fall 2014 vol 5 no 1

avicennathe stanford journal on muslim affairs 1 THE STANFORD JOURNAL ON MUSLIM AFFAIRS avicenna THE STANFORD JOURNAL ON MUSLIM AFFAIRS

FALL 2014 VOL 5 NO 1

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Sevde Kaldiroglu ’17

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Ayesha Rasheed ’14 Hana Al-Henaid ’14 Afia Khan ’16 Osama El-Gabalawy ‘15 Samra Adeni ‘14

FINANCIAL OFFICER Samuel Jacobo ’17

Avicenna—The Stanford Journal on Muslim Affairs would like to thank the ASSU Publications Board for their support.

All images in this journal are in the public domain with Creative Commons copyright licenses unless otherwise noted. More information about these licences can be found at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/.

Front cover image by Dr. Waqas Mustafeez ‘12 Back cover image by Johnny Winston ‘15 2 avicenna CONTENTS

Editorial Note 4 SEVDE KALDIROGLU and AYESHA RASHEED

Islamic Manuscripts and Rare Books at Lane Medical Library, Stanford University Medical Center 6 SAMEER ALI

Sacred and Secular in Traditional Egyptian Soundscapes: A False Dichotomy? 9 FATIMA LAHHAM

The Poet of Turkish Cinema, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, and Melancholic Questions of Distance and Gender 12 PERI UNVER

A Winter in India 18 Photos by JOHNNY WINSTON

An Interview with author Farha Ghannam on Gender Dynamics in Urban Egypt 22 SAVANNAH HAYNES

Reflections on Islamic Law and Translation in Early Modern Iberia 26 VINCENT BARLETTA

Profiling of Arabs and Muslims: Intolerable and Ineffective 30 OSAMA EL-GABALAWY

the stanford journal on muslim affairs 3 Editorial Note

The piece below belongs to Ayesha Rasheed ‘14, the previous editor of Avicenna, who graduated last year. Due to some technical problems, the issue was not published last spring. We are now happy to share it with you this fall. As the new editor-in-chief of Avicenna, I would like to thank Ayesha for all of her amazing contributions to the journal. Along with my editorial team, I am looking forward to a fruitful year where we will carry Avicenna even further.

I hope you enjoy Ayesha’s beautiful editorial note!

Sincerely, Sevde Kaldiroglu ‘17 Editor-in-Chief

“… No knowledge is acquired save through the study of its causes and beginnings, if it has had causes and beginnings; nor completed except by knowledge of its ac- cidents and accompanying essentials.” – Avicenna, On Medicine, (c. 1020)

My favorite part of the above quote by Avicenna has always been its acceptance and, perhaps, encouragement of incorporating life’s “accidents” into the pursuit of knowl- edge. However, his words beg the question: what constitutes an accident? Retrospec- tive analysis often makes it easy to trace a narrative thread through or pick out a pattern from what seemed like unrelated events at the time. It could be that this is what Avicenna was alluding to – the inclusionary tendency of hindsight – and that that is what is necessary to truly acquire knowledge.

There have been a couple of “accidents” of late that I think have made subtle, but collectively notable, changes to the way we present and understand Islam. The first is The Honesty Policy’s video of British Muslims dancing and lip-syncing to Pharrell’s “Happy,” and the second is the booming success of Marvel’s first American-Muslim, female superhero, Ms. Marvel (aka Kamala Khan). Both are smile inducing, thought provoking, and above all, fresh, projects that advance an image of Islam more realis- tic and less-well known than the public is generally used to.

This brings me to my main point - the “Muslim World” has never been a static con- cept. Now, a new generation of Muslims, many of whom have grown up almost ex- clusively in North American and Western Europe or with some exposure to the same, need to find novel ways to explain their unique narratives – how their stories fit into the picture of changing global Islam, what the benefits and drawbacks to that conflu- ence are, and why telling a new narrative is important at all.

4 avicenna As always, Avicenna: The Stanford Journal on Muslim Affairs, seeks to provide a space in which to do just that. We want to shine a spotlight on the nuances of the Muslim World, and our authors, both Muslim and not, have a special aptitude for sending us submissions that reflect and cater to these broad interests.

In particular, this issue’s essays focus on new challenges and changing perceptions of Islam. With the exception of Professor Vincent Barletta’s excellent reflection of the importance of translation and connotation in Iberian Early Islamic Law, many of our articles for you this fall have to do with remarkably current issues.

For example, Fatima Lahham, from the University of Oxford, gives us an analysis of the balance between secular and sacred in the Egyptian soundscape, while Stan- ford graduate student Savannah Haynes presents an introduction and interview of Farha Ghannam on her book about changing gender dynamics in urban Egypt. Then, Stanford student Peri Unver moves us north with a review on several recent Turkish films before undergraduate student Johnny Winston takes us east with his photos of Muslim influences in India. Moving back to our Journal’s American home base, we round out the issue with our own Osama El-Gabalawy’s investigation of Arab/ Muslim profiling in the U.S. after 9/11 and graduate student Sameer Ali’s showcase of his incredible find of Islamic manuscripts and rare books kept in the Lane Medical Library at the Stanford School of Medicine.

We at Avicenna have always been proud of the diversity of our content and its reflec- tion of both our contributors and readership. Thus, we hope you enjoy the issue – because we certainly enjoyed putting it together for you!

Yours truly, Ayesha Rasheed ‘14

The Taj Mahal as viewed from inside the Great gate (photo by Johnny Winston ‘15)

the stanford journal on muslim affairs 5 Islamic Manuscripts and Rare Books at Lane Medical Library, Stanford University Medical Center

Sameer Ali PhD Candidate, Dept. of Religious Studies, Stanford University

History Qur’an fragments, prayer manuals, and theological treatises from the early mod- The Lane Medical Library, Stanford Uni- ern period. The majority of items are in versity Medical Center holds close to 300 Arabic, followed by Persian, Turkish, and items from the Islamic world. These items Urdu; and some in Armenian. are listed under the ‘Non-Western’ sub- set of its Ernst Siedel Collection. Manu- Rare books scripts and rare books from the Islamic world form part of a larger collection of Around 215 rare books (Call Numbers: books, manuscripts, and archival mate- Z1-Z169; Z212-Z257) printed in cities rial acquired in 1922 by Dr. Adolph Bar- such as Beirut, Cairo, and Bombay, com- kan (1845-1935) with the cooperation prise the rare book collection. The majori- of Dr. Ernst Sudhoff. Acting on behalf of ty of the rare books are in Arabic, followed Stanford University, Dr. Barkan, acquired by items in Persian, Turkish, and Urdu. them from the estate of the German phy- Altogether this collection reflects a wide sician and Orientalist, Dr. Ernst Siedel variety of subjects, including literature, (1863-1916) of Meissen, Germany. They theology, and history. Arabic books in- are currently housed at the Stanford Medi- clude Ibn Sina’s al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (Z32), cal History Corner, Lane Medical Library; printed in 18721 by al-Matbah al-Amirah Drew Bourn, PhD, is the current Histori- in Cairo; Lane holds the complete three cal Curator of the collection. volume set. This particular printing press was located in the area of Cairo known as Nature of Holdings Bulaq, originally from the French ‘beau lac’. It also was part of the first set of print- The holdings from the Islamic world in- ing presses that emerged in Egypt in the clude 215 rare books and 90 manuscripts middle of the nineteenth century; this edi- originating between the twelfth and nine- tion is dedicated to Ismail b. Ibrahim b. teenth centuries. These items originate Muhammad Ali, the Khedive of Egypt. in cities and countries that historically formed the greater Islamic world, includ- Rare Books of Special Interest ing the Middle East and South Asia. Sub- jects including literature, medicine, sci- Lane holds around 40 rare books written ence, and political history are reflected in in Urdu and printed in India. Bagh-i Urdu the collection. There are also a number of 1 1294 (according to the Islamic Calendar)

6 avicenna (Z237) is an Urdu translation of the Per- Amthal (Z168), printed in 18722 in Bom- sian Gulistan of Saadi by Sher Ali Jafari , bay, is probably a very early version of pen-named Afsos (1735-1809), printed what is today known as a travel guide. It in Calctutta in 1802 at Hindustani Chap- contains everyday phrases in Hindustani, Khana. It takes its place along with the Persian, Arabic, and English, along with earliest set of books printed at presses es- idioms and proverbs. The proverbs are tablished in Bengal the late 18th century of Arabic origin and are accompanied by the British. Afsos also authored Araish- by translations into the other languages; i Mahfil, a history of India and of its prov- this work reflects the encounters between inces. The collection also holdsMaqasid Indo-Islamic and Western intellectual al-Ulum (Z239), an Urdu translation of traditions that occurred in Indian institu- the Treatise on the Objects, Advantag- tions of higher learning. The Tuhfat was es, and Pleasures of Science of the Lord written by Sayyid Abdul Fattah Moulvi Chancellor of Great Britain, Henry Peter Ashraf Ali, teacher of Arabic and Persian Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux at Elphinstone College and High School; (1778-1869). Syed Kamal al-Din Haydar Elphinstone was established in 1856 by the Mir Muhammad al-Hasani of Lucknow British. translated the treatise during the lifetime of the Baron in 1841. It reflects the trans- Manuscripts mission of Western knowledge into Indian The Islamic Manuscripts collection at vernacular in the 19th century; scientific Lane Medical Library (Call Numbers terms have been diligently transliterated Z234-Z324) is composed of an assortment and translated from English into Urdu. of codices composed between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. The majority of Another item of interest from India is the manuscripts cover the subject of medi- the Tuhfat al-Maqal fi al-Istilahat w’ al- 2 1289 (Islamic Calendar)

Tuhfat al-Muminin (photo by Sameer Ali) Bagh-i Urdu (photo by Sameer Ali)

the stanford journal on muslim affairs 7 cine and deal with medical specializations contains only the first five taskhisat, as the including dietetics, medical dictionar- person commissioning the copy did not ies, cures, pharmacopoeias, hygiene, and require the entire MS for his purposes. It manuals of diseases and cures. They are in is also possible that the two dasturat were a variety of languages, including Arabic, not available to the copyist at the time. The Ottoman Turkish, Persian, and Urdu. third copy, Z287, was most likely copied in India since it contains Hindu-Arabic Manuscripts of Special Interest numerals of Indian provenance; it was written in the Nastaliq script. Z287 con- Of special interest are three copies of a tains only the first three tashkhisat. The pharmacopeia dedicated to the Safavid marginal notes in this particular codex are Shah Sulayman (r. 1666-1694)3, composed enclosed in red or black squiggles, akin to by his physician Muhammad Mumin Day- ‘speech balloons’ used in cartoons. lami Tunkabuni (d.1697)4. TheTuhfat al- 5 M’uminīn was originally written in 1669 Access in Isfahan, the capital city of the Safavids. It contains al-Tunkabuni’s commentary on All the manuscripts and rare books in medical compounds and a critical analy- the Islamic collection have entries in the sis of the sources available to him. It was Lane Medical Library Catalog (lmldb.stan- an important work because it reveals the ford.edu), Worldcat (www.worldcat.org) nature of medical treatises and the devel- and WorldCat’s ArchiveGrid. They are opment of medicine in the early modern also available through Stanford Library’s Islamic world. Al-Tunkabuni describes SearchWorks. a his work to be in the lineage of popular medical works of his time, including the Jam al-Baghdadi of Ibn al-Kabir (d.?) and the Jami al-Antaki of Dawud al-Antaki (d.1599?).

Lane Medical Library holds three copies of the Tuhfat; the relevant call numbers are Z265, Z277, and Z287. Z265 was copied in Iran and is written on Persian laid paper and in the Nastaliq script. As a complete copy, it contains five tashiksat and two dasturat: subsections that differ in their theoretic versus practical focuses, but illu- minate simple and compound treatments for diseases. Z277 was copied in Turkey in 18096 and is written on European paper in the ruqu’ah script; this script was em- ployed mainly in the Ottoman world. Z277

3 1077-1105 (according to the Islamic Calendar) 4 1108 (Islamic Calendar) 5 1080 (I.C.) 6 1224 (I.C.)

8 avicenna Sacred and Secular in Traditional Egyptian Soundscapes: A False Dichotomy?

Fatima Lahham B.A. Music ’14, Magdalen College, University of Oxford

Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of In Cairo, as in all Islamic cities, the adhan the Egyptian soundscape (though largely forms the sonoral centre for the commu- ubiquitous in predominantly Muslim nity, affording a temporal as well as a sac- countries) is the call to prayer, or adhan, erdotal function by specifying the time for which serves as an aural punctuation five the ritual prayer (salat) but also remind- times a day. In this article I focus my dis- ing the populace of the principles of their cussion on Cairo, where the great number belief. It draws all members of the city in and proximity of mosques means that each their respective urban spaces (whether in prayer time is marked by several overlap- the market, the school, work place, road, ping, subtly varied calls from differing and in modern Cairo even shopping cen- parts of the city. Together they form a nex- tre or building site) to a shared remem- us of sound that possesses and communi- brance of the prayer and testament of faith. cates a wealth of significance on different levels.

Left to right: The mosque of Muhammad Ali in Cairo (photo by Seif Kamel), and the view from the market of the Red Mosque, taken in about 1940 (photo taken from Toby Lattimore’s blog). Both illustrate the central placement and presence of the mosque in daily sound- scapes and landscapes.

the stanford journal on muslim affairs 9 Traditionally the community of Islam can pologist Mircea Eliade also referred to the be said to be defined aurally, as musicolo- subject of Tradition and its implications gist Lee Tong Soon did, describing it as “an for philosophies of temporality in his 1954 ‘acoustic community’, a community char- study, The Myth of the Eternal Return.3 In acterised by the acoustic space in which this work he tackles this notion of the call to prayer could be heard.”1 But transformation,” in a passage on “Rep- what, one may ask, makes this particular etition of the Cosmogony,”4 where he dis- designation of acoustic space unique and cusses the idea of a ‘sacred centre’ in which different to, for example, the use of church the act of Creation takes place and which bells as in the Western Christian context? may be reached through a ritual act. Such One could surmise that the most impor- an act, according to Eliade, can transform tant distinguishing feature is the way that a profane space into that centre and restore the adhan operates to create a sacred space. the sacerdotal aspect of the original cos- While bells are acoustic objects that are mogonic act, the act of creation. appended to the physically defined space of a church, the call to prayer is detached Furthermore, following Eliade, the lasting in one sense from a fixed physical space. effect of this ritual act is ensured by: It can be performed by any Muslim wher- ever he may be found, just as any purified “The transformation of profane space into physical space can be transformed into a a transcendent space (the centre) but also mosque for prayer. It seems that this is a by the transformation of concrete time vital distinction to be made between West- into mythical [by which he means non- ern conceptions of sacred and secular time linear and cyclical] time.”5 and space to those of the Islamic world – in the latter the physical or ‘secular’ world What is central here is an underlying be- is seen as a manifestation of and a win- lief that through this transformation it is dow onto the ‘sacred’, accessed through a possible to participate again in the begin- transformation of the material realm. Such ning of an action’s time and perpetuate its a symbiosis between the sacred and the timeless existence within the boundless secular renders false a dichotomy between original time. For members of an Islamic the two. society, prayer is the means by which a sacred act can transcend time and space, This idea is not exclusively Islamic, but is so that the repetition and rhythm of the shared by all Traditional societies. Here prayer cycle re-orients each member, as an the word ‘Traditional’ is used qualitatively “eternal return,” to the axis mundi. indicating a vertical reliance of the world In this sketchily explained perspective of particulars at all times to that of the then, notions of the sacred and secular Universal. There is also need to be aware are rather irrelevant since there is no per- of Tradition in the a-historical sense of cy- ceived distinction per se; the secular or clical and non-linear continuity described profane is not opposed to or in a polarised by T.S. Eliot in his essay “Tradition and relationship to the sacred, as in the end the the Individual Talent.”2 The social anthro- profane does not in effect have any last- ing reality since any signification it may 1 see Scott L. Marcus, Music in Egypt, Oxford University Press, 2007, 4. 3 Princeton University Press. 2 reprinted in T.S. Eliot The Sacred Wood, Faber, 1977, 4 Eliade, 17. 39-49 5 Eliade, 20-21.

10 avicenna possess is merely vicarious. Rather, the practices so that they may be reductively “worldly” is as a doorway onto the divine, studied from within that literate sphere an invitation to transform oneself, by way alone. of a transcendental ‘ritual’ act. Such an outlook on the world is manifestly power- The aspect of memory as a creative force ful and culturally empowering, premised in the construction of soundscapes is cen- as it is on prayer. It is important to note tral here. Philosopher and metaphysician that the Islamic ritual prayer is described Ananda Coomaraswamy compares the in hadiths as a munajat, an intimate con- literisation of oral story-telling traditions versation between God and His servant, as to music, writing – “It is in just the same well as a mi’raj (al salat mi’raj al mu’min – way that music is thrown away; folk songs salat representing the celestial ascension of are lost to the people at the same time that the believer). It is thus overtly categorized they are collected and ‘put in a bag’; and as an axis on which to mediate between in the same way that the ‘preservation” of modalities of existence and as a vehicle a people’s art in folk museums is a funeral for transcendence. In this context the call rite, for preservatives are only necessary to prayer is not merely a social phenom- when the patient has already died.’”6 enon but utilises sound – both of the let- ters of the Arabic language itself and of the One could say that the relationship be- “melodic” content to which they are pro- tween sacred and secular may best be nounced – in order to herald the prayer summarised by noting that traditional and to some extent to perpetuate its trans- Egyptian musicians make no distinction formative patterns. between “popular” music, music that is living in the present, and “classical” mu- This short essay on notions of the sacred sic that is dead or ossified; at this level and profane in traditional soundscapes history may be said to escape a dialectic contends that the Islamic view of time and process between past and present or look- space may be illustrated by portraying how ing backwards and looking forwards, but sacred space is acoustically perceived and rather embracing an organic tradition that unveiled. I have suggested that a sacred encapsulates elements of what happened ‘centre’ may not be geophysically located before and what will happen after in the but rather determined by repeated ritual present moment. a acts, ultimately cutting through layers of linear time to form one timeless entity. This timelessness may be identified in the adhan, evoking the shahada (a declaration of belief) and the formula Allahu akbar (“God is Great”) to subsume the landscape under a mnemonic soundscape. The isola- tion of secular (from the Latin saecularis: literally, “of the world”) from the sacred in this context is perhaps due to a Western academic construction of the objects of its study, which arguably imprisons within a literate form these traditional dynamic 6 Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, The Bugbear of Literacy, Perennial Books Ltd, 1979, 36.

the stanford journal on muslim affairs 11 The Poet of Turkish Cinema, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, and Melancholic Questions of Distance and Gender

Peri Unver, B.A. Anthropology ’14, Stanford University

T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred I often am not able to stir once his films Prufrock” captures the essence of Nuri end. His films stay with you long after, Bilge Ceylan’s films with these words: like a stone in your pocket, as they ac- “We have lingered in the chambers of the complish what film has always sought to sea/By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed accomplish: profoundly affect the viewer. red and brown/Till human voices wake us, and we drown”1. Ceylan’s films, in- Distant (2002) tells the story of two men, cluding Distant (Uzak), Climates (Iklim- Mahmut and Yusuf. Mahmut is a com- ler), and Once Upon a Time in Anatolia mercial photographer, an intellectual liv- (Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da), explore the ing in Istanbul. Although he was once darker side of reality and man’s place in from a small provincial town, he now tries the world. Orhan Pamuk writes about desperately never to look back. He leads huzun, or melancholy in reference to Is- a life of isolation and loneliness as he sep- tanbul2. Here I would like to use the idea arates himself from all forms of meaning- of huzun to describe the melancholy, ful connection. He lives alone and works moroseness, or even wistfulness that alone, and his life seems like an endless permeates Ceylan’s work, his characters cycle of aimless wandering and dreams and their stories. By examining the three deferred. He cannot bring himself to aforementioned films this feeling can be change any of this even when catalysts for seen as something intertwined with a change appear, like his ex-wife’s moving sense of distance on different levels, fur- to Canada and the arrival of his cousin, ther deepened by a lack of female char- Yusuf. Yusuf is just as lost as Mahmut acters and perspective. Eliot’s haunting but is more naïve in his dreams of mak- words of loss and longing underlie Cey- ing a lot of money as a sailor and creating lan’s view of life: “I don’t have very many a life for himself in the urban jungle of optimistic feelings about life. I like to Istanbul. None of these dreams comes to look at things realistically, and with that fruition, and as we watch both men fail realism comes pessimism”3. I believe the experience is both heart-wrenching Ceylan captures the fatalistic view that and frustrating. Both men are stuck in often accompanies Turkish sentiment yet their circumstances but are also unwill- is able to stretch so much beyond that as ing to commit to change. Their stagna- well. After watching his films it is hard tion has become a way of life for them. In not to be struck by the weight of them; this stagnation there is also a great sense of distance and a lack of communication, 1 Bartleby Bookstore. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Pru- frock.” Bartleby.com. Web. of feeling, of touch. The title of the movie 2 Suner, Asuman. New Turkish Cinema: Belonging, Iden- can refer to many sorts of separation, of tity and Memory. I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd. 2010. 3 Curiel, Jonathan. “The Unforgettable Films of Nuri Bilge vast amounts of space between people Ceylan.” KQED Arts. 2012. Web. that are insurmountable. There is dis-

12 avicenna tance between the urban and the provin- strong voice or sense of agency. Ceylan cial, represented by Mahmut and Yusuf, often shows the women through long respectively. There is also great distance shots, obscured shots, or shots that are in the modern world between people in fuzzy, distorting our sense of them and general, which Ceylan seems to refer to allowing us only to see them through Yu- in many of his films. It seems we have suf or Mahmut’s eyes. Mahmut’s lover or lost the ability to communicate and reach mistress first appears to us this way and out to touch each other. Ceylan’s style of we never hear her speak. As Mahmut direction helps him get his point across. does not acknowledge her we are not Something that particularly struck me in able to get to know her either; the most Ceylan’s films, is the way he plays with insight to her character is given in a scene light and darkness, often using shadows of her crying in the bathroom after one (like in Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) of their anonymous trysts. Yusuf sees and grey skies (like in Distant) to portray women as objects to be desired but not as the oppressiveness of an environment, be people. He follows a few women around it provincial or urban. The environments town but never talks to them. We only in Ceylan’s films become like characters hear Mahmut’s sister and mother through themselves4. The cinematography is also the messages they leave on his answering striking and beautiful. His films are like machine5. He chooses not to respond to photographs, documenting our lives and them, putting distance once again be- pointing out what we may choose not to tween himself and others. The only fe- see. Due to this stylistic strength, Distant male character that is given a bit more has become my favorite Ceylan film. complexity is Mahmut’s ex-wife. They have a sort of tragic history as she was The distance that cannot be bridged be- forced to terminate her pregnancy when tween Yusuf and Mahmut is perhaps sad- their marriage ended, leading to infertil- dest of all. This is maybe illustrated best ity. Mahmut still loves her but does not in the scene where Yusuf smokes outside want to accept blame as she feels the need on the balcony but leaves the glass door to tell him, “I am not blaming you”6. In ajar. Mahmut goes to the door and seems the end, not only do Ceylan’s female char- to think about going outside for a mo- acters lack agency, his male characters es- ment, then closes it instead. There is an sentially sap agency away from them. For artificial boundary separating them as me, it was hard to decide what Ceylan one man stands on each side (Yusuf on is trying to say through his lack of em- the outside and Mahmut on the inside). phasis on female characters. I am torn, That sense of yearning and loss encapsu- as I think their absence is something that lates the huzun that pervades and haunts is greatly felt, but I also wonder if he is the film. The sense of melancholy and dis- making a statement on the status of patri- tance is furthered by the extreme lack of archal society or culture in Turkey today. female characters or female voice in the However, it is a blurry line, because by fo- director’s work, another characteristic of cusing only on the male viewpoint Ceylan his films. There are few female characters is in fact undermining the importance of in Distant and none have an especially 5 Suner, New Turkish Cinema: Belonging, Identity and 4 Kohn, Eric. “Filmmakers You Should Know: Nuri Bilge Memory. Ceylan, Turkish Master of Understatement.” Indiewire. 6 Donmez-Colin, Gonul. Turkish Cinema: Identity, Dis- 2012. Web. tance and Belonging. Reaktion Books Ltd. 2008.

the stanford journal on muslim affairs 13 female agency and voice and reaffirming wife actually play the main characters. the patriarchal status of Turkey. “From Ceylan plays Isa, “arguably the most un- the perspective of gender relations, new sympathetic of all his characters”11. Bahar wave Turkish cinema appears to have and Isa are drifting further and further a rather masculinist outlook. In a great away from each other but neither of them majority of new wave films…the story has the strength to voice this aloud. Fi- revolves around a male protagonist”7. It nally, while they are on vacation Isa tells can be argued that the male perspective Bahar that he wants them to separate. is strong only through the lack or absence The seasons pass but Isa finds himself of the female perspective. This absence missing Bahar and goes to find her and then becomes almost a character itself, tell her that he has changed. They spend present in most of Ceylan’s films8. Cey- one last night together but Isa flies off in lan leaves us with difficult questions in the morning alone12. The distance be- his films and his intention with female tween Bahar and Isa is insurmountable characters seems to be one of them. “On just as the silences between them are the one hand, these films subordinate deafening. There seems to be resentment women to men and deny them agency. on Bahar’s part, whose foundation is al- New Turkish cinema seems disinterested luded to later in the film when she asks in the stories of women. We never learn Isa if he has been with Serap (the woman how the female character sees the world Isa cheated on Bahar with) again. In the from her perspective”9. It is up to us to end Isa does not treat Bahar that differ- decide whether Ceylan is in fact breaking ently from Serap; he uses both of them: the boundaries of patriarchal society by Serap for sex and Bahar for comfort and showing the shortcomings of man in the familiarity. Isa is afraid of commitment, presence of women. “Without a doubt, as he asks his mother would it be that bad this male-dominant attitude is problem- if he did not have children as he does not atic, for it reproduces the still-powerful even like them anyway. We watch the de- patriarchal culture in Turkish society. On struction unfold, but once again Ceylan’s the other hand, we can also detect a posi- characters are self-defeating as they do tive element in this masculinist picture, in nothing to change their fate. the sense that new wave films sometimes include a critical self-awareness of their Dreams play a big part in the film as Ba- own complicity with patriarchal culture10. har has a nightmare in the beginning that Whatever his intention may be, the lack Isa is burying her and suffocating her of female presence does help deepen the with sand. That idea of suffocation, of chasm or the distance between people in claustrophobia, when one’s partner is so Ceylan’s films. close but in actuality light-years away, un- derlines the film’s themes. We get a sense Climates (2006) tells the story of a de- of Bahar’s character through her dreams, teriorating relationship that is extremely a passive state. It is Isa who ruins both hard to watch. Ceylan and his real-life dreams, the second time at the end of 7 Suner, New Turkish Cinema: Belonging, Identity and the film, breaking Bahar’s happy, dream- Memory. like state the morning he leaves her for 8 Donmez-Colin, Turkish Cinema: Identity, Distance and Belonging. 9 Suner. 11 Ibid. 10 Ibid. 12 Donmez-Colin.

14 avicenna the final time13. Perhaps our dreams are through the story when they are separat- more truthful than we would like to ad- ed, leaving us to wonder what happened mit, as they expose our subconscious, let- to Bahar. I think the film would have ting our biggest hopes and fears float to changed greatly if we had been able to the surface. There is also distance when follow Bahar. “While Climates explores it comes to age as Isa is somewhat older the inner world of men, the woman is in- than Bahar. This difference in age comes scribed in the film as an absence”16. This out in Isa’s tendency to tell Bahar what says a lot about the role of women in his to do, like when he insists that she wear films once again. It is interesting that Isa her jacket when it is cold and she refuses. dreams of a warm place to go for holiday “Although the trust of the film is the dis- but when he and Bahar are actually away integration of a relationship, the struc- on vacation they are not happy. When ture of the narrative sides with the male Serap asks Isa why he and Bahar sepa- character. The point of view of the female rated he answers with a shrug, “Biraz kül partner, her feelings and her dilemmas, biraz duman,” which means “A little ash are felt through her silences (the tradi- and a little smoke.” That statement says tional attribute of women in society and a lot about what we are reduced to, but in cinema)”.14 at the same time undermines the speci- ficity of each relationship’s ending. It is As Isa and Bahar’s relationship becomes also another way for Isa to avoid taking threadbare so much is left unsaid. When responsibility. As we see them struggle they fight or disagree there are mostly si- for who has the upper-hand it is Isa that lences, and even when they break up nei- says they should separate, it is Isa that ther one says what they are truly feeling. says they should get back together, and it I found it frustrating that both never say is Isa who tells Bahar she should leave her what they want to outright. I kept hoping work behind and come back to Istanbul that Bahar would gain more of a voice but with him. Isa is arguably one of Ceylan’s she never really does. There is a lack of most unlikable characters. He never re- dialogue in Ceylan’s films, which at times deems himself and he never allows Bahar leads to a sort of stark silence. Perhaps, redemption either. though, there is much more said in those silences than could possibly be said with Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011) words. Ceylan has stated, “I think people is Ceylan’s newest film, described as “an lie all the time...They never tell the truth. existential murder mystery”17. The story Underneath, there is always another real- takes place in the countryside, all in one ity, not available in dialogue. That’s why night. A group of men from a small town, I prefer to use gestures and expressions including the police, a prosecutor, and a and situations; saying what the film is doctor, drive together to find a dead body. about with dialogue is not convincing for The two murder suspects ride along with me”15. Ultimately, in the darkness Ceylan them as they try to recall where the body observes, there rings a human, univer- was buried. Enshrouded in darkness and sal truth. Although Bahar appears to be dancing shadows, the men contemplate a main character, it is Isa that we follow their own personal problems, women and

13 Suner. 16 Ibid. 14 Donmez-Colin. 17 Calhoun, Dave. “Nuri Bilge Ceylan Interview.” Time- 15 Suner. Out London. Web.

the stanford journal on muslim affairs 15 relationships, life and death, and what even if only intimated and not observed, it means to be a man. This environment as it is women who influence all of the creates a distinct feeling of melancholy, men. The men do not understand the loss, and life’s passage. The shots of the women but they are indelibly defined by countryside in the darkness are gorgeous them nonetheless. For instance, the pros- and memorable but also haunting in their ecutor is torn with guilt over his late wife austerity. (who committed suicide after learning of his affair) but still cannot take responsi- There is still not much dialogue but when bility, the weary police chief is called by the men do talk to each other there are his wife who yells at him for coming home genuine moments of clarity. However, the late as they have a sick child, and the doc- men are still distanced from one another tor is alone for reasons we do not fully as they do not share everything. Their know as we are shown pictures of what professional selves are separate from their seems to be a love from his past. Towards personal worries, regrets, and dreams. the end of the film we see the woman that Regret plays a large role in the film, allud- the murderer had an affair with, but she ing to how children may pay for their par- is angry and her son, an extension of her, ents’ mistakes18. This ties into the pros- throws a stone at the man (his biological ecutor’s story of his wife who died shortly father) who killed the only father he has after giving birth, a possible suicide in- ever known. It is through her disgust and duced by the prosecutor’s infidelity. Also, hatred that we see Kenan, now so small. one of the policemen has a sick child who In another instance an encounter with a needs care at all times. The murder itself female shifts our perspective of the men turns out to be because of a secret affair in the movie. Although the women have and the consequent child. There is also no agency and no voice at all, they are im- distance class-wise, as the suspects are portant as gauges for how we perceive the part of the lower class. Even though the male characters that surround them. To- men are in such a confined space, a car, wards the end of their road trip the men they are not able to cross the miles that stop at a small village along the way to eat stretch between them. The vulnerability and rest. There they are received warmly, that night allowed is not enough; as the but shortly after the electricity goes out, light of day approaches the men regain leaving the men once again in darkness. their coveted distance. A beautiful young woman comes in to bring the men tea, carrying a lamp that The extreme absence of female charac- lights her face. Her beauty, innocence, ters, separating the world of the female and youth strike all of the men, educated from the world of the male, creates more and non-educated alike, like some kind distance in Once Upon a Time in Anato- of folkloric remnant of an angel. They lia. However, when we do see women, even talk about how her beauty will be in two instances, they are there to point “wasted” in that small village, where she out shortcomings in men. In this respect, will never be able to travel or see the it differs fromDistant and Climates. It world. Her innocence contrasts greatly could be argued that Once Upon a Time with the darkness they have encountered in Anatolia, unlike the other two movies, in just one night. This is a way of putting actually relies heavily on female presence, distance between men and women. Cey- lan refers to the girl as a “catalyst,” even 18 Suner.

16 avicenna though we only see her once, as the mur- ic events that occur. In Distant a relative derer confesses after seeing her19. Once comes to visit, in Once Upon a Time in Upon a Time in Anatolia left me feeling Anatolia a crime of passion is explored devastated, by the imagery, by the charac- slowly and diligently, and in Climates a ters, and by the story. relationship deteriorates. Rather they are slices of life, exploring the events that Once again I find it hard to decide wheth- happen to us at work and in relationships er Ceylan is exposing the focus on the that define who we are. “We can observe male psyche in Turkish cinema and cul- a similar simplicity, elegance, and mat- ture or whether he is reaffirming this ter-of-factness in Ceylan’s films, which focus. “…Serious studies of women and convey their story not through dramatic their predicaments are new to contem- tension, but through details and nuanc- porary Turkish cinema. In the films of es of everyday life”22. However, Ceylan some accomplished filmmakers women explores much more than just the mun- still appear as less-developed secondary daneness of everyday life. This realism characters”20. In the end, though, it is not may be laced with melancholy, but it is proximity or physical presence that mat- also humanistic as Ceylan allows us to ters. Distance plays a destructive role in decide for ourselves what the meaning Ceylan’s films as his characters struggle of existence is, what all the connections for some kind of control. Ceylan’s style of and the dips and the highs and the ache filming helps to strengthen this sense of signifies, without telling us if there is an distance, through long shots and close- answer. “Ceylan is never judgmental to- ups. The lack of dialogue that is present wards his characters; he never preachers in all three of these films reaffirms that what is right and what is wrong”23. As lack of communication and inability to Ceylan’s characters face this struggle we cross the bridge and touch another per- are left not only without answers, but ac- son. This distance is underscored by the tually with more questions. Ceylan’s films distance between men and women, as ev- may represent life realistically but he finds idenced by the lack of female characters powerful messages in the seemingly ordi- and female agency in Ceylan’s films. The nary. His work “…bears testimony to the melancholy that is so present is a sense conflicts imposed by reality in a deep and of isolation and loneliness. That sense of objective way, rather than through the huzun or melancholy present in Ceylan’s imagination…Life defeats imagination”24. photographs transfers to his films, evi- Ceylan’s influence on the world of cinema dent in his beautiful, haunting cinema- is so critical some writers are even throw- tography. His work is extremely pensive, ing around the word “Ceylanian”25. The and is part of the “…visual poetry that darkness may be oppressive at times but goes along with a focus on social content it is not ennui; rather it is a dissatisfaction and a portrayal of the transformations of with life that comes from the ability to see contemporary Turkey”21. it for what it truly is. a

Ceylan’s films do not have hugely dramat- 22 Suner. 23 Ibid. 19 Calhoun, “Nuri Bilge Ceylan Interview.” 24 Atam, Zahit. “Critical Thoughts on the New Turkish 20 Donmez-Colin. Cinema.” Cinema and Politics: Turkish Cinema and the 21 Kaim, Agnieszka Aysen. “New Turkish Cinema: Some New Europe. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2009. Remarks on the Homesickness of the Turkish Soul.” Cinej 25 Kohn, “Filmmakers You Should Know: Nuri Bilge Cinema Journal. 2011. Ceylan, Turkish Master of Understatement.”

the stanford journal on muslim affairs 17 A Winter in India PHOTOS BY JOHNNY WINSTON ‘15

A four-towered monument and mosque, Charminar is situated in Hyderabad’s Old City.

Ajay, a Sikkim native and seasoned tour guide, waiting for the ice to melt on the road to Chagnu lake.

18 avicenna Military barracks on the foothills of the Himalayas near Changu Lake, Sikkim.

Inside the Alai Darwaza, the main gateway to the Quwwat-ul-Islam Masjid, the first mosque in Delhi.

the stanford journal on muslim affairs 19 Inside one of the rooms of the City Palace in Udaipur, historic capital of Mewar kingdom.

20 avicenna the stanford journal on muslim affairs 21 An Interview with Author Farha Ghannam on Gender Dynamics in Urban Egypt

Savannah Haynes M.A. Sociology ’14, Stanford University

With her latest book, Live and Die like a media and academia. She argues there Man: Gender Dynamics in Urban Egypt, has been a “tendency to equate men with Farha Ghannam adds to her already siz- mind, culture, reason, honor, and public able oeuvre exploring the social con- life” but little has been said about their struction of space and identity in modern “emotions, feelings, and bodily matters” Egypt. The focus of her other works in- (4). Furthermore, unlike Middle East- clude urban relocation, labor migration, ern women, who have been dissected by and the implications of violence. In Re- Western media and scholars (much to making the Modern: Space, Relocation, their disadvantage, until recently), little and the Politics of Identity in a Global attention has been paid to Middle East- Cairo (2002), Ghannam explores the ern men. And when this population is forced relocation of a working class com- addressed, Ghannam posits, it is unfairly munity, examining the stigma, loss of categorized by onlookers as oppressive, community, and spatial change brought violent, and fanatical. Through this eth- on by the move. All of her work is in- nography, Ghannam makes a more com- formed by the urbanity and complexities prehensive addition to the bourgeoning of Egypt at large and Cairo in particular. study of the formation and function of Live and Die like a Man continues in this Middle Eastern masculinity. vein as it critically and soberly address- es the construction, development, and Over the course of a decade, Ghan- maintenance of manhood in Egyptian so- nam observed and took part in the lives ciety. With a focus on al-Zawiya, a work- of residents of al-Zawiya. By following ing-class Cairo neighborhood (which was the trajectories of men and boys at vari- also the subject of Remaking the Mod- ous points in the life stage, she captured ern), Ghannam provides an intimate look the concept of gada’ – a good man – and at the ways boys and men use their bodies the means through which this status is and relationships with others to navigate achieved. The reader is first met with the the formation of their identities as sons, story of a young boy whose upbringing brothers, husbands, and fathers. illustrates the way masculinity is taught both explicitly and implicitly. Follow- Ghannam was prompted to research and ing the discussion of the means through write this book by what she believes is which boys become men, Ghannam the incomplete portrayal of men in both moves into an examination of courtship

22 avicenna and marriage. Through the trials and gender. One thing that anthropologists tribulations of a man who, at forty, is still are always interested in is exploring the in search of a wife, the author commu- differences between what people say and nicates the central role fatherhood and what they really do (for example, if you husbandry play in masculinity. The eth- ask “do men pay attention to their looks?”, nography ends with a discussion of the the conventional answer is no, but if you integral link between having what is con- hang around long enough you’ll see the sidered a good death and being a proper time, energy, and money invested in one’s man. From boyhood to adulthood to the looks). To be able to capture this impor- end of life, Ghannam’s study communi- tant aspect of the construction of gen- cates the evolution of manhood and the der and the making of bodies you need way, regardless of one’s age, masculinity to pay close attention to practices, live is ever salient. in the area, participate in daily life, trace people’s daily enactments… I think we Like any good study, Ghannam’s ethnog- need more studies before making gener- raphy raises as many questions as it an- alizations about other groups in Cairo. swers. Masculinity is as varied as those The study of masculinity has been lim- who seek to achieve it, making distilling ited, and we need to look at how different its requirements and boundaries into a classes and communities define proper single book difficult, if not impossible. men and how these notions are material- Below, Ghannam expands on a number ized. Still, I do think several of the ideas of themes from Live and Die like a Man. developed in the book should help us ex- plore masculinity in other contexts. For INTERVIEWER: While introducing this example, masculinity as a collective proj- book, you write that, “…the overlapping ect, the role of women in the making of between class and gender is central to any men, the relationship between violence adequate conceptualization of how mas- and gender and how it is regulated... So, I culinity is materialized, supported, chal- see parallels but my main interest in Live lenged, and reinforced” (8). With class and Die is to account for experiences of having a pivotal impact on one’s experi- real men (and women) and how they con- ence of gender, why did you choose to stitute themselves and are constituted by focus your study on one particular neigh- others as gendered subjects. borhood, and thus, one particular socio- economic group? Can the themes and I: Similarly, you state that, “a masculine patterns seen in al-Zawiya be translated identification in a working-class context to other communities in Cairo or Egypt is strongly tied to the control that a man at large? exerts over his body and its needs” (149). Is such a body-centric definition of man- FARHA GHANNAM: As you know, I am hood, which is apparent throughout the an anthropologist and we anthropolo- book, unique to the working class? gists tend to privilege depth over breadth. Thus, my focus on a specific neighbor- FG: Very much like Bourdieu, I think the hood is important to try to account for body is key to the reproduction of classed the subtle, mundane, embodied aspects and gendered inequalities. Yet, the body of the intersection between class and might play different roles in the making

the stanford journal on muslim affairs 23 of men in different classes and communi- continuities that link different modalities ties. Labor in a working class context is of personhood and how men and women very important and notions of productiv- are much more connected and their sub- ity are directly linked to the conversion jectivities are in closer dialogue than so- of the physical body into material capital. ciety tends to claim and we often accept For the elite, the lean body, the tanned in academia. body, the sporty body, the refined body… might be more important. While the elite I: It is clear that the requirements of man- might not have to convert the body into hood evolve across the life course. For in- material capital, it is still key to the artic- stance, young men are encouraged to use ulation of cultural, social, and symbolic violence to assert themselves, but fathers forms of capital. In a nutshell, the body are expected to employ physical force is key for the reproduction of inequalities only privately and sparingly. While some and is central to all classes but the way the conceptions of masculinity alter with age, body is shaped, imagined, perceived… is what qualities of manhood remain con- different. stant among boys, young men, fathers, etc.? I: Women play an interesting and com- plex role in this study, as they are si- FG: I do not believe there is an “essence” multaneously viewed as the negation of that endures over time. Rather, it is the masculinity and a crucial component of shifting nature of the norms and how men its development. In fact, an entire chap- of different ages materialize them that are ter is devoted to discussion of the ways key to a masculine trajectory. So, I do not “women step in to both materially and think there is anything that is “constant” emotionally support their male relatives’ but, rather, all is contextual and spatially attempts to become proper men” (88). and temporally conditioned. How might we understand the important role of women in the development of men I: While you paid a good deal of attention as evidence that the genders are not en- to the role of the husband and that father tirely distinct, but rather slight variances in establishing manhood, there was no of the same personhood, reinforcing one discussion of how masculinity is navigat- another through their shared experience? ed by queer men in Cairo. What might an exploration of this particular community FG: I like the way you pose the question add to our understanding of Egyptian and what you say captures what I was masculinity at large? trying to communicate. I do think that society makes the differences between FG: I think that the study of queer men the two genders too absolute and negates is important and I know other colleagues the many similarities that I was trying to have been doing that. In al-Zawiya, there highlight as important to keep in mind was no visible or publically articulated when conceptualizing and challenging notion of queerness. While I heard of a patriarchy. The way I was trying to use the couple of men who were said to have sex notion of “connectivity” (which was orig- with other men, I never met anyone who inally used by Suad Joseph in her study of identified as queer or gay. That might be the Arab family) aimed to account for the the case in upper class and upper-middle

24 avicenna class neighborhoods, where there are ac- tions I have heard, the readers have been tive efforts to constitute a specific type of identifying in a productive way with is- queer subjectivity. I was just in London sues addressed in the book. Readers have participating in a Ph.D. examination on a highlighted the important labor invested study of gay men in Cairo and was happy in teaching boys about their future roles to see the type of work being done on this as men, the role of women in the mak- important but understudied topic/group. ing of men, and the impact of gender on As this new study and other studies have health. Worries about hair, appearances, articulated, however, we should not be making a living, getting married, being too quick to assume that the constitution decent and brave but not bullying, being of queer men is radically different and respected and loved… are all things that separate from heterosexual masculin- my interlocutors have in common with ity. In fact, many gay activists (including many Americans (and perhaps people all close friends of mine) would not want around the world). But I am hoping that us to assume that being gay in Egypt is scholars like yourself would look more the same as being gay in the US and they closely at some of the similarities and dif- would want to keep sexual identification ferences between the constitution of men as only one aspect of their identification in the US and the Middle East. that should not supersede or overwrite other ways of identifying themselves. In I: You discuss the ways in which the city anyway, there are exciting studies in the of Cairo, its urban landscape, and public making about this topic and you should spaces, influence men and their develop- watch out for them. One book that comes ment. Can this relationship be viewed as to mind and that addresses part of your mutual? How might Cairo be influenced question is Unspeakable Love1… and altered by the men (and women) who inhabit and define it? I: In what ways can the navigation of mas- culinity in this context be understood by FG: Yes, indeed. My earlier book, Re- a non-Egyptian audience? As an Ameri- making the Modern: Space, Relocation, can professor, do you believe an Ameri- and the Politics of Identity in a Global can audience can identify with the pro- Cairo, focuses exactly on how men and cesses and tensions illustrated in Live and women make and remake Cairo. I show Die like a Man? in that study how the manner in which men and women use their private and FG: Yes, one of my main goals in writing public spaces and navigate the city shape the book was to reach out to a broader au- Cairo in powerful ways. In Live and Die, I dience. Thus, I wrote in an accessible way wanted to pay more attention to the chal- and offered vivid stories of specific indi- lenges and rewards presented by the city viduals whom I got to know over a long and how these shape manhood. a period of time. I hoped that an accessible text would allow the reader to identify and appreciate the challenges encountered by men in Egypt. Judging from the reac-

1 Here, Ghannam is referring to Brian Whitaker’s book, Unspeakable Love: Gay and Lesbian Life in the Middle East.

the stanford journal on muslim affairs 25 Reflections on Islamic Law and Translation in Early Modern Iberia Prof. Vincent Barletta Associate Professor of Iberian and Latin American Cultures, Stanford University

In this article, Stanford University Profes- Looking at the very beginning of the first sor Vincent Barletta offers us fascinating chapter, we find the following presenta- insight into a specific Aljamiado (a manu- tion of Qur’an 5:6. In what follows, I first script in which Spanish (or Portuguese) present the Arabic text in transliteration, is written in Arabic script) copy of the then the interlinear Aljamiado translation, Mukhtaşar, a tenth-century guidebook followed by an English translation of the to religious devotions that was popular Aljamiado. among the secret Muslim communities of sixteenth-century Aragon. Barletta exam- Bābu mā jā fīhi al-wudū’ al-mafrūd. Qāla cAlī ines this text in the context of its signifi- ibn cAissá ibn cUbayd: “Qāla Allahu tabaraka cance in translation and literature, and in wa tacalá: ‘Yā ayyuhā al-ladhīna āmanū idhā light of the historical and ideological con- qumtum ilá al-şalāati fāghsilū wujūhakum wa ditions that accompany it. aydīkum ilá al-marāfiqi wa amsahū biru’ūsikum wa arjulakum ilá al-kacbayni.’” Qāla: “Fa hadhā ‘Alī ibn ‘Aissa al-Tulaytulī’s Mukhtaşar mā farada Allahu calá cabādihi.” (Compendium) is a tenth-century guide- book to obligatory religious devotions Capítulo lo que vino en el al-wudu’ de debdo. (‘ibādāt) that enjoyed a good deal of Dijo cAlī ibn cAissá, fijo dec Ubayd: “Dijo Allah, popularity in Muslim Iberia well into the tan bendito es y tan alto: ‘Yā aquellos que sois sixteenth century. It was especially popular creyentes, cuando os devantaréis al aşşala, pues among the secret Muslim communities of lavad vuestras caras y vuestras manos fasta los sixteenth-century Aragon (Spain), in that codos y mashad por vuestras cabezas y vuestros it essentially offers a condensed and read- piedes fasta los torteruelos.’” Dijo: “Pues esto es ily accessible version of Mālik ibn Anas’s lo que adebdeció Allah sobre sus siervos.” (ff. al-Muwatta’ [The Approved]. Examining 1v-2r) a specific Aljamiado (i.e., Castilian writ- ten in Arabic script) manuscript copy [Chapter on what is required by divine law in of al-Tulaytulī’s Compendium (Madrid, minor ablutions. cAlī ibn cAissá ibn cUbayd said: BTNT MS 14 olim Junta MS 14), one finds “God, so blessed and exalted, has said: ‘Those that while the legal culture of the Crypto- of you who are believers, when you come to Muslim communities of early modern prayer, first wash your faces and your hands up Aragon was indeed quite traditional in to the elbows and rub clean your heads and feet terms of its scope and even dramatically up to your ankles.’” He said: “This is what God retrenched with respect to jurisdiction, it has required of his servants.”] could also be highly innovative in terms of the ways in which it made use of language This is just a short piece of the text, but it and physical manuscript books to gener- provides a sense of some of the issues at ate legal reasoning and mediate practice. stake within the Compendium as a whole.

26 avicenna In the first place, we should pay attention generated by their juxtaposition and the to the relation that the interlinear transla- back-and-forth of readers between them. tion has to the original Arabic text. Such This effect, I would add, is heightened by interlinear translations have been relative- the notion of Aljamiado itself as a language ly common in Islamic discourse (especially form that is defined always and principally in Persianate West Asia) since at least the by what it is not. tenth century, and one should not assume that it is in some way unique to Aragonese What do I mean by this? One of the most Crypto-Muslims. I do maintain, however, difficult (and confusing) aspects of work- that in all cases what is fashioned is a kind ing with Aljamiado literature is that the of reverberation between the original and term Aljamiado itself refers explicitly and the translation that should constitute a lo- by design to something that is not – a care- cus of analysis in itself. fully elaborated absence. To understand what is meant by this absence, it is neces- Walter Benjamin offers a suggestive be- sary to say a bit about the morphology of ginning to such an approach in his “The the term Aljamiado itself. Task of the Translator,” arguing that: “un- like a work of literature, translation does The first morpheme (or morpheme cluster, not find itself in the center of the language really) is aljam-, a Castilianized version of forest but on the outside. Facing the wood- the Arabic adjective cajamī, which means ed ridge, it calls into it without entering, “barbarian” or “non-Arab.” The term was aiming at that single spot where the echo principally used in Arabic throughout the is able to give, in its own language, the re- medieval period to refer to people from verberation of the work in the alien one.”1 Persianate Asia; and among Arabophone While I’m not claiming that such reverber- Iranians after the Islamization of the re- ations lead to something like the “pure lan- gion, it became a common term that even- guage” to which Benjamin refers, there is tually ceased to be marked as pejorative. In nonetheless something quite deep at work medieval Iberia, the full or partial use of when such reverberation is foregrounded Romance languages by Muslim commu- and even presented as the principal lo- nities was also referred to as cajamī; how- cus of lectoral engagement, both at the ever, because these communities had once hermeneutic and pragmatic level. Such a been Arabic-speaking, it is important to foregrounding takes on even greater sig- keep in mind that such speech was framed, nificance given the mediating role of legal unlike the case of Persian (and once again texts such as the Compendium with respect from the perspective of the Arab metro- to activity and interaction. pole), as inherently deviant – as a deliber- ate loss of or turning-away from the lan- One might argue that the use of Aljamiado guage of God’s revelation. And since even itself is in a sense an attempt at construct- the most committed Muslim Aristotelians ing reverberation as a unit of lectoral en- had taken in Neoplatonic thought almost gagement. Not the Arabic text or the Ro- with their mother’s (or nursemaid’s) milk, mance text, but rather the buzz or chain the image of a Muslim Romance speaker of echoes (to use Benjamin’s image) that’s falling away from the presence of God by virtue of his or her speech could not but 1 Benjamin, Walter. “The Task of the Translator.” Illumina- tions: Essays and Reflections, translated by Harry Zohn, parallel the original fall of the individual 69-82 (New York: Schocken, 1968). soul itself. Speaking Romance was thus,

the stanford journal on muslim affairs 27 at least from the perspective of Damascus, Muslim and the other Christian –with Baghdad, and Fez, no small thing for Iberi- which they had direct (but never easy) an Muslims – it suggested a conscious and contact. willful rupture, a falling-off, an alienation of the most basic sort. This would all be complex enough if mod- ern scholars had not confused the issue The –ado suffix inAljamiado is even more further. Since working on Aljamiado lit- complicated, given that it constitutes the erature means for us not research within recontextualization of an Arabic mor- a living community of Muslim Ibero-Ro- pheme within Castilian grammar. In a nut- mance speakers, but rather the analysis of shell, it is an example of the complex pro- handwritten texts produced by members of cesses of grammaticalization that worked these communities several centuries ago, upon Andalusi Arabic and Castilian in Aljamiado has come to signify not a speech settings of contact at the end of the medi- community or a natural language, but rath- eval period and into the sixteenth century. er a particular textual form, namely Ibero- It is important to keep in mind, however, Romance texts copied out in Arabic (and that the term Aljamiado is not an example to a lesser extent, even Hebrew) characters. of two language systems blending together into a hybrid system, but rather of the as- How and why did such a reduction, at once similation of the lexeme cajamī into exist- semantic and cultural, take place? What ing systems of Castilian morpho-syntax, historical and ideological conditions have deixis, and symbolic capital. The Castilian informed the process by which the entire tail (or suffix) is here very literally wag- linguistic repertoire of a minority commu- ging the Arabic dog, and for Iberian Mus- nity has been reduced to a literary subset or lims, this process of linguistic assimilation calligraphic curiosity? Much has to do with would go hand in hand with violent shifts the circumstances under which the mod- in the power relations within which they ern West came to be reacquainted with the were compelled to operate. verbal discourse of the Iberian Peninsula’s scattered Crypto-Muslim speech commu- In speaking this way, we should not as- nities. A process of reacquaintance (or, in sume that cajamiyya or Aljamiado speak- most cases, a first conscious meeting) that ers consciously set out to build their lin- begins in Uppsala, Sweden (by way of Tu- guistic house in the vacuum left by God’s nis) rather than Zaragoza or Lisbon, it is absence. Aljamiado, in fact, is a term that perhaps best characterized, and somewhat scarcely (if ever) appears in the texts writ- ominously, by Serafín Estébanez Calderón’s ten by Iberian Muslims and Crypto-Mus- statement before the Ateneo de Madrid on lims. Like their Christian counterparts, the November 12, 1848 that Aljamiado litera- scribes and translators of Aljamiado texts ture then constituted a “true America to be seem to have preferred, when they engaged discovered.”2 What remains latent in this in metalingustic reference at all, to use the statement, and in our continued use of the term romance to describe their communi- term Aljamiado, what lingers under the ties’ language. Both cajamī and then, later, surface and is carried along by such lan- Aljamiado were essentially terms that were 2 Alvaro Galmés de Fuentes, “El interés literario en los escri- imposed upon Ibero-Muslim Romance tos aljamiado-moriscos,” In Actas del coloquio internacional speakers (and their language use) by the sobre literatura aljamiada y morisca, edited by Alvaro Gal- two powerful speech communities –one més de Fuentes and Emilio García Gómez, 189-210 (Madrid: Gredos, 1978).

28 avicenna guage use, is to some extent what all schol- see that specific terms related to Islamic ars of this literature and of the social world devotion tend not to be translated. Assala of Iberian Crypto-Muslims must work to is rarely translated as oración or annabi draw out and examine – our awkward and translated as profeta in most Aljamiado perhaps unfortunate scholarly inheritance. texts. There is a real consistency to this. In general, to attempt to live as a Muslim Beyond syntax there are also morpho- in sixteenth-century Iberia – especially in logical features in these texts that support any meaningful sense as an cālim – and the notion of a “poetics of reverberation.” speak only Castilian or Catalan or Portu- Looking at the citation in the handout, we guese, is to know first-hand what is meant might take the verb mashar (presented by Jacques Derrida’s “monolingualism above in the Castilian plural imperative of the other” (the Mançebo de Arévalo as mashad). This is derived directly from providing an excellent example of this the Arabic masaha, which means literally phenomenon).3 It is possible that the use “to rub with the hand or wipe off.” Perhaps of Arabic script (and for the most part the closest Castilian equivalent to this verb Arabic syntax) can mitigate this problem would be frotar, which means simply “to to some degree, creating something akin rub”, although limpiar and lavar con la to the “poetics of hospitality.” To reiterate, mano also appear in Aljamiado texts. In what is largely at stake in texts such as the translations of al-Tulaytulī’s Compendium, Aljamiado Compendium is a question of however, and especially the portions of the rhythm, a poetics of reverberation. text that reproduce Qur’anic verses, the hybrid neologism mashar is consistently This sense of reverberation is heightened employed. This is arguably about precision by the patterns that emerge regarding what and linguistic authority; but it also has to gets translated and what doesn’t. In the do with the sort of reverberations – in all short passage of text presented here, we cases linked to emergent notions of genre and jurisdiction – that characterize the le- 3 Jacques Derrida, Monolingualism of the Other: or, The gal discourse of sixteenth-century Iberian Prosthesis of Origin, translated by Patrick Mensah (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1998). Crypto-Muslims. a

A guard inside the City Palace, Udaipur, India (photo by Johnny Winston ‘15)

the stanford journal on muslim affairs 29 Profiling of Arabs and Muslims : Intolerable and Ineffective Osama El-Gabalawy, B.S. Biology ’15, Stanford University

In the aftermath of 9/11, Islamopho- tain minority group and a tendency to pass bia took center stage in American media hasty legislation to target this group dur- and political discourse. One thing was ing times of tension and fear. In all these clear: America’s security system was inad- instances, the fact that scapegoating “not equate in protecting American lives. The only survived but apparently flourished, common denominator of the 19 hijackers would seem to indicate that scapegoating of the 9/11 attacks was the fact that they serves a very basic human need.”2 Human were all middle-aged Muslim men of Arab necessities have a knack to be appeased, descent. The government was faced with such that American laws evolved to be- the dilemma of whether it should racially come more robust against blatant racism profile passengers to enhance security and like the Jim Crow laws of the 1960s, scape- curb terrorist attacks. Amnesty Interna- goating also evolved to a milder, yet equal- tional defines racial profiling as “the tar- ly potent form known as racial profiling. geting of individuals and groups by law Racial profiling of Arabs and Muslims enforcement officials, even partially, on started long before 9/11, but as in all cases, the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, it originated with a great tension that af- or religion.”1 In this paper, I contend that fected the vast American population. The not only does racial profiling of Arabs and 1973 Arab Oil Embargo caused panic over Muslims go against American values, but oil prices and instilled distrust of the Arab the technique itself is wholly ineffective in world in general. Additionally, a series of curbing terrorism. I will examine the his- aircraft hijackings during the early 1970s tory of racial profiling of Arabs and Mus- initiated the debate on how best to deal lims, and analyze the detrimental impact with this security threat.3 The Federal Avi- on communities and the consequences for ation Administration (FAA) subsequently the justice system. adopted a profile-screening program known as Computer-Assisted Passenger Chronicling Racial Profiling of Arabs Screening, which correctly ascribed 80 to One would think that scapegoating 90% of hijackers to a profile, but the prob- would be unable to carve a niche in an ad- lem was that a disproportionate number of vanced, democratic society like America; innocent people fit the profile as well.4 The however, history reveals America has a government did not release the criteria on long and ugly record with scapegoating. which CAPS constructed a profile, but the As early as the exploitation and exodus of US Department of Justice declared that it Native Americans on the Trail of Tears, or used “neither race, ethnicity, national ori- the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, to the gin, or any other factors, like surname, that internment of Japanese-American citizens would correlate with race or ethnicity.”5 during World War II, America has repeat- 2 Page 191 Ibid. edly exhibited an urgency to blame a cer- 3 Sweet, Kathleen M. Aviation and Airport Security: Ter- rorism and Safety Concerns. Second ed. Boca Raton: CRC, 1 Page V. Threat and Humiliation: Racial Profiling, Domes- 2009: 56. Print. tic Security, and Human Rights in the United States. Rep. 4 Sweet, 61. Amnesty International, Oct. 2004. Web 5 Harris, David A. Profiles in Injustice. New York: New,

30 avicenna The results were positive as the number of minorities.”12 Although racial profiling complaints according to Arab American is only a lesser form of blatant racism, its groups and the FAA fell drastically since harmful psychological effects manifest CAPS implementation.6 themselves in American-Muslim commu- A poll conducted a few days after 9/11 nities, and the repercussions of this racial revealed that 58% of Americans supported profiling not only uproot these mostly more intensive airport security checks for immigrant communities but adversely af- Arabs. Moreover, 49% favored the require- fect the capacity of the judicial branch of ment of Arabs to carry a special ID7, ee- government. The social consequences of rily reminiscent of the yellow identifying racial profiling can be broken down into badges issued to Jews in Nazi Germany8. three categories, “distressed individuals, Prior to 9/11, 80% of Americans opposed disconnected communities, and dimin- racial profiling, and after, 70% “believe that ished domestic security capabilities.”13 The some form of racial profiling is necessary, first victim of racial profiling is of course and acceptable, to ensure public safety.”9 the person being profiled. It is easy to over- September 11th was able to polarize and look the humiliation of the few people who reverse public opinion in a matter of a few are the guinea pigs of the security system, days. The polls revealed that the major- but to do so is equivalent to condoning the ity of the American populace was fearful, blatant disregard of basic civil liberties we and racial profiling had the potential and all enjoy. With the passing of the Patriot popular-demand to assuage the anxiety Act in October 2001, restrictions on gath- and unease of American citizens. Current- ering intelligence were greatly reduced ly, only 23 states have a law that explicitly while more authority was transferred to prohibits racial profiling, 12 of which use a law enforcement and immigration officials definition of racial profiling that allows for for the purpose of detaining and deport- officers to use race or religion in conjunc- ing immigrants14. Of the 1,200 deten- tion with other criteria10. Additionally, 46 tions that resulted immediately after 9/11, states do not explicitly ban profiling based most were from “predominantly Muslim on religion and religious appearance11. countries.”15Amnesty International reports that none of the 1,200 detainees have been Consequences of Racial Profiling charged with terrorism, and hundreds of Dr. Janis Sanchez-Hucles, Professor the detainees “experienced physical and of Psychology at Old Dominion Univer- mental abuse at the hands of prison guards sity, conducted a study on the effects of in the detention centers.”16 racism on minority citizens in which she Consider the case of Anser Mehm- found that exposure to racism, “should be ood and wife Uzma Naheed: On October viewed as a form of emotional abusive- 3, 2001 immigration officers raided their ness and psychological trauma for ethnic home and detained Anser on the pretext of an expired visa. He spent months in soli- 2002: 142. Print. 6 Harris, 144. 12 Sanchez-Hucles, Janis V. “Racism: Emotional Abusive- 7 “Terrorism in the United States.” Gallup, n.d. Web. 13 ness And Psychological Trauma For Ethnic Minorities.” June 2012. Journal Of Emotional Abuse1.2 (1998): 69-87 8 Rosenberg, Jennifer. “The Yellow Star.” About.com 20th 13 Threat and Humiliation, 21. Century History. About.com, n.d. Web. 13 June 2012. 14 http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ56/ 9 Davis, Nicole. “The Slippery Slope of Racial Profiling content-detail.html - COLORLINES.” The Slippery Slope of Racial Profiling. 15 Shiekh, Irum. Detained Without Cause: Muslims’ Stories Color Lines, 15 Dec. 2001. Web. 29 May 2012. of Detention and Deportation in America after 9/11. New 10 Threat and Humiliation, 28 York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011: 9. Print. 11 Ibid. 16 Threat and Humiliation, 15.

the stanford journal on muslim affairs 31 tary confinement and a year in detention the underlying unconstitutionality of the while his family, shocked and confused, laws they pass. The executive branch often was left to fend for themselves. Uzma says, has to deal with vague laws, and much too “Whenever I called [community mem- often, the extent to which profiling occurs bers], they said that they didn’t want to talk is left to the discretion of individual offi- … They were afraid that they might get cers. The immediate effect is that when a into trouble with the FBI like Anser if they few officers abuse the power, which instills talked to us… [Everyone in the neighbor- large distrust of law enforcement. Racial hood] started to hate us … All Americans profiling is thus made legal by the legisla- believed that the FBI was doing the right tive branch and enforced by the executive, thing.”17 The children of the couple also but the judiciary gets stuck in a situation expressed that they were bullied at school where it must reconcile the unconstitu- by peers when the story got through to the tionality of the law with the desire to keep media, with no protection from the teach- law enforcement from practicing racial ers. Without her husband’s income, Uzma profiling without the direction of specific could not continue to support the family laws. and was forced to move back to Pakistan The premise of racial profiling depends with the children. This example illustrates entirely on the concept of guilty until the severe and broad social implications of proven innocent. The Arab or Muslim is racial profiling. On the most fundamen- made implicitly guilty of a crime com- tal level, Anser’s prolonged detention and mitted by a few extremists simply by be- solitary confinement were not only unfair ing associated with their ethnicity or reli- but psychologically inhumane, evidencing gion. The court ruled that it is “lawful to the abuse of power by immigration officers use the pretext of immigration detention in trying to indict possible terrorists. The as an excuse to hold non-citizens for the economic impact from his absence liter- purpose of criminal investigation or other ally uprooted the family from America. purposes unrelated to immigration as long The family’s alienation from their Muslim/ as their deportation remains ‘reasonably Pakistani community evinces how the tar- foreseeable.’”18 The problem with such a geting of Muslims loosens the fabric of a ruling is that it undermines the legitimacy community on a level that is mutually det- of the judiciary, which derives its legal and rimental. moral authority from its independence The scope of the repercussions of racial and trustworthiness.19 The integrity and profiling of Arabs and Muslims extends efficacy of the separate branches of Ameri- beyond the detriment of direct victims ca is jeopardized when the judicial branch and their associated communities to af- sanctions ethnic discrimination and be- fect every American citizen. The collateral stows legal blessing on police decisions.20 damage of racial profiling takes its toll on As a result, over time people will begin the three branches of the government. to mistrust and accept the rulings of the The legislative branch begins to pass laws court with a grain of salt; the legitimacy that increase the jurisdiction of officers to and authority of cherished American de- racially profile in conjunction with other mocracy decays with the decline of the types of profiling. The long-term effect is people’s trust in the judiciary. that the legislative branch becomes desen- 18 “Turkmen v. Ashcroft.” Center for Constitutional Rights. sitized to, or at least knowingly overlooks, N.p., n.d. Web. 14 June 2012. 19 Harris, 117. 17 Shiekh, 106. 20 Ibid.

32 avicenna Overlookable Contradictions with Amer- one.23 ican Values – Pro Arguments Stuart Taylor Jr., Contributing Editor at There is not much academic debate re- Newsweek and Senior Fellow at the Brook- garding the constitutionality of racial pro- ings Institution, gives a more nuanced dis- filing because it clearly undermines the cussion of the pro arguments. He begins principles of equality and justice. In par- by attempting to justify racial profiling of ticular, racial profiling and indefinite de- Arabs and Muslims by citing popular con- tention violate the first, fourth, fifth, and sensus and mass murder prevention. Tay- fourteenth amendments of the Constitu- lor conveys his argument that most Amer- tion. The phrase itself undoubtedly carries ican citizens subconsciously prefer racial a negative stigma, making it difficult to profiling through a hypothetical situation defend in the academic community; how- that makes the reader instinctively wish ever, Clifford Fishman and Stuart Taylor fellow Arab passengers on a plane received construct compelling arguments in favor additional scrutiny during screening, of racially profiling Arabs and Muslims. otherwise “you care less … about staying Clifford Fishman, a noted legal scholar, a l i v e .” 24 He exaggerates the issue by mak- concedes that racial profiling violates ing the reader racially profile or risk some “fundamental American values,”21 but he sort of imminent death. Taylor supports still attempts to rationalize its temporary his claim, making use of public-opinion use by security officials. First he appeals polls that show how a majority of Ameri- to the fact that perpetrators of past terror- cans advocate some form of racial profil- ist attacks have all been from the Middle ing. So it makes sense in a democracy, Tay- East. Next, he notes that the possibility of lor argues, that the majority should have another airplane terrorist attack can “cost a say on how the administration should thousands of lives and significantly disrupt handle national security, and popular con- our way of life.”22 Putting two and two to- sensus deems it necessary to utilize racial gether, he argues it would be foolish not to profiling. Taylor qualifies his stance with make use of this information to prevent the fact that any type of racial profiling any such catastrophe. Essentially, his logic must be done “politely and respectfully.”25 is based on the cliché, “desperate times call Next, he argues that airport security must for desperate measures.” However, Fish- racially profile unless we are prepared to man is conditional in his advocating of ra- frisk everyone, which is cumbersome and cial profiling in the sense that it must be a inefficient, or we implement a security sys- temporary solution because it violates our tem so foolproof that there is no need to ideals. A long-term use of racial profiling frisk anyone, and we are not there yet tech- would be hypocritical of America, which nologically. Taylor makes two distinctions prides itself on a robust Constitution and that are critical about the use of racial pro- equality. He also notes that the profile of a filing. First, the government must avoid terrorist may likely evolve, rendering cur- hypocrisy and ambiguity in its use of racial rent racial profiling ineffective. Fishman profiling, and second, profiling of Arabs is concludes that racial profiling is tragic much different than profiling of Blacks. For and necessary yet temporary until security differentiating the racial profiling of Arabs advancements can properly screen every- from Blacks, Taylor upholds that racial

21 Fishman, Clifford S. “Should Airports Use Racial Profil- 23 Fishman, 1033. ing to Screen Passengers?” The CQ Researcher 11.43 (2001): 24 Taylor Jr., Stuart. “The Case For Using Racial Profiling 1033. Print. At Airports.” National Journal 33.38 (2001): 2877. Print. 22 Ibid. 25 Ibid.

the stanford journal on muslim affairs 33 profiling for drug busts is especially det- Japanese.27 The majority advocated for the rimental to African-American communi- government to take action to assuage the ties by “fomenting fear and distrust among fears of the masses, but a majority’s backing potential witnesses, tipsters, and jurors.”26 does not justify racial legislation, even if it It also humiliates thousands of innocent were 100% of citizens who supported in- community members. However, he argues ternment. Many years later, President Rea- racially profiling Arabs is inherently dif- gan called the internment a “fundamental ferent for four main reasons: human lives injustice” and in 1987 he signed legislation are infinitely more precious than drugs, appropriating restitution.28 Public opinion hijackers have always been Arab, terror- is easily stigmatized by events like Pearl ists are willing to kill themselves, and the Harbor or 9/11, and if we compromise our threat of terrorism cannot be eliminated values under duress of popular consensus, by scrutinizing foreign nationals only. Tay- the tyranny of the majority unleashes its lor brings the reader to wonder what good undue wrath on a minority group merely are civil liberties if Americans are not alive guilty of ethnic or religious similitude. to enjoy them. When in doubt, Taylor per- The explosion in the number of hate suades the reader to consider the alterna- crimes committed post 9/11 is staggering. tive to racial profiling: death, and lots of it. Organizations like Civilrights.org and Am- nesty International are reporting that not Racial Profiling – Ineffective Regardless only are Arabs being targeted but groups of How You Look at It like Sikhs are being victimized for noth- From a strictly ethical perspective, there ing more than similarity in appearance. To is no room for racial profiling in the sphere refute Taylor’s point of saving American of American public policy. It causes psy- lives through profiling, hate crimes lead to chological and physical trauma to direct countless murders of innocent people. victims; it uproots and alienates Muslim What Taylor overlooks is that the alien- communities at large while instilling a fear ating implications of racial profiling are as of federal and local law enforcement; and detrimental to black communities as they it has detrimental long-term complica- are to Arab and Muslim communities, if tions for the efficacy of the justice system. not more so, because the implications de- However, as long as there is merit to the crease willingness to cooperate with law argument that racial profiling of Arabs and enforcement on issues far more serious Muslims has the potential to save Ameri- than drug busts. Since 9/11, Muslim com- can lives, than the pro arguments are valid munities have helped prevent nearly two and warrant continuation of the status out of every five Al-Qaeda plots threaten- quo. ing the United States29; however, this num- Taylor’s two arguments upon which his ber could be much higher. Salam Al-Ma- profiling justification hinges are inherently rayati, the director of the Muslim Public flawed. One must only look to history to Affairs Council, argues that we undermine see that public opinion, which Taylor per- efforts to gain valuable intelligence when ceives as infallible, supported hasty, racist we profile the very communities we need legislation. After Pearl Harbor, 75% of peo- 27 Fried, Amy. “Government Public Opinion Research and ple in Southern Californian, 50% in Wash- the Japanese-American Internment.” Pollways. N.p., 29 Dec. 2011. Web. 14 June 2012. ington, 56% in Oregon, 44% in Northern 28 Ibid. California supported the internment of 29 Beutel J., Alejandro. Data on Post-9/11 Terrorism in the United States. Policy Report. Muslim Public Affairs Council. 26 Ibid. Jun. 2012: 3. Web.

34 avicenna information from. In doing so, “we are ed in conjunction with misleading stereo- dismissing our assets and leveraging our types, and hijacking trends from the 70s weaknesses in our attempt to counter vio- and 80s. David Harris notes that “a profile lent extremism.”30 The bureaucratic incom- is only as good as its components: a pro- petence behind the current system fails at file built on false assumptions and unex- gathering useful intelligence, throws away amined premises will be no more effective our precious liberties, and wastes lim- than mere guessing.”32 Moreover, Schneier ited resources. There is also the aspect of stresses that the mere presence of a terror- severing potential intelligence ties across ist profile tempts terrorist groups to “beat seas by alienating Muslims in America, the profile,”33 thus rendering any profile which would be highly counterproduc- not only useless but counter-productive to tive to larger counter terrorism operations efforts stopping terrorist attacks. abroad. Taylor seems to underestimate the size and potential of Arab communities; Conclusion instead he suggests that profiling be done During the twists and turns of the evo- politely. The fact is respectful racial pro- lution of homeland security, the Adminis- filing is an oxymoron and does not make tration had to respond and has to continu- the egregious act any less condonable, but ally re-evaluate its response to the pressing Taylor is intent on treating entire Muslim question: how much liberty must a demo- communities as suspects of terror and cratic country exchange for security? Ben nothing more. Franklin once said, “Those who would The main reason that racial profiling of give up Essential Liberty, to purchase a Arabs and Muslims does not work, how- little Temporary Safety, deserve neither ever, is the unattainability of an accurate Liberty nor Safety.” America has shown profile. Bruce Schneier, a security tech- time and time again that it is hasty in pass- nologist, explains that even the current, ing racial and politically incorrect legis- temporary racial profile associated with lation that it would later come to regret. terrorists does not correctly profile recent Although the appeal to implement racial terrorists and future ones as well. He cites profiling to enhance security is tempting, that the underwear bomber Umar Farouk there are absolutely no ethical or strategic was Nigerian, the shoe bomber Richard American interests being served. On the Reid was British, one of the 7/7 London contrary, there are a myriad of short-term bombers was Caribbean, the Oklahoma and long-term effects on Muslim and Arab City Bomber was white American as was communities as well as on every American the Unabomber, the Chechen terrorists citizen. At what price do we put our cher- who blew up two planes in 2004 were fe- ished liberty if we decide to cut corners in male, etc. All are examples demonstrating upholding our values? It would indeed be that there is no “accurate profile”, and with- a great loss for America in the War on Ter- out one, he cites a study that illustrates “the ror if a few extremists succeeded in mak- system can be statistically demonstrated ing us compromise the values they so pas- to be no more effective than random sionately despise. a screening.”31 The commonly racial profile of Arabs and Muslims has been construct-

30 Al-Marayati, Salam. “Get the Intelligence Right.” Room for Debate. New York Times, 4 Jan. 2010. Web. 20 May 2012. 31 Schneier, Bruce. “Profiling Makes Us Less Safe.” Room 32 Harris, 26. for Debate. New York Times, 4 Jan. 2010. Web. 20 May 2012. 33 Ibid.

the stanford journal on muslim affairs 35 A PEOPLE’S PUBLICATION STANFORD UNIVERSITY 36 avicenna