Zero Privacy: Intelligence gathering

in the digital age

UK £3.00

issue 10 vol.1August 2013

Eating with God’s permission

Jerusalem: the rape of an identity

The search for extra-terrestrial life

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Disclaimer: Where opinion is expressed it is that of the author and does not nec-essarily coincide with the editorial views of the publisher or islam today. All infor-mation in this magazine is verified to the best of the authors’ and the publisher’s ability. However, islam today shall not be liable or responsible for loss or damage arising from any users’ reliance on information obtained from the magazine.

August 2013

Issue, 10 Vol, 1 Published Monthly

islam today magazine intends to address the concerns and aspirations of a vibrant Muslim community by providing readers with inspiration, information, a sense of community and solutions through its unique and specialised contents. It also sets out to help Muslims and non-Muslims better understand and appreciate the nature of a dynamic faith.

Publisher: Islamic Centre of England 140 Maida Vale London, W9 1QB - UK

ISSN 2051-2503

Managing Director Mohammad Saeed Bahmanpour

Chief Editor Amir De Martino

Managing Editor Anousheh Mireskandari

Political Editor Reza Murshid

Science Editor Hannah Smith

Health Editor Laleh Lohrasbi

Art Editor Moriam Grillo

Layout and Design Sasan Sarab - Michele Paolicelli

Design and Production PSD UK Ltd.

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Alexander Khaleeli

Ali Jawad

Batool Hayder

Cleo Cantone

Frank Julian Gelli

Hamid Waqar

Isa Jahangir

Jamal Ahmad

Masoud Tehrani

Mohsen Biparva

Muhammad Haghir

Contact us

Editorial team

Back Cover Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque - Abu Dhabi – UAE . A fusion of Arab, Mughal and Moorish architecture.Opened in December 2007

Islamic Centre of England

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Editorial5 An ordinary hero

News6 News from around the world

Life & Community 10 Faithfully Facebooking

Social networking has become an integral part of our daily lives but the fact that we’re using a device rather than actually meeting is no excuse for relaxing Islamic principles, claims Batool Hayder

14 Eating with God’s permissionThe Islamic method of slaughtering live-stock is a mercy for humans and animals alike, says Laleh Lohrasbi

Arts18 In the spotlight

Peter Gould - Digital artist, photographer and brand designer

19 Masterpiece Untitled - Photographed by Peter Sanders

Tazhib Traditional Persian art by Mojgan Lisar

20 Spoken WordBaracka Blue - American poet and educa-tor

The place to BEEid celebrations at Campbell Park in Milton Keynes

21 HeritageFritware tile panel - Turkey, Iznik; c. 1540

Photography

Hamid Rad – winner of ‘Best Underwater Photographer of the Year'

Politics22 Prosecuting the pranksters and

letting off the bankers One law for the rich and another for the poor. The masterminds of the global financial meltdown are getting off lightly while those who oppose them are brought to book, ar-gues Reza Murshid

24 Obama’s Threadbare Brand Six years into his presidency, brand Obama has lost its lustre and fans, writes Masoud Tehrani

26 No to Empire! Black Star, Crescent MoonMohsen Biparva reviews Sohail Daulatzai’s book ‘Black Star, Crescent Moon The Muslim International and Black Freedom beyond America’

Cover30 Zero Privacy: Intelligence gathering

in the digital age Hannah Smith examines the ethical issues thrown up by whistleblowing

Feature 36 Jerusalem, The rape of an identity

The Israeli government’s relentless persecution of Arabs in Jerusalem betrays a systematic policy of ethnic cleansing, believes Jamal Ahmad

38 Remembering Quds DayThe significance of Quds Day lies in its universal call to the oppressed of the world, argues Ali Jawad

Opinion42 The American Dream Machine

M Haghir asks if American culture as we know it today is a legacy we want to bestow on future generations

Information info@islam-today.net

Letters to the Editor letters@islam-today.net

Contributions & Submissions submit@islam-today.net

Subscriptions subscriptions@islam-today.net

www.islam-today.net

Follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/islamtodaymag

Contents

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Glossary of Islamic Symbols The letters [swt] after the name of Allah [swt] (God), stand for the Arabic phrase

subhanahu wa-ta’ala meaning: “Glorious and exalted be He”.

The letter [s] after the name of the Prophet Muhammad[s], stands for the Arabic phrase sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam, meaning: “May Allah bless him and grant him peace”.

The letter [a] after the name of the Imams from the progeny of the Prophet Muhammad[s], and for his daughter Fatimah[a] stands for the Arabic phrase ‘alayhis-salaam, ‘alayhas-salaam (feminine) and ‘alayhimus-salaam (plural) meaning respectively: (God’s) Peace be with him/ her/ them.

Faith 46 At The Crossroads

Alexander Khaleeli reflects on the human conditions of sinning and repentance

48 Building upon silenceIsa Jahangir examines the concept of silence and its importance in Islamic spirituality

50 Mental and personality disorder recovery - An Islamic perspectiveHamid Waqar believes that the switch from egocentrism to a God-centric world-view can help cure mental health disorders such as narcissism

Interfaith52 The assumption of the Virgin Mary

The Virgin Mary is a figure revered in Islam and Christianity alike. The Revd Frank Gelli explains her historical and spiritual impor-tance to Christians

Health 54 The Muslim contribution to health

and medicineLaleh Lohrasbi highlights the contribu-tions of two prominent Muslim scholars in the field of medicine and chemistry

57 Muslim Doctor bags prestigious international award A look at the achievement of Dr. Zahra Alizadeh Sani, an Iranian cardiology spe-cialist, who recently won the accolade of Greatest World Woman Inventor in 2013

Science 58 The search for extra-terrestrial life

Hannah Smith searches for clues on the existence of aliens or life beyond planet Earth in the world of empirical science

Places 62 Doors of Baraka

Cleo Cantone is concerned that the old traditional skill of door making in North Africa is slowly disappearing

What & Where 66 Listings and Events

Al Quds Day – Annual Demonstration & Rally in support of Palestine

Asian Textiles Summer School - University of Oxford

Eid in London - The Muslim festival of Eid in Trafalgar Square

Boys Summer Camp 2013 - Islamic Thought

Friday Nights Thought Forum – Islamic Centre of England

Wilayah Summer Camp - The Ahlul Bayt Islamic Mission

Islamic Prayer Mat - Oriental Museum

MSC Summer Camp 2013 – Germany

Islam, Imaan, Ihsaan - Markfield Conference Centre

IUS Summer Camp 2013: Back to basics

Cycle for the Ummah; London to Paris - UWT

Mount Snowdon Challenge - Islamic Help

Shadow of Dreams - SOAS University

European Summer School - International Institute of Islamic Thought

Central Asia; Merchants on the Silk Road - Gallery talk at The British Museum

Islamic Help's Climb Ben Nevis challenge - west coast of Scotland

Contents

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The case of Edward Snowden has reopened the debate on whether whistleblowing is something to admire or

despise. The notion persists that it is disloyal and irresponsible to criticise one's employer especially if their job is to ‘protect’ people.

In the cover story of this issue, Hannah Smith deliberates on the moral implica-tions of Snowden’s action.

After working for the American National Security Agency (NSA) for some years, Snowden discovers some documents that trouble his moral sense. He finds out that his employer is conducting a global spying programme not only on its own citizens but other nations too - a programme that resembles an “Orwellian global big brother”, where citizens’ privacy exists only to be exploited and abused.

NSA is the most expensive and techno-logically advanced organisation on the planet. According to the New Yorker, the agency is three times bigger than the CIA and absorbs a third of the intel-ligence services budget. Because it is paid for by American taxpayers it is safe to conclude that the American people are paying their taxes so that they can be spied upon.

Once Snowden, a brilliant mathemati-cian and cryptographer, recognised that this global strategy of control was well in motion, he contacted The Guardian

newspaper‘s Glenn Greenwald and the documentary maker Laura Poitras - who is currently working on a series of programmes to explain how America has changed after the 9/11 attacks - and spilled the beans.

The programme outed by Snowden, Prism - code named US-984XN - is a highly successful instrument to spy on people via social networking, videos on YouTube, emails and published photos. In short, everything and more. Prism is the offspring of the so-called Patriot Act - a sinister piece of legislation which has nothing patriotic about it and which serves to criminalise legitimate political dissent and opposition. Like its parent, Prism is essentially a snooper’s charter that puts critics of US policy, perceived as ‘apologists of terrorism’, at risk.

According to Snowden the NSA has entered into agreements with the web giants, Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Apple, amongst others, to have access to the masses of personal data they store about their users. He also revealed that the NSA has carried out attacks against ‘enemy’ internet struc-tures, such as Chinese providers, and unleashed thousands of cyber-attacks worldwide.

What is now clear is that through Prism, the USA is gathering an ocean of information (meta-data), far more than is needed to survey possible security threats. In fact it is creating the biggest wealth of information which is at the base of both government politics and industrial-commercial interests.

The question arises as to why the US government is building a bank of data of such proportions?

The National Intelligence Council in its report; ‘Global Trends 2030 Alternative Worlds’ predicts a steady decline of the

West’s global importance and influence. For the first time since the 15th century western countries are losing ground to the new emerging powers. We are witnessing the final cycle of five centu-ries of Western world domination. Even if the USA continues to be one of the major powers in the world, it is gradu-ally losing its economic hegemony to China and other emerging economies.

Every serious analyst knows that the next five to 30 years will not be easy for the American government. Whatever and however they implement their strategies, the country is destined to a rapid and heavy economic meltdown as a result of global dynamics, and the most obvious way to stay ahead of the game is by appropriating the means to power - information - on a huge scale.

Profiling is the most important meta-data for any marketing, commercial and political policy; who we are, what we do, who we know, who we meet, where we surf on the internet, where we go and how many times.

Snowden is now on the run searching frantically for a haven where he can be safe from the predations of a rapacious state that has shown it can brook no criticism of its abuses. In short Edward Snowden has sacrificed his career, his future, and his own livelihood to safe-guard the US’ and other nations’ dignity from catastrophic global control and domination. The irony is that Snowden is undergoing these ordeals while the American masses remain unaware, indifferent, and stupefied by the mass media.

Edward Snowden, a brilliant American young man, is not only today’s hero but a hero of the future. A ‘normal’ society would nominate him for a national honour instead of hunting him down like a criminal. •

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Editorial

An ordinary hero

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Danish party wants Muslims to conform or ship out

Muslims who show no interest in adopting Danish values ought to think about why they settled in Denmark in the first place, the immigration spokes-person for leading opposition party Venstre argued in a recent opinion piece published in Politiken newspaper.

In her piece, Inger Støjberg criticised

Danish Muslims who actively try to shield themselves from Danish values and norms and who think that their religious beliefs should not be allowed to be mocked.

Støjberg pointed to a study of Danish Muslims in which 55 per cent responded that criticising religion should be banned and 64 per cent thought that free speech should be limited in particular circumstances.

‘Denmark is the land of the Danes and you are more than welcome to become a Dane and take part in the work and community,’ Støjberg wrote. ‘But to those Muslims who constantly work against us, constantly question us, are unsatisfied, … [they] belittle our values, flag or way of living - to all of you: Go and find somewhere else to live. No one is forcing you to stay. We accepted you and now it’s up to you to show the necessary respect for our society and the values it is built upon.’

She went on to argue that certain practices, such as Muslim teachers not wanting to shake hands with female pupils or Muslims requesting segregated facilities for sport training, contradict progress and equality.

Imran Shah, chairman of Muslim group Det Islamiske Trossamfund, responded in Politiken to Støjberg’s criticisms on both stoning and arranged marriages.

‘No Muslims in Denmark are talking about stoning. No one wants to introduce stoning,’ Shah said. ‘[And] If parents and children agree, and everyone consents without being forced into it, then what is wrong with arranged marriages?’

He added that he wasn’t surprised by Støjberg views on Muslims given her history of speaking critically about Islam.

‘We are taking it with a grain of salt,’

Shah said. ‘But it is also very irre-sponsible with regards to the Danish society. We need to find some solutions to the economic challenges instead of throwing mud at each other. It seems so pointless to start a messy fight about values instead of trying to solve some real problems.’

Government parties Socialdemokraterne and Socialistisk Folkeparti both said they agreed with the general points made by Støjberg, but that her approach to Danish Muslims lacked nuance.

‘We agree that we should follow Danish values in this country,’ Jacob Bjerre-gaard, said Socialdemokraterne's immi-gration spokeperson. ‘But she makes no effort to differentiate between Muslims who live a peaceful life and go to work and look after their children and those who have a conservative approach to living in a modern society. Støjberg’s target is far too broad.’

Bjerregaard also criticised Støjberg

for not coming forward with any new measures to improve integration.

‘There are no new proposals here. It’s pure rhetoric. I think it is about the need for Venstre to stand out after tumbling aimlessly around for some time. But let’s start the debate.’

Spotting an opportunity, Martin Henriksen, integration spokesperson for Dansk Folkeparti, proposed that Venstre should use this opportunity to follow up with strict policies aimed at curbing migration from Muslim coun-tries.

‘I think that Venstre and Dansk Folkeparti should join together for the next election with a goal of reducing Muslim immigration to somewhere close to zero. It is the most effective solution to ensure that Denmark will remain socially and culturally united in

the decades ahead,’ Henriksen said.

Attacks on Muslims on the rise in Europe Violence against Muslims in Europe is on the rise among the handful of member states that officially record such incidents.

A recent report by the Vienna-based Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) found that Finland, France, and Sweden registered an increase in attacks against Muslims between 2010 and 2011. Only Austria recorded a decline.

Data is missing from every other member state either because they do not collect it or have not published it. Anti-Semitic attacks during the same period dropped in France and Sweden.

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The FRA report notes the trends do not reflect the prevalence of racist, xenophobic and related crimes in the member states because most incidents go unreported. Other caveats include how member states define these crimes and the willingness of witnesses to report the incidents. Finland recorded 14 cases of anti Muslim crime in 2009, 15 in 2010 and 14 in 2011.

In France, authorities attribute the increase to applying rules on how to record the incidents. The precise number of cases was not given. The report points out that ‘direct compari-sons between member states cannot and should not be made here, because any observed variations are a reflec-tion of data collection practices at the national level.’ It notes member states with the highest officially recorded rates do not necessarily have the highest rates of such crimes.

The UK-based NGO, Tell Mama, records anti-Islamic attacks. The NGO, partially funded by the UK government, has noted 632 anti-Muslim hate incidents since March 2012. Most victims are women and girls between the ages of

five and 89.

Woman miscarries after Islamophobic attackA woman has miscarried her baby after she was attacked in Paris for wearing a veil. The unnamed 21-year-old was

four months pregnant when she was attacked by skinheads in the suburb of Argenteuil. Her lawyer, Hosni Maati told reporters she had been kicked in the stomach.

Two men attacked the 21-year-old woman, trying to remove her headscarf and later cutting off her hair and shouting anti-Islamic taunts at her.

France banned the wearing of burka or niqab-type full-face veils in public in April 2011. It did not, however, forbid the wearing of the hijab.

Thousands of protesters gathered outside a town hall in Argenteuil in response to a recent spate of racist attacks against Muslim women.

Irish MP calls Obama ‘War Criminal’An Irish politician has slammed US President Barack Obama as a ‘war criminal’ and ‘hypocrite of the century’ in a blistering speech before the Parlia-ment.

Clare Daly, an independent member of Parliament (ID) representing Dublin North, chastised Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Enda Kenny for embracing Obama, telling the Taoiseach he had ‘turned a blind eye’ to US policy towards Syria and the use of targeted drone strikes.

‘Is this person going for the hypocrite of the century award?’ Daly asked of

Obama. ‘Because we have to call things by their right names, and the reality is that by any serious examination, this man is a war criminal.’

‘This is the man who has facilitated a 200 per cent increase in the use of drones, which have killed thousands of people including hundreds of children,’ she added.

The comments were reflective of how global opinion of Obama has shifted on account of his drone policy. Daly was especially incensed by Obama's speech on the Northern Ireland peace process, which she found to be in contrast with his own record on establishing peace in other parts of the world.

There isn't much peace in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Pakistan, and ‘there certainly isn't much peace’ in Syria, she said. Daly was also critical of the Obama administration's decision to supply arms to the Syrian opposition, which she said included ‘jihadists fuel-ling destabilisation of that region.’

Russian Court upholds ban on Hijab in schoolsA branch of Russia’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a group of

Muslims for the right of schoolgirls to wear hijab in classrooms.

The appeal was made by a group of Muslim citizens of southern Russia’s

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Stavropol Region. They complained that a decree by the local administration ordering all schoolchildren to appear in classes only in regular secular clothes, which came into force in January this year, infringes on their freedom of faith as guaranteed by the constitution.

The controversy erupted when a group of schoolgirls were barred from classes for two weeks when they insisted on wearing hijab. The girls then began attending a local religious school, with parents saying their daughters would receive the mandatory universal secondary education at home. However, the administration ruled that a religious school cannot replace a secular one.

The Muslims claimed such a position was equal to religious repression and also that only the federal authorities could pass decisions that limit religious rights. However, local district and regional courts took the administra-tion’s side, ruling that the constitution had not been violated.

‘Restrictions in appearance ensure normal functioning of educational institutions and equality of students belonging to different faiths and denominations. The appearance of students should comply with the official style and be secular,’ read the ruling of the Stavropol Regional Court.

Without even a hint of irony, the court decreed that freedom of religion cannot be tied to the right to wear religious attire and that the ban protected the equality of all faiths.

At the session, the representative of the Stavropol administration reiter-ated the position that the school regulations concerning dress did not prevent Muslims from believing in God and were, therefore, not infringing on anyone’s rights.

The defence team said they would now appeal the case in the Supreme Court Presidium, the final right of recourse within Russia. They also noted that it was unlikely that they would turn to the European Court of Human Rights as they expected it to take the side of the regional authorities.

The majority of the Stavropol region’s approximately 280,000-strong popula-tion is comprised of ethnic Russians who are Orthodox Christians. But in recent years more and more Muslims from neighbouring North Caucasus republics have been settling in the area and many Russians are leaving for central regions.

Earlier, the ban on religious clothes in schools was also introduced in the Muslim-dominated regions of Bashkiriya, Adygea and Dagestan.

Anti-Muslim pair banned from UKTwo American political activists who founded an anti-Muslim group have been banned by the Home Secretary from entering the UK following reports

they were to attend an English Defence League (EDL) march.

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, who set up Stop Islamization of America and run the website Jihad Watch, have been forbidden from entering the country on the grounds their presence would ‘not be conducive to the public good’.

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We can confirm that Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer are subject to an exclu-sion decision. The Home Secretary will seek to exclude an individual if she considers that his or her presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good. We condemn all those whose

behaviours and views run counter to our shared values and will not stand for extremism in any form.’

Matthew Collins, researcher with anti-fascism and anti-racism campaigners Hope Not Hate, who campaigned for Ms Geller and Mr Spencer's exclusion, said the organisation was ‘absolutely delighted’ with the move.

He said: ‘These two are among some of the most extreme anti-Muslim activists in the world. They've nothing to contribute to life in this country. They're not here to contribute to good community relations. They only wanted to come here and help the EDL stir up more trouble. Britain doesn't need more hate.’

Channel 4; Muslim Call to Prayer British broadcaster Channel 4 has become the first publicly owned UK TV station to air the Muslim call to prayer during the holy month of Ramadan.

The decision has caused controversy in the United Kingdom. The murder of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich in May 2013 has led to a number of anti-Islamic demonstrations and Islamophobic attacks.

The channel aired a month long series of programmes focussing on Ramadan.

Ralph Lee, head of factual program-ming at Channel 4, defended the deci-sion saying: ‘Our hope for the whole thing really is to draw attention to a significant minority in Britain. There

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are nearly three million Muslims in Britain. This will bring a bit of attention to the experience of Ramadan and what they are going through in this period.’ The Channel refuted claims that the programme is a publicity stunt.

Anti-EU party UKIP said the move was provocative, while the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) applauded the deci-sion.

The National Secular Society struck a cautious but broadly supportive note in its response. ‘I wouldn't object to it as at least it gives some balance to the BBC's emphasis on Christianity but Channel 4 has to keep it in proportion,’ president Terry Sanderson said.

Since its launch in 1982 the publicly owned Channel 4 commercial TV channel has provided a platform for alternative and provocative program-ming.

Snowden: U.S. & Israel Collaborated on Creating StuxnetThe former National Security Agency contractor has revealed that Stuxnet, an unprecedented cyber weapon that targeted Iran’s nuclear programme, was the product of a joint American-Israeli secret operation.

Before Edward Snowden became a household name, he conducted an

interview via encrypted emails with cyber security expert Jacob Appelbaum and was asked about the game-changing computer code, according to the interview published in the German newspaper Der Spiegel.

‘NSA [U.S. National Security Agency] and Israel co-wrote it,’ Snowden said.

Snowden said that the NSA regularly works with foreign governments and has a ‘massive body’ called the Foreign Affairs Directorate to deal with interna-tional partners.

In the interview Snowden did not discuss Stuxnet further and, so far, none of the newspapers Snowden has worked with

have published any documents directly relating to the cyber weapon.

Discovered in 2010 but possibly in action as early as 2005, Stuxnet was designed to infiltrate the computer system at an Iranian nuclear facility, physically damage the facility’s infra-structure by throwing off automated systems and cover its tracks so that even if engineers were monitoring those systems, everything would appear normal.

At the time of its discovery, cyber security experts put the U.S. and Israel on a shortlist of nations capable of developing such a sophisticated and expensive cyber weapon. In June 2012, The New York Times reported Stuxnet was part of a cyber offensive programme

begun under George W Bush and accel-erated under Barack Obama which targeted Iran’s nuclear programme and said Stuxnet was ‘developed by the United States and Israel.’ No U.S. or Israeli officials have gone on the record to claim responsibility for Stuxnet or its digital successors.

In related news, James Cartwright, who was the US military's second-highest-ranking officer before retiring in 2011, is said to be the target of an inquiry by the US justice department into how the media obtained information on the Stuxnet strike on Iranian nuclear facili-ties.

Gen. Cartwright, 63, has now received a letter from justice department officials informing him that he is the subject of the leak inquiry.

The 63-year-old is the highest-profile official so far to be targeted by an aggressive crackdown on whistleblowers by Mr Obama’s administration, which has prosecuted more people under the Espionage Act than all past administra-tions combined.

Inquiries into two other leaks have seen phone records seized for reporters from the Associated Press and emails obtained from a journalist for Fox News, prompting fierce criticism of the administration from American media organisations. •

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As we go through the process of learning about our faith, the most enduring lesson we are taught is that Islam is a Way of Life. Batool Hayder claims although we parrot this phrase and repeat it like a mantra, we never quite grasp the full implications of these simple words when social networking.

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It is true to say that for the general practising Muslim public, Islam does become a partial practicality, but for most of us rarely - if ever -

does it become a Reality. We live our lives, dipping every so often into the pool of religion to pick out the various practices and traditions that we have been taught to carry out as a sign of our Muslim identity.

We pray, we fast, and we pay our share of charity. We avoid telling lies or talking about others, we don’t steal and we try our best to be ‘nice’. We don’t drink alcohol and check that a restaurant serves halal food before eating there. We observe hijab; we do not frequent places of immorality.

However, as much we try to make Islam a part of our lives, we do need to sit back every so often and ask ourselves if it really defines the way we live. This is never as obvious as it is in the things that we consider to be part of our daily social or recreational activities and thus somewhat immune from the rigorous filter of religion.

A prime example in current times is our use of social media. Never have more people had a greater presence ‘online’ than they do now. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Goodreads - there is a place for everyone, from the liter-arily inclined to those who just want to ‘chill’ with friends. We hang out, chat, exchange photos and fun anecdotes, play games, pledge allegiances, make friends (and enemies), start new rela-tionships and break them up, attend events, support causes…all without actually meeting anyone in person.

An online presence has a strong aspect of anonymity, and psychologists tell us that this plays a huge part in how differently people behave on social media networks from the way they do in person. While these networks allow for immediate communication, they can never catch up with ‘real-time’ because the rate of response is always deter-mined by the responder. Waiting for a few minutes or hours allows even the dullest person to come up with a witty, humorous response. Photo-editing

software can help touch up any photo and bring out the best in a person… or the photo of themselves that they may choose to share.

The dangers - especially to young people – (see islam today July 2013 P34) of living a fake life online have been brought to light many times in the past through stories of cyber-bullying that sometimes end with fatal results. However for the Muslim online, there is an additional angle to take into consideration.

The end of verse 13 in Surah Hujarat (The Apartments) of the Holy Qur’an states: “…Indeed the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the most God-wary among you. Indeed Allah is all-knowing, all-aware.”

This sense of God-wariness or being aware that there is a Higher Power watching, is supposed to help us monitor our thoughts and actions. It acts as a check when desires overwhelm us or emotions start to run high. And when we pray at a specific time or refrain from eating during fasting, it is this sense of accountability that keeps our actions sincere.

The risk we run while networking online is that the sense of having a filter between us and the world sometimes makes us forget that the filter does not apply to God. Often, we find that the same people we meet at the local centres or at school who speak in the best manner will casually use a foul word or an obscene acronym on Twitter. People who attend lectures at the mosque will also be the same people who will ‘Like’ movies, music and celeb-rity pages on Facebook that obviously overstep the boundaries of the Islamic moral code.

Perhaps the biggest culprit in all of this is our need to preen. Hijab has through the centuries tempered this desire to display beauty and receive compliments through its balanced philosophy on emotional, mental and physical veils. For some reason though, a lot of Muslims seem not to translate this into their social identities. It is not uncommon to see regular photos that

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people put up of themselves with the sole purpose to show off how good they look at that particular moment.

Self-portraits (#selfie) and ‘Duck Face’ photos have been recent (and still recurring) favourites, but even as the particular details of a pose may change from trend to trend, the aim is inevitably to present a photo that involves some level of suggestiveness and a ‘knowing’ look at the camera (i.e. audience).

These expressions and poses seem to be acceptable for Muslim women as long as they remember to wrap a hijab around their heads before they take the shot. Other Muslims then encourage such behaviour by commenting on the photos and saying how beautiful or amazing or best of all… how ‘hot’ the lady looks in the photo - prefacing such comments with a Halal Prefix of ‘Masha - Allah’ or ‘Subhan - Allah’.

And all along, in our need to be popular in social media circles, of keeping up with the rest of the people there and

of trying to be liberal, we forget that the written word, the photo online, the pages and posts we tag and are tagged in, all count as ‘actions’ for which we are responsible and accountable. The impression that we give of Islam, the ‘Muslim Identity’ we try so hard to maintain in our lives must translate into social media otherwise we will either shatter it or infuse it with a sense of hypocrisy.

It should be impossible to quote the verse of the Qur’an that asks that “…the believing women” should “…lower their gaze and guard their modesty” when speaking in support of hijab and then look boldly into the eye of the camera (i.e. audience) and model for a photo that will be instantly sent to hundreds of ‘Friends’ - and ‘Friends of Friends’ - to ‘Like’, ‘Comment’ on and ‘Share’.

An inner conflict should arise when we claim to be inspired by the Prophet Muhammad’s(s) gentle speech and mannerisms while our posts are littered

with everything from the harsh to the obscene.

The fact that we are able to live this way only means that we have achieved a level of duplicity that is so pervasive that we have accepted it as common-place, and do not realise any need for concern over it.

Incorporating Islam into every single minute aspect of our lives and the responsibility of being Muslims online are both subjects that can - and should - be discussed in greater depth, in order to deal with the current state of affairs and to prepare the coming generations of Muslims.

The journey to self-realisation and piety begins with becoming aware that God is with us everywhere. While passwords and privacy settings shield us from the prying eyes of the rest of creation, it is only the knowledge that God is watching over us that can help protect us from our greatest enemy - ourselves. •

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Eatingwith God’s permission

Despite the decision of some European countries to ban the dhabihah method of slaughtering on the alleged grounds that it is inhumane, scientific research proves that it may be the best option for both animals and humans alike, says Laleh Lohrasbi

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Halal is an Arabic word denoting the permissibility of an action in compliance with religious rulings. In terms

of food, halal is anything that can be eaten in compliance with Islamic law. When slaughtering livestock (ovine or bovine) for consumption, Islamic law demands it to be done in a specific way (dhabihah) for the meat to be classified as halal or permissible to eat. While some countries like the United States permit ritual slaughter as one of two humane methods of slaughter, others like Poland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and New Zealand have outlawed religious slaughtering (kosher and halal) and animal rights groups are actively trying to expand the bans to other European countries including the UK. In Holland, the Dutch Parliament’s Upper House decided not to ban halal and kosher slaughtering but reached an agreement with the Jewish and Muslim communities that the dhabihah and shechita methods could be implemented if there

was certainty that the animal lost consciousness within 40 seconds. On the other hand Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk drafted a proposed law for parliament to reinstate religious slaughtering after fears of a considerable loss of busi-ness. Before January 2013 when the Constitutional Tribunal ruled that ritual slaughter was unconstitutional, Poland was a large-scale producer and exporter of halal and kosher meat. Animal rights groups have claimed that slaughtering an animal whilst it is still conscious is inhumane as it may cause pain to the animal. They also insist that animals should be stunned first to make them uncon-scious in order to reduce the pain. Muslims consider dhabihah to be the best form of slaughter since it derives from divine decree, encompassing a divine wisdom that looks to benefit humanity. The Islamic method of slaughter has set conditions that must be met to render the meat fit for consumption.

• The animal must be conscious.

• It should be treated gently and should not see the knife or other animals being slaughtered.

• The cutting instrument must be very sharp and used in one single swipe. The cut must sever at least three of the animal’s trachea, oesophagus and the two blood vessels on either side of the throat. This disconnects the flow of blood to the nerves of the brain responsible for causing pain.

• The animal must be hung upside down after slaughter to let all the blood drain away, as eating blood is not allowed in Islam.

From a general health point of view, blood carries toxins, germs and bacteria and when left inside the carcass it is potentially hazardous to humans. Blood contains large amounts of uric acid which is definitely harmful if consumed.

In the UK three different non-Islamic methods are used for slaughtering animals:

• The captive bolt pistol (used for cows/cattle)

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• Electric stunning (used for sheep)

• Electrified water bath (used for poultry)

The captive bolt pistol

This gives the animal a blow to the head causing percussive stunning without penetrating the skin with unconscious-ness resulting from direct brain injury. The stunned animal is then slaughtered, painlessly, according to its proponents. The issue of pain was extensively studied in 1974 by the German researcher Professor Wilhelm Schulze and his colleague Dr Hazim at Hanover University. The objective of the research was to investigate pain and consciousness of animals slaughtered using both conventional and religious methods. EEG (brain wave) and ECG (heartbeat) recordings from cattle and calves slaughtered using both methods were compared. Under the halal slaughtering method the EEG analyses showed that in the first three seconds [after the fatal incision is made across the throat] no changes occurred to the pre-incision pattern indicating the animal did not feel any pain during or immediately after the incision. In the following three seconds, the EEG recorded a condition of deep sleep unconsciousness caused by the large quantity of blood gushing out of the body. After the lapse of these six seconds, the electric recording of the brain (EEG) registered zero, indicating no feeling of pain by the animal at all. In contrast EEG and ECG analysis under the non-religious method with a captive bolt pistol showed that despite the apparent unconsciousness of the animal soon after stunning the animal experienced severe pain immediately after stunning, and the heart of the stunned animal stopped beating earlier than an animal slaughtered according to the Islamic method, resulting in more blood retention in the carcass. This research was cited in the German Federal Constitutional Courts on 15th January 2002 when a previous ban on dhabihah was overturned. “The Islamic way of slaughtering is the most humane method of slaughter

and captive bolt stunning, practised in the West, causes severe pain to the animal” declared Dr Schulze. Other research carried out at Texas A&M University showed that stun-ning animal by ‘captive bolt pistol’ prior to slaughter in fact forces brain material into the bloodstream which increases the risk of spreading BSE (popularly known as Mad Cow Disease). This work was reproduced by a team at Bristol University which provided evidence for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to ban the use of captive bolt pistol stunning in 2004 due to the risk of BSE. In the UK, despite the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food’s (MAFF is now known as DEFRA) own findings that the captive bolt stun gun can indeed help spread BSE, there has been no corresponding ban. The Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) stated in a report (June 2003): “The potential loss of this tool without a suitable substitute would present a major animal welfare challenge.” However it made no mention of the challenge this presents to human welfare. It is interesting to note that the Farm Animal Welfare Council which refuses to consider the health risk to humans and focuses on the alleged welfare of cattle has been very vocif-erous in its opposition to dhabihah. Electric stunning

Using this method the animal is first shocked with electric tongs delivering an approximate 1.2amp shock. A scientific paper published in the British Veterinary Journal in 1984 showed that there was a significant problem with “mis-stuns” that only delivered a painful partial shock rather than the usual full charge. On the other hand the time gap between the stunning and commence-ment of the act of slaughter increases the chance of the animal regaining consciousness before bleeding to death.

Research carried out at Bristol Univer-sity showed that whilst electrical stun-ning probably causes analgesia, the sheep will have significant periods of responsiveness when it is aware of its surroundings, and so it is not uncon-scious and probably spends the last minutes of life experiencing extreme stress.

Islamic directives in the form of Prophetic traditions forbid stressing the animal in any way before slaughter, even going as far as demanding that the knife be hidden from view until the last possible moment. Electrified water bath

This is the main method for stunning birds before slaughtering. It is done by shackling their legs and passing them head first upside down through an electrified water bath. Research published in the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics showed that sometimes the electrical water bath fails to stun the bird because the bird moves its head to avoid the water bath or because of

variations in the weight, fat mass and amount of feathers in birds, and also because of under-stunning. It means that a bird is often fully conscious when the neck is cut by an electrical knife, or worse still, it may avoid the mechanical knife and go to the scalding tank fully conscious. In addition, around 10% of stunned birds will have regained consciousness when entering the scalding tank due to the time lag between stunning and dying due to only having had one carotid artery severed. Such a body of scientific evidence cannot be considered endorsement for stunning but quite the opposite. Stunning before slaughter is not more humane than Islamic slaughtering. The purpose of dhabihah is to ensure that the meat is free of impurities, the animal is given proper respect, and above all, that God is praised for his bounties. •

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Peter Gould converted to Islam in 2002, He is a digital artist, photographer and brand designer. He studied Design at

the University of Technology in Australia and was awarded the Creative Artist of the Year Award at the 4th annual Muslim Achievement Awards in 2011.

Gould has developed a range of graphic products, from iPhone applications to wall art. His clients range from Yusuf Islam to Sony and aim to convey what is now regarded as "Islamic cool."

Gould's repertoire is mainly graphic, from media branding to text driven wall art.

He heads a small team of graphic artists working towards creating a modern Islamic lifestyle brand.

“Our core strength is an understanding of how to create fresh, exciting and vibrant creative work inspired by Islam.” — Peter Gould

Gould has definitely recognised a gap in the market and is making a name for himself as a young Muslim entrepreneur.

His work appears to be more about achieving commercial success. It is not that of an artisan who labours over his craft and creates out love, fascination and passion. Gould represents modern commerciality and it goes without saying that one of his aims is to secure the Muslim 'pound'. That said, he has successfully created new pathways to consolidate Islamic identity in a wider international context.

In August, in collaboration with Milton Keynes Islamic Art, Culture and Heritage [www.mkiac.org], Gould will be creating a piece of ground breaking contemporary artwork using virtual media technology. The work will connect individuals across the UK and internationally by creating a live wall of dialogue that sends messages of hope,

integration, harmony and peace. These messages will be conveyed as live feeds across a huge interactive screen. Participants will be able to contribute via Twitter as well as during the event.

ARTS Art Editor Moriam Grillo

As Eid approaches, I have taken this opportunity to celebrate contemporary Islamic art. The artists featured this month have all made a significant impact in the art world and have received international acclaim. Their work will be presented to the public at Eid celebrations later this month in Milton Keynes.

Peter [Yasin] Gould

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Eid Mubarak

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In the last few days of Ramadhan, this mise-en-scène has added poignancy. Many practising Muslims choose to spend time in retreat or khalwa; intense moments of reflection and solitude which help to galvanise the days of fasting, worship and remem-brance. These moments of spiritual communion mark the end of a very special period of journeying towards one's Lord, which is achieved by the partial negation of physical needs and an immersion in spiritual practice. I first came across this picture, when a friend presented it to me in the form of a greeting card. Taken in Egypt by the internationally acclaimed photogra-pher Peter Sanders, this image is filled with connotations of remembrance, reflection, solitude and yearning - elements of our true primordial state. The location is a mosque in a small village named Al Qurna on the west bank of the River Nile opposite Luxor, a stone's throw from the Valley of the Kings. It is an area of antiquity and regarded as the site of the Theban necropolis. This fact is itself a testimony to the 'recycling' of creation and reminds me of God's words in the Noble Qur’an: "Travel the earth and reflect on the lives of those who have gone before you." At first glance, it appears to refer to a bygone age. The space is primitive and simple, not adorned with thou-sands of painstakingly hand carved or painted tiles, as we might expect from such an environment. His attire

appears to be a simple stitched gown that professes no allegiance to wealth or poverty. It seems, with this image, we are presented with an antiquated way of being. But are we? After all, the picture has been taken in colour and in the twenty first century. The genius of this picture is that it is able to trav-erse time, yet confirm the unchanging nature and higher qualities of man. Indeed, the scene is a mosque in a rural location, equipped with only the basic necessities for worship, namely, a clean environment, adequate space to sit or pray and knowledge of the direction of the Holy Ka’ba. The setting leaves out all unnecessary embellishment, keeping in only what is needed - what is real and lasting. The composition itself reflects the initial intention for this sacred space and the purpose for which it is built, its simple mud construction being a metaphor for the simplicity of Islam, signifying the essential purpose of crea-tion and the journey towards the Truth. For me, this image represents the outer kernel of the heart. God says: "Heaven and earth cannot contain me but the heart of a believer can." Here, we are presented with someone yearning, seeking, reflecting, gaining... It is a proactive and dynamic action, the outer manifestation of an internal and secret transaction that is a means to an end - the ultimate end. In 2006, over a thousand inhabitants of Al Qurna and the surrounding villages were relocated in order to maintain the archaeological integrity of the area. This image now stands as a lasting testimony to an era that was and is no more. History has indeed repeated itself and a photograph of modernity has become a recording for posterity. Sanders has made a significant impact in enabling us to reflect on our ever-changing world, as well as presenting us with striking parables that allude to our true purpose and continual need to nourish our higher self in order to attain what is real and more lasting. Through this image Sanders is asking

us to consider how our internal integrity is reflected in our outward surround-ings and to reflect on where our priori-ties lie. Have we used this month of fasting to empty out all the unnecessary emotional, psychological and physical clutter that accumulates over time? Will Eid [which essentially means to return to one's primordial state] be a time of true return for us?

Mojgan Lisar is a Turkish artist who specialises in Tazhib. Tazhib is a traditional Persian art form based on a classical geometric design, which was originally used to decorate books. This process of design is very intricate and is created solely by hand. Lisar has taken the key elements of Tazhib and used them successfully to create her own visual language. Using this traditional theme as a starting point, she has developed her designs using curves as opposed to the straight lines and angles of the originals. She has also created a palette of colours which differentiates her work and gives it a more contem-porary feel. Her pieces have an air of femininity, genteelness and softness and allow those who behold her work the opportunity to respect the past and honour the present all at once.

(traditional Persian art)

Mojgan Lisar

Peter [Abdul Azim] SandersMASTERPIECE

TAZHIB

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Baracka Blue

"I never wrote poems. I wrote raps. When I had a beat I wrote to that. When there was no beat I wrote to silence. When there was no pen I free-styled. If we had music we rapped to the music. If we had no music we made music by beating on trash cans, or park benches, or simply with our mouths. If there were no trash cans, or mouths, I rapped to my heartbeat. I firmly believe that poetic language is meant to be heard and not simply read. When it is read it should be read loud."

Baracka Blue is an American poet and educator. His poetry is delivered of the form of Spoken-Word, a style of recitation which is based on rhythmical and often emotive utterances. This performance art has been used for many centuries as a means of transfer-ring oral histories and traditions from generation to generation through theat-rical dramas, stories and poetry.

Historical narratives have given context to a wider, universal struggle which traverses time and geographical distance. When I reflect on the origins of this art form, I am reminded of the personal struggle throughout history that has been conveyed through words,

enabling us to understand our past more clearly. Sojourner Truth and her fight against slavery, Zainab(a) and her battle to convey the truth of the battle of Karbala.

We each use words to convey our own message, a message uttered about the present but referencing our past and alluding to our future. Blue uses words to define himself and his journey, a journey of self discovery which has been influenced by the words of past poets. His delivery is fresh and dynamic and appealing to a contemporary ear. By using words that relate to contempo-rary Muslim youth culture, Blue is able to reconcile the gap between eastern and western ideals and invoke the former without compromising a cultural allegiance to the latter.

Although not to everyone's taste, Blue has made a niche for himself in the cultural tapestry of Islamic expres-sionism. His words, well thought out and passionate, are imbued with spiritual meaning and are exception-ally motivating for young people who engage on the same frequency. His use of philosophical reflection and spiritual metaphor elevates his work above the mainstream which is often mediocre and taboo.

Using the wisdom of ancient scholars and mystics Blue promotes a way of communicating which brings ancient wisdom into the modern cultural domain.

Baracka Blue has two books of poetry: Disembodied Kneelings and Reedbed Diaspora

Baracka Blue can be followed on twitter @BarackaBlue

Eid celebrations are taking place at Campbell Park in Milton Keynes on 10-11 August. The wide selection of activities will include a funfair, bouncy castle, face painting, a treasure hunt, geometry and calligraphy workshops, a mascot race and storytelling for the children, as well as henna design, a tug-of-war, spoken word poetry, a ladies fashion show and Islamic art display.

Work from Peter Gould, Peter Sanders and Mojgan Lisar will be on display. Baracka Blue will also be performing his poetry.

Arts + Culture Festival 2013

Campbell Park

Avebury Boulevard

Milton Keynes MK9 4AP

SPOKEN WORDTHE PLACE TO BECampbell Park Milton Keynes

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Fritware tile panel

Painted in blue, turquoise, and moss green under a transparent glaze

Turkey, Iznik; c. 1540

H: 61.2; W: 79 cm

Changes were made in the decoration on Iznik ceramics in around 1540. The very dense patterns were replaced by a more naturalistic and spacious style in which plants dominated. The original palette of sage green, turquoise, red and cobalt blue was expanded to include moss green and manganese. These elegant tiles with hyacinths, tulips, and cherry branches were designed so that at least two are needed for the motif to be complete. Other panels might be made up of many individual tiles, which together created a more complicated composition. Information courtesy of The David Collection.

Hamid Rad is an Iranian photographer who specialises in documenting the unseen world beyond the surface of the oceans. His interest in this field began whilst he was involved in tropical marine conservation. Each of his photographs conveys a different story and are both beautiful and stunning. They reflect his passion and fascina-tion with the marine environment. Rad, recently awarded 'Best Underwater Photographer of the Year,' says that "people care about what they know. Through underwater photography, I [have] found a way to reach people and raise their awareness about the fragility & vanishing beauty of our oceans."

Looking at his pictures is like jour-neying into an unknown world, a place filled with vibrancy, colour and possibility. Our understanding of what lies underwater is so limited that his photographs act as a documentation of species, spaces and vegetation that are new discoveries for our individual intellects.

Rad has authored a brave new world, one where his efforts and discoveries are noted and admired. •

Moriam Grillo is a visual artist, broadcaster, author and part time art teacher. She holds Bachelor degrees in Photography & Film and Ceramics. Her current work involves two public Islamic commissions.

PHOTOGRAPHY

HERITAGE

Hamid Rad

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There is something really wrong about a society in which the main culprits of a disastrous financial meltdown are let off the hook while an innocent prankster is brought to justice. So far the legal establishment has done little or nothing to the bankers who presided over the near collapse of the finan-cial system in the western hemisphere, but the law has all of a sudden become sensitive to the activities of one particular individual.

Jeff Olsen was arrested recently in San Diego, California, for writing anti-bank messages outside the Bank of America building.

He was charged with 13 counts of vandalism. If convicted, Olsen faced the prospect of being incarcerated for expressing his opinion on a public sidewalk.

‘I wrote ‘No thanks big banks,’ I wrote

‘Shame on Bank of America”’, Olsen told TV reporters in San Diego. ‘Always on city sidewalks, washable chalk, never crude

messages, never vulgar, clearly topical,’ he added.

The San Diego city attorney decided to prosecute Olsen after complaints about the anti-bank messages were sent in an email from a high ranking bank security manager.

Judge Howard Shore, who presided over the case, said that Mr Olsen’s water-soluble chalk work was vandalism. ‘In light of the fact that it’s clear in the case law, vandalism is not a legitimate exercise of free speech rights. It really is irrelevant what the message is, or content is,’ Judge Shore said.

Many thought that if Mr Olsen should be convicted, so should many kids who draw

The masterminds of the financial meltdown in the western hemisphere have been ignored but the activists who try to raise public awareness about its causes are aggressively pursued, argues Reza Murshid

Prosecuting the prankstersand letting off the bankersProsecuting the prankstersand letting off the bankers

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hopscotch grids on the pavements of San Diego or other U.S. cities. Many also wondered what the approach of the city attorney would have been if Mr Olsen wrote messages in support of banks and bankers in general and Bank of America in particular.

Fortunately for Mr Olsen a jury acquitted him of all 13 misde-meanour charges that could have brought 13 years in jail and $13,000 in fines. The outcome of the trial was nothing short of a victory for Mr Olsen and his cause and a humiliation for the city attorney who seemed intent on convicting him.

Double Standards after the Meltdown

The zeal with which authorities pursued Mr Olsen is a far cry from their disinterest in prosecuting the bankers responsible for almost bleeding dry the economies of western countries in recent years. All the well-known regulatory bodies in the capitalist world were dozing at the wheel while an orgy of greed, mismanagement and plain fraud was eating away at the economic foundations of their nations. Even after the wrongdoing came to light, you would think that the same regulatory bodies and the judicial system would try to punish the wrongdoers. But little, if anything, has been done to bring the bankers and speculators to justice.

Many of the very institutions that were bulging at the seams while feeding on the illegal profits during the good years were later given a lifeline in such countries as the United States and United Kingdom. In the U.S. the Emergency Economic Stabi-lisation Act of 2008 was enacted in response to the subprime mortgage crisis authorising the United States Secretary of the Treasury to spend up to $700 billion to purchase distressed assets, especially mortgage-backed securities, and supply cash directly to banks. The move was not without its critics but the criticism fell on deaf ears as the Bush administration decided that bailing out the banks was preferable to the wider economic pain that would ensue by letting them fail.

Heads I Win, Tails You Lose

The bankrupt institutions were saved because they were considered to be too big to fail. In effect, they were able to ‘privatise the gain’ during the boom years, and ‘socialise the cost’ during the bust years. Most radical thinkers on the left have called this ‘socialism for the rich’.

Ironically, the basic laws of capitalism – free market, competi-

tion, no state interference - were abandoned in countries that have always been considered epitomes of free market economics. Free market capitalism dictates that those organisations which perform well survive and prosper while those which fail should be permitted to bite the dust; the government should not intervene to save the neck of a fallen corporate entity.

But that has not been the case. Big financial institutions became the beneficiaries of taxpayers’ money as their buddies inside the government scrambled to save them from total annihilation. Some governments said they were saving these institutions in the hope that once resuscitated they would support small businesses with loans, thereby leading to regeneration and growth in the market place.

But even that promise has remained unfulfilled. The small business owners on the high street or struggling manufac-turers on industrial estates have had to deal with repeated rejections from lenders who are only interested in replenishing their depleted reserves.

No criminal lawsuits had been launched against the institu-tions or individuals that brought about the meltdown. In the words of Marcy Kaptur, U.S. Congresswoman, ‘you could go after their bank accounts, you could actually pry open their accounts, their personal accounts, their seven homes, their limousines, their yachts.’ On the other hand, Mr Olsen was aggressively prosecuted for his activism and could have faced jail term and fines. It speaks volumes about social justice that the bankers had only civil cases brought against them and evaded jail terms by paying the arising fines. None of this is surprising. It is estimated that the financial industry spends US$1.4 million dollars per day just in Washington to lobby for legislation that is in its interests and to wreck proposed legislation that threatens its profits. •

Reza Murshid is a political analyst and a freelance writer.

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Who would have thought that there would be angry anti-Obama demon-strations in Africa, the homeland of Obama’s own father, but that is what actually happened during the U.S. president’s recent tour of Africa.

At the University of Johannesburg Soweto campus, where Obama hosted a question and answer session, anti-war groups staged protests against the use of drones in the Middle East, sanctions on Iran, the continuing Cuban crisis and Obama’s failure to completely close the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo). Such was the intensity of the protests that the South African police resorted to firing into the air to disperse the demonstrators. Those who turned out against Obama were not speaking for all Africans but the fact remains that Obama is fast losing his appeal even among those who initially considered him Africa’s ‘native son’. He may well be a native son, but he does not seem to have the approval of all Africans, mostly on account of his foreign policy. Before his visit to South Africa a group of Muslim lawyers proposed that Obama should be arrested upon his arrival in the country as a war criminal.

‘Obama ordered drone strikes that killed innocent civilians. In terms of the Rome Statute, South Africa has the right to prosecute a war criminal on its territory if there is sufficient evidence,’ Muslim Lawyers’ Association spokesman, Yousha Tayob, said shortly before Obama set foot in South Africa.

Obama has also failed to champion the cause of Africa. Even during his visit, he didn’t make any spectacular strides in helping the continent. For example, Obama pledged only seven billion dollars over a five-year period for electrification projects in Africa. Compared to tens of billions of dollars already invested by China on infrastructure projects in Africa, the Obama initiative looks inadequate and wanting. In fact China long ago overtook the US as Africa’s largest trading partner – back in 2009. Some commentators have noted how Obama has failed to engage with Africa, citing for example how Bill Clinton initiated the AGOA trade agreement (African Growth and Opportunity Act), which gives preferential treatment to certain African exports, such as textiles, on the US market and how George W. Bush surprisingly approved a $15 billion AIDS program for Africa.

Security Paranoia & Condescending Attitude

Obama’s three nation tour of Africa began with a visit to Senegal, a country from where many slaves were shipped to America. Here his itinerary included a visit to the Maison des Esclaves on Gorée and meeting with civil society leaders at the Gorée Institute. It was from places such as Gorée that the slave trade took place across the Atlantic Ocean from the 16th through to the 19th centuries. Obama is not a descendant of slaves. He is an African-American whose father was a Kenyan foreign student who enrolled at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Hono-lulu as the university’s first African foreign student.

During Obama’s visit to Senegal, a number of intellectuals and journal-ists could not help but detect how his U.S. Secret Service staff members were condescending towards Africans. According to Jeune Afrique, most of the Senegalese press were blocked from getting too close to Obama, with access mostly given to the major international news agencies and the national state-owned media. It was reported that only two of the bodyguards for Senegalese President Mackay Sall were allowed to

Obama’sThreadbareBrandObama’s tour of Africa highlighted more than anything else the beginning of the end of the brand called Obama. Six years into his presidency, brand Obama has lost its lustre and many of its erstwhile fans, writes Masoud Tehrani

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carry arms during Obama’s visit and the rest were disarmed.

Some Senegalese papers printed angry readers’ comments, expressing that they felt humiliated every time a US president visited their country. One reader wrote: “there is an American proverb that says ‘we are all equal in the eyes of the Lord.’ Well, in the eyes of the Lord, perhaps, but down here, the rest of us goorgoorlus [Dakaris] are a few rungs down the ladder from the ‘Yankees’. And every time a US head of state comes to visit, they remind us of this. Today, on our own soil, there will be no freedom of movement for any of us. Every one of us will have to follow the security guidelines handed out by Obama’s security henchmen.”

No Heir to Mandela

Obama’s visit to South Africa occurred at a time when the founder of the new South Africa, Nelson Mandela, was criti-cally ill. Obama said he did not expect to see the ailing ex-leader during his visit. ‘I don’t need a photo op,’ Obama said. Earlier while on his visit to Tanzania, Obama had said that Mandela was his hero and ‘a hero for the world.’

Despite his admiration for Mandela, Obama cannot claim to stand under

his shadow. Critics have described Obama’s reign as a continuation of Bush’s presidency. After Edward Snowden’s revelations on how the National Security Agency (NSA) has been involved in spying on American citizens, Ari Fleischer, a former Bush press spokesman, was so glad that he wrote on Twitter: ‘Drone strikes. Wire-taps. Gitmo. [Obama] is carrying out Bush’s 4th term.’

Mandela’s life has been the exact oppo-site of Obama’s. Mandela did not start with a good brand name. After all he was repeatedly called a ‘terrorist’ by heads of states of Western industrialised nations including Margaret Thatcher. After the collapse of the apartheid regime there was a sea change in the reputation of Mandela, to the point that every world leader clamoured to have a photo op with him.

In contrast to Mandela, Obama began with a good brand name and proceeded to destroy that with every wrong turn that he made.

There was a sense that things would be much better, even ideal and idyllic, during his term in office. A world fed up with the shrill and crude voice of George ‘Dubya’ Bush and the machina-tions of his neo-con back-up singers, welcomed the arrival of an articulate voice, that of a well-spoken, suave and cosmopolitan African-American at the White House.

Many hoped that Obama would fulfil the promises that he made. After all, Obama campaigned on a platform of change gaining the support of millions of youthful voters in the United States.

But change has not been the hallmark of Obama’s administration. It has been business as usual, especially in such areas as foreign policy. Even if Obama did initially have a genuine desire to break away from the immoral and evil practices of his predecessors he is today just a caricature of them and himself. •

Masoud Tehrani is a London based journalist who writes on the dynamics of the Islamic world.

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Book review

No to Empire! Black Star, Crescent Moon

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What connects Muslim International and Black Freedom to hip-hop, jazz, Third Cinema and Black Art Movement? Mohsen Biparva searches for answers in a book by Sohail Daulatzai

‘Like jazz and the Black Art Movement before it, hip-hop culture, especially in its “Golden Age”, became a space in which black radicalism, Islam and the politics of the Muslim Third World had a powerful impact on the lyrical

imaginations, sonic landscapes, and political visions that were being expressed by artists such as Rakim, Public Enemy, Mos Def, Ice Cube, Gang Starr and Lupe Fiasco to name a few’. But what connects them to each other?

Let us start from 30 June 2013 when during his official visit to South Africa President Obama went to visit Robben Island and the prison cell in which Nelson Mandela was kept locked during the apartheid years. Obama used the opportunity to pose for cameras by lying on the cell’s bed and, more interest-ingly, by looking to the horizon through the prison window’s bars.

He chose to visit Robben Island rather than Mandela himself in hospital, perhaps based on professional PR advice and perhaps because he realised the very symbolic value of this visit for a black president. But maybe Obama also wanted to avoid looking into Mandela’s eyes, embarrassed by the fact that he might still be able to remember the United States’ historic support for the apartheid regime against all international condemnation and the fact that Mandela himself remained on the American terror list until his name was finally removed by President Bush in June 2008.

Sohail Daulatzai’s book carries some of this message. Today as Daulatzai says: ‘Guantanamo is still open and drones keep flying’ and the War on Terror is the predominant narrative of American hegemony. Meanwhile Barak Obama employs every symbol that might revive the first euphoria around his election in 2009. On his inauguration day which - according to Daul-atzai - was perfectly planned to coincide with Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Obama, as the first black president, promised to put a symbolic end to slavery, discrimination and the struggle of African Americans.

Daulatzai argues that United States’ is a young nation, ambivalent and too unsettled in its short history to have had enough time to come to terms with its past troubles - native Indian genocide and African enslavement. The election of a black president can only open up old wounds.

The book rediscovers Malcolm X, a character that connects Black America to the Third Word and the struggle against colonialism through the ‘unifying force’ of Islam. It talks about differences between the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Internationalists and argues that while the first assumes that the United States has been a good force in the world, and that it was winning the hearts and minds of decolonised Africa and Asia after World War II, the second has tarnished the moral credibility of the United States by exposing racism in its domestic culture.

Obama’s own experience shows how in American society a person can still be smeared with the slur of being Muslim (Obama’s father was a Muslim, although he himself is not).

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According to Daulatzai, ‘to be black in America is one thing that marks you as un-American, but to be black and Muslim is quite another, as it makes you anti-American’.

Malcolm X not only criticised the deeply racist society and political culture of the United States but he also simultane-ously critiqued the Cold War liber-alism of the Civil Rights Movement and their embracing of American foreign policy and its aggressive interventions abroad. As an example the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) had begun to embrace Truman’s foreign policy after the Second World War. Daulatzai argues that Malcolm’s ‘discourse on empire’ revealed that the Cold War was in fact a project of empire building under the guise of ‘democracy’ and ‘anti-communism’; America was going to replace Europe in the colonised world with the mask of ‘benevo-lent colonialism’ and ‘American exceptionalism’. Malcolm X saw the domestic anti-racism movement and the international anti-colonial struggle as one battle.

Daulatzai shows that in order to signal racial progress inside the United States, the State Department took the policy of increasing the visibility of black people in diplomatic posts. Understanding the damage that domestic racism can cause to the good image of the US one official wrote: ‘one dark face from the US is of as much value as millions of dollars in economic aid’. Another official is quoted as saying: ‘the biggest single burden that we carry on our foreign relations in the 1960s is the problem of racial discrimination’. It is in this context that Malcolm X warns African and Asian decolonised countries about falling into a new kind of coloni-alism - the American one.

Black activists like Malcolm X found Islam to be an alternative to white dominated Christianity, and conversion as a way of reclaiming their self-determination. By changing their names, they redefined themselves not as prop-erties but as persons, not as slaves, but as humans. It also gave them a sense of belonging to a wider international community that historically and symbolically predated America.

The book narrates Malcolm’s later participation in the Bandung Conference of 1955 (the so-called birth-place of the Nonaligned Movement) to which the United States was not invited. In response the State Department sent a black jour-

nalist, Carl Rowan to save face and even challenge criticism of the United States.

In the following chapters we read about the relation between art, aesthetics, cinema, music and the Black Power movement. We learn that the revolutionary theories of Frantz Fanon

and the Algerian independence struggle came to influence the Black Power activists. Fanon’s The Wretched of Earth had a profound influence on Third World inde-pendent cinema. But again, no other film is more closely associ-ated to Fanon’s ideas than Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1967 film The Battle of Algiers.

According to Daulatzai, unlike conventional Hollywood style First World Cinema, The Battle of Algiers ‘does not centre the use of an individual protagonist who forces audience identification with that individual’. This is unlike Spike Lee’s 1992 biographical film Malcolm X in which the character

of Malcolm has a conventional central role. This is perhaps why Daulatzai’s book, although it is more about Malcolm than anyone else, is not a biography in its common definition. Malcolm is there, his presence is everywhere in the book, like his influence on hip-hop as Daulatzai explains later, but never as an individualised persona.

Black Star, Crescent Moon: the Muslim International and Black Freedom beyond America, By Sohail Daulatzai, Univer-sity of Minnesota Press, 2012

Sohail Daulatzai is associate professor of film and media studies and African American Studies at the University of California, Irvine. •

‘For Malcolm X and others, not only did Islam tie Africa to Asia, but it would also become the bridge between Black people in the United States and those on the African continent.’

(Daulatzai)

‘Islam is the greatest unifying force in the Dark World today.’

(Malcolm X)

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Cover

Zero Privacy: Intelligence gathering

in the digital age Intelligence gathering

in the digital ageEdward Snowden leaked documents containing top secret details of US surveillance operations.Can he be considered a traitor or was he acting according to a higher morality? Hannah Smith examines the ethical issues thrown up by whistleblowing

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On June 6th 2013, classified US documents unveiling purportedly secret mass surveillance of internet

and telephone communications were published by The Guardian and Washington Post newspapers. The leaked documents, of which whistleblower Edward Snowden stole thousands, contain top secret details of US surveillance operations which, according to Snowden, are far more intrusive than the public believes.

The two main US surveillance operations unveiled by Snowden include an internet surveillance system called Prism operated by the National Security Agency (NSA), and mass-monitoring of telephone metadata.

Launched in 2007, following amendments to US surveillance law, Prism, allows the NSA to receive emails, video clips, photos, voice and video calls, social networking details, logins and other data held by 9 top US internet firms: Microsoft and its Skype division, Google and its YouTube division, Yahoo, Facebook, AOL, Apple and PalTalk – a chat service owned by AVM Software which is popular in the Middle East. The leaked NSA documents show that the NSA has also gained access via the companies that operate the cables

to the underwater fibre optic internet cables that carry internet traffic across the Atlantic Ocean as well as receiving internet data directly from the aforementioned technology firms.

A leaked court order from the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to one of the US’ largest mobile phone companies, Verizon, reveals the huge scale of telephone metadata collection. FISA ordered Verizon to hand over all the meta-data pertaining to the 121 million customers on its network “on an ongoing daily basis”. Metadata does not include call conversa-tions but other data recording who customers call, when, and where contacts were located. With such vast masses of data to mine and GPS technology, metadata can be used to map who people know, where they go, and even their daily routines.

The leaks also revealed details of a similar scheme, Project Tempora, operated by the UK intelligence Global Communication Headquar-ters (GCHQ) which is apparently the largest tapping operation of all the Five Eyes countries – UK, USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The scale of the GCHQ operation, which mainly collects metadata, is colossal including access to 200 cables per day and

storage capacity for up to 30 days in which 600 million telephone events are recorded.

Edward Snowden, the whistle-blower and former CIA computer engineer responsible for leaking the thousands of documents claims that his decision was moti-vated by a desire to stand up for moral truth and justice: “I can’t in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liber-ties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building”. At the time of going to press, Snowden had been charged with three violations of espionage and theft, each carrying a minimum 10 year jail sentence, and was hiding in Moscow and seeking political asylum in a number of countries around the world.

Was Snowden right to leak the documents? The legality of the US operation has been questioned by a number of official persons and agencies both within and outside the US. And if the NSA was acting within the law, does the activity of the NSA transgress some universal moral grounds? And how should we react to whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden? Are they right in claiming a higher moral ground, and should they be punished for

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sharing state secrets?

The legality of the internet surveil-lance operations conducted by NSA is not clear at all. While Snowden claims that he witnessed “criminal” activity, NSA claims that it has been acting according to the guidelines set out in the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). According to FISA, NSA is able to monitor the elec-tronic communication of a foreign individual, organisation, or state power, if there is “probable cause” that they are involved in activities which may threaten the security of the United States, such as espio-nage or terrorism.

To begin monitoring a suspect through Prism, NSA must gain a court order through the FISA court. There are a number of issues relating to the operation of the FISA court that call into question the legality and ethics of the NSA surveillance. The first is that although the US Government claims that the FISA court is apparently monitored by Congress through twice-yearly reports and by an independent inspector-general, many US sena-tors claim never to have heard of the court or Prism. Secondly, how can the public be sure that the court is operating properly, for example by seeking warrants

where legitimate suspicion is held, or that the privacy of US citizens is maintained, when the operations of the court are maintained as top-secret classified information? And even with the independent inspectorate involved, how can the operation of a surveillance system such as Prism be understood in its scope and access when officials seeking court orders do not need to identify each individual target they intend to monitor and the types of communication they will be monitoring?

It is also hard to understand how the NSA would be able to obtain targeted access to suspects’ elec-tronic accounts when “even the webmail companies have said in most cases they can’t figure out the nationality, residence and domicile of a user without getting a person to look through their stuff”, says Ross Anderson, professor of security engineering at the Univer-sity of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory. This adds weight to the claim that the NSA has direct “backdoor” access to all the electronic communication, such as emails, messages and photos, stored by the 9 major technology firms it works with, and could be indiscriminately siphoning off huge streams of data “directly from the servers” as is written in the leaked

documents, despite claims by the NSA and many of the tech firms that user data is transferred on demand by File Transfer Protocol (FTP) transfer or “by hand”. Unbe-lievably some tech firms including Apple denied any involvement with or knowledge of the Prism system despite being explicitly named in the leaked documents. The potential inability of the technology firms to recognise their users’ nationality also calls in to question the privacy of US citizens, who cannot be monitored under FISA and must be dealt with by Homeland Security.

The international community has also criticised the US and GCHQ surveillance systems. A number of countries including France and Germany have highlighted that such internet surveillance of their citizens would contravene their domestic laws on privacy and data protection. The French and Spanish data protection watchdogs have both threatened to impose large fines of between 150,000-300,000 euros respectively on Google if they do not change their privacy practices and clear any stored data. In an age of globalisa-tion and multinational companies, is FISA justified in allowing the NSA to access the accounts of non-US citizens which use the

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servers and software of US compa-nies? Should such surveillance be sanctioned through international agreements? There is also concern that countries could abuse inter-national intelligence by sharing intelligence information that could not be gathered in their own countries, in the current manner of the ‘Five Eyes’ countries: the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It appears that there is a lot to uncover regarding the truth of the NSA and GCHQ intel-ligence gathering, but considering the most and least invasive moni-toring scenarios, is it possible to determine the ethics of such surveillance, a maximum extent or even whether it is justified at all, and what ethical criteria one should use? NSA director Keith Alexander argued that the NSA schemes were justified because of their role in preventing “potential terror events” of which apparently 50 had been foiled, although this is impossible to verify as the details of the alleged plots is classified information. US president Barack

Obama’s response was that “you can’t have 100% security, and also then have 100% privacy and zero inconvenience”. Some commenta-tors have argued that the secrecy of the operations points to their unethical status, which marries the public interest, the emergence of a whistleblower, and the gravity of the charges against Edward Snowden.

Following the revelations, public opinion in the US was divided. A poll taken in the days imme-diately following the exposure of the metadata programme found that a majority of respondents (56%) believed that monitoring their phone calls was an “accept-able” way to investigate terrorism although a substantial minority (41%) disagreed. The email moni-toring by programmes such as Prism invoked a different response: 52% said it was unacceptable while 45% approved.

In the Islamic paradigm of life, one could argue that where there is widespread public distaste, the

innate primordial morality of man, which allows him to instinctively discern between good and bad, has been invoked. And as to whether Edward Snowden did the morally superior thing in exposing classi-fied documents, this is contingent upon whether the NSA was breaking the law or an absolute moral truth. If the NSA could be proven to have conformed to US law, Edward Snowden would also be considered a traitor according to Islamic principles of conduct, but if it can be proven that he was acting according to a higher morality such as the need for truthfulness, then breaking the law could be justified. The situa-tion is made more complicated by the potential conflict of different countries’ laws and citizens. Unfor-tunately, as is typical in most cases involving state powers, the real truth may never emerge. One issue however is clear: in this global age of mass information we have a lot to consider including whether we want or inevitably end up with “zero privacy”. •

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Jerusalem has been occupied twice by Jewish Zionist militias - the western part in 1947 followed 20 years later by the eastern

part including the Al-Aqsa mosque. In both parts of this ancient city, Muslims and Arabs formed the majority of the population. But this situation has been transformed by the Israeli occupation.

Since the city’s occupation, a rapid Judaisation process has been underway. In fact in the western part of the city hardly any Muslims or Arabs remain. They were removed by force, their properties confiscated and handed over to Jewish families. However in east Jerusalem, Israel is still carrying out its ethnic cleansing. The Israeli authorities relentlessly continue to use all means to force Palestinians to leave Jerusalem.

When Israel occupied the eastern part of the city in 1967 there were no Israelis living there. Now, with unlimited support from the Israeli government, backed by the US, there are 262,000 Jewish settlers living in Israeli settle-

ments in East Jerusalem against 397,000 Palestinians.

Israeli authorities have used a number of methods to push Palestinians out of Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, Palestinians are treated as second or third class residents. The Israeli municipality does not give them permission to build new houses or extend and repair their old ones even though they may be run down and unsuitable for human habi-tation. On the other hand, the same municipality encourages Jewish settlers, especially young families (Zougout tsaaereem), to live in Jerusalem with significant financial support and many social benefits.

The overall objective of the state is to alter the identity of the city by engineering demographic changes and making life economically unviable for the Palestinians. One such way is to prevent Palestinians living in Jerusalem from establishing or running busi-nesses. Existing Palestinian businesses are targeted with heavy taxation as a

vehicle to undermine Palestinian busi-ness assets and properties.

Although the Palestinians currently make up 30% of Jerusalem’s population, they pay around 40% of the taxes, and receive only 8% of total social services offered by the Israeli municipality. The situation is the same when it comes to building houses. Thousands of Palestin-ians were forced to demolish their own houses because they were not granted permission to repair them. Meanwhile thousands of housing units are built by the Israeli government every year to accommodate new Israeli settlers in Jerusalem.

Political analysts and human rights activists have pointed out that the aggressiveness with which Israeli occu-pation is continuing is rapidly Judaising the city. Jerusalem is completely isolated from other parts of the Palestine and the West Bank. It is now closed in by the Israeli built ‘apartheid wall’ where no one living on the other side of the wall can enter Jerusalem. This applies

the rape of an identity Jerusalem:Since Jerusalem was occupied by Israeli forces, the Israeli authorities have engaged in a systematic campaign to change the Islamic character of the city. Jamal Ahmad explains how the plans of the Israeli government are almost complete

Feature

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to everyone including those who want to attend the sacred Al-Aqsa mosque. Although Israeli soldiers make it difficult for Muslims to enter the area, mainly in order to provoke and insult them, the Israeli authorities routinely allow Jewish settlers to enter the mosque.

This is a blatant attempt to disconnect Palestinians from Jerusalem and create an artificial connection for Jewish settlers with Al-Aqsa. Furthermore exca-vation activities are being carried out beneath Al-Aqsa mosque under varying pretexts. The work is undermining the structure’s foundations, risking the eventual collapse of the mosque.

In order to reduce the number of Pales-tinians in Jerusalem the Israeli authori-ties withdraw the right of residence for Palestinians who work outside Jerusalem. This rule impedes the move-ments of Palestinians from other parts of the West Bank or abroad.

In a systematic effort to change the identity of Jerusalem, the Israeli authori-ties have also consistently changed all the original Arabic and Islamic names of roads, streets, and neighbourhoods in the city, removing any connection between Jerusalem and its Islamic history.

Perhaps the most dangerous Israeli policy against Jerusalem has been the intensification of settlement construc-tion and expansion around the city. This has now reached a stage where the city is practically surrounded by Jewish settlements from all directions. Tens of colonies with thousands of settlers are preventing any hope for Palestinians to expand their dwellings within Jerusalem or the surrounding region.

For those Palestinians still hanging on to Jerusalem the conditions of their existence are become more and more oppressive. They are prevented from building new schools or even reno-vating existing ones. The authorities refuse to consider new planning for any developments or house improvements for Palestinians. Any construction of buildings such as hospitals, roads, and housing is limited to the Jewish settlers.

In some cases Palestinians living in the old part of the city have seen their houses collapse because they haven’t been able to obtain the relevant permits to allow repairs. Israeli attacks on Jerusalem are not confined to the living. Palestinian graves and cemeteries have been randomly confiscated. Ma’amanillah cemetery near Al-Aqsa mosque was seized by

the Israeli authority - many graves and tombs of the Prophet Muhammad(s)’s companions and hundreds of others were destroyed in the process. The irony is that the Israeli authorities claimed that the cemetery land is needed for building a new museum called “Toler-ance Museum”.

In the face of such evidence Muslims across the world have a very serious responsibility to oppose Israeli actions by supporting the Palestinian people, especially those who still live under such oppressive conditions. While the Palestinian cause attracts the attention of many justice lovers around the world the difficulties and suffering of Palestin-ians at Israeli hands shows no sign of abating. In fact increased international awareness and concern about the welfare of Palestinians in their occupied lands has prompted the Israeli authori-ties to ramp up settlement expansion to create facts on the ground that any peace settlement will find hard or even impossible to reverse. •

Jamal Ahmad is a Palestinian activist and free-lance writer

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Remembering

Quds Dayby Ali Jawad

“Quds Day is a universal day. It is not an exclusive day for Quds itself. It is a day for the oppressed to rise and stand up against the arrogant…”

Leader of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, Imam Khomeini

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For more than thirty-years now, Muslims across the globe have marked the last Friday of the month of Ramadhan as Inter-

national Quds Day based on a directive by Imam Khomeini. In August 1979, the leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran proposed that this day be set aside as a day of solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian nation.

Since its inception Quds Day has grown in its reach and popularity. Today, rallies and solidarity events are held in virtu-ally every major city in the world, and yet more are added to the list each year. Due to this wide-reaching appeal, it has been denounced by those close to seats of oppression; some of its detractors include oppressive Muslim regimes who correctly regard the Quds Day as hostile and a serious threat to their existence.In essence, the day of Quds, which falls on the last Friday of Ramadhan, is not simply about Palestine and the usurped rights of an innocent and defenceless people robbed of everything by the forces of oppression and imperialism. It is clear from the words of Imam Khomeini that the goal of Quds Day encapsulates a much grander vision.

‘Quds Day is an international day, it is not a day devoted to Quds alone. It

is the day for the weak and oppressed to confront the arrogant powers…’ said Imam Khomeini.

‘Quds Day is the day when the fate of the oppressed nations should be determined. Quds Day is the day for announcing [...] to the Satans who want to push the Islamic nations aside and bring the superpowers into the arena. Quds Day is the day to dash their hopes and warn them that those days are gone…. “

At its core then, Quds Day is a statement voiced by the collective consciousness of Muslims concerning how they look upon themselves and the world around them. Three principal themes can be identified in Imam Khomeini's vision a) the Palestinian issue b) the paradigm of oppressors against the oppressed and c) Muslims and their role in the world.

The Palestinian Issue.

On the international stage, the Pales-tinian issue is a very straightforward one. With the exception of the Zionist state and its principal backer, the United States of America, almost every single country on earth recognises the rights of the Palestinian people. Each year

the United Nations General Assembly votes after the Palestinian question and year after year the vote count is overwhelmingly in favour of Palestine. Leading social and political figures frequently condemn the Zionist state for its criminal actions; indeed many have likened the occupation of Palestine to apartheid. The face of the anti-apart-heid struggle in South Africa, Nelson Mandela, famously declared: “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” Former intelligence minister, Ronnie Krasils went further in his description saying, “the analogy between apartheid and Israel’s occupation of Palestine is often made. It is not the same thing. The occupation is absolutely worse...” Human rights organisations release regular reports to highlight endless violations committed under the occu-pation. Organisations such as Adalah have documented the myriad number of discriminatory laws against Palestin-ians. One can mention for example, the routine demolition of Palestinian homes, forceful evictions, restriction of movement, access to basic supply of food and water, settler violence, illegal land-grabbing, arbitrary deten-tion (including of juveniles) and many

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other violations… All these forms of systemic violence are in addition to routine massacres that the Zionist entity perpetrates; the last one as recent as December 2012 in Gaza. Yet despite the virtual unanimity on the global stage in support of Palestinian rights, the Zionist regime continues its crimes with impunity. One is led to ask, why? From the very beginning, Imam Khomeini understood the Zionist project as an essentially colonialist and imperialist agenda. He highlighted to the Muslim world that the real problem was in fact the superpowers that propped up this regime in order to advance their geo-strategic designs for the region. The cornerstone of this agenda rested on two foundations: the suppression of Muslims and their genuine aspira-tions and the resort to indiscriminate violence by the Zionist entity to terrorise and intimidate the peoples of the region so that they succumb to the imperialist agenda. Both of these are not restricted to Palestine. Accordingly, Imam Khomeini viewed Palestine as the front line of the struggle of the Arab and Muslim world against the imperialist agenda. The loss of Palestine and its symbolic heart, Al-Quds, was the medium by which the forces of global arrogance announced their control of the region and its destiny. By standing up in defiance on Quds Day to call for the legitimate rights of the Palestinians, Muslims were in fact affirming their own existence, trying to establish control of their own destinies and repudiating the imperialists’ hegemonic designs for the Middle East.

Oppressors versus the Oppressed

In his appraisal of the global reality, Imam Khomeini classified nations according to oppressors (mustakbireen) and oppressed (mustadh’afeen), and not in terms of economic development indi-cators. The concept of the oppressed is pivotal in Islam, and since it is juxta-posed against exploitation, it applies equally to Muslims and non-Muslims. Both Muslim and non-Muslim nations are oppressed by the powers of impe-rialism. Indeed one of the first actions

that was taken by the Imam following the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran was its severance of all ties with the apartheid regime of South Africa. As is clear from the words of the late Imam, Quds Day is meant to be a day for all the oppressed in the world. It is a day on which those who have been exploited rise together as one to speak out against the oppression that is forced upon them. Thus, Quds Day is not solely for the Palestinian cause - central as this is - but rather a day to raise awareness about the plight of the oppressed all over the world.

Muslims and their role in the world.

Imam Khomeini repeatedly cautioned Muslims that the inherently oppres-sive imperialist agenda for the Middle East was hinged on doing away with their Islamic identity. Through cultural, social, economic and military mediums the invading powers were aiming to break the will of Muslims and trying to force them to internalise their weakness, impotence and inability to stand on their own feet. Islam was intentionally being portrayed as a deficient religion that was not only fundamentally unable to provide solutions to the challenges confronting Muslims but was itself responsible for their backwardness. Indeed, having signed off ‘God’s’ death certificate (at least in the realm of socio-politics), leading western political scientists declared an ‘end to history’ after the fall of the Soviet Union. The import of the message was clear: all nations had no choice but to imitate the ‘model’ western society and thus accept their subject status. Imam Khomeini sought to establish Quds Day as a day of awakening and inspiration; a day on which Muslims re-affirm their self-confidence and chart their own destinies in harmony with the teachings of Islam. With the living example of the Islamic Revolution in Iran before them, Imam Khomeini demonstrated to the Muslim world that independence, freedom and an Islamic order was not only possible but very achievable.

Quds Day 2013

With the grave challenges facing the Muslim world this year, the impor-tance of Quds Day is much greater. In Palestine, the dispossession and daily oppression continue apace. Al-Quds is being ethnically cleansed of Arabs and Muslims in a bid to make it the undi-vided capital of the Zionist state.

Across the Arab and Muslim world, one sees daily images of heart-breaking pain and suffering: in Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Egypt….Further east in Myanmar and parts of China, Muslims are having to suffer despicable forms of violence and discrimination.

In the western world, the image of Islam continues to be distorted in the service of the ongoing imperialist project in the Middle East, which is consequently fuelling Islamophobia and hate-crimes.

There is no doubt that the fundamental goals that Imam Khomeini laid out for Quds Day are more relevant today than ever before. •

Ali Jawad is a human rights activist and politi-cal analyst with a keen interest in international diplomacy

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Opinions

The AmericanDream Machine

The AmericanDream Machine

The AmericanDream MachineM Haghir considers some of the underlying machinery of American culture and asks if that culture is what we want to bestow on future generations

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As substantial elements of the American way of life and culture, American politics, advertising, and consump-

tion exert powerful influences in the lives of not only Americans themselves but also in the lives of the people of the rest of the world. How do these cultural elements stand up to scrutiny?

Relying on its military power and wealth, the US insists on setting the

agenda for the future development of the whole world. So, whilst in rhetoric we hear about freedom and democracy as the binding glue of the world and its future, in reality things are different.

Suppose that the rest of the world could be swayed to consider the American way of life, the so-called American Dream. In this case, the rest of the world would also have a legitimate and irreducible right to probe the American way of life in order

Relying on its military power and wealth, the US insists on setting the agenda for the future development

of the whole world. So, whilst in rhetoric we hear about freedom and

democracy as the binding glue of the world and its future, in reality

things are different.

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to be able to make informed decisions. In this direction, two books by Vance Packard are very useful, The Hidden Persuaders (1957), and The Waste Makers (1960). In these works, Packard highlights a picture of the American way of life at the time and sketches a future trajectory. These books remain valuable because we now live in the future that Packard sketched more than fifty years ago and are in a position to judge his analyses. In The Hidden Persuaders, Packard discusses contemporary American political life and shows how it has been subordinated to corporate America and its advertising tech-niques. He further shows that what the American people see as their freedoms and democratic rights are nothing more than window dressing. Packard traces a change in the conduct of American politics beginning from the presidential election campaigns of the 1950s. This is when both the Republicans and Democrats brought in ‘effective political manipulation’ by employing ‘symbol manipulators’ who were utilising the theories of ‘Pavlov and…Freud’ and others. Thus, ‘the strategy, treatment of issues, use of media, budg-eting, and the pacing of the Eisenhower campaign showed the pervasive influ-ence of professional propagandists’. The voters were not expected to vote on policy issues because they ‘could not be depended upon to be rational’, rather, ‘it…was the emotional pull exercised by the rival candidates’ that decided the outcome. So, the voters were consid-

ered to be devoid of the ability to exer-cise their intellect and understanding. Another feature that the new American approach to politics displayed in the 1950s was a further dilution of substance into a ‘cult of personality’. As to how this new cult was to be imple-mented was left to top-level advertising agencies. These agencies treated polit-ical issues as products. They could do so because ‘Americans, in their growing absorption with consumption, have

even become consumers of politics’ and therefore politics should be represented to them in such a way that their already pre-established consuming habits treat

political substance, (say, for example, foreign policy), as furniture, washing machines, cars, etc. Hence, ‘just as glamour in packaging and advertising of products substitute for price competi-tion, so glamour in politics…substitutes for [substance]’. This is how ‘both parties [came to] merchandise their candidates and issues by the same methods that

business has developed to sell goods’. It is therefore not surprising that leading politicians would refer to their parties as having ‘a great product to sell’, presum-ably including decisions to go to war. In a situation where advertising agencies have the power to ‘…insist on control-ling the entire strategy [of a candidate’s campaign] and lay down…almost every move that may influence the public image being built for the candidate’, the temptation to employ deception tech-

niques is ever-present. The public is routinely deceived through the presentation of a top layer (the candidates made-up image) that hides what is beneath it, i.e. the real character of the candidate and the unknown political connections that influence his/her political decisions. Implementation of such a deception does not necessarily entail any ethical considerations by politicians. This is because the voter is simply seen as a consumer ‘…a man in a voting booth…as if he were pausing between

competing tubes of toothpaste…the brand that has made the highest penetration on his brain [through advertising] will win his choice’. One outcome of this state of American political affairs has been the deep connection between Hollywood and American political life (think of Reagan or Schwarzenegger). In such a scenario, one would have thought that politicians might make use of advertising and business in order to win elections and implement their policies. But it is actu-ally the other way round: businesses

Americans and Europeans have a…direct stake…in inducing us all to be more wasteful’. That is to say, in order to maintain a Western way of life, Western culture has an interest in maintaining a wasteful existence.

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and advertising make use of politics and politicians to further their own agendas. George Murphy of MGM has been reported as saying that he would prefer ‘if [political] conventions [were run as] in a proper theatre with proper direction and control’. Ultimately, this has given rise to ‘the manipula-tive approach to political persuasion through carefully staged productions’. This intrusion into US political affairs by corporate America has been cele-brated as a ‘good’ thing that needs to be protected. So any ‘… public discussion of the importance of advertising in poli-tics…’ has to be muzzled. Presum-ably this is because any ‘discus-sion’ of the nature of ‘politics’ in America would ultimately reveal the corporatist tentacles lying beneath political decisions and actions. Thus, ‘…pressures to expand production and consumption…’ must be maintained continually. In turn, this leads to an ‘economy that can be sustained only by constant stimulation of the people…to be more prodigal…’ (read greedy). Such massive consumption, logically and necessarily, has led to a ‘…decline in the use of [the US’s] supply of essential resources [which has the inevitable consequence of turning the US into] a have-not nation’.

The world of tomorrow

Packard’s The Waste Makers begins by asking, ‘what will the world of tomorrow be like?’ In answer, Packard imagines a (future) ‘Cornucopia City’. For Packard,

this city’s evolution has brought it to a point where it now suffers from a problem of an excessive abundance of things. To overcome the problem, massive engineering: cultural, social and psychological, as well as architectural, is needed. Thus, ‘the heart of Cornucopia City will be occupied by a Titanic…super mart…where all the people spend many happy hours a week….buying to their heart’s content….There are no cash registers, ‘only’…lifetime electronic credit cards…issued…at birth [for each individual]’. As ‘the heart’ of the city, this place has to function 24/7 and in a

way that it can continually pump blood (money) through the system. So it has to be made in such a way that people would find whatever they are looking for in that same place. Even if they are looking for spirituality on a Sunday, the shopping centre would include a ‘little chapel’. Thus, people’s everyday lives, the way they think about the world and see their existence within it, the physical space of a shopping centre, all of these and more require engineering. People must become consumers and be directed to a consuming way of life. In such circumstances, quantity

reigns over quality and so we can put a ‘death date [on] products’. If people do not become the consuming machine that they are told to be, ’… they are warned, their…economic [system] may turn and devour them’. Thus, they must consume, not according to their needs but according to the necessity of maintaining the system. Waste of people as well as resources is the natural outcome of such an economy. Packard argues that ordinary Americans are not only passive consumers but are also responsible for maintaining the system. He notes that ‘Americans and

Europeans have a…direct stake…in inducing us all to be more wasteful’. That is to say, in order to maintain a Western way of life, Western culture has an interest in maintaining a wasteful existence. This wasteful culture is what the economic system requires and so demands. So pervasive is this culture that it finds expression at all levels of society, that is, in the

nation or groups of nations who follow the same economic system and culture. Given the state of the world today, we would be justified in thinking that, as things are, we have regressed. We ought to ask ourselves if this regression is something we wish to hand down to the children of future generations. •

At the Crossroads

At the Crossroads

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We are told that one day the famous scholar, Hasan al-Basri, said to people, ‘It amazes me that

anyone goes to heaven.’ The statement reached Imam Ali ibn-Husayn(a) (Zayn al-‘Abidin). The Imam must have been smiling when he rejected the idea by saying: ‘It amazes me that anyone goes to hell.’ This brief exchange illustrates perfectly the dichotomy between fearing God’s punishment and hoping for His mercy. Quite often, especially when we are trying to make a positive change in our lives by following the teachings of the Prophet and Imams, we encounter obstacles and make mistakes. As a result, we often find ourselves beset by feelings of inadequacy – reflected by the words of Hasan al-Basri.

For some of us, particularly in our darker moments, we can feel like – despite our best efforts – we are such irredeemable sinners that we can never be “good enough” for God; we struggle to resist our temptations, but this only makes it hurt so much more when we have a lapse and slide back into bad

habits. At other times, we overcome one sin only to fall straight into another. Despairing of our condition, we ask: how God could possibly love someone as broken and worthless as us? We weep, we rage, we feel like giving up.

Regret is not only an incredibly powerful emotion, but also a profoundly human one. No other creature (save the Jinn) can truly experience regret, because no other creature can truly sin. Only we have been endowed with both intellect and desire; a combination that means we can soar above the angels or sink beneath the beasts. Animals may experience anger, sadness and a host of other emotions, but they lack the moral reflection necessary for regret. Regret comes about because we sense we have somehow fallen short of a goal, and that this failure suggests something about our worth as a person. Angels, on the other hand, are incapable of erring as they lack any desire to lead them astray. In other words, the visceral, draining, I-want-to-curl-up-into-a-ball-and-die sensation of deep regret is a reflec-tion of the innate recognition that we

have somehow misused our God-given freedom.

But regret should not paralyse us. If regret is the pain of having made a mistake, the cure must be atonement. The same mix of intellect and desire that meant we could go astray also means that we can come back. One of the terms used in Islamic literature for repentance, “tawbah” literally means ‘to return.’ But it is not always easy for us to own up to our mistakes. Perhaps we feel vulnerable, or afraid that God will not take us back. A little voice wonders if our sin is too great to be forgiven.

We forget that this is the God - as we are told in Du’a Kumayl - whose ‘Mercy encompasses all things’, who opens almost every chapter of the Qur’an by invoking His name al-Rahman, which signifies the aspect of His mercy which is infinite in its scope, and His name al-Rahim, which signifies His mercy which is infinite in its intensity. This is the God who offers ‘Whoever brings virtue shall receive ten times its like; but whoever brings vice shall not be

Faith

Alexander Khaleeli looks at the human condition of sinning and why it is never too late to make a positive change in our lives

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requited except with its like, and they will not be wronged.’ (Qur’an 6:160) And the God who promises ‘If you avoid the major sins that you are forbidden, We will absolve you of your misdeeds, and admit you to a noble abode.’ (4:31). And the God who says, “O you servants who have exceedingly wronged yourselves do not despair in the mercy of God.” (39:53). So it is no more possible for us to discover a sin so heinous that it outstrips God’s boundless mercy than it is for us to conceive of a number larger than infinity.

And if we still harbour doubts, we need only look to the words of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir(a) : ‘Feeling regret is enough for God to forgive your sin.’ The very fact that we feel regret and acknowledge that we have fallen short is enough for God to forgive us. The Imam(a) has also said: ‘The one who repents for sins is like the one who has no sins.’ But repentance does not only erase our sins, it also earns us God’s reward. That is because implicit in repentance is humility; the acknowl-edgement that we have a master whom

we serve, the admission that we are not perfect, and the promise that we will try harder next time. An arrogant person cannot repent. God prefers the sin that makes us humble to the good deed that makes us proud.

For a paragon of repentance, we need look no further than Hurr b. Yazid – the Umayyad officer who detained Husayn (the grandchild of the Prophet) and his companions at Karbala until the bulk of Ibn Ziyad’s army could arrive to surround and massacre them. Hurr’s conscience had been bothering him from the moment he met Husayn, but it was only on the day of battle, when the full gravity of his own actions became clear to him, that he could no longer follow his orders. Despite the hopeless-ness of Husayn’s situation, Hurr went over to his camp and pledged to defend him until his dying breath. Before Husayn stood a man directly respon-sible for the massacre about to unfold, but he welcomed him with open arms and told him ‘You are as your mother named you’ – The name “Hurr” means “a free man.”

So far from despairing at the magnitude of our sins, we should be grateful even for our sins and mistakes – the very fact that we recognise them as such is a blessing, because it represents an opportunity to correct them, the first step of which is repentance. The pain of regret is a reminder that we still have a choice; a reminder that even though we may have taken a wrong turn a while ago, we are always standing at a cross-roads. Like Hurr, we are free men and women. And like Hurr, freedom gives us the ability to make the right choice and atone for our misdeeds. When God’s mercy is so abundant, it is indeed amazing that anyone goes to Hell. •

Alexander Khaleeli is a researcher and student in the Islamic Seminaries. He has a BA and MA in Islamic Studies.

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The renowned Swiss philoso-pher Max Picard in his work The World of Silence states: “silence belongs to the funda-

mental structure of man.” Silence for the human being has a multiplicity of values, often associated with the dimen-sion of seeking refuge from the external reality, it helps us to think, concentrate, and find and listen to ourselves. In many religious traditions, through silence man manifests respect towards

a superior reality.

The relation between silence and wisdom or knowledge has been perceived and understood throughout human history and even in our century the Austrian philosopher L. Wittgenstein closes his Tractatus logico-philosophicus with the famous statement: “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent”.

Among the world religions Islam also attributes a particular importance

to silence. In Islamic spiritual teach-ings, tongue and speech have been considered as an interpreter of heart, representative of intellect, the key to man’s personality, and a window to man’s soul - hence guarding the tongue, watching one’s words and observing silence occupy an important place in moral discussions.

Taking into account the great damage caused by unrestrained speech, scholars of Islamic ethics give prefer-

Building UponSilence

Drawing upon Quranic verses and Islamic traditions Isa Jahangir explains the various meanings of silence and its importance in Islamic spirituality

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ence to silence - when speaking is not necessary - as one of the ways of preventing sins and take this as the departure point for purification of the soul. We are referring here to a specific sort of silence, the result of guarding the tongue and avoiding superfluous speech and talkativeness. There are two words in Arabic that translate as silence; one is samt, and the other is sukut. according to most Arabic dictionaries, they are almost synonyms. However a deeper reflection on the context of Islamic teachings suggests that they are different and in most cases samt means a wise silence, which is intentional and thoughtful; it is a special silence which has been mostly praised in Islamic sources. Sukut, however, is more general and has been blamed as much as praised. Samt is often used as the opposite of tangible things, referring to an intrinsic and sustainable character-istic. It is an established spiritual characteristic, whereas sukut tends to be used for temporary silences. For instance, God says in the Qur’an: ‘And when the anger of Musa calmed down [became silent], He took up the Tablets, and in their inscrip-tion was guidance and Mercy for those who fear their Lord.’ (7: 154) Samt, as a quality of the soul, mostly deals with human beings, while sukut is more general applied also to a silent environment, silent place and so forth. The following hadith (tradition) illus-trates this point further. Commanding the Prophet Muhammad(s), God says: ‘Oh Ahmad! Keep silent (samt); since the most flourishing places are the hearts of the silent people (samitin) and the most deserted places are the hearts of the people who talk about the issues that do not concern them.’ This divine hadith indicates that samt is not just any type of silence and does not necessarily oppose speech or any kind of talking. On the other hand sukut is considered to denote the opposite of speech. This charac-teristic is mentioned in the following narration from Imam Jafar As-Sadiq(a): ‘A believer is a benefactor as long as he is silent (sikit) and once he starts talking

he is either a benefactor or sinful.’ The descriptions and qualities given to samt and sukut also differ in many cases from each other. Ali ibn Abi Taleb(a) stated: ‘Samt is wisdom, sukut is safety, and faithfulness to a secret is part of happiness.’ Also, some differences can be found between the terms in the words of scholars of Islamic spirituality. For them, sukut means not talking at all, and samt refers to talking less or not talking when there is no proper purpose. Obviously, what is of high importance to the propo-nents of Islamic spirituality is samt. It can be concluded that samt, as an intentional, thoughtful silence, is one of the stable characteristics of the human soul that is a kind of wisdom, and the main way to obtain it is to avoid superfluous speech and talkativeness. According to a hadith, regarding the traits of his special servants God, the Exalted, states: ‘They are in prison in this world; that is, they have imprisoned and restricted their tongue from super-fluous speech and their stomach from superfluous food.’

Speech and sukut

As has been stated precisely in some hadiths, speech is often preferred over sukut but not over samt. However, the comparison has been made between speech and silence (both samt and sukut) in some ethical texts. The priority of speech over sukut has been explained by Imam Ali ibn Husayn(a) in the following way: “each of these have pests; if controlled, speech is better than sukut.” When asked about the reason, he replied: “Verily, God did not appoint Prophets to be silent; rather, to be speaking. Paradise is never obtained by silence (sukut); guardianship of God could not be acquired through silence (sukut); nor saving from the fire of the hell through that. These are all obtained by speech. I never view the sun and the moon as identical. You describe the value of silence with speech and do not describe that of speech with silence.” The beautiful and precise point in this tradition is the comparison made between the relationship of the sun and

the moon and that of speech and silence. That is, as the moon is lit up by the sun, silence is also lit up and highlighted by speech by elucidating its value. Nevertheless, in some traditions, sukut has been preferred to speech. For example, Imam Jafar al-Sadiq(a) has stated: ‘Luqman said to his son: O my son! If you believe that speech is from silver, verily sukut is from gold.’ And again: ‘O my son! Many a time I have regretted my speech and have not regretted silence.’

Speech and samt

As mentioned earlier, samt is defined as a stable characteristic of the soul that can be obtained through less speaking. In other words, it is right to say that speech and silence are two sides of the same coin which share a close relationship. Thus, they have both been given high significance in Islamic spirituality. Indeed the value of good speech originates from samt. And keeping silent, where speaking is necessary, is considered a big mistake. That is why Imam Jafar al-Sadiq(a)

has mentioned beautifully that whoever realises the value of speech would adopt silence gracefully. However, regarding the importance of speech Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb(a) asserts: ‘Tongue is the criterion for the assess-ment of insolence or ignorance and the scale of intellect and wisdom.’

Thus, it should not be neglected that the ability to speak in general and speak as God wishes in particular, is one of the great blessings of God to mankind. As He states in the Qur’an:

The Most Beneficent (God)!

Has taught (you mankind) the Qur’an (by his Mercy).

He created man.

He taught Him eloquent speech. •

Isa Jahangir is an Islamic scholar and lecturer in Islamic Studies and Social Sciences

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Psychologists throughout history have been sceptical and suspicious of religion. Sigmund Freud considered

religion to be a ‘universal obsessional neurosis’. Burrhus Skinner ignored religion altogether and Albert Ellis considered religion to be irrational thinking and emotional disturbance. However they largely based their opinions on the actions of those who subscribed to irrational practices in the name of religion. These are people who deviated from religion and merely used the name of religion to support their superstitious activities. In the Middle Ages, the followers of Christianity exorcised patients with various mental illnesses or personality disorders, thinking that they were possessed by evil spirits and sometimes possessed by Satan himself. Some Muslims have also succumbed to this and have exorcised people thinking

that they were possessed by jinn. However there is a growing body of evidence that shows the positive role that religion plays in the recovery of mentally ill patients. According to Kenneth Pargament, a prominent psychologist: “Empirical studies of many groups dealing with major life stressors such as natural disaster, illness, loss of loved ones, divorce, and serious mental illnesses show that religion and spir-ituality are generally helpful to people in coping [with their symptoms].” Likewise, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) has concluded that: “Religion can be important in the lives of youth and families. It can serve as a source of strength and coping in times of stress and illness, serve as the basis for family values and traditions, and contribute to moral and social development.” Islam addresses mental illness and its recovery as an ethical issue. Ethics is

a general category encompassing issues such as morals, etiquette, spirituality and mental health issues and also person-ality disorders such as narcissism (high self-esteem), and excessive anger leading to intermittent explosive disorder. In an article titled ‘Egos Inflating Over Time’ the psychologist Jean Twenge states that narcissism is on the rise in the US, especially among college students. Although she interprets ‘narcissism’ as a “positive and inflated view of the self” she agrees that narcis-sists are attention seeking extroverts who have a high opinion of their value, importance, and physical attractiveness. Those suffering from this condition have a feeling of entitlement to admi-ration from others and they may even act aggressively if they don’t receive the attention they feel they deserve. Twenge’s observations strike at the heart of western culture’s emphasis on the individual - the me, myself and

Hamid Waqar believes that getting closer to a simple truth can lead those with mental health disorders

such as narcissism to the road of recovery

Mental and personalitydisorder recovery

An Islamic perspective

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I syndrome in which family, society and everything else is subordinated to the individual’s right to better himself. In contrast to the notion of SELF, Islam introduces a completely different paradigm that is God-centric. In this paradigm, which is completely opposed to the human-centric paradigms of secular societies, the traits which bring one closer to the divine are considered positive and those that take one farther away from divine grace are considered to be negative. Hence, recovery from these negative traits and personality disorders are actualised when one returns to the God-centric paradigm and seeks proximity to God. The Arabic term for narcissism is ‘ujb. ‘Ujb is defined as a feeling of exaggera-tion of one’s virtues and good deeds coupled with a sense of superiority. Narcissism is a true illness of mind and that is why many Islamic personalities have warned their followers of outcome

of such illnesses. Imam Ali(a) said: “The one into whose heart narcissism (‘ujb) enters is destined to be destroyed […] The person who considers himself to be great is worthless in the eyes of God.”

Islam not only acknowledges the exist-ence of this type of personality disorder but it also provides a road to recovery. The goal for a Muslim sufferer is to perform each daily activity in the name of God and in remembrance of God alone. What we do or achieve in life is only the result of the possibilities that God Almighty bestows upon us, not because of ourselves. The more that a narcissist reflects on his intentions and consequent actions the more he comes to recognise that he has devi-ated from his goal. This should enable him to focus more on remembering God and fulfilling his duties towards his Creator, thus chipping away at the narcissistic ego. Islam encourages the narcissist to remember that life, power,

and knowledge all come from God. Nobody in his existence is independent. All creatures are dependent upon God for their characteristics, knowledge and power. Instead of considering oneself to be the centre of the universe, one should recognise that the universe revolves around the divine will. The first verse of the Qur’an, “All praise is due to God”, is recited daily by Muslims. When one allows this truth to resonate in his heart one will realise that whatever praise one thinks one deserves is actually due to God. All praiseworthy attributes are means of development granted to us by Allah in order for us to recognise the fact that we are not here independently and if we are worthy of any praise we will surely receive it from Him. •

Hamid Waqar is an American Scholar graduated from Islamic seminaries.

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St Mary, the virgin mother of Jesus, dressed in white suffused with pale blue, wafts gently upwards into Heaven, encircled by exulting cherubs. The scene of a vaporous, lovely painting by the Flemish artist

Anthony Van Dyck. Whenever I visit the London National Gallery, I always like to seek it out, to admire it again. It sends me into a trance – as if the Virgin were graciously to take me up with her into the realm above, to show me a glimpse of the heavenly mysteries.

The sublime subject is of course that of the Assumption. A great Marian feast, falling on August 15th. Celebrating the belief that the mother of Jesus, at the end of her earthly life, was taken up – assumed – into heavenly glory. Not while still alive, mind, but immediately after her death. In body and soul the Almighty as a supreme favour took her to himself. Alone of all human beings, Mary was thus granted that her physical body should be spared from corruption. Being the pure, undefiled mother of the Messiah was what obtained her

Interfaith

The assumption of the Virgin Mary

The Virgin Mary is not a distant, remote symbol, confined only to charming paintings and icons. Revd Frank Gelli believes she journeys and walks amongst us daily

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such a high privilege.

Holy Scripture, it must be admitted, does not record this episode. The last time the New Testament mentions Mary explicitly is in Acts 1:14, where she is described as being at prayer. Prior to that, the Gospel of St John relates (19:27) that Jesus from the Cross entrusted his mother to the care of the ‘beloved disciple’ who thereafter ‘took her to his own home’.

Where was that home? If St John was that beloved disciple then tradition says that he went on to live in the Greek city of Ephesus, Asia Minor, whose bishop he became. Naturally, the Virgin would have followed John to that city. Today the pious pilgrim in Southern Turkey is shown a simple brick dwelling, up on a hill a few miles from Ephesus’ ruins. I was there once, leading a parish pilgrimage to the Seven Churches of Asia. It is a peaceful and contemplative spot. Perhaps that is from where the Assumption took place. Devout Christians and Muslims regularly visit the house and pray there. On 15th August clergy, Christian and Islamic, hold a joint service – surely an excellent favour the Virgin is pleased to grant her interfaith devotees: praise be to God!

The Bible may be silent about the Assumption but sacred tradition is not. St Gregory of Tours believed in it and St John of Damascus, the famous Eastern theologian who after the rise of Islam prospered at the court of the Damascene caliph, reports that in the 5th century the Roman Emperor Marcian and his wife Pulcheria had desired to find the Virgin’s body, to possess the holy relic. Impossible, they learnt. Because her body was no longer on earth. Jerusalem’s Bishop Juvenal explained why. First, all of Christ’s Apostles had seen St Mary die. Second, her tomb had later been opened but found empty. Whereupon Christians detected the hand of God at work – the Virgin’s body surely was in Heaven.

Feasts celebrating the Assumption spread rapidly throughout the Christian world, East and West, but formal belief in it was never proclaimed an official article or truth of faith. It was only in 1950 that Pope Pius XII, speaking infallibly, declared it a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church. Eastern Orthodox writers countered that dogmas should not be multiplied beyond necessity. Still, the Orthodox Church had for centuries observed the feast.

Protestants by contrast were hopping mad. Did the Pope intend to turn the doctrine of the Trinity into a Quaternity? Not three but four persons in God’s One Substance? In other words, Father, Son, Holy Spirit and Blessed Virgin?

Not so, of course. Mary was never part of the Trinity and the Pope never dreamt of altering fundamental doctrine. It is peculiar how much many Protestant Christians seem to dislike Jesus’ mother. Unlike, definitely, Muslims. There are indeed more overt references to Mary in the Qur’an than there are in the Bible. Prophetic hadiths confer on her a most special privilege: she is the only woman to have been protected at birth from the touch of Satan – something also shared by the baby Jesus. The Qur’an, unlike the Bible, even refers to Mary’s mother, Hanna (3:35-6). As to Mary, the Qur’an uses the word

muharrar. This is taken to mean that Mary had been ‘freed from worldly affairs and dedicated to God’s service’.

The Anglican Church’s mainline position is ‘protestant’, insofar as it does not recognise the Assumption as an article of faith. However, individual Anglicans are not prevented from believing in it. Churches in the Anglo-Catholic tradition always keep the Assumption with a special High Mass. Although the average Anglican worshipper is supposed to like his religion ‘dry’, I have found the Virgin has a special appeal to the spiritually sensitive. As a compassionate, motherly figure par excellence she seems to reach and move the human heart of those in trouble.

I recall a parishioner who once shared with me the terrible predicament he was in. I’ll call him Edward. Naturally, I cannot enter into details. Let us say he had committed a grave sin. I told him that if he was really contrite and remorseful, if he sincerely asked for divine forgiveness, he would be pardoned. However, he still could not find peace. ‘I am damned’, he kept saying. ‘Nothing can save me, I know. I will be burning in hell.’ No matter how much I tried, quoted biblical passages and teachings to him and so on, I could not persuade him that no crime is heinous enough that God may not forgive a repentant sinner.

Then I remembered that Edward had told me how he, like me, much loved the Russian novelist Dostoevski. One of my favourite passages by that great writer can be found in the book ‘Brothers Karamazov’. It is entitled ‘The Journeys of the Blessed Virgin Mary through Hell’. A mystical and somewhat fanciful tale, perhaps not quite doctrinally correct but...never mind. The gist of the story is that St Mary, moved by the sufferings of the lost souls in the dark realm below, fervently prays to the Creator to grant them a short respite from their chastisements – until God eventually grants her prayer.

I asked Edward to go away, read and meditate on this story. At first, he was unwilling but then he agreed. When I saw him again I immediately noticed a change. The grim melancholy and despondency that had marked his mien had gone. ‘Thank you, Father’, he said. ‘From now on I shall always think of Mary in connection with that wonderful parable. I think perhaps there is hope for me.’

The Virgin Mary is not a distant, remote symbol, confined only to charming paintings and icons. To me she is near us, she journeys and walks amongst us daily. And she prays for all.

May faithful souls be granted the privilege of being helped by the mother of Jesus. •

Revd Frank Julian Gelli is an Anglican priest, cul-tural critic and a religious controversialist, working on religious dialogue. His last book “Julius Evola: the Sufi of Rome’ is avail-able on Amazon Kindle.

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The Islamic Golden Age was a historical period starting in the middle of the eighth century and ending with the Mongols’ conquest of Baghdad in 1258. The inauguration of the era is usually reckoned to have begun with the ascen-sion of the first Abbasid Caliph and the transfer of the capital of the Muslim world from Damascus to Baghdad.

A well-known saying of the Prophet Muhammad(s) states that “the ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr”, highlighting the value of knowledge. Armed with such encour-agement Muslims scholars shared skills and knowledge with Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Following the intro-duction of paper from China, Muslim scholars began the long process of writing down and categorising present and past knowledge. Islamic scholars

became the top polymaths of their time.

The Islamic world became an intellec-tual centre for science, philosophy, agri-culture, physics, education and espe-cially chemistry and medicine. Western scholars such as Will Durant and Fielding H. Garrison considered Muslim chemists such as Jabir ibn Hayyan to be the founders of chemistry.

Islamic physicians and scholars devel-oped a large and complex medical literature exploring, analysing, and synthesising the theory and practice of medicine. Almost all of the earlier medical texts were translated into Arabic and later into Persian and used as the fundamental building blocks in the formation of Islamic medicine. The medical scholars utilised a method based on scientific analysis. They developed hospitals and expanded

the practice of surgery and strived to find ways to care for the health of the human body.

Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (known as Rhazes or Rasis in Latin) and Abu Ali ibn Sina (known as Avicenna) were amongst the most prominent medical thinkers and physicians of the eras. Their books influenced medical schools in the Islamic world as well as the physicians of medieval Europe.

Many first discoveries in chemical and medical sciences are attributed to Al-Razi, a Persian Muslim polymath, physician, alchemist, chemist and scholar (865 - 925).

Al-Razi became the director of the first ever hospital in Persia and later he held the position of Chief Director of a hospital in Baghdad. In Persia he was always surrounded by several

Health

Medical Editor Laleh Lohrasbi

The Muslim contributionto health and medicine

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circles of students of different levels of knowledge. He wrote over 270 books on medicine, pharmacology, mathematics, alchemy, chemistry, philosophy, meta-physics and astronomy. Al-Razi had an enormous influence on European science and medicine. His major find-ings are refinement of ethanol (alcohol) and its use in medicine and the discov-ering of sulphuric acid, the workhorse of modern chemistry and chemical engineering. He introduced the use of mercurial ointments and developed a number of devices and instruments such as mortars, flasks, spatulas and phials used worldwide in pharmacies until the early twentieth century.

Al-Razi navigated through medical ethics and managed to introduce many

practical, progressive, medical and psychological ideas. His famous words “The doctor’s aim is to do good, even to our enemies, so much more to our friends, and my profession forbids us to do harm to our kindred, as it is instituted for the benefit and welfare of the human race, and God imposed on physicians the oath not to compose mortiferous remedies”, form the basis of modern medical ethics.

‘Al-Hawi’ or ‘The Large Comprehen-sive’ or ‘Continens Liber’ is Al-Razi’s major work on medicine. Many scholars believe that this book alone is enough to make Al-Razi the greatest medical doctor of the Middle Ages. In this book he reflects on and critiques the works of the Greek philosophers Aris-totle and Plato. On a smaller scale he managed to write a medical manual for

the public to treat common ailments at home. Al-Razi was also the first ever physician to consider paediatrics as an independent field of medicine and thus is often referred to as the father of paediatrics.

Another Muslim polymath, Ibn-Sina took up medicine at the tender age of sixteen and by eighteen had learned medical theories, discovered new methods of treatment, and remarkably, achieved full status as a qualified physi-cian. He was a pioneer in the science of experimental medicine.

More than 100 treatises are ascribed to Ibn-Sina, some of which are mere tracts of a few pages such as ‘The Cardiac Drugs’, while others extend through

several volumes. His 14-volume ‘The Canon of Medicine’ (Al-Qanoon fil-Tibb) was a standard medical text in Europe and the Islamic world. This book was one of the main medical references for more than 500 years up to the 18th century. The Canon is one of the most famous medical books in history. The principles of medicine described by the Canon ten centuries ago were used by many medical schools like the University of Montpellier in France and are still taught at UCLA and Yale University in the USA, among others, as part of the history of medicine.

The Canon of Medicine explains the functions of the different parts of the body, classifies and describes all diseases and has a comprehensive section on contagious and infectious

illnesses. The principles presented in this book for testing new drugs are still being used by modern pharmaceutical companies for developing new drugs. Ibn-Sina recommended the testing of a new drug on animals and humans prior to general use and gave a delicate expla-nation on how to determine the dosage, purity, strength and the time of action. The Canon’s materia medica considers some 800 tested drugs, with comments on their application and effectiveness.

Ibn-Sina was the first physician to find the relation between high cholesterol levels in the blood and high blood pressure which led him to investigate methods of controlling blood pressure. The book describes a precise anatomy of the nervous system and introduces

separate parts of the brain respon-sible for learning and the memory system, intellectual dysfunctions and reasoning. The physiology of eye move-ments which is explained in this book still forms a basis of information for modern ophthalmology. Ibn-Sina also provided useful information on the iris and optic nerves and he was the first to suggest that the optic nerves cross.

In March 2008, Ibn-Sina’s name was used for a new directory of educational institutions for health care profes-sionals worldwide which replaced ‘The World Directory of Medical Schools’ published by WHO. The Avicenna Directories list universities and schools where doctors, public health practi-tioners, pharmacists and others, are educated. The project team of Avicenna Directories stated: “Avicenna ... was ...

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noted for his synthesis of knowledge from both east and west. He has had a lasting influence on the development of medicine and health sciences. The use of Avicenna’s name symbolises the worldwide partnership that is needed for the promotion of health services of

high quality.”

The Avicenna Directories are main-tained by the University of Copen-hagen in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Federation for Medical Educa-

tion (WFME).

Ibn-Sina and Al-Razi’s achievements are remembered and celebrated in their native Iran every year in August on Physicians’ Day and Pharmocologists' Day. •

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A new invention with the potential of helping millions of patients suffering from a fatal coronary condition has bagged its Iranian creator a prestigious international prize.

Dr. Zahra Alizadeh Sani, cardiology specialist from Iran University of Medical Science, won the award for the Greatest World Woman Inventor at this year’s Geneva International Festival for Inventions, beating 2000 rival inven-tions.

Dr Alizadeh has invented software to determine the level of the tightness of heart coronary arteries which also makes it possible to determine if patients need to undergo angioplasty. “This is the easiest, cheapest and safest method to determine the level of the tightness of the coronary arteries,” claims Alizadeh. Together with her brother Roohollah Alizadeh Sani and Mohammad Javad Hosseini, faculty members of the computer department of Sharif Engineering at Mashhad Univer-sity, she developed the method by using mathematics and physics algorithms. The method was successfully tested on 303 patients. It proved to have an accu-racy of 100 percent and sensitivity of 95 percent and can be used in hospitals, emergency rooms and even ambulances. Only 5% of the 2000 inventions repre-sented in the festival will ever reach commercial production. Dr. Alizadeh said that some European countries including Germany, Spain and Belgium are eager to produce the software, but she would prefer it be done in Iran. She has already reached agreement

with other countries who are eager to utilise her mathematical formula in other medical fields such as genetics. Coronary arteries are tiny vessels which are responsible for deliv-ering blood into the heart tissue. Arteries tighten due to the formation and sedimentation of plaque on the interior wall of the coroners which may result in complete occlusion of the coroners. When these arteries are blocked, blood cannot find its way to the heart tissue causing an ischemic tissue to form in the heart muscle, resulting in heart infarction. If the tightness is diagnosed early then a tiny stent can be placed inside the coroner by a procedure called angioplasty. Stents are small meshed tubes which support the inner wall of the artery in the months or years after angioplasty. An estimated 17 million people world-wide die every year of cardiovascular diseases, particularly heart attacks and strokes. A substantial number of these deaths can be attributed to tobacco smoking, which increases the risk of dying from coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease by two or three times. Physical inactivity and unhealthy diet (high cholesterol and saturated oil containing foods) are other main risk factors which increase an individual’s risk of contracting cardiovascular diseases. Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of cardiovascular mortality worldwide with more than 4.5 million deaths occurring in the developing world. Currently the only available method for determining the level of the coro-

nary arteries’ tightness is angiography which is an expensive, invasive method, with lots of possible complications for the patient. These complications are often minor but also include injury to the catheterised artery, a tear in the heart or artery, blood clots, kidney damage, stroke, blood vessel damage and serious life threatening allergic reaction to the contrast dye. Although major complications are rare the potential risks do spell out the case for a new less invasive method. In the innovative method developed by Dr Alizadeh and her colleagues, the level of tightness is determined by use of the patient’s basic information like history, simple lab test results, electrocardiogram and echocardiog-raphy which could be analysed online using the software by medical experts to determine if angioplasty is required. Alizadeh says her biggest worry is that rivals may copy her method as the inter-national invention registration is not yet complete. As a five year-old the doctor witnessed her home town of Tabas devastated in an earthquake in 1978. The experience left her deeply scarred. She dedicated one of her gold medals to the survivors of the recent Boushehr and Azerbaijan earthquakes. •

Dr Laleh Lohrasbi is a pharmacologist. She has worked as an editor for the medical section of “Hamshahri”, a daily newspaper in Tehran.

Muslim Doctor bagsprestigious international award

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Science

T h e s e a r c h f o r

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Aliens and UFOs are popular characters in science-fiction movies and comics, but is there any evidence of aliens or life beyond planet Earth? Hannah Smith searches for clues from the world of empirical science.L i f e

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Are we alone in the Universe? This is a question that has long fascinated and haunted the human species. Billions

of pounds have been spent on space-bound machinery in the past 50 years of which much was built to search for alien life. Here I will explore scientists’ hunt for extra-terrestrial life, from the search for the roots of life on Earth to probing our solar system and beyond for traces of alien civilisations. The search for life however must begin on our home planet, Earth.

The hunt for extra-terrestrial life is made a lot more difficult by the fact that scientists do not fully understand how life developed on this planet first in a simple form, and then how it evolved in to complex or intelligent life forms. The earliest signs of life on Earth appear in the fossil record 3.7 million years ago although scien-tists are in disagreement as to how these earliest life forms came into being or where they came from. Some scientists believe that the organic molecules necessary for life landed on Earth according to a panspermia or exogenesis hypothesis which postu-lates that life originated elsewhere in the universe and subsequently trans-ferred to Earth in the form of spores via meteorites, comets, or cosmic dust.

We may not know precisely what caused life to proliferate on Earth but we have narrowed the recipe down to a few basic ingredients such as DNA and proteins which are largely carbon-based molecules, and liquid water that is necessary to mediate biological reac-tions. However scientists are wary that non-terrestrial life may not take the same form and may not be built from the same elements and molecules as Earth creatures. Scientists have conse-quently also taken an interest in more exotic forms of terrestrial life such as extremophiles which are simple organ-isms on Earth that can make energy from less common chemical reactions - for example involving methane.

The search for extra-terrestrial life has taken two routes, a search for Earth-like conditions that may spawn and support life, and a search for intelligent complex life-forms, the depiction of “aliens” that we are more familiar with from comic books and science-fiction films. Scien-tists have searched for planets with the conditions they believe necessary for life on Earth such as liquid water, sufficient solar radiation for chemical reactions such as photosynthesis, a rocky plan-etary composition that is geologically active so that minerals are recycled, a rich nitrogen-based atmosphere, as well as looking for the ecological “footprints” of active life such as altered atmos-pheres like the oxygen-rich atmosphere that plants have created on Earth. Signs of more advanced life could include communication signals.

Current efforts to search for life on planets within our solar system have focused on Mars which has received dozens of visits from space probes; the last was Curiosity in August 2012. Mars exhibits fluvial topography – landforms created by water flowing over rock surfaces – which is interpreted as firm evidence of past water. No liquid water has been found on the surface of Mars but there may be liquid water hidden in deep subterranean reservoirs, and methane was recently discovered in the Martian atmosphere which may derive from bacterial life hidden in such a deep reservoir.

Second to Mars, the search within our solar system has honed in on moons of other planets. The most likely incuba-tors of life are the icy moons of Jupiter: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. They harbour oceans of water below their

icy surfaces but it would be difficult to explore these oceans as a robot would need to drill through several kilometres of ice. A tiny moon of Saturn, Enceladus, which is just 310 miles in diameter and very cold at a distance of 1 billion miles from the Sun is thought to have the greatest chance of all of harbouring life. The Cassini space probe which has been orbiting Saturn for 8 years found that it has an atmosphere of water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen, geysers of liquid water erupting on its surface which also contain complex organic compounds including propane, ethane, and acetylene, and an internal heat source is providing the energy to keep the water in a liquid state. Unfor-tunately it would take around 30 years to complete a space mission to investi-gate the water and organic compounds

further as it takes 7 years to reach Enceladus and it would take around 10 years to design and launch a space probe.

Scientists have also looked for suitable planets outside our solar system. Exoplanets or planets orbiting other stars can be found by looking for wobbles in a star’s motions due to the gravi-

tational pull of planets or changes in brightness as an orbiting planet passes across it. Currently it is only possible to estimate the size of an exoplanet and its distance from its nearest star. Scientists are looking for planets at the threshold distance from a star to yield correct climate temperatures for liquid water, and for planets that are a similar or smaller than Earth as they are more likely to yield a rocky compo-sition. During its four year life span, the Kepler space telescope discovered 130 “worlds” and 3000 possible “worlds” in the region of our galaxy, the Milky Way, that it was able to survey. From these figures an estimate of the total number of possible “worlds” in the entire Milky Way galaxy can be made. Astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics estimate that at least 17 billion Earth-sized exoplanets reside in the Milky Way Galaxy. The closest

During its four year life span, the Kepler space telescope discovered 130 “worlds” and 3000 possible “worlds” in the region of our galaxy, the Milky Way, that it was able to survey. From these figures an estimate of the total number of possible “worlds” in

the entire Milky Way galaxy can be made.

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potential exoplanet has five times the mass of Earth and is found orbiting one of the Sun’s nearest neighbours, Tau Ceti, located 12 light years from Earth. Comets and meteorites are also potential vehicles of life. Scientists suspect that comets carry organic molecules and a number of spacecraft such as Rosetta have been launched to investigate this hypothesis. Amino acids, the protein building blocks of life have been found in meteorites such as the Murchison meteorite and many organic molecules are also known to form in red giant stars, a later stage of the life-cycle of a star, and detected by astronomers in interstellar clouds. If interstellar clouds can provide a mecha-nism for creating the building blocks of life, credence is given to the panspermia hypothesis for the injection of life on to Earth and potentially other planets or exoplanets.

The search for more complex and intelligent forms of life has given birth to the Search for Extra Terrestrial Life or SETI project. SETI has used radio telescopes to search for possible radio signals and optical telescopes to search for laser beams that could have been emitted by alien civilisations. No signals have yet been found. SETI’s activities also include active communication with potential alien civilsations. However this METI or Messaging Extra Terres-trial Life is highly controversial as it is possible that other alien civilisations may hold malevolent attitudes towards other alien life such as Earth-based humans. Scientists and officials are concerned that human communication could provoke hostile acts of aggression or violence toward our world as an act of defence or to acquire our planet’s resources. The famous physicist, Stephen Hawking, advises that the human species “lay low” and that we do not advertise our existence actively to the outside Universe. Some scientists believe such communication should be subject to international agreements.

As technology develops, detecting signs of life should become easier in the future. Telescope technology is expected to improve in the near future

which will enable scientists to visually observe signs of life on exoplanets such as climate, vegetation and water. If Earth were an exoplanet outside our solar system it would appear as a “faint blue dot” with contemporary telescope technology. Chile is currently building the most powerful telescope yet and this should be ready in the 2020s.

Although scientists have yet to uncover any firm evidence of life outside our blue planet, they have found a number of avenues worth further exploration such as moons within our solar system and even our nearest planetary neigh-bour, Mars, still offers hope of sheltering life deep beneath its famous red soil. And if we cannot find evidence of life within our solar system we can always turn to the thousands and millions of exoplanets within our galaxy and beyond which could all contain another mini-“world”. •

Hannah Smith has an under-graduate degree in Geophysics from Imperial College London and the University of Oxford, and a Masters degree in Geology from the University of Michigan.

Places

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“And those who feared their Lord will be led to the Garden in crowds, until behold, they arrive there. Its gates will be opened, and its keepers will say: ‘Peace be upon you! You have done well! Enter here, to dwell therein.” (Quran 39:73)

A beautiful door endows the threshold to one’s home with a sense of welcome. Around the world, doorways are deco-rated to bestow blessings upon those who enter and ward off the evil eye. Perhaps it would be more accurate to start with ‘Once upon a time’ for this tradition is fast dying out in favour

of anonymous entrances which say nothing of the culture of its inhabitants and which do not appear particularly welcoming.

North African doorways have entranced me for many years, particularly the exquisitely carved stone doors of Almoravid and Almohad mosques, the Babs or gates that pierce the historic walls of countless medinas. Some of these monumental gateways carved out of stone into intricate designs are currently being restored and used as gallery spaces to hold exhibitions. But there are also the more humble but not less inviting doors of family houses,

carved and often painted in two shades of pigments which vary from indigo blue to ochre yellow and many more shades in between. Sometimes the doorway is the only indicator of the kind of interior that lies behind the towering, fort-like walls seldom perforated by openings, which instead are found on the inside around ample courtyards. As these vast family homes increasingly become abandoned or sold off, carved and studded doors are chained up until disputes over inheritance are resolved.

Traditional courtyard houses (ryads) were more akin to fortresses consisting of thick-walled square enclosures with

Entranced by the beauty and individuality of North African doorways Cleo Cantone is concerned that the old traditional skill of door making which was once passed from master to apprentice is slowly disappearing

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virtually no external openings and one main monumental entrance. The heavy wooden door is sometimes double: the outer door opens directly onto the street, while the inner one marks the entrance to the house proper. Stone or stucco mouldings or carvings frame the entrance in an otherwise plain facade.

Doors are sometimes adorned with metal studs, painted with geometric and floral patterns or, as in the south of Morocco, carved. Painted doors do not tend to be resi-dential; rather they advertise a craftsman who specialises in painting furniture. A favourite among tourists is a door to a house in the Oudayas, the oldest part of the medina in Rabat perched on the confluence of the Bouregreg river and the Atlantic Ocean, whose owner has decorated it with metal plates and medallions.

The day of elaborate entrances may be all but dead because the craftsmanship that gave rise to their existence has now been transferred to specialised institu-tions where young people are trained in sanitised conditions to reproduce ‘tradi-tional’ styles. Thus millennial trades handed down from master to appren-tice need to be handed over to ‘profes-sionals’ who have not necessarily been exposed to the accumulation of experi-ence that only time and perseverance can attain. Of course there is much to be said for development: man’s labour comes at a price, whereas machines can spare a considerable amount of human

effort. The result is that foreigners are buying ancient houses and because they have the material resources and a love for all things ‘authentic’, they act as preservers of a dying culture. Paradoxically, those traditional houses that are still standing and have been restored by Moroccans have little regard

for the original features and designs of a house, unless they are restoring to sell to foreigners. What’s in a door, after all? What does it matter if it has been carved or painted by a skilled craftsman or bought in a DIY store? Indeed, the marker of a clumsily renovated house is precisely its entrance, where stucco and stone have been replaced by cheap, often imported bathroom tiles and

the solid wooden door discarded for a makeshift Formica barrier.

In the spirit of homogenisation, the Moroccan ministry of culture has decreed that all the doors of the artisan’s boutiques along the Rue des Consuls in the medina of Rabat should

look the same and has issued a standardised design made of solid cedar wood complete with brass fittings and a twist moulding surrounding the panels. Nevertheless, not all shopkeepers have agreed and are jealously guarding their old doors. This symbolic act of resist-ance is symptomatic of the saying that one rule does not fit all. Indeed, the charm of the medina is the individuality of each shop, the fact that it is not a shopping mall but a collection of specialised outlets.

Where the Ministry should intervene is in cases where buildings are precarious and their collapse immi-nent. Furthermore, what’s the harm in having one blue door, one painted and one of darkened wood that mirrors the ravages of time and history? Noting their singular beauty, I have attempted to preserve

their memory on digital camera: little did I know that a few months later many of these doors would be replaced. The bone of contention is not with the undisputed craftsmanship of the new doors themselves but of the enforced loss of individuality that certain traders wish to preserve leading to them refusing to change their old door with the custom made replacement.

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The owners of a house in Granada, Spain, had incorporated a Moroccan painted door and called it, tellingly, Dar Baraka. This house might as well be twinned with a Dar Baraka in the Oudaya in Rabat but rather than a painted door, the house is blessed by a yellow mosaic of a cat. It goes without saying that this re-appropriation of Islamic art into contemporary Anda-lusia is a reminder of the inter-connect-edness of the Iberian Peninsula with the Maghreb. Moreover, the exteriorisation of this rapprochement between Spanish and Moroccan culture is a clear mark

of a certain return to peaceful relations between the two countries. The owners of these two ‘houses of blessings’ inadvertently adhere to the belief in the importance of thresholds. As housing becomes increasingly impersonal, anonymous and standardised, it is worth valuing the uniqueness of hand-crafted doorways. •

Dr Cleo Cantone holds a PhD from the Univer-sity of London. Her book “Making and Remaking Mosques in Senegal”, based on her doctoral re-search, has recently been published by Brill.

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2 August 2013

Al Quds Day – United for PalestineAnnual Demonstration & Rally in sup-port of Palestine

Time: Friday 3 pm Assembly point: Portland Place, Near BBC Radio, marching to the US Embassy In Grosvenor Square.For more information please contact:Email: events@ihrc.org or 020 89044222

6 August 2013

Asian Textiles Summer SchoolWith Jasleen Kandhari

Explore the designs, techniques and traditions of Asian textiles, from the Kashmir shawl, Japanese kimono to Chinese costume, Malaysian songket and Tibetan tiger rugs. View the new Kashmir shawl display case at the Ash-molean with the speaker.

Ticket: £40Time: 10.30am-4pmVenue: Hedley Lecture theatre, Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology, University of OxfordWeb: www.ashmolean.org/eventsTel: 01865 278 015

(Exact date to be confirmed)

Eid in LondonCelebrate the Muslim festival of Eid in Trafalgar Square, with live performanc-es, food stalls, exhibitions and more! Organised by the Mayor of London

and the Muslim Council of Britain, Eid on Trafalgar Square has got bigger and better every year.

Venue: Various venuesWeb: www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/event

15-18 August 2013

Islamic Thought Boys Summer Camp 2013Islamic Thought is once again organ-ising a youth summer camp for boys aged 16-21.

Ticket: £40 Time: 17:00-18:00Venue: Hussaini Islamic Centre, 2 Burton Street, Peterborough PE1 5HDWeb: www. islamicthought.co.uk/ Tel: 07983 992 746 Email: maulana@islamicthought.co.uk

16 August

Friday Nights Thought ForumLondon’s weekly open gathering

Time: 19:30- 21:00 Venue: Islamic Centre of England

16-21 August 2013

Wilayah Summer CampThe Ahlul Bayt Islamic Mission is pleased to announce its summer camp this August. The camp aspires to pro-vide fun activities in an Islamic envi-ronment.

Girls’ Camp Age: 12-17 years old Time: Friday 16th – Sunday 18th August 2013 Venue: Phasels Wood, Kings Langley Cost: £75 per person (Discounted to £65 per additional person from same family)

Boys’ Camp Age: 12-17 years old Time: Sun18th – Wed 21st August 2013

Venue: Phasels Wood, Kings LangleyCost: £90 per person (£80 per additional person from same family)*Price includes accommodation, food, activities and lectures.Web: www.aimislam.com/camp/

21 August 2013

Islamic Prayer MatFind out about the traditions of Islam-ic culture and make your own prayer mat at the Oriental Museum.

Drop-in activities are suitable for chil-dren aged 5-11 years. Activities take place from 1pm - 3pm. All children must be accompanied by an adult.

Activities are included in the Museum admission price.

Time: 13:00Venue: Oriental Museum, Elvet Hill, Durham, DH1 3THWeb: www. dur.ac.uk/whatson/event/ Email: oriental.museum@durham.ac.uk

21-28 August 2013

MSC Summer Camp 2013 – GermanyThe Muslim Student Council (MSC) and AhlulBayt Islamic Societies (ABSocs) present their annual Sum-mer Camp.

The MSC successfully hosted two sum-mer trips to the Islamic seminaries in Iran in both 2010 and 2012, with ex-cellent feedback from students. The change of location this year promises to provide a new and exciting experi-ence.

Attendees will have the opportunity to benefit from Islamic lessons and activi-ties in a spiritually uplifting environ-ment.

Venue: Imam Ali(a) Mosque in Hamburg, GermanyEmail: admin@muslimstudentconsil.org Web: www.absoc.co.uk

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22-29 August 2013

Islam, Imaan, Ihsaan Please join this 7-day residential in-tensive course "Islam to Imaan to Ihsaan" by Shaikh Akram Nadwi & others. Youths aged 16-25 and others welcome.

Cost: £149 only for students/unemployedVenue: Markfield Conference Centre, Leicestershire LE67 9SYWeb: www.ks-courses.com/courses/residential-courses/summer/ Email: info@isb.org.uk Tel: 07914839942

23-25 August 2013

IUS Summer Camp 2013: Back to basicsThis year’s theme is ''Back to Basics'' which relates to both religious and physical activities.

Speakers: Sheikh Ali Hussein Datoo, Sister Nicole Correri & Dr Hassen Al-Sader

Transport: Two points of departure - Manchester & London. Details to follow:

Open to: Males and Females.Ticket: £130 Venue: Hindleap Warren Outdoor Centre, Wych Cross, East Sussex, RH18 5JHWeb: www. http://ius.org.uk/ Email: camps@ius.org.ukTel: 07880926378 (Brothers)

07933906789 (Sisters)

23-26 August

Cycle for the Ummah – London to ParisFee covers com-plete costs of accommodation, support vehicles, food etc.

Registration fee: £350Venue: London to ParisEmail: cyclefortheummah@gmail.com Web: www. uwt.org/site/ Tel: 07411276793

24 August 2013

Mount Snowdon ChallengeIslamic Help gives you the opportunity to reach new heights in fundraising by climbing the highest mountain in Eng-land and Wales.

Registration fee: £30Venue: Mount Snowdon, North WalesWeb: www.islamichelp.co.uk Email: challengepoverty@islamichelp.org.uk

Shadow of DreamsTeacher: Shaykh Dr. Muhammad Akram Nadwi

This session will unravel several top-ics related to understanding the true nature of dreams.

Ticket: £22Time: 10:00AM -18:00PMVenue: SOAS University (full details upon registration)Web: www. alburujpress.com/courses/

24 August-7 September 2013

First IIIT (The International Institute of Islamic Thought) European Summer SchoolThe programme is designed for Eu-ropean undergraduate and graduate students who are majoring in Islamic Studies, humanities or the social sci-ences.

Organised by IIIT London Office, UK, Institute for Epistemological Studies Europe, Brussels and Centre for Ad-vanced Studies, Sarajevo, in coopera-tion with The Fairfax Institute, USA, and hosted by International University of Sarajevo.

Venue: Hedley Lecture theatre, Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology, University of OxfordWeb: http://www.iiituk.com/Tel: +387 33 716 040Email: cns@bih.net.ba

29 August 2013

Central Asia: Merchants on the Silk Road (Gallery talk)

A gallery talk by Diana Driscoll, inde-pendent speaker.

Gallery talks last 45 minutes.

They are given by Museum staff or guest speakers and are suitable for all levels of knowledge.

Ticket: Free, just drop in Time: 13.15–14.00Venue: Room 52, The British MuseumWeb: www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar/

30 August-1 September 2013

Islamic Help's Climb Ben Nevis challenge This is an opportunity to climb the highest mountain in the British Isles and raise money for a cause of your choice.

Reach the summit and view the re-mains of an observatory and an emer-gency shelter which is the highest man-made structure in the UK.

Registration fee: £50Venue: Mount Ben Nevis, Fort William, west coast of ScotlandWeb: www.islamichelp.org.uk Email: challengepoverty@islamichelp.org.uk