Awash in Blood & Gore

It is not their meat nor their blood, that reaches God: it is your piety that reaches Him: He has thus made them subject to you, that ye may glorify God for His Guidance to you...

Qur'an 22:37

Who says there is no such thing as bad publicity? I got one for you.

This past Monday, for the first time in recent memory, most Muslims across the US and Canada celebrated Eid Al Adha on the same day. When I realized there wasn't a single person I knew who celebrated it on Sunday or Tuesday, I worried I wasn't embracing Muslim diversity enough...I mean, was I becoming too snooty and selective in the friends I had? Possibly.

I wish that were the saddest realization I had this Eid. That arrived soon enough, in the form of a 10 mega-pixel picture gallery in the online edition of The Washington Post. The leading text was fairly innocent:

Every year on the holiday of Eid Al-Adha, Muslims take part in the Festival of the Sacrifice at local farms in Virginia and Maryland. For some, it is a festive occasion with balloons and laughter; for others, it is a solemn ritual as they pray over the chosen animal.

But I knew we were in trouble when, even before the first slide showed up, the following parental advisory flashed:

Editor's Note: Some images in this gallery may be disturbing because of their violent or graphic nature.

A mentor once told me, "it's not what you say, it's the listening you create." I am afraid most WP readers didn't see what Eid Al Adha is supposed to mean for Muslims. (For a quick read, check out Wikipedia and if you want to learn a lot more: The Tent of Abraham.)

The slide show goes downhill from the appropriate parental warning...20 slides in high, high resolution of what appears to be at best an uncivilized bunch killing animals. It certainly did not capture the solemnness that my parents taught me is associated with laying down to slaughter an animal for food. The necessary reflection on the meaning of life, on how we express thanks for the livestock God provides for our nourishment, how we don't slaughter them or hunt them for mere sport. We created some bad listening, I am afraid.

WHY WOULD ANYONE INVITE A PHOTOGRAPHER TO CREATE A SLIDE SHOW OF MUSLIMS SLAUGHTERING GOATS AND LAMBS? Is the world lacking in the stereotypical association between Muslims and disturbing, violent activities? Have we not contributed more than our share of galleries that may be disturbing because of their violent or graphic nature? Oy ve!

More than 10,000 Muslim Americans of all shades and color, from newborns to folks in wheel chairs, speaking English in every accent known to mankind, attired in the most exotic and diverse regalia, gathered at the new and beautiful Convention Center in America's capital city to pray, play and party as a way of celebrating Eid. We invited leaders and members of other faith groups so we build bridges of understanding with our neighbors. But how does the Washington Post show we celebrated Eid? By being awash in blood and gore, of course! I don't know I can blame Carol Guzy, the photographer WP assigned to cover the story (member of a Pulitzer-winning team, by the way). But I certainly hope they find a new PR person at the mosque which thought of inviting Carol there.

I am not calling for censorship. Just balance. A lot more happened on Eid day than the "bloodfest." And the spirit of the sacrifice as captured in the verse I quoted above from 22:37 was not even remotely conveyed. Islam is strongly for animal rights. In days when camels and horses were the only means of carrying load around, Islam prohibited overloading them. You may not burn ants if they infest your backyard. We may not hunt animals for pleasure - only if you intend to consume them for food. No fur coats. No ivory on our walls. I think you get the point. And I doubt you got it from Carol Guzy's slide show.

You want a link so you can see the slides? Go do something better with your time (smile).

One Muslim Community (Finally) Takes a Stand!

Who says all news is depressing? In what BBC reports as "their first openly defiant act against 'Islamic terrorism'" Indian Muslims refused to bury the bodies of the nine men who terrorized Mumbai in Muslim cemeteries.

Finally, a precedence-setting act of courage! Alhamdulillah.

Earlier, I was told that US government officials were starting to avoid referring to terror perpetrators as "mujahideen." I hope the media follows suit.

Kinship with people of one's faith is natural, among Muslims this kinship is deeper and stronger than many other faiths. We celebrate each others' successes as siblings do. We mourn with each other our losses. Our hearts weep for the oppression other Muslims endure. Yet, for all the tragic and heart-rending oppression of Muslims, we can never retaliate by crossing the lines our Lord has drawn. Our love for other Muslims will not blind us to their crimes. We are not a tribe, we are a faith community. Our faith sets high ethical and moral standards. We are not so naive that anarchists and terrorists could pass off as freedom fighters and martyrs.

You can fool anybody once, but you can't fool all the people all the time. I view the response of India's Muslims as the beginning of the end of the age when terrorists defined Islam and Muslims.

Terror is our response to tyranny against us? Forgive the cliche, but two wrongs do not make a right. We don't fight sin with bigger sin. Just as speaking the truth before a tyrant is a great form of jihad, resisting hopelessness, despair and suicide in face of great oppression must have great rewards with God. Who came and tricked us into suicide missions? And look at what that has brought us?

We need to unequivocally denounce the terror strategy. It has no place in our faith. And it's been tried for way too long and failed. It has brought shame to the name of our faith and untold suffering to our people. To borrow from the editorial headline of India's leading Urdu newspaper Inquilab: "ab bahut ho chuka" - enough already!

Libertarianism in Islam

I sense a particular closed-mindedness and exclusive thinking among fellow Muslims. I found the following Wikipedia entry on Hilf al Fudul an appropriate answer to that narrow approach. I am not being lazy, this entry is better than anything I could ever write.

A Jew in the Path of our Prophet

This morning, CNN carried a little article on Raphael Lemkin, the man who was at the center of efforts to ensure the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Forty members of his family had died at the hands of the Nazis. Lemkin followed two key teachings of the Prophet (pbuh). First, he left the country where his life was in danger - he made hijra. Secondly, he acted to confront oppression in a constructive way. He committed his entire life to ensuring the world recognized the criminality of genocide.

Lemkin had a choice on how to react to losing forty family members in the Holocaust: he could fall into despair, lose hope and worse, lose it and become a suicide bomber. We have witnessed such reactions from others. But Lemkin stayed hopeful - an essential trait of a Believer. He didn't resort to violence - which does not mean he did nothing about the tragedy that befell him. In fact, Lemkin embarked something very difficult and very courageous. He hit the agents of oppression with a hard and lasting blow when the United Nations adopted the Convention. The world is a better place that Lemkin directed the energy that comes from so much suffering down a constructive channel.

To repel evil with good, is a central Qur'anic command:

Good deed and the evil deed cannot be equal. Repel evil with that which is better... 41:34

Eid Mubarak - when is it?

I wonder if there will ever come a time when we will not dispute over when we celebrate our major holidays such as Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha and mark the beginning of Ramadan.

Weird thing is, the Qur'an takes a strong position against those who thrive on mastery of inane matters. In Surah Kahaf (8:18), for instance, it makes it clear that debating issues that are of little significance and on which there is not clear-cut final resolution is not an activity that behooves people of faith:

"Enter not, therefore, into controversies concerning them, except on a matter that is clear..."

Yet, so many Muslims seem to have such hardened positions on moon-sighting and determination of Islamic calendar dates, when the fact of the matter is, it is vastly more important to celebrate Eid together than get that darned date "right".

The comedy-tragedy on this issue occurred when after years of educating and lobbying, Muslims in a city convinced the local school board to declare Eid day as a holiday. As the Muslim community fell in sujood to thank Allah, the phone rang. It was the school board president, he wanted to know what day Eid would fall that year, so he could put it on the school calendar. OK, so I made this story up, but if it hasn't already played out across American, it's only a matter of time.

A young, fast-speaking, African-American Imam from New York who embraced Islam as an adult used to say: "Muslims man! We master the minor and miss out the major." (Now say that ten times out loud in a New York accent, to get a feel for what the Imam sounded like!). Time to read Surah Kahaf again...

Evidence of a Flawed Strategy

Given enough time, it will become manifest to anyone whether they're on the right path or the rotten path. I think we Muslims have reached one such milestone and it's time to reflect.

Muslims once created and lived in a great civilization. The world from Spain to Indonesia woke to mueddhin's call to prayer and fasted every Ramadan. With time, they became complacent and abandoned critical thinking, science and innovation.

Western Europe came late to the civilization party, but got some things right. They pursued science, rational thinking and embraced innovation. When they came to Muslim lands with their superior weapons, Muslims could barely put up a fight. The world outside had changed forever, but in their complacence Muslims thought it was just a local, passing anomaly and they would regain their past position of being the trend-setters.

For over 250 years Muslims kept losing battles small and large and ceding control of their lands to Europeans who colonized these lands. They only took notice of events that were symbolically big. For instance, when the Allies abolished the Caliphate, Muslims tried hard to restore it. The nation that had little discourse or debate over the fact that the Caliphate had become a hollow, meaningless shell of an institution for centuries, stood up in outrage when its irrelevance was made official.

Another big shocker was losing control of the Holy Lands.

Two generations of Muslims have waged armed struggle in the Middle East and other parts of the world. When they were completely out-powered by their adversaries, Muslims have adopted guerrilla warfare and a more sinister war which is appropriately labeled terrorism.

In general, the Muslim nation is still unable to fully come to grips with the fact that the world has changed and we are living in a new paradigm. They think the mueddhin will soon sound the call to prayer at daybreak and, waking up, they will realize all this had been one long bad dream.

Now, I think Muslim grievances in many instances do bear merit. Millions of Muslims have been wronged individually and the nation has been wronged collectively. But such is life. American Indians have been wronged. The Irish have been wronged. Franks and Persians have been wronged. Jews have been wronged by the Pharaos, the Nazis and generations of Christians over Passion of the Christ. India's untouchable class has been wronged - and that's been going on how many centuries? And, right before our eyes, with plenty video footage still available, we have seen the subjugation, humiliation, dehumanization of African-Americans. They were stolen from their homes, brought to America as slaves and worked without so much as being accorded their humanity.

In the 1950s and 60s, this last group was at a cross-roads. With few rights in a land that brimmed with wealth, they had a choice. They could go violent, and some did, or they could adopt the path of passive resistance. Passive resistance means you don't commit violence, but you stand firm in the face of your oppressors telling them that you want them to stop oppressing you ("speaking truth to a corrupt leader" is extolled in Hadith as the greatest jihad). The cross-roads is symbolized by the Rev. Martin Luther King as one path and The Black Panther as the other. It is also symbolized by the speeches and path of an angry Nation of Islam Minister called Malcolm X and the path suggested by a more mature, Al Hajj Malik Shabbaz.

History bears witness that despite some flirtations with the path of violence, African Americans have largely chosen the path of passive resistance.

And today, a man whose father was as black as the blackest slave ever traded and dehumanized in America, is counting days to assume the highest office in this land. And he was voted there by the children and grand-children of those who once oppressed.

As I look back at the history of Muslims and African-Americans, I think we see two nations acutely aware of the oppression, subjugation and dehumanization and two nations that have taken two radically different paths to addressing it. I think it is as clear as daylight which strategy has failed and which strategy has worked.

The perversion of Islam to convince Muslims that their faith allows for random acts of violence is one of the biggest tricks the devil may have pulled in a long time.

One last point: There is a management principle that if you do more of the same, you get more of the same. Is 250 years plenty proof of a failed strategy? Do we want another 250 before we open our eyes and realize this isn't a bad dream, it's real? It is not too late yet. We need to categorically abandon terrorism as a mode of fighting against anyone we consider an adversary and adopt the path of our Prophet (pbuh): get your own house in order, stand firmly against oppression, but don't resort to acts of violence. Our African-American neighbors did and look where God is taking them. Allahumma Salli 'Ala Sayyidina Muhammad...

Dear Brothers and Brothers

Imams Who Don't Care #3: Dear Brothers and Brothers

A unique challenge for many Muslims is to accord to women their rightful status - as defined by the Qur'an and the Sunnah - in society. Islam ordains that men and women are equal before God and in society. However, humans, in their imperfect implementation of this principle often swing to the two extreme ends of this spectrum.

To some, sadly, equality is achieved only when SAMEness is achieved - i.e. men and women dress the same, carry the same responsibilities, and do the same things. I say sadly, because this quickly becomes absurd. Some of the sameness can never be achieved because it is physically and biologically impossible. Men will never be able to breastfeed children or carry babies in their wombs (which do not exist). While Islam allows a woman to work outside the home, this distorted sense of equality now pressures all women to feel the need that they must work outside the home to feel equal.

The other extreme, equally sad, is the one we see more often in Muslim communities. People who sort of pay lip service to women's equal status but kind of wink and nod to a reality that is anything but. Books can be written to cite evidence for this bold assertion, but two simple examples ought to suffice for now - I see some comedy and tragedy in both:

1. Muslim Women as an Afterthought: In the last 40 years Muslims have built mosques around the United States. What amazes me is how badly designed most of these structures are. I know, I know, it's the spirituality that's more important and all that nonsense, but come on, if you're going to build a structure, please pay as much attention to it as you would to your own house in terms of functionality. The issue that receives LEAST attention is that of women's access to mosques. It's usually an afterthought. Here is how I think things really happen. The grand mosque gets built, nice dome and minaret and all, prayer rugs from Persia and Pakistan...and the inauguration day is approaching. Someone, then realizes "what about women - where are they going to pray?" The highly resourceful masjid secretary has a solution. "Hey, not to worry, we have a dark and damp basement!" If there is no basement, he usually runs to Office Depot and grabs a few pieces of cubicle furniture. Then, in the extreme corner of the masjid, the same resourceful brother, assisted by the rest of the executive committee, working together in perfect unity, installs the "Sisters' Prayer Area." Oh, the sign is quickly made too - the cover of a cardboard box is ripped, and using a matching color H1B pencil someone writes it all up and duct-tapes it at the entrance. Masjid budget: $2 million, 4 years of effort. Budget to find place for "Sisters": $125 and 35 minutes of effort.
   
   If you feel your brother here is exaggerating, visit the "National Masjid" in Washington, DC on Massachusetts Avenue.
   
   
2. The "Dear Brothers and Brothers" Imam: Some of our "Back Home Imams" and others who became Imams here but picked up a hardlined strain of the deen just can't come to accepting the fact that our daughters, sisters, wives and mothers choose to join us in prayers at the masjid. These Muslim women may be braving the dark, damp basement or relegated to a corner cubicle where jackets and the masjid cleaning supplies are kept, but the biggest insult they have experienced is when the Imam just cannot acknowledge their presence. I have known many such Imams - I call them the "Dear Brother and Brother Imams." You know how it goes, the Imam in addressing the congregation considers it a sin to refer to the congregation with the realistic "Dear Brothers and Sisters" - naah, can't utter the taboo word.
   
   If you feel I am exaggerating, maybe I am. So these Imams simply say "Dear Brothers" even as they know the presence of the fairer gender in the masjid, but bad, old habits, deep-rooted biases just can't bring them to acknowledging them.

I worry about this issue is for the following reason: We Muslims in America, and soon Muslims elsewhere in the world, won't be able to bluff our daughters, sisters, wives and mothers for too long. Bluff season is over. It's time to fully adopt Islam and shed our old, pre-Islamic tribal principles that we have held on to so tightly for so long, even if we feel very attached to them.

Dear brothers and brothers, let's start with building mosques that are every bit geared to also meet the needs of our women. And if you know they are in the audience, don't hesitate to make them feel welcome.