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Hearing Muslim Voices
FAITH IN ACTION
By Katherine Marshall
We often bemoan the fact that we Americans have, to put it charitably, large gaps in our understanding of Islam as a religion and of the endlessly complex Muslim world.
Ignorance contributes to the global tensions that some call the "clash of civilizations". It makes it harder to deal with the day-to-day challenges of international interactions as well as with conflicts and hot spots. After 9/11 there was a blizzard of talks, books, and articles, the most intensive public education effort in recent memory, but, depressingly, polls suggest that the knowledge gaps today are, if anything, worse than they were in the summer of 2001.
A pageant that opens in New York on June 5, Muslim Voices: Arts & Ideas, sets out to fill some of the gaps and to challenge or change the preconceptions Americans have about Muslims. The effort goes beyond talk and debate, joining many art forms with a formidable intellectual agenda. Zeyba Rahman, the project manager, who has labored for years to bring it together, describes it as "the largest event of its kind, ever, in the U.S."
The festival features a feast of cultural events, especially music, but also theater, poetry, and visual arts. Youssef N'Dour, the popular Senegalese singer, is the opening name but there's a real mosaic of different acts, from all the continents--Koranic recitation, whirling dervishes, sufi chants, you name it. A parallel conference has a lineup of well known intellectuals. There are programs for schools, and the New York Public Library will host a series of exchanges around the provocative theme: "insult". The Festival's principal organizers are the Asia Society, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the New York University Center for Dialogues; an impressive roster of foundations has come up with funding despite their depleted coffers.
The festival draws people from many parts of the world, but what is particularly striking is the key role that America's extraordinarily diverse Muslim communities are playing in putting it together. Just in New York City there are dozens of Muslim communities, with their roots all over the world - Senegal, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Iran, and so on. They contribute artists but have also helped shape the event from the start.
For example, the original title of the Festival was "Illuminating Islam". The advisory group thrashed the title out and concluded that it could be misconstrued - Americans in their munificence shedding light on Muslim cultures. So it was changed. They see great hope in this opportunity to hammer home the point of the diversity and rich heritage of the Muslim world and its commitment to engage.
"Cultural diplomacy" is one of those phrases that can mean very different things to different people - diplomacy that is nuanced to different cultures, a symphony orchestra performing in North Korea to open doors, or improbable sports events link touring ping pong teams. Perhaps the most promising avenue for cultural diplomacy is to help break through barriers that owe much to sheer ignorance or prejudice. Culture is about identity and history, but it is also about emotion and it can bring joy and insight. Marveling at the trance of whirling dervishes or struggling to follow a long sufi chant can pave the way to a different kind of discussion about respect and insult. So here's wishing the ambitious New York Festival success and joy!
Katherine Marshall is a senior fellow at Georgetown's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, a Visiting Proessor, and a senior advisor for the World Bank.
By Katherine Marshall |
June 1, 2009; 11:54 AM ET
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Faith in Action
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Posted by: zebra4 | June 2, 2009 11:42 AM
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*illuminating islam*
Where did islam illuminate to ?
Islam came to Egypt.Was Egypt illumminated ?
Submission dominated Iran.Was Iran illuminated ?
Desert Rules came to Sub-Continent.Were Afganistan,Pakistan etc.illuminated ?
*Diversity* Polemic....
Is there Cultural Diversity in muslim world ? Absolutely No.But,some muslims advocate/support Diversity in Civilized World.Is this logical ? or something else ?(state in state or liberated areas)
Dear Thinkers,
Nothing can be corrected by Palaver and Sophistry.
Islam is the Backwardness.
Islam is Poverty.
Islam is Idleness.
Islam paralyzes brain.
There is no Good Side of islam.
Islam is against US Constitution.
Posted by: halozcel1 | June 2, 2009 8:44 AM
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The true face of Islam: (all of these violent acts were koranic driven)
1a) 179 killed in Mumbai/Bombay, 290 injured
1b) Assassination of Benazir Bhutto and Theo Van Gogh
2) 9/11, 3000 mostly US citizens, 1000’s injured
3) The 24/7 Sunni-Shiite centuries-old blood feud currently being carried out in Iraq, US Troops, 3,440 KIA, 846 non-hostile) and 91,843 – 100,263 Iraqi civilians killed, http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ and
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf
4) Kenya- In Nairobi, about 212 people were killed and an estimated 4000 injured; in Dar es Salaam, the attack killed at least 11 and wounded 85.[2]
5) Bali-in 2002-killing 202 people, 164 of whom were foreign nationals, and 38 Indonesian citizens. A further 209 people were injured.
6) Bali in 2005- Twenty people were killed, and 129 people were injured by three bombers who killed themselves in the attacks.
7) Spain in 2004- killing 191 people and wounding 2,050.
8) UK in 2005- The bombings killed 52 commuters and the four radical Islamic suicide bombers, injured 700.
9) The execution of an eloping couple in Afghanistan on 04/15/2009 by the Taliban.
continued below:
Posted by: ccnl1 | June 1, 2009 11:29 PM
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Added reading material- Ayaan Hirsi Ali's autobiography, "Infidel".
"Thus begins the extraordinary story of a woman born into a family of desert nomads, circumcised as a child, educated by radical imams in Kenya and Saudi Arabia, taught to believe that if she uncovered her hair, terrible tragedies would ensue. It's a story that, with a few different twists, really could have led to a wretched life and a lonely death, as her grandmother warned. But instead, Hirsi Ali escaped -- and transformed herself into an internationally renowned spokeswoman for the rights of Muslim women."
ref: Washington Post book review.
four excerpts:
p. 47 paperback issue:
"Some of the Saudi women in our neighborhood were regularly beaten by their husbands. You could hear them at night. Their screams resounded across the courtyards. "No! Please! By Allah!"
p.68:
"The Pakistanis were Muslims but they too had castes. The Untouchable girls, both Indian and Pakistani were darker skin. The others would not play with them because they were untouchable. We thought that was funny because of course they were touchable: we touched them see? but also horrifying to think of yourself as untouchable, despicable to the human race."
p.309
"Between October 2004 and May 2005, eleven Muslim girls were killed by their families in just two regions (there are 20 regions in Holland). After that, people stopped telling me I was exaggerating."
p. 347
"The kind on thinking I saw in Saudi Arabia and among the Brotherhood of Kenya and Somalia, is incompatible with human rights and liberal values. It preserves the feudal mind-set based on tribal concepts of honor and shame. It rests on self-deception, hyprocricy, and double standards. It relies on the technologial advances of the West while pretending to ignore their origin in Western thinking. This mind-set makes the transition to modernity very painful for all who practice Islam".
Posted by: ccnl1 | June 1, 2009 11:28 PM
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Ms. Marshall says:
“They (Muslims) see great hope in this opportunity to hammer home the point of the diversity and rich heritage of the Muslim world and its commitment to engage.”
Is teaching first graders to hate and do violence against the other a part of their rich heritage?
Maybe you will get a chance to discuss with those congregants “who wish to engage” the following "Muslim Voices" on the youtube video titled “Agypten: Vielversprechnder…….”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVOOKhBIAkI
Posted by: abhab | June 1, 2009 10:48 PM
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Good news. America has put its ugliest face forward from 2001-2008.
Perhaps it is time to show the world we can be civilized, even when tested.
Hmmm?
Posted by: dblakeross | June 1, 2009 4:48 PM
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The comments to this entry are closed.
CCNL has posted for Hirsi Ali again. Cut and paste job. Didn't she lie on her visa application? Does she have any credibility?
Could she get even a $10,000/year job in her native Somalia? There is nothing there but pirates.
Here she is having a good life as she is being supported by right wing Islamophobic groups. Now she is "pondering over a drink" how she got it made.
Is CCNL1, Hirsi Ali?