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Being Muslim Reviewed in LA Times Oct. 8

Being Muslim
Haroon Siddiqui
Groundwork Books: 160 pp., $15.95

THE first chapters in "Being Muslim" describe the "toxic mix" of
"xenophobia and Islamophobia" that has swept Europe and the
West since Sept. 11, which, author Haroon Siddiqui claims, has
divided the world: "One camp insisted that it was all about Islam.
The other claimed that it was about nineteen criminals."
Siddiqui explains the many ways in which the world's fears about
Islam have nothing to do with the actual religion, in theory or in
practice. Through interpretations of such words as "jihad" (here
defined as struggle, not war) and responding to accusations of
brutality (female genital mutilation or honor killings of women in
cases of sexual misconduct), he illustrates how political
perversions have tragically colored the world's perceptions and
treatment of the estimated 27 million Muslims living in Western
nations.

Most informative are the chapters that outline the simple daily
rituals, prayer protocols, festivals and pilgrimage.
---

THE MUSLIM MALAISE

By Haroon Siddiqui

The West assumes that the biggest problem facing Muslims is the violence perpetrated in the name of their religion. But that ignores the fact that 400 million Muslims live in impoverished, repressive countries, and that more than a million have been killed in wars and by terrorists in the past 15 years.

He who wrongs a Jew or a Christian will have me as hisaccuser on the Day of Judgment. - Prophet Muhammad

Contrary to the popular belief that the West is under siege fromMuslim terrorists, it is Muslims who have become the biggestvictims of the attacks of September 11, 2001, as inconceivable asthat would have seemed in the aftermath of the murder of 2,900Americans. Since then, between 34,000 and 100,000 Iraqis have been killed by the Americans or the insurgents. Nobody knows how many have been killed in Afghanistan.

In the spots hit by terrorists - from London and Madrid to Amman, Istanbul, Riyadhand Jeddah, through Karachi to Bali and Jakarta - more Muslims have been killed and injured than non-Muslims. None of this is to say that Muslims do not have problems that they must address. They do. But the problems are not quite what many in the West make them out to be.

One of the strangest aspects of the post-9/11 world is that, despite all the talk about Muslim terrorism, there is hardly any exploration of the complex causes of Muslim rage. Muslims are in a state of crisis, but their most daunting problems are not religious. They are geopolitical, economic and social - problems that have caused widespread Muslim despair and, in some cases, militancy, both of which are expressed in the religious terminology that Muslim masses relate to.

Most Muslims live in the developing world, much of it colonized by Western powers as recently as 50 years ago. Not all Muslim shortcomings emanate from colonialism and neo-imperialism, but several do. As part of the spoils of the First World War, Britain and France helped themselves to much of the Ottoman Empire, including Syria,Iraq, Lebanon and what is now Israel, Jordan and the PalestineAuthority. In later years, they and other European colonial powers created artificial states such as Kuwait and Nigeria. Or they divided peoples and nations along sectarian lines, such as bifurcating India in 1947 into Muslim Pakistan and largely Hindu India. In more recent years, the United States has maintained repressive proxy regimes in the Middle East to stifle public anti-Israeli sentiments, keep control of oil and maintain acaptive market for armaments. While the past casts a long shadow over Muslims, it is the present that haunts them. Hundreds of millions live in zones ofconflict, precisely in the areas of European and American meddling, past and present - U.S.-occupied Iraq, U.S.-controlledAfghanistan, the Israeli Occupied Territories, and Kashmir, the disputed Muslim state on the border of India and Pakistan in the foothills of the Himalayas. Only the Russian war on Muslim Chechnya is not related to the history of Western machinations,but even that has had the tacit support of the Bush administration.

These conflicts, along with the economic sanctions on Iraq, have killed an estimated 1.3 million Muslims in the last 15 years alone. Why are we surprised that Muslims are up in arms? In addition, nearly 400 million Muslims live under authoritarian despots, many of them Western puppets, whose corruption and incompetence have left their people in economic and social shambles. It is against this backdrop that one must look at the current malaise of Muslims and their increasing emotional reliance on their faith.

Economic Woes

The total GDP of the 56 members of the Islamic Conference,representing more than a quarter of the world's population, is less than 5 per cent of the world's economy. Their trade represents 7 per cent of global trade, even though more than two-thirds of the world's oil and gas lie under Muslim lands. The standard of living in Muslim nations is abysmal even in the oil-rich regions, because of unconscionable gaps between the rulers and the ruled.

A quarter of impoverished Pakistan'sbudget goes to the military. Most of the $2 billion a year of American aid given to Egypt as a reward for peace with Israel goes to the Egyptian military. The most undemocratic Muslim states, which also happen to be the closest allies of the U.S., are the most economically backward. The Arab nations, with a combined population of 280 million, muster a total GDP less than that of Spain. The rate of illiteracy among Arabs is 43 per cent, worse than that of much poorer nations. Half of Arab women are illiterate, representingtwo-thirds of the 65 million Arabs who cannot read or write. About 10 million Arab children are not in school. The most-educated Arabs live abroad, their talents untapped, unlike those of the Chinese and Indian diasporas, who have played significant roles in jump-starting the economies of their native lands.

Muslim Youth

A disproportionate percentage of the world's youth are Muslim. Half of Saudi Arabia's and a third of Iran'spopulations are younger than 20. There are few jobs for them. "Young and unemployed" is a phenomenon common to manyMuslim nations. A majority of the world's 12 million to 15 million refugees are Muslims, fleeing poverty and oppression.

Europe's 20 million Muslims suffer high unemployment and poverty, especiallyin Germany and France. It was inevitable that many Muslims wouldfind comfort in Islam. Islamic Resurgence Fundamentalism has been on the rise, and not just in Islam.There has been a parallel rise in Judaism, Christianity,Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism, with its inevitable politicalfallout - in the Israeli settler movement in the OccupiedTerritories, the politicization of the American conservativeright (culminating in the election and re-election of George W.Bush), the rise to power of the Hindu nationalists in India, theSikh separatist movement in the Punjab in India, and the aggressive nationalism of the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka. That many Muslims have become "fundamentalist" does not mean that they are all fanatic and militant. Nor is theMuslim condition fully explained by the use of petro-dollars.First, Arab financial support for Islamic institutions around theworld is still no match for the resources available for Christianglobal missionary or Zionist political work. Second, and more to the point, the rise of Islam is not confined to areas of Arabfinancial influence; it is a worldwide phenomenon. Mosques are full. The use of the hijab (headscarf ) is on therise. Madrassahs (religious schools) are packed. Zakat (Islamiccharity) is at record levels, especially where governments have failed to provide essential services. In Egypt, much of the health care, emergency care and education are provided by theMuslim Brotherhood, in the Occupied Territories by Hamas, in Pakistan and elsewhere by groups that may be far less political but are no less Islamic. With state institutions riddled with corruption and nepotism,some of the most talented Muslims, both rich and poor, have abandoned the official arena and retreated into the non-governmental domain of Islamic civil society. The empty public sphere has been filled with firebrands -ill-tutored and ill-informed clergy or populist politicians whorally the masses with calls for jihad (struggle) for sundrycauses. The greater the injustices in Iraq, Afghanistan, theIsraeli Occupied Territories, Chechnya or elsewhere, the greater the public support for those calling for jihad. Jihad has also proven to be good business for many a mullah (Muslim priest) who has become rich or influential, or both, preaching it.

Meanwhile, unelected governments lack the legitimacy and confidence tochallenge the militant clerics, and fluctuate between ruthlesslyrepressing them and trying to out-Islamize them. To divert domestic anger abroad, many governments also allow andsometimes encourage the radicals to rant at the U.S. and rave atIsrael, or just at Jews. Sometimes even the elected leaders joinin, as has Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinijad, denying theHolocaust and calling for Israel to be "wiped off themap." In reality, most Muslim states are powerless to address theinternational crises that their publics want addressed. They haveneither the military nor the economic and political clout tomatter much to the U.S., the only power that counts these days.Or, as in the case of Egypt, Jordan, and the oil-rich Araboligarchies, they are themselves dependent on Washington fortheir own survival. Feeling abandoned, the Muslim masses find comfort in religion.The Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation was a secularstruggle before it became "Islamic." The same was trueof the Lebanese resistance to the Israeli occupation of southernLebanon, and also of the Chechen resistance to Russianrepression. Similarly, domestic critics of authoritarian regimes have founda hospitable home in the mosque. Islam being their last zone ofcomfort, most Muslims react strongly - sometimes irrationally andviolently - when their faith or their Prophet is mocked orcriticized, as the world witnessed during the Danish cartooncrisis. They react the way the angry disenfranchised do - hurlingthemselves into the streets, shouting themselves hoarse anddestroying property, without much concern for the consequences,and engendering even more hostility in the West toward Muslimsand Islam. But, as the American civil rights leader Martin LutherKing famously said, riots are the voice of the voiceless. Muslims have developed a "siege mentality, which is whatthe screaming, dogmatic and atavistic clerics" appeal to,says Chandra Muzaffar, Malaysian Muslim human rights activist. Ashe was telling me this in Kuala Lumpur in 2005, Sharifa Zuriah, afounder of Sisters in Islam, an advocacy group for MalaysianMuslim women, intervened: "Muslims have developed a complex.They think they won't be heard if they don't shout.Every statement is like a war." Then there is real war, the war of terrorism. Terrorism's Fallout "That a majority of Al Qaeda are Muslims is not to say thata majority of Muslims are Al Qaeda, or subscribe to itstenets," Stephen Schulhofer, professor of law at New YorkUniversity, told me in 2003. But it is also true that mostterrorists these days are Muslims. That may only be a function ofthe times we live in - yesterday's terrorists came fromother religions and tomorrow's may hail from some other.Still, terrorism has forced a debate among Muslims, who aredivided into two camps. One side says that Muslims should no morehave to apologize for their extremists than Christians, Jews orHindus or anybody else, and that doing so only confirms thecollective guilt being placed on Muslims. The other side believesthat as long as some Muslims are blowing up civilians in suicidebombings, slitting the throats of hostages and committing othergrisly acts, it is the duty of all Muslims to speak out andchallenge the murderers' warped theology. The latter view has prevailed. Terrorism - suicide bombings inparticular - has been widely condemned. Just because anoverwhelming majority of Muslims condemn Osama bin Laden andother extremists, however, does not mean that they feel any lessfor Muslims in Iraq or Palestine. Or that the internal debatethat he has forced on Muslims is new. Throughout their 1,400-yearhistory, Muslims have argued and quarrelled over variousinterpretations of the Qur'an and religious traditions. But it is a sign of the times that the most extremeinterpretation of the Qur'an appeals to Muslim masses thesedays, and that far too many clerics are attacking Christians andJews and delivering fire-and-brimstone sermons full of theimagery of war and martyrdom. This is contrary to the message ofthe Qur'an - Do not argue with the followers of earlierrevelation other than in the most kindly manner (29: 46) - andthe teachings of the Prophet Muhammad: "Do not consider mebetter than Moses," and, "I am closest of all people toJesus, son of Mary." For all the emphasis that today's clerics put on theProphet's war record, he spent a total of less than a weekin actual battle in the 23 years of his prophethood. He advisedhis followers to "be moderate in religious matters, forexcess caused the destruction of earlier communities." Amoderate himself, he smiled often, spoke softly and deliveredbrief sermons. "The Prophet disliked ranting andraving," wrote Imam Bukhari, the ninth-century Islamicscholar of the Prophet's sayings. Ayesha, the Prophet'swife, reported that "he spoke so few words that you couldcount them." His most famous speech, during the Hajpilgrimage in AD 632, which laid down an entire covenant, wasless than 2,800 words. Muhammad was respectful of Christians and Jews. Hearing the newsthat the king of Ethiopia had died, he told his followers,"A righteous man has died today; so stand up and pray foryour brother." When a Christian delegation came to Medina,he invited them to conduct their service in the mosque, saying,"This is a place consecrated to God." When Saffiyah,one of his wives, complained that she was taunted for her Jewishorigins, he told her, "Say unto them, 'my father isAaron, and my uncle is Moses.'" Yet angry Muslims, not unlike African Americans not too longago, pay little heed to voices of moderation. This is partly areflection of the fact that there is no central religiousauthority in Islam. Only the minority Shiites have a religioushierarchy of ayatollahs, who instruct followers on religious andsometimes political matters. The majority Sunnis do not have theequivalent of the Pope or the Archbishop of Canterbury. A centraltenet of their faith is that there is no intermediary between thebeliever and God. This makes for great democracy - everyone isfree to issue a fatwa (religious ruling) and everyone else isfree to ignore it. But the "fatwa chaos" does createconfusion - among non-Muslims, who are spooked by the red-hotrhetoric, and also among Muslims, who are left wondering aboutthe "right answers" to some of the most pressing issuesof the day. Muslim Apologetics There are two kinds of Muslim apologetics. The first is denial:there's little or nothing wrong with Muslims, when thereclearly is. The second, seen among some Muslims in the West,takes the form of self-flagellation, of apologizing for theirfaith or distancing themselves from it. To wit: "Yes, the problem is Islam, and we must fix it." (Whyis Islam any more of a problem than any other faith? And how arethey going to fix it?) "I am a Muslim but I am not a fundamentalist Muslim."(Do Christians say, "I am Christian but not an evangelicalChristian?") "I am a Muslim but ashamed to call myself one." (Doall Hindus have to apologize for those few who, in 1992, went ona mosque-ravaging rampage in India?) Some of these sentiments may be genuinely held. More likely,they reflect the immigrant pathology of catering to majoritymores, a new twist on the past practice of immigrants to NorthAmerica anglicizing their names. Such defensiveness aside, Muslims do suffer from deeperproblems. Many are preoccupied with the minutiae of rituals(Should one wash the bare feet before prayers or do sosymbolically over the socks?) at the expense of the centrality ofthe faith, which is fostering peace, justice and compassion, notjust for Muslims but for everyone. Many Muslims are toojudgmental of each other, whereas a central tenet of their faithis that it is up to God to judge - Your Lord knows best who goesastray (53: 30) (also, 6: 117, 16: 125, 17: 94, 28: 56, 68: 7). Some Muslims have taken to a culture of conspiracy theories.Hence the notion that Princess Diana did not die in an accidentbut was killed because the British royal family did not want herto marry Dodi Al Fayed, a Muslim. Or the canard that Jews workingat the World Trade Center had advance notice of 9/11. There is too much of a literalist reading of the Qur'an (atrait, ironically, also adopted by anti-Islamists in the West).There is too little ijtehad (religious innovation) as called forby Islam to keep believers in tune with their times. Theologicalrigidity and narrow-mindedness have led, among other things, toSunni hostility toward the minority Shiites, as seen in thesectarian killings in Pakistan. Muslims complain about the West's double standards, yetthey have their own. While they often criticize the United Statesand Europe for mistreating Muslims, they rarely speak up againstthe persecution of non-Muslims by Muslims. They also show a hightolerance for Muslims killing fellow Muslims. The Sudanesegenocide of the non-Arab Muslims of Darfur drew mostly silence.The killing of Shiites by the Sunnis in Iraq was shrugged off aspart of the anti-U.S. resistance. The overt and subtle racism ofthe oil-rich Arab states toward the millions of their guestworkers goes unmourned. Muslims do not have much to be proud of in the contemporaryworld. So they take comfort in their burgeoning numbers. At theturn of the millennium in 2000, there were many learned papersprojecting the rise in Muslim population. But if Muslims have notachieved much at 1.3 billion, they are not likely to at 1.5billion, either. To escape the present, many Muslims hark back to their gloriouspast: how Islam was a reform movement; how Muslims led the worldin knowledge, in astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, medicine,natural sciences, philosophy and physics; and how the Islamicempires were successful primarily because, with some egregiousexceptions, they nurtured the local cultures and respected thereligions of their non-Muslim majority populations. This is whyEgypt and Syria remained non-Muslim under Muslim rule for 300years and 600 years, respectively, and India always remainedmajority Hindu. As true as all that history is, it is not very helpful todayunless Muslims learn something from it - to value human life;accept each other's religious differences; respect otherfaiths; return to their historic culture of academic excellence,scientific inquiry and economic self-reliance; and learn to livewith differences of opinion and the periodic rancorous debatesthat mark democracies. It may be unfair to berate ordinary Muslims, given that too manyare struggling to survive, that nearly half live underauthoritarian regimes where they can speak up only on pain ofbeing incarcerated, tortured or killed, and that they arehelpless spectators to the sufferings of fellow Muslims in anunjust world order. Yet Muslims have no choice but to confronttheir challenges, for Allah never changes a people's stateunless they change what's in themselves (13: 11). "Being Muslim" is scheduled to be released Sept. 15.For more information, visit www.groundwoodbooks.com