Thoughts on the Freedom of Thought

The following is an excerpt from my Masters thesis entitled ‘The Right To Freedom Of Thought Within The Islamic Legal Tradition: Scriptural Literalism vs. Free-Wheeling Rationalism’

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“Transcendent, mystical ideas are like virgins and the hand of words cannot reach the edge of their veil. Even though our task is to marry the virgin ideas to the men of words in the bedchambers of speech; verbal expressions cannot be but illusions to misleadingly different ideas.” Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali

 

“And (remember) when We said to the angels: ‘Prostrate yourselves unto Adam. So they prostrated themselves except ‘Iblis’ (Satan). He was one of the jinn; he disobeyed the command of his Lord”. [18:50]

~

(Allah) said: “O Iblees (Satan)! What is your reason for not being among the prostrators?”

(Iblees (Satan)) said: “I am not the one to prostrate myself to a human being, whom You created from sounding clay of altered black smooth mud.”

(Allah) said: “Then, get out from here, for verily, you are Rajeem (an outcast or a cursed one).” [Tafsir At-Tabari]

“And verily, the curse shall be upon you till the Day of Recompense (i.e. the Day of Resurrection)” [15:32-35]

The very embodiment of evil in Islam is represented by an individual who fell from grace for abusing his intellect to question God’s will. The Islamic tradition thus rejects the use of pure reason, relying more on a balance with adherence to divine scripture. As a consequence of this balanced approach, Islam is portrayed by some Orientalists as an anti-intellectual tradition in which scripture trumps reason and theology trumps philosophy. There is a perception that the Muslim mind must operate with the handbrake on, avoiding acts and thoughts that may invite allegations of heresy, blasphemy or apostasy (or all of the above). Orientalists argue that Islam has lapsed into a Judaic-type formalism by ascribing God a status so transcendent that the mind simply cannot reach Him. The right to freedom of thought in the Islamic legal tradition, therefore, is often called into question.

If God has defined reality in Revelation, what need is there for human reason? Is the Qur’an the word of God or is it a creation of God? Perceiving God as a speaker raises intriguing theological issues, which in fact have been discussed over twelve centuries ago. Although there have been many sects and factions that have lost their theological grounding by over-indulging in matters of this nature over the course of Islamic history – including the Khajirites, the Jahmiyyah and the Qadariyyah – the main focus here shall be on the Mutazilites.

Mohammad Hashim Kamali stresses that freedom of thought in the Islamic legal tradition does not allow for believers to be exposed to pernicious speech. “While Islam forbids the use of coercion by those seeking to spread the faith, it also takes measures to protect Muslims against aggression that would deny them their own freedom.” Thus the concept of fitnah can be seen as the single biggest threat to complete freedom of speech and expression in the Islamic legal tradition. Perhaps the most important example for our purposes is the fitnah of the inquisition of the creation of the Qur’an (mihnat khalq al-Qur’ân) conducted during the reign of the ‘Abbasid Khalifah Ma’mun. The dispute concerned whether the Qur’an was the created or uncreated speech of God. Ma’mun adopted the controversial Mu’tazilite view that the Qur’an was the created speech of God. He then authorized an inquisition and imprisoned and persecuted those jurists who opposed the officially adopted doctrine.

The overwhelming majority of jurists considered the Qur’an to be the uncreated speech of God that, although essentially eternal, had been communicated to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) at a certain point in time. According to this orthodox line of thinking, the Qur’an is the Word of Allah (Kalām Allah), and is not created because the Qur’an is part of the knowledge of Allah and the knowledge of Allah cannot be created. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Hearing, All-Seeing. All of His attributes are eternal and existed before He created anything. The Qur’an is the Divine Speech of Allah. Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali describes the uncreated, pre-existent, pre-eternal and beginningless nature of the Qur’an:

“The Qur’an is read by tongues, written in books, and remembered in the heart, yet it is, nevertheless, uncreated and without beginning, subsisting in the Essence of Allah, not subject to division and or separation through its transmission to the heart and paper. Musa – upon him peace – heard the Speech of Allah without sound and without letter, just as the righteous see the Essence of Allah Most High in the Hereafter, without substance or its quality.”

As Professor Tim Winters goes on the explain, belief in a created Qur’an can lead to the (dis)belief that God Himself was created:

And if one of His attributes can be created, then what prevents us from believing that more of His attributes are created to the point that we even conclude that the Creator Himself has a Creator. And if He has a Creator, how are we to be sure that the one we call our Creator is actually who we believe He is?

As well as debating whether or not the Qur’an was created, Mutazilites also questioned whether or not evil was a creation of God. The Mutazilites insisted that good and evil are intrinsic qualities and that when humans bring about evil in the world, God is not responsible. The Mutazilites, therefore, quite simply limited God. They said he was constrained by a system of values that was beyond Him, that transcended Him. They claimed his omnipotence did not include the ability to will what was apparently evil, that would entail some futility on his part and invite the conclusion that he himself was evil. They insisted that God must consistently will what was good and that he is unable to will man to sin. If people go astray, it’s their choice. Every suffering in this world has to receive a due compensation: even animals will go to Heaven, they argued.

The mainstream position, as put forth by the Ashirites, is to argue that what God wills is by definition good since the only coherent non-subjective definition of what is good is what God does. So you can no more say that God wills evil than say that the rays of the sun are dark: what philosophers call a category mistake. By definition He cannot do what is evil. Accordingly, evil in the world is not a reality but an illusion caused by inadequate human perception. Since the 12 and 13^th centuries, the position of the Maturidis and Ash’aris have been accepted into mainstream Sunni Islam. The Mutazilism doctrine is now largely defunct, although it is being taught in some Shi’i theological schools in Iran today. In matters of speculative theology, Sunni Islam has maintained a balance between the free-wheeling rationalism employed by the Mutazilites and the scriptural literalism of some of the early traditionalists.

Islam’s limit on the freedom of speech and expression is not out of sorts with international human rights norms. Freedom of speech and expression are not unrestricted freedoms in international human rights discourse.  Article 18 and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) are qualified rights carrying with them special duties and responsibilities. Nevertheless, what continues to linger is an impression that that Islamic tradition is anti-intellectual. Recognition of the invaluable Muslim contribution to medicine, mathematics, philosophy and astrology throughout history should put to bed such ridiculous accusations.

Thoughts on Outlawing the Niqab and Gender Segregation

In the fight against the Monoculture, the main sign is the hijab, and the main act is the Prayer. (Contentions 11)

After an acrimonious trip through Western Europe, the Niqab Debate has arrived in Britain to a blitz of media frenzy. Along with it, a growing spotlight on the rights of women in Islam. Lib Dem Home Office minister Jeremy Browne’s declaration that a national debate ought to be had on Muslim women wearing the niqab inspired a front-page headline from The Sun – the well-known bastions of women’s rights. The fact that a national debate is being called for on an issue that concerns an estimated 0.01% of the British population already brings the media coverage on the issue into considerable suspicion. David Cameron waging in on the unnecessary furore caused by a few dozen Muslim students choosing to sit separately to the opposite gender at an event organised by the Islamic Society of UCL adds further disproportion to the coverage in the national media. The social laws and customs governing Islamic female piety have now somehow become the subject of considerable controversy.

Freedom

The debates surrounding the niqab and ‘gender segregation’ may interestingly be characterised by a wider philosophical discussion on certain freedoms. Discussions on the very term ‘freedom’, though, tend to elude coherent definition: freedom for whom? freedom from what? Freedom can mean different things to different people. The Muslim World defines ‘freedom’ from within the remit of the Creator-created relationship. Thus freedom may be said to lie in partially separating oneself from the passing joys of the materialistic world. Some view the niqab (the full face veil) – and even the hijab (the scarf covering just the hair) – as a form of religious oppression. Some seek to ‘protect’ Muslim women from having the veil ‘imposed’ on them despite the overwhelming majority happily choosing to wear the hijab or niqab.

“I wear the niqab as a personal act of worship, and I deeply believe that it brings me closer to God, the Creator. I find the niqab liberating and dignifying; it gives me a sense of strength. People I engage with judge me for my intellect and action; not necessarily for the way I look or dress. Niqab enables me to be, simply, human.” Sahar Al Faifi, molecular geneticist and former Wales Chairperson of a national Muslim student organisation.

“I found niqab liberating. When I turned 12, I started wearing make-up. There’s this notion that is if you’ve got it, you flaunt it – and it’s driven into you that if you don’t look good, you won’t be spoken to by boys. So much has to do with appearance and you are bombarded with images of perfect and skinny girls and it makes you very self-conscious. I had so many insecurities.” Muslim convert and mother-of-two, Khadija Sallon-Bradley

The niqabi or hijabi may argue that they are free from the pressure to conform to societal ideals dictating to them what an attractive woman must look like. They may argue that they are free from prejudicial judgements based on their physical attributes or how short their skirt is and instead force those they’re interacting with to judge them based on their thoughts and ideas. To many Western secularists though, freedom may mean something completely different.

“If Muslim women are brainwashed into veiling, then is the mini-skirt generation equally brainwashed into believing that showing skin is liberation?” Shelina Zahra Janmohamed

The Niqab

The former justice secretary, Ken Clarke, called the veil a “most peculiar costume”. Yes, the Ken Clarke pictured here.

When tested in British courts, Islamic dress codes have an unhappy history. In 2007 a 12-year-old girl from Buckinghamshire lost her bid to wear a full-face veil at school. Soon after in a similar judgement, a 15-year-old Muslim was also denied the right to wear a jilbab. An employment tribunal then found against a teaching assistant who was told by her school she could not wear a niqab. Only recently did Birmingham Metropolitan College reverse a ban on the niqab after an online campaign by students. In the latest case on the matter, concerning whether a woman should be allowed to wear a niqab in a court of law as a witness or otherwise, the judge acknowledges the intrinsic merit of the niqab, insisting that the positive benefits of the niqab are all too readily overlooked in the mainstream media:

“I also recognise the intrinsic merit which the niqaab has in the eyes of women who wear it. I reject the view, which has its adherents among the public and the press, that the niqaab is somehow incompatible with participation in public life in England and Wales; or is nothing more than a form of abuse, imposed under the guise of religion, on women by men. There may be individual cases where that is true. But the niqaab is worn by choice by many spiritually-minded, thoughtful and intelligent women, who do not deserve to be demeaned by superficial and uninformed criticisms of their choice. The court must consider the potential positive benefits of the niqaab.”

The British response has thus far been much more accepting than that of Mainland Europe. For some, manifestations of Islamic female piety are considered such an unacceptable affront to the deeply entrenched liberal norms of Western society that its appearance has sparked violent assaults. The most upsetting example of this trend and its growing acceptability within Western society was the recent case of an Egyptian mother stabbed to death eighteen times inside a German court of law merely for wearing the hijab.

It is France’s militant form of secularism, though, that provides the greatest opposition to any manifestation of religious identity. France is the only country in Europe to have passed a law that prohibits face-covering in public.  It is feared that the constitutionally guaranteed French secularism, Laicite, is being undermined by its increasingly diverse citizenry, particularly Muslim immigrants.  In 2009 President Nicolas Sarkozy compared burkas to “walking coffins” and declared that they were an unwelcome violation of France’s secular values. Veils were banned in France from being worn in state schools in 2004 and outlawed from public places in 2011.  Last summer saw rioting in a Paris suburb when a woman was ordered to lift her veil by police.

Many Muslims see these laws as an infringement of their religious freedom and freedom of expression. Anyone found wearing a niqab is liable to pay a €150 fine or a period of “citizenship training”. Forcing someone to cover their face is punishable with a fine of €30,000, or €60,000 if that person is a minor. Laws already ban hijabs in public school classrooms and face-covering veils in public spaces. There is no French law regulating religious apparel in private institutions, schools or companies but the signs are worrying. In one case involving a private nursery school, the Appeals Court ruled that Baby Loup (which received state subsidies) had a right to impose internal rules on its employees banning head scarves “to transcend the multiculturalism” of those using its services.

 ‘Gender Apartheid!’

This new-found infatuation on the rights of women in Islam has also manifested itself in the debate on gender segregation. Accusations of ‘gender apartheid’ have bizarrely been levied against Muslims by some disgruntled secularists. In March 2013, the Islamic Society of UCL was lambasted in the press merely for organising a debate in which the audience members were offered the following options: male only, female only or mixed seating. A report by Universities UK advised that:

“Concerns to accommodate the wishes or beliefs of those opposed to segregation should not result in a religious group being prevented from having a debate in accordance with its belief system.. [If] imposing an unsegregated seating area in addition to the segregated areas contravenes the genuinely held religious beliefs of the group hosting the event, or those of the speaker, the institution should be mindful to ensure that the freedom of speech of the religious group or speaker is not curtailed unlawfully”.

So is segregating seating part of the “genuinely held religious beliefs” of Muslims? Leaving the nuances of the social laws regulating male and female relations in Islam to the great scholars who have written extensively on the matter, I should like to share just a few instances from some of the great personalities of the past. Imam Abū Ḥanīfah, for example, once rebuked a man merely for sitting on a seat in his business while the warmth of the woman who was previously sitting there still remained. The great Imam had separate visiting hours for male and female customers. When Imam Shafi’i accidently looked at part of a woman’s leg whilst leaving his house, he ran to his Shaykh who advised him: “Knowledge is noor (light), and the noor of Allah does not descend upon a sinner so be careful Ya Shafi’.” There are also several useful examples in the Sunnah, one of which the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “It would be better for one of you to have himself stabbed on the head with an iron nail than to touch a non-mahram woman.” (al-Tabarani, with a sound chain of narrators).

Cameron’s ‘muscular liberalism’ cares little, though, for Orthodox Islamic thinking. Orthodoxy and tradition have no place in the new ‘British Islam’ government authorities are desperately trying to ram down our throats. A spokesperson for 10 Downing Street made it clear that “Mr Cameron wanted a ban on gender-segregated audiences on campus even where men and women voluntarily separate themselves [Emphasis added].” Various papers condemned the “sexist eccentricities of some religions” and demonstrated their outrage at women’s rights apparently being overlooked by protesting outside the London headquarters of Universities UK.

Soon after the UCL debacle, a “methodologically flawed and sensationalist” report by an organisation called ‘Student Rights’ was rashly published to capitalise on the anti-Islam hysteria flying around. The report, called ‘Unequal Opportunity: Gender Segregation on UK University Campuses’, was the motivation behind such soundbites as this one in the Express by Professor Anthony Glees: “We can and should stop radicalisation on campus by extremists who believe in segregation, or more students will embrace terror.” Hmm.

There seems some inherent contradiction in the secular West’s treatment of orthodox Islamic principles. Some of the best schools in the country are segregated along gender lines. Toilets, gyms and swimming pools are also often segregated with little complaint from the radical secularists. Indeed, gender segregation is also an important tenant of feminist theory:

“Separating men and women cannot necessarily be assumed to reflect a statement of male supremacy. It can reflect personal preferences, as in women-only gyms, etiquette concerning behaviour in sacred spaces, as in orthodox synagogues or mosques, or feminist calls for “autonomous women’s space”. Like some feminists, some conservative Muslim women argue for their right to female-only spaces. Why should such requests be ignored simply because their purveyors are Muslim rather than radical secularists?” Myriam Francois Cerrah

Recently the shady links between the organisation ‘Student Rights’ – an organisation with no students working in it, it’s interesting to note – and neoconservative thinktank the ‘Henry Jackson Society’ were exposed. The significance of this lies in the (even shadier) relationship between Douglas Murray’s HJS and Maajid Nawaz’s Quilliam Foundation. The director of ‘Student Rights’, Raheem Kassam wrote glowingly about Maajid Nawaz and is the ‘campaign director’ at the HJS. He has also publicly admitted that ‘Student Rights’ was founded solely in response to the increase in pro-Palestinian activism by students on British campuses. Kassam told The Times that he is “distraught that, in the 21st Century, British university campuses can be used to segregate and denigrate women.” A cursory look at the ‘Student Rights’ website exposes their disingenuous dedication to women’s rights; only showing interest in the issue when the accused is a Muslim.

The Monoculture

Let us take a closer look then at what underpins such Western secular values. Particularly common amongst the British and French secular philosophies that prefigured modern international human rights was the promotion of the rights of the individual. According to this line of thinking, the very concept of rights is individualistic in the sense that it is a ‘from-the-bottom-up’ view of morality rather than one from the top down, and from the related fact that it generally expresses claims of a part against the whole. Despite it propping up the current international human rights regime, individualism is not a prominent feature in the Islamic tradition, which emphasises communal and relational aspects of human existence.

Rejoice! Your hijab will prevent monoculturalists from patting you on the head. (Contentions 17)

Indeed, the major critique in the Muslim world of the current international human rights agenda is this form of individualism dovetailing with secularism. The West take great pride in their protection of human rights, but as France’s militant secular stance illustrates, religious freedoms are often found wanting in Western nations. Western governments, by invading far-away lands and ‘freeing’ far-away people – out of nothing but sheer altruism, of course – seem to want to impose their values home and away and reinforce the notion of Western superiority. The Secular West, by seeking to ‘free’ the Muslim World from the shackles of an apparently medieval tradition, seem to want to re-sculpt the notion of Islamic female piety in the image of secular modernity. This attack on orthodox Islamic social etiquette exposes state multiculturalism for its monocultural tendencies. While ethnic minorities are afforded rights, it is the pre-existing predominate culture that very much pervades the social fabric of society.

Concluding remarks

Banning the niqab and forcing men and women to sit next to each other at events organised by Muslims is illustrative of an intolerant monocultural society. Attempts to scrub public life – and in some cases, frighteningly, even private life – of any trace of religious identity in the name of secularism threatens to undermine whatever is left of state pluralism. As I write the conclusion to this post, #CelebritiesIWantToSeeNaked is trending on twitter. The objectification of women in Western liberal society today is so incredibly rampant. There seems a major contradiction in the discourse on the matter.  There seems a palpable frustration from some at not being able to see the ‘freedom’ of veiled women as readily as they are able to see the Page 3 models in The Sun displaying their ‘liberty’. It is quite strange to think that we live in a society where the right of a man to routinely see women naked and objectified on TV and in newspapers is open to little or no criticism yet the right of a woman to not have to sit next to a male is the subject of major controversy.

My Ramadan 1434

“When reciting the Qur’an you must take your time. Salaah is not like a fast-food service.” Shaykh Ahmed Saad before Tahajjud prayers

Have I improved as a worshipper since last Ramadan? I’m not sure. I had felt like a person suddenly stripped of his clothes in the weeks and months following last Ramadan. Such blessed warmth the month provides! This year there were a few more verses of the Qur’an that struck a chord during Taraweeh compared to last year, an improvement of sorts I guess. I stood rather jealously, however, as pockets of worshippers burst into tears during Tahajjud prayers in the last ten nights. I wish I could understand what was being recited. I wish I could, at least, cry at my inability to cry at the obvious beauty of what was being recited. No doubt the Qur’an when recited has a melodic charm like no other, but not being able to understand God’s words feels like sitting on a fortune without having access to it. I’d very much like the keys to that most wonderful treasure chest!

The night usually blankets the many sins that insaan commit. This Ramadan, falling in the long British summer hours, meant nightfall was short. While winters generously provide believers with long nights to occupy themselves in worship with and short days that allow easily for fasting; summers often prove slightly trickier for believing men and women. Indeed, the 18-hour fasts in Britain this Ramadan were a struggle for many in the intense summer heat. Beyond the diurnal trials of parched lips and empty stomachs though, much greater rewards surely await. 

Driving to Taraweeh late at night was interesting. It was two different worlds out there on a Friday or Saturday night. It’s strange how unsavoury places are often devoid of light or any reference to time. Even in the day, the tinted windows and dim lighting in the pubs and taverns veil the bright sunshine outside. The contrast between light and darkness is used universally to highlight the disparity between good and evil. Not least in the Qur’an which declares oaths by the “glorious morning light” tearing through the eerie stillness of the night (93:1 and 93:2).

[He is] the cleaver of daybreak and has made the night for rest and the sun and moon for calculation. That is the determination of the Exalted in Might, the Knowing. [6:96]

The absence to any reference of time sometimes accompanies the lack of light in sordid places like casinos and betting shops (conveniently situated next-door to pawnbrokers on many high streets, capitalism eh?). Failing to keep track of time will lead not only gamblers to the greatest of all losses.

During the time of The Prophet ﷺ worshippers were so focused on their salaah that they had no recollection of who was standing next to them in prayer. I get distracted so easily. I get distracted by the group of ants frantically collecting their suhoor from amongst some tiny crumbs left on the floor; I get distracted by the two fidgety toddlers either side of me, gradually developing a bond by the end of twenty rakkahs; I get distracted, and frankly enraged, by the worshipper in front of me stepping further and further back into my sujood space. I wonder if the Imam’s request to straighten the lines before salaah can be backed by punitive sanctions? Perhaps even a small electric shock to remind lackadaisical worshippers to keep their heels on the line?

In all seriousness, though, congregational worship is of such great merit. The beating heart of the worshipper adopts the beating pattern of the Imam, whose heartbeat is most active. The human heart is capable of beating for a while longer after death, or after it is extracted from the body. Experiments have shown that hearts kept close to one another beat for a longer period than a heart in complete solitude.

Abud-Darda’ (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: I heard The Prophet ﷺ saying, “If three men in a village or in the desert, make no arrangement for Salaah in congregation, Satan must have certainly overcome them. So observe Salaah in congregation, for the wolf eats up a solitary sheep that stays far from the flock.” [Abu Dawud].

On our way home from Taraweeh  late one night, we nearly got ourselves into a car accident. So enchanting and enticingly palpable was the moon that it distracted my attention from the road. I should like to think that the overwhelming beauty of the moon would hold up in court as a sufficient defence for negligent driving. Although my terrible overall driving skills would probably rubbish this defence. The moon is closest to the earth during Ramadan; this is both scientifically and aesthetically pleasing. The gravitational pull of the moon, being so close to the earth in Ramadan, increases the water levels both at sea and in the human body. 18 hours without hydration in the unfamiliarly hot weather this year in London, therefore, was not such an impossible task.

I pray this month leaves us with thick cloaks to keep away the chilly winds of discontent, at least until our blessed friend visits us again next year.    

The Bedouin

A Bedouin once stumbled across a group of worshippers about to begin morning prayers. Curious as to their religious inclinations, the Bedouin thought it’d be fun to join the congregation. He slotted himself into the first row and mimicked the hand and feet position of the worshipper on his right. “Alif, Lam, Meeeeeeem…” the Imam began the Salaat. Unbeknownst to the Bedouin, the Imam had just started reciting Surah al-Baqarah; the longest chapter in the Qur’an. Feet-to-feet, shoulder-to-shoulder; the poor Bedouin was sandwiched tightly inside an immaculately straight line of devout worshippers, unable to escape even if assisted by the Shaytaan himself.

A great deal later, the Imam finally concluded the prayers, throat rather sore but spirits soaring high. “You guys are hardcore!” remarked the Bedouin to the worshipper on his right. “What was the name of that most epic of Surahs?” “The Cow”, replied the worshipper. “It was a marathon!” exclaimed the Bedouin, “and you fellas do this every day? Respect.”

The next morning the Bedouin crossed paths with the same clan, once again about to begin prayers. This time the Bedouin thought he’d ask the Imam what Surah he was due to read before making such an arduous commitment. “Surah al-Fil (The Elephant)”, the Imam answered, with a wry smile. “The Elephant?!” the Bedouin balked, “forgot that! The Cow was a long enough Surah; Elephants are much bigger. I’m not waiting to see how long this prayer is!”

And off the Bedouin went, completely unaware that Surah al-Fil is one of the shorter Surahs in the mus’haf, consisting of merely 5 Ayahs.

Thoughts on “Political Islam” and the events in Egypt

“Opium is the religion of the masses.” Contentions 3

 

In the wake of recent events in Egypt, “Political Islam” has taken quite a battering. Bashir al-Assad declared the “fall of Political Islam” soon after Mohammad Morsi’s government was overthrown. Herein lies a modest defence of the political aspects of Islam, drawing heavily on the truly inspirational work of Syed Abul A’la Maududi.

Islam is a holistic religion, like no other. There is no such thing as just Political Islam, Moderate Islam or Violent Islam. Recently I saw an advertisement on a bus declaring 100 years of “Peaceful Islam” as apparently practiced by the Ahmidiyya community. Why tinge Islam with these particular brands? Why constantly attempt to liken our religion to modern  ideologies?  Maududi equates such a mindset to an inferiority complex, a belief that we as Muslims can earn no honour or respect unless we are able to show that our religion is in agreement with most modern creeds. He compares people’s tendency to come up with different flavours of Islam to the proverbial blind men who gave altogether contradictory descriptions of an elephant because one had been able to touch only its tail, the other only its legs, the third only its belly and the fourth only its ears.

“These people have done a great disservice to Islam; they have reduced the political theory of Islam to a puzzle, a hotchpotch. They have turned Islam into a juggler’s bag out of which can be produced anything that holds a demand. Such is the intellectual plight in which we are engulfed. Perhaps it is a result of this sorry state of affairs that some people have even begun to say that Islam has no political or economic system of its own and anything can fit into its scheme.” (Maududi: The Islamic Law and Constitution p124-125)

The events in Egypt saw the democratically-elected Morsi government overthrown by a military that receives $1.3 billion in US military aid. Compare this to the meagre $250 million received in ordinary economic aid. Another US-sponsored military coup? Well, it seems so. As one British political commentator said on Twitter; “A military coup to topple Egypt’s first democratically elected leader is appalling; overshadowed only by our lack of support for democracy.” Similar tensions can be seen in Turkey where protests against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party by the more secular-leaning segments of Turkish society threaten to unsettle the nation. Some liberals seem to prefer undemocratic military dictatorships over the rule of law when Muslim states are involved. Why though? Is Islamic political philosophy so at odds with regular secular Western thought?

Maududi sees Islamic political philosophy as the very antithesis of secular Western democracy. In the political philosophy of Western democracy, the people are supposedly sovereign. Law-making is their prerogative and legislation must correspond to the particular mood and temper felt at the time. In this regard, not a trace of secular Western democracy can be found in Islamic political philosophy. As Maududi explains, Islam altogether repudiates the philosophy of popular sovereignty and instead rears its polity on the foundations of the sovereignty of God and the vicegerency (Khilafa) of man. Sovereignty in a secular state is vested in the government’s ability to make its own laws; whilst in a theocracy, sovereignty is divine. “No legislator’s edicts can trump the will of the Almighty”, as Nathan J Brown observes in his Foreign Policy article. Unfortunately, though, and due entirely to Western colonialism, the legal orders of Arab states today are “essentially civil law systems that would be more familiar to a lawyer trained in current-day Paris or Rome than one trained in a medieval madrasa.”

After the fall of Soviet Communism though, Islam remains the sole existing transnational ideology. Islam stretches to both public and private spheres of life, it is all-encompassing, as Maududi describes:

“The chief characteristic of Islamic ideology is that it does not admit a conflict, nay, not even a significant separation between life spiritual and life mundane. It does not confine itself merely to purifying the spirit and the morals. Its domain extends to the entire gamut of life. It wants to mould individual as well as the social behaviour upon healthy pattern, so that the Kingdom of God may really be established on the earth and so that peace, contentment and well being may fill the world as water fills the oceans. The political concepts of the Qur’an spring from this unique approach to life and its concept of man’s place in the universe.” (Maududi: The Islamic Law and Constitution p154)

The strict separation of religion and politics in Europe is owed to its bitter experience with theocracy. A priestly class, clearly distinguished from the rest of the population, exercised unchecked domination and enforced laws of its own making in the name of God, thus virtually imposing its own divinity and godhood upon the common people. Such a system of government, according to Maududi, is satanic rather than divine. Instead, Maududi points to a “Kingdom of God” being established through the implementation of what he terms “theo-democracy”:

“A more apt name for the Islamic polity would be the “Kingdom of God” which is described in English as a “theocracy”. […] Theocracy built up by Islam is not ruled by any particular religious class but by the whole community of Muslims including the rank and file. The entire Muslim population runs the state in accordance with the Book of God and the practice of His Prophet. If I were permitted to coin a new term, I would describe this system of government as a “theo-democracy”, that is to say a divine democratic government, because under it the Muslims have been given a limited popular sovereignty under the suzerainty of God.” Maududi p139-140

With this in mind, let us now take a closer look at Assad’s remarks: “What is happening in Egypt is the fall of so-called political Islam. This is the fate of anyone in the world who tries to use religion for political or factional interests.” Assad’s criticism of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood for apparently exploiting religion is unwarranted and does Islamic polity a great disservice, as Maududi argues:

“[The] reforms which Islam wants to bring about cannot be carried out merely by sermons. Political power is essential for their achievement. And as the above prayer has been taught by none other than Allah to His own Prophet, it also shows that the struggle for obtaining control over the organs of the State, when motivated by the  urge to establish the deen and the Islamic Shari’ah and to enforce the Islamic injunctions, is not only permissible but is positively desireable and as such obligatory. Those who regard such an endeavour as something mean and this worldly or characterise it as “power-seeking” are totally mistaken. If a person strives for personal glory and wants to gain power for personal ends, that is certainly to be condemned. It is un-Islamic. But if power is being sought to establish the deen of Allah, then it is an undisputed act of Godliness and piety and must not be confused with power thirstiness.” (Maududi: The Islamic Law and Constitution p165-166)

What we have witnessed in Egypt is the toppling of the first democratically elected government in it’s history. This was no continuation of the Arab Spring, it was a major setback, recognised even by The Guardian’s editorial team:

“Liberal this new regime is not. Its first act was to shut down five television stations, who were covering the growing demonstrations of Muslim Brotherhood supporters. A sixth channel, an offshoot of al-Jazeera called al-Jazeera Misr, was raided, and its journalists arrested. Speaking shortly after Sisi’s announcement the liberal opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei declared that the 2011 revolution was relaunched. Tahrir Square erupted in celebration. It may well be short-lived, because what really happened in Egypt was that it went back two years. With Morsi gone, the old regime is back where they want to be, pulling the levers of power.”

As Aljazeera’s Marwan Bishara pointed out, it truly is rather paradoxical that Egypt’s so-called Islamists are the ones standing up for democracy while the apparent liberals of Egypt are celebrating a military coup d’état. At the pro-Morsi rally, protesters were asking why the army helicopters were not dropping Egyptian flags from the skies as they were during the anti-Morsi protests; “We are Egyptians too”. It is often said that if you are on the same side as the Army in such internal disputes, then you are on the wrong side.

The Sexualisation of Society

I said to my rosy cheeked lovely: ‘O you with bud-like mouth, why keep hiding your face like flirting girls?’ she laughed and said ‘unlike the beauties of your world, in the veil I’m seen, without it I’m hidden.’

Jāmī

 

Our society is becoming increasingly sexualised, resulting in a quick sand of morals and the gnawing away of values we once cherished, like modesty and chastity. We seem hell-bent on replacing such sacred values with a perpetual state of lust and titillation. We seem to be living in a society that, on the one hand, claims to champion women’s rights and uphold gender equality but, on the other hand, glamorises a certain lifestyle for women designed to pander to the seedy desires of lecherous men.

The recent demonstrations by bare-chested women outside Mosques across Europe have sharpened the tensions between Western-sculpted feminism and Islam. As our society has become increasingly secular, religion has become marginalised and, in some instances, forced to distort itself in order to conform to Western modernity.

Immoral capitalism

Sex sells, unfortunately. The plutocratic elite know this very well and seek to exploit man’s weaknesses. Old are the devil’s tricks and, despite the many devices modernity dangles in front of us in order to make sexually explicit content so very accessible, pornography is not dissimilar to the age-old practice of sexual slavery. After all, what motivates the pornography industry other than the maximisation of profits? Twenty first century capitalism: welcome to the pursuit of wealth without any morals.

With its ever-increasing influence in our lives, the effects of media in sexualising society is perhaps most acute. In a report by the American Psychological Association it was concluded that, along with advertising and consumer products, media contributed heaviest to the sexualisation of Western society.

“Massive exposure to media among youth creates the potential for massive exposure to portrayals that sexualize women and girls and teach girls that women are sexual objects.”  

The Sun’s iconic Page 3 has long represented the objectification of women in British society and the gradual decline of tabloid journalism. An interesting reaction to this is the No More Page 3 Campaign currently gaining momentum.

Advertising often contains sexually suggestive content which often goes unnoticed. Advertising imagery has blurred the distinction between women and girls, causing the latter to be adultified and the former youthified. Cook and Kaiser have identified this as the “trickle up” and “trickle down” framework for young girls and women. One of the results of this are the highly sexualised dolls marketed specifically to young girls. Bratz dolls, for example, are often advertised wearing bikinis and mixing cocktails in hot tubs.

Religion and tradition

As one of the seven deadly sins, the dangers of lust are carefully identified in religious scriptures as creating a hellish state of the soul. Compared to attempts by Christianity (now much diluted after the rigours of reformation and enlightenment) to address this problem in contemporary society, Islam’s pre-modern outlook on the issue may prove refreshing when critiquing modernity. Regardless of the decaying influence of Christianity in the hands of modernity, the “lowering of the gaze” remains an irrefutable Quranic injunction:

“Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: And Allah is well acquainted with all that they do. And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms.”

Qur’an 24:30 and 24:31

Chastity was once a virtue to which man strived toward, today it is derided in popular culture. What may commonly be described as the regulation of sexual desire, chastity was treated very seriously by the great moral philosophers of the past, including al-Ghazali and Thomas Aquinas.

The famous nineties diet coke commercial with the office women ogling at a semi-nude construction worker is just one example of modern day attempts to lure women into the same lecherous mindset besotting their male counterparts. Chastity and modesty come naturally to women yet modern society seeks to rob women of this great honour. The Qur’an holds Mary up as an exemplar for both men and women:

Behold! the angels said: “O Mary! Allah hath chosen thee and purified thee- chosen thee above the women of all nations. O Mary! worship Thy Lord devoutly: Prostrate thyself, and bow down (in prayer) with those who bow down.”

Qur’an 3:42 and 3:43

It is also no coincidence, therfore, that the Arabic word for womb is rahm, from which is derived the word for mercy, rahma.

William Shakespeare has eloquently underlined the dangers associated with lust:

Sonnet 129

The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action; and till action, lust
Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust,
Enjoy’d no sooner but despised straight,
Past reason hunted, and no sooner had
Past reason hated, as a swallow’d bait
On purpose laid to make the taker mad;
Mad in pursuit and in possession so;
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;
A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe;
Before, a joy proposed; behind, a dream.
All this the world well knows; yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell. 

Society & culture

Timothy Garton Ash accurately dissects the uneasiness currently being felt by many practising British Muslims facing up to the secular, hedonistic and consumerist society wanting to gobble them up:

“Britain now has one of the most libertine societies in Europe. Particularly among younger Brits in urban areas, which is where most British Muslims live, we drink more alcohol faster, sleep around more, live less in long-lasting, two-parent families, and worship less, than almost anyone in the world. It’s clear from what young British Muslims themselves say that part of their reaction is against this kind of secular, hedonistic, anomic lifestyle. If women are reduced to sex-objects, young Muslim women say, I would rather cover up. Theirs is almost a kind of conservative feminism. Certainly, it’s a socially conservative critique of some aspects of British society, particularly visible in their generation, in the urban neighbourhoods where they live.”

The EU also has raised serious concerns in its report on the sexualisation of girls in European society and culture:

“The presentation of women as objects controlled by men whose sole purpose is to satisfy men’s needs has a significant impact on the behaviour and development of girls, who absorb the content of such films and model themselves upon it. This leads to low self-esteem, withdrawal and lack of ambition, and therefore has serious consequences for adult life, particularly as regards establishing relationships and building a professional career.”

The death of 13 year-old Chevonea Kendall-Bryan sufficiently highlights the magnitude of the problem. Coerced into performing a sexual act, young Chevonea thought it better to take her own life after video footage of the act later surfaced. Children, unfortunately, are the worst affected in the highly sexually-charged society currently engulfing us. Primary school girls were warned against wearing thongs; whilst in a separate incident hardcore pornography was discovered in a children’s charity book. 30% of all internet traffic now goes to pornography websites with the U.S. producing more pornography than any other nation. Brian McNair has described such appalling trends as the “pornographication of the mainstream”.

Secular morality

The ‘Topless Hijab Day’ declared by Ukrainian feminist group, Femen, has been fraught with claims of hypocrisy and hyper-sexualisation. Student activist, Sofia Ahmed, led the opposition to Femen and their ‘Muslim women, let’s get naked’ campaign:

“The hyper-sexualisation of Femen’s campaign and the insistence on Muslim women to strip naked as a gesture of emancipation is a tell-tale symptom of Orientalist fantasies.”

The urge for feminists to want to romantically rescue Muslim women exposes the futility of the secular approach to gender issues. Devout atheist, Christopher Hitchens, wrote of his inability to look at American women without thinking about fellatio, furthering the notion that secular morality increasingly views women as a means rather than an end.

Secular morality: modernity’s saving fiction. (Contentions 15)

Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Tawakkul Karman, gave this response to a journalist who claimed that her choice to wear the headscarf was not proportionate to her level of intellect:

“Man in early times was almost naked, and as his intellect evolved he started wearing clothes. What I am today and what I’m wearing represents the highest level of thought and civilization that man has achieved, and is not regressive. It’s the removal of clothes again that is a regression back to the ancient times.”

 

The spiritual disease caused by a highly sexualised society has spread into the Muslim world, with devastating consequences. The state of the Ummah must be called into question when populous Muslim countries like Pakistan top Google’s list for most pornography searches. We once were a community with loftier things on our minds, pioneering theological, mathematical and scientific thought. Those were the days. Have we now not just become hedonists?   

Akhi and his pretences

 

Akhi turns up at the Masjid on Jummah nice and early. Front row is his. He’s with his cousins but also notices a few friends slowly filtering in. Dhuhr adhaan is not due for another 15 minutes, the khutbah not for at least another 30. Akhi’s recently started practicing, done Umrah ‘n’ all. His beard’s coming along nicely too, gets it styled at the barbers fortnightly. Even has a slight prayer bump, just above his freshly plucked eyebrows – incessant prostrations? Huh. He slips off his trainers and rushes to pray the sunnah prayer recommended for entering the Masjid, a sweet-smelling ittar scent follows him. After a slightly elongated two-rakkahs, he spots some brothers entering the prayer hall  and decides to bust out a few more rakkahs.

Ostentation grips him, swallows him as he lengthens his prayer traitorously to impress his companions. Akhi! You’re bowing before your Rabb, instead of spiritual nourishment, you seek lowly praise? Shame on you! What a calamity!

“Come to prayer! Come to success!” the Muazzin later calls out. Akhi’s heading towards neither if he continues his pretension.

 

“He knows that which deceives the eyes and what the breasts conceal.” Qur’an 40:19

Thoughts on BBC Three’s ‘Make Me a Muslim’

“My heart found nothing in the wisdom of the Western mind, And it beats restlessly for wisdom of another kind.” Iqbal

The BBC Three documentary ‘Make Me a Muslim’ offers an intriguing insight into the lives of the growing number of British women converting to Islam. The number of Britons embracing Islam in the UK increases by 5000 each year; and over 75% of these are female, as the 2011 census illustrates.

The show introduces us to characters in various stages of their spiritual journey. The show’s protagonist, Shanna Bukhari, is an international fashion model and “modern Muslim” facing somewhat of an identity crisis that develops throughout the show. She visits several converts living in different parts of Britain and facing slightly different obstacles. Firstly we are introduced to brand new Muslim, Claire, a Welsh convert and “the only white Muslim girl in the village”. We are then taken to Glasgow to see Alana, a media student and fervent seeker of knowledge introduced to Islam by her Moroccan partner. Lisa, perhaps my personal favourite, is a vivacious mother of three coming to terms with her status as a co-wife. Lastly we are introduced to Inaya, a young woman already in love with Islam but desperately looking for a husband to share her passion with.

The show therefore addresses the important issues of modernity and women’s rights in Islam.

Modernity

“I was born as a modern British Muslim and I will die as a modern British Muslim!” Shanna exclaims. But how is a “modern” Muslim different to an ordinary Muslim?

Indeed, the great numbers of Muslims living in the West has led to what some see as a ‘clash of civilisations’. “Why abandon the freedoms that their Western lives allow for Islam?” asks Shanna. The renowned Muslim thinker and present-day scholar, Timothy Winters (or Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad), prefers to ask: “which is the bigger prison: Islam in the eyes of modernity, or modernity in the eyes of Islam?” This dichotomy reveals itself throughout the show. It is Shanna, the show’s protagonist, who constantly seeks to reconcile the two, at one stage distancing herself from the apparent ‘extremism’ of wearing baggy clothes and flat shoes.

According to a recent YouGov survey, 50% of respondents associate Islam with terrorism. Certainly, the aftermath of 9/11 and the on-going American foreign policy have fuelled the colliding civilisation theory. Claims of colonisation and the enforcement of legal norms and practices on an unwilling Muslim world have led to claims that western modernity is now almost incongruent with Islam: “It is as fallacious to assert that Islam is unsuited to the age as it is to believe that the age is suited to Islam.” (Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad)

‘Modernity’ in its purest sense, however, is a natural objective for Man, as the Pakistani scholar Mufti Taqi explains:

“The search for “Modernity” by itself is a commendable desire and a natural urge of humankind. If this urge was not there, man would not have reached from stone-age to atomic era, could not have gained access to aero-planes and spacecrafts from camels and bullock carts, nor would have progressed to electric bulbs and search lights from wax candles and earthen lights.”

What exactly is a ‘modern Muslim’ then? A friend of mine uses Skype to call his Shaykh back home in Mauritius, practising his Qur’an memorisation and seeking advice from him. That’s a modern Muslim.

Women’s rights

In the same YouGov poll, 69% of respondents think Islam encourages the repression of women. Complete “codswallop”, according to the Welsh farmer’s daughter, Sophia. Just in case these women did not put to bed such fears clearly enough, allow me to briefly remind you of Islam’s role in liberating women, much before the Suffragettes.

It is no exaggeration to declare that Islam was first to give independent legal status to women. The Qur’an unequivocally emboldened the status of women over 1400 hundred years ago by awarding wives, mothers, daughters and sisters the irrevocable right to inheritance, much to the despair of the pre-Islamic tribal leaders. The position of the West up until the nineteenth century may be adequately summed up by the leading legal theorist of the time, William Blackstone:

“By marriage, the husband and the wife are one person in the law… the very being and legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least is incorporated into that of her husband under whose wing (and) protection she performs everything.”

Indeed women were treated in the same vain as minor’s in the eyes of the law. It was not until the Married Woman’s Property Act 1870 that the English Common Law finally recognised a woman’s right to inherit independently of any male representative. Creeping Sharia?

Polygamy

“How easy is it for converts to adapt to a faith where men are allowed to marry up to four wives?” the narrator asks while the documentary focuses on the truly heroic Lisa, from Reading.

Polygamy is often lynched onto by Westerners as an abhorrent and backward practice. Leaving aside the jurisprudential debates surrounding the conditions of permissibility in Islam to the great scholars, I would simply like to share a couple of interesting cases surrounding polygamy law in the Muslim world.

1. The Saudi polygamist and The Taxman

A wealthy Saudi man attempted to (cheekily) observe the Shari’a requirement of providing separate dwellings for each wife. Wives, according to shari’a, are entitled to live comfortably enough not to have to come into contact with co-wives or other members of the Husband’s family. The wealthy Saudi man therefore built a huge mansion with four different compartments, once for each wife. Although luxurious enough for the wives to live separate lives, all four dwellings were under a single roof – in order to avoid the burdensome property tax that five completely separate residences may incur. The Taxman argued that because of the Shari’a requirement, he is under an obligation to treat the dwellings as four separate buildings and issued a hefty tax bill. The wealthy Saudi man appealed but lost his case.

2. The childless Doctor and his beloved Wife

A wealthy Pakistani doctor residing in the UK with his wife tried ever so hard to have children, only to find out that his wife was barren. With his wife’s permission, the Doctor decided to set off to Pakistan in order to look for a second wife for the express intention to procreate. The Doctor then married a second wife completely legally (polygamy is lawful in Pakistan) and brought her back to the UK. The baby was to be looked after by the Doctor and his elated Wife and in exchange, the Doctor put the young Pakistani girl through school, educating her up to University level. All parties satisfied.

The future of Islam in Britain

Islam is growing in Britain. It is suggested that the number of Muslims attending Friday prayers now exceeds the number of Christians attending church on Sundays. Since the last census, the Muslim population has grown from 1.55 million to 2.7 million, an increase of 1.15 million from 2001 to 2011. From just 2% of the population in 2001, Muslims now represent 5% of the British population. In some towns, Muslims make up almost half of the population, making up around 14% of the London and Manchester populations.

Some put these staggering numbers down simply to immigration and the high birth rate common amongst Muslims. But the rapidly growing number of converts to Islam suggests that this trend will continue despite crack downs on immigration by successive governments.

“I literally woke up one day thinking “I need to do this before I die” because if I die and I’m not a Muslim, I would not be happy at all. When I took my Shahada the weight came off my shoulders – I tinkle now when I think about it!” explained the rejuvenated Inaya from Accrington.

Tattooed from head to toe, and now empowered by the hijaab and the duty to her family; burdened yet hopeful about her status as a co-wife – it is Lisa, however, who exudes all the courage that a “modern British Muslim” female will ever need.

To The Turner of Hearts do we turn

Devilish whispers that tempt galore

Smother like oceans gobbling the shore

 ~

Angels enjoy a status divine

But Man wavers, potential sublime

 ~

Birds peck at morsels; hunger unquenched

Don’t peck. Prostrate! To his Eminence

 ~

Life: what an intricate illusion!

Don’t get fooled by this here delusion

 ~

Hopelessly we chase this grand facade

Deceived by Life’s elaborate mirage

 ~

Heavy is the heart burdened with sin

Strive! Turn Satin’s glee into chagrin!

~

Successful is the one submitting

To God above, all praise befitting

 ~

Like dust dancing in sunbeams that lure

Escape slumber, bask in God’s splendour

 ~

In thy Lord’s mercy, engross yourself

Revel in His Light, such splendid wealth!

 ~

To The Turner of Hearts do we turn

Filled with love, tis God’s garden we yearn

Akhi and The Unwholesome Heathen

Akhi walks down Holloway Road on his way to conduct some business. He’s dressed smart-casual this time and is sporting a well-groomed beard. There’s enough facial activity on this young man’s cheeks for brothers to recognise his religious inclination and initiate the Islamic greeting of “As-salamu alaykum!” And when they do, he most certainly obliges; “Walaykum as-saalam!”, with a big smile. Akhi picks up his pace as he passes one of the many taverns occupying this North London high street. The stench of urine and booze on the walls outside prove overpowering as he hurries past. “As-salamu alaykum!” Akhi turns to see a bloke a little worse for wear. Scruffy hair, scruffier beard, unpleasant body odour. Akhi outright ignores this unwholesome heathen and quickens his pace further to avoid any interaction, convincing himself, meanwhile, that perhaps the greeting came from other quarters for this bum certainly could not be a Muslim. Huh!

As the brother galloped ahead looking for others of more favourable outward impression to relay his peaceful greetings to, the old idiom “never judge a book by its cover” could just about be heard by those concerned enough to listen.

 

“The best of the two persons is the one who begins with salaam.” (Related by Nawawi in his book Al-Adkar)