Imam Khalid Latif is blogging his reflections during the month of Ramadan, featured daily on HuffPost Religion. For a complete record of his previous posts, click over to the Islamic Center at New York University or visit his author page, and to follow along with the rest of his reflections, sign up for an author e-mail alert above, visit his Facebook page or follow him on Twitter.
Sherman Hemsley passed away yesterday. For those who don't know him, he played the character "George Jefferson" on the TV sitcom "The Jeffersons." He and his wife "Louise," lovingly called "Weezy" at times on the show by her husband, brought a lot of different laughs and lessons to me growing up. My family would regularly watch shows like "Good Times," "All in the Family" and "Sanford and Son," each funny in their own way, and at times purposefully educational. Many episodes dealt directly and indirectly with issues of race and racism, privilege, socioeconomic reality and culture. Watching Archie Bunker deal with the reality that a black man moved into his neighborhood, or George Jefferson interact with Tom and Helen, the interracial white husband and black wife with a daughter named Jenny, presented a good tool for learning about life experience of others. In homes that would never allow people of different skin colors in through the front door, the television was bringing them in and letting stories be heard that needed to be. Muslims can learn something from this.
Muslims today find themselves in a place where our narrative is being told by others. Many equate a normative understanding of Islam to something that is radical in its nature. Politicians are making absurd statements to further their campaign goals bringing into question anyone who is Muslim for no other reason than they practice Islam. Most recently, Michele Bachmann tried to link Huma Abedin, wife of Congressman Antony Weiner and aide to Hillary Clinton, and others working in government to the Muslim Brotherhood. As ridiculous as her conclusions are, the sad reality is that there will be some who will actually believe her voice and since Muslims wait for a voice to speak before speaking ourselves, we are one step behind.
Most of time we find ourselves reactively saying what we are not. We are not violent, we are not terrorists, we are not oppressive to our women. There can be a value in this, but in only saying what I am not, I am not saying what I am. Television, and other mediums of art, pose a very important solution to this problem.
So tell them the story, so that they may reflect --The Holy Quran 7:176
It's exciting to see the surge in Muslim artists taking the scene these day. People like Musa Syeed, Mustafa Davis and Qasim Basir, Aman Ali, Preacher Moss and Azhar Usman, G. Willow Wilson and Wajahat Ali, Yuna and Brother Ali, among many others telling the Muslim story to audiences that religious leaders, scholars and activists would never have access to. On a larger scale, people like Lupe Fiasco, Zain Malik and Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def) show us the potential that can be reached. And it's not just the sheer numbers that they have access to, but the retention factor of the audience is different because the way the stories are being told are different.
People these days are not really swayed as much as they used to be by conversations on theology or law. They want to see how you being a practitioner of your faith is something that is positive for people. Not how your being a Muslim brings benefit to you, but how your being a Muslim brings benefit to the society around you. Our artists can tell that story in a very powerful way.
The unfortunate reality is the Muslim community is not very good at supporting the Arts. On a broader level, our understanding of institutional development is quite weak. Most communities support the construction of a mosque and then perhaps the building of a school, but then stop at that. The creativity of our generation is stifled at the absence of funding to support that creativity. Our counterparts in other religious communities have millions of dollars flowing through foundations and other mechanisms that provide fellowships for new artists, funding to filmmakers, seed money to fashion designers, and much more. Our most talented end up struggling to find investors who will give them something, and when they eventually do they have to decide whether they will give themselves a salary or hire a better editor. Somehow, they still manage to produce a product of such great quality that it wins award after award, and along with it the hearts of many. Imagine what would happen if they actually had meaningful support of some percentage of the 1.5 billion Muslims who are out there. We're lucky that there are those who are not Muslim who see the importance of having the Muslim story told, that provide the support that some of our artists need. Am I saying the Arts is the only way to go? No. But it an important way and expanding our understanding of what Art actually is and encompasses can help us see that.
Support your Muslim artists. Whether they are producing "Muslim Art" or simply art as Muslims. Invite them to come to your mosques, your conferences and conventions. Bring them to your universities, high schools and elementary schools so that students with aspirations can be inspired to tap into their creativity. Art is an essential part of the cultural fabric of society, and we find the Muslim voice beginning to enter that realm. Our support will only help to amplify it, and in turn better the understanding that many people have of our Faith in general, and we as practitioners of it in specific.
For those looking for a different read on the Muslim American experience, two books that I would recommend that just recently came out are "I Speak for Myself: American Women on Being Muslim" and "All American:45 American Men on Being Muslim," both of which are collections of short stories of personal narrative that highlight, in my opinion, quite well the diversity of Muslim experience in the United States.
My thoughts, prayers and condolences to the family and loved ones of Sherman Hemsley.
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Muhammad Abdul Bari: Ramadan, Fasting and London 2012
Imam Khalid Latif: Ramadan Reflection Day 3: Considering Marriage
One dynamic produces societies which seek to be equalitarian.
The other dynamic produces prioritarian societies.
The USA is one of the most successfully equalitarian systems ever created.
Islam is one of the most prioritarian systems ever created. (Muhammad comes first, to subjugate all others; Muslims come first, to subjugate all non-Muslims; men come first, to subjugate all women; masters come first, to subjugate slaves.)
When we study the career of Muhammad and learn to understand his mental illness, we understand why he created a very prioritarian system, with himself as "He Who Comes First." Every aspect of Islam shows Muhammad's pathological narcissism at work.
Prioritarian systems are damaging to human morale - and there is a deep connection between an artist's artwork and his state of mind. Lack of freedom and equality affect the minds of artists just as much as any others. Equalitarian environments produce the greatest art, not because of better funding, but because they contain healthier, happier, and freer minds.
Islam, for centuries, has presented civilization with one of its greatest, most tragic problems. Today - as always - the primary victims of Islam are Muslims.
To solve this problem, we need to be able to speak about it very truthfully, and we need to make every effort to fully understand it as a psychological phenomenon.
To do this, we must understand the psychology of Muhammad - whom Islam regards as the perfect model.
This will require learning something about the disorder known as malignant narcissism:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malignant_narcissism
If we read the biography of Muhammad objectively, we will see very clearly that Muhammad suffered in extreme degree from the disorder of malignant narcissism.
This view is presented very convincingly in the online pdf book "Unmasking Muhammad," by Sujit Das - which I recommend very highly:
http://www.islam-watch.org/SujitDas/Unmasking_Muhammad.pdf
(Sujit Das has recently published a revised version of the book as "Islam Dismantled.")
Das explains how malignant narcissism is actually propagated by Islam.
Islam deserves respect, not as a religion, but as a collective mental illness which still propagates the severely malignant narcissism which afflicted Muhammad - and of which Muslims and non-Muslims alike still suffer the devastating consequences.
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Have you noticed that those charges frequently arise out of the content of mainstream Islamic doctrine?
Ever thought of reforming that doctrine that puts you on the defensive so often
" o9.0 JIHAD
" (O: Jihad means to war against non-Muslims, and it is etymologically derived from the word mujahada, signifying warfare to establish the religion. And it is the lesser jihad. As for the greater jihad, it is spiritual warfare against the lower self (nafs), which is why the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said as he was returning from jihad..."
[...]
The scriptural basis for jihad, prior to scholarly consensus (def: b7) is such Koranic verses as:
(1) “Fighting is prescribed for you” (Koran 2:216);
(2) “Slay them wherever you find them” (Koran 4:89);
(3) “Fight the idolators utterly” (Koran 9:36);
[...]
"I have been commanded to fight people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and perform the prayer, and pay zakat. If they say it, they have saved their blood and possessions from me, except for the rights of Islam over them." [...]
http://www.shafiifiqh.com/maktabah/relianceoftraveller.pdf
Is it your opinion that this justification of jihadism does not need reform?
Imam Zaid Shakir wrote an excellent rebuttal to those who think Jihad is some perpetual warfare using mainstream doctine http://www.newislamicdirections.com/notes/jihad_is_not_perpetual_warfare/
Dr. Sherman Jackson who is the Chair of Islamic Thought and Culture at USC wrote a peer reviewed journal article years ago entitled Jihad and the Modern World http://lamppostproductions.com/files/articles/JIHAD_MOD_WLD.pdf also refutes your claims and shows you are purposely misinterpreting Islamic law to suit your own bigotry.
i would take both of their scholarship over yours anyday. i doubt you have the academic capacity to write a peer reviewed article that utilizes classical islamic legal works and academic works
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I take it your answer is no.
"The idea has come from the understanding of Fiqh (the formal legal understanding expressed by the earlier jurists) which basis its opinion on the perception that Islamic faith has come to dominate the entire globe. That understanding is based on a peculiar interpretation of a few Qur’anic verses and the attitude of the first-generation Muslims who went ahead to present the message of Islam by asking the rulers of non-Muslim populations to accept Islam, forfeit their right to rule in favour of the conquering army, or face them in the battlefield. Those who are promoting the idea are perfectly convinced that their faith requires them to continue to seek to invade the non-Muslim territories, in case they have the requisite military strength."
Who in the present Muslim world is the Pakistani columnist referring to in the last sentence? What's your opinion?