The US and British governments have created a private prison industry which preys on human lives.
By George Monbiot. Published in the Guardian, 3rd March 2009
It’s a staggering case; more staggering still that it has scarcely been mentioned on this side of the ocean. Last week two judges in Pennsylvania were convicted of jailing some 2000 children in exchange for bribes from private prison companies.
Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan sent children to jail for offences so trivial that some of them weren’t even crimes. A 15 year-old called Hillary Transue got three months for creating a spoof web page ridiculing her school’s assistant principal. Mr Ciavarella sent Shane Bly, then 13, to boot camp for trespassing in a vacant building. He gave a 14 year-old, Jamie Quinn, 11 months in prison for slapping a friend during an argument, after the friend slapped her. The judges were paid $2.6 million by companies belonging to the Mid Atlantic Youth Services Corp for helping to fill its jails(1,2,3). This is what happens when public services are run for profit.
It’s an extreme example, but it hints at the wider consequences of the trade in human lives created by private prisons. In the US and the UK they have a powerful incentive to ensure that the number of prisoners keeps rising.
The United States is more corrupt than the UK, but it is also more transparent. There the lobbyists demanding and receiving changes to judicial policy might be exposed, and corrupt officials identified and prosecuted. The UK, with a strong tradition of official secrecy and a weak tradition of scrutiny and investigative journalism, has no such safeguards.
The corrupt judges were paid by the private prisons not only to increase the number of child convicts but also to shut down a competing prison run by the public sector. Taking bribes to bang up kids might be novel; shutting public facilities to help private companies happens - on both sides of the water - all the time.
The Wall Street Journal has shown how, as a result of lobbying by the operators, private jails in Mississippi and California are being paid for non-existent prisoners(4,5). The prison corporations have been guaranteed a certain number of inmates. If the courts fail to produce enough convicts, they get their money anyway. This outrages taxpayers in both states, which have cut essential public services to raise these funds. But there is a simple means of resolving this problem: you replace ghost inmates with real ones. As the Journal, seldom associated with raging anti-capitalism, observes, “prison expansion [has] spawned a new set of vested interests with stakes in keeping prisons full and in building more. … The result has been a financial and political bazaar, with convicts in stripes as the prize.”(6)
Even as crime declines, law-makers are pressed by their sponsors to increase the rate of imprisonment. The US has, by a very long way, the world’s highest proportion of people behind bars: 756 prisoners per 100,000 people(7), or just over 1% of the adult population(8). Similarly wealthy countries have around one-tenth of this rate of imprisonment.
Like most of its really bad ideas, the last Conservative government imported private jails from the US. As Stephen Nathan, author of a forthcoming book about prison privatisation in the UK, has shown, the notion was promoted by the Select Committee on Home Affairs, which in 1986 visited prisons run by the Corrections Corporation of America. When the corporation told them that private provision in the US improved prison standards and delivered good value for money, the committee members failed to check its claims. They recommended that the government should put the construction and management of prisons out to tender “as an experiment”(9).
Encouraged by the committee’s report, the Corrections Corporation of America set up a consortium in Britain with two Conservative party donors, Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd and John Mowlem & Co, to promote privately financed prisons over here. The first privately-run prison in the UK, Wolds, was opened by the Danish security company Group 4 in 1992. In 1993, before it had had a chance to evaluate this experiment, the government announced that all new prisons would be built and run by private companies.
The Labour party, then in opposition, was outraged. John Prescott promised that “Labour will take back private prisons into public ownership – it is the only safe way forward.”(10) Jack Straw stated that “it is not appropriate for people to profit out of incarceration. This is surely one area where a free market certainly does not exist”. He too promised to “bring these prisons into proper public control and run them directly as public services.”(11)
But during his first seven weeks in office, Jack Straw renewed one private prison contract and launched two new ones. A year later he announced that all new prisons in England and Wales would be built and run by private companies, under the private finance initiative (PFI). Today the UK has a higher proportion of prisoners in private institutions than the US(12). This is the only country in Europe whose jails are run on this model.
So has prison privatisation here influenced judicial policy? As we discovered during the recent lobbying scandal in the House of Lords, there’s no way of knowing. Unlike civilised nations, the UK has no register of lobbyists; we are not even entitled to know which lobbyists ministers have met(13). But there are some clues. The former home secretary, John Reid, previously in charge of prison provision, has become a consultant to the private prison operator G4S(14). The government is intending to commission a series of massive Titan jails under PFI. Most experts on prisons expect them to be disastrous, taking inmates further away from their families (which reduces the chances of rehabilitation) and creating vast warrens in which all the social diseases of imprisonment will fester. Only two groups want them built: ministers and the prison companies: they offer excellent opportunities to rack up profits. And the very nature of PFI, which commits the government to paying for services for 25 or 30 years whether or not they are still required creates a major incentive to ensure that prison numbers don’t fall. The beast must be fed.
And there’s another line of possible evidence. In the two countries whose economies most resemble the UK’s - Germany and France - the prison population has risen quite slowly. France has 96 inmates per 100,000 people, an increase of 14% since 1992. Germany has 89 prisoners per 100,000: 25% more than in 1992 but 9% less than in 2001. But the UK now locks up 151 out of every 100,000 inhabitants: 73% more than in 1992 and 20% more than in 2001(15). Yes our politicians have barely come down from the trees, yes we are still governed out of the offices of the Daily Mail, but it would be foolish to dismiss the likely influence of the private prison industry.
This revolting trade in human lives creates a permanent incentive to lock people up; not because prison works; not because it makes us safer, but because it makes money. Privatisation appears to have locked this country into mass imprisonment.
www.monbiot.com
References:
1. Amy Goodman, 17th February 2009. How Two Former PA Judges Got Millions in Kickbacks to Send Juveniles to Private Prisons. Democracy Now! http://www.alternet.org/rights/127461/amy_goodman:_how_two_former_pa_judges_got_millions_in_kickbacks_to_send_juveniles_to_private_prisons/
2. The Economist, 26th February 2009. Bad judges: the lowest of the low.
3. Stephanie Chen, 24th February 2009. Pennsylvania rocked by ‘jailing kids for cash’ scandal. CNN.http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/23/pennsylvania.corrupt.judges/index.html
4. Bryan Gruley, 6th September 2001. Prison Building Spree Creates Glut of Lockups. Wall Street Journal.
5. Joseph T. Hallinan, 6th November 2001. Going Backwards. Wall Street Journal.
6. Bryan Gruley, ibid.
7. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/law/research/icps/worldbrief/wpb_country.php?country=190
8. The total prison population at the end of 2007 (see above) was 2,293,157. The most recent figure for the adult population I can find - 217.8 million - was produced by the US Census Bureau in 2004.http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/001703.html
9. Stephen Nathan, 2003. Prison Privatization in the United Kingdom. Published inCapitalist Punishment: Prison Privatization & Human Rights. Clarity Press, Inc., Atlanta.
10. John Prescott, 1994, quoted by Stephen Nathan, ibid.
11. Jack Straw, 8th March 1995, quoted by Stephen Nathan, ibid.
12. 7.2% in the US, 11% in the UK. http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/subsection.asp?id=268
13. The Committee on Standards in Public Life, cited by the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee, 5th January 2009. Lobbying: Access and influence in Whitehall. Volume I, para 187. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmpubadm/36/36i.pdf
14. Security Oracle, 18th December 2008. G4S Appoints John Reid As Group Consultant.http://www.securityoracle.com/news/G4S-Appoints-John-Reid-As-Group-Consultant_14833.html
15. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/law/research/icps/worldbrief/
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Why Schools Don't Educate
Why Schools Don't Educate
by John Taylor Gatto
I accept this award on behalf of all the fine teachers I've known over the years who've struggled to make their transactions with children honorable ones, men and women who are never complacent, always questioning, always wrestling to define and redefine endlessly what the word "education" should mean. A Teacher of the Year is not the best teacher around, those people are too quiet to be easily uncovered, but he is a standard-bearer, symbolic of these private people who spend their lives gladly in the service of children. This is their award as well as mine.
We live in a time of great school crisis. Our children rank at the bottom of nineteen industrial nations in reading, writing and arithmetic. At the very bottom. The world's narcotic economy is based upon our own consumption of the commodity, if we didn't buy so many powdered dreams the business would collapse - and schools are an important sales outlet. Our teenage suicide rate is the highest in the world and suicidal kids are rich kids for the most part, not the poor. In Manhattan fifty per cent of all new marriages last less than five years. So something is wrong for sure.
Our school crisis is a reflection of this greater social crisis. We seem to have lost our identity. Children and old people are penned up and locked away from the business of the world to a degree without precedent - nobody talks to them anymore and without children and old people mixing in daily life a community has no future and no past, only a continuous present. In fact, the name "community" hardly applies to the way we interact with each other. We live in networks, not communities, and everyone I know is lonely because of that. In some strange way school is a major actor in this tragedy just as it is a major actor in the widening guilt among social classes. Using school as a sorting mechanism we appear to be on the way to creating a caste system, complete with untouchables who wander through subway trains begging and sleep on the streets.
I've noticed a fascinating phenomenon in my twenty-five years of teaching - that schools and schooling are increasingly irrelevant to the great enterprises of the planet. No one believes anymore that scientists are trained in science classes or politicians in civics classes or poets in English classes. The truth is that schools don't really teach anything except how to obey orders. This is a great mystery to me because thousands of humane, caring people work in schools as teachers and aides and administrators but the abstract logic of the institution overwhelms their individual contributions. Although teachers do care and do work very hard, the institution is psychopathic - it has no conscience. It rings a bell and the young man in the middle of writing a poem must close his notebook and move to different cell where he must memorize that man and monkeys derive from a common ancestor.
Our form of compulsory schooling is an invention of the state of Massachusetts around 1850. It was resisted - sometimes with guns - by an estimated eighty per cent of the Massachusetts population, the last outpost in Barnstable on Cape Cod not surrendering its children until the 1880's when the area was seized by militia and children marched to school under guard.
Now here is a curious idea to ponder. Senator Ted Kennedy's office released a paper not too long ago claiming that prior to compulsory education the state literacy rate was 98% and after it the figure never again reached above 91% where it stands in 1990. I hope that interests you.
Here is another curiosity to think about. The homeschooling movement has quietly grown to a size where one and a half million young people are being educated entirely by their own parents. Last month the education press reported the amazing news that children schooled at home seem to be five or even ten years ahead of their formally trained peers in their ability to think.
I don't think we'll get rid of schools anytime soon, certainly not in my lifetime, but if we're going to change what is rapidly becoming a disaster of ignorance, we need to realize that the school institution "schools" very well, but it does not "educate" - that's inherent in the design of the thing. It's not the fault of bad teachers or too little money spent, it's just impossible for education and schooling ever to be the same thing.
Schools were designed by Horace Mann and Barnard Sears and Harper of the University of Chicago and Thorndyke of Columbia Teachers College and some other men to be instruments of the scientific management of a mass population. Schools are intended to produce through the application of formulae, formulaic human beings whose behavior can be predicted and controlled.
To a very great extent, schools succeed in doing this. But our society is disintegrating, and in such a society, the only successful people are self-reliant, confident, and individualistic - because the community life which protects the dependent and the weak is dead. The products of schooling are, as I've said, irrelevant. Well-schooled people are irrelevant. They can sell film and razor blades, push paper and talk on the telephones, or sit mindlessly before a flickering computer terminal but as human beings they are useless. Useless to others and useless to themselves.
The daily misery around us is, I think, in large measure caused by the fact that - as Paul Goodman put it thirty years ago - we force children to grow up absurd. Any reform in schooling has to deal with its absurdities.
It is absurd and anti-life to be part of a system that compels you to sit in confinement with people of exactly the same age and social class. That system effectively cuts you off from the immense diversity of life and the synergy of variety, indeed it cuts you off from your own part and future, scaling you to a continuous present much the same way television does.
It is absurd and anti-life to be part of a system that compels you to listen to a stranger reading poetry when you want to learn to construct buildings, or to sit with a stranger discussing the construction of buildings when you want to read poetry.
It is absurd and anti-life to move from cell to cell at the sound of a gong for every day of your natural youth in an institution that allows you no privacy and even follows you into the sanctuary of your home demanding that you do its "homework".
"How will they learn to read?" you say and my answer is "Remember the lessons of Massachusetts." When children are given whole lives instead of age-graded ones in cellblocks they learn to read, write, and do arithmetic with ease if those things make sense in the kind of life that unfolds around them.
But keep in mind that in the United States almost nobody who reads, writes or does arithmetic gets much respect. We are a land of talkers, we pay talkers the most and admire talkers the most, and so our children talk constantly, following the public models of television and schoolteachers. It is very difficult to teach the "basics" anymore because they really aren't basic to the society we've made.
Two institutions at present control our children's lives - television and schooling, in that order. Both of these reduce the real world of wisdom, fortitude, temperance, and justice to a never-ending, non-stopping abstraction. In centuries past the time of a child and adolescent would be occupied in real work, real charity, real adventures, and the realistic search for mentors who might teach what you really wanted to learn. A great deal of time was spent in community pursuits, practicing affection, meeting and studying every level of the community, learning how to make a home, and dozens of other tasks necessary to become a whole man or woman.
But here is the calculus of time the children I teach must deal with:
Out of the 168 hours in each week, my children sleep 56. That leaves them 112 hours a week out of which to fashion a self.
My children watch 55 hours of television a week according to recent reports. That leaves them 57 hours a week in which to grow up.
My children attend school 30 hours a week, use about 6 hours getting ready, going and coming home, and spend an average of 7 hours a week in homework - a total of 45 hours. During that time, they are under constant surveillance, have no private time or private space, and are disciplined if they try to assert individuality in the use of time or space. That leaves 12 hours a week out of which to create a unique consciousness. Of course, my kids eat, and that takes some time - not much, because they've lost the tradition of family dining, but if we allot 3 hours a week to evening meals, we arrive at a net amount of private time for each child of 9 hours.
It's not enough. It's not enough, is it? The richer the kid, or course, the less television he watches but the rich kid's time is just as narrowly proscribed by a somewhat broader catalog of commercial entertainments and his inevitable assignment to a series of private lessons in areas seldom of his actual choice.
And these things are oddly enough just a more cosmetic way to create dependent human beings, unable to fill their own hours, unable to initiate lines of meaning to give substance and pleasure to their existence. It's a national disease, this dependency and aimlessness, and I think schooling and television and lessons - the entire Chautauqua idea - has a lot to do with it.
Think of the things that are killing us as a nation - narcotic drugs, brainless competition, recreational sex, the pornography of violence, gambling, alcohol, and the worst pornography of all - lives devoted to buying things, accumulation as a philosophy - all of them are addictions of dependent personalities, and that is what our brand of schooling must inevitably produce.
I want to tell you what the effect is on children of taking all their time from them - time they need to grow up - and forcing them to spend it on abstractions. You need to hear this, because no reform that doesn't attack these specific pathologies will be anything more than a facade.
1. The children I teach are indifferent to the adult world. This defies the experience of thousands of years. A close study of what big people were up to was always the most exciting occupation of youth, but nobody wants to grow up these days and who can blame them? Toys are us.
2. The children I teach have almost no curiosity and what they do have is transitory; they cannot concentrate for very long, even on things they choose to do. Can you see a connection between the bells ringing again and again to change classes and this phenomenon of evanescent attention?
3. The children I teach have a poor sense of the future, of how tomorrow is inextricably linked to today. As I said before, they have a continuous present, the exact moment they are at is the boundary of their consciousness.
4. The children I teach are ahistorical, they have no sense of how past has predestined their own present, limiting their choices, shaping their values and lives.
5. The children I teach are cruel to each other, they lack compassion for misfortune, they laugh at weakness, and they have contempt for people whose need for help shows too plainly.
6. The children I teach are uneasy with intimacy or candor. My guess is that they are like many adopted people I've known in this respect - they cannot deal with genuine intimacy because of a lifelong habit of preserving a secret inner self inside a larger outer personality made up of artificial bits and pieces of behavior borrowed from television or acquired to manipulate teachers. Because they are not who they represent themselves to be the disguise wears thin in the presence of intimacy so intimate relationships have to be avoided.
7. The children I teach are materialistic, following the lead of schoolteachers who materialistically "grade" everything - and television mentors who offer everything in the world for free.
8. The children I teach are dependent, passive, and timid in the presence of new challenges. This is frequently masked by surface bravado, or by anger or aggressiveness but underneath is a vacuum without fortitude.
I could name a few other conditions that school reform would have to tackle if our national decline is to be arrested, but by now you will have grasped my thesis, whether you agree with it or not. Either schools have caused these pathologies, or television, or both. It's a simple matter [of] arithmetic, between schooling and television all the time the children have is eaten away. That's what has destroyed the American family, it is no longer a factor in the education of its own children. Television and schooling, in those things the fault must lie.
What can be done? First we need a ferocious national debate that doesn't quit, day after day, year after year. We need to scream and argue about this school thing until it is fixed or broken beyond repair, one or the other. If we can fix it, fine; if we cannot, then the success of homeschooling shows a different road to take that has great promise. Pouring the money we now pour into family education might kill two birds with one stone, repairing families as it repairs children.
Genuine reform is possible but it shouldn't cost anything. We need to rethink the fundamental premises of schooling and decide what it is we want all children to learn and why. For 140 years this nation has tried to impose objectives downward from the lofty command center made up of "experts", a central elite of social engineers. It hasn't worked. It won't work. And it is a gross betrayal of the democratic promise that once made this nation a noble experiment. The Russian attempt to create Plato's republic in Eastern Europe has exploded before [our] eyes, our own attempt to impose the same sort of central orthodoxy using the schools as an instrument is also coming apart at the seams, albeit more slowly and painfully. It doesn't work because its fundamental premises are mechanical, anti-human, and hostile to family life. Lives can be controlled by machine education but they will always fight back with weapons of social pathology - drugs, violence, self-destruction, indifference, and the symptoms I see in the children I teach.
It's high time we looked backwards to regain an educational philosophy that works. One I like particularly well has been a favorite of the ruling classes of Europe for thousands of years. I use as much of it as I can manage in my own teaching, as much, that is, as I can get away with given the present institution of compulsory schooling. I think it works just as well for poor children as for rich ones.
At the core of this elite system of education is the belief that self-knowledge is the only basis of true knowledge. Everywhere in this system, at every age, you will find arrangements to place the child alone in an unguided setting with a problem to solve. Sometimes the problem is fraught with great risks, such as the problem of galloping a horse or making it jump, but that, of course, is a problem successfully solved by thousands of elite children before the age of ten. Can you imagine anyone who had mastered such a challenge ever lacking confidence in his ability to do anything? Sometimes the problem is the problem of mastering solitude, as Thoreau did at Walden Pond, or Einstein did in the Swiss customs house.
One of my former students, Roland Legiardi-Lura, though both his parents were dead and he had no inheritance, took a bicycle across the United States alone when he was hardly out of boyhood. Is it any wonder then that in manhood when he decided to make a film about Nicaragua, although he had no money and no prior experience with film-making, that it was an international award-winner - even though his regular work was as a carpenter.
Right now we are taking all the time from our children that they need to develop self-knowledge. That has to stop. We have to invent school experiences that give a lot of that time back, we need to trust children from a very early age with independent study, perhaps arranged in school but which takes place away from the institutional setting. We need to invent curriculum where each kid has a chance to develop private uniqueness and self-reliance.
A short time ago I took seventy dollars and sent a twelve-year-old girl from my class with her non-English speaking mother on a bus down the New Jersey coast to take the police chief of Sea Bright to lunch and apologize for polluting [his] beach with a discarded Gatorade bottle. In exchange for this public apology I had arranged with the police chief for the girl to have a one-day apprenticeship in a small town police procedures. A few days later, two more of my twelve-year-old kids traveled alone to West First Street from Harlem where they began an apprenticeship with a newspaper editor, next week three of my kids will find themselves in the middle of the Jersey swamps at 6 A.M., studying the mind of a trucking company president as he dispatches 18-wheelers to Dallas, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
Are these "special" children in a "special" program? Well, in one sense, yes, but nobody knows about this program but the kids and myself. They're just nice kids from Central Harlem, bright and alert, but so badly schooled when they came to me that most of them can't add or subtract with any fluency. And not a single one knew the population of New York City or how far it is from New York to California.
Does that worry me? Of course, but I am confident that as they gain self-knowledge they'll also become self-teachers - and only self-teaching has any lasting value.
We've got to give kids independent time right away because that is the key to self-knowledge, and we must re-involve them with the real world as fast as possible so that the independent time can be spent on something other than more abstraction. This is an emergency, it requires drastic action to correct - our children are dying like flies in schooling, good schooling or bad schooling, it's all the same. Irrelevant.
What else does a restructured school system need? It needs to stop being a parasite on the working community. Of all the pages in the human ledger, only our tortured entry has warehoused children and asked nothing of them in service to the general good. For a while I think we need to make community service a required part of schooling. Besides the experience in acting unselfishly that will teach, it is the quickest way to give young children real responsibility in the mainstream of life.
For five years I ran a guerilla program where I had every kid, rich and poor, smart and dipsy, give 320 hours a year of hard community service. Dozens of those kids came back to me years later, grown up, and told me that one experience of helping someone else changed their lives. It taught them to see in new ways, to rethink goals and values. It happened when they were thirteen, in my Lab School program - only made possible because my rich school district was in chaos. When "stability" returned the Lab was closed. It was too successful with a wildly mixed group of kids, at too small of a cost, to be allowed to continue. We made the expensive elite programs look bad.
There is no shortage of real problems in the city. Kids can be asked to help solve them in exchange for the respect and attention of the total adult world. Good for kids, good for all the rest of us. That's curriculum that teaches Justice, one of the four cardinal virtues in every system of elite education. What's sauce for the rich and powerful is surely sauce for the rest of us - what is more, the idea is absolutely free as are all other genuine reform ideas in education. Extra money and extra people put into this sick institution will only make it sicker.
Independent study, community service, adventures in experience, large doses of privacy and solitude, a thousand different apprenticeships, the one day variety or longer - these are all powerful, cheap and effective ways to start a real reform of schooling. But no large-scale reform is ever going to work to repair our damaged children and our damaged society until we force the idea of "school" open - to include family as the main engine of education. The Swedes realized that in 1976 when they effectively abandoned the system of adopting unwanted children and instead spent national time and treasure on reinforcing the original family so that children born to Swedes were wanted. They didn't succeed completely but they did succeed in reducing the number of unwanted Swedish children from 6000 in l976 to 15 in 1986. So it can be done. The Swedes just got tired of paying for the social wreckage caused by children not raised by their natural parents so they did something about it. We can, too.
Family is the main engine of education. If we use schooling to break children away from parents - and make no mistake, that has been the central function of schools since John Cotton announced it as the purpose of the Bay Colony schools in 1650 and Horace Mann announced it as the purpose of Massachusetts schools in 1850 - we're going to continue to have the horror show we have right now. The curriculum of family is at the heart of any good life, we've gotten away from that curriculum, time to return to it. The way to sanity in education is for our schools to take the lead in releasing the stranglehold of institutions on family life, to promote during school time confluences of parent and child that will strengthen family bonds. That was my real purpose in sending the girl and her mother down the Jersey coast to meet the police chief. I have many ideas to make a family curriculum and my guess is that a lot of you will have many ideas, too, once you begin to think about it. Our greatest problem in getting the kind of grass-roots thinking going that could reform schooling is that we have large vested interests pre-emptying all the air time and profiting from schooling just exactly as it is despite rhetoric to the contrary. We have to demand that new voices and new ideas get a hearing, my ideas and yours. We've all had a bellyful of authorized voices mediated by television and the press - a decade long free-for-all debate is what is called for now, not any more "expert" opinions. Experts in education have never been right, their "solutions" are expensive, self-serving, and always involve further centralization. Enough. Time for a return to Democracy, Individuality, and family. I've said my piece. Thank you.
© Courtesy of John Taylor Gatto. All rights reserved.
This article is the text of a speech by John Taylor Gatto accepting the New York City Teacher of the Year Award on January 31, 1990. It is reprinted with permission of the author
by John Taylor Gatto
I accept this award on behalf of all the fine teachers I've known over the years who've struggled to make their transactions with children honorable ones, men and women who are never complacent, always questioning, always wrestling to define and redefine endlessly what the word "education" should mean. A Teacher of the Year is not the best teacher around, those people are too quiet to be easily uncovered, but he is a standard-bearer, symbolic of these private people who spend their lives gladly in the service of children. This is their award as well as mine.
We live in a time of great school crisis. Our children rank at the bottom of nineteen industrial nations in reading, writing and arithmetic. At the very bottom. The world's narcotic economy is based upon our own consumption of the commodity, if we didn't buy so many powdered dreams the business would collapse - and schools are an important sales outlet. Our teenage suicide rate is the highest in the world and suicidal kids are rich kids for the most part, not the poor. In Manhattan fifty per cent of all new marriages last less than five years. So something is wrong for sure.
Our school crisis is a reflection of this greater social crisis. We seem to have lost our identity. Children and old people are penned up and locked away from the business of the world to a degree without precedent - nobody talks to them anymore and without children and old people mixing in daily life a community has no future and no past, only a continuous present. In fact, the name "community" hardly applies to the way we interact with each other. We live in networks, not communities, and everyone I know is lonely because of that. In some strange way school is a major actor in this tragedy just as it is a major actor in the widening guilt among social classes. Using school as a sorting mechanism we appear to be on the way to creating a caste system, complete with untouchables who wander through subway trains begging and sleep on the streets.
I've noticed a fascinating phenomenon in my twenty-five years of teaching - that schools and schooling are increasingly irrelevant to the great enterprises of the planet. No one believes anymore that scientists are trained in science classes or politicians in civics classes or poets in English classes. The truth is that schools don't really teach anything except how to obey orders. This is a great mystery to me because thousands of humane, caring people work in schools as teachers and aides and administrators but the abstract logic of the institution overwhelms their individual contributions. Although teachers do care and do work very hard, the institution is psychopathic - it has no conscience. It rings a bell and the young man in the middle of writing a poem must close his notebook and move to different cell where he must memorize that man and monkeys derive from a common ancestor.
Our form of compulsory schooling is an invention of the state of Massachusetts around 1850. It was resisted - sometimes with guns - by an estimated eighty per cent of the Massachusetts population, the last outpost in Barnstable on Cape Cod not surrendering its children until the 1880's when the area was seized by militia and children marched to school under guard.
Now here is a curious idea to ponder. Senator Ted Kennedy's office released a paper not too long ago claiming that prior to compulsory education the state literacy rate was 98% and after it the figure never again reached above 91% where it stands in 1990. I hope that interests you.
Here is another curiosity to think about. The homeschooling movement has quietly grown to a size where one and a half million young people are being educated entirely by their own parents. Last month the education press reported the amazing news that children schooled at home seem to be five or even ten years ahead of their formally trained peers in their ability to think.
I don't think we'll get rid of schools anytime soon, certainly not in my lifetime, but if we're going to change what is rapidly becoming a disaster of ignorance, we need to realize that the school institution "schools" very well, but it does not "educate" - that's inherent in the design of the thing. It's not the fault of bad teachers or too little money spent, it's just impossible for education and schooling ever to be the same thing.
Schools were designed by Horace Mann and Barnard Sears and Harper of the University of Chicago and Thorndyke of Columbia Teachers College and some other men to be instruments of the scientific management of a mass population. Schools are intended to produce through the application of formulae, formulaic human beings whose behavior can be predicted and controlled.
To a very great extent, schools succeed in doing this. But our society is disintegrating, and in such a society, the only successful people are self-reliant, confident, and individualistic - because the community life which protects the dependent and the weak is dead. The products of schooling are, as I've said, irrelevant. Well-schooled people are irrelevant. They can sell film and razor blades, push paper and talk on the telephones, or sit mindlessly before a flickering computer terminal but as human beings they are useless. Useless to others and useless to themselves.
The daily misery around us is, I think, in large measure caused by the fact that - as Paul Goodman put it thirty years ago - we force children to grow up absurd. Any reform in schooling has to deal with its absurdities.
It is absurd and anti-life to be part of a system that compels you to sit in confinement with people of exactly the same age and social class. That system effectively cuts you off from the immense diversity of life and the synergy of variety, indeed it cuts you off from your own part and future, scaling you to a continuous present much the same way television does.
It is absurd and anti-life to be part of a system that compels you to listen to a stranger reading poetry when you want to learn to construct buildings, or to sit with a stranger discussing the construction of buildings when you want to read poetry.
It is absurd and anti-life to move from cell to cell at the sound of a gong for every day of your natural youth in an institution that allows you no privacy and even follows you into the sanctuary of your home demanding that you do its "homework".
"How will they learn to read?" you say and my answer is "Remember the lessons of Massachusetts." When children are given whole lives instead of age-graded ones in cellblocks they learn to read, write, and do arithmetic with ease if those things make sense in the kind of life that unfolds around them.
But keep in mind that in the United States almost nobody who reads, writes or does arithmetic gets much respect. We are a land of talkers, we pay talkers the most and admire talkers the most, and so our children talk constantly, following the public models of television and schoolteachers. It is very difficult to teach the "basics" anymore because they really aren't basic to the society we've made.
Two institutions at present control our children's lives - television and schooling, in that order. Both of these reduce the real world of wisdom, fortitude, temperance, and justice to a never-ending, non-stopping abstraction. In centuries past the time of a child and adolescent would be occupied in real work, real charity, real adventures, and the realistic search for mentors who might teach what you really wanted to learn. A great deal of time was spent in community pursuits, practicing affection, meeting and studying every level of the community, learning how to make a home, and dozens of other tasks necessary to become a whole man or woman.
But here is the calculus of time the children I teach must deal with:
Out of the 168 hours in each week, my children sleep 56. That leaves them 112 hours a week out of which to fashion a self.
My children watch 55 hours of television a week according to recent reports. That leaves them 57 hours a week in which to grow up.
My children attend school 30 hours a week, use about 6 hours getting ready, going and coming home, and spend an average of 7 hours a week in homework - a total of 45 hours. During that time, they are under constant surveillance, have no private time or private space, and are disciplined if they try to assert individuality in the use of time or space. That leaves 12 hours a week out of which to create a unique consciousness. Of course, my kids eat, and that takes some time - not much, because they've lost the tradition of family dining, but if we allot 3 hours a week to evening meals, we arrive at a net amount of private time for each child of 9 hours.
It's not enough. It's not enough, is it? The richer the kid, or course, the less television he watches but the rich kid's time is just as narrowly proscribed by a somewhat broader catalog of commercial entertainments and his inevitable assignment to a series of private lessons in areas seldom of his actual choice.
And these things are oddly enough just a more cosmetic way to create dependent human beings, unable to fill their own hours, unable to initiate lines of meaning to give substance and pleasure to their existence. It's a national disease, this dependency and aimlessness, and I think schooling and television and lessons - the entire Chautauqua idea - has a lot to do with it.
Think of the things that are killing us as a nation - narcotic drugs, brainless competition, recreational sex, the pornography of violence, gambling, alcohol, and the worst pornography of all - lives devoted to buying things, accumulation as a philosophy - all of them are addictions of dependent personalities, and that is what our brand of schooling must inevitably produce.
I want to tell you what the effect is on children of taking all their time from them - time they need to grow up - and forcing them to spend it on abstractions. You need to hear this, because no reform that doesn't attack these specific pathologies will be anything more than a facade.
1. The children I teach are indifferent to the adult world. This defies the experience of thousands of years. A close study of what big people were up to was always the most exciting occupation of youth, but nobody wants to grow up these days and who can blame them? Toys are us.
2. The children I teach have almost no curiosity and what they do have is transitory; they cannot concentrate for very long, even on things they choose to do. Can you see a connection between the bells ringing again and again to change classes and this phenomenon of evanescent attention?
3. The children I teach have a poor sense of the future, of how tomorrow is inextricably linked to today. As I said before, they have a continuous present, the exact moment they are at is the boundary of their consciousness.
4. The children I teach are ahistorical, they have no sense of how past has predestined their own present, limiting their choices, shaping their values and lives.
5. The children I teach are cruel to each other, they lack compassion for misfortune, they laugh at weakness, and they have contempt for people whose need for help shows too plainly.
6. The children I teach are uneasy with intimacy or candor. My guess is that they are like many adopted people I've known in this respect - they cannot deal with genuine intimacy because of a lifelong habit of preserving a secret inner self inside a larger outer personality made up of artificial bits and pieces of behavior borrowed from television or acquired to manipulate teachers. Because they are not who they represent themselves to be the disguise wears thin in the presence of intimacy so intimate relationships have to be avoided.
7. The children I teach are materialistic, following the lead of schoolteachers who materialistically "grade" everything - and television mentors who offer everything in the world for free.
8. The children I teach are dependent, passive, and timid in the presence of new challenges. This is frequently masked by surface bravado, or by anger or aggressiveness but underneath is a vacuum without fortitude.
I could name a few other conditions that school reform would have to tackle if our national decline is to be arrested, but by now you will have grasped my thesis, whether you agree with it or not. Either schools have caused these pathologies, or television, or both. It's a simple matter [of] arithmetic, between schooling and television all the time the children have is eaten away. That's what has destroyed the American family, it is no longer a factor in the education of its own children. Television and schooling, in those things the fault must lie.
What can be done? First we need a ferocious national debate that doesn't quit, day after day, year after year. We need to scream and argue about this school thing until it is fixed or broken beyond repair, one or the other. If we can fix it, fine; if we cannot, then the success of homeschooling shows a different road to take that has great promise. Pouring the money we now pour into family education might kill two birds with one stone, repairing families as it repairs children.
Genuine reform is possible but it shouldn't cost anything. We need to rethink the fundamental premises of schooling and decide what it is we want all children to learn and why. For 140 years this nation has tried to impose objectives downward from the lofty command center made up of "experts", a central elite of social engineers. It hasn't worked. It won't work. And it is a gross betrayal of the democratic promise that once made this nation a noble experiment. The Russian attempt to create Plato's republic in Eastern Europe has exploded before [our] eyes, our own attempt to impose the same sort of central orthodoxy using the schools as an instrument is also coming apart at the seams, albeit more slowly and painfully. It doesn't work because its fundamental premises are mechanical, anti-human, and hostile to family life. Lives can be controlled by machine education but they will always fight back with weapons of social pathology - drugs, violence, self-destruction, indifference, and the symptoms I see in the children I teach.
It's high time we looked backwards to regain an educational philosophy that works. One I like particularly well has been a favorite of the ruling classes of Europe for thousands of years. I use as much of it as I can manage in my own teaching, as much, that is, as I can get away with given the present institution of compulsory schooling. I think it works just as well for poor children as for rich ones.
At the core of this elite system of education is the belief that self-knowledge is the only basis of true knowledge. Everywhere in this system, at every age, you will find arrangements to place the child alone in an unguided setting with a problem to solve. Sometimes the problem is fraught with great risks, such as the problem of galloping a horse or making it jump, but that, of course, is a problem successfully solved by thousands of elite children before the age of ten. Can you imagine anyone who had mastered such a challenge ever lacking confidence in his ability to do anything? Sometimes the problem is the problem of mastering solitude, as Thoreau did at Walden Pond, or Einstein did in the Swiss customs house.
One of my former students, Roland Legiardi-Lura, though both his parents were dead and he had no inheritance, took a bicycle across the United States alone when he was hardly out of boyhood. Is it any wonder then that in manhood when he decided to make a film about Nicaragua, although he had no money and no prior experience with film-making, that it was an international award-winner - even though his regular work was as a carpenter.
Right now we are taking all the time from our children that they need to develop self-knowledge. That has to stop. We have to invent school experiences that give a lot of that time back, we need to trust children from a very early age with independent study, perhaps arranged in school but which takes place away from the institutional setting. We need to invent curriculum where each kid has a chance to develop private uniqueness and self-reliance.
A short time ago I took seventy dollars and sent a twelve-year-old girl from my class with her non-English speaking mother on a bus down the New Jersey coast to take the police chief of Sea Bright to lunch and apologize for polluting [his] beach with a discarded Gatorade bottle. In exchange for this public apology I had arranged with the police chief for the girl to have a one-day apprenticeship in a small town police procedures. A few days later, two more of my twelve-year-old kids traveled alone to West First Street from Harlem where they began an apprenticeship with a newspaper editor, next week three of my kids will find themselves in the middle of the Jersey swamps at 6 A.M., studying the mind of a trucking company president as he dispatches 18-wheelers to Dallas, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
Are these "special" children in a "special" program? Well, in one sense, yes, but nobody knows about this program but the kids and myself. They're just nice kids from Central Harlem, bright and alert, but so badly schooled when they came to me that most of them can't add or subtract with any fluency. And not a single one knew the population of New York City or how far it is from New York to California.
Does that worry me? Of course, but I am confident that as they gain self-knowledge they'll also become self-teachers - and only self-teaching has any lasting value.
We've got to give kids independent time right away because that is the key to self-knowledge, and we must re-involve them with the real world as fast as possible so that the independent time can be spent on something other than more abstraction. This is an emergency, it requires drastic action to correct - our children are dying like flies in schooling, good schooling or bad schooling, it's all the same. Irrelevant.
What else does a restructured school system need? It needs to stop being a parasite on the working community. Of all the pages in the human ledger, only our tortured entry has warehoused children and asked nothing of them in service to the general good. For a while I think we need to make community service a required part of schooling. Besides the experience in acting unselfishly that will teach, it is the quickest way to give young children real responsibility in the mainstream of life.
For five years I ran a guerilla program where I had every kid, rich and poor, smart and dipsy, give 320 hours a year of hard community service. Dozens of those kids came back to me years later, grown up, and told me that one experience of helping someone else changed their lives. It taught them to see in new ways, to rethink goals and values. It happened when they were thirteen, in my Lab School program - only made possible because my rich school district was in chaos. When "stability" returned the Lab was closed. It was too successful with a wildly mixed group of kids, at too small of a cost, to be allowed to continue. We made the expensive elite programs look bad.
There is no shortage of real problems in the city. Kids can be asked to help solve them in exchange for the respect and attention of the total adult world. Good for kids, good for all the rest of us. That's curriculum that teaches Justice, one of the four cardinal virtues in every system of elite education. What's sauce for the rich and powerful is surely sauce for the rest of us - what is more, the idea is absolutely free as are all other genuine reform ideas in education. Extra money and extra people put into this sick institution will only make it sicker.
Independent study, community service, adventures in experience, large doses of privacy and solitude, a thousand different apprenticeships, the one day variety or longer - these are all powerful, cheap and effective ways to start a real reform of schooling. But no large-scale reform is ever going to work to repair our damaged children and our damaged society until we force the idea of "school" open - to include family as the main engine of education. The Swedes realized that in 1976 when they effectively abandoned the system of adopting unwanted children and instead spent national time and treasure on reinforcing the original family so that children born to Swedes were wanted. They didn't succeed completely but they did succeed in reducing the number of unwanted Swedish children from 6000 in l976 to 15 in 1986. So it can be done. The Swedes just got tired of paying for the social wreckage caused by children not raised by their natural parents so they did something about it. We can, too.
Family is the main engine of education. If we use schooling to break children away from parents - and make no mistake, that has been the central function of schools since John Cotton announced it as the purpose of the Bay Colony schools in 1650 and Horace Mann announced it as the purpose of Massachusetts schools in 1850 - we're going to continue to have the horror show we have right now. The curriculum of family is at the heart of any good life, we've gotten away from that curriculum, time to return to it. The way to sanity in education is for our schools to take the lead in releasing the stranglehold of institutions on family life, to promote during school time confluences of parent and child that will strengthen family bonds. That was my real purpose in sending the girl and her mother down the Jersey coast to meet the police chief. I have many ideas to make a family curriculum and my guess is that a lot of you will have many ideas, too, once you begin to think about it. Our greatest problem in getting the kind of grass-roots thinking going that could reform schooling is that we have large vested interests pre-emptying all the air time and profiting from schooling just exactly as it is despite rhetoric to the contrary. We have to demand that new voices and new ideas get a hearing, my ideas and yours. We've all had a bellyful of authorized voices mediated by television and the press - a decade long free-for-all debate is what is called for now, not any more "expert" opinions. Experts in education have never been right, their "solutions" are expensive, self-serving, and always involve further centralization. Enough. Time for a return to Democracy, Individuality, and family. I've said my piece. Thank you.
© Courtesy of John Taylor Gatto. All rights reserved.
This article is the text of a speech by John Taylor Gatto accepting the New York City Teacher of the Year Award on January 31, 1990. It is reprinted with permission of the author
Sunday, 15 February 2009
In praise of Islamic civilization
Extract from a speech by Carly Fiorina, CEO of Hewlett-Packard.
There was once a civilization that was the greatest in the world.
It was able to create a continental super-state that stretched from ocean to ocean, and from northern climes to tropics and deserts. Within its dominion lived hundreds of millions of people, of different creeds and ethnic origins.
One of its languages became the universal language of much of the world, the bridge between the peoples of a hundred lands. Its armies were made up of people of many nationalities, and its military protection allowed a degree of peace and prosperity that had never been known. The reach of this civilization’s commerce extended from Latin America to China, and everywhere in between.
And this civilization was driven more than anything, by invention. Its architects designed buildings that defied gravity. Its mathematicians created the algebra and algorithms that would enable the building of computers, and the creation of encryption. Its doctors examined the human body, and found new cures for disease. Its astronomers looked into the heavens, named the stars, and paved the way for space travel and exploration.
Its writers created thousands of stories. Stories of courage, romance and magic. Its poets wrote of love, when others before them were too steeped in fear to think of such things.
When other nations were afraid of ideas, this civilization thrived on them, and kept them alive. When censors threatened to wipe out knowledge from past civilizations, this civilization kept the knowledge alive, and passed it on to others.
While modern Western civilization shares many of these traits, the civilization I’m talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600, which included the Ottoman Empire and the courts of Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, and enlightened rulers like Suleiman the Magnificent.
Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to this other civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage. The technology industry would not exist without the contributions of Arab mathematicians. Sufi poet-philosophers like Rumi challenged our notions of self and truth. Leaders like Suleiman contributed to our notions of tolerance and civic leadership.
And perhaps we can learn a lesson from his example: It was leadership based on meritocracy, not inheritance. It was leadership that harnessed the full capabilities of a very diverse population–that included Christianity, Islamic, and Jewish traditions.
This kind of enlightened leadership — leadership that nurtured culture, sustainability, diversity and courage — led to 800 years of invention and prosperity.
In dark and serious times like this, we must affirm our commitment to building societies and institutions that aspire to this kind of greatness. More than ever, we must focus on the importance of leadership– bold acts of leadership and decidedly personal acts of leadership.
The full text of this speech can be found at the Hewlett-Packard website at:
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/speeches/fiorina/minnesota01.htm
It was delivered on 26 September 2001 in Minneapolis, Minnesota at a conference whose theme was: "TECHNOLOGY, BUSINESS AND OUR WAY OF LIFE: WHAT'S NEXT"
There was once a civilization that was the greatest in the world.
It was able to create a continental super-state that stretched from ocean to ocean, and from northern climes to tropics and deserts. Within its dominion lived hundreds of millions of people, of different creeds and ethnic origins.
One of its languages became the universal language of much of the world, the bridge between the peoples of a hundred lands. Its armies were made up of people of many nationalities, and its military protection allowed a degree of peace and prosperity that had never been known. The reach of this civilization’s commerce extended from Latin America to China, and everywhere in between.
And this civilization was driven more than anything, by invention. Its architects designed buildings that defied gravity. Its mathematicians created the algebra and algorithms that would enable the building of computers, and the creation of encryption. Its doctors examined the human body, and found new cures for disease. Its astronomers looked into the heavens, named the stars, and paved the way for space travel and exploration.
Its writers created thousands of stories. Stories of courage, romance and magic. Its poets wrote of love, when others before them were too steeped in fear to think of such things.
When other nations were afraid of ideas, this civilization thrived on them, and kept them alive. When censors threatened to wipe out knowledge from past civilizations, this civilization kept the knowledge alive, and passed it on to others.
While modern Western civilization shares many of these traits, the civilization I’m talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600, which included the Ottoman Empire and the courts of Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, and enlightened rulers like Suleiman the Magnificent.
Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to this other civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage. The technology industry would not exist without the contributions of Arab mathematicians. Sufi poet-philosophers like Rumi challenged our notions of self and truth. Leaders like Suleiman contributed to our notions of tolerance and civic leadership.
And perhaps we can learn a lesson from his example: It was leadership based on meritocracy, not inheritance. It was leadership that harnessed the full capabilities of a very diverse population–that included Christianity, Islamic, and Jewish traditions.
This kind of enlightened leadership — leadership that nurtured culture, sustainability, diversity and courage — led to 800 years of invention and prosperity.
In dark and serious times like this, we must affirm our commitment to building societies and institutions that aspire to this kind of greatness. More than ever, we must focus on the importance of leadership– bold acts of leadership and decidedly personal acts of leadership.
The full text of this speech can be found at the Hewlett-Packard website at:
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/speeches/fiorina/minnesota01.htm
It was delivered on 26 September 2001 in Minneapolis, Minnesota at a conference whose theme was: "TECHNOLOGY, BUSINESS AND OUR WAY OF LIFE: WHAT'S NEXT"
Thursday, 22 January 2009
Aftab Malik Interview by DeenPort
Have you always had a love for books or is this something that you picked up later?
I was fortunate enough to come from a family that read books, so I wasn't averse to reading. However, the real passion was lying dormant, and it was Shaykh Hamza who really awoke the sleeping giant, so to speak.-
Really? How?
Well, when I first heard Shaykh Hamza's lectures, I think back in 1996, I was just amazed at how articulate he was. The way he handled the facts and how he was able to weave in and out of one subject matter to another truly amazed me. Back then, there really wasn't anyone who ignited interest of Islam in me - I mean from an intellectual perspective. The alternative was the non-English speaking malvi saab in the Masjid, and that just didn't cut the mustard. Actually, it was really funny how I purchased the Shaykh's first tape.-
Why - what happened?
Well, at that time, all I knew about Islam was from Ahmed Deedat, and I was really proud that I was going to purchase my very own copy of one of his lectures. Anyhow, whilst pondering over which tape to purchase, the storeowner was muttering some words to himself until he realized that I was actually there. He then became animated and vocal. He said something like: 'Akhi! Take this tape. It's the first recording of an amazing lecture!' I looked at him, not being impressed at all, by what I thought to be a poor sales pitch. I just told him 'Jazak Allah khayran - but no thanks'. I was here to buy an Ahmed Deedat tape, and that was it. 'Take the tape' he exclaimed. 'Take it for free'. My ears perked up. A free tape? I thought to myself. Hmm. He probably was finding it hard to sell or something. 'No thanks brother' I said. 'I'm just looking for an Ahmed Deedat tape,' I said nervously as the owner began walking over to me. He was a big man. 'Listen akhi,' he said putting his arms on my shoulders. 'Take it. If you don't like it, bring it back, or give it to a friend. But I am telling you something. This tape will change your life.' I peered over to the cover and was unable to recognise who this person was. It certainly wasn't Ahmed Deedat and I was even less impressed. However, this mans enthusiasm was so great, I decided to take it. 'OK' I said, 'If I don't like it, I'll bring it back'. It wasn't long after that I found myself having nothing to do. It was a Sunday afternoon. I then realised that I had this tape. I put it on, and the rest as they say, is history. The tape was Shaykh Hamza's 'Dajjal and the New world Order', and that one tape really did change my entire life and that of my family
SubhanAllah! If you don't mind me asking, just how did your life change?
My whole outlook and perception of life changed along with my attitude, specifically to Islam. It completely turned around. I think I was what could be aptly termed a 'part-time' Muslim, in the sense that I prayed etc, but only half-heartedly. There was no spirit or desire that animated my barren actions. I really had dismissed Islam as being nothing other than a set of rules and regulations, and I had come to this understanding by reflecting upon the goings on at my local mosque. All I could recall were arguments and being told 'do this' and 'don't do that.' I was not impressed, and infact, what I saw, actually deterred me from wanting to learn about Islam. I thought that Islam really did not have anything to offer me, nor could be relevant to someone growing up in the West. Thinking about it now, back then I equated Islam to a set number of Pakistani traditions. How wrong I was. Shaykh Hamza immediately sparked, or set a catalyst of change in me. I was taken aback at how he portrayed Islam as something meaningful, scholarly and interesting. There seemed to be more to Islam than 'Namaz' and fasting. He also spoke in a language, which I could clearly understand - not in Urdu or Punjabi - but in English and it was very articulate, almost magic. I went from being a 'passive' Muslim into a 'proactive' one, in that I actually went out to learn about this din (as opposed to being dragged) and the more I learned the more I continued to want to know. This entailed changing my reading habits. I would read those books he had suggested. This entailed a lot of reading! So it was here that my passion for reading books really emerged.
What sort of books did you read?
I began to read books of Sirah, history and basic jurisprudence. I later then found that I had a real desire to learn about the 'ulama, so I began to read their biographies which then lead me to read their books. It was a real broad spectrum of books. There was a point after which I had left university that I was reading very heavily. I was reading three or four books at a time, often completing a book in one or two days. I really believe that period of my life served as a foundation from which I still benefit today. To be honest, I did actually read a whole load of books that looked into the 'controversial' questions that kept on coming up at university back then, and which continue to crop up today.
Such as?
You know, questions such as, is there such a notion as good bida'? Should we celebrate the Mawlid? Should we follow a Madhab etc etc.
And what did you discover?
I was actually quite surprised. I came to read the works of the great scholars such as Jalal al-Din al-Suyyuti, Ibn Kathir, al-Qurtubi, Imam al-Nawawi, Ibn Hajr al-Asqalani, and so on, and they answered most if not all of the questions. I was really amazed to find that most of the issues to which some people were objecting to were not instituted by the Pakistanis (!) nor were they considered evil or reprehensible. I did however, understand that scholars generally fell into two groups when understanding the hadith 'beware of matters newly begun, for every matter newly begun is innovation, every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in Hell-fire,' and that both groups were able to show their evidences to prove their point. However, most of the scholars, such as Imam Shafi'i, ibn Athir, al-Qarafi, ibn Hazm, al-'izz ibn 'Abd al-Salam, Ibn Hajr al-Asqalani, Imam Nawawi and others categorized innovation into good and bad. The point was that these scholars did not call those who differed with them as Kuffar or mushriks, as some people were doing during the early nineties. Instead of recognizing that there were legitimate differences at how such scholars understood this hadith, and at how many scholars differed from one another over different issues, we were being told that there were no differences and that if they did occur, they were misguided. This was simply not true and if people actually read these works written centuries ago, they too would come to realize it. However, at university, no one really has the time to read, and way back then, there really were no good books that dealt with such questions. The ones that were available, were either poor translations and cheaply produced from India. The books that were widely available, relatively good quality and cheap, were the books that stated every innovation was misguidance, and praying this way was wrong and doing that would make you an innovator and so on and so on! It was quite depressing! You were really quite restricted for choice. That isn't the case now. There is now a vast choice of books of high quality on 'traditional' Islam.
Why do you think that is?
Personally, I think that this change has come about as a result of the very hard work primarily carried out in the English language by people like Shaykh Hamza, Shaykh Nuh, Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, Imam Zaid Shakir, Dr 'Umar 'Abdallah Faruq and others. The word 'tradition' was unheard of before they began to speak and articulate it. Now, everyone is talking about 'traditional Islam' and 'tradition'. I think through their influence, people have begun to produce more books, tapes and magazines in this line. We also have e-groups that disseminate traditional fiqh. These e-lists are moderated and answered by students who have been encouraged and motivated by the Shaykh's I have mentioned to go out and learn sacred knowledge. It is truly as a renewal has slowly begun. Just take a look at how many new publishing houses have sprouted just in the last 5 years. The exception has been of course, ITS (Islamic Texts Society) and The Quilliam Press, who begun this work long ago. People really want to know what this 'traditional' Islam is, and I really do believe that the people have been inspired by these scholars to go out and seek it.
What does traditional Islam mean to you?
Traditional Islam means different things to different people depending on the context. Roughly, I understand it as the legacy of the juristic, theological and spiritual interpretive communitiesthat forms around the third century and continues on. These interpretive communities developed a particular set of paradigms, symbolism, and linguisticspecificity that constituted themainstream tradition of Islam.It could be seen to be a continuity in these areas, and something that was taught from one generation to another through a process of transmission and isnad. When the isnad breaks, you could say that the tradition has broken, and what replaces it are the opinions of people who really do not recognize traditional scholarship. In-fact, they react against it and try to deconstruct its importance, simply because they haven't received instruction in this way. They deem it antiquated and irrelevant. Without a chain of authorities leading from one scholar to another, which ultimately leads back to the Prophet Muhammad, anyone could just about say anything, and we are seeing the effects of this phenomenon now. Infact, to repeat the words of the great scholar, 'Abdallah ibn Mubarak (d. 181); 'According to me, the isnad is from the din. If it were not for the isnad, whoever wished could have said whatever he wished. The example of one who studies this din, is like the one who tries to ascend the roof without a ladder.' Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 161) said that 'the isnad is the weapon of a believer.' There are countless such remarks. Tradition is something that is living and dynamic.
That is really interesting. You mention about tradition, and you actually wrote a book about that didn't you? Can you tell us more about it and what motivated you to write it?
Yes. It's called, The Broken Chain: Reflections Upon the Neglect of a Tradition. I basically attempted to illustrate what tradition implied. It is really concerned with bringing to light many opinions of the great scholars of Islam, such as the ones I have mentioned earlier, like Imam Nawawi, Imam Shafi'i etc. I never set out to write a book. I wrote a poem about the Prophet Muhammad, and then began to elaborate upon the points and statements made within the poem. Then I thought it could do with something explaining the role of poetry in Islam. Later, someone suggested that I should write something about scholarship and how and why Muslims have ended up in this situation where everything is contested and where one brother calls another Mubtadi, mislead or even a kaffir for praying in one way or for simply the way they show respect for the Prophet, scholars and those who take a spiritual path. It really is a summation of what I had learned and experienced. It would not have been possible had I not met Shaykh Hamza nor had I read the works of Shaykh Nuh and Shaykh Abdal Hakim.
Would you agree with some people when they say that people get a bit obsessed when around these Shayukh.
Yes, I have heard this a couple of times and it really saddens me, truly. Let me try and explain, Insha'Allah. Most, if not all those who respect these Shayukh do so for a very good reason, namely, as in my case, a transformation takes place for which one is eternally grateful. I have met some brothers who have been drug users and pushers and by meeting and listening to these Shayukh, they rejected their ways and adopted Islam in a wholesome manner. It is as if a second chance or a new lease of life has been given to them, one that is of meaning and purpose. Because of this, these brothers and sisters love the one who has rejuvenated them and many respect them greatly for this.In fact, this attitude isn't something new at all. There exists a whole corpus of literature in the Islamic heritage that discusses at length the status bestowed upon scholars, and the right that they have to be honoured. Because we have become so alienated from this tradition, when we se someone honouring a scholar, we deem it 'excessive'. Imam Shafi'i mentions that when he was in the lessons of his teacher, Imam Malik, he used to turn the pages very carefully out of fear that it would disrupt his teacher. Al-Rabi' swore that he never dare drink water when Imam Shafi'i was looking at him, out of his reverence for him. Were these scholars, who literally codified our din, excessive in their respect for their teachers? Would anyone dare say so? They wouldn't because they were living what they had learned about the greatness attributed to those scholars and teachers that change the states of people. Khatib al-Baghdadi, a prolific author, master historian and hadith master mentioned just some ways in which a student would prepare himself before his teacher. In his book, al-Jami' il akhlaq, he mentioned such things as the way to honour and venerate the teacher, and even how one should appear before a scholar. Here, he mentioned such things as ensuring that one's breath was fresh by staying away from food that would emit foul breath and to ensure that the miswak is used. He mentions that ones clothes must be clean, and one should perfume themself etc. He wasn't the only scholar to write about such things. Qadi ibn Jama'ah also wrote about how one venerates a scholar in his Tadhkirat as-Sami'. He even mentions the way the teacher should venerate the student during lessons; the adab of addressing, meeting and even questioning a teacher. He also wrote about the way one should respect books (as they are also a means to acquire knowledge) and how one should purchase books. In short, we are told by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to honour our scholars. Part of the reason as to why we no longer follow this tradition is because most of us are university educated Muslims, and although many would not like to admit it, in rejecting what many perceive as 'Western influences' such as philosophy, we actually absorb a vast amount of these values. As such, we no longer are able to recognize and acknowledge our scholars, and yet the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, told us to treat people according to their status. Imam al-Nawawi, for example, wrote that people should stand up for the wise and the elders, whereas al-'iz ibn 'Abdal Salam and ibn Hajr al-Asqalani said that if by not standing insult or corruption is likely, then it becomes forbidden not to stand. I apologise for rambling on, but it is important to understand the value and honour Islam places upon those who teach Knowledge. It really is a tragedy when no sooner does someone show both love and honour for a scholar that they are subjected to baseless accusations.Saying this, there are some people who do 'cling' to the Shayukh, and I have to say that they do this out of the reasons that I have mentioned. This can be frustrating for others, and I myself have been ignored and even pushed aside when I had tried to talk to the Shaykh. We can't blame the Shaykh, because often enough, they do not know what is occurring. To these brothers, I only ask that they be considerate of the feelings of others and understand that the Shayukh are there to benefit everyone, not just them. I urge everyone to read books such as the ones I have mentioned as well as Imam al-Zarnuji's 'Instruction of the Student' that is published in English by StarLatch press. That will provide some insights to the things I have just mentioned, and most likely will be more beneficial than what I have just said.-
Jazak Allah khayran for that. I too hope that people who read this can understand how much respect Islam bestows upon our scholars. Moving to my next question, can you summarise what you learned from all this reading that you were doing?
Well, it wasn't long into reading that I found that our din couldn't be taken by simply reading books. There were so many questions that I had from reading them that I realized quickly one required a teacher, and this was also the message of many of the books that I had read. It was clear to me that these scholars were the result of a vigorous educational process whereby they learned from living scholars. Unfortunately, I had found that many of the students at university had either read one or two books or listened to a few tapes and thought that they could tackle the most difficult questions, and amazingly, feel confident about making their pronouncements. This was and is a very dangerous trend, and you should read the warnings of the early scholars. The more I read, the more I realized how little I truly knew and the less comfortable I was in joining in on the trend of asserting 'my opinion'. Islam had become reduced to opinions of an uneducated mass of Muslim students, and the results were huge arguments, fierce rhetoric and a massive amount of damage to people's akhira. Words are easy to say, but with them, come a great deal of responsibility.
Have you written anything else other than The Broken Chain?
I have written several articles, the most recent being in the forthcoming Q-News Magazine that deals with the question of who speaks for British Muslims. I have edited three books in the past three years, the most recent being The Empire and the Crescent: Global Implications for a New American Century. It examines a number of issues thrown up since 9/11 that impact both Muslims and non-Muslims. That was a real experience and I worked with a diverse number of academics, scholars and journalists.
Do you care to say a few words about 9/11?
I think the significance of 9/11 is too critical to ignore. For one thing, the level of discourse within the Muslim community really needs to change. People still rant and rave about the Sufi Vs Salafi Vs Barelwi Vs Deobandi polemics. We really need to grow up and move beyond this discourse. We are not living in India or Pakistan and nor is this the 19th century. We have to deal with the problems that the 21st century presents and those associated issues with living in a predominantly non-Muslim country. We need to tackle issues such as, what does it mean to be a British Muslim? What are the roots of extremism here amongst Muslims? What is extremism and is it fair to talk of 'extremist' Muslims? What purpose do we serve as second and third generation Muslims living in Britain? Do we have anything to offer Britain? Is it wise to allow a moral reading of Islam to be superseded by a strictly political functional one? There are so many questions
What projects are you currently involved with?
Writing wise, I am researching for my next book
What is that about?
It's to do with Anti-Semitism in Europe and particularly it looks at the relationship between Muslims and Jews.
Very interesting! Can you tell us anymore?
I have a working title of: The Curse of Shylock: The Shadow of Anti-Semitism in the Muslim World. I am hoping that I am able to write an article on this subject matter for Zaytuna's Seasons Magazine in the Summer, Insha'Allah.
When will it be ready by?
I am hoping that the book should be out by the end of 2005. Allah Knows best though. It is a very aggressive deadline. I probably can make it if nothing else major takes my time.
What else are you up to?
What else? There's enough here already to do! Well, I am looking into the possibility of studying for a PhD in some field of study of Islam. Maybe to do with it relationship with Europe, some aspects of scholarship or even investigating further the idea that I am developing for my book.
Jazak Allah khayran for you time sidi. Do you have some advice for us Insha' Allah I would say, always ensure that you have a sincere intention in what you do and don't fail to make one. Learn how to say 'I don't know' and you would have gained a great deal of knowledge. Keep in the company of people who remind you of Allah and keep your tongue moist with His remembrance and of His beloved Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Don't get drawn into 'debates' and stay away from speaking ill of people. If you haven't anything good to say, then it is best to remain silent. Don't expose one another's shortcomings and pray with a focused mind. Love the people of Allah, always seek their company and ways of assisting them. Ask others to pray for you and always pray for others. Realize that everyone is the creation of Allah, and understand that had He wished, Allah could have made everyone Muslim, but did not do so. Look at one another with compassion and see what your own faults are before you point your finger. Always turn to Allah for forgiveness and never despair, no matter what happens. And finally, please keep me in your prayers.Was-salam.
SELECTED BOOK REVIEWS AND LISTING OF ARTICLES BY AFTAB AHMAD MALIK
THE STATE WE ARE IN
"At last, a significant and sustained Muslim commentary on 7/7. Aftab Malik is to be congratulated on identifying a new generation of western Muslim thinkers at ease with the social sciences and mainstream Sunni scholarship. An indispensable point of entry for policy makers, academics and the general reader."
Dr Philip Lewis, lecturer in Peace Studies, Bradford University.
"In our current crisis it is imperative to hear sensible Muslim voices. This short book is a collection of such voices and its contents include pertinent social and political analysis as well as theological judgments and guidance. The Muslim community, indeed British society, needs to attend to both kinds of reflection."
Professor Tariq Modood, Author of Multicultural Politics: Racism, Ethnicity and Muslims in Britain.
"This is a serious and thoughtful collection of essays by Muslim scholars and writers. It draws on a wide range of sources to assess the political and theological issues raised by violence conducted in the name of Islam. It deserves to be widely read, by Muslims and non-Muslims alike."
David Hayes, http://www.opendemocracy.net/
WITH GOD ON OUR SIDE
“Christians, Jews and Muslims and those without religious affiliation will welcome Aftab Malik’s brave efforts to create a dialogue about terrorism. Pulpits and parliaments have provided platforms for illegitimate and simple hate messages that cannot be justified by the core values of the Abrahamic faiths or the founding principles of democratic states.This book helps to create a rational and informed counterweight to those who pour oil on the flames.”
Professor Robin Cohen, University of Warwick, England
“Scholarly, incisive, and a must read for individuals committed to confronting misinformation, illusions, and spin from the Bush administration and the Media about Iraq, Palestine and the Middle East. Aftab Malik has done a masterful job of pulling together some of the best scholars in the field and this book will almost certainly become required reading for students and scholars alike. This is a breath of fresh air in the midst of a very toxic moment in our history.”
Professor Jess Ghannam, University of California, San Francisco, US
"In the finest public intellectual tradition, the contributors have produced work that is bold, engaging, humane, and deeply relevant to the troubling times in which we live.”
Dr John Collins, St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York,
US THE EMPIRE AND THE CRESCENT
"... a much needed work...should be used as a reader in college classrooms...a truly amazing compilation..." Islamic Studies, Vol. 43, No1, Spring 2004"... a book that is compelling and authoritative." BBC Religion and Ethics"This is one of the most important books to appear since September 11th..Mark Curtis, Author of: Web of Deceit: Britain\'s Real Role in the World
SHATTERED ILLUSIONS
"Essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the Western Wars on so called Terrorism."
Dr Roger Van Zwanenberg, Pluto Press
"Compelling Reading"
Yvonne Ridely"
"If you read only one book on the Bush administration's determination to drag the world into war .. we suggest this one!"
AK Press (UK)
THE BROKEN CHAIN
This is an important, accessible and timely work that summarises the traditional scholarship that has become available to English-speaking Muslims in the last decade or so."
Q-News Magazine"
"An enlightening and important contribution to studies on contemporary Islamic law."
Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar,Author of Encyclopedia of Muhammad\'s Women Companions and the Traditions They Related
"A must read."
Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPACUK)
"University campuses are rife with self-styled mini-ulama, angry young people whohave read a few books on Islam coupled with modern technology of searchable databases of the sacred texts and the Internet. They are then deluded into thinking that they have properly read and understood the works and are qualified to give opinions onthem and other issues...Aftab Malik shows concisely and clearly that knowledge must be obtained from a living scholar and thereby reconnecting the "Broken Chain" and becoming part of the "Unbroken Chain" of a living tradition stretching back to the source of this great religion."
Masud.co.uk
Articles“Is Islam Compatible With the West?” BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4204820.stm 8th September 2005
“The State Muslims Are In” OpenDemocracy.Org http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict-terrorism/faith_2756.jsp 15th August 2005
“Don’t Get Angry: The Power of the Written Word,” in The Arab News, 25TH June, 2005
“The Tribulation of Tribal Muslim, Tribal Islam,” in Islamica Magazine (Amman: Jordan) Issue 12, Spring 2005
“The Search for Authority and Authenticity” in The Muslim Weekly (London) 04-10 June 2004, #32, p24
“Who Speaks for British Muslims?” in Q-News (London) February 2004, Issue 354
“The Search for Authority and Authenticity in Western Islam”, in Islamica (Amman: Jordan) Winter Issue, 2003
“Changing the Nation”, in Q-News (London) #335, September 2001 pp 12-13
“The Path of Intellects”, in The Muslim Reader (Singapore) Vol. 21, # 2 (May – August 2003) pp 19-22
“The Islamic Civilisation: The Forgotten Contribution”, in Qalam International (London) Issue 3, Vol. 1, October 1998, pp.35-38
“Islamic Fundamentalism”, in Qalam International (London) Issue 2, Vol. 1, August 1998, pp. 11-14
THIS ARTICLE IS COURTESY OF http://www.deenport.com/
I was fortunate enough to come from a family that read books, so I wasn't averse to reading. However, the real passion was lying dormant, and it was Shaykh Hamza who really awoke the sleeping giant, so to speak.-
Really? How?
Well, when I first heard Shaykh Hamza's lectures, I think back in 1996, I was just amazed at how articulate he was. The way he handled the facts and how he was able to weave in and out of one subject matter to another truly amazed me. Back then, there really wasn't anyone who ignited interest of Islam in me - I mean from an intellectual perspective. The alternative was the non-English speaking malvi saab in the Masjid, and that just didn't cut the mustard. Actually, it was really funny how I purchased the Shaykh's first tape.-
Why - what happened?
Well, at that time, all I knew about Islam was from Ahmed Deedat, and I was really proud that I was going to purchase my very own copy of one of his lectures. Anyhow, whilst pondering over which tape to purchase, the storeowner was muttering some words to himself until he realized that I was actually there. He then became animated and vocal. He said something like: 'Akhi! Take this tape. It's the first recording of an amazing lecture!' I looked at him, not being impressed at all, by what I thought to be a poor sales pitch. I just told him 'Jazak Allah khayran - but no thanks'. I was here to buy an Ahmed Deedat tape, and that was it. 'Take the tape' he exclaimed. 'Take it for free'. My ears perked up. A free tape? I thought to myself. Hmm. He probably was finding it hard to sell or something. 'No thanks brother' I said. 'I'm just looking for an Ahmed Deedat tape,' I said nervously as the owner began walking over to me. He was a big man. 'Listen akhi,' he said putting his arms on my shoulders. 'Take it. If you don't like it, bring it back, or give it to a friend. But I am telling you something. This tape will change your life.' I peered over to the cover and was unable to recognise who this person was. It certainly wasn't Ahmed Deedat and I was even less impressed. However, this mans enthusiasm was so great, I decided to take it. 'OK' I said, 'If I don't like it, I'll bring it back'. It wasn't long after that I found myself having nothing to do. It was a Sunday afternoon. I then realised that I had this tape. I put it on, and the rest as they say, is history. The tape was Shaykh Hamza's 'Dajjal and the New world Order', and that one tape really did change my entire life and that of my family
SubhanAllah! If you don't mind me asking, just how did your life change?
My whole outlook and perception of life changed along with my attitude, specifically to Islam. It completely turned around. I think I was what could be aptly termed a 'part-time' Muslim, in the sense that I prayed etc, but only half-heartedly. There was no spirit or desire that animated my barren actions. I really had dismissed Islam as being nothing other than a set of rules and regulations, and I had come to this understanding by reflecting upon the goings on at my local mosque. All I could recall were arguments and being told 'do this' and 'don't do that.' I was not impressed, and infact, what I saw, actually deterred me from wanting to learn about Islam. I thought that Islam really did not have anything to offer me, nor could be relevant to someone growing up in the West. Thinking about it now, back then I equated Islam to a set number of Pakistani traditions. How wrong I was. Shaykh Hamza immediately sparked, or set a catalyst of change in me. I was taken aback at how he portrayed Islam as something meaningful, scholarly and interesting. There seemed to be more to Islam than 'Namaz' and fasting. He also spoke in a language, which I could clearly understand - not in Urdu or Punjabi - but in English and it was very articulate, almost magic. I went from being a 'passive' Muslim into a 'proactive' one, in that I actually went out to learn about this din (as opposed to being dragged) and the more I learned the more I continued to want to know. This entailed changing my reading habits. I would read those books he had suggested. This entailed a lot of reading! So it was here that my passion for reading books really emerged.
What sort of books did you read?
I began to read books of Sirah, history and basic jurisprudence. I later then found that I had a real desire to learn about the 'ulama, so I began to read their biographies which then lead me to read their books. It was a real broad spectrum of books. There was a point after which I had left university that I was reading very heavily. I was reading three or four books at a time, often completing a book in one or two days. I really believe that period of my life served as a foundation from which I still benefit today. To be honest, I did actually read a whole load of books that looked into the 'controversial' questions that kept on coming up at university back then, and which continue to crop up today.
Such as?
You know, questions such as, is there such a notion as good bida'? Should we celebrate the Mawlid? Should we follow a Madhab etc etc.
And what did you discover?
I was actually quite surprised. I came to read the works of the great scholars such as Jalal al-Din al-Suyyuti, Ibn Kathir, al-Qurtubi, Imam al-Nawawi, Ibn Hajr al-Asqalani, and so on, and they answered most if not all of the questions. I was really amazed to find that most of the issues to which some people were objecting to were not instituted by the Pakistanis (!) nor were they considered evil or reprehensible. I did however, understand that scholars generally fell into two groups when understanding the hadith 'beware of matters newly begun, for every matter newly begun is innovation, every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in Hell-fire,' and that both groups were able to show their evidences to prove their point. However, most of the scholars, such as Imam Shafi'i, ibn Athir, al-Qarafi, ibn Hazm, al-'izz ibn 'Abd al-Salam, Ibn Hajr al-Asqalani, Imam Nawawi and others categorized innovation into good and bad. The point was that these scholars did not call those who differed with them as Kuffar or mushriks, as some people were doing during the early nineties. Instead of recognizing that there were legitimate differences at how such scholars understood this hadith, and at how many scholars differed from one another over different issues, we were being told that there were no differences and that if they did occur, they were misguided. This was simply not true and if people actually read these works written centuries ago, they too would come to realize it. However, at university, no one really has the time to read, and way back then, there really were no good books that dealt with such questions. The ones that were available, were either poor translations and cheaply produced from India. The books that were widely available, relatively good quality and cheap, were the books that stated every innovation was misguidance, and praying this way was wrong and doing that would make you an innovator and so on and so on! It was quite depressing! You were really quite restricted for choice. That isn't the case now. There is now a vast choice of books of high quality on 'traditional' Islam.
Why do you think that is?
Personally, I think that this change has come about as a result of the very hard work primarily carried out in the English language by people like Shaykh Hamza, Shaykh Nuh, Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, Imam Zaid Shakir, Dr 'Umar 'Abdallah Faruq and others. The word 'tradition' was unheard of before they began to speak and articulate it. Now, everyone is talking about 'traditional Islam' and 'tradition'. I think through their influence, people have begun to produce more books, tapes and magazines in this line. We also have e-groups that disseminate traditional fiqh. These e-lists are moderated and answered by students who have been encouraged and motivated by the Shaykh's I have mentioned to go out and learn sacred knowledge. It is truly as a renewal has slowly begun. Just take a look at how many new publishing houses have sprouted just in the last 5 years. The exception has been of course, ITS (Islamic Texts Society) and The Quilliam Press, who begun this work long ago. People really want to know what this 'traditional' Islam is, and I really do believe that the people have been inspired by these scholars to go out and seek it.
What does traditional Islam mean to you?
Traditional Islam means different things to different people depending on the context. Roughly, I understand it as the legacy of the juristic, theological and spiritual interpretive communitiesthat forms around the third century and continues on. These interpretive communities developed a particular set of paradigms, symbolism, and linguisticspecificity that constituted themainstream tradition of Islam.It could be seen to be a continuity in these areas, and something that was taught from one generation to another through a process of transmission and isnad. When the isnad breaks, you could say that the tradition has broken, and what replaces it are the opinions of people who really do not recognize traditional scholarship. In-fact, they react against it and try to deconstruct its importance, simply because they haven't received instruction in this way. They deem it antiquated and irrelevant. Without a chain of authorities leading from one scholar to another, which ultimately leads back to the Prophet Muhammad, anyone could just about say anything, and we are seeing the effects of this phenomenon now. Infact, to repeat the words of the great scholar, 'Abdallah ibn Mubarak (d. 181); 'According to me, the isnad is from the din. If it were not for the isnad, whoever wished could have said whatever he wished. The example of one who studies this din, is like the one who tries to ascend the roof without a ladder.' Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 161) said that 'the isnad is the weapon of a believer.' There are countless such remarks. Tradition is something that is living and dynamic.
That is really interesting. You mention about tradition, and you actually wrote a book about that didn't you? Can you tell us more about it and what motivated you to write it?
Yes. It's called, The Broken Chain: Reflections Upon the Neglect of a Tradition. I basically attempted to illustrate what tradition implied. It is really concerned with bringing to light many opinions of the great scholars of Islam, such as the ones I have mentioned earlier, like Imam Nawawi, Imam Shafi'i etc. I never set out to write a book. I wrote a poem about the Prophet Muhammad, and then began to elaborate upon the points and statements made within the poem. Then I thought it could do with something explaining the role of poetry in Islam. Later, someone suggested that I should write something about scholarship and how and why Muslims have ended up in this situation where everything is contested and where one brother calls another Mubtadi, mislead or even a kaffir for praying in one way or for simply the way they show respect for the Prophet, scholars and those who take a spiritual path. It really is a summation of what I had learned and experienced. It would not have been possible had I not met Shaykh Hamza nor had I read the works of Shaykh Nuh and Shaykh Abdal Hakim.
Would you agree with some people when they say that people get a bit obsessed when around these Shayukh.
Yes, I have heard this a couple of times and it really saddens me, truly. Let me try and explain, Insha'Allah. Most, if not all those who respect these Shayukh do so for a very good reason, namely, as in my case, a transformation takes place for which one is eternally grateful. I have met some brothers who have been drug users and pushers and by meeting and listening to these Shayukh, they rejected their ways and adopted Islam in a wholesome manner. It is as if a second chance or a new lease of life has been given to them, one that is of meaning and purpose. Because of this, these brothers and sisters love the one who has rejuvenated them and many respect them greatly for this.In fact, this attitude isn't something new at all. There exists a whole corpus of literature in the Islamic heritage that discusses at length the status bestowed upon scholars, and the right that they have to be honoured. Because we have become so alienated from this tradition, when we se someone honouring a scholar, we deem it 'excessive'. Imam Shafi'i mentions that when he was in the lessons of his teacher, Imam Malik, he used to turn the pages very carefully out of fear that it would disrupt his teacher. Al-Rabi' swore that he never dare drink water when Imam Shafi'i was looking at him, out of his reverence for him. Were these scholars, who literally codified our din, excessive in their respect for their teachers? Would anyone dare say so? They wouldn't because they were living what they had learned about the greatness attributed to those scholars and teachers that change the states of people. Khatib al-Baghdadi, a prolific author, master historian and hadith master mentioned just some ways in which a student would prepare himself before his teacher. In his book, al-Jami' il akhlaq, he mentioned such things as the way to honour and venerate the teacher, and even how one should appear before a scholar. Here, he mentioned such things as ensuring that one's breath was fresh by staying away from food that would emit foul breath and to ensure that the miswak is used. He mentions that ones clothes must be clean, and one should perfume themself etc. He wasn't the only scholar to write about such things. Qadi ibn Jama'ah also wrote about how one venerates a scholar in his Tadhkirat as-Sami'. He even mentions the way the teacher should venerate the student during lessons; the adab of addressing, meeting and even questioning a teacher. He also wrote about the way one should respect books (as they are also a means to acquire knowledge) and how one should purchase books. In short, we are told by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to honour our scholars. Part of the reason as to why we no longer follow this tradition is because most of us are university educated Muslims, and although many would not like to admit it, in rejecting what many perceive as 'Western influences' such as philosophy, we actually absorb a vast amount of these values. As such, we no longer are able to recognize and acknowledge our scholars, and yet the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, told us to treat people according to their status. Imam al-Nawawi, for example, wrote that people should stand up for the wise and the elders, whereas al-'iz ibn 'Abdal Salam and ibn Hajr al-Asqalani said that if by not standing insult or corruption is likely, then it becomes forbidden not to stand. I apologise for rambling on, but it is important to understand the value and honour Islam places upon those who teach Knowledge. It really is a tragedy when no sooner does someone show both love and honour for a scholar that they are subjected to baseless accusations.Saying this, there are some people who do 'cling' to the Shayukh, and I have to say that they do this out of the reasons that I have mentioned. This can be frustrating for others, and I myself have been ignored and even pushed aside when I had tried to talk to the Shaykh. We can't blame the Shaykh, because often enough, they do not know what is occurring. To these brothers, I only ask that they be considerate of the feelings of others and understand that the Shayukh are there to benefit everyone, not just them. I urge everyone to read books such as the ones I have mentioned as well as Imam al-Zarnuji's 'Instruction of the Student' that is published in English by StarLatch press. That will provide some insights to the things I have just mentioned, and most likely will be more beneficial than what I have just said.-
Jazak Allah khayran for that. I too hope that people who read this can understand how much respect Islam bestows upon our scholars. Moving to my next question, can you summarise what you learned from all this reading that you were doing?
Well, it wasn't long into reading that I found that our din couldn't be taken by simply reading books. There were so many questions that I had from reading them that I realized quickly one required a teacher, and this was also the message of many of the books that I had read. It was clear to me that these scholars were the result of a vigorous educational process whereby they learned from living scholars. Unfortunately, I had found that many of the students at university had either read one or two books or listened to a few tapes and thought that they could tackle the most difficult questions, and amazingly, feel confident about making their pronouncements. This was and is a very dangerous trend, and you should read the warnings of the early scholars. The more I read, the more I realized how little I truly knew and the less comfortable I was in joining in on the trend of asserting 'my opinion'. Islam had become reduced to opinions of an uneducated mass of Muslim students, and the results were huge arguments, fierce rhetoric and a massive amount of damage to people's akhira. Words are easy to say, but with them, come a great deal of responsibility.
Have you written anything else other than The Broken Chain?
I have written several articles, the most recent being in the forthcoming Q-News Magazine that deals with the question of who speaks for British Muslims. I have edited three books in the past three years, the most recent being The Empire and the Crescent: Global Implications for a New American Century. It examines a number of issues thrown up since 9/11 that impact both Muslims and non-Muslims. That was a real experience and I worked with a diverse number of academics, scholars and journalists.
Do you care to say a few words about 9/11?
I think the significance of 9/11 is too critical to ignore. For one thing, the level of discourse within the Muslim community really needs to change. People still rant and rave about the Sufi Vs Salafi Vs Barelwi Vs Deobandi polemics. We really need to grow up and move beyond this discourse. We are not living in India or Pakistan and nor is this the 19th century. We have to deal with the problems that the 21st century presents and those associated issues with living in a predominantly non-Muslim country. We need to tackle issues such as, what does it mean to be a British Muslim? What are the roots of extremism here amongst Muslims? What is extremism and is it fair to talk of 'extremist' Muslims? What purpose do we serve as second and third generation Muslims living in Britain? Do we have anything to offer Britain? Is it wise to allow a moral reading of Islam to be superseded by a strictly political functional one? There are so many questions
What projects are you currently involved with?
Writing wise, I am researching for my next book
What is that about?
It's to do with Anti-Semitism in Europe and particularly it looks at the relationship between Muslims and Jews.
Very interesting! Can you tell us anymore?
I have a working title of: The Curse of Shylock: The Shadow of Anti-Semitism in the Muslim World. I am hoping that I am able to write an article on this subject matter for Zaytuna's Seasons Magazine in the Summer, Insha'Allah.
When will it be ready by?
I am hoping that the book should be out by the end of 2005. Allah Knows best though. It is a very aggressive deadline. I probably can make it if nothing else major takes my time.
What else are you up to?
What else? There's enough here already to do! Well, I am looking into the possibility of studying for a PhD in some field of study of Islam. Maybe to do with it relationship with Europe, some aspects of scholarship or even investigating further the idea that I am developing for my book.
Jazak Allah khayran for you time sidi. Do you have some advice for us Insha' Allah I would say, always ensure that you have a sincere intention in what you do and don't fail to make one. Learn how to say 'I don't know' and you would have gained a great deal of knowledge. Keep in the company of people who remind you of Allah and keep your tongue moist with His remembrance and of His beloved Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Don't get drawn into 'debates' and stay away from speaking ill of people. If you haven't anything good to say, then it is best to remain silent. Don't expose one another's shortcomings and pray with a focused mind. Love the people of Allah, always seek their company and ways of assisting them. Ask others to pray for you and always pray for others. Realize that everyone is the creation of Allah, and understand that had He wished, Allah could have made everyone Muslim, but did not do so. Look at one another with compassion and see what your own faults are before you point your finger. Always turn to Allah for forgiveness and never despair, no matter what happens. And finally, please keep me in your prayers.Was-salam.
SELECTED BOOK REVIEWS AND LISTING OF ARTICLES BY AFTAB AHMAD MALIK
THE STATE WE ARE IN
"At last, a significant and sustained Muslim commentary on 7/7. Aftab Malik is to be congratulated on identifying a new generation of western Muslim thinkers at ease with the social sciences and mainstream Sunni scholarship. An indispensable point of entry for policy makers, academics and the general reader."
Dr Philip Lewis, lecturer in Peace Studies, Bradford University.
"In our current crisis it is imperative to hear sensible Muslim voices. This short book is a collection of such voices and its contents include pertinent social and political analysis as well as theological judgments and guidance. The Muslim community, indeed British society, needs to attend to both kinds of reflection."
Professor Tariq Modood, Author of Multicultural Politics: Racism, Ethnicity and Muslims in Britain.
"This is a serious and thoughtful collection of essays by Muslim scholars and writers. It draws on a wide range of sources to assess the political and theological issues raised by violence conducted in the name of Islam. It deserves to be widely read, by Muslims and non-Muslims alike."
David Hayes, http://www.opendemocracy.net/
WITH GOD ON OUR SIDE
“Christians, Jews and Muslims and those without religious affiliation will welcome Aftab Malik’s brave efforts to create a dialogue about terrorism. Pulpits and parliaments have provided platforms for illegitimate and simple hate messages that cannot be justified by the core values of the Abrahamic faiths or the founding principles of democratic states.This book helps to create a rational and informed counterweight to those who pour oil on the flames.”
Professor Robin Cohen, University of Warwick, England
“Scholarly, incisive, and a must read for individuals committed to confronting misinformation, illusions, and spin from the Bush administration and the Media about Iraq, Palestine and the Middle East. Aftab Malik has done a masterful job of pulling together some of the best scholars in the field and this book will almost certainly become required reading for students and scholars alike. This is a breath of fresh air in the midst of a very toxic moment in our history.”
Professor Jess Ghannam, University of California, San Francisco, US
"In the finest public intellectual tradition, the contributors have produced work that is bold, engaging, humane, and deeply relevant to the troubling times in which we live.”
Dr John Collins, St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York,
US THE EMPIRE AND THE CRESCENT
"... a much needed work...should be used as a reader in college classrooms...a truly amazing compilation..." Islamic Studies, Vol. 43, No1, Spring 2004"... a book that is compelling and authoritative." BBC Religion and Ethics"This is one of the most important books to appear since September 11th..Mark Curtis, Author of: Web of Deceit: Britain\'s Real Role in the World
SHATTERED ILLUSIONS
"Essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the Western Wars on so called Terrorism."
Dr Roger Van Zwanenberg, Pluto Press
"Compelling Reading"
Yvonne Ridely"
"If you read only one book on the Bush administration's determination to drag the world into war .. we suggest this one!"
AK Press (UK)
THE BROKEN CHAIN
This is an important, accessible and timely work that summarises the traditional scholarship that has become available to English-speaking Muslims in the last decade or so."
Q-News Magazine"
"An enlightening and important contribution to studies on contemporary Islamic law."
Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar,Author of Encyclopedia of Muhammad\'s Women Companions and the Traditions They Related
"A must read."
Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPACUK)
"University campuses are rife with self-styled mini-ulama, angry young people whohave read a few books on Islam coupled with modern technology of searchable databases of the sacred texts and the Internet. They are then deluded into thinking that they have properly read and understood the works and are qualified to give opinions onthem and other issues...Aftab Malik shows concisely and clearly that knowledge must be obtained from a living scholar and thereby reconnecting the "Broken Chain" and becoming part of the "Unbroken Chain" of a living tradition stretching back to the source of this great religion."
Masud.co.uk
Articles“Is Islam Compatible With the West?” BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4204820.stm 8th September 2005
“The State Muslims Are In” OpenDemocracy.Org http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict-terrorism/faith_2756.jsp 15th August 2005
“Don’t Get Angry: The Power of the Written Word,” in The Arab News, 25TH June, 2005
“The Tribulation of Tribal Muslim, Tribal Islam,” in Islamica Magazine (Amman: Jordan) Issue 12, Spring 2005
“The Search for Authority and Authenticity” in The Muslim Weekly (London) 04-10 June 2004, #32, p24
“Who Speaks for British Muslims?” in Q-News (London) February 2004, Issue 354
“The Search for Authority and Authenticity in Western Islam”, in Islamica (Amman: Jordan) Winter Issue, 2003
“Changing the Nation”, in Q-News (London) #335, September 2001 pp 12-13
“The Path of Intellects”, in The Muslim Reader (Singapore) Vol. 21, # 2 (May – August 2003) pp 19-22
“The Islamic Civilisation: The Forgotten Contribution”, in Qalam International (London) Issue 3, Vol. 1, October 1998, pp.35-38
“Islamic Fundamentalism”, in Qalam International (London) Issue 2, Vol. 1, August 1998, pp. 11-14
THIS ARTICLE IS COURTESY OF http://www.deenport.com/
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Barack Obama has been sworn in as the 44th US president. Here is his inauguration speech in full.
My fellow citizens:
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and co-operation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms.
At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we, the people, have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents. So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
Serious challenges
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
Nation of 'risk-takers'
We remain a young nation, but in the words of scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labour, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and travelled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and ploughed the hard earth. For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
'Remaking America'
Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.
Restoring trust
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.
The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - that a nation cannot prosper long when it favours only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
'Ready to lead'
As for our common defence, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the spectre of a warming planet. We will not apologise for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defence, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
'Era of peace'
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
'Duties'
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honour them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate. Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
'Gift of freedom'
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have travelled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."
America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and co-operation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms.
At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we, the people, have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents. So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
Serious challenges
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
Nation of 'risk-takers'
We remain a young nation, but in the words of scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labour, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and travelled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and ploughed the hard earth. For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
'Remaking America'
Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.
Restoring trust
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.
The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - that a nation cannot prosper long when it favours only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
'Ready to lead'
As for our common defence, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the spectre of a warming planet. We will not apologise for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defence, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
'Era of peace'
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
'Duties'
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honour them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate. Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
'Gift of freedom'
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have travelled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."
America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.
Friday, 16 January 2009
Letter Condemning Anti-semitic Assaults On British Jews
As-salamu’alaykum,/Peace be upon you
Here is a letter condemning anti-semitic assaults on British Jews signed by some Muslim Scholars and individuals from the UK.
Please circulate far and wide.
http://sidramushtaq.wordpress.com/2009/01/16/letter-condemning-anti-semitic-assaults-on-british-jews/
Here is a letter condemning anti-semitic assaults on British Jews signed by some Muslim Scholars and individuals from the UK.
Please circulate far and wide.
http://sidramushtaq.wordpress.com/2009/01/16/letter-condemning-anti-semitic-assaults-on-british-jews/
Thursday, 8 January 2009
Why Isreal's actions in Gaza undermines Anne Frank
With Israel's latest military actions in Gaza and the bloodshed it has caused to innocent children (the children killed in the UN school Israel bombed), I can not help but think of the holocaust and Anne Frank. Many people may say that these two inhumane circumstances are totally different and it is unfair to compare them. My answer is that is true and I agree they are different.However, at the same time they are very similar. I just think that it is so sad that the world has been witnessing another holocaust and we the international community have done nothing to stop it.Will history judge us the same way, it has those European countries that watched Hitlers rise, and did not challenge him strongly enough to stop the brutal mass murderer.Will the international community be another Neville Chamberlains coming home with a piece of paper that means nothing.A promise of peace, an end to violence, a ceasefire between both sides.My fear is that we will be another Neville Chamberlain, coming home with false promises.If a ceasefire does happen, it will stop the violence temporally.Until, the worlds eyes is off Gaza that's when the calamity will start all over again.But, its OK as it does not affect us right ?
Anne Frank was a normal 13 year old teenager who happened to live in extraordinary and sinister times. She had dreams and aspirations for herself.On her 13Th birthday party she was given a diary that would change her life and be a constant reminder to us that we should never let anything happen like that again. When her diary abruptly ends she is just 15.When people read this amazing book they are shocked, because they can imagine their childhood. Annie was a normal teenager, rebellious, rube and extremely stroppy.Nearly a million people visit Anne's home in Amsterdam every year to remember her and her story.As I type this I am wondering how many Anne's Franks have Israel killed, how many have Hamas killed as they fire there rockets?If Anne was living with us today I just know she would be devastated at what is occurring.I end with what the Prophet peace be upon him said :
" Hearts naturally love those who are kind to them and loathe those who are cruel " Al- Bayhaqi
If we don't have humanity, how can we have peace?
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