The Anarchy of Cartoons
February 25, 2006
Violence in the name of Islam has done more to damage the Prophet than any Danish cartoon, argues Fareena Alam. Here are some excerpts of her essay.
Excerpt 1:
“That the future of liberal democracy rests on defending the publication of these insulting caricatures is as ridiculous a claim as that Muslims can defend the honour of their prophet by unrestrained violence and rioting. Dressing up as a suicide bomber, waving placards calling on Muslims to butcher those who insult Islam and shouting ‘7/7 on its way’ — the inhumanity of it all is so utterly shameful. Clearly, it’s not just Danish cartoonists and their apologists who are ignorant of the Prophet.”
Excerpt 2:
“‘We must stop thinking of ourselves as “the tribe of Islam”,’ declared Imam Zaid Shakir, an African-American scholar and civil-rights activist. ‘Until we start to think of ourselves as the children of Adam, concerned about the welfare of all our fellow human beings, we are missing the point of being faithful. These are days when there is a lot of talk about defending the honour of the Prophet. What would it do for the honour of the Prophet if Muslims mobilised their tremendous resources to eradicate hunger from this planet?”
Excerpt 3:
“Many of those who so violently took to the streets claiming their love for the Prophet belong to the same heterodox, literalist school of thought that criticises traditional Muslims for venerating the Prophet, peace be upon him, ‘too much’. These people condemn the Mawlid, the celebration of the Prophet’s birth, and have for decades silenced those who uphold the age-old traditions of honouring the Prophet through sacred music, art and poetry, declaring these as ’sinful’. As a result, we have Muslim engineers, doctors and restaurant owners by the thousand, but few poets, painters or calligraphers. And we all know what such an imbalance can do to the psyche of a people.”
— Essay published in The Observer, 12 Feb 2006, London
Excuse Me, Have You Seen Beauty?
February 8, 2006
This book maps out the moderate–puritan divide with astonishing clarity, a product, no doubt of the years the author spent meditating on the subject — in his personal quest for Beauty. El Fadl outlines, very methodically, how distant the puritans are from the moderate, middle way. While the puritans may be shouting the loudest slogans and burning the most flags, it is refreshing to listen to the quiet deliberate voice of a moderate academic who has decided to draw the line in the ‘battleground for faith’.
It is also important to note the author’s background in law, for nothing polarises the moderate and puritan more than the subject of the nature and function of (Islamic) law. While all muslims believe in the centrality of Sharia, the puritans — in their understanding of the law — have given it a bad name. The word ‘Sharia’ now conjures so many negative images in the minds of people that it evokes genuine fear. However, we intuitively know that this should not be the case. Law must be understood before it can be applied in any meaningful way. The goal of law is godliness (not ugliness). When the puritans ignore the jurisprudential tradition, they are turning their backs on the collective effort of 1400 years of scholarship and sophistication. It is no wonder that the ‘law’ they enforce is literalistic and crude, ushering ugliness.
The search for Beauty continues, for that is what HE Loves.
Title: The Great Theft, Wrestling Islam From the Extremists
Author: Khaled Abou El Fadl
