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Chaos
and violence in the Muslim world: It's hyper Asabiyya Attacking Islam is not a new phenomenon that blasted off from the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. Since its birth in Seventh Century Arabia during an era which was metaphorically described as Aiyamul Jahiliyya (days of darkness), Islam has been under attack -- with its prophet being scoffed at and scorned as a madman and a liar. Notwithstanding Islam's contribution to the progress of mankind through medicine, mathematics, astronomy and law, such attacks continue to be directed at this religion followed by one fourth of the world's population. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Fox News TV commentator Bill O'Reilly equated Quran, the holy book of the Muslims, to Hitler's Mein Kampf while Reverend Franklin Graham, who offered the invocation at President Bush's inauguration in January 2001, publicly called the Prophet of Islam a terrorist. Who is responsible for this sad state of affairs? Blaming the West, the Jews, the Christians and everything that is not Islam or Muslim has been the practice of the crest-fallen Muslims. It's only a few Muslims who dare to say publicly that the searchlight should be directed inwards. Akbar Ahmed, author of Islam Under Siege - Living Dangerously in Post-Honour World, is certainly not the first to exhort a thorough search of the Muslim soul. Before him scholars like Jamath-e-Islam founder Moulana Abul A'la Moudoodi and philosopher-poet Muhammad Iqbal, had urged the Muslim umma (community) to revert to the spirit of Islam first before countering the external threat. But Prof. Ahmed stands out in two respects. He is perhaps the first scholar to look at the crisis that is gripping the Islamic world from a social scientist's perspective and then identify factors that have laid siege to Islam. Hence, this book cannot be labelled as a book on religion. It is in every sense a book for students and academics of sociology, anthropology, history, political science, international relations and, last but not least, students of comparative religion and proponents of inter-faith dialogue. The author uses the anthropological tool of Ibn Khaldoun, the 14th century anthropologist, about whom very little is mentioned in academic curricula today. Long before Karl Marx, he had analyzed and theorized about history's impact on society and long before Emille Durkeheim, Malinowski and Radcliff Brown, he had studied society using scientific methods such as data collection and participatory observation. Professor Ahmed, who incidentally holds the Ibn Khaldoun chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington D.C., says, in language that tries to express rather than impress, things that many would not dare to say in this age of terrorism and fanaticism. If Osama bin Laden reads this book, he could either reform himself or issue a fatwa for the learned professor's head. If George Bush reads this, he would either reshape his foreign policy and contribute in a positive manner towards global peace or become more astute in executing his alleged plan to dominate and control the Muslim world. Some critics say the professor, living in and enjoying the hospitality of the West, is trying to be apologetic. His answer to these critics is, 'read my book'. The book deals with many topical but controversial issues such as terrorism, globalization, women in Islam, education and Islam vs. West to prove the author's new concepts in sociology and politics. This well-recommended book is, and will be, known for two important concepts. The first is the concept of hyper-Asabiyya - a theory Prof. Ahmed is credited with developing by using Ibn Khaldoun's concept of Asabiyya, the narrow meaning of which is group loyalty but the broad interpretation of which means peace, harmony and tolerance in society. The other salient feature of the book is its call for a dialogue of civilizations -an anti-thesis for Samuel Huntington's theory of the clash of civilizations. Prof. Ahmed, one of the best known scholars on contemporary Islam, first explains the concept of Asabiyya in detail for the reader to understand his theory of hyper Asabiyya, which offers a plausible explanation as to why the Muslims and the Muslim world are in chaos and engulfed in violence that emanates from within or is imposed on them from outside. The irony of Ibn Khaldoun's Asabiyya is that although it runs counter to the Islamic teaching of universality, it appears to glorify religious or tribal loyalty. Yet this was the social order that prevailed during the Khaldounian era though Prophet Muhammad had discouraged Asabiyya in its blind, chauvinistic, racial or fanatical manifestations and exhorted brotherhood that cuts across cultures and societies. Asabiyya, according to Ibn Khaldoun, set society in a cyclical motion from social solidarity to disturbance caused by invasion of the city. Hyper Asabiyya, according to Prof. Ahmed, is a reaction to the ending of this cyclical motion - an end brought about by factors ranging from colonization, independence from colonization to exposure to sudden affluence, giving birth to a multiplicity of social ills. The attendant ills of social breakdown have only worsened the situation, taking society from a world of honour to the post-honour world. Once again, the author should be credited with coining the concept of the 'post-honour world' and explaining its violent and disturbing characteristics. "The equation of honour with violence is one direct consequence of the collapse of Asabiyya," says the author, giving many examples from the Muslim world. The book also probes why certain basic tenets of Islam do not manifest in Muslim behaviour in the post-honour world. It is on this score that Prof. Ahmed again stands out from the run-of-the mill moulavis, for whom Islam only means the five pillars - the declaration of faith, five daily prayers, fasting during Ramazan, Zakath or poor tax, and Haj. These five pillars constitute just one half of Islam; the other half, Prof. Ahmed reminds his brethren and readers, consists of Adl (justice), Ilm (education) and Ihsan (Compassion, generosity and righteous conduct - the type of behaviour that requires a Muslim to repel evil with good). The author, however, has overlooked another important factor that symbolizes Islam - Sabr (perseverance or patience), though he deals with intolerance as a manifestation of hyper Asabiyya. The book also contains an answer to President Bush's question, "Why do they hate us?" - which he posed in his first State of the Union address after 9/11. It also answers the questions: Does Islam subjugate women? Does Islam preach violence? Is Islam compatible with democracy? The book does not, however, go into detail as regards the external factors that lead to the violent expression of hyper-Asabiyya, especially in places such as Palestine. The external factors - for example, the continuing injustice the Muslim community is subjected to in places such as Palestine (and now Iraq) -- only receive some passing remarks to the extent they are necessary to explain the author's theory. In fact, Prof. Ahmed himself laments the lack of scientific study on Muslim suicide bombers. The book's other major contribution is the call for a dialogue of civilizations, a call first made by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, whose philosophy-filled and insightful speeches and writings would make the president of the world's only superpower seem just a kindergarten kid. Prof. Ahmed vociferously pushes the point that Islam is not in confrontation with either Christianity or the non-Muslim world. Though Prof. Ahmed, a one-time diplomat and top civil servant in Pakistan, sounds more idealist than realist when he espouses his call for a dialogue of civilizations, it certainly offers, perhaps, the only way forward for world peace. But given the greed-driven imperialism at play, the learned professor's call may be like blowing a trumpet to a deaf elephant. The
conspiracy code This unassuming young woman is actually part of a massive conspiracy that involves a secret society, the Knights Templar, a monk assassin and serial murder, plus coded messages that cast doubt on the marital status of Christ. Seriously, this could blow the lid off the entire establishment of the Catholic church. Don't believe it? Well, it might be bunkum, but millions are already convinced. They have been studying details of the conspiracy in this summer's hottest beach novel, The Da Vinci Code. As a word-of-mouth phenomenon, there has been nothing like this since Captain Corelli packed his mandolin and headed for Cephalonia. Written by the former US singer-songwriter Dan Brown, it has already sold more than 550,000 copies in Britain. One estimate earlier this month put worldwide sales at 10m. The Da Vinci code is a pacey thriller - a work of fiction - but it is written and presented in such a way that many readers believe its central claims to be true. It makes much of the fact that many historical details are true. The plot is quite complicated - that's one of its attractions - but at its heart is the claim that the church has been conspiring for 2,000 years to cover up the truth about Christ. In fact, it suggests Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and they had a daughter - oh, and Mary was the leader of the early church. The motive for the cover-up, instituted by church leaders, has been to suppress the role of women. The action begins in the Louvre where an art historian and a police cryptographer discover clues hidden in the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci. These clues lead them to a secret society, descended from the Knights Templar who emerged during the crusades, who have been guarding this secret. As in all good thrillers, they are not alone in the chase; a shady figure linked to the Catholic group Opus Dei is not far behind them. As you might expect, The Da vinci Code has been furiously denounced by the Catholic church. Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago, says: "I resent the book. It undermines people's faith." Perhaps, but it has gripped public imagination in a way that established Christian churches can only envy. Spin-off books abound. The Louvre is reporting an increase in visitor numbers, while tourists at Rosslyn Chapel just south of Edinburgh, also featured in the novel, have been spotted clutching open copies of the book as they follow the clues to the great conspiracy. When the hardback edition first appeared, one reviewer condemned the book as "utterly ridiculous". It's not elegantly written and was ignored by most critics, so what accounts for its astonishing popularity? The answer is that in a largely secular age, conspiracy theories are the new religion. After all, they are the perfect replacement: they absolve the believer from blame for the ills of the world while it's hard to prove them, one way or the other, beyond doubt. This state of affairs was predicted about 100 years ago by the writer G.K. Chesterton, a devout Catholic. "When people stop believing in God they don't believe in nothing," he said. "They'll believe in anything." He wasn't kidding. There are people who believe Diana, Princess of Wales was killed because she was about to reveal the true nature of the royal family: that they are extraterrestrial lizards in human form. This is just one of the more colourful rumours doing the rounds since Diana died. Other conspiracists believe she faked her death in the hope of getting a bit of peace and quiet; yet more insist she was killed by MI5 on the orders of the Duke of Edinburgh. Such ideas are no mere Internet lunacy; even serious publishers jump on the bandwagon. A book published earlier this year, Diana: Death of a Goddess, linked her death to a mysterious cult called the Order of the Solar Temple. The author, David Cohen, says it was also involved in the death - by car accident - of Princess Grace of Monaco. The Solar Temple? Yup, it's linked to those Knights Templar again. Unfortunately there appears to be no evidence - as yet - that Leonardo had any hand in Diana's death. The events of September 11, 2001 have also proved to be a rich source of conspiracy theories. Barely six months after the attacks, a French author produced a book claiming the Pentagon was bombed not by Al-Qaeda but by the American government, which was looking for an excuse to attack Afghanistan. "The damage to the Pentagon was not done by a Boeing 757" writes Thierry Meyssan, author of L'Effroyable Imposture (The Horrifying Fraud). "It could only have been done by a cruise missile because there is a sort of piercing of the walls," Barmy though the theory was, it was at one point selling 100,000 copies a week. Then there are the conflicting theories about Osama bin Laden. Is he being held in Pakistan so the government there can continue milking the Americans for cash? Or is he being held by the Americans so President George W. Bush can produce him on the eve of the election? No self-respecting conspiracy theorist can seriously believe that he's just hiding in a cave. The trouble is that the very people who suffer from such popular delusions - the authorities - have fuelled the fashion for believing in them. As Lionel Fanthorpe, an Anglican priest and president of the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena, says: "We are far less trusting than we were. There is disappointment in church, leaders, politicians and scientists." It does not seem to matter that the conspiracy theorists are just as unreliable as politicians who make wayward claims about, say, weapons of mass destruction. In 1997, for example, Michael Drosnin, a Wall Street Journal reporter, published a book, The Bible Code. It claimed that the scriptures contain a hidden code predicting future events. It was an instant bestseller. Experts soon showed that the "code" was no more than the sort of patterns that could be found in any large volume of words. But that code still has its adherents and it is one of a number of phenomena to be studied in a four-part series, Conspiracies, starting next month on Sky One. It will also cast an eye over the Illuminati, a secret sect founded in the 18th century that some people claim is now running the world. That theory is clearly nonsense, of course; everybody knows that the world is run by the lizard Queen, funded by a drug-running operation controlled by MI6. If you are looking to make your own fortune from a conspiracy theory, it's essential to have two key ingredients: a historic event or character, plus an outlandish but faintly believable alternative to the accepted wisdom. Take the sinking of the Titanic, which hit an iceberg in 1912. Except that it didn't, according to the book Titanic: The Ship That Never Sank? It claims that the sinking was a complex insurance fraud and that the wreck on the ocean floor is actually the Titanic's sister ship, the Olympic. What would Leonardo have made of all this fuss? Well it's not easy to tell because, of course, he wasn't beyond a prank himself, according to a recent theory. It suggests that his most famous painting, the Mona Lisa, is actually a portrait of himself. This idea was recently put forward by an American computer artist, Lillian Schwartz, who compared the Mona Lisa with a Leonardo self-portrait. Even the name, as Dan Brown notes in The Da Vinci Code, suggests Leonardo was in touch with both his male and female sides. Mona Lisa is an anagram of Amon, the Egyptian god of masculine fertility, and L'isa, another name for the goddess Isis. Surely, the conspiracy theorists will insist, this is no coincidence. Rubbish: Mona Lisa, as anyone can see, is also an anagram for "Lo (short for Leonardo) is a man". Obvious when you see it, isn't it? (The Sunday Times, London)
The art of the hidden message The lute lying near a Bible, for example, has a broken string, suggesting discord. The word "europa" on the globe is upside down, suggesting an unsettled world. And a small sundial marks a single date: Good Friday 1533. Nothing sinister in that - except that 1500 years after the crucifixion was, at the time, believed by many to be the day of the Apocalypse. Another famous work with a curious twist is The Arnolfini Marriage by Jan van Eyck. Is it just the equivalent of a modern wedding photograph? When examined closely, a hidden message emerges. The mirror on the wall shows a man watching the ceremony and above it is written "Jan van Eyck was here”. Some experts suggest this is almost a marriage certificate, with the artist's signature to show he was a witness to the event. |
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Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
Islam
is what Islam is not - just as the United States today is not what
it should be. Yet the West tends to interpret Islam as what it is
not. Hence, Islam remains the most misinterpreted religion in the
world. 
