A Church in Saudi Arabia

S. Arabia, Vatican in talks over churches
http://www.dawn.com/2008/03/19/top16.htm

Mike Ghouse: Three article follow my comments.

I have lost track of a Saudi minister who had asked me to put together an interfaith meeting with about 20 people, comprising Jews, Christians and Muslims. I fought with him to include all faiths, but finally agreed to work in stages, from familiar to unfamiliar ones. It was some where around 2005. I am pleased to see at least a dialogue is emerging between Vatican and Saudi's. Neighboring Dubai has just opened up a mega church this month.

I recall some Mormon friends of mine who had a congregation in Saudi Arabia way back in 1978-80 headed by a Houstonian by name Norman Powell, and of course my buddy Everett Blauvelt of Richardson was a Mormon as well, who first went to Saudi in early 40's and had worked there for nearly 30 years and made a come back in late seventies. There were several others who attended the Baptist and Catholic mass on Sundays. The Indian, Pakistani and Filipion christians groups had their own gatherings as well.

### Now the article

LONDON, March 18: The Vatican and the Saudi Kingdom are holding secret talks on lifting the age-old ban on building churches in Saudi Arabia, the Guardian reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper quoted one of Pope Benedict’s most senior Middle East representatives, Archbishop Paul-Mounged El-Hashem, as saying: “Discussions are under way to allow the construction of churches in the kingdom. We cannot forecast the outcome.”

There are said to be around three or four million Christians in Saudi Arabia.

At the Vatican, the Pope’s spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said: “If we manage to obtain authorisation for the construction of the first church, it will be an outcome of historic dimensions.”

The opening last Friday of the first church in Qatar left Saudi Arabia as the only country in the region that still bans the building of churches and all forms of open Christian worship.

Diplomats in Rome said talks on the building of churches would be consistent with recent developments.

Saudi Arabia is among the few countries that do not have diplomatic links with the Vatican, but sources in Rome say the Saudis are keen to establish formal relations.

In Qatar last Saturday, some 15,000 people attended an inaugural mass at the country’s first church. Our Lady of the Rosary in Doha is one of five Christian places of worship planned in the state.

Addressing the reciprocity issue, Qatar’s deputy prime minister, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, said: “We are enjoying the construction of mosques and Islamic centres in the West, so we must be fair (to Christians).”

The Pope is expected later this year to meet representatives of 138 Muslim scholars who wrote a letter to Christian leaders last October calling for peace between the two religions.

# # # # #

First Catholic church for Saudi Arabia
Published: March 18, 2008

Negotiations are underway to build the first Catholic church in Saudi Arabia with King Abdullah lending his support for its construction.

Vatican Radio reports the Vatican and the Saudi government are currently in talks to allow the church despite the kingdoms ban on allowing the construction of any non-Muslim place of worship.

No religion other than Islam is allowed to schedule public services, and even the possession of bibles, rosaries, and crucifixes is forbidden.

Saudi Arabia is the only country on the Arabian Peninsula without a Catholic church despite the 800,000 Catholics - virtually all of who are foreign workers.

While Saudi Arabia does not have formal diplomatic relations with the Holy See, King Abdullah became the first reigning Saudi monarch ever to visit the Vatican last November.

Commenting after his meeting with the Pope Vatican officials confirmed the Pontiff pressed for permission to open a Catholic church in the kingdom.

Holy See spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi said that opening a Catholic parish in the Islamic land would be "a historic achievement" for religious freedom and a major step forward for inter-religious dialogue.

The apostolic nuncio to Kuwait, Qatar, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, Archbishop Paul-Mounged El-Hachem, is reportedly the lead Vatican negotiator in talks with Saudi officials.

# # # # #

From: STUDENT of THE QURAN
Date: Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:48 pm
Subject: First Catholic Church for Saudi Arabia

[1:1] In the name of GOD, Most Gracious, Most Merciful[6:107] Had GOD willed, they would not have worshiped idols. We did not appoint you as their guardian, nor are you their advocate.
Salamun Alykum.

Negotiations are underway to build the first Catholic church in Saudi Arabia with King Abdullah lending his support for its construction. We congratulate the King
for his action since it supports the sacred teaching of God and His messenger.

According to the Quran, all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights:

[17:70] We have honored the children of Adam, and provided them with rides on land and in the sea. We provided for them good provisions, and we gave them greater advantages than many of our creatures.

The Quran gives everyone the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion:

[2:256] There shall be no compulsion in religion: the right way is now distinct from the wrong way. Anyone who denounces the devil and believes in GOD has grasped the strongest bond; one that never breaks. GOD is Hearer, Omniscient.

God Almighty never gave any guardianship role to the Messengers or Muslims over religious issue:

[33:40] Muhammad was not the father of any man among you. He was a messenger of GOD and the final prophet. GOD is fully aware of all things.[4:80] Whoever obeys the messenger is obeying GOD. As for those who turn away, we did not send you as their guardian.
[6:66] Your people have rejected this, even though it is the truth. Say, "I am not a guardian over you."
[6:104] Enlightenments have come to you from your Lord. As for those who can see, they do so for their own good, and those who turn blind, do so to their own detriment. I am not your guardian.
[6:107] Had GOD willed, they would not have worshiped idols. We did not appoint you as their guardian, nor are you their advocate.
[10:108] Proclaim: "O people, the truth has come to you herein from your Lord. Whoever is guided is guided for his own good. And whoever goes astray, goes astray to his own detriment. I am not a guardian over you."
[11:86] "Whatever GOD provides for you, no matter how small, is far better for you, if you are really believers. I am not a guardian over you."
[42:48] If they turn away, we did not send you as their guardian. Your sole mission is delivering the message. When we shower the human beings with mercy, they become proud, and when adversity afflicts them, as a consequence of their own deeds, the human beings turn into disbelievers

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person:

[2:178] O you who believe, equivalence is the law decreed for you when dealing with murder - the free for the free, the slave for the slave, the female for the female. If one is pardoned by the victim's kin, an appreciative response is in order, and an equitable compensation shall be paid. This is an alleviation from your Lord and mercy. Anyone who transgresses beyond this incurs a painful retribution.

[2:191] You may kill those who wage war against you, and you may evict them whence they evicted you. Oppression is worse than murder. ...

[16:126] And if you punish, you shall inflict an equivalent punishment. But if you resort to patience (instead of revenge), it would be better for the patient ones.

[17:33] You shall not kill any person - for GOD has made life sacred - except in the course of justice. If one is killed unjustly, then we give his heir authority to enforce justice. Thus, he shall not exceed the limits in avenging the murder, he will be helped.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms without distinction of any kind:

[2:136] Say, "We believe in GOD, and in what was sent down to us, and in what was sent down to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, and the Patriarchs; and in what was given to Moses and Jesus, and all the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction among any of them. To Him alone we are submitters."

[49:13] O people, we created you from the same male and female, and rendered you distinct peoples and tribes that you may recognize one another. The best among you in the sight of GOD is the most righteous. GOD is Omniscient, Cognizant.

Thank you and may God guide us,

M. Irtaza

# # # # #

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=6247

Vatican-Saudi talks on churches

Archbishop Hashem discussed the Saudi talks whilst visiting Qatar
The Vatican is holding talks with Saudi Arabia on building the first church in the kingdom, where some 1.5m Christians are not allowed to worship publicly.
Archbishop Paul-Mounged el-Hachem, one of Pope Benedict XVI's most senior Middle East representatives, said the discussions had begun a few weeks ago.

But the archbishop cautioned that the Vatican could not predict the outcome.

The discussions come in the wake of King Abdullah's historic meeting with the Pope at the Vatican last November.

A Catholic-Muslim Forum was also set up by the Pope two weeks ago to repair relations between the two faiths after the crisis caused by a speech he gave in Germany in 2006, in which he appeared to associate Islam with violence.

'Reciprocity'

The disclosure of talks between the Vatican and Saudi Arabia, which do not have diplomatic ties, came soon after the first Roman Catholic church in the Qatari capital, Doha, was opened in a service attended by 15,000 people.

Archbishop Hachem, the Apostolic Nuncio to Kuwait, Qatar, Yemen, Bahrain and the UAE, who attended the inauguration, said he hoped there would soon be a similar church for the many Christians in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

If we manage to obtain authorisation for the construction of the first church, it will be an outcome of historic dimensions

Father Federico Lombardi
Spokesman for Pope Benedict

"Discussions are under way to allow the construction of churches in the kingdom," he said.

Although he made clear the outcome was uncertain, the archbishop added that a church in Saudi Arabia would be an important sign of "reciprocity" between Muslims and Christians.

The Vatican has noted that Muslims are free to worship openly in Europe and demands religious freedom as a condition for the opening of diplomatic relations.

About a million Catholics, many of them migrant workers from the Philippines, live in Saudi Arabia.

They are allowed to worship in private, mostly in people's homes, but worship in public places and outward signs of faith, such as crucifixes, are forbidden.

The last Christian priest was expelled from the kingdom in 1985.

Christians complain that rules are not clear and that the Saudi religious authorities, who enforce the kingdom's conservative brand of Islam, Wahhabism, sometimes crack down on legitimate congregations.

The authorities cite a tradition of the Prophet Muhammad that only Islam can be practised in the Arabian Peninsula.

A spokesman for Pope Benedict, Father Federico Lombardi, said: "If we manage to obtain authorisation for the construction of the first church, it will be an outcome of historic dimensions."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7302378.stm



The Times

March 17, 2008

Saudi Arabia extends hand of friendship to Pope
Richard Owen in Rome
The Vatican is believed to be holding talks with Saudi authorities over opening the first Roman Catholic church in the Islamic kingdom, where Christian worship is banned and even to possess a Bible, rosary or crucifix is an offence.

The disclosure came the day after the first Catholic church in Qatar was inaugurated in a service attended by 15,000 people and conducted by a senior Vatican official.

The Vatican and Saudi Arabia do not have diplomatic relations. However, Archbishop Paul-Mounged El-Hachem, the Papal Nuncio to Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, Yemen and Bahrain, who attended the Doha inauguration, said that moves towards diplomatic ties were under way after an unprecedented visit to the Vatican last November by King Abdullah. This would involve negotiations for the "authorisation of the building of Catholic churches" in Saudi Arabia, he said.

The move would amount to a potential revolution in Christian-Muslim relations, since Saudi Arabia adheres to a hardline Wahhabi version of Sunni Islam and is home to Mecca and Medina, the most holy sites of the religion. No faith other than Islam may be practised.

Related Links
Analysis: Saudi Arabia and the Vatican
Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said that he could not confirm that the two sides were in negotiations. However, he added: "If, as we hope, we reach an agreement authorising the construction of the first church in Saudi Arabia, it will be a step of historic importance."

Saudi religious police search the homes of Christians regularly; even private prayer services are forbidden in practice. Foreign workers have to observe Ramadan but are not allowed to celebrate Christmas or Easter.

La Stampa, the Italian daily, said that the talks would have been "unthinkable" until recently. The way was paved by King Abdullah's talks with the Pope and by the recent setting up of a permanent Catholic-Muslim forum to repair relations between the two faiths after the Pope's controversial remarks on Islam at the University of Regensburg in 2006.

The Pope said that his apparent reference to Islam as inherently violent had been misunderstood and he made amends by praying at the Blue Mosque in Istanbul soon afterwards.

Of the Saudi Arabian population, 94 per cent are Muslim and less than 4 per cent - nearly a million people - Christian, nearly all of them foreign workers. The last Christian priest was expelled from Saudi Arabia in 1985.

Qtar, which hopes to bid to host the Olympic Games in 2016, has approved five churches for other Christian denominations, including the Anglican Communion.

Land of one faith

— Saudi laws do not recognise or protect freedom of religion. Non- nationals are severely restricted in practising different faiths

— Missionaries are banned and face imprisonment if caught. Sunni Muslims face severe repercussions from the Mutawwain, or religious police, for breaking Muslim law

— The official policy of allowing non-Muslims to worship freely at home is not reliably enforced

— In the courts, once fault is determined, a Muslim receives all of the amount of compensation determined, a Jew or Christian half, and all others a sixteenth

Sources: US State Department; Conference of Catholic Bishops

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3571835.ece

Posted by Profile of Mike Ghouse at 9:50 PM
Labels: Catholic, Christianity, Church, Islam, Muslim, Saudi Arabia, Sunni

China's Uighur Muslims

UIGHUR CHINESE MUSLIMS
TheStar.com World The other thorn in China's side

The other thorn in China's side
While the world focuses on Tibet, Beijing is also putting pressure on its Turkic Muslim minority

Mar 23, 2008 04:30 AM Andrew Chung Staff Reporter

http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/349844

As Chinese troops have been fanning out across Tibetan regions inside China in an attempt to quell spreading anti-government riots, another restive group has also come under intense police scrutiny in the country's northwest.

The Uighurs of Xinjiang province – a largely Muslim ethnic minority of Turkic descent that has long inhabited the Central Asia region – have felt the strong arm of a stepped-up police presence since the Tibetan protests began two weeks ago.

"Because of what's going on in Tibet, the government has stepped up its security measures to make sure no Uighur would stand up against it," says Rebiya Kadeer, president of the German-based World Uighur Congress, in a phone interview via an interpreter.

"In the streets, whenever three or four Uighurs come together, a van appears and plainclothes police arrive and either disperse them or take them away.

"I have also learned that the Chinese authorities have sent plainclothes Chinese police into Uighur schools ... to make sure nothing is going on there."

She says there are also curfews in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region's cities and the government is also rounding up Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gurs) previously released from prison for political offences.

The actions appear to signal China's willingness to take pre-emptive action against perceived threats as it steps up security in advance of the Beijing Olympics in August.

"There is great potential for the people (in Xinjiang) to follow the Tibetans and make some noise there," says Mehmet Tohti, president of the Uighur Canadian Association. "That's the fear of the Chinese government."

Wang Baodong, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said it's understandable that authorities would take action to prevent problems from arising in the wake of the Tibetan riots.

"In the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, there are people calling for the independence or the separation of the region from China, and some extreme or fundamental elements, both outside and inside the region, have been engaged in various kinds of activities to try to realize their scheme."

Wang could not provide details of specific police actions but said "it's only natural for the local governments and relevant agencies to take preventive measures."

Chinese authorities have numerous times in the past clamped down on Uighur communities in Xinjiang, which borders Pakistan, Afghanistan and a handful of other Central Asian republics.

There is a fierce mutual mistrust between the Uighurs and the Han Chinese, the country's majority ethnic group.

For decades, the Han have migrated, with the government's active encouragement, into Xinjiang. In 1949, when the Communists took over China and assumed control over Xinjiang, they made up just 5 per cent of the population. Now they're threatening to reach majority.

Like the Tibetans, Uighurs say the Chinese have run roughshod over their culture and livelihoods.

The region is booming economically with tremendous development, especially in oil production, but observers note that it's mostly the Han who benefit, dominating the region's commerce and accessing the best jobs and education.

Han Chinese tend to live in newer areas, while they have also torn down historically and architecturally significant Uighur neighbourhoods.

"There does seem to be a sense among Uighurs, as well as Tibetans, that they are not benefiting from the development of Xinjiang as much as many Han immigrants are," says James Millward, a professor of history and expert on Xinjiang at Georgetown University.

Many Uighurs resent government control over their religious practices, including the banning of religious schools.

Uighur separatists, who reject the name "Xinjiang" and instead use "East Turkestan," have shown no compunction about using violence. The 1990s saw widespread riots and murders of Han Chinese and officials also blamed a 1997 Beijing bus bombing on Uighur extremists.

But iron-fisted rule has allowed China to thwart most violent activity.

In January 2007, Chinese forces killed 18 people in a raid at what Beijing described as a training camp in the mountains of southern Xinjiang, run by the ETIM.

This year, China acknowledged launching a Jan. 27 raid on a "terrorist gang" in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang.

State-controlled media reported that two members of the cell were shot dead, but not before the militants lobbed homemade grenades, wounding two police officers. Fifteen others were arrested.

It was alleged that the group had collaborated with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which the United Nations has listed as a terrorist organization and the U.S. insists has ties to Al Qaeda.

Xinjiang's Communist party chief Wang Lequan recently told Xinhua News Agency that investigators seized weapons, books on terrorism and materials that suggested the group was planning an attack on the Olympics.

Then came reports of a March 7 incident in which a China Southern Airlines flight crew broke up an apparent attempt to down a plane flying from Urumqi to Beijing. Reports said a female passenger had smuggled gasoline aboard the plane and there was an attempt to ignite it in a lavatory toilet.

The alleged plot was discovered and the passengers, described by some witnesses as Uighurs, were apprehended. The flight made an emergency landing in Lanzhou, in Gansu province.

Some human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have expressed skepticism over the reports, saying Chinese authorities don't give details about these incidents and restrictions make it impossible to verify them.

"I think that in many Western countries, these kinds of announcements would not have been met with skepticism," says Georgetown professor Millward. "Some of that arises from the way the media is so closely allied with the (Communist) party and government authorities in China."

In fact, human rights groups have long suspected China of overstating the terrorist threat as a pretext for smothering Uighur separatism.

China's claims to Xinjiang and Tibet remain controversial but uncontested by the world community, observes Millward, who published a book last year called Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang.

Both regions were under control of the Qing Dynasty in the 18th century. With the 1911 fall of the dynasty and rise of the Republic of China, their status became questionable. The Nationalists never actually had control over Tibet and wielded little influence in Xinjiang, Millward explains, "but always maintained claims" to them.

The Uighur people had their own state in the region, both in 1933 based in the city of Kashgar, and again just after World War II in northern Xinjiang.

Taiwan was also part of the Qing Dynasty and it was to the island that Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist army fled in 1949 to escape Mao Zedong's conquering Communists. Mao's forces also took control of Xinjiang in 1949 and did the same in Tibet two years later.

China has made it clear it will not countenance a formal declaration of independence by Taiwan, nor any kind of "splitting" activity from either the Tibetans or Uighurs.

Notes Millward: "They were all part of the Qing empire, for which the transition to being part of the modern Chinese state and being part of the People's Republic of China has been at times difficult.

"There remain tensions and contradictions about their status that have yet to be fully resolved and fully faced."

As the Tibetan riots and apparent resurging struggles in Xinjiang attest, China is facing touchy political battles under a heavy international gaze.

"It's a lot for China, just as it would be for any country, to deal with," says Millward. "There are lingering contradictions from the Qing Dynasty to the modern Chinese state and these have not so far been treated openly."

World Uighur Congress president Kadeer says she worries that the Chinese government will use the Tibetan riots as an excuse to harass Uighurs and implement policies that would have seemed too heavy-handed in the past.

She estimates tensions in the cities to be "very high right now as a result of the Chinese government's media portrayals of both the Uighurs and Tibetans as the enemy."

However, it's not easy to get a true picture of what is happening on the ground at any given time.

The Uighur Canadian Association's Tohti says southern Xinjiang had been closed to tourists, foreigners and media – just as in Tibet and Tibetan cities in neighbouring provinces.

But a call from the Toronto Star confirmed with a hotel in central Kashgar that it was accepting reservations from Western tourists.

The latest Tibetan uprising has brought an outpouring of concern from around the world. But little is heard about the plight of the Uighurs.

To explain the disparity, Millward points to a well-worn maxim concerning China's ethnic minorities.

"Tibetans are like pandas," he says. "Uighurs are like camels. The pandas are cuddly – there is great sympathy for Tibetan Buddhism and no fear of it. Camels are prickly beasts, not something you necessarily want to cozy up to.

"Yet pandas and wild camels, both, are endangered species."




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Australia - Boycott Olympics

AUSTRALIA: Calls to Boycott Beijing Olympics
http://boycott2008games.blogspot.com/2008/03/australia-calls-to-boycott-beijing.html
By Stephen de Tarczynski

MELBOURNE, Mar 22 (IPS) - The crackdown by Chinese authorities on protesters in Tibet has elicited calls within Australia, a major sporting power, to boycott the Beijing Olympics.

"The Communist regime in China is one of the worst human rights abusers in the world and by participating in the Olympics when that country is not improving its performance, I think we’ve got to look at whether that makes us complicit," Senator Andrew Bartlett from the Australian Democrats party told ABC radio.

Bartlett’s call for Australian athletes to boycott this year’s Olympics came amid reports indicating that Chinese police and troops are stepping up their security measures, carrying out house searches and conducting arrests.

Dozens have been reported killed in protests and clashes with security forces in the Tibet Autonomous Region and neighbouring provinces since the Mar. 10 demonstrations by monks marking the 49th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

But with the eyes of the world focused on Tibet and surrounding areas, Australian organisations with connections to China have also been speaking out.

Damian Rachmat, former president of the Eastern Turkistan Australian Association (ETAA), told IPS that Australia should boycott the games. "The human rights problem is very heavy in China and Tibet and Turkistan," he says.

Rachmat argues that ETAA is fighting for democracy, human rights and independence in Eastern Turkistan -- which China refers to as the Xinjiang Autonomous Region -- a region of the country’s far west stretching into Central Asia.

According to ETAA, the ethnic Han Chinese population in East Turkistan has increased from six percent of the total in 1949 to forty percent at present, which Rachmat describes as a policy of "ethnic assimilation."

He argues that Australia’s participation at the Olympics would provide backing to this policy. It would "support the Chinese government to assimilate other ethnic groups," says Rachmat.

With a haul of 49 medals, Australia stood fourth at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics and hosted the Games in 2000.

Prominent Uyghur activist -- Muslim Uyghurs are the largest ethnic group in East Turkistan -- and president of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), Rebiya Kadeer, told SBS television that the authorities in China want to eliminate Uyghurs.

"They destroy our beliefs and push us into immorality. They harass, jail and execute Uyghur writers and intellectuals who speak or write anything against the Chinese Government. They call them separatists or terrorists and gradually eliminate them," said Kadeer during a recent visit to Australia.

She argues that recent reports of an apparent Uyghur "terrorist attack" were false, with the attempt fabricated to act as a pretext upon which authorities can justify their crackdown. In early March, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported that an attempt by militant Uyghurs to hijack and crash a China Southern flight from Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, had been thwarted.

Rachmat says that the situation in East Turkistan is getting worse. "Last year they said they found some terrorists in Eastern Turkistan. In January (2007) they said they killed 18 terrorists there and this year they said they killed two terrorists in Urumqi city," he told IPS.

But it is not only separatists in the restive regions of Tibet and East Turkistan who appear to be coming under increasing scrutiny from Chinese authorities. Practitioners of Falun Gong -- or Falun Dafa, as it is also known -- have faced harsh treatment as the Olympics approach.

"We had news earlier in the week that there have been a couple of thousand arrests [of Falun Dafa practitioners]," says Michael Pearson-Smith from the Falun Dafa Association of Victoria (FDAV).

A report released last year by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, condemned China for its practice of obtaining organs from live Falun Gong practitioners.

"Organ harvesting has been inflicted on a large number of Falun Gong practitioners at a wide variety of locations for the purpose of making available organs for transplant operations," Nowak stated in the report.

Yet Pearson-Smith says that the FDAV does not take a position on whether the Olympics should be boycotted to protest human rights abuses. "I can certainly see why people could be calling for a boycott and individual practitioners may or may not support that according to their conscience," he says.

Pearson-Smith argues that the FDAV is only interested in ending the persecution of practitioners in China. He says that "we’ve always said that we are not a political organisation [and] we don’t get involved in politics."

However, the FDAV spokesperson concedes that speaking out against persecution may be interpreted as becoming involved in politics. "Some people may see that as a political goal, others may see it as a human rights issue," says Pearson-Smith.

Others in Australia have been actively opposing a boycott. The Rudd government says that it is not considering such action, although it has submitted a formal request to China for diplomats to travel to Tibet.

Ahead of a scheduled trip to China by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd later this month, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith called for "calm and restraint by all parties."

"The Australian Government has urged China to allow free access to Tibet and other affected areas so the international community and foreign media may gain an accurate understanding of what is occurring there," said Smith in a statement.

Athletes, former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser -- who supported boycotting the 1980 Moscow games -- and the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) are among those rejecting calls to boycott the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

President of the AOC, John Coates, says that such a boycott would only make athletes suffer.

"It is not the role of the IOC (the International Olympic Committee, of which the AOC is a member) to take the lead in addressing such issues as human rights or political matters, which are most appropriately addressed by governments or concerned organisations," argues Coates.

But in a speech to parliament this week, Senator Bartlett called for a different perspective.

"If the Olympics were being held in somewhere like Zimbabwe we would all be boycotting them in an instant. It is because of the political clout of China. We all need to look at that," he said.

Turkey - Muslim Philantropist

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=221872&s=&i=&t=O.I.C._S.G._Ihsanoglu_Speaks_At_World_Congress_Of_Muslim_Philantropists
OIC SG Ihsanoglu Speaks At World Congress Of Muslim Philantropists

ISTANBUL - Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said on Saturday that Islamic aid organizations and humanitarian organizations were face to face with important difficulties and impediments and underlined the need for a road map to overcome the problems.
Delivering a speech at the "1st World Congress of Muslim Philantropists", Ihsanoglu said humanitarian activities were very important in the programme of the OIC, indicating that assistance to Afghanistan, Nigeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Indonesia and Gaza are examples to this.

Ihsanoglu said the idea to establish a worldwide aid organization was very important, noting that OIC was ready for every kind of cooperation on this matter.

------------------------------------------------

Cubukcu Delivers Speech At World Congress Of Muslim Philantropists
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=221870&s=&i=&t=Cubukcu_Delivers_Speech_At_World_Congress_Of_Muslim_Philantropists

ISTANBUL - Turkish State Minister Nimet Cubukcu said on Saturday that states had to assume more important social responsibilities because of the social problems and demands posed by globalization process.
Delivering a keynote speech at the opening of World Congress of Muslim Philantropists, Cubukcu said the congress would lay the foundation of the bridges between the philantropists and would be a means to comprehensive cooperation and new solutions to meet the needs of the era.

Cubukcu said humanitarian values like love, kindness, and responsibility constituted the core of solidarity activities, and indicated that, "throughout the history of humanity, all the religions and cultures extolled good deeds, empathy and beneficiary.

Cubukcu said, "when we consider the wars, occupations, migration, terrorism, hunger, poverty, human smuggling and violence against women, the need to exert more efforts to get well organized and produce more influential solutions appear.

"There are problems in Turkey caused by rapid social change, urbanization, and migration. Some of those are poverty, changes in family relations and social values, harmonization problems, unemployment, and illiteracy. Solution of these problems, which the individuals and groups could not cope with on their own, requires cooperation and contribution of the state, local administrations, universities, international organizations and NGOs.

WCMP is a global initiative working with humanitarians and institutions to mobilize human and financial resources in addressing critical challenges facing the world today.

Pope Baptizes a Muslim

Pope baptizes prominent Italian Muslim

Article follows moderators comments;

Alhamdu Lillahi, praise the lord, (الْحَمْدُ للّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ 1:2) he knows and he is aware of every thing we do. He is the Malik-i-Yom-iddin, (مَـالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ 1:4) master of the day of the judgment.

We have several choices, and we need to evaluate the consequence of each choice.

i) We should not let his action have the capacity to irritate the weakest amongst us by reacting with vengeance. He wanted to choose another faith, let him. You cannot force any one to believe what one does not feel - Attempts to push him violates two basics - no oppression and no compulsion.

ii) Proclaim he is a bad guy - what good will it do?

iii) Issue a fatwa to kill him - This is where Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) wanted us to struggle (jihaad) against our base emotions of avenge and anger and win over them. Let's listen to the prophet and follow his guidance.

iv) Just do nothing, there are so many things happening in the world that needs our attention.

v) The more we re-act, the more they will be tempted to irritate us. I hope that is not what we want.

vi) Write in your own solution, solution must not create havoc, destruction and bad blood but bring peace - that is the name of our religion.

vii) Ignore and just live on your life.

Mike Ghouse
# # #

Pope baptizes prominent Italian Muslim
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080322/ap_on_re_eu/pope_muslim_convert;_ylt=An.N8vVqFLLdc1KsIIjk5fBbbBAF

VATICAN CITY - Italy's most prominent Muslim, an iconoclastic writer who condemned Islamic extremism and defended Israel, converted to Catholicism Saturday in a baptism by the pope at a Vatican Easter service.

An Egyptian-born, non-practicing Muslim who is married to a Catholic, Magdi Allam infuriated some Muslims with his books and columns in the newspaper Corriere della Sera newspaper, where he is a deputy editor. He titled one book "Long Live Israel."

As a choir sang, Pope Benedict XVI poured holy water over Allam's head and said a brief prayer in Latin.

"We no longer stand alongside or in opposition to one another," Benedict said in a homily reflecting on the meaning of baptism. "Thus faith is a force for peace and reconciliation in the world: distances between people are overcome, in the Lord we have become close."

Vatican Television zoomed in on Allam, who sat in the front row of the basilica along with six other candidates for baptism. He later received his first Communion.

Allam, 55, told the newspaper Il Giornale in a December interview that his criticism of Palestinian suicide bombing provoked threats on his life in 2003, prompting the Italian government to provide him with a sizable security detail.

The Union of Islamic Communities in Italy — which Allam has frequently criticized as having links to Hamas — said the baptism was his own decision.

"He is an adult, free to make his personal choice," the Apcom news agency quoted the group's spokesman, Issedin El Zir, as saying.

Yahya Pallavicini, vice president of Coreis, the Islamic religious community in Italy, said he respected Allam's choice but said he was "perplexed" by the symbolic and high-profile way in which he chose to convert.

"If Allam truly was compelled by a strong spiritual inspiration, perhaps it would have been better to do it delicately, maybe with a priest from Viterbo where he lives," the ANSA news agency quoted Pallavicini as saying.

The nighttime Easter vigil service at St. Peter's Basilica marked the period between Good Friday, which commemorates Jesus' crucifixion, and Easter Sunday, which marks his resurrection.

Benedict opened by blessing a white candle, which he then carried down the main aisle of the darkened basilica. Slowly, the pews began to light up as his flame was shared with candles carried by the faithful, until the whole basilica twinkled and the main lights came on.

The pope administers baptism "without making any 'difference of people,' that is, considering all equally important before the love of God and welcoming all in the community of the Church," said the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi.

Allam, who has a young son with his Catholic wife and two adult children from a previous relationship, indicated in the Il Giornale interview that he would have no problem converting to Christianity. He said he had even received Communion once — when he was 13 or 14 — "even though I knew it was an act of blasphemy, not having been baptized."

He did not speak to the press Saturday and his newspaper said it had no information about his conversion.

Allam said in the interview that he had made a pilgrimage to Mecca, as is required of all Muslims, with his deeply religious mother in 1991, although he was not otherwise observant.

"I was never practicing," he was quoted as saying. "I never prayed five times a day, facing Mecca. I never fasted during Ramadan."

Allam also explained his decision to title a recent book "Viva Israele" by saying he wrote it after he received death threats from Hamas.

"Having been condemned to death, I have reflected a long time on the value of life. And I discovered that behind the origin of the ideology of hatred, violence and death is the discrimination against Israel. Everyone has the right to exist except for the Jewish state and its inhabitants," he said. "Today, Israel is the paradigm of the right to life."

In 2006, Allam was a co-winner, with three other journalists, of the $1 million Dan David prize, named for an Israeli entrepreneur. Allam was cited for "his ceaseless work in fostering understanding and tolerance between cultures."

There is no overarching Muslim law on conversion. But under a widespread interpretation of Islamic legal doctrine, converting from Islam is apostasy and punishable by death — though killings are rare.

Egypt's highest Islamic cleric, the Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, wrote last year against the killing of apostates, saying there is no worldly retribution for Muslims who abandon their religion and that punishment would come in the afterlife.

On Wednesday, a new audio message from Osama bin Laden accused the pope of playing a "large and lengthy role" in a "new Crusade" against Islam that included the publication of drawings of the Prophet Muhammad that many Muslims found insulting.

Lombardi said Thursday that bin Laden's accusation was baseless. He said Benedict repeatedly criticized the Muhammad cartoons, first published in some European newspapers in 2006 and republished by Danish papers in February.

Saudi, no respect for others?

Saudi Arabia rejects pact to respect religions.

(ANSAmed) - NAPLES, MARCH 20 - A resolution calling for the enactment of an international pact to forbid religions from being defamed or insulted as well as their symbols, leaders and prophets has been voted out by the Saudi Shoura (Consultative Council). A total of 77 members opposed the recommendation while 33 voted in favour, online newspaper Gulf News reports. According to the opponents, such a pact would force people to recognise religions, which advocate idol worship, and that "would be unacceptable." The rejected resolution stated that "the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall work in coordination with Arab and Islamic groups and others at the United Nations to draft an international pact for respecting religions, their symbols and leaders." "This recommendation is creating 'much ado'", said Khaleel Al Khaleel, a member of the Shoura.

The recommendation would create a dangerous precedent that may produce a negative impact on Muslims rather than followers of other religions, he added. "Some consider Buddhism and Qadianism as religions. Can we make it obligatory for Muslims to respect these faiths and avoid criticising them?," he asked. Mohammad Al Quwaihes, who presented the resolution, told reporters that he had not expected that his move would be defeated in such a way as the overwhelming majority of members were in favour of introducing the resolution for deliberations. (ANSAmed).

http://www.ansamed.info/en/news/ME03.YAM14401.html

Mike Ghouse : The Shoura council of Saudi Arabia is utterly selfish group of people, they do not care about Islam or Muslims. They want to live in an Island where no one but them live. Let them call it a Saudi Law and not paint Islam on their canvas. Respecting other religions does not mean that you worship, accepting other faiths simply means that you acknowledge their God given life.

They will paint it as Allah's will, no, it is not. Allah wills calls for all of us to get along with all. Qur'an, Al-Hujurat, Surah 49:13: "O mankind! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. Lo! the noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Lo! Allah is Knower, Aware."

To you is your faith as mine is to me.

Muslims & Harvard University

Muslim traditions stir debate at Harvard University
International Herald Tribune, Friday, March 21, 2008
By Neil MacFarquhar

Mike Ghouse - Article follows my comments;

Most of the conflicts stem from a fear of loss, or the fear that some one is taking advantage of the situation. In this case, a few at Harvard University feel that Muslims students are having privileges like the exclusive time given to Muslim women at gym, or the Adhan, a prayer call. If these other students ask for similar privilieges and are denied, they have every right to complaint, otherwise, the fear is baseless.

The Muslim students on the other hand, need to really weigh in the purpose of the Adhan, it was to call the believers to prayer. A hundred years ago when people did not have the watches and could not make to the prayer on time, the Adhan would remind them for prayers, today, that call is symbolic and not a real call any more, as it is one's own responsibility to attend the prayer.

We have to respect other's need for quiteness or must be willing to listen to similar calls by other faiths.

The Students must focus on the very basic of Islam - Peace, i.e., removing conflicts and nurturing good will. To be a Muslim is to be a peace maker; one who constantly seeks to mitigate conflicts and nurtures goodwill for co-existence and world peace - God wants his creation to be in peace and harmony, and that is the chief purpose of Islam; peace.

Lasting peace comes when what is good for one is good for the other and vice-versa.

More about Adhan below the article:
http://www.worldmuslimcongress.com/

# # #

Muslim traditions stir debate at Harvard University
International Herald Tribune,
Friday, March 21, 2008
By Neil MacFarquhar

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts: A small controversy over how Harvard practices tolerance has been sparked by two issues relating to Muslim belief - whether the call to prayer should ring out across Harvard Yard and whether women should be granted separate gym hours.

Heated discussions have erupted on dormitory chat rooms, students said, while various opinion articles in the student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, have denounced both practices.

"I think that because Harvard is a secular campus, there is a fear among some students that religious beliefs or practices might be imposed on people who don't want anything to do with them," said Jessa Birdsall, a sophomore who said she thought the university should accommodate the beliefs of all students.

The debate began in early February, when the undergraduate college restricted one of the three largest gyms on its main campus, the Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center, to women on Mondays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., and Tuesdays and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

The college spokesman, Robert Mitchell, would not describe how the decision was reached, but various students said a small group of Muslim women undergraduates living in the Leverett House dormitory had asked for the change.

The group of women felt that workout clothes violated the Muslim prescription that both sexes wear appropriate dress in shared environments. So they asked the dormitory to set aside its minigyms for women a few hours each week. The request eventually made its way to the Harvard College Women's Center and it was decided that the Quadrangle center, which Mitchell called the college's least-used athletic facility, would be reserved for women at certain times.

He said the change was an experiment that would be evaluated in June.
The second controversy occurred after the adhan, or call to prayer, was once again broadcast across Harvard Yard at noon from the steps of the Widener Library for several days in late February. The broadcast was part of Islam Awareness Week, sponsored by the Muslim student club, the Harvard Islamic Society.

On March 13, an op-ed article by three graduate students denounced the practice, which has been going on for several years. They wrote that while pluralism was fine, the adhan espouses Muslim intolerance toward other faiths by stating that the Prophet Muhammad is the messenger of God. Calling it proselytizing, the op-ed article said, "The adhan, it seems, is the exception to Harvard's unspoken rule of religious tolerance and respect."

The arguments over both issues boiled down to whether Harvard was being admirably tolerant or was disrupting the lives of the majority to placate a vocal minority.
Rauda Tellawi, a senior who veils her hair, said that during the animated arguments about the gym hours that unrolled on her dorm's in-house chat room, it was noted that even some men felt intimidated by the presence of women in the gym if they were, say, not bench-pressing as much as a buddy. Tellawi said she habitually left the gym if men were hovering nearby while she ran or did sit-ups.

"Even if you have loose clothing on, they are going to see things that we are not supposed to let them see," she said. "Islam doesn't encourage you to physically lie down in front of men."

Tellawi did not consider it discriminatory to set aside some hours at the gym for women. Instead, she viewed it as a healthy accommodation. She noted that students who follow kosher eating rules have a separate area in her dining hall and said that some many non-Muslim women supported the separate gym hours.

The new system has been criticized for not attracting enough women to warrant separate hours, and several students said perhaps only 15 people use the center during peak periods at night, despite the fact that it offered its own locker rooms, squash and basketball courts, weights and aerobic machines.

Nicholas Wells, a junior who used to work out in the morning, said he thought the change was "unfair to men and inconvenient for women." While he was all for supporting Muslim women, he said there had to be a more practical solution whereby Quad residents did not lose access to their main gym.

A junior, Lucy Caldwell, echoed those arguments. She criticized the women-only hours as too drastic an accommodation to make for a religious minority, dismissing the idea that many non-Muslim women supported it.

When word of the new gym hours became public, Harvard was attacked on blogs for being a bastion of liberalism run amok.

As to the call to prayer, Muslim students said the adhan was a basic statement of their creed and had nothing to do with denying other faiths. The debate focused mostly on whether Muslims were getting a right denied to followers of other religions.

One student wrote in the comments section of The Crimson's Web site that Harvard Yard was not a comparative religion class, while another said that if students could romp there naked and urinate on the statue of John Harvard, surely forbearance toward other cultures was warranted.

Many students seemed oblivious to either issue, saying they were preoccupied with midterm examinations.

Taha Abdul-Basser, the Muslim chaplain at Harvard, said both episodes were indicative of the growing number of Muslims in the United States.

"There are some people who are just not comfortable that Muslims, by virtue of the change of demographics, are going to become more and more visible," he said.

-----------------/
Adhan

(أَذَان) is the Islamic call to prayer, recited by the muezzin. The root of the word is ʼḏn "to permit", and another derivative of this word is uḏun, meaning "ear." Adhan is called out by the muezzin from a minaret of a mosque five times a day summoning Muslims for fard (mandatory) salah (prayers). There is a second call known as iqama that summons Muslims to line up for the beginning of the prayers.

Note - Please not that Allah is the name used for the word God. When there is a sentence that there is no lord except Allah - i) It is simply stating that the creator of all of us, called God is the one we are grateful to and ii) "no lord" except Allah does not negate other names of God.

Adhan can be easily a Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Bahai, Jain, Sikh, Jewish, Wicca or Jewish call to prayer. Except the acknowledgement that Muhammad is the prophet of God, all other stuff can be used by any one.

Text (Sunni)
Recital Arabic Transliteration Translation

4x الله اكبر Allah Akbar
Allah is The Greatest*

2x اشهد ان لا اله الا الله Ash-hadu an lā ilāha illallāh
I bear witness that there is no lord except Allah

2x اشهد ان محمدا رسول الله Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan rasūlullāh I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah

2x حي على الصلاة Hayya 'alas-salāt Make haste towards prayer

2x حي على الفلاح Hayya 'alal-falāh Make haste towards welfare [success]

2x الله اكبر Allah u akbar Allah is greatest

1x لا اله الا الله Lā ilāha illallāh There is no lord except Allah

* Followers of the Maliki madhab say this line twice instead of four times.
** The line "Prayer is better than sleep" is used only for the first prayers of the day at dawn (fajr Prayer; Salat al-fajr).

Text (Shi'a)
Recital Arabic Transliteration Translation

4x الله اكبر Allah u Akbar Allah is the Greatest

2x اشهد ان لا اله الا الله Ash-hadu allā ilāha illallāh

I bear witness that there is no lord except Allah

2x اشهد ان محمدا رسول الله Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan rasūlullāh I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah

2x حي على الصلاة Hayya 'alas-salāt Make haste towards prayer

2x حي على الفلاح Hayya 'alal-falāh Make haste towards welfare

2x حي علی خير العمل Hayya 'alā Khair al-'amal Make haste towards the best thing

2x الله اكبر Allah u Akbar Allah is the Greatest

2x لا اله الا الله Lā ilāha illallāh There is no Lord except Allah

According to Shi'a scholars, "Ashhadu ana Alian waliullah" ("I testify that Ali is the associate of Allah") is not a part of Adhan and Iqamah but it is recommended (Mustahabb) to say that.[1]

Introspection on Deoband Declaration

Introspection on Deoband Declaration
Tue, 2008-03-04 03:10
By M. Burhanuddin Qasmi
http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/9874

It is imperative to see that even some hard core BJP sevaks are speaking about organizing debate on mutual understanding among Hindus and Muslims in India after the Anti-Terrorism Deoband Conference on 25 February. It is also appreciable that national and international media both print and electronic are taking the 'Deoband Declaration' with the same letter and spirit that the issue actually deserved.

The discussions on various web sites and TV talks where a few participants have understandably put their views honestly are encouraging. Some of the arguments like what more the Darul Uloom can do while countering terrorism and why Deoband was organizing the conference this late in some newspapers and web blogs have also been repeated in the conference itself by the speakers and enshrined in the 'Deoband Declaration', where this writer was present as participant as well as a member while preparing the declaration.

What disturbing common peace loving Muslims of India is why the mainstream media or for that matter socio-political analysts in general are not asking write wing Hindu political parties— Shiv Sena, BJP and extremist organizations like VHP, RSS and Bajrang Dal to introspect honestly about their role in the national integration and communal harmony in India. Why a debate is not being conducted to precisely define what exactly terrorism is? If the activities of ULFA, Maoist, Naxalite and LTTE come under the universal definition of terrorism, if yes, then why a word 'Muslim' is prefixed while describing some terrorists and others are just known by the organizations they belong to?

Very recently Tamilnadu police have unfolded a terrorist plot of Privar activists and arrested three persons-- S Ravi Pandian (42), S Kumar (28} and V Narayana Sharma (26), all Sangh Parivar activists, for bomb blasts in the bus stop and RSS office at Tenkasi, a busy town in Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu, where at least six persons were killed. The list is long from Nanded, Jhalna, Nagpur to Jama Masjid Delhi, Malegaon and Makkah Masjid Hyderabad where write wing political interest is suspect to be behind blasts and fair, transparent investigation is awaited.

While making a trustworthy peaceful society police has a vital role to play but unfortunately it is here India is in making gulf between communities. At a Mumbai flyover a school boy was caught for rough driving, the police officer asks for driving license and when he had the license in hand where a Muslim name was inscribed in it he gores over the boy saying 'kidar ko bomb phorna hain' (where are you going to drop the bomb)? The boy angrily responses what rubbish are you talking about sir? The officer replies 'saly pher itna speed se keyu bhaga raha hain?' (Bullshit (sic) then why are you driving this fast?)

We all must abide by the law and make our policing physically transparent to punish all the criminals whosoever or whatever political party or organization he may belong to and protect all innocent peoples from the least humiliation, was also one of the clear and underlined messages that Deoband declaration wanted to convey to the world. It is the execution of justice which ensures trust of a person on the constitution of a country and the trust leads to love and longing with the nation. You cannot create patriot, they are born out of longing and belong to the system from within, argues the scholars at the Deoband conference.

Maulana Arshad Madni, Dean in Darul Uloom Deoband went a little far and demanded to the government of India for visible equal justice for all. He said "either you declare India a Hindu Rashtra or give all citizens equal justice" he claimed injustice has gradually crossed all limit.

Let us unite to work to instill trust in us and begin every investigation from an equal point without being pre-occupied by one sided notions, is the voice in Muslims streets. Some times real culprits are moving around freely and instead innocents are behind the bar for no wrong of their own, fueling further terror causes.

The theme of the Deoband conference is 'terrorism' is deplorable, unacceptable in any form whatsoever, anywhere in the world; and it belongs to no religion. Terrorism is no body's monopoly— Mahatma Gandhi, two Indian Prime Ministers, Sri Lankan President, two US presidents were assassinated by terrorists, not Muslims, thus the idea 'every Muslims may not be terrorist but every terrorist is a Muslim' is sic and factually wrong.

M. Burhanuddin Qasmi is editor of Eastern Crescent, a Deoband alumnus and director of Mumbai based Markazul Ma'arif Education and Research Centre.

Melbourne Call for Papers

Dear list members

Please note that the deadline for receiving abstracts for the following workshop has been extended till 31 March 2008.

Associate Professor Samer Akkach
Founding Director, Centre for Asian and Middle Eastern Architecture (CAMEA)
The University of Adelaide, SA 5005, AUSTRALIA

Islam and Enlightenment

A two-day workshop organised jointly by the Centre for Asian and Middle Eastern Architecture (CAMEA), The University of Adelaide, and the School of Historical Studies, The University of Melbourne.

University of Melbourne, 25-26 September 2008

Traditional scholarship mapped the Enlightenment as a uniquely European experience, but recent scholarship has revealed the eighteenth century as a period of axial change across the world. The relativisation of cultural systems, the unseating of religious certainty, the development of civic publics, and the rapid advance of technological innovation marked the leading European societies of this period. But these developments unfolded within, and were in many ways dependent upon a context of global trade and exchange. Expanding interest in non-European ideas, religions and techniques, the increase in mobility, and ultimately the colonization of societies outside Europe, brought ever greater contact. Nowhere was this more evident than in relation to the Muslim world which overlapped with Europe at its borders and in many areas into which Europeans were moving. The great empires of Islam dominated much of the world at the beginning of the century, and Europeans often built upon long-established Muslim trading networks.

What was the nature of the exchange between these two worlds in transformation? What did the Enlightenment mean to Muslims of the period, and what did Islam mean to the Enlightenment? This workshop will map out directions for developing this rich area of study. Possible topics might include (but are not limited to):

- Muslim travellers in Europe and European travellers in the Muslim world
- The role of intermediary groups and minorities
- Cultural, intellectual and technical borrowings
- Global trade and consumption
- Exchange in mixed and border societies
- Print culture and the public sphere
- The coffee house and secular urban culture
- Leisure gardens and the culture of urban recreation
- Postal systems and the culture of correspondence
- Gender issues in transforming urbanity
- Philosophical challenges and continuities
- Religious challenges and continuities
- Shared and parallel modernities

For further information or to submit your 250 word proposal and one-page CV, please contact:

Samer Akkach: samer.akkach@adelaide.edu.au
Ian Coller: icoller@unimelb.edu.au

Deadlines

31 March 2008 Short abstract: 250-word abstract together with one-page CV
16 May 2008 Extended abstract (900-1000 word summary)
25 Sep. 2008 Full papers to be collected and reviewed for post-workshop publication

URL: http://www.historical-studies.unimelb.edu.au/events/islamandenlightenment.html

Harvard’s capitulation to Sharia

Harvard’s capitulation to Sharia

Article follows my comments:

I believe this quote is pulled out of thin air and there are a few more mistakes in the article. It should not be passed on as "truthful" reflection of the situaion. “Here is a discussion of the ceremonial for collection of the jizya by the 13th century Shafi’i jurist an-Nawawi: “…The infidel who wishes to pay his poll tax must be treated with disdain by the collector: the collector remains seated and the infidel remains standing in front of him, his head bowed and his back bent.” formed the discriminatory system of dhimmitude imposed upon non-Muslims- Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Hindus, and Buddhists- subjugated by jihad.

Mike Ghouse

Harvard: America’s “Hub” For Sharia?
By Andrew Bostom Monday, March 10, 2008

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/2184

Right on the heels of Harvard’s capitulation to Sharia mores at its Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center, the Harvard “academic” community indulged an ideologue with much grander aspirations for implementing Sharia, UCLA Professor of Law, Khaled Abou el Fadl.

My dear friend and colleague Hillel Stavis had the morbidly fascinating experience of witnessing this pseudo-academic fraud peddle his paltry wares March 5, 2008 at Harvard’s Divinity School, during a lecture entitled, non-sequitur, “Conceptualizing Islamic Theology: Sharia and Human Rights Doctrine”

Here are Hillel Stavis’ cogent first hand observations, in his own words:

Of all the evasions, obfuscations and diversions uttered by UCLA’s Professor of Law Khaled Abou el Fadl yesterday [ i.e., March 5, 2008] at the Harvard Divinity School, none was more revealing than his opening declaration that Sharia Law’s compatibility or incompatibility with human rights was wholly “vacuous” and “irrelevant”. None of the 60 or so, mostly Muslim attendees, seemed to have had a problem with this statement. The audience reaction, from both Mr. Fadl’s academic colleagues (among whom was Harvard’s Roy Mottahedeh, Gurney Professor of History, a specialist in Persian history) and students was more disturbing than the actual presentation.

Professor Mottahedeh lamented the fact that Muslims have spent too much time trying to reconcile Shari’ah with the UN Declaration of Human Rights, urging the world to supplement it with the Muslim version. Of course, the former is truly universal, the latter particularistic.

And so, a Harvard tenured professor would essentially replace one with the other in a kind of perfecting process.

Nearly 5-years ago now, I warned that El Fadl’s much ballyhooed reputation as a reformer was completely unjustified. Specifically, I noted his pattern of uniformed or deliberately deceitful presentation:

Recently El Fadl elucidated his “construction” of the tolerant tradition in Islam as part of an essay collection. He focused this presentation, appropriately, on two of the most obvious challenges to any such construction, i.e. jihad, and the poll tax (jizya) levied on non-Muslims under Islamic rule. El Fadl’s arguments regarding both jihad and the jizya in this essay merit close scrutiny, as these institutions are integrated into the corpus of the Shari’a, or sacred Islamic law. I believe his omissions of evidence in this essay, combined with an excessive reliance on sacralized, whitewashed historiography, refutes the prevailing notion that El Fadl is engaged in a sincere effort to instill fundamental change in Islam.

El Fadl states categorically: “..Islamic tradition does not have a notion of holy war. Jihad simply means to strive hard or struggle in pursuit of a just cause...Holy war (al-harb al-muqaddasah) is not an expression used by the Qur’anic text or Muslim theologians. In Islamic theology war is never holy; it is either justified or not...” This contention cannot be supported on either theological-juridical, or historical grounds, and in fact contradicts the conclusion of an earlier essay by El Fadl.

El Fadl’s discussion of jihad is rendered meaningless by a blatant historical negationism of both Muslim and non-Muslim sources. In his analysis of the poll tax (jizya), he relies exclusively upon the sacralized early Muslim historiography of this institution. El Fadl thus attempts to uphold the “virtuous” aspects of the jizya, omitting any reference to the consistent, intentionally humiliating character of its application…El Fadl’s presentation excludes discussion of how the jizya was viewed by classical Muslim jurists. There was in fact a basic consensus among the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence regarding the intimate relationship between the institutions of jihad against the infidels, and jizya. El Fadl ignores these extensive writings, and instead asserts whimsically, “…there are various indicators that the poll tax is not a theologically mandated practice, but a functional solution that was adopted in response to a specific set of historical circumstances. Only an ahistorical reading of the text could conclude that it is an essential element in a divinely sanctioned program of subordinating the non-believer.”

Another important aspect of the jizya that El Fadl ignores is the widely upheld, although not unanimous view of the classical schools of Islamic jurisprudence about the “humiliating” imposition and procurement of this tax. Here is a discussion of the ceremonial for collection of the jizya by the 13th century Shafi’i jurist an-Nawawi: “…The infidel who wishes to pay his poll tax must be treated with disdain by the collector: the collector remains seated and the infidel remains standing in front of him, his head bowed and his back bent. The infidel personally must place the money on the scales, while the collector holds him by the beard, and strikes him on both cheeks…”

El Fadl also fails to discuss how the “contract of the jizyah”, or “dhimma” encompassed other obligatory and recommended obligations for the conquered non-Muslim “dhimmi” peoples. Collectively, these “obligations” formed the discriminatory system of dhimmitude imposed upon non-Muslims- Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Hindus, and Buddhists- subjugated by jihad. Some of the more prominent features of the system of dhimmitude include: the prohibition of arms for the vanquished non-Muslims (dhimmis), and of church bells; the restrictions concerning the building and restoration of churches and synagogues; the inequality between Muslims and non-Muslims with regard to overall taxation, and penal law; the refusal of dhimmi testimony by Muslim courts; the obligation for Jews and Christians to wear special clothes; and their overall humiliation and abasement.

And I concluded with this relevant assessment:

It should be abundantly clear that Professor El Fadl’s disingenuous revisionism hardly qualifies as a sincere effort to promote a meaningful Islamic “Reformation”. Intended or not, his whitewashed, “ahistorical” presentation is dangerous, and serves to justify alarming contemporary Muslim assessments of dhimmitude, and its appropriate application, even today! For example, Palestinian Authority (PA) Undersecretary for Awqaf [Religious Endowment], Sheik Yussef Salamah, representing the PA at a May 1999 “Inter-Cultural Conference,” in Tehran, praised the 7th century system of Ahl Al-Dhimma (i.e, the system of dhimmitude), as the proper paradigm for relations between present day Muslims and Christians 58. Palestinian Authority employee, Sheik Muhammad Ibrahim Al-Madhi later reiterated these sentiments with regard to Jews during a Friday sermon broadcasted live on June 6, 2001 on PA TV, from the Sheik ‘Ijlin Mosque in Gaza:"We welcome, as we did in the past, any Jew who wants to live in this land as a dhimmi, just as the Jews have lived in our countries, as dhimmis, and have earned appreciation, and some of them have even reached the positions of counselor or minister here and there. We welcome the Jews to live as dhimmis, but the rule in this land and in all the Muslim countries must be the rule of Allah.”

One needs simply to contrast El Fadl’s meager revisionist approach with the unequivocal statements of a Muslim academic such as Professor Bassam Tibi. Professor Tibi possesses the insight and courage to acknowledge that a meaningfully reformed Islam must embrace the pluralistic spirit of the Western Enlightenment:

“..In the context of religious tolerance-and I write this as a Muslim- there can be no place in Europe for Shari’a …Shari’a is at odds with the secular identity of Europe and is diametrically opposed to secular European constitutions formulated by the people… I hold out for the superiority of common sense over religious faith (i.e., absolute religious precepts); individual human rights (i.e., not collective human rights); secular democracy based on the separation of religion from politics; a universally accepted pluralism; and a mutually accepted secular tolerance. The acceptance of these values is the foundation of a civil society..”

Professor Tibi’s comments underscore basic truths that apologists for the Shari’a such as El Fadl refuse to acknowledge. For example, the 1990 Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam maintains that the Shari’a has primacy over the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and includes the specific proclamation that God has made the umma (Islamic community) the best nation, whose role is to “guide” humanity. This statement captures the indelible influence of jihad ideology on the Shari’a, rendering sacred and permanent the notion of inequality between the community of Allah, and the infidels. Thus we can see clearly the differences between the Shari’a-inspired Cairo Declaration, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which does not refer to any religion or to the superiority of any group over another, while stressing the absolute equality of all human beings. Indeed a Senegalese jurist (and Muslim), Adama Dieng, (then serving as secretary-general to the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists), courageously declared in 1992 that the Cairo Declaration introduced an intolerable discrimination against non-Muslims and women.

Subsequently, Daniel Pipes elaborated on El Fadl’s so-called “anti-Wahhabism,” which is negated by his continued apologetics for jihad terrorism, and open espousal of the implementation of Sharia in non-Muslim societies, as a leading pseudo-academic, cultural jihadist. Pipes highlighted, for example the fact that Sheikh Muhammad al-Ghazali (1917-96), an important 20th century Egyptian cleric, remains one of Abou El Fadl’s chief intellectual influences. However, as I have noted, the “anti-Wahhabi” al-Ghazali, then an official of Al Azhar University, supported the July 1994 vigilante murder of secular Egyptian writer Farag Foda. Testifying on behalf of Farag Foda’s murderer, al-Ghazali stated, unabashedly, “A secularist represents a danger to society and the nation that must be eliminated. It is the duty of the government to kill him.”

Over fifty years ago (i.e., circa 1955), Gustave von Grunebaum (d. 1972), a major scholar of Islam, well prepared to make sound judgments on matters related to Islamic societies, issued this prescient warning based upon actually studying the writings of the Muslim ideologues of his day, including El Fadl’s ideological inspiration, Muhammad al-Ghazali. [Gustave von Grunebaum, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1955, Vol. 14, p. 202, (Book Review of Muhammad Al-Ghazzali’s, Our Beginning in Wisdom, 1953, translated by Ismail R. al-Faruqi)]:

The political constellation of the moment which is likely to continue for some not inconsiderable length of time has induced us to envisage ourselves in a world of an “either…or.” We concern ourselves with the compatibility or otherwise of Islam with communism and regardless of the conclusion in which we acquiesce, we are apt to overlook the fact that the Muslim circles most emphatically opposed to communism are at the same time potentially if not actually the most formidable stronghold of hostility to the West. Ghazzali’s tirade against American Democracy (pp. 60-62) with its warning “against the spreading American ways,” with its condemnation of “the domestic as well as foreign policy of America” as “actually a systematic violation of every virtue humanity has ever known” should make us aware that the Muslim “extremists” will be with the West not because of any recognized affinity but merely out of momentary political considerations. Ultimately, the self-conscious world of Islam would wish to consolidate into a power center strong enough to set itself up by the side of the Russian and the Western blocks, strong enough to determine for itself what its primary political concerns should be, and strong enough perhaps to be no longer compelled to westernize for the sake of survival. The hot-headed half-truths of Ghazzali must not delude us into considering absurd the aspiration of those who feel that for its revival Islam needs less rather than more gifts of the West.

At present, more than fifty years later, the distressingly stupid leaders of our universities remain oblivious to (or if ever aware, hostile to) von Grunebaum’s profound insights, allowing post-Edward Saidian pseudo-scholars like El Fadl and Mottahedeh, to blissfully pursue their university-supported efforts aimed at “peacefully” subverting the US to Islamic Law.

Let me state bluntly, and humorlessly, I have lost all patience with such fraudulent “presentations,” and their utterly ridiculous academic patina—they are pernicious.

Mr El Fadl, and his equally deficient Harvard host Roy Mottahedeh want nothing less than for our liberal democracy to willfully impose upon itself the Ur-Fascistic totalitarianism of Sharia. Only the most empty-headed buffoons, their minds melted away by ceaselessly and uncritically imbibing the cultural relativism that prevails in our “academy,” and “public discourse,” would even begin to entertain El Fadl’s premise. And yet there he was, at Harvard, no less, espousing such hideous ideas along with the dangerously ludicrous Mr. Mottahedeh, who endorsed them.

Hillel Stavis sent me this apposite closing observation shortly after hearing El Fadl’s lecture, and the equally inane commentary of his host, Mottahedeh:

Harvard seems to have heard Mr. Mottahedeh’s message recently when it accorded exclusionary rights to Muslims by banning men from one of its gyms at designated hours to accommodate Muslim women. Given the professor’s desired trajectory of Islamic “ethics”, we might even see the ultimate penalty for apostasy applied to those foolhardy students who decide to change their religion while at Harvard.

Is Happiness Preordained?

Is Our Happiness Preordained?

Mike Ghouse - Article follows my comments;

It is consoling to the soul who is down and under "oh, it was to be this way" and kind of accept the happenings of life. It mitigates the suffering. As everything in nature is planned - the DNA research is indicating that the eyes, hair color, hair and a lot of elements of physical body are programmed in the genes. Is what we do and what we think is pre-planned as well? We can argue both ways depending on the state of mind we are in. Personally I believe we have the freedom to determine where we go, what we do, if we do not put the required effort, we may default to the position we are in.
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Is Our Happiness Preordained?
By Laura Blue
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1721954,00.html

Though most of us spend a lifetime pursuing happiness, new research is showing that that goal may be largely out of our control. Two new studies this month add to a growing body of evidence that factors like genes and age may impact our general well-being more than our best day-to-day attempts at joy.

In one study, researchers at the University of Edinburgh suggest that genes account for about 50% of the variation in people's levels of happiness — the underlying determinant being genetically determined personality traits, like "being sociable, active, stable, hardworking and conscientious," says co-author Timothy Bates. What's more, says Bates, these happiness traits generally come as a package, so that if you have one you're likely to have them all.

Bates and his Edinburgh colleagues drew their conclusions after looking at survey data of 973 pairs of adult twins. They found that, on average, a pair of identical twins shared more personality traits than a pair of non-identical twins. And when asked how happy they were, the identical twin pairs responded much more similarly than other twins, suggesting that both happiness and personality have a strong genetic component. The study, published in Psychological Science, went one step further: it suggested that personality and happiness do not merely coexist, but that in fact innate personality traits cause happiness. Twins who had similar scores in key traits — extroversion, calmness and conscientiousness, for example — had similar happiness scores; once those traits were accounted for, however, the similarity in twins' happiness scores disappeared.

Another larger study, released in January ahead of its publication in Social Science & Medicine this month, shows that whatever people's individual happiness levels, we all tend to fall into a larger, cross-cultural and global pattern of joy. According to survey data representing 2 million people in more than 70 countries, happiness typically follows a U-shaped curve: among people in their mid-40s and younger, happiness trends downward with age, then climbs back up among older people. (That shift doesn't necessarily hold for the very old with severe health problems.) Across the world, people in their 40s generally claim to be less happy than those who are younger or older, and the global happiness nadir appears to hit somewhere around 44.

What happens at 44? Lots of things, but none that can be pinned down as the root cause of unhappiness. It's not anxiety from the kids, for starters. Even among the childless, those in midlife reported lower life satisfaction than the young or old, says study co-author Andrew Oswald, an economics professor at the University of Warwick in Britain. Other things that didn't alter the happiness curve: income, marital status or education. "You can adjust for 100 things and it doesn't go away," Oswald says. He and co-author David Blanchflower, an economist at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, also adjusted their results for cohort effects: their data spanned more than 30 years, making them confident that whatever makes people miserable about being middle-aged, it isn't related, say, to being born in the year 1960 and growing up with that generation's particular set of experiences.

At first glance, the new studies may appear at odds with some previous ones, largely because in happiness research, a lot depends on how you ask the question. Oswald and Blanchflower looked at responses to a sweeping, general question: "Taken all together, how would you say things are these days — would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy or not too happy?" (The wording changes slightly depending on where the survey was conducted, but the question is essentially the same.) In a 2001 study, Susan Charles at University of California, Irvine, measured something slightly different: changes in positive affect, or positive emotions, versus negative affect over more than 25 years. Charles found that positive affect stayed roughly stable through young adulthood and midlife, falling off a little in older age; negative affect, meanwhile, fell consistently with age.

Charles thinks that feelings like angst, disgust and anger may fade because as we get older we learn to care less about what others think of us, or perhaps because we become more adept at avoiding situations we don't like. (The Edinburgh researchers, too, found that older study participants scored lower than younger ones on scales of neuroticism — worry and nervousness — and higher on scales of agreeableness.) Oswald chalks up the midlife dip in happiness shown in his study to people "letting go of impossible aspirations" — first, there's the pain of fading youth and the realization that we may never accomplish all that we had dreamed, then the contentment we gain later in life through acceptance and self-awareness. "When you're young you can't do that," Oswald says.

An oft-cited finding from other happiness research suggests, however, that neither very good events nor very bad events seem to change people's happiness much in the long term. Most people, it seems, revert back to some kind of baseline happiness level within a couple years of even the most devastating events, like the death of a spouse or loss of limbs. Perhaps that kind of stability is due to heredity — those happiness-inducing personality traits that identical twins have been shown to share.

Still, lack of control doesn't necessarily mean lack of joy. "The research also shows that most people consider themselves happy most of the time," says University of Edinburgh's Bates. "We're wired to be optimistic. Most people think they're happier than most [other] people." And even if you aren't part of that lucky majority, Bates says, there's always that other 50% of overall life satisfaction that, according to his research, is not genetically predetermined. To feel happier, he recommends mimicking the personality traits of those who are: Be social, even if it's only with a few people; set achievable goals and work toward them; and concentrate on putting setbacks and worries in perspective. Don't worry, as the saying goes. Be happy.

Renaissance can't be Islamic

Renaissance Cannot Be Islamic

The article follows my comments:

I don’t have much to comment on this article, it is every thing I would have said – some highlights;

Renaissance has no colour, creed or ideology, add reason to logic and top it up with broad-mindedness and pluralism and you have a sturdy drift of 'Renaissance' engulfing any region or any society. For these conditions to exist minds need to be free from dogma and idolatry of puritan ideology. Self righteousness is anathema of Renaissance, so is self flagellation and self pity, nations who indulge in this are more concerned with post life than the life here.

Renaissance is a collective effort of minds to seek freedom from dogma and seek answers to complex questions of purpose of existence on this planet. Free thinking, logic and rationalism have to be the foundation stone of any serious attempt to induce renaissance in the Islamic world. Pluralism of Ideas and the prosperity of any land are intertwined. Freedom of minds and skill of intellect to ‘think the unthinkable’ is how humanity has progressed; when minds are incarcerated nothing endures.

You have to read the whole article to be enlightened.. Let me define religion:

To be a Muslim is to be a peace maker; one who constantly seeks to mitigate conflicts and nurtures goodwill for peaceful co-existence. God wants us to live in peace and harmony with his creation; life and matter. Indeed that is the purpose religion. Please feel free to substitute the word “Muslim” with “Religious”.

Mike Ghouse
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Renaissance Cannot Be Islamic
Iqbal Latif - 3/16/2008
http://globalpolitician.com/24272-renaissance-religion-islam

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has adopted a new charter that calls for a “jihad of peace” to spark off an Islamic renaissance. Muslim country Indonesia called for an “Islamic Renaissance.” Indonesian President Susilo Bambang was quoted as saying “The possibility of an Islamic renaissance lies before us. We need to get our act together as an organisation of Muslim nations.” These are virtuous and extremely timely, helpful statements cannot be overlooked, these represents sea change of attitude and I can see beginning of a thaw in very hardened ideological quarters. The world should try to capitalise on these offshoots and act as catalyst to commence a debate on change.

Renaissance has no colour, creed or ideology, add reason to logic and top it up with broad-mindedness and pluralism and you have a sturdy drift of 'Renaissance' engulfing any region or any society. For these conditions to exist minds need to be free from dogma and idolatry of puritan ideology. Self righteousness is anathema of Renaissance, so is self flagellation and self pity, nations who indulge in this are more concerned with post life than the life here.

Describing the OIC as a “unique” institution, Yudhoyono said its influence covered three continents. Besides, Muslim countries supplied 70 per cent of the worlds energy requirements and 40 per cent of its raw material exports, he added.It’s appalling statistic that with all of their oil wealth, two-thirds of the world’s poorest people live in Muslim countries? This state of misery is unparalleled; Islam’s inability to translate its economic prowess into general good has baffled the intelligentsia of the world. Perhaps one can argue that why, in the last 20 years, have over million people died in conflicts involving intra Muslim wars? Why are democracy and the rule of law nonexistent in most Muslim states? Why are most of the worst acts of terrorism carried out in the name of Islam? Whenever wicked fundamentalists have taken over reins of affairs they have gone for the jugular. Extremists have a single point agenda whereby 'worldly decadence' needs to be abolished for blessings and rewards of the after world. None of devotion but their kind can gratify them, every strain of deviancy over times have its own brand of virtuous approach, these anarchists at one point have inflicted devastation on embryonic societies of Islam.

I have a suggestion for President Susilo Bambang. Renaissance cannot be tainted with colour of ideology, it cannot be ‘Islamic or Christian,’ it is collective effort of minds to seek freedom from dogma and seek answers to complex questions of purpose of existence on this planet. Free thinking, logic and rationalism have to be the foundation stone of any serious attempt to induce renaissance in the Islamic world. Pluralism of Ideas and the prosperity of any land are intertwined. Freedom of minds and skill of intellect to ‘think the unthinkable’ is how humanity has progressed; when minds are incarcerated nothing endures.

Renaissance within all three monolithic religions was built around norms of free mind; renaissance was about literature, architecture, arts and chiseling of marble to exquisite forms. David could only be created by the love of the free labor of Michelangelo an enslaved mind cannot be an artist or a creator. Enslaved man can be a revolutionary and many a enslave people have helped changed the world but their minds were free they accepted death instead of compromise with totalitarian or dogmatic despotism.

The first and foremost challenge nations of Islam faces is freedom of intellectual enquiry, ability to ask the unthinkable and still be able to live in peace within a society is the ultimate hall mark of any efforts of kindling renaissance. "In our relations with the Western world, we are going through difficult times," said OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, calling for Israelis to be tried for war crimes. "Ignorance about Islam and calculated animosity with deep historic roots on the part of a minority in the West, as well as our failure to defend the true values of Islam, are the reason for the increasing wave of Islamophobia." Unfortuntely, however the true values are rarely ever discussed freely, during the glorified ‘Golden Age’ there was particularly strong tradition of rationalists, the Mutazilites. They stressed a human being’s inherent free will countering the predestinarians, who taught that everything was foreordained. The Mutazilites carefully cultivated an ‘enlightened moderation’ and allowed for the growth of knowledge and in their active promulgation and acceptance of Science as a part of the religion doctrine they brought to the Islamic world her Golden Age.

Caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad printed by European newspapers have sparked anger across the Muslim world. Some western human rights groups have accused the OIC of trying to limit freedom of expression and belief. "Should freedom of expression mean freedom to blaspheme? There is no such thing as limitless freedom," Wade told delegates, while criticizing those who carried out attacks in the name of Islam: "They deserve only our contempt." The second is slightly more unacceptable, toleration of opposing critical enquiry view into ‘theology and Holy Scriptures.’ Questioning minds should not be burnt on stake or beheaded as blasphemous. Perhaps they should be contented with logic and reason. The exercise of blasphemy law as a guardian of ‘truth and enquiry’ is one of the main reason of Islamic backwardness. Sadly a fine balance between deference and enquiry in East and West is the missing link here. The two sides have to work on it and fine tune their ability to coexist.

This guidance to coexist was advanced by the renowned thinkers such as Avicenna, Al-Raazi, Al Ma’ari and Omar Khayyam; each of whom would later be remembered for the striking global contribution to the field of art, science and logic. The decline set in when the puritan Al-Ghazali began to undermine this rationalistic tradition and instead push for dogma over thought, obedience over free will and the primacy of doctrine. It was the beginning of the end as Al-Ghazali strove to put a stop to the tradition that had cultivated the greatest of the Islamic thinkers and instead stifle the unbridled creativity of the Islamic world.

Thus the civilization of Islam began to falter as ‘Destiny’ persevered over reason and logic-and Lenient ecclesiastical and priestly control once again tightened over the free Muslim people. With the will of Allah sufficing to explain everything risk no longer matter and Muslim commerce began to dramatically suffer. The banking and finance capitals that could have emerged in the coastal cities and regions of Alexandria, the Yemen and Sumatra, as rivals to Europe were stemmed in their infancy. Any belief that employs “guardians of truth’’ on shaping of landscape of intellect will implode. It is said that ‘Crutches of faith are introduced when reason sink exhausted.’ It is an paradox that when curtain of dogma was descending within the Islamic lands killing free thinking it was slowly and steadily rising in Italy and northern Europe.

Let’s start calling spade the spade, whenever, tolerance has been overtaken by bigotry, blinkeredness and singularity; nations and empires have just withered away. At heart of hatred, viciousness and venomous intensity lies intolerance, bigotry and inability to ever find the enemy within. Fanaticism is an evil of a society that corrodes the elegance of any culture. It is most amazing that most of the Muslims like to refer to the ‘Golden age of Islam’ but refuse to appreciate its underpinnings! Tolerant rulers –who saw knowledge without ownership of any creed and expand knowledge to new frontiers. The lack of intellectual progress within the Muslim world suggests something is terribly wrong, their inability to point out their own weaknesses and look at history objectively instead of subjectively they have not been able to learn any lessons from their past.

It is religion that teaches us the lesson of intolerance for a divergent view. In super rich societies, dogmas like the age of our universe is 6,000 years, the thought that we are at the heart of the universe develops an exaggerated sense of human importance and creates most of the obstacles. In lesser educated societies, religious hope of life after death and Puritanism inflict mayhem. Those who want to make a mark in the next world, making this one a perfect hell, should definitely deserve our censure. (1)

Look at ‘Taliban’ who are very ferocious in their interpretation; they are fighting for freedom to install shariah in their lands and then export that later to the hinterland. Their shortfalls and heavy-handed attitudes have resulted into a backlash by the voters who rejected them in free elections. Their preoccupation with the idea of reincarnation of the Middle Ages’ ‘medieval Islam’ so that hands are chopped freely, women be enslaved is what actually fuels this campaign of suicide-bombing.

It is totally wrong to quote Baghdad and Cordoba as models of successful Islamic societies if the conditions of those model societies are today abhorred by the main body of Islam, the tolerance required just does not exist, taking history out of context is the biggest injustice that Muslims commit. A clerical state would not be ever able to address the complex problems of governance the world poses today, the separation of state from institutions of clergy is a must for any society to develop. Poverty as a part of the Islamic society is not by design but by efforts, over reliance of ‘will of Allah’ and lack of freedom leads to poverty of a nation, mental as well as physical. Loyalty to the institutions of nation beyond those demanded by the religion has torn the mind of Muslims. Muslim should be loyal to the state where he swears an allegiance and not to the creed he follows.

A dark age within any civilization is characterized with dogmatic extremism that denies civil liberties, including freedom of religion and justice or the right to a fair trial. 'Golden age' on the other hand should be about the freedom of expression and availability of justice for the downtrodden. A society is judged not by its standards of the richest but by the way the under privileged and the poorest live. A minor renaissance within the regions under the influence of Islam can be traced but the conditions that help ‘seeds of reason’ to take roots that are essential for freethinking were just not allowed to be nurtured.

The world cannot remain hostage to medievalists, this modern fight has to be seen in its intellectual, historical and geographical context, the Islamic world today is trying to reignite its lost renaissance, this is the age of Islamic renaissance, people who are meant to cure our ills are out in the open to slaughter and maim thousands, apparently educated are mentally demented, this the age that was for 500 years escaped the region and hence helped establish a void of reason and rational. Respect of life is the first sign of an educated mind, the most important creation of providence being subject to dynamite is a work of an evil soul, lets not mix it, any mind that plots to maim and kill has not evolved, it has remained stuck in medieval hatreds of the past.

The war of ideas where Islamic clergy, for its own limited interests, has tried to introduce elements of bigotry and fanaticism in mainstream Islamic thought is not new to Muslim societies. It has made them weak and backward and if it continues in its most dangerous form, such a schism will fragment any country whose only reason to exist as a nation is theological unity of belief.

Iqbal Latif writes for the Global Politician about Islam and related issues.