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The number of US servicemen killed in 2004 exceeds the number killed in 2003.
We are fast closing in on a 1000 servicemen killed since the beginning of operations in Iraq. Almost all will have died after President Bush declared "Mission Accomplished."
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What means more to Steve, being a new Mac user, or being a new Christian?
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In May I had posted an open letter to the two well-known presidential candidates, and actually sent it to both campaigns. I recently received a follow-up from the Kerry camp that someone has read the letter and will be forwarding it up to campaign management. It doesn't read like a canned letter, nor does it end with a request for money. Will keep you posted on further follow-ups.
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Lt. General Boykin is back in the news (1, 2). This time, the New York Times is calling him an embarrassment. Glad to hear that major papers are thinking this might not be right guy to be interrogating non-Christians, or to be involved in the War on Terror[ism] in any way. But for the record, what is an "Islamic American?"
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Rachel does it again. I've been sitting on this post for too long.
The Islamic tradition, according to Qur'anic injunction (17:78-79), is for three times prayer, dawn, just before sunset and just after sunset. And of course, many Muslims have seen the little prayer books for the pre-anything prayers, including going to the bathroom. Recently found one for a dua to say before having sex. Who says we're a repressed people?
Rachel's post, and the obvious similarities to Muslim traditions, got me thinking about the meaning of ritual.
The idea of using a symbolic language, in this instance ritual, is common to all religious traditions, and it takes on a multiplicity of forms. This argument is true within a tradition as well. Within the four extant schools of Sunni law there are variations in the way prayer is performed, and the Shi'ah have a different system as well. The idea behind ritual is to attempt to communicate with the Divine, to move us beyond this earthly realm, either by shared experience, or by a change in our daily routine - in some cases both - and to sacralize ourselves and our immediate vicinity. Prayer time should therefore not become part of our routine, but should be a reminder that there is something beyond the routine. It is a conscious decision on our part to attempt to commune with Majesty. Who are we to judge someone else's conversation with God? Either from within or without our own tradition?
Jalaluddin Rumi has a story about Moses (PBUH) and a shepherd.
Moses is walking in the desert when he hears a shepherd saying: "I love you so much. I would do anything for you. I want to wash your feet. I want to bring you milk. I want to pick the lice out of your hair."
Moses asks the shepherd who he is talking to and the shepherd replies "God." Moses gets angry and chastises the man: "God has no feet! He has no need for your milk. He has no hair, nor lice. He has no need of anything you can give Him. God is all-powerful." The shepherd shook in fear and fell silent. Moses went off, pleased with himself.
Soon God spoke to Moses. The gist of the conversation was that Moses had displeased God, by turning away one of His muslims (no capitalization) away from prayer. The shepherd spoke truthfully and lovingly from the heart, conceiving of God in the way he could, and communicating with Him in the way he knew how. By passing judgment, Moses had broken his faith.
Sometimes Rumi does it so well, and there's no way I can capture the beauty and power of that story. If ritual is the attempt to speak with the Divine, then there is value in common understandings of that ritual, but the relationship is between the believer and God. The differences amongst the Sufi tariqahs (orders) are based on the acknowledgment of this reality. Their communal practices differ, but they accept that each order is working towards the same goal.
The idea that there are five pillars in Islam should be anathema to Muslims; how can the glory of the reality of Islam be bounded by five things? Unfortunately, it's too readily accepted, and the pillar of prayer has now become the five times prayer. God is pretty explicit in the Qur'an that it's not prayer alone that makes a good Muslim (2:177, 3:57, 3:92, etc.).
The following prayer is from Khawaja Abdullahi Ansari:
Protect us lest we go astray.
Lead us to the way lest we wander.
We are negligient, but we are not unbelievers.
Lead us to rectitude, for we are destitute.
Gather us together, for we are scattered.
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Who You? posted a few days ago about who gets to say who is Muslim. It is an issue that is of grave concern to all Muslims, and particularly those who actively fighting for the soul of Islam; the easiest way to delegitimize your opponent is to call them kafir - non-Muslim.
More broadly than the Ismailis, there were other Muslim voices that were silenced, with greater success, during the recent Canadian elections. A hijab-wearing woman, whose father established one of the larger mosques in Toronto, was shunned by the Muslim community over her support of gay marriages. Her name is Itrath Sayed, and this is her letter to the Muslim community. Her logic, that her religious beliefs are part of her, but not necessarily defining of her role as representative of her constituents, is a compelling one. Just as important is the argument that she is upholding the very document that allows Muslims to practice freely.
The ability for a group to declare someone, or another community, non-Muslim, allows that group to do more than silence them politically - it is the same mentality as dehumanizing your enemy in order to allow people to commit atrocities with a clear conscience. The situation in Sudan is getting progressively worse. In The Economist's July 31-August 6 2004 issue, Musa Hilal, a leader of the janjaweed is quoted as saying:
As to the charge that his men rape black women: "Why would we rape them? The disgust us." He adds that African tribeswomen are barely Muslim and have such wanton sexual habits, as seen from the way they dance, that force would hardly be necessary. (p. 39)
Once upon a time, when the community was new, it took a lot to declare someone non-Muslim. There was sense that in the absence of the Prophet, no one could really act as arbiter in matters of faith (although according to Wilferd Madelung, Imam Ali was very clear about actions that could be considered apostasy). It seems there was this crazy notion that faith was between the believer and God, and no one could judge that; this notion actually seems to be in the Qur'an. In the intervening 1400 years, some shrill voices have popped up, and have taken on the role of representing God's will on earth. Most Muslims seem to have rolled over and played dead rather than suggest that God is ineffable. So most Muslims are committing shirk, associating others with God, and those who don't agree with them are branded as non-Muslim. That's the war we are fighting. Who defines Islam and who is a Muslim is up to us, not the colleges; not the madrasas not my great-uncle's second cousin thrice removed who once picked up the Qur'an, but us; those who are part of a community; those who are building community; those who, when faced with the majesty of God, do not claim to see our own reflection, but who understand the trust placed upon us to struggle to understand God and our relationship to that Divine. That is the first station for us to reach, to take back our Islam.
Here in the US, the debate rages on as to who is Muslim. The groups maybe US only now, but if we don't speak up now, when will we?
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Our favorite beduouina has posted her life story.
As many numbers as I throw at you about most Muslims are not Arab, nor are all Arabs Muslim (say hello to Edward Said, Hanan Ashrawi, and Tariq Aziz, to name a few), her own background gives a much sense of that reality.
Just for the record, and for those of you who care about numbers:
6.3 billion people in the world (source)
1.3 billion Muslims in the world (no cited source, just the number that's being bandied about right now)
300 million Arabs (source [projected from source]) ~5% of the world, ~22% of the Muslim population
Countries with the highest numbers of Muslims: (source)
Indonesia 180 million
Pakistan 120 million
India 120 million
Bangladesh 120 million
Turkey 56 million
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Perhaps I am not up on Muslim writers and thinkers, but thanks to reading a discussion on Muslim Wakeup, I was informed of Asma Barlas, Professor, Politics Department, Ithaca College. Her website contains many articles which are thought provoking and worth a read. The nice thing is that many of her essays are published in The Daily Times, Pakistan, and not in academic journals. Thus making them available to a larger audience.
The following was taken directly from Professor Barlas's website:
"My most recent research interests have been in the area of scriptural hermeneutics and the politics of reading/meaning-creation. To be precise, I am interested in how Muslims read and interpret their scripture, the Quran, because they frequently use patriarchal readings of it to justify sexual inequality and oppression [Believing Women? in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Quran, University of Texas Press, 2001].
This interest emerged gradually, from a general preoccupation with trying to understand different modes of oppression. My earlier work focused on the legacies of colonial rule as one way to understand contemporary South Asian politics [Democracy, Nationalism, and Communalism: The Colonial Legacy in South Asia, Westview Press, 1995].
At present, I am studying the so-called 'civilizational clash' between Muslims and Europeans that began in the seventh century. I am specially interested in finding out how Muslims encountered the West, why this encounter was/is represented by Europeans as a 'clash', and as a discourse of 'Otherness', and the ways in which this discourse plays itself out today in Western representations of Muslim holy war [jihad] and their treatment of women.
I am also working on developing new courses in the areas of human rights and colonialism/postcolonialism." [From http://www.ithaca.edu/faculty/abarlas/index.htm]
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The recent exchange between Haroon and Reid has got me thinking and churning and preventing me from working on my dissertation!. I was struck by Reids' quotation of Jesus Christ (PBUH)saying:
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6
and then reflecting on my own Shia-Ismaili-Muslim religous education and the attribution of the following the following hadith to Prophet Mohammed (PBUH):
"I am the city of knowledge and 'Ali is its gate."
The similarities and implications are very interesting. What is the Prophet implying when he says that he is the city of knowledge? What do we make of both his claim as being the city of knowledge and also Ali being its gate?
Any thoughts?
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Haroon over at Avaristan has done it again! He has written a very nice response to Reid's orignial posting about misunderstandings between Christians and Muslims. Also very applicable to Muslim misunderstanding about Christians AND other Muslims! Well worth the read.
Now if only he would change is colour scheme - so my eyes don't hurt after I finish reading. White on Dark is just plain wrong!
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