Interrupted conversations with Django

My doggone life

Every time I have this conversation in distant Bulawayo, I ignore the din of our conversation to listen to the distinctive musical chords of Django.

She sings for the foremost canine symphony orchestra, her repertoire is legendary as to be endearing, you can only want to meet her in effusive fandom for appreciating her talent. I could have met her, but I was constrained and restrained, barred and denied that great pleasure.

Every demand fell on deaf ears, for he would have made our acquaintance was envious of her. As she sang to my ears, he seized her, the dog-napper in his element put her in the van and made to getaway. He never did for I had let out the air in his tyres as he tried to put his foot down.

The seat of his pants

Well, he did put his foot down and his rickety van welded together with bits from a scrapyard, the windshield held in place with duct tape, and everything else rattled like cymbals and drums in cacophonous disintegration. And there he was strapped to his seat far in front of the van.

A crowd gathered around to help; the accident had apparently pulled off his dungarees that he was left in his underwear. Someone dared to ask, what happened, and he sheepishly answered, he had just tried to take Django away from her friends. The patriarch and the boyfriend. The crowd booed him and freed Django, for she was loved by the neighbour and definitely not a nuisance sheepdog.

Django happily jumped about and wagged her tail, we were reunited and then in one lunge, she took a bite out of his cakes. Oh, we laughed, as he ran off, his heels touching the back of his head as he sped away. What a sport you are, Django.

Don't name the teddy bear

Emotional religious agitation

This is sometimes a minefield in which a minesweeper would be blown to smithereens. The standards and rules that govern the interpretation of religious norms or in this case whims.

So suddenly in the last few years the sensibilities of certain old Middle-Eastern religions have been so easily bruised that our modern and civilised world is dragged back to the middle-ages of hysteria and histrionics fuelled by unscrupulous leaders of thought who test their influence by inflaming the mob.

This was evidenced in the cartoon riots of last year where I wrote a series of blogs starting with one which seeks a humorous God, a God that can laugh and sometimes laughs at the delusions of puny human-beings.

Flags in wrong places?

One nation belies a readiness for controversy and contempt by having symbols of God on its flag; they condone the trampling and burning of other nation’s flags and it would be unthinkable the outrage that would be mustered if the same action is meted out on their flag.

The mob was then gathered to protest the presence of the Saudi Arabian flag amongst all other world flags painted on footballs donated to Afghan kids. One would think the anger should have been directed at the Saudis for creating a situation where the symbols of faith might be denigrated in unintended and benign circumstances.

Naming a teddy

However, nowhere has this religiosity taken on a more bizarre twist than when a teddy bear named after a child in a class which by happenstance is the name of the prophet – the teacher of that class is now in danger of a fine, corporal punishment and jail.

The charge sheet reads like we have a terrorist on the loose; insulting religion – in the 21^st Century? Showing contempt for religious beliefs – one wonders what is more contemptible the reaction or the lack of a global authority on the core elements of Islam apart from reading the biorhythms of the local imam who feels to excite his people to insurrection rather than exhort them to peaceful co-existence in a global village?

Obviously, we can ignore the sentiment that the said teacher had left the enlightenment of the West to help children in a war-torn region realise a place in our global village – but that is of no significance – enlightenment in an educational setting takes second-place to religious temperament which is never subject to logic, common-sense or reason – it is the supreme fount of discord.

Taking apologies for God

Whilst international condemnation has been made of this absurd tendency to be offended in general without being essentially committed to the real tenets of the faith, the idea that an apology can be made to assuage tension is interesting.

Someone somewhere seems to be able to take apologies for God or the prophet – it reminds me of one story in the Bible where the people took so much offence at the breaking down of the altar to their symbol of worship; reason seeped into the reckoning and the people were persuaded that if that god was so angered, the god might as well visit wrath on the offender - thereby people can still be at peace with each other and that very powerful god can show strength that would bring enemies to their knees in worship and obeisance.

It might be so easy to say that these mobs are technically taking on themselves personification of God or the prophet for the self-aggrandisement – it does nothing to promote their religion; rather it heaps opprobrium from possible adherents on their faith, beliefs, convictions, integrity and allows all to question their sanity.

The NOT dogma

What we have is a simplistic dogma codified in – see not, touch not, feel not, hear not, read not, think not, write not, draw not and speak not – obviously, this means no one gets offended and surely no progress in humanity and we recede to the stone age from whence we came – it does not augur well at all.

Are we on the path to true religion when we pander to such dark-age inquisitions masquerading as holy anger that simply is public insurrection by those too idle to do worthwhile things in their communities and for humanity at large?

Addendum

That Bible story (Judges 6:28-32) The Message version.

28 Early in the morning, the people in town were shocked to find Baal's altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it chopped down, and the prime bull burning away on the altar that had been built.

29 They kept asking, "Who did this?"

Questions and more questions, and then the answer: "Gideon son of Joash did it."

30 The men of the town demanded of Joash: "Bring out your son! He must die! Why, he tore down the Baal altar and chopped down the Asherah tree!"

31 But Joash stood up to the crowd pressing in on him, "Are you going to fight Baal's battles for him? Are you going to save him? Anyone who takes Baal's side will be dead by morning. If Baal is a god in fact, let him fight his own battles and defend his own altar."

32 They nicknamed Gideon that day Jerub-Baal because after he had torn down the Baal altar, he had said, "Let Baal fight his own battles."

My reading of this is simple, someone caused great religious offence that the adherents were ready to go out and kill the offender - reason intervened – let that religious entity fight its own battles if it feels so offended.

Sometimes, we need to let God, Mohammed, Jesus or whoever else we dare to worship fight their own battles rather than allow ourselves to become instruments of riot, death and discord.

The people are high on opium - VI

A personal Islamic excursion

From the time the cartoon saga broke onto the global scene 4 months after the initial Danish newspaper publication, I have tried to study the actions, reactions, retributions, violence and commentaries that have kept this thing running for over a month.

Having explored the context of the cartoons, my Muslim heritage and the concept of freedom of expression, I intend to bring this “The people are high on opium” series to a close with one essential topic for reflection – predicated on the sayings of Mohammed (PBUH).

Our debt to Islamic civilisation

First, I call to remembrance that Islamic/Arabic civilisation provided us with the basis of our present day Western numerals.

Also, whilst Algebra (Arabic: al-jabr) does have a long progeny, modern algebra owes its existence to works of the Muslim Persian scholar Al-Khwarizmi in 820, four centuries before it was introduced to Europe by Leonardo Fibonacci.

In fact, we owe a debt of gratitude to Islamic civilisation for developments in mathematics, ground-breaking ideas in medicine and the concepts of civil society whilst the Western world then halted the advancement of the human race in the Dark Ages. See References [1][2][3]

Carly Fiorina the then CEO of Hewlett-Packard gave a speech just after the 9/11 incident and she said this much.

“The civilization I’m talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600, which included the Ottoman Empire and the courts of Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, and enlightened rulers like Suleiman the Magnificent.

Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to this other civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage. The technology industry would not exist without the contributions of Arab mathematicians. Sufi poet-philosophers like Rumi challenged our notions of self and truth. Leaders like Suleiman contributed to our notions of tolerance and civic leadership.” [2]

The ink of a scholar

There was a time when Islamic scholarship made a whole lot of difference to civilisation as it has to humanity.

Nowhere is that admonition and call to a present-day Islamic Einstein most resounded than in one of Mohammed’s sayings.

“The ink of a scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr.” [4]

When I came upon this quote, I despaired about how some religious leaders had diverted viable Islamic resources from ink to blood and many who might have lived to become great scholars are shovelled down the path of becoming martyrs.

This saying of the prophet is further reinforced by this; "What is the best type of Jihad [struggle]?" He answered: "Speaking truth before a tyrannical ruler."  Riyadh us-Saleheen Volume 1:195 [5]

Tyranny [6] is described in terms of oppressive power or rigorous conditions imposed by an outside agency or force. That would definitely bring the Palestinian struggle under the spotlight.

The sufferings of the Palestinians is grievous indeed, but one can say more blood has been spilt in the Intifada than ink in the negotiations.

Furthermore, in the light of the atrocious insult and slur that the Danish cartoons depict, we hear the prophet say; “To overcome evil with good is good, to resist evil by evil is evil.” [4]

This saying would probably appear in any other religious book and it shows how we all probably have gone astray, being lead down the cul de sac of discord instead of the open road of enlightenment.

Resurrect the age of reason

The context of this message is simple; it is time for the age-old tradition of enlightened Islam to come back to the fore, not that of fundamentalist Islam that skews the message and creates a clash of civilisations, but that which builds upon civilisation through scholarship.

We need the emancipation of scholarship that keeps the engine of knowledge cranking forward in aid of humanity and in spite of circumstances.

In quick-fire succession, we can see that the quest for knowledge is paramount for the Muslim as it is for all humankind.

Here are other quotes attributed to the prophet.

“The acquisition of knowledge is compulsory for every Muslim, whether male or female.” [7]

I would suspect the Taliban got it radically wrong there, considering Taliban means the seeker of knowledge; as they kept females out of school.

“Religion is very easy and whoever overburdens himself in his religion will not be able to continue in that way. So you should not be extremists, but try to be near to perfection and receive the good tidings that you will be rewarded.” Sahih Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 2, Number 38 [7]

Has anyone gone back to the book to see that this pervades every strata of Islam? No better quote to state that extremism creates no perfection brings bad tidings and offers no beneficial reward.

“Worship, without knowledge, has no goodness in it and knowledge without understanding has no goodness in it. And the recitation of the Qur'an, which is riot thoughtful has no goodness in it.” [7]

I think it is time for the protesters to reconsider their strategy, we now all know that those cartoons were insulting; however, in the light if all said and done, it is unlikely that Islam has been best represented by what ensued.

If Islam is the religion of peace; would the peacemakers please step forward?

‘Nuff said!

References

[1] In praise of Islamic civilization - Carly Fiorina, CEO of Hewlett-Packard

[2] HP Carly Fiorina Speech: Technology, Business and our Way of Life: What's Next

[3] Islamic science - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[4] Creative Quotations from Mohammed (570-632)

[5] Muhammad - Wikiquote

[6] Look up - Tyranny

[7] The Pleasures of Learning - By Dr. Ibrahim B. Syed, Ph.D

[General reference] Islamic History and Civilisation, Islam in the West today

The people are high on opium - V

Still more cartoon deaths

Cut to Nigeria and the cartoon row has claimed quite a few more lives in the Muslim north and retributions in the Christian south.

We need to return to this free speech dialogue again and see what the exercise of rights entails without consideration of the possible consequences of that action and the ensuing responsibilities.

We, in the West do have democratic principles that enshrine and ensure a clutch of freedoms which includes expression, life and association amongst others.

Our secular society

Our constitutional, societal, legal and political heritage is Judeo-Christian in precept, example and context even though the separation of church and state presents Western societies as nominally secular.

The only part of contemporary Europe that has an inkling of any Islamic heritage is Spain through the Moorish occupation of Andalusia, whilst the architecture remains, Spain is still one of the most Christian-conservative countries on mainland Europe.

In general, all people of all races and religious persuasion have to subscribe to the basic secular law of the land; in Europe, neither Sharia nor Moses’ law holds any kind of precedent; no, not in European society.

It is therefore incumbent on citizens and residents to seek redress through the due process of law either criminal or civil if they are aggrieved; no matter the magnitude of hurt suffered.

Not so much an Arctic rag

However, we should look at the actions of the Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten newspaper which was founded 1871 and is generally considered Liberal-Conservative with a contemporary penchant for right-wing immigration commentary and an early Twentieth Century history that has paid lip-service to fascism, Nazism and despotic governments.

However, it would be unfair to prejudge the newspaper on those views though its opinion is generally right-wing in perspective.

In arguing for why they published the cartoons, it is understandable that people have been afraid to publish Islamic material for the fear of exciting fundamentalist backlash.

It is also commendable that the newspaper decided to open up debate on these issues through commissioning copy that resulted in the cartoon depictions.

Serious food for thought

However, in the light of prevailing events we can assess the position the newspaper took and create the following food for thought

+        With a history as theirs, this project would have done well to incense, annoy and inflame those fundamentalists

+        They commissioned material for a subject that they have no particular experience of; Denmark is hardly Islamic – for instance, do they have a religious correspondent with an Islamic background?

+        The material could have had more credibility if the publication included intellectual input from Islamic scholars on the issues they wanted to address – indeed, there is a dearth of conventional Western teaching material for the Islamic tutelage of children.

+        They underestimated the impact their material would have on their potential audience – Danish imams probably never read the newspaper but they caught on this edition.

+        They lost control of the context they were trying to convey such that others were able to hijack their message and then manipulate it for more ulterior motives – A few more dastardly and despicable cartoon depictions were added to original set to incense the global campaign of outrage.

+        They ignored the fact that every freedom of expression includes an implicit responsibility for the consequences of free-agent actions especially in a global context – How would they account for the consequent loss of life and business stemming from this freedom of expression?

+        Adherents of Islam (1.2 billions) are not a race confined to some geographical location, they are everywhere, hence the global riots – Islam is not just about the Middle-East with only 18% of the global Muslim population, and there are at least 60 million Muslims in Nigeria – 10 times the population of Denmark. See Demographics of Islam.

Responsibilities underpin our freedoms

Technically, the Danish government has no need to apologise for the antics of the newspaper, but there is no doubt that that principled stand has had more far reaching consequences beyond that Arctic backwater.

For triviality sake, I might have the right to kick around a football in my back garden, however, if in the process of that kick-about the ball breaks a window-pane in the neighbouring house – do I expressly defend my rights or quickly take responsibility?

My view is that the right to the freedom of expression is sacrosanct and must be preserved, but in the context of understanding that rights entail consequences which could at times be immeasurable and unforeseen.

This is not a call for self-censorship but the need to engage all affected parties in order to create balanced copy that can diffuse tensions that might otherwise develop.

Where we have full knowledge of the facts we can express ourselves with authority, in the absence of that; opinion should have researched, balanced and considerate attention to maintaining civility; at the minimum.

Stepping up to full responsibility

Beyond the freedom of expression mantra, it is time for Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten to begin to think about the humanitarian respite they can bring to the suffering and damage the exercise of their rights has created.

+        Implore the Prime Minister to engage in their behalf the work of apologising for the consequences of their actions

+        Create a fund to help Western-Islamic discourse

+        Find out about every individual who has died as a result of the cartoon riot and seeking to alleviate the sufferings of their survivors

+        Devote resources to helping mend the fences that have lost Danish businesses years of painstaking global business goodwill

This is very much like mending the neighbour’s window-pane after that unfortunate kick-about.

The people are high on opium - IV - Rejoinder

A reader wandered into my blogosphere and left comments that require a robust response to the obvious fact that he had not followed the thread that lead to the contents of the blog he commented on.

I intersperse his comments with my replies.

Hatred at bliss?

Should I say, Hatred at bliss? How pathetic. Should I ask whether it’s Islam you hate? Or the people practicing the religion, because your post does not directly point to what actually is your problem with your revelation.

I would not know what you mean by this, but it is obvious that you have not taken time to read my other instalments before drawing your conclusions with this.

Earlier I had commended both the pragmatism and tolerance of my grandfather and the humility of my uncle.

I do not think reading that, you would have justifiably been able to make the crude judgments you arrived at.

Using an umbrella, as you expressed yourself in your excerpt "Another instalment on my Muslim heritage when I witnessed another face of Islam that included stuttering, possessions and prophecy - as at that time - it was the strangest thing to witness."

My experiences are mine to recount

Indeed, this is a personal experience of mine; your view of my experience is patently of no significance. I recount my tale from my vantage point of close observation.

Just to educate you. A woman that chooses to wear the black veil or whatever did so at her own will especially in a community like Nigeria. I am sure you would be the first to raise your voice when it comes to Freedom of dressing?

I do not need educating in this matter; I have lived in both the North and South of Nigeria where I have seen lots of women in Purdah.

The lady mentioned was indeed free to wear whatever she wanted, but there was considerable concern when we were in mechanical workshops. Thankfully, there were no mishaps.

Health and safety issues in the West would have barred her from attending those classes without having all clothing properly bound to the body.

In no place did I condemn her dressing; in fact, I said she was both honourable and pious.

A model example for civil unrest

Religious debates have been done in an intellectual way, and have never ever caused riots in foreign exposed lands. A preacher like Ahmed Deedat, is a perfect model example to that. Ask the South Africans.

I do not know who your reference is, but I have simply stated my observations to which you really cannot draw any particular inference.

However, debate is fine, but debunking the basis of other people’s faith rather than reinforcing the validity of yours is hardly peace making. Winning the argument is not everything in religious service. [1][2] See references

I have however, heard some of his ideas bandied around by some Muslim colleagues when I was at school.

You probably have a good idea of why he was refused entry into both Nigeria and France on the basis of the possibility of causing civil unrest if he was such a perfect model.

In Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, the prevalence of epilepsy varies from approximately 0.53% to 3.7%, depending on the part of the country and its respective development and available health care facilities. Linking it with Islam and making conclusions to what you did not actually partake in, is quiet ridiculous, don’t you think? I don’t remember seeing any occurrences of such in Muslim congregations.

This is where you really have completely missed the plot. This event had nothing to do with epileptic fits. I was at a Muslim religious meeting and not just one girl went into the ‘epileptic’ fit – many did and it was very much like analadura church.

Your not having witnessed it does not mean it does not happen and there were at least 20 from my class who witnessed the events I recounted. [3] See reference.

Only two days ago, I conversed with one of my then classmates who is a friend of 20 years standing and raised these issues just to ensure my recall was true to the events.

Sharia Law ONLY for the adherents

Shariah has been hypocritically introduced in Nigerian and hence, most Nigerians are not well educated in that relation, so I don’t blame you for yet another hating judgement.

When I was in primary school in Kaduna, I attended a Sharia court and saw the proceedings. I have nothing against Sharia law for the adherents of Islam, but it should not be imposed on non-adherents, even if they live amongst Muslims.

The issue here is whether modern society has adapted to Sharia or Sharia has adapted to modernity. But it is quite within reason that some things that could have been the norm centuries ago might not sit well in our society of today.

For instance, we no more impose the death penalty in Europe - justifiable as it might seem in other parts of the world.

Kano State in Nigeria has even had the Sharia police begin to act as alternative law enforcement whilst seeking foreign aid for intelligence training. [4] See reference

Baseless attributions

Christianity also has its own wicked past, if we are using an incident to justify an umbrellic conclusion. Between 1450 to 1792 have your forgotten the massacre on "Satan worshipers" & other heretics? by Christians? Perhaps you might want to research more on that.

No, I am living in a contemporary world, trying to judge a current issue on Andalucia (AD 1492) and so on is disingenuous. I remember Al-Qaeda using that in their justification of 9/11 and other attacks.

We in this century cannot be held responsible for those events, just as the Germans of today cannot be held responsible for the actions of the Nazis in the last century.

I was talking of events I witnessed; I was not alive between 1450 and 1792, more so, this is where your poorly constructed commentary begins to show you up. [5] See reference

When you make attributions like this, you should and must provide guide references to support your assertions, commentary like this without references is poor research and not authoritative, your views can so easily be dismissed because of that lapse in quality.

I invite reasoned and researched commentary

Well it’s your blog, and you can write on whatever you feel like writing, I just taught I should add a little comment to clear things out. Religion is not at blame. The human race is evil in nature and hence each individual should be picked out singly and blamed for his/her own crime.

Indeed, it is my blog and I would write what I want to, however, next time you see a Roman numeral after any blog topic I have written, endeavour to read what precedes that blog.

In this case, it was IV. You have every right to comment on my blogs too, but doing with a lot more finesse, understanding and enlightenment.

To be kind, I have not been too impressed by your commentary, maybe next time, you will apply yourself better, but nothing in my blog singled out anyone for blame.

You lost the irony, ignored the satire and befuddled the context apart from the fact that you probably need a bit of schooling about commenting on blogs. Tips on commenting [6]

Anyway, thanks for visiting my blog and finding time to comment therein.

References

[1] The Ahmed Deedat Rebuttal Page

[2] Ahmed Deedat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[3] Religious Experience And Women Leadership In Nigerian Islam – an example of the experience I witnessed.

[4] BBC NEWS | Africa | Crackdown on Nigeria Sharia group

[5] Al-Qaeda | Still out there | Economist.com: Al-Qaeda’s references to Andulica in 1492

[6] Tom Peters - FAQs on placing comments

The people are high on opium - IV

Usher in the lady engineers

And so continues my journey down the annals of the memory of Muslim encounters beyond home.

We usually do encounter ladies taking up engineering courses especially, mechanical and civil engineering which at times is considered physical and quite manly for the fairer sex.

In Nigeria where male chauvinism can be overbearing ladies might not just be the butt of nuisance and sexist jokes, but some men would scheme to cause serious embarrassment to the ladies just to make them both uncomfortable and unwanted.

As it happens, the ladies who take up engineering are usually made of sterner stuff than puny men can throw at them.

They not only excel in academic activity, but also beat the men in craft too.

Whilst I was down in the South for the entrance examinations to secondary school, the aunt who gave me lessons was a budding Electrical engineer.

Overalls without a manicure

In polytechnic, we had a lady who rolled up her sleeves in the mechanical engineering class as she would so soon be under a car, as she would have her overalls caked with precipitation of motor oils; hands that would have a manicurist hire industrial heavy duty tools, she was gutsy.

Then in my class, as I was studying Electrical engineering, there was a lady whose demeanour was such that no one called her by name.

Rather, she had the appellation Haja – inferring she had performed the Islamic pillar of visiting Mecca. What was striking beyond her manner was her mode of dress.

She was covered all over and even wore gloves, and had a scarf whose train was just probably a few inches short of Princess Diana’s wedding train.

Protocols for a handshake

That in particular had us musing to each other, quietly; the danger of the scarf getting caught in the moving parts of the lathe our curriculum including crafting bric-a-brac out of sheet steel like bottle openers.

She never shook hands with men, but I once had the honour of having my hand touched in greeting, a rarity that exuded mutual respect.

Both ladies were lovely Muslim girls, one a tomboy and the other as pious as Mother Theresa. The former mildly secular the latter rather devout and sometimes given to serious religious debate, but both utterly reasonable.

The might of the lecturer

Lecturers in higher educational institutions in Nigeria then could be quite interesting and megalomaniacal without sanction. They could as easily mark you down subjectively as they could score you well for devoting your every waking hour to excelling in their course.

To say they were prone to jealousy if they felt you were not committed to failing all else to barely passing their vocation would be an understatement.

Beyond our tuition fees, lecturers even produced cheap and poorly produced tutorials that they charged for and sometimes set their tests verbatim out of the tutorial.

Woe art thou – if your hard-earned and meagre resources did not augment the salaries of lecturers as they prey like vampire bats on their wards.

Qurani-Biblical Mentors

However, it was lecturers engaged in religious activity that exercised the worst type of abuse of power. Whilst we are used to Christian proselytising, the Islamic version was definitely a new development.

It was not more the Jihad, but a battle of the minds, the war for the will and the fear of failure; all colluding to convert you to other faiths.

Many at school sometimes suffered temporary apostasy as one who held the key of your success and failure called on your service with impunity and left you helpless that resistance meant instant failure; the reality of understanding futility in the face of lawlessness.

One such lecturer lead a Muslim group that met on Saturday evenings sharing the word of the holy book and debating with each other about the parallels with Christianity and the superiority of observed service to quiet faith.

Spiritual Islam – eyewitness account

The whole class was invited to a feast that celebrates the revelation of the Qu’ran; we all graced the occasion as we sat outside in rows listening to the preacher reveal the gems of paradise found in joining the group.

Suddenly, a young girl seemingly had seizures, convulsed and began to stutter as someone took the role of interpreting the “revelations” from god.

By the time we knew what was going on, a good few ‘virgins’ became convulsed in this mass hysteria as we all watched with incredulity.

Never had we seen people of an Islamic persuasion display the manifestation of some form of spiritual possession and activity reminiscent of the white garment traditional Nigerian churches.

Have no hand

We left soon enough as all the leaders of the meeting had to withdraw to receive and decode the message from afar – none said anything about the event – but when we next mentioned it amongst friends – we were in stitches for hours on end.

They would definitely have had our hands cut off from the wrist if we deigned to caricature the lecturer talk less of you know who.