Milestones by Sayid Qutb

There has never been so much said by so many people about a book that so little have read. Milestones by Sayid Qutb shot to prominence following the September 11 attacks against the United States of America. I was first introduced to his thought when I watched Adam Curtis' remarkable The Power of Nightmares documentary - a three part series in which the ideological inspirations of the Bush White House and Osama Bin Laden's al Qaeda were traced back to Leo Strauss and Sayid Qutb. Two remarkable men of vision and conviction who actually shared similar views about the corruption and decadence of modern society - yet inhabited two diametrically opposing poles of political thought. Later, I learned more by watching the excellent Hussein Saleh's documentary on Qutb in his series Mamno'oon (Forbidden) which was aired on al Jazeera a few years ago but it was only till a few months ago that I had time to read his much maligned book Milestones and digest what I had learned.

In the opening chapters of Milestones, Qutb begins forcefully by stating that the period of dominance for the Western man in world affairs is coming to an end. The West, whilst having made remarkable achievements for the development of civilization materially, had reached the end of the road. Politically and morally, the West was, as it had always been, bankrupt, and humanity is at the crossroads. It is only Islam which can offer a meaningful solution for the world and whose adherents must now lead.

In many ways, much of what Qutb has to say was not very new to me, nor was it a surprise. But then again those who live in the shadow of thinkers and personalities like Frantz or Malcolm X can be forgiven if they take for granted the remarkable impact that their influence would have made during their lives, as well as on later generations. Qutb argues that humanity is living through a second Jahiliyah (Age of Ignorance), the first being the period before Islam arrived. This concept was interestingly noted by Karen Armstrong who argued similarly in her excellent book on the life of the Prophet Muhammad.

In this age, morality has declined, what is wrong is upheld as right and those who uphold the right are outcasts. The only way out of this is for a brave vanguard of Muslims to truly live according to the Quran. Qutb is adamant about this, Islamic civilization, philosophy, science, all these pale into insignificance as compared to the driving force which was the belief in Allah only and submission to Him only. None of the later civilizational achievements were essential to this period of greatness. Key to Qutb's call for a renewal of a truly Islamic nation is that complete sovereignty must lie with Allah alone, not with man. This is a recurrent theme in the Milestones and an important keystone for what is in effect Qutb's reinterpretation of Islam into a liberation theology. Quoting the remarkable story of Rub'ee bin Amer when he was speaking with the Persian nobles:

إن الله ابتعثنا لنخرج من شاء من عبادة العباد إلى عبادة رب العباد، ومن ضيق الدنيا إلى سعتها، ومن جور الأديان إلى عدل الإسلام

Allah has sent us to free those who wish so from the worshipping of man to the worshipping of the God of man - and from the confines of the world to its spaciousness, and from the injustice of religions to the justice of Islam.

Islam for Qutb has nothing to feel defensive about, it is other faiths and ideologies that must explain themselves in front of the one true faith. There is nothing backwards about it, nothing which is only for a certain period of history, it is a truth which is valid in all times and places, for all creeds of humanity. It liberates humans from the limits of ideology, race, creed and ignorance into the united, very human faith devoted to the worship of the one true God.

Qutb does over-emphasise these views ad nauseum at times, but it is only to drive home the importance of seeing Islam as it is, of understanding the actions of the Prophet and his companians as they truly were, and in doing so, of benefiting humanity, as he believed, and rescuing it from the moral cesspool it has driven itself into. The book is insightful Islamically, and his remarkable knowledge and faith truly show in almost every paragraph. But this book is a polemic, it is not an academic study or theoretical paper where he expounds his views. Crucial to his belief in a living breathing Islam is his view of a kind of praxis, a fusion of Quranic understanding and of immediate application to life in its every day variations. The Quran for Qutb is not a literary work, not a poetry or history text, it is not a book to be mulled over intellectually. These features are accidental and not essential to its true nature, it is the word of God - nothing less.

Only once there is a living, breathing embodiment of Muslims on earth can humanity see an example of a society in which justice between the genders, political and social justice and environmental and economic stability are finally addressed. To distract ourselves with any of these side issues is to doom ourselves to failure. Qutb is adamant that a true Muslim would find justice in all matters by focusing on the one true paths, and the ill's of human society are symptoms of the straying from this path.

On three occasions, Qutb seemed to emerge from the text, to give his view on contemporary issues. In his chapter, Islam is civilization, we see a more personal side to his writing as he describes his struggle in first attacking notions of "Civilization" as the European man painted it during his colonial adventures in the world, and as a concept in itself. At first he felt that to use that term was to submit to the European "Weltenschauung" of what civilization and modernity were all about. The soluton came when he realised that whilst the Western empires had tried to monopolise the term Civilization, their backwardness could not be hidden. It was, says Sayid Qutb, Islam which was the truly civilising power for man. All else could truly be called backwards in its most crystal clear meaning. Islam was Civilization, not the West.

In one of his closing chapters, he reflects on the formative period he spent in the United States. He describes how some Muslims he met there became apologetic about Islam, arguing that true Islam is not how it is wrongfully portrayed. Qutb says that he refused to be defensive about his faith, arguing with those who accused him and placing them in the defendents seat rather than the other way around. He used as his ammunition the lax morality, the materiality and the bankruptcy of Western modern life. He referred to the freedom for men and women to mix as the "freedom for animals". Those he spoke with would then feel ashamed about the truth of what he had to say whilst people who claimed to be Muslims held a defeatist attitude, a position which bewildered and upset Qutb.

Overall, Milestones is the expression of a confident and extremely pious man who seemed deeply worried about the pervasiveness of Western materialist ideologies throughout the world and the damage they are causing. In his view, the answer lay in the Quran and could not be simpler. Interestingly enough Qutb never specifically calls for war - an accusation commonly levelled against him and Leo Strauss. What he does say though is that the presence of a truly independent and strong Islamic nation would inevitably be provocative to those "Kings" of the world who would not tolerate a nation submitting only to Allah. Here Qutb is clear, there is no backing down from obligation and no compromise in the faith. It is, I suspect, this unyielding positon and dramatic revival of Islamic principles which probably made his thought such a threat to those who opposed him and which would eventually cost him his life.

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فوك النخل- ايام الخير

Enjoy, a great classic from the Iraqi musical legend, Nathem al Ghazali.

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وَلاَ تَقُولُواْ لِمَنْ يُقْتَلُ فِي سَبيلِ اللّهِ أَمْوَاتٌ بَلْ أَحْيَاء وَلَكِن لاَّ تَشْعُرُونَ

On this day in 1920, French soldiers were marching into Damascus to occupy it and it would be over two decades before Syria was rid of them. Outnumbered, ill-equipped and almost certain to be killed, Yousef al Azma (just 36 years old) rode out at the head of a plucky group of Syrian soldiers and volunteers to give the French a fight. I only learned recently that my cousin A's grandfather had volunteered to fight at Maysaloon, and he noted in his diary that all the men, including himself, had been prepared to become martyred, that they were going to perform jihad against the invading French. It is commonly perceived that this event is a Syrian affair, that the men died for the "glory of Syria". This is nonsense, these men fought as Arabs and as Muslims. Their entire upbringing, morality and beliefs would have made it impossible for them not to have fought. One wishes that more Syrians and Muslims behaved this way today.

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أبّوح يا أبّوح

My weekly selection from my Sheikh Imam channel. A song dedicated to Beirut.

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The "truth" about Khaled Diab

The Guardian has today carried an article called "The truth about Arab science" by Khaled Diab, a writer with a distinct flavour to his ideology and one on whom I have made comments before. People like himself hold themselves up as paragons of scientific enlightenment and modernity, carrying the torches of freedom and civilization. Very often they know very little about science, philosophy or history and in fact are reusing phrases and ideas that other more enterprising thinkers have come up with.

His latest article gives us more of that same ideology, but in a different cloak. In it, he laments the fact that Arab minds and intellects can only thrive once they came to the West (though perhaps one cannot say the same about the writer himself). They do this because they are unable to pursue science in what he calls the "Arab science desert" and he then gives us some very credible and correct ideas about why this is the case: "The dominant patronage culture in academia, the shortage of research funding, the almost complete absence of private research, the difficulty of registering and protecting intellectual property, as well as the rote-based education system.".

So far so good, but almost immediately in the next paragraph, he begins an unexpected rant against Islam. Now perhaps I am being a little slow, but how could the causes that he identified earlier have anything to do with Islam when they are actually caused by the shambolic (and very very secular) governments of the Arab world. Even when he does concede that Muslim students, whom he describes as "fundamentalist" (perhaps he has a meter which measures the amount of fundamentotrons they emanate), do enroll on science courses in droves, he attributes this to some conspiracy to impose medieval values using modern techniques. Overall, his change in direction whilst writing is far too arbitrary to be misguided, this person is deliberately going out of their way to show us that Islam and science are incompatible.

To illustrate his point, he brings out that favourite of Orientalist topics, homosexuals. He quotes Nadia al Awady, a freelance science journalist, and then accuses her of holding "pretty unscientific views". We will assume that Mr Diab knows what a scientific view is, but where in his article does he specifically show that it is Islam and not the corrupt and secular Arab governments which are a cause for this scientific "desert" as he refers to it. Apart from reusing the tired notion of science versus faith, religion versus the modern, to frame his argument, the article tells us very little. In fact it should probably be called "The truth about Khaled Diab".

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Ah, the connection between Iran and al Qaeda perhaps?:

"Saad is thought to have been mostly in exile in Iran since 2001, highlighting the murky relationship between the Shia state and al-Qaida, which is dominated by Sunni extremists."

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Maysaloon is on twitter now.

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Syria: "Save us from the white shoes".

An interesting article by Khaled Saghia (Arabic) that is about the rise of neo-liberalism in Syria. I thought I would translate this for people who don't know Arabic. I am not a professional translator, so I apologise to the purists in advance.

Save us from the White Shoes.

Khaled Saghieh

Perhaps it was only a coincidence which drove Zeyad al Rahbani to choose his famous "Dust" sketch and present it in his shows at "The Castle" in Damascus last week. That sketch is taken from his radio show "The Brain is Decoration" which was presented on "The Voice of the People" in 1987.

In this sketch, Zeyad describes the silent rise of a petit-bourgeoisie class which destroys what it can in a society, and which cannot be stopped because it spreads like "dust". With this class, you cannot keep them away by closing the doors or windows in the winter, nor can you leave them open during the summer months. Whatever the case, the coincidence was well-placed.

Anybody who goes to Damascus these days cannot help but notice the widespread presence of this "dust". You will not find it in the common markets, as some might imagine, nor in the intimate places which have preserved some of their old charm. You will not even find it in the old houses of Damascus which have now been converted into bars and cafes.

Instead, you will find them in other types of cafes and nightclubs in Damascus, where this class of previously non-existent businessmen meet. We can rightly call this class "new money" and this shows by the style of dress they choose to adopt and in the way they move or dance in the clubs. Usually, this class will practice their obscenities in the poor districts, satisfying their inferiority complex and in order to show off their new found wealth. Those who have come to Damascus from Beirut recognise this class of people and know them well. For it is constantly being reborn through successive waves of migration, and from the old-boy networks which are renewed every time a "boss" inherits from his father.

What is interesting about this class is that the cigar and white shoes are constantly a feature. It emerged in Syria at a time when Washington and Damascus were politically as distant as ever. Yet in spite of this, the neo-liberal economic policies, so strongly advocated by the United States, found welcoming arms ironically in the capital of one of the leading countries resisting American hegemony in the region. As is usual, the rise of such a class is correlated with the spread of discussions about "development" - the latest fashion to arrive in Damascus.

That night, thousands of people gathered at the gates of "The Castle" and some of the people with white shoes were there too, in front row seats of course. When the applause began, they all clapped for the spread of "The Dust". How rare it is for one to be able to clap for themselves!

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Israeli settlement building and the pied piper of Washington

While the Palestinian house is in disarray over conspiracy theories, Israel continues to push through its settlement building aggressively. In times like this, it is appropriate for us remember the treachery of that pauper Anwar al Sadat and the damage that he and his dwarf followers have inflicted on the Arab world. Prior to 1973, the Israelis would have kissed the shoes of any Arab leader to at least consider having direct talks with them, today, it is the other way around. In order to even be graced with an Israeli negotiators presence, concessions must be made to the Zionist state. Obama is apparently deeply unpopular in Israel, so it was not surprising that a boost in settlement building took place after he took office. In this way, the world sees Israel as sticking its middle finger to the new magician in the White House, whilst giving it an extra bargaining chip, more concessions to freeze the settlements, meaning that before anybody has even discussed preconditions for meeting, the Israelis have already gained whilst the Arabs lose. So is somebody going to tell us who killed Arafat?

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Syria: Erdogan's surprise visit

Erdogan has managed to place himself as the broker to be trusted between the Syrians and the Israelis. In light of everything that has been happening recently one wonders about the timing of the visit and whether the Israelis are trying to find out Syria's position on a possible strike against Iran. With Iran appearing to be paralysed by political turmoil, a quick strike might spell the end of the demonstrations and the demonstrators, but would be perfect in pushing back Iran's nuclear weapons programme. Syria is not capable nor interested in a full on military confrontation with the Zionist juggernaut, but it will not hesitate to reign the Israelis in by supporting Hezbullah to the hilt and who, along with Hamas, give Syria its only chance to grab the Israeli bull by the horns. If Israel attacks Iran then Hezbullah and Hamas will fire there rockets on Israel and probably more.

Recently there has been a concerted effort to try to bring Syria into the "moderate" Arab fold and gently coax it away from the Iranian orbit of influence. For its part, Syria has been happy to join in this detente, there have been high level visits by Saudi intelligence chiefs, American diplomats and agreements with the Lebanese "majority" groupings. Embassies have been opened in Damascus and Beirut, for the first time in this region's history. There is talk of a peace deal with the Zionist entity and investment agreements with Europe - investments that Syria desperately needs to keep its economy going. But Syria is playing hard to get, it goes along all the way when it knows that the Israelis would reject, and when the Israelis are amenable to peace it pulls out in the last instant when political developments in the region call for this. So when Gazans were being butchered in December and January, all talk of peace agreements, which seemed to be going in full ernest before this, was quietly hushed up and instead the Syrian president gave what was then considered to be quite a forceful and widely admired speech in which he condemned Israel for its assault. Hamas was, and remains, a useful thorn in Israel's side and with the menace of Hezbullah hanging over northern Israel like a black cloud, Syria has all it needs to leverage well against the Zionists.

Still, whilst Syria talks the talk of peace, I just don't see them pushing through with this nonsensical idea. And for good reason. Syria, whilst poor compared to the other Arab countries has an excess of something which is beyond deficient in the rest of the Arab world, political brains. With crucial countries like Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia now effectively vassal states of the United States and openly allied with Israel, it is still a credit to Syria that it is able to punch above its weight and to hit where it hurts. It would be enormously easy for President Assad to go down the route of a Syrian Mubarak and just sign that paper saying that it is "ok" for the Jews to have Palestine, yet he does not. This is puzzling, yet comforting, for it seems that this machiavellian ruler, son of the ruthless and wily President Hafez al Assad, is hanging on to the last vestiges of Arab dignity and resistance - and succeeding.

Tomorrow Erdogan comes to Damascus bringing what he brings, and Damascus already knows what it needs to know from Mr Sadr's visit earlier this week. The Prince of Damascus will soon be facing some difficult decisions...

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Syria: Assad's meeting with Sadr

Muqtada al Sadr made a surprise visit to Damascus for talks with President Bashar Al Assad, the details of which were undisclosed. We can only guess at the nature of their discussion, but I imagine it was to convey some sort of message from Tehran concerning the latest concerted effort being made against Iran. Sadr is reported to have been residing in Qom for some time and the observant will note that around the time the riots began in Iran, regular bomb attacks against Sadr's areas have been taking place, timed with the US withdrawal from the major cities.

In Iran, the Rafsanjani, Mousavi, Khatami triumvirate is still trying to muscle Ahmedinejad in a struggle which now threatens Khamenei himself. Naturally, Damascus and Hezbullah HQ will be anxious for a direct update on what is happening, especially with all the Israeli posturing that has been taking place recently. Although the Republic is distracted, I think it is still business as usual for its foreign operations. In Afghanistan Western forces are still losing men to IED's (Improvised Explosive Devices) and the two British hostages are still a card that has not been played in spite of the release of the five Iranian diplomats. It is not confirmed that Iran is behind this, but it would not be difficult to imagine some involvement, Helmand is extremely close to the Iranian border; IED's were a major gripe the occupation forces had with Iran in 2007, blaming the Revolutionary Guards with supplying the expertise and equipment necessary to construct sophisticated traps, especially in the south of Iraq. Previous to that Bush in 2007 had warned those who opposed his troops in Iraq to "bring it on", and if you remember the American casualty rate soared after that, only to be lowered once a deal was cut with the Iranians. Then it was covered by the silly American "Surge". Anyhow, that was then.

I am not sure what will happen, something has to be done about the agitators in Iran and soon otherwise the situation will get out of hand, but what would happen once that is concluded is anybody's guess. The British and the Europeans seem to have a hand in this though the United States is distant yet sympathetic, probably worried about the backlash it could face in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq alone has 135,000 soldiers (probably less now) but an American "Dien Bien Phu" (with thousands of American soldiers killed or in POW camps) is the last thing that Obama would need and could poison his term in office. It looks like Israel could be unleashed if the triumvirate fail to shift Ahmedinejad, but what should really be on everybody's mind is what would happen should Ahmedinejad and Khatemi survive this. And I believe they will...

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A video on the Guardian about the mother of one of the British hostages held in Iraq since 2007. Notice there is no mention of who is holding these men, and that we are given a red herring by being made to ask why this issue is not high profile whilst others were - as if this is a failing of the Foreign Office. I still think these men will be released after the Americans let go the five Iranian diplomats made captive in 2007, just before these men were kidnapped. Let us see..tick tock.

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طعن الخناجر و لا حكم الخسيس ليه....

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Gilad Atzmon on Hedonistic warriors

I don't like activist videos, simply because I'm not interested in showing the "hypocrisy" of the United States, Israel or Europe.Nor in "telling the world" what is "really" happening to civilians in Palestine and the Islamic world - which is a waste of my time. So it was with some hesitation that I checked Morris' video links. But I did and I liked what I saw. A good analaysis of the situation Israel finds itself within. There is no bull excrement here, just a coherent and well articulated point of view.

Wars are won by men - not technology nor activism for that matter. And good men are what you fill their minds with.

Thank you Morris.

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Mr Falafel: The Best Palestinian Falafel

It may surprise many of my friends and family back home, but when it comes to good food, living in London actually leaves me wanting for nothing. In fact last year I was joking with my friends that it was London which deserved the title "Capital of Arabic Culture" because of the concentration of Arabs and their cuisine that we find here. In particular, one of my favourite areas is Shepherds Bush and Acton. Not because of the monstrous West Field shopping centre, but because of the vibrant community which lives there. There are three mosques between these two areas, meaning I can always nip in quickly to carry out my prayers. Also, there is the popular Abu Zad restaurant, providing a modest menu of Syrian cuisine which is not bad at all and at a very decent price. Just up the road you can find the famous Damasgate, which has absolutely everything I could need for making any of the dishes I miss from back home. However in terms of affection none can compete with the lovely Palestinian falafel shop which is just at the entrance of Shepherds Bush Market. There is another smaller stall run by a nice Egyptian man who also does some barbeque corn on the cob, but not having a place to sit and watch people go buy puts him at a disadvantage with the magnificent Mr Falafel.

Below is a picture I took of the almost divine falafel and makdous sandwich that I had. I had asked about how good the makdous was and the man informed me it had actually come straight from Syria, via Damasgate of course. It turns out that I have underestimated making this wonderful snack and it is far beyond the meagre capabilities of a bachelor living in the British Isles. The eggplant is specifically that which is grown in Hama and there is a big list of things which are needed in order to make this delight before it is mashed up to be eaten with bread. I highly recommend this place but it is only open during the weekdays as the market closes on the weekends. I'm not sure if it opens Saturdays but I have a good incentive to go and find out!

When I came in and had a chat with the man behind the counter, it turned out they were Palestinian and had come from Lebanon. Originally from Tabarea, we mumbled a few words about the ridiculous peace agreements which might be taking place between Syria and Israel, then gave me a tired look, expecting me to be one of the wide-eyed student activist types who would like to sit with a 'real' Palestinian and rub off some of that 'revolutionary' spirit on themselves. I just wanted to know about makdous, so I obligingly left him be and sat down, quietly savouring the delicious sandwich and the many subtle tastes that showed me these guys really know what they are talking about when it comes to falafel.

The Best Palestinian Falafel - bar none

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I mean seriously, whether or not Abu Ammar was poisoned or not - does that really matter? Muhammad Dahlan and Abu Mazen are guilty of far more serious crimes to which they must answer to, treason for a start.

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Torches of Freedom...getting women addicted to cigarettes

On March 31, 1929, a woman by the name of Bertha Hunt stepped into the throng of pedestrians in their Sunday-best clothing marching down Fifth Avenue in what was known in New York as the Easter Parade, and created a sensation by lighting up a Lucky Strike cigarette. Her action would not have created the reaction it did had not the press already been alerted to what was going to happen in advance. Hunt then told the reporter from the New York Evening World that she “first got the idea for this campaign when a man with her in the street asked her to extinguish her cigarette as it embarrassed him. ‘I talked it over with my friends, and we decided it was high time something was done about the situation.’”

The press, of course, had been warned in advance that Bertha and her friends were going to light up. They had received a press release informing them that she and her friends would be lighting “torches of freedom” “in the interests of equality of the sexes and to fight another sex taboo.” Bertha also mentioned that she and her friends would be marching past “the Baptist church where John D. Rockefeller attends” on the off chance that he might want to applaud their efforts. At the end of the day, Bertha and her friends told the press that she hoped they had “started something and that these torches of freedom, with no particular brand favored, will smash the discriminatory taboo on cigarettes for women and that our sex will go on breaking down all discriminations.’”

What Miss Hunt did not tell the reporter is that she was the secretary of a man by the name of Eddie Bernays, nor did she tell him that Mr. Bernays was now a self-styled expert in the new discipline of Public Relations who had just received a handsome retainer from the American Tobacco Company to promote cigarette consumption among women. What billed itself as a feminist promotion of the emancipation of women was in reality a public relations ploy to open a new market for tobacco by getting women addicted to cigarettes.

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On this day in 2006

It was a strange time - someone dear to me once told me how the war had made her remember that she was a Muslim. This statement was true for me as well and on so many levels.

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Syria's strange love affair with Britain

For anybody who has been fortunate enough to visit both capitals, London and Damascus appear to stand at the poles of two opposing cultures and world views. Both of these cities were once the capitals of great empires. In Damascus, Salah el Din rides his steed to glory and victory whilst in London, the lonely figure of Richard the Lion Heart raises his sword one last time. Syrians in particular have a strange infatuation with the English. Their educational system is held in high esteem and is commonly (and accurately) believed to be better than the American one. Their president was also educated in Britain and ultimately married a Syrian woman from Acton, who was brought up and educated in Britain as well. Historically, we are told the tale of the Syrian trader who married a local woman, a tale repeated countless times till the present, living where today there is a border with Scotland when the Romans were still in Britain. The British have Lawrence of Arabia, a semi-legendary figure who 'helped' in the Arab revolt but strangely they were happy to leave Syria and Lebanon to the French during the "mandate" years.

Syria and Britain are two countries which should, by all accounts, be enemies. Yet strangely there exists a bizarre connection between the two countries which persists in spite of whatever political turmoil is taking place. In the eighties, the Syrians tried to blow up an El Al flight taking off from Heathrow. The man responsible is still in prison here, but the issue was hushed up and nobody remembers that anymore. Britain's pro-Zionism is also silently overlooked by Damascus in its relations, as is Syria's support for Palestinian resistance movements. Both countries hold special relationships with stronger allies, the United States for Britain and Iran for Syria, and both seem to act as the conduit through which much negotiation takes place between these two opposing powers. During the 1990 Gulf War, a member of the British Special Air Service managed to escape Iraq to the safety of Syria, then a member of the coalition to oust Saddam from Kuwait, but in protest at the aggression of the United States against Iraq and its continued bombing, Syrian rioters 'managed' to completely trash the British Council's offices before proceeding to the US embassy, where one of the rioters was able to pull down the American flag and then duly urinate on it. British intelligence routinely "tips" Syrian intelligence services to pick up individuals of interest who fly to Damascus to learn Arabic or religion, to be tortured and interrogated, before the necessary diplomatic outrage allows for their release - or not. The incidents go back and forth, and yet there seems to be a silent 'understanding' between the two countries which has persisted over the years.

It is a very curious relationship...and one which I expect will produce strange offspring in the future.

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"Syria renaissance excludes human rights"

Lina Sinjab is back! Credit where it is due though, this article isn't half bad.

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Metaphysical Mistake

I hold Karen Armstrong in great esteem and really enjoy reading her books on religion. Here is a very interesting article she's written for the Guardian:

Confusion by Christians between belief and reason has created bad science and inept religion.

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Crooked pens

Fawaz Jarjis writing on al Jazeera about Iran. He says that the government has won the battle but not the war and that the cost has been their political and moral legitimacy in the eyes of their people. Predictably the article looks like it may have been written for CNN or the BBC rather than al Jazeera. I was suspicious of Jarjis so when several commentators pointed out his anti-resistance sympathies against the Palestinians I felt my suspicions were justified. I think that since the invasion of Iraq, the US-Iranian battle for the Middle East has grown into the defining conflict in the Middle East for this decade. Our very own Cold War..

PS. I still think we should expect to see those hostages released very soon.

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Events in Iran - An Analysis

What are the Americans buying for the release of the five Iranian diplomats? Their release yesterday after almost two years of captivity raises serious questions, especially considering the timing and context. The West and Iran have been in a state of undeclared war since the Iranian revolution in 1979. Granted there have been periods of detente, such as the Israeli arms sales to the revolution and American assistance during the Iran-Iraq war. Recently, we saw a slight thaw with the Americans requesting Iranian assistance in supplying NATO forces in Afghanistan, as well as the undeclared agreement to cede Iraq to Iran's sphere of influence. But this kind of behaviour has been the exception rather than the norm and when the riots began in Iran over disputes about the elections, the West was quick to show where its sympathies lay. The response from Iran has been swift against what it called Western interference in its affairs, and in particular singled out the British government as the "most evil".

The saga with the diplomats is the latest in a series of tit for tat killings, kidnappings and publicity stunts by both sides. It began in January 2007 when five Iranian diplomats were seized in Iraq during a time when the United States was complaining about Iranian meddling in Iraq. The violence during this time was extreme. During January the Mossad also assassinated Ardeshir Hosseinpour, a scientist on the Iranian nuclear programme. In February that same year, a sixth Iranian diplomat is "kidnapped" in Iraq, but no group comes forward to claim responsibility. in 2007, a bizarre kidnapping of five British personnel, a civilian and four body guards, took place right under the noses of the US army. The Times reported a year later that the five were being held by Revolutionary Guards in Iran but overall the media coverage of these men over the past two years was minimal - surprisingly. On the 23rd of March 2007, the Iranians announce their capture of 15 Royal Navy Sailors whom it claims were within its territorial waters. The British denied this and typically brought out their whiteboards, marker pens and ordinance maps on the news to explain themselves in front of their public and the world. This is still considered to be the greatest insult in the history of the Royal Navy and the event turned into a media circus which humiliated Britain. On the 3rd of April, the people who had kidnapped the sixth Iranian diplomat released him, it is still not known who had been holding him. The very next day, Mahmoud Ahmedi Nejad announces the release of the prisoners as a "gift" to the United Kingdom.

Two years later and the only two remaining and unresolved issues from that period were those of the five Iranian diplomats, held by the United States, and the five British personnel who were being held by Iran. One of these is said to have killed himself in captivity, whilst two of them were shot and their bodies handed over to the occupation forces in Iraq the day following Khamenei's warning to the West not to meddle in Iran's internal affairs and after his singling out the British government as the cause of the disturbances. There are still two hostages who are being held by Iran and it is probably highly likely that the release by the Americans of the five Iranian diplomats could be as a payment for the release of the two remaining British hostages. This may be because the United States and Britain do not want more attention than necessary focused on what has happened to these five men - the forgotten - especially after two of them were executed. It also raises other serious questions about what role Britain has played in the riots in Iran.

In another note, there has been a sharp rise in the deaths of British soldiers in Afghanistan - could this be the start of an Iranian response to British meddling? The recent G8 meeting in Italy also had a meeting scheduled in combating the drugs trade in Afghanistan, but the Iranian delegate had withdrawn from the meeting following Khamenei's speech a few weeks ago and did not attend. Hashemi Rafsanjani, whose daughter (and effectively himself) were placed under house arrest at the start of the riots distanced himself from the protestors when it became clear that they cannot dislodge Ahmedi Nejad and place the corrupt Mousavi in his place. His attempt at dislodging Khamenei, something well within his considerable political power, also appears to have fizzled. The highest ranking Iranian employee in the British embassy is now facing charges of espionage and playing a crucial role in what has happened in Iran following the elections. The arrest of the naive French student is probably a red herring and only a warning to the French to not think about sticking their noses in other peoples business. So all the loose ends have been tied up and Iran is now mopping the protestors, who are now left to their own devices.

The silly 'green' revolution is over. As Walid al Mualem, Syria's cunning Foreign Minister said, whoever had bet on the collapse of the Iranian revolution made a big mistake. I think now, the last serious attempt to dislodge the Islamic Republic has failed, and there is a much bigger chance of Israeli attempts to bomb Iranian nuclear installations than before. The Saudi and American nods of approval are an indicator of things to come.

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This was probably always likely...

During one of those 'deep' discussions that can take place every now and then, someone mentioned to me that even if the Prophet Muhammad had been killed, Allah would still have created an Islam, still created a Muhammad somewhere and still revealed a Quran, for it is written. The first thing that I felt when that was said was that this sounded ludicrous. What happened the way it happened could not have happened any other way, is an old Stoic belief about how the world with its events is explained. If it could not have happened in any other way, then there is no free will and we may think we are making decisions but ultimately are only doing what we were destined to do. The issue of free will versus predetermination is an old philosophical one, and I have no intention of fully writing down my views on the topic yet, especially not today, but I was thinking about what this person had told me and realised something.

How many times have you come across an idea that you thought was so brilliant and new, only to discover that somebody has already thought of it and been recognised for it. Children draw diagrams of their inventions only to find out that a scientist somewhere has in fact already been studying it and released it. Today, whilst reading, I remembered a complex idea that I had been trying to explain to a friend about my view of life in the universe and the constancy of life even though the underlying atoms which make us up are being dismantled and reassembled in different forms. The reason I remembered this idea was because Heraclitus, the ancient pre-Socratic philosopher was mentioned. I had been aware of his saying before, that you never step into the same river twice, but never tied it in with his wider view that the only constancy is the pattern of change - exactly what I had been so desparately trying to word like a four year old child trying to explain what it is they want.

If there is an underlying process which is similar within all human beings, then, in similar situations and with similar external stimula, we would always or for the most case (Aristotles definition of necessary) act the same way or think something up in a similar fashion. Even those who go against the tide would act this way only because it has reached a certain level or speed in a certain direction, so if they had not, another would inevitably have done so. It is not predetermined that you would act on the impulse, only that you may experience it. So when the Prophet explained one of the Quranic passages about those who go to Paradise as "inheriting" it from the non-believers, he said that each human being has two places reserved for them, one in Paradise and one in Hell. Those who act on certain impulses may go one way or the other, so if it is not you, another may be strong or weak enough to succumb or succeed.

So if there was no Rome, another Rome would have come about, if there was no Moses or Elvis, another Moses or Elvis would have surfaced eventually. Almost as if whatever is 'possible' will, with enough time, be eventually fulfilled - I wonder if there is some shred of truth in that. When I read the Qur'an, there is never any mention of when something will happen, no mention of when the Qiyama (Day of Judgement) will take place, or of issues to do with Islamic eschatology, but the language remains clear, this will happen and when it does, you will not be able to delay or bring it forward by even a moment. Almost like the inevitability of death and my inability to predict where in the world it will happen, only that it will. These are very humbling thoughts.

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On crackpots

I will post more on this later, but I get very annoyed when I here people 'citing' books by Harun Yahya in discussions about science and evolution. I have not read his books but the arguments people claim to get from him are not representative of Islamic positions on science. Frankly the man seems like a crackpot. I have not found a single reason why I should refuse evolution because I am a Muslim and I have not found a single atom of evidence in the Qur'an or elsewhere, which would rule out such a theory. Even Imam al Ghazali in books written over a thousand years ago had no problem in categorising man as a "speaking animal" in his examples or discussions about logic, he takes it as a given. It is ironic that the same people who glorify the Islamic history and past scientific advances find that an honest and serious study of the very books they champion would lead them to hold completely opposite positions to those they hold now regarding science and learning. In fact if they even read the Qur'an they would find it says nothing about such issues, simply because the Qur'an is not a scientific text. So what I am saying is the Qur'an did not mention the internet, just because it did not talk about the dinosaurs that does not mean they did not exist, and it does not have secret codes in it about the date of the end of the world. Now go away. I'm annoyed.

Back to my thesis...

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Sayid Qutb, Morality and Pinnochio

I am almost finished with reading Sayid Qutb's book "Milestones on the Way" which I hope to post something on at some point soon. But an interesting thing occurred whilst I was reading it yesterday, I came across a passage that he quotes from the Qur'an and for some reason this verse really resonated with me:

فأعرض عمّن تولى عن ذكرنا و لم يرد الا الحياة الدنيا. ذلك مبلغهم من العلم, ان ربك هو أعلم بمن ضل عن سبيله و هو أعلم بمن اهتدى
النجم 19-20

So avoid those who have abandoned remembering Us and only wanted this life. That is the limit of their knowledge. Your God knows who has strayed from his way and He knows who has followed it.

(al Najm 19-20)

There is something which people used to worry about a lot in human history such as the development of a good, virtuous and upright character. The ancient and medieval philosophers had all worried about it and so did the major faiths which give people signposts for achieving these traits. Yet we are told that so few had the patience, the courage or the intelligence to pursue this way. This tendency to be stupid exists today and in fact it is worse because it is now all pervasive. Everywhere I look in London I see people who are brash, loud arrogant and selfish. The same is true in other countries but perhaps not as bad as it is here or in the United States. They do not see themselves that way of course, nobody does, but then again we like to be with people who would make us feel as if we are not evil but good. But that is what they are. It was this chain of thought which reminded me of the strangest of things! I had forgotten how much I had loved the film Pinnochio as a child. I even had an illustrated story that was read to me over and over and I would, as children do, also watch it endlessly until I almost memorised it. There was a scene in Pinnochio which had a profound impact on me as a little boy, the one where he joins a loud, brash and rude group of boys and runs away from home to go and have 'fun' in a fair. In this fair, the boys can do what they like, they can even 'smoke' cigars and drink beer like 'adults'. There are no restrictions, no limits and no rules.

Unfortunately after they have their 'fun' it turns out that the fair is run by an evil man who casts a spell on them. All those who drink cigars and smoke beer are turned into jackasses and then caged in boxes to be sold to salt mines, circuses, farms or other horrid places. Pinnochio is fortunate, but he sees all those he thought were his friends get dragged to the most horrible of fates. It was probably the finality of such a horrible fate, with no hope of a second chance or redemption, which would bother me so much back then. That theme figures strongly in the scene and I imagine it did have strong religious connotations, a child friendly version of what eternal damnation must be like.

The scene is actually quite disturbing and I don't think it ever left me. Especially with all the other fears that my mother (bless her) had implanted in my head such as the fear of drugs, the fear of stealing and the fear of lying because Allah would burn me with fire. I would rebel against this 'nonsense' when I grew older but something inside me always pulled me away from the worst of things that people can do these days. When I would visit nightclubs many years ago, I would imagine people there looked like gorilla's in a bizarre mating ritual, they looked so primitive and ridiculous regardless of how gorgeous the woman would look or how smart and gel-ed up the man chatting to her would be. I would feel disgusted that I had happily relished mixing in such an environment where alcohol, cigarettes and far worse (in toilet cubicles) would be taken. I also felt disgusted with myself for having spent so long seeing women as just objects to be used, as game to be pursued and hunted down. That is actually what many of the women in these places are, because they do want to be hunted down and they did want to be objects to the 'best' man out there. It could be human instinct but it just didn't feel right.

I guess Allah sometimes wants us to fall in the mud so that we can appreciate the cleansing effects of water but that does not mean that we should seek this kind of environment. I don't agree with people who think you should go out and 'experience' life (as they think this is), as if this rubbish and the horrible people you would meet during this time is a necessary rite of passage for us. There is a real danger of corruption, not just of the body, as the tired, flaccid and tattood bodies of those who go through this are testament to, but also of the soul. Restraint, patience, politeness, modesty, all these are qualities that people in the 'big' cities of the world now ridicule. Aside from these probably the biggest quality that is now missing is shame.

I think shame is a wonderful feeling to have. When a child first begins to feel shy or shame it is because they are starting to become self aware. They are not sure if what they have done is acceptable or not. When they do good, parents then commend the child and when they do bad, the parents rebuke them. At least that is how it is supposed to be and this is a process which Muslims in fact carry out throughout their lives. There is a much maligned phrase الأمر بالمعروف و النهي عن المنكر calling for good and restraining from evil, which expresses this philosophy perfectly I think. It is, I have now discovered, the Islamic answer to the English philosophy of only having the 'right' to interfere when ones actions would 'harm' others no matter how immoral or outrageous we think they are. A view that is taken to be dogma today, even in the Arab world. However I believe this is a fallacy, for immorality is an active element which spreads effortlessly through a society since it is likeable, easy and seductive. Morality on the other hand is a component which can only be brought about through action. Not just any action, but an action rooted in a will which derives its morality from something other than just a persons desires and fancies. For this reason, morality is what I like to call, a 'passive' element in a society.

When I say society I refer to it as a collection of human beings and not as a state. Society has its roots in family, and when I have a family, shame and fear will have their rightful place in raising the children - not as tools of tyranny, but of mercy. Whilst I cannot, and rightly so, make their decisions or live their life for them, the least I can do is plant the right seeds in their mind so that when they do come across the crazy, sexy and cool but ultimately misguided people, or as the Quranic verse above says, those who desire only this world then they have a better chance of surviving their own individual experience with Fitna. My Aunt has a nice saying about the stern way her generation were raised. She said our parents disciplined us so that the world wouln't have to in the future. I agree with her, when the world teaches us a lesson, it is a crueller teacher than any strict parent.

In the mean time, please find linked the scene in Pinnochio when the boys discover they have been misled and lied to, and when they start transforming into donkeys...

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Sheikh Imam - Ana Toub 3an Hobak ana

This is my favourite song from Sheikh Imam. Toob in Arabic means to repent. When you say Ana toob 3an hobak ana? he is asking "I could ever repent from loving you?". The words have always resonated with me...

I am begging you, Allah punish you
Making me stress with you and making me stress over you
Even if you were away for a year, I am still as I am
I cannot forget you, nor can I be without you
How can I repent from loving you?

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Maysaloon is back

After a brief sojourn Maysaloon is back. I think it is a human trait where we feel we have to say goodbye, not because the connection is broken, but because we think that in this way we would find closure and perhaps feel we can move on. I've learned that this is an illusion, for if we are caring enough to want to say goodbye, we are also humble enough to leave our door cracked open that little bit wider - just in case. It is ironic that Allah forgives the transgressions people might make against His laws, but not those that people commit against each other, but if we really understand the meaning of this, we find that between people too there is nothing which has been broken that cannot be fixed - if we are just wise enough to emulate one of His traits rather than let arrogance, pride and evil come in the way. I think for these reasons I will always prefer the Arabic farewells such as الى اللقاء, (till we meet), or وداعاً, (wada'an), which is shortened and comes from أستودعك الله (Astowde'ok Allah), which means I leave you in God's keeping.

There is an old Arabic saying which goes: a mountain and a mountain will never meet, but a human being and a human being will...so for those we have parted ways with us we tell them الى اللقاء - the door, however formidable, will always be open for you.

Maysaloon will continue, but I feel it taking a slightly more spiritual twist than before. For a blog which has been ongoing since the July war in 2006, I feel it has become a roadmap of my development as a human being. Since that milestone three years ago, how many things have changed!?

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