Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH)
for constructive & vibrant Muslim-Western relations
24 - 30 October 2006

The Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) aims to promote constructive perspectives and dialogue about Muslim–Western relations. CGNews-PiH is available in Arabic, English, French and Indonesian.
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Inside this edition

1) by Mehlaqa Samdani
Freelance writer, Mehlaqa Samdani, considers the role that the Muslim world and the West can play jointly when it comes to mitigating sectarian conflict in Iraq. Highlighting some of the major players in Iraq and those who have the ability to sway public opinion, the writer outlines a list of actions that they can take to encourage inter-sectarian cooperation and explains how the West can support these efforts.
(Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 23 October, 2006)

2) by Chinki Sinha
Chinki Sinha, a New York-based writer who grew up in India, describes her visit to a madrasa in Massachusetts. Setting the stage with a brief history of Islamic schools and the stereotypes that they face, she gives her candid impressions of the young students who attend this school as she recounts her “interview” with them.
(Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 23 October, 2006)

3) by Radwan Masmoudi
In this interview published in the Charlotte Observer, college professors Paul Kengor and Michael Coulter ask Radwan Masmoudi, founder of the Washington-based Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, tough questions about democracy, shari‘a and the Muslim world. Do Muslims want democracy? Is it possible in Iran? In Iraq? What elements of Islam could be considered “liberal”?
(Source: Charlotte Observer, 6 October, 2006)

4) by Salama A Salama
Salama A Salama, a regular contributor to Al Ahram, comments on the niqab, the full veil that some Muslim women wear to conceal their faces. Rather than leaving the issue to politics or religion, the writer suggests that we take the discussion to those women who choose to wear it.
(Source: Al Ahram, 19-25 October 2006)

5) by Scott Peterson
Scott Peterson, staff writer for the Christian Science Monitor, considers what France’s decision to make denying the Armenian genocide a criminal act means both for Turkey’s EU bid and for freedom of speech. Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish Nobel Prize winner previously charged for “denigrating” Turkey when he spoke of the Armenians killed during WWI, claims "What I said is not an insult, it is the truth. But what if it is wrong? Right or wrong, do people not have the right express their ideas peacefully?"
(Source: Christian Science Monitor, 13 October 2006)

1) An Islamic-Western alliance against sectarianism in Iraq
Mehlaqa Samdani

Pittsfield, Massachusetts - At a time when the Muslim and Western worlds seem to be drifting apart, alleviating the sectarian conflict in Iraq presents a unique opportunity for both camps to work together and achieve a common goal. A coordinated effort between Muslim civil society actors and Western groups would not only serve to bridge the sectarian divide in Iraq but could also begin to heal the growing mistrust between the Muslim world and the West.

Last week, the Organization of the Islamic Conference held a meeting of Iraqi Shiite and Sunni ulema who painstakingly produced an eight-point declaration known as the Mecca Document. The document aims to bridge the sectarian divide in Iraq by forbidding Shiites and Sunnis from killing each other. This is the first real initiative undertaken by the Muslim world to stop sectarian violence in Iraq. However, it must not be the last and should be supplemented with civil society initiatives.

The meeting in Mecca should be followed up with the creation of a forum of Iraqi Shiite and Sunni ulema with the primary responsibility of issuing counter-fatwas to the inflammatory rhetoric of Zarqawi’s successor, Abu Hamza Al-Muhajir. Every statement issued by extremists referring to Shias as grandsons of Ibn Al-Alqami (the Shia vizir who was complicit in the Mongol invasion of Baghdad in 1258) and sanctioning violence against them should be discredited by the forum with quotes from the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad that urge unity among the ummah (the Muslim nation).

The ulema, the real “power-brokers” in Iraq, have a vital role to play -- their authority and influence among the populace far exceeds that of the government. Had it not been for the efforts of spiritual leader, Ayatollah Sistani, Iraq would have descended into civil war a long time ago. Despite repeated provocations from Sunni militias he has urged restraint among his followers.

The Mecca meeting and the resulting declaration should be widely publicised in Friday sermons, and media outlets in Iraq should use it as an opportunity to initiate nationwide dialogues between moderate Shiite and Sunni ulema.

The OIC should also coordinate with former Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami, who heads the International Center for Dialogue based in Geneva. OIC member states and Western donors should provide funding to the Center and sponsor Shia-Sunni peace camps for Iraqi students following the Seeds of Peace model. Conflict resolution practitioners from the United States and Europe should be invited to conduct peace workshops where young Iraqis are taught non-adversarial means to address conflict and given the opportunity to deconstruct the dehumanising stereotypes they have developed for each other.

The Mecca Document should also form the basis of addressing the larger theological divide between the two sects.

Historically, theologians have made attempts at reconciliation. The most prominent initiative took place in Cairo in 1946 with the formation of Jamat al Taqrib (The Group of Rapprochement). The group aimed to unify the various schools of Islamic thought and to legitimize the Shiite legal code as a separate school of jurisprudence. In 1959, Mohammad Shaltut, the head of the renowned Islamic University of Al-Azhar recognised Twelver Shiism as a separate school and passed a fatwa endorsing it. The Jamat al Taqrib, however, eventually came under attack by Sunni extremist groups and ended in 1972. The OIC should attempt to revive the process by establishing a new generation of theologians committed to the same goal in Iraq and elsewhere in the Muslim world.

Development organisations in Iraq can also serve to mitigate sectarian strife. Muslim groups such as Islamic Relief and Muslim Aid should institute joint development programmess for Shiites and Sunnis, disbursing additional funds to communities where the two sects agree to work together. Whether formulating public works programmes or small income generation projects, the underlying principle during implementation should be the inclusion of both sects.

Western involvement with these initiatives must come in the form of security assistance. Coalition forces in Iraq have a critical role in extending protection to the various peace initiatives mentioned above. Development organizations, media outlets and other civil society actors have repeatedly been targeted and need protection to function effectively. Coalition troops should therefore provide additional security to these civil society actors so as to increase the former’s credibility and popularity among the local population.

Western governments should also publicly laud the civil society effort to end sectarian conflict in Iraq and pledge their support through a donor’s conference. Since civil society initiatives cost relatively little, Western governments should have no trouble coming up with the required funds while at the same time greatly improving their image among ordinary Iraqis and the wider Muslim world.

All eyes are on Prime Minister Nour Al Maliki’s peace plan to unite sectarian political parties in his government. In order for the plan to find popular acceptance, it must be supplemented with simultaneous peace initiatives at the grassroots level. An effective strategy consisting of Western groups and Islamic civil society actors could go a long way toward developing the next generation of Iraqis who will be able to resist the incendiary behaviour of extremist political and religious groups.

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* Mehlaqa Samdani is a free-lance writer based in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 23 October 2006, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

2) ~YOUTH VIEWS~ Meeting the students of an American madrasa
Chinki Sinha

Syracuse, New York - About a five-minute walk away from Mansfield station in Massachusetts lays an old structure. It is a church, at least on the outside. The cross on the top looks dismembered with just one beam pointing upwards, the horizontal shaft missing. A small board on the wall identifies it as Al-Noor Academy. A tiny green-collared flag with Arabic letters on it peeps out of one of the windows on the side of the building. A crescent moon, which looks out of place and context, stands at the top of the entrance. There are no minarets, no pronounced external symbols. There is nothing to tell passers-by that this is an Islamic school.

Al-Noor means “light” in Arabic, sometimes used to denote “truth” as in the expression, “to see the light”. The school is the only Islamic high school in Massachusetts. Founded in September 2000, it has around 75 full-time students. Students come from as far as Rhode Island and Dorchester, travelling for more than an hour to attend school.

Often the term used for Islamic schools is madrasa, which is an Arabic term for school also used in other languages, such as Urdu. It can well be called Al-Noor Madrasa, says one of the founders, Dr. Saeed Shahzad.

Madrasas have existed since the 11th century when Nizamiyah, a learning centre, was established in Baghdad. Mostly residential and providing free food and lodging to students, they taught religion and prepared scholars to interpret the shari‘a (Islamic law) and Hadith (the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad).

More recently, the madrasas in South Asia, particularly Pakistan and Afghanistan, have come under a lot of fire from the media for promoting terrorism. Mullah Mohammed Omar, a student of Pakistani madrasa Darul Uloom Haqqania, led the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in the 1960s. Given this difficult reputation, I wonder what the students at Al Noor will be like.

Once inside the school, I pull my head-scarf lower to cover any strands of hair on my face. When Robert Mond, the principal of the school, comes in, he asks if I want to attend a class. The social science class is just starting. The 10th grade girls in this class seem curious about me.

They are doing presentations on Japan today. One girl starts the presentation and after the lights are dimmed, I look around. I look at the map on the wall, trying to see if Israel is part of their world. It is.

The girls want to talk to me. So, after class we go sit in an empty classroom. They sit around me, three of them. There are hardcover Arabic books on the desks. Perhaps this is where they have the Arabic class.

Sono Ghori, Zainab Mehtar and Fatimah Mahdee are all too eager to talk, sometimes cutting each other off. They love their hijab, their religion and America too. This is where they were born. America is their home. Even though fitting in is difficult. Sono, 14, has been called names at times: “Are you Osama’s daughter or wife?”

Sono took up the hijab when she was very young. Her mother doesn’t wear it. But she does not stop her daughter from wearing it. She has big eyes, which light up when she speaks. Covered from head to toe in a blue gown with a matching hijab, she is born to Pakistani immigrants. She tells me how she wants to be a lawyer and change the politics of America, her country. And yes, she knows Israel exists. “I love America but there are certain things…”, she says, her voice fading off.

Sono thinks if she had gone to a public school, she would have been influenced, gone out partying with guys, and if she had been surrounded by non-Muslims, she would have done things that are against her religion and would have offended her parents, which is a sin in Islam. They say that paradise lies at a mother’s feet, she said.

Zainab, 14, wants to be a journalist, to write the truth, she says. Unlike Sono, Zainab is reserved. Both her parents are from Burma. She tells me how Sunday schools at the mosque are not enough to learn or connect with their faith. Her father taught them at home too. But in schools like these, she has come to learn more and freely practice her faith. She says she is shocked when I mention the reports that say Islamic schools are promoting terrorism.

But she has an idea. Everyone must come to these schools to see what exactly is going on. When the bell rings, she rushes out to perform afternoon prayers, her blue gown trailing behind her.

The third girl, Fatimah, 15, is less talkative. Her parents converted to Islam before she was born. Though she was born into the faith, some of her siblings were not. They still live different lives. They party, go out and do other things that she would never do. But she says she understands. It is America and life is like this here.

Fatimah wants to be a cardiologist and work for the black community, her community.

None of them wants to be terrorists.

Normal conversations, normal choices, normal girls.

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* Chinki Sinha is a New York-based writer who grew up in India. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 23 October, 2006, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

3) Muslims do want democracy: An Interview with Radwan Masmoudi
Radwan Masmoudi

Q. Dr. Masmoudi, do Arabs and Muslims want democracy?

Over 90 percent of Muslims and Arabs polled in 10 Muslim-majority countries consider democracy to be the best form of government. There were other polls that over 80 percent of the people in the Arab world do not want shari‘a law to govern in their countries. They say they want Islamic values to govern but they don't want strict implementation of shari‘a. So there is a struggle for the soul of Islam and it did not start yesterday or after 9-11 but has been going on for at least a century [among] those calling for modernising the Muslim world. People in Egypt in particular have been calling for a reinterpretation of Islam for over one hundred years.

Q. In your publication, Muslim Democrat, you talk about elements of Islam that can be interpreted as "liberal". Tell us about some of those.

Religious freedom is very important -- the idea of no compulsion in religion. To have it [compulsion in religion] defeats the purpose of religion, it defeats God's will. Islam really emphasises that people have to decide to believe. There were many examples in Muslim history where people in mosques were debating the existence of God, especially in the first three centuries. I believe that a religion has to be a matter of free choice. That is the way God intended it.

There are two basic political principles that are heavily emphasised in the Qur’an: justice and shura. Shura means consultation. The problem is that there are no clear institutions or methods that are identified on how this consultation should take place. I say that Muslims have failed in interpreting this message and in applying the idea of shura.

Q. Is there a particular country in the Arab orMuslim Middle East that you're optimistic about, one that could be held up as an example? And is there any reason for optimism about Iran?

Well, if you're talking about the Muslim world in general, I would definitely say Turkey is an example for optimism. Turkey is a very good example today of a Muslim democratic state and society. In fact, I visited Iran and I visited Turkey and the Iranian people are probably the least religious people today. And it is because the Iranian government wants to force religion down their throat. There is a backlash against religion in Iran, because the mullahs are trying to govern in the name of Islam and because they are not very democratic in the way they are doing it. People in Iran are starting to hate the government and some young people hate religion in general. Turkey is almost the exact opposite. You have a state that does not force religion on people, but the people of Turkey are some of the most religious people in the Middle East and in the Muslim world. If you want to convince an Islamic leader of why an Islamic state that forces religion on people is not a good idea, just take them to Iran, let them stay there for
a week or two, and then take them to Turkey. I believe they will change their minds.

Q. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about democracy's prospects in Iraq?

I'm optimistic in the long run, but in the short run I am afraid we are going to see some turbulence.

Q. Give us a final summation of your thoughts on Islam and democracy in the century ahead.

We need to reinterpret Islam, but how can we do that in dictatorships where everything is controlled by the state? Democracy is the key because it will give us the opportunity to talk about all these other problems and to solve them. It will take time. We need the freedom to talk about what Islam means in the 21st century.

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* Tunisian-born Radwan A. Masmoudi founded the Washington-based Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Charlotte Observer, 6 October, 2006, www.charlotte.com
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

4) Behind the veil
Salama A Salama

Cairo - In Egypt and the UK, controversy over Islamic dress for women has dominated the headlines of late. Pundits have been debating the ability of women wearing the niqab, or full-face veil, to remain part of public life. The niqab is a state of mind. Women who cover their faces usually cover their entire bodies, even the hands. The hijab, or headscarf, survived the controversy it once generated because it is a milder form of modesty. Allow me to mention that our mothers and sisters didn't feel the need to wrap their heads or cover their faces and still maintained their modesty in public. Alas, this time is now gone.

The niqab is the latest women's fashion and it is foisted upon religion with no valid reason. Women wearing the niqab cannot move, speak, eat or even see. And yet, some people insist that it is a religious duty to wear it.

In London, Jack Straw, leader of the House of Commons, urged Muslim women in his Blackburn constituency to abandon the niqab when they come to him with concerns, arguing that the full-face veil impedes communication. His remarks triggered angry demonstrations and ignited heated debate. The British minister of education sided with Straw, saying that college professors feel uncomfortable lecturing to women wearing the niqab. The minister said he supported the decision by the London Royal Academy to bar students wearing the face veil. At primary schools in the UK, students complained that they couldn't understand teachers who covered their faces.

A parallel surfaced in Helwan University in Egypt. The university's president barred women wearing the niqab from using the campus dormitories, citing security concerns as well as the women's own safety. Although he still allowed niqab -clad women onto campus and into lecture rooms, the university president came under fire. Some likened him to President Jacques Chirac of France who banned headscarves in schools.

Aside from the niqab controversy, Helwan and Blackburn are as different as night and day. In the UK, Straw was accused of using the niqab for political purposes. The same accusation makes no sense in Helwan. The niqab controversy is not about freedom of dress or faith, for niqab is neither an ordinary item of clothing nor a religious duty: it is a statement of modesty gone astray. Women who wear the niqab stand out in public more than those who dress otherwise. Wearing the niqab to work or school is just as outrageous as wearing a bathing suit or pyjamas to the office.

Ours is a conservative society and no one can claim that critics of the niqab are politically motivated. It is a fact that the niqab degrades women and restricts their opportunities. Women wearing the niqab become sexual objects by implication. They cannot function effectively as teachers or doctors, journalists or government employees. They cannot interact normally with the outside world. Women who take on the niqab forfeit their personal freedom for no good reason.

But what we have here is a problem that one cannot resolve through religious edicts or police action alone. We have to talk to these women. We have to learn more about them. In many cases, niqab-clad women come from rural backgrounds and are intimidated by big cities. They are experiencing a cultural shock and they use the niqab as a defence against the outside world. If I am right in this assessment, then the logical conclusion is that we must offer them help and counsel before we rush into counter-measures, as we usually do. Let's help these young women overcome their fears. Let's make them feel that the world is a safe place. Once their fears are gone, chances are they won't feel the need to cover their faces.

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*Salama A Salama is a frequent contributor to the Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Al Ahram, 19-25 October 2006, www.ahram.org.eg/weekly
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

5) French bill complicates Turkey's EU bid
Scott Peterson

Istanbul, Turkey - By a wide margin, the French parliament voted Thursday to make it a criminal act to deny an Armenian genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks, enraging Turkey and further deepening its suspicion of the European Union.

Muslim Turkey - which has sought for decades to join the EU and is now in membership negotiations - vowed retaliation against France that could disrupt billions of dollars in trade, even as both sides explore the limits of free speech.

The vote came the same day that Orhan Pamuk, the celebrated Turkish novelist, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Charges of "denigrating Turkishness" against Mr. Pamuk - brought after he publicly spoke of the killing of 1 million Armenians during World War I, and 30,000 Kurds - were dropped earlier this year in a case seen as a test of Turkey's commitment to EU-driven reforms.

The two events get at the heart of contradictions in modern Turkey, where democratic and West-leaning EU aspirations often clash with history. The staunchly secular state - a full member of the NATO military alliance - casts itself as an indispensable bridge between East and West, but has yet to be accepted as such by Europe.

Many Turks see the genocide vote -- a hot-button issue -- as just one more obstacle to keep them out of the 25-member EU club.

"Turks find it very hard to swallow this; even Francophile Turks educated there are turning their backs on France," says Sami Kohen, a foreign affairs columnist for Milliyet newspaper. "A lot of us fear this will further encourage critics of the EU [who] will say: 'Enough is enough; we should give up on this EU.'"

Turkish lawmakers Wednesday proposed a counter-bill that would recognise an "Algerian genocide" carried out by colonial French forces in 1945.

Turkish columnists are also raising France's considerable role in Rwanda's 1994 genocide, as they seek to even the moral playing field.

Analysts say the French vote is likely to embolden Turkish nationalists and those who oppose EU membership for Turkey. Recent polls show that Turkish support for joining the EU has dropped from nearly 70 to around 50 percent now.

To become law, the bill must pass the French senate, which is not certain, and be signed by President Jacques Chirac. Punishment would include a one-year prison term, and a €45,000 ($56,500) fine, the same penalty now on French books for denying the Holocaust.

One Turkish newspaper headline took aim at France's reputation as the home of human rights and justice. It read: "Liberté, égalité, stupidité."

"French-Turkish relations, which have developed over centuries ... have been dealt a blow today as a result of the irresponsible false claims of French politicians who do not see the political consequences of their actions," Turkey's foreign ministry Abdullah Gul said in a statement.

"If this bill is passed, Turkey will not lose anything but France will lose Turkey," Mr. Gul had warned before the vote. "[France] will turn into a country that jails people who express their views."

The vote has become a political issue in France, where a majority is against Turkey's membership in the EU, where 400,000 ethnic Armenians live, and where presidential elections are to be held in seven months. French exports to Turkey in 2005 totalled $5 billion.

During a visit to Armenia last week, Mr. Chirac stated that Turkey should not be allowed to join the EU unless it officially accepts that the death of more than 1 million Armenians, which took place in the last years of the Ottoman Empire, constitutes a “genocide”.

Though the French government said Thursday it opposed the legislation as "unnecessary and untimely", Chirac says Turkey must recognise the genocide before it joins the EU.

But while EU officials have been at pains to note that no such genocide criterion applies to Turkey, the sentiment matches widening unease in Europe over Turkey's EU application. Such fears in France are believed to be one reason the French last year rejected the proposed EU constitution.

"France has done its best to hamper Turkey's relations with the EU" and has been seeking "a kind of vengeance" against Turkey since the EU constitution failure, says Seyfi Tashan, director of the Turkish Foreign Policy Institute in Ankara, Turkey's capital. "So politically, the more damage they do to Turkey, the better."

Armenians say that 1.5 million died in 1915 in the first systematic genocide of the 20th century, though historians often count 1 million. Turkey officially argues that some 300,000 Armenians died in a partisan conflict that took just as many Turkish lives, when Armenians sided with invading Russian armies during World War I.

While Turkey has declared that it would open its files to historians, a host of Turkish writers and academics who have challenged official versions of events, sometimes using the word "genocide", have been charged with insulting the state by hard-line prosecutors.

Treading that line has been Mr. Pamuk, whose novels have dug into Turkey's imperial past to explore the contradictions and dilemmas of modern Turkey. The Nobel citation praised the work: "In the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city, [Pamuk] has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures." In February 2005, Pamuk told a Swiss newspaper that "30,000 Kurds and a million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it."

"What I said is not an insult, it is the truth," Pamuk said during his trial. "But what if it is wrong? Right or wrong, do people not have the right express their ideas peacefully?"

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* Scott Peterson is a staff writer for the Christian Science Monitor. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Christian Science Monitor, 13 October 2006, www.csmonitor.org
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

Youth Views
CGNews-PiH also regularly publishes the work of student leaders and journalists whose articles strengthen intercultural understanding and promote constructive perspectives and dialogue in their own communities. Student journalists and writers under the age of 27 are encouraged to write to Chris Binkley (cbinkley@sfcg.org) for more information on contributing.

About CGNews-PiH
The Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) provides news, op-eds, features and analysis by local and international experts on a broad range of issues affecting Muslim-Western relations. CGNews-PiH syndicates articles that are constructive, offer hope and promote dialogue and mutual understanding, to news outlets worldwide. With support from the Norwegian government and the United States Institute of Peace, this news service is a non-profit initiative of Search for Common Ground, an international NGO working in the field of conflict transformation.
This news service is one outcome of a set of working meetings held in partnership with His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan in June 2003.
The Common Ground News Service also commissions and distributes solution-oriented articles by local and international experts to promote constructive perspectives and encourage dialogue about current Middle East issues. This service, Common Ground News Service - Middle East (CGNews-ME), is available in Arabic, English, and Hebrew. To subscribe, click here. (http://www.sfcg.org/template/lists.cfm?list=cgnews)
The views expressed in these articles are those of the authors, not of CGNews or its affiliates.
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Posted by Evelin at October 26, 2006 09:26 PM