announcements

Launching my book in the world’s biggest Muslim country

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, On The Road, Announcements on Apr 24, 2008

You heard me right: the biggest Muslim country anywhere. Indonesia, baby. That’s where I am to release The Trouble with Islam Today.     

  

That’s also where my publisher presented me with a meaningful poster: “Silence is no longer an option.”  Well, it’s never been with me. Now we can say the same about Jakarta!

             

Three hundred human rights activists, journalists and students attended.  Not everybody came to express support, but isn’t civil dissent exactly the point of this mission for Muslim reform and moral courage?

                  

You can learn more about my Indonesian launch through the newsletter that I’ve sent to my personal mailing list.  If you want to subscribe, look for the ”Get Updates” box on the right-hand side of this page.

Meanwhile, enjoy more moments from Indonesia…

Faith Without Fear launches Muslim film festival

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, On The Road, Announcements on Apr 14, 2008

Scene from “Faith Without Fear” showing me in a Yemeni classroom

Tonight in Boston, there won’t be a tea party.  But there will be an event that’s revolutionary in its own way: the American Islamic Congress is launching its first ever Muslim Film Festival — and my documentary, Faith Without Fear, kicks it off.

The festival highlights “think different women.” That means women on the front lines of reform, from Lebanon to Darfur. Featured films star Muslim female karate champions, women running for political office in Iran and Afghanistan, and Senegalese women using hip-hop as a way to transcend tribal politics. Fierce.

The American Islamic Congress is a civil rights organization working to end negative perceptions about Muslims. But not by playing victim. Instead, the AIC demands that Muslims lead by example. They recognize that we Muslims must champion social justice and pluralism within our own communities –- even at great personal risk.

Because the American Islamic Congress practices moral courage, I happily accepted their invitation to launch this year’s festival with my doc.

Faith Without Fear is being screened tonight at 6:30 pm at Boston University. I also invite you to stick around for the post-film discussion. Taking your questions on Muslim reform and moral courage will be Raquel Evita Saraswati, the coordinator of my charitable foundation, Project Ijtihad.

The event is free and open to the public. Click here for more information.

And to whet your appetite, watch selected clips of Faith Without Fear on my official YouTube channel.

In the spirit of the festival, thank you for thinking.

Gutsy, good and more global than ever

Posted in Announcements on Apr 10, 2008

My charitable foundation, Project Ijtihad, is reaching new heights in publicizing the message of Muslim reform and moral courage.

We’re now partnering with TakingITGlobal (”IT” as in “information technology” — get it?). TakingITGlobal is an non-profit organization that connects youth in every hemisphere to discuss today’s most important issues.

Each month for the next six months, TakingITGlobal’s website will feature my hand-picked Agent of Moral Courage — someone who’s speaking truth to power in his or her own community for the sake of a greater good.

Challenging your own is always more intimidating than pointing fingers at outsiders. After all, when hold your community to account, you’re losing the security blanket of instant belonging.

It’s because this demands serious guts that I want to give these individuals as big a platform as I can. TakingITGlobal’s site engages hundreds of thousands of young people in more than 180 countries. They thirst for inspiration. The Agents of Moral Courage can deliver.

This month, Project Ijtihad is highlighting two Agents of Moral Courage: Mohamed Adam Yahya and Suad Monsour. They’re refugees of the genocide in Darfur. Despite having lost their homes and family members to Arab militias (known as Janjaweed), these morally gutsy individuals are exercising their voices to demand positive action from the Arab world itself. I love their refusal to wallow in victimhood.

Last month, Project Ijtihad selected Deeyah, a young Muslim woman who’s using her musical talent to decry honor crimes that are committed under the banner of Islam. In the past, I’ve blogged about honor as well as about Deeyah. She — and the cause of human rights — deserve to be debated by youth around the globe.

The Agents of Moral Courage won’t always be Muslims. Check this space every month to learn about Project Ijtihad’s next pick.

If you want to move beyond reading to participate in the mission for moral courage, there’s a world of support waiting for you.

Here it is — in Arabic

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, Announcements on Apr 04, 2008

Al-Arabiya.net, one of the most popular news sources in the Middle East, has just published the Arabic translation of my take on Fitna, Geert Wilders’ anti-Quran film.

Here’s the English original, also posted by Al-Arabiya. Don’t forget to read some of the comments under the article. They’re revealing and often quite funny.

I must congratulate Al-Arabiya.net for having the guts to run my words. This isn’t the first time. Last year they posted a piece I wrote about Salman Rushdie.

And probably the most comprehensive interview I’ve done with any media outlet, anywhere, was with — you guessed it — Al-Arabiya.net.

There’s hope for moral courage. There’s hope.

“Fitna” gives freedom of expression a bad name

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, Announcements on Apr 02, 2008

Here’s my review of Geert Wilders’ film, “Fitna,” published by the Washington Post and Newsweek magazine. Under the article is a section for comments.  I welcome yours.

Moral Courage Project: the launch

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, Announcements on Mar 14, 2008

Wish you were there! Here are photographic highlights, excerpts from my opening statement, some of the blog coverage and memorable words that one guest jotted on his blackberry…

Excerpts from my opening statement:

Robert F. Kennedy observed, “Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society.

Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change.”

So, as Bobby Kennedy understood, moral courage is the willingness to risk backlash from your own community as you pursue a greater, common, good.

Here at NYU’s School of Public Service, we believe that developing moral courage is as urgent as it’s ever been — and possibly more so.

Why do I say “more so”? Because we live in a time of identity politics, when it’s relatively easy for angry individuals to point fingers at the outside world and blame others for their own community’s ills.

Far more dangerous, emotionally and sometimes physically, to call out injustice within your group and thereby upset your seemingly natural allies.

The Moral Courage Project addresses one of the great leadership challenges of our time: to transcend the us-versus-them polarity of identity politics. We need to bust out of that polarity because the world’s problems are too complex for dichotomies that diminish us.

We know that avoiding introspection produces dishonest results — a dishonesty that infects human relations, skews public policies and censors talent from which communities would otherwise grow.

It’s because we see this dishonesty everywhere that the Moral Courage Project intends to teach, mentor and engage heretics everywhere. Future events will feature dissident Christians, politically incorrect feminists, whistle-blowing Jews, queer gays (meaning gays and lesbians who challenge the cozy consensus of their movements), self-critical African-Americans, maverick Hispanics and even renegade Republicans!

But I can’t imagine a more worthy champion of moral courage with whom to introduce this project than Professor Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im.

He’s an exile from Sudan, a reform-minded Muslim and the intellectual force behind an upcoming conference called “A Celebration of Heresy: Critical Thinking for Islamic Reform.” Now that’s chutzpah.

We hope you’ll apply tonight’s lessons to your own lives.

Some guests made notes of the lessons — in real time — via their blackberries. A sample of what one young man took away from the event:

> Every orthodoxy started as heresy.

> Heresy is rejuvenation, a source of innovation.

> A man can fail many times, but he is not a failure until he starts blaming others for the failures.

> Religion is a personal experience.

> A state must be secular for a society to be religious.

> When a state enforces Shari’a, they are enforcing law. That is different from a personal commitment.

> “We need a secular state to be better Muslims.”

> Conflict is creative, violence is destructive.

> I seek to challenge, I expect to be resisted (hopefully not overwhelmingly). If I’m not resisted I’m not relevant.

> Ppl will defer to true piety but that is a social act, not a political act.

> There may have been a role for clerics when most could not read, but now that role has passed… like the unions.

> Those who attack violently are declaring their impotence at participating in the discussion, at responding to the ideas on the table.

> “Islamo-fascist” is itself a fascist use of the term. If someone is fascist and also Muslim then they are fascist, period.

> A heretic counters a point of view from within tradition; an infidel does not speak from the voice of tradition.

> I can cease being Muslim, but I can’t cease being human.

Finally, the blogosphere weighs in from different corners of the globe (and various corners of the room!):

* Ali Eteraz

* Political Mavens

* The Sudanese Thinker

* Some Swedish dude

Intrigued enough to learn more about the Moral Courage Project? Maybe even get involved? Here you go.

Moral Courage Project goes public Tuesday night — and you’re invited

Posted in Announcements on Mar 10, 2008

As some of you know, I’ve recently moved from Toronto to Manhattan in order to build the Moral Courage Project.

Housed at New York University’s Graduate School of Public Service, the MCP aims to develop leaders who will challenge conformity and censorship in their own communities for the sake of a greater good.

It’s inspired by my love of ijtihad, Islam’s tradition of debate, dissent and creativity. The hope is to ennoble misunderstood mavericks everywhere. In that spirit, on Tuesday night I’ll host the first of several “Conversations with Champions of Moral Courage.”

The inaugural champion: Prof. Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, a Sudanese scholar of Shari’a law and among the boldest thinkers in the Muslim world. We’re launching the English edition of his book, Islam and the Secular State, in which he argues that “we need a secular state to be better Muslims.”

Savor what else Prof. An-Na’im writes in it:

* “I do believe that it is possible, indeed necessary, to reinterpret Islamic sources in order to affirm and protect freedom of religion and belief. This is my position as a Muslim, speaking from an Islamic perspective, and not simply because freedom of religion and belief is a universal human rights norm…”

* “It is necessary for me, as a Muslim, to confront this issue in order to uphold the moral integrity of my religious beliefs.”

* “The possibility of belief in anything logically requires choice in the matter, as one cannot believe in anything without the freedom and ability to disbelieve it.”

* “Instead of censorship… it is critical to maintain possibilities of innovation and dissent as the only way for religion to remain responsive to the needs of believers.”

You get the picture. Now get down to NYU and participate in the event. For more details, and to RSVP, click here. Security will be present, so please come a few minutes earlier than normal.

And for all you non-New Yorkers, the Moral Courage Project will film the event for future streaming on this site. I’ll announce when that will be.  Meanwhile, you can read about the Moral Courage Project.  You can also stay up to date by subscribing to my free e-newsletter.

Go on. Find your voice and passion.  Help your community grow from talent that would otherwise be lost to self-censorship. Let your freak flag fly.

I love your guts

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, Announcements on Feb 26, 2008

“Ask and ye shall receive,” they say.  Earlier this month, I asked you to get more involved in our mission of Muslim reform and moral courage. How? By signing the petition against death threats.

Your signatures are coming from all over the world: Algeria, Nigeria, Indonesia, India, Argentina, Pakistan, New Zealand, Poland, Finland, Italy… Here’s the up-to-date list of signatories and places from which they originate.

Thank you, my dear readers, for having guts. Courage is contagious, and your boldness will surely inspire others once they know about it.

In that spirit, I’m now asking you to circulate the link to our petition against death threats.  Tell your friends, families and mailing lists why you signed.  Feel free to share with them my February 14 and February 18 blog entries.  Help them understand what the stakes are and why they should add their names to the roster of those who defend universal human rights, freedom of conscience and pluralism of peaceful ideas.

You’ve proven that Muslim reformists are not alone. It’s time to prove that all of us have even more allies, Muslim and not.

Do your thing.

The French government: Agents of Moral Courage (for now)

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, Announcements on Feb 11, 2008

A message to all atheists: There really is a God. Read on.

I never thought I’d be able to call France’s government an Agent of Moral Courage, but today it’s taken a step in the right direction. Rama Yade, the French Secretary of State for Human Rights, has announced official support for the physical protection of dissident Muslims who are living under death threats.

Specifically, France will advocate a European fund to provide personal security for reformist Muslims.  Among the beneficiaries will be Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the former member of Dutch parliament and vocal ex-Muslim who has just appealed for citizenship in France. Minister Yade has suggested that Ayaan will get that, too.

What I deeply appreciate about this announcement is that  it’s not strictly about Ayaan.  Lesser known Muslim dissidents will also benefit. They need the help even more than Ayaan does, since they’re not empowered by boatloads of media coverage.

Consider, for example, Mohamed Sifaoui. Never heard of him, right?  Let’s fix that.  He’s  a documentary-maker who risks his life to enter radical mosques and chronicle what happens in them. For his pains, he’s received more than his share of death threats.

French police haven’t exactly helped, mouthing the old mantra that they can’t do anything until he’s killed.  At which point, what’s the point? Isn’t too late by then? I thought we went over this when feminists made the case about why police need to be pro-active in defending battered wives. Plus ςa change, plus c’est la même chose.

Yet it may be that things really are changing.  Last month, on a visit to Paris, I spoke with Minster Yade’s office about this issue.  Even then, I sensed their sympathy — but would it translate into action?

The pressure continued.  Thanks to non-Muslim intellectuals such as Bernard-Henri Levy and Caroline Fourest, who don’t fear being labeled “racists” for supporting progressive Muslims and ex-Muslims, along with organizations like the European Foundation for Democracy, which gives a platform to reform-minded Muslims (including me), the French government “got” it.

Starting tomorrow, our challenge is to ensure that European forces of denial don’t dilute today’s announcement with endless bureaucratic attrition. Europe does many things well. Red tape is one of them.

For now, félicitations to President Sarkozy who appears to be serious about his statement, made on the eve of his election, that France must stand by the tormented women of the world.  Add men to that list.  Anybody who challenges the silence of Muslim moderates is bound to be targeted, whatever their gender.  In an era of cultural relativism, it’s an act of moral courage to ally yourself with despised champions of universal values — rationality, humanity and individuality.

Please, Monsieur le Président, don’t make me retract this congratulatory note.  Just deliver on today’s announcement and let’s get on with building a better Europe.  Merci bien and give my regards to Carla.

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.

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