Archives

My latest on Washingtonpost.com - and a petition to sign

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts on Feb 01, 2008

The Washington Post and Newsweek magazine co-host a popular blog called “On Faith.” This weekend, On Faith features my column about a 23-year-old Afghan journalism student who’s being sentenced to death.

He downloaded an Internet article that analyzes how the Qur’an treats women, thus outraging a group of mullahs. They got their day in court. He didn’t even get a lawyer.

The absurdity of a newly “liberated” Afghanistan that puts a bright mind to death for exercising freedom of inquiry boggles my own not-so-bright mind. Then again, you don’t need to be a genius to understand basic human rights.

Let’s exercise our own precious freedoms to become pro-active. Reporters Without Borders is circulating a petition to support this journalism student. Please sign. We need to generate the kind of international pressure that ensured the pardon of that Saudi gang-rape victim last December.

Our troops in Afghanistan shouldn’t be dying for nada.

Diversity needs to grow up

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, On The Road on Jan 30, 2008

On Thursday, I’ll be speaking at a girls school about the power of finding and using your voice.  Among the reasons I love engaging with students is that they can be the best teachers.  This isn’t feel-good rhetoric. It’s demonstrable truth.

Take the students at the Young Women’s Leadership Academy in Jamaica, Queens, a borough of New York City.  Last year, I spoke at their school in the same week that Don Imus made major news.  He’s the American radio talk show host who described a university women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed hos.”

African-American community “leaders,” along with feminist “spokeswomen,” bombarded TV channels with their counter-bombast.  It’s one thing to denounce Imus, who absolutely deserved the condemnation.  Quite another to announce that he made all young women of color feel like victims.  Upon hearing this claim for the umpteenth time, I took it to the girls in Jamaica, Queens.

Did they agree with those speaking on their behalf that they’ve been victimized?  Nope.  Quite the opposite. They asked a piercing question: Why would we let anybody, white or not, male or not, define who we are?  We’re not seeking his approval, so who’s to say that we’re victims because of something that he blurts?

To my ears, these students were implying (rather strongly) that they’re individuals, not property of the tribe. This is the essence of meaningful diversity.

Superficial diversity reduces all of us to external markers of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and the like.  Far more meaningful to elevate ourselves to different ways of thinking. It’s high time to popularize the distinction between diversity of thought, which recognizes individuality, and diversity of appearance, which glorifies only the group.

What I’m celebrating here is not individualism. An individualist would state, “I’m out for myself, and I don’t care if my society benefits.” Someone who honors individuality holds that “I am myself, and my society benefits from my uniqueness.” It’s a far more honest approach to the common good than the us-versus-them slogan of many equality activists.

Social movement luminaries often play the politics of representation — “you can’t comment if you don’t represent.” Well, here’s breaking news: They don’t represent either.  They can’t. We can each only represent ourselves, and that’s why unique, authentic voices matter.

Even when you’re young and relatively poor, as the students in Queens are, you can be smart enough to get it.  I can’t wait to glean insights from the girls with whom I interact on Thursday.

A final note: Two week ago, I blogged about Rebecca, a 14-year-old Catholic student.  She wrote admiringly about my willingness to challenge those who pretend to speak in the name of all Muslims.

Rebecca told me that she chose to write a paper about my work. I teasingly asked her what grade she got. Having not heard back, I figured she’s sparing my feelings.

This just in: “I got a 95% on that assignment (which, might I add, was around seven pages long because I found that the required 2-3 pages would definitely not suffice in conveying your views…”

Rebecca, can I convince you to enter the media training business upon graduation?

Freedom, faith and Bush’s final State of the Union

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts on Jan 27, 2008

Tonight, George W. Bush will deliver his final State of the Union address. Like a Hail Mary pass in the biggest football game of a washed-up coach’s career, this is his last shot at spinning a positive legacy for his pilloried presidency.

I imagine Bush will fly in Iraqi and Afghan individuals who represent the untold stories of triumph, heroism and hope. One individual he won’t be able to showcase — and likely doesn’t want to — is Sayad Parwez Kambaksh, a 23-year-old journalism student in Afghanistan.

Kambaksh has just been sentenced to death by an Afghan court for downloading and distributing a document that offends Islam. Welcome to the Bush “Freedom Agenda.”

I blogged about the irony of liberating Afghanis just enough to create a new constitution that makes Sharia law pre-eminent. Article 3 of Afghanistan’s constitution states that “no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam.”

That’s freedom? For whom? Ali in Wonderland? 

In a perverse tribute to democracy, Sayad Kambaksh’s case will now go to the first of two appeals courts. To be sure, these checks and balances wouldn’t exist under the Taliban. But can the judicial process be trusted when journalists point out that Kambaksh didn’t have a lawyer in the first trial? The good news is that Afghan president Hamid Karzai, a well-educated Muslim moderate, has the authority to pardon this university student.  The bad news is that Kharzai doesn’t have the guts to do so.

It wouldn’t be the first time. In 2006, an Afghan convert to Christianity faced charges of apostasy. What struck me about the case was not that mullahs called for his execution, or that judges obliged them, but that the exemplar of a modern Afghanistan — the suave and sophisticated Karzai — didn’t publicly challenge their retrograde interpretation of Islam.

All he had to do was quote from the Qur’an, which flat-out states “there is no compulsion in religion” (2:256). Full stop and khalas.

Of course, after any such pronouncement there would be violence. But there is anyway. We Muslims have been bludgeoning each other’s freedoms for 1400 years.  Three of the Prophet’s first four successors were killed by fellow Muslims.  Now, as then, letting an innocent man die as the price of pre-empting further death makes no sense.  Above all, it changes nothing.

As a graduate of history, I’m only too aware that reform takes time.  America itself was founded as a theocracy whose clerics could be murderously dogmatic.  The country needed several generations to figure out a workable separation of church and state.

Still, that effort required agents of moral courage who would doubt the perfection of Christianity precisely to ensure the free and voluntary practice of faith.  Here’s what Thomas Jefferson advised his nephew:

“[S]hake off all the fears of servile prejudices under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a god because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear…

Do not be frightened from this enquiry by any fear of its consequences. If it ends in a belief that there is no god, you will find incitement to virtue in the comfort and pleasantness you feel in its exercise, and the love of others which it will procure you.  If you find reason to believe there is a god, [then] a consciousness that you are acting under his eye, and that he approves you, will be a vast additional incitement…

I repeat that you must lay aside all prejudice on both sides, and neither believe nor reject any thing because any other person, or description of persons, have rejected or believed it.  Your own reason is the only oracle given you by heaven…”

Thomas Jefferson owned a copy of the Qur’an. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the US Congress, was sworn in one year ago this month while placing his hand on Jefferson’s Qur’an – after taking his official oath on America’s constitution. What a testament to the higher expectations we can all have of our faiths.

I expect George W. Bush to expect better of Hamid Karzai and himself. He has every opportunity to say so in his State of the Union speech.

Perhaps that dream, along with a stirring defense of free conscience, will have to wait for another Christian president. One named Obama.

United Kingdom premieres Faith Without Fear

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, Announcements on Jan 22, 2008

Q & A at the London launch of my film (Photo: Jessica Dean)

‘Why do Muslims revere a book that says it’s ok to sleep with animals?’

‘You’re clearly angry and you hate men. Tell us a bit about your background.’

I’m paraphrasing. Hence the single quotation marks. But — and I swear on the book that supposedly tells Muslims to get intimate with goats — these were the first two questions posed to me on Monday night.

The Frontline Club, a locus of independent journalism in London, joined the European Foundation for Democracy in hosting the British debut of Faith Without Fear. An energetic Q & A followed. I was up past midnight engaging with various people both in the theater and, after we got kicked out, in the café.

As I explained to the packed house at the start of the event, my film is about transcending fears of various kinds — the fear of of being ostracized (or worse) by your community; the fear of offending minorities in a multicultural world; and, above all, the fear of asking questions out loud.

Questions are the life-blood of open societies. We can’t stop posing them. But one can still hope that the questions I receive at my film’s next screening will be much more mature.

And where will that next screening be? At the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Some would argue that in the bastion of dogma that is SOAS, mature questions will be trumped by strident statements. Let’s find out together. It’s a public event. Join me at 3 pm this Friday. Here’s more info.

Young, restless and increasingly radical

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts on Jan 18, 2008

My previous blog entry featured the letter of a 14-year-old Catholic girl, Rebecca, who admires my work and has written a paper about it. I jokingly asked her what grade she received. (I’m still waiting for the answer.)

But even as I called the post “A+ for passion,” I realized the paradox of my title: If burning conviction deserves high marks, then would I give an A+ to a 14-year-old Muslim whose passion is so intense that he (or she) would kill Rebecca and me for our open-mindedness?

It’s a serious question for students everywhere because radicalism is increasingly an affliction of youth.

So says Hind Fraihi, a 30-year-old journalist in Europe. Having gone “undercover in little Morocco” — the title of her best-selling book about the spread of political Islam in Belgium — she’s noticed that it’s not only young Muslim men who are turning extreme. It’s also young Muslim women, many of whom want to marry would-be martyrs. They’re called “jihad brides.”

Sigh. At least they’re reducing the billable hours of divorce lawyers. Of course, you just know that some will dismiss Ms. Fraihi’s analysis merely because she’s a woman. (”Very emotional,” as many Muslim men love to mutter in their own stellar displays of logic.)

In that case, they’ll have to contend with Ibrahim “Eboo” Patel, a young Muslim Rhodes scholar and Ph.D. Eboo points out that “acts of religious violence abroad as well as religious hate crimes in the United States are overwhelmingly committed by young people. However, conferences on interfaith cooperation are generally attended by by older people.”

That’s why he started the Interfaith Youth Core, an organization that mentors students to live their faith in concrete acts of service toward others. It’s an important contribution to peace. God bless.

At the same time, there’s something more to be done. And it starts with recognizing why young Muslims are feeling humiliated. Western foreign policy? Not exclusively. It’s also about what Muslims are doing to each other.

I’ve spoken with a number of young Muslim men who knew Mohammad Siddique Khan, ringleader of the 2005 London bombings. (Police consider his “jihadi bride” to be an accomplice.) They’ve told me that Khan left his family’s moderate mosque to attend a Wahhabi mosque nearby. Why? Because the Wahhabis provide — get this — a “safe space” in which boys like Khan can ask questions, express theological doubts and challenge the moderate imams who repeatedly send the messages: shut up, don’t think and do as you’re told.

In an age when young people are constantly using their minds to navigate the ocean of information they receive through the web, it’s not only insulting to be told you can’t think. It’s unrealistic.

The Wahhabis “get” this. They tap into the rage that young Muslims are feeling not just about the racism of outsiders, but also about the tribalism of their own communities.

For Mohammad Siddique Khan, stifling tribalism went deeper. He desperately wanted to marry a Muslim woman from outside of his Pakistani community, only to prohibited by his moderate parents and clerics.

The Wahhabis assured Khan that the moderates are abusing Islam by preventing his marriage. They were right. While approving of his non-Pakistani fiance, they lured the young man into their midst with other reasons to feel demeaned — Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Palestine, Kashmir.

Never did they inform Khan that in the past 100 years, more Muslims have been tortured and murdered at the hands of other Muslims than any foreign imperial power. Never did they play DVDs of Black Muslims dying at the feet of Arab militias in Darfur. No mention that Sunnis routinely target Shiites in Pakistan, that Shiites routinely target Sunnis in Iraq, or that Palestinians in Lebanon get by on odd jobs because they’re not allowed to buy property, let alone become professionals.

Mohammad Siddique Khan got the love of his life, and then sacrificed his love for life. I don’t simply mean that he abdicated his interest in living. I mean that he ditched any interest in asking questions.

I emphasize asking questions because that seems to be a crucial part of the solution. But don’t take it from me — a dyed-in-the-wool missionary for ijtihad. Hell, I’m biased. Maybe even emotional!

Rather, take it from Jared Cohen, a 25-year-old who hangs out with kids from Syria to Iran to Saudi and everywhere in-between. His face-to-face conversations have produced Children of Jihad: A Young American’s Travels Among the Youth of the Middle East. In a recent appearance on CSPAN’s Booktv, Cohen claimed that for young Muslims to reform their societies, they’ve first got to feel the permission to ask questions.

My personal conversations with youth in the Middle East prove Jared Cohen’s point. In Cairo, I was amazed by how many young Muslim men approached me to say, “Thank you for posting the Arabic version of your book online. I’m reading it, my friends are reading it and it’s now making the rounds of the democracy movement.” This, in a city where President’s Hosni Mubarak’s thugs club 20-year-olds for protesting a two-decades-old “emergency” law.

In our wired era, where you have instant access to information about how the other half lives, youth need to explore the world — if not physically then at least intellectually.

The Wahhabis understand this. Their trick is to open the doors of ijtihad, usher you through and then narrow the doors behind you until nary a stream of sun trickles through.

Reform-minded Muslims don’t have all the answers. What we have is crucial questions. In asking them out loud, we’ll be doing all of humanity a service.

As Leonard Cohen (no relation to Jared) once cooed, “Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” Tupac couldn’t have said it better.

An A+ for passion

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, Q & A on Jan 14, 2008

Irshad (at right) with participants of the Students Effecting Change conference

A 14-year-old student writes:

“From my perspective as a Roman Catholic who’s never really had to think about what would happen to me if I questioned my faith, your book has definitely opened my eyes. Not only to the horrors that go on in some Muslim countries, but also to those who are reform-minded like yourself and who want to see it change - kudos to you for that, by the way.

But really, I just wanted to let you know that you are an inspiration to the youth of today. I was at Me to We Day in Toronto - I loved your speech or lecture or eye-opener or whatever you want to call it.

And then, just before the Christmas break, we were assigned a project in my religion class: we had to choose someone who has spoken out for what they believe and has died or had their life put in danger for their cause.

I can honestly say that before some kids came up with the obvious names like Martin Luther King Jr. or Oscar Romero, I thought of you. Maybe it was because I’d heard you speak before or maybe it was because I admire you for being a journalist (I LOVE to write), but either way, I chose to do my project on you.

Over the break I read your book (awesome!!) and I’ve been looking through your website for information, which I found pretty easily. I came across some horrible comments that people have sent you. Jeez, the nerve of these people!

But I saw all the really nice comments you’ve been given as well, so I just thought I’d add mine in: what you’re doing is awesome and I commend you on your outspokenness, your courage, your intelligence, your open-mindedness, and above all your persistence.

Congratulations on all of your achievements and all that are sure to come. And happy new year :)” xo - Rebecca

Irshad replies: Thanks for your words of support, Rebecca. I’m mighty moved.

Most readers would be offended by the nasty comments I receive but I believe that meaningful diversity must embrace different views and not just different races and religions. Besides, people who spew such ugliness should be accountable, which means bringing their prejudices (along with their names) out into the open. I say: Shower light on everything and let the people decide!

Speaking of showering light on everything, what grade did you get on your paper?

Tahir Gora: agent of moral courage

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts on Jan 10, 2008

I’ve been so busy blogging about Benazir and Barack that it’s high time to resume my series about agents of moral courage.

Tahir Aslam Gora, founder of the Independent Muslim Media Network, is a journalist, editor and publisher exiled from Pakistan.

As my Urdu-language translator, he puts his life on the line every day — receiving death threats not just from Pakistan but also from Canada He’s now writing a book about modernizing the Muslim mindset.

The Hamilton Spectator, a Toronto-area newspaper, deserves praise for running Tahir’s provocative columns. In a recent commentary, he says:

“The room for open debate is lessening within Muslim communities every day. Vocal extremist Muslim groups are even pushing the United Nations to pass a resolution to ensure respect for religions and convictions. If that at some stage happens, it would put an end to the possibilities of speaking out on different sensibilities in human life.”

Read Tahir Gora’s entire column.

My piece in NY Times Book Review

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, Announcements on Jan 06, 2008

This weekend, The New York Times Book Review is focusing on Islam. Here’s my contribution to it — a look at one professor’s fascinating analysis of Muslims and violence.

Want more discussion?  Download the podcast that I taped with a Times editor.

Ready for Part 2? Final installment of your responses to my Bhutto comments on CNN.com and CNN Int’l

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, Q & A on Jan 04, 2008

Here’s Part 1 in case you missed it. Part 2 doesn’t start off pretty, but hang in there. You’ll see that reason prevails after all…

* “On CNN today, I got to hear about your writing. I was intrigued, so I searched the net and viewed a couple of videos about you. You are quite eloquent and I like the way you always seem to be audible in your commentaries.[But] keep in mind:

You are a lesbian, abnormal, queer and evil. You suck, eat, finger, grope, lick, spit and drink pussy juice and yet you have a pussy yourself. Aren’t you ashamed? Then again, you are hiding under the confines of Canada where you purportedly think you are safe - Muhahahahaha.” - Bernard

* “Kinda glad ur a lesbian cuz I wont feel guilty in sayin I LOVE you. Liked your comments about Benazir. Well said again. May Allah be with you always.” - Zahir

* “May I dare ask u only one thing, What type of pleasure or orgasm u feel being as a Lesbian? Plz provide your answer in a single sentence. If u can’t reply then u r not able to write a Controversial book by ur own mind. Looking forward.” - Dr. Shahid Mehmood, KHI Pak

Irshad replies: The pleasure I feel comes from sharing messages like yours, which show that having the letters “Dr.” in front of your name doesn’t make you smart. But thanks for gratuitously raising the issue of my book. It provides a seamless segue into the next batch of messages that I received after my Bhutto commentary:

* “I will be very blunt with you in saying that truck load of your books can’t achieve empowerment of women and minorities in Pakistan that Benazir Bhutto was able to unleash.” - Iqbal, Washington

Irshad replies: Really? Try telling that to someone who actually lives Pakistan, as the next writer does…

* “You are doing a fantastic job and wish you all the success. We would like to continue your mission in Pakistan. Can you share your thoughts about opening a chapter in Pakistan for liberal Muslims, later to be transformed at grass roots?” - Riaz

Irshad replies: It’s a challenge, Riaz. In 2006, my book was translated into Urdu for liberal Muslims in your country. A Pakistani publisher even agreed to help distribute it.

Within a week of the book appearing in stores, a fatwa against it frightened all vendors into clearing their shelves. That’s why I had to get the Urdu translation posted on my website. Now you can download it, free of charge, here. To date, more than 90,000 Pakistanis have done so.

I believe the way to start a grassroots movement for Muslim reform is to circulate the Urdu translation of my book far and wide. You can share the files, send an email blast containing the link, or print the Urdu translation and distribute it anonymously. Remember: there is no cost except for that of your own time and energy. I have faith that you’ll see the opportunity and not just the challenge.

* “I hope I will be able to find your book in Pakistan. I will comment on it once I read it and will try to establish my own opinion, unlike others who criticize you without understanding your views.” - Hassaan, Islamabad

Irshad replies: Sounds fair to me, Hassaan. As I told Riaz above, you can download the Urdu translation of my book for free. I look forward to your feedback about how we Muslims can renew ijtihad, or critical thinking, within Islam.

Now for some final — and more direct — responses to my Bhutto commentary:

* “How could you say that Benazir Bhutto didn’t do enough for Muslim women? In your so-focused mentality of reform, you came to your not-enough conclusion. Agreed, she could have done so much more. Agreed.

However, as a free-thinker, I would never come to the conclusion that she hasn’t done enough for Muslim women. She may not have finished the entire forest but she damn sure planted a heck of a lot of trees in it.

In your very own words, reform is going to take a collective effort… What if Bhutto’s life has already or will eventually inspire the next Pakistani sister to rise up and eventually ‘do enough’? Does all that go without credit?

Just as you have successfully implored me to join in ijtihad, I implore you, my sister Irshad, to specifically re-assess your position on Bhutto’s legacy and generally embrace those who take baby-steps. It’s easy for us to live in the West and say whatever we want. It’s harder for those living in Pakistan or Sudan (where I’m from) and to have the same courage. We’re all human. Any and all progress is good progess.” - Nafie (male), 24, Boston

Irshad replies: Thank you, Nafie, for your direct, logical, and respectful challenge. You’ll be happy to know that I gave CNN International an interview in which I made all of these points.

At the outset, I emphasized that it’s reform-minded Pakistanis who’ve been writing to me about Bhutto’s failures; therefore, I’m acting as their voice and not merely my own. These reformists remind us that Benazir took inspiration from strong Pakistani women who came before her, so that progress begets progress.

At the end of our interview, the host asked me to speak only for myself and explain what Benazir meant to me as a Muslim woman. I said that, having become prime minister at 35, she showed what we can achieve at a young age. I added that she didn’t merely ride her father’s coat tails but tried to chart a path of her own by returning to Pakistan with a more intense commitment to reform. I wrapped up by affirming that I and others stand on her shoulders in seeking further change.

One can be critical, constructive and compassionate all at the same time. I hope you now see my genuine attempt to strike that balance.

* “It was very refreshing to read your balanced and hopeful piece. As a woman and global citizens, I was especially inspired by your point of view on Jinnah [founder of Pakistan]. You have certainly got me interested in learning more about his vision of Pakistan.” - Shabira, Vancouver

Irshad replies: His sister’s vision might be even more interesting, Shabira. Read the next letter…

* “Irshad, let me amplify your comments regarding Jinnah’s sister, Fatima. In the 1960s, she stood as the opposition candidate for the presidency against the dictator Ayub Khan.

Also, my father told me the apocryphal story that soon after independence, when the Pakistani constituent assembly was debating the abridgment of women’s rights, the wife of the first PM, Liaquat Ali Khan, led a delegation of women symbolically carrying brooms,to warn their husbands against such shenanigans.”

Irshad replies: Those witches! (That’s a joke about brooms. Oh, never mind.)

* “I read your comments about Benazir’s assassination and I believe that if she were to read them too, she would agree with you. As you know, and as Benazir knew, for a people to realize democracy, it requires debate and dissent, free speech, inclusion, involvement, participation, open-mindedness, critical thinking AND all sisters and brothers.

You are correct. Benazir was not a saint. Nor am I. Nor are you. However, Benazir understood as you do that ‘it is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.’” - Anonymous

By the way, the Pakistani-British author and activist, Tariq Ali, wrote a newspaper commentary that blasted the feudal politics of Benazir Bhutto. Yet he received far tamer comments. What gives?

What Barack might have taught Benazir

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, Q & A on Jan 04, 2008

An email I’ll never forget from a young Pakistani-American:

“Watching Barack Obama deliver his spellbinding victory speech in Iowa, I was reminded of your CNN.com article about Benazir Bhutto’s legacy. You argue that she caved to narrow-minded feudal politics. I think you’re right. I mean, the fact that she bequeathed a so-called ‘people’s party’ to her own son, behind the mask of democracy, only proves your point.

Barack Obama is the opposite. So far, he has beat the political establishment through real democracy. He has attracted not only disillusioned Democrats but also alienated Republicans and Independents. All of this happening in a country, my country, that is more fractious than ever.

On top of that, the good ol’ divided states of America is seriously flirting with dynastic feudalism of its own.  To be honest, this is what we will have if Hillary becomes President.

Barack is an emblem for the politics of pluralism, not tribalism. Irshad, I don’t think I would have appreciated this about him without your article on Benazir Bhutto. I know you are catching a lot of flak for it. Well, the flak stops here. Thank you for making me a more thoughtful citizen of America and the world.” - Zafar, 22

Irshad to all readers: Stay tuned for more of your responses to my Bhutto commentary. Warning: They won’t all be as noble or wholesome as Zafar’s message. Ain’t democracy fun?

Pages (18): Previous 1 2 3 4 5 [6] 7 8 9 10 11 Next ... Last »