Islamic Studies in Germany, Who Has the Final Say on Religious Authority?

Islamic Studies in Germany

Who Has the Final Say on Religious Authority?

 

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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"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.

Avni Altiner

© Qantara.de 2010

Avni Altiner is chairman of the Schura Niedersachsen, which represents Muslims of all denominations and nationalities.

Translated from the German by Michael Lawton

Editor: Nimet Seker, Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de

URL: http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php?wc_c=478&wc_id=1116

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Asadullah Syed

Debate on Islam in Germany, Anxiety Sparked by Ignorance

Debate on Islam in Germany

Anxiety Sparked by Ignorance

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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."

Kersten Knipp

© Deutsche Welle/Qantara.de 2010

Translated from the German by Jenifer Taylor

Editor: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de

URL: http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php?wc_c=476&wc_id=1407

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Asadullah Syed

Enemies of Islam in Europe and America, Hate International

Enemies of Islam in Europe and America

Hate International

It has taken a while for the virulent Geert Wilders style of hatred for Islam to get a foothold in the USA. But now the opponents of Islam are working together on both sides of the Atlantic. Thomas Kirchner has been taking a closer look

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The appearance of Geert Wilders during the 9/11 commemoration service in New York provided clear evidence of a successful "union of anti-Islamic groups on both sides of the Atlantic," writes Thomas Kirchner | New York's day of mourning was a day of joy for Geert Wilders. The Dutch Islam critic's appearance at the protests against the building of a Muslim community centre close to Ground Zero is just part of a master plan he has been working on for some time – the setting up of an "International Freedom Alliance". His presence in the US, therefore, is symbolic of the successful union of anti-Islamic groups on both sides of the Atlantic.

It has taken some time for aggressive European style Islam hatred to make its mark in the US. For years, the old world's constant state of conflict with its Muslim citizens and the hysterical warnings over the imminent takeover of the West by Sharia law has produced little more than a shrug of the shoulders in America, the classic immigration land. There was relatively little in the way of a reaction against Muslim Americans in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. There were no mass protests against Muslims, no mosques burned.

"Islam is a conspiracy, not a religion"

There were a few bloggers prepared to declare war on jihad; people like Charles Johnson whose tirades on his "Little Green Footballs" blog attracted millions. One of these, Pamela Geller, was particularly active and particularly virulent in her comments, and later began her own blog, "Atlas Shrugs".

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Former CDU politician René Stadtkewitz has founded a party in Germany for haters of Islam. He has named it "Die Freiheit" (Freedom) | She, along with bearded intellectual Robert Spencer (he blogs on "Jihad Watch"), head the organisation "Stop Islamization of America" (SIOA) and are now regarded as the leaders of the anti-Islam movement in the US. They make regular appearances on right-wing TV and radio shows and in David Horowitz have found themselves a millionaire backer. They can also count Republican Newt Gingrich and the neoconservative former UN ambassador John Bolton amongst their prominent supporters.

And they are becoming increasingly radical and it was they who were behind the protests in New York this month. They are good friends with Wilders, and admirers of his radicalism. His belief that Islam is a conspiracy to conquer the world, rather than a religion, is one they share.

"Islamophobia is the highest form of common sense"

Geller und Spencer are also teaming up with like-minded people in Europe. Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, who recently faced sedition charges in Austria, appeared at one of their meetings in Washington in February. Also present was Anders Gravers a butcher from Denmark who founded "Stop Islamisation of Europe" (SIOE) in 2005, an organisation whose slogan is "Islamophobia is the highest form of common sense." The American SIOA is one of its many offshoots.

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International network of Islam haters: According to a report in the Dutch newspaper NRC, the Dane Anders Gravers is a central figure in Islamophobe circles | According to a report in the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, Geller and Spencer are even controlled by Gravers. He himself was responsible for bringing the pair in to head the SIOA the Dane boasted, because the previous leadership had been too wishy-washy.

The new international alliance of enemies of Islam has even developed close ties with Israel. It has gone global, just like Islamism. German Islam haters are not hard to find on the Internet, on sites such as the blog "Politically Incorrect" and others. And there is no shortage of them, if the number of clicks is anything to go by. They have so far maintained their distance from the political stage, but now the Berlin-based ex-CDU politician René Stadtkewitz has founded a party for them. It is called "Die Freiheit" (Freedom) – a name very like that of Wilders' own party.

Thomas Kirchner

© Süddeutsche Zeitung/Qantara.de 2010

Translated from the German by Ron Walker

Editor: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de

URL: http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php?wc_c=476&wc_id=1408

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Asadullah Syed

Islam Debate in Germany

Islam Debate in Germany

The Jewish-Christian Tradition Is an Invention

There is only one main opponent on the current battleground – Islam. It is therefore necessary that Jewish intellectuals and Muslims in Germany engage in a new relationship, writes the philosopher Almut Sh. Bruckstein Coruh in her essay

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Blind to history – according to Almut Shulamit Bruckstein Coruh, "there never was a Jewish-Christian tradition, it is an invention of European modernity and a myth held dear by traumatized Germans" | Every day in Germany, one hears talk of the Jewish-Christian tradition in the West. Usually, it is meant in the context of defending our system of the rule of law and the constitution, the liberal values of our society, and even "gender equality and the freedom of artistic expression, opinion, and religion". On this battleground, there is one main opponent – Islam. And it doesn't appear that any hyphen will come to our aid.

Islam is often reflexively equated with religion – one that cannot deny its "militant Arab" origins. It supposedly consists of Sharia and the Koran, explain the experts, TV presenters, educators, politicians, and journalists, all the while invoking the Jewish-Christian tradition.

They all unashamedly tinker around with concepts from a literary tradition that is foreign to them, and which, just as the rabbinical tradition, embraces a whole world of casuistic judgements. In all this, one thing prevails – a threatening, didactic tone of unambiguity: This is what it says in the Koran, Islam says this, that is what the Sharia commands.

Ambiguous traditions

Around 2001, the author Navid Kermani and I initiated a multi-year project in Berlin on the interwoven traditions of European, Jewish, Arab, Islamic, and Persian literature.

Together with a group of Jewish and Islamic scholars, we wanted to show how complex, inspiring, and ambiguous Jewish and Arab traditions are and how necessary it is to differentiate between religious tradition and socio-political reality. The public discussion, by contrast, always seems to focus on terrorism, honour killing, the headscarf, and the Koran. And, of course, the imminent capitulation of "our culture."

A limited understanding

More than a century ago, a similar process was conducted against the Talmud, in which the whole of rabbinical Judaism was denounced.

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"We need to renew the relationship between Jewish intellectuals and Muslims in this country. It is once again time to profess our beliefs. Wherever Muslims are treated as outsiders, we are too," says Bruckstein Coruh | Countering the unambiguousness of public allegations at the time, Jewish philosophers found a surprisingly clear response in Arabic language sources from the 13th century: Those conducting the debate "explain nothing, never touching upon anything deep in the matter, and their actions are far removed from a scholarly basis. They don't even have but a spark of the human ability to think things through independently, and thereby even ignore the interpretations of learned thinkers and read traditional texts according to their own limited understanding."

And should the critics assume the role of protectors of the enlightenment in order to cast the traditions of others in disrepute, then they are "even greater idiots than the naïve pious folk, and even greater windbags, blurting out their prattle with huge influence among the intelligentsia and causing immense damage."

The mistake in separating the Jewish from the Arab

The author of these caustic words was the Judeo-Arab philosopher Moses Maimonides (1135–1204). He is regarded as the greatest of the rabbinical scholars. He belonged to the Arabic-speaking Jewish community in the Maghreb and his philosophical work is part of the Arab enlightenment. For Maimonides, the rabbinical and the Islamic are, in many respects, closely interwoven.

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"Oh, if only Maimonides had known!" Bruckstein Coruh criticises the attempt to "separate the Jewish from the Arab or to classify the Jewish tradition within a Jewish-Christian history" as being blind to history | The attempt to separate the Jewish from the Arab or even to classify the Jewish tradition within a Jewish-Christian history is a mistake that was already opposed in the late 1980s by Jacques Derrida at the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. I was there at the time, working at the Hebrew University and living in Jerusalem.

As did his esteemed philosophical predecessor, Derrida found clear words to express his views on this post-traumatic Protestant construction of a Jewish-Christian Western civilization. In the middle of Jerusalem, in the middle of a war, he said, "Oh, if only Maimonides had known!" Derrida similarly viewed this attempt to harness the whole of Jewish tradition to this fantastical gallop through Jewish-Christian-Western history as an absurd construction!

Ignorant and oblivious to history

Didn't Henryk M. Broder just recently remind us of the fact, certainly unpleasant, though true, that the hyphen in "Jewish-Christian" history primarily refers to a history of religious wars, oppression, anti-Semitism, and violence, not to mention the Shoah?

Derrida's question has us feeling the phantom pain of the loss of Jewish-Arab alliances. "If only Maimonides had known that one day he and the whole of Jewish tradition would be recruited for this strange conflict and that, without his knowledge, he would be signatory to an agreement with post-Lutheran Germany, would his soul be able to rest in peace?"

One gasps for air when confronted with so much ignorance of history. It is spine-chilling to observe the degree of emotionalism displayed by the self-appointed representatives of the Jewish-Christian Western civilization in holding up the European enlightenment as proof of their spiritual and moral superiority over their Muslim contemporaries, regardless of their nationality or cultural heritage. The ice here still remains thin after the passage of just seventy years.

No Jewish-Christian tradition

No, there was never any Jewish-Christian tradition. It is an invention of European modernity and a myth held dear by traumatized Germans. "Jewish-Christian" is a construction characterized by the notion of the dawn of progress, which reached its pinnacle in the reformation and the French Revolution.

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The German debate on integration is comparable to a "battleground upon which there is one main opponent – Islam. And it doesn't appear that any hyphen will come to our aid," writes Bruckstein Coruh on the discussion taking place in Germany | Only after the Shoah did a Jewish-Christian dialogue begin in Germany. Paradoxically, the dividing line of this dialogue corresponds to the dividing line between Muslim and Christian faiths today.

Rarely is any public evidence given for the obvious common ground between these two traditions. One such case was when the whole of Germany was up in arms over comments made by Navid Kermani about the cross. The reaction by supporters like Micha Brumlik was to eventually, though quietly, point out that for many Jews, every form of crucifixion theology remains, how should one put it, blasphemy.

Close relationship between Jewish and Muslim thinkers

During those periods of history when Germany was home to Jewish scholarship, which was unique in its cosmopolitan and critical spirit, while being closely akin to the classical Jewish-Arab tradition in its essence, Jewish scholars knew about the close relationship between Jews and Muslims.

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In his work on political enlightenment, "Jerusalem" (1789), the Jewish scholar Moses Mendelssohn continued to employ arguments from the Arab enlightenment tradition. Porträt by Anton Graff, 1771 | Up until the early 1930s, Jewish scholars turned to thinkers from the Arab enlightenment in support of their defence of the tradition of universal reason and their critique of Christology.

Hardly anyone recalls Moses Mendelssohn's work on political enlightenment, "Jerusalem" (1789), especially where his views diverge from Kant and instead employed arguments from the Arab enlightenment tradition. We should recall that in the 19th century, it was the Jews and their traditions that stood under suspicion of resistance to integration, divided loyalties, primitive spiritualism, and a pathological distancing from their German fellow citizens.

Debate over "Jewish parallel societies"

Nowadays, while caricaturists who draw a bomb in the turban of the Prophet can look forward to receiving awards, in 1888, the Marburg District Court heard charges against a secondary school teacher, who, in 1886, similarly set off an explosive debate aimed at the heart of the rabbinical tradition.

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"Only after the Shoah did a Jewish-Christian dialogue begin in Germany," says Bruckstein Coruh. Pictured: Rabbis in Munich, Germany | This was a time of debate on Jewish parallel societies and on the irreconcilability of the Halakha, the collective body of Jewish religious law, with the values of the German majority society – a debate that was stirred up by the anti-Semitism conflict in Berlin. It was then that the teacher made the claim that the Talmud permitted Jews to behave immorally with respect to non-Jews.

The Jewish community regarded this as an insult against the whole of Judaism and brought charges against the teacher. As a result, the court requested the views of two experts on "whether insulting the Talmud is also an insult against the whole Jewish religion, and therefore liable to prosecution".

Even the most assimilated of Jewish intellectuals of the day understood "that it is time that we once again profess our adherence to the faith." The Jewish neo-Kantian Hermann Cohen assumed the role of defending Talmudic Judaism in the case. In the end, the teacher was sentenced to 14 days in prison. We know today that this court case could not stop the violent exclusion, murder, and manslaughter that eventually took place.

"Wherever Muslims are treated as outsiders, we are too"

The fronts have changed. What do we read in the papers today? "Islam is a form of militant monotheism, which cannot deny its origins in a society of warring Arab nomads" and that "six million Muslims in Germany pose problems with respect to assimilation and integration".

In times like these, in which Muslim traditions stand under a cloud of suspicion, we need to renew the relationship between Jewish intellectuals and Muslims in this country. It is once again time to profess our beliefs. Wherever Muslims are treated as outsiders, we are too.

Almut Sh. Bruckstein Coruh

© Tagesspiegel/Qantara.de 2010

Almut Shulamit Bruckstein Coruh is a Fellow at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg in Bonn and Professor of Jewish Philosophy. She has published numerous works both in Germany and abroad. In 2009, she curated the exhibition "Taswir – Pictorial Mappings of Islam and Modernity" at the Martin-Gropius-Bau museum in Berlin.

Translated from the German by John Bergeron

Editor: Nimet Seker, Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de

URL: http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php?wc_c=478&wc_id=1117

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Asadullah Syed

Jerusalem's Interreligious Music School

Jerusalem's Interreligious Music School

Common Ground for Christians, Jews and Muslims

Jerusalem is a focal point for three world religions. Nestled between the religious communities is the only music school in the Old City, located in the basement of a monastery. Here, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim students learn together to make music. Daniel Pelz paid a visit to the Magnificat Institute.

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Musical dialogue across borders: "Our students belong to the various Christian denominations, they are Muslims and Jewish," tells Hania Sabbara. "Here, they see that they are all similar" | The rehearsals of the Magnificat youth choir provide some of the rare moments when harmony reigns in Jerusalem. Eight teenagers in jeans and trendy tops stand behind brown wooden desks. Above them is the whitewashed vaulted ceiling. Here in the basement of the Franciscan monastery, the narrow alleyways and crowds of people in the Old City seem far away. Only the voices of the choir can be heard. The song they are now rehearsing is called "Flowers."

Hania Sabbara, a Christian Palestinian, conducts the choir. The forty-year old woman is wearing white pants and a green blouse. Her hair is grey. She smiles and gesticulates constantly as she speaks. But when the topic turns to the mission of the music school, she immediately becomes serious. She has been here since the school was founded in 1995.

"Every possible community comes to Magnificat – our students belong to the various Christian denominations, they are Muslims and Jewish," tells Hania Sabbara. "Here, they receive the same classes, the same education, meet together in the choir, and they see that they are all similar."

Side-by-side

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"A separate country within a country": The Old City of Jerusalem is made up of a Christian, a Jewish, an Armenian, and a Muslim quarter | Hania Sabbara knows from her own experience why a music school such as the Magnificat Institute is so important. She grew up in a house not 200 metres away from the Franciscan monastery. Since childhood, Hania Sabbara could look out from the rooftop terrace to a view of the city wall and the church towers. From up here, it immediately becomes apparent that the Old City has at least one thing in abundance – religion. Churches, mosques, and synagogues are packed together into an area that is hardly larger than 30 football fields.

Everywhere from the golden Dome of the Rock to the two domes of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, crosses, stars of David, and crescent moons jut into the air. And sandwiched in-between live around 30,000 people – strictly divided according to religious affiliation. The Old City is made up of a Christian, a Jewish, an Armenian, and a Muslim quarter.

By contrast, one can see members of different ethnic groups at a violin lesson in the Magnificat Institute. The students today are David and Habib. There is little to differentiate the two in their outward appearance – one is ten and the other eleven years old, both have black hair and olive-brown skin. Habib wears a grey and white basketball gear and David has on a grey t-shirt and jeans. Both boys hold a violin in their hands.

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"Every possible community comes to Magnificat – our students belong to the various Christian denominations, they are Muslims and Jewish", explains Hania Sabbara, head of the Magnificat Institute | Habib comes from a Christian Palestinian family, while David is an Armenian. Their teacher, Tania Beltzer, is Jewish. She looks forward to the weekly lesson in Magnificat. "The Old City is like a separate country within this country. In my daily life, I rarely meet with Palestinians, Armenians, or Greeks. They are very closed communities," says Tania. "That is why this school is so special. Here you get a glimpse into these communities and meet people that you would otherwise never have met or gotten to know well at all."

"Music connects people"

While their teacher is talking, David sets off for home. He won't be able to relax right yet – he still has to practice his violin. His father Haroud sits on the black leather sofa and watches his son. "There are not enough places in Jerusalem where young people can meet. That is why it is good that they can go to Magnificat", he says.

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Forgetting politics and religion: Violin teacher Tania Beltzer with her students David (left) and Habib (right) | Haroud and his son are members of the city's almost 2,000 strong Armenian community. They mostly keep among themselves in the Armenian quarter of the capital. Haroud Aslanian wants something more for his son and this is why he sends him to the Magnificat Institute. "Music connects people and allows them to forget politics and religion, so that they can become a community."

David continues to practice his violin. He is a little too shy for an interview. The eleven-year-old hasn't decided if he'd rather be a professional musician or a pilot. In any case, his parents hope that the music school will help him to become an open-minded person.

Daniel Pelz

© Deutsche Welle/Qantara.de 2010

Translated from the German by John Bergeron

Editors: Klaus Gehrke/Marco Müller, Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de

URL: http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php?wc_c=310&wc_id=796

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Asadullah Syed

The First Muslim College in America, Dispelling Stereotypes about Islam

The First Muslim College in America

Dispelling Stereotypes about Islam

Zaytuna College is the first Muslim college in the US. Its very existence in America repudiates notions of Islam as an exclusively Eastern ideology, and it indicates that Islam and Muslims can be authentically American, writes Shazia Kamal

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A symbol of purity and light: logo of Zaytuna College, America's first Muslim college | The Arabic word for olive is zaytun. Qur'anic and Biblical scriptures have deemed the olive an extraordinary fruit due to its many benefits, and call the olive tree a symbol of purity and light. Thus, it is only fitting that the first Muslim college in the United States, carrying the light of knowledge and leadership, is bestowed with the name Zaytuna College.

The college's very existence in America repudiates notions of Islam as an exclusively Eastern ideology. Its presence instead indicates that Islam and Muslims can be authentically American, and can contribute to the nation's sociological, political and cultural advancement.

Academic professionalism and religiously inspired visions

Education has played a major role in easing racial and religious tensions and encouraging tolerance in the United States. Many immigrant groups who came to America seeking freedom were instead discriminated against upon arrival. Religious groups began using education to address these tensions, becoming vital forces in fostering acceptance.

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Dr. Hatem Bazian and Imam Zaid Shakir lead the Zaytuna College faculty to the stage. America's first Muslim college is currently seeking accreditation from accrediting bodies in the United States, as well as recognition from major educational institutions in the Muslim world, such as Egypt's al-Azhar University | Institutions like Brandeis University and the University of Notre Dame led the way in securing a place for Jewish and Catholic identities within the fabric of American mainstream society through their work to link their faith groups with strong, visible research and education institutions.

The University of Notre Dame was established in 1842 as a project of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, led by Reverend Edward Sorin at the peak of Catholic immigration from Europe. Later, Brandeis University in Massachusetts became the first Jewish-sponsored, non-sectarian university to open in 1948.

Today these universities and others like them combine cutting-edge academic curricula with religiously inspired visions to promote universal values, like social justice, to all students – regardless of their religious background.

At the forefront of public dialogue

Zaytuna College seeks to promote the same vision in its students, which it welcomes from all faith traditions. It endeavours to draw on principles from the Qur'an and from the teachings of some of the greatest Muslim scholars in history, like Imam Al Bukhari, a 9th century scholar of the study of hadith (sayings of Prophet Muhammad) and Imam al Ghazali, an 11th century jurist and Sufi mystic.

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Muslim student life in the Sun State: The San Francisco Bay Area is home to an active and diverse Muslim community. An estimated 300,000 to 500,000 Muslims live in the area | As a Muslim American college, Zaytuna carries with it an added responsibility of dispelling stereotypes about Islam. Given the current climate of rising Islamophobia and the inaccurate portrayal of Islam as a violent ideology, Zaytuna will assume its place at the forefront of public dialogue to tackle these issues at all levels: intra-faith, interfaith and inter-communal.

Zaytuna College will communicate Islam's tenets and practices to the broader American public and serve as an alternative source of information to five-second media bytes that perpetuate a one-dimensional Islam. This will be made possible by a wealth of articles and multimedia available on the college's website on subjects such as the haj pilgrimage, coexistence and leadership in Islam. The website also allows people to request faculty for speaking engagements.

Promoting a fair and balanced perspective on Islam

Fortunately, Zaytuna has the means to become a growing centre for understanding Islamic thought and practice through its world-renowned faculty, including Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, co-founder of Zaytuna and advisor to One Nation, a national initiative promoting employment, equality and education for all, and Imam Zaid Shakir, who oversees New Islamic Directions, an organisation dedicated to promoting a fair and balanced perspective on Islam – as well as through the study of the social sciences alongside Arabic language and Islamic law and theology.

Zaytuna College provides a substantive, interdisciplinary approach to be studied and applied urgently to an era in which facts, especially about Islam, are all too frequently taken out of context. With that in mind, graduates of Zaytuna College can serve the Muslim American community by becoming certified imams or chaplains and addressing matters like women's rights and youth activism in their local Muslim communities.

Through its unique approach and exemplary scholars, Zaytuna College has the potential to become an authentic and invaluable vessel of peace and understanding that will define the 21st century.

Shazia Kamal

© Common Ground News Service 2010

Shazia Kamal is a community activist in the Los Angeles area and a contributing writer for AltMuslimah.com.

Editor: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de

URL: http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php?wc_c=478&wc_id=1118

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Asadullah Syed