By Adil James, TMO

Professor Julie MacFarlane speaks Saturday evening to an audience at IAGD about her study of Muslims and marriage and divorce.

The most personal topic that affects us during this life is marriage, and yet each of us is so tightly wound in his or her own situation that it is normally impossible to break free and see how other people around us are living, let alone how our entire community is experiencing it.

However, Professor Julie MacFarlane of the University of Windsor took a long look at dozens of broken Muslim marriages to examine what trends  she could see.  Unfortunately her study was not scientific in that it only examined people who were self-selected to participate in her study.  For example she did not talk to people who were still married. The study also had an outsider’s view of Islam. 

But these facts were counterbalanced by the reality that to date this is the best serious empirical look at marriage and divorce among Muslims.

Dr. Julie MacFarlane is Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Windsor, and Professor of the Practice at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame.

She conducted literally hundreds of interviews with imams, marriage counselors, divorced men and women, and Muslim lawyers.

On the basis of this research she wrote a well-reviewed book called Islamic Divorce in North America, A Shari’a Path in a Secular Society; and followed up with a presentation of her book’s findings at IAGD Saturday night.

She examined the role of Islam in their marriages (which did play a role, even among secular Muslims), the effect of Shari’ah on their marriages and divorces.  She explained Saturday that she had heard 104 stories, 80% from women and 20% from men, 75% in the US and 25% in Canada.  Her survey had touched many ethnicities which she claimed was a representative sample of the Muslims in North America.

One theme of her speech was the difference between perception and reality.  She explained that the many imams she had spoken with had explained that a major source of marital friction was cross-cultural marriages, although her findings were that cross-cultural marriages did not result in additional friction.  The most likely source of marital friction in her study was when an American Muslim married someone from their own homeland, and divergent expectations as to the respective parties’ roles led to fighting.

She said that nikah was very common among her married couples. She found that divorce among Muslims frequently led to women appealing to imams to reach Islamic divorce despite their husbands’ objections.  However the professor did not study the adaptations of the Jewish community to the same issue, where a “get” (talaq) is bargained for  by the wife in the course of a divorce.

Much of what the professor found is what you would expect, that there is overlap in the divorce systems between what couples hope to achieve through the American legal system and through religious intervention or negotiation.

She advised that in the Muslim community there is insufficient premarital counseling, and that sources of marital conflict in our community include gender roles and expectations, domestic violence, and what she called Islamic sources of conflict, namely the intervention of in-laws, expectations of privacy, conflicts around polygamy and extramarital relationships, and disagreements over faith and practice.

She estimated that Muslims in North America experience approximately a 35% divorce rate, as opposed to a 50% rate among non-Muslims.

14-16

By Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent

The unprecedented cross-border battles, which claimed the lives of two Syrian refugees and a Lebanese reporter, came just hours before a ceasefire deadline came into force.

The Turkish government, which has already threatened to take military action to protect its border, summoned Syria’s envoy to Ankara to demand an official explanation.

According to Turkish officials, Syrian troops pursued rebels across the border following an attack on a checkpoint that killed six soldiers. Two Syrian nationals, described as civilian, were subsequently shot dead as they tried to escape to the nearby Killis refugee camp.

It was unclear whether the two victims had already crossed the frontier but five more people – including a Turkish policeman – were later shot and wounded, this time indisputably on Turkish soil.

Shortly afterwards, Lebanon’s Al-Jadeed Television network said that one of its cameramen, Ali Shabaan, died after Syrian troops opened fire on his car on the Lebanese side of the border. A colleague in the same vehicle was wounded.

Lebanon’s government, dominated by the Shia Islamist group Hizbollah which is funded by the Assad regime, is unlikely to protest too vigorously, although the incident could prove destabilising in a country whose Sunni and Christian populations deeply resent Syrian influence.

Turkey, however, will prove much less malleable. One of the Assad regime’s most implacable critics in the region, it has been vocal in its scepticism of a peace plan brokered by Kofi Annan, the UN and Arab League special envoy to Syria, that is meant to reach fruition this week.

Under the terms of the initiative, the Syrian government is meant to withdraw its troops and heavy weapons from cities and towns by today, with the rebels required to end all attacks when a full ceasefire is supposed to come into force 48 hours later.

But ever since Mr Annan announced that Syria had accepted the peace plan last Monday, the country has been convulsed by some of its worst bloodshed since the uprising against Mr Assad began a year ago.

Hundreds of people, mostly civilians but also soldiers and rebels, have been reportedly killed as government offensives launched a countrywide offensive to reclaim opposition-held territory.

More than 50 people were killed yesterday, opposition human rights groups said, including 30 civilians in an army artillery assault on al-Latmana, a town in the central province of Hama. Syrian helicopter gunships also attacked a nearby village.

A dozen soldiers were also killed in rebel attacks elsewhere in the country.

The violence of the past week has prompted a surge in the number of refugees fleeing into Turkey, which houses 25,000 Syrians in camps close to the border.
With a further 200,000 civilians displaced within Syria itself, Turkey fears the number of refugees will grow sharply despite the efforts of Mr Assad’s troops to mine the borders.
In response to Turkish warnings that it will soon need international assistance, Mr Annan is due to tour some of the refugee camps today.

Turkey’s deputy foreign minister, Naci Koru, said the visit would be used to make the point that the peace plan was effectively dead.

“April 10 has become void,” Mr Koru said. “After Kofi Annan’s visit tomorrow a new stage will start.”

Turkey, which already provides sanctuary to rebel units, has previously proposed mounting a cross-border military incursion into Syria to create a buffer zone but so far has failed to win American support for the idea.

But what little leeway Mr Assad had with his Western detractors is dissipating fast after his government on Sunday backed away from its commitment to withdraw troops by Tuesday’s deadline, saying it would only do so if it received a written pledge from the rebels that they would also disarm.

“Adding new conditions at this stage is totally unacceptable,” Baroness Ashton, the European Union policy chief, said.

In a damning indictment that will reinforce Western outrage with the regime, Human Rights Watch said yesterday that it had documented the summary executions by pro-regime forces of at least 85 civilians, including women and children, and 16 captured rebel fighters since late 2011. The group said it believed hundreds more executions had also taken place.

“In a desperate attempt to crush the uprising, Syrian forces have executed people in cold blood, civilians and opposition fighters alike,” said Ole Solvang, a researcher for the group. “They are doing it in broad daylight and in front of witnesses, evidently not concerned about any accountability for their crimes.”

Amateur video footage released by opposition activists in Homs showed a man being kicked and beaten by suspected loyalist militiamen who set fire to his back before slicing open his throat with a knife. The provenance of the clip is unclear and its authenticity could not be established.

14-16

By Imam Abdullah El-Amin, TMO

(164)“Say: Shall I seek for my Lord other than ALLAH, when He is the Cherisher of all things (that exist)?  Every soul gets the reward of its acts on none but itself: and no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another.  Your return in the end is towards ALLAH.  He will tell you the truth of the things wherein ye disputed.” 165) It is He who hath made you inheritors of the earth.  He hath raised you in ranks, some above others that He may try you in the gifts He hath given you, for thy Lord is quick in punishment, yet He is indeed Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.

Holy Qur’an 6:164-165

Adam (human beings) is endowed with a remarkable mind that gives him dominion over everything in creation.  This is a wonderful gift from the Creator of it all. And we would do well to recognize it.  However, if we are not careful, we can miss the point of our existence.

One day I was talking to a non-Muslim fellow, whose age seemed to be in the mid- fifties.   He had a job raking leaves and was complaining because more leaves were falling as he raked.  I told him that the leaves falling might be ALLAH’S way of insuring he had a job.  As we continued conversing about the leaves, he asked me a question in a very serious tone. He said “Why would God give me free will and then punish me for exercising that will?   Regardless of what I choose it should be all right with Him since He gave me the ability to choose.”   I could hardly believe that someone who had lived that many years could be so unaware of life.   It brought to light the depths of ignorance of some people regarding the purpose of human life.

ALLAH didn’t just create man and then leave him be.  He created man and gave him guidance.  Allah gave us free will, but he also informed us of the choices we have to exercise that free will on.  He has told us that if you go down the street of disobedience of scripture and nature, you will be doomed to Hell in this life, as well as the next life.  That is indicative of a very loving and caring Creator, contrary to it being a “curse” as supposed by that fellow.

He (ALLAH) has also told us that the guidance (scriptures) that He has given to us, provide a perfect blueprint for a peaceful productive life in this world, and an even better existence in the next life.  We can’t blame ALLAH if we make the wrong choice.  He told you what would happen to you if you did.

The smartest way to use our free will is to constantly do those things, big and small, that you know pleases ALLAH.  Use your free will to be charitable to your neighbor by assisting him with word and deed.  Remember, you can choose to be a sourpuss and be mad and evil all the time, or you can choose to please ALLAH by bringing cheer to His creation.

The great civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, was fond of quoting words from a religious song thus:  “If I can help somebody as I travel along, If I can cheer somebody with a word or song, if I can show somebody where they are going wrong – then my living will not be in vain.”

This is what our living is all about.

As Salaam alaikum
(Al Hajj) Imam Abdullah El-Amin

By Karin Friedemann, TMO

In the national debate regarding healthcare coverage, “folks are getting up in arms about the idea that the pill could set uninsured women back about $1000 a year, but in the grand scheme of things, that’s nothing,” Tracie Egan Morrissey writes in Jezebel, an online feminist magazine, which estimates the total cost of personal feminine hygiene and health maintenance to amount to $2,667 to $4,232 a year for a non-pregnant woman.

This itemized list tabulates the regular expenses involved with being specifically a human female – birth control, menstrual pads and tampons, PMS remedies like Midol, increased toilet paper use compared to men, and regular hair removal, as well as over-the-counter and prescription remedies for yeast infections, feminine itching, urinary tract infections, and the doctor-recommended yearly Pap screening for cervical cancer. Not included in the list are the costs of pregnancy tests, emergency contraception, and abortion, which if not utilized would result in exponential additional costs related to pregnancy, childbirth and daycare.

I’ll leave it to the politicians to debate about which healthcare items should be covered by taxpayers, keeping in mind that most insurance companies prefer to provide free contraception rather than dish out tens of thousands for pregnancy, childbirth, and the cost of the future children’s medical care.

Costs related to treating infections could be easily reduced

If both men and women followed Islamic norms, women’s general health maintenance costs would likely decrease. Let’s set aside the pre-marital chastity discussion and just focus on Islamically married women. The cost of birth control and preventative doctor exams would remain the same as would menstrual expenditures, unless she is one of those Earth Mamas who make their own pads out of worn out T-shirts or have a baby every year (which is great). Female camaraderie among Muslim sisters can save a lot on salon costs, I have heard.

Male circumcision can also play a huge role in bettering future wives’ long-term health, reducing rates of sexually transmitted infections, cervical cancer, and even AIDS. Scientific trials have shown that male circumcision can reduce a man’s risk of becoming infected with HIV during heterosexual intercourse by up to 60 percent. These findings have led to the decision by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization (WHO) to recommended circumcision as an important new element of disease prevention. Isn’t it amazing that modern medicine is catching up with the Muslims?

Yet the most notable Islamic contribution to women’s health is without question the increased use of water for personal hygiene. In Europe, washroom fountains for rinsing off one’s personal areas are associated with prostitution, while in America, such bathroom fixtures do not even exist. There is not even a word in the English language for something you use to wash yourself after using the toilet.

It baffles me that, in this day and age, when people scientifically understand the close relationship between cleanliness and health, there is no concept in the modern Western world of rinsing off. A woman’s risk of urinary tract infections, yeast infections, and general personal discomforts are greatly reduced by the Islamically-recommended regular use of water by both herself and her husband.
Granted, in many Muslim countries where toilet paper is not readily available, the bathroom situation can still be quite alarming even when there is some kind of fixture providing water. But there is no reason that modern man and woman cannot combine the use of toilet paper, water, and occasional soap to provide the freshest feeling.

The persistent problem of yeast and urinary infections exists also in girl children who are not sexually active. Therefore I do not understand why every medical doctor does not at least suggest to his or her patients the importance of washing with water beyond hand-washing. Perhaps it is more profitable to keep humans in a constant state of low-level infection that requires regular medication.
It is my hope that as more Muslims enter society as fully participating members, we could spread our knowledge of personal hygiene among the general population. Even those Americans who have zero interest in religion or spirituality would benefit from the disease prevention aspects of Shariah. I too, like the feminists at Jezebel, used to consider yeast and urinary tract infections a normal part of life. Then I discovered water, thanks to a Muslim penpal who decided to school me on Islamic practices.

For some reason, discussion of the advantages of improved hygiene is often censored. It is almost as if the medieval European Christian taboo against bathing with water remains; it is as if the mere mention that bacteria exist is in itself an obscenity. Women are kept in a state of shame about their “odor” while being exposed to the advertisements of chemical companies selling them products.
Yet there is no more beautiful smell than a clean woman, to which the Prophet’s (s) hadith can attest.

14-16

Dear A. Raheman,

In a few weeks, the United Methodist Church will make a crucial vote on whether to divest from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation. A few months later, the Presbyterian Church-USA will vote on the same issue as well.

These churches, and the people of faith behind these initiatives, are already being viciously attacked for saying what many of us have been saying all along: that the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem must go and that the Israeli occupation must end because a true foundation for peace between Israelis and Palestinians can only be based on justice and equality for all.They are taking a stand, with their own resources fueled by their faith—and so must we.

That is why a number of rabbis from Jewish Voice for Peace’s Rabbinical Council got together and wrote an open letter—and we even made a video—expressing our support for these churches. Please take a moment to watch it!

We believe that investing in a companies that profit from the Israeli occupation furthers injustice, reduces the chances for peace, and is contrary to the Jewish values we hold dear. We take on the challenges raised by the churches’ initiatives to stand up for those core values.

This is what I have learned about the companies the churches are addressing with their proposed actions:

Caterpillar profits from the destruction of Palestinian homes and the uprooting of Palestinian orchards by supplying the armor-plated and weaponized bulldozers that are used for such demolition work. Destroying homes is not a Jewish value.

Motorola Solutions profits from many aspects of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including developing perimeter surveillance systems installed around dozens of Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank, built on Palestinian land. Defending stolen property is not a Jewish value.

Hewlett-Packard provides ongoing support and maintenance to a biometric ID system installed in Israeli checkpoints in the occupied West Bank which deprive Palestinians of the freedom of movement in their own land and allows the Israeli military occupation to grant or deny special privileges to the civilians under its control.

Discrimination is not a Jewish value.

The Jewish values we hold dear will be in evidence tomorrow, as we sit down at the Passover Seder table and recount our story of slavery and deliverance. We will remember our bondage, an experience we do not wish upon ourselves or others. We believe in freedom/herut for all.  And we stand together with others who share the same belief. We hope you will too.
Happy Passover,

Rabbi Elizabeth Bolton

Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council

Contact us directly at Jewish Voice for Peace. 1611 Telegraph Avenue, Suite 550. Oakland, CA 94612  510-465-1777 info@jvp.org

14-16

By Hamza Hendawi

Presidential candidate from the Muslim Brotherhood and the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), Khairat al-Shater looks on during an interview with Reuters at his office in Cairo April 8, 2012. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah

CAIRO (AP) — The race for Egypt’s first president after ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak was not supposed to look like this.

A year ago, anyone from the old regime seemed too tainted to ever hope for power. Though rising to political prominence, the Muslim Brotherhood promised it wouldn’t run for the presidency, wary of seeming too dominant.

Now, the two main contenders to rule Egypt are the Brotherhood’s top strongman and the most feared and powerful figure of Hosni Mubarak’s inner circle — marking how far the nation has changed from the heady days of revolution in the name of liberal democracy.

In many ways, the two likely main front-runners in the May 23-24 election are mirror images of each other. Both the Brotherhood’s Khairat el-Shater and Mubarak’s longtime intelligence master Omar Suleiman have long been shadowy figures who ran their organizations from behind the scenes. A retired army general, Suleiman ran Egypt’s primary national security agency in Mubarak’s authoritarian regime, while el-Shater managed indoctrination, discipline and finance for the secretive Brotherhood.

The revolutionary groups that orchestrated last year’s 18 days of protests leading to the end of Mubarak’s 29-year rule dread both, fearing either one would lead to a similar dictatorial rule.
“Two makers of the repression machine are competing,” wrote Ahmed el-Sawy, a columnist in the Al-Shorouk daily.

“The general (Suleiman) is trying to bring back the Mubarak regime as it was,” he wrote. “The religious businessman (el-Shater) is trying to reproduce a regime in the Mubarak spirit, with its same biases, international pledges and calculations, but in different cloaks, wearing religious garbs.”

Divided and demoralized, the revolutionaries who called for radical reform lost the most in the turmoil that has roiled Egypt since Mubarak’s Feb. 11, 2011 ouster. Many Egyptians blame them for the unrest that ensued, including increased crime, an unraveling economy and disruptions from continued protests and strikes. The military generals who took power after Mubarak have repressed and sidelined the groups, depicting them as troublemakers while failing to conduct any reforms or take action to restore security or the economy.

“The presidential election is shaping up like we are going back to square one,” said Abdel-Rahman Ayyash, a 22-year-old former Brotherhood member. “But I don’t believe people are ready to go back there.”

The emergence of Suleiman and el-Shater as candidates is the end result of months of jostling between the two main post-Mubarak powers, the military and the Brotherhood.
El-Shater’s candidacy speaks to the change of fortunes for a group that lurked in the nation’s political background since it was outlawed in 1954, emerging in post-Mubarak Egypt as the single most powerful political force.

Ironically, it was Suleiman who initiated the process of bringing the Brotherhood in from nearly six decades in the political wilderness. After the Jan. 25 uprising began, Mubarak appointed Suleiman as his vice president, and Suleiman invited representatives of the then-outlawed group to a dialogue as part of a last-gasp attempt to end the uprising.

With Mubarak’s fall, Suleiman faded out of public sight. He seemed too tainted by his regime connections to ever hope for public office, though it is believed he retained much of his influence. El-Shater, who spent 12 of the past 20 years in detention under Mubarak’s anti-Brotherhood crackdowns, was freed from his latest stint in prison.

The Brotherhood then abandoned liberal pro-democracy groups, which after Mubarak’s ouster began to call on the ruling generals to step down as well. The Brotherhood sided with the military to ensure parliamentary elections it was likely to win. Indeed, the group went on to win nearly half the legislature and a firm foundation for political power.

But when the Brotherhood announced it would run el-Shater in the presidential race, Suleiman stepped forward, apparently counting on winning the vote of those fearing Islamist rule. It is believed he has military backing for his candidacy.

In comments to the media Monday, each man sought to cast themselves as the saviors of a revolution that is unraveling.

El-Shater called Suleiman’s run “an offense to the revolution.”

He took on the mantle of the uprising’s calls for reform. “I don’t want to pit (Egyptians) against one another as if we are in a war or conflict with one another,” he told reporters. “We are all living in the country — the Brotherhood, the political parties and the army and police. All these parties must have a specific role in building Egypt’s renaissance. I say no to the culture of antagonism.”

Suleiman, in a newspaper interview, sought to distance himself from the Mubarak regime, casting himself as a champion of the revolution he tried so hard to undermine as vice president.

“The clock cannot be turned back and the revolution laid down a new reality that cannot be ignored,” Suleiman said. “And no one, no matter who he is, will be able to reinvent a regime that fell, folded and was rejected and revolted against.”

At 75, Suleiman, dubbed by the media as “Mubarak’s black box” because of his reputation as the regime’s holder of secrets, has a great deal in common with Mubarak. Both men are sworn enemies of Islamists at home and in the region, are friends of the United States and Israel and proponents of military action against facilities of Iran’s disputed nuclear program. As a career army officer, Suleiman served alongside many of the nearly two dozen generals who sit on the now ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

Pro-democracy activists frustrated by his presidential run are flooding social networks with images of Suleiman with leaders of Israel, which most Egyptians still see as the top enemy despite the 1979 peace treaty.

U.S. diplomatic cables leaked by Wikileaks as well as declassified CIA files have identified Suleiman as the point man in U.S.-Egyptian cooperation on counterterrorism. He is believed to have played a direct role in the U.S. rendition program, in which suspected terrorists were sent to Egypt and other countries for interrogation, sometimes involving torture.

“As the head of the intelligence, Omar Suleiman has never been investigated for either ordering or failing to prevent Egypt’s involvement in renditions,” said Heba Morayef, a Cairo-based Human Rights Watch researcher.

Activists fear he could bring a new crackdown.

“If he wins and starts slaughtering the opposition and revolutionaries, the response will be very different. The revolution has adopted a peaceful path so far,” said Ahmed Maher, a founding member of the April 6 movement, in a thinly concealed threat of a violent reaction.

The race could still see some surprises. There remains talk that el-Shater could be disqualified from running because of his past convictions, despite the pardon that followed his release from prison.

Worries over both el-Shater and Suleiman could push voters toward one of the more middle-ground candidates in the race, such as former foreign minister Amr Moussa or Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh, a moderate Islamist who was thrown out of the Brotherhood. Their presence could also make it likely that a runoff, scheduled for June 16-17, will be held if no single candidate gets at least half the vote in the initial round.

14-16

By Saeed Naqvi

Asif Ali Zardari must be applauded for choosing to visit the shrine of Chishti at Ajmer at a time of rising extremism in India and Pakistan.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari walks after offering prayers at the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer, in Rajasthan, April 8, 2012.           REUTERS/B Mathur

That Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Pakistan at a suitable time is important news, of course. But, put it down to my personal bias if you like, the loftier symbolism of the visit lies elsewhere. The appearance of such a large Pakistani delegation at the Sufi Saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti’s shrine in Ajmer will strike a chord with an overwhelming majority of Pakistanis who are more comfortable with the soft, humane message of the Sufis compared with the vengefulness that Hafiz Saeed represents.

Disconcertingly, his ratings in Pakistan have shot up in an atmosphere of high voltage anti-Americanism. In this atmosphere, an American bounty even on the head of the devil would give him championship in the popularity stakes. That is why Mr. Zardari’s Ajmer mission deserves applause.

Contrary to popular perception, the rapid spread of Islam across the length and breadth of India was primarily the handiwork of Sufis. At a time when Rahul Gandhi and his cohorts are wondering how to win friends and influence people, the Sufis offer an excellent model. For the model to gain traction, the first requirement is a message which can be simply put across. The message the Sufis sought to communicate offended nobody: oneness of Being (Wahdat ul Wajood), equality of men, Love as a universal value.

Egalitarian

Rungs of the stratified Hindu order found the egalitarianism of Sufi Khanqahs, ashrams, hospices, compelling. The first-time visitors to the hospice were overwhelmed by the hospitality. The cuisine was custom made for universal consumption. It was not just vegetarian but care was taken to avoid garlic and onion too which some Hindu sects abstain from.

If there was one dogma the Sufis lived by, it was their total aversion to Kings and Sultans or those who sat at the top of the feudal heap. Since they would not visit the Sultans as a matter of principle, there were instances of the rulers who, overawed by the saint’s boundless popularity, expressed a desire to visit them at their hospices.

“If the King enters from the front gate, I shall leave by the backdoor” Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia once famously said. They lived by the Biblical dictum: it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. So, the poor and the intellectually precocious flocked to them.

It was not just their charming temperament, demeanour and belief which attracted the people to them. It was part of their spiritual training to harmonise totally with the cultural environment of whichever place they had made their home. They accepted and adopted the local culture.

Their contribution therefore to folk, popular and classical art forms was immense. For instance, Hazrat Amir Khusro, principal disciple of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia, invented the sitar, tabla, ragas. And, by experimental fusion of Hindvi and Persian, he virtually laid the foundation of what later came to be recognised as Urdu. For popular participation, there were always the Qawwalis, with trance inducing rhythms deftly employed between spiritual and romantic lyrics.

It was in pursuance of the trend set by the Sufis that every great Urdu poet proceeded to strengthen sub-continental syncretism. Hasrat Mohani always followed up his “haj” by a visit to Barsana for a “darshan” of Radha, because it was a belief he fancied that God had sent prophets to every country and the one he sent to India was Lord Krishna! It can only happen in the subcontinent: Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Communist Party and a member of the Constituent Assembly. He refused to sign the Constitution because it was “anti-people”. He is an icon in modern Urdu ghazal. The famous ghazal sung by Mallika Pukhraj, “bezubaani zubaan na ho jai” (hark! Silence begins to have voice) is the Maulana’s composition.

Quite naturally, the rapid expansion of this spectacular, colourful Islam, far removed from the arid rigidity of Najd in Saudi Arabia, invited a puritanical reaction.

There were one or two schools of Sufism, like the one to which Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi belonged and which deviated towards puritanism divorced from the colours of India. He was principally opposed to Moghul Emperor Akbar’s effort at forging Din-e-elahi or a common religion of God. Later, Shah Waliullah opposed the syncretic excess which leaned too much on the arts, music and dance as a path towards spirituality.

Darul Uloom at Deoband became the centre for puritanical reform within Islam. The effort to bring the faithful back to the straight and narrow continues. Unfortunately, politicians in search of vote banks find Deoband and one or two Imams of mosques, the only Muslim middlemen they know.

These institutions have been plodding away for decades. However, it was the war on terror painting Muslims as terrorists which generated anger in the community, enabling Deoband to marginally augment its reservoir.

By and large, Islam in Afghanistan, Kashmir, North West Frontier Province, other parts of Pakistan and India has, for years, been cloaked in colours of Sufism. But it was the manufacture of Wahabism in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union which was at the bottom of recent Islamic upheavals, of which 9/11and its aftermath are landmarks.

Islamic extremism

Basically, a strand of Islamic extremism has been in Pakistan’s DNA since the country’s inception but it was only a strand. The Munir Commission in 1953 investigated what is true Islam and came to no conclusion. But a backlash from the Afghan war reached its crescendo with the fall of the Lal Masjid in Islamabad in 2007. Extremism has remained on a plateau since, helped by U.S. policies and the military establishment in equal measure.

Hafiz Saeed is currently the most high profile representative of this extremism which is linked to Wahabism first manufactured in Afghanistan in 1980. In India, Deoband is a harmless reform school. But in Pakistan, Deobandi/Salafi alliance is embarked on a vicious Jehad for the soul of the nation.

It is for this reason that Mr. Zardari’s pilgrimage to Ajmer has symbolic value for Pakistan and beyond.

(The writer is a senior journalist, television commentator and interviewer.)

14-16

By Laura Fawaz, TMO

March 30th marks the annual commemoration for Palestinians of Land Day, for the events that took place on March 30th of 1976.

On that day, the Israeli government’s announcement of a plan to seize thousands of dunams, villages where residing Palestinian families still lived, for “security and settlement purposes.”

As for the 2012 commemoration, it turned violent with Israeli forces, again this year, firing tear gas at protesting Palestinians.  It also reported that there were close to 1,000 protestors gathered in Ramallah, and that five medical workers were shot with rubber-coated bullets, and that one car was set ablaze.  Palestinian activists called for a “Global March to Jerusalem” to mark the day when Palestinians protest against government policies that they say has stripped them of their land.  Witnesses also reported disturbances at gates leading into the Old City, with police limiting access to the Muslims’ revered al-Aqsa Mosque.

During the protests, four unarmed demonstrators were shot dead by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and two more by police.  The New York Times reports that the killings carried out by police during “riots in the Galilee region to protest over Israeli expropriation of Arab land.”

Jerusalem is a focal point of conflict, as Palestinians want the city’s eastern sector, captured by Israel in a 1967 war, as capital of a future state.  Six UN Security Council resolutions have denounced, declaring Israel’s control of the city to be invalid.  “We are determined to march together toward Jerusalem, and hopefully we will break through and reach it,” said a masked youth, calling himself Rimawi, as he faced off against soldiers in Ramallah.

Background: Adopted by the Israeli government in 1950 was the Law of Return.  This is Israeli legislation that was passed on July 5th of that year, giving Jews the right to “return” as an Israeli citizen and immediately having a settlement to call home.  Then in 1970, this right of entry, along with the new settlement, was extended to people of Jewish ancestry and their spouses.  Also, there was a new Absentee’s Property Law, which meant that the property rights of “absentee owners” were now transferred to a government-appointed “Custodian of Absentee Property.”  What this meant was that the newly welcomed citizens were given the homes of those Palestinians who either expelled from the area, their homeland that was taken and became Israel in 1948, or fled from the danger.  This legalized the confiscation of lands belonging to the Palestinian refugees, and was also used to confiscate the lands of Palestinians who “are present inside the state, yet classified in law as ‘absent’.”

Oren Yiftachel is a professor of political geography, urban planning and public policy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Israel.  He writes that the land confiscations and expansion of Jewish settlements in the northern Galilee formed part of the government’s continuing strategy aimed at the Judaization of the Galilee.  In executing this plan, the Ministry of Agriculture openly declared that its “primary purpose was to alter the demographic nature of Galilee in order to create a Jewish majority in the area.” 

The government’s decision to confiscate the land in addition came with the announcement of a curfew to be imposed on the villages of Sakhnin, Arraba, Deir Hanna, Tur’an, Tamra, and Kabul, effective from 5 p.m. on March 29th, 1976.  This was one of the many tactics to drive away the Palestinians in the remaining Palestinian cities.  Local Arab leaders from the Rakah party, such as Tawfiq Ziad, who was elected mayor of Nazareth on December 9th, 1973, responded by calling for a day of general strikes and protests against the confiscation of lands to be held the next day, on March 30th.  Even though the government declared all demonstrations illegal, solidarity strikes were also held almost simultaneously in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and in most of the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.

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By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

File:  Furkan Aldemir, left.

Turkish big man Furkan Aldemir is the latest in a long line of talents from his country. Born in Izmir, Aldemir currently plays for Galatasaray Medical Park. At 6 feet 9 inches and 230 pounds, Aldemir usually plays the power forward position, but also periodically plays center.

Aldemir was a regular with the Turkish youth national team, and he made a big splash in the 2010 Under 20 European Championships where he averaged 11.6 rebounds per game. And in the 2011 Under 20 European Championships he averaged 14.8 points per game, 15.9 rebounds per game, 1.3 assists per game, and 1.7 blocked shots per game, and made the All Tournament first team.

The website NBADraft.net describes him: “Aldemir is a center with good size and adequate athletic skills … His foot speed and the coordination of his upper body make him a very interesting player, ready to play in the NBA … His main attribute is the propensity to grab rebounds: he has strong instincts for this part of the game … On offense he lacks a polished one-on-one game, but understands all situations and is always ready for passes … Another important skill for a big man is his efficiency in free throws, and we can consider him reliable (75% in Euroleague, 51% in Turkish League). On defense he’s also interesting: he’s smart, quick lateral movement and has a sense of timing for blocks …

The website also summarizes his weaknesses: “Needs to become better at creating offense for himself, aside from garbage buckets … His body is perfect for Europe but might be a little bit undersized for fighting in the NBA paint.” He is listed by the site as the 40th best prospect in this June’s upcoming NBA Draft.

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By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

Gorgui Dieng and his Louisville University basketball team relied on offensive rebounding to keep things close before fading in a 69-61 loss to in-state rival Kentucky in the NCAA Men’s Final Four in New Orleans on Saturday night. Kentucky followed that up two days later with a win over Kansas University to earn the 2012 men’s basketball national championship.

Kentucky went up early, but the Cardinals kept clawing back, turning 19 offensive rebounds into 13 second-chance points to twice rally from double-digit deficits. “They offensive rebounded against us better than any team we played this year,” Wildcats coach John Calipari said. “They never stopped playing. They got up into our bodies, created turnovers and gave themselves a chance to win.”

Senegal’s Dieng finished with 7 points, 12 rebounds,  4 blocked shots, and 2 steals in his duel with Kentucky’s all-Universe star Anthony Davis. Dieng appeared a bit jittery, playing timidly instead of with his usual aggressiveness. He missed a two-handed dunk on an open drive down the lane and seemed unprepared whenever the ball came to him.When Dieng struggled early, his coach sat knee-to-knee with him in what appeared to be a keep-your-head-up moment in the first half.

Now the sophomore center will have to contemplate his future. The seven-footer is one of the top defensive players in the country, and may decide to turn professional. However, most onlookers still feel that Dieng is rough around the edges, especially on offense, and that he will stay at Louisville at least another year to round out his game.

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