Islam today - issue 9 - July 2013

issue 9 vol.1 July 2013

The Holy Month of Ramadhan Safeguarding our children Islam opposed to terror

UK ÂŁ3.00

Thirsting for Faith Hungry for Justice

Contents Editorial team July 2013 Issue, 9 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 better 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.

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Editorial 5

Magnetism; Cube magnet and iron shavings by Ahmed Mater

Praying for deliverance

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News 6

Contact us Information

info@islam-today.net

Letters to the Editor

letters@islam-today.net

Contributions and Submissions

submit@islam-today.net

Subscriptions

subscriptions@islam-today.net

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16 Muhammad Amin Evans

Batool Haydar

Muhammad Haghir

Elham Ostad-Saffari

Nadia Jamil

Frank Julian Gelli

Nehad Khanfar

Hamid Waqar

Tahereh Shafiee

Hannah Smith

Yasser Ahmed

Jahangir Mohammed Masoud Tehrani Mohammad Sobhanie

Gouache on gesso Lateefa Spiker; a British/American classical painter

Sheikh Abdullah Quilliam and Britain’s first Mosque

Politics 24

Insurance, the Islamic way Nehad Khanfar explains why Islamic insurance practices can provide an enticing alternative to the current western system

www.islam-today.net

Alexander Khaleeli

23 Jahangir Mohammed explains the significance of 8 Brougham Terrace, Liverpool, and introduces the inspiring figure behind its fascinating history

The Place to Be The Holy Qur’an (anytime, anyplace, anywhere)

News from around the world

Life & Community 10

Masterpeice

Landslide Victory Gives Mandate to Rowhani The newly elected president may be a more formidable interlocutor than his predecessor, says Reza Murshid

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Stagnate or Soar? The Choice is yours

Benevolent Imperialism?

Mohsen Biparva reviews David Cromwell’s latest book ‘Why Are We The Good Guys?

Reclaiming Your Mind from the Delusions of Propaganda’

Batool Hayder asks if we can do things differently this Ramadhan to avoid spiritual stagnation

Feature

Youth matters 18

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How to understand the other youth

After the murder of an off-duty soldier in London, Muslim communities across the UK have faced a new series of reprisal attacks. Masoud Tehrani examines the fallout

Yasser Ahmed suggests ways to connect the “Islamically-aware” youth with those who are less observant of their faith

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Arts 20

Bloodletting in London

Safeguarding our children Porn is a constant danger on the internet.

Tahereh Shafiee asks if governments and ISP networks should be doing more to protect children

Heritage Manuscript and drawing of Sughrat (Socrates) - 13th century

Mohsen Biparva In the Spotlight

Back Cover

Painter, ceramicist and sculpture Maysaloun Faraj

Taj Mahal (crown of palaces) Agra, India.

Built by Shah Jahan emperor in 1648 Declared UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983

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.

Cover 38

Thirsting for faith, Hungry for justice Alexander Khaleeli reminds us of the spiritual and political significance of fasting during the holy month of Ramadhan

Islamic Centre of England

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Editorial

Contents 58

Opinion 40

Laleh Lohrasbi examines medical opinion on the facts surrounding mastectomy

The Formation of Public Opinion & The Production of Mass Culture Muhammad Haghir argues that the decisions we make are conditioned by our exposure to the information and opinions fed to us by an agenda-driven media

Places 60

Faith 42

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The Holy Month of Ramadhan Ramadhan is a blueprint for how we must behave for the rest of the year, says Mohammad Sobhanie

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Ramadhan; a 30-day challenge Nadia Jamil looks forward to Ramadhan as a challenge to gain proximity to God

Interfaith

Reconstructing Islamic Architecture in the West Muhammad Amin Evans gives his ideas on how Islamic places of worship in the west should be constructed

Islam Opposed to Terror Hamid Waqar believes that extreme beliefs arise from individual mis-interpretations of scripture and not from the tenets of Islam

Prophylactic Mastectomy

What & Where 64

Listings and Events Friday Nights Thought Forum - Islamic Centre of England Contemporary Art from the Middle East Noor Foundation 10km Run 4 miles for smiles, Islamic Help’s ‘Smiles Better’ campaign Gaza Cup by Islamic Help Neo-Aramaic Dialects (Conference) Nubia in the New Kingdom

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The Sleepers of Ephesus Recalling the story of the Sleepers of the Cave, Frank Gelli asks if today’s state of affairs calls for a return to the cave

Journey through the Qur’an The Fourth International Conference on Quranic Studies Modern Arab Renaissance Animals and African art (Gallery talk)

Science 48

Grandfather of Test Tube Baby Dies Elham Ostad Saffari looks at IVF and its religious and ethical implications, 35 years after the first test tube baby

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Analogy: the heart of human intellection Hannah Smith parallels analogical reasoning with the divine guidance that explains everything from ethics to the unseen

Health 56

How to fast healthily Considering the close relationship between body and soul, Laleh Lohrasbi believes that successful fasting requires a healthy body to take us through a spiritual journey

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Praying for deliverance

Seminar for Arabian Studies (Conference) MBI Lecture: Arab navigation (Lecture) Surah Yusuf presented by Shaykh Dr M Akram Nadwi

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.

S

ome religious practices are so much part of the human experience that there is no need to explain or discuss them. One of these is fasting, prescribed almost by all religions in one form or another as a prelude to living an ascetic life or in preparation for spiritual selfdevelopment. The fact that today many in the West see fasting as an anachronistic ritual is a reflection primarily of the condition of “modern man” who has lost touch with his spiritual dimension, settling on the lower plains of material existence making it impossible for the opening of the human soul to the spiritual life.

In Islam, fasting is promulgated in two forms; obligatory during the holy month of Ramadhan and recommended for other periods of the year. Muslims across the world have safeguarded this fortress of spirituality and continue to do so with renewed anticipation creating an atmosphere of excitement that has become synonymous with this season.

The basic principle of fasting is abstention, not for the sake of others but for God. Fasting Muslim men and women remind us that they have chosen God over the world of passions. The result of this systematic restraint is a heightened sense of perception, a realisation that although we are in this world, we are not of it. With this spiritual awareness, food and drink which are taken for granted throughout the year, are perceived in their true significance; as

a gift from God. In this issue we have allocated a few pages to the Holy Month. In the cover story titled Thirsting for Faith - Hungry for Justice, Alexander Khaleeli touches upon the political message behind fasting and how it “serves as a reminder of the harsh reality that many of our fellow human beings endure.” To this I would add that in many cases we, human beings, are responsible for this harsh reality.

Ramadhan is the time to remember those who are less fortunate and an opportunity to reinforce the spiritual reason for fighting hunger, poverty and injustice.

With much trouble and violence dominating our world, this year has been a difficult one especially for Muslims.

From the Arab uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East to the Rohingya Muslims of Burma, violent protests and repressive regimes have added to the suffering.

The seventh edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI) showed a 5% deterioration in the world’s peacefulness over a sixyear period. Regrettably Muslim countries top the list of the most troubled areas with Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria and Iraq. Syria’s score dropped by the largest margin.

Interestingly, all the above countries are included in the geopolitical strategy of the USA and its allies. Their presence as merchants of war has further aggra-

vated the condition of the people of this region. Western political machinations have turned neighbours against each other with disastrous consequences.

In a well-known tradition prophet Muhammad(s) said: “The believers, in their love, mutual kindness, and close ties, are like one body; when any part complains, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever.” And yet despite such clear words there are many who claim to be ‘believers’ who are all too readily shedding the blood of other Muslims.

Instead of trying to resolve their disputes among themselves, they are ready to take up arms given to them by the same merchants of war. They represent a dangerous element in an already complicated equation, with a simplistic logic, political naivety coupled with an extremist and exclusivist ideology. They are the perfect tools in the hands of those who wish to divide and rule.

There is a real threat for the flame of hate spreading across the Middle East with potentially devastating consequences for ordinary people. Unfortunately this is an area of the world long coveted by hegemonic powers for its strategic significance.

As the gates of blessings and mercy are opened even further during the month of Ramadhan we should spare no effort in praying for a speedy delivery from such treacherous conditions and the return of peace and mutual cooperation among the people of this region. •

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News UK

Campaign launched to boycott Israeli dates in Ramadhan The Muslim community in the UK plans to launch a campaign during Ramadhan against Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The campaign urges Muslims to boycott Israeli dates produced in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and Jordan Valley starting Friday 21 June - roughly two weeks before Ramadhan.

Nearly half of the settlements in the Jordan Valley grow dates, their most profitable crop, which contributes significantly to their economic viability.

The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) has announced it will hold a national day of action against Israeli settlement policy. ‘We want to draw everyone’s attention to the “Check the Label - Boycott Israeli Dates” campaign by holding a national day of action,’ MAB said in a statement.

The activities include distribution of leaflets outside mosques after Friday prayers and putting up posters in mosques and local shops. They will also list the big supermarkets that sell the Israeli dates, since some of them label the Israeli dates as their own products or label their origins as West Bank.

The campaign against the Israeli settlement policy is supported by more than 20 organisations, including Friends of Al-Aqsa and Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the biggest anti-Israeli group in the UK and Europe.

Israel produces huge quantities of Medjoul dates, which are grown in illegal

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Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Jordan Valley.

‘Buying these dates will mean that your money is going towards supporting the theft of Palestinian land and the oppression of Palestinians,’ asserts the MAB. The Israeli counter-argument is that a boycott will harm the Palestinians working in the settlements.

Campaigners respond by pointing out that those Palestinians earn paltry wages and do the back-breaking work Israeli settlers will not do themselves.

According to the Boycott Israel Campaign in the UK, over 50 percent of the world’s Medjoul dates are produced in Israel and 60 percent of Israeli dates are grown on illegal settlement plantations in the Jordan Valley. Israel’s revenue from its dates export stood at $265 million in 2011. Israeli settlements built on stolen and occupied Palestinian land have been ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice.

FRANCE

main attraction was the British label Fred Perry, whose polo shirts are highly sought after in France by skinheads as well as left-wingers.

The quest to buy reduced-price designer British labels at an event organised by email-invitation, had attracted young people of all types. A few hard-left, anti-fascist activists attending the sale rebuked a handful of skinheads who had shown up wearing ‘white power’ and ‘blood and honour’ T-shirts. Outside on the street, in a busy shopping area behind Paris’s major department stores, the altercation turned violent, with the skinheads allegedly calling for back-up and one possibly using a knuckle duster.

Meric, who suffered severe injuries from being beaten, is also believed to have hit his head on a metal post. He died in hospital shortly afterwards.

A student at Paris’s prestigious Institute of Political Studies and the son of law professors from Brittany, Meric had beaten leukaemia earlier in life.

The interior minister, Manuel Valls, blamed ‘an extreme right group’ for the murder. He said there had been

a ‘dangerous discourse’ in France for several weeks, a nod to the heated row over same-sex marriage and violent skirmishes on the fringes of the anti-gay marriage movement and demonstrations.

The left-wing former presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon said the fact that Marine Le Pen’s far-right Front National - which has increased its scores in elections and now has two MPs - had become normalised and ‘banal’ had allowed all types of extremeright movements to flourish.

The hard-left Parti de Gauche warned of ‘the fascist horror which has killed right at the heart of Paris’, while some of Meric’s fellow activists called his death ‘a political murder’.

Le Pen said the attack had nothing to do with her party and the Front National had ‘no contact, near or far’ with Meric’s attackers.

GERMANY Court decides divorce case based on Shari’a Law

The ruling is the latest in a growing number of court cases in Germany in which judges refer or defer to Islamic law because either the plaintiffs or the defendants are Muslim.

In the latest case, the Appeals Court in Hamm, a city in German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, ruled that whoever marries according to Islamic law in a Muslim country and later seeks a divorce in Germany must abide by the original terms set forth by Shari’a law.

The case involved a 23-year-old Iranian woman who married a 31-year-old Iranian man in Iran according to Shari’a law in 2009. The couple later immigrated to the German city of Essen. The couple had a daughter but then separated in 2011. A lower court in Essen granted the woman a divorce in November 2012 and the husband appealed the decision.

cial support for his wife for a period of six months.

The ruling has opened another round in a long-running debate about the role of Islam in German jurisprudence.

Supporters of the decision say it is fair and consistent with Article 14 of the Introductory Statute to the Civil Code which states that the law governing a marriage generally should be the law of the country in which the marriage took place. But critics of the ruling say it should not be the role of German courts to enforce the provisions of Shari’a law.

SOUTH AFRICA

The appeals court in Hamm sided with the woman because, according to the German judge, the couple agreed to abide by the principles of Shari’a law at the time they were married and thus the case should be decided according to Islamic law, regardless of whether the couple were now living in Germany.

The court ruled that the woman was

Fascist killing alarms French public

Muslim lawyers demand Obama’s arrest during his visit

The death of Clément Meric, 18, has shaken France, with thousands gathering in antifascist demonstrations across the country and political soul-searching about whether extreme far-right and neo-Nazi groups are enjoying resurgence and should be banned.

A group of Muslim lawyers in Johannesburg wants South Africa to arrest US President Barack Obama when the country hosts him on an upcoming state visit ‘because he is a war criminal’.

So far eight people linked to extreme right groups in France have been questioned by police after the death of the young anti-fascist campaigner who was beaten to death in an altercation with skinheads in central Paris.

The fatal altercation started at a private clothing sale in an apartment in central Paris where the

‘Obama ordered drone strikes that killed innocent civilians. In terms of the Rome Statute, South Africa has the right to prosecute a war criminal on its territory if there is sufficient evidence,’ Muslim Lawyers’ Association spokesman, Yousha Tayob, said.

An appeals court in north western Germany has decided a contentious divorce case based on Islamic Shari’a law.

legally entitled to divorce. The court also said the husband had violated the original terms of the Islamic marriage agreement by failing to provide finan-

Launched in 2007, the association provides legal services and advice to Muslims, locally and internationally, on issues that affect them. Membership of the association is open to judges, magistrates and prosecutors, among others.

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News it is ‘sad, but perhaps most importantly it’s dangerous.’

USA

Pompeo blamed the leaders of the Muslim community for not doing more to prevent these actions, hinting that they could be complicit in the deaths they have caused.

Muslim Americans sue US over harassment A judge in the United States has ruled that a discrimination case against the directors of the FBI, Customs and Border Patrol, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) should continue. The lawsuit alleges that the practice of disproportionately questioning Muslims at the border violates the implied equal-protection guarantee of the due process rights in the Fifth Amendment.

Muslims still face challenges despite growing in number The Muslim population is growing at a rate exceeding other religions, according to Statistics Canada. It is even growing faster than the number of Canadians identifying as having no religion, according to the National Household Survey.

The Muslim population exceeded the one million mark, according to the survey, almost doubling for the third consecutive decade. And with their numbers growing, the pressures are likely to mount.

‘We need to talk as Muslims, not as a community because there is not one community, and decide what we want to be accommodated and what we want to give up,’ said Alia Hogben, Executive Director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women.

The internal debate in the Muslim community sometimes gets side tracked, largely because of the backdrop of violence carried out in the name of religion, which Canadian Muslims regularly condemn.

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‘Polling has shown that Canadian Muslims are proud to be Canadian, more so than the average Canadian,’ said Ihsaan Gardee, Executive Director of the Canadian Council on AmericanIslamic Relations. ‘Canadian Muslims very much want to integrate and be part and parcel of the society,’ he added.

Pamela Dickey Young, a professor of religion and culture at Queen’s University said: ‘ ‘One-on-one, non-Muslims may have favourable views of their Islamic colleagues, but that feeling doesn’t always extend to the wider Muslim population. It isn’t like Canadian Muslims have not tried to educate the Canadian populace…but for some reason there’s still that edge with it that some Canadians have problems getting over.

Muslims now represent 3.2 per cent of Canada’s total population of 35 million, nudging up from the two per cent recorded in 2001. Immigration has largely driven the increase, with the largest share coming from Pakistan over the past five years, according to Statistics Canada.

The plaintiffs, four Muslim Americans, say they were detained and questioned each time they crossed the US-Canada border because of their religion. The outcome of this suit could decide if and when the border patrol can interrogate visitors, and even returning Americans, based on their religious beliefs and practices.

Judge Avern Cohn, a District Court judge for the Eastern District of Michigan, ruled that although the plaintiffs’ First Amendment claim – that their freedom of religion was infringed upon by the questioning – was unfounded, their Fifth Amendment complaint should go to court. Cohn explained that the only thing that was restricted was their ability to freely cross the border, not practise of any of their religious beliefs.

FBI Director Robert Mueller III, former acting Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner David Aguilar, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, along with individual agents, submitted a motion to dismiss the case, which the judge rejected.

The court order reads: ‘In short, the question before the court is whether the government has unfettered discretion to question at the border a specific class of individuals about their religious practices and beliefs after being profiled and detained solely because of those religious practices and beliefs.’

‘I know, not all Muslims support these actions,’ Pompeo said, but lamented that ‘the silence in the face of extremism coming from the best funded Islamic advocacy organisations and many mosques across America is deafening.’

Despite Pompeo’s allegations, Muslim leaders in the US have been anything but silent in the face of extremism.

Immediately after the identity of the alleged Boston bombers was revealed, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a statement, condemning terrorism.

The plaintiffs allege that they were asked intrusive questions such as which mosque they go to, how often and where they pray, who their religious leader is, and so on.

‘As Americans, we are a united force against any form of tyranny, whether it be in the form of terrorism or otherwise,’ CAIR Executive Director Basim Elkarra said. ‘Terrorism has no allegiance to faith or ethnicity, and we have been witness to that over the past few years.

What happened in Boston and Watertown does not reflect on anyone except for those who carried it out. It is not a reflection of ethnic identity, religion, or national affiliation.’

‘We are pleased that this important case will move forward,’ said Gadeir Abbas, co-counsel for the plaintiffs.

‘Those who faced unlawful government questioning about their religious beliefs will continue to have their day in court.’

The plaintiffs are looking for the judge to order the agencies to end any policy of questioning Muslims about their religious beliefs, and will also be requesting attorney’s fees and costs.

In a similar case in 2005, Tabbaa v.

Chertoff, five Muslim Americans sued DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff for singling out people returning to the US from a Toronto Islamic conference, subjecting them to interrogations, fingerprinting and photographing. The plaintiffs alleged that the DHS violated their rights under the First and Fourth Amendments to the US Constitution and under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The district court dismissed the case, explaining that the DHS was within its rights because of a government concern that terrorists might attend the conference.

Muslims shocked over Congressman’s claims Muslims in the United States are in a state of disbelief after hearing a Republican congressman claim on the House floor that members of Muslim communities in the United States have not condemned acts of Islamic extremist terrorism against the US and therefore are complicit in those and any future attacks.

Two months after the Boston Marathon bombing, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) said the ‘silence’ from Muslim leaders on terrorism is ‘deafening,’ adding that

Likewise, Muslim communities around the United States have made clear their disdain for terrorism. In the aftermath of Boston, the All Dulles Area Muslim Society began organising a workshop to prevent Muslim youths from being radicalised on the Internet.

The Muslim Public Affairs Council also partnered with the New America Foundation to work on the issue of tackling extremism and promoting moderate Islam in an age of digital radicalisation.

In fact, in the years since 9/11, MuslimAmerican leaders have condemned terrorism - from the failed Christmas Day bombing of a plane landing in Detroit to the 2005 London bombings to the very idea of terrorism - unequivocally.

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Sheikh Abdullah Quilliam

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Britain’s first Mosque Very soon the first ever mosque in Britain will once again open its doors to worshippers after being closed for over a century. Jahangir Mohammed explains its significance and introduces the inspiring figure behind its fascinating history

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At the rear of the building, in what was formerly the garden, is erected the ‘pro-Mosque’, a plain building, capable of accommodating from 150 to 200 worshippers”.

Born William Henry Quilliam to a Christian family in Liverpool, Quilliam embraced Islam in 1887 on a visit to Morocco, adopting the name Abdullah.

Whilst there, the intellectually gifted Quilliam had taken the trouble to qualify as an ‘alim (scholar) and when he returned to England he decided to spend his life serving Allah and spreading Islam. This led to a remarkable story of the spread of Islam in Victorian Britain that is only now beginning to emerge.

Interior of the original mosque

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lthough it is a little known fact, Britain’s first registered and functioning mosque was opened in 1889 in the heart of Liverpool. Then a booming port, the city was home to an assortment of Muslims from all over the world. Yet it was not an immigrant, but an eccentric, wealthy white Englishman who would step up to the challenge of meeting the embryonic community’s religious needs.

Sheikh Quilliam established the first Muslim institutions in Britain. After establishing the first mosque and the Liverpool Muslim Institute at No. 8 Brougham Terrace he purchased the remainder of the terrace numbers 8-12 and opened a boarding school for boys and a day school for girls.

He also opened an orphanage (Medina House) for non-Muslim children whose parents couldn’t look after them, and agreed for them to be brought up according to the values of Islam. In addition, the Institute operated educational classes covering a wide range of modern subjects that were attended by both Muslims and non-Muslims, and included a museum and science laboratory.

In the space of just a few years Sheikh Abdullah Quilliam not only founded a mosque but also laid the foundations of a vibrant Muslim community. The building was more than just a mosque; it was the home of the first Muslim community and Islamic institutions in Britain. It was also home to the first attempts at Muslim journalism and media in the UK, and the headquarters of the Muslim leadership in Britain.

An article in ‘The Religious Review of Reviews’ dating from the end of the 19th century described the mosque as follows: “The Institute occupies a large oldfashioned house situated in Brougham Terrace, and facing West Derby road, one of the busiest thoroughfares in Liverpool. Outside the house is a large noticeboard, headed with the well-known sentence, “There is only one God and

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Mahomet is His prophet and then follows the announcement of times when services are held. The interior of the premises has been fitted up as a Mahomedan Institute, and the various apartments are arranged as a library and reading-room, a museum, a small lecture-hall, and a chess and draughts room; while one portion is set apart for the residences of the caretakers.

In 1893 the Institute published a weekly magazine, named ‘The Crescent’, and later added the monthly journal the ‘Islamic World’, which was printed on the Institute’s own printing press in the basement of Brougham Terrace and distributed in over 20 countries.

The Crescent was published every week from 1893 -1908 (nearly 800 editions), and was effectively a diary and record of Islam in Britain and around the world. The publication represents the first attempt at Muslim journalism in the UK, offering a unique insight into British Muslims’ views of domestic and global issues, at a seminal period in the

life of the Muslim ummah under colonial rule. Every week Quilliam would record who embraced Islam, who visited the mosque, who passed away, and also discuss issues affecting Muslims.

There are hundreds of archive copies of these magazines in the British Library.

Without this unique weekly record we would not know of the existence of this, as well as other, native Muslim communities in Britain.

The Sheikh also wrote and published a number of books. In particular his “Faith of Islam” had three editions translated into 13 different languages, and was so popular that Queen Victoria ordered a copy and then re-ordered 6 copies for her children. Quilliam converted Christian hymns to Muslim ones, wrote many poems and even wrote a Muslim Anthem. The Institute grew, and by the turn of the century it held a membership of 200 predominantly English Muslim men, women and children from across the local community. Quilliam’s missionary zeal led to around 600 people in the UK embracing Islam, many of them very educated and prominent individuals in British society.

Using the many languages he spoke Quilliam soon became the most passionate advocate of Islam in the western world. His efforts didn’t go unnoticed in the Muslim world.

Sheikh Abdullah Quilliam remains the only legally appointed and officially recognised Muslim community leader we have had in Britain. In 1894, he was appointed Sheikh al-Islam of the British Isles by the last Ottoman Caliph, Sultan Abdul Hamid ll (as Sheikh al-Islam he issued many fatawa or religious rulings). The Emir of Afghanistan also recognised Quilliam as the Sheikh of Muslims in Britain and his personal representative. And he was appointed and acted as Persian Counsel to Liverpool by the Shah of Persia. From Africa to India, Quilliam was recognised as the leader of British Muslims.

Quilliam’s mosque was and remains a unique example for Muslims to follow.

It was a non-ethnic mosque with sailors and lascars praying side by side with British Muslims. The adhaan (call to

Artist impression of the proposed new mosque

prayer) would be called from the balcony on the top floor and echo around the neighbourhood. To his mosque he would invite the poor of Liverpool to eat. He would provide education for the poor and working classes. He would invite non-Muslims to weekly lectures about Islam. He would debate in public about Islamic solutions to social problems and defend Islam when it was attacked. He would also perform marriages and carry out funeral prayers, and record meticulously what happened in his mosque.

Quilliam eventually had to leave England after facing hostility and persecution - one of the earliest recorded Muslim experiences of Islamophobia in the UK. This period of his life with Sultan Abdul Hamid II in Turkey needs further research but if the rest of Quilliam’s eventful life is anything to go by it will probably be another remarkable story. Quilliam eventually returned to the UK and adopted the name Haroun Mustapha Leon. He passed away in 1932 near Woking, and was buried in an unmarked grave in Brookfield Cemetery, the resting place of other prominent Islamic figures including Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Marmaduke Pickthall and Lord Headley.

files were kept in the mosque part of the building. Staff would refer to this room as “the little mosque” without realising its history. Work is underway to refurbish the mosque section of the building and put it back into use, although plans for the full restoration and creation of the Heritage Centre will take much longer. The first works should finish in Ramadhan, insha-Allah, when “the little Mosque” with a big history and impact, will be open once more for the public to visit and recall this intriguing Islamic legacy. •

Jahangir Mohammed is a freelance writer and consultant as well as Director of the Abdullah Quilliam Heritage Centre.

More information on Abdullah Quilliam can be found at www.abdullahquilliam.com

After 1908 when the building was sold, the premises were purchased by Liverpool City Council and used as its registrar of births, deaths and marriages.

The duplicate copies of certificates and

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Insurance the Islamic way The UK insurance industry is worth more than three trillion pounds with profits going mainly into the coffers of insurance companies. Nehad Khanfar explains why Islamic insurance practices can provide an enticing alternative to the current western system

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slamic insurance has two functions.

One has a social dimension and the second an economic one. Regarding the latter, Islamic insurance operators invest the insurance money in real projects according to their governing regulations. With regards to the latter Islamic insurance is built on cooperation and solidarity between community

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members. This entails helping and supporting community members in case of injury, damage or loss of earnings caused by unforeseen circumstances.

Insurance is formed when members pool funds into a common account to compensate the contributors for any hardship that may arise in the future.

Sharing responsibility against accidents

demonstrates the community’s commitment towards helping its own members.

This form of insurance has its origin in the tribal system of solidarity that was practised before Islam - and supported by Islam as good practice - and known as Aaqila. According to this system the tribe shared the cost

of any damage caused by or for any of its members. The formalisation of the Islamic insurance system took place in the late 1970’s, when the first Islamic Takaful was established in Sudan and then followed by similar schemes in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain. Today Islamic insurance companies offer a combination of both community based solidarity insurance and economy based insurance.

with each other. One is mudarabah (partnership); in this system parties are considered as business partners, sharing skills, efforts, management and capital. The other system is wakalah (agency); in this arrangement the insurance operator plays the role of an agent. In mudarabah, the insurance operator uses his experience and skills to organise the insurance arrangement.

This agreement entitles the operator to invest the money paid to him and share the profits gained with the customer or the insured party according to what has been agreed in advance. The same idea would apply in the case of wakalah with the difference that the operator charges a wakalah fee in advance for investing and managing the insurance money.

The money returned to the insured party takes into account payment

decreasing unemployment. It also provides both financial and social security to its members (the policyholders) as not only are they protected against any future damage, but they also receive financial returns in the form of regular dividends.

Takaful also encourages the concept of business partnerships. Although the contributors donate money, they do so with the possibility of receiving a handsome return once compensating the members is taken into account.

Solidarity with the rest of community is expressed by individual contributors who give donations known as tabarru’ Islamic Takaful automatically deals involving them in the insurance process. with contributors as individual invesThe distinctive feature of the Takaful tors giving them legal rights to benefit operator is represented by the principle from their own money. This also that drives it, which is built on solidarity creates fairness and justice among the among the insurance contributors community as Takaful eliminates any rather than commercial interest; their sort of exploitation of communities. It main directive is to protect contribualso helps foster a sense of communal tors and not to maximise responsibility, helping bind their own profit. Takaful communities together. operators are contribuIslamic Takaful is now tors, not customers. They The insurer is an investment agent for the adopted and practised in have procedures to follow, many countries across the customer as well as an insurer. In both cases, the but due to the nature of world with Saudi Arabia Takaful the approach to money gained from investing insurance premiums in the lead, and Iran and compensation at local level is divided between the members.

Sudan following suit. is smoother. By contrast, Australia, Luxembourg, conventional insurance Singapore, and many more companies have to scrucountries are also adopting tinise their customers’ issued for agreed claims. Therefore the the system. claims in order to decrease compensainsurer is an investment agent for the tion and maximise their profits which The growth of an Islamic insurance customer as well as an insurer. In both leads to much longer claims procedures. sector in the economic system means cases, the money gained from investing more real investments based on real With conventional insurance customers insurance premiums is divided between assets. This in turn leads to more make payments to the insurance the members. economic prosperity and a more equicompany to insure themselves against By contrast, conventional insurance table method of distributing wealth. any future calamity or accident. If no companies do not normally invest for Taking into consideration the size of accident takes place the customers their customers; they solely invest for the the UK insurance industry, it makes cannot get their money back. The benefit of their owners or shareholders. sense for Islamic insurance companies money remains with the insurance None of the insured (customers) have to seriously consider entering it with an company which can fully utilise it for a right to any share or profit earned by alternative approach. • its own profit. In practical terms if the investment of the monies they have someone insures their car every year once paid. for 25 years, but makes no claim during this period, they would have paid a considerable amount of non-returnable money towards something with a high probability of no return.

The Islamic insurance system works rather differently. There are two arrangements by which the customers (insured) and the company (insurer) interact

Under Islamic law, the Islamic Takaful operators must invest the money paid to them by the contributors to further boost the economy, something which ultimately benefits the community.

These investments can be in the form of establishing new businesses and creating jobs - which has the positive effect of stimulating the economy and

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

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All Muslims are aware that this period is supposed to be a time of revival and refreshing oneself, of reining in material desires and putting in some extra effort to become better Muslims. We repeat traditions and quote verses that the real purpose of fasting is not to discipline the body, but rather to discipline the soul. We speak of the need to spend more time on connecting with God and forming a strong bond with Him that will carry us through the year to the next Ramadhan.

There is no doubt that every Muslim is aware of the importance of Ramadhan, of the Night of Power, of the fact that the value of one of these nights is equal to a thousand months or an average human lifetime and that sincere worship on this night can redeem us for eternity. And yet…

By Batool Haydar

I

t’s that time of the year again. The months that have come to be called the Season of Worship are passing us by and the last of them, Ramadhan, will soon be upon us. These 30 days are an annual focal point in our lives; we look forward to this month, speak of it fondly and refer often to the ‘atmosphere’ that it brings with it.

And yet, despite this knowledge, our preparation for this journey towards God is based more on our physical comfort than anything else.

Women begin preparing menus, collecting ingredients and freezing food for men who will expect a certain culinary experience to appease their hunger. Young people begin organising weekend events that range from sports matches to fashion shows and everything in between.

In Muslim countries, shops stay open all night to cater for well-fed, happy people ready to spend money because after all, these are special days and Eid must be prepared for.

Ramadhan has slowly become a time for feasting, festivities and fun. So much so that even non-Muslims’ comments about it will always include ‘cuisine’ and ‘night life’ as an integral part of the culture of fasting.

So what happens to the spiritual aspect we talk so much about? We pretend to satisfy it by reciting a section of the Qur’an every day, by listening to scholars speak for half an hour and reciting the recommended supplications, all done

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by rote on a daily basis as part of the tradition passed down from generation to generation.

Towards the end of Ramadhan, many of us find ourselves tired from the hectic routines and the skewed sleeping schedules. And even though we say ‘Ramadhan has passed too fast’ and ‘we haven’t managed to do enough’, we mourn these things in a perfunctory manner, almost with smugness.

Because what we really think is that we’ve done pretty okay considering how busy we were with work and cooking and cleaning up and attending weekend events.

But what if we did things differently?

What if one year (perhaps this one?), we spent what is left of the months of Sha’ban preparing ourselves internally for the month-long communion ahead with our Creator.

What if in Ramadhan, we decide to eat simple fare and smaller portions? What if we immerse our bodies – already initiated by the sunnah (recommended) fasts over the previous months – into the emptiness that hunger and thirst brings with it and then in turn try to fill this emptiness with the Love of God? We have 11 months in the year to hold our social activities, so if in this one month, we make the decision to consciously spend time doing more than just the basic ritual prayers and supplications, or perhaps even perform them with a heightened, focused sense of awareness, we may find that along with the lightening of our bellies, our minds and hearts also begin to rise.

We cannot carry the special atmosphere of Ramadhan past the day of Eid al-Fitr. We can’t keep up with the same programme, the same foods or the same habits. These things end with the last day of fasting.

However, reciting the familiar supplication but this time with its translation,

spending time in the dhikr (remembrance) of God, reading a book or even just setting aside time to contemplate the relationship with our Creator – such things if initiated, can become lifelong habits that one can carry beyond the days of Ramadhan.

Through this system of growth, we are presented with the rare opportunity to awaken the emotional consciousness inside us and nurture our spiritual awareness.

If we manage to create a few constructive habits this year that become a part of us, the next Ramadhan will provide us with a higher starting point for our new changes. If we take one step towards God then as per His promise which never fails, He will take ten towards us, and next year we’ll be that much closer to Him when we take our next step.

This is what is called a journey, where you move forward progressively from time to time. And this is the true purpose of Ramadhan - that no two years should find you in the same place spiritually. These 30 days are an energy booster-cum-catalyst that when spent correctly, create the right physical, mental and emotional circumstances to give us a jump start in our spiritual travels.

But if we keep ourselves warm, well-fed and heavy, happily distracted by social events, where will we get the motivation or energy to make this journey? If we create and play out the same routine every year, how will we even begin to move?

This is the question we must ask ourselves: Do we want to remain where we are, in our comfort-zones and slowly stagnate spiritually, or do we want to seek the sometimes harsh, but infinitely rewarding Way of the Seeker?

The choice is - as it always has been entirely ours to make.

May this Ramadhan be for all of us that first step on our Journey towards Our Beloved. Amen. •

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Youth Matters

I

n working with youth, one should realise the circumstances surrounding their lives. Some may be neglected by their parents; they may be hanging out with the wrong crowd, or may simply be looking for the right path but have not yet found it. Every situation must be looked at separately.

Help should be given gradually. Taking lessons from the Qur’an, we see how God introduced the prohibition of alcohol gradually. Very few people are able to give up their bad habits instantly. We cannot expect results in a day; rather we need to be patient and persistent in working with the youth. Asking a 16 year-old Muslim to completely and abruptly stop listening to music or stop wearing tight clothes and attend every religious event will likely be futile.

How to understand the other youth What has been exercising the minds of many “Islamicallyaware” youth in the Muslim community is how to find an effective means of working with those among them who are less observant of their faith. Yasser Ahmed offers some advice.

Broadly speaking, Muslim youth in the West fall into three categories.

The first category consists of those who are involved in the Muslim student associations.

They are present at weekend seminars, lectures, discussion groups etc. They are keen on gaining knowledge; they’re active in da’wah (propagation activities) and are recognised in their communities. They teach in Sunday schools and conduct the weekly discussion groups in their local Islamic centres. They have a keen interest in the welfare of their communities and maybe one day they will occupy a position of leadership in the community.

The youth in this category may still have issues and problems with their families, communities or at school, but their faith makes them more focused and stable, enabling them to overcome difficulties and learn from them. They represent a valuable asset for the youth since they can use their experiences to relate to those who are looking for guidance.

The second category is constituted by the middle-ground Muslims. They might attend Friday prayers or occasional Islamic events but on the other hand they are still keen to listen to the latest

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pop group on their iPhone, and may even utter a few profanities here and there while they are in the company of their friends. They might know a few religious youth but they interact with non-religious ones. They have their feet in both camps so they represent an important link between two seemingly opposed worlds and a possible line of communication.

The third category is constituted by not-so-Islamic youth. Their relationship with the community and places of worship is a loose one, with acts of worship few and far between.

The religious youth need to recognise that the second group are those who they should be concerned about and with whom they need to build solid and trustworthy relationships. They are the most effective route to getting across to the non-religious Muslim youth.

“Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction.”

(Qur’an16:125)

A fundamental point to consider when working with youth is that we do not always need to play the role of leader.

Formalism hinders communication which is vital if we want to understand other youth. Instead why not learn to be good friends with the middle-ground youth? Hang out with them, take them out to eat, ask them if they need a ride or just chill out with them.

Getting close gradually is the key here.

Bombarding a youth who is getting used to idea of religion with lectures and speeches will only alienate him.

Attending a weekly gathering is probably more than enough for him at this stage. These sessions need to contain lots of fun and be interesting. They should stir emotions and make them think about the true purpose of life.

At the same time, we should stay miles away from presenting overly academic material. Not everybody is cut out for Usul ad-din or Usul al-fiqh. We must

recognise what to do and when to do it.

Our responsibility is to expose the interested youth to halal activities. All youth have interests and hobbies and we need to find out what they are. Some youth are into sports, football, basketball, tennis and the like. It is useful to be up to date with sports, movies, and even types of music that are popular amongst youth. Familiarise yourself with today’s media.

Just look at the sheer number of Muslim forums and chat rooms on Facebook to get the idea. They discuss and evaluate the recent films, music, or which famous person said what. A topic of discussion might spring up from the most unlikely place. Establishing a relationship with the middle-ground Muslim youth can open the door to contact with the not - so - Islamic youth.

This group may be the sort who have girlfriends/boyfriends, do drugs/alcohol, or hang out with the wrong crowd. The middleground youth are really the only group to have a channel of communication with these guys.

They are the ones who can bring the not-so-Islamic youth towards the mosques or activities planned by the religious youth. Of course the religious youth can have an effect on the non-religious youth, but it is the mildlyreligious youth who may have a greater chance of convincing them.

Ultimately we must be aware of our limitations and realise that sometimes despite all our efforts and the hours we put in, we might not achieve the results we’re aiming for. We need to be conscious of the fact that faith and its intensity is a personal affair to which God alone holds the key. We can only do so much. In the meantime we can ask God to give us the ability to direct other youth towards the right path.

This process may take longer for some youth depending on their receptivity.

However, what really matters is that we have tried our best to sow the seeds insha-Allah. •

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ARTS

MASTERPIECE

Art Editor Moriam Grillo outside of the clay form and enhanced by the use of natural oxides, reads: “In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Kind”. Inside, inscribed repeatedly is ‘limadha’ meaning ‘why?’

Faraj has spent much of her time championing the work of other Middle Eastern artists. In 2002 she set up a gallery dedicated to the exposure of artists from in and around her homeland. Her work is held in many notable private collections and her practise in all three disciplines is noted for its skill and craftsmanship.

Painter, ceramicist and sculpture Maysaloun Faraj is an Iraqi artist who has lived in the UK since 1982.

This manuscript and drawing of Sughrat (Socrates) by a 13th century Seljuk illustrator is currently kept at Topkapi Palace Library, Istanbul, Turkey.

I stumbled upon this image and found it beautiful. Not only because it references the heritage of figurative art in the Islamic world, but because, by taking a notable individual from the west, we are reminded that our similarities are greater than our differences.

The Arabic text reads: He repeats tawheed (no god but god) most of his time His food and drink are very little His worship is very sincere He remembers death all the time He travels frequently He has an athletic body He dresses humbly He argues logically He died poisoned when he was hundred and few years

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Her art spans three decades and pays homage to her Islamic faith and the declining artistic heritage of Iraq.

Often through the use of abstract art, Faraj conveys feelings which vacillate between hopefulness and despair. Each piece is a work of art in its own right which is embedded with meanings that are a far cry from our western ideals.

‘History in Ruins’, pictured above, was created in 2006. It is a metaphor for the plight of the Iraqi people. Made of clay and stitched together with raffia, a derivative of palm leaf fibres, it refers more broadly to the human condition and man’s capacity to be in a state of belief one minute and despair the next.

The Arabic text engraved on the

Magnetism “From the land between the two rivers, I pick up in my mind’s eye the remnants of pages from an ancient past scripted on clay tablets, where man first recorded his deeds and victories and recreate my own. I ‘sew’ them together in an act of healing and hope. I stand them tall and proud, like an open gate, defiant and dignified like our precious date palms, like our people, like our spirit.” - Faraj

Cube magnet and iron shavings by Ahmed Mater There is no doubt as to the brevity of this work. Ahmed Mater is a contemporary Saudi Arabian artist. He has excelled himself with this piece. His other work is often provocative and hints at a modern world anchored by a heritage that is laden with meaning and symbolism.

‘Magnetism’ is timeless and fills me with reverence and awe. It is a microcosmic reflection of our spiritual macro-cosmos. With this masterpiece Mater suggests, through the referencing of simple materials, one of the most complex notions known to man; being,

the meaning of life.

The obvious reference is to the Islamic pilgrimage or Hajj; the cube representing the Holy Ka’ba and the iron shavings reflecting man’s movement towards his Lord by way of the tawaf (the counter clockwise circling of the Ka’ba) is believed to demonstrate the unity of the believers in the worship of God. But is it that simple? Is this all that Mater wants to convey? Judging by the complexity of his artistic expression when exploring his other work, it is plain to see, Mater is an intellectual artist who seeks to create an ongoing dialogue between his work and his audience.

I believe that this simple reference to worship only scratches the surface of his

mind. There appears to be an allusion to something mystical. The work itself reminds me of conceptual notions that relate to The Eternal and The Absolute in relation to the finite and the limited capacity of man. I am reminded of how images of the circle and the dot relate us to our relationship with our Lord; He being Eternal whilst we are finite. The vastness of all meaning is encapsulated in the Nukta (dot) of the letter Ba (B) that begins ‘Bismillah’, (In the name of God) the root of all things.

This work directs my focus towards God, confirming that God is the central motive, goal and eventual outcome of our every thought, action or intention.

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GOUACHE ON GESSO

THE PLACE TO BE

“Some art should try and touch the place in all of us that is the same, that unites us. People need to be reminded that this place exists; it’s very easy to forget.”

Lateefa Spiker

Lateefa Spiker is a young artist based in London. She is a second generation convert to Islam of British and American parentage. Her main discipline which is painting reflects her classical training at The Princes School of Traditional Art and Northumbria University.

I first met her when I attended a course on Islamic geometry taught by her husband Adam Williamson. It was during this time that she presented me with a postcard of her painting entitled ‘Islimi Inside’. The image embodied the portrait of a woman sitting for prayer. Her form, consisting of a repeated pattern, a floral motif based on an islimi design. Islimi, also known as arabesque, is an intertwining floral design synonymous with traditional Islamic art. Effeminate and beautiful in its manner, it conveys the grace and subtlety of womanhood, presenting Muslim women in a positive and admirable way. Spiker loves nature and this is apparent in her choice of subject matter.

She is intrigued by the ways in which we are connected to nature and enjoys the solace of being surrounded by it. These feelings are conveyed in her art.

THE HOLY QUR’AN (anytime, anyplace, anywhere) Since Ramadhan will be in our minds this month, it seemed only fitting that the best of places should be with the Holy Qur’an. The art of illuminating manuscripts with gold leaf has been a popular trend with all cultures and their sacred texts.

The Golden Age of Islam began in the 8th century during the Abbasid period. It is recognised as a time when the inculcation and dissemination of knowledge was prolific in Arabia.

Art was also developing, with skilled artisans producing artefacts in glass, metal, silver and ceramics. The illumination of Quranic text was popular during this time as well as the beautification of mosques and palaces. Calligraphy as an art form also developed in its own right.

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The 15th century Persian prince Baysunqur ibn Shahrukh, famous as a bibliophile, is probably the calligrapher of this large format Qur’an. The leaves measure 177 centimetres (5’10’’) in height. This page, in a large ‘muhaqqaq’ hand, shows three verses of Surah Al-Ankabut - The Spider.

An immense amount of physical control and stamina would be required to write the text of the Holy Qur’an on this scale with such perfection.

The process of her painting is a laborious one, in which she uses materials that require both time and effort to prepare. Her subject matter is equally considered, seeming at first glance simple, but through prolonged reflection, one recognises its depth. Spiker is influenced by sacred geometry and biomorphic design and this is apparent in her work. She says: “I am interested in the challenges of being a human being in the present age. The contradiction of traditional teachings and modern thought. The question of identity and belonging.”

The complexity of her thoughts are matched by the complexity of the methods she employs. Her choice of simplifying her visual language through the use of monochromes helps the viewer to look beyond the surface.

Of ‘Urban Prayer’, influenced by her move from the solace of Andalusia to the chaos of London, she says: “I found solace in praying, because it felt like an escape from this confusing, fast-paced city into an infinite space that’s beyond any kind of materiality. Prayer is an invisible meeting place for millions of people each day.”

“I think Islamic art is one of the most relevant traditional forms as it represents infinity, nature, things that are timeless. But you need to speak in the language of the time.”

In keeping with this belief, Spiker has recently produced a series of modern technology accessories decorated with graphic designs based on her paintings. This allows her thoughts and imagery to be more accessible to the wider public. • Lateefa Spiker works to commission. Her accessories are available at society6.com

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.

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Landslide Victory Gives Mandate to Rowhani Anatomy of a Landslide

F

our years after the disputed presidential elections of 2009, Iranians have once again surprised the world with another spectacular presidential election. However, unlike last time, this time around the atmosphere has been free from any acrimony and dispute. Judging by massive post-election celebrations in major Iranian cities, the 11th presidential elections in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution have unified the nation rather than cause division and discord.

With this democratic show of force, Iran now appears much stronger to deal with sanctions and pressures from Western powers. Hassan Rowhani garnered 50.7 percent of the total 36.7 million votes cast on 14 June, narrowly crossing the 50% threshold required to avoid a run-off with the second placed candidate.

With this landslide victory, Rowhani is better equipped to respond to the pressures on Iran over its nuclear programme. With 18 million votes Rowhani polled three times more votes than his second-placed rival, Tehran’s mayor, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

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Other candidates in the race included current nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, former commander-in-chief of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) Mohsen Rezaei, former parliamentary speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel, former vice-president Mohmmad Reza Aref and former minister Mohammad Gharazi.

Of the eight candidates in the race, Rowhani and Aref seemed to be closer

Rowhani’s chance of winning increased after he received the endorsements of two former presidents, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami,

Candidate

Party

Hassan Rowhani

also executed a masterful political manoeuvre at the last stage of the campaign. Aref, the only other reformist in the race, withdrew on June 11 after he was asked by Khatami to step down in favour of Rowhani.

With a couple of days left to the elections, Rowhani suddenly emerged as a formidable candidate and almost the clear favourite, especially since the fractious conservative camp failed to unite under a single candidate.

Votes

%

Combatant Clergy Association

18,613,329

50.71

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf

Society of Engineers

6,077,292

16.55

Saeed Jalili

Front for Islamic Revolution Resistance

4,168,946

11.35

Mohsen Rezaei

Independent

3,884,412

10.58

Ali Akbar Velayati

Islamic Coalition

2,268,753

6.18

Mohammad Gharazi

Independent

446,015

1.21

Valid votes

35,458,747

96.61

Blank or invalid votes

1,245,409

3.39

Total votes cast

36,704,156

100

Registered voters/turnout

50,483,192

72.70

to each other in their platforms, albeit with slight differences. Both were strongly critical of the economic, cultural and foreign policies of the outgoing president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and made their criticisms known to the public in a number of live televised debates with the other candidates.

The debates helped the electorate to become familiar with the views of the contestants and choose their favoured candidates.

When Rowhani signed up as a candidate it was not clear that he would become

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the front runner in the race. Although his credentials were impressive and known to insiders of Iranian politics, he was not a household name in Iran. The highest visible post he has held was as chief nuclear negotiator between 2003 and 2005. That is how most Iranians remember him.

considered as major power brokers in most past elections.

Rafsanjani’s endorsement was important because many people who prepared themselves to vote for him were disappointed after his application was rejected by the Council of Guardians that vets the candidates.

Khatami’s endorsement was also important because he is considered as the leader of the reformist camp in Iran and many young and educated professionals continue to heed his calls.

The

pragmatist-reformist

camp

The only candidate who withdrew from the conservative camp was Haddad Adel. Aside from Rowhani, the remaining candidates in the race were two independents (Rezaei and Gharazi) and three conservatives. Independents naturally do not withdraw because they have allegiance to neither camp.

However, the three remaining conservative candidates failed to reach a consensus and stayed in the race till the end, despite repeated calls by various conservative commentators that they should unite to defeat Rowhani.

But even if the triad of Jalili-GhalibafVelayati had agreed to unite under one tent, they still would not have defeated Rowhani because, as the chart below shows, the aggregated conservative vote would still have fallen far short of Rowhani’s total.

Emergence of a more formidable interlocutor Rowhani will be the face of Iran for at least the next four years. If the electorate approves of his performance he may even stay in for eight years as Iranian law allows presidents to stand for two consecutive four-year terms.

ince of Semnan and began studying religion at an early age. His father was Haj Assadollah Feridon who was an activist against the Shah and was repeatedly imprisoned for his political activism.

In the 1960s he went to religious seminaries and began attending classes taught by prominent Shi‘a scholars.

In 1969, he attended the University of Tehran receiving his bachelor’s degree in judicial law three years later.

Rowhani is known well in western diplomatic circles and highly respected. Whereas the Western media had an easy time lampooning Ahmadinejad, Rowhani presents a totally different proposition. He is a force to be reckoned with. A graduate of Glasgow Caledonian University as well as the traditional Shi’a seminary (Hawza ‘Ilmiyya), Rowhani is equally conversant with western as well as Islamic traditions.

While pursuing a policy of transparency, Rowhani will present a much bigger challenge to the Western powers that have yet to understand why Iran insists on its right to seek peaceful development of its nuclear facilities, a fact attested by British former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who dealt with Rowhani during nuclear negotiations.

Straw has called Rowhani a ‘very experienced diplomat and politician’ and had nothing but praise for him as a person: ‘On a personal level I found him warm and engaging. He is a strong Iranian patriot and he was tough but fair to deal with and always on top of his brief ’, he said.

Biography Hassan Rowhani was born in 1948 in Sorkheh in the northern Iranian prov-

reference to the Iranian experience.’

He began his political activism in the 1960s by following the exiled leader of the Islamic movement, Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini.

Rowhani continued to be outspoken against the Shah up until 1977, when he was forced to flee Iran after publically declaring Ayatullah Khomeini Iran’s leader during a speech delivered at Ark Mosque in central Tehran. It was after this declaration by Rowhani that many ordinary Iranians began referring to the architect of the Islamic Revolution as Imam Khomeini. After the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, Rowhani returned to Iran to help stabilise the fledgling Islamic Republic.

Rowhani has held multiple positions, including Secretary and Representative of the Supreme National Security Council (SNC), member of the Assembly of Experts, member of the Expediency Discernment Council, President of the Centre for Strategic Research, and multiple roles in Parliament.

Hassan Rowhani (left) praying behind Imam Khomeini Neuphle-le-Château France

In addition to religious studies, Rowhani was interested in learning modern sciences, going on to receive a master’s degree in public law along with a doctorate at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) in Scotland. During his matriculation Rowhani used his original family name, Feridon. The GCU website states that Hassan Feridon ‘was awarded an MPhil in 1995. His thesis was entitled The Islamic Legislative Power with reference to the Iranian experience. In 1999, he was awarded a PhD. His thesis was entitled The Flexibility of Shariah (Islamic Law) with

After the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in August 2005, Rowhani resigned his post as Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council after being in the job for 16 years.

Rowhani also served as Iran’s top nuclear negotiator from October 2003 until his resignation from the SNSC, earning the nickname ‘the diplomat sheikh’ because of his clerical background and skilful negotiating. Rowhani has been politically affiliated to Jame’eh Rowhaniyat-e Mobarez (Combatant Clergy Association), the oldest clerical group in Iranian politics.

Rowhani is fluent in Persian, Arabic and English. He is married and has three daughters and one son. •

Reza Murshid is a political analyst and a freelance writer.

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Book review

Why Are We The Good Guys?

Reclaiming Your Mind from the Delusions of Propaganda

David Cromwell’s latest book provides an insightful look into the world of the mainstream western media, explaining how careful and well-executed scripts have helped it to create a worldwide illusion of righteousness and impartiality, says Mohsen Biparva

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O

ne of the fundamental assumptions of the Western world is that we are the great defenders of human rights, freedom, justice, and civilisation; or as David Cromwell puts it ‘we are the good guys’. By this logic, the West is not only stronger and wealthier than the ‘rest’, but it is also morally and ethically better. Another constant assumption is that the state and its people are identical; therefore whatever the state does is necessarily the will of the people. A further crucial assumption is that we [the Western civilisation] are surrounded by villains - violent uncivilised savages on the periphery of the ‘civilised world’. Consequently, we are constantly at war with these dark forces in a conflict that we describe as a ‘just war’.

David Cromwell’s book addresses this issue on two levels. First, he tries to debunk some of the myths about the benevolent intentions of the West.

Secondly, he tries to show how these assumptions are fed to the public through the media and state-corporate propaganda. He shows that through the Western media, our intentions are always projected as noble and any deviations from this norm are down to errors in judgement or tactical ‘mistakes’.

Sophisticated propaganda of course is subtle, always keeping the ideological message in the background as it is fed to the public as obvious, unquestionable and already accepted facts. Cromwell refers to the US political writer and activist Michael Parenti who says: ‘We might remember that the most repressive forms of social control are not always those we consciously rail against, but those that so insinuate themselves into the fabric of our consciousness as to remain unchallenged, having been embraced as part of the nature of things’.

As an example, he refers to a line from the Independent on Sunday about the murder of Iraqi civilian Baha Mousa: ‘a reminder of how much the Iraq war tarnished Britain’s reputation abroad.’

The assumption is taken for granted, as if everyone agrees that Britain had

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with some label, unpatriotic or otherno agenda. This is the BBC. This is the a decent ‘reputation’ in the world and wise’. By what it describes as ‘Orwellian News.’ Cromwell shows that contrary to only this uncharacteristic and occapropaganda’, Cromwell’s book refutes the assumption that the British media sional mistake has now ‘tarnished’ it. the idea of ‘media balance’ - especially are often more honest and open than He refers to the historian Mark Curtis in the BBC - as a ‘masquerade’. the American media, the reverse is and his observation that ‘a basic prinactually true. According to two major ciple is that humanitarian concerns do This is where he invokes the idea of studies by Cardiff University the ‘BBC not figure at all in the rationale behind the ‘outsider’, or in Edward Said’s News [prior to the invasion of Iraq] British foreign policy’. Curtis said: ‘in terminology, the ‘amateur intellectual’, overwhelmingly reflected the governthe thousands of government files I of which David Cromwell himself is a ment line and downplayed reports on have looked through [...] I have barely perfect example. Quoting the British civilian suffering’. The Cardiff study also seen any reference to human rights author Colin Wilson who describes the found that the BBC had ‘displayed the at all’. He concludes that the human‘outsider’ as ‘the man who is interested most “pro-war” agenda of any broadrights-language is only evoked for to know how he should live instead of caster’. Other broadcasters including ‘public-relation purposes’. Curtis posits merely taking life as it comes’, Cromwell ITN (Independent Television News) fell a figure of around 10 million deaths in tells his personal story about how he obediently into line and ‘relentlessly the post-World War II period for which passed the ‘indifference threshold’ in channelled the deceptions of US and Britain bears ‘significant responsibility’, 1997 during a scientific expedition in UK government spokespeople’. with ‘direct responsibility’ for between the Atlantic Ocean. The near-death 4 - 6 million of them. One should note According to the book, British printed incident changed his attitude to life and that this figure belongs to the period made him contemplate after British imperial rule everything from a different had ended. The correperspective.

We might remember that the most repressive forms of sponding figures for the This book is not an social control are not always those we consciously rail colonial era are probably academic study or a classignificantly higher. against, but those that so insinuate themselves into the sical intellectual work. It The 2003 Iraq war, with fabric of our consciousness as to remain unchallenged, does not conform to the George Bush’s ostenstandard of a disciplined, having been embraced as part of the nature of things. sible desire to spread analytical narrative chardemocracy as an end in Michael Parenti acteristic of such works. itself, provides another Like Cromwell’s website example. Cromwell shows ‘Media Lens’, the book is the product of media and newspapers also tracked that the pretext of humanitarian interan amateur intellectual (in contrast to a the pro-war agenda. Even the so-called vention - to export democracy or free paid professional), or in Cromwell’s own liberal papers such as The Guardian people from their tyrannical rulers - is words an ‘outsider’. This is probably and Observer gave most of their space still prevalent. The book reminds us why the book as well as the website can to pro-war arguments to the extent that that even according to the prosecutors afford to be original and critical of the Cromwell claims: ‘The Observer lost its at the Nuremberg trials after WWII, mainstream corporate-state media. • credibility with many people when it launching a war of aggression is ‘the published a pro-war editorial in January supreme international crime’ - some2003’. He argues that ‘not a word in thing that is overtly overlooked by the Observer’s editorials mentioned the the media. Cromwell also shows that ‘Why Are We the Good great crime committed by the British the language of the media is crafted Guys? Reclaiming Your and American governments against the in a way that always describes our Mind from the Deluordinary people of Iraq’. The only newsviolence with terms like ‘retaliation’ sions of Propaganda’,

By David Cromwell, papers he finds as being critical of the and ‘counter-terror’, insisting that even Zero Books, Washwar were the Independent on Sunday when we use violence the responsibility ington and Winchesalong with the Daily Mirror. for our actions lies elsewhere.

Cromwell then directs his attention to the British broadcast and print media.

He begins with the BBC and its television news. Its format, the computeranimated intro and the newsreaders’ sober and direct look into the camera implies, according to him, one clear message: ‘You can trust us. We have

The book also criticises the position of professional journalists who are lured by power, money and prestige; or are silenced because they do not want to lose their jobs. He quotes from an American journalist: ‘There was a fear in every newsroom in America, a fear of losing your job... the fear of being stuck

ter 2012, 316 pages, £15.99

David Cromwell, a scientist by profession, is the co-founder and co-editor of the British media analysis website ‘Media Lens’. In 2007, Media Lens received the Gandhi Foundation International Peace Award.

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Feature

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n May 22, Lee Rigby, an off-duty British Army soldier, was killed by two men near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, southeast London. The attackers rammed Mr Rigby with their car before stabbing him to death with knives and a cleaver in front of shocked passers-by.

Since the gruesome killing the three million-strong Muslim community in the UK has been dragged into the dock once again by the right-wing press. The killers of Drummer Rigby have provided the Far Right Islamophobes and Muslim bashers with a welcome opportunity to lay into the community.

This despite the fact that the majority of Muslims in the UK are repulsed by the murder and tens of leading Muslim groups have issued statements, one after another, condemning the act.

Their response was recognised by British Prime Minister David Cameron who said he welcomed ‘the spontaneous condemnation of this attack from mosques and Muslim community organisations right across our country.’

Muslim Imams and Christian leaders in the UK also joined hands to condemn the action. The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), an umbrella organisation for Muslim groups and institutions, issued a statement saying the killing ‘has no basis in Islam and we condemn this unreservedly’.

Despite the prompt and timely condemnation by Muslim leaders of the killing of a British soldier in London, Muslim communities across the UK have once again been on the receiving end of reprisal attacks and abuses.

Masoud Tehrani examines the fallout.

Separately, almost 100 British imams also signed a letter condemning the Woolwich attack. They offered their condolences to the family of the victim and called for communities to ‘remain calm and vigilant’. Their letter read: ‘We share the absolute horror felt by the rest of British society at the sick and barbaric crime committed in the name of our religion. We condemn this heinous atrocity in the strongest possible terms. It is a senseless act of pure depravity worthy of nothing but contempt. There can be no justification for murder.’

In Woolwich itself, Imam Saalih of Greenwich Islamic Centre strongly condemned the killing and also thanked

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the non-Muslim neighbours in his area for recognising that such actions have no place in Islam. ‘Our neighbours have told us that they [reject] that Islam’s name has been mentioned in that act.

We have to thank our neighbours who have shown solidarity with us…’

Muslim journalists around the globe too vehemently condemned the killing.

Yousif al-Shihab wrote in the Kuwaiti daily al-Qabas that the killers in Woolwich ‘deformed the image of Islam’.

Writing in the Jordanian daily Al-Dustur, Mohammad Ali Wardum said that the ‘two imbeciles…threatened the lives and interests of thousands of Muslims in Britain and Europe and distorted the image of Islam.’

Wardum was right. Within a week of the murder, anti-Muslim attacks spiked in the UK. Websites such as TELL MAMA, (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) and organisations such as Faith Matters reported alarming rises in anti-Muslim attacks. In the morning of 6 June an Islamic Centre in north London used mainly by Somalis was burnt down: firelighters said they saw the letters EDL (an acronym for the far-right anti-Muslim English Defence League) sprayed on the side of the building as they tackled the blaze. There have been at least 10 other attacks on mosques across the UK. The hatemongers found it a convenient time to harass innocent Muslim shopkeepers, Muslim women wearing the hijab, children as young as five and even elderly, frail Muslim men.

A small handful of individuals in the Muslim community within the UK – mainly the usual suspects - have hesitated to condemn the killing, but that is to be expected. There have always been individuals who seem bent on testing the limits of freedom of expression in the UK by supporting the most outlandish positions.

But in the same manner that Muslims have their fringe elements who defy all sense of decency, there are also nonMuslims who have their own ’sickos’.

One website questions the spike in the number of attacks on Muslims and

suggests that Muslim activists actually make up these reports ‘to portray Muslims as victims, so as to shame non-Muslims into not investigating or even being suspicious of further jihad activity.’ There is no point in arguing with these evil individuals. If they had been Muslims, they would have experienced this hatred first-hand.

Anyone who wants to describe this gruesome act as something inspired by Islam knows nothing about Islam. This was terrorism plain and simple. Here there is no need to hide the fact that many Muslims in the UK are critical of their government’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many Muslims resent the fact that following the attacks of 11 September 2001, the then British prime minister Tony Blair followed the Americans into the minefields of Basra and Helmand.

But 99.99 per cent of Muslims in the UK realise that the way to register their displeasure is to make their voices heard through proper channels using lawful means. Perhaps this view explains why a growing number of Muslim MPs are being elected to the House of Commons as well as to councils across the UK. UK Muslims are sophisticated enough to realise that extremist actions are not only anti-Islamic but also counterproductive and destroy any chance of establishing a dialogue with the British public and politicians regarding the direction of foreign policy.

Other deranged individuals from other political or faith communities have acted in ways that harm their own communities yet those communities have not been made to suffer the consequences of their actions. This is not to suggest that the two rogue killers should enter a plea of insanity in court to get away with murder, merely that the Muslim community should be given the same treatment that other communities are readily and regularly afforded. • Masoud Tehrani is a London based journalist who writes on the dynamics of the Islamic world.

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Safeguarding our Children Porn is an ever-present and increasing danger on the internet. Tahereh shafiee asks if governments and ISP networks have done enough to support parents to protect their children

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any of us appreciate the immense educational value of the internet and the windows it opens on the world. But not all windows lead to safe and harmless rooms. Like a reflection of the real world the virtual world also presents lurking dangers, especially for our children.

Bearing in mind the importance of the internet to modern life, young children cannot be expected to refrain from using it, especially when adults themselves are so addicted to it. We surf the net on our mobiles, in the train or while waiting for our takeaways.

Sensible children usually use the net to keep in touch with their friends, chatting or exchanging photos, and doing their homework and school assignments.

But we cannot deny that exposure to more sinister activities when surfing unsupervised is becoming more and more difficult to prevent.

In recent years it has become evident that a huge amount of money and resources has been invested in the internet by the pornographic industry, making the business one of the most intrusive and tenacious on the worldwide web.

As Roger Darlington, Chair of the Internet Watch Foundation put it: “… allowing young children to surf the Net without guidance or supervision is equivalent to letting them freely browse in a large book store that has sections providing hard porn magazines, race hate propaganda and all sorts of bizarre and disturbing material. Allowing them to use chat rooms or instant messaging without protection is similar to letting them visit parks on their own where there are adult strangers interested in meeting children.”

And if it wasn’t hard enough to prevent children from accessing pornographic material, schools are now presenting it as an educational tool.

As a parent, you do your best to guide your children on how to use the internet sensibly only to be shocked to discover that in the schools where you willingly leave them to go to study and

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become responsible adults, teachers are encouraged as part of the syllabus of sex education lessons to tell pupils that porn is ‘not all bad’ and to discuss all aspects of porn.

The UK government guidelines presented through the Sex Education Forum favour a more open approach to sex education within classrooms. This does not spell well for a country like the UK with an already high level of teenage pregnancy where young sexually active teenage girls are introduced to the ‘morning after pill’- freely given by chemists and clinics.

Pippa Smith, co-chair of Safermedia, is highly critical of the government guidelines: “…the message this would send from a voice of authority is more likely to increase the ‘normalisation’ of pornography in impressionable young minds. Not only will children be exposed to discussion about ‘all aspects of porn’ but teachers will be expected to ‘speak frankly and confidently’ about pornography, and they will be directed to online resources such as Thesite.org which tells teens porn can be great”.

A young child cannot differentiate between viewing pornography in the classroom and viewing it on the net.

What makes the school versions any safer? Soft porn usually paves the way to harder versions. Pornography can lead to an addictive type of sexual desire which by all standards is alien to real life and real relationships.

What is even more disturbing is the fact that young children may start experimenting on their newly gained knowledge. Abusive and obscene imagery is now a norm among some youth.

Students often circulate compromising pictures of their fellow students they have taken in the gym, swimming pools or changing rooms.

“Children are naturally curious about nudity and sex but do not have the cognitive ability to deal with what pornography means,” explains Pippa Smith. “This has contributed to a trend for sexting - the sending of graphic intimate images between children as young as 10 - which they see nothing wrong

in, sometimes with tragic consequences when girls discover their pictures have been posted online for all to see”.

Sexting can lead to greater danger if paedophiles get hold of the imagery and use it to target children through their email addresses or chat rooms and ‘groom’ them over a period of time to obtain personal information and get physical access to the child.

Pornography is directly opposed to Islamic teachings. There is a moral and ethical principle in Islam that prohibits looking at the private parts of another person. This applies equally to looking at private parts in pictures or films. Such actions go against the acquisition of the virtue of hayaa (modesty, shyness) which is one of the most fundamental characters of a good Muslim, and something everyone must nurture and safeguard.

In Islam, porn is seen as a fundamentally destructive force. Muslims object to current sex education provision in schools, arguing that before giving education about the anatomy and physiology, sex education must encompass questions of morality and sexual health and should come in stages, depending on one’s physical and cognitive development. It is the responsibility of parents to give their children age-appropriate sex education.

The key question to ask those who make educational policies for our schools is what they actually think about pornography. Is pornography morally acceptable for them? Is it really a harmless pastime or a deadly poison and corruptive influence?

Studies conducted in the US show that every second nearly 30,000 people view pornographic web sites. Every minute, internet users send more than 1.7 million pornographic e-mails.

Every hour, nearly two hard-core pornographic videos are released. Every day, on average, more than two million pornographic movies are rented. Every month, nearly 9 out of 10 young men and 3 out of 10 young women in the United States view pornography and every year, the global pornography

industry generates an estimated 100 billion US dollars.

A recent report by the Deputy Children’s Commissioner in the UK found that out of a cohort of Year 9 pupils, 100% of the boys were accessing pornography (and 50% of the girls); the NSPCC says 11-year-olds are now actively searching out porn on the internet. Police figures show that more than 4,500 children, some as young as five, have committed sexual offences. Given such horrifying statistics urgent and robust action needs to be taken to protect children and young people.

Unfortunately despite minor government initiatives for a safer and cleaner internet, porn providers continue to operate unhindered with child pornography widely available online.

Regrettably, positive action is taken by search engines such as Google only when notification has been presented to them despite the fact that they have the technology to seek and root out the perpetrators.

On a positive note, parents’ voices are beginning to be heard. According to the UK Department of Education, parents want sex education to promote the value of abstinence, alongside contraception, to be taught in its “moral context” with an emphasis on marriage and stressing the importance of the legal age of consent.

As Pippa Smith concludes: “The simplest solution giving best overall protection is for the ISPs who deliver the pornography, to introduce the full ‘opt in’ network-level filter, porn free by default. …. search engines such as Google, and social media, must also play their part. No civilised society can continue to prosper when a whole generation of children are being corrupted and scarred for life”. •

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Cover

With Ramadhan fast approaching, Alexander Khaleeli asks us to consider the spiritual and political significance of hunger, and how our experience of it can both bring us closer to God and motivate us to strive for a better world

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he days are getting longer and Ramadhan is drawing nearer.

Soon, many of us will have our eyes fixed eagerly on the time as the seconds tick by, each movement of the clock bringing us closer to the moment we can break our fast.

Fasting is difficult, no doubt. But unless we want nothing more from Ramadhan than hunger and thirst, we must ask why God has enjoined us to fast and what lessons we can glean from our stomach pains.

In a hadith qudsi (sacred tradition) narrated by all Islamic schools of thought, God says: ‘Fasting (sawm) is for me, and I will reward it [myself].’

Fasting is unique amongst all other acts of worship insofar as it is a purely negative action; in other words, it is the act of not-doing. All other acts of worship (prayer, for example) are a combination of actions which we must perform

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(e.g. reciting, bowing, prostrating) and actions which we must avoid (e.g. talking, walking, breakdancing), but fasting solely consists of actions we must avoid (e.g. eating, drinking, sexual intercourse). This means that while any other act of worship is visible to onlookers by the special actions we perform (e.g. prostration in prayer), fasting has no clear outward sign – aside from the occasional rumbling of the stomach. This makes the fast a secret between God and his servant like a secret shared between two lovers.

The hunger and thirst we experience while fasting are powerful reminders of our relationship with God. The very fact that we need something external to ourselves in order to survive – in this case, food and water – tells us that we are limited, contingent beings. In practice, this is often forgotten as we become absorbed with the pursuit of

worldly ambitions and the gratification of bodily desires. The physical discomfort of fasting breaks this illusion and shows us that we are not just physically, but existentially needy – the very essence of our being is bestowed upon us from another, higher source. This is why God says: ‘God is the All-sufficient, and you are all-needy’ (47:37). So through the direct, visceral experience of neediness, fasting reveals to us our own utter dependence upon God and reminds us that we are His servants.

As well as reminding us that we, in a very real way, need God, fasting also equips us with the tools to serve and obey God. The Qur’an says that fasting has been prescribed for the faithful ‘that you might be wary’ (2:183) – wary of committing sins. The act of fasting, which is an act of delaying gratification, teaches us that we have control over our desires, not the other way round. This

is especially significant in the modern world, when we are able (nay, even encouraged) to fulfil our every whim at the push of a button. We cannot expect to magically restrain ourselves from committing sins if we are not accustomed to exercising self-control. So fasting is an opportunity to learn just how in control of our own bodies we are. From dawn until dusk, hunger and thirst become our teachers. And as the days wear on and our bodies demand a glass of water or a morsel of food, we learn that – rage as they might – we still have the power to refuse. It is a lesson that we must remember when we are confronted by sins – if we can deny an impulse as fundamental and as natural as hunger, why not greed, lust or anger?

But there is a profound, though often overlooked, political message behind fasting as well. When Imam al-Sadiq(a) was asked for the reason behind fasting, he said: ‘The reason (‘illa) for fasting is to make equal thereby the poor and the rich, and that is because otherwise the rich would never experience the feeling of hunger and so have mercy on the poor, because whenever the rich person wants something he is able to obtain it.

But God wanted to make His creations

equal, and to make the wealthy person taste hunger and pain so that he would be kind to the weak and show mercy towards the hungry.’

Fasting makes the rich and poor equal through their experience of hunger; all people – even the greatest and most powerful – feel the pain of hunger.

While the rich can more or less sate themselves at will, the poor are physically unable to obtain food, sometimes for days at a time. This is as true today as it was more than a thousand years ago. In the developed world, we only experience the sensation of hunger as a prelude to eating. Unlike many people in the developing world, we rarely - if ever - need to worry about finding food to eat (and even then, a well-stocked supermarket is never far away). Fasting forces us to wait (sometimes for many hours) before fulfilling our stomach’s demand to be fed. This serves as a reminder of the harsh reality that many of our fellow human beings endure, and of our moral responsibility to take action to ensure that no man, woman or child ever needs to go hungry again.

This is especially important in today’s culture of wastefulness. In Britain

alone, as much as £10bn worth of food is wasted annually due to improper management or being left uneaten on the plate. On a global scale, about one-third of food production (1.3 billion tons of food) is wasted every year. This is happening while there are still people suffering from food shortages and outright starvation in many parts of the world. These facts should give us pause for thought – what does it say about our developed societies that so much is being wasted while so many are still in need? Moreover, what does it say about us as people if we contribute to this wastage? If our hunger pangs remind us of God and of our shared humanity, and enduring them teaches us to exercise self-control, then our experience of hunger should also demonstrate to us the value of food and the importance of not wasting it, not least because what we experience for a month, others experience for a lifetime. •

Alexander Khaleeli is a researcher and student in the Hawza ‘Ilmiyyah of Qum. He earned his BA and MA at the Islamic College in London.

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Opinions

Muhammad Haghir analyses the role of western mass media as producers of opinion and culture, questioning if the decisions we make are conditioned by our exposure to the information and opinions fed to us

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ooks, magazines, newspapers, films, radio, television, and the internet have one ultimate outcome, intended or not.

They all function to influence, positively and/or negatively, the thoughts and opinions of their recipients through the content of their respective medium.

As such, the mass media is a vital tool for all kinds of public opinion formation and control. This is why when there is a revolution or uprising anywhere in the world one of the first things that all sides try to lay their hands on is the mass media, especially radio and television. Thus, the control of the mass media is equivalent to the acquisition of a most powerful and irresistible tool for the control of public thinking.

From a Western (global!) perspective, the control of the mass media would mean the control and propagation of the content of a Western mass culture which is aimed at determining the content of the thoughts of those who receive the propaganda. The more these thoughts are controlled on a global scale, the more global Western culture becomes.

For these reasons there is an all-out war between various concerns; broadcasters, controllers, operators, and even govern-

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on internal affairs and vice versa. In With a continuation of this process, in ments and corporations, in order to this framework an Orientalist Western time, the subconscious of the receivers gain, directly or indirectly and as much production and propagation of the of the mass media grows to imagine as possible, control over the content image of the ‘Other’ Middle Eastern only a backward ME. Sadly however, of information given to the general entity (Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi, the most of the people who serve as targets public. For example, in relation to the House of Saud, etc.) functions to create of productions such as Argo - an Oscar standoff between the Western powers and sustain that image in a way that the winning film about the Iranian US and a newly awakened Middle East Western population finds it easy to adopt embassy hostage crisis - are not only (ME), these dynamics can be clearly as its immovable point of reference. influenced according to what they seen in the case of some European Correspondingly, the same positioning receive from the mass media but also satellite companies withdrawing the of the ‘Other’ provides justification for kept ignorant about such necessities as transmissions of Press TV (an Iranian the Western population to uphold their the geography of the ME. For example, broadcaster). Similarly, IRIB, the official government’s foreign policy decisions the same people who watch Argo and broadcaster of the Islamic Republic visa-vis the ME. Afghanistan, Iraq, and are influenced by it according to the of Iran, has come under attack from now Syria, are good examples of this designs of its makers are not able to Western powers in order to curb the process of cultural manufacture for the pinpoint Iran on the world map. This Iranian expression of views contrary purposes of providing justification in population is kept chained to what to Western thinking and interests. In the West to wage war (‘on terror’?!).

Chomsky calls ‘imposed ignorance’ by this way, in the Western, supposedly their systems of education including the democratic and free, political culture, So now, when we hear the appeals for there are those who would help for Syria (on the BBC, happily deny others the etc.) we are in a position ability to broadcast views A population that does not direct itself receives pieces to think of the possibility that are contrary to of an attempt to hide a of information from a mass media that is highly Western interests. If this very hands-on and direct directed and knows it can tell people whatever it wants denial requires that wars involvement in Syrian be waged and sovereign (freedom of the press?!). affairs from the begincountries invaded so be ning. Thus, humanitarian it. The Western political appeals can be understood mass media. Thus is the gap between culture is thus suffering from a chronic as a very small part of a much larger what the vast majority of the Western hypocrisy. network that consists of governments, population accepts unquestionably To some extent we have answered the mass media, military, judiciary, and and what it actually knows about the question about the motives behind even the civil service: in short, the state. subject matter. This discrepancy feeds some of the actions of Western powers Whilst each of these organisations has into the education system and thereby in the global geopolitical arena. But how its own particular concerns, the totality produces ignorance. do these powers achieve control over of their collective policies and actions people’s political views and through this process set their own political agendas in cultures that have been or are being trained to become obedient receivers of whatever is thrown at them?

If we accept the idea that most people do not critically reflect upon media content then we can see how easy it is to present ideas and make them appear reasonable with the express purpose of drawing people’s consent and commitment to whatever is being asked of them.

Say, for example, some people in the West want to propagate at home the idea that the ME and its peoples are backward (there are numerous instances where all constituent parts of the Western mass media’s operations have produced something to this effect).

So, we have a generally non-reflective population that is also generally not well-educated or mis-educated and so has no direction of its own. At the same time we have a mass media that is highly directed and agenda driven.

Put these two things together and the outcome is a unit where the two separate elements complement one another.

A population that does not direct itself receives pieces of information from a mass media that is highly directed and knows it can tell people whatever it wants (freedom of the press?!). This unit acts as a powerful cultural force.

The process of cultural formation has both internal and external application for governments and the two necessarily impact one another. Thus foreign policy influences the policy decisions

are directed towards one and the same objective. For the Western powers, this objective, in our time in history, seems to revolve around ideas such as ‘national security’, ‘terrorism’ and ‘war’ (see ‘Western political philosophy of fear’; islam today, June 2013).

A reflective reader should therefore ask himself: when I exercise my democratic right to vote in an open and free election, to what extent am I aware of the political connections that ultimately decide what political action my choice of candidate will take without any reference to me whatsoever? To what extent am I aware of the possibility that my political affiliations may be the product of the influence of the processes of cultural formation to which I have been subjected? •

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Faith

Islam Opposed to Terror Taking a verse from the Qur’an or a tradition out of its historical context to support the prejudiced argument that Islam allows acts of terrorism is unjust, argues Hamid Waqar

NEW YORK CITY, 9/11 Memorial at World Trade

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he bombings of the Boston Marathon proved to be yet another horrific example of terrorism seeping into American soil. Islam dynamically opposes all acts of terrorism. These attacks devastate the American psyche, despite their relatively low incidence compared to many other countries around the globe.

Over the years a diverse group of terrorists with varying goals have harmed American citizens and spread fear in society with acts of wanton violence. It is with great regret that some Muslims have been responsible for a portion of these terrorist attacks.

Media reports abound of incidents where Muslims have been indoctrinated with extreme beliefs causing them to perpetrate violent acts. These actions are not always considered terrorism, but they contribute to the creation of a false impression of Islam. For instance, when I was in Australia in 2011, I remember an extremist group decided to punish a new convert to Islam by lashing him because he had consumed some

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alcohol. This incident was reported in the news, making Muslims as a whole seem extreme and violent. Another example is the unfathomable, brutal attack on an unarmed, off-duty soldier in Woolwich, south London late last May. This attack was horrendous, horrific and showed just how far extreme beliefs can lead one to committing unspeakable crimes.

The media, to a certain extent, has tried to show that the criminals acted outside of the scope of Islam, but this has not always been the case. Islam is often portrayed as a religion that stands behind extremism and terror.

This portrayal is not supported by the facts. Although these cases, and others, are tragic and inexcusable, Muslims account for a very small percentage of the terrorism that America faces.

According to raw data taken from the FBI database, the percentage of terrorist attacks committed inside the United States by Muslim extremists between the years of 1980-2005 is 6% compared with 7% committed by Jewish extremists.

Other notable groups are extreme leftwing groups which make up 24% and Latino extremists who account for the majority with 42%. The percentage of terrorist attacks committed by Muslim extremists in Europe falls to an even smaller proportion than the US. One of the largest terrorist attacks on American soil was committed by Timothy McVeigh who killed 168 people and injured 680 when he detonated bombs in the Oklahoma City Federal Building in 1995. The motivation behind this attack was apparently revenge for the FBI standoff with the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, Texas which had ended in the deaths of 76 people two years earlier. Other notable recent terrorist attacks in the United States have been the 2010 kamikaze-type attack carried out by Andrew Joseph Stack III in Austin, Texas and the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in 2011.

The vast majority of Muslims have constantly and consistently condemned acts of terrorism committed by Muslims

and non-Muslims alike. There are clear verses in the Qur’an and traditions from the holy figures of Islam which prohibit the taking of innocent life. The Qur’an equates the murder of one innocent person to be equal to the murder of mankind in its entirety, just as it equates the saving of an innocent life to be equal to the saving of mankind in its entirety. “...whoever kills a soul, without [its being guilty of] manslaughter or corruption on the earth, is as though he had killed all mankind, and whoever saves a life is as though he had saved all mankind...” (5:32) Many Islamophobes disregard this verse and take other verses out of context with the purpose of presenting the Qur’an as a book exhorting violence.

An example of a verse that they use to support their argument is: “Then, when the sacred months have passed, kill the polytheists wherever you find them, capture them and besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every ambush.” (9:5) If one reads this verse in isolation he might well conclude that Islam is a

violent religion. But taking one verse or one tradition and basing one’s opinion about the religion solely on that text without looking at the religion in its entirety is unjust. This verse, like all others, must be put into context by looking at the various types of polytheists in the Qur’an. This verse was revealed about a group of polytheists who broke the treaty of Hudaybiyah.

They were given permission to remain for four months, but after that, God permitted the Muslims to fight them on the battlefield.

Sayyid al-Tantawi of Al-Azhar University in Cairo said: “Attacking innocent people is not courageous; it is stupid and will be punished on the Day of Judgement. … It’s not courageous to attack innocent children, women and civilians. It is courageous to protect freedom; it is courageous to defend oneself and not to attack.”

Extremism exists in fringe groups within the Muslim community but it is in no way the norm. Extreme beliefs arise from individual interpretations of scripture devised to suit one’s own personal agenda, not from the tenets of Islam. That being said, it is important for Muslims to be on the watch for extreme elements within the community in order to quell any possible dangers.

Likewise, Sayyid Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, said shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001: “Killing of [innocent] people, in any place and with any kind of weapons, including atomic bombs, long-range missiles, biological or chemical weapons, passenger or war planes, carried out by any organisation, country or individuals is condemned. … It makes no difference whether such massacres happen in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Qana, Sabra, Shatila, Deir Yassin, Bosnia, and Kosovo, Iraq or in New York and Washington.” •

I will close by quoting two prominent Islamic scholars who have spoken out against terrorism. Shaykh Muhammad

Hamid Waqar is an American Scholar graduated from Islamic seminaries.

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The Holy Month of Ramadhan

By Mohammad Sobhanie

T

he holy month of Ramadhan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar in which Muslims from all over the world participate in fasting from dawn until dusk. In addition to refraining from consuming food and drink during this blessed month, Muslims must practise self-discipline and abstain from sinful acts. Self-discipline during the month of Ramadhan includes control of the tongue as well as eyes and ears. During Ramadhan believers are expected more than usual to refrain from performing or otherwise being involved in acts such as slander, gossip, and profanity, or even being in an environment where such behaviours are encouraged. The month of Ramadhan is a time for reflection too. And it provides a blueprint for how one must conduct one’s life throughout the remaining eleven months of the year.

Fasting during the month of Ramadhan was ordained in the year 624 C.E., the second year of the Islamic calendar. This religious obligation is spelt out in the second chapter of the Holy Qur’an, verses 183 and 185: “O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed to those before you, so that you may guard (against evil)”.

During this holy and blessed month, God multiplies his blessings for His Creation.

Ramadhan provides the faithful with an opportunity to get closer to their Creator, and to absolve themselves of their impurities and repent for their misdeeds. It is a season of repentance, prayers, reciting the Holy Qur’an and asking for prosperity.

According to the Prophet(s) the month of Ramadhan is a month of blessings, mercy and forgiveness. It is a month in which Muslims are guests of Almighty God and their supplications, prayers and deeds are accepted and rewarded so benevolently that it is stated that the recitation of one verse from the Holy Qur’an is equivalent to the recitation of the entire Holy Qur’an.

Ramadhan provides an opportunity for Muslims to rekindle relationships with their family, friends and other members of the community. It is a time when Muslims demonstrate their charitable nature, and stand in unison with those who are less fortunate. In relation to the importance of reaching out and building the spirit of brotherhood, the Prophet Muhammad(s) stated: “O People! One who gives Iftar (the evening meal to break the fast) to a fasting person in this month will be like one who has freed someone (a slave) and his past sins will be forgiven” The holy month of Ramadhan has another and even more profound significance, as it was during this month that the Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (s).

It was revealed in the ‘Night of Power’ (2:185, 44:3, and 97:1) or the ‘Night of Destiny’.

The Night of Power is an exceedingly blessed night. It is mentioned in the Holy Qur’an (97:2) that the Night of Power is better than one thousand months. This is interpreted to mean that the reward of any good deed in the Night of Power is better than the reward of the same deed in a thousand other months. Angels and holy spirits descend to earth during this night with peace and special blessings from God for those who seek His mercy and bounties through prayer and supplications (97:5). Unfortunately, the precise timing of the Night of Power is unknown; however it is believed to be one of the last ten nights of Ramadhan.

Ramadhan a thirty-day challenge

By Nadia Jamil

I

have learnt one thing in life and that is the more I sacrifice, the nearer I get to God. I look at fasting as a test of patience and a workout for the nafs (inner self).

Throughout the year I see people running up and down the streets with their gym bags, pumping up their muscles and trying to look great but nowhere in London do I find places where one can get a workout for one’s nafs.

For me this month is also about happiness and coming together with other believers trying to raise myself in the eyes of God through special prayers, and also training my nafs so that I stay in charge of it rather than it taking control of me.

I feel honoured and lucky to be a Muslim as I have been given an entire system to look after myself and live a happy and contented life. An important part of this system is the month of Ramadhan.

As young Muslims we should understand the logic behind fasting, otherwise it would be meaningless. Fasting prepares us to experience the spiritual dimension of existence and get closer to our Creator. Living in a western society where fasting is not the norm simply makes Ramadhan more fun and more of a challenge.

Sometimes one encounters situations where others cannot understand why one has stopped eating all of a sudden. Last Ramadhan, when I was working in a very corporate environment, I came across three types of people. There was one group who would constantly give me looks filled with pity and concern for my health - something that always made me smile.

A second group was more childish, deliberately consuming

food and sweets in front of me to tease me. There was however a third group who looked towards me with complete respect and helped motivate me to keep going with this ritual.

I believe when we stop eating and drinking in Ramadhan, our action sends a signal to society that we are doing something important. This gives them an opportunity to reflect and find out more.

Ramadhan is a thirty-day challenge to gain nearness to God. It is all about shedding our sins and increasing our knowledge in a very enjoyable way. Through time and experience I have learned that the minute we try to come across as fake, other people can immediately sense it. Therefore one has to keep it real. If I fast from my heart for my own gain and benefit, others automatically sense that sincerity, respect it and also try to understand it.

God has designed this system of fasting not for His pleasure but for our benefit. He knows us better than ourselves and He knows if we do not train our nafs properly it will lose its focus.

Life must be seen as a constant trial and fasting is something that comes in handy to tame the wild mare within us.

Imam Ali(a) states beautifully: “Certainly. if Allah were to allow anyone to indulge in pride He would have allowed it to his selected prophets and vicegerents. But Allah, the Sublime, disliked vanity for them and liked humbleness for them.

Therefore, they laid their cheeks on the ground, smeared their faces with dust, bent themselves down for the believers and remained humble people. Allah tried them with hunger, afflicted them with difficulty, tested them with fear, and upset them with troubles.”

When someone fails to understand why I am fasting in Ramadhan I speak to them on their own. I usually find that there is no substitute for sincerity. No matter how hard you try to explain something as personal as faith to someone, it is useless unless it is accompanied by sincerity of action and conviction. Try and impress this world and see how it humiliates you. Try and please God and see how this world bows to you. • I wish everybody a fantastic Ramadhan.

Members of other Abrahamic faiths can relate to the month of Ramadhan, as they also have their own periods of fasting and self-reflection. In Christianity the 40 days of Lent are observed by giving up a common vice or luxury as a form of self-sacrifice or penitence, and in Judaism seven days of fasting and supplication are observed in the run-up to the holy day of Yom Kippur.

In summary, Ramadhan is a time in which Muslims observe self-restraint and abstain from food, drink and sin. Although this can be difficult, the self-discipline developed during Ramadhan prepares the believer for the rigours of the spiritual journey that lies ahead. Fasting also allows people to gain an appreciation of how the less fortunate survive in the face of hunger and thirst, and in return learn to appreciate their own blessings. •

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Interfaith and the fostering of mutual sympathy between the adherents of the two worldwide faiths. I agree and I add my own bit. I am glad to report that I have discovered that inside the greatest national monument in London the visitor may actually view the images of the Sleepers of Ephesus.

I mean Westminster Abbey, the majestic church opposite the Houses of Parliament and near Big Ben. It has been used for all coronations since 1066.

At its heart is the sanctuary chapel of St Edward the Confessor, the last Anglo-Saxon king before William the Conqueror took over. It is raised high above the ground to emphasise its sacredness. Around it lie the bodies of five kings and six queens of England.

St Edward’s tomb is at the centre.

Sculptures on a stone screen deal with the life and visions of the Saint. One, though much defaced by time and vandalism, depicts Emperor Theodosius standing before the cave of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. That St Edward was granted such a vision can only reinforce the high spiritual value and symbolic meaning of the story. I am sure Massignon would rejoice: MuslimChristian heroes honoured in the heart of Britain’s national shrine!

Recalling the story of the Sleepers of the Cave - found in both Christian and Muslim sources - Frank Gelli asks if today’s state of affairs calls for a return to the cave

I

magine an archaeologist conducting some excavations near the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Ephesus, in what is now southern Turkey.

By a barren hillside, he comes across a suspicious heap of rocks, concealing the entrance to a cave. Inside, he beholds seven amazing sarcophagi.

Each one bears a name in Greek letters: Maximian, Malchus, Marcian…and so on. Overwhelmed with excitement, he hurries back to the camp to summon his fellow diggers. Alas, by the time the party gets going, frantic efforts notwithstanding, he finds it impossible to retrace the spot. Everybody assumes a joke. It almost drives him mad. Indeed, swearing he was not telling a tall tale, he begs: ‘I am not insane, am I?’ No, he is rational enough but then... what might the explanation be?

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Well, he could just have stumbled upon the Cave of the Seven Sleepers, I suppose.

The Sleepers of Ephesus. Seven devout young men walled up in a cave at Ephesus during the pagan persecution of Emperor Decius, 250 AD. In chapter 33 of his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon, the unbelieving and mocking English historian, places the Sleepers ‘among the insipid legends of ecclesiastical history’. I disagree. The version given in that wonderful medieval hagiography, The Golden Legend, is indeed spiritually bracing.

There were seven earnest lads in Ephesus who much delighted in doing good works. Taking Christ’s preaching seriously, they sold their earthly goods and gave them to the poor. They prayed, perorated and fasted a lot. But the piety

of the pious often excites the hatred of the wicked. Decius, the heathen ruler, and renegade former favourite of Emperor Philip the Arabian (a secret Christian), determined to break them.

The brave boys made ready to embrace martyrdom when a heavenly voice told them to seek refuge in a nearby cave.

On hearing of it, Decius gloated: ‘Good!

I’ll wall up the blighters alive. Let their useless God help them now if he can!’

And so indeed he did.

200 years later. The evil emperor is consigned to the dustbin of history, and the empire now rejoices under the monotheistic rule of God-fearing Theodosius II. So one day the goodly burghers of Ephesus see an oddlyattired young man walking their streets.

He is hungry and wants to buy bread.

Along with his six companions he has just woken up after a long, long nap.

But the coin he proffers is not legal tender: it bears the image of a pagan prince of two centuries earlier…

Only a legend? Actually, the Byzantine Church calendar venerates the Seven Sleepers as saints, as does Catholic martyrology (Feast Day: 27 July.) But the lovely tale bears a stamp of authority well beyond the Christian tradition.

The Qur’an mentions the sleeping youths at some length in the Surah of the Cave. Islamic scholars still debate its precise import and meaning, as indeed Christian writers do, but the sheer fact of its being there should command respect…

Muslim commentators argue that Sura al-Kahf belongs to the latter Makkan phase of the Quranic revelations. The Prophet Muhammad’s enemies sought to impugn his credentials by posing mischievous and trick questions, like

about the exact number of the sleepers but he ably confounded them. At a time of increasing persecution of the Muslims by the pagan Quraysh, it is likely that the believers would have perceived an analogy between the pious monotheistic youths of the tale and their own plight.

Moreover, another implicit message conveyed by the story is hope in the resurrection of the body. A glorious belief Christians and Muslims fully share. The Sleepers are therefore bearers of good news. Hence their story spells out at least three things: a) faithfulness; b) resistance against evil, and c) the ultimate vindication and triumph of the good: al-hamdulillah!

The great French scholar and friend of Islam, Louis Massignon, believed that the narratives about the Sleepers constituted fertile ground for dialogue

Thus far this may all seem sacred history and hagiography. But, I wonder, do the pious sleepers have a message for us today? Is humankind or large portions of it, perhaps collapsing back into the darkness of unbelief? What if the goodly youths saw the pitiful state of Christendom today? Might they not feel that they must return to the safe shelter of the cave once again, guarded by their faithful dog, as the Qur’an charmingly describes? And lie therein, waiting for God to rekindle the flame of faith in men’s hearts? • 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.

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Science

Since the eve of IVF technology in 1978, the world of human reproductive medicine has evolved substantially. While these times are extremely exciting, religion and appreciation for ethics must also be high on the list of considerations before embarking on an IVF adventure says Elham Ostad- Saffari

“I have always regarded Robert Edwards as like a grandfather to me” - Louise Brown, the world’s first test tube baby born at Oldham General Hospital in 1978.

B

Indeed science has come a long way since Edwards, researching in his Cambridge University laboratory in 1968, started building on earlier research which had shown that in a test tube, egg cells from a rabbit could be fertilised when sperm was added. He pioneered this same technique for humans. His initial efforts to create a human blastocyst – an earlystage embryo which has developed for 5-6 days after fertilisation – took more than 10 years of extensive research.

The culmination of this was the birth of baby Louise Brown.

rown led the tributes to Robert Edwards, the researcher and co-pioneer of human In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF), who died on April 10th 2013, aged 87. The European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology estimates that his lifetime’s work has led to the extraordinary births of more than five million babies worldwide. In 2010 Edwards was awarded the Nobel Prize of Physiology or Medicine.

A year later he was also knighted for his services to human reproductive biology .

His fellow researcher and co-pioneer Dr Patrick Steptoe had predeceased him in 1988.

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Robert Edwards (1925 - 2013)

The actual method of IVF involves initially stimulating the ovaries to

produce a number of eggs in a manner which is similar to the way women naturally produce eggs. This is done by injecting the woman with a drug which contains certain hormones that stimulate the ovaries to produce a number of eggs. Once the eggs have been assessed to see if they have grown sufficiently, the woman is injected with further

hormones which complete the development of the eggs before their subsequent extraction. On the actual day of extraction, semen is taken from the husband and approximately 100,000 sperm are placed with each egg within a test tube in order for fertilisation to take place. This process is allowed to take its course for 2-3 days, by which time the fertilised eggs have developed into a 5-6 cell stage, early embryo. At this stage all embryos are divided into categories, based on their quality and how well they have developed. The

best embryos are then selected and returned back to the uterus which is later examined to determine whether a successful pregnancy has occurred or not. On average the success rate for IVF is between 30-40%.

Indeed since the birth of Louise Brown in 1978, IVF has flourished with the spread of the industry around the world at an unbelievable rate. This is nowhere more evident than in the 22 nations of the Muslim Middle East. In 2003, Egypt, with a population of 70 million, had 50 IVF centres, while the tiny country of Lebanon with a population of only four million boasted more than 15 IVF centres.

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Indeed IVF has had a phenomenal impact on the area of reproductive medicine, essentially changing the rules on how people come into the world.

Despite this it has also met with some significant controversy, harsh ethical debate and a chorus of critics. Many accused Edwards and Steptoe of playing God and interfering with nature; top of their critics was the Vatican. Indeed following Edwards’ Nobel award, the

after the birth of the first IVF baby in England – was followed six years later by the opening of Egypt’s first IVF centre. In the Shia majority Iran, the Royan Institute of Reproductive Biomedicine announced in 1991 that it had successfully delivered the country’s first IVF baby.

Vatican brought the controversy back to light by restating its lack of trust in assisted reproduction technology, making particular reference to the abuses that IVF makes possible.

in the basic principle that those facing hardships can use any lawful means to alleviate them. The Prophet is reported to have said: “For every disease God has created a cure except death, so children of Adam, seek cures for your ailments.”

As infertility is a medical condition, IVF can be considered a possible treatment, with the understanding that ultimately success rests in the hands of God for He alone has the power to help us.

The Islamic religious community has also extensively discussed IVF since the remarkable success of the procedure in 1978. The first Sunni fatwa regarding IVF in 1980, issued by the famed Egyptian Al-Azhar University, suggested that IVF and comparable technologies were Islamically permissible. This fatwa (religious ruling) - issued only two years

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Shia scholars and their Sunni counterparts have found few - if any – objections to IVF. Its permissibility is rooted

For a long time across the Muslim world donor artificial insemination was considered tantamount to adultery,

since it could lead to confusion around lines of genealogy, whose preservation is of prime importance in Islam. In fact until relatively recently, most Shia religious authorities supported the majority Sunni view that third-party donation should be strictly prohibited. Since the late 1990s, however, divergences in opinion over third party donation have emerged, particularly between Sunni and Shia scholars.

The late Ayatollah Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah, one of Lebanon’s most prominent Shia religious figures of recent years, permitted third party egg donation. Ayatollah Khamenei has also allowed third party egg donor technologies to be used under certain conditions.

Ayatollah Khamenei has also permitted sperm donation. However, the baby born of a sperm donation will take the name of the sperm donor rather than the infertile father.

As a result of the above religious opinions, divergent sperm and gamete

donation practices are beginning to emerge in the Shia Muslim world, as religious authorities come to their own conclusions about third-party donation.

In addition to religious points of concern regarding IVF, there are also a number of other ethical issues. Despite the advances of current technologies, the cost of such a procedure within the UK can be as much as £8,000 per cycle

if couples choose to undergo private treatment. Bizarrely NHS funded cycles depend on where you live; live in Warrington and you get no cycles of treatment, but live in Oldham and you can get up to three cycles. The UK government actually recommends that every infertile woman under 42 should be given the opportunity of at least one state-funded cycle of IVF treatment.

Indeed this supposed ‘right to a child’ also brings to light some important ethical issues. If every woman has a ‘right to a family’, then who is obliged to

provide for that treatment? The current age limit in the UK for IVF is 42 - is this fair? Also there is the issue of the current definition of a family unit including allowing same sex couples the same opportunities as heterosexual couples and even potentially the opportunities for people not currently within relationships wanting to be a (single) parent.

No less important is the issue of neces-

sity. Some people argue that infertility is not an illness. Thus the £60 million spent on IVF treatment in the UK last year could potentially have been directed towards cancer research, to tackle a disease which kills millions of people worldwide. Finally embryo wastage is also a major area for concern within the IVF arena, as many eggs are fertilised during the procedure, with only one or two eventually implanted.

Indeed those who argue for the sanctity of life find this wastage of live embryos ethically unacceptable.

Whatever our point of view, it is undeniable that IVF technology has changed the face of human reproductive biology worldwide. While IVF provides hope for many childless couples it is not the be all and end all. The powerful use of prayer must also be remembered.

Indeed many people throughout the ages have had their prayers for conception granted.

Infertile couples also have the option of raising children through the religiously meritorious act of adoption. •

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the heart of human intellection

a r b

in

human

Analogy:

Modern scientists believe that analogical reasoning is at the core of human cognition. Hannah Smith finds parallels with divine guidance which explains everything from ethics to the unseen in this innate natural language

W

hat do the dream of Prophet Joseph(a) about seven ears of grain and the phrase ‘life is like a box of chocolates’ have in common?

Analogically speaking they are both examples of analogies.

Analogical reasoning is one cognitive process by which humans make connections between diverse objects and processes involving “any kind of relation of one thing to another”.

Scientists believe that it is one of the most common methods of reasoning by which people make sense of the world

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although it does not necessarily involve any form of logic. Analogical reasoning involves what is called a mapping process whereby a similarity is drawn between two different situations or objects. Although all analogies involve recognising a commonality between two different situations, the nature of the similarity can take several forms.

For example analogical mapping can involve a functional similarity, where a familiar function is recognised in an unfamiliar and new context, such as mapping the concept of mother from human to cat, or a relational similarity

between two pairs of objects, such as builder to house and bee to bee hive, where the analogy is the relationship of construction between the object pairs.

Navigating everyday life Some scientists believe that the importance of analogy for human cognition has been underestimated until recently; instead of being utilised sparingly, they believe it is the bread and butter of everyday thinking. Humans are constantly drawing upon analogies to understand how to interact, use or

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operate new examples of objects or machines that they have previously seen hundreds of examples of. Without analogies humans would not be able to carry out even the most basic everyday tasks due to the infinite multiplicity and uniqueness of every object and creature we encounter. No two objects are the same, and analogical reasoning allows us to recognise abstract functions and qualities retained in our memory within new objects and situations. For example in operating a tablet computer for the first time, a user would draw upon their previous experience of using a keypad or keyboard on a telephone or computer.

Analogy in the physical sciences Analogical reasoning has been at the heart of some of the most influential scientific breakthroughs. It has been used to infer new hypotheses about physical processes - for example by using existing scientific models and ideas to explain new observations and phenomena. Nobel prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein utilised analogies on numerous occasions including in his discovery of the fundamental particle of light, the photon, in 1905. He was able to apply an analogy from one branch

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of physics – the behaviour of an ideal gas in which molecules are modelled bouncing around inside a container – to another area, the black body which he modelled as a vacuum-filled container in which light waves bounce around like ripples on a pond. The analogy allowed Einstein to construct almost identical equations for the black body as existed for the ideal gas from which he predicted the existence of the photon that was later confirmed by the experiments of Arthur Compton in 1923.

Analogies are also used frequently in teaching science to school pupils. Electrical circuits are often taught through water or railway models where for example water flowing through a pipe is used to represent electrons moving through a wire and a water pump is used to represent a cell or battery.

Analogies can aid the learner by making abstract entities such as electrons and atoms concrete and therefore easier to visualise and remember.

Analogy in the Qur’an and metaphysics The Qur’an and sayings of the Prophets and Imams are loaded with different kinds of analogies aimed at enriching the meanings of their teachings. One

important type of analogy found in the Qur’an and narrations, as well as other religious scriptures such as the Bible is the parable (18:45): “And strike for them a parable of the worldly life: it is like the water which we send down from the sky, and then the plants of the earth mingle with it. But then they become dry and broken and are scattered by the winds. And God is capable of all things.”

senses and the nature of the afterlife and the immaterial realms of existence.

The Qur’an, which by its own admission has different levels of meaning, can only be understood esoterically through its analogical description of hidden realities. One of the most famous verses in the Qur’an that is entirely metaphorical and analogical in composition is The Light Verse [24:35]: God is the Light of the heavens and the earth.

Parables are short stories that illustrate abstract ideas such as moral precepts using concrete characters and objects.

In the verse above, many inferences can be drawn about the nature of the worldly life through the description of the water and its effects: that life provides sustenance for the human soul, is brief, will perish and is easily ruined.

The parable of His Light is a niche wherein is a lamp-

Metaphysics, the science of the nature of being – that attempts to elucidate the reality of the world beyond the material and physical – relies on analogies to translate imperceptible realities into intelligible structures that can be understood by anyone. The Prophet Muhammad(s) relied heavily on analogies to describe the mysteries of the hidden unseen world that exists beyond our five

Light upon light.

the lamp is in a glass, the glass as it were a glittering starlit from a blessed olive tree, neither eastern nor western, whose oil almost lights up, though fire should not touch it.

Allah guides to His Light whomever He wishes.

Allah draws parables for mankind, and Allah has knowledge of all things.

The analogy of light is used frequently

in Islamic literature as a representation of the relationship between God and His creation and the different levels of existence. The analogy of light has many roles in mapping and interpretation.

One analogical similitude of light is made between the way God illuminates human beings spiritually such that they can see or know his existence and the manner in which material light illuminates the physical world by reflecting off non-luminous objects so that we can detect their physical contours.

Another analogy involving light is the philosopher’s explanation of the degrees of existence and their relationship to their common source, God, the Absolute Being. He is compared to the most intense light, and the descending planes of existence which move further away from Him in their reality, emanate from Him and share His essence in the same manner as variable intensities of light that decrease in brightness.

Fundamentally, analogy is the only way that the rational human can comprehend the ultimate reality, God, and his own reality as a dependent being that reflects the divine reality. God has revealed to us an understanding of His nature through analogies of proportion through the common attributes that He shares with the created world and its

creatures such as strength, compassion and mercy that we possess in a relative sense and He possesses in an absolute manner.

In summary, contemporary scientists believe that analogical reasoning is at the core of human cognition from the most mundane of everyday tasks to the greatest scientific discoveries. Unsurprisingly divine guidance has been revealed in the language of analogy to teach mankind the fundamentals of the Islamic religion from the nature of the unseen world to ethics and morality through parables. •

Hannah Smith has an undergraduate degree in Geophysics from Imperial College London and the University of Oxford, and a Masters degree in Geology from the University of Michigan

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Health Medical Editor Laleh Lohrasbi

between dusk to dawn.

How to fast Healthy

R

amadhan is the month in which Muslims attempt to purify their bodies and souls by fasting. Considering the close relationship between these two it is evident that successful fasting requires a healthy body to take us through what is a long and exacting spiritual journey.

We

must

understand

our

bodies

and develop appropriate eating and drinking habits. Our challenge, from a diet planning point of view, should be to choose the correct types of foods and drinks to keep us going throughout the day, especially when fasting hours are as long as they are this year in the upper reaches of the northern hemisphere.

Eating Diets chosen for Ramadhan should not differ from an individual’s normal food intake. This means that the fasting person should not necessarily gain or lose weight as a result of fasting.

The body uses sugar as its main source of energy. Except for sugar which is

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directly burned to produce energy after being absorbed from the digestive tract, carbohydrates are the first food-origin molecules which break into sugar inside the body. When sugar and carbohydrate reserves are used up the body turns to its second source of energy - fat.

The liver, the watchtower of the body’s energy resources, converts body fat into sugar. After the body fat reserves are used up, the body turns to the next source of energy which is protein. If the food does not contain enough proteins then the body will use its internal sources of protein which are mainly muscles. This can result in muscle starvation and atrophy. So having a

balanced diet of carbohydrates, fats and proteins is the key to remaining healthy whilst fasting.

skin, whole wheat, grains and seeds.

The amount of food consumed and how it is cooked is also important.

Any kind of frying should be avoided, as fried food may cause heartburn and indigestion in addition to elevating blood lipids and fat tissues. Over-eating is another issue that most people suffer from during Ramadhan. Moderation in eating and drinking when breaking the fast or during the pre-dawn meal is vitally important.

Eating light, slow digesting foods with less fat and sugar content, is the best way to maintain a balanced energy intake during the day. Here is a 1500 kcal sample menu for one day. This

diet is suitable for a healthy 20 year-old male or female who has normal body weight or who is slightly overweight.

The body enters the fasting phase (abstaining from food) almost eight hours after its last meal, which means that digestion and absorption of the nutrients is completed and the gastro intestinal tract is empty.

Drinking

A fasting person should consume foods which are digested slowly. Slow digesting foods contain complex carbohydrates and fibres. Complex carbohydrates are mainly found in grains, seeds, cereals, semolina, whole wheat (wholemeal flour), rice and beans. Fibre rich foods are vegetables, fruits, potatoes with

The degree of dehydration during the fasting period depends on the weather, physical activity, the amount of water consumed before fasting and the ability of the kidneys to retain water and salts (Sodium Chloride, Potassium Chloride).

The best way to cope with long hot summer days is to drink lots of water

In general the main problem during hot summer days is not hunger but thirst.

Fasting in the summer months often becomes a real physical test.

Contrary to popular belief, drinking lots of tea and coffee after sunset or before dawn is not a good idea as the caffeine and theine in these drinks are extremely diuretic and make the body lose most of its consumed water and essential mineral salts. On the other hand drinking at least eight glasses of water or natural fruit juice is a suitable choice.

Health issues Fasting is a great form of detoxification.

Fat tissue is where toxins are stored so by losing fat tissues these toxins are dissolved and also removed from the body.

Fasting also benefits our digestive

tract, controls the blood lipids and aids weight management. Using fat to produce energy instead of sugar aids weight loss, which in the long run reduces cholesterol levels, controls diabetes and reduces blood pressure.

Those suffering from high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiac disorders and other chronic diseases should consult with their doctors so that a manageable medicine regimen or diet can be recommended. There are some particular conditions for which fasting may cause irreversible harm such as during breastfeeding or pregnancy. Fasting in the first trimester of the pregnancy is harmless but it is strongly advised to consult a doctor to make sure that you are well enough to do so. Ultrasound results

Pre-dawn meal Meat

After sunset meal

1 boiled egg ¼ cup of cottage cheese

1muffin

Dairy

1cup of skimmed milk

1 cup of skimmed milk

Fat

1 tsp margarine

Fruit and vegetables

½ cup of orange juice

½ cup of oatmeal

Dialysis and blood transfusion are other conditions for which fasting should be avoided. In both cases a large amount of fluid and salts move through the body and may affect blood pressure making fasting harmful.

It should not be forgotten that although Islam prescribes fasting as an obligatory ritual whose benefits can be measured physically and spiritually, this obligation excludes individuals whose health might be endangered by performing it. •

Dinner meal

Bedtime snack

3 oz of lean meat 6 small crackers or one slice of brown bread

Starch

from the third trimester have shown that babies of fasting mothers are less likely to exhibit normal foetal breathing movements, so fasting in the later stages of pregnancy is not advisable.

1 small baked potato 1 bread roll

3 medium crackers (low sugar) 1 cup of skimmed milk

2 tsp Sour Cream

2 large dates

1 cup of mixed Salad (carrot, cucumber, tomato, radish) or ½ cup of steamed veg. and 1 fresh apple

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Prophylactic Mastectomy

“My doctors estimated that I had an 87% risk of breast cancer and a 50% risk of ovarian cancer. Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimise the risk as much as I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy,” wrote Ms Jolie in the New York Times.

“I wanted to write this so that women can benefit from my experience. Today it is possible to find out through a blood test whether you are highly susceptible to breast and ovarian cancer, and then take action. My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87% to under 5%.”

While many believe that Jolie’s decision has raised awareness of breast cancer worldwide, many still doubt whether prophylactic mastectomy is in fact an effective way of preventing breast cancer.

Jolie’s mother fought cancer for almost a decade, and died from the disease at the age of 56. She passed a mutated BRCA1 gene to her daughter which doctors believe can elevate the risk of developing breast cancer up to 87%, and ovarian cancer by up to 50%.

Angelina Jolie’s recent decision to have a Prophylactic Double Mastectomy has once again triggered a global debate about how to tackle one of the female species’ most feared diseases. Laleh Lohrasbi looks at the reasons why some women would want to go under the knife even without a positive diagnosis

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Although a recent study suggests that prophylactic mastectomy may reduce the risk of breast cancer by up to 100% in high-risk women, some experts still argue that even for high-risk women, prophylactic mastectomy is inappropriate, as not all breast tissue can be removed during surgery. In addition, the only group of patients undergoing prophylactic mastectomy who displayed a survival advantage (lived longer) were pre-menopausal women, with endocrine receptor-negative breast cancers.

Breast cancers may develop in the glandular tissue of the breast, specifically in the milk ducts and the milk lobules.

These ducts and lobules are located in all parts of the breast tissue, including tissue just under the skin and armpits.

However, even with very thorough and delicate surgery, it is impossible to remove every milk duct and lobule from just beneath the skin down to the chest wall and around the borders of the chest. Besides all these, it is proven

that breast implants (as in the case of Ms Jolie) increase the risk of developing cancer which in turn increases the risk of death by cancer.

All women are at risk of developing breast cancer, but some factors significantly increase this risk and place prophylactic mastectomy high on the list of preventive treatments. These factors include:

Family history yy Those who have already had cancer in one breast and/or family history are considered high risk. Having a mother, sister or daughter with breast cancer, especially if diagnosed before the age of 50, can mean an increased risk.

However it is important to know that a predisposition to breast cancer can pass through both the mother’s and father’s genes. The good news is that genetic testing - using a blood test can identify mutations in genes.

Breast abnormalities yy Having abnormal cells in the milkproducing glands (lobules) of the breast.

Radiation therapy yy Radiotherapy of the chest before the age of 30.

Dense breast yy Breasts are made up of fibrous, glandular and fatty tissues. Women who have dense breast tissue (as seen on a mammogram) have more glandular and fibrous tissues than fatty tissues and are at higher risk.

who are at high risk is which preventative method they should choose. Early screening tests including mammograms or MRI, which are usually the first port of call, can help to spot the cancer but do not prevent it.

Preventative drugs are another option via an approach known as chemoprevention or chemoprophylaxis.

For most people genetics do not play a big role in developing cancer. The majority of women can reduce their risk by following healthy lifestyle changes, such as maintaining a healthy body weight, exercising most days of the week and avoiding hormone therapy during the menopause.

Studies have also shown that women who breastfeed are statistically less likely to develop breast cancer than those who do not. Although the reasons are not fully understood, it could be because women do not ovulate as regularly while they are breastfeeding and oestrogen levels remain stable.

Breast cancer is the most frequently occurring cancer in women, in both the developed and developing world. Due to increased life expectancy, urbanisation and adoption of modern lifestyles, the incidence of this disease is rising every day. Breast cancer has been the most common cancer in the UK since 1997. Although it is rare in men, it is by far the most common cancer among women in the UK. •

Being overweight or obese yy Before the menopause the ovaries produce most of a woman’s oestrogen hormones, while fat tissue produces small amounts. After the menopause (when the ovaries stop making oestrogen), most oestrogen comes from fat tissues. Having more fat tissue after the menopause increases the chances of getting breast cancer.

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

The question facing women like Jolie

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Places

Reconstructing

Islamic Architecture in the West Rather than building large and looming fantasy structures that are often interpreted as triumphalist, Islamic buildings should be designed to best serve the people who pay for them; the members of the Muslim faith, says Muhammad Amin Evans

I

slam is an established religion in most western countries in which the descendants of migration continue to grow more western together with the growing number of native Muslims. From this synthesis is emerging a new cultural expression of Islam. This western expression is distant from Muslim imperial history and no benefit is gained in looking to the architecture of eastern and African Islam hoping to re-create anachronistic and exotic forms. Rather it will benefit us more to approach historic buildings with a view to abstracting functions from them for application within a new generation of western Islamic buildings.

No one today would attempt to revive the building of medieval cathedrals or build another Brighton Pavilion and it seems reasonable to suggest that western architects, whether looking for inspiration or to provide or convert suitable structures for Muslims, should look to cost, structural suitability and unchanging function rather than transient articulation if they are to design buildings of lasting architectural, social and religious importance.

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Great Mosque of Riyadh • Design by Basem Badran

Rasem Badran (Jordanian architect born in 1945) recognised the wider role of the mosque and its interaction with a living community, and applied his understanding to a Muslim urban setting. In his award winning design of the Great Mosque of Riyadh he has used columns, courtyards and narrow passageways to recall the traditional use of space. The mosque is set within public areas and has taken its traditional place as a centre of worship integrated into the urban fabric, rather than standing clear as an independent monument.

Conserving extant religious buildings as functional entities against the changing demands of urban environments is no greater a challenge in principle than constructing or converting urban spaces in a manner that satisfies both religious and secular sensitivities. The proposed Mosque and Community Centre in Dudley, UK, the development of which was halted by objections from Dudley Council, may to some extent serve as an example of contemporary issues and perhaps what a twenty-first century European mosque should not be. The Council’s objections to the

new building and those of two petitions against the plan drew more than 50,000 signatures with residents saying the building would be out of keeping with Dudley’s medieval character. (Express and Star 7.9.2012)

Main courtyard Great Mosque of Riyadh

Dudley’s proposed Mosque & Community Centre

of various schools of neo-classicism. A Greek revival portico lacking a pediment leading to two large boxes ventilated with Palladian windows that rest upon sloped window ledges topped by a cupola and disproportionately large dome. The assemblage is completed by a minaret, which no one will ever ascend, and which appears to have been modelled upon the inverted leg of a mid-twentieth century billiard table. A structure with an ideal design ethos for Dudley, perhaps, but as an expression of Islamic architecture in twenty-first century Europe it fails.

Moreover, lacking outstanding architectural impact and without a clear expression of social relevance to the city’s cultural infrastructure it presented an easy victim for the combined forces of religious modernity and xenophobic enmity.

Dudley Mosque there is a vision of design by committee. An inelegant stump of a building bolted together from nostalgic preconceptions of what a mosque should look like; nineteenth century civic architecture and elements

Rather than building large and looming fantasy structures that are often interpreted as triumphalist - as was the colloquially misnamed ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ - mosques should be designed to best serve the people who pay for them; the members of the Muslim faith.

Regardless of the suggestion that many of those who objected may have been racially and/or religiously motivated, the proposed structure is well out of keeping with its immediate environs. In all of the artist’s and architect’s impressions that I have seen of the proposed

Each unnecessary feature, each inch of a minaret, every watt of energy to

Artist impression of proposed Ground Zero Mosque - New York

heat, cool or light a mosque is money taken away from education and help

for the needy. The duties of Muslims are quite simple and while building a structure decorated like a birthday cake may fulfil the duty to provide a place for congregational prayers it may equally hinder the capacity to fulfil other obligations. If mosques have towers they should be functional. Loudspeakers, if the local authority permits their use, have removed the need for minarets as places from which to call the faithful to prayers but they can form part of low running-cost integrated heating and air-conditioning systems. Cheap ferro-concrete and steel have made redundant the dome as a means to span spaces without the need for internal supports. The large flat or pitched roofs that steel and concrete provide are ideal surfaces upon which to mount solar energy panels to power the collective needs of the worshipping community from the energy that God freely gives.

In conclusion, the discipline of Islamic architecture may, rather like the philosophy of religion, be critiqued and deconstructed to the point where it seems to reach the point of extinction.

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Al Irsyad Mosque, Indonesia

Mosque in Putrajaya, Malaysia

The Shah Faisal Mosque, Saudi

Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca

Mosque Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Yet there survive three major styles of Islamic architecture that developed between the seventh and twelfth centuries in the Iranian, Sub-Saharan and Arab-Mediterranean trade zones. Within each of these styles there remain the elements of water, space, orientation and function which together with the mihrab (the niche that indicates the direction of Makkah) provide the essentials of the permanently Islamic in architecture. However, much that is seen today is simply the architecture of Muslim peoples. It is composed from

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the styles and forms that Muslims wish to use and may only be truly considered

atop the sacred or profane but a mihrab can only exist as part of a masjid, the place of prostration.

Some of the features of regional Muslim architecture may even seem strange and off-putting to Muslims of other climates and traditions. Yet Islam should be accessible to all humanity.

Proposed design of Canberra Islamic Centre

as Islamic if, when and while it is used religiously. Put simply a dome may sit

Inviting people to Islam is a duty for Muslims and Islamic buildings are public statements of faith even though the concept of ‘an’ Islamic architecture may be problematic since it either accepts a view that assigns Islam to the exotic

Proposed design of Central Mosque of Prishtina

China, Beijing, the ancient Cow Street Mosque

or a nostalgia that binds Muslims to a belief in other than what is essential or desirable for an elegant expression of Islamic values of beauty. A Christian friend, of moderately iconoclastic leaning, once asked me “Has anyone ever converted to Islam because a mosque is extravagantly decorated?”

Muslims worship within buildings and the spiritual atmosphere within those spaces should be the product of their familial relationships and collective internal spiritual journeys from the divisive mundane towards the Universal Spirit. No one should feel alienated or excluded from the mosque which should be a place which attracts everyone towards the worship

The mosque at the Aspire Sports Academy in Doha, Qatar

of God. The prophet Moses(a) removed his shoes on a mountain because he stepped towards the safety of God and not because he was overawed by the passing grandeur of his surroundings.

The constant nature of creation is change and evolution ruled by an active and sustaining Creator. Mosques began as large open spaces, gained thatched roofs, hypostyle halls, became vaulted, domed and in the twelfth century were adorned with multiple minarets as the needs or ambitions of men and society changed. Therefore, Muslims should not ascribe special importance to the form and fabric of any building built to serve human needs beyond its historical and

social value. Although Muslims should recognise, value and preserve historical buildings while rejecting the judgmentalism and barbarity of misinformed iconoclasm they should not hold any style of architecture or ornamentation as a shibboleth. If there is an example of ‘Islamic architecture’ that all Muslims of all ages agree upon it is an ancient stone cuboid to which they are all called to turn towards in prayer and hope and to approach in obedient humility invoking mercy. • Shaykh al-Hajj Muhammad Amin Evans holds an MA in Islamic Studies. He is the Director of Theology for the Association of British Muslims.

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Cost: £17 Time: 10am Venue: Richmond Park, Sheen Gate, SW14 8BJ Email: info@noorfoundation.org www.muslimdirectory.co.uk/viewevent. php?id=4902 Tel: 01706 827358

Through July

Friday Nights Thought Forum

you feel you need a break during a game, make sure there’s a substitute to take your place! As well as the footy, it promises to be a family fun day out, so invite friends and relatives - they’re welcome as spectators free of charge.

Registration fee: £55 (adult team) - £35 (under-16s) Time: 10:00am - 5:00pm Venue: Goals, Springfield Road, Hayes, London UB4 0LP Web: www.islamichelp.org.uk/gaza-cup

London’s weekly open gathering.

8-10 July 2013

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

Neo-Aramaic Dialects (Conference) ARAM Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies is organising its thirty-sixth International Conference at the University of Oxford. All papers given at

5-6 July 2013

Regional vis-à-vis Global Discourses: Contemporary Art from the Middle East (Two-Day Conference) Organised by: London Middle East Institute.

The conference will deal with the issue of how the interpretation and contextualisation of contemporary art from the Middle East affect its understanding at home and in global terms.

Time: 9:00 am Venue: Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, SOAS, School of Oriental and African Studies, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG Tel: 020 7898 4330 Email: vp6@soas.ac.uk / lh2@soas.ac.uk Web: www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/

Registration fee: £10 Venue: Edgbaston Reservoir, Birmingham Web: www.myquranjourney.com/ Telephone: 01214465682 Email: challengepoverty@islamichelp.org.uk

6 July 2013

Noor Foundation 10km Run Join The Noor Foundation UK for a 10km run in glorious Richmond Park.

The run is not only the perfect way to get yourself ready for Ramadhan but you will be helping to raise funds for a small charity. If you have never run before, this is a great distance to start with.

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7 July 2013

Gaza Cup The Gaza Cup 2 promises to be fun, friendly and energetic - but competitive as well - to raise urgently needed funds for Gaza. It’s open to anyone and everyone but to take part you will need to enter a team with a minimum number of 5 players. And if some of

the conference will be considered for publication in a future edition of the ARAM Periodical, subject to editorial review.

Time: 09:00 am Venue: ARAM, the Oriental Institute, Oxford University, Pusey Lane, Oxford OX1 2LE Email: aram@orinst.ox.ac.uk Tel: 01865 514 041 www.aramsociety.org

ence will be considered for publication in a future edition of the ARAM Periodical, subject to editorial review.

13 July 2013

Ticket: Free, booking essential Time: 18.30–19.30 Venue: BP Lecture Theatre, The British Museum www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_ calendar/ Phone: +44 (0)20 7323 8181

Journey Through the Qur’an

18 July 2013

27-28 July 2013

Animals and African art (Gallery talk)

Surah Yusuf

A gallery talk by Fiona Sheales, British Museum. Gallery talks last 45 minutes.

The best of stories at the best of times

British Academy of Quranic Studies (BAQS) presents an overview of the whole Qur’an over 4 days in Ramadhan The greatness of the blessed month of Ramadhan is linked to the Qur’an – it is the month in which the Qur’an was revealed. For the sixth year running, BAQS brings to you its most popular course.

The Fourth International Conference on Quranic Studies An annual international event in Oxford, England dealing with various issues related to the Qur’an historically, linguistically, contemporaneously, as well as expounding studies related to the Qur’an such as politics, and sociological matters.

Talks are given by Museum staff or guest speakers and are suitable for all levels of knowledge.

Ticket: Free, just drop in Time: 13.15–14.00 Venue: Room 25, the British Museum Web: www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/ events_calendar/

Organised by: Cambridge Islamic Sciences Seminars Presented by Shaykh Dr Mohammad Akram Nadwi.

An opportunity to study the amazing story of Yusuf(a), while learning the principles of understanding the Qur’an

Seminar for Arabian Studies (Conference) An academic three-day conference dedicated to the latest discoveries on the archaeology, history and languages of Arabia.

Ticket: £100 Time: 09.00–17.30 Venue: Clore Education Centre, the British Museum, c/o Middle East Department, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_ calendar/ Phone: +44 (0)20 7323 8308 Email: seminar.arab@durham.ac.uk

11-12 July 2013

Nubia in the New Kingdom:

15-17 July 2013

Lived experience, Pharaonic control and local traditions (Annual

Modern Arab Renaissance

27 July 2013

ARAM Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies is holding its thirty-eighth International Conference to be held at the Oriental Institute (University of Oxford). All papers given at the confer-

MBI Lecture: Arab navigation (Lecture)

Two-day colloquium with insights from the latest archaeological research at major settlements and cemeteries in Nubia.

Including Principles of Understanding the Qur’an

26-28 July 2013

Venue: Oxford Town Hall, Oxford, England Web: http:// quran-institute.org.uk/ Email: register@quran-institute.org.uk

Egyptological Colloquium)

for finding their way across great open stretches of the Indian Ocean.

Time: 09:00 am Venue: ARAM, the Oriental Institute, Oxford University, Pusey Lane, Oxford OX1 2LE Email: aram@orinst.ox.ac.uk Tel: 01865 514 041 Web: www.aramsociety.org

Time: 9.00am - 6.30pm Venue: Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS Web: www.myquranjourney.com/ Tel: 07092 813 541 Email: info@iidr.org

4 miles for smiles Islamic Help’s Smiles Better campaign was set up to help victims of acid burns attacks and provide corrective surgery for children with unrepaired cleft lips and palates. Anyone can make a difference by stepping out for this 4 Miles for Smiles walk. All are welcome to take part regardless of age, ability or fitness levels. You can take the walk at whatever pace you like and enjoy the serenity of the reservoir while you do so.

Ticket: £40 Time: 10.00–17.30 Venue: BP Lecture Theatre, the British Museum www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_ calendar/ Phone: +44 (0)20 7323 8181

Time: 9.30AM - 6.30PM Venue: Edmonton Islamic Centre, 20-34 Raynham Road, London, N18 2SJ Web: http://courses.meoc.org.uk/p/blogpage_3941.html

This lecture will describe the techniques developed by Arab navigators

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Special offer for the holy month of Ramadhan Twelve issues of islam today paper edition for £25 (normally £48) Offers ends 10th of August

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.

PAPER EDITION 6 months £25.00 DIGITAL EDITION 6 months £10.00 12 months £18.00

This is a unique course consists of studies in the fields of: yyArabic Language (Syntax and Morphology) yyQur’anic & Hadith Studies yyLogic yyPrinciples of Jurisprudence yyDemonstrative Jurisprudence yyIslamic Ethics yyIslamic Philosophy yyIslamic Mysticism 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

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