Juergen Wasim Frembgenl: “Unfortunately, the space for the indigenous folk, Islam is now shrinking”

Juergen Wasim Frembgen is senior curator of the oriental department of the Museum of Ethnology in Munich and associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of Munich. He is author of the book, Journey to God: Sufis and Dervishes in Islam, and himself a devotee of Sufi saints.



By Shimaila Matri Dawood
http://www.newsline.com.pk/NewsJul2009/facejuly.htm

Q: You are the curator of the oriental department at the Museum of Ethnology in Munich and private lecturer on Islamic studies at the University of Munich. As a German anthropologist, what sparked this interest in Islam – and Sufism in particular?

A: There could be several answers to your question, some are rooted in my childhood even, but first let me emphasise that I had been fascinated by Pakistan as a region of transition between South, West and Central Asia and because of the plurality of its ethnic groups and cultures. Isn’t diversity the real spice in life? My interest in devotional Islam, Sufism, and the veneration of saints began to grow gradually in the 1980s. I became curious after witnessing the intense devotional religiosity and worship at the shrines of Sufi saints in the eastern Muslim world between Iran and India, particularly in Sindh and the Punjab. Then, I started reading and studying the basic texts of Islam and of the Sufi tradition. However, it is important to mention that I did not start as a scholar of Islam, but as an anthropologist interested in the social and political history of the Northern Areas of Pakistan. I began visiting the smaller shrines of majzubs and mast babas in the Potohar region of the Punjab, as well as the larger ones of renowned Sufi saints. Finally, over the last few years, I participated in numerous melas and urs with their intense experience of the divine through all the senses. So there were these two angles of visiting minor shrines and mazars as well as attending festivals at larger shrines with their celebratory rituals, including music and devotional dance.

Q: Is Sufism – tasawwuf – an integral part of Islam?

A: In the words of the great scholar Annemarie Schimmel, Sufism has been the core of Islam, although over time this has sometimes become less apparent. Sufis are interested in the esoteric dimensions of the Quran. We observe the development of the Sufi tradition in the lifetime of the Prophet (PBUH) and the development of Sufi orders, especially between the 12th and 14th/15th centuries. It offers a chance for experiencing the divine, to find a personal relationship with God in one’s own heart, without a formalised system of mediators, as we have in the mosque-oriented versions of Islam.

Nowadays, Sufism is undergoing various transformations. For instance, there are transnational networks of Sufi orders – they are very active and also trendy right now in the West, where Buddhism is also being floated as a New Age soft package to satisfy the longing for spirituality, which the materialistic world cannot fill. But, as already noted by Sir Mohammad Iqbal, “Islam is not for the weak.” It is a system of meaning and orientation in life which is taken seriously.

Q: Why is Sufism, then, looked upon with so much suspicion by Muslims themselves?

A: There are a lot of stereotypes and preconceptions about Sufism – first of all from outside the Muslim world, from the so-called Orientalists who viewed dervishes as madmen, as colourful, bizarre and lazy dirty men, almost as lunatics. Of course, within Islam there has been since long a very similar discourse in which Sufism is viewed and judged critically. But we should also not forget that, at times, learned Sufis did become the sought-after advisors of the rulers. In fact, the image of the malang, or the dervish, with the kashkol in his hand and wearing the patchwork robe is, by and large, a marginal trait of the Sufi tradition. Generally, I would like to point out that there is a broad spectrum within Sufism. This is what I have tried to describe and analyse in my latest book.

Q: There is a perception that the West is trying to prop up Sufism as an alternative to radical Islam. Do you agree?

A: I feel generally uneasy with the dichotomous notion of the ‘West’ and the ‘East.’ We should focus more on sharing than on emphasising boundaries and differences. Thus, I observe that not only in Europe and America, but also in Pakistan there are a number of thinkers and politicians who regard the Sufi tradition as a more peaceful and liberal face of Islam – a version of Islam, so-to-speak, which is not directly involved in politics. However, this is, at least partly, an idealistic conception. We know of numerous cases in history where Sufis have been deeply involved in politics, such as in Morocco, Sudan, Iran and Pakistan. There is not always a peaceful side to Sufism – power has been and is still, executed by pirs and murshids. The pious followers of pirs have been quite active in political conflicts. Think, for example, of the Hurs of Pir Pagaro in the 19th and 20th centuries. Thus, to portray Sufism as a purely peaceful tradition is definitely too idealistic.

In Pakistan, the Sufi tradition has deeply impregnated the localised folk versions of Islam particularly in the rural areas, but also among the urban poor. Normative, orthodox Islam has flourished more in the cities and has been spread through the system of madrassas all over the country. As a museum curator who exhibits Muslim arts and crafts, many modern reformist versions of Islam seem not to offer anything in terms of aesthetics. Consider the effects of Wahhabi-related movements in South Asia and elsewhere: rural mosques with beautiful wood carvings or paintings have been razed to the ground and replaced with concrete structures, devoid of any aesthetic features or embellishments. Sufi shrines, on the contrary, are aesthetic spaces where devotees find sukun or contemplation. They often appear paradise-like with trees, water, animals, free food and a perfect space for prayer and the remembrance of God. They are inclusivist, that is to say they are places of tolerance where non-Muslims are also welcomed. Women are the most regular visitors at shrines, they generally have a strong bond with forms of popular Islam. Unfortunately, the space for this indigenous folk Islam is now shrinking.

Q: Was Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) the first Sufi, as he was the only man to have undertaken the journey to the heavens during Shab-e-Mairaj?

A: If we see Sufism as a movement of divine rapture and of love, of the discovery and development of love for God and for human beings, then this was definitely the message of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) as well. If there is no love, there is no life. In his love for God, the Prophet (PBUH) has become the insaan-e-kamil, the ‘perfect man,’ as well as an absolute role model for Muslims. Let me emphasise that Sufism allows individuality, whereby Islam otherwise focuses more on the collective, the ummah. Such a focus on society is not found to this extent in cultures of the western hemisphere. Communal prayers, Hajj, fasting and other rituals reflect collective ideas and experiences which are so important for the development of society. To become complete human beings, we have to combine the individual side with the collective of the Shariah. Both are intertwined and one should not leave this collective path as a Sufi, either.



Q: Why does the Sufi path embody a veneration of saints whereas tauheed is the main pillar of Islam?

A: I look at Sufism as a concrete religious practice from an anthropological perspective, not from that of an Islamic theologian. In my opinion the main question is: Who has the right to define Islam? The concept of tauheed means unity of God, but aren’t there several ways to reach God? The biggest challenge for Islam seems to be the accommodation of differences. From an orthodox and legalistic perspective of Islam, the veneration of Sufi saints may be bordering on shirk. But within pragmatic everyday Islam, masses of people visit the shrines and request the saints to act as mediators in conveying their wishes and needs. The saints’ power, barkat, is thought to help. This is where the Sufi tradition blends with popular Islam. Prayer is one way to get relief, but there is also the idea of wishes being fulfilled, such as receiving good luck and fortune, being healed or having fertility problems solved. Some saints have been said to cure certain diseases.

Q: Has there ever been any study undertaken which proves that miracles have been performed by Sufi saints?

A: Miracle stories evolve from the charisma of the saints; they are basically legends and mythical in nature. Devotees in the past have attributed miraculous powers to their saints and continue to do so even today. On the one hand, saintly charisma can be inherited, as Max Weber, the famous sociologist of religion, has documented. Thus, there were famous saints in the 13th and 14th centuries who are said to have performed miracles and their charisma has been inherited by their male descendants, the sajjda-nasheens. On the other hand, personal miraculous charisma can be passed on as a form of energy to others through close contact with the living saint. Ordinary people feel this power of the saint transferred onto them. As an anthropologist, I think that when this belief and practice of veneration helps people in their daily life, then this facet of religion has a value in itself.

Q: Do you think that people are aware of the tremendous role that the early Sufis played in the spread of Islam?

A: Their contribution in the spread of Islam should be made more public. In some parts of the Muslim world, particularly in the subcontinent, Sufi saints wandered over vast areas and spread the message of Islam in a very peaceful way. By sharing food with former untouchables, they lived the ideals of Islam – of justice, brotherliness and generosity. Thus, common ground was emphasised, not the boundaries between different religions.

Since the late 18th century, and particularly since the middle of the 20th century, we have seen the emergence of reformist Islam, of looking at Islamic identity in a more austere and often intolerant manner. Forms of local folk Islam have been condemned and even attacked, which is a very purist and puritan way of looking at the religion. In fact, it is an attempt to wipe out religious and cultural diversity and to create a monochromatic society.

Q: Why has a distinction been made between different categories of Sufis, dervishes, malangs, etc.?

A: Not only scholars, but homosapiens in general are obsessed with classifying and categorising, and in reality, there is a rich diversity of religious types to be found in the spectrum of Sufism. There is the malamati, the malang, the majzub, the mast baba and the Sufis and dervishes of the various orders. In reality, some of them blend with each other and are often not easy to differentiate. I know malangs who are received by orthodox Sufi scholars, who run a madrassa for instance. In Afghanistan or in central Punjab, many Sufis have their own madrassas and they have no problems welcoming malangs, as they know they lead an ascetic and devotional life dedicated to God. They might not follow all the prayers but they are still accepted.

Q: What about the fakes among them?

A: There has always been a discussion about Sufis being fake pirs or charlatans; in fact, this mistrust has been there since early Islam. Such people were often accused of not being ‘true’ Muslims (whoever seems to have the right to define what is ‘true’ or not). There was disgust with the decadence of the Sufis in almost every age. It has been quite fashionable to talk in this way. I have been frequently living among malangs and devotees for many years now. There could be criminals hiding at the shrines, who mingle with the crowds at melas. But I have travelled with malangs, such as my friend Arif sain, for instance, whom I have described in a book just published in German – it is a narrative of my experiences during several pilgrimages to Sehwan Sharif. Arif sain is a half-naked malang with a patchwork cap and lungi, who has visited shrines since the age of 16 and who is now around 60, and I trust that he will take good care of me and all my belongings. There are very respectful and dignified persons among these dervishes, although they appear to live on the margins of society.

Q: As a foreigner in Pakistan, did you ever experience any fear?

A: People in Germany, at times, asked me if I was a madman to be travelling to Pakistan. In reality, things in Pakistan are very different from the distorted view of this country and of the Muslim world in general. The diversity of Islam and its plurality needs to be emphasised again and again to avoid portraying this religion only as a monolithic bloc. I do avoid certain places in Pakistan, but I have hardly felt any danger during all these years doing ethnographic field research. I try to blend in with the people by wearing the local dress and conversing in Urdu. Finally, coming annually to Pakistan for the last 30 years, this country has become my home, probably more my first than my second home, in fact.

Q: Where have your travels taken you in Pakistan?

A: In the early 1980s, I usually travelled to Nager and Hunza in the Northern Areas to pursue my fieldwork for a PhD; then I did research in Harban, a remote valley close to the Nanga Parbat as well as in the NWFP. Later on, my interest was drawn more and more to the Punjab and since a couple of years, Sindh. This research has been supported over the years by the Museum of Ethnology in Munich, which grants me [unpaid] leave to pursue my work. A few years ago, one of my sons, Milan Nadeem, accompanied me to the mela of Baba Bulleh Shah in Kasur. Right now he works in Lahore.

Q: Why are there so few women Sufis in modern times, while in the past there have been very powerful female Sufi saints such as the legendary Rabia al-Basri?

A: There is a chapter on women and Sufism in my book. There have been women Sufis since the inception of Sufism as a religious movement. We find female Sufi saints in Morocco, Egypt, Sudan and also in Pakistan. However, as you point out, they are not found commonly. Perhaps because there is the male perspective that female Sufi saints are in contradiction to the purity of a saint. But, I have at times, come across malangnis, the female dervishes. What should be noted is that the majority of devotees of the Sufi saints are female, so the aspect of female religiosity cannot be underestimated. If the mosque is a space predominantly for men, a shrine is, by contrast, a place where women can find peace and solace.

Q: Your book cites a story of a 27-year-old female Sufi saint in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. Is it uncommon to find such young Sufi women?

A: Personal life stories play a very important role in the makings of a Sufi. Sometimes, there is an event which marks a turning point, such as an illness, which led that particular female dervish to the Sufi path.

Q: It seems that the western world, more than the East, is interested in Sufism as a religious movement. How do you foresee the future of Sufism?

A: This is hard to foretell. Nevertheless, we should note that there is an increased interest in the East – take Pakistani music as an example. The Pakistani young generation finds interest in Sufism through the music of Junoon, Mekaal Hasan, the great Sufi poets and their interpreters such as Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the Sabri Brothers and, of course, through Abida Parveen. The younger generation can find their identity reflected [in the music]. In Germany, there are a number of Sufi groups, but the public appears much more interested in Buddhism, partly because of the hype around the Dalai Lama who has become a kind of pop star. Anything related to Islam, on the other hand, is unfortunately viewed with suspicion. Sufism has a more positive image, but it is often not considered part of Islam. Consider that Rumi’s poetry has been a bestseller in America, but people are then shocked to hear that Rumi had been a Muslim. So there is just a superficial reading of some poetry, but not a deeper study of Sufism and Islam in the West, even though it is being spread by some transnational Sufi orders.

Q: Annemarie Schimmel (who had been your mentor), yourself, Max Weber, Richard Hartmann, they were all German …

A: A lot of German scholars have done extensive work on Islam, but usually from a theoretical and textbook perspective, not as it is practiced today, not in its concrete forms and manifestations. My book, on the contrary, offers an account of Sufism from the perspective of the ethnographer as much as that of the historian. What I have tried to avoid is the ‘top-down’ perspective of textual Sufi theorists. Instead, I have emphasised on lived ‘popular Sufism’ in the Muslim world, between West Africa and the subcontinent, with a special focus on Pakistan.

Q: Is there any one incident that stands out during your journey as a Sufi devotee?

A: Yes, when I had the chance to accompany the malang Arif sain and his group of devotees on a pilgrimage to Sehwan Sharif. This was a great experience and personal challenge for me. I was living there as part of the kafila, as a devotee and as an anthropologist. This, in combination with ecstatic music played continuously at the darbar of Qalandar Lal Shahbaz, opened a space for experiencing the divine for me.

Q: So would you call yourself a Sufi?

A: I have, at best, done half a step and I would never dare to call myself a Sufi!

Aziz Mian: Thrown down from the Beloved’s (God's) sky

Another interesting Qawaali from Aziz Mian which focuses our life on the essentials. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed translating it. It captures the flavor of great Indian Subcontinent Muslim thinkers, Allama Iqbal and Mirza Ghalib, to give us a further insight on the heritage of South Asian Islam.

Pareeshaan, ho kay meri khak akhir dil na bun ja’ay
Jo mushkil ub hai ya Rabb, wohi mushkil na bun ja’ay
Urooj Adam-e khaki sey unjum seh’mey ja’tay hai
Kay yeh toota huwa tara, bahay kamil na bun ja’ay
Mera maqam ursh tha, lekin ub farsh hai
Kitni bulandi’o sey gi’raya gaya ho mein
Aasman sey utaara ga’ya, utaara ga’ya ray

Worry, fear, that my nothingness does not develop into a heart
Dear Lord, the problems surrounding me now,
I fear that they become my only problem
The beauty of Adam’s nothingness, the galaxy, earth, have been humbled
That this broken star, how on earth it can become whole?
The place was the heavens, but now it is the floor
From such an immense distance I was thrown down
I was grounded from the beloved’s sky

Mein to A’dum, ya ni agaya dam
Yeh dum atha raha
A’dum ata raha
Adam mein jub tak dum na tha
Yeh khak tha, Adam na tha
Adam mein akay dam huwa
Yeh khak sey Adam huwa
Yeh bay’t sara dam ka hai
Yeh dham usi hum dum ka hai
Aasman sey utaara ga’ya, utaara ga’ya ray

Adam, meaning soul was placed
The life kept coming
Adam lived on
Until Adam had no life, there was nothing
Only until Adam had that soul
That being came from nothing
Everything is to do with that life, soul
This promise, life, soul is only because of the Beloved (God)

Adam sey hu’i na farmani
Jannat sey utha dana pani
Daana ho kar nadaan bana ek daanay peh itni na dani
Kata shaytaan ki
Adam ko penka bagh-e-jannat sey
Aasmaan sey uthara gaya

Adam erred
Only then was his life removed from heaven
Lifeless he was, innocent he was, that he made a mistake
The error was surely of Satan
Which led to Adam being thrown from heaven
Thrown down from the Beloved’s sky

Aasmaan sey kyo athara gaya?
Jub Na tha kuch to khuda tha
Aur kuch na ho tha to? Khuda tha
Dub’oya mujh ko ho’nay ney
Ho ney nay duboya
Yaha na ho na, ho na hai
Na ho hona e’nay ho na
La’i hai aag a’i thaza ley chuli chalay
Apni khushi na a’i, na upni khushi chulay
Zindagi maut ka nishana hai
Sab ko ek din yaha sey jana hai
Agar behray ma’anish sey nay eh kutra joda ho ta
Na yeh dunya bani ho’ti
Na yeh alum bana ho tha
Woh bunda kis ko kehta, array aur woh kis ka Khuda ho tha?
Aasmaan sey uthara gaya

Why was Adam thrown down from the sky?
When there was nothing there was only God (Mirza Ghalib’s poetry, 19th century Mughal Poet)
And if there was nothing then there would only be God
I drowned only in my being
It was being that drowned me
Here, not to be, is to be
Life comes and goes at his own whim, at its own wish and desire
Life is a key symbol of death
Everyone one day has to leave this earth
If on that great day had being not been conjoined into human life by God
Would this world even exist?
Would the worlds have even existed?
That man, who would he have called God? And whose God would He have been? (i.e, human life is all about God, human beings are but to glorify God’s infinite beauty and greatness)
Thrown down from the Beloved’s sky

Dil ki nishad kya thi, nighahay Jamaal mein
Ek a’ina tur toot gaya dekh paal mein
Dunya hai khwab, haasilay dunya kayaal hai
Insaan khwab dekh raha hai kayaal mein
Aasmaan sey uthara gaya

What was the hearts desire in the beauty that the eyes see?
That same mirror trashes in its perfect upkeep
Life is but a dream, we try to gain, attain life but, the world is but a dream
Human beings are watching a dream

Zindagi kya, kisi muflis ki taba hai jis mein
Hur gari dard kay peh’mund laga kur tay hai
Zindagi kya, kisi humsa’ay sey manga huwa zewar to nahi
Ek darka sa laga rehta hai, koh janay ka
Zindagi deh kay mara gaya

Life, is something of the bankrupt
Every moment the chimes of pain are ticking
Life is not jewelery sought from a neighbor
A fear is always around of losing it
By giving life to me I was killed

Zindagi kya hai? (Allama Iqbal’s Poetry)
Upnay mun mein dhoob kur baja surakhay zindagi
Tu agar mera nahi bunta to na bun, upna to bun
Zindagi kya hai?
Azghat ka pemanay lutf-o Itifaaq
Ek hum aan ki…wasl-o firaaq
Sulh’o nama, sarh ho ka wifaaq
Zindagi bag’e’shri
Zindagi yousuf, zulaykha, lela
Eid, ki mein chaudvin ki raat ki dulhan
Sagar, roop, phool bun
Khudrat mein rukhwali hu’i
Thitli-o ki rasmasti cha’u mein pali hu’i
Buth’ta rashi, raqs, moosiki, kitaab, e-sha’iri, chandni,
Aasmani, zafrani, lajwanti,
Zindagi kya hai? Zindagi murtay hu’ay patho pey boondo ki dhanak
Subhay sarmati ki kiran
Shaam’e’bahar ki dhanak
Bhol thitli ki uraan
Awaz ki lapak
Sarungi ki lachuk
She’her-e tun mein pool walo ki gali hai zindagi
Dharkanay afaaq mein champa gali hai zindagi

What is life?
To be drowned in your self yet unaware of selfhood
Even if you cannot be mine, then be your own
What is life?
A messenger desiring reconciliation
To bring together that which is distanced
Assurances, peace statements,
Life is a parable, story
Life is Joseph and Zulaykha, their desire, their love (Potipher’s Wife)
Eid, the moon, that bridal glow
The shoreline, the waves, the flowers
Life is the way nature guards itself
Life is the bloom that emerges from the shade of the butterfly
Life is a dance, music, books, poetry, moonlight
Life is the sky, colors, a sensitive women
Life is the glow that still emerges from dying leaves
Life is the sharpness, beauty of the morning sunlight
Life is the greatness, spring of the evening
The flight of the butterfly
The mesmerising effect of the voice that surrounds us
The spring of the Sarangi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarangi)
In the city of the heart, the streets that sell flowers is indeed life

Aur maut?
Naam jis sey maut se uth tha hai seenay mein doh’wa
Farq-e hasti par tarap uth thi hai desh’at ki ghama
Dil pey rukh deyta hai kauf-e margh o’baray garam
Bholnay lugti hai seh’mi zindagi ki had’iya
Koi nurm awaaz, Koi daastaan, ati nahi
Aray maut yaad a’ja’ay to raato ko neend athi nahi
Zindagi deh kay mara gaya
Zindagi deh kay mara gaya
Zindagi deh kay mara gaya

And death? What is death?
The name with which smoke, fear, emerges from the inner self, chest
The anxiety that emerges in the happiness of life, with the reality of gloom
It places in the heart the fear of great heat
When you begin to forget your wilted life and the bones of life
At this point, even the softest of voices, any fable, tale or story, does not console
Oh the sleepless nights when one remembers death
By giving life to me I was killed
By giving life to me I was killed
By giving life to me I was killed

Sharia across the Pond

Luke W Goodrich
guardian.co.uk, Monday 6 July 2009 10.30 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/jul/06/sharia-courts-us-islam

Denying sharia arbitration to Muslims singles them out unfairly. The UK should follow the US example and relax about the issue

Last week the British press frothed over a report that at least 85 sharia tribunals now operate in the UK. British law is supposedly under attack, threatened by the creeping tide of radical sharia.

It's understandable that talk of "sharia" makes some people nervous. Some interpretations of the sharia ban on apostasy clearly violate religious liberty and other basic human rights. There are also legitimate concerns that some elements of the Islamic community in the UK already ignore various civil laws.

On the other other hand, throwing the baby out with the bath will hardly help. The United States has long recognised sharia tribunals. Far from ghettoising Muslims or enslaving women, these tribunals have helped integrate Muslims into American society while respecting their religious liberty.

Recognising sharia tribunals in the United States has not enabled fundamentalist Muslims to stone adulterers, engage in polygamy, or flog drunkards. Rather, the United States treats sharia tribunals like any other private arbitration. Just as a corporation can resolve a labour dispute through arbitration, or a Jewish couple can take a divorce dispute to a rabbinical court, Muslims can voluntarily resolve their private disputes in a sharia tribunal. The sharia tribunal's judgment is then enforceable in civil court just like that of any other private arbitrator – provided the civil court determines all appropriate procedural safeguards have been followed.

What are those procedural safeguards? First, the parties must agree to use the tribunal voluntarily; any force, fraud, or coercion invalidates the proceeding. Second, the arbitrators must be neutral. Third, the arbitration cannot be "against public policy" – if the arbitrator resolves sensitive matters (such as child custody) in a way that undermines important state interests, the decision is unenforceable. Fourth, the arbitration cannot, in the eyes of a civil court, be "unconscionable" or grossly unfair. Finally, the arbitrator has no authority to enforce his decision; enforcement requires one of the parties to sue in civil court.

Despite the uneventful history of sharia tribunals in the United States, many Britons abhor the idea of sharia arbitration. Some objections stem from confusion over what authority sharia tribunals would wield. For example, some worry sharia tribunals could force a 12-year-old girl into marriage, permit polygamy, or punish adultery with stoning. But in America (as in the UK) no form of arbitration – religious or secular – may violate civil law. Arbitration can only decide issues where civil law already gives parties freedom to negotiate, such as division of property in a divorce or shares of an inheritance.

A more serious objection is that sharia arbitration will undermine the rights of Muslim women. Opponents say Muslim communities will pressure women to choose sharia tribunals where they will face disadvantages, such as procedural rules devaluing a woman's testimony, or religious rules giving men a greater share of property in divorce or inheritance cases.

American experience contradicts these claims. First, sharia tribunals don't always disfavour women. In some situations – such as spousal support after divorce – sharia gives women more rights than civil law. In fact, many American sharia cases have involved wives suing to enforce favourable sharia decisions against husbands.

Second, the five procedural safeguards mentioned above have amply protected women in sharia arbitration. If a woman is coerced into sharia arbitration, faces a biased arbitrator, or receives a grossly unfair decision, the sharia decision cannot be enforced in civil court. There is no evidence these standards have failed to protect Muslim women's rights in the United States – especially when coupled with public information campaigns to inform vulnerable women about their legal rights.

Finally, opponents of sharia tribunals completely ignore the fundamental question of religious liberty. Just as Orthodox Jews believe they should resolve certain disputes before a rabbinical court, and some strains of Christianity teach that Christians should resolve disputes through the church, many Muslims (like Zeinab's mum) believe sharia dispute resolution is a religious duty. Britain has allowed Jews to resolve disputes in the London rabbinical court since the early 1700s; denying Muslims the same right violates their religious liberty.

The key is to strike a balance between the laudable (but paternalistic) urge to protect Muslim women from coercion, and the fundamental human right of all persons to follow their conscience. The United States strikes that balance by treating sharia arbitration just like any other form of arbitration – allowing devout Muslims to resolve disputes voluntarily in a sharia tribunal, while invalidating any arbitration decisions that violate neutral civil standards of fairness.

If those standards prove insufficient to protect the rights of vulnerable groups (such as Muslim women), the solution is not to ban voluntary sharia arbitration (sorry Denis) but to strengthen the standards and educate vulnerable groups about their rights.

In addition, standards should be strengthened using neutral secular terms that apply to all forms of arbitration, not just sharia. That ensures the government remains neutral among various religions. It also ensures the government remains neutral between religion and non-religion – treating religiously motivated decisions to arbitrate no worse than decisions made for secular reasons.

The rallying cry of the anti-sharia movement is "one law for all." Banning sharia arbitration does not further that goal. Instead, it provides one law for Muslims (who cannot arbitrate), and another for people of other faiths or no faith (who can). The United States provides one law for all by treating all forms of arbitration equally – a Muslim who chooses sharia arbitration is treated no differently from the Jew who chooses rabbinical court, or the celebrity who chooses civil arbitration. This way the United States gives the right of conscience the respect it deserves. The UK should too.

Irshad Manji and Reza Aslan: What made them write their challenging books on Islam?

Salwa Al Neimi's "Honey Kiss": The Lost World of Arab Erotica

(http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-310/_nr-592/i.html
Qantara.de Dialogue with the Islamic World)

No Arab book has ever been sold for so much money to foreign publishing houses. Though it is part of the current trend that is witnessing both real and fictional erotic confessions by women writers storming the best-seller lists, Salwa Al Neimi's novel has substantially more to offer than the mere lurid sensationalism of some of its competitors.

Born in Damascus in the late 1950s, writer and journalist Al Niemi has lived in Paris for many years. With Borhân al Asal she has written a book with an elusive quality that defies simple categorisations of it as either autobiographic or pornographic and, though it avoids sensationalism, the book's impact has certainly been sensational.

The story is told by a nameless woman whose anonymity is Salwa Al Neimi's only concession to the Arab world's conventions of decency and propriety. The narrator works as a librarian, first in Damascus and then in Paris, but spends her working hours in secret bouts of reading, delving into the world of classical Arab erotica. Though the existence of such material tends to be forgotten nowadays, and it is likely to be sought for in vain on the Arab book market, it does exist, and has done so in copious quantities since at least the 9th century. In classical (as opposed to fundamentalist) Islam, sexual desire, not least female sexuality, is viewed as a gift from God, a foretaste of the delights of paradise.


Eroticism in word and deed

The discovery of these books and a meeting with a man she calls "the thinker" (who later turns out to be more than one) sets a process of sexual self-liberation in motion. Not only does she now become aware of her sexuality, and able to enjoy it freely and uninhibitedly, but, inspired by her reading of the erotic classics, she also discovers a way of putting this into words.

On the one hand we have the narrator's relation of the sexual adventures of herself and her girlfriends, and on the other, what amounts almost to an essayistic plea for the revival or recovery of a language of sexuality, a language that once existed but which has now been lost to the Arab world. "In the 13th century, Sheikh Al Suyuti wrote a book on the art of love especially for women. Modern readers coming across it now would not understand a word – a bit like expecting a caveman to understand computer science! How can we speak of sexual education when the people don't even know the simplest basics of anatomy?"

Ultimately the book is an appeal for change, for putting an end to this kind of ignorance and creating a basis for the sexual liberation of men and women.

Postmodern games

The library director decides to send the narrator to a conference in America where she is to give a lecture on the old Arab erotic textbooks – to air the topic in public. Due to security considerations however, we find out she will not be able to take part in the conference, but Borhân al Asal, the book that contains this story within the story, so to speak, itself represents the essay that the narrator should have written, though, admittedly, augmented by her personal experiences. It also represents, at one and the same time, a revival of, and a postmodern game with, the old erotic literature; the chapter headings reading almost as if they were quotations from the literature itself – "On teaching and learning", "On wiles and ruses". This pattern is broken, however, when we come to the ironic "Sex and the Arabic City" chapter.



Salwa Al Neimi's message has a relevance that reaches beyond the Arab world. Were a feminist to read this plea for sensuality and sexual freedom says the narrator at one point, "she would damn me as a slave to male ideology and declare all out war on me." Salwa Al Neimi's plea for promiscuity may well cause eyebrows to be raised and not just among those who prefer to adhere to the classic concepts of family and relationships. The book is both surprising and provocative, an intelligent mix of essay and narration – what it is not, however, in spite of the subtitle, is a novel.

Stefan Weidner

© Qantara.de 2008
Translated from the German by Ron Walker
Salwa Al Neimi: Der Honigkuss. Translated from Arabic by Doris Kilias. Published by Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 2008, pp. 126 14.95 euros

In Egypt, Invoking Islam to Combat Sexual Harassment

Friday, Jul. 10, 2009
TIME Magazine By Abigail Hauslohner / Cairo

Doaa Kassem, like most Egyptian women, is used to being catcalled and grabbed at by men in the crowded streets of Cairo. The 24-year-old executive secretary is well versed in women's rights, having studied the subject in Sweden, and she is bolder than most when it comes to dealing with her harassers. "I'm brave enough to stop them and tell them [what they're doing is wrong]," she says. Sometimes she even chases them down.

Kassem may be brave, but she's under no illusions about the Egyptian government's attitude toward the issue. "The government has always denied sexual harassment [happens] in the street," she says. So when Kassem is shown the new government-issued pamphlet titled Sexual Harassment: Causes and Solutions, her eyes widen.

Last week, Egypt's Ministry of Endowments, the government division responsible for the administration of mosques, distributed the informational booklet to mosques across the country in what appears to be one of the first serious government responses to a problem that has become impossible to ignore. While Egypt's sexual-harassment epidemic has earned the country a reputation as one of the worst harassment locations in the Middle East, the government has gained notoriety among bloggers and human-rights groups for denying the very existence of a problem. Then, in 2008, the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights, a Cairo-based NGO, released the first extensive report on the issue. Out of 1,010 Egyptian women surveyed, 83% said they had experienced sexual harassment. Nearly half reported being subjected to harassment on a daily basis, with abuses ranging from lewd comments to violent molestation.

The report, which also documented the widespread belief that women are largely to blame for their harassment woes, set off a debate in the Egyptian and foreign press over who is at fault and what steps — if any — to take. The government decided that one way to tackle the problem was to address it through the teachings of Islam. Sexual Harassment: Causes and Solutions, which was distributed to 50,000 imams nationwide, lists five causes of harassment, including weak religious awareness and mental and cultural emptiness. It also suggests ways to tackle the problem. "When the imams realize that sexual harassment is a social hazard, and they understand the reasons behind it, then they start spreading the message," says Salem Geleil, Egypt's Deputy Minister of Endowments and the booklet's editor. "Egyptians are very religious ... So when you approach a cause from a religious point of view, the response is very strong."

It's not the first educational pamphlet of its kind. In the past, the ministry has offered mosques similar guidebooks on issues ranging from terrorism to women's dress. And the solutions proposed in the booklet — which range from a greater adherence to religious and family values to better law enforcement — don't necessarily match the advice preached by women's groups, which focus primarily on drafting formal legislation on the matter and promoting female empowerment. Nevertheless, the ministry's decision to address the issue at all, and on such a scale, may indicate a marked shift from the government's stance just last year: that sexual harassment is the problem of just a few individuals. "It's a big change," says Rasha Hassan, the main researcher at the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights (ECWR). "Of course, the government still needs to do a lot. But nowadays we can see some change in the ministries."

And there have been other indicators of change as well. Last fall, an Egyptian man was sentenced to three years in prison in the first known conviction on sexual-harassment charges in the nation's history. In November, the police initiated a harassment crackdown, arresting more than 500 men in a single day — although since then, action to combat the problem has been inconsistent. Women's rights groups are urging that more women take matters into their own hands and file formal complaints — a daunting task, especially as women point to police as being among their daily harassers. "There is a culture here: when someone goes to the police to file a report, it is considered scandalous, so for that reason, women stay home to avoid scandal," says Geleil.

But tackling sexual harassment also means addressing the wider issue of Egypt's social malaise. When looking for the roots of the problem, sociologists and community leaders point to a generation of underemployed, frustrated young men struggling against the backdrop of a worsening economy, in a culture that frowns upon premarital relationships and demands that a man reach a certain level of economic stability before considering marriage. "We have been discussing the issue of harassment for years, because it's an old phenomenon," says Sheik Ahmed Turky, an imam who leads a congregation of several thousand at one of Cairo's largest mosques, Masjid al-Noor. Still, he says, "the pressures of living and the costs of marriage" have added to it.

There are calls for the government to draft a law specifically aimed at curbing sexual harassment, but even that may not be enough. "I think that any law against sexual harassment in the streets or in the workplace is a good step forward," says Nadya Khalife, a Middle East expert in the women's rights division of Human Rights Watch. "However, [it] still requires the government to effectively enforce the law by creating mechanisms to ensure that women do report sexual-harassment incidents and that these incidents are dealt with appropriately."

Change may be slow to come, but in Egypt some activists are encouraged by the small signs of progress. "We can't change the culture or the people in one day," says ECWR's Hassan. "But we are trying to do a lot of things ... We try to make changes with the government first, and then the people."

Says Kassem, examining the pages of the government's first-ever sexual-harassment pamphlet: "It's a step."

INCLUSIVE DESIRE - Homosexuality was seen as an aberration in Hindu society

The Telegraph: Calcutta, India
Friday 10th July 2009
Swapan Dasgupta

The subversive potential of homosexuality has been the theme of endless sermons from the pulpit and countless drawing-room tittle-tattle. But few expressions of mirth and righteous indignation can match the intriguing hypothesis proffered by The Times in an editorial on the occasion of the formal unmasking of Sir Anthony Blunt as a lapsed Soviet spy in November 1979.

Alluding to the social milieu of the upper-class homosexuals who embraced communism in the 1930s, the newspaper observed that “theirs was largely a homosexual culture, with necessary dependence on ties of friendship rather than on the functional ties of family, and defiance of conventional sexual morality leading to a broader moral relativism. Even in the case of Maynard Keynes, perhaps the finest product of this culture, there may be a parallel between his emotional resentment of the monetary rules which prevented inflation, and particularly the gold standard, and the need to reject the conventional sexual morality of his period. He did not like rules”.

At a time when the disregard for fiscal prudence has become the hallmark of ‘inclusive’ development in India, it would be fascinating to see a connection between the Manmohan Singh government’s economic profligacy and the Delhi High Court’s judgment de-criminalizing consensual homosexual sex. In ruling that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code violated the fundamental rights of gays, their lordships deemed that the principle of inclusiveness warranted the negation of existing rules.

Whether this unshackling will lead to a rash of creativity, creating windows of opportunity for an intellectual wizard like Keynes, a treacherous aesthete like Blunt and a dissolute spy like Guy Burgess, is a matter of conjecture. In the short term, there is certain to be a fierce battle between the upholders of faith-based morality and the advocates of unlicensed personal freedom which is calculated to leave at least one side bruised. In the long run, however, the outcome of this (as yet judicial) conflict may well determine the parameters of India’s future social development.

The issue at stake is not the letter of Section 377 of an IPC, which was drafted by noble Victorians as a carbon copy of existing English law. There wasn’t anything specifically colonial in the criminalizing of homosexuality in India. That same-sex relationships were sinful was conventional wisdom in Europe ever since the New Testament declared it a “perversion”. “Make no mistake,” Paul proclaimed colourfully in his first Letter to the Corinthians, “no fornicator or idolater, none who are guilty either of adultery or of homosexual perversion, no thieves or grabbers or drunkards or slanderers or swindlers, will possess the kingdom of God.”

The process of limiting homosexuality to being a disqualification for entry through the pearly gates rather than a criminal offence on earth took a long time coming. Those who rant mindlessly about Section 377 being an insidious colonial legacy should note that the British parliament put homosexuality — involving consenting adults of 21 and above — outside the purview of criminal law as late as 1967. It should also be noted that the inclusion of homosexuality in the general lowering of the age of consent to 16 in 2000 was fiercely resisted by the House of Lords and the Christian churches. As late as November 2005, the Roman Catholic Church reaffirmed that “the Tradition has constantly considered them (acts of homosexuality) as intrinsically immoral and contrary to the natural law. Consequently, under no circumstance can they be approved”. It is incidental that Rome has the added problem of deviant clergymen ready to skirt the trauma of celibacy with violations of the natural law.

Field Marshal Montgomery offered his own quirky way of disentangling the knotty conflict between morality and an increasingly permissive social environment. In 1965, during the debate on the sexual offences bill, he proposed an amendment putting the age of consent for homosexual sex at 80. Even his fellow peers couldn’t agree.

Last week, the conservative Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, reignited the debate in the church of England. “The Bible’s teaching shows,” he said, “that marriage is between a man and a woman. That is the way to express our sexual nature. We welcome homosexuals, we don’t want to exclude people, but we want them to repent and be changed.” In a similar vein, the Roman Catholic Cardinal of Latvia has recently warned of an emerging “era of sexual atheism”.

What is significant about this ongoing tussle between theology and culture is that disapproval of gays stops short of moves to restore homosexuality as a criminal offence. Among the Christian clergy, there is a broad acceptance that homosexuality is on a par with adultery, a sinful act in the eyes of god, but not an offence that warrants criminal prosecution. This is also the position of a minority of Muslim theologians who argue that while Islam is categorical in its disapproval of homosexuality, it doesn’t stipulate the exact punishment for the offence. The death punishment for homosexuality in Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran apparently flows from man-made Islamic jurisprudence.

Since the Hindu way of life is neither an ideology nor governed by texts whose acceptance is obligatory, there is no such thing as a Hindu view of homosexuality. There are divergent views in ancient texts and there are many social practices that highlight the Hindu penchant for accommodation. However, the absence of rigid theological prescriptions doesn’t distract from the fact that homosexuality was seen as an aberration in Hindu society. It was accepted as an awkward reality but never celebrated.

India may not have experienced the virulent homophobia that was a feature of many Western and Islamic societies but there was no social acceptance of homosexuality. It was, at best, seen as a fringe phenomenon which had to be tolerated as long as the “deviants” kept their sexuality private and didn’t disrupt society. There was a special status and role for hijras, the “third sex”, but this institutionalized accommodation on the fringes of society wasn’t extended to gays. The IPC superimposed a law on an unwritten social code marked by both passive intolerance and generosity. In any case, it is important to note that the law existed merely on paper. Actual prosecution under Section 377 had ceased long before the Delhi High Court judgment.

In justifying the decriminalizing of gay sex, the high court argued that “Constitutional morality” must take precedence over theology and public opinion, “even if it be the majoritarian view”. The point was well made but is fraught with a wider significance. Can gays now plead for a redefinition of marriage on the grounds that a man-woman arrangement is inherently discriminatory towards those who prefer a same-sex bonding?

That’s only the tip of the iceberg. If the criminal ban on homosexuality violates the fundamental rights and dignity of some individuals, it follows that all personal laws must be tested against this principle. If equality becomes the litmus test, can the existing Muslim personal laws relating to divorce and polygamy withstand impartial judicial scrutiny? Can the principle of inclusiveness extend to gays but not to Muslim women? Can the government enact Shah Bano-type legislation if it violates a fundamental right of the Constitution? The Supreme Court will have to consider these questions when it hears Baba Ramdev’s appeal against the high court verdict.

The Times may have been prescient after all. Eschewing the rules (of nature) may well open the floodgates of a wider churning. Why confine the legacy of Keynes to the fiscal deficit alone?

Help on way for Pakistan's Eunuchs

From: WWW.DAWN.COM
Pakistan's Oldest English Newspaper
By Nasir Iqbal Wednesday, 17 Jun, 2009 | 10:12 AM PST |

ISLAMABAD: Transgendered people in the country can hope for justice as the Supreme Court has ordered a survey of eunuchs to save them from a life of shame.

A bench of the court, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed and Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, issued the order to the provincial governments on Tuesday while taking up a petition seeking the establishment of a commission to emancipate effeminate men who are ostracised by the society for no fault of theirs.

Islamist jurist Dr Mohammad Aslam Khaki filed the petition for the welfare of the unfortunate and vulnerable people left by the society to live by begging, dancing and prostitution. He took up their cause after police raided and arrested several eunuch-transvestites in Taxila recently.

Dr Khaki researched about the conditions of the ignominious merrymakers and discovered them to be the most oppressed and deprived segment of the society, subjected to humiliation and molestation.

On a query he told the court that there are about 80,000 eunuchs in Pakistan. Parents give their gender-confused children into the care of gurus (leaders of eunuchs) at a very tender age. They get no opportunity to education and instead are trained to beg, dance or forced into prostitution, according to the petitioner.

The court required the advocate generals of all the provinces to arrange a survey through provincial social welfare departments to compile facts and figures about eunuchs. The departments would also evaluate facilities available to hermaphrodite children and determine the offence their parents commit in handing them over to gurus (eunuch leaders) at the time of their birth.

Transgendered people are misunderstood and ridiculed for being born in the wrong body and are condemned to exist at the bottom rung of Pakistan’s social ladder. The court order requires the social welfare departments to register particulars of the eunuchs, learn about the children living with them and find out the circumstances or compulsions that forced the parents to give them into the care of gurus.

‘Practically such children are under constant habeas corpus since they cannot leave their gurus and compelled to do whatever ordered against their will,’ Dr Khaki said while talking to Dawn. They live in sizeable communities, divided into clan groups, and mostly in slums, he said.

Such people are even denied their right to inheritance and civil rights. They cannot travel freely in trains, buses or use facilities available to common citizens of the country. The court asked the provincial governments to submit detailed report and decided to take up the matter again after four weeks.

Saudi woman activist demands right to travel

From Mohammed Jamjoom and Tricia Escobedo
July 10, 2009 on CNN

(CNN) -- Wajeha al-Huwaider picked up her passport, got in a taxi, and headed from her home in eastern Saudi Arabia to the nearby island kingdom of Bahrain -- a 45-minute drive that many Saudis take to get away for the weekend.
Wajeha al-Huwaider says women face too many controls in Saudi Arabia.

Wajeha al-Huwaider says women face too many controls in Saudi Arabia. Despite having a valid passport, Saudi authorities at the border sent al-Huwaider home. That's because in Saudi Arabia, a woman needs permission from her male guardian before she can leave the country.

Al-Huwaider -- a vocal women's rights activist in Saudi Arabia -- knew before she left that she would be turned away at the border. Her attempted trip was simply to make a point about the Saudi guardianship system that she says "controls all aspects of women's lives."

"Either you treat us like mature citizens or let us leave the country (permanently)," she told CNN. She's urging all Saudi women who are tired of "being oppressed" to go "to any border and try to cross it without permission from their male relative."

She wants to end Saudi Arabia's strict guardianship laws in which women must get permission from their husband, father, or closest male relative before doing the most mundane of tasks -- including working outside the home, going to school, maintaining a bank account, or leaving the country for a weekend getaway.

Saudi Arabia is conflicted when it comes to women's rights. Women are not allowed to vote or drive, but earlier this year Saudi King Abdullah appointed Nora al-Fayez as the kingdom's first female deputy minister of education as part of a massive Cabinet reshuffling.

Many consider Abdullah to be a reformer and the move was hailed within Saudi Arabia as a great step forward for women's rights. But al-Huwaider sees it differently, claiming even a woman as powerful as al-Fayez "isn't really in control of her life." "If she wants to travel is not up to her, it's up to her male guardian," she said.

Human Rights Watch has criticized the Saudi government for not living up to commitments it made to the United Nations Human Rights Council. HRW issued a report last year detailing the negative impact of the guardianship system on Saudi women. It said Saudi officials have asserted that such guardianship requirements do not exist.

"The Saudi government is saying one thing to the Human Rights Council in Geneva but doing another thing inside the kingdom," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East director. "It needs to stop requiring adult women to seek permission from men, not just pretend to stop it."

Efforts to reach the Saudi government for comment were unsuccessful. HRW issued a report last year detailing the negative impact of the guardianship system on Saudi women. It said Saudi officials have asserted that such guardianship requirements do not exist.

Last month, al-Huwaider tried three times to cross from Saudi Arabia into Bahrain on her own and without permission from a male guardian. She was turned back each time but she said she'll continue going to Saudi's land borders and its airports in an attempt to gain "her rights."

She has even protested on the side of a major road, the King Fahd Causeway that connects Saudi Arabia to Bahrain. Al-Huwaider insists this campaign is different from previous ones she's been involved in.

"It's not about just sending messages and petitions anymore," she said. "We're not going to send any letters to anyone. Saudi women have to find someone who will take them to an airport or a border and say that they don't approve of the system and that they want to leave." She said that her mission is more than just an act of civil disobedience. "Most of the people think I'm doing it just to allow women to travel without permission," says Al-Huwaider. "But I keep telling women that it's the whole system that needs to be changed."

7th July London Bombing Memorial: Gone but not forgotten...may God rest their souls...

If only the Uighurs were Buddhist and China was Israel

By Mona Eltahawy
July 8, 2009
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mona-eltahawy/if-only-the-uighurs-were_b_228125.html?view=print

NEW YORK - Pity the Uighurs - the wrong kind of minority, the wrong kind of Muslims, fighting the wrong kind of enemy.

For years, Uighurs - a Turkic people who are largely Muslim - complained of economic, cultural and religious discrimination under the harsh fist of Beijing. The latter made sure the Uighurs were outnumbered in the western Xinjiang province by Han Chinese migrants.

In the worst ethnic unrest in China in years, Uighurs took to the streets of the provincial capital Urumqi on Sunday, apparently after a protest at government handling of a June clash between Han Chinese and Uighur factory workers in southern China, where two Uighurs died.

At least 156 people died in weekend riots. The Chinese government quickly blamed exiled separatists and Muslim militant groups, arrested dozens and tried to curb information by stifling the internet. On Tuesday, Han Chinese armed with iron bars and machetes went looking for revenge on Uighurs.

Following the news that did make it out of Xinjiang, I thought if only the Uighurs were Buddhists like the Tibetans with whom the Uighurs share almost mirror grievances against Beijing.

If they were Buddhists, Bjork, Sting, Bono and all those other one-named saviors of the world's poor and oppressed would have held "Free Xinjiang" concerts already. But the West continues to largely ignore the Uighurs. Maybe they're not as cuddly as the Tibetans or their leader the Dalai Lama.

Perhaps the U.S. State Department would issue stronger words in their defense if only the Uighurs weren't the wrong kind of minority in a country that produces half the goods we use and which currently lends the wobbly global economy enough money to keep it just this side of total collapse.

The Uighurs aren't Buddhists but are instead Muslims and us Muslims don't get much love these days. You'd think the U.S. at least would be paying a bit more attention to Uighurs after locking up four of their brethren at the prison camp at Guantanamo without charge for seven years. They were released earlier this year to Bermuda.

If the West seems deaf to Uighur complaints, then where are their fellow Muslims? Surely this is a chance for Muslims across the world to march in protest at the stranglehold the godless Communist Chinese keep over the Uighurs?

Think again. The Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas put it bluntly on the micro-blogging site Twitter - where thousands follow him - when he asked why no one was paying attention to the Uighur "intifada", the Arabic word for uprising that is usually associated with Palestinians fighting back against Israeli occupation.

That's precisely the problem - the Uighurs are no Palestinians and the Chinese are not Israel. Many Muslims - Arab Muslims especially - pay attention only when the U.S. and Israel are behaving badly. Palestine followed by Iraq always take precedence leaving little room for other Muslim grievances.

Look at Darfur, where the suffering goes ignored because those who are creating the misery are neither Americans nor Israelis but instead fellow Arab Muslim Sudanese.

China is coincidentally one of Sudan's biggest trade partners and sells Khartoum plenty of weapons which Darfuris complain are used against them. So it's unlikely Sudanese President Omar Bashir, who declared himself the guardian of Islam in 2007 by putting on trial a British teacher for insulting Muslims when she named a class teddy bear "Mohammed", will condemn Chinese oppression of Uighurs.

Perhaps Israel can save the day and invade Xinjiang. Xinjiang and its Muslim inhabitants are almost complete unknowns in the Arab world, much to China's relief, I'm sure. During a visit in 1995 to attend the United Nations conference on women in Beijing, I tried to visit Xinjiang. But not a singly airline office would sell a ticket to a "radical lesbians", as conference attendees were seen. No "restive regions" for us.

Further afield from the Arab world, Shaaz Mahboob, a British Muslim friend of Pakistani descent, wondered on Facebook "Where are the Pakistani emotions which rage whenever there is an issue to do with Muslims anywhere on this planet (thank God there aren't Muslims being persecuted on the Moon or Mars - yet!)?"

He asked Imran Khan, the former Pakistani cricket superstar, and other Pakistanis who have supported militant groups why "they would not even support the militant Uighur groups who have allegedly initiated this chain of violence?

"They remain mysteriously silent over the plight of Chinese fellow Muslim.. Or is it that the "friendship" with China takes precedence over helping fellow Muslims this time?"

As I said - wrong enemy. The Chinese government quickly boosted security to crush Sunday's Uighur uprising and arrested dozens of men, leaving many women to demonstrate on Tuesday, waving their the identity cards of male relatives they say were arbitrarily detained.

Those women just might be the Uighurs' best hope of getting the world's attention. Or at least one of them and no, I don't mean Rebiya Kadeer, the exiled Uighur businesswoman and activist whom Beijing blames for orchestrating the violence from her home in the U.S.

Reuters' photographer David Gray took a picture of a lone Uighur woman in a headscarf leaning on a crutch and facing off with two Chinese security vehicles behind which stood dozens of security personnel.

It was reminiscent both of the picture of the lone Chinese student facing off with the tanks in Tiananmen Square in 1989 and of the ubiquitous images of Iranian women from that country's recent demonstrations,

So now they have an iconic image, here's hoping the Uighurs start to register on our radar.

Wimbledon 2009: Day 10

It was my last day today which saw Serena Williams and Venus Williams win their semi-final matches to set up an all American affair for the 2009 Wimbledon Ladies Final. The weather was very hot today! I'm glad to return back to Glasgow tomorrow! I had the chance to see another great tennis player in action today. Martina Navratilova (see my picture) was in action at the Ladies Invitational matches, as was Jo Durie.

Wimbledon 2009: Day 9

Andy Murray has made it to the semi-finals! A great relief it must be for him as he sailed past Spanish Juan Carlos Ferrero and Andy Roddick of the USA beat Lleyton Hewitt of Australia. Tommy Haas stunned Novak Djokovic to set up a semi-final clash with Roger Federer who beat Croatian Ivo Karlović.

Wimbledon 2009: Day 8

I was working on Court 5 today which was full of Junior tennis matches. I must say some of the under 18s play very well and it is a matter of days (well, not literally) till they join the big boys and girls on the main tours. Realistically it must also be said that many don't make it and I had a conversation with a fellow umpire about what they would do after a failed professional tennis career. Some might start coaching but coaching is not for everyone so what do they have to fall back on? Education is kinda out of the window since most of the tennis players have forfeited a rigorous academic life for their love of tennis so it leaves them in a difficult situation if they don't make it. Lots to think about.

It was Ladies Quarter Finals day and Dinara Safina (Ranked 1 and pictured), Serena Williams (Ranked 2), Venus Williams (Ranked 3rd) and Elena Dementieva (Ranked 4th) have made it to the Semi Finals. I find it great that Safina has defied the odds and the criticism that she wouldn't last this long on grass, as her previous track record isn't that great but she played some superb tennis today. Good luck girls in the semis!

Wimbledon 2009: Day 7

I had quite a busy day today as I was up early to present thought for the day, as you can see below. The weather was also very hot so I was sweating buckets! I watched a lot of good tennis today! I watched Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat Dudi Sela of Israel on Court 3, glimpses of Venus and Serena Williams (pictured) demolish their Chinese opponents 6-0 6-0, that was just cruel girls! :) And also the match of the day Andy Murray beat Stanislas Wawrinka on a 'roofed' Centre Court which finished around 11pm making it the longest time a match has been played on the green grass there. A great atmosphere on centre court. During the day, apart from watching tennis, I was working on Court 15 which was all Wimbledon Junior matches. I did notice an Omani girl named Fatma playing, although she lost, it gives some hope that Muslim girls are finding their way onto the tennis court!

Andy Murray: Nationalism and Tennis

Amanullah De Sondy
Thought for the Day
BBC Radio Scotland
Monday 29th June 2009

Returning back to officiate as a line umpire here at the All England Club in Wimbledon was not like the first time, as things never are. I’ve always resisted my trips to London because I’ve always felt it was a city too big for my liking but this time I felt more relaxed, traveling around on the Tube without a map and walking the streets like a Londoner.

Such a feeling has made me think about nationalism in the last few days. Tennis players from countries across the globe strive to play on and succeed on, what is for them, the holy green green grass. Supporters bring flags of countries and shout encouragement in a variety of different languages. And there are always great geographical conflicts being resolved on court such as this years Men’s double pairing, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi from Pakistan and his Indian partner Prakash Amritraj. As I watched on the side lines of one of their matches I saw Sikh men wearing turbans cheering them on and fully veiled Muslim Pakistani women cheering them on too – interesting with pretty similar words.

In this way my emotions are stirred when I watch Andy Murray as a Scotsman rousing the fans who make the mighty trek from our beloved Scotland to SW19 in their tam-o shanters with bustling red hair for fun but also when I see players from the Indian subcontinent who pull the strings of my ancestral heritage. It reminds me of the Qur’anic verse which states that God’s earth is vast – maybe God is telling us not to shrink the vastness through our small minds.

Nationalism has a fine way of placing us all into neat boxes just as religion does yet the beauty is in exploring each others worlds in order to strengthen our own and see the remarkable similarities. For after all, what brings all these tennis players together is their of love of tennis, regardless of what country they developed and refined their skills. And, well, it must be said to end that there is no better way to experience this international display of greatness without strawberries and cream!

Wimbledon 2009: Day 6

I was on Court 18 today which is a show court and almost always televised. I was a little nervous but the matches were all very good. David Ferrer of Spain was playing against Radek Stepenek of the Czech Republic who overcome the Spaniard in five sets having been two sets up in the first instance. Na Li of China was also beaten by Agnieszka Radwańska of Poland. An enjoyable day.

Wimbledon 2009: Day 5

I arrived back into London very late last night and so waking up and getting dressed to be back on a court felt like I'd been through some form of car wash, and the number of Doc jokes that my fellow umpires littered today was diabolical, typical! :)

I was between Court 16 and Court 19, although I didn't get onto Court 19 because I was a special reserve in my team and was released early, a very sweet team indeed. I enjoyed the Ladies Doubles match that took place on my court today between Garrigues (Spain) abd Pascual (Spain) and Rodionova (Australia) and Voskoboeva (Kazakhstan) as the crowds really rallied behind both teams, it was a special moment in my umpiring career to watch how crucial the support can be at times. I also went to watch the only Pakistani hopeful tennis player around Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and his Indian partner Prakash Amritraj who beat Austrlian Pakistani Rameez Junaid and German Philipp Marx. I also managed to get quite a smart picture of the US Men's Doubles 1's the Bryan brothers on camera...howzzat for a camera trick capturing identical twins! :)

Wimbledon 2009: Day 4 - A break in proceedings as I am conferred with my Ph.D :)

The proof is in the pudding and the first time in a kilt! :) Here pictured with my dear friend and mentor Alexander Broadie, Professor of Logic and Rhetoric at the University of Glasgow celebrating my exit from the graduation ceremony. I took about a million pictures with friends and family so please don't be offended that yours hasn't made the centerpiece.

Wimbledon 2009: Day 3

Was working on Court 15 today and decided that I need to wear my cap! My court was all Doubles matches today which was quite good fun. I managed to watch a little of of Mauresmo and Kuznetsova playing doubles too, what a great pairing. Some top players fell today, Maria Sharapova got beaten by the unseeded Gisela Dulko. However, Serena Williams, Djokovic and Federer eased past into the third round. I took a picture of Fernando Verdasco just as beat Kristof Vligen of Belgium (see photo).