details on making a waqf (endowment), visit our website at www.awqafsa.org.za.

Alternatively, you may contact the AwqafSA Western Cape Branch at (021) 697 3556 or email us at awqafcape@awqafsa.org.za. We will be happy to assist where necessary.

Dr Gaathier Mahed and Majdi Ryklief are volunteers of AwqafSA Western Cape.

Muslim Views . August 2014

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Muslim Views

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Muslim Views . August 2014

- ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE -

R1 million in food aid delivered to Gaza Pictured left to right: SANZAF National Deputy Chairperson Showkat Mukadam, SANZAF Western Cape Chairperson Ml Hassiem Cassiem, SANZAF National Treasurer Fayruz Mohamed, SANZAF Dawah and Tarbiyyah Coordinator Mualima Yasmine Abdurazaaq.

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THE South African National Zakaah Fund (SANZAF) has welcomed the news that the R1 million in food aid destined for Palestine safely reached the war-ravaged region of Gaza, and was distributed on Tuesday, July 22, 2014.

The food aid delivery was facilitated by Al Imdaad Founda-

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tion (AIF) on behalf of SANZAF, and has been well received by the people in besieged Gaza, desperately in need of this most basic necessity.

SANZAF has noted with ‘grave concern’ the fact that several thousands of Palestinians and Syrians are in need of ‘immediate humanitarian assistance, and without urgent increased humanitarian action, their lives will be at risk’.

SANZAF condemns the widespread international human rights violations that the Israeli and Syrian authorities have meted out on innocent civilians, including

women and children.

Gravely alarmed and acknowledging our collective responsibility, we call upon all South Africans to take immediate steps to support this appeal by channelling financial contributions through our offices.

The SANZAF executive, management and staff would like to thank all our contributors for making this vital initiative possible.

To view the SANZAF Gaza Appeal Distribution online or for more information, visit us on sanzaf.org.za, alternatively, contact 0861 726 923.

DISCUSSIONS WITH DANGOR

The massacre in Gaza Apart from Iran, Turkey and Qatar, no other Muslim country has openly condemned the massacre in Gaza, writes Emeritus Professor SULEMAN DANGOR.

As we witness the carnage in Gaza our hearts bleed.

Once again, the Israelis are on a rampage, destroying homes, schools, hospitals, mosques, ambulances as well as the infrastructure of Gaza.

The brutal assault by land, sea and air, which Israel terms ‘Protective Edge’, purportedly to prevent rockets being fired from Gaza and destroy the tunnels built by Hamas, has already left nearly two thousand dead and ten thousand injured.

Over two hundred thousand who have fled their homes to avoid being massacred have become refugees in their own land. Nearly 75 percent of victims are civilians – mostly women and children – so much for their ‘precision bombing’!

When told that Israel deliberately targets civilians, including young boys, Israeli spokesmen sim-

ply express their regret, with no apology to the families of the victims.

The death of three Israeli teenagers was apparently the catalyst for the invasion. However, I have no doubt that the invasion of Gaza was planned before the murder of the teenagers. There is no evidence that Hamas was responsible for their deaths.

We know that Israel is openly hostile to the agreement between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, and prefers dealing with the latter. The invasion of Gaza was also intended to break the alliance between the two Palestinian factions.

The death of the teenagers provided Israel with an opportunity to attack Hamas and arrest its members in order to render Hamas incapable of launching rockets at Israeli towns but also to deal the agreement a decisive blow.

It comes as no surprise that the US (which is hostage to the Zionist lobby) and European nations (which still feel a sense of guilt about the Holocaust, and fear being labelled anti-Semitic) support Israel’s claim of defending itself (by the wholesale slaughter of innocent men, women and children). However, the silence of Muslim countries is deafening.

Apart from Iran, Turkey and Qatar, no other Muslim country has openly condemned the massacre in Gaza. It took the OIC days to issue a statement, which is not

worth the paper it is written on.

It is really incomprehensible that 57 Muslim countries have no political or military power to prevent the wanton slaughter of Palestinians.

The weakness, helplessness and dependence of Muslim governments on the United States and Europe have once more been exposed. There is little prospect that they will come to the aid of the beleaguered Palestinians.

The billions that some Muslim countries spend on procuring armaments can be considered ‘wasteful expenditure’. These armaments have never been used to defend Muslims but, instead, are used against their own populations. Currently this is the case with Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain, Somalia and Saudi Arabia.

Egypt’s initial attempt to arrange a ceasefire was a nonstarter since Hamas was not consulted. It is well known that the Egyptian government is hostile towards Hamas, which it labels a ‘terrorist’ organisation since it has close ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.

On the other hand, why would the people of Gaza trust the Egyptian government when it has sealed the tunnels leading from Gaza to the Rafa border crossing – tunnels through which the Gazans were able to procure essential supplies.

This makes the role of Egypt in

Muslim Views . August 2014

brokering a truce highly problematic. Despite this, Hamas has agreed to attend talks in Cairo in conjunction with the Palestinian Authority intended to broker a permanent ceasefire with Israel.

The two parties are currently engaged in proposing measures that will lead to a lasting peace though I doubt that the Israelis will Palestinian demands. accept Hamas, for its part, will not accede to Israel’s demand to disarm. Furthermore, Hamas insists that the seven-year siege on Gaza must be lifted and that the over one thousand Palestinians arrested and jailed by Israel (following the murder of the three Israelis) must be released before it agrees to a truce.

Palestine has a special place in the heart of Muslims. Though most Muslims have not visited Palestine, they revere Al-Aqsa Masjid as the site of the Miraj.

The Israelis are determined to destroy the masjid by weakening its foundation so that they can build the Temple of Solomon in its place, claiming that the masjid is situated on the original site of the temple.

This is a false claim since there is no evidence that the original Temple of Solomon stood on this site. If Al-Aqsa were to be destroyed, what would be the reaction of Muslim governments? I assume that the OIC will pass a few resolutions and express their disagreement with the Israelis and then just forget about the whole episode.

It is non-governmental organisations and private individuals who support the Palestinian cause morally, financially, politically and by providing essential services; included amongst these supporters are non-Muslim NGOs (such as Doctors without Borders), human rights activists and other concerned individuals (including Jews).

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Their bravery in the face of an onslaught by Zionist lobby groups is to be commended. The case of Palestine is as much a human rights issue as it is a religious issue (for Muslims).

It is also important to counter the propaganda that Israel and its allies, such as right-wing Christians, dish out on a daily basis during the current crisis.

One such example is Israel’s claim that it gives civilians ample warning (10 minutes) to vacate their homes which have been targeted for destruction. Video footage shows that a house was bombed to smithereens just 57 seconds after its occupants were warned to leave.

The media war is significant in winning the hearts and minds of people of goodwill. It is claimed that Israelis are not shown graphic pictures of the massacre of civilians because that may induce sympathy for the Palestinians.

In South Africa, several events to highlight the plight of Palestinians have been held in the major cities. These include silent vigils, marches, pickets, motorcades and a bead-making workshop.

Supporters of Palestine are heartened by the fact that Cosatu, Sasco and the SACC Youth Forum have joined their protests.

August 9 saw a ‘day of rage’ where marches were held in cities across the globe protesting against Israel’s violence in Gaza.

In Cape Town, Emeritus Bishop Desmond Tutu addressed a crowd estimated to have been over 100 000 strong. The call is for an escalation of the BDS campaign and for government to sever ties with the Israeli state – a step government is not willing to take. * In light of the ever-changing situation in Gaza, readers should note that certain statements in this article might no longer be relevant.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Muslim Views . August 2014

We need clarity on BDS

I ATTENDED two of the recent lectures by Professor Ilan Pappé (at Community House, in Salt River, and at Islamia College, in Lansdowne).

Thank you Muslim Views for hosting this speaking tour. I found it to be highly informative on the issue of the Palestinian struggle.

I have to add that I was very disappointed on both occasions that little was mentioned with regard to the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Campaign.

With so many messages being circulated via social media, one struggles to identify factual information from frivolous content.

Muslim Views is a publication that is associated with socio-political justice and economic upliftment of communities. The speaking tour of Professor Ilan Pappé, as hosted by Muslim Views, was an ideal platform to raise awareness about the BDS Campaign.

Please could I request that Muslim Views publish articles that will inform the public as to the objectives behind the BDS Campaign, the broader strategy and the various initiatives to achieve the objectives of the campaign.

In this way, people will be able to empower themselves with the facts and, in doing so, be in a position to make informed decisions and choices around the BDS Campaign.

It will also serve to make the BDS Campaign more effective, as currently the focus and strategy is very fragmented (i.e. ‘boycott the product, not the company’ is one example of divergent approaches in support of the BDS Campaign).

Keep up the good work.

Wisaal Allie Walmer Estate See page 6 of this edition where some of the issues raised in the letter are addressed. Editor

I vote DA FOR decades Israel has been oppressing the Palestinians in every thinkable and unthinkable way, the latest is probably the worst. Twentyfour/ seven Muslims make duah for Muslims, with emphasis on specific cases, in this case, the situation, once again, in Palestine.

Locally, there have been calls to distance ourselves from the Democratic Alliance for reasons that they (DA) receive funding from Jewish sources.

There have also been calls to boycott Pick n Pay, among others.

I vote DA because I live in the Western Cape and, for the most part, the Western Cape is the best governed out of the nine provinces in South Africa.

Any government will always have criticism on certain issues.

The people in Gaza die, not because of the DA or getting funds from the mentioned sources. Life and death have been decreed by The Almighty but those who willingly and intentionally act to cause death and destruction will bear Allah’s wrath.

If we want to show our frustration, we should vent that at those Muslim countries’ leaders who are able to do something but the dollar is stronger than their imaan.

Our lives are too intertwined to engage in boycotting businesses. There is just too much at stake, I don’t have to go into details.

I would rather vote to live in the best-run province than to endure what we know about the other provinces, and if that sounds political, well then so do those who blame the DA for the situation in Gaza.

I, like the Gazans, am prepared to take whatever comes my way now for my stand.

Abdul Kamal Mitchells Plain

We need radical change THERE have been ongoing exchanges in the press, letters to the editors, and on radio and television between proPalestinian and pro-Israeli, Jew and Muslim, on the ongoing war in Gaza Muslim Views

and the chronic horror of the Palestine/ Israel situation.

Unfortunately Christians, who have a somewhat different and unique philosophy to the Jews and Muslims, have not really expressed their opinion on what is happening before our very eyes. The war is an appalling affront to our humanity and sensibilities as human beings who possess a soul and a spirit.

As a Christian, I believe that if Jesus were to return to his old stomping grounds, he would immediately cause all rockets, guns and howitzers to malfunction, all knives and bayonets would turn to rubber, stones would become sponges, and the hatred in the rock hearts of Palestinians and Israelis would turn to flesh and blood hearts once again.

Jews would rush into Gaza to rebuild the devastated city, and would do so in a spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation; Muslims would throng into Israel to embrace their brothers and ask for forgiveness for having hatred in their hearts.

Ancient peoples and civilisations would live and work together, each with their own beliefs but based upon love and forgiveness and peace.

Every human on the planet wants only a very few things for happiness: the ability to live and work, to have children that are safe from danger and to be able to believe in God or not to believe in God. It is the politicians who inject the hatred and cause the civil disorder and war and suffering and the bombs and bullets.

When we accept the principles upon which peace and happiness are based then perhaps we will see a change in the situation in the Middle East. We need a radical change in heart from all.

Dr Peter C Baker Parktown North, Johannesburg

The Hezbollah flag saga IT was with utter disbelief and disgust that I heard an MJC speaker at the massively successful Palestinian march held on Wednesday, July 15, 2014, demanding that the Hezbollah flag be removed.

This request is extremely puzzling.

It was like asking the PAC or ANC flag to be removed at an anti-apartheid march in London during the apartheid period.

Why should the flag of probably the most successful anti-Zionist movement be removed? Here are some thought-provoking suggestions: The organisers of the march are hopelessly out of touch with historical developments in the fight against Zionism in the Middle East.

It is now a historical truth that Hezbollah is the only liberation movement to defeat the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). This they did in 2006 when, for the first time in history, the Israeli government begged the UN to pass a resolution to end the war.

Most unbiased analysts believe that ‘Hezbollah scored a decisive and complete victory in its war with Israel’. So, Hezbollah and its flag have a historic right to be brandished at any antiZionist march. The flag should inspire us to what is possible.

Another possible reason for asking for the flag to be removed is that Hezbollah, because of its commitment to fight Zionism, has been declared a terrorist organisation by the USA and Israel. The speaker was thus just obeying an order from Washington and Tel Aviv.

A more sinister theory is that of religious sectarianism. Hezbollah is a mainly Shia movement, which some ulama in South Africa and elsewhere regard as kufr (non Muslims). Subhanallah!

This minority view is mainly prevalent among ulama that have graduated from the Wahabi/ Salafist/ Deobandi ‘Islamic’ institutions of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

It is also from these institutions and countries that your extremist ‘Islamic’ groups like the Taliban, Al-Qaida, ISIL, Al Nusrah and hundreds of other off-shoots emerged. They have essentially stopped fighting Western Imperialism and Zionism and are currently

busy sowing death and destruction in Islamic communities which they regard as kufr.

They are generously funded by the oil-rich kingdoms of the Middle East who fear that their corrupt and undemocratic governments will be overthrown by popular revolts.

These pseudo-Islamic groups blow up mosques, market places, shrines of auliyah, abduct girls, attack shopping malls, destroy historical and cultural sites and commit other heinous antiIslamic acts of terror.

These developments fit in nicely with the divide and rule policies of Western Imperialism. Let the Muslim of the world kill each other for petty sectarian reasons while we pillage their resources.

So, the call by the speaker to remove the Hezbollah flag is completely in line with the agenda of the corrupt and despotic Middle Eastern monarchs and their Western and Zionist masters.

We have fought hard for the right of all religions and groups to be recognised in a democratic South Africa. We cannot allow our glorious democracy to be turned into a haven for extremists.

Was the call to remove the Hezbollah flag the start of a new terror campaign against individuals and groups that do not share the MJC’s religious views in South Africa? Allah forbid.

Abu Irshaad

The Eid that wasn’t IN South Africa, the body that decides on which day the lunar month begins is the National Hilaal Committee, presently based in Johannesburg.

We did not recognise July 28, 2014, as the day of Eid because it was, in reality, the 30th day of Ramadaan.

Surah Baqarah, verse 189, enunciates that the hilaal (the youngest waxing visible lunar crescent visible by naked eye and viewed in the western sky in the time-period between sunset and moonset at the end of the correctly marked 29th day of the lunar month) is the demarcator that separates the previous month from the new.

Abdullah Ibn Umar (RA) related that the Holy Prophet said, ‘When you see the hilaal then start fasting, and when you see the hilaal, stop fasting; and if it is hidden then act on estimation.’ (Al Bukhari: 3/31.130) The hilaal becomes visible to the observer on earth when the rays of the sun reflect off the rim of the lunar disc.

On the evening of Sunday, July 27, 2014, the parameters for a visible crescent were far below the Southern African positive sighting averages.

Using Johannesburg astronomical data, the crescent width was 9 arcseconds (1 arcsecond is the width of a single strand of human hair). The percentage of the lunar disc that was illuminated was 0,52%. The brightness of the luminosity (relative quantity of light) was 4,78.

When one examines the behaviour and the properties of light and its intensity, propagation direction, frequency and polarisation on the lunar surface, and the upper atmospheric lightwave refraction on the night under review, there is only one conclusion: it was impossible to sight the lunar crescent with the naked eye.

What apparition did the 22 witnesses see in the Johannesburg western sky? It was nothing but an old contrail (vapour trail) that has been in existence for a while and then glaciated and spread into a layer of cirrus cloud.

A photograph taken at 17h52 from Laudium in Pretoria (58 km north of Johannesburg) proves this: there were two white formations in the western sky – one at azimuth +13N and altitude +5.5 degrees, and the other at azimuth +4N and altitude +5.7 degrees.

An interesting point (overlooked by the National Hilaal Committee) was the negative reports by experienced regular monthly crescent observers stationed at the Waterval Islamic Institute (Midrand in Johannesburg), and Signal Hill and Bakoven (both in Cape Town).

The field of vision was clear for all these areas and the observers reported

that no crescent was sighted. This amounts to total negligence on the part of the National Hilaal Committee.

The acceptance of a hilaal sighting report depends on the trained religious judge who, in the process of declaring or establishing the crescent visibility on the night of sighting, has the right to accept or reject a sighting report.

He considers two entities: The witness and the testimony of the witness.

The witness must be an adult Muslim of sound mind, good eyesight, and knowledgeable and experienced in the science of young crescent sightings.

The testimony must be in agreement with natural law regarding the possibility or impossibility of the visibility of the young crescent.

The authority has the right to reject a sighting report if, according to his expert knowledge and experience, he deems that the crescent was not positively sighted with the naked eye.

It is apparent that the National Hilaal Committee (NHC) examined the witnesses alone without examining the validity of their testimony and evidence in respect of natural law.

The NHC is a committee of the United Ulama Council of South Africa (UUCSA) and the logical next step is the issuance of a public apology by UUCSA as a result of them depriving the Muslims of Southern Africa and the UK of the 30th day of Ramadaan.

Dr Abdurrazak Ebrahim Zeekoevlei This letter has been shortened.

Not an Ahmadiah THIS letter refers to a grave inaccuracy in Born to Serve, the book reviewed in the July edition of Muslim Views.

On page 74 of Born to Serve, the late Imam Abdurahman Bassier labelled my beloved grandfather, Oesman Rhoda, an ‘arch Ahmadiah’.

There is no greater damage that anyone could have inflicted on the dignity of my grandfather. With a single stroke of his pen, the imam ruined all the good work of my grandfather’s entire life as an avid Islamic scholar.

This baseless claim is also refuted by his close friends, including esteemed scholars of Islam, Prof Ebrahim Moosa, Prof Farid Esack and Dr Abdul Rashied Omar.

Evidently, the imam did not consult widely to verify the accuracy of this statement.

Although the Imam wrote the book three years before his death, he did not publish it in his lifetime.

It was only published ten years after his death, which gave the editorial team sufficient time to verify facts and comply with, not only secular rules but also religious rules and obligations.

For the Bassier family to state to Ebrahim Rhoda – who served with the imam’s children as a trustee on the Tana Baru Trust – that they were unaware that his father’s name appeared in the book, is without merit.

Ebrahim was also not given the professional courtesy of clarifying the identity of ‘Osman Rhode’ before the book went to print.

Further, Shaheda, wife of the imam’s son, Majedi Bassier, accepted the arduous task of editing her fatherin-law’s autobiography and should have been fully aware of the accompanying responsibilities.

Any responsible editorial team would have been aware that the statement ‘arch Ahmadiah’ has tremendous implications and would have verified it in order not to offend any person, living or dead.

The book refers to three types of Ahmadiahs: a person that is sympathetic to Ahmadiahs, an Ahmadiah and an arch Ahmadiah. The imam literally speaks from the grave in his book on page 108 that the names of the second (and third) type should appear on the register of the Ahmadiah movement.

I took the imam’s advice, and discovered that my grandfather‘s name did not appear in any Ahmadiah register. And hence, according to the imam’s own criterion, could therefore not be labelled an arch Ahmadiah.

Respected Shaikh Shakir Gamieldien, who vehemently opposed Ahmadiahs, was at my grandfather’s bedside when he died and also performed the Salatul Janazah the following day.

Would Shaikh Shakir have bestowed this honour on my grandfather, if he were an arch Ahmadiah?

The aforementioned, in addition to the imam’s advice prove indisputably that my grandfather was not an Ahma-

diah, let alone an ‘arch Ahmadiah’.

The MJC as the supreme authority in Islamic matters in the Western Cape was subsequently approached to refute the claim in the book, bearing in mind that defamation of the deceased is prohibited in Islam.

Based on the evidence submitted by the Rhoda and Bassier families, the MJC adjudicated (1) ‘that Oesman Rhoda was not an arch Ahmadiah’ and (2) ‘that Oesman Rhoda was a born Muslim, lived his entire life as a Muslim; died and was buried as a Muslim’.

The MJC requested the Rhoda family and the publisher, Boorhaanol Islam Movement (BIM) to come to an agreement on the content of the publisher’s note. Is BIM defying the authority of the MJC by not accepting clause (2) for inclusion in the publisher’s note? The latter resulted in a stalemate.

This letter proves conclusively that the slanderous claim about Oesman Rhoda in Born to Serve is inaccurate and is refuted with the contempt that it deserves, also warranting it to be expunged from the book.

A Ismail (grandson of Oesman Rhoda)

Mosque matters ON Friday’s, when attending Jumuah, while awaiting the khutbah, it is common to observe musallees who behave unsuitably. For example, during salaah, when some musallees ruku or sujud, their backs are exposed. Legally, the salaah is doubtful as the awrah is exposed.

Psychologically, the rest of the musallees are subjected to a ridiculous sight. This oblivious conduct suggests that the musallee either lacks common sense or decorum. When it is a youth, immediate clarification is possible.

When it is an adult, the wife or mother must ensure that their kindred dress properly.

After many decades of attending different mosques, I have resolved that some musallees are clueless with regards to mosque etiquette. Some parade labels as if they are billboards or walking adverts.

Clothes that display multiple brands are a visual distraction to other musallees. When a musallee is covered with adverts, to my mind, it suggests that he is seeking attention. Also, wearing tight clothing is comical as a mosque is not the place to display a muscle top.

Similarly, males who wear earrings and gaudy jewellery are anathema in mosque. This reflects badly on the entire family as other musallees consider this behaviour as uneducated and low class. By ensuring the husband or son has mosque etiquette, the mother may save the family distress.

Similarly, when a person repents for his life of crimes, it is better, to cover the tattoos; this can be done by wearing a long-sleeve shirt. It is pointless to publicise a regrettable lifestyle with tattoos as others do not want to know what gang you belonged to or what crimes you committed.

For some reason, some think that talking in mosque is okay. While a swift, quiet greeting is usual, lengthy chats are unacceptable as musallees visit the mosque to listen to the khutbah, not inane chatter.

Since cellphones are common, there is no need to show off. During salaah, some musallees can hear their phones ringing, yet they pretend that it is not.

This irritates the entire mosque.

When taking wudhu, some musallees lack good judgment. They produce the most nauseating sounds, oblivious that the rest of the mosque can hear. Suffice to say that using the mosque towels as tissues is unhygienic.

Equally, cleaning or using the occasion to groom toenails is inconsiderate.

The worst are those who arrive late and then block the mosque driveway.

The stupidity is revealed when they perform many lengthy Sunnah after Jumuah, forcing the rest of the musallees to wait for the driveway to be cleared.

Instead of parking farther and walking to mosque, the culprits believe that they are entitled to block the mosque or the driveways of neighbours, obliging everyone to wait.

Since Muslims lead by example, the task of being the vicegerents of God on earth as prescribed by the Holy Quran is not an easy task. If musallees can start by displaying consideration inside and around the mosque, we are off to a respectable start.

Cllr Yagyah Adams Cape Muslim Congress

BOOK-REVIEW

Muhammad Iqbal

The Study of Islam @ UJ Book Review The Political Philosophy of Muhammad Iqbal: Islam and Nationalism in Late Colonial India. Author: Iqbal Singh Sevea.

Cambridge University Press, 2012.

MUHAMMAD Iqbal (d.1938) was one of the significant Muslim intellectual voices from colonial India. He was an orator, writer, poet, campaigner and philosopher.

A new study on Iqbal, by Iqbal Singh Sevea, The Political Philosophy of Muhammad Iqbal: Islam and Nationalism in Late Colonial India, deals with the political aspects of Iqbal’s philosophy.

Sevea developed three important frames to understand Iqbal’s political vision. First, he locates the time and space wherein Iqbal was born and raised as an intellectual in colonial India, to provide the reader with the necessary background for his political philosophy.

Second, he introduces Iqbal’s perspective of the ideology of colonialism, and compares this to other Muslim intellectuals of his time.

Third, based on these discussions, Sevea presents the uniqueness of Iqbal’s vision of nation, nationalism and the nation state that envisioned a postcolonial and postnational future.

The book shows the intellectual development of Iqbal throughout the period.

It can be argued that the first freedom struggle in India during 1857 and the subsequent defeat of Muslims opened a great deal of soul searching attempts, especially among North Indian Muslim elites (ashraf).

Many scholars are of the view that Islamic thought in colonial India is a derivative of western social thoughts. Sevea debunks such theories and argues that Islamic thought in colonial India forms a complex web of intraIslamic exchanges that can only be understood from within its own specificities.

Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan (d.1898) was the most outstanding figure who led this struggle to find the meaning of Islam in a newly inaugurated British colonial state. He argued that Islam is a ‘natural religion’ because Islam and scientific principles do not contradict each other.

This argument led to huge debates among Muslims, and there are many responses to it from different walks of Muslim intellectual life.

Khan reasoned that Allah said that the Quran is identical to nature. For Khan, Islam was a synonym of science and reason.

Later, his influential disciple Shibli Nomani (d.1914) argued against his teacher that science and Islam deal with two different spheres of life, and these are two systems of life with different purposes.

This view, however, was problematic in explaining the rise of science and reason in the colony, and the uncritical acceptance of science.

It was Iqbal who later theorised Islam as a system of life, and re-imagined Islam as a social and ethical project for the entire humankind. This position of Iqbal resolved the problem of the hegemony of colonially inspired reason over religion in a colonial society.

It was from this position that Abul A’la Maududi (d.1979) later interpreted his idea of the Islamic state. Iqbal’s view of Islam as a system of life was thus central to Maududi’s political thought.

The peculiarity of Iqbal’s position was that he viewed the colonial state as a totalitarian hegemonic power that was not only based on force and dominance but also created a consensual power relationship between the coloniser and the colonised.

This consensual power worked in the realm of cultural politics, and Iqbal was alarmed to see the rise of hegemonic ideas in the life of Muslims in colonial India.

But that did not stop Iqbal from reading and engaging western philosophy and social thoughts. He imagined himself as part of a counter hegemonic politics, and associated with many anti-colonial projects during his lifetime.

Sevea’s book is an important

Muslim Views . August 2014

text in which contemporary Muslims grapple with issues of nation, nationalism and the nation state.

The core of Iqbal’s argument was that nation is different from the nation-state and nationalism.

He had profound suspicion about the claims of anti-colonial nationalists in colonial India when they considered the anti-colonial nation state as an alternative to the colonial nation state.

Iqbal found the mode of organising individuals, communities and societies by the nation state as part of colonial legacy. He imagined a Muslim nation that was not against any nation state and communities.

For Iqbal, whether Muslims should have a nation state or not were secondary issues when considering the possibility of a potential Muslim nation that leads to deeper decolonial futures.

In that respect, the book also argues that the construction of Iqbal as the father of Pakistan is a later invention and an influential historical misreading of Iqbal’s social vision.

Iqbal supported a Muslim nation state only because it would help the Muslims give Islam a fresh beginning as a nation.

This work on Iqbal has limited itself to his engagement with Muslim intellectuals in colonial India. It can be argued that the development of Iqbal’s thoughts

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cannot be sufficiently explained without addressing his engagements with the dominant currents of Hindu elites of Indian nationalism.

Other studies show that Iqbal’s politics was shaped by the condition of anti-colonial Hindu nationalism. This lack of critical engagement with Hindu nationalism is the major drawback of this otherwise well-argued book.

Regardless of this inadequacy, this book on Iqbal has succeeded in bringing up the uniqueness of his political vision.

Review by K ASHRAF K Ashraf is an MA candidate in the Department of Religion Studies, University of Johannesburg.

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Muslim Views . August 2014

Health File

Ebola: Implications for Hajj DR SALIM PARKER

IN September 2012, more than 170 Nigerian female pilgrims were prevented from entering Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj as they did not have male mahrams, who had to be either spouses or family members.

This caused an outcry amongst feminists, and a near diplomatic row but an event of far more serious medical importance went virtually unnoticed. This was the barring of Ugandan pilgrims at the same time due to an outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in their country.

The question has to be asked: How serious was the disease in Uganda?

The short answer is that 71 percent of those who had contracted it succumbed within a very short time.

Its devastation is well known.

In earlier epidemics, such as when the virus was first identified in a DRC village close to the Ebola River in 1976, the mortality was 90 percent.

In 1992, members of Japan’s Aum Shinrikyo cult planned to use Ebola as a terror weapon of mass destruction. Forty members of the cult travelled to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) under the guise of offering medical aid to Ebola victims and to, somehow, obtain the virus.

They failed and, instead, released a lethal toxic gas called sarin in Tokyo’s subway trains in 1995. Dozens were killed and more than 5 000 afflicted in some way or another.

The Saudi health authorities were criticised for banning the Ugandans from performing their once-in-a-lifetime journey, and academics calculated that it would have taken more than a billion years for the first case to have been introduced during the Hajj season.

The counter-argument was that very little was known about EVD other than it was a lethal disease and that the safety and health of the three to five million pilgrims performing Hajj should never be compromised.

The events during the last few months have shed much more light on the nature of this disease.

Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions such as nasal mucous, and the organs, such as the liver, or other bodily fluids of infected animals.

Infection was traced in Africa after humans handled infected chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines. These animals were often found ill or dead in the rainforest.

Humans then spread it amongst each other when the blood, bodily fluids and secretions of those infected or had died of it, comes into close direct contact with others. Clothes and other materials soiled with blood

Muslim Views

or secretions are also sources of transmission.

Health care workers who do not practise optimum precautions also have either contracted or spread the disease.

The virus is not easily spread through the air and this fact allows effective quarantining and isolation with good medical practice and standards to contain the disease.

The standard of health care facilities in West Africa, as well as local customs and unfounded myths about EVD, has lead to the situation being far from ideal and spread has been rapid.

The virus enters via broken skin or through the mucous membranes and a person can be incubating it (not have any symptoms) for between 2 and 21 days.

The sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat heralds the onset of the disease.

Vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, deterioration of kidney and liver functions and, in some cases, both internal and external bleeding can occur thereafter, with death resulting in most cases.

The symptoms are similar to common diseases in Africa such as malaria and it was initially

commonly misdiagnosed.

Its symptoms are also similar to common illnesses such as influenza, and there have been unnecessary panic and neuroses about its occurrence. A Cape Town City official in fact incorrectly ‘announced’ a case on the Cape Flats recently!

Travel has been implicitly associated with the current West African epidemic. The first case occurred in Guinea when a twoyear-old child died in December 2013. A health care worker seems to have spread it to three provinces of that country.

A businessman thereafter trav-

elled from central Guinea to the capital Conakry and started an epidemic there. A lady travelled to visit her sister in a Liberian town of Foya and ignited an epidemic there.

Sierra Leone was also hit and

by March 2014, it was evident that the situation was serious.

In the last few weeks, Nigeria has been affected. The sick Liberian who went to Nigeria at the end of July 2014 to seek medical treatment, travelled against the advice of his own health practitioners, and did not inform the Nigerian authorities that he had contracted the virus.

Over 70 people were exposed to him in a Lagos hospital and, by the middle of August, 12 Nigerians had been infected of which at least two have died. In total, by mid-August, there were 975 cases of EVD with 1 069 deaths.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared EVD an International Emergency in early August.

Currently, there is no known cure for EVD but an experimental drug called ZMapp has been successfully used on two Americans.

An international outcry for not availing the drug to patients in poorly resourced West Africa has led to an international ethics committee declaring that the use of the experimental and untested drug is justified in these circumstances as the mortality is very high.

Confusion and uncertainty exists presently about a disease that is very contagious and deadly but only spreads via direct close contact with those infected.

Though the WHO has not advised travel restrictions to the affected countries, some countries have imposed unilateral bans, with most countries increasing border surveillances.

Emirates airlines has already stopped flying to some West African destinations, and Nigeria has withdrawn its team from the Youth Olympics presently being held in China after the International Olympic Committee decided not to allow athletes from Ebola affected countries to participate in swimming and combat events.

Saudi Arabia has already barred residents of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia from performing Hajj this year. This has affected more than 9 000 pilgrims but the numbers could rise dramatically if that decision is extended to the 60 000 Nigerians who are scheduled to perform the fifth pillar of Islam.

Hajj is the largest annual mass gathering on earth where millions perform sequential rituals in extremely congested confined spaces, all within close proximity, and within specified timeframes; conditions which can spread EVD if introduced within the pilgrimage sites.

This is difficult scenario which the Hajj authorities are destined to face.

Muslim Views . August 2014

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Muslim Views . August 2014

FROM THE MIMBAR

Muslim Views . August 2014

Why are the leaders silent?

Shaikh ABDURAGMAAN ALEXANDER.

E glorify Almighty Allah, the creator of the skies and the earth, and we beseech Allah to bestow His eternal peace and salutations on our illustrious Master, Nabi Muhammad (SAW), his pure family, noble companions and all believers till the end of time.

O Muslims, I urge you to reflect on the pathetic situation and condition of the Muslim world.

The horrendous demolition of homes, hospitals and churches alongside the death and suffering of millions of Muslims globally have reached horrific proportions.

Gaza, in Palestine, is currently the extreme case, witnessing the maiming and cold-blooded killing of hundreds of innocent Palestinian women, men and children. Their innocent blood is drenching the soil of Gaza.

This Israeli Zionist aggression is unabated and continuing unchecked as the world turns a blind eye.

The world is constantly reminded of the holocaust against the Jewish people, when Hitler murdered six million Jews (as they claim) during World War II. I want to know why the world is not similarly reminded of the millions of innocent Muslims, especially the defenceless women and children who were slain and maimed over the years by the ruthless, warmongering imperialists who invad-

W

ed, raped and colonised many Middle East countries.

Who is reminding the world of the year 1095 when Pope Urban II, that self-acclaimed ‘representative of God’, preached hate sermons against Muslims and called for the total eradication of Islam.

Then, in 1099, July 15, The Christian Crusader army launched a genocide massacre.

In one week of absolute terror, more than one million Muslims were slain in Al-Aqsa, by these knights of the cross. No one is reminding the world of this barbarism.

Let me also remind you of the year 1945, on May 8, when the French army gunned down approximately 45 000 Algerian men, women and children during a peaceful demonstration against French colonialism in Algeria.

Why is world media so silent about the thousands of Muslims who were massacred between 1922 and 1932 in Lybia by the Italian forces, and then they also executed the great resistance fighter, Omar Mukhtar?

Shame on the United Nations Security Council! Shame on the Arab states for turning a blind eye to the atrocities committed against Palestine.

Shame on the self appointed champions of ‘democracy’ for their deafening silence to the pleas of the Palestinian people for their freedom to self-rule and the return of the millions of exiled Palestinians to their country of birth which was usurped and stolen by the Israelis.

The present brutal massacres perpetrated against the oppressed Palestinians should not be viewed as an isolated episode; they are part of the Zionist plot to establish their greater Israel, which includes Iraq, present Saudi Arabia and other Arab states.

Allah warns us in His Glorious Quran, in Surah Baqarah: ‘The Yahud (combined forces of Zionism) and Nasara (combined imperialist forces) will never be happy with you (Muslims), until they convert you to their ideologies.’

Thus, the Quran is crystal clear that the forces of falsehood will direct all their might towards submerging Muslims and demonising the pure deen of Islam. They hate Islam because Islam is a threat to their oppression and exploitation of the oppressed masses.

Islam is that force which liberates the oppressed people from the tyrants of the world.

O Muslims, don’t be fooled by the slight murmurs from the US surrogate, the United Nations Security Council.

They pretend to be so concerned about the plight of the poor Palestinians. Don’t expect them to act resolutely against the Zionist Israeli savages, to save the oppressed Palestinian nation, earmarked for extermination.

O Muslims, awake from your slumber and liberate yourselves from the yoke of sectarianism and disunity. We are more than a billion strong globally and we have the means and power to liberate Masjidul Aqsa and the holy land of Palestine from the blood-soiled hands of the illegitimate Zionist apartheid state of Israel.

Don’t you hear Masjidul Aqsa Al-Mubarak and the soil of Gaza crying for its sons and daughters whose charred bodies and limbs were taken from under the rubble, bombed and killed mercilessly by the Israeli weapons of mass destruction? The survivors desperately need clean drinking water, food, medical supplies, duahs and for the world community to say to Israel, ‘Enough is Enough!’

Let us demand that our South African government expels the Israeli ambassador with immediate effect and call for economic sanctions and divestment.

There is no such thing as Israel.

The land is Palestine and it belongs

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to the Palestinian nation. For many years the Palestinian Arabs, Jews and Christians lived in peace and harmony.

What right did Britain have to give Palestine to the Zionist movement to establish an Israeli state?

Let me refer you to an ingenious example of speech and politics which occurred recently in the United Nations Assembly and made the world community smile.

A representative from Palestine began his speech: ‘Before beginning my talk, I want to tell you something about Moses. When he struck the rock and it brought forth water, he thought, “What a good opportunity to have a bath!”

‘He removed his clothes, placed them on the rock and entered the water. When he got out to dress, his clothes had vanished. An Israeli had stolen them. ‘The Israeli representative jumped up furiously and shouted, “What are you talking about?

The Israelis weren’t there then.”

‘The Palestinian representative smiled and said, “And now that we have made that clear, I will begin my speech.’”

We say to the Zionist Israeli state: You have stolen Palestine from the Palestinians and therefore these heinous atrocities. Your day is coming! Your evil end is near!

You are following suit in the murderous path of the accursed Pharoah. You have outdone Adolf Hitler and every tyrant the world has ever known.

You have earned for yourself the disdain and loathing of every peaceloving Jew, Hindu, Christian and Muslim. Viva Palestine. Forward to a liberated Palestine! Victory to the oppressed masses throughout the world!

We pray for and salute all the Jews, Christians, Hindus and truthloving human beings for their courageous stand and support for the Palestinian people in their hour of dire need.

God bless!

Jumuah mubarak!

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Muslim Views . August 2014

- ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE -

Muslim Hands response to the people of Gaza THASNEEM BUCKUS

SINCE July 8, 2014, Gaza has borne the brunt of a merciless military offensive. Over 1 800 people have been martyred and almost 9 000 injured.

Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced with over 17 000 sheltering in UNRWA schools.

Countless homes have been reduced to rubble, infrastructure, communication and power supply lines are damaged and hospitals are struggling to cope with the number of injured.

Dr Saeed Saleh, Programme Manager at the Muslim Hands office in Gaza comments: ‘Large parts of the city are without electricity.

‘The already fragile health system is overwhelmed and hospitals are struggling to cope with the increasing number of injured people.

‘We are seeing a severe shortage of medicine and medical supplies; we urgently need medical supplies.’

Medical supplies are a top priority for Gaza at the moment.

Most of the hospitals have to go without the vital equipment and drugs they need in order to function optimally.

The problem is that many of these supplies come from outside Gaza (West Bank, Egypt etc.) but, due to the on-going conflict, it has become almost impossible for supplies to reach the hospitals.

‘We pray that the situation gets better soon.

The Rafah border remains closed most of the time, only opening for medical emergencies.

Muslim Views

such a regular water shortage, many Gazans are not able to access an adequate supply of water for drinking, washing and cooking.

The Deir Al Balah water well construction will be connected to the main water network within Deir Al Balah, and will supply plentiful water for 15 000 people in the eastern area of the city.

The construction took approximately four months to complete and was designed to improve the system efficiency of the existing water distribution network.

Water shortages are chronic in Gaza, with much of the country’s infrastructure damaged from the war in 2008.

Our work Muslim Hands Gaza Office is distributing vital supplies of cooked food to over 6 000 Gaza victims daily sheltering in UN schools.

Our team is working under incredibly dangerous conditions to deliver urgent medical supplies, fuel for generators and meals for hospital staff, patients and the ever-increasing number of Gaza victims seeking shelter.

We are also continuing to supply baby milk powder to mothers.

Hospitals and health facilities have themselves been hit and seriously damaged. We have handed the medical supplies to the Ministry of Health who will be distributing it to the hospitals that need them the most.

We are waiting for a proposal

for more specific medical supplies that have been requested, and will be looking to procure them, Insha Allah.

Al-Durrah Hospital was partially damaged a few days back but just before the current ceasefire, we were informed by our country manager that Al-Durrah Hospital was directly targeted.

Saed Saleh was scheduled to visit the hospital to assess the damage, and will supply us with an update. We pray that there was not much damage and no fatalities, Insha Allah.

Muslim Hands’s ongoing work in Gaza: Abu Hamam Water Construction for Gaza Located in the centre of the Gaza Strip, Deir Al Balah is a city that receives a dismal 3-4 hours of water supply a day. With

Medical aid Medical aid is still a priority.

The already damaged and overstretched hospitals and clinics in Gaza urgently require supplies of medicines and surgical supplies to help save the lives of thousands of the severely injured.

Agricultural aid and livelihood rehabilitation Aside from the destruction of infrastructure, many families lost their livelihood during the conflict.

Rehabilitating the agricultural economy is essential as it is the foundation of income for almost one million people in Gaza.

Going forward

How you can help

As soon as the situation in Gaza stabilises, our aim, with the generous support of our donors, is to help rebuild Gaza.

Shelter and food aid The provision of shelter remains an immediate need for over 500 000 people. Families are unable to return to their homes because they have been damaged or completely destroyed.

These families do not only require food but essential nonfood items are also desperately needed.

The Muslim Hands office in Gaza reports that the following items are urgently needed: l Cooked meals for 25 inpatients and hospital staff: donate R900 for hospital meals for 25 inpatients. l Food parcels for affected Palestinian families: donate R1 350 for a family food parcel for two weeks. l Psycho-social rehabilitation for traumatised children: donate R1 908 for psychosocial rehabilitation. l Fuel for electric generators in hospitals: donate R6 300 for 12 hours fuel for a hospital generator.

We make duah that the massacre in Gaza ends soon so that the lives of the innocent can be restored.

Contact Muslim Hands on 021 6336413/ 021 6333288 or mail@muslimhands.org.za

Traumatised children Severely traumatised by the days and nights of heavy bombardment, children need support in restoring a sense of normality to their lives.

Providing immediate psychological support is highly important if we are to prevent long-term damage and mental illness.

Light from the Qur’an

Muslim Views . August 2014

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The miraculousness of the Quran: its eloquence IBRAHIM OKSAS and NAZEEMA AHMED

N a previous article we discussed the comprehensiveness in the Quran’s words as one of the aspects that points to its miraculousness. Insha Allah, in this article we will share from the Quranic tafsir, Risale-i Nur, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’s thoughts on the eloquence of the Quran as an indication of its miraculousness.

Bediuzzaman says that the Quran’s eloquence is a result of the beauty of its word order; the perfection of its conciseness; the marvels of its style; its singularity and pleasantness; the excellence of its expression; its superiority and clarity; the power and truth of its meanings; and from the purity and fluency of its language.

Furthermore, Bediuzzaman contends that since the time of its revelation, the eloquence of the Quran has challenged the most brilliant men of letters, the most celebrated orators and the most learned, to dispute it, which they have been unable to do.

Bediuzzaman then explains the historical context in which we need to understand the Quran’s miraculousness.

The majority of the people of the Arabian Peninsula at that time were illiterate. Due to this, they preserved the sources of their pride, historical events and stories encouraging good morality, by means of poetry and eloquence.

I

Due to the attraction of poetry and eloquence, meaningful sayings would remain in people’s memories and be passed down the generations, so much so that a tribe’s poet or orator was like its greatest national hero since he possessed the qualities of eloquence and fine speech.

Thus, among the peoples of the world, the eloquence and rhetoric of that intelligent people who due to their intelligence ruled the world after the establishment of Islam, was at the highest and most advanced degree.

It was the thing most highly prized among them and was thus their cause of pride.

They attached such value to eloquence that two tribes would do battle at the word of a poet or orator, and they would make peace at his word.

They even wrote in gold on the walls of the Kaabah the seven qasidas of seven poets called the al-Mu’allaqat al-Sab’a, and took great pride in them.

It was at such a time, when eloquence was so valued and sought after, that Allah Almighty revealed the Quran.

The Quran invited the Arabian orators of that time to reply to even one of its shortest surahs.

It challenged them in Surah AlBaqara: ‘And if you are in doubt about what We have revealed to Our servant then produce a surah resembling it.’

Bediuzzaman raises the point that if it had been possible to dispute the Quran by their most elo-

quent and celebrated orators producing merely one or two lines and nullifying the claim, would the Quraish have chosen the most dangerous and most difficult way, the way of war?

If their literary figures had been able to dispute it with a few words, the Quran would have given up its claim, and they would have been saved from material and moral disaster.

However, they chose a perilous, lengthy road like war because it was impossible to dispute the Quran by word so they were compelled to fight it with the sword.

Furthermore, millions of books in Arabic have been written but not one of them resembles the Quran’s eloquence, precisely because the Quran, as revelation, is superior to all of them.

Bediuzzaman, in his book The Words in the Risale-i Nur Collection invites us to consider the wisdom of the Quran’s miraculousness contained in its eloquence, by demonstrating the eloquence and conciseness in the word order of the Quranic surahs.

He uses the analogy of a clock and says that just as the second, minute and hour hands of a clock each complete the order of the others, so do all the sentences of the Quran, and its words, and the order in the relationships between the sentences and words, constitute its perfect word order.

Bediuzzaman then gives the example from the following ayah in Surah Al-Baqara to demon-

strate the word order in the parts of an ayah: ‘And spend [in Allah’s way] out of what We have bestowed on them as sustenance.’

Bediuzzaman explains that the parts of this ayah identify five of the conditions which make sadaqah acceptable.

First condition: Give only so much sadaqah that will not cause the giver to be in need of receiving sadaqah himself, that is, not excessively.

This condition is signified by ‘out of’ in the words ‘out of what’.

Second condition: Give out of one’s own belongings. The words ‘We have bestowed on them as sustenance’ express this condition. It means: ‘Give out of the sustenance that is yours.’

Third condition: Do not place an obligation on the recipient.

The word ‘We’ in ‘We have bestowed on them as sustenance’ states this; that is to say: ‘I give you the sustenance. When you give some of My property to My servants, you cannot place them under obligation.’

Fourth condition: Give it to a person who will spend it on his livelihood; sadaqah given to those who will squander it idly is not acceptable.

The word ‘spend’ points to this condition.

Fifth condition: Give in Allah’s name. The words ‘We bestow on them as sustenance’ states this i.e.

‘The property is Mine; you should give it in My name.’

Bediuzzaman states that these

five conditions may be extended by including the form that sadaqah should take.

Sadaqah may be given as (i) learning and knowledge, as (ii) words, as (iii) acts or as (iv) advice. The word ‘what’ in ‘out of what’ indicates these various sorts through its generality. Furthermore, it indicates this with the ayah itself because it is absolute and expresses generality.

In another book called Signs of Miraculousness in the Risale-i Nur Collection, Bediuzzaman summarises the conditions for giving sadaqah as: (i) we should not be wasteful, which is reprehensible; (ii) we should give out of our property; (iii) we should not give sadaqah in the hope of gain; (iv) we should not fear poverty; (v) the recipient of sadaqah should spend it on necessities and basic needs; (vi) sadaqah should not be restricted to property: knowledge, ideas and actions may also be given as sadaqah.

Bediuzzaman concludes the discussion by saying that it is through the word order in the ayah as well as the complete ayah, that gives us clear and concise instructions regarding the conditions that will render our sadaqah acceptable to Allah Almighty.

Insha Allah, when next we make our intention to give sadaqah, it may be beneficial for us to remember these conditions from the ayah in Surah AlBaqara.

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Positive and Effective Parenting

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How to build and maintain strong family bonds Part 2: Separation and divorce

FOUZIA RYKLIEF

HE process of divorce is a time for grieving, for mourning the loss of what was and what could have been.

It is also a time for moving forward and creating a new life.

It is important to acknowledge the feelings that arise throughout the process and these bounce between those of grieving and loss, and those of excitement and new beginnings, and the fears that go with both. Acknowledgement is the first step to managing those feelings – understand where they come from and choose what to do with them that will serve you and your children best.

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The impact of divorce on children The physical leaving of one parent, whether as a result of death, divorce or abandonment is traumatic for any child. It results in emotional stress. l Children feel torn apart because they feel they are expected to take sides, especially if the remaining parent talks badly (in the presence of the child) about the absent parent. l They, especially the eldest one, feel responsible to ‘look after’ the remaining parent and siblings, particularly when the remaining parent is in severe distress, emotionally or financially.

Children have different reac-

tions to and a different understanding of divorce, depending on their age. Children between five and ten years of age suffer more openly. They become distressed, experiencing loss, rejection, guilt and loyalty conflicts.

They fear that they will never see the other parent again.

They hide their feelings but act aggressively towards the remaining parent. They also tend to be aggressive with their siblings and children at school.

They find it difficult to concentrate at school.

They fantasise (dream) about their parents reconciling.

Children aged 9-12 years are more realistic and have a clearer understanding of what is happening. They can be very angry toward the parents. They have a strong sense of right and wrong and, therefore, tend to judge their parents.

They struggle with feelings of shame.

They become anxious about the resulting lack of stability in their lives. This anxiety and stress are expressed in the form of physical illness such as headaches and stomach aches. Disturbing behaviour such as lying and stealing are common symptoms of this distress.

They feel powerless and lonely.

Bullying other children is another symptom of distress. Bullies often feel powerless and small inside and tend to dominate and bully others to feel strong.

They feel responsible for the wellbeing of the remaining parent

and will often take on the role of the other parent, which must not happen.

Teenagers Adolescents may feel anger towards parents and question their own ability to maintain a long-term relationship with a partner. They become distressed, experiencing loss, rejection, guilt and loyalty conflicts. Wallerstein and colleagues (2000) found that the normal adolescent developmental move toward individuation is threatened by divorce.

Instead of being able to move toward independence and separation from parents, adolescents perceive parents as having separated from them. The adults are often consumed with their own problems during this turbulent time and adolescents may be neglected. Many adolescents feel their time for growing up is shortened by the divorce.

Other related concerns highlighted by Wallerstein include l a lack of parental support in decision making, l concerns about parents as sexual beings, and worries about sex and marriage. l Adolescents also experience a profound sense of loss and anger, l conflicts in loyalty toward one or both parents, l withdrawal from the home in preference for friends and, for some, l a failure to cope, characterised by regressive behaviours and early sexual activity.

Despite many adjustment difficulties, adolescents also show some positive changes such as an impressive development of maturity and moral growth, a more realistic understanding of finances, and a chance to experience new family roles and responsibilities.

How to help your child through this

l Tell the truth about what is happening e.g. ‘Mommy and Daddy have not been getting along for some time now and have decided that it will be better if we part.’ Children do not need to know all the painful reasons for the divorce. l Reassure them of your love and that they will still have both parents but that they will no longer be living together.

One parent may have stopped loving the other parent but you will still love them. l Make it very clear that the divorce is not their fault. l Make it clear that there is nothing they can do to save the marriage. l Talk to friends or a therapist about the issues, not to the child. l Explain, in detail, what changes will take place; this will help them feel more secure. l Help them to express their feelings about the divorce or separation. l Allow access to both parents. l Let them enjoy time with each of you

l Stay involved in their lives. l Speak well of one another or not at all. l Try not to change the circumstances under which the children live, e.g.

- try to keep their living arrangements the same or keep them at the same school.

- Keep traditions and routines going.

- Do not relax discipline because you feel sorry for them.

All of this helps a child to feel that he/ she belongs to a family, is loved, is supported and frees them from guilt and worry.

Conclusion As parents, we have a responsibility to give our children a voice, to allow them to feel what they feel and experience the world the way that they see it. We are not there to ‘make it all better’. For children it is mainly about belonging – in whatever way we create that home or homes – knowing that their parents will get together and discuss issues around them when it is necessary.

During the process of divorce, there are three main areas of concern: financial, emotional, children. Keeping the three areas separate, in discrete boxes, helps to manage the process in the best interests of the children.

‘It is never about the situation.

It is always about the management of the situation.’ (Hutchison) Fouzia Ryklief is a departmental manager at the Parent Centre in Wynberg, Cape Town.

Quds Day march: The Islamic Unity Convention (IUC) organised the annual Quds Day march for the liberation of Palestine and all oppressed on July 25, coinciding with the last Friday of Ramadaan.

Photo YAZEED KAMALDIEN

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Muslim Views . August 2014

From Consciousness to Contentment

Women’s Day: honouring humanity JASMINE KHAN

N South Africa, August is now recognised as women’s month, and the 9th is celebrated as Women’s Day. Once again, we have allowed ourselves to be influenced by ‘them’; the faceless ‘they’ who decide when we should honour women, mothers, fathers and children.

I know we live in a pro-western society, that we are subject to media influences but, surely, there comes a time when we have to stand up and be firm; to assert once and for all that the only constitution we intend to adhere to is the Quran.

While the world out there celebrates women’s achievements in the public arena, women in the home are suffering indignities, dishonour and, in too many instances, abuse.

What is alarming is that in this 21st century, with access to information about our beautiful deen, there are still women who suffer from low self-esteem and no sense of their own worth.

Even worse, these women are young, educated and, in many instances, hold down responsible jobs where they are extremely competent. Yet, when it comes to the marriage partnership, these very capable women depend on the good opinion and support of a husband to feel fulfilled and complete.

It is important to recognise that Allah created man and

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‘… He created mates for you from yourselves that you may find rest, peace of mind in them, and He ordained between you love and mercy…’ woman to complement each other, and not to complete each other. The latter is a concept of the West, where romantic love is promoted and encouraged as the ideal, where women are taught that they cannot exist without a man.

In Islam, women and men have been created to fulfil separate but complementary roles. Islam acknowledges women’s equality with men in many respects.

A while ago, I did a series on the tendency for men to take second wives; now there is another tendency making its appearance.

Many young men are expressing a need to find their own space, they move out of the marital home because of unhappiness.

In fact, many of them claim that their wives are too needy and clingy.

It would seem that there is a silent revolution simmering in our society. Women who are perfectly competent in other fields seem to need 24/7 confirmation of being valued by their husbands.

The men, on the other hand, are feeling stifled and we see a reversal of the ’90s trend, when women actually walked out on their families, claiming: ‘I need to find myself.’

The whole concept of marriage in Islam is being turned on its head.

The Quran clearly indicates that marriage is sharing between the two halves of society, and that its objectives, besides perpetuating human life, are emotional well-being and spiritual harmony.

Its bases are love and mercy.

Among the most impressive verses in the Quran about marriage is the following: ‘And among His signs is this: That He created mates for you from yourselves that you may find rest, peace of mind in them, and He ordained between you love and mercy. Lo, herein indeed are signs for people who reflect.’

(30:21) The operative word here is ‘mercy’ yet, in many marriages, there is an absence of mercy. Not only does men’s behaviour lack mercy, there are many cases where the wife also shows a lack of mercy towards her partner.

Islam is the only religion that honours men and women equally.

In the midst of the darkness that engulfed the world, the divine revelation echoed in the wide desert of Arabia with a fresh, noble and universal message to humanity:

‘O humankind, keep your duty to your Lord who created you from a single soul, and from it created its mate (of same kind) and from those two has spread a multitude of men and women...’

(Quran 4:1) To further stress this noble and natural conception, the Quran states: ‘He (Allah) it is who created you from a single soul and therefrom created his mate that he might dwell with her (in love)...’ (7:189) It is very easy to focus on the ill-treatment of women simply because it is so prevalent and widespread; it is very noble to recognise and honour women’s achievements but should it be confined to once a year?

Ideally, there should not be a need for such a day, just as there is no need for a mother or father’s day. We should be honouring humanity, every day; men as well as women.

We cannot blind ourselves to the fact that no matter how highly regarded women are as ordained by Allah, men too have rights. They have rights simply because they are creations of Allah, just as women are.

Their responsibilities are so onerous, and they are onerous

because they are not raised or prepared for their task. Coming from homes where men have had everything done for them, it is a rude awakening to enter into a relationship where they have to take the lead.

Women are also not properly prepared; they too have been raised to regard the male as the prince, and continue to do everything for her husband as she was taught. It comes as a rude shock to her when he does not reciprocate, causing her to feel unappreciated.

The more this feeling takes hold, the more dependent she becomes on him emotionally.

This, in turn, leads to him feeling stifled and causes him to want to run away; one man told me: ‘I need to breathe.’

It will fall to the therapists to find a way out of this present situation and, hopefully, they will include in their counselling a recommendation that these couples seek the answers in the Quran and Sunnah.

What is of vital importance is that young people who are currently raising children have to make a concerted effort to stop this cycle and seek knowledge about purposeful parenting.

In the meantime, as the media touts Women’s Day, and the shops celebrate another bumper sales blitz, let us remember that we are all, men and women, the creations of Allah and, as such, deserve honour respect and mercy at all times.

FOR ALL

Stairway to Heaven Part 2 In his searches, Minwar realised that the key ‘sacred geometry’, based on sophisticated mathematics used in the construction of the initial, had been lost, writes Doctor MC D’ARCY.

N human history, anarchy, conflict and destruction have been the norm. Guilt is ascribed to the age-old territorial imperatives, jealousy or greed.

Man has habitually shattered each other’s physical assets and treasured art, sometimes with relished spite and fanatical intolerance.

Megalomania, economic disparities and, particularly, religious factors, have often been the prime suspects in this mayhem.

The innocent are always the major sufferers. It is feign, these days, to ascribe innocent human

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loss, precious assets and art to ‘collateral damage’.

Peace has been a stranger in man’s narrative. Salad ad Din’s mimbar can tell.

In 1969, an allegedly ‘deranged’ Australian, Dennis Michael Rohan, fire-bombed Al Aqsa Mosque. The mosque was extensively damaged. The priceless Salah ad Din mimbar was reduced to ashes.

The late King Hussein of Jordan started the search for artisans to reconstruct the mimbar exactly as it had been in its former glory.

It was fruitless. The essential

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In the construction process, Minwar produced 1 400 architectural drawings detailing the 16 000 wooden pieces. Sadly, many of the skills to produce the mimbar were lost Islamic arts and crafts had declined over the years and the mimbar defied all geometric elucidation.

Saved pieces of charred wood and fuzzy photographs gave a few clues to its construction but that was not enough. When King Abdullah II became king, he and his religious adviser, Prince Ghazi Bin Mohammed, renewed the search to replicate the mimbar.

They asked the world’s best engineers, artists and artisans to submit plans in multiple competitions. Each time a young man of Saudi-Bedouin extraction, Minwar al-Meheid, won. Minwar had degrees in engineering and architecture but he had no artistic training.

It was his obsession with Islamic geometry that projected his entries above those of all the other applicants.

In his searches, Minwar realised that the key ‘sacred geometry’, based on sophisticated mathematics used in the construction of the initial, had been lost.

In his search, he consulted Professor Keith Critchow who had resolved some of the esoteric patterns of Islamic arts as a reflection of nature –‘the golden ratio’ – that famous sequence found in nature and science and is used as a ‘vehicle for both praise and enlightenment’.

Professor Critchow had lectured at London’s Royal College of Art and wrote a book Islamic Patterns in which he discussed the art of ‘sacred geometry’ in detail.

It was of great help to Minwar.

A new school was established in London and Jordan to teach and preserve Islamic and Eastern Art. New artists emerged from this school who could work on the mimbar project. Advanced calligraphy was also called for.

Months of study and travelling all over to examine the old mimbars of the Salah ad Din period were essential.

At the Qijmas al-Ishaqi Masjid, in Cairo, he found the key to the construction puzzle.

The mimbar was of the Salah adDin era and used the Ta’sheeq method of construction.

It was built on a lattice of tightly fitting pieces held together precisely, without nails and glues.

Essentially, the parts and patterns had to be constructed with hairfine precision to support each adjacent piece in the mimbar so keeping it upright and steady.

It was deliberately not nailed and glued so that any crack in the wood or movement would have the collective ability to move without everything being affectThe new replica of Salah ad Din Mimbar.

Photo M C D’ARCY

ed, rupturing and tumbling down as it would in a rigid structure.

He also went to Alleppo where the initial mimbar had been constructed. Using detective work worthy of Sherlock Holmes, Minwar struck gold.

He discovered that the Salah ad Din mimbar was probably constructed by master craftsman Abu al-Hassan Muhammed alHararri whose name was on a mihrab (not a mimbar) in an Allepo masjid of the same period, using exactly the same Ta’sheeq method as in the old Cairo and Salah ad Din mimbars.

In the construction process, Minwar produced 1 400 architectural drawings detailing the 16 000 wooden pieces. Sadly, many of the skills to produce the mimbar were lost.

A search for those skills ended up at the London Prince’s School of Traditional Arts encouraged by Prince Charles of England who had a personal interest in resurrecting the lost arts of the world.

A special team of artists and craftsmen from Egypt, Indonesia, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey worked from 2002 on the construction at a special city of Salt workshop, using the finest walnut and ebony woods embellished with mother of pearl and ivory.

There was no room for error.

The mimbar was finished in 2006 but, like the first mimbar’s delay, it could not be erected because of Israeli disturbances. It was finally installed in Masjid Aqsa in 2007, graced by King Abdullah II. Only the construction story is told on the Stairway to Heaven DVD in detail. I did the rest to give perspective. What struck me most about the documentary was the deep humility and decorum of Minwar al-Meheid.

From his hands, and through his prescient efforts of studying and honing his skills, the new mimbar was made possible.

It was as if he fitted precisely into this construction, a vital piece in a giant jig-saw puzzle.

It also is a lesson for those who scoff at mathematics and arts in life. They are twins.

This resurrection of a treasure could not have been done without the finest minds and skills coming together.

Their patience and fortitude have given us a new treasure that we hope will last for another thousand years.

The building of this jewel transcended religion and culture from East and West. It is a monument to man’s inner goodness.

Thank you Dr Moolajee for giving me: The Stairway to Heaven. God Bless.

Muslim Views

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Muslim Views . August 2014

Historic Cape school achieves Ommiedraai achieves Heritage status

club milestone with inaugural 10km race

(Left) Mr. Harold Cressy, after whom the famous District Six school is named. Mr. Cressy was the first principal of the renowned Trafalgar High School, which is nestled a little further up in District Six in relation to the Harold Cressy High School.

YUNUS OMAR

he tag-line on the poster advertising the Ommiedraai Friends 10km Road race declares: “10km is net Ommiedraai.” It is just “around the corner” and the club is raring to showcase its Inaugural Road Race on Heritage Day, Wednesday September 24. as the ‘Ommiedraai’, Ommiedraai Friends Athletic Club (OFAC) is more popularly known, has been hard at work for months to get every possible logistical and administrative matter sorted out properly, so that participants will remember this race with fondness and good memories (and fast times).

Besides the 10km race, which is attracting the interest of many seasoned runners from across the Cape’s rich athletic clubs’ tradition, the 5km Fun Run is proving popular with those not-too-serious runners, and those wanting to get a feel for a road-race, without the stress of having to race the clock. Club secretary Shahmiegh Allie is also keen to spread the word that fun-walkers are encouraged to register on the morning of the event, as the event includes a “fun-walk” component which will draw hundreds of

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YUNUS OMAR (Above) After assisting in many fellow athletic clubs’ races, such as the group of Ommiedraaiers pictured here assisting at the Spar Ladies Race, Ommiedraai Friends Athletic Club members get the chance to show their organising and administrative skills when they host the Inaugural Ommiedraai 10km Road Race on Heritage Day, September 24, in a few weeks. The race proceeds are in support of Project Flamingo, established in aid of breast cancer awareness and support; the Beit-ul-Aman Home for the Aged, and the VOC Bursary Fund. The race starts at the historic Rosmead Sports Facility, home of the famous Primrose Club, located near the Kenilworth Centre just off the M5 motorway.

Photo NAZEEM KARIEM

Ommiedraai supporters and their younger family members to experience a Heritage Day with a funfitness difference.

The race starts at the historic Rosmead Sports Facility, home of the famous Primroses Club, just behind Kenilworth Centre off the

M5 motorway.

The entrance to the ground is just around the corner (net ‘ommiedraai’) in College Road, off Rosmead Avenue at the Spar entrance. The race starts in Loch Road, and the route takes in picturesque and historic places around Claremont and Newlands, and will prove a hit with those looking for an interesting, scenic race.

Registration is at the Rosmead Sports Facility from 5.30 a.m. to 6.50 a.m. on September 24. The 10km race is off at 7.00 a.m., and the 5km Fun Runners set off at 7.15 a.m.

Race enquiries can be directed to Shahmieg Allie on 082 202 3433, or Ruwayda Christians on 082 462 3614.

(Left) Exhausted but happy: Ommiedraai Friends Athletic Club runners celebrate the completion of another successful Jive Slave Route Challenge earlier this year.

Photo NAZEEM KARIEM

Muslim Views

arold Cressy High School in District Six has been declared a Provincial Heritage Site (PHS), and will unveil its Heritage Plaque at a public function on Heritage Day, September 24.

Much has happened since October 2013, when this newspaper published an appeal by the Harold Cressy Alumni Association (HCAA) for readers to assist the historic District Six school in raising funds for its first-ever hall.

The article noted that it was a travesty that a school with such a rich history of struggle and educational excellence did not have a hall. This seriously impacted on a number of educational activities which simply could not be organised because of this glaring deficiency. As part of the ongoing fund-raising efforts by the Harold Cressy Alumni Association, a funding proposal was carefully developed, noting the rich educational, political, cultural and sporting legacies of this proud school. Very few members of the Alumni Association could guess at the historic turn this process would take in just a few short months.

Ex-student and heritage consultant, Quahnita Samie, presented the school’s case for the new hall at a meeting of Heritage

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Western Cape on June 11, 2014.

Accompanying her to this presentation were school principal Khalied Isaacs and the Alumni chairperson, Dr Shafick Ismail.

Isaacs states that as far as he and Ismail were concerned, first prize would have been a nod in favour of the school hall being given the green light for construction. Instead, says Isaacs, not only did the heritage status of the building come under scrutiny, but also “the heritage status of the school itself”. On August 22, the school was informed that Heritage Western Cape had nominated “Harold Cressy High School as a Public Heritage Site based on its significance in terms of intrinsic historical, social, environmental, cultural and political value”.

Principal Khalied Isaacs takes up the story. “What this means for the school is recognition of the great history of the school and the role played by its staff in providing a stable home for education amidst some of the most difficult periods in South Africa’s educational history.”

HCAA chairperson Ismail notes that “another very important benefit is the protection the school will now receive under the Heritage Act.” He referenced the moves during the apartheid era to get schools like Harold Cressy, Trafalgar, Livingstone and others to ‘relocate’.

Ismail also indicates that former students can get involved in a number of innovative projects related to the building of the new multi-purpose hall, including a Wall of Honour, suggested by legendary principal Victor Ritchie.

The school invites the Cressy community and all supporters of education, freedom, truth and justice to attend the official unveiling of the Heritage Plaque at the school on Heritage Day, September 24.

For further information, contact Fatima Allie on 082 066 3353; Khalied Isaacs on 079 146 6433; Dr Shafick Ismail on 082 567 8754, or Lionel Adriaan on 072 293 0325.