Dear Friends!

On 19/07/2006, Sarah Sayeed kindly wrote to us:

Hi Evelin,
I thought of you when I read the attached, which was written by a colleague who is also on the board of Muslim Consultative Network with me. Would love to know what you think of it.
...
Love,
Sarah

Zidane and the Zananah; How Small Becomes Big
© Adem Carroll

We fear the external threat. News keeps us all on edge. But are we the threat? Non-Muslims think we are, and fear us with each new “terror plot” that is reported in the tabloids and scare-media. Now, even some Muslims are having doubts! In Iraq, Sunnis and Shia fellow citizens drag each other out of cars, check ID cards, slaughter and destroy. Painful as it is, we should not turn away and ignore the external threat of our own violence.

But here at home, we have other external threats; last week, the FBI raided a mosque in Pittsburgh. Someone shot a bullet through all 10 windows of an Indiana mosque. And someone threw a pig’s head into a mosque in Maine.

But what head was Zinedine Zidane wearing when he head-butted Italian player Marco Matterazzi, in the last minutes of the World Cup? Probably setting up France for its loss, minutes later? O son of Algerian immigrants to France, our role model and now our Red Card shame!

“Zidane, Zidane! Zizou, Zizou, Zizou!” called the crowd for over 20 years. How tragic this small aggressive act! And now silence-- of defeat and we hope repentance! May this silence heal his heart.

The external threat is not only the weapons of mass destruction. The external threat is in the weapons of mass distraction. And a talented player may lose himself in the shouts of an adoring crowd, feeling the emotional heat and the pressure of the millions. How to be free of this? Some commentators seek to pass blame, asserting that the Italian player must have made a racial remark against Zidane’s honor. We don’t know. But there is hope beyond honor if we remember God.

Zananah zananah zananah in the sky; the residents know it is the Israeli Drone. It is not televising barefoot soccer matches in the Palestinian dust. This entity, called Zananah because of the sound it makes, has escaped from its Israeli bottle unlike the hundreds of detainees held in Israeli jails. It is a tool of invasion, occupation and control. The Zananah buzzes around the edges of life; and then, finally, comes the missile strike, and death.

However, this external threat is matched by an internal threat. This is the stupid and impractical commitment of the local militants to sending rockets over to Israel. This is infantile-- but dangerous enough to lend legitimacy to Israeli actions. These rockets will win no war.

Small actions-- little rockets and head-butting— come from frustration. The eyes of the world (and the zananah) are watching and small becomes big, sometimes beyond all proportion. Internal threats become external. And if we don’t do something they will be eternal.

In the heat, we become hot-headed. Even off the field of battle, social dynamics can provoke us. Some wives play on husband’s nerves like world-class musicians; some men regularly intimidate other men; and other social groups maintain the strange energy of unresolved sexual tension. It is hard not to react. I just came from a meeting in which I was very reactive, again and again; I felt manipulated, disrespected, and confused. I lost trust. So yes I understand the impulse to butt heads! Alas!

How can we be more conscious and intentional at these difficult moments? It is easy to take revenge for all the annoyances of the world. It easy enough to “blow up.” It is also easier to get a Red Card than a Green Card. You don’t need to be a missile-carrying Israeli drone to see, not just what “they” have done to “us”, but the mess “we” humans have made. But that all-seeing human eye makes many mistakes.

Will the collective punishment of the 1.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip result in peace? Have the restrictions and humiliations on the Palestinian people for decades brought us closer to justice? Surely Israel puts far too much faith in force. Even leading Jews have spoken out. As Rabbi Michael Lerner has written: “..human rights violations in Guantanamo and Iraq are unacceptable, so we need to communicate to the Israeli people that the mass punishment of a million people for the acts of a few is as unacceptable.”

Have you called the Israeli embassy, their allies in the media, and in the US Congress? Just call them on your cell phone! Just be conscious and not reactive. If we Muslims learn to be more conscious we may be better able to advocate effectively.

A just action grows from a peaceful heart. Hope may grow beyond honor, and peace beyond the collective honor of nationalism. The seed of peace may grow from the soil of soul into a beautiful and conscious Ummah. Is it still possible? In this night air, do we sense the fragrance of future gardens of Islam? Or only feel the desert winds of our own bitter human will, blowing, blowing nowhere forever?