issue 8 vol.1 June 2013

Earth: a planet for all

UK £3.00

And Muhammad(s) is His Last Messenger The Western Political Philosophy of Fear The Afterlife and the reality of our ephemeral existence Contents Politics 22 Dying in the land of Promises Masoud Tehrani on the concerns of ethnic Editorial team Turks in Germany following the break-up of a murderous neo-Nazi group Managing Director Mohammad Saeed Bahmanpour June 2013 Chief Editor Amir De Martino Editorial 24 Aung San Suu Kyi and the Impera- Managing Editor Anousheh Mireskandari tive of Speaking Out Issue, 8 Vol, 1 Published Monthly 5 Education: Political Editor Reza Murshid Reza Murshid questions why Burma’s best islam today magazine intends to address the Freedom to the Family known pro-democracy activist has been concerns and aspirations of a vibrant Muslim Health Editor Laleh Lohrasbi conspicuously silent on the Rohingya News issue community by providing readers with inspiration, Art Editor Moriam Grillo information, a sense of community and solutions News from around the world On the Muslim Question Layout and Design Sasan Sarab - Michele Paolicelli 6 26 through its unique and specialised contents. It Mohsen Biparva reviews a new book also sets out to help Muslims and non-Muslims, Design and Production PSD UK Ltd. which argues that Europe’s current obses- Life & Community sion with its Muslim presence is more a further understand and appreciate the nature of reflection of its own anxieties that a true a dynamic faith. 10 Does Islam allow violence in representation of social relations marital life? Nehad Khanfar explains why the tradi- Feature tional interpretation of the term darb as (s) Contact us beating in verse 34 of chapter an-Nisaa’ 30 And Muhammad is His Last stands in opposition to the Quranic view Messenger of marriage as an institution aimed at On the auspicious anniversary of the Information [email protected] establishing a climate of stability and (s) Letters to the Editor [email protected] security for both parties beginning of the Prophet Muhammad’s mission Contributions and Submissions [email protected] 12 “Even unto China” Subscriptions [email protected] As access to information, data and knowledge becomes easier our ability 32 The Awaited One from www.islam-today.net to learn has also increased. Alexander Muhammad’s(s) progeny Khaleeli reflects on the impact that true knowledge should have on those who The belief in the coming of a Saviour to have acquired it spread peace and justice in a fallen world is common to all Abrahamic religions. Moving forward with RE Yasser Ahmed discusses his place and role 16 in Islamic eschatology Contributors A recent report highlighting a distinct lack of training and support for teachers When help arrives of RE in the UK is further evidence that 34 Ahmad Haneef Nadia Jamil our children’s education is being put at Batool Haydar reflects on the concept of risk, according to Tahereh Shafiee waiting for the Mahdi(a) and the transfor- Alexander Khaleeli Nehad Khanfar mation it should bring within ourselves Arts Ali Sadeq Tahereh Shafiee Cover 18 In the spotlight Batool Haydar Yasser Ahmed 36 Earth a planet for all Parviz Tanavoli; Iranian painter and Recent reports on the dwindling number Charles Mercieca sculptor of bees worldwide should be seen as an alarm bell by nature, argues Ali Sadeq Cleo Cantone Elham Ostad-Saffari 19 Masterpiece Frank Julian Gelli Farhad Moshiri; Drunken Lover – Jar painting; oil on canvas 2001 Ghazaleh Kamrani Opinion America’s Culture of Death Masoud Tehrani 40 20 The Place to Be Despite the American people’s goodwill and generosity towards others, the world Muhammad Haghir Changsha Mexihu International Cultural at large judges the USA by the murderous & Art Centre, Hunan Province, China Back Cover Mohsen Biparva policies of the few in government, says Charles Mercieca View of The Niujie Mosque, the largest mosque in Beijing. Built in 996 CE during the Liao Dynasty The Western Political Philosophy Heritage 44 Disclaimer: Where opinion is expressed it is that of the author and does not nec- 20 of Fear essarily coincide with the editorial views of the publisher or islam today. All infor- Mosque Lamp, 12th century: Syria, Raqqa Publisher: mation in this magazine is verified to the best of the authors’ and the publisher’s Muhammad Haghir finds a line of conti- Islamic Centre of England ability. However, islam today shall not be liable or responsible for loss or damage 21 Mixed Media nuity between classical western political arising from any users’ reliance on information obtained from the magazine. theory and the state of the current geopo- 140 Maida Vale ISSN Golnaz Fathi; painter and calligrapher litical climate London, W9 1QB - UK 2051-2503

Islamic Centre of England

2 3 Contents Editorial

Faith What & Where 46 The Afterlife and the reality of our 66 Listings and Events ephemeral existence Friday Nights Thought Forum - Islamic Cheating death has been a constant Centre of England theme in human history. But as Ahmed Imam Khomeini Conference 2013 Haneef explains, Islam teaches us that we are not created for this earthly life The idea of ‘Islamic’ Education Facing up to the inevitable 50 The Future of Religious Minorities in the A personal reflection on death by Nadia Middle East…(Conference) Jamil Education: Annual Multi-faith Pilgrimage for Peace in Interfaith Hertfordshire Revival of the Sisterhood: Ramadhan 52 St Alban’s sacrifice: all for naught? Charity Dinner Freedom to the Family 22nd June marks the martyrdom Science, Scientism and the Challenge of anniversary of Britain’s first Christian Islam martyr who died in defence of Monothe- The Urban Muslim Woman Show ism. Revd Frank Gelli asks if Britain has returned to the old age of paganism worshipping a cluster of new gods. Summit to Eat; The Snowdon Challenge Science 2nd Global Halal Trade & Logistics Summit Of Mice & Men Sensing the Sacred: Religion and the he first fundamental objective ments should refrain from formulating because it emanates from a vision of 54 Senses, 1300 - 1800 Studies in comparative genomics are reveal- when discussing freedom of or advancing educational proposals faith supported by reason. Such a style ing important facts to advance our under- Shubbak Festival: Contemporary culture education is the recognition, based on party politics. It is not the could be defined by the use of two prin- from across the Arab world. standing of the relationship between humans both practical and formal, role of a government to educate but ciples: the primacy of the individual and and animals. Elham Ostad - Saffari explores Muslim Tribes and the War on Terror thatT the education of any person is to ensure that all its citizens can be the principle of subsidiarity. Within this the genetic makeup of both, questioning the validity of the assertion that humans evolved the responsibility of the family, just as educated. The position of governments framework the state acquires a supple- Seeds of Change: A Women’s conference from monkeys it has been since time immemorial. In and families in relation to education is mentary role, not one associated with a 56 Remembering through our nose Doing Business in the Middle East order to ensure that such recognition essentially different. While the family is heavy footprint in the social aspects of is genuine and not only empty words, originally and internally involved, the life, but one in which it must promote Listed among the human senses, olfaction has a multiplicity of functions. Ghazaleh the presence of three interdependent state’s involvement should be purely those fundamental anthropological Kamrani explains how our sense of smell elements is necessary. supplementary and external. structures such as marriage and family is at the heart of remembering and emo- that form the foundation of society. tion The first element is that freedom of The fundamental means for the state to education must be real; this means that fulfil its duty is the institution of a scho- In reality the crisis in education reflects Health every family must have the concrete lastic system that is efficient and well a larger problem in the social structure 58 Cancer Update possibility of educating its children organised. As the state does not have of our society. according to the particular worldview it its own “educational proposal” - and it Dr Laleh Lohrasbi reviews a number of Within the programmes of reforms of developments in the fight against different considers true. However this freedom shouldn’t - it is the school that we must the so called “welfare state”, the most type of cancers. cannot exist without the full and neces- invest with full autonomy and educa- efficient, less costly choice to help face sary recognition of the autonomy of tional freedom. It is necessary that this the current difficulties is the full and 60 Human body parts; schools. Any discussion about educa- educative dimension of the school be substantial recognition of the family in Natural regeneration or artificial tion without such recognition has little clearly highlighted and centred around its individual innate roles; first of all, the Glossary of Islamic Symbols technology meaning. It is necessary that the family the individual acknowledgment of the role to educate. This is what is meant by The letters [swt] after the name of Allah [swt] (God), stand for be recognised as the real interlocutor of family as the direct interlocutor of the the Arabic phrase ‘organic’. This is the real challenge that the school. school. governments must face up to. Fighting the killer mosquitoes subhanahu wa-ta’ala meaning: “Glorious and exalted be He”. 61 The second fundamental element for The third fundamental element that The letter [s] after the name of the Prophet Muhammad[s], The solution could be to have institu- the promotion of a free education is a can ensure the realisation of the above Places stands for the Arabic phrase sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam, tional and structural programmes that meaning: “May Allah bless him and grant him peace”. well-defined role for the state. There is points is the setting up of a real ‘forma- reflect practical and juridical decisions, Salé city of Scholars and Saints The letter [a] after the name of the Imams from the progeny no doubt that the state has a duty and tive organic system’. but above all what is needed is an 62 [s] [a] of the Prophet Muhammad , and for his daughter Fatimah a right to create the best conditions to Consideration should be given to a awareness and willingness in the corri- The large presence of Islamic madrasas, stands for the Arabic phrase ‘alayhis-salaam, ‘alayhas- shrines and mosques in Sale, Morocco, enable families to be effective educa- salaam (feminine) and ‘alayhimus-salaam (plural) meaning faith-based “architectural style” in dors of powers. Unfortunately neither still hold together the urban fabric of the tors. The first duty of the state should the construction of our society. Faith- appear to be in abundance at present. • city, argues Cleo Cantone respectively: (God’s) Peace be with him/ her/ them. be to defend and promote the inherent based not in the sense that belongs right of the family to educate. Govern- to a particular group of believers, but

4 5 News

Reasons vary. Some, mostly women tion which showed that half of all The Muslim communities have held strictly for Muslim girls, they added. Muslim intellectual Tariq Ramadan (who make up around two-thirds of Germans believe that Islam does not fit an ‘Open Mosque Day’ every October However, the court ruled that the girl would be attending the talks. new believers), want to marry a Muslim. into the Western world. since 1997, while Jewish communities BRITAIN must attend the swimming lessons Swiss-educated Ramadan, whose grand- Others are fed up with the bawdiness of The study, which surveys views on also regularly invite non-Jews into their offered at the high school: lessons were father Hassan al Banna is the founder British society. Many speak of seeking the social significance of religion and synagogues. offered separately for girls and boys; of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, a sense of community. Batool al-Toma, values, was carried out in Germany and But it is not just Germany - in many wearing of a burkini – a swimsuit – was has ironically been both praised as a an Irish-Catholic convert who runs 12 other countries, and included the western states, Islam is seen as a allowed; and the girl would not have reformist and denounced as a radical. the New Muslim Project in Leeds, was views of 14,000 people. particular threat. That applies to 60 per bodily contact with her male swimming His theories on Western society – which attracted, she says, by the spirituality of Among the Germans, 85 per cent agreed cent of Spaniards, 50 per cent of the teacher, since she already knew how to he says is in decline – and how modern Islam and the warmth of relationships Swiss and 42 per cent of US citizens. In swim. Islam is taking shape in Europe, have she saw among Muslims. or tended to agree that one should be open towards all religions. They contrast, in India, only 30 per cent see The court also stated that attendance proved controversial. For men, prisons have proved a fertile saw most religions as an enrichment, Islam as a threat, and in South Korea, at a Muslim-only swim course did not In fact, some of Ramadan’s most noto- ground for conversions. Just over especially Christianity, also Judaism and it’s just 16 per cent. further integration, one of the goals of rious encounters have taken place in 11,000 prisoners are Muslims, about Buddhism, but a majority of 51 per cent All the same, there are differences school swimming. France, making him a household name 13% of the total. Last year an inquiry saw Islam as a threat. among Western European countries: in the country. by the Home Affairs Select Committee Allowing the dispensation would have Detlef Pollack, the sociologist who France, Britain, and the Netherlands all contributed to ‘parallel societies’, the The sudden decision by Valls and identified prisons as a breeding ground see Islam in a more positive light than for radicals. co-authored the study, says that this court claimed. Muslims’ right to practise Vallaud-Belkacem – interior minister negative perception could be due to does Germany. their religion was the subject of a huge and women’s rights minister respec- But a study by the Prisons Inspectorate the lack of personal contact between controversy in 2009 in connection with tively – was met with disappointment by in 2010 produced a more positive Christians and Muslims. More people a popular vote to ban the construction organisers of ‘The State of the Union’ conclusion. Converts, a third of those in eastern Germany see Islam as threat- of minarets in Switzerland. In contrast, conference. Organised by the European interviewed, said the discipline and ening than in the West, even though the SWITZERLAND a government report conducted in University Institute and in partnership structure of Islam helped them to cope east is home to only two per cent of all the wake of the ban found that ‘most with French daily Le Monde and British with prison life. the country’s Muslims. Muslims in Switzerland are well-inte- daily The Financial Times, the annual But Pollack also notes that people grated and don’t generally experience event brings together politicians and problems related to their religious faith thinkers to discuss the future of the EU. Over 5000 Britons converting to have even less contact with Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism, all of which in everyday life’ Stephan Albrechtskirchinger of the Islam every year GERMANY are seen more positively than Islam, European University Institute described and he argues that the media have a lot Valls and Vallaud-Belkacem’s decision to do with that: ‘The picture the media as ‘regrettable,’ arguing that Ramadan Calculating convert numbers in Britain FRANCE give of Buddhism or Hinduism is that had ‘irrefutable academic credits’ as is not easy. The census in England of peace-loving religions,’ Pollack says, a professor of contemporary Islam at and Wales only asks about people’s while the picture that the media offers Oxford University. current religion. Mosques do not record for Islam ‘is more about fanaticism and conversions centrally, and some new Attendee Bruno le Maire of France’s aggression.’ believers, also known as reverts, keep conservative UMP party told Le Monde their conversions quiet. The chairman of the Central Council that Ramadan’s presence at the talks of Muslims in Germany, Aiman Mazyek, Swiss Court Gives Priority to would not affect his own attendance. ‘I Having utilised census data on race and agrees. ‘In the media we often see a don’t usually give in to people whose religion, and questionnaires issued to Integration Over Religious Rights very distorted picture of Islam,’ he views I don’t share – I fight them mosques, Kevin Brice, a researcher at says. Extremist groups are often shown, instead,’ he said. the University of Wales, reckons around and frequently no distinction is made Integration of foreigners is more 5,200 Britons turn to Islam every year, between religion and extremism, as important than their religious beliefs, bringing the total number of converts to when, after the Boston Marathon Switzerland’s highest court has ruled. about 100,000. Study says many Germans view attacks, the bombers were said to be The court denied a 14-year-old girl from French Muslims use science to Proselytising has little do with it. A Islam as a threat part of an “Islamic network.” a devout Muslim family in Aargau the determine start of Ramadhan handful of Muslim groups hand out But Mazyek also sees reason for self- right to dispensation from school swim- French ministers boycott Muslim tracts in the street. But most are more criticism: ‘The Muslims have to roll ming classes. concerned with issuing press releases intellectual A major study of attitudes towards reli- up their sleeves, get more involved in For the first time ever France’s Muslim condemning extremism than wooing The family argued that their religion gion says Germans approve of openness society and make it clear that they are leaders are to use modern astronomical converts, says Leon Moosavi, an expert prevented the girl from taking part in towards other religions. But many are committed to this country.’ French Socialist ministers Manuel calculations, rather than observation of on Islamic conversions at Liverpool swimming lessons, where she would be still suspicious of Islam. Valls and Najat Vallaud-Belkacem have the moon with the naked eye, to deter- University. Politicians and churches have been seen by her male teacher and possibly refused to attend a conference on the mine the start of the holy month of The criticism can be partly explained trying to encourage dialogue between other men. The girl already knew how Those who embrace Islam tend to do future of the European Union in Flor- Ramadhan and other Islamic holidays. by the ‘Religion Monitor,’ a survey put the various religions for years now. to swim, having attended a private class so after years of contact with Muslims. together for the Bertelsmann Founda- ence after they discovered that Swiss

6 7 Muslim scientists have been arguing for come home from work in the evening of the French Observatory against that she wears a Hijab. Moreover, she - estimated share of new legal permanent using astronomy to determine Islamic to learn their son has had his pain au Islamophobia. ‘He wants to please the like many Muslim girls who choose to residents who are Christian declined dates for years, especially now that chocolate snatched out of his hand by extremists in his party and as usual he wear the Hijab - is a smiling, non-threat- from 68 per cent in 1992 to 61 per cent globalised communications make it thugs, telling him it is forbidden to eat attacks Muslims and young people’. ening normal-looking female wearing a in 2012. increasingly awkward for different coun- during Ramadhan’. pink Hijab and a flower-patterned dress. Over the same period, the estimated tries to start Ramadhan on different The story was seized upon by the The unmistakable message behind the share of Green Card recipients who days. Moussaoui said French Muslims French media with the words Copé, “humour” is that even the most peaceful belong to religious minorities rose from were not planning to ask for their Ramadhan and Pain au Chocolat USA looking Muslims are synonymous and 19 per cent to 25 per cent. holidays to be included in the national headlining numerous articles. exchangeable with terrorists.’ calendar. ‘It would be more important Muslims increased from five per cent Copé’s inflammatory comments come Deana Othman, a Chicago Muslim jour- in 1992 to 10 per cent in 2012; Hindus for us that they are taken into consid- ‘Hijab Wearing Terrorist Girl’ Card nalist, said: ‘Why is the lampooning of eration, that’s all,’ he said. not long after he was accused of stir- Angers Rights Activists increased from three per cent to seven ring up tensions, when he expressed the Muslim terrorist an acceptable one? per cent in 2012. Buddhists decreased However, the majority of the Muslim his dismay over the growing ‘anti-white The parody of the Muslim presents a slightly, from seven per cent in 1992 to world relies on the time-honoured racism’ in France’s cities. unique scenario: While satire of African six per cent of legal immigrants in 2012. Muslim leaders in France have agreed tradition of moon sighting which also Americans, Latinos or Jews is seen as to end almost 1,400 years of Islamic puts the believers in touch with the On both occasions the brazen Copé was racist, “Muslim” is not a race, and there- Since 1992, the United States has tradition and use modern astronomy to wonders of creation. accused of trying to court the far right fore parody of Muslims does not fall admitted an estimated total of about determine the start of the holy month of vote in his bid to beat rival François under the purview of racist discourse.’ 1.7 million Muslim immigrants, nearly a Ramadhan and other Islamic holidays. Fillon to become head of the UMP in million Hindu immigrants and about a next month’s election. million Buddhist immigrants, according The French Muslim Council (CFCM) to the Pew Research Center’s estimate. voted recently to start using astronom- Copé’s apparent efforts to win favour ical calculations to set the date rather French Politician Attacks Muslims with France’s powerful far right echo More Muslims and Hindus The percentage of religiously unaffili- those made by his friend and former ated immigrants remained stable, about than relying on the naked eye to sight to Appease Far Right Immigrate to the U.S. the new crescent moon. colleague Nicolas Sarkozy during 14 per cent. Immigration accounts the latest presidential election, when A member of a Chicago-area civil rights for much of the growth of Islam and Ramadhan traditionally begins the the former head of state’s repeated group made a disturbing discovery Hinduism in the United States. morning after the sighting, which has in anti-immigration rhetoric saw him when she found a neighbourhood card the past been delayed by a day or even The estimated number of new Muslim lambasted in the left-wing press. and novelty shop selling a card that two by weather. immigrants has grown from roughly Copé, who has published a new book depicted a young Hijab-wearing Muslim 50,000 in 1992 to 100,000 in 2012. Council President Mohammad Mous- roughly translated as ‘A manifesto for girl — as a terrorist. Since 2008, the estimated number of saoui said the old method played havoc an unabashed right-wing’, later tried to The Chicago Monitor reported the Muslims becoming U.S. permanent with French Muslims’ schedules for justify his words saying he was simply card featuring the smiling cartoon girl residents has remained at or above the work, school and festivities. France’s describing ‘an everyday scene’ and is covered with messages like, ‘She’ll 100,000 level each year. five million Muslims are the largest claimed that this type of behaviour was love you to death!’ and ‘She’ll blow your Islamic minority in Europe. Legal immigrants arriving over the past motivated by a desire ‘to manipulate brains out!’ Inside, the card reads, ‘Hope two decades constitute a large portion ‘Now all this will be simplified,’ he religion’ for their own ends. your birthday is a blow out!’ of the overall U.S. Muslim population. said, and promptly announced the While the majority of legal U.S. immi- But his words have provoked an angry Ahmed Rehab, Chicago executive Pew Research Center surveys of U.S. Ramadhan fast would begin on July 9 grants are Christians, there has been a backlash on social media and on the director of the Council on American Muslims in 2007 and 2011 show that this year. First he lambasted ‘anti-white racism’; growing percentage of non-Christians air waves. Speaking to French radio Islamic Relations, called the card the number of Muslims living in the now an outspoken right-wing French immigrating to the United States, Turkey began using scientific calcula- station RTL, government spokeswoman ‘moronic’. He says he has heard from United States rose in that four-year politician has set his sights on the especially Muslims and Hindus. That tions to set the start of Ramadhan Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said: ‘It is clear plenty of people decrying the card as period by about 300,000 adults and Muslim community as he seeks to immigration has been reflected in the decades ago. Muslims in Germany, who Jean-Francois Copé is trying to exploit a offensive and feeding into negative 100,000 children, to a total of about become the heir to Nicolas Sarkozy. growing number of new mosques and are mostly of Turkish origin and those subject that is far too important to be stereotypes about Muslims. 2.75 million Muslims of all ages. That in Bosnia, also use this method. exploited, which is the question of living temples in different U.S. cities. Jean Francois Copé, who is bidding to ‘The woman in Massachusetts just two rate of increase would be difficult to together.’ Muslim minorities elsewhere in Europe become leader of the centre right UMP weeks ago that was punched while A recent report released by the Pew explain without rising immigration, the often start Ramadhan according to its party, a position once held by Sarkozy, ‘The day he wants to speak calmly walking her kids for no other reason Forum on the religious affiliation of report said. • beginning in their countries of origin, lamented the state of some neighbour- instead of seeking to exploit fears and than wearing a hijab on her head, was immigrants shows that the percentages or in Makkah. That can lead to different hoods in France’s cities, and in doing so fantasies, I would be ready to listen,’ she because someone thought that because of immigrants who are Muslim or Hindu ethnic groups starting it on different launched a thinly veiled snipe at Islam. added. she wears it, she is a terrorist,’ Rehab doubled from 1992 to 2012. Over the past two decades, the United States has days, even in the same country. At a meeting in the southern town of Leaders of France’s Muslim community told CBS television. granted permanent residency to about ‘This is historic. Now all Muslims in Draguignan he said: ‘I can understand also slammed Copé for his remarks. The Monitor pointed out the card’s ugly the exasperation of some of our compa- a million immigrants each year. France can start Ramadhan on the ‘These types of accusations are easy to inference, noting: ‘Notice that nothing triots when there are some neighbour- While Christians continue to make same day,’ said Lyon Muslim leader make,’ said Abdallah Zekri, president identifies this doll as a terrorist in the Azzedine Gaci. hoods where a mother or father will minds of the card designers other than up a majority of legal immigrants, the

8 9 Does Islam allow violence in marital life?

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

“…As for those [wives] whose miscon- duct you fear, [first] advise them, and [if ineffective] keep away from them, and [as the last resort] separate from them……”(Qur’an 4:34) ally taken to mean disobedience) is Viewed in this way, the idea that the each other affords them the space in Having dealt with nushuz from the marital home, would be far more effec- committed or proposed. Most Arabic husband has been granted divine which to re-evaluate their relationship husband’s side, later in the same chapter tive in resolving disputes. dictionaries translate nushuz as arro- permission to use physical chastisement and explore ways of re-building their of the Qur’an there is another verse that Muslim scholars need to reconsider the gance (for example, looking down at against his wife becomes inconceivable ccording to the Qur’an marital relations. addresses the wife in the event that her traditional interpretation of darb by someone). and stands in opposition to the Quranic the marriage institution On the other hand, the second meaning husband commits nushuz or shows interpreting it within the wider aims of is built on love and mercy directives of mutual love, mercy, and arrogance. In examining this verse it is important to of darb as ‘giving an example’ can the Qur’an in relation to the institution security, with stability as the central (mawaddah and rahmah). keep in mind that the Qur’an prescribes also be taken to point to separating In all that can be read and understood of marriage. Any authority given to the InA addition the Qur’an establishes that pillars of marriage. a three-stage method of dispute resolu- or parting company for a while. This of the Qur’an, it is evident that couples husband to resort to violence would marriage should not be concluded tion in the event of any problems arising Darb and its derivatives are mentioned meaning is also used in the Qur’an in are encouraged and recommended to violate many obvious rules and direc- without proper preparation and deter- between man and wife. First couples are in the Holy Qur’an 24 times and are different verses, for instance, in (2:26) seek reconciliation with one another. tives in the Qur’an which are designed mination. Based on this, marriage is asked to use words of advice (mutual mainly used with the meaning of ‘sepa- (14:24, 25) darb is used in the sense of Knowing that the Qur’an encourages to maintain the martial relationship considered an umbrella under which counsel); secondly men are asked to ration and going away’ or ‘giving an ‘drawing a parable’. harmony between husband and wife, and protect both husband and wife husband and wife enjoy stability and shun the marital bed (avoiding physical example’. If we adopt the first meaning So according to this understanding taking positive steps rather than from losing their dignity and respect. • security (sakan and sakeenah). intimacy), and finally, if everything fails, to interpret the use of darb in verse 34 the three steps involved in resolving applying force can be the only meaning the man is advised to go away instead of of Surah An-Nisaa’, then it means the Traditional scholars and interpreters a marital dispute are to counsel each of darb in this instance. Committing admonishing or beating his wife as has implementation of the third step, ‘going of the Qur’an have given preference to other, failing which the couple should nushuz is seen as something negative, traditionally been understood. away’ and ‘keeping away’ from one’s wife. ‘beating’ as the meaning of the term avoid intimate relations, and if this whether it is done by wife or husband, darb rather than ‘parting and separa- This meaning is used and confirmed in and requires the same treatment aiming Restudying the word darb and its does not work, they should leave each Dr Nehad Khanfar is a Lecturer in Islamic different verses, for instance (4:101), tion’. However they ignore the fact that derivatives in the Qur’an points us in other in order to set an example. This at the same outcome. Financial/Banking Contracts and Comparative Qur’an does not support this meaning where darb is used as ‘departing’ or Contract Law at the Islamic College for Advanced a completely different direction to the would also ensure the husband main- Darb, as traditionally interpreted, would (18:11) as ‘drawing a curtain or division’ Studies in London in any other verses. traditional interpretation of the word - a tains good relations with his wife if certainly aggravate an already difficult and (57:13) in the sense of ‘putting Beating as an adopted understanding direction which is more consistent with she commits nushuz, something which relationship between husband and wife. up a wall’. This is logical. Temporarily for darb used in the above verse is the Quranic view of marriage outlined would certainly be more effective in However, interpreting darb as ‘giving a keeping husband and wife away from mentioned when nushuz (tradition- earlier. seeking reconciliation than beating her. good example’, or ‘going away’ from the

10 11 As access to information, data and knowledge becomes easier our ability to learn has also increased. Alexander Khaleeli reflects on the impact that true knowledge should have on those who have acquired it

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

12 13 scholars would have to travel so that it becomes part of the but lacks its substance. great distances to study under an knower’s own being does it become But how to overcome this illusion? accomplished teacher or obtain a actual knowledge. It is possible Perhaps we can draw inspiration rare text. Today, some of the world’s to see whether or not we have from the story of Socrates, the leading universities offer courses internalised knowledge in this way famous Greek philosopher, and online for free and tens of thou- by looking at our own behaviour the Oracle of Delphi. Socrates’ sands of books can be instantly and attitudes. If we notice that friend Chaerephon once asked the downloaded and shared in digital by learning something we have Oracle if there was anyone wiser format. This even extends to the become more aware of God and - than Socrates, to which the Oracle Islamic sciences; almost all of the as a result of this awareness - been replied that there was noone wiser major collections of Hadith have motivated to better ourselves both than him. Socrates thought that been digitised and made search- as Muslims and human beings, the Oracle could not possibly be able. Yes, it has never been so easy then we have attained some correct, since he knew that he to find and share information. knowledge. This is why the clas- had no wisdom whatsoever. So So is knowledge just a Google sical scholars have said that the he began to question the wisest search away? An unfortunate true purpose of knowledge (‘ilm) is people in Athens – statesmen, feature of our modern societies action (‘amal) and that acquiring poets and artisans – in order to is that we often mistake informa- knowledge without acting upon it refute the Oracle’s claim. In doing tion for erudition and facts for is worthless. The Qur’an describes so, he realised that while these knowledge, as if education is ‘The example of those who were people claimed to be wise, none Hawza Studies Programme nothing more than the hoarding charged with the Torah, then of them in fact were. Paradoxically, of data. Compare this to what failed to carry it…’ – i.e. failed to this made him the wisest man in 2013 / 2014 the Qur’an says about knowledge: act upon it – ‘…is that of an ass Athens because only he was aware ‘Only those of God’s servants who carrying books.’ (62: 5). And the of his own ignorance. Prophet says: ‘Whoever increases A Four-Year Study Programme leading to stage two have knowledge fear Him.’ (35:28). In an era dominated by informa- This verse provides a completely in knowledge, but not in guidance, qualification of Major International Hawza Studies has not increased with regards to tion and technology, knowledge different view of learning, in that has never been more precious or it draws an explicit connection God except in distance [from him].’ Therefore true knowledge – which more elusive. But if we are to go between having knowledge (‘ilm) in search of wisdom, we must first This course provides students with classical, authoritative and fearing God, suggesting that is knowledge of the Divine – should be demonstrated in one’s actions. acknowledge our own ignorance, Islamic education and spiritual training within a modern true knowledge is something that as we cannot pursue the substance inspires us to hold our Creator in So far from abounding in knowl- of knowledge if we still cling to the framework of study. awe. In other words, it has less to edge, the modern world seems illusion of modernity. But if we are do with what you know and more paradoxically devoid of it. A able to recognise the fundamental to do with the effect knowing has secular, materialist worldview unity – or tawhid – behind the This is a unique course consists of studies in the fields of: on you, the knower. means that scholars see no under- multiplicity of various fields of By virtue of this, anything that lying unity beneath the manifold learning, to see all knowledge as disciplines and areas which they increases a person’s awareness being ultimately connected to • Arabic Language (Syntax and Morphology) of his Creator is knowledge – not study, leading different fields of knowledge of the Divine, and in just traditionally “Islamic” subjects. learning to become increasingly doing so leave behind our own • Qur’anic & Hadith Studies And by the same token, someone atomised and detached from one pretentions to wisdom for the real could conceivably have studied another, as well as detached from thing, then we truly have under- • Logic their ultimate source. Moreover, every verse in the Qur’an and every taken a great journey – one that • Principles of Jurisprudence word uttered by the Prophet(s), the commodification of knowl- is certainly no less impressive than without ever attaining the slightest edge under capitalism means travelling to China. • • Demonstrative Jurisprudence degree of knowledge. If this seems that education is subordinated to highly subjective, that’s because it economic imperatives and - as a • Islamic Ethics is! As it is only through the agency result - knowledge is stripped of • Islamic Philosophy of the subject, the individual, that its moral and qualitative aspects; knowledge can be actualised. So it is reduced to something which • Islamic Mysticism long as knowledge is treated as an can be bought or sold as readily as object, as something external and a pair of trainers; an inert object, Alexander Khaleeli is a For more information on the course and modules, please visit our Website: www.islamic-college.ac.uk alien and external to the knower. researcher and student of “other” to the knower, it remains or contact by telephone, fax or email the registry office: In other words, the modern world the Islamic Seminaries. He potential knowledge. Only when has a BA and MA in Islamic Tel: 020 8451 9993 | Fax: 020 8451 9994 has the appearance of knowledge studies. that knowledge is internalised email: [email protected] The Islamic College: 133 High Road, Willesden, London NW10 2SW 14 Moving forward with RE

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

he lack of support and provi- subject by teaching assistants and sion for qualified RE teachers that more than half the RE teachers is one of the major findings in secondary schools did not have a of the All Party Parliamentary qualification to teach the subject. A GroupT report published in March. The three month-long inquiry by the APPG long anticipated report on religious into the supply of - and support for - RE education, entitled ‘RE: The Truth teachers in schools, including a review Unmasked’, confirmed long-standing of evidence from over 400 sources, concerns held by faith organisations found that over 50% of those teaching monitoring RE in UK schools. RE in secondary schools have no Despite the fact that RE teaching has qualification or relevant expertise in the token support, training or guidance, been much enhanced in recent years, subject. In more than half of the 300 of the APPG on RE, Stephen Lloyd are also permitted to teach RE from is being downgraded as part of the says the report. the quality of provision remains dispa- primary schools participating in the MP said: “There are a large number a confessional viewpoint. The inquiry curriculum. rate; some schools pay only lip service inquiry, some or all of the pupils were The report also found that support of excellent RE teachers across the found that the situation has been Islamic organisations’ concerns about to the statutory obligation to teach taught RE by someone other than their for RE teachers at a local level has country who are doing a first-class job compounded by insufficient profes- the state of religious education in the this subject. In some instances, recent class teacher. The report also found been dramatically reduced by local preparing children for the challenges sional development opportunities for UK are dominated by the need for a government policies such as the authority funding cuts and the life throws at them, and helping them subject leaders, specialist teachers and rigorous and academically challenging initial decision to exclude RE from academies programme. Bursaries make sense of the wide range of beliefs those who take on the responsibility for approach to the subject in every school the new English Baccalaureate A review of evidence from over 400 sources, for RE trainees have been removed and cultures around us. But a range of teaching RE. Evidence also revealed including free schools and academies. policies, most notably those relating a wide variation in the amount and (Ebacc) have undermined RE found that over 50% of those teaching RE leading to a huge reduction in The APPG’s report included clear teaching. applicant numbers for 2013/14. to the EBacc, academies and GCSE quality of initial teacher training for RE in secondary schools have no qualification short courses, have served to lower with many trainee teachers stating they recommendations for primary and The APPG was originally set up to or relevant expertise in the subject. According to Mike Castelli, RE’s status on the curriculum….as had little effective preparation to teach secondary schools, teacher training monitor, challenge and comple- University Lecturer in Religion many children as possible should be the subject. providers, local authorities, Ofsted, and ment government policy on RE. It and Education at Roehampton, also for those providing professional encouraged to study GCSE Religious In these circumstances it is illogical to was funded directly by the Religious that a quarter of all primary schools the Teaching Agency’s yearly allocation Studies - and it is essential that they development for teachers, and the Education Council whose stated aim for teacher training in RE has steadily expect the emergence of a generation Department for Education. said their RE lessons were provided by are taught by experienced and trained of young people who understand and is; ‘To promote high quality teaching, been cut since 2010, registering a drop a teaching assistant. professionals at primary and secondary are sensitive to the growing levels of Armed with this new evidence religious learning and assessment in RE; to of more than 50%. Primary trainee teachers lack confi- level.” religious diversity in our multifaith organisations and promoters of RE in influence the development of public dence and expertise in teaching RE, Because of this lack of training and RE is compulsory in all maintained society. schools need to ensure that pressure policy and public understanding and especially in diverse and multi-cultural support many of those teaching RE schools, but not as part of the National is now applied on the government to promote a coherent professional The Rev Jan Ainsworth, the Church of classrooms. The responsibility to are unable to meet the Department for Curriculum. Uniquely, the RE syllabus to secure funds for training of future development strategy for RE.’ England’s Chief Education Officer, said: educate young people on the different Education’s Teaching Standards, selling is determined locally by commit- RE teachers and the development of The report shows that one in four schoolchildren short. “This [report] provides strong evidence teaching materials. • beliefs and values held in society should tees (SACREs), often dominated by for our continuing concern that RE primary pupils was being taught the receive far more importance than just Commenting on the findings, the chair religious interests. Many faith schools

16 17 ARTS

Art Editor Moriam Grillo MASTERPIECE journey towards his Lord. A journey from which he consciously Farhad Moshiri : travels away from other than towards no other. The words, Drunken Lover – Jar painting; oil on canvas 2001 in their silent disposition, speak volumes through the use of calligraphic lines and curves, leading the eye hither and thither across the canvas in search of IN THE SPOTLIGHT resolve. The image, itself evokes thoughts of antiquity. Although created in the late twentieth century it appears aged and Parviz Tanavoli, born in Tehran in 1937, is an Iranian painter shows signs of fragility. Perhaps the and sculptor. He taught Sculpture at Tehran University until vessel represents mankind, a humble 1979 and is known as the pioneer of modern sculpture in Iran. conduit from which words of wisdom His artistic career began in 1959, teaching sculpture at are transmitted from a higher plane. I the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He was one of am fascinated that after all these years, the founding members of the artistic movement called each time I look at this image; it is as if Saqqakhaneh. This movement introduced a new visual I am looking at it anew. The stark white vocabulary to the art world based on motifs derived from of the background hints at the possibility Iranian folklore and inspired by early posters of Shi’i folk that the jar’s outline was created using art. As its popularity grew in the west, it became known as a stencil. It’s a very unconventional way ‘Spiritual Pop Art’. to work with oils, but a perfect way to I first came across Tanavoli work in 2006 at the British produce the weathered effect necessary Museum, where his scalptures, made from fibreglass in a variety to achieve the final outcome. of vivid colours, were displayed throughout the grounds of the The words appear to have been added museum. This body of work consisted of three-dimensional in between layers of paint. The best sculptures of collaborative letters initially cast in bronze. His works of art are successful because of bronze work relates to a fascination with locks he has had their simplicity. This painting is a master- since childhood. His pieces are angular and dense in keeping piece, in my opinion, because it conveys with the strength and solidity of the lock. meaning on many levels. Meanings which The letters in his sculptures spell the word ‘Heech’ which are both visual and metaphorical, and translates as ‘nil’ in Persian. He feels that his works are encourage reflection and consideration. symbols and signs of life in Iranian mysticism, and do not Every artist has a message they wish bear any relationship to ideas of emptiness, despair or hope- to convey through their work and each lessness. “In Iran, people tend to quote excerpts of poetry in observer creates a conversation simply by conversation to emphasise their words,” says Tanavoli . reflecting on what is seen. The 11th century poet, Omar Khayyam, is a source of inspira- I find the shape of the vessel attractive tion for Tanavoli, and much of his ideology comes from the and familiar, resembling amphora of mystical teachings apparent in Khayyam’s poetry and writing. ancient Greece. Its colouring gives it a have had a postcard of this image among my possessions three-dimensional effect, allowing it to stand tall against the “Heech has multiple layers of meaning – in Persian Sufism it for over ten years. It was probably acquired during one canvas and independent of its background. It reminds me that has a great meaning: God created the universe out of nothing, of my visits to a gallery or museum with children in tow, man is made from clay and degrades back to his earlier state, so if the universe is made of nothing then nothingness is buggy and all, in the days when saturating my conscious- evoking the creation of the Prophet adam(a); the first vessel everywhere, in every part of the universe, in all creatures.” Iness with artistic endeavours was extremely high on my to be given the gift of life. It reinforces the fact that by His Tanavoli agenda. Being at home with young children, art appreciation Grace man may rise to a higher state despite his low nature. Heech in a Cage, created in 2005, was made in response to offered an opportunity to weather the trials of domesticity Containing many materials and references to other artists, it the grotesque treatment of prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay whilst remaining abreast of worldly happenings. confirms that only God creates from nothing, saying simply detention camp. He also repeated this sculptural piece in This image produced a calming effect and assisted many a ‘Be’. It reinforces that He gives knowledge to whom He wills, 2006, in protest at the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. reflective moment. It helped to quieten my mind and refocus and it is this dispensation which inclines each of us to seek Tanavoli now lives and works in Canada and Iran. my thoughts. Perhaps, the words, taken from the eleventh to resolve our curiosity. It reminds us that our love for all century poem by Omar Khayyam evoke a sense of peace things beautiful stems from the reality that He is Beauty and inside the heart of the viewer. The words in Persian allude loves beauty. This, in turn, allows me to understand that it is to the spiritual state of ‘Fana’; annihilation - a stage in the through the engagement of the senses we are able to satiate intangible experience of the spiritual wayfarer on his life-long our love of beauty through art.

18 19 THEChangsha Mexihu PLACE TO BE International Cultural & Art Centre, Hunan Province, China

Iraqi born, British architect, Zaha Hadid, was nominated businesswoman of the year in April. Her architectural firm currently employs 300 people, twice that of the world MIXED MEDIA renowned British architect Richard Rogers.

HERITAGEth Hadid’s architectural style, highly influenced by Russian Mosque Lamp, 12 century: Syria, Raqqa Suprematism, has won many awards for its originality of form. Earthenware with turquoise glaze The International Cultural and Art Centre in China incorpo- Height 17cm rates a museum, theatre and several art galleries.

This beautiful lamp was made in the early Islamic art industry of Raqqa Syria. Comprising a conical base, spherical body and funnelled opening, this version was created using stone paste clay. Later designs were created in glass the 13th century.

Golnaz Fathi is an Iranian painter and calligrapher. After poetry. These are utterances whose vitality is not traditional studying graphic design at Azad University in Tehran, Fathi but postmodern in their origins, expressions of the heart, from went on to study calligraphy for a further six years and is one notable writers and villagers alike. She uses the theme of of a few women who have trained to such a high standard in poetry in her paintings, but says it is not about the words, the this field. She made the conscious decision not to continue words themselves being meaningless in their own right. Not with traditional calligraphy but to develop her own style of art because they do not convey meaning, but simply because it is represented by the use of abstract materials. Often working the transformative effect that they have on the reader which with mixed media, Fathi’s main body of work is on canvas. is what truly matters. She believes that the personal reaction Although her work is still based on traditional calligraphic experienced by each individual gives her works kudos. For this principles, she has boldly infused her own imaginative ideas reason, she does not title her works, nor label them ‘untitled’, and created a visual language that is culturally and artistically but leaves them ambiguously bare of titles so the viewer can attractive to all walks of life. Her work is regarded as transcul- identify with them as they choose. • tural; eastern motifs merge with western expressionism. Through the fusion of these styles, Fathi salutes tradition and modernity. Using solely primary colours in her work with the addition of black and white, she creates pieces that are striking and beau- Moriam Grillo is a visual artist, broadcaster, author tiful. Colours stand independent of each other, never mixed and part time art teacher. or blended, simply complementing the space they mutually She holds Bachelor degrees inhabit. Instructively and instinctively her use of colours in Photography & Film and Ceramics. Her current work conveys emotion and mood. These basic colours [green was involves two public Islamic added in 2005] support her words which are not simply joined commissions. letters that herald traditional themes such as sacred text or

20 21 Politics

Political Editor Reza Murshid Some German apologists have answered that this failure was a function of the lack of coordination between competing security organisations in Germany. This sounds like an excuse right out of a Hollywood film where the FBI agent is at logger- heads with the local redneck sheriff (e.g. Mississippi Burning directed by Alan Parker). Perhaps the apologist should point out that after 9/11 the resources of the German intelligence and security agencies were fully allocated to fight the Dying perceived Islamist threat, and not the threat from neo-Nazis born and bred at home. Many questions still remain, especially when you in the read that months after the NSU’s cover was blown, key files about the neo-Nazi group ended up in the shredder under the pretext that they contained evidence from paid informants about members of ently in a double suicide after botching a bank robbery. the group. Zschäpe is now accused of aiding and abetting in the killings German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called the murders a of nine men, all but one of them of Turkish origin, and a ‘disgrace for our nation’. She has said that all the years during Masoud Tehrani highlights the concerns of ethnic Turks in Germany in the wake of the break-up of a policewoman, as well as 28 attempted murders. She is also which relatives of the victims were themselves placed under charged with robbery, causing explosions and arson and being suspicion were like a never-ending nightmare for them. murderous neo-Nazi group a member of a terrorist organisation. Zschäpe was responsible But mere words are not enough for producing the sick video of the to heal the wounds of the Turkish group’s murders to the tune of Pink magine leaving your homeland in search of better recently appeared in a German court for the beginning of a community, as well as create better Panther. economic opportunities. You work hard day and night to trial that many hope will get to the bottom of some of the ties between Germany and the support yourself and your family and to make a better life most appalling hate crimes modern Europe has seen in recent Deutschland über All Doubts? Muslim world at large. Germany for yourself. Then out of nowhere an armed man shows times. For a decade the group was active may well be the economic power- Iup in your kebab shop or grocery store. He shoots you point house of Europe but it still needs Zschäpe and her two male accomplices started their hate in causing mayhem to the fabric of business from Muslim countries blank in the face, maims or kills you, takes photos of the crimes targeting Turkish shopkeepers in Germany as early Germany’s ethnic relations without around the world. It would not be grisly aftermath, and then makes a video of you and his other as 2000 when they shot dead Simsek Enver in Nuremberg. being caught, and the extent of their in Germany’s interests to ignore hapless victims to the tune of a popular cartoon. The following year the group went on to kill Abdurrahim crimes became apparent only after the concerns of its most significant Having come to the land of opportunities and promises, you Ozudogru in Nuremberg, Suleyman Taskopru in Hamburg, Zschäpe turned herself in. minority. end up worse than you were in your own homeland. At least and Habil Kılıc in Munich. The group then struck again in How could the security apparatus in in your homeland you would still be alive and in one piece. 2004 by killing Mehmet Turgut in Rostock. Germany have failed to connect the A thorough and robust, multi- agency investigation is needed The scenario sounds like some sort of absurdist hell, right In 2005 they added to their blood-drenched résumé by killing dots? Law enforcement agencies not to show the Turkish community out of one of the plays of Beckett or Ionesco. However it is Ismail Yasar in Nuremberg, and Theodoros Boulgarides in only failed to heed calls by the bereaved that the security apparatus is a reality that some Muslim Turks have faced in Germany for Munich, the latter a Greek apparently mistaken for a Turk in families to look into the possible role of above blame. In particular the decades. the same manner that Sikhs have been killed in the United fascist groups in the murders, they also had the audacity to question grieving community needs to be sure that The Turks who moved to Germany seeking to build better States after 9/11 after being mistaken for Muslims by imbe- families as if they had played a part in the NSU did not have the benefit lives have had to endure shocking racism and discrimination, ciles whose firepower far exceeded their brainpower. the crime, or as if they knew something of sympathisers in law enforcement and some have even paid with their lives by choosing to live In 2006, the neo-Nazi group killed Mehmet Kubasık in about the involvement of the so-called Turkish mafia but were who made it possible for the group to operate for so long in a land that has yet to exorcise its Nazi demons. Dortmund and Halit Yozgat in Kassel. In 2007, they killed unwilling to cooperate with the authorities. without being caught. • Over the past decade at least eight working class Turkish men policewoman Michele Kiesewetter in Heilbronn. The saddest instance was the case of a Turkish a mother who living in Germany have been murdered by a neo-Nazi group, On 8th of November 2011, Zschäpe turned herself in. The had scrubbed and cleaned up her own son’s murder scene. Masoud Tehrani is a London based journalist who writes on the dynamics the National Socialist Underground (NSU). male members of the deadly trio, Uwe Boehnhardt und Uwe The investigators treated her with suspicion as if she herself of the Islamic world Mundlos, had been found shot dead four days earlier, appar- Beate Zschäpe, supposedly the only surviving member of NSU, had a hand in killing her own son.

22 23 One such inalienable right is to engage committee saw a promise in Obama achievements in her new reincarnation in daily business activities without fear and awarded him a prize before he as a cold-hearted, calculating politician of reprisal (one of the most violent actually fulfilled that promise. In fact planning for Burma’s 2015 elections. • Aung San Suu Kyi items on the clip is the destruction of a he has sanctioned brutal drone attacks Muslim jewellery shop). overseas which have left hundreds Reza Murshid is a political analyst and a free- killed and maimed. Many now believe Those who choose to lead the life of a lance writer and the Imperative human rights campaigner do so for the Obama should return his prize because duration of their lives. A campaigner he has shown to be so callous when it cannot be selectively oblivious to the comes to the fate of poor Afghan and plight of some human beings, espe- Pakistani civilians who happen to live of Speaking Out in close proximity to alleged terrorists. cially if those human beings are in the campaigner’s own country. Nothing Ms Suu Kyi, too, should either speak short of death or mental or physical out against the suppression of her As Burma moves towards democracy, its progress is marred paralysis can justify a campaigner’s Muslim compatriots or just silence in the face of such calamities. simply return the prize by the horrendous treatment of its Rohingya Muslims. Ms Suu Kyi’s case is reminiscent of she won in 1991 Reza Murshid questions why Burma’s best known pro- what US President Barack Obama has if she has democracy activist has been markedly silent been doing over the past five years. He received his Nobel Peace Prize only months after being elected to the Oval Office. The Nobel Prize decided to forfeit her past

n recent weeks a video clip tions. Anyone who has seen the clip tion of the Burmese military a reality or appeared on the internet which cannot help but think that the total a mere myth? Has enough changed in shocked the whole world. The passivity of the police must have been Burma to allow the hordes of Western recording showed stunning levels of decreed and condoned in advance by businessmen arriving in Rangoon to Imob cruelty against helpless Rohingya their superiors. sign sweetheart deals with the military? Muslims. It was not the first time that But if the whole world got to know Or does Ms Suu Kyi actually think that the world had come to know about about this revolting orgy of cruelty, the Muslims do deserve to be hacked to the oppression of Muslims in Burma certainly the world’s celebrated human death by unruly mobs? (now called Myanmar) but it was the rights icon and Burmese democracy The Rohingya are said to be Muslim descendants of Persian, Turk- first time that the world would actually icon, Aung San Suu Kyi, must have see the utter helplessness of a minority A Silence That Speaks for Itself ish, Bengali, and Pathan origin, who migrated to Burma (Myanmar) as heard about it too. th which has been persecuted for the Those who choose to be human early as the 8 century. But the Myanmar regime does not consider But so far there has not been as much past three decades because of its faith. rights campaigners cannot have two them as citizens despite the fact that they have lived there for more This was the latest addition to a growing as a single word from the woman who separate standards, one for their library of visual evidence of the destruc- has consistently received such posi- co-religionists and one for those than a millennium. The United Nations has declared the Rohingyas tive write-ups in the Western press for tion caused to the property and persons outside the boundaries of their faith. one of the world’s most persecuted communities. There were 800,000 of the Muslim community in a country more than a decade for her courageous Fourteen centuries ago Imam Ali ibn that the Western press have praised for defiance of the Burmese dictators. The Abi Talib told his newly appointed Rohingyas living in Burma before the escalation of the recent pogroms its attempts to shed its dictatorial past woman who fought house arrest, incar- governor to Egypt, Malik al-Ashtar, against them. This figure is dwindling as thousands of Rohingyas flee and take its first steps on the road to ceration and intimidation to become that as the new governor he had to democracy. The clip showed Buddhist the darling to the Western media has treat people of other faiths in that land to neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh for fear of their lives. monks, supposedly ‘holy men’, orches- not been able to pluck up the courage humanely because ‘they are similar to trating the attacks on their Muslim to utter as much as a note of concern you in creation’; in other words, the compatriots while Burmese policemen for the Rohingya. mere fact that someone is created as stood by helplessly, simply watching the Has the human rights icon been a human being entitles him or her to carnage gain more gruesome propor- co-opted? Was the so-called rehabilita- certain inalienable, irreducible rights.

24 25 Book review

By Mohsen Biparva

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

26 27 ‘ ate modern philosophy has the plenty of Nazi collaborators. Germany another religious minority - this time outrage the powerful, not a systematic and theorists, from all corners of the is not all doom and gloom. Norton sees Holocaust at its heart’ argues and Austria were Nazis themselves not Jews, but Muslims. insult against a powerless religious academy, from old Left to neoconserva- some rays of hope. She seems to agree with Tariq Ramadan that we are already Anne Norton in her latest and even among the Allies admirers Norton links the fear of Muslims to the minority. She shows that despite the tives, have joined in an uneasy alliance on the Andalusian territory of religious book. Just as the ‘Jewish ques- of Nazis were easy to find: Ezra Pound, domestic anxieties of western societies. cries to protect freedom of speech, to condemn Muslims for their alleged Ltion’ once marked the great failures as Charles Lindberg, and the Duke of Europe is not free of restrictions to free oppression of women.’ In particular she coexistence. She believes that the ‘clash ‘It is not the foreign that fills people with of civilisations’ is not a reality, but a well as the great achievements of the Windsor to name but a few. Against this fear, but the familiar; not the future but speech. The United Kingdom has laws refers to Žižek and Susan Okin, the certain dogma, an ideology that has Enlightenment, it is now the Muslim background, Norton sees a ‘profound the past.’ A not-very-far past, a past that against the incitement of religious and author of Is Multiculturalism Bad for given way to conviviality in popular life. question which occupies centre stage. dishonesty’ in the works of people like cosmopolitan Europeans remember racial hatred and strict laws against Women? She believes that both Žižek After all, Muslim and non-Muslims live In her view, the Jewish question has not Paul Berman who use the word ‘Isla- when their appetites were constrained libel and defamation. Sweden, Norway, and his colleague on the right share the together, go to school together, sell and gone away - it is still the same question, mofascism’. It is not excusable in her by poverty, religion, or conviction. The Denmark, Finland and Iceland all same idea: yes, Islam is bad for women. trade with each other. This coexistence the question of a religious minority in view, ‘to put the burden of our past on Dutch for example know little about prohibit speech which incites racial and Žižek in particular believes that ‘the of ordinary people in everyday life is the modern Europe. others.’ the rural life of Turkish or Moroccan religious hatred. true scandal that the veil endeavours to obfuscate (conceal) is not the feminine most powerful argument against those The West’s rejection of Muslims is Islam is portrayed to be a preeminent immigrants. ‘The customs and tradi- The author then turns her attention body hidden by it, but the INEXIST- who still cling to the ‘clash of civilisa- marked by a symbolic (but only a danger to all western values, to Chris- tions they fear are not those of the Rif to what she calls ‘the right to remain ENCE of the feminine’. tion’ thesis. symbolic) embrace of the Jew.’ ‘We tians, Jews, and secular humanists; to or Anatolia but those that belong to silent’. In her view, the contemporary • of the West’ she asserts, ‘has become women in particular and to sexuality, their own memories: to a rural Europe dominant political discourse in the West In Anne Norton’s view, the governance not the civilisation that gave birth to sexual freedom and to the liberal values that was not picturesque but primi- requires a compulsory proliferation of of sexuality is profoundly political in Nazism, but the people who defeated of the Enlightenment. The liberal and tive.’ By excluding Muslims, they try speech, but only a certain dictated one. the West. Politics decides who can be it’. There is in her view a sinister twist social democra- to overcome the ‘If so much is said, then it appears that married, which form of sexuality is in the meaning of anti-Semitism, as ‘the cies of our time, anxiety and the every view has a voice.’ Saying the most permitted or forbidden; it encourages refusal of one anti-Semitism is used to she argues, fear of returning outrageous things, makes this illusion births or limits population growth. make the adoption of another appear hesitate to ‘I see the Muslim question as to poverty, to that everything has been said; especially ‘Citizens are expected, instructed, even benign.’ By referring to Holocaust include Muslims. the Jewish question of our time: rural life, and in the context of the Danish cartoons required, to have correct views on sexu- memorials and the ban on National Politicians like the anxiety of and Submission, a film directed by ality.’ This over-emphasis on Muslim Socialist parties, she argues that David Cameron standing at the site where losing all those Theo van Gohg and written by Ayan sexuality, she believes, conceals the ‘remembering the past’ is not an excuse and Angela politics and ethics, philosophy pleasures. Hirsi Ali, where she points that: ‘Speech contours of European sexual politics. to forget that some of structures that Merkel speak is said to be “free speech” when - and Therefore, ‘the sexual conservatism of and theology meet.’ Norton also made the Holocaust possible persist to of the failure of addresses the only when - it is used to attack Muslims, much of European society is cast into this day. ‘multiculturalism’ Anne Norton alleged hostility Islam or the Koran.’ She asserts: ‘it is shadow.’ not enough that one speak of Muslims. Norton reminds us that fascism is the that according of Islam towards Anne Norton’s book is a brave, critical, It is not even enough that one speak ill product of the West. Rome fell to the to Norton, for free speech, most yet lone voice against the West and its of them. One is required to speak ill of forces of fascism as well as Germany the politicians, recently mani- dealings with the Muslims in its midst. Muslims - and to do it in a prescribed and the old realms of the Holy Roman as for the philosophers, always means fested in the reaction to the so-called In some parts the bold criticism sounds way.’ Empire. Spain and France fell to it and ‘Islam’. Referring to French republican Danish cartoons. According to her the like a polemic. She extends her criticism secularism, laïcité, that in her view has On the Muslim Question, by Anne Norton, The even England had its Oswald Mosley free speech that the Enlightenment Later in the book, the author examines from anti-Muslim figures like Robert Public Square (Princeton University Press), 2013 and the black-shirts in London’s East failed to lead to the promised neutrality aimed to protect was a kind of politically the question of sex and sexuality in Spencer, Paul Berman and Ayan Hirsi of the public sphere, we still hear the Anne Norton is professor of political science at End. The French had their Vichy and unpopular speech, a speech that would relation to Muslims. In her view, ‘a Ali to philosophers like John Rawls, the University of Pennsylvania. same calls for the expulsion of yet plethora of Western philosophers Žižek and Derrida. However the book

28 29 Feature And Muhammad(s) is His Last Messenger

It is said that the Prophet had met from other human beings. of guidance had disappeared and signs Gabriel on previous occasions and And this was the starting point of his of destruction had appeared.”(Nahjul that by the time he received his first mission. At the age of forty and by Balaaghah sermon 89) revelation he was spiritually ready for it. the command of God, Muhammad(s) The basic principles, upon which rest Nevertheless the Prophet was extremely became His last messenger. The exact the foundation of Islam, cannot be afraid of him since this was the first time date of this appointment is disputed changed either by the passing of time that Gabriel had appeared to him not in among the different schools of thought. nor by people and will always remain human form, as he had previously, but Some believe the revelation took place active: belief in the Oneness of the just as God had fashioned him, in all in the month of Rajab and some believe Creator, belief in the Prophethood of his glory encompassing the entire sky. it to be in the holy month of Ramadhan. Muhammad(s) and belief in the Day of hen pondering God’s matters’ describes the circumstances the members of his society would find Gabriel soon returned to his human Judgement. (s) At first the Prophet Muhammad(s) divine plan, we soon surrounding the Prophethood of themselves entrusting Muhammad(s) form and embraced Muhammad invited his family to accept Islam, then God says in the Holy Qur’an: “Any, who come to the realisation Muhammad(s): ‘Some six hundred years with much more than their goods. holding him to his chest. Henceforth the people of Makkah, who were later believe in God and the Last Day, and that appointing prophets after the time of Christ, in an age when This time it would be their hearts and Gabriel would only come to him in followed by the people of Arabia. His work righteousness, shall have their fromW among the people is part of His human form. the teachings of the prophets were souls that they entrusted to the one message to humanity was that he was reward with their Lord; on them shall tradition. Like Moses(a) who was raised mostly forgotten, and in a region of the they had come to call the Amin, “the The above verses encapsulate the the last messenger of God and that be no fear, nor shall they grieve.”(2:62) in the heart of Egypt and in the lap of world where no prophet had been sent Trustworthy.” programme of the Holy Prophet and no other messenger would come after the Pharaoh, Muhammad(s) was also by God before, a young man named establish that the foundation of his These three basic principles have kept Commencement of Revelation him. “As long as the world stands, my raised among the most powerful tribe of Muhammad found himself unwilling Islam a worldwide phenomenon with an religion is provided by recitation and religion will stay alive.” Arabia, the Quraish. Both were chosen to worship the gods of his forefathers The most delightful hours for reading, learning and wisdom, and use ever increasing number of followers. Its (s) (a) by God from among the people of their and unable to bear the injustices of his Muhammad were those during which of the pen. Ali ibn Abi Taleb the cousin of the universality is now well established but time to undertake a divine mission - own society. Troubled by the suffering he prayed in seclusion. He would spend Prophet, once said: as the Prophet implied, Islam’s strength The Archangel Gabriel accomplished ‘forbidding evil and encouraging good’. of the poor and the downtrodden in time in solitude in the Cave of Hira, is in God’s promise that it will exist ‘as his assignment and after the revelation “God sent the Prophet when the (s) seeking religious purification for several his society, Muhammad was in the mission of other Prophets had stopped long as the world stands’. • The circumstances surrounding the nights before returning to his wife. He the Prophet descended the Mountain of habit of climbing a mountain called and the peoples were in slumber a mission of each divine prophet varied would prepare himself, then go back to Light and proceeded towards his house. from one to another. However their Light and retreating into a cave called long time. Evils were raising heads; Khadijah, who would give him provi- When he returned home, the Holy virtues, willingness and submission to Hira to ponder upon meaning and all matters were under disruption and sions to return again to Hira’, where on Prophet related to his wife Khadijah the directives of the Almighty remained existence. Before he was the Prophet, in the flames of wars, while the world The editorial team of islam today one such occasion the Truth took him what had happened. Contrary to the same: prophets were chosen due to Muhammad was known to be a sensi- was devoid of brightness, and full congratulates all Muslims around by surprise and the Archangel Gabriel popular belief, despite the intense expe- their extraordinary characters, perse- tive man and a trustworthy soul, and of open deceitfulness. Its leaves had the world on the auspicious anniver- came to him and said: “As long as the rience of receiving the divine revelation, verance and piety. those around him trusted their goods turned yellow and there was absence sary of the beginning of the Prophet world stands, my religion will stay alive.” (s) (s) to him to take for caravan-led trades the Prophet Muhammad was never of hope about its fruits. White water Muhammad’s mission. Professor Omid Safi, in his book ‘Memo- (Qur’an 96: 1- 5). at long distances. Soon almost all afraid or unsure of what was happening had gone underground. The minarets ries of Muhammad; Why Muhammad to him and did not need reassurance

30 31 The Awaited One from Muhammad’s(s) progeny

The belief in the coming of a Saviour to spread peace and justice in a fallen world is common to all Abrahamic religions. Yasser Ahmed discusses his place and role in Islamic eschatology

he conflict between the forces society after it has become infested In the light of the Qur’an and sayings and progeny known as the Ahl ul-Bayt of good and evil is a perennial with wickedness and evil. This belief of the Prophet(s), the Shi’a make it clear (the People of the House) also have a one. Divine providence has is shared by all Muslims, although they that the Mahdi(a) is none other than the role to play in supporting the mission (s) naturally sided with the forces may disagree on the Mahdi’s identity. twelfth and last Imam of the House of of the Last Prophet . ofT righteousness by sending prophets to the Prophet, bearing the same name as The belief in the Mahdi, ‘the Awaited Abu Dawud, the compiler of one of (s) mankind with guidance and to lead the One’, is not only an essential doctrine the Prophet and is connected to his the six prominent Sunni books of struggle against the forces of wicked- great ancestor by an unbroken chain traditions, collectively known under deep-rooted in Islam but it is also an fifteenth of Sha’ban in Spiritual perfection should be our goal. ness. This confrontation is described in embodiment of human nature regard- of successors. He is the executor of a the name Sihah al-Sitta (the six sound the Qur’an: “For every prophet we have Divine Mission. collections), reports the following saying the year 255 after Hijrah. The thought of the Mahdi’s coming has less of one’s religious affiliations. For His birth was kept secret made a number of adversaries among the Mahdi(a) personifies the universal “There will be twelve leaders (khulafa) of the Prophet: “God will bring a man inspired the virtuous to struggle for the wrongdoers”. (25:31) of my progeny, whose name will be since the authorities of the the good of humanity at all times. Like desire of humans as a whole to try to after me, all of them from the time were actively seeking (s) my own name, and fill the earth with many generations before us we can only God has ordained that Muhammad achieve or at least witness the realisa- tribe of Quraysh”, said the Prophet to execute him. The circum- shall be the seal of the prophets and tion of perfection and social happiness Muhammad(s). (Ahmad ibn Hanbal) justice and harmony, where tyranny speculate on the final appearance of the stances of his birth were there- (a) that no prophet will be chosen after on this earth. and oppression have overpowered”. Mahdi and hope that we will be the A thorough examination of the history fore very similar to those of the generation to witness God’s promise of him and no revelation will be sent down (a) The compilers of Islamic traditions, (a) The centrality of the Mahdi in Islamic of Islam clarifies any doubt about the Prophet Moses who was also the a better world. after the Qur’an. The path laid down by eschatology and his importance in significance of the word khulafa as used Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah subject of a search by the authorities of the Prophet was followed by Imams, rallying the faithful against evil has by the Prophet(s) in the above tradition. and others have also reported the tradi- his time. The Pharaoh of the time was The traditions tell us that before scholars and reformers who sought to been a powerful enough motif to inspire This could not have referred to those tions concerning the Mahdi, who claims well aware of the prophecy that a child achieving this, the world will be riven (a) reform mankind and preserve the faith many Muslim leaders to claim the title. leaders who exercised temporal power a to belong to the Ahl ul Bayt , and is would grow up to prevail over him and with conflicts and that the Mahdi will from corruption and deviation, a task Unfortunately the detailed descriptions few generations after him and who were a descendant of the Prophet’s daughter replace this with the belief in the one have to assert himself by force, not for (a) which met with opposition from the of the Mahdi and his endeavours in worlds apart from the example set by Fatima az-Zahra . true God. Similarly the Abbasid Caliphs the sake of authority, but in order to forces of evil. But since they adhered remove obstacles that prevent him from Islamic traditions leave little room for the Prophet Muhammad(s). They also agree that the Prophet at the time of Imam Hasan al-Askari to the faith they were certain that they (a) being recognised. deviation, ensuring that false claimants Jesus(a), to whom the Qur’an refers to were well aware of the Mahdi and would ultimately triumph over evil, In this hadith, there are strong indica- have been easily exposed. There have as ‘alive’, also reappears at the end of how he would fill the world with justice The Mahdi’s authority cannot be based as the following verse indicates: “The tions that the Prophet was referring been at least seven well-known claims time to support the Mahdi(a) in the fight and truth after it had been filled with on coercion but on a wilful acceptance earth will be inherited by my righteous to particular individuals who came to the title across the Islamic world; against impiety. injustice and falsehood. . by the people. Such acceptance can worshippers”. (21:105) from the same branch of the Quraysh from Ibn Tumart (d.1130 CE) in Morocco only come once the veils of ignorance tribe, to which he himself belonged. While the majority of Muslims believe Only God possesses the knowledge The materialisation of this promise to Mehmet (d.1930 CE) of Republican are removed and true reality made Furthermore, throughout Prophetic that the Mahdi is yet to be born, there of the timing of the Mahdi’s advent. goes hand in hand with the coming of Turkey . According to Islamic traditions manifest. This will be his greatest and history, there is a clear pattern of the are those who have identified the Mahdi However in order to prepare for his the Mahdi(a). the Mahdi(a) will be very similar in most difficult task. And this is why it is involvement of families of previous in the person of the son of Imam Hasan arrival, we should endeavour to prepare appearance, conduct and action to his our duty to remember him and assist Accounts in the traditions of Muslims of prophets in assisting them in their al-Askari, the eleventh Imam of the ourselves by nourishing our souls with great great….grandfather the Prophet him with our prayers and actions from various sects foretell the coming of the divine missions. In the case of the House of the Prophet. According to the Divine light and making them the Muhammad(s). now until his appearance. • Mahdi, a figure who will reform human Prophet Muhammad(s) his close family the Shi’a, the Mahdi was born on the abode for God and his beloved angels.

32 33 When help arrives…

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

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

Wait (verb): to remain or stay in expectation of. In the recent past, the human race has had to deal with many as his forefather, the Holy Prophet(s) did. However, although Imam al-Jawad(a) has stated that “The best act of our followers Waiting is as intrinsic a part of human nature as breathing. ‘unexpected’ situations. We have watched as fellow men have we have a Promise and Hope in abundance, we must realise is to expect the relief”. We are not just passively waiting for From the very moment we gain consciousness, we are waiting. stooped to sub-human levels of morality. We have witnessed that the equation will always be incomplete without one more respite, but the implication here is to be in a pro-active state of As children, we wait - or can’t wait - to grow up. As adults, we innocent people being tortured, oppressed and murdered. We essential element: effort. expectation. This demands a lifetime of sincere commitment wait to move from one milestone of success to another - we have sat back and wondered, what is the world coming to? We speak of, yearn and even pray for the appearance of the and loyalty to a cause we must firmly believe in. It requires of wait to get our qualifications, to get a good job, hopefully And how do we stop this madness? Mahdi, but how much effort are we investing in preparation us that we be in a state of conscious anticipation and aware- become famous, to marry and have a family. Finally, as the Every time these questions are asked, there is an unspoken while we wait? Will his coming be akin to a long anticipated ness in all aspects of our life - career paths, work, socialising years pass us by, whether we accept it or not, we await the hope that someone somewhere has the answer. There is the ‘pleasant surprise’ for us or will be caught unaware and unable and families. inevitable moment when we will cross the threshold of Death inner desire in every human being for some saving grace to to grasp the opportunities he will present to us? It is a fact that for some things we wait with eagerness and and pass over to the other side. bring salvation from a situation that is only going from bad When children sit for an examination, we teach them to others with perturbation, but regardless of our emotions, time And it is not just about the big picture; waiting is a game we to worse at an escalating rate. We know that we can organise revise in the days leading up to it. When we go for a job passes and the things that are meant to be, come to pass. play almost every day of our lives. We wait for meetings to protests, write articles or declare a stand, but too often, the interview, we study the organisation and try to understand its Regardless of how the situation may seem at present, the Help start... and then to end. We wait to keep appointments, to question remains; what can we possibly do to actually make a philosophy even before joining it. If a person decides to climb of God will be revealed to us at the appointed time. We cannot meet friends or to carry out responsibilities. Once in a while difference? How do we get all our good intentions to translate a mountain, they are required to train in an environment that predict when this will be or what our circumstances will be though, something may happen that we say is ‘unexpected’. into change? Who can gather all the individual pockets of emulates the expected circumstances of the climb in order to like. However, what we can do is ensure that in the period we We were not consciously waiting for it and thus, when it does positive uprising into a united active movement? prepare themselves. Throughout life, for all important tasks - spend from now until then, our everyday decisions - whether happen, it catches us unaware. If the occurring circumstance It is in response to this need for leadership that God has big or small - we prepare for the event in the period of waiting private, personal or public - in some way positively influence is in harmony with our desire, we call it a ‘pleasant surprise’ promised the world a Saviour - the Awaited Mahdi(a) - who leading up to it. How much more does the task of helping a our principal wait for the establishment of absolute truth. • and if it disrupts our status quo, it becomes an obstacle or a will bring together like-minded individuals and create a Divinely Appointed Leader to establish global justice amidst stumbling block that we wish had never happened. community out of separate entities in much the same way prevailing opposition, require?

34 35 Cover Earth: a pl anet for all

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

36 37 oday when we think about farm plot is destroyed, that farmer is by myopic politicians. On the other hand people can be Therefore defending human rights and wars our mind is taken to Iraq, forever enslaved to a chemical-based A recent report in the Observer revealed considered rich in material terms even establishing social justice has to start by Afghanistan, Syria or to many farming protocol. It is both unhealthy how a UK politician expressed his without a monetary economy if they defending and taking care of the land. other parts of the world where and a disaster for the environment and government’s objections to a proposed have access to the earth, if lands are Once we all realise that we can launch conflictsT are currently raging. While the the irony is that in the long term actual fertile, if rivers are clean, if the culture is the biggest movement on Earth. • European ban on a new brand of impact of these wars is significant there crop yields are lower than with organic very aggressive pesticides known as rich and there is a tradition of building is a bigger war that is being fought farming, neonicotinoids, a class of neuro-active houses, if there is nice clothing, good daily against our own planet. The roots Pesticides, which were initially used as insecticides. food, and if there is social cohesion, of this conflict are to be found in an solidarity and a communitarian spirit. chemical weapons, cannot control para- The European Food Safety Authority economic system that does not respect Ali Sadeq has an Msc in Environmental sites. Genetic engineering could have was preparing to act on the findings of Markets and money as wealth produced environmental and ethical limits. offered an alternative to toxic chemical by man has been set as a higher organi- Engineering from Melbourne University studies conducted by Henry et al and Australia A handful of energy companies products, but has brought instead an Whitehorn et al published in Science sational principle for society, and has continue to try to control the resources increased use of pesticides and herbi- magazine in April 2012. become the only way to quantify our of the Earth and transform this planet cides setting off a war against farmers. well-being leading to the weakening into a supermarket where everything is In developing countries chemical Owen Paterson, UK Secretary of State of those processes that support life for sale. They are ready to sell our water, substances lead farmers into the trap for Environment, Food and Rural in nature and society. Paradoxically, our genes, cellules, organs, knowledge, of debts, failure and even suicide. In Affairs, had written to the chemical the richer we become, the poorer we culture and future. industrialised countries the effects of company Syngenta, telling them that become ecologically and culturally. chemicals are becoming more obvious. he was ‘extremely disappointed’ by the The architects of wars such as those European Commission’s proposed ban. The increase in economic well-being in Afghanistan and Iraq not only seek Since 2005 farmers and honey He said: ‘the UK has been very active’ measured in money, leads to an increase to exchange blood for petrol but also producers across the world have in opposing it and ‘our efforts will in poverty in the material, cultural, represent an attack on food, genes, reported a mysterious disease that continue and intensify in the coming ecological and spiritual spheres. The biodiversity and water. has been killing honey bees en masse, days’. Paterson was responding to direct real currency of life is life itself. This A warrior-like mentality, underlying a peaking in the last year. Figures speak lobbing by chemical companies driven point of view leads us to ask some military-industrial setup, is evident in of a 40-50 per cent wipe-out in some by profit which have much to lose if the questions: how do we see ourselves in the names of the herbicides produced by cases. Bees are vital for pollination, and ban becomes effective. this world? Why do human beings exist? Monsanto such as Round-Up, Machete scientific studies have linked pesticides Are we the only machine that produces to huge losses in their numbers. To be at peace with the Earth has money and devours resources? Or do and Lasso. American Home Products, always been an ethical and ecological which has merged with Monsanto, Bees have been described as ‘the wings we have a higher objective, a superior imperative that has now become one of purpose? assigns equally aggressive names such of agriculture’. There are innumerable survival of our own species. We cannot as “Pentagon” and “Squadron” to its studies that demonstrate the funda- pretend that it is not our problem. A “terraqueous democracy” will allow herbicides. mental role of bees and other insect Violence against the earth, biodiversity, us to create real living democracies War on our Earth starts in the mind. pollinators in the pollination of plants water, atmosphere, countryside and based on the intrinsic value of all Violent thoughts give shape to violent cultivated by man. Bees have existed farmers is a martial system that targets species, all peoples, all cultures, an actions. Violent categories build violent on this planet for millions of years the people of the world. One billion equal and just distribution of this instruments and all of this finds ulti- and have always played a fundamental people suffer hunger. Two billion suffer planet’s vital resources, as well as the mate expression in the metaphors and biological role in the ecosystem by pathologies connected to diet: obesity, decision-making processes necessary methods that are at the base of indus- guaranteeing the survival of a large diabetes, hypertension and cancer. to fairly decide how to utilise them. A number of plant species. Together with “terraqueous democracy” protects the trial agricultural and food production. There are three levels of violence Factories that once produced poisons other pollinators, insects help safeguard ecological processes of life and the the environment of spontaneous flora involved in unsustainable development. fundamental human rights that are at and explosives to kill people during The first is violence against the Earth wars have been transformed into facto- improving biodiversity and impeding the basis of the right to live, to have the disappearance of botanical species which is manifested in the current water, food, health, education, work and ries that produce agrochemicals at the ecological crisis. The second is violence end of the wars. near extinction. Bees play an equally sustenance. important role as “environmental against persons, expressed in poverty, The work of Monsanto and similar misery and mass exodus to escape We need to choose. Should we obey the sentinels”; their abundance signals laws of the market, of corporate greed, companies in the field of chemical a tranquil environmental condition, famine. The third is violence of war and production and Genetically Modified conflict, when the powerful usurp the or the laws of nature that reflect God’s while their disappearance from specific instructions to guide us to maintain Organisms has for a long time attracted ecosystems must immediately draw our resources found in other communities the attention of environmentalists who or countries to satisfy their limitless earthly ecosystems and the diversity of attention towards a possible situation of living beings? argue that their herbicides devastate environmental degradation and risk. appetites. soils, contaminating them with invasive When every aspect of life is commer- People’s need for food and water can only chemicals that make them unable to Yet despite growing evidence, short be satisfied if we protect the capacity of term commercial interests continue to cialised, living becomes more expensive, produce healthy crops using traditional resulting in more impoverishment. nature to produce food and water. Dead (or organic) farming methods. Once a prevail especially when they are aided soil and rivers give us neither.

38 39 Opinions

he best way to bring into savage nature of their stand as much General Colin Powell, was asked by perspective the culture of as possible. At the same time, several reporters how many Iraqis were killed death in the United States is women’s groups that view abortion as with American weapons, he was quick to examine what this nation a woman’s prerogative have adopted a to say: “We do not keep a count of that; seeksT to do in theory and then in prac- new terminology known as “women’s we view such incidents merely as collat- tice. As the Romans used to say: “Theory reproductive rights.” eral damage”. While Republicans view is one thing, practice is another”. This phraseology has evolved into the killing of the unborn as the termi- As in virtually any other country in the becoming the mantra of many nation of an innocent life, they view the world, the American people are virtu- Democrats. Democratic senators massacre of thousands of people merely ally helpless in the sphere of politics. In and congressmen, and even the US as the destruction of pieces of furniture. spite of the fact that the United States president, routinely speak of “women’s But it would be wrong to single out is a huge country with over 300 million reproductive rights.” A more recent the Republicans as warmongers. Both people, there are practically only two trend among Democratic politicians is Republicans and Democrats have been heavily involved in almost every single major political parties: Democratic and to state openly that they are ‘personally war that the USA has fought during the Republican. Although the two parties against abortion’, adding that the deci- th have quite a few things in common, sion to terminate a pregnancy is to be 20 century. they present very different agendas left solely to the women involved. Both Democrats and Republicans which often seem to be diametrically The Republicans, on the other hand, in continue to proclaim loudly that the opposed. However when the parties spite of their ‘respect for human life’, United States is a nation of freedom and democracy! However, this is true only if one has a distorted concept of democracy, one in which ‘freedom’ is America’s Culture Despite the American people’s goodwill and generosity towards of the kind that makes the government and citizens accountable to no one. others, the world at large judgesthe USA by the policies of the of It begs the question: if the United States few in government. Charles Mercieca provides an identikit of does not even care for the welfare of who they are and what they represent its own people, how can it possibly be expected to care for the welfare of other nations? •

criticise each other they have at least also have their own modus operandi one very conspicuous thing in common. when it comes to promoting the culture Death Both tend to consciously employ words of death. In order to further their own that confuse people in an effort to bring selfish ambitions at home and abroad, them under full control. they heavily back expenditure on arms The promotion and implementation production and sales. They are quick to of the culture of death in the entire wage wars to achieve what they want, nation has become one of the primary no matter how brutal they might be. goals of each of these two major In recent years we have seen two bloody political parties. Democrats tend to wars and occupations in Iraq and support abortion, which is condemned Afghanistan. They saddled the nation by Republicans as murder. At times, with a $2.2 trillion debt which the Democratic politicians are rebuked American people are now being forced and criticised by members of the to service by giving up their social clergy and leading religious groups. security and medical aid. However, Besides, several clergymen exhort the what makes it worse is the fact that members of their congregation not to Republicans refer to their destruc- vote for political candidates who favour tion of the infrastructure of cities and Charles Mercieca is President abortion. At this stage, the Democrats the massacre of tens of thousands of International Association of and their supporters try to find a way Educators for World Peace and of people, amounting to millions, by Professor Emeritus of Alabama out by devising a new vocabulary and the well-formulated phrase ‘national A&M University. structuring a new phraseology. They defence and security’! substitute the phrase “pro-abortion” with “pro-choice” so as to conceal the When the former Secretary of State,

40 41 The western political philosophy of fear

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

42 43 here are not many realistic tion of a world government where all examples. What justifies this state of If we take out the words ‘manufacture observers who would deny the peoples of the world would consent affairs? What meanings are generated of culture’ in the above and replace the supremacy of the US’s to the will of a governing sovereign (the and conjured up in a Western mind them with, say, ‘individualism and military power over the rest of said Leviathan) who would guarantee when it is conscious of phrases such as freedom’, the following scenario could theT world combined. their freedoms and peaceful lives capitalism, consumerism, manufacture be understood: against any and all encroachments. of culture and manipulation through On a superficial level it is not difficult ‘I am afraid of you so I shall put all Indeed, the idea of a world government the mass media, misinformation, indi- to understand how such power came to my energies into building myself up has found expression in the teleology vidualism and freedom, community and be possessed by a country such as the against you in ways that are beyond of the philosophies of history of most the politics of fear, military industrial US. The US is a society – the richest your imagination. I shall have to do this major Western thinkers contemporary complex, Palestine, North Korea, Iran (financially) in the world – in which in the name of my security. Meanwhile, to and after Hobbes: Kant, Hegel, Marx, and Syria? Does the meaning of these ultra-capitalism reigns supreme, and however, you have total freedom to do etc. terms, as they appear to a Western in which capitalist culture encourages whatever you want in order to realise mind, justify the way our world is today, personal and immediate gain over and Another political idea that is amongst your individual potential, and as long as in a state of perpetual war? above all else. Given these circum- the first items taught in Western univer- you do not question our decisions you stances, in that society and culture sities is that of Machiavelli. In Niccolo It seems reasonable to assume that can even criticise us through freedom there are countless individuals and Machiavelli’s (1469-1572) The Prince, the answer to this last question is a of speech and the other liberties (such corporations that will (and do) dedicate kings and princes of his time were resounding ‘no’ for most people. In as voting rights) we have provided for their entire lives, for personal gain, to advised on how to do anything that is other words, regardless of any meaning you. Beware, however, that our power the creation of the best and the latest necessary for them to hold on to power (for the justification of war) that anyone, could be unleashed on you should you state-of-the-art technologies of destruc- for as long as possible. According to from whatever background, may give to seek to damage or embarrass us.’ the terms just mentioned, those mean- tion, be they physical, social, psycho- Machiavelli, kings and princes have the In this context it becomes easy to ascribe ings do not justify a state of perpetual logical or cultural. A continuation of right to resort to force, bribery, espio- meaning to similar triangles with ideas nage, treachery, even murder; that is, war. this process, sooner or later, brings with such as ‘military industrial complex’, i.e. it the power to wage wars. whatever is required, without any moral If we ask who is responsible for all the fuelling wars for the purposes of selling But from a deeper perspective, the or ethical considerations. For Machi- current warmongering in the world we arms (the biggest industry in capitalist existence of such power is one thing avelli, the only right here is the right to can come up with answers that point societies). Furthermore, this meaning and its origins, another. It is one aspect do whatever is necessary to gain power our understanding to particular direc- sheds light on other terms such as the and control and to sustain it, forever. of these origins, from the viewpoint of tions and subjects. If we reflect on this politics of fear, Palestine, North Korea, Hobbesian fear along with Machiavel- its deeply rooted political philosophy understanding we can then come up Iran, and Syria too. lian machinations have contributed a with reasonable and logical meanings that should interest us. Noam Chomsky has observed that 80% great deal to the general Western that we can ascribe to the events in our In Western universities, one of the first of people are effortlessly swayed (public philosophy of fear at the heart of what world and lives. ideas that first year undergraduates of in modern times has come to be known opinion formation) and the other 20% politics and government are introduced as Realpolitik. So, what do we mean when we speak of, are made busy with everything (mass to is what is generally referred to as for example, a triangle of a philosophy media, mortgages, fashion, culture, Now, nearly 500 years later, with the the Hobbesian philosophy of fear. of fear (Hobbesian based), US/Western etc.) that actually prevents them from According to Thomas Hobbes’ (1588- US’s created and propagated political military power and, say, ‘manufacture of forming their own opinions. Meanwhile, idea of a ‘war on terrorism’, we exist in 1679) Leviathan, human life is ‘nasty, culture? Crudely: through a portrait of the ‘war on terror’ brutish and short’ and everyone must a world of conflict with daily reminders the US (arguably the machinery that that (nuclear) World War III is imminent. ‘I am afraid of you so I shall put all fend off others, and be constantly on my energies into building myself up makes decisions about when and where their guard. Failure to do so will mean It is as if we have not learned anything to go to war) and Western citizens live from our less than perfect history. against you in ways that are beyond that others will attack them and that your imagination. I shall have to do this their lives under the constantly watchful they will have to face the consequences, Just one superficial look at the internet in the name of my security. Meanwhile, eyes of those who claim to give the including possibly their own demise. is all it takes to see the massive pres- however, for as long as you say ‘yes’ same citizens their security and defend Hobbes suggested that for each of us ence of US/Western military bases all to Coke or Pepsi or McDonalds and their freedoms (Hobbesianism in action the rational reaction to such a state of around the globe. Why do the US and everything we think you should have in the form of what is effectively, if existence is the free and willing relin- the West need such measures? Is there your way of life, I shall never have cause not actually, a police state). Today, quishment of our individual wills to a any connection between the Western to use my power against you and we Western liberal democracy, by virtue of sovereign who, in return, guarantees philosophy of fear (as it is taught in the can even be friends and work together its entrenched philosophy of fear, can our freedoms and a peaceful existence, West) and the current state of the world (capitalism). Hey, take a look at some also be understood as a politics of fear even if that means going to war against as characterised by war and destruc- Hollywood movies if you want to get a that has ultimately created the present others. tion? It appears that Western liberal good idea of what I am talking about.’ geopolitical climate of the world. • Hobbes believed that such a system, democracy has had a definite cost in terms of a reduction in the quality of life, In this scenario, the connection beginning with individual geographical between the manufacture of culture localities, would finally lead to the crea- at least for non-Western societies – Iraq and Afghanistan being two good, recent and misinformation is self-evident.

44 45 Faith

The Afterlife and the reality of our ephemeral existence

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

46 47 he general decline of religious life, and those who cheat death inhabit and Hindu teachings combined with with people who are for it and to be beings are truly made for. We have been In preparation for a good death, Ali belief in modern man has this world as “un-dead” vampires and Western occultism and science. against those who oppose it.” created for the next world and not for ibn Abi Taleb(a) advises us to; “Fulfil resulted in the abandonment frustrated ghosts intent on wreaking a This strain of thought is fascinated with Islam teaches us that death is rooted this one, for annihilation and not to obligations, avoid the forbidden, adopt of the belief in the Afterlife. jealous vengeance upon the living by a narrow idea of reincarnation which in the nature of things. It is something remain, for death, and not for life. We good moral traits, and then do not care MostT contemporary cultures only see as infecting them with the virus of eternal are in a transient place, a place which whether one should fall onto death or takes this world as the only stage upon that characterises this material world, valid the reality accessible to the senses suffering. which all eschatological phenomena a world that is a state of transforma- is a path to a higher existence beyond death fall onto you.” or to the instruments that supplement In this fusion, the only ideal life is one manifest themselves. In other words, tion and becoming. One manifestation earthly life. We fear death because with it we them, and ridicule the unseen as mere that it is not touched by death, where because this world is the only reality, of this is decay and dissolution. Our Even if it remains for us, we will not enter the unknown. This is due to our fantasy and myth. As such, death is death is repelled with the intervention heaven and hell and all states after bodies, being part of this material world, remain for it. We thus have to prepare attachment to the world. The Prophet seen as the final fall of the curtain, of technology. This is the imaginary death take place right here; you simply are also subject to these laws and must for our transition to the eternal abode, was asked why people despise death bringing an end to the meaningless world inhabited by clones and the change bodies to experience them. eventually pass away. and this is the essential function of this and in response the Prophet asked cosmic anomaly called ‘intelligent life’. perfect blend of man and machine, or world as a stepping stone, a place where the questioner, “Do you have wealth?” The idea that there is nothing beyond All these attitudes towards the Afterlife The Holy Qur’an says: “Everything will man and computer - the cyborg. Thus are in fact rooted in faith, which is perish except His face.” (28:88) we secure our salvation and build the the man said that he did. Then The this world has not led to the liberation death is evil and hideous and whatever lives we want in the Hereafter. Prophet again asked, “And have you of the human mind but to an obsessive itself rooted in the nature of man. Any It is God Himself who has created death, comes after death is the same. There is (a) given it away?” The person answered, attachment to life itself and a frantic, attempt to deny or alter that reality only for one of His Names is “Al- Mumeet” The Prophet Jesus is reported to have no better life than physical perfection results in that tendency being expressed said: “Indeed, this world is a bridge, so “No.” Then the Prophet said, “This is futile effort to escape death. that abides forever and this can only be the “One who gives death” so there is why you do not like death.” in another, albeit more erroneous or wisdom and goodness behind death. cross over it but do not build on it.” Humans have tried persistently to achieved by uniting the biological with distorted manner. Faith is innate in The believer should anticipate and escape death, whether it is by searching the mechanical, or by the creation of Death plays a role in controlling the ‘Not build on it’ here means that we human life. Our existence cannot be should not make this place a perma- contemplate death, prepare for it and for the stream of eternal life, pumping spare bodies in the form of clones. In devoid of love, the desire for it and the population. An example is encapsulated welcome it. As a result, when the time bodies with cocktails of chemicals and all cases, the only universe they occupy in the story of a group of people who nent abode. The intention behind our expression of it, or the desire to be far building is whether it is for here and comes for his transition to the next life, make-up, mummifying them, or more is this physical one for there is no other away from feelings that compromise asked their prophet to pray to his God the passage will be easy and peaceful. recently, cryogenically freezing bodies world beyond it. to take death away from them. He did now or for the Hereafter. For example our life and our security. As such, from when we build to make opportunities “For a believer, death is like taking off or heads right after death in the hope This type of irrational thinking has the point of view of Islam, no human so and God accepted his prayer. They of being “resurrected” at a time when became so many that their lives became for our children, to ensure the continuity dirty clothes, undoing shackles and ramifications in other aspects of being can be devoid of faith, not even and strength of the society of believers, heavy chains and changing into the medicine is advanced enough to revive western culture such as the preference a self-professed atheist, for that person crowded and their offspring too many. the dead. Before long they became too preoccu- to enhance the power and welfare of finest and most scented of clothes. It for the colour black for dressing, or would need to INVENT a deity to fill the Muslims, this is not building for this is the easiest of mounts and the most These unsuccessful attempts to flee ghostly white make-up, fascination with that gap in his soul. That deity can be pied with seeking their livelihoods, so they asked the prophet to ask God to world but for the Hereafter. comforting of abodes. As for the infidel, death have created a morbid fascination vampires and even the filing of incisors an idea, and faith the beliefs that arise it is like taking off fine, comfortable with death in popular culture. Nowhere down to sharp points to mimic vampire from that idea. return them to their previous state. What we take from this world should be our good deeds, our positive influ- clothes, and changing into the dirtiest is this attraction more prevalent than in fangs, all of which symbolise death and Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq(a) was once asked Death for man is a portal, a birth into and roughest of clothes, the most film where killing is plentiful, varied and morbidity. Then there is the attraction a higher, and more real and subtle life. ences on individuals and society, and to identify the minimum degree of our sacrifices for the truth and for what terrifying of stations and the greatest of presented in vivid detail. In Hollywood, of the pseudo-religion of New Ageism Whether that state is a heaven or a hell, (a) polytheism. He replied: “It is to contrive is right. punishments.”(Imam Zain al Abideen ) • there is no life after death, only this which is a syncretion of Buddhist or invent an opinion and to take sides this Afterlife is the world that human

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

48 49 Facing up to the inevitable By Nadia Jamil

have come this far and have and walked out, his wife extending her realised that nothing lasts forever. arm for support to help him to walk Everything we build or create will down the stairs. come to an end one day. Be it That was his final farewell. After that he Irelationships, business plans, buildings, got admitted to hospital and a few days wealth, health, fame, youth, and the later we heard the news of his demise. clothes or shoes everything we own I knew I had to go to bid goodbye to will wear out one day. Time we spend this man. This was the first ever funeral now with each other will turn into where I saw a grave being dug. The mere memories and we will look back atmosphere was heavy with sadness and at little episodes of our lives as if they awakening. I could feel men and women all happened just yesterday. Time is an picturing their own deaths silently in interesting phenomenon; knowing that their minds while bidding him goodbye. DIGITAL EDITION PAPER EDITION we are bound in time from which there is no escape and the only thing that Death is a reality none of us can escape. puts an end to it is our death. So what It is going to come and get us. When, 6 months £10.00 6 months £25.00 lasts then? People are remembered for where or how? Noone has a clue. what they did. “Every person shall taste of death; 12 months £18.00 12 months £48.00 As I sit and write this article I see a and We try you with evil and good for leaf fall down from a branch outside a testing, then onto Us you shall be my window. What will I take with me I returned.” (21:35-36) wonder? The grave being my final abode Watching someone else pass away does it will only be big enough to contain my make me question though, about where corpse. Not even my parents or siblings I am today. Everything somehow makes with whom I spent so many years, not sense slowly. Life is indeed a test filled even friends or colleagues. Just myself with trials that come in all forms. What and all those things I learned and did I fail to realise sometimes is why we will go with me. Death is one of those get so attached to this day to day life mysteries that one learns only when knowing very well that it will all come one tastes it. to an end. Why is it then so hard for us Recently I attended the funeral of a to let go of certain meaningless things man whom I didn’t know very well but that distract us from the true path? with whom and whose family I had “..the life of this world is nothing but interacted a few times. Just a few days diversion and play, but the abode of before I heard the news of his death I the Hereafter is indeed Life, had they was at a weekly gathering in the mosque known!” (29:64) when he walked in and took a seat. He didn’t look too great. He was walking Subscribe online: very slowly and everybody could tell Thinking about this man, who was once something was wrong with him. My a little child and then an old man, who http://www/islam-today.net/subscribe.asp friend whispered in my ear saying that lived through trials and tribulations he’s been very ill lately. Somehow at and finally faced his big exam, I hope For subscriptions by post, send a cheque payable to the Islamic Centre of England that moment I got a very bad feeling he finds himself in the company of the Write ‘islam today magazine’ on the back. that he was not going to be with us for best. • Please note that the above fees are for the UK only and include postage. For subscriptions outside the UK please write to: [email protected] long. He stood up after a few minutes Ameen

50 Interfaith

St Alban’s sacrifice: all for naught?

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

n the year 303 AD the Roman St Albans, 22 miles north of London. for a salvation of sorts. Distorted as ered young people, as the gaff has it. Or certainly no allegiance from persons of prophecies he too warned the Israelites emperor Diocletian issued an A good-looking abbey is dedicated to it was, their worship expressed a kind are they perhaps degraded to the role of faith. At the very least, believers are free against idolatry: ‘No one can serve two edict ordering the destruction of the saint, whose feast day falls on the of spirituality. Instead, today’s happy frenetic, copulating monkeys? Unwitting to criticise a paganising culture. masters. You cannot serve both God and nd churches, the burning of Christian 22 of June. Admirable but...did the paganism is a gross adoration of belly, worshippers of phoney, dead deities like As a Christian I do not wish to be Mammon.’ Mammon is a Semitic word Iholy books and the deposition of clergy. martyr perhaps die in vain? Has modern genitalia and bank accounts. Naturally, Aphrodite and Dionysus? standing for the god of wealth - another unduly bellicose, yet I am thinking of The punishment for resistance was Britain, Alban’s native land, lapsed back many people pursued those inferior I differ, however, from the learned that awesome contest on Mount Carmel resurrected idol. And Muslims will of imprisonment, torture, even death. In into the worship of the old, disreputable values even in the ages of faith but, Rabbi on one important thing. We narrated in the Bible. The Prophet course be familiar with the example of the Prophet Muhammad, how he the British city of Verulam, a compas- pagan gods? as the Rabbi observed, they could should distinguish between culture and Elijah spoke to his people: ‘If the Lord not bring themselves to do so overtly. smashed the idols that had disfigured sionate man called Alban, still a pagan, ‘Contemporary Western culture is a religion. A secular culture may decay is God, follow him; but if it is Baal then Carnal things were ‘hidden desires’. the Kaaba in Mekkah - a prophetic sheltered a fleeing priest in his house. pagan culture’, argued Rabbi Adin but a religion; a true, living and grace- follow him.’ Baal was the name of the Betrayed and brought before the Roman Steinsaltz in an Oxford lecture. ‘The Today they are placed in full view on the filled faith does not. Some peculiar deity of the Canaanites. Elijah stood action par excellence. magistrate, Alban joyfully confessed gods are back’. It was a superb, high altar of consumerism and adored theologians notoriously have presumed alone at Mount Carmel. Ranked against St Alban died rather than submit to that he had renounced the pagan idols: passionate and reasoned invective of enthusiastically without any shame. to proclaim ‘the death of God’. By doing him were 450 ‘prophets’ of Baal. Well, idols. Not every believer is given the ‘I worship the only true and living God, a man of faith and a scholar against But what about technology? Surely that so they have confused the senile deity their god proved to be a dud. He did not grace to be a martyr, of course. Human who created all things’, he said. a culture that no longer seems to is a welcome development, helpful to of their fantasies with the Almighty answer their prayers so Elijah taunted nature is weak. What is vital is that ‘Sacrifice to Rome’s gods!’ the judge care for God and his laws. Steinsaltz mankind’s well-being? How can useful Creator and Sustainer of the Universe. them in suitably un-parliamentary idolatry should be recognised and commanded him. mentioned the old pantheon’s figures technology be made into an idol? (I God is not identical with culture. God is language: ‘Where is your god? Has he denounced, even today, in all its forms. guess , the Greek god of ’ The upshot was that God wills it. ‘The sacrifices you offer are made to like Jupiter, Ishtar and Calliope. The Hephaestus above culture. God can indeed be envis- gone to the toilet? • blacksmiths, is the pagan patron of the worshippers of Baal got their come- devils. They are wicked rubbish’, the last one is particularly topical as the aged to be against culture. When St saint boldly retorted. Enraged, the shallow goddess of celebrities, our technology...) Alas, that can happen, Alban determined to oppose the pagan uppance. Theirs was a gory end but...it when from being a tool of society, it served them right. (I Kings:18) Idolatry pagan ruler had Alban scourged and modern, famous and fatuous non- establishment and authorities he did it Revd Frank Julian Gelli is an racked. Later his head was struck off. entities. Of course, it is possible to be becomes one of its masters. Steinsaltz’s under the banner of Christ and in the calls for a robust response. a tad unfair to the ancient cult. It was perfect example was the contraceptive service of the One True God. It cost the Anglican priest, cultural critic Alban was the first Briton willing to The struggle between God Almighty, the and a religious controversialist, not totally bad. Jupiter’s votaries went to pill - a tiny technological wonder. It has martyr his life but it won him an eternal, working on religious dialogue. lay down his life for the worship of the one true Lord of Heaven and Earth, and temples, prayed, entreated, made offer- affected our society radically by altering imperishable crown in Heaven. There Baal, a man-made idol, is never-ending. His last book “Julius Evola: the One True God, against state polytheism, ings and hoped. People hankered after the lives of our kids. They are now sexu- is nothing sacrosanct about a godless Sufi of Rome’ is available on When Jesus, the Messiah of God, Amazon Kindle. the worship of idols. His name is some divine response. They yearned ally liberated, emancipated and empow- culture. It deserves no respect and perpetuated by the Hertfordshire city of came on earth in fulfilment of ancient

52 53 Science

By comparing the genes from different While new foundations are being laid to see every base pair change, other species, particularly genes which have for the diagnosis and treatment of readings have coarser granularity. For been preserved in multiple species over human diseases, this progress is also example, while we may share 75% simi- millions of years, – including species met with important ethical and social larity with a nematode worm or mouse, with which we share strong genetic issues. These include confidentiality, the remaining 25% dissimilarity means similarities – scientists hope to find as well as the stigmatising of poten- that all three species actually have similarities as well as differences which tial ‘new’ genetic information being significantly different features and look may contribute to our under- physically unique. Furthermore Of standing of how human genes this complexity is increased when function. This approach is also one considers that these unique used by scientists to develop new features are often controlled by strategies for the treatment and more than one gene or even a prevention of human diseases. single nucleotide change. One must also not forget the Another fascinating example is importance of studying the genes the remarkable resemblance in Mice Men of bacteria, viruses and fungi. function and structural similarity Through such research, scientists seen in the eyes of octopuses and hope to find ways of preventing or humans. Despite their similar eyes, treating infections, as well as learn there is currently no evolutionary how microbes in and on the body relationship between these two affect human health in beneficial seemingly opposed species. Studies in comparative genomics are revealing important facts to advance our understanding ways. Our knowledge of good or There are undeniable similarities of the relationship between humans and animals. Elham Ostad-Saffari explores the genetic friendly bacteria, Bifidobacterium between humans and the many & lactis, sometimes also referred different species of animals within makeup of both, questioning the validity of the assertion that humans evolved from monkeys to as pro-biotic (the type found the world. Apes resemble humans in some yogurts) is testament to in their anatomical structure, such research in bacteria. horses in their intellect, parrots Scientists hope to analyse more in their speech, bees in their closely these basic building art, ants in their sociability and ’m sure children have often heard one another, with a remarkable 0.5% lives as the 2008 presidential election blocks of life, the nucleotides penguins in the compassion they adults saying things like humans making up the difference of what gives hopeful Sarah Palin discovered to her and their sequences, between share for their young. But none come from monkeys. But what does us all our individuality. It is these small cost. During her campaign, Palin voiced species. What scientists look for has all these features at once. this actually mean? Perhaps a valid differences which are enough to make her disapproval of federal funds being are the nucleotides which when Iresponse to this statement would be people look different and have different assigned for fruit fly research. However All these bring to mind the verse changed from species to species to ask why monkeys are still around? states of health. it emerged that what was actually of the Qur’an which implies that have a ‘neutral’ effect, causing the origin of all species is one: To begin to unravel the answer to the being funded by the state was ‘genetic no significant changes. However first question, some clarity needs to be research’ on fruit flies with the ultimate the jackpot lies in the analysis ‘God has created every animal brought to the subject. Indeed we did aim of benefitting people born with out of water; some of them walk of a relatively small percentage researched and published. While these not ‘come’ from monkeys; rather we genetic anomalies. on their belly, while others walk on two of genes, which can cause substantial ethical implications are not unique share a common ancestor. And when it legs and still others walk on four. God Taken a step further, compara- differences if alterations are introduced. to genetics, they introduce the new comes to understanding ancestors and creates anything He wishes; God is Able tive genomics is the analysis and Of particular interest and fascination language of ‘probability’ and ‘suscepti- evolution, genetics, and in particular to do everything’. (24:45) • comparison of genes and genomes from are the changes which can be put into bility’ to medical care. Indeed the wealth genetic sequencing, can shed light on different species. Its primary purpose the context of known inherited human of information which can be gained our origins. is to understand how species have diseases. Indeed a single nucleotide from such analyses is of great interest It’s all in the genetics! But we are also genetically similar to evolved, but no less important is its aim change can cause the inheritance of to third parties, including families, cystic fibrosis, breast cancer or sickle The often quoted statement that as animals and even some fruits surpris- of trying to determine the function of governments, insurance companies, cell disease. Single nucleotide changes humans we share over 98% of our ingly so in some cases: genes. Indeed scientists have acquired law enforcement agencies as well as have also been linked to hereditary genes with apes (chimpanzees, gorillas Cat: 90% considerable knowledge regarding the scientific researchers. Thus while such differences in height, brain develop- and orangutans) is fascinating. This Cow: 80% function of human genes by examining research is of utmost importance, the ment, facial structure and pigmenta- figure actually refers to the similarities Mouse: 75% their counterparts in similar model ethical, legal and social implications Elham Ostad-Saffari tion. Due to a single change, hands between single nucleotide changes in Worm: 75% organisms. Model organisms offer cost- must also be carefully considered. has a PhD in Medical effective ways to follow the inheritance can develop structures that are similar Genetics from Imperial the DNA, or put in basic scientific terms, Fruit Fly: 60% As complex as we are, it is worth of genes which are similar to human to toes instead of fingers and most College London. She is the changes in the sequence of the A, C, Banana: 50% remembering that gene reading or genes, through many generations, bizarrely, a mouse’s tail can disappear currently working in the G and T of the genetic code. As humans It’s not only fascinating stuff, but sequencing does have different levels, pharmaceutical industry. within a relatively short space of time. altogether! we are genetically 99.5% similar to increasingly relevant to our everyday and while some reading is important

54 55 chew. The taste buds of our tongue and evoking emotions and memories of my and lows of music. Nature protects what mouth actually detect only saltiness, grandmother. The signal passes by a is essential for survival. A blind rat still sweetness, bitterness and sourness. We single nerve connection, which is called lives very well, but without a sense of will have difficulty telling what we are the synapse, at the olfactory bulbs smell he cannot find food or mate. eating. (unlike the sensations of sight, sound, It is interesting to know that the olfac- Women identify odours better than men, and touch that reach the limbic lobe tory system of a dog is more advanced perhaps because they have paid more across more synapses). The bulbs are than that of humans. Dogs can smell a attention to smells during cooking, above the nose, and are extensions of footprint and follow it and find objects or when using perfumes. Children the brain that send the smell signal into from long distances. The odours they can realise all the tastes while elderly the limbic lobe. smell could be a mixture of pleasant people use more spices on their food as The part of the brain’s tissue which is and unpleasant odours. olfaction starts to assimilate. related to smell works very well. Even But indeed - thanks to our benevolent Trygg Engen, a noted psychologist of though we may not be aware of smells, Creator - we can choose what we smell. smell once said: “Odours stimulate they have a very privileged access to We can enjoy odours that we choose to human senses. Depending on whether where our senses really live. smell because they are pleasurable and the experience is pleasant or unpleasant, The primitive animal’s brains were avoid those we do not find pleasant. For the odour will be remembered as good mostly limbic lobes. In humans the example when we pick up a flower and or bad.” limbic lobe is covered with neo-cortex bring it near to our nose, it means that we want to smell its odour. Although flowers like jasmine are seduc- and has a profound effect on our body tive and Hydrogen Sulphide is repellent metabolism. The hypothalamus - via If it was not due to our selective sense of to everyone, most of our reactions to the pituitary gland - affects the limbic smell, life as we know it would become odours are personal. For example, I love region and it influences the entire incredibly difficult for us. • the smell of wet grass - it suffuses me endocrine hormones that regulate body with memories of growing up. At the metabolism, insulin, stress and much same time, my cousin displays symp- more. toms of sadness with this smell because The ears’ neurons are separated from it reminds him of the day he was playing outside by tympanum, just like the eyes football and he fell down and broke his that are separated by the cornea. But Remembering leg. The sense of smell is at the heart of olfactory receptors are in the environ- remembering and emotion. ment and directly reach the brain. Olfac- Places develop a “nest” odour. I can tory neurons can replace themselves remember when I was a child; I was unlike the body’s other nerve cells. through our nose uncomfortable entering the house of As Dr. Pasquale Graziadei, a neurobiol- one of my friends because of its unfa- ogist explains: “If you damage a nerve miliar odour. My friend’s brain used cell of your brain, you will never regain to ignore this smell because it found it. Lose the cells of your spinal cord, the smell inconsequential - rather like you have paralysis. Blow the neurons in someone with glasses who doesn’t feel your retina or your ear, and you cannot the slight pressure of the glasses on his repair the damage. Since olfactory nose after a while. nerve cells can be replaced, the sense of Odour molecules float in the air and smell has to be very important. Nature Listed among the human senses, olfaction has a multiplicity of functions. does not ever do anything for fun.” He Ghazaleh Kamrani explains how our sense of smell is at the heart of remembering and emotion when we sniff, these molecules go into a hole near the brain by our nostrils also believes that to some extent the and become warm and humidify. The brain depends on the nose for its own molecules adhere to little mucus-bathed development. patches of skin. Here, in a process that’s In fact the olfactory system is very y grandmother had a garden watering flowers. However it is closer you get to dinner, the more you still a mystery to science, the molecules plastic. Removal of a tadpole’s nose jasmine flower in her not my brain which was trying to recall realise how much your real pleasure in bind to receptors on tiny hair-like cilia causes that part of its brain to fail to garden. Jasmine smell my childhood. Rather via the incred- life is tied to smell. It taps into all our at both ends of the olfactory nerves, or develop but removal of the olfactory covered the air around it. ible power of smell, my childhood was emotions. It sets the patterns of behav- neurons, which send messages to the bulb of a mouse leads new neurons to Ghazaleh Kamrani MThese days every time I smell a jasmine recalling me. iour, makes life pleasant and disgusting, brain. try to recreate the bulb in the brain. is a cellular and molecular biology flower, my senses take me back to my As Gordon Shepherd, a neuroscientist as well as nutritious”. When I smelled a jasmine flower, a Remove 90% of the bulb, and the animal childhood. I can see my grandparents’ smells very well but chop off only half of undergraduate used to say: “We think our lives are All flavours come from sniffing scents pleasurable signal travelled immedi- student. house and my grandmother in the dominated by our visual sense, but the through the nose when we drink or ately into the limbic region of my brain, the human ear and we lose all the highs

56 57 Health

Medical Editor Laleh Lohrasbi were chosen and given standard commonly prescribed for women whose Using viruses to destroy rapidly growing chemotherapy treatment and half were PCOS hasn’t responded to hormonal tumours is an emerging field in cancer also infected with the virus (vaccinated). treatment alone. therapy but the important challenge Six months later, the illness was more In new research from the Mayo Clinic, is to get the viruses deep inside the likely to be stable in vaccinated patients ovarian cancer patients who took the tumours, where they can do their job. than in those just taking chemotherapy drug metformin survived longer than A team from the University of Sheffield drugs. Six month “progression free patients who did not. After five years, uses the blood cells as Trojan horses survival” was 43% for vaccinated 67% of women who took metformin had to deliver the viruses deep into the patients and 35% for those on chemo- not died from ovarian cancer, compared tumours. therapy. to 47% of women without diabetes who After chemotherapy or radiotherapy Cancer did not take the drug. there is damage to the tissue causing a However this study leaves a lot of unan- CANCER swered questions and further research Researchers from the Department of surge in white blood cells which swamp is needed to see whether the vaccine Epidemiology and Health Statistics at the area to help repair the damage. The will actually improve survival for lung Shandong University in China analysed team extracted the macrophages (a part cancer patients. 37 studies involving more than 1.5 of the immune system which normally million people. They concluded that attacks foreign invaders) from the blood Metformin can samples and mixed them with a virus reduce the inci- which becomes a passenger in the dence of overall white blood cells. These white blood cancer, liver cells were then injected into the mice UPDATE cancer, pancreatic two days after the chemotherapy. At the update end of the 40-day study all the mice cancer, colorectal Dr Laleh Lohrasbi reviews a number of developments in the fight against different type of cancers cancer and breast were still alive and no sign of tumours cancer as well as remained. mortality from The team hopes to begin the human overall cancer, trial next year. Dr Kate Holmes, head of liver cancer and research at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “If ccording to some recent news breast cancer. this treatment goes on to be successful reports, Canada is currently in human trials, it could mark substan- Hopes for lung cancer vaccine While cancer in the grip of a lung cancer researchers are tial progress in finding better treatments A small preliminary study, published crisis, made worse by the excited about the for men with prostate cancer which has factA that the disease has been woefully in 2012, introduced a new vaccine spread to the bone.” • possibility of this which may extend the lives of patients neglected. Despite the prediction that potential low-cost with lung cancer by an average of 14.5 tens of thousands will die this year way of saving due to lung cancer, scientists and months. This vaccine which is not yet available to the public, works just like medical experts have made remarkable lives, large scale clinical any other vaccine, by training the body’s breakthroughs in the wider fight against trials are still needed to immune system. Cheap drug to fight cancer cancer, one of mankind’s most destruc- confirm the findings. tive enemies. Last year alone witnessed The idea is that when a cell becomes While pharmaceutical companies

a raft of advances. cancerous and divides uncontrollably, spend billions of dollars to develop it starts to look different. Proteins on innovative, expensive drugs for cancer, Trojan-horse therapy it seems that a cheap existing diabetes for cancer Fast melanoma diagnosis the surface of the cells change and the immune system can be trained to spot drug may present a better alternative. American researchers in Scientists at the BC Cancer Agency of malignant tumours of the pigment- these changes. This surprising breakthrough involves a California announced America have developed a tool that can producing melanocytes. Melanomas drug which has been on the market for last year that they diagnose a mole’s malignancy within often resemble moles. The majority of This vaccine is a modified smallpox some years now. Metformin, a generic successfully used a minutes in contrast to current methods melanomas are black or brown, pink, virus which is genetically modified to drug, used to treat diabetes and poly- modified smallpox virus which may take weeks. The device red, purple, blue and white but they can make cancerous cell surface proteins. cystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) seems to to infect and kill breast shines a ray of light at a mole or skin also resemble skin colour. Melanoma is When these viruses enter the blood, be effective in slowing down the cancer cancer cells in mice. This lesion and then uses a spectrometer to caused mainly by intense, occasional the body’s immune system identifies cell. Metformin is the generic name for research was focused record the optical signal coming back UV exposure. them as foreign intruders and makes an oral drug that was approved by the on the “triple-negative to reveal if the compositional changes antibodies to eliminate them. Catching melanoma early can save lives. FDA in 1994 to lower blood sugar. It breast cancer type” for in the skin are cancerous or not. In this trial which was done at the The American Cancer Society estimates was later found to stimulate ovulation, which no long-term University of Strasbourg, patients with Melanoma is the most dangerous a 97%, five-year survival rate for those regulate periods, and increase fertility treatment options are advanced non-small-cell lung cancer form of skin cancer which occurs as treated for stage IA melanoma. in women with PCOS and is now currently available.

58 59 Human body parts; natural regeneration or articial technology Fighting The possibility of naturally regenerating tion risk. damaged body parts such as the kidney, Stem cells are biological liver or even heart have put these cells found in most multi- organs on top of the much sought after cellular organisms that can organ-transplant list but some organs the killer mosquitoes divide and differentiate into such as the windpipe - which connects different specialised cell the nose and mouth to the lungs – or types and can self-renew to limbs, are not easy to find. produce more stem cells. Recently, only the second man-made Stem cells can be grown A prick to the skin, a scratchy red using the rancid smell of human feet, worldwide. Nearly a million people die trachea implant using synthetic micro- in vitro (outside the body), swelling and possibly even a serious collected on sock pads worn by local from malaria each year, of which more fibres and a bath of stem cells from in specific lab conditions illness, these are the first signs of a soccer players. Okumu who has lost than 85% happen to be in Africa: this the bone marrow of a patient whose and transform into different mosquito attack in which human blood family members to malaria, hopes that equates to one fatality every 30 seconds. own trachea was destroyed by cancer, body cells such as muscles, is sucked up to develop its fertile eggs. if this method is used in tandem with A large parasite prevalence survey was performed by a Swedish surgeon. nerves, cartilage in joints, mosquito nets and insect repellents, it engineer will allow us to successfully When the female mosquito lays eggs, it showed that out 1.38 billion people at Such techniques represent the future skin, bone tissue and kidney. will dramatically reduce the number of address the limitations of current arti- needs more protein supplies which can risk of stable malaria, 0.69 billion were of regenerative medicine, in which stem These cells then can be transplanted to mosquito bites. cells of all kinds, including those made the human body to repair damaged or ficial tissues.” only be obtained by sucking a host’s found in Central and South East Asia, blood. When the mosquito sucks blood In another attempt to combat these 0.66 billion in Africa, Yemen, and Saudi from patients’ own skin cells, can serve dysfunctional organs. On the other hand in recent years, it also injects a combination of saliva killer mosquitoes, scientists around the Arabia, and 0.04 billion in the Americas. as the basis for generating any type of thanks to a high-tech quantum leap in Besides the natural regeneration of and anticoagulant compounds into world have tried genetic engineering This means that a large portion of the cell or tissue that needs to be replaced producing false limbs, it has become body parts, the technology of making the blood which may contain infecting options. A British biotechnology Muslim population worldwide is at risk or repaired. possible for millions of amputees to artificial organs is getting more and elements. However the process of company has found a way to geneti- of being affected by this deadly disease. walk, climb stairs and even compete in Organ transplantation from a donor more advanced by the day. A study attraction begins long before the cally manipulate Aedes aegypti, the to a patient’s body has been practised published last April in Advanced high-level sports without stress. Some Islamic organisations have been landing. Mosquitoes can smell their mosquito species mainly responsible helping to control mosquito borne for centuries but rejection and the Functional Materials revealed that Computerised bionic prosthetic limbs dinner from an impressive distance of for transmitting dengue and yellow diseases in Africa and Asia. They have side effects of preventing rejection an Iranian team of bioengineers at use the latest advances in computer, up to 50 metres. fever viruses. The mosquitoes had been managed to launch malaria treatment (especially infection, nephropathy and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) sensor, electric motor and battery Mosquitoes are important vehicles genetically modified to be sterile, so and prevention projects focussing on medication used to stop rejection) may had created artificial heart tissue that technology to give the limbs bionic in the transmission of some animal that when they mated with the indig- pregnant women and children under always be the key problem. closely mimics the functions of natural capabilities. In this technology, sensors diseases. These small creatures can enous female mosquitoes there would five. Their aim is to reduce the rate of heart tissue through the use of human- monitor the user’s motions and use the The body’s immune system usually easily transmit viruses or parasites be no offspring. The company released infant mortality and decrease malaria based materials. data to predict what the person is trying protects it from substances that may from animal to animal, from animals millions of mutant mosquitoes into a and anaemia cases among pregnant to do through programmed micropro- be harmful such as bacteria, viruses, In this method, a rubber like gel to people and from person to person 40-acre area of the Cayman Islands, 3 women in regions such as the Blue cessors. Last December scientists at poisons, and cancer cells. These material made from a protein which is without being affected by the symptoms times a week from May to October 2010. Nile State of Sudan, the Afder zone the University of Pittsburgh announced harmful substances have proteins on responsible for the human tissues’ elas- of the disease. The insect’s body recog- By August the same year the population of Ethiopia and the Warrap region of that a woman paralysed from the neck their surfaces called antigens. As soon ticity was used to make a high elastic nises the virus or parasite as a foreign of mosquitoes had dropped by 80%. Kenya. down had been successfully fitted with as these antigens enter the body, the micro-pattern gel. Dr Nasim Annabi, intruder and chops off its genetic Australian scientists, meanwhile, have a robotic hand that can be controlled by In the meantime the challenge for immune system recognises them as PhD, BWH-Renal Division, stated coding, rendering it harmless to itself. developed a new strategy involving use her thoughts. In her case two microelec- scientists is also to find similar low risk foreign and attacks them. In the same that the micro-patterned gel provides of a bacterium which naturally infects trode arrays were implanted in the left Scientists know that genetics account ways of controlling malaria. • way, with an organ that is not matched elastic mechanical support of natural many insect species and has the ability motor cortex. These microelectrodes for a whopping 85% of our suscepti- with the patient’s cell, antigens can heart muscle tissue as demonstrated to interfere with its host’s reproductive were conducted to the robotic hand, bility to mosquito bites. They’ve also trigger a blood transfusion reaction or by its ability to promote attachment, characterisation. When mosquitoes are then after 14 weeks of training she identified certain elements of our body transplant rejection. Life after organ spreading, alignment, function and infected by these bacteria, their ability transplantation is usually a hard one communication of heart muscle cells. learned how to use the artificial hand. chemistry that, when found in excess Dr Laleh Lohrasbi is on the skin’s surface, make mosquitoes to transmit dengue virus is almost a pharmacologist. She and even the drugs which suppress Ali Khademhosseini, PhD, BWH Divi- Future generations will decide whether flock closer. completely blocked. has worked as an editor the immune system to stop rejection sion of Biomedical Engineering, said: naturally regenerated or artificially for the medical section Mosquito borne diseases like malaria, have numerous side effects. That is why “As we continue to move forward with made organs are more useful for human Fredros Okumu a scientist from the of “Hamshahri”, a daily dengue and West Nile, kill more people newspaper in Tehran. scientists are always looking for new finding better ways to mend a broken life. • Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania, ways to reduce or eliminate the rejec- heart, we hope the biomaterials we has designed a mosquito killing trap than any other disease in the world and more than 700 million are affected

60 61 Places Salé City of Scholars and Saints

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

nown as Al-Adouatein or the of a palace on the site of the present cities of the two banks, Salé Grand Mosque. These were none other and Rabat are rival riverine than Umayyad princes who had come to K cities. Of the two twins, Salé settle with an iqta’ (Islamic land grant) (pronounced Sala) is the elder despite given by the Umayyad emir of Cordoba the uncertain date of its foundation. as recompense for a contingent of According to the 10th century Arab Berbers. The area still known as Blida historian Ibn Hawkal el-Baghdadi, the was where the mosque was built and which served as the Friday mosque while on the other: the latter outnumber the and the monumental main mosque that has not altogether vanished. Although port on the Atlantic known as Salé was the residential area followed. Various the Grand Mosque was rebuilt by the former at least ten to one. The city’s two holds together the urban fabric of the this is not the place to discuss the situated on the right bank of the river families came to settle in the area giving Almohad ruler, Abu Yussef. The oldest most imposing mausoleums belong to city where other activities, namely the religious validity of visiting shrines, and indeed, this was the city captured rise to the names of the growing city’s Friday mosque had started to sink into two towering saintly figures: Sidi ‘Adb local crafts, now sadly demised, used to what cannot be discounted is their role by the founder of Morocco, Moulay quarters: Zenata, Derb Kheiar, etc. the ground to the extent that one had Allah ben Hassoun (d. 1604) known as flourish. in strengthening faith communities Idriss I, a great grandson of Hasan ibn Later, under the Almoravid dynasty, to step down to enter it, as Mohammed, sultan al-bled (sultan of the country) When I have asked a passer-by to and offering alternative help not Ali(a). several erudite families from Andalus a local jeweller, remembers. In the and Sidi Ahmad ben Ashir (d.1362/4) identify the zawiya or mausoleum I always affordable or available through emigrated to Salé in search of a quieter 1970s the mosque was entirely rebuilt or al-Tbib (the Doctor). happen to be photographing, the word more conventional channels. Elusive Successive Arab dynasties ruled and is currently surrounded by shops. conditions such as schizophrenia over but rarely from Salé. The urban life, far from the constant skirmishes A series of minor funerary monuments, shirk has been uttered to indicate that prevailed in Spain. The increasing One of the striking particularities like the Sufi paths or tariqas, lead to the the disapproval of visiting saints’ have continued to receive attention development of the city began in from ‘traditional healers’ as opposed th number of residents called for the of Salé is the disproportionate ratio unifying place of worship embodied by shrines. The very fact that many are earnest in the 11 century under the to medical doctors. Sidi ben Asher Banu Ashara with the construction construction of a new mosque, Jamaa between mosques on the one hand, the Great Mosque. It is this relationship renovated and maintained indicates Shehba, on the other side of the city, and mausoleums and zawiyas (shrines) between the constellation of Sufi shrines that popular devotion to these places was in fact known for his healing gift,

62 63 particularly in the area of mental health. to be built up until the middle of this chandeliers or lamps, it is in a sad state located in the cemetery that bears his The cult of saints in Morocco dates from century. The Zawiya Sediqiya was of disrepair. By contrast, the zawiya of name and is surrounded on three sides around the 12th century when one of built to commemorate the death of Sidi Abdellah ben Hassun situated near by the walls of Borj Addumun. Initially the earliest holy men ‘Abd ‘Ali Shriahi Sheikh Seddiq Laghmani (buried in the Grand Mosque enjoys substantial buried under a fig tree, Abdullah ibn al-Bakaye (after his native patronage and during the Ismail then erected a domed chamber town of Shriahi) migrated to eve of the Mowlud (so as and others have continued to renovate Morocco from Andalus. Also not to clash with Sidi ben and expand the shrine ever since. dating to the 12th century Asher’s celebration on the Regardless of the number of shrines is the shrine of Sidi Mussa day of the Prophet’s birthday), still standing, it is the number of Dukkali facing the ocean. it becomes the object of zuwwar (shrine visitors) to the smaller a colourful procession of zawiyas in particular that has declined Thereafter many holy men candles. The dome over the created zawiyas, libraries dramatically. Were it not for the candle mausoleum was erected procession of the two main saints, there and hospices, offered under Moulay Ismail and the accommodation and above is little doubt that a further decline shrine was enlarged recently. in maintenance and attendance will all education. Few were the Richly carved painted stucco zawiyas dedicated to well- follow. Ironically, the origins of these and geometric patterned zillij processions derive from Christian known tariqas - Kadiriyya, (sculpted lustre tiles) adorn Shadiliyya, Tijaniyya - whose Spain: they were initiated by the Emirs the interiors. th founders had extra-local and ulema of Sebta in the 13 century origins. Local personalities But the fulcrum of Slawi as a response to Christmas celebrations. th attracted murids (students) (the name given to Salé’s The use of candles started in the 16 residents) veneration revolves century but was actually Ottoman in who even fought alongside Tangiers in 1883) and situated in the their masters: Ahmed Hajji (d. 1691) was undoubtedly around the city’s patron inspiration. The candles are arranged old Jewish quarter. This zawiya has saint, Sidi Ben Asher, whose shrine is to imitate lanterns and suspended both a sheikh and a mujahid (renewer seen better days: stripped bare of any of the faith) whose followers joined him from the domed chamber of the saints’ in his liberation campaign of the citadel tombs until the day of the procession. of al-Mehdiya (Maamora) from their If candles ensure the success of Iberian occupiers. Following the success the procession’s spectacle, it is the of this campaign, teachers from other women who patiently thread them prestigious centres of learning flocked into vibrant patterns who hold the key to his zawiya. to keeping alive the cult of saints. It Under the Merinids (13-15th centuries) is this intersection between faith and learning was formalised into medersas folklore, devotion and worship and of which there were two in Salé: Medersa between Sufism and orthodox Sunnism Attalaa next to the Great Mosque, that enriches Islam in Morocco, thus also known as Abu’l Hassan after its far seemingly impervious to extremist founder, and Medersa Abu Inaya, inside influences the likes of which have the old Mellah, which specialised in caused the destruction of numerous teaching pharmacy and medicine. Yet places of worship and Sufi shrines the plethora of holy places continued throughout the Muslim world. Despite the dwindling numbers of devotees, the popular lore of Salé’s patron saints lives on. •

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

64 65 Through June want to come on either the 7th June or Ladies only (Boys under 10 allowed) Summit To Eat as much by embodied experience as governments and tribes on their pe- the 8th June or both (The conference by abstract theological dispute. From ripheries. Free crèche for children aged below 6, The Snowdon Challenge Friday Nights Thought Forum is supported by Christian Solidarity limited spaces, must book! the sounds of the adhân (the Islamic Time: 18:00-19:00 International) There is no Conference call to prayer), to the smell of incense London’s weekly open gathering. The Summit To Eat Snowdon Chal- Venue: The Royal Institute of International Fee. Tickets: £30 lenge is about orphans and needy chil- in the Hindu Pûjâ (a ritual offering to Time: 19:30- 21:00 Affairs, Chatham House, 10 St James’s Square, Time: 7 June 2.30 – 6.00, 8 June 9.30 – 7.00 Time: 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM dren around the world. the deities), the visual emblem of the Venue: Islamic Centre of England Venue: The Waterlily, 69-89 Mile End Road, cross in the Christian tradition, and London SW1Y 4LE Venue: The Nissan Lecture Theatre, St. The organisation raises money to help the ascetic practices of Theravada Web: www.chathamhouse.org/events/ Antony’s College, University of Oxford London E1 4TT give over 40,000 orphans and needy Contact: Web: http://ramadan2013.wix. Buddhism, sensation is integral to a view/191005 2 June 2013 Contact: Dr Ahmed Al-Shahi Email: ahmed. children a healthy and nutritious diet. range of devotional practices. com/sisterhood [email protected] Everyone is welcome. Imam KHOMEINI CONFERENCE 2013 Time: 9:00am - 7:00pm 26 June 2013 Tel: 01865-284707 (International: • Pre-event registration is essential. “The Impact of Imam Khomeini on the Venue: Berrick Saul Building, HRC, 00+44+1865+284707) 15 June 2013 confirmation will be sent in good Politics of the 21st Century” Heslington campus, University of York Seeds of Change time. Speakers: Science, Scientism and the Web: www.york.ac.uk/crems/events/ Believed to be the largest Muslim 8 June 2013 • All sponsorship money raised should sensingthesacred/ Women’s conference to take place in Ayatollah Moezi Challenge of Islam be handed in by Friday 28th June Email: [email protected] Europe. Dr Ahmed Jalaali Annual Multi-faith Pilgrimage for Delivered by: Professor Bruno Abd- 2013. Dr Saeed Shehabi Peace in Hertfordshire al-Haqq Guiderdoni [Director of Re- Time: All day Tickets: £30.00 Shaykh Jabir Chandoo search at the French National Centre Venue: Mount Snowdon, Snowdonia 22 June-6 July 2013 Venue: Park Plaza, Westminster Bridge Road, Shaykh Ahmed Haneef Organiser: Westminster Interfaith As- for Scientific Research and Director of National Park, Wales London Sayyid Asad Jafri sociation the Observatory of Lyon] Shubbak Festival Web: www.iera.org/seeds-of-change th Contact: Web: http://events.muslimhands. This is the 28 annual multi-faith pil- The Shubbak festival celebrates con- The courses are open to all but spaces org.uk/item/418331 Date: Sunday 2nd June 2013 grimage for peace. The programme are limited. Entry is through prior reg- temporary culture from across the Time: 1.30pm - 7.00pm consists of travelling by coach to most istration only. Prayer facilities available Arab world. 27 June 2013 places of worship. Early registration is Venue: Islamic Centre of England, 140 Maida and coffee/tea provided during break 17-18 June 2013 The event offers a feast of visual arts, Doing Business in the Middle East Vale, London, W9 1QB essential. Refreshments will be provid- sessions. ed at most places of worship, including 2nd Global Halal Trade & Logistics architecture, dance, design, film, lit- The Middle East Association in part- Tickets: £40 erature, music, discussion and debates lunch and tea /supper. Summit nership with Intuition languages; will 5 June 2013 Time: 9am – 5pm from today’s most innovative Arab art- be running a cross cultural training Tickets : £12.00 nd Venue: Birkbeck College, Malet St, London The 2 Global Halal Trade & Logistics ists. seminar on how to build successful Time: 9:15 am The idea of ‘Islamic’ Education: WC1E 7HX Summit is a platform for exchange of Shubbak - which means “window” in business relations in the Middle East. Venue: Holy Rood RC Church, Watford, ideas and information and is a net- Origins, challenges and Contact: Web: http://islamiccourses.org/ Arabic - was launched by the Mayor of Tickets : Members £275 + VAT (£330), Non Hertfordshire, United Kingdom working and business development London’s office in July 2011 and is now possibilities courses/scientism/ Contact: Telephone: 07527 758729 opportunity for professionals in the a biennial event. members £395 + VAT (£474) Farid Panjwani (Institute of Education) halal compliance, manufacturing, lo- Time: 10am-4.30pm 020 7228 2795 Venue: Various venues Philosophy of Education seminar. All Email: [email protected] The Urban Muslim Woman Show gistics and supply chain industries in- Venue: MEA offices, Bury House, St James’s, ternationally. Malaysia will play host to Contact: Web: www.shubbak.co.uk welcome. Web: www.faithsforum4london.org/event/ The Urban Muslim Woman Show is London SW1Y 6AX aimed solely at promoting strong and this important event in June followed Web: http://the-mea.co.uk/event/doing- Time: 17:30 to 19:15 annual-multi-faith-pilgrimage-for-peace-in- by Abu Dhabi in October 2013. hertfordshire/ independent female professionals, en- 25 June 2013 business-in-the-middle-east/ Venue: Room 828, 20 Bedford Way, trepreneurs, designers and students Time: 8:00 am London WC1H 0AL within the Muslim community. Venue: InterContinental, Kuala Lumpur, Muslim Tribes and the War on Tel: +44 (0)20 7612 6000 Revival of the Sisterhood: It is a celebration of the achievements Malaysia Terror (Members Events) Email: [email protected] Ramadhan Charity Dinner and Eid and successes of Muslim women and Tel: +603 7662 6888 Participants: Ambassador Akbar Web: www.ioe.ac.uk/newsEvents/85813. Souk 2013 aims to inspire future generations with Web: www.kwhalal.com Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic html messages of empowerment and sup- Email: [email protected] Studies, American University in Wash- Special Guests: port. ington, DC; Non-Resident Senior Fel- Nazreen Nawaz (Reviving Sisterhood) low, Brookings Institution. 7 - 8 June 2013 Tickets: £45.00 21-22 June 2013 Shohana Khan (Female Liberation: A Time: 4:30 pm Drawing on 40 case studies of societies The Future of Religious Minorities woman’s perspective) Venue: Novotel London West Sensing the Sacred: across the Muslim world, the speaker will argue that the ‘war on terror’ has in the Middle East, North Africa and Julie Breen (Turning to Allah before Contact: Email: events@ the Two Sudans (Conference) Religion and the Senses, 1300 - become a global war on tribal Islam. returning to Allah) urbanmuslimwoman.co.uk 1800 He will discuss how the war is reviving The organiser requires that you book 3 Course Meal, Games and Activities, Web: www.urbanmuslimwoman.co.uk old tensions and exacerbating already- Religion has always been characterised a seat early and indicate whether you Eid Souk Tel: 0844 871 8819 or 0203 384 6839 broken relationships between central

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