Interpretation of faith in Islam

Current issues, news and ethics
kmaherali
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Post by kmaherali »

Printed from THE TIMES OF INDIA

TOP ARTICLE | What Muslims Really Want
28 Mar 2009, 0000 hrs IST, DIPANKAR GUPTA

Seven years later, one cannot spot a veiled Muslim in any of the colonies built for the 2002 riot victims of Ahmedabad. Surely, this should have been the most likely spot for orthodoxy to take root. These people were so devastated by the violence that they would rather live in these ungainly tenements than return home. If burqas should be in evidence anywhere, it should be right here. But they are nowhere to be seen.

Add to this the fact that almost all such resettlement complexes in Ahmedabad have been built, either directly or indirectly, by Islamic institutions. The Jamaat-i-Islami, the Jamaat-i-Ulema-i-Hind, and the Tablighi Jamaat have done the most in this regard, and probably in that order. These faith-based organisations stood by terror-struck Muslims of Ahmedabad from the days when they sought refuge in the Shah Alam camp, and elsewhere. After the camps closed they helped the victims by repairing their homes or giving them shelter in their resettlement colonies. Though Ahmedabad's Muslims, especially the poor ones, are grateful to these religious bodies, they have not turned fundamentalist on that account.

Did the Jamaats, of one kind or the other, place conditions of a religious nature before they let people into these colonies? None, as far as the residents could recall. In fact, their laxity in religious observances has resulted in occasional disputes with some Islamic clerics. But nobody was tested for orthodoxy before they were allowed in. Their everyday life is largely free from any overt or covert subservience to the Jamaat-i-Islami or the Jamaat-i-Ulema-i-Hind.

Even the Tablighi Jamaat, which is punctilious about proper forms of worship, has left little impact on them. As one of the residents in the resettlement colony said, "These maulvis tell us about what is under the ground and above the ground, but not on the ground." In fact, many of them found it unreasonable when some mullahs insisted that they adhere to proper Sunni conduct and stop frequenting dargahs. After all, they argued, who gave them shelter in those terrible days of Hindutva violence? Did they not hide in the shadows of Shah Alam's dargah?

After Gujarat's 2002 violence against Muslims, it was widely believed that Islamic orthodoxy would be an obvious reaction. Many saw signs of this in the first few months following the carnage. This filled them with foreboding. But obviously a lot has changed since then.

Over time the reliance of Muslim victims on Islamic institutions has faded somewhat. This is natural for everyday issues gradually take a hold on one's life and other worldly ones begin to recede. These displaced Muslims need jobs, and they are not easy to come by. They were poor before the carnage, they are poorer now, but even low-paying opportunities are difficult to find. After 2002, many Hindu merchants shut their doors on Muslim artisans and haven't opened them yet. This has hurt Muslim home-based workers the most, particularly the women.

So the shine gradually dims. Time is a great eraser. The Jamaat-i-Islami and the Jamaat-i-Ulema-i-Hind want to help, but their capacities fall far short of what is needed. Along with other NGOs they have donated sewing machines, given petty loans, and helped victims get state compensation; but that is just not enough. Further, as these resettlement colonies are often outside the city, residents must travel long distances to work, even as a coolie. This adds to their hardship, but there is nothing more that faith-based organisations can do to steady them economically.

Are these poor Muslims not orthodox because Islamic organisations have not tried hard enough? The truth is that neither Jamaat-i-Islami nor Jamaat-i-Ulema-i-Hind is keen on advocating fundamentalist lifestyles. They have no interest in sponsoring madrassas that teach only Arabic and the Quran. Instead they have set up schools that provide secular education, and there is one such even in Naroda Patiya where Hindu violence was at its worst in 2002. These schools are not a ruse for Islamic organisations, or clerics, to pump religious fervour into Muslim kids.

On the contrary, these Muslim institutions are clear that they want the boys and girls in their care to learn secular sciences and skills and heave themselves out of parental poverty. The curricula in these schools are so designed that they conform to the requirements of the state education board. There would be some religious instructions in these institutions, but they would be on the side, and a minor matter.

Not surprisingly, several schools set up by Muslim trusts in Ahmedabad follow the same pattern. The accent is on turning out successful Muslims who can negotiate confidently in a secular world. Education is probably the only sphere where there is a great degree of concordance between clerics and the poor Muslims of Ahmedabad. The preference in these resettlement colonies is for Gujarati-medium schools, and this is also what the clerics want. It is most important that these children learn flawless Gujarati. Urdu is alright, but as a distant second language.

Where then is that fundamentalism that is supposedly breeding in the smouldering slums of Ahmedabad? In fact, if anything, it is just the reverse. Instead of Islamic terror becoming an election issue, why not this move among Muslims to develop and integrate? Is this not what they are beaming to us from Gujarat?

The writer is a professor of sociology at JNU, New Delhi.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opin ... 324649.cms
kmaherali
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Post by kmaherali »

April 23, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
Islam, Virgins and Grapes
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

In Afghanistan, 300 brave women marched to demand a measure of equal rights, defying a furious mob of about 1,000 people who spat, threw stones and called the women “whores.” The marchers asserted that a woman should not need her husband’s consent to go to school or work outside the home.

In Pakistan, the Taliban flogged a teenage girl in front of a crowd, as two men held her face down in the dirt. A video shows the girl, whose “crime” may have been to go out of her house alone, crying piteously that she will never break the rules again.

Muslim fundamentalists damage Islam far more than any number of Danish cartoonists ever could, for it’s inevitably the extremists who capture the world’s attention. But there is the beginning of an intellectual reform movement in the Islamic world, and one window into this awakening was an international conference this week at the University of Notre Dame on the latest scholarship about the Koran.

“We’re experiencing right now in Koranic studies a rise of interest analogous to the rise of critical Bible studies in the 19th century,” said Gabriel Said Reynolds, a Notre Dame professor and organizer of the conference.

The Notre Dame conference probably could not have occurred in a Muslim country, for the rigorous application of historical analysis to the Koran is as controversial today in the Muslim world as its application to the Bible was in the 1800s. For some literal-minded Christians, it was traumatic to discover that the ending of the Gospel of Mark, describing encounters with the resurrected Jesus, is stylistically different from the rest of Mark and is widely regarded by scholars as a later addition.

Likewise, Biblical scholars distressed the faithful by focusing on inconsistencies among the gospels. The Gospel of Matthew says that Judas hanged himself, while Acts describes him falling down in a field and dying; the Gospel of John disagrees with other gospels about whether the crucifixion occurred on Passover or the day before. For those who considered every word of the Bible literally God’s word, this kind of scholarship felt sacrilegious.

Now those same discomfiting analytical tools are being applied to the Koran. At Notre Dame, scholars analyzed ancient texts of the Koran that show signs of writing that was erased and rewritten. Other scholars challenged traditional interpretations of the Koran such as the notion that some other person (perhaps Judas or Peter) was transformed to look like Jesus and crucified in his place, while Jesus himself escaped to heaven.

One scholar at the Notre Dame conference, who uses the pseudonym Christoph Luxenberg for safety, has raised eyebrows and hackles by suggesting that the “houri” promised to martyrs when they reach Heaven doesn’t actually mean “virgin” after all. He argues that instead it means “grapes,” and since conceptions of paradise involved bounteous fruit, that might make sense. But suicide bombers presumably would be in for a disappointment if they reached the pearly gates and were presented 72 grapes.

One of the scholars at the Notre Dame conference whom I particularly admire is Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, an Egyptian Muslim who argues eloquently that if the Koran is interpreted sensibly in context then it carries a strong message of social justice and women’s rights.

Dr. Abu Zayd’s own career underscores the challenges that scholars face in the Muslim world. When he declared that keeping slave girls and taxing non-Muslims were contrary to Islam, he infuriated conservative judges. An Egyptian court declared that he couldn’t be a real Muslim and thus divorced him from his wife (who, as a Muslim woman, was not eligible to be married to a non-Muslim). The couple fled to Europe, and Dr. Abu Zayd is helping the LibForAll Foundation, which promotes moderate interpretations throughout the Islamic world.

“The Islamic reformation started as early as the 19th century,” notes Dr. Abu Zayd, and, of course, it has even earlier roots as well. One important school of Koranic scholarship, Mutazilism, held 1,000 years ago that the Koran need not be interpreted literally, and even today Iranian scholars are surprisingly open to critical scholarship and interpretations.

If the Islamic world is going to enjoy a revival, if fundamentalists are to be tamed, if women are to be employed more productively, then moderate interpretations of the Koran will have to gain ascendancy. There are signs of that, including a brand of “feminist Islam” that cites verses and traditions suggesting that the Prophet Muhammad favored women’s rights.

Professor Reynolds says that Muslim scholars have asked that conference papers be translated into Arabic so that they can get a broader hearing. If the great intellectual fires are reawakening within Islam, after centuries of torpor, then that will be the best weapon yet against extremism.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/opini ... nted=print
kmaherali
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Post by kmaherali »

How Islamic Law Can Work

How would you respond to radical Muslim clerics in northwest Pakistan -- now under Islamic law -- who are calling for expansion of Islamic law across the entire federal republic of Pakistan. Should any nation be governed by religious rules.

We hear a lot about "firebrand" Muslim clerics calling for the installation of Shariah law. It conjures images of women being stoned and forced into hiding behind burkas and denied educations. We think of beheadings and amputations as a form of justice. And we cringe.

But it is important that we understand what is meant by Shariah law. Islamic law is about God's law, and it is not that far from what we read in the Declaration of Independence about "the Laws of Nature and Nature's God." The Declaration says "men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

At the core of Shariah law are God's commandments, revealed in the Old Testament and revised in the New Testament and the Quran. The principles behind American secular law are similar to Shariah law - that we protect life, liberty and property, that we provide for the common welfare, that we maintain a certain amount of modesty. What Muslims want is to ensure that their secular laws are not in conflict with the Quran or the Hadith, the sayings of Muhammad.

Where there is a conflict, it is not with Shariah law itself but more often with the way the penal code is sometimes applied. Some aspects of this penal code and its laws pertaining to women flow out of the cultural context. The religious imperative is about justice and fairness. If you strive for justice and fairness in the penal code, then you are in keeping with moral imperative of the Shariah.

In America, we have a Constitution that created a three-branch form of government - legislative, executive and judiciary. The role of the judiciary is to ensure that the other two branches comply with the Constitution. What Muslims want is a judiciary that ensures that the laws are not in conflict with the Qur'an and the Hadith. Just as the Constitution has gone through interpretations, so does Shariah law.

The two pieces of unfinished business in Muslim countries are to revise the penal code so that it is responsive to modern realities and to ensure that the balance between the three branches of government is not out of kilter.

Rather than fear Shariah law, we should understand what it actually is. Then we can encourage Muslim countries to make the changes that achieve the essence of fairness and justice that are at the root of Islam.

By Feisal Abdul Rauf | April 23, 2009; 8:16 AM ET

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfa ... c_law.html
kmaherali
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Post by kmaherali »

No sanction for child marriage

By Asghar Ali Engineer
Friday, 15 May, 2009 | 08:36 AM PST |

A cleric who was arrested for performing a marriage between a 4 year old girl and a 7 year old boy in Pakistan - Reuters/File photo Pakistan

Where are their rights? RECENTLY I read a news item datelined Riyadh that said that Saudi Arabia was contemplating banning the marriage of girls under 18. This became necessary because a case of a girl aged eight years came to light.

She was married off to a man over 40 years her senior. Many Saudi jurists and ulema, however, uphold such marriages. Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh endorses the practice of marrying underage girls, arguing that in doing so they avoid spinsterhood or the temptation engaging in relationships outside wedlock. According to other reports many young girls in Arab countries that observe tribal traditions are married to older husbands but not before puberty. Such marriages are also driven by poverty in countries like Yemen, one of the poorest countries outside Africa.

But in countries like Saudi Arabia it is more of a tribal tradition which is practised in the name of Islam. Here the main question is: does Islam permit child marriage? If you ask any traditional jurist he would say ‘yes.’ But it was more of a pre-Islamic tradition which became part of Islam and our jurists and theologians generally justify it on the basis of the Prophet (PBUH) having married Hazrat Aisha when she was seven. It is doubtful if the Prophet of Islam would marry such a young child.

Modern researchers have established that the hadith regarding Hazrat Aisha’s marriage appeared some 300 years after the death of the Holy Prophet. It cannot be relied upon. Moreover, the Quran describes marriage as mithaqan ghaliza (strong covenant) and if marriage is a contract, how can one enter into one with a child who is hardly conscious of the implications of the contract?

It was for this reason that Hanafi jurisprudence has made provisions for what is called khiyar al-bulugh (i.e. option of puberty). According to this provision, if a child is married at a young age (below puberty) she has the option of accepting or repudiating the marriage on achieving puberty. The contractual nature of marriage cannot be altered.

In our traditional culture various pressures work on a girl’s mind and once she is married off it is very difficult for her to repudiate that marriage. Thus the Quranic principle is very sound and must not be sidelined in order to uphold traditional practices. Most Muslim communities give priority to their own respective traditions than Islamic principles and jurists, also coming from the same traditional cultures, and find ways to justify such practices. And then these acquire the halo of Sharia law.

Since many jurists insist on following such traditions, the faith becomes a laughing stock for the world media. The minor girl who was married to a man of 50 years of age in Saudi Arabia was finally divorced by her husband only after coming under pressure from the media. And only because of such pressure Saudi authorities are now considering banning the marriage of girls below 18 years of age. If put into effect, the measure will be quite in keeping with Islamic principles.

The need is to understand that what we call Sharia today includes a number of pre-Islamic Arab traditions and customary practices known as aadat (literally practices). Since the Quran was revealed among the Arabs and they were the first to embrace Islam their practices were accepted as part of Sharia law and Islamic principles had to be applied to the body of these aadat. But when Islam spread to other areas local customary laws also continued to be practised. Islamic principles as contained in the Quran are universal and surprisingly modern. It is unfortunate that our jurists and ulema are not ready to rethink our present laws which are a mixture of Islamic principles and aadat. For them Sharia law once formulated becomes eternal, though no student of classical Islamic jurisprudence will agree with such an approach. Whatever was formulated in the past must be reviewed in the light of Quranic pronouncements and child marriage must be banned. If the Saudi authorities have realised the need for banning child marriage, it should be welcomed. If they take this initiative, others can follow. But legislation, though quite necessary, is not enough. Many laws continue to be violated in practice.

Thus, there is an urgent need to spread awareness in Muslim societies. Awareness has to be created among women as, more often than not, they are the victims of many traditions and customs which have nothing to do with Islam. Also, a greater problem lies in areas where women are less literate or illiterate. They need to be made more aware of their Islamic rights to prevent more instances of child marriage and other abuses.

The writer is an Islamic scholar who also heads the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/daw ... rriage--09
kmaherali
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Post by kmaherali »

Many Western Muslims won't put their faith in a ‘Wazir of Oz'

Sheema Khan

From Monday's Globe and Mail
Last updated on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009 03:29AM EDT


.In a study sponsored by the Institute for Research on Public Policy, Carleton University professor Karim Karim found bifurcations between Muslims acclimatized to the West and imams “imported” from the Middle East and South Asia.

The result of the study, in which interviews were conducted with 56 Muslims in Canada, Britain and the United States, was not altogether surprising.

Many Islamic centres employ an imam from abroad to minister to the spiritual needs of a diverse, complex community. Some imams don't speak English very well, or at all. But the biggest disconnect, according to the study, is a lack of cultural familiarity.

One Montreal participant summarized: “My ultimate fantasy would be to find an imam who gives a [sermon], who … goes out to work from 9 to 5, takes the bus, is dealing with his kid who is picking up a marijuana joint at the age of 13. This is the kind of person I want instructing me on Friday, not speaking to me about the battles [Muslims] won 1,200 years ago.”

This disconnect is being played out in Ottawa, where the city's largest mosque has been embroiled in controversy as it searches for a permanent imam. The mosque's directors initially sought an imam familiar with Western culture. Instead, they chose one from Cairo's al-Azhar University, paid for by the Egyptian government. As a result, many mosque members revolted.

This episode, along with the IRPP study, also points to a growing divide between those who run the mosques and those who attend. Many centres are run in an autocratic manner, without input from youth or women. Now, community members want their voices heard and more accountability from directors, and they are willing to speak up. This is a healthy development.

The IRPP study also revealed that the participants – who were required to speak English well, have knowledge of contemporary intellectual discussions relating to Islam and have lived in the West for at least five years – are seeking to maintain their Muslim identity while trying to navigate modernity. The guidance provided by those who know little about liberal democracies is, not surprisingly, unsatisfactory.

In fact, Muslims accustomed to the West often experience a clash of cultures with their co-religionists elsewhere in key areas such as gender equality, critical analysis and individual freedom.

For example, a female convert to Islam once confided to me that, while the spiritual foundations of her new-found faith were wholly satisfying, dealing with the local Muslim community was akin to “going back 30, 40 years” in terms of women's rights. For all the rhetoric about women's rights in Islam, the reality is that many Muslim cultures (not all) do not accord women the respect they deserve or the opportunity to develop to their full potential.

Critical analysis of culture and faith is still taboo in some Muslim cultures and is often seen as a sign of non-belief. Yet the Koran points to Abraham, who questioned God so that his heart might “be at peace.”

In fact, the Koran is replete with questions asked by believers, agnostics and atheists. Questioning, thinking and reflecting are viewed as means to attaining faith, contrary to the view of some. Muslims raised in an environment that encourages critical thinking will approach their faith in a manner different from those schooled by rote learning.

History teaches us that the cultural manifestation of Islam is a reflection of indigenous norms. Gender equality, critical thinking and individual creativity may be seen as a threat by some. However, for Muslims living in the West, these form essential components of an indigenous Islam in harmony with liberal democratic values. Instead of looking for a mythical “Wazir of Oz” from the East to provide solutions for living in the West, Muslims should look for homegrown paradigms.

As for the fantasy sermon, it is already a reality. In June, the PBS documentary New Muslim Cool featured Jason (Hamza) Perez, a former gang member and drug dealer. After converting to Islam, he cleaned up his act. He is now an imam who also performs hip hop and a devoted family man who counsels prisoners (of all faiths) to reflect upon the harm they have done to themselves and to others. He believes in helping humanity, explaining that jihad is foremost a personal struggle to improve from within. Now, he wants to develop a program to get drug dealers off the streets.

As Hamza shows, the solutions are found here.

sheema.khan@globeandmail.com

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opi ... le1260437/
Biryani
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Post by Biryani »

What war? holy or unholy, and who is the Muslim scholar and where is the debate...increasingly or decreasingly? …
kmaherali
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Post by kmaherali »

Biryani wrote:What war? holy or unholy, and who is the Muslim scholar and where is the debate...increasingly or decreasingly? …
Good question, as stated in the first post of this thread, the intention behind this thread was to highlight the fact that there is a need for re-interpretation of faith in light of altered circumstances around us. The scholars questioning the need to go to war in the interests of faith is symbolic of this situation.

Perhaps the title of the thread needs to change to “Re-interpretation of Faith” if Admin can change it……
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Post by Biryani »

Some People might think that I am just in denial mode for this notion but I don’t think there is any war in actual existence of what world media is propagating about…rather it is some elements in small minority on each side of every situation that think or want to think otherwise and subsequently want more people to believe in their ideology as the reality…and, even, if the reality was any closer to their version, Propagating or debating it with some kinda self imposed holiness is not helping majority of us but only to that small mischievous minority on each side.

I can’t buy the attributes of holiness or unholiness of any war or conflict in today’s world and find that illogical, manipulative and deceiving… I think it is just the ignorance and backwardness that has to be addressed by majority of us in progressive ways for all and not in divisive or exploiting ways. .. plus involving of “scholars” makes it even more laughable….I think the best a scholar can do or should do is disagree politely and decently with others in that regard and wouldn’t have anything to do with any kind of war…or he or she is not an scholar in the first place…rather just an ideologue or other political or social lobbyist.

I can sense all kinds of differences between people and societies in general in today’s world and they are even more visible than ever before but I am not sure debating the differences with some kind of rigid ideology of holy war and whatnot is beneficial for anyone except few of those who is working against most of us.
kmaherali
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Post by kmaherali »

Mind set: Yoga beyond religion
27 August 2009, 12:00am IST

I follow all the Islamic tenets in the right interpretation and spirit and so, I can say that there is no such thing as yoga being haram
(disallowed) in Islam. Rather, I have found that Islamic yoga is a reality. It is possible to employ the skills of yoga to worship Allah better and to be a better Muslim.

Issuing fatwa declaring yoga anti-Islamic by some Malaysian and Indonesian ulema is nothing but misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the fact that yoga and namaz are almost identical. Having practiced yoga during my school days, I found that it can easily be integrated with the Islamic life; in fact the two assist one another. Not only is there no conflict, but Islam and yoga together make a mutually beneficial holistic synergy.

Both are agreed that, while the body is important as a vehicle on the way to spiritual realization and salvation, the human being’s primary identity is not with the body but with the eternal spirit. Maintaining a healthy and fit body is a requirement in Islam, which teaches a Muslim that his or her body is a gift from Allah.Yoga happens to be one of the most potential common grounds between Hindus and Muslims.

The purposes of yoga and Tariqat-e-Naqshbandi (Sufi lifestyle) are apparently similar since both aim at achieving mystical union with the ultimate reality namely Brahma or Allah. Islamic mysticism is undoubtedly impacted by the uncanny Vedic and Buddhist influences desiring to achieve mystical union with the Supreme Being or as one may also call nirvana or fana (a term used by the Sufis).

The Indian Muslims’ love affair with yoga is a complex thing, born of many factors. There’s the general disenchantment with strict, orthodox Islam of the myopic clerics and the accompanying pull to alternative forms of spirituality.

Yoga, according to Ashraf F Nizami’s book Namaz, the Yoga of Islam (published by D B Taraporevala, Mumbai 1977) is not a religion. Rather, it is a set of techniques and skills that enhance the practice of any religion. Nizami writes that in namaz , various constituents like sijdah is like half shirshasana while qayam is vajrasana in the same way as ruku is paschimothanasana.

Even Father M Dechanel wrote a book on Christian yoga recording that practicing yoga is encouraged because it is a way towards the realization of Christian teachings. According to Badrul Islam, a yoga instructor at a government academy in Dehradun, one of the most obvious correspondences between Islam and yoga is the resemblance of salat (five-time prayer a day) to the physical exercises of yoga asanas . The root meaning of the word salat is ‘to bend the lower back’, as in yoga; the Persians translated this concept with the word nama z, from a verbal root meaning ‘to bow’, etymologically related to the Sanskrit word namaste.

Since the yogic metaphysic of Advaita Vedanta is in perfect accordance with the Islamic doctrine of tauhid (God’s oneness), there is perfect compatibility between Islam and yoga on the highest level. The ‘Book of Sufi Healing’ by Hakim G M Chishti clearly states that life, from its beginning till the end, is one continuous set of breathing practices. However, in Tariqat-e-Naqshabandiyah, the Sufi tradition of Islam, breathing practice has been there exactly as in yoga. The Quran, in addition to all else it may be, is a set of breathing practices.

The enigmatic and most revered Qari (one who melodiously recites Quran) Abdul Basit of Egypt, whose recitation of the Quran is considered the best till date, practiced breathing exercise exactly similar to pranayam and was able to recite a surah by holding his breath for such a long duration that even the medical experts were amazed. However, no one told the Qari that he did it with yoga.

Nowadays, yoga is commercially promoted for health and repel diseases. In fact, less exercise owing to long office hours on computers is one of diseases of modern world. Cars, motorcycles and computers are our main pulse beat of contemporary life. People no longer think about physical and spiritual exercises, which make a good excuse for Muslims to be offered yoga practice.

Besides, many western societies are materialistic and for limitless monetary gains people would fall prey to rat race and superiority whereas their spiritual sides remain void. Forms of yoga such as Patanjali, Tantra, Sankhya and Dhyana ,
among others, are non-religious as even the atheists can practice them. Yoga today is a way of life for the followers of all religions.

The place of yoga in the lives of most Muslims will not be shifted by the fatwas of Indonesian and Malayian ulemas . Those who practice will practice, the so-called super-pious will frown. Even in the Middle East and Iran, yoga is a pet with Muslims.

Most Muslims in India are dazed that the all-encompassing credentials of yoga need to be debated. Let’s appreciate that at this time, the proyoga fatwa by the renowned Darul Uloom Deoband seminary has given it a clean chit and Swami Ramdev has also given the green signal that Muslims can substitute Allah for Ohm, but was it really required?

Quite interestingly, the word Ohm, according to Urdu or Arabic alphabet, is formed from three alphabets — Alif, Wao and Meem. If we consider the abbreviations of these, Alif means Allah, Wao or wa means ‘and’ while Meem means Mohammed. It shows that Ohm is a confluence of Allah and Mohammed. May be some super-pious will also frown upon me on this word play.

( Firoz Bakht Ahmed is a commentator on social and educational issues)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Life ... 094415.cms
kmaherali
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Post by kmaherali »

Islam & social reform
By Asghar Ali Engineer
Friday, 23 Oct, 2009

It is very unfortunate that many ulema should still vehemently oppose everything new, only to accept it later, reluctantly, for their own survival. We often refuse to move with the times and then time forces us to move with it after extracting a price for our refusal to change. –APP/ File photo

Traditional ulema have nearly always opposed social reform calling it un-Islamic. Many are able to mobilise support from static Muslim societies by quoting either certain selected Quranic verses or the hadith. Historically, ulema have also declared reformers as kafir or mulhid, i.e. believers in naturism rather than God.
Once such fatwas are issued against a reformer, he/she faces total isolation in society and finds it extremely difficult to carry on reform. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, whose birthday was on Oct 17, was one such great social reformer.

He never laboured over religious doctrines. He just wanted Muslims to go for modern, secular education so that modern knowledge, which was mostly available in English, could be made accessible to the Muslims. The ulema opposed his movement for modern education, the founding of an institution of modern learning, and issued fatwas against him, dubbing him variously as kafir, Christian and Jewish. One of the ulema even travelled to Makkah and obtained a fatwa for killing Sir Syed.

The question arises: why this show of fierce opposition to social reform which was, after all, for the betterment of the Muslim community of India? It was certainly not religious belief alone because opposition to social reform emanates from a host of complex factors.

Firstly, change is always feared as it brings uncertainty and unknown consequences, especially on the part of those who do not benefit from change. Apart from theologians and community leaders, it is feared by the masses who have not experienced change and have lived amid ignorance and superstitious beliefs.

Secondly, it is feared by the priesthood, by theologians as well as some social and cultural leaders because it challenges their leadership. Priests and theologians have had a grip on the minds of the people for too long, and many feel any change will throw up new social or theological leaders in which case they will lose out. Thus they oppose reform to secure their own positions. To legitimise their opposition they find what they call religious reasons and try quoting out of context from scriptures to impress the public.

The ulema in the 19th century were highly apprehensive of English education as it would mean challenging the madressah education, coupled with the fear that Muslims would be moving a step nearer to Christianity. As Arabic education was considered a step towards Islam, English education was considered a step towards Christianity. There was little more reason for the ulema to oppose modern education.

The ulema had held high positions in Mughal courts and functioned as qazis or religious judges. They were being replaced by British judges and highly qualified Indians who had studied the law. This created strong resentment among the ulema; they denounced the English education system which was taking away everything from them. Thus they had everything to fear and nothing to celebrate.

Muslim masses also supported them, because they recognised the ulema as their religious leaders and men of great Islamic learning. Secondly, Muslim society at the time was either static or decadent. Any change made the people fearful and they rightly believed the British to be their enemy, one who threatened their religious belief and political hegemony. The future was unknown and in the hands of foreign rulers.

Also, as pointed out before, change is feared by those who lose out and celebrated by those who gain from it. Only very few side with reformers who have some idea of what the future may hold. Among Muslims in India Sir Syed began the vigorous movement for modern education even before a new class of Muslims who could be the beneficiary of English education emerged.

Eventually, of course, that class came to the fore, albeit slowly, and subsequently became the harbinger of change. Among these people a galaxy of intellectuals arose who are respected to date. They included people like Nawab Mohsinul Mulk, Maulavi Chiragh Ali, Justice Amir Ali and Maulvi Mumtaz Ali Khan among several others. They developed a new vision of life and laid the foundation for a better life for the Muslims in India. Many from this new class of Muslims joined the civil, police and other services and left a mark on society.

Today many ulema are not only learning English they are also trying to project Islam to non-Muslims in the English language. What was thought to be the language of kafirs in the 19th century has now come to stay in the Muslim world. Thus, those who oppose change subsequently not only accept it, but also find that it becomes the very means of survival.

It is very unfortunate that many ulema should still vehemently oppose everything new, only to accept it later, reluctantly, for their own survival. We often refuse to move with the times and then time forces us to move with it after extracting a price for our refusal to change.

The writer is an Islamic scholar who heads the Centre for Study of Society & Secularism, Mumbai

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/daw ... form-am-03#

******

University blasts in Pakistan and the future of Islam
The International Islamic University is carving out a much-needed space in Muslim intellectual, and through it, political, life.
By Mark LeVine
from the October 23, 2009 edition

Lund, Sweden - When the Taliban attacked the International Islamic University in Pakistan this week, many were shocked that militants were targeting an Islamic school. In fact, the double suicide bombers were going after a university that is at the forefront of changing the way Islamic and Western knowledge are brought together in the Muslim world.

I also had some misconceptions before I had lectured in the very building where the second bombing took place. But the encounters I had there in 2007 utterly changed my understanding of Pakistan, as well as the future of Islam.

I had only landed in Islamabad just a few hours before I was scheduled to give my first talk at the university, and whether it was the 13-hour time difference with Los Angeles, two nights flying in coach, or walking through an arrivals lounge that had recently been attacked by terrorists, I felt more uneasy about being in Pakistan than Baghdad or Gaza during their own periods of intense violence.

Matters weren't helped when I was introduced to a group of male religious studies students by my host as someone who'd lived in Israel and speaks Hebrew. In fact, my stomach sank a bit – especially as their long beards and traditional dress reminded me a lot more of the Taliban than the graduate students I normally spend time with.

But as with most things in Pakistan, appearances were deceiving, and the situation was far more complex, and inspiring, than I'd imagined.

It turned out that the students with whom I was meeting weren't merely studying Islam, they were PhD students in comparative religion. They were situating Islam, its history, and its religious dynamics within the broader study of religious experience worldwide.

Moreover, the recently established program in which they were studying was a model for the International Islamic University's drive to develop a new curriculum, one that would combine 1,000 years of Islamic learning with the latest developments in American and European humanities and social studies scholarship.

The students explained they were all learning Hebrew, as well as biblical criticism and contemporary approaches to religious studies as part of their course work. As we began to talk it became clear that neither students nor faculty had much time or desire to engage in spirited critiques of the United States or the West.

They were much more interested in discussing how to better integrate "Western" and Islamic methodologies for studying history and religion. And more telling, they were trying to figure out how to criticize the government without "disappearing" into the dark hole of the Pakistani prison system for five or 10 years, or worse.

Colleagues in the history and political science departments were just as eager to develop the most up-to-date curriculums possible, and in so doing lay a benchmark for the development of their fields, not just in Pakistan, but globally.

This is not to say that the members of the University community supported US policies in the Muslim world. Far from it. But as good social scientists (or social scientists in training), they understood the importance of the interplay of local and global dynamics, and of the problems in their own societies that contributed to the violent relationship between the US and many Muslim groups around the world.

Indeed, when I delivered my second lecture on globalization early on a Saturday morning, the room was filled with students, more women than men (upward of half the student body at the University are women), who grilled me about the assumptions underlying my research and methodologies. Would that most of my students back home were as interested in what I was teaching as were they.

As I walked around the campus, and met faculty and students who'd come from all over the Muslim world to study there, the role of the IIU in the larger context of Islam globally became evident.

The University was carving out a much-needed space in Muslim intellectual, and through it political, life through its bringing Muslim and Western traditions into dialogue.

Yet it was receiving, and continues to receive far less attention from scholars, commentators, or policymakers than the fully American-style universities being opened across the Persian Gulf. This is most recently evidenced by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, or KAUST, just established with great fanfare and a $10 billion endowment from the king in Jeddah.

Such a venture is surely important, not just for having one of the world's fastest supercomputers or giving every newly hired professor $400,000 in research money – I got $3,000 when I was hired at University of California, Irvine, and that was when the university was flush with cash.

Yet the singular focus of KAUST on hard sciences is ultimately myopic and will likely produce little in the way of the larger societal change in Saudi Arabia predicted by the new university's boosters. Such changes come only with a robust public sphere where citizens who are educated broadly and humanistically are equipped with the social knowledge and skills to challenge the dominant political and social-religious discourses.

Building such an active Pakistani citizenry was and – I imagine despite the bombing – remains a major goal of the IIU.

Sadly, it's just such a goal that probably made it a "legitimate" target for the Taliban, for whom a healthy public sphere populated by educated citizens willing and able to challenge, potentially democratize, and clean up their government would pose at least as big threat to its position in the country as the army they are now fighting in the country's northwest.

Not surprisingly, the core mission of the IIU would also not win it many friends among the country's corrupt economic and political elite, who, as many of the senior education and religious officials I met confided to me, share the Taliban's desire to silence any kind of critical scholarship or societal debate.

With this attack, the Taliban has struck what until now was a sanctuary, however fragile and inchoate, where the emerging generation of Pakistanis and Muslims could determine on their own terms how best to bring together their cultures and traditions to grapple with the profound challenges faced by their societies.

I hope it doesn't weaken the spirit and resolve of the thousands of students who've come to the IIU from across the Muslim world to help build a better future. They are not just the future of Pakistan, or of Islam; they are the future as well.

Mark LeVine is a history professor at University of California, Irvine and currently a visiting professor at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University, Sweden. He is the author most recently of "Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam" and "Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine Since 1989"

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1023/p09s03-coop.html
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An evening with the Grand Mufti

Sheik All Gomaa, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, possesses a wonderfully exotic title, a scholarly manner and the unique burden of issuing about 5,000 fatwas a week — the judicial rulings that help guide the lives of the Muslim faithful. On a recent visit to the United States, he explained to me the process of "resolving issues of modern life." And modern life offers Gomaa and his team of subordinate muftis plenty of fodder for resolution, from the permissibility of organ transplants, to sports gambling, to smoking during Ramadan, to female judges, to the use of weapons of mass destruction, to mobile phone transmitters on the top of minarets.

This is perhaps the most difficult aspect of Islam for many non-Muslim Americans, who must look back to puritan Massachusetts for a time when hermeneutics — the art of interpreting a holy text — was such a consequential public matter. In the West, theological debates have long been confined to seminaries, causing nothing more serious than denominational splits. In Egypt, Gomaa is a theological celebrity. His office, the Dar al-Iftaa, is part of the Ministry of Justice. And though his rulings are non-binding unless adopted into Egyptian law, they are widely influential.

Reform in the Arab world is not likely — at least soon — to reflect the Western privatization of theological beliefs. All of life is subject to sharia law and most Arab governments gain at least a part of their legitimacy by reflecting it. At its worst — but rarely — this involves the classical Islamic punishments of stoning and amputation.

At its best, sharia law plays an equivalent role to the rule of law, binding both rulers and ruled by the same objective standard of justice.

So it obviously matters greatly how sharia law is interpreted, and who does the interpreting. But Islam, for better or for worse, has no pope or traditional clergy. Instead, it has several schools of interpretation — all of which view the Qur'an and the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad as normative, but reconcile local customs with Islam in different ways.

Some, on the Saudi Arabian model, view the seventh century as the purest Islamic ideal, which is difficult to reconcile with modernity, pluralism, democracy, women's rights and success in the modern world.

Sheik Gomaa represents a different approach. He can hardly be called a liberal. "The Egyptian people," he told me, "have chosen Islam to be their general framework for governance. That being the case, the Egyptian people will never accept homosexual marriage, or the use of illegal drugs, or the commission of homicide or joint suicide." Morality and its sources are absolute. "The Qur'an and the tradition are what we depend on," he insists.

"They were true 1,400 years ago, they are true today, they will be true tomorrow."

But traditionalist Islam, in his view, is pragmatic in the way it applies these principles to "current reality." It is the job of Islamic scholars "to bridge the gap between the sources and life today." Some past interpretations "may have been corrupt — we may find a better way. What we look to in tradition is methodology, not the exact results of 500 years ago." Gomaa focuses on "the intent of sharia to foster dignity and other core values," as well as "a commitment to the public interest."

"The end result is to improve the world, not destroy it," he said. As a result, Gomaa has made a number of rulings recognizing women's rights, restricting corporal punishment and forbidding terrorism.

"Let me give you an example of the approach from freedom," he told me.

"The Prophet, in history, peace be upon him, wore clothes like what they wear in Sudan. The fact that the Prophet did that doesn't mean we all must dress that way. There are those who want to hold on to the past, not hold on to religion."

Beneath Gomaa's interpretive approach is a strong assertion of the role of the traditional scholarly class within Islam. The issuing of fatwas by unqualified radicals has often led to religious chaos. Gomaa is a scholar of the first rank, and believes scholars, rooted in a long tradition of learning, should take the leading role in Islamic jurisprudence. His goal is not to liberalize Islam, but to rescue orthodoxy from extremism.

This does not amount to a fully orbed theory of human liberty. But Gomaa stands for an important and encouraging principle: Radicalism is the shallowest view of Islam.

MICHAEL GERSON is A COLUMNIST WITH WASHINGTON POST.
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Training the ulema

THOUGH there is no concept of priesthood in Islam, a clerical class has come into existence. In Islam any person, if he/she has adequate knowledge, can perform all the functions and rituals, be it related to marriage, death or other obligations for Muslims.

Alim (plural ulema) means one who knows. Thus the whole emphasis is on knowledge irrespective of class, caste, race or
nationality. Since knowledge is central this class came to be called ulema.

Now the question is what knowledge should be imparted to these persons who are supposed to guide the community. The ulema often quote a hadith that since Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is the last prophet the ulema are like stars after him and Muslims should seek guidance from them as stars guide and become source of light in the darkness of night, and ignorance is like darkness.

In those early days when a bunch of ulema began to come into existence the most important knowledge was that of the Quran and hadith which embodied total knowledge for the guidance of the community. Anyone having that knowledge was counted among the ulema. However, as Islam spread to other countries with their own old cultures, civilisations and indigenous sources of law, besides the ulema of the Quran and hadith, other types of ulema also came into existence, i.e. those who acquired knowledge from other sources like philosophy, mathematics and physical sciences. These ulema put emphasis on reason and rational sciences besides traditional sources of Muslim knowledge.

The rational sciences, over a period of time became so important that they became sources of syllabus for training of ulema and came to be known as ulum al-aqliyah, which mainly consisted of translations from Greek philosophy and other sciences.

In those days Greek sciences were the most advanced and these rational sciences were supposed to broaden the vision of the ulema. Muslims produced great philosophers who contributed richly to world knowledge and whose commentaries on Greek philosophy were taught in European universities and Christian seminaries throughout the Middle Ages. Thus the Christian priests studied al Farabi, Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd, etc. in their seminaries. All kinds of rational sciences flourished during the mediaeval ages in the Islamic world and Muslim ulema learnt and built on these sciences.

The Greek sciences are mostly of historical importance and humankind has made tremendous progress in social and physical sciences, so no one can claim to be an alim today without knowledge of contemporary developments. Unfortunately, the colonial period and the development of these sciences in Europe had to be simultaneous and since Muslim countries were victims of colonial rule, Muslims in general and our ulema in particular became highly prejudiced against all western or European advances made in the sciences, subsequent to Muslim scientists’ efforts.

Also, Islamic seminaries while taking out their anger against their colonial masters did not understand the difference between the colonial rulers and the scientists; many of the latter were persecuted by the same rulers. It was not western rulers who developed the sciences but the scientists who did so. The Christian church had also resisted Greek knowledge, and many philosophers were persecuted, but later they adopted and made these sciences part of their syllabus, and then of their theology.

Similarly, traditional Muslim ulema at first resisted modern social and physical sciences as irreligious and as being imports from the colonial West, and rejected these ulum. However, later they began to accept these sciences but would not teach them in Islamic seminaries. Still, they teach traditional Greek sciences as if it is part of Islamic knowledge. Now it is high time that Islamic seminaries integrate modern sciences, like they had the Greek sciences earlier, and make them part of the syllabus in seminaries.

Today, the whole emphasis in these seminaries is on the traditional sciences and theological issues. This is of course necessary but only as a part of the training. Along with these theological issues they must also train their students in modern social and physical sciences which will greatly help broaden their vision. They should also be trained in interpreting the Quran using modern scientific methods. The earlier commentaries and interpretations were done in the light of knowledge which was available then, and much of it was Greek philosophy. One cannot continue to teach the same commentaries; while the Quran is divine, the tafsir literature is entirely a human effort to understand the Quran within the parameters of available knowledge at any given time in human history.

The existing hadith literature comprises both authentic as well as zaeef traditions of somewhat doubtful origin. The students must be trained in modern methods of sifting through the existing literature and rigorously select only those traditions which are authentic and in keeping with the Quran and reasoning. The integrity of the narrator is not enough; it should also fulfil the criterion of human reasoning. Reason and intellect are divine gifts and the Quran recognises the role of reason.

Also, in those madressahs where sectarianism is flourishing, there is a need for the ulema to learn the value of tolerance and moderation. The fundamental values of the Quran, haq (truth), adl (justice), ihsan (doing good), rahmah (compassion) and hikmah (wisdom), must be taught and emphasised. Also, knowledge of comparative religion should be imparted which is highly necessary in the modern pluralistic world. Only such a comprehensive syllabus will produce a scholarly set of future ulema.

The writer is an Islamic scholar who also heads the Centre for Study of Society & Secularism, Mumbai.

http://www.dawn.com/2011/02/04/training-the-ulema.html
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March 20, 2011
Mullah in Debate of Tradition vs. Modern Schooling
By JIM YARDLEY

AKKALKUWA, India — On opposite sides of a dusty road, thousands of Muslim students in this remote farming town are preparing for very different futures. On one side, inside a traditional Islamic seminary, teenage boys in skullcaps are studying ancient texts to become imams. On the other, students are hunched before computers in college classrooms, learning to become doctors, pharmacists and engineers.

The distance between them is about 50 feet, but it could be five centuries. In the middle is a bearded Muslim cleric, Mullah Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi, who has spent the past decade bridging the divide between traditional and modern education for Muslims. From his main campuses here in Akkalkuwa, he has built a network of religious schools, hospitals and colleges with more than 150,000 students across the country, and earned a reputation among India’s Muslim clerics as a reformer.

His success here led to his selection in January as vice chancellor, or rector, of India’s most prestigious and influential Islamic seminary, Darul Uloom, in the city of Deoband. Darul Uloom is known for its Orthodox rebukes of modernity, and the mullah is now in a struggle for its control.

Ordinarily, an internal dispute among Muslim clerics over an Islamic school, or madrasa, would attract limited attention in India. But Mullah Vastanvi has stirred a debate among Indian Muslims about the need for reform in Islamic society while tapping into the frustrations of those eager for religious leaders more attuned to the modern world.

“People are tired of the old ways,” said Shahid Siddiqui, editor of Nai Duniya, an Urdu-language Muslim newspaper. “People want development. People want growth. We need people like Vastanvi who can be a symbol of the fight to bring Muslims into the modern world.”

Founded in 1866, Darul Uloom has trained thousands of imams who, in turn, have founded madrasas throughout South Asia and Africa as part of the Deobandi Islamic Movement. Deobandis advocate a conservative form of Islam, and some Deobandi mosques in Pakistan and Afghanistan became radicalized in recent decades.

Many members of the Taliban call themselves Deobandis, even though the Indian leaders of Darul Uloom have strongly condemned them, rejected extremism and organized meetings of Islamic teachers to denounce terrorism. During India’s independence movement, Deobandis supported Gandhi and later rejected joining a partitioned Pakistan.

Today, Darul Uloom is better known in India for issuing so many provocative fatwas, or religious opinions, that it is often derided in the Indian news media as a “fatwa factory.” These opinions, often ignored by mainstream Indian Muslims, have included edicts against women wearing blue jeans; against women and men working together in offices; and against the practice of collecting interest on bank deposits.

Mullah Vastanvi had already proposed reviewing the fatwas when he became embroiled in controversy. In an interview in the Urdu press, later repeated in the English-language media, he was quoted as saying that Indian Muslims needed to focus on economic progress and move beyond the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat in which Hindus rampaged through Muslim areas, leaving about 1,000 people dead.

In media accounts, he was also quoted as condoning Gujarat’s chief minister, Narendra Modi, who has long been accused of abetting the violence against Muslims. But the mullah said that his comments were misrepresented and that he had never given a “clean chit” to Mr. Modi.

“My statement was presented in a distorted manner,” Mullah Vastanvi said. “I do not say forget the past. I told the journalist that to my mind, today Muslims should move forward in education and business. If we stay fixated on the old things, how can we move forward?”

A media firestorm erupted, as rivals attacked Mullah Vastanvi in the Urdu press in what his allies regarded as a smear campaign. The mullah responded by offering his resignation but then received an unexpected outpouring of support: several media commentators argued in his favor and blamed the conflict on an internal struggle between his supporters and the powerful Madani family, which has long dominated Darul Uloom.

In late February, the school’s governing council appointed a committee to investigate the controversy and placed daily operations under a temporary rector until a final decision is made.

Meanwhile, many young Muslim clerics, including some from Darul Uloom, have since rallied behind Mullah Vastanvi as a symbol of reform.

“Most of the students are very happy with the appointment,” said Mohammad Asif, 22, a student at Darul Uloom. “Some powerful people did not like the progressive ideas of Mullah Vastanvi. They felt threatened by his taking over.

“He talks of good education, modern education. He is doing good things for the Muslim community.”

India has at least 161 million Muslims, the third largest number of any country, but Muslims remain a largely marginalized minority in a Hindu-majority nation, disadvantaged economically and educationally.

Education is regarded as a critical issue, though often ignored by many clerics. Darul Uloom offers courses in English and computers but the rest of the curriculum is drawn from the ancient Islamic texts. Only a small percentage of Muslim students attend madrasas in India, yet scholars say these theological schools exert broad influence on Muslim society.

Yoginder Sikand, a scholar who has written extensively about Indian madrasas, said Darul Uloom trained students in an ancient worldview, using centuries-old commentaries to teach the Koran or other texts, rather than more contemporary analyses that try to apply Islam to modern concerns. “The syllabus is not reflective of contemporary demands,” he said. “It doesn’t equip students with the knowledge of the contemporary world.”

Mullah Vastanvi is hardly a wild-eyed liberal. He was born in Gujarat, trained in a Deobandi madrasa and arrived in Akkalkuwa three decades ago, where he established a one-room religious school with six students using the same syllabus as Deoband. But as his school grew, populated by children from poor families, the mullah said he realized that students also needed a way to earn a living. He began including training for imams in tailoring and other skills.

But his biggest step came when he started a parallel system for so-called modern education, soliciting contributions from Muslim business leaders to build vocational institutes and, later, certified colleges of medicine, engineering and pharmacy. Many Muslim families struggle to afford mainstream Indian universities, which often demand large advance payments and tuition; in Akkalkuwa, advance payments are not required.

“If you want to move ahead in the world, you have to go where the world is moving,” Mullah Vastanvi said. “And education is critical for that.”

To some secular Muslims, the attention on madrasas is misplaced. Abusaleh Shariff, an economist and co-author of a major 2006 government report on Muslims in India, said resources, attention and energy should be focused on government schools where a majority of Muslim students attend class with Hindus and others.

“We don’t want ghettoism in education,” he argued. “We want secular education.”

But at Akkalkuwa, Mullah Vastanvi seems to be trying to find a balance between Islam and modern schooling.

“Vastanvi tells us this is the era of globalization and competition,” said Mohammad Farooque, a mechanical engineering student. “When you are here, he says try to do your best. Then you will progress.”

Hari Kumar contributed reporting.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/21/world ... odayspaper
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Lifelong Learning: Articles

Islam’s Reformist Tradition
Professor Abdou Filali-Ansary

This is an edited version of an article written by Abdou Filali-Ansary then Director of the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations of Aga Khan University London in 2004.


Abstract
The search for an authentic path that links Islam’s traditions to the modern world - the Muslim reformist tradition - has deep roots, stretching back to the middle of the 19th century. Reformists have aspired to participate in the centuries-long discussions among Muslim scholars about the proper ordering of Muslim life, reflecting on and seeking to reform the state of their own societies. The influence of the first wave of reformers has been significant, but paradoxically their ideas have spawned conservative trends amongst Muslim thinkers. Today, although there are many reformists amongst Muslims, their existentialist voices are often drowned out by the noise of more essentialist thinkers. Within the larger contemporary context where conflicts have manifested, Muslim reformists are subjecting traditional frameworks to scrutiny, attempting to separate the core ethical principles of Islam from the various historical adaptations that conservatives have enshrined as sacred, and seeking to better understand how universal principles can be expressed through Muslim tradition.

Download PDF version of article (36 KB)

http://iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=105723&l=en
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Islam and Spiritualism
03 Sep 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

Need to Modify Various Islamic Rituals & Practices

By M. Husain Sadar

Muslims should consider modifying some of their religious practices and rituals in order to bring them in line with realities of the modern age. Such a step is needed to ensure a better future for the coming generations of Muslims.

Followers of Islam and those of Judaism and Christianity, share a common belief that in order to deserve a handsome reward a place in heaven after death- people should live life on earth as prescribed by God through various prophets.

These divine proclamations and requirements started with Prophet Adam and have continued through numerous other emissaries of God such as prophets Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Jesus and Mohammad (peace be upon all of them.) These prophets not only conveyed the divine messages to the people but also designed and promoted various rituals and practices for ensuring proper compliance with the divine revelations.

Obviously, such religious rituals were designed according to the prevailing socio-economic conditions and cultural traditions of the society which existed at that particular time period. For instance, Prophet Mohammad ( p.b.u.h), taught his followers, mainly nomad Arab tribes, how best they could put into practice the five pillars of Islamic faith namely, belief in God (shahda), prayers(salaat), charity (zakaat), fasting during the month of Ramadan ( Saum) and annualpilgrimage to Mecca ( Haj).

Most major practices were originally designed by the Prophet of Islam but were further expanded by various Islamic scholars (Imams) such as Imam Abu Hanifa and others with good intentions and for good purposes. However, most of these rituals and practices were put in place several centuries ago. Obviously, since then the human race has experienced numerous irreversible changes in its socio-economic, political and cultural conditions and circumstances. But most importantly, this evolutionary process now has accelerated dramatically due to the growing influneceand cumulative effects of modern technology. Whereas I have been fasting during the holy month of Ramadan over the past half a century, I have now started to wonder about the real purpose and benefits for observing this and other major Islamic rituals.

We have been told that fasting makes us realize the sufferings of a starving person. But having seen starving Somali women and children on TV, millions of non-Muslim people around the world have been collecting and sending help to end the sufferings of Somali people. It simply means that one does not have to fast in order to generate the needed sympathy for a starving person. According to the Holy Quran and other previous books of revelation, our Creator is very loving, kind and gracious (raheem and rahman). Since Godis most knowledgeable and fully aware of everything, He knows about the harsh and unbearable conditions created by hot June and July sun or by the freezing cold in various parts of the globe.

As has been the case in the past, during this Ramadan too millions of poor Muslims workers have continued their back breaking work under slave like conditions in numerous countries and especially in oil rich Gulf states. Millions more farm workers had to harvest wheat or corn or pick vegetables and fruit under the burning heat of the summer sun. Surely, God does not want to punish these folks further by asking them not even to drink some cold water during the hot summer days.

Muslims living in predominantly Arab/Islamic countries do not experience such large variations in the movement of the sun as those of us who are living in the northern hemisphere. Consequently, people in those countries can fix times for five daily prayers and for fasting during Ramadan according to the position of the sun. However, those living in other parts of the globe but more specifically closer to the Arctic circle cannot always follow old ways of performing various Islamic rituals. Unfortunately, the so-called ‘Islamic scholars’ but especially those based in the Arabian peninsula or in Iran consider it their exclusive right to impose their opinions (fatwas) on other Muslims. In addition, the mosque imams keep on projecting all old customs, traditions and practices as the final word of Allah which is written in stone. Consequently, Muslims are not allowed to think rationally and act reasonably and independently no matter where they live or what climatic and working conditions they are subjected to. It particular, the ‘imams’ imported from Arab countries to serve the growing Muslim communities in western countries, keep on promoting blindly the religious practices or Sharia laws of their home countries which have little in common with the laws and value systems and practices of European and North American societies.

For instance, covering the entire body of a woman from top to toe (burqua) may be considered as an “Islamic dress” in some Arab/Islamic countries. However, such practices are now being declared as illegal in many European countries. Similarly, marrying more than one woman or ending marriage, divorce (break up) verbally, may be common and a convenient way for Muslim males to project their power or superiority. However, such practices are illegal in non-Muslim countries and societies.

Consequently, even the talk of the so-called Shariah Law is creating unnecessary misunderstanding and tension among Muslims and others living in Europe and North America. One of the most confusing examples in the Arab/Islamic societies is the selective use of modern technology. It seems that these communities are deeply in love with cell phones, DVD’s, cable and satellite TV. However, some Muslim and their ‘imams’ cannot determine the start or end of Ramadan without seeing the moon with their naked eyes. Apparently, the scientific evidence or use of modern technology cannot be allowed to decide such religious matters.

As has been done in the past, this year again one local ‘imam’ along with his few followers ran around frantically over Ottawa area to find a suitable place for sighting the Ramadan “moon”. For him , such moon sighting was a must for deciding the starting day of Ramadan. Amazingly, in doing so, the Imam was armed with a high-powered pair of binoculars in order to assist him find the very thin slice of the moon. Obviously, binoculars, wrist watches, telephones, internet, cell phones, TV and other such modern devices were not available during the time of Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h). Hence, the only way to set times for fasting or daily prayers during those days was by looking at the sun or the moon. However, these days sophisticated technology provides highly accurate predictions and reliable relevant data about all the movements of the sun and other planets in the entire solar system. Surely, the “Islamic scholars” and imams must be aware that we all live in a technologically dominated world. Mosques use loud speakers to ensure that the call for prayers is heard far and wide. Muslim preachers use television for reaching to larger number of viewers. Considering that the message of Islam is supposed to be a universal one, Muslims have to rely on modern technology to spread Islamic concepts and to design associated practices.

Why not take advantage of available technology in order to plan and organize prayers, fasting and Eid celebrations in an efficient and effective fashion? Undoubtedly, the modern day society will continue to undergo even more rapid changes because of greater use of rapidly expanding information technology, space travels, internet economy, global trade and commerce and fast emerging multicultural communities and nations. Moreover, in today’s competitive world, everyone is required to have solid work ethics, high professional standards and strong commitment to team work. Consequently, it is not going to be always easy or convenient to leave work for performing every daily prayer at the designated time and/or fast from dawn to dusk. Reforming some of the Islamic rituals is even more important for younger generations of Muslims who are born and are living in the Western countries.

These coming generations of Muslims may be partly engulfed at home by the cultural background of their parents. However, once in school these youngsters are fully exposed to the value system of the society in which they live. Hence, they are growing up in a democratic and secular environment which encourages open and free discussions on all topics including the religion. It is a common knowledge that all major religions are struggling these days to attract younger followers. Consequently, it is safe to assume that Muslim youth growing up in various western countries may not be as devoted to Islam, at least not to the version as followed by their parents. It may also mean that some of the expensive mosques which are now under construction or are in operation today in the West, may look partially deserted or neglected in the near future.

Obviously, there is great need for meaningful reforms of various Islamic rituals and practices in order to make them more adaptable in the technologically dominated modern world. Failing that, future generations of Muslims in the West may find their own ways to rectify this situation. Another alternative and perhaps an attractive one, will be to abandon completely some if not all such rituals and practices.

Dr. M. Husain Sadar is a former Canadian civil servant and retired Professor of Environmental Sciences. He has travelled frequently in several O.I.C. member countries on UN-sponsored training missions.

Source: The View Point

URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamI ... cleID=5395

http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamA ... cleID=5395
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Post by kmaherali »

Muslims on Wall Street, Bridging Two Traditions

Published: April 14, 2012

Excerpt:

"Working in finance is straightforward enough in a Muslim country, where prayer breaks are typical and holidays like Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, are built into the calendar. But Muslim bankers in the United States have fewer resources. Many don’t have dedicated prayer rooms at work, and leaving the office to attend Friday prayers at a mosque can mean shuffling duties to a co-worker.

“We have a concept called law of necessity,” said Rushdi Siddiqui, global head of Islamic finance at Thomson Reuters. “You have to, at one level, abide by the laws of the land that you happen to reside in, whether it’s the formal laws or the unwritten laws.”

Perhaps the biggest impediment to greater participation by Muslims on Wall Street is that, by some readings, the Koran prohibits riba, or interest. Some Islamic scholars have interpreted the ban to be more inclusive of modern finance, and a subgenre of Sharia-compliant financial transactions, known as sukuk, has tried to bridge the gap. "

More....
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/busin ... h_20120415
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Post by kmaherali »

August 9, 2012

Islamists in North Mali Amputate Man’s Hand

By ADAM NOSSITER

DAKAR, Senegal — Islamists who control northern Mali have publicly amputated the hand of a man they accused of robbery, continuing an increasingly harsh application of what the vast region’s new masters consider sacred law.

The amputation took place Wednesday morning in the small town of Ansongo, just downriver from the provincial capital, Gao, which is under the rule of an Islamist group, splintered off from Al Qaeda, called the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, or Mujao. It was confirmed by a Mujao spokesman in Gao in a telephone interview, and by the Malian government in a statement later from Bamako, the capital.

A witness in Ansongo said that the accused man’s hand was “placed on a sort of table,” in front of dozens of spectators, in the town’s main square. Then, “a gentleman with a sort of cutlass” — the witness described him as “an Arab” — swung hard, and sliced off the man’s hand, the witness said. “He cut it. There was a lot of blood.”

“He held up the man’s hand for the people, like a sort of trophy,” the witness, a local teacher, said Thursday in a telephone interview from Ansongo. “He said, ‘God is great.’ It was barbaric.”

He requested anonymity because he said it was dangerous to speak even over the telephone about what was going on in the town.

A spokesman for Mujao in Gao, Aliou Mahamar Touré, said Thursday by telephone: “They cut off the hand of a robber at Ansongo. Yes, yes, they did this. He was a thief. He stole. God has told us to cut off the hands of thieves. It’s in the Koran.”

Just 11 days ago, in the desert town of Aguelhok, Islamist allies of Mujao publicly stoned to death a young couple accused of having children outside wedlock. The stoning and now the amputation appear to signal an acceleration of the Islamists’ determination to apply Shariah law to the territory they conquered from the Malian government in March and April. Already, the Islamists have driven nearly 400,000 people to flee northern Mali and have spurred calls for a regional intervention force.

“The extremists who are occupying northern Mali have cut off the hand of an inhabitant of Ansongo, adding a new ignoble act to the long list of atrocities they have inflicted on the people,” the Malian government said in a statement from Bamako. “The actions of the terrorists and drug traffickers, cloaked in a false veil of religion, reinforce the inevitability of military action.”

In recent days, young people in Gao have resisted the harsh punishments, blocking Mujao’s plan to amputate a robbery suspect publicly in the town by descending into the streets to protest.

The teacher argued that the Islamists chose to carry out the punishment at Ansongo “because it didn’t come off at Gao.”

He said, “At Gao there were difficulties.”

But Mr. Touré, the Mujao spokesman, denied that there was any connection between the forestalled amputation in Gao and its application in Ansongo, and he vowed to continue enforcing what he called religious law.

“Even at Gao, there are robbers whose hands we still want to cut, God willing,” Mr. Touré said.

The teacher said the amputee in Ansongo, who was accused of stealing cattle, did not cry out. Many spectators had approved, he said, because of the prevalence of theft in the region, for which he blamed nomadic Tuareg tribesmen. Other witnesses could not be reached; cellphone connections there are minimal.

“There were a lot of spectators,” he said. Afterward the victim was taken to a local health center, he said. “As an intellectual, I didn’t appreciate this. These are ignoble, terrorist methods.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/10/world ... h_20120810
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Post by kmaherali »

New approach to Islamic learning
August 31, 2012 by Akhtar Saeed Siddiqi

IF we wish to understand the true meaning of Islam and its application in a modern context, we have to opt for a new approach that might be termed the three-dimensional approach or 3D approach.

The three dimensions are: (1) the surrounding universe (the cosmos and its physical phenomena, system and revelations along with its social and human context); (2) the textual/ scriptural deliberations revealed to the prophets and messengers and the modes of their implementation at various times; and (3) the contemporary human intellect combining the heart and mind.

This is the core message I could extract from a recently published book, Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation written by Dr Tariq Ramadan, a professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Oxford.

The first two dimensions are described by Dr Ramadan as two separate revelations. The signs (ayat), either in the cosmos or in revealed scriptures/texts, both quite autonomously reveal their meaning to human intelligence. Adding human intelligence to the two revelations, the 3D approach establishes an autonomous and mutually collaborative status for each dimension and has the potential to fundamentally change our traditional perception of Islamic learning.

The conventional paradigm of Islamic learning reflects a one-dimensional approach that presents the image of divine revelation as consisting only of predefined orders. Humanity is placed at the receiving end and has no role except to receive, believe in and obey readymade revealed orders.

The conventional paradigm may be called the paradigm of divine commands and human obedience, and almost all the religious sciences in Islam during the mediaeval period of Muslim history developed under the impact of this conventional paradigm.

The same paradigm eventually nurtured religious dogmatism in Muslim societies and bestowed a special position on textual scholars (ulama/fuqaha) as the sole interpreters of divine commands mentioned in textual sources. Although some space was occasionally created by textual scholars for the expansion of religious law through the exercise of methodological reasoning (ijtihad), such efforts always remained minor adjustments responding to a pressing need or to difficulty in the exact implementation of the inherited traditional religious law.In almost all Muslim societies today, religious authority and legitimacy are still theoretically held by textual scholars while the implementation of religious law itself has practically shrunk or become almost non-existent, at least in the major areas of contemporary practical life. This has resulted in the decline of the applied religious ethics of Islam and has transformed it into a defensive, passive, behind-the-times and isolated ethics.

The 3D approach puts the real onus on human intelligence and its capacity to discern meaning. It makes every human being individually, and all of humanity collectively, responsible (mukallaf), demanding that they read and understand the meaningful phenomenal signs and indications (al-ayat ul-kauniyah) that humans, as intellectual animals, face almost everywhere in the open book of the universe. The same approach demands that humans reflect on the descriptive formulations (al-ayat ul-bayyinat) mentioned in the revealed scriptural sources.

The specific reflections involving human intelligence may rightly be called, in the words of Dr Ramadan, mirror reading. This mirror reading establishes a new relationship of humankind with divine revelation, either in scriptural sources or in the book of the cosmos that, through this new approach, should not be perceived as merely consisting of predefined commands which are to be blindly obeyed. Instead, it will involve human creative, analytical and critical capacity during the process of searching for the truth through studying the context of the surrounding cosmos, including its social and human context.

The role of revealed narratives in this process therefore would be to economise human intellectual effort through providing guidance (huda) and corrective reminders (dhikr), uplifting the human conscience (taqwa/tazkiyah) and, finally, showing man the right path (sirat-i-mustaqim). Hence, through this 3D approach, a new paradigm of Islamic learning develops that, against the conventional dogmatic attitudes, must initiate and promote intellectual activism.

This new paradigm may be called the paradigm of human curiosity in search of truth and of voluntary human obedience and wilful surrender to its demands and obligations that is the real sprit behind the meaning of the terms ‘iman’ and ‘islam’.

The 3D approach may potentially change the centre of gravity of religious authority and legitimacy from textual scholars to scientists who, at the same time, should also be well-versed in revealed textual sources. However, during the transitory period until scientists of such calibre can be produced, the gap may be filled by combined councils of both types of specialists in various areas of knowledge without assigning any privileged or sacred position to either group.

Meanwhile, this approach may change the conventional make-up of Islamic religious thought, which had veneered or glossed over inner content during the mediaeval ages, and should eventually enable Muslims to liberate themselves from the narrow bounds of national, regional, pan-Islamic or binary approaches such as dividing the globe into two territories of war and peace (darul harb and darul Islam).

Through this radically reformed approach, Muslims in a pluralistic and global scenario would be able to develop a visionary, committed and open ethics that would be able to question the world, its order, its achievements and its lapses and then be able to devise concrete modalities to transform the fundamentals of the applied ethics of global human society.

The writer is the former dean of the faculty of Islamic Studies at Karachi University.

drakhtarsaeed@hotmail.com

http://dawn.com/2012/08/31/new-approach ... ing/print/
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Post by kmaherali »

How ISIS Drives Muslims From Islam

THE Islamic State has visibly attracted young Muslims from all over the world to its violent movement to build a caliphate in Iraq and Syria. But here’s what’s less visible — the online backlash against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, by young Muslims declaring their opposition to rule by Islamic law, or Shariah, and even proudly avowing their atheism. Nadia Oweidat, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, who tracks how Arab youths use the Internet, says the phenomenon “is mushrooming — the brutality of the Islamic State is exacerbating the issue and even pushing some young Muslims away from Islam.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/opini ... 05309&_r=0
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Post by kmaherali »

Sharia’ sets off alarms in Canada. Here are the facts (graphic)

http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/06/0 ... the-facts/
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Post by kmaherali »

Raising Questions Within Islam After France Shooting

CAIRO — Islamist extremists behead Western journalists in Syria, massacre thousands of Iraqis, murder 132 Pakistani schoolchildren, kill a Canadian soldier and take hostage cafe patrons in Australia. Now, two gunmen have massacred a dozen people in the office of a Paris newspaper.

The rash of horrific attacks in the name of Islam is spurring an anguished debate among Muslims here in the heart of the Islamic world about why their religion appears cited so often as a cause for violence and bloodshed.

The majority of scholars and the faithful say Islam is no more inherently violent than other religions. But some Muslims — most notably the president of Egypt — argue that the contemporary understanding of their religion is infected with justifications for violence, requiring the government and its official clerics to correct the teaching of Islam.

More....
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/world ... d=45305309
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What His Highness the Aga Khan as said...

Post by mahebubchatur »

What Hazar Imam has said regarding Freedom and licence, and  of the need to understand and not to compromise our Tariquah and values.. Imam also confirms we must all carry  (share), Farmans for all the Jamats.  farmans excerpts below. (emphasis supplied in this conteext)

“Freedom is tending to become a licence. That is not acceptable. The abuse of freedom is the misuse of freedom. And therefore, I think we have to be very careful that we understand the ethics of our faith, abide by the ethics of our faith, and explain to the others that we have our own ethics. We do not ask them to share all our ethics, nor should they ask us to share all theirs, particularly when we find the principles of life are clearly different amongst various peoples, various governments, etc. My Jamat well knows that from My point of view, I have not made compromises, and I will not make compromises, because I consider it is up to the rest of the world to look upon us, and I hope, understand and value our systems.

This is a time of new freedoms, but it is also one in which new choices must be made wisely. In exercising freedom and making choices, our institutions must be guided, as they have been in the past by the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (Peace of Allah be upon Him) and the tradition of our Tariqah, which is the tradition of Hazrat Ali: a thinking Islam and spiritual Islam: an Islam that teaches compassion, tolerance and the dignity of man, Allah's noblest creation..


And while society may change, the basic ethics don't change. The ethics of remembering Din and Duniya, the ethics of civil dignity, of making sure that society lives in a dignified manner, that freedom is there, but that it is not abused, because freedom can be abused, and we have to have the wisdom, as Muslims not to let freedom be abused. And therefore, we have to make value judgments of the societies in which we live, we have to remain solid and stable on the ethical principles of Shia Ismaili Islam. And I want to say this very precisely to My Jamat today because the Jamat is so international in front of Me and you will be able to carry these messages forwards.

I would like also that you seek to remain united, that your presence in jamatkhana should be regular and that you should avoid the confusion which is sometimes made between freedom and licence. What I mean by that is that the personal self discipline of the Jamat, the individual self discipline of the individual within the Jamat is in a small Jamat, as dispersed as this in Europe, a fundamental matter for the future

…. freedom has a concomitant necessity which is individual responsibility, a sense of direction and a sense of direction which each individual must find for himself or herself in their lives. That sense of direction is perhaps the single most important factor to enable you to benefit in the most extreme, in the most substantial manner of western education. This is a commitment which is a personal commitment. Your families cannot take it for you, your friends cannot take it for you, only each one of you individually can take that commitment, and I hope that My Jamat will have the wisdom and the personal courage to make that commitment and to remain constant to that commitment.

In a world where quality of life is increasingly measured in material terms there is risk that the essential value system of Islam will be eroded, or even threatened with disappearance. Political situations with a theological overlay are also causing disaffection or antagonism between communities of the same faith, and even more so amongst different faiths. Are certain societies, indulging in excesses of freedom, such, that freedom risks becoming licence? Should individuals and families not have the right to dignity, and therefore the right to privacy? Where we can build bridges with other Tariqahs around a common Muslim cosmopolitan ethos, we should make this endeavour.”

 
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Aa Khan on press responsibilities & Freedom...

Post by mahebubchatur »

What His Highness the Aga LKhan has said. In the context also of the terror attacks and killing France and other countries

"Frankly, this so-called freedom of the press has reached a state of such license that virtually anything can be printed."
His Highness the Aga Khan's 1989 India Today Interview (India)


"A free press is not simply a press free to criticise as an end in itself. In many developed countries, freedom of the press has often come to mean license to behave irresponsibly. It is a contradiction, but nevertheless, a practical requirement, that in developing countries, with the youngest media and press traditions, newspapers and their journalists must, in the national and universal interest, behave substantially more responsibly than their counterpart in the West."
His Highness the Aga Khan's 1977 National Press Club Reception address (Dacca, Bangladesh)


"The third of the media challenges I would discuss today is the need to balance concerns about press freedom with a greater emphasis on press responsibility. In my view, we are sometimes too preoccupied with the rights of the press as an independent social critic -- and we pay too little attention to the obligations of the press as an influential social leader.
"Too often, the press seems to be caught up with that obsessive individualism which seems so rampant in our world, an expectation that we must make our way in life through a sort of meritocratic free-for-all, ignoring those who are hurt in the process and those who are left behind. Too often, we join in the celebration of success for its own sake, regardless of the means by which it was achieved or its impact on society. Too often the media spotlight overlooks the corrupt or manipulative methodology and dramatises the triumphant result. Too often, the right of an individual or the right of a publication to unfettered self-expression is enshrined as the most sacred of all values -- independent of its impact on social or moral standards.
"One of the most familiar of Western political values is expressed in the phrase: 'Freedom of the Press'. I believe that Press Freedom, properly understood, is a universal human right. But we must be careful about how we define it and that it does not isolate the press from the rest of the social order. What is originally meant -- and properly still means for me -- is that the press should be free from the control or constraint of governments, and strong enough to resist all forms of intimidation. Why is this precept so important? Because the health of any government should depend on public evaluation of its work. Not even the most enlightened government can do this for itself. And only if a pluralistic press is allowed to report freely about any government, will the public be able to hold their governments accountable.
"The problem comes, of course, when Freedom of the Press is stretched beyond this meaning and used to shield the press -- not just from government interference, but from any sense of social accountability. And that is when press liberty turns into press license. Just as press freedom is a means for holding governments accountable, so must the press itself be held accountable for the way it does its work. Accountable to whom? To the political leaders of the moment? Never. To the larger community and the cultures that comprise it? Always -- provided we see the community not as a mere majority of the moment, but as an organic, pluralistic entity. A most remarkable thing in our experience is that the larger community has invariably demanded better forms of journalism. Despite their relative lack of formal education, the first readers of the Nation [newspaper in Kenya] sought something well beyond what the colonial press had given them....
"Our journalistic code -- a set of explicit written standards about editorial goals and practices -- was submitted to our shareholders for their deliberation and approval because we want our shareholders to feel involved and responsible, not just for the Nation's financial success but also for its moral success. They are, after all, the ultimate stewards, not only of the Nation's corporate body, but also of its journalistic soul.
"In short, we have pursued a concept of Press Freedom which not only means Freedom 'from' but also Freedom 'to' -- not just Freedom from improper governmental constraints but also Freedom to advance the common purposes which give meaning to our lives. Such a sense of social accountability is not an easy thing to achieve. It must begin with those into whose care the institutions of the press have been entrusted, our editors and proprietors. Those who are in charge must really be in charge. Freedom of the Press does not mean the right of any journalist to write and to publish anything he or she wants to say. It is not acceptable for a reporter to cry 'censorship' when an editor or a publisher questions his accuracy or his judgement. Nor is it acceptable for editors, managers and proprietors to slip their solemn responsibilities by invoking the same line of defence. They may sometimes say they don't want to 'meddle' with the contents of their publications. This is a weak and dangerous excuse. And too often that comment really disguises an abdication of moral responsibility. This abdication is particularly troubling when it is used by proprietors or editors to mask their personal quest for financial gain or political influence -- or to sustain divisive sectarian agendas. For in the final analysis, the press and those who manage it must also be held accountable to the collective judgements of the community.
"Responsible journalists and managers will not want to shield themselves from such judgements. To the contrary, they will eagerly seek them out. They will want to know what thoughtful readers are saying and how responsible advertisers are thinking. They will talk constantly with scholars and religious leaders, with artists and business leaders, with scientists and labour leaders, with educators and community leaders -- and yes, with politicians and diplomats and governmental leaders as well. And through such continuing interaction they will develop and refine their sense of how the larger community can best be served."
His Highness the Aga Khan's 1986 Commonwealth Press Union Conference Keynote Address (Cape Town, South Africa)


"Let me insist again, however, on one important point. When newspaper people acknowledge the shortcomings of the press, this does not mean that they care any less about the freedom of the press. In fact the reason press leaders talk so much about press responsibility is that they care so deeply about press freedom. Or to put it another way, they strive to preserve press liberty by ensuring that it does not turn into press license.
"This central concern is one that Conrad Black, among others, sees as the particular responsibility of the newspaper proprietor or publisher. Black elaborates on the publisher's role as follows:
"'To maintain standards of fair reporting and consistency of opinion, to support the journalists when they are unfairly attacked, to prevent any faction from hijacking the newspaper, to order retractions when they are required and deserved, and to help give the newspaper a personality. (And he concludes,) non-interventionist newspaper proprietors encourage irresponsible journalism by their abdication.'
"I have never been a 'non-interventionist publisher.' And I do not propose to become one. A principal shareholder's role, it seems to me, is to be sure that the company's key positions are in the best possible hands, that the ideals and standards of the newspaper are clearly and thoughtfully articulated, and that sufficient resources are available so that a truly professional staff can be properly hired, properly trained, properly equipped, and properly supported. If publishers can achieve those goals, then they will surely have good reason to be proud of their publications."
His Highness the Aga Khan's 1997 Nation Press and Building Opening Ceremony address (Nairobi, Kenya)


"'Freedom of the Press' are four of the most commonly used and misused words in the English language, but here in Kenya their meaning was given true substance by the late President's personal commitment to the independence of the media. I state this today, as I was privileged to experience the depth of his conviction on this matter, and because I feel I have a personal, unequivocal commitment to uphold what the father of Kenya upheld so ardently himself. History is unjust, or at least very often incomplete in recording the work and thoughts of great men; this must not be the case with regard to Mzee's exceptional strength and courage in defending this important foundation of democracy.
"Today, Kenya is one of the countries of the developing world that has the strongest tradition of a free press. It has an unusually large number of qualified and competent editors and journalists. As the owner of a substantial newspaper organisation here for many years, it is right that I should also recall the admiration and respect I feel for the way in which His Excellency President Moi, his ministers and the people of Kenya have continued to uphold this tradition of a free, responsible press."
His Highness the Aga Khan's 1981 address to the International Press Institute, 30th General Assembly (Nairobi, Kenya)


Stefan Aust / Erich Follath: Again, this whole affair was misused by radical Islamists. They added caricatures much more offensive than the original ones to incite the masses.
Aga Khan: But I am told that there was an internal debate between the editors of that [Danish] publication and they actually knew what they were doing. They took a risk and somebody should have said to them, why get into that situation? Now we are talking about civility, which is a completely different concept. If we are talking about civility in a pluralist society, then how do you develop that notion of civility, particularly where there is ignorance? And that's the thing that's worrying. And that's why I get frustrated when I see these situations that go on and on and on. Because I'm not willing to believe that they are all inspired by evil intent.
Stefan Aust / Erich Follath: Provocative, sad and distasteful. But the freedom of the press is one of the highest values in our democracy. We have to balance one thing against the other and we will allow non-believers to express even outrageous opinions.
Aga Khan: I think that you are now referring to one of the most difficult problems that we have and I don't know the answer. The industrialised West is highly secularised; the Muslim world is much less secularised and that stems largely from the nature of the faith of Islam, which you know and I know has an intrinsic meshing with everyday life. And that is a scenario where people of goodwill need to think very, very carefully.
His Highness the Aga Khan's 2006 Spiegel Online Interview (2nd), Stefan Aust and Erich Follath, 'Islam Is a Faith of Reason' (Berlin, Germany)


"Recent studies from the Freedom House organisation report that media freedom is increasingly threatened globally. For every nation that moves forward in terms of press freedom, two nations are said to be slipping backward. Media freedom requires continuing vigilance. But here let me sound a word of caution. Freedom, in any area of human activity, does not mean the moral license to abuse that freedom. It would be a sad thing if the people of Africa in the name of freedom, were expected to welcome the worst of media practices, whether they are home-grown or imported."
His Highness the Aga Khan's 2010 Address to the Conference Marking Nation Media Group's 50th Anniversary, 'Media and the African Promise' (Nairobi, Kenya)


Don Cyao: When I look at the Western perceptions of freedom, which we value highly, I sometimes think we interpret it as the whole world should be free to be like us. Is that how we are seen from the other perspectives?
Aga Khan: I think that's certainly one aspect -- the feeling that the societies of the industrialised world are always right, and therefore what they get right should be the norm for everybody else. I think there are areas where we don't agree with that.
We think freedom is important, of course. But we think that freedom really is not something that one has to take in the absolute. There is abuse of freedom. And when freedom is abused, what does it become?
Don Cyao: License, I guess.
Aga Khan: Exactly. And that's where parts of our world say 'Stop!'
That boundary between freedom and the abuse of freedom is something which is driven by so many different notions of thought, faith, society, the whole thing....
Don Cyao: In Canada I think some of our success is the comfortable tolerance of letting people set different standards for themselves. So, yes, some people may choose license and other people choose some realistic guidelines, if you like, to exercise their freedom. Is that what you see as the goal for the broader society, or is it a little different from that?
Aga Khan: Well I think it's difficult to impose a firm line. But I think that when you look at history, the history of humankind, you will find that when freedoms have become license, society tends to disaggregate. And I think that what we're seeing in the Western world is that very issue on the table, and a reversal. I think there is a reversal under way.
Freedom doesn't mean that if you want to abuse that freedom, whatever it is, you legitimise or impose that on others.
His Highness the Aga Khan's 2008 Vancouver Sun Interview with Don Cayo (Vancouver, Canada)


"A pluralist commitment is rooted in the essential unity of the human race. Does the Holy Qur'an not say that mankind is descended from 'a single soul?' In an increasingly cosmopolitan world, it is essential that we live by a 'cosmopolitan ethic,' one that addresses the age-old need to balance the particular and the universal, to honour both human rights and social duties, to advance personal freedom and to accept human responsibility."
His Highness the Aga Khan's 2014 88th Stephen A. Ogden, Jr. '60 Memorial Lecture, Brown University (Providence, USA)
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Post by kmaherali »

Blasphemy and the law of fanatics

By Fareed Zakaria, Thursday, January 8, 2015

The Washington Post

As they went on their rampage, the men who killed 12 people in Paris this week yelled that they had “avenged the prophet.” They follow in the path of other terrorists who have bombed newspaper offices, stabbed a filmmaker and killed writers and translators, all to mete out what they believe is the proper Koranic punishment for blasphemy. But in fact, the Koran prescribes no punishment for blasphemy. Like so many of the most fanatical and violent aspects of Islamic terrorism today, the idea that Islam requires that insults against the prophet Muhammad be met with violence is a creation of politicians and clerics to serve a political agenda.

One holy book is deeply concerned with blasphemy: the Bible. In the Old Testament, blasphemy and blasphemers are condemned and prescribed harsh punishment. The best-known passage on this is Leviticus 24:16 : “Anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.”

By contrast, the word blasphemy appears nowhere in the Koran. (Nor, incidentally, does the Koran anywhere forbid creating images of Muhammad, though there are commentaries and traditions — “hadith” — that do, to guard against idol worship.) Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan has pointed out that “there are more than 200 verses in the Koran, which reveal that the contemporaries of the prophets repeatedly perpetrated the same act, which is now called ‘blasphemy or abuse of the Prophet’ . . . but nowhere does the Koran prescribe the punishment of lashes, or death, or any other physical punishment.” On several occasions, Muhammad treated people who ridiculed him and his teachings with understanding and kindness. “In Islam,” Khan says, “blasphemy is a subject of intellectual discussion rather than a subject of physical punishment.”

Somebody forgot to tell the terrorists. But the gruesome and bloody belief the jihadis have adopted is all too common in the Muslim world, even among so-called moderate Muslims — that blasphemy and apostasy are grievous crimes against Islam and should be punished fiercely. Many Muslim-majority countries have laws against blasphemy and apostasy — and in some places, they are enforced.

Pakistan is now the poster child for the anti-blasphemy campaign gone wild. In March, at least 14 people were on death row in that country, and 19 were serving life sentences, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The owner of the country’s largest media group has been sentenced to 26 years in prison because one of his channels broadcast a devotional song about Muhammad’s daughter while reenacting a wedding. (Really.) And Pakistan is not alone. Bangladesh, Malaysia, Egypt, Turkey and Sudan have all used blasphemy laws to jail and harass people. In moderate Indonesia, 120 people have been detained for this reason since 2003. Saudi Arabia forbids the practice of any religion other than its own Wahhabi version of Islam.

The Pakistani case is instructive, because its extreme version of anti-blasphemy law is relatively recent and a product of politics. Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, Pakistan’s president during the late 1970s and 1980s, wanted to marginalize the democratic and liberal opposition, and he embraced Islamic fundamentalists, no matter how extreme. He passed a series of laws Islamizing Pakistan, including a law that recommended the death penalty or life imprisonment for insulting Muhammad in any way.

When governments try to curry favor with fanatics, eventually the fanatics take the law into their own hands. In Pakistan, jihadis have killed dozens of people whom they accuse of blasphemy, including a brave politician, Salmaan Taseer, who dared to call the blasphemy law a “black law.”

We should fight the Paris terrorists. But we should also fight the source of the problem. It’s not enough for Muslim leaders to condemn people who kill those they consider as blasphemers if their own governments endorse the idea of punishing blasphemy at the very same time. The U.S. religious freedom commission and the U.N. Human Rights Committee have both declared that blasphemy laws violate universal human rights because they violate freedom of speech and expression. They are correct.

In Muslim-majority countries, no one dares to dial back these laws. In Western countries, no one confronts allies on these issues. But blasphemy is not a purely domestic matter, of concern only to those who worry about countries’ internal affairs. It now sits on the bloody crossroad between radical Islamists and Western societies. It cannot be avoided anymore. Western politicians, Muslim leaders and intellectuals everywhere should point out that blasphemy is something that does not exist in the Koran and should not exist in the modern world.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ ... story.html
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Islam’s Problem With Blasphemy

Still, this religious nationalism is guided by religious law — Shariah — that includes clauses about punishing blasphemy as a deadly sin. It is thus of vital importance that Muslim scholars courageously, even audaciously, address this issue today. They can begin by acknowledging that, while Shariah is rooted in the divine, the overwhelming majority of its injunctions are man-made, partly reflecting the values and needs of the seventh to 12th centuries — when no part of the world was liberal, and other religions, such as Christianity, also considered blasphemy a capital crime.

The only source in Islamic law that all Muslims accept indisputably is the Quran. And, conspicuously, the Quran decrees no earthly punishment for blasphemy — or for apostasy (abandonment or renunciation of the faith), a related concept. Nor, for that matter, does the Quran command stoning, female circumcision or a ban on fine arts. All these doctrinal innovations, as it were, were brought into the literature of Islam as medieval scholars interpreted it, according to the norms of their time and milieu.

Tellingly, severe punishments for blasphemy and apostasy appeared when increasingly despotic Muslim empires needed to find a religious justification to eliminate political opponents.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/14/opini ... d=45305309
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"We urgently need reform within Islam"

What is the focus of a feminist Islamic theologian's work? And what is the best way to deal with controversial Koran verses in the modern day? Claudia Mende talked to Maha El-Kaisy-Friemuth, professor of Islamic Religious Studies at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

Professor El-Kaisy, how do you see your task as an Islamic theologian at a German university?

Maha El-Kaisy-Friemuth: At the new departments of Islamic theology in Germany, we have the great opportunity to build up a reform-oriented Islam. That's not an entirely new project, of course, and we don't want to reinvent the normative foundations of Islam. But what we urgently need right now is a reform within Islam, so that Islam can speak to our modern situation with its present-day problems.

What do you mean by that?

El-Kaisy-Friemuth: By a reform of Islam I mean a process similar to that which occurred during the Christian Reformation. That's how we understand our scholarly work at the Department of Islamic Religious Studies (DIRS) in Erlangen. We don't reject what the ulema, the traditional legal scholars, have said about the Koran and Islam over the centuries, but we do try to think beyond that and formulate new statements for the present day.

More....

http://en.qantara.de/content/interview- ... thin-islam
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Eleven things you should NEVER do in Saudi Arabia… or you could be risking your LIFE

http://www.express.co.uk/travel/article ... ath-prison

A BRITISH man has been released from prison in Saudi Arabia for possessing alcohol - but do you know the laws in the Gulf state.

Saudi Arabia is a country whose sole constitution is based on the Quran - the religious text of Islam.

If people in SA find themselves in a legal pickle, it's down to each individual judge to interpret the laws as there's no official written rules.

In general, if the act committed is suspected to be 'haram' - something which might lead a person astray from Islamic faith - then suspicion alone is enough for a ruling.

Did you know it's not okay to take pictures of people on the street in Saudi Arabia? And what do you think they'd do if you had a glass of champagne on a flight into the country?

Express.co.uk have looked into the dos and do nots in Saudi Arabia - and it's a comprehensive list.

Banned: Porn
Having porn on your phone, tablet or computer could land you in seriously hot water if you touched down in Saudi Arabia. Even illustrations of scantily dressed people, especially women, is banned.

Guess what? Customs officials can and will scan your phone for any pictures they deem to be inappropriate and then confiscate your equipment.

Banned: Taking pictures of buildings
You're on holiday so you're going to snap pictures all the time, right? WRONG. Photographing government buildings, military installations, and palaces is not allowed.

One should also avoid photographing local people - especially Saudi Arabian men without their permission - and don't point a camera in the direction of women.

Banned: Eating, drinking or smoking in public
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and is a whole four weeks of fasting. Therefore it's forbidden to eat, drink or smoke in public during daylight hours during the month of Ramadan.

Banned: Sausage sandwiches
Talking of eating and drinking, don't expect to tuck into a full English breakfast every morning with a side of bacon, sausages and black budding. Importing pork products is forbidden, therefore making pork a banned substance.

Banned: Wearing anything red on Valentine’s Day
It been reported that flower shops and gift shops are prohibited from selling red roses, anything heart-shaped or red for that matter on Valentine's Day. The rule was decided by the 'Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice' (CPVPV) It's thought the 'holiday' is not an Islamic occasion and it may lead people astray.

Banned: Going to the cinema
If you want to see the latest James Bond movie in SA you actually have to leave the country - why not make a weekend of it? It's thought cinemas are breading grounds for men and women to mingle unsupervised, This could lead to immoral actions outside the realm of marriage.

Many SAs take the short trip to Bahrain to watch movies.

Banned: Learning a musical instrument at school
The piano always looks good on a person's CV but if you want to learn as a child it has to be private tutorials. Music lessons are forbidden in public forums and therefore, if you want to learn, it has to be done 'underground'.

Banned: Going to the gym if you're a woman
If you're worried about your muffin top as a woman you want to hope you've got a flight of stairs in your house to run up and down. Private gyms for women WERE allowed to operate until recently when the Religious Police closed them down.

Banned: Worshipping any religion other than Islam
Believing in any other religion than Islam is frowned upon by Saudi Arabian officials. In fact, it's against the law for non-Muslims to worship in public - and you won't find a Church in the whole country. If anyone converts from Islam or abandons religion they face the death penalty.

Banned: Driving, only if you're a woman
Fancy a drive as a woman? Sure thing - as long as it's in the desert or inside private compounds, you're all good. If you need to go anywhere else, however, you'll have to get a driver because women are banned from driving.

It's thought it may cause women to leave their houses more often than they need to - possibly for uncouth reasons.

Banned: Having a drink on the aeroplane en route to Saudi Arabia
Do not arrive in Saudi Arabia under the influence of alcohol - and definitely do not have a drink on the plane. Penalties for the possession of, or trade in alcohol are severe, and both result in prison sentences.
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Is Islam Easy to Understand or Not?: Salafis, the Democratization of Interpretation and the Need for the Ulema

http://m.jis.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/2/117.full

Abstract

Both in the modern period and historically, Salafism has been associated with autodidacticism and an assertion that Islam’s scriptures are clear and accessible to ordinary Muslims without the mediation of the ulema. Indeed, Salafi writings often confirm this impression. In contrast, however, both in the pre-modern and modern settings, in both their writings and lessons, leading scholars associated with Salafism have insisted on the need for the Muslim laity to turn to a scholarly class to offer accurate understandings of their religion. This article investigates this apparent tension, arguing that what seem to be Salafi anticlericalism or calls for a democratization of interpretation are rhetorical tactics employed in debates with mainstream Sunni ulema rather than substantive prescriptions.

CONCLUSION

The ulema’s monopoly over interpreting Islamic law and dogma has been threatened in the modern period. In great part this has come at the hands of lay Muslim intellectuals, who have both pointed out the political and scholarly failings of the ulema class and offered themselves as alternative voices of authority. The traditional ulema have responded to these overwhelmingly liberal and often secularizing intellectual reformers by invoking the example of Salafi barbarism, which is reviled by both lay intellectuals and mainstream ulema alike. Citing the supposed anticlericalism endemic in Salafism, mainstream ulema point to the dangers of leaving Islam’s scriptures unguarded and unmediated. Indeed, Shāh Ismāʿil al-Shahīd, al-Sindī, al-Khujandī, al-Albānī and others, have all stated very explicitly that Islam is not difficult to understand and that everyday Muslims can absorb its teachings with the immediacy of the early Muslim forefathers. But is this really a call for the democratization of interpretation, regardless of the deluge of interpretive chaos that would follow? Do these scholars really hold that Islam needs no guardian class?

What I hope this article has demonstrated is that this egalitarian strain in Salafism is not a clear and consistent position. Rather, it is the product of a discourse tradition that holds claims of formalized hermeneutic authority in great suspicion while simultaneously acknowledging the need for the control it provides. All the above proto-Salafi and Salafi scholars have consistently maintained that the masses of the Muslims are unqualified to approach the scriptural sources of Islam in any authoritative way. Moreover, like their mainstream Sunni opponents, Salafis have affirmed that ‘the layperson has no legal school’. His school is whatever a qualified local scholar says it is.

To understand statements like that of Shāh Ismāʿīl al-Shahīd, that ‘to comprehend the Quran and ḥadīths does not require much learning’, we must remember that they arose as a rhetorical parry in the enduring debate between the iconoclastic, proto-Salafi school of thought in Sunni Islam and the Sunni mainstream. For proto-Salafi and Salafi polemicists, arguing that ordinary Muslims stood directly before Islam’s scriptures just as the Companions had was a move essential to undermining the rigid authority of the madhhabs, which underpinned the ritual and legal practices rejected by Salafis. Arguing that the Muslim masses were innately competent and needed no guardian class to understand their religion was the most effective means to neutralize the appeals to authority made by mainstream Sunni scholars, even if all ulema, even Salafi ones, knew this claim was false.
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UAE- AUS Professor Joseph Lumbard co authors The Study Quran

http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.a ... an&src=RSS&

MENAFN - Emirates News Agency (WAM) - 05/11/2015

SHARJAH 5th November 2015 (WAM) -- American University of Sharjah AUS Professor Dr. Joseph Lumbard along with other Muslim scholars has recently launched The Study Quran a new translation of the meanings and commentary or Tafseer of the Holy Quran.

Created over a span of 10 years under the direction of Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr a world-renowned authority on Islamic thought The Study Quran is described as "accurate accessible and reliable in how it renders the sacred text."

Prominent Islamic scholar and cofounder of Zaytuna College Hamza Yusuf said "This is perhaps the most important work done on the Islamic faith in the English language to date." He added "We owe a great debt to Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr one of the intellectual giants of our time and his team for bringing this labour of love to fruition."

Dr. Lumbard Assistant Professor in the Department of Arabic and Translation Studies at AUS said "As Muslims it is our responsibility and our right to speak for and present our tradition to the West. As the first verse-by-verse commentary on the Quran in any European language The Study Quran has the potential to significantly alter the reception and understanding of the Quran in the West. The Study Quran provides much more than a verse-by-verse commentary that helps readers Muslim and non-Muslim alike better understand the text it also highlights the history of interpretation which can then be applied to understand the various schools of Islam."

Dr. Lumbard along with general editors Caner K. Dagli and Maria Massi Dakake and assistant editor Mohammed Rustom created the translation of the meanings and commentary of Quran.

With over 2000 pages The Study Quran published by HarperOne represents "a work of extraordinary significance that helps the general reader appreciate the rich and multilayered ways in which Muslim scholars have dynamically engaged with their Holy Book" writes Ali Asani of Harvard University.

The book provides an insightful general introduction that helps orient readers on the origins of the Quran. Each chapter has its own introduction with a summary of content and other background information. The commentary covers the entire translation of the meanings and discusses questions of rituals theology law ethics metaphysics the spiritual life and other topics. The book also includes 15 companion essays from various scholars around the world who offer insight on all aspects of the Quran.
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Saudi Arabia says 47 executed on terror charges, including Shi'ite cleric

Saudi Arabia executed 47 people on Saturday for terrorism, mostly suspected al Qaeda members but also a prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, Interior Ministry said in a statement broadcast on state television.

The conservative Islamic kingdom, which usually executes people by public beheading, detained thousands of militant Islamists after a series of al Qaeda attacks from 2003-06 that killed hundreds, and has convicted hundreds of them.

However, it also detained hundreds of members of its Shi'ite minority after protests from 2011-13, during which several policemen were killed in shooting and petrol bomb attacks. Several of he Shi'ites have been sentenced to death.

Saudi Arabia's main regional rival, Shi'ite Iran, has warned that executing Nimr "would cost Saudi Arabia dearly".

The Interior Ministry statement began with Koranic verses justifying the use of execution and state television showed footage of the aftermath of al Qaeda attacks in the last decade. Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh appeared on television soon after to describe the executions as just.

The executions are Saudi Arabia's first in 2016. At least 157 people were put to death last year, a big increase from the 90 people killed in 2014.

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/sau ... lsignoutmd

******
Saudi Arabia’s execution of the Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr could escalate tensions in the Muslim world even further. In the Shiite theocracy Iran, the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Sunday that Saudi Arabia, which is ruled by a Sunni monarchy, would face “divine vengeance” for the killing of the outspoken cleric, which was part of a mass execution of 47 men. Sheikh Nimr had advocated for greater political rights for Shiites in Saudi Arabia and surrounding countries. Saudi Arabia had accused him of inciting violence against the state.

Here is a primer on the basic differences between Sunni and Shia Islam.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/01/04/wo ... .html?_r=0
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