veiled4allah

a guide to the Islamic citations and allusions in Obama's Cairo speech

President Obama's speech in Cairo this morning covered an amazing amount of ground. Beyond the message that Obama was directly conveying, he also communicated a message through the Islamic citations and allusions that he made in his speech. Many of these may not be familiar to non-Muslims so in this post, I provide links to references where you can learn more. Overall, Obama displayed a deep knowledge of Islamic scripture, history, and views, and that in itself conveys his respect far more than just saying "I respect Islam and Muslims". I think this will be appreciated by many Muslims, even if they do not agree with the positions he took.

As the Holy Koran tells us, "Be conscious of God and speak always the truth."

This is from Surah al-Ahzab, verse 70. The Arabic text of this verse is Ya ayyuha alladhina amanu ittaqu Allaha wa qulu qawlan sadidan. The phrase ittaqu Allaha is often translated as "fear God" but the noun form taqwa really refers to an awareness or consciousness of God's presence, hence Obama's rendering.

That's why the United States government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab and to punish those who would deny it.

Here, Obama alludes to the case of Nashala Hearn, an Oklahoma schoolgirl who was prohibited from wearing her headscarf (hijab) to school. As detailed on the White House blog, the U.S. Department of Justice went to court to fight for Nashala's right to express her religion. I covered this case in 2003 and 2004.

The Holy Koran teaches that whoever kills an innocent it is as if he has killed all mankind. And the Holy Koran also says whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind.

This is Surah al-Ma'ida, verse 32, a verse that I and many other Muslims have cited again and again to remind what Islam actually teaches about killing the innocent (see also here).

Palestinians must abandon violence. Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and it does not succeed. For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and equal rights. It was a peaceful and determined insistence upon the ideals at the center of America's founding. This same story can be told by people from South Africa to South Asia; from Eastern Europe to Indonesia. It's a story with a simple truth: that violence is a dead end. It is a sign neither of courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus. That's not how moral authority is claimed; that's how it is surrendered.

I have posted a number of times about Islamic non-violence movements. The reference to South Asia is most likely an allusion to Bacha Khan, who was a contemporary of Gandhi and founder of a 100,000-strong Islamic non-violence movement in India. I also thought Obama's evocation of the non-violent struggle of African-Americans against slavery and segregation was very powerful.

All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear; when the Holy Land of the three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed, peace be upon them, joined in prayer.

Here, Obama refers to Isra and Mi'raj, the miraculous night journey taken by the Prophet Muhammad (sAas), in which he traveled to Jerusalem and ascended into the heavens. As Obama mentions, as part of this journey, the Prophet met and prayed with both Moses and Jesus (sAas). This is a wonderful story, and Wikipedia has links to a number of resources for further reading. Obama also uses the standard invocation "peace be upon them" (in Arabic, sal'Allahu alayhi wa sallam, abbreviated sAas as above) that Muslims use whenever referring to God's prophets, not just the Prophet Muhammad. Whenever Muslims mention Jesus or Moses (holy to Christianity and Judaism, respectively), their names are always followed by invoking peace upon them.

Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance. We see it in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition.

Here Obama refers to Muslim Spain. At a time when medieval Europe was often expelling Jews, Andalusia welcomed them. You can read more about Jews under Islamic rule from Jewish sources here.

The Holy Koran tells us: "O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another."

This is Surah al-Hujurat, verse 13, which is one of the more beautiful verses of the Quran, in my opinion. Rather than our differences being something we should fear, they are a gift from God to allow us to learn and grow. What really struck me about all these citations and allusions is that they are all things that I, as a Muslim, would have mentioned and used to support what I was saying. It's obvious that Obama took a lot of time to talk to those learned in Islam and really listened to what they told him. Mashallah. P.S. No, I did not intend for this to survive only as an Obama blog. But he keeps making it necessary for me to come back and post! P.P.S. Thanks for the link, Al! Visitors from The Field, feel free to look around, and browse my older posts, although the blog is no longer active and comments have been shut down. I hope that you find this post of value to you and perhaps other posts on the blog as well.

remembering a better time

On a brighter note than the previous post, Al-Jazeera reports on an exhibit in France called The Golden Age of Arab Science.

Presenting a view of the world far removed from the everyday cliches of obscurantism and violence, an exhibition titled The Golden Age of Arab Science is proving an unexpected hit at the Arab World Institute in Paris. The exhibition is built around three themes - the sky, the living world and art - and has drawn in more than 100,000 visitors at a rate of about 1200 a day, "which is an exceptional result for a difficult subject", according to the Arab World Institute (IMA) head of communications Philippe Lemoine. The exhibition explores the Arab world's scientific achievement from the 8th to 15th centuries and is made up of about 200 pieces, from maps to manuscripts, astrolabes and globes... ...Alexandra, a 44-year-old French midwife visiting the show, agreed. "When you look at these marvels, you leave behind the cliches of fundamentalism and violence. You start rearranging things in your mind," she said. The exhibition makes use of verses from the Quran and Hadith - narrations from the Prophet Muhammad - that suggest the pursuit of knowledge should be at the heart of Islam. "God will place on higher levels those of you who believe and those who have received learning," according to a quotation for the Quran. "A little learning is worth more than much devotion," reads a Hadith. "It is good to recall that all this once existed," said Gabrielle, an Italian teacher who said she has never visited the Arab world.

A reminder in these troubled times that Islam can inspire much that is beautiful and good. I pray that we will all work together to return to such a golden age again.

virtual caliphate?

Via Abu Aardvark, an interesting article about efforts by moderate Muslims to create their own transnational networks to promote their ideas as an alternative to more radical ones: Toward a Virtual Caliphate. Some highlights:

While many hold up the specter of al-Qaida as a de-territorialized "brand name" seeking to rally the masses of the umma (the world community of Muslims) around militant religious radicalism, al-Qaida is not the only game in town in terms of the transnational forces competing for Muslim hearts and minds. Indeed, it is possible today to point to an emerging infrastructure - on the internet and satellite television, in widely-circulated books, through major international conferences and research centers - of a countervailing effort by mainstream Islamic scholars to challenge al-Qaida's global rhetoric... ...For this group, the caliphate is not so much a political institution attached to sovereign territory, but rather an ideal of pan-Islamic ecumenicism - a moderate and relatively inclusive form of lowest-common-denominator orthodoxy. In their minds, this community of shared knowledge and religious interpretation is explicitly designed as an antidote to bin Laden and the radical jihadis. Given the means of its establishment and propagation, such a tendency might perhaps best be thought of as a "virtual caliphate." The figure at the forefront of this movement is Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a Qatar-based Egyptian religious scholar who trained at the venerable institution of Al-Azhar in Cairo - the Oxford of the Islamic religious sciences. In recent years, he has sought to articulate a more cosmopolitan understanding of Islam that speaks to the unique problems of the modern world while remaining firmly grounded in the traditions of Islamic law and scholarship.

Qaradawi is a figure of some controversy, something that the author of this, Peter Mandaville, discusses:

And it is here that many of his critics would claim that Qaradawi and his associates do not go far enough. They want to see, for example, stronger denunciation of terrorism and the rejection of threats against Jews and non-Muslims - and perhaps also a stronger emphasis on the need for Muslims to co-operate with the West. In doing so, however, they miss the point. The simple fact is that policymakers in the West - and progressive liberals more generally - are not always going to agree with the opinions of Qaradawi et al. Even very open-minded followers of orthodox scripturalism in Islam will often tend toward social conservatism, meaning that there will continue to be tensions regarding homosexuality and the role of women. It will also be difficult to find complete agreement with the West on more immediate political and security issues. While Qaradawi has strongly and consistently condemned bin Laden and Al-Qaida terrorism, his pronouncements on the insurgency in Iraq and the use of violence by Palestinians have certainly been at odds with Washington. That said, however, perhaps the worst thing the West could do is to cast figures such as Qaradawi as part of the problem simply because his views don't precisely correspond with US goals. Since 9/11, the United States has appeared to want to do business only with hand picked and officially approved "good Muslims" - that is, to work with Muslims who fit US requirements as to what Islam should be. The problem, of course, is that the figures and groups who carry Washington's seal of approval often have little to no legitimacy among the constituencies the US wants to influence. Viewed in the big picture and over the longer term, one has to wonder whether US goals and those of the emergent "virtual caliphate" might not overlap more than they diverge. After all, a vote for Qaradawi is a vote against Zarqawi. While increased recruitment into the Qaradawi camp will not by any means produce a generation of Muslims favorably predisposed to US foreign policy, it will represent a consolidated, critical mass of influential and respected Muslims with whom meaningful dialogue with the hope of tangible progress can take place.

This is a good point and one that I think Americans would do well to think on. Unrelated: First Center for Domestic Violence Launched in Saudi Arabia. Good to see some steps being taken in this direction.

cultural fusion: the influence of Islamic forms in American architecture

The San Francisco Chronicle has a fascinating article about Islamic-influenced architecture in America:

In 1961, a year before designing the World Trade Center towers, American architect Minoru Yamasaki completed a much smaller project that would influence the look of his new creation in New York City. The project was 6,000 miles away, in a country Yamasaki would visit many times over the next decade, Saudi Arabia. It's clear from the layout of the World Trade Center that Yamasaki incorporated aspects of Islamic design into the towers. This pattern was most visible at the base of the buildings, which were ringed by pointed arches resembling those found in mosques and on Muslim prayer rugs. The plaza fronting the towers paid homage to Mecca, Islam's holiest place, by replicating that city's courtyard layout, according to architect Laurie Kerr, who has studied Yamasaki's work. Yamasaki himself described the trade center plaza, which featured a circular fountain and places to sit, as a mecca -- "an oasis, a paved garden where people can spend a few moments to relieve the tensions and monotonies of the usual working day." For 29 years -- from the time the first World Trade Center tower was completed in 1972 to Sept. 11, 2001, when two hijacked planes leveled the buildings -- there was little general awareness that New York's tallest and most visible towers reflected Yamasaki's interest in Islamic architecture. No plaque pointed out this connection. No literature extolled it. Yamasaki himself didn't publicize it, even though he dropped plenty of hints in his 1979 autobiography, "A Life in Architecture," in which he expressed his admiration for Islamic arches and included photos of all his important projects -- photos that reveal a pattern of Islamic-inspired design. "The idea of a pointed, ribbed arch was beautifully replicated in the World Trade Center," says Nezar AlSayyad, a UC Berkeley architecture professor who worked with Yamasaki for two years on another project. "It's ironic it was used in the World Trade Center, which is then understood by the hijackers as a symbol of Western capitalism." Although the trade center was perhaps the most prominent example of Islamic-influenced architecture in the United States, there are other notable examples in every major American city...

Read more.

Islamic architecture

As an early Eid gift (Eid will be on Sunday, inshallah), my Mom gave me Mosque by David Macaulay. It's an illustrated book that uses a fictional story to explain the architecture of Ottoman Turkish mosques. At first glance, it seems like a children's book but the actual level of the material is better suited for teenagers or at least older or highly gifted children. And adults will enjoy it too, inshallah. Macaulay has written a whole series of these books, including ones about castles, cathedrals, ancient Roman cities and many other types of buildings. Architecture is something that has to be seen not just described in words so the illustrated book format is well suited to this type of book. A couple of interesting looking sites on Islamic architecture are Islamic Arts and Architecture Organization and Islamic Architecture. A Google search turns up many more. Some other posts at this site about Islamic architecture include The beauty of Islamic architecture, Lovely Islamic architecture, A picture, and a prayer, Mosques of New York City, and Islamic theory of art.

think different

The self-styled "Muslim cowgirl", Asma Gull Hasan, is someone whose views I don't always agree with but she's written and amusing and entertaining article comparing being a Muslim in the West to being a Macintosh user in a PC world: Easy to Use: What do Macs and Islam have in common?. Enjoy :) P.S. I use a PC though

Islam in Tibet

Although it is little known, there is a community of Muslims in Tibet. Islam first arrived in Tibet in the 1200s when merchants came up from Kashmir. They settled and formed a community, which has continued until today. When the Chinese began colonizing Tibet in 1959, after putting down the Tibetan National Uprising, many of Tibet's Muslims fled to Kashmir where they were eventually granted Indian citizenship. A large number of these live with the Tibetan community in exile there, while others have spread to other areas in India or abroad. The website of the Tibetan government in exile has several pages on Tibetan Muslims including Muslims of Tibet, a historical overview, Staunch Muslims, Tibetans at Heart, a profile of the community, and a picture gallery. Additional information is available at Historical Sketch of the Muslims of Tibet. There is also a book about Tibetan Muslims, with a forward by the Dalai Lama, called Islam in Tibet: Tibetan Caravans.

leadership and responsibility in Islam

In a lengthly essay called "Gender-based Exclusionism at a Muslim Student Association" (part one, part two), Shabana Mir discusses her attempts to increase women's participation in the Muslim Students Association at her campus, especially in leadership positions, and where her efforts succeeded and where they fell short. The overriding theme in this story, at least to my mind, is the lack of accountability by the small group of men who ran the MSA. Leadership is a heavy responsibility and the leader will be held accountable by God for all his actions in regard to the people he is put in charge of. Taking a leadership position and then failing to uphold it properly is worse than not seeking leadership in the first place. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) gave some advice in this matter:

Sahih Bukhari Book 89, Number 264: Narrated Ma'qil: I heard the Prophet saying, "Any man whom Allah has given the authority of ruling some people and he does not look after them in an honest manner, will never feel even the smell of Paradise."

Because the consequences of failing at leadership are so severe, people should be extremely hesitant of asking for and actively seeking out leadership positions:

Sahih Bukhari Book 89, Number 263: Narrated Abu Musa: Two men from my tribe and I entered upon the Prophet. One of the two men said to the Prophet, "O Messenger of Allah! Appoint me as a governor," and so did the second. The Prophet said, "We do not assign the authority of ruling to those who ask for it, nor to those who are keen to have it."

A leader never has absolute power; if what they command is wrong and contrary to Islam, disobedience is not only allowed but is necessary. Each Muslim is responsible in front of God for doing what they believe is best and most correct. If they believe that their leader is doing something wrong, they should speak up. The Prophet (pbuh) said that the best form of jihad (struggle) is speaking a word of truth to an oppressive ruler (Sunan an-Nasa'i No. 4209). Additionally, the leader should consult with their followers; Quran Surah ash-Shura verse 38 declares that the believers are those whose affairs are a matter of consultation among them. The MSA leadership that Mir describes failed at a very basic level to meet the standards demanded by Islam. They seemed to think it was sufficient to demand and enforce certain outward signs of Islam, while not giving sufficient weight to the moral spirit that Islam seeks to inculcate. Unfortunately, this attitude is all too common among some Muslims; the Taliban and the rulers of Saudi Arabia are extreme examples of the same thing. It's not that the MSA leadership sought no consultation at all; rather they sought consultation but if they didn't like what the members were saying, then they circumvented them. Ultimately, Mir and her allies could not get around this attitude and they had to form a separate organization, the Muslim Students Union, to achieve their aims. This story deals with one student group at one university in one country, but I think most any Muslim who has dealt with official organizations will agree that it speaks to the general situation of Islamic reformers today.

mosques of New York City

Just a quick link this evening. The Mosques of New York City is a review of a book about the architectural aspects of NYC mosques. The author explains why she began this study:

We entered into this study … with the idea of bearing witness to some of the dozens of communities of New Yorkers who practice Islam, through the architecture which serves them as collectives within the city. This creation of shared space, this building up of neighborhoods seemed to answer the destructive and exploitative image the World Trade Center bombing of 1993 spawned.

Of course, since the project began, NYC has also suffered the terrible destructiveness of 9/11, which is given mention in the review.

Islam and pluralism

In Islam and Pluralism, Shah Abdul Halim, chairman of the Islamic Information Bureau, Bangladesh, sets out to show that Muslims who see the world entirely in terms of believers and unbelievers and conflict between them are ignoring the broader perspective of their own Islamic tradition. For instance, he cites classical sources (and ones of great authority) against the idea that the non-Muslim world should be classified as dar al-kufr (abode of disbelief) or dar al-harb (abode of war):

Dr. Alwani, president of the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) and also a member of Jeddah based International Academy of Fiqh, pointed out in an interview with the "Islamic Horizons" that an "example of misguided rulings is the fatwa that countries like the United States are dar al kufr and dar al harb, where Muslims have the right to circumvent their laws and regulations"... ...Dr. Alwani also identified that "in the past, scholars were unanimous in their view that the entire earth was the land of Allah and did not divide it into such spheres. Instead, some scholars like Imam al Razi considered the earth to consist of dar al ijaba, which replaces the term dar al Islam, and dar ad dawah, which replaces the term dar al harb. Dar ad dawah means a land for dialogue and inter-faith communication, a land where people are not classified, but all human being are considered one family. This family has two parts. One is identified as ummat al ijaba, instead of ummat al Muslim, and other as ummat ad dawah, instead of kuffar or harbiyun. This part of our heritage and legacy represents Islam more correctly than the other part, because the whole earth has been created by Allah as humanity’s home. The Prophet (saws) told us that the entire earth is a masjid and pure. The only difference is that in dar al ijaba, the message of Islam has been established, and in dar ad dawah the message has to be spread. We all know what the nuances of performing dawah are, and certainly that misguided dar al harb / dar al kufr ruling is not among the instruments of dawah". "The famous 5th Hijra century Imam al Mawardy, in fact said that even if we have one Muslim family living in a non-Muslim state, their home will be the home of Islam. The reality is that wherever Muslims find the freedom to practice Islam, that place will be dar al Islam for them, and there is no need for them to migrate to some other dar al Islam for this purpose"

Later on, he tackles the question of the jizya, the tax traditionally imposed on non-Muslims living under Islamic rule, and provides historical and legal evidence that the jizya should be (a) commensurate with the services rendered by the Islamic government to the non-Muslim people, and (b) equivalent in value to the zakat tax paid by Muslims, which would seem to remove any oppressive aspects from it. In a supplementary section of the article, he shows that the correct understanding of the Islamic sources and scholars is that there can be no punishment on those who simply change their religion away from Islam; any legal punishment is limited to those who engage in armed rebellion against the state or treason. I have made this same point before myself, at length here in a discussion of political dissent, in passing here and at greater length in the comments on that blog entry (1, 2), and in the comments on another blog entry here. The article has a lot that both Muslims and non-Muslims can learn from.