Christians, Muslims Move Ahead on Global Talks

Taking part: In November, Pope Benedict XVI will be a participant in a Catholic-Muslim forum at the Vatican. Dario Pignatelli/Reuters

From the Christian Science Monitor - March 19, 2008, 2008

Christians, Muslims move ahead on global talks

Religious leaders plan to meet this year in the US, Britain, and at the Vatican to defuse tensions.

By Jane Lampman | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Gatherings of top religious leaders and even some heads of state will take place this year in the United States, at the Vatican, and in Britain, aimed at defusing tensions between the West and the Muslim world.

The first-of-their-kind dialogues – which will kick off in July – will begin with theological discussions but seek practical results. Yet they're stirring some debate within the faith groups as to the proper way to engage "the other" and whether common ground can be found.

The initiative was sparked last October by "A Common Word Between Us and You," an open letter from 138 Muslim clergy and scholars from more than 40 nations to the leaders of all the world's major Christian churches. Concerned that "the future of the world depends on peace between Muslims and Christians," the Muslim leaders proposed dialogue on the basis of the shared principles of "the love of God, and love of the neighbor."

Most of the churches responded positively, buoyed both by the letter and the authority of those who signed it – representing most schools of Muslim thought.

"The Christian response was overwhelming, and we've been humbled by it," says Sohail Nakhooda, Jordanian editor in chief of Islamica magazine and a member of the Muslim planning team. "This meant we had a lot of serious work ahead!"

Yale University will host the first global conference in July, which will involve a broad spectrum of Christian denominations, as well as Jewish clergy and political leaders. At a Vatican meeting in early March, plans were set for a Catholic-Muslim forum in November, in which the pope will participate. Muslims plan a conference with Anglicans in Britain in October focused on the scriptures, and are talking with the Orthodox churches as well.

"One of the best things that's happened is the opening of an avenue of discussion with denominations where we never thought it possible – with Evangelicals," Mr. Nakhooda adds.

The most in-depth Christian response, a letter authored at Yale Divinity School, included many prominent Evangelicals among the signers. But that response, "Loving God and Neighbor Together," has spurred debate among Evangelicals, whose views on Islam and dialogue with Muslims vary greatly.

"It's mostly been a cordial debate," says Joseph Cumming, director of Yale Divinity School's Reconciliation Program, who is coordinating planning for the July conference. "I think the Evangelical community is trying to think more deeply about how to engage with Muslims."

Some influential conservative leaders were distressed by the wording of the response. John Piper, pastor of a large Baptist church in Minneapolis, and R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said the letter and any dialogue should speak from the unique Christian standpoint, including the nature of Jesus Christ and the Trinity. Given different understandings of God, "to talk as though the love of God is a common standpoint is wrong," Dr. Piper said in a video that's played on YouTube.

The president of Wheaton College, a prominent evangelical school, initially signed the letter but later withdrew due to concerns within his college community. Numerous influential evangelicals are on board, however, including megachurch pastors Rick Warren and Bill Hybels.

Viewing this discussion among Christians as healthy, Yale has put the questions being raised on its website along with responses. For example, is Allah the same God that Christians worship?

"The point of the Muslim letter was starting with common ground," Mr. Cumming says. "They resisted the temptation to polemicize against [Christian] doctrines, and our response resisted the temptation to polemicize for them."

On the Muslim side, there are those who are reluctant to join a dialogue because of negative statements some Christian leaders have made about Islam, Nakhooda says. But those voices are overshadowed, he says, by "the fact that so many of the most important figures who have street credibility in Muslim capitals are fully behind it."

Plans for the week-long Yale conference include workshops on theology and ethics. Sessions tackling the toughest issues – such as religious freedom, including proselytism and apostasy – are expected to be closed-door.

Georgetown University will host the next US-based conference in March 2009. John Esposito, head of Georgetown's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, sees these dialogues as different and significant. "This process has an in-built snowball effect: The number of signers on both sides keeps broadening," he says. "When you realize that leading religious leaders have to think of repercussions within their communities, it's really phenomenal."

In April 2009, the plan is to invite all those involved to Amman, Jordan, for a meeting at a site where according to tradition Jesus was baptized. "Muslims and Christians are living in a wounded world," Nakhooda says. "Part of the [effort] ... is to start the process of healing.... It's going to require a lot of open-hearted, sincere discussion."

Pakistani Parliament's First Female Speaker

Fahmida Mirza, a newly elected lawmaker, center, leaves Parliament after submitting her papers for the seat of Speaker of the National Assembly, on Tuesday, March 18, 2008, in Islamabad, Pakistan. The party of slain Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto nominated Mirza, a close associate of her widower to be parliament's first female speaker, but divisions remained over who should be the next prime minister. (B.k.bangash - AP)

Fehmida Mirza, arrives at the Parliament in Islamabad, Pakistan on Wednesday, March. 19, 2008. Pakistan's parliament elected Fehmida Mirza, a medical doctor, as its first woman National Assembly speaker on Wednesday. "It's a tremendous thing and something Pakistan can be proud of," said Nasim Zehra, a Pakistani analyst and fellow at Harvard University's Asia Center. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash) (B.k.bangash - AP)

Fehmida Mirza, arrives at the Parliament in Islamabad, Pakistan on Wednesday, March. 19, 2008. Pakistan's parliament elected Fehmida Mirza, a medical doctor, as its first woman National Assembly speaker on Wednesday. "It's a tremendous thing and something Pakistan can be proud of," said Nasim Zehra, a Pakistani analyst and fellow at Harvard University's Asia Center. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash) (B.k.bangash - AP)

Newly elected speaker of Pakistan's National Assembly Fahmida Mirza, front, left, sits in the Parliament on Wednesday, March. 19, 2008. Fehmida Mirza, a medical doctor, is the first woman elected as National Assembly speaker in Pakistan's 60-year history. (AP Photo) (AP)

Newly elected speaker of Pakistan National Assembly Fahmida Mirza casts her vote at the Parliament in Islamabad, Wednesday, March. 19, 2008. Fehmida Mirza, a medical doctor, is the first woman elected as National Assembly speaker in Pakistan's 60-year history. (AP Photo) (AP)

Flashy Lawmakers Take Seats in Pakistan's Parliament

My favorite quote:

...Mirza, wearing a diamond nose ring and an elegant lavender tunic embroidered with silver rosettes and a deep V-neck, rose to take her oath.

"We are writing a new chapter in history," she said, diamond-studded pearl droplet earrings and a pouf of dark hair springing out from under her sheer veil. She repeatedly touched her forehead in a gesture of thanks to her peers a thick gold bracelet sliding down her arm.

 

Farzana Raja, a member of Pakistani slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's party, arrives at the Parliament in Islamabad, Pakistan Wednesday, March. 19, 2008. Gold-trimmed SUVs idle outside the parliament. Among new female lawmakers, Muslim veils are out and Gucci bags are in. Civilian rule has returned to Pakistan, and its politicians have come back with bling. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash) (B.k.bangash - AP)

Full article from the Washington Post - March 19, 2008

Fehmida Mirza, a medical doctor, is the first woman elected as National Assembly speaker in Pakistan's 60-year history.

Half a dozen other female lawmakers touched her shoulders as Mirza, wearing a diamond nose ring and an elegant lavender tunic embroidered with silver rosettes and a deep V-neck, rose to take her oath.

"We are writing a new chapter in history," she said, diamond-studded pearl droplet earrings and a pouf of dark hair springing out from under her sheer veil. She repeatedly touched her forehead in a gesture of thanks to her peers a thick gold bracelet sliding down her arm.

On Wednesday, many male lawmakers arrived in designer clothing, including one who accented his tailored black suit with a bright pink tie. There were notably fewer beards and traditional turbans than in the previous parliament.

Gold-trimmed SUVs idle outside parliament. Among new female lawmakers, black Muslim veils are out and Gucci bags are in.

"It's their cars, their fashion. They have all the latest models," said Sana Asad, a Pakistani journalist covering parliament. "They're richer and more secular."

Parliament's parking lot was crowded Wednesday with new Mercedes and Toyota sports utility vehicles festooned with flashy tire rims and hood ornaments. Women in bright colors clogged past in heels and huge designer sunglasses. Bodyguards fanned out.

The Feb. 18 elections saw a hard-line coalition of religious groups lose control of the country's northwest along the Afghan border, and only six Islamists win seats in parliament, compared to 68 in the previous legislature. Many conservative-minded allies of Musharraf also lost their seats.

In the last parliament, about a dozen female lawmakers from the religious alliance wore body-shrouding black veils that concealed everything except their eyes.

But as parliament elected its first female speaker Wednesday, just a single lawmaker _ one of 74 women in the 342-seat house _ covered her face with a light beige wrap. Others wore traditional flowing gowns, some with bare heads and others with their hair only partially covered by loose scarves.

SUVs are seen outside the parliament building during a session of Pakistan's parliament in Islamabad, Pakistan Wednesday, March. 19, 2008. Gold-trimmed SUVs idle outside the parliament. Among new female lawmakers, Muslim veils are out and Gucci bags are in. Civilian rule has returned to Pakistan, and its politicians have come back with bling. (AP Photo/Lauren Frayer) (Lauren Frayer - AP)

 

Gay Asians 'Marrying to Conform'

From BBC - February 8, 2008

Gay Asians 'marrying to conform'

By Naresh Puri
BBC News

Asian gays and lesbians in the UK have married people of the opposite sex in a bid to conform to traditional values and beliefs, it has been claimed.

Gay activists said these marriages happened because some members of their community felt homosexuals brought shame on their people.

They said in some cases gay and lesbian people had been beaten and abused.

The BBC has seen hundreds of people advertising on the internet for so-called marriages of convenience.


One of them is 19-year-old Rubina, from south-east England, who placed an advert on an Asian gay website.

She said: "I just want to make life easier, I want to get my family off my back, because they're pressurising me to get married.

"In my culture it's not acceptable to be gay. If I have a marriage of convenience it will give them the illusion that I'm straight and I can carry on with who I want."

Arranged marriage

She said her family thought she was leading an independent lifestyle and would soon give in to their requests for an arranged marriage.

"If you'd been raised by parents who love you, it's difficult to let people down that you care for. You don't want them to disown you, that's why I need to fit in with Asian society and have a marriage of convenience," she said.

Fazal Mahmood is a gay rights campaigner and one of a handful of Asians prepared to speak out.

He said he was pressured by his family to get married and from this relationship he had a son. He is now divorced.




We're living in a modern day society and it's wrong that this persecution carries on
Rubina


"I've seen 16 year olds and even 40 year olds being forced into marriage just to make their family and community happy," he said.

"The situation is so serious - we've heard about gays and lesbians being attacked because of their sexuality. We've even had cases where people have tried to commit suicide because Asian society will not accept or tolerate homosexuals."

Balbir Grewal, from the Guru Granth Sikh temple, in Southall, west London, said marriages of convenience were a sin.

"The whole family suffers. We are living in 2008 and it's time they should come out to the parents. Asian weddings are so expensive and then the parents have to go through the heartache of finding out that their children have lied to them.

"I've even heard that parents have died because of the shock of finding out about these pretend marriages. But for Asian gays and lesbians, the situation is very difficult.

Rubina said: "I wish that people would understand sexuality is only one part of a person and my message to parents is that being gay or lesbian does not change your child.

"People must learn more about gays and lesbians. We're living in a modern day society and it's wrong that this persecution carries on. It's unacceptable."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/7234163.stm

Published: 2008/02/08 11:17:53 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

Gay Asians 'Marrying To Conform' : BBC News 24 Report

Video: Pakistani TV Gets Boost from Drag

From ABCNews.com - VIDEO

Video: Afghan Idol's Female Contestant

From ABCNews.com - VIDEO

Turkish Scholars Aim to Modernize Islam's Hadith

From The Christian Science Monitor Online - March 11, 2008

Turkish scholars aim to modernize Islam's Hadith

Theologians are revisiting the collections of the prophet Muhammad's sayings that Muslims use as a guideline for daily life.

By Yigal Schleifer | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

Ankara, Turkey

For centuries, the Hadith – a collection of the words and deeds of the prophet Muhammad – has guided Muslims in their daily lives and served as a basis for Islamic jurisprudence, offering direction on everything from hygiene to war.

The Hadith deals with events that took place some 1,400 years ago, but an ambitious Turkish project is aiming to reinterpret them to create a collection addressing modern-day concerns and stripping out elements that many theologians say contradict the Koran and Muhammad's teachings.

Observers here say the project is part of a continuing effort by a growing segment of Turkish society to reconcile faith and modernity – a struggle being played out among Muslims worldwide, from African immigrants in Paris to young Arabs in Saudi Arabia.

Many Islamic scholars even say that parts of the Hadith have been falsely attributed to Muhammad and that while many Hadith interpretations may have applied in the early Islamic period, particularly regarding women and Islam's relation to other religions, they deserve a new look.

"There have been things that people say the prophet did or said which conflict with the Koran," says Ismail Hakki Unal, head of the Hadith department at Ankara University's divinity school, where the Hadith project is centered and is increasingly known as a hotbed of liberal Islamic thinking. "The Koran is our basic guide. Anything that conflicts with that, we are trying to eliminate."

As an example, Mr. Unal mentions Hadith-based interpretations that say it is forbidden to teach women to read or write, or that they are of "lesser mind and faith."

"The issue of women being of lesser mind and faith was something that was accepted in those days without any argument, but it is not today, which is one of the reasons that we are trying to eliminate it," he says. "We are saying that this is not in line with how the prophet lived and the Koran itself, so it cannot be accepted."

As the project's authors envision it, the new collection will draw on the ancient Hadith to answer decidedly up-to-date questions, such as how to behave behind the wheel (Turkey has one of the world's highest accident rates) and what is the Islamic response to climate change.

The Hadith, which are not part of the Koran, the holy book of Islam, began as oral traditions that were only written down long after the prophet's death. Much of Islamic, or sharia, law is derived from the Hadith.

The meaning of many Hadiths has been lost and the cultural or geographical context of a text is forgotten, said Mehmet Gormez, deputy head of Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate, or Diyanet.

Asked whether his project could lead to changes in the way women are perceived in the Islamic world, Mr. Gormez said nothing in Muslim texts could be used to justify such practices as "honor killings" of women or the stoning of adulterers. "Islam is misunderstood. For example, you cannot show me from the 600-year history of the Ottoman Empire a case of a person being stoned for adultery or a thief whose hand was amputated."

Launched two years ago by the Diyanet, the Hadith project is scheduled to be completed by December and translated into Arabic, English, and Russian. Some 80 theologians from across Turkey are involved.

"Today, Islamic knowledge, both in the East and the West, seems to be very confusing, especially concerning the prophet and his teachings.... We wanted to contribute towards clarifying this confusion," says Gormez. "During the last century, there hasn't been such a deep, wide-ranging study of the Hadith."

Turkey's place in the Islamic world

Although Turkey is often described as secular, the state is actually deeply involved in religious life. Second only to the military and education system in size and budget, the Diyanet is responsible for managing some 78,000 mosques – including which imams are allowed to preach and what they're allowed to say. Now, it's trying to create a more "healthy" understanding of Islam and the prophet Muhammad through the Hadith project.

But Ankara University theologians involved stress that it's not an attempt to change Islam. Rather, it's an attempt to identify and strip away cultural beliefs or practices of Muhammad's era that were grafted onto Islam but have no root in it.

In the context of Turkey, however, the Hadith project is more than a reexamination of religion: it's also seen as part of an ongoing attempt by the current Turkish government, led by the liberal Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP), to reassert itself as a force in the Islamic world.

"Turkey is hoping to be a kind of example Muslim nation, with its politics and its theology," says Mustafa Akyol, a Turkish writer who covers Islamic affairs. "Turkey has a growing Muslim middle class that is becoming modern in many ways, but which also wants to be loyal to its faith. From this comes the demand for 'modern Islam,' for a new interpretation of Islamic sources."

The Hadith's long tradition

The Hadith started being collected after the death of Muhammad, when Islamic scholars realized the need to write down sayings and actions attributed to the prophet that had previously been passed down orally. In the first few centuries after Muhammad's death, the number of Hadith grew to such an extent that Islamic scholars decided to separate them into those deemed sahih, or trustworthy, and those that were not.

While Muslim scholars have been producing Hadith collections for over a thousand years, Turkey's tackling of some of these more "problematic" Hadith "would be an incredibly bold and dramatic move," says Omid Safi, a professor of Islamic studies at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C.

A recent BBC report about the Diyanet's project likened it to the Protestant Reformation in Christianity – a comparison the project's supporters eschew for its connotations of controversy and schism. Indeed, the BBC article led to a storm of criticism in the Muslim world, with the Turkish effort being called by some a project dictated by the Western demands for some kind of new Islam.

Wary of the criticism, those involved in the Hadith reinterpretation are careful to describe it as cleaving very closely to the religion's roots. "It does not aim to change the theological fundamentals of the religion. It is a study aimed at interpreting and understanding these theological fundamentals," says Diyanet's Gormez.

Adds Unal, the Ankara University theologian: "We don't see this as a reform, but as trying to go back to the basics and origins of Islam."

• Material from Reuters was used in this article.

Hadith: Islam's record of the prophet Muhammad

The Hadith is an account of the words and deeds of the prophet Muhammad, literally meaning "news" or "reports."

Only 80 of the 6,616 verses in Islam's holy book, the Koran, concern legal issues.

Since the prophet Muhammad had governed a realm, there was an oral record of what he had said and done as a judge and administrator.

His companions made notes about what he said for their own guidance.

These notes later paved the way for the codification of the prophet's Sunna, or practice, when Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafii (AD 767–820) ruled that all legal decisions must be based on a tradition stemming from the prophet himself.

Islamic law, or sharia, has largely, but not exclusively, been drawn from Koran and the Hadith.

The Koran recommends that believers look to the prophet as example, equates obeying God with following the prophet's commands, and stipulates punishment for disobedience.

In Sunni Muslim context, the Hadith are technical and legal reports and observations of the prophet Muhammad.

About 2,700 acts and sayings were collected and published in six canonical works, "Al Hadith," first by Muhammad Al Bukhari in AD 870.

It is a secondary source of guidance, after the Koran as the chief source for textual authority for most Muslims.

Among Shiite Muslims, the Hadith includes the words, deeds, and observations of the Imams, or prayer leaders.

Shiites accepted those traditions, traced through Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib, and came up with their collections, compiled by Abu Jaafar Muhammad Al Kummi and Abu Jaafar Muhammad al-Tusi.

The process of authenticating and collecting the body of the Hadith also led to rise of Sunna, or the prophet's authoritative practices, from which normative Islamic practice came to be known.

Daily Muslim faith is inextricably linked to the Hadith, since they are critical to Islamic ritual.

It also provides a comprehensive record on how to perform the prayers, the fast, and the pilgrimage – all pillars of Islam.

A project to order and clarify classic Islamic texts occurred in Turkey in the 1920s as the meaning of many hadith has been lost and cultural and geographic context is forgotten.

Sources: Encyclopedia of Islam in the United States, The Essential Middle East, Reuters.