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The Martyrdom of Aasiya Zubair

I have been modestly involved in this necessary effort.  I can recommend the following article by my friend and a wonderful example for our community, Wajahat Ali, and also endorse and broadcast the press release below.  Do take the time out to forward this press release to any media or any person that might be interested, and urge your mosque to do its best to incorporate the topic of domestic violence into tomorrow's sermon.  For those of you in New York City, I will be covering this topic during tomorrow's sermon, God willing.  Friday prayers at NYU begin at 1:30 p.m. and finish by 2:15 p.m..

We are located in St. Joseph's Church, at the corner of 6th Ave and Washington Place.  Enter from the side; the basement is reserved for the Islamic center.  Persons who are not of the Muslim tradition are always welcome to attend, and may arrive a little bit earlier, if possible, to receive a brief introduction to the service, and may stay afterwards for any questions or comments (I will be there by 1pm at the latest; seek me out).  I hope we can all reflect on the tragic murder last week of one of our own, and think to ourselves whether we have done enough to make our mosques, our community and our discourse means and modes of refuge, security and fraternity, and if not, what has prevented us from accomplishing this. 

God grant her paradise.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 18, 2009
Media contact: Wajahat Ali, wajahatmali at hotmail.com
[You may also contact me at moghul at gmail dot com]

American Muslims Call for Swift Action Against Domestic Violence

Murder of Buffalo resident Aasiya Zubair spurs American Muslims to forcefully address domestic abuse and violence against women; call on imams to address DV in Friday sermons

SAN FRANCISCO - A coalition of Muslim organizations, journalists, community leaders, imams, and other concerned citizens are calling for immediate action by American Muslim leaders and religious figures to address domestic abuse and violence in America, including that found in the American Muslim community, on Friday, February 20, 2009. 

In response to the collective concern of the American Muslim community, imams and religious leaders across America have been asked to speak out against domestic violence to their congregations. They are asked to remind congregants of the Prophet Muhammad's abhorrence of harshness, abuse and violence, and emphasize solutions that strengthen families and ensure all members are treated with fairness and respect, free of fear of abuse or violence.

Members of the coalition are contacting imams and religious leaders in major Islamic centers and mosques. They are encouraging sermons addressing domestic violence and are offering resources available through the Peaceful Families Project, a Muslim-run domestic violence prevention organization founded in 2000, to help educate the American Muslim community. This education addresses the extent to which domestic violence exists and strategies to stop it.

Several prominent imams have heeded the call to action by concerned American Muslims including Shaykh Hamza Yusuf of the Zaytuna Institute in Berkeley, Ca. and Imam Tahir Anwar of the South Bay Islamic Association in San Jose, Ca. These imams have committed their Friday sermons to addressing domestic violence and preaching that in the Islamic tradition and by the example of the Prophet Muhammad, family harmony can never be achieved by force and that emotional and physical abuse is never acceptable.

This call is being broadcast through various channels, including blogs, Facebook groups, personal contacts, and news media. "The outcry among Muslim Americans against this type of violence is a heartfelt one," said Shahed Amanullah, editor-in-chief of the online newsmagazine altmuslim.com. "It is essential that we address the problem and take steps to ensure that no one else faces the same tragic fate as Ms. Zubair."

Specific calls to action for imams and religious leaders include:

1. Unequivocally denounce domestic violence and any attitudes that enable or excuse it
2. Remind Muslims that the Prophet Muhammad condemned with unequivocal language all forms of spousal abuse.
3. Immediately create community social service committees made up of qualified social service providers to supply educational resources and staff institutional programs that support abused and battered women.
4. Promote educational and awareness programs that outline abusive and violent behaviors. 
5. Allow community members ways of pointing out and preventing the emergence or escalation of possibly abusive relationships and environments

Individuals and organizations helping to organize this call (partial list, titles for identification purposes only):

• Salma Abugideri, Peaceful Families Project
• Wajahat Ali, Playwright, Attorney and Journalist, domesticcrusaders.com
• Shahed Amanullah, editor-in-chief of the online newsmagazine altmuslim.com
• Zeba Iqbal, Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals
• Ruby Khan, Director, Hamdard Center for Health and Human Services
• Dr. Aminah McCloud, Professor of Islamic Studies, DePaul University
• Hussein Rashid, Visiting Professor, Hofstra University, husseinrashid.com

Mosques, imams, and organizations confirmed to have joined this effort (partial list):

• Arab American Association of New York (New York, NY)
• Arab Muslim American Federation (New York, New York)
• Council of the Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago - Imam Abdul Malik Muhajid
• Islamic Society of San Francisco - Imam Khalid Siddiqui
• Islamic House of Wisdom (Dearborn, MI) - Imam Mohammad Elahi
• Islamic Center of Greater Lansing (Detroit, MI) - Imam Dawud Walid
• South Bay Islamic Association (San Jose, CA) - Imam Tahir Anwar
• The Islamic Center at New York University - Haroon Moghul
• Zaytuna Institute (Berkeley, CA) - Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

Resources for the media regarding Muslim efforts to confront domestic violence:

• ACCESS (Michigan): www.accesscommunity.org
• Apna Ghar (Chicago): www.apnaghar.org
• Central Texas Muslimaat (Austin, Texas): http://www.ctmaustin.org
• Domestic Violence Resources for Muslims:  http://www.crescentlife.com/psychissues/domestic_violence.htm
• Facebook Call to Action: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=54807221754 
• Hamdard Center for Health and Human Services (Chicago):  http://www.hamdardcenter.org
• Manavi (New York, NY):  http://www.manavi.org
• Muslims For Progressive Values (Los Angeles): http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/mpv-dv
• Narika (San Francisco):  http://www.narika.org
• North American Islamic Shelter for the Abused (San Francisco): http://www.ask-nisa.org
• Peaceful Families Project: www.peacefulfamilies.org
• Sakhi (New York, NY):  http://www.sakhi.org
• SEMAH (San Francisco): http://www.semah.org
• Tahirih Justice Center (Falls Church, Va..): http://www.tahirih.org
• Turning Point for Women and Families (New York, NY): www.turningpoint-ny.org

Sh. Yasir Qadhi Takes A Class With Tony Blair

And speaks his mind: This is one of the more engaging reads; a fascinating experience.  I'm happy we have intelligent Muslims who are not afraid to speak up and enter a high-level discourse.  We cannot be too cowardly to run away from the world, and pretend that anyone who interacts with the upper echelons is somehow sold out, nor can we assume that such interaction alone will build a genuine community.  I'm hoping this encourages promising young Muslims, male and female, who are interested in contributing to this Ummah through education, research, advocacy and teaching.

Gaza, Obama, Me and the Money

The New York University newspaper has produced a video of the Islamic Center's fundraiser for Gaza.  Unfortunately, it contains three major errors: Firstly, the poet performing at the beginning is not Remi Kanazi (no one by that name spoke at the event, so I have no idea where that came from), but is in fact Ghaith Adhami.  Secondly, the fundraiser was sponsored not just by the UMA but by the Islamic Center as well as several other organizations which were unfortunate ignored.  Thirdly, at the conclusion, we are told that over $12,000 was raised for Gaza.  This is off by a significant percentage.  In fact, we raised almost $80,000! 

You can see a small clip of me speaking, from that event, towards the end of the video (it's quite short so don't be afraid of watching your favorite blogger.)

I also wanted to draw your attention to two opinion pieces in today's New York Times.  The first is by Egyptian author Alaa Al-aswany, commenting on why Egypt so fast soured in its appreciation for President Obama. The second is by one of my favorite columnists, Frank Rich, on what the Obama administration just doesn't get.  Not that I don't support the president, and not that I don't still feel a wonderful glow from his election, but I have to say that his first few weeks in office have been a disappointment.  His administration seems to be stumbling, and he seems to have backed down or been uncertain over, among other things, Republican opposition to the stimulus package... the same Republicans whose ideology helped drive us into the ground.

Both pieces are definitely worth your time.

"Watch out blacks, here come the browns!" (Dr A Mandvi)

Thanks to one of my students for sharing this. Every desi should find this absolutely hilarious and so incredibly on point.

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Punching Islamic Extremism in the Mouth

The following was written in the course of an e-mail discussion on the topic of Islamic extremism and strategies for tackling such extremism.  Aziz at City of Brass (and Brass Crescent fame) suggested I should blog one of my e-mails, which consists of rough thoughts on the topic of extremism and how we might go about deflating it.  Further e-mails drew upon a distinction which I think is important to make, namely that between political and religious extremism, and whether the two reinforce each other and, If so, how.  I was very much interested in what my readers think.  Do feel welcome to chime in, to disagree and to elaborate.

Updated: The discussion spreads.  Aziz has a great post on the same topic, with far more ground covered, and a conversation could erupt on TalkIslam.

Just some thoughts:

One of the biggest problems in countering extremism is the absence of resources devoted towards Islamic education.  While the media and other such content is no doubt helpful, we also need religious scholars who are at the top of their fields.  Instead of constantly drafting the bottom of the barrel to go memorize some books and deliver fatwas, we have to create mechanisms and incentives to encourage the best and brightest to want to become scholars.  That means on our part that we in our communities recognized the need for incentivizing scholarship.  If we expect more from the Imam perhaps we should pay in a little more than poverty level wage.  Who wants to go get a graduate degree and become an Imam when it means no social respect, no prospects of marriage (at least in a lot of communities) and no ability, and, in a country as hardheaded capitalist as America, to provide for a meaningful education for one's family?

I realize this is a much more cultural discussion, but I think there are practical components to it, albeit ones which would involve governments.  Here is a bigger part of the problem as you pointed out.  Many of the governments of the world profit from extremism, engage in extremism and create it.  More often than not, the crazies running around were at some point financed by one government or another. 

Governments need to put resources into enabling a higher standard of Islamic education.  This means investments in libraries, digital and other resources, scholarships and conferences -- like you pointed out in a previous e-mail, we need to raise the quality of education and that means raising the quality of institutions.  There is no reason why Muslim scholars training in Pakistan do not have the chance to meet Muslim scholars training in Egypt.  We tend to think that everything must relate somehow through a Western country, whereas the fact is Muslim countries do not talk to each other or engage with each other nearly enough.  They structure their foreign and cultural policies around relationships to economic powers and (former) colonial powers, which is understandable but insufficient, especially in the case of extremism, since such isolation prevents a cheap and simple exchange of ideas and perspectives which could ameliorate the worst cases.

Lastly, we need to have a broader discussion on what constitutes "extremism".  Why is it that when a nonstate actor kill civilians, it is terrorism, but when a state actor places sanctions on a government and in so doing to kill civilians -- namely, the point is to kill civilians -- that is not immoral?  Extremism profits off of the very obvious reality, to so many people in the world, that there is a massive double standard.  This means a willingness to engage in the kinds of discussions that are not too often heard.  This means that we Americans as well should encourage an open and honest dialogue between different parties to air their grievances, and to provide mechanisms for these dialogues even if the conclusions are somehow at times contrary to apparent interests.

The Muslim world is not going to get out of its funk until it has institutions which are devoted to the empowerment of its citizens, one part of which is imparting serious scholarship and raising the standard by which scholarship is judged.  Muslims in the United States similarly require institutional independence and financial resources appropriate to the growth and potential of our community.  Many often seemed to turn into extremism because of a perceived inability to take part in global conversations and discussions; of course, there is a serious moral deficit involved, but there are wider causes which can be to some extent ameliorated by empowering people with some level of knowledge.  In the long term, hopefully, such education and such interconnections between Muslim communities and countries can help promote democratic reforms and civic improvements.  Because extremism, as in non-state violence, is intimately related to the state.

Kyrgyzstan Reloading and Iran Spacefaring

Following up on my previous post, there is more bad news from Afghanistan and the region: Kyrgyzstan has ordered the US basd on its territory closed, citing insufficient compensation for the use of its territory.  Those of us watching the news of late noticed that in the face of increasing Taliban attacks on the NATO supply routes through Pakistan (most recently, today [note the stunning picture]), Central Asia was supposed to be the safe alternative that would ensure the NATO mission is not compromised or undersupplied. 

Does anyone think this might be Russia, acting behind the scenes, putting pressure on the US?  Russia might be trying to push America into compromising on some key issues and by jeopardizing NATO supply routes at a time when alternatives are desperately needed, the Russians may have found a trunk card.  What's this going to do to the war effort?  "For the withdrawal of the US forces from the base Kyrgyzstan expects to have its debts (about $180 million) written off by Russia in return."

Also noted is that today Iran launched a satellite into orbit.  Is this the first Muslim country to do so?  This is Iran's first domestically produced satellite, and indicates the extent of Iran's military and technological development, "self-developed" minus the obvious technical assistance, over the years, of Pakistan (through A.Q. Khan), China and North Korea.  Nevertheless it's surprising and will lend support to Americans arguing for a missile shield.  Launching satellites into orbit... long-range ballistic missiles... the technologies are interrelated, after all.

This part is both funny and creepy:

Once in orbit around the Earth, the report says, the device played the recorded voice of President Ahmadinejad, congratulating the Iranian nation.

For those of us who know the accent... who heard him at Columbia...

We Cannot Win in Afghanistan

Our president has made his theater this war.  He argued throughout this campaign that Iraq was the wrong conflict and that this conflict, against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, was the one we should have been fought all along.  I still continue to think a lot about whether this conflict could have reached a satisfactory conclusion had we not been diverted in our resources and attention, to such a stunning and irresponsible, by an entirely unnecessary and crushing war in and on and over Iraq.  The most current plan has proposed that our troop levels in Afghanistan be increased on an order of about 30,000, with a parallel reduction in troops in Iraq.  My point: This will not solve the conflict, and may likely make it worse.  It has been over seven years since the Taliban have been overthrown, and in that time we have failed at establishing any sort of security, any sort of truly meaningful political process, we have not overthrown the warlords or eradicated the drug trade to a meaningful extent, and there is no political or civic society in that country which could constitute a partner with which we could peacefully work to transition power to a more friendly Afghan new regime.

This is the essential and ultimate difference between Iraq and Afghanistan.  We have been able to withdraw from Iraq, with comparatively few casualties, because the majority parties of the Shia community had decided not to resist us but rather to wait us out and to exert pressure through other means.  (They also won a civil war with the Sunnis, which led Iraq's battered Sunni population to turn on al Qaeda and turn to the Awakening Councils.)  Now, we are withdrawing, and Iraq is dominated by these parties, although the current elections may change the makeup somewhat.  This is in part because Iraq was an industrialized country before it suffered almost 30 years of war, which we share significant blame for.  This industrialized nation created a class of middle-class of educated Iraqis be capable of running a modern state, with the ability to process the current conflict with a view to creating a better, fairer nationstate (then again, the past was not much competition) .  Afghanistan has had no such history of civil society.  There is no political movement that can rally against us except for the Taliban, and they are increasing in strength.