Guwahati, Wednesday, May 11, 2005
NORTH EAST
From Sangzuala Hmar
AIZAWL, May 10 – After the historic recognition of the Bnei Menashe tribe of Mizoram as the lost tribe of Israel by Isreal’s Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar, the Mizo Jews felt that the much awaited exodus to the Holy Land was coming soon. The expected arrival of Rabbi Yahuda Gin, the first Rabbi from the Beni Menashe clan has once again ushered them into a new ray of hope.
“We are waiting for the arrival of Rabbi Yuhada Gin, who would possibly be in Aizawl on Tuesday,” said Liyon Fanai, secretary, Information and Publicity, Bnei Menashe community of Mizoram. Rabbi Khanok Avitzedek from Israel will follow him, Liyon added.
After the recognition, the Mizo Jews have been eagerly waiting for the rabbis to demeanor ‘Giyur’ (ritual rebirth/ conversion). The Bnei Menashe community leaders said that after the conversion ritual, the community would be able to immigrate to Israel under the “Law of Return”, which allows Jews to return to their homeland as citizens.
The visit of Rabbi Yahuda can be seen as a ground work for the arrival of ‘Beit Din’ (rabbinical court); the court will formally recognise the Mizo Jews who have already endured ‘circumcision’. Bnei Menashe community leaders have ascertained that 925 persons have endured the circumcision rite.
Economic immigration, the factor that is reportedly one of the major concerns of the Israeli Government would hamper the immigration, the Bnei Menashe community anticipated. Liyon Fanai said that every precaution would be made to circumvent such possibilities.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Influx main cause of population rise ; NCM
NEW DELHI, April 30 – The National Commission for Minorities finding may again send alarm bells ringing as it said that growth rate of Muslims in 10 districts of Assam was among the highest in the country. The National Commission for Minorities which convened a meeting with Muslim intellectuals today to discuss the findings of the report of critical analyses of the 2001 Census by an Expert Committee of demographers said that out of the 593 districts studied by the Committee there were 49 district in four States which showed high growth rates. The States included Assam, West Bengal, UP and Bihar.Expert demographer and chairman of the Committee Prof Ashish Bose said that high growth rates in the 10 districts in Assam and five districts in West Bengal was due to the unabated influx from Bangladesh.The 10 districts have recorded over 51 percent growth rate which above the national average. The districts were Dhubri, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Darrang, Morigaon, Nagaon, Cachar, Karimganj, Karbi Anglong and Goalpara.In UP, out of its 70 districts, 10 districts have recorded Substantial Muslim Population and in Bihar five. While elsewhere higher fertility rate was prime cause for SMP, in the districts bordering Bangladesh infiltration was the main for such high growth rate, Prof Bose claimed.Chairman of the NCM Tarlochan Singh further added that the Census Commission could not furnish the data on illegal infiltration to the NCM when it was asked.He also said that concern expressed by few political parties in States like Assam about the high growth rate of Muslim could not be brushed aside. The Expert Committee mentioned that the inter censal growth of Muslim population (29.5) during 1991-2001 was higher than overall growth (21.5 percent) of the country’s population during the same decade.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Bridging the Generation Gap - A Critical and Worthy Endeavor
Bridging the Generation Gap – A Critical and Worthy Endeavor
By Altaf Husain**
April 24, 2005
The scene is typical. It’s four o’ clock in the afternoon. Grandma is sitting in a room by herself, reading the Qur’an. The parents both work so they are not at home and will not return until well after the children come home from school. The school bus drops off the grandchildren and they run through the front door and run right past Grandma with a barely audible “Assalamu alaykum.” They throw their book bags into their rooms and in a flash are back in the room where Grandma is seated. “How was your day she asks?” Her frail voice is drowned out by the loud music accompanying the cartoons on television. “Turn down the television.” “Did you pray the ‘Asr prayer?” “Sit back or you will hurt your eyes.” “Who has homework tonight?” None of the grandchildren respond. They turn to look at Grandma but only long enough to make her feel as though her presence had been noted. responses to her questions were unnecessary. The parents return hours later. Grandma reminds them to talk to the grandchildren. She asks the parents, “Why don’t they respect me?” “Why am I invisible to them?” “I can’t seem to get through to them.” “I just don’t understand children these days.”
The scene is typical. It’s late in the evening. The parents received a telephone call earlier in the day from the school teacher. “We need to talk to you,” they call out to their son. “The teacher called and said you have something you might want to discuss with us. Can you please come out of your room so we can talk to you?” The son talks back to the teacher in class, disrupts the lessons and tells the teacher she is “out of touch” with the students. The parents are outraged by their son’s behavior. “Why do you insist on misbehaving?” “Who’s misbehaving?” the son asks. “You are. It is rude to tell the teacher she is out of touch with the students.” “Well, she is because we can never understand what she is trying to say.” Her examples are situated in a context that is drastically different than the one in which the students are growing up. The parents are at their wits end. “Why can’t you just respect the teacher?” “What’s wrong with children these days, I just don’t understand you.”
The world population is booming but it is also aging substantially as more people live healthier, longer lives.[1] In any given household, the child, his parents, and the grandparents constitute three generations living under one roof. These three generations are linked genetically but are as far apart in their worldviews as any three generations have been in the history of time. The so-called generation gap of yesterday is not only present today but the gap itself has widened disproportionately. Some have asked whether it is worth the effort to bridge the gap and others have wondered how to bridge the gap. Not only is it worth it for us to bridge the generation gap but it is absolutely essential for Muslims if we are to uphold Islamic values such as respect, kindness, and appreciation for both the young and the old members of our community.
In the life of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), we discover the strong emphasis he placed on recognizing that a gap between generations will exist and that it must be bridged. Our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) entered prophet-hood at the age of forty and therefore, it is well-known that a sizable majority of his companions were much younger than him. Throughout the Prophet’s life, he maintained a most perfect balance between appreciating and respecting the wisdom and the lived experience of the elder companions such as Abu Bakr as-Siddiq and Umar ibn al Khattab (may Allah be pleased with them) and appreciating and respecting the dynamism and the sharp insights of the younger companions such as ‘Aishah bint Abu Bakr, Ali ibn Talib, Abdullah ibn Abbas, Abdullah ibn Masoud, and Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them). Among the companions were elders who had entered Islam very late in their lives and in contrast there were younger companions who had been born into Muslim households and knew only Islam as their way of life.
There are so many instances that demonstrate the Prophet’s efforts to bridge the generation gap but only a few examples will suffice. [2] The beloved Prophet led by example when he kissed his grandchildren at a time in Arabia when such intimacy was not common. We learn from Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him) that, “Allah's Apostle kissed Al-Hasan bin Ali while Al-Aqra' bin Habis At-Tamim was sitting beside him. Al-Aqra said, "I have ten children and I have never kissed anyone of them." Allah's Apostle cast a look at him and said, "Whoever is not merciful to others will not be treated mercifully."”[3] In another instance, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) gave authority to Khalid ibn Walid to command a unit sent to fight against the tribe of Bani Jadhima.[4] Khalid (may Allah be pleased with him) was much younger and had accepted Islam much later than most of the other companions but Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) deferred to Khalid because of his superior military skills. Finally, Sahl bin Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that, “Allah's Apostle went to Fatima's house but did not find 'Ali there. So he asked, "Where is your cousin?" She replied, "There was something between us and he got angry with me and went out. He did not sleep (mid-day nap) in the house." Allah's Apostle asked a person to look for him. That person came and said, "O Allah's Apostle! He (Ali) is sleeping in the mosque." Allah's Apostle went there and 'Ali was lying down. His upper body cover had fallen down to one side of his body and he was covered with dust. Allah's Apostle started cleaning the dust from him saying: "Get up! O Aba Turab. Get up! O Aba Turab (literally means: O father of dust). "” [5]
Among the lessons we can extract from these three examples mentioned above are bridging the generation gap is not only critical but it is a worthwhile endeavor. In the first instance, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) taught to us bridge the gap through physical acts of intimacy and love. The young often feel intimidated by the old, authoritative members of their family or community. Perpetuating fear and feelings of intimidation only widens the generation gap because the youth will never get close enough to the elders to be comfortable, to be at ease, and to learn. And at the same time the elders will not have direct contact with the youth to grasp their generation’s culture. Merely drawing in the youth through handshakes, embraces, and kisses reduces the physical distance and helps to minimize any feelings of fear or intimidation.
In the second instance, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) teaches us that just because one is older does not necessarily mean that one has the skills or the specific experience that will allow him or her to serve well in a particular position or situation. Quite often, youth are relegated to menial tasks and their input is never sought on matters of importance. Young people are agile, motivated, dynamic, and have sharp analytical skills which when tempered by the wisdom and the lived experience of the elders can yield powerful results in helping resolve whatever issues before us. Khalid ibn Walid, who before becoming a Muslim was an avowed enemy of Islam and a brilliant military strategist, will forever be in the history books because elder companions who had entered Islam long before him actually accepted him as their unit commander in the fight against the Bani Jadhima.
In the last instance we learn from our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) that the interactions between the youth and the elders need not be dry, almost lifeless, filled with a false sense of awe that the youth are expected to show towards the elders. ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib was not only the Prophet’s cousin (peace be upon him) but in fact the Prophet also gave his daughter Fatima in marriage to ‘Ali. In the situation described above, at work are so many societal expectations of how cousins of different generations should interact, of how a son-in-law should interact with his father-in-law and above all, how a companion should interact with the Prophet (peace be upon him). The wisdom of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is such that he diffuses a volatile situation involving essentially two youths, with humor. He does not sit in one place and demand that ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) be brought to him. He does not become upset with Fatima or ‘Ali for one upsetting the other as it was a mutual argument between spouses. Instead, the Prophet of Allah, the father of Fatima, the cousin of ‘Ali, the father-in-law of ‘Ali actually asks around for help in locating ‘Ali and then finds him sleeping in the mosque. In a joking manner, the Prophet refers to ‘Ali as “Abu Turab,” or “Father of the dust,” and lessens the tension of the moment drastically.
Finally, in reference to the scenarios described at the start of this article, all generations have a lot of work to do but the elders should take full responsibility to ensure that bridging the generation gap becomes a priority. The youth stand to lose so much as with each day another elder returns to Allah. So much lived experience, so much knowledge, so much wisdom is being lost because it is not being transmitted by the elders to the youth. The first scenarios is perhaps more reflective of life in western countries whereby the grandparents might not speak the language of the land and therefore the youth do not refer to them for advice. The parents should make concerted effort in serving as translators, as the bridge between the grandparents and the grandchildren. Just because an elder is not familiar or fluent in a particular language should not diminish or minimize the vast level of knowledge and wisdom that that elder can impart to the future generations. The parents themselves should resist marginalizing the elders by involving them, by seeking out their advice, and by respecting them since modeling such behavior is a direct lesson from the life of our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him). In the second scenario, which could take place anywhere in the world, it is clear that more care must be taken to train and retrain our teachers, scholars, imams, and other elders who interact regularly with the younger generations. We all stand to lose by perpetuating the notion that different generations will never understand one another. No one can deny that children are in general much more assertive, outspoken, and products of the information age. The elders should not mistake these qualities for disrespect and arrogance. The elders must be exposed to the culture of the younger generations so that they become familiar and appreciate that culture as opposed to looking at the culture with disdain and longing only for the days past. And similarly, the younger generations should be exposed to the days past not with the purpose of reliving those days but rather so that they develop a sense of appreciation for the worldview of the elders. Let us make du’a (Allah willing) to Allah to help us to bridge the generation gap because it is an endeavor that is not only critical but worth it!
* Altaf Husain is a licensed social worker in the United States and is a contributing writer to Islam Online since 1998.
By Altaf Husain**
April 24, 2005
The scene is typical. It’s four o’ clock in the afternoon. Grandma is sitting in a room by herself, reading the Qur’an. The parents both work so they are not at home and will not return until well after the children come home from school. The school bus drops off the grandchildren and they run through the front door and run right past Grandma with a barely audible “Assalamu alaykum.” They throw their book bags into their rooms and in a flash are back in the room where Grandma is seated. “How was your day she asks?” Her frail voice is drowned out by the loud music accompanying the cartoons on television. “Turn down the television.” “Did you pray the ‘Asr prayer?” “Sit back or you will hurt your eyes.” “Who has homework tonight?” None of the grandchildren respond. They turn to look at Grandma but only long enough to make her feel as though her presence had been noted. responses to her questions were unnecessary. The parents return hours later. Grandma reminds them to talk to the grandchildren. She asks the parents, “Why don’t they respect me?” “Why am I invisible to them?” “I can’t seem to get through to them.” “I just don’t understand children these days.”
The scene is typical. It’s late in the evening. The parents received a telephone call earlier in the day from the school teacher. “We need to talk to you,” they call out to their son. “The teacher called and said you have something you might want to discuss with us. Can you please come out of your room so we can talk to you?” The son talks back to the teacher in class, disrupts the lessons and tells the teacher she is “out of touch” with the students. The parents are outraged by their son’s behavior. “Why do you insist on misbehaving?” “Who’s misbehaving?” the son asks. “You are. It is rude to tell the teacher she is out of touch with the students.” “Well, she is because we can never understand what she is trying to say.” Her examples are situated in a context that is drastically different than the one in which the students are growing up. The parents are at their wits end. “Why can’t you just respect the teacher?” “What’s wrong with children these days, I just don’t understand you.”
The world population is booming but it is also aging substantially as more people live healthier, longer lives.[1] In any given household, the child, his parents, and the grandparents constitute three generations living under one roof. These three generations are linked genetically but are as far apart in their worldviews as any three generations have been in the history of time. The so-called generation gap of yesterday is not only present today but the gap itself has widened disproportionately. Some have asked whether it is worth the effort to bridge the gap and others have wondered how to bridge the gap. Not only is it worth it for us to bridge the generation gap but it is absolutely essential for Muslims if we are to uphold Islamic values such as respect, kindness, and appreciation for both the young and the old members of our community.
In the life of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), we discover the strong emphasis he placed on recognizing that a gap between generations will exist and that it must be bridged. Our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) entered prophet-hood at the age of forty and therefore, it is well-known that a sizable majority of his companions were much younger than him. Throughout the Prophet’s life, he maintained a most perfect balance between appreciating and respecting the wisdom and the lived experience of the elder companions such as Abu Bakr as-Siddiq and Umar ibn al Khattab (may Allah be pleased with them) and appreciating and respecting the dynamism and the sharp insights of the younger companions such as ‘Aishah bint Abu Bakr, Ali ibn Talib, Abdullah ibn Abbas, Abdullah ibn Masoud, and Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them). Among the companions were elders who had entered Islam very late in their lives and in contrast there were younger companions who had been born into Muslim households and knew only Islam as their way of life.
There are so many instances that demonstrate the Prophet’s efforts to bridge the generation gap but only a few examples will suffice. [2] The beloved Prophet led by example when he kissed his grandchildren at a time in Arabia when such intimacy was not common. We learn from Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him) that, “Allah's Apostle kissed Al-Hasan bin Ali while Al-Aqra' bin Habis At-Tamim was sitting beside him. Al-Aqra said, "I have ten children and I have never kissed anyone of them." Allah's Apostle cast a look at him and said, "Whoever is not merciful to others will not be treated mercifully."”[3] In another instance, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) gave authority to Khalid ibn Walid to command a unit sent to fight against the tribe of Bani Jadhima.[4] Khalid (may Allah be pleased with him) was much younger and had accepted Islam much later than most of the other companions but Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) deferred to Khalid because of his superior military skills. Finally, Sahl bin Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that, “Allah's Apostle went to Fatima's house but did not find 'Ali there. So he asked, "Where is your cousin?" She replied, "There was something between us and he got angry with me and went out. He did not sleep (mid-day nap) in the house." Allah's Apostle asked a person to look for him. That person came and said, "O Allah's Apostle! He (Ali) is sleeping in the mosque." Allah's Apostle went there and 'Ali was lying down. His upper body cover had fallen down to one side of his body and he was covered with dust. Allah's Apostle started cleaning the dust from him saying: "Get up! O Aba Turab. Get up! O Aba Turab (literally means: O father of dust). "” [5]
Among the lessons we can extract from these three examples mentioned above are bridging the generation gap is not only critical but it is a worthwhile endeavor. In the first instance, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) taught to us bridge the gap through physical acts of intimacy and love. The young often feel intimidated by the old, authoritative members of their family or community. Perpetuating fear and feelings of intimidation only widens the generation gap because the youth will never get close enough to the elders to be comfortable, to be at ease, and to learn. And at the same time the elders will not have direct contact with the youth to grasp their generation’s culture. Merely drawing in the youth through handshakes, embraces, and kisses reduces the physical distance and helps to minimize any feelings of fear or intimidation.
In the second instance, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) teaches us that just because one is older does not necessarily mean that one has the skills or the specific experience that will allow him or her to serve well in a particular position or situation. Quite often, youth are relegated to menial tasks and their input is never sought on matters of importance. Young people are agile, motivated, dynamic, and have sharp analytical skills which when tempered by the wisdom and the lived experience of the elders can yield powerful results in helping resolve whatever issues before us. Khalid ibn Walid, who before becoming a Muslim was an avowed enemy of Islam and a brilliant military strategist, will forever be in the history books because elder companions who had entered Islam long before him actually accepted him as their unit commander in the fight against the Bani Jadhima.
In the last instance we learn from our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) that the interactions between the youth and the elders need not be dry, almost lifeless, filled with a false sense of awe that the youth are expected to show towards the elders. ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib was not only the Prophet’s cousin (peace be upon him) but in fact the Prophet also gave his daughter Fatima in marriage to ‘Ali. In the situation described above, at work are so many societal expectations of how cousins of different generations should interact, of how a son-in-law should interact with his father-in-law and above all, how a companion should interact with the Prophet (peace be upon him). The wisdom of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is such that he diffuses a volatile situation involving essentially two youths, with humor. He does not sit in one place and demand that ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) be brought to him. He does not become upset with Fatima or ‘Ali for one upsetting the other as it was a mutual argument between spouses. Instead, the Prophet of Allah, the father of Fatima, the cousin of ‘Ali, the father-in-law of ‘Ali actually asks around for help in locating ‘Ali and then finds him sleeping in the mosque. In a joking manner, the Prophet refers to ‘Ali as “Abu Turab,” or “Father of the dust,” and lessens the tension of the moment drastically.
Finally, in reference to the scenarios described at the start of this article, all generations have a lot of work to do but the elders should take full responsibility to ensure that bridging the generation gap becomes a priority. The youth stand to lose so much as with each day another elder returns to Allah. So much lived experience, so much knowledge, so much wisdom is being lost because it is not being transmitted by the elders to the youth. The first scenarios is perhaps more reflective of life in western countries whereby the grandparents might not speak the language of the land and therefore the youth do not refer to them for advice. The parents should make concerted effort in serving as translators, as the bridge between the grandparents and the grandchildren. Just because an elder is not familiar or fluent in a particular language should not diminish or minimize the vast level of knowledge and wisdom that that elder can impart to the future generations. The parents themselves should resist marginalizing the elders by involving them, by seeking out their advice, and by respecting them since modeling such behavior is a direct lesson from the life of our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him). In the second scenario, which could take place anywhere in the world, it is clear that more care must be taken to train and retrain our teachers, scholars, imams, and other elders who interact regularly with the younger generations. We all stand to lose by perpetuating the notion that different generations will never understand one another. No one can deny that children are in general much more assertive, outspoken, and products of the information age. The elders should not mistake these qualities for disrespect and arrogance. The elders must be exposed to the culture of the younger generations so that they become familiar and appreciate that culture as opposed to looking at the culture with disdain and longing only for the days past. And similarly, the younger generations should be exposed to the days past not with the purpose of reliving those days but rather so that they develop a sense of appreciation for the worldview of the elders. Let us make du’a (Allah willing) to Allah to help us to bridge the generation gap because it is an endeavor that is not only critical but worth it!
* Altaf Husain is a licensed social worker in the United States and is a contributing writer to Islam Online since 1998.
US Tilts Towards Accepting Islamists Political Role
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| Rice is seen as the champion of the new policy-shift on US-Islamist dialog |
By Shady Hassan, IOL Correspondent
WASHINGTON, April 26, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) - A chorus of voices demanding the Bush administration to listen and talk with popular Islamists in Arab and Muslim countries has reached a crescendo with senior officials recognizing the faulty policy of giving the cold shoulder to a more representative current.
Media reports have suggested that the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) will seek to meet with leaders of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood during its upcoming visit to the country.
The commission advises the US president, Congress and the State Department on international religious freedom worldwide.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is seen as the champion of the new policy-shift on US-Islamist dialogue.
Western diplomatic sources in the Egyptian capital recently told the London-bazed Arabic-speaking Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily that the US State Department has drawn up a memo calling for direct and permanent political dialogue with the Muslim Brotherhood.
It recommended inviting the group’s representatives to the US for better communication and common grounds on Egypt’s reform policies and the pressing issues in the region.
The European Union called on Saturday, April 16, for a dialogue with the “more representative” Islamist opposition groups in the Middle East to encourage a transition to democracy.
Illusions
Rice has recently recognized that Washington’s Mideast policy was faulty.
“We had a bigger problem, which was that for 60 years or so, the United States has been associated with a policy of exceptionalism vis-à-vis the Middle East where it came to issues of democracy,” she said.
“We talked about democracy every place else in the world -- Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe -- but not in the Middle East, because there we talked about stability.
“…What we learned was we were not getting stability and we were not getting democracy; we were getting a malignancy that caused people to fly airplanes into buildings on September 11,” Rice recently said.
President George W. Bush had signaled a change of heart.
“The advance of hope in the Middle East requires new thinking in the region,” he said in a recent interview.
“By now it should be clear that authoritarian rule is not the wave of the future. It is the last gasp of a discredited past.”
Emerging Islamists
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| “The realization of the new moderate Islamist vision requires a degree of openness on the part of the Egyptian government,” said Hamzawy. |
The issue of possible US-Islamist dialogue has recently made its way to the US Congress.
Arab pundits and thinkers, invited to a Congressional hearing presided over by Henry Hyde, Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, saw in emerging Islamist rule in a number of countries a role models for the region.
“…Prominent role being played by moderate Islamists in Turkey and Iran suggests that movements based on some form of Islamic legitimacy may be vital to effect a transition to stable and consensual governance in Muslim countries,” said Abdelwahab El-Affandi, a senior research fellow at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster, London.
“These democratizing experiments have huge implications for the Arab world, where internal models for such a transition are so far lacking,” he added.
The expert maintained that “political space for Islamists in the Arab world is severely restricted, hindering the ability to press for reform.”
Kada Akacem, professor of economics at the University of Algiers, picked the Algerian example to make a point in his argument.
“Moderate Islamist movements are now a permanent part of the Algerian political landscape,” he told the hearing.
“The so-called eradicators who dream of permanently excluding all Islamists from politics must recognize that such movements are one of the best guarantees of social and political stability because they resonate powerfully with Algeria's rapidly growing young population,” he added.
The expert contended that the Turkish model was the best case scenario Algeria could adopt.
In Turkey, he said, the military is the real guarantor of democracy, and in which moderate Islamists are allowed to capture civilian power through regular elections, as long as they accept the democratic rules of the political game.
Mustapha Kamel Al-Sayyid, a professor of political science and director of the Center for the Study of Developing Countries at Cairo University, said government's recognition of the Muslim Brotherhood as a legitimate political party is the central issue in political reform.
“If the regime persists in denying the Brotherhood legal status, not only would any move towards reform lack credibility, but the stability of the country itself could be jeopardized,” he warned.
Amr Hamzawy, senior Associate at Carnegie Institute, said it is an axiomatic fact that non-violent Islamist movements, like the Muslim Brotherhood, are well rooted in a country like Egypt.
“The realization of the new moderate Islamist vision requires a degree of openness on the part of the Egyptian government towards their integration into the political process,” he told the hearing.
Najib Ghadhbian, Assistant Professor of Political Sciences at the University of Arkansas, hailed the Islamists in Syria for their policy shift.
“The Islamists of Syria have dropped extremist elements, endorsed the demand for democratic rule and expressed firm support for minority and women's rights,” he said.
Scarecrow
Saadeddin Ibrahim, Professor of Social Sciences at the American University in Cairo and Director of Ibn Khaldoun Center in Egypt, stressed that Islamists were just a bugaboo used by the authoritarian Arab regimes to head off reform pressures.
He told the hearing that the Arab leaders keep warning the West that reform and democracy might bring the Islamists to power and consequently cause them a headache.
Arab leaders managed for a while to get the US scale back its controversial “Greater Middle East Initiative,” which preaches democracy in the region after using the Islamist scarecrow.
Washington has already re-named its reform plan to “The Broader Middle East and North Africa.”
The new proposal stressed that reform should come from within and should not be imposed from outside.
It also called for respecting the “characteristics and traditions” of each country when it comes to political and social reform.
Wind of Change
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| Lantos said that only Kuwait, Jordan, Morocco and Yemen can be rated as free. |
US Congressmen at the hearing agreed on the need for change in the Middle East.
“Faced with three fundamental deficits in freedom, knowledge, and women's rights, the current state of human development of the Arab people is a contradiction of their historical contributions and achievements that have been stepping stones to major advancements in Western civilization,” said Hyde.
Rep. Tom Lantos said that only four Arab countries, Kuwait, Jordan, Morocco and Yemen, can be rated as free.
He said, quoting a report by the Washington Institute, that the first three managed to absorb the strong influential Islamists into the political mainstream and they are working well within the outer secular regime.
American officials attending the closing session of the US-Islamic World Forum in Doha on April 12 said the US is ready to “accept” the involvement of Islamist groups like Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hizbullah in the reform process should they understand “the rules of the game”.
“They firstly should put down arms and then take part in the democratic process underway in their country,” Peter W. Singer of the Washington-based Brookings Institution, told the session.
'That Muslim woman could be happier than you...'
Once she was a party-loving student; then Na'ima B Robert converted to Islam. But how did she become so convinced of the benefits of wearing Islamic dress that she now covers herself from head to foot and has written a book extolling its virtues? Bryony Gordon meets her
Na'ima B Robert likes to see her devotion to Islam as similar to eating in a fresh, organic restaurant, while we non-believers make do with the greasy-spoon cafe. "It's something I want to share. You are free to eat where you like, but I would like to offer an invitation to the restaurant."
The trouble, though, is that to many people in multi-cultural Britain today, Islam is seen as the greasy-spoon cafe in terms of religious restaurants. To some, it represents suicide bombers and honour killings and the oppression of women.
How to change this perception of Islam? Na'ima is a pretty good start. Until six years ago, the 27-year-old married mother of two ate in greasy-spoon cafes. She was born in England, to non-believing parents, before moving to Zimbabwe with them, where she had a typical adolescence, partying hard, listening to pop music and reading fashion magazines.
When she returned to Britain to study at the University of London, she had hopes of becoming a successful career woman who perhaps married and had children sometime in her thirties. But then she went to Egypt and everything changed.
While she was there, she couldn't stop noticing the women in hijab (headscarves) and she was appalled. She could not understand why they allowed themselves to be so dominated by men; couldn't fathom why they wouldn't want to show themselves off. When she eventually asked a woman in hijab why she wore it, she was told simply: "Because I want to be judged for what I say and what I do, not for what I look like."
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It struck a chord with Na'ima, and she began reading about Islam. While many of her contemporaries were partying and meeting men, Na'ima made the decision to convert - or rather "revert" as it is known in the religion - to Islam. She has just completed writing From my Sisters' Lips, an extremely thought-provoking book about her experience that challenges Western preconceptions of Islamic women.
Her devotion to her religion is such that she wears a full jilbab and a niqab, meaning she is completely covered. Mentally, however, she is completely uncovered, bubbly and extremely bright, holding forth articulately on her subject. "I am not downtrodden or submissive. I'm not a desexualised being. Just because we don't display ourselves outside, people presume we don't do it at all and, in a lot of cases, that couldn't be further from the truth." She lets out a huge, infectious laugh.
The problem is that nobody ever dares to ask her what it is like to be a Muslim woman. "I can't bear political correctness. It's so insidious, all this 'oh I completely understand, but it's just not for me'. No, you don't understand; you haven't asked me anything about being a Muslim. I prefer people to be up-front and ask me why I'm covering up. But nobody ever does because they think I'll be offended."
Agood example of the misconceptions we have about Muslim women is believing that they are all helpless, potential victims of an honour killing. But as Na'ima points out, "honour killings are a pre-Islamic thing, a cultural thing that is filtered down through the generations. But for those of us who have learnt pure Islam from the Koran and the scholars, it's appalling."
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The crux of From my Sisters' Lips is that, rather than making Na'ima feel oppressed, the Islamic dress makes her feel liberated. Indeed, she wonders if it is we non-Muslims who have the problem. "There is an arrogance in the West, a belief that you're on top of the world and everyone wants to be like you. But how do you know that the Muslim woman walking down the street is not happier than you? We tend to attach our happiness to material things but we're just fooling ourselves.
"The other day I saw a billboard showing a woman in a bra, and the ad was selling a mobile phone. The mind boggles. That woman is not being seen as an intellectual or an emotional being, but a sexual object selling a phone. And obviously the girl will say that's my right, and that's fair enough.
"But when I look at men's magazines it's all about sex and women," she pauses to correct herself. "Sorry, girls. Girls, girls, girls. It's just infantile. It breeds irresponsibility.
"I mean, why does someone need to wear a tiny top that barely covers their over-inflated breasts?" she laughs again. "For me, that's a self-esteem issue. Do you need other people to validate you and say 'honey, you look wonderful'? People may see me as being self-righteous and old-fashioned, but I just like to think that my self-esteem comes from somewhere deeper. I want to be valued the same way whether I've got a face full of spots or a completely clear complexion."
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I admire Na'ima's reasons for wearing the jilbab, but I wonder if her faith dresses women in these garments for the same reasons. She says that Islam teaches equality between the sexes - why then do men not have to cover?
"I think that equality should not be equated with sameness. Islamically we are equal but we are not the same. We have qualities that men don't have and men..." She pauses. "I'm not going to say this next bit." Why not, if it is what she believes in?
"Because I don't want the feminists on my back. But basically men have things that women don't. They have physical strength and are the father of the children and these types of things. Men and women have different qualities and Islam recognises that and again everything has its context."
Na'ima concedes that reverting to Islam has not always been easy. She is an educated women from a liberal background; when I ask about her views on matters such as abortion and homosexuality she says that "my views on every issue are guided by what Islam says. Some issues are hard, because I wasn't raised that way. Sometimes I see the wisdom, sometimes I don't understand everything to the very core. But I submit to Allah. If He says that these things are obligatory then I submit to them.
"There are certain things that maybe you can't see a benefit to, but it doesn't mean that there's no benefit to them. As Muslims we believe that Allah knows us better than we know ourselves. The way I see it, it's like when you go to the doctor with an ailment and he gives you a foul-tasting medicine. I don't know how it will make me better and I'd like to make it taste nicer but that is not my place. The doctor knows why it is like that and I trust in him.
"If people have issues with that kind of belief, that really is their problem. I can't get into debates with them about it. It is not my place to do that."
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