Category Archives: Ethics

Tabsir Redux: Don’t debate, rehabilitate

Anthropology/Sociology, Ethics, Islam: Introduction, Terrorism Issue

“Don’t debate religion with fundamentalists: what they need is rehabilitation”

by Saad A Sowayan

Fundamentalism is a cultural phenomenon, though it dons religious garbs. It is a mode of consciousness shaped by cultural values, not religious principles. Thus we can understand it only if we examine it in its cultural context as a sociological rather than a theological question.

So, I will begin by taking a close look at the social incubators most likely to hatch fundamentalism.

I understand by fundamentalism strong adherence to an archetypal point of view and a fierce conviction of its fundamental truth, to the exclusion of any other alternate idea. Any alternative is resisted by a fundamentalist and treated not as a legitimate substitute stemming from a rational free choice, but as a detrimental antithesis of the fundamental truth of the archetype. The archetype is a model to be emulated and reproduced, not dissected or scrutinized. Continue reading Tabsir Redux: Don’t debate, rehabilitate →

Distressed Damsels and Chivalrous Caliphs

Ethics, Gender and Sexuality

Damsels in distress, the chivalrous caliph, and the misogynistic scholar: a modern fairy tale

from A Sober Second Look, March 15, 2014

A long time ago, in a galaxy that is unfortunately not nearly as far away from me as I would like, I was taught that the reason for all the problems that women face today—especially in “the West”—is that relations between men and women are seriously out of balance.

Western women have been misled into rejecting their divinely created feminine natures. They don’t value marriage and motherhood, and try to emulate men by cutting their hair short and wearing masculine-style clothes and having careers and being promiscuous. Therefore, men are understandably put off by them, can’t respect them, feel emasculated by them, and don’t want to marry them. As a result, the family is in disarray, single motherhood and juvenile delinquency are on the rise, men feel lost and confused, and women are wondering where all the good men have gone. But (we were told) there is a simple answer to all these problems: Return to Islam. Go back to “the True Teachings of the Qur’aan and the Sunnah” (as the Salafis would phrase it), or to “Sacred Tradition” (as the neo-traditionalists would say). To the fitra—the innate, divinely given nature of every human being, which says that “true” men are hyper-masculine and “real,” god-fearing women are ultra-feminine… and anything that doesn’t fit into that binary view of gender is just laughable. Go back. Nothing else works. Anything else is rebellion against God. Continue reading Distressed Damsels and Chivalrous Caliphs →

Muslim Men: Please Shut Up About Women!

Ethics, Gender and Sexuality, Islam in Europe, Pakistan

By Amanullah De Sondy, Sacred Matters

A recent Pew Research Center study indicated how “people” in various Muslim countries “prefer” Muslim women to dress. The results are varied from fully veiled dress to no veil at all. There seems to be no turning away from public interest in Muslim women and the flurry of commentaries from public intellectuals has begun. Beyond the polemics of discussions on Muslim women, I’m interested to interrogate the notion of “preference” in this matter and ask, “Who are these ‘people’?”

Issues of women and veiling may seem simple at face value but in fact, they are complex and require interrogating a variety of themes and concerns in Islamic cultures and societies.

The way in which anyone covers his or her body is bound to considerations of gender, culture and politics. Continue reading Muslim Men: Please Shut Up About Women! →

No Palestinian Idol at World Cup?

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Ethics, Music and Dance, Palestine, YouTube Watch

Palestinian Arab Idol Gets Booted From World Cup, and Shakira’s Response Was Perfect

by Milana Knezevic, PolicyMic, February 13, 2014

Palestinian Arab Idol winner Mohammad Assaf says he has been banned from performing at the World Cup opening ceremony this summer — and that Shakira is boycotting.

He said at a press conference earlier this week that he was supposed to sing at the show kicking off the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, but that because of some “countries” or “groups” — no one was specified — his record company was told this won’t happen after all. He also said that Colombian superstar Shakira, who sang the 2010 World Cup anthem “Waka Waka,” has refused to perform at the ceremony because of it.

Assaf rose to fame last year when he won the regional singing competition Arab Idol, and was especially lauded for his performances of traditional Palestinian music:


Hear the winning song on Youtube here

In the process, he gained some high-profile fans. FIFA President Sepp Blatter visited Palestine last summer, and said he would invite Assaf to sing at this summer’s World Cup.

It was reported then that Assaf and Shakira might sing together in Brazil, but now it appears both will be staying away from the festivities. Continue reading No Palestinian Idol at World Cup? →

Syria’s war must end

"Arab Spring", Ethics, Syria, Terrorism Issue

By Stephen Hawking, Washington Post, February 14

Stephen Hawking is the author of “A Brief History of Time” and a former professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle believed that the universe had existed forever. The reason humanity was not more developed, he believed, was that floods or other natural disasters repeatedly set civilization back to the beginning.

Today, humans are developing ever faster. Our knowledge is growing exponentially and with it, our technology. But humans still have the instincts, and in particular the aggressive impulses, that we had in caveman days. Aggression has had definite advantages for survival, but when modern technology meets ancient aggression the entire human race and much of the rest of life on Earth is at risk.

Today in Syria we see modern technology in the form of bombs, chemicals and other weapons being used to further so-called intelligent political ends.

But it does not feel intelligent to watch as more than 100,000 people are killed or while children are targeted. It feels downright stupid, and worse, to prevent humanitarian supplies from reaching clinics where, as Save the Children will document in a forthcoming report, children are having limbs amputated for lack of basic facilities and newborn babies are dying in incubators for lack of power. Continue reading Syria’s war must end →

Sanctions on the Yemeni Horizon?

"Arab Spring", Ali Abdullah Salih, Ethics, Yemen


Yemen’s former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh (pictured on the poster), is clearly at risk for the imposition of sanctions as his name is mentioned in the draft as a spoiler. (File photo: Reuters)

No Yemen sanctions for now, but schemers be warned

by Talal al-Haj | Special to Al Arabiya News, February 10, 2014

The P3 (U.S., UK and France), with the potential support of Russia and China, are engaged in intensive discussions over the content of a British drafted resolution on Yemen. The draft resolution, seen by Al Arabiya, calls for the creation of a sanctions committee, but does not actually sanction anyone.

If the draft becomes a Security Council resolution, the sanction committee will possess the power to impose travel bans and to freeze the assets of those who hinder the successful completion of the transitional period in Yemen which aims to change the country into a Federal Democratic one.

The draft “welcomes the Yemeni government’s Asset Recovery Law, and supports the efforts of the government and people of Yemen to implement this law.” This excerpt can be interpreted as a clear warning to the men of the old regime ,who engage in any obstructionist effort to hinder the creation of the new Yemen, that they risk having their assets – gathered during their reign of power – recouped for the benefit of the people of Yemen.
An interesting part of the resolution

However, the most interesting part of the resolution remains the creation of a Sanctions Committee under article number 41 of chapter seven, capable of banning the travel or freezing the assets of those who try to “ act to undermine the successful completion of the political transition, as outlined in the GCC Initiative and Implementation Mechanism Agreement, including article 45 of the National Dialogue Conference’s Good Government Working report.” Continue reading Sanctions on the Yemeni Horizon? →

Yemen’s Houthi-Ahmar sectarian framing

"Arab Spring", Ethics, Huthis, Iran, Journalism and Media, Shi'a, Sunni, Yemen, Zaydi


Abd al-Malik al-Huthi, left; Hashid Shaykh Sadiq al-Ahmar, right

by Abdullah Hamidaddin, al-Arabiyya Online, February 8, 2014

Framing matters. It shapes the way we react to a story. It focuses our attention to some details and distracts us from others. It connects a story to another set of stories, and separates it from others. Framing can make a story relevant or irrelevant. Ideally framing would be made through a serious process of observation and analysis. But more than often it is guided by the interests of those framing or their audiences.

Sometimes writers lack the sophistication to see the complexity of the world, so they select simple frames. Other times politicians see that a certain frame serves their interests more than another. Thus they only hear stories framed in their preferred way.
Sticking to Nonsense

I am saying this because of the ways the conflicts in the Middle East are framed as a Sunni/Shiite conflict. And I keep asking myself; why this insistence on retaining such a superficial way of analyzing the region and its conflicts? Why insisting on reincarnating Huntington’s clash of civilization thesis albeit in a ‘clash of sects’ variety? Continue reading Yemen’s Houthi-Ahmar sectarian framing →