Talaq Joke On Skype Jeopradises Youth's Marriage

A Talaq joke to his wife on the internet may cost an e-savvy youth his marriage. The youth, a resident of Qatar, had spelt talaq three times while chatting with his wife on Skype, but little did he realise that his humourous intention in cyberspace will nullify his marriage in reality. Islamic seminary Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband has ruled that saying talaq thrice even casually without any serious overtone is valid as per the Shariyat (Islamic Law) and the marriage stands nullified. The nationality or the identity of the youth was not revealed. The ruling was given by Deoband' fatwa section Dar-ul-Ifta in reply to a query posted by a youth from Qatar. The youth in his query (question number 26075) had stated that while chatting with his wife over net he jokingly spelled talaq thrice. Claiming to have less knowledge about Islam, the youth said that he didn't know how Talaq is taken. The youth had stated that he was happily living with his wife and wanted to live with her in future as well. Dar-ul-Ifta in its reply has said that once talaq is spelled three times it amounts to divorce and her wife was "haraam" for him. The fatwa section in its reply stated that in the process it does not matter whether the man had enough knowledge of Islam or not. Under such circumstances the youth was neither allowed to take his wife nor to marry her again, it stated adding that now she would be required to go through "halalah". Halalah is a practice under which the woman has to marry and divorce another man before she can marry her previous husband again. As per the ruling that the woman would be required to complete 'iddat' (three months time) period after which she would be required to marry another man. The woman would be then required to divorce her second husband and go through iddat period again. "Then only the woman would be allowed to re-marry her former husband," it stated. Iddat is a period when the woman is supposed to stay away from celebrations and socialising. "When you gave three talaqs, all the three took place. No matter whether the woman gives talaq or not. Your wife became haram for you whether you are aware from the commandment of Islam more or less," the fatwa read. "Neither you have the right to take her back nor solemnize new nikah without a valid halalah. After the completion of iddat period, the woman can marry where she wishes except you. It is proved from Bukhari (Vol. 2, P. 791) and Fatawa al-Hindiyah etc," it added. Senior mufti of Dar-ul-Uloom Waqf Arif Kasmi said that under Shariyat talaq even if given in a lighter vein amounts to divorce

Hahahaha! These jokes making fun of Islam.

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Asadullah Syed

Tidiane N'Diaye's "The Veiled Genocide" Selective Theses on the Arab Slave Trade

A French-Senegalese author has raised his voice in protest. Tidiane N'Diaye accuses Arabs of not acknowledging their responsibility for the slave trade. He demands an explanation, yet sheds very little new light on the situation himself. A review by Moritz Behrendt

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"The excessive lifestyle and laziness of the Arabs": N'Diaye's book lacks a real discussion on whether and why the "Arab-Muslim" slave trade was more terrible than the other forms of trade in human beings, writes Behrendt | When a book deals with Africa, sometimes a bit of sensationalism is necessary for it to be even noticed. In this case, the key words "GENOCIDE" and "SLAVE TRADE" can be read in the title in upper case letters. And as if this weren't enough, the word genocide is also "veiled," insinuating an inherent "Muslim" connection to the slave trade.

When it comes to Africa, one doesn't necessarily have to stick so close to the truth. At least, this must have been the main idea at Rowohlt publishing house when they decided to publish the work of the French-Senegalese economist and anthropologist Tidiane N'Diaye.

The author attempts to rewrite the history of the slave trade with two controversial theses. First, N'Diaye claims "that the slave trade conducted mercilessly by Arab Muslim robbers and the jihad they simultaneously pursued had a far more devastating effect on black Africa than the trans-Atlantic slave trade". Secondly, he attempts to demonstrate that this continuous "campaign of destruction" lasting from the 6th to the 20th century has been and continues to be systematically "covered up."

A moral legitimacy for the colonization of Africa

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According to Behrendt, N'Diaye's book is a "pamphlet loaded with prejudices and full of historical inaccuracies" | N'Diaye's problem, however, is that his proof for the first thesis fundamentally contradicts his second claim. In order to show how brutal the slave dealers on the East African coast and in the Sahara region were, the author quotes almost exclusively from the writings of European explorers such as Henry Morton Stanley and Gerhard Rohlfs. N'Diaye fails to mention that their books were bestsellers in their day.

The "Muslim" slave trade was a hot topic of discussion in Europe in the late 19th century and provided, not least of all, a moral legitimacy for the colonization of Africa.

Yet, N'Diaye's wholesale acceptance of these sources without much reflection does not necessarily disqualify his claim that the "Muslim" slave trade was more far-reaching in the damage it did to Africa than the trans-Atlantic trade. There is ample historical research on this topic and the figures, at least, seem to confirm N'Diaye's thesis. It is now accepted that some 29 million people were exported from black Africa as slaves – 12 million by the trans-Atlantic slave trade, 9 million by the trans-Sahara slave trade, and 8 million from the East African coast.

Boisterous theses and no academic debate

N'Diaye adopts these figures, but presents them as if they were something new. He seems completely disinterested in the academic debate on the various forms of the slave trade and their consequences for Africa. He almost completely ignores the last 30 years of literature on the subject. This is a shame, as N'Diaye's book lacks a real discussion on whether and why the "Arab-Muslim" slave trade was more terrible than the other forms of trade in human beings.

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Crime against humanity: 29 million people were exported from black Africa as slaves – 12 million by the trans-Atlantic slave trade, 9 million by the trans-Sahara slave trade, and 8 million from the East African coast | N'Diaye also fails to sufficiently explain why he refers to the one side as "Arab-Muslim" and the other not as "European-Christian," but rather as the "trans-Atlantic" slave trade. It is true that Islamic scholars justified the trade in non-believers for centuries. Religious dogma likewise veiled the racist motivation for the kidnapping of black Africans. Muslims and Christian apologists, however, equally referred to Noah's curse upon Ham, offering a misanthropist interpretation that justified a subservient role for black Africans.

If N'Diaye truly wanted to focus on the subject of "Muslim slavery," then he would also have to protest against the practices of the Caliphate of Sokoto in the 19th century. According to Paul Lovejoy, a respected researcher on slavery, this was the "second or third largest slave society in modern history." The Caliphate, which is located in the north of present-day Nigeria, only receives a mention in passing by N'Diaye, probably because he finds it difficult to attribute the atrocities there to the Arabs.

The excessive lifestyle and laziness of the Arabs

Instead, he unremittingly repeats his central accusation. "The Arab Muslims were the most murderous of all those involved in the slave trade," writes N'Diaye, without specifying whether he is referring to the slavery at the court of the Moroccan kings in the 17th century, those forced to tend the fields in Iraq in the 7th century, or the slaves on the plantations of Zanzibar in the 19th century, when the island became the most important exporter of cloves.

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Tidiane N'Diaye: His book was nominated for the Prix Renaudot in 2008 | All three were brutal crimes, but, under closer scrutiny, they shared little in common. Tidiane N'Diaye tends to ignore such historical discontinuities, leaping from region to region and from century to century. What is important to him are the actors. "The duration of the slave trade from the 7th to the 20th century and Arab Muslim slavery in Africa has to do with the traditions of the Arabs themselves, who because of their excessive lifestyle and laziness could not do without the blood and muscle of servants."

By resorting to such culturalistic explanations, N'Diaye completely misses his target. He thereby resorts to means that he elsewhere justifiably condemns. Racism is indeed a great problem in Arab countries, even today. Black Africans are accepted, at best, only in the role of servants in countries like Saudi Arabia, Libya, and even Lebanon. Tidiane N'Diaye therefore demands that the Arab world confront the darkest chapter of its history and come to grips with slavery.

This desire is justified, yet it is highly doubtful whether the publication of a pamphlet loaded with prejudices and full of historical inaccuracies will help the situation.

Moritz Behrendt

© Qantara.de 2010

Translated from the German by John Bergeron

Tidiane N'Diaye's Le génocide voilé ("The veiled genocide") has not yet been published in English.

Editor: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de
http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php?wc_c=478&wc_id=1110

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Asadullah Syed

Fresh Dispute over Islam: Why the German Media are Courting the Anti-Islam Movement

Fresh Dispute over Islam

Why the German Media are Courting the Anti-Islam Movement

If discussions on the cultural pages of German newspapers in spring 2010 were representative of German opinion, then we must assume that around half the German population comprehend Islam as a threat. Does the negative attitude towards Islam testify to vigilance or to prejudice? Stefan Weidner looks into the matter

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"The crucial formulation in the anti-Islamic doctrine is extremely simplistic: Islam was never good, is not good, and cannot be good," writes Stefan Weidner | No matter how coarse and emotional these debates may have been, a glance across Germany's frontiers shows that things could have been much worse. In Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Switzerland the anti-Islamic mood is not only to be felt in newspaper feature supplements, blogs and talk shows; it also influences party politics, election results, and special legislation on Islam. In Germany the political fallout of this debate is astonishingly limited. Udo Ulfkotte's attempt to establish an anti-Islam Party failed.

At present movements hostile to Islam are only being set up at the local level. They emanate an almost pitiable lack of success. Even some of the figureheads of what calls itself criticism of Islam such as Ralph Giordano don't want to have anything to do with them.

No political parties hostile to Islam

Within political elites there exists a consensus that less emphasis should be put on Islam, which should rather be left to conferences and committees of specialists and representatives of particular interests. They realise that there is nothing to be gained by taking action over Islam. One of the reasons is that the conflict over Islam permeates all the political parties. At public discussions in Munich, Cologne, Berlin, and Brussels in recent weeks, opponents of Islam among the audience frequently mentioned their adherence to the established parties so as to not to be seen to be on the wrong side, i.e. the extreme rightist camp.

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Anti-Islamic rally in Cologne, Germany: "In order to seem unassailable, protest has entrenched itself behind monolithic ideological dogmatism," says Weidner | None of these people can be satisfied with their party's policy regarding Islam. That is all the more the case when Islam has taken on the urgency of a matter of survival for many of them. Even if one doesn't share their views, no one will deny that they are serious about them. But it is not possible to foresee how this seriousness might be transformed into concrete political objectives beyond religion-specific discrimination scarcely compatible with a state based on the rule of law.

The fact that despite broad appeal and despite people such as Henryk Broder and Necla Kelek, who could easily play the parts of Geert Wilders and Ayaan Hirsi Ali in Germany, the anti-Islam movement remains without a political foundation may be linked with this lack of implementable visions.

Powerlessness fans the flames of indignation

There is, however, another reason, too. Anti-Islamic protest does not need any political structure. The movement has at its disposal an outlet which provides very much more appropriate expression for rage irrespective of its origin. This is nothing less than the debate about Islam per se. The media, themselves undergoing a profound crisis of orientation, provide a grateful sounding-board for this kind of excitement. They have assumed the function of a lightning-conductor for the uncertainty directed against Islam, which with a bit of luck will continue to spare us an anti-Islam party to the right of the existing political spectrum.

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In Germany the political fallout of the debate on Islam is astonishingly limited: Udo Ulfkotte's attempt to establish an anti-Islam Party failed | So long as the politically impotent anti-Islam movement can be expressed in the media mainstream, its adherents should feel sufficiently represented and taken seriously. The more shrilly and dogmatically protest is able to have its say there, the less it will need to take another form.

Politics retains freedom of action in its dealings with Muslims in accordance with the well-tried principles of the rule of law. The situation is similar in other areas of politics condemned to be the status quo. The legislative outcome of the banking crisis and climate change inversely reflects the passion impelling debates about these issues. Capitalism can no more be abolished than Muslims can be transformed into Christians or spirited out of the country. And of course it is precisely the fact of powerlessness that fans the flames of indignation – whether this be well-founded or not.

Dominance of discourse by the anti-Islam movement

However, it also means that good arguments will achieve nothing here. It is no longer about the issues themselves; there is merely protest for protest's sake. In order to seem unassailable, protest has entrenched itself behind monolithic ideological dogmatism. The crucial formulation in this doctrine is extremely simplistic: Islam was never good, is not good, and cannot be good.

It is precisely the fact of being closed to counter-arguments that constitutes the movement's cult status for many intellectuals and media administrators. They enjoy being allowed at long last to have a clear-cut opinion rather than constantly having to differentiate and twist and turn. This dogmatism only increases when confronted by the opposition still encountered here and there; and if that opposition is well-founded, intransigence turns up the volume and intensifies even further.

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The tragic case of Marwa El-Sherbiny: According to Weidner, the anti-Islam movement in Germany has created an atmosphere that can mediate to any potentially violent anti-Islamic criminal the impression that justice is on his side | It is already the case that the more popular the medium, the more apparent the dominance of discourse by the so-called critics of Islam. Their claim and feeling of being deprived of a platform are not based on any lack of media presence but rather on the aforementioned political ineffectiveness. In that, this movement is similar to its ideological opponents, from whom it has nonetheless copied its most important discussion strategy: criticism of Israel. Even critics of Israel urgently insist that such criticism is not really allowed in Germany. That has always been as nonsensical as the claim that people are not allowed to criticise Islam. But neither criticism of Israel nor disparagement of Islam achieve a sufficient political response. It is the resultant frustration that makes both sides become so shrill.

However, if speaking of 'criticism of Israel' is too sweeping, because the majority of these critics are not concerned with the existence of Israel as such but rather with specific aspects of Israeli policy such as settlement and legal discrimination against Israeli Arabs, then reference to 'criticism of Islam' is even more sweeping. This criticism entails everything and nothing, just as Muslim blanket criticism of the West might. But criticism of Islam that wasn't sweeping would immediately lose its target – how Islam is imagined to be – and thus its capacity to focus diffuse unease, feeding on many sources and almost all political camps.

"No tolerance for the intolerant"

However, if one cannot negotiate with the anti-Islam movement because it lacks any satisfiable political objectives, if one cannot argue with the movement because it doesn't want to know about making distinctions, if one cannot mollify it because the movement wants to enjoy indignation for indignation's sake and castigates any mollification as appeasement, then how should the more thoughtful among our contemporaries behave towards upholders of anti-Islam? Silence and taking the situation for granted are no use if one doesn't want to accept a creeping poisoning of the social climate.

An initial but obvious warning sign, the murder of an Egyptian woman, Marwa El-Sherbiny, by a right-wing extremist in a Dresden courtroom, no longer played any part in recent debates, as if one had nothing to do with the other. In fact they are very probably linked. The anti-Islam movement in Germany has created an atmosphere that can mediate to any potentially violent anti-Islamic criminal the impression that justice is on his side and that he is acting in the name of a majority.

For the moment the only possibility of countering the anti-Islam movement is to adopt one of its strategies. Opponents of Islam preach 'No tolerance for the intolerant'. At present it is to be recommended that we take what they say absolutely literally and do not let them get away with anything whatsoever.

Stefan Weidner

© Goethe-Institute/Fikrun wa Fann

Stefan Weidner is editor-in-chief of Art & Thought/Fikrun wa Fann.

Translated by Tim Nevill

Editor: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de

http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php?wc_c=476&wc_id=1399

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Asadullah Syed

Iranian Internet Comic Strip Series "Zahra's Paradise"

Iranian Internet Comic Strip Series "Zahra's Paradise"

The Pencil as a Weapon against Dictatorship

Internet media have been involved in organising the mass protests in Iran following the controversial presidential elections in June 2009, and disseminating information and footage throughout the world. The web comic strip "Zahra's Paradise" is also a child of this media revolution. Susanne Schanda spoke to its creator

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The title of the cartoon is a reference to the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in southern Tehran, where numerous victims of state violence are buried; among them the student Neda, who has become a symbol of the resistance movement | "They can ban as many newspapers as they want, but the people's press won't be subdued." These are the words, spoken in a comic strip, of the owner of an Internet café who is at that moment producing a thousand copies on his photocopier of a flyer with details of a missing person. That missing person's name is Mehdi, he's 19 years old and took part in the large-scale demonstration on Freedom Square in June 2009, four days after the presidential elections, when more than a million people thronged the streets of Tehran, calling out: "Where is my voice?" Since then he has fallen silent, and disappeared.

His mother and his brother, a blogger, go in search of Mehdi. The first place they go to is Freedom Square, the scene of violent clashes between security forces and demonstrators the previous day. Then they trail from hospital to hospital, see a great deal of blood and badly injured people. But there's no trace of Mehdi anywhere, not even at the notorious Evin prison for political detainees. It's after dark, and the tall buildings of Tehran are bathed in artificial light. There are numerous men and women standing on the rooftops, their arms stretched up towards the sky, defiantly calling out the words "Allahu Akbar".

The Islamic Republic – a failed experiment

"Religion was always very important to the Iranians," says Amir, the author of "Zahra's Paradise", during a telephone interview. An Iranian national now living in the US, he had just turned 12 when he and his family left the country during the Islamic Revolution in 1979. "My experience of religion in Iran was marked by a loving grandmother, and it was of course a part of our culture. But Islam as it is being indoctrinated in Iran today, is tainted and corrupt. I view the 30-year-old Islamic Republic as an experiment just as Marxism was, and the experiment has failed," he says firmly.

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"Where is my voice?" – On 15 June more than a million people thronged the streets of Tehran, protesting against the reelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad | Amir, who only wants to use his first name, is a journalist, documentary filmmaker and human rights activist. He has lived in Afghanistan, Europe and Canada. He has always remained in touch with his old homeland, via blogs and websites administered by the reform movement, as well as through conversations with friends and relatives. "I belong to a generation of Iranians that has grown up between the cultures," says the author.

Since February, "Zahra's Paradise" has been appearing every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in 10 languages on the Internet. There are plans to publish the comic in book form next year. It is Amir's first comic strip volume. He has already completed the rough draft, but is also always working in parallel on the individual pages of the comic series with the Arab illustrator Khalil (who will also only divulge his first name).

Persian-Arab-Jewish cooperation

The comic strip novel is to be published by the Jewish-American comic strip author and publisher Mark Siegel in New York. This Persian-Arab-Jewish cooperation is a statement per se against the conventional formula of hostility in the name of religion. "I'd been pondering the idea of an Iran comic with Khalil for a long while already, and I'd also spoken to Mark Siegel about it," says Amir. Then came the elections and the wave of protests, the images charged with energy and hope for change. Then we knew instantly that we couldn't let this story pass us by."

Amir's work as a journalist often involves fragments of reality, he says. The comic strip allowed him to develop a story that feeds off reality, but with parts that go together to make up a whole, says Amir: "A sort of collage." The title is a reference to the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in southern Tehran, where numerous victims of state violence are buried; among them the student Neda, who has become a symbol of the resistance movement.

For Amir, Behesht-e Zahra is not just a cemetery "but also a garden where the world will be reborn." He is convinced: "The dead are only dead if we forget them. If we think about them, on the other hand, we sense the power and energy they emanate."

Women with civil courage

The heroes of these web comic strips are actually heroines. Zahra, the mother, searches for her son for hours through the streets of Tehran at night, and is not afraid to challenge a high-ranking official outside Evin prison; Zahra's friend Miriam, who likes to smoke and drink, has no time for prohibitions, religious or otherwise. When Zahra tells her that when Mehdi was born, it felt to her like a gift from God, Miriam responds sarcastically: "Well, God also gave us Khomeini. Now I really need another Scotch."

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"Hey, where's my ashtray? And my Scotch?" – Zahra's friend Miriam has no time for prohibitions - religious or otherwise | A representative of the civil courage of Iranian women in everyday life is the young, coquettish woman in the Internet café, who flirts with her neighbour and puts the nosy, interfering owner in his place with the comment: "I'm paying for Internet time here. If I need a censor, I'll pay extra; what do you charge?" The comic strip devotes an entire page to the student Neda, whose death was filmed by a mobile phone and the footage aired across the globe via Twitter. A tribute is also made to Zahra Kazemi, the Iranian-Canadian photo journalist tortured to death in prison in 2003.

Role model Marjane Satrapi

With "Zahra's Paradise", Amir and Khalil are following in the footsteps of the Iranian artist Marjane Satrapi, who lives in Paris. In her comic strip novel "Persepolis" from the year 2000, which has since been made into a film, she created an artistic documentation of the Islamic Revolution by drawing on her own biography. Amir is a great admirer of Satrapi's work, and regards her as a role model and source of inspiration.

"She can be credited with creating a comic strip that showed Iranians working on change behind the official façade of the Islamic Republic, committed, intelligent people who are never talked about in the West," he says.

But while Satrapi made her own life story central to the narrative, "Zahra's Paradise" relates fictional events against the backdrop of recent political occurrences that have not even been brought to any conclusions yet – and almost in real time. As a journalist Amir knows how quickly political events fall out of the media spotlight. "Our comic strip aims to help ensure that people remain aware of the most recent events affecting the lives of Iranians."

Susanne Schanda

© Qantara.de 2010

Translated from the German by Nina Coon

Editor: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de

http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php?wc_c=310&wc_id=789

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Asadullah Syed

Hilal Sezgin's Novel about Muslims in Germany: Clumsy Anti-Terror Investigation

Hilal Sezgin's Novel about Muslims in Germany

Clumsy Anti-Terror Investigation

The new novel by Hilal Sezgin begins with a fictional terrorist attack on Germany – an attack that is not only deeply unsettling for the nation, but also for the book's heroine. In a humorous and light-hearted tone, the German-Turkish writer and columnist tells of coexistence in a nervous society that suspects every devout Muslim of being a potential terrorist. Nimet Seker spoke to the author

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"Islam is often viewed in Germany as a source of problems. Muslims are perpetually concerned with explaining that they're not the way the media portrays them," says Hilal Sezgin | It is something one hardly dares to imagine: Islamic terrorists carry out an attack during the New Year period. They managed to poison the contents of numerous bottles of sparkling wine before they hit the supermarket shelves. Nine people die as a result of the poison, and countless more have to receive medical treatment. The entire country is plunged into a state of anxiety and fears that other foodstuffs may have been poisoned. Fortunately, this story is not real, but an invention by the writer and journalist Hilal Sezgin, an idea for a clever and entertaining novel on Germany's relationship with Islam and the Muslim members of its society ("Mihriban pfeift auf Gott. Ein deutsch-türkischer Schelmenroman." [Mihriban does not care about God. A German-Turkish picaresque novel]).

The Turkish-German woman Mihriban Erol lives with her brother Mesut and his daughter Suna in Berlin's Kreuzberg district. She doesn't have a proper job, and occasionally works as a kind of 'Girl Friday' at a nursery school. She describes herself as "a highly accomplished washout". She's not really interested in politics, and she's had little experience with men, despite the fact that her lips are "very kissable".

Then, during a New Year holiday in Egypt, sex and politics suddenly burst in on Mihriban's life: As the storyline would have it, in a far-flung corner of the hotel, Mihriban finds herself kissing a man whom she has only just met. Then news of the terrorist attack on Germany reaches the holiday resort, and Mihriban is directly affected. She finds herself wondering whether her brother – a devout Muslim – perhaps sympathises with the terrorists.

Religion as decoration

Up to that point, Mihriban had viewed religion as nothing more than superstition, and God as "a kind of decoration". Up to that point, she had always regarded her brother as an overly correct and respectable "Supermuslim". Mihriban and her brother Mesut personify two apparently quite different world views, as the author explains:

"Even before this terrorist attack, Mihriban is not very impressed by Mesut's religious development. Both were actually raised in a non-religious environment, and this is very common among people of Turkish origin. When he starts to get closer to religion at a later stage, it makes her feel uneasy. She thinks religion is either superfluous, or even damaging."

Back in Berlin, Mihriban then finds something worrying on her brother's camera: a film about the production of sparkling wine in a factory. Is there a connection with the attack, is her brother perhaps even more than just a sympathiser?

Clumsy anti-terror investigation

This is where the story gains pace and suspense – Mihriban tries to find out whether her brother really was involved in the attack, whether the impossible has become a reality. Mihriban becomes an anti-terrorism investigator within her own family, and her detective work turns out to be quite adventurous. It is at this point that the narration incorporates picaresque elements.

"It is a picaresque novel in as far as it is ultimately about a political story, a highly complex political story in fact, but that it is portrayed and experienced by a heroine who is herself not especially interested in politics, and not especially smart," says Sezgin in an interview with Qantara.de.

Mihriban's research, which is at times clumsy, and at others delicate, brings her into contact with things that she really knows nothing about, for example 'Federal Trojan' software and the protection of the constitution. Sezgin makes clever use here of the topos of all intelligence service stories: deception.

But it is not only the secret services that revert to deception. When Mihriban hears a news reporter from an Arab country explaining that Muslims make use of what is known as "Takiya", a kind of disguise to allow them to survive as a minority in an enemy environment, she soon starts perceiving "Takiya" as a kind of synonym for terror and underhanded behaviour. And this is despite the fact that the concept actually means something quite different, as the writer reveals.

Although Sezgin's novel does not undertake any clear criticism of the media, the attentive reader will hardly fail to notice that supposedly enlightening media reports on Islam are not really helping the heroine to any better understanding.

Conciliatory turnaround

Despite the jokey, light-hearted narrative style, Sezgin does also give voice to socially critical views. And although the novel depicts the atmosphere of living under a terrorist threat, the story takes a conciliatory turn at the close. Overall, the book reads like one of the contributions that the Muslim writer regularly makes to the Islam debate in German newspapers – a debate in which she holds unequivocal views.

"Islam is often viewed in Germany as a source of problems. Muslims are perpetually concerned with explaining that they're not the way the media portrays them," says Sezgin. "The overriding view of Islam as a potential source of danger – whatever that might be – is wrong. Unfortunately it's very widespread and that must change."

"Mihriban does not care about God" is a thoughtful and enjoyable appeal for more sensitivity and less anxiety between German and Muslim communities. A wonderful, fascinating and political novel that will have you grinning and laughing out loud.

Nimet Seker

© Qantara.de 2010

Translated from the German by Nina Coon

Editor: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de

Hilal Sezgin: "Mihriban pfeift auf Gott. Ein deutsch-türkischer Schelmenroman." (Mihriban does not care about God. A German-Turkish picaresque novel." Dumont 2010, 320 pages

http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php?wc_c=310&wc_id=788
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Asadullah Syed

Anti-Muslim Mood in the USA: Countering a Wave of Hate towards Islam

Anti-Muslim Mood in the USA

Countering a Wave of Hate towards Islam

While attacks against Muslims are on the increase in the USA, wild speeches like that given by Iranian President Ahmadinejad before the UN General Assembly serve to heat up the anti-Muslim mood in the country. Yet, the Muslim minority has powerful supporters in the USA. By Gökalp Babayigit

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Support instead of rejection. Although the anti-Muslim mood in the USA is noticeably on the rise, an increasing number of people are declaring solidarity with their Muslim fellow citizens | It may only be a small paper in a small American state, but the uproar surrounding the Portland Press Herald clearly illustrates the current mood in the USA.

The newspaper from the state of Maine published a harmless article about 3000 Muslims that gathered in Portland and peacefully prayed together to mark the end of Ramadan. A photo of the event also appeared on the paper's front page. The editor evidently had not expected this decision would lead to the subsequent deluge of complaints from readers.

The article and accompanying photo were published on the ninth anniversary of 9/11 and it enraged readers to such an extent that the paper received countless angry letters to the editor. Richard Connor, the paper's editor and publisher, was forced to react. The next day, the newspaper printed an apology in which Connor admitted to having "upset many readers" with his journalistic decision and regretted not having found the "right balance" on a day such as September 11.

Clearly, a prominent front-page story about law-abiding American Muslims celebrating their holiday was not something that the paper's readers wanted to see on this day of mourning. James Poniewozik, a blogger with Time magazine, responded to the newspaper's apology with the caustic commentary headline, "Paper to Readers: Sorry for Portraying Muslims as Human."

Muslims as useful scapegoats

Coverage of the New York Ground Zero mosque controversy on conservative media like Fox News or statements by Tea Party politicians might lead many to concur with the views of the New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. He regrets that Muslims are one of the last minorities in America that can be publicly humiliated without any fear of consequences.

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Please, no celebrating Muslims! Richard Connor, publisher of the Portland Press Herald, had to apologize for printing a picture of peaceful Muslims celebrating on the ninth anniversary of 9/11 | Events like the recent appearance of Mahmud Ahmadinedjad before the UN General Assembly, where the Iranian president elaborated on bizarre conspiracy theories concerning 9/11, have only served to worsen the mood against Muslims.

In fact, the media has reported on a massive number of incidents, indicating rampant Islamophobia throughout the country. American Muslims have not been exempt from this wave of hate. A taxi driver in New York was attacked and slashed across the neck, only because he was a Muslim. A New York construction worker was attacked during an anti-mosque demonstration, because he supposedly looked like a Muslim. A mosque being built in Murfreesboro, Tennessee suffered an arson attack.

Those on the American left have expressed alarm and disgust at the sheer number of attacks while posing the equally disconcerting question as to whether anti-Islamism is the McCarthyism of the new millennium. Back in the 1950s, a hysterical campaign was instigated against supposed communists.

Encouraging signs of resistance

America would not be renowned as a land of contrasts if these vehement actions did not elicit an equally resolute counter-reaction. Resistance against this anti-Islamic mood is growing, even though it has received comparably far less attention in the media.

"It can't be denied that there is an anti-Muslim mood in the country," says Joseph Cumming of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. "But there has also been an almost equally vigorous counter-reaction by those who reject Islamophobia and who have positioned themselves on the side of American Muslims."

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A light in the darkness of prejudices: "America would not be renowned as a land of contrasts if these vehement actions did not elicit an equally resolute counter-reaction," says Gökalp Babayigit | In comments to the sueddeutsche.de, the director of the "reconciliation program" at Yale University, which aims to build bridges between Islam and Christianity, expressed concern at developments on the one hand, but also showed some cautious optimism.

"I believe that the topic isn't merely excessively covered in the media, but that the media itself is a contributing factor to events," says Cumming. Statistics indicate that Cumming may not be so far off the mark. The number of reported crimes against Jewish Americans remains far higher than that against Muslims.

Cumming also confidently names those who have raised their voices in support of Muslims in America – the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), the umbrella organization of evangelicals in the US that represents some 45,000 churches nationwide. It has loudly protested against the anti-Muslim tirades and stands on the side of Muslim Americans.

Richard Cizik sends out a clear message to all the Islamophobic voices who believe that being American is inextricably tied to being a Christian and for whom Islam is therefore un-American and only worthy of contempt. "I say 'Shame on you!' to all evangelicals who show religious intolerance towards Muslims and who insult or discriminate against them. It brings shame upon all of us who love Jesus and his church."

Work towards reconciliation

Cizik, a former NAE vice-president and founder of the "New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good", sees the root of the problem not in a new racism, but rather in sheer ignorance. This is also confirmed by opinion polls, which indicate that people who don't have any Muslim friends are far more sceptical towards Islam.

Together with Muslim associations, Cizik and his organization have initiated numerous programmes with the aim of combating this ignorance. "These programmes will help us to head off plans by the radical right to label Islam as the new 'evil empire'," said Cizik to the sueddeutsche.de. Cizik is a very busy man.

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Spotlight on the little man: The media has devoted excessive attention to the surge in anti-Muslim feelings and thereby, intentionally or not, contributed to the spread of Islamophobia, criticizes Joseph Cumming from the Yale Center for Faith and Culture | In April, there was a joint programme with evangelicals and Muslims, and another will follow in November. The reconcilliator Cumming can't complain about having too little work. The furore surrounding Pastor Jones from Florida, who planned on holding a Koran burning event to mark the anniversary of 9/11, also beset the man from Yale, but not as one might think.

Has reconciliation work between the two world religions become more difficult on account of the current public mood? Cumming takes a moment to consider. "Every time when someone does something crazy like Pastor Jones, our telephone rings," he says.

"Christians call up. Pastors and church leaders want suggestions from the director of the reconciliation programme as to how they can establish friendly and good relations with Muslims in their neighbourhood." This counter-reaction, says Cumming, "provides us with great encouragement in our work."

Gökalp Babayigit

© Süddeutsche Zeitung/Qantara.de 2010

Editor: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de
http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php?wc_c=476&wc_id=1397

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Asadullah Syed

Qura’n fountain- head of democracy

Islam and Politics

30 Sep 2010, NewAgeIslam.Com

Qura'n fountain- head of democracy

By Zafar Alam Sarwar MARCH is the third month of Western calendar associated with cold winds. But the people of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, like their brethren across the country before as well as after the December 16, 1971 truncation of Pakistan on December 16, 1971, have often regarded it as the seed-sowing period of revolutionary change eventually affecting the social, economic and cultural life of the common man. The month is known for many promising events during the struggle for a democratic welfare state. Prior to Viceroy Mountbatten's arrival in India in March 1947, the demand for a Muslim homeland in the sub-continent was made in March 1940 through the Lahore Resolution at the 27th annual session of the All-India Muslim League. Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah's attitude in preliminary talks with the viceroy reflected the clarity and inflexible determination about his vision of the future. He insisted that Muslims must have a sovereign nation-state with armed forces of its own. A year later, on March 2, the Quaid addressed the Punjab Muslim Students Federation with intent to prepare the youth for the future goals (which still lie ahead). The Muslim Leaguers, claiming patriotism and loyalty to the state, need to recall the points he emphasised. There are at least three pillars which go to make a nation worthy of possessing a territory and running the government, according to the founder of Pakistan. "One is education, without which we are in the same position as we were in a Pandal last night in darkness." (God forbid! darkness doesn't prevail in the wake of load-shedding). "Next, no people can ever do anything very much without making themselves economically powerful in commerce, trade and industry. And, lastly, when we've got that light of knowledge by means of education and when we're strong economically and industrially, then we've got to prepare ourselves for our defence—-defence against external aggression and to maintain internal security." The Quaid, on March 2 of the same year, appealed to the MSF to work for the ideals they cherished for there's a great deal more to be done and, therefore, young and old, men and women must work. The appeal lives on today as does his advice to the Aligarh Muslim University Union of the same month. The message is not time-barred. Only true lovers of Pakistan, military and civil, would realise that time has again come for them to shelve politics and devote themselves more and more to the constructive work like the spread of education among the masses, their social uplift and economic betterment.    He declared in March 1947 in Bombay "if there's anything good (in the world), that's just Islam." The architect of Pakistan and the millions he led had an unending urge for an independent homeland. And that desire emanated from the Qura'n and the belief that the spirit of democracy and socio-economic justice is enshrined in Islam. Terming democracy against the Qura'n and calling it 'kufr' (paganism) is oversimplification of Islam as some misguided extremists do. There's no reason to justify everything that comes out of the mouth of any self-appointed custodian of religion, who plays with the emotions of the common people in backward areas. One has to differentiate the Islamic concept of democracy from the Western type of democracy being practised by the so-called politicians in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan since Independence.    Every so-called 'maulana' can't be relied upon in such matters. The right to rule the state doesn't belong to an individual, or to a family, or to a tribe, or to a special group of individuals, but to any such person whom the masses themselves choose for serving their cause and who can govern according the constitution in the light of the Qura'n. The truth is that all lands belong to Almighty God who has delegated the proprietary rights to those who cultivate the land themselves. There's no room for absentee landlords, feudalism and capitalism in Islam, which teaches fraternity, equality and liberty and guarantees socio-economic justice, irrespective of caste, creed or colour. And that is called democracy practised by Prophet Muhammad (peace upon him) in the people's welfare state of Madina, and later followed in letter and spirit by the caliphs according to the Qura'n.      The noble Qura'n is a book of wisdom and guidance to mankind in all spheres of life—-social, economic and political—-and, above all, a source of principals of democracy and justice to the deprived, the needy and the poor in an undemocratic state and society. Who has held aloft the banner of Islam and democracy, and come forward with masses united behind him in the face of odds and difficulties which arose from the vast floodwaters affecting the lives of around 20 million people? And who are the people still rescuing and providing relief to men, women and children hit by the natural calamity? That has to be pondered over today for the future.  Source: http://dailymailnews.com/0910/28/Editorial_Column/DMColumn.php#1 URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamAndPolitics_1.aspx?ArticleID=3484

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Asadullah Syed