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“No, Jihad does not mean holy war, it means struggle in Arabic,” this was a phrase that my Muslim friends and I repeated all too often in the aftermath of 9/11 in Britain. My generation who grew up in the shadow of 9/11 have had our religious experiences shaped not by moving Sufi poetry, reading philosophy, speaking about theology or researching about our religious traditions. Our religious experience has been shaped by an act of symbolic political violence; it has been shaped by questions of war, accusations of terror and interrogations about our loyalty which brought up the question of identity.
In school, “Muslim panels” were established by my old PDS (personal development studies) teacher to be a way of breaking down barriers. During the panels which took place every year, Muslim students volunteered from across the school to participate in a Q&A with classes that consisted of 14-15 year olds.
When I was in school, I volunteered and I was deeply disturbed. Other Muslim students were too apologetic, not well read enough, too timid and nervous to respond confidently to searching and “in-your-face” questioning. I thank God that there are people still in the West like my teacher who recognise the need for dialogue and discussion – but I wonder what the use of such discussion is.
The questions asked always focused on the same topics – terrorism, Osama Bin Laden, Arabs, and the Middle East. Terrorism was the question most of the students had – “does Islam allow suicide bombing?” and “what is jihad?”. There were some provocative if not nasty questions such as one about why so many Muslims seemed to be owners of corner shops and derogatory questions about the hijab and burqa. But the fact that the discussion never moved beyond these few topics was the disturbing part – are we always going to have to apologise for global acts of terrorism? Are we always going to have to carry the burden of sins committed by totalitarian States and global terrorists? It made me wonder whether British Muslims will ever be able to establish an independent civic presence in the UK that can define the public discussion on its own terms.
Surely, British Muslim can discuss other issues apart from terrorism, because the student panels suggests that younger generation of British citizens are still not prepared to move beyond the deeply cosmic wounds 9/11 inflicted, which have left us psychologically paralysed. Ten years on and the Western public still has a negative opinion about Islam – and there seem little signs of improvement.
But I was always encouraged; individuals like my teacher who were sincerely interested, if not deeply knowledgeable about Islam (more so than Muslims in fact) who wanted to move the discussion to wider issues about social justice, welfare and philosophy. Many in the West want to move beyond the stereotypes and have a deeper conversation about political values and what common ground can be established.
To be fair, the students at my school were right in asking the questions they did – how could they not. My generation has been subject to images of grotesque barbarity, mind boggling extremism and fatal fanaticism that all had connections with Muslims in one form or another. But the cycle of dogmatic paralysis that 9/11 has inspired must be broken free. I feel that British Muslims and indeed American Muslims have been held back by 9/11, constantly reacting to the same questions without moving the debate to other issues.
Confidence, the ability to express oneself clearly with clarity and consistency and freedom are the things that Western Muslims need. Remember 9/11 and remember the innocent victims, but don’t let it control you. Because 9/11 shouldn’t have changed the world – because if you think about it, you must be pretty messed up to let the actions of terrorists dictate your values, distort your actions and shape your morality. Because of 9/11, national security was the go to card for governments wishing to carry out torture and erode civil liberties. The securitisation of public life has signalled a polarisation in the political discourse in the UK and in the case of the US has rendered politics beyond hope and beyond repair.
The biggest hurdle to face is carving out a space in the public sphere where British Muslims can take part in the national conversation about politics and wider social issues. And here lies the problem – there aren’t many public British Muslim figures who can express themselves eloquently with confidence.
9/11 exposed a crisis of political and moral authority within Muslim communities in the UK which I still feel has not been resolved till this day. It doesn’t help that the tabloid media in the UK exacerbates the problem by giving coverage to extremists whilst ignoring liberal voices. So I hope that after this anniversary of 9/11, we can break free from the cycle and create our own destinies rather than have them continually written for us.
Ahmad Ali Khalid is a freelance writer and blogger based in the UK. He can be reached at ahmadalikhalid@ymail.com or twitter.
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
There are varying degrees to every ideology. There are harliners who think Jihad means war and fundamentalists who understand Jihad as a struggle to maintain basic humane standards for our personal self. When a hardliner acts on his own concocted brand of ideology – everyone else will come under fire. No one need apologize for the action of others but we owe it to ourselves to work on making ourselves better people to reflect our beliefs. OBL believed that USA was an enemy and needed to be taught a lesson. Each one of us here believes in not taking lives. Let's live up to it. Great to see mature responses to the article and the different vectors that it digressed into!
One of the problems is language. When words such as Jihad is translated, especially by uneducated people, misunderstanding often occurs. My understanding is jihad means struggle or to strive for. Mullahs, the preachers, do not understand the Arabic or are deliberately misleading their followers. In case Quran is quite clear no one should take the lives of innocent individuals. Should it not over ride everything else?
Another misunderstanding is sharing of religious information vs. spreading Islam and in the latter case, it is often interpreted by force. In the South Asian context, it is better to have a properly translated version of Quran in Urdu.
Nicely worded comment. Well done.
I completely agree with the author. Muslims across the world have been labelled and stigmatized since 9/11. But the question is, who do they hold responsibe for that labeling? The average citizen who indulges in that labelling? Or the terrorist who caused the innocent average citizen to be wary of his muslim neighbour? It seems to me that OBL and his bunch have caused immense unmeasurably high negative impact to Muslims. Exactly what have muslims done to take that name back? I have not heard anyone stand up and denounce these terrorists as defilers of Islam. If terrorists do suicide bombing in the name of Islam, the question on whether Islam permits suicide bombing is pertinent. The answer that all Muslims have to give is "No. Anyone who kills innocents in the name of Islam should be denounced as a non muslim and denied an Islamic burrial'
And I fully agree with you Abhishek. Muslims should stand up and categorically tell the world that we have nothing to do with these murderers rather than sitting comfortably on the fence. What a sensible point you have made and you have made it well. With my best wishes, Khalid
All words have a particular meaning in dictionary and a different meaning in practice. Jihad means struggle in dictionary, but what does it mean practice? And how is it largely applied?
The liberal and moderate voices will have to make an effort to be heard in the west and not allow the radicals to hijack our religion.
The liberal and moderate voices have to be heard in the islamic world first, like in pakistan, before trying to make it heard in the west.
I am an American, I am not a Muslim, and I've been very disappointed with most of America's attitude toward Muslims. Muslims should have the same right to their religion as everyone else in every country they should never have to be apologetic about it, and the fact that some Westerners associate average Muslims with terrorists is ridiculous and sad.
I cannot agree more with Tarig. I have lived in uk all my life.i m a Hindu and practice my beliefs at home and respect all religions.me and my children have never come across any disrespect from my friends or any person.This is because we do no carry religion on our foreheads all the time.If we learn to keep our faith to ourselves and respect all Gods beings we will be living in a very peaceful world.I feel Islam has been brought out on the streets which was not yrs ago and I hope it changes.Remember all Humens beings and all livings are a creation The Almighty and let us give him respect.
All, Muslims are not extremists nor terrorists. If somebody is doing some terrorism by misunderstanding/misinterpretting Islam, Muslims are not responsible for that. Islam is a moderate/tolerate religion which persuade peace and prosperity throughout the world. Now the west is beating the drums with a drama and made all muslims terrorists and humiliated. I strongly condemn calling the terrorist as Islamic terrorist, they are not Islamic, they are just terrorist and killers.
I totally agree that all Muslims are not terrorists. Some of my best friends are Muslims and they are not terrorists and despise terrorist activity. However, the reverse is not true unfortunately. All terrorists in the world today happen to be Muslims and silent majority of Muslims cannot do anything.
I felt sad when I saw the beautiful twin-towers crumbled down, as I had a chance earlier to be on one of the towers as a tourist. I feel sad when something beautiful gets destroyed, when something historic gets damaged. As such, we are spoinling the earth by heavy carbon foot-print just by living on it and cutting down as much trees as possible in every minute. We build infrastructure and buildings out of compulsion, causing great damage to the environment. Then at least let them last for several centuries, so that less will be built in the future.
All said and done – how can you justify Osama living a few hundred metres from a military academy. And just look at the irony – instead of probing how he lived un-noticed near a high-security area, the Pakistani Government has launched a high-level enquiry into how the U.S. operation to eliminate him happened ! Your priorities are a dead giveaway where your sympathies lie.
You are so right, Sunil and fully agree with your comments. This is just a COVER-UP for hiding their failures and OBL. Instead of probing, as u said how this man was living their unscathed, they have holed up the vacination doctor who helped the special agents. It's really IRONIC and the sad state of affairs, just to please the radicals, I should say.
Really? The priorities of British Muslims are so clearly linked to the silly actions of some intelligence officers in Pakistan? I’m pretty sure thats a generalization far too broad to be forgiven.
There is more problem with south asian muslims, from Pakistan in particular, rather than muslims in general. I find muslims form middle east countries, Iraq, Iran , Syria, Egypt to be far more liberal, reasonable and ready to mingle.
Dear HK,
The reason is simple. As long as any non Arabic Muslim is attached to his native culture, he would be a good human being, but when they are influenced by Arabic ( True Islamic ) culture, they loose the native values which you mentioned above.
Just do not be arrogant and every thing else will become easy to understand.
Arrogance is the root of all evil.
A few months back i wrote on my face book a note on unceremonious exit of osama,pls let me copy a few lines from that note
9/11 may not only have destroyed the most visible land mark of the world it also replaced it with insurmountable wall that runs through communities,towns,countries and continents creating divisions large enough to polarize the whole world,
I hate bin laden and what he stood for, and what he has done to me and my family and i am shouting as loud as i can, but can Joe my neighbor hear??
From your comments,i can see the divisions stronger than ever,is it just the anger or some bigots hard at work
not letting the fire burn out, What a moderate person, who believes in abolishing all barriers between humans
to end all prejudices and discriminations who happens to be a Muslim to do, are we going to let one lunatic to scar the world for all times. lets make the decision today, a responsible one.
Well! Although most muslims claim to be moderate, but they are not. The truth remains that most of them are highly religious to the extent of being extreme, backward, poorly educated, violent and intolerant. They are unwilling to accept change, give respect to other religions and blend with the societies around the world. They are neither doing any service to themselves or the countries they have migrated to. Hence, it is best if they remain in their own countries, and enjoy the independence, freedom and other benefits that they want and cause unnecessary trouble to the rest of the world.
Steve all the evils that you have mentioned: backwardness, poor education, violence and intolerance would only be addressed when we will stop treating religion as a "Sacred Cow" and would realize that despite being 2 billion, our contribution to democracy and free speech is very limited.
Well commented, Steve. They should know the policy of LIVE & LET LIVE.
Steve you need to educate yourself about muslims….seems like all your knowldge comes from TV and radio. Most muslim are pretty moderate and a major part of western socities. The contributing a lot of knowlge and Tax, while people like you barely graduate high school…and clai to know muslims. Here in USA muslims are doing really well and they love USA
Seriously, yo need to get over the pity party and focus on contributing to the Muslims as good citizens. You will find that the goodwill get reciprocated in no time.
Good intention. But first Pls. try to be a good human being. A good human being is a good muslim, good hindu, good Christian. Essay way to be a good human being is adhere to 5 principle.
1. Do not kill any living being.
2. Do not tell lie.
3. Do not steal
4. Do not do any adultery
5. Do not take any thing which is not yours
Islamic immigrants come to the UK for better life and prosperity; For some of them , the very nation, and the very liberty that made Uk great, becomes their enemy. They turn their back on Uk and turn traitors. Killing and Dieing for extremist emotions becomes their main passion. Why not go back to one of the twenty one nations where Islam is the majority and practice this violent practice. Love Uk or Leave UK.
Absolutely agree with Tariq. Our daughter studied for one year at the London School of Economics and was horrified to see how many British Pakistanis at her school had extremist ideas. One cannot blame the westerners for holding a negative image of the Muslims. After all, fanatics are beheading people and making videos of their severed heads, in the name of Islam. If Pakistan has any chance of reversing this downward slide into fanaticism, it has to tone down this craze of extreme religiosity and embrace secularism.
Appreciate your views, Mr. Masood, it's really what this world needs at the moment, to have a moderate Muslim. I have my 2 best friends and they are Muslims and have never gave a thought to which religion they belong and they are good guys, wish there are more of you & them, we need you guys.
I have never been to UK in my life so I cannot comment on Muslim experience there, but in America things are very different. By and large Muslims are thoroughly integrated, and yes we can and do talk about things other than terrorism. For me, today is not the 10th anniversary of 9/11, but the start of the NFL season. I am going to the 49er Seahawks game with some college friends, and we will be talking Football, not terrorism.
I am a believing Muslim within my home, but when I step out of my house, I am simply another American going about his daily business. In my neighborhood, we have Jews, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and yes Atheists. Nobody cares. When a new family moves into our block, the last thing anybody wants to know is what religion they belong to. It is considered bad manners to even ask such a question.
UK Muslims need to get out of their self constructed ghettos, and become part of the mainstream society. As long as they think it OK to live with one leg in pakistan and one leg in England, things will not change.
Couldn't agree more.
"I am a believing Muslim within my home, but when I step out of my house, I am simply another American.." that's the core message. … Follow that and there will be peace…
1st ever time i'm agreeing with a Pakistani. Only if religion was kept inside the house…the world would be a much better place to live in
"self constructed ghettos" : i love that! Although you havent been to the UK, but you seem to know cities like Bradford quite well.
Why just UK muslims? Muslims around the world should keep religion a private matter, If only we had more people like you,the world would be a nicer place.
Islam is not a relegion. Its a way of life. Its more a political ideology. Hence it does not confine to home. Once you understand this fact, the more you will understnd why ISLAM and Democarcy cannot coexist.
Correct. US is a different world.
Well said .. Religion should deeply personal . .. It's should be between u and god. In an society this should not matter only humanity should matter.
Tariq I admire your thought. It will be wonderful if we be less religious and much more human.
I live in India & a non-Hindu, I do not have any religious insecurity or inferiority complex to be a non-Hindu. In the four wall of my house I am very much of my religious belief. I enjoy all Hindu festival with my neighbor with no religious commitment. hence I have been totally assimilated with the dominated Hindu society. But am I a less religious? Of course not. I pray I observe all of my religious festival.This way of life is common for all non-Hindu people in India except Muslims, that is the tragedy
Malay…millions of people in India will disagree with you about India! Ask those who are fighting for independence in India and those who have been tortured and killed…ask the untouchables who have been subjugated for centuries or the minorities who are denied freedom by the majority Hindu led governments…don't get me wrong Pakistan is also in mess but India has a LOT to answer for.
India is working on all these problems Sarah..our constitution provides ample space to sort out these issues. I dont think minorities are denied freedom in India. Our PM is a sikh, Vice president a muslim and leader of UPA is a christian.
Sarah,
Thanks. At the same time millions will agree with me. But that is different questions. I brought-up in a Muslim dominated society. Than also I did not have any complexes. I had all Muslim friends. I never felt isolated or discriminated. I ate what my Muslim friends do eat. But It is a natural law, Majority always rule over minority, strong over weak. All Non Hindus were lived in fear and misery for long Mogal rule in India. The world first International University,(University of Nalanda,7-13 Cen.AD) where more than 10,000 student study from different countries were destroyed by the Muslim invader. The Thumb rule, when you are living in a majority area, (religious, linguistic or cultural) you must respect their sentiment, culture, religion of the majority with out compromising your own religious belief. The Problem with the Muslims are, they do not want to assimilate in the society where they are living (in case they are minority) In the case of modern state, the welfare of all the people of the state should be the state subject. And the state should be secular, democratic & impartial.
India though a secular and democratic country, policies are not secular. The vote bank politics are the
basis of all political parties.
What Hindu led Goverment are you talking about ? Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi are practicing Christians. Priyanka even married to a Chrisitan Robert Vadra. The Prime Minister is a Sikh. Even after the riots in the much defamed Gujarat thousands of muslims from all across the country continue to pour into the state.
Bravo!
When you step out of your home, it would be better if you are human being NOT American since America is just a piece of land and too much nationalism is not good
A point made clearly Tariq, well said.
Self-constructed ghettos in England? I'm sorry, but you must not know how hostile the native British are to having a desi live in their neighborhood. Pakistanis were forced to live together because the British wanted nothing to do with their former subjects who were seen as job-competition. Further, Pakistanis banded together for safety from right-wing whites who were incredibly widespread in the 60's-80's, and who were incredibly violent (you should watch the movie "this is england"). Youre basically saying its our fault for living in the worst slums in the UK, and that is simply unfair.
We were forced into the ghettoes by circumstances. The reason they prevail are because of lingering hostility of whites in England (keep in mind, we're talking about working class Yorkshire mostly, and not enlightened London), and because our communities have grown so close knit and tight. You can't blame us for the latter, but a lot of our problems with extremism are due to the fact that we're so insular because we were essentially FORCED to live separated from the natives.
It's not as if the British tied your ancestors' hands and legs and carried them off to Britain to serve as slaves. They went there of their own free will, for a better life than they had in their homeland, I presume. Hence, it was their duty to integrate, rather than expect the natives to adjust to how you live. Besides, why is it that it's only Muslims that have so many problems with Western cultures? Hindus, Buddhists, Chinese etc. have thriving communities that have found their space withing the larger cosmopolitan cultures. Why can't Muslims?
I agree you think like this. but unfortunately you are in minortiy. Most muslims even in Muslim countries like Pakistan (and this is surveyed) think themselves as Muslims first and Americans or British or Pakistanis later
Totally and 100% agree. I am a Muslim first and anything else doesn't matter. In true Islam there are no boundries. So doesn't matter whether I live in Pakistan, Briton, USA or anyother piece of land my identity will always be Islam. And I feel proud when I am pointed as a Muslim in Briton. I am not one of those who for the sake of being moderate or westernised put their religon behind and think themselves as examplery citizen (in Islam these are called Munafiqeen). Islam is a complete code of life, you either accept it entierly or leave all together. And that's the reason practicing Muslims in Briton or anywhere else in world never mix in with the rest of so called liberal sociaties. i think I have made my point here. and sorry to those shameful Muslims (you may just say I am not a Muslim and don't belive in Islam anyway!)
Khalid, this seems like a sympathy seeking article about the saintliness of Muslims living in UK. You haven’t mentioned the extensive hardliner Muslim networks that exist in UK (emanating even from corner shops) who are involved in terrorists’ campaigns. And now the same people are creating and spreading hatred and violence even amongst various Muslim communities living in UK and disturbing peace.
Have you ever listened to home grown radicals like Anjum Chaudhary and others like him? You will be blown out of your mind to even think whether these people are fit to be living with such freedom and enjoying all the social security benefits of the country. So it is up to the Muslims living in UK to get their house in order first for improving the “negative opinion”.
I could not have said it any better.
I abhor any kind of terrorism either by individuals or by a state but let us put terrorism in its proper perspective. How many people are killed by terrorism? And how many people are killed by say heart disease in the UK each year or by road accidents each year? Please compare.
Edmond..I live in uk..was born here and im a british muslim. The VAST majority of muslims in the UK dont share these extreme views and we are sick and tired of having to apologise for the majority! I dont see every American having to apologise for vietnam or Iraq, I dont see every Hindu having to apologise for hindu exremists that kill nuns or priests, I dont see every catholic having to apologise for the actions of some priests..the list goes on! Why is it over a billion people are expected to apologise for the actions of a minority…the simple fact is that its one rule for everyone else and another for muslims.
While I sympathise with what you are trying to say, there are better ways of saying it. As it is, yours is not a valid argument: You are comparing apples and oranges!