Ramadan reflections from the US on SOF

This Ramadan, "Speaking of Faith" (by American Public Media) has launched a series of Ramadan reflections called "Revealing Ramadan" by Muslims all over the US, as well as a few Muslims living in other places, such as Spain and Britain.

On the series website, you can download the podcast versions of the reflections, or read the text stories that accompany them.

Harper shows his religious side

In an interview with the Quebec City magazine Prestige, Stephen Harper has said that family is more important to him than political success, and the judgement of God more important than the judgement of future historians.

As Harper put it, "To be honest with you, I am a lot more concerned by God's verdict regarding my life than the one of historians".

Regarding his work-life balance, Harper said, "The important thing, for me, is to preserve family ties. I can win elections, but if I lose my family, it's a disaster."

BTW, Harper belongs to the Christian and Missionary Alliance.

Putting Divine judgement over human judgement and family before work is something I can agree with. These are values I share. The question is, then, why do I still find Harper so creepy?

For one thing, I think, it's because his attitude makes you wonder whether he cares about human beings outside of his family circle. And so, speaking of his concern with "God's verdict" (since he raised the subject), I wonder whether he actually thinks about whether God would approve of his particular actions, such as doing all he can to prevent Canada from taking meaningful steps to reduce its carbon emissions. If he does, I wonder why he remains as he is. Or perhaps he feels he has blanket immunity because of his faith alone?

Muslim charity serves up chicken in Toronto

According to its website, the Muslim charity MuslimServ, based in Brampton, has delivered 2,898 lbs of chicken to the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto this Ramadan. They're planning to make two more deliveries, on the 7th and the 14th of September.

What I most like about this programme is that it helps Muslims who donate their money to the organisation take part in helping their needy neighbours, regardless of religious or other differences.

What I don't understand, however, is the focus on chicken. Last Ramadan, MuslimServ donated a total of 14,000 lbs of chicken, and is hoping that people will ramp up their donations of money this year, allowing it to donate more chicken to the food bank. My question is: why only chicken? Why not donate a variety of food items?

Dalai Lama supports Taiwan democracy

On a visit to Taiwan, the Dalai Lama called on the Taiwanese people to protect their democratic institutions, saying, "You achieved democracy. That you must preserve".

The Dalai Lama went to Taiwan to visit and pray for the victims of Typhoon Morakot. The visit also had important political dimensions, since he was invited to the island by the opposition. China, as usual, protested against the visit. China and Taiwan do not disagree with each other over the status of Tibet: both the Republic of China (i.e., Taiwan) and the People's Republic of China (the mainland) see Taiwan as an integral part of China (see map).

The Dalai Lama said that Taiwan "should have a very close, unique link with China".

Touring the village of Xiaoling, which suffered from mudslides as a result of the typhoon, the Dalai Lama was reminded of "Buddha's message of impermanence. It is indeed very very sad."

Hsueh Shu-Chun, who lost her entire family save her husband, said that "Praying for the victims brings relief not only to them but to survivors like me."

Ramadan lunch breaks

The Toronto Star has a good article up today about Muslims and lunch breaks during Ramadan.

The author, Stuart Laidlaw, points out that Muslims tend to become more practising during Ramadan, which means that more of them attend Friday prayer. For Muslims who work, that means taking an extra-long lunch break in order to make it to the mosque, listen to the sermon, perform the prayer, and arrive back at work.

Nadir Shirazi, president of Multifacet Diversity Solutions, suggests that non-Muslim co-workers should not think their Muslim colleagues are slacking off. Meanwhile, Liz Chappel, who is vice-president of the Toronto Area Interfaith Council, reminds us that "Our workplaces are centred around Christian holidays", and urges non-Muslims to be aware of what a spiritually important time their Muslim workmates are going through.

My favourite line in the article is "Shirazi and Chappel say employers should avoid holding lunch meetings". Having sat through some of those myself during Ramadan, I can tell you they're painful.

One thing the article didn't bring out, though, is, what about Muslims who attend Friday prayer at other times, during the remaining 11 months of the year? This story almost makes it sound as if Friday prayer is only important during Ramadan.

Slovakia stops Hungarian president from honouring saint

Slovakia and Hungary are embroiled in a diplomatic dispute, after the Hungarian president, László Sólyom, was prevented by Slovakia from entering its territory on 21 August.

Sólyom had been planning to visit Komárno, a Slovakian city with an ethnic-Hungarian majority, in order to take part in the unveiling of a statue of the first king of Hungary, St. Stephen. Since Hungary and Slovakia are both members of the Schengen Zone, there aren't supposed to be travel restrictions between the two.

However, the Slovakian prime minister, Robert Fico, who leads a coalition that includes a radical anti-Hungarian party, has remained unapologetic, saying that Sólyom's visit would have been a "violation of international law and Slovakia's sovereignty".

One reason that the Slovak government has cited for its take on the event is that 21 August happened to be the anniversary of the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by five members of the Warsaw Pact, including Hungary. On top of that, as the Slovak foreign minister, Miroslav Lajčák, pointed out, the organisers of the unveiling of the statue had not invited anyone from the Slovak government to participate.

The Hungarian foreign minister, Péter Balázs, has called his president's denial of entry into Slovakia "unprecedented and unacceptable".

Perhaps the most interesting thing in all this is that both Hungary and Slovakia are Catholic countries, with Catholics accounting for 55% of Hungarians and 69% of Slovaks. St. Stephen, meanwhile, was canonised in 1083. Just a glimpse of how modern nationalism tampers with long-established religious tradition.

Russian church considers Russians and Ukrainians "one people"

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus (i.e., Russia, Ukraine and Belarus) has declared Russians and Ukrainians to be "one people".

Speaking in Arkhangelsk, Kirill remarked,

From the point of view of basic values, we are one people. Certainly, from an ethnic point of view, from the point of view of language, one can speak [of differences]... but, when it comes to basic values, we are one body.

Kirill also spoke about "the historic commonality which was formed during the thousands of years of our common history", and added that "no thoughtful politician in Russia or Ukraine can ignore this fact." Despite all of the above, Kirill called for respect for the sovereignty of both Ukraine and Russia.

So is this the Russian Orthodox Church stepping into politics of its initiative, or is it rather fulfilling the demands of the Russian authorities?

In a recent Naša niva article, Jan Zaprudnik writes that he found highly dubious leaflets being distributed in Orthodox churches in Turaŭ (Turaw) and Žytkavičy (Zhytkavichy), one of which claims that Ukraine was "invented" by Bismarck, of all people.

It's truly sad to see how the church is allowing itself to be the handmaiden of Russian imperialism once again.

Belarusian bishop stabbed

The Orthodox Christian bishop of Mahiloŭ and Mścisłaŭ (Mahilyow and Mstsislaw), Safron, was stabbed by a supposedly deranged person while performing a church service in Mahiloŭ on 23 August. The bishop was wounded in the arm and the stomach.

Following the attack, Safron was hospitalised and underwent surgery. His life is reportedly not in danger.

The 37-year-old suspect was caught by worshippers and has been charged with "intentional causation of heavy physical injury". He had been under observation at the Mahiloŭ Regional Psychiatric Hospital.

This is scary news, given that many of my relatives live in Mahiloŭ, belong to the Orthodox Church and attend services. On the other hand, this seems to be a complete one-off.

10,000 visitors

Notes on Religion received its 10,000th hit on 21 August.

Thank you to everyone who has visited, read and commented over these two years. Merci beaucoup!

Obama's Ramadan greeting

Barack Obama charms once again with his Ramadan greeting to Muslims around the world.



As he points out himself, though, it's time to see more action on the ground, in addition to encouraging words. Nevertheless, after Bush, this is so refreshing!

Obama's speech seems to have become one of the top stories connected to the beginning of Ramadan this year, as can be seen both on Al Jazeera and the BBC.

Not quite everyone has the same focus, though. I was listening to the BBC Asian Network yesterday, and the presenter, while discussing the onset of Ramadan, said, "What about... getting it on with your partner?" Certainly a legitimate question, although I don't think I would have put it quite that way. :)

Ramadan mubarak!

I would like to wish my readers a blessed Ramadan. May God accept us our fasts and our good deeds, and forgive us for our mistakes.

Visitor profiles, 15 July to 14 August 2009

Welcome to the nineteenth installment of Notes on Religion visitor profiles!

The most recent month (15 July to 14 August 2009):

This month, Notes on Religion received 464 visits.

Visitors came to Notes on Religion from every inhabited continent, alhamdu lillah. The largest number of visitors (32%) came from the United States. Italy was next with 12%, while Canada came third with 8%. In sha' Allah, I'll quote all monetary amounts (if any are discussed) in US dollars along with Canadian dollars over the coming month.

In the US, the largest number of visitors (18%) came from California.

A plurality of visitors this past month (41%) were referred to Notes on Religion by Google. The most common Google search terms that brought visitors to the blog were 'natasha aliyeva' and 'neo nazi beheading'.

The most popular browser this month was Firefox (45%). 88% of the visitors were Windows users.

Since the founding of the blog (15 March 2007 to 14 August 2009):

The total number of visitors during these two years was 9,920. The average number of visitors was eleven per day.

The largest number of visitors (45%) came from the United States. The second-highest number (14%) came from Canada. The United Kingdom came third with 7%.

In the US, the largest number of visitors (15%) came from California.

The majority of visitors (55%) was referred to the blog by Google. The most common search term entered by visitors who were referred to Notes on Religion by Google was 'russian neo nazi beheading'.

The most popular browser was Internet Explorer (47%). 91% of the visitors were Windows users.

On equality in the mosque

As some of you know, Katie and I have recently returned from a two-month trip to Europe. One thing that I love to do while travelling is to discover mosques where I can perform the Friday prayer. In Muslim countries, there are always well established mosques on hand. In non-Muslim ones, depending on how long a Muslim minority has been established there, there are either mosques that look like mosques, or there are buildings converted into mosques from other uses (such as a former cinema I found in Philadelphia), or temporary prayer facilities at university campuses. What's common between all of these places of worship is the welcome they extend to the Muslim worshipper and the sense of brotherhood that almost always emanates from them.

So imagine my surprise when, in Luton, England, I was told that, to the best of my interlocutor's knowledge, mosques there have no "arrangements" for women worshippers. He said there might be something at the university, but, at that stage, it was too late to check. It's always something of a shock to the system to find yourself amid the ultra-conservative Muslims of Luton. Never did I think, though, that the community, which has been in Britain for two or three generations, would continue the common South-Asian practice of excluding women from the mosque. Especially since Luton itself features Islamic schools with female students and women teachers.

My mosque in Dhaka has a women's section, albeit, from what I hear, a small, crowded one, with no view of the men's prayer halls. So Katie was able to attend the mosque in Bangladesh in 2006, but not in Britain in 2009.

After Britain came Belarus. Minsk, my native city, is home to a long-standing Tatar community, present there for over 500 years. There was a mosque in Minsk for most of this time but, tragically, it was first expropriated and then blown up by the city authorities under Communist rule. Since 1997, however, a new mosque has been under construction (very much a stop-go process; the small Belarusian Muslim community is short on funds). The building site features a make-shift structure that serves as a temporary mosque while construction continues. It's actually quite beautiful inside, and includes a women's section, although, again, a small one. Katie and I prayed at this mosque when we were in Minsk; the other places we went to in Belarus didn't have mosques, as far as we knew.

The big shock came in Turkey. Ostensibly, Turkish Islam is all smiles and all kindness. The Turkish Muslims we know are genuinely warm and kind-hearted people, ma sha' Allah. However, something about the way Islamic institutions are managed in Turkey is badly broken. In Istanbul, the mosque where I went for Friday prayer most weeks (because it was located close to the apartment we were staying in) had no women's section.

So one day, Katie and I went off in search of a place where the two of us could perform Friday prayer together. We went to two different mosques in another neighbourhood, and the results were even more surprising. It turned out that both those mosques did have women's sections, BUT those sections were taken over by men during Friday prayers. Thus, of the 35 congregational prayers a week, women could pray at the mosque 34 times. However, they were obliged to stay away for just one prayer, which just happened to be the most important one of the week. Compounding the double standards (if not outright hypocrisy) is the fact that, in one of those mosques, the Friday sermon was about the importance of family, while the prayer featured verses from the Qur'an about the importance of Friday prayer. Hello?

So it was quite comical (sadly so) to see an official from Diyanet, the Turkish governmental agency in charge of Islamic institutions, saying, after a mosque designed by a female architect opened, that Turkey should build more such mosques. That mosque is the first in Turkey designed by a woman, and the first to feature a women's prayer hall equal in size to the men's one. The joke lies in the fact that there is no move underway by Diyanet to admit women into the mosques which currently bar them from taking part in Friday prayer, even though they already have women's sections.

On our way home to Montreal, Katie and I stopped by the Muslim prayer rooms at Atatürk International Airport in Istanbul to perform the fajr prayer. The women's prayer room was spacious and well equipped, but infested with cockroaches. Not surprisingly, I didn't see any cockroaches in the men's one. Katie was glad to leave Turkey, and I don't blame her.

So now we're in Perrysburg, Ohio, visiting my in-laws. Katie and I got married at the mosque here, the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo (see picture), in 2005. This is probably the most equitable of all purpose-built mosques I've seen anywhere in the world when it comes to ensuring women's access to prayer facilities. The prayer hall is simply divided down the middle with a low barrier; men have half the space, while women have the other. The barrier is high enough to ensure modesty, yet not high enough to create a sense of segregation. Men and women have equal access not just to the prayer space, but to the other elements of the mosque, such as the high dome and the stained-glass windows, that give it beauty and help in the contemplation of the Divine.

As Jimmy Carter reminded us last month, "it is simply self-defeating for any community to discriminate against half its population." It is high time for us Muslims around the world to start paying much more attention to the Prophet's (peace be upon him) injunction: "Do not prevent the maid-servant of God from going to the mosque" (Bukhari).

[This post was written in Perrysburg.]

Football fracas

A football anthem is proving controversial in Germany because of joking references to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The song, chanted during matches by the fans of FC Schalke 04, is called "Blue and White, How I Love You", referring to the club colours. The lyrics of the anthem include the lines "Muhammad was a prophet who understood nothing about football / But of all the lovely colours he chose blue and white".

The song was written in 1924, but has aroused controversy only recently, after reporting on it in the Turkish media. Aiman Mazyek, who heads the (German) Central Council of Muslims, has asked for "an explanation" of the "background" of the song. The club, meanwhile, is seeking expert advice on whether the song can be considered offensive to Muslims. The police of Gelsenkirchen, the city where Schalke 04 is based, is also following the matter in order to protect the rights of Muslims who may have been offended.

I personally think the best solution would be to replace the name of the Prophet with something more innocuous. It's all a bit of silly fun for the non-Muslim fans, but this sort of off-hand remark does sound pretty offensive to a Muslim ear.

[This post was written in Perrysburg.]

Netanyahu seeking Christian Zionist support

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is once again courting the Christian Zionists, that is, Evangelicals who believe that Israeli control over all of Biblical Palestine is necessary for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) to occur.

As M.J. Rosenberg of the Israel Policy Forum notes, Barack Obama is far more popular among Jewish Americans than Bibi Netanyahu is. Most American Jews are liberals who support the Democratic Party; Bibi is much more at ease with the Republicans, many of whom share his disdain for the two-state solution. Hence his appearance at the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) conference, recently held in Washington.

The conference was organised by Netanyahu's friend of convenience Pastor John Hagee, who had infamously declared that God had sent the Holocaust to force the Jews to emigrate to Palestine.

As an aside, the official CUFI website, as seen today, states that "There is a new Hitler in the Middle East--President Ahmadinejad of Iran". This, of course, nicely matches Bibi's own stance on Ahmadinejad. The CUFI seems unashamed to say this, despite the obvious and sickening monstrosity of such a statement, given that the lives of Iranian Jews are in no danger, and that Iran, despite the faults of its government, bears no similarity to Nazi Germany.

In a fine example of his usual truthiness, Netanyahu said, addressing the CUFI, that "millions of Christians stand for Israel because they want to see genuine peace in the Holy Land." See, that may be true for some Christians, but Bibi knows better than anyone that the particular Christians he was addressing support Israel for one main reason: they want to hasten the End Days. Besides, by "genuine peace", Bibi obviously understands something akin to the Pirate Code: "Take everything. Give nothing back."

In any case, according to Rosenberg, all this posturing by Netanyahu will amount to nothing, since the Christian Zionists he is aligning himself with are already committed Republicans; they are likely to oppose Obama no matter what he does. Rosenberg believes that, to make a difference in US public opinion towards Obama's policy on Israel and Palestine, Bibi needs to win over Jewish Americans. And that just isn't likely to happen.

Meanwhile, ignoring this sideshow, Obama is in pursuit of some real Middle Eastern diplomacy. You go, Barack.

[This post was written in Istanbul.]

My article on Belarus in Eurozine

My article on what I see as a national inferiority complex in Belarus, based on a speech I gave in Mahiloŭ (Mahilyow) on 11 June, has been picked up by Eurozine.

Among other things, it contains a reflection on the public role of religion in the country.

[This post was written in Istanbul.]

Khatami calls for referendum on election result

Seyed Mohammad Khatami, a former Iranian president, has called for a referendum on whether the result of the June election should be allowed to stand. The election, which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won according to the official results, is seen by a large proportion of Iranians as having been rigged.

Khatami's statement is a direct challenge to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has declared the election result valid.

Khatami is the second ex-president of Iran to speak out vocally on the issue in the last few days. On 17 July, in a Friday prayer sermon, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani called on the authorities to release eveyrone arrested in connection to the massive demonstrations that Iran has been witnessing since June.

It looks like Ahmadinejad and Khamenei are alone on this. They may still be in control, but there is certainly a realignment of forces on. If Ahmadinejad yields, this may well be remembered as the second Islamic revolution, on the thirtieth anniversary of the first one.

[This post was written in Istanbul.]

Shi'ites remember Musa al-Kazim

Shi'ite pilgrims in their millions have flocked to Baghdad from within and outside Iraq to commemorate Musa al-Kazim (745-799), seventh of the 12 Imams revered by the Twelver Shi'ites. According to the Iraqi government, the pilgrims number as many as five million.

Specifically, the event marks the anniversary of the death of Musa, allegedly at the hands of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid.

The BBC has put together a photo essay on the festival; you have to see the pictures to appreciate the scale of this thing.

Only three people of the up to five million pilgrims were killed in communal violence, which is being hailed as a victory for the Iraqi army, which was providing security at the gathering.

[This post was written in Istanbul.]

Pope breaks wrist

Pope Benedict XVI, who is holidaying in the Aosta Valley, has broken his right wrist after a fall in his chalet.

After managing to eat breakfast and celebrate Mass without medical intervention, the Pope, 82, went to the hospital in Aosta, where a surgery was performed on his wrist. The operation was reportedly successful.

[This post was written in Istanbul].

Belarus sets up morals council

Here's something that's interesting and has the potential to be very scary: a Public Council on Morals was established in Minsk on 8 July. Its members include official representatives of the Belarusian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, as well as Jewish and Islamic organisations, along with writers, artists and academics. According to Metropolitan Filaret, the chief cleric of the Belarusian Exarchate, President Alaksandar Łukašenka (Aliaksandr Lukashenka) "has expressed his understanding of the church's concern about the moral state of society". Once again, we have the Orthodox Church happily playing second fiddle to Łukašenka in exchange for government favours.

Mikałaj Čarhiniec (Mikalay Charhinets), the head of the government-sponsored Union of Writers of Belarus, is to serve as the first head of the Council.

Hieorhij Marčuk (Heorhiy Marchuk), a member of the Union of Writers and the new Council on Morals, said that the Council would gauge public opinion on "controversial" books and art, and would advise the government on how to deal with books and art that "contradict society's traditional values". He denied that the Council would be in the business of censorship, however.

According to Marčuk, the Council is planning to combat the "profanation of the biblical commandments, history and patriotic feelings." So patriotism, then, is equivalent to the commandments of the Bible? Plus, I do wonder what Marčuk understands by the profanation of history. More than likely, he's referring to the Soviet view of WWII, which has acquired the status of gospel under Łukašenka. I guess if you write a novel questioning the official view as presented in what seems to be a new Belarusian WWII movie every year, I guess you'd better watch out.

Marčuk also added that the Council was planning to organise discussions on things like "the role of Christianity in the artist's work" and "relations between religion and secular morals", which certainly sound like reasonable and interesting topics to discuss. Another one of the Council's planned discussion topics, though, is "certain subjects connected with the place of the good character in modern Belarusian literature". Huh? OK, so there we have it: if you write about "good characters" defending the native land with Orthodox-Christian-patriotic zeal, you're fine. Other types of literature and art, it seems, are going to be made unwelcome in Łukašenka's Belarus.

Here's the thing: a council of this sort, were it a true civil society initiative, would have been a welcome development. If it were actually a forum where writers, artists and religious figures could freely discuss art, religion, the public role of the artist, the role of morality in life, and so on, that would be fine; it would even have the potential to produce some sort of synthesis that would contribute to our everlasting quest for meaning. This Public Council on Morals, though, is a creature of the government, and it shows every sign of being one of two undesirable things. Either it is an effort to scare independent Belarusian writers and artists into towing the government line, or it is simply a bone thrown by Łukašenka to the religious bodies, especially the Orthodox Church, in a further attempt to legitimise his regime through religion. I think the latter is actually more likely to be true. Either way, this just goes to show how much needs to change in Belarus.

[This post was written in Istanbul.]