PhD: Random thoughts.

So this post is to collect random thoughts, brain farts and similar shite in one post. Here goes.

[01] Could the War on Terror itself be deemed a form of cosmopolitan virtue? Wasn’t Australia’s commitment to prosecuting this (at least in rhetoric) about maintaining an international order free of terrorism? Were Australian Muslims in fact being asked to commit to a universal cosmopolitan goal to fight international terrorism that claimed to be inspired by and was in fact corrupting their faith traditions?

PhD: Cosmopolitanism -v- Communitarianism

Shaykh Ayatollah Meow

Cosmopolitanism questions the moral (and potentially political) legitimacy of state boundaries, treating them as arbitrary. As such, it insists we have responsibilities to those beyond the borders of our state. Our moral concerns must have a universal basis that transcends state borders.

This cosmopolitan ethic is often posited as contrary to a more state-based or localised (“communitarian”) sense of moral responsibility to those within our state borders. Hence political boundaries of the sovereign state take on a moral flavour and set our boundaries of responsibility and hence belonging. Our legal responsibilities to our fellow citizens are of primary importance and form a litmus test of our loyalty to the state as good citizens.

Cosmopolitanism as “humanitarian obligation” (at 200) beyond the legal obligations of citizenship.

But many cosmopolitans are happy to incorporate this communitarian spirit within their broader cosmopolitan sense of moral responsibility. Charity beginning at home does not exclude charity abroad. There should be no conflict between a sense of responsibility to the state and that to those residing outside the state. The authors cite Onara O’Neill who is able to “incorporate the particularist special obligation virtue ethics which motivate communitarians” (at 197) with a vision of cosmopolitan virtue beyond the state. She does this by distinguishing between perfect and imperfect obligations.

Although critical of cosmopolitans, her approach produces arguably similar outcomes to Appiah and his notion of rooted cosmopolitanism. It is also closer to my formulation of umma but very dissimilar to the jihadist notion of umma. 

Boucher, David International Justice in Bellamy, Richard & Mason, Andrew (2003) Political concepts, Manchester University Press

PhD: Little Johnny and his MCRG

OK there's a fair bit here to unpack.

Blurring of dividing line between "Islam" on the one hand and "extremism" and "terrorism" on the other. Government statements and policies have exacerbated this process.

"Howardism" placed domestic and international terrorism "at the epicentre" of the Commonwealth's "political cosmology” (at 46).

Prior to 9/11, very little government policy on terrorism threats.

Howard become "the staunchest member of the 'coalition of the willing' and one of the strongest advocates of the 'War on Terror'" (at 46)

In his rhetoric, Howard insisted the war on terror was not a war on Islam itself or on Australia's neighbouring Muslim-majority states.

Howard's deeply held view that the War on Terror was morally correct. This would "underline all subsequent internal and external policies and pronouncements" (at 47)

The “moral panic” concerning Islam meant that issues related to "Muslim identity  and culture featured heavily whenever politicians or journalists brought out the 'dog-whistle'" (at 50).

Howard's non (if not anti) cosmopolitan vision. " ... he spoke of the importance of re-affirming Australia's Judeo-Christian and British cultural core". Diversity was not emphasised.

Costello: "subscribe to Australian values or don't bother coming here".

Terrorism was raised in PM's speeches some 762 times between September 2001 and April 2006.

Australian and Western media treating Muslim world as closed spaces. Essentialist and simplistic view of Islam and Muslims as being necessarily violent and a problem. This internalises the war on terror and means domestic events are seen as part of a broader international Muslim problem.

By globally framing Muslims and Islam as a 'problem', you automatically internalise the 'War on Terror', allowing the insertion of domestic events in a perpetual cycle that reinforces preconceived notions that Islam and Muslims constitute a problematic, and therefore threatening, proposition". (at 52)

Before 2002, Australia had no dedicated legislative counterterrorism law outside the conventional criminal law. Only NT had an offence proscribing a terrorist attack.

"Australian governments moved to establish a comprehensive anti-terrorism framework, which expanded incrementally ... typically with increased strengthening in the wake of 'peak' terrorist events around the globe." (at 56)

Impact of London bombings. "unprecedented toughening of Australia's counterterrorism regime" with legislation largely based on UK legislation (at 58).

Part of the tranche of legislation was passed after Howard declared the government "had received specific intelligence and police information this week which gives cause for serious concern about a potential terrorist threat ... [T]he immediate passage of [the Bill] would strengthen the capacity of law enforcement agencies to effectively respond to this threat". Legislation made on the run.

Before 9/11 Muslims were perceived by ethnicity rather than religion. Most lived in Sydney (47.3%) and Melbourne (30.3%) according to 2006 census. 180 different birthplaces, with largest group (37.9%) born in Australia.

"September 11 was followed by a marked increase in number and intensity of reported instances of attacks, harassment and culturally offensive behaviour aimed at Muslims generally" (at 59)

London terror attacks triggered concern of prospect of home grown terrorism. Consultations were commenced with religious organisational representatives, most of whom were not born in Australia and represented mainly cultural and ethnic mosques. The first batch of leaders were almost exclusively men.. A statement of principles declared "overriding loyalty to Australia" (a requirement which implies such loyalties didn't already exist, that Muslims were too "cosmopolitan" and too bound up by loyalties outside Australia). It also insisted "members of the Muslim faith, and in particular its leaders, have a responsibility to challenge and counteract those who seek to encourage the use of violence and terrorism in the name of Islam"  and "take a lead with their communities and other Islamic organisations ... to challenge violence and extremism" (at 60). An enormous responsibility placed on a leadership that was often criticised for being largely unrepresentative of those identifying as Muslim. Terrorism and violence was linked to Islam (and by direct implication those who deem themselves belonging to it in some way) with Muslims playing some kind of policing rule in counteracting violence. It was a patronising policy agenda which was readily agreed to by religious leaders with little understanding of political processes, public policy, let alone a working knowledge of the English language. 

The establishment of the Muslim Community Reference Group of members hand-picked by the Federal Government specifically excluded more "hardline" and "extreme" groups. This in effect created a division between "moderate" and "extreme", good and bad Muslims, those Muslims worth talking to and those to be excluded from the engagement process. It created an impression that dealing with national security involved the government (representing the mainstream Australian electorate) entering into dialogue with a small subset of a very small group.

Muslims were expected to take ownership of and hence responsibility for homegrown extremism. This may be seen as government deflecting responsibility for essential elements of counterterrorism. Another purpose was to have a Muslim rubber stamp on a revolutionary legislative agenda impacting potentially upon civil liberties of not just Muslims but also used as a blueprint for future legislation curtailing other groups such as bikies.

The MCRG tended to focus on leaders of either ethnic mosques or campus groups. Important omissions were women's groups, business groups and professionals. It was an attempt by government "to construct and superimpose a single communal structure contrary to the history, composition and demography of Muslims in Australia" (at 61).

Michael, Michális S.(2009) Australia's Handling of Tensions between Islam and the West under the Howard Government, Asian Journal of Political Science,17:1,45 — 70

PhD: To what extent does a retreat from multiculturalism really affect Muslims?

They argue there has been a retreat from multiculturalism especially when it comes to Muslims. The irony is that these same Muslims by and large are not beneficiaries of multiculturalism in the sense of being recipients of government settlement services. They have by and large settled and access the same government services as other settled Australians. Yet they are still seen as beneficiaries of multicultural policies.

John S. Dryzek & Bora Kanra (2013), Muslims and the Mainstream in Australia: Polarisation or Engagement? Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 40:8, 1236-1253

PhD: The Gap between scholarship and everyday interaction

[01] Islamic radicalism and Islamophobia don't figure much in everyday interactions even if they are prominent in academic literature and popular discourse. The dominant position among Muslims in Australia seems to be one of “reciprocal engagement … one that recognises problems on [all] sides but seeks resolution through cross-cultural problem-solving” (at 1238).

So in a sense Muslims are cosmopolitan in their outlook toward their fellow Australians. They are more nation-centric than umma-centric.

[02] A retreat from multiculturalism especially when it comes to Muslims. The irony is that these same Muslims by and large are not beneficiaries of multiculturalism in the sense of being recipients of government settlement services. They have by and large settled and access the same government services as other settled Australians. Yet they are still seen as beneficiaries of multicultural policies.

A retreat from multiculturalism especially when it comes to Muslims. The irony is that these same Muslims by and large are not beneficiaries of multiculturalism in the sense of being recipients of government settlement services. They have by and large settled and access the same government services as other settled Australians. Yet they are still seen as beneficiaries of multicultural policies.

John S. Dryzek & Bora Kanra (2013), Muslims and the Mainstream in Australia: Polarisation or Engagement? Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 40:8, 1236-1253

Turkish Muslims and the Diyanet

Turkish Muslims are one of the largest and oldest Muslim migrant groups from the post-WWII era. They have established a large network of mosques across Australia, most of which are affiliated with the Diyanet, a Turkish government body that provides and pays for imams. This is a situation unique to Turkish Muslims. It is reflective of the Turkish government's attempts to project state religious policy on Turkish communities in Australia and other Western countries. 

"… the transnational activities of the Diyanet, established in 1924 to reorganise Islam for service to the new nation-state … The Foreign Affairs Department of the Diyanet was opened up in Cologne in 1984, yet the institution ‘initiated a foreign program as early as 1971 to offer religious services and education for Turks abroad’ … it has become the key objective of the Diyanet to suffocate unauthorised religious groups both at home and abroad who do not subscribe to the regime’s ideology" (p385).

(Senay, B; Seeing for the state: Kemalist long-distance nationalism in Australia (2013) 19 Nations and Nationalism 376-394)

PhD: Notes on the 2013 Parliamentary Committee report on Migration & Multiculturalism

The House of Representatives Joint Standing Committee on Migration held an Inquiry into Multiculturalism in Australia. Its report, entitled Inquiry into Migration and Multiculturalism in Australia was tabled on 18 March 2013.Chapter 4 of the report was entitled “Religious diversity: questions about Islam”.

That an entire chapter (out of a total of 12) had to be devoted to Islam in such a report is quite extraordinary and an indication of just how hot a potato Islam and Muslim communities in Australia had become embroiled in debates about the desirability or otherwise of multiculturalism. The report noted that Muslims were the 4^th largest religious group in Australia (behind Christians, no religion and Buddhists) (para 4.7) and that Islam was the 4^th fastest growing religion in Australia behind Hinduism and Sikhism (para 4.8).

Australian multiculturalism focuses on provision of services for newcomers (para 4.13). Hence arguably it is not relevant to the study of Muslims born and/or brought up in Australia who generally do not consume such services.

Threats to Muslim identity from ideological shifts from conservative overseas trends. This view was expressed by Ms Asha Bidal from the Islamic Women's Welfare Council of Victoria (para 4.48). Hence Muslim recognition that overseas trends and groups may pose a threat to local Muslim identities.

Many submissions to the inquiry (including from Muslim representatives) stated that "the terrorist attacks of September 2001, and the perceived rise of political Islam following, have had a transforming effect on attitudes to, and within, Islamic communities in Australia" (para 4.53). The term "political Islam" has not been defined though no doubt it would encompass jihadist movements such as AlQaida and ISIL.

Unlike many European countries, Australia's migration policy has been predicated on nation building and integration via permanent migration and pathways to citizenship (para 4.59). Full citizenship was offered to migrants in 1973 and dual citizenship in 2002 (para 4.60).

Attorney-General's CVE Unit established in 2010 (para 4.89). Doesn't focus on any particular ethnic, religious or cultural group. Believes "the poor and marginalised are the most susceptible to radicalisation" (para 4.90).

OBITUARY: On the Passing of Shaykh Esad

On Sunday afternoon, 4 February 2001, just outside the town of Dubbo in country New South Wales (Australia), four persons were travelling in a car along the highway. The car was involved in a collision with a semi-trailer. 2 persons aboard were immediately killed.

One of those persons was Professor Mahmud Esad Cosan (pronounced ‘Joshan’).

Shaykh Esad (or ‘Murshid Effendi' as he is known to his students) was one of the most prominent leaders of the Islamic movement in Turkey. He was the khalifa (spiritual successor) of another respected Turkish Islamic scholar, the late Shaykh Muhammad Zahid Bursawi (rahimahullah). 

Shaykh Esad was not only one of Shaykh Bursawi’s favourite students but also his son-in-law. Amongst Shaykh Bursawi’s other students was Turkey’s former Islamist Prime Minister, Necmettin Erbakan.

Shaykh Esad travelled frequently to visit Muslim communities living in Western countries. He spoke fluent German, and was a frequent visitor to Germany and Sweden. He had a special affection for the people of Australia. One of his goals was to establish Muslim communities in various regional and country towns.

During his lifetime, Shaykh Esad established cultural and social service foundations in Turkey and abroad. He was particularly fond of publishing, and encouraged his students to spread Islam through the written word.

Shaykh Esad was also a man of his time. He encouraged Muslims to keep up with modern methods of communicating the message. He was not averse to using radio, television and cyberspace. He also encouraged Muslims to be economically independent.

Shaykh Esad understood that much jihad (struggle) to be fought in this time was in the marketplace. He encouraged his followers to actively pursue business opportunities.

Shaykh Esad was a follower of the path of sulook, the spiritual tradition of Islam referred to by some as sufism. The main school of sulook which he focussed upon was the ‘naqshbandi’ tradition, known for its emphasis on strict adherence to the Sunna and active involvement in the affairs of the community. Previous masters of this path have included Ottoman political leaders and generals, scholars from the Indian sub-Continent imprisoned by British colonial authorities and even the great independence fighter of Chechnya Imam Shamil.

May God have mercy on Shaykh Esad and fill his grave with Divine Light.

(first published Monday 5 February 2001)

PhD: Some notes on identity

Akeel Bilgrami has written a chapter on the notion of identity in a recently published lexicon on political concepts. He mentions the idea of Islam as an identity to quite a great extent. For me, this is interesting because my research is on the extent to which Islam (in a sense of membership of the global umma) is deemed or chosen as a primary identity by young people in Australia who identify in some way as Muslim.

Bilgrami distinguishes between subjective and objective identity, the distinction based on deliberate as opposed to not quite deliberate identification.

Subjective identity exists when a person deliberately chooses to identify with a particular characteristic, be it religion or race or language.

Objective is when a person doesn't necessarily identify with a characteristic.

Generally a subjective leads to political action. Hence we have identity politics which is so often criticised.

The sense of belonging to the umma can be subjective in that it relates to characteristics that a person actually has and with which that person chooses to identify with. It can also be objective in that it may relate to characteristics that a parson may or may not identify with. Identity of membership of the umma can be accidental or a deliberate act of identification.

Or must it be one or the other?

Bilgrami also mentions nationalism which he describes as a ...

... self-conscious majoritarian identity-formation ...

... involving the identification of some kind of internal enemy (usually a minority with something in common with an outside enemy) and causing it to be subjugated. This usually causes the minority to react.

The existence of multiple identities in a person does not mean that a certain identity cannot come to the fore and lead to political action. Though I wonder if it is really about choice and deliberation. What if the choice is forced upon you? What if you are a reluctant Muslim which your interest is more in your profession or your language? What if you, act as an act of defiance to majoritarian pressure, feel a moral obligation to set aside your preferred layer of identity in favour of Islam?

And to what extent does this make you feel part of some kind of umma?

 JM Bernstein, A Ophir & AL Stoler (2018) Political Concepts – A Critical Lexicon, Fordham University Press

PhD: Islam in the West

Here are some notes on the Routledge Handbook of Islam in the West, a tome I am currently reviewing. It was published in 2015. The first set of notes are from the Introduction by Roberto Tottoli, the editor.

[01] So often do we hear about these entities "Islam" and "the West". The idea of "Islam" refers to a religious entity while "the West" is more of a geographical entity, a place. Islam is a faith and a community, an umma. I personally wonder whether this is (or at least was) the case. The umma represented a place where Muslims ruled, even if they were not in the majority. An example of this was the Mughal Empire which maintained a Hindu majority. Even Muslim Syria in its early days had a Christian majority.

[02] Tottoli writes of the ...

... supposed Islamic roots in the West. 

Islam has been in the West for only 3 centuries less than Christianity. In many parts of Europe, Christianity only spread after the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine. Indigenous European Islam existed in Spain as well as Bosnia and Albania, Macedonia, Greece and Kosovo, not to mention Russia. To suggest Islam has no roots in Europe is akin to suggesting Judaism has no roots in Europe. 

[03] Tottoli speaks of ...

... outer and Western umma.

Yet he denies the existence of a geographical umma. Furthermore some 6% of Muslims live in Europe. Indeed, the minority Muslim experience will soon become the norm as the country with the largest Muslim population is likely to be India in 2050. Then again, India will also have more Christians than any other nation. Exactly where is the outer or inner of Islam and/or Christendom?

[04] There is an enormous difference between looking at Islam in the West and Islam and the West. The former inquiry is far more nuanced.

More to follow.

PhD: On Umma

We generally imagine ourselves to be citizens of a state or country to which we owe ultimate allegiance. But most of us also have other allegiances that go beyond the state. Such "transnational" allegiance and solidarity can include language, culture and even religion.

In some Muslim societies, this can include allegiance to a broader Muslim or Islamic space or sense of belonging.

Yet this broader sense, religious belonging beyond the nation state must inevitably be influenced by the nature of the nation state from which it emerges.Transnational religious culture is built upon national or regional religious culture as well as other forms of culture.

Your "Muslim"-ness or "Islam"-ness isn't purely related to doctrine.

Saunders (2008) argues that the identity based on umma membership is fast morphing into a form of nationhood. He makes an argument for

... treating the ummah (the transnational community of Muslim believers) as a nation.

This is something new, and has only been made possible by

... a potent nexus of information and communications technology (ICT), emergent elites, and Muslim migration to the West ... globalisation, Western media practices, and the nature of European society allow 'ummahist' elites to marginalise other voices in the transnational Muslim community.

That may be the case in Europe, but what about Australia? Do the forces of umma represent Muslim elites? Is this happening more and more thanks to media practices? What about the nature of Australian society?

Saunders (2008) concludes that we

... need to recognise ummah-based identity as more than just a profession of faith - it represents a new form of postnational, political identity which is as profound as extant nationalism.

RA Saunders, The ummah as nation: a reappraisal in the  wake of the 'Cartoon Affair' (2008) Nation and Nationalism 14(2), 303-321

... To be continued



J Piscatori, "Order, Justice, and Global Islam Justice in International Relations" in R Foot, J Gaddis & A Hurrell, Order & Justice in International Relations (2003) Oxford University Press

COMMENT: Talking Turkey at ICNA

ICNA is the Islamic Circle of North America. The organisation has its roots in the activism of South Asian students of the Jama'at-i-Islami who moved to North America. Recently the annual convention of ICNA saw the daughter of Turkish President Recep Teyip Erdogan make a rather startling declaration.

FETÖ is a radical group like Daesh and Boko Haram.

In case you were wondering, FETO is shorthand for "Gulenist Terror Group". And the implications of this?

... the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) is very similar to terrorist organizations and will pose a threat to all Muslims throughout the world if significant steps are not taken against them.

Steps such as? Who knows. And quite frankly, who cares.

COMMENT: The significance of Melbourne's Anglican cathedral

I haven't posted on this blog for ages and ages. This post will be spontaneous and not have a huge amount of organisation or direction. Sorry.

It's Christmas eve and I should be enjoying my holidays in Tokyo. It's winter here and Christmas is little more than a retailing gimmick. Christians are a minority in this largely Buddhist/Shinto nation. Churches are about as common as mosques. 

In this part of the world, no one seems to have the same hangups that Australians do about security and terrorism and all that stuff. The biggest security threats are China and North Korea. Muslims are more known as expat workers or tourists, just as Christians (and Jews) are.

While I've been here, my friends in Australia have had to content with a large terror-related raid in Melbourne. The alleged plot was to attack St Paul's Cathedral in the heart of the city.

I'm not sure how many Muslims:

a) understand the significance of St Paul's Cathedral

b) appreciate the timing of an attack on Midnight Mass or a late night service

c) are aware of the kinds of people who attend such services

I attended an Anglican Cathedral school in Sydney. A cathedral is the main church in a region or city. It is almost always the largest church in size and capacity, and is usually built and designed in the most ornate fashion. Australian Christianity is just over 200 years old, but our cathedrals are modeled on European structures much older.

An attack on St Paul's Cathedral i Melbourne would be the equivalent of an attack by Christian or Hindu extremists in Indonesia on Masjid Istiqlal. Or an attack in Lahore on Badshahi Masjid. Or an attack in Sarajevo on the Gazi Husrev Beg Cami. 

Stand opposite St Paul's Cathedral on Flinders Street and you will see a large placard that reads "Refugees Welcome Here". Refugees from all across the globe. Largely Muslim refugees. This Anglican institution opens its doors to the most vulnerable Muslims.

Speaking of Anglicanism and the Anglican Church, I spent a afew monthss working as a solicitor for Anglicare in a poor town in the La Trobe Valley. Anglicare offices provide services to people of all denominations including Muslims. Anglicare hires Muslim staff. I went to an Anglicare Christmas event for foster kids and their families. There were lots of women there in hijabs, all Angliicare clients.

Anyway, getting back to Midnight Mass, an event I've attended on plenty of occasions in Sydney (though admittedly at St Mary's Catholic Cathedral). The Anglican church (also known as the Church of England) remains the dominant church in Australia, though like other established churches it is facing stiff competition from charismatic churches such as Hillsong. 

But the Anglican church's fastest growth is not in Australia. Instead it is in Africa, in countries like Kenya and Nigeria and South Sudan. There are significant Anglican communions in Pakistan and India. When I started school, the school captain was a Pakistani Christian whose father was an Anglican priest.

Midnight mass would attract Anglicans from across the ethnic and linguistic spectrum of Melbourne Anglicanism. An attack on this congregation would not have merely affected "rich white people". It would have hit poorer families, including refugee families from South Sudan and immigrants from Pakistan and Indonesia.

I've often been stunned at the variety of costumes worn at Midnight Mass. Women decked out in saris and shalwar kameez and other cultural dress from Kenya and Vietnam. 

Imagine if an attack had gone ahead. The casualties would have been enormous. People from across Australia's multicultural spectrum would have been hurt. And all on Christmas, a time of celebration and worship and families and goodwill and peace on earth.

But as we all know, ISIL love attacking big targets, whether a large crowd in Istanbul or Karachi or Iraq or Syria or Tunisia. Whether Eid or Ramadan or Ashura, ISIL have no respect for holidays or sacred days or worshippers or mosques or shrines. Why would they care about our church services and congregations?

PhD: New World Order?

Things have changed since the Berlin Wall fell. Some readers of this blog (assuming I have any) may not have even been born during the period of 1989-91 which saw the end of ideological bipolar world (p3).

What was the end of communism as a global power replaced with? With a new unipolar global order based on market capitalism and liberal democratic institutions and processes of government. There was also a strong growth of civil society operating relatively independent of market capitalism and processes of government.

Religion's situation has changed - ironically "its role has grown in significance". Global order could never really control the role of globalised religion and religious identity and culture, especially in the established religions which easily crossed national and political boundaries. At best, global order could try to regulate religion.

So what is global order anyway? "Global order" means more than just the international order of states. Order is

... a concrete state of affairs which is dominant, or rapidly becoming so, in space (the globe) and time (contemporary) in respect of human activity and the surrounding beliefs, values and ideas" (p3).

The collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the bipolar world has been accompanied by globalisation, often seen "overwhelmingly as an economic and technological matter". Religion has entered political and social consciousness largely due to

... the resurgence of a militant Islam and in particular its challenge to modern (Western) values and power.

So "Islamism" is seen as competing with global Western hegemony. (p1) Religion, especially Islam, has come to be seen as a threat to global order and particularly to Western dominance therein. The main threat seen as Islam. Secular political and economic ideology as a source of competing alternative world views has declined. (p4)

A rather complicated way of saying that Islam is the new communism. Perhaps we really are still living in a bipolar world after all. The human race is suffering from bipolar disorder.

**********

JL Esposito & M Watson (eds), Religion and Global Order (2000) University of Wales Press Cardiff

PHD: Islam and enlightenment

I'm not sure how this is relevant to my thesis but here it is anyway.

So there's this historical time and process in Europe called "the Enlightenment". It has been defined by many philosophers including Immanuel Kant who published an essay in December 1784 entitled An Answer To The Question: What Is Enlightenment?

He defines the European Enlightenment as "man's emergence from a self-imposed immaturity". An enlightened man "had the courage to use his own understanding" and not be shackled by dogma or tradition.

According to Dr MA Muqtedar Khan, in Islamic terms Kant was speaking about ijtihad which Khan defines not in the narrow jurisprudential sense but rather in a broader sense as "independent thinking". 

**********

MAM Khan, "What Is Enlightenment? An Islamic Perspective" in The Journal of Religion & Society Volume 16 (2014)

PHD: Scallopsh*t

Salam, Shalom, Namasthey, Satch sri akaal and G'day.

I've been away from this blog for quite sometime. Quite a bit has happened since then. I'm taking steps to become a scholar though the likely end result is that I'll end up as little more than a scallop.

I've enrolled in a PhD program at Deakin University in Melbourne. My broad topic was jihad but know it has changed to the idea of umma or transnational religious belonging and obligation, a bit like the notion of "the church" though without as many hierarchical and institutional trappings. That is a really really broad topic. I've devoted a separate blog to jihad. It isn't the fanciest thing on the planet but it will do.

Anyway, I figured I could use this blog to deal with other stuff not just related to jihad. Hope you don't mind. It is my attempt at scholarship, though it will probably end up reading more like scallopsh*t. Ho ho.

Each post will be accompanied by a totally random photo.

OPINION: Why should Muslims speak about terrorism?

It’s a common refrain. Muslims in Australia rarely have anything useful to say about terrorism. Each time the Federal Government decides it wants to add yet another layer to the already bulging layers of terrorism law, Muslims (with a few notable exceptions) seem almost disinterested or incapable of making a sensible contribution beyond boycotting meetings with the PM or complaining about racism. It’s as if they cannot address the changing law itself.

Then again, few other Australians, including our political leaders, have much sensible to say. Perhaps the only sensible thing our Prime Minister has said on the subject was soon after the Martin Place Siege in which three persons (including the gunman) lost their lives.

Andrew Lynch, Nicola McGarrity and George Williams, in their recently published Inside Australia’s Anti-Terrorism Laws and Trials, state that 

... we should be wary of letting those who wish us harm determine how we live as members of a free and democratic society. Abbott acknowledged the limits upon security in a liberal society when he said, in the aftermath of the Sydney siege, that even if Monis had been on agency watchlists and monitored 24 hours a day ‘it’s quite likely, certainly possible, that this incident could have taken place, because the level of control that would have been necessary to prevent people from going about their daily life, would be very, very high indeed..

This makes far more sense than hysterical references to the “Death Cult” or insulting remarks that Muslims need to say their faith is one of peace as if they really mean it. It also underscores just how important the efforts of ordinary Muslims are when they report suspicious persons and activities to their authorities, and when their testimony is crucial to the small number of successful terrorism convictions.

You can’t eliminate risk by throwing legislation at it. The law cannot solve everything. The above mentioned authors note: 

By the end of 2014, 64 separate pieces of anti-terrorism legislation had become law. 

These additional laws and the current raft of citizenship stripping laws would have been unlikely to stop Man Monis from murdering two innocent Australians.

The growing complexity of anti-terror law is such that the average Islamic society or council or federation committee would have little hope of understanding how it all fits together. We can’t expect religious bodies to have much useful to say on terrorism law reform. At best they can (and should) defer this to experts within their communities – lawyers, public policy experts and lobbyists.

And that assumes they all have the same approach to this issue. National security is tied up with other areas of government policy, including foreign policy. It is naïve to imagine that all Muslims in Australia have the same views on, say, the Syrian or Iraqi conflict. Opinions on the Syrian government have been divided within Lebanese Muslim circles since before the Lebanese civil war started in the 1970’s. For many in downtown Punchbowl and Preston, Hezbollah is the enemy when they were once heroes.

Sectarian divisions have turned political. How are these divisions to be managed? How much dialogue is there between Sunni and Shia? Has this translated into a common approach to addressing the issues raised by proposed laws?

Absolute unity isn’t what’s required. We don’t stop celebrating Eid just because we cannot agree on which day to celebrate it on. We shouldn’t have a base approach to civil liberties, democracy, citizenship, national security and foreign fighters just because some of us despise Assad more than others. Even if Muslim bodies don’t feel comfortable talking to the media or the politicians about terrorism, they can still talk to each other and to their members about the issue. And if they then decide to contact their local MP or even a Minister, they can at least honestly say that they have consulted with community members.

First published in the AMUST on 31 July 2015.

BOOK: Hilarious book by an Iraqi-Iranian-Australian artist

What’s it like to live on the fringes of society, to be an outsider. First, second and third generation Muslim of migrant heritage often complain of being marginalised. But what would it be like to be a marginal person in more than one home country?

Osamah Sami’s family knows exactly what this is like. His late father, a religious scholar and leader to a Shia congregation in northern Melbourne, grew up in Iraq as a young man keen on reading foreign newspapers. Tortured by the regime of Saddam Hussein, he fled to Iran.

Osamah was born a foreigner. Despite belonging to the same religious denomination as the Iranians around him, Osamah was an Arab, not a Persian. His mother made him wear a long robe, not jeans like his Iranian friends.

But worse still, Osamah’s family were Iraqis living in Abadan, a border town. He and his neighbours lived under the shadow of Iraqi bombs, mortars, missiles and gas raining down on the city during the 1980’s war between Iran and Iraq. They also suffered from the constant suspicion and prejudice from those deemed more Iranian, more Shia and more Muslim than those who spoke Arabic. The language of the Prophet and the language of the enemy were one and the same.

Things weren’t made easier by the fact that Osamah’s father and uncles were fighting in the Iranian army, possibly against their former Iraqi relatives and neighbours. Amongst the drama and tragedy, the author manages to insert much laugh-out-loud humour.

Indeed, tragicomedy is an appropriate description of the book. Osamah’s childhood reflections of the hypocrisies of Iranian theocracy make an excellent antidote to those who would make us believe that the solution to our woes necessarily lay in the Islamic state. All the religious police in the world could not stop Muslims from identifying more by their tribe or sect. Kurds did not cease being Kurds. Iraqi Shia Muslims were still deemed Iraqis and potential enemies of the state. All this during the age of jihad against thee Great Satan and its cronies.

There were no long term prospects for Osamah’s family. The family moved from Abadan to the university city of Qom, where his father pursued studies to become a religious scholar. Later he was invited to Melbourne to officiate for religious ceremonies. Eventually, the family applied to migrate as refugees.

Much of the book is structured around a visit the adult Osamah made to Iran with his father. They arrived at the city of Mashhad in 2013, enjoyed a traditional falafel roll together and returned to their hotel. Osamah went for a walk while his father quietly moved onto the afterlife. Whilst dealing with his own grief, Osamah also had to deal with Iranian bureaucracy. “Policy is policy,” he would be told whilst forced to leave his Australian passport in the hands of anonymous officials in Mashhad before travelling some 900 km across a huge desert to Tehran.

Good Muslim Boy is a superbly hilarious read that will make you realise that even the most religious place can be filled with testosterone and even an imam’s son can get upto no good while maintaining his father’s affections. Terrific.

This review was first published in the Australasian Muslim Times on 31 July 2015.

NOTES: On Tunisia, revolution, women and social sciences

What follows are notes taken during a workshop on women and Civil Society, Women and Democracy held on Tuesday 28 July 2015 at Deakin University. The event was hosted by the Deakin UNESCO Chair in partnership with the Council for Arab-Australian Relations of the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT).

There were four speakers in attendance:

Professor Raoudha Ben Othman, who teaches linguistics at the University of Tunis and has researched aspects of quality in higher education and published widely on it both academically and in local papers. After the Tunisian revolution, she has researched women and young people, conceptions of democracy and democratic transition.

Professor Najet Mchala, a Professor of English and critical theory at The Institut Superieur des Langues de Tunis, University of Carthage. She holds a PhD in Comparative Studies from La Sorbonne, Paris and is the head of the postgraduate program in Cross Cultural Studies. Her teaching and research interests include postmodernity and postcoloniality, Maghrebean Literature and Film.

Assistant Professor Lamia Benyoussef is based in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her research interests include post-coloniality, feminist theory and African literature with a specific emphasis on the Maghreb.

Ms Ines Amri is the Founder of Organisation Volonté et Citoyenneté. She is currently the Head of Research and Project Manager of "Nsina?" (Did We Forget?), a documentary funded by Columbia University and Bosch Foundation through which she seeks to create a platform of dialogue where dealing with the Past 55 years of oppression is at the core of the national debate and to launch a participatory action research project with the victims and their families in Tunisia.

The panel was chaired by Professor Fethi Mansouri of Deakin University.

I can't pretend that these notes represent everything that was said and/or with any great accuracy given that they were originally hand-written. Anyway, here goes.

[01] Epistemological tools involve the gathering, identification and use of evidence and argument for social scientists. How we use them and the outcomes we come up with can be affected by our own ideological leanings and other subjective factors.

[02] How do we understand revolutions and other forms of social change? What are the methodological aspects? How do we gather evidence? How do we assess it?

[03] One way is through using micro-narratives i.e. history from below. Gathering information and stories from voices that are otherwise suppressed.

[04] In many Muslim societies, there is the tension between being a citizen and a believer, largely due to the existence of transnational loyalties. Of course, this isn’t limited to people who identify as Muslims.

[05] Why must the honour of a community be grafted onto the female body in many Muslim cultures? Shouldn't men also take ownership of honour for themselves?

[06] How did Tunisia get to a stage where its you couldn't make meaning anywhere except in committing suicide? Why did that have to be Tunisia's revolutionary moment?

[07] Social scientists in Tunisia looked around themselves at social interactions to kane sense of the revolution. But they were seeking to understand a reality that, far from being static, was evolving and is still doing so.

[08] One speaker said she kept a diary very strictly. She found her diary entries to be very reflexive and descriptive. Still, it wasn't meant to be an academic treatise.

[09] Thanks to the relatively favourable and thorough attention the Revolution received in the English-language media, Tunisians strengthened their relationship with the language and its speakers. Many scholars continue to focus on communication in Arabic and French.

[10] The Tunisian media is more free than it has ever been since independence. The rhythm of news in Tunisia is very fast, and existing outlets have no indigenous model to follow.

[11] One important piece of work is gathering the testimonies of people who were imprisoned for many years for political "crimes".

[12] The elites in Tunisia frequently lived their lives as if they were separated from the suffering of other Tunisians. Some still like to enjoy artificial shields.

[13] Tunisian society is still characterised by strains of paranoia about outside powers and sinister forces inside.

[14] Plenty of psychological violence is caused by often well-meaning but stupid comments by outside observers who insist on seeing Tunisia as Muslim and only Muslim. Euro-centric paradigms abound even in the most allegedly respectable Western publications.

[15] Your opinion as a social scientist or as any observer is affected by your position (or positionality if you wish to sound impressive). This is your ppersnal location and includes race, gender, where you live etc.

[16] An old Tunisian proverb:

Don't spit on the past.

Don't cut yourself off radically from your roots. Tunisians are hopeful their revolution keeps to this precept.

[17] Islamists are regarded on the "Right" of the political spectrum. As in many Arab countries, the Islamists were used to counter the "Left" when the Bourghiba regime came under US influence.

[18] Women were at the forefront of Tunisian revolutionary demonstrations and marches. It was a common joke that the men used the women to shield them from the police.

[19] In a sense, Tunisia is both Islamist and secular. But its essence is democratic.

[20] Youth apathy is a global problem. In Tunisia, young people complain about politics and leaders but generally keep away from parties.

[21] The whole region is experiencing a reversal of the Arab Spring process. How Tunisia has survived its democratic experiment is almost a miracle. Lamia Benyoussef observed:

When I first went to the United States, I was shocked at how overtly religious the people were. When I grew up in Tunisia, we did study religion in school. But it was always personal.

Which may explain why American reporters are so obsessed with religious explanations for everything in the "Muslim world"!

BOOK: Gallipoli with context: The Turkish story

About a century ago, Australia declared war on the Caliphate. In response, the Caliph called on all Muslims across the world to take part in a jihad on Australia. 

Actually, it wasn’t that simple. Nothing about the First World War was. High school modern history teachers tell us it started with an assassin’s bullet. Britain, France (and their current and former colonial possessions) and Russia then joined forces and fought Germany, an entity called the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Russia then dragged the Ottoman Caliphate/Empire, previously neutral in all this mess. Finally the Ottomans joined the Germans.

And so Australia, a very young uber White nation with no standing professional army, entered a war to support the British Empire on the other side of the world. Joining Australia was New Zealand. Their joint rag tag volunteer army, the ANZAC Corp, found itself sailing from the Dardanelles Strait into small boats and onto the beaches of the Gallipoli Peninsula.

Australia had only recently ceased being a colony, a part of the British Empire. When the Empire was at war, its enemies naturally became Australia’s enemies.

But what of the Ottomans? In Australian history classes and popular media, they are referred to as “the Turks”. Turkey as a nation and a republic did not exist at that time. The Ottoman population included not only Turks but also Armenians, Syrians, Bosnians, Jews and other groups. The founding Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, spent much of his time in the Ottoman city of Thessaloniki, a city he described as “a Jewish city that has no equal in the world”. When the First World War broke out, Ben-Gurion established a Jewish militia that would fight in the Ottoman army. 

We don’t know enough about the Ottoman Empire. Australians know little about the Ottoman forces. Harvey Broadbent is an Australian historian and broadcaster who has sought to overcome this deficiency. Broadbent is no stranger to Turkey. He taught English in Turkey during 1967-69, after which he studied Ottoman history and language at Manchester University. I spoke to Broadbent recently at the Sydney Writers Festival on 22 May 2015.

His most recent book, Defending Gallipoli: The Turkish Story, is the result of extensive research of Ottoman military archives all of which are written in Osmanli Arabic script.

Not all the Ottoman troops were Turks. I’m not sure if any of them were Ben-Gurion’s Jewish militiamen. The 72nd and 77th Regiment were conscripts from Aleppo in Syria. If alive today, these men would have called themselves Syrian or Lebanese. They were known to have difficulties communicating with their Turkish commanding officers and fellow troops.

Indeed the Syrian soldiers were often the subject of suspicion. Much of this dates back to rioting in Beirut and other cities which were violently suppressed by Ottoman leaders. Arab troops were accused of retreating during the first week of the Gallipoli defence. In those days, retreating soldiers (including Ottoman and British troops but not Australian volunteers) were typically executed. 

Broadbent told me: “I have seen no documentation that indicates Arab troops were shot for retreating”.

Did any Muslims fight against the Caliph at Gallipoli? Yes they did. Some 15,000 Indians fought as part of the Indian Mule Corp. Most were Hindus and Sikhs. But at least 3 Muslim graves can be found at Gallipoli on the Allied side.

First published in the Australasian Muslim Times on 03 June 2015.