The situation in China finally hit the CNN frontpage briefly before getting drowned out by a story about Michael Jackson’s skin color, a ’sexting’ teen, cops buying a doughnut shop, and Obama girls causing a fashion stir.

Thankfully, the beacon of balance and fairness in America – Fox News – had a small line about, “China Vows Executions for Rioters Behind Killings” (not much information there), buried underneath a story letting us know that it has not yet been clarified whether Michael Jackson will get a butter statue memorial or not (see “Jacko Butter Debate Churns“).

To find out what is going on requires some digging, and we hope to bring a recap to the events unfurling in China, and specifically how the Uyghur Muslim population there is affected.

Before continuing on to the present protests and incidents, it is important to quickly look at some of the history of the Uyghurs in China.

The Washington Post has put together a brief primer on the conflicts between China’s various ethnic groups here.  The BBC also gives a historical breakdown of the events starting from around the 1940’s. One of the primary causes for conflict is the restrictions the Chinese government have placed on the ability of Uyghur Muslims to practice their religion. All religions are subject to state control by the government, but Islam seems to have received the harshest regulations. This is partially motivated by politics as well,

This severity is a result of the association between Muslim groups and the independence movement in Xinjiang, a movement that is absolute anathema to Beijing.

BBC also notes that the policies implemented have seemed to incite an excess amount of tension that the government seems unwilling to take responsibility for,

Severe repression since the launch of a “Strike Hard” campaign in 1996 has included harsher controls on religious activity, restrictions on movement, the denial of passports and the detention of individuals suspected of support for separatists and members of their families.

This has created a climate of fear and a great deal of resentment towards the authorities and the Han Chinese. ….

In the past, Beijing has also blamed an Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement for causing unrest, although there is no evidence that this ever existed in Xinjiang.

The authorities in Beijing are unable to accept that their own policies in Xinjiang might be the cause of the conflict, and seek to blame outsiders for inciting the violence – as they do in the case of the Dalai Lama and Tibet.

Not surprisingly, the Chinese government has also tried to label the Uyghurs as terrorists, despite a lack of evidence for the assertion (from BBC),

Beijing says Uighur militants have been waging a violent campaign for an independent state by plotting bombings, sabotage and civic unrest.

Since the 9/11 attacks in the US, China has increasingly portrayed its Uighur separatists as auxiliaries of al-Qaeda.

It has accused them of receiving training and indoctrination from Islamist militants in neighbouring Afghanistan, although little public evidence has been produced in support of these claims.

More than 20 Uighurs were captured by the US military after its invasion of Afghanistan. Although they were imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for six years, they were not charged with any offence and many have now been accepted for resettlement elsewhere.

MuslimMatters also touched upon some of the crackdowns last year, noting restrictions placed upon the Muslims in Ramadan.  And while the situation is affecting the predominantly Muslim minority there, there is a group of Christian Uyghurs that are also affected.

The violence occurring now is a fallout from protests that took place in response to clashes there. According to the BBC,

The Uighurs in Urumqi were reportedly angry over an ethnic clash last month in the city of Shaoguan in southern Guangdong province.

A man there was said to have posted a message on a local website claiming six boys from Xinjiang had “raped two innocent girls”.

Police said the false claim sparked a vicious brawl between Han and Uighur ethnic groups at a factory. Two Uighurs were killed and 118 people were injured.

A Korean paper also fills in a few holes,

Demonstrations that took place two days ago in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, led to major clashes that killed over 150 and wounded an estimated 800. The situation on the ground remains serious, with demonstrators regathering despite tight guard by military and police. … Most of the victims of the bloodshed were innocent victims.

Uyghur separatists who are pursuing sedition by stroking ethnic nationalism share in the blame for the recurring bloodshed in the region, but the Chinese authorities, who blame the separatists for the government’s severe crackdown, are also at fault. It is being reported that this incident started with a fight between Han Chinese and Uyghur workers at a toy factory in Guangdong province last month. Xinhua reported that two Uyghur workers were killed and about 60 injured when Han Chinese workers were provoked by rumors that a Uyghur worker had raped a Han woman. Photos of the scene, with people standing next to the bodies, circulated on the Internet, flaming anger from the Uyghur community. Uyghurs are saying the government lowballed the casualty figure and demanded it reveal the truth. These actions provided the backdrop for the latest bloodshed.

It is being said that Uyghurs are rioting due to strong feelings of being victimized by discrimination. The Turkic and Muslim Uyghurs have a different ethnicity, culture and language from the Han Chinese. ….

Ultimately, the Uyghur incident originates with China’s policies towards ethnic minorities. Without active efforts to respect the ethnic identity of minorities and reduce economic discrimination, the unrest in Xinjiang and Tibet cannot help but repeat itself. China must now re-examine its ethnic minority policies at its source.

Radio Free Europe adds that this is only the tip of the iceberg,

The fierceness of the rioting, in which by official count more than 150 people died, points to deeper wellsprings of discontent.

“Why they are so upset at the situation is because, every day, the government brings in hundreds, thousands, of [Han] Chinese into our motherland, East Turkestan — the Xinjiang autonomous region — but at the same time our people are sitting without jobs, suffering,” says Nizam Sametov of the Uyghur U.K. Association in London.

Sametov asserts that Chinese policy is to offer jobs to Uyghurs elsewhere in China, outside the Xinjiang region, thus reducing the concentration of this ethnic group. On the other hand, in the last five decades, there has been heavy Han immigration, so that today, Uyghurs barely outnumber the immigrants. … “Because our land is very rich in minerals, oil, gas, they just keep coming, every day bringing people from inside China to our own land. They hope soon that we will be a small minority, but we won’t,” Sametov says. “It is our own land.”

How the violence started is heavily disputed. The Uyghurs claim that the police started firing upon them, and the Chinese authorities say that the Uyghurs started the violence. The Chinese government’s control of the media has not helped produce the truth in this matter either.

A witness in the Xinjiang city of Kashgar told AP there was a protest there on Monday of about 300 people but there were no clashes with police. It is still unclear who died in Urumqi and why so many were killed.The Xinjiang government blamed separatist Uighurs based abroad for orchestrating attacks on ethnic Han Chinese. But Uighur groups insisted their protest was peaceful and had fallen victim to state violence, with police firing indiscriminately on protesters in Urumqi.Dolkun Isa, a spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) in Munich, disputed the official figures, saying the protest was 10,000 strong and that 600 people were killed. He rejected reports on Xinhua that it had instigated the protests. (BBC)

The Xinjiang government said that WUC leader Rebiya Kadeer was behind it, but she has denied such accusations, comparing them to the accusations that the Dalai Lama was behind Tibetan violence.

In reaction, many of the Han Chinese took to the streets as well.

There were reports of Han mobs assaulting Muslim Uighurs throughout the city, even as helicopters hovered overhead.

Ethnic Han Chinese residents armed with makeshift weapons and vowing revenge on Uighurs were seen roaming the streets for a second day.  (VOA)

AP recaps the violence,

Thousands of Chinese troops flooded into this city Wednesday to separate feuding ethnic groups after three days of communal violence left 156 people dead, and a senior Communist Party official vowed to execute those guilty of murder in the rioting in western China. Long convoys of armored cars and green troop trucks with riot police rumbled through Urumqi … Other security forces carrying automatic rifles with bayonets formed cordons to defend Muslim neighborhoods from marauding groups of vigilantes with sticks. ….

Officials have said 156 people were killed as the Turkic-speaking Uighurs ran amok in the city, beating and stabbing the Han Chinese. The Uighurs allege that trigger-happy security forces gunned down many of the protesters, and officials have yet to give an ethnic breakdown of those killed. ….

“When the Uighurs heard the people were fired upon, parents all came out looking for their sons and daughters,” he said, adding that security forces started to “disperse them by force, then started to beat them, tear gas them and shoot them.” [This] account could not be independently confirmed.

More than 1,100 people were wounded in the violence. Dr. Yuan Hong of Urumqi People’s Hospital said most of the people treated at his facility were clubbed, while others had been cut by knives.

Ahmet was quick to rattle off a long list of grievances commonly mentioned by Uighurs. He accused the Han Chinese of discrimination and alleged that government policies were forcing them to abandon their culture, language and Islamic faith. … His neighborhood in southern Urumqi was targeted by mobs of Han Chinese who roamed the capital Tuesday seeking revenge. Ahmet’s friends had video shot by mobile phones and cameras that showed the stick-wielding Han men beating Uighurs. He pointed to blood stains on a white concrete apartment wall, where he said a Uighur was severely stabbed.

A Uighur college student who called herself Parizat added, “The men were carrying a Chinese flag. I never thought something like this would happen. We’re all Chinese citizens.”

The Uighurs accused paramilitary police of allowing the Han Chinese to attack their neighbors. But in the video, the troops appeared to be trying to block or restrain the mobs.

On Wednesday, the government warned residents against carrying weapons on the street, and most people generally complied. But there were groups of Han Chinese who tried to find soft spots in police cordons and rush into Uighur neighborhoods. ….

The ethnic hatred in Xinjiang appears to run so deep that many Uighurs won’t express sorrow for the Han Chinese who were attacked Sunday.

One of them was Dong Yuanyuan, 24, a newlywed who said she was on a bus with her husband getting ready to leave on their honeymoon. She said Uighur attackers dragged them off the bus and beat them until they were unconscious. Her husband was still missing, said the woman, who had abrasions on her face, arms and knees.

“My aunts have been going to all the hospitals to search for him. He must still be unconscious,” she told reporters who joined a government tour at the People’s Hospital.

Abdul Rehim, a Uighur with his left arm in a sling, said he was walking with his brother when a group of Han Chinese “just came out and did this to me.”

Another victim was Ma Weihong, who said she was walking home from a park with her 10-year-old son when the riot started. The boy suffered minor injuries, but the mother had a broken arm and wrist, missing teeth and head wounds.

Amidst the religious, political, and ethnic factors at play, unfortunately, it is the innocent civilians who become the victims.

Retaliation by the Han

The Huffington Post has a nice article which touches on some of the ramifications and expected outcomes of this incident,

For a few reasons, the Communist Party’s response is likely to be harsher, and even more sustained, than last year’s response to the Tibetan uprising. ….

Second, the outside world’s familiarity with Xinjiang and Uighur plight is low. The region has never been romanticized in film and literature and only a few foreigners have visited. There are no transcendent architectural wonders a la Tibet’s Potala Palace that capture Western imagination. There is no roving ambassador, no Dalai Lama, to elicit sympathy for compromised values. Therefore, the global community’s response will be muted, led by diplomats and human rights groups, rather than CNN, bloggers and an indignant mass of activists. The issue will, sadly, fade quickly from the world’s moral radar screen. The Party will have significant room to maneuver.Third, the American “war on terrorism” – replete with kangaroo military courts and torture-extracted confessions – will make it more difficult for the West defend the interests of Uighur demonstrators, whom the Party has branded “terrorists.” Yes, there are a few separatists amongst the agitators, some of whom advocate violence as a means of advancing independence. The majority, however, want equal opportunity and protection under the law, and nothing more. But American Geneva Convention violations will lead to relatively sotte voce diplomatic condemnation.

Finally, and most critically, Chinese people “fear” Uighurs more than Tibetans. The former is unfamiliar, an “alien nation.” The latter, on the other hand, is a hot tourist destination. (Tibetans practice Buddhism and their appearance is not starkly different from the Han.) The people expect their government, first and foremost, to protect the country from danger. Most mainlanders view the unknown as a threat to stability and unity, a sacred national imperative. If the Party is seen as “soft” in dealing with the uprising, it will lose credibility — even legitimacy — in the eyes of many citizens, including new generation types, perhaps the most nationalist group of all. Despite a universal belief that the “autonomous region” is an inalienable part of China, denizens of Xinjiang are regarded as outsiders. Their religion, Islam, is “foreign,” associated with violence. (Only the Hui, an assimilated and geographically scattered Muslim minority, have been accepted as “real” Chinese.) Ethnically, the Uighur do not resemble Han. Their eyes are rounder and lighter. Their skin is olive, not “yellow.” In smaller towns, the Uighur, a Turkic people, do not speak fluent Mandarin due to a culturally tone deaf, memorization-driven education system.

What’s Next?

So what will happen? The rebellion will be contained and Uighurs will continue to seethe.

To avoid adding fuel to the fire, the government will avoid extremely harsh measures – e.g., open gunfire — and keep the death count to a minimum. But make no mistake. Any fear of international opprobrium will not dampen the government’s determination to smother dissent. Under the guise of safeguarding stability, it will use coercive means to stanch future uprisings – e.g., torture, a continued tightening of digital communication that lasts for months, travel bans for Uighurs and journalists that extend into 2011, continued demolition of traditional neighborhoods and Draconian bans on community/religious congregation. The Communist Party believes “to scare the chicken, you must kill a monkey.” So it will hold high-profile show trials, covered only in Chinese publications. Some verdicts will carry the death penalty. Leaders will refuse to “negotiate” with Uighur leaders. Tension with minority populations will increase, reinforced by continued hiring discrimination and old-style, propaganda. (Today’s China Daily headline: “Locals hope for normal life after riot.”) I wish I could say the government will adopt a conciliatory approach and acknowledge the legitimacy of some grievances but primal dread of “looking weak,” exacerbated by a disinterested West, will cause tension to mount.

Mona Eltahawy also touches on a few similar points in an article as well.
See also: Slideshow of the Unrest

In the past, Beijing has also blamed an Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement for causing unrest, although there is no evidence that this ever existed in Xinjiang.

The authorities in Beijing are unable to accept that their own policies in Xinjiang might be the cause of the conflict, and seek to blame outsiders for inciting the violence – as they do in the case of the Dalai Lama and Tibet.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Notes: Important translations of words used often in this document:

Allah – God: one; infinitely: unlimited, independent, not subject to any laws within and beyond human comprehension

Haqq – (~ truth / ~ righteousness), or (~ true / ~ righteous) – depending on the grammatical nature of its use

Prophet Muhammad (PBAuh), refers to: (may the Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him)

Deen – way of life, value system established in Islam

—————————————————————————————————————

Lecture: Bahs wa Mubahisa – Argument and Debate

Lecturer: Mufti Taqi Uthmani

00:00 – The second thing he stated, “Even if Argument & Debate are for/on Haqq, abstain from Argument & Debate.”

00:10 – This (Argument & Debate) is too from among the banalities – (caused by the tongue) one of it’s great banalities.

00:18 – It is one of the great pastimes of the people. Wherever a gathering takes place and a topic arises, Argument & Debate begins. [They argue] on completely useless things, those that neither bring any benefit in this world, nor in the hereafter. On such things, Argument & Debate.

00:36 – And keep in mind that this Argument & Debate, this is such a thing, that it utterly destroys the Baatin (inner being, purity of soul) of the human being.

00:44 – There is a statement attributed to Imam Malik that states (Mufti Taqi Uthmani stated the words of Imam Malik in Arabic, followed by their Urdu Translation), Imam Malik states that, “Argument & Debate destroys the ‘light’ of knowledge.” Meaning (for example) this happens predominantly among scholars, this Argument & Debate, because every scholar thinks he knows more, and due to this, if another [scholar] states something [different] then [the first] is ready to argue. And hours are being spent in it (argument); whether the argument is oral, or as written words / writing, in it time is being spent.

01:18 – Imam Malik (Rahmatullahi-’alaih) states: [this] Debate destroys the ‘light’ of knowledge. The ‘light’ of knowledge does not remain and is lost. Oh brother, basically, (in simple, plain words), if your opinion is different from another person’s, state your own opinion, “This is my opinion (—).” Listen to what the other person has to say, and if you understand what he has to say, accept it. And if you don’t understand, then say, “I didn’t understand what you said”, and (the two people separate ways on good terms, maintaining that all good is from Allah); what you understand, you follow, and what I understand, I will follow. (Unintelligible). The inherent result of Argument & Debate, when two individuals argue, each individual wishes that he should dominate [the argument]. ‘My argument should remain dominant,’ and he remains concerned in defeating his opponent. He (the arguer) then fails to differentiate the boundaries of Haqq (~ truth) from those of Baatil (~ falsehood). By whatever means, the opponent should be defeated – this idea then takes root.

02:17 – And sometimes Argument & Debate occurs over useless matters. (Unintelligible) – the khalifah (follower/student) of [unintelligible - (someone)] stated that even if I am on Haqq and am stating the complete truth, and the other person is stating that which is wrong, even then do not engage in Argument & Debate. From your personal perspective, whatever you have come to understand, state that. And if you (the other person) come to understand that as well, then accept it, and if you do not understand, then (each individual’s efforts are to his own).

02:45 – This idea extends to such an extent that look, Surah Al-Kaafiroon (the disbelievers – Qur’an, Chapter 109), that you and all of us recite in our prayers, this [Surah / chapter] was revealed for just such a purpose. That the Prophet Muhammad (PBAuh), said that his message of Tawheed (doctrine of Oneness of Allah), was stated completely and thoroughly to the Kuffar of Makkah (the disbelievers of Mecca, Saudi Arabia) and the proofs for it and everything related to it had been explained [to them].

03:15 – Now the circumstances arose for Argument & Debate. (People now argued and debated with the Holy Prophet PBAuh) – and so due to [this event], this Surah (Qur’an – chapter 109) was revealed.

03:24 – (Mufti Taqi Uthmani recited verses 1-2, and 4-5 of Chapter 109) meaning (approximately) – ‘O Disbelievers, listen! That which you worship, I will not worship it, and you don’t worship Him that I worship, and what is it (Mufti Taqi Uthmani recited the 6th and last verse of Chapter 109) – to you is your Deen, and to me is my Deen. Meaning that I (Prophet Muhammad) don’t desire to Argue & Debate with you (disbelievers of Makkah). The proofs of Haqq, I (Prophet Muhammad) have made clear, told to you, have had you hear them, and have had you understand them. If you (Disbelievers of Makkah) choose to accept it (The Prophet’s message of Tawheed), then so be it, (for your benefit and your guidance). Additional, useless Argument & Debate is neither your right nor my right, (Mufti Taqi Uthmani again recited the 6th and last verse of Chapter 109) thus – To you is your Deen, and to me is my Deen. Even regarding those in a state of Kufr (disbelief) of Islam, Allah has stated that just tell them this (last verse of Chapter 109).

04:22 – And I (Mufti Taqi Uthmani) say that I don’t quarrel nor do I participate in Argument & Debate. When regarding [even the] disbelievers of Islam, such a statement has been made (last verse of chapter 109), then regarding other matters the system of Argument & Debate remains alive among us, May Allah protect us, this is just a way of damaging the Baatin (inner being, purity of soul).

04:42 – If something needs to be said, then (do it in such a way) and say it in a way such as desiring to seek the truth. With the genuine desire to seek knowledge, speak to the other person, state your own position [on a matter], listen to the other person’s position, if you understand it, accept it, if you don’t understand it, then leave it be, that’s it. Don’t argue.

05:00 – People [keep sending] to me, I don’t know, morning and evening, telephone [messages], letters, and (emails), that, “Sahab, I get into an argument with so and so person, and [he] delivers a certain proof. What reply (rebuttal) should I present in [return]”. So you [all] tell me, if such a system [of argument and rebuttal] remains in place, that the other person delivers a proof, then you ask me for a rebuttal and present it to him, then he (states another proof [or reply to your rebuttal of his proof]), then you ask me again [and so on and so forth]. What (kind of a system is this)? The straight of it is that Argument & Debate, just don’t do it at all. What you know to be Haqq, state it once, and if the other person accepts, (unintelligible) or doesn’t accept, [idiom – to you is whatever you know and understand]. What (each) has come to understand, that is what they should accept. There is no need to move past this point [to additional argumentation].

05:44 – Take the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (PBAuh), that, “You are truthful, you are on Haqq, even then, don’t participate in Argument & Debate.” This became a veritable talent [avoiding argumentation] of his; an incredible talent. [He participated] in intellectual debate [with a scholar] and [had the talent to] give the other person (leeway). This skill [of reserved argumentation] began to be known as [a veritable] talent [in its own right].

06:11 – (Mufti Taqi Uthmani mentioned the names of some of his teachers at Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband who have since passed on, may Allah increase their ranks in the Aakhirah), so at the time, Hadhrat (one of his teachers) had a great passion, regarding the deviant sects / [groups], in intellectual debates with them. And for a period of time, he kept up his system of intellectual debates with them. And when he used to go [to debate with them] he used to really defeat them [in their arguments]. Allah had blessed him with the gift of eloquent speech. But after some time, Hadhrat stated himself, “After that [period of debating], my heart turned away from this [debating], it turned away so much, that now, in no way am I prepared to participate in intellectual debates with anyone. [This is] due to the fact that whenever I used to debate, I would feel a [spiritual] darkness in my heart. Debating would cause a [spiritual] darkness in my heart.”

06:58 – So, due to this, (unintelligible) (Hadhrat himself) did not [debate anymore] to whatever degree was possible, and in addition he used to turn others away from [debating] as well; that there is no benefit in this (intellectual debating). Yes, once or twice, when the need arose, and the issue of clarification of Haqq [was at stake], so that was a different matter altogether, but making this [debating] a matter of course is not appropriate. [And when] its not appropriate for scholars, then why would it be alright for the average person [who is not an Islamic scholar]? Debating on matters of Deen, this is all useless talk.

07:27 – Akbar Ilahbadi (may Allah have mercy on him), who is a famous Urdu poet, he stated a great poem, regarding this Argument & Debate, he states, “Religious argumentation, I have never done – religious argumentation I never did, nor a useless mind did I possess.” This religious argumentation, this should be done by he who has a useless mind. So, “religious argumentation I never did, nor a useless mind did I possess.” So, each person should adhere to this idea. Yes, if there is some matter that you do not understand, then you can ask someone you know. If you are not understanding something, then you can find out from him, taking the position of a student of Haqq, but don’t delve into Argument & Debate.

08:18 – Hadhrat (a respectful formality referring to one of the teachers – of Mufti Taqi Uthmani himself, or of the past) states regarding this, regarding a Hadith (in this case, a saying of the Prophet Muhammad (PBAuh), that we find out from this [hadith] that from Argument & Debate, (spiritual) darkness comes into being, because the incompleteness of Emaan (strength of conviction in Tawheed) is (spiritual) tyranny, and this is exactly why you will see the people of Tareeqat (the Islamic science of spiritual enlightenment), emphatically detest Argument & Debate. The people of Tareeqat, meaning, those who follow the path of self-perfection, friends of Allah, they emphatically detest Argument & Debate.

Translator’s note: In the following account, the names of the scholars that Mufti Taqui Uthmani referred to could not be clearly heard, so the two scholars of interest have been labeled #1 and #2.

08:54 – There was a time, when regarding a certain matter, I had to write a book. There was an elder (scholar #1, ~ mentor to Mufti Taqi Uthmani, may Allah increase his ranks in [Heaven]). There was a student of that elder, and he too was an incredible scholar. So he himself said to me once, that in the (unintelligible – Mufti Taqi Uthmani referred to a certain piece of jurisprudence that had been written by the peer (scholar #2) of one of Mufti Taqi Uthmani’s elders (scholar #1)), regarding certain companions of Prophet Muhammad (PBAuh), there was some slighting (derogatory) remarks, so he (scholar #1 – elder to Mufti Taqi Uthmani) told me to write (a reply) on the topic. So I wrote it. I wrote it and then from the other side, there was a response (rebuttal). On the response, I wrote once more (a second reply). So this happened twice (reply followed by rebuttal); that once I wrote, then he replied, and so I replied once more. So when Hadhrat (scholar #1), may Allah have mercy on him, read my second reply, he wrote a note to me that (unintelligible) is still safe. And in it he stated that he had read my dissertations (in the replies), and after reading it, was happy, and made du’as (for Mufti Taqi Uthmani), “may Allah accept your efforts,” and following that, he also wrote, “Now, bury this morbid (penchant of yours for) argumentation.” “And now, bury this morbid (penchant of yours for) argumentation.”

10:19 – That now, you have wrote your last piece (in the court of Argument & Debate), and that whatever Haqq needed to be made clear, has been done. But now, lets say a reply (another reply to Mufti Taqi Uthmani’s last response) still comes, that now don’t write in reply. Due to the fact that the doors of Argument & Debate will open, and so, take this morbid (penchant) for argumentation, and bury it. So the friends of Allah vehemently despise this (Argument & Debate), because there is never any benefit. Have you ever seen anyone accept the Haqq (presented to him) in intellectual debate, in Argument & Debate. Other than a waste of time, it is nothing else. This is why (unintelligible) and the Prophet of Allah (PBAuh) has stated, “it is the sign of a mu’min (believer) that he does not delve into this (Argument & Debate).”

Translator’s Disclaimer:
To whom it may concern, this document is an English translation of a lecture in Urdu given by Scholar Mufti Taqi Uthmani of Karachi, Pakistan. I, Syed Junaid Hassan, do hereby claim that I have attempted to translate his words to the best of my knowledge and abilities and any misconception or confusion in the following document is due to my own mistakes and not those of the lecturer. Let it be known that much of the power of metaphor and esoteric concepts cannot be translated from Urdu into English, but I have made a concerted effort to transmit this information.

This document is not intended for distribution except with permission from Abu Turab, to whom I agreed to translate this lecture into English. Under no circumstances is this document to be altered except through permission by me, Syed Junaid Hassan, the translator. This is to prevent multiple versions and meanings of the same statements.

In addition, due to the quality of the sound recording, some statements could not be clearly understood and one may listen to the recording and speculate as to the actual words. The translation for such statements is thus RED in color. Likewise, any words in parenthesis with a ‘~’ before them describe an approximate translation of words in Urdu (and Arabic) that have meanings beyond their ‘~’ – bound translations. Finally, the translation has been done as close to the literal Urdu syntax as possible to maintain a close resemblance to the lecturer’s words. This is necessary because idioms and metaphors in one language, even when translated contextually into another, often carry a different meaning than intended. However, to add flow to the translation so it has a logical structure, bracketed [---] words and brief parenthetical words/phrases (—) have been added.

Just email us at info at muslimmatters dot org to sign up. Indicate area where you would like to help in.

Calling All Readers, Writers, Researchers, and Professionals

AlHamdulillaah, we at MM have built our reputation on the quality of our writing and the addressing of issues important and relevant to Muslims in the West - both popular and taboo. We aim to provide material which nourishes and refreshes the soul, raises awareness about our political and social situations, and practical Islamic methods of dealing with everyday social problems. With the Mercy of Allah, we believe that we have achieved at least some of these basic goals, and all success comes from Him. May He accept our deeds and purify our intentions, and aid us in continuing to seek His Pleasure by working for His Sake.

However, we are not content with our current state of affairs. The true Muslim seeks to excel in everything, to achieve ihsaan (perfection) in every aspect of our lives. So too do we at MM aim to increase the level of quality, production, and material that we present to our readers – but we can’t do it alone. Hence the title of this post: how can YOU help MM become bigger, better, and bolder than before?

From techies to newscasting; social, medical, and academic research; advertising and marketing; graphic designing and photojournalism… there are tons of departments in which you can contribute your skill sets and expertise to develop MM even further.

Here’s just a small taste of what we’re looking for:

IT

• Site maintenance and upgrade. Keeping the site running smoothly without glitches and improving overall access.
• Site development. What new features are available and would work well on MM? A hijri calendar widjet would be pretty spiffy!
• PHP development.

Advertising & Marketing

Spreading the word about MM. Targeting different populations in a variety of ways, through different mediums.

• Creative Designers. Graphic designers and advertising/ media specialists needed.
• Advertising Representative. A couple people who will be dedicated to reaching out and approaching relevant clients for advertisement.

Special Projects

Specialists. We are deeply interested in anyone who has a background and/or current involvement in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, social work, education, and medicine. Senior students as well as professionals are welcome to contact us, to contribute information in order to tackle ’sticky’ subjects such as mental illness, abuse (physical, mental/ verbal, sexual), homosexuality, stem cell research, etc.

Emergency Response Writers & new Associates. As many as available, dedicated to highlighting and briefly commenting on news stories, current events or blog generalists. Pls submit a sample article along with your interest.  All posts are approved by shura before publication.

French-language Writers. Insha’Allah, MM is planning to branch out and reach the French-speaking Ummah as well. French-speaking writers are needed to help develop this MM sub-site, including translation and original articles and other media content.

MM Librarians. Insha’Allah another project idea is that of having an MM library. The goal would be to compile “timeless” scholarly articles, turn them into professional PDFs, and make them available in another webpage on the site – the MM Library. MM Librarians would scour the site for articles suitable for the library, and work with the tech experts to create a snazzy and professional PDF for each article or series of articles, and add them to the Library webpage.

Click on the images below to view the original.

Original Water Colour Art, by ALeeNa

Azur, by Moulay

VASAT / mediocre, by Züleyha Sucu

Enter for Revival, by puzzleyou

Visit the MuslimMatters Flickr group to view the other entries…

—
Note: all the images presented in our Islamic Art feature are copyrighted to the original producers. Do not reproduce them without seeking their prior consent.

Parliamentarian and YouTube sensation George Galloway made time during his jam-packed tour schedule, promoting the Viva Palestina US convey, to answer Muslim Matters readers’ questions and to offer advice for activists in the US and the UK.

A note to our readers:

This interview was conducted in transit from one speaking event to another and was done from the backseat (Iesa Galloway) to the front seat (George Galloway) of a Ford Explorer. Due to this setup there are minor sound quality issues and two audio interruptions (One in the introduction and the other in question number seven). Our solution is to write the questions for our readers then allow you to hear his responses.

Q1) Please describe your first exposure to the issue of Palestine and what differentiated the person who introduced the issue to you and made his effort so effective?

Q2) How do you recommend that activists who work on the Palestinian Issue do so when speaking to people who have very little exposure to the issue or exposure only to one side?

Q3) Can you speak to the BNP (British National Party) and what Muslims in the UK should do to marginalize or counteract their influence? Is this a wise use of time and energy?

Q4) The majority of our readers are Muslim minorities in the west, are there any activities that you feel Muslims should be doing that we are not pursuing aggressively?

Q5) Many people asked if you felt that public demonstrations, rallies and marches are an effective use of time? Are there more effective ways to win friends and influence people?

Q6) Many “Religious” Muslims debate how effective or if it is even allowable to vote in the non-Muslim democratic system, can you speak to civic participation and its importance in your view?

Q7) Can you share your analysis on Obama’s address in Cairo and its significance to Palestine and to US Muslim relations?

NOTE: During this question we were interrupted and some audio was lost. In the missing audio, George Galloway mentioned Obama recognized that some Palestinians support Hamas, and in George Galloway’s view that Obama was “issuing Hamas a ticket,” the lost audio states – I am paraphrasing here – that if Hamas has support from some Palestinians in the electorate that they have to be dealt with as a representative of the people who elected them. He then mentioned that Obama compared the Palestinian people’s suffering to that of the black people in South Africa under apartheid.

Q8) As a final comment would you like to discuss Viva Palestina and its goals?

A few points, thoughts and observations:

I did not ask George Galloway any questions about his religious beliefs. I did preface the first question as follows, “To help activists learn from other’s successes please share with us how, you a non-Muslim, non-Palestinian, non-Arab, with no vested interest in Palestine have come to be such a passionate activist for Palestine?” To which he responded with audio file above, mentioning a young Palestinian who lobbied him in a local, district political office in the UK. It is apparent that George Galloway sees himself as wholeheartedly on the side of Muslims, in the several instances when asked for advice to the Muslim community’s activists he uses the word, “we.”

While we (the interviewer and the interviewee) share the same last name there is no relation between us.

About George Galloway, I found him very down to earth, in the sense that he spoke to people as his equals. He was goal oriented and business minded, yet he was still very personable. I saw him holding and kissing babies, taking photos with all who asked – he is a politician after all.

To secure the interview, I met him twice at two different events in Houston, each nearly a month apart. The first event, when I was introduced to George Galloway he said “Wal’llah you’re a Galloway?” My kneejerk thought was he has been hanging out with too many Arabs.

He was also very sharp witted. He mentioned portions of this interview and my off-the-record questions and debating during his speaking engagements. For example, before the interview I asked him if he was being overly optimistic about the significance of President Obama’s speech in Cairo. During his next public speaking event he said to the audience, while looking squarely at me, “Earlier, I was accused of being over opportunistic,” and he went on to offer similar points about the significance of Obama’s Cairo address that are recording above.

He truly knows how to work an audience. Each of George Galloway’s speaking engagements had a vastly different attendance. With each group he referenced hot topics that won him points with their particular demographic.

At one point he described himself as a “political idealist” as opposed to “other” politicians whose motivations were based on “winning elections.”

Lastly, I was struck by the audiences’ response to George Galloway. He had a sort of rock-star/sage status. This held true with the youth and the elders alike.

(download)

After seeing Food, Inc. this week, my friends and I had a collective “Alhamdulillah we are Muslim” moment.

In this culture of “what we don’t know can’t hurt us” mentality, I found this movie to be enormously eye-opening, particularly for one who is not familiar with the food industry and the impact it has on the world economy.

Food, Inc. has brought to light many issues that the average American not only doesn’t think about, but probably has no idea even occurs. Before this film, the food industry in my eyes, seemed like a simple one: make food on farms, process it in a factory and ship it to grocery stores. Simple, right? Wrong. The food industry in the United States is not only one of corruption, but it is meant to deceive and warp the mind of the consumer.

In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that’s been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won’t go bad, but we also have new strains of e coli – the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

The film discussed many aspects of the food industry which I cannot go over – I feel like I need to watch it again to digest all the information – so I will highlight a few points that resonated with me:

The Dollar Menu

Our food industry is so warped that a burger from a fast food restaurant costs less than a head of broccoli. The film mentioned that 1 in 3 people born after 2000 will be diagnosed with diabetes, and 1 in 2 for minorities. It is cheaper for a family of four to eat at McDonald’s for dinner than buying vegetables for a home cooked meal.

The health of the middle and lower class Americans is deteriorating because unhealthy food is cheaper, while good and wholesome produce will cost double the price. Nowadays, poverty plays an important role in obesity cases.

Mystery Meat (My “Alhamdulillah I’m Muslim” moment came right about here)

One of the most disturbing scenes throughout the whole film was when cameras were allowed in a major chicken company’s farm and a large beef processing plant. I warn you, if you are eating right now, stop eating.

Chickens have been re-engineered so that they grow in a period of 49 days instead of the normal three months. This causes the birds to fatten up, but their bones and muscles do not develop properly so these animals cannot walk much without collapsing due to the extra weight. Moreover these chickens are stored in huge portable-like coops that allow no sunlight in, and the farmer mentioned that none of the chickens in his coop have ever seen the light of day. These chickens are then picked up by the company, stored in cages, taken on trucks to the slaughter house, processed and then arrive in your local grocery store.

Beef, on the other hand, goes through a completely different cycle. Remember all of those e-coli outbreaks? Well, this will explain how e-coli got into spinach.

The plants that contain large groups of cows (in the thousands) do not feed their cows grass, rather they feed them corn. Cows were not created to consume corn so there are numerous repercussions. Firstly, since these cows are not taken out to graze, the e-coli remains in their system which would normally be flushed out by the consumption and digestion of grass. Alhamdulillah, Allah created these animals with a perfect diet. Secondly, these cows are kept in fenced areas and are ankle deep in their own feces which spreads this e-coli even more. Again, grazing the cows plays an important role because the feces of the cows acts as a fertilizer for the land.

The e-coli-ridden feces then reaches the hide of these animals and in the process of being slaughtered, workers and other cows come in contact with e-coli, spreading it even more. Finally, since e-coli does not die in water, it is spread through the water to other farms and locations – and somehow ends up in spinach and peanut butter.

Big companies, instead of taking up the simple solution of allowing the cows to graze, came up with an “ingenious” method to rid them of e-coli: they rinse this meat with ammonia before processing it. Yes, ammonia.

Furthermore, it was stated that one hamburger patty contains on average meat from 1000 different cow parts. Something to think about the next time we pass by a fast food joint.

The Islamic Version

Alhamdulillah for Islam: our lifestyle guidelines come from Allah azza wa jal Himself and from His Messenger sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam. Throughout this film, I kept seeing how these issues could be easily solved through our deen.

Allah azza wa jal tells us:

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ كُلُوا مِمَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا

“O mankind! eat of that which is lawful and good on the earth.” (2:168)

He says in another ayah:

كُلُوا مِنَ الطَّيِّبَاتِ وَاعْمَلُوا صَالِحًا ۖ إِنِّي بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ عَلِيمٌ

Eat from that which is good and do righteous deeds. For I, with all that you do, am All Knowing. (23:51)

Eating healthy and doing good deeds are mentioned side by side by Allah ta’ala, showing how they are connected and related. It is important for us as Muslims to eat healthy, pure and good food. Allah ta’ala describes this food as “tayyiban”, which literally means good and beautiful. “Tayyib” food is that which looks good, tastes good and it IS good (meaning healthy). All three conditions must be met to be considered a “Tayyib” food. Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullah goes to the extent of saying that it is wrong for a person to eat something that they know is unhealthy for them.

Allah azza wa jal also states,

يَا بَنِي آدَمَ خُذُوا زِينَتَكُمْ عِنْدَ كُلِّ مَسْجِدٍ وَكُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا وَلَا تُسْرِفُوا ۚ إِنَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُسْرِفِينَ

“O children of Adam, take your adornment at every masjid, and eat and drink, but be not excessive. Indeed, He likes not those who commit excess.” (7:32)

The word for excessive here is ‘israaf’ and israaf not only means to be excessive, but it means to waste and be extravagant.

Imam ibnul Qayyim rahimahullah mentions two extremes that can be defined as ‘israaf’ in eating:

1) Firstly, the person will not follow the verse which says to “eat and drink”; they will under eat and constantly be in a state of malnutrition and starvation. This diet brings about sickness and prevents health.

2) Secondly, the person will overeat and go beyond what the limit of what is normal. The Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam taught us, “there is no worse vessel for the son of Aadam to fill than his stomach, but if he must fill it, the let him allow one-third for food, one-third for drink, and one-third for air.” (Saheeh, Ahmad) This extreme also brings about sickness and prevents health.

The Muslim must avoid these two ways of doing israaf, and remain balanced in their diet–without overeating or under eating.

What can YOU do

After dropping all of that information on us, the makers of Food, Inc. gave the viewers a short list of things that they can do to stop this madness, and I’ve added a few that we as Muslims can do inshaAllah:

1) Check the labels and see if you can pronounce what you are feeding yourself and your family. Nearly 70% of all foods are GMOs (genetically modified) and the companies that produced these mutant foods are still fighting now to not have labels on their products telling customers that this product is genetically modified. The only way you can avoid these foods is to eat natural.
2) Support local farmers and growers. The film highlighted how local farmers in many states are being put out of business by these huge conglomerate companies that I personally never heard of  (Monsanto, anyone?). Many states, if not all, have farmers markets where you can buy wholesome and fresh fruits, vegetables and other produce straight from the farmers.
3) Eat Zabihah from a reliable non-commercial farm. If you are already eating Zabihah, then ask your halal meat provider where their meat comes from, or better yet, get it directly from the farm. After seeing how the animals are treated and meat is really produced in this country, I feel that we as Muslims should not even consume it–not due to a fiqh reason, but for a simple health reason as well as the fact that the creation of Allah is treated in such a horrible manner. Please see this movie if you trying to wean yourself off of non-zabihah meats.
4) If you have children in public school, try to create awareness about these issues amongst the parents and work hard to get the school systems to introduce healthy foods into these facilities. As a person who has gone through public school from kindergarten to high school, I know the horrible foods that they are feeding the kids.
5) Do you have any more ideas? Put them in the comments, or check out the take action portion of the film’s website.

I’m really not a movie person. The last time I went to a movie theater, tickets were about $5.25, so I was happy that Food, Inc. was my first movie at a theater in years. The movie is only 90 minutes and the benefits are immense. I only touched upon a couple of things that stood out to me from this film, there is much more information in the movie itself. I urge everyone to go see this film bi’ithnillah and learn what you’re really eating.

Apologies for ruining anyone’s appetite, and Allah azza wa jal knows best.

Trailer:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sadaf Farooqi

“The burka is not a religious problem, it’s a question of liberty and women’s dignity. It’s not a religious symbol, but a sign of subservience and debasement. I want to say solemnly, the burka is not welcome in France. In our country, we can’t accept women prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity. That is not our idea of freedom.” – Nicolas Sarkozy.

Here we go again. After the hue and cry following the comments made by Jack Straw in 2006, another political statement made very publicly by a notable politician in Europe has sent the Muslim Ummah into a defensive global backlash and rhetoric. As for the tremendous vocal support Sarkozy’s comments have garnered, both from non-Muslims and secular-minded Muslims, it is indeed a shame, a staggeringly startling shame, for people who claim to be champions of ‘freedom’ and ‘equality’, to support any kind of ban on an individual’s choice of dress.

Whether a woman chooses to don the burka out of cultural factors or religious ones, – what difference does it make? She is making a conscious choice to clad herself in this garment. For the onlookers to assume that she was oppressed into wearing it just screams of naïveté and a purported facade of concern. Also, if the burka is restrictive and isolating, isn’t that the wearer’s prerogative? Since when is it ‘unacceptable’ for a woman to choose not to mingle with men or roam around freely sans outer garments? If that is her choice: to be home-bound, largely unidentified and covered-up; can we not let her be!?

Perhaps not being offended by one’s wife’s nude photographs being auctioned off for thousands of dollars speaks more aptly of ‘freedom’, liberty and the pièce de résistance: women’s “dignity”? Since when is it “dignified” to peel off a woman’s clothing and commoditize her body for the world to ogle and wow at as a piece of artwork? What if a woman chooses to do the absolute opposite i.e. wear layers of clothing that gives this clear message to men: “hands off”, “eyes off” and last but not least, “back off”? That is a sign of “subservience and debasement”? Subhan Allah!

British Muslim Ms. Saira Khan, who was extremely vocal of her views about the burka in the UK in 2006, and reiterated her stance this year after Nicolas Sarkozy’s comments, claims to have once tried it on and found it to be “the most horrid experience. It restricted the way I walked, what I saw, and how I interacted with the world. It took away my personality. I felt alienated and like a freak. It was hot and uncomfortable, and I was unable to see behind me, exchange a smile with people, or shake hands.”

There are many other dresses that are equally, if not more, uncomfortable for woman to wear; that never stopped them from wearing them, did it? Be it the hideous combination of garish angel-wings, gaudy underwear and monstrous boots that starved, underweight, so-called ‘icons’ of fashion strut on the catwalk amid scores of cameras (where are the champions of women’s dignity now? Oh sorry, they’re probably drooling too profusely to be able to talk!), or the bandage designer dresses that fitness-freak celebrities squeeze themselves into for public events, or the voluminous swathes of fabric that Eastern women meticulously fold around their bellies every day, accompanied by a clinging excuse-for-a-blouse, to go about their domestic duties in this traditional sari, taking pains and tolerating discomfort to carry off their preferred choice of dress is something women have been doing since centuries. Trust me, donning a full-length cloak over loose, comfortable clothing and tying a piece of cloth over your face is actually much easier to carry off than those male designers’ couture creations for women, that are supposed to send us into frenzied, money-busting jaunts of retail therapy. It seems while Ms. Khan did endeavor to don the burka for a television programme, she forgot to cast off the walls of prejudice and disdain from her mind before doing it.

Whenever any person, be they the likes of Muslims like Saira Khan, or of prominent world leaders such as Nicolas Sarkozy, claims to have problems with women cladding themselves in top-to-toe religious garb that covers them completely, it is actually their own innate issues, having to do with Muslim faith, Islamic identity and assimilation into foreign society for the purpose of worldly gains, wherein lies the crux of the problem. They are not concerned about women being oppressed by men in the name of religion, restricted physically in bodily movement and outdoor recreational activities, or isolated socially by these layers of cloth, or about not being ‘equal’ and ‘free’ to do whatever they want in society. They are confused as to how other women can persistently carry off a garment which they have chosen to throw off or refuse to wear.

It is actually a major slap in their face to see Muslim women having the so-called freedom to take off their burka’s and sprint about in clothes worn by the people of their country, but choose not to; for them to have the legal and social liberty to laugh and mingle freely with men, shaking hands and cracking jokes, but choose not to; for them to have the power to exploit their feminine sexuality to garner monumental worldly gains, but choose not to. At their wits’ end, they write emotionally-charged articles and make flambouyant statements about so-called equality, freedom, dignity and liberation of women, because they can just not fathom why a woman in her right mind would choose to dress this way.

And yet, with each passing year, more and more educated, free and liberal-minded women are choosing to dress this way. Women who grew up in the culture of parties, drinking, casual dating and random sex. Women with jobs, active love-lives, careers and money. Women with loving families, husbands and/or children. Isn’t it worthy of reflection why a woman would give up so much to don a garment that the world adamantly insists on banning?

I have been wearing the burka for several years now, and over this time, have gained the friendship of an increasing number of educated, confident and devout Muslim women who dress the same way, whether in the East or the West. While its true that we made a conscious choice to start wearing this garment, what is worthy of taking note is that just deciding to wear it is not the tough part. The tough part is dealing constantly with the skepticism, silent antagonism and outright hostility that other Muslims – yes, Muslims -  show us time and again when they see us performing our daily lives in public with this garment on. A small number among them, sadly, are also those modestly-dressed sisters who themselves wear hijab, whom we mix with at parties and weddings, who can’t seem to fathom why we haven’t given up on the face-veil yet. They sometimes criticize the burka too, because according to them, much like some claims made by non-Muslims, it is not ordained anywhere in the Quran; else, they consider it sufficient to meander out of having to wear it by quoting scholars and jurists who emphasize how it is not obligatory. There are many things Muslims do for the pleasure of Allah that are not obligatory, so where’s the argument, really?

We do not want to enforce our choice of wearing burka on other Muslim women; what we would, however, appreciate is to be left alone to wear it if we have chosen to.

And don’t pity us, please. Pity the botoxed, image-obssessed teenaged girl with the eating disorder, roaming around barely clothed on the beach, wondering if the sun is highlighting her cellulite, or if her body is in anyway less than perfect for the world to judge.

Further reading: Niqabi, Interrupted by Na’ima B. Robert.

Related Posts on MM:

• Sarkozy Distracting French Public by Crusading Against Muslim Women’s Rights to Hijab
• The Forgotten Hijab Ban: “I just couldn’t take it off another time!”
• Sarkozy, Muslims, and the New France
• Hijab: Faith, Rebellion, and Identity
• Niqab (Face-Veil) in the West…
• Get that Hijab Away… Turkey’s Secularists Traumatized! (2 UPDATES)
• “War Against the Hijab”… Now Playing in Somalia

Please rate, share & comment!

No Qur’an recitation was added to the soundtrack, as the video was primarily intended for a Deaf audience. A thought: how grateful are we, the hearing, for the ability to listen to the words of Allah? One more reason to recite “Alhamdulillahi rabbil ‘alameen” with increased sincerity.