SHAMI CHAKRABARTI& MEGAN ADDISNHANDING VICTORYTO THE TERRORISTSYAKOUB ISLAMTROUBLE ATTHE NATIONALBLOOD SERVICESAMIRA AHMEDCONFRONTING THEGENDER DIVIDENAZIM BAKSHWAKING UP TOPROGRESSIVE MUSLIMSIAN MCCARTNEYTHE COMMON PURPOSEOF MUSLIMS AND LABOUR

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MAR 2005|MUHARRAM 1426|NO.361UK£.2.50 |US$5.00 |RM10.00

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REMEMBERINGHAFIZ BORA

MUSLIMBLOGGER’SMANIFESTO

SHARIAHFIRESTORM

IN CANADA

JUNOON’S SALMAN AHMAD ON MUSIC, CULTURE AND THE UMMAH

Muslim HandsU n i t e d F o r T h e N e e d y

Muslim Hands is a well established and fast growing UK based International relief organisationinvolved in emergency response and long-term development for over 10 years. Muslim Handsemploys a young, dynamic and dedicated team. Due to rapid expansion, we are looking for additional team members who are truly passionate about relief work for the following areas.

! Special Programmes OfficerServicing and corresponding with individual donors that are sponsoring larger programmes. The job involves writing andformatting proposals for donors, corresponding with relevant overseas staff to generate proposals, communication withMuslim Hands UK projects and fundraising departments where appropriate, following progress of projects, writing andformatting interim or final reports for donors. The post may also involve some travel to meet donors in their home citiesand may even involve occasional overseas travel. The candidate should also be able to work in various other roles andresponsibilities and may be required to work in depth with other departments to assist product realisation initiatives,aswell as training and development. British graduates from arts and sciences will be considered.

! Fundraising Media and PR OfficerFeedback to donors via media including television, radio, print and web are the primary areas the applicant will deal with.With training, the applicant will be able to design and develop media campaigns primarily for the UK audience.Experience of journalism or other media related disciplines and ability to communicate in Urdu will be useful but notessential. Ability to adapt and effectively network will be essential. The role is very demanding and it may be necessary to work long hours, with the ability to keep a cool head within a high pressure environment. British graduates from arts and sciences will be considered.

! Projects Department Assistant ManagerThe role requires providing administrative support to the overseas projects department reporting directly to projects man-ager with a view to eventually sharing the workload. The job involves direct and frequent communication with overseasoffices. From developing and initiating new projects to obtaining feedback from existing projects and maintain appropriate documentation. Suitable applicants would be energetic British graduates with ability to work as partof a growing team and manage others. Past experience in similar environments would be useful but full training will begiven. Urdu and / or Arabic is an advantage.

! Experienced BookeeperThe role requires an enthusiastic computer literate person who is able to work as a part of a small team. Basic understanding of accounting practices including the use of SAGE are essential. The applicant will be a self-motivatedand be required to adapt to our bespoke accounting procedures and I.T. system.

! All application must be made by post in writing with a full c.v. included.! Salaries are negotiable depending on qualification and previous experience.! Contact:

Certificate No. 441060

Muslim Hands is a signatoryto the Code of Conduct for theInternation Red Cross andRed Crescent Movement andNGO’s In Disaster Relief

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This announcement is sponsored by Q-News, www.q-news.com

Q-NEWS | 3

EDITORIAL

Icouldn’t remember the last time I had seen so many young women dressed inblack in one place - black hijabs, black jilbabs and matching shoes.Was this a uni-versity Islamic Society event or a funeral? The mood,which should have been pos-itive and welcoming, was anything but. My fellow sisters were miserable andbelieve it or not, they looked proud to be so.The event was heavily segregated,

with thick black cloth dividing men from women. I felt incredibly sad. Here I was in amale-free zone, which technically is supposed to be a space for the young womenaround me to relax. But their faces were like a sour prunes, as if it was their religiousduty to remain unsmiling and serious.Why do people think misery is any indication ofpiety?

A week later, I was invited to speak at an event sponsored by the Royal HollowayUniversity Islamic Society. My affable host,Ameena Gamiet from the executive com-mittee told me the topic for the evening was “Behind the Veil”, but that I was free todigress.And digress I did.

I began the session by asking how many women (and men) in the audience had read a certain popular articlefrom the mid-90s.The article was a robust and feisty defence of a Muslim woman’s right to wear the veil and wasso popular that for years, we called it the Hijab Manifesto.As a young woman who took on the hijab in my third yearof university, I felt the author eloquently represented my views so I must have e-mailed it to hundreds of people atthe time! Unsurprisingly, at least half my audience at Royal Holloway were familiar with the article.

Imagine their shock when I told them the author had recently removed her hijab. Sources close to her say sheremains a devout Muslim who simply feels that the “hijab no longer serves the purpose we like to believe it does”.Whatever her motivations,my reason for challenging my audience was not because I support the removal of the hijab.I wanted to discuss whether Muslims all too often seek validation outside our own selves, just as I did in the authorof the Hijab Manisfesto. Now that the “hijab guru’s” views have changed, where does it leave us? The modern Muslimmantra involves far too much lip-service to clichés like “the hijab liberates women” and “Islam means peace”.As theworld continues to change around us, we are unable to keep up because our discourse proves to be shallow.

There are a great number of serious and difficult issues affecting our communities: a rise in the number ofteenage pregnancies, growing levels of drug abuse, and a quantifiable rise in the cases of depression and mental ill-ness to name a few.To insist we all be stuck on the topic of whether the hijab frees women or not in the face ofthese new social realities is at best a diversion and at worst, a grave oversight. I feel I can say this - I wear the hijab.University students ought to know better. They should be pushing the boundaries of conventional wisdom andexploring these difficult issues in new and interesting ways.

My presentation was followed by a lively discussion, lasting well beyond its scheduled time. I could see a fewMuslims squirming in their seats, no doubt uncomfortable that the discussion had led to the public airing of the com-munity’s “dirty laundry”. (Nevermind that our dirty laundry is already out there, flapping wildly in the wind...)

One young woman tried to prompt me with,“Sister, could you tell the audience about how Muslim women whowear the hijab are seen for their minds, not their bodies?” A young man later added,“Why not tell the audience howIslam elevates the woman in every stage of her life, particularly as a mother and as a wife?”

What? Are you and I not good enough living examples of those beliefs, that we have to go out of our way tospell them out? These were well-meaning, sincere people but I realised that evening that over the years,I have for-gotten the idealistic language they were speaking in. Make no mistake, I told them, I believe in all of the above. I chosethe hijab for myself. I come from a Muslim family and chose to marry into another and am very contented, alham-dulillah. However, I just couldn’t bring myself to speak the way these young people wanted me to speak.

Islam “liberates” women, but for how long will we hide the very real inequalities in our communities, behind thiscliché? I love my hijab, but how can I go along with the wishful-thinking that hijabis are automatically de-sexualisedjust because they cover their hair? How can I feign ignorance of the fact that the hijab has, sadly, not proven to bea barrier to teenage pregnancy or drug and alcohol abuse, so rife in Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities in Britain?

I was once like these earnest activists but my vision has since shifted - laterally. I later had a fruitful private wordwith two Muslim women who strongly felt that this was not the forum for raising embarrassing issues.They felt thattoo many audience members were non-Muslims who “came to hear about the beauty of Islam” and that such inter-nal discussions belong elsewhere. Really? And where is this elsewhere?

A strong and credible community is a one that can constructively discuss difficult issues.We do no one anyfavours when we insist on harping on topics that make us feel good or like self-righteous victims.This head-in-the-sand attitude is making Islam irrelevant to our own young people, let alone non-Muslims.

Muslim communities have so much going for them but we also have our problems, like any other community.The only way forward is to have unashamedly vigorous and yet, well-meaning debates. Many of these debates areinternal ones - something we hope wider society will respect, but we must not be afraid to begin somewhere.

I think I convinced the two sisters sufficiently at the end of it. I genuinely believe their approach is just as right asmine.We are all sincere people, walking on parallel paths with the hope that Inshallah, we will one day arrive at a com-mon destination,which is the betterment of humanity as a whole, and the attainment of God’s mercy on the Last Day.

As for my dour sisters in black, let’s remember that the Prophet, peace be upon him, always smiled.There wasnever a person who entered his presence and did not feel joyful, welcomed and loved. If we cannot learn this impor-tant lesson, no number of special “dawah events” will do us any good.And Allah knows best.

FROM THE PULPITFA

REE

NA

ALA

M

C O N T E N T S

Editor-in-ChiefFUAD NAHDI

Managing EditorFAREENA ALAM

Contributing EditorsABDUL-REHMAN MALIK

NABILA MUNAWARFOZIA BORA

Copy EditorsUSAMA KHAN

KATRINA CHOUDHURY

Art DirectorAIYSHA MALIK

Administrative AssistantRIZWAN RAHMAN

Events CoordinatorWAHEED MALIK

FEATURINGMegan Addis Samira Ahmed

Raihan Alfaradhi Shahed AmanullahNazim Baksh James Abdulaziz Brown

Shami Chakrabarti Affan ChowdhryYakoub Islam Sana Khatib

Faisal Kutty Ian McCartneyHaroon Moghul Isla Rosser-Owen

Louay Safi Siraj Wahab

Q-NEWS MEDIA LTDP.O. BOX 4295,

London W1A 7YHUnited Kingdom

www.q-news.comGeneral: info@q-news.com

Editorial: editor@q-news.comSubscriptions: subs@q-news.com

7 CLASSIC QMourning the unknown. Rock demigods and the girlnext door, death touches us all eventually. ABU ANON

contemplates.

8 UPFRONTMultimedia installation Disappeared in Americahumanises the plight of the 3,000 American Muslimmen detained in the post 9/11 security dragnet.

9 DIARYAFFAN CHOWDHRY on Desert Island Discs, his lostvoice, the dangers of yoga and the tragedy of Londontransport.

12 SCRUTINYWomen slipping through the cracks SAMIRA AHMED.Bleedin’ Islamophobia YAKOUB ISLAM. The politics ofcommon purpose IAN MCCARTNEY. Democracy inside-out: the case of Egypt LOUAY SAFI.

40 REVIEWSJAMES ABDULAZIZ BROWN reviews new works by AhdafSoueif and Richard Bulliet. ISLA ROSSER-OWEN visits theTurks at the Royal Academy. RAIHAN ALFARADHI reportson the Muslim Student Awards.

46 OBITUARYHafiz Gulammohammed Bora touched the lives of allwho met him. FUAD NAHDI remembers an unsunghero in the struggle to establish Islam in the West.

50 WRITE MINDChicken Soup for the Soul anthologies offer warmfuzzies to its readers. So when series fan SANA KHATIB

saw books aimed at Christians and Jews, shewondered why there was no book for Muslims.Don’t we have souls too?

REGULARS

CONTRIBUTORS 6 | Q-NOTES 10FIQH 45 | VOX POPULI 48 | SUBSCRIPTIONS 48

Q-NEWS | 5

FEATURES COVER

“I have greatrespect for my

faith and itstraditions but

Allah put me inthe modern

world. I have toharmonise

both my spiritand my

material life.We need to

define who weare. Muslimsneed to stopand think - dowe have anyvision for the

cultural identityof our young

people?

22

18Handing Victory to the TerroristsThe December 2004 decision by the Law Lordscriticising the government’s anti-terror legislation shouldhave resulted in a major change to the law. But as SHAMICHAKRABARTI and MEGAN ADDIS explain, the HomeSecretary’s new proposals fall short of real reform.

22The Rock Star and the Mullah

SALMAN AHMAD is no stranger to controversy. His bandJunoon’s unique brand of spiritual rock draws on Sufi

traditions. He is an outspoken critic of Pakistan’smullahs, yet supports the presidency of General

Musharraf. In a frank conversation, Salman speaks abouthis music, cultural revival and the future of the ummah.

28The Shariah Firestorm in Canada The law in Canada’s largest province, Ontario, allows forfaith-based independent dispute resolution. OrthodoxJews and Christian churches have been doing it foralmost 15 years. So why are critics so upset by attemptsby the members of the Muslim community to do thesame. FAISAL KUTTY explores the thorny issue.

30Waking up to Progressive Muslims

Islam has a progressive tradition that is as old as thereligion itself, but as NAZIM BAKSH argues, you are not likely

to find it reflected at MuslimWakeup.com

33Portfolio:The Muslim BlogosphereMuslim bloggers are revolutionising the way we expressourselves. SHAHED AMANULLAH reports from the frontiers ofBlogistan featuring the winners of the inaugural BrassCrescent Awards. HAROON MOGHUL rambles, but he’s read.The thousands who visit his site weekly are in turnsinspired and infuriated.What makes him tick?

C O N T R I B U T O R S

6 | Q-NEWS

SHAHED AMANULLAHworks with several US Muslim organisations.He edits the web magazine altmuslim.com and

is founder of zabihah.com, an internationalhalal restaurant guide.

SAMIRA AHMEDis a leading British Muslim journalist with

Channel 4 News. She’s been an anchor on BBCWorld, News 24 and a reporter on Newsnight,

and the Today programme.

HAROON MOGHULhas written The Order of Light, out this

summer. He is currently contemplating adoctorate in modern Indo-Muslim languageaesthetics, linguistics and literary cultures.

MEGAN ADDISis a legal officer at Liberty. Previously, she has

worked as an adviser to Liberty and as asolicitor in New Zealand.

SHAMI CHAKRABARTIis Director of Liberty.A barrister, she has

spent years campaigning against the repressiveanti-terrorist measures which followed the

9/11 attacks in the USA.

JAMES ABDULAZIZ BROWNis a writer and post-graduate student of

History at the School of Oriental and AfricanStudies in London.

DR. LOUAY M. SAFIis the executive director at the Islamic Society

of North America, and is a founding boardmember of the Centre for the Study of Islam

and Democracy (CSID).

YAKOUB ISLAMis director of the Tasneem Project website.

He has three children and lives in WestYorkshire.

ISLA ROSSER-OWENhas been a freelance journalist for over adecade. She currently promotes creativewriting programmes and as a Saddler, is a

Member of the Guild of Master Craftsmen.

Phot

ogra

phed

by

Chr

isto

pher

Cox

Q-NEWS | 7

CLASSIC Q

When I heard that KurtCobain, the lead singer ofthe rock band Nirvana, had

committed suicide, like most otherMuslims I was not thatbothered. I did, however,think it would be interest-ing to observe how thosewho rated the likes ofCobain as demigodswould come to terms withthe fact that such ‘gods’find it difficult to controltheir own personal lives, letalone be good role modelsfor others - their ‘subjects’.After all, if someone cannotlead their own life to theirown satisfaction, what righthave they to expect othersto follow what they say anddo? And yet this is the veryphenomenon which exists inthe often complex relation-ships between so called‘stars’ and fans

It could be argued, ofcourse, that singers and thelike do not tell people to takethem seriously, but we rarelyhear of any ‘great’ personalitytelling people to ignorehim/her completely. So theirsilence on the matter is a tacitencouragement for others toliterally devote their lives tofollowing this singer or thatband or whatever.

Who can say when it will be ourturn to die? Nothing is as certain in lifeas death. In fact, it is one thing that wedo not need to say insh’Allah about,because it is a certainty. The futility ofseeing death, but not coming to termswith its reality, and changing our ownlives accordingly before our owndemise was brought closer to homeless than 24 hours after hearing aboutCobain’s death.

Our local Imam asked us to makedua for a young sister who had died.She was just 17 years old and this setme thinking; how could someone ofmy age die? When I found out the nextday that the sister in question was thedaughter of a man I know, and the sis-ter of a boy who attends my old sec-

ondary school who I also know I wasshocked. How dumb I felt when I dis-covered that honest and sincere MrHamid actually had a

daughter.In the sixth-form centre a day or so

later, I overheard someone asking if wehad heard about Aisha Hamid.Someone replied, “Yeah, she died of anasthma attack; her dad looked… can’tsay.” At this I butted in. “Did thisAisha’s dad own a store in FinsburyPark?” Confirmation that this wasindeed the case made me kick myself.Not only did I know her father andbrother, but she also attended myschool. What a small world!

Details about this sister came outthroughout the day: how she was agood person; how she chose to wearhijab while others rejected it; how herfamily was distraught and how a par-ticular aunt of hers was hysterical atthe news. The whole Muslim commu-nity in the school, and some non-

Muslims, felt the loss with great sad-ness. The fact that most, like myself,never even knew the sister personally

and had not heard about heruntil her death was irrelevant.

What moved me especiallywas the fact that Aisha’s deathwas the catalyst that changedsome people. One brother I met(who was a bit of a gangster)knew her and was going toattend the funeral. He wasadamant that the age at whichshe had died had convinced himthat he ‘ain’t gonna mess up nolonger’, or words to that effect.Only time will tell. But maybethat is the reason why deathslike this occur. Instead ofbemoaning the early loss of aloved one (although, ofcourse, it is natural to feel thatway) we should reflect ontheir life and take their deathas a warning to us that deathrespects neither age, wealthnor sex.

Why am I writing this?Am I babbling on to thewhole world to please myego? Hardly, hence myanonymity. The reason isthat the shock of death,indeed death itself, is some-thing which we humanbeings try to ignore;

Muslims are unconsciously sanitizingdeath and taking it out of public dis-cussion. In this we are no different tothe wider community in Britain.

I did not attend Aisha’s funeral,even though the noble Prophet (peacebe upon him) encouraged us to attendfunerals of those we know and thosewe don’t know as they are a reminderof our own fast-approaching death. Ifeel bad about the fact that I did not goto this particular funeral. If I getthrough the Day of Judgment on theright side (and I pray this is the case!) Ihope that I get the opportunity toapologise to Aisha, the girl I did notknow but who has affected my think-ing so much. !

Abu Anon in Q-News, Vol: 3 No. 4,22-29 April 1994

MOURNING THE UNKNOWN

DISAPPEARED IN AMERICASince 9/11, approximately 3,000 American Muslim men havebeen detained in a security dragnet. To date, none have beenprosecuted on terrorism charges.The majority of those detainedwere from the invisible underclass of cities like New York.Theyare the recent immigrants who drive our taxis, deliver our food,clean our restaurant tables, and sell fruit, coffee, and newspapers.The only time we see their faces are when we glance at the hacklicense in the taxi partition, or the ID card around the neck of avendor.Already invisible in our cities, after detention, they have become“ghost prisoners.” In this, there are eerie parallels to past witch-hunts, including the 1919 detention of 10,000 immigrants afteranarchists bombed the Attorney General’s home; the 1941internment of 110,000 Japanese-Americans; the trial and execu-tion of the Rosenbergs; and the HUAC Black-listing underSenator Joseph McCarthy.VISIBLE, a collective of Muslim and other Artist-Activists, willpremiere their exhibition Disappeared in America at the QueensMuseum of Art. Disappeared in America is a walk-through instal-

lation that uses a film trilogy, soundscapes, photos, objects, andthe audience’s interactions to humanize the faces of “disap-peared” Muslims.The VISIBLE Collective has compiled from various sources a listof hundreds of names of the disappeared.The list of names (alongwith age, location of residence and country of origin, when thesewere available) formed the basis for the piece NaHnu Waahad(We Are One) in the Disappeared in America installation.

Disappeared in America premieres at Queens Museum of Art, NewYork on 27 February 27 2005 and will be on view until 5 June 52005.The project will be presented as part of FATAL LOVE, a majorexhibition of South Asian arts in the Diaspora.

The DisappearedInAmerica.org website is the online companion to theexhibition. On this site you can hear audio, browse video, and view pho-tographs from the exhibition, as well as read pertinent legal docu-ments, and view and contribute to a community-maintained databaseof disappeared persons.

Chaplain James Yee (b. 1969)

Accused of spyingat GuantanamoBay; detained for

76 days in solitaryconfinement;governmenteventually

dropped allcharges.

Tariq Abdel-Muhti

(New York,b. 1978)

Son of Palestinianactivist and WBAIreporter Farouk

Abdel-Muhti;Farouk detained

between 2002-04;denied medicinein jail; released

after internationalcampaign; died ofheart attack from

complicationscreated by jail

term 21 July 2004.

MohammedMohiuddin(Bangladesh,

b. 1972)

In US for medicaltreatment of rare

blood disease,went through

required SpecialRegistration;

Passport seized,facing

deportation;currently fightingdeportation in

court.

Fawad Rahman(Afghanistan,

b. 1975)

Husband ofSamira Rahman(b. 1975). Samira

applied forpolitical asylum asmember of Tajikminority; asylumdenied 28 April2003; separatedfrom two US-

born children anddetained facing

deportation since7 January 2005.

ShabnumShahnaz

(Pakistan, b. 1973)

Daughter of RaniShahnaz (b. 1950).Rani indefinitely

detained since 22September 2003;currently fighting

deportationproceedings.

DaoudChehazeh

(Syria, b. 1951)

Visa expired in2001; detained

from 1 Oct 2001to 26 Aug 2002;moved to five

dfifferentdetention centersover one year; nocharges ever filed;released in 2002and subsequentlyreceived political

asylum.

Q-NEWS | 9

DIARY

There’s a guy I know who medi-tates most mornings, performsyoga, works out and seems gen-erally devoted to inner peace.The other day I was in the

library reading up on Maududi, while on theother side of the library he read-up on hisBuddhism. When a group of energetic andhormonal undergrads started giggling andteasing each other, I imagined walking in totheir little group and politely asking them tokeep quiet. If one of the guys objected, Iwould promptly throw him over the railing,into the quiet reading room three floorsbelow. When yoga boy and I crossed pathslater, I told him about my disturbingthought. “That’s all you wanted to do? Tossone of them? I felt like beating each one ofthem with a baseball bat!” You know, Ithink I’m doing just fine without the yogaand the meditation, thank you very much.

Iam already thinking about my musicalselections for the BBC Radio Four pro-gram Desert Island Discs. Whenever theycall, I’ll be ready with my choice of musicthat I’d like to take to a desert island.

1. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai - from theBollywood film of the same name. Pure fun.I could spend my days doing that shoulderthing that Shahrukh Khan does.2. I was impressed with Kim Cattrall of Sexand the City who was on the show recently.She chose My Favourite Things by saxophon-ist John Coltrane. To be different, I wouldchoose They Say it’s Wonderful from analbum Coltrane did with crooner JohnnyHartman. Vocal and instrumental gold.3. I would never leave the ‘Queen of Soul’behind. Aretha Franklin’s early gospelsinging is a treasure. But I would have to gowith the more popular song Spanish Harlem.4. Anything by Sam Cooke would be bril-liant - like Chain Gang - but I’ll take therousing Harlem Square Club recording ofBring it on Home to Me. 5. Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On is oneof the finest albums from beginning to endand the title track is timeless.

6. No snickering at this next selection. Iwould feel obliged to honor the Doo Wop era- which sustained me during my teen years inthe eighties. Earth Angel by the Penguins. 7. The theme song for the TV sitcomThree’s Company. Stop laughing, please. 8. There are so many fabulous Nusrat FatehAli Khan songs. But I would choose a Parisrecording from the 1980s: O Muhammad,call me to Madinah. If I had to pick one song from the aboveeight, it would be the Nusrat song. One bookto take along: The Ikea Catalogue. Luxury totake along: North American crunchy peanutbutter, because the Brits just can’t get it right.

One recent winter afternoon,while talking to a classmate,my voice suddenly cracked.She looked at me bewildered.“What’s up with your voice?”

“I don’t know,” I said with some concern,“It’s like I’m going back in to pre-puberty.”But that is not where my voice settled even-tually. The first week I sounded like theGodfather. By the second week, it was asthough my voice was being dragged alongrocks. By the third week, I began to imaginea life where my voice would be a continuousassault on peoples’ ears. “Well I don’t thinkyou need antibiotics,” said the doctor.“Well, yes. I don’t like antibiotics at all. Butit’s been so long and I’m not 100 per centyet,” I said, with a note of desperation.“I could write you a prescription, and if youdon’t get better you can use it.”I hate it when doctors give you choice. I didnot take the prescription. Two weeks later,another unsuccessful visit to the clinic and Ilost faith. I decided to take my health else-where. The new clinic was too busy for asame-day appointment. I returned to myroom with literature on the new clinic. Ipopped an Echinacea pill - which I wasbeginning to suspect as fake - and started toread about my new doctor. She was an expertin women’s health, family planning and gen-ito-urinary medicine. I wanted to scream -except I can’t hit those high notes anymore.

After dinner at a friend’s place, Iarrived at the Charlton trainstation well ahead of the lastscheduled city-bound train. Icontinued to wait on the plat-

form 30 minutes after its scheduled arrival.The cold cut through to the bone and I wasbeating myself up for not wearing my win-ter jacket. My hosts had told me to comeback in case the train didn’t show up. Ithought: ‘Why wouldn’t it show up?’ It wasalmost midnight and I was cursingSouthwest Trains. I walked to the mainroad, to the nearby bus stop. Unfamiliarwith the area, I was unsure about which busto take. I waited a long time, and when nobus showed up, I started walking to a dif-ferent stop around the corner. Of course,just as I arrived, I looked back at the stop Ihad just left - a bus was pulling up. Thishappened several times, in fact. I foundmyself running between two bus stops, justmissing one bus after another. I felt like adumb rat. I did this for 30 minutes and thenI stopped and thought: this is cruel, this iswrong, this is uncivilised. I cursed the city,the transit system, and myself. I thoughtabout going back to my friend’s home, butit was too late by then. Eventually a busarrived and it took me to North Greenwichtube station. However, the last train hadalready left. I boarded bus 188. Nietzsche once said: “Never trust a thoughtthat didn’t come by way of walking.” Iwould add cars, trains, and buses to that. Intravel, we are in between where we beginand where we hope to end up. Perhaps wesee our personal trajectories more clearly.The daily disappointments suddenly seemso small and irrelevant. During that ride, Ithought about the narratives that I wasborn into - they are like heavy doors thatwon’t budge. I find myself in between‘being’ and ‘becoming’ - moving so slowly.Sometimes I wonder: “Lord, am I even onthe right bus?” The bus sped along unfamil-iar streets. People - drunk and sober - got onand off. But I was a passenger till the veryend. All the way to Russell Square. !

DIARYAFFAN CHOWDHRY

10 | Q-NEWS

Q-NOTESI

n the 21st February 2005 edition of the New Statesman,Bonnie Greer declares that US Secretary of State CondoleezzaRice is “the most powerful black women since the Queen ofSheba.” It’s funny how those with the most impeccable liberalcredentials always forget to refer to their history books when

writing such hyperbole. Let’s remind Ms Greer of a few powerfulblack women she forgot:! Qasa, Queen of Mali, was the wife of famed king MansaSuleiman in the 14th Century. Ibn Battuta reported that,“the queenis his partner in the kingship, after the custom of the blacks. Hername is mentioned with his from the pulpit.” She helped rule over amagnificent empire that was the richest in Africa, encouraging trade,scholarship, the arts and building mosques.! Amina, Queen of Zazzua who in the 16th Century ruled overa Hausa state located in modern-day Nigeria. Amina was a skilledwarrior and as a princess led her kingdom’s cavalry into battle andbrought immense wealth and power to her people. During her thir-ty-four year reign, she expanded her state dominating trade andcommerce in the region, made her lands safe for passage and is cred-ited with building innovative earthen wall fortifications around nas-cent cities that helped the process of urbanisation.! Nana Asmau was the daughter Shehu Uthman dan Fodio, thefounder of the Sokoto Caliphate, and who until her death in 1864advised on the running of the state. She was the author of 55 works(including a large multi-volume commentary of the Quran), a poet,an administrator and teacher who founded the Yan Taru movement,which educated women and is still in existence today.As her father’sdiplomat, she was corresponding with the Shehu of Borno, the headof the first Islamic state in Nigeria on issues of Islamic jurisprudenceand her views were well respected. She spoke and wrote in Arabic,Fulfulde and Hausa.It just so happens that all of these powerful black women wereMuslims. Surprising? Well, at least it explains the historical amnesia.

HISTORICAL AMNESIA THE HEIGHT OF OPULENCEAt a cost of £2 billion, theEmirates Palace Hotel is themost expensive ever built.Owned by the Governmentof Abu Dhabi and managedby the Kempinksi Group, the

Emirates Palace is set on 1 million square metres of land on a 1.3km tract of sandy beach.As The Sunday Times reported, the statisticsare staggering: an entrance arch that is just smaller than the Arc deTriomphe; a lobby atrium with a dome larger than St Paul’sCathedral topped by a two-metre finial made of 20kg of solid gold;6,040 square metres of gold leaf used throughout; 110,000 cubicmetres of marble; 1,002 Swarovski crystal chandeliers; 2,600employees and a yearly flower bill that rings in at £1.2 million.Andthat’s just the beginning.The hotel will never make money and inthe tourist desert that’s Abu Dhabi there isn’t really much to do,except enjoy the luxury of the Emirates Palace hotel if your creditcard can bear the burden. If you can’t afford to stay there, then youcan rest comfortably in the knowledge that those who can will becarried around in golf carts.The building itself takes one hour towalk around.Hang on, how much did Abu Dhabi and the UAE contribute totsunami disaster relief? The Christian Science Monitor reports around$20million. Given the size of their contribution compared with thecost of their new hotel, maybe they will offer rooms to some of thehundreds of thousands of homeless who are looking to otherdonors to rebuild their communities.

FUN TIMES FOR OXBRIDGE ALUMNISaturday, 5th March sees the launch of The Oxbridge MuslimAlumni with an inaugural networking event to connect the Muslimalumni of Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Old and newOxbridge students, fellows and lecturers are expected to attendthe occasion, the largest ever gathering of Oxbridge Muslims. HSBCAmanah Finance and Al Buraq Islamic Finance are the main spon-sors of the event, featuring Cambridge University’s Tim Winter andthe Muslim Parliament’s Ghayasuddin Siddiqui.The OxbridgeMuslim Alumni strives to narrow gaps amongst some of the mostsuccessful Muslims in the UK and subsequently unite different com-munities under the umbrella of two common denominators, Islamand Oxbridge. Contact: salman.siddiqui@talk21.net

DEENPORT MANIADeenPort, www.deenport.com, created by Omar Tufail, a self-taughtGlasgow-based web designer, now receives more than 20,000 hits amonth and is fast becoming the place for the exchange of views forintelligent young British Muslims.Tired of static web pages, DeenPortis designed for dynamism - interactive, newsy and hugely addictive.Logon and you will access lessons by the shuyukh; new poetry byAbdal Hayy Moore; bookviews; interviews; and an MP3 section thathas the best rocking beats this side of anywhere. Celebrating its firstanniversary on 1 March, DeenPort also showcases contemporaryvisual art and publishes travelogues. But it the message forum, withover 400 registered members, that keeps the place hopping.

Also, Masud Khan’s legendary website www.masud.co.uk hasbeen invited to participate in a major British Library archive initia-tive.The Library said,“We have judged this web site to be an impor-tant part of our documentary heritage and would like it to remainavailable to researchers in the future.” Congratulations Masud!

Q-NEWS | 11

WHERE THE WINE FLOWS LIKE LASSIThe Daily Times of Pakistan reported in January that on the eve of Eidal-Adha, Lahore’s international class hotels were forced to close theirbars, declare they were sold out of alcohol and wouldn’t be able torestock for weeks. Beer, liquor, spirits - all gone. In Pakistan, wherethe public sale of alcohol is banned, a few hotels are exempt as theycater to an international business clientele and the small Christianminority. The system has always been open to abuse, but Lahore’saffluent Muslim middle class has found a creative way around the pro-hibition. In the weeks leading up to Eid, rooms at the city’s finesthotels were booked solid while the in-room minibars were clearedof their contents. This is the second time that hotels have beenforced to announce the closure of theirs bars due to lack of stock. Iguess alcohol thirsty Lahoris will have to sip on mango lassis in thetime being.Those who can’t get it at the hotels rely on illegal dealers and moon-shine hustlers. Even Christians authorised to sell to their own com-munities are getting in on the act. “We charge more when we sell itillegally,” said a liquor agent asking not to be named.Such as the contradictions of living in an “Islamic Republic”.

YOUSSOU WINS WORLD MUSIC AWARDSenegalese singer/songwriter sensation Youssou N’Dour (who gracedthe cover of Q-News, Issue 358) has recently been garnering someserious accolades. His London show last Ramadan was called “daz-

zling” and reviewers have beenraving about his “thoroughlyinspired” new album. InDecember,The Times declaredhis album, Egypt, featuring SufiIslamic music from Senegal andEgypt as one of the top tenalbums of the year and nowYoussou has garnered theprestigious BBC Radio 3 WorldMusic Album of the YearAward.Youssou is one of Islam’s finestambassadors - may he contin-ue to bring joy to all who hearhim!

It’s a lonely job being Britain’s only really inde-pendent Muslim publication. So - Alhamdulillah -it’s nice to get noticed once in a while.

The press industry’s leading weekly trade paperThe Press Gazette last month carried a featureinterview with our Managing Editor Fareena Alamwho talked, among other things, about the timethat,“One of the imams from up north called andsaid ‘the downfall of Q-News will be brought aboutby the women you have placed in leadership posi-tions,’ Fuad Nahdi said to him: ‘If you can find me200 bearded smelly men like you who can man-age to do the job these two women dothen I would accept your point!’”Sonia Malik’s brave piece on the secretlives of Muslim women on Britain’s universitycampuses (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Q-News,Issue 360) has been syndicated to TheGuardian, printed on 28 February, andcreated waves from the BBC Asian net-work to as far away as Italy.

Q IN THE NEWS

IRAN’S MYSTERY DJBehzad Bolour of Songlines Magazine, reports that a few months ago, a young Iranian girl

was spotted on the Internet singing techno and pop songs.The trouble was nobodyknew where it came from. Soon pictures, names and sounds claiming to

be her appeared on Iranian websites. It was even rumoured that shewas in prison, awaiting execution. She became an underground sensa-

tion, but nobody knew her true identity. Until, that is, she revealedherself to the BBC Persian service.“The 18 year-old goes by the name

of DJ Mahshar and is from Tehran. She sings for mental healthpatients,” writes Bolour.“Apparently while singing

her songs in a hospital gig, they were secretlyrecorded and put on the internet.” DJ Mahshar is

shocked by her popularity, which has spread tothe global Iranian community.The media in Iran has

attacked her and demanded her capture for giving “illegal private concerts.”Her father counters:“She is the voice of Iran’s modern culture and that is

no crime.”

12 | Q-NEWS

“WHY WOULD ANYONE

FOLLOW A DEAD

PROPHET INSTEAD OF

THE LIVING CHRIST?”YAKOUB ISLAM FROZE.THIS IS NOT WHAT HE

EXPECTED WHEN HE

RESPONDED TO A CALL

FOR MORE DONORS TO

THE NATIONAL

BLOOD SERVICE.

During my teacher training, I wasplaced in a school so far from home,

I wondered whether it would be possibleto get there and back every day and stillmeet all my academic and family obliga-tions. Fortunately, a colleague livingnearby was kind enough to offer me alift, but my payment was to stay silentwhile she and her fellow teacher friendssat in the car every afternoon on the wayhome, spilling poison on the Islamicfaith. The source of their prejudice wasthe pupils themselves, 98% of whomwere Muslim.

That was over five years ago. Sincethen, and despite my sporting a beardand shalwar kameez, the onlyIslamophobia I have experienced is in thepress. That was, until 3pm on Monday,7th February, 2005, when I arrived at acentre run by the National Blood Service(NBS) in Huddersfield with the intentionof giving blood for Allah.

I had made an appointment severalweeks before over the phone, specifyingthe preferred location. I arrived asarranged, with my glossy leaflets andappointment letter. I filled in the neces-sary forms, read the necessary booklet,answered the necessary embarrassingquestions about my sexual behaviour,took the necessary blood test and thensat down to wait to donate.

A few minutes later, I was called to abench by a person I assumed was a phle-botomist. A short, middle aged, Irishwoman, I surmised straight away from

her demeanour that she was a RomanCatholic. Having spent most of my lifearound Catholics, my nerves quickly dis-sipated and we were soon talking. And soit wasn’t long before I announced that Ihad come to give blood as a result of acall for more Muslim donors in Q-News.Her response to my proclamation -‘You’re Muslim?’ - was ominous. MaybeI should have changed the topic of con-versation there and then.

The needle seemed to hurt more thanit should when she stuck it in my arm - ordid I imagine that? There was no offer ofa local anaesthetic as promised in thebooklet. Perhaps one needed to ask thenurse about that? Then the questionsstarted - not curious questions, butstony-faced interrogation, with only taci-turn responses to my polite, reciprocalenquiries. Why was I Muslim? Were mychildren Muslim? How long have youbeen…? Are your family…?

Then she asked, “Is your wife goingto become Muslim?”

“No,” I answered, smiling. My wife,oddly enough, is Roman Catholic. “She’shappy as she is.”

“She’s not going to become aMuslim, then.”

“No.” I kept smiling, wanting to befriendly. I wanted her to see that Muslimsare reasonable, peaceful people. I had noidea what was coming next.

“I don’t blame her!” She sneered, andin the same malicious tone, added: “Whywould anyone want to follow a dead

Prophet when they could follow the liv-ing Christ?”

Her words were like a slap. I turnednumb. Someone in a position of trust,who had put a needle in my arm and wasnow taking blood out of me, had justderided my religious faith to my face. Iwas shocked, too, because her commentswere utterly at odds with the avowedaims of the NBS, who I gather are seek-ing to recruit more donors from minoritycommunities.

And indeed, it was not the flagrantlydenigration of my faith that wounded methe most. It was her dereliction of duty.This person’s callous and deeply insultingcomments spoke of a hostility that wasliable to drive Muslims away fromdonating. I politely but firmly demandedan explanation as to how she could rec-oncile expressing such views with theNBS’s aims of recruiting ethnic minoritydonors, including Muslims.

“Well, they don’t come! We even runclinics in Bradford for them. Still theydon’t come.”

Not an apology nor a denial. Simplya pathetic attempt to deceive herself thatit was acceptable to insult Muslims, eventhough her employer wants more suchdonors, because Muslims don’t want todonate!

Perhaps the NBS don’t really wantdonors from ethnic minorities. Siftingthrough their glossy PR, I soon foundthings didn’t add up. For example, theirclaim to have surpassed their 2004 goalfor ethnic minority bone marrow donorswas true in terms of numbers only. Theyactually fell short of their own 3.75%target. But then nearly 8% of Britons arenon-white. Their PR doesn’t mentionthat.

And this incident took place just offHuddersfield town centre, not a stone’sthrow away from several substantialMuslim, Sikh and Afro-Caribbean com-munities. Indeed, one of the things thatstruck me as I walked out ofHuddersfield’s multicultural shoppingprecincts and into the donation centrewas how white the centre seemed. In con-trast to the NBS’s claim to setting up‘special clinics’ for Muslims, thereseemed to be no attempt to create aninclusive environment - there were nonon-white staff on duty, no acceptablefood, private areas for women to donateor translators.

That’s more than bad PR, surely? !

BLEEDIN’ ISLAMOPHOBIASCRUTINY

Q-NEWS | 13

THE FAWCETT SOCIETY

REPORTS EVIDENCE OF

TRIPLE PREJUDICE

WORKING AGAINST

BANGLADESHI AND

PAKISTANI WOMEN.SAMIRA AHMED LOOKS AT

THE PATH AHEAD.

Like many other women I don’t spendmuch time thinking of myself as a statis-

tic; or an ethnic category. But starting out asa young reporter a decade ago, I realisedthat some people did. Out on assignmentsfrom the BSE scandal to the coal mine clo-sures, I started to notice that some ToryMPs who caught sight of me in a crowd ofreporters would give me a wink; regardingme, I think, instinctively, as a bit of duskyexotica. While Labour MPs and TradesUnionists would pick me out of the hackpack and look so pleased to see an Asianwoman who was doing so terribly well, andwasn’t oppressed. It usually meant I’d getthe first interview as well!

The problem is that while many of usare getting on well, very many other womenare not. A new report from the FawcettSociety has looked at the very issue of howracism and sexism has a double impact onthe lives of black and minority ethnic(BME) women in the United Kingdom.Because of the way campaigners have tack-led racism and sexism as separate evils, Ithink the enduring wrongs still suffered byBME women have slipped through that gap.And crucially, it enabled a generation ofself-styled (usually male) “community lead-ers” to promote themselves and their owninterests, often supressing discussion of cul-tural taboo subjects, such as forced mar-riage, female genital mutilationm anddomestic violence.

The study is one of the first attempts totackle race and gender together. It has con-firmed statistically what many BME womenknow from personal experience - that theyare almost absent from the rank of decisionmakers and that this exclusion tells at everylevel of society. It highlights massive inequal-ities in education, health, employment andpay, financial security, levels of political

involvement and treatment by the criminaljustice system. By looking at the differentgroups of women within the very wide cate-gory of black and minority ethnic, the reportalso shows that there are huge disparitiesbetween the experiences of women who fallinto this rough grouping.

For instance, while 65 per cent of blackCaribbean women work full-time, just 14per cent of Pakistani and 27 per cent ofBangladeshi women do. In fact, the reportuncovered a particular striking picture inrelation to Pakistani and Bangladeshiwomen, showing them to be disadvantagedon almost every measure.

It is truly shocking that babies born toimmigrant Pakistani mothers are more thantwice as likely to die in their first week asthe babies of British-born mothers. Womenin this group are also the most likely to livein poverty or to suffer bad health. They arethe least likely to do well in school and theworst paid - for every £1 earned by a whiteman, Pakistani and Bangladeshi womenearn just 56 pence.

In employment, the report tells of evi-dence of triple prejudice working against thisgroup. Pakistani and Bangladeshi womenfind it harder than white women with thesame qualifications to get a job. An initialsurvey indicates that these women are expe-riencing prejudice on grounds of their sex,race and ethnic identity, with employersassuming that Muslim women are not ableto work evenings, or with men, or will not“fit in”, or will present the wrong image tocustomers if they wear the hijab.

The report concludes that low rates ofemployment, low pay and the responsibilityfor large families combine to put Pakistaniand Bangladeshi women in their particularlydisadvantaged position. The Fawcett Societyhas called for the government to urgentlylook at improving life for women from thesebackgrounds and provide health services,education and criminal justice that willallow them to fully reach their potential.

While the research found that Pakistaniand Bangladeshi women are the mostexcluded, it found that all BME women findthemselves disadvantaged in some way.

It also believes that the lack of BMEwomen at the top means that their voices areunheard, making it even harder for the gov-ernment to implement policies that will allowBME women to make the most of their tal-ents. It is appalling that while BME womenrepresent two per cent of the population, theymake up only 0.3 per cent of MPs. Therehave only ever been two black female MPs(Diane Abbott and Oona King), there hasnever been an Asian female MP, there are noBME women police chief constables andthere are no BME women judges in the Houseof Lords or Court of Appeal. The womenwho have managed to break through havedone this in spite of the barriers in their way.

Whether immigrants themselves, or thechildren or grandchildren of immigrants,such women are driven by that same spiritof self-betterment and entitlement: to fightcultural prejudice at home as much asexternal prejudices with the goal of achievefull equality and their full potential. !

WOMEN SLIPPING THRU’ THE GAPSSCRUTINY

14 | Q-NEWS

SCRUTINY

The global Islamic community ofbelievers is predicated upon a commonunderstanding of equality, compassionand shared social responsibility. Indeed,social responsibility and justice has beenone of the guiding objectives of Islam,providing the framework for this senseof community. Fundamental to Islam’steachings on social responsibility, is thenotion of justice.

The practice of annual charitabledonations, zakah is a demonstrableexample of social responsibility in prac-tice. These charitable donations or taxeswere used to form a sort of welfare stateto care for the poor and as a form ofredistribution of wealth, during theProphet Muhammad’s time and there-after. Protection of the poor was alsobehind the Islamic ban on exploitativeloans - an early example of a policydesigned to protect the most vulnerablein a society. It is striking that Islam notonly sympathises with the plight of the

Hajj to Mecca and a raft of race rela-tions legislation benefiting Muslims andother communities has been introduced.It is also in the Labour party thatMuslims have found their voice- withLabour having more Muslim Peers andcouncillors than the other two partiescombined. We are also the only Partywith Muslim MPs and, with the supportof local communities, we are set to dou-ble the number of Muslim Labour MPsat the next election.

For Muslim voters the policy appealof Labour has always been based on acommon struggle to ensure equality ofopportunity and a level playing field.British Muslims have voted for Labour,because it is the only party that under-stands that Muslims want only fairnessnot favours. But the relationshipbetween Labour and Muslims goesmuch deeper than just policy and leg-islative considerations. In truth it isbased on shared values and shared prin-ciples.

Like all the great faiths, the conceptsof community, social justice and peaceare integral to Islam. These are the val-ues which inspired working men andwomen to come together from the fieldsand the factories to create the LabourParty. The chief duty prescribed byIslam for believers in the faith is the cre-ation of a just community in which allmembers, even the weakest and mostvulnerable, are treated with absoluterespect.

Muslims are rightly proud of keyvalues in Islam that focus on traditionsof community (ummah) and of decision-making through consultation (shura)and through consensus (ijma). Thesetraditions underline the compatibilitybetween Islamic values and the demo-cratic values and practices found in theUK and elsewhere in the West.

As I have travelled up and downthe country in the role of LabourParty Chair, it has become clear

to me that British Muslims are morediverse and have a much broader rangeof interests and concerns than somepolitical parties and commentators givethem credit for.

I believe that Labour has alwaysbeen and always will be the party whichbest represents these interests. Howeverthere is a bond between the LabourParty and Muslim communities which ismuch stronger than any coalition main-tained on an issue by issue basis.

The largest migration of Muslimcommunities began in the 1950s, com-ing mainly from rural areas of SouthAsia, in particular the Indian subconti-nent. Muslim migrants arrived in theUK primarily to aid the shortfall in theworkforce following the Second WorldWar and settled in the inner city areas ofLondon, the industrial towns of theMidlands, and the textile towns ofLancashire, Yorkshire and Scotland. Itwas in areas like these that the Muslimcampaigns against poverty and for bet-ter access to education quickly devel-oped a strong bond with the Labourparty. Many Muslims became activetrade unionists and local Labour coun-cillors working closely with the Labourparty nationally.

There are many obvious economicand social reasons why largely workingclass, inner city communities wouldhave best seen their interests protectedand represented by the Labour party.Since 1997, it is under a Labour govern-ment that state funded Muslim schoolshave been established, the primary pur-pose rule which affected ethnic minori-ties, particularly Muslim communities,was abolished and assistance given hasbeen given to pilgrims undertaking the

THE POLITICS OF COMMON PURPOSE

BRITISH MUSLIMS ARE MORE DIVERSE AND HAVE A BROADER RANGE OF INTERESTS ANDCONCERNS THAN SOME LIKE TO GIVE THEM CREDIT FOR. LABOUR PARTY CHAIRMAN IAN

MCCARTNEY ARGUES THAT, MORE THAN JUST A HISTORIC BOND, LABOUR AND THEMUSLIM COMMUNITY HAVE SHARED VALUES AND A COMMON POLITICAL PURPOSE.

poor and disadvantaged but that it stip-ulates such clear remedies to address theneeds of the poor.

There is another uniquely Britishaspect to the relationship. In manyparts of Europe the Left was militantlyanti-religious for long periods of its his-tory. In the Spanish Civil War and theFrench revolution, attacks on churchesand priests were commonplace.France’s rigorously secular order stemsfrom those historical roots. Later theinfluence of Marxism would strengthenan already existing anti-religious streakin many European left wing movements.

By contrast the traditions of Britishsocial democracy that led to the found-ing of the Labour Party were different.The influence of Marxism was weakerin Britain than in any other Europeancountry while the influence of religionwas strong. The Reformation and,much later, the growth of NonConformism had already by the nine-

teenth century given rise to a richlydiverse civil society. Whereas Europeansocial democracy was often constructedin opposition to religious faith, by sharpcontrast faith played a strong role in therise of the British Labour Party.

Traditions of Christian Socialismwere very strong in the late 19th/early20th centuries and fed directly into thegrowth of the Labour Party. One of thefirst pamphlets of the Fabian Society,one of the groups which helped foundthe Labour Party, was a tract onChristian Socialism.

These are, I believe, more than sim-ply academic points for British Muslims.The Labour party has always embracedpeople of faith who believe that politicshas a moral purpose. While we canclaim no monopoly on turning faith intopolitical action, ours is a movementwhich has always welcomed thosewhose faith moves them to take on theinjustice and suffering faced by others.

Today in 21st Century Britain,Muslims are a key part of communitiesup and down the country. Muslims siton health boards or as school governors,they are entrepreneurs and communityleaders and crucially they are LabourMPs and Labour Councillors. But thereare major challenges for the BritishMuslim community as well as theLabour Party. It is self-evident therehave been strains in a close relationshipwhich has traditionally bolstered thestrength of the Labour Party. But oneconstant which remains unchanged areour shared values.

I believe this makes the LabourParty the only choice for BritishMuslims, a choice based not only onpolicies, but a choice based on sharedvalues and principles. !

Ian McCartney is Chairman of theLabour Party and a Minister WithoutPortfolio.

SCRUTINY

16 | Q-NEWS

SCRUTINY

IN INDIA, SHE’SEVERYWHERE.THERE

ISN’T A PUBLICATION OR

TELEVISION PROGRAM

THAT HASN’T CAUGHT

SANIA MANIA.“THIS LASS

HAS GOT CLASS,” THEY

GUSH.“SHE’S THE BELLE

OF THE BALL,” THEY

COO. SIRAJ WAHAB

REPORTS ON THE

TEENAGE TENNIS

SENSATION THAT’S GOT

EVERYBODY TALKING.

Sania Mirza is an 18-year-old Muslimgirl from Hyderabad, India, who has

caught the attention of the world of ten-nis. On 12 February 2005 she became thefirst Indian to win a Women’s TennisAssociation (WTA) title - and the$140,000 prize that went with it. She wasgiven a wild card for the HyderabadOpen event, which she won by beatingninth seed Alyona Bondarenko of theUkraine. That victory came after herexploits in the Australian Open lastmonth where she became the first Indian,not to mention the first Muslim, to reachthe third round of a Grand Slam event.Sania lost to Serena Williams. She jumpedfrom a 400 ranking last year into the Top100 this year. She is on No. 99 in the lat-est world rankings.

Those are cold statistics for the recordbooks. What sort of Muslim girl goesaround playing tennis on the internation-al scene? “She is a deeply religious girlwho prays five times a day and tries notto play during the holy month ofRamadan. She reads the Quran everyday,” her father and coach, Imran Mirza,says in a telephone interview fromHyderabad.

“She doesn’t want to miss out on col-lege, so she recently enrolled herself for abachelor’s degree in mass communica-tions, having completed her higher sec-ondary course last year. She went to NasrSchool, an English-medium school whichis a typical Muslim one.”

So she wants to be a journalist?“Having answered hundreds of questionsfrom hundreds of journalists after win-ning the hearts and minds of a multitudeof Indians, she probably knows the rightquestions to ask,” said the doting father.

Sania had already learned the nuancesof journalism when someone asked herwhat’s it like for a Muslim girl to wearshort skirts and slug it out on court. Shequickly replied: “I don’t wear miniskirtson the streets.”

Imran Mirza syas the whole familyhas contributed to Sania’s rise to stardom.“My younger daughter Anam, who is 11,probably missed a lot of time with usbecause we were so busy with Sania.”

Sania’s grandfather was an avidsportsman. “My father, MuhammadZafar Mirza, played university-levelcricket. He also played club cricket forMiddlesex in England. But his first lovewas hockey. Then he went into academ-ics,” said Imran. Sania’s mother is also asports lover. “She never played organisedsports though,” said Imran.

“It was natural for Sania to pick upsome kind of sport. Cricket is not anoption for women, and we discouragedher from getting into swimming so tennisbecame the best option,” said Imran.

“We knew she had talent when shepicked up the racket for the first time atthe age of six. We knew then that she was

destined for big things, but we didn’t knowshe’d reach the Top 100. Now she wants tobe in the Top 50 by the end of 2006 and theTop 25 by 2007.”

Imran says finding corporate sponsorsinitially was tough. “GVK Industries did alot to promote her. Now we are delugedwith offers from sponsors.”

Anirban Das, senior vice president ofGlobosport, which handles Sania’s commer-cial work, told Outlook news magazine thathe spent the last few months “persuadingpeople, trying to convince them there wassomething special about this girl.”

Sania’s appeal extends beyond the demo-graphic of tennis-watchers in that she hasbecome an icon for young people - particu-larly women. After losing to World No. 7Serena Williams in the Australian Open,Brad Gilbert, coach of to Andre Agassi andAndy Roddick, told her: “You have a brightfuture. I would like to see you in the Top 50in the next 12 months.”

Sania Mirza possesses simple, whole-some charm along with sheer earnestness.There is a down-to-earth quality to herwhich goes beyond the transitory appeal ofmodels. And, unlike actresses, Sania is real.

Sania’s rise to the top has also given ashot in the arm to the morale of the coun-try’s Muslim minority. In a much-acclaimedarticle, Praful Bidwai hit the nail on the headwhen he said: “Sania has come to embody anumber of aspects of modernity, freedomand rationality - the very opposite of thestereotypes that Indian Muslims are strait-jacketed into. Many conservatives, especial-ly Bharatiya Janata Party sympathisers,believe Indian Muslims are irredeemablybackward, illiterate, overly religious, bigot-ed... In their view, Muslims are somewhatinferior, under-socialised human beings whodeserve pity or sympathy, not equal treat-ment or respect. The Hindu nationalist, aswell as the middle class pseudo-liberal, isdeeply uncomfortable with the modern, lib-eral, educated, well-informed IndianMuslim who has an open mind and cosmo-politan outlook. The discomfort is all thegreater if the person is a woman. SaniaMirza represents all of those modern attrib-utes. And yet, she has become an irresistible,irrepressible icon by dint of her talent andher transparent charm. This is a major trans-formation of the Indian Muslim stereotype.”

So who is Sania Mirza? If you’re one ofthe Top 100 in the world of tennis, theanswer might be “trouble.” !

WHO IS SANIA MIRZA?

Q-NEWS | 17

THE US HAS MADE

EDUCATION REFORM IN

MUSLIM NATIONS A KEY

FEATURE OF ITS FOREIGN

POLICY AND EARMARKED

CONSIDERABLE SUMS TO

FUND DEMOCRATIC

EDUCATION.WELL

MEANING? PERHAPS. BUT

REAL CHANGE, IN

COUNTRIES LIKE EGYPT,WILL COME WHEN

INTERNAL REFORM IS

TAKEN SERIOUSLY.LOUAY SAFI REPORTS.

The substantial funds allocated to demo-cratic education in Muslim countries

have attracted many organisationsinvolved in democratic training in SouthAmerican and East Europe. The trend sig-nals a positive change in attitude, and theBush administration should be applaudedfor undertaking this forward-looking ini-tiative, and for increasing the pressure onthe autocratic Middle Eastern regimes toundertake democratic reform.

Democratic reform will not, however,come about by mere bankrolling and mak-ing demands from the outside. Reform willultimately emerge as a result of populardemands and reformist steps by internalpolitical players. External pressure shouldcompliment, rather than displace, theongoing internal social and political strug-gle in place long before the menace of glob-al terrorism hit the US.

The temptation to champion democra-cy in the Middle East by micro-managing

the reform process is counterproductive,and is likely to play into the hands of anti-democratic forces intent on stemming outthe fledgling democratic forces under therubric of safeguarding national independ-ence and countering foreign interference.Rather than pressuring autocratic govern-ment to change school curricula and super-impose a set of abstract criteria throughstate apparatus, the US should use its influ-ence to increase the margin of freedom forpolitical expression and action by civilsociety organizations. The forces of reformand modernisation are already at work inMuslim society, and have, despite severelimitations imposed by the state on theiractions, made considerable strides to affecteducational, cultural, and political reforms.

The struggle for democracy in Egyptprovides us with a good insight into thedynamics of reform in this key MiddleEastern country, and underscores the needfor a new approach by the US and Europeto facilitate the emergence of stable andsustainable democracy. The country isruled by a political party that wears a lib-eral democratic garb, but protects the inter-ests of a corrupt oligarchy, and rules withan iron fist. The party tightly controls thepress, has continuously supported emer-gency laws, and enjoys full monopoly overthe licensing of new political parties. Theparty has, for years, marginalised opposi-tion, and refused to legitimise any politicalgroup that advocates Islam as the founda-tion of social and political reform.

For years, the ruling elites of Egypthave refused to recognise the MuslimBrotherhood group as a legitimate politicalactor by invoking secularism. Excluding anIslamic party that has not clearly definedhow it plans to protect the constitutionalrights of religious minorities is justifiable,though the state has never set clear stan-dards and qualifications to explain its posi-tion. However, using the religious adher-ence of party members and leaders asgrounds to exclude parties that promote anon-religious national platform is a clearviolation of democratic principles.

In 1996, the committee in charge oflicensing political parties, an arm of theEgyptian’s national congress, turned down

the application of a new political party, theWasat Party, co-founded by a Muslim and aCopt. Egyptian security forces arrested thefounders, accused them of being a front forthe banned Muslim Brotherhood.Notwithstanding that the party leaders wereacquitted by a military court, the Egyptiangovernment persists in denying the WasatParty’s application, and continues to curtailpolitical freedom and prevent the emergenceof popular political opposition. The WasatParty has fairly moderated views, and isopen to people regardless of their religionand gender. It has a good number ofChristian Copts and women, both in theParty’s leadership and the rank-and-file.

The Wasat Party, along with other pop-ular groups, is castigated for insisting ongrounding their reformist message inIslamic values and traditions. Yet it is thiskind of work, in which the basic culturaland religious assumptions and traditionsare challenged from within, and throughreference to Islamic values and normativesources, that is essential for advancing theprocess of democratisation, and fostering aspirit of openness and tolerance. Islamicsources emphasise the values of equality,religious freedom, respect of diversity, andfair dealings, essential for any democraticreform. And reform movements mustappeal to Islamic values that form themoral sub-terrain of contemporary Muslimcultures.

For over half a century, Westerndemocracies have relied on the power ofMiddle Eastern states to effect modernisa-tion by imposing modernity on their popu-lations. The result has been scandalous:political systems that silence opposition,and use an iron fist to transform religious-ly rooted traditions and introduce modernlifestyle, have created police states that fos-ter corruption and breed extremism andviolence. Nothing can stem the tide ofextremism, except a political environmentthat promotes dialogue, freedom of pressand association. In a society in which ideasare allowed to compete, extremism will beforced to move from the centre stage to thefringe of society, and moderate voices andpractices will prevail. !

DEMOCRACY INSIDE OUT:THE CASE OF EGYPT

SCRUTINY

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IN DEPTH

In December 2004 the House ofLords’ decision A & others vSecretary of State for the Home

Department delivered what will hope-fully be a fatal blow to the cornerstoneof the government’s anti-terrorism strat-egy: the indefinite detention of foreignnationals without trial under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act2001. By a majority of eight to one, theLaw Lords ruled that the indefinitedetention of foreign nationals withouttrial was contrary to the detainees’human rights because it discriminatedagainst them as foreign nationals andwas a response out of all proportion tothe perceived terrorist threat. However,because the Law Lords cannot strikedown laws made by Parliament, theirruling has not led to the immediaterelease of the detainees. Nonetheless,the government is still obliged to reformthe offending law, but unsurprisingly, itsproposals for reform have not indicatedany newly found willingness to observehuman rights standards and the rule oflaw.

THE OFFENDING LEGISLATIONPassed hurriedly in the wake of the

terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001,the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and SecurityAct 2001 authorises the indefinitedetention of foreign nationals withoutcriminal charge or trial, if the HomeSecretary reasonably suspects that theyare international terrorists, or morevaguely, have links with internationalterrorism. In order to do this, the

Government had to opt out of the rightto liberty, which is otherwise enshrinedin Article 5 of the European Conventionon Human Rights, barely a year after it‘brought rights home’ by way of itsmuch heralded Human Rights Act1998. The European Convention onHuman Rights permits derogation fromthe right to liberty in certain limited cir-cumstances, when there is an emergencythreatening the life of the nation, pro-vided that the government only dero-gates to the extent strictly required bythe exigencies of the situation.Accordingly, on 14 November 2001David Blunkett declared a ‘technical’state of emergency, a declaration whichremains in force today. Up to 17 men,all Muslims who have sought asylum inthe UK, have been certified as suspectedinternational terrorists and detained inprison without charge or trial. Despitethe threat from international terrorismafter 9/11, no other party to theEuropean Convention on HumanRights, including Spain who has suf-fered an Al-Qaeda attack, has thought itnecessary to derogate from theConvention.

At the time, Liberty lobbied againstthe proposed legislation. We argued thatthe government had failed to meet thetest for lawfully opting out of its obliga-tions under the European Conventionon Human Rights. We also contendedthat the measures were bad policy, aview which has sadly been born out byevidence of an increasing mistrust by,and alienation, of many Muslims in the

UK. Sadly too, the legislation has creat-ed much suffering on the part of thedetainees and their families. Many ofthem now suffer mental health prob-lems, which have been well documentedby the Royal College of Psychiatrists,and some have been removed toBroadmoor Hospital. Children nolonger know their fathers and wives alsosuffer stress and mental health difficul-ties whilst trying to care for their fami-lies. Although Liberty was a lone voiceagainst indefinite detention in 2001, wehave been joined by a groundswell ofcondemnation of the policy. In its reportof November 2004 on UK’s compliancewith its obligations under the UnitedNations Convention against Torture,the United Nations Committee againstTorture condemned both the use ofindefinite detention and the conditionsin Belmarsh and Woodhill prisons.(Committee against Torture 33rdSession 15 - 26 November 2004‘Consideration of Reports Submitted byStates Parties under Article 19 of theConvention: Conclusions andRecommendations of the Committeeagainst Torture’). We have also receivedsupport from unlikely sources, withGeorge Churchill-Coleman, head ofScotland Yard’s anti-terrorist squaddealing with the IRA in the 80s and 90s,telling The Guardian that ‘I have a hor-rible feeling that we are sinking into apolice state … I have serious worriesand concerns about these ideas on bothethical and practical terms. You cannotlock people up just because someone

HANDING VICTORY

BRITAIN IS THE ONLY COUNTRY POST 9/11 TO HAVE OPTED OUT OF THE RIGHT TO LIBERTYENSHRINED IN THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS. THE DECEMBER 2004DECISION BY THE LAW LORDS CRITICISING THE GOVERNMENT’S ANTI-TERRORLEGISLATION SHOULD HAVE RESULTED IN A MAJOR CHANGE TO THE LAW.BUT AS SHAMI CHAKRABARTI AND MEGAN ADDIS EXPLAIN,THE HOME SECRETARY’S NEW

PROPOSALS FALL SHORT OF REAL REFORM.

TERRORISTSTO THE

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says they are terrorists. Internment did-n’t work in Northern Ireland, it won’twork now. You need evidence’. (AlanTravis, Clare Dyer and Michael White‘Britain “sliding into police state”’ TheGuardian, Friday January 28, 2005).

A GESTURE OF DUE PROCESSThroughout the history of this legis-

lation, the government has been keen toassert that detention without charge ortrial does not breach the detainees’human rights. Detention in Belmarsh orWoodhill prison did not breach humanrights standards, the governmentclaimed, because the detainees were freeto leave their ‘three walled’ prison fortheir ‘homelands’ at any time. Indeed,one detainee with dual French andAlgerian nationality returned to Francewhere he now lives freely. One wonderswhy the British government is contentfor ‘suspected international terrorists’ towander freely in other nation-states.Somewhat ironically the governmenthas confiscated the passports of theBritish men who were imprisoned atGuantanamo Bay: on the one hand, itwants suspected international terroriststo leave the UK, on the other hand, itwants them to stay. Whatever the confu-sion in the government’s approach, itsassertion of a ‘three-walled prison’ hasalways ignored why the detainees werein Britain in the first place: all are for-eign nationals who have sought refugefrom persecution in their home country.The government simply cannot deportthe detainees without breaching its strictobligation not to return people to coun-tries where they face the risk of death ortorture.

Furthermore, the detainees’ rightswere not being abused, said the govern-ment, because they could challenge thereasonableness of the Home Secretary’sview that they are international terroristsin the Special Immigration AppealsCommission (‘SIAC’). Yet an appeal toSIAC is not a substitute for a criminaltrial. SIAC’s sole remit is to decidewhether the Home Secretary acted rea-sonably in detaining the detainee on thegrounds of ‘reasonable suspicion’. SIACis not an open tribunal. It sits in secrecy,presided over by a judge alone, with nojury. Government appointed and securi-ty vetted lawyers entitled ‘special advo-cates’ have access to the intelligencematerial and can test its veracity inclosed court. However, the special advo-cates cannot discuss the secret material

with the detainees, so the detainees haveno opportunity to explain. There isabsolutely no resemblance between pro-ceedings before SIAC and a criminal trialwhere the defendant knows the caseagainst him or her and has the opportu-nity to test that case in open court.

Although the detainees do not haveaccess to the evidence against them, it iswell known that the Home Secretaryrelies on information extracted undertorture from prisoners held atGuantanamo Bay or elsewhere whenforming his reasonable suspicion thatsomeone is an international terrorist.Alarmingly, the Court of Appeal hasfound it acceptable for the HomeSecretary to use information obtainedby torture, provided that it was notBritain who had done the torturing.The United Nations Committee againstTorture was scathing of this decision,noting that although that UNConvention against Torture prohibitsthe use of evidence obtained by torture,the UK’s laws had been interpreted onlyto rule out the use of evidence extractedby torture in which UK officials hadbeen complicit. The House of Lords isdue to hear an appeal against this deci-sion of the Court of Appeal. One onlyhopes that the Law Lords’ will againhave the insight to condemn the HomeSecretary’s distasteful reliance on evi-dence obtained by torture and the Court

of Appeal’s abhorrent approval of it.

NEW PROPOSALSDespite its previous justifications for

the regime, in light of the House ofLords’ ruling the government is nowobliged to remedy the incompatibilitybetween the detainees’ human rightsand the Anti-Terrorism, Crime andSecurity Act 2001. Earlier this year thenew Home Secretary, Charles Clarke,announced that he intended to intro-duce ‘executive control orders’ whichcan be issued against both British andoverseas citizens who are suspected ofinternational terrorism. The controlorders mean that if, on the basis of anintelligence assessment provided by theSecurity Service, the Secretary of Statehas reasonable grounds for suspectingthat an individual is, or has been, con-cerned with terrorism, he or she may besubject to a range of controls restrictingmovement and association, access tocommunications equipment, placedunder curfew and/or tagged, and possi-bly required to remain in his or herpremises; effectively internment athome. There will be independent judi-cial scrutiny involving the hearing ofevidence or ‘intelligence’ in open andclosed session much like the SIACprocess, however like SIAC itself, inde-pendent judicial scrunity of the processwill only serve the government’s claim

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that indefinite detention at home doesnot breach its human rights obligations.The government has responded to theHouse of Lords’ criticism that subject-ing foreign terror suspects to detentionwithout trial, while allowing British ter-ror suspects to be charged with a crimi-nal offence or released, was discrimina-tory by subjecting all of its citizens toexecutive control orders. Lord Hoffmanrefused to comment on the discrimina-tory nature of the legislation: ‘I wouldnot like to give the impression that allthat was necessary was to extend thepower to United Kingdom citizens aswell’. That ‘executive control orders’are likely to require further derogationfrom the European Convention onHuman Rights indicates that the gov-ernment has failed to grasp the House ofLords’ broader critique of human rightsand the rule of law.

The restrictions that Mr Clarke issuggesting are currently in place in thecase of ‘G’. In a move the HomeSecretary at the time, David Blunkett,described as ‘bonkers’, ‘G’ was releasedon bail due to the effect indefinite deten-tion was having on his mental health.‘G’, who does not represent ‘a highescape risk’ due to physical disabilities,is currently under house arrest, underCCTV and other surveillance, cannotuse his garden, is tagged, must ‘check-in’several times a day and can only be vis-ited by vetted individuals; his family,doctor and lawyer. In February this yearthe Home Secretary attempted to have‘G’ returned to prison for a ‘seriousbreach of his bail conditions’; havingun-vetted visitors last year. Neither ‘G’nor his lawyer was informed of thedetails of the alleged breach. Despite

new anti-terrorism legislation must:! Be based on a real and explainedneed, rather than on politics.! Be implemented without the needto derogate from the EuropeanConvention on Human Rights, andother international human rights stan-dards.! Reflect the importance of the pre-sumption of innocence and the equaltreatment of all people who reside in theUnited Kingdom.

The government must reconsider itsrefusal to allow the use of evidenceobtained through the interception ofcommunications in trials, a step whichwould make prosecutions more viable.Currently, intercept evidence is notallowed to be presented at criminal tri-als because the security services fear thattheir methods will be revealed. The newMetropolitan Police Commissioner SirIan Blair has called for the use of inter-cept evidence in criminal trials becauseit would make it easier to prosecute sus-pected terrorists.

CONCLUSIONSLiberty believes that the government

is obliged to protect its citizens from thethreat of terrorist attack, however, we donot believe that such protection shouldbe achieved at the price of human rightsand the rule of law. The governmentmust understand that respect for humanrights standards is not symptomatic ofbeing ‘soft’ on terrorism or carelessabout national security; rather, compli-ance with human rights standards isimperative in any anti-terrorism strategy.Britain’s experience in Northern Irelandindicates that failure to comply withhuman rights standards, through deten-tion without trial, only serves to recruitdisaffected people to terrorist causes.Failure to comply with human rightsstandards domestically makes it very dif-ficult for Britain to encourage other gov-ernments to embrace human rights stan-dards and democratic values. As LordHoffman said: ‘[detention without trial]in any form is not compatible with ourconstitution. The real threat to the life ofthe nation, in the sense of a people livingin accordance with its traditional lawsand political values, comes not from ter-rorism but from laws such as these. Thatis the true measure of what terrorismmay achieve. It is for parliament todecide whether to give the terrorists sucha victory’. !

constant surveillance, however, CharlesClarke could not prove ‘to the necessarystandard’ that there had been a breachand ‘G’ remains under house arrest.

Perhaps more troubling are MrClark’s efforts to deport the men still inBelmarsh and Woodhill prisons to theircountries of origin. As noted above, thegovernment cannot deport people tocountries where they face the risk of tor-ture or death without breaching itsother human rights obligations. In orderto circumvent this, the Home Secretaryhopes to gain ‘memoranda of under-standing’ from the men’s homelandsthat they will not be subject to torture,persecution or death when they return.All these nations have well documentedhistories of human rights abuses.Sweden relied on diplomatic assurancesin returning Ahmed Agiza andMohammed al-Zari to Egypt and thereis now evidence that both men were tor-tured once back in Egypt despite theGovernments’ understandings. AhmedAgiza, convicted and sentenced to 15years of hard labour by a military court,is having his case considered by the UNCommittee against Torture later in theyear. Again, in its report of November2004, the UN Committee againstTorture condemned the UK practice ofseeking diplomatic assurances whenreturning people to countries where theyface the risk of death or torture.

SUGGESTIONS FOR REFORMLiberty believes that the government

must set out a clear and prompttimetable for the charge or release ofthose detained under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001and for the repeal of the legislation. Any

‘G’ was released on bail due to the effectindefinite detention was having on his mental

health. ‘G’, who does not represent ‘a high escaperisk’ due to physical disabilities, is currently under

house arrest, under CCTV and othersurveillance, cannot use his garden, is tagged,

must ‘check-in’ several times a day and can onlybe visited by vetted individuals; his family, doctor

and lawyer.

What does Junoon represent in themusical scene in Pakistan?There is a Sufi aspect to our music, which Itake responsibility for because I was deeplyinfluenced by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Ilearned from him for many years duringthe late 80s and early 90s. He opened myeyes to the fact that modernity and Islamaren’t at odds. Qawwali is a spiritual artform but was relegated into a genre ofmusic sung at weddings. Nusrat, throughhis voice and personality, brought it to theworld stage with collaborations withWestern artists like Peter Gabriel. Thisinspired me to look at music differently.Junoon has an instrumental song calledHeer, inspired by a song by Nusrat, whichwas a spiritual metaphor for Heer andRanja. I have always been drawn to thespirit. I searched hard and long during theearly part of my career. I wrote a songcalled Saeein in 1995, which was the firstever Pakistani spiritual rock song. Peoplewere amazed, because Junoon was pushingthe boundaries of what is culturally accept-able in Islam. Music comes from the spirit and the spiritknows no boundaries. People from differ-ent cultural backgrounds can come togeth-er and share their cultures through music. Iunderstood western culture when I listenedto Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and PinkFloyd. What we have done in the Islamicworld is hijacked our own culture. We donot share. We are insulated and isolated.

What kind of people show up at yourconcerts?In the early 90s we played to an urbanPakistani audience. After the success of

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Sayonee, which was No 1 on MTV Asiaand after winning the best internationalgroup in an Indian awards ceremony, wewere thrust into the international limelight. In 1998 we did a tribute concert for Nusratin New York’s Central Park and 20,000people came. These people were not onlyfrom the Asian diaspora but alsoHispanics, Jews, Christians and secularAmericans.

What about your Pakistani audience?50% of Pakistanis are under 25. That is ahuge youth force which can be inspiredeither towards creative endeavours ortowards militancy. It all depends on whatcultural visions a nation has.

What were you trying to do with TheRock Star and the Mullah?I was initially just asking questions. I want-ed to find out what Pakistan felt aboutmusic and Islam. You see, when I became amusician, I faced immense opposition.Being a musician isn’t generally acceptedlike a career in finance or medicine,although I am a qualified doctor and so ismy wife. This social resistance intensifiedwhen Junoon gained nationally renown. A few years before The Rock Star and theMullah, I received a message from Islamicscholar Farhat Hashmi. She sent me a par-cel through a group of women associatedwith her. They told my wife that as aresponsible Muslim wife she should playher part in ‘guiding me’. After a brief argu-ment, my wife took the package, whichcontained some CDs and a letter fromFarhat. In the letter, it said ‘Salman youhave veered from the true path and you are

heading towards damnation. What isworse is that you have influence on youngpeople and you are basically like the PiedPiper leading them astray’. I was disappointed by her narrow vision ofwhat a musician stood for. She had no ideaabout my music and what I do. That pro-voked my quest for the truth about therelationship between music and Islam. Inthe CDs she sent, it stated that music inIslam is haraam. Now, I am a practicingMuslim and I have read the Quran andthere is no mention of music being haraam.I had to find out why people believed this.I met scholars around the country. Itappeares that there was never an edictagainst music being haraam. It has some-how just become common knowledge thatone shouldn’t listen to music. What reallyannoyed me was that the lead singer ofVital Signs, the band with which I firstlaunched my career, had a similar episodewith Tablighi Jamaat and as a result, hestopped listening to music. Junaid Jamshedis one of my closest friends but I wasshocked by his change. I told him he hadgone out of his mind. It is illogical to allowa guilt-trip to get the better of you. Somepeople think his change is a sign from God.

Do you think Muslims will ever reach aconsensus over music?This is not just a Muslim conflict but a uni-versal one. Many Christians believe rapmusic is the devil’s music. In the 12th cen-tury, Amir Khosro spread spiritualitythrough music and dance. He inventedQawali music and the sitar. He used musicas a vehicle for spiritual connection. BabaBullhe Shah, a 17th century Sufi, faced

THE ROCK STAR AND THE MULLAH

SALMAN AHMAD IS NO STRANGER TO CONTROVERSY. HIS ROCK BAND JUNOON, IS ONE OF

PAKISTAN’S LEADING CULTURAL EXPORTS AND ITS UNIQUE BRAND OF SPIRITUAL ROCK DRAWS

ON SOUTH ASIAN ISLAM’S RICH SUFI TRADITION. HE IS AN OUTSPOKEN CRITIC OF PAKISTAN’SPOLITICALLY POWERFUL MULLAHS,YET SUPPORTS THE PRESIDENCY OF GENERAL MUSHARRAF. IN

A FRANK CONVERSATION WITH Q-NEWS, SALMAN SPEAKS ABOUT HIS MUSIC, CULTURAL

REVIVAL AND THE FUTURE OF THE UMMAH.

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massive opposition from the clergy. He wasa man of faith and his poetry and musicwas about God. By the way, one of ouralbums is dedicated to the Baba BullheShah. He started questioning the lack ofspirituality in people’s rituals from a veryyoung age. Once he was in a madrasahstudying with his spiritual mentor. When itwas time to make wudu, Baba Bullhe Shahasked what the point in washing his handswas when the heart was not clean. Hismentor insisted he never ask the questionagain. So Baba left the madrasah andbecame a poet. One of the most powerfulpoems he wrote is Who am I, inspired by apoem by Maulana Rumi. The poem ques-tions the core of man. In it Baba writes,‘Who am I? I am not pure. I am not royalneither am I believer in a mosque. I am noMoses and I am no Pharaoh, so who am I?’ Ultimately, what he is really saying is thatwe are all part of God. But society resistedhis transcendent ideals. When he died theywouldn’t allow him a decent burial. Butnow, three centuries later, Baba’s influenceis tremendous.

What does this mean to the ordinaryperson, this struggle for the identity inIslam which you are so passionate to con-vey?We belong to a global community which isone and half billion strong. Most peoplelive their lives without a thought to theirresponsibility to the future of this ummah.We have abdicated this responsibility to aminority who do not have the understand-ing of how Islam should be in the 21st cen-tury. They think that they are 7th centuryArabs. Their whole idea of Islam is aboutwomen in hijabs, pulling your trousers upand having long beards. Muslims are them-selves responsible for giving them this con-trol. I have great respect for my faith andits traditions but Allah put me in the mod-ern world. I have to harmonise both my

spirit and my materiallife.When you do nothing,you are nothing. Wehave to stop blamingeverything on a thirdparty. We have to stopwallowing in the ideathat the entire world,including the Westernmedia is engaged in aconspiracy against us.Every conspiracy startsat home. We need todefine who we are.Muslims need to stopand think - do we haveany vision for the cul-tural identity of ouryoung people? I knowbeing Muslim is cer-tainly not just abouthaving beards, wear-ing hijab and pullingthe trousers up.

Does it really matter what the mullahssay if the public is on your side? Are youtrying to assuage your guilt over yourmusic by working on this documentary?Certainly not. There is this scene between amullah in Peshawar and myself. The mul-lah says very clearly that there is no roomfor music in Islam and that all musiciansare hell-bound. And yet at the end of hissermon, he starts singing. I can only conclude that the anti-musicmullahs are merely human and are justplaying these puritanical beliefs for thegallery. I don’t believe they have convic-tion. If they did, it would show at the grass-roots level. They have nothing to offer.There are so many young people in themadrasahs. The mullahs offer nothing butmilitancy. It’s a dead end. I asked them,‘What is your vision of Islam?’ Maulana

Bijli said, ‘Put the woman at home, cut thehand of the thief and stone the adulterer’.Now, that’s what I call a narrow vision.

Your documentary sets up an almostover-simplistic dichotomy between thestereotypical mullah and the stereotypicalrock star. The voices in the middle aremissing?I wasn’t in control of the editing. We wentto Peshawar, Karachi, Lahore andIslamabad. We went through a cross sec-tion of society during the three weeks ofshooting. I learnt that 99% of Pakistanisociety do not have problems with music.They are simply getting on with their lives.But what becomes very clear to me is thatthe clergy want control of society. Music attracts a tremendous following inPakistan. This intimidates the clergy asthey feel they are losing control over the

Far above: Salman Ahmad with former Pakistan cricket captainWasim Akram.Above: Salman Ahmad with students at a Madrasah.Opposite page: Off camera, the students excitedly ask for SalmanAhmad’s autograph.

Many mullahs in Pakistan think that theyare 7th century Arabs.Their whole ideaof Islam is about women in hijab, pulling

your trousers up and having long beards.Muslims are themselves responsible for

giving them the mullahs so much control.We have tried and tested the mullahs’

vision. It’s a dead end and it has failed us.We want to do it our own way now.

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common people. Therefore, they attackpopular symbols, like me. They feel threat-ened that I can comfortably balance myfaith with ‘modernity’.

You say people are getting on with theirlives.What then are the three main con-cerns of a young, ordinary Pakistani?A good education is paramount, followedby a good job and getting married.[Laughs.] The media and pop culture inPakistan has expanded at a blinding rate inthe last decade or so. So many musicalbands have established themselves. Videodirectors, sound engineers and record pro-ducers are becoming more prominent.Pakistan is going through a metamorpho-sis. We have tried and tested the mullahs’vision. It has failed us. We want to do it ourown way now.

You could be accused of being an uppermiddle-class person who is more com-fortable in English than in your mother

tongue. Aren’t you just trying to shapeIslam according to your bourgeois valuesand “liberal” interpretations of the faith?I come from a conservative family. Mymother and sister wear the hijab and theyhave performed the hajj. But their valuesystem is not based on symbols. By theway, the hijab is such a red herring now butwomen have been wearing hijab for cen-turies and it was never a symbol of oppres-sion. My grandmother, my mother, my sister andmy wife are working women. I genuinelybelieve the middle class are in a positionwhere they have the means to navigate amodern vision of Islam. In the film there is a scene in the madrasah,where I argue, in Urdu, with the students.On camera they condemn my music, butwhen the cameras were turned off, theyasked for my autograph. They knew mostof my songs. There is no such thing as adistinctive elitist point of view anymore.Society has changed.

Don’t you think that to Western eyes,your documentary reasserts the assump-tion that Pakistan is backward?No. It was an honest depiction of what dif-ferent segments of the society are thinkingand doing. Even the madrasah students, intheir own way, are thinking about socialuplift, although their vision is radically dif-ferent to mine. President Musharraf hassaid that every Muslim is passionate abouttheir religion so let’s not make issues likelistening to music, growing the beard andwearing hijab, points of conflict. Riseabove them. Pakistan has a tremendous cultural diversi-ty. Pakistanis are a diverse, headstronggroup whether they are conservative or lib-eral.

How do you reconcile your support forMusharraf with the fact that he is anunelected dictator?He is a man, who by a twist of fate cameinto power. He is a good leader. He has

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who is going to heaven or hell and just getwith your life.

The heart of Islam is the Prophet, peacebe upon him - how does your workreflect your approach to the Prophet?The Prophet was a man way ahead of histime. He believed in women’s rights. Hebelieved in democracy and the establish-ment of shura. He came from an argu-mentative tribe who could launch into vio-lent discussions over the smallest of issues.The Prophet bought rational thought to alldebates. In the Treaty of Hudabiyah, the Muslimswere given awful terms by the Quraysh.He accepted them. When they asked himto write his name and leave out the titleProphet of God, he agreed. He was a flex-ible man. His faith had depth which wasnot entirely bound to outward rituals. There is the story of a woman who used tothrow garbage at him. Rather than retali-ate he allowed her to continue. One daywhen she didn’t show up to throw garbageat him because she was ill, he went tocheck how she was. I learn from the spirit of who he was.

What role have you taken in the recon-ciliation of India and Pakistan and whatinfluenced you to get involved?My mother’s family come from India, soas a child I grew up listening to my grand-parents speaking about their lives thereand I grew curious. When Junoon touredthere in 1998, I got the chance to seeIndia. Indo-Pak hostility is borne from politicsand it is a huge waste of human resources.Ever since 1998, I have tried to buildingsmall bridges through my music andUnited Nations work. We composed a video called GhoomTaana. The team behind it consisted of

completely opened up the media. Peopleare free to criticise the government.Journalists no longer get thrown into jail.In the top echelons of power there is littlecorruption. MPs I have spoken to say cor-ruption still exists in the lower ranks butaccountability in the cabinet hasincreased. There are more women in par-liament than ever before. We can talkfreely about sensitive issues such as theAIDS problem and Indo-Pak relations.Any public discussion on these issues wereunheard of only few years ago. In the lastfive years, there has been 7.5% growth inthe country. I am proud to call President Musharraf myleader. Pakistan is a work in progress. Ittook America 160 years to get women tovote and only in the 20th century did theygive black people basic human rights. Musharraf is very conscious of the factthat proper democracy has to be estab-lished. I am not saying everything is per-fect, but we are making progress.

You stated earlier that you are a practic-ing Muslim.There is a lot of debate overwhat a practicing Muslim is. How wouldyou define one?Religion is a private matter. You cannotwear your religion on your sleeve andinsist you are the greatest Muslim on earthjust because you say your prayers fivetimes a day, perform the hajj and payzakat. If you do, good for you. But the fact is thatno one is here to judge anyone. It says inthe Quran that only God can judge a per-son’s faith. But I will say I am a believer and hence, apracticing Muslim. I believe in the five pil-lars. Beyond this, I don’t think it’s any-one’s responsibility to look into the heartof others and judge whether he is a goodor bad Muslim. Forget trying to figure out

both Pakistanis and Indians and wedemonstrated how India and Pakistan canand should interact with each other. Ireceived an award for it in Norway fromMahatma Ghandi’s grandson. He told methat the only way peace will be establishedis if ordinary people express themselves.Governments are never going to decide.We have shifted responsibility to the mul-lahs and the government for the last 50years. What have they given us?

What projects are you working on now?What’s next for Junoon?The next album is called Infinity and weshould have it recorded by May. I haverecently finished a documentary about thelives of Muslims in America after 9/11.It’s a really powerful film; it shows thatMuslims can live with their religious tradi-tions in the modern world. There is noclash of civilisations.Infinity will have a completely new sound.I am part of two different cultures - Ispend half my time in New York and theother half in Pakistan. Also, my documen-tary work is affecting my song writing so Ithink it will be an interesting album. I’mexcited.

What are you listening to and what areyou reading now?The book that has inspired me to makethis music is a book called The Power ofIntention: Tap into the Universal EnergyField and Transform Your Life by WayneW. Dyer. Dyer states that human beingshave immense potential but we have toreach into ourselves to realise it. Iqbal, thegreat poet too said about Khudi (the self),that we are infinite beings and limit our-selves by imagination. !

Ahmad’s documentary on American Muslimwill be aired on BBC2 on 15th March 2005.

I don’t think my views are elitist or bourjeois. Mymother and my sister, who wear hijab, and my wife areworking women.The middle class have the means to

navigate a modern vision of Islam. On camera themadrasah students condemn my music, but off camera,they asked for my autograph and knew all my songs.There is no such thing as a distinctive elitist point of

view anymore. Everyone wants social upliftment.

Q-NEWS | 27

COVER

Although released in 2003, The Rock Star and the Mullah, star-ring guitarist Salman Ahmad of Pakistan’s premier rock bandJunoon, has had a remarkable shelf life. After being shown on

BBC’s Storyville and Public Television in the United States, the filmproduced by London-based October Films should have quietly passedinto the realm of late-night reruns and the occasional repertoire cine-ma resurrection. Instead The Rock Star and the Mullah is still makingits rounds on television networks (most recently in Australia) and atspecial screenings and film festivals the world over. In India’s cinemacapital Mumbai, crowds have lined up to see Pakistan’s answer toU2’s Bono square off with his country’s politically powerful religiouselite. Timeout Mumbai declared that the film simply “rocks.”

Dashing, deeply spiritual and musically innovative, SalmanAhmad is the ideal poster boy for ‘liberal Islam’. The premise of thefilm is compelling: Pakistan’s leading rock star takes to the streets ofmullah-ruled Peshawar - capital of the North West Frontier Provincewhere a coalition of religious parties holds sway and where manybelieve Osama Bin Laden is still hiding - to go face to face with cler-ics who say that music is forbidden in Islam. Since they came topower, Peshawar’s once thriving folk music industry has all but van-ished, with popular artists now either unemployed or working fromneighbouring Punjab. Shops selling cassette tapes and CDs have beencleared of their stock. Radio stations no longer play pop music.

Like a modern-day hippie in search of love, beauty and a break,guitar on his back, Ahmad visits a madrasah where he challenges agroup of students to explain why they believe music to be haram. Hetells them he was born with a God-given talent to play the guitar.They stare at him blankly. He sings a verse from the Quran whilestrumming away. They shift uncomfortably. Even if they are offend-ed, they are exceedingly polite. After all, he’s one of Pakistan’s lead-ing cultural exports. In fact, even after one of the older students con-demns him, others run up as he exits to ask for his autograph - he’sthere for a good half hour.

It’s hard not to sympathise will Ahmad. He appears so eager andsincere. He obviously doesn’t know much about the theologicalarguments about the place of music in Islam, but if he can’t get astraight answer, then it’s not his fault, right?

Well, maybe not. Ahmad has a habit of simplifying things. Thepowerful pull of traditional Islam through the vibrant Sufi traditionis an important feature of South Asia’s religious culture. Ahmad isright to celebrate this tradition. It is also deeply musical, so it’sunusual that he spends so little time exploring qawwali, ghazal ornaat. It’s not a question of whether music is permissible or not, butwhat kind of music. I would venture that there are many purists whovisit the shrines of the saints and enjoy the ecstatic songs of qawwali,but would find Junoon’s music at best trivial and at worst, unac-ceptable. To call this trend “modern”, as Ahmad does, is simply mis-representing the reality of Sufi Islam, which he claims to adhere to.

Ahmad would have done more for his cause had he decided totackle the textual debates about music. It would have given him cred-ibility as opposed to relying on his “progressive” rock star image tocarry his argument, a sometimes flimsy line of reasoning.

In some ways, hearing Ahmad preach about his right to play theguitar and sing rock music makes him sound remarkably like a mul-lah - full of certainty, zealously partisan and passionate.

There is something self-righteous and missionary in hisapproach to the subject. It is riddled with contradictions. On onehand he is fed up with the mullahs who were democratically elect-ed to office in a particularly conservative (even by Pakistani stan-dards) area of the country, and on the other hand his unabashedsupport for President Parvez Musharraf, who came to power in amilitary coup and has no plans of vacating his position.

Ahmad’s conversation with Maulana Bijli - Mullah Electricity (sonamed for his fiery sermons that carry across Peshawar on powerfulloudspeakers) - is most instructive. Bijli condemns Muslim societieswho accept music saying, “They are all sons of pigs. The wholeworld is America’s stooge.” He advises to “keep women at home, cutoff the hands of thieves and stone adulterers to death.” But then, hetenderly asks Ahmad to leave music behind and spend more timewith him. He then breaks into song, a rather beautiful naat, sung ina rather fine voice. In one of the most authentic moments in the film,Ahmad is dumbfounded. We are entertained.

The rise of literalist radicalism in Pakistan is deeply concerningand Ahmad is brave to face it head on. At the heart of it Ahmad is amusician and conveys a powerful belief in reconciliation and free-dom. His formative years in the US and his global reach place himin the unique position of troubadour-activist. His cross-culturalwork with United Nations and attempts to spur cultural exchangeand dialogue with India ought to be celebrated. His leanings to tra-ditional Islam as expressed in Sufism come through powerfully in hismusic, which is undoubtedly cutting edge and undeniably popular.Junoon’s unique music is a product of Pakistan’s rich cultural milieu.It is as much part of Pakistan as is Maulana Bijli.

The Rock Star and the Mullah begins with images of childrenreciting the Quran, heads dipping forward and reeling back as theyseek to commit the verses to memory, cut with scenes of Ahmadecstatically playing his audiences into frenzy. The outdoor auditori-um where he plays has men and women, but they sit in separate sec-tions. Young women in hijab shriek alongside their friends whoselong tressed hair falls over their fashionable kurtas. This is the com-plicated, modern reality of Pakistan - caught between geopoliticalpressure and the struggle to define its identity in a globalised world,it is not east to understand.

In this journey, it is unfortunate that Ahmad and his directorschose not to dwell on this complexity. They chose the path of leastresistance, which results in a hollow, yet at times entertaining, film. !

“A MODERN DAY HIPPIEIN SEARCH OF LOVE”

THE ROCK STAR AND THE MULLAH HAS HAD AREMARKABLY LONG SHELF LIFE, BUT AS

ABDUL-REHMAN MALIK ARGUES, IT IGNORESTHE COMPLEXITY OF PAKISTANI SOCIETY IN

FAVOUR OF SIMPLISTIC POLEMICS.

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with

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28 | Q-NEWS

FEATURE

SHARIAH IGNITESFIRESTORM IN

CANADA

The plan to use formal panels of imams and Muslimscholars to resolve family-law disputes in Ontario -Canada’s largest province and home to over

400,000 Muslims, is neither radical nor subversive. Since1991, the Ontario Arbitration Act has allowed OrthodoxJews and Christians to submit to voluntary faith-basedalternative dispute resolution (ADR).

Bowing to pressure from critics, the Ontario govern-ment - who had at first given its blessing to Muslim use ofthe Arbitration Act, referred the matter to former provin-cial Attorney General Marion Boyd. Boyd was asked toassess whether a plan by members of the province’s Muslimcommunity to use Islamic principles in settling marital andinheritance disputes should be halted.

Boyd’s opinion has been categorical: “The ArbitrationAct should,” she writes in her 150-page report released inDecember, “continue to allow disputes to be arbitratedusing religious law.”

Iranian women and the secular Canadian Council ofMuslim Women (CCMW) led the campaign against allow-ing Muslims to use the Arbitration Act. At times the oppo-sition verged on Islamophobia. Soon after the initiativewas announced, the International Campaign for theDefense of Women’s Rights in Iran, endorsed by about halfa dozen women’s rights and humanist groups, declaredthat “this attempt [to set up this tribunal] will make it pos-sible for political Islam to gain legal credibility to attackwomen’s rights.”

The media amplified the hysterical reaction of oppo-nents. “Canadian judges soon will be enforcing Islamiclaw…such as stoning women caught in adultery,” screamedone headline. “Canada Allowing Shariah Barbaric Laws?”read another. Even the usually sober Globe and Mail got inon the act with a front-page story entitled, “Tribunal willapply Islamic Law in Ontario.”

Among the more than 650,000 Canadian Muslims,opinions range from wholehearted endorsement to fearthat tribunal decisions will be biased against women. Some

are clearly confused about the whole initiative. Forinstance, in a position paper on the issue CCMW presi-dent, Alia Hogben, writes: “We see no compelling reasonto live under any other form of law in Canada, and wewant the same laws to apply to us as to other Canadianwomen. We prefer to live under Canadian laws, governedby the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which safeguardand protect our equality rights. Although the judicial sys-tem is not perfect, we know that there are mechanisms forchange.”

This leaves the inaccurate impression that Muslims inOntario would be forced to refer matters to the tribunaland would have no protection under the Canadian Charterof Rights and Freedoms. In fact, any ADR process wouldbe voluntary, and both parties to any dispute must partic-ipate willingly. Moreover, any decision rendered by a tri-bunal or a panel of mediators would be subject to appealto the civil courts and would have to be consistent with thesupreme law of the land, the Canadian Charter of Rightsand Freedoms. Lastly, ADR would only be available inprivate disputes and only in areas that can be resolved pri-vately under Canadian law. Shariah is not coming toCanada and there will be no Shariah courts.

Boyd’s considered verdict came after meeting withmore than two hundred people and receiving almost fortysubmissions. Boyd makes forty-six well thought out rec-ommendations, including:! amendments to the Family Law Act and the ArbitrationAct to ensure that the mediation and arbitration agree-ments are legally treated in the same manner as marriagecontracts and separation agreements;! calling for regulations to ensure proper record keeping,mandating written decisions, and training of arbitrators;! imposing a duty on arbitrators to ensure that partiesunderstand their rights and are participating voluntarily;! providing for greater oversight and accountability,including empowering courts to set aside arbitral awardsfor various reasons including if a party did not understand

THE LAW IN CANADA’S LARGEST PROVINCE, ONTARIO, ALLOWS FOR FAITH-BASED

INDEPENDENT DISPUTE RESOLUTION. ORTHODOX JEWS AND CHRISTIAN CHURCHES

HAVE BEEN DOING IT FOR ALMOST 15 YEARS. SO WHY ARE CRITICS SO UPSET BY

ATTEMPTS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY TO DO THE SAME?

FAISAL KUTTY EXPLORES THE THORNY ISSUE.

Q-NEWS | 29

FEATURE

the nature or consequences of the arbitration agreement;! public education and community development; and! expanded appeal possibilities

Critics have not been silenced. Guns blazing, they havecalled the report a “betrayal” of women and “racist.”Nonsense.

Boyd, with impeccable feminist credentials, has bal-anced the rights of Muslims who wish to voluntarilyresolve their private disputes using religious principleswith the basic rights of vulnerable segments within thecommunity. In other words, the recommendations ensurethat there is substance to religious rights while simultane-ously protecting a vulnerable minority group member’sbasic rights as set out in the Charter of Rights andFreedoms. The fact is many Muslims wish to use arbitra-tion, which is part of Muslim tradition. Indeed, the Quranspecifically refers to arbitration in the context of matrimo-nial disputes: “If you fear a breach between them (man andwife), then appoint an arbitrator from his people and anarbitrator from her people. If they desire reconciliation,God will make them of one mind. God is all knowing, allaware.” (Sura An Nisa, verse 35)

Boyd’s report merely affirms the Constitutional right toreligious freedom, equal treatment under the law, multi-culturalism and ensures that Ontario is in compliance withCanada’s international obligations. Indeed, Article 27 ofthe International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,to which Canada acceded on 19 May 1976, imposes a pos-itive duty on a state to assist its minorities to preserve itsvalues by allowing them to enjoy their own culture and toprofess and practice their own religion.

The forty-six recommendations addressed the legiti-mate concerns raised and ignored the alarmist rants ofsome opponents who sought to exclude Muslims fromusing existing Ontario law. The Arbitration Act allowsparties to settle their disputes using any principles theywish, whether they be Christian, Jewish, Muslim or other-wise. Other communities have successfully implementedAlternative Dispute Resolution initiatives with much lesshue and cry. For instance, rabbinical courts or Beth Din’sdealing with business and matrimonial issues have beenfunctioning for some time in Ontario. Christians and oth-ers have also made use of the Act.

Some have criticized Boyd’s position that independentlegal advice (ILA) can be waived by a party if they wish.As it stands now, nobody can be forced to obtain an ILAfor any legal matter - though this may be moot as thisleaves it open for courts to set aside any agreements orarbitral decisions. Forcing ILA would be great for the legalprofession but - as pointed out by the Law Society and BarAssociations - would seriously restrict the ability of peopleto bargain freely or settle issues without a lawyer andwould clearly represent unnecessary intrusion by govern-ments into the private domain.

I can appreciate that many are concerned about theexploitation of Muslim women. However, the discourse isnow bordering on being racist. For instance, critics contendthat there is no way to ascertain true consent, as Muslimwomen will be forced to cave in to social pressure andaccept unfair decisions. The concern is valid but is notrestricted to Muslims and can be partly addressed by impos-ing duties on arbitrators. Moreover, the situation may be no

different in the legal setting where the vast majority of casesare settled out of court and where parties compromise forless than their legal entitlements in many cases without legaladvice. Indeed, a growing number are now resolving theirdisputes, including family matters, themselves or throughparalegals who, in many cases, act for both parties withoutany consideration as to whether the parties appreciate whatrights they are giving up.

The Canadian legal system is based on the premise thatin private settings, individuals with legal capacity canmake their own decisions and agreements even if thesemay not be the “correct” choice according to the majority.Should Muslim women not be allowed to sign marriagecontracts, separation agreements or settle any disputeswithout independent legal advice (ILA) while everyone elsecan exercise this choice?

A paternalistic attitude toward the Muslim communitywill not solve the issue of social pressure and may in factalienate many. Moreover, as Boyd quite accurately points,precluding arbitration would not only limit people’soptions for resolving their disputes, it may also “push thepractice of religious arbitration outside the legal systemaltogether, thus limiting the court’s ability to intervene tocorrect problems.”

Alternative dispute resolution is already being prac-ticed within the community and people are abiding bydecisions. These decisions, in some cases unjust and crude,are treated as if they were the word of God and thereforebinding. Formalising the process will allow for greatertransparency and accountability. As long as there areproper procedures and rules of conduct in place there isnothing preventing the community from instituting adynamic and less disruptive alternative to the adversarialcourt system.

Boyd has kept intact the integrity of the alternative dis-pute resolution system while protecting the vulnerable and

ensuring that “back alley arbitrations and mediations” areminimised as much as possible.

The Ontario government should accept Boyd’s reportand move on. Muslim communities elsewhere eager toestablish alternative dispute resolution should watch thisdebate closely and learn from the Canadian experience. !

Faisal Kutty is a lawyer with the firm of Baksh & Kuttyand general counsel for the Canadian-Muslim CivilLiberties Association. He is currently an LL.M. candidatein civil litigation and alternative dispute resolution atOsgoode Hall Law School of York University.

Muslims will not be forced to refermatters to the tribunal and will beprotected under the Canadian Charterof Rights and Freedoms. Both parties toany dispute must participate willingly.Shariah is not coming to Canada andthere will be no Shariah courts.

30 | Q-NEWS 30 | Q-NEWS

FEATURE

WAKING UP TOPROGRESSIVE MUSLIMS

In the last few months Muslims living in the West have wokenup to a rather daft assembly of Muslim men and women call-ing themselves the Progressive Muslim Union of North

America (PMU). Their literati are Amina Wadud-Muhsin, author of Quran and

Woman; Akbar S. Ahmed, the Ibn Khaldun Chair of IslamicStudies and professor of International Relations at AmericanUniversity in Washington; and Omid Safi, editor of PMU’s pre-script Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism, ananthology of essays reflecting the core ideas of the Progressives.

Farid Esack, crowned with the moniker Funky Maulana andKhaled Abou el Fadl, the grand mufti himself of beauty, love andtolerance (except when it comes to invading foreign countries)articulate the philosophy of the Progressives but choose to remainoutside the PMU’s structure.

The Progressives have a number of talented writers andactivists in their congregation such as Tarek Fatah, AhmadNassef, Sarah Eltantawi, Hussein Ibish, Mohja Kahf, and NaeemMohaiemen. In their ranks you will find devoted secularists, peaceand justice advocates, feminists vocal on gender equality, thosewhose sole goal in life is to “hug a Jew,” and many whose missionis to bring about the acceptance and integration of gays and les-bians into the Muslim community. With this impressive line-up itis not surprising that Harvard University Pluralism Project hasagreed to fund PMU’s first major conference scheduled for March2005.

PMU ideologues often promote each other’s work and do anexcellent job shining the torch of attention on themselves. They aremostly young second and third generation Muslims schooled in thesocial sciences. This new cadre of reformers claim to know very littleabout Islamic law, theology or mysticism, but they are deeply famil-iar with the writings of Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and JurgenHabermas.

It is not surprising that the Progressives now find themselvesin a nasty confrontation with their parent’s generation, theentrenched vanguard whom for the last three decades builtmosques and installed imported imams, established centers andfraternities such as the Islamic Society of North America, theIslamic Circle of North America, and the Muslim AmericanSociety.

The Progressives gained new life after the attacks of September11, 2001 advocating a grand project aimed at reconciling theIslamic tradition, and its rich and textured heritage, with the mod-ern world. They say they aim to revive the “plural” and “toler-ant” tradition of Islam which has been buried under the debris ofliteral and dogmatic approaches to the faith. Plural Islam for theProgressives is the freedom to borrow and adopt wholesale or

modify practices from other faith cultures and label it Islamic.Tolerance means anyone who says he is a Muslim must be aMuslim, and everyone should embrace him even if he says he isgay and proud.

The cabal of Progressive Muslims is a reactionary group. Theyare reacting to the tight leash of the law that the extremists havelassoed around the necks of Muslims for the better half of the lastcentury. They argue, and rightfully so, that the law was not meantto be worshipped. And they are quick to reassure others that theyare not calling for a reduction of the Islamic legal tradition, only itsreinterpretation - prying open the tightly shut doors of ijtihad.

Progressive Muslims argue that the Prophet Muhammad wasno more than an interpreter of the Quran and therefore, nothingcan be wrong with Muslims today, qualified or not, who act uponthe same interpretive authority he had.

The Progressives are determined to wrestle control of the inter-pretive process away from the ulema, the men and women mostqualified to interpret the sacred texts. It is true that the ulema his-torically have made mistakes and in some cases their excesses ininterpretation have caused juristic tension within the community ofthe learned. But not only were their mistakes caught and correctedby their peers, extremes in interpretation of sacred texts were tem-pered by conscientious objections from individual scholars andthese opinions have been preserved and are still valid today.

Unfortunately, the Progressives’ attempt to reinterpret sacredtexts - much like an ice sculptor trying to do the job of a brainsurgeon - will result in a religion with no legal boundaries.Progressives would have us believe that prayer, the mandatory giv-ing of alms fasting and the pilgrimage - the pillars of Islam andmandatory forms of worship - are all matters of personal choice.Worship God as you please, they say.

The uniformity of worship is one of Islam’s many strengths ina world when form, meant to hold the content of our worship ofGod intact, is quickly melting away among those who share theAbrahamic tradition. If you were to visit the one standing mosqueleft in Banda Aceh or a small wooden mosque in the hinterland ofSouth America, you can almost guarantee that the adhan and theoutward form of the prayer will be relatively the same. InSuriname you are not likely to find a rendition of the adhan doneto the rhythm of steel band and Soca music.

Aware that the zeal to bring about reform without soundknowledge is a slippery slope, Kecia Ali, a research associate in theWomen’s Program in Religious Studies at Harvard DivinitySchool, and a founding member of PMU, cautions that by open-ing the Quran to alternative interpretations, Progressive Muslimsare not challenging the authority of the Quran.

However, in a recent lecture in Toronto, Amina Wadud-

ISLAM HAS A PROGRESSIVE TRADITION THAT IS AS OLD AS THE RELIGION ITSELF, BUT AS

NAZIM BAKSH ARGUES,YOU ARE NOT LIKELY TO FIND IT REFLECTED AT MUSLIMWAKEUP.COM

Q-NEWS | 31

FEATURE

Muhsin, member of PMU’s advisory board, did exactly that. Shewas quoted as saying she “did not agree with the Quran.” It did-n’t matter to her audience what she disagreed with, half of themwalked out, prayed Asr salah and left the hall. Chastising them ina rant he submitted to muslimwakeup.com, Tarek Fatah, spindoctor extraordinaire and a member of PMU’s Board of Directors,said that Amina “declared that she could not intellectually or spir-itually accept some things in the Qur’an. For example, some of thehudud punishments like the cutting of hands or the permission tobeat one’s wife. She made it clear that she was denying neither thereligion nor the revelation. ‘It is the Qur’an,’ she said, ‘that givesme the means to say no to the Qur’an.’”

What exactly does it mean to “say no to the Quran”? If AminaWadud wished to say that she believes the punishment of choppingoff the hands of the thief is pre-modern and that incarceration ispreferable and that men should not use one word in a single verseof the Quran to justify hitting their wives, then by all means, pleasesay so. You are apt to discover that a great number of Muslims willfind no objections with your opinions. But to say you “don’t agreewith the Quran” or you have the right to say “no to the Quran” isto expect Muslims to object, especially if you are claiming to speakfrom within the Islamic tradition.

One of the major gripes of the Progressive is the way in whichMuslim women are treated in predominantly Muslim societiesand by men in our male dominated mosques and centres. There isno way around the table on this and for being passionate aboutthe issue we must credit the Progressives. But their solution isstrange.

At the Noor Centre in Toronto where Amina Wadud wasinvited to speak, this problem is addressed by making womenpray side by side with men divided only by an imaginary linedown the middle. If Muslim women truly believe, as the Quranclearly states, that God deems them equal to men in His estima-tion, and if it matters so much where they stand when they wor-ship Him, why not adopt the way of Muslims in China and estab-lish women’s only mosques with women only imams?

The Progressives are determined to bring about a process ofcultural redefinition and they promise to do so by challengingwhat has so far passed for cultural authenticity. The majorityamong the first generation who migrated to North America,realised that a wholesale importation of back home cultural prac-tices was not going to fly and in the last several years, they havebeen opening up to the possibility of a new Islamic cultural iden-tity located in the matrix of old loyalties and new realities.

While they were busy trying to figure it out along came theProgressives, largely the privileged sons and daughters of an Araband South Asian elite at home in the totem towers of worldlypower and material wealth. These young upstarts are makinghaste, not in an attempt to reconcile faith to a secular ethic, butrather to bend, twist and subject faith to the secular. This is a dan-gerous project and whenever it has popped up its ugly head his-torically, the result has been the dismantling of not only the outerform, but the inner yoke of the religion, leading to something thisummah has refused to accept as Islam.

The first generation feared that a wrong turn on the two waypassage of faith in a secular society could lead to the melting awayof the religion. They didn’t want to be in a position where theywould have to tell their relatives back home that they had migrat-ed to the West for better jobs and income only to lose their deen.

With the Progressives you get the distinct impression that theirapproach to Islam is a “no-Islam” Islam. It is the unravelling ofthe Islamic fabric. They would have you believe that the Prophet

Muhammad was a Progressive. This, however, requires manyimportant qualifications.

The Quranic understanding is that human life is moving in thedirection of its own inevitable collapse and the role of the Prophetwas to interrupt the decline by inviting people to govern their livesin the shade of Divine guidance. Thus, his progress was a renew-al of the Divine teachings and, because he was the final Prophet,their perfect completion.

As time pushes us further away from his blessed era the lightof divine bliss diminishes. He, peace and blessings be upon him,said that “the best of my people are my generation, then those thatcome after them; then those that come after.” The Quran says ofthe spiritual elites that there will be “many among the earlier gen-erations, few in the later generations.” In other words, any eraafter his is a dystopia because his community came the closest toachieving a state of utopia.

At least 17 times a day, a Muslim pleads for progress when heprays, “Lead us unto the straight path.” This is the path ofbarakah that springs from a renewal - tajdid - of the way of theProphet, his companions and those that followed in their foot-steps.

Any movement, artistic or scholarly, whether an idea or abook, that lures people away from the principles of Divine guid-ance embodied in the Prophetic era, is degeneration - a regression,not progression. Anyone who wishes to “progress” must in prin-ciple reject the stranglehold of this world and embrace the light ofDivine Majesty. Even Jesus, blessed be his soul, said, “be not con-formed to the world.”

Progress from within the Islamic tradition is not a green lightto surf the waves of modernity on bloated egos, giving up the lega-cy of our intellectual and spiritual tradition, but a commitment towithstand the intellectual, political and spiritual tsunamis hurledat us with our faith in God and our identity as His servants intact.

Dr Martin Lings reminded us of something similar forty yearsago in a speech given in Arabic at Al-Azhar University in Cairo.In it he warned:

“In the eyes of the champions of this ‘renaissance’ that we arenow supposed to be enjoying, what is to be ‘strongly discouraged’(makruh) is everything that is left of the Islamic civilisation in theway of customs (sunnah) such as wearing the turban and notshaving off the beard, whereas what is ‘strongly recommended’(mandub) is everything that comes from the West… The result isthat the rising generation is more ignorant of the practices of theMessenger of God, and more cut off from those practices, thanany generation that has come into existence since the dawn ofIslam. How then shall we augur well of the present situation? Andhow shall we not shrink from the word ‘renaissance’ as from anevil omen? All this was foreseen by the Prophet. He said, ‘You willfollow the ways of those that were before you span for span andcubit for cubit until if they went down into the hole of a poison-ous reptile you will follow them down.’ That descent is now tak-ing place; and it is called development and progress.” !

The cabal of Progressive Muslims is areactionary group.They are reacting tothe tight leash of the law that theextremists have lassoed around thenecks of Muslims for the better half ofthe last century.

Q-NEWS | 33

Since 9/11, Muslims have been examined, talkedabout, investigated, and puzzled over by politicians,the news media, and ordinary citizens. What is inter-

esting about this collective obsession is that despite sever-al years of collecting data and analysing Islam and whoMuslims are, remarkably little insight has emerged. Today,you hear the same old canards about the Muslim commu-nity in the West that you heard in the months after 9/11:our loyalties to our lands of citizenship are suspect at best,our collective intent is to force Islam down the throatsof our neighbours, and that we secretly enjoy thenews of acts of terror committed in our name.While Muslims have made admirable attempts toget our voices in the mainstream media tocounter these persistent thoughts, the resulthas usually been to become Muslim dart-boards upon which the usual suspectswould pin their hate.

Now let’s back up a bit to that fatefulday in 2001. While Muslims have neverreally been good at expressing the diver-sity of their opinion to the public atlarge, we faced collective choices thatwould forever change the nature of ourcommunity. Would we remain silent,wishing that the wave of chaos wouldwash over us, hopefully leaving us unaf-fected? Or would we standup for ourselves, givingvoice to a people who havebeen talked about often yetwho rarely talk themselves?Would we circle the wagonsagainst criticism of ourcommunity, or would weown our own problems and begin to changeMuslim attitudes and behavior through our expres-sion?

Thankfully, the Internet had arrived several years ear-

lier, and that has given hundreds, if not thousands, ofMuslims the opportunity to take the proactive route. Withthe advent of the Web, Muslims around the world wholived mainly with people who shared their cultural and

spiritual beliefs (and livingin countries

w h e r e

“Andis Iran so bad?” He finally

asked.Well no,Abu Ammar, I want-ed to answer, it’s not bad for *you* - you’re

a man… if anything your right to several tem-porary marriages, a few permanent ones and the

right to subdue females will increase. Why should it beso bad? Instead I was silent. It’s not a good thing to criticize

Iran these days. I numbly reached for the bags he handed me,trying to rise out of that sinking feeling that overwhelmed me

when the results were first made public. It’s not about a Sunni gov-ernment or a Shia government - it’s about the possibility of anIranian-modeled Iraq. Many Shia are also appalled with the results ofthe elections.There’s talk of Sunnis being marginalized by the electionsbut that isn’t the situation. It’s not just Sunnis - it’s moderate Shia andsecular people in general who have been marginalized.The list is fright-ening - Da’awa, SCIRI, Chalabi, Hussein Shahristani and a whole collec-tion of pro-Iran political figures and clerics. They are going to have aprimary role in writing the new constitution.There’s talk of Shari’a, orIslamic law, having a very primary role in the new constitution. The

problem is, whose Shari’a? Shari’a for many Shia differsfrom that of Sunni Shari’a.And what about all the otherreligions? What about Christians and Mendiyeen? Isanyone surprised that the same people who camealong with the Americans - the same puppets whoall had a go at the presidency last year - are theones who came out on top in the elections?Jaffari, Talbani, Barazani, Hakim, Allawi,

Chalabi… exiles, convicted criminalsand war lords. Welcome to

the new Iraq.

Best Iraqi BloggerGroceries and Election ResultsRiverbend (Baghdad Burning)riverbendblog.blogspot.com

NEW VOICES EMERGE:THE MUSLIM BLOGOSPHERE

FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS, IT HAS BEEN “ALL ISLAM, ALL THE TIME.” OVERNIGHT

“EXPERTS” AND GREY-SUITED PUNDITS HAVE TRIED TO DECIPHER WHAT WE ARE

THINKING,WHERE WE ARE HIDING, AND OUR ALLEGED PLANS FOR WORLD DOMI-NATION. OUR VOICES HAVEN’T COUNTED. ENTER THE MUSLIM BLOGS. AS

SHAHED AMANULLAH REPORTS, BLOGGERS ARE CHALLENGING POPULAR

PERCEPTIONS OF ISLAM FROM CYBERSPACE AND CREATING AN ONLINE

COMMUNITY THAT IS TURNING CONVENTIONAL WISDOM ON ITS HEAD.

PORTFOLIO

34 | Q-NEWS

(Onapostasy) First, regardless of

how and when (of even if) the ‘law ofapostasy’ is applied, it isn’t applied by anyone

other than the authorities charged to do so. [1] Muslimcitizens of the United Kingdom are not such an authority and

never have been. It is ironic that in their delusional flusters to‘defend the honour of Islam’, some Muslims tend to disregard the basic

structure of Islamic legal systems throughout history: that of acting with-in defined ethical boundaries. Acts of criminality are judged by an appropri-

ate person (a qadi usually and not Uncle-ji or Mamoo-jan talking over a bowlof zarda) and then, depending on the verdict, punished by the authorities charged

to do so (in our current time this would be the State). Personally, If I did comeacross someone being attacked on the street for ‘leaving Islam’, I know what I woulddo - take the individual into my house and protect him from the self-righteous cretinswho believe themselves to be manifestations of God’s justice.And even after all thosepoints are considered, there is no law against changing one’s religion in the UK, thoughthere are laws against causing harm to, or threatening, another individual. Muslim cit-izens are required to abide by the laws of the state, as long as they are not requiredto act contrary to their beliefs. Secondly, many Muslims who live as minorities talkof acting to mitigate against the potential for ‘harm that can be caused to Islam (orMuslims)’. Better still, of acting to promote a good image of Muslims and Islam,for the purposes of da’wah. Now it might just be the salty sea air talking, but Ido not see how throwing a brick through the window of a man’s house, who

was once Muslim and is now a Christian, which leads to this story beingdaubed across the pages of a leading newspaper, that fuels the

Spencerites and Pipesians and their crackpot missions of JihadWatch and Dhimmi Watch, and allows celebrity naysayers like

Ibn Warraq to repeat “I told you so”, will aid this reduc-tion of potential for harm. If anything, it will have

the opposite affect.

Best Group BlogMuslim apostates cast out and atrisk from faith and familyThabet (Muslims Under Progress)underprogress.blogs.com

Whenparents go looking for a

spouse for their child, they considerbeauty, ethnicity, religion, education,

social/financial status and even horoscopes.Whichof these criteria are superficial? There are times when a

guy’s mom would reject girls because of the smallest“defects” in physical appearance. Or because of the girl being a

bit older than the guy (even by a few months). Ethnicityand religion are very important factors that most parents

don’t overlook for arranged marriages. I know a number ofguys whose families insisted that they had to marry another

Pathan (an ethnic group in NWFP, Pakistan and in Afghanistan)even though these guys and their families had otherwise com-pletely assimilated in Lahore or Karachi for hundreds of years.No one in their families spoke Pashto or Dari, the languagesthat Pathans/Pashtuns speak. Still their families would not thinkof marrying someone outside their definition of the tribes thatcomprise the Pathans. Imagine how many parents in the US arecomfortable with their children marrying someone of anoth-er race. Now think what would happen if these parents coulddecide who could or could not marry their kid. The resultwould definitely be far less miscegenation. And that’s whathappens in societies with arranged marriages. In the end,

the discussion of arranged and love marriages comes down towhich is better. Obviously, the one that leads to more suc-

cessful marriages. Proponents of arranged marriage claimthat it is more successful, but their definition of suc-

cess focuses on divorce rates.

Honourable MentionBest Non English BlogArranged MarriageZack Ajmal (Procrastination)zackvision.com/weblog/archives/urdu

PORTFOLIO

Q-NEWS | 35

f r e eexpressionwas rare) wereexposed to the breadthand depth of the ummah for the first time - from Salafi toSufi, from practicing to secular, from conservative toMarxist, and all the colors in between. Some couldn’t dealwith it, descending into endless flame wars on bulletinboards. Others gasped in horror and turned away from thescreen. But, for those who embraced this brave new world,an enriching dialogue began. And the Muslim blogosphere- the interactive world of Muslim-themed weblogs - wasborn.

Today, there exists a plethora of opinion, analysis,expression, and debate that puts an end to the myth thatMuslims are mindless automatons, just waiting for theright fatwa that will put a mass killing machine intomotion. Most are in English, although a growing numberare in Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, and other languages of theMuslim world. Some are educational - blogger Thabet of“Muslims Under Progress”(underprogress.blogs.com/weblog) never ceases to amazewith his deep knowledge of Islamic history and law. Somecover the news so that you don’t have to - the incrediblypopular Laura Poyneer, otherwise known as Al-Muhajabah (muhajabah.com), either has a lot of time onher hands or is a speed reader. Some just astound you withthe quality of their writing - if Haroon Moghul(avari.blogs.com) doesn’t win a writing award at somepoint in his literary future, there is no justice in this world.And some are just plain funny - Abdusalaam al-Hindi’s(abdusalaam.blogspot.com) take on stereotypical khut-bahs is already an Internet classic.

This year, these and other Muslim bloggers were hon-ored by their peers and readers with the first annual Brass

Crescent Awards, an online “bestblog” competition held by City of Brass

(cityofbrass.blogspot.com) and my weblog,alt.muslim (altmuslim.com) with the objective of high-

lighting the best of the Muslim blogosphere for those justgetting to know the talent and diversity of the onlineMuslim ummah, as well as providing recognition to thosewho have toiled hard with their writings, wondering ifanyone cared. Hundreds of votes were cast in this year’sawards, even though three was only one week notice given,and people were given an opportunity to discuss - in aweblog, of course - the nominees before voting. (Thisyear’s winners are featured at altmuslim.com/brasscres-cent.php and in the following pages.) Next year, we hopethat the excitement generated by the first Brass Crescentawards, and the favorable reception given to the winners,will bring in more nominations and a more spirited pre-election debate.

Some of the categories are straightforward, focusingspecifically on the writings, including “Best Blog”, “BestPost” and “Best Writing.” This year, Haroon Moghul, anewcomer to blogging who left law school to focus on hiswritings and pursue a PhD in Islamic Studies, made a cleansweep of all three categories with his unique writing style,rich with multicultural references, smart self-deprecation,and just a touch of irony. Haroon also has an excellentself-published memoir about his travels in Saudi Arabia,which is as side-splitting and simultaneously thoughtful ashis blog posts. It was a close call in each of the three cate-gories, with Abusalam al-Hindi, Laura “veiled4Allah”Poyneer, Zack Ajmal, and Muslims for Progress’ Thabet -all Muslim blogosphere veterans who have been postingfor several years - close behind.

Other categories, such as “Best Thinker” and “BestCommenter”, are meant to highlight emerging Muslim

Minusa brief flirtation with all things

German, Iran has long been fascinated byFrance. Their modernization came primarily

through contacts from the French.Their modern Persianincludes French terminology, and anyway, sounds like French far

too often. It must be an eerie coincidence. Like the French, too, theIranians overthrow their governments with alarming regularity. The

French, who love revolutions and occupations by foreign powers, are cur-rently enjoying their Fifth Republic. The Iranians, on the other hand, have

enjoyed in the span of a century a Constitutional Revolution, two foreign occu-pations (!), a White Revolution and the infamous 1979 Islamic Revolution (like the

French, the Iranians have a problematic relationship with their religion: Iran is theonly Muslim country to ever be ruled by clerics, so far as I know, and in this regard,may produce the kind of virulent and ridiculous secularism that dominates Francetoday. The countries should marry and produce children). There is another thingabout the Iranians, too.They can’t get over the Arab invasion of over a millennium ago.Avari-Nameh has decided:There will from this post forwards be a strict 500-year pan-sie girlie man whining limit. After 500 years, one must cease pissing and moaning,because at that point, whatever it is, it really is your fault alone. Incredulous that thebarbaric Russians - I mean Arabs (see how easy it is to get analogically confused?) -could have conquered their brilliant, cultured civilization, the Iranians have longnursed a grudge itself the size of some middling Arab powers. Unfortunately, wereit not for the Arab-Islamic invasion, Iranian culture probably would not have risen tothe global level it did, for the centuries during which Persian was the lingua fran-ca (get it?) of the Islamic world. For the Muslim world, Persian fast took the

place of Arabic in many cultures and became a mark of achievement. For along time, sophisticated Europeans had to use French, too. So why, pray

tell, are the Iranians so mad, if the Arab invasion indirectly madetheir language all the more prominent and global? (Tellingly,

Iran is once again on the rise, along with Turkey, whilethe Arab world plods along.Though France is not

on the rise, and Russia may well be.Except for Chechnya.)

Best Blog, Best Writing,Best PostExplaining the Mideast to the MidwestHaroon Moghul (avari-nameh)avari.blogs.com

PORTFOLIO

web personalities and encourage those out there who arestill wary of public expression to see how rewarding it canbe for their readers. This year, the same blogger swept bothcategories - the anonymous author of Silent Spring(silentspring.diaryland.com). Unlike most Brass Crescentwinners who blog from various Western countries, SilentSpring hails from Pakistan, and blogs in English for amainly English-speaking audience.

While women are well represented in all categories ofawards, there is a sisterhood of sorts among Muslimwomen bloggers, and the “Best Female Blog” category wascreated to highlight the unique discourse among them.Australian blogger Umm Yasmin (maryams.net/dervish)took the prize in this category, with her well-written entriesabout motherhood, conversion, and global politics. Herlatest entries include a series on “Becoming Muslim” andreflections on this year’s Muharram.

Since one of the goals of the Brass Crescent Awardswas to share the best of the Muslim web with the greaterblogging community, we created a “Best Non-MuslimBlog” that would recognize non-Muslim bloggers that hada respectful attitude towards Islam and whose postsreflected a desire to bridge the gaps between Islam and theWest. The prolific Juan Cole (juancole.com), a professor ofhistory at the University of Michigan, took this prize forhis pointed political commentary. Our intent in creatingthis category was to foster better interfaith relations, butCole’s exclusively political site showed that Muslim surfersare looking for something else.

Some categories are meant to be temporary, highlight-ing a particular cultural phenomenon or phase that theMuslim world is going through. The writings emanatingfrom Iraq (before, during, and after the invasion) are awindow to the world that few, Muslim or not, have seen

36 | Q-NEWS

WhileI am willing for myself to ‘deal

with’ aspects of patriarchy in Muslim com-munity life (negotiate space), I do not want that for

my daughter. I do not want to raise her believing that Islamteaches she is a second class citizen. Let me get this straight offthe bat. I strongly believe that at its core Islam is an egalitarianfaith which views man and woman as complimentary partners andthat each person has the same fundamental duty to respond to God’swill regardless of their gender. I believe that Islam teaches that allhuman beings are equal and can only be distinguished by piety. However,I also recognise that Islam has been culturally manifested in very patriar-chal fashions and that these manifestations claim to be representing “true”Islam. Islamic law in particular has often codified patriarchal readings ofIslam into a canon of orthodoxy that is difficult to question without chal-lenging some fundamental ideas of who gets to speak authoritatively “for”Islam. I think that the Quran and the Prophet, God love him, recognised the

limitations of the societal structures of the period into which the Muhammadan expressionof Islam first dawned (including notions of masculinity and femininity) but as Farid Esackhas written elsewhere. But I also believe there is an underlying ethic of equity which tran-scends - is more real - than the cultural clothing which Islam wears at any one time peri-od.Therefore I remain a Muslim trying to seek out those egalitarian readings wherev-er I may find them. But now that I have had a baby - and a baby girl at that - I wantmore for my daughter than what is currently on offer in the Muslim community. I

want her to be valued and cherished as a human being, not relegated to sec-ond class because she is female. I want her to play a vital and active role in

her faith community, not stand on the side-lines as a marginalised spec-tator. I want her to have access to all the resources, facilities,

opportunities that a brother might have. I want her to havea voice that is equal to any Muslim man who is her

peer in knowledge, wisdom and piety.

Best Female BlogAppropriately Subversive

Maryam (Dervish)www.maryams.net/dervish

firsthand. This year’s “Best Iraqi Blogger” went toRiverbend of Baghdad Burning(riverbendblog.blogspot.com), with Aunt Najma of A Starfrom Mosul (astarfrommosul.blogspot.com) close behind.Both write from the “Arab street” so-called “experts” liketo talk about, but this street comes across as so much morehuman than the other one. These blogs are a finger on thepulse of Iraqi society that is ignored in the mainstreampress.

Many Muslim bloggers like to focus on one subject forseveral days or weeks, creating a series of articles that canstand alone as an authoritative work. The “Best Series”award recognizes these efforts, and this year’s winner wasLeila M (sister-scorpion.blogspot.com) who wrote a serieslast year on Muharram that did more to educate SunniMuslims about Shi’a beliefs than anything you could findat an Islamic bookstore. Honorable mention went to ZackAjmal (zackvision.com), whose collected posts on mar-riage were nominated in this category.

The first Brass Crescent Awards isn’t meant to be acompletely authoritative take of the best of the Muslimweb. In fact, those weblogs that won did so mainly becausethose who voted for them found out about the awardsfirst, and spread the word quickly to other fans. By nextyear, however, we plan to get at least ten times the voterswe did this year, and hopefully double the number of nom-inations. More Muslims start blogging every day, creatinga tapestry of creativity, insight, and scholarship that standsin direct contrast to the images of Islam traditionally seenin the media. The Brass Crescent Awards recognises thoseMuslims who enter the online fray to enrich the lives oftheir readers, as well as creating a showcase for the widerNet to sample from. !

Q-NEWS | 37

A BLOGGER’S MANIFESTO

Awriter may not be able to make a living by writing, butnevertheless a writer cannot live without writing. This ishow it is possible to simultaneously love and loathe the

same activity. Most often, I hate not the writing but the need towrite. At the most inappropriate times of day, I am consumed bytaxing projects, say for a short story, an essay, a poem or even anovel. With respect to this affliction, I try at all times to carrypen and paper with me. So it is that many of my favorite postswere not born in cyberspace, but mingled into the margins of mynotes on the past perfect in Punjabi or ergative postpositions inUrdu. What I mean to say is this: blogging might be lauded asthe next revolution in communication, changing how we repre-sent and experience information, but the revolution hasn’t beentotal. The power of the pen remains. For a good writer does nothave to be a good blogger. But a good blogger must be a goodwriter.

Friends casually remark, “It seems like so much work tomaintain a blog.” Seems? A successful blog exists in the mostprecarious tension. Let’s say you want to start a blog. First, youhave to identify an ideal audience - and then realise it. (What is,after all, the point of talking to yourself?) I suggest starting withthe “lowest common denominator” and, from there, generatingyour proposed readership. Then sustain its interest. This requiresgoing above and beyond repeating affirmed beliefs and present-ing ideas, possibilities and patterns that stimulate the readership

without chasing it away. Finally, your newborn blog needs toexpand its horizons. This demands sufficient superficial eyecandy - catchy titles, whimsical turns of phrase, neat colorschemes - to ensnare the passing web surfer. Unless, of course, itis your intention to restrict yourself to a certain population andremain bounded by that; perhaps it is the expansionist Americanin me, perhaps it is the expansionist Muslim in me, or even thetwo multiplying together, but I cannot stand a static blog.

Though this does not explain what it is that possesses a per-son to devote so much time and so much energy to such a thank-less task. If there were a calculus of writing, writers would be

measured and found wanting - as well as bankrupt. LastJanuary, during the first month of a short study stay inIslamabad, Pakistan, I launched Avari-Nameh. (The name isQuenya and Persian, meaning “the Book of the Unwilling.”) TheAvari were a subset of elves from J. R. R. Tolkien’s history, thosewho heard the advertisements of a utopia far to the west, acrossthe great sea, but nonetheless turned the offer down. The Avarimay not have had concrete arguments behind their obstinacy;rather, only emotions. But what makes an emotion any less realthan an argument? For their sin - refusing to leave the water ofawakening, the land from where they came - Tolkien deliberate-ly removed them from the later narratives of Middle-Earth,declining to share with his readers the fate of this faction. Eventheir homeland is lost - it no longer exists, or else its location hasbeen forgotten. Sometimes I wonder: will we too be dismissedfrom the narratives of history because we have refused to makethe migration west?

At best, Avari-Nameh is composed of sketches, knee-jerkreactions put up far too fast and with far too little reflection.Somehow, it sticks. It survives. Dare I say, it thrives. Several hun-dred hits a day and a few thousand a week. Who are these read-ers? I know where they are - they live in New Zealand, Australia,America, Canada, India, Pakistan, England and South Africa; Ijust don’t know why they come so often to read what I have towrite. The more they read of me, the more they see into me. Justlike you’ve started to wonder: who’s this Haroon person? Ishould mention that special skill I possess, which allows me todevote so much time and so much energy to this activity. It is myability to set aside the work I have and must do and insteadspend my time on what is primarily leisurely activity. (Question:Can that which starts in diversion do anything but divert?) Onefellow blogger described one of my posts in the way I generallythink of my entire blog. She commented, “Haroon mostly ram-bles…” Indeed he does. He rambles but he is read.

Because I know how you feel. Every day - every single day -you are bombarded with news that denies, denigrates, dismissesor else diminishes you. It is the fault of Middle Eastern andIslamic mindsets! You are the culture that forgot time and gotforgotten! You have deservedly been left behind! You are Godknows how many thousands of square miles submerged in dark-ness, and only the West can bring you light! The errors of idiotsfill not only newspapers but books and speeches and policies aswell. Take them and make a bonfire of them. See what you arebeing persuaded to forget. The sentiments that bind us are notmade imaginary by their sentimentality. Nor do the characteris-tics of a century contain a millennium, though they may heraldone coming. Those worlds that are in such visible and painfulturmoil may be clawing at the threat of their submergence, andin so doing writhing free of their current tragedy. We recall andare rightly proud of our pasts. Do we not have cause then to seein those beginnings better ends? !

HAROON MOGHUL RAMBLES, BUT HE’S READ.THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE VISIT HIS AWARD-WINNING BLOG EVERY WEEK AND ARE IN TURNS INSPIRED, INFURIATED AND PERPLEXED.

BUT,WHAT MAKES HIM TICK?

Because I know how you feel. Everyday - every single day - you are

bombarded with news that denies,denigrates, dismisses or else

diminishes you.The errors of idiots fillnot only newspapers but books andspeeches and policies as well.Takethem and make a bonfire of them.

PORTFOLIO

38 | Q-NEWS

Sabra and Shatila:September 1982, by BayanNuwayhed al-Hout The book covers the historyof the Sabra and Shatila mas-sacre, which took place overthree bloody days in theLebanese capital Beirut. Itwas committed againstPalestinian refugees byLebanese militias, aided andsupervised by the IsraeliArmy, which had encircledthe district. Now availablefor the first time in English,this classic book is the mostcomprehensive, authoritativeaccount of what happenedand who was responsible.The author, BayanNuwayhed al-Hout, was aProfessor at the LebaneseUniversity at the time. Drivenby the horror of whatoccured, she interviewed sur-vivors and set up an oral his-tory project immediatelyafter the massacre to preservetestimonies. This book is theresult. Following a generalintroduction, the first partcontains interviews mainlywith victims’ families. Thesecond part analyses statisti-cal data and attempts todetermine the number of vic-

tims. The conclusion, ‘WhoWas Responsible?’, shedslight on the various partiesresponsible. Over five-hun-dred pages long, illustratedwith photographs and maps,unrivalled in detail andscope, this book is a coura-geous attempt to make senseof what happened and animportant political documentin its own right.£21.37, Pluto Press

The Alhambra, by Robert Irwin The Alhambra, the ‘red fort’on its rocky hill aboveGranada, with its fountainedcourts and gardens, andintricate decoration, haslong been a byword forexotic and melancholy beau-ty. In this title in theWonders of the World series,Robert Irwin, Arabist andnovelist, examines itsengrossing and often myste-rious history.£8.99, Profile Books

Jewish Fundamentalism inIsrael, by Israel Shahak,Norton Mezvinsky This is a new edition of aclassic and highly controver-sial book that examines thehistory and consequences ofJewish fundamentalism inIsrael. Fully updated, withnew chapters and a newintroduction by NortonMezvinsky, it is essentialreading for anyone whowants a full understanding ofthe way religious extremismhas affected the politicaldevelopment of the modernIsraeli state.Acclaimed writer and humanrights compaigner IsraelShahak was, up until hisdeath in 2001, one of themost respected of Israel’speace activists - he was, inthe words of Gore Vidal,“the latest - if not the last -of the great prophets.”Written by Shahak togetherwith American scholarMezvinsky, this book showshow Jewish fundamentalismin Israel, as shown in theactivities of religious settlers,is of great importance. Theyconclude that Jewish funda-

mentalism is essentially hos-tile to democracy.£14.99, Pluto Press

The Creation of Iraq 1914-1921, by Reeva SpectorSimonWith the U.S.-led OperationIraqi Freedom, we arereminded that almost onehundred years ago, a similarprocess of regime change andterritorial reorganisation inthe same region of the worldwas undertaken by GreatBritain. Yet unlike the coali-tion forces that in 2003 pro-claimed the territorial integri-ty of Iraq, the British had tobegin from scratch: until1921, the country of Iraq didnot exist. How did this actu-ally come about? And whatwere the reactions of the peo-ples living in that contestedterritory? This collection ofessays by leading scholarsprovides a comprehensive yetaccessible overview of Iraq’shistory and its strategicimportance from three pointsof view: local residents, Iraq’sneighbors (Iran, Turkey, and

NEW BOOKS

BOOK VIEWSWITH WINTER DRAGGING ITS FEET INTO MARCH,THERE’S NO BETTER TIME TO

STAY WARM WITH A CUP OF CHAI AND ONE OF THESE RECENTLY RELEASED TITLESTHAT WILL SATISFY YOUR APPETITE FOR HISTORY, CULTURE AND THE ARTS.

Q-NEWS | 39

at interpersonal, intra-nation-al and international levels. Itis a call for tolerance, fordialogue and for peace.£14.95, British Academic

The Art of the IslamicGarden, by Emma Clark Islamic gardens are enchanti-ng places. Just the names ofsome of the most beautifulgardens in the world - theAlhambra, the Generalife, theShalimar - conjure up imagesof calm and even divinebeauty. No visitor is leftuntouched by their magic.The Art of the IslamicGarden examines that magic,describes the componentparts and explains the designand symbolism which toallow a deeper understandingof the beauty. £25, The Crowood Press

Women, Islam and Cinema,by Gonul Donmez-Colin Film critic and author GonulDonmez-Colin explores therole of women as spectators,images and image construc-tors in the cinemas of thecountries where Islam is thepredominant religion, focus-ing on Iran and Turkey from

NEW BOOKS

Kurdistan), and the GreatPowers. The book capturesthe complexity of forces thatcontributed to the making ofIraq as a modern state, inte-grating short and long termpolicy, individual and groupinterests, and the impact ofWorld War I. The Creationof Iraq allows the reader tounderstand the dynamics andinterplay of regional historyand geo-strategic and imperi-al priorities in an area of theworld that will continue todominate interrnational poli-tics for years to come.£13, Columbia University

Global Civilization: ABuddhist-Islamic Dialogue,by Majid Tehranian, DaisakuIkedaThis book emerged from aseries of conversationsbetween two peace advocatesof Japanese and Iranian ori-gin. It covers the encountersbetween Buddhist andIslamic civilisations from the7th century to the present.For all their cultural differ-ences, Buddhism and Islamshare a surprising number ofintrinsic similarities. The top-ics discussed include suchdiverse subjects as the natureof religious faith today, glob-al ideological terrorism, reli-gious fanatacism and univer-sal human rights. Ikeda andTehranian, two importantrepresentatives of theirrespective faiths, proposedialogue as the most effectivemethod of conflict resolution

the Middle East, drawingparallels from Kazakhstanand Uzbekistan, the twoCentral Asian Republics ofthe former Soviet Union, andPakistan, Bangladesh,Malaysia and Indonesia, theprominently Muslim Asiancountries with a challengingfilm industry. Some of therelevant films made in Indiaby and for Muslim Indiansare also explored. The authordiscusses cinematic arche-types such as the naive coun-try girl, or the devious seduc-tress, as well as looking atcontroversial elements suchas screen rape, which, femi-nist film critics claim, catersto male voyeurism. She alsodiscusses recurring themes,such as the myths of feminin-ity, the endorsement ofpolygamy and the obsessionwith male children, as well asthe most common stereo-types, depicting women asmothers, wives and daugh-ters. £10, Reaktion Books Ltd,

Iznik: The Artistry ofOttoman Ceramics, byWalter B. Denny Denny offers new perspec-tives on one of the most pop-ular Islamic art forms.Covering both Iznik pieces deforme and the famous Izniktiles that decorate ottomanimperial monuments, thebook integrates the entirespectrum of Iznik produc-tion, both tiles and wares,and the broader artistic tradi-tion in which it originated.Professor Denny begins witha discussion of the particular

nature of Islamic art underthe Ottomans. He thenexamines the relationshipbetween the court style ofIstanbul and the ceramic ate-liers in Iznik in nearbyBithynia, and the crucial roleof two styles - dubbed by theauthor the ‘enchanted forest’and ‘heavenly garden’ (thesaz and aux quatre fleursstyles) - and their creators,Shah Kulu and Kara Memi.Finally, he covers Iznik workswith human or animalimagery, the patronage ofnon-Muslim communitieswithin the Ottoman Empire,and the chronicle of destruc-tion and damage of tiledmonuments due to war,earthquake and fire. Thebook reflects ProfessorDenny’s ambition, almostthirty-five years after com-pleting his doctoral disserta-tion on Iznik tiles and afterwell over a dozen publica-tions on the subject, to createa comprehensive overview ofthis beautiful art form.£45, Thames and Hudson

The Ottoman Empire andthe World Around It, bySuraiya Faroqhi Faroqhi demonstrates thatthere was no iron curtainbetween the Ottoman andother worlds but rather along-established network ofdiplomatic, financial, culturaland religious connections. £35, I.B. Tauris, Out inNovember 2004 !

40 | Q-NEWS

RENEWING OUR FAITHIN COMMON GROUND

How often have you heard the term ‘Judeo-Christiancivilisation’? Many times, no doubt, and with goodreason. Common scriptural roots, long social interac-

tion, mutual contribution to what has become the sharedmodernity of the West; there are many reasons to consider theterm a useful one.

But have you ever heard the phrase ‘Islamo-Christian civil-isation’? Surely the fact that apparently no one has used itbefore historian Richard Bulliet in his new book, The Case forIslamo-Christian Civilization, is not because of some inherentgreater compatibility between Jewish and Christian societies.One has only to think of the Holocaust, repeated pogroms andmedieval expulsions to realise the hostility that long combinedwith fruitful interaction before the apparent reconciliationneatly encapsulated today in the term ‘Judeo-Christian.’

In a thought-provoking and refreshing work, Bulliet hasset out to reframe our understanding of history and modernsociety by arguing that Islamic and Western societies must beseen as twins, sharing similar roots and following parallelpaths for many centuries. A professor at Columbia Universityin New York, his motivations spring directly from the failingsUnited States policy post-September 11. The book is addressedto both the academic and the immediate political debate, chal-lenging Samuel Huntington’s well-known ‘Clash ofCivilisations’ thesis and demanding the recognition that “theIslamo-Christian world has much more binding it togetherthan forcing it apart.”

The book does not focus on the wider and more well-known scriptural relationship of Islam and Christianity (withJudaism) simply as ‘Abrahamic faiths.’ Nor does Bullietattempt to link all Christian and Muslim societies. Rather hewants to establish a set of historical features and structurescommon to both the Islamic and Christian cultures that devel-oped west of Iran and north of the Sahara: he argues that “thetwo faith communities can best be thought of as two versionsof a common socio-religious system.”

Bulliet’s argument begins by noting the initial spread ofboth Christianity and Islam into the world first linked byHellenic culture and then the Roman Empire. He describes theparallel challenges of the diffusion of these religions fromsmall elites into the wider population; their gradual institu-tionalisation; the clash of religious and political authority; thegrowth of popular spirituality. Bulliet is too subtle, however,to overstate his case, and he admits variation while positing

similarity. Where the medieval Catholic Church clashed headon with European rulers over the rights of state and religion,for example, the Muslim ulema were generally more flexible -and more successful - in their similar efforts to resist secularcontrol.

The most salient variation today, of course, seems to be thecontrasting attitudes in Islamic and Western societies to polit-ical authority and freedom. It was apparently for the sake ofbringing freedom through Western-style democracy, remem-ber, that the United States led the war into Iraq. In the secondsection of his book, Bulliet offers an important perspectivehere also. Instead of acquiescing to the view implicit in the titleof Bernard Lewis’ recent book, What Went Wrong? WesternImpact & Middle Eastern Response, Bulliet refuses to assumethe West as the measure by which other societies must bejudged. He asks instead, “What went on?” He argues that farfrom causing the lack of freedom sadly so evident today inmany Muslim countries, Islam was in fact a bulwark againsttyranny. In the ulama and the shariah, Muslim societies foundtheir own means to resist arbitrary government. It was therelentless anticlericalism of the 19th and 20th century reform-ers inspired by Europe - Ataturk or the Pahlavis, for example- that eroded these. Whatever the merits of his arguments,Bulliet wants the reader to understand Muslim history on itsown terms - not by the extent it has or has not measured up tothe course charted by Europe and its descendants.

The second half of the book changes tack as Bulliet offersan insider’s view on the weaknesses of American academia andits attempts to understand Muslims and Islam since WorldWar II. From first assuming that Islam would rapidly becomeinsignificant as the Arab world developed materially, heargues, American academics and policy advisers have veeredto a near-hysterical view of it as a monolithic and dangerousforce. Again he reminds us of the necessity of understandingothers in their own terms as far as possible: “like latter daymissionaries, we want the Muslims to love us, not just forwhat we can offer in the way of a technological society, but forwho we are - for our values. But we refuse to countenance thethought of loving them for their values.”

The final chapter offers some thoughts on the future bydiscussing what Bulliet calls the situation “on the edge” ofMuslim societies - places and groups (such as diaspora com-munities) where what we call Islam is being renegotiated andrenewed in ways we may not be able to anticipate. Some of his

THE SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND IS DIFFICULT IN THE FACE OF THE FATUOUS BUT

DEADLY ASSUMPTION THAT THE WORLD IS EASILY DIVIDED: EAST AND WEST, MUSLIM AND

CHRISTIAN, ARAB AND EUROPEAN, GOOD AND BAD. JAMES ABDULAZIZ BROWN REVIEWS

TWO RECENT WORKS THAT BRAVELY CHALLENGE THE INTELLECTUAL STATUS QUO.

REVIEW | BOOKS

Q-NEWS | 41

examples are surprising,even provocative, but

with a historian’s perspec-tive Bulliet can caution us against dismissing

them too quickly; the development of madrasahs, Sufi broth-erhoods, even the compilation of the major hadith collections- the impulses behind all of these resulted to some extent fromthe frontiers of, or the integration of increasing numbers ofconverts into, Muslim societies.

In this brief and lively volume, Bulliet has made someimportant observations and raised some equally significantquestions. Written with evident sincerity and without pre-scriptive answers, this work deserves wide reading.

A second book comparable in motivation and perspectiveis Ahdaf Soueif’s Mezzaterra: Fragments from the CommonGround. “Awesome power,” writes Bulliet, “resides in theterms we employ.” In her new collection of essays and reviews,Soueif seeks to wield that very power against the persistentand damaging misrepresentation of the Arab world by theWest. Although her perspective is more intimate than Bulliet’shistorical sweep, she shares the same desire to undermine thefatuous but powerful and deadly assumption that the world iseasily divided: East and West, Muslim and Christian, Araband European, good and bad.

This theme has been a preoccupation of Soueif’s previouswriting. Her Booker Prize-nominated novel Map of Love, forexample, traced the romance and marriage of anEnglishwoman and a committed Egyptian nationalist duringthe British protectorate. In the semi-autobiographical In theEye of the Sun, she wrestled with the rewards and the pains ofliving between two cultures. This new collection elaborates onthe theme by bringing together writings that all ultimatelycontribute to her project to celebrate the ‘mezzaterra’, or com-mon ground, of the title.

In her introductory essay, Soueif makes explicit the linkbetween this project and her own biography in a way that willresonate with anyone whose life combines diverse influences.Her mother was professor of English Literature at CairoUniversity. She grew up during the heady days of Nasser andArab nationalism, when Egypt felt proud of its ancient her-itage and new independence, secure enough at the same timeto open itself to influences from Russia, France, Italy, SouthAmerica and Britain. Work and life eventually brought her to

immigrate to Britain, to marry a Scotsman, to have childrenhere: no wonder, then, that “the common ground, after all, isthe only ground that I and those whom I love can inhabit.”

But the intoxicating mixture of cultures and ideas thatseemed so normal in 1960s Cairo has by no means been easyto sustain. Although many prominent public figures and com-mentators in Egypt, for example, regularly read the Europeanpress and have studied in the West, Soueif resents the lack ofreciprocity. Like the hundreds of thousands of Arabs orMuslims living in Britain, she is tired of “doing daily double-takes when faced with their reflection in a Western mirror.”After the steady drip-drip of misrepresentation she noticed inthe 1980s and 1990s, now has come the rushing torrent of theAmerican ‘war on terror.’ She embarks in this collection,therefore, less on a celebration of the common ground than adefence of it.

The book begins with Soueif’s writings on Palestine, the‘war on terror’ and the invasion of Iraq. Few writers combinepassion with a literary sensibility like Soueif. This is especiallycompelling in her reports from Palestine. She evokes scenes invivid snapshots, leaves the ears ringing with a snatch of dia-logue, combining reflection and analysis skilfully borne alongby the narrative. Human contact is her key to unlock the gatesof misrepresentation and hostility cutting off one from anoth-er.

The second half of the book collects mostly older writings,less obviously political but similarly concerned with the powerof representation. The inclusion of some reviews of pastbooks, perhaps now forgotten, might at a glance seem irrele-vant or indulgent. In fact, each is an intriguing study in itselfof how understanding can get lost amongst unquestionedassumptions and lazy language - something, as Soueif writes,that “was not a policy; it simply happened.” It is of course theunconscious opinion that is least open to doubt, so it is in herrole as interrogator of the unquestioned that Soueif is mostvaluable. While presenting powerful arguments at many levelsagainst the actions of Bush et al, her critique of the prejudices- in the full sense of the word - that determine those actions iseven more important.

Soueif’s writings are tinged with the pain and anger thatsadly afflicts too many of our lives today. But their enduringpassion and optimism is such that the book leaves you stillbelieving in the common ground she holds so dear. Read boththese books to renew your faith in human interaction ratherthan separation, to feel what can unite instead of divide. !

The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization, Richard Bulliet(Columbia University Press, 2004) £16.00. Mezzaterra:Fragments from the Common Ground, Ahdaf Soueif(Bloomsbury Publishing, 2004) £8.99

“Like latter day missionaries, we wantthe Muslims to love us, not just for whatwe can offer in the way of atechnological society, but for who we are- for our values. But we refuse tocountenance the thought of loving themfor their values.”

REVIEW | BOOKS

THE LATEST EXHIBITION AT THE

ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS IS AN

AMBITIOUS LOOK AT A MILLENNIUM

OF TURKISH CIVILISATION.ISLA ROSSER-OWEN FINDS THE

EXHIBITION SPECTACULAR, BUT

DESIGNED TO IMPRESS RATHER

THAN EDUCATE.

The Royal The Royal Academy’s exhibition Turks: AJourney of a Thousand Years, 600 - 1600 has beenmarketed, and attended, as if it were a massive fete for

the 21st Century. It is certainly timely, in view of Turkey’s bidto join the EU, and with the exhibition catalogue full ofpraise from not only Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself,but from British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the politicalpotential has been milked for all it is worth.

While most, if not all, of the artifacts on display are sure-ly spectacular, many of which are being shown to the publicfor the first time (including those from the private collectionof Topkapi Palace), there is a certain anti-climactic nature tothe exhibition. Despite taking up a good ten rooms ofLondon’s Royal Academy of Arts, it fails to present any realsense that these amazing objects span a thousand years.

Also not adequately explained, but only hinted at in theobjects themselves, is the immense geographical area that thehistory of the Turks covers, not to mention the mix of lan-guages, cultures and peoples that were swallowed up undertheir banner. There are few visual aids to make any of the arti-facts accessible to the layman, and terms which even expertsin Islamic Art would have difficulty with are not clarified.

Turks does inspire awe in the beholder. The intricacyand craftsmanship that many of the exhibits reveal is trulyspell-bounding, and if only for this reason it is still worth thetrip. The sheer affluence, cultural richness, skill and diversi-ty of the various Turkic peoples, not to mention theOttoman sultans, is possibly the main impression that pun-ters will take away with them. However, this exhibition isintended to impress but not to educate, and unfortunatelyall too many of the thousands of visitors passing throughwill leave being none the wiser about such a vast and impor-tant piece of cultural history.

If you are able to fork out money for the catalogue ontop of the already hefty entrance fee, then further enlighten-ment might be found. Otherwise, this rush-job of somethingthat should have been momentous will probably fail to leaveany lasting mark. !

Turks: A Journey of a Thousand Years, 600 - 1600 is on atthe Royal Academy of Arts, London until 12th April 2005.

TURKS:A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND YEARS

42 | Q-NEWS

WIN!Q-News has five pairs of tickets and ten exhibitionposters to give away! Simply e-mail the correctanswer to the following question with your full

details before 4 April 2005 to turks@q-news.com:

WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE OTTOMAN SULTANWHO CONQUERED CONSTANTINOPLE IN 1453?

REVIEW | ARTS

Q-NEWS | 43

FACTS AND FIGURES! Turks will be the first ever exhibition to explore the cultural influencesand geographic dominance of Turkic cultures across a millennium. ! The exhibition presents over 350 works from approximately 37lenders and 11 countries. ! A large proportion of works will be shown for the first time outsideof Turkey including the majority of surviving drawings by Siyah QalemMohamed of the Black Pen. ! Major works include the wooden doors designed by the great archi-tect Sinan for the harem of Murad III, dating from c. 1578 and meas-uring over 2.5 metres tall. ! Sections of the complete Timurid architecture scroll, Timurlu (c.1370-1500) which measures approximately 30 metres and shows thecompass marks and blind lines used to produce it. ! A beautifully preserved carpet, with stylised border, over 6 metreslong from the Seljuk period (13th century) from the mosque built forSultan Alaaddin Keykûgad, Konya. ! A selection of rare Chinese porcelain from the Topkapi SarayMuseum who hold one of the largest such collections of porcelain out-side of China. ! Elaborately decorated swords and military helmets including thosebelonging to Sultan Mehmed ‘The Conqueror’ and the dagger of SultanSelim I, 1514 crafted from steel, rock crystal and turquoise. ! Further Ottoman treasures include the childhood notebook ofMehmed ‘The Conqueror’ and an embroidered kaftan collar of Selim II. ! The exhibition brings together a unique collaboration between threeinternationally acclaimed specialists: Filiz Çagman, Director of theTopkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul; Nazan Ölçer, Director of the SakipSabanci Museum, Istanbul and David Roxburgh, Professor of IslamicArt at Harvard University. ! The exhibition will be introduced by a newly commissioned videopresentation mapping out the geographic movement of the Uigurs,Seljuks, Timurids and the Ottomans, highlighting architectural com-plexes specific to each cultural group. ! www.turks.org.uk

Opposite page:

Portrait of Mehmed II, c.1480,Attributed to Shiblizade Ahmed.Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul.Illuminated page from a book ofrhetoric, 1467.Topkapi Saray Museum.

This page, from top left:

Divan of Sultan Husain Mirza, copiedby Sultan Ali Mashhadi, dedicated toSultan Husain, 17-26 June 1492, Herat,Afghanistan.Topkapi Saray Museum.Flask, 1550-1600, Istanbul. Leather,ivory, horn, silver and metal thread.Kunsthistorisches Museum,Vienna.Kaftan of Sultan Selim I, c. 1515,Istanbul.Topkapi Saray Museum.Ceremonial helmet, mid-sixteenthcentury, Istanbul. Iron, gold, ruby andturquoise.Topkapi Saray Museum.

REVIEW | ARTS

44 | Q-NEWS

REVIEW | EVENTS

RAIHAN ALFARADHI

REPORTS ON THE 2005

MUSLIM STUDENT

AWARDS AND FINDS

BRITISH MUSLIM

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

MAKING THEIR MARK

DESPITE THE ODDS.

Muslim students in UK higher educationhave had a rough ride in recent years.

Rising Islamophobia on campuses, thedenial of religious rights and the often sub-tle exclusion from Students’ Unions areobstacles to full participation in campuslife. A small minority of Muslim studentsexpressing extreme views don’t make it anyeasier. Moreover, low levels of educationalachievement and high dropout rates areamong the very real challenges facing youngMuslims, but it doesn’t mean that Muslimstudent achievement is rare.

In fact, there are a great number ofMuslim students who are achieving excel-lence in their studies and making a positivecontribution to campus life as Muslims.These silent success stories need to be cele-brated - the Muslim Student Awards intendto do just that.

The Awards were launched in 2002, withvarious award categories, covering all aspectsof university academic and campus life, aim-ing to acknowledge, reward and encourageMuslim student achievement.

This year, the packed auditorium atQueen Mary University watched intently atthe proceedings with presenters of awardsincluding Danny Williams, InternationalBoxing Heavyweight Champion and KatFletcher, President of NUS.

ISOCs cater for the needs of the Muslimstudents, as well as present the message ofIslam to others on campus. To recognise thisrole of the ISOCs, the 2004 Muslim StudentAwards saw the introduction of a newaward: Islamic Society of the Year.

This year’s winners represent someremarkable accomplishments.

www.muslimstudentawards.com

RAISING ASPIRATIONSACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

Imad Ahmed: Imad achieved 11 A* in hisGCSEs. In English, he was amongst the topfive in the country. In his first year of A-Levels,he took exams in 11 modules and achieved 4As in Physics, Economics, English, and Maths.Imad has been offered a place at the presti-gious Oxford University to study EnglishLanguage & Literature. He has taken this yearout to study Arabic Language at SOAS.

Arzoo Ahmed: Arzoo juggles a wide range ofextra-curricular activities, while achieving9A*s and 3As for GCSEs the 4As at A-Level.She has won numerous awards and nationalcompetitions, while maintaining a steadypresence at Islamic study circles. She has beenoffered a place in the Physics faculty atOxford University.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Amran Hussain: Amran has obtained theNew Years Day Parade Honours Award,The Windrush Achievement Award, DianaMemorial Award, and Civic CitizenshipAward and has recently been nominated forthe UK Honours Award. These awards weremade to him for his service to others and forhis academic achievements. Amran has beenoffered the Morehead Scholarship, usuallyawarded to potential nobel Peace prize nom-inees, to read Medicine at a private universi-ty in America. This year, he intends to travelto the University of Um Qurra in Mecca tostudy the shariah and Arabic for six weeks.

Rumana Habeeb: In the arena of NUS andits 82 year history, only two Muslims haveever been elected onto the national commit-tee. Rumana was elected onto the NUSExecutive and put onto the NUS SteeringCommittee. Her election victory gained hermore than 365 votes in a conference of1,100 delegates.

CONTRIBUTION TO COLLEGE LIFE

Emran Islam: The Oxford University IslamicSociety faced virtual extinction 15 monthsago. However, over the months it has grownto one of the most active societies in Oxford.This is largely down to the dedication,charisma and vision of its President, Emran.He has given the Oxford ISoc a much need-ed sense of community and brotherhood andhas made the ISoc open to all. He has man-aged this while enjoying newly-married lifeand studying for a Masters in Arabic andModern Middle Eastern studies.

Shaheen Haque: 22 year old Shaheen Haqueis a medical student who has been pivotal inthe formation of the Islamic CirclesSupplementary School (ICSS), which worksto improve the educational standards ofMuslim children in Newham. Shaheen hasbeen a founding member of the Associationof Muslim Governors, where she is dedicat-ed to helping to recruit more Muslims intoa School Governor role. She was also amember of the recent Islamic Relief FashionShow team which raised money for Sudan.

SPORT AND RECREATION

Mohammed Rahim: Mohammed used toPlay Football for Watford FC. He quit theclub to pursue his passion for long distancerunning. He has represented Great Britainfor the U21s and now runs for them innational and international tournaments. Hewas recently selected for the EuropeanCross Country Championships. He hasbeen instrumental at the Stanmore MuslimYouth Community and is the longest serv-ing coach for Stanmore Football Club.

Rimla Akhtar: Rimla represented theHertfordshire lacrosse and cricket teams,the East of England lacrosse squad, and heruniversity football team. In 2001, she repre-sented her country at the 3rd Women’sGames in Tehran. She is currently preparingfor the 2005 Muslim Women’s Games. Sheis currently the President at Imperial CollegeIslamic Society’s women’s section, with spe-cial emphasis on sport and health.

MUSLIM STUDENT OF THE YEAR

Iqbal Nasim: Iqbal gained 13 A*s at GCSE,and 5As in A levels. He received the Duke ofEdinburgh Award, and was the highestranking cadet in his school. He also set up ayouth sports group with funding from thelocal council. Along with his family, he pub-lishes the An-Noor newsletter, distributed toall local mosques. He is currently the presi-dent of Cambridge ISoc.

ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF THE YEAR

Leicester University: Raised over £3000 forthe National One Day Fast. Organised anIslam Awareness Week, which had recordturnouts with more non-Muslims thanMuslims. Lobbied for halal food and pur-pose built wudu facilities, provided by theuniversity. Held many events in conjunctionwith FOSIS, MAB and Friends of Al Aqsa.Organised the Inter ISOC quiz 2004. !

Q-NEWS | 45

COUNSEL

WHATYOU

OUGHTTO

KNOW

adamant that the intended plan will pro-ceed. My heart is telling me to leave myfamily and live elsewhere in opposition. Icannot continue to give money to mymother for the household affairs (such asbills, etc.) as I am worried that this will beused to finance this whole act. what shouldI do?First of all, I pray to Allah Almighty that Heassists you and your family in solving theproblems and that everything is resolvedpeacefully. With regards to the death threats from yourmother and her intention of murderingsomeone from the family of your wife, it isyour responsibility to prevent this using allpossible ways and means. The Messenger ofAllah (Allah bless him and give him peace)said: “Whoever sees something evil shouldchange it with his hand. If this is not possi-ble, then with his tongue, and if even this isnot possible, then (dislike it) in his heart.That is the weakest degree of faith”. (SahihMuslim)Firstly, try solving the core of the problemdue to which your mother has become veryupset. Explain to the parties involved tocome to a peaceful settlement, and end thehatred and enmity that has come about.You must explain to your mother that this isan unacceptable course of action. Remindher of the severe punishments promised inthe hereafter by Allah Almighty upon mur-der and also on giving death threats. A men-tion of some of the verses of punishmentfrom the Qur’an may be useful. You mayuse the medium of someone whom yourmother respects or may have an effect onher to advice her.Also, supplicate to Allah and ask His assis-tance in guiding your mother and solvingthe family dispute in general, for He is capa-ble of everything and anything. Turn toAllah with full devotion and sincerity andHis help will come, Insha Allah.At the same time, you must respect yourmother and not do something that is harm-ful or disrespectful to her. All of the aboveshould be done in a kind, gentle and politemanner. If you wish to live separately, thenthat is up to you. It is perfectly permissiblefor you to live separately, especially if youthink that it may be a means of preventingthe evil. You may even stop the financialsupport if you think that it may be paidtowards financing any such grave wrongdo-ing. May Allah Almighty help and assistyou, and bring everything to a peaceful end,Insha Allah. Ameen. !

FARAZ RABBANI along with other scholarsanswer questions and teach through SunniPath www.sunnipath.com

degree course and I have chosen Syria asmy chosen destination - but I also tookthis opportunity to partake on the Hajj.My local education authority have offeredto pay for two return tickets to wherever Ineed to go for my studies. As I am study-ing Arabic - I have claimed back my firstreturn flight. Can I do the same for moneyspent on my Hajj flights?As it is not directly related to your Arabicstudies, it would be religiously binding onyou to ask the educational authoritywhether you can claim Hajj expenses.Otherwise, it would be considered cheatingand deception. Imam Ahmad related thatthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) said, “The believer could be charac-terised by all traits except lying and decep-tion.” [Ahmad, and Tabarani, Bayhaqi, andAbu Ya`la with similar wording] The Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless himand give him peace) said, “The one whocheats is not of us.” [Muslim, Tirmidhi,Abu Dawud, and others] He also said (peace and blessings be uponhim), “The one who does not fulfill trustshas no faith, and the one who does not ful-fill commitments has no religion.” [Ahmad,with a sound chain of narrators]

MOTHERS THREATENS MY IN-LAWS

SHAYKH MUHAMMAD IBN ADAM AL-KAWTHARI

I am a newly-wed man. My wife is current-ly residing in her home country with theintention to settle here. We have facedproblems from day one. In particular,arguments concerning jewellery haveresulted in my mother threatening to havea member of the family of my wife mur-dered. My in-laws have confirmed receiv-ing a death threat letter with photos fromcertain people that my mother has paid tocarry out the act. This has been confirmedby my mother.I have extensively spoken to and argued(and even shouted) with my mother, insist-ing that this is forbidden. However, she is

In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful andCompassionate. May His abundant bless-ing and most perfect of peace be on HisBeloved Prophet, the best of creation, andhis family, companions and followers.

WUDU: BLEEDING GUMS

SOHAIL HANIF WITH FARAZ RABBANI

Brushing one’s teeth often causes bleedingfrom the gums. Would this invalidate one’swudu? Should we assume there’s somebleeding even if we don’t see it?The general principle is that if blood flowsfrom a part of the body then the ablution isnullified. If blood appears on the surface butdoes not flow beyond the point of exiting, itdoes not nullify ablution.The mouth is naturally wet. It is thereforenot easy to tell whether blood actuallyflowed out from the gums or was just on thesurface and was carried out by the saliva inwhich case the ablution would not be nulli-fied. That is why the colour of the saliva isconsidered in such a case.Imam al-Haskafi says in al-Durr al-Mukhtar, “And it [the ablution] is nullifiedby blood…that predominates over the salivaor equals it. It is not nullified if the salivapredominates.” Ibn Abidin explains that,“The sign of the blood being predominate orequal is that the saliva is red and the sign ofthe saliva being predominate is that saliva isyellow.” [Radd al-Muhtar `ala al-Durr al-Mukhtar, ‘Bab al-Wudu’]Likewise, if one spits out clear saliva with athin streak of blood it can be assumed thatthe blood did not flow and so the ablution isnot nullified, though a larger quantity ofblood could indicate the contrary. Oneshould use one’s reasonable judgment.If unable to spit out, one should rely on pastexperience or common sense to determinewhether such blood would have predomi-nated over the saliva or not. The default isthat it would not have, and that one’s wuduremains valid. Certainty is not lifted by meredoubt. If one has certainty that one has per-formed ritual ablutions and merely doubtswhether one’s gums have bled excessively, asdescribed above, then one will adhere to thecertainty, namely that one is still in a state ofritual purity.[Note: gum bleeding normally is a result ofpoor dental hygiene, and one should brushproperly twice a day and floss daily.]

CLAIMING EXPENSES

FARAZ RABBANI

Can I claim back the money I spent onflights for my Hajj from my local educationauthority? I am on a year-out as part of my

46 | Q-NEWS

OBITUARY

DEATH OF AN UNSUNG

HEROHAFIZ GULAMMOHAMMED BORA

WAS AN AMAZING PERSON WHO

TOUCHED THE LIVES OF ALL WHO

MET HIM,WRITES FUAD NAHDI. LIKE

ALL GREAT PEOPLE HE IS DIFFICULT

TO DEFINE OR PIGEON-HOLE, AN

UNSUNG HERO IN THE STRUGGLE

TO ESTABLISH ISLAM IN THE WEST.

Ican’t remember exactly when I first met Hafiz Borabut I always felt that I knew him all my life.Intelligent, well-educated and cultured, he was

delightful company - provocative, inspirational andaccommodating. He was that rare creature: an imamwho listened and was prepared to learn and, moreimportantly, challenge convention.

Born into a noble Bombay family he was the secondyoungest of fifteen children. His father, Hajji IsmailManejwala, was a businessman with property and dairyinterests. But from a very young age it was obvious thathe was inclined more towards scholarship than the cut-throat world of business. By the age of fifteen he hadcompleted the memorisation of the Holy Quran andtherefore, earned the title “Hafiz”.

In 1968, he graduated with a honours degree inPhysics and Chemistry from the prestigious BombayUniversity. In the same year, aged 23, he married Zainabnee Tarapuri with whom he went on to have six chil-dren: Aasia (b.1970), Fozia (b.1972), Suleman (b. and d.1975), Musab (b. 1972), Aatika (b. 1978) and Erfana (b.1981).

Hafiz Bora remained loyal to two passions in his life:his love of travelling and teaching. In the mid-seventieshe moved with his young family to Zambia to teachMaths and Physics at the Mukandawire SecondarySchool in the capital city, Lusaka. After a year he movedto the Britain and landed in Sheffield where he wasappointed Imam of the Jamiah Mosque at IndustryRoad.

Sheffield residents at the time remember him fondly.The local community at the time consisted of Yemenis,Kashmiri Mirpuris and Pathans from the NWFP ofPakistan. Hafiz Bora, a Gujarati, was not only seen butalso acted as a honest broker between the differentgroups. It was his fairness that led him to be loved by thecommunity which he served for seven years.

One of the major challenges he faced and which hedealt with much courage was in mixed marriages. Hechampioned the right of young people to choose whomthey can marry so long as it was within the shariah. Atthe time he used to solemnise the marriages of youngMuslim couples (if they liked each other, they shouldmarry but if possible get the parents on board toapprove it) sometimes against the wishes of their parentswho wanted their children to marry within the clan.

Hafiz Bora was also among the first imams in Britainto engage with the wider institutions of governmentincluding the Commission for Racial Equality, theCitizens Advice Bureau and other local and central gov-ernment bodies. Fazlun Khalid, a senior CRE officialbased in Sheffield at the time, remembers Hafiz Bora as“this amazing Imam who was never afraid of beingengaged and involved and who held views far ahead ofthe times.”

Between 1982-84 Hafiz Bora worked as an adviceworker for the Sheffield Minority Advice Project(SEMAP) at Spital Hill, Sheffield. SEMAP was the firstproject of its kind in England and Wales. He worked asan advisor to the police and various local government

15 JULY 1945 - 10 FEBRUARY 2005

Q-NEWS | 47

OBITUARY

initiatives. His dual role as an imam and as a profes-sional advisor gave him a unique insight into communi-ty issues and an ability to solve many personal problemsand to communicate community issues to a wider socie-ty.

His Imamate was at a time when Sheffield was pass-ing through a traumatic period including having a coun-cil run by the hard left, the mass redundancies of steelworkers (many of whom were Pakistani Muslims). Itwas also a time of increased racial tension. Hafiz Borawas a victim of a vicious racial attack. One day he wasattacked outside the mosque by a man who threw abrick to the back of his head. An inch lower and itwould have paralysed him. Youths from the communitybesieged the house of the attacker wanting to avengetheir beloved mawlana. But at the request of the PoliceInspector Hafiz Bora intervened and the mob was dis-banded and a potential community disaster averted.

Hafiz Bora is most probably the only British citizento have become a US Army Chaplain. In 1990 and 1991he was given the rank of Sergeant by the US Army andlead tarawih prayers at Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas. In2000 he became among the first Muslim to be appoint-ed as a Chaplain to a hospital - a post he held had theLeicester General Hospital until his death.

But despite all his other achievements nothing madeHafiz Bora more proud or satisfied than his role as ateacher. Here he was both outstanding and innovativeand those fortunate to come under his wings werealways outstanding achievers. He took his students toplay cricket, taught them to wrestle and took them ontrips to theme parks and others places of interest toyoung people. Also, he made sure his students cleanedmadrassa toilets with him weekly, to teach them lessonsin humility.

Later, when he became too unwell to teach boys evenat home, they would often knock on the door, pleadingfor him to teach them.

However, it is through leading by example that HafizBora was head and shoulders above his contemporaries.For instance, he broke the mould in Leicester by sendinghis daughters to university - at a time when it was social-ly unacceptable for young women to live on their ownaway from home. Such a courageous act made him a vic-tim of much attacks from members of the communitybut Hafiz Bora stood firm and simply turned a blind eyeto the judgemental comments - some really vicious -aimed at him and his family.

When the first of his four daughters left for LondonUniversity, his encouragement was mixed with trepida-tion. By the time his fourth daughter had finishedschool, he positively pushed her onto a degree course(telling her he would not let her get married till she hada degree!)

Hafiz Bora was a man who lived and understooddiversity. He adhered to protocol in matters of religion,but at the same time had a great sense of his own andothers’ autonomy. This was helped by his experience atschool. At his first secondary school, Barda High School,he was the only Muslim boy in a school of Hindu pupils- his mother had sent him there because she wanted himto learn to read and write in Gujarati, his mother

tongue. He later went to Saifi High School in Bombay,where he was the only Sunni boy in a Shi’a school.

Hafiz Bora was a man steeped in culture and lovedthe arts and particularly poetry. In his second marriage,he wooed his wife with urdu poetry, in the style ofCyrano. A polyglot he loved to listen to long wave radioin Urdu, Hindi, Marathi and Arabic broadcasts to get avariety of versions of the news - not just the official ano-dyne version from the BBC.

He spent much of his life following the TablighJamaat movement - engaged in his love of da’wah, oftenin the most remote corners of the world which includedMalta, Turkey, Delhi, Palestine, Zanzibar, Pakistan,France, America, Canada and Belgium.

In his final journey to India in January 2005, helaunched a successful health awareness campaign inGujarat on kidney disease which affects the Indian com-munity to a disproportionately large degree.

His real spirit was that he never allowed his illness tohold him back. He never gave up on his travelling or histeaching - both were the great loves of his life. “Thoughhe lived most of his life with only one kidney, he per-formed over a 20 pilgrimages. The exact number wasknown only to himself, but three Hajj and umrahs wereperformed while he was on dialysis.

Hafiz Bora is survived by five children, all of whomwent to university (two to Oxford, two to London, oneto Manchester) and two grandchildren (Sulaymanb.2001 and Layla, b. 2003).

Those who were fortunate to have met Hafiz Borawill miss the quality and intensity of his conversation,the warmth of his hospitality, the genuineness of his sin-cerity and, more important, his sense of humility andcompassion.

May the Almighty grant him the loftiest abode inParadise and may He grant his family and friendspatience and everlasting fond memories. Amen. !

One of the major challenges Hafiz Borafaced and which he dealt with muchcourage was mixed marriages. Hechampioned the right of young people tochoose whom they can marry so longas it was within the shariah.At the timehe used to solemnise the marriages ofyoung Muslim couples (if they liked eachother, they should marry but if possibleget the parents on board to approve it)sometimes against the wishes of theirparents who wanted their children tomarry within the clan.

48 | Q-NEWS

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delivery mechanisms to addressthe underlying levels of povertyand social exclusion for peoplewho live in small ethnically-seg-regated communities (for exam-ple, mosques and imams areincreasing important intermedi-aries for communication withSylheti or Mirpuri communities).

Donald Stark,London

CONFIDENCEI enjoy the fact that Q-Newsconcentrates not solely on reli-gious issues but also socialissues that are exclusive tominority Muslim communities.It has been my belief that it isimperative for Muslims to beginto explore, discuss, debate andmake sense of subjects thatwere customarily consideredtaboo, or not up for discussion.This is because in this countryyoung people in particular, areexposed to everything thattheir parents would neverattempt to discuss or evenacknowledge. Q-News seems togo some way into exploringthese issues but we need todevelop confidence to go evenfurther.It seems to me that the “cus-tom versus Islam debate isengaging young communitiesacross the UK, as literate andliberated young people feel freeto explore religious scriptures,publications and histories todefine an identity for them-selves.This is not a new phe-nomenon but it needs to bedeveloped further through con-structive dialogue and challeng-ing existing precepts, to ensurethat young people see the truevalue in religion and religiousthought not just of their ownbut also that of others too.Thiscan be, and is being achievedthrough magazines such asyours.

Inti HabibWest Yorkshire

AN ODE TO QLetter Of The Month

An ode to the Q,An enlightened, soulful set ofscribes, Trying to connectforgotten tribes.A bow to the Q,The voice of young, drivenWestern lives, Throughprogressive, earnest Islamic eyes.A cheer for the Q,A quirky slice through Muslimhearts, From scholars’ paths tomarriage cards.A plea to the Q,From the moderate faithful’spew, Please keep up the goodwork you do.A prayer for the Q,How grateful I am and thousandsmore, That Allah Most Highsends you through my door.

Dear Q-News,A short poem for you guys to saythank you for your Shakespeareissue and for being such a won-derful magazine.

Dr Saba KhanPhiladelphia, USA

PREJUDICEWhile I would in no waydescribe myself as a Bush sup-porter, or even an American, Ifelt Raneem Azzam’s piece onGeorge Bush, The President’sNew Words in Q-News, January2005 was misjudged and mis-leading. Perhaps the author hadbeen watching too many AdamSandler films, but is it justifiableto say “most of his subjectswere illiterate too, so they wereunaware of his [the President’s]problem”? On the contrary,America has an enviable educa-tional record, and it is not acoincidence that 13 out the top20 world universities are in theUS.The vast majority of mem-bers of the Bush administrationhave postgrad degrees, whileonly half of Blair’s cabinet do.Bush’s lack of spoken eloquence

makes for funny emails - espe-cially if (as is invariably the case)his quotes are taken completelyout of context. But I challengethe author to think of one sin-gle policy where Bush is outsidethe mainstream of Americanpolitical thought. In 2000,American Muslims mostly votedRepublican, and if Bush hadattacked North Korea insteadof Iraq, I feel sure they wouldhave done the same in 2004.American politics are differentto French or Canadian politics:to laugh over this fact makes awriter either stupid or preju-diced.I agreed with much of KhalidaKhan’s article on multicultural-ism but, as someone who worksfor the government I can con-firm, that she protests toomuch. Everyone in governmentrecognises the limitations of theblunt classification intoWhite/Black/Asian, etc.This iswhy we left these classificationsbehind a decade or so ago. Ifshe looked at the 2001 census,she would have seen that ongeographical/ethnic origin alone,people could categorise them-selves into one of 16 categories.And then there was the religionquestion, which was deliberatelyintended to produce data thatwould allow disadvantagesbetween religious groups to bequantified.Nor is it true that anti-racismwork detracts from engagementwith faith communities - on thecontrary, one of the zeitgeistissues I intend to write aboutfor my work is how the “choiceagenda” proposed by Blair willgive faith communities a greaterexecutive role in delivery ofwelfare services (eg. church-runcorrectional facilities, mosque-run literacy programmes etc).All of these developments areof particular benefit to theMuslim community organisa-tions, since government is find-ing it hard to use “traditional”

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50 | Q-NEWS

Iwalked into Walden’s bookstore on a rainy Saturday morning andheaded straight to the Chicken Soup for the Soul shelf to browsetheir latest books. Ever since my little sister Lina introduced me to

the book series years ago, I have been a loyal fan. I spent half an hourperusing the new titles with excitement in my eyes. Typical of myindecisive nature, I had a hard time choosing which book I wanted tobuy. After extensive debating in my head between Chicken Soup forthe Bride’s Soul and Chicken Soup for the Teacher’s Soul, I decidedon the latter since I was already married and an education major. Ialso ended up buying five copies of Chicken Soup for the College Soulas gifts for the graduates of my local youth group. As I collected mybooks I could not help but notice a Chicken Soup for the Christian aswell as Jewish soul. I wondered why there was no book for theMuslim soul and felt disappointed that Muslims were constantly lag-ging behind in everything. This moment was the initial spark of whatlater became a passionate desire to create my own Chicken Soup forthe Muslim Soul book.

I decided to e-mail the Muslim society at my university to tellthem about this new project and asked them for story submissions.I received many replies of encouragement and became very excitedabout the book. I decided to get straight to work on my ChickenSoup book proposal. A few days later, I received an e-mail from afriend named Shabina Khatri telling me that she had sent in a pro-posal to the Chicken Soup Company a few years earlier and wasrejected. I felt discouraged by this information but was hopefulthat I would not suffer the same fate.

I decided to call the Chicken Soup headquarters and ask themwhy Shabina’s book proposal was rejected before I pursued a newproposal. I spoke to a representative on the phone and told her aboutmy interest in becoming a co-author for Chicken Soup. She was verykind and willing to help but requested that I fax her a release formthat would legally permit her to talk more specifically to me about thetitle I had in mind. I immediately went to a local Kinkos and sent thefax and then called her up again to discuss my title.

The moment I mentioned the words Chicken Soup for theMuslim Soul, I noticed an immediate change of tone in the lady’svoice. “We have received that title several times before and it isalways rejected,” she said tersely. Several minutes of questioningthe reasons for rejection yielded no satisfying answer. It could nothave been due to low market potential because they had published

a Jewish book and there are much fewer Jews than there areMuslims here. What could it be?

I kept questioning her and trying to figure out why they wouldnot accept my book title, but the only response I received was a“Sorry, but I’m just being honest with you. Writing this proposalwould probably just be a waste of time because our publishers arejust not interested in it…it doesn’t even matter what your market-ing potential is.”

This last statement was a complete slap in the face. Was shetelling me that no matter who I was or how many books I havewritten, the company was not going to publish a Muslim ChickenSoup? I told her that I felt they were discriminating, especially inlight of the fact that there was a Jewish and Christian book outthere, but she just denied it and refused to give me her publisher’snumber so that I could talk to him directly.

I was not going to just accept this rejection. After doing myown research into the matter, I discovered that the Chicken Souppublishers had no say in what book titles were accepted or reject-ed. In fact, a representative from their publishing company wasshocked that Chicken Soup had treated me in such a way and sug-gested that I try and write my own book without using their name.“What a great idea!” I thought to myself. I did not need ChickenSoup. I could put the book together on my own and get it pub-lished on my own. So that is exactly what I decided to do.

I am determined to get my book out and with the help of Allahwe will soon have a collection of short stories written by variousMuslims that we can read, relate to, and be inspired by. I feel thatsuch a book is much needed and would be a stepping stone formany others inshallah. So far, I have received many e-mails of sup-port and encouragement as well as quite a few amazing storiesafter less than one month of working on this project. Storiesinclude struggles to embrace Islam and submit to Allah, the chal-lenges of wearing hijab, performing acts of kindness for the sake ofAllah and many more. I hope to receive more submissions from allof you talented writers out there in the near future. I kindly requestthat everyone who reads this article make dua’ that the bookbecomes a success because I think that it would be extremely ben-eficial for all people, not just Muslims. !

To contribute, write to Sana Khatib at muslimstories@yahoo.com

CHICKEN SOUP FOR

THE MUSLIM SOULTHE CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL ANTHOLOGIES OFFER WARM FUZZIES OF

ENCOURAGEMENT TO READERS. SO WHEN SERIES FAN SANA KHATIB SAW BOOKSAIMED AT CHRISTIANS AND JEWS, SHE WONDERED WHY THERE WAS NO BOOK FOR

MUSLIMS. DON’T WE HAVE SOULS TOO?