news - convergence trust

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YPImen Ambassador Al-Amry

speaks

Conversation Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

Dagestan Land gripped by

Islamic fervour

Fifth Dr Badawi on Zakat

Review The eclipse

40*

News 4/10# THE MUSLIM MAGAZINE

41111,

TIM odlpse: Where were you? No. 310 I August 1999 Jumada-al-ula 1420 I £1.50

A LIBRARY OF NEWS AND VIEWS

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Witnessing the total eclipse

32 Fiqh Zakat:: a new source of development finance

35 Cooking Grilling for a healthy diet

38 Write Mind Letter from a Sufi gathering Maimuna Begum

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf page 16

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London, Middlesex HA9 OEF U.K. I Tel: 0181 903 0819 Fax: 0181 903 0820

contents A round-up of all the regional stroies

Huda Kaya: Turkey's prisoner of Conscience page 27

Letters Imam article, Dr El-Banna, Converts

Around Britain

News

Forced marriage initiative to embrace Muslims

13 Yemen

Dagestan: Land gripped in Islamic fervour page 18

Guilty or not guilty? Al-Amry vs Siddiqui

18 Dagestan

Land gripped in Islamic fervour

30 Review

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The Imam

It's one of the peculiarities of Q-News that the same old name keeps appearing on articles that are insensitive and often unre-servedly offensive. It seems from your contents page that 'The Imam without a mosque' (Issue 309) was written by Faisal Bodi (evidence was in the contents page!) who appears to be mak-ing quite a reputation for him-self. The article is clearly a delib-erate attack on an individual he seems to have a personal prob-lem with. Imam Sajid may be the main (or even only) man behind a number of different organisa-tions but which of those organi-sations is established to harm the Umma? Whether it be the Brighton Islamic Mission or the Muslim Marriage Guidance his intention is clearly for the pur-poses of Da'wa or improving the life of fellow Muslims. I do not know the Imam person-ally but have had the opportuni-ty to hear him speak to an audi-ence of mainly non-Muslims at a London University. The tact and diplomacy with which he rea-soned with some deliberately dif-ficult audience responses was impressive. He conveyed the Islamic position on some poten-tially contentious issues and backed his argument with his knowledge of the Quran and Sunna. He may not have con-verted anyone that day but I know a number of people who went away with a clearer under-standing of what Islam was about. I ask Mr Bodi, is it not a worth-while cause that Imam Sajid struggles for? I agree that Imam Sajid appears to be doing too much but when has hard work

in the way of Islam been a bad thing? And who exactly would Mr Bodi like to nominate to take the Imam's place as mar-riage counsellor, policy maker or immigration consultant? As Muslims we should give other Muslims the benefit of the doubt. It is simply unfair to attack an individual for working too hard because he does not have an Oxford degree. If there is a genuine concern that Imam Sajid is not doing his duties properly then we should con-front him and find ways to over-come it, but slander for the sake of it is not the way forward. Sultana Shah London

Congratulations for your piece `The Imam without a mosque' (Issue 309). It's time such a rep-utable magazine such as yours took to task the numerous self-appointed leaders in our com-munity. You should apply the same rule as everybody else in this society: if you have the guts to stand up and be counted in public life you should also be able to stomach a bit of your personal life. So far the problem with our "leaders" has been the fact that they are unaccountable: the majority actually want to pursue their own agenda on the shoul-ders of our communities without being either accountable or responsible. If somebody claims he is something he or she is not it should be exposed immediate-ly and ruthlessly. I loved reading the article and considered it one of the best published in your magazine as it performed the basic duty of a community magazine: to protect its interests. Dr Imam Sajid is unlikely to resign from any of

the dozen or so organisations he fronts and uses for his own per-sonal motives but he is now like-ly to be more cautious. Q-News would also do well to inform us of what other "lead-ers" like him are up to. The mes-sage should be clear: those who want to be our "leaders" should expect to be scrutinised and con-fronted. Gone are the days of treating our communities like dumb sheeps. Keep up the good work. Dr M Othman Norwich

The essence of faith

Once in a while you get an excellent article in Q-News. Few can match the one by Dr Gamal El-Banna in your last issue (Issue 309) titled: 'The essence of our faith.' I found the piece deep, soothing and stimulating. It lift-ed my spirits to know there is somebody of Dr El-Banna's cali-bre out there. In a very short article Dr El-Banna managed, in a very pow-erful way, to clear some of the dark clouds of doubts and con-fusion that face many young Muslims in today's "post-mod-ern" world (whatever that means!). I have a few questions on the matter. One, is it possible for Q-News to publish some more arti-cles by the fabulous scholar? Two, is Dr El-Banna in any way related to the great leader Hassan El-Banna? Yousef Bilhadi Southampton Ed: We have already formally requested more contributions from Dr El-Banna. And yes, Dr El-Banna is the brother of the late Hassan El-Banna.

4 0-News August 1999

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"Shall I not Inform you of a better act than

fasting, alms and prayers? Making peace

between one another: enmity and malice tear

up heavenly rewards by the roots."

Prophet Muhammad de

limes for other parts of the UK - add or subtract the following minutes:

Fajr Maghrib

. Belfast +31 +03

. Birmingham +09 +02

. Bradford +12 -09

. Cambridge +01 -04

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. Leeds +10 -05

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. Liverpool +16 -02

. Manchester +13 -05

. Middlesbrough +13 -17 Portsmouth +02 +06

FAIR SUNRISE ZUHR ASR rAAGHRIB ESHA

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LETTERS

Wrongly eclipsed

I found the Ahadith printed in Q News (Issue 309) regarding the eclipse very informative. As the event happens so rarely many of us are not fully acquaint-ed with the Islamic position and the Sunna of the Prophet*. This lack of knowledge means that we may be open to believe some of the bizarre ideas of other religions and cultures. Having questioned some of the elders in my fam-ily I was shocked to hear they had incor-porated some of the beliefs of Hindu tra-dition about the eclipse. Apparently Hindus believe the eclipse is a bad sign and will lead to a some kind of evil. Within my own Muslim family I was told of certain people back home who had been 'hit' by the eclipse of the moon and were now scarred or damaged for life! Although they now seem to have understood that this is an un-Islamic belief I cannot help thinking that if something bad does happen they will find it hard to believe it is not related to the eclipse. It is quite likely that other people with families from the subcontinent hold simi-lar beliefs and I think it is essential that as our generation acquires Islamic knowledge we pass it on to those older as well as younger than us. Arif Khan Blackburn

Crusades and July

Prof Akbar Ahmad's article, well-written and researched, has greatly affected me and my friends. As a Christian with many Muslim friends (and relatives) 1 have always been mesmerised by the way history has wounded all of us. Your two articles on the massacres that took place in the conquest of Jerusalem should not only make any genuine Christian ashamed but also put them in a better position to understand the pain and suffering that has been inflicted on people throughout the world in the name of Christianity. I believe in inter-faith dialogue and all that but 1 share your position (I assume) that if it is to be effective it has to be honest and, sometimes, brutal. We can run away from our histories but we can hide from them.

Best wishes. Father James Patrick Belfast

A woman on a mission

As a convert (or revert) myself I must say that 1 found the article about Sister Aisha Butt, nee Debbie Rogers, 'A woman with a mission (Issue 309) extremely inspiring. Hers is a wonderful story and 1 wish it could be the story of a lot of us. Unfortunately it is not. To the best of my knowledge the experi-ence of most people who embrace Islam tends to be mostly negative. Few mem-bers of the Muslim community are sensi-tised to the needs and requirements of a new Muslim. There is little support and the little that is needed is either patronis-ing or coloured with partisan beliefs or politics. It would be interesting for Q-News -while highlighting the positive examples -to also expose cases where things have been far from perfect. Here we talking about issues ranging from blatant racism to terrifying igno-rance. The fact that a lot of us new Muslims continue to clutch on to Islam and that every day somebody else embraces the fact has more to do with the miracle of Islam than the antics of the Muslim community. Firdous Butler Manchester

Let's Legoland Windsor

Latifa Mohammed's article on Legoland Windsor (Issue 309) was good and 1 enjoyed it. However she missed to point out two important things for Muslims. First, she didn't point out that there is no prayer place in the park. But then there is a lot of spots where one could go and perform prayers (if you know where the Ka'aba is). Secondly, I found my eleven-year old daughter had a lot of hustle from the park attendants who insisted (at least on two occasions) that she had to take off her hijab because of "safety reasons'. I have written a letter of com-plaint to the park nearly a year ago but have not received an answer yet. Can Q-News do something about the matter, please? Name and address withheld by request.

0-News August 1999 5

• tourbridge

Derby • Leicester

• • Worcester

AROUND THE UK

NEWS

Blackburn

Councillors have given the go-ahead for a new Islamic school but have restricted the maximum number of pupils to 200 instead of the requested 400. The Al-Isiah School will be built in the Audley Range area of the town on the site of a disused garage. It had planned to employ 20 part-time and full-time staff if council-lors had given their support to a 400-pupil school. Labour coun-cillor Dorothy Greenwood said: "I still think that the extra traffic in the area will cause horrendous problems.

Stourbridge

A firm of financial advisers has become the latest to offer a range of products that comply with the

sharia. Mike Taylor Associates has recognised the demand for sharia-compliant products and is inviting Muslims to take up pen-sions, lump sum investments, reg-ular savings and mortgages. That means no investment in compa-nies whose activities are consid-ered haram such as banks, insur-ance firms or companies involved in the production, manufacture and distribution of alcohol, gam-bling and non halal food prod-ucts. The products will be over-seen by a supervisory board of ulema. The services will give investors more choice and bene-fits like tax savings, according to spokesman Mike Ojelay, "Weekly child benefit payments can go a long way towards pay-ing for your child's education. Paying for education costs can be difficult unless you save regular amounts over a long period of

time. Saving in sharia-compliant tax-efficient investment funds has a potential for better growth than if you put your money into a nor-mal bank or building society account."

Edinburgh

Kindly policemen on the beat in the city centre have been praised for allowing an anxious Muslim tourist observe his prayers. The man was allowed to pray in the Lothian and Borders police cara-van, a permanent fixture on a site known as the Mound, because he was unable to reach a mosque in time. The man, believed to be an English tourist, called at the cara-van just before 6pm on Sunday 1 August asking directions to the nearest mosque. Pc Callum Macrae told him the way but when the man realised it involved a 10-minute walk he became con-cerned. The constable then cleared an area at the rear where the man could lay out his prayer mat to face Makka and be left alone. Sergeant Lesley Clark said: "This was an unusual request. We try to find solutions to all problems." Mohammed Yamin of the Mosque and Islamic Centre said: "We are grateful to the police for helping a Muslim perform his prayers in the cara-van. The prayer is a very impor-tant part of our religion and has to be performed on time."

Manchester

A food engineering breakthrough promises to broaden the range of sweets currently available to Muslims. Manchester firm National Starch has come up with a speciality starch called Purity Gum 59 that replaces gela-tine in confectionery, yogurts and chilled desserts. "The starch pro-duces a thick creamy texture and good mouthfeel," according to the manufacturers. Gelatine is prohibited by many scholars because it is formulated from col-lagen, a product obtained from boiling down animal bones. The ingredient can be formulated out of the end product simply by sub-stituting Purity Gum 69.

Blackburn

A drug addict broke into mosques and stole property to finance his habit. Blackburn mag-istrates heard that father of two Salim Ali was caught after he was arrested for shoplifting and his fingerprints found to match those left behind at the mosques. Ali, aged 25, pleaded guilty to two offences of burglary each at Cumberland Street Mosque and Troy Street Mosque and posses-sion of heroin. He was remanded on custody for the preparation of pre-sentence reports. The magis-trates, who indicated that all sen-tencing options would remain open imposed condition of resi-dence, surrender of passport and ordered him not to apply for any international travel documents. John Dewhurst, defending, asked the magistrate to adjourn the case for reports. He said that until these matters had been detected Ali's family had no idea of his heroin addiction.

Worcester

Muslim taxi drivers who come into contact with dogs can make arrangements to change before going to prayers. In a report to Worcester City Council's licens-ing committee, the Equal Opportunities Adviser said that drivers might object if they came into contact with a dog immedi-ately before engaging in prayers. But he added that this should not present a problem because dri-vers can make arrangements to ensure washing and a change of clothes could take place before prayers. "The problem is that if the dog is wet and shakes itself then the person becomes unclean from the point of view of going to the mosque," said Councillor Robert Rowden. "I am very con-cerned about people's religious sensibilities. I think one monkeys with others religious sensibilities at one's peril."

Derby

Councillors have given permission for a £2.5 million extension to the Jamia Mosque in


Islington Stoke Newington

LONDON

Westminster

NEWS

Normanton. Under the plans the mosque will be refurbished and extended to produce a prominent symbol of the Muslim religion in the city. It is intended to help ease the mosque's overcrowding prob-lem. There are sometimes more than 2,000 praying in an area safe only to accommodate 900. The committee which runs the mosque intends to order builders to knock down 10 vacant houses which it owns next to the mosque. The mosque will contain 11 classrooms for teaching, plus extra rooms for women to gather and dine. Treasurer Haji Bostan said building work would start right away. "We are delighted.

Everybody is now geared up to start this project which will make a big difference to the people. The current mosque is just not big enough."

Leicester

The Council has re-opened sin-gle-sex swimming sessions at a local leisure complex after they were suspended in response to a complaint by a user that they restricted his right as a member t make use of the facility. Jonathan Labrum, a 34 year-old business-man complained that the Wednesday womens'-only ses-sion were sexist forcing Circa

leisure, owners of the Plaza Suite to stop the sessions while it received advice from lawyers. Muslim women are among the main users of the facility. One, Linda Barry, threatened to take legal action to have it restored. The mother of three protested that as a Muslim she could not use the two saunas, jacuzzi, steam room and cold plunge in male company. "I don't want to be in the sauna with foul-mouthed, leering men," she said.

Leicester

As part of their 10th annual cele-brations members of the Indian

Muslim Association hosted a poets' gathering. Scores of poets and Gujarati language writers from all over the country were among the capacity audience. The secretary of the association Abdul Karim Gheewalla told the audience: "India today has the largest number of Muslim people in the world. We in Leicester live in a brotherly atmosphere by advocating mutual respect, trust and brotherliness amongst all the religions." Ahmedbhai Lunat OBE paid tribute to the men fighting on the Indian border on the Kashmir front.

Islington

Muslims in Islington who hoped to set up a European centre of learning for social workers have been rebuffed by the National Lottery. The Indo Pakistan Cultural Centre (IPCC) applied for £150,000 to run courses in cultural sensitivity. But the bid was rejected because its social care project was deemed to be "low priority" - leaving the cen-tre unsure where to turn. Iftikhar Malik, who runs the IPCC, said he felt a sense of desperation. "We are really shocked, but we are planning what our next move

is." The idea was first mooted at a conference in Islington Town Hall into the needs of Muslim families in Britain, Denmark and Belgium. In the past, Mr Malik has said he might seek financial help from the community.

Westminster

The lives of Muslim families in Soho may not register any improvement at all after council-lors gave the green light to a wave of sex shops. Seven new licences have been issued by Westminster Council in the hope of regulating the sex industry and

forcing out rogue operators. Under the licensing scheme sex shops must not allow entry to anyone under the age of 18, have their windows covered so that explicit material is not visible to passers-by and limit opening times from 10am to 11pm so that children going to school in the morning do not see them. Dianne Ryken, director of the Soho Family Centre, said: "Sex of course has been a feature of Soho for a long time and to a certain extent our clients are used to it. However, some of our users, especially Muslim families, are very offended by these shops and upset about the hawkers - some of whom can be very aggressive." She added: "Although we are always consulted about applica-tions for other types of business-es we weren't asked about this latest batch of licences. I'm not sure it is the best way of approaching the problem."

Stoke Newington

The sale of two Stoke Newington mansions - valued at £700,000 -for £1 each to a Muslim centre has been slammed by town hall unions as a sell-out of council jobs. In a move that received unanimous cross party support Hackney Council sold the two red-brick luxury properties to the North London Muslim Centre. But unions are furious that they went so cheap on the same night that the council decided to axe 150 jobs and make £13 million in

service cuts. Cathy Stewart, leader of the town hall union Unison said: "If those buildings were sold at the market value, it would save up to 40 council jobs that will be lost." But the leader of the Muslim centre, Ishmail Bawa defended the purchase: "We are promising to provide the council with £100,000 of extra services to the Muslim communi-ty every year for 10 years." He added that the property would never be sold on the private mar-ket.

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NEWS

Coroners need code of practice for Muslims

Cmouncillors and MP's are call-' g on the Lord Chancellor to draw up a code of practice for

coroners after it emerged that Bradford has become the latest place where the office is failing to meet the needs of the community.

They are urging action over the refusal of Bradford coroner, Roger Whittaker, to extend open-ing hours to allow the city's Muslims to bury their dead as expeditiously as possible in line with Islamic law. That would mean opening at evenings and during weekends.

Mr Whittaker has so far resisted pressure from Bradford West MP, Marsha Singh and Ian Greenwood, the leader of Bradford Council as well as numerous Muslim councillors to show some flexibility. He main-tains that the coroner's office already delivers an efficient enough service to the Muslim community.

The problem appears to have begun two years ago when Mr Whittaker arrived to replace the outgoing coroner. Since then he has declined to several offers to meet councillors and MP's to dis-cuss the issue saying this would compromise his independent judi-cial status.

Muslims have faced delays in obtaining out of England certifi-cates to fly their deceased back to mother countries or simply in get-ting bodies released from the mor-tuary over holiday periods.

Councillor Sajawal Hussain says the coroner has left them with no choice but to appeal to a higher authority. "I know of 14 deaths that have occurred since Easter where the relatives have had to wait up to five or six days for the body to be released."

"I can understand delays when suspicious circumstances might require a post-mortem but in normal circumstances there should be no excuse."

Councillor Hussain added: "People are being inconvenienced and distressed simply because the coroner wants to enjoy his time-off. We have 90,000 Muslims in this city. I think the coroner should be more sensitive to their needs."

At a public meeting attended by 100 people last month the deputy leader of Bradford Council, Mohammed Ajeeb, called for Muslims to stage a mas-sive demonstration outside the coroner's office to demonstrate the strength of feeling on the issue.

In May, Muslims in Birmingham also sought the help of local MP's to persuade the city coroner there to open outside nor-mal hours. The frequency with which such complaints are arising has led some organisations to demand a central set of guidelines.

"I will be raising the matter with the Home Secretary," said Dr Aziz Pasha of the Union of Muslim Organisations. "We are

already campaigning for Muslims to be exempt from post-mortems."

Councillor Hussain said: "We are trying to get a dispensation from the Lord Chancellor which would make all coroners aware of our religious obligations towards our dead."

Marsha Singh, who is due to meet the coroner shortly, said: "It is certainly time for there to be some national guidelines."

Although he is appointed by the council the coroner holds an independent judicial position which allows him to decide when his office is available. He is answerable in the final analysis to the Lord Chancellor but only in the event of serious complaints. These would be defined, accord-ing to the Home Office, as "inability or misbehaviour in the discharge of his duty."

Faisal Bodi

Sacked refuge worker loses case

its refuge was within its rights to sack a Muslim mployee who provided a

resident with reading material outlining her rights under Islam, an industrial tribunal has ruled.

The tribunal in Birmingham decided that Sandwell Women's Refuge did not discriminate against Tina Hanif when it dis-missed her for spelling out the Quranic permission for a hus-band to admonish his recalci-trant wife.

Mrs Hanif, aged 30 from Bilston in the west Midlands, plans to appeal the decision.

Mrs Hanif, who is studying for an MA in social work, joined the shelter in December 1998 on a 50-day university placement. As a Project Worker her job con-sisted of offering support, advice and help to abused women.

But in June of the same year she was summoned by manage-

ment to explain why she had given a client, known only as Ms A, literature of an oppressive nature.

The tribunal heard how Mrs Hanif had built up a close rela-tionship with Ms A, who shared the Islamic faith, and had acced-ed to a request to supply her with information that would enable her to understand her rights regarding divorce. Ms A had asked for and obtained the con-sent of her superiors before doing so.

But colleagues to whom Ms Hanif had also showed the litera-ture, a book by the Canadian author Huda Khattab, took exception to a passage dealing with the right of men to gently admonish stubbornly disobedi-ent wives. They complained that it was oppressive, that Islam was an oppressive religion, and that it violated the ethos of the refuge. Mrs Hanif was sacked a few days

later. The tribunal accepted the

refuge's contention that Mrs Hanif's style was somewhat con-frontational and militant although this did not affect their mid-term assessment of her per-formance. It also accepted that Ms Hanif had only been autho-rised to hand Ms A two specific passages, not several books.

Mrs Hanif had brought the case under the 1976 Race Relations Act, which indirectly allows appellants belonging to a national or ethnic group that is predominantly Muslim to bring claims of racial discrimination.

Although the tribunal accept-ed the refuge's treatment of Ms Hanif left much to be desired and that staff had downgraded her marks on her end of term report, it threw out the application.

Ms Hanif, who rejected a £500 out of court settlement, said the decision made "a mock-

ery of religion" and vowed to "go all the way" in a case she hopes will open doors for Muslim women. She told Q-News that staff at the hostel where she was the only Muslim out of 14 employees were hostile towards religion.

"When I asked if we could buy a prayer mat for my client, they suggested she should make do with a towel. And when I requested they buy a prayer com-pass for the refuge they refused."

"They accused me of being militant and indoctrinating my client. But my client never made any complaint and it was only upon her request that I gave her the information. Besides I'm a funny type of militant. I don't even wear a headscarf."

Ms Hanif also claims that when she suffered no such reper-cussions from helping a Sikh woman relocate near a temple. "Yet when I tried to help this Muslim woman that was seen as a problem."

Mihail Malik

8

0-News August 1999

Purdah claims are absolute rubbish

Cultural sensitivity has plumbed new depths of absurdity when Muslim

residents in Bradford can obtain a special dispensation to force binmen to collect rubbish from their doorsteps because they claim it is forbidden for their womenfolk to wheel them to a collection point.

Muslims living in five streets in the Little Horton area have got the council picking up their bins from their back doors - rather than at the end of the alley - after persuading them that Islam forbids their women from going outdoors.

Now the council has called in external auditors KPMG and has asked its chief executive to investigate how the arrange-ments have come about. They are believed to have started with the intervention of two Little Horton councillors including Bradford council leader Ian Greenwood and transport, planning and design committee chairman Latif Darr.

Bradford Councils refuse collection service does make allowances for people who can-not wheel their bins to the end of the alleyways such as the dis-abled and the elderly to have them collected from their

doorsteps. But it is the first time a block dispensation, involving 50 households, has been made.

Coun Greenwood has said that one of the reasons he was asked to get involved was because some of the household-ers were women in purdah who were not permitted to have con-tact with strangers and there-fore could not take bins out into the streets.

He assured reporters that no pressure had been brought to bear on council officers: "A lot of people were unhappy when the new system started and I arranged a meeting to dis-cuss it. What has happened is not improper in any shape or form. It was raised with me as a local member."

But the exemption has evoked disbelief among those who claim it is exploiting the council's eagerness to be seen to servicing Muslim needs. One prominent Bradford Muslim said: "I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It's ridiculous. They're abusing Islam by taking it down to their rubbish level."

He added: "There's also an element of vote-winning going on. Little Horton is the ward of the council leader and Latif Darr, who is also the cleansing department manager."

NEWS

Forced marriage initiative will embrace Muslims new government working n group commissioned to evise a strategy to tackle

forced marriage in south Asian communities may bring new hope to Muslim victims of the practice.

The appointment of two Muslim peers to head the project has raised hopes that a fresh approach will be brought to bear on an issue which has been dom-inated by the dialectic of gender politics.

Lord Ahmed and Baroness Uddin will lead a nine-member working group that also includes another Muslim, Humera Khan of the An-Nisa Society, as well as civil servants from across the departments. Their first report will seek to identify the nature and the scale of the problem as well as propose a strategy.

Announcing the working group, Lord Ahmed said: "The great majority of arranged mar-riages work very well, but a very small percentage of marriages are forced and this reflects poorly on the whole community. This prac-tice is morally, ethically and cul-turally wrong and must be stopped immediately - it affects young vulnerable people, their families and our communities."

Baroness Uddin said she wel-comed the government's willing-ness to address the issue as part of their wider concerns about vul-nerable women. "We want to hear from communities the extent to which forced marriage is a problem and we would welcome feedback from women in the vol-untary sector."

The government has been forced to act after a number of recent high profile cases and indi-vidual representations. There has also been intense lobbying from women's groups like the Southall Black Sisters to increase govern-ment provision.

But critics accuse the SBS of pursuing a myopically feminist agenda which has seen faith as part of the problem rather than as a solution. They also believe the SBS has exaggerated the extent of forced marriages to help justify its existence.

A source close to the working group stressed it was vital that the investigation takes a more all- embracing view: "We have to make sure it is done the right way. The Muslim community has got a raw deal so far because groups like the Southall Black Sisters have vilified our men and pre-sented our women as not having more than two brain cells."

Official initiatives so far failed to in legitimacy in Muslim communities because they have seen forced marriages as an issue of male oppression rather than family and community break-down. Some existing resettlement and reconciliation schemes report a low take-up of services by Muslim women and others have reported being driven away by the anti-Islamic climate prevailing in some refuges.

"The issue of forced marriage is a smaller issue in a wider con-text said Humera Khan. "The community must now take the initiative and realise that dealing with the issue is not going to weaken the community but only strengthen it."

One focus will almost certain-ly be the distribution of resources to groups tackling the problem and an assessment of the efficacy of existing services. "We want to make sure that all voluntary organisations dealing with the problem are treated equitably. For a long time now issues like this have not been tackled and now is our opportunity to high-light some of the shortcomings of existing services to vulnerable women."

Lord Ahmed agreed that a comprehensive strategy would need to assess how effectively refuges and advice centres are meeting the needs of Muslim vic-tims.

"I don't want to raise any-body's hopes. We haven't seen any budget for reconciliation and resettlement schemes but there is a proposal that we need to look at them."

Estimates on the number of forced marriages taking place each year vary wildly from thou-sands to just a few hundred. Last

year the Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian governments recorded a combined total of 120 cases. Many more are believed to go unreported and the first job of the working group will be to try and quantify the problem.

"The idea must not be that every marriage is a forced mar-riage. We need to ascertain the facts," said Baroness Uddin. For the first time wider society is waking up to the reality of our lives. It is an encouraging sign that people now know the dis-

tinction between arranged and forced marriages."

The working group will report back to the Race Equality Minister Mike O'Brien before the end of the year. He said: "The government is seeking a dialogue with the community. The out-come will be a strategy that deals with the issue in a sensitive way while ensuring the fundamental human rights of these young women are not compromised."

Faisal Bodi


NEWS

Truth is the victim in Yemen imbroglio

The scene was a familiar one. A

huddle of men sitting disinter-estedly in the dock, their

beards visibly longer than when they had first appeared on our screens, smirking and punching the air in defiance, screaming Allahu-Akbar, as the verdicts were read out.

But their accents told us this was not Cairo and the eight defen-dants nothing to do with the mili-tant Egyptian Gama al-Islamiyya. This was Aden and the men were from the unlikely settings of Birmingham, Luton and London.

Whether they were there on an innocent jaunt, or a study pro-gramme, or even to learn guerrilla warfare in the impenetrable Abyan mountains, or whether their confessions had been extract-ed on pain of torture, all was now irrelevant.

With hopes of a last-ditch intervention by the Foreign Office - a gesture that would have been unprecedented in its magnanimity given that one of their targets was the British consulate in Aden - slip-

ping away, all that mattered now was the judge. In the end he dropped few surprises. Judge Jamal Mohammad Omar found all eight Britons, plus two French Algerians, guilty of forming a ter-rorist association to attack targets inside Yemen. In the courtroom, the defendants were lined up in ascending order of gravity of charge, giving some credence to the view that this was an indis-criminately sweeping act of retri-bution against Abu Hamza, the self-styled London resident sheikh from Egypt whom the Yemenis accuse of collaborating with their own Islamic Army of Aden to kid-nap western tourists.

Mohammed Kamel, the son of Egyptian cleric came first. He was found guilty of both charges of conspiring to form an armed group and conspiring to carry out an armed activity; three and two years. Then came 26 year-old Malek Nassar from Birmingham. Guilty on both counts too; seven and three years. Next to him sat Mohsen Gailan from Luton, only 18, and Sarmad Ahmed, 21, from

Birmingham, also guilty of both offences; five and three years each. Shahid Butt, at 33 the eldest of the group, made a fist for the air as he was found guilty of the first count; five years. All the sentences are to be served concurrently.

Then came a twist that no-one was prepared for. The remaining defendants, Ghulam Hussein, 2S, from Luton, Shahzad Nabi, 20, and Ayaz Hussein, 26, both from Birmingham were freed on time already served. Hussein had been free on bail since May on health grounds but the other two barely had time to express their relief to waiting TV cameras before they were detained once again as Yemeni prosecutors said they planned to appeal the leniency of the sentences. Under Yemeni law their offences carry a maximum of 10 years imprisonment.

For the Foreign Office, which has walked a diplomatic tightrope in trying not to antagonise the Yemenis and also look after the interests of its citizens this was the last straw. It ordered the British ambassador, Vic Henderson, to

the capital Sana' to demand the pair's release, since it violated nat-ural justice and failed to comply even with Yemeni law. Their re-arrest means the pair cannot leave jail until the conclusion of the appeal, which could take last for months.

Primed for the findings, the campaign team's publicity machine rolled into action saying lawyers would appeal the verdicts. Their engine has run out of steam as the trial has dragged on and public belief in the eight's inno-cence has waned with each piece of evidence the prosecution has produced: videos of Mohsen Gamal and Mohamed Kamel tot-ing guns in Albania, audio tapes linking the men to Abu Hamza, and most damningly of all a boot-load of rockets and mines.

At a press conference in London, Rashad Yaqoob, the eight's legal adviser denounced the verdicts as "corrupted and conta-minated" and a "flagrant miscar-riage of justice." The view split the Muslim community. By the high standards required by a British

Defiant to the end: Shahid Butt raises his fist in court. The men have spurned an offer that would bring them to Britain if they admit to the offences.

10

0-News August 1999

Backing our boys actions in the community to he verdicts ranged from the

defiant to the entreating. Al-Muhajiroun, which held a

joint Islamic revival conference with Abu Hamza, whose son and godson were among the con-victed, called the trial a "set-up" and the men "victims of the injustice of the judicial system of man".

"We know our brothers are only guilty of obeying their creator, Allah. Whether they were learning Arabic, visiting Yemen or training for Jihad, they are seen favourably in the eyes of Allah."

Curiously, the organisation blamed Britain for their conviction and issued a dark threat. "We the Muslims warn Yemen and its ally the British government that the repercussions of this cation are grave....If the British regime think (sic) they can teach the Muslims a lesson, if they think that arresting us will silence us they are gravely mis-taken."

Others toed the campaign team's line that there had been a gross miscarriage of justice.

The Muslim Parliament, which has split into two factions, each claiming authority, was temporarily united by the ver-dict. Jahangir Mohammed of the Manchester wing called it "a farce and a travesty" and asked that the men be retried in a third country.

"The whole trial was a set-up by Yemeni authorities in col- lusion with the intelligence agen- cies of other countries," he said.

Mr Mohammed' rival in London, Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui described the verdict as "a victory of evil over justice".

Dr Siddiqui, who flew out to Yemen during the trial with the men's' families and legal team said: "There was no evidence that these boys were guilty of any of the crimes they were accused of. The only evidence the courts had was their confes-sions, which had been extracted through torture. This is a dark day for Yemeni justice."

He also appealed to the Foreign Office to intervene.

"The Foreign Office has so far maintained that it would only intervene after the verdict was given; we now expect them to act quickly to ensure these Britons have their sentences commuted and allowed to return home."

Those were the sentiments of the Muslim Council of Britain although its carefully construct-ed press statement was charac-teristically trying to cover all flanks. "Not surprised but sad," sad Iqbal Sacranie. "Concerned as we already were over allega-tions of torture and flowed (sic) prosecution, we are naturally very sad at the outcome for these young men and their families. Now that the law has taken its course, the MCB would like to appeal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh to use his discretion to show clemency to these young men so that they can open a new page and build anew their shat-tered lives."

If that was a refusal to accept their guilt what followed strong-ly suggested otherwise: "There was also in this unhappy episode some very important lessons for our British Muslim community, especially its leadership at the local and grassroots level. It has to devote greater attention young, vulnerable, alienated, dis-illusioned and unemployed youth."

In a statement headlined "innocent until proven Muslim" the Islamic Human Rights Corhmission condemned Yemen's judicial record. "An Amnesty International report on the human rights abuses in Yemen 1997 and 1998 has quot-ed that abuse of human rights, torture as a tool of extracting confessions and conviction by an internationally unacceptable and substandard judiciary system is prevalent."

The organisation drew a contrast between the Foreign Office's behaviour in this case and the case of the two British nurses convicted in Saudi Arabia one year ago. Chairman Massoud Shadjareh said: "What we now expect is nothing more and nothing less than was done for the Saudi nurses."

NEWS

jury, it might not have been beyond reasonable doubt that the men were planning to unleash ter- ror in the streets of Aden but even for the most sympathetic observer it was hard to avoid the conclu-sion that the men were there for a picnic.

The nightmare that started off as an adventure began to unfold on December 23 when a highway patrol flagged down three of the men. Unknown to them, they had been betrayed by a government plant in the Islamic Army of Aden, a dissident guerrilla group with whom the men had appar-ently been training.

The three abandoned the car and fled into the streets of Aden. But by dusk they had been discovered along with two compatriots and a French Algerian in a hotel. One more French Algerian and the other three Britons escaped into the desert only to be handed in by a tribal sheikh.

What happened next depends on who you believe. Police claim to have found a cache of arms inside the trunk of the car. But defence lawyers have maintained all along that the arms were devoid of any fingerprints linking them to the suspects.

Arrests usually mark the end of the line. But this drama was only just unfolding. Several days later 16 western tourists, mostly British, were kidnapped by the Islamic Army of Aden, allegedly after an international telephone call between its leader Abu Hassan and Abu Hamza. Their ransom demand was the release of the detained Muslims. Kidnappings are common in Yemen, usually the work of remote tribes who use their captives as bargaining chips to extract a road or electricity supply from the government. Usually the situations are resolved amicably with the government acceding to the demands and the hostages, who have been treated like guests instead of captives, released unharmed.

But this was no ordinary kid-napping. This was a threat to the authority of the state itself. Hitherto tolerated, the Islamic Army of Aden was getting to be a real menace. The Islamist-Socialist government of Yemen decided to crush it once and for

the hostages three Britons and an Australian lost their lives. Now the Britons were in neck deep.

To add to their woes, in their trial, Abu Hassan and his men admitted that the eight Britons had indeed been their guests and had been trained to attack west-ern targets, which the prosecution said included a church and a Swiss-owned hotel.

Since the trial of the first five defendants opened on January 27 they have made repeated accusa- tions of torture, of being hung upside down, sodomised, and beaten till they confessed. Their claims cannot easily be discounted. A couple of the defendants appeared in court sporting freshly inflicted bruises and scars. Human rights organisations such as Amnesty have long been aware of the poor record of Yemen in treating criminal suspects. And the Yemeni authorities have consistently refused to admit an inde-pendent medical investigation of the men's claims.

They appealed to the Foreign Office to intervene, Shahid Butt pleaded with a British consular official to put pressure on the Yemenis to ensure a fair verdict. In the same statement he told others to "keep their opinions to them-selves and judge us on the evi-dence available."

Back home, his request has found few takers. even though from the removed distance of 3,000 miles it has been difficult to sift fact from propaganda. The case has drawn attention to the disturbing phenomena of impres-sionable young people continuing to fall under the sway of dema- gogues exploiting their thirst for religion. To add insult to injury the media has chosen to demonise the men instead of exploring the reasons why they might have been sucked into extremist activity.

From Abu Hamza, himself facing possible charges under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, there was little regret. "Of course as a father I am disappointed and also for the families I am disappointed. They have been caught in a vicious crossfire that they would not have been expecting to hap-pen in a so-called Muslim country. I can see from the trial that it has been just a retaliation against me.

all. In the bungled attempt to free Faisal Bodl

0-News August 1999 1 1

VIEWS ON YEMEN

The Yemeni government is certain their court has arrived at a fair verdict but accusa-tions of torture, breach of process and a political trial continue to cast a heavy cloud. Which side is telling the truth? Below Faisal Bodi interviews Dr Hussein Al-Amry, the Yemeni ambas-sador to Britain and Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, leader of the Muslim Parliament, a member of the campaign team for the eight men that flew to Yemen earli-er this year.

What was your reaction to the ver-dicts against the eight British Muslims? My reaction was a rather quiet sense of satis-faction and pride at the fact that justice has been seen to be done in respect of a group of misguided individuals who were fortunately caught before they could cause murder and mayhem in my country.

Throughout the trial the campaign team for the eight British Muslims have claimed they were beaten, their human and legal rights violated and that false confessions were extracted. Is there any substance to the claims? There is no substance to these allegations in view of the fact that an independent medical team and checked them and found no evidence whatsoever to support claims of torture or any kind of physical abuse

What do you make of the defence's contention that the verdicts are flawed because the president is also head of the judiciary and hence there is not a sufficient separation of pow-ers between executive and judiciary? This is a spurious argument and does not dis-prove the fact that the judges and courts in the Republic of Yemen enjoy full independence from the Executive as enshrined in the consti-tution. The hearings in Aden had demonstrat-ed to those who are not blinded by prejudice that the judicial system in Yemen is fully inde-pendent and well capable of applying the inter-nationally recognised standards of fair trial.

How have the Yemeni people in gen-eral viewed the trial? Were they at risk from the planned actions of the con-victed men? And what has been their reaction to their verdict? The Yemeni people are grateful that those peo-ple were caught before they were able to com-mit their terrorist crime. Any act that damages the security and stability of the country should be a cause of alarm and deep concern to any people in the world. Our people feel aggrieved at the adverse publicity that has been generat-ed by the action of the convicted criminals which brought devastation to our country's tourist industry. A poor economy like ours des-perately needs the job opportunities and for-

eign exchange that tourism can generate.

Why did the Yemeni government not accede to calls for independent observers to sit in on the trial. Would it not have been to your advantage to allow that? Such calls totally ignore the fact that Yemen is an independent and sovereign nation with a fully independent judiciary.

Why do you think Yemen became a target for extremists? Is it because people feel that a traditionally Muslim country has strayed far from the path of Islam? Why would any country for that matter become a target for extremists? to claim, as some of the extremist have done, that Yemen has deviated from the true path of Islam is completely ludicrous and such claptrap is unworthy of comment.

What s Yemen doing to promote the right kind of visitors, especially Muslims from Britain, a growing num-ber of whom are going to the Middle East to learn Arabic and explore their heritage? Yemen has a policy and a tradition of welcom-ing all visitors to its shores for whatever pur-pose they wish to come.

Is this episode going to tarnish the image of British Muslims amongst Yemenis. And will it affect those who travel to your country? The activities of these young misguided indi-viduals and their sponsors gravely tarnish the image of our great religion and provide ready ammunition to those who view Islam with narrow-minded prejudice and intolerance. Needless to say that all visitors including British Muslims are welcomed in Yemen.

Is there any chance of the convicted men being pardoned or being allowed to return to Britain to serve their sen-tences? It is not for me to say. This matter falls within the jurisdiction of the legal authorities in the Republic of Yemen.

The case against by Hussein AI-Amry

0-News August 1999

VIEWS ON YEMEN

What was your reaction to the verdict? I was shocked to learn the verdict. I was expect-ing full acquittal. I was in Yemen for three weeks at the start of the trial and had heard both sides of the argument. The Yemeni gov-ernment simply had no case against them. The trial was flawed at every stage - for lack of rights and lack of due process of law. Even its own explosives expert, during cross-examina-tion accepted that there were no fingerprints on the explosives and arms which were displayed in the court.

How have the families of the men coped with the verdict? Had they been expecting it? They were shattered as well. They were not expecting such a harsh verdict, because the Yemeni Government was to lose much more from the miscarriage of justice. The prestige and reputation of the judiciary was at stake. If the court has thrown the case out for lack of evidence, they would have gained far more. Their Judiciary's status as an independent insti-tution would have been restored. Tourists would have started going to the country, for-eign investment and loans, which Yemen needs desperately, would have begun to flow. All these things require an atmosphere of confi-dence that the country respects human rights and the rule of the law applies.

Where to from here? The boys have appealed. We also hear that they have refused to accept freedom in return for accepting "guilt" (i.e. they are terrorists). They insist that they are innocent and that the accep-tance of guilt will ruin their careers and the rep-utations of their families.

What evidence is there that the men were beaten, their human and legal rights violated and confessions forced out of them? The Foreign Office appeared satisfied that they had not been maltreated. When these boys came to the court for the first time, everybody could see physical signs of tor-ture. With us as part of the delegation who went to Yemen were two doctors, a GP from Oldham, Dr Saddaf Alam and an accredited Home Office pathologist of the University of Sheffield, Dr Christopher Milroy. Both submit-ted their reports which said that the boys had

suffered "serious physical ill treatment". Subsequently an appeal was made for an inde-pendent medical examination, but this was never granted. I am not sure that the Foreign Office ever said that they were satisfied with their treatment. I would want to see this state-ment before making any comments. This can-not be true because physical signs of torture have been recorded by tens of media reporters who attended the first day of the trial.

You have said that this was a political trial? What interest could the Yemeni government have had in falsely accus-ing and convicting these men under the spotlight of the world's media? You must remember that just before the arrest of these boys, the US was bombing Iraq, which was resented by the Yemeni people. At that time news was also leaked out that the Yemeni government was secretly negotiating a deal with the US to provide naval facilities in Aden. This followed the kidnapping of European tourists. The government's attempt to rescue them failed. To cover-up the leak and failure of the rescue attempt the government came up with the idea of a global plot from the Muslim fundamentalists to destabilise Yemen. These boys just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is nothing strange. Third world countries often use "external threat" for internal cohesion and legitimacy.

Did you not feel it was unrealistic to call for the British government to inter-vene in this case since it would be tan-tamount to Yemen compromising its status as a sovereign nation? As British citizens, they have every reason to expect their rights to be defended by the British government when abroad. Britain has done this before in other cases, and it is right and proper that they do their best to get these inno-cent boys back home as soon as possible. This is not interference. It is the duty of the govern-ment. Every honourable and responsible gov-ernment does it.

With hindsight, do you feel it was wise to adopt such an aggressive stance of innocence, even if you believed your clients were? This does not seem to have been taken too well by the Yemeni authorities?

If innocent British Muslims are convicted of terrorism when abroad it has serious implica-tions not only for the individuals and their families, but also for the whole of the Muslim community. With Islamophobia ever present on the horizon, the verdict will be used to criminalise the entire community. Muslims are a law-abiding people. They have made many sacrifices to improve the economy of this country, and naturally expect better treatment. They cannot allow unsubstantiat-ed allegations to be recycled to stigmatise the community.

Is there any chance of the convicted men being pardoned or their sen-tences being commuted? Or perhaps a chance they may be allowed to serve their sentences here? Yemeni Security has over-reacted in his case. This has put the country in such a difficult situation. It requires a bold political move. President Ali Salih is reputed to be imagina-tive and bold. Only his intervention can untie this knot. The President has the authority to pardon the incarcerated men. We appeal to him to do so because the Muslim community in Britain wants good relations with Yemen. Yemen is a country with a great tradition of hospitality and learning. We hope that he will intervene and treat these boys as his own sons and pardon them for whatever stupidity they might have committed. As far as serving the sentences in Britain is concerned, it is not possible as no such treaty exists. Also Scotland Yard said on the day the verdict was announced that if the men were allowed back into Britain to serve the sentences, they would not be jailed or even ques-tioned, because of the lack of evidence against them.

The case for by Ghayasuddin Siddiqui

0-News August 1999

13

ENING RAN" and

TIN kte(ryt ovng One

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Quran that God has revealed, He chose "The Opening" (al-Fatiha) to be repeated in each standi of every Ritual Prayer (Salat). Whatever the ultimate wisdom may be,

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RULES AND FACTS

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Summary

Of all the verses Allah has revealed, He vitosealdll to be repeated in eoth standing of everk; Pre Whatever the ultimate wisdom may nificance of this resides it the refit: d.:of the it duratami. 1 of t.'

Reciting al-ratilla in Prayer (Salts)

IN RECOGNITION OF al-Fatiba's elm:mimes in Islamic wurahip and Muslim life, the Pro fiat saw, "There nu Prayer for those who do not recite the Opening of the Book "" This has been interpreted by scholars in various ways. Some hold that it is nect-mary to read abrktibe eo the obligatory Prayers (Salk}, meaning that this funds. menml rite of worship requires the inclusion of such that ritual Prayer becomes invalid wMout it.' Ottt era are of the opinion that Prayer performed without its recitation is imperfect*

It one cannot nxiteakntdia •os in the.. of a now 1,0

wArati,epeaking Muslim or someone er.th an (owed. faithhil reeitatire, re its meaning in one's native or to the extent of ones rapacity may suffice on

o (sable to understand and mite the Arabic text ly. At that point it becomes oblitstery or as ethers lust very desirable to do so. Other supplications

r VerS

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NEWS

A Conference Of Hope

Aalhamdulillahi rabbi! alameen: All praise is to Allah Lord of 11 the Worlds. Two confer-

ence are due to take place firstly on Saturday August 28, 1999 in the heart of London - From Mekka to Medina: Patience a pre-lude to Success, and then on Sunday August 29, 1999 in Birmingham - Setting the Foundation of an Humane Society.

We are extremely fortunate to have some the most profound scholars of our age to speak about the many different issues that have been in the hearts and minds of many Muslims. The two major events in London and Birmingham are truly not to be missed. Insha'Allah these pro-grammes have been designed to present an optimistic look at the world we live in today, and on how we can particularly change our condition, both individually and as an Umma.

Speakers include Sidi Hamza Yusuf, who most people know as to be one the most profound speakers in the Western hemi-sphere in articulating the deen of Allah, has had an enormous effect on our Muslim both young and old. He as supported many of the projects instigated by Ibn Abbas including the deen intensive pro-gramme (otherwise known as Rihla) here in the UK. Last year a very successful Rihla programme was achieved in Morocco with the support of Sidi Hamza him-self as one of the teachers.

Imam Zahid Shakir has really opened the hearts and minds of Muslims and non-Muslims across the globe, articulating that Islam is very much a real cure for the many of the ailments we as human beings have.

Sidi Abdul Hakim Murad is much loved and respected for the great service his translation of Imam Abu Hamid AI Ghazali (may Allah have mercy on him) along side other great works such as the works of Imam Al Haddad (may Allah have mercy on him) has had tremendous effect on the English speaking world.

Sid Anwar Muhaimin and Sidi Abu Laisth Luqman Ahmad have studied and taught in the particular community and else-where, Sidi Anwar has been instrumental in reviving his local youth community in Philadelphia, teaching them Arabic as well as the science of reading the Quran.

Imam Siraj Wahaj as many know, like many of his colleges mentioned above, has worked hard and restlessly at increasing an intellectual awareness.

The primary purpose of both the events which have been arranged by The Ibn Abbas Institute is to raise our awareness of our traditional heritage, i.e. The Islamic Education system. The Ibn Abbas Institute has, for a number of years, been working alongside scholars here and over-seas to bring a revival of one our most valuable heritages, our edu-cation. Even as you read this arti-

cle there is a programme referred to as the Dar ul Sahban, being run where scholars such as Imam Zahid Shakir, Anwar Muhaimin, Dr Yasir Husain etc. are teaching the many students enrolled for the month are learning primarily Arabic but other sciences such as hadith and recitation of Quran.

These programmes are both designed to insha'Alah, bring about unity of the heart and mind, based on sound under-standing, focusing on having humility before Allah and to emu-late the great character of the "Chosen One" Muhammad At. It is by simply looking at the life of our Guide, our Leader, our Master we will truly find the answers to our individual and community problems.

The programme is filled with many unique events, from the launch of exceptional interactive view of Masjid Aqsa called "The Noble Sanctuary". You will also see a slideshow called "In the shade of the tree", taking you through the various parts of the Islamic world, really showing how truly beautiful Islam has made this world, wherever it has touched it. The man behind the pictures is our good friend and a great supporter of Islamic revival. He so generously allowed Ibn Abbas to use two very inspiring pictures that you see on the posters, his name is Sidi Abdul Azeem (Peter Sanders). Further a special documentary produced by Sidi Hamza Yusuf will also be shown is not to be missed.

There will also be a bazaar in which you will be able to buy anything from books to videos, from Islamic painting to men and women clothes (Jilbabs thawbs), as well as a food hall to purchase food. Remember all money spent at the conference will go directly towards funding educational projects. The list is really endless but we think you get the idea. We have also tried to cater for parents with smaller children where they can allow them to expand their hidden potential in a confined area, rather than possibly disturbing the conference lectures.

Even though the ticket is £10, we have been pleasantly surprised that we had no complaints at the pricing. As soon as people have been made aware of raising fund to set up more permanent and established institutions here in the UK, it really is amazing the level of generousity. This is now your opportunity to help the umma here in the UK - to unify the hearts and minds. Simply attend-ing these two programmes you will have contributed towards raising awareness and further still allow Ibn Abbas to continue the precious work of eventually set-ting up permanent institutions here in the UK, with the help of organisations and scholars here and overseas.

For further details/information tel: (London) 0208-814 1935 (Birmingham) 0121-242 0683.


Wall0"■•

Modern technology dehumanises by its nature, because it is based on massification

(a computer in every home). Everyone is reduced to sitting around looking at

blinking cathode rays on a screen. There is no human exchange anymore; people just

send e-mail. People get nervous if you start talking like this.

CONVERSATION

Imam Hamza Yusuf

Randa Hammadieh: in your travels in the Muslim world, what cultural practices did you notice that struck you as being different from those of the West? Hamza Yusuf: In the West, there is a strong separation between young and old. In Muslim tradi-tion, on the other hand, youth con-tinues until the age of 40. This is the idea of "shababiya." In the Western civilisation, the idea of adolescence is purely a social con-struct. The generation gap in the States isn't necessarily universal to all cultures although the US is doing a good job of exporting their mono-culture all over the world. This happens because people are being exposed to the television and movies of the dominant culture. So you will see US cultural phenome-na now all over the world.

What are your thoughts on Muslim youth and public education of today? I think modern school is a negative experience. I believe you can learn more out of school than in it. There is now a universal education system, whether you are in an Arab country, China or some-where else. This universal educa-tion is only going to vary accord-ing to the political atmosphere of the given country. For example, in Iraq, the indoctrination is proba-bly more obvious whereas in the US it is just more subtle. School is an artificial construct to socialise individuals into a group identity. The whole idea of a "school of fish" is that everyone swims together whereas traditional Islamic education was completely individualised. What it did was give people all those tools (in the West called "liberal arts") such as grammar, rhetoric, and logic, through which people could actu-ally think and use their brains. In

public high schools, you are not given tools, you are given informa-tion and data. In fact, a metaphor that is used in education today is that you're basically a hard drive that needs to be written with a given software. You will then fulfil whatever are the social needs of the society. Schooling today is designed only to matriculate peo-ple into the logic of the system

itself. Then people end up in mean-ingless jobs doing meaningless work, and never really think about what type of society they're con-tributing to.

If there was one thing in your travels in the Muslim world that left a distinctive impres-sion upon you, what would it be? What a horrific condition the Muslim countries are in! The Muslim world is now like a rape victim. Colonisation was like the raping trauma, and the Muslim world has never been able to get up and go on with life of the Muslim world in its entirety by European powers, who for cen-turies were seen as backward and barbaric, has had really devastat-ing effects. Now in the Muslim world, Muslims seem to dress in pale imitation of Western people. Some look like caricatures of Western people. This is indicative of the state of some Muslims who aren't very inspiring anymore. The whole world once looked up to the

Muslims as models.

What do you say to Muslims who seem to glorify the past when they were at their peak? This is all pathetic nostalgia for returning to the glory of the past and its romanticism. The past has nothing to do with us. That was them. We are a whole other peo-

ple. It's not our past, it was their present. Now it's over. That's why the Quran has this concept of let-ting go of your fathers, and not being proud of your fathers because they are not you! You have to create your own future. Don't be like an old war veteran. However, it is important to have some historical continuity because the Quran says "Look at the peo-ple who went before" as the way of learning lessons. One thing that is wrong with some modern Muslim mentality is the idea of "If we do what they did, we will be glorious." Someone asked me, "How can we get an empire back?" There is this idea that Islam is all about glory. No! It's like you exercise to maintain your health, but the exercise is not your goal. It's just the means to achieve your goal. In the same way that if you seek the contentment of Allah, one of the side effects of that is that Allah elevates you and gives you tamkeen, but that is not the goal. It's just a side effect. Now you don't hear people talk

about Allah very much, just about Islam. The Quran says, "To your Lord is your goal." The path of coming to know God results in victory because of your struggling for truth. One of the things about sincerely struggling for truth is that Allah gives you victory by the nature of the struggle. It follows that by the nature of the struggle itself, you gain worldly success. You see, worldly success has noth-ing to do with the intentions. Because if those are your inten-tions, then you will never gain worldly success. In fact, Allah will give the kafiroon success over you. If the people of truth are not seek-ing truth, but instead the benefits of truth (merely the side effects), then they will never achieve them.

Then how should Muslims look at life? Life is mundane. Life is praying, getting up for Fajr and day-to-day chores. All this "glory" some aspire to is just an abstract in the mind. And the reality of it is even the kings of the past had to get up in the morning and go through daily routines. Life is by its nature perfunctory and Islam is just to harmonise it, put it into perspec-tive, and make its goals dignified goals, instead of low, worldly goals.

Now that you are residing in the US you must have had some exposure to the tech-nological hegemony occur-ring. How do you view this in the light, of Islam? Modern technology is just an example of when people's goals are totally distorted. Modern tech-nology arose out of very strong corporate interests in creating the massification of society where everybody needs a TV or a stereo. This doesn't mean that Islam is against technology. Technology, by its nature, is everything that humans produce. And by our nature we do make things. Islamic technology would be very humane. To serve people as opposed to the opposite. Muslims do not believe in

This interview of Imam Hamza Yusuf was conducted in Calgary, Alberta during Islamic Awareness Week organised by the Muslim Students' Association (MSA) of the University of Calgary. The interviewer was Sr. Randa Hammadieh. It was compiled by Sr. Randa and Br. Ibrahim Danial.

16 Q-News August 1999

CONVERSATION

progress. Progress is completely antithetical to the Islamic doctrine. Muslims believe that human soci-ety reached its pinnacle in Medina in the seventh century. This is the best society that has ever existed. The verse which says "Today We have completed your Religion..." made Umar (ra) weep because he realised that nothing is ever com-pleted except that it begins to decrease. If the goal of life is to establish Deen, then that is the highest progress that humans can achieve and therefore all this modern tech-nological madness is an exteriori-sation of the human impulse to know. Because we have become such gross materialists, all of our intellectual and spiritual endeav-ours have been completely centred and focused on the outward, the Dhahir and the inside has been completely forgotten. Now there is even a massive interest in how we can preserve this life here, mani-fested by studies in cryonics, genet-ic engineering and cloning.

So would you say human beings tend to serve modern technology rather than It serving us? Yes. Modern technology dehu-manises by its nature, because it is based on massification (a computer in every home). Everyone is reduced to sitting around looking at blinking cathode rays on a screen. There is no human exchange any-more; people just send e-mail. People get ner-vous if you start talking like this because most Muslims are really embarrassed by the sim-plicity of the Prophet's it life. Many don't want to admit that he lived in a house devoid of furni-ture; that he sewed his own shoes and collected firewood. The Prophet wasn't interested in improving that aspect of his life. Improving ones standard of living has become an idol whereas I think Islam lowers your standard of liv-ing. You become content with less. When the Prophet's ft wife put a cushion in his bed he got upset. He consciously lowered his standard of living. The truth is the whole world can't support a bunch of consumers. Western technology is

based on the exploitation of the other 90 percent of the world. All our wonderful technological achievements are based on the rest of the world living in abject pover-ty. Through enjoying the fruits of Western technology, we are in fact participating in the destruction of indigenous cultures all over the world and the impoverishment of those people.

What are your thoughts on the teenage phenomenon and its significance today? It's an artificial construct intended to sell rap, US$100 basketball shoes and US$80 jeans. It's an invention of consumer soci-ety that doesn't exist in traditional Islamic or Western cultures. People should be done with school by the time they're 15. In tradi-tional European soci-

eties, those who studied had their bache-lors by the age of 14 and were teaching at 18 at Cambridge and Oxford. This is documented. Spending 12 years in school is an artificial construct designed to occupy time-space in which the society really doesn't have the abil-ity to allow these people to enter the workforce because it is saturat-ed. Teenage phenomenon destroys human society. Historically, agrar-ian-based societies (which the

majority of Muslim countries are) view community as absolutely essential for survival, whereas in industrial societies community is a luxury. A sickness of some Muslims today is that they've got-ten into the whole age issue. Much like racism and sexism, it's identi-fying people with quantitative measurements. We don't know how old many of the sahabi were. It wasn't an obsession. In fact, the Prophet tried to break the jahali concept by putting Osama ibn Zaid as the head of an army when he was only 17. Age in Islam is about having grey hair and not having grey hair.

If you don't have grey hair

you're called a

"shabaab" and you're supposed to respect people with grey hair. If you have grey hair you're called "shaykh" and you're supposed to have mercy and compassion on those who don't have grey hairs. That is a much healthier way of looking at it. In Islamic knowl-edge, we knew Ibn Malik was con-sidered a shaykh which literally means "old man" when he was 17 years old. Islam doesn't box you into a category. Age is about where you are spiritually, not where you

are numerically. I think that 40-year-olds should sit with 18-year-olds, and in a spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood, learn from each other. The sahabi had 15-year-olds in their Prophet's majlis with 60-year-olds. Muslim schools were never segregated by age. "Allah created everything and He guided it in its own specific way and manner." We are an Umma of labelling and labels are from Western society. In labels, every-thing has a name and nothing has a meaning.

Given all your experiences, travels, and years, what do you know for sure about the world? Well, that there is a lot of truth to Sayyidinna Ali saying that "Youth is a type of madness and old age is a type of wisdom." I think that a crisis of the Muslim world is that we have an incredibly young soci-ety which is largely ignorant, hav-ing lost their historical link, and so there hasn't been a lot of guidance from the older generation. Many Muslim youth are confused, but as

this generation of Muslims reach maturity, an interesting sce-

nario is going to occur. As the young people

in the Islamic movement in the US, Canada and Europe move into their forties, there is going to be much growth and guidance for the younger people,

insha'Allah. We are in a real-

ly bad time, but we should see it as a temporal kind of condition. This is not the way it has always been, nor is it the way it will always be, insha'Allah. I know we just have to be careful as a com-munity in the steps we take. We have to deliberate more than nec-essary than if we had strong guid-ance. We are now living in a very exciting time, a time for much potential growth, and I believe that Muslims in Canada and the US will certainly rise to the occa-sion, insha'Allah.

0-News August 1999

17

WORLD NEWS

Dagestan Gripped by Islamic fervour

redred flags and the bearded image of V I Lenin,

founder of the Soviet state, sprouted from every public build-ing here, now the flags are Islamic green and the iconic bearded face on the banners is that of the region's holy warrior-hero, the nineteenth century Imam Shamil.

The public renaissance of their faith and traditions, after decades of Soviet repression, is a source of innocent joy to most people in the Russian republic of Dagestan, next to the Caspian Sea.

"When I was a kid, every-thing about religion had to be kept quiet," said Timur Dzhafarov, 26, a journalist. "You'd say things like 'Have you

washed yet today?' to your sister, when you were really talking about praying. That wasn't long ago; but, thank God, it's all fin-ished."

But the new Islamic fervour is also starting to become a source of worry, playing on Russia's fears that militant fundamental-ism could seep in through its southern border and destabilise an already volatile frontier region.

Some Dagestanis fear that their leaders are peddling religion like a once-banned drug to dis-tract public attention from the republic's high crime rate and fal-tering economy. Others worry about worsening rivalries between the men who want to control the religious reawaken-ing. Still others fret about the

harsh influence of a new funda-mentalist movement imported from Saudi Arabia.

Muslim separatists in war-ravaged Chechnya, on Dagestan's border, are adding to the concerns of moderates with their overtures to the faithful of Dagestan to join up in a "single spiritual space" -suggestions sure to anger the region's powerful overlord, Moscow.

"What's going on now is the over-idealisation of Islam," said Garun Kurbanov, head of the cul-tural faculty at Makhachkala University. "We seem to be going straight from one mono-ideology, worship of Lenin, to another. "Islam," he added, "certainly played the biggest role in the for-mation of Dagestan's national identity ever since the eighth cen-

tury. But the many other cults and religions that have been observed here also played their part."

Now, however, he noted, "it's only politically correct to take Islam into account. Ten years ago, most people in Soviet Dagestan would have called themselves atheists, at least in public, although many quietly believed in private. Now ninety percent of people say they're Muslims, although it's my opin-ion that only half of them are really convinced believers and the rest are waverers on the edge of faith or just followers of fash-ion."

For many Dagestanis, taking refuge in religion is a relief from the chaos in other parts of their post-Soviet lives, according to another observer.

Makhachkala is an unkempt, struggling capital. Unemployed youths loiter, smoking, on street corners outside crumbling apart-ment blocks. Nervous hotel staff operate from behind iron grilles, guarded by gunmen. Suspicious characters frequent rackety casi-nos and bars. Middlemen charge would-be students bribes of thou-sands of dollars apiece to sign up at the university.

Crime rates are higher than in other parts of Russia. After a 21-month war between the Russian army and the Chechen sepa-ratists, the whole region is awash with guns. Soviet-era factories have shut down, and the local economy runs at least in part on illegal trade in caviar, oil and guns and on dubious import-export business among Russia, Turkey and the Middle East. Political assassinations are regular events.

Although wages go unpaid for months and goods too expen-sive for most people to buy are flaunted in the stores, a sleek new-rich class of entrepreneurs, politicians and hoods-made-good

Prayer beads click on the street again and newly built mosques rise into the sky. Russia's Muslim south is in the throes of a religious revival, and would-be leaders are lining up to bring the faithful back to God.

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0-News August 1999

Key facts and figures about Russia's Dagestan Dagestan, where Russian troops are preparing a counter-offensive against Islamic mili-tants, is a mountainous, multi-ethnic republic in Russia's politically volatile North Caucasus region.

Here are some key facts and figures about the republic: TERRITORY: About 50,000 sq. km. (31,000 sq. miles) -roughly the size of Scotland or Austria. Dagestan means

`Land of the Mountains." It is located in the northeastern region of the Caucasus moun-tain range and has a coastline on the oil-rich Caspian Sea. It shares its southern border with the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Georgia.

POPULATION: About 2 mil-lion people live in Dagestan, representing some 33 ethnic groups. These include Lezkis, Kumyks, Chechens, Ingushes, Avars, Armenians, Kalmyks, Kabardians, Azeris and Jews. Some of the more obscure eth-nic groups in the mountains number only a few hundred members.

ECONOMY: Dagestan has been badly hit by Russia's decade-long economic prob-lems, which have sapped

Moscow's authority and helped boost the influence of radical Islam. Oil and electrici-ty production are the backbone of Dagestan's economy. An oil pipeline runs across Dagestan to Russia from Azerbaijan.

HISTORY: Russia first annexed the Caspian Sea regions of Dagestan in 1722, under Peter the Great, but guerrillas resisted Russian encroachment for a further century and a half. In the mid-19th century, local leader Shamil used Islam to weld the mountain tribes into a formidable fighting force and tried to create a theocratic, Islamic state. His lieutenants were mullahs, or Muslim clergy- But Shamil, outnumbered and outgunned by the tsar's forces, finally had to concede defeat. He lived out his days as an honoured guest of his former enemy in the imperial capital St. Petersburg and other Russian cities. Dagestan avoided being dragged into Russia's most recent armed intervention in the North Caucasus, its ill-fated 1994- 96 war against secessionist guerrillas in neigh-bouring Chechnya. Three years after the cease-fire, Chechnya remains dogged by kidnappings, shootings and other violent crime. Moscow, which no longer exerts any control over Chechnya, has accused Chechen guerrillas of trying to foment chaos in Dagestan. Russian officials believe Chechen warlords are giving armed support to radical Islamists in a bid to overthrow Dagestan's pro-Moscow administration of Magomedali Magomedov. Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, a hero of the war, has called for a union of Chechnya and Dagestan.

WORLD NEWS

is building a luxury district of overblown mansions.

But while tales of the secretive banking and smuggling and drug-trafficking activities of top offi-cials are whispered in the privacy of family kitchens, public debate as reported in the meek local press focuses on "safe" questions about religion - whether good Muslims would accept the idea of putting up a memorial to Imam Shamil, or how best to celebrate the Imam's 200th birthday anniversary.

"It's natural for our minds to

turn to religion in these troubled times. Who can we look to but God to save us from this mess?" said Fatima, 42, a formerly athe-ist teacher in sensible clothes and a white head scarf.

Several colourful figures have stepped forward to guide the pop-ular enthusiasm for Islam. Saidmukhammed Abubakarov, Dagestan's respected official cler-ic, says that he only reluctantly accepted the job of mufti when it was pressed on him a few years ago. He won fame when, in 1991, he joined a popular movement to unseat the puppet clergy who had earlier administered a tame, Soviet-approved version of Islam.

But now a quarrel over the direction of Dagestan's religious movement is splitting public opin-ion and undermining the mufti's authority. Abubakarov's oppo-nent is flamboyant Nadyrshah Khachilayev, one of a family of tall, bearded brothers who have risen to prominence in post-Soviet times. Another brother, Magomed, is the fisheries minis-ter. Nadyrshah, who says proudly that he met Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and boxer Mike Tyson during a recent visit to Chicago, is the founder of the two-year-old Russian Muslim Council.

In July, Khachilayev used the Moscow and local press to denounce Dagestan's other Muslim leaders. He said the mufti's office was encouraging Dagestanis to "bow to political authorities who are mired in cor-ruption." Khachilayev also tongue-lashed traditional village shaykhs who quietly practised their faith in Soviet times, saying they "all went through KGB instruction ... and history will show how many are also British spies."

The mufti said he summoned

Khachilayev for a "necessary" three-hour dressing-down after reading the article, demanding he withdraw it. "Last year we shared organising everything," Abubakarov lamented. "We're the two real leaders here, me and Nadyr. He runs a social organisa-tion that should be our faith's political protector. But it seems as though a black cat has been sent to jinx our efforts to cooperate during the past year."

Quarrels between Muslim leaders apart, the bigger issue of resurgent Islam in the south makes Moscow nervous. The south's history is one of violent religious-political wars between Muslim guerrillas and Russian armies.

Last century, Shamil, imam of both Dagestan and Chechnya, led his followers on a 30-year holy war against Russian colonial rule, spurred on to resistance against impossible odds by their belief in freedom and God.

This year, as both Dagestan and Chechnya celebrate their shared hero's anniversary, Russia is being reminded of its recurring fear that a newly Islamicised Dagestan might - as it did last century - join forces with sepa-ratist Chechnya and fight to escape Russian rule.

"It's natural for our minds to turn to religion in these troubled times. Who can we look to but God to save us from this mess?" said Fatima,

42, a formerly atheist teacher in sensible clothes and a white head scarf.

see Dagestan page 34

0-News August 1999

19

EVENT•BOHRA

Dr Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin A community celebrates

Ntortholt, usually a quiet spot in the borough of Ealing was reated to a rare sight - a

horse drawn carriage led by a marching band and hundreds of people in procession. The occa-sion - the 88th birthday celebra-tions of His Holiness Dr Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, leader of the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim Community, and nearly 5000

people flocked from all over the world to join in three days of cel-ebrations held at Al Masjid-e-Husayni, the Bohra Masjid in this area. Community leaders and digni-taries including the Vice President of Tanzania and the Mayors of Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow, and prominent indus-trialists including S P Hinduja also came to pay their respects

and offer felicitations on this occasion. The three-day celebrations marked the grand finale of a three day schedule of festivities which began with the recitation of the Quran by international scholars at the Dawoodi Bohra mosque in Northolt on Saturday, July 21,which was attended by experts from India and Cairo. A cultural exhibition depicting the Muslim way of life and anoth-er business exhibition that dis-played the entrepreneurial contri-bution that this community were set up to be viewed over three days. Sundayis program included a host

of cultural events, fun fairs com-plete with ferris wheels, dodgem cars and sporting events; stalls were set up to display traditional clothes. In the evening, a more formal traditional majlis was attended by Syedna. He solem-nised the marriages (nikah) of three couples. Hundreds of women gathered under the mar-quee to paint their hands with henna, a sign of celebrating an auspicious occasion. Monday remained the red letter day as His Holinessis birthday. Festivities began with a proces-sion drawing Syedna in a horse drawn carriage, with percussion bands, colourful carts and Indian

Thousands flock to celebrate the 88th Birthday Celebrations of His Holiness Syedna Burhanuddin, leader of the global Dawoodi Bohra community..


EVENT•BOHR A

costumes and traditional recita-tions. Thousands of delighted fol-lowers joined in. His Holiness was felicitated by the community in a traditional majlis, where he expressed great happiness at manifestations of joy among his followers. The traditional dis-course majlis when Syedna was offered gifts by members of his family and the community, was open for the first time ever to the press. Addressing the audience, Syedna prayed for both his followers and the community at large. II pray to Allah and seek his grace for my followers and humanity at large. May peace, unity and prosperity prevail in all communities and in all nations. Syedna then took time to meet with a host of dignitaries who offered their respects to His Holiness. Vice President of Tanzania, His Excellency Dr. Omar Ali Juma attended with the High Commisioner of Tanzania Dr. Abdulkadir Shareef and was given a shawl by His Holiness. Clive Soley, MP remarked that community relations is a "two way process", and that "we appreciate what they (the Bohras) bring to us today." Len Turner, ex-councillor had this to say, "We may not share the same faith, but we share the same vision that of what is just, right and true". The Mayor of Ealing greeted Syedna on his birthday and said that he was honoured to have His Holiness in Ealing. He also con-gratulated the Dawoodi Bohras on their progress - "the Bohras are growing from strength to strength," he said. Representatives from the Shia Ismaili community also offered their felicitations to Syedna, Mr. Mohammed Ahmed, president of the Aga Khan Supreme council said "were closest to the Dawoodi Bohras in the Muslim Umma and were proud of their achievements." One guest added a note of humour when he thanked Syedna for giving rather than accepting gifts on his birth-day and remarked that Syedna's greatest gift was his personal achievements as well as that of a guide to members of his commu-nity.

Q-News August 1999 21

EVENT•BOHRA

Who are the Dawoodi Bohras? re Dawoodi Bohra

Community hailing mainly from Gujarat in western India

traces its ancestry to early conver-sions during the reign of the Fatimid caliph imam, al-Mustansir in the eleventh century. The early converts of the eleventh century comprised a single group owing allegiance to the al-Dai al-Mutlaq in Yemen, the head of the religion. In the sixteenth century, the seat of al-Dai al-Mutlaq moved from Yemen to India and has remained there since. The al-Dai al-Mutlaq operates as the sole representative of the secluded Imam and as such has a great influence on the history, faith, and practices of the Bohras. They are called "Dawoodi" after their twenty-seventh al-Dai al-Mutlaq Syedna Dawood ibn Qutubshah (d.1612). The word Bohra is derived from the Gujarati vohoru, meaning, "to trade".

The al-Dai Mutlaq and the community The Dawoodi Bohras are reputed to be the best organised and wealthiest of all Muslim commu-nities. The community has largely

been moulded into its present form by the two Dais who have led the community in the twentieth centu-ry. The fifty-first al-Dai al-Mutlaq, the celebrated Syedna Taher Saifuddin (1915-1965), was an accomplished scholar, a prolific writer, a poet, a capable organiser and a man of vision

During his period of fifty years he revitalised the community, fos-tered strong faith, modernised the mission's organisation, promoted welfare and education in the com-munity, and guided it through the tumultuous period of world wars and independence of nations.

The present al-Dai al-Mutlaq, Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin has continued his predecessor's endeavours with particular emphasis on strengthening the community's Islamic practices and on the promotion of its Fatimid heritage.

The religious hierarchy of the Dawoodi Bohras is essentially Fatimid and is headed by the al-Dai al-Mutlaq, who is appointed by his predecessor in office. The Dai appoints two others to the subsidiary ranks of Mazoon and Mukasir. These positions are fol-lowed by the rank of Shaykh and

Mullah, both of which are held by hundreds of Bohras. An Amil (usually a graduate of the order's institution of higher learning, al-Jamea-tus Sayfiyah) who leads the local congregation in religious, social and communal affairs is sent to each town where a sizable pop-ulation exists. Such towns normal-ly have a mosque and an adjoining jamatkhana (assembly hall) where socio-religious functions are held.

The local organisations that manage these properties and administer the social and religious activities of the local Bohras report directly to the central administra-tion of the al-Dai al-Mutlaq based in Bombay, called al-Dawat al-Hadiyah.

The religion At the age of puberty every Bohra, or mumin (believer) as they call each other, pronounces the tradi-tional oath of allegiance that requires the initiate to adhere to the shari'a and accept the leader-ship of the Imam and the Dai. The Bohras follow the Fatimid school of jurisprudence which recognises seven pillars of Islam. Walayah (love and devotion) for Allah, the Prophets, the Imam and the Dai, is

the first and most important of the seven pillars. The others are taharah (purity cleanliness), salah (prayers), zakah (purifying reli-gious dues), sawm (fasting), hajj (pilgrimage to Makkah) and jihad (holy war).

Pilgrimages to the shrines of the saints is an important part of the devotional life of Bohras, for the facilitation of which rest hous-es and assisting organisations have been set up. The martyrdom of Imam al-Husayn is commemorat-ed annually during the first ten days of Muharram.

The Dawoodi Bohras use an Arabicised form of Gujarati, called lisan al-dawah, which is permeated with Arabic words and written in.Arabic script. Another distinctive feature is their use of a Fatimid lunar calendar that fixes the number of days in each month. There is a strong religious educa-tional tradition amongst the Dawoodi Bohras, their Dais usual-ly being prolific: writers and ora-tors.

The Dawoodi Bohras number about a million and reside in India, Pakistan, the Middle . East, East Africa (since the eighteenth century) and the West (since the 1950s). They are easily recognis-able by their dress: men wear beards and white gold-rimmed caps, and women wear a colourful two-piece head-to-toe dress called a rida.

A philosophy of life The Bohras share the broad view of the Islamic approach to life: This is based on the firm belief in a purposeful creation by Allah. It includes an ethical system guiding man's social evolution and a morality defining social interac-tions. They believe in a discipline fostered by Islam, which engen-ders an ordered life and a commu-nal spirit. Bohras . consider loyalty to the land of abode to be part of their faith. They therefore make good citizens of the various coun-tries they live in. They believe in self-reliance and self-employment, which is what has encouraged the entrepreneurial spirit that they are well known for.

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0-News August 1999

EVENT•BOHRA

A leader for all seasons His Holiness Dr Syedna

Mohammed Burhanuddin is the head of the Dawoodi

Bohra community. He was 88 years old on the 20th of Rabi al-Akhir 1420H corresponding to the August 2, 1999.

He is the 52nd incumbent to the office of al-Dai-al-Mutlaq. This office was instituted eight hundred years ago in the land of Yemen, and has existed without interruption since then. Born the first son of the illustrious Syedna Taher Saifuddin, his predecessor, Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin was nurtured for office from an early age by his father. He was made heir apparent at the age of 19 and succeeded to the office at the age of 53.

One of the most important events in his early life was his visit to Yemen in 1962 in order to re-establish the age-old link with the followers of the faith there. He travelled widely at an early age and met international leaders from all walks of life. These early experiences served him well in his role as an ambassador of good-will.

One of his first acts as al-Dai al-Mutlaq was his journey to Egypt to install a zarih (sepulchre) at the shrine of Imam Husayn, prepared by his predecessor. This dedication was to be the first of many in his reign of 35 years. Cairo is also home to the mosques of the Fatimi Imams who ruled over much of the Islamic world in the tenth and eleventh centuries. These mosques of the revered Imams all lay victims to the vicissi-tudes of time. Syedna took up the task of restoring Al-Anwar, one of the largest mosques in the world at his own cost, after the withdrawal of UNESCO in the latter's initia-tive to restore the monuments of Old Cairo. Al-Anwar's restoration was completed in 1980 and the mosque was once again used for its sacred purposes. Since then Syedna has restored the remaining Fatimi mosques in Cairo.

Syedna's predecessors have a longstanding association with

England, having always main-tained with- fidelity the changing relationship that various historical circumstances gave rise to. The 47th Dai, Syedna Abdulqadir Najmuddin was appointed Sardar of the Deccan by the Raj in 1876. The 49th Dai sent a message to Queen Victoria, which, with its casket, is on display in the Darbar

Room at the Isle.of Wight. The present Dai. Syedna stretches back a thousand years.

He is a widely acclaimed scholar and his erudition is leg-endary. He has been awarded a doctorate by both the Al-Azhar University in Cairo and the Aligarh Muslim University in India. Amongst the many confer-ences he has attended to promote

welfare, education arld Islamic way of life, he delivered a paper entitled On the Merits of the Quran in the international Islamic Conference held in London in 1976.

He is known internationally for his piety and his philanthropy. He has worked tirelessly during his lifetime for the upliftment and

prosperity of his community re-establishing their cultural ties with Cairo, the city of their spiritual heritage, as much as he has endeavoured to integrate their reli-gious practice within the matrix of the contemporary world.

Having been at the helm of his community for 35 years, he has in his time given an impetus to his community by defining their lives

more strongly through their Islamic heritage. He has asked it to find resolutions to the challenges of modern life within its Islamic identity.

For example, the community's spirit of help and welfare has been greatly enhanced by his efforts in, making the Islamic principle of qardan hasana (interest-free

loans) a basis for the community's economic progress. His followers spread all over the globe, unceas-ingly looking to him for guidance.

This task is no less demanding than the responsibility he carries for the community's religious lead-ership.

see Bohra page 24

He is a widely acclaimed scholar and his erudition is legendary. He has been awarded a doctorate by both the Al-Azhar University in

Cairo and the Aligarh Muslim University in India. In 1976 he delivered a paper entitled On the Merits of the Quran in the

international Islamic Conference held in London.


Festival at Mohammedi Park

It's all smiles at the Mohammedi Park Masjid Complex as the community celebrates the birthday of Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin.

EVENT•BOHRA

There are about 3000 Dawoodi Bohras in the United Kingdom.

Half of-these reside in London, and the rest are scattered main!y around Birmingham, Bradford, Leicester, Manchester and Nottingham. Descending from merchant stock in the sub-conti-nent,. they are by nature pacifist and given to stability. They arrived in the UK in since the 1950s mainly as students and took up the professions and established businesses.

As soon as sufficient numbers settled in various parts in the country, they established meeting places so that their religion could be practised and their culture and

tradition could be continued in an unfamiliar environment. They have successfully established cen-tres in five cities and a mosque in London. Their traditions of loyal-ty and self-reliance have impelled them towards successful careers in the Kingdom without losing touch with their traditional roots.

Today the Bohras are well established in businesses and pro-fessional occupations. They have integrated well into the multi-cul-tural environment of the Kingdom. Two of its members have won OBEs. The young gen-eration, that has generally been born in the United Kingdom are proud to be part of the

Kingdom's rich cultural milieu and contributes constructively to its future.

The mosque in Northolt, Middlesex, completed in 1996, is their largest in the Western world. Incorporating design elements from the Fatimid architectural tradition and styles of local archi-tecture, it is one of the main Islamic landmarks of the city. The community rallied behind the major undertaking, that includes within the complex, the mosque itself, a school, an assembly and banquet hall and twenty-two houses. It has now become the fulcrum of major activities for the Bohras all over Europe.

Syedna leads a simple and fru-gal life. Hardly sleeping for four hours a night, his schedule for the day is exacting and arduous. He rises at four a.m. to prepare for the morning prayers, which he leads. After this there is a brief pause for breakfast and the other formal morning supplications. At nine o'clock his secretary prepares the files for his attention. The mat-ters in these vary between requests for Syedna's advice and attention in the personal matters of the peti-tioner or larger decisions about the community's policy and resources. Immediately after this is sabaq or classes conducted per-sonally by Syedna for serious scholars of the community.

This is followed by a general gathering which any ordinary member of the community is given an opportunity to bring his matters personally before Syedna seeking his intercession and guid-ance.

Sometimes hundreds of peo-ple are attended to in a single audience in an emotionally charged and exhausting morning. A break for lunch is followed by a quiet hour or two in the afternoon in which more files with requests for intervention are dispatched. It is said that no file remains on Syedna's desk for more than twen-ty-four hours.

The work ceases when Syedna leaves for the evening prayers fol-lowed by a formal dinner at the home of any follower. He returns close to midnight but before retir-ing, spends a quiet hour with his family. This daily schedule is punctuated by seasons of more intense prayer and devotion. It is an infrequent weekend out of town with his family that lightens the gravity of his days.

Despite a lifetime spent thus, a certain benevolence and gentle-ness lightens Syedna's personality. His children and brothers hesitat-ingly disclose the tenderness of moments spent together. They mention the simple pleasure Syedna finds in the small tasks of daily life, the refreshment he seeks in simplicity.

For despite what leadership may confer, Syedna has never for-gotten that his call is to the hearts of men.

Bohra from page 23



EVENT•BOHRA

His Royal Highness Prince Charles opening the Mohammedi Park Masjid Complex on March 19, 1996.

WORLD•TURKEY

Turkey: 'Freedom' is my daughter's name

had thought that after years orking in Human Rights, I had

become desensitised to horrors inflicted and suffering unlimited. Torture should have been just another research topic. Talking to Ipek Firat, the wife of a political prisoner, I was proved wrong.

Turkish prison officers use similar methods of torture as the Algerian and Iraqi security ser-vices. Electric shocks to genitalia, buggery with broken bottles, `water treatment' (dousing a naked prisoner in cold water, and opening the cell windows during winter) were examples Nazat Ashik, a housewife in her fifties recounted. Her son, Mustafa, is serving a 17 year prison sentence for writing against the govern-ment. He bled from his genitalia for two months before admitting the charge. Nazat has set up an organisation to help families and prisoners in a similar situation. How many there are is unknown -no organisation can agree, even begin to fathom the numbers involved in a country where even criticising its founding dictator is treason.

In many cases prisoners remain interred long after their terms have expired. For example, Nazat recently discovered four Egyptians imprisoned twenty years ago in Bilecik, for protesting against Camp David. They should have been released two years ago. Knowledge of their existence was accidental.

Our trip to Istanbul was a paradox: a snapshot of radical Europhilia and consumerism; of a country mired in the murders of 10,000 political opponents in ten years. We trudged around the

standard sights. Orthodox monu-ments and retreats, the Basilica cis-tern, sign-posted in Latin and Slavic tongues catered for the tourist. No such considerations for our unofficial guide Rabia, a Turkish woman, one of thousands of women banned from university at the beginning of the academic year.

Rabia is articulate, intelligent and determined - a veritable hero-ine of a human rights epic that sweeps the nation. She is suspend-ed from University because she is a practising Muslim. Her sporting of a headscarf has cost her dear. Her beliefs are part of an ideology dressed up in the Western psyche as fundamentalist, backward, repressive. Turkey's oppression is however thoroughly modern.

This headscarf ban is the most strictly enforced since the coups of the 1980's. Treason covers many `crimes' and few Deans are brave enough to allow their students a choice. A daily battle of wills between students and academics, more fearful for their liberty than any 'Islamic' threat, has ensued. Everyday groups of students arrive at class. Everyday the police remove them. Everyday the stu-dents show their defiance by hold-ing their own classes on the pave-ments outside.

I met Ipek Firat at the offices of Mazlumder, a human rights organisation with 22 branches nation-wide. We stumbled upon a writer facing jail, for his book on Kurdish orphans bereaved by security forces. The fine of 4 bil-lion TL (US$1,200) - beyond his means - was a relief. The sepa-ratist/terrorist PKK, Marx and Kurds are still an inimical part of the ruling ethic, but now bigger

enemies and bigger victims loom. Since the1997 ruling by the

National Security Council (an amalgam of politicians and gener-als) that Muslims were the `num ber one enemy of the principles of modern Turkey'. Mazlumder's offices have been repeatedly raid-ed. Three were recently closed down, and the organisation's accounts frozen. Ipek was detained on a prison visit to her husband Mehmet, an alleged asso-ciate of an Islamist group. Mehmet, and Ipek's cellmate, jour-nalist Gul Asian were consistently tortured. Ipek was released with-out charge. Her husband 'con-fessed' and is now serving a fifteen and a twenty two year term con-secutively. Asian's case hasn't been heard after 2 and a half years. I met her in Bandirma Prison.

Behind two sets of bars and reinforced perspex, she looked far older than her 24 years. Her spirit is remarkable. Leaning aside and disappearing through four sheets of bore holed metal, she scolded me. "Don't worry about me," she smiled, almost smug in her passive resistance. "The fact that I'm here means they... generals, are scared... it's only a matter of time before their rule will end." How long will that be? In her lifetime? Conscious that her lifetime could be consider-ably shorter than most, she answered, "Maybe, God willing."

This scares those in whom power resides. The Republic's founder, known in Britain as "the benign dictator," Mustafa Kemal Pasha took on the title Ataturk -Father of the Turks. Women like Asian, have had enough of patri-archy a la Pasha. General friendly and compliant, the mainstream media neglects to report arrests and protests unless there's a vio-lent photo-opportunity.

The country-wide demonstra-tions in support of veiled students, in October 1998, saw 4 million protesters male, female, veiled and

mini-skirted, hold hands. However, only a skirmish between police and protesters in Ankara, made news. Inevitably such inci-dents are attributed to 'foreign' agitation. These are never "Ataturk's children."

The bastardisation of women like Rabia, Ipek and Gul is backfir-ing. They have become the new advocates for emancipation. Akit, a well-respected, secular periodical asked: why not be like Iran? It pointed amongst others matters to UN statistics: Turkey is significant-ly behind in the numbers of women attending and lecturing at university; in the medical profes-sion and the media. The Ayatollah has outstripped Ataturk.

Turkey's Islamophobia is one of its more ridiculous emulations of the Europe its Generals so des-perately want to be part of. Istanbul's elected mayor Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was prosecuted for statements purporting to cause division in society (treason once more) - he read out Ottoman poet-ry in public. He was sentenced last September to one year of impris-onment and a lifetime ban from all political activities, to run from the 75th anniversary of the Republic in October.

Our visit coincided with the anniversary holiday. Ataturk's image festooned street lights in cel-ebration. In popular imagination, he is either devil incarnate or prophet of modernity. These are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Nietzche's last man - amoral, apo-litical and above all modern, looked down from Istanbul's lamp-posts, on his subjects.

Turkey was celebrating his acceptance of civilised, European, universal ideals. And all were cele-brating - government employees ensured dismissal if they did not attend the commemorative rallies. The End of History would indeed be nigh, if the West's perception of Turkey as modernising and an

Can Turkey justify its horrendous catalogue of human rights' abuses in the name of modernity? asks Arzu Merali.

26

0-News August 1999

Huda Kaya, pictured in her cell. IHRC

WORLD•TURKEY

Huda Kaya and the Malatya 75 In June the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHCR) sent a legal observer to Malatya, Turkey to observe the trial of the Malatya 75 which includes, journalist Huda Kaya. Below Osama Daneshyar, Barrister-of-Law, gives his report.

RC became involved in this case due to the

demanded by the prosecution ii namely the death penalty, for those participants arrested at a demon-stration in October 1998. The defendants all took part in the demonstration over the banning of Muslim female students from university in Turkey on the basis of their adherence to their Islamic dress code. Originally charged with a variety of offences as well as being detained without charge, most of the 75 were then re-arraigned at the end of June under section 146 of the Penal Code which charges them with attempting to overthrow the constitutional system of Turkey. The basis of these charges is solely due to their participation in the demonstration, which took place peacefully.

The observer arrived in Malatya on 22 June 1999 the date that the arraignment and trial was scheduled to begin. He attended the courtroom where there was a high presence of military police and armed security personnel. Press were allowed to attend, although certain observers from human rights groups including the Turkish human rights group Mazlumder were refused admission. The observer initially had some problems in getting into the courtroom, and at one point was excluded however he did manage to gain access.

Despite the high security presence, many of the defendants were in fact seated in the public gallery, indicating that they were not in themselves per-ceived to be a threat to the public. Indeed by the end of the proceedings it became clear that some forty of the 75 were on police bail. Whilst the other 35 charged were remanded in custody. During the course of the day, the charges against 5 people were dropped.

The court session began at 9.40a.m. The hear-ing took place before a bench of three judges. The defendants went through the process of being arraigned and their defences to the charges being noted. The defendants were called one by one and their addresses taken. The names and addresses of male defendants were taken first and at around 10.10 a.m. the women were identified. The presi-dent of the court then warned the press against exaggerating the proceedings. He added a stern warning, that should they do so he will ban the

(almost) democratised state had any meaning.

A crude checklist reveals the delusive success of the Enlightenment project in the (a)his- toric land of infidels. Turkish George Michaels and Madonnas regale on terrestrial and satellite television. Ads for carpet shampoo and exotic nightlife purport the existence of values that conceptu- alise semi-naked women on bill-boards selling cars, and a culture of imported (female) and indigenous (tourist-oriented male) prostitu-tion, as freedom. Ataturk's sons and daughters can buy (into) it all. Still they resist.

Westernisation, according to author Emine Senlikoglu, means everything goes except for political opposition. She currently awaits the outcome of two cases against her for mooting an independent judiciary on air. Her first prison term was for a book on freedom of speech. Her second, was the result of answering from a conference platform, why she was imprisoned.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights granted freedom of expression. Some rights however are less universal than others. After the Refah Party was deposed by what incoming ministers called the army's soft-coup in 1997, Newsnight was horrified at castiga- tion of the generals, "because all they tried to do was protect Turkey's secular constitution." The price of that protection? A fascism that enforces the liberal ethos of Western society, without contradic- tion. We cannot accept the horror, unless we admit that pro-Islamists, neo-Marxists and others might just be right: the liberal ethos is as vio-lent and oppressive as the "demons" it eschews.

Asian's husband Tamar still suf-fers torture. She too was arrested on a prison-visit. Their three year old daughter sees them every two weeks. Had she been a criminal, her child could have stayed with her. Instead Tamar's parents keep her. "What is your daughter's name?" I asked, as the girl ran around the vis-itors' hall. "Azad," she replied, "Freedom."

Arzu ?derail is a member of the UK-based Islamic Human Rights Commission.

CI-News August 1999 27

WORLD•TURKEY

presence of the press and he will no longer leave the court open to the public. Proceedings then adjourned at 10.45 a.m.

The afternoon session began once more at 2.55 p.m. when the defendants returned to court. The investigating magistrate gave a

summary of allegations against each defendant. Mehmet Kaya asked if anyone objected to the allegations. All the defendants raised their hands and said they denied the charges levelled against them. Each objector then rose and stated their objections. The observer noted the general fact that this procedure leaves the pos-sibility open that with so many defendants the court could make a mistake and note incorrectly who is pleading guilty or not guilty to each charge. Following this the defendants were asked who accepted the police allega-tions against them. Those who did, in total 7, gave their names. It should be noted that of the 75, 51 face the death penalty the rest face sentences if found guilty of between five and twenty-two years in prison.

Following this the judge inves-tigated openly without any indica-tion of irregularity, whether any of the defendants were beaten whilst in custody. Several raised their hands. Following this, evi-dence was handed out to each defendant who requested it. They were then asked to comment upon it. For example certain pho-tographs and police statement were handed to defendants. However the observer noted that there was no primary disclosure-that is full disclosure of all docu-ments, photographs, in short evi-

dence to be used by the prosecu-tion against the defendants. One of the defendants, who was later identified as Huda Kaya by the observe; was asked by the prose-cutor if she wrote a newspaper article whereby, she had stated that the system must be changed.

She accepted such an article was written whilst she was in custody.

Huda Kaya stated that what she was saying was that, the gov-ernment took her basic human rights away and she had to do something about this. Her reac-tion was writing in the newspaper on this matter. One student was asked why he had certain newspa-per articles in his house. He answered that he enjoys reading and this was the reason for their presence in his house. Other defendants were also asked by the prosecutor as to the reason why they possess certain reading mate-rial. This is in itself appear to be the sole basis for the prosecution claims against the men and women charged. An example of the reading material is given below. Another defendant was asked why he had a book on the Iranian Revolution. He replied that he has over 500 books and possibly one or two of these were on this subject. These one or two books however were used in evi-dence against him. It is noted from a defendant that possessing such books was not illegal in Turkey. However this did not stop possession of these books being the basis of evidence against him.

One high school student who was also charged was asked why he had a book on socialism in his study, which was found by the police upon investigation after the

arrest. His claim that the book belonged to his grandfather who had died three years previously. Huda Kaya was asked why she had a book by Ayatollah Khomeini. Again it appears that possession of books on Kurds, in Kurdish, about the Kurdish issue, socialism or political Islam formed the basis of evidence against Huda Kaya and those charged. It exemplified the fact that there was no value in the evi-dence against the defendants. Indeed it seem only to be a design to create prejudice against the defendants. Indeed if the com-ments of the prosecution were to be taken seriously, Turkish justice would have it that an individual is criminalised by what he or she

reads. In pursuing this line of

enquiry the judge took it upon himself to question some of the defendants as to why they had books on the Kurdish issue in Kurdish. It should be noted that the city of Malatya has a mixed population of which forty to fifty percent are of Kurdish origin. Lawyers for some of the defen-dants pointed out that the books the accuse were found to be in possession of were legal and as evidence their relevance was spu-rious. There then followed the representations of some of the advocates for the defendants on behalf of the accused. A variety of representations were made and in fact individual advocates were

Huda Kaya was asked why she had a book by Ayatollah Khomeini. Again it appears that possession of books on Kurds, in Kurdish,

about the Kurdish issue, socialism or political Islam formed the basis of evidence against Huda Kaya and those charged. Indeed if the

comments of the prosecution were to be taken seriously, Turkish justice would have it that an individual is criminalised by what he

or she reads. e following was read out in front of the

Governor's Building at the demonstration in Malatya in October 1998. Its author is 18 year old Gulan Intisaar Saatcioglu, a high school student at Imam Hatip School. She faces the death penalty if found guilty of attempting to forcibly overthrow the Turkish system by reading this poem out.

Song of Freedom

We are from mountain and plateau Working the machines, studying at school

Our fight will go on Until the tyrants drown

The ignited flame will not die Nor our song of freedom end, Our fists held high in defiance

Will never come down Before the tyrants are overthrown.

Come join us sisters young and old Our cries increase aloud

To ensure Allah's Word prevails And infidelity fails.

Never will the burning flame die out, Or our song of freedom end.

Our defiant fists will not Fall before the tyrants are overthrown.


WORLD•TURKEY

criticised by the judge for repeat-ing the representations of other advocates. For example some of the advocates tried to pursue the point that whatever crime the defendants were charged with and indeed if they were found guilty to have committed such ecrimes,i it did not merit the punishment of death. At one heated point one lawyer accused the judge of bias and indeed of being subject to political pressures. In response to this the judge asked everyone who was in the courtroom to identify themselves with their driving licence, subject to exclusion. He then waited to note if anyone in the courtroom who had came

from outside of Malatya. It was at this point that the observeris pres-ence there was questioned once more. He was eventually allowed to continue. The proceedings adjourned for 15 minutes at 6.40 p.m. and a decision was handed out at 7.05 p.m. It was at this stage that the case was dismissed against 5 of the defendants.

The trial for the others were adjourned to the following month. Upon further enquiry the observer found that this was a normal procedure whereby a trial was protracted over sometimes for many years with continued adjournments after one day ses-sions. Indeed the observer found

out cases have lasted for as long as seven years.

The observer made several comments to the press including Turkish television. His main observation is that by asking for capital punishment the Turkish authority is in contravention with the European Convention of Human Rights, to which it is a signatory. Further they also breached several other articles with regards to freedom of expression, due process, political and educational rights. The over-all impression of the proceedings was that of a macabre farce. Indeed elements of the proceed-ings were plainly ridiculous, and

in particular evidence cited against the defendants have no basis except to create prejudice in the minds of public to whom the press would report the issue in a limited manner.

It appears that these demon-strators are in fact the first demonstrators who have been charged and detained, for whom the prosecutor is requesting capi-tal punishment.

For more information/details contact the IHRC tel: 0208-902 0888. fax: 0208-902 0889 E-mail: [email protected] web: http://www.ihrc.org/

Sisters In bondage: Huda Kaya (left), Gulan Intisaar, Nurcihan, Nurilhaq Saatciogou.

CI-News August 1999 29

0-News August 1999

REVIEW•ECLIPSE

Witnessing the total eclipse

t is perhaps its rarity more than nything else that made the clipse of August 11 a special

event for the irreligious. With no belief in a greater Being the pre-eclipse hype in our secular society was based almost solely on the promise that most of us would not live to see another such mag-nificent 'coincidence' of the sun and moon. Promoted as a once-in-a-lifetime event the total solar eclipse easily qualified as a legiti-mate excuse for a party. The dances, the beer, and the general carnival atmosphere was all in celebration of a spectacle that many believed they would never see again.

And yet for the faithful it was the very belief and fear of the day they will witness it once again that made the eclipse such an overwhelming experience.

"When the sight is dazed, and the moon is buried in darkness, and the sun and moon are joined together: Man will say on that day, 'Where is the refuge?' warns the Quran in Sura al-Qiyamah. Seeking their refuge in Allah, Muslims from every land over which the eclipse cast its shadow joined in prayer. In London's Central Mosque the male and female prayer halls filled quickly as the prescribed moment approached. The atmosphere was like that of any other congrega-tional prayer but an unusual sense of nervousness and uncer-tainty could not go unnoticed.

Anyone with belief in an All-Powerful Being could not dismiss the possibility that things may not happen as science predicts. However accurate the scientists' calculations, the eclipse, like everything else, is ultimately beyond human control. Experts predicted it would only last two minutes but that offered little

30

consolation when the sun, the moon and time itself is not in our power.

In this knowledge the faithful gathered humbly to praise the Almighty. In the neighbouring Regents Park observers looked up

to the sky in the hope of seeing a wonder of nature. Inside the mosque the believers cast their eyes downwards in humility as the Imam led them through the salat ul-Kusuf It was a special prayer performed in the tradition of the Prophet At, beginning after the start of the eclipse and lasting longer than its entire duration.

The two rakahs were a lengthy and moving experience, with carefully selected verses about the Creator of the sun and the moon.

Somewhere in between those long qiyams, rukus and sujuds, the shadow of darkness had come

and gone. It was an emotional time when the prayer hall seemed to darken slightly and many struggled to hold back the tears that filled their eyes out of love and awe for their Lord. In the outside world people were no doubt fussing over whether or not they got a clear view of the eclipse but for those joined in prayer see-

ing was not believing. Their hearts were filled with a belief in their Lord's Supremacy that far excelled the happenings of any particular event. As the Prophet

told us, the eclipse is one sign of Allah, among others. Its lack of visibility could do nothing to harm the faith of those who have always maintained belief in the Unseen.

As the khutbah [sermon] ended a sense of relief overcame the believers. Some turned to con-gratulate each other that the moment had passed safely and the usual order had been restored. Astronomers were satisfied with the accuracy of their predictions and observers were impressed by the free entertainment. Eventually the post-eclipse hype would also be over but many would fail to see the bigger picture. Much was made of the two minutes in which day turned into night but few will reflect on what happened later that day, when day once again turned into night and then the fol-lowing morning night turned back into day.

You needed a special tool to fully appreciate the wonder of the eclipse. But this did not feature in the hype. You could protect the naked eye from the harmful rays but you needed belief and awe of the Divine to really witness the wonder of the eclipse, says Shagufta Yaqub.

As the khutbah [sermon] ended a sense of relief overcame the believers. Some turned to congratulate

each other that the moment had passed safely and the usual order had been restored.

Divorce: Iranian style True Stories Channel 4 Monday 23 August, 9:00pm

This challenges accepted notions of Muslim society as feisty women fight for

their freedom - and their children. Following one judge over a period of months, this award-winning film is privy to the innermost secrets of Tehran's marriages.

Sixteen-year old Ziba is desperate to escape an arranged marriage to a man twice her age while Maryam is fighting her ex-husband, and strict Islamic law, for custody of her children. Presiding over a courtroom where desperate measures are the order of the day, Judge Deldar tries to keep an even hand on the emotional proceedings.

Despite all the tricks the film fails to hide the fact that women in Iran are up to the job of defending their rights. Maryam: determined to fight within the law

REVIEW•TV

Dispatches The Phantom menace

Abu Hamza: victim of a vicious programme

Dispatches: Monday 9 Aug, 11:15pm

This documentary started out life as an investigation into why second and third generation British Muslims continue to

flock to the flag of political extremism - not an irrelevant question given the recent ver-dicts in Yemen. But by the time it reached our sets it had transmogrified into a character assassination of Abu Hamza al-Masri, the self-styled Egyptian cleric who has taken on the mantle of the Muslim everybody most loves to hate.

In Abu Hamza, a Taliban acolyte described by The Guardian's Rory Carroll as "the best villain Fleet Street ever had" Channel Four could not have selected an eas-ier - or more willing - target. With his glass eye and hooked hand he is already enough of a straw man without also volunteering his services as a punchbag on which editors can bang out their prejudices.

Watching the caricature of Islam unfold under the voices of Abu Hamza and some of his supporters I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Mined nets held up by balloons placed above Heathrow, "slipping one" on innocent passers-by in the street, crushing the kafir's

head and whipping out his intestines - I was left wondering if the Quran and Sunnah these guys purport to follow is the same one we are familiar with.

Of course, it isn't - a fact not lost on Channel Four, notwithstanding the complete absence of Muslims from the production team. The channel survived an eleventh-hour attempt by Abu Hamza's legal team to block the programme, an eventuality that with hindsight might not have been such a bad thing.

I would have had no qualms with a dis-passionate inquiry into the causes of extrem-ism. That would have been useful in high-lighting the Islamophobia, socio-economic deprivation and political powerlessness responsible for producing an army of angry young men prepared to act outside any moral convention to get back at the system. But those concerns were sacrificed at the altar of sensationalism the moment Channel Four decided it would be more fun doing a hatchet job on a man who, let's face it, needs no help in the infamy department.

Spending something in the region of £150,000 for this purpose strikes me as a waste of money and places a huge question mark over the intention of Channel Four in

making the programme and also its statutory obligation to "encourage innovation and experiment, be distinctive, maintain a high general standard and a wide range, including a proportion which are educational, provide high quality news and current affairs."

Innovative? There was nothing new here. Everybody already knows what a buffoon and rabble rouser Abu Hamza is, so there could be no claim to originality. High stan-dard? Well, there was no unique footage, no special or exclusive access to the subject and certainly no insightful analysis. The intention seemed simply to destroy Abu Hamza's repu-tation in which case we are justified in asking what was there to gain in such an unambi-tious enterprise.

I put the question to Channel Four. "You start off with an idea and depending on what the researchers bring back the focus of a pro-gramme can change", said spokeswoman Nicki Lyons. "The focus of the programme was Muslim extremism in Britain but as our interviews went on we discovered the most interesting character was Abu Hamza." Need I say any more.

Faisal Bodl


FIQH

between the haves and the have not thus reducing the chances of social disorder and the loss to the community of any proper partic-ipation by the poorer section. If a social system is measured by its care of the weak and the needy, then Islam passes the test with honours. Now, the question is: how should Zakat be paid? To whom? In what way, and is it the only legit-- imate tax? The literature has sev-eral contradictory views influ-enced by the direct experiences of the scholars. Some, bearing in mind the conduct of their rulers, bearing in mind the conduct of their rulers, suggest that the indi-vidual should be entrusted with its distribution, unless the ruler demands it. In which case he should only be paid Zakat of the visible assets. Zakat of the invisi-ble assets should be entrusted to the individual.

To whom It Is to be paid As to whom it is to be paid, the answer is in Sura 9, Verse 60 of the Holy Quran, which specifies the recipients as "the poor, the needy, the Zakat collector, the slaves to buy their freedom, those whose hearts you seek to win, those who have crippling debts or loss of property, the war-riors and the needy traveller. "

The category of warrior is a restricted translation of the term "Fi sabilli'Allah". Some under-stand the term to include any out-let that serves the community and the Faith. As for the way it is paid, scholars regarded it as fund-ing the consumer needs of the recipient, such as food, clothing, housing and even means of trans-port. Since it is levied annually, the treasurer is supposed to dispose of it shortly after collection. The use of Zakat funds for long term projects was seldom discussed by the scholars due to the nature of economic activities of their time. Some of them allowed utilisation of Zakat for building schools and mosques while others considered such projects to be outside Quranic categories Finally, is Zakat the only legiti-mate tax? Some scholars decreed that taxes additional to Zakat cannot be levied on the Muslims under normal circumstances, in abnormal situations such as war, drought and shortage of supplies the rich might be asked to pay taxes to meet the crisis. This vision is clearly based on the pre-vailing system of non-interven-tionist administration. Governments in the past under-took no systematic part in gener-al education, agricultural and industrial planning or health. Those and other responsibilities forced modern governments to create a large bureaucracy to manage the state and this in turn led to the imposition of taxes to fund a standing army, police force, medical services, social welfare, justice, schools and uni-versities subsidised industries etc.

Does taxes absolve the Muslim from paying Zakat? No scholar has disputed the right of contemporary governments to collect enough taxes to meet those commitments. The ques-tion to be asked is whether these taxes absolve the Muslim from paying Zakat. there are those who suggest that it would not be fair to subject the Muslims to fur-ther payments if they extend the tax to Zakat. In the last century, some groups held this view and launched a revolution against

Zakat: A new source of development finance? Zakat is not merely a charitable donation . Contrary to poplar perception, Zakat, the annual levy payable on the wealth of Muslims, is not merely a charitable donation to the poor and needy. But as Dr Zaki Badawi, Shari'a Consultant to Islamic Banker, stresses, the institution of Zakat should be used to finance development projects to alleviate poverty and fight social ills - an aim which demands greater transparency in the col-lection and disbursement of Zakat.

Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam. It has two essential aspects one spiritual and the other mate-rial. The spiritual aspect is referred to in the holy Quran in the verse "Take (0 Prophet) from the wealth Sadakat (Zakat) to cleanse and to elevate them (the Muslims)." This spiritual element is emphasised in many other vers-es where it is represented as a loan given to Allah to be repaid many times over.

A cleansing process for the

wealth and its owner To pay Zakat is a cleansing process for the wealth and its owner. Allah not only promises reward in the hereafter but also to bless an enterprise so that it becomes more profitable; The terms itself indicates both purity and growth. The material ele-ment is manifest in its role as an important factor in social justice and peace. Because the poor and needy are guaranteed a share in the wealth of the wealthy, It helps to harmonise the relationship

10th Annual Islam Exhibition

"Welcome to the Mosque" Visit the Central Mosque, Regents Park

BANK HOLJDAY WEEKEND, 28, 29 & 30 August 1999

11am - 7pm

• Islam and Ecology • Islam And Science • Islamic Art and Architecture • Islamic Contribution to Medicine • Muslim Way of Life • Video Display • Bookshop • Refreshments

ALL WELCOME - NO ADMISSION CHARGE

Nearest Tube: Baker Street, St Johns Wood.

Bus Routes: 13. 74, 82. 113

32

0-News August 1999

Dr Zaki Badawi: "If a social system is measured by its care of the weak and the needy, then Islam passes the

test with honours."

FIQH

tiate between Zakat and tax. Zakat has a spiritual nature and has its roots in the Revelation, whereas secular taxes are imposed by the civil or secular authority. Secondly, the function of Zakat is clearly defined as catering for eight categories, whereas taxes have much wider applications. Thirdly, tax collection depends on the power and skill of the authorities, which induces many people to seek to avoid, if not evade, payment. Zakat being a

but how can you cheat Allah? For this reason, I believe that Zakat must remain an obligation on the tax-paying Muslim. Modern governments are far more organised and, with a few exceptions, far more honest than earlier rulers. There is therefore no excuse for Muslims to with-hold Zakat from them. It is now possible to ring fence the pro-ceeds of Zakat, to be used for its legitimate outlets. Muslims every-where should urge their govern-ments to establish Zakat authori-

ties to help them fulfil their reli-gious duty. There is no doubt a central authority would improve on the haphazardness of Zakat collection by individuals. A central authority would be able

to accumulate sufficient capital for large and long-term projects. The aim of the Shari'a is to help the poor and needy to be self-suf-ficient. It is not to encourage the culture of dependence. Islam abhors those who make begging a profession. The Prophet Muhammad 4 once bought an axe for a poor man to collect fire wood to sell and feed himself and his family. This example should inspire the Zakat authorities into projects that effect the fundamental solu-

tion of poverty. It should fund training schemes to make the skills of the poor more mar-ketable. It should also finance projects that give jobs and supply needed goods and services such as textile factories, machine tool manufacture and cheap housing. The list is endless.

Zakat funds should plan to achieve the aim of the Shari'a Modern economics shuns aid which meets immediate con-sumption. There are, of course, cases where the need for food and other consumer goods is too urgent. But Zakat funds should plan to achieve the aim of the Shari'a - that is to find a long term solution to poverty and dependence. In this respect, I would like to differentiate between Zakat Al Fitr (poll tax) and Zakat Al-Maal (wealth tax). The former should be exclusively for consumption as the Prophet Muhammad 4 advised us to bring joy and plenty to every household on the occasion of Eid ul- Fitr. But the latter should be an allocation of long-term pro-jects. The imposition of an organised Zakat collection system should be the objective of every Islamic state, both for the benefit of social peace and religious fulfil-ment. This might create a prob-lem where Muslims live side by side with non-Muslims. It would not be just to charge the Muslim with both civil and religious taxes while the non-Muslim neighbour pays only one tax. In the past, non-Muslims used to pay Jiriah which was the counterpart of Zakat. This, however, Is no longer the practice. The solution, therefore, should be to deduct Zakat from the secular tax. As Zakat is ear-marked for social benefits, it is of service to all citi-zens. There should, however, be super-vision by a Zakat authority to oversee the appropriate disburse-ment of funds, and to ensure that money is spent transparently in the way the Shari'a specifies.

Dr

Zaki Badawl is the Principal of the Muslim College, London.

rulers who imposed taxes along- religious duty has the conscious- side Zakat. ness of the believer as an induce-

ment towards payment. There is Consideration of present

an invisible collector of Zakat liv-

circumstances

ing in the heart of every Muslim. n the first place we must differen- You can cheat the government,

The aim of the Shari'a is to help the poor and needy to be self- sufficient. It is not to encourage the culture of dependence. Islam

abhors those who make begging a profession. The Prophet

Muhammad 11-: once bought an axe for a poor man to collect fire wood to sell and feed himself and his family.

0-News August 1999

33

There are many books

in English which present Sufi

doctrine, but few which can be used as

practical travel guides along the path. Originally

written in Classical Arabic, the aptly-named Book of

Assistance is today in widespread use among Sufi teachers

in Arabia, Indonensia and East Africa. Presented here in the

readable translation of Dr Badawi, this manual of devotions,

prayers and practical ethics will be invaluable to all who love

the Prophet and the Sufi Way.

The author, Imam Abdallah al-Haddad (d. 1720), lived in the

Hadramut valley between Yemen and Oman, and is widely

held to have been the 'renewer' of the twelfth Islamic century.

r

SPECIAL OFFER for Q-News subscribers and readers.

Get a copy for £4.50 (incl. pp) (RRP £5.95). To order a copy make cheque or postal order payable to :

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L Wembley, Middlesex HA9 OXA

1

WORLD NEWS

Dagestan from page 19

Movladi Udugov, Chechnya's deputy prime minister and infor-mation minister, added mischie-vously to those fears by bringing together 35 Dagestani and Chechen Islamic groups in Chechnya in August. They estab-lished an Islamic Nation move-ment whose aim, Udugov said, was to re-unite Chechnya and Dagestan.

Dagestan's Communist-led government is eager to avoid giv-ing offence to Russia and draw-ing retribution. "They say we mustn't do anything to upset Moscow because they'll cut off government funds," Khachilayev said.

The most pressing religion-related worry of all, for phleg-matic city types in Makhachkala, is the quiet rise of the fundamen-talist Wahhabi movement from Saudi Arabia. Unlike the folksy Islam of southern Russia - a type of Sufi mysticism - this movement is purist, radical and, say its opponents, dangerous.

Conflict between Wahhabis and traditional Sufi believers hit the headlines in Dagestan in May, when 1,000 rivals clashed in the central village of Karamakhi. Three people were killed.

The village, it emerged, was well supplied with weapons, although no one could say from where. Karamakhi has since been a closed area; the few journalists who ventured near the village this summer had film confiscated by gunmen.

Wahhabi violence has also been reported in Chechnya. Khasanbek Yakhyayev, a mullah in the Chechen capital, Grozny, was gunned down outside his home in June. His killer, later slain by Yakhyayev's relatives, was a Wahhabi believer angered by the mullah's recent denuncia-tions of Wahhabism.

The religious point of the Wahhabi-Sufi conflict is simple. Over the years, the Muslims of southern Russia formed small Sufi worship groups, based on families and clans; each followed a charismatic leader. This resis-tance-cell structure helped them survive czarist and Soviet repres-sion. When their leaders died,

worshippers made mini-pilgrim-ages to graves, leaving behind reverent marks of respect - hand-kerchiefs tied to trees or wishes for a happy future - at what quickly became shrines.

But for the Wahhabi Islam is not a faith that encourages priests or shrines: "just a direct dialogue between man and God." "The Sufism practised here is more like Christianity than Islam, with its cults and saints," said Mohammed Shaffi, a soft-spoken Wahhabi spokesman. "It's taken on a form which shouldn't exist in Islam."

The Wahhabis' ostentatious purity does not impress Makhachkala's sophisticates. "I can't see why they think that growing long beards and wearing their trousers three inches too short makes them holier than everyone else," said one suspi-cious academic in his 40s. "They're kids dressing up as devout Arabs. This is not our tra-dition. It's time they grew up.

"And where," he added uneasily, "did they get those guns from in Karamakhi? And whom will they turn them on next?"

For the moment, combined opposition by Sufi shaykhs, the mufti and the local government has stopped the Wahhabi from open worship. They have no mosques but pray in apartments and recruit with leaflets. "Right now, circumstances do not allow us to do anything more," Shaffi said.

But the Wahhabis' appeals for reform have struck a chord with thousands of young, sometimes well-educated people fed up with government corruption. They sympathise with the Wahhabi goal of sweeping out bad old habits, religious and political alike.

"I think what they preach is interesting," Dzhafarov said. "I'm not ready to follow them yet; I still like smoking and drink-ing and nights out with the guys, and my wife doesn't think much of the idea of covering up. But in a few years - once we've all got more used to the idea of religion being a part of our lives - I could easily see myself joining the


FOOD

Grilling for a healthy diet Inside each grilled beefburger is a delicious sur- This dish is delieious served vith very lightly prise - a special layer of melting blue Roquefort steamed green vegetables, sueh as mangetouts, cheese. green beans, broccoli or Chinese cabbage.

Ro ckburger sesarne croutons Grilled spice chicken

Ingredients

2ib lean minced beef I egg I medium onion, finely chopped 2 tsp French mustard half a teaspoon celery salt 4 oz Roquefort or other blue cheese I large sesame-seed loaf 3 tbsp olive oil 1 small iceberg lettuce 2 oz rocket or watercress half a cup of French dressing 4 ripe tomatoes, quartered 4 large spring onions, sliced freshly ground black pepper

Methods

1 Place the minced beef, egg, onion, mustard, celery salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Combine thoroughly. Divide the mixture into 16 portions, each weighing 50 gins. 2 Flatten the pieces between two sheets of polythene or waxed paper to form 5in rounds.

3 Place 15gms of the cheese on eight of the thin burgers. Sandwich with the remainder and press the edges firmly. Store between pieces of polythene or waxed paper and chill until ready to cook. 4 To make the sesame croutons, remove the crust from the bread, then cut the crust into short fin-gers. Moisten each of the fingers with olive oil and toast evenly under a moderate grill for 10-15 minutes. 5 Season the filled burgers according to taste, and grill for 10 minutes, turning once halfway through. 6 Wash the iceberg lettuce and rocket or watercress and spin dry. Toss the salad leaves with the dressing, then distribute among four large plates. Place two grilled rockburgers in the centre of each plate and the quartered tomatoes, sliced spring onions and toasted sesame crou-tons around the edge.

Ingredients

I tsp coriander seeds 1 tsp cumin seeds 2 limes 2 garlic cloves, crushed 4 tbsp chopped fresh coriander I small green chilli, seeded and finely ehopped 2 tbsp light soy sauce 4 tbsp sunflower oil 4 chicken breasts, skinless, bone-less, about (175 g) 6 oz eaeh steamed green vegetables, to serve

Method

I Crush the coriander and cumin seeds using a pestle and mortar or a herb or coffee grinder.

2 Cut the rind from the limes into thin shreds using a zester, and avoiding the pith as far as possible. Squeeze the juice from both fruits.

3 Blend the crushed coriander and cumin seeds with the lime rind and juice, crushed garlic, fresh coriander, chopped chilli, soy sauce and oil in a shallow bowl.

4 Add the prepared chicken breasts, turn each piece to coat thoroughly with the mixture, then cover the bowl with clear film and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours. (You can leave it for up to 24 hours if you wish - the flavour will con-tinue to improve.)

5 Remove the chicken breasts fromthe marinade. Cook the chicken under a pre-heated grill for about 4-6 minutes on one side.Turn the pieces over and cook for a further 4-6 minutes, or until they are cooked all the way through. Serve the spiced chicken breasts accompanied by crisp, steamed green vegetables.

(11-Nsvis August 1999 35

The Secretary of State for Education and Employment invites applications been suitably qualified candidates to fill vacancies on the Disability Rights Commission (DRCl. The DRC will be an Independent statutory body, sponsored by the Department for Education and Employment, to work towards the elimination of discrimination and to promote equalisation of opportunities for disabled people with those of non-disabled people. The majority of Commissioners will be disabled people or people who have had a disability.

COMMISSIONERS FOR THE DISABILITY RIGHTS COMMISSION

The Board of Commissioners between them will have a range of qualities which include.

• imagination and analytical skills; • the ability to think both independently and strategically and exercise sound judgement in a sanative

environment; • experience of committees and working as part of a team,

• effectiveness in interpersonal working and communication,

• an understanding of and commitment to disability issues:

• an understanding of the needs of business, the public and voluntary sectors and trade union interests. and,

for some, special knowledge of Scotland or Wales.

They will have a minimum workload of 20 days per annum. They will receive a daily tee and payment for travel and

other expenses.

The establishment of the Commission, and appointments to It, cannot be confirmed until and unless Parliament

grants Royal Assent .

Applir-etkwie era piatIctilsrty welcome from disabled people, women end mamba. of ethnic minority group.

For further information and an application form. please send a postcard bearing your name, address and reference

"WIC COMM" to. Jon Lynch, DIEE, Level S. Caxton House, 6-12 Tothal Street, London SW1H 9NA or email. pbe.teamerifee.goy.uk

Alternatively you can leave a message on the minicom answering service- 0171 273 5646 or on our answering service: 0171 273 6017

Application packs are available in a variety of formats

COMPLETED APPLICATION FORMS SHOULD BE RETURNED BY 20 AUGUST 1Q99.

THE DEPARDAENI FOR EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT IS COMMITTED TO MAKING APPOINTMENTS ON MERIT BY Rue AND OPEN PROCESSES. TAKING ACCOUNT OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES. INVes-ru11. PLO•12 EMU

ROYAL NAVY

The Naval Service is actively seeking young men and women between the ages of 16 and 32 to fill vacancies in a wide range of specialisation's. To qualify for this challenging but rewarding career it is not necessary to have formal qualifications, but you do need to pass the Naval selection process.

The benefits of a career in the Royal Navy include a competitive salary, free medical and dental treatment, social facilities and all promotion is on personal merit.

Are you ready to become a member of this team? ROYAL NA! .} .1.ND ROYAL .1/ IR/ \LS

We are equal opportunities employers under the Rare Relations Act and welcome enquiries and applications from d elbek

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MM. NAVY

The Royal Navy is looking for men and women to fill vacancies now. Name: Find out more at your local job centre Address. or send to: The Royal Navy and Royal Rustrode. Marines, Dept. EZ99029 Freepost Date of Birth GL672 Cirencester, Gloucester GL7 1 BR. No stamp needed. Telephone.

advertising code: 851

An-Nisa Society Re: Teachers

Sunday Supplementary School

We have been running a supplementary Sunday school for 14

years. The school, which is one of the most multi-cultural and

multi-racial in the country, has been run by volunteers. Over

the years it has grown in both ambition and size: we now cater

for over 140 children divided into seven classes.

Our student are given a holistic Islamic education - the aim

being to help them acquire the knowledge and skills required

of them to be exemplary and relevant members of society.

They are taught Quranic Arabic, recitation of the Holy Book, the Seerah and Islamic etiquette (adab).

Over the years the schools has provided the backbone upon

which we have built a healthy local community based on the

ethos of Islam. Most of the older graduates are now part of the

school whose primary aim continues to be the building of a

strong sense of Islamic identity among both children and parents.

As the new academic year begins we are looking for teachers

who are prepared - besides all the other important things - to

take up the challenge of making Islam accessible, relevant

and a living reality to children aged 9 years up to 14 years.

Trained teachers with experience will be given preference.

Expenses will be paid according to experience and need.

For further information/details contact

Sunday Muslim School Tel: 0208 902 6074

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36

0-News August 1999

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troductions `By marrying, a person perfects

one half of his religion....then let

him fear Allah for the other half'

(Hadith)

allinarr

Sunni Muslim Educated, unmarried, 38 yr old Sunni Muslim of Yemeni descent. 5ft 11", down to earth, unmaterialis-tic with GSOH. Enjoys walking, travelling and sports. Seeks unmaterialistic practising Muslimah with GSOH, of any nationality, aged 25-35. Divorcees welcome. 0/310001

Sunni Muslim Sunni Muslim 28 year old, 5' 5" tall. Postgraduate offi-cer. Have been in a forced arranged marriage. Seeking a sister who would like to live according to the Qur'an and Hadith, Insha'Allah. Similar height and age 18-28 preferred. Ethnicity unimportant. Revert preferred. 0/309001

Sunni Muslim London born, 30 year old liberal minded practising Sunni Muslim of Pakistani origin. Graduate profession-al. Kind and honest. GSOH. Fairly attractive. Looking for honest and caring attractive graduate moderate Muslimah, aged between 24-30 for marriage. Returnable photo appreciated. Confidentiality guaran-teed. 4/309002

Sunni Muslim Practising British-born Sunni Muslim bachelor, aged 27. Intelligent, thoughtful, sincere, kind-hearted, with GSOH. Medical/Physics graduate with well-paid secure MTO position at hospital, further studying MSc degree by Sept 99 as recommended by hospital authorities. Seeks English convert Muslimah (or born to converted parents), devoted to Islam by self-researching. Any age mutually agreeable. Parental replies/involvement also

welcome. 4/309003

his STANDING NATURE, STATUS, CASTE. RELIGION, AGE. IMMATERIAL DIVORCEES AND WIDOWS ENCOURAGED.

W306001

Muslim White English convert, aged 40, financially secure. Seeks a Muslim woman that will guide him on the right path of Islam. Age and caste unimportant but must have children. 0/302002

Muslim Professional Indian Muslim, 29, West Midlands based. Open, sincere, enjoys going out. Seeks open minded caring Muslimah, graduate, aged 23-27. Returnable photo appreciated. 0/301001

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Sunni Muslim Graduate of a traditional Islamic university, 27, Asian origin, flexible and down to earth. Seeking attractive Muslimah, 18-27, Middle Eastern/European, who must be willing to learn and practice according to Qur'an and Sunnah, for possible marriage. A photo would be much appreciated, 0/301002

SUNNI MUSLIMAH PAKISTANI BRITISH BORN 31 YR OLD, 5FT 7", EDU-CATED TO POSTGRADUATE LEVEL FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY, PLEASANT PERSONALITY. WAS INNO-CENTLY DIVORCED - NO CHILDREN. BELONGS TO FAMILY THAT HAS HIGH MORALS. SEEKS ENCOUR-AGING, SUPPORTIVE PRACTISING MUSLIM. 0/310002

Muslimah Pakistani Sunni Muslim female, aged 28, 5ft 2" tall, unmarried, West Midlands based. Educated, attrac-tive, unmaterialistic, open-minded. Seeks good look-ing educated Urdu-speaking Indian Muslim male, 5ft 7in plus, aged between 27-33 yrs, non-drinker, prefer-ably interested in Islam. Must be genuine with GSOH. Returnable photo/possible phone number appreciat-

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Muslimah Very mature unmarried 42-year old of Asian origin seeks responsible, open-minded practising Muslim man. Domesticated, quiet and loving. Speaks several languages. Age unimportant and neither is nationality or linguistic background - so long as the person is a Muslim. Prepared to live in any part of the world.

W305002

Muslimah Devout, warm hearted, adventurous European health professional. 40+, educated to postgraduate level, divorced with 2 adult children. Seeks kind, loving, educated Muslim husband, possibly aged about 45-55. Ethnic origin unimportant. Returnable photo

hers appreciated. 01305003

MUSLIMAH PATHAN, BRITISH BORN SUNNI MUSUMAH, AGED 24. GRADUATE, CARING, SINCERE, RESPONSIBLE, OF FAIR COMPLEXION. SEEKING SIMILAR PRACTISING MUSLIM OF PATHAN ORIGIN, AGED 25-32, EDUCAT-ED, GOOD TEMPERED, KIND, MATURE, CONFIDENT, FOR MARRIAGE. PHOTO PREFERRED. Q/302001 Muslimah 25 year old graduate professional based in London. 5ft 3" tall, attractive, kind, sincere, down to earth. Seeking similar Islamically minded Muslim of Pakistani origin aged between 25 to 30 years, I nsha'Allah Q/301005

Muslimah Muslimah seeks friend male/female to discover the secrets of 'tassawuf. Must be acquainted with the lives and works of Rumi, Shams, Rabia Basri, Mani, Al-Haddad, etc. The goal is 'annihilation'. 4/301003

Muslimah Pakistani British bom Sunni Muslimah, aged 28, 5ft 6" tall. Graduate, caring, mature and responsible. Seek a practising educated Muslim. Similar background pre-ferred. Must be sincere, aged 27-35. Returnable photo appreciated. 0/300003

SUNNI MUSLIMAH CANADIAN ASIAN MUSUMAH, DIVORCED WELL SET-TLED, 43 YEARS. GOOD FAMILY BACKGROUND WITH HIGH MORALS, PLEASANT PERSONALITY, NO CHIL-DREN, SEEKS RESPONSIBLE, KIND PERSON BETWEEN 4247 FOR MARRIAGE INSHA'ALLAH. Q/294002

MUSLIM

Muslim MEDICAL SPECIALIST DOCTOR WITH BUSINESS INTER- Practising Sunni Muslim, 25, caring, understanding, EST, 46 YRS, ESTABLISHED, HONEST, CARING, GEN- God fearing, and very passionate towards Deen. Seeks UINE, LOVING, VIBRANT PERSONALITY, GSOH. FLEXIBLE a practising Muslimah to share a lifetime journey (mar-AND VARIABLE INTERESTS: TRAVEL, SPORTS, DINNING, riage) on sirat al-Mustaqim leading towards the HISTORY, CULTURE, ETC. WISHES TO MEET ELEGANT, Heavens Insha'Allah. 4/301004 GOOD LOOKING FEMALE WITH LOVING AND UNDER-

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WRITE MIND

Letter from a Sufi gathering

ra

ad been invited to a gather-ng", via a friend of a friend,

and -on being told that the said Shaykh at the do was (quote) "with Shaykh Nazim" I went gladly. I had always found both the Shaykh and his followers (those I had met) to be the sane alternative to hardline fanaticism . How wrong I was, in this case.

As soon as I got into the car, for the lift to Slough and the

venue, I knew instantly that the Sister who had invited me was unhinged. She insisted that the boy driving went at about 100 miles an hour, on the motorway, and - when she took the wheel -went through every red light, say-ing "it is the end of the world" and hence safety did not matter! Her manner was manic, loud and inane chattering non-stop.

Reaching a tiny council flat, I was made to push my way into the packed room, crawling on hands and knees. The Shaykh sat on cushions while crowds semi-"worshipped" him, emotional, many weeping, and (women in the majority) praising him. More shocking to me, was that the Sister with whom I had arrived sat next to him, fondled him,

kissed his hands and rings and -most appalling of all - put her head in his lap lovingly!! Since the man was certainly not aged or unattractive (he was said to be a businessman and lawyer from Damascus) it did not seem correct behaviour. His speech was in bro-ken, heavily accented (Arabic) poor English. I had been advised that I might ask my questions, but he did not let others speak at all. He just went on and on, telling

me that he did not believe in Hijab, that (quote) "even if one slept with 1000 men" we could be saved, if we pronounced Dhikr as he told us. He said that he "made Dawa'a" in Soho, with prostitutes, and that "within 5 seconds" he could make anyone "into a Muslim". He had, he said, stormed into Churches in Europe, and they were frightened, and bolted the doors. He laughed at their "worried faces" peering out of the church windows. What are they scared of, he asked? He could make the entire globe Muslims, ha ha!

I was uneasy and suffocated in the 90 F heat and crowds, and asked to leave, (I had been assured of lifts home, whenever I chose) - I was told "Shaykh says

you must come to the function with him. I had to go to the hall, full to capacity, and forced (by the Sister) to sit at Shaykh's feet, wedged between men and him. We were told that "segregating of the sexes is wrong", also (again) Hijab. I was forced to drink cold tea from his cup, and wear a flower, despite my refusals. Drums were beating, louder and louder, men danced and sang, and many looked "high" and crazed.

Again, I tried to leave. The Sister told me that I could

not go home, and the Shaykh said "forget your husband at home" and to listen to him. I became ner-vous, when I met others who had not gone home for days, had lost jobs and were praised for it,. A BA air hostess, they boasted, had been told not to catch her flight, and only at the last minute did the Shaykh allow her, and everyone laughed, that she missed her flight briefing and had a telling off from her boss! An Iranian young doc-tor had travelled that day, from Scotland, just because Shaykh ordered him to come - for a few hours only. He told me, that his wife gave birth the day before, but had to "do as Shaykh asked".

By now feeling trapped, hun-

gry, hot and petrified, I again tried to leave. On the excuse of going to the washroom, I went to the carpark and borrowed a mobile phone, telling my hus-band to "rescue me". The sister followed me, took the phone, and spoke to my husband, in Urdu -which I luckily understood. She would not give him proper direc-tions, and wanted him to attend the gathering too. She told peo-ple: "when he comes, he cannot leave!"

In the carpark, I noticed sev-eral anxious sisters, waiting for lifts, like myself. A 18-year-old Tunisian girl, was absolutely ter-rified, as she had come for one hour only, and had been forced to sleep in the Shaykh's room, by the said sister, with only that sister asleep in a corner! She worried as to what her father would say, and said she had felt ill and wide-eyed all night. Another Bengali sister openly smoked drugs, and said she had her "head invaded" by Shaykh, and dared not escape. (He allowed her to take dope, but told her to cut down).

By the time, I finally drove home, I felt contaminated and near collapse. I admit, that much of this was the company of the obviously mentally unbalanced Sister. However, the meeting was attended by followers of Shaykh Nazim, stalls sold his writings and posters of him dominated the hall. Turbaned brothers from Peckham were much in evidence. Was this a genuine Shaykh of Shaykh Nazim? Are such practise the norm now? What is going on? If this is the face of Sufi Islam, I dread to think what the media would make of it! It seems to me as extreme, at the opposite end of the spectrum, as Wahhabism. I feel cheated and disappointed. But, mainly sad: for I had clung to the teachings of Shaykh Nazim, as an antidote of love and mercy, to the madness of the so-called fierce Muslims of today.

Malmuna Begum


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