Islam today - issue 8 - June 2013 by islam today magazine UK

issue 8 vol.1 June 2013

Earth: a planet for all

UK ÂŁ3.00

And Muhammad (s) is His Last Messenger The Western Political Philosophy of Fear The Afterlife and the reality of our ephemeral existence

Contents

Politics 22

Editorial team June 2013 Issue, 8 Vol, 1

Published Monthly

islam today magazine intends to address the concerns and aspirations of a vibrant Muslim community by providing readers with inspiration, information, a sense of community and solutions through its unique and specialised contents. It also sets out to help Muslims and non-Muslims, further understand and appreciate the nature of a dynamic faith.

Managing Director

Mohammad Saeed Bahmanpour

Chief Editor

Amir De Martino

Managing Editor

Anousheh Mireskandari

Political Editor

Reza Murshid

Health Editor

Laleh Lohrasbi

Art Editor

Moriam Grillo

Layout and Design

Sasan Sarab - Michele Paolicelli

Design and Production

PSD UK Ltd.

Masoud Tehrani on the concerns of ethnic Turks in Germany following the break-up of a murderous neo-Nazi group

Editorial

24 5

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News from around the world

Does Islam allow violence in marital life?

Contributors Alexander Khaleeli

Nehad Khanfar

Ali Sadeq

Tahereh Shafiee

Batool Haydar

Yasser Ahmed

Feature 30

beginning of the Prophet Muhammad’s(s) mission

Moving forward with RE

In the spotlight

waiting for the Mahdi(a) and the transformation it should bring within ourselves

Cover 36

Masterpiece Farhad Moshiri; Drunken Lover – Jar painting; oil on canvas 2001

Frank Julian Gelli Ghazaleh Kamrani Masoud Tehrani Muhammad Haghir Back Cover

The Place to Be

View of The Niujie Mosque, the largest mosque in Beijing. Built in 996 CE during the Liao Dynasty

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

ISSN 2051-2503

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

Opinion 40

Heritage Mosque Lamp, 12th century: Syria, Raqqa

Mixed Media Golnaz Fathi; painter and calligrapher

America’s Culture of Death Despite the American people’s goodwill and generosity towards others, the world at large judges the USA by the murderous policies of the few in government, says Charles Mercieca

Changsha Mexihu International Cultural & Art Centre, Hunan Province, China

Mohsen Biparva

Earth a planet for all Recent reports on the dwindling number of bees worldwide should be seen as an alarm bell by nature, argues Ali Sadeq

Cleo Cantone Elham Ostad-Saffari

When help arrives Batool Haydar reflects on the concept of

Parviz Tanavoli; Iranian painter and sculptor

Charles Mercieca

The Awaited One from Muhammad’s(s) progeny The belief in the coming of a Saviour to spread peace and justice in a fallen world is common to all Abrahamic religions. Yasser Ahmed discusses his place and role in Islamic eschatology

A recent report highlighting a distinct lack of training and support for teachers of RE in the UK is further evidence that our children’s education is being put at risk, according to Tahereh Shafiee

And Muhammad(s) is His Last Messenger On the auspicious anniversary of the

“Even unto China”

Arts

On the Muslim Question Mohsen Biparva reviews a new book which argues that Europe’s current obsession with its Muslim presence is more a reflection of its own anxieties that a true representation of social relations

As access to information, data and knowledge becomes easier our ability to learn has also increased. Alexander Khaleeli reflects on the impact that true knowledge should have on those who have acquired it

16 Nadia Jamil

Life & Community

Nehad Khanfar explains why the traditional interpretation of the term darb as beating in verse 34 of chapter an-Nisaa’ stands in opposition to the Quranic view of marriage as an institution aimed at establishing a climate of stability and security for both parties

Aung San Suu Kyi and the Imperative of Speaking Out Reza Murshid questions why Burma’s best known pro-democracy activist has been conspicuously silent on the Rohingya issue

News

www.islam-today.net

Ahmad Haneef

Education: Freedom to the Family

Dying in the land of Promises

The Western Political Philosophy of Fear Muhammad Haghir finds a line of continuity between classical western political theory and the state of the current geopolitical climate

Islamic Centre of England

Editorial

Contents What & Where

Faith 46

The Afterlife and the reality of our ephemeral existence Cheating death has been a constant theme in human history. But as Ahmed Haneef explains, Islam teaches us that we are not created for this earthly life

Facing up to the inevitable A personal reflection on death by Nadia Jamil

Interfaith 52

St Alban’s sacrifice: all for naught? 22nd June marks the martyrdom anniversary of Britain’s first Christian martyr who died in defence of Monotheism. Revd Frank Gelli asks if Britain has returned to the old age of paganism worshipping a cluster of new gods.

Science

Listings and Events Friday Nights Thought Forum - Islamic Centre of England Imam Khomeini Conference 2013 The idea of ‘Islamic’ Education

Annual Multi-faith Pilgrimage for Peace in Hertfordshire

Of Mice & Men Studies in comparative genomics are revealing important facts to advance our understanding of the relationship between humans and animals. Elham Ostad - Saffari explores the genetic makeup of both, questioning the validity of the assertion that humans evolved from monkeys

Remembering through our nose

Science, Scientism and the Challenge of Islam The Urban Muslim Woman Show Summit to Eat; The Snowdon Challenge

Sensing the Sacred: Religion and the Senses, 1300 - 1800 Shubbak Festival: Contemporary culture from across the Arab world. Muslim Tribes and the War on Terror Seeds of Change: A Women’s conference Doing Business in the Middle East

Listed among the human senses, olfaction has a multiplicity of functions. Ghazaleh Kamrani explains how our sense of smell is at the heart of remembering and emotion

Health 58

Cancer Update Dr Laleh Lohrasbi reviews a number of developments in the fight against different type of cancers.

Human body parts; Natural regeneration or artificial technology

Fighting the killer mosquitoes

Salé city of Scholars and Saints

Places The large presence of Islamic madrasas, shrines and mosques in Sale, Morocco, still hold together the urban fabric of the city, argues Cleo Cantone

Freedom to the Family

Revival of the Sisterhood: Ramadhan Charity Dinner

2nd Global Halal Trade & Logistics Summit

Education:

The Future of Religious Minorities in the Middle East…(Conference)

Glossary of Islamic Symbols The letters [swt] after the name of Allah [swt] (God), stand for the Arabic phrase subhanahu wa-ta’ala meaning: “Glorious and exalted be He”. The letter [s] after the name of the Prophet Muhammad[s], stands for the Arabic phrase sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam, meaning: “May Allah bless him and grant him peace”. The letter [a] after the name of the Imams from the progeny of the Prophet Muhammad[s], and for his daughter Fatimah[a] stands for the Arabic phrase ‘alayhis-salaam, ‘alayhassalaam (feminine) and ‘alayhimus-salaam (plural) meaning respectively: (God’s) Peace be with him/ her/ them.

he first fundamental objective when discussing freedom of education is the recognition, both practical and formal, that the education of any person is the responsibility of the family, just as it has been since time immemorial. In order to ensure that such recognition is genuine and not only empty words, the presence of three interdependent elements is necessary.

ments should refrain from formulating or advancing educational proposals based on party politics. It is not the role of a government to educate but to ensure that all its citizens can be educated. The position of governments and families in relation to education is essentially different. While the family is originally and internally involved, the state’s involvement should be purely supplementary and external.

The first element is that freedom of education must be real; this means that every family must have the concrete possibility of educating its children according to the particular worldview it considers true. However this freedom cannot exist without the full and necessary recognition of the autonomy of schools. Any discussion about education without such recognition has little meaning. It is necessary that the family be recognised as the real interlocutor of the school.

The fundamental means for the state to fulfil its duty is the institution of a scholastic system that is efficient and well organised. As the state does not have its own “educational proposal” - and it shouldn’t - it is the school that we must invest with full autonomy and educational freedom. It is necessary that this educative dimension of the school be clearly highlighted and centred around the individual acknowledgment of the family as the direct interlocutor of the school.

The second fundamental element for the promotion of a free education is a well-defined role for the state. There is no doubt that the state has a duty and a right to create the best conditions to enable families to be effective educators. The first duty of the state should be to defend and promote the inherent right of the family to educate. Govern-

The third fundamental element that can ensure the realisation of the above points is the setting up of a real ‘formative organic system’. Consideration should be given to a faith-based “architectural style” in the construction of our society. Faithbased not in the sense that belongs to a particular group of believers, but

because it emanates from a vision of faith supported by reason. Such a style could be defined by the use of two principles: the primacy of the individual and the principle of subsidiarity. Within this framework the state acquires a supplementary role, not one associated with a heavy footprint in the social aspects of life, but one in which it must promote those fundamental anthropological structures such as marriage and family that form the foundation of society. In reality the crisis in education reflects a larger problem in the social structure of our society. Within the programmes of reforms of the so called “welfare state”, the most efficient, less costly choice to help face the current difficulties is the full and substantial recognition of the family in its individual innate roles; first of all, the role to educate. This is what is meant by ‘organic’. This is the real challenge that governments must face up to. The solution could be to have institutional and structural programmes that reflect practical and juridical decisions, but above all what is needed is an awareness and willingness in the corridors of powers. Unfortunately neither appear to be in abundance at present. •

News

BRITAIN

Reasons vary. Some, mostly women (who make up around two-thirds of new believers), want to marry a Muslim. Others are fed up with the bawdiness of British society. Many speak of seeking a sense of community. Batool al-Toma, an Irish-Catholic convert who runs the New Muslim Project in Leeds, was attracted, she says, by the spirituality of Islam and the warmth of relationships she saw among Muslims. For men, prisons have proved a fertile ground for conversions. Just over 11,000 prisoners are Muslims, about 13% of the total. Last year an inquiry by the Home Affairs Select Committee identified prisons as a breeding ground for radicals. But a study by the Prisons Inspectorate in 2010 produced a more positive conclusion. Converts, a third of those interviewed, said the discipline and structure of Islam helped them to cope with prison life.

Over 5000 Britons converting to Islam every year

GERMANY

Calculating convert numbers in Britain is not easy. The census in England and Wales only asks about people’s current religion. Mosques do not record conversions centrally, and some new believers, also known as reverts, keep their conversions quiet. Having utilised census data on race and religion, and questionnaires issued to mosques, Kevin Brice, a researcher at the University of Wales, reckons around 5,200 Britons turn to Islam every year, bringing the total number of converts to about 100,000. Proselytising has little do with it. A handful of Muslim groups hand out tracts in the street. But most are more concerned with issuing press releases condemning extremism than wooing converts, says Leon Moosavi, an expert on Islamic conversions at Liverpool University. Those who embrace Islam tend to do so after years of contact with Muslims.

Study says many Germans view Islam as a threat A major study of attitudes towards religion says Germans approve of openness towards other religions. But many are still suspicious of Islam. The criticism can be partly explained by the ‘Religion Monitor,’ a survey put together for the Bertelsmann Founda-

tion which showed that half of all Germans believe that Islam does not fit into the Western world. The study, which surveys views on the social significance of religion and values, was carried out in Germany and 12 other countries, and included the views of 14,000 people. Among the Germans, 85 per cent agreed or tended to agree that one should be open towards all religions. They saw most religions as an enrichment, especially Christianity, also Judaism and Buddhism, but a majority of 51 per cent saw Islam as a threat. Detlef Pollack, the sociologist who co-authored the study, says that this negative perception could be due to the lack of personal contact between Christians and Muslims. More people in eastern Germany see Islam as threatening than in the West, even though the east is home to only two per cent of all the country’s Muslims.

The Muslim communities have held an ‘Open Mosque Day’ every October since 1997, while Jewish communities also regularly invite non-Jews into their synagogues. But it is not just Germany - in many western states, Islam is seen as a particular threat. That applies to 60 per cent of Spaniards, 50 per cent of the Swiss and 42 per cent of US citizens. In contrast, in India, only 30 per cent see Islam as a threat, and in South Korea, it’s just 16 per cent. All the same, there are differences among Western European countries: France, Britain, and the Netherlands all see Islam in a more positive light than does Germany.

SWITZERLAND

But Pollack also notes that people have even less contact with Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism, all of which are seen more positively than Islam, and he argues that the media have a lot to do with that: ‘The picture the media give of Buddhism or Hinduism is that of peace-loving religions,’ Pollack says, while the picture that the media offers for Islam ‘is more about fanaticism and aggression.’ The chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, Aiman Mazyek, agrees. ‘In the media we often see a very distorted picture of Islam,’ he says. Extremist groups are often shown, and frequently no distinction is made between religion and extremism, as when, after the Boston Marathon attacks, the bombers were said to be part of an “Islamic network.” But Mazyek also sees reason for selfcriticism: ‘The Muslims have to roll up their sleeves, get more involved in society and make it clear that they are committed to this country.’ Politicians and churches have been trying to encourage dialogue between the various religions for years now.

strictly for Muslim girls, they added. However, the court ruled that the girl must attend the swimming lessons offered at the high school: lessons were offered separately for girls and boys; wearing of a burkini – a swimsuit – was allowed; and the girl would not have bodily contact with her male swimming teacher, since she already knew how to swim. The court also stated that attendance at a Muslim-only swim course did not further integration, one of the goals of school swimming. Allowing the dispensation would have contributed to ‘parallel societies’, the court claimed. Muslims’ right to practise their religion was the subject of a huge controversy in 2009 in connection with a popular vote to ban the construction of minarets in Switzerland. In contrast, a government report conducted in the wake of the ban found that ‘most Muslims in Switzerland are well-integrated and don’t generally experience problems related to their religious faith in everyday life’

FRANCE

Muslim intellectual Tariq Ramadan would be attending the talks. Swiss-educated Ramadan, whose grandfather Hassan al Banna is the founder of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, has ironically been both praised as a reformist and denounced as a radical. His theories on Western society – which he says is in decline – and how modern Islam is taking shape in Europe, have proved controversial. In fact, some of Ramadan’s most notorious encounters have taken place in France, making him a household name in the country. The sudden decision by Valls and Vallaud-Belkacem – interior minister and women’s rights minister respectively – was met with disappointment by organisers of ‘The State of the Union’ conference. Organised by the European University Institute and in partnership with French daily Le Monde and British daily The Financial Times, the annual event brings together politicians and thinkers to discuss the future of the EU. Stephan Albrechtskirchinger of the European University Institute described Valls and Vallaud-Belkacem’s decision as ‘regrettable,’ arguing that Ramadan had ‘irrefutable academic credits’ as a professor of contemporary Islam at Oxford University. Attendee Bruno le Maire of France’s conservative UMP party told Le Monde that Ramadan’s presence at the talks would not affect his own attendance. ‘I don’t usually give in to people whose views I don’t share – I fight them instead,’ he said.

Swiss Court Gives Priority to Integration Over Religious Rights Integration of foreigners is more important than their religious beliefs, Switzerland’s highest court has ruled. The court denied a 14-year-old girl from a devout Muslim family in Aargau the right to dispensation from school swimming classes. The family argued that their religion prevented the girl from taking part in swimming lessons, where she would be seen by her male teacher and possibly other men. The girl already knew how to swim, having attended a private class

French ministers boycott Muslim intellectual French Socialist ministers Manuel Valls and Najat Vallaud-Belkacem have refused to attend a conference on the future of the European Union in Florence after they discovered that Swiss

French Muslims use science to determine start of Ramadhan For the first time ever France’s Muslim leaders are to use modern astronomical calculations, rather than observation of the moon with the naked eye, to determine the start of the holy month of Ramadhan and other Islamic holidays.

Muslim scientists have been arguing for using astronomy to determine Islamic dates for years, especially now that globalised communications make it increasingly awkward for different countries to start Ramadhan on different days. Moussaoui said French Muslims were not planning to ask for their holidays to be included in the national calendar. ‘It would be more important for us that they are taken into consideration, that’s all,’ he said.

Muslim leaders in France have agreed to end almost 1,400 years of Islamic tradition and use modern astronomy to determine the start of the holy month of Ramadhan and other Islamic holidays. The French Muslim Council (CFCM) voted recently to start using astronomical calculations to set the date rather than relying on the naked eye to sight the new crescent moon.

However, the majority of the Muslim world relies on the time-honoured tradition of moon sighting which also puts the believers in touch with the wonders of creation.

French Politician Attacks Muslims to Appease Far Right

Ramadhan traditionally begins the morning after the sighting, which has in the past been delayed by a day or even two by weather.

Turkey began using scientific calculations to set the start of Ramadhan decades ago. Muslims in Germany, who are mostly of Turkish origin and those in Bosnia, also use this method. Muslim minorities elsewhere in Europe often start Ramadhan according to its beginning in their countries of origin, or in Makkah. That can lead to different ethnic groups starting it on different days, even in the same country. ‘This is historic. Now all Muslims in France can start Ramadhan on the same day,’ said Lyon Muslim leader Azzedine Gaci.

The story was seized upon by the French media with the words Copé, Ramadhan and Pain au Chocolat headlining numerous articles. Copé’s inflammatory comments come not long after he was accused of stirring up tensions, when he expressed his dismay over the growing ‘anti-white racism’ in France’s cities.

First he lambasted ‘anti-white racism’; now an outspoken right-wing French politician has set his sights on the Muslim community as he seeks to become the heir to Nicolas Sarkozy. Jean Francois Copé, who is bidding to become leader of the centre right UMP party, a position once held by Sarkozy, lamented the state of some neighbourhoods in France’s cities, and in doing so launched a thinly veiled snipe at Islam. At a meeting in the southern town of Draguignan he said: ‘I can understand the exasperation of some of our compatriots when there are some neighbourhoods where a mother or father will

of the French Observatory against Islamophobia. ‘He wants to please the extremists in his party and as usual he attacks Muslims and young people’.

USA ‘Hijab Wearing Terrorist Girl’ Card Angers Rights Activists

On both occasions the brazen Copé was accused of trying to court the far right vote in his bid to beat rival François Fillon to become head of the UMP in next month’s election. Copé’s apparent efforts to win favour with France’s powerful far right echo those made by his friend and former colleague Nicolas Sarkozy during the latest presidential election, when the former head of state’s repeated anti-immigration rhetoric saw him lambasted in the left-wing press. Copé, who has published a new book roughly translated as ‘A manifesto for an unabashed right-wing’, later tried to justify his words saying he was simply describing ‘an everyday scene’ and claimed that this type of behaviour was motivated by a desire ‘to manipulate religion’ for their own ends.

Council President Mohammad Moussaoui said the old method played havoc with French Muslims’ schedules for work, school and festivities. France’s five million Muslims are the largest Islamic minority in Europe. ‘Now all this will be simplified,’ he said, and promptly announced the Ramadhan fast would begin on July 9 this year.

come home from work in the evening to learn their son has had his pain au chocolate snatched out of his hand by thugs, telling him it is forbidden to eat during Ramadhan’.

But his words have provoked an angry backlash on social media and on the air waves. Speaking to French radio station RTL, government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said: ‘It is clear Jean-Francois Copé is trying to exploit a subject that is far too important to be exploited, which is the question of living together.’ ‘The day he wants to speak calmly instead of seeking to exploit fears and fantasies, I would be ready to listen,’ she added. Leaders of France’s Muslim community also slammed Copé for his remarks. ‘These types of accusations are easy to make,’ said Abdallah Zekri, president

that she wears a Hijab. Moreover, she like many Muslim girls who choose to wear the Hijab - is a smiling, non-threatening normal-looking female wearing a pink Hijab and a flower-patterned dress. The unmistakable message behind the “humour” is that even the most peaceful looking Muslims are synonymous and exchangeable with terrorists.’ Deana Othman, a Chicago Muslim journalist, said: ‘Why is the lampooning of the Muslim terrorist an acceptable one? The parody of the Muslim presents a unique scenario: While satire of African Americans, Latinos or Jews is seen as racist, “Muslim” is not a race, and therefore parody of Muslims does not fall under the purview of racist discourse.’

More Muslims and Hindus Immigrate to the U.S. A member of a Chicago-area civil rights group made a disturbing discovery when she found a neighbourhood card and novelty shop selling a card that depicted a young Hijab-wearing Muslim girl — as a terrorist.

‘The woman in Massachusetts just two weeks ago that was punched while walking her kids for no other reason than wearing a hijab on her head, was because someone thought that because she wears it, she is a terrorist,’ Rehab told CBS television. The Monitor pointed out the card’s ugly inference, noting: ‘Notice that nothing identifies this doll as a terrorist in the minds of the card designers other than

Over the same period, the estimated share of Green Card recipients who belong to religious minorities rose from 19 per cent to 25 per cent. Muslims increased from five per cent in 1992 to 10 per cent in 2012; Hindus increased from three per cent to seven per cent in 2012. Buddhists decreased slightly, from seven per cent in 1992 to six per cent of legal immigrants in 2012. Since 1992, the United States has admitted an estimated total of about 1.7 million Muslim immigrants, nearly a million Hindu immigrants and about a million Buddhist immigrants, according to the Pew Research Center’s estimate. The percentage of religiously unaffiliated immigrants remained stable, about 14 per cent. Immigration accounts for much of the growth of Islam and Hinduism in the United States. The estimated number of new Muslim immigrants has grown from roughly 50,000 in 1992 to 100,000 in 2012. Since 2008, the estimated number of Muslims becoming U.S. permanent residents has remained at or above the 100,000 level each year.

The Chicago Monitor reported the card featuring the smiling cartoon girl is covered with messages like, ‘She’ll love you to death!’ and ‘She’ll blow your brains out!’ Inside, the card reads, ‘Hope your birthday is a blow out!’ Ahmed Rehab, Chicago executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, called the card ‘moronic’. He says he has heard from plenty of people decrying the card as offensive and feeding into negative stereotypes about Muslims.

estimated share of new legal permanent residents who are Christian declined from 68 per cent in 1992 to 61 per cent in 2012.

While the majority of legal U.S. immigrants are Christians, there has been a growing percentage of non-Christians immigrating to the United States, especially Muslims and Hindus. That immigration has been reflected in the growing number of new mosques and temples in different U.S. cities. A recent report released by the Pew Forum on the religious affiliation of immigrants shows that the percentages of immigrants who are Muslim or Hindu doubled from 1992 to 2012. Over the past two decades, the United States has granted permanent residency to about a million immigrants each year.

Legal immigrants arriving over the past two decades constitute a large portion of the overall U.S. Muslim population. Pew Research Center surveys of U.S. Muslims in 2007 and 2011 show that the number of Muslims living in the United States rose in that four-year period by about 300,000 adults and 100,000 children, to a total of about 2.75 million Muslims of all ages. That rate of increase would be difficult to explain without rising immigration, the report said. •

While Christians continue to make up a majority of legal immigrants, the

Does Islam allow violence in marital life? Nehad Khanfar explains why the traditional interpretation of the term darb as beating in verse 34 of Surah an-Nisaa’ stands in opposition to the Quranic view of marriage as an institution aimed at establishing a climate of stability and security for both parties.

“…As for those [wives] whose misconduct you fear, [first] advise them, and [if ineffective] keep away from them, and [as the last resort] separate from them……”(Qur’an 4:34)

ccording to the Qur’an the marriage institution is built on love and mercy (mawaddah and rahmah). In addition the Qur’an establishes that marriage should not be concluded without proper preparation and determination. Based on this, marriage is considered an umbrella under which husband and wife enjoy stability and security (sakan and sakeenah). Traditional scholars and interpreters of the Qur’an have given preference to ‘beating’ as the meaning of the term darb rather than ‘parting and separation’. However they ignore the fact that Qur’an does not support this meaning in any other verses. Beating as an adopted understanding for darb used in the above verse is mentioned when nushuz (tradition-

ally taken to mean disobedience) is committed or proposed. Most Arabic dictionaries translate nushuz as arrogance (for example, looking down at someone). In examining this verse it is important to keep in mind that the Qur’an prescribes a three-stage method of dispute resolution in the event of any problems arising between man and wife. First couples are asked to use words of advice (mutual counsel); secondly men are asked to shun the marital bed (avoiding physical intimacy), and finally, if everything fails, the man is advised to go away instead of admonishing or beating his wife as has traditionally been understood. Restudying the word darb and its derivatives in the Qur’an points us in a completely different direction to the traditional interpretation of the word - a direction which is more consistent with the Quranic view of marriage outlined earlier.

Viewed in this way, the idea that the husband has been granted divine permission to use physical chastisement against his wife becomes inconceivable and stands in opposition to the Quranic directives of mutual love, mercy, and security, with stability as the central pillars of marriage. Darb and its derivatives are mentioned in the Holy Qur’an 24 times and are mainly used with the meaning of ‘separation and going away’ or ‘giving an example’. If we adopt the first meaning to interpret the use of darb in verse 34 of Surah An-Nisaa’, then it means the implementation of the third step, ‘going away’ and ‘keeping away’ from one’s wife. This meaning is used and confirmed in different verses, for instance (4:101), where darb is used as ‘departing’ or (18:11) as ‘drawing a curtain or division’ and (57:13) in the sense of ‘putting up a wall’. This is logical. Temporarily keeping husband and wife away from

each other affords them the space in which to re-evaluate their relationship and explore ways of re-building their marital relations. On the other hand, the second meaning of darb as ‘giving an example’ can also be taken to point to separating or parting company for a while. This meaning is also used in the Qur’an in different verses, for instance, in (2:26) (14:24, 25) darb is used in the sense of ‘drawing a parable’. So according to this understanding the three steps involved in resolving a marital dispute are to counsel each other, failing which the couple should avoid intimate relations, and if this does not work, they should leave each other in order to set an example. This would also ensure the husband maintains good relations with his wife if she commits nushuz, something which would certainly be more effective in seeking reconciliation than beating her.

Having dealt with nushuz from the husband’s side, later in the same chapter of the Qur’an there is another verse that addresses the wife in the event that her husband commits nushuz or shows arrogance. In all that can be read and understood of the Qur’an, it is evident that couples are encouraged and recommended to seek reconciliation with one another. Knowing that the Qur’an encourages harmony between husband and wife, taking positive steps rather than applying force can be the only meaning of darb in this instance. Committing nushuz is seen as something negative, whether it is done by wife or husband, and requires the same treatment aiming at the same outcome. Darb, as traditionally interpreted, would certainly aggravate an already difficult relationship between husband and wife. However, interpreting darb as ‘giving a good example’, or ‘going away’ from the

marital home, would be far more effective in resolving disputes. Muslim scholars need to reconsider the traditional interpretation of darb by interpreting it within the wider aims of the Qur’an in relation to the institution of marriage. Any authority given to the husband to resort to violence would violate many obvious rules and directives in the Qur’an which are designed to maintain the martial relationship and protect both husband and wife from losing their dignity and respect. •

Dr Nehad Khanfar is a Lecturer in Islamic Financial/Banking Contracts and Comparative Contract Law at the Islamic College for Advanced Studies in London

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Seek knowledge, even unto Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; said the Prophet Muhammad(s)

iving at a time when education is so ubiquitous, it is all too easy to forget the significance of these words, uttered so many centuries ago. In the developed world, we take for granted the fact that children go to school, that books are printed by the thousands and, with enough time and effort, someone can learn almost anything they desire. And now, thanks to websites such as Wikipedia and YouTube, it has never been so easy to learn about everything from astrophysics to refrigerator repair without even needing to leave the comfort of our own homes, let alone go to China. With the power of modern technology to bring the world to us, we might be forgiven for thinking that a new age has dawned. In the past, aspiring

scholars would have to travel great distances to study under an accomplished teacher or obtain a rare text. Today, some of the world’s leading universities offer courses online for free and tens of thousands of books can be instantly downloaded and shared in digital format. This even extends to the Islamic sciences; almost all of the major collections of Hadith have been digitised and made searchable. Yes, it has never been so easy to find and share information. So is knowledge just a Google search away? An unfortunate feature of our modern societies is that we often mistake information for erudition and facts for knowledge, as if education is nothing more than the hoarding of data. Compare this to what the Qur’an says about knowledge: ‘Only those of God’s servants who have knowledge fear Him.’ (35:28). This verse provides a completely different view of learning, in that it draws an explicit connection between having knowledge (‘ilm) and fearing God, suggesting that true knowledge is something that inspires us to hold our Creator in awe. In other words, it has less to do with what you know and more to do with the effect knowing has on you, the knower. By virtue of this, anything that increases a person’s awareness of his Creator is knowledge – not just traditionally “Islamic” subjects. And by the same token, someone could conceivably have studied every verse in the Qur’an and every word uttered by the Prophet(s), without ever attaining the slightest degree of knowledge. If this seems highly subjective, that’s because it is! As it is only through the agency of the subject, the individual, that knowledge can be actualised. So long as knowledge is treated as an object, as something external and “other” to the knower, it remains potential knowledge. Only when that knowledge is internalised 14

so that it becomes part of the knower’s own being does it become actual knowledge. It is possible to see whether or not we have internalised knowledge in this way by looking at our own behaviour and attitudes. If we notice that by learning something we have become more aware of God and as a result of this awareness - been motivated to better ourselves both as Muslims and human beings, then we have attained some knowledge. This is why the classical scholars have said that the true purpose of knowledge (‘ilm) is action (‘amal) and that acquiring knowledge without acting upon it is worthless. The Qur’an describes ‘The example of those who were charged with the Torah, then failed to carry it…’ – i.e. failed to act upon it – ‘…is that of an ass carrying books.’ (62: 5). And the Prophet says: ‘Whoever increases in knowledge, but not in guidance, has not increased with regards to God except in distance [from him].’ Therefore true knowledge – which is knowledge of the Divine – should be demonstrated in one’s actions. So far from abounding in knowledge, the modern world seems paradoxically devoid of it. A secular, materialist worldview means that scholars see no underlying unity beneath the manifold disciplines and areas which they study, leading different fields of learning to become increasingly atomised and detached from one another, as well as detached from their ultimate source. Moreover, the commodification of knowledge under capitalism means that education is subordinated to economic imperatives and - as a result - knowledge is stripped of its moral and qualitative aspects; it is reduced to something which can be bought or sold as readily as a pair of trainers; an inert object, alien and external to the knower. In other words, the modern world has the appearance of knowledge

but lacks its substance. But how to overcome this illusion? Perhaps we can draw inspiration from the story of Socrates, the famous Greek philosopher, and the Oracle of Delphi. Socrates’ friend Chaerephon once asked the Oracle if there was anyone wiser than Socrates, to which the Oracle replied that there was noone wiser than him. Socrates thought that the Oracle could not possibly be correct, since he knew that he had no wisdom whatsoever. So he began to question the wisest people in Athens – statesmen, poets and artisans – in order to refute the Oracle’s claim. In doing so, he realised that while these people claimed to be wise, none of them in fact were. Paradoxically, this made him the wisest man in Athens because only he was aware of his own ignorance. In an era dominated by information and technology, knowledge has never been more precious or more elusive. But if we are to go in search of wisdom, we must first acknowledge our own ignorance, as we cannot pursue the substance of knowledge if we still cling to the illusion of modernity. But if we are able to recognise the fundamental unity – or tawhid – behind the multiplicity of various fields of learning, to see all knowledge as being ultimately connected to knowledge of the Divine, and in doing so leave behind our own pretentions to wisdom for the real thing, then we truly have undertaken a great journey – one that is certainly no less impressive than travelling to China. •

Hawza Studies Programme 2013 / 2014 A Four-Year Study Programme leading to stage two qualification of Major International Hawza Studies This course provides students with classical, authoritative Islamic education and spiritual training within a modern framework of study. This is a unique course consists of studies in the fields of: • Arabic Language (Syntax and Morphology) • Qur’anic & Hadith Studies • Logic • Principles of Jurisprudence • Demonstrative Jurisprudence • Islamic Ethics • Islamic Philosophy • Islamic Mysticism

Alexander Khaleeli is a researcher and student of the Islamic Seminaries. He has a BA and MA in Islamic studies.

For more information on the course and modules, please visit our Website: www.islamic-college.ac.uk or contact by telephone, fax or email the registry office: Tel: 020 8451 9993 | Fax: 020 8451 9994 email: info@islamic-college.ac.uk The Islamic College: 133 High Road, Willesden, London NW10 2SW

Moving forward

with RE

A recent report by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Religious Education confirms that there is a distinct lack of training and support for teachers in the UK. Tahereh Shafiee believes the current situation puts the education of our children at risk

he lack of support and provision for qualified RE teachers is one of the major findings of the All Party Parliamentary Group report published in March. The long anticipated report on religious education, entitled ‘RE: The Truth Unmasked’, confirmed long-standing concerns held by faith organisations monitoring RE in UK schools.

subject by teaching assistants and that more than half the RE teachers in secondary schools did not have a qualification to teach the subject. A three month-long inquiry by the APPG into the supply of - and support for - RE teachers in schools, including a review of evidence from over 400 sources, found that over 50% of those teaching RE in secondary schools have no qualification or relevant expertise in the subject. In more than half of the 300 primary schools participating in the inquiry, some or all of the pupils were taught RE by someone other than their class teacher. The report also found

Despite the fact that RE teaching has token support, training or guidance, been much enhanced in recent years, says the report. the quality of provision remains dispaThe report also found that support rate; some schools pay only lip service for RE teachers at a local level has to the statutory obligation to teach been dramatically reduced by local this subject. In some instances, recent authority funding cuts and the government policies such as the academies programme. Bursaries initial decision to exclude RE from A review of evidence from over 400 sources, for RE trainees have been removed the new English Baccalaureate (Ebacc) have undermined RE found that over 50% of those teaching RE leading to a huge reduction in teaching. in secondary schools have no qualification applicant numbers for 2013/14. The APPG was originally set up to monitor, challenge and complement government policy on RE. It was funded directly by the Religious Education Council whose stated aim is; ‘To promote high quality teaching, learning and assessment in RE; to influence the development of public policy and public understanding and to promote a coherent professional development strategy for RE.’ The report shows that one in four primary pupils was being taught the

or relevant expertise in the subject. that a quarter of all primary schools said their RE lessons were provided by a teaching assistant. Primary trainee teachers lack confidence and expertise in teaching RE, especially in diverse and multi-cultural classrooms. The responsibility to educate young people on the different beliefs and values held in society should receive far more importance than just

According to Mike Castelli, University Lecturer in Religion and Education at Roehampton, the Teaching Agency’s yearly allocation for teacher training in RE has steadily been cut since 2010, registering a drop of more than 50%. Because of this lack of training and support many of those teaching RE are unable to meet the Department for Education’s Teaching Standards, selling schoolchildren short. Commenting on the findings, the chair

of the APPG on RE, Stephen Lloyd MP said: “There are a large number of excellent RE teachers across the country who are doing a first-class job preparing children for the challenges life throws at them, and helping them make sense of the wide range of beliefs and cultures around us. But a range of policies, most notably those relating to the EBacc, academies and GCSE short courses, have served to lower RE’s status on the curriculum….as many children as possible should be encouraged to study GCSE Religious Studies - and it is essential that they are taught by experienced and trained professionals at primary and secondary level.” RE is compulsory in all maintained schools, but not as part of the National Curriculum. Uniquely, the RE syllabus is determined locally by committees (SACREs), often dominated by religious interests. Many faith schools

are also permitted to teach RE from a confessional viewpoint. The inquiry found that the situation has been compounded by insufficient professional development opportunities for subject leaders, specialist teachers and those who take on the responsibility for teaching RE. Evidence also revealed a wide variation in the amount and quality of initial teacher training for RE with many trainee teachers stating they had little effective preparation to teach the subject. In these circumstances it is illogical to expect the emergence of a generation of young people who understand and are sensitive to the growing levels of religious diversity in our multifaith society. The Rev Jan Ainsworth, the Church of England’s Chief Education Officer, said: “This [report] provides strong evidence for our continuing concern that RE

is being downgraded as part of the curriculum. Islamic organisations’ concerns about the state of religious education in the UK are dominated by the need for a rigorous and academically challenging approach to the subject in every school including free schools and academies. The APPG’s report included clear recommendations for primary and secondary schools, teacher training providers, local authorities, Ofsted, and also for those providing professional development for teachers, and the Department for Education. Armed with this new evidence religious organisations and promoters of RE in schools need to ensure that pressure is now applied on the government to secure funds for training of future RE teachers and the development of teaching materials. •

ARTS Art Editor Moriam Grillo

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

MASTERPIECE Farhad Moshiri : Drunken Lover – Jar painting; oil on canvas 2001

The image, itself evokes thoughts of antiquity. Although created in the late twentieth century it appears aged and shows signs of fragility. Perhaps the vessel represents mankind, a humble conduit from which words of wisdom are transmitted from a higher plane. I am fascinated that after all these years, each time I look at this image; it is as if I am looking at it anew. The stark white of the background hints at the possibility that the jar’s outline was created using a stencil. It’s a very unconventional way to work with oils, but a perfect way to produce the weathered effect necessary to achieve the final outcome.

Parviz Tanavoli, born in Tehran in 1937, is an Iranian painter and sculptor. He taught Sculpture at Tehran University until 1979 and is known as the pioneer of modern sculpture in Iran. His artistic career began in 1959, teaching sculpture at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He was one of the founding members of the artistic movement called Saqqakhaneh. This movement introduced a new visual vocabulary to the art world based on motifs derived from Iranian folklore and inspired by early posters of Shi’i folk art. As its popularity grew in the west, it became known as ‘Spiritual Pop Art’. I first came across Tanavoli work in 2006 at the British Museum, where his scalptures, made from fibreglass in a variety of vivid colours, were displayed throughout the grounds of the museum. This body of work consisted of three-dimensional sculptures of collaborative letters initially cast in bronze. His bronze work relates to a fascination with locks he has had since childhood. His pieces are angular and dense in keeping with the strength and solidity of the lock.

The words appear to have been added in between layers of paint. The best works of art are successful because of their simplicity. This painting is a masterpiece, in my opinion, because it conveys meaning on many levels. Meanings which are both visual and metaphorical, and encourage reflection and consideration. Every artist has a message they wish to convey through their work and each observer creates a conversation simply by reflecting on what is seen.

The letters in his sculptures spell the word ‘Heech’ which translates as ‘nil’ in Persian. He feels that his works are symbols and signs of life in Iranian mysticism, and do not bear any relationship to ideas of emptiness, despair or hopelessness. “In Iran, people tend to quote excerpts of poetry in conversation to emphasise their words,” says Tanavoli . The 11th century poet, Omar Khayyam, is a source of inspiration for Tanavoli, and much of his ideology comes from the mystical teachings apparent in Khayyam’s poetry and writing. “Heech has multiple layers of meaning – in Persian Sufism it has a great meaning: God created the universe out of nothing, so if the universe is made of nothing then nothingness is everywhere, in every part of the universe, in all creatures.” Tanavoli Heech in a Cage, created in 2005, was made in response to the grotesque treatment of prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. He also repeated this sculptural piece in 2006, in protest at the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Tanavoli now lives and works in Canada and Iran.

journey towards his Lord. A journey from which he consciously travels away from other than towards no other. The words, in their silent disposition, speak volumes through the use of calligraphic lines and curves, leading the eye hither and thither across the canvas in search of resolve.

have had a postcard of this image among my possessions for over ten years. It was probably acquired during one of my visits to a gallery or museum with children in tow, buggy and all, in the days when saturating my consciousness with artistic endeavours was extremely high on my agenda. Being at home with young children, art appreciation offered an opportunity to weather the trials of domesticity whilst remaining abreast of worldly happenings. This image produced a calming effect and assisted many a reflective moment. It helped to quieten my mind and refocus my thoughts. Perhaps, the words, taken from the eleventh century poem by Omar Khayyam evoke a sense of peace inside the heart of the viewer. The words in Persian allude to the spiritual state of ‘Fana’; annihilation - a stage in the intangible experience of the spiritual wayfarer on his life-long

I find the shape of the vessel attractive and familiar, resembling amphora of ancient Greece. Its colouring gives it a three-dimensional effect, allowing it to stand tall against the canvas and independent of its background. It reminds me that man is made from clay and degrades back to his earlier state, evoking the creation of the Prophet adam(a); the first vessel to be given the gift of life. It reinforces the fact that by His Grace man may rise to a higher state despite his low nature. Containing many materials and references to other artists, it confirms that only God creates from nothing, saying simply ‘Be’. It reinforces that He gives knowledge to whom He wills, and it is this dispensation which inclines each of us to seek to resolve our curiosity. It reminds us that our love for all things beautiful stems from the reality that He is Beauty and loves beauty. This, in turn, allows me to understand that it is through the engagement of the senses we are able to satiate our love of beauty through art.

THE PLACE TO BE Changsha Mexihu International Cultural & Art Centre, Hunan Province, China

Iraqi born, British architect, Zaha Hadid, was nominated businesswoman of the year in April. Her architectural firm currently employs 300 people, twice that of the world renowned British architect Richard Rogers. Hadid’s architectural style, highly influenced by Russian Suprematism, has won many awards for its originality of form. The International Cultural and Art Centre in China incorporates a museum, theatre and several art galleries.

HERITAGE

MIXED MEDIA

Mosque Lamp, 12th century: Syria, Raqqa Earthenware with turquoise glaze Height 17cm

This beautiful lamp was made in the early Islamic art industry of Raqqa Syria. Comprising a conical base, spherical body and funnelled opening, this version was created using stone paste clay. Later designs were created in glass the 13th century. Golnaz Fathi is an Iranian painter and calligrapher. After studying graphic design at Azad University in Tehran, Fathi went on to study calligraphy for a further six years and is one of a few women who have trained to such a high standard in this field. She made the conscious decision not to continue with traditional calligraphy but to develop her own style of art represented by the use of abstract materials. Often working with mixed media, Fathi’s main body of work is on canvas. Although her work is still based on traditional calligraphic principles, she has boldly infused her own imaginative ideas and created a visual language that is culturally and artistically attractive to all walks of life. Her work is regarded as transcultural; eastern motifs merge with western expressionism. Through the fusion of these styles, Fathi salutes tradition and modernity. Using solely primary colours in her work with the addition of black and white, she creates pieces that are striking and beautiful. Colours stand independent of each other, never mixed or blended, simply complementing the space they mutually inhabit. Instructively and instinctively her use of colours conveys emotion and mood. These basic colours [green was added in 2005] support her words which are not simply joined letters that herald traditional themes such as sacred text or

poetry. These are utterances whose vitality is not traditional but postmodern in their origins, expressions of the heart, from notable writers and villagers alike. She uses the theme of poetry in her paintings, but says it is not about the words, the words themselves being meaningless in their own right. Not because they do not convey meaning, but simply because it is the transformative effect that they have on the reader which is what truly matters. She believes that the personal reaction experienced by each individual gives her works kudos. For this reason, she does not title her works, nor label them ‘untitled’, but leaves them ambiguously bare of titles so the viewer can identify with them as they choose. •

Moriam Grillo is a visual artist, broadcaster, author and part time art teacher. She holds Bachelor degrees in Photography & Film and Ceramics. Her current work involves two public Islamic commissions.

Politics Political Editor Reza Murshid

Dying

Some German apologists have answered that this failure was a function of the lack of coordination between competing security organisations in Germany. This sounds like an excuse right out of a Hollywood film where the FBI agent is at loggerheads with the local redneck sheriff (e.g. Mississippi Burning directed by Alan Parker). Perhaps the apologist should point out that after 9/11 the resources of the German intelligence and security agencies were fully allocated to fight the perceived Islamist threat, and not the threat from neo-Nazis born and bred at home.

e h t in

ently in a double suicide after botching a bank robbery.

Masoud Tehrani highlights the concerns of ethnic Turks in Germany in the wake of the break-up of a murderous neo-Nazi group

magine leaving your homeland in search of better economic opportunities. You work hard day and night to support yourself and your family and to make a better life for yourself. Then out of nowhere an armed man shows up in your kebab shop or grocery store. He shoots you point blank in the face, maims or kills you, takes photos of the grisly aftermath, and then makes a video of you and his other hapless victims to the tune of a popular cartoon. Having come to the land of opportunities and promises, you end up worse than you were in your own homeland. At least in your homeland you would still be alive and in one piece. The scenario sounds like some sort of absurdist hell, right out of one of the plays of Beckett or Ionesco. However it is a reality that some Muslim Turks have faced in Germany for decades. The Turks who moved to Germany seeking to build better lives have had to endure shocking racism and discrimination, and some have even paid with their lives by choosing to live in a land that has yet to exorcise its Nazi demons. Over the past decade at least eight working class Turkish men living in Germany have been murdered by a neo-Nazi group, the National Socialist Underground (NSU). Beate Zschäpe, supposedly the only surviving member of NSU,

recently appeared in a German court for the beginning of a trial that many hope will get to the bottom of some of the most appalling hate crimes modern Europe has seen in recent times. Zschäpe and her two male accomplices started their hate crimes targeting Turkish shopkeepers in Germany as early as 2000 when they shot dead Simsek Enver in Nuremberg. The following year the group went on to kill Abdurrahim Ozudogru in Nuremberg, Suleyman Taskopru in Hamburg, and Habil Kılıc in Munich. The group then struck again in 2004 by killing Mehmet Turgut in Rostock. In 2005 they added to their blood-drenched résumé by killing Ismail Yasar in Nuremberg, and Theodoros Boulgarides in Munich, the latter a Greek apparently mistaken for a Turk in the same manner that Sikhs have been killed in the United States after 9/11 after being mistaken for Muslims by imbeciles whose firepower far exceeded their brainpower. In 2006, the neo-Nazi group killed Mehmet Kubasık in Dortmund and Halit Yozgat in Kassel. In 2007, they killed policewoman Michele Kiesewetter in Heilbronn. On 8th of November 2011, Zschäpe turned herself in. The male members of the deadly trio, Uwe Boehnhardt und Uwe Mundlos, had been found shot dead four days earlier, appar-

Zschäpe is now accused of aiding and abetting in the killings of nine men, all but one of them of Turkish origin, and a policewoman, as well as 28 attempted murders. She is also charged with robbery, causing explosions and arson and being a member of a terrorist organisation. Zschäpe was responsible for producing the sick video of the group’s murders to the tune of Pink Panther. Deutschland über All Doubts? For a decade the group was active in causing mayhem to the fabric of Germany’s ethnic relations without being caught, and the extent of their crimes became apparent only after Zschäpe turned herself in.

Many questions still remain, especially when you read that months after the NSU’s cover was blown, key files about the neo-Nazi group ended up in the shredder under the pretext that they contained evidence from paid informants about members of the group. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called the murders a ‘disgrace for our nation’. She has said that all the years during which relatives of the victims were themselves placed under suspicion were like a never-ending nightmare for them. But mere words are not enough to heal the wounds of the Turkish community, as well as create better ties between Germany and the Muslim world at large. Germany may well be the economic powerhouse of Europe but it still needs business from Muslim countries around the world. It would not be in Germany’s interests to ignore the concerns of its most significant minority.

How could the security apparatus in Germany have failed to connect the dots? Law enforcement agencies not only failed to heed calls by the bereaved families to look into the possible role of fascist groups in the murders, they also had the audacity to question grieving families as if they had played a part in the crime, or as if they knew something about the involvement of the so-called Turkish mafia but were unwilling to cooperate with the authorities.

A thorough and robust, multiagency investigation is needed to show the Turkish community that the security apparatus is above blame. In particular the community needs to be sure that the NSU did not have the benefit of sympathisers in law enforcement who made it possible for the group to operate for so long without being caught. •

The saddest instance was the case of a Turkish a mother who had scrubbed and cleaned up her own son’s murder scene. The investigators treated her with suspicion as if she herself had a hand in killing her own son.

Masoud Tehrani is a London based journalist who writes on the dynamics of the Islamic world

Aung San Suu Kyi and the Imperative of Speaking Out As Burma moves towards democracy, its progress is marred by the horrendous treatment of its Rohingya Muslims. Reza Murshid questions why Burma’s best known prodemocracy activist has been markedly silent

n recent weeks a video clip appeared on the internet which shocked the whole world. The recording showed stunning levels of mob cruelty against helpless Rohingya Muslims. It was not the first time that the world had come to know about the oppression of Muslims in Burma (now called Myanmar) but it was the first time that the world would actually see the utter helplessness of a minority which has been persecuted for the past three decades because of its faith. This was the latest addition to a growing library of visual evidence of the destruction caused to the property and persons of the Muslim community in a country that the Western press have praised for its attempts to shed its dictatorial past and take its first steps on the road to democracy. The clip showed Buddhist monks, supposedly ‘holy men’, orchestrating the attacks on their Muslim compatriots while Burmese policemen stood by helplessly, simply watching the carnage gain more gruesome propor-

tions. Anyone who has seen the clip cannot help but think that the total passivity of the police must have been decreed and condoned in advance by their superiors. But if the whole world got to know about this revolting orgy of cruelty, certainly the world’s celebrated human rights icon and Burmese democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi, must have heard about it too. But so far there has not been as much as a single word from the woman who has consistently received such positive write-ups in the Western press for more than a decade for her courageous defiance of the Burmese dictators. The woman who fought house arrest, incarceration and intimidation to become the darling to the Western media has not been able to pluck up the courage to utter as much as a note of concern for the Rohingya. Has the human rights icon been co-opted? Was the so-called rehabilita-

tion of the Burmese military a reality or a mere myth? Has enough changed in Burma to allow the hordes of Western businessmen arriving in Rangoon to sign sweetheart deals with the military? Or does Ms Suu Kyi actually think that the Muslims do deserve to be hacked to death by unruly mobs? A Silence That Speaks for Itself

Those who choose to be human rights campaigners cannot have two separate standards, one for their co-religionists and one for those outside the boundaries of their faith. Fourteen centuries ago Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib told his newly appointed governor to Egypt, Malik al-Ashtar, that as the new governor he had to treat people of other faiths in that land humanely because ‘they are similar to you in creation’; in other words, the mere fact that someone is created as a human being entitles him or her to certain inalienable, irreducible rights.

One such inalienable right is to engage in daily business activities without fear of reprisal (one of the most violent items on the clip is the destruction of a Muslim jewellery shop). Those who choose to lead the life of a human rights campaigner do so for the duration of their lives. A campaigner cannot be selectively oblivious to the plight of some human beings, especially if those human beings are in the campaigner’s own country. Nothing short of death or mental or physical paralysis can justify a campaigner’s silence in the face of such calamities. Ms Suu Kyi’s case is reminiscent of what US President Barack Obama has been doing over the past five years. He received his Nobel Peace Prize only months after being elected to the Oval Office. The Nobel Prize

committee saw a promise in Obama and awarded him a prize before he actually fulfilled that promise. In fact he has sanctioned brutal drone attacks overseas which have left hundreds killed and maimed. Many now believe Obama should return his prize because he has shown to be so callous when it comes to the fate of poor Afghan and Pakistani civilians who happen to live in close proximity to alleged terrorists.

achievements in her new reincarnation as a cold-hearted, calculating politician planning for Burma’s 2015 elections. • Reza Murshid is a political analyst and a freelance writer

Ms Suu Kyi, too, should either speak out against the suppression of her Muslim compatriots or just simply return the prize she won in 1991 if she has

decided to forfeit her past

The Rohingya are said to be Muslim descendants of Persian, Turkish, Bengali, and Pathan origin, who migrated to Burma (Myanmar) as early as the 8th century. But the Myanmar regime does not consider them as citizens despite the fact that they have lived there for more than a millennium. The United Nations has declared the Rohingyas one of the world’s most persecuted communities. There were 800,000 Rohingyas living in Burma before the escalation of the recent pogroms against them. This figure is dwindling as thousands of Rohingyas flee to neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh for fear of their lives.

Book review By Mohsen Biparva

On the Muslim

Question Mohsen Biparva reviews a new book which argues that Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current obsession with its Muslim presence is more a reflection of its own anxieties that a true representation of social relations

‘

ate modern philosophy has the Holocaust at its heart’ argues Anne Norton in her latest book. Just as the ‘Jewish question’ once marked the great failures as well as the great achievements of the Enlightenment, it is now the Muslim question which occupies centre stage. In her view, the Jewish question has not gone away - it is still the same question, the question of a religious minority in modern Europe. The West’s rejection of Muslims is marked by a symbolic (but only a symbolic) embrace of the Jew.’ ‘We of the West’ she asserts, ‘has become not the civilisation that gave birth to Nazism, but the people who defeated it’. There is in her view a sinister twist in the meaning of anti-Semitism, as ‘the refusal of one anti-Semitism is used to make the adoption of another appear benign.’ By referring to Holocaust memorials and the ban on National Socialist parties, she argues that ‘remembering the past’ is not an excuse to forget that some of structures that made the Holocaust possible persist to this day. Norton reminds us that fascism is the product of the West. Rome fell to the forces of fascism as well as Germany and the old realms of the Holy Roman Empire. Spain and France fell to it and even England had its Oswald Mosley and the black-shirts in London’s East End. The French had their Vichy and

plenty of Nazi collaborators. Germany and Austria were Nazis themselves and even among the Allies admirers of Nazis were easy to find: Ezra Pound, Charles Lindberg, and the Duke of Windsor to name but a few. Against this background, Norton sees a ‘profound dishonesty’ in the works of people like Paul Berman who use the word ‘Islamofascism’. It is not excusable in her view, ‘to put the burden of our past on others.’

another religious minority - this time not Jews, but Muslims.

Norton links the fear of Muslims to the domestic anxieties of western societies. ‘It is not the foreign that fills people with fear, but the familiar; not the future but the past.’ A not-very-far past, a past that cosmopolitan Europeans remember when their appetites were constrained by poverty, religion, or conviction. The Dutch for example know little about the rural life of Turkish or Moroccan immigrants. ‘The customs and tradiIslam is portrayed to be a preeminent tions they fear are not those of the Rif danger to all western values, to Chrisor Anatolia but those that belong to tians, Jews, and secular humanists; to their own memories: to a rural Europe women in particular and to sexuality, that was not picturesque but primisexual freedom and to the liberal values tive.’ By excluding Muslims, they try of the Enlightenment. The liberal and to overcome the social democraanxiety and the cies of our time, fear of returning she argues, ‘I see the Muslim question as to poverty, to hesitate to rural life, and include Muslims. the Jewish question of our time: the anxiety of Politicians like standing at the site where losing all those David Cameron pleasures. and Angela politics and ethics, philosophy Merkel speak Norton also and theology meet.’ of the failure of addresses the ‘multiculturalism’ Anne Norton alleged hostility that according of Islam towards to Norton, for free speech, most the politicians, recently manias for the philosophers, always means fested in the reaction to the so-called ‘Islam’. Referring to French republican Danish cartoons. According to her the secularism, laïcité, that in her view has free speech that the Enlightenment failed to lead to the promised neutrality aimed to protect was a kind of politically of the public sphere, we still hear the unpopular speech, a speech that would same calls for the expulsion of yet

outrage the powerful, not a systematic insult against a powerless religious minority. She shows that despite the cries to protect freedom of speech, Europe is not free of restrictions to free speech. The United Kingdom has laws against the incitement of religious and racial hatred and strict laws against libel and defamation. Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland all prohibit speech which incites racial and religious hatred. The author then turns her attention to what she calls ‘the right to remain silent’. In her view, the contemporary dominant political discourse in the West requires a compulsory proliferation of speech, but only a certain dictated one. ‘If so much is said, then it appears that every view has a voice.’ Saying the most outrageous things, makes this illusion that everything has been said; especially in the context of the Danish cartoons and Submission, a film directed by Theo van Gohg and written by Ayan Hirsi Ali, where she points that: ‘Speech is said to be “free speech” when - and only when - it is used to attack Muslims, Islam or the Koran.’ She asserts: ‘it is not enough that one speak of Muslims. It is not even enough that one speak ill of them. One is required to speak ill of Muslims - and to do it in a prescribed way.’ Later in the book, the author examines the question of sex and sexuality in relation to Muslims. In her view, ‘a plethora of Western philosophers

and theorists, from all corners of the academy, from old Left to neoconservatives, have joined in an uneasy alliance to condemn Muslims for their alleged oppression of women.’ In particular she refers to Žižek and Susan Okin, the author of Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women? She believes that both Žižek and his colleague on the right share the same idea: yes, Islam is bad for women. Žižek in particular believes that ‘the true scandal that the veil endeavours to obfuscate (conceal) is not the feminine body hidden by it, but the INEXISTENCE of the feminine’.

is not all doom and gloom. Norton sees some rays of hope. She seems to agree with Tariq Ramadan that we are already on the Andalusian territory of religious coexistence. She believes that the ‘clash of civilisations’ is not a reality, but a certain dogma, an ideology that has given way to conviviality in popular life. After all, Muslim and non-Muslims live together, go to school together, sell and trade with each other. This coexistence of ordinary people in everyday life is the most powerful argument against those who still cling to the ‘clash of civilisation’ thesis. •

In Anne Norton’s view, the governance of sexuality is profoundly political in the West. Politics decides who can be married, which form of sexuality is permitted or forbidden; it encourages births or limits population growth. ‘Citizens are expected, instructed, even required, to have correct views on sexuality.’ This over-emphasis on Muslim sexuality, she believes, conceals the contours of European sexual politics. Therefore, ‘the sexual conservatism of much of European society is cast into shadow.’ Anne Norton’s book is a brave, critical, yet lone voice against the West and its dealings with the Muslims in its midst. In some parts the bold criticism sounds like a polemic. She extends her criticism from anti-Muslim figures like Robert Spencer, Paul Berman and Ayan Hirsi Ali to philosophers like John Rawls, Žižek and Derrida. However the book

On the Muslim Question, by Anne Norton, The Public Square (Princeton University Press), 2013 Anne Norton is professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania.

Feature

And Muhammad

(s)

is His Last Messenger

hen pondering God’s divine plan, we soon come to the realisation that appointing prophets from among the people is part of His tradition. Like Moses(a) who was raised in the heart of Egypt and in the lap of the Pharaoh, Muhammad(s) was also raised among the most powerful tribe of Arabia, the Quraish. Both were chosen by God from among the people of their time to undertake a divine mission ‘forbidding evil and encouraging good’. The circumstances surrounding the mission of each divine prophet varied from one to another. However their virtues, willingness and submission to the directives of the Almighty remained the same: prophets were chosen due to their extraordinary characters, perseverance and piety. Professor Omid Safi, in his book ‘Memories of Muhammad; Why Muhammad

matters’ describes the circumstances surrounding the Prophethood of Muhammad(s): ‘Some six hundred years after the time of Christ, in an age when the teachings of the prophets were mostly forgotten, and in a region of the world where no prophet had been sent by God before, a young man named Muhammad found himself unwilling to worship the gods of his forefathers and unable to bear the injustices of his own society. Troubled by the suffering of the poor and the downtrodden in his society, Muhammad(s) was in the habit of climbing a mountain called Light and retreating into a cave called Hira to ponder upon meaning and existence. Before he was the Prophet, Muhammad was known to be a sensitive man and a trustworthy soul, and those around him trusted their goods to him to take for caravan-led trades at long distances. Soon almost all

the members of his society would find themselves entrusting Muhammad(s) with much more than their goods. This time it would be their hearts and souls that they entrusted to the one they had come to call the Amin, “the Trustworthy.” Commencement of Revelation The most delightful hours for Muhammad(s) were those during which he prayed in seclusion. He would spend time in solitude in the Cave of Hira, seeking religious purification for several nights before returning to his wife. He would prepare himself, then go back to Khadijah, who would give him provisions to return again to Hira’, where on one such occasion the Truth took him by surprise and the Archangel Gabriel came to him and said: “As long as the world stands, my religion will stay alive.” (Qur’an 96: 1- 5).

It is said that the Prophet had met Gabriel on previous occasions and that by the time he received his first revelation he was spiritually ready for it. Nevertheless the Prophet was extremely afraid of him since this was the first time that Gabriel had appeared to him not in human form, as he had previously, but just as God had fashioned him, in all his glory encompassing the entire sky. Gabriel soon returned to his human form and embraced Muhammad(s) holding him to his chest. Henceforth Gabriel would only come to him in human form. The above verses encapsulate the programme of the Holy Prophet and establish that the foundation of his religion is provided by recitation and reading, learning and wisdom, and use of the pen. The Archangel Gabriel accomplished his assignment and after the revelation the Prophet descended the Mountain of Light and proceeded towards his house. When he returned home, the Holy Prophet related to his wife Khadijah what had happened. Contrary to popular belief, despite the intense experience of receiving the divine revelation, the Prophet Muhammad(s) was never afraid or unsure of what was happening to him and did not need reassurance

from other human beings. And this was the starting point of his mission. At the age of forty and by the command of God, Muhammad(s) became His last messenger. The exact date of this appointment is disputed among the different schools of thought. Some believe the revelation took place in the month of Rajab and some believe it to be in the holy month of Ramadhan. At first the Prophet Muhammad(s) invited his family to accept Islam, then the people of Makkah, who were later followed by the people of Arabia. His message to humanity was that he was the last messenger of God and that no other messenger would come after him. “As long as the world stands, my religion will stay alive.” Ali ibn Abi Taleb(a) the cousin of the Prophet, once said: “God sent the Prophet when the mission of other Prophets had stopped and the peoples were in slumber a long time. Evils were raising heads; all matters were under disruption and in the flames of wars, while the world was devoid of brightness, and full of open deceitfulness. Its leaves had turned yellow and there was absence of hope about its fruits. White water had gone underground. The minarets

of guidance had disappeared and signs of destruction had appeared.”(Nahjul Balaaghah sermon 89) The basic principles, upon which rest the foundation of Islam, cannot be changed either by the passing of time nor by people and will always remain active: belief in the Oneness of the Creator, belief in the Prophethood of Muhammad(s) and belief in the Day of Judgement. God says in the Holy Qur’an: “Any, who believe in God and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.”(2:62) These three basic principles have kept Islam a worldwide phenomenon with an ever increasing number of followers. Its universality is now well established but as the Prophet implied, Islam’s strength is in God’s promise that it will exist ‘as long as the world stands’. •

The editorial team of islam today congratulates all Muslims around the world on the auspicious anniversary of the beginning of the Prophet Muhammad’s(s) mission.

he conflict between the forces of good and evil is a perennial one. Divine providence has naturally sided with the forces of righteousness by sending prophets to mankind with guidance and to lead the struggle against the forces of wickedness. This confrontation is described in the Qur’an: “For every prophet we have made a number of adversaries among the wrongdoers”. (25:31) God has ordained that Muhammad(s) shall be the seal of the prophets and that no prophet will be chosen after him and no revelation will be sent down after the Qur’an. The path laid down by the Prophet was followed by Imams, scholars and reformers who sought to reform mankind and preserve the faith from corruption and deviation, a task which met with opposition from the forces of evil. But since they adhered to the faith they were certain that they would ultimately triumph over evil, as the following verse indicates: “The earth will be inherited by my righteous worshippers”. (21:105) The materialisation of this promise goes hand in hand with the coming of the Mahdi(a). Accounts in the traditions of Muslims of various sects foretell the coming of the Mahdi, a figure who will reform human

society after it has become infested with wickedness and evil. This belief is shared by all Muslims, although they may disagree on the Mahdi’s identity. The belief in the Mahdi, ‘the Awaited One’, is not only an essential doctrine deep-rooted in Islam but it is also an embodiment of human nature regardless of one’s religious affiliations. For the Mahdi(a) personifies the universal desire of humans as a whole to try to achieve or at least witness the realisation of perfection and social happiness on this earth. The centrality of the Mahdi(a) in Islamic eschatology and his importance in rallying the faithful against evil has been a powerful enough motif to inspire many Muslim leaders to claim the title. Unfortunately the detailed descriptions of the Mahdi and his endeavours in Islamic traditions leave little room for deviation, ensuring that false claimants have been easily exposed. There have been at least seven well-known claims to the title across the Islamic world; from Ibn Tumart (d.1130 CE) in Morocco to Mehmet (d.1930 CE) of Republican Turkey . According to Islamic traditions the Mahdi(a) will be very similar in appearance, conduct and action to his great great….grandfather the Prophet Muhammad(s).

In the light of the Qur’an and sayings of the Prophet(s), the Shi’a make it clear that the Mahdi(a) is none other than the twelfth and last Imam of the House of the Prophet, bearing the same name as the Prophet(s) and is connected to his great ancestor by an unbroken chain of successors. He is the executor of a Divine Mission. “There will be twelve leaders (khulafa) after me, all of them from the tribe of Quraysh”, said the Prophet Muhammad(s). (Ahmad ibn Hanbal) A thorough examination of the history of Islam clarifies any doubt about the significance of the word khulafa as used by the Prophet(s) in the above tradition. This could not have referred to those leaders who exercised temporal power a few generations after him and who were worlds apart from the example set by the Prophet Muhammad(s). In this hadith, there are strong indications that the Prophet was referring to particular individuals who came from the same branch of the Quraysh tribe, to which he himself belonged. Furthermore, throughout Prophetic history, there is a clear pattern of the involvement of families of previous prophets in assisting them in their divine missions. In the case of the Prophet Muhammad(s) his close family

and progeny known as the Ahl ul-Bayt (the People of the House) also have a role to play in supporting the mission of the Last Prophet(s) . Abu Dawud, the compiler of one of the six prominent Sunni books of traditions, collectively known under the name Sihah al-Sitta (the six sound collections), reports the following saying of the Prophet: “God will bring a man of my progeny, whose name will be my own name, and fill the earth with justice and harmony, where tyranny and oppression have overpowered”.

They also agree that the Prophet Jesus(a), to whom the Qur’an refers to as ‘alive’, also reappears at the end of time to support the Mahdi(a) in the fight against impiety.

fifteenth of Sha’ban in the year 255 after Hijrah. His birth was kept secret since the authorities of the time were actively seeking to execute him. The circumstances of his birth were therefore very similar to those of the Prophet Moses(a) who was also the subject of a search by the authorities of his time. The Pharaoh of the time was well aware of the prophecy that a child would grow up to prevail over him and replace this with the belief in the one true God. Similarly the Abbasid Caliphs at the time of Imam Hasan al-Askari were well aware of the Mahdi(a) and how he would fill the world with justice and truth after it had been filled with injustice and falsehood. .

While the majority of Muslims believe that the Mahdi is yet to be born, there are those who have identified the Mahdi in the person of the son of Imam Hasan al-Askari, the eleventh Imam of the House of the Prophet. According to the Shi’a, the Mahdi was born on the

Only God possesses the knowledge of the timing of the Mahdi’s advent. However in order to prepare for his arrival, we should endeavour to prepare ourselves by nourishing our souls with the Divine light and making them the abode for God and his beloved angels.

The compilers of Islamic traditions, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah and others have also reported the traditions concerning the Mahdi, who claims to belong to the Ahl ul Bayt(a), and is a descendant of the Prophet’s daughter Fatima az-Zahra(a).

Spiritual perfection should be our goal. The thought of the Mahdi’s coming has inspired the virtuous to struggle for the good of humanity at all times. Like many generations before us we can only speculate on the final appearance of the Mahdi(a) and hope that we will be the generation to witness God’s promise of a better world. The traditions tell us that before achieving this, the world will be riven with conflicts and that the Mahdi will have to assert himself by force, not for the sake of authority, but in order to remove obstacles that prevent him from being recognised. The Mahdi’s authority cannot be based on coercion but on a wilful acceptance by the people. Such acceptance can only come once the veils of ignorance are removed and true reality made manifest. This will be his greatest and most difficult task. And this is why it is our duty to remember him and assist him with our prayers and actions from now until his appearance. •

When help arrives… Batool Haydar reflects on the concept of waiting for the Mahdi(a) and the transformation it should bring within ourselves

Say, ‘Each [of us] is waiting. So wait! Soon you will know who the people of the right path are, and who is guided.’ (Qur’an 20:135) Wait (verb): to remain or stay in expectation of.

Waiting is as intrinsic a part of human nature as breathing. From the very moment we gain consciousness, we are waiting. As children, we wait - or can’t wait - to grow up. As adults, we wait to move from one milestone of success to another - we wait to get our qualifications, to get a good job, hopefully become famous, to marry and have a family. Finally, as the years pass us by, whether we accept it or not, we await the inevitable moment when we will cross the threshold of Death and pass over to the other side. And it is not just about the big picture; waiting is a game we play almost every day of our lives. We wait for meetings to start... and then to end. We wait to keep appointments, to meet friends or to carry out responsibilities. Once in a while though, something may happen that we say is ‘unexpected’. We were not consciously waiting for it and thus, when it does happen, it catches us unaware. If the occurring circumstance is in harmony with our desire, we call it a ‘pleasant surprise’ and if it disrupts our status quo, it becomes an obstacle or a stumbling block that we wish had never happened.

In the recent past, the human race has had to deal with many ‘unexpected’ situations. We have watched as fellow men have stooped to sub-human levels of morality. We have witnessed innocent people being tortured, oppressed and murdered. We have sat back and wondered, what is the world coming to? And how do we stop this madness? Every time these questions are asked, there is an unspoken hope that someone somewhere has the answer. There is the inner desire in every human being for some saving grace to bring salvation from a situation that is only going from bad to worse at an escalating rate. We know that we can organise protests, write articles or declare a stand, but too often, the question remains; what can we possibly do to actually make a difference? How do we get all our good intentions to translate into change? Who can gather all the individual pockets of positive uprising into a united active movement? It is in response to this need for leadership that God has promised the world a Saviour - the Awaited Mahdi(a) - who will bring together like-minded individuals and create a community out of separate entities in much the same way

as his forefather, the Holy Prophet(s) did. However, although we have a Promise and Hope in abundance, we must realise that the equation will always be incomplete without one more essential element: effort. We speak of, yearn and even pray for the appearance of the Mahdi, but how much effort are we investing in preparation while we wait? Will his coming be akin to a long anticipated ‘pleasant surprise’ for us or will be caught unaware and unable to grasp the opportunities he will present to us? When children sit for an examination, we teach them to revise in the days leading up to it. When we go for a job interview, we study the organisation and try to understand its philosophy even before joining it. If a person decides to climb a mountain, they are required to train in an environment that emulates the expected circumstances of the climb in order to prepare themselves. Throughout life, for all important tasks big or small - we prepare for the event in the period of waiting leading up to it. How much more does the task of helping a Divinely Appointed Leader to establish global justice amidst prevailing opposition, require?

Imam al-Jawad(a) has stated that “The best act of our followers is to expect the relief”. We are not just passively waiting for respite, but the implication here is to be in a pro-active state of expectation. This demands a lifetime of sincere commitment and loyalty to a cause we must firmly believe in. It requires of us that we be in a state of conscious anticipation and awareness in all aspects of our life - career paths, work, socialising and families. It is a fact that for some things we wait with eagerness and others with perturbation, but regardless of our emotions, time passes and the things that are meant to be, come to pass. Regardless of how the situation may seem at present, the Help of God will be revealed to us at the appointed time. We cannot predict when this will be or what our circumstances will be like. However, what we can do is ensure that in the period we spend from now until then, our everyday decisions - whether private, personal or public - in some way positively influence our principal wait for the establishment of absolute truth. •

Cover

Earth: a pl anet for all Recent reports on the dwindling number of bees worldwide should be seen as an alarm bell by nature, argues Ali Sadeq

oday when we think about wars our mind is taken to Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria or to many other parts of the world where conflicts are currently raging. While the impact of these wars is significant there is a bigger war that is being fought daily against our own planet. The roots of this conflict are to be found in an economic system that does not respect environmental and ethical limits. A handful of energy companies continue to try to control the resources of the Earth and transform this planet into a supermarket where everything is for sale. They are ready to sell our water, our genes, cellules, organs, knowledge, culture and future. The architects of wars such as those in Afghanistan and Iraq not only seek to exchange blood for petrol but also represent an attack on food, genes, biodiversity and water. A warrior-like mentality, underlying a military-industrial setup, is evident in the names of the herbicides produced by Monsanto such as Round-Up, Machete and Lasso. American Home Products, which has merged with Monsanto, assigns equally aggressive names such as “Pentagon” and “Squadron” to its herbicides. War on our Earth starts in the mind. Violent thoughts give shape to violent actions. Violent categories build violent instruments and all of this finds ultimate expression in the metaphors and methods that are at the base of industrial agricultural and food production. Factories that once produced poisons and explosives to kill people during wars have been transformed into factories that produce agrochemicals at the end of the wars. The work of Monsanto and similar companies in the field of chemical production and Genetically Modified Organisms has for a long time attracted the attention of environmentalists who argue that their herbicides devastate soils, contaminating them with invasive chemicals that make them unable to produce healthy crops using traditional (or organic) farming methods. Once a

farm plot is destroyed, that farmer is forever enslaved to a chemical-based farming protocol. It is both unhealthy and a disaster for the environment and the irony is that in the long term actual crop yields are lower than with organic farming, Pesticides, which were initially used as chemical weapons, cannot control parasites. Genetic engineering could have offered an alternative to toxic chemical products, but has brought instead an increased use of pesticides and herbicides setting off a war against farmers. In developing countries chemical substances lead farmers into the trap of debts, failure and even suicide. In industrialised countries the effects of chemicals are becoming more obvious. Since 2005 farmers and honey producers across the world have reported a mysterious disease that has been killing honey bees en masse, peaking in the last year. Figures speak of a 40-50 per cent wipe-out in some cases. Bees are vital for pollination, and scientific studies have linked pesticides to huge losses in their numbers. Bees have been described as ‘the wings of agriculture’. There are innumerable studies that demonstrate the fundamental role of bees and other insect pollinators in the pollination of plants cultivated by man. Bees have existed on this planet for millions of years and have always played a fundamental biological role in the ecosystem by guaranteeing the survival of a large number of plant species. Together with other pollinators, insects help safeguard the environment of spontaneous flora improving biodiversity and impeding the disappearance of botanical species near extinction. Bees play an equally important role as “environmental sentinels”; their abundance signals a tranquil environmental condition, while their disappearance from specific ecosystems must immediately draw our attention towards a possible situation of environmental degradation and risk. Yet despite growing evidence, short term commercial interests continue to prevail especially when they are aided

by myopic politicians. A recent report in the Observer revealed how a UK politician expressed his government’s objections to a proposed European ban on a new brand of very aggressive pesticides known as neonicotinoids, a class of neuro-active insecticides. The European Food Safety Authority was preparing to act on the findings of studies conducted by Henry et al and Whitehorn et al published in Science magazine in April 2012. Owen Paterson, UK Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, had written to the chemical company Syngenta, telling them that he was ‘extremely disappointed’ by the European Commission’s proposed ban. He said: ‘the UK has been very active’ in opposing it and ‘our efforts will continue and intensify in the coming days’. Paterson was responding to direct lobbing by chemical companies driven by profit which have much to lose if the ban becomes effective. To be at peace with the Earth has always been an ethical and ecological imperative that has now become one of survival of our own species. We cannot pretend that it is not our problem. Violence against the earth, biodiversity, water, atmosphere, countryside and farmers is a martial system that targets the people of the world. One billion people suffer hunger. Two billion suffer pathologies connected to diet: obesity, diabetes, hypertension and cancer. There are three levels of violence involved in unsustainable development. The first is violence against the Earth which is manifested in the current ecological crisis. The second is violence against persons, expressed in poverty, misery and mass exodus to escape famine. The third is violence of war and conflict, when the powerful usurp the resources found in other communities or countries to satisfy their limitless appetites. When every aspect of life is commercialised, living becomes more expensive, resulting in more impoverishment.

On the other hand people can be considered rich in material terms even without a monetary economy if they have access to the earth, if lands are fertile, if rivers are clean, if the culture is rich and there is a tradition of building houses, if there is nice clothing, good food, and if there is social cohesion, solidarity and a communitarian spirit.

Therefore defending human rights and establishing social justice has to start by defending and taking care of the land. Once we all realise that we can launch the biggest movement on Earth. •

Markets and money as wealth produced by man has been set as a higher organisational principle for society, and has become the only way to quantify our well-being leading to the weakening of those processes that support life in nature and society. Paradoxically, the richer we become, the poorer we become ecologically and culturally.

Ali Sadeq has an Msc in Environmental Engineering from Melbourne University Australia

The increase in economic well-being measured in money, leads to an increase in poverty in the material, cultural, ecological and spiritual spheres. The real currency of life is life itself. This point of view leads us to ask some questions: how do we see ourselves in this world? Why do human beings exist? Are we the only machine that produces money and devours resources? Or do we have a higher objective, a superior purpose? A “terraqueous democracy” will allow us to create real living democracies based on the intrinsic value of all species, all peoples, all cultures, an equal and just distribution of this planet’s vital resources, as well as the decision-making processes necessary to fairly decide how to utilise them. A “terraqueous democracy” protects the ecological processes of life and the fundamental human rights that are at the basis of the right to live, to have water, food, health, education, work and sustenance. We need to choose. Should we obey the laws of the market, of corporate greed, or the laws of nature that reflect God’s instructions to guide us to maintain earthly ecosystems and the diversity of living beings? People’s need for food and water can only be satisfied if we protect the capacity of nature to produce food and water. Dead soil and rivers give us neither.

Opinions

he best way to bring into perspective the culture of death in the United States is to examine what this nation seeks to do in theory and then in practice. As the Romans used to say: “Theory is one thing, practice is another”. As in virtually any other country in the world, the American people are virtually helpless in the sphere of politics. In spite of the fact that the United States is a huge country with over 300 million people, there are practically only two major political parties: Democratic and Republican. Although the two parties have quite a few things in common, they present very different agendas which often seem to be diametrically opposed. However when the parties

America’s Culture of

Death

This phraseology has evolved into becoming the mantra of many Democrats. Democratic senators and congressmen, and even the US president, routinely speak of “women’s reproductive rights.” A more recent trend among Democratic politicians is to state openly that they are ‘personally against abortion’, adding that the decision to terminate a pregnancy is to be left solely to the women involved. The Republicans, on the other hand, in spite of their ‘respect for human life’,

Despite the American people’s goodwill and generosity towards others, the world at large judgesthe USA by the policies of the few in government. Charles Mercieca provides an identikit of who they are and what they represent

criticise each other they have at least one very conspicuous thing in common. Both tend to consciously employ words that confuse people in an effort to bring them under full control. The promotion and implementation of the culture of death in the entire nation has become one of the primary goals of each of these two major political parties. Democrats tend to support abortion, which is condemned by Republicans as murder. At times, Democratic politicians are rebuked and criticised by members of the clergy and leading religious groups. Besides, several clergymen exhort the members of their congregation not to vote for political candidates who favour abortion. At this stage, the Democrats and their supporters try to find a way out by devising a new vocabulary and structuring a new phraseology. They substitute the phrase “pro-abortion” with “pro-choice” so as to conceal the

savage nature of their stand as much as possible. At the same time, several women’s groups that view abortion as a woman’s prerogative have adopted a new terminology known as “women’s reproductive rights.”

General Colin Powell, was asked by reporters how many Iraqis were killed with American weapons, he was quick to say: “We do not keep a count of that; we view such incidents merely as collateral damage”. While Republicans view the killing of the unborn as the termination of an innocent life, they view the massacre of thousands of people merely as the destruction of pieces of furniture. But it would be wrong to single out the Republicans as warmongers. Both Republicans and Democrats have been heavily involved in almost every single war that the USA has fought during the 20th century. Both Democrats and Republicans continue to proclaim loudly that the United States is a nation of freedom and democracy! However, this is true only if one has a distorted concept of democracy, one in which ‘freedom’ is of the kind that makes the government and citizens accountable to no one. It begs the question: if the United States does not even care for the welfare of its own people, how can it possibly be expected to care for the welfare of other nations? •

also have their own modus operandi when it comes to promoting the culture of death. In order to further their own selfish ambitions at home and abroad, they heavily back expenditure on arms production and sales. They are quick to wage wars to achieve what they want, no matter how brutal they might be. In recent years we have seen two bloody wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. They saddled the nation with a $2.2 trillion debt which the American people are now being forced to service by giving up their social security and medical aid. However, what makes it worse is the fact that Republicans refer to their destruction of the infrastructure of cities and the massacre of tens of thousands of people, amounting to millions, by the well-formulated phrase ‘national defence and security’!

Charles Mercieca is President of International Association of Educators for World Peace and Professor Emeritus of Alabama A&M University.

When the former Secretary of State,

The western philosophy

political of fear Muhammad Haghir finds a line of continuity between classical western political theory and the state of the current geopolitical climate

here are not many realistic observers who would deny the supremacy of the US’s military power over the rest of the world combined. On a superficial level it is not difficult to understand how such power came to be possessed by a country such as the US. The US is a society – the richest (financially) in the world – in which ultra-capitalism reigns supreme, and in which capitalist culture encourages personal and immediate gain over and above all else. Given these circumstances, in that society and culture there are countless individuals and corporations that will (and do) dedicate their entire lives, for personal gain, to the creation of the best and the latest state-of-the-art technologies of destruction, be they physical, social, psychological or cultural. A continuation of this process, sooner or later, brings with it the power to wage wars. But from a deeper perspective, the existence of such power is one thing and its origins, another. It is one aspect of these origins, from the viewpoint of its deeply rooted political philosophy that should interest us. In Western universities, one of the first ideas that first year undergraduates of politics and government are introduced to is what is generally referred to as the Hobbesian philosophy of fear. According to Thomas Hobbes’ (15881679) Leviathan, human life is ‘nasty, brutish and short’ and everyone must fend off others, and be constantly on their guard. Failure to do so will mean that others will attack them and that they will have to face the consequences, including possibly their own demise. Hobbes suggested that for each of us the rational reaction to such a state of existence is the free and willing relinquishment of our individual wills to a sovereign who, in return, guarantees our freedoms and a peaceful existence, even if that means going to war against others. Hobbes believed that such a system, beginning with individual geographical localities, would finally lead to the crea-

tion of a world government where all the peoples of the world would consent to the will of a governing sovereign (the said Leviathan) who would guarantee their freedoms and peaceful lives against any and all encroachments. Indeed, the idea of a world government has found expression in the teleology of the philosophies of history of most major Western thinkers contemporary to and after Hobbes: Kant, Hegel, Marx, etc. Another political idea that is amongst the first items taught in Western universities is that of Machiavelli. In Niccolo Machiavelli’s (1469-1572) The Prince, kings and princes of his time were advised on how to do anything that is necessary for them to hold on to power for as long as possible. According to Machiavelli, kings and princes have the right to resort to force, bribery, espionage, treachery, even murder; that is, whatever is required, without any moral or ethical considerations. For Machiavelli, the only right here is the right to do whatever is necessary to gain power and control and to sustain it, forever. Hobbesian fear along with Machiavellian machinations have contributed a great deal to the general Western philosophy of fear at the heart of what in modern times has come to be known as Realpolitik. Now, nearly 500 years later, with the US’s created and propagated political idea of a ‘war on terrorism’, we exist in a world of conflict with daily reminders that (nuclear) World War III is imminent. It is as if we have not learned anything from our less than perfect history. Just one superficial look at the internet is all it takes to see the massive presence of US/Western military bases all around the globe. Why do the US and the West need such measures? Is there any connection between the Western philosophy of fear (as it is taught in the West) and the current state of the world as characterised by war and destruction? It appears that Western liberal democracy has had a definite cost in terms of a reduction in the quality of life, at least for non-Western societies – Iraq and Afghanistan being two good, recent

examples. What justifies this state of affairs? What meanings are generated and conjured up in a Western mind when it is conscious of phrases such as capitalism, consumerism, manufacture of culture and manipulation through the mass media, misinformation, individualism and freedom, community and the politics of fear, military industrial complex, Palestine, North Korea, Iran and Syria? Does the meaning of these terms, as they appear to a Western mind, justify the way our world is today, in a state of perpetual war? It seems reasonable to assume that the answer to this last question is a resounding ‘no’ for most people. In other words, regardless of any meaning (for the justification of war) that anyone, from whatever background, may give to the terms just mentioned, those meanings do not justify a state of perpetual war. If we ask who is responsible for all the current warmongering in the world we can come up with answers that point our understanding to particular directions and subjects. If we reflect on this understanding we can then come up with reasonable and logical meanings that we can ascribe to the events in our world and lives. So, what do we mean when we speak of, for example, a triangle of a philosophy of fear (Hobbesian based), US/Western military power and, say, ‘manufacture of culture? Crudely: ‘I am afraid of you so I shall put all my energies into building myself up against you in ways that are beyond your imagination. I shall have to do this in the name of my security. Meanwhile, however, for as long as you say ‘yes’ to Coke or Pepsi or McDonalds and everything we think you should have your way of life, I shall never have cause to use my power against you and we can even be friends and work together (capitalism). Hey, take a look at some Hollywood movies if you want to get a good idea of what I am talking about.’

If we take out the words ‘manufacture of culture’ in the above and replace them with, say, ‘individualism and freedom’, the following scenario could be understood: ‘I am afraid of you so I shall put all my energies into building myself up against you in ways that are beyond your imagination. I shall have to do this in the name of my security. Meanwhile, however, you have total freedom to do whatever you want in order to realise your individual potential, and as long as you do not question our decisions you can even criticise us through freedom of speech and the other liberties (such as voting rights) we have provided for you. Beware, however, that our power could be unleashed on you should you seek to damage or embarrass us.’ In this context it becomes easy to ascribe meaning to similar triangles with ideas such as ‘military industrial complex’, i.e. fuelling wars for the purposes of selling arms (the biggest industry in capitalist societies). Furthermore, this meaning sheds light on other terms such as the politics of fear, Palestine, North Korea, Iran, and Syria too. Noam Chomsky has observed that 80% of people are effortlessly swayed (public opinion formation) and the other 20% are made busy with everything (mass media, mortgages, fashion, culture, etc.) that actually prevents them from forming their own opinions. Meanwhile, through a portrait of the ‘war on terror’ the US (arguably the machinery that makes decisions about when and where to go to war) and Western citizens live their lives under the constantly watchful eyes of those who claim to give the same citizens their security and defend their freedoms (Hobbesianism in action in the form of what is effectively, if not actually, a police state). Today, Western liberal democracy, by virtue of its entrenched philosophy of fear, can also be understood as a politics of fear that has ultimately created the present geopolitical climate of the world. •

In this scenario, the connection between the manufacture of culture and misinformation is self-evident.

Faith

The Afterlife and the reality of our ephemeral existence Fantasising on the possibility of escaping death has been a constant theme in human history. But as Ahmed Haneef explains, Islamic teachings constantly remind us that we are not created for this earthly life

he general decline of religious belief in modern man has resulted in the abandonment of the belief in the Afterlife. Most contemporary cultures only see as valid the reality accessible to the senses or to the instruments that supplement them, and ridicule the unseen as mere fantasy and myth. As such, death is seen as the final fall of the curtain, bringing an end to the meaningless cosmic anomaly called ‘intelligent life’. The idea that there is nothing beyond this world has not led to the liberation of the human mind but to an obsessive attachment to life itself and a frantic, futile effort to escape death. Humans have tried persistently to escape death, whether it is by searching for the stream of eternal life, pumping bodies with cocktails of chemicals and make-up, mummifying them, or more recently, cryogenically freezing bodies or heads right after death in the hope of being “resurrected” at a time when medicine is advanced enough to revive the dead. These unsuccessful attempts to flee death have created a morbid fascination with death in popular culture. Nowhere is this attraction more prevalent than in film where killing is plentiful, varied and presented in vivid detail. In Hollywood, there is no life after death, only this

life, and those who cheat death inhabit this world as “un-dead” vampires and frustrated ghosts intent on wreaking a jealous vengeance upon the living by infecting them with the virus of eternal suffering. In this fusion, the only ideal life is one that it is not touched by death, where death is repelled with the intervention of technology. This is the imaginary world inhabited by clones and the perfect blend of man and machine, or man and computer - the cyborg. Thus death is evil and hideous and whatever comes after death is the same. There is no better life than physical perfection that abides forever and this can only be achieved by uniting the biological with the mechanical, or by the creation of spare bodies in the form of clones. In all cases, the only universe they occupy is this physical one for there is no other world beyond it. This type of irrational thinking has ramifications in other aspects of western culture such as the preference for the colour black for dressing, or ghostly white make-up, fascination with vampires and even the filing of incisors down to sharp points to mimic vampire fangs, all of which symbolise death and morbidity. Then there is the attraction of the pseudo-religion of New Ageism which is a syncretion of Buddhist

and Hindu teachings combined with Western occultism and science.

with people who are for it and to be against those who oppose it.”

This strain of thought is fascinated with a narrow idea of reincarnation which takes this world as the only stage upon which all eschatological phenomena manifest themselves. In other words, because this world is the only reality, heaven and hell and all states after death take place right here; you simply change bodies to experience them.

Islam teaches us that death is rooted in the nature of things. It is something that characterises this material world, a world that is a state of transformation and becoming. One manifestation of this is decay and dissolution. Our bodies, being part of this material world, are also subject to these laws and must eventually pass away.

All these attitudes towards the Afterlife are in fact rooted in faith, which is itself rooted in the nature of man. Any attempt to deny or alter that reality only results in that tendency being expressed in another, albeit more erroneous or distorted manner. Faith is innate in human life. Our existence cannot be devoid of love, the desire for it and the expression of it, or the desire to be far away from feelings that compromise our life and our security. As such, from the point of view of Islam, no human being can be devoid of faith, not even a self-professed atheist, for that person would need to INVENT a deity to fill that gap in his soul. That deity can be an idea, and faith the beliefs that arise from that idea.

The Holy Qur’an says: “Everything will perish except His face.” (28:88)

Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq was once asked to identify the minimum degree of polytheism. He replied: “It is to contrive or invent an opinion and to take sides

Death for man is a portal, a birth into a higher, and more real and subtle life. Whether that state is a heaven or a hell, this Afterlife is the world that human

(a)

It is God Himself who has created death, for one of His Names is “Al- Mumeet” the “One who gives death” so there is wisdom and goodness behind death. Death plays a role in controlling the population. An example is encapsulated in the story of a group of people who asked their prophet to pray to his God to take death away from them. He did so and God accepted his prayer. They became so many that their lives became crowded and their offspring too many. Before long they became too preoccupied with seeking their livelihoods, so they asked the prophet to ask God to return them to their previous state.

beings are truly made for. We have been created for the next world and not for this one, for annihilation and not to remain, for death, and not for life. We are in a transient place, a place which is a path to a higher existence beyond earthly life. Even if it remains for us, we will not remain for it. We thus have to prepare for our transition to the eternal abode, and this is the essential function of this world as a stepping stone, a place where we secure our salvation and build the lives we want in the Hereafter. The Prophet Jesus(a) is reported to have said: “Indeed, this world is a bridge, so cross over it but do not build on it.” ‘Not build on it’ here means that we should not make this place a permanent abode. The intention behind our building is whether it is for here and now or for the Hereafter. For example when we build to make opportunities for our children, to ensure the continuity and strength of the society of believers, to enhance the power and welfare of the Muslims, this is not building for this world but for the Hereafter. What we take from this world should be our good deeds, our positive influences on individuals and society, and our sacrifices for the truth and for what is right.

In preparation for a good death, Ali ibn Abi Taleb(a) advises us to; “Fulfil obligations, avoid the forbidden, adopt good moral traits, and then do not care whether one should fall onto death or death fall onto you.” We fear death because with it we enter the unknown. This is due to our attachment to the world. The Prophet was asked why people despise death and in response the Prophet asked the questioner, “Do you have wealth?” the man said that he did. Then The Prophet again asked, “And have you given it away?” The person answered, “No.” Then the Prophet said, “This is why you do not like death.” The believer should anticipate and contemplate death, prepare for it and welcome it. As a result, when the time comes for his transition to the next life, the passage will be easy and peaceful. “For a believer, death is like taking off dirty clothes, undoing shackles and heavy chains and changing into the finest and most scented of clothes. It is the easiest of mounts and the most comforting of abodes. As for the infidel, it is like taking off fine, comfortable clothes, and changing into the dirtiest and roughest of clothes, the most terrifying of stations and the greatest of punishments.”(Imam Zain al Abideen(a)) •

Ahmad Haneef is a Canadian Islamic scholar. He currently lives and works in London as researcher and lecturer on Islam.

Facing up to the inevitable By Nadia Jamil

have come this far and have realised that nothing lasts forever. Everything we build or create will come to an end one day. Be it relationships, business plans, buildings, wealth, health, fame, youth, and the clothes or shoes everything we own will wear out one day. Time we spend now with each other will turn into mere memories and we will look back at little episodes of our lives as if they all happened just yesterday. Time is an interesting phenomenon; knowing that we are bound in time from which there is no escape and the only thing that puts an end to it is our death. So what lasts then? People are remembered for what they did. As I sit and write this article I see a leaf fall down from a branch outside my window. What will I take with me I wonder? The grave being my final abode it will only be big enough to contain my corpse. Not even my parents or siblings with whom I spent so many years, not even friends or colleagues. Just myself and all those things I learned and did will go with me. Death is one of those mysteries that one learns only when one tastes it. Recently I attended the funeral of a man whom I didn’t know very well but with whom and whose family I had interacted a few times. Just a few days before I heard the news of his death I was at a weekly gathering in the mosque when he walked in and took a seat. He didn’t look too great. He was walking very slowly and everybody could tell something was wrong with him. My friend whispered in my ear saying that he’s been very ill lately. Somehow at that moment I got a very bad feeling that he was not going to be with us for long. He stood up after a few minutes

and walked out, his wife extending her arm for support to help him to walk down the stairs. That was his final farewell. After that he got admitted to hospital and a few days later we heard the news of his demise. I knew I had to go to bid goodbye to this man. This was the first ever funeral where I saw a grave being dug. The atmosphere was heavy with sadness and awakening. I could feel men and women picturing their own deaths silently in their minds while bidding him goodbye. Death is a reality none of us can escape. It is going to come and get us. When, where or how? Noone has a clue. “Every person shall taste of death; and We try you with evil and good for a testing, then onto Us you shall be returned.” (21:35-36)

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Watching someone else pass away does make me question though, about where I am today. Everything somehow makes sense slowly. Life is indeed a test filled with trials that come in all forms. What I fail to realise sometimes is why we get so attached to this day to day life knowing very well that it will all come to an end. Why is it then so hard for us to let go of certain meaningless things that distract us from the true path? “..the life of this world is nothing but diversion and play, but the abode of the Hereafter is indeed Life, had they known!” (29:64) Thinking about this man, who was once a little child and then an old man, who lived through trials and tribulations and finally faced his big exam, I hope he finds himself in the company of the best. •

Ameen

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Interfaith

St Alban’s sacrifice:

all for naught? 22nd June marks the martyrdom anniversary of Britain’s first Christian martyr who stood against a pagan emperor in defence of Monotheism. Revd Frank Gelli asks if Britain has returned to the old age of paganism worshipping a cluster of new gods

n the year 303 AD the Roman emperor Diocletian issued an edict ordering the destruction of churches, the burning of Christian holy books and the deposition of clergy. The punishment for resistance was imprisonment, torture, even death. In the British city of Verulam, a compassionate man called Alban, still a pagan, sheltered a fleeing priest in his house. Betrayed and brought before the Roman magistrate, Alban joyfully confessed that he had renounced the pagan idols: ‘I worship the only true and living God, who created all things’, he said. ‘Sacrifice to Rome’s gods!’ the judge commanded him. ‘The sacrifices you offer are made to devils. They are wicked rubbish’, the saint boldly retorted. Enraged, the pagan ruler had Alban scourged and racked. Later his head was struck off. Alban was the first Briton willing to lay down his life for the worship of the One True God, against state polytheism, the worship of idols. His name is perpetuated by the Hertfordshire city of

St Albans, 22 miles north of London. A good-looking abbey is dedicated to the saint, whose feast day falls on the 22nd of June. Admirable but...did the martyr perhaps die in vain? Has modern Britain, Alban’s native land, lapsed back into the worship of the old, disreputable pagan gods? ‘Contemporary Western culture is a pagan culture’, argued Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz in an Oxford lecture. ‘The gods are back’. It was a superb, passionate and reasoned invective of a man of faith and a scholar against a culture that no longer seems to care for God and his laws. Steinsaltz mentioned the old pantheon’s figures like Jupiter, Ishtar and Calliope. The last one is particularly topical as the shallow goddess of celebrities, our modern, famous and fatuous nonentities. Of course, it is possible to be a tad unfair to the ancient cult. It was not totally bad. Jupiter’s votaries went to temples, prayed, entreated, made offerings and hoped. People hankered after some divine response. They yearned

for a salvation of sorts. Distorted as it was, their worship expressed a kind of spirituality. Instead, today’s happy paganism is a gross adoration of belly, genitalia and bank accounts. Naturally, many people pursued those inferior values even in the ages of faith but, as the Rabbi observed, they could not bring themselves to do so overtly. Carnal things were ‘hidden desires’. Today they are placed in full view on the high altar of consumerism and adored enthusiastically without any shame. But what about technology? Surely that is a welcome development, helpful to mankind’s well-being? How can useful technology be made into an idol? (I guess Hephaestus, the Greek god of blacksmiths, is the pagan patron of technology...) Alas, that can happen, when from being a tool of society, it becomes one of its masters. Steinsaltz’s perfect example was the contraceptive pill - a tiny technological wonder. It has affected our society radically by altering the lives of our kids. They are now sexually liberated, emancipated and empow-

ered young people, as the gaff has it. Or are they perhaps degraded to the role of frenetic, copulating monkeys? Unwitting worshippers of phoney, dead deities like Aphrodite and Dionysus? I differ, however, from the learned Rabbi on one important thing. We should distinguish between culture and religion. A secular culture may decay but a religion; a true, living and gracefilled faith does not. Some peculiar theologians notoriously have presumed to proclaim ‘the death of God’. By doing so they have confused the senile deity of their fantasies with the Almighty Creator and Sustainer of the Universe. God is not identical with culture. God is above culture. God can indeed be envisaged to be against culture. When St Alban determined to oppose the pagan establishment and authorities he did it under the banner of Christ and in the service of the One True God. It cost the martyr his life but it won him an eternal, imperishable crown in Heaven. There is nothing sacrosanct about a godless culture. It deserves no respect and

certainly no allegiance from persons of faith. At the very least, believers are free to criticise a paganising culture. As a Christian I do not wish to be unduly bellicose, yet I am thinking of that awesome contest on Mount Carmel narrated in the Bible. The Prophet Elijah spoke to his people: ‘If the Lord is God, follow him; but if it is Baal then follow him.’ Baal was the name of the deity of the Canaanites. Elijah stood alone at Mount Carmel. Ranked against him were 450 ‘prophets’ of Baal. Well, their god proved to be a dud. He did not answer their prayers so Elijah taunted them in suitably un-parliamentary language: ‘Where is your god? Has he gone to the toilet?’ The upshot was that the worshippers of Baal got their comeuppance. Theirs was a gory end but...it served them right. (I Kings:18) Idolatry calls for a robust response. The struggle between God Almighty, the one true Lord of Heaven and Earth, and Baal, a man-made idol, is never-ending. When Jesus, the Messiah of God, came on earth in fulfilment of ancient

prophecies he too warned the Israelites against idolatry: ‘No one can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and Mammon.’ Mammon is a Semitic word standing for the god of wealth - another resurrected idol. And Muslims will of course be familiar with the example of the Prophet Muhammad, how he smashed the idols that had disfigured the Kaaba in Mekkah - a prophetic action par excellence. St Alban died rather than submit to idols. Not every believer is given the grace to be a martyr, of course. Human nature is weak. What is vital is that idolatry should be recognised and denounced, even today, in all its forms. God wills it. •

Revd Frank Julian Gelli is an Anglican priest, cultural critic and a religious controversialist, working on religious dialogue. His last book “Julius Evola: the Sufi of Rome’ is available on Amazon Kindle.

Science

Mice Men Studies in comparative genomics are revealing important facts to advance our understanding of the relationship between humans and animals. Elham Ostad-Saffari explores the genetic makeup of both, questioning the validity of the assertion that humans evolved from monkeys

’m sure children have often heard adults saying things like humans come from monkeys. But what does this actually mean? Perhaps a valid response to this statement would be to ask why monkeys are still around? To begin to unravel the answer to the first question, some clarity needs to be brought to the subject. Indeed we did not ‘come’ from monkeys; rather we share a common ancestor. And when it comes to understanding ancestors and evolution, genetics, and in particular genetic sequencing, can shed light on our origins.

one another, with a remarkable 0.5% making up the difference of what gives us all our individuality. It is these small differences which are enough to make people look different and have different states of health.

It’s all in the genetics!

But we are also genetically similar to animals and even some fruits surprisingly so in some cases:

The often quoted statement that as humans we share over 98% of our genes with apes (chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans) is fascinating. This figure actually refers to the similarities between single nucleotide changes in the DNA, or put in basic scientific terms, the changes in the sequence of the A, C, G and T of the genetic code. As humans we are genetically 99.5% similar to

Cat: 90% Cow: 80% Mouse: 75% Worm: 75% Fruit Fly: 60% Banana: 50% It’s not only fascinating stuff, but increasingly relevant to our everyday

lives as the 2008 presidential election hopeful Sarah Palin discovered to her cost. During her campaign, Palin voiced her disapproval of federal funds being assigned for fruit fly research. However it emerged that what was actually being funded by the state was ‘genetic research’ on fruit flies with the ultimate aim of benefitting people born with genetic anomalies. Taken a step further, comparative genomics is the analysis and comparison of genes and genomes from different species. Its primary purpose is to understand how species have evolved, but no less important is its aim of trying to determine the function of genes. Indeed scientists have acquired considerable knowledge regarding the function of human genes by examining their counterparts in similar model organisms. Model organisms offer costeffective ways to follow the inheritance of genes which are similar to human genes, through many generations, within a relatively short space of time.

By comparing the genes from different species, particularly genes which have been preserved in multiple species over millions of years, – including species with which we share strong genetic similarities – scientists hope to find similarities as well as differences which may contribute to our understanding of how human genes function. This approach is also used by scientists to develop new strategies for the treatment and prevention of human diseases.

While new foundations are being laid for the diagnosis and treatment of human diseases, this progress is also met with important ethical and social issues. These include confidentiality, as well as the stigmatising of potential ‘new’ genetic information being

Another fascinating example is the remarkable resemblance in function and structural similarity seen in the eyes of octopuses and humans. Despite their similar eyes, there is currently no evolutionary relationship between these two seemingly opposed species.

One must also not forget the importance of studying the genes of bacteria, viruses and fungi. Through such research, scientists hope to find ways of preventing or treating infections, as well as learn how microbes in and on the body affect human health in beneficial ways. Our knowledge of good or friendly bacteria, Bifidobacterium lactis, sometimes also referred to as pro-biotic (the type found in some yogurts) is testament to such research in bacteria. Scientists hope to analyse more closely these basic building blocks of life, the nucleotides and their sequences, between species. What scientists look for are the nucleotides which when changed from species to species have a ‘neutral’ effect, causing no significant changes. However the jackpot lies in the analysis of a relatively small percentage of genes, which can cause substantial differences if alterations are introduced. Of particular interest and fascination are the changes which can be put into the context of known inherited human diseases. Indeed a single nucleotide change can cause the inheritance of cystic fibrosis, breast cancer or sickle cell disease. Single nucleotide changes have also been linked to hereditary differences in height, brain development, facial structure and pigmentation. Due to a single change, hands can develop structures that are similar to toes instead of fingers and most bizarrely, a mouse’s tail can disappear altogether!

to see every base pair change, other readings have coarser granularity. For example, while we may share 75% similarity with a nematode worm or mouse, the remaining 25% dissimilarity means that all three species actually have significantly different features and look physically unique. Furthermore this complexity is increased when one considers that these unique features are often controlled by more than one gene or even a single nucleotide change.

There are undeniable similarities between humans and the many different species of animals within the world. Apes resemble humans in their anatomical structure, horses in their intellect, parrots in their speech, bees in their art, ants in their sociability and penguins in the compassion they share for their young. But none has all these features at once. All these bring to mind the verse of the Qur’an which implies that the origin of all species is one: researched and published. While these ethical implications are not unique to genetics, they introduce the new language of ‘probability’ and ‘susceptibility’ to medical care. Indeed the wealth of information which can be gained from such analyses is of great interest to third parties, including families, governments, insurance companies, law enforcement agencies as well as scientific researchers. Thus while such research is of utmost importance, the ethical, legal and social implications must also be carefully considered. As complex as we are, it is worth remembering that gene reading or sequencing does have different levels, and while some reading is important

‘God has created every animal out of water; some of them walk on their belly, while others walk on two legs and still others walk on four. God creates anything He wishes; God is Able to do everything’. (24:45) •

Elham Ostad-Saffari has a PhD in Medical Genetics from Imperial College London. She is currently working in the pharmaceutical industry.

chew. The taste buds of our tongue and mouth actually detect only saltiness, sweetness, bitterness and sourness. We will have difficulty telling what we are eating. Women identify odours better than men, perhaps because they have paid more attention to smells during cooking, or when using perfumes. Children can realise all the tastes while elderly people use more spices on their food as olfaction starts to assimilate.

Remembering through our nose

Listed among the human senses, olfaction has a multiplicity of functions. Ghazaleh Kamrani explains how our sense of smell is at the heart of remembering and emotion

y grandmother had a jasmine flower in her garden. Jasmine smell covered the air around it. These days every time I smell a jasmine flower, my senses take me back to my childhood. I can see my grandparents’ house and my grandmother in the

garden watering flowers. However it is not my brain which was trying to recall my childhood. Rather via the incredible power of smell, my childhood was recalling me. As Gordon Shepherd, a neuroscientist used to say: “We think our lives are dominated by our visual sense, but the

closer you get to dinner, the more you realise how much your real pleasure in life is tied to smell. It taps into all our emotions. It sets the patterns of behaviour, makes life pleasant and disgusting, as well as nutritious”. All flavours come from sniffing scents through the nose when we drink or

Trygg Engen, a noted psychologist of smell once said: “Odours stimulate human senses. Depending on whether the experience is pleasant or unpleasant, the odour will be remembered as good or bad.” Although flowers like jasmine are seductive and Hydrogen Sulphide is repellent to everyone, most of our reactions to odours are personal. For example, I love the smell of wet grass - it suffuses me with memories of growing up. At the same time, my cousin displays symptoms of sadness with this smell because it reminds him of the day he was playing football and he fell down and broke his leg. The sense of smell is at the heart of remembering and emotion. Places develop a “nest” odour. I can remember when I was a child; I was uncomfortable entering the house of one of my friends because of its unfamiliar odour. My friend’s brain used to ignore this smell because it found the smell inconsequential - rather like someone with glasses who doesn’t feel the slight pressure of the glasses on his nose after a while. Odour molecules float in the air and when we sniff, these molecules go into a hole near the brain by our nostrils and become warm and humidify. The molecules adhere to little mucus-bathed patches of skin. Here, in a process that’s still a mystery to science, the molecules bind to receptors on tiny hair-like cilia at both ends of the olfactory nerves, or neurons, which send messages to the brain. When I smelled a jasmine flower, a pleasurable signal travelled immediately into the limbic region of my brain,

evoking emotions and memories of my grandmother. The signal passes by a single nerve connection, which is called the synapse, at the olfactory bulbs (unlike the sensations of sight, sound, and touch that reach the limbic lobe across more synapses). The bulbs are above the nose, and are extensions of the brain that send the smell signal into the limbic lobe. The part of the brain’s tissue which is related to smell works very well. Even though we may not be aware of smells, they have a very privileged access to where our senses really live. The primitive animal’s brains were mostly limbic lobes. In humans the limbic lobe is covered with neo-cortex and has a profound effect on our body metabolism. The hypothalamus - via the pituitary gland - affects the limbic region and it influences the entire endocrine hormones that regulate body metabolism, insulin, stress and much more.

and lows of music. Nature protects what is essential for survival. A blind rat still lives very well, but without a sense of smell he cannot find food or mate. It is interesting to know that the olfactory system of a dog is more advanced than that of humans. Dogs can smell a footprint and follow it and find objects from long distances. The odours they smell could be a mixture of pleasant and unpleasant odours. But indeed - thanks to our benevolent Creator - we can choose what we smell. We can enjoy odours that we choose to smell because they are pleasurable and avoid those we do not find pleasant. For example when we pick up a flower and bring it near to our nose, it means that we want to smell its odour. If it was not due to our selective sense of smell, life as we know it would become incredibly difficult for us. •

The ears’ neurons are separated from outside by tympanum, just like the eyes that are separated by the cornea. But olfactory receptors are in the environment and directly reach the brain. Olfactory neurons can replace themselves unlike the body’s other nerve cells. As Dr. Pasquale Graziadei, a neurobiologist explains: “If you damage a nerve cell of your brain, you will never regain it. Lose the cells of your spinal cord, you have paralysis. Blow the neurons in your retina or your ear, and you cannot repair the damage. Since olfactory nerve cells can be replaced, the sense of smell has to be very important. Nature does not ever do anything for fun.” He also believes that to some extent the brain depends on the nose for its own development. In fact the olfactory system is very plastic. Removal of a tadpole’s nose causes that part of its brain to fail to develop but removal of the olfactory bulb of a mouse leads new neurons to try to recreate the bulb in the brain. Remove 90% of the bulb, and the animal smells very well but chop off only half of the human ear and we lose all the highs

Ghazaleh Kamrani is a cellular and molecular biology undergraduate student.

Health Medical Editor Laleh Lohrasbi

CANCER Cancer UPDATE update

were chosen and given standard chemotherapy treatment and half were also infected with the virus (vaccinated).

commonly prescribed for women whose PCOS hasn’t responded to hormonal treatment alone.

Six months later, the illness was more likely to be stable in vaccinated patients than in those just taking chemotherapy drugs. Six month “progression free survival” was 43% for vaccinated patients and 35% for those on chemotherapy.

In new research from the Mayo Clinic, ovarian cancer patients who took the drug metformin survived longer than patients who did not. After five years, 67% of women who took metformin had not died from ovarian cancer, compared to 47% of women without diabetes who did not take the drug.

However this study leaves a lot of unanswered questions and further research is needed to see whether the vaccine will actually improve survival for lung cancer patients.

Dr Laleh Lohrasbi reviews a number of developments in the fight against different type of cancers

ccording to some recent news reports, Canada is currently in the grip of a lung cancer crisis, made worse by the fact that the disease has been woefully neglected. Despite the prediction that tens of thousands will die this year due to lung cancer, scientists and medical experts have made remarkable breakthroughs in the wider fight against cancer, one of mankind’s most destructive enemies. Last year alone witnessed a raft of advances.

Melanoma is the most dangerous form of skin cancer which occurs as

While cancer researchers are excited about the possibility of this potential low-cost way of saving

Hopes for lung cancer vaccine

A small preliminary study, published in 2012, introduced a new vaccine which may extend the lives of patients with lung cancer by an average of 14.5 months. This vaccine which is not yet available to the public, works just like any other vaccine, by training the body’s immune system.

Fast melanoma diagnosis

Scientists at the BC Cancer Agency of America have developed a tool that can diagnose a mole’s malignancy within minutes in contrast to current methods which may take weeks. The device shines a ray of light at a mole or skin lesion and then uses a spectrometer to record the optical signal coming back to reveal if the compositional changes in the skin are cancerous or not.

Researchers from the Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics at Shandong University in China analysed 37 studies involving more than 1.5 million people. They concluded that Metformin can reduce the incidence of overall cancer, liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer and breast cancer as well as mortality from overall cancer, liver cancer and breast cancer.

malignant tumours of the pigmentproducing melanocytes. Melanomas often resemble moles. The majority of melanomas are black or brown, pink, red, purple, blue and white but they can also resemble skin colour. Melanoma is caused mainly by intense, occasional UV exposure. Catching melanoma early can save lives. The American Cancer Society estimates a 97%, five-year survival rate for those treated for stage IA melanoma.

The idea is that when a cell becomes cancerous and divides uncontrollably, it starts to look different. Proteins on the surface of the cells change and the immune system can be trained to spot these changes. This vaccine is a modified smallpox virus which is genetically modified to make cancerous cell surface proteins. When these viruses enter the blood, the body’s immune system identifies them as foreign intruders and makes antibodies to eliminate them. In this trial which was done at the University of Strasbourg, patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer

Cheap drug to fight cancer

While pharmaceutical companies spend billions of dollars to develop innovative, expensive drugs for cancer, it seems that a cheap existing diabetes drug may present a better alternative. This surprising breakthrough involves a drug which has been on the market for some years now. Metformin, a generic drug, used to treat diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) seems to be effective in slowing down the cancer cell. Metformin is the generic name for an oral drug that was approved by the FDA in 1994 to lower blood sugar. It was later found to stimulate ovulation, regulate periods, and increase fertility in women with PCOS and is now

Using viruses to destroy rapidly growing tumours is an emerging field in cancer therapy but the important challenge is to get the viruses deep inside the tumours, where they can do their job. A team from the University of Sheffield uses the blood cells as Trojan horses to deliver the viruses deep into the tumours. After chemotherapy or radiotherapy there is damage to the tissue causing a surge in white blood cells which swamp the area to help repair the damage. The team extracted the macrophages (a part of the immune system which normally attacks foreign invaders) from the blood samples and mixed them with a virus which becomes a passenger in the white blood cells. These white blood cells were then injected into the mice two days after the chemotherapy. At the end of the 40-day study all the mice were still alive and no sign of tumours remained. The team hopes to begin the human trial next year. Dr Kate Holmes, head of research at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “If this treatment goes on to be successful in human trials, it could mark substantial progress in finding better treatments for men with prostate cancer which has spread to the bone.” •

lives, large scale clinical trials are still needed to confirm the findings. Trojan-horse for cancer

therapy

American researchers in California announced last year that they successfully used a modified smallpox virus to infect and kill breast cancer cells in mice. This research was focused on the “triple-negative breast cancer type” for which no long-term treatment options are currently available.

Human body parts;

natural regeneration or artificial technology The possibility of naturally regenerating damaged body parts such as the kidney, liver or even heart have put these organs on top of the much sought after organ-transplant list but some organs such as the windpipe - which connects the nose and mouth to the lungs – or limbs, are not easy to find. Recently, only the second man-made trachea implant using synthetic microfibres and a bath of stem cells from the bone marrow of a patient whose own trachea was destroyed by cancer, was performed by a Swedish surgeon. Such techniques represent the future of regenerative medicine, in which stem cells of all kinds, including those made from patients’ own skin cells, can serve as the basis for generating any type of cell or tissue that needs to be replaced or repaired. Organ transplantation from a donor to a patient’s body has been practised for centuries but rejection and the side effects of preventing rejection (especially infection, nephropathy and medication used to stop rejection) may always be the key problem. The body’s immune system usually protects it from substances that may be harmful such as bacteria, viruses, poisons, and cancer cells. These harmful substances have proteins on their surfaces called antigens. As soon as these antigens enter the body, the immune system recognises them as foreign and attacks them. In the same way, with an organ that is not matched with the patient’s cell, antigens can trigger a blood transfusion reaction or transplant rejection. Life after organ transplantation is usually a hard one and even the drugs which suppress the immune system to stop rejection have numerous side effects. That is why scientists are always looking for new ways to reduce or eliminate the rejec-

the killer mosquitoes

tion risk. Stem cells are biological cells found in most multicellular organisms that can divide and differentiate into different specialised cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells. Stem cells can be grown in vitro (outside the body), in specific lab conditions and transform into different body cells such as muscles, nerves, cartilage in joints, skin, bone tissue and kidney. These cells then can be transplanted to the human body to repair damaged or dysfunctional organs. Besides the natural regeneration of body parts, the technology of making artificial organs is getting more and more advanced by the day. A study published last April in Advanced Functional Materials revealed that an Iranian team of bioengineers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) had created artificial heart tissue that closely mimics the functions of natural heart tissue through the use of humanbased materials. In this method, a rubber like gel material made from a protein which is responsible for the human tissues’ elasticity was used to make a high elastic micro-pattern gel. Dr Nasim Annabi, PhD, BWH-Renal Division, stated that the micro-patterned gel provides elastic mechanical support of natural heart muscle tissue as demonstrated by its ability to promote attachment, spreading, alignment, function and communication of heart muscle cells. Ali Khademhosseini, PhD, BWH Division of Biomedical Engineering, said: “As we continue to move forward with finding better ways to mend a broken heart, we hope the biomaterials we

Fighting A prick to the skin, a scratchy red swelling and possibly even a serious illness, these are the first signs of a mosquito attack in which human blood is sucked up to develop its fertile eggs.

engineer will allow us to successfully address the limitations of current artificial tissues.” On the other hand in recent years, thanks to a high-tech quantum leap in producing false limbs, it has become possible for millions of amputees to walk, climb stairs and even compete in high-level sports without stress. Computerised bionic prosthetic limbs use the latest advances in computer, sensor, electric motor and battery technology to give the limbs bionic capabilities. In this technology, sensors monitor the user’s motions and use the data to predict what the person is trying to do through programmed microprocessors. Last December scientists at the University of Pittsburgh announced that a woman paralysed from the neck down had been successfully fitted with a robotic hand that can be controlled by her thoughts. In her case two microelectrode arrays were implanted in the left motor cortex. These microelectrodes were conducted to the robotic hand, then after 14 weeks of training she learned how to use the artificial hand. Future generations will decide whether naturally regenerated or artificially made organs are more useful for human life. •

When the female mosquito lays eggs, it needs more protein supplies which can only be obtained by sucking a host’s blood. When the mosquito sucks blood it also injects a combination of saliva and anticoagulant compounds into the blood which may contain infecting elements. However the process of attraction begins long before the landing. Mosquitoes can smell their dinner from an impressive distance of up to 50 metres. Mosquitoes are important vehicles in the transmission of some animal diseases. These small creatures can easily transmit viruses or parasites from animal to animal, from animals to people and from person to person without being affected by the symptoms of the disease. The insect’s body recognises the virus or parasite as a foreign intruder and chops off its genetic coding, rendering it harmless to itself. Scientists know that genetics account for a whopping 85% of our susceptibility to mosquito bites. They’ve also identified certain elements of our body chemistry that, when found in excess on the skin’s surface, make mosquitoes flock closer. Fredros Okumu a scientist from the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania, has designed a mosquito killing trap

using the rancid smell of human feet, collected on sock pads worn by local soccer players. Okumu who has lost family members to malaria, hopes that if this method is used in tandem with mosquito nets and insect repellents, it will dramatically reduce the number of mosquito bites. In another attempt to combat these killer mosquitoes, scientists around the world have tried genetic engineering options. A British biotechnology company has found a way to genetically manipulate Aedes aegypti, the mosquito species mainly responsible for transmitting dengue and yellow fever viruses. The mosquitoes had been genetically modified to be sterile, so that when they mated with the indigenous female mosquitoes there would be no offspring. The company released millions of mutant mosquitoes into a 40-acre area of the Cayman Islands, 3 times a week from May to October 2010. By August the same year the population of mosquitoes had dropped by 80%. Australian scientists, meanwhile, have developed a new strategy involving use of a bacterium which naturally infects many insect species and has the ability to interfere with its host’s reproductive characterisation. When mosquitoes are infected by these bacteria, their ability to transmit dengue virus is almost completely blocked. Mosquito borne diseases like malaria, dengue and West Nile, kill more people than any other disease in the world and more than 700 million are affected

worldwide. Nearly a million people die from malaria each year, of which more than 85% happen to be in Africa: this equates to one fatality every 30 seconds. A large parasite prevalence survey showed that out 1.38 billion people at risk of stable malaria, 0.69 billion were found in Central and South East Asia, 0.66 billion in Africa, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia, and 0.04 billion in the Americas. This means that a large portion of the Muslim population worldwide is at risk of being affected by this deadly disease. Some Islamic organisations have been helping to control mosquito borne diseases in Africa and Asia. They have managed to launch malaria treatment and prevention projects focussing on pregnant women and children under five. Their aim is to reduce the rate of infant mortality and decrease malaria and anaemia cases among pregnant women in regions such as the Blue Nile State of Sudan, the Afder zone of Ethiopia and the Warrap region of Kenya. In the meantime the challenge for scientists is also to find similar low risk ways of controlling malaria. •

Dr Laleh Lohrasbi is a pharmacologist. She has worked as an editor for the medical section of “Hamshahri”, a daily newspaper in Tehran.

Places

Salé

City of Scholars

and Saints

Walking around the town of Salé, Cleo Cantone describes the large presence of Islamic madrasas, shrines and mosques and how after many centuries they still hold together the urban fabric of the city

nown as Al-Adouatein or the cities of the two banks, Salé and Rabat are rival riverine cities. Of the two twins, Salé (pronounced Sala) is the elder despite the uncertain date of its foundation. According to the 10th century Arab historian Ibn Hawkal el-Baghdadi, the port on the Atlantic known as Salé was situated on the right bank of the river and indeed, this was the city captured by the founder of Morocco, Moulay Idriss I, a great grandson of Hasan ibn Ali(a). Successive Arab dynasties ruled over but rarely from Salé. The urban development of the city began in earnest in the 11th century under the Banu Ashara with the construction

of a palace on the site of the present Grand Mosque. These were none other than Umayyad princes who had come to settle with an iqta’ (Islamic land grant) given by the Umayyad emir of Cordoba as recompense for a contingent of Berbers. The area still known as Blida was where the mosque was built and the residential area followed. Various families came to settle in the area giving rise to the names of the growing city’s quarters: Zenata, Derb Kheiar, etc. Later, under the Almoravid dynasty, several erudite families from Andalus emigrated to Salé in search of a quieter life, far from the constant skirmishes that prevailed in Spain. The increasing number of residents called for the construction of a new mosque, Jamaa Shehba, on the other side of the city,

which served as the Friday mosque while the Grand Mosque was rebuilt by the Almohad ruler, Abu Yussef. The oldest Friday mosque had started to sink into the ground to the extent that one had to step down to enter it, as Mohammed, a local jeweller, remembers. In the 1970s the mosque was entirely rebuilt and is currently surrounded by shops. One of the striking particularities of Salé is the disproportionate ratio between mosques on the one hand, and mausoleums and zawiyas (shrines)

on the other: the latter outnumber the former at least ten to one. The city’s two most imposing mausoleums belong to two towering saintly figures: Sidi ‘Adb Allah ben Hassoun (d. 1604) known as sultan al-bled (sultan of the country) and Sidi Ahmad ben Ashir (d.1362/4) or al-Tbib (the Doctor). A series of minor funerary monuments, like the Sufi paths or tariqas, lead to the unifying place of worship embodied by the Great Mosque. It is this relationship between the constellation of Sufi shrines

and the monumental main mosque that holds together the urban fabric of the city where other activities, namely the local crafts, now sadly demised, used to flourish. When I have asked a passer-by to identify the zawiya or mausoleum I happen to be photographing, the word shirk has been uttered to indicate the disapproval of visiting saints’ shrines. The very fact that many are renovated and maintained indicates that popular devotion to these places

has not altogether vanished. Although this is not the place to discuss the religious validity of visiting shrines, what cannot be discounted is their role in strengthening faith communities and offering alternative help not always affordable or available through more conventional channels. Elusive conditions such as schizophrenia have continued to receive attention from ‘traditional healers’ as opposed to medical doctors. Sidi ben Asher was in fact known for his healing gift,

particularly in the area of mental health. The cult of saints in Morocco dates from around the 12th century when one of the earliest holy men ‘Abd ‘Ali Shriahi al-Bakaye (after his native town of Shriahi) migrated to Morocco from Andalus. Also dating to the 12th century is the shrine of Sidi Mussa Dukkali facing the ocean. Thereafter many holy men created zawiyas, libraries and hospices, offered accommodation and above all education. Few were the zawiyas dedicated to wellknown tariqas - Kadiriyya, Shadiliyya, Tijaniyya - whose founders had extra-local origins. Local personalities attracted murids (students) who even fought alongside their masters: Ahmed Hajji (d. 1691) was both a sheikh and a mujahid (renewer of the faith) whose followers joined him in his liberation campaign of the citadel of al-Mehdiya (Maamora) from their Iberian occupiers. Following the success of this campaign, teachers from other prestigious centres of learning flocked to his zawiya. Under the Merinids (13-15th centuries) learning was formalised into medersas of which there were two in Salé: Medersa Attalaa next to the Great Mosque, also known as Abu’l Hassan after its founder, and Medersa Abu Inaya, inside the old Mellah, which specialised in teaching pharmacy and medicine. Yet the plethora of holy places continued

to be built up until the middle of this century. The Zawiya Sediqiya was built to commemorate the death of Sheikh Seddiq Laghmani (buried in

Tangiers in 1883) and situated in the old Jewish quarter. This zawiya has seen better days: stripped bare of any

chandeliers or lamps, it is in a sad state of disrepair. By contrast, the zawiya of Sidi Abdellah ben Hassun situated near the Grand Mosque enjoys substantial patronage and during the eve of the Mowlud (so as not to clash with Sidi ben Asher’s celebration on the day of the Prophet’s birthday), it becomes the object of a colourful procession of candles. The dome over the mausoleum was erected under Moulay Ismail and the shrine was enlarged recently. Richly carved painted stucco and geometric patterned zillij (sculpted lustre tiles) adorn the interiors. But the fulcrum of Slawi (the name given to Salé’s residents) veneration revolves undoubtedly around the city’s patron saint, Sidi Ben Asher, whose shrine is

located in the cemetery that bears his name and is surrounded on three sides by the walls of Borj Addumun. Initially buried under a fig tree, Abdullah ibn Ismail then erected a domed chamber and others have continued to renovate and expand the shrine ever since. Regardless of the number of shrines still standing, it is the number of zuwwar (shrine visitors) to the smaller zawiyas in particular that has declined dramatically. Were it not for the candle procession of the two main saints, there is little doubt that a further decline in maintenance and attendance will follow. Ironically, the origins of these processions derive from Christian Spain: they were initiated by the Emirs and ulema of Sebta in the 13th century as a response to Christmas celebrations. The use of candles started in the 16th century but was actually Ottoman in inspiration. The candles are arranged to imitate lanterns and suspended from the domed chamber of the saints’ tombs until the day of the procession. If candles ensure the success of the procession’s spectacle, it is the women who patiently thread them into vibrant patterns who hold the key to keeping alive the cult of saints. It is this intersection between faith and folklore, devotion and worship and between Sufism and orthodox Sunnism that enriches Islam in Morocco, thus far seemingly impervious to extremist influences the likes of which have caused the destruction of numerous places of worship and Sufi shrines throughout the Muslim world. Despite the dwindling numbers of devotees, the popular lore of Salé’s patron saints lives on. •

Dr Cleo Cantone holds a PhD from the University of London. Her book “Making and Remaking Mosques in Senegal”, based on her doctoral research, has recently been published by Brill.

Through June

Friday Nights Thought Forum London’s weekly open gathering.

Time: 19:30- 21:00 Venue: Islamic Centre of England

2 June 2013

Imam KHOMEINI CONFERENCE 2013 “The Impact of Imam Khomeini on the Politics of the 21st Century” Speakers: Ayatollah Moezi Dr Ahmed Jalaali Dr Saeed Shehabi Shaykh Jabir Chandoo Shaykh Ahmed Haneef Sayyid Asad Jafri

Date: Sunday 2nd June 2013 Time: 1.30pm - 7.00pm Venue: Islamic Centre of England, 140 Maida Vale, London, W9 1QB

5 June 2013

The idea of ‘Islamic’ Education: Origins, challenges and possibilities Farid Panjwani (Institute of Education) Philosophy of Education seminar. All welcome.

Time: 17:30 to 19:15 Venue: Room 828, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL Tel: +44 (0)20 7612 6000 Email: syun@ioe.ac.uk Web: www.ioe.ac.uk/newsEvents/85813. html

7 - 8 June 2013

want to come on either the 7th June or the 8th June or both (The conference is supported by Christian Solidarity International) There is no Conference Fee.

Time: 7 June 2.30 – 6.00, 8 June 9.30 – 7.00 Venue: The Nissan Lecture Theatre, St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford Contact: Dr Ahmed Al-Shahi Email: ahmed. al-shahi@sant.ox.ac.uk Tel: 01865-284707 (International: 00+44+1865+284707)

8 June 2013

Annual Multi-faith Pilgrimage for Peace in Hertfordshire Organiser : Westminster Interfaith Association This is the 28th annual multi-faith pilgrimage for peace. The programme consists of travelling by coach to most places of worship. Early registration is essential. Refreshments will be provided at most places of worship, including lunch and tea /supper.

Tickets : £12.00 Time: 9:15 am Venue: Holy Rood RC Church, Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom Contact: Telephone: 07527 758729 020 7228 2795 Email: jondaldin@rcdow.org.uk Web: www.faithsforum4london.org/event/ annual-multi-faith-pilgrimage-for-peace-inhertfordshire/

Revival of the Sisterhood: Ramadhan Charity Dinner and Eid Souk 2013 Special Guests: Nazreen Nawaz (Reviving Sisterhood) Shohana Khan (Female Liberation: A

The Future of Religious Minorities in the Middle East, North Africa and the Two Sudans (Conference)

returning to Allah)

The organiser requires that you book a seat early and indicate whether you

3 Course Meal, Games and Activities, Eid Souk

woman’s perspective)

Julie Breen (Turning to Allah before

Ladies only (Boys under 10 allowed)

Summit To Eat

Free crèche for children aged below 6, limited spaces, must book!

The Snowdon Challenge

Tickets: £30 Time: 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM Venue: The Waterlily, 69-89 Mile End Road, London E1 4TT Contact: Web: http://ramadan2013.wix. com/sisterhood

15 June 2013

Science, Scientism and the Challenge of Islam Delivered by: Professor Bruno Abdal-Haqq Guiderdoni [Director of Research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and Director of the Observatory of Lyon] The courses are open to all but spaces are limited. Entry is through prior registration only. Prayer facilities available and coffee/tea provided during break sessions.

Tickets: £40 Time: 9am – 5pm Venue: Birkbeck College, Malet St, London WC1E 7HX Contact: Web: http://islamiccourses.org/ courses/scientism/

The Urban Muslim Woman Show The Urban Muslim Woman Show is aimed solely at promoting strong and independent female professionals, entrepreneurs, designers and students within the Muslim community. It is a celebration of the achievements and successes of Muslim women and aims to inspire future generations with messages of empowerment and support.

Tickets: £45.00 Time: 4:30 pm Venue: Novotel London West Contact: Email: events@ urbanmuslimwoman.co.uk Web: www.urbanmuslimwoman.co.uk Tel: 0844 871 8819 or 0203 384 6839

The Summit To Eat Snowdon Challenge is about orphans and needy children around the world. The organisation raises money to help give over 40,000 orphans and needy children a healthy and nutritious diet. Everyone is welcome. • Pre-event registration is essential. confirmation will be sent in good time. • All sponsorship money raised should be handed in by Friday 28th June 2013.

Time: All day Venue: Mount Snowdon, Snowdonia National Park, Wales Contact: Web: http://events.muslimhands. org.uk/item/418331

17-18 June 2013

2nd Global Halal Trade & Logistics Summit The 2nd Global Halal Trade & Logistics Summit is a platform for exchange of ideas and information and is a networking and business development opportunity for professionals in the halal compliance, manufacturing, logistics and supply chain industries internationally. Malaysia will play host to this important event in June followed by Abu Dhabi in October 2013.

Time: 8:00 am Venue: InterContinental, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: +603 7662 6888 Web: www.kwhalal.com Email: anne.williams@kwg.com.sg

21-22 June 2013

Sensing the Sacred: Religion and the Senses, 1300 1800 Religion has always been characterised

as much by embodied experience as by abstract theological dispute. From the sounds of the adhân (the Islamic call to prayer), to the smell of incense in the Hindu Pûjâ (a ritual offering to the deities), the visual emblem of the cross in the Christian tradition, and the ascetic practices of Theravada Buddhism, sensation is integral to a range of devotional practices.

governments and tribes on their peripheries.

Time: 9:00am - 7:00pm Venue: Berrick Saul Building, HRC, Heslington campus, University of York Web: www.york.ac.uk/crems/events/ sensingthesacred/ Email: sensingthesacred@york.ac.uk

26 June 2013

Time: 18:00-19:00 Venue: The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, 10 St James’s Square, London SW1Y 4LE Web: www.chathamhouse.org/events/ view/191005

Seeds of Change Believed to be the largest Muslim Women’s conference to take place in Europe.

Shubbak Festival

Tickets: £30.00 Venue: Park Plaza, Westminster Bridge Road, London Web: www.iera.org/seeds-of-change

The Shubbak festival celebrates contemporary culture from across the Arab world.

27 June 2013

22 June-6 July 2013

The event offers a feast of visual arts, architecture, dance, design, film, literature, music, discussion and debates from today’s most innovative Arab artists.

Shubbak - which means “window ” in Arabic - was launched by the Mayor of London’s office in July 2011 and is now a biennial event.

Venue: Various venues Contact: Web: www.shubbak.co.uk

25 June 2013

Doing Business in the Middle East The Middle East Association in partnership with Intuition languages; will be running a cross cultural training seminar on how to build successful business relations in the Middle East.

Tickets : Members £275 + VAT (£330), Non members £395 + VAT (£474) Time: 10am-4.30pm Venue: MEA offices, Bury House, St James’s, London SW1Y 6AX Web: http://the-mea.co.uk/event/doingbusiness-in-the-middle-east/

Muslim Tribes and the War on Terror (Members Events) Participants:

Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, American University in Washington, DC; Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution. Drawing on 40 case studies of societies across the Muslim world, the speaker will argue that the ‘war on terror’ has become a global war on tribal Islam. He will discuss how the war is reviving old tensions and exacerbating alreadybroken relationships between central