CEREMONY TO INITIATE JUMUAH MOSQUE OF PARKLANDS
HOW MOST AID HEADED FOR PALESTINE ENDS UP IN ISREALI COFFERS
5 TIPS ON: TEACHING ADAB TO CHILDREN
KHAN INSTITUTE: GROWTH MINDSET INTERVENTIONS
PIC: BAYO OMOBORIOWO
NIGERIA’S PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI SHAKES HANDS WITH CHINA’S PREMIER LI KEQIANG CONCLUDING A TRADE AGREEMENT MAKING NIGERIA CHINA’S BIGGEST IMPORT PARTNER.
EAGLE EGG IN DRAGON’S NEST THE RISE OF BOKO HARAM IN CHINA’S AFRICA Dan Glazebrook asks “Just who benefits?”
N
igeria’s Boko Haram are now officially the deadliest terror group in the world. That they have reached this position is a direct consequence of Cameron and Co’s war on Libya – and one that was perhaps not entirely unintended. According to a report just released by Global Terrorism Index, Boko Haram were responsible for 6,644 deaths in 2014, compared to 6,073 attributed to ISIS, representing a quadrupling of their total killings in 2013. In the past week alone, bombings conducted by the group have killed eight people on a bus in Maiduguri; a family of five in Fotokol, Cameroon; fifteen people in a crowded marketplace in Kano; and thirty-two people outside a mosque in Yola. In 2009, the year they took up arms, Boko Haram had nothing like the capacity to mount such operations, and their equipment remained primitive; but by 2011, that had begun to change. As Peter Weber noted in The Week, their weapons “shifted from relatively cheap AK47s in the early days of its post-2009 embrace of violence to desert-ready
combat vehicles and anti-aircraft/ anti-tank guns”. This dramatic turnaround in the group’s access to materiel was the direct result of NATO’s war on Libya. A UN report published in early 2012 warned that “large quantities of weapons and ammunition from Libyan stockpiles were smuggled into the Sahel region”, including “rocketpropelled grenades, machine guns with anti-aircraft visors, automatic rifles, ammunition, grenades, explosives (Semtex), and light anti-aircraft artillery (light caliber bi-tubes) mounted on vehicles”, and probably also more advanced weapons such as surface-to-air missiles and MANPADS (manportable air-defence systems). NATO had effectively turned over the entire armoury of an advanced industrial state to the region’s most sectarian militias: groups such as the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Boko Haram. The earliest casualty of NATO’s war outside Libya was Mali. Taureg fighters who had worked in Gaddafi’s security forces fled Libya
soon after Gaddafi’s government was overthrown, and mounted an insurgency in Northern Mali. They, in turn, were overthrown, however, by Al Qaeda’s regional affiliates – flush with Libyan weaponry – who then turned Northern Mali into another base from which to train and launch attacks. Boko Haram was a key beneficiary. As Brendan O’ Neill wrote in an excellent 2014 article worth quoting at length: “Boko Haram benefited enormously
from the vacuum created in oncepeaceful northern Mali following the West’s ousting of Gaddafi. In two ways: first, it honed its guerrilla skills by fighting alongside more practised Islamists in Mali, such as AQIM; and second, it accumulated some of the estimated 15,000 pieces of Libyan military hardware and weaponry that leaked across the country’s borders following the sweeping aside of Gaddafi. In April 2012, Agence France Presse reported that ‘dozens of Boko Haram fighters’ were assisting AQIM and
SINCE THE FALL OF LIBYA, BOKO HARAM HAS BECOME THE DEADLIEST GROUP IN THE WORLD
others in northern Mali. This had a devastating knock-on effect in Nigeria. As the Washington Post reported in early 2013, ‘The Islamist insurgency in northern Nigeria has entered a more violent phase as militants return to the fight with sophisticated weaponry and tactics learned on the battlefields of nearby Mali’. A Nigerian analyst said ‘Boko Haram’s level of audacity was high [in late 2012]’, immediately following the movement of some of its militants to the Mali region.” Continued on Page 4 PIC: GETTY
PAGE 2
INSIGHTS
ISLAM HERE
JUMAD AL THANI 1437
BY MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN O CEREMONY TO LAY THE MIMBAR FOUNDATION STONE OF THE NEWLY PLANNED JUMU’AH MOSQUE OF PARKLANDS n a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Parklands, a community assembled to commemorate the genesis of a noble cause by laying the foundations for the mimbar of a masjid that is planned to be built there. Interestingly, the foundation of the mimbar was laid by a gathering of people in Cape Town who, after some inquiry, traced their ancestry from diverse areas across the globe such as Morocco, England, Scotland, Germany, Spain, South Africa, Malaysia, Botswana, India and Indonesiawho would never have assembled had it not been for the fact that they are Muslims. This diverse crowd laid the foundation under the instruction of Shaykh Moulay Murtada Elboumashouli whilst reciting the beautifully appropriate ayaats of Surah Fatiha (the Opening). A sense of Community resonated throughout the day as men; women and children participated in laying the foundation.
LADIES OVERLOOKING THE PLANS OF THE PROPOSED MOSQUE
HAJJ TOHA LAYING THE FOUNDATION OF THE MIMBAR
as small as a stone towards building a mosque it is as if that person has built the whole mosque”. Shaykh Murtada also reminded the Community that “any matter of great importance that has women participating in its inception can birth nothing but good”.
It was clear to me that the sense of community that resonated through the hearts found its impact on the environment, demonstrated by the blueprints of the masjid and the considerations behind this planning. The Mosque is planned to have a Trading-centre, reflecting the model that was in Madina, avoiding the whiteelephant symptom we find so often in modern era constructions. After all, before there was Madina, there was the community, and the building of Allah’s house in the city was for them to use. Hajj Toha Rasdien, one of the people leading this cause explained that he saw a pattern around Cape Town, that whenever a mosque was being built, people naturally came to Allah’s House. He eloquently explained to me that “A mosque is a flower, like
Shaykh Murtada Elboumashouli, head of the Qadriyyah Tariqah, reminded a delighted gathering that “Anybody who puts something
nectar; the bees will come around it”. Parklands does not yet have a Mosque, when the opportunity presented itself, Hajj Toha took the initiative.
SHAYKH MURTADA ELBOUMASHOULI
LADIES AND SOME OF THE CHILDREN ADD TO THE FOUNDATION BY THROWING STONES.
The Mosque’s architectural style will be inspired by Islamic Spain. Al-Andalus was an Islamic dawlah in what is now modern-day Spain. Al-Andalus was unique in a way that it had a mixture of European, African, Persian and Arabian traditions and from this dynamic flow of influence, a spiritual reawakening in Europe emerged bringing an established justice and education during the dark ages that enveloped the continent. Not only was Al-Andalus a cultural phenomenon, but it was also the fountainhead of knowledge and the capital of education in it’s time. This is an inspiring architectural thought that should inspire casuallookers not only to admire its intended beauty, but to be inspired to do as the Muslim’s of Al Andalus did and spread just behaviour among the people. The Andalusian architecture is appropriate as it reflects the need to orchestrate the diversity of cultures that are present in the Mother City.
Omar Masombuka
A Good Relationship / A Personal Touch ISLAM HERE Interview with Riedewaan Dolli, Sales Agent at Mercedes-Benz Culemborg. IH: Why did you choose Mercedes? RD: A Mercedes will always be a Mercedes. When I was a little boy here in Cape Town, when someone became successful, they would buy a Mercedes-Benz. I’ve always remembered that, and when I had the chance to start working for the company, I could not let it pass. But it’s not just that. Now that I’ve been working in the car industry for several years, I have realized that those who buy a Mercedes-Benz know that they are not just buying a car; they are investing in a car. With most cars, the moment you drive out of the dealership, you have lost most of the vehicle’s value. With our brand, especially here at Mercedes-Benz Culemborg, we make sure that doesn’t happen. Not only because our cars don’t devaluate as much as others, but also because we have several tools to avoid this happening. One example is our Agility Finance plan, which allows you to drive a new Mercedes-Benz every
36 months for a fixed amount and then return your vehicle and replace it with a new one.
because they know they can trust us with their cars. For us, it is all about having a personal relationship.
IH: What would you recommend to someone looking to buy a new car?
IH: You have mentioned that you have a Mercedes-Benz for everyone, but isn’t Mercedes-Benz a bit out of the scope for everyone?
RD: The first thing I would recommend is that they go with someone they can trust. This is very important when buying a car, whether new or used. Having a good relationship with your car dealer is one of the best insurance policies. Insurance is all about preventing something bad from happening, and if it does, being there for that person. When you buy a car you need to have someone who understands you and knows what you need and can advise you properly. Someone who helps you choose the right car for you. Here at Mercedes-Benz Culemborg we have a car for everyone… well, we a have a Mercedes-Benz for everyone! Then, once you have acquired your new car, we are there for you with the best customer service we can offer. We don’t just want clients, we want friends who come to see us
RD: People tend to think that they can’t afford a MercedesBenz, and, in my experience, that is not true in many cases. It’s just that they have not had the right financial advice. Before working at Mercedes-Benz, I worked in the finance industry, so when people come to me, I don’t only help them choose the right car, I help them find the best and easiest way to finance it. Besides, I’ve always thought that one of the best things that a person can do is to invest wisely. You can take all your hard earned cash and spend it on something that is perishable or that loses value quickly. But my advice is, if you want your wealth to grow, invest it in things that last, that keep their value.
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PIC: SIDDHARTH SETIA
COURTESY AT THE BREAKFAST TABLE traffic on the road and the issues you have been dealing with for the past week now entering tipping point. The truth is that we cannot hide this from anyone. We have to imagine that whatever were going through our children go through as well.
THE GUESTS OF LIFE
B
reakfast at my home is usually a very communal affair. Every morning we collectively set the table and no one is left in dream land. One grabs the toast and accompaniments; one sets the table whilst the other is on coffee duty all in all switching roles as the flow requires. Sitting together over a meal is one of the only times we get to keep company as a family and just relax, speak openly and share thoughts. I truly do love this part of the day and I’m also aware however that it will not always be this way. The children will grow up and into themselves, rendering the importance of everything else of event unrelated to the social personality outside the house as a mere interlude to get through. Our distracted life in routine will soon see this moment of intimate exchange, a moment to absorb ourselves in bonded love turn into another listed activity in the day’s agenda. This is a common situation today. We consider ourselves lucky to be able to at least do this simple thing. But it isn’t quite as grim if you remember for a moment that whatever the children are going through, so are we, in our EDITOR JOURNALISTS
NABEEL ABDALHAQQ K.OMAR MASOMBUKA , NABEEL ABDALHAQQ,
DAN GLAZEBROOK AISHA BEWLEY JONATHAN COOK BOSTON COLLEGE SALMAN KHAN
own collective and strange way throughout each new stage of life. They grow and so do we. For now, there is something so reassuring of your child’s need of you that really sets your heart at ease. One morning, my wife and I picked up a discussion about adab (Courtesy/Behaviour). What came out of it was that ‘children ought to be treated as guests’. This is of course in the context of education. Imparting any behaviour to a child, first needs to be imprinted as a practised example. The first lesson in ‘service’ is being served by someone who knows how to serve. This is a subject that we can talk about for hours. And it is a wonderful subject in that there is always something new to discover about it. Really because, well, it is based on you and as you change more of it begins to emerge. How this relates to children, is that we wish to impart wisdom. We want the best for them. We want success for them. If, who you are and what is happening to you is of any importance to you, then what is happening with your child and who they are is of great importance to you. Children mimic, to a greater
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or lesser degree, what they see in their parents. Significantly, those things that they don’t understand yet and wish to grasp. You find it so often with children when they play with each other. It’s almost like a theatrical representation of what goes on at home. So this matter of behaviour is a great matter. Modelling good behaviour toward your children starts with being courteous with them, and being of service to them in hopes that they will take from that a concern for others. In other words you model this so that they see what it is. But this wisdom does not occur out of a vacuum. It isn’t some simple formula whereby, doing things for them automatically translates it in them going out into the world to do things for others. That is because the relationship we have with our children is a deeply personal and intimate bond. So much is transmitted of our inner condition to each other in our actions. The way I put the food on the table is not the same way I did it yesterday. What they really see in us lies in the realm of things unsayable. They see your state; they see the meeting you just had at work, the state of the ISLAM HERE CONSIDERS ITS SOURCES RELIABLE & VERIFIES AS MUCH DATA AS POSSIBLE. THE NEWSPAPER IS MEANT AND UNDERSTOOD TO BE A GUIDE & COUNCIL BY WHICH TO ASSESS CURRENT MODELS OF THE THEMES BEING ADDRESSED. READERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO RESEARCH AND DISCOVER THOSE THEMES FOR THEMSELVES. THE PUBLICATION SEEKS
W
here do we go through from here? How do we transmit the best possible behaviour to them? The wonderful thing is that children are hard-wired to be sincere even when trying to cover up something they have done. You see in them this desperate need to be known. That in having done something they know is wrong, there is a subtle need to be caught and found out. As if the weight of covering up the act has become too much. They have no way of navigating through this emotionally on their own. We have to show them the way out. They are like the guests of life. We have to help them navigate through the world. Why we are asking these questions, is that we want to be successful in transmitting this knowledge. How do we help our children navigate through the world, if we ourselves, struggle to navigate through it as well? If we never really get to the destination point. In other words never arrive at a place where we know all that needs to be known, then all we can do in our relations with our children is to emphasize on the journey of life. We have to educate them on how to walk this
TO AID THE PROCESS IN THE BEST MORAL & ETHICAL MANNER, & WILL NOT TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE USE OF SUCH EXPLORED THEMES INTO THE INTERPRETATION OF THE READER. ALTHOUGH PERSONS OR COMPANIES MENTIONED HEREIN ARE BELIEVED TO BE REPUTABLE, NEITHER ISLAM HERE PUBLICATION, ASABIYYA TRADING CC, NOR
journey. Teach them how to deal with themselves, so that they get the most out of it. In that we are going through all of these ourselves, our sense of responsibility for their future, then we need to learn how to deal with ourselves. This is key. When we learn to deal with ourselves properly, we will be able to transmit that to the children properly. Similarly, we cannot teach Adab or for that matter have Adab with children if we do not have Adab with ourselves. Not knowing of how to have courtesy with yourself is to be ignorant of what courtesy is. And if we are ignorant of it, we will transmit this ignorance and wonder why the child does not pick up the knowledge we intend for them. Behaviour is the only school that mankind finds acceptable to learn from. In the current modern lifestyle we seem to favour the virtual experience over the real. Complaining that we never have the time for human experience, but in reality we find that we have become master ‘time-wasters’. This is what we’re really sharing with our children. What we want to believe were sharing with our children is what we just shared on Facebook. We have to make a decision on which world we wish to live in. If you have to send a WhatsApp message to your child to get them to respond to you, then you have to deal with the fact that something has gone out of control. Not with your children but with you.
Nabeel Abdalhaqq ANY OF ITS EMPLOYEES, SALES EXECUTIVES OR CONTRIBUTORS ACCEPT ANY RESPONSIBILITY WHATSOEVER FOR THEIR ACTIVITIES. Cape Town, Western Cape 8000. ISLAM HERE (Pty) Ltd, is a Level 3 BEE Contributor , ISLAM HERE Newspaper Western Cape
PAGE 4
COVER ARTICLE
ISLAM HERE JUMAD AL THANI 1437
EAGLE EGG IN DRAGON’S NEST PIC: GETTY
COLONEL MUAMMAR AL-GADDAFI, Ousted from power by NATO allies, beaten and then murdered by the Misratan Militia. Gaddafi’s corpse was placed in the freezer of a local market alongside the corpses of his son and the defence minister Yunis Jabr; the bodies were publicly displayed for four days. On 25 October, the NTC announced that Gaddafi had been buried at an unidentified location in the desert; Al Aan TV showed amateur video footage of the funeral. Although a totalitarian dictator, he was Libya’s legitimate leader for 42 years. In this picture he is delivering a speech at the United Nations. What this means is that the sovereignty of Nation States have been irrevocably damaged. Between US and BIG BUSINESS, there is only military capability that will hold sway the direction of the world.
THE RISE OF BOKO HARAM IN CHINA’S AFRICA Continued from cover page
T
hat NATO’s Libya war would have such consequences was both thoroughly predictable, and widely predicted. As early as June 2011, African Union Chairman Jean Ping warned NATO that “Africa’s concern is that weapons that are delivered to one side or another…are already in the desert and will arm terrorists and fuel trafficking”. And both Mali and Algeria strongly opposed NATO’s destruction of Libya precisely because of the massive destabilisation it would bring to the region. They argued, wrote O’Neill, “that such a violent upheaval in a region like north Africa could have potentially catastrophic consequences. The fallout from the bombing is ‘a real source of concern’, said the rulers of Mali in October 2011. In fact, as the BBC reported, they had been arguing since ‘the start of the conflict in Libya’ – that is, since the civil conflict between Benghazi-based militants and Gaddafi began – that ‘the fall of Gaddafi would have a destabilising effect in the region’.” In an op-ed following the collapse of Northern Mali, a former Chief of Staff of UK land forces, MajorGeneral Jonathan Shaw, wrote that Colonel Gaddafi was a “lynchpin” of the “informal Sahel security plan”, whose removal therefore led to a foreseeable collapse of security across the entire region. The rise of Boko Haram has been but one result – and not without strategic benefits for the West. Nigeria was once seen by the US as one of its most dependable allies on the African continent. Yet,
following a pattern that is repeated across the entire global South, in recent years the country has been moving ever closer to China. The headline grabbing deal was the $23 billion contract signed in 2010 with the Chinese to construct three fuel refineries, adding an extra 750,000 barrels per day to Nigeria’s oil producing capacity. This was followed up in 2013 with an agreement to increase Nigerian oil exports to China tenfold by 2015 (from 20,000 to 200,000 barrels per day). But China’s economic interests go far beyond that. A Nigerian diplomat interviewed by China-Africa specialist Deborah Brautigam told her that “The Chinese are trying to get involved in every sector of our economy. If you look at the West, it’s oil, oil, oil and nothing else.” In 2006, China issued an $8.3billion low-interest loan to Nigeria to fund the building of a major new railway, and the following year China built a telecommunications satellite for Nigeria. Indeed, of last year’s $18 billion worth of bilateral trade between the two countries, over 88% was in the non-petroleum sector, and by 2012 Nigerian imports from China (it’s biggest import partner) totalled more than that of its second and third biggest import partners, the US and India, combined. This kind of trade and investment is of the type that is seriously aiding Africa’s ability to add value to its products – and is thereby undermining the Western global economic order, which relies on Africa remaining an underdeveloped exporter of cheap raw materials. Not that China’s co-operation has been limited to economics. In 2004, China supported Nigeria’s bid for a seat on the UN Security Council,
and in 2006, Nigeria signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of a Strategic Partnership with China – the first African country to do so. It is a partnership with a solid base of support – according to a BBC poll conducted in 2011, 85% of Nigerians have a positive view of China; perhaps not surprising when even pro-US security think tanks like the Jamestown Foundation admit that “China’s links with Nigeria are qualitatively different from the West’s, and as a result, may potentially produce benefits for the ordinary people of Nigeria”. Symbolising the importance of the relationship, current Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made Nigeria his first foreign destination after taking up the role in 2013. This growing South-South cooperation is not viewed positively by the US, which is witnessing what it once saw as a dependable client state edge increasingly out of its orbit. The African Oil Policy Initiative Group – a consortium of US Congressmen, military officials and energy lobbyists – had already concluded in a 2002 report that China was a rival of the US for influence in West Africa that would need to be deterred by military means, and China has been increasingly viewed by US policymakers as a strategic threat to be contained militarily ever since. A report by US Chief of Staff Martin Dempsey just this July highlighted China as one of the major ‘security threats’ to US domination, for example – although Obama’s ‘Pivot to Asia’ policy had already made this clear back in 2013.
I
s it such a stretch, then, to think that the US might actually want to cripple its strategic rival, China, by destabilising
her allies, such as Nigeria? After all, despite continued US links to Nigeria, it is China, more than any other foreign partner, who has the most to lose from the Boko Haram insurgency, as the Jamestown Foundation makes clear: “Unlike most other foreign actors in the country, [the Chinese] are investing in fixed assets, such as refineries and factories, with the intention of developing a long-term economic relationship.
Boko Haram has technically existed inside Nigeria for more than a decade and precedes Al Qaeda, it can be traced back to Muslim sectarianism, post independence from colonialism in the 1960’s. Originally the ideology of Boko Haram stems from a fear of western influence in Nigerian Muslims, which explains the translation of the group’s name ‘Western education is forbidden’. Northeastern Nigeria had been bandit country long before the emergence of Boko Haram. And while it may coincide with the growth over the past two decades of Salafist armed groups elsewhere in the region and beyond, the real context for Boko Haram’s emergence is the long political and economic decline of Nigeria’s northeast and enduring Kanuri opposition to northern power structures. Writing in 1917, just three years after the amalgamation of south and north into a unified Nigeria, the colonial official Herbert Palmer reported back to London on the porous zone known colloquially by the British Foreign Office as “Central Sudan.” The portent of his words repays quoting at length: “The whole Sudan belt is one country with no real geographical obstacles, with homogeneous peoples having a common religion, and with few or no real racial antipathies. They would be quite capable under certain circumstances of fighting for their faith ... though that is hardly a likely contingency in Nigeria so long as their Muslim life and social order are protected as they have
been since 1903 ... There would, however, probably be a point at which their general sentiment for Islam and an instinctive desire for independence and freedom from Christian control might get the upper hand of their discretion, and assert itself.” The group have only really emerged in the last decade claiming responsibility for dozens of bombings, killings and kidnappings. Ironically, the same pattern of sectarianism and civil war exists in almost every postcolonial country, for example India – which saw fighting between Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs and even violence between people of the same faith and ethnicity, which led to the formation of Pakistan. The exact same pattern exists in the middle-east, which saw the creation of Wahhabism and the Kingdom of Saud by the British, which subsequently led to the creation of countless terrorist ‘jihad’ groups around the world, such as Boko Haram.
Consequently, stability and good governance in Nigeria is advantageous for Beijing because it is the only way to guarantee that Chinese interests are protected”. If the US increasingly sees its own strategy in terms of undermining Chinese interests – and there is every sign that it does – the corollary of this statement is surely that instability in Nigeria is the only way to guarantee that Chinese interests are threatened – and, therefore, that US strategic goals are served. The US’s lacklustre efforts in backing Nigerian efforts against Boko Haram – from blocking arms deliveries last year, to funding the fight in all of Nigeria’s neighbours, but not Nigeria itself – as well as its suspension of Nigerian crude oil imports from July 2014 (“a decision that helped plunge Nigeria into one of its most severe financial crises”, according to one national daily) would certainly indicate that. Dan Glazebrook is author of Divide and Ruin: The West’s Imperial Strategy in an Age of Crisis. Article was first published on RT
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PAGE 6
LEADERSHIP
ISLAM HERE
JUMAD AL THANI 1437
IN SEARCH OF TRUE LEADERSHIP PART ONE IN A FOUR PART RESEARCH INTO THE RULE OF MU’AWIYA, RADI’ALLAHU ANHU, AND WHY HE WAS SO SUCCESSFUL THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY IS NOT FOR A ROMANTIC LOOK AT HISTORY, NOR IS IT TO ENGAGE WITH THE MODEL OF GOVERNMENT, OF WHICH WE AS A COMMUNITY IN BOTH CHARACTER AND STRUCTURE ARE FAR REMOVED, BUT TO LOOK AT THE GREAT MAN HIMSELF. TO BE REMINDED NOT OF WHAT ONCE WAS, BUT THE PARTICULAR CHARACTER DESPERATELY NEEDED IN OUR LEADERSHIP OF TODAY.
THE FIFTH KHALIF
M
u’awiya was one of the Companions of the Prophet and one of his scribes who recorded the Revelation. He was appointed governor of greater Syria by ‘Umar after the death of his brother Yazid who had been appointed by Abu Bakr, and remained governor under ‘Uthman. As he was related to ‘Uthman, he was a leading force in demanding that his murderers be brought to justice. Thus he and ‘Ali came to be on opposite sides in the Fitna or Civil War. Eventually ‘Ali was murdered by a Kharijite and his son Hasan declared khalif. When Hasan realised he could not control the situation, he handed over power to Mu’awiya which led to peace and re-unification of the Umma in 40/661, the year known as the Year of the Jama’a, or Community. There was no further major civil unrest - except for the odd Kharijite agitation - during his reign. When he died, another chapter of the Fitna ensued in the form of the war between his son Yazid and first Husayn, ‘Ali’s son, and then Ibn az-Zubayr in the Hijaz. So what was it about Mu’awiya which made his rule so successful to such an extent that the famous historian, adh-Dhahabi, points out that after al-Hasan had surrendered his claim to the khalifate, “Mu’awiya reigned without a rival, and without losing any of the conquests of Islam. Neither ‘Abdu’l-Malik, nor al-Mansur, nor Harun ar-Rashid earned this praise, unique in the annals of Islam”?
AVOIDING PRECONCEPTION Before examining governance under Mu’awiya, it must first be pointed out that defining the nature of governance in an Islamic context is somewhat difficult, not least because it has been a long time since Islam formed the foundation of governance and Muslims have tended to base
themselves on Western political theories and then to “Islamicise” these theories. Even the question of what an umma is causes problems. What precisely is the Muslim Umma? When it is translated as “nation”, it is inevitable that some of the connotations of the modern nation-state creep in, or if “community” is used, it becomes a purely social concept, something like a undefined social unit without any real political role. So any attempt to deal with Islamic governance is often fraught either with tinges of historical romanticism and utopic idealism, or else a pragmatism devoid of any real Islamic content - and so we find ourselves like Odysseus trying to pass between the twin perils of Scylla and Charybdis without being destroyed by either one. It is with the hope of avoiding these twin perils that we will examine how Mu’awiya, one of the most successful of Muslim rulers, governed.
favour of tribal solidarity. The umma is further delineated in the Qur’an when Allah says, “You are the best umma brought forth to mankind - enjoining the correct and forbidding the incorrect and believing in Allah” (3:110) and “The believers, men and women, are protector-friends of each other, enjoining the correct and forbidding the incorrect.” (9:71) The Covenant of Madina stipulated that the Muslims “Constitute one umma” and “All believers shall rise as one man against whomsoever rebels or seeks to commit injustice, aggression, wrong action or spread mutual enmity between the believers, even though he be one of their sons. ... All believers are bonded together to the exclusion of other men.” This, then, is the polity of the Muslims, and it is clearly a political as well as a spiritual collective, the one being a logical consequence of the other. Being a Muslim necessarily entails certain political consequences.
HOW IS IT GOVERNED
THE MUSLIM POLITY So what is the umma? The concept of umma was an entirely new one which superseded previous tribal and family allegiances, although these tendencies kept coming back, particularly in the case in the Ridda, or Revolt, which followed the death of the Prophet. We read in the Qur’an: “You will not find any people who believe in Allah and the Last Day who are loving to anyone who opposes Allah and His Messenger, even if they were their fathers or their sons, or their brothers or their clan.” (Qur’an 58:22) Acceptance of and allegiance to the umma, based on following Allah and His Prophet, became one’s primary allegiance. This means that the umma is not a nation-state based on ethnicity or language. It is not surprising, then, that it left the Arabs of the time somewhat bemused. Like the revelation with its uncompromising statement of tawhid, the idea of a community whose central core of political cohesion was based on that same principle was entirely alien to them. In fact, it was probably alien to just about everyone of the time. And indeed, it kept being forgotten, and still is forgotten, in
Having defined what the polity is, the question becomes: how it is to be governed? Historically, there has been two basic forms of governance - and indeed fiqh - which seem to reflect an eastern/ western split - and we find the same split in the forms of governance in eastern and western Christendom. In the east, we find the imperial form, reflecting the Persian Sassanid and Soghdian traditions, and, on the other side, initially in the Hijaz and Syria, a more open form of governance based on amirate and shura, which moved to Spain when the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyads. I leave the imperial form to others. From 138/756, the Umma is split because the Umayyads in Spain regarded the Abbasids as usurpers. From 316/929 there were two rulers with the title Amir al-Mu’minin, and in 334/945, the Buwayhids, the Persian military dynasty, assumed full power, and the khalif was a mere figurehead.
THE PLEDGE OF LEADERSHIP This brings up the question of leadership: how is a leader chosen? When it comes to choosing the Khalif, in the early community there were four ways that the Khalif was chosen: 1. By the bay’a of the people of loosing and binding (ahl al-hal wa’l-’aqd) i.e. the ‘ulama’ (people of knowledge), leaders and army commanders, as happened with the first Khalif, Abu Bakr; 2. By the will and appointment of the preceding khalif as happened with the second Khalif, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab;
3. By a decision of the consultation (shura) of a certain group - as with ‘Uthman and ‘Ali, the third and fourth khalifs; 4. By the successful assumption of power of a man possessing the requisite qualities and qualifications to be khalif (sometimes in conjunction with 1 or 2). When the khalif has been chosen, bay’a takes place. It is an act of validation by which the ruler accepts the duties of office and receives the power to discharge them, and the subjects undertake to obey him. It is usually translated as “allegiance” but this is somewhat unfortunate because rather than being one-sided, it is an agreement undertaken by two parties, like the conclusion of a sale from which the word is derived. As in any transaction, each side has an expectation of the other. In essence, the khalif makes an undertaking or covenant (‘ahd) to act according to the Shari’a. Hence the ruler has certain duties. He must respect and enforce the Shari’a and thus he must protect the interests of the umma, defend or expand the frontiers, carry out jihad, administer public property, dispense justice and maintain internal security.
T
TRUST
he behaviour of the ruler vis-a-vis his subject is a trust and a matter of grave concern for him in this world and the Next. The ruler is empowered to implement the Shari’a and all that entails, but he is nevertheless a custodian, and he expects to be corrected by the people of knowledge if he errs. When Abu Bakr was given the bay’a as Khalif, he stood up and addressed people, saying: O people! I have been put in charge over you, but I am not the best of you. If I act well, then help me, and if I act badly, then put me right. Truthfulness is a trust and lying is treachery. The weak among you is strong in my sight until I restore his right to him, Allah willing. The strong among you is weak in my sight until I take the right from him, Allah willing. People do not abandon jihad in the way of Allah but that Allah afflicts them with humiliation. Shamelessness does not spread in a people but that Allah envelops them in affliction. Obey me as long as I obey Allah and His Messenger. If I disobey Allah and His Messenger, you owe me no obedience. (Sira Ibn Hisham)
THE LIMITS OF AUTHORITY This clearly indicates the existence of a certain reciprocity in the relation between ruler and ruled.
Abu Bakr’s successor, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab was also concerned about overstepping his authority. Salman said that ‘Umar asked him, “Am I a king or a khalif?” Salman answered, “If you have taxed the lands of the Muslims one dirham, or more or less, and applied it to unlawful purposes, then you are a king, not a khalif.” And ‘Umar wept. (At-Tabari, Tarikh, p. 2754) This view of leadership was also held by Mu’awiya. He came to Madina and spoke to the people, saying, “I desired the way followed by Abu Bakr and ‘Umar, but I was unable to follow it, and so I have followed a course with you which contains fortune and benefits for you despite some bias, so be pleased with what comes to you from me even if it is little. When good is continuous, even if it is little, it enriches. Discontent makes life grim.” He also said in a khutba which he delivered to the people, “O people! By Allah, it is easier to move the firm mountains than to follow Abu Bakr and ‘Umar in their behaviour. But I have followed their way of conduct falling short of those before me, but none after me will equal me in it.” The Greek historian Theophanus does not call Mu’awiya a king or an emperor, but rather a primus inter pares, or in Greek, a protosymboulos, “a first among equals”. Theophanus also referred to ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab as “primus inter pares”, so there cannot have appeared to be much difference between the rule of ‘Umar and that of Mu’awiya to an outside non-Muslim observer. We must attribute the later fixation on Mu’awiya as a king with the sense of an absolute monarch or despot to the backdating of things that happened later. The role of Mu’awiya is interesting in modern terms because the rule of Mu’awiya and his immediate successors involves bringing disparate elements into a single unity - as there were really three power bases for a time: Syria and the Umayyads, Iraq where ‘Ali based himself, and the Hijaz as represented by Ibn az-Zubayr. How did Mu’awiya manage to bring about a unity and prevent the fragmentation of the Umma into three states? Eventually the single unit broke up again under the Abbasids, and never again were the Muslims a single entity. During Mu’awiya’s rule, he had no rivals, a situation which was never to prevail again. Even the Ottomans, the most successful in later times, did not encompass the entire community of Muslims. Research compiled by Aisha Bewley
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EDUCATION
PAGE 7
HOW MOST AID TO THE PALESTINIANS ENDS UP IN ISRAEL’S COFFERS
D
iplomats may have a reputation for greyness, obfuscation, even hypocrisy, but few have found themselves compared to a serial killer, let alone one who devours human flesh.
aid-dependent people in the world” – usually affixed to the Palestinians – might be better used to describe Israelis.
ALL PALESTINIAN AID RECEIVED MUST GO THROUGH ISREALI ADMINISTRATION
What can be done? International law expert Richard Falk notes that Israel is exploiting an aid oversight vacuum: there are no requirements on donors to ensure their money reaches the intended recipients. What the international community has done over the past 20 years of the Oslo process – inadvertently or otherwise – is offer Israel financial incentives to stabilise and entrench its rule over the Palestinians. It can do so relatively cost-free.
That honour befell Laars FaaborgAndersen, the European Union’s ambassador to Israel, last week when Jewish settlers launched a social media campaign casting him as Hannibal Lecter, the terrifying character from the film Silence of the Lambs. An image of the Danish diplomat wearing Lecter’s prison face-mask was supposed to suggest that Europe needs similar muzzling. The settlers’ grievance relates to European aid, which has provided temporary shelter to Palestinian Bedouin families after the Israeli army demolished their homes in the occupied territories near Jerusalem. The emergency housing has helped them remain on land coveted by Israel and the settlers. European officials, outraged by the Lecter comparison, have reminded Tel Aviv that, were it to abide by international law, Israel – not the EU – would be taking responsibility for these families’ welfare. While Europe may think of itself as part of an enlightened West, using aid to defend Palestinians’ rights, the reality is less reassuring. The aid may actually be making things significantly worse. Shir Hever, an Israeli economist who has spent years piecing together the murky economics of the occupation, recently published a report that makes shocking reading. Like others, he believes international aid has allowed Israel to avoid footing the bill for its decades-old occupation. But he goes further.
PIC: GETTY
His astonishing conclusion – one that may surprise Israel’s settlers – is that at least 78 per cent of humanitarian aid intended for Palestinians ends up in Israel’s coffers. The sums involved are huge. The Palestinians under occupation are among the most aid-dependent in the world, receiving more than $2bn from the international community a year. According to Hever, donors could be directly subsidising up to a third of the occupation’s costs. Other forms of Israeli profiteering have been identified in previous studies. In 2013 the World Bank very conservatively estimated that the Palestinians lose at least $3.4bn a year in resources plundered by Israel. Further, Israel’s refusal to make peace with the Palestinians, and as a consequence the rest of the region, is used to justify Washington’s annual $3bn in military aid. Israel also uses the occupied territories as laboratories for testing weapons and surveillance
systems on Palestinians – and then exports its expertise. Israel’s military and cyber industries are hugely profitable, generating many billions of dollars of income each year. A survey published last week found tiny Israel to be the eighth most powerful country in the world. But whereas these income streams are a recognisable, if troubling, windfall from Israel’s occupation, western humanitarian aid to the Palestinians is clearly intended for the victims, not the victors.
SO HOW IS ISRAEL CREAMING OFF SO MUCH?
T
he problem, says Hever, is Israel’s self-imposed role as mediator. To reach the Palestinians, donors have no choice but to go through Israel. This provides ripe opportunities for what he terms “aid subversion” and “aid diversion”. The first results from the Palestinians being a captive market. They have access to few goods and services that are not Israeli.
Who Profits? An Israeli organisation monitoring the economic benefits for Israel in the occupation, assesses that dairy firm Tnuva enjoys a monopoly in the West Bank worth $60 million annually. Aid diversion, meanwhile, occurs because Israel controls all movement of people and goods. Israeli restrictions mean it gets to charge for transportation and storage, and levy “security” fees. Other studies have identified additional profits from “aid destruction”. When Israel wrecks foreign-funded aid projects, Palestinians lose – but Israel often benefits. Cement-maker Nesher, for example, is reported to control 85 per cent of all construction by Israelis and Palestinians, including the supplies for rebuilding efforts in Gaza after Israel’s repeated rampages. Significant segments of Israeli society, aside from those in the security industries, are lining their pockets from the occupation. Paradoxically, the label “the most
While Europe and Washington have tried to beat Israel with a small diplomatic stick to release its hold on the occupied territories, at the same time they dangle juicy financial carrots to encourage Israel to tighten its grip. There is a small ray of hope. Western aid policy does not have to be selfsabotaging. Hever’s study indicates that Israel has grown as reliant on Palestinian aid as the Palestinians themselves. The EU noted last week that Israel not Brussels should be caring for the Bedouin it has left homeless. Europe could take its own advice to heart and start shifting the true costs of the occupation back on to Israel. That may happen soon enough whatever the west decides, if – as even Israel is predicting will occur soon – the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas collapses.
Jonathan Cook
Won the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His latest books are “Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East” (Pluto Press) and “Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair” (Zed Books). His website is www.jkcook.net.
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EDUCATION
CAREER GPS to point you in the right direction THE
A
re you in need of new inspiration or direction for your career plans and dreams? What you need is a compass for your career. And that is exactly what Boston City Campus and Business College offers you! The College has a computerised career guidance programme – Career Compass. This programme is ideal for you whether you are starting out in your career or already working but thinking about applying your mind to something new and different. “Everyone can benefit from some career clarity – whether its assistance in decision-making or confirmation of an existing career path,” says Kerry Damons, the College’s head of marketing. She explains that the Career Compass programme has an electronic as well as a personal component. The electronic component is very user-friendly. You complete a set of questions that is then compiled into an accurate report of preferred industries and career plans for you. It also provides basic
information about a wide range of careers – what they’re all about, as well as the ideal candidates for those careers in terms skills and personality traits. The personal component of Career Compass entails meeting one of the in-house career advisors at Boston for a face-toface consultation. During this consultation the advisor will discuss various career options available in your selected industry. For example, if the electronic component has identified IT as the ideal industry for you; you may be advised to start with learning about the Internet, or you may start with programming. The idea is to realise that there is something for everyone within almost every industry. In this way Boston hopes to help to get you on your way to your dream career. According to Damons, Career Compass is like a career GPS - a tool that points you in the right direction. “It is disappointing and unnecessary to spend time and money on a course and then
later to discover that it is not really where your passion lies,” she comments. When students enrol for a course that does not suit them, they end up performing badly or dropping out completely. “It is difficult to remain happy and motivated when you are studying something you do not enjoy or that does not fulfil your heart’s desire – even if you have the brains to do it,” Damons points out. “In the long term it makes sense to take time to shop around, do a career assessment and have a chat with a professional career advisor before enrolling for post-school studies.”
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nationwide,” she says. “We also have Unisa degrees, media studies and training in music available at selected branches. It is essential that students choose a course that fits in perfectly with their talents, abilities, career dreams, and personal budget.”
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such as Boston City Campus & Business College that offer the option to register anytime throughout the year. Contact Boston Cape Town on 021 418 6265, visit www.boston.co.za for more information.
Don’t be intimidated by closing dates for applications and registrations. There are colleges PIC: GETTY
“Matching your job to your passion will increase your success,” Damons continues. “That is why we offer this career guidance programme free of charge at all our campuses.” The computerised part is like a GPS that leads you through the various routes that could lead to your ideal outcome. Our career advisors are like guides that will help you take into account other external factors that include your existing qualifications such as matric, and your pocket. Damons emphasises that those who use Career Compass are not obliged to enrol for a course at Boston City Campus & Business College, but are free to do so if they so wish. “We offer over 80 dynamic career qualifications throughout 45 campuses
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“WHY I WILL NEVER TELL MY SON HE’S SMART.” PIC: KHAN INSTITUTE
M
y 5-year-old son has just started reading. Every night, we lie on his bed and he reads a short book to me. Inevitably, he’ll hit a word that he has trouble with: last night the word was “gratefully.” He eventually got it after a fairly painful minute. He then said, “Dad, aren’t you glad how I struggled with that word? I think I could feel my brain growing.” I smiled: my son was now verbalizing the tell-tale signs of a “growth mindset.” But this wasn’t by accident. Recently, I put into practice research I had been reading about for the past few years: I decided to praise my son not when he succeeded at things he was already good at, but when he persevered with things that he found difficult. I stressed to him that by struggling, your brain grows. Between the deep body of research on the field of learning mindsets and this personal experience with my son, I am more convinced than ever that mindsets toward learning could matter more than anything else we teach. Researchers have known for some time that the brain is like a muscle; that the more you use it, the more it grows. They’ve found that neural connections form and deepen most when we make mistakes doing difficult tasks rather than repeatedly having success with easy ones. What this means is that our intelligence is not fixed, and the best way that we can grow our intelligence is to embrace tasks where we might struggle and fail. However, not everyone realizes this. Dr. Carol Dweck of Stanford University has been studying people’s mindsets towards learning for decades. She has found that most people adhere to one of two mindsets: fixed or growth. Fixed mindsets mistakenly believe that people are either smart or not, that intelligence is fixed by genes. People with growth mindsets correctly believe that capability and intelligence can be grown through effort, struggle and failure. Dweck found that those with a fixed mindset tended to focus their effort on tasks where they had a high likelihood of success and avoided tasks where they may have had to struggle, which limited their learning. People with a growth mindset, however, embraced challenges, and understood that tenacity and effort could change their learning outcomes. As you can imagine, this correlated with the latter group more actively pushing themselves and growing intellectually.
The good news is that mindsets can be taught; they’re malleable. What’s really fascinating is that Dweck and others have developed techniques that they call “growth mindset interventions,” which have shown that even small changes in communication or seemingly innocuous comments can have fairly long-lasting implications for a person’s mindset. For instance, praising someone’s process (“I really like how you struggled with that problem”) versus praising an innate trait or talent (“You’re so clever!”) is one way to reinforce a growth mindset with someone. Processpraise acknowledges the effort; talentpraise reinforces the notion that one only succeeds (or doesn’t) based on a fixed trait. And we’ve seen this on Khan Academy as well: students are spending more time learning on Khan Academy after being exposed to messages that praise their tenacity and grit and that underscore that the brain is like a muscle. The Internet is a dream for someone with a growth mindset. Between Khan Academy, MOOCs, and others, there is unprecedented access to endless content to help you grow your mind. However, society isn’t going to fully take advantage of this without growth mindsets being more prevalent. So what if we actively tried to change that? What if we began using whatever means are at our disposal to start performing growth mindset interventions on everyone we cared about? This is much bigger than Khan Academy or algebra – it applies to how you communicate with your children, how you manage your team at work, how you learn a new language or instrument. If society as a whole begins to embrace the struggle of learning, there is no end to what that could mean for global human potential. And now here’s a surprise for you. By reading this article itself, you’ve just undergone the first half of a growth-mindset intervention. The research shows that just being exposed to the research itself (for example, knowing that the brain grows most by getting questions wrong, not right) can begin to change a person’s mindset. The second half of the intervention is for you to communicate the research with others. After all, when my son, or for that matter, anyone else asks me about learning, I only want them to know one thing. As long as they embrace struggle and mistakes, they can learn anything. SALMAN KHAN THE KHAN ACADEMY ONLINE
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SOCIETY
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PIC: GETTY
5 TIPS ON: TEACHING OUR CHILDREN BEHAVIOUR
I
once asked a scholar for advice on what we should be teaching our children and he immediately responded, “Adab and akhlaq (manners and etiquettes). Parents don’t emphasize these enough anymore.” He went on to define “adab” as “the appropriate action, attitude, and response in any given situation”. Another scholar once said, “Adab beautifies everything it touches. We have Muslims who know rules and rituals; we don’t have nearly enough Muslims who know how to have adab. Sell your misbaha (prayer beads) and go buy some adab instead.” The Prophet Muhammad (salallaahu alaihi wasallam) stated, “I have only been sent to perfect good behaviour.” It was at a friend’s house that I saw copies of the books “Islamic Manners” by Shaykh Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghuddah and “How to Raise a Gentleman” side by side on a coffee table. “What are these all about?” I asked, picking up one of the books and flipping through its pages. “That? Oh, nothing,” the mother of four boys shrugged nonchalantly. “Just making sure nothing falls through the cracks is all.” The concept fascinated me. A way of making sure that our sons are learning the proper etiquettes and manners? Sign me up! Pooling elders and friends, I asked around to find out what they thought are some basic adab and akhlaq concepts that all children should be learning while under our tutelage and here are just some pointers we came up with… 1) PERSONAL GROOMING AND HYGIENE When my older two hit the age of puberty, my husband Zeeshan sat them down and talked to each of them about the fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) behind ritual cleaning and purification. He provided them with clippers and razors and instructed them in their use, explaining how they were supposed to groom themselves as
young men from now on. Mothers of girls have told me that they have demonstrated for their daughters how to dispose of sanitary pads in as discreet a manner as possible, wrapping them up in layers of toilet paper before tucking them deep into trash cans so that they are not visible to the next person who comes to throw something away. Back when our sons were first becoming independent, I taught them how to do istinja (the ritual washing of private parts after using the rest room), showing them how they needed to use their left hands to clean themselves and then firmly cautioning them against touching the toilet flush or sink faucet with anything but the dry right hand afterwards. One girlfriend recently shared that her mother taught her and her sister that part of good manners entailed leaving the istinja can full of water for the next person. Just one more etiquette I’m going to add to my checklist from now on! 2) BEING A GOOD GUEST When my older two were younger, I would do a quick review with them before they left us to spend the night at anyone else’s house. (I still follow this routine with my 11-year-old by the way.) I tried to keep my instructions short and simple so that they weren’t overwhelmed, but there were quite a few basic instructions that I made sure to drill into them over the years. Years ago, my boys had a friend over with whom they were playing Hide-and-Seek all over the house, running upstairs and downstairs. At some point during the game, Shaan came running into my bedroom with his friend Yusuf following closely behind — except that Yusuf came to a screeching halt at my bedroom door as if he had just slammed into an invisible force field. “You have to come out and play in the loft, Shaan!” He called to my son while holding onto the door frame with both hands. “I’m not allowed to go into parents’ bedrooms!” I
remember taking note of the fact that this little boy clearly knew what was and wasn’t off-limits in other people’s homes; since then, I began talking to my kids about boundaries and respect for privacy as well.
Part of being a charming conversationalist and a gracious host is making people feel important, like you’re actually interested in talking to them. 3) BEING A GRACIOUS HOST Every now and then we have friends and relatives come to visit with whom my children may or may not be familiar. Before their arrival, Zeeshan and I make sure to give the kids some background information about the guests and suggest some topics for conversation. I once overheard someone trying to make friendly conversation with my son where he (my son) would respond with polite but short answers that didn’t carry the conversation any further. I later took him aside and told him that part of being a charming conversationalist and a gracious host is making people feel important, like you’re actually interested in talking to them. “If you can’t think of a topic to discuss, just ask polite questions that show that you’re genuinely interested in getting to know them,” I said. “Don’t be nosey. Be sincere. If nothing else, just ask them what they think of California.” Being shy isn’t an excuse that any of my friends have allowed their children to use to get out of greeting elders and guests. Modesty and shyness is part of our religion and no one should be forcing kids to be anything they’re not, but saying greeting is a non-negotiable for most families who are teaching their kids good behaviour. I have noticed that the
children with the most impeccable adab always say “Assalaamu alaikum” (The Peace be upon you) and “Walaikum as salaam” (and upon you be The Peace) instead of the generic “Hi!” And “Hello” when greeting fellow Muslims. They are also quick to jump up and offer their seats to elders. 4) BEING A KIND AND CONSIDERATE FRIEND As parents, it is our job to teach our kids how to be a good friend and how to fulfil the rights their friends actually have over them. Part of learning manners and etiquettes is knowing that you are never allowed to backbite your buddies (i.e. saying that in their absence which they wouldn’t like to hear in their presence), that you must always return any items you’ve borrowed in exactly the condition you received them in (and replace/compensate for anything that is broken or lost), and that you must be willing to pick up the phone and call with your congratulations when someone dear to you receives good news and with your condolences when someone is dealing with bad news. A cousin recently told me how touched she was when her eldest son’s good friend called to give the whole family his heartiest congratulations upon hearing that his friend had been accepted into a prestigious university. A few years ago, we had a health scare and were worried about the upcoming test results for one of our sons; tears sprang to my eyes when my son’s friend telephoned to wish him the best and to reassure him that all would be well, insha’Allah. (It was, Alhamdulillah.) We teach our kids that adab entails having a healthy, sensitive understanding of how people around you are feeling and then responding appropriately to those feelings. 5) BEING A MODEL STUDENT When my son began attending
public high school, he was startled by how different the rules of engagement between teachers and students seemed to be when compared to the adab he was expected to have with his mentors in all the years of home-schooling prior. Giving up your seat for seniors, helping them carry heavy items, greeting elders first, and not interrupting or talking back are all a given. In an Islamic learning environment, however, our adab goes to another level. Many of my friends have taught their kids the subtleties of sitting in front of scholars and teachers. They are cautioned against ever pointing their feet towards their instructors and are instructed to always have a pen and notebook ready for notetaking. No one should be sitting around with a glazed look in their eyes while a speaker drones on; that is considered to be the height of disrespect. In an Islamic environment students also do not make jokes at the expense of their teachers and wait until the end of a lecture to ask their questions.
W
hat I have found, however, is that all the books and discussions and check-lists are pointless unless behaviour and etiquettes are actually actively being modelled for our young ones. Kids are like sponges, soaking up everything around them. When squeezed, whatever is inside comes gushing out. There’s a reason why people say “His/ her parents raised him/her well” when commenting on someone’s refined behaviour. It is up to us parents to rise to the occasion and be whatever we want our kids to be, Insha’Allah. In the process of trying to prepare the next generation to be more considerate and compassionate than the dominant culture around them, it’s quite possible that we’ll improve our own worlds as well. May Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) grant us all success! Ameen. Hina Khan Mukhtar This article first appeared on Muslim Observer
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NATURE’S MEDICINE
MICROBIRTH: WHY ‘SEEDING BABY’S MICROBIOME’ NEEDS TO BE ON EVERY BIRTH PLAN
PAGE 11
“incomplete”. Consequently, that baby’s immune system may never develop to its full potential, leaving that infant with an increased risk of developing one or more serious diseases later in life. The discovery
T
wo amazing events happen during childbirth. There’s the obvious main event which is the emergence of a new human into the world.
Apart from the obvious gift of life, the seeding of the baby’s microbiome is perhaps the second greatest “gift” a mother can give her baby.
But then there’s the non-human event that is taking place simultaneously, a crucial event that is not visible to the naked eye, an event that could determine the lifelong health of the baby. This is the seeding of the baby’s microbiome. As the foetus grows in the womb, it develops in a near-sterile environment relying on its mother for protection. But when the baby emerges, it is entering a world of bacteria, some of which are bad (pathogens) but some of which are good. In the weeks and days leading up to birth, specific species of good bacteria are migrating to key locations in the mother’s body and are transferred to the baby during and immediately after birth via the birth canal, immediate skin-toskin contact and breastfeeding.
of seeding the baby’s microbiome with the mother’s own bacteria. Even if vaginal birth isn’t possible, then immediate skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding should be fully supported and encouraged by all healthcare providers to help ensure the baby’s microbiome is still seeded with the mother’s own bacteria.
And that’s why I believe right now it should be on every birth plan.
The role of these good bacteria is to train the baby’s human cells to distinguish between what is “friend” and what is “foe” so that its immune system can fight off attack from pathogens. This process kick-starts the baby’s immune system and helps to protect the infant from disease for its entire lifetime. However, with interventions like use of synthetic oxytocin (Pitocin / Syntocinon), antibiotics, C-section and formula feeding, this microbial transfer from the mother to baby is interfered with or bypassed
completely. For babies that enter the world by C-section, their first contact could be with bacteria that is resident in hospitals and from strangers, i.e. not with the special cocktail of bacteria from the mother.
T
he latest scientific research is now starting to indicate that if the baby is not properly seeded with the mother’s own bacteria at birth, then the baby’s microbiome, in the words of Rodney R Dietert, Professor of Immunotoxicology at Cornell University, is left
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of the microbiome is an exciting moment in human history. The insight it gives into the existence of the trillions of bacteria that live on us and in us potentially offers the medical community a new way to treat disease. Even more importantly, it also offers the possibility of helping to prevent disease in the first place. And it all starts with birth.
Perhaps, if we achieve our goal and everyone does become fully aware of the importance of seeding the baby’s microbiome with the mother’s own bacteria, then maybe it won’t need to be on any birth plan in the future. It would just be something that is automatically assumed. After all, isn’t protecting the future health of our children something that every mother and healthcare provider ultimately wants?
Toni Harman Director of the documentary “MicroBirth”
This is why I believe all parents, healthcare providers, hospital administrators and even politicians need to be aware of the importance
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