Archive for July, 2009
The Art of Apology
There can be many reasons to apologise, and this is a must when you have done something wrong by another person, even an adversary. A sincere apology opens hearts, and that is why it can even have uses when you are not entirely in the wrong. Sometimes you may search for something in your behaviour to apologise for, just to engage the other person and bring an emotional aspect into the dialogue. It is probably beyond all civilised behaviour to reject a sincerely presented apology, and doing so would make the rejecter seem mean-spirited and would in fact weaken his standing in any debate.
I regularly come across “bogus apologies”, where a form of words is used that is supposed to count as an apology while lacking the hallmarks of sincerity. The professionals at this are those journalists with a penchant for smearing or libelling groups of people. Remember Robert Kilroy-Silk? Rather than apologise for his racist diatribe in 2003, he said: “It has obviously caused great distress and offence and I can only reiterate that I very deeply regret that.”
People tend to dislike being asked for an apology, but I believe we should welcome this invitation. If someone knows – or believes – that I have done something wrong, I want them to tell me rather than store some resentment which could have repercussions farther down the line. Least of all do I want to meet my Lord while some person has a rightful claim against me which we did not settle in earthly life. This is part of the spirit behind the saying of ‘Umar b. al-Khattab: “God bless the person who gifts me my faults.”
An apology – and its acceptance – should draw a firm line under an issue and any subsequent mention of the matter should be avoided as far as possible. Unfortunately, some people like to bring up old grievances that they had supposedly forgiven, rather than letting old wounds heal over completely.
With these things in mind, I have compiled this simple guide to apologising, which is based upon Islamic teachings of how to repent to God Almighty for our sins – see, for example, the writings of Imam Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah.
Three Faiths Action on Usury
Jonathan Freedland today comments on an interesting turn of events in the City. Apparently there is a campaign brewing to revive usury laws, which would put a limit on the amount that can be charged by banks for lending money.
Some will say that we should save all this talk for the pulpit, that it’s all very well in the realm of moral exhortation but it has no place in the real world of hard-headed economics. But London Citizens’s Glasman has a good retort: “What the crash has revealed is that it’s the bankers who’ve been living in a fantasy world of virtual money, where money has no relation to assets and no connection to the real economy.” [...]
It is telling that the lead voices in this new effort are from mosques, inner-city churches and synagogues. The politicians have been left looking flummoxed by the financial crisis, apparently desperate for normal business to resume as soon as possible. It has been left to the Pope to offer the most comprehensive critique of our devastated economic landscape, in his latest encyclical. But those facing crippling debts will not be too bothered by that. When people are desperate, they will take leadership from wherever they can get it.
What Freedland seems to have missed in saying that “to charge too much interest is immoral” is that the Islamic texts prohibiting usury/interest do so absolutely, and do not merely put a cap on the rate. He provides a few scriptural quotes, and I do not get the impression that the Jewish and Christian position would be any less absolute, if based solely on these texts:
The Code of Hammurabi, written in Babylon 17 centuries before Jesus, barred excessive interest. The Book of Exodus is no less stringent: “If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, do not act to them as a creditor, extract no interest from them.” Luke’s gospel insists we “lend without expecting any return“, while the Qur’an instructs believers to “fear Allah, and give up what remains of your demand for usury”.
There have been interesting developments in what is termed as Islamic banking, and even “halal (permissible) mortgages”, a term that many are uncomfortable with because it seems an oxymoron to describe something inherently usurious as religiously pure. However, there are complexities in how these transactions are designed, such that something that might look like interest is in fact something different.
While it is certainly devious and immoral to merely re-label something in order to make it seem acceptable, it is the case that two things can look the same while having a different ruling, such as two beef steaks, one of which came from a correctly slaughtered animal, and the other being incorrectly prepared.
To know the rulings on such loans, we need close consultation between the financial experts and the scholars of religious law.
Solidarity in face of atrocity
Words fail me when it comes to commenting on the horrific murder in Germany of the lady dubbed as the “headscarf martyr“. All I wanted to share was this glimmer of hope in peaceful coexistence:
Jewish and Muslim communities united against Islamophobia
Stephan Kramer, the Secretary General of the German Jewish Council, has been one of only a handful of non-Muslim voices in Germany willing to describe the murder as motivated by Islamophobia. Kramer gave his solidarity to the Muslim community and alongside Aiman Mazyek, Secretary General of the Central Council of Muslims visited Elwi Ali Okaz in hospital, ‘We want to send a signal against Islamophobia’, said Stephan Kramer, adding that the ‘meagre’ reaction of the authorities to the murder was ‘absurd’. Muslim and Jewish leaders are due to meet with the Saxon prime minister and the Intercultural Council has called for a public demonstration of solidarity with the victim’s family.
With thanks to PULSE.
Buried Treasures
Sometimes I think
I’ll be on the brink
Searching for deeds
And finding these seeds
I planted in haste
But not gone to waste
As God made them grow
While I didn’t know
I hope and I pray
I’ll find them that Day
—
Sohaib Saeed, 2009
“Your own personal Jesus”
I received this by e-mail and shared my responses. It looks an interesting way to gather diverse perspectives, so do take part if interested.
The National Portrait Gallery of Scotland will be hosting an exhibition later this year entitled Rough Cut Nation.
This unique multimedia project draws together a group of young artists from around Scotland to create a dramatic collaborative installation. For the Edinburgh Festival they will construct a remixed version of Scottish history as informed by street art and graffiti culture, painted, pasted and projected directly onto the walls of the Portrait Gallery.
The project updates William Hole’s original decorative mural scheme of 1889-1898, depicting important events from Scotland’s past. This new installation exploits the empty space produced by the Gallery’s current closure for redevelopment.
The original mural by William Hole portrays elements of Scottish history with strong religious and at times Protestant overtones.
As one of the artist duos involved, we are interested in exploring religious iconography and the use of Jesus as a moral or social catalyst within both Scottish history and contemporary culture.
With that in mind we would like to ask you three questions:
1. In one word, describe who was/is Jesus?
2. In one word, what does Jesus have to do with Scottish History?
3. What impact has Jesus had on Scotland past, present and future?The answers that we collect from these questions will potentially form part of the final artwork, but will not be attributed to any one individual.
To take part: http://dufi-art.blogspot.com/2009/06/who-do-you-say-i-am.html
7/7 four years on
Extremism relies on despair and is defeated by hope
Sohaib Saeed
Originally published in the Edinburgh Evening News, 7th July 2006
A YEAR ago, Thursday morning: something on the news about a power surge in the London Tube; I get some breakfast, and it looks to have been a series of bombings; by lunchtime, it was the al-Qaida network and the Muslim threat within.
In the weeks that followed, I was hot property in the media’s eyes: what can this young bearded man tell us about these Angry Young Muslims and the process of radicalisation? I don’t know, I said; I can tell you anything about facts, but I’m not going to jump on any bandwagon and point the easy finger at the mosques, the youth, the Muslim communities.
I’m not interested in agenda-driven polls like in The Times this week – I reckon poll is short for “polarise”. Muslims are horrified by terrorism, full stop. The London bombings affected people of all backgrounds and ways of life. They harmed not only all those people killed or injured, but also our whole society. Years of harmony-building effort were set back by this devastating criminal act, condemned in the sight of the Creator – whatever name we may call Him by.
Just as it was hard to remember what life was like before 9/11, 7/7 became another turning point. Headlines in the papers became hysterical: one screamed “Radical Islamists at Scots universities” – which was news to me as a student well connected to Islamic societies around Scotland. The “story” was based on assertions made by Prof Anthony Glees, labelling Dundee University as a breeding ground for extremism on the basis of precisely nothing. I recall how distressing this was for Muslim students there, who have since faced increased scrutiny and visits by Special Branch.
I learned an important lesson that summer, though: not to assume that people are like some in the media portray, or that they are shaped by the negativity they are exposed to. I hope others can bear that principle in mind when thinking about Muslims too. The Central Mosque on Potterrow opened its doors every day in August for the annual Discover Islam Exhibition. So many people came, and I was amazed and heartened by their warmth and interest to know us and what we are about.
Read the rest of this entry »
Islam, arts and boundaries
Below is an interview with me which forms part of a longer article by Joe Horton, back in 2007 when I was manager of the Islam Festival Edinburgh (running again this August).
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Sohaib Saeed, manager of the Islam Festival at the Edinburgh Central Mosque, steeples his fingers carefully as he speaks. His voice, though soft, carries quite a distance in this silent library directly underneath the main prayer room of the mosque. It’s early afternoon, between the noon and afternoon prayers, so the mosque is quiet.
“For sure artists can be provocative. But in sensitive times, you have to think, will this raise up our society or just encourage bigots?” he says. “To be ignorant of one’s own ignorance is the worst. It’s narcissistic — there’s no effort to ascertain what’s the truth.”
The Discover Islam Exhibition, now an official part of the Fringe Festival welcoming 20,000 visitors per season, is in many ways the watchdog of artistic representations of Islam at the Festival. The primary purpose and goal of the exhibition, Saeed explains, is to educate festival visitors as to the true teachings of Islam and to provide a factual background to the artistic and dramatic representations of Islam and Muslims that have become increasingly common at the festival in recent years.
To that end, members of the mosque are available to answer questions for five minutes or five hours on any subject, no matter how polarizing or politically taboo. The exhibition also offers recitations of the Qur’an and workshops in Arabic calligraphy that also contribute artistically to the festival.
Born believers – new study
Children are born believers in God, academic claims
Dr Justin Barrett, a senior researcher at the University of Oxford’s Centre for Anthropology and Mind, claims that young people have a predisposition to believe in a supreme being because they assume that everything in the world was created with a purpose.
He says that young children have faith even when they have not been taught about it by family or at school, and argues that even those raised alone on a desert island would come to believe in God.
Very interesting, though rather a familiar idea to a Muslim! The Prophet Muhammad (on whom be peace) taught: “Every newborn is born upon the Natural Way (fitrah) and it is his parents who make him Jewish, Christian or Magian.” And we might add: or atheist.
While the term ‘fitrah’ is understood to mean Islam, the wording is important because it indicates that what we mean by children being “born Muslims” is the most essential meaning, namely the natural inclination of the soul to recognise its Creator and worship Him. That, after all, is the meaning of Islam: wilful submission to God’s will, so we can see clearly why the “natural way” is considered synonymous with Islam.
Because of this concept, many people who accept Islam later in life prefer the term “revert” over “convert”, to reflect the idea that they are coming back to something they always recognised in their heart of hearts. As the Qur’an says:
{ And [mention] when your Lord took from the children of Adam – from their loins – their descendants and made them testify of themselves, [saying to them], “Am I not your Lord?” They said, “Yes, we have testified.” [This] – lest you should say on the day of Resurrection, “Indeed, we were of this unaware.” } [Al-A'raf 7:172]
“Shari’ah Courts” in Britain
Shari’ah is a word that can single-handedly create a media storm. It is one of a set of terms (also including fatwa, burka, …) that have made their way into mainstream discourse in the English language without a proper understanding of their meanings.
The term “sharia courts” conjures quite a terrifying image in many people’s minds, combining all the “barbarity” that is assumed of Islamic law with the notion of a “separate law” for Muslims operating in secret enclaves, allowing Muslims to circumvent British law and eventually impose their own way across the British isles!
The simple point that is often missed is that, rather than being a specific legislative code that takes one form only, Shari’ah is understood by Muslims as the law based upon divine revelation, and aspects of this legislation will vary according to place and time, due to the inherent flexibility of Islam. So Muslim scholars obviously have ways of reconciling their place within a society like the UK that is majority non-Muslim and has a basically secular legal system.
While the focus may be on matters such as marriage, divorce and inheritance, let’s not forget that Muslims also eat, pray and sleep according to the Shari’ah, which is the path through which we seek God’s pleasure in obedience to His guidance, which in turn is for our own benefit.
