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      ___/   oo    ___|     |___|     ___|              ___/          o

      In   the   name  of   ALLAH,   the    Beneficent,   the    Merciful



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             I N F O R M A T I O N    &   N E W S    N E T W O R K

                        MUSLIMS @ ASUACAD.BITnet
______________________________________________________________________________
                             IINN ARCHIVE

 File Name: 09.islam.other
 Lasted Updated: Sept 11, 1994
 Archive Location: ftp.cco.caltech.edu, login:anonymous, dir: /pub/calmsa
______________________________________________________________________________


Date: Mon, 8 Aug 1994 13:59:56 -0600
From: mahmed@xnet.com (M. Ahmed)
Subject: 9. Islam as Other

III&E Brochure Series; No. 9
(published by The Institute of Islamic Information and Education (III&E)
and reproduced with permission)
----------------------------

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ISLAM AS OTHER
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What is it about Islam that motivates such fervent enthusiasm among some
adherents?  Most media are primed to present Islam as a Problem; I've been
curious about Islam as a solution.

As the Middle East dilemma continues to worsen, the pressures increase to
choose sides and resort to sweeping generalizations and stereotypes.
Indeed, members of the domestic foreign policy academy like Amos
Perlmutter, editor of the JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES, are busy
promulgating the view that the U.S. is in the midst of a "general Islamic
war waged against the West, Christianity, modern capitalism, Zionism and
communism all at once."  Perlmutter casts Iran and Libya in the same
conspiratorial political roles as the Soviet Union and Cuba, and advocates
that the U.S. "wage limited war against Iran's surrogates, clients and
allies in much the same way we can battle the surrogates of the U.S.S.R.
and Cuba."  ("Containment Strategy for the Islamic Holy War," WALL STREET
JOURNAL, Oct. 4, 1984.)

Islam, like communism, is thus being cast as a hostile, amorphous Other
with which we have little in common and to which our best response is war.
No matter that it is hardly clear whether what we are defending is
something vague like "the American Way of Life" or more specific like the
U.S. government or U.S.-based multinationals.  All that seems certain is
that "They" (vaguely defined) are out to get "Us" (vaguely defined).

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To presume to speak of Islam or any other religion or ideology with
millions of adherents is, at best, to risk incoherence.  As Edward Said
underscores in "COVERING ISLAM," Islam is not a monolithic entity for which
a few pat generalizations are sufficient description.  Rather, there are a
multitude of Islams: Muslims in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Pakistan, and the
U.S.; Sunni Muslims, Shi'ite Muslims, radical Muslims, conservative
Muslims, Muslim now, and Muslims 1000 years ago.

All Muslims "submit to Allah" (which is the meaning of the Arabic word
Islam), and are members of the Umma, the universal body of believers.  But
they are also variously affected by local customs, different schools of
Islamic law, competing leaders and political crises.  Once this fact sinks
in, the prospect of providing a meaningful overview of Islam seems
difficult indeed.  Yet, despite their differences, 800 million Muslims do
hold enough in common that a general discussion of Islam is not totally
pointless.

The first step toward understanding something alien is the discovery of
some common element shared by both you and the Other.  In my own case,
there were at least two instances of stumbling upon aspects of Islam that
made me stop in my tracks and take a second look.  The first of these was
my reading of some of the writings of Sufism, the mystical current within
Islam.  These documents -- stories, biographies, poetry, and sermons -- had
a universal quality which leapt across the centuries and oceans separating
them from me.  They provided a hint that there was more to Islam than I had
originally thought.

The second instance was more recent and not connected to spiritual matters
at all.  This was my coming upon an issue of INQUIRY, a British magazine
published by and for Muslims.  Once I got past the occasional slips in
grammar and proofing which reminded me that English was not the first
language of most of the journal's writers, I found an intriguing window
into the heated discussions going on in Islamic intellectual circles.

Much to my surprise, as I explored back issues of the magazine, I
discovered articles on Nuclear Winter, appropriate technology, the New
Alchemy Institute, and the Club of Rome amidst more likely articles on
subjects like Iran's revolution, Lebanon, Islamic calligraphy, and
Pakistani banking.

Though INQUIRY, like Sufism, should not be taken as representative of
everyday, mainstream Islam, it was apparent to me that there are currents
within that ocean of believers that run close to our shores.  This is
particularly difficult to keep in mind when kidnappings, car bombs, and
civil wars shape our usual news of matters Islamic.  That the Ayatollah
Khomeini has cast the U.S. in the role of the "Great Satan" is not to be
ignored, but neither is it the whole picture.

We would do well to remember that attacks on 'the West' or the U.S. are not
attacks on us personally -- and are not necessarily attacks on everything
Western.  Upon further investigation, it turns out that much of what is
most objectionable to traditional Islamic cultures are those aspects of
modern life which many American readers are also likely to criticize:
rampant materialism, the whirlwinds of fashion, hedonism, the economic
exploitation of the Third World, and the intervention of the Superpowers in
local political disputes.

This is not to say that if you scratch a "mullah" you'll find an
unreconstructed granola-head underneath.  Nor is it to condone desperate
measures like plane hijackings or suicide attacks which grow out of
specific local politics.  Still, I can't help thinking (to turn Amos
Perlmutter's quote on its head) that a worldview that is accused of waging
war on "the West, Christianity, modern capitalism, Zionism and communism
all at once" must have something worth listening to!

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If a vital mystical tradition and a wariness of rampant modernization are
the aspects of Islam that are most immediately appealing, what of other
aspects that are more threatening?

In confronting Islam, the West is, above all, brought face to face with its
own past -- echoes of earlier centuries when the eternal took precedence
over the temporal, and religion was central to social existence,
interpenetrating the rhythms and gestures of daily life.  Such immersion in
the humble satisfactions of religion is reminiscent of both the
Church-dominated Middle Ages and the colonial days of Puritans and Quakers,
neither of which is likely to produce much nostalgic enthusiasm these days.

Islam, which eschews monasticism, nevertheless instructs its followers to
pray five times daily at prescribed times, a schedule of devotion
paralleled in the West, these days, only at monasteries and convents.  The
average Westerner, witnessing the ordinary spectacle of a crowd on the
street stopping on schedule to kneel and pray, is brought up short -- as if
having wandered by mistake into a convention of monks.  The unselfconscious
faith of the crowd contrasts with our own sophisticated faithlessness,
making us ill at ease.

Or again, in our meeting with Qur'anic morality, where specific acts are
forbidden in no uncertain terms and strict punishments spelled out, we're
flung up against the very foundations of the modern, mobile West where
freedom consists of keeping as many constraints as possible at arm's
length.  No alcohol?  No pork chops?  No bikinis?  One can feel the
shudders reverberating off the walls of shopping malls across the nation.

Yet here, too, the popular cliche is not always accurate.  The "Chador"
(full-body veil) worn by women in Iran is not a universal Muslim custom,
for instance, and both the Qur'an and the "Sharia" (Islamic Law) turn out
to have sufficient room for a variety of interpretations on numerous
points.  Nevertheless, the situation of women within Islam is perhaps the
main sticking point for most non-Muslims.

While anti-Zionist or anti-Israeli sentiment is not inherently Islamic, it
is nearly universal as a component of foreign policy for most Islamic
countries and is echoed in most Muslim publications that touch on political
issues.  This can be another sticking point for Americans who have grown
accustomed to supporting Israel in any and every conflict.

If Islam were solely a foreign phenomenon thousands of miles away, it might
be possible to nod in abstract appreciation (or hostility) and let it go at
that.  However, in recent years Islam has seen significant growth in North
America itself.  A small portion of the growth could be attributed to
domestic interest in Sufism, and a larger portion to the immigration of
Muslims from abroad.  But the most significant home-grown brand of Islam
has been what began as the Black Muslim movement.

Originally founded by Elijah Muhammad as an organization espousing an
unorthodox blend of black separatism, radical politics, entrepreneurship,
and Islam, the Nation of Islam proved puzzling to orthodox Muslims abroad.
Malcolm X, the most famous leader in the movement, eventually abandoned the
Nation of Islam for a more traditional Islam after traveling to Mecca and
being impressed by the unity of Muslims irrespective of race.  When Elijah
Muhammad died and the movement's leadership fell to W. Deen Muhammad, the
latter began to slowly make changes to the group along more orthodox lines.
Meanwhile, a section of the followers of Elijah Muhammad organized
themselves behind Louis Farrakhan who continues to follow the teachings of
his mentor.

In 1985, when W. Deen Muhammad disbanded the American Muslim Mission
(formerly the Nation of Islam) and instructed his followers to consider
themselves members of the world Islamic Umma (body of believers), he put
the finishing touches on this process -- taking the Black Muslim movement
away from separatism and away from defining itself according to race.  The
new decentralized mosques across the U.S. may still look to W. Deen
Muhammad for guidance, but they are financially and organizationally on
their own.  This marks a new stage for a movement which has succeeded in
bringing Islam to inner cities and prisons where other religions were
encountering still resistance.

With the barriers now down between the followers of W. Deen Muhammad and
other Muslims, it is likely that Islam will continue to grow here at home.
I hope that our understanding of it keeps pace with that growth.

-- Jay Kinney


KEY TERMS AND NAMES
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In order to understand Islam it is necessary to know the meaning of certain
key terms and the identity of some proper names.  Most of them are in the
Arabic language, and there is often no equivalent in English or in other
tongues.

ISLAM means submission, that is, submission to the will of God, the
characteristic attitude of members of the Islamic faith.

MUSLIM (also spelled Moslem) is based on the same Arabic root as Islam
(s-l-m) and means one who submits to God, that is, a believer in Islam.  It
is incorrect and objectionable to call members of this religion
Muhammadans, as they do not worship Muhammad in the way Christians worship
Christ.

ALLAH is the Supreme Being, the one and only God.  According to Islam,
Allah is the same God as that worshipped by the Jews and Christians, and
Arabic-speaking Christians also use this name when referring to God.

MUHAMMAD (see following NOTE) is the prophet or apostle of God to the
Arabs.  He was born in Arabia about 570 and died in 632.  According to
Islam he was the last of a line of prophets, including many of those of the
Old Testament and Jesus Christ.
NOTE:  According to the Qur'an, Muhammad is the Prophet and Messenger of
Allah to all mankind, not only to the Arabs.  (III&E)

THE QURAN (also spelled Koran, Coran, Alkoran, etc.) is the holy scripture
of Islam revealed by Allah to Muhammad.  The word Qur'an means readings or
recitations.

MAKKAH (also spelled Mecca) is the caravan town where Muhammad was born and
raised.  It is near the west coast of Arabia about 45 miles (72 kilometers)
from the seaport of Jiddah and about midway between the northern and
southern ends of the Red Sea.

KA'BA, meaning "cube" in Arabic, is the principal shrine of Islam, located
in Mecca.  It is the center of the Muslim pilgrimage and the point towards
which all Muslims the world over face in prayer.

SUNNA means "tradition" and is the sum of the sayings and actions of
Muhammad as recalled by his companions and followers.  As such it is second
only to the Qur'an as a source of Islamic belief and practices.  Sunna
(adjective sunni or sunnite) also denotes the mainstream or "orthodox" body
of Muslims as opposed to Shi'a.

SHI'A (adjective Shi'i or Shi'ite) is the minority division (10-15 percent)
of Islam, consisting of scores of dissident sects opposed to Sunni Islam
and to one another.  The name means "party" in the political sense and
comes from "Shi'at Ali, the party of Ali."

ALI was a cousin of Muhammad and married to the Prophet's daughter, Fatima.
He was elected fourth caliph of Islam - conflict between the followers of
Ali and Umayyads split Islam into the sects that exist today.  His
followers are called "Alids."

HADITH, meaning communication or narrative, is the record of an individual
saying or action or approvals of Muhammad taken as a model of behavior by
Muslims.

CALIPH, from Arabic Khalifa, means deputy or successor and is the title of
the theoretical leader of Islam.  The caliphate is now vacant in Sunni
Islam.  The Shi'ite sects have complicated beliefs concerning it.

-- from ISLAM: A PRIMER, by John Sabini

Mr. Jay Kinney is the editor of "GNOSIS MAGAZINE: A Journal of the Western
Inner Traditions,"  P. O. Box 14217, San Francisco, CA 94114.  Jay Kinney
edited a special forty page section, "ISLAM BEYOND STEREOTYPES" published
in Whole Earth Review of winter 1985.  This article, "Islam as Other" is
reprinted with slight revision by Jay Kinney himself.
Published with the permission of
1)  Mr. Jay Kinney and
2)  Whole Earth Review
     27 Gate Five Road
     Sausalito, CA 94965

--------------------

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