Common Ground Newsbulletin: 1-7 December 2009
Dear HumanDHS network friends
Please find below the Common Ground Newsbulletin: 1-7 December 2009.
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Brian Ward
Common Ground Newsbulletin
Inside this edition 01 – 07 December 2009
Settling the “infidels” question in Islam
by Maher Y. Abu-Munshar
In this second article in a series on the myth that Islam is inherently violent, Dr. Maher Y. Abu-Munshar, author and Visiting Senior Lecturer to the Department of Islamic History and Civilization at the University of Malaya in Malaysia, sheds light on the contentious Qur’anic verses that have been used to justify attacks on non-Muslims.
(Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 1 December 2009)
Where the haj takes us
by Anisa Mehdi
Journalist and interfaith educator Anisa Mehdi considers the great lesson haj teaches Muslims.
(Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 1 December 2009)
After the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Bill
by Talib Lashari
Political analyst Talib Lashari takes a look at why the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Bill was so controversial in Pakistan and how it can actually help the country get back on track.
(Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 1 December 2009)
Bringing back lessons of haj
by Kalsoom Lakhani
Director of Social Vision Kalsoom Lakhani examines the impact the haj has on the way Muslims see interfaith relations.
(Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 1 December 2009)
My big, fat Pakistani Thanksgiving
by Aisha Sultan
With Thanksgiving and Eid ul-Adha coinciding this year, Aisha Sultan, a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, provides a glimpse into how her large Pakistani family celebrated the back-to-back holidays.
(Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 30 November 2009)
Settling the “infidels” question in Islam
Maher Y. Abu-Munshar
Kuala Lumpur – Despite the substantial number of scholarly works and news stories to the contrary, many people still have the unfortunate misconception that Muslims cannot tolerate, coexist, or cooperate with followers of other religions. This is partly because Muslim extremists themselves often (mis)use Qur’anic verses to justify acts of violence against non-Muslims.
Simply put, these interpretations are wrong. In fact, many verses in the Qur’an call for friendship, fair treatment and cooperation with non-Muslims but are ignored by those wishing to create division in order to fan the flames, so to speak.
Examples of the misused Qur’anic verses include, for example: “Let not the Believers take for allies or helpers Unbelievers rather than Believers” (3:28) and “O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for your allies. They are but allies to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them [for alliance] is of them” (5:51).
These verses should be seen as providing the necessary support for the survival and cohesion of an early vulnerable community of Muslims–the Prophet Muhammad and his followers who arrived as refugees in Medina–in a potentially hostile environment.
In other words, the Qur’an was advising a particular community of Muslims in 7th century Arabia to be wary of entering blindly into political alliances. And indeed they were betrayed at that time by some of their Jewish allies. In fact, these verses were revealed in particular because some Muslims, for personal gain, were keen to establish or keep alliances with non-Muslims at the expense of their co-religionists and the newly formed state. These verses therefore were instructing these early Muslims to be self-reliant and to not depend upon others’ protection in order to establish a strong, lasting community.
Like the verses cited above, others are also quoted out of context, easily misleading the uninformed reader. One such verse, “And slay them wherever ye find them…” (2:191), is quoted extensively by many extremist Muslims and non-Muslims alike to showcase Islam’s supposed hatred of non-Muslims.
However, this verse too is taken out of context, because the ones just before and after it maintain that Muslims should never be aggressors and should only protect themselves against persecution. The context then becomes clear: this verse was revealed for a specific incident relating to the pagan Arabs who continuously breached the peace and reneged on truces at that particular time. In other words, this instruction is only applicable to this specific incident.
The Egyptian Muslim jurist Yusuf al-Qaradawi points out that these verses are not unconditional and certainly cannot be applied to every single Jew, Christian or non-Muslim. Taking them out of a specific context that relates to some event in earlier Muslim history, they contradict other instructions in the Qur’an that call for kindness to those who wish Muslims no harm.
Both Muslims and non-Muslims must learn to differentiate verses in the Qur’an that are specific to a particular context from those that are universal by also reading those verses that frame the contentious ones.
It is also important to remember that a prevailing message of respect for freedom of religion abounds in the Qur’an: “There is no compulsion in religion” (2:256); “Lo! Those who believe (in that which is revealed unto thee, Muhammad), and those who are Jews, and Christians, and Sabaeans–whoever believeth in Allah and the Last Day and doeth right–surely their reward is with their Lord, and there shall no fear come upon them neither shall they grieve” (2:62); among others.
But the ideal relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims is best captured by two Qur’anic verses in particular (60:8-9). These verses–which advise Muslims to treat those of other faiths justly–employ a word which comes from the root word birr, which refers to a deep-rooted type of kindness and justice. The Qur’an counsels that birr be the basis of the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims–the same instruction it gives for dealing with one’s parents.
Today, when violent extremists quote these verses out of context to justify terrorism, it is essential to look at the Qur’an closely. All Muslims need to combine recitation of the holy text with full understanding of its injunctions. As the majority of Muslims do not speak Arabic, the language of the Qur’an, it is essential that they refer to trusted sources of interpretation and translation and not follow an unsupported, misguided reading of this text. This will surely pave the way toward eliminating misunderstanding and the misuse of the Qur’an for violent ends and instead promote the universal vision of Qur’an: genuine tolerance and peaceful coexistence between all of humanity.
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* Dr. Maher Y. Abu-Munshar is Visiting Senior Lecturer to the Department of History and Islamic Civilization at the University of Malaya, Malaysia and the author of Islamic Jerusalem and its Christians: A History of Tolerance and Tensions (I B Tauris 2007). This article is part of a series on the myth that Islam is inherently violent written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 1 December 2009, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.
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Where the haj takes us
Anisa Mehdi
Amman – Here in Jordan, American domestic news such as the horror of Fort Hood has not been crowding the headlines. Instead, the focus has been on political leaders’ assurances that there will be enough containers of butane gas to heat homes for the winter, sustainable water sources and expanding Israeli settlements in Jerusalem. Even as these concerns filled the headlines, Eid ul-Adha, the celebration marking the end of the haj pilgrimage, was a source of hope.
Eid ul-Adha means “Feast of the Sacrifice”. Scriptural stories say God asked the Prophet Abraham to prove his faithfulness by sacrificing his son. Satan appeared along the path to the altar, decrying God as cruel and false for demanding such a ghastly act. Abraham threw stones at Satan to drive him away. At the denouement, God was satisfied, sparing Abraham’s son and giving the grateful father a ram to sacrifice instead.
It is these events in Abraham’s life, among others, that Muslims commemorate during the three days of haj, including religious rituals like throwing pebbles at a stone stele of Satan. On Eid ul-Adha, which marks the end of the haj, Muslims sacrifice or, in most cases, pay for the sacrifice of, goats, cows and sheep–in remembrance of Abraham’s great sacrifice to God–which is then distributed to the poor.
Up to 10,000 Jordanian pilgrims performed the haj this year, joining about the same number of American pilgrims and close to three million others from around the world. Miraculously, with all these people gathering in one place, grappling with crowds, stress, heat, hunger and confusion, Mecca does not become rife with violence, riots, shootings or hostility during the haj. In more than 1,400 years as an Islamic rite, the greatest danger of pilgrimage remains disease.
How is it that under such trying circumstances, strangers from the far reaches of the planet, belonging to different ethnicities, nationalities and languages, are able to sustain generally good relations with one another during the trying rituals of the haj?
That is not just the challenge of the haj, but of Islam itself. The great jihad–or struggle–each Muslim faces in his or her lifetime is how to be the finest person possible. Haj is a proving ground for the best behaviour, practice and expression of humanity.
Usually, it’s easy to see how people separate themselves from one another. Many of us labour to differentiate ourselves from others–sometimes claiming superiority or dominance merely by dint of birthright. In Jordan, for example, Muslims and Christians coexist, gently appreciating what they see as the other’s mildly misguided beliefs. There are Jordanians of Bedouin stock and Jordanians from the north or the south, each with their own mansaf and kunafeh, tasty local dishes. There are 1948 Palestinian Jordanians and 1967 Palestinian Jordanians, each with historical gratitudes and gripes.
At the haj, which I have had the privilege to film and report for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Geographic Television, those distinctions begin to melt. On the ninth day of the month of haj, as dusk settles over the Plain of Arafat where the Prophet Muhammad made his farewell speech to Muslims toward the end of his life, many pilgrims, drying their eyes, understand that at essence we are born, we love, and we die; that our identity is ultimately tied to the way we live our lives, not to the nation or tribe to which we were born.
Haj is as much about the individual as it is profoundly about community and the communion of humanity. God says in the Qur’an, “O humankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye man know one another. Lo! The noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct” (49:13). The great lesson of the haj is this: more important than where we come from is where we are going.
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* Anisa Mehdi (www.anisamehdi.com and www.anisaammanjournal.blogspot.com ) is a journalist and interfaith educator. She is a Fulbright Scholar in Amman this year, working with documentary filmmakers and broadcasting professionals. This article first appeared in Washington Post/Newsweek’s OnFaith and was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 1 December 2009, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.
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After the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Bill
Talib Lashari
Islamabad – The ongoing militant attacks against Pakistan’s civilians, law enforcement and military signal the need not only for increased security in the country but also for addressing the underlying problems that lead to extremism, such as poverty, illiteracy, joblessness and lack of education. It is these problems that the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Bill was meant to help alleviate, in cooperation with the Pakistani government, by giving Pakistan $7.5 billion in non-military aid over the next five years.
At first, the many conditions attached to the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Bill, as well as the stringent US oversight of the aid monies, angered many Pakistanis. The controversy brought into the spotlight the need for a shift in the body politic in Pakistan from a conservative and irresponsible mindset to a responsible, progressive and democratic one, so the country can achieve political stability and significant socio-economic growth.
After US President Barack Obama signed the bill into law on 15 October, the bill was regarded with suspicion amongst Pakistan’s conservative media and politicians because of certain clauses that allegedly raised concerns for the country’s sovereignty. Despite the bill tripling the amount of aid given to Pakistan each year, furore amongst Pakistanis–aimed at the United States–was at an all-time high.
A few days prior to the bill’s ratification, Senators Richard Lugar and John Kerry clarified that “nothing in this Act in any way suggests that there should be any US role in micromanaging internal Pakistani affairs, including the … internal operations of the Pakistani military.” This statement was made upon request by the Pakistani government to allay fears and address the concerns raised by the public, the military and opposition parties.
The debate was initially triggered on 2 October in the Pakistani Senate when Wasim Sajjad, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, a party formed by former President Pervez Musharraf, said, “This (bill) is a direct attack on Pakistan’s dignity, honour and sovereignty.” Choudhry Nisar Ali Khan, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (party of Nawaz Sharif), voiced similar concerns.
The most astonishing criticism, however, came from the military. The Corps Commanders held a meeting on 7 October and expressed their concerns about the bill to the media–a rare act.
Their main concerns related to Section 203 on “Limitation on Certain Assistance” and Section 302 on “Monitoring Reports”. The former section requires US access to relevant information on, and direct access to, Pakistani nationals involved in nuclear supplier networks; ceasing support for extremist elements within army and intelligence agencies; and no involvement of security forces in subverting Pakistani political or judicial processes.
Section 302 requires a semi-annual report by the US Secretary of State to be submitted to Congress accounting for the funds spent in the previous six months. It forbids the proliferation of nuclear-related material or the sharing of expertise on nuclear weapons with non-Pakistanis. The bill promotes effective civilian leadership and parliament’s management of the military’s chain of command, including the promotion of senior military leaders.
The bill is the biggest aid package Pakistan’s social sector has ever received. It would provide assistance for establishing sustainable democratic institutions as well as aid for education, public health, fighting drug trafficking, human rights, independent media, rural development labour rights, microfinance, internally displaced persons, and even exchange activities like the Fulbright programme.
The bill comes with certain conditions that are binding for matters related to security, but not within the social sector. It states that extensive monitoring and reporting will be necessary while implementing each tranche to ensure that the funds are being efficiently utilised.
With Obama having signed the bill, Pakistan now has a better chance of getting additional international aid through the newly formed consortium “Friends of Democratic Pakistan” (FODP). This group was formed in September 2008 and is comprised of memberships from developed countries that are willing to provide political and strategic support to Pakistan for socio-economic development and for combating terrorism.
Ultimately, the furore over the bill worked in its favour–and to Pakistan’s benefit–as there will be a greater degree of accountability in making sure the aid money is correctly allocated to the areas that require it. Having the United States invest in Pakistan’s socio-economic growth will in all likelihood also invite broader international support, from the FODP in particular.
By sincerely working towards spending the aid money correctly and responsibly, and through subsequent development, Pakistan can restore its image as a responsible, democratic and progressive country, well respected in the league of nations.
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* Talib Lashari is a political analyst based in Islamabad. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 1 December 2009, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.
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Bringing back lessons of haj
Kalsoom Lakhani
Washington, DC – Although the haj is a strictly Muslim experience, many hajis find it affects the way they also see interfaith relations. In “Estimating the Impact of the Hajj: Religion and Tolerance in Islam’s Global Gathering”, a 2008 study of Pakistani pilgrims by the Weatherhead Center of International Affairs at Harvard University, the authors found that performing the haj “increases pilgrims’ desire for peace and tolerance toward others”–Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The study compared successful and unsuccessful applicants in a lottery used by Pakistan to allocate haj visas and the personal accounts of pilgrims.
Starting on 25 November, up to three million Muslims from around the world gathered to perform the haj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. The journey is the fifth pillar of Islam. All Muslims who are able-bodied and can afford to travel to Mecca must complete it at least once in their lifetime.
The haj is the journey of the individual, within and without, amid the collective. It is about sacrificing human comforts to achieve a higher, spiritual closeness with God and create a strong bond with fellow human beings.
Purity and peace are central to the pilgrimage. According to Mosharraf Zaidi, a Pakistani columnist for the English-language daily The News who performed the haj last year, the ihram was a fascinating part of the journey. Ihram is both a physical and mental state of purity, and is outwardly expressed by wearing special white robes. “In ihram, you cannot lose your temper or do anything that would disturb your own peace, or the peace of anyone around you,” he said.
All Muslim men must wear the same clothing to enter into this state: two sheets of plain white, un-hemmed cotton; Muslim women must be dressed modestly, covering their bodies and heads but keeping their faces uncovered. The attire signifies equality among all pilgrims in the eyes of God, eliminating differences based on class, sect, ethnicity and nationality–prejudices that too often cloud our judgment in the world beyond the haj.
“Haj is probably the strongest equaliser that I’d ever participated in,” said Shirin Elkoshairi, an Egyptian-American consultant based in Virginia, who performed it in 2004. The haj, she said, “deeply imprinted a sense of being connected to many different ethnicities, nationalities, languages, cultures and experiences.”
This sense of spiritual clarity and unity feeds into the culmination of the haj, known as the Day of Arafat. On the dawn of this day, Muslims make their way to Mount Arafat, where the Prophet Muhammad delivered his farewell sermon some 1,400 years ago, and where it is believed all will gather on the Day of Judgment. During the sermon, he emphasised the importance of tolerance and unity, saying, “All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood.”
In light of this spirit, Muslim pilgrims come together this day to pray and seek repentance. For many, it is their most humbling and cleansing experience.
During the haj, spiritual clarity is an individual experience, but is also mirrored in the journey of all pilgrims, a reflection on how ideas of personal accountability, tolerance and humility are universal qualities of Islam. Often, however, many of these lessons can be forgotten once the ihram is no longer present and pilgrims resume their daily lives, as some who have returned have noted.
In a world burdened with violence and intolerance, it is important to harness lessons from the haj to tackle these issues and foster greater mutual respect among Muslims as well as between Muslims and non-Muslims. Networks of hajis should be developed to sustain the sentiment of tolerance and equality brought forth by their pilgrimage, especially in light of the aforementioned study’s finding that pilgrims are 22 percent more likely to say that people of different religions are equal. Hajis should also help educate others who were not part of the journey and act as leaders within their own communities, thereby bringing the lessons of their journey home.
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* Kalsoom Lakhani is the director of Social Vision, the strategic philanthropy arm of ML Resources, LLC. She also runs the CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan blog. This article first appeared in Washington Post/Newsweek’s OnFaith and was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 1 December 2009, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.
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My big, fat Pakistani Thanksgiving
Aisha Sultan
St. Louis, Missouri – If past Thanksgivings are any indication, we should be past the turkey coma by now.
But we’re probably still nursing an Eid hangover.
This year, sacrifice and consumption collided for Muslim Americans. The blackest shopping day coincided with Eid ul-Adha, one of two major Islamic holidays. It occurs the day after haj and commemorates the willingness of the Prophet Abraham to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God (a familiar story in Abrahamic faiths). Because our holidays rotate through the calendar, I haven’t faced this particular circumstance before.
The practical implication of this, besides figuring out the shortest distance from the mall to the nearest mosque, is back-to-back feasts with our families.
My clan, which happens to be a loud, gluttonous bunch, does Thanksgiving big. Texas big. Two turkeys, lots of carbs, tres leches, flan and pie. Between the siblings, in-laws and cousins, it’s a meal for at least 30.
Not only are we food-obsessed, we’re also slightly self-obsessed–vain and full of opinions, wisecracks and gossip. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, although we have been known to fight dirty when arguing politics and religion.
And religion runs the gamut from women who wear headscarves to those who embrace bare heads and even (shockingly) bare arms. There are fundamentalist preachers and the closet agnostics. There are a few lawyers in the bunch, one who worked as a staffer for a conservative Republican congressman and another who was a state delegate for US President Barack Obama. It’s a big tent.
Some of us are not native English speakers; others do not speak a lick of Urdu. Someone will quote the 19th century Mirza Ghalib or another Urdu poet, the meaning of which half of us will not fully comprehend. Someone will act like a wannabe “gangsta”. There are babies and elderly matriarchs, both known to deliver a tight slap if provoked.
Yes, there have been legendary fights and grudges, some lasting years. There is no booze, but chai flows freely. You can’t be too timid in this crowd. As anyone who has grown up in a large family knows, a thick skin is developed through years of uncensored and unsolicited commentary, like the time my cousin told an ultra-sensitive pre-teen that no boy would ever marry her. I ran to my room to cry but have been teased about that reaction for years.
Also around the time I was 11 years old, our mosque held a series of mock debates about the appropriateness of celebrating certain Christian and secular holidays. More than 20 years ago, when this discussion occurred, our mosque was attended mostly by immigrants, unfamiliar with many American traditions. I drew the most defensible position: Muslims should celebrate Thanksgiving. It’s not a pressing theological concern for any Muslim I’ve ever met. But, I brought gusto and passion to the topic, probably because I was paired against a boy I had a secret crush on and considered a verbal smack down in front of the entire congregation the surest way to get his attention. It was not a good strategy.
In the pursuant two decades, as those families have become acculturated and raised children here, this debate would be moot.
Recently, the boy I debated told me that his family has always celebrated Thanksgiving. It’s the one time of year they always get together. I suppose it was moot even back then.
As soon as I was old enough to discover Thanksgiving, I made it into a big deal. I would make everyone say what they were thankful for. One year, I instituted a moment of silence to mark the history of the Native Americans. This year, we remembered those massacred at Fort Hood, the base where my best friend from high school married her fiancé, an enlisted specialist, years ago.
The day after Thanksgiving this year, on Eid, the menu was different. Instead of turkey, there was goat. Saag (curried spinach) in place of sweet potatoes. We traded our dresses for embroidered shalwar kameezes and long dupattas (traditional South Asian clothing).
But, the ethos is the same: too much food, too much drama and drive-you-crazy, make-you-batty, family love.
This is my tribe: Texan, Pakistani, Muslim, American.
This is our big, fat holiday.
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* Aisha Sultan is a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. This abridged article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) with permission from the author. The full text can be found at www.stltoday.com/dirtylaundry .
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 30 November 2009, www.stltoday.com/dirtylaundry
Copyright permission is granted for publication.
