Muslim Heretics Conference

 

Who speaks for Islam: Part I

By John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed
Published: September 05, 2008, 00:21

What do the world’s one billion Muslims really think? What does the silent majority of Muslims want for their lives, and in their politics? Why are the aspirations of the vast majority of Muslims in direct contrast to most of the world’s impressions of Muslims?

In this five-part series, carried every Friday during Ramadan, Gulf News publishes excerpts from the fascinating conclusions of the largest ever opinion survey of the world’s Muslims, carried out by Gallup. Who speaks for Islam by John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed was published by Gallup Press.

Islam’s silenced majority

New book makes a case for democratising the debate about 9/11 and its after-effects.

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What many saw as an ongoing conflict between the United States and parts of the Muslim world intensified dramatically after the horrific events of 9/11. Violence has grown exponentially as Muslims and non-Muslims alike continue to be victims of global terrorism. Terrorist attacks have occurred from Morocco to Indonesia and from Madrid to London, and wars in Afghanis-tan and Iraq rage on. War and terrorism have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives since 9/11, the vast majority of victims being civilians.

As we cope with savage actions in a world that seems ever more dangerous and out of control, we are inundated with analysis from terrorism experts and pundits who blame the religion of Islam for global terrorism. At the same time, terrorist groups such as Al Qaida beam messages throughout the world that demonise the West as the enemy of Islam and hold it responsible for all the ills of the Muslim world.

Amid the rhetoric of hate and growing violence, manifest in both anti-Americanism in the Muslim world and in Islamophobia in the West, discrimination against, or hostility toward, Islam or Muslims has massively increased. In the aftermath of 9/11, President George W. Bush emphasised that America was waging a war against terrorism, not against Islam. However, the continued acts of a terrorist minority, statements by preachers of hate (Muslim and Christian alike), anti-Muslim and anti-West talk show hosts, and political commentators have inflamed emotions and distorted views.

Negative perceptions

The religion of Islam and the mainstream Muslim majority have been conflated with the beliefs and actions of an extremist minority. For example, a 2006 USA Today/Gallup poll found that substantial minorities of Americans admit to harbouring at least some prejudice against Muslims and favouring heightened security measures for Muslims as a way to help prevent terrorism. The same poll found 44 per cent of Americans saying that Muslims are too extreme in their religious beliefs.

Nearly one-quarter of Americans, 22 per cent, say they would not want a Muslim as a neighbour; less than half believe US Muslims are loyal to the United States.

Are the negative perceptions and growing violence on all sides only a prelude to an inevitable all-out war between the West and 1.3 billion Muslims? The vital missing piece among the many voices weighing in on this question is the actual views of everyday Muslims. With all that is at stake for the West and Muslim societies - indeed for the world’s future - it is time to democratise the debate.

Who Speaks for Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think is about this silenced majority. This book is the product of a mammoth, multi-year Gallup research study. Between 2001 and 2007, Gallup conducted tens of thousands of face-to-face interviews with residents of more than 35 nations that are predominantly Muslim or have substantial Muslim populations. The sample represents residents young and old, educated and illiterate, female and male, and from urban and rural settings. With the random sampling method that Gallup used, results are statistically valid within a plus or minus 3-point margin of error. In totality, a sample representing more than 90 per cent of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims was surveyed, making this the most comprehensive study of contemporary Muslims ever done.

Surprising conclusions

The study revealed far more than what could possibly be covered in one book. The most significant, and at times, surprising conclusions have been listed below.

Here are just some of those counter-intuitive discoveries:

- Who speaks for the West?: Muslims around the world do not see the West as monolithic. They criticise or celebrate countries based on their politics, not based on their culture or religion.

- Dream jobs: When asked to describe their dreams for the future, Muslims don’t mention fighting in a jihad, but rather getting a better job.

- Radical rejection: Muslims and Americans are equally likely to reject attacks on civilians as morally unjustified.

- Religious moderates: Those who condone acts of terrorism are a minority and are no more likely to be religious than the rest of the population.

- Admiration of the West: What Muslims around the world say they most admire about the West is its technology and its democracy — the same two top responses given by Americans when asked the same question.

- Critique of the West: What Muslims around the world say they least admire about the West is its perceived moral decay and breakdown of traditional values — the same responses given by Americans when posed the same question.

- Gender justice: Muslim women want equal rights and religion in their societies.

- R.E.S.P.E.C.T.: Muslims around the world say that the one thing the West can do to improve relations with their societies is to moderate their views toward Muslims and respect Islam.

- Clerics and constitutions: The majority of those surveyed want religious leaders to have no direct role in crafting a constitution, yet favour religious law as a source of legislation.

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Global view: Does one size fit all?

While many people commonly speak of Islam and Muslims in broad, all-encompassing terms, there are many interpretations of Islam and many different Muslims.

Muslims come from diverse nationalities, ethnic and tribal groups, and cultures; speak many languages; and practice distinct customs. The majority of the world’s Muslims live in Asia and Africa, not the Arab world. Only about one in five of the world’s Muslims are Arabs.

The largest Muslim communities are in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Nigeria rather than Saudi Arabia, Egypt, or Iran. And millions of Muslims live in Europe, the United States, and Canada, where they represent the second and third largest religion (second largest in Europe and Canada and third largest in the United States).

Because of globalisation and emigration, today the major cities where Muslims live are not only exotic-sounding places such as Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, Makkah, Islamabad, and Kuala Lumpur, but also London, Paris, Marseilles, Brussels, New York, Detroit, and Los Angeles.

Religiously, culturally, economically, and politically, there are multiple images and realities of Islam and of Muslims.

Religiously, Muslims are Sunni (85%), who are the majority in most Muslim countries, or Shia (15%) who are a majority in Iran.

Further adding to the diversity, Shia Islam later split into three main divisions: the Zaydis, the Ismailis, whose leader today is the Harvard-educated Aga Khan; and the Ithna Ashari, who are majorities in Iran and Iraq.

Different theologies

Like other religions, Islam also has different, and sometimes contending, theologies, law schools, and Sufi (mystic) orders. Finally, Muslims, whether Sunni or Shia, can be observant or non-observant, conservative, fundamentalist, reformist, secular, mainstream, or religious extremist.

The world’s 1.3 billion Muslims live in some 57 countries with substantial or majority Muslim populations in Europe, North America, and across the world.

Major Muslim communities today are not only in Dakar, Khartoum, Cairo, Damascus, Riyadh, Tehran, Islamabad, and Kuala Lumpur, but also in London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, New York, and Washington, D.C. Muslims speak not only Arabic, but also Persian, Turkish, Urdu, Swahili, Bahasa Indonesia, and Chinese, as well as English, French, German, Danish and Spanish.

Muslim women’s dress, educational and professional opportunities, and participation in society vary significantly too.

Women in some Muslim societies cannot drive cars and are sexually segregated, but women in many other parts of the Muslim world drive cars, ride motorcycles, and even fly planes.

Some Muslim women are required by law to fully cover themselves in public, while others are prohibited from displaying the Muslim headscarf.

A growing number of Muslim women are choosing to cover their heads, while others do not.

Women majority

In the United Arab Emirates and Iran, women make up the majority of university students.

In other parts of the world, women lag behind men in even basic literacy.

Women serve in government in parliaments and cabinets and have headed governments in Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia, while in other Muslim countries, women are struggling for the right to vote and run for office.

Muslim women may wear a sari, pantsuit, blue jeans, dress, or skirt, just as Muslim men may wear long flowing robes, blue jeans, pullover sweaters, or three-piece business suits and may be bearded or clean-shaven.

Perhaps the most striking examples of diversity in the Muslim world are in economic and political development.

Economically, the oil-rich and rapidly developing Gulf states such as Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia are worlds apart from poor, struggling, underdeveloped countries such as Mali and Yemen.

And politically, Islamic governments in Iran, Sudan and the Taliban’s Afghanistan stand in sharp contrast with the more secular-oriented governments of Egypt, Syria, Turkey and Indonesia.

In Turkey, Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Yemen, Pakistan, and Malaysia, Islamic activists have emerged as an “alternative elite” in mainstream society. Members or former members of Islamic organisations have been elected to parliaments and served in cabinets and as prime ministers and presidents of countries such as Turkey, Kuwait, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, Iran, Egypt, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Islamic associations

Islamic associations provide social services and inexpensive and efficient educational, legal, and medical services in the slums and many lower middle-class neighbourhoods of Cairo, Algiers, Beirut, Mindanao, the West Bank, and Gaza.

All the while, and in stark contrast, some militant groups have terrorised Muslim societies in the name of Islam; attacked New York’s World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. in the US and set off bombs in Madrid, Spain and London in the UK.

They reflect a radicalism that threatens the Muslim and Western worlds.

The vast diversity of Islam and of mainstream moderate Muslims has been overshadowed and obscured by a deadly minority of political (or ideological) extremists.

In a monolithic “us” and “them” world, Islam - not just Muslims who are radical - is seen as a threat, and those who believe in an impending clash of civilisations are not only the Bin Ladens of the world, but also many of us.

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One God and many prophets: Basic beliefs

Islam means “a strong commitment to God” and shares the same Arabic root as the word for peace, or salaam. Jesus’ mother, Mary, is mentioned by name more times in the Quran than in the New Testament.

Because faith is central to the lives of so many Muslims around the world, a basic understanding of Islam is necessary to fully grasp much of what is to follow. This section, which discusses the basic tenets of Islam, will be particularly useful to readers who are less familiar, or not familiar at all, with Islam.

Islam means “a strong commitment to God” and shares the same Arabic root as the word for peace, or salaam.

Some Muslim theologians define Islam as attaining peace through commitment to God’s will.

Definition

This general definition is significant because Muslims regard anyone who meets these criteria at any time in history to have been a “Muslim”. And therefore, the first Muslim was not the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), but Adam, the first man and prophet of God. Islam asserts that all nations were sent prophets and apostles (Quran 35:24) who all taught the same basic message of belief in one unique God, and in this regard, all the prophets are believed to have been “Muslims.”

“We believe in God and what has been revealed to us; in what was revealed to Abraham and Esmail, to Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and in what was given to Moses and Jesus and the prophets from their Lord. We do not make a distinction between any of them [the prophets]. For we submit to God.” (Quran 3:84).

Like Jesus and Moses, the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) (AD570-632) was born and taught his message in the Middle East, where Islam quickly spread.

Muslims worship the God of Abraham as do Christians and Jews.

Rather than a new religion, Muslims believe Islam is a continuation of the Abrahamic tradition. Thus, just as it is widely acknowledged that the current meaning of Judeo-Christian tradition was forged during World War II, today there is growing recognition of the existence of a Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition, embracing all the children of Abraham.

Muslims recognise the biblical prophets and God’s revelation to Moses (Torah) and Jesus (Gospels).

Indeed, Mousa (Moses), Eisa (Jesus), and Maryam (Mary) are common Muslim names.

Jews, Christians and Muslims trace their biblical lineage to Abraham. Muslims learn many of the same Old and New Testament stories and figures that Jews and Christians study (Adam and Eve, Noah’s Ark, the Ten Commandments, David and Solomon, Mary and Jesus), sometimes with differing interpretations.

For example, in the Quran, Adam and Eve disobey God and eat the apple together, and this disobedience does not impose “original sin” on future generations.

Also, Jesus’ mother, Mary, is mentioned by name more times in the Quran than in the New Testament. The Quran describes Mary’s virgin birth of Jesus, who is venerated as one of the great prophets in Islam but not considered divine. According to the Quran, diversity in belief, cultures, and traditions is part of God’s intended creation and a sign of his wisdom:

“If God had so willed, He could surely have made you all one single community: but [He willed it otherwise] in order to test you by means of what He has given you. Race one another then in doing good works!” (Quran 5:48).

“Among His signs is the creation of the Heavens and the Earth, and the diversity of your languages and colours. Surely there are signs for those who reflect.” (Quran 30:22).

Egalitarian ideals

“O humankind, We have created you male and female, and made you nations and tribes for you to get to know one another. Indeed, the noblest of you in the sight of God is the one who is most deeply conscious of Him. Behold, God is all-knowing, all-aware.” (Quran 49:13).

Though no society is free from racial prejudice, Muslims take great pride in what they regard as Islam’s egalitarian ideals.

For example, a Moroccan World Poll respondent says what he admires most about the Muslim world is Islam’s message of racial equality. “I have a high regard for Islam’s values and teachings and the non-racial attitudes of Muslim people.” The Quran emphasises the unity of believers around a shared faith, regardless of ethnicity or tribe.

What are the core Muslim beliefs that unite this diverse, worldwide population? As Christians look to Jesus and the New Testament and Jews to Moses and the Torah, Muslims regard the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and the Quran, God’s messenger and message, as the final, perfect, and complete revelation.

And, because of the remarkable success of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and the early Muslim community in spreading Islam and its rule, Sunni Muslims look to an ideal portrait of “the first generation” of Muslims (called the companions of the Prophet) as their model - a common reference point by which to measure, judge, and reform society.

Key Points

- The many languages, customs, and ethnicities of the Muslim world illustrate its vast diversity. There are 57 countries around the world that are majority Muslim or have significant Muslim minorities — Arabs make up only roughly 20% of the global Muslim population.

- Faith and family are core values in Muslims’ lives, and Muslims regard them as their societies’ greatest assets.

- Muslims, like Christians and Jews, believe in the God of Ebrahim and recognise biblical prophets such as Ebrahim, Moses, and Jesus.

- Jihad has many meanings. It is a “struggle for God”, which includes a struggle of the soul as well as the sword. The Islamic war ethic prohibits attacking civilians.

Gulfnews: Who speaks for Islam: Part I

Author Sherry Jones

“I did all this in the service of a truth”

Jewel of Medina author Sherry Jones speaks to us about her book, a semi-fictional novel based on the life of Prophet Muhammad’s wife Aisha pulled by her publisher Random House, and what led to a firestorm of controversy described by many as the next Satanic Verses.

By Shahed Amanullah, September 4, 2008

Me and Mrs. Jones

Back in April of this year, I received a phone call from University of Texas, Austin professor Denise Spellberg, an Islamic Studies expert in whose class I have guest lectured the past two years. She brought to my attention a book she had been sent to review entitled Jewel of Medina, a book she found offensive for its portrayal of Aisha, the youngest wife of the Prophet Muhammad. In a turn from most literary depictions of Aisha, this one was heavily fictionalized, with a dramatic story arc that, to Spellberg, represented a racy novel rather than an accurate depiction of her life. (Spellberg should know - her own scholarly work on Aisha is known as one of the most authoritative books on the subject.)
As I had not heard anything of the book, I sent an e-mail inquiry to a private listserv for graduate students in Islamic studies, describing the phone call I just received and asked if anyone could tell me more about it. After hearing no response for three weeks, I got an email out of the blue from the author of that book, Sherry Jones, who asked if we were interested in writing an advance review. What I didn’t know at the time was that someone on the Islamic studies list passed my e-mail out of the listserv, where it ended up on the website of Husaini Youths, an overseas forum catering to young Shia Muslims. There, some offended readers voiced concern at the as-yet unpublished book, suggesting a seven point plan for pressuring Random House, the book’s publisher, to cancel publication.
But they needn’t have bothered. In June, Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani told me she was writing an article on the reaction to the book, identifying me through her research on the issue and asking me to comment. It was then that I learned that Random House had indeed withdrawn the imminent publication of the book (set for August 12 of this year), despite having paid Jones a reported $100,000 advance. Cited in Random House’s cancellation was a reference to unnamed “Islamic scholars” who advised them that the book could provoke extremist Muslims. And in some corners, I was identified as the catalyst for this chain of events.
The response to the story was explosive, with people around the world decrying perceived Muslim threats to the author and publisher - except for the fact that no Muslims were involved in the actual censorship. As the story played out, it has been revealed that there had been no violence or even threat of violence in response to the book. Hopefully, this means Muslims have learned a valuable lesson from the response to The Satanic Verses (which made Salman Rushdie a celebrity) and the Danish cartoon controversy (which did untold PR damage to Muslims worldwide). Because censoring the book - even self-censoring - was something that I abhorred, I wrote a response here supporting free speech in this case, which has incidentally been republished in Lebanon, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. Yet, the entrenched notion that Muslims are antithetical to free speech continues.
And then there’s Sherry Jones herself. Jones spoke out when asked about the issue, contesting the description given of her book as “pornography.” But as she felt that she was being used as a wedge between Muslims and those that dislike them, she began to withdraw from commenting further. While acknowledging her book would be controversial, she maintained that she wrote the book not just with respect, but with admiration for Aisha, and felt her interpretation and dramatization of her life would accentuate her known qualities, qualities which drew her to the subject matter after 9/11.
Sherry’s insistence that she intended a respectful treatment of the subject matter, in addition to her reaching out to us before the controversy grew, made us wonder - is there more to this story than some would have us believe? Below, Sherry Jones speaks to us in detail about what her book represented, how she and I have weathered the storm, and about the sequel that she’s already written.
This whole episode is the first introduction of yourself as a writer to much of the world. Tell us more about who you are and what you are bringing to the table with this book.
Sherry Jones: Well, I’ve been a journalist for 28 years. I started before I finished college. I was 18 when I started at my first newspaper in Kinston, North Carolina, which is my hometown. As a journalist, I’ve covered everything from education to government to arts and entertainment to the environment.
Right now, I’m primarily writing on environmental issues and doing some reporting on women’s issues as a freelance reporter. I got the obligatory autobiographical novel out of the way about 10 years ago, but I’ll never publish that book… (Laughs)
Well, you could rewrite the whole autobiography at this point…
That’s right! (Laughs) I started working on Jewel of Medina in the winter of 2002 as sort of my own personal response to the World Trade Center attacks and what we were hearing about Islam and women and women’s oppression under the Taliban in Afghanistan.
I started reading and researching out of a personal desire and curiosity to learn more. The first books I read were primarily by women journalists who’d been in the Middle East. There was Geraldine Brooks’ book Nine Parts of Desire and Price of Honor (by Jan Goodwin), about women in the Middle East.
Both books told the story of Aisha’s marriage to Muhammad at a young age and at least one of them had mentioned that Muhammad had 12 wives and concubines. And I was, you know, wondering why I had never heard this before and felt so intensely curious to learn about the women.
I’ve noticed in my own history classes and my own history reading that women are so often left out of the story. I had a literature professor tell our class that the history of the world is made up of wars. I always thought there was a lot more to history than that.
So as you dove into this history, what was it that captured your attention and eventually brought you to the idea of writing a book that focused on Aisha?
It was the strength of the women that I was reading about – the intelligence, the courage, the participation of women in the early life of the Islamic community. Aisha’s sense of humor drew me to her right away. One of my favorite scenes is when Muhammad, who was angsting over whether he could marry Zaynab bint Jahsh, he said to Aisha, “Allah has given me permission to marry her.” And Aisha said, “My! Allah certainly hastens to do your bidding.” What a great comeback, and what a woman of verve. She was just so quick witted.
Also, her scholarly abilities… I had read that she could recite a thousand poems, and she knew all the recitations, all the Quran. She was a political advisor, not only to Muhammad, but to some of Muhammad’s successors. Her whole involvement in the political life of her community just fascinates me.
You’ve started to tap into why a lot of Muslims are fascinated by her as well. Of course, there’s also the fact that she’s one of the larger transmitters of hadith from Muhammad. Really, it’s through her that we get his story.
One of the things that struck me from the beginning of this whole controversy is that unlike so many other times in our recent history where we are struggling against people who are really out to vilify us, I sensed from the beginning that you were doing this out of appreciation or respect. I don’t think that has gotten through to a lot of people, regardless of their opinions on the subject matter. Could you elaborate on this?
Yes, well I went into my reading with absolutely no preconceived notions except that Muslims had attacked the World Trade Center and that the Muslim regime in Afghanistan was very oppressive to its people, especially women. And so, you might say that my initial impressions of Islam were negative.
But as I read - books by Western scholars, Islamic scholars, religious clerics, ancient Arabic poetry – what I gained from my reading was an impression of Islam being a religion of, primarily, peace. I read that Muhammad admonished his followers to fight in self-defense only. That’s really what he was doing all those years too. He was constantly being persecuted, assassination attempts, etc.
You could say that the revealer of Islam, Muhammad, embodied Islam. He lived this incredibly ascetic life – totally unmaterialistic, gave everything away to the poor. He could have lived like a king but he didn’t. He was very respectful toward women and, actually, I was so impressed by how he gave women rights that we didn’t even possess in this country until the early 20th century. He was generous and kind and compassionate. He forgave people who had done him wrong if they asked him for it.
The more I read about Islam at the beginning stages, the more impressed I was. Muhammad endured so much persecution, there was never any doubt in my mind that he was sincere and that he was a visionary. He gave up everything for his belief in God and his, I believe, sincere desire to bring the truth of one God to his own people.
Having developed that respect, out of all the reading that I did – and, you know, I read some stuff by older historians who claimed that he went out and conquered in the name of Islam and forced people to convert. But the newer stuff that I read, the more recent historical writings, actually refute that. And the impression I gained of him was of an incredible man and a great, heroic leader.
The same with Aisha. The love story just drew me in. They’re a great epic couple, really.
I remember growing up, even in Muslim circles, their relationship was quite storied – how they would race together and how playful they were – and how they became a model for Muslim relationships. But I guess the obvious question that begs to be asked is whether you anticipated at all any reaction from either Muslims or people who dislike Muslims. Because I believe you’ve gotten significant amounts from both sides.
Oh, yes.
Did you prepare yourself for such a reaction?
Well, I did anticipate controversy. I consciously envisioned myself, for example, reading my book in a bookstore on a book tour and having people challenge the things I had written, or challenge my perceptions of Islam. I didn’t think much about people who didn’t like Muslims. Mostly I was aware of the sensitivities of Muslims. Because I have altered the historical record, the historical narrative.
I have done things like put a sword in Aisha’s hand. I have depicted this ancient culture, about which so little has actually been written… a lot of it was derived from my imagination. The characters themselves, many of the wives, there is so little known about them and their personalities. So I gave personalities to these women, whether they were actually like that or not. Who knows?
But I did all this in the service of what I see as a truth. My truth - this is my vision of what things would have been like based on my own experiences and my own research and my own intuition and observations of human nature. I’m very sure of the work I’ve done and the choices I’ve made. I know why I did everything I did in that book. Maybe at the time I was doing it I wasn’t always sure, but I revised this book seven times.
Since this whole thing started, I’ve been accused of Orientalism, and I’ve stopped and I’ve taken a step back to look at myself. How would we feel if a Muslim wrote a fiction book about Jesus, how would that be perceived? How would Christians feel? It’s hard for me, though I’ve tried, to imagine myself among a group of people who feel discriminated against and co-opted already. I can understand why there would be resentment and suspicion of my motives.
But I’m really aware and conscious of the choices I made. I have felt that people who didn’t like my book might challenge me and that we could discuss it. And as far as people who don’t like Muslims are concerned, ditto. Although, like I said, I didn’t really think about those people. I was quite surprised at some of the responses I’ve gotten from people who are anti-Muslim.
I was kind of surprised as well. I had thought they would take you more as an ally and use you to bash us. I saw hostility towards Muslims in general and to you for trying to cater naively to Muslims…
I’m an Islamo-panderer!
Yeah, that’s the term I heard…
It’s so funny! You know, really when I wrote this book, I was asked by various publishers, when people were considering making an offer on my book last year, “Who is your audience?” I always said my main audience is going to be Western women because I felt like Muslims already know these stories. In the West, people don’t know who Aisha is. People don’t know these stories and they’re wonderful stories. I think they’re stories from which we can all gain inspiration in terms of how to live better lives.
Would it be safe to say that whatever literary license you took – I’ll give an example, the choosing of Safwan as a suitor for Aisha – is that in the service of telling a larger or broader truth or story?
Exactly. I hate to tell people what they should think of my book. Reader response is a dialogue between the writer and reader. I write it and you read it and everyone takes something different. In a way, I hate to talk about my book with these abstract terms because it’s like I’m telling you what you should read into the text.
But since this prologue has been so controversial, because of the insinuation that Aisha was maybe tempted and because we all know that Aisha wasn’t really engaged to Safwan – as a young girl she was actually engaged to someone else – this is a good example of how I made changes to service the story.
Aisha – the story is about her empowerment as a woman. Going from being a young girl who was married off by her parents. Her father – she was his property, essentially, even though he and Aisha had a very close and loving relationship. Still, she was his property to marry off to enhance his own status as Muhammad’s chief advisor and closest companion. She transcended that cultural limitation of being considered the property of men to become this powerful, empowered woman.
And so, I wanted to have her as a young girl, because of the culture she was in, wanting to be saved, wanting to be rescued from this situation of not having the power to make her own choices and not having the power to control her destiny. So, for her and Safwan, I made them childhood playmates. He is the one she focuses on as someone who can rescue her.
Then she realizes after her short time with him in the desert that no one can do that for her, that she must do it for herself. She also realizes that her love for Muhammad really blossoms, that time she spends away from him, and also her faith in God gets stronger because she overcame the temptation.
And so, ok, we don’t really know what happened in the desert with Safwan. People had accused her of adultery. She claims she didn’t commit adultery. God revealed to Muhammad that there was no adultery. But we don’t know if she was tempted. I thought this could be a good way to demonstrate that perhaps this is one way that Aisha became a woman. This is her coming of age tale. By being tempted and resisting, we all become stronger individuals.
That’s why I did that. It wasn’t to degrade Aisha in any way. It was to show her humanity. If we never are tempted, how can we serve as an example to others? It’s the same as I’ve been criticized for making Muhammad a human being with flaws and weaknesses and self-doubt. Well, I’m sorry, but it’s the same for Jesus. We’re taught as Christians that Jesus was perfect, that he never sinned. For me, well, how am I ever going to follow that example? What hope is there for me?
Do you think Muslims are ready for historical fiction? Coming from where I sit, I think Muslims have engaged in historical fiction quite a bit, although I will say that I don’t think they have indulged in it so close to the epicenter of Muslim thought and belief. But Muslim history is full of treatments of Islamic history that have been embellished, for lack of a better word, throughout time in the service of a larger point. But this is new territory for a lot of Muslims, which is why you get the reaction that you get.
Change is something that’s always difficult for everybody. No matter how liberal and progressive we might like to think ourselves, change is just difficult. Is this the first novel ever to be written about Muhammad? I don’t think so. In fact, there is a novel listed in the University of Montana catalog about Muhammad.
Are Muslims ready for it? I trust, even if Muslims aren’t ready, that they can still absorb it. Once the shock wears off, people will just go about their business. I think part of it is that nobody’s read the book, so it’s this blank text to which people are projecting all their own anxieties, fears, and anger.
I think when Muslims read the book, I expect criticism for the changes I’ve made. Everybody has their own version of Aisha. Different people in the Muslim world have their own version, their own Aisha story. And if my story is not their story, then it’s going to be criticized and people aren’t going to like it. Or maybe they will. Maybe this book breaks new ground in that respect. But then the next writer that comes along will have an easier time. Let’s put it that way.
We kind of had a joke around here: Is the Muslim world ready for its “Jesus Christ Superstar…”
(Laughs) I’m trying to think of a catchy title!
That heads into my next question. Describe the Muslim response you’ve gotten. Reading all the articles you and I have been in over the past few weeks, one of the messages that I’m not seeing get out was that the actual responses from Muslims that you’ve gotten have not been what people would fear, given recent history.
Exactly! I mean, look at the Husaini Youth. Look at the response. That seven point plan didn’t call for violence. Write letters to the editor? Inform ourselves more about the wives of the Prophet Muhammad?
There was that one thing about pressure the author. I guess that could mean anything. But it didn’t sound to me like anything to fear. And when I went on to that site to reach out to the people on that site, the hand of peace was extended to me. I’ve been corresponding with someone who, I’m assuming he’s Muslim, who has been urging me to submit my book to an Islamic scholar or an Islamic university for vetting. He says that would avoid a lot of problems.
(Non-Muslims) who have read my book say, across the board, that they didn’t know Muhammad was such a great guy, and they didn’t know these things about Islam. And they come away with a better understanding of Islam and of Muhammed and Aisha. And they feel better. They don’t feel hostile.
Really, wouldn’t it be ironic if the Western world did come to a greater understanding and a better rapport with the Islamic world because of a book that was supposed to result in terrorist attacks. I have never worried about that. I just do not believe that my book is going to incite violence. It’s not the book’s intention, it’s not my intention.
One thing that excites me is that the book has become bigger than itself. Because it doesn’t exist for people yet. It’s a text upon which people are projecting. Issues of self-censorship, womens’ rights under Islam… those have emerged as topics of conversation around this book. And also the voice of moderate Muslims. Here’s a good opportunity for moderate Muslims to (speak out). Not necessarily to defend my book, but to defend their right, your right, to read the book if you want to.
How did you decide to handle the sensitive issue of Aisha’s age at marraige?
Historians don’t even agree about the age of Aisha. I’d even read that there’s disagreement on the meaning of the word consummate. Did it mean sexual intercourse? Or did it mean the marriage contract was simply completed?
Just to be clear, in the book, do you actually make a reference to her age?
Yes, in the book she is 14 years old. She does marry him at age 9 and then she goes back to her parents to live until she has her period, and then she moves in with Muhammad. But in my book, the marriage is not consummated until she is older. And the reason is because I’ve read some compelling arguments that she was older and would have been older. I consider them compelling arguments, but maybe I’m just seeing what I want to see.
The Muhammad that I came to know in my reading would not have forced a girl who was not ready. He would not have forced a girl. I just don’t believe that if Aisha was scared or she wasn’t ready that he would have forced it. And so I decided that I was going to make her more mature and he was going to wait until she was ready. So I do have a scene where, on her wedding night, when she moved in with him, she started her period – about 12 years old – and they go to her hut and he does approach her, but she’s very frightened. And so he says, you know, “Let’s play with your toys instead.”
And so, to me, that is the Muhammad that I discovered in my reading. And maybe I’m sugarcoating and maybe I’m fooling myself, but even Muslim scholars don’t seem to completely agree. So I felt that I gave Muhammad the benefit of the doubt, because of the Muhammad that I came to know.
He’s my Muhammad (Laughs). She’s my Aisha! And you know, it’s not that it’s an official version of anything, and I’ve never claimed that it was. This is my story, my version, and gosh, I just hope that it brings out many more Aisha stories, Aisha novels.
So, summing everything up, what happens now, both in terms of this book and where it’s heading, and in terms of future possible dabblings in Islamic history?
Well, I wanted to tell you that my second book, my sequel, is finished. It’s about Aisha and Ali and the tension between them that existed that’s written about in the first book. But in the first book, it’s all from Aisha’s point of view, because she and Ali has this rivalry between them and enmity, especially after she found that he had urged Muhammad to divorce her after the whole affair of the necklace thing happened. But Aisha, it’s from her point of view. She and Ali don’t get along, she’s not going to be having happy thoughts about him.
So then, as I was doing my research for the sequel, I read several books that were written by Western scholars that are supportive of the Shiite point of view…
So you’re stepping into Shia territory now…
Yes. And so as I read these books, my regard and respect for Ali increased. So my second book goes back and forth between the points of view between Aisha and Ali. They’re both protagonists. You get to decide. As the book goes on, the story is really one of reconciliation and it’s really a story of peace. It’s about revenge as a motive for war. It’s about understanding and empathy for your enemy and how that affects how you relate.
It makes the case that we’re all more alike than we think we are. Sunni and Shiite, you’re more alike than you think you are. Christian and Muslim, you’re more alike than you think you are. If we take the time to really talk to each other and understand each other, then we might find that we were mistaken. We might not, but at least it’s worth trying.
My second book hasn’t been talked about at all because The Jewel of Medina has got the cover and all that, but they both were delayed. I think they’re both important books. They’re very different in terms of their focus. The first book focuses on Muhammad and his domestic life, and Aisha and the wives, and the second book focuses on the Aisha – Ali dynamic, the expansion of Islam, glimpses into the different Caliphs, why they did what they did.
I’m excited. I know they will both be published in English soon.
Yeah, I don’t think you have to worry about that. It’s pretty much guaranteed now.
I really want to write about Sakina, Sakina bint al Husein. She’s the one I discovered in Fatima Mernissi’s book Women in Islam. I was doing research for my book Jewel of Medina, and so I found this other really incredible woman. I mean, I don’t know how much you know about her, but she’s incredible!
I know a little bit, but I haven’t finished reading Fatima’s book yet.
Oh, yes, well she just basically wrote a little bit about her at the very end of her book. But I actually paid a translator in Seattle $4,000 to translate a book about Sakina that I could only find in Arabic. And she’s every bit as fascinating as I’d hoped. And this guy got so excited, that he’s gone off and ordered a whole bunch of additional books in Arabic about her just so he can read about her. He’s just totally fallen in love with her.
I mean, she was an originator of the literary salon in Mecca, when Mecca was the center of the cultural universe. And she had 5 or 6 different husbands, usually because they died, but with one husband she had this OJ Simpson-style trial of the century divorce because she had a contract with him that he would not have any other women. He had some secret concubines that she found out about and she divorced him and it was a big, huge deal. Everybody came to the trial and she refused to wear the veil and she was just this amazingly strong woman and I became entranced by her too.
But who knows if I’m going to go there, because I have to decide… I’m excited to write about her, but on the other hand I have other books I could write too. I guess I’ll just wait and see. Right now I’m sort of feeling like I need to take a break and take a step back and think about where I want my career to go. I mean, do I want to be known as…
…mining Muslim history for ideas?
Exactly! I don’t want to be typecast for that and there are so many other things I want to write also, so we’ll see. Originally, I was thinking that I could even write about Muhammad and Khadijah, because her story hasn’t been told. But who knows, maybe someone else will be inspired to come forward and tell that tale.
An extended audio interview with Sherry Jones can be found on our next podcast, due out next week. Jewel of Medina has just been approved for publication in the UK next month.

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com

altmuslim - “I did all this in the service of a truth”

 

WASHINGTON (AFP) — As Islam makes inroads in the United States, American Muslims are setting up mega-mosques that combine religious tradition with typical American convenience.

Modelled on the huge, non-Catholic churches that offer their congregations of at least 2,000 members several different sites for worship, US mega-mosques have become a necessity in some places.

“Frequently, we have buildings designed for the Friday prayer, which is the largest, for 1,000 people and you have 2,000 to 3,000 show up,” said Corey Saylor of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).

To accommodate the overflow, which also results in traffic jams when prayer is over, US Muslim congregations have set up satellite places of worship, again following the lead of the Christian mega-churches.

That is just one way in which US mega-mosques are decidedly American.

They also offer worshippers a progressive form of Islam, in line with the profile and desires of many Muslim Americans.

While more than two-thirds of Muslim Americans are immigrants, mainly from the Middle East, they are also “decidedly mainstream in their outlook, values and attitudes,” a report published last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life said.

They have embraced what is often called the Protestant work ethic and believe, as do many Americans, that hard work pays off.

And Muslim Americans reject Islamic extremism by larger margins than do Muslim minorities in western European countries, the Pew report said.

One mega-mosque in Virginia even rents space from a synagogue.

“This mosque, this branch, is part of a synagogue. Where have you seen that, a synagogue and a mosque? It’s a completely American experience,” Muslim prayer leader Mohamed Magid said.

That “completely American experience” is particularly attractive to young Muslim Americans, who like the way religious traditions and US efficiency and convenience are married in their places of worship.

In a message to Muslims around the world on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan, US President George W. Bush singled out for praise “the men and women of the Muslim community for their contributions to America.”

“Your love of family, and gratitude to God have strengthened the moral fabric of our country,” Bush said.

“Our nation is stronger and more hopeful because of the generosity, talents, and compassion of our Muslim citizens,” he said.

During Ramadan, which in the United States started on September 1, according to calculations by the Islamic Society of North America, observant Muslims eat a light pre-dawn meal and fast until sunset, a practice aimed at fostering self-discipline, sacrifice and empathy for the poor.

Mosques tend to be heavily frequented during Ramadan, with some remaining open 24 hours a day.

AFP: US mega-mosques: Muslim tradition with US convenience

By Philip Kennicott

Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 5, 2008; Page C02

The relationship of Ferda and Kiymet is one of the few light moments in “A Jihad for Love,” Parvez Sharma’s documentary about homosexuality in the Muslim world. The two Turkish women laugh and touch in public, and in a poignant scene, Kiymet meets Ferda’s 80-year-old mother. The introduction goes well, and the three women sit together and joke about life and love.

This kind of normality is absent in the lives of Sharma’s other characters, most of whom have had to make wrenching choices between pursuing love and remaining within the embrace of traditional societies. Payam, a gay man who fled persecution in Iran, calls his mother from a phone booth in Turkey to update her on his hope of political asylum in Canada. He can hear her weeping — which makes him break down.

“She said she was cutting onions but I could tell she was crying,” he tells his friends, who try to comfort him.

Payam shows his face in the film, which was produced by Sandi Simcha DuBowski, the director of “Trembling Before G-d,” a 2001 documentary that focused on homosexuality among Orthodox Jews. Amir, another young man who fled Iran, keeps his face hidden, but we do see his lacerated back, covered in red stripes after he was lashed for being gay.

“When I took off my shirt, she cried,” he says of his mother, whom he has left behind.

Sharma’s film also includes chapters devoted to two lesbians caught between Paris and Cairo, a gay imam in South Africa who is attempting to educate fellow Muslims about homosexuality, and Mazen, a young Egyptian man arrested in the infamous “Queen Boat” raid of 2001, in which Egyptian authorities rounded up gay men at a popular disco along the Nile. The case made international headlines when the men were paraded before cameras before being sentenced to prison terms. Mazen served a year before moving to France, where he is now a refugee. When he recalls the beatings and the rape he suffered in prison, he weeps. And he, too, left his mother behind in Egypt.

You get a good sense of the challenges the director faced by visiting the film’s Web site, which helps flesh out some of the detail left out of the 81-minute film. Anyone with even a glancing knowledge of the Muslim world will wonder: Where is the rest of the picture? Why is there nothing about the thriving subculture of sexual hookups — not hard to find on the Internet — in even some of the most repressive Islamic countries, including the Persian Gulf states? Or more discussion of countries such as Indonesia (with the world’s largest Muslim population), where there is relative tolerance? And what about the history of sexual permissiveness that many Westerners (men such as André Gide, Oscar Wilde or Paul Bowles, who might well be labeled sex tourists today) discovered in Muslim North Africa?

These aren’t trivial asides, given the deeper cultural issues they raise. The conflict between homosexuality and Islam is often depicted by Muslims as a conflict between Western decadence and authentic religion. But Islam has many subcultures of homosexuality — which the West may sometimes exploit, but certainly didn’t invent. And the Internet hasn’t just reframed the issue as a conflict between globalized modernity and traditional society, it’s facilitated rapid access to new ideas (not just about sex) that threaten religious dogmatism.

But Sharma is right to keep his focus tight. He is interested in the faithful, and their conflicts, not the broader cultural issues surrounding sex and Islamic society — though he can’t help but show the second-class status that women generally suffer in many Islamic countries. His focus on religion — and this particular religion’s almost universal hostility to same-sex love — means that there can be no answers to the spiritual searching of many of his characters. Which leads to a strange division of sympathy in the viewer. Sharma’s characters want acceptance from people who refuse to give it, and at some point, you want to tell them: Leave. Get out. Be done with the madness that oppresses you.

Mazen, the Egyptian man, has perhaps made some progress to that end. As he watches his own trial on television, he spits at the screen. But others, including Muhsin Hendricks, the imam from South Africa, are determined to stay within Islam and fight for reform. He raises the idea of “ijtihad,” which he describes as a long-lost tradition of independent reasoning, as a way “to find space for us within Islam.” This is a popular idea among liberal Muslims. It’s not yet clear that it’s an idea with much traction in the majority of the Arab Muslim world.

One telling detail is worth noting: The little blur that obscures faces of people too terrified to be open about their sexuality is also used to add humor or provoke. In one instance, a penguin in South Africa is given the obscured identity treatment — a sly reference to the species’ predilection to homosexuality? In another, more powerful scene, the Koran is obscured as Mazen, who suffered so much in prison, shows his face directly to the camera. And thus the director raises the question that haunts the whole film: Who should feel shame, gay Muslims, or the Muslims that oppress them?

A Jihad for Love (81 minutes, at Landmark’s E Street Cinema) is not rated, and contains sexual content.

Gay Muslims, Victims of ‘A Jihad for Love’ - washingtonpost.com