Matters of (Islamic) Opinion

Last Saturday, another teacher and I were having a discussion of Islamic sects and schools of thought with our 15/16 year old students. I'd typically only teach A Level Maths but on this occasion I helped out with the Islamic Studies class. Our discussion was prompted by a question around how flexible Islam is and why Muslims are not required to be identical and why Muslims can, in fact, hold different opinions on the same issue and all be correct. One of the students mentioned that he had once been praying and a friend of his tried to physically correct a minor detail in how he was praying during his actual prayer and later refused to accept that there were multiple acceptable styles. It was different to how he did it so therefore it must be wrong - and he refused to back down until eventually his father explained to him.

As the discussion progressed, we talked of the differences between Sunni and Shia, the differences in madhdhabs (schools of thought) and differences in practice. We outlined the madhdhabs and made clear that they were not the work of the one single eponymous person but large bodies of work by numerous scholars spanning all the centuries. We touched upon how the variations in practice came about and held firm that variation is not just tolerated but is a blessing. Most importantly we tried to explain that different does not necessarily mean better or worse.

The best example we could give was the narration covering the time a group of the Prophet's (peace be upon him) companions had gone to visit a specific place. Before their departure they'd been given instructions not to pray their (Asr) afternoon prayer until they arrived at the place. However, the travel took longer than expected and sunset approached well before they arrived. With time for the afternoon prayer fast running out, a discussion broke out over whether they should pray now or continue on. Some said the point of the instruction was to get them to make haste, others said the instruction was definitive in when they should pray. Without settling the disagreement, some prayed there and then and the rest waited to pray until arrival - going beyond sunset and outside the specified timings.

Upon their return, they put the question to the Prophet (pbuh): who was in the right? He said both views were acceptable. Put simply, while there are certain inviolable and immutable beliefs, reasonable differing opinions on matters of law were and are acceptable.

Later that same Saturday I was as at a friend's house for dinner and during the course of the evening I was talking with a married couple that I hadn't met before. The husband had been brought up as a Muslim and the wife was a reverted Muslim. Alongside the excellent and fascinating food, they both had fascinating stories of the journey to Islam, the expectations of their different cultures and how their own expectations of difficulties with cross-cultural marriage didn't really materialise as predicted.
For example, when the British Christian parents were due to meet the Pakistani Muslim parents, there was considerable nervousness but they got on astonishingly over a mutual shared interest in Medicine and Science! One pair were doctors and the other pair a nurse and a scientist. Those of you with friends in medical fields will know about medic-chat - on this occasion it was certainly welcome!

One curiosity which did intrigue me was the issue of how a revert to Islam chooses a 'type' of Islam to follow. Those who are brought up as Muslims tend to passively go with the type that they were raised as but it must be difficult when having to actively make a choice. I asked the question and the answer I got was quite pleasing. The choice she'd made was to be Muslim - a strict sub-type choice wasn't necessary. She continued that one of the first questions people would ask when she told them that she had reverted was "Which sect are you?" and in the initial instance everyone would try and persuade her that theirs was the best way!

This brought to mind the discussion at school and the people for whom my way is the only way and any variation from this is inferior and wrong. It's quite a contemporary and historical phenomenon, not just in the Muslim faith but in general human history.

In Islam there are different schools of thought and paths and there is an ever present danger that when someone doesn't take the time to learn about themselves and others and their beliefs they can forget that that the road to salvation is not a tightrope. It is exactly a road - with people in many lanes and travelling at different speeds. You might find yourself veering off if you're not careful but justifiably doing things a little differently to someone else doesn't keep you from continuing in the right direction. Different does not necessarily mean better or worse.

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P.S.

We're always keen for volunteer teachers - no experience necessary!

If you are interested in teaching, volunteering or working with the school please contact the headteacher Shaimaa at ccwestsatschool@gmail.com.

The school runs every Saturday (subject to the school timetable) from 10am-1.30pm at the MCHC, 244 Acklam Road, W10 5YG. (Year 4 to A Level)

Refugees and a crisis of compassion

This was written before the horrific Paris and Beirut terror attacks - for my thoughts on those events please read my post From Paris, With Terror.

An edited version of this post was also published on The Elenchus.

A topic of alarming regularity and long-running history, the refugee crisis has only just begun to dominate the headlines of a lot of  news outlets. This sudden tidal-wave of press activity has taken form of shocking stories of traffickers dangerously overloading rickety boats with human cargo; accompanied by disturbing images of the consequent drowned bodies. The desperate, vicious and dangerous ordeals of people attempting to make the journey from the most war-torn regions of the world to the ‘safe haven’ of Europe has been endlessly reported on. However, can we really brand this attempt to raise awareness of the refugee crisis as successful? Are we, the British public, now truly aware of the refugee situation, or are we all just a little too late to the party?

Between 2012 and 2014, the number of refugees of concern to UNCHR increased from 10million to 14million - a rising trend which has sadly continued into 2015 (note that this figure does not include the 5million Palestinian refugees who are looked after by UNRWA). A large portion of the increase is due to the vast numbers of people fleeing Syria: a figure of over 4million refugees since the conflicts in that region started. It is more often than not that, when prompted with the thought of the ‘refugee crisis’, we immediately conflate all that we know about it with the current Syrian refugees. However, what we forget in this narrow scope is that there are a huge number of refugees from other parts of the world, including a close-to-3million from Afghanistan and another million from Somalia.

The natural consequence of such a massive outflow of people from these countries is that there will be an equally massive inflow of people into other countries, in particular: neighbouring countries. From Syria, large numbers of refugees have fled to Turkey (1.6million), Lebanon (1.2million) and Jordan (0.6million) to name a few. Displaced Afghans have tended to go to Pakistan (1.5million) and Iran (1million). For some of these countries, the inflow is beyond anything they could possibly prepare for: take Lebanon for example, with its Lebanese population reaching 4.5million and its refugee population contributing a whopping extra 1.7million. Yet, despite this extreme human crowding, Lebanon has taken the refugees in: a commendable act of morality.

Little is heard in Europe of the quantitative figures of the ‘desperately displaced’. I myself had not been so knowledgeable on the topic until I attended a City Circle talk with speakers from Amnesty International, the Refugee Council and the National Zakat Foundation. All of the speakers went to considerable amounts of trouble to deliver eye-opening detail about the depth of the global refugee crisis and the European and UK governmental response.

Sadly, a lot of what was said made for quite depressing comprehension. The refugee numbers just keep on rising: 220,000 people attempted to cross the Mediterranean in 2014 – an increase from 60,000 two years earlier. The estimate for 2015 is 800,000.

To give Europe some credit, however, they acknowledged the need for the establishment of safe routes to Europe way back in 2013 after the Lampedusa shipwreck which saw 500 refugees crammed onto a 20m boat. The boat sank close to the Italian island resulting in over 300 drownings with the survivors saved by Italian search and rescue teams. Immediately after this event, the EU Commission called for increasing the level of sea patrols to make sure this level of tragedy is avoided in the future.

Italy took a leading role in the European contribution by duly increasing its level of patrols. This continued until the EU finally took over after it had decided that the influx of refugees was not just an Italian problem, but a European problem. However, this soon became controversial as the EU began to think that, although running extensive patrols made the crossing safer, it might also be encouraging more refugees to attempt the crossing. Accordingly, it cut back the extent of the patrols but, after a few months, was surprised to find that regardless of the dangers, people were still attempting to cross.

The major barrier towards a progressive solution for the refugee crisis is the problem of NIMBYism. Everyone agrees that something must be done but everyone wants someone else to take the hit. Taking in refugees comes with costs: both financial and political. The UK, for example, has been generous with sending aid to the affected countries but not so generous with taking in refugees. It pledged to take 500 Syrian refugees over 3 years until images of Aylan Kurdi – the toddler who had washed up on a beach in Turkey – went viral and struck a charitable chord with the UK public. This caused an outcry which prompted the government to raise this figure to a further 20,000, which is certainly an improvement but, given the sheer numbers of refugees, it is clear that there is still a long way to go.

Other European countries have done similar: some taking their lead from the UK. At first, Hungary was letting refugees into and through the country but has since moved to close its border and erect a 4m-high fence to keep people out. This has, somewhat perversely, resulted in improved opinion ratings for its prime minister. Nevertheless, even in this shambolic and embarrassing time for Europe, it is not all doom and gloom as a few countries have made an effort to help the refugees in their darkest hours. Germany and Sweden have been taking in around 190,000 refugees this year alone. This is expected to rise to an acceptance of close to 1million refugees in the coming year.

As with most governmental decisions, the varying responses from European countries are largely driven by politics. Issues of NIMBYism, trade, legality and finance all play their part. Some have said taking refugees in is in national interest: a statement based on our need for an influx of younger people in order to maintain society and industry amongst an ever-aging population. However, others reject this stance and simply state that our strained national finances cannot bear the additional cost of housing additional persons. Nonetheless, a restorative mode of thought belittles this by dousing partial responsibility onto the British for the maintenance of wars via the UK’s participation in the manufacturing and supplying of arms.

Moreover, some countries are prioritising help given towards Christian refugees over that of Muslim refugees in a bid to ‘keep the country Christian’ though even these are small in numbers – Poland has taken in only 50 families. And of course, there is always the old “the foreigners will take our jobs” argument which more or less acts as a final resort for want of a better reason. What this is all conclusive of, however, is that politics is a complex beast. Those in positions of responsibility have to make some difficult decisions and sadly, very few political leaders will ever prioritise showing some humanity to those in desperate need to their public opinion ratings..

 It has become all too easy to separate ourselves from the refugee crisis and brand it a regional problem rather than a global problem. To this, I simply state: when a situation in another country is desperate enough that a mother places her child into the hands of a stranger with the intention of smuggling it over the sea in a rickety boat, it becomes clear that levels of desperation have escalated to that which no human being should have to endure.

Given the sudden policy change following Aylan's photo, it is clear that politicians do listen. The UK leadership was lightening-quick to respond and ramp up what could be described as – at the time – its pitiful efforts. Power is still with the people. ‘There, but for the grace of God, go I’ is not a phrase that comes easily to political leaders but it can come easily to us as the individuals in their electorate and we should require our leaders to bend to our charitable will. ‘Change’ requires enough of the right pressure in the right places. It requires sufficient number of people writing to their MPs. It requires our involvement with organisations and actively seeking to help. In short, it requires us to do our bit. Together, we can push political mountains to their disappearance. There is so much that we can do to help: we just need to want it enough.

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