@EbrahimMoosa
- My comment in some proposed mosques face obstacles across the nation on.freep.com/Jq9IRy via @freep 1 day ago
- Doha at night looks impressive. Many more buildings and roads since I was here in 2007. So much change in 5 years? 2 days ago
- Arrived in Qatar in 32 degrees at night. Look forward to the scorcher in the morning 2 days ago
Categories
Inside the Madrasa — The Story from APM
Posted in Madrasas, Muslim Ethics, Personal, South Africa, South Asia
Leave a comment
The winds of change of change, however blusteringly, have ushered in a new vice-chancellor at 
Darul Uloom Deoband with the appointment of Mawlana Ghulam Vastanvi. While the world’s attention was rightfully focused on dramatic changes in Tunisia and now in Egypt and Yemen, a rank outsider was appointed to the citadel of traditional Islam in north India.
Of Gujarati ethnicity and a graduate not from Deoband, but from a sister institute, the Mazahir al-Uloom in the city of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, Vastanvi had established an extraordinary reputation for himself over the past three decades when he established madrasas in several states that combined both traditional and modern learning.
Whether Deoband’s Governing Council appointed Vastanvi to overcome ‘insider’ candidates who politicized the institution or in order to usher in an era of curriculum reform, in itself highly explosive, remains to be seen. The reason for the wait-and-see game is that within nine days of his appointment, Vastanvi committed an inexplicable faux pas. In an interview with The Times of India on 19 January, 2011, Vastanvi somewhat unguardedly gave a pass to governor Narendra Modi, who was strongly linked to the 2002 Gujarat riots in which hundreds of Muslims were targeted and killed. Vastanvi’s opponents allege that his comments reeked of political opportunism and since then calls for his resignation have not abated. Deoband’s Governing Council will convene in February in order to decide his fate.
Vastanvi who founded an impressive madrasa Jamia Ishaatul Uloom in Akkal Kua, in Maharashtra where students who study in the madrasa can also complete high school and be admitted to a college education was seen as a revolutionary figure within madrasa circles. Aware of the need to equip students with both traditional knowledge and modern disciplines, many within India’s madrasa circles have quietly admired his experiment as a model to follow. He also established several madrasas of this kind around the country. It might well be that the Council of Deoband thought that this was the right time to appoint someone like Vastanvi to head the institution. It is unusual in the history of Deoband to appoint someone to lead it who did not hail from the well-known north Indian families linked to spirituality and piety. Vastanvi was the first to breakthrough. A year ago, in another unusual move, another Gujarati, Mawlana Saeed Ahmad Palanpuri, rose through the faculty ranks to become the dean of the faculty and to occupy the coveted position of Shaykh al-Hadith, (Chair of Hadith Studies-specialist in prophetic traditions) the highest teaching distinction within the madrasa-world.
All these changes augur well for Deoband, if these men survive the political ordeals, since it would signal that Darul Uloom Deoband, the mother-ship of the global Deoband school is reaching a new level of maturity, confidence and prominence. It no longer required the endorsement of North Indian elites in order to sustain its credibility. Furthermore, the Gujaratis within India and abroad have as an ethnic group endeared themselves as the financial backbone to several Deoband related religious ventures. From their prominence in the Tabligh Movement in Europe, South Africa, India and North America to giving leadership to Deobandi madrasas in the United Kingdom, the USA apart from the dozens of madrasas in Gujarat state make them an indispensable component of the Deoband movement.
Whether Vastanvi will survive the calls to oust him, his very appointment symbolizes a new spirit and thinking. If his opponents do succeed to oust him, it will certainly undermine the progressive elements within the Deoband movement and might be seen as a setback for madrasa curricular reform that has been in the works for decades but no one has had the courage to implement it.
TWO DAYS AND NIGHTS IN NAJD-SAUDI ARABIA
From the 12-14 of January 2011, I was privileged to be among a group of leading and influential people, thinkers and creative individuals in Saudi Arabia. Most of the people in attendance were from Saudi Arabia, with few individuals from neighboring countries along with scholars based in Europe and North America.
Hosted by the Sudairy Foundation, the one-day Rahmania Annual Seminar (RAS) 2011 had as its theme “Islam and Modernity” and was co-sponsored with the Institute for Transregional Study of the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia at Princeton University, headed by Dr Bernard Haykel. While the topic itself has received a great deal of attention in the literature, what I found most rewarding was the opportunity to meet with really creative and visionary individuals from Saudi Arabia in order to exchange ideas.
I must confess that when I was invited I held out fairly low expectations. Over the years my encounter with people from the Gulf area generally, and individuals in the field of Islamic Studies from Saudi Arabia and the Middle East was, to put it mildly, disappointing. Often the individuals I encountered were haughty in their claim to know everything about Islam, which was often dogmatic parroting of doctrines and teachings without any thoughtful application of history and a sense of the evolution of ideas within Islam. And they were often dismissive of the views of others claiming a monopoly for themselves no matter how wrongheaded and destructive their ideas and practices of Islam. Of course, there were always exceptions, which spoke for themselves.
I was lucky to leave the US at a time when snowstorms partly disrupted air transportation and so I arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia late on Wednesday 12 January. In New York, I was joined by Dr Sherman Jackson, from the University of Michigan, Dr Anver Emon, from the University of Toronto, and Dr Asli Bali, from UCLA all participants in RAS 2011. We arrived at Badrania House in al-Ghat, some 250 kms outside of Riyadh just after 10 pm. Tired but relieved to reach our destination, we were warmly received by Dr Ziad al-Sudairy, the key administrator of the Sudairy Foundation and his colleagues. Dinner was served and soon a lively conversation ensued with Dr Ziad and a leading Saudi lawyer, Abdulaziz H. Fahad, about a range of issues as were joined by other participants.
Suddenly, I realized that these hosts did not only read a great deal about what my colleagues and I had written, but they were well-informed, self-critical individuals who fostered a cosmopolitan outlook and represented a face of Saudi Arabia about which I had much to learn. Many of them were trained and educated in the United States. At some point His Royal Highness, Prince Turki Al Faisal, a leading figure in the Kingdom, chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies and former Saudi ambassador to Washington arrived. He chatted briefly to a small group of visitors and participants. Wednesday evening’s engaging conversation set the stage for Thursday’s seminar.
When I sent my first enthusiastic impressions of my encounters from Saudi Arabia via Twitter, many of my Facebook correspondents wanted to know what it was that caused me to gush about this event and the people that I had met. Well, for starters, one just has to put the hospitality and warmth of our Saudi hosts in a league of its own—they are sui generis.
Among the things that impressed me was the vision fostered by the Sudairy Foundation.
from left, Ebrahim Moosa, Ziad al-Sudairy, Sherman Jackson, Gregory Gause, Desmond P. Carr
Founded by Abdurrahman al-Sudairy (1919-2006), the governor of al-Jawf province in Saudi Arabia for many years, the current administrators, especially Dr Ziad al-Sudairy, translated their father’s vision into an enormously moving and pragmatic program. The Foundation has built an environmentally friendly mosque in al-Jawf, as well as a hotel to support the work of the Foundation. In al-Ghat there is also an amazing cultural center where both men and women enjoy the opportunity to make use of high-quality facilities, have access to a well-stocked library and a luxurious conference center.
What struck me pleasantly was that one of the main goals of the Foundation was not to build a hundred mosques or support pious activities to the exclusion of all else. Guess what was one of the main projects and goals of the Foundation? It’s goal was to support archaeology and advance the task to unravel the deep history of the region and share it with the rest of the world. It published the only peer-reviewed and refereed journal on archaeology in Arabic, called Adumatu. To me that was visionary talk in action. Why? It told me that the Foundation and its architects were interested in the question of culture.
One of the burning issues in the Muslim world is the place and value of culture. How does one evaluate the work and achievements of humans bearing in mind the limitations imposed upon us by nature and the limits of our own biology? The work of culture and its relationship to the transcendent teachings of religion is a critical question and one that has evaded a satisfactory response in modern Islam. To find people who were trying to get to grips with the question of culture was indeed heart-warming.
The people who attended RAS 2011 were truly impressive. We had in our midst people who had their hands on the levers of power in Saudi Arabia as ministers, ambassadors, heads of foundations, academics, business people and representatives of corporations. The most pleasant part of the event was that in this small gathering, people were truly listening and learning from each other. The Saudi participants asked pointed questions, engaged in meaningful and learned interventions on sensitive questions of religion, culture and politics in a demonstration of talent and care that was different from my previous encounters with people of religion from this region. Here there were no instances of religious discourse that was moral blackmail in disguise. At RAS 2011 there was a level of civility, sophistication, dignity and an open exchange that one rarely encounter, save periodically.
Dr Asli Bali explained recent political developments in Turkey and Dr Olivier Roy discussed the state of Islam in Europe and France. Both speakers received the keen attention of participants. Both contexts were important experiments about Islam in the public sphere. Dr Jackson spoke about the racialized nature of politics and culture in the United States, the role of Muslim Americans in such an environment and the challenges this posed to them in the present and the future. Dr Emon spoke about the public debates centered around the question of Islamic law and Sharia in Canada. Participants learned a great deal from both presenters who were enlightened about the nature of religion and politics in North America. Dr Ghannami from Saudi Arabia spoke about ways to combat extremism by taking back Wahhabism, the predominant discourse of Islam in Saudi Arabia, from the hands of those who would exploit it. In my paper I spoke of the need to create intellectual space in order to ensure that different views of Islam could be presented with dignity and respect without its authors becoming the subject of heresy trials and violence. Dr Intisaar Raab, from Boston College, spoke about legal developments in Iran.
The best conversations, of course, occurred over meals and around camp-fires in tents, sipping coffees, teas and enjoying the choicest dates of Arabia as dessert. On Friday, 14 January, over a breakfast meeting, HRH Prince Turki al Faisal engaged participants on topics ranging from regional and global security to matters of regional politics and I was grateful to him for giving generously of his time.
This was my first trip to the Najd, an important region of Saudi Arabia, both to its current history and to region’s ancient past. Visiting al-Ghat to engage in conversation with people from different backgrounds, beholding the Arabian desert in its breathtaking beauty and walking among thousands of irrigated date palm trees, left an impress on my soul and mind. These two days spent in the Najd will forever be memorable days where I saw the rays of a future Saudi Arabia that could make it a beacon of hope despite all the challenges it also faces.
Like this:
Posted in Uncategorized
6 Comments
Demagoguery in the Name of the Prophet: Pakistan’s Paradoxes and Paranoia
Abdullah Syed’s “Flying Rug,” made of United States $1 bills shaped like American drones and arranged in carpetlike patterns, from “The Rising Tide.
The recent assassination of Punjab governor, Salman Taseer is only a symptom of the larger malaise of religion, in not only Pakistan but also in different parts of the Muslim world. Who can forget the recent gruesome murders of Christians in Iraq and Egypt. But let us not forget that for several years Pakistanis have been murdering each other or were being murdered callously by different kinds of extremists. The country’s intelligence agencies’ reputation has been so besmirched by its own record of dirty-tricks that no one trusts it anymore.
And yes, I am not so naïve to ignore the byzantine political intrigues that might lurk behind these horrific killings, but I cannot surrender to conspiracy theories or ignore the dehumanization in all this. For my own sanity, and yes selfishness, I have to express my protest, my cri de coeur.
It is thus no surprise that in the current environment prevalent in Pakistan everyone is intimidated. Imagine what an upper middle class mother or father would say to their son or daughter attending LUMS, Lahore University of Management Sciences, or Government College, who might be outraged at what they see happening to their country and might want to do some thing about it: “Beta or beti (son or daughter),” I can hear them say, ” did you see what happened to Salman Taseer? You might have good intentions to save Pakistan but this country is governed from the lunatic asylum. Finish your degree, don’t bother with politics, and we will try and get you somewhere in the Middle East, Europe or America where you can make your life…” Yes, these caring parents might be protective of their son or daughter. The question I pose to them is: will there be a country left for you to live in? Will you have a future in a Pakistan overrun by crazies? Has anyone calculated the corrosive effects of all this dehumanization on Pakistan and the rest of the region?
The sons and daughters of the rich might go overseas, just as Pakistan’s elites have bank accounts in London and Zurich and foreign destinations to escape to with their dual citizenships, but many more will have to stay behind. To those who will stay behind, I say: you will have to worry about your own security if the admirers of Mumtaz Qadri, the craven killer of Salman Taseer, take over your country.
Even more sickening than the assassination was to see Pakistani lawyers showering the killer with rose petals when he appeared in court. These were the same lawyers who were fighting for democracy and liberty a few years ago, but today they are aiding and abetting murder in the name of the Prophet! Who can be trusted in Pakistan? Criticizing and questioning Pakistan’s blasphemy laws is not to endorse insult to the image and reputation of the Prophet Muhammad. Killing people in the name of the Prophet is a greater insult to the Prophet, Islam, Muslims and the entirety of humanity.
Centuries ago, the great Ibn Arabi, a great admirer of the Prophet and a frequent visitor to the holy shrine in Mecca, the Ka`ba, wrote in a poem: “How can the holy status of the Ka`ba ever be compared to the greater value of a human being.” Sections of Pakistan’s bloodthirsty multitudes, egged on by the fanatical mullahs would possibly lynch Ibn Arabi if they heard these lines from him today. In Ibn Arabi’s view, a human being is higher than all, for surely the breath of divinity palpates within all human beings. But for today’s bloodthirsty advocates of hysterical inquisitions, the idolatry of their egos is greater than their love for the Prophet.
The irony is that the Barelvi sect is fuelling this demagoguery in Pakistan and the Deobandis are falling in line with this extremism, if Mawlana Fazlur Rahman’s recent uttering reflects the pulse of his sect. About two years ago an important leader of the Barelvi sect, Mawlana Dr Sarfaraaz Naeemi was killed by a suicide bomber at his mosque-madrasa complex in Lahore, a place I once visited, because he condemned suicide bombing. Earlier in 2010, Mawlana Tahirul Qadri, (no relation to the killer Mumtaz Qadri) aligned to the Barelvis, published with great fanfare a massive tome outlining the horror of terrorism as antithetical to Islam and its teachings. Does it not occur to the Barelvi leaders that aiding and abetting a mob-mentality and fuelling a psychology of mass lynching are exactly the elements that constitute terrorism? Tahirul Qadri should speak up. Using terror and violence in pursuit of political ends is terrorism–plain and simple. There is a flicker of hope for Pakistan when people like Shehrbano Taseer can write fearlessly of her courage to pursue her father’s work. But we should recall that evil flourishes when good people do nothing. Shouldn’t right-thinking Pakistanis take to the streets and reclaim their country and serve as human shields to minorities as Egyptian Muslims have shown recently? Or should right-minded Pakistanis not be on roller skates defending the high values of Islam and reclaim the religious discourse from the hands of the extremists and their equally illiterate leaders? Is it not time that Pakistanis ensure that figures like the courageous religious scholar, Javed Ahmed Ghamidi return in safety to Pakistan from his self-imposed exile in Malaysia, fearing the numerous attempts on his life in Lahore?
All Pakistanis, especially the elites, middle classes and the religious leaders, should recall the words of Pastor Martin Niemöller
In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
Posted in Ethics, Foreign Policy, Islamic Law/Ethics, Madrasas, Media, Muslim Ethics, Personal
6 Comments
2010 in review
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.
Crunchy numbers
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 3,400 times in 2010. That’s about 8 full 747s.
In 2010, there were 21 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 29 posts. There were 88 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 52mb. That’s about 2 pictures per week.
The busiest day of the year was October 2nd with 210 views. The most popular post that day was How do we know what is Sharia?.
Where did they come from?
The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, religiondepartment.duke.edu, duke.academia.edu, networkedblogs.com, and alialtafmian.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for ebrahim moosa, dihliz, ebrahimmoosa, muhammad sa’id al-ashmawy, and ebrahim.
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
1
How do we know what is Sharia? October 2010
7 comments
2
Religion and the Midterm elections November 2010
3 comments and 1 Like on WordPress.com,
3
Publications September 2010
4
About Me September 2010
5
Ask Questions October 2010
2 comments
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Snow in North Carolina
Beautiful white soft snow bedecked Durham North Carolina today, 26 December 2010.For more pictures of snow see my Flickr
Snow in the forest attached to our yard
Snow outside our house
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Duke Class: Muslims Traditions in Learning
Duke Students, want to know about Muslim institutions of learning such as mosque-universities, scholars who wrote books on law, theology, history and philosophy? Want to know more about what happens inside the madrasas of South Asia and what are their connections to learning and politics? Then you have to take the following class Rel 196S-01 which is a junior/senior seminar, no pre-requisites, offered on Mondays from 3.05-5.35 pm by Professor Ebrahim Moosa.
Posted in Ethics, Foreign Policy, Islam & Democracy, Madrasas, Middle East, South Asia, US Politics
Leave a comment
