I decided to post the following articles because they illustrate the divisions in modern-day Islam. Some of these divisions are longstanding; others, more recent. They also show the complexity of the challenges that radical Islamism poses for Muslims as well as non-Muslims.
Battle with the Islamic State for the minds of young Muslims
After the latest of his sermons denouncing the Islamic State, Mohamed Taha Sabri stepped down from an ornate platform at the House of Peace mosque. The 48-year-old chief preacher then moved to greet his congregation, steeling himself for the fallout.
Soon, two young men — they are almost always young, but not always men — were calling him out. Only moments before, Sabri had derided the militants’ tactics, saying “it is not our task to turn women into slaves, to bomb churches, to slaughter people in front of cameras while shouting ‘God is great!’ ”
One young man in a black leather jacket angrily chided him for challenging “Muslim freedom fighters.” His companion in a yellow shirt then chimed in: “What is your problem with the Islamic State? You are on the wrong path!”
“No,” said Sabri, embracing the surprised young men. “My brothers, you are the ones on the wrong path.”
In the era of the Islamic State, the wrong path has become all too familiar ground at the House of Peace. Nestled between the kebab restaurants and bric-a-brac shops of an immigrant neighborhood in south Berlin, the liberal mosque stood for years as a temple of tolerance where battered Muslim women could find help divorcing their husbands and progressive imams preached a positive message of religious tolerance.
But as a ruthless brand of Islamic ideology radiates from the battlefields of the Middle East, the House of Peace has become a microcosm of the new fault lines developing inside countless mosques in the West. It illustrates the daily battle being fought against the militant group’s message by thousands of moderate religious leaders in Europe and beyond. Read more
Pakistan cleric says anti-Taliban fight 'un-Islamic'
The head of a hardline Islamabad mosque Friday called an army offensive against the Taliban "un-Islamic" and said the militants' massacre of 133 children was in retaliation for air strikes against them.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed the assault as revenge for an ongoing military offensive against its strongholds in the tribal northwest.
Maulana Abdul Aziz told worshippers at the Red Mosque he "shared the grief" of the victims' families but said the TTP's response was understandable.
"O rulers, O people in power, if you will commit such acts, there will be a reaction," he said. Read more
Crocodile tears: Taliban attacks on Sufi shrines lead to unlikely victims
At the base of one of this city’s oldest Sufi shrines, in the Manghopir neighborhood, a woman haggles over a bag of meat. Sold for $2 a half-kilo, the meat will be fed to one of the crocodiles that laze in the murky green waters of the pond next to the shrine.
The woman, Haseena Iqbal, traveled more than three hours from her home across town with her daughter, son and two nieces to visit the saint buried at the shrine. Like many of the shrine’s visitors, she believes the crocodiles are sacred, formed when the head lice of the saint buried here mixed with the holy water of the hot springs, which bubbles underneath the shrine. As is customary, Iqbal arrived with a mannat, a request for the saint. She believes that by feeding the crocodiles, her prayers will be answered.
Iqbal has already paid bus fare and an entrance fee and given a donation to the shrine’s saint. Now she’s worried that the meat’s inflated price means she won’t have enough money to get home. The crocodiles’ caretaker, Shahan Mahmood, shakes his head sadly. He can’t afford to sell her the meat at a lower price.
“The crocodiles are starving,” he says. “No one is coming to feed them.
” In the last year, Mahmood and the rest of the shrine’s caretakers have buried two crocodiles. For two years, they say, very few of the eggs laid by the reptiles here have hatched. Iqbal forks over the change and watches as the caretaker walks to the makeshift iron fence to feed the closest crocodile. Mahmood says this is the first purchase of meat he has seen in three days. Read more
Time to Equalize Islam
"The last ten nights of Ramadan is approaching us. I'tikaf will begin starting tomorrow night, so come worship all night at the masjid. It is very valuable in your faith. This is only for men, eighteen and up. Sisters, may Allah bless you and reward you."
The Imam at my local San Diego mosque makes this announcement right after the night prayer. I am disheartened by the lack of my invitation and even more crushed that women around me were not moved.
The last ten nights of Ramadan are believed by Muslims to be better than a thousand nights of worship, specifically the odd nights. It is recommended to spend the night at the mosque in worship. This recommendation extends to all Muslims, yet mosques only allow men. It is as if the men who set these rules at the mosques, think that my vagina gives me the claim to faith without having to worship.
There are many reasons that I have heard of why women can't spend the night, or sometimes even the day, in worship at God's house with other Muslims. "Women don't need to come to the mosque." "It is not an obligation for women the way it is for men." My favorite, "it is not safe." Not safe from whom? Will the Muslim men turn around and rape us?
After worshiping in many mosques all over California, I finally found a mosque in Sacramento two years ago--while completing my Masters--that welcomed women and children to worship all night. Ramadan 2012 was the best of my twenty-seven years of life. Now, after moving to San Diego for medical school, I've realized that the SALAM (Sacramento Area League of Associated Muslims) Center is an elf from Mars, visiting the planet earth. Read more
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