Tauheedul Islam Girls' School in Blackburn was one of the country's first state-funded Muslim schools, set up by parents who wanted an alternative to the state sector. Ranked as outstanding by Ofsted, it has some of the best exam results in Britain.
Blakewater College has traditionally served a more white working-class Lancastrian community in another part of the city. It has a chequered past, having problems with behaviour and exam performance.
But now Tauheedul is helping Blakewater turn itself round. It is the first time that a Muslim school has been asked to perform a rescue act on a non-faith state school, but the experiment is already paying dividends.
After only eight months the percentage of pupils gaining five A* to C grade passes at Blakewater has risen from 11 per cent to 26 per cent.
Alan Chambers, head of Blakewater College for the past year, said the link with Tauheedul – led by its principal, Hamid Patel – had helped immeasurably. "Hamid is a Blackburn lad and there is no doubt that he wants to put something back into the wider community that both of us serve," Mr Chambers said.
The college now assesses the performance of pupils as soon as they arrive, giving them extra support if they fall short. It has also approached parents to get them more involved in the process – a tactic previously honed by their colleagues across the city.
"At Tauheedul, we get 90 to 95 per cent parental attendance," said Mr Patel. "If they don't come we ring them and say 'Come tomorrow'. We keep doing that until they come." Another of the key challenges, he said, was to raise pupils' aspirations.
Mr Patel has already written to Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, outlining plans for a countrywide network of schools like Tauheedul – using the "free schools" initiative to get them up and running. Tauheedul was run as an independent school for more than two decades in terraced houses, accepting financial contributions from parents.
It joined the state sector in 2006 and has since expanded, now having to turn away more than 200 applicants a year. Mr Patel said that within five years he would like to open the doors to non-Muslim pupils, as white families are already asking for its prospectus on the strength of its exam results.
"Come back in five years and I guarantee [we] will have white families. In some areas of the country there are Church of England schools that are 100 per cent Muslim because they like the ethos of the school," he said.
The exhibition of traditional Islamic calligraphy by amateur young and noted artists concluded on Monday at Lok Virsa, the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage
(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The exhibition of traditional Islamic calligraphy by amateur young and noted artists concluded on Monday at Lok Virsa, the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage.
The exhibition was the outcome of a calligraphic competition featuring the works of budding artists and providing them a chance to display their skills with the masterpieces of noted calligraphists.
Executive Director Lok Virsa Khalid Javaid said that in order to ensure nation-wide participation and to provide equal opportunity to all amateur young artists, Lok Virsa announced an open invitation from the interested young amateur artists to contest and participate in a competition-cum-exhibition at Lok Virsa.
Pakistan has a deep and historic background of beautiful calligraphic traditions, which needs to be projected.
He said this interaction among the renowned and upcoming calligraphists will continue in future, which would ultimately result in further promotion of this particular art.
The contestants included students from various art councils, universities and colleges.
"This has been done with a view to encourage the upcoming artists so that they should not only feel pride in practicing their art but also create new innovations in it by learning from their seniors", he added.
The eminent calligraphists whose masterpieces were on display in the exhibition included Rasheed Butt, Aftab Ahmad Khan, Elahi Buksh Matee, Imran Tahir, Muhammad Azeem Iqbal, Khawaja Muhammad Hussain, Abdul Rehman Tabani and Aftab Ahmad Changezi.
The amateur artists whose presented their works included Rehmat Ali, Rabia Sagheer, Arfah Fiaz, Sehrish Salam, Fatima Abbas, Afia Kanwal, Amna Irshad, Faiza Faiz, Muhammad Ali Imran, Mehmood Ali, Sidra Qaiser, Rafia Ahmad Usmani, Syeda Malika Haider, Asma Binte Ijaz, Rabia Khursheed, Rameesa Afazal, Azhar Farid, Saba Erum, Bushra Nasir, Qurat-ul-Ain Azam, Dr. Fauzia Rajput, Syeda Ayesha Azhar, Irsa Ambreen, Noor Fatima and Amna Nawaz.
The layout and design of the exhibition on traditional calligraphy was carried out by the eminent designer Asif Javaid Shahjahan, who is Director of the Heritage Museum at Lok Virsa.
Calligraphy has a very special place in Islam because it is strongly bound up with the Quranic revelation in two ways.
Firstly, Allah's word in the form of the Quran represents unique evidence of the divine revelation, which was actually conveyed orally to Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), but was then recorded in writing by his companions and circulated.
Secondly, this revelation is described in the Quran as an "elegantly proportioned script" which is preserved with ALLAH on "spotless sheets of paper" and which is beautiful and unsurpassable.
Disgruntled lawmakers and candidates in Afghanistan's parliamentary election, marred by allegations of fraud, renewed protests on Sunday over the poll and warned of possible violence if a fresh vote was not carried out.
No results have been declared nearly seven weeks after the election. The protests are another sign of political instability in Afghanistan, already facing a growing Taliban-led insurgency.
Joined by hundreds of supporters, the candidates and members of parliament who had sought re-election denounced the election as illegal.
"We condemn the Sept. 18 election and call it as illegal and ask the government to hold another election," read a banner carried by protesters as they marched past the palace of President Hamid Karzai and UN headquarters.
The protesters later headed to the US embassy and delivered a resolution on the election, lawmaker Daoud Sultanzoy said.
"We said that the results of the election will further worsen Afghanistan's security and force millions of people to head to the mountains" to take up arms, Sultanzoy told Reuters after the demonstration.
"We said this election should be scrapped."
The United Nations was the key organiser of the vote. The United States, which has the bulk of some 150,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, was among major donors for the elections.
Nearly a quarter of the votes for the lower house of parliament have already been disqualified by the Independent Election Commission (IEC).
Allegations of fraud have also been levelled against the IEC itself, including senior members in the commission. Two weeks after the election, the IEC said its provincial election chief in the eastern province of Khost had been arrested over fraud complaints.
The lawmakers and candidates accuse IEC officials of taking bribes from winning candidates and having their own votes unfairly tossed out.
A deputy attorney general said last week a fraud investigation had been launched into officials at the IEC following allegations from candidates. The investigation is expected to last several weeks.
The credibility of the vote will weigh heavily when US President Barack Obama reviews his Afghanistan strategy in December amid rising violence and sagging public support.
It will also likely be discussed at a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit in Lisbon this month.
Several of Karzai's ministries are being run by caretakers after parliament rejected numerous nominations this year. Karzai will not be able to put new nominations forward until a new parliament is formed.
Final results were due at the end of October. They have been pushed back by at least several weeks while a UN-backed watchdog sifts through the thousands of complaints.
Western nations have been wary of following Afghan officials in dubbing the election a success after last year's fraud-marred presidential ballot. The top UN envoy in Afghanistan said last month "considerable fraud" had taken place.
48 Shia Muslims Martyr/Injure in Massive Bomb Explosion in Holy Karbala
A huge bomb explosion has rocked the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala, killing at least 10 people and leaving tens of others wounded.
Karbala, Iraq (Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - A car bomb exploded near a mosque in the holy city of Karbala in central Iraq on Monday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 38, most of them Iranian pilgrims.
According to AFP, the bomber drew his booby-trapped vehicle up next to a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims and then detonated his payload.
"It was a suicide bomber who drove up against a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims and detonated the explosives," a police official told AFP.
The explosion occurred in the northern part of the city, officials said.
No person or group has yet claimed responsibility for the deadly bombing.
Karbala, which hosts the shrine of Imam Hussein (PBUH), attracts hundreds of Iranian Shias every day.
When you take away 1400 years of historical context to the act of revelation, and you take away belief in that revelation being from a sacred source —God—you are left with a text. I once heard Huston Smith, the religious studies scholar, say that the Qur'an does not reveal itself to non-believers. I was taken aback by that statement, until I heard a Muslim who is also a religious studies scholar say the Qur'an did not reveal itself to him until he began reading certain Sufi interpreters. All this was unfathomable to me, the person whose Islam was transformed on the basis of just reading the English translation.
But then, years of teaching religious studies myself and trying to "introduce" the Qur'an to English-speaking students, or to go in greater depth with a course focused just on the Qur'an in an Islamic university, I think I can better mediate between the presumption that everything is self-evident and the need to bridge the mystery with the pedagogical.
So this is not a discussion of history, evolution, or even of significance of the Qur'an, but more like a conversation about ways to read and ways the Qur'an is read. And since it is an Arabic text, read by others beside Arabic readers, I will distinguish between these two kinds of readings. So first, let me say some things about the Arabic text and its readers.
There are some ways of reading the Arabic of the Qur'an which matter little if you are an Arab or a non-Arab competent to read Arabic. For one thing, the Arabic of the Qur'an is not spoken by anyone. I could say not spoken by anyone anymore, but I would rather say not spoken by anyone ever. It is much closer to the Arabic spoken at the time of the Prophet. But a careful study of ahadith, statements recorded and passed down from that time, and of the Arabic of the Qur'an, indicates two parallel but stylistically distinct speech acts. Certainly they stem from the same grammatical rules and vocabulary, but they do not read like one and the same author.
The Qur'an is the standard bearer. It sets the bar. And at this point, all acts of linguistics and semantics in Arabic are compared to it, whether by Muslim or non-Muslim Arabic speakers. But again the style is much, much higher than ordinary usage; both at the time it was revealed and most certainly now. It is a bit like Shakespeare in English. Everyone who can read English can read Shakespeare, but it doesn't mean we understand everything. The style is much higher and yes, some of the forms are archaic. For example: "Wherefore art thou, Romeo?" is more like What for, or simply, why are you (called) Romeo?
We can figure it out with references to the usage of language at the time, but we cannot construct it now with the same sha-zzam and eloquence. That is one of the reasons why it is called inimitable (I'jaz). So, with respect to understanding it, anyone has equal chance, but only if they prepare for it as a composition within itself and as a style much, much higher than even the most eloquent of poetry from that time or since. And when you do, when you prepare, then it is overwhelming both in style and in content.
This style is not just in how it says what is says relative to the language, but also to the sounds. To read the Qur'an "properly" is to read it with full tajwid. These are pronunciation techniques which can be mastered in a very short while and then practiced on the text to perfection. Each year, especially during the sacred months, starting with Ramadan, there are global tawjid contests with the best reader awarded recognition. You'll be pleased to note that female readers from Indonesia are amongst the stars of recitation in these contests. Imagine that.
When I say that anyone can learn, Arabic is the most consistent of languages such that learning to pronounce is really a very simple, even rote, process. One can read and read well without knowing a single word of it meaning-wise. And so we all learn some, we teach our children some, and everybody can read a little of the Arabic text—some more eloquently then others. The rules of tajwid enhance the quality of the sound of readings, but for me, still there is something qualitatively different when a reader also knows Arabic with the tajwid.
The mp3 version I have is recited by an Arabic speaker competent in the language of the Qur'an meaning-wise and competent in tajwid. On many occasions in order to fulfill the rules of tajwid, he will repeat a part of a phrase. This has to do with the part of tajwid that deals with breathing, and holding a vowel for a certain number of counts. Sometimes you just need to catch your breath and complete the sentence the ayat, the passage. When he stops, and then repeats a portion it is always logical relative to the meaning as well.
It would not do, (no, it) would not do, to just repeat, repeat, repeat. It matters how and when a certain phrase is repeated even if only technically in order to catch your breath. I remember when I was first learning to read the Qur'an followed by first learning to read Arabic, I struggled with these 'hold your sounds, then stop take a breath' stuff for some time. It was a consolation to hear that hadith that said every letter every vowel, every consonant is a barakah, a blessing. But once fluency is attained it almost makes no sense that one would struggle, because both the meaning and the tajwid flow seamlessly together.
Most people who read the Arabic of the Qur'an read it only by rote. They make the (nearly) right sounds (give or take pronunciations and accents) but they don't understand a single thing they say, except maybe occasional repeating of the word 'Allah.' For example, my teacher has a Qur'an-reading evening when members of the community will recite at the same time in low voices from each of the 30 parts until in one session (lasting less than an hour) the entire Qur'an is read. The sound is like Qur'an schools with kids (and some adults) learning to memorize the entire text and doing so by practicing out loud, each at different places. It is not a cacophony of sound as you might expect. There is still melodious rhythm and flow even in this. The sound of the Qur'an is soothing.
This is reading as worship. It is a symbol and how much one personally understands at that time is not the point; the act of devotion is. For such reading then one should always get in the proper state. That means ritual purification and sincere intention. There will be a lot of this going on around the ka'abah as there is all during Ramadan in almost every mosque. It is recitation for recitation's sake. If you understand more about the meaning you can still participate in this devotion, but the process is slightly different. For one thing, it takes longer, no matter what, to recite when you also understand.
Some people who do not know Arabic and do not have a transliterated text will read the Qur'an in their native languages also as an act of devotion. This too is done with the proper preparations, with ablutions and with the proper intention. It's just that it means a lot more regardless of the original Arabic. I know I was smitten by the Qur'an only in English translation. It inspired me to learn Arabic and then the process was different but still I was smitten.
But then, there are lessons and information in the Qur'an that can be shared or imparted with out necessarily making the read an act of devotion. Or anyone can read this "text" whether they believe in its message, its history, or its significance. In this regard, I rather think that reading is academic. We read to find out stuff, believer and non-believer alike. For me to write my dissertation I had to read Qur'an everyday and make cards about its information. I am a believer and this act was invested with my devotion but it was really just academic. I did not "prepare" to do it; I just picked it up and took notes. Nowadays when I make a reference to a passage, I also do not "prepare." I just mention it, Arabic and/or English, based on the context that comes to mind. I do this all the time. The Qur'an is a major reference point for me, and for many others. So, we do make this reference with portions of the text even if we are not in a state of ablution.
Finally, there is the idea of reading to understand. If some one asks me about Islam, I usually suggest the Qur'an itself first and foremost. But I tell them to start reading around the ninth chapter. This is nearly halfway through the text. The reason is because of the style, and in other ways, the content of the first eight chapters. The Makkan period of revelation is more poetic and lyrical. The themes are more universal.
More of the Madinan period of revelation is in the first few chapters and these rather get down to the business of making a living practicing community. Sometimes, I even find it boring to traipse through them, and I love the Qur'an so I think maybe I could spare a new reader by suggesting that the order of the text is not as significant as the process of trying to read it through; and a better way to read it through is to get into the rhythm of it and then proceed to complete it by reading the first eight chapters last.
But then I do also recommend straight reading. Just read. I am still amazed to learn how few people have actually read through the whole thing—even Muslims. Or maybe I should say I am mostly amazed to learn that Muslims do not read through the text entirely in their lifetimes. And then they complain that Islamophobes read out of context!
Role of Religions in promoting non-violence: Islam's valuable resources for peacemaking
Full Text of a Speech delivered by Sultan Shahin, Editor, New Age Islam on 28 September 2010 at a parallel seminar organised by Al-Hakim Foundation and Himalayan Research in the UN Human Rights Council's September 2010 session at Geneva:
International Day of non-violence:28 September 2010
Role of Religions in promoting non-violence: Islam's valuable resources for peacemaking
Mr. President, Ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to begin my talk with an entreaty that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) so earnestly used to make in his prayers several times every day:
"O God, You are the original source of Peace; from You is all Peace, and to You returns all Peace. So, make us live with Peace; and let us enter paradise: the House of Peace. Blessed be You, our Lord, to whom belongs all Majesty and Honour!"
Throughout history religions have played a rather ambivalent role in promoting both peace and violence. They have been used and misused by their supposed followers in both ways. Religious postulates from all religions have been misinterpreted in a variety of ways to promote violence rather than non-violence and peace, though establishing peace and harmony in society is in a sense the primary purpose of every religion. As His Holiness The Dalai Lama once said, answering a question, relating to Islam and violence: "(People of) all religions are violent. Even Buddhists!"[i] Indeed even the beautiful and thought-provoking Buddhist concept of "emptiness" has been misinterpreted to promote violence.[ii] The octogenarian leader of Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan, Syed Ali Shah Gilani quotes not only the Quran but even the Hindu scripture Bhagwat Gita to justify terrorism in the Kashmir valley.[iii] And yet, all scholars are agreed that religion provides "valuable resources for peacemaking",[iv] and it is possible to give examples of how religions or peace-activists from within various religions have utilised these resources to promote peace and non-violence. "Within each of the great religions there is "a moral trajectory challenging adherents to greater acts of compassion, forgiveness and reconciliation", Scott Appleby wrote, an "internal evolution" that offers hope for religiously inspired peacemaking."[v]
One can indeed make this point without fear of contradiction on the basis of the teachings of all religions. Theologian Mark Juergensmeyer[vi] has identified three major aspects of non-violence within nearly all world religions:
a) Reverence for life and desire to avoid harm,
b) The ideal of social harmony and living peacefully with others,
c) The injunction to care for the other, especially for the one in need.
Distinguished scholar and peace activist David Cortright has tried to illustrate these points with examples from several religions.[vii] Illustrating the first point he says: All major religions have imperatives to love others and avoid taking of human life. In Buddhism, the rejection of killing is the first of the Five Precepts. Hinduism declares "the killing of living beings is not conducive to heaven."[viii] Jainism rejects the taking of any form of life: "if someone kills living things…his sin increases."[ix] The Quran states "slay not the life that God has made sacred."[x] The Bible teaches you shall not murder."[xi]
The second point is illustrated by the ideal of social harmony and living peacefully with other being frequently emphasized in the Old Testament and the Qur'an. Third is the willingness to sacrifice and suffer for the sake of expiating sin and avoiding injury to others, which is common in the Abrahamic traditions.
The third universally accepted norm at the core of all religious traditions is the injunction to care for the other, especially for the one in need. Cortright says: "Buddhism and Hinduism are founded on principles of compassion and empathy for those who suffer. Islam emerged out of the Prophet's call to restore the tribal ethic of social egalitarianism and to end the mistreatment of the weak and the vulnerable. In the New Testament Jesus is depicted throughout as caring for and ministering to the needy. Compassion for the stranger is the litmus test of ethical conduct in all religions. So is the capacity to forgive, to repent and overcome past transgressions. The key to conflict prevention is extending the moral boundaries of one's community and expressing compassion towards others."[xii]
These factors apart, Cortright also finds other valuable resources. He writes: "There are many other religious principles that provide a foundation for creative peacemaking. Nonviolent values pervade the Eastern religious traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism and echo through the Gospel of Jesus. The religious emphasis on personal discipline and self-restraint also has value for peace-making. It provides a basis for constraining the impulses of vengeance and retaliation that arise from violent conflict. The power of imagination, to use John Paul Lederach's term[xiii], is necessary to envision a more just and peaceful order, to dream of a society that attempts to reflect religious teaching."[xiv]
Clearly all religions from ancient eastern religions like Taoism to Buddhism, Jainism Hinduism, and Abrahamic religions like Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all provide us with resources to work for peace and non-violence. Indeed, followers of all these religions and many of their sects have all worked at various times in their own ways in establishing peace. It is not possible in the time available to us here to make a detailed study but a lot of material is available in books and essays published in research journals on the subject.
Mr. President,
I would like to take this opportunity to make a special mention of Islam's quest for peace and the possibility of using Islamic resources for peace-making and for a peaceful quest for justice. Unfortunately in our time a growing number of people look at Islam with fear and are considering it a violent religion or at least a religion that allows violence for its expansion. Nothing could be further from the truth. But we cannot blame people for fearing Islam as Muslim people in several parts of the world are indeed involved in wars and terrorism while Muslim religious scholars are not doing enough to stop these nefarious activities nor are they even condemning these war-mongers and seeking to delink Islam from them.
This makes it imperative for us to recall Islam's repeated call for peace like the following:
The Qur'an calls its way 'the paths of peace.'[xv] It describes reconciliation as the best policy,[xvi] and states that God abhors any disturbance of peace.[xvii]
The root word of Islam is 'silm', which means peace. So the spirit of Islam is the spirit of peace. The first verse of the Qur'an breathes the spirit of peace. It reads:
In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.
This verse is repeated in the Qur'an no less than 113 times. It shows the great importance Islam attaches to such values as Mercy and Compassion. One of God's names, according to the Qur'an, is As-Salam, which means peace. Moreover the Qur'an states that the Prophet Muhammad PBUH was sent to the world as a mercy to mankind.[xviii]
The ideal society, according to the Qur'an is Dar as-Salam, that is, the house of peace.[xix]
The Qur'an presents the universe as a model that is characterized by harmony and peace.[xx]When God created heaven and earth, He so ordered things that each part might perform its function peacefully without clashing with any other part.
Because of the importance of peace, the Qur'an has clearly declared that no aggressive war is permitted in Islam. Muslims can engage themselves only in a defensive, not in an offensive war, irrespective of the circumstances.[xxi]
The Qur'an has this to say of the mission of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh):
We have not sent you forth but as a mercy to mankind.[xxii]
That the holy Quran equates killing of one innocent person with the killing of humanity is well known. It also equates saving one person's live with saving the entire humanity.[xxiii]
On that account We ordained for the Children of Isra`il that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole humanity: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the whole humanity. Then although there came to them Our messengers with clear (guidance), yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land.[xxiv]
Islam also puts great emphasis on Justice. And since seeking justice may sometimes call for violence, some people think Islam allows violence in its quest for justice. This is not true. Two examples from the Life of the Prophet should suffice. The first is the treaty of Hudaibiya that the Prophet signed on terms that all his companions found humiliating for what was by then a powerful community which had fended off several attacks and could be expected to do so again. Hudaibiya was not a just treaty they all thought. But the Prophet accepted that as this was the only way to peace. Another example is Muslims victory over Mecca. The Prophet announced a general amnesty after this. Justice demanded that war criminals be punished. But this would have probably created bad blood and possibly led to counter-violence. The Prophet again delinked Justice with Peace. The requirement of peace was paramount in his view.
Following the Prophet's example, in the last century, the great leader of the then united India's northwest frontier province, which is now known as Pakistan's province of Khyber-Pakhtunkwa, Badshah Khan devised a strategy that harmonised the demands of a quest for Justice with the interests of peace. He was inspired by the Mahatma and was his greatest, most unflinching ally. But he had worked out his strategy of non-violent struggle and started his unique movement before meeting him. He said he had learnt this from his study of Quran and Hadith. He found his nonviolent strategy in Islam's call for an unrelenting struggle against injustice and the Prophet's constant exhortation for patience and perseverance. He brought the two virtues together and thus was born his unique movement of non-violent resistance against British colonial rule. He told his 100,000 strong non-violent army of khudai khidmatgars (Servants of God):
"I am going to give you such a weapon that police and the army will not be able to stand against it. It is the weapon of the Prophet, but you are not aware of it. That weapon is patience and righteousness. No power on earth can stand against it. …tell your brethren that there is an army of God and its weapon is patience…."[xxv]
Many scholars and peace activists who have studied the Khudai Khidmatgar movement in detail consider this as an Islamic model for non-violent struggle against injustice. Let us hope that Muslims all over the world take this as a model that is as relevant today as it was a century ago. It has the force of truth and righteousness behind it. After all Mahatma Gandhi too had been able to work a miracle through this very model of Satyagraha or struggle for truth based on non-violence. The route through which Gandhiji reached this non-violent methodology of struggle was different. But the endpoint was so well fused together that Badshah khan was known throughout the length and breadth of then undivided India as the Frontier Gandhi. That it is the Frontier (NWFP) that is now the scene of a raging battle fought by Muslims who interpret Islam in a different and violent way is a tragedy of colossal proportions and has implications for Muslims the world over. The sooner they go back to Badshah Khan's interpretation of Islam and perhaps renew the Khudai Khidmatgar movement the better for all.
[iv] David Cortright, PEACE: A History of Movements and Ideas (Cambridge, 2008), 185.
[v] R. Scott Appleby, The Ambivalence of the Sacred Religion, Violence and Reconciliation (Lanham MD: Rowman &Littlefield, 2000), 31. As quoted by David Cortright in the book mentioned above
[vi] David Noel Freedman and Michael J. McClymond, "Religions, Traditions, Violence and Non-violence," in vol. III of Encyclopaedia of Violence, Peace, & Conflict, ed. Lester Kurtz, 229-39 (San Diego, CA Academic Press, 1999), 236
[vii] David Cortright, PEACE: A History of Movements and Ideas (Cambridge, 2008), 183.
[xii] David Cortright, PEACE: A History of Movements and Ideas (Cambridge, 2008), 185.
[xiii] John Paul Ledrach, The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005); Marc Gopin, Between Eden and Armageddon: The Future of World Religions, Violence, and Peacemaking (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 20-3.
[xiv][xiv] David Cortright, PEACE: A History of Movements and Ideas (Cambridge, 2008), 184.
In Germany, centres for Islamic studies are to be set up in three universities in order to train imams and religion teachers. Avni Altiner says that the content of the Islamic theology which will be taught at German universities must be worked out in cooperation with the Muslim associations
| Bild: The religious activities of Muslim associations in Germany reach the Muslim grass roots, and thus serve as a bridge between the state and the Muslims, says Avni Altiner, chairman of Schura Niedersachsen, an association of mosques in the German state of Lower Saxony| Only since the German Academic Council issued its recommendation that centres for Islamic studies should be set up at two or three state universities has the issue begun to receive the attention it deserves.
Germany's education minister, Annette Schavan, has now said where imams and religion teachers will in future be trained: one centre will be in Tübingen and the other will be a dual centre shared between Münster and Osnabrück.
Muslim associations like the Schuras, or associations of mosques, in northern Germany have been calling for years both for the introduction of Muslim religious education in schools and for the training of Muslim clerics in Germany.
All the same, there's a substantial difference between the aims of the associations and those of the politicians making the decisions. The politicians have been led to make this historic decision by considerations of integration and security policy.
For the Muslim associations there have been other issues: equal rights; the development of an authentic Muslim theology in a European context; independence; and the emancipation from the Muslim countries of origin.
The significance of the Muslim associations
If these aims are to be achieved, the content of the Islamic theology which will be taught at German universities must be worked out in cooperation with the Muslim associations. The religious life of Muslims in Germany takes place in the over 2,500 Muslim institutions which belong to the associations.It is they who provide the religious infrastructure in Germany. Their religious activities reach the Muslim grass roots, and thus serve as a bridge between the state and the Muslims.
| Bild: Education minister Annette Schavan has announced that imams and teacher for Muslim religious instruction will be trained at the University of Tübingen, as well as at a centre to be set up jointly at the Universities of Münster and Osnabrück| The associations are often accused of not representing all the Muslims and their low membership figures are used as evidence. But these figures have to be multiplied if the real reach of the associations is to be estimated. Usually only one member of a family is registered, but the rest of the family is involved in the community and uses its services.
If one takes a realistic estimate of the total number of members, one can realize that the associations have an enormous reach.
The state must be ideologically neutral
Furthermore, religious activities are entirely in the hands of the mosques, which gives them the right to be given special consideration on the advisory councils which have been proposed by the Academic Council.
The Council was right to propose that the content of the denominational courses on Muslim theology at state universities should be developed in cooperation with the Muslim associations. The state is constitutionally required to be neutral in terms of religious ideology, and has to keep itself out of the affairs of religious communities. It's the job of the faith communities to decide on content. The only condition which can be placed on the training is that it conforms to the principles of the constitution – a rule which applies to everyone, regardless of their religion.
| Bild: Rauf Ceylan (pictured) and Bülent Uçar in Osnabrück and Mouhanad Khorchide in Münster will be the first professors for the new "Islamic Studies" courses| The involvement of the Muslim associations in the decision processes will also have synergy effects: participation in democratic structures will lead Muslims to greater identification with the German society which has become their own.
The cooperation between the state and religious communities in the context of the German model of secularism will offer a very specific kind of opportunity for identification with the state.
Unlike in laicist democracies such as France, Tunisia or Turkey, the German model is prepared to support religions and religious communities, as long as they remain within the constitution. In this respect, the state treats all religious persuasions equally.
This is the context in which not just the spiritual leaders of the religion, but also the teachers of religion in schools will be trained. The state pays for their training, and, in the case of the teachers, also their salaries when they start work.
The right to Muslim self-determination
It is not clear to me, however, why public figures who describe themselves as "cultural Muslims" should be involved in these advisory councils. In the churches, public figures from outside the institutions, especially those who say they have little relationship to Christianity, have no right to help decide on the contents of theology courses or the appointment of professors.
| Bild: Avni Altiner says the involvement of the Muslim associations in the decision processes will have synergy effects: "Participation in democratic structures will lead Muslims to greater identification with the German society which has become their own," he writes| In the case of the advisory councils for the Islamic centres, this is precisely what the Academic Council proposes. But theology can only be decided by members of the relevant religious group and by established and recognized theologians. Neither the state nor other public figures without theological competence, let only theological knowledge, should be allowed to have any influence. Competence, authority and legitimacy go hand in hand.
The German constitutional court has repeatedly issued judgments saying that religious freedom in the form of the right to self-determination of religious communities has a higher value than so-called academic freedom. Should this not also apply to Muslims?
The Muslim associations as a social bridge
Unfortunately, the experience so far has shown that the right of self-determination is not granted consistently to Muslims. Only occasionally do the Muslim associations find that they are consulted in their mediating role as representatives of the Muslim grass roots.
As Schura Lowe Saxony, we have had positive experiences over ten years of fruitful and productive cooperation with the University of Osnabrück – not just with a pilot programme for Muslim religious instruction in schools, which has been extended to ever more schools, but also with the concept of the university's training for imams and providers of religious services which is starting this month.
| Bild: "The only condition which can be placed on the religious training is that it conforms to the principles of the constitution – a rule which applies to everyone, regardless of their religion," writes Altiner| The next step will be the setting up of an Institute for Islamic Theology, with an advisory council. As a result of the trust which has been developed and the concept which has been adopted, all the mosques in the Schuras of the northern German states are supporting this project.
Within the Schuras, there are Sunni and Shiite Muslims and a variety of ethnicities. People with roots in Turkey, Morocco, Albania, Bosnia, Iran and Germany work hand in hand – as Muslims and as German citizens.
The religious authority of future imams
All the same, it will be of central importance for us Muslim communities that this breadth of representation be reflected in the make-up of the advisory council. This principle must also apply to the advisory councils in the other new centres. This does not mean giving a privilege to the Muslim associations; it merely means that Muslims too will exercise the right of all religious communities to advise and help make decisions on religious matters.
If the Muslim associations are not to be adequately involved, I would have to advise the Academic Council to modify its proposals: it should recommend the setting up of chairs of Islamic studies whose occupants would be chosen by so-called "liberal and progressive" Muslims, without the involvement of the mosques and the Muslim associations.
But then the question would arise: would the Muslim community support the process? Would it recognize the graduates of these courses as religious authorities? And would those graduates have a chance of becoming imams in German mosques? The answer is not hard to imagine.
Headscarf discussions, battles about newly built mosques and the Islam-critical best-seller by Thilo Sarrazin. At the same time that German Federal President Christian Wulff is declaring that Islam is part of Germany. But he has by no means been able to persuade the Germans to agree with him. The debate on Islam is arousing more controversy than ever. A report by Kersten Knipp
| Bild: Is Islam taking root in Germany? Many German citizens are ill at ease because they see their way of life being called into question by the presence of Islam, writes Knipp. Pictured: minaret adorned with a German national flag| Thilo Sarrazin, former state senator for finance in Berlin and just a short time ago on the executive board of Germany's central bank, the Deutsche Bundesbank, has written a best-seller: "Deutschland schafft sich ab" (Germany Does Away with Itself). He blames the dire future he predicts for the country above all on Islam and the uncontrolled immigration of Muslims. Most Muslims have different values than the Germans, he writes. They ostensibly hold God higher than the constitutional state and democracy. This is the reason, he claims, why Germany will gradually do away with itself if it doesn't carry on an active immigration and integration debate.
Germany as a land of immigrants
These theses are meeting with a great deal of approval. But at the same time Sarrazin is also encountering opposition. Michael Bommes, for example, a sociologist teaching at the University of Osnabrück, notes that the debates currently being conducted on the subject of Islam indicate primarily one thing: that most people have yet to grasp the fact that Germany has long since become a country of immigrants with a correspondingly complex diversity of values and viewpoints.
| Bild: Even a fact can be a scandal: Germany's president Christian Wulff called on Germans to recognise that Islam is a part of Germany| "Through modern international immigration, world religions such as Islam have now arrived in Europe," says Bommes. The Muslims have to adjust to this situation, and the citizens of the European nations do too. We have to rethink the relationships between politics, law and religion. People have always had to find compromise formulas for these three elements. And Islam is making this necessary once more in today's world.
Fear of headscarves and mosques
Many German citizens are ill at ease because they see their way of life being called into question by the presence of Islam. The headscarves and veils worn by Islamic women annoy them especially. They wonder whether these women are being oppressed. The same concerns are also expressed in the results of a study just published by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. Oliver Decker, who led the study, speaks of a "very distinct increase from previously 34 per cent to over half the population who agree with statements hostile to Islam". Many Germans are also sceptical with regard to the building of new mosques, he says.
| Bild: Identity as the opposition of the 'Other': Islamic scholar Navid Kermani presumes that Germans see their identity being threatened by Islam| Where do these negative appraisals of Islam come from? Islamic scholar Navid Kermani presumes that Germans see their identity being threatened by Islam. Identity, he explains, is formed when we distinguish ourselves from other groups. Every social group defines itself by how it differs from other groups. That's why it seems logical to keep one's distance from Islam. After all, Westerners tend to be unfamiliar with Islamic symbols, making this religion seem especially alien. The process of differentiation itself is then only natural. But it becomes problematic when the Other is declared to be the enemy.
A sometimes superficial discussion
Seen in this light, there is nothing reprehensible about the debate on Islam. It seems to reflect primarily the struggle for a new German self-image and the difficulties connected with the fact that Germany has become a country of immigration. Nevertheless, political scientist Claus Leggewie contends that the discussions about Islam are often conducted on too superficial a level. Most people make little distinction between the various currents within Islam. Nor do they make sufficient allowance for the differences between moderate and radical Muslims.
| Bild: Superficial discourse: "I believe that most Europeans tend to develop more of a schematic image of Islam," says Claus Leggewie, professor for political science| "I believe that most Europeans tend to develop more of a schematic image of Islam," says Leggewie. He finds it simply astounding that Europeans, who do so much travelling and know the world so well, whose opinions on all other issues are so carefully formed and objective, are often so quick to make superficial judgements when it comes to Islam.
But the debate on Islam didn't exactly appear out of thin air, either. It stems from the fact that religion has regained a great deal of power in the Middle East itself. Of course people in Germany have taken note of this resurgence, explains Navid Kermani. The problem is that, in the Muslim world as well, many issues are being viewed through a religious lens. For many years, religion played no role there on the political front. Now all that has changed. And Germany feels threatened, fearing an increasing melding of religion and politics on these shores as well.
Islam as aid for defining Europe
First and foremost, the battle about Islam is an inner German struggle. It's about how open Germany and the Germans want to be. Since the end of the Nazi dictatorship, Germans have agonised about their history, and have developed a wrought relationship with their national identity. Whoever makes a statement about Islam, explains Claus Leggewie, is also indirectly speaking out on an entirely different issue – namely, how international Germany should be.
"There are Islamophobic tendencies on the one side, and Islamophilic leanings on the other," says Leggewie. "And, as we know, they have historically very frequently been interrelated, even when they seem on the outside to be diametrically opposed. This very obviously means that Islam continues to play an essential role in our construal of what Europe means, i.e. in the collective identity of the Europeans."
; "Bookshelf in the library at the University of Osnabrück (photo: dpa)")
; "Annette Schavan (photo: AP)")
; "photo: dpa")
; "An imam kneeling in front of a prayer niche (photo: dpa)")
; "Students at the 'Institut Buhara' in Berlin (photo: dpa)")
; "Minaret with a German national flag (photo: picture-alliance/dpa)")
; "German president Christian Wulff (photo: dpa)")
; "Navid Kermani (photo: dpa)")
; "Claus Leggewie (photo: University of Duisburg and Essen)")