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Quote
Life is like that, full of words that are not worth saying, or that were worth saying once but not any more ....
~Jose Saramago, The Cave
Aug
6
Other Ways
Filed Under from the heart, islam
Today at his blog, Rev. Thom Belote posted his sermon, Universalism Today & Tomorrow: What I Learned from the feminist Muslims, and it got me thinking again about what is going on in the Middle East right now and how I feel about it as a former Muslim who is American. On the one hand, there are good reasons I chose to leave Islam, and on the other hand I feel extremely uncomfortable with many of the things being said about Muslims, such as this posting at Shadow of Diogenes that really shocked me, seeing as how it’s coming from another UU. (My response to it was petty; I don’t really have any excuse for myself. And note: SoD replied to me privately to say he was talking about the terroristic Muslims).
In any case, the whole thing just makes me feel conflicted. The familiar arguments for the hijab recounted in Rev. Thom’s sermon reminded me of my old life, and I appreciate this point he made: that in talking with four feminist Muslim women, he was confronted with a religion that “answered questions about life in society very, very differently than I answered those questions,” and yet also “encouraged equality and wanted justice.”
Despite having supposedly crossed to “the other side” in terms of conservatism vs. liberalism, I am wary of non-Muslims who criticize Muslims seemingly to no end. Maybe it’s because they always seem to be the same types of people, who criticize not just Muslims as a whole, but a number of other identities that I’ve claimed, relentlessly propogating what they want: their vision of the world, their solutions to what they’ve deemed are the problems, and ultimately the right to remain the decision-makers over other people.
Sometimes it seems that the number of people who genuinely believe in tolerance and plurality is like, 12. But that’s just my waning faith talking. It will surge back tomorrow.
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Hafidha Sofia
I love living my life and being who I am. These are selected thoughts about the way I see the world as a lifelong learner who embraces the gift of Unitarian Universalism. BookShelf
Planned books:
- Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics by bell hooks
Current books:
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Care of the Soul : A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life by Thomas Moore
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The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future by Riane Eisler
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What\\\’s Going on in There? : How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life by Lise Eliot
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The Double by Jose Saramago
Recent books:
- Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
- What to Expect When You\\\’re Expecting, Third Edition by Heidi Murkoff
- Fighting Words: A Toolkit for Combating the Religious Right by Robin Morgan
- The Answers Are Inside the Mountains: Meditations on the Writing Life (Poets on Poetry) by William Stafford
- Territory by Emma Bull
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Badges
Hmm. I read Shadow’s entry, and maybe this is because I don’t read that blog at all, or maybe it’s because I’m not Muslim, but I didn’t read it the way you did. I read “these fanatics” in to be in reference to “Muslims who want to massacre people,” not “Muslims.”
Now perhaps the author is being shortsighted, since you usually can’t tell who the terrorists are before they commit terrorism, and so any action taken would end up being along the lines of internment camps.
Although, interestingly (tho it’s weird to use that word to describe the details of attrocities), I don’t think your parents would be in danger if such a thing happened, since the targeted people would be Arab-American Muslims. That’s who people picture when they think of terrorists.
I have great respect for true Islam and I always have had, but I abhor terrorists who hide behind a religion to justify murder and hate and I would feel the same way about Christians , Jews et cetera who committed such acts. Fanatics of any stripe are dangerous to us all.
We can take Paul’s explanation of the use of his words and still ask “doesn’t anti fanaticism begin with ourselves?” What limits on extreme action do I place on myself. When do I feel so angry, so self righteous that I feel justified in lashing out with righteous violence and destroying my antagonist (men, women, children, homes, and all they hold dear.)
We need to ask that question before we call anyone else a fanatic, because the use of that word does demonize the other.
We need to ask that question both of ourselves as individuals and ourselves as participants in a community or nation state. No one who is honest can talk of fanaticism in the other without noting the fanaticism that we as a people have exhibited.
When we see our own righteousness induced insanity we might be able to have emphathy for the fanaticism in others, and understand the behavior on our part that might move us all to back to human interaction.
Think of the child who is throwing a tantrum, full of self righteous indignation toward all that has disturbed his/her narcissistic bubble, do we simply label the child and or do see our own inner tantrum thrower and saying to ourselves “been there, done that.” give the child the kind of hard love that is needed to calm down and return to relationality.
Meanwhile we all have the responsibliity to be contribute to right relations and understanding. If Paul meant Moslem fundamentalists who have turned to terrorism, he should have said that.
He was irresponsible when he wrote “Muslims who want to massacre people.” He wasn’t misread if he wasn’t clear in what he wrote.
Liz,
About a year ago, my mother’s childhood friend through high school (and my godmother), told her she didn’t want to talk to her anymore because she (my mother) is a Muslim, and “Muslims kill people.”
Clyde,
One of the things I find insane is the fact that one person will shoot and kill another person over a car. And then everyone says, “Oh my goodness, can you believe these criminals who are so brutal as to shoot and kill in order to steal! But it is no less insane to me that police officers will shoot and kill a car thief who is fleeing from them. Is it a stretch - a symptom of a bleeding heart - that I see a connection between that and war in general? It’s not just violence, but the lust for property and how it drives us to devalue life at all levels.
Hello… thank you for linking to my sermon. It was one that was kind of a risk to take - during the writing process I had to really wrestle with how to present things that can be charged subjects: “Islam”, “feminism”, even “pluralism.” I worried about how it would be received and considered getting it screened by those more familiar with Islam than I. In the end I opted for authenticity - telling the congregation about where I wrestle and where I’m ambivalent. I am open to any feedback
we give the state a monopoly on the use of force, but the police are supposed to be responsible in their use of force. They are supposed to be held accountable when they are irresponsible. The difficulty is the state makes so many excuses for the conduct of police, that the citizens have to hold the state accountable. It is supposed to be a people’s state - that is the literal meaning of the word republic (the people’s tool or thing.) But most of often it seems to be regulating us.
A citizen’s police review commission is called for, ask any body who has been in the civil rights struggle since King and Angela Davis and they’ll tell you about citizen’s review commissions. I think we won one in Oakland, CA and a weak one in LA.
States that are insane are no different than citizen’s that insane, it isn’t bleeding heart but rather true courage to hold the nation state as criminal when the nation state commits unjustified war.
A child throwing a tantrum is altogether different than a fanatic throwing a bomb. I can excuse a child’s temper tantrum , but how does one excuse murder or violence based on bigotry? One doesn’t ! And to my way of thinking I use “fanatic” in the sense of a person who has an irrational zeal for e.g. religion and commits an irrational act to propagate it. By the way I picture terrorists by their deeds and not by their skin color or ethnicty.
Wow, that’s so sad to hear. Some UU nutcase just wrote a comment about Muslims on my LiveJournal that’s equally horrible. What is wrong with people??
k, I know this is like my third comment on this post, but I wanted to thank you for sharing it. Ever since I read this I’ve been noticing how people in newspapers and on the radio, etc. talk about Muslims. It’s an important thing to be able to see.
Just to set the record strait,I do not consider all Muslims to be fanatics.There are some Muslims who are fanatics (a small percentage) just as there are some Christians ,Jews et cetera who are as well and I disdain them too. Most Muslims, whom I have met, are decent people and I do not advocate hurting them or denigrating them in any manner. However, with the Bin Ladens of the world I can have no dialogue, because they want to make the world ISLAM and do not seek dialogue and as a free man I neither condone terror or coercion nor will I bow to the will of these fanatics.
[...] One more thing - it’s taken almost a year, but I think I’m closer to understanding Paul’s perspective. [...]