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This arrived in my inbox. I find it very encouraging.
J F R
UK Muslim group holds 'anti-terrorism' summer camp
Hundreds attend three-day al-Hidayah event at University of Warwick campus to learn how to fight arguments of extremists. After a modest breakfast came the first choice of the day: to take part in sporting activities ranging from five-a-side football to archery, or to join the Sunday morning nature stroll around the campus. Then it was down to the serious business: a series of lectures, workshops and presentations, punctuated by prayers and countless impromptu street-corner debates.
This is al-Hidayah 2010, a three-day event that kicked off on Saturday and attended by 1,300 Muslims – mainly young men and women – that has been billed as the UK's first anti-terror camp.
Devotees of Muslim scholar Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri have gathered at the University of Warwick's campus to be taught practical ways of countering extremist views in their schools, universities and communities. They have been learning how to engage with people expressing extremist views and are being directed to passages in the Qur'an and other Islamic texts to allow them to argue against them.
The camp follows the publication by Qadri, founder of the moderate Minhaj-ul-Quran International (MQI) movement, of a headline-grabbing "fatwa on terrorism", a 600-page volume claiming to "remove decisively" any theological justification for Islamist terror.
"People have long asked where are the moderate Muslim organisations? What are they doing to combat extremism," said MQI spokesman Shahid Mursaleen. "We are trying to train young people here to counter the arguments they hear from the radicals, to give them the knowledge so they can question the extremists and contradict their ideology."
Delegates have paid £200 each to attend the event, but such has been demand that many more have been turned away. They have come from across the UK and mainland Europe, even from the US and Canada. The concourse around the conference area is a colourful mix of delegates, some in traditional dress, many in skinny jeans and hoodies.
Dawud Qadri, 23, a sales worker from Manchester, said he believed that, given the right tools, moderate Muslims could stop friends, neighbours and colleagues from being radicalised.
He said the sort of arguments being rehearsed at the camp were exactly what Muslims and non-Muslims had been waiting for. "The fatwa is conclusive. It goes straight to the heart of the issue. It very clearly condemns suicide bombing, it doesn't say sometimes it's OK, sometimes it's wrong. It clearly says it's wrong."
In his opening lecture Dr Qadri argued that radicalisation was a slow process that began with an "ideological infection". Such an infection could be treated before the sufferer turned violent if fellow Muslims got to them and showed them their philosophy was wrong.
Delegates are taught how to organise study circles and seminars in their communities. One workshop asked participants to consider how they could "break the ice" at a session involving people they feared had extremist views and how they could "personally portray Islam as a beautiful peaceful religion".
Qadri announced that a fleet of vehicles would be travelling the country trying to counter extremism – in effect mobile libraries filled with books and DVDs and staffed by volunteers. "We will knock on every door," said Qadri.
Gulnar Khan, a community development worker from Manchester, said she would be passing on what she had learned to her neighbours. She said women had a large part to play in fighting extremism. "We have a greater influence in the children – the future."
Mohsin Khan, 19, from Oldham, was just revelling in the atmosphere. "I want to learn more about my religion, about why terrorism is wrong, about being a better human. The media loves to show Muslims as terrorists. It's great to be part of something countering that."
However, some commentators have doubted that Qadri's fatwa will do any good, arguing that countering violent fatwas with peaceful ones gives extremists more credibility.
The paradox has often been noted that the United States, founded in secularism, is now the most religiose country in Christendom, while England, with an established church headed by its constitutional monarch, is among the least. (Richard Dawkins, 2006)
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Do you know, JFR, what arguments/reasons are given to those delegates for eschewing extremism?
I often say that the problem with religions of the book is that the book can't be changed. There isn't a way for my fundamentalist friend, who believes that every word of the bible is literally true (even the bits that are incompatible with each other!), to come round to acceptance of homosexuality. He believes I'm going to hell and I'd love to find a way to disabuse him!
Love,
Anthony
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Anthony wrote:
Do you know, JFR, what arguments/reasons are given to those delegates for eschewing extremism?
I am ashamed to admit that my knowledge of the teachings of Islam are probably at around the same level as your knowledge of Judaism. I have read as much of the Koran as a non-Arabic-speaking reader can stomach (it is not an easy book to read - and that's an understatement!). Furthermore, the accepted arrangement of the Koran is that the suras (chapters) are presented in order of length, the longest, "The Cow", coming first. These long suras are a bit off-putting for someone who is not a Moslem. I have read several books "about" Islam. But I'm afraid that even if the report that was sent to me had contained examples of possible arguments and reasonings I would not have been able to appreciate them properly. I just don't have the requisite knowledge.
I often say that the problem with religions of the book is that the book can't be changed.
Well, here I'm on what is for me terra firma. What you write sounds appropriate for Christianity - certainly for Protestantism. It is definitely not true of Judaism. Throughout its history Judaism has been "re-interpreting" the bible, sometimes turning the literal meaning of a passage on its head! That is exactly was the modern streams of Judaism have done in recent years with Leviticus 18:22 and 20:23.
There isn't a way for my fundamentalist friend, who believes that every word of the bible is literally true (even the bits that are incompatible with each other!), to come round to acceptance of homosexuality. He believes I'm going to hell and I'd love to find a way to disabuse him!
If he is a fundamentalist that probably means he is a literalist. That makes your task very difficult if not impossible. But one suggestion I could make is to bring him (politely!) to recognise that even his understanding of the bible has undergone "modernising interpretation". Maybe you could use your ingenuity and select some of the items in the link below to an old post of mine for discussion with him.
http://forum.iomfats.org/w-agora/view.php?bn=forumiomfatsorg_placeofsafety&key=1273839189&pattern=laura
Good luck, Anthony. You'll need it!
J F R
The paradox has often been noted that the United States, founded in secularism, is now the most religiose country in Christendom, while England, with an established church headed by its constitutional monarch, is among the least. (Richard Dawkins, 2006)
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Thanks for the good wishes. I read your earlier post; it's good value. The guy that wrote the Cambrige Bible commentary volume on leviticus made no comment on the abomination. When he was chaplain of Oriel he used to invite me into his bed.
But my fundamentalist friend is quite capable of believing six impossible things before breakfast or holding two incompatible beliefs at the same time and I fear there is no hope there.
Besides, if I were to succeed and deprive him of his faith I guess he would fall apart at the seams - and that would be an unkind think to bring about. He is getting to be an old dog and can't manage new tricks (not like me, anyway, who am older still).
Thank you for your concern.
Love,
Anthony
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