JUNE2005 | JUMAD AL-ULA 1426 | NO.363

JUNE 2005|JUMAD AL-ULA 1426|NO.363 UKÂŁ2.50 | US$5.00 |RM10.00

NAZIM BAKSH

Torturing the Quran ISLA ROSSER-OWEN

Mukhtar Mai and the rape of the shariah FOZIA BORA

Uniting for the Prophet TARIS AHMAD

What about making greed history?

GHASSAN MASSOUD

Becoming Saladdin PLUS

Belle & Sebastian in Palestine Saints, sufis and Star Wars

SHAYKH ABU BAKR SIRAJ AD-DIN 1909-2005 ... And we shall not look upon his like again...

Tributes from Hasan Le Gai Eaton, Hamza Yusuf, Reza Shah-Kazemi, Fuad Nahdi and others

EDITORIAL

FAREENA ALAM

FROM THE PULPIT Every issue of Q-News has a soundtrack - music we listen to as we prepare the magazine. A few months ago it was Youssou N’Dour’s latest album Egypt, a Grammy award winning collection of songs in praise of Senegal’s great Sufi shaykhs (in fact we listened to Youssou for two or three issues and most of us can now sing the entire album in almost perfect Wolof).

Then came Egyptian troubadour Mohamed Mounir, whose album Al Ard Al Salam - “Earth and Peace”, was introduced to me by a South African friend. Besides being an actor, musician, songwriter and talented studio producer, he is a lover of the Prophet Muhammad and Al Ard Al Salam was composed and written to honour the Messenger.“I swear by the keys of heavens”, he sings “that I remain engulfed in my love for the Messenger of God.” It is an inspired work which draws on the great mawlid traditions of Upper Egypt’s Nubian peoples.

As we struggled to prepare this memorial issue in honour of Shaykh Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din, Dr Martin Lings, we turned to the music of the legendary Ali Farka Touré, arguably Mali’s greatest contemporary musician, the father of the African blues. A deeply devout and spiritual man, he quit touring several years and returned to his hometown of Niafunké on the Niger River to farm.

Although he is now the town’s mayor, he took a short leave to record his latest album In the Heart of the Moon, a collaboration with kora maestro Toumane Diabaté.The result is heavenly music - a seamless blend of guitar and kora (a 21-string West African harp) that one reviewer called “supernatural”.As Toure often says his music is a product of his soul.At a recent concert appearance he began with a composition in praise of the Prophet.

What is common to all these musicians is they are Muslims from Africa. After all, Africa is practically a Muslim continent. In the lead up to the G8 summit at Gleneagles, there has been much talk of Africa.With the Make Poverty History campaign about to reach its musical crescendo with the massive Live 8 concerts planned for London’s Hyde Park, the world’s attention will be on Africa as it hasn’t been for a generation. It is unfortunate that it takes rock stars and celebrities, some well past their best before dates, to get people interested in one of the most important, resource rich and culturally diverse regions of the world.There were no benefit concerts when millions died in Rwanda. Few people knew about Africa’s growing AIDS crisis until Nelson Mandela launched his 46664 campaign with a concert in South Africa in 2003. This year’s Africa 05 festival is trying to introduce some of the continent’s leading artistic, literary and musical talent to new audiences.

Even the BBC has launched a season of long overdue programming about Africa.

What’s been left out of the coverage is that Africa is a majority Muslim continent. Conservative estimates peg Africa’s Muslim population at around 586 million people, around 65% of the total population.Yet, very little mention is made of its Muslim cultures and civilisations.

Ignorance of our African Muslim heritage is as rampant amongst Muslims. It’s time we liberated ourselves from the narrow vision that the only Muslim identity is an Arab one. How many of us know of the great empires of Mali, of Mansa Musa and the famed universities of Timbukto? What about Shehu Uthman Dan Fodio’s Sokoto Caliphate and the great scholarship produced by both women and men during its history? What is the name of the Shaykh who led the first freedom struggle in Southern Africa? (It’s Shaykh Yusuf Macassar, if anyone is still wondering.)

Fewer still care to know about the contributions of African Muslims, past and present, to the development of thoelogy, science, architecture and urban planning.We have forgotten Africa and we are the poorer for it.A cultural reconnection to African Islam is needed - and there is no better time than now.

Uniting for the Prophet, the mawlid we were honoured to help organise on 2 May 2005 under the auspices of Mahabba Unlimited, was a starting point, featuring musical traditions from the Sudan and other parts of the Muslim world. Future programs must do more. By allowing ourselves to experience and engage the rich and diverse palette of Islamic cultures, we in turn encourage the development of a cultural agenda for Muslims in Britain and beyond.

As I recently wrote elsewhere, for years, literalists have downplayed the importance of music, art and literature (particularly in the West where debates over whether these things are permissible or not is a favourite pastime of the religious classes). Islamic civilisations gave birth to some of the most sophisticated cultural and artistic expressions. Celebrations like the mawlid are essential elements of the cultural calendar of most Muslim societies and were the catalysts for repeated cultural evolution and revival.

We need to revive those musical and artistic traditions that have begun to vanish.A people without a cultural agenda that particularises and localises religious expression, present no hope for their young people.Today, there is a Maghrebi Islam distinct from an Anatolian Islam. Neither loses its link to the universal Islamic principles, but both have a unique cultural expression. Q-News is committed to playing an important role in this great and necessary cultural project.

And Allah knows best.

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CONTENTS 7 Classic Q Angst on the way to the altar.

Being young, Muslim and unattached is like being on death row, so Amil Khan prepares to enter the dreaded ‘marriage market’.

Publisher Fuad Nahdi Managing Editor Fareena Alam Contributing Editors Abdul-Rehman Malik Nabila Munawar Fozia Bora Art Director Aiysha Malik Administrative Assistant Rizwan Rahman Events Coordinator Waheed Malik Featuring Taris Ahmad Nazim Baksh Rafiqa Clare Basel Yahya Birt Fozia Bora Affan Chowdhry Emma Clarke Yasser Chaudhary Nick Dearden Hasan Le Gai Eaton Carol Gatt H.A. Hellyer Amil Khan Khalida Khan Unaiza Karim N.A. Kassem Reza Shah-Kazemi Sonia Malik Mike O'Brien Isla Rosser-Owen Irfan M. Rydhan Abdallah Schlieffer Dal Nun Strong Svend White Sarah Waseem Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Contact Us Tel: 07985 176 798 www.q-news.com Editorial: editor@q-news.com Subscriptions: subs@q-news.com General Info: info@q-news.com Subscriptions For discounted rates, visit at www.q-news.com To subscribe by post, send your full name, postal address, e-mail address and telephone number along with a cheque for the correct amount to: Q-News, P.O. Box 4295, London W1A 7YH United Kingdom UK 1 year: £24 individuals, £20 students, £30 organisations UK 2 year: £44 individuals, £35 students, £55 organisations

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8 Upfront Wedding Breakfast Painter Rafiqa Clare Basel explores the terrifying deaths of an Afghan wedding party in a new series of work that seeks to humanise “collateral damage”.

9 Diary Affan Chowdhry on Martin Lings, America’s incredible capacity for kitsch, and a little baby who desperately wants to run.

10 Q-Notes 14 Scrutiny Respect or respectability? Yahya Birt. Vote early, vote often Dal Nun Strong. Shabina Begum’s déjà vu. Khalida Khan.

Challenging moral abivalence.

Abdallah Schlieffer. Mukhtar Mai: The rape of the shariah. Isla Rosser-Owen.

22 A Tortured Book Newsweek’s retraction doesn’t change what’s already well documented. Based on exclusive interviews, Nazim Baksh reveals the extent to which the Quran is desecrated inside America’s gulag and what it means for Muslims, here and abroad.

24 What of making greed history?

Make Poverty History is the kind of global campaign that everyone can get

behind, but isn’t the current debt burden actually due to crushing interest payments? Taris Ahmad offers a dissenting view on the current campaign.

26 “You call me a terrorist, when I am the one who is oppressed.”

As Nick Dearden reports, nothing prepared indie-band Belle & Sebastian for the devastation they saw on a recent human rights mission to Palestine.

31 First Person: “It’s like we don’t even exist.”

Malta’s Carol Gatt speaks of her conversion and her plan to kickstart the Muslim population.

32 Becoming integral to Europe’s future In the concluding part of his essay H.A. Hellyer argues that

Muslims are not a dangerous fifth column, but integral to the future of Europe - a community of purpose, ready to make its contribution.

34 Life on the streets The Homelessness Experience?

Sounds like a new reality show, doesn’t it? As Sonia Malik can testify, it was anything but.Two days on London’s mean streets has changed her perceptions of those with no fixed address.

36 Saints, sufis and Star Wars A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away noble Sufi shaykhs trained young dervishes to battle dark powers. Sound familiar?

Irfan M. Rydhan explores the secret relationship between Islam and Star Wars.

39 Uniting for the Prophet Fozia Bora declares Britain’s first truly national mawlid a blessed success. Fuad Nahdi on why the mawlid is the most important Muslim cultural celebration.

Sonia Malik reports on why the gathering was so special for deaf Muslims. Mike O’Brien celebrates the universal wisdom of the Prophet.

62 Heaven's Warrior As the actor chosen by Ridley Scott to play Salahuddin al-Ayyubi in the film Kingdom of Heaven, Ghassan Massoud bore a tremendous responsibility. He speaks to Abdul-Rehman Malik about working with Scott and why he won’t enter Jerusalem.

65 Review Nazim Baksh is uplifted by a new book that reveals the Topkapi Museum’s sacred relics.

Mujadad Zaman on the compulsive genius of Jason Webster’s Andalus. N.A. Kassem hails My Name is Rachel Corrie as a the-

46 Portfolio: Shaykh Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din Fuad Nahdi introduces a mountain of a man. Reza Shah-Kazemi on his intellectual and spiritual legacy. Shaykh Hamza Yusuf reflects on a gentle soul who embodied the character of the Prophet. Hasan Le Gai Eaton recalls the beginning of a friendship that lasted over half a century. Emma Clarke on his heavenly garden. Unaiza Karim on how he inspired her passion for the sacred art of illumination.

atrical tour de force. Yasser Chaudhary celebrates Liverpool’s victory in Istanbul.

70 Reflection Sarah Waseem drags herself up to heaven (well, the top of Ben Nevis) for charity and a bit of enlightenment.

71 Fiqh - blood donation, cheating on one’s spouse, copyright laws

and the time for tahajjud.

72 Vox Populi 74 Write Mind: There ain’t no mountain high enough Two Iranians have become the first Muslim women to scale Mount Everest. An impressive feat, says Svend White, but how many of us really have the right to be proud?

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C O N T R I B U T O R S SONIA MALIK

is a law graduate currently working as a freelance journalist. She speaks five languages and has travelled extensively through Europe, Asia and South America.

KHALIDA KHAN

has been a community worker for over two decades. She is the director of the An-Nisa Society, a women-led organisation working for families.

YAHYA BIRT

is the coordinator for the Muslim World Book Review at the Islamic Foundation in Leicester.

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SVEND WHITE

is an information technology consultant and Muslim activist in Washington DC. He takes a particular interest in Muslim-Jewish dialogue.

CAROL GATT

works in the Maltese banking sector and is editor of The Good Word, the first magazine dedicated to Muslims in Malta.

ISLA ROSSER-OWEN

has been a freelance journalist for over a decade. She currently promotes creative writing programmes and as a Saddler, is a Member of the Guild of Master Craftsmen.

IRFAN M. RYDHAN

is a filmmaker and the owner of Jam Productions - www.jam-productions.com, an international film and video company based in San Jose, California.

UNAIZA KARIM

is one of very few British Muslim artists specialising in the sacred art of illumination.

She currently writes and delivers Islamic arts curricula.

NAZIM BAKSH

is an award-winning producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto. He is also the main organiser of the Deen Intensive and Rihla programs.

CLASSIC Q

ANGST ON THE WAY TO THE ALTAR mmmmm, I thought. Shall I? Shan’t I? Will I be branded a desperado? Don’t you have to be an utter nutter to answer to matrimonial ad? On the other hand, no-one need ever know. If things worked out (admittedly, it’s a long shot), I could always pretend I’d met her at a bus stop or on the Tube. But I’d know and that would be enough.

Being young, Muslim and unattached is often like being on death row. Not that one would want to underestimate the ordeal that people on Death Row really go through, but for myself, I feel I’ve tasted a quite a bit of despair, frustration and general angst for one who hasn’t been around for more than a quarter of a century.

My problem has nothing to do with a criminal record (unless you count general incompetence in the emotional matters to be a crime punishable by death- and my, I’ve come close to wishing for it!) No, my present difficulty is more of a complaint at the way British Muslims seem to upping the stakes in that murky entity, the Muslims Marriage Market, with every generation.

Years ago, my dear mother tells me, it used to be easy. The first generation of immigrant Muslims went “back home” to find true love and happy ever after, and virtually every youngster was well and truly hitched by the time she reached twenty-two. Those were the good ol’ days, when boys and girls frolicked about in prelapsarian innocence, until Mum’s and Dad’s mental clock sounded an alarm: Time for marriage.

It is with great difficulty, however, that I explain to my long-suffering parent that in 1996, things are slightly different.

We, the Seventies generation, brought up on Leonard Cohen and the Bangles, as well as the more wholesome ditties of Yusuf Islam, are a confused lot. On the one hand, we have absorbed the influences of our peers, and hope to find that one-in-a-million Right Person, who’ll just walk into our lives when fate decides to smile on us. But on the other, we live by a religious code that enjoins celibacy until marriage. Yet “back home” is not an option for us, either, since this place, dear old Blighty, for us is, for better or worse, home.

But it’s not always where the heart is.

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My heart, for one, is usually fixed on some poor unsuspecting girl whose hand I don’t yet have the courage, or being a student, the financial clout, to ask for in marriage.

Round where I live, it’s also frowned on to be seen with a member of the female species unless your are actually engaged (or, better still, married) to her, so the chances of a casual encounter down the corner shop are not too high and in any case clouded by taboo and countertaboo.

So where does that leave us? Let’s mull over the options (I’m an expert: I’ve been “reviewing the options” for years) Arranged marriage? Not for me thanks, I believe in Lurve. So does that mean experiment a bit, and see who tickles yer fancy? Nah, that’s not exactly the pattern of behaviour I would want my younger siblings to emulate. (Not that they always go in for emulation. More like subversion) All these games that dating couples play, those species that line the walls of college canteens and hang about in groups in city centres, usually in the vicinity of a bar or club - just not my cup of Early Grey.

As I sit here and ponder the finer nuances of the problem that most young Muslims I know seem to share with me, as my pen is poised to answer a Q-matri-

monial ad, a new idea hits me. (Hold on to yet seats folks, this doesn’t happen very often) What all us youngsters should be doing- rather than surfing (read “drowning in”) the net, or squandering our precious youth on such futile activities as watching the Third Test at Oval (thrilling thought that may be) - is to devise halal ways of bringing young Muslim men and women together, in a wholesome and relaxed environment, where we can shed our inhibitions and talk business (the tying of the knot) and pleasure (the prologue and hopefully the epilogue to that). Such a forum would have to be underpinned by some sound Islamic values (no “hanky panky”!) - because boys will of course be boys, and as for girls… I won’t presume to speak for them! One way to ensure that decorum prevailed would be to have a few married couples helping in the running of such a group - as long as they were fairly chilledout about the whole idea.

Part of the torment - argh! - of knowing that there are many hundreds of young Muslims out there looking for a partner but hamstrung by various social and cultural barriers lies in the fact that we are all culturally instilled with the idea that it’s uncool to be seen to be “looking for someone”. We have grown up with the very mixed blessing of individualism, which more or less preaches that showing any serious interest in a person of the opposite sex is all mixed up with the idea of pride, and “losing face” if you’re rejected.

We need to be liberated from all this.

Once we’ve decided that we are going to be Islamic about our conduct, marriage becomes an obligation as well as a personal need, and we shouldn’t be beating about the bush waiting for some miracle to fall into our laps and sort the whole vexed question out for us. There are very few role models around for us (no, not even Imran Khan). So we’ll have to become role models ourselves.

Phew, after all that, the Q-matrimonials go back in the drawer, and that’s hopefully where they’ll stay - until tomorrow, after Fajr.

Amil Khan Q-News, Issue 22 16-22 August 1996 Q - NEWS

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WEDDING

CARNAGE ...A whole family of 25 people. No single person was left alive. This was the extent of the damage.

Wedding Breakfast is a collective title given to a body of work made as a direct response to the indiscriminate killing of an entire wedding party in Afghanistan by American bombs, as part of the ongoing “war on terror”.These deaths are accounted for as “collateral damage” or “loss through friendly fire”.

As an artist I have been trying to find a way to rehumanise those who are dehumanised.As voyeurs of tragedy we become immune to images and words diluted through constant media exposure.

Wedding Breakfast presents an event through absence.Traces of what may have taken place.

The formal tableaux draw on the traditions of still life painting, and each of the objects chosen have symbolic meaning: the figs, olives, pomegranates and bread are a direct reference to the Middle East, and the bed sheet on which they are placed to the consummation of a marriage.

The words wedding and breakfast both suggest beginnings and regeneration, but here it is a loss of life, a last celebration. In this work I have drawn on the tradition of the The Last Supper as rendered in painting.

Rafiqa Clare Basel is an established painter and a new graduate of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London. The Wedding Breakfast is featured as part of the college’s degree show.

DIARY

DIARY AFFAN CHOWDHRY

he day that Martin Lings died I was on the tennis court and I remember thinking: Any moment now the leaves will turn and fall. But it was May.And yet, where was the riot of spring? Instead, there was the knowing silence and peace of the first days of Autumn.The night before, at the British Museum, I was talking to a young Pakistani artist studying Islamic art in London. I told her I was studying the history of Sufism. I thought she would melt. “Kashful Mahjub,” she sighed,“what a wonderful book.” I grinned.“Except the part where he says women shouldn’t attend qawwali performances because they distract the men.” We laughed. Alongside Ali Hujwiri’s masterpiece she mentioned Martin Lings, whose writings had affected her deeply.

How did an Englishman’s love affair become a young Pakistani’s passion, too? It it all seemed so curious. Dr Lings spoke at a London event only ten days earlier. After the speech, a Pakistani auntie said to me, tearfully:“What will we do when he’s gone?” I did not know what to say so I nodded and kept silent.We are so hungry for saints, for something good and precious in this insane world, something steady and true.

That day in Wembley, spring felt like spring - not like the day Dr Lings died. When I got back to my room after the tennis game, the radio told of George Galloway’s latest troubles. British Muslims have sunk so low that they would carry this man on their shoulders. I shook my head and smiled. A text message beeped from my desk. It delivered the sad news. Although I am studying Sufism, I have only read a few pages of Dr Lings. Somewhere, that quiet affection for Sufism got transformed into aloof academic skepticism. I started to write about Sufi rhetoric, the unreliability of hagiographies, the construction of saintliness. Sometimes - like the day that Dr Lings died - my heart tells me it can teach me something a thousand books cannot.

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uthor Milan Kundera outlined his concept of kitsch as made-up of two tears.There is the initial tear that flows at the sight of children playing on grass.The second tear

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seems to say: How lovely to feel moved - along with the rest of humanity - by the sight of children running on grass.

It is the second tear that defines kitsch. This past year, I have become a huge fan of Extreme Makeover - Home Edition. The American television program finds deserving families, sends them on vacation, and then demolishes their old home. When the family returns, a dream home stands waiting. The stories are often heart-wrenching - a single mother diagnosed with cancer fears that her three adopted daughters, all of whom have HIV-AIDS, will not be looked after when she dies. The Extreme Makeover team comes to the rescue - building a home with the help of local contractors and neighbors.What I love about the show is all the crying. At the beginning of the program, the design team watches a video of the deserving family, while wiping away their tears. The camera shots are our cue to open the taps. An audience of millions is transformed into a community of weeping misfits. This is a program designed to help people cry. In the unfortunate event that people miss their cue, there are numerous opportunities to melt even the iciest heart. America is beautiful, America is great, America is compassionate. Most of all,America is the greatest myth-making machine on earth.

As a friend, who lived for so many years in the United States, once told me: “America loves a success story, a winner.When you’re up, everyone loves you. But the moment you’re down, they call you a loser, and they’ll start kicking.” he sensation of arriving in Phoenix, Arizona, in the middle of June is akin to opening the oven when you’re roasting chicken and feeling the heat slap against your face. By the time my brother and I reached the car in the airport parking lot, I felt as dry and tender as a chicken breast. Everyone in Phoenix is talking about real estate these days.The boom is in full-swing, and the bidding wars are brutal.

Those who’ve just arrived are talking about moving on - perhaps to another real estate market ready to over-heat. Who says America

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is a nation at war? It is about the furthest thing from peoples’ minds. In America, either you’re talking about the value of your own house, your neighbor’s house, or the house you’ll never be able to afford. These days, if you’re looking to enter the real estate market for the first time, you’re best to start in Baghdad.

In many respects, Phoenix is a classic American city - without an urban core. In other words, without a heart.To see someone walking down the street is stranger than a one-legged dog.

There is no pedestrian culture. Cars and SUVs rule the roads. When we arrived at the flat, I walked over to the little baby swing to meet my nephew - three months old - for the first time. Zain was fighting sleep. His head tossed left and right. He looked at his mom, then his dad, and then he looked at me and burst out crying.

Little Zain is a beauty - with big bright dark eyes, a half-smile, and tuft of hair at the top of his head that makes him look like a baby Buddhist monk. He wears socks on his hands.

How cool is that? The kid can’t stop moving his arms swing constantly, his legs kick tirelessly. Sometimes he displays the same impatience I show standing in line at the Bloomsbury Tesco. “What’s the bloody hold-up, yeah? Give me my friggin’ bottle for Christ’s sake,” he seems to be saying.

During a day trip to Sedona, two hours outside of Phoenix, while his Mom and Dad walked along a creek, I stood by the stroller and watched Zain stare wide-eyed at the play of light through the trees. Oh, the wonderment in that little face.

“What do you see, Zainy? Tell Chacha.” He looked at me briefly, and then returned to the sparkle of light above me.

When I flew to Canada the next day, I was driving home from the airport in my beaten-up 15year-old Volkswagen Golf. Bob Dylan sang on the radio:“May your hands always be busy, may your feet always be swift, may you have a strong foundation when the winds of changes shift. My your heart always be joyful, may your song always be sung, may you stay forever young…”

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Q-NOTES Did someone mention human rights?

CONSPIRACY OF THE MONTH

Cherie Blair has had a rough ride recently. First, it was the furore over her speaking engagement in Washington, DC which netted her £30,000 and now there are concerns over a planned trip to Malaysia. There has been much talk of privileges abused and positions exploited.What everyone seemed to miss is that in this globalised, free trade economy, the market has decided that Cherie’s words are worth about £333.33 a minute.

Other celebrities get paid similarly ludicrous fees and they aren’t half as smart as Cherie, QC is. It’s called capitalism and the self righteous indignation of the right-wing press is absurd. But it was former BBC journalist Chris Grayling - now a Conservative MP and Shadow Commons leader - whose outrage was particularly misplaced.

Grayling and his colleagues alleged that Malaysia is a repressive country, in violation of human rights, and that if Cherie goes she had better use the opportunity to criticise Malaysia’s government. The Evening Standard jumped on the bandwagon, trotting out an Amnesty International report on Malaysia’s human rights record.The Amnesty reports are to be taken seriously, but hold on, let’s have a look at some other reports that Grayling and his friends ignored. In its latest annual report, Amnesty levels particular criticism at the United States. What with the fate of hundreds of detainees held without charge or trial at Guantanamo Bay, the thousands detained during US military and security operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and denied access to their families and lawyers, the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, the violation of several major international treaties, and opting out of the International Court of Justice, the US makes Malaysia look like a mere schoolyard bully. Not to mention, Amnesty also noted that more than 40 people died in the US after being struck by police tasers and that asylum seekers and refugees are regularly jailed and denied their rights. Next time a prominent Briton goes to the United States, we’d like to see Grayling et al. voice their concern and read dutifully from Amnesty International reports.

Recently heard at Friday prayers: “Orthodox Jews in Israel have allied themselves with evil jinn to form an otherworldly alliance against Muslims - believers beware!” This fetish for coming up with increasingly more idiotic conspiracy theories has simply gone too far. This latest one is so ridiculous and laughable that it’s easy to forget that it smacks of knee-jerk anti-semitism. We have enough of a rap sheet on the Israeli government to make a pretty strong case for Palestinian justice. Resorting to such outlandish hyperbole only prejudices our cause.

More, more, more - Dubai style!

Buruj al-Arab - the world’s most expensive luxury resort. Dubailand the world’s largest shopping mall. The Palm - a man-made island, the world’s largest residential development and the only construction (barring the Great Wall of China) seen from space. Dubai’s residents knock down world records in their spare time. The record for the largest gathering of people sharing the same name was broken recently when almost 2,000 men named ‘Muhammad’ smashed the previous record of 375 “Marias” in Spain in 2003. From toddlers to grandfathers, all had to produce an original birth certificate. Dubai also succeeded in forming the largest human flag when more than 16,000 schoolchildren wore red, white, black and green of the United Arab Emirates flag. The city was also hoping to take the records for the largest charity box, the biggest mosaic made from drinks cans and the fastest pizza-eating attempt. Dubai has also set records for the longest sofa and the biggest prayer mat. Perhaps it’s time to put that prayer mat to use and ask forgiveness - for excess… and sheer folly.

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It was reprehensible behaviour. After disrupting the launch of the Muslim Council of Britain’s election advice document at the Regent’s Park Mosque, one of a small band of disenfranchised young men, campaigning against Muslim participation at the then upcoming elections, proceeded to first shove one of their egregious flyers on Secretary-General Iqbal Sacranie’s forehead, followed by another slapped him across the face. The incident caused national media attention and the actions of the offending youth, alternatively members of The Saviour Sect or Al Ghurabaa (all alleged protégés of former Al Muahjiroun leader Omar Bakri Muhammad) were roundly condemned - as they deserved to be.Whatever disagreements one may have with the MCB (and Allah knows we have many), there should be a zero-tolerance policy against physical assaults in the name of Islam.

But, we cannot help but hope MCB hacks like Inayet Bunglawala will themselves be more responsible now. Bunglawala, media spokesman for the MCB, declared that the actions of the Saviour Sect shock troops “prove that they have a hooligan outlook on life.And no - they are not good Muslims. We would even question whether they are Muslims at all. We certainly don’t regard them as Muslims. In Islam, if there are two groups of people and one says that the other is a nonbeliever that is a very serious thing… When that happens one of the groups must not be Muslim.”

Talk about swinging the other way. For an organisation that likes to wear its moderate label on its sleeve, this is a rather bold assertion.The logic begs question and the tone - alot like that of the assaulters.

Bunglawala told the Evening Standard that, “It’s quite terrifying. These people are a cancer in our society.They are working themselves up into a frenzy and it can’t be long before someone is hurt or even killed.”

Is this the same Bunglawala who last year attacked and undermined several Muslim journalists, including Navid Akhtar for his BBC report on the growing trend among young male Muslims toward a separatist ideology that turns its back on Britain? Bunglawala ridiculed Akhtar’s argument, accusing him of cash in on sensationalist stories. Sounds like the “minority” that Bunglawala dismissed is getting rather violent and now that the MCB is in its sights, they are even capable of “killing”.

Perhaps the MCB should apologise to Akhtar and other courageous Muslim journalists who have tried to highlight the growing problem in spite of the pronouncements of our erstwhile representatives.

“Vote today,

kafir tomorrow!”

Perverse Preachers, Deadly Mullahs For all the talk of love,American evangelicals have developed a rather nasty dislike for Islam. Maybe, we bring out the worst in them. Maybe, underneath their Armani-suited pieties, they are as rotten as any other religious fanatics. A few of these “God-appointed” salvation seekers, foaming at the mouth with anti-Muslim rage, command the respects of millions of “born again” evangelical Christians the world over. They make our mad mullahs - even the long in the tooth type, look tame.

The pastor of Danieltown Baptist Church, North Carolina must have been feeling the holy spirit (or perhaps patriotic zeal) rather powerfully the morning he posted a sign outside his parish that read: “The Koran needs to be flushed.”

It’s just what the Pentagon needed - a dash of moral majority support.

Rev. Creighton Lovelace was defiant,“Desecration is causing damage to something holy and since the Koran is not holy, there is no desecration. Jesus said that if the world hates you, don’t feel bad because they hated me first…If somebody’s offended, we must be doing something right.’”

The statements of Franklin Graham make the actions of Rev. Lovelace look like the pranks of an acne-faced, pre-pubescent boy. After all, Graham has pedigree. He’s the son Billy Graham - world famous evangelical crusader who is pastor to President Bush.

On the 22 June edition of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, Graham dropped some priceless gems to his audience of millions. “The god I worship doesn’t require me to strap a bomb on myself and go blow up innocent people to prove I love Him. Jesus died for me. I don’t have to die for him. In Islam, the clerics say the only way that you can have salvation is to die in holy war.”

Well, the only suicides that some Muslim imams have been involved in are the theatrical kind. Arab News reports that worshippers in a Saudi mosque were shocked when their Bangladeshi imam suddenly threw himself from the minbar in the middle of his Friday sermon on how Muslims should be prepared for death.As he lay very still on the floor, many worshippers fled, thinking the imam had committed suicide.

Others stared in shock when he suddenly sat up and declared, “This is what death looks like.”

At least our mullahs have a sense of humour.

Islamic Music’s Summer Invasion arks and concert halls will be filling up over the next few months as music festival season hits the British Isles. This year a record number of performers from the Muslim world are coming to entertain, uplift and enlighten the thousands who will flock to their concerts.

London Royal Festival Hall and South Bank Centre are hosting Rhythm Sticks, an international celebration of percussion with some amazing talent from the lands of Islam. Musicians of the Nile, drummers and singers from Upper Egypt, will entrance with their traditional repertoires; Iraqi musician Ahmed Mukhtar brings together Arab percussionists for A Night in Baghdad (before bombs and missiles became the dominant beat); and the Ahl-e-Haq Sufi order from Kurdish Iran bring their unique dhikr to the stage, ready to entrance and lift us closer to the Divine. There will be a month of workshops, including drumming lessons and seminars.An event absolutely not to be missed - check out www.rfh.org.uk/rhythmsticks for more information and schedule.

WOMAD, the granddaddy of world music festivals, is back at Reading this year with a stellar Muslim line-up: Mahmoud Ahmed (Ethiopia); Adel Salameh Trio (Palestine); Akim El Sikameya (Algeria/France); Abdullah Chhadeh & Nara (Syria); Amadou & Mariam (Mali); Farida & Iraqi Maqam Ensemble (Iraq); Ilham Al Madfai (Iraq); Modou Diouf & O

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Singing the Oona King Blues Poor Oona. Defeated in Bethnal Green and Bow by George Galloway and his Muslim-powered Respect Coalition juggernaut, Oona has tried to hold her head up high.

Her supporters declared her defeat ‘a loss for ethnic minorities in Parliament’. Others blamed an ‘antiJewish backlash’. Her liberal friends have even cast a jaundiced eye on the “endemically sexist” Tower Hamlet Bangladeshis who couldn’t countenance an independent-minded woman representing them.Yeah, right.

As Ruhul Tarafder argues in BLINK, “If Muslims supported Galloway because King is Jewish and a woman, then why did they elect her in 1997 and 2001? Why didn’t Muslims vote for the Conservative or Liberal Democrat candidates - both well-respected Bangladeshi Muslims? If Bangladeshis don’t like women politicians, how do we explain the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Khaleda Zia and the previous Prime Minister and leader of the opposition, Sheikh Hasina - both women?”

It was the local Labour Party, after all, who decided to bring up the issue of Oona’s black and Jewish identity, and who produced two very different kinds of election literature for the white and Bengali Muslim community.A bitter Oona has fought back. She’s been spotted dining with foreign dignitaries and busying about Westminster - it’s like she never left.

Some reports quote her insisting that she be given a safe seat in an upcoming by-election.A Blair babe she remains.

Oona was However, singing a very different tune when she showed up to the Mecca2Medina and Q-News sponsored Malcolm X tribute concert in Bethnal Green in February. Taking the stage (she wasn’t invited, but when she asked to speak, we couldn’t say no), she was downright gleeful at the prospect of being defeated. “If I’m lucky, I’ll lose”, she gushed, “I’ll have time to get out more and experience the culture that this community has to offer.” Guess the joke was on her, eh?

Fogum (Senegal); and Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali Group (Pakistan) to name a few. Check out details at www.womad.org/reading.

But the real superstar of WOMAD will be Senegal’s inimitable Youssou N’Dour.

Just coming off his Grammy Award winning Sufi music CD, Egypt, N’Dour will also be performing at three Live8 concerts - Cornwall, London and Paris - and will also be coming to perform Harrogate’s International Centre in North Yorkshire on 31 July.

The barakah of his songs in praise of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and Senegal’s greatest shaykhs has paid blessed dividends indeed.

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DO NOT FEAR, THE HALAL

SUPERHERO IS HERE! n Sylhet, Muslim children are told the legend of the great warrior-saint Shah Jalal, who not only crossed the River Surma floating on his prayer mat, but lead his armed dervishes into battle against the demon-king Gaur Govinda who was terrorising local villagers. Govinda’s mastery of the dark arts - witchcraft and jinns, was no match for the piety, miracles and military acumen of the Shaykh. He is a hero for all times. For modern consumers, the tales are not far off from today’s comic book stories.

So it should be no surprise that Muslim characters and themes are beginning to show up in some of the world’s most popular comic books.With last year’s launch of Spider-Man India, the billion pound comic book industry knows the value of cultural diversity. SpiderMan India is no longer Peter Parker, but Pavitr Prabhakar. Pavitr leaps around rickshaws and scooters in Bombay’s friendly (and not so friendly) neighbourhoods, swinging from the Gateway of India.

He even makes a side trip to Agra to spin his web in the Taj Mahal.

With Uncle Bhim, Auntie Maya and who could forget Mary Jane, err, I mean Meera Jain. Even the Green Goblin is reinvented as a Rakshasa, an Indian mythological demon.

But, wait there is a home grown British Muslim hero now in the offing. Grant Morrison, the genius wunderkind artist of X-Men, Batman and Superman fame, has recently launched Vimanarama, features a teenaged Muslim superhero named Ali from rain-soaked Bradford, England where he lives with his cornershop-owning father. According to altmuslim.com Morrison says he carefully studied Islamic theology and history and became inspired by the debates about Islam and the West that characterised discourse after the September 11th attacks.

Harrison then made sure the characters represented the diversity of people in Bradford.

“There are devout Muslims in the book and couldn’t-care-less Muslims, so everyone gets a shout,” says Morrison, whose characters include those dressed in hijab and those who decidedly don’t. In Vimanarama,Ali, finds himself at odds with his cross cultural upbringing and inadvertently unleashes a subterranean army of fossil demons (well, it is a comic book).The comic has been met with rave reviews.

But move aside Ali, because you are no match for Sooraya Qadir aka Dust, the burqa-clad heroine of X-Men, one of the world’s most popular comic franchises. Created (again) by Grant Morrison after 9/11, Sooraya Qadir is an anomaly in the oversexed world of comics, whose buxom characters often are drawn to appeal to their teenage audiences. Sooraya, the story goes, was rescued by Wolverine in Afghanistan. Turns out Sooraya, who is a devout Muslim and never removes her burqa in front of men (not even in the comic book as the artists of the series she is currently featured in have only ever

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drawn her without burqa in front of female characters), has the ability to turn into a living dust cloud and has been shown to use that ability to flay the flesh off her enemies. In Afghanistan she had used her power to guard her modesty as her evil uncle had attempted to rape her. He never knew what hit him.

The storyline (advanced in the Hellions series) has brought Sooraya to the United States where she has stayed true to her Islam and continues to wear the burqa. As one of the writers recently wrote, “There’s a very real way in which the burqa symbolises the oppression… but that is not all of what it’s about. There are reasons why a woman might choose to wear one. Sooraya has left the life behind where she had no choice, but when she got here, she chose to keep the burqa. That’s a tough choice to make. People expect us to have someone “teach” Sooraya to be free, but we’d rather walk that line.”

The writers continue, “We made the decision to keep Sooraya as the moral centre of [the comic]. In retrospect, we kind of like that in the current political atmosphere, we’ve got an Islamic character who plays the moral heart of the team.”

Since being introduced Sooraya has become a fan favourite.

More recently,AK Comics - an Egyptian-American outfit - has introduced the Middle East Heroes series, which selling over 50,000 copies a month in Egypt, is launching this summer in the United Kingdom.

The Middle East Heroes team has four heroes: Zein - the Last Pharaoh, Jalila - Saviour of the City of All Faiths, Rakan - the Lone Warrior and Aya - the Princess of Darkness. They battle evil (of course) throughout the Middle East in the near future, following the 55 years war that ended with a nuclear holocaust.They protect the Holy City of All Faiths from the bad guys in this world and the next.

Move over Superman, the halal superheroes are almost here.

Muslim-ise me!

Morgan Spurlock ate MacDonald’s food for a whole month and ended up with an unlikely indie-film hit, Super Size Me, which documents the dramatic decline in his health as is a stunning indictment against the fast food industry.

Now, he’s launched a reality show called 30 Days which puts people in foreign surroundings and forces them to learn about other people, cultures and ideas. As Mekeisha Toby reports in The Detroit News, David Tracy didn’t know anything about Muslims or their religion, but he knew he didn’t like them, and he didn’t trust them especially after 9/11.

As a self-proclaimed red-blooded American Christian, Islam was synonymous with terrorism. That was until he signed up for 30 Days, left the comforts of his Charleston,West Virginia home, his wife and young son. His job was to live with a Muslim family in Dearborn, Michigan - a city with the largest concentration of Arab and Muslim people in America.

The experience had Stacy confronting a religion that does not recognise Christ as “the Lord’s son”, the fundamental in Christianity. Stacy prayed like a Muslim five times a day, and struggled to learn the prayers in Arabic. Well into his 30 days, he found himself grappling with his

duties as a good Christian.

Constantly at odds, Stacy argued with his Muslims hosts about September 11 one day and fought to get an Islamic-rights petition signed on another. During the latter, Stacy dressed in traditional Muslim garb, debated the less tolerant in the city of Howell around the same time a Ku Klux Klan rally was to take place.“This is the first time I understood what it is like to be an African-American or Latino, to be different and looked at with distrust,” Stacy says.

“My political and social views were so shallow. Now, I’m more active in my community. As a Christian, I now pray three times a day, when I used to only pray every other day. I look at the world and Islam differently. An entire religion can’t be blamed for the actions of a few.”

There is still hope in America.

Where’s the halal Jamie Oliver?

It all began in Pakistan

It is the fate of British Muslims that controversies over halal meat are never rare, but the case of the switched school dinners is a downright insult to Camden’s substantial Muslim community. It has emerged that halal meat has been secretly removed from thousands of children’s school dinners after one parent complained halal slaughter rituals are “cruel”. Emails obtained by the New Journal show that halal meat has been replaced with non-halal meat at more than fifty Camden schools since last summer, unbeknownst to Muslim students or their families.

Officials secretly ordered catering firm Scolarest to stop serving the religiously-blessed meat in July after a mother at Eleanor Palmer School complained that halal slaughter was “cruel to animals”.

The revelation has provoked an angry response from Joynal Uddin, chairman of the Camden Bengali Parents and Tenants Association, who said: “One person ringing up and complaining about halal meat seems more important than Camden’s 25,000 Muslims. Half of the children in Camden schools are Muslim but we have not been engaged in any discussion about school dinners.Apparently, 350 parents were consulted for the council’s review, but no-one can tell us if any were Muslim. A large proportion of the Muslim pupils come from Somali and Bangladeshi households that are amongst the most deprived in Camden and for who this is the main meal of the day.”

Local councillors have fallen over themselves to declare their innocence, but why the decision to stop using halal meat was not made public has yet to be answered. It looks like its back to faith sensitivity training for local education and government officials. Muslim children on the other hand will have to suffice with bland vegetarian fare until the council gets its act together.

These days, Muslims don’t usually get into debates over the theory of evolution and the origins of man. Frankly, all the back and forth between the “enlightened” and the “devout” is old news and there are far more important and pressing issues to spend our precious time on. We should add that Harun Yahya - the Turkish writer who battles latter-day Darwinists with gusto, has published several books on the topic that have settled the matter in the minds of most literate Muslims once and for all.

But, now it looks like evolutionary science has found an unlikely new home: Balochistan, Pakistan. Laurent Marivaux, a palaeontologist at the University of Montpellier II, has discovered the remains of three 30 million year-old primate species in a Balochistan valley. Our ancient ancestors, he asserts, may have come from Asia, not Africa.

The findings have been met with surprise and interest after being published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In typical Darwinist fashion, Marivaux and his team - who took great personal risks conducting field work in areas where tribal conflicts are common - imagine that this anthropoid group had been unable to live in South Asia because of its harsh climate.

“From a common Asian ancestor, anthropoids probably dispersed rapidly in Africa and evolved in relative isolation on both continents thereafter,” explains Marivaux.

The research of course shows no real link to human beings, and the fossils are probably just the remnants of a species that came before Allah created Homo sapiens. Still, the very thought that human life originated in modern-day Pakistan had The Daily Mail exclaiming incredulously, “Man, how could we have been so wrong?”

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RESPECT OR RESPECTABILITY? Are you thinking what we’re thinking? Thank God, it’s all over. But did all that sound and fury about the “Muslim vote” signify nothing? Are British Muslims moving towards a politics of accountability or are the old ways of patronage still decisive? YAHYA BIRT reflects after all the ballot papers have been counted. hen a poll in March 2004 showed that the traditionally-solid Muslim Labour vote had halved after 9/11, mostly swinging to the Liberal Democrats, it was certain that British Muslims would be wooed by the main parties rather than be taken for granted. Once so controversial, the funding of faith schools no longer seemed to be such an issue. New Labour even promised to use the Parliament Act to get incitement to religious hatred through at a third attempt. Record numbers of Muslim parliamentary candidates were selected, some 74 in all (44 from the main parties). Muslim caucuses were formed in the three main parties over the last two years.

The new Respect party chased the anti-war vote in constituencies with big Muslim populations. The radicals opposing the election looked more isolated than ever, and could do little except rough up Iqbal Sacranie or release their own parodic manifestos, as the community decided how to cast its vote.

This was the first General Election for about one in eight Muslim voters, and it was clear that a second generation growing up with the war on terror, stop and search and Iraq were out to seek respect, even if our community leaders were still seeking respectability. Both the Muslim Council of Britain and the new British Muslim Forum (the latter in more surreptitious fashion) attempted to be seen as non-party political, but both tilted to Labour towards the end of campaign, knowing like the rest of the country that we were in for a third term.

But for the first time, we had an open discussion about the manipulation of clan politics by community leaders and local party politicians. The implications of Birmingham postal vote scandal, which has eviscerated Muslim political representation in the local Labour Party, have yet to be fully played out. The old tricks, the old manipulations, look increasingly tired, and let us hope that something more relevant, democratic and transparent can now take its place.

George Galloway’s spectacular win for Respect in Bethnal Green and Bow was the surprise of the election, and sent a clear message that Iraq was still a live issue. But a careful look at Respect’s overall performance indicates that this might be a one-off as Iraq begins inevitably to slip down the agenda.

Respect’s share of the national vote dropped from 1.5% in the Euro elections of June 2004 to 0.3% in the General Election.

Seventy per cent of its 70,000-odd votes came in four East End constituencies and Sparkbrook and Small Heath in Birmingham, where Salma Yaqoob was only a few thousand votes from unseating Labour’s Roger Godsiff. The Muslim Association of Britain, a key ally only a year ago, offered lukewarm support for Respect’s 26 candidates, endorsing only four of them and opposing Ali J. Zaidi in Tooting in favour of Labour’s Sadiq Khan.

Looking at the forty constituencies with the highest

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Muslim populations, the Liberal Democrat share of the vote in 2005 increased by an average of 8.8% over the 2001 Election, more than double the increase achieved nationally. This was no doubt due to their stand on Iraq and civil liberties but also because they were on the left of New Labour on some social and economic issues, reflected in the fact that they lost some rural seats to the Conservatives while doing better against Labour in the inner cities. It is likely that Muslim votes helped the Liberal Democrats to win Rochdale and aid Sarah Teather’s retention of Brent East after her stunning by-election victory last year, despite MAB’s short-termism in deciding to back Labour’s Yasmin Qureshi this time around, no doubt for favours owed to the Mayor of London over the Qaradawi fiasco. Elsewhere, however, Muslim voters in Leicester South, unimpressed by another Liberal Democrat by-election victor, Parmjit Gill Singh, plumped instead for an experienced local Labour politician, Sir Peter Soulsby. It is hardly surprising that the Conservatives failed to take their one target seat (number 112) in the Muslim top forty, Batley and Spen, given their strong stand on immigration.

However the brutal fact is that these forty constituencies were almost all safe Labour seats, even if the party hierarchy believed that its intense operation to retain its Muslim vote mitigated an even greater disaster, which was fronted by Gordon Brown rather than by a tarnished Tony Blair. So despite an increase in the anti-Labour vote, Labour got a 47% share of the total vote and retained thirty-seven of these forty seats. So all in all, under the rigours of the first-past-the-post system, the impact of the Muslim protest vote, such as it was, was hardly titanic.

It is certainly true that many Muslims decided to stick with Labour for its popular domestic policies of reducing poverty and improving core services for reasons that had more to do with class than creed, even if they felt aggrieved over Iraq. No matter what community leaders might have wanted us to believe, the results show that we are not a single issue community: in the privacy of the polling booth, Muslims appeared

Qalam Summer Creative Writing Competition 2005 Co-sponsored by Q-News Magazine

“Pens and Swords” Categories: Poetry (Max. 30 lines), Short Story (Max. 1000 words), Play/Screenplay (Max. 1000 words) Panel of judges includes: Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore, Fatima Martin, Dr Roger Boase,Yahiya Emerick, Jibril Hambel,AbdulRehman Malik, Saraji Umm Zaid and Ovidio Salazar.

Prizes:Winners of the first prize from each category will receive £100.The winning entries will be published in Q-News.

All runners up will be named and will receive a critique of their work.

Deadline: 31st August 2005 Contact Isla Rosser-Owen, the competition organiser, for an entry form and competition rules and guidelines by emailing (preferred): qalamcompetitions@gmail.com or, send a stamped addressed envelope to:‘Qalam Competition’, c/o Q-News, PO Box 4295, London W1A 7YH. For more information visit the Qalam website: www.qalamonline.com

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to vote with some mix of self-interest, principle, party loyalty and tactical consideration as did the rest of the country. Nor did they vote unthinkingly for the Muslim candidate: Sadiq Khan and Shahid Malik, both capable new MPs, came in on reduced Labour majorities. But the myth of the Muslim bloc vote may be hard to dislodge in the foreseeable future for reasons of mutual self-interest between Muslim community leaders and the political parties. It will only be shattered when Muslims renounce the politics of symbolism for one of true engagement.

VOTE EARLY,VOTE OFTEN Imagine a Muslim voter waking up on Friday 6th May for his fajr prayers. In the half-light of early dawn, he is in a reflective mood. He turns on the television catching the hilariously yet disturbing Paxman-Galloway “interview”, which while entertaining, was scarcely enlightening. Our thoughtful Muslim returns to bed, but is unable to sleep.What to make of this night of electoral drama? Was Galloway’s result an aberration? Did he make the right choice? Did his vote count?

Did it count three or four times? So many questions. DAL NUN STRONG has some answers. irst things first, the scantest reading will tell you how the Muslims voted. They voted negatively against Blair, for whatever party was the most vocally anti-war in their constituency. In most cases this was the Liberal Democrats, but in particularly “ethnic” areas, the motley Respect coalition polled particularly well. The scale of the anti-Blair swing and the heterogeneity of the recipients of Muslim votes, leave no doubt that Muslim voting was entirely negative.

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Muslim representation This desire to give Blair a slap in the face at any cost has some curious consequences. Firstly, Muslims did not vote for anything. Now that the elections are over, how are politicians supposed to interpret what the Muslim community wants or requires for 2005, and beyond, if they only wanted to punish the mistakes of 2003? Muslims clearly didn’t think that antidiscrimination laws, faith schools or tackling incitement to religious hatred were actually as important topics as campaigners such as the MCB thought - indeed the entire issue of faith schools didn’t appear in the Respect party manifesto at all.

Secondly, poor people nationwide use MPs as helpers on bread-and-butter issues disproportionately more than rich people - and Muslims are no exception, asking for help with housing claims, benefits, visa applications and all that. Yet there is little evidence that Muslims rewarded people with a strong track record in constituency work. By all accounts, Oona King in Bethnal Green was an exemplary constituency MP, even devoting her entire Parliamentary allowance to a running a permanent local advice-centre. Bethnal Green residents have now decided that George Galloway would be a better constituency representative - but we must wait and see whether he will devote as much of his time to the problems of

the people he is paid to represent as he does to people in trouble spots overseas. Many people in his old Glasgow constituency thought they were the second choice on his personal agenda.

Thirdly, the Muslim vote has if anything set back efforts to boost Muslim representation in public life. True, there are two more Muslim MPs, in the shape of Shahid Malik (Dewsbury) and Sadiq Khan (Tooting), which brings the total up to four.

Four MPs out of 646 makes 0.6% at the House of Commons, as against 2.6% in the population as a whole. Muslims should not dare to complain about this under-representation, since Muslim votes were responsible for the losses of several of other Muslim candidates. For example, the 12% Muslim population of Brent East wanted the Labour party out more than they wanted a Muslim in, and so Lib Dem Sarah Teather narrowly defeated Yasmin Qureshi to retain the seat she had won in a post-Iraq by-election.

Democratic choice?

Finally, the scale of the anti-Blair swing in Muslim areas should sound some alarm bells. Are we seriously saying that thousands of Muslim voters all independently came to the decision to vote for certain parties and leave the others untouched? Do we really believe that hundreds of thousands of Muslims voted Lib Dem across the country, but the moment a Respect candidate was offered, they all switched to Respect?

Or have we just witnessed business as usual, as Muslims voted communally for whoever their leaders decided? There have been some particularly egregious examples over the last few months, such as the overt MPAC/MAB campaigns in key constituencies. Or the Muslim man who told the Lib Dem candidate on an election walkabout in Leicester South that “you’ll get six votes from me.”

And I’m wondering how many Muslim voters ever saw the ballot paper that they cast? For example the 13 voters registered at a six-bedroom house belonging to a Conservative councillor, plus a further 12 registered at a derelict house he owned until December? I’m wondering how Labour could win 47% of postal votes cast, despite winning only 37% of in-person votes. I don’t want to comment on ongoing electoral fraud investigations in Birmingham, Blackburn, Bradford and East London, but it does seem fishy that almost all of these investiQ - NEWS

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gations are of Muslims in heavily Muslim areas? I can certainly comment on Muslim Labour councillors convicted in Birmingham and Blackburn for forging postal votes earlier this year, with a shocking degree of open fraud. Their crimes have shamed the Muslim community in the eyes of our neighbours and friends.

Sadly, my conclusion on the 2005 election must end on this embarrassing note. In the last Q-News, I wrote about the reality of the “Muslim vote” and at the end of the article I set up two hostages to fortune. I said “the beauty of secret ballots is that no-one can decide but you”, and “let us use it [the vote] in such a way that our freedoms will be better preserved all the other days of the year.” Neither of the above proved to be true. While it has not yet been openly voiced, I get the strong impression that the “Muslim vote” of 2005 will open up the way to fresh problems. Muslims have been televised calling voters kafirs, Muslims have been photographed assaulting candidates, and Muslims have been caught forging postal votes. What kind of example of Islam are we giving? How can we justify hunting out Islamophobia in other people when we ourselves abuse the highest vote of confidence a democracy can bestow? Allah charges the Muslims to be witnesses to fairness, truth and justice - and if we allow precisely the opposite to continue, we deserve neither the votes that we are given nor the heritage of the Prophet.

We can do better.

DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN The last time KHALIDA KHAN wrote about Muslim girls and school uniforms was fifteen years ago in, Muslimwise.At that time it was the Alvi sisters, students at Altrincham Grammar School, who were fighting for the right to wear the hijab. Fastforward to 2005 and Shabina Begum. Sadly, she argues, we are still obsessed with what is on the body rather than what is in the head. he issue of Muslim dress and school uniform just refuses to go away. In France, it is taken as such a serious threat that the government felt they had to bring in legislation to ban the wearing of the hijab in schools. In Britain, we are much too sensible to feel threatened by a piece of cloth on the head or how much or little we choose to cover our bodies. So why is it that we still have cases like Shabina’s rearing their head?

Whenever, the issue resurfaces it becomes a political football for many different interest groups, providing a distraction from the real business of schools: giving children a good education. Every time such an incident happens the media goes on overdrive. Without a doubt, this is highly damaging to the young person who is at the centre of the controversy, but it also affects the psyche of other Muslim children and young people. The furore is all for nothing, because all that is required to enable children to feel comfortable in schools is a set of comprehensive national guidelines on uniform for pupils of all backgrounds. These have to be flexible and inclusive and recognise that we live in a multi-faith as well as a multicultural society. This is because it is not just Muslims that have

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modesty guidelines; sections of the Jewish community observe dress rules, as do Sikhs, Rastafarians and certain Christian denominations. There is, therefore, no reason that it should be a “Muslim” matter alone. We need to devise a uniform policy that does not single out Muslims, and especially Muslim girls, as the problem.

If we want children and young people of all backgrounds and faiths to learn together it is imperative that we remove artificial barriers created by pedantic adherence to rules and regulations. Uniforms are a good thing but does it really matter if the policy is tweaked to accommodate differences of belief and need?

Why can it not be flexible enough to accommodate diversity?

After all, Sikh children are allowed to wear a miniature replica of a kirpan or dagger in school thereby complying with the requirements of their faith and also adhering to safety needs. If the wearing of tight and short mini skirts is acceptable then why is covering up a problem?

One of the main factors for the failure to deal with this a long time ago is because faith was never seriously taken on board in the development of policies - the Race Relations Act 1976 is all about “race” and ethnicity. So we got bogged down with shalwar kameez rather than trying to identify what Islam, and other faiths, say about dress and modesty and how this can be accommodated in schools.

A spokesman for Shabina Begum’s former school, Denbigh High School, where 79% of pupils are Muslims, said the school uniform policy took into account cultural and religious sensitivities. “The policy was agreed by the governing body following wide consultation with the DFES, pupils, parents, schools and leading Muslim organisations,” he added. The governors of Altrincham Grammar School said virtually the same thing in 1995.

Where are they getting their information from? Most local education authorities tend to consult with local mosque leaders - the overwhelming majority of whom are neither teachers nor have never gone to school in this country. There are many Islamic educational institutions and national bodies, yet those that have grappled with this issue tend to approach it in an adhoc fashion, dealing with dress requirements a little bit at a time.

They have also dealt with it from the angle of being “foreigners” who have to beg the “host” community for concessions without rocking the boat too much. For example, their very first effort was to request the wearing of shalwars under the uniform much to the chagrin of Muslim girls who wanted to wear modest dress but felt singled out in a shalwar! Pupils, who are directly affected, are usually never consulted. The advice also tends to emanate from cultural perspectives not always relevant to all Muslims. It is because the guidance from Muslim institutions has been inadequate that some young Muslim pupils have agitated on their own for dress that they see as being appropriate.

This brings us to the role of the government. The Appeal Court judge, Lord Justice Brooke said the school should have recognised that Shabina Begum had the right to manifest her religion in public under the European human rights convention. But the three judges also expressed sympathy for the school, which had had to cope with complex human rights considerations in the absence of guidance from the Department for Education and Skills.

At the Muslim Women’s Group that meets regularly with Minister of State, Patricia Hewitt, it was requested that national guidelines be produced as a priority so that cases such

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as Shabina Begum’s never happen again. The group was informed that the Department of Education and Skills was formulating one. However, we have yet to see a draft copy.

Lack of understanding and insensitivity to dress and other concerns, such as mixed swimming and lack of private changing cubicles and showers and so on, continue to blight school life for Muslim pupils and inevitably detrimentally affects their education. The ways these problems have usually been dealt with have tended to single Muslim children and the solutions are usually restrictions and exclusion from school activities. It is time that action was taken to enable Muslim children to be included.

Whilst we remain pre-occupied with the peripherals, what gets pushed into the background are the grim facts that Muslim children continue to have the highest levels of underachievement in the country and leave school with the least qualifications. We are not focussing our attention on the failings in the way Muslim children receive their education by addressing, for example, the curriculum, teacher attitudes, institutionalised anti-Muslim discrimination and whether the school ethos respects and supports a child’s Islamic identity and heritage.

There is no excuse for any more cases such as Shabina Begum’s to become a cause for media sensationalism and bitter court battles. Young Muslims need their adults to get their act together so that school can be a positive and self-enhancing experience.

LET’S CALL A SPADE A SPADE The Arab media is quick to point out double standards in American foreign policy, but is often silent about homegrown violence, like the murder of civilians in Darfur and Iraq.Veteran journalist ABDALLAH SCHLEIFER takes stock of moral ambivalence in the Muslim world and sees some much needed signs of hope. atican City - I’m here because I have been invited to deliver a paper at a gathering of Italian scholars organized by a Vatican think tank that is trying to explore how Western as well as Arab and Muslim world media can help avert the now proverbial clash of civilizations.

This commitment by the Roman Catholic Church to fostering dialogue rather than diatribe with Arabs and with Muslims is so marvelously refreshing in comparison to the stream of never-ending hateful comments about Islam from an assortment of right-wing American evangelical Protestant clergy. So today’s conference and the invitation to me to deliver the keynote speech not only because I am American journalist who has worked and then taught in the region over the course of (gasp!) forty years, but also specifically because I am a convert to Islam is but the latest sense I have that there is a shifting in the breezes that blow across both Washington and the rest of the West and the Arab world.

Here are a few other good signs in these terrible times in which non-combatant Iraqi Shiite civilians at prayer are being blown up by suicide bombers, in which a busload of unarmed

V

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Iraqi National Guardsmen who surrendered to an insurgent force are then systematically executed, in which satellite television and even more grossly, the internet have been turned into platforms for a grisly performance art of horrendous decapitations or gangland executions as media events - and all of these outrages performed to ecstatic shouts that desecrate the phrase Allahu Akbar and the Quranic recitations that have accompanied these barbaric acts over the past few years. And all during these terrible times so much of the Arab media has played accomplice - hailing the murderers of non-combatants (and I am talking about targeted not accidental victims so please spare me the utterly invalid moral equivalences of Falluja, etc.,) as mujahideen, patriotic warriors in a holy resistance against occupation while maintaining a profound nearsilence about this “resistance’s” propensity to mass murder Iraqi Shiite and Kurdish civilians, and the summary executions of all Iraqi government armed forces taken by the insurgents as prisoners of war.

And this silence from the very same commentators who raved on for days upon days when American television as well as Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya broadcast footage of an American GI , in a moment of rage, not as a standard operating procedure, killing one disarmed insurgent in a mosque in Falluja.

Now the Arab media along with just about everybody else in the world save the Israel lobby and those in both houses of the U.S. Congress beholden to it (a description which unfortunately covers a lot of congressmen and senators) and the premillennialist Christian Zionists, has observed over the years the obvious double-standard in American policy towards Israel and the Arabs, but has never blinked at its own doublestandard in which Arab nationalist and Islamist banners have come to mask a rampant Sunni Arab Supremacism. So many Q - NEWS

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SCRUTINY

During these terrible times so much of the Arab media has played accomplice – hailing the murderers of non-combatants – as mujahideen, patriotic warriors in a holy resistance against occupation while maintaining a profound near-silence about this “resistance’s” propensity to mass murder Iraqi Shiite and Kurdish civilians.

times when I reminded my Cairene friends of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians murdered by the Baathist regime (not to mention the million or so dead from the two Gulf Wars started by Saddam) they tell me with a slightly patronising if not bored tone, that “Yes we know Saddam was bad but….”

Well they never knew. Arab satellite television wasn’t around at the time and the book The Republic of Fear which documented the crimes of Saddam Hussein’s regime was banned in just about every Arab country including Kuwait on the eve of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. And they weren’t terribly interested or suspected another American conspiracy when Arab Sunni militias started to massively massacre African Sunni civilians in Darfur.

The point I am about to make is that the ideological or sectarian road- block barring observation and self-criticism is

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starting to break down in the Arab world. It started, most boldly a little more than a year ago when Abdul Rahman AlRashed, then editor in chief of the London-based newspaper Sharq al Awsat began a column with this terrible haunting phrase: “Most Muslims are not terrorists, but most terrorists are Muslims” and he went on to explore the sort of political and perverted religious culture that has over the past decade produced this phenomena. He was at the time very much alone and very much condemned in Arab and Islamist media but he did draw some comfort from email correspondence in Arabic from ordinary readers who were sympathetic to his stand in interesting contrast, to the largely negative response from Arab and/or Muslim readers responding to him in English (the column was reprinted in English, in Jeddah, in the sister publication Arab News.)

But here are more recent and cumulative signs: - The Foreign Policy Research Institute is a venerable American think tank that goes back to the mid-fifties and it has always represented the “principled realism” school of American cold-war foreign policy. The last time I spoke there about Arab media, all that the elite FPRI audience wanted to talk about was anti-Semitism in the Arab press and a reasonable request given the devastating effect that MEMRI , a translation service run in the states by former Israeli intelligence officers was having on American media by translating and circulating some of the outrageous stuff (and fortunately totally opportunistic and cynical hyperbole that could easily be reversed by circumstance) then appearing in the Arab press you know, like “Hitler should have finished the job!” The Israelis would have had to pay millions for the effect on American attitudes that such stupidities had in these terrible times and certainly fed the popular understanding of the clash of civilization thesis.

This time around - no questions about anti-Semitism but a lot of obvious, sincere and thoughtful interest when I argued that Arab satellite television news channels were a positive force for democratic process in the Arab world, even if at many times their positive impact was an unintended side-effect of their coverage.

- Two other colleagues, both American journalists I consider to have been constructive and very well-informed critics of American occupation policy in its earliest and worst manifestations -- Tom Friedman of the New York Times and Trudy Rubin, foreign affairs editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer-- have acknowledged in their columns the extraordinary wisdom and restraint of Ayatollah Al-Sistani. Both have noted that the Ayatollah is truly deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize, despite the way, I would add, he has so often been blithely ignored by the administration.

- Most recently a very courageous Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who lost his job as editor-in-chief of the Saudi daily Al Watan for writing that the Saudi suicide bombers who had launched terrorist attacks in Riyadh were as much victims as perpetrators - victims of a twisted extremist version of Islamic theology that prevailed in certain circles in the Kingdom (and were widely transmitted in mosques and schools) had been uneasily tolerated for too long by a Saudi society that did not share the perverse theo-ideology but lacked the will to openly and directly confront it But he continues his column from London where he serves as media advisor to Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador HRH Prince Turki al-Faisal, one of the most outspoken critics of Islamist terrorism in the Kingdom.

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Last week Khashoggi called in his column (syndicated throughout most of the Arab world, but sadly enough, not in Cairo) upon the Faisal Foundation in Riyadh to give its highest Annual Award for Service to Islam to Al-Sistani for his fortitude in preserving Iraq from civil war. Al-Sistani has managed this by constantly telling the millions of Iraqi Shiites who follow him that they must not be provoked by the “resistance” into reprisals against the Sunni Arab civilian population - a strategic goal which Al-Zarqawi (the Al Qaeda chief in Iraq) has openly acknowledged in captured documents and in Jihadi-Salafi web sites; web sites that also carry his rants in which all Shiites are described as “apostates,” which means worthy of slaughter.

Khashoggi called upon the Mufti of Saudi Arabia and the Sheikh of Al Azhar to give Al Sistani the moral support he deserves by going to Al-Najaf and to stand with him. To take a stand, that we all must do, because we can do no other.

Mukhtaran Mai (left) and the four men accused of gang rape, front, and 10 members of a tribal council that allegedly ordered the rape are led out of a local court by police in Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan.

This piece was first published in the Cairo Daily Star.

RAPING THE SHARIAH She was dragged into a shed screaming for help in the name of Allah. Her clothes were torn from her and she was subjected to the most brutal and traumatic experience a woman can suffer.

Four different men beat her and forced themselves onto her, over and over again. ISLA ROSSEROWEN asks what you would you do if this happened to your wife, your mother, your sister or your daughter? Isn’t it time we stopped overlooking the brutalities of tribal ‘justice’? hose standing by watched and jeered on the rapists.

Eventually, after an hour and a half of this horrendous ordeal, her battered body was thrown back onto the street where she was forced to walk home naked in front of hundreds of people.

Most people call this gang-rape. In the Meerwala village in the Punjab, where this horrific attack took place, it’s called ‘justice’, or ‘honour’.

In June 2002, this is what was inflicted on Mukhtaran Mai, a local teacher of Qur’an, on the orders of a self-appointed tribal council, or panchiat.

Why? The panchiat, convened by the rival and more powerful Mastoi tribe, ruled that their family had been shamed after Mukhtaran’s younger brother had allegedly been seen talking to one of the Mastoi young women. Accusing him of an ‘illicit affair’, it was ruled that Mukhtaran should be shamed to redress the balance.

Mukhtaran’s family has another story: her 12-year-old brother, Abdul Shakoor, had been kidnapped, taken to a sugar cane field, and raped by three members of the Mastoi family.

To cover up the crime, the Mastoi family alleged that Abdul Shakoor had been guilty of sexual improprieties with the sister of one of his attackers. The Mastoi family then called for a panchiat to avenge their alleged dishonour. The council called for punitive rape.

The practice is known as karo kari, and unfortunately it is

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still all too common in parts of Pakistan, with more than 150 cases reported in the first half of 2004 alone. In 2003, Mukhtaran (also known as Mukhtar) joined a protest march of about 100 women after a young woman from a neighbouring village had been similarly raped by ten men.

At the encouragement of her local imam, who condemned the incident, Mukhtaran reported the attack to the local police and while the police did not take her claim seriously initially, many of the men involved have since been arrested and charged with rape, or the abetting of it. She almost never reported what happened. In a moment of despair, she had tried to take her own life. No doubt countless others, too ashamed or too afraid, never make it to the authorities.

Mai’s case shocked Pakistanis, and, unfortunately for her, it embarrassed the authorities too. During the trial her family received death threats to drop the case, her supporters were deemed ‘unpatriotic’, and the defence counsel claimed she had made it all up.

Due to her fearless fight to see her and her brother’s attackers behind bars, Mai’s plight has gained international attention and has turned into what some have termed a public relations disaster for the Pakistan government. As a result, Mai, who is now a campaigner for the abolition of such practices as karo kari, has been living under virtual house arrest and has even made it onto Pakistan’s exit-ban list.

Following international out-cry, the Pakistan authorities lifted the ban, but have confiscated her passport, and so she has been unable to go to the United States to take up an invitation to attend a conference organised by Amnesty International.

Mukhtaran’s confidence that justice had been served by the courts, however, was short-lived. In March this year, the Lahore High Court ruled that, due to insufficient evidence, the Q - NEWS

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five men sentenced to death should be acquitted, and reduced the sentence of a sixth man to life imprisonment. While the Punjab provincial government subsequently ordered the detention of the twelve men originally implicated, the Lahore High Court argued again for their release. Her case is currently locked in appeals.

When a criminal justice system is in such a tragic state of disrepair, it is no wonder people have been resorting to old tribal systems to maintain a contrived sense of social order, and the punishments they mete out have the advantage of being widely feared.

While Mai has to face the prospect that her attackers may soon be released, and that they will no doubt be out for revenge, karo kari and other twisted forms of ‘justice’, which are often no more than one tribe asserting itself over another, continue to terrify communities.

Meanwhile recently, across the border in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, when a woman was raped by her own father-in-law, a self-styled shariah court - in reality another bunch of “village elders” - ordered her to divorce her husband, leave her home for several months to ‘purify herself’, and that she should then marry her father-in-law instead.

While the woman described the idea as “repugnant”, one of the council members told NDTV, “Her father-in-law has used her, and she must marry him”.

While the woman’s own husband failed to stand up for her, one voice of reason could be heard. Zafarab Geelani of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board announced, “Under the shariah law, whatever happened with the victim is wrong and if her father-in-law has raped her, he should be sentenced to death”. The father-in-law has, finally, been arrested.

This is not just a phenomenon of the Indian SubContinent. While actual rape in any form is very rare in the Arab World, so-called ‘honour killings’ go on across the Middle East, Turkey, and elsewhere, and they usually occur for the most trivial of reasons. A recent such tragedy occurred in Palestine where a father beat his daughter to death with an iron bar; this time the murder was committed by a Christian in the name of ‘family honour’. Another man had murdered three of his sisters, one of whom was eight months pregnant, after accusing one of them of having an affair. Apparently, some 20 women were killed in this way in Palestine in 2004.

In Bangladesh earlier this year, two women were burnt to death by their husbands for refusing to pay a dowry.

It is always the women who, quite literally, get it in the neck. Surely there can be no ‘honour’, or social machismo, in victimising the most vulnerable elements of society? Honour should be found in the protection of women, and in bringing their attackers to account.

It is, in truth, a travesty of modern Islam that the victims of such heinous crimes are the ones who are continuously punished by their own communities, while their attackers often get off scot-free. The secular courts that replaced the British ones often fail to uphold what they had promised to on their

inception. Governments, prostrate on the one hand to political pressure from the West, and swayed by corruption on the other, rarely perform in anyone’s best interests. Meanwhile, in places where ignorance prevails, tribal practices also prevail, but they are done in the name of Islam and it is because of this that each one of these rapes, killings, acid-burnings, misrulings and misdemeanours, in fact brings shame on every one of us until we speak out against it. It is time such horrendous crimes, which have nothing to do with Islam, are stamped out.

The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him said, “Whosoever of you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hand; and if he is not able to do so, then with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart, but this is the weakest of faith.”

It is in flagrant denial of this hadith that these crimes have been allowed to occur. It is perhaps ironic, even shocking, that it was the British Raj - the so-called ‘kuffar’ - who had previously stamped out these practices. It is the Hindu state of India that is currently doing more to uphold the Shariah than many Muslim states. It is the Israelis who are pushing to out-law honour killings amongst the Palestinians. It seems, we have very little to be proud of in Jinnah’s “laboratory for Islam”, or elsewhere for that matter.

This time, let us not be weak.

Update information on the Mukhtaran Mai case can be found at www.mukhtarmai.com, although at press time, the website was inaccessible due to the high volume of visitors attempting to view it.

www.theislamicestablishment.com a wh holle new sh hopping exxperience 0116 212 7084 20 | Q - NEWS

ADVERTORIAL

ARE YOU MY

TYPE?

BLOOD - IT’S TIME TO GIVE IT UP n 1997 Shamim Ali was diagnosed with leukaemia. She received large amounts of blood and blood products while a waiting for a transplant. Fortunately, Shamim’s brother Ayub was found to be a suitable match and donated his life-saving bone marrow. Shamim is now well and enjoying family life.Thousands of others are not so lucky.

At present only 3% of blood donors are from the Asian, African and African Caribbean communities. According to the Office of National Statistics the 2001 Census, over 50% of Asians in Britain are Muslim, making them the largest Asian faith community. Britain’s 1.5 million Muslims can make a difference by giving blood and saving lives.

In addition to Shamim being featured in a recent campaign, presenter and broadcaster Anita Rani and R&B singer Raghav have been drafted in to help persuade more British Asians to donate blood.The two stars are part of a major press, PR, poster, postcard and outreach campaign by the National Blood Service to encourage more people from the Asian communities to donate.The campaign highlights the shortage of Asian blood donors and emphasises the importance of giving blood.

“It costs us nothing and can save lives” says BBC radio’s Hot Breakfast presenter Anita Rani, “If you can, give blood...there’s no excuse not to, all my family do”. Raghav pledges his support by adding, “It was important for me to personally get involved in this campaign to bring attention to such a vital cause. As there is a need for more awareness in our community.”

On June 14th people all around the world celebrated World Blood Donor Day.This day is designed to celebrate and thank all those individuals who have voluntarily donated their blood, safe in the knowledge that their actions might have saved someone’s life.The international launch of this official World Health Organisation event took place in England and the National Blood Service chose the day to unveil the Are You My Type? campaign The National Blood Service’s Rakesh Vasishtha, National Communications Manager, stressed: “It’s vital that we get our message across to everyone that donating blood is quick, safe and easy and could save a life.”

Muslim scholars have joined in, encouraging

BLOOD FACTS

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While almost anyone can give blood, currently only 5% of the eligible population donates.

Only 3% of blood donors are of Asian, African and African Caribbean descent.

More than 25% of Asians are blood group B where as only 9% of West Europeans share this group.

the faithful to give blood.They have said that giving blood is not only permitted, but praiseworthy.The Quran declares, “And do good, for God loves those who do good.” The Prophet Muhammad also honoured those who assisted others especially in times of dire need, and said, “God is in the assistance of His servant, as long as His servant is in the assistance of others.” The campaign hopes to: To raise awareness of the importance and relevance of blood donation amongst ethnic minority communities To change attitudes and perceptions towards blood donation amongst ethnic minority communities To encourage 14,000 new ethnic minority blood donors to come forward this year, with a view to increasing the potential blood pool of bone marrow donors too.

And you don’t even have to be a celebrity to take part. Providing you’re between the ages of 17 and 60, fit and healthy then you can do your bit and give blood. In fact, it’s as easy as A, B, C. A. Visit your local blood donor center and complete a short confidential health form.To find your nearest centre visit www.blood.co.uk or call the donor helpline 0845 7 711 711.

B. Provide a small blood sample (just to check that you’re not anaemic), answer a few life-related questions and then lie back, relax and donate.

C. Once you’ve taken a few minutes to rest you can be on your way.The entire session shouldn’t last more than an hour.

Thalassaemia major is an inherited blood disorder prevalent in Asian, Middle Eastern and some Mediterranean communities.

Sufferers cannot produce enough red cells and require lifelong monthly blood transfusions.

Hospitals need 8,000 blood donations every day.

The National Blood Service holds over 100 collection sessions every day.

New blood donors must be aged between 17 and 60 years old and weigh at least 7st 12lbs (50kg).

You can give blood up to 3 times a year.

In order to be placed on the British Bone Marrow Register (BBMR), a register of potential bone marrow donors, it is first necessary to be a blood donor. Bone marrow donation requires a tissue match between the donor and the recipient and matches usually occur between people of the same ethnic background.

For information about becoming a blood donor, call 0845 7 711 711 or visit www.blood.co.uk

EXCLUSIVE

A TORTURED BOOK Newsweek probably reasoned that when squared against the physical abuse of Guantanamo prisoners, the torture of a book would be a mere footnote to the main story.Their miscalculation led to outrage around the world.Yet Newsweek’s retraction doesn’t change what is already well-documented. Based on exclusive interviews with former Guantanamo insiders, NAZIM BAKSH reveals the extent to which the Quran is desecrated inside America’s gulag and what it means for Muslims, here and abroad. he United States government should have announced the closing of its gulag at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and the unconditional release of men who have had no official charges brought against them, no access to legal representation and certainly no opportunity to defend themselves in a court of law. That would have been the right thing to do; the morally correct position to adopt. Instead, the United States denied it ever happened and then attacked Newsweek for reporting that U.S. investigators probing abuses at the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, found that military “interrogators, in an attempt to rattle suspects, flushed a copy of the Quran down a toilet…”

Half a sentence in a litany of alleged abuses buried in the Periscope section on page 10 of Newsweek brought down the wrath of the White House on the free press. It wasn’t even the cover story, it didn’t make the lead and it certainly wasn’t the headline. Instead, the story, which relied on a trusted government ‘source,’ dealt with accountability for abuses at the detention centre.

The United States government ignored the central concern of the story. It focused instead on a single allegation four whole days after the May 9 edition of Newsweek started to snail its way to some 3.1 million subscribers worldwide stoking the flames of bitter resentment in the Muslim world. In Afghanistan people took to the streets of Jalalabad with sticks and stones screaming “death to America.”

The protesters clashed with riot police resulting in the death of 17 people and injury to more than 100. Protests erupted in Pakistan, Indonesia, Lebanon, Egypt and basically any country with a Muslim population.

The State Department charged Newsweek’s editors and its reporter, the veteran Michael Isikoff, with having blood on their hands and demanded that Newsweek repent, retract the story, and atone for its journalistic sins by helping to repair the damage it had caused to American-Muslim relations.

Under the gun, Newsweek’s editor, revisited the “source,” described as a credible and well-placed government official, who apparently could not confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that the disparaging detail was indeed in a military report.

Newsweek, which is owned by the Washington Post Co., abandoned this “trusted and high-profile source,” retracted the story and issued an apology just as mullahs, maulvis, maulanas, muftis, hojas, and shaykhs from across the Muslim world were poised to brandish fatwas greater in scale than that declared by the late Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran against Salman Rushdie.

Accusations of abuse of the Quran at Guantanamo are not new and in reporting it Newsweek didn’t break new ground, if anything, it buried the lead. In the case of Rasul v. Rumsfeld, and in reports issued by Human Rights Watch and the International Committee for the Red Cross, there have been numerous allegations of the dese-

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An unidentified Pakistani man chants anti-U.S. slogans in front of the American food chain restaurant Kentucky Fried Chicken in Peshawar. Dozens held a rally to protest the alleged desecration of Islamic holy book Quran at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Police officers have been ordered to guard the American food chain restaurants such as KFC and MacDonald’s outlets after a nation-wide wave of protests. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zubair)

cration of the Quran at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and at Bagram in Afghanistan.

The ICRC noted that one Iraqi inmate testified that a soldier had a guard dog carry a copy of the Quran in its mouth. In other reports, guards were said to have scrawled obscenities inside the Quran. Former Guantanamo inmate, Mohammed Mazouz, told the LA Times in an interview from his home in Marrakech, Morocco, that guards “urinated” on the Quran and that “they walked on top of the Koran…they used the Koran like a carpet.”

Martin Mubanga, a former detainee at Guantanamo said guards often threw the Quran to the floor. Jamal Harith, a British Muslim and also a former inmate said guards deliberately targeted his copy of the Quran while hosing down his cell. Former inmate, Tarek Dergoul, said guards “ripped up” Qurans.

This may come as a shock to most people because it certainly was for me when I first heard it directly from former Guantanamo inmate, Abdur-Rahman Khadr, son of Ahmad Saeed Khadr, a close associate of Osama Bin Laden. In early January 2004 I met AbdurRahman in Toronto, a brash 21-year-old Canadian who was captured in Afghanistan in the months immediately following September 11, 2001. After weeks in the custody of the Northern Alliance he was handed over to the Americans. His Americans handlers, recognizing his remarkable ability to speak five languages fluently, recruited him to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

He helped the CIA identify key Al-Qaeda members on the run or in custody, where they lived and what role they played in the organization. He was then moved to Bagram Airbase near Kabul, and to ensure his cover was not blown, given the same harsh treatment as other prisoners. Shackled and blindfolded, he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay, where he spent eight months spying on fellow inmates for the agency before being moved to Sarajevo to

EXCLUSIVE

work as an undercover CIA agent.

My relationship with him resulted in Family of Al-Qaeda, an exclusive tell-all documentary for The National, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s flagship current affairs show. An hour long version was later aired on PBS in the United States and entitled Son of Al-Qaeda. Paramount pictures has recently signed a contact with Abdur-Rahman for the rights to tell his story in what I imagine may very well turn into a blockbuster Hollywood movie.

Abdur-Rahman said that he once witnessed a guard throw a copy of the Quran onto the ground in the space between his cell and another, “and then the guard started kicking it, kicking it, kicking it to the other end of the space that divided the two cells. It was disgusting.” How many times did you see that happen? I asked him.

Prone to exaggerate, he responded, “Once.”

Abdur-Rahman told me that other prisoners at Guantanamo told him they saw pages of the Quran in the toilet but never the entire book. Others told him that guards would often throw copies of the Quran to the ground and sometimes put their feet on the Quran during interrogation sessions. I asked him why he felt they would treat the Quran like that. “To piss the prisoners off,” was Abdur-Rahman’s blunt answer.

By the time Abdur-Rahman arrived at Guantanamo in the winter of 2003, his 16 year-old younger brother, Omar, was already there, accused of killing an American solider in a shootout in Khost sometime in late 2001. Abdallah, his older brother, went missing in Pakistan late last year and is believed to be in American custody, perhaps also held in Cuba. His youngest brother, Karim, was left paralyzed from a bullet to his spine in the fall of 2003 when Pakistani military clashed with his father’s contingent in Waziristan.

His father was incinerated in the attack. Karim, his mother and two sisters are all now living in Toronto.

Abdur-Rahman said the men at Guantanamo pleaded with the guards and repeatedly begged them not to torture the Quran but the desecration persisted. And finally when nothing was done to stop it, Abdur-Rahman said the men at Guantanamo decided to go on a hunger strike. That’s what prompted the Pentagon in early 2003 to issue three pages of guidelines for handling the Quran. The memo said U.S. officials should “handle the Quran as if it were a fragile piece of delicate art.” “Ensure that the Quran is not placed in offensive areas such as the floor, near the toilet or sink, near the feet, or dirty/wet areas.”

The memo told military officials to avoid touching a Quran whenever possible and when it was deemed a “military necessity” to do so, a chaplain or Muslim interpreter - not a guard - is to inspect the holy book and only after putting on clean gloves in full view of detainees. The memo directed that if a copy of the book was to be moved from a cell, it must be placed on a “clean, dry detainee towel” and then wrapped without turning it over at any time.

Muslim chaplains must then ensure that it is not placed in any offensive area while transported.

Abdur-Rahman Khadr said he witnessed on numerous occasions guards dropping the Quran to the floor because prisoners would remind them that they were violating their own guidelines. To date no American news media has probed into exactly what led the Pentagon in the first place to issue such a detailed list of guidelines in relation to handling the Quran. It would have been a good story for Newsweek, but it is not the one Isikoff pursued.

Isikoff and his editors are guilty of making two basic errors in journalism. Isikoff mentioned a specific incident -- the flushing of a Quran down a toilet -- and in doing so presented the Bush Administration with a large neon exit sign. All the government was required to do was deny that the one specific incident ever took

Other Guantanamo prisoners said they saw pages of the Quran in the toilet but never the entire book. Others said guards would often throw copies of the Quran to the ground and put their feet on it during interrogations “to piss the prisoners off.” place and in so doing discredit all reports of abuse. It was a careless mistake and one that a seasoned journalist should not have made.

Failure to verify the detail was Newsweek’s second error. Isikoff should have known that saying a Quran was flushed down a toilet at Guantanamo would touch a very raw nerve in the Muslim world.

If Newsweek had a Muslim editor in its roster this would have been the headline if not the entire story, and perhaps also its front page coverage. Isikoff should have made a determined effort to verify that specific ‘detail’ was indeed in a military report and not in the thousands of documents, log entries and debriefs that officials conducting a probe would have had to review during the course of their investigation.

But like so many Western journalists trapped in the myopic lens of cultural bias, Isikoff may have reasoned, that when squared against the physical abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo, the torture of a book, an inanimate object, is mere window dressing, spice to an old song and dance.

How could Isikoff know that from the time of revelation 1400 years ago Muslims have always believed that the Quran is alive in the sense that it provides guidance through the ages for those who desire Divine Grace? That to insult the Quran is to injure the very soul of a Muslim? You have to know something of spiritual value, of the importance of the sacred over the profane, and clearly these are not assets of journalists raised on a daily diet of irreverence and denial of all that’s sacred.

In the Quran God swears by the fixity of the stars in the heaven that His oath is tremendeous: “That this is indeed a Noble Quran, inscribed in a treasured Book which no one may touch except those who are purified.”

To desecrate the Quran is a capital offense according to Islamic law and that’s one reason why it was not permissible for Muslims to take the Quran, the actual text, into non-Muslims lands. A Muslim would never put the Quran on the floor, turn its pages using spittle, and in his home he would put it in a lofty place where impurities would not affect it. If it accidentally fell to the floor a Muslim would kiss it after retrieving it. When it is recited, Muslims are commanded to listen attentively. “Refusal to do so is tantamount to interrupting God while he is addressing you,” says Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, director of the Zaytuna Institute in California The highest art form in Islam is calligraphy and it was invented to decorate the Quran and by doing so, gave it a status no other book will ever have in Muslim society. In an interview with Michael Krasnik on KQED radio in San Francisco on May 23, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf reminded listeners that “Muslims would line-up to have their heads chopped off rather than have the Quran desecrated” and because of this, he said, Muslims should be sensitive to what other people hold as sacred even if it is not sacred to Muslims.

In the hour-long discussion Shaykh Hamza appealed to Muslims to desist from burning flags of countries, or cursing that which others hold as sacred lest they take it as a green light to attack the Quran, the character of our Blessed Prophet Muhammad or say things about God as a cruel reaction to what Muslims do.

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WHAT ABOUT MAKING GREED HISTORY? Make Poverty History is the kind of global campaign that everyone can get behind politicians, corporations, NGOs, even rock stars. But haven’t African nations paid back their debts already? Isn’t the current debt burden actually due to crushing interest payments? TARIS AHMAD offers a dissenting view on the current campaign and questions whether we are addressing the right issues.

nybody who was foolish enough to really think it was possible to “Make Poverty History” should now be experiencing a reawakening after the Finance Minister’s meeting in advance of the Edinburgh G8 summit. The world’s richest nations decided that debt relief must remain conditional. The conditions, the poorest of the poor are lectured, are to “tackle corruption, boost private-sector development” and remove “impediments to private investment, both domestic and foreign”. This means prolonging dependence and keeping poverty a reality. So much for pretty slogans.

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THE USUAL HUMDRUM CALL FOR “REFORM” Bowing down to Western conditions is not a panacea to poverty, but often a cause, as it prevents nations from developing their economies to become powerful competitors in the global markets. So for example, to become eligible for World Bank cash, Uganda had to privatise large chunks of its state-owned companies, before it had any means of regulating their sales.

This sell-off should have raised $500m but instead raised only $2m, while the rest fell to kleptomaniac officials. Nevertheless, the World Bank continues to insist, that any debt relief the G8 offers, requires Uganda “to sell off its water supplies, agricultural services and commercial bank” - with minimal regulation.

Thus, we can see what “good governance” and “eliminating impediments to private investment” means. The commercialisation, privatisation and the liberalisation of trade and capital flows, of course means new opportunities for western money. So for example, in the 1980s the IMF and World Bank coerced Uganda to charge for basic healthcare and primary education in order to create new markets for private capital. The consequence were drastic, something the NGO community would decry as poverty: collapse of school attendance, especially female school attendance; and the collapse of the health services, particularly in poor rural areas. When Museveni restored free basic healthcare in 2001 and primary education in 1997, primary school attendance rocketed from 2.5 million pupils to 6 million just as the number of outpatients almost doubled. The G8 controlled World Bank and IMF in 2001 suddenly found the investment in the Ugandan health ministry as a “bad investment”.

Reform means that African countries should take away the last protective measures they have for their domestic businesses.

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The G8 has no interest in creating future African competitors.

Western markets would be unhappy if Africa became like another China. No British government - not even a Make Poverty History, left-leaning, socialist government of the most utopian kind - would accept the unemployment rate rocketing to save Africa or create a competitive African market. There is a run of multinational corporations companies on African public services and natural resources. And this run is politically flanked by the conditionalities imposed by the G8. Corruption was never a reason for the West to divest. Britain has turned a blind eye to Africa’s most corrupt states such as Rwanda’s Paul Kagame who has been praised for “good governance”, but was responsible for the disintegration of the political situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

MAKING CAPITALISM HISTORY? More people are coming to the conclusion that it is the interest-based global economy that is keeping the “Third World” in last place. Unfortunately no support can be hoped for from Muslim experts. When Islamic Finance’s Allan Greenspan, Shaykh Nizam al-Yacoubi, was questioned about the role of interest by an undergraduate at a lecture given at the London School of Economics earlier this year, he dismissed the query as “a left argument of the sixties and seventies”. The State Bank of Pakistan’s Director of Islamic Banking, Parvez Said, when asked whether interest based economies were a cause of poverty, said emphatically that the notion was “unfounded”.

Yet, as George Monbiot recently pointed out, the G8 “insists that the World Bank and IMF will monitor the indebted countries’ progress, and decide whether they are fit to be relieved of their burden. The World Bank and IMF, of course, are the agencies which have the most to lose from this redemption. They have a vested interest in ensuring that debt relief takes place as slowly as possible.” The burden of “making poverty history” is removed from national governments into the hands of these two banks. They now play the game for the G8 states. Slow debt relief is of interest because of the increased dependence and leverage on the poor countries to sell their precious assets off thus crippling Africa’s competitive strength and with that African access to the markets. Unconditional debt relief is a call for granting independence. It is a true call for decolonisation.

It is the global economic system which needs overhaul rather than African states.

In crude terms: “Make poverty history”, if really thought through, means “making capitalism and the interest system history”.

Applied to this problem, Islamic Finance could matter - but does it matter? It is an old debate, but a renewing it would do no harm. In any case it is the global economic system which needs overhaul rather than African states (on a scale of relativity). In crude terms: “Making poverty history”, if really thought through, means “making capitalism and the interest system history”.

While student campuses are filled with Socialist Workers and Respect Coalitions seeking alliances with Islamic organisations dreaming that Muslims are the new proletariat rising to revolution, Muslims do not see themselves as fulfilling the dreams of Karl Marx’s historical prophecies. Nevertheless, realistically speaking the global economy will not change through reform from within. Business interests and voter selfishness are too strong. Thus it seems we are locked into the fate of large scale exploitation. A call for unconditional debt relief is at the peril of the so-called “First World”. Surely “make poverty history” is a desperate call, but without with real institutional change, it is an inauthentic one.

NEW LABOUR SPIN The call sounds especially fake when New Labour hijacks the campaign and professional world rescuers like Oxfam - a campaign initiator - rubs shoulders with the G8 host.

Maintaining British living standards according to the Foreign Office website is a key priority of British foreign policy. In this light, it amounts to some cynicism when New Labour pictures destitute African kids on its website and says that “every child is precious”, while its policies are clearly set out that Ugandan kids are obviously worth less than British business interests.

Unchastened, the government advertises scrupulously, that “the decision of the G8 finance ministers to write off £55 billion of Third World debt last week is just the start.” It is a half true statement since it fails to mention the conditionalities - and of course who got the last contract. It is typical for our age not to name things by their name, when lies are called spin, exploitation is called reform and those who are alarmed by the double standards are called radicals.

It is not that Muslims feel all poverty is something bad, after all Jesus and Muhammad preferred a type of poverty over wealth, humility over arrogance and giving over taking. A world along these lines would however have a higher chance of eradicating the devastating and humiliating poverty. Let us be honest: we need to make greed history. To make poverty history, the exploitative interest system and our attitudes need an overhaul.

Sadly, neither the G8 nor the Make Poverty History campaign actually touches upon the real problem.

Taris Ahmed is a former member of the German regional parliament and former member of the Advisory Council at the Council of Europe. He recently completed a Bachelor of Law degree at the London School of Economics.

“You call me a terrorist when I’m the one who is oppressed.”

FEATURE

Indie-band Belle & Sebastian are used to taking on social justice causes in their hometown of Glasgow, where their mix of transcendent pop and straight talk has made them local heroes. But nothing prepared them for the devastation they saw on a recent human rights mission to Palestine, or for the bravery of the new heroes in the fight against poverty and racism. War on Want’s NICK DEARDEN reports.

THE WALL ani Amir climbs out of his battered Renault and walks to his front door - through an electrified gate, past an 8-meter concrete wall, over some barbed wire, and across a military road. Hani’s house, now a half demolished structure that he built himself, lies between Israel’s Separation Wall and a 5,000 strong settlement that the Israeli government is attempting to incorporate onto its own side of the wall. He and his children live in a militarised no man’s land.

Hani’s life is a battle against a Kafkaesque nightmare in which access to justice is blocked and punishment is meted out for no apparent reason. “Settlers throw stones at the house in the night” he explains “and soldiers come from all over the West Bank to shit in my garden”.

Hani’s grandfather was killed as a refugee in 1948, forced from his home by Zionist militias as Israel was founded.

While he longs to return, Hani made what he could of life, building an extensive and flourishing nursery and opening a local restaurant. But all that ended a year ago, as the Israeli Army demolished most of his property to make way for the Separation Wall. As he speaks a military jeep with wailing sirens speeds down the army road inches from our chairs.

Protestors continue to focus on the house - sparing its existence for the moment. They have drawn a paradise on the Wall of magnificent birds and the gardens Hani has now lost. “People ask why I don’t leave” Hani concludes, “but this is my house - I can’t and I won’t!”

In 1996 journalist John Pilger wrote a book entitled “Heroes” which proposes that the real heroes of our age are the millions of impoverished people across the globe who continue with their lives in dignity even though the powerful have judged them to be ‘in the way’. One of 450,000 Palestinians directly effected by the Wall, Hani is just one of the heroes whose name

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you don’t know but whose very existence is built on the battle ground between the world’s haves and have-nots. He lives along the fault line of a global economy in which race decides, more often than not, whether you live a bearable life, or one of modern slavery, impoverishment and disempowerment.

Several miles up the road, a middle aged man drops his cigarette ash from his first floor bedroom doorway, which now opens onto an 8-foot fall. “My house was in the way” he explained to us, and so half of it was demolished. He can now touch the Wall from his living room.

His neighbour fared less well. Omar Khrieshe offers us tea from the garage he’s been living in, since his newly built house was gutted and occupied. The Separation Wall runs through his house and his roof has been turned into a military outpost.

Erecting a steel staircase from the outside, Israeli soldiers now keep lookout from the fortified watchtower, occasionally receiving new recruits who pull up in armoured tanks parked on the ‘Israeli’ side of the wall.

“You can see from the hose that we were once a hard working family” Omar tells us. Now they have nothing. 122 children from Omar’s neighbourhood now have to travel for an hour to get to their school.

But like Hani, Omar is not giving up, refusing to move from his land and attempting to obtain legal redress against the Israeli Army.

Beyond these small examples 73,000 farmers have already been cut off from their land by the Wall. As grassroots campaign group Stop the Wall says “every dunum [1000 square meters] has a tragedy behind it. Every one was feeding a family”.

Tulkarem, part of the ‘bread basket’ of the West Bank, had to import wheat last year, the first time in living memory. Barta’a Sharqiya market town has been destroyed to make way for the Wall, with 700 livelihoods dependent on it. Stop the Wall coordinator Jamal Juma asks “what if such a disaster was to happen to people in Tel

Aviv? Yet this isn’t even mentioned in the papers.” It all leads him to the conclusion that the Wall represents “an expulsion project”, a view backed up by the United Nations Human Rights Special Rapporteur last December when he wrote that the purposes of the Wall are: “The incorporation of settlers within Israel; The seizure of Palestinian land; The encouragement to Palestinians to leave their lands and homes by making life intolerable for them.”

Intolerable well describes the lives of the Ayyad family who owned the popular Cliff Hotel in Arab East Jerusalem, which the Wall is also ploughing its way through. The hotel, under repair last May, was declared unoccupied, confiscated and turned into a military compound. As in the West Bank, the Wall in Jerusalem, together with a rapid expansion of Israeli settlements, is attempting to permanently annex the City to Israel and prevent East Jerusalem ever becoming the capital of a Palestinian state. Under Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s “generous offer” 5 years ago, Palestinian President Yassir Arafat was offered the small village of Abu Dis as his capital, under the pretence that this constituted East Jerusalem. Now even this possibility appears removed as Abu Dis falls under the shadow of the Wall.

The Wall was initiated in June 2002, and represents a new and more subtle phase in the Israeli Occupation. From the signing of Oslo the Israeli government has realised that having control of the Palestinian people was onerous when all it really wanted was control of their land and resources. The best strategy was to use a Palestinian Authority to worry about the people - health, education, garbage collection and so forth - while Israel maintained effective control of the territory.

The Wall was sold to the international community as protection against terrorism.

But, as the United Nations Human Rights Special Rappaurteur makes clear, its route through Palestinian land, leaving many Palestinians on the ‘Israeli’ side of the Wall, makes a nonsense of this justification. It’s no coincidence that the Palestinian areas left on the ‘Israeli’ side of the wall include the 14,680 dunams of the most fertile land in Palestine, as well as two of the West Banks’ three water sources, while the cities and people are handed over, in ghettos, to the Palestinian Authority.

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the illegal inhabitants to get quickly and comfortably from one outpost to another.

Meanwhile Palestinians will also get their own road system, where they will have to travel for hours along dirt roads to circumvent the Wall and settlements. So as to preserve maximum “contiguity” the roads will use a system of tunnels and bridges to cross the settler roads. Thoughtfully Israel will also add gates to the road system, so that Palestinian movement can be brought to a standstill whenever the Israeli Army decides. In the words of Jumal “The Israeli’s will hold the key to our ghetto”. Nothing could more clearly expose the Orwellian nature of the Israelis’ professed concern with Palestinian “contiguity”, the same justification used to imprison Black South Africans in racist homelands containing depravation which White South Africans never needed to see.

As we drove through town after town brought to its knees by the impact of the Wall, we realised that this suffering wasn’t an unintentional by-product - the central purpose of the wall is the slow death of the Palestinian economy and society. But Palestinians like Hani and Omar refuse to die on their knees. While we receive disproportionate media coverage of suicide bombings, we hear little about the approach of the vast majority of Palestinians - peaceful resistance, collective and individual, to the Wall. The Stop the Wall network is represented right across the West Bank, organising protests day after day, and assisting Palestinians in coping with the effects the Wall has had on their lives.

Outside Omar’s house, the Wall features a Guernica-inspired mural of screaming people, dogs and pigs, like a medieval vision of hell. Next to this symbol of the arbitrary suffering inflicted by the Wall, we also find the symbol of Palestinian resistance - written in enormous letters- “To exist is to resist”. As long as these people are still alive, the hope of a more just future is also kept alive.

THE SETTLEMENTS Mahmoud Rashwadi lives along Route 60, one of the highways destined to become a settler-only road. The road has helpfully

fenced off the Palestinian villages, which look like dilapidated prisons through the wire, separated from the gleaming and sprawling modern towns of the settlements.

Mahmoud lives on the other side of this global divide. He speaks to us from his porch, where we sit drinking very sweet tea beneath construction metal and collapsing concrete. His traumatised children run for cover when they see us coming, and we soon learn why. Israel has already attempted to demolish their house, being too close for comfort to the settler road. Settlers from the hilltop above urinate on the house.

Mahmoud showed us the cave, which he claims his family have possessed for over 1,000 years, and where his children and wife hid when an armed band of 100 settlers attacked and smashed up the house.

He showed us the stumps of olive trees torn up by settlers on their rampage.

Mahmoud’s brother owned a farm behind the house. It’s now part of the settlement block, but he showed us both pictures of himself proudly working his land, as well as his Ottoman-era title deeds, lack of which Israel regularly uses as justification for house demolitions. But they didn’t stop soldiers, equipped with bulldozers, from turning up one day and uprooting his trees and demolishing the house, on top of his furniture and clothes. He now lives with 5 children, the oldest being 17, in one room.

Route 60 takes us to Hebron, whose 120,000 residents are held hostage by 400 of Israel’s most ideological settlers illegally occupying the very centre of this ancient city. Hebron appears a typical Middle Eastern city - where city traders shout about their products and try to lure the passing mass into their stalls. But walk further down the main street and the crowd slowly dies, the stalls are deplete of goods and eventually life ceases, with locked markets stall after stall explaining Hebron’s 70% unemployment rate.

Four years ago this area was the bustling heart of Hebron - the entrance to the Old City. Now, Palestinians rarely venture here, avoiding the humiliation of fortified checkpoints where soldiers ritually abuse and detain them.

Even more dangerous are the 400 set-

tlers themselves, who have lived above the market since the 1970s. Above the streets of the market a piece of metal mesh has been erected to protect the Palestinians in the market from the garbage hurled at them by the settler blocks above. Now the mesh sags under the weight of garbage, blocking out light to the market. Here and there a paving stone has been hurled through to try and break the mesh, and any Palestinian unfortunate enough to be standing beneath.

Scrawled in Hebrew along the walls are slogans as uncompromising as “Death to All Arabs”.

10 years ago, a Jewish fundamentalist, the US-born Dr. Baruch Goldstein, entered the Ibrahimi Mosque and murdered 29 Muslims at prayer, injuring a around 100 more. While such an act may appear the work of an unhinged fanatic, Goldstein’s grave has now become a place of pilgrimage for thousands of fundamentalist settlers, thanking him for doing his bit to purify ‘Israel’ of the infidel.

Rather than taking the opportunity to evacuate the Hebron settlement, the Israeli government instead increased the military presence. Since then, the Army has embodied a “phenomenon of routine, daily violence… including beatings, hurling of stun grenades, and theft” according to Israeli human rights organisation B’tselem.

Local heroes in Hebron include many unsung international volunteers putting themselves at risk. The Christian Peacemaker Team, which tries to prevent violence, recently had two volunteers attacked by settlers. One suffered a broken arm and leg, the other a collapsed lung.

Settler violence in Hebron is not restricted to the City, the Team explained. They related a recent story in which settlers, spread local farmland with rat poison. Two sheep had been killed and the farmers had no idea how to clean the land.

Although settlements are illegal under international law, and risk the possibility of a future Palestinian state being formed, they continue to be constructed at break-neck speed, ceasefire or not. While many settlers are fundamentalist - and not a few from the United States - others are given economic incentives to move into Palestine. Over a

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million Jews have emigrated to ‘Israel’ from Russia, Ethopia and elsewhere in the last 10 years, in order to solve Israeli’s “demographic” problem that Arabs will outnumber Jews in the whole area of Israel/ Palestine in the coming decades. Just as cynically, immigration from the Third World also helps diminish Israel’s reliance on Palestinians as a source of cheap labour.

Some settlements, like that of the Ariel bloc, named after General Sharon who authorized its construction, now comprises 50,000 people. It’s so important Israel has brought the Wall 22km into the West Bank at this point to ensure that Ariel becomes part of Israel. Untreated waste from this settlement runs down to the beautiful alMatwi valley.

As much as the Bush administration claims these settlements are “unhelpful”, it has taken no action to prevent settlement construction. This would be an easy step, given that Israel has been the US’s number one source of foreign aid in the world for many years - at least $3 billion a year from one developed country to another. In turn, Israel offers generous subsidies for Israeli’s moving into the settlements, costing the Israeli state $400 million a year, not including defense expenses. The chain of cause and effect is obvious, and it is blatant hypocrisy for Bush to condemn in the media, what US tax money allows to happen in practice.

We witnessed the stark contrast between settlements and surrounding Palestinian villages in Jerusalem. Ma’ale Adumim settlement resembles the American suburbs of Hollywood films - the surreal perfection of the Truman Show with flower beds in the center of the road, well watered gardens, and standard 8-bedroom houses. Just a mile below the hilltop settlement lies the dispossessed Bedouin of Asariya, literally loaded onto cattle trucks in 1998 and moved from the site of the settlements expansion. Now they live in corrugated metal and wooden shacks, held together by wholesale food packaging; children holding out their hands and asking for money as soon as they see us.

Even these ‘homes’ were demolished by an Israeli Army Caterpillar bulldozer several months ago. Soon the settlers won’t even have to look at the Bedouin any more thanks to the construction of the Separation Wall in between them - the very symbol of the global apartheid that separates the First World from the Third.

The heroes of this situation are the Bedouin, who took all peaceful, legal action open to them before they were forcibly removed. But they are joined by the Israeli

Committee Against House Demolitions, a group which brings radical Israelis to protest in the Territories - a place in which most Israelis wrongly believe they would be shot on site.

Israel recently announced the creation of 3,500 new housing units in Ma’ale Adumim. Jeff Halper, coordinator of the Committee believes this is part of a strategy to build a ‘settlement corridor’ from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, which will ultimately cut the West Bank in two. Jeff sees the expansions as the death knell for the creation of a Palestinian state. Jospeh Berman, a young Committee activist who wants to become a Rabbi, showed us the Jerusalem settlements from a Palestinian basketball court, the end of which had been demolished, without apparent reason, other than to ensure the local kids had no sports ground to play on. He told us that settlement expansions were often built on top of bulldozed Palestinian homes. He repeated the words of an Anata resident, whose house has been demolished four times: “It is a quiet transfer policy, such actions say only one thing: Leave this place.”

THE DEMOLITIONS: “There’s one good thing about Gaza” our guide jokes “From here it’s only a local phone call to hell”. For 4 years it has been virtually impossible for Palestinians from the West Bank to enter this other section of their country, or from those within “the prison” to leave it. But now Israeli Prime Minister Sharon has become the unlikely hero of the Israeli left, by promising to with-

draw all settlements from the Gaza Strip within coming months. This has been heralded by international media as the beginning of the end of the Occupation. But Palestinians have other explanations.

Gaza is the poorest area of Palestine.

Houses, shops, schools, the port, and the very government buildings which this territory is supposedly about to be handed over to, lie in rubble. Kids play around open sewerage, living in one room shacks normally seen in the poorest slums of Dhaka. But this is not Dhaka - for only a stone’s throw from the squalid refugee camps lies a little taste of the West - 4,000 settlers dot Gaza’s landscapes - an oasis of lush fertility. Although these settlements are about to be removed, they’re extravagant lifestyle has bled Gaza of it’s most precious resource - water. As Gaza’s settlers prepare to leave, albeit unwillingly, for richer pastures, 1.2 million Palestinians will inherit control of the most densely crowded piece of land in the world, with no access to the outside world, few resources, and its entire infrastructure to rebuild. No wonder Sharon judged it was better to let the Palestinians take it on.

Only when you reach Rafah - the border line between Palestine and its peaceful neighbour Egypt - do you realize that the violence these people have seen outweighs any poverty they suffer. We met Mohammed, a 21-year-old numbed by his experience who, in his own words, “can’t sleep properly at night without the sound of gunshots”. He’d like to be a journalist and showed us his horrifying collection of cassettes - Apache helicopters shooting at Q - NEWS

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peaceful demonstrators, kids with limbs hanging off, the injured scrambling for ambulances as missiles continue to rain down; a boy who’s just witnessed his 10 year old brother being killed - by soldiers behind a 10 meter high steel fence - smearing his face with the sewerage running down the streets.

We visit Mohammed’s home in Rafah refugee camp and we are transported to a science fiction horror world. Tanks and bulldozers rumble across the rubble of 1,500 destroyed houses; faceless soldiers scan the horizon from watchtowers, shooting anything that moves. Palestinian kids play hide and seek with their lives through their ruined homes and gardens.

Even the colour of our skin doesn’t buy protection in this contemporary Beirut, as a memorial school dedicated to Rachel Corrie reminds us. Graffiti on the wall bears homage to Rachel and to British victim Tom Hurndall - “you were here to save our lives - we will never forget you”.

The strategy of Gaza represents not an end to the Occupation, but the same strategy that requires building the Separation Wall and the expansion of settlements in the West Bank. The strategy is to control the land and resources, and relinquish responsibility for those people who cannot be persuaded to leave Palestine altogether. The strategy grew up after the First Intifada (1987-1993) which led to the signing of Oslo. When Oslo collapsed because Palestinian lives continued to be characterised by misery, poverty and humiliation, Israel continued its strategy unilaterally, after initial and brutal pacification of Palestinian resistance. Sharon’s own words on disengagement could not be clearer: “The Palestinians understand that this plan is to a large extent the end of their dreams...

In the unilateral plan, there is no Palestinian state.”

On our drive out of Gaza we see the lines of young men virtually undressing before they can enter the heavily militarised industrial area where they work for one third the price of an Israeli. Israel is seeking aid for the creation of many similar industrial zones, which claim to give Palestinians much needed employment prospects. But nothing makes clearer that Israel and Palestine represent a faultline in a wider global project than these “export processing zones” where the goods which keep the wheels of corporate globalisation turning, are produced in standards of environmentally-destructive sub-slavery.

Leaving Gaza, we get a small taste of the daily lives of Palestinians. We walk through

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the endless corrugated corridor of Eretz checkpoint. Voices from massive speakers above scream at us: “Move Forward. Stop.

Turn around. Back up.” An hour later we leave this Orwellian world relieved, but we were the lucky ones. Most Palestinians from the West Bank are desperate to get into Gaza, to visit friends and family, and to see the horrific damage inflicted on this far flung corner of their country.

ALONG THE FAULTLINE The Palestinians have become symbols of global struggle because their situation represents, in overt form, the apartheid nature of the world around us. While some of the world experience unprecedented wealth, the majority, because of where they were born, live in a daily struggle against a system which offers no choices, no freedom, no peace.

Beyond the violence, poverty, humiliation and daily denial of human rights, Palestinians are getting on with their lives in a way which is in itself heroic and inspires hope, encouraging us to continue to support their struggle. Beyond the headlines of suicide bombers, the majority of Palestinians challenge the system, subvert the system and live their lives in peaceful determination against the inhumanity to which they are subjected. As courageous Israeli journalist Amira Hass wrote last year “it is another expression of the fact that an ever-increasing number of Palestinians refuses to be

blinded in the other eye.”

Our final heroes are two Palestinian rappers, who live in the Gaza Strip and sum up this spirit. Through their songs they express the anger, resistance and hope of hundreds of thousands of kids from the Palestinian Street: “Do you remember, or do you choose to forget/ that your army, against us, aggressed/ My voice will continue to echo, you’ll never forget/You call me terrorist, when I’m the one who’s oppressed.”

Dressed like Eminem, the Palestinian Rappers explain, “We are not making this music to become celebrities or to get rich.

We have something to say we want the world to know what it’s like to live in Palestine... Rap is our way of resisting the occupation, it’s our weapon.”

Campaign to end the Israeli Occupation of Palestine: www.waronwant.org/palestine or email globaljustice@waronwant.org Stop the Wall: www.stopthewall.org International Committee Against House Demolitions: www.icahd.org Rafah Today: www.rafahtoday.org Slingshot hip hop project: www.slingshothiphop.com

A few of the names have been changed to protect individuals from additional harassment.

FIRST PERSON

“IT’S ALMOST LIKE WE DON’T EXIST” More than just a sun-soaked holiday destination, Malta was once almost entirely Muslim. CAROL GATT is one of only a few hundred indigenous Maltese Muslims, part of a new community struggling to build a future on these Mediterranean islands. She talks about her conversion to Islam, the poor prospects for immigrants and her plan to kickstart the Muslim population.

alta is between Italy and Libya, in the middle of the Mediterranean.

The population is 280,000 of which only 2500 are Muslims - 0.02% of the population. Most Muslims in Malta are men who come to work here from Syria, Libya and Algeria. They often marry indigenous Maltese women, few of whom become Muslim.

We have just one mosque, but we also have a musallah. We have a Muslim school, based in the mosque but it only goes up to Grade 6. There used to be a dawah group from England that used to come to Malta, but their work has decreased in recent years.

My husband and I were brought up in Christian families. 97% of Maltese are Roman Catholic. My husband learned of Islam at a book fair where he picked up a copy of the Quran. Eventually he became a Muslim and has been so for eight years.

I encountered Islam when I made friends with a few Algerians in college. I learnt they were Muslims and became curious. At that time, I was confused about my religion. I used to go to the library, searching endlessly for something to believe in. After meeting the

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Algerians, I got my hands on a copy of the Quran and began reading it. I became so interested, that I began telling everyone that I was a Muslim! I continued seeking out Islam and eventually, I became a proper Muslim.

Unfortunately in Malta Muslims are politically weak. It’s like we don’t exist. My husband says there is no injustice against Muslims in Malta, but my husband is born Maltese and therefore, is not distinguished right away as a Muslim. People around him accept him as Maltese. But if he were an Algerian or Libyan, he would realise there is a lot of racism. As for being a Muslim woman wearing the hijab, sometimes people have passed comments about me, but they never harm me. It is all just talk.

After September 11th, a few people barked at me on the streets, but it was not that bad. There were no attacks on the mosques, although there were a few harsh articles in the media.

Many immigrant Muslims visit clubs and discos in central Malta, get drunk and make a nuisance of themselves. The Maltese then say, “You Muslims say you don’t drink, but look at you getting drunk.”

There have been a couple of rapes committed by Muslim men. The media don’t say there was a rape by a Libyan or a Syrian, but that a Muslim man has raped a Christian woman implying that the culprit was motivated by his religion.

The articles we offer to the local newspapers are not published. The world is full of biased media and Malta is no different.

The media here peddle the agenda of the two main political parties.

There is poverty in Malta, but it is still a welfare state. The Muslims could integrate better, but many who come to Malta are uneducated and grossly underpaid. It’s a vicious cycle - many families don’t bother with good education.

Many Muslims here are afraid of the public school system because Christianity is taught as part of syllabus. Muslims end up doing the jobs that the Maltese don’t want to do. Recently, a Somali man was beaten by his boss just because he wanted to get paid. He was hospitalised and it was reported in the papers, but there was no passionate outcry against this injustice.

Many Muslim migrants come to Malta because the situation in their home country is so poor. They would rather settle for a life without education and underpaid work.

Muslim, particularly Arab, countries need to be more politically open and give their people the opportunity to participate in the future of their home countries. At the moment, they feel stifled under the thumb of politicians. They are at the mercy of their own societies.

The children who study at the mosque school are the future of Islam in Malta.

Inshallah, they will grow up as good examples to the rest of society. There are only 250 of them so maybe they could get married to non-Muslims and bring them to Islam.

Then, we’d have 500 Muslims! All these couples could then have at least four children each! Ultimately, it is in God’s hands.

Carol Gatt works in the banking sector and is editor of the Good Word, the first magazine dedicated to Maltese Muslims.

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FEATURE

BECOMING INTEGRAL TO THE

FUTURE OF

EUROPE

In the concluding part of his essay Do we dare be European Muslims?, H. A. Hellyer challenges the failure of Muslim communities to become intrinsic to the European societies they are a part of.We are not, he argues, a dangerous fifth column, but integral to the debate over the future of Europe - a community of purpose, ready and willing to make its contribution.

INTEGRALISATION:THE STAKES Islamophobia exists, but unless one believes that Europeans are hereditarily distrusting of Islam, there needs to be a bit of an exploration. The representation that Islam receives in European countries either reveals a severely well-informed mediasavvy conspiracy that is bent on lying about Islam, or a population who do not know what they are talking about.

Either way (and credence is to be given to the latter), the portrayal of Islam as some sort of superior national identity will likely prolong the existence of this erroneous view. A novel form of ‘asabiya (partisanship) combined with ta’sub (prejudice) may be emotionally satisfying and psychologically gratifying, but it does not come without a price, nor without consequence.

It used to be the case that Western Islam was thought of as being inexorable (i.e. that Western Muslim communities were here to stay, no matter what). That can no longer be relied upon on, ignoring the possibility, as did the Jews of Europe in the Holocaust, and the Muslims in Bosnia, that prejudice and bigotry might mutate into something far worse: a deepening of Islamophobia, and the possibility of the destruction of Muslim communities by demographic majorities who, for whatever reason, fear the ‘infidel’ in their midst.

Nevertheless, at present there is no need for alarm, for in the countries of the European Union under the rule of law, such persecution is not yet possible. Although certain regions present difficulties, European societies as wholes are remarkably tolerant (owed in no small part to secularism, the only way that pluralism could come to exist in much of Europe). Classical Muslim communities exhibited great forbearance under far more desperate circumstances; Muslim communities today should be in a state of

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thankfulness in Europe, and not underestimate the value of living here. Despite residing in much more arduous conditions, classical Muslim communities were also more prone to unwearyingly probe themselves about difficulties of their own making, something that some sections of Muslim communities today are not so inclined to do. On the flip side, the efforts of some nonMuslim to exhibit regrettable bigotry under the fig-leaf of ‘intellectual enquiry’ needs to be challenged by any European concerned about the future of Europe.

Nevertheless, the failure of Muslims to probe themselves and exhibit themselves as intrinsic to European societies continues to frustrate both Muslim communities, who look for a productive and relevant image of Islam, as well as non-Muslim communities.

Reactionary political movements amongst the latter frequently abuse the representation of a Muslim community seeking economic benefit without contribution to society as a whole to further their extremist political agendas, although this is more often than not a diversion from the real issue of deciding what it truly means to be a ‘European’.

The root of hatred is fear, and it is common for human beings to fear what they do not understand - something Europeans have learnt many times over, but cannot quite seem to grasp. Something that is understood, if it is worthwhile on its own two feet, will not be hated and demonised by the masses, although there will always be people who for various reasons reject certain realities. Such is the nature of things, but this is not, by and large, the predominant disposition of any people, let alone those who have opened their countries’ doors to refugees, expend great amounts in charity across the world, and continue to mobilise for causes that have no direct relevance to them.

PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE? Throughout history, Muslim communities have faced the challenge of living as ‘minorities’ in the following way: acting as the living embodiment of the Islamic personality in such lands and of such lands.

The Muslims of China historically had far fewer numbers and far fewer resources than today’s European Muslim communities at the dawn of their existence as a Chinese Muslim community, in the face of an overwhelmingly more difficult situation. Within a few generations, they were running the economy, having become not integrated, nor assimilated, but integral to the country, to the point that Islam was recognised as one of the great religions of the Empire.

They met the non-Muslim Chinese with words they understood, rather than introduce themselves as foreign fifth columns, becoming Chinese in the process, but remaining Muslim, to this day.

This was the same elsewhere as well, regardless of whether the Muslim presence had political sovereignty (as it did in Egypt) or not (as in China); in all places, the Muslims ‘went native’. The glorious civilisation of al-Andalus was not an ‘Arabian seed’ planted in Europe, but a fresh, beautiful new culture of its own. The same all over the Maghreb, the Fertile Crescent, Turkey, subSaharan Africa, Indonesia, India, and, in fact, all the lands where Muslims went. All became attached to the land, and formed new cultures with the inhabitants, filtering out the ‘chaff’ from the ‘wheat’.

The alternative is to constantly insist with deeds and words that Muslims are no more than an artificial implant in these lands from somewhere else. For decades, despite having huge numbers at their disposal, Muslims in various countries of the European Union have been stereotyped as ‘Pakistani’, ‘Arab’, and ‘Turkish’, amongst

FEATURE

other ethnicities, to the point that if a nonMuslim embraces Islam, he is spoken of as ‘turning Turk’ (historically the phrase used when a European Christian became Muslim) or ‘becoming a Paki’.

In our times, where the new dynamic of the European Union has deeply affected the sense of ‘self’ amongst Europeans, such perceptions are none too helpful. In the face of phenomenal changes to their societies, resulting from European integration and modernity, Europeans currently find themselves in a crisis of identity that is continually exploited by xenophobes on the far right. Instead of confronting that problem on a fundamental level, taking into account the new dynamics, some are simply using the Muslim ‘Other’ as an excuse to escape answering the true conundrum of defining what it is to be ‘European’. The left-wing is seen as hammering the death-blows into the coffin of the nation, under the pretext of respect and tolerance of minorities, whereas the right-wing prefers to ignore that national identities need to be re-examined, as they always have been over the centuries. The former respect Muslims, but as the ‘other’.

The latter reject Muslims, also as ‘Other’.

After examining the destruction of tolerance in Dutch society in the aftermath of the Theo Van Gogh’s murder and the subsequent attacks on Muslim communities, Rod Liddle in a recent issue of ‘The Spectator’ notes that a “recent study suggested that within six years at three large Dutch cities will have an effective Muslim majority.

There’s also the nightmare scenario of the Low Countries’ caliphate… And all of this is aided and abetted by the European Union, its liberal immigration laws, its espousal of multiculturalism and, crucially, its implicit disavowal of the concept of a sovereign nation state with a coherent national identity… How, then, do you attempt to inculcate a belief in unity and nationhood among new citizens when the nation is withering away in front of you?”

Liddle may be raving against Islam and Muslims in his piece, but a key point that he exploits, which many sectors of our European societies feel vulnerable about, is the dissipation of the cohesion of society and the nation. It is likely that the full weight of these challenges lies not with the Muslim presence, but exists independently of Muslims, who appear to be useful scapegoats to escape the painful process of self-examination that European societies must undergo.

European societies have serious issues to deal with relating to identity and instead of facing them, the reactionary amongst them prefer to deconstruct those identities to an unsophisti-

cated bastardisation, vis-à-vis the ‘Muslim Other’, instead of re-evaluating themselves in the face of modernity.

All the same, if Muslims continue to appear to be encouraging the damaging development of the dissipation of civil consciousness, non-Muslims will continue to view them and their religion as suspect.

Even those sympathetic to Islam may not wish to unnecessarily commit cultural apostasy at the best of times, and indeed, should they have to?

According to Cambridge scholar, Abdal Hakim Murad, “no Muslim would deny that multiculturalism must always have some limits.” Respect for diversity would fall into valueless and useless cultural relativism. The Prophet may have allowed a large degree of autonomy for Medinan Jews, but he unconditionally banned female infanticide. The same principle is valid in the EU, and it is not unjustified for European societies to expect a degree of cultural assimilation from new citizens; how far that goes, however, is forever being argued, in a discussion that European Muslims need to engage in, as a community of purpose, bound to their ethical code.

A COMMUNITY OF PURPOSE As the Conference on Maliki Fiqh in Europe in the 1980s made clear, it is incumbent for Muslims in Europe to remain: this is clear from both classical Islamic jurists, and contemporary scholars such as Shaykh al Ghimari, the great Moroccan expert in the study of the Prophetic traditions. At the same time, they are enjoined to adhere to the law of the land (something that contemporary authorities such as Abdullah Bin Bayyah, and classical authorities such as Ibn Qudama have noted is obligatory). This is not to negate the need for a critical evaluation of European foreign policies, or the threats of complete cultural destruction, for such assessments are necessary. On the other hand, as Abdal Hakim Murad points out “wild denunciations of Great Satans or global Crusader Conspiracies are, for Muslims here, not only dangerous, but are also discourteous - scarcely a lesser sin.”

Muslims should thus consider themselves members of a community of positive purpose, assisting in the improvement of their societies in all ways available to them.

In the aftermath of September 11th, Hamza Yusuf made the point to Muslims, both privately and publicly, that if they could not be law-abiding citizens, they were obliged, under shariah, to migrate to a place where they could. For this, he was widely criticised.

It is hard to see why.

A COMMUNITY OF UNIVERSAL MERCY In these beautiful lands, there is certainly a plethora of opportunities at the disposal of the Muslim community. The only question is, are Muslim communities in Europe up to it?

There are certainly problems in our societies in the ‘West’. The September 11, 2001 gave the impetus (or excuse) for a great deal of structural reshuffling to take place. Police states may not yet exist, but we are closer to them than we were before.

And Muslims will likely bear the brunt of such measures; regardless of what pundits and bureaucrats might claim.

Nevertheless, now, as in previous centuries, European societies are in a state of flux, with our values being constantly examined. A plethora of European nonMuslims have struggled against the encroachment on their liberties and freedom over the years, struggling with their lives and their wealth to ensure that we might live free; whence the Muslims?

If they stay on the sidelines of those debates, Muslims have no one to blame but themselves if Islam itself stays on the sidelines, instead of contributing to the discussion. If the ‘West’ becomes synonymous with the term ‘barbarism’ in truth instead of merely polemics, then part of the responsibility will be with the millions of Muslims who reside in these lands and who have not made the necessary contribution to prevent that from happening.

In the midst of that picture, however, there is hope, for in Europe, civil society remains open to the contributions of its citizens. The Prophet, an individual who understood his duty to the community, lived among his people for more than forty years, learning all their dialects and communicating with them in their colloquial forms and habits. When he sent Mu’adh to Yemen to meet People of the Book, he advised him to talk about the unity of God, for this was a common ground to start from. This is how integralisation, participation, contribution and involvement must take place, with an awareness of what is common, and what is different, what is essential and what is inherited culture.

Muslim scholars are the ones who are qualified to give authoritative opinions what Islam does or does not stand for. For my own part, it seems Islam in its pristine form is a message of universalisation - a universal message of mercy, for the preponderant quality of God in Islam is mercy, the final Prophet of which was none other than mercy unto the worlds.

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FEATURE

LIFE ON THE

STREETS

The Homelessness Experience? Sounds like a new reality show, doesn’t it? As SONIA MALIK can testify, it was anything but. In the last weeks of winter, she and six others volunteered to become rough sleepers in a bid to raise awareness about the hardships of living without shelter on London’s mean streets.Two days of dodging police, seeking warm alcoves and scraping together meals from handouts has changed her perceptions of those with no fixed address.

FRIDAY EVENING Sat in the MuslimYouth.net offices before embarking on our mission and considered for one last time what I was getting myself into. Sleeping rough for two nights in freezing conditions was no mean feat, and I had needed a lot of persuading to stick with it. But as the time drew near, I found myself anticipating the challenges that lay ahead. So much so that I was surprised by the people who had dropped out at the last minute. Chickens, I thought.

As per ‘the rules’, we were only allowed £3 each for the whole weekend and the clothes on our backs - which in view of the weather were copious! There was to be no splitting up from the group, no help from acquaintances, no credit cards, phones, toothbrushes, make-up, books, cigarettes, blankets or food. We were not allowed to beg or steal. Whatever we felt we simply had to have we were to buy out of our meagre allowances, although we could keep any freebies or discarded items we came across.

My armour consisted of a red anorak, thermal gloves and a hideous black fleece hat. It had ten dreadlock-like tassels arranged around its base, and sitting on the table, it looked like it would have had the lead role in Arachnophobia. In retrospect, however, it kept me alive through two freezing nights and provided an endless source of amusement for the rest of the group, who needed cheering up on more than one occasion.

We were meant to spend the first night in Hampstead Heath, but on stepping out to heavy rain the plan changed.

We decided to sleep at a sheltered area someone knew of in Central London and then head for a homeless centre in Whitechapel in the morning. The centre provides breakfast

and washing facilities.

We walked to Euston Station in the rain where we waited with the newspapers and cardboard boxes we had collected until the last train departed. The evening was eventful. I was mistaken for a Virgin travel assistant in my red anorak and consequently, had someone leave their baggage at my feet, yell at me because the ticket machine didn’t work and then panic when he missed his train!

Another volunteer managed to persuade one of the shops to give us their left over food, telling them we had missed our last train and run out of money. And one of the girls, bless her, could only blag some hot water, which they attempted to cool with ice.

Our intended sleeping spot proved to be less than welcoming. We had only just laid out our ‘bedding’ before being sprung by the security guard who ordered us to leave and then sent the police over when we protested.

Believe it or not, we considered getting arrested for the sake of food and a warm place to sleep, but instead tried to find shelter elsewhere. Sleeping on the streets proved impossible. At -1° Celsius, the cold from the concrete ground came straight through our strips of cardboard and layers of clothes, chilling us to the bone. We ended up walking around London until four in the morning before going to an Accident and Emergency hospital where we pretended one of us needed to see a doctor! Funnily enough, the doctor wasn’t expected until 8 a.m. and we were content to wait except for the fact that we were prevented from lying down. We spent the remainder of the night quietly dozing in sitting positions.

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FEATURE

SATURDAY We headed off for the Whitechapel shelter before the doctor arrived and saw through our charade. We were concerned that genuinely homeless people at the centre might treat us with hostility but their reaction was quite the opposite. We were regarded with interest and greeted warmly once they realised what we were doing. It was pointless pretending we really were homeless since we looked more like a mixture of campers, skiers and trainspotters! We bought our breakfasts for around 40p and were given a tour of the centre before being donated sleeping bags for our second night. We spent the afternoon sitting in another hospital until hunger struck again, and so we pooled our funds and did some serious economy shopping. Sainsbury’s saw us through the rest of the ‘Experience’.

After this brief spot of retail therapy, we trundled over to a nearby business district where we were meant to meet one of the photographers. The more exhausted ones climbed into their sleeping bags for a nap. It wasn’t long before we were accosted by more security guards. We pacified them by having a pleasant little chat before collecting our things. But seconds later a police van came to a halt beside us and out sprang three officers demanding names and details. Apparently one of the security staff had told them we were refusing to move on and that we had been abusive! Shocked by this fabrication, we managed to talk ourselves out of the situation, using the poshest accents we could muster!

Nevertheless, a fright from the police was nothing compared to spooky Regents Park, where we decided to spend the night. We hid from security until they shut the gates at midnight so that we could sleep undisturbed until 6 a.m. But sleep I could not. I had little protection against the wet grass and morning dew, which at minus two degrees had formed sheets of ice over my sleeping bag and boots. Hiding out amongst terrifying tree silhouettes, mists, shadows and eery noises made the drunks, psychos, and muggers lurking outside of the park gates look like gingerbread men. The people who had dropped out began to seem more sensible than spineless. I decided to face my demons and ventured out of my sleeping bag to jog up and down a little in a bid to warm up and tire myself to sleep.

This proved unsuccessful and I ended up jogging for hours, whilst my fellow ‘homeless homies’ snored.

SUNDAY Delighted that morning had finally broken (and I was still alive!), those scary corners of the park began to look harmless, and I made my way over to the Ladies. On my return however, I was justifiably amused to find that the rest of the crew had been woken by an assortment of guards and police dogs. We gathered our things and slowly stumbled back to Finchley Road, where the Homelessness Experience finally came to an end.

ONE WEEK LATER It’s a tough experience - miles of walking, fending for what little scraps you have, putting your head down where you can find a place. I overcame panic (on the first night, when I wondered how I would ever make it through the weekend) and my fears (on the second night, when I near-

ly did a runner!) to face the harsh realities of the world.

The experience has made me more grateful, because I find myself appreciating the simplest, smallest pleasures in life we so often take for granted: kind words and smiles, warm rooms, hot food, a bed, hot showers.

It’s a perspective giving exercise. It’s not the end of the world if I don’t meet a deadline and it really isn’t that big a deal if I miss my train.

It’s about empathy. I now appreciate more than ever that those weary souls crouched along pavements and sleeping on park benches are fellow human beings with hearts and aspirations that remain unfulfilled. They no longer seem like people dirty, submerged in drugs and unemployed by choice, but more like victims of circumstance. To be constantly walking and searching for food, warmth, shelter and a place to sleep safely and unhindered, whilst being ignored or subjected to hostility is a tragic existence.

Muslims have the highest rates of unemployment, the poorest health, the highest rate of disability and fewest educational qualifications in Britain. Muslim women fare worse than Muslim men. British Muslims, particularly young people, are uniquely at-risk for becoming homeless, yet there is little discussion within the community about rough sleeping and ways in which we can help people get affordable housing and avoid the strange purgatory of life on the streets.

The Homelessness Experience was a call to action. Perhaps next year, imams, secretary-generals and mosque executives should join the program. I am sure the Whitechapel shelter can pitch in a few more sleeping bags.

The Homelessness Experience was organised by MuslimYouth.net. Similar support programs are also run

by City Circle.

FEATURE

SAINTS, SUFIS AND

STAR WARS A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away noble Sufi shaykhs trained young dervishes to battle dark powers that sought to lead people along the path of hatred and anger.They floated through the air, walked on water and did remarkable acrobatics - all by invoking the divine Force. Sound familiar? It’s better than you think. IRFAN M. RYDHAN explores the secret relationship between Islam and Star Wars.

ost Star Wars fans know that director George Lucas, influenced chiefly by the works of the late American scholar Joseph Campbell, took spiritual elements common to many world religions to create the mystical fabric of his epic saga of good versus evil. As a Muslim, I always thought the Jedi to be what a true follower of Islam should be like. Jedi masters, with their North African cloaks and scruffy beards look like Sufi shaykhs, are taught to respect a greater power, fight for the innocent and honour a code of morals and ethics in order to bring about peace and justice in their societies - exactly what the Islamic tradition prescribs. So what is the connection between these seemingly ‘Islamic principles’ and the fictional Jedi Order of the Star Wars saga?

There is devotion to Star Wars that non-enthusiasts will not understand. For example, National Statistics UK reported that in its 2001 Census 390,000 respondents declared Jedi to be their chosen religion. I am sometimes unsure whether devotion to Star Wars has crossed the make-believe barrier or if these Star Wars fans are just pulling our leg. There may be some truth in fiction. And I think I know where some of the truth of the Jedi comes from.

I came across an interesting article entitled Eternal Jihad: The Way of the Mystic-Warrior from a Sufi website. It revealed, “We are at the core a Movement of Jeddi; masters of Futuwwat (“the Way of the mystic-warrior”). We encourage adherents to train both physically and spiritually, for their own personal edification and to enhance their knowledge and abilities in the struggle. The Real does not lie alone in contemplation, prayer and meditation; nor does it lie alone in action and revolution. Both of these are notions of “one or the other” and Allah is not ‘one or the other’. ‘Allah’ literally means ‘the One[ness] which manifests from Nothing.’”

Note that the Arabic term al-Jeddi (master of the mysticwarrior way) along with another Islamic term not mentioned, palawan (perhaps from pahlwan, or strong young man in Punjabi), similar to Lucas’ Padawan for Jedi apprentice, were actual titles used by Muslim knights.

M

THE FORCE The Force is the common thread between all six movies

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and is defined as an energy field, which binds all living things together, like Allah, God, a Supreme Being or power that most religious adherents worship, follow and yearn to become a part of. According to Star Wars mythology, the Jedi “are a noble order of protectors unified by their belief and observance of the Force.” The Jedi study and train under the apprentice-master relationship similar to how many religious students study under a priest or religious scholar until they have learned enough to teach and train the next generation of students.

From a Muslim perspective, the similarities between the Jedi and the Islamic traditions of instruction are strikingly similar. For example, a Muslim scholar usually trains under a shaykh for a number of years before they are given the right or permission - ijazah - to teach others about Islam. As Martin Nguyen points out, “In Islamic Sufism shaykhs will have silsilas that list the chain of teachers going back to the Prophet Muhammad. A silsila indicates a shaykh’s lineage of mystical learning from which he draws his spiritual authority.”

Similarly in the Jedi tradition of Star Wars, each Padawan (apprentice) is taught the same tradition and skills their Jedi masters were taught by their previous masters. Star Wars fans know the lineage of Jedi instruction starting from Yoda to Count Dooku to Qui-Gon Jinn to Obi Wan Kenobi to Anakin Skywalker.

In the first Star Wars movie, Episode IV: A New Hope, Luke Skywalker, like his father, Anakin, lives in the desert (incidentally, the desert planet of Tatooine was actually filmed near the real desert town of Tataouine in Tunisia). From among this remote desert area with no roots of a civilised urban society, a ‘chosen one’ arises who brings the hope of peace and justice to their society. Anakin is the chosen one in the latest Star Wars films, and Luke can be considered the chosen one from the original Star Wars trilogy.

Similarly, the Prophet of Islam (peace and blessings be upon him) lived in the desert where there was no true rule of law or justice and people followed the tribal system of blood vengeance. Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, brought Islam to the Arabs, which completely changed their way beliefs, thinking and the way they lived their lives. Instead of

FEATURE

The exciting light-sabre duels and swordsmanship and martial arts style fighting are integral to Star Wars and they, of course originates from the East. As a former student of Eskrima Serrada - stick and blade fighting developed by Muslims of the Philippines, I see many similarities in the fast-moving and shortrange fighting I studied and the “invented” art of the Jedi masters.

living for the present and for themselves, as Muslims they lived for the hereafter and were taught to take care of the poor, orphans, those less fortunate than themselves and to fight for social justice and well being for the whole community.

Thus, the Jedi too is taught to be selfless and not selfish like the Sith, an ancient order of Force-practitioners devoted to the dark side and determined to destroy the Jedi. Just as Yoda, the little green master, taught young padawans not to give into fear and be tempted by the Dark Side - the temptations of the devil or shaytan - Muslims are taught not to be attached to the life of this world, the dunya, nor to fall prey to the diseases of the heart like jealousy, envy, fear and especially hatred as they lead to evil and sin.

THE GREEN ONE There is an interesting connection between the Jedi master Yoda (a short, green skinned creature first seen in Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back) and Islamic traditions - the character of al-Khidr means “the Green One” in Arabic. Some Quranic commentators say that Khidr is one of the prophets, others refer to him simply as a divinely sent guide and yet others argue that he is a perfect wali, a friend and devoted servant of God. So in other words Yoda - the name itself comes from the Hebrew for ‘wise one’ or from the Sanskrit for ‘warrior’ - is like a spiritual mentor who guides the young Jedi in the ways of the force and teaches them to be strong enough to resist the temptations and evil inclinations of the Sith and other Dark Forces.

In Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the Emperor tries to influence Luke Skywalker to give into his feelings of anger and hatred. As we all know Luke’s father Anakin, did fall prey to the Emperor’s whispers and joined the Dark Side to become the fearsome Darth Vader. Because the Jedi - like Muslim warriors - are taught that one’s intentions in battle must be pure and that it’s wrong to kill out of anger, even when is outwardly justified.

Imam Ali, the fourth Caliph and the cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, was faced with this situation at the Battle of the Ditch. The noble Imam had knocked an enemy soldier to the ground and was raising his sword to kill him, when the unbe-

liever spat in his face. Imam Ali at once stood still and refrained from killing his enemy and stated: “Your property and your life have become sacrosanct to me. I am not authorized to slay you. I can receive permission to kill only in holy combat, in fighting commanded by Allah. Just a few moments ago, I had overcome you in battle, knocked you to the ground and was on the point of slaying you. But when you spat in my face, my selfish anger was aroused against you. If I had killed you, I would have slain you not for Allah’s sake but for my own selfish reason; they would then have called me not a champion warrior, but a murderer. When you spat in my face, my selfish passion threatened to overwhelm me, so instead of striking you with the sword for my own sake I struck my passion for the sake of Allah, Exalted is He. There you have the reason for your escape.”

The Jedi could be considered “Holy Warriors” (or mujahideen) as they fight for truth, justice and peace. They meditate (do dhikr) as much as they can, to become “one with the force”, even in the midst of battle. In Episode I: The Phantom Menace, the Jedi master, Qui-Gon Jinn begins to meditate in the middle of his battle with his arch-nemesis Darth Maul.

Islamic History is filled with stories of Muslim warriors who stop in the heat of the battle to remember Allah and take heed of the noble teachings of Islam. Imam Hussain the grandson of the Prophet stopped to do his Asr prayers at Karbala.

There is even an account of Sayyidna Ali who completed his prayers while he had an arrow stuck in his leg.

There is a saying in Islam, which states: “Life in this world is Paradise for the unbelievers and a prison for the believers.”

Which basically means that if one puts all their faith in this world - the dunya - then it is very easy to fall off the straight path and be tempted by Satan to the “dark side”.

This is shown very clearly in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith which is all about the Anakin’s fall into the dark side.

Lucas, himself stated in an interview that the he chose the final battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan to be on a planet with flowing molten lava and fire, which represents the fires of Hell. It is the ultimate showdown between good and evil.

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There is an interesting connection between Yoda and the character of alKhidr - “the Green One”. Some Quranic commentators say that Khidr is one of the prophets, some refer to him simply as a divinely sent guide who directs spiritual seekers, and yet others argue that he is a perfect wali, a friend and devoted servant of God.

and the dunya, as he wanted to have the power to live forever and save his loved ones from death, in particular his wife from dying during childbirth. He has excessive anger and arrogance, as he felt he was the most powerful Jedi and no other Jedi was better or stronger than him. He began to distrust those who are his righteous guides. He felt Obi-Wan, his Shaykh, was jealous of him and thought the Jedi Council - or should we say shura - was against him, which lead him to follow other sinister forces for guidance. Lastly he had hatred in his heart and admitted to hating the “sand people”. He fell to all those vices that Islam teaches the Muslim to avoid.

THE SAND PEOPLE The sand people or the Tusken Raiders could be considered a metaphor for the nomadic peoples of Arabia. In Episode II: Attack of the Clones, the Tusken Raiders kidnap and torture Anakin’s mother, Shimi, eventually killing her.

Anakin then proceeds to kill sand people in vengeance, and as he tells his wife, that he ‘killed all of them, including the women and children.’ But this did not relieve him of his anger and hatred. I believe Lucas is trying to make a point about the continuous spewing of hate against Arab and Muslim peoples, specifically after September 11th. Even though the countries of Iraq and Afghanistan were bombed relentlessly (it hasn’t stopped yet), as punishment for the attacks of September 11th (without any proof or legitimate legalities of course), many Americans still have hatred against anyone that even looks like an Arab or Muslim. Many innocent people, specifically women and children, have been harassed, attacked and sometimes even killed, because of this ‘hate’.

This wasn’t the only example of Lucas getting political.

After Episode III debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, many Europeans were saying that Anakin represents Bush and his Neo-Con cohorts currently in power. One couldn’t help but notice the very overt examples in the last and final instalment of the Star Wars series. Of course, the most obvious example was when Anakin tells Obi-Wan before their final duel, “Either you’re with me, or against me”, which sounds remarkably like a current American President.

THE JEDI ARTS One of the most popular aspects of the Star Wars films are the exciting light-sabre duels and swordsmanship (Lucas is an admitted fan of old Samurai films) and martial arts style fighting, which of course originates from the East. As a former stu-

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dent of Eskrima Serrada - stick and blade fighting developed

by Muslims of the Philippines - myself, I see many similarities in the fast-moving and short-range fighting I studied and the “invented” art of the Jedi masters.

When Anakin fights Count Dooku at the beginning of the Episode III, he applies a disarm and cut technique that is directly from the Eskrima tradition Dooku’s arm. The fighting techniques in Star Wars are reminiscent of the Muslim martial arts of Southeast Asia as exemplified by Pencak Silat and Eskrima, which are based on paying attention to the limbs of the attacker and not concerned with an immediate strike to the attacker’s head or torso.

Ray Park, who plays Darth Maul in Episode I: The Phantom Menace, studied Kung Fu (very similar to the empty hand techniques of Serrada) and Wushu. He frequently travelled to Malaysia to refine and develop his skills. The bases of the Muslim martial arts of Southeast Asia are spiritual. This is the local Sufi expression of Islam. Traditional Indonesian/Malay folklore attributes the initial design of these arts to Muslim saints in the region going back to the 7th Century. The Silat system is attributed to nine main awliya or saints, also called the Wali Songo.

Here is another example of the Sufi-Jedi connection. As Jedi’s study the force and train in the Jedi Arts under the apprentice-master relationship, so do the Sufis.

My research has shown me some remarkable similarities between the spiritual world of Star Wars and the ideals, principles and understanding of Islam. Some of the similarities are clear - master/apprentice being shaykh/talib and the Force being akin the creative presence of the divine in creation. Other similarities were more hidden and surprising - the Jeddi and Palawan Muslim knights and Yoda’s remarkable similarity to Khidr.

Even though Lucas himself is not a follower of any specific religion, he has used elements of Islam to convey universal understandings of good and evil. Combining the common threads of the human experience with a futuristic space-age setting and exciting martial arts swordsmanship, came a creation that has inspired many, across religious lines. There is something about the Star Wars saga that everyone can relate to and enjoy. People searching for a “truth” within the mythology of Star Wars, will hopefully look a little deeper behind the fiction and find a way of life which emphasises peace, justice and brotherhood for all humanity. Sounds like Islamic ideals to me.

AN ASSEMBLY OF

LOVE

From Sumatra to Samarkand, the mawlid is the most important cultural event in the Muslim calendar. FUAD NAHDI wants it to become an essential feature of British Islam. Kicking off Uniting for the Prophet - an event that he dreamt of organising for almost a decade, he says it’s time to make the mawlid a truly national celebration. he birthday of the Blessed Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, is celebrated as a national holiday in fifty countries in the world. Today Britain is close to being the fifty-first nation to mark this auspicious occasion formally.

Though a global phenomenon, the style of the celebrations of the mawlid varies greatly from land to land. In Egypt, sugar dolls are sold on the streets; in Java, kettle drums are beaten in jungle villages. But the religious aspects of the holiday have a unified purpose: to inculcate, using relaxing and beautiful sounds, the love of the Final Prophet in the hearts of ordinary Muslim believers.

Typically, the celebration of mawlid takes place in a mosque. After a recitation of the Holy Book, a beautiful voice sings a traditional poem, often several hundred verses long, which tells the story of the Blessed Prophet’s life. The audience is enthusiastic, and joins in repeated choruses. Many listeners know the entire poem by heart, and will spontaneously volunteer to recite part of it alone or with friends.

The musical sophistication of the event varies in accordance with the cultural level of the audience. The classical Ottoman mawlid, for instance, was recited every year in the Blue Mosque of Istanbul, in the presence of the Chief Mufti, the men of state, and the sultan himself, and would bring together the finest aesthetic talents of the capital.

Mawlid, as a popularising tradition, is typically sung in the vernacular. In Uzbekistan, for instance, the poems of the fifteenth-century local poet Ali Shir Nevai are sung. In the subcontinent, one hears the verse of Ghalib and a host of lesser known Urdu, Pashto, Sindhi, Punjabi and Bengali devotional writers.

In the Arab world, the lines of Imam al-Buasiri, al-Barzanji

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and Ibn Kathir are the most popular. There is also rich mawlid literature in Swahili, Hausa, Kurdish, Tamil, Malay, Kazakh, Somali, Farsi, Albanian, Tatar, and dozens of other languages of the Islamic world. But out of this diversity comes forth a single message: the Final Prophet has come, and salvation in both the worlds has come in its wake. Mankind has celebrated no more a joyful occasion.

British Muslims have always celebrated mawlid: mosques and community centres up and down the country hold numerous joyful gatherings and marches. But today’s event is the first in both its ambition and design: the Uniting for the Prophet mawlid is the first effort in these isles to hold an event of this magnitude in an independent public space.

It is also unique in the fact that it has brought together some of the leading scholars from all corners of the world who are making a major contribution towards Islam in the West.

We thank them all for their cooperation, support and sense of commitment. More important than all this, this event is about the Prophet Muhammad - upon whom be peace and blessings. Here today we are assembled in the name of Muhammad ibn Abdullah - the Messenger of God, the best of Creation and the Final Prophet to mankind sent by God. We, who are assembled in this blessed hall today, are witness to Islam’s message of love, peace and tolerance. We are here to demonstrate and celebrate our beloved Prophet’s message of sharing and caring: of our faith’s ability to inspire and encourage what is good in us as human beings.

Mawlid is an assembly of lovers in an act of devotion for what they should love more than anything in their lives. It is a time to chill out, to celebrate and be joyful and thank the Lord for the best gift that He has given us: al-Habib al-Mustafa.

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MAWLID

THE WORLD WAS ALL SUBMERSED IN

LIGHT ON THE NIGHT OF BIRTH MUHAMMAD’S Ten years after Q-News held Britain’s first modern mawlid in 1995, Uniting for the Prophet organised under the patronage of Habib ‘Ali AlJifri at Wembley’s conference centre on 2 May 2005 attracted over 2700 people from across the country.They came to hear orations from the most important contemporary Islamic scholars and listen to beautiful music and litanies of remembrance. Most of all they came to unite across ethnic, linguistic and sectarian lines to express love and devotion to the man God called ‘the mercy to all the worlds’. FOZIA BORA was there and declares the first truly national British mawlid a blessed success.

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here was something slightly incongruous about walking up to Wembley Conference Centre, past the multiple walkways leading to the new Wembley Stadium, to celebrate the birth of the Blessed Prophet (on whom be peace). This was no ordinary mawlid, however. The attraction of a national, public mawlid at which so many of our most illumined and erudite teachers would be present was too much to resist, and many of the ashiqin came to this heavily oversubscribed event without tickets, hoping to find a more mystical way in through the doors. I don’t know how many of these devotees of Muhammad (Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) made it into the conference hall, but showing up there at all was an act of pure love. Wembley is a place that’s no stranger to devotion (of the sporting and musical variety): on the second of May, 2005, a different kind of fanaticism drew several thousand British Muslims to an event that will, Allah-willing, become an annual public celebration.

Uniting for the Prophet was organised by the brilliantlynamed educational charity Mahabba Unlimited, whose brief includes the institutionalisation of the mawlid in this country, both as a celebration and as a means to achieve social cohesion (the New Labour-like phraseology doesn’t detract from the sincerity of the intention here.) To this end, a family-friendly and broad-based programme for the day was devised, at which the audience heard addresses from about eight of our traditional shaykhs, several groups of singers of devotional songs, speeches from the two eminent British Muslim writers Gai Eaton and the late Martin Lings (whose last public address this, rather poignantly, was), and from the Bishop of Bolton and the government minister Mike O’Brien.

This ambitious spectrum seemed inspiration and aspiration in equal measures. Yet it was carried through, by the grace of Allah, with the kind of spiritual virtuosity one does not

Photographs by Peter Sanders, Muhsin Kilby, Fareena Alam and Rizwan Rahman.

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expect to see at a large public event: the feeling and devotional tenor of the mawlid was achieved in a conference hall!

In Wembley!

The day’s celebration began with Quran recitation from Shaykh [?], whose soulful voice carried the divine words through the cavernous hall so that the whole place seemed to reverberate. Our attention seized, Fuad Nahdi then went on to welcome the speakers, singers and audience members with a reminder of the centrality of the mawlid in Muslim piety across the world today. (With his usual unbounded optimism, he even expressed the hope that the mawlid would become a national holiday on this isle of ours, embraced by officialdom as well as the Muslim public.) Fuad’s speech, and all the day’s discussions, were translated into sign language by the brilliant, indefatigable sister Tahira, who had, May Allah reward her, volunteered to spend the whole day on stage, interpreting with speed and aplomb.

Shaykh Jihad Hashim Brown then spoke to us, passionately and eloquently, about the meaning of the description of the Prophet (Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) as ‘a mercy to the worlds,’ reminding us that our share of mercy and compassion is born of the Prophet’s own rahmah. What moved the audience most visibly in his address was his assertion that the point of falling into the sea of love for the Blessed Prophet was that one should never emerge from it.

The ‘sea of love’ for the Prophet was in fact a metaphor for the mawlid itself, both generally and on that occasion, and it was this description that to my mind provided an image of how the experience of that day affected myself and others: each time we heard or saw something especially moving or illuminating, a wave of feeling swept across the audience.

Fana’ fi ‘l-rasul - annihilation in the Messenger (Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) - was surely a reality for many of those present that day.

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MAWLID

The point of falling into the ‘sea of love for the blessed Prophet’ was that one should never emerge from it, said Shaykh Jihad.This ‘sea of love’ was in fact a metaphor for the mawlid itself, in general and on that day. It was this description that articulated my own experience: each time we heard or saw something especially moving or illuminating, a wave of emotion swept through the audience.

Shaykh Ahmad Babikir talked next - warmly, but with a light touch - about how the project of this mawlid had been conceived and executed, and he emphasised the potential for dawah, and for Muslim unity, contained in the message of the mawlid. Then we heard a rousing address in Urdu from Shaykh Muhammad Hussein Pirzada, author of many books on the life of our Prophet, and although not everyone in the audience understood his words, those who did were stirred, especially by the lines of verse he quoted in praise of the Prophet. Even the founder of the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak, he told us, could only be in awe of the Prophet’s stature, and told his own followers this.

Interspersed between these talks, we heard songs sung by Shaam, the Birmingham-based British singers whose range, repertoire and mastery over their material has grown phenomenally over the last few years. They sang traditional qasidas, naats in Urdu and English nasheeds several times during the course of the day: each performance was bravura, and its effect uplifting. Ahbab al-Mustafa and Tariqa Burhaniyya also sang the lyricism of the mawlid, and I personally was also very struck by the gorgeous voice of Qari Hafeez Rahman, who sang some naats in Urdu. I cannot ever remember encountering such a powerful, resonant voice before, made even more beautiful by the verses he chose couplets of longing for and devotion to Prophet.

Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad then addressed the audi-

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ence with a brief introduction to his English Muslim choir Harmonia Alcorani, after which we were treated to some of the traditional English Muslim songs and madrigals Abdal Hakim has unearthed over the years. The voices of the young men who made up this group were sweet and melodious, even where the rhythms and cadences they were singing were intricate. We owe Shaykh Abdal Hakim a great debt for showing us the roots of British Islam, and committing himself to their cultural expression in various forms. The mawlid is a global event - all creation exists in the light of our Prophet’s wilaya (on him be blessings and peace) - but it was lovely to find some home-grown devotion mixed in there too.

Martin Lings, who looked more venerable than ever, then spoke to us a little about the mawlid, and few would have been unmoved by being addressed by someone of his age, and whose life of the Messenger has reached the hearts of so many. We did not know then that Allah Most High was to recall Dr. Lings unto Himself so soon after this event. Rather fittingly, Dr. Lings was then presented with a lifetime achievement award by the Association of Muslim Social Scientists, presented to him by Fauzia Ahmed. Hasan Le Gai Eaton followed shortly after with a talk touching on several topics, one of which was that the jihad of the suicide bomber is not a true jihad and his anger is not righteous anger but the ire of the ego.

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf offered us a subtle and scintillating discussion centring upon the inner and outer equilibrium maintained by our Prophet (on him be blessings and peace), and how this balance is best represented by the colour green.

Green, he told, is the middle colour of the spectrum; it is the first colour the child sees; and it is the colour one’s eyes accustom themselves to first thing in the morning and the last colour we perceive before going to sleep. Through the food chain, and through photosynthesis, green is also the colour that allows us to be nourished by the light of the sun.

That all life subsists physically through light is not a point that I had pondered before. Needless to say, Shaykh Hamza peppered his talk with wonderful anecdotes and also read out to us his own poem in praise of the Blessed Prophet. By the end of his speech, I was beginning to get an insight into what makes Shaykh Hamza, by the grace of Allah, such a gifted phenomenologist of our created universe - few can read the signs of Allah’s creative power as he can - and why

MAWLID

his frame of reference is so wide. Two things: he reads extremely widely, across linguistic and disciplinary boundaries; and he does not forget what he reads. Thus his talks are nothing if not fantastically well-informed, and he makes philosophical connections that make us see things anew.

After a break for prayers and food, we reconvened to then hear from the government minister Mike O’Brien, who has built-up a strong friendship with many in the British Muslim community over the years. With the general election set for the same week as the mawlid, I expected some electioneering, but was happy to say that the affable Mr. O’Brien kept this to a minimum. He was followed by the Right Reverend David Gillet, the Bishop of Bolton, who gave a disarmingly humble and honest response to his experience of this mawlid. He told us that he wished more people in Britain could have seen and heard what he had witnessed that day, for it would surely have given them an insight into the beauty of Muslim belief and piety. The day’s proceedings had in fact made him think deeply about his own path of service to God, and had offered him a challenge. The Bishop’s openness was quite moving to behold, and together with Mike O’Brien, he showed us that people of other faiths or no faith can be better friends to Muslims than we often imagine.

This mawlid had seen, beyond the stage in the bazaar, the launch of a new and arrestingly beautiful edition of the famous prayer manual the Dalail al-Khayrat, the ode written

by Imam Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli (May Allah be well pleased with him) in praise of the Blessed Prophet, prepared by Shaykh Nuh Keller. Shaykh Nuh came then to address us with a few words about Imam al-Jazuli, his qualities as a scholar and wali, and some of the exquisite features of his work. Sitting on the floor of the stage (as he always sits to teach his students), Shaykh Nuh brought us back, with his presence and his words, to the point that Muhammad (Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) is the door to Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Shaykh Nuh appeared, as ever, mustaghraq, drowned in the divine Presence, and his words touched us to the core. With each project of translation that he has undertaken over the years, he has brought another branch of Islamic learning and piety into the homes and hearts of ordinary Muslims and thereby re-woven the fabric of their existence.

We heard next from Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi,

Rev David Gillet, the Bishop of Bolton was disarmingly honest. He said he wished more people in Britain could have seen and heard what he had witnessed that day, for it would surely have given them an insight into the beauty of Muslim belief and piety.The day’s proceedings had in fact made him think deeply about his own path of service to God.

scion of the Prophetic house, who was visibly moved by the praises with which he had been hailed to the stage, and whose disavowals moved us even more profoundly. Shaykh Yaqoubi embodies love for the Messenger (on whom be peace) completely, and his theme was ‘don’t you miss him?’

- a reflection of the intense way in which he misses his forefather (Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him). Shaykh Yaqoubi then asked everyone in the audience, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, to recite the testimony of faith with him, which startled the fainthearted but renewed the inner commitment of most.

Finally, the last of our teachers to come to the stage was the one who was the whole project’s spiritual figurehead, Habib Ali al-Jifri, who did not, alas, have long before the event was called to a close, but, told the audience the heartbreaking story of the Prophet’s painful journey to Ta’if.

Habib Ali’s exegesis on this episode left the audience numb with grief, because of the Prophet’s pain and sorrow, and yet enlivened by the meaning he drew out from it, which was that the Prophet’s complaint about his own weakness showed that he never lacked gratitude even in the most trying of circumstances. With this, the lights started to go out on the first proper national British mawlid, a marvellous spiritual, emotional, intellectual (and logistical!) achievement, but the lights within had, by the grace of Allah, begun to burn brighter.

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SIGNING FOR THE

PROPHET

For deaf British Muslims, Uniting for the Prophet was perhaps the most accessible mawlid they had ever attended.Tahira Amin, trained in British Sign Language, spent almost seven hours signing out the day’s proceedings. SONIA MALIK, whose uncle was one of those who benefited, reports. inally a ticket became available. I led my uncle to his seat. It had not been easy getting him there. He has a hearing disability and given the length of the programme, he was convinced he would soon succumb to boredom. Imagine our delight when we noticed the sign-language interpreter on stage. It is an unprecedented facility at a Muslim event of this size, and following many disappointing efforts in the past my aunt had long given up enquiring beforehand - resorting instead to signing to my uncle herself through the programme (or afterwards if an event was segregated).

Why are there so few resources for Muslims with hearing disabilities? Why are they commonly denied access to circles of sacred knowledge and the benefit of participation fully during Muslim events? Where are the notes on the bottom of Islamic flyers welcoming deaf attendees? Where are all the Muslims sign-language interpreters? Uniting for the Prophet was a welcome exception to the sad rule.

One of the initiatives taking place in London is BSL Islam at the Regent’s Park Mosque, where speakers from the Muslim Deaf Group gather to teach the deaf community about Islam. However, Sahera Khan, Chairman of the Muslim Deaf Sisters Project tells me it often proves difficult for women to attend such sessions because they held late in the day while the lack of female speakers and segregation cause further problems.

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Sahera believes being deaf, Muslim and female is challenging on many levels. The lack of education and an active social life can lead to inferiority complexes.

Most remain misinformed about their rights and responsibilities in Islam while others turn away from their faith entirely in order to overcome the various challenges.

Even if activities catering specifically to the needs of deaf Muslims were accessible and well-advertised, the point still remains that more mainstream Islamic event organisers needs to make a paradigm shift when it comes to improving inclusion and integration.

More Muslims need to learn sign-language and qualify as interpreters. There is so much to communicate - to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Mosques need to promote such initiatives. Parents need to encourage deaf children to participate in social activities. Social services and deaf organisations need to be better informed of the requirements of Muslim lifestyles. The acquisition of knowledge is incumbent upon every Muslim. The message of Islam is now reaching every corner of the world, and crossing all barriers of race and language. It needs to cross over into the world of disabilities too. We need to support the training of more people like Tahira Amin.

Let’s resolve to have all our mawlid celebrations accessible - the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would expect no less from us. www.british-sign.co.uk

MAWLID

A TRIBUTE TO UNIVERSAL

WISDOM MIKE O’BRIEN

reflects on the importance of the mawlid and finds that the charity, wisdom and dignity of the Prophet give us all principles to live by. am aware that the Quran refers to the Prophet as Siraj alMuneera - as a light-emitting lantern. Whilst in the famous poem about the Prophet - the Qasida Burdah, the Ode of the Cloak, Imam Busairi says the Prophet transcends any partner in good qualities and he has the essential nature of excellence.

I am aware that the birthday of the Prophet has just taken place in the third lunar month and is celebrated as a national holiday in fifty countries in the world. British Muslims join Muslims all over the world to celebrate this wonderful occasion through nasheeds, lectures, poems and stories. This is an occasion for all of us - Muslim and non-Muslim - to reflect on his teachings.

One lesson we can learn from the Prophet’s life is that we are part of one moral universe, that humanity is intertwined like different parts of a human body, reflecting each other’s condition.

But the Prophet’s character is reflected by not just what Muslims have to say about him - but by the fact that his teachings have touched the lives of so many people who are not Muslim.

The playwright George Bernard Shaw wrote, “I believe that if a man like Muhammad were to assume the leadership of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it much needed peace and happiness.”

Mahatma Gandhi said of the Prophet, “I became more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter humility of the Prophet, his scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his dignity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These and not the sword carried everything before him and overcame every obstacle.”

These men learnt much from the teachings of the Prophet; a man who taught that charity can be given in a smile, who preached that no man is a true believer if he sleeps whilst his neighbour - be he Muslim or non-Muslim - remains hungry.

The essential teaching of the Prophet that “none of you is a true believer until you want for your brother what you want for yourself” is a moral sense that we can all share - a morality that leads us to conclude that when some are poor, all are impoverished; when some are deprived, our whole society is diminished; when some are hurt, the whole society shares that suffering. That we are part of one moral universe and wherever and whenever there is poverty, deprivation and need, it is our duty to act.

I do not need to tell you about the intertwining of destinies and lives. The hadith of the Prophet Muhammad that “the Ummah, the Muslim global community, is like the human body, when one part feels pain, the other parts must reflect that pain”, is a principle which applies to the whole of humanity, beyond the

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Muslim community - a truth that emphasises our duty to strangers, our concern for the outsider, the hand of friendship across continents. That says I am my brother’s keeper, I will be your comfort.

The words of the poet Ghalib, which I have spoken about many times, reinforce this: “My companion’s condition is a reflection of my soul,” he says, “My companion’s need unfulfilled is a blemish on my soul. The path I contemplate is only of use if it fulfils my companion’s need. Who then is my companion? Why, my companion is every creation of God.” The response to the tsunami - the modern world’s greatest natural disaster - has demonstrated the importance of the Prophet’s teaching about compassion and how it applies to the whole of humanity. Many British Muslims are from disadvantaged backgrounds but they donated millions of pounds of aid for the victims.

This universal concept of charity taught by the Prophets, teaches us to say to those in need of our help, particularly children; you are hungry, I will feed you; you are suffering, I will be your comfort; you are homeless, I will be your shelter.

I am aware that the Prophet Muhammad was an orphan himself - his father died before he was born and his mother when he was six - emphasised the right of the child to protection, nurture and care. And there is no greater calling for any of us than that of eradicating child poverty. It is not the fault of a child when she is poor. It is not the fault of a child when he is hungry.

In recent years, 3 million British children have been lifted out of poverty but we still have a lot more to do to end all child poverty in Britain. It is a challenge we are determined to accept. But our duties go beyond our borders. Today, some of the poorest countries pay more in interest to western banks than they spend on health services. That is why this year, when Britain is President of the G8 and the EU, we propose to write off the debt of the poorest countries to the richest and to put in place other actions to work towards making poverty history.

I am told that one of the key messages behind the Prophet Muhammad’s teachings was the promise of a better and more compassionate world. There can be no greater challenge for any of us - Muslim and non-Muslim. But there can also be no greater opportunity for any government, any individual, to make this a better world. In this time and in this generation, we must accept the challenge to make this world a better place. Not tomorrow, but today and now.

Only then can any of us truly say that we have learnt and reflected on the teachings of great religious leaders, including the Prophet Muhammad.

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INTRODUCING A

MOUNTAIN was born at the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro the highest mountain in Africa. I grew up with a saying whose meaning and wisdom I never really comprehended until I was honoured with this task of introducing Dr Martin Lings.

The saying - from the valley of Hadhramaut where my ancestors come from is: “Only a mountain can describe another mountain.”

During the last couple of weeks, this molehill here has been totally intimidated by what I was supposed to do today. I have called every head and heart of wisdom - mountains - that I know across the four corners of the world: from Habib Ali Zain al Abideen al-Jifri in Tarim to Dr Abdul Hakim Murad in Cambridge, from Professor Naquib alAttas in Malaysia to Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr in the United States: all teachers and friends of mine - all exclaiming what an opportunity this was going to be, but all politely refusing to offer more advice than “it will be all right on the night.”

As usual my last resort was to turn to my favourite and closest mentor - both physically and emotionally: Shaykh Hasan Le Gai Eaton.

Here again I faced more of the same: congratulations but not much tangible help for the task ahead.

“Who really is Dr Martin Lings?” I asked Shaykh Hasan. A smile so warm you could feel it through the telephone was followed by the remark:“Search and you will find him: perhaps we could start with a heart-search. It’s all there.”

For weeks I searched - intensely and violently.Yes, soon I discovered Dr Martin Lings - the academic par excellence; Lings the lover of manuscripts and poetry, of teaching Shakespeare and drama. Then there was Lings the philosopher and Sufi. Even more complicated was Lings the gardener - a man with amazing green fingers who has the ability to create heavenly gardens of precision, colour and symmetry.

I re-read Shaykh Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din’s works his inspirational Muhammad: His Life based on the

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Earliest Sources to The Secret of Shakespeare, his powerful comments on Sufism, his splendid poetry but it all seemed - for a person from the valleys only the shadow of the mountain, not the mountain itself.

For indeed Shaykh Abu Bakr is a mountain among the hills of our times: a peak so glorious and beautiful that it can only provoke awe for those who are at its feet and breathlessness for those who want to even contemplate making an effort to genuinely reach it.

Like the mountain under which I was born, Shaykh Abu Bakr is a towering example of what is majestic and beautiful. Despite being in the middle of the tropics, Mount Kilimanjaro is always covered in glorious ice: despite the turmoil and trouble that surrounds our modern world Shaykh Abu Bakr has always maintained a cloak of serenity, of dignity and of simplicity that set standards unequalled in this land and in our times.

I am among those without number who has been nourished by this gardener of hearts. Shaykh Abu Bakr’s effect has sometimes been immediately apparent - but most of the time, it is mysterious.As a person from the valleys, a mountain is a blessing and a mystery for it makes the revealing light of the raising sun even more wonderful every day.

Ladies and gentleman, it is my honour and privilege to ask Dr Martin Lings to give us the International Shakespeare Globe Fellowship Lecture - to take upon us the mystery of things.

Fuad Nahdi delivered this introduction of Shaykh Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din (Dr Martin Lings) on 24 November 2004 at the Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre on the occasion of the International Shakespeare Globe Fellowship Lecture, organised jointly with Q-News. It was one of Shaykh Abu Bakr’s last public lectures. His final, and largest public address, was delivered on 2 May 2005 at the Uniting for the Prophet mawlid event in Wembley, ten days before his passing. To Allah we belong and to Him to do we return.

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A TRULY HOLY SOUL A TRIBUTE TO MARTIN LINGS,

SHAYKH ABU BAKR SIRAJ AD-DIN 1909-2005 To be perfectly well, the soul must be complete. ‘Holiness’, ‘wholeness’ and ‘health’ are in origin the same word and have merely been differentiated in form and in meaning through the fragmentation of language.The virtues of simplicity and sincerity are inseparable from this perfection, for each in its own way means undividedness of soul.

REZA SHAH-KAZEMI

can think of very few passages that more accurately express the character of Shaykh Abu Bakr than this one. Put simply, he was “all there”, a truly “whole” man, who was indeed holy, and from whom utter sincerity radiated with disarming simplicity.

n the nearly two decades that I have been privileged to receive his guidance, I have always been penetrated by the awareness that in this person there were no flaws of character, no faults, no disproportion, just a harmonious integration of all the soul’s faculties - intellectual, spiritual, volitive, affective - into a mould fashioned by the remembrance of God. This dhikr was the active counterpart of his faqr, or “spiritual poverty” which he often defined as the absence of “individualistic coagulations” preventing the divine qualities from imprinting themselves on the substance of the soul. The dhikr attracts the madhkur, ‘the invoked’, God Himself; while faqr allows the divine qualities of the madhkur to radiate unimpeded by the false riches of the ego. The result of this perfect combination between dhikr and faqr is holiness, sanctity; and it is through the saints that religion most dazzlingly displays its transformative power. Without saints, religion is reduced to a set of abstractions, lofty ideals, and remote possibilities; with saints, religious ideals are rendered accessible, tangible, indeed, irresistible. It is in sanctity that religion reaches its highest pitch of intensity; through the saints, religion delivers the irrefutable, living proof of its salvific efficacy: for sanctification is salvation here below, as salvation is sanctification in the Hereafter.

Shaykh Abu Bakr often used to remind us: “One of the greatest joys of Paradise is the presence of the holy souls within it, the saints and the prophets. Therefore, to enter Paradise implies a tremendous responsibility: one must be, oneself, a source of marvel for those already there.” The whole of the Shaykh’s life was dominated by this imperative: to make oneself as worthy as possible to enter the Paradisal abode, the true Home. His life can be seen as existential proof that if this imperative be one’s supreme and overriding aspiration - eclipsing all other concerns, desires, ambitions - and one acts sin-

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cerely in consequence, then Paradise is already given, in a certain manner, already in this life; in the form, precisely, of the barakah generated within one’s soul through the chief means of submitting to this imperative: the remembrance of God. This dhikr had become one with the very substance of this holy man’s soul, such that his own personality was like a transparent screen through which one glimpsed the mysteries that unfold within the dhikr; and the barakah issuing from this dhikr, thanks to the presence of perfectly realised faqr, gave all those who were fortunate enough to encounter him a taste of Paradise, here and now.

It is thanks to this barakah that Shaykh Abu Bakr was able to write the transformative books that he did. In this tribute I will glance at just a few of his books, chiefly, his two biographies, one on the Prophet of Islam, peace be upon him, and the other on a saint of Islam.

Without doubt, the book which has had by far the greatest impact upon our world - not just on Muslim readers - is his magisterial Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1991). I know of individuals whose lives have been transformed by reading this work; others, whose piety has been restored; still others, serious aspirants upon the spiritual path, who continuously read the book, in a quasi-methodic manner, a few pages each day.

The book has been awarded a number of prizes in the Muslim world, and is acclaimed, globally, as the definitive, and peerless, account of the life of the Prophet, peace be upon him, in the English language.

It is interest to note that, despite the fact that the original sources on which the narrative is based are Arabic, many native Arabic speakers have found the book more compelling than those sources themselves, hence the current preparation of an Arabic translation of the book (it has already been pub-

Clockwise from top left: 1940 in Giza.

Seated in his home in Cairo.

Age 9. Sh Abu Bakr always spoke about how much loved being in water, and wrote much about the juncture of sea and land.

The view from his home in the outskirts of Cairo and the exterior of the home.

Early 1940s, having only just arrived in Egypt.

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be called ‘spiritual psychology’.

Above: Late 1940s at his home in Cairo just before he began writing The Book of Certainty. Opposite: Dr and Mrs Lings as pilgrims on Hajj in 1948.This image appears in his book, Mecca: From Before Genesis until Now. © Archetype.

lished in French, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Dutch, Bosnian and Tamil; further translations are being prepared in German, Urdu, Sindhi, Dutch, Malay and Sinhalese). It is by no means inappropriate that the book is already being hailed as a classic, even an epic: for, as with every great religious epic, the spiritual principles embedded in the narrative are imparted to the reader with an existential force that at once overwhelms, inspires and transforms.

As one reviewer, Hamid Dabashi, justly puts it: “In reading Lings’s Muhammad, we detect an alchemical effect in his narration and composition which so evenly combines scholarly accuracy with poetic passion. Lings is a scholar poet…”

It would be impossible adequately to convey this ‘alchemy’ by citing a few passages from the book; but one can nonetheless be given a taste of the Shaykh’s marvellous narrative skill, and his ability to convey the wisdom and subtlety of the Prophet as a leader of men, from the way in which the following incident is recounted. I have chosen this passage also because it was one which Shaykh Abu Bakr himself cited, during a trip to Istanbul in the mid-1990s, when he was asked which passages of the book he would recommend as exemplifying the Prophet’s character. In addition, the incident in question sheds light on one aspect of the profound complementarity between the Divine Message and the human messenger, in this case, by showing how the concrete, complex, often difficult human consequences of enacting a revealed injunction were dealt with by the Prophet, who thereby demonstrates his mastery of what might

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After the conquest of Mecca by the Muslims, the Prophet distributed booty from the subsequent battle, that of Hunayn, in a manner that appeared to be unfair: recently converted tribal elders of Quraysh were given much, as were other influential but as yet unconverted pagans, whilst next to nothing was given to the ‘Helpers’ of Medina, who were needy, on the one hand, and stalwart Muslims and supporters of the Prophet from the beginning, on the other hand; these were the very men that had given him refuge and offered him their allegiance when he had been driven out of Mecca as an exile. The Prophet had taken this action, we are told, as he ‘knew well enough that though the religion had power in itself to work upon souls, this power depended on the religion’s being accepted with some degree of commitment, and not just nominally. It was to remove barriers to that commitment, such as a sense of bitterness or frustration, that the principle of giving to those whose hearts are to be reconciled had been revealed; but this principle was not understood at first by many of the older Companions, let alone others.’

The Prophet was told of dissatisfaction on the part of the Helpers and had them all, up to four thousand of them, gathered in an enclosure. Having offered praise to God, he addressed them: ‘Men of the Helpers, word hath come to me that ye are deeply moved against me in your souls. Did I not find you erring, and God guided you, poor and God enriched you, enemies each of the other and God reconciled your hearts?’ ‘Yea indeed,’ they answered. ‘God and His Messenger are most bountiful and most gracious.’ ‘Will ye not retort against me?’ he said.

‘How should we retort?’ they asked, in some perplexity. ‘If ye wished,’ he answered, ‘ye might say unto me, and say truthfully, and be believed: “Thou didst come unto us discredited, and we credited thee, forlorn and we helped thee, an outcast and we took thee in, destitute and we comforted thee.” O Helpers, are ye stirred in your souls about the things of this world whereby I have reconciled men’s hearts that they may submit unto God, when you yourselves I have entrusted unto your Islam? Are ye not well content, O Helpers, that the people take with them their sheep and their camels, and that ye take with you the Messenger of God unto your homes? If all men but the Helpers went one way, and the Helpers another, I would go the way of the Helpers.

God have Mercy upon the Helpers, and on their sons and on their sons’ sons.’ They wept until their beards were wet with their tears, and with one voice they said: ‘We are well content with the Messenger of God as our portion and our lot.’

Before leaving this inspired piece of work, it is worth quoting in extenso from the following review, written by an Arabist, Asma Afsaruddin of Harvard University: “It is admittedly difficult to find a gift for narration wedded to impeccable scholarship, but Martin Lings may be said to have achieved this rare combination. The drama inherent in the events that led to the establishment of Islam in the Arabian peninsula in the 7th century provides momentum in the telling and retelling of the sira, the biography of the Prophet Muhammad. But to provide the verve and the magical cast that invests each retelling with a fresh vibrancy - even for the reader who knows the events well - can only be the accomplishment of a gifted raconteur. All those who have ventured to translate the Arabic language into English and have struggled to render its

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idioms and nuances into comprehensible English will find this work a literary tour de force. One often hears the original Arabic metaphor reverberating in the English rendering, adeptly melded however into the secondary medium. The occasional pithy observation (‘Harmony is the imprint of oneness upon multiplicity’) and deft summation (‘The Arabs were in favour of the man but against the message; the Jews were in favour of the message but against the man’) enriches the fabric from which the narration is woven. All this allows for a powerfully emotive account so that we are, as one reviewer remarks on the dust jacket of the book, imbued ‘with the feeling that we have actually witnessed all the events’… this is sacred history at its best, rendered by someone with a regard both for history and for what is sacred.”

What his book on the Prophet did for one’s understanding of the phenomenon of prophethood, Shaykh Abu Bakr’s book on the Shaykh al-’Alawi, one might say, did for that of sanctity in Islam. However, while the lessons from the life of the Prophet are for all, and are revealed in accordance with the receptivity of the observer, it is otherwise in the case of the Sufi saint in question, whose function was to manifest more explicitly, on the doctrinal plane at least, the esoteric core of the religion, that, in other words, which is more or less hidden or implicit within the prophetic message as such. In this work, we are drawn deeply into some of the most profound and subtle aspects of Sufism, our author often correcting, with impeccable spiritual logic, some of the principal misunderstandings that had so bedevilled orientalist approaches to Sufism, misunderstandings centred on the so-called ‘pantheism’ of the doctrine of wahdat al-wujud, the Oneness of Being, associated chiefly with Ibn al-’Arabi. Indeed, the chapter by our author entitled Oneness of Being remains to this day - despite the many works connected with this subject that have appeared in the decades since the book was written - an unsurpassed distillation of the essence of this doctrine. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, in his lectures on Sufism, continues to refer to this chapter as the best short summary of wahdat al-wujud in any western language. In the course of disabusing orientalists like Massignon and Nicholson of their various misconceptions on this score, Shaykh Abu Bakr boldly claims that wahdat al-wujud is nothing short of “the Supreme Truth and therefore the ultimate goal of all mysticism”. He cites illuminating parallels to the Sufi formulations from diverse traditions, parallels which demonstrate, objectively, the true universality of this perspective, and which deepen, subjectively, one’s orientation towards this ‘Supreme Truth’.

One of the most revealing points to emerge in this chapter, a point made with characteristic directness and succinctness, is the clear distinction between union and oneness, the first pertaining to a lower ontological degree and, in the final analysis, entailing a metaphysical contradiction, while oneness (tawhîd) is the expression, not just of the indivisible oneness of the transcendent Divinity, but the immutable oneness of Reality. He quotes the following, altogether fundamental, hadith qudsi (a divine utterance, transmitted by the Prophet): “My slave seeketh unremittingly to draw nigh unto Me with devotions of his free will until I love him; and when I love him, I am the Hearing wherewith he heareth, the Sight wherewith he seeth and the Hand wherewith he smiteth and the Foot whereon he walketh.” Then he adds the following irrefutable concomitant: “It cannot be concluded from this Tradition that this identity was not already there, for the Divinity is not subject to change.

The ‘change’ in question is simply that what was not perceived

has now been perceived.” The passage concludes: “We are nearer to him than his jugular vein and God cometh in between a man and his own heart mean that he is nearer to him than he is to his inmost himself. The Oneness here expressed exceeds the oneness of union.” In these few lines we find expressed, with wonderful simplicity, the whole difference between a mystical experience in which ‘union’ is a momentary state whereby two separate entities are seemingly united, and metaphysical realization, wherein the One-and-only is grasped, permanently and beyond the realm of experience, as ultimate Reality, transcending all things and immanent in all things, whence the possibility, for the mystic, of attaining Supreme Identity, or Self-realisation in God, as the Shaykh expressed it.

In another chapter we find the following very evocative passage from the Shaykh al-’Alawi, rendered into fine English by our author; the passage can be taken as a ‘methodic’ comment on the perspective of oneness, relating the ‘static’ description of Reality to the dynamics of realization, centred on prayer; it is a remarkably explicit and deeply inspiring description of the ultimate fruit of the invocation of the Supreme Name: “The Infinite or the World of the Absolute which we conceive of as being outside us is on the contrary universal and exists within us as well as without. There is only One World, and this is It. What we look on as the sensible world, the finite world of time and space, is nothing but a conglomeration of veils which hide the Real World. These veils are our own senses: our eyes are the veils over True Sight, our ears the veils over True Hearing, and so it is with the other senses. For us to become aware of the existence of the Real World, the senses must be drawn aside … What remains then of man? There remains a faint gleam which appears to him as the lucidity of his Q - NEWS

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consciousness … There is a perfect continuity between this gleam and the Great Light of the Infinite World, and once this continuity has been grasped, our consciousness can (by means of prayer) flow forth and spread out as it were into the Infinite and become One with It, so that man comes to realize that the Infinite Alone is, and that he, the humanly conscious, exists only as a veil. Once this state has been realized, all the lights of Infinite Life may penetrate the soul of the Sufi, and make him participate in the Divine Life, so that he has a right to exclaim: ‘I am Allah’. The invocation of the name Allah is an intermediary which goes backwards and forwards between the glimmerings of consciousness and the dazzling splendours of the Infinite, affirming the continuity between them and knitting them ever closer together in communication until they are ‘merged in identity’.”

In this biography, Shaykh Abu Bakr succeeds in revealing something of the ‘secret’ of sanctified consciousness, while yet respecting its innate ineffability. That which is communicable the wisdom that flows from spiritual realization - is rendered accessible at almost every page of this book, and not least, in the selection of the Shaykh’s poems that are translated, again, with consummate finesse; witness these lines from the poem Laila: Full near I came unto where dwelleth Laila, when I heard her call.

That voice, would I might ever hear it!

She favoured me, and drew me to her, Took me in, into her precinct, With discourse intimate addressed me.

She sat me by her, then came closer, Raised the cloak that hid her from me, Made me marvel to distraction, Bewildered me with all her beauty.

She took me and amazèd me, And hid me in her inmost self, Until I thought that she was I, And my life she took as ransome.

She changed me and transfigured me, And marked me with her special sign, Pressed me to her, put me from her, Namèd me as she is named.

Having slain and crumbled me, She steeped the fragments in her blood.

Then, after my death, she raised me: My star shines in her firmament.

Shaykh Abu Bakr’s life was spent fighting the ‘greater’ jihad, doing so with that invincible weapon, the remembrance of God. Let us conclude this tribute with a glance at some of the Shaykh’s most direct passages concerning this theme, passages which bespeak a personal, direct and total engagement in this struggle against the ‘enemy within’. The very first book written by him, The Book of Certainty, is gem which refracts for us some of the most essential elements of Sufi gnosis based on traditional Qur’anic esoteric commentary. The following passage sums up much of what has already been said, doing so in relation to the interpretation of the Surah al-Fil (‘The Elephant’): “Hast thou not seen how thy Lord dealt with the masters of the elephant? Did He not turn their plot awry? He sent upon them dense clouds of birds that pelted them with inscribed stones.

Thus made He them like greenery eaten down.”

“Every Muslim is at war with the devil. As regards those

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of the right [The reference to those of the right and the foremost is from the Surah al-Waqi’a, where this distinction applies to the great mass of ordinary believers who are saved, on the one hand, and to the prophets and saints, on the other; those of the left refer to the damned], however, this warfare is desultory and intermittent, with many armistices and compromises. Moreover the devil is aware that as fallen men they are already to a certain extent within his grasp, and having by definition no faith in the Divine Mercy, he cannot foresee that they will escape from his clutches in the life to come. But as regards the foremost, he feels them actually throwing off his domination in the present and they even carry the war into his own territory. The result is a terrible retaliation, and here lies the great danger of the spiritual Path for one who enters upon it without due qualification. Not by human means, but only thanks to the forces of Heaven, can the traveller overcome the masters of the elephant. Now the rites act as the vehicles of these forces, provided that the traveller’s intention be pure. In the case of one who has entered upon the Path through pride or ambition or from any other impure motive, the heavenly forces cannot come to the rites in sufficient power. Such a one cannot help but be defeated, to fall more than ever under the sway of the enemy. But as for him who enters the path through love of God in spontaneous aspiration towards His Light, as a plant that turns towards the sun, between such a one and the forces of Heaven there will be no obstacle. They will thus be able to impregnate in all fullness the rites that he performs, making them like the birds which conquered the masters of the elephant, and which are, in the words of the commentator, ‘meditations and incantations, white and luminous with the light of the Spirit’.”

The following passage from his What is Sufism? complements this one; it speaks of the necessity of wielding “a sword that has been forged and tempered in Heaven” if one is to overcome the obstacle before the aspirant in the spiritual life, this obstacle being represented in most traditions as ‘a gigantic monster with supernatural powers’. He offers this galvanising comment on one of the most powerful of these swords, the Divine Name: “… calling on the Name of God, whether it be accompanied by some other experience or not, is the most positive thing in the world because it sets up the most powerful vibration towards the Heart. The Prophet said: ‘There is a polish for everything that taketh away rust; and the polish of the Heart is the invocation of Allah’.”

Further on in the same book he offers this interpretation of the following verse from the Quran: “A good word is as a good tree: its root is firm, its branches are in heaven.”: “This may be interpreted: an invocation, and above all the Supreme Name which is the best of good words, is not a flat utterance which spreads horizontally outwards in this world to be lost in thin air, but a vertical continuity of repercussions throughout all the states of being.”

One of the very last acts of Shaykh Abu Bakr was to plant a tree in his beautiful garden. His earthly sojourn thus ended with a symbolic re-enactment of that for the sake of which his whole life had been lived: the planting of the seed of the remembrance in his own heart and, through his compassionate wisdom, in the hearts of all those who sought his guidance; a seed which, he knew with certainty born of direct perception, would germinate in a Garden which is “better and more lasting”.

A SPIRITUAL GIANT IN AN AGE OF DWARFED TERRESTRIAL ASPIRATIONS SHAYKH HAMZA YUSUF

pays tribute to the man who led his heart to Islam.

remember purchasing a small metaphysical treatise by an author with a foreign name way back in 1976 as I was browsing the shelves in a small spiritual bookstore located amidst a beautiful garden in Ojai, California. The title was The Book of Certainty: The Sufi Doctrine of Faith, Vision and Gnosis, and the author was Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din. At the time, I knew nothing of Islam, let alone who the author was, yet the title intrigued me. It was, in essence, what I was searching for - certainty.

I read as much of the book as I could but recall not understanding very much. It quoted extensively from the Quran and offered highly esoteric commentaries in a language quite foreign to me. I set it aside, but my curiosity had been piqued that shortly thereafter, in a life-altering transaction, I purchased a Quran and began to read a very personal revelation that would compel me to convert to the religion of Islam.

After more than a decade abroad seeking sacred knowledge, I returned to the United States and was soon teaching courses on Islam. Not long after I was asked to teach a series of lectures based upon the life of the Prophet, peace be upon him. I agreed but needed a text in English for the students. I began looking for a sound biography of the Prophet that was written in an English style that did justice to the story.

I

Surprisingly, for a man who the American historian Michael Hart ranked the single most influential human being who every lived, hardly anything serious biographical literature was available other than poorly written works published in far-off places or polemics and misrepresentations. I was somewhat despondent and then I discovered the finely produced Muhammad: his life based on the earliest sources, by Dr Martin Lings. I knew who he was because I had been warned that I should be careful when reading his books. What I didn’t know at the time was that Dr. Martin Lings and Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din, the man whose book led me to the Quran, were one and the same person. Nevertheless, I decided to read the book and assess it for myself.

I was quickly immersed in a story told by a master storyteller whose English oft-times sang and always soared. The Prophet’s life was masterfully narrated through a series of short chapters in a prose as engaging and poetic as Lytton Strachey’s in Eminent Victorians, only the subject matter was not on an eminent Victorian but rather written by one who appeared to be. My father, a fine critic of English literature, remarked after reading it that unfortunately the prejudice Westerners have for the topic has prevented it from being recognised as one of the great biographies of the English language.

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When we arrived at Dr. Lings’ humble residence in Kent, we entered into a sparse living room; it had subtle but palpable serenity commonly experienced by those who visit people of copious prayer and invocation. I was struck by the surroundings, the absence of furniture in the room and the simple straw matting on the English cottage floor.

The book had such a profound impact on my life that I adopted it for the class I was about to teach. In preparation I read it several times, making extensive notes and checked references to the original sources quite often. I was astounded at the historical accuracy of the text and the providential care so evident in the author’s choice of versions as well as the underlying structure of the story as he chose to tell it. He followed closely the work of Ibn Hisham but augmented it with several other historical sources.

For those who attended the class, it will be an indelible experience marked by the grace that pervaded it as well as tears that flowed frequently. I attribute this to the topic of the course but also to the wonderful presentation of the material in Dr. Lings’ book. The lectures were later produced as a tape set and was widely appreciated throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and even as far away as Pakistan and Malaysia.

I later came into contact Dr. Lings’ students in the UK who were pleased with the set and suggested that I meet him. I complied, and on my first visit I was accompanied by the wellknown Muslim photographer, Sidi Abdal Adheem Sanders, who has made it his mission in life to photograph as many righteous people throughout the world as possible.

When we arrived at Dr. Lings’ humble residence in Kent, we entered into a sparse living room; it had subtle but palpable serenity commonly experienced by those who visit people of copious prayer and invocation. I was struck by the sur-

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Previous page: Fuad Nahdi, Dr Martin Lings and Shaykh Hamza Yusuf at the Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre on 24th November 2004. Above left: At the Taj Mahal in 1990. Dr Lings would regularly tour Egypt, Malaysia, India, Pakistan and other countries where he would visit his students who were too poor to journey to England. Above and page 58: On a trip to Egypt in the 1990s.

roundings, the absence of furniture in the room and the simple straw matting on the English cottage floor.

A few minutes later, Dr. Lings, well over ninety years of age, entered the room slowly yet gracefully, greeted us, and asked us to sit down. He sat on a small alcove that looked out upon a stunning English garden that I later learned was of his own tending and in which he is now buried. I spoke of how much his book had influenced me and told him that I had used it as a basis for my class. He thanked me and yet humbly protested that he had never intended to do something as presumptuous as write the Prophet’s biography - peace be upon him, but having been prevailed upon by others finally relented. When I told him of my father’s remark, he replied that of the four levels of English, he had written the work at the highest one - far from a boast it was uttered as simple statement of fact from a man who had a degree in medieval English from Oxford, taught Shakespeare at university for twenty years, and wrote poetry like John Donne!

I then requested a belated permission to teach the book should I do so again in the future. He graciously complied and signed the copy I had brought with me. He began to discuss our present age and how unfortunate it is that people are severed from their spiritual roots. He mentioned how when he had been a child in England, prayer was the lifeblood of the family, and he lamented that many people in England no longer prayed nor even taught their children to do so. He remarked that many people had forgotten that although God is merciful, He nonetheless has a wrathful side and that when people did not actively work to purify themselves, great tribulations came upon them as a result. It seemed, to him, that the world was on the brink of some great purification.

After the meeting, both Sidi Abdal Adheem and I agreed that the presence of the man was not dissimilar to that of some of the righteous men we were fortunate enough to have met in

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the East. In South Asian culture such a state and the people who posses it are called hazrat, derived from the Arabic word for ‘presence,’ which results from a person’s wakefulness achieved through constant remembrance of God. Another quality that impacted both of us was the utter humility he displayed that was as genuine as the sheepskin rugs he offered us to sit upon. What struck me more than anything else was that during the entire conversation he almost always prefaced his remarks or followed them with a verse from the Quran, which he quoted with an eloquent Arabic accent. His slow and deliberate method of speaking instilled in the listener an anticipation of what was to come as well as a sense that the speaker was acutely aware of the angelic scribes who were anticipating and recording the conversation.

I was happy that I had the good fortune to meet such a man; but lamented that I had never bothered to visit him before. In the weeks that followed, several things that he had mentioned in our hour-long conversation returned to occupy my thoughts, particularly some insights into the Quran that he had brought to my attention. I vowed that if I were in England again, I would try to visit him once more.

Our next meeting came shortly after the first. This time though I was in the company of Habib ‘Ali al-Jifry, the wellknown scholar and inviter to Islam from Yemen, and a small group of friends. I had known Habib ‘Ali for several years and he had desired to see Dr. Lings after being told of him by Fuad Nahdi, publisher of Q-News. Habib ‘Ali has an immense respect for elders and especially for those who have served the Prophet in some way. When he heard of the excellent book Dr. Lings had penned and his love for the Prophet, he desired to visit him with us.

The day that we arrived at the doorsteps of Dr. Lings’ abode it was overcast and the atmosphere had an English wetness about it. This time, the good doctor welcomed us at the door and I attributed this to Dr. Lings impeccable comportment towards a direct descendent of the Prophet, and God knows best. He led us to the same room as before and invited us to sit. Habib ‘Ali sat closest to Dr. Lings, and I sat next to Habib ‘Ali. Before speaking, Dr. Lings apologised to us and explained that, while during his time in Egypt, he had become quite fluent in Arabic, unfortunately since his return to England his spoken Arabic had been neglected and become quite rusty from lack of use but that he would do his best. To our surprise, he began to speak a very mellifluous classical Arabic that impressed both Habib ‘Ali and me.

Someone who was present brought up a thorny issue that was the source of the many warnings I had received about Dr. Lings’ books. The subject had to do with the belief that the world’s great religious traditions - Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism - teach essentially the same perennial truths as Islam does and therefore, like Islam, they each retain a validity of practice to this day. The subject is referred to in modern discourse as ‘Perennialism.’

Dr. Lings responded to the question with comments that were highly philosophical. He reasoned that it is God’s Wisdom and His Will to keep these spiritual traditions alive until the present day. Dr. Lings substantiated his arguments with verses from the Quran. It was evident to me that the outward and apparent meaning of the verses he cited affirmed what he said but his interpretation was certainly not the classical view of the verses as understood by the accepted exegetes

Both Habib ‘Ali and I felt that, while Dr. Lings’ view on perennialism was not mainstream, it was not a complete rejection of the classical Islamic position which holds that previous religious dispensations were abrogated by the final message of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and certainly his own conversion to Islam indicated this. of the Quran throughout Islam’s history.

Even so, both Habib ‘Ali and I felt that, while Dr. Lings’ view on the subject was not mainstream, it was not a complete rejection of the classical Islamic position which holds that previous religious dispensations were abrogated by the final message of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and certainly his own conversion to Islam indicated that fact. What we heard instead was a rather novel interpretation based upon Dr. Lings’ own thought and reading of sacred traditions that he had most likely inherited from his teachers. It is in fact a position entertained by the late Fazlur Rahman in his book, Major Themes of The Qur’an.

The underlying justification for this approach is an attempt to reconcile the scriptural antinomy of an all-merciful deity who displays wrath, in which a focus on God’s overriding mercy mentioned in the Quran extenuates those scriptural statements that stress eternal wrath. An abstruse issue that several classical scholars wrestled with including Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah, Imam Al-Ghazzali and Shaykh Ibn ‘Arabi al-Hatimi.

I interjected at one point and mentioned Imam alGhazzali’s orthodox and yet satisfying view presented in his intriguing Faisal al-tafriqah that suggests that the majority of Christians and Jews and even peoples of other faiths and creeds could ultimately gain salvation since they did not reject a true and compelling presentation of Islam.

What they rejected rather was the tragic misrepresentation through distortion or the bad behavior of those who claimed to follow the true teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. Thus, according to Imam al-Ghazzali, this allowed for God’s ultimate forgiveness for the masses of humanity.

Both Habib ‘Ali and I felt that Dr. Lings was most certainly a devout and pious Muslim, fully committed to the teaching of the Prophet and one who rooted his thought and practice in the Quran despite our clear differences with him on the subject of perennialism. I believe that his spiritual presence was a cogent argument for his practice and commitment.

An aspect of Islam that many modern Muslims fail to recognise is the vast diversity of opinion that has accumulated over the centuries of Islamic history, much of it rooted in what is known as ta’wil (interpretation). Indeed, throughout Islam’s life of over fourteen hundred years, scholars have sought as many interpretive excuses as possible for heterodox utterances before attacking someone or worse still condemning such people of heresy.

I am reminded of Imam Abu Hasan’s statement recorded

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Last year I attended an extraordinary lecture he gave on Shakespeare and Islam at the Globe Theatre in London. I was asked to introduce Dr. Lings and in doing so I was afforded the extraordinary opportunity to thank him publicly for being the means by which Allah had guided me to Islam; and for that I am eternally indebted to him. anathematise anyone from the community of believers; rather, these are semantic issues upon whose meanings we differ.”

Imam Dhahabi remarks that this was also the position of his own teacher Ibn Taymiyyah towards the end of his life, when he said, “We do not anathematise anyone who guards his wudu, as the Prophet said, ‘Only a believer guards his wudu.’”

Another point less frequently made is that our Prophet himself informed us that the guidance of the later peoples would not be the same guidance of that of the earlier community, and yet it will be good. According to a sound hadith narrated by Imam al-Bukhari, Hudhaifah relates: “People were asking the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, about good, and I decided to ask about evil out of fear that it might affect me. So I said, ‘O Messenger of God, we were in ignorance and spiritual privation, and then God brought us all of this good. Is there any evil after this good?’

The Prophet replied, ‘Yes!’ I then asked, ‘Is there good after that evil?’

He said, ‘Yes but it will contain cloudiness!’

‘What is its cloudiness?’ I asked.

He replied, ‘A people who guide by other than my guidance; some things from them you recognise and others you reject …’”

In this hadith the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, is telling us that people will come later who are good but their teaching will have alien elements not contained in the original purity of the Prophet’s teaching to such an extent that it will not be recognisable to the early community and thus, rightfully rejected. And yet he, peace be upon him, called such people good.

It is important for us to recognise the good in our community and especially the scholars whom God has graced with intellect and training, which enables them to see things others do not see, and which as a result, causes them to sometimes make mistakes and err in their judgment and understanding.

While some of the views Dr. Lings has expressed in his insightful and brilliant writings are in contradistinction to what my own teachers taught me and what I believe, they are, however, rarified metaphysical considerations that are better pointed out as heterodoxies that fall into a category of opinion and interpretation that many of the great scholars of the past have held, including but not limited to Ibn ‘Arabi, Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn Rushd, al-Farabi, Imam az-Zamakhshari, and Ibn Sina. Many of our great scholars have maintained positions based upon their idiosyncratic views and conclusions that extended beyond the boundaries of mainstream ortho-

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doxy, but this did not prevent the community of believers from recognising their excellence and benefiting from their knowledge and piety and looking for interpretive justifications or at least excuses for them. Our scholars agreed upon matters that all Muslims could grasp as well as what was most unambiguously expressed in the Quran and Sunnah. They shied away from metaphysical considerations inaccessible to most people that also allowed for confusion or obfuscation. Imam Shatibi opined that the sacred creed and law of Islam was in essence ‘illiterate’ (ummiyyah), in which he meant accessible to the simplest of minds.

The urge to establish the universal applicability of God’s mercy is rooted in the reconciliation of mercy with wrath and an acknowledgment of mercy as God’s central attribute. Many scholars of the past have grappled with this theological bugbear and many still do. For instance, the well-substantiated view held by Ibn Taymiyyah, may God have mercy on him, that the Fire would eventually be extinguished was based upon his belief that the mercy of God was too vast to punish people eternally. He also based his opinions on a nuanced and highly interpretive reading of verses of the Quran that condemned some people to the hellfire eternally and substantiated his views with certain confirmed statements of the companions of the Prophet that buttressed his position. I read a book examining his views on the matter and was dumbfounded by the strength of his arguments and the subtle points he brought up on the subject. His position is, however, heterodox, and thus rejected by almost all the scholars of Islam. And while some scholars anathematised him for his views, the majority recognized it was heterodox but rooted in a sophisticated ta’wil (interpretation) that was nonetheless incorrect.

It is well-known that the classical and soundest view in Islam is that the Prophet’s message has abrogated previous dispensations and that according to the authentic Hadith in Imam Muslim’s collection anyone who is presented with a sound picture of the Prophet, in other words the Prophet’s veracity as a prophet, and is substantiated for him with clear proofs, and yet still refuses to believe in him renders himself a disbeliever and suffers the consequences. And while the four schools of Sunni thought anathematise someone who does not adhere to this view, their position is based upon an outright rejection of the position and not those who use ta’wil to arrive at heterodox understandings without denying any meaning expressed in the Quran or the multiply-transmitted narrations of the Prophet, peace be upon him. Such views are then categorised as innovations.

However, scholars are very careful about deeming someone a disbeliever (kafir) who may hold heterodox beliefs as a result of ta’wil. And interpretive statements that have been deemed heterodox can be found in the works of Ibn ‘Arabi, Sidi ‘Abd al-Karim al-Jili, Emir ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza’iri, Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi and others. And despite all of those illustrious men suffering attacks from some of the great as well as less than great scholars of Islam, the community of scholars and believers alike have, notwithstanding such views, taken the good of such scholars and point out the areas of concern while adhering to the majority view where they may differ.

The Perennialist Muslims in the West constitute a highly educated cadre largely made up of converts, who have done some of the finest work on Islamic materials and have presented Islam in a beautiful and illuminating manner that has made it accessible to people it would normally not have

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reached, and with an aesthetic and intellectual dimension that is sorely absent from many of the mainstream efforts. In spite of the aforementioned concerns, to dismiss their noble endeavours is unconscionable and mean-spirited.

In my subsequent meetings with Dr. Lings the issue of Perennialism did not arise nor was I inclined to mention it. My respect for his scholarship, discernable spirituality and metaphysical insights, not to mention the fact that he was more than twice my age in years and three times my age in Islam all demanded I listen attentively to his wisdom and learn from his character. He was a highly-educated Muslim who as the keeper of Oriental manuscripts at the British Museum had spent much of his adult life reading some of the finest Arabic manuscripts ever put to pen by Muslims, entirely aware of the orthodox position, and had read much finer arguments than those I would be able to muster. I chose to set aside the position I was taught and still adhere to and benefit from a unique English Muslim sage in a bereft and derelict age of folly. As Dr. Lings was a man who spoke when he had something to say and said things that resulted from intense deliberation, I took copious notes on all of my visits.

In my third and final visit to his home we largely discussed his own poetry and the nature of the poetic muse as well as the importance of poetry for the preservation of language. We ventured into some other interesting areas that are fully expounded in some of the his writings. Last year I attended an extraordinary lecture he gave on Shakespeare and Islam at the Globe Theatre in London. I was asked to introduce Dr. Lings and in doing so I was afforded the extraordinary opportunity to thank him publicly for being the means by which Allah had guided me to Islam; and for that I am eternally indebted to him.

He would later apologise for his physical enervation during the talk, but age, he said, was taking its toll. I was struck by the sincere humility of this man and his self-effaced character. My mother, who flew in from America, told me that she had never met anyone with such a transcendent presence as Dr. Lings. She later ordered his book on the Prophet, which I subsequently found by her bedside.

At the Globe, Dr. Lings had been signing books for some people, and when the Moroccan ambassador asked for an inscription, he changed from writing with his left hand to using his right. Apologising for the poor penmanship, he said he refused to write Arabic with his left hand out of deference to the sacred script.

On speaking with a close friend of Dr. Lings who had known him for over fifty years, I learned that the man had been an atheist and that, upon meeting Dr. Lings, had rediscovered his faith because, for the first time in his life, he felt he had met a genuinely pious man of God. He eventually embraced Islam at Dr. Lings’ hand and was still close to him after several decades, with only increased admiration.

Dr. Martin Lings became Muslim in 1938, partly, he told me, because he felt that Islam was unique among the world religions in maintaining transmission in its revelation as well as in its sciences through unbroken chains that involved a “handing down,” the literal meaning of tradition.

He performed the Hajj in 1939 and explained to me that his parents had helped finance his pilgrimage; he also mentioned that upon arriving by ship at the port at Jeddah from Sudan, he was asked by the ad hoc customs agents if he was Muslim. He replied that he was, and they asked him for proof.

To this, he recited to them the simple creed of Islam that guar-

Dr. Lings had been signing books for some people, and when the Moroccan ambassador asked for an inscription, he changed from writing with his left hand to using his right. Apologising for the poor penmanship, he said he refused to write Arabic with his left hand out of deference to the sacred script. antees the right of anyone who utters it in the presence of witnesses the title Muslim, “ashahadu an La ilaha illallah, wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan ar-rasulullah!” They asked him for some more proof, at which point he looked at them and said, “What proof do you have that you are Muslim?” They let him in.

His last public act was to celebrate the life of our beloved Prophet, peace be upon him, at Wembley Conference Center in London. Habib ‘Ali and I were invited to participate as well.

Before Dr. Lings spoke he was given a highly-warranted lifetime achievement award for his dedication in spreading the message of peace and love embodied in Islam. In his short talk Q - NEWS

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Dr. Lings was a man of small physical stature, as if God had created him to be close to the earth he loved and tended, but he was a celestial intellectual and spiritual giant in an age of dwarfed terrestrial aspirations and endeavors. I was not interested in whatever differences we might have in abstruse points of creed; I wanted only to learn from his gentle and upright character. he spoke of the gift the Prophet was and of the Prophet’s active engagement with his community and what a great blessing that was for us. Dr. Lings left us with the subtle thought that the Messenger is still with us. He left the hall immediately after speaking.

I knew that he must have been tired and I felt gratitude to have seen him again. I had shaken his hand and thanked him for a remarkable reflection not knowing at the time I was looking into his gentle and serene face for the last time.

My speech, which followed his, had been a result of something that he had raised in his talk. The next day, Dr. Lings, who I now called Sidi Abu Bakr, attempted to call me, and when I returned his call he assured me that he had wanted to attend my talk but was exhausted. He had called to reassure himself that I took no offense at his early departure. On the contrary, I replied, I was very happy that he could attend the conference and was deeply moved by his words. He then told me that he had not mentioned all that he had wished to say in this talk, as he feared that perhaps people would misunderstand.

He told me that he was greatly struck by the Prophet’s current involvement with his community, as Muslims around the world saw him in their dreams and derived spiritual sustenance from his vision. Moreover, he said that when writing his book, Muhammad, he was overwhelmed with the presence of the Prophet during the entire time and felt a great blessing in having been able to complete it.

After some time on the phone, he said, “I am so sorry for carrying on so long; please excuse me.” I realised I was speaking to a man who embodied the prophetic character. I was not interested in whatever differences we might have in abstruse points of creed; I wanted only to learn from his gentle and upright character.

Dr. Lings was a man of small physical stature, as if God had created him to be close to the earth he loved and tended, but he was a celestial intellectual and spiritual giant in an age of dwarfed terrestrial aspirations and endeavors.

Dr. Lings once told me that the problem with the modern Muslim is egocentricity, but that true Islam is Theo-centric: it puts God, not oneself, at the center of life. I believe Dr. Lings was a true Muslim, a man who put God at the center of his life and purpose.

I feel immensely honored to have known him and to have benefited from his knowledge through his books and his presence. May Allah have mercy on his soul and sanctify his secret.

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Postscript: I wrote this shortly after learning of Dr. Lings’ death. Returning to my home I had found a package marked “urgent.” I asked my wife when it had arrived, and she informed me that it came today. I opened it and found, to my utter surprise, a pre-publication copy of Dr. Lings’ final book, that I had not even known he had written, entitled, A Return to the Spirit. On the inside of the cover-piece was this message: “Dr. Lings requested you by name to write something for the back of the book!” sat down and read the short book without being able to put it down, as it was an extended exposition on the very topics we had discussed in our meetings. Upon finishing, I felt as if I had received a wonderful personal letter from a man who was the means by which I was guided and who I had come to love for the sake of God. While I believe in some ways that event was a karamah from God at the hands of the Sidi Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din. His real karamah was his impeccable character, piety and uprightness of action in all aspects of his life. May God shower him with His grace and mercy.

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THAT IS THE MAN WHO SPEAKS TO

FLOWERS AND WHO IS MUCH

LOVED

Shaykh Abu Bakr lived in his last home with his beloved wife for over thirty years.

During this time he created and tended to a garden of such beauty that it takes one’s breath away. It is both joyful and serene, with a certain intellectual rigour underlying it - truly a reflection of Shaykh Abu Bakr’s own soul as well as of the celestial gardens. haykh Abu Bakr’s garden is original in every sense of the word and quite unlike the typical English country-garden with its understated pale pinks and subtle shades of blue and violet.

Rather, his garden is a glorious celebration of colour, principally the three primary colours set against the calmness and tranquillity of green: the exuberance of bright hues in the spring and summer months is a sight to behold, putting the surrounding gardens, indeed any garden, in the shade. I remember him saying more than once that he liked plants which had “impact!” His main aim throughout the main flowering months was to maintain the harmony of the three primary colours, red, yellow and blue: “The primary colours are an outstanding example of veritable threeness which cannot be reduced to two. Take away red and the perfect balance would be broken in the direction of too much cold; the absence of blue would make for excessive heat; without yellow, the residue would be too ponderous.”

To this end, on the countless trips over many years that I was blessed to make with Shaykh Abu Bakr to nurseries in the neighbourhood, we would go in search of the best reds (red, as he writes, is not only the colour of “the Divine Majesty” but is also a dynamic colour, the colour of action and a symbol of love), the clearest yellows (yellow is “the colour of manifestation” as well as of joy and youth) and - most important of all as it is the most elusive - the truest blue (blue, he writes, “is universally one of the great symbols of Truth and Wisdom. It is also a symbol of Eternity”).

The garden is east-facing but with an open aspect so it receives sun almost all day. Every spring and throughout the summer, Shaykh Abu Bakr would constantly work at maintaining the balanced composition of the three colours, replenishing plants that had died over the winter. For reds (“flowers like flame”) in early summer, Shaykh Abu Bakr preferred specific types of poppies, his most recent favourite being the cultivar ‘Brilliant’, a marvellous deep red with small black markings on the inside of the petals. In late summer, a similar red is provided by the reliable perennial Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’, and an even darker red by the dahlia ‘Bishop of Landaff’. For yellow (“the sheen of yellow is joy and youth, uplifts, and lends us wings”) he had planted several brooms (e.g.

Genista hispanica) many years ago in strategic positions along the fences which came to life in the spring. Later, in June, his whole garden is peppered with the fragile, nodding heads of the lovely clear yellow Welsh poppy which seeds itself every year. In July and August, the main flower-beds are filled with the softer yellow flowers and heavenly scent of the day-lily. For blue (“coolness/ Of

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the blues, welcome as water to the eyes”) earliest in the season there are the delicate Forget-me-nots, (March and April) closely followed by the darker blue Brunnera with its heart-shaped leaves (April to June) - both providing ground-cover. Then, for more spectacular blues higher off the ground, Shaykh Abu Bakr loved many species of ceanothus, the early ones starting in April and the later ones, such as C. burkwoodii, flowering in June and July.

Then comes the King of all blues - and one of his favourite flowers - the delphinium and Shaykh Abu Bakr was at his most particular in selecting these, commenting many times how monstrous it was that plant-breeders should have introduced the ‘Galahad’ range with its shades of pink and purple! His favourite delphiniums that we would search high and low for throughout the summer included ‘Summer Skies’ for a clear sky-blue, and ‘Blue Bird’ and ‘Blue Jay’ for a deeper, cobalt blue; however, the one he hankered after most, the truest blue of all and only to be found at specialist nurseries, was ‘Molly Buchanon’. At one nursery in particular, the staff always treated him with the greatest respect and would say “here comes the delphinium man!”

We should also not forget the incredible sight of the azaleas at the bottom of his garden in spring, their bright hues, mainly reds and yellows (the Forget-me-not providing the blue) singing out against their dark green foliage (“greenest of greens that glory in red”). Besides the three primary colours, Shaykh Abu Bakr also loved certain white flowers such as the scented jasmine and the annual cosmos, and he was particularly proud of his Tree Poppy with its large saucer-like pure white flowers with yellow stamens.

For cut flowers in the house he loved white lilies most of all (“Fragrant lilies, celestially white”).

‘Mercifullest of the Merciful, have mercy upon us!’ is the beautiful and moving refrain repeated at the end of every verse of Shaykh Abu Bakr’s poem ‘The Garden’. When I read it - and I urge everyone to do so - I think of him working in his garden in deep concentration, then looking up with a smile, the brightness and sweetness of which put even his own garden in the shade. To see him thus was truly to be shown an opening onto paradisal gardens, to be given a “Taste of the Infinite and the Eternal.”

Emma Amina Clark is author of The Art of the Islamic Garden and tutor at The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts. The quotations referring to the colours of his garden are all from Shaykh Abu Bakr’s poem The Garden from his Collected Poems published

by Archetype, 2002.

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remembers his first encounter with Shaykh Abu Bakr, who remained his friend for 55 years and whose companionship made him feel at home in the House of Islam.

HASAN LE GAI EATON

t was a troubled young man who arrived in Cairo in October, 1950. After three years spent in Jamaica, I had returned to London to seek work and found myself unemployable. Finally one of many job applications bore fruit and I was appointed an Assistant Lecturer in the English Department of Cairo University on the strength of having had a book on Hindu Vedanta, Taoism and Zen published. While still in Jamaica I had received several letters asking why I had never mentioned Islam in my book. Back in London I had met two of these correspondents, members of a Sufi tariqah to which, as it happened, Martin Lings also belonged.

They had written to tell him of his new colleague.

On my first morning at the University he was not there so I asked a student about him. “That”, I was informed, “is the gentleman who speaks to the flowers and who is much loved”. The following day I met him, a small, wiry man twelve years my senior. This was the beginning of a friendship which endured until his death 55 years later. He and his wife were living in a dusty village at the foot of the Pyramids, their home set in a lush walled garden which seemed like a little paradise. Desperately homesick for Jamaica and for a girl I had left behind there it was certainly a paradise for me, a refuge in which I was always welcome. Lings or Sidi Abu Bakr as I soon learned to call him was a source of astonishment to me. Brought up as an agnostic I had never before met anyone “religious”, let alone a man of deep and unshakeable faith who pursued a spiritual path with total dedication.

There were numerous handsome cats prowling the paradisegarden. Without, of course, believing in “reincarnation” as the concept is commonly understood, Sidi Abu Bakr drew inspiration from

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the Quranic verse which tells us that the birds and the beasts are “communities like to yourselves and to Him they are returned”. He believed that the animal soul derives huge benefits from close association with human creatures who fulfil, in prayer, their viceregal function. His kittens were much in demand but he refused to give them to any family that did not pray regularly. I soon began to share his sensibilities, understanding, for example, his hatred of the public loud speakers which blared Quranic recitation, distorting the sacred words in a manner almost blasphemous, a symptom of a naïve and pathetic worship of technology in the Arab world.

I witnessed also the devotion of his students who sensed his profound faith and were influenced by it in their own lives. He was a marvellous teacher, particularly when he shared with them his love of Shakespeare. Every year he produced and directed one of the great plays, drawing excellent performances from the student cast. A perfectionist, he expected the best from them and achieved this, not by bullying but by gentle coaxing and by imbuing them with something of his own unique understanding of the spiritual depth of meaning in these plays.

He had, at this time, just completed his first book, The Book of Certainty, and I read it in draft. It opened my eyes to the power and beauty of Islam as did all that he told me of his “spiritual grandfather” in the silsilah of his tariqah, the Algerian Shaikh al’Alawi whose biography he would write some years later. Above all his companionship made me feel that I could be at home in the House of Islam. I might have postponed indefinitely the decision to take the next step but, after less than a year in Cairo, I decided to return to Jamaica and realised that it was a matter of “now or never”. In 1951, in the month of Ramadan, I went to him and said I was ready to take the shahadah at his hands. It was as a Muslim that I boarded a ship in Alexandria, a penniless deck passenger, just three weeks later.

Sidi Hasan Gai Eaton is one Britain’s most prominent Muslim scholars and author of numerous books including Islam and the Destiny of Man, Remembering God and King of the Castle.

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THE HEART OF

ILLUMINATION

As a student at the Visual Islamic and Traditional Arts Programme, UNAIZA KARIM was just beginning her exploration of traditional Islamic arts when she met Dr Martin Lings.The meeting changed the course of her life, inspired her work and will forever shape the craftswoman she aspires to be. candle lit in memory of the passing of Martin Lings flickered on the studio table. This serene and eloquent man had given so much of himself to the department over the years. He first began lecturing at Visual Islamic and Traditional Arts Programme at the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in 1985, and over the course of the next twenty years he continued to inspire those familiar and unfamiliar with the Quranic arts of calligraphy and illumination. Dr Lings joined the staff of the British Museum as assistant keeper of oriental printed books and manuscripts and was keeper from 1970 to 1973, when he was seconded to the British Library. His experience there culminated in a classic work entitled The Quranic Art of Calligraphy and Illumination published in 1976 to coincide with the World of Islam Festival, with which he was closely involved.

Three years ago, as a fledgling art student at the school, I attended a lecture given by Dr Lings that was to change the course of my life. I was new to the subject. Struck and absorbed by the glistening, jewel-like Quran pages and commentary he so artfully presented, I was moved to tears, touched also by his unassuming modesty and charming meekness. It had taken me all my life until then to see such beauty. Dr Lings opened the door for me and beyond it was a gift for which I am eternally grateful. That day it was as if a hand had been extended out to me, an invitation into a world that continues to unfold before me.

Again and Again the Quran refers to itself as a light: “We have sent down to you a clear light” it says, and “We have made it a light whereby We guide whom We will.”

As Dr Lings explained, the Quran itself may be said to hold out certain opportunities for the illuminator. Most obvious of these are the surah headings, and the divisions between the verses. I remember how he spoke of the restraint of the early illuminators, who spent their lives adorning the pages of the Quran, mindful of ever interfering with the word of God. It must be remembered, he said, that the whole purpose of illumination is to recall the higher, deeper dimensions of the text.

Dr Lings inspired me to find a teacher and my journey took me to Turkey where I trained under a master illuminator. I remember how he described the traditional guilds and the sweetness of the relationship between master and pupil. It is said, one who tastes not, knows not. Though I have much to learn, I am ever grateful for being given the opportunity to have tasted. An opportunity whose inspiration I owe to the venerable Shaykh Abu Bakr Siraj al-Din, God’s mercy be upon him, our teacher and inspiration.

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HEAVEN’S

WARRIOR Ghassan Massoud has suddenly become very famous. As the actor chosen by Ridley Scott to play Salahuddin al-Ayyubi in the film Kingdom of Heaven, Massoud bore a tremendous responsibility in communicating Scott’s radical retelling of the Crusades. Already an accomplished actor in his native Syria, Massoud spoke to ABDUL-REHMAN MALIK about his love for Salahuddin, working with Scott and why he refuses to enter Jerusalem. lthough I was there to interview him, I didn’t expect to see Salahuddin al-Ayyubi - or Saladin as he is commonly known - walk out of the gilded elevator at London’s Dorchester Hotel. I imagined that he would be seated on a royal diwan (in a suite somewhere upstairs) surrounded by courtiers, issuing edicts and drinking iced water. Alas, only in the movies.

He walked edgily by me, confused about where the interview was supposed to be taking place and probably wondering when he was going to be able to have his morning espresso.

“Mr Massoud?” I enquired, even though I knew it was him.

After watching Kingdom of Heaven (twice), who could miss those penetrating eyes and full warrior beard.

“Yes,” he said, smiling. Upon introducing myself, he practically hugged me. “The room upstairs is very stuffy. Would you like a coffee? Let’s sit and have coffee.”

The first thing you notice about Massoud is that he is appallingly thin. It’s hard to believe that such a slight man transformed himself into Salahuddin with such convincing presence and stature. His rugged good looks, penetrating eyes and an ever present cheeriness make him immediately likeable, even endearing. But he looks odd in a sweater and black khakis without his sword hanging at his side. I can see him with a black turban on his head and matching black jalabiyya, embroidered in Quranic verses, falling from his shoulders. He sips purposefully at his espresso and lights a cigarette. The daydream is broken.

“Before I read the script, I was wary of the project. Any film that takes on the relationship between Islam and Christianity during the Crusades is going to risk misunderstanding. I didn’t want to part of something that added to the already tense relationship between the West and the Muslim world.”

Reading the script for Kingdom of Heaven and meeting Ridley Scott changed his mind. Scott presents the Crusades not as a religious war, but as a war justified by religion, pushed forward by feudal interests and greed. “Scott respects Salahuddin and he understood the sensitivities of the story. I trusted Ridley. He has a deep knowledge of Islam and of Salahuddin’s life. He understood that Salahuddin was not just a warrior, but a great leader who represented a great culture, was intelligent and understood that war must be fought for a just and noble cause.”

Little known outside his native Syria, Massoud was an unlikely choice to play Salahuddin. With Orlando Bloom, Liam

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Neeson and Jeremy Irons bringing enough star power to a movie that makes no pretensions about being blockbuster material, Scott decided to cast as many Arab Muslim actors as possible in important supporting roles. While unknown in Europe, Massoud is a celebrated stage actor, scriptwriter and is arguably the father of modern Syrian theatre.

Born in the beautiful village of Draykish, near the coastal town of Tartus, in 1958, Massoud went to Damascus where there was a small but exciting theatre scene. He eventually became an accomplished actor and director at the High Institute of Dramatic Arts. Among his most celebrated productions have been Arabic adaptations of Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams and Chekhov, who he counts along with Gabriel Garcia Marquez as major influences on his writing and work. His work in cinema led him to act in several Iranian films, where critics have called him Syria’s Al Pacino.

Massoud recently directed a play called The Diplomats, a subtle critique of Syria’s political system and Kafkaesque bureaucracy. It played to sold-out crowds for weeks. He is now a drama professor and is credited with moulding a generation of Syrian actors and directors.

Preparing to play Salahuddin was completely different than anything he had done, let alone that it was his first role in an English-language film. “Before we began filming I read hundreds of books on Salahuddin, about his life, his personality, his history.

It would have been disaster if I had not understood Salahuddin before playing him. It is a great responsibility. I trusted Ridley’s vision of the story. My role was to defend the legacy of Salahuddin through acting, and defend the Islamic civilisation he represented.

My culture is that of Salahuddin. He was a role model for all of us when we were growing up. He was a Muslim hero who returned pride and dignity to his people.”

There are few characters in Muslim history that inspire such devotion as Salahuddin Ayyubi - the young Kurdish fighter who took the helm of the greatest Muslim army ever mustered, he represents everything that Muslims nostalgically want to be: noble, just and triumphant over his enemies. Massoud say this has led to a strange mythology about him, especially among young Arabs looking for a hero in troubled times.

“It is like he was three metres high,” he laughs, “and had muscles like Sylvester Stallone in Rambo. These silly stories need

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to be put aside. He was a statesman more than he was a warrior.

He was a genius and led a great army to victory because he was a genius planner. He had eyes that saw the truth of things and a head that acted on what the eyes saw.”

Massoud goes to great length to ground Salahuddin in reality - after all, the eventual conqueror of Jerusalem was once a sickly child. “His father was so upset at how sick and weak Salahuddin was in his early years that he used to complain that his son would never amount to much. It is not good for Muslims to create one-dimensional heroes. Victory never came because of raw strength alone. Salahuddin had strength and power - and something more. He followed in the footsteps of Imam Ali - a lion in battle and the wisest of warriors.”

Some critics have panned the film for making the Crusaders look like land hungry, bloodthirsty thugs while the Muslim armies are disciplined and gracious in battle. Massoud waves his hand to dismiss such criticism, “Kingdom of Heaven is a story that shows the difference between chivalrous people and warmongers, fanatics and the truly faithful - whether they be Christian or Muslim. At the end peace comes from dialogue.”

The film concluding battle is a vintage Scott - massive armies, extreme close-ups, the operatic dismembering of limbs and symphony of splattering blood that fans (and critics) have come to love. Yet the movies penultimate scene comes when the lone knight Balian - erstwhile ‘Defender of Jerusalem’, played by Orlando Bloom, meets Salahuddin to set terms of surrender. It is not the first time in the film when Salahuddin, commanding an army of 200,000, talks to the enemy. In an earlier encounter with leper King Baldwin, Salahuddin withdraws his army to let the Christian King deal with the errant Knights Templar, but offers the services of his physicians who he promises will come to his stricken enemy with haste.

Balian’s shock at Salahuddin’s generous terms is to remind the audience of the bloody conquest of the Jerusalem by Europeans, when infidel Muslims had been slaughtered indiscriminately and blood ran in torrents down the holy city’s narrow streets. “I am

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not like those men,” says the Kurdish amir. Massoud finds the scene particularly poignant. “Could we speak about any leader today doing something like Salahuddin did then? To negotiate with an enemy from a position of strength? The United States has power today, but where is the strength for dialogue, to speak and listen to your opponents and offer peace for the greater good?”

But aren’t Arab governments also just as intransigent?

Massoud, for obvious reasons, is cautious. This is the dilemma of many Arab Muslim artists. “Each nation has its own internal situation,” he says philosophically, “but things are changing.

When my play The Diplomats opened in Damascus, a thousand people came every night. The regime did not ask questions, they didn’t shut me down. The play was a criticism of some aspects of the government and they got the message.”

“The trouble is,” he continues, rising in his seat, “that Arabs do not understand the power of art. There is no real cinema or theatre tradition in the Arab world and frankly, many people are threatened by the impact cinema could have. We need to be making our own movies - movies that matter. For that we need confidence and resources.”

Does Massoud ever dream of going to Jerusalem? He pauses for a moment, contemplating the question and responds angrily, “I cannot go there. How could I? I will not enter Jerusalem while the land is occupied. There is no problem between Muslims and Jews. There is the problem of occupation. How can we have a relationship with Sharon? He is not a peacemaker - he is a bloody leader.” Massoud is not optimistic at the prospects for peace either. “Peace is possible, but I doubt it. There has been too much aggression for this generation to achieve peace. Israeli aggression must end.”

Arab audiences, politicised by the conflict in Palestine and Iraq, have responded to Kingdom of Heaven with rave reviews and packed cinemas. The image of Salahuddin as a heroic figure in a Hollywood movie has critics in the Arab world talking of a new era of representation, far from the pathetic stereotypes of the barking terrorist or turbaned oil sheik (sic) that have been common for the last twenty years.

Shaking his head, Massoud is vexed by the constant linking of Islam with terrorism. “This film is about redefining jihad. The other side of jihad is chivalry. There is no doubt that jihad is one of the most important words in the Muslim tradition. It is about war against your enemy - but it is war with purpose, for justice.

But it is also fighting for dialogue, for peace, for education, to take care of families. It is fighting against the nafs, against greed, against fanatics who think they understand what jihad is. Jihad is actually for everyone - it is to live a chivalrous life, for the good of others.”

Massoud is now a recognisable international star. In the lead up to the film he was featured on CBS Evening News in America and virtually every major publication in the Europe and North America. “I’m frightened,” he fidgets nervously. “What do I do after this role? I need to think seriously about what’s next.”

That search for the next role may be a short one. Scott is already talking to Massoud about a new project and for his part, the actor who became Salahuddin is likely to jump at the chance.

“Scott has an amazing mind, but he is also sweet and noble. He is a noble knight in search of truth. He also understands the Messenger and the message. But I have come to expect that kind of depth from Ridley. It is what he expects from himself.”

Ghassan Massoud played Salahuddin with extraordinary force. He may not enter Jerusalem, but with his legacy in Syrian theatre and Arab cinema well established, he is set to conquer many more hearts in the lands of once-Crusaders and beyond.

REVIEW

MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE The Royal Court’s production of the life of the American born activist is a tour de force. As N.A. KASSEM explains, the play is a powerful and intimate portrait of a contemporary hero - an amazing young woman speaking in her own words before tragically becoming an icon. s an avid writer and artist it is fitting that the words Rachel Corrie poured into her journals and emails, paint a theatrical portrait of her life. Edited by Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner, My Name is Rachel Corrie is a one-woman show vibrantly performed by Megan Dodds at London’s Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs. This moving personal testimony taken from a selection of her writings introduces us to the person behind the photos of a fresh faced peace activist - the young woman before the political icon.

The death of Rachel Corrie aged 23, on 16 March 2003 ignited controversy and international headlines. An American college student involved in non-violent resistance to Israel’s illegal occupation, Rachel was killed by a US supplied, Israeli Army operated Caterpillar bulldozer while bravely trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home. Whether as a martyr or an impressionable idealist, to most of us she is defined by her tragic death.

In her journal Rachel asked herself the questions echoed after her death: “Who is this person? How did I get here?” What compelled a bright, active student happily ensconced in the security and comfort of home and family in Olympia, Washington to make a journey to the Gaza Strip? This dramatization of her words gives us a personal look at the life of a down-to-earth, artsy, messy, funloving, jeans and sweatshirt clad student at Evergreen State University. Rachel’s eloquent writing reveals a young schoolgirl with an intelligent awareness of her surroundings. An uncertain teenager struggling to find her place in the world - she is a poet, a guilty smoker and a habitual list maker - her passion for ideas, humanity and her emerging political consciousness give us an understanding of why she eventually decided to travel to Palestine to join the International Solidarity Movement.

The stagecraft by Hildegard Bechtler is strikingly simple, yet effective in providing a backdrop to Rachel’s words. Her red painted Olympia bedroom is covered in pictures, an orange tree stands vulnerable in a Gaza garden, a crumbling concrete wall pockmarked by bullet holes and a bricked-in window, a Rafa street choked with dust. Rachel’s words, delivered by Megan Dodds are evocative and powerful - stirring up images of majestic cedars on the wet Washington coastline as easily as light skipping over the rubble of a refugee camp. Dodds performs the role with remarkable intimacy and power, moving effortlessly from scene to scene subtly following Rachel’s personal transformation. Her energy is palpable, it demands attention and given the closeness of the space and the power of Rachel’s writing, it is like she is speaking directly to you.

The play ambles through fragments of Rachel’s life. The play is so successful because Rachel was such an honest and compelling observer of her own experience. A journal entry describes a transformative trip to Russia as a wide-eyed 12-year old. Exposed to a world far removed from her own, she is unsettled and awed: “It was flawed, dirty, broken and gorgeous.”

In Palestine Rachel’s writing communicated a new found

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In second grade, there were classroom rules hanging from the ceiling.The only one I can remember now seems like it would be a good rule for life. ‘Everyone must feel safe.’

Safe to be themselves, physically safe, safe to say what they think, just safe.That’s the best rule I can think of. urgency, sorrow and fear as she found herself in a place nothing could have prepared her for. She was humbled by the reality she had stepped into: “If I feel outrage at entering briefly into the world in which these children exist, I wonder how it would be for them to arrive in my world,” she wrote. “Once you have seen the ocean and lived in a silent place where water is taken for granted and not stolen in the night by bulldozers, spent an evening when you didn’t wonder if the walls of your home might suddenly fall inward, aren’t surrounded by towers, tanks, and now a giant metal wall, I wonder if you can forgive the world for all the years spent existing - just existing - in resistance to the constant attempt to erase you from your home.”

Rachel is troubled by foreboding nightmares of tanks and bulldozers outside her house and of falling to her death. However, she is certain that her “international white-person privileges” will prevent her from any real harm.

In Hi Es Salam, a Rafa town within sight of the Egyptian border, Rachel shared her “international privileges” by staying in homes that were under threat of demolition by the Israeli army.

She realized the distinction between the actions of Israel as a state and the Jewish people and had no qualms about protecting the water and shelter of a largely unarmed people against a powerful military. She admires the Palestinian culture rich in hospitality despite their poverty. They tell her: “We help you because we think maybe you will go and tell people in your country that you lived with Muslims. We think they will know that we are good people. We are quiet people. We just want peace.” Rachel notes Palestinian children yelling, “What’s your name?… something disturbing about this friendly curiosity.” Perhaps they wished to tell her their own names. To be named, validated and acknowledged in a place largely ignored by the rest of the world.

The Prophet Muhammad said: “if you see a wrong, act against it. If you’re unable to do that, speak against it; and if you’re unable to do that, then feel dismayed by it.” Rachel did all three.

Alan Rickman’s skilfully directed My Name is Rachel Corrie is a labour of love that tells us that bravery is possible. We are enriched by the effort and by the opportunity to know Rachel Corrie even after her tragic death.

My Name is Rachel Corrie returns to the Royal Court Theatre (Sloane Square, London SW1W 8AS) from 11-29 October 2005.

Call 020 7565 5000 or visit www.royalcourttheatre.com. The book, an edited collection of Corrie’s writings, is available at the theatre bookshop.

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REVIEW

KEEPING THE SACRED TRUST The magnificent Topkapi Palace in Istanbul holds many treasures, but none greater than the relics of the Prophet Muhammad - intimate items associated with his magnificent life and emblematic of his noble example. Preserved by generations of Ottoman Sultans, these incredible objects have now been photographed and presented for the first time in a limited edition book. NAZIM BAKSH reflects on the importance of its publication. his book opens as a grand door to an Ottoman palace would, revealing behind its ornate threshold a world of heart warming, soul stirring delights. The images collected in The Sacred Trusts: The Pavilion of the Sacred Relics, Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul are of objects more precious than the riches of the world. They reflect a precious and colourful tapestry layered with meanings so profound that the viewer like a supplicant yearns for union with the Blessed Messenger.

Hilmi Aydin’s presentation of over 600 items from the Topkapi Sarayi in Istanbul, once the heart of the Ottoman Empire, is an illuminated pathway that leads to the relics of the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, his companions, and the pious predecessors of the early years of Islam.

The quivering of the spirit on seeing these images is a reminder that the Prophet remains involved in the affairs of his community. If there is any doubt, the pictures in this book are proof that the Messenger is with his community even to this day.

The Ottoman Sultans lived at the Topkapi Sarayi up until 1808.

It was also the religious centre, the seat of administration and the treasury of their vast empire going as far back as the 15th century.

It housed mosques, schools, baths, courts, libraries, an armoury, a mint and a chancery.

After the defeat of the Mamluks in Egypt at the turn of the 16th century the governor of Makkah and Madinah had the keys of the holy cities delivered to Sultan Selim I and shortly after that items pertaining to the person of the Prophet and his companions were brought from Makkah and Madinah to be housed in special apartments at the Topkapi.

Among the items that were brought to Istanbul was the famous robe given by the Prophet to Ka’b Bin Zuhayr, a poet of the tribe of Banu Suad who praised the Messenger of God in poetry. The prophet so admired Ka’b’s composition that he took off his robe and covered him with it. Preserved to this day, this mantle of Prophet became a symbol of longing for all those who praise the Messenger of Allah. Interestingly, the design of the book, its cover and the case that houses it, is modelled on the original ornate chest at the Topkapi that contains the mantle of the Prophet. Incidentally, the room that holds the chest itself is decorated with verses from Imam Busairi’s famous poem commemorating the mantle - the Qasida Burda.

The Prophet Muhammad’s standard, sandal, cup, his blessed footprint on a stone, his bow only extended once but never released, and his sword, that accompanied him in every military expedition but was never stained by human blood, were likewise brought to the Topkapi.

His hair and blessed tooth that broke at Uhud along with his seal were all housed in the Privy Chamber, the most important apartment in the Pavilion of the Sacred Relics at the Topkapi Palace. And for 400 years the Quran was recited out loud twenty-four hours a day by the best qaris to show reverence to the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings. After many years of interruption the Quran is once

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again recited continuously by in the chamber that houses his mantle.

Over the years, from the time of Sultan Selim I onwards, more items were added to the collection: a cooking vessel of the Prophet Abraham; the turban of the Prophet Joseph; the sword of the Prophet David; a strand from Abu Bakr’s beard; the Quran that is believed to be the one Caliph Uthman ibn Affan was reading when he was assassinated; swords of the Prophet’s companions; Fatima al-Zahra’s blouse, veil, and mantle; her son Husayn’s robe, his turban, and a piece of his mantle; Imam Abu Hanifa’s robe; Uways al-Qarani’s felt cap; the crowns of Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani and Imam Sharani; the bowls of Jalal al-Din al-Rumi; the gold rain gutters of the Kaaba; the gold and silver covers of the Black Stone, and much more.

The items that pertain to the Messenger of Allah are regarded as al-amanat al-mubarakat or sacred trusts, while the others are called tabarrukat or sacred objects. Sultans, scholars and ordinary men and women of the ummah of Muhammad have always regarded them as a source of spiritual nourishment and happiness. When the Topkapi Palace was turned into a museum in 1924 the amanat and the tabarrukat were closed to the public only to be put on display again in 1962.

The publication of this book makes these items available for the first time. Beautifully presented crisp colour photographs bring the relics to life. Own this book, bring it into your homes, and become connected with the life of the Messenger of Allah, his companions and the men and women who were foremost in this religion.

There are people who will tell you that the photographs are of a collection of abstract objects, antiques, meaningless dead-weight of history. They are ignorant, ignore them.

Like the companions of the Prophet who treasured a strand of hair of the Messenger because it was a source of light, the community of believers today is blessed to live in a world where these objects have been preserved because they symbolise the light of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, and tells us that it still shines in a world that gets darker by the day.

The Companion, Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, described how, when the Prophet first entered city of Madinah, everything became illuminated. When his soul left this world the light dimmed so suddenly that the Companions were taken aback and began to doubt whether they had really seen it at all. What was left and what still exists is the remnant of the light that radiated from his blessed body. Madinah will remain the city of Light, the city of the Beloved of Allah.

One of the companions is reported to have said when asked to describe the Prophet: “My son, had you seen him, you would have seen the sun shining.”

Enjoy the sun for as long as it shines.

The Sacred Trusts is available exclusively in the United Kingdom from Roots Distribution (www.thesacredtrusts.co.uk) and in North America from Modesty Works on +1 (905) 455-4181.

REVIEW

SECRETS OF MOORISH SPAIN Jason Webster’s first book Duende was an account of his years spent feeding an obsessive interest in flamenco. MUJADAD ZAMAN maintains Andalus is nurtured from a similarly compulsive sentiment.To what extent,Webster asks, is contemporary Spain still moulded and influenced by its Muslim past? oisted into the ‘war on terrorism’, Spain finds itself in the precarious position in engaging in a post 9/11 world amidst concerns over domestic immigration policy, nervousness about a growing Muslim minority and war in Iraq. It is in this socio-political hotbed that we enter the story.

Webster, in his attempts to discover the essence of Spanish culture through the eyes of history, finds his beliefs cemented to a conviction that today’s Spain is still shrouded in an aura of “moorishness”.

On this journey around Spain and Portugal (from Monsterrat to Lisbon) he notes copious evidence to suggest that the centuries of Muslim rule have not been cleft from the ties of history. The travelogue, more than just a dictaphone of experiences, poses a challenge to Europe to contemplate and confront its prejudices.

Webster is accompanied by a young Moroccan, Zine, who is lured to Spain but is cheated into working in slave conditions as a fruit farmer. It is here that they meet (Webster is working as an undercover investigator looking at the working conditions of immigrants). Webster is forced to escape the farm with Zine, after an attempt is made on their lives, and thereafter like nomads they explore Spain - Webster the young historian and Zine the illegal immigrant searching for work.

The character of Zine is oft reminded of his marginal status.

Many locals clearly distinguish him as the outsider, the moor, set apart from society. Yet he is also a typical of the plight of many young Northern African men, who peer across the Mediterranean and see wealth ripe for the picking. Zine is a Muslim who drinks, and delves in amorous adventures, but believes in Providence as his soul aid in the circumstances he has found himself in.

Furthermore, his conversations are littered with the ‘linguistic paraphernalia’ of Islam - he finishes his sentences with Masha Allah and Insha Allah.

An intriguing episode in his quest for knowledge is an encounter with an old professor, whose vast literary expertise suggest a Muslim influence in the classic Don Quixote. Such a statement may seem shocking, as Spanish literary is practically built from this work. Yet the professor alludes to references in the book about the Almohad emir of Andalusia, jokes about Christian and Muslim fundamentalism, as well as including jokes from the Sufis.

The professor reminds us that these examples make more sense, when we realise that the author, Cervantes, spent five years as a captive in Algiers.

Webster also deliberates upon heritage of the Spanish and their rejection of its ‘Moorish’ roots and features. His initial comparisons fall along the lines of etymology, after all he studied Arabic at Oxford, and prove that many modern day expressions in the Spanish popular lexicon are derived from the Arabic. For

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example, hala, a common expression of surprise, was adopted into Spanish as ojala (expression for hope, which is taken from the Arabic Insha Allah.

Similarly, ole, coming from the Arabic wallah, “by God”. Webster maintains that in Andalusian churches one can hear them shouting ole, “the name of the God of Islam in a Christian church”.

More than just looking at lexical nuances, Webster’s keen eye sees Islam lying under the surface of modern Andalusian culture. He sees it in the faces of the Cordobans, the dark full features, a lasting bequest of Muslim presence. He further sees it in church architecture, local customs and food. The food eaten in Alzira, for example, could easily be placed alongside dishes from Fez. Albondigas, meatballs in tomato sauce, is a derivation of the Arabic al-banadiq.

Bismarck wrote that two things, if you knew how they were made, you would not go near them: laws and sausages.

Webster’s similarly struggles with the fact that its harder to feed one the tort pill of clandestine truth then wallow in the stupors of accepted knowledge.

“Spain,” according to Webster, is a “a conglomerate of Moorish culture.” It is view disparaged by many, including Camilo, a professor of Arabic History, who rejects Webster’s claims.

“Spain”, he maintains is a “Latin country, there’s far too much emphasis today on Al-Andalus and the Moors”. Through such conversations Webster’s portrayal shows a symbiotic relationship between the Spanish and the Moroccans, one loves hate the other hates to love, both at loggerheads, yet both had once occupied the same social as well as spiritual space.

However one may choose to read this book - as a historical adventure, a travelogue, a literary excursion - it forcefully strikes at the sternum of European prejudices in an attempt to resuscitate a story often all too forgotten. Herodotus began his history of The Persian Wars with the intention that the “deeds of these brave men, not be forgotten”. Webster commits to a similar oath, dedicating his journey to the continuing permanency and permeation of Muslim influence in Spain.

What does Webster’s account tell us about history? Perhaps that it is cyclical. Just as the Spanish benefited from the artist, linguistic, and cultural ambience of Muslim cultural, today North Africans, come across the small strip of sea that parts their continents, to savour the delights of earning the prestigious ‘Euro’. It is a book that ought to be read by all those who doubt the role history plays, as chief protagonist, in our abilities to understand our world.

Andalus: Unlocking the Secrets of Moorish Spain is published by Black Swan (2005). Mujadad Zaman is a graduate student reading Sociology at the London School of Economics.

REVIEW

CONQUEST IN ISTANBUL The Ataturk stadium trembled as the Anfield anthem rang out with chants cascading from all sides: “You will never walk alone”. Against all odds, in this city of conquerors and empires, Liverpool - a plucky, but oft-wounded gladiator - had won the UEFA Champions League for a record fifth time. YASSER CHAUDHARY was there to see it happen. was up at 4 a.m. for my flight to Istanbul. The excitement was overwhelming and sleep was out of the question. On arrival in Islam’s greatest imperial city, I decided to do what the Turks do to unwind - go to a traditional hammam for a Turkish bath. The tradition of baths in Constantinople extends back as far as Roman times. When the Turks arrived, they brought with them a bathing tradition of their own. The Turkish bath epitomises Muslim regard for cleanliness, and residents of Istanbul still flock to the public baths, particularly on Thursdays when bathers scrub and massage the dirt away in preparation for Friday prayers.

After an exhilarating steam immersed massage, I headed straight for the stadium - four hours before kick-off. Passing the great mosques and squares of this famed city I wondered how Istanbul would react to this influx of English fans who, lets be honest, usually travel to spots like the Turquoise Coast with its beach bum lifestyle and all-inclusive resorts, and don’t have a great reputation for being model tourists.

The stadium was in the middle of nowhere but it was magnificent. The place was buzzing with football chants - the Liverpool fans were the nosier group. The Turkish fans I spoke to told me most of the locals were rooting for Liverpool. I told one local, who was wrapped in a This is Anfield scarf that wearing the scarf meant that you had stand up with your scarf and sing the Liverpool anthem at the top of your lungs. He probably did not understand much of what I said, but he shouting something back just the same, which was good enough for me.

Paolo Maldini playing in his seventh final gave Milan a firstminute go ahead followed up by a double by Crespo giving them seemingly a unassailable lead as Liverpool’s dreams looked to have been shattered. At half time, the situation was becoming embarrassing - Liverpool was trailing 3 - 0. I got a call from a friend. “You are in for a drubbing,” he said. I hung up the phone angrily. I was in no mood for this. In an interview with Luis Garcia before the game, he said it was divine inspiration that guided Liverpool to the final. Forget inspiration, I was hoping for some divine intervention.

Liverpool’s lack of a holding midfield player allowed Milan to cut through and past Gerrard and Alonso with ease. This was epitomized by Milan’s third goal when Kaka treaded a brilliant ball through to Crespo who scored with a delightful chip over the incoming Dudek. Liverpool had been given a foot-balling lesson by a Milan team that looked altogether a different pedigree.

The only highlight for Liverpool in that first half was of a legitimate claim for a penalty being turned down, when Garcia was brought down by Alessandro Nesta.

The Liverpool defender Djimi Traore revealed the voices of

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celebration coming from the Milan dressing room at half time, already celebrating victory.

The second half began with the introduction of Hamman for Steve Finnan, a substitution that transformed Liverpool’s fortunes. The German remained deep, in a holding role that he did so brilliantly against Chelsea giving dazzling cover to a now much tighter back three. This allowed Gerrard a freer role surging forward to the very heart of the Milan defence. I think bewilderment is probably the best word to describe the Italian defence following the 15 miraculous minutes, which saw Liverpool level the game at 3 - 3.

The first through was a Gerrard header from a John Arne Riise cross, which was followed by a 25-yard goal by Smicer. The comeback was complete when Gattuso pulled down Gerrard in the area and Liverpool was awarded a penalty. Alonso stepped up to take the penalty, which was saved. Liverpool legend Bill Shankly once said, “Look laddie, if you’re in the penalty area and aren’t quite sure to do with the ball, just stick it in the back of the net and we’ll discuss all your options afterwards.” That is exactly what the Spanish midfielder did, following up instinctively to score the rebound. It was a juggernaut of a performance and the Liverpool fans - and the Turkish supporters, went berserk.

The two saves that Liverpool’s keeper Jerzy Dudek made in the dying minutes to thwart Europe’s best player Shevchenko from point blank range were magnificent. Bewildered, Shevchenko said, following the match: “It is a hard game to explain, but it was destiny.”

The game went to penalties and Dudek saved Shevchenko’s kick to the jubilation of the Liverpool players, manager and fans everywhere. I was in tears. I had lost my voice. I felt so ineffably elated that I could not even begin to find the words to express my feelings. We were Champions of Europe once again.

Liverpool Manager Rafael Benitez had, in the face of an army of naysayers, taken his Liverpool team to the summit of European football. He has a personality that is dignified and humble with an academic footballing mind. When he was asked, “When do we call you the chosen one?” he replied, “Never... as a manager you are important sometimes but the most important thing are the staff and the players.”

Remember this was a team that was four minutes away from being knocked out by Olympiakos and went on to triumph despite being rated underdogs against top sides like Juventus, Chelsea and finally AC Milan. In the city of conquerors and sultans, the boys in red finally got their well deserved Turkish delight.

DRAGGING MYSELF UP TO HEAVEN There are over 650 muscles in our body and if you ever wanted a really good way of locating every single one of them - particularly that elusive posterior cruciate ligament - climb a mountain. SARAH WASEEM took on Ulfa Aid’s Ben Nevis challenge and grunted and groaned her way to (some kind of) enlightenment. a·li·fa (ya·la·fu): to be united, linked, connected; to be on familiar, intimate terms (with); to form a coalition (pol); to fit, suit (s.th.), go well, agree, harmonize (with); to be well-ordered, neat, tidy. he charitable goodwill started with gold-dusted altruism: to save hundreds of starving, needy children. It spiralled, instead into a sub-consciously triggered childhood reversion, culminating in a delirious state of yearning for a mother figure. Don’t worry, all will soon become clear.

The saga started at the conclusion of a personal epoch. I wrote my final university exam on the day of departure. An amazingly formative time in my life was ending and my head was already in the clouds. I was on my way, with dozens of Muslims from all over the country, to Fort William, home of the UK’s highest mountain. We were to walk up it in aid of charity and it not only appealed to me because of the worthy cause, but also because it was innovative.

Having acquired a reassurance that there was a ‘tourist trail’ built on the mountain and that it would be slightly more tedious than a frolic on some hilly meadow, I took the challenge somewhat lightly given that, “last year a 70 year old man walked up with us in his sandals.” (These are verbatim words from the organiser - may Allah preserve him and give him strength to climb all further mountains.)

The image of an uncle-ji walking up in his bathroom chappals and Japanese tourists with cameras suddenly disappeared when I discovered that the mountain was a tad bigger than the glorified mole-hill that I had first expected: an entire 4,406 feet. A tragic school-girl error and not a red tick in sight.

“Okay, now hug the sister closest to you.”

It was at this point in the private sisters’ pre-walk motivational talk that I thought I better leave before we got onto confessions and inner-child seeking. Reassuring as the talk was, I couldn’t help feeling I needed to stand up and confess some addiction to firestarting or ineptitude with maintaining mature relationships. And so began the day.

With a rallying speech at the foot of the mountain and the good advice to keep the tongues moist with the remembrance of our Creator the Most High, I pondered the magnificence and grandeur of Ben Nevis - such a noble peg.

My reflections and remembrance of God soon metamorphosed into extolled grunts as the gradient increased and the rocks became recalcitrant and unashamedly uncooperative - for the next four hours and forty minutes and thirty-two seconds.

And that was just on the way up. I reproached my treadmill which had promised me a maximum incline (Level 15 for crying out

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loud) and sufficient training. In comparison to Mr. Nevis, the treadmill seemed rather fanciful. Mechanical promises of fitness are not the stuff that mountain climbing is made of.

The view, which I caught a glimpse of in between drooling on the rocks and scrambling over waterfalls, was amazing. Huge lochs embedded on several levels of the mountain, a scene worthy of a postcard and fresh air totally incomparable to the smog of London. This made it worth it. Until I got a third of the way up.

Now, a word of advice. If ever you are facing a mountain which has more weather swings than the observable irregularities of womanhood, the last thing you should do is ask, “How much longer to the top?” to people crossing your path on their way down. Don’t do it. Ever. Because when you hear, “Oh, how long you’d say, Bill? I’d say, another - two and a half hours?”, faces and energy drop like avalanches. So save yourself the knock.

The most moving aspect of the walk was that amidst the breathtaking scenery, camaraderie and the inspiration of Shaykh Umar (the aforementioned 70 year-old man) - who gave each person Muslim and non-Muslim strength whenever he casually overtook them - you couldn’t help feel ashamed when you remembered the cause, the impoverished children, their defenceless vulnerability and the everyday hardship that engulfs their lives.

People really reveal an inner dimension of their character when exposed to a vast and dramatic landscape. It opens the hearts to allow an intimacy which isn’t always possible in fragmented modern life. I recalled Muhammad Asad’s relationship with his servant Zayd, described in The Road to Mecca, in the undulating deserts which they traversed for a good many years in search of something they couldn’t quite put their finger on, helping each other to catch their own life within the net of each other’s words.

Sometimes, it’s difficult to work it all out when you are being bitten by midges and scrambling up snow-covered steeps. But, then you realise that what you’re doing is a blessing, surrounded by people remembering God and putting their reliance on Him. The name Nevis comes from the Gaelic word for heaven or clouds. It struck me that the mountains in our own lives mark our struggle to reach our final destination, even if we’re not sure where individual paths will lead. Perhaps the end point in the journey is clouded from our view only to be revealed afterwards on reflection. It was the lesson of Ben Nevis. It was a blessing from Ulfa Aid to be given an opportunity to learn it.

The Ben Nevis walk was organised by Ulfa Aid (www.ulfaiaid.com) in aid of needy children around the world.

Thus far £40 000 has been raised. Ulfa Aid is currently sponsoring projects in the Sudan, Pakistan, Kashmir and Indonesia.

EDITORIAL

In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate. May His abundant blessing and most perfect of peace be on His Beloved Prophet, the best of creation, and his family, companions and followers.

COPYRIGHT FARAZ RABBANI

I began copying some cassettes which were copywritten, for my personal use, because they were too expensive for me to buy. I since learnt of the impermissability of such an action, so I have stopped. What do I do with the copies I have already made? Do these judgements refer just to the copy and sale of items for profit, or do they extend to the copying of items for personal use?

The question of copyright is complex, and raises many legal, moral and ethical concerns. The answers on SunniPath.com apply generally, according to the major living ulema. They are also the law in most countries, and Muslims have been commanded to obey and uphold the law. However, does it necessarily follow that if one makes one copy of a tape or book for personal use not for profiting from the property of another - one is sinful? The ulema are wary to affirm this. Rather, they say “have as much piety as you can.” Value the books and materials you read and benefit from (Islamic or general), and pay for them, whenever you can. As for past copied collections, or copies made of rare or unavailable materials, there shouldn’t be a problem with this, if one avoids profiting from them.

BLOOD DONATION FARAZ RABBANI

Is it permitted to donate blood?

It is permitted and praiseworthy to donate blood. Allah Most High calls us to assist others in the Qur’an, and praises those who do so, in numerous verses, telling us, “And do good, for Allah loves those who do good.” [Qur’an, 2.195] The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) praised those who assist others most highly, in numerous hadiths, and told us, “Allah is in the assistance of His servant, as long as His servant is in the assistance of others.”

[Related by Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Ibn Maja, and others, from Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him); the hadith is rigorously authenticated (sahih)] However, it is not permitted to sell one’s blood (or any other organs).

I CHEATED ON MY WIFE SUNNIPATH FIQH TEAM

I have commited adultery. Is it compulsory

WHAT YOU

OUGHT TO

KNOW for me to tell my wife, or is it best to keep it between myself and God, especially if telling her will cause more harm than good?

If I tell her and then repent to Allah and am forgiven, will I remain indebted to my wife on the Day of Judgment?

Adultery is a very serious enormity in Islam.

Its prohibition has been established by primary texts such as: “Approach not fornication it is surely an indecency and evil as a way.” (Quran-17:32) “O mankind! Beware of adultery for it entails six dire consequences: three of them relating to this world and three to the next world. As for the three that are related to this world, they are the following: it removes the glow of one’s face, brings poverty, and reduces the life-span. As for its dire consequences in the next world they are: that it brings down the wrath of Allah upon the person, subjects him to terrible reckoning, and finally casts him in the hellfire.” (Related by al-Bayhaqi) “Faith is like a shirt that Allah places on those He chooses; but whoever commits adultery his shirt will be taken off from him; if he were to repent sincerely, Allah will place it back on him.” (Related by all-Bayhaqi) This being said, know that if the one who committed adultery was a man who had slept with his wife at least once, the legal punishment is that he be stoned to death, but only in presence of a Muslim caliph. It was done in the time of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace, and it was law that was upheld in that regard. I only tell of this so you can see the gravity of the sin in the way that Allah sees it.

You must make tawba (repentance) for this sin. Verily, it is one of the dirtiest and vilest acts in society, bringing down disaster on the one who committed it and those around him. This sin is between you and Allah and you should take steps to deal with what you have done before you will be dealt with on the Day of Judgment. The conditions for repentance are well known: 1. Leaving the sin; 2. Remorse over having committed the sin; 3. Resolve never to return to the sin;

4. (If it relates to the rights of another person, then to) Return the rights or property one wrongly took. [al-Bariqa fi Sharh alTariqa; Riyad al-Salihin] As for telling your wife, it is not compulsory to confess what you have done to her. When Allah has concealed one’s sins through His mercy, one should whole-heartedly accept it and be very grateful to Him for not exposing you. Keep this to yourself, pray that Allah does not reveal it in the future, sincerely repent by fulfilling the above conditions and try to find a way to improve your relationship with your spouse. After you have done all of these things, my understanding is that you will not owe her anything on the Day of Judgment.

The deeper problem here is that you don’t have a healthy and strong relationship with her. If you did, you would not have stooped so low and committed this abominable action. Stable marriages are the basis to stable communities; it is the very fabric by which society is weaved, and tearing that fabric is disastrous for one’s family and one’s community.

It is essential that you sit down and contemplate why you have done this. Make a list, go through all the factors and problems that you see in your life, and start repairing them one by one. If you are sincere, Allah will help you resolve them all, but you must strive for it. Once you begin spending a bit of yourself for your family and for Allah, in sha Allah, you will find the light of Islam enter your heart and tranquility will fill it.

May Allah make your wife the light of your eyes and the peace of your soul!

LAST THIRD OF THE NIGHT FADI QUTUB

How does one work out the “last third part of the night” for the purpose tahajjud prayer?

The Arabic Lexicon, al-Misbah al-Munir, defines night as the time from sunset until the entry of the dawn prayer (fajr). So in order to work out the last third of the night, one calculates the time between the sunset prayer (maghrib) and the dawn prayer (fajr), then deducts two thirds from that time. For example, if maghrib was at seven o’clock and fajr at four o’clock, one calculates the time between the two prayers, which is nine hours. Then, one deducts two thirds from the nine hours, which is six hours. Therefore, the last third of the night would begin three hours prior to fajr, at one o’clock.

Faraz Rabbani and others teach at www.sunnipath.com

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V O X

P O P U L I EDUCATION

Letter of the month

Got something to

SAY? We’ve something to

GIVE! The writer of the latest Letter of the Month receives a copy of Leila Aboulela’s new novel, Minaret

Write to Q-News, PO Box 4295, London W1A 7YH or letters@q-news.com 72 | Q - NEWS

Why were our needs - requesting an extra day’s holiday on Eid, asking for a place to pray at lunch, or demanding different arrangements for swimming lessons - causing the most problems and getting the most media coverage? It was a priest who gave us the answer. Our supplementary school, the Islamic Circles Supplementary School, is based in a Christian community centre, and the local Reverend, who is also a school governor, explained to me how it all worked. Many of the decisions pertaining to the educational environment within a school and most influence Muslim children are made locally within the school governing body where Muslims are often severely under-represented.

Supplementary schools, which aim to add to the education received at school, are a passion for us. They are an important part of the educational choices (as are independent Muslim schools). But the reality of Muslim education in the UK is that 97% of Muslim children attend state schools, and if we really are concerned about how and what they are taught, we better get involved in school governing bodies. In January 2005, The Association of Muslim Governors was launched in Newham with the support of the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Stephen Timms MP, to address some of these issues. In Newham, 25% of the students are of Bangladeshi or Pakistani origin, yet only 2% of the governors are Bangladeshi or Pakistani. Rather than turning state schools into Muslim faith schools, we need to work together with existing governing bodies to ensure all children can excel without losing their religious identity. Very little will be

achieved working alone, and the local Council Governor Services, MPs, local churches, mosques and head teachers are all keen to ensure that governing bodies are more representative of their local communities.

There is very little stopping the Muslim community from being involved in governing their local school, and we need to take this opportunity to make changes or stop complaining from the sidelines. Rather than criticise school governing bodies for not looking after our children, we need to appreciate the hard work they have carried out, often without a deep understanding of Islam and what we believe is important to our children. Having a Muslim on a governing body can make a world of difference to the very dedicated governing teams that need to make decisions on issues that may impact upon their Muslim students. Why should we expect anyone to understand our community if we refuse to engage? How confusing Islam must seem if we don’t talk to them about it.

The Association of Muslim Governors wishes to encourage more parents, non-parents or Muslim professionals to get involved in their local school as parent or community governors.

You do not need to be a parent.

In fact, two thirds of current governors in the UK are not parents. It wishes to provide a contact point for governing bodies when faith issues do come up, and put them in touch with the relevant bodies. It is about bringing together all Muslim governors in the UK so we may share our knowledge and work together from a common agenda. It is currently working with the Head of Governor Services in Newham to bring on more Muslim governors, and publish statistics on representation that highlight the mass discrepancy.

This will be repeated in locations across the UK. With over a hundred unfilled governor seats in Newham alone, we need to think twice the next time we think of complaining about our views not being considered. Talk to the governors One Stop Shop, talk to your local Council, or talk to us and find out what’s involved in becoming a school Governor.

The amount of time you need to commit is minimal compared to the positive difference you can have on a child’s most formative years in education.

Khalid Sharif & Shaheen Haque www.aomg.org.uk

FEMALE IMAMS Yasmin Mogahed asserts (QNews, April 2005) that women have been given dignity by God, and that should suffice. God has indeed given women value, but the terrible situation of women under male authority in much of the Islamic world, indicates that Muslim men have not. Indeed, they have so consistently violated their position of authority and leadership, that drastic measures are now required for women to retrieve their self respect and control over their lives. I recognise Amina Wadud leading jummah prayer as an attempt to address this problem.

As Ms Mogahed herself stated, there are indeed God-given differences between the sexes, and it is precisely these differences that make it so vital that women come forward and participate in every arena of public life. Far from merely aping men by occupying similar positions, women bring a very different, much needed perspective, which complements and tempers the approach taken by men.

Ms Mogahed’s stereotyping of a woman’s role in life as motherhood is characteristic of the simplistic literalism that plagues the

Islamic world. Women are more than the function of their womb.

Not all Muslim women wish to be, or can be, mothers. There are many women who have talents and strengths unrelated to motherhood, and these are often denied in order to fulfil their sole “purpose” of being a wife and mother. If genuine talents and desires are not expressed, that thwarted energy frequently emerges in some distorted form, such as manipulative power games within the family, creating lasting damage for susceptible family members. Sometimes, having a career whilst raising children can enrich a woman’s emotional and mental world and enable her to better understand the pressures and problems faced by her children in the outside world. Each woman must square her conscience with circumstance, and the yearning in her heart to find where her abilities and talents can be best applied. Simplistic equations and fixed formulae do not work.

Maliha Aziz

CRAIG MURRAY Whilst agreeing completely with Craig Murray’s reason for standing against Jack Straw, I am disappointed that he feels he has to do the town down in order to promote his position.

Mr Murray acknowledges that he has little knowledge of the constituency but then continues to push the political news bites, akin to the Tory party’s campaign. Answering the specifics, yes the schools have been underachieving but significant investment has been made in Blackburn via local and central government. The new hospital has been due to residents in Blackburn for the last 20 years and although PFI may not be ideal, the health of the people of Blackburn will be delivered by a 21st century service. Blackburn

is a multi racial town and the local politicians, community leaders and residents have continued to work together to bring harmony and cohesion. I am not clear how successful Mr Murray was with his primary intention, ‘to get a platform’ for his issues’, as I for one did not hear of the campaign until the delivery of April’s Q-News.

Born and Bred Blackburnian Ismail Hafeji I am writing to you regarding an interview given by Craig Murray and Abdul Khaliq Mian to the Islam Channel on a programme called The Agenda hosted by Yvonne Ridley on Friday the 13th of May. Abdul Khaliq Mian stood for the Respect party and Craig Murray was an ambassador to Uzbekistan before he resigned due to gross human rights violations there. In the interview Mr Mian said that whilst he was campaigning in London during the elections he came across many incidents of intimidation and misinformation an example he gave was that people thought that they would stop receiving housing benefit if Labour were no longer in power and also that many Labour campaigners applied subtle intimidation tactics during their rounds of canvassing by asking the local Muslims if they had visa documents and do they receive any kind of benefits? But what really stood out for me and to be honest stunned me about the interview was that given by Graig Murray who campaigned as an independent candidate in Blackburn. He explained that he is not a Muslim and maybe it is not right for him to criticise anyone but that there was something that he found very strange and surprising. He came across many Muslims who had long beards and hats - they were outwardly very pious looking.

However, on numerous occasions some of these very same Muslims told him to his face that we don’t care what happens to the Muslims of Uzbekistan, we don’t care what happens to the Muslims of Iraq, all that we care about is that we get our benefits and get houses, that’s why we are going to vote Labour. I think it would be a great educational and informative article for your readers if you were to interview these first time candidates and ask them about their experiences. Also as a Muslim publication I think this is an important story with important issues that need to be addressed by the Muslim community in the UK namely that why & how are Muslims who appear to be following Islam to the letter make such statements, which I found very confusing especially when so many non-Muslims are doing so much for the benefit of Muslims, is it because they are, 1) Just plain selfish, 2) Ignorant of the workings of the benefits system, 3) Ignorant of Islam and the concept of the Ummah, 4) Intimidation from local leaders affiliated to political parties or is there some other reason?

Ismail Seedat

BACHELORS? On reading Ayisha Ali’s article (Jan 2005), my first reaction was to laugh. Someone had finally put pen to paper in an intelligent and articulate manner - unlike the usual banshee-like ranting my friends and I descend to. On further examination that Ayisha may have left out a couple of categories: Men who, when it comes to interaction with non-Muslim women, seem fully capable of charm, wit and - hold on to your hijabs - fluid, informal and engaging conversation. The same man when faced with a Muslim woman displays all the

emotional maturity of a selfconscious and well, joyless schoolboy.

Men who have “potential” i.e. well-read, well-travelled, scintillating conversationalist, impeccable manners, but for whom we Muslim women seem to be invisible. Why is that?

This seems very one sided and of course, as Ayisha points out, there is another side to this tragic story but I’ll leave that for a later correspondence.

We don’t seem to be providing situations where healthy interaction can flourish. Unless something is done, the crisis we are already facing will escalate.

Where marriage is concerned, there is a discrepancy between what the heart desires and what some feel they should be looking for in a potential spouse.

If the bride is not Muslim, the groom seems more willing to overcoming impending social hurdles. A friend recently had a proposal turned down, by a not-so-conservative man on the grounds that she was a little older and had been married before. He said “it may be problematic for his family.”

Had it been Famke Janssen knocking on his door the goalposts may have changed a little.

Why is it that when Tahir, Daoud and Hamza do this, they are hailed as heroes? Are we so lacking in compassion? We need change. We need healing. We need fairness. I had hoped that the Q-News Letters page would be swamped, that Muslim bachelors everywhere would be writing to prove Ayisha wrong and that this could be the beginning of a new debate but you only two responses. Ahh...well, at least there are two of you out there. Just for the record, Ayisha, if I had a brother, I’d introduce him to you!

Faiza Shaikh Bradford

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WRITE MIND

AIN’T NO MOUNTAIN

HIGH ENOUGH

It appears that two Iranian women have become the first Muslim women to scale Mount Everest.This impressive feat will no doubt be heralded around the Muslim world, and for good reason. All will applaud and take great pride in their accomplishment.We’ll all cite this as an example of how liberated Muslim women are, contrary to the slanders against Islam one hears today. But, SVEND WHITE asks, do many of us really have the right to be proud of them?

ow many of us will take notice of the fundamental contradiction between those sentiments and the continuing efforts to defend Islamo-Victorian attitudes which delegitimise any such enterprise on the part of women? How many of us will admit to ourselves that we wouldn’t have supported them in their endeavours because of our assorted hang-ups?

The list of taboos being broken is long, as these women’s trek repudiates a host of paternalistic and highly debatable assumptions about women’s roles in society. Some of these attitudes are relatively benign, while others are rank misogyny masquerading as respect for tradition. Most are still defended tooth and nail by many Muslims, and in spite of increasingly compelling evidence that they are not sanctioned by Islam.

Now, I don’t know how they dressed or what the other details of this ascent were, nor do I wish to speculate about them personally, but it’s appropriate to ask some general questions. If hijab is the most important aspect to a woman’s public presence (and that is preciously the implication of much so-called Islamic thinking today, however smartly we may dress it up with slogans about choice and empowerment), how can she be climbing a mountain and doing all the things that entails?

Shouldn’t we be condemning her?

Think about it. Can a woman safely scale Everest while fretting about whether any of her hair is visible?

Can she do so while obsessing about her legs or arms showing for an instant? Do you think someone can climb a mountain wearing a shalwar kameez, much less a billowing, hooded jilbab? But it gets worse. What if there is a man beneath her on the trail? Are she and her kin not grievously dishonoured by this compromising position?

And won’t that sight risk causing fitnah and fatality on the mountainside?

Then there’s the small question of whether a “respectable” Muslim woman would wander around remote mountains with sherpas and assorted rich, mostly non-Muslim men from the four corners of the globe (i.e. other climbers)? Also, is it legitimate for a Muslim

H

74 | Q - NEWS

woman to leave her family behind for a long excursion into the wilderness, and then to risk life and limb for the sake of a thrill? (These questions are never asked of men, of course, but that’s another discussion.)

My quarrel is not with hijab. Or modesty. Or family values. Quite the contrary. The problem is not those traditional values or Muslims’ respect for them, but rather the selective and sometimes neurotic application of these values in the case of women, to the point where a woman becomes defined by her clothing rather than her actions and beliefs.

So I ask these questions not to offend, but to highlight how our priorities are often out of whack.

Which is more important in this situation, a woman mountain climber’s safety or remaining absolutely modest (i.e. covered to the maximum extent possible)? If we say the former, then we need to admit that many of the norms about women’s dress we cling to obsessively and which we treat as universal are, in fact, contingent.

Then we’ll have to admit that the requirements of modesty depend on context, and that there is more to a woman’s soul than her hijab. Or we could just be consistent and say those women should have just stayed home and let their husbands do the mountain climbing.

I suspect many of us won’t see the contradiction and will continue to keep these conflicting ideas in hermetically sealed compartments of our minds, but perhaps this is how reform really happens. The real world sometimes develops quite independently of people’s theories about “Islamic tradition” and has a tendency to confound scholar’s neat categories. One day, people who have long advocated purdah in various forms wake up and realise that Muslim women are scaling mountains, perhaps hijab-less or even in shorts, and in the sight of men, and that civilisation hasn’t come to an end. Then the irrelevance of all those rigid, sometimes inhumane assumptions about gender will be before their eyes.

Maybe then they will stop treating Muslim women like clothing racks.

ISLAMIC RELIEF

Orphan welfare programme www.islamic-relief.com