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| "The Hijackers of
Islam" Khalid Hasan The great irony of the predicament in which
the world's Muslims find themselves today is that those who speak in their
name are, in the words of the late Eqbal Ahmed, an "armed
minority." The face of Islam that the west sees is not its true face.
The fierce hate-laden invective that this minority and its implacable
followers inflict on the world's "infidels", and those whom
Osama bin Laden calls the "crusaders", is foreign both to
Islam's spirit and the vast majority of its followers around the world. A
small number of militants has hijacked Islam and pressed it into the
service of a convoluted worldview. It is this version of militant Islam that
is projected on the world's television screens and splashed across its
newspapers. It is no wonder then that to the ordinary person in a western
country, this brand of Islam appears as the only Islam there is. When you point this out to an average
American, Englishman or Italian, he feels justified in asking what
prevents the majority of Muslims who are tolerant of other faiths from
speaking up. Why have they abandoned the stage in favor of a militant and
reactionary minority of religious zealots who not only advocate but
practice violence, they ask. And that is a fair question. Increasingly,
Muslims living in the west, no less than those living here, have come to
realize that it is time they stood up and spoke with courage and
conviction. If they allow themselves to remain confined to the corner to
which the zealots have driven them, they will do irreparable damage to
their religion and themselves. Starting with Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic
"revolution" in Iran, the journey of militant Islam has taken us
through the slaughterhouses of the FIS in Algeria and the medieval tyranny
of Taliban Afghanistan. With the blowing up of the US embassies in East
Africa and the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the
clock can be said to have come full circle. Because of a small number of
misguided, ignorant men and their distorted understanding of Islam, which
has a timeless message of peace and love, today the world's one billion
Muslims find themselves the object of hostility and distrust. I doubt if
all the ill-wishers, enemies and detractors of Islam, both past and
present, could have hit upon a better plan to isolate Muslims and turn the
rest of the world against them than what Osama bin Laden, and those
sharing his morbid thinking, have managed to do. It is time for the true
and reasonable voice of the Muslims to be raised and heard. There are enough Muslim scholars working
and writing both here and in the west who have begun to do just that. One
such person is our own Dr Riffat Hasan from Lahore who has been teaching
at the University of Kentucky for several years. Recently, she seems to
have had a run in with Dr Farhat Hashmi, she of the richly-endowed Al-Huda
Centres and Asma Jehangir. What angered Dr Hashmi and those who share her
retrogressive thinking was Riffat Hasan's fresh and rational approach to
Islam and its holy book. In a recent interview, Riffat Hasan made a
number of telling points on the present situation in which the Muslims of
the world find themselves. She said the Muslim reluctance to start a
debate had to do with the intellectual decadence that had set in over the
years. The tradition of intellectual critique of Islam's first 300 years
had been lost. She said the middle of the Islamic community was occupied
by a silent majority, adding, "This is where the moderates are; this
is where the progressives are, and the place from where the answers are
going to eventually come. Right now, this silent majority is in a state of
paralysis and dormancy." Riffat Hasan's position on the Holy Quran
is worthy of note and answers many questions that people are often afraid
to ask. She said her position on the Holy Quran was that it is a sacred
text of divine origin but being a text it is made up of words and each
word has a root and multiple meanings. "Theoretically it means that
everything in the Quran is capable of being interpreted in many
ways." This, she explained, "involves a methodology called
hermeneutics. In order to know the meaning of a word, we have to see what
it meant in 7th century Hijaz, not what it means today." She spoke of
an "ethical criterion" which means that no Quranic text can be
used as a means to perpetuate injustice in any way, since the God of Islam
and the Holy Quran is a just God. Riffat Hasan had some enlightening comments
on the recent "epidemic" spread of the practice or fashion of
women donning hijab. She said, "The word hijab means curtain. The law
of hijab laid down in Surah Nur applies equally to men and women. 'Lower
your gaze and guard your modesty.' The Quran puts a lot of emphasis on
dignity, elevating human beings, calling them the children of Adam and
putting them above the rest of Allah's creations. (The Quranic injunction)
is not restricted to the dress code, it includes the way you talk, walk
and how you conduct yourself in public space. The message is to be mindful
of your human dignity." Riffat Hasan explained that a major part of
the Quran refers to the conflicts of that time, which are basically
references and not principles. "They have to be read in a certain way
and are meant for our instruction," she added. One particular verse
which has been put to increasing use recently to paint the Muslims as
intolerant of the followers of other religions was explained thus by Dr
Hasan, "Where it says in the Quran 'Take not the unbelievers as your
friends,' today this has been turned into a principle. It is not a
principle and was revealed in a certain context. How can such a principle
be for all times? In several verses, Allah has referred to the Ahlal Kitab
- people of the Book - and given them a lot of importance. People who pick
Quranic verses out of context have twisted the verse. In any case, Jews
and Christians are not unbelievers." She went on to add that the
Quranic reference to ' kafirin' and ' munafiqin' did not translate into
Jews and Christians, a translation that has been superimposed upon these
two words by the ignorant and the bigoted. One can only wish more power to Riffat Hasan's pen because hers is the kind of voice that the west, no less than Muslim peoples, needs to hear.
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