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(Dis)honoring the 1979 Iranian Revolution

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts on Feb 08, 2010

 

February 11 marks the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Ten years after the revolution, its leader — the Ayatollah Khomeini — issued a death warrant against the novelist, Salman Rushdie.

I’m keeping both of these facts in mind as I begin to write a new chapter of my next book.

A bit of background: Recently, I announced an experiment called “Notes From My Next Book.” With this experiment, I’m giving you a sneak peak at ideas being explored in my next book and inviting you to comment on them. Click here to learn more.

This week, I’m starting to write a chapter tentatively entitled, “Culture is not sacred.” My point is that Arab tribal culture, emanating from the Middle East but exported far beyond, has corrupted the practice of Islam.

For all its nasty passages, the Qur’an still speaks of personal freedom, spiritual growth and social justice. If that version of Islam is ever to be realized, then Muslims have to tackle what’s holding us back from just doing it.

I’ll argue that we have to challenge — and change — an Arab cultural custom called “honor.” Click here to understand what “honor” means in the Arab-Islamic context.

In my next book, I’ll include little-known insights about “honor,” such as the eery parallels between the oppression of Blacks in the honor-based 19th-century American south and the repression of women in the honor-based Muslim world today.

But the custom of “honor” can produce hilarity, too. Here are some of my research notes, culled from an interview I’ve conducted with Salman Rushdie…

SALMAN: “I remember, in the early days of the Iranian Revolution, a number of bizarre issues were being debated by the Ayatollahs. Seriously, this is not a joke. One of the questions being asked was, if a woman is wearing a head-to-toe veil but she’s wearing Western clothes like a skirt underneath, is it ok? I mean, given that she is completely covered and all you can see is her eyes?

It was decreed that this was not ok. The reason it was not okay was that the friction of her thighs against each other inside the skirt would generate sexual heat and this heat would be transmitted through her eyes to men who might observe her and might inflame. And that was, of course, not acceptable.

The best of these arguments, actually, had to do with the limits of incest. Is it incestuous if you were to have relations with your aunt by marriage? It might be improper and a bit upsetting to your uncle, but is it actually incestuous? In the end, they [Iranian clerics] decided that it was and should not be allowed.

But there was an exception: If you were not able to control the entry into your bed of an aunt by marriage, what then followed was not your fault. And if your aunt by marriage lived upstairs and the floor collapsed and the aunt by marriage landed in your bed from above, no man could be expected to restrain himself.

Honor culture leads to these kinds of appalling aberrations and, at worst, to the phenomenon of honor killings.”

IRSHAD: “How should clear-thinking people address this?”

SALMAN: “Dishonorably. I think that honor culture is a very dangerous thing.”

Are we ready to laugh about terrorism?

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, Q & A on Feb 01, 2010

After Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab grilled his groin on Christmas Day, amateur satirists wasted no time in assigning him nicknames: the Jockstrap Jihadi, the Undie-Bomber and my personal favorite, Fruit of Ka-Boom.

Does all the giggling, chuckling and outright satirizing mean that we, as a society, are ready to laugh about terrorism? Before you answer, watch this video clip from “Four Lions,” a new British movie about radicalized Muslims plotting an attack:

When BBC Radio asked for my thoughts about the video clip, I replied, “Hilarious. But the brilliance of comedy, like anything, depends on how it’s delivered. This particular scene makes violent jihadists look like fools. More spoofing might — might! — lessen fear among some members of the public, showing that we can challenge Islamists rather than cower before them. My worry would be that such comedy makes more of the public complacent, as if all jihadists are buffoons. We should know by now that they’re not.”

So I return to my question: Are we, as a society, ready to laugh about terrorism? Join the discussion on my Facebook page.

Thumb-suckers or truth-tellers? Racial politics in Obama’s America

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts on Jan 24, 2010

Frederick Douglass (Wikimedia Commons)

Frederick Douglass, the 19th-century African-American visionary, had a warning: “Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without the thunder and lightening; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters.”  In the 21st century, those who seek equality without the honest and painful discussion that goes with it might well fall into this category.

On Martin Luther King’s birthday, MSNBC aired “Obama’s America,”a two-hour debate from Texas Southern University. It revolved around race relations in America.

Chris Matthews, the host, asked me point-blank why students voted overwhelmingly for President Obama. I reported what a number of students at New York University had told me: they supported Obama because he’s Black. As I questioned them further, students explained that they wanted to right a historic wrong by ensuring that the land of opportunity would finally have an African-American president.

My fellow panelists, Jeff Johnson of Black Entertainment Television and Tom Joyner, a renowned radio personality, flipped. I didn’t win any popularity contest by asking them a few questions of my own:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Later, I pointed out that in the United States, “non-whites” increasingly include Asian and Hispanic immigrants. Therefore, we’d better get serious about treating race relations as multi-layered:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

But I have a feeling that for most Americans, it’s comfortable clinging to Black and White.  It’s what they know — and it’s far from resolved.  Hence the uproar over my remarks about Obama and the student vote.

For the past week, viewers have been weighing in through emails, Facebook posts and Tweets. Here’s a snapshot of U.S. racial politics in 2010:

* “Americans are thumb-suckers when it comes to race. There is nothing wrong with reporting what students said about why they voted for the President… If I had to put my finger on what made everyone feel uncomfortable, it was the moment you asked, ‘Are these students racist because they say they voted for President Obama because he is black?’ Even I was taken aback by the question. But scholars like you are supposed to ask the tough questions to spark candid debate… I would make no apology to the people who live in the angry corner or who act like children on these issues.” - Courtney

* “Why should you be asking people on a historic Inauguration Day who they voted for and why? It was not only a very Special Day for all African-Americans but ALL Americans whether you voted for him or not… African-Americans made extraordinary sacrifices to get American race relations to this point, which has ultimately paved the way for a Muslim girl like you to have these limitless opportunities in America. You should be grateful to all African-Americans [instead of] pushing your agenda of mass migration of Asians to the United States…

I hope and pray that the land of the free will never be swamped by those from the Indian sub-continent, as you have already swamped Great Britain.” - buzzmaster007

* “When [U.S. Attorney General] Eric Holder says that Americans are a ‘nation of cowards’ for how we discuss race, he is pounced on by both sides. The fact of the matter is, you are a professor who challenges students and brings their answers to a larger group. It is the group who fails to see the shades of color. Culture has indoctrinated them to see the world in black and white only.” - YB

* “I was embarrassed by [your] performance of overbearing arrogance as you attempted to defend the indefensible position that you had solved the question of Obama’s youth support on the basis that ‘he’s black.’ As one who has far more understanding of the black experience and white attitudes toward blacks both in the US and Canada than you can ever hope to have, I believe that any assertions you make in that regard should be proffered with far more modesty than you displayed…

[Your] insertion of immigration policy before an audience for whom the history of the US is all about Black/White relations was simply to have missed the point as you accused the audience of doing. To them it was you who missed the point.”  - Howard

* “I was truly embarrassed by the arrogance of your co-panelist, who intolerantly attempted to dismiss your point, suggesting instead that Obama won the election because he ‘had swagger.’ I wonder what he thought of Bush’s swagger. It was saddening to see that you were the only panelist willing to ask the right questions.” - Steve

* “Race has been a deciding factor in every election. I know it was the reason that I voted for Obama. I promised myself, for this election only, I’ll be a bigot and vote for the black guy. And if Barack won the election, I’d never do that again. So that’s what I did… You said what I would have probably been too afraid to say in front of all those people! The Raw Truth. For you to voice the truth like that shows that YOU have SWAGGER.” - Antar

* “Your argument about why the youth voted for Obama was ridiculous. Unless you are a pollster, why would you present some unfounded data at such a public event?… Your biased statement may cost you something in the future.” - Asamnew

* “Truth be told, I was ecstatic that the Democratic candidate was going to be either a woman or a Black man. I couldn’t take one more old white guy. I look forward to a time when I can look ONLY at the content of the character, but we are not there yet. I would cast my vote for the same simple-minded (?) reason again.” - Lauren

* “I have two degrees from NYU and many years of teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate level and I have never known students who were unaware of political issues or voted based on zero knowledge of a candidate except some external quality. And I teach in business schools. You teach in a graduate school of public service? What in the world are you teaching?” - Virginia, Ph.D., M.B.A

* “Your statement is correct. Some students, citing the body here at the University of Texas at San Antonio, did vote for Obama because he is Black.” - Thomas (student)

* “If some excruciatingly small minority of people do something for some silly reason, that doesn’t mean it needs to be pointed out by public figures such as yourself. If you think it’s that important, then fine – but you have to be self-aware enough to understand the impact of shining a light on those comments.” - Nathan

* “So what? Lots of people voted for McCain because he was white. Welcome to America.” - Yusuf

* “A good number of people on my own campus cannot give one solid reason why they voted for Obama. They just did. They had no idea how Obama felt on a number of issues. For example, some in my college’s LGBT group believed that Obama was for gay marriage, which was simply not true…

Obama’s presidency will not heal race relations but rather begin the process of dealing with the bigger issues. Unfortunately, far too many from the previous generations do not really want to deal with these issues because it requires us to speak frankly and tear down 40+ years of politically correct speech and ‘acceptable’ behaviors, which honestly hurt everyone more than they help.” - Richard

* “I think it was stupid for you to say ‘Obama cause he’s Black’. It was the wrong thing for you to do. You should have left it out. Never should’ve come out of your mouth.” - Rumar

* “You were great in Houston. We Blacks can be hyper-sensitive. The Blk racism polizi went from identifying overt racism to hidden racism to imaginary racism. What’s next?” - BH007

* “There is a difference between truth and discretion.” - Nakia

* “You did the right thing to report what was told to you. However, often people want confirmation of what they already think and you going on there, talking the truth, made them feel really uncomfortable. Irshad, you’re not here to encourage people’s racial fantasies. I’m proud of you.” - Kosta

* “Why are you bent on creating a bad name for Muslims?… In this program, you managed to create ill feelings towards yourself (a Muslim) in all of BLACK America. Please note: only Blacks identify themselves with Muslims in their struggle to live in America. But in this program you have managed to alienate them also from Muslims. Please have mercy on us (Muslims of America).” - Haroon

* “Should you have said it? I think your whole message is that you should, whether it’s non-Muslims telling Muslims that some of their actions and culture don’t fly, or non-African Americans telling African Americans that racial preference is a form of prejudice even when they benefit from it…

Like Muslims, African Americans have a history of not brooking criticism of their community, believing their victimhood makes them immune. This is not intended to deny any of the African American community’s current and past suffering, but wrong is still wrong. Just think of the audience member who stood up after you and pointed out that African Americans were all survivors of slavery. On some level, true, but that doesn’t make them infallible.” - Mehdi

* “I am an African-American. You said one phrase that caught my attention and it was something like, ‘Every race wants to be recognized for their uniqueness but not reduced to it.’ It is the TRUTH! I feel like we African-Americans get enough recognition, especially compared to the other races. The problem is that some Black people abuse the benefits we get. I see it first hand and I personally know many African-Americans who do so.

My Father, who was born  in Ghana, came to the USA with no citizenship and only $50 to his name. If he could become very well-off, send his four other siblings to college and live in a two-storey house, then anything is possible. We need to stop crying about our past and worry about our future or else we will never get over this thing called ‘RACE’!  What you said at Texas Southern University inspired me. Unfortunately they cut you off because it was not what they wanted to hear.” - Nana

* “I am thankful for people like you who don’t make political correctness a higher standard than sincerity… BTW: I was in Ghana when Obama visited. He was celebrated as an outstanding hero for being the first ‘Black’ president of the US.” - Sonja

* “You weren’t trying to portray all of his supporters as people who voted for him only because he was black, you were trying to shed light on a particular group of people and a disquieting trend among them. That’s totally valid and is important in confronting race relations in the country. The men who responded to you were clearly partisans who seemed incapable of distinguishing the fact that your comment wasn’t actually about Obama, but the people you were talking about about.” - James

* “You played the role of the small child in The Emperor Has No Clothes parable – except it wasn’t the emperor that you pointed out was a nit wit. It was the the nit wits themselves. Instead of being outraged at the state of the world and their (and our) culpability, they are outraged about you reporting that some people made a serious political choice based on a superficial skin adaptation. No wonder we’re all in the shit, eh?” - Martin

* “Water can shape a dense rock – if but one drop at a time. Bring on the rain, Irshad.” - Phillip

Click here for Part One of this series on racial politics in the US today.

Racial politics and the next generation, part one

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts on Jan 20, 2010

(Courtesy: WikiCommons)

On Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday this past week, I joined MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews, Black radio icon Tom Joyner, and many others to discuss race in “Obama’s America.” The LIVE two-hour event aired from Texas Southern University.

My segment focused on young people and the future of race relations. Something I said early on ignited the emotions of a lot of folks, many supportive and many others enraged. The responses — negative and positive — are still being vented. I’ll post them soon. If you want to weigh in, watch this and this.

To prepare for the broadcast, I asked members of my worldwide Facebook community whether their generation is “color-blind.” The conversation took off like a bat outta hell. Highlights:

* “Every time I hear the term ‘color-blind,’ I gag. Color only becomes an issue if you use it to oppress someone. You can’t help but see color. Sheesh. Enough with this bogus term and let’s get real about racism.” - Rosalind

* “There is no such thing as ‘color-blind,’ only ‘color-neutral’ or ‘color-biased.’ My generation, my friends, are smart enough to take everyone as they come, and being black, I know the look and tone of racists. I see it in my neighborhood speckled with confederate flags. I see it in the looks of the police officers and judges in the ‘wrong counties.’ Racism is far more advanced, and while it’s slimming and suffocating, it still exists.” - Sharonda

*  “The younger generation of white Americans are more ‘color-neutral’ than the previous ones. However, that’s not true for other ethnicities. I’m Afghan, and racism and ethnocentrism are sadly thriving in my culture, even amongst the ones that have grown up in the west. Discrimination is alive, especially in the world of dating/marriage. As human beings, we have  a long way to go towards real acceptance.” -  Naheed

* “I don’t consider myself ‘color-blind’ because I feel it erases part of a person’s history and culture. Our culture is becoming more global by the day. It would be foolish to say we don’t recognize the physical differences, but our generation is noting the possibilities in a positive light.” - Ian

* “There are those of us who see a person’s mood before their color and recognize their color only as something that makes them unique.” - Manda

* “I’ve gotten a couple of my Jewish friends mad because I don’t immediately perceive they are Jewish. Same with friends [in the Middle East] who are Arab Christians and Druze. The fact that I don’t make a push to differentiate them is seen as being insensitive to their unique cultural backgrounds.” - Mehdi

* “In order to become ‘color-blind,’ which I am hoping represents acceptance as a whole human, not avoidance of one’s unique background or culture, individuals must be raised to understand their own fears and frailty. I believe most of our worst behaviors steam from fear – fear of being overlooked, of being less than, of being behind whomever crosses the line first. Raising our children to see individuals versus groups or labels will do more to reduce discrimination than any social or media awareness campaign.” - Michelle

* “Here in India, being fair [lighter-skinned] is a huge plus point, especially among the literate, educated classes, even though we are a multi-coloured nation. No amount of objective reasoning or subjective experiences can cure this disease.” - Chetna

* “Coming from Italy, I hate hearing such discriminatory words as terrone, which means ‘Italian of the South’; negro; Vu Cumpra, which means Moroccans asking ‘do you wanna buy?’ [Vuoi Comprare], frocio, which means ‘faggot’ and stupid words like that. This really hurts me a lot. These words are used by young people every day, in a light-hearted way, like it was normal. We definitely have to do something.” - Juliette

* “I can’t stand the N-word. It doesn’t just affect the black community. The widespread use of it outside of our immediate community is now de-sensitizing any and all Americans. It’s embarrassing to see African-American youths using the N-word, rapid-fire, around elderly caucasians, asians, indians or whatever, essentially forcing these people to get used to this harsh word. We’re becoming de-sensitized to the point of using it N-I-G-G-A style (familiarity) or N-I-G-G-E-R style (racist). For me, there is no distinction between N-I-G-G-E-R and N-I-G-G-A. The first word is an insult while the second word is a term of brotherhood and community.  Yet we ALL know that just as a weapon can be used as a tool, any tool can be used as a weapon.”- Antar

* “I think there’s as much racism as there ever has been, but fewer opportunities for discrimination. Anyone can be a racist — no matter their color or station in life – but it takes power or advantage to discriminate.” - Elizabeth

* “I recently attended a student/parent meeting for students who have high school ‘truancy’ issues. Of the 20 or so students reported absent enough to be considered ‘truant,’ only one was white. There were maybe three Hispanics (my son being one) and the rest were Black. My son skipped those hours with his WHITE friends. Where they not marked absent? Did they get out of having to attend the ‘mandatory’ meeting? Maybe the younger generation is color-blind but their lives are not.” - Lauren

* “The U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid talked about Obama as a ‘light-skinned black’ who doesn’t have a ‘Negro dialect.’ This was a comment prompted not just by Reid’s prejudices, but also his appraisal of the prejudices that he thought the American electorate shared. However, it was a not a racist comment. On the other hand, there is Bill Clinton’s comment that ‘a few years ago, he [Obama] would have been bringing us coffee,’ allegedly uttered in the heat of the moment to Ted Kennedy when Bill was frustrated by Obama’s success over Hillary. That was indeed a racist comment since it was intended in a hurtful and disparaging way.” - John

* “America’s youth (and many adults) really need to understand that they have an important legacy to pass on to the next generation. The responsibility of standing up for conscience and for what is right includes the true acceptance of all people regardless of skin color or background. We need to show respect for those who have gone before them; those brave souls and countless millions who had a dream, sacrificing their own personal aspirations so that a new nation, conceived in liberty, would not perish from the Earth.” - Ismail

PART TWO WILL BE POSTED IN A FEW DAYS. MEANWHILE,  MY FB FANS ARE RECOMMENDING BOOKS, ARTICLES AND VIDEOS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION:

Estherhadas recommends a provocative commentary from the New York Daily News. She says “it’s one Black man’s opinion about why he doesn’t like the term ‘African-American.’”

A quote that stands out for her: “…there is something far from backward about the sound of ‘Negro’ and the magnificent people who used that word to describe themselves.  They gave it majesty; they made it luminous… America was bettered by the non-violent, multi-racial civil rights movement, not by those who saw anything less than black-approved self-segregation as a form of selling out. They did not call themselves African-Americans, which is a pretentious term conceived by Jesse Jackson and some black academics.”

*****

Manda recommends a children’s book called The Crayon Box that Talked, by Shane Derolf. She describes it as “beautiful and relevant.”

*****

Jamie recommends a British TV comedy clip featuring an incompetent translator. He warns, “I can see why it could be incredibly offensive, but I also see the humour in it. The first time I watched I could not stop laughing. An important point to make is that the British will almost always mock themselves also.”

*****

Minki recommends the blistering stand-up act of Russell Peters, who “tells the truth in the most humorous manner.” But she cautions, “it is not for everyone…”

What will happen to Habib?

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, Announcements on Jan 08, 2010

Martyr in the making? Habib, as shown in “Faith Without Fear”  (National Film Board of Canada/90th Parallel Productions)

U.S. media is currently marinated in analysis of what propels — or compels — a Muslim kid to become a terrorist. Through recent interviews, I too have contributed to the buzz. But combative exchanges don’t bring out the finer, nuanced, points of any serious exploration. Nor do they equip us to connect the dots.

Let this post help rectify that problem.  Without worry of being interrupted, here’s my step-by-step connecting of several dots:

* While filming my PBS documentary, “Faith Without Fear,” I traveled to Yemen and conversed on-camera with Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard.  Although the Yemeni government identified OBL’s bodyguard as an ex-jihadi, an extremist who’d been rehabilitated, the bodyguard affirmed his commitment to global jihad. In fact, he said he’s making plans for the martyrdom of his 5-year-old son, Habib (see the cutie above).

I knew right then and there that government initiatives to de-program jihadis wouldn’t be enough to defeat the spread of this plague. Even without daddy’s shameless recruiting, Habib is susceptible. He has only to switch on his computer.

* Thanks to the Internet, we’re seeing the globalization of grievance. Jihadis are using and abusing the freedom of the Web to preach a false narrative; one that nonetheless taps into a deep emotional need for young Muslims to belong to something more meaningful than watered-down, consumer society.

* The false narrative being preached is, in a nutshell, that the West hates Islam. After all, goes the story, look at how America and its allies slaughter Muslims indiscriminately.

But the reality is that more Muslims are tortured and murdered by other Muslims than by any foreign power. Last month, researchers — most of them Muslims — released a study proving that in the past two years alone, 98% of al-Qaeda’s victims have been innocent Muslims.

*Jihadis bring spiritual justification to their violence by citing Islam. Take, for example, Mohammad Sidique Khan, ringleader of the July 7 bombings in London, England. He left behind a marytr video. In it, Khan invoked UK foreign policy. But before going there, he proudly declared that “Islam is our religion and the prophet is our role model.”

In “Faith Without Fear,” OBL’s former bodyguard made precisely the same statement about the Prophet. Clearly, religious symbolism plays a role in violent jihadism.

* Moderate Muslims deny this. Reform-minded Muslims acknowledge this and are working from within Islam to fix the problem. We believe it’s our duty. The Quran tells us, “God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves.” That’s chapter 13, verse 11. I like to think of it as a 13/11 kind of solution to a 9/11 kind of problem.

* Fear stops many reform-minded Muslims from coming forward.  If you want to know what gives rise to that fear, it’s one word: “honor.”

Honor is the cultural custom that requires Muslims to suppress our individuality in order to become property of the community. Which means your life isn’t your own; it belongs to a wider group of people — the family, the tribe, sometimes even the ummah (global Muslim nation).

In turn, that means when a Muslim is accused of dishonoring or shaming by breaking moral norms, the punishment against him or her must be large enough to compensate the family too.

* Tribal honor is so powerful that it afflicts young Muslim-Americans as much as it does the Islamic world. In 2007, PBS sent me and my mother to Detroit for a screening of “Faith Without Fear.” I was roundly pilloried during the Q & A.

As the night wore on, my mom noticed young Muslims gathering in a corner of the room. At the end of the evening, the now-numerous group approached my mom to say, “Thanks for supporting your daughter.”

Mom replied, “That’s nice to hear, but why didn’t you speak up before the reporters left, so that others who think like you would know they’re not alone?”

The kids glanced sheepishly at each other. Then one of them confided a sad truth. “You guys can walk away from Detroit two hours from now,” he whispered, looking at me and mom. “We can’t. And we can’t afford to be accused of dishonoring our families.” This, from a child of the First Amendment.

* Muslim students give me similar explanations when I lecture at American and European universities.  These institutions of higher learning are supposed to be citadels of questioning. Yet reform-minded Muslims often cower in fear at the intimidation and outright warnings from members of their school MSA’s (Muslim Students’ Associations). During my book tour a few years back, I learned of a particularly threatening email circulated by a Muslim student group at a major U.S. university.

SO WHAT CAN BE DONE?

* Muslims have to challenge the culture of honor within our own communities. This tribal custom comes right out of the desert, which doesn’t reflect the reality of a pluralistic and connected generation.  To boot, the culture of honor pre-dates Islam. Why should contemporary Muslims feel trapped and strapped by a non-Islamic, even un-Islamic, mentality?

* Non-Muslims should invest in reform-minded Muslims. Consider how the European Foundation for Democracy (EFD) is going about it. The EFD is bringing together Muslim reformers who would otherwise operate in isolation. Besides creating a network for them, the EFD is giving them access to legislators, policy-makers and journalists so that Muslim reformists can finally be heard.  In effect, they’re creating a counter-jihad of ideas.

It remains to seen what will happen to 5-year-old Habib, whose name, in Arabic, means “beloved.” Whatever becomes of him becomes of us. All of us.

Martyr in the making? Habib, as shown in “Faith Without Fear” (National Film Board of Canada/90th Parallel Productions)

Ten (new) commandments for 2010

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, Announcements on Jan 01, 2010

Controversial display of Ten Commandments outside the Texas State Capitol Building (courtesy: Wikimedia Commons)

Hello, Moses and Jesus? Hope y’all threw a great New Year’s Eve party in heaven Thursday night.

May I take just a minute of your eternal lives?  I’m a professor of leadership at New York University’s school of public service. In summer 2009, my program, the Moral Courage Project, launched a blogging campaign to stop the stoning of women.

One of the bloggers was Dana Gallagher. Something she posted about the sanctity of human rights caught my eye. I asked her to expand on it and, upon learning that she’s a Christian, I suggested she turn her initial post into an updated version of the Ten Commandments.

To sweeten the incentive, I promised Dana that I’d feature the new commandments on my website and bring them to my Facebook community for lively debate. Honestly, Prophets, I didn’t think she’d take me up on it. But whaddya know?

Be assured that Dana approaches this experiment with respectable values. She grew up in the American Midwest and graduated magna cum laude from Marymount Manhattan College.

Before we dive into her updated commandments, Dana wants you — and my readers –  to understand where she’s coming from. Here she is, in her own words:

I am a young Christian. I’ve been baptized, raised, and confirmed in the same church, and my experiences there have been among the most formative of my life.

Yet, as it is for so many people, my relationship with organized religion is complicated. The higher power that my soul recognizes and the one presented from the pulpit can be difficult to reconcile.

Over time I’ve learned not to fight the distance between them, but simply to let my faith guide me. And it’s my faith that inspires, even requires, me to re-think the Ten Commandments.

According to the Bible, God wrote the Ten Commandments twice. Moses got so fed up with his environment and the people around him that he broke the first set of tablets, and God had to make him some new ones.

With the challenges that we’ve faced in 2009, the first week of 2010 seems a good time to engage in some tablet-breaking of our own. But instead of destroying, let’s be constructive.  Let’s update God’s guidelines for the coming decade – or longer.

What if the commandments appealed to the best in us and what each of us is capable of, rather than assuming that the only thing keeping us from being lecherous, murderous, backstabbing thieves is endless guilt and the threat of hell?

With that in mind, welcome to my list of 10 for 2010:

I: Love yourself unconditionally. Christ asks us to “love thy neighbor as yourself.” Notice the pre-condition here: to embrace others, you must first make peace with who you are. So much of the hatred we direct towards others is spillover from the disdain we feel for ourselves. Love your whole, perfectly imperfect self.

And when you mess up, recognize that this is a part of the human journey. Feeling remorse is more than natural. It’s your spirit saying that your higher self believes you can do better. You can’t experience redemption if you don’t make mistakes. Forgive yourself, but equally important, pledge to do better. It’s the only way forward.

II: Love others unconditionally. Unconditional love is hard to contain, and if you’re able to cultivate it in yourself it’s likely to extend to the people around you. At the same time, it can be all too easy to shrink into ourselves until our hearts and minds narrow down to a lonely world of one.

Make a conscious effort to recognize the beautiful and, yes,  complicated individuals with whom you share this life. For better or worse, we really are in this together.

III: Don’t confuse loving with shoving. If your particular form of love comes with a big, leather-bound set of beliefs, kindly refrain from smacking innocent bystanders over the head with it. Pushing your beliefs on others isn’t faith; it’s insecurity.

IV: Corruption happens. The Bible has undergone many translations and revisions, often made by people whose intentions were not the purest.

No matter what any Sunday sermon or production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” would have you believe, Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute. None of the Gospels refers to her as such, and her bad reputation can be traced to a speech given by Pope Gregory the Great in 591 AD. The Vatican finally issued a quiet retraction in 1969; so quiet that many Christians simply never heard it.

With so much of Christianity being based on the Word, it’s worth taking a closer look and finding out what the Word actually says. There are lots of good books on the subject — Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, by Bart D. Ehrman, Junia: The First Woman Apostle, by Eldon Jay Epp and the soon to be released And God Said: How Translations Conceal the Bible’s Original Meaning, by Joel M. Hoffman, PhD, to name just a few.

V: Keep your laws on your own naughty bits.  It’s strange to obsess over someone else’s sexual behavior, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. Everyone is not, however, entitled to force those opinions on other people (see III).

Tend to your own naughty bits, please. Just as self-hatred often manifests as hatred of others, sexual repression often rears its ugly head as judgment and punishment of the sexual behavior of others. Show your body some love and maybe it won’t be so concerned about what everyone else is doing with theirs.

VI: Challenge the “bros before hoes” approach to religion. There is just no good reason to insist that women hold a “separate but equal” role in the church. As we all learned during South Africa’s apartheid years, “separate but equal” is a euphemism for subservience.

As with white supremacy, so with male superiority: most of the Christian arguments for it rely on sketchy Biblical quotes (see IV).  The rest can be boiled down to the schoolyard logic of “girls are stupid.” It’s 2010, and it’s time to grow up already.

VII: Be not afraid of scientists. I refer here to actual research-conducting, fact-checking, history-acknowledging scientists, not to dogmatists who jettison or distort any information that doesn’t align with their worldview.

Real scientists do the life affirming work of finding ways to repair the damage we’ve inflicted on the planet, advancing medicine and shedding light on our place within the universe. Yet they’re often subject to suspicion, oppression and hostility by members of the Christian community.

It’s time to make amends. Doing so does not make you an atheist any more than attending Sunday services strips a scientist of her passion for discovery.

VIII: Polar bears are God’s creatures, too. Just because there were only two polar bears on the Ark doesn’t mean there are only supposed to be two on the planet. We all have a responsibility to take care of the Earth and the life that goes with it. Let’s keep working to leave it in better shape than we found it.

IX: Keep your candle lit. Hope fuels our faith when it looks as though there isn’t any love, unconditional or otherwise, to be had. Each of us has a unique light to offer the world. Why else would our Creator have bothered to bring us into it?

X: Know when to be humble. So we don’t have it all figured out. So what? The wonderful thing about being one small part of a much bigger, much greater piece of work is that we don’t need to have all the answers. That’s the Almighty’s role. Our role might very well be to stop and listen after we’ve made nine brazenly big points.

What are yours? 

*****

Click here to join our Facebook community and engage directly with Irshad and Dana. Or email us your ideas: comments@irshadmanji.com.  However you decide to communicate with us, remember: every orthodoxy began as a heresy…

“Ten Commandments,” as rendered by Lucas Cranach the Elder and displayed in the townhall of Wittenberg, Germany (courtesy: Wikimedia Commons)

Democracy in Iran: “Tipping point to come”

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts on Dec 26, 2009

Last June, I tweeted this message to my followers: “Heard from connected friend in #Tehran that many say this is beginning of end for clerics - new generation now awake. Tipping point to come.”

Six months later, at the close of 2009, I believe my friend is right.  The tipping point for democracy in Iran is coming, and it could arrive as early as this week.

The Ahmadinejad regime has banned major memorials for the late reformist, Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, which are (or were) to take place on Sunday. But that day also coincides with something  nobody can squelch: Ashura, the most meaningful moment in the Shia Muslim calendar.

That’s when Shias around the world commemorate the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein, who entered battle against a Muslim tyrant named Yazid. Hussein knew he would be massacred, but decided that it’s more dignified to challenge authoritarianism for the sake of social justice than to live on your knees.

Welcome to the transcendent paradigm that drives so many of Iran’s pro-democracy activists. Couple that with the passing of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, who “died at exactly the right time” according to Iran scholar Rasool Nafisi, and you can see why young dissidents are finally being joined by older people of faith as well as progressive clergy.  Such a coalition could be potent; even unstoppable.

We’ll know that Iranian democrats have reached a tipping point when Khameini’s street thugs, the Basij, are bludgeoning clerics in droves. In fact, they’ve already started attacking the holy. More of those crackdowns mean, quite simply, that more mullahs are marching in the democracy movement. This will lend not just numbers but also cred to the uprisings.

No wonder one of the biggest stories in 2009 is bound to make international headlines in 2010.  “Inshallah,” as we Muslims say, “God willing.” Of course, the people must be willing first. For, as the Quran tells us, “God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” (13:11)

For more of my analysis, here’s a recent discussion about Iran between me and a journalist with The New York Times on PBS “Worldfocus”:

Facebook Muslims to young European Jews: “Thank you”

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts on Dec 18, 2009

(Courtesy: 4 International Flags)

A few weeks ago, the Swiss voted to outlaw minarets in their midst. Denunciation came from the usual suspects. But one highly unusual source stood out.

After I learned that an umbrella group representing young Jews in Europe openly opposed the minaret ban, I was propelled to ask: How can young Muslims reciprocate this good will? That’s when I posted the following message on my Facebook fan page:

“The European Union of Jewish Students has issued a public statement condemning the Swiss ban on minarets. Agree or disagree with their position, their larger point is that faithful Muslims deserve the freedoms that democratic societies offer. This is a noble gesture by young European Jews and we should do something to acknowledge their inclusive message. So I’m now asking my Muslim fans to post PERSONAL messages against anti-Semitism here.“

Many Muslims did. Highlights:

“The Jewish community has always been in the lead defending human rights. They stand by their gift to the world, that code of ethics which puts human dignity first.

It was they who first made the UN aware that dropping food packages containing pork wasn’t appropriate for the Bosnians under siege in Sarajevo, and they sent doctors to help. Israel relocated many Bosnians, then Albanian Kosovan families. Not to mention that refugees from Darfur in Sudan work and live in Israel, when hardly any Muslim country would give them refuge.

When Uzbek Jews left the Soviet Union, they were not comfortable leaving many of their close Muslim friends behind, so Israel relocated many of them. When the communist world collapsed, most Albanian Jews were married to Muslim and Christian Albanian spouses. The spouses and their families were invited to Israel too.

It may be possible that the God of Abraham smiles upon and continually blesses the Jewish people, to whom so many prophets were sent, because they are so caring for that high point of His creation, the family of Man.” – Ismael

“I’d like the day you posted this challenge to be officially known as Hug a Semite Day. Find a Semite (Arab or Jew) and give them a big hug in the name of world peace.” — Yusuf

“It’s about time to let go [of] prejudice and hatred simply caused by our ancestors’ unwillingness to understand one another. To begin clearing the air, first get rid of hatred, anger and suspicion as well as [the] feeling of superiority from within ourselves.  Show and not tell them – people of different race and religion — that we care and love them for what they are.“  – Emmy

“Growing up, there was social & religious indoctrination to hate, condemn & kill the Jews. Secular education & global awareness reverse that thinking. I embrace all the goodness of mankind.“ — Mazlina

“I come from a part of the world that has been ravaged by Israeli aggression. That fact has never stood in the way of recognizing that anti-Semitism is unjustified under any circumstance.  Racism, including anti-Semitism, is inhuman, un-Godlike, immoral and criminal. Anti-Semitism is especially reprehensible because of its long history and horrendous outcomes through the ages…

It has been my personal experience that our Jewish brothers and sisters are always at the forefront of reaching and speaking out in favor of justice and tolerance. This recent example from the European Union of Jewish Students is no exception.

I think more Muslim believers need to reach out to the Jewish community and say ‘thank you’ for this recent initiative on their part re: Switzerland… Words alone will never be enough to show gratitude.“ — Marilyn

“As a high school student in the 70s, I was lucky to be one of those recipients of a national service award in Malawi conducted by members of the Israeli Armed Forces… In college many of my friends were from the Middle East — Muslims, Christians and Jews. It is a collective effort by all, including forums such as this with courageous comments, that will enlighten and free many of us from carrying around learned hatred for other people.” – Yunus

“As long as you’re living and breathing and supporting each other’s human rights, I’ll be by your side. Oh , and don’t forget to smile. (=” – Pitoresmi

“I’m from Indonesia. We are one unity and VOTE PEACE and start to make a better world…” – Hasan

“I pledge my solidarity with the Jewish Community. In my world, there is no difference  between a Jew and a Muslim, or between black and white. I will stand by any cause that I deem just.” – AbdiShwak

“When I was very young, living in a remote part of a predominantly Muslim country, my teacher asked me if I was a Shia or a Sunni (sort of like asking a Christian if he is a Catholic or a Protestant). Since I honestly  didn’t know, she asked me to check with my parents.

To this day, I have not forgotten the answer my father gave.  He said: ‘What sort of stupid question your teacher has asked you? Tell her tomorrow that you don’t believe in any divisions and even Jews and Christians are your brothers.’ 

A couple of decades have passed and I still believe in this. I consider all Jews my brothers and always look forward to befriending them.” – Mustafa

*****

Now for a sample of the responses, first from an atheist Jew and then from an orthodox Jew:

“As a Jew (atheist), I’m writing to the Muslims who replied to Irshad’s call to speak out to embrace the European Jewish students: you have my tears of gratitude and my re-awakened consciousness to the humanity of man.” – Ed

“I want to applaud all the Muslims here who have given such positive feedback! It is something I have been looking for since 9/11 and first heard it loud and clear with Irshad’s book… Let’s keep this open conversation going. I am an Orthodox Jew and this is beyond refreshing to read.” – Estherhadas

*****

Finally, two dissenters:

“I don’t think the decision to ban minarets had anything to do with discrimination. Switzerland is trying, and should (in my opinion) preserve its historic and cultural architecture. Though, I never hear that much from western media regarding how non-Muslims living in Muslim countries get discriminated against and harassed.

My relatives are Iranian Jews and you can’t even imagine what they are going through. I hope those European Jewish students and the media would find more ways in standing up for minority rights, rather than focusing on petty issues such as minarets.

Muslims in Europe should stop asking for special treatment and privileges from western societies, especially when they know how minorities are treated in their former countries. These are the same Muslims that have failed to stand up for minority or religious rights while they were living in their former countries. Now that they’ve left these countries, we never hear any condemnation/criticism from them towards the way minorities are treated in Muslim countries.” – Hussein

“Well said, Hussein. Here in Kuala Lumpur [Malaysia], I know of a shopping mall not being able to get its planning permit approved because the proposed mall was taller than the adjacent mosque. And to build a church, you will need permission from, among others, the the state Islamic Council. So guys, wake up. We are persecuted too.” – Eugene

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Kids! B4 u join the jihad, read this

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts on Dec 11, 2009

Muslim victims of jihadist violence (Credit: MSNBC)

Five young  Muslim-Americans have been arrested in Pakistan on suspicions that they intended to commit terror against U.S. forces.

According to The Chicago Tribune, “One of them left behind  a video that showed American casualties. In the video he stated that Muslims needed to stand up and fight to defend their fellow Muslims…”

Whoops. It turns out that al-Qa’ida’s jihad kills eight times more Muslims than Westerners.

Here’s the data to prove it. Deadly Vanguards: A Study of al-Qa’ida’s Violence Against Muslims is a new study that uses Arabic-language sources to track down and add up the casualties of jihad. Some of the conclusions:

* “From 2004 to 2008, only 15% of the 3,010 victims [of al-Qa’ida attacks] were Western.”

* “From 2006 to 2008, only 2% (12 of 661 victims) are from the West, and the remaining 98% are inhabitants of countries with Muslim majorities.”

* “One could argue that non-Western casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan are unfortunate martyrs or collateral damage given the ongoing wars initiated by the United States.” But “[o]utside the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq, 99% of al-Qa’ida’s victims were non-Western in 2007, and 96% were non-Western in 2008. From 2006 to 2008, only 9 of 352 victims were Westerners (3%), meaning that non-Westerners were 38 times more likely to die in an al-Qa’ida attack outside of Iraq and Afghanistan during those years.” 

The authors of this report — Nassir Abdullah, Scott Helftstein and Muhammad al-Obaidi of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point — emphasize that their data is drawn “from exclusively Arabic news sources” in order to pre-empt charges of Western bias.

And the research illuminates an unmistakable reality: “Irrespective of al-Qaeda’s justifications,” the authors write, “if history provides a glimpse into the future, the group and its associates will pose the greatest threat to fellow Muslims.”

Kids, do like the Prophet and “read!” (That’s what the Angel Gabriel told him upon bringing down the first Quranic revelation). Read! This. Study.

Moral Courage Project named Visionary of the Year

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, On The Road, Announcements on Dec 04, 2009

With Emmy-winning Iranian actress Shohreh Agdashloo

“Hola!” from Los Angeles, where I’m accepting the 2009 Visionary Award bestowed by the Women’s International Film and Television Showcase.

This award recognizes the human rights campaign that the Moral Courage Project led over the summer. Inspired by the independent film, “The Stoning of Soraya M,” we used the movie and my thousands-strong Facebook community to galvanize people worldwide against the tribal practice of stoning in countries like Iran, Somolia, Afghanistan and Sudan.

According to Iranian actress Shohreh Agdashloo, who stars in “The Stoning,” international pressure has paid off: A few weeks after the film came out and our campaign gained steam, Iranian authorities announced that stoning would no longer be part of Iran’s penal code. Whether the new regulation gets enforced — particularly in rural Iran — is another matter altogether.

Still, we can all take strength that global campaigns work when back-channel diplomacy doesn’t. Just ask Maziar Bahari. He’s the Newsweek journalist unjustly jailed by Iranian authorities.  After 118 days in the notoriously nasty Evin Prison, Bahari was sprung. Last week, he told interviewer Charlie Rose that an international and very public effort by his wife and fellow journalists made all the difference.

In my next book, I’ll offer more examples of people in the West allying with people in the East and triumphing for the eminently universal cause of human rights.

For now, here’s my message: Don’t be silenced by the woe-is-us crowd who insist that we’re merely pawns of The Man.  They don’t know world history or individual agency.  Most tragic, they also don’t know what it means to leave a legacy.  If you want to leave a legacy, then exercise your personal leadership for a greater good.

You can start by joining my Facebook community.  Facebookers form the vanguard of the Moral Courage Project. They’re the ones who propelled the summer 2009 campaign against stoning. They’re the ones who made it viral. They deserve the Visionary Award that brings me to Los Angeles.

I accept it on behalf of them.

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