Interfaith event poster

A group of twenty or so people are seated in a large room entitled the ‘Succah Room’ in St. John’s Wood Synagogue, London awaiting the start of a programme about co-existence between peoples of two faiths. It is 6pm on Tuesday 23 November and a lady called Mehri Niknam introduces herself to those present. She is the Executive Director of The Joseph Interfaith Foundation. She tells the participants about the room they are seated in, and how it has been specially built with a roof that opens up so that it can be used for worship at harvest time, when Jews must spend seven days, in a place where they can see the sky, praying for rain.

Settling into the Synagogue

The participants discuss what ‘kosher’ food is and we come to understand that Jewish people do not mix cutlery used for eating meat and dairy together. Food must be prepared in a special way observing specific rules. The food provided for participants this evening is also kosher, so everyone can enjoy it. The Function Room is where the Bar Mitzvahs and other celebrations are held and it seats around 300 people.

At this point, the Rabbi, Dayan Ivan Binstock, appears and invites the attendees to take a tour of the Synagogue. He explains that this is an Orthodox synagogue and, just as in mosques, men and women are separated for prayer. Women are either seated at the same level or at a higher level than the men. The building itself is truly magnificent, with great, high ceilings and rows and rows of seats all around the ground floor and also on the balcony. There is a pulpit where the Rabbi or speaker stands and holds services and there is also a raised area where the scrolls are kept. The cantor is the person who leads the musical part of a service. There are three services daily: one at around 7:30 am, one at 1:30 pm and another at 7:30 pm.

A male participant asks about the scrolls there. He can see six scrolls and asks why they have this number, when there are five books of Moses (as). The Rabbi explains that the scrolls contain different texts and not all services use the scrolls. It is only on one day a year that they take out all six scrolls to celebrate the completion of their readings.

A tour of the Synagogue

Another participant asks if the scrolls are expensive originals. The Rabbi answers that they are expensive and sacred, yes. They are not allowed to use books, so they use scrolls which are usually written on animal skins, like calf skins, by scribes. It takes about one year to make each scroll and they are so sacred that if one of them is accidentally dropped by someone, that person must fast to make up for it and people must stand up when the scrolls are in their presence.

The Rabbi tells us that their daily services are primarily for prayer and that there are 1400 seats in the synagogue which are only filled on special days. However, on a regular day with regular services, around 300 people are present and the daily services attract much fewer participants.

On returning to the Succah Room Mehri asks everyone to take their seats while the Rabbi, the Imam, Mehri and Zahra Imame (from the IUS) all take their seats at the front. The layout for the evening was explained − the Rabbi and Imam would both speak briefly; then two young people (Muslim and Jewish) would talk about being religiously observant in their own and other communities.

Speeches

The Rabbi speaks about how Muslims and Jews both have rule-based religions, how we value community and aim to build bridges. He informs us about the Sabbath and its rules, such as not being allowed to do anything constructive. So, for example, you cannot cook, drive, write letters, etc. This creates an environment of spirituality, fostering prayer and worship. He describes this as a difficult concept to explain to others who are not a part of the religion. These are the types of challenges observant Jews face. For example, when mixing in society and going to places like schools and universities, Jews must observe specific boundaries between men and women; the degrees of fraternization outside marriage must be observed. He tells us that the aim of a Rabbi is, ultimately, to sanctify God’s name.

The Imam, Hassanain Govani, starts his speech with a reference to the place of worship they are in and how God’s name is mentioned. He tells the story of Imam Ali (as) who was once walking past a Christian building and the people with him were mocking that building and asking one another (in a sarcastic manner) about the amount of attention God will give to that building. The Imam says they should be wondering about the amount of worship that is taking place in that building and how great that is. He talks about the similarities and differences that exist between the way Muslims and Jews fast: how Muslims fast for a month, but Jews fast for 24 hours, for the duration of one week. He refers to the similar issues that Muslims and Jews face and how wider society reacts towards different observances. He states the need for us as faith groups to unite and come together.

Questions and answers

The session takes on a Question and Answer format.

On communities and converting

One Muslim participant asks the Rabbi about sects in Judaism and if they are like those in Islam. The Rabbi says that they have different communities in Judaism and how dress, such as some Jews who wear long side-locks or special hats can symbolise their different communities. Some communities are not Orthodox and they choose which requirements they want to observe from the formal codes of Jewish law, known as the Halakha.

Another participant asks how someone can become a Jew. The Rabbi answers that the first step is for them to be sincere about their request. When people come to him with the view of converting to Judaism, he tells them that if you are a decent person and act morally and believe in God, then you, too, can go to Heaven. It is not a requirement that you be a Jew in order to go to Heaven. But if that person still wants to be a Jew, then they will be assigned a tutor and will live with a Jewish family for a period of time, to be able to learn their ways and customs. The whole process takes a few years. Then they will need to be circumcised and immersed in the pure water of the Mikveh.

On modesty and beauty

One Jewish participant asks the Imam, “Is the hijab compulsory?” and he explains that it is compulsory for both men and women, but in different ways. When talking about lowering their gaze (and being modest) the Qur’an addresses both men and women. Mehri explains how ‘hijab’ comes from the word ‘hojb’, and asks the Imam to elaborate on that. He talks about how people have taken the Qur’anic reference to ‘hojb’ to mean different things. He talks about the desert and how they had to wear head coverings, due to the heat. He explains how some believe you should just “be modest” whereas some say you need to “have the full covering”.

A female asks about differentiating between beauty (which, according to her, God has asked us to have and has given us) and being attractive. The Imam explains that natural beauty is different to being attractive and he says that even if a man is very beautiful, he, too, must cover himself; it all depends on the level of beauty and attractiveness. The Rabbi agrees with him and says that Judaism wants you to “be attractive but not provocative.” It is possible to be attractive but also to maintain modesty.

Youth talks

After a refreshing and relaxing break, everyone returns to their seats for the young speakers to come to the front. The first speaker is a young midwife, called Sarah, who is of Jewish faith. She works at The Royal Free Hospital and starts talking about the challenges she faces, as a professional, in regards to practising her faith. The first example she gives is about how she dresses and, due to the nature of her job, she was asked to wear trousers for the first time. Jewish women do not wear trousers, as they are seen to be too revealing and not modest. However, with permission from her Rabbi, Sarah had to wear trousers on the labour ward to comply with work regulations.

Sarah talks about her Muslim friend and how they look out for each other and the similarities in their beliefs, while going on to relate the story of how she worries about getting home from work in time for the Sabbath and how she usually asks her bosses to plan her shifts according to this and will normally take time off for Jewish festivals, but make up for it by being present at work when there are festivals of other faiths, such as Christmas and New Year’s.

One participant asks Sarah about covering hair and when women have to cover their hair in Judaism. Sarah explains that once a young lady is married, she is required to cover her hair in the presence of other men (not her husband). She informed us that some women wear headscarves, but they don’t have to cover their necks, so others wear wigs to cover their hair. Someone asks why they cover their hair once married and Sarah informs us that this is in order to keep it special for your husband and to remind you of how you should behave.

Next, a young Muslim speaker called Afrah talks about herself. She is in her second year at university. Afrah tells those present about the essence of religion and how she encounters peoples of different backgrounds. She talks about respecting different faiths and how we should engage in discussions, like the present one, to increase our knowledge and understanding of each other’s faiths.

Sarah is asked if when she cares for patients on the ward, she refers to religion at all and if her patients wanted to hear about religion or not. Sarah tells us that most patients who are on the ward and have had negative experiences, such as losing their babies, do not want to hear about religion or things like the will of God. She explains how you do not want to hear about God when you are upset, but when you have had some time to think things over, speaking with your religious leader helps. This session was concluded and we moved onto the last part of the programme.

Workshops

The youth sit around four tables, each group with their own flipchart, discussing topics they felt were important or relevant to them. The room was filled with sounds of people agreeing, disagreeing and generally conversing. This lasted for a few minutes before one person was chosen from each table, to make notes and report back to the rest of the room.

One table discusses the laws of modesty and finds that Islam was sometimes stricter than Judaism. They compare how people become Rabbis with how people become Imams; they also compare the different ways people choose their Rabbis or Imams. Things like shaking hands with the opposite gender and wearing religious articles of clothing were discussed, along with their impacts and effects on one’s behaviour.

The second table talks about persecution and escaping from it, as they had had first hand experiences. They discuss if it was permissible, in Islam and Judaism, for people to question their religion; and they found that it was. People were encouraged, especially in Islam, to ask questions until they were satisfied and convinced. Kosher and Halal foods were discussed, along with Muslims’ and Jews’ joint ability to have vegetarian foods. Interestingly enough, they discover that some Jews and Muslims even shared the same surnames!

A third table speaks about identities and how maintaining one’s identity helps to face and deal with challenges. They discuss the ban on hijab in France and how, in general, the world is becoming less accepting of religions and more liberal. The fourth and final table talks about practising faith and having a strong sense of identity. They felt it was our own responsibility to tell others about our faith and to represent our religions.

Finally, the Rabbi thanks everyone for their participation and says that it has been a very “powerful evening” and “an eye-opener” for everyone. Mehri also thanks everyone for making it “an enjoyable learning experience.” People clap, hug, kiss and exchange details. Everyone goes their separate ways, with hopes of meeting again soon.

Freedom: the right to do as we like and the ability to choose our own destiny is not just a Western concept but a concept at the core of Islam. It was freedom that allowed our Prophet (pbuh) to embody the religion of Islam and spread Allah’s (swt) message and it was this very concept that brought so many to Islam and gave them the opportunity to freely submit to God. This freedom is the same concept of free will so often spoken about in religious discourse. Adam (as) was given superiority over the angels in the Quranic narration, when the angels were ordered to bow down to him, because Allah (swt) gave Adam (as) and the rest of humanity the ability to choose the path they wish to follow. If it be a path of good, they may reach a status higher than that of the angels and if it be a path of evil they may plummet to lowliness lower than the animals.

On the creation of humanity with this ability, Imam Ali (as) has said,

“Allah (swt) has created the angels from the intellect, He did not place lust in them; and He created the animals with lust, but did not place intellect in them. But He placed both intellect and lust in the sons of Adam (as). Therefore, he whose intellect overcomes his lust is greater than the angels. And he whose lust overcomes his intellect is lower than the animals.” (1)

Allah’s (swt) existence and being

To comprehend the purpose of creation we must fully appreciate the existence of Allah (swt). He existed before everything and will exist after everything, thus He is not limited by anything. We as human beings depend on Allah (swt) for our existence, we depend on food for our livelihood and we depend on people for our sanity. We are reduced to weak incapability without nourishment; we are social creatures that are naturally inclined to suffer morale and self esteem drops in situations of solitude or bereavement. Allah (swt) on the other hand is independent and needs nothing from anyone or anything.

Since Allah (swt) is all perfection, one of his attributes is that He is Al-Kareem (Most Generous) and He is the Giver of grace and bounty:

“The bounty of your Lord is not confined” (Quran 17:20).

If it appears that He does not give, there is a problem on the end of the receiver, not on His part. Thus if a thing has the possibility of good He will create it as it would be unjust to His being to not create what can be good; therefore His giving nature makes creation necessary.

Allah (swt) created angels who possess all the perfections possible for them. According to Quran and Hadith they do not have an element of struggle and strife to attain their perfections but perfection is innate in their being. They all have a known station and are drawn up in ranks to glorify the Almighty. They do not precede Him in speech and (only) according to His commandment do they act (Quran 21:27).

In the words of Imam Ali (as):

“He created the openings between high skies and filled them with all classes of angels. Some of them are in prostration and do not raise their heads. Others are in a kneeling position and do not stand up. Some of them are in array and do not leave their position. Others are extolling Allah (swt) and do not get tired.” (2)

Humanity however, was created with a higher perfection − the ability of attaining good from its own will and performance against an ongoing force of evil. Thus every action we take in creating good or doing what is good means we are fulfilling our purpose of creation.

What we can do

Since, upon reflection, we understand that we have free will it means that we can do almost anything we want. We have 24 hours in a day, 8 or so of which we rest, 16 with which we can work and play. We need time for spirituality, time for family, time for ourselves, time for friends and time for our community. We have capabilities and talents, aspects which we are strong in, others in which we find ourselves to be weak. We can strengthen our strong points, work on our weaknesses, and excel as individuals. We need be confident and hardworking, polite and respectful. Modesty and humility are important, generosity and charity are essential.

It’s all very nice to have such a positive outlook and be aware of what we can do but it would be foolish for us to assume that adopting such a lifestyle is so easy. Life is a struggle; as much as we may struggle with difficulties and tragic events in our life, we struggle with self constructed ills ­− laziness, over thought problems and despair.

Our grandmothers’ advice may instruct us to do a certain good act because we will attain such and such amount of thawab (reward/good deeds) but in our modern outlook on religion we should not be doing actions for good deeds but instead we should understand our actions for the good they produce. Yet in essence doing an action for a good deed is because this action is good, it promotes good, helps us to achieve good and simply aids us in fulfilling our purpose of creation.

Every time we practice random kindness, every time we offer up our time to help a charity, every time we sacrifice some time to visit the ill or visit the dead we are taking steps towards our purpose of living and the reason we were created: exercising our free will to do good. Very often seeing others’ hardships and involving ourselves in helping others aids us in turn to make the most of our time on this earth. We need to take the time out to appreciate what our existence stands for because without this we cannot really travel the path of good.

Evaluating our days in reflection is a tremendously useful tool employed by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. We are lucky to have regulated prayer in our everyday lives but an addition of some time for reflection can do wonders. Reflecting on our past helps us to learn from mistakes, learn from achievements and produce a better day in our next. The purpose of Allah’s (swt) creation of humanity is so that we may serve Him but in our ignorance we think this is only the upholding of the compulsory actions. True service, however, is the worship of the free, those who in their compulsory actions worship freely, out of their own will, those who choose to do all that is good, to eliminate all that is bad in their being, to travel a path of pure intention towards the Almighty. It is an ongoing struggle on an onwards going journey.

References:

(1) Wasa’il al-Shi’ah, vol.11, pg. 164.

(2) Nahjul Balaghah, Sermon 1.

Credits: Images are from flickr and iStockPhoto: Two Paths.  Seagull. Individual Power.

Social sharing – the broadcasting of our thoughts and activities – is seen as a major behavioural shift and is the most important sociological phenomenon of the 21st century. The information we choose to share with friends, colleagues and even strangers, is re-defining the idea of what is private and public before our very eyes.

If you have a Facebook account, go to your profile and notice the categories – a typical profile contains answers to most of the questions employers are not allowed to ask during job interviews: race, origin, relationship status, political views and even religious views. All of that information can tell you a lot about a person and that is not even half of it – your taste in music, movies, television shows, and anything else you choose to share on your profile is ample information for someone to feel like they know you.

What is privacy?

Previously, privacy was defined as the ability of an individual or group to seclude them or information about themselves and thereby reveal them selectively. Having the autonomy to control the sharing of information and how it will be used and manipulated is paramount to an individual’s right to privacy. Implicitly, this definition is gradually becoming obsolete and the usage of the term in this context is losing its meaning.

Not long ago, privacy was perceived as the norm and invading it required justification. Today we live in a society in which exposure is the norm and the request to protect one’s privacy almost demands justification. People seem to justify their over-sharing behaviour with the common phrase – ‘We’ve got nothing to hide, so what’s the problem?’

Facebook’s strategy

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook who made all of this possible, states that ‘people have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people.’ According to him, the new generation values openness, and casts anyone who cares about privacy as old-fashioned. Zuckerberg has convinced Facebook users that openness means the freedom to share the trivialities of daily life. These arguments are made convincingly and often with the magical words ‘we connect by sharing’. People are often unaware that Facebook’s strategy depends on our shifting notions of privacy.

Facebook, and other social networking websites, create services that are so useful or entertaining that people will give up ‘some’ privacy in order to use them. The strategy is then to convince people to give up more and more privacy and share more. The more that people are willing to put online, the more profit Facebook can make from advertisers by selling people’s information. That is why the privacy settings of Facebook are continuously changing to public-by-default and private-by-effort. It is also the exact same reason why Facebook encourages you to add more friends, not because they feel you are lonely and need to socialise, but because the more friends you add the more you will share. To put it differently, the entire business model of Facebook and other social networking websites are based on the notion of ‘monetising’ people’s privacy. To succeed they must slowly change the notion of privacy itself – the social norm – so that what users are giving up doesn’t seem so valuable in the first place.

The world, it seems, is responding. Facebook is now the biggest social network in countries ranging from Indonesia to Colombia. In fact, it is even bigger than Indonesia and Columbia. Statistics show that if Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest in the world with a population of more than 500 million people. The change to ‘openness’ is made possible by the way social networking sites are structured. Sharing everything about anything has made very easily by the lay-out, using words such as ‘share’, ‘friends’ and ‘status’ so that people do not feel there is anything wrong with sharing specific information. This gives users a false sense of security; people say or do things they wouldn’t normally do or say in person. This over-sharing may have potentially negative consequences.

Media reports have shown that user’s Facebook sites have been used in assessing their employment candidacy. A survey found that one out of four employers has rejected applicants based on research via search engines. Moreover, students have been suspended or criminally charged on the basis of information posted on Facebook. Research even indicates that a large amount of young people perceive psychological risks associated with feeling uncomfortable or regretful about their disclosure and social risks.

Shifting values

This development raises many questions: Is the new generation unaware of the consequences of over-sharing personal information or is Zuckerberg correct in saying that our generation is comfortable in sharing private information? According to research, it is a false assumption that the new generation is careless about its privacy and that it values openness.

There is a broad and deep interest in privacy, even if there is also a desire to engage in public. The two are not in opposition. People’s participation in social media does not mean that privacy is not important to them. The contrary is true, privacy often matters more to people when they are forced into the spotlight. But the new generation has a different concept of privacy and control than previously understood.

Awareness

As mentioned before, it is the structure of social networking websites which shifts the balance of power in terms of visibility. In online public spaces, interactions are public-by-default, private-through-effort – the exact opposite of what we experience in real life.  Online conversations, in contrary to daily life conversations, are easily overheard. These conversations are often persistent, searchable, and easily spreadable. Online, users have to put effort into limiting how far information flows. They have to consciously act to curb visibility.

This runs counter to every experience people have ever had in daily life and people don’t seem to put the effort into locking specific information down.  But this is not because they don’t care about privacy – this is because they don’t think that what they are saying really matters all that much to anyone. Most people are not aware of how their interactions online can be used to make serious assumptions about who they are, who they know, and are not well informed about the reach of the network, and how their profile could potentially be viewed by millions of people. Statistics show that over half of Facebook users surveyed are unaware that their profiles are searchable by millions of other Facebook users.

Opting out

Facebook is aware of the fact that people have a hard time leaving the website. That is why it has decided to lend a helping a hand. Whenever users are trying to leave, Facebook doesn’t seem to let them go. Pictures of friends suddenly appear in front of their screen with the message that these ‘friends’ will miss them dearly and that the reason they are giving for leaving is not valid enough and can be dealt with in many other ways. An entire manipulative route is designed just to hold on to users and not letting them get rid of Facebook.

The whole idea of deactivating a Facebook account is in itself quite misleading since the account will be activated automatically from the moment a user log in the next time, unless the user has discovered the mysteriously hidden ‘delete my account’ option, which is almost inaccessible and therefore people often are not aware that such a choice even exists.

For many people, the social cost of leaving social networking websites is far too great – even if they are uncomfortable with privacy settings. People may not like having their privacy violated or being in situations where they are being watched, but they will always choose social status and community relations over privacy. They would rather be vulnerable to more people and deal with institutions than to feel disconnected from their friends. Opting out of online communities is quickly becoming the same as opting out of society.

Conclusion

Social networking websites have become a cornerstone of people’s lives, a component of their identity and not something they will throw away over abstract concerns over who might see their baby photos. The sheer volume of personal information that people are publishing online and the fact that some of it could remain visible permanently raises deep concerns about ethical use and the lines of what is private and what is not.

The concept of privacy has become so blurred and misunderstood that people can find themselves involved in situations that are very undesirable and unexpected. Whether we like it or not, the battle over privacy has already been fought. The big corporations won. Whatever these powerful companies – with tentacles that reaches deep into our personal information – have done so far to invade people’s privacy, it is only the beginning of a never ending phenomenon that is fast expanding. Privacy is changing rapidly and in ways we can barely comprehend.

Credits: Images are from flickr. Facebook Map. Facebook: Do we Connect. Facebook. Facebook Settings

I looked around me. The sight of masses of people walking around in draping black garments, sitting down on fine Persian rugs, reciting, reading and contemplating was alluring.

As I sat in the middle of the crowds, watching people flowing in and out through the huge carved wooden doors, tears flowing down their cheeks, I was overwhelmed. I glanced to the other side where I could see groups of men and women, listening, interacting and crying along with a speaker or a reciter reading a eulogy for the Imams.

Seeing a shrine for the first time in my life was a deeply poignant experience. In fact, it was so emotional I didn’t know how to react. Cry? Smile? I didn’t know what to do. I was bowled over. I forgot about the distresses and worries of this world, I almost felt as though I was in a special spiritual mirage.

It was an early start the next day. I offered my Fajr Salah (morning prayers) in a near to empty shrine, where I could sit in front of the silver Dhareeh clenching onto its bars tightly, spilling all the Duas I knew, the things I needed and wanted to the 7th and 9th Imams (Imam Musa al-Kadhum and Imam Muhammad Al-Jawad (as)), asking them for the return of the awaited saviour, begging for peace and the eradication of tyranny and corruption.

The next destination would be Samarra, the home to the shrine of the Askariain (Imam Ali Al-Naqi and Imam Hassan Al-Askari (as)). It was a heartbreaking sight. The mountains of rubble and debris, ruins from the dome that was demolished and completely destroyed years back, still remained in front of the holy shrine. Inside the sound of the heavy machinery working round the shrine trying to repair a devastated heaven was heard. As we sat on the beautifully woven carpets in the open air, reading Duas (supplications), pleading for the intercession of the Imams, my eyes kept travelling to what was around me. Inside, the shrine was not even complete, it was wooden box draped in a black cloth. It stung to see that haters could inflict so much damage, so much pain.

We were back to the hotel in Kadhimiya within a few hours. I stayed in Kadhimiya for the next two days and again an early start was required for a three hour journey to Najaf. On the way, we saw the Al-Furat (Euphrates) river. My uncle’s eyes glistened with tears as he cried out that this was the very water Imam Hussain (as) did not get to drink. Then came a round of latimiyas (eulogies) and I could almost hear the wails of Zaynab and Sukaina.

Getting to touch the Dhareeh of Imam Ali (as) in Najaf proved to be a struggle. I could almost just hold on to it from far, any closer or putting my cheek on it was a far-fetched dream. Even as I stood holding it from a distance, I was crushed between the masses of indifferent people, all coming to the Imam (as) for their own reasons. I heard some making their Dua out loud; for a relative who was in a fatal condition, pleading for betterment for some they knew.

The following day we paid a brief visit to the first Imam (as) and then went to Kufa where he had led the Islamic state. The hustle and bustle of people scuttling round the marble floored courtyard in the middle of a mosque which surrounded the arena perfectly depicted the picture of how it must have looked centuries ago. However, this place also held a torrent of emotions. It homed Muslim ibn Aqeel, the cousin of Imam Hussain (as), betrayed by his own followers; it was here where the people’s swords were against the Imam, here where the masses turned their backs to the Imam and darted away from truth and justice.

Karbala was our destination for that same afternoon. After a much required rest at my uncle’s house, our residence for the while in Najaf, we headed off. Walking down the road to the shrine where the red flag was raised high above the glimmering, golden dome, I tried to picture how it must have looked 1400 years ago. In the heat of the battle, the children crying of thirst, the women attending to everyone’s needs, the desperate overflow of Duas and prayers inside the tents. Now it was transformed into a memorial which attracts millions of visitors annually to pay their allegiance to the Imam (as).

The shrine of Al-Abbas was just as touching. Being flag bearer and the loyal brother of the Imam came with a price. Here we were, here we stood, in our thousands to commemorate the sacrifice he made for us.

With our eyes filling and spilling with tears, we walked Bain Al-Haramain (between the two shrines) as I was remembering, recalling and contemplating over the many stories I had heard of Karbala.

As we climbed into the minicab, ready to be shuttled back ‘home’ to Najaf, I could proudly say that I had seen all the Imams in Iraq. It was a majestic visit that I was honoured to have experienced, and one which I pray every Muslim will live to experience too God-willing.

Credits: All images are from flickr. Red Karbala. Karbala. Candles

Metro: They Took Every Penny They Could

Visitors to www.number10.gov.uk/transparency will be welcomed by links to: “Business plans”, “Who does what in Whitehall” and “Who ministers are meeting.” The opening sentence boldly declares, “We want to be the most open and transparent government in the world.”

Ever since the MPs expenses scandal in 2009, “changing politics” or “cleaning up Westminster” have become oft-repeated phrases. The episode has been disastrous for Briton’s confidence in our elected representatives, especially as most people distrust politicians following sleaze stories. But could this Transparency website initiative start to turn back the tide?

About transparency

We can define transparency in this context as “a citizen’s access to information held by state organisations which facilitates their understanding of the decision-making process”. In this way it can be argued that Britain is already an extremely transparent nation, with websites like www.TheyWorkForYou.com that present what each and every MP (Members of Parliament), says in parliamentary debates, their voting record and written question & answers. It works by employing open source code to aggregate the content from Hansard, the official record of debates in the Houses of Parliaments.

In addition www.Data.gov.uk is a government initiative launched in January 2010, designed to link data published by public bodies in one place, ranging from local police crime statistics to money spent by NHS Primary Care Trusts.

Away from the web, legislation like the Freedom of Information Act 2000 introduced by the previous Labour government (coming into force in 2005) has arguably brought a whole new level of transparency to British politics. It allows members of the public and businesses to request access to information held by certain public authorities which is not freely available, and despite the numerous exemption clauses the act contains, has exposed many revealing facts that were formally state secrets. After all the MPs expenses scandal began from a FOIA request by a journalist in February 2008.

Examining the details

So is this new government Transparency website anything new? Perhaps the business plans are. The publishing of “business plans” for all government departments represent the fulfilling of a Conservative Party manifesto promise to “publish data so the public can hold government to account.”

This was among many other Big Society ideas expounded by the Conservative Party in the run up to the May 2010 general election, including a Big Society Bank to provide finance to charities and NGOs, and a National Citizen Service for 16 year olds.

“We’re shining a bright light of transparency on everything government does,” was among David Cameron’s carefully crafted sound bites in the website launch speech. The new standards for transparency the government has set itself are certainly greater than anything ever seen before in the UK.

To select a few examples, from now on all central government spending above £25,000 is to be published, all tender documents for government contracts over £10,000 to be published and organograms (organisational charts) of each department in a common format are to be published.

The Financial Times described the coalition as “creating a rod for its own back,” however there is a difference between giving citizens access to data, and making the data accessible. For example the data on central government spending is all in cryptic-looking Excel spreadsheets, which are very difficult for the layman to understand and difficult for software developers to integrate or “mash-up” with useful applications.

This is in stark with Facebook for example, which also stores and publishes large amounts of data, but does so in a format that can be exported to smart phones, website add-ons or a host of other sharing applications, or TheyWorkForYou which goes to great lengths to make the parliamentary statistics it presents understandable.

Hopes for the future

David Cameron hopes that the mass of published data will spur enterprising NGOs, think-tanks, charities and companies to take hold of this data and use it, manipulate it and campaign for the change they want government to do. In theory then, all these private institutions will be engaged in the public debate, whilst also pressuring for high standards of performance in public services.

Viewing Britain on the global stage we are apparently the 20th least corrupt nation. This is according to the 2010 CPI (Corruption Perceptions Index), a ranking of all 178 countries in the world produced every year by Transparency International, a respected Berlin-based NGO that campaigns to reduce levels of public sector corruption.

On the About Us page of TheyWorkForYou, their stated aim is to help bridge the gap between we the people and our MPs, in the belief that “there is little wrong with Parliament that a healthy mixture of transparency and public engagement won’t fix.” In a way this new Transparency website is perhaps trying to extend this principle from Parliament to government departments and the civil service too.

With a history of just a three months so far, an optimistic view of this new Transparency website would call it a revolution, a new era in British politics and bringing governance into the 21st century. Pessimists would usher it away as nothing new, just more data on top of the thousands of PDFs already published on government department websites, or a copy of Labour’s Public Service Agreements under a different name. But still in its infancy, only time will tell how useful a resource http://transparency.number10.gov.uk/will become.

Credits: Metro picture is from flickr. David Cameron picture is from flickr

Based on the success of this website over the past eight months the VOU is being transformed in an unprecedented manner since it was first published in 1995. Articles, stories and poetry will now be published on a regular basis instead of quarterly – and the layout of the home page has been changed to show the latest additions. This online medium facilitates a global reach and an interactive environment; a new generation of Muslim youth can engage through this platform to better selves and communities.

Statistics of the first eight months of  the website have shown over 5000 people have visited the site viewing over 25,000 pages in total. Many of our readers come to the VOU website directly, through emails or Facebook but almost half arrive here when they’ve searched for something on Google. Although most of our visitors are from the UK, almost 40% come from around the globe – with the top countries being the USA, Canada, Pakistan and Egypt. It is clear that the move to online publishing has the potential to make a tremendous impact. The scope for collaboration and engagement has been greatly enhanced. We have already been contacted by youth from North America, Lebanon, India and several people from around the UK who would not have otherwise been aware of the VOU, expressing their interest in contributing and getting involved. Currently there are 129 articles and poems online with over 200 comments published. Nonetheless the traditional printed magazine will still be printed and distributed annually throughout the UK with a selection of the best pieces published online during the year.

On this day of  the Arbaeen, the 40^th day commemoration of Ashura, it is an ideal time to take lessons from this epic tragedy and ask ourselves how we can spread the message of Imam Hussain (as) and serve Allah (swt) better. I hope one answer we can come to is to use the platform that the VOU offers to read, write and engage with others for the sake of Allah (swt).

If you have something you want to publish, simply get in touch. Perhaps you have an idea you would like to discuss and develop – just drop us a line. Do you feel passionately about a particular issue? Want to share something with everyone? Or perhaps just get something off your chest? The VOU is run by Muslim youth and is totally independent so please don’t hesitate to get involved.

I’ll spare you the cringe-worthy quotes and age-old sayings. Yes, the kind that stream Facebook profiles and status updates depicting a world of gleaming hope and romanticised ideals, because I know you’ve either heard or read them all before. But I will endeavour to reiterate the significance of such a small expression in not quite such a pink-frills-and-cotton-laces kind of way. For behind the ostentatious extravagance of these words, there is, no doubt, a beautiful subtlety to the truth and wisdom they conceal.

After all, what is a smile, other than a representation of a person’s true morals and real attitude to life itself? We’ve all been there with inadvertently and often unsuccessfully trying to avoid catching the eye of the oncoming passer-by, a situation in all its excruciating awkwardness we encounter day after day. It’s the culture of a cold nature and a streak of egocentrism that arguably seems to consume the big cities in particular.

And yet, it is not just that smiling fosters a more pleasant atmosphere to be in, but that it also serves to make people seem more approachable and attractive to others around them. Imam Ali (as) describes the believers as those who reveal their happiness with a pleasant expression, and hide their frowns. As followers and therefore representatives of the Ahlul Bayt (as), it seems evermore imperative on us to spread their light through the beauty of the morals they have taught us. Smiling is a unique gateway and an open invitation to showing people this − for the demonstration of such akhlaaq (morals and manners) can often impact so much more than the streams of literature and lectures we may try to throw at people.

On a more personal level, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that smiling is important in improving ones’ own psychology. A smile is essentially a physical manifestation of a healthier and happier state of mind. The idea that our expressions can enhance the emotions behind them was initially suggested by Charles Darwin and then later developed by psychologists. A recent study showed that women who had undergone numerous botox injections in their face, thereby increasingly impairing their ability to frown, were on average much happier, despite not feeling any more attractive after having received the treatment.

With so much of our energies focused on attaining life’s ever-elusive goal of ultimate perfection and happiness, it’s surprising that we often neglect the simplest and easiest of ways towards it. To go the extra mile, and smile in the face of adversity and the countless obstacles that are thrown at us, also takes us one step closer to attaining the true inner peace our souls yearn for.

And who, other than the Holy Prophet (pbuh) himself to demonstrate all of this, in a manner of such grace and beauty so typical of his stature? The image of a rigidly devout and serious figure, who used to greet people with a stern religiosity that many harbour of our great Prophet, is far from the truth. When greeting people, never was he seen without a smile on his face, and never was his face anything other than a haven of joy and love for his fellow man, no matter what their background and beliefs. There is so much emphasis on smiling in Islam that the Holy Prophet (pbuh) even goes as far as to describe it as a form of charity. But contrary to his legacy, it is often the followers of such a man, who are the sour-faced prunes of this society.

It is said that a smile is the shortest distance between two people. But not only is it the doorway to another, but also a pathway to attaining a more stoical attitude to life that would help a great deal in our search for ultimate happiness. Who knew such a small thing could be quite so significant? Unleash your greatest weapon, and take over the world with your smile. You’d be surprised just how powerful it can be.

Image by JKönig from flickr.com

Pastor Terry Jones and his small church, the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainsville, Florida, hosting a congregation of a mere 50, were unheard of until recently. His idea of burning the Quran was first presented in his book Islam is of the Devil. Terry Jones believes Islam promotes violence and that Muslims in the United States of America wish to bring Sharia Law into mainstream society. His plans to burn copies of the Quran are his way to ‘send a message to radical Islam that their behaviour will not be tolerated’.

When claims arose that he had started amassing Qurans and began advertising an event to burn Qurans on the 9^th anniversary of September 11th, the media took great interest.

What started on Facebook and Twitter ended up on global media outlets and the hysteria surrounding this story makes one wonder whether the media were covering the story or whether they were creating it. But a story like this was not to be ignored by the media as top politicians and non-Muslim religious officials got involved.

The US President, Baraka Obama, pushed for the event to be cancelled as it violated the United States principles of tolerance while Hilary Clinton, the US Secretary of State said ‘Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation’. German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, said the act ‘is plainly disrespectful’ and while Jone’s actions made it seem as though Christianity as a whole religion was against Islam, the Vatican’s newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, was published with the headline ‘No One Burns the Koran’. With top leaders condemning Jones’ act it should have been apparent that Jones is not supported on a global level and the majority of influential people across the world would not stand for such behaviour.

Sadly Muslims fell into the same trap of bigotry − In South Africa, Mohammed Vawda, announced he would burn the Bible as a counter protest while in Afghanistan, violence resulting from a few shouting ‘Death to Christians’ in protests which were held all over the country resulted in a number of deaths. What these Muslims failed to identify was that Islam teaches us to practise religious tolerance, to take to forgiveness, enjoin what is right and to simply turn away from the ignorant. (Quran 7:199)

The threats of this little-known church in Florida were threats of those who have neither read nor studied the Quran, let alone Islam as a whole, to see the true beauty that they emanate. When the world fosters Islamaphobia, tolerance and patience on our behalf need to be exercised. This does not mean we accept acts of injustice that are done towards us, but that we act and respond as decent, educated and tolerant Muslims.

As Ayatollah Sayed Sistani said in his statement:

‘The religious Marja’iya strongly condemns the attack on the great Qur’an and emphasizes the necessity of preventing its occurrence whilst stressing on Muslims, wherever they are, to exercise the highest degree of self-restraint and not to show what is harmful to followers of Christian churches remembering the saying of the Almighty:

“O you who believe, act steadfast towards God, as just witnesses; and do not let the ill-will of any folk incriminate you so that you swerve from dealing justly. Be just: that is nearest to heedfulness; and heed God [alone]. God is informed about what you do.”’ (Quran 5:8)

Islam does encourage us to stand up for our faith, it teaches us to fight against those who fight against our faith, but our enemy is not Christianity, the West or the Bible, our enemy is the ignorance of Terry Jones. Christianity, the West and the Bible stand with us against him. It was through the power of words, that the scheduled burning of Qurans was cancelled. It was through our voices that global pressure was put on Terry Jones to announce the cancellation of the event. It was knowledge and wisdom, not violence and hysteria that pushed Islam to defend itself and secure its defence.

Image by meshaphoto from iStockPhoto.com

There is no distance between the servant and his Master (swt) except the obstacle which he himself has placed and created by his actions, which has veiled and distanced Allah (swt) from His servant. As Imam al-Sajjad (as) is reported to have said in his supplication:

“The seeker after You has a near distance to You. And verily, You are not veiled from Your creatures unless deeds veil You from them! “

The nafs (self) is the main obstacle which creates veils between the servant and his Master (swt), and the one who has control over himself is someone who is able to overcome many of the challenges he faces on his journey towards Allah (swt) and is the bravest of men. The Commander of the Faithful is reported to have said:

“The bravest person is the one who could dominate over the passions of his self.”

So in order for man to fulfil his purpose in life and his creation he has to remove these veils and obstacles that he has and is placing between him and his Lord, the infinite and absolute, every single day and moment. Once he is purified, the veils are lifted and he has discovered who he truly is then his worship will be different than before and will taste the sweetness of communicating with Allah (swt). As Imam al-Sajjad (as) says:

“My God, who can have tasted the sweetness of Thy love, then wanted another in place of thee? Who can have become intimate with Thy nearness, then sought removal from thee?”

To help on ones journey toward Allah (swt), the following advice could be followed:

1. Have vigilance over the self (nafs). This means one should guard his heart from any sort of temptation. He should not neglect it even for a moment — for otherwise he may be deceived by his carnal desires.
2. One must be strict in guarding his self against committing any type of sin. During a period of twenty four hours he or she must fix a time for self-scrutiny and with extreme accuracy should review his daily deeds and scrutinize himself. Imam Ali (as) is reported to have said: “Before being audited on the Judgment Day it is better to self-scrutinize your deeds in this same world.”
3. Try and be in constant remembrance of Allah (swt) as it is reported in a narration: ”Remembrance of God is the key to proximity (to Him).”
4. Keep vigil in nights in contemplation, worship, supplication and thinking. This practice is con­sidered to be from the most important acts of the wayfarer. In the praise of the virtuous Allah (swt) says: They used to sleep but little of night…. (51:17)
5. Eat only when you feel absolutely hungry. (5, 6 and 7 are from the instructions of Imam Sadiq (as) to Unwan al-Basari.)
6. Whoever threatens you with abusive language, you should promise him good wishes and advice.
7. Whoever accuses you, you must say in reply: “If you said it right may God forgive me and if you lied then may God forgive you.”
8. One should maintain ablution all the time. The Holy Prophet (pbuh) is reported to have said: “The God-Almighty said: Whoever after termination of ablution does not perform it again has been unfaithful to me …”

Finally and most importantly, the wayfarer towards Allah (swt) should shut his eyes from looking at what is prohibited and is not beneficial, his ears should not listen to slander, vilification and obscene words, his tongue should be protected from the same kind of errors and the lips should be sealed from speaking what is devoid of benefit. The wayfarer should protect his stomach from unlawful and suspect things, and in the case of lawful things he should not consume greedily and lustfully in a state of being oblivious of Allah (swt). He should also protect his feet and hands as well as his sexual organs from what is unlawful and prohibited.

So it is essential for the seeker of Allah (swt) to change the darkness of ignorance of his heart into illumination by means of the light of knowl­edge, to attain the light of certainty (yaqin) by removing the darkness of doubt, to reach Tawhid by coming out of the darkness of polytheism, and to attain the light of faith by freeing himself from the perplexity of negation (1).

Oh Lord! Be kind to us. Bestow upon us Your love and knowledge and guide us from darkness towards illumination.  If You, Yourself make us know You, we would certainly love You. Your Love would burn whatever falsehood, ignorance and arrogance which exist, rather the fire of Your love will burn down whatever veils exist between You and us. And we would become the way you want Your friends to be.

(1) Adab al-Suluk: A Treatise on Spiritual Wayfaring.