Islam and Democracy: Fear of the Modern World (32 page)

Read Islam and Democracy: Fear of the Modern World Online

Authors: Fatima Mernissi,Mary Jo Lakeland

Tags: #History, #Middle East, #General, #World, #Religion, #Religion; Politics & State

30
.
Memento Defense-Desarmement 1989
(Brussels: Groupe de Recherche et d’Information sur la Paix, 1989), pp. 183fF.

31
. Ibid., p. 190.

32
. Ibid.

33
. Julia Kristeva,
Etrangers a nous-memes
(Paris: Gallimard, 1988).

CONCLUSION THE SIMORGH IS US!

1
.Farid Ud-Din Attar,
The Conference of the Birds
(Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin, 1984), p. 219.

2
. Ibid.

3
. Ibid., pp. 219-20.

NOTES FOR THE INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION

1
.
Wala taqtulu anfusakum, inna allaha kana bikum rahiman
(Sourat 4
an-Nissa
[Women], verse 29).

2
.
Wala taHudu Inna Allaha la yuhibbu al Mu
(
tadun
(Sourat 5
al Maida
[The Table], verse 87).

3
.
Kataba rabukum
(
ala nafsihi ar-Rahma
(Sourat 6
alAn
(
am
[Cattle], verse 54). See Chapter 6, pp. 87-89, for more on this key concept of
rahma
(tenderness in the homogeneous city).

4
. What is known as the first “Constitution of Medina” is the
Kitab,
the contract the Prophet Muhammad drafted for the population of that city when he migrated to it after leaving his hostile native Mecca and in which he “declared peace with the Jews
(wada
(
a fihi al yahud)
and promised them protection for their right to carry on with their cult and security for their wealth.” See Ibn Hisham,
As-Sirat an- nabawiya
(Bibliography of the Prophet), vol. 2 (Beirut: Dar Ihyaa at-thurat al-Arabi, n.d.), p. 147. Ibn Hisham died in the year 212 of the
Hijira
(A.D. ninth century). The basic principle is that of global responsibility as the founding ideal of that first Muslim community. This principle applied to all those who lived in Medina, starting with the Jews, who were then an important part of the city’s population, as is evident in the excellent translation of Montgomery Watt’s selection: “In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. This is a writing of Muhammad the Prophet between the believers and Muslims of Quraysh (those who migrated with him from Mecca andYathrib [the old name of Medina, the city that granted him hospitality] and those who follow them and are attached to them and who fight along with them). (1) They are a single community distinct from [other] people. (2) The emigrants of Quraysh, according to their former approved practice, pay jointly the blood-money [incurred by one] among them, and ransom the captive of them, [doing this] with upright dealing and justice between the believers. ... (11) The believers do not forsake a debtor among them, but give him [help], according to what is fair, for ransom or blood-wit. ... (16) A Jew who follows us has [a right to] the same help and support [as the believers], so long as they are not wronged [by him] and he does not help [others] against them.” English translation of Ibn Hisham in Montgomery Watt,
Islamic Political Thought
(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1958), p. 130. The original text is Ibn Hisham,
As-Sirat an-nabawiya
(Bibliography of the Prophet), vol. II (Beirut: Dar Ihyas at-thurat al-Arabi, n.d.), pp. 147 and 148.

5
.
Inna yahuda bani
aouf umma ma
(
a Vmuminin, lilyahudi dinahum wa li-lmuslimina dinahum.
Ibn Hisham,
As-Sirat an-nabawiya,
p. 149. What bound the two communities in the Prophet’s
Kirab
(written contract or constitution) was their joint responsibility for peace within the city and its defense against external enemies, reflected by their duty to ransom prisoners
(yafduna
(
aniyahum)
of either group who fell into snemy hands.

6
. Those who talk about “the Arab world” are talking about the citizens of the states that are members of the Arab League created in 1945. It started with seven states (Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Yemen) and expanded its membership to twenty-two states, including latecomers such as Djibouti, Co-mores, and Palestine. Also included are Algeria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, and United Arab Emirates.

7
. “The Sultan Salah Ad-Din,” in Ibn Knallikan’s
Wafayat alA
(
yan
(Biographies of Celebrities), vol. 7 (Beirut: Dar-Athaqafa, n.d.), p. 139. Saladin’s biography is number 846. Ibn Knallikan died in 681(A.D. thirteenth century). The English transla- ;ion is that of De Slane, who translated the
Wafayat
as “Bibliographic Dictionary,”
vol. 4
(Beirut: Librairie du Diban, 1970), p. 540.

8
.
Time
magazine, February 28, 1994.

9
. Joe Stork,
“Des arsenaux en quete de clients solvables,” Le Monde Diplomatique,
Jan- lary 1995, p. 337.

10
. In 1990, the male literacy rate (percent of people fifteen and above) was 38 for India, and net secondary school enrollment (percent of relevant age group) was 56. The figures for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in 1999 were 33 for male literacy and 59 for net secondary school enrollment. “The Little Data Book 2000” (Washington, DC: World Bank, April 2000), pp. 11 and 12.

11
. As for technology infrastructure, the figure for personal computers (per 1,000 people) was 2 for India in 1997 and 10 for the MENA region—five times higher. The Internet hosts (per 1,000 people) were 2 for India and 0.20 for MENA. As for telephone main lines (per 1,000 people), the figure was 37 for MENA in 1990, on the eve of the Gulf War, whereas only 6 Indians per 1,000 had access to a telephone. Because of the neglect of the MENA region as a potential resource for high-tech ventures, it is no wonder that India’s high technology reached 5 percent of manufacturing exports in 1997, whereas that sector never grew beyond 1 percent of manufacturing exports in the MENA region. Ibid.

12
. Alvin Toffler,
Powershijt: Knowledge, Wealth, and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century
(NewYork: Bantam Books, 1990), pp. 16-17.

13
. Ibid., p. 20.

14
. Ibid.

15
. “
Dans le Coran, la racine revient 29 Jois,
})
inTurki’s Introduction to Abu lwalid al Baji s
Kitab al manahijji tartibi al hijaj,
original Arabic text edited by Abdel Majid Turki (Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose, 1978), p. 8. Al Baji was born in Muslim Spain in 403 of the
Hijira
(A.D. 1012).

16
. Abu lwalid al Baji,
Kitab al manahijji tartibi al hijaj.

17
.
Wa jadilhum bilati hiya ahsan,
Sourat
An Nahl,
The Bee (No. 16, verse 125). English translation of the Qoran by N.J. Dawood (London: Penguin Books, 1956), p. 313.

18
. See the interview of Sheikh Hamad Ibn Thamer al-Thani, the chairman of Al-Jazeera, which appeared under the aggressive title
(<
Faut-il buler aljazira, la television qatarie?”
in the French magazine
Paris Match,
no. 2738 (November 15, 2001), p. 101.

19
.
Arabic English Dictionary of the Modern Literary Language,
compiled by Maan Madina (NewYork: Pocket Books, 1973), p. 109.

20
.
Wa hada al Him min arfaH al
(
ulumi qadran wa a
(
damuha cha
(
nan. li annahu as- sabila ila ma
(
cifati al istidlali wa tamyizi al haqi mina al muhali.
Abu lwalid al Baji s
Kitab al manahijji tartibi al hijaj
, p. 9.

21
. See the list in Turki s Introduction to Abu lwalid al Baji’s
Kitab al manahij Ji tartibi al hijaj,
p. 10.

22
.Ibid.

23
. A short introduction to the engineering of a secular state’s constitutional framework from humanist Islam is Abdallah Laroui’s “
UIslam, religion prive,”
in chapter 7 of his book
Les origines Sociales et Culturelles du Nationalisme Marocain: 1830-1912
(Paris: Francois Maspero, 1977), pp. 319-327.

24
, A good example is that of the Moroccan
alem
(religious scholar) Alal al Fasi, who contributed to modern state-building first as a scholar and the author of
The Independence Movements in Arab North Africa,
translated by Hazem Zaki Nuseibeh (New York: Octagon Books, 1970), and second as the influential head of the Istiqlal (Independence) Party, one of the most resilient nationalist parties, which survives up to our day.

25
. Mouna Naim,
“La multiplication des anterrens paraboliques menace les pouvoirs établis,” Le Monde,
August 9,1995, p. 14.

26
. Michel Bounajem, “
Télévisions Publiques: S’adapter ou Mourrir,” Arables,
Octo- ber 2001, p. 50.

27
. Naim,
“La multiplication,”
p. 14.

28
. “
Faut-il bûler al-Jazira, la télévision qatarie?”

29
. My translation of “Ibn Al Athir,” “Al Kamil fi Tarikh,” vol. 6 (Beirut: Dar al kutub al
(
ilmiya, 1987), p. 368.

30
. Caria Power and Sudarsan Raghvan, Afghanistan: A New War for Profits,
Newsweek,
November 4,1996, p. 29.

31
. Ibid.

32
. Ahmed Rachid wrote in his book
Taliban, Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamen- talism in Central Asia
that in November 1998, “Unocal withdraws from a 2.9 billion US dollars pipeline project to bring natural gas from Turkmenistan to Turkey as the company cuts spending” (New Haven, CT:Yale University Press, 2000), p. 242.

33
.
bid.

Index

 

Abbasids

Abraham

Abu Talib

Abu Zahra

c
adala
(justice)

c
adil
(just)

Adonis

ahl al-hadith

ahl al-kitab

c
ajam
(non-Arabs)

c
Ajradi sect

Algeria

c
Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Almoravids

c
Amara, Muhammad

American films

Amin, Ahmad

Amnesty International

c
aql
(reason)

Arab Human Rights Organization

Arabian Nights

Arabsat

Arms imports

Armstrong, Neil

asala
(authenticity)

c
Ashmawi, Qadi

al-Assad, Hafiz

Attali, Jacques

Attar, Farid al-Din

c
azma
(crisis)

 

Badr, Liana

Baghdad

Bakr, Salwa

al-ba
c
th
(resurrection)

batil
(error)

al-Battani

Berlin Wall

Bourguiba, Habib

Buddhism

al-Bukhari

Bush, George

 

Cairo

Calendar

Caliph

Campbell, Joseph

Ceaucescu, Nicolae and Elena

Charlemagne

el-Cheikh, Hanane

Christianity

CNN

Colonial governments

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

Coordinated Universal Time

Corm, George

dar al-islam
(land of Islam)

day
th
(waste)

Democracy

al-din
(religion)

Djait, Hichem

 

Egypt

Enlightenment philosophy

 

falsifa
(philosophers)

al-Farabi

al-Fasi, Muhammad

fitna
(disorder)

France

Fundamentalism

 

Galileo

Germany

al-gharb
(the West)

gharib
(strange/foreign)

Glucksman, Andre

Goddesses

Greek philosophy

Gulf War

 

al-Hadi

Hadith

Haguza

al-Hakim bi
c
Amri Allah

Hallaj

al-haqq
(the right)

Harem

Harun al-Rashid

hawa
(desire)

Hejira

hijab
(veil)

hisn
(citadel)

hizb
(party)

hudud
(boundaries)

Humanism

Hunter, James Davison

al-hurriyya
(freedom)

Husayn, Taha

Hussein, Saddam

 

ibda
c
(creation)

Ibn al-Haytham

Ibn Hazm

Ibn Hisham

Ibn Ishaq, Hunayn

Ibn al-Kalbi

Ibn Kathir

Ibn Manzur

Ibn Muljam

ihdath
(innovation)

ijtihad
(private initiative)

Imam

India

Iran

Iraq

Israel

Italy

i
c
tiqad
(belief)

 

al-Jabiri, Muhammad

jahiliyya
(pre-Islamic era)

Japan

Jordan

Judaism

al-jumhuriyya
(republic)

al-Jundi, Anwar

Ka
c
ba

kafir
(infidel)

Kahhala,
c
Umar

Kawkabta

Kepler

Kharijites

khayal
(imagination)

Khomeini, Ayatollah

Khwarizmi

King Khalid Military City

Kohl, Helmut

Koran

Koranic schools

Kristeva, Julia

Kuwait, emir of

 

al-Lat

Lewis, Bernard

Luhayy

 

Madani, Shaykh
c
Abbas

madinat al-salam
(abode of peace)

Maghrib

Mahmud, Fatima

Malcolm X

Malik Ibn Anas, Imam

al-Ma
mun

Manat

al-Mansur

Marwan Ibn al-Hakam

Marx, Karl

al-Mas
c
udi

Mecca

Media

Medina

mihal
(revealed religions)

Mitterand, Frangois

Morocco

Moses

Mruwa, Husayn

Muhammad, the Prophet

mulhid, mulhidun
(atheist, atheists)

munkar
(injustice)

al-Muqtadi

al-Murakushi

Musaylima

Muslim Brotherhood

Mu
c
tazila

 

Najadat

Na
c
na
c
, Hamida

Nasir, Gamal
c
Abd al-

Nationalists

nihal
(fabricated beliefs)

Nun

Pakistan

Palestinians

Pharaoh

 

qadar
(predestination)

Qadiriyya

qarar
(decision making)

Qarmatis

qibla

Queen of Sheba

Quraysh

 

Radio programs

rahma
(tenderness)

rc
is al-jumhuriyya
(president of the republic)

rc
y
(personal opinion)

al-Razi

Reagan, Ronald

risala
(message)

Riyadh

Rosenthal, F.

Rushdie, Salman

Russell, Bertrand

 

Saadawi, Nawal El

Sabaeans

al-Sabbah, Su
c
ad

Sadat, Anwar

al-Samman, Ghada

sanam
(idol)

Saudi Arabia

Secular humanism

shahada
(declaration of faith)

Shahrastani

Shahrazad

Shajarat al-Durr

Sha
c
rawi, Huda

shari
c
a
(religious law)

shawa
(desire)

shawush

Shaytan (Satan)

sh
c
a

Shi
c
ite Islam

shirk
(freedom of thought)

Simorgh

Spain

Sufis

Sunni Islam

Suq al-Sabat

Sweden

Syria

 

ta
c
a
(obedience)

Tabari

taghiya
(tyrant)

al-Tahtawi, Rifa
c
at

tarikh
(calendar, history)

tathir
(purification)

Television

al-Thaqfi, al-Mukhtar

al-thurat
(the heritage)

Toffler, Alvin

Tohidi, Nayereh

Tunisia

 

c
Umar Ibn
c
Abd al-
c
Aziz

c
Umar Ibn al-Khattab

Umayyads

Umlil,
c
Ali

Umm Khalid

umma
(Muslim community)

United Nations

United Nations Charter

United States

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

c
Uthman

al-
c
Uzza

 

Venus

wc
d al-banat
(burying daughters alive)

al-Walid Ibn Yazid

West, the

Women

Women's Action Forum

 

Yemen

 

Zainab

Zia al-Haq

zindiq

zulm
(injustice)

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