1. Takfeer: If you don’t agree with and fit “our” definition of a Muslim (and if you don’t fight with “us” against the crusaders and their stooges), then you are an apostate and an unbeliever whose blood may legitimately be shed.
2. You are either with us or against us: “We” will define who “we” are and who “we” are against because “we” are the ones that are against those that are against “us”. I believe that’s what they call a circular logic. Anyway, those that “we” are against are evil. If you are not with “us”, you are (with) evil. And then comes the other adage, evil cannot be negotiated with and must be destroyed. The other version is – You are either with us or with the terrorist: Terrorists must be killed, captured, or contained. So, if you are not with us, you must be killed, captured, or contained. Witness: The Path of Most Resistance (October 22, 2008) Part1:
Such paradigms/questions (Are you with us or against us?) leave no option for other possible answers such as “neither with you nor against you” or “against both” or “I have better things to do than answering your stupid question”, or “get an education.”
Witness: The Path of Most Resistance (October 22, 2008) Part2:
“When the late-night comedians of 2021 reach for a Bush joke [and forward then, there will only be one Bush president in memory], the punchline must be the us/them, here/there world that Bush has created. After all, to that future post-identity world, speaking SinHinglish and typing with their hyper-muscled eyelids, such crass ethnic and ideological generalizations should sound deliciously subversive. I think of that future utopia because the present dystopia makes my head hurt. Read the rest of this entry »
When former South African President Thabo Mbeki makes the African case for a postponement of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) indictment of President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, what can he say with dignity and foresight?
To begin with, he should remind his audience that nowhere in the world have rights existed outside an enabling political context. No democracy enforces a fixed standard of rights regardless of the country’s political context. Few can forget how the Bush administration diluted the Bill of Rights in the interest of pursuing Homeland Security. In the relation between law and politics, politics is always paramount. Precisely because the struggle for rights is a political struggle, enforcers of rights – and not just its violators – need to be held politically accountable lest they turn rights enforcement into a private vendetta.
Mbeki can then share with his audience the lessons Africans have learned in the struggle for peace and justice over the past several decades. Contrary to what many think, this lesson is not that there needs to be a trade-off between peace and justice. The real trade-off is between different forms of justice. This became evident with the settlement to end apartheid. That settlement was possible because the political leadership of the anti-apartheid struggle prioritised political justice over criminal justice. The rationale was simple: where there was no victor, one would need the cooperation of the very leaders who would otherwise be charged with war crimes to end the fighting and initiate political reforms. The essence of Kempton Park can be summed up in a single phrase: forgive but do not forget. Forgive all past crimes – in plain words, immunity from prosecution – provided both sides agree to change the rules to assure political justice for the living.
The South African lesson has guided African practice in other difficult situations. In Mozambique Renamo sits in parliament instead of in jail or in the dock. In South Sudan, too, there would have been neither peace nor a reform of the political system without an agreement not to pursue criminal justice. Why not in Darfur?
Mbeki would also be well advised to keep in mind that in the court of public opinion – unlike in a court of law – the accused is considered guilty until proven innocent.
The public needs to be reminded that when the justices of the ICC granted the prosecutor’s application for a warrant to arrest the president of Sudan, they were not issuing a verdict of guilty. The justices were not meant to assess the facts put before them by the prosecutor, but to ask a different question: if those facts were assumed to be true, would the president of Sudan have a case to answer? Unlike court, which took the facts for granted at the pre-trial stage, we need to ask: to what extent are these facts true? And, to the extent they are true, are they the whole truth?
It is estimated that by 2010, the Gulf of Guinea will contribute at least one out of every five barrels of oil to the global market. Africa has large quantities of mineral reserves and Natural Gas. Over the past decade China’s imports from Africa have risen significantly (30% of China’s oil comes from Africa), and so have Chinese investment in a wide array of African industries.
Obama (and China) in Africa-1/3:
Aside the obvious benefits of raw materials and oil import, China achieves a lot more through a partnership with Africa on the geo-political front. The national security strategy paper published by the Bush administration in 2002 states, “Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival … our strategy must now refocus on precluding the emergence of any potential future global competitor.” The drubbing in Iraq and Afghanistan might have forced a revision of strategies as in 2006 a closer alliance with EU was suggested to form a “concert of democracies.” As US military presence expanded in Asia, so did China’s diplomatic and economic alliances. Through SCO, China has created a group of allied Central Asian nations along with Russia. China’s alliance with EU (especially Germany) is of great importance. China is expanding its ties with the largely leftist Latin American continent. China has gained considerable clout with ASEAN, which is a group created by the US but diplomatically abandoned by it in the post cold war hubris. China has sealed its place as a global power by forming the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation. The image of a Chinese worker laying the infrastructure for communication systems for African countries has come to represent China, and stands in sharp contrast to the image of an American soldier fighting terrorism and spreading democracy, which has begun to sound like the European mission to civilize the barbarians. Read the rest of this entry »
“Our team traveled through the Middle East, South Asia, and Far East Asia to take the pulse of the Muslim world.
We met, interviewed, and distributed surveys to Muslims from a full range of society from students to merchants to politicians like Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and the late Benazir Bhutto. The project culminated in the book Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization. (Brookings: 2007)
As young Americans visiting mosques and madrassas, we felt a tangible tension. People would often question us sharply, “Why did you invade Iraq? Why are you holding prisoners at Guantánamo Bay?” At first we attempted to answer their questions, but before long we realized that what they wanted us to do more than anything else was listen to them. They feel Americans don’t listen and don’t care about the problems of the Muslims. They think America is engaged in a war not against terrorism, but against the whole religion of Islam. Although many Muslims were upset by US foreign policy and wanted political solutions to festering problems such as Palestine, Kashmir, and Chechnya, what angered them the most–we were surprised to discover–was their belief that Americans hated Islam.
“The Muslim world and the West, led by the U.S.A., are at a stand-off. Terrorism, intolerance and the specter of uncontrolled immigration rattle non-Muslims; perceptions of neo-imperialism, disrespect and discrimination roil Mohammed’s followers. These mutually negative feelings are not vague generalizations. Reliable polls have shown that a majority of the British and American public admit to being prejudiced against Muslims, doubt their loyalty, fear terrorist attacks, don’t want them as neighbors, perceive Muslims as not wanting to fully integrate into Western society and generally feel threatened by Islam. A majority of Muslims are dismayed by what they see as Western cultural and social decadence and the feeling that the West is not committed to better relations with them.
Riz Khan Part1:
Engaging the Muslim World by Juan Cole (Palgrave Macmillan, 282 pages, $26.95) examines the myths and realities that provoke Islam Anxiety in the West as well as the grounds, legitimate and illegitimate, for America Anxiety in the Muslim world. The West’s anxiety is caused primarily by its fear that Read the rest of this entry »
By Ibrahim Kalin | November 19, 2008 | Washington Post;
“Establishing religious and cultural accord is difficult anywhere in the world. This is especially true for the long and checkered relationship between Islam and Christianity. Islam’s rise to the stage of world history in the 7th century when Christianity was struggling both in Europe and in the East created a sense of rivalry and urgency among Western Christians. Islam’s claim of restoring Abrahamic monotheism and rejection of the Christian Trinity was received as a theological challenge. Its rapid expansion into areas that were once under the Byzantine rule led to a heightened sense of political and military threat. Finally, the dominance of Islamic culture and civilization after the 10th and 11th centuries was a cause of alarm to many Christians in Europe. Periods of peaceful co-existence in places like Andalusia, Baghdad and Istanbul have provided some brilliant examples of peaceful co-existence. Yet, the perceptions and attitudes of exclusion and hostility have survived and continue to shape the current views of Islam and Muslims from the pulpits across the US to media outlets and policy circles.
Riz Khan with Ingrid Mattson - A Christian-Muslim dialogue: ( July 31, 2008 ) Part 1:
“In addition to numerous interfaith initiatives, a large group of prominent Muslim scholars, intellectuals and community leaders has been working over the last two years to address some of these issues. In October 2007, an open letter called “A Common Word Between US and You,” signed by 138 Muslim signatories, was sent to Christian leaders and communities around the world to open up new lines of communication between Muslims and Christians. This was a follow up to “An Open Letter to the Pope” sent in response to Pope Benedict’s controversial Regensburg Speech in 2006. The open letter responded to the Regensburg’s two claims that Islam was unable to develop a rational discourse about its religious tenets and thus invited its followers to “submit” to God rather than to think about or love Him. Furthermore, Islam spread through violence, which is an extension of its irrational nature. On both counts, Christians, the Pope seemed to imply, cannot have theological dialogue with Muslims. Read the rest of this entry »
“Are we on the verge of an all-out war between the West and 1.3 billion Muslims? When the media searches for an answer to that question, they usually overlook the actual views of the world’s Muslims.
Who Speaks for Islam? is about this silenced majority. This book is the product of the Gallup World Poll’s massive, multiyear research study. As part of this groundbreaking project, Gallup conducted tens of thousands of interviews with residents of more than 35 nations that are predominantly Muslim or have significant Muslim populations.
Gallup posed questions that are on the minds of millions: Is Islam to blame for terrorism? Why is there so much anti-Americanism in the Muslim world? Who are the extremists? Where are the moderates? What do Muslim women really want?
Grounded in Gallup World Poll data, not in contentious rhetoric, Who Speaks for Islam? brings data-driven evidence — the voices of a billion Muslims, not those of individual “experts” or “extremists” — to one of the most heated and consequential debates of our time.
Riz Khan: “Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think” Part 1:
Counterintuitive Discoveries in Who Speaks for Islam?
Who speaks for the West? Muslims around the world do not see the West as monolithic. They criticize or celebrate countries based on their politics, not based on their culture or religion.
“It is a snapshot of modern Turkey: two girls walking arm-in-arm along Istiklal Street in Istanbul, one dressed in a long skirt and headscarf, the other in a tight-fitting top, hair flowing freely.
But enter any university here – state or private – and there will not be a headscarf in sight.
In 1790, four thousand chests of opium entered China, and by 1830 the amount of opium entering China increased 10 times. The British, attracted by China’s enormous population and market potential, had tried to diplomatically open up an isolationist China, and having failed decided to resort to a dirty gunboat diplomacy. When the emperor of China banned opium, the British pounded China into submission. A second opium war followed a couple of decades later resulted in forcing open China to narcotics and other trade with the capitalist market that continued until 1949 communist revolution that shut China’s trade door again. In late 2001 China willingly decided to open its doors to trade, and joined WTO. Napoleon once said “Let China sleep for when she wake, she will shake the world.” China’s appetite and manufacturing prowess has since shaken the world. Manhole covers started to disappear from roads and pavements around the world to fill China’s demand for scrap metal. The demand for Oil soared, and so did China’s economy at a staggering rate. As China’s manufacturing prowess showed, the developed world invoked anti-dumping clauses, intellectual property rights, and political reasons. All of this so far has not been able to check China’s growth, which, on the question of manufacturing, is more open to the world than the world is to China.
Channel 4 The Seven Wonders of the Muslim World- 1:15:28 - Aug 17, 2008
“1. The Grand Mosque in Mecca is the largest mosque in the world. At its centre is the Kaaba, a cubic building covered in a gold-embroidered black cloth towards which Muslims turn as they pray. Every year, millions of people perform the Hajj – the pilgrimage during the 12th month of the Islamic year – and many others make the pilgrimage at other times of year, which is called the Umrah.
2. The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Islam’s third holiest city is situated next to the Dome of the Rock. This iconic golden dome can be seen from all over Jerusalem. Al-Aqsa, dates from the late 7th century, making it one of the oldest mosques in the world.
3. The Alhambra in Granada, Spain, which dates from the 13th century, was designed by Muslim architects and built by the Muslim rulers of El Andaluz, or Andalucia. It was inspired by Qur’anic descriptions of paradise as an oasis, with trees, fountains and buildings.
“Turkey is no longer perceived regionally as a mere Western wannabe; it is now for the first time being viewed positively within the Muslim world as a state worth watching — and may be even emulating.” (Graham Fuller, “New Turkish Republic: Turkey As a Pivotal State in the Muslim World”, 2007)
Riz Khan – Bridging the Gap – 7 April 09 – Part 1:
“Turkey is not only the bridge between Europe and Asia, in recent years, it has also become a key diplomatic player on the world stage. How has Turkey managed to stay ahead of the diplomatic game? Can Turkey bridge East and West together? “
“Frustrated by European opposition to its EU membership bid, Turkey is looking instead to its eastern and southern neighbors in a bid to flex its regional muscles. But will courting the Arab street actually bring Ankara any benefits?
“[...] it is interesting to see that the critique of Islam is today a rallying point for two intellectual families that have been opposed to each other so far: those who think that the West is first and foremost Christian (and who, not long ago, considered that the Jews could hardly be assimilated) and those who think that the West is primarily secular and democratic. In other words, the Christian Right and the secular Left are today united in their criticism of Islam.” (Secularism Confronts Islam, Olivier Roy, 2007)
“The journal Cites [...] published on the cover of a special issue (“L’Islam en France,”2004) a cartoon in which a Muslim turns his back on the republic, a cover that is interesting in its ambiguity: judging by his dress and his physical appearance, the fundamentalist is clearly an Arab from the Middle East, but, keeping the outline of the drawing, if you to replace the skullcap with a kippa and the Koran with the Torah, you would reproduce an anti-Semitic cartoon of the 1930s: a person with a hooked nose, badly shaved, swarthy, carrying the holy book, and turning his back on a blond and curvaceous Marianne brandishing the constitution.” (Secularism Confronts Islam, Olivier Roy, 2007)
The deep roots of French secularism: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3325285.stm
“France is not the only Western country to insist on the separation of church and state – but it does so more militantly than any other. Secularism is the closest thing the French have to a state religion. It underpinned the French Revolution and has been a basic tenet of the country’s progressive thought since the 18th Century.
To this day, anything that smacks of official recognition of a religion – such as allowing Islamic headscarves in schools – is anathema to many French people. Even those who oppose a headscarf ban do so in the name of Read the rest of this entry »
God’s Business – Islam in France – 08 Oct 07 – Ep4 (“Is the French Muslim community starting to create a new Euro-Islam?”) Part 1:
France – “Total population: 62.3 million Muslim population: Five to six million (8-9.6%)
Background: The French Muslim population is the largest in western Europe. About 70% have their heritage in former north African colonies of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. France favours integration and many Muslims are citizens. Nevertheless, the growth of the community has challenged the French ideal of strict separation of religion and public life. There has been criticism that Muslims face high unemployment and often live in poor suburbs. A ban on religious symbols in public schools provoked a major national row as it was widely regarded as being a ban on the Islamic headscarf. Late 2005 saw widespread and prolonged rioting among mainly immigrant communities across France.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4385768.stm
God’s Business – Islam in France – 08 Oct 07 – Ep4 (“Is the French Muslim community starting to create a new Euro-Islam?”) Part 2: Read the rest of this entry »
UK – “Total population: 58.8 million Muslim population: 1.6 million (2.8%)
The UK has a long history of contact with Muslims, with links forged from the Middle Ages onwards. In the 19th Century Yemeni men came to work on ships, forming one of the country’s first Muslim communities. In the 1960s, significant numbers of Muslims arrived as people in the former colonies took up offers of work. Some of the first were East African Asians, while many came from south Asia. Permanent communities formed and at least 50% of the current population was born in the UK. Significant communities with links to Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and the Balkans also exist. The 2001 Census showed one third of the Muslim population was under 16 – the highest proportion for any group. It also highlighted high levels of unemployment, low levels of qualifications and low home ownership. The UK favours multiculturalism, an idea shared by other countries which, in general terms, accepts all cultures as having equal value and has influence over how government engages with minorities.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4385768.stm
UK: Multiculturism and Islam:Witness – Under new management (Documentary: Dec 26, 2007)
“The small town Clitheroe in Northern England has become a symbol of the divisions and arguments of multiculturalism and the place of Islam in modern Britain.”
Islam is widely considered Europe’s fastest growing religion, with immigration and above average birth rates leading to a rapid increase in the Muslim population.
“MADRID — Muslims still face substantial discrimination in Europe, especially at work, and many fail to report racist incidents because of a lack of trust in authorities, a European Union human rights agency said Thursday. In a survey of Muslims in 14 EU member states, the Agency for Fundamental Rights said one in three Muslims had faced discrimination, and 11 percent of those questioned said they had experienced a racially motivated crime. The highest level of discrimination against Muslims occurred in the workplace, the agency said.” Read the rest of this entry »
“Nazar: So did the FBI believe that there were people at the mosques who posed a threat to US national security?
Monteilh: Well, not really, but Islam itself is a threat to National Security.
Okay, so most of that conversation is a sloppy rehash of the actual interview, but Monteilh really did say that Islam itself is a threat to national security.
We can’t wait until the FBI finally breaks its code of silence about Craig Monteilh. Love him or hate him, you have to appreciate the guy’s ability to embarrass the FBI. The more he talks, Read the rest of this entry »
“I think it [the invasion of Iraq] was unquestionably worth doing, Charlie.
…
We needed to go over there, basically, um, and um, uh, take out a very big state right in the heart of that world and burst that bubble, and there was only one way to do it.
…
What they needed to see was American boys and girls going house to house, from Basra to Baghdad, um and basically saying, Which part of this sentence don’t you understand? “
You don’t think, you know, we care about our open society, you think this bubble fantasy, we’re just gonna to let it grow?
Well, Suck. On. This.
Okay.
That Charlie was what this war was about. We could’ve hit Saudi Arabia, it was part of that bubble. We coulda hit Pakistan. We hit Iraq because we could.”
“Hollywood mogul Steven Spielberg’s latest film “Munich” focuses on Israel’s efforts to avenge the tragic killings of its athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. Although the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is ripe with great ideas for potential blockbuster films, Hollywood flicks about the conflict have tended to remain formulaic and dehumanizing.
Spielberg hopes “Munich” will be different, and claims he didn’t want to make “a Charles Bronson movie – good guys vs. bad guys and Jews killing Arabs without any context.” Critics say Spielberg is too pro-Israel to make a fair film about the conflict.
Imagine for a second it is Opposite Day. Imagine we’re in some kind of Twilight Zone parallel universe in which Hollywood gives Arabs, Muslims, and Jews a fair shake and peace a fair chance. What kind of movies about the Middle East would we then be chomping Goobers, Junior Mints, and popcorn to at the local twenty screen multiplex?
Maybe these movies might actually be made by some of the 125 Palestinian kids Spielberg is giving video cameras to document their lives. Perhaps a talented few will go on to become big-time Hollywood directors. Here are ten potential films – all inspired by actual events – that are just waiting for the magic of Spielberg & his wannabes:
1. King David Hotel: The bombing of the King David Hotel, which served as headquarters of the British administration in Palestine, killed 91 Arabs, Jews, and Brits in 1946. Two future Prime Ministers of Israel, David Ben Gurion and Menachem Begin, masterminded the attack. Disguised as Arabs, members of Begin’s Irgun placed 350kg of explosives inside the building. In this action-packed thriller, David (Pierce Brosnan) a British officer ordered to hunt down the killers falls for Margaret (Uma Thurman), an American journalist working for Life Magazine. But is Margaret really in love or is she a secret Zionist assassin out to stop David in his tracks?
2. Nakba: A story of innocent love in a time of war and tragedy. Layla (Penelope Cruz) & Salam (Orlando Bloom) are a Romeo & Juliet against the backdrop of the 1948 Nakba, the Palestinian national catastrophe. During the Nakba, over 700,000 Palestinians fled voluntarily & involuntarily their homes. Can their love survive conflict? Read the rest of this entry »
“India in the 18th century was a land of peaceful integration, with many English gentlemen ‘going native’. But by the great mutiny of 1857 racism was rife and the British were loathed. William Dalrymple, whose new book tells how the Mughal empire was destroyed, explains what went wrong
Not far from my farm outside Delhi lies Zafar Mahal, the ruined summer palace of the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar II. It is a deeply melancholy place. The cusped arches of the chambers where Zafar held his mushairas, or poetic symposia, are collapsing; only pigeons declaim here today. Next to the domes of an old Sufi shrine lies the empty plot in which Zafar wished to be buried; a wish that was never fulfilled. At 4 am on October 7, 1858 – 332 years after the first Mughal Babur conquered Delhi –the last Emperor left the imperial city on a bullock cart, escorted by a troup of British Lancers to exile in Rangoon.
Zafar – the direct descendant of Genghis Khan and Timur – succeeded his father only in his mid-sixties, when it was too late for him to reverse the political decline of the Mughals. But he succeeded in creating a court of great brilliance. He was a skilled calligrapher, a profound writer on Sufism, a discriminating patron of miniature painters and an inspired creator of gardens. More remarkably, he was a serious mystical poet, and through his patronage there took place one of the greatest literary renaissances in Indian history. While the British took over more and more of the Mughal Emperor’s power, the court busied itself in pursuit of the perfect Urdu couplet.
Then, on a May morning in 1857, 300 mutinous sepoys from Meerut rode into Delhi, massacred every Christian man, woman and child they could find, and declared Zafar to be their Emperor. Zafar was no friend of the British; yet it was with severe misgivings that he found himself the nominal leader of an uprising that he suspected from the start was doomed: a chaotic army of unpaid peasant soldiers set against the world’s greatest military power.
The great Mughal capital, caught in the middle of a cultural flowering, was turned overnight into a battleground. The Siege of Delhi was the Raj’s Stalingrad: a fight to the death between two powers, neither of whom could retreat. There were unimaginable casualties, and on both sides the combatants were driven to the limits of physical and mental endurance.
Finally, on September 14, 1857, the British took the city, sacking the Mughal capital and massacring swathes of the population. ‘The orders went out to shoot every soul,’ recorded Edward Vibart, a 19-year-old British officer. ‘It was literally murder … The women were all spared, but their screams on seeing their husbands and sons butchered were most painful … Heaven knows, I feel no pity, but when some old grey-bearded man is brought and shot before your very eyes, hard must be that man’s heart I think who can look on with indifference…’ Read the rest of this entry »
In 1790, four thousand chests of opium entered China, and by 1830 the amount of opium entering China increased 10 times. The British, attracted by China’s enormous population and market potential, had tried to diplomatically open up an isolationist China, and having failed decided to resort to a dirty gunboat diplomacy. When the emperor of China banned opium, the British pounded China into submission. A second opium war followed a couple of decades later resulted in forcing open China to narcotics and other trade with the capitalist market that continued until 1949 communist revolution that shut China’s trade door again. In late 2001 China willingly decided to open its doors to trade, and joined WTO. Napoleon once said “Let China sleep for when she wake, she will shake the world.” China’s appetite and manufacturing prowess has since shaken the world. Manhole covers started to disappear from roads and pavements around the world to fill China’s demand for scrap metal. The demand for Oil soared, and so did China’s economy at a staggering rate. As China’s manufacturing prowess showed, the developed world invoked anti-dumping clauses, intellectual property rights, and political reasons. All of this so far has not been able to check China’s growth, which, on the question of manufacturing, is more open to the world than the world is to China. 
