Islamic_Focus__Issue.. - Centre For International Political Studies

ISSUE 11 SEPTEMBER 2007
Editorial
S
outh Africa is experiencing trying
times. At a political level, rival
political factions within the ruling
African National Congress (ANC)
are vying against each other in the
succession race. What is at stake is
not merely who leads the ANC and
the country, but the future of our
fragile democracy. Journalists are
raising concerns about press freedom
in South Africa and the business
community is increasingly concerned
about corruption within the state,
whilst others are concerned about the
growing lack of distinction between
the state and the ruling party. As one
diplomat informed me: South Africa
is the first country that he has been
posted to where the senior civil servants
(Director-Generals) have to account
Editor-in-Chief
Hussein Solomon
Managing Editor
Isabel Potgieter
Editor
Bambanisa
Marketing and Communications
Immaculate Motsi
Contact Islamic Focus
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The opinions expressed in Islamic Focus are those
of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those
of the Centre for International Political Studies, the
University of Pretoria or the Danida.
The Centre for International Political Studies (CIPS)
is situated within the School for Social Sciences of the
University of Pretoria (UP), and is unique in South Africa
in that its constitutive units represent a richly diverse
spectrum of academic, practical, research and teaching
expertise. The head, members and research fellows of the
units actively pursue and disseminate research aimed at
capacity building by developing critical, informed human
potential, skilled in dealing with the challenges arising
from South Africa’s position on the African continent
in an increasingly globalizing world. In recent years
the Centre has shifted its focus to providing not only
academic knowledge, but also applied research to benefit
policy makers and government agencies as well as the
diplomatic community who are often tasked with assessing and acting upon international developments in a very
short period of time.
Sponsored by Danida
to the ruling party for
their actions. Increasingly
ordinary South Africans
are alienated from the
political process and
politicians
generally,
and in response are
forming radical social
movements to challenge
the hegemony of a state
that seems distant from
their needs. This rising
discontent is seen in
the increasingly violent
service delivery protests
in our volatile townships.
President Thabo Mbeki
business community? South African
Muslims have much to offer to assist
our country in this time of crisis, but
where we are engaging with some of
these issues, we are doing so on a
micro-level, in a piece-meal, reactive
and ad hoc manner. We need to
develop holistic strategies. We need to
stop bickering over pedestrian issues
amongst ourselves. We need to forge
relationships with other progressive
South African forces. We need to
defend our democracy, our society
and our economy. In doing so, we
will assist our country during these
trying times and also demonstrate that
Islam is a living religion with practical
solutions for contemporary life, not
one merely confined to mosques and
madressahs.
At the socio-economic level, we are
not doing much better. HIV/AIDS
accounted for 47 percent of the deaths
in the country last year, according to
a recent study by the South African
Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR). HIV
infections reached 5,3 million last year
and are predicted to rise to 5,8 million
by the end of 2010. While we are
facing this shocking pandemic, our
health system is in disarray. The NorthWest province, for instance, has more
than 1,700 vacant posts for health
professionals in the public sector.
Over and above the human costs,
crime, according to Business Against
Crime, is costing business in South
Africa up to R150 billion per annum.
Moreover, the International Business
Report of 2007 indicated that 84
percent of businesses were affected
by crime, and 65 percent suffered
productivity losses. There are other
costs as well. Fear of crime, may be
keeping more than 22 million tourists
from visiting South Africa, a serious
concern for the nation that is playing
host to the 2010 FIFA World Cup!
Protests against crime
As we have to confront these
challenges, what is lacking is the voice
of the Muslim community in South
Africa. Where are our ulema, our
academics, our journalists and our
In this Issue
The talent that was Taliep Petersen
Christian Jihad
Page 3
Page 9
South Africa Focus
CORD
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With Mphutlane Wa Bofelo
Ban the Quran! Which One?
F
justified the rape of lands and cultures on the basis
of Biblical injunctions, or the arguments by Afrikaner
nationalists that they have to subjugate Africans to
safeguard Euro-Christian values.
While it is true that this is the case of a rightwing,
conservative racist feeding on senseless acts of
terror by a few extremists and the general wave of
Islamophobia in the West, it is tragic that quite a
sizable amount of Muslims hold the view that the
only trajectories for the Muslim community to follow
in a Muslim minority situation is to Islamise the
whole society through Dawah (propagation), to go
into exile to a Muslim majority country, or to wage a
Jihad against ‘infidels’.
This message was also in contrast to the Quranic
injunctions calling upon Muslims to call people
towards Allah with compassion and good deeds,
admonishing religious people not to go into excesses
and extremes in their way of life, and succinctly
commanding: “Let there be no compulsion on
matters of faith.” I was equally shocked when,
on the website of the Murabitun, I came across
the statement to this effect: “We love as Allah
love and hate as Allah hates. Allah hates the Jews
passionately. We hate the Jews passionately.” Of
course, to me this Jew-hating Allah could not be the
same as the Most Merciful, Most Gracious Allah of
the Quran, nor could it be the Allah followed by my
Prophet Muhammed. I refused to believe that these
words were uttered by one of the most prominent
Sufi sheiks of our times and I still prefer to believe
that the site I was on is one of those hoax sites on
the internet.
I recall how, as part of group young radical activists
from the BCM impressed by the self-reliance message
of the Murabitun, I was shocked when one of the
prominent leaders of the Murabitun in South Africa
at that time told us, “We call them towards Allah;
if they refuse we cut their throats.” This sent a chill
down my spine. I tried hard to find the difference
between this statement and the justification that
could have been put forward by proponents of the
inquisition or the colonialists, who rationalised and
Most definitely the Quran that Gilder Wilder calls
the Meinkamf is not the same book that I follow.
The Quran that guides my life preaches the oneness
of humanity and celebrates diversity as one of signs
of Allah. And the Quran I read and follow presents
righteousness and goodness as the only criterion that
distinguishes people in the eyes of Allah. The Quran
I read commands making peace as the norm and
prescribes fighting under specific circumstances, for
particular reasons (combating injustice, establishing
ollowing an incident in which two Moroccans
and one Somali youth attacked former Muslim
and Islamic critic, Ehsan Jami, a Dutch politician
called for the banning of the Quran, calling it the
Islamic Meinkamf. “Several suras (chapters) of the
Quran call upon Muslims to oppress or kill Jews,
Christians, people of different faiths, to rape women
and use violence to establish a global Muslim state,”
wrote Gert Wilders of the Dutch Freedom Party in a
letter to a newspaper, in which he proposed that the
cause of such incidents was “the fascist Islam, the
sick ideology of Allah and Muhammad as laid down
in the Islamic Meinkamf: the Quran.”
Why I have Chosen an
By Shabnam Palesa Mohamed
A
few weeks back, I decided that
I would adopt an Nguni name,
Palesa. I shared this with a
group of enlightened academics and
activists, but was mildly surprised
to see some of them look distinctly
uncomfortable. The incident sparked
off a flurry of debate around the
concept of ‘The Other’, pluralism
and identity, and in response, I was
prompted to underscore what led to
this decision.
The first reason is that graveyards
often refuse to bury a Muslim with an
African name, unless it is changed
to an Arabic name. Added to that is
the atrocious fact that poor Muslims
are often forced to find the means to
have their loved ones buried in Muslim
graveyards at a cost they cannot
afford. Aside from the fact that I do not
think that Allah swt in all his wisdom
and compassion would refuse a soul
because it had what we decide is the
‘wrong’ name, what impression does
this inhumane attitude have on poor
or would-be Muslims?
The second reason is that an aalim,
whom I had the pleasure of engaging
ISSUE 11 SEPTEMBER 2007
with, chose not to give his beautiful
child an Arabic name. I found this quite
interesting and asked him why. He said
that his child is Muslim by virtue of
imaan and deeds. Why should he give
his child a typical Muslim name when
in the townships, Islam is perceived
as an Indian religion and with good
reason?
Finally, a month ago, I shared a
hospital ward with beautiful and
strong African sisters. We began a
fascinating discussion on religion and
culture. They said to me that whilst
there is a lot that they admire about
Islam, why is it that many Muslims are
racist and treat employees so badly.
They then asked why they would have
to change their names in order to be
considered Muslim. Frankly, context
considering, I disagree with expecting
them to make that change. Is a Muslim
only ‘good’ if s/he changes names to
suit our comfortable mindsets? I was
challenged by a sister saying that if
she could change her name to an
honourable ‘Muslim’ name, would I
change mine to an honourable African
name? My response was a resounding
yes. And that is when they honoured
justice, protecting one’s life, property, religion, and
land from oppressors, tyrants and usurpers), and
following a strict code geared at protecting the
environment, civilians, women and children and
at prioritising establishing peace and justice above
finding reasons to continue with fighting.
The problem with Wilder and others like him, within
and outside the fold of Islam, is their dismal failure
to take into cognisance the fact that verses of the
Quran relating to fighting specifically demand that
Muslims engage in fighting as a form of resistance
to tyrannical and oppressive regimes and societies
that violate the right of Muslims to practice their way
of life and/or deny any group of people their human
dignity by taking away their liberties and rights. In
their selective and literalist reading of the Quran,
they ignore the various verses of the Quran and
traditions of the Prophet that encourage dialogue
and mutual understanding as a foundation for
the peaceful coexistence of humanity. They gloss
over Quranic injunctions commanding Muslims to a
cessation of hostilities in the event that a non-Muslim
authority/nation does not encroach upon the rights
of Muslims. They ignore injunctions commanding a
Muslim majority community to deal justly with a non
Muslim minority community.
The unfortunate reality is that quite a substantial
number of Muslims do subscribe to an ahistoric, noncontextualised and literalist reading of the Quran
and the traditions of the Prophet saw, which ignores
the context of the revelation of verses dealing with the
subject of fighting and the limits and ethics placed
upon Muslims in applying these in their lives.
e
m
a
N
n
a
c
i
Afr
me with the name Palesa (Sesotho
origin), meaning flower.
My decision is an open protest against
the blatant and subtle forms of racism
that permeate society, in particular
within my Indian Muslim context. I
want to know if some people will treat
me any differently, knowing that my
name is Shabnam Palesa. Will I be
put into a little box neatly labelled
with humiliating stereotypes attached?
Will calling me Palesa make anyone
uncomfortable because my face is
Indian and my faith is Islam? If it does,
then we need to do some serious
introspection and change our attitudes
and behaviour, because God and the
world we proclaim perfection to, may
refuse to respect us and rightly so.
Rassool Snyman asked: “Would Indian
males marry a woman with a name
like Thandi and be proud, even if she
is Indian? What if she isn’t? Would
your society appreciate it; would your
mother approve; would you proudly
put it on your wedding invitation; would
you name your first born Bonginkosi
(thank God); would your old boys or
girls clubs allow it?”
What remains to be seen is whether I
will be buried in a Muslim graveyard
and if not, I’d rather be buried in
Umlazi anyway. Will you still make
duah for my soul, will you bring me
flowers? Will God neglect me because
I am located on ‘less holy’ real estate?
Will He ignore my intentions, that I am
also forming a connection, a bond
between my African name ‘Palesa’ and
‘Pales’tinian soil? Having been a part
of South Africans protesting against her
occupation and having heard what my
African brothers and sisters have said
in her support, I think not.
Sabera Gumede sealed my emphatic
decision with her realistic view. “I think
that the naming issue is quite upsetting
for those of us who would still like to
keep our Nguni names which are just
as beautiful as Arabic names. Sister
Shabnam’s example is a perfect one.
Palesa=Flower=Zahra. Even after
converting to Islam, one should not be
judged on their name, neither should
one’s name be used as a tool to judge
one’s strength of Imaan.”
South Africa Focus
Taliep Peterson
The Talent that was
Taliep Petersen
W
hile it is hard to ignore the sordid
circumstances surrounding the death of
Taliep Petersen, it is still his magnificent
musical talent and storytelling flair that will remain
in the minds of South Africans for many many years
to come. Playwright, musician, qaseeda singer,
humorist, anthropologist and historian, Taliep was
as dynamic and diverse an individual as our country
has ever seen. From his humble beginnings as an
upcoming teenage talent in Cape Town in the late
sixties, journeying from one talent competition to the
next, Taliep matured as a writer and musician during
his time as a music student in Surrey, England,
before returning to our shores to transform the
South African theatre scene forever. His teaming
up with comedic talent David Kramer in 1986 was
perhaps the defining moment of his life, with the duo
subsequently producing six highly successful stage
productions including District Six and Kat and the
Kings. The latter show toured Broadway and the
West End, where it received the coveted Sir Lawrence
Olivier award for best musical in 1999.
At the heart of Taliep’s work was a deep-seated love
for his Cape Malay roots. With his highly popular
band, Sapphyre, he recorded the album Rosa,
modern reinterpretations of traditional Malay songs,
and began a journey that continued to his last days.
He dedicated his life to sharing the beauty of Cape
Malay culture with the world and reinforcing a sense
of belong and pride amongst Muslims in the Cape.
District Six was a sterling tribute to the people of the
fabled rainbow neighbourhood where all cultures
flourished alongside a vibrant Muslim community;
however, it was the recently produced Ghoema that
was Taliep’s greatest contribution to the celebration
of Cape Malay culture and
the heritage and history of
the Cape Muslims. It was
a flavourful piece of work,
portraying the 300 year history
of the Cape Muslim with such
vividness and brilliance in
storytelling that one could not
imagine a more fitting finale
for the cultural connoisseur
that he was.
Taliep was a man of the people. Despite fame and
fortune on West End and Broadway, he would return
to his roots each New Year’s Eve to stage a variety
show for his community at the legendary Luxorama
theatre. Watching him perform was electric. And it
wasn’t just his musical talent, it was his showmanship.
Taliep could interact with and relate to his audiences
in a manner that was not just stylish, but sincere too.
He was also a devout Muslim. He would famously
break for Esha (evening prayers) during his shows
and encourage his Muslim audience members
to attend congregational prayers at the nearby
mosque. His qaseedas were particularly beautiful
and demonstrated his passion for both music and
spirituality. Taliep’s audiences were almost always
multicultural, especially since his messages were
largely universal, advocating unity and integration
in communities and the protection and preservation
of culture and heritage. In addition to remarkable
achievements in theatre and music, Taliep also
enjoyed success on television with Joltyd and Alie
Barber. He was 56 at the time of his death.
Manifestations of Sufism in South Africa
(Part One)
By Ashraf Dockrat
F
ollowing on our brief three part survey on
Sufism, in previous issues of Islamic Focus, it
may be appropriate to focus closer home and
examine manifestations of Sufism as a living tradition
in the life of the South African Muslim. Approaches
to such a study vary from the sociological and
anthropological to the phenomenological “religious
study” framework of enquiry. This article does
nothing more than describe the history of the chief
turuq/silsilah (confraternities) and make a few notes
about them. The reader is advised to look to more
detailed studies for further reading.
Early Sufis in South Africa: Sufism at the Cape
Rembrandt’s depiction of a
Mogul Miniature Illustrating
four great Sufi orders
In 1667, just 15 years after the Dutch set up base
at the Cape of Good Hope, the first Muslims settled
there. They hailed from the Dutch Asian colonies and
came in a steady stream, as either political exiles,
slaves, prisoners or fugitives, until the 19th century.
Most came from the East Indies, with some from East
Africa and India. During this period these areas had
come under the strong influence of Sufism and the
Sufi orders. Gibb and others have acknowledged
that Islam and Sufism extended its influence at the
time in Africa, India and Indonesia, across Central
Asia into Turkmenistan and China and in South
Eastern Europe. The shariah was the exoterical
manifestation of the faith and the Sufi tariqah the
esoterical. Both existed not apart or with tension,
but in an integrated fashion. The Sufi masters who
were a living embodiment of both these tendencies
provided a living example of Islamic spirituality.
The Sufi orders identified in the East Indies and
India at the time were the Qadiriyyah, Chistiyyah,
Naqshbandiyyah, Suhrawardiyyah, ‘Alawiyyah,
Sammaniyyah and Shattariyyah. The early Muslim
immigrants to the Cape brought with them the
cultural manifestations and influences of these Sufi
fraternities. Many prominent political exiles were
themselves Sufi masters and later venerated as saints
at the Cape. Their kramats (mausoleums), which are
found around the peninsular, are testimony to this.
Historians tell us that there were two Sufi masters
amongst what is regarded as the first Muslim
community at Constantia Forest. These were a
group of Malay political prisoners exiled in 1667.
Amongst them were two Shaykhs of the Qadiriyyah
Order, Tuan Mahmud al-Qadiri and Tuan ‘Abd alRahman Matebe Shah al-Qadiri. It is very likely that
the prisoners exiled here and some of the Muslim
slaves working in the forest areas would have
gathered and, in this loose community, according
to Da Costa and Davids, the “first tasawwuf rituals
(possibly of the Qadiriyyah Order) were practiced.”
By 1694, when Shaykh Yusuf of Macassar, aged 68,
came to the Cape it was “quite possible that some
practices of the Qadiriyyah Order had already taken
root,” write Da Costa and Davids. It is the illustrious
Shaykh Yusuf that established and developed Islam
in South Africa.
Continued on page 4
South Africa Focus
Continued from page 3
religious services at a time when
Islam was banned and Muslims
were not allowed to hold religious
services openly. Da Costa and
Davids have the following to say
of the Shaykh’s activities: “there
can be little doubt that as a Shaykh
or murshid of a tasawwuf Order
Shaykh Yusuf must have continued
to practice, at least with those who
came with him, the religious rites
and ceremonies associated with his
Order…what was therefore formed
at Zandvleit was a structure of
socio-religious interaction inspired
by the Tasawwuf perspective…”
Greyling states: “One of the best known of the exiles
to the Cape is Schech Yusuf from Makassar. He is
regarded by Muslims in South Africa as well as other
authorities as the founder of Islam in South Africa
as his grave at Faure is regarded as one of the Holy
places of Islam in this country.” This Sufi, Shaykh
Yusuf or more precisely Abidin Tadie Tjoessoep,
was a learned man, the master of the Khalwatiyyah
Order and the author of some fifteen works in the
field of tasawwuf in Arabic, Buganese and Malayu.
The Sufi practices of Shaykh Yusuf
laid the foundations for Sufism at
the Cape. The prayer meetings that
are held on the 7th, 40th and 100th
night after a person’s death has its
origins in this Order and are still observed at the
Cape today. Shaykh Yusuf’s shrine at Faure is held
in great veneration and he is regarded as one of the
earliest Sufis.
The 18th and 19th centuries brought a number of Sufi
masters to South Africa. Shrines were erected after
their demise in their honour and what is known as
the “Holy Circle” of shrines in the Cape peninsular is
evidence of this. The term was coined by KM Jefferys
in 1934. As editor of the Cape Naturalist, a local
publication, he writes: “Old Malay tombs make up
the Holy Circle which stretched from Robben Island
to the Kramat of Shaykh Yusuf on the Macassar
Downs…Starting at the old cemetery on the slopes
of Signal Hill, just above the quarry in Strand Street
where two saintly men were buried many years
ago, the circle continues to two graves on the top
of Signal Hill…Hence it goes onto a grave, much
revered, situated above Oude Kraal beyond Camps
Bay, and sweeps round the mountain to a Kramat
at Constantia, on the Tokai Road. From there [the
circle continues to]… the Kramat of Shayk Yusuf of
Faure on the farm Zandvleit. The circle is completed
by an old tomb on Robben Island.” While Da Costa,
himself a Sufi, dismisses this as an invention of
Jefferys and argues “that the term did not have local
Muslim origins” there is much to be said about the
veneration that the early Sufi masters enjoyed in the
Cape.
We have shown here that the early links of the Muslim
Cape with Sufism are indisputable. In a future article
we will attempt to trace the early history of Sufism in
the Durban area.
Ashraf Dockrat is from the Centre for Islamic Studies
at the University of Johannesburg
Liebbrant, in trying to describe the way Shaykh Yusuf
was received by the Muslims, writes that “he was
worshipped as a saint” and quotes a source who
writes that they “most reverentially picked up as a
holy relic his sapa or pinang (chewed betel nut)
which he spat out, after having chewed it dry.”
Banished to the farm Zandvleit (today known as
Faure), Shaykh Yusuf and other imams conducted
Football Unites
Durban Muslims
By Masood Boomgaard
A
ugust was a month of soccer for the Muslim community of Durban,
with two major competitions undertaken for the purposes of unity and
solidarity. The AMS (Association of Muslim Schools) organisation held its
annual national schools tournament at the famed Tills Crescent Grounds on
August 2, attracting 38 Muslim schools from around South Africa, as well as
participants from Botswana and Lesotho. The competition took place across five
different age divisions and involved 1200 players playing 1300 games over 4
days. Despite the mammoth task of coordinating the event, hosts Orient Islamic
School was equal to the task, with veteran soccer administrator, Faizel Vanker, at
the helm ensuring all went smoothly. “It was no easy feat, but we were extremely
pleased at how efficiently we were able to run the tournament,” said Vanker.
As many as eleven matches were played simultaneously at any given time with
all fixtures run to a central timing system. The AMS soccer tournament project
was originally conceptualised by the umbrella body as a platform to strengthen
ties between Muslim schools across the country and to entrench a sense of unity,
belonging and identity amongst Muslim youngsters. “The bond that develops
between youngsters during the tournament is something really fantastic, they
look forward to it every year,” said one official.
Later in the month the UKZ-N Westville Sports Centre was the venue for the
inaugural Palestine Cup Indoor soccer championships. Twenty-four teams from
across KwaZulu-Natal participated in the event to mark their support and solidarity
for the people of Palestine. Organisers used the tournament to raise funds for
Palestinian charities and to create awareness of the ongoing human rights
crisis in the Middle East. “This year’s event hopes to bring the people of KZ-N
together in solidarity for the people of Palestine, who presently live under poverty
and hardship, and to create unity and friendship through sport,” said organiser
ISSUE 11 SEPTEMBER 2007
Mahmood Docrat at
the official opening of
the tournament. “The
event will be a day of
remembrance for the
people of Palestine
and a day that the
people of Durban
stand
together
against injustice and
oppression around
Palistine Cup Winners - The firestarters
the world.”
Docrat also pointed out the importance of using sport as a conscientiser amongst
young people. “Soccer is an extremely popular sport in our community and if
this tournament can allow people to have a good time and leave having learnt
something positive which they can take home, then I think we’ve done well,”
he said. The opening ceremony of the tournament saw all participating players
given Palestinian flag pin badges to wear on their uniforms and a moment of
silence was observed for the casualties of the conflict in the West Bank and
Gaza. Among the charity organisations affiliated to the Palestine Cup was Islamic
Relief, an international humanitarian organisation that addresses the concerns
of poverty and malnutrition globally. One of Islamic Relief’s main bases of
operation is the Gaza Strip, where relief efforts are continually underway. “We
really commend the organisers of the Palestine Cup for their efforts to widen
the call for action in Palestine and we hope this momentum can continue,” said
Islamic Relief’s representative at the event.
Identity
South Africa Focus
Identity and Citizenship
Living as a Muslim Minority in South Africa
By Shabnam Palesa Mohamed
Racism featured strongly as part of the discussions
that followed and Sumayyah Goga, an attendee
at Cape Town’s leg, said: “I think that for many
minorities in Western countries, it is as much an issue
of economic integration as it is any other. How these
interplay and shape identities is complex. Things
like crime etc, linked to minorities can help to create
negative perceptions. But it’s important to try and
understand which way these causalities run. Are we
viewed negatively because of where we are, or are
we where we are because of how we are viewed?”
Tariq Ramadaan
T
he Tariq Ramadaan tour, hosted by The Muslim
Youth Movement of South Africa, included
public lectures addressing critical issues facing
Muslims and society in general. Workshops were
aimed at improving the capacity of Muslim students,
activists and scholars to utilise their knowledge and
skills for advocacy. The Westville campus of the
University of Natal was the venue for Al Qalam’s
lecture series, in which Ramadaan spoke about four
main issues: how do we live in a pluralistic secular
society, what are the conditions and requirements,
what do they mean and what are the challenges?
Ramadaan spoke about pluralism and secularism
being worldwide phenomena, lending reality to
the theoretical questions of identity. He also made
reference to the impact of globalisation and
consequences such as migration, changing value
systems and the fact that Muslims do not have
all the answers and, therefore, should not isolate
themselves in an exclusivist mentality within an era
of new religious visibility.
It was interesting to engage with Ramadaan’s
assertion that the basis of Islamic science is the
rule of law and not theology. The conditions of this
rule of law are also present within South Africa for
Muslims as a minority and these include equality,
equal citizenship and opportunities, equal access to
power and, through a collective memory of struggle,
a definition of nation. The audience brought forth
a stimulating discussion on representation in the
political arena and Ramadaan agreed that minority
Muslim parties are not only a weak strategy, but
again, give off an exclusivist image of ‘Muslim
struggle’ apart from mainstream societal issues. He
defined three conditions of election - competence,
integrity and accountability.
His advice to Muslims was that we should not confuse
principles of the past with models of the past, that
Muslims are not homogenous and therefore should
respect each others way of life as opposed to
judging each other, that while Arabic is the language
of the Quran, Arab culture (often characterised by
the exclusion of women from active community
participation) isn’t Islam and that Muslims could do
much to contribute to transforming the dominant
economic order as opposed to adapting to it. Goga
added: “That's not divorcing ourselves from our
Muslim identity but identifying ourselves as humans
first and foremost, and thus that we are entitled to
that which any human being is entitled to. We can
strive for what we think is right, (as can anybody
else), but we have to do this within the contexts in
which we find ourselves.”
In his understanding of South African Muslim society,
some felt that Ramadaan was remarkably well
informed while others felt that he lacked a detailed
understanding of the complexities and peculiarities
involved. However, his point was quite simple;
if we are serious about being South African, with
the identity dynamics of socio-economic, religious
and political interrelationships, then we have to
“embrace this identity as integrated law abiding
citizens of the country and contribute confidently of
our principles.” Goga commented: “In South Africa,
we have relative religious freedom and we try really
hard to be less insular and more inclusive, perhaps
because the best way to assert identity is to identify
ourselves through our daily interactions.”
Professor Tariq Ramadaan is listed by Time Magazine
as one of the world’s 100 most influential people.
He is currently President of the European think tank:
European Muslim Network (EMN) in Brussels. He is
active both at the academic and grassroots levels,
lecturing extensively throughout the world on social
justice, dialogue between civilisations and activism
in service of disempowered and marginalised
communities.
Anti-terrorism in Morocco
The need to take it to the slums
N
orth Africa is littered with a litany of Islamist
groupings. Theses include the Libyan Islamic
Fighting Group, the Tunisian Combatant
Group, the Salafist Group for Preaching and
Combat and the Armed Islamic Group to mention
but a few. Yet amidst this myriad of groupings with
differing sets of ideologies and methodologies, this
is a movement born out of the slums of Casablanca
that has received global attention, not only due to
the unprecedented increase in the frequency and
violence of their attacks, but also due to the way
the movement illustrates the sociological roots of
extremism.
In the 1970s a movement formed by a split from
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, Takfir wal-Hijra, came
into being. Propagating what has been called
‘Takfiri Salafism’, this movement differs from the rest
because of its unwillingness to engage in peaceful
and legal means to establish an Islamic state. In
Morocco, where the movement has entrenched itself
in the state-forsaken slums, the group has a further
distinguishing factor – its internalisation of the Jihad
beyond the West. In this case, the Islamist states
themselves are considered as potential targets. This
lethal combination of belief in violence and antistatism has been the primary cause of the rise of
terrorist activity in Morocco.
In a study entitled, “Morocco: Slums breed Jihad”,
Political Scientist Selma
Belaala explores how poor
rural migrants, ignored,
despised and relegated to
the margins of society, are
being drawn to the Takfiri
brand of violent jihadism.
Living in sub-human
conditions beyond the
reach of social services
such as electricity, health
care and sanitation, the
Muslims in the slums of Casablanca, having been
turned away by society, have now reciprocated
in kind. Scorning traditional institutions such as
Madrassas and state-run mosques, the residents of
these plastic and plank shantytowns have formed
Takfirist militias, which have turned their territories
into no-go-zones beyond the reach of the law.
Executions over activities such as drinking alcohol,
where militias see themselves as eradicating evil and
doing good, are rampant. With no opportunities,
education, requirements to take a wife and the
brand of outcast “Shawia from here and everywhere”
hanging on his head, a young man from the slums
who joins the movement finds respect by titles such
as “Emir” and develops a sense of community
and purpose in the face of societal disintegration.
They worship in shanty Mosques of white painted
corrugated iron around which their isolated lives
Africa Focus
revolve. This all translates into explosive
violence fuelled by an intense resentment
against the world and a sense of having
nothing to lose, which invariably leads to the kind of
violence and unwillingness to negotiate, compromise
or engage in dialogue that characterises the
ideological framework of Takfir.
Indeed, these movements do not represent a
resurgence of the purest form of Islam, as they
would have the world believe. Instead, Moroccan
Salafism represents a breakdown in traditional Islam.
In Medina, the poorest can survive by traditional
solidarity. In the slums of Casablanca, the poor
survive by embracing a destructive extremist ideology
of hatred brought about by their marginalisation from
mainstream society. In this instance, a restoration
of basic human dignity would go a long way in
stemming the flow of terrorist activity in Morocco
– a strategy that the military obsessed US ideology
seems to have overlooked.
World News
FOCUS ON ISLAM - NEWS
20/08/07: UK
Troops announce they are winning
Afghanistan war.
17/08/07: USA
Washington designates Iran’s Revolutionary
Guard a terrorist group.
19/08/07: Turkey
Turkish hijacking
ends peacefully.
14/08/07: Turkey
AK party re-nominates Abdullah
Gul for presidency.
15/08/07: Israel
Netanyahu re-elected as
Likud leader.
20/08/07: Syria
Iraq PM makes first
visit to Syria.
20/08/07: Eritrea
Eritrea rejects US terror
charge.
20/08/07: Somalia
Clan elder shot dead
in Mogadishu.
20/08/07: Somalia
Clan elder shot dead
in Mogadishu.
ISSUE 11 SEPTEMBER 2007
20/08/07: Iraq
Governor of Muthana Province
is killed by roadside bomb.
16/08/07: Iraq
Over 200 killed by suicide
bombers in north Iraq.
20/08/07: Iraq
The French Foreign
Minister is in Iraq.
10/08/07: Afghanistan
Muslim tribal leaders meet
for peace Jirga.
20/08/07: Afghanistan
Kidnapped German woman
freed in Kabul.
14/08/07: Afghanistan
Taliban frees two South
Korean hostages.
t
20/08/07: Gaza
Gaza hit by power
plant shut down.
14/08/07: Pakistan
Pakistan marks 60 years of
Independence.
17/08/07: Pakistan
Attempted suicide bombers
arrested on Pakistan’s
Independence Day.
15/08/07: Malaysia
Malaysia Central Bank a new
centre for Islamic bonds.
11/08/07: Somalia
Two prominent journalists
murdered.
13/08/07: Indonesia
Islamists urge Caliphate
Revival.
Africa Focus
Eritrea
Rejects
US Terror
Charges
Clan Elder
Shot Dead in Somalia
A
E
ritrea has responded
angrily to a threat by
Jendayi Frazer, the US
assistant secretary, to place Jenday Frazer
it on a list of state sponsors US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
of terrorism. Frazer said
that the US was considering putting the Red Sea state on the terrorist list for
allegedly funnelling weapons and aid to Somalis fighting against the US and
Ethiopian-backed Somali interim government. Asmara said that the accusation
was baseless. In July, a UN monitoring group accused Eritrea of sending large
quantities of weapons to fighters in Somalia - a charge Asmara denies.
leading clan elder in
Somalia has been shot
dead, dealing a new blow
to efforts to bring peace to the
country. Maalim Harun Maalim
Yusuf was shot twice in the head
by three armed men outside his
home in the Somali capital of
Mogadishu this month. The 63year-old had played a key role
in a government sponsored clan reconciliation meeting in July. Skirmishes
between government troops and insurgents have claimed hundreds of
lives in recent months. Tribal elders, however, are normally too revered
to be considered targets.
International Focus
The Recycling of Elites in Pakistan
The “secret” talks between Musharraf
and Benazir Bhutto
if he resigns from the military. Putting the widely
held confusion at the role of a military general in
a parliamentary democracy aside, movement on
this issue has come about solely due to political
expediency. As both Musharraf and Bhutto know, this
relinquishing of the uniform will not only decrease
Musharraf’s power, but also increase the likelihood
of his deposition if he does get elected without
the military backing that has been essential to his
political survival. It will, however, ensure Bhutto’s
return to power without impediment – a concession
Musharraf has to make if he wishes her support in
his re-election campaign.
Banazir Bhutto
G
iven the on-going political upheaval in
Pakistan, one would think that the first order
of business of the government of the day
would be to address the grievances of the Pakistani
people and serve their interests. Instead, Pakistan’s
leaders are in a desperate bid to entrench their own
positions of power through drawing on the elitist
ranks that have perverted democracy for decades.
President Pervez Musharraf has met with Benazir
Bhutto, the exiled Pakistani opposition leader and
former Prime Minister, several times in the past few
weeks. Musharraf is purportedly seeking Bhutto as
an ally in his plans to win reappointment for another
presidential term, subject to the agreement of certain
concessions.
The deal between Musharraf and Bhutto includes
changing the part of Pakistan's constitution that
currently blocks Bhutto from serving as prime
minister for a third time. In return, Bhutto has agreed
to support Musharraf in his re-election bid only if
he gives up the power to dismiss the prime minister
and to dissolve parliament and, most importantly,
ISSUE 11 SEPTEMBER 2007
Adding further pressure to the beleaguered President
is the fact that his popularity has dropped, especially
since the supreme court ended his bid to fire its chief
judge, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry; he failed in
his handling of the Red Mosque siege, which killed at
least 102 people; and the collapse of a security deal
with tribal elders on the Afghan border to contain
Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces. Taking advantage of
this and increasing US pressure, Bhutto has been
positioning herself as a champion of democracy.
Earlier this month, she
attacked Musharraf's record
of fighting extremism whilst,
in a dazzling display of
political duplicity, leaving
open the possibility of
returning to the country
while he was still president.
Benazir Bhutto, on the
other hand, blazed a trail
when she became the first
female Prime Minister in
the Muslim world when
she was elected in 1988.
She was deposed in 1990,
re-elected in 1993, and
ousted again in 1996 amid
charges of corruption and
mismanagement. Bhutto,
who leads Pakistan’s most
liberal party, the Pakistan
People’s party, now lives in self-imposed exile
in London, where she reportedly fled after the
corruption charges surfaced.
As the proposed deal has shown, both these leaders
are concerned with their own political survival and
retention of power, which has led them to seek
cooperation to increase each other’s chances of
survival. With a hereditary political elite that excludes
those outside its ranks from public service, the
current deal on the table, as political posturing in
the country has done in the past, excludes the hopes
and aspirations of the people of Pakistan. Even the
global media has fallen into this trap reporting, for
example, on what the Red Mosque incident means for
Musharraf’s career and popularity instead of more
human interest pieces that could have drawn global
attention to the plight of the Muslims in Pakistan.
Either way, Bhutto has said that she hoped to be in
Pakistan by mid-October, in time for Eid. Pakistanis
will once again have to choose between the lesser of
two evils with their democracy compromised by the
recycling of elites.
President of Pakistan - Pervez Musharraf
International Focus
A Christian Jihad ?
By Khaled Diab
Many in the west fear the threat posed by political Islam.
But there is a more ominous menace closer to home.
good measure that: “Congress could
pass a law tomorrow requiring that
all aliens from Arabic [sic] countries
leave.”
Khaled Diab
A
fter every terror attack by Islamists, fears
are raised in conservative circles about the
“Islamisation” of our culture with the presence
of hundreds of thousands of Muslims in the UK and
millions across Europe. Despite what the selective
reading of some surveys might suggest, most
western Muslims share the same liberal values as
the rest of society and radical Islam appeals only to
a small minority. Political Islam can and does pose
a threat to secular values – but in Muslim countries,
not here. In Europe, we need to look west for our
religious menaces.
As the creationism debate clearly demonstrates, the
USA is home to a well-organised and motivated
movement with intelligent designs on power. It is
becoming increasingly difficult to write off Christian
fundamentalism and other conservative Christian
groups – aka the Christian right – as some kind
of loony fringe as its agenda “Christianises” the
mainstream. It is no accident that just about every
single presidential hopeful in the US has asked God
to endorse his or her campaign.
The vision of marrying church and state and
constructing a “Christian nation” – every bit as
contrary to modern secular values as Islamism
– may still seem remote, partly thanks to the tough
constitutional protections against such an eventuality,
but it is surprisingly enduring. “We have a Biblical
duty, we are called by God to conquer this country,”
thundered Randall Terry, religious activist and founder
of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue. “We
must have a Christian nation built on God’s law, on
the Ten Commandments, no apologies.” And what
would a “Christian nation” be like to its citizens?
Well, it wouldn't be very friendly to atheists,
homosexuals, secularists, women and non-Christians.
“No, I don’t think that atheists should be considered
as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots.
This is one nation under God,” George Bush Snr
once remarked. “Aids is not just God’s punishment
for homosexuality; it is God’s punishment for the
society that tolerates homosexuality,” concluded the
late televangelist Jerry Falwell. “This vile and satanic
system will one day be utterly annihilated and
there’ll be a celebration in heaven.” This is also the
man who saw the creation of Israel in 1948 as the
greatest “single sign indicating the imminent return
of Jesus Christ.” The ongoing violence in the Middle
East – stoked by the US invasion of Iraq – was also
seen by him as part of God’s apocalyptic designs.
And how about those foreign “heathens”? According
to Ann Coulter, writing after the September 11 attacks:
“We should invade their countries, kill their leaders
and convert them to Christianity.” She added for
It would be folly to dismiss these
voices as a lunatic fringe, particularly
given the string of victories Christian
fundamentalists have scored over the
last quarter of a century or so. After
all, the current US president famously
claimed that he was told by God to
fight Al-Qaeda and invade Iraq. Even
as late in the day as 1979, few saw
Iran’s Islamic revolution coming and
Iran was wrongly viewed as a stable
and secular society by many in the
west. Could we similarly be ignoring
telltale and worrying signs from across the Atlantic?
Interestingly, while the world’s attention was drawn
to Tehran, a quieter religious revolution was set
in motion in the United States. Televangelist Pat
Robertson boasted during the 1980 election that:
“We have enough votes to run this country.” A Gallup
poll at the time seemed to give some credence to his
view: a third of American adults described themselves
as “born again”
and half believed
that the Bible
was inerrant, i.e.
perfect or above
question.
If these trends
continue and the
US
succumbs
increasingly to
its Christian right
while
Europe
secularises, what
kind of rift could
that create in transatlantic relations? Even if it does
not directly affect official policy, how about at the
grassroots: could we start seeing a more aggressive
transatlantic alliance between American Christian
extremists and the European far right? Of course,
there is always the classic argument to dismiss
worries about Christian fundamentalism: they may
be mad, but they’re not bad – at least, they don’t go
around killing people.
That is true only up to a point. Christian
fundamentalists do their violence abroad by proxy
and, in America, they are not persecuted, unlike
many of their equivalents in Muslim countries. In the
Muslim world, it took one disgruntled intellectual,
Sayyid Qutb, and one book, which he produced
while in political detention being tortured, to
transform the benign grassroots movement of the
Muslim Brotherhood as conceived by Hassan alBanna into the deadly ideology of takfir in which all
Muslim societies were declared heathen and worthy
of violence. Could this happen in Christianity?
Well, the idea that mainstream society is hedonistic
and ungodly is a common refrain among Christian
fundamentalists in America. Their earlier response,
as in the 1950s, was usually to withdraw from
society. The civil rights movement and sexual liberties
of the 1960s brought them out of hibernation. And
the subsequent liberalisation and secularisation of
society has terrified them. Some, such as anti-abortion
activists, have taken the law into their own hands. Pro-
Randall T
err
the anti- y founder of
abortion
group
Operatio
n Rescue
lifer
Paul Hill, of the
Army of God, murdered an abortion
doctor in 2003 and was executed for
his crime. “I expect a great reward in
heaven ... I look forward to glory,”
he said on the way to his death.
Could the Army of God be a precursor
of worse to come on other contentious issues as we
throw off the shackles of tradition, science takes us
into uncharted frontiers, the religious become more
embattled and the world appears to become a more
dangerous place? It is hard to say. But it raises the
important point that our obsession with Islamism in
the west is distracting us from other worrying trends,
mainly because it is dressed in a familiar skin.
We should not stigmatise or further marginalise
religious extremists, as the strident atheists seem to
be encouraging, but we should dialogue with them
and show them that their fears are exaggerated
and misplaced. “It is important that we understand
the dread and anxiety that lie at the heart of the
fundamentalist vision,” Karen Armstrong writes
in The Battle for God, “because only then will we
begin to comprehend its passionate rage, its frantic
desire to fill the void with certainty, and its conviction
of ever-encroaching evil.”
This column appeared in The Guardian Unlimited’s
Comment is Free section on 14 July 2007.
2007 K. Diab. Unless otherwise stated, all the
content is the copyright of Khaled Diab.
See Khaled Diab’s website
at www.diabolicdigest.net
International Focus
Islamists in
Indonesia Urge
Caliphate Revival
Malaysia
a Centre
for Islamic
Bonds
A
ccording to its Central Bank,
Malaysia has stated that it will
allow all banks to carry out
Islamic banking businesses in foreign
currencies, further cementing the
country’s role in Shariah financing.
The Central bank chief said in a
statement: “We want and aim to
develop Malaysia into a centre for the
organisation, distribution and trading
of sukuks (Islamic bonds) to provide
further impetus to the development of
an increasingly vibrant and progressive
bond market in Malaysia as well as in
the Asian region.” Malaysia has the
world’s largest Islamic-bond market,
accounting for about US$ 47 billion.
S
ome 100,000 Islamists met in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, this
month to press for the re-establishment of a caliphate across the
Muslim world. The Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir - which organised
the conference - said it had been the largest gathering of Muslim
activists from around the world. However, the group is illegal in many
countries and key speakers have been stopped from entering Indonesia.
A caliphate - or single state for Muslims - last existed in 1924.
Iraq’s Prime
Minister Makes
First Visit to Syria
Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki, visited Syria on the 21st
of August. Mr Maliki and Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad,
discussed ways to improve the security situation in Iraq and
means to bolster the economic links between the two countries.
Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki
The issue of Iraqi refugees was also raised as there are almost
two million refugees in Syria. This has been the Iraqi Prime
Minister's first visit to the country since he took office last year. The visit highlights the growing diplomatic ties between
the two neighbouring countries. Diplomatic relations between Syria and Iraq were only restored last year after a
period of almost 25 years.
BOOK REVIEW
By Hussein Solomon
Title: The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward – A New Approach
Co-Chairs: James A Baker, III and Lee H. Hamilton
Publisher: Vintage Books
Year: 2006
Place: New York
I
f you want to know why the current strategy of
the Bush Administration in Iraq is not working
you do not need to look to the left of the political
spectrum, to the writings of a Noam Chomsky or
a Robert Fisk. Indeed what is surprising about
the Iraq Study Group Report is that it is written by
establishment figures and that it can present such
a devastating critique of current US approaches to
Iraq. However, unlike many leftists’ critiques, which
provide no way out of the killing fields of Iraq, this
report does provide 79 cogent recommendations
that the Bush Administration would do well to heed.
experience a great deal of suffering in their daily
lives. This is borne out by the shocking finding that
an estimated 3,000 Iraqi civilians are killed every
month, and that this figure is rising. In addition, as
of December 2006, 2900 American soldiers have
been killed and a further 21,000 wounded. The
Iraq war is also bleeding the US economy, having
already cost the American taxpayer US $400 billion,
with costs escalating at US $ 8 billion per month.
Despite the input of these costs however, the report
candidly admits that the ability of the US to influence
events within Iraq is diminishing.
The Iraq Study Group owes its origins to a decision
by members of Congress – both Republican and
Democrat – on 15 March 2006 to establish a
bipartisan Iraq Study Group to review the situation
on the ground and to propose strategies for the way
forward. The study group was co-chaired by James
Baker III, who served as US Secretary of State under
President George H.W. Bush, and Lee Hamilton,
who served as a US Congressman from Indiana
for thirty-four years. During this time, Hamilton was
the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House
Committee on Foreign Relations. Over the next eight
months, members of the group met with scores of
Iraqi and American politicians, government officials,
military officers, journalists, and academics.
But Iraq does not only constitute a security nightmare
– it is a governance catastrophe as well. The report
notes that certain ministries lack the effective skills
needed for delivery to their citizens. In other cases
it is not so much the lack of skills as it is about
greed. One official interviewed by the study group
notes that official corruption in Iraq is costing the
country between US $5 billion and US $7 billion per
annum!
The report provides a pessimistic view of prospects
for success in Iraq. It notes that levels of violence
are high and growing, and that ordinary Iraqis
10 ISSUE 11 SEPTEMBER 2007
In dealing with all these challenges, the study group
proposes a holistic strategic framework, which
includes various internal and external measures.
Internally, it proposes that Iraqi forces assume greater
responsibility for security, which would enable the US to
begin moving its combat troops out of Iraq. However,
the report sees security as only one of the areas that
the Iraqi government needs to take responsibility
for. Other areas include national reconciliation
and good, responsive
governance.
On the international
Lee H Hamilton
front,
two
issues
are
noteworthy.
First, there is a tacit
acknowledgement that
one cannot separate
Iraq from other Middle
Eastern issues, and
therefore the study
group urges that the
Arab-Israeli
conflict
on a wide variety of
fronts - Lebanon, Syria
and
Israel-Palestine
– be brought to a
speedy
resolution.
James A Baker III
Second, it urges that
Washington embark
on a diplomatic offensive to build an international
consensus for stability in Iraq and the region. As part
of this diplomatic offensive the study group urges the
United States to constructively engage with Iran and
Syria, given their ability to influence events within
Iraq and their interest in avoiding chaos in Iraq.
In the final analysis this is a very sobering and incisive
analysis of the situation in Iraq with constructive
recommendations. The big question is whether
President Bush is listening?
International Focus
The Concept of Ijtihad
within Islamic Jurisprudence
BySuwita Hani Randhawa
In Arabic, the word ijtihad literally means ‘exertion’ or ‘self-endeavour’. It is derived from the Arabic word jahada, which is also the root word
for the word jihad, which means ‘to struggle’. Both terms relate to the concept of struggle, but ijtihad specifically refers to the mental struggle
to acquire profound understanding through deep study and human reasoning. As a concept within Islamic jurisprudence, ijtihad possesses
a particular legal meaning. It refers to the formation of independent judgment on a legal question through a process of interpretation of the
primary sources of Islamic law, namely the Quran and the Sunnah.
A
lthough the primary sources contain specific
legal rulings on particular issues, such as that of
marriage, divorce and inheritance, they mainly
consist of broad principles which, taken together,
represent the fundamental values and beliefs of
Islam. In other words, the primary sources do not
contain explicit sets of fixed legal rules regarding
every possible legal problem that may arise, but they
do provide the basic foundation from which Islamic
laws and legal principles are to be derived. Ijtihad
therefore refers to the process of independent legal
reasoning that is performed in relation to the Quran
and the Sunnah, in order to extract or formulate
legal rules and principles that are to be applied
to legal problems that are not directly addressed
by either one of these primary sources. As such, it
simultaneously represents a legal tool as well as a
form of legal reasoning and in this regard, it is to be
applied only in cases where a clear legal ruling does
not exist in the Quran or the Sunnah.
The importance of ijtihad lies in the way in which it
provides for the evolution of Islamic law as Muslim
societies develop within the intellectual, political,
social, and technological spheres. It can therefore
be seen as an instrument or a mechanism that allows
for the adaptation of Islamic law to the contemporary
needs and concerns of Muslims. Ijtihad is frequently
contrasted with the concept of taqlid, which literally
translates into ‘imitation’ and refers to the uncritical
acceptance of the legal opinions of the classical
Muslim jurists. In contrast to ijtihad, taqlid concerns
the formulation of legal judgments on the basis of
the accepted rulings of the various schools of Islamic
law, such as that of the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i and
Hanbali madhhabs within Sunni Islam.
A person who engages in ijtihad is known as
a mujtahid, who is usually an expert in Islamic
jurisprudence. Ijtihad is therefore a somewhat elitist
activity in that it is generally confined to scholars of
Islamic law. The need to confine ijtihad to Islamic
scholars and jurists has often been justified by the
argument that its extension beyond the province of
legal specialists would undermine the stability and
certainty of the Islamic legal order and, in turn,
would exacerbate existing divisions within the Muslim
community. In contrast, a broader view of ijtihad,
which is often associated with advocates of Islamic
modernism, perceives the concept beyond a mere
legal perspective. In this regard, ijtihad is associated
with the freedom of independent thought and critical
thinking, in not only religious-legal knowledge, but
in all forms of knowledge. Central to this view is the
emphasis on how ijtihad should also be practiced
at a personal and individual level, as it represents a
duty of all Muslims and furthermore, can contribute
towards the intellectual revival of Muslim societies.
However, there also exists the view that the practice
of ijtihad by ordinary Muslims has played a role in
the contemporary development of political Islam.
According to such a view, the ijtihad of ordinary
Muslims has served to
create violent and
militant interpretations
of
Islam
which,
although not reached
in accordance with the
principles of Islamic
jurisprudence,
has
succeeded to gain a certain
degree of acceptance
and legitimacy within the
Muslim world. A pertinent
illustration of this is Osama
bin Laden and the issuing of
his fatwas against the Saudi
and American governments.
While the exclusive nature of the practice
of ijtihad should not be overlooked, it should
however be appreciated that the political context
within which Muslim jurists operate sometimes poses
significant constraints upon their ability to exercise
independent thinking. The criticism levelled against
Muslim jurists with regards to their conservatism, such
as their inability to synthesise Islamic jurisprudence
with contemporary discourses on human rights and
democracy, are at times partially a consequence
of the manner in which the governments of their
societies maintain a tight control over the religious
establishment. The lack of freedom of expression
in some Muslim societies may therefore hinder
the capacity of Muslim jurists to independently
and innovatively interpret Islamic law. As such, the
democratisation of Muslim societies can be argued
to represent a crucial factor towards the realisation
of the full intellectual potential of ijtihad.
Beyond the national level,
ijtihad stands to benefit from
the dynamics of contemporary
times. For example, the
emergence of issues that
have come to dominate the
global agenda, such as that of
globalisation, the treatment of
minorities in countries and the
role of women, are particularly
suited to the practice of ijtihad,
particularly because such issues
are not confined only to the
non-Muslim world but are equally
relevant to the Muslim world. For
instance, with regards to the treatment
of minorities in countries, ijtihad can
contribute to the formulation of innovative legal
guidelines that can help to improve the political
and social circumstances of Muslims who are living
as minorities in non-Muslim countries. Furthermore,
the transnational nature of the contemporary world
represents an opportunity for Muslim jurists and
scholars to form international networks in order to
engage in ijtihad on a global level with fellow jurists
and scholars, from both the Muslim and non-Muslim
world, as well as with experts of other fields such as
economics, political sciences and law.
The concept of ijtihad within contemporary Islamic
jurisprudence therefore not only represents a
mechanism for legal reform within Muslim societies,
but if allowed to acquire an international dimension
and if practiced on a global scale within multiple
spheres of human knowledge, ijtihad can serve as
a means to foster critical dialogue and interaction
between the Muslim and non-Muslim world.
Issues in Islam
GREAT FEMALE SCHOLARS OF ISLAM By Hafiz Nazeem Goolam
PART 1
To date my contribution to this magazine, in respect of discussions on knowledge and wisdom, has focused on the contributions
of scholars who were all males. So I thought it refreshing and necessary to begin what I hope shall be a series of articles on a
few of the great female scholars of Islam. And who better to begin with than Hadhrat Ayesha (may Allah be pleased with her).
She was one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and, having been married at a very young age, she
enjoyed the advantage of being raised under the benevolent and inspiring care of her husband.
Her level of education
Upon marriage she started learning to read and
write and, at a very early age, was able to read the
Holy Quran. Her learning and education included
within its ambit the development of sound values, the
perfection of conduct, knowledge of the essentials
of the religion, the Shariah, the commands and
injunctions of the Prophet (pbuh) and, of course,
knowledge of the Quran. She also
acquired knowledge of history,
literature and medicine. She learnt
history and literature from her father
and medicine from the numerous
physicians of Arabia who visited
the Prophet (pbuh). In this manner
she became acquainted with the
descriptions of various diseases
and their remedies.
try to find authority in the Quran and, failing such
authority, she would then refer to the ahadeeth. If
both sources were silent on a particular matter she
would resort to personal reasoning or ijtihad. Here
are a few examples:
In respect of prescribed prayers, the Quran states:
‘Strictly observe the prayers, especially the middle
prayer, and stand up reverently before Allah’ (chapter
2, verse 238).
The
question
In respect of the authority of Hadhrat Ayesha,
it should be borne in mind that the compilation
of ahadeeth narrated by the Companions of the
Prophet (pbuh) was started by the middle of the
first century of the Islamic era. Umar ibn Abdul
Aziz, who became the khalifa in 101 AH, owed
his learning and wisdom in large measure to his
aunt Umyat. She, in turn, had been educated
by Ayesha. At the time of Umar’s caliphate, Abu
Bakr ibn Umar ibn Hazmul Ansari was the Qadi
of Medina. Umar sent a royal order to the Qadi
to collect all the ahadeeth narrated by Ayesha
and to send them to him for compilation.
Ayesha was an avid listener of
the Prophet’s sermons. Whenever
she did not understand anything,
she would consult him at the
completion of his lecture. She
would not be content until the
matter was absolutely clear to
her.
Her character
She was always generous, pious, kind-hearted and
contented. She was contented with the few material
things she possessed, a quality very few women –
irrespective of religion or race - possess nowadays
(men are, by and large, no different). In fact, she had
only one dress. Sadly, as is customary today, women
require a new outfit for every function they attend.
How very far from the way of one of the greatest
women in Islam; how very far from the way of one of
the greatest female Islamic scholars!
Hadhrat Ayesha did not like being praised but, in spite
of her modesty, she was self-respecting and highminded. In line with basic Quranic teaching, vain
talk irritated her immensely. The simultaneous love
and fear of Allah was always with her. She observed
her daily prayers as they ought to be observed and
she was very particular about the Taraweeh prayers
during the holy month of Ramadaan.
Her knowledge and wisdom
In this sphere Hadhrat Ayesha excelled not only the
ordinary women, the other wives of the Prophet and
the wives of the Prophet’s companions, but also
many of the companions themselves. It is recorded
in the ahadeeth of Tirmidhi that Abu Musa Ash’ari
once said that the companions were never presented
with a problem to which Ayesha did not present a
satisfactory solution. The Prophet’s companions
consulted her on a regular basis. It is reported in
the Musnad of Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal that “there
was no one better conversant with the ahadeeth
(traditions) of the Prophet (pbuh), with the obligatory
duties and with the chronological sequence of the
revelation of the verses of the Quran than Ayesha.”
In the same way as Mu’ad Ibn Jabal had engaged
in personal reasoning, so too would Ayesha first
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AUGUST 2007
2007
12 ISSUE 11
this line of reasoning. She said that the Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh), upon passing the bier of a Jew,
stated that “these people are crying while the dead
person is being chastised.” Ayehsa interpreted this to
mean that the chastisement and the crying are two
separate acts and the one does not cause the other.
In substantiation of her reasoning she quoted the
Quranic ayah which states that “No person would
bear the burden of the sins of another.” Among the
scholars of Islamic jurisprudence, figures no
less than Imam Shafi’I and Imam Abu Hanifa
follow the logic of Ayesha.
was:
what is meant by ‘the middle
prayer’? While Zaid ibn Thabit and Usama thought
that it refers to the noon prayer, Ayesha was of the
firm view that it referred to the afternoon (Asr) prayer.
Hers was the correct view.
As far as the interpretation of the ahadeeth was
concerned, her methodology was based on the
fundamental principle that no hadith could contradict
any verse of the Quran. On one occasion Abdullah
ibn Abbas and Abdullah ibn Umar had narrated that
the Prophet had said that when the inhabitants of
a house bewail the death of a family member, the
deceased is chastised. Ayesha refused to accept
A quite contentious issue today is whether women
should be allowed to go to the masjid to participate
in congregational prayers. What was Ayesha’s
reasoning on the matter? She said that at the time
of the Prophet (pbuh) women were permitted to
attend such prayers. However, after the passing away
of the Prophet and when the financial conditions of
certain Muslims had improved substantially, women
started putting on fineries as a result of their coming
into contact with women of other races. Ayesha said
that if the Prophet had been alive then, he would
have forbidden women from attending the masjid
(mosques).
Hafiz Nazeem Goolam is from the School of Law at
the University of South Africa.