The Middle East and religion: an Islamic reading of the Golden Rule
Both Hamas and Israel should stop manipulating the language of faith and morals to justify extreme and indiscriminate violence, writes Islamic theologian Marwan Sarwar Gill in Argentine daily Clarín. Religion (in good faith) ultimately offers a way out of conflict the bad faith has fueled.
The Prophet Muhammad is reported to have been with his disciples one day when some local Jews passed by, bearing the body of a deceased man to the cemetery. The Prophet stood up to offer his condolences, which offended one of his followers who asked him why he had shown respect to people who were not Muslims.
His reply was to ask, "Was he not human?"
This is a golden rule in religion — that respect for God-given life precedes distinctions based on faith, beliefs, or ethnic attachments. It is on that basis that I must vigorously condemn both Hamas's terrorist attack on civilians in Israel and the Israeli army's massacre of civilians in Gaza.
The pretexts are, on the one hand, fighting over the usurpation of your lands and defending your sovereignty, and on the other, self-defense and a justified response to terrorism. In no circumstance however can one condone the killing of civilians and especially children. The Holy Koran specifically condemns violence against civilians, comparing the murder of an innocent with murdering humanity itself.
The spiritual successor to the Prophet (khalifa) and head of the Islamic Ahmadi Community to which I belong, His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad, has said of the war that has erupted between Hamas and Israel that women and children, the elderly and the innocent may never be killed, even in war. He said that Hamas had taken the first step in this martial escalation, and that in spite of the consequent killing of Palestinian civilians, Muslims must always be sure to adhere to the teachings of Islam. If a legitimate state of war exists, it must be strictly limited to the respective armies. In that sense, says the Ahmadi caliph, Hamas's attack must be condemned, though regardless of its cruelty, the response should have limited itself to targeting Hamas.
One must point out, just as Judaism is not responsible for the actions of the Israeli army, so Islam is not responsible for Hamas's actions. Shouting God is Greatest (Allah-u akbar) or using theological language will not in itself make your act licit in religious terms. Each faith has its sources, and Islam is sourced in The Koran, and (below it) traditions and sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, a messenger of mercy and peace.
So the slogan God is Greatest is no license for acts of violence, when it is, in fact, a call to peace, harmony and unity. Allah is God's personal name (in The Koran and in Arabic), and as the holy book states in its first chapter, He is the Lord and Creator of all humanity. If you love God, you must thus love and respect His creation. As the Prophet said, those who show no mercy cannot expect God's mercy.
Likewise, the word jihad does not signify war against non-Muslims but a "great effort" to be made against wickedness in oneself. Islam only permits war in self-defense and to safeguard freedom of worship. The Koran tasks Muslims (believers) with protecting any house of worship, whether it be a mosque, a synagogue, church, or temple. The Prophet told his flock they must foment a sense of safety around them, with their actions and deeds.
So this is not a war between Muslims and Jews. Neither faith threatens the other's existence, and both are heralds of universal fraternity and peaceful coexistence. The two faiths are not the cause or source but rather hold the solution to this clash. The guilty party here are those who distort sacred texts to justify their own interests.
As for myself, my deepest wish is for peace between both peoples. Meanwhile, if there is nothing constructive we can do to resolve the conflict and save innocent lives, at least let us not create new divides between the people around us.
— Marwan Sarwar Gill / Clarín
• Hamas releases two more hostages, Macron in Israel: Two elderly women were released by Hamas on Monday night, bringing the total to four hostages freed so far. Yocheved Lifschitz said during a news conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday that she “went through hell” in Gaza. She said that she had been captured by Hamas fighters on motorbikes, and at one point was beaten with sticks and forced to walk. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Israel on Tuesday, saying the “first objective” should be to secure the release of all hostages.
• Russian airstrikes on Kharkiv region: At least six people were killed and 16 others injured after a Russian missile strike on a postal terminal in Kharkiv. U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, called the attack “horrific,” and said that the United States “stands with Ukraine to hold Russia accountable.” Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, was liberated from Russian occupation by Ukrainian troops last year, but has been the target of frequent aerial assaults by Moscow. For more, we offer this recent analysis by Andriy Sinyavskyi and Serhii Sydorenko for Ukrainska Pravda.
• Republicans still searching for new U.S. House leader: The Republican Party, whose discord has paralyzed the U.S. House of Representatives for the past three weeks, tried on Monday to find consensus on a new speaker to lead the chamber and address funding needs for Israel, Ukraine and the federal government. Eight candidates made their pitches to fellow Republicans at a 2 1/2 hour closed-door forum and answered questions about how they would handle the job. With a narrow majority of 221-212 in the House, it is not clear whether any Republican can get the votes needed to claim speakership.
• Machado claims victory in Venezuela primary, Maduro calls it “fraud”: Former lawmaker Maria Corina Machado claimed victory in the Venezuelan opposition's primary after a significant lead with support above 90%, which would potentially allow her to challenge Nicolas Maduro. With 65% of the ballots counted on Monday afternoon, the organizers of the primary had not declared Machado the winner, but she had 1,473,105 votes or nearly 93% of the total and was far ahead of the other 9 candidates. Her closest competitor had under 70,819 votes, just over 4%. Maduro, the longtime socialist president who is expected to seek a third term next year despite the crises of his government, described the primary vote as a “fraud.”
• UK cargo ship sinks off coast of Germany after collision: A British cargo ship has reportedly sunk off the coast of Germany following a collision, leaving several people missing. The ships, Polesie and Verity, collided in the early morning about 14 miles southwest of the island of Helgoland in the North Sea. The British-flagged Verity has reportedly sunk. One person was rescued from the water and was given medical treatment, and rescuers are searching for several more people. The ship was headed from Bremen to the English port of Immingham. The other ship, the Bahamas-flagged Polesie, remained afloat with 22 people on board.
• Bangladeshi train collision kills 17: At least 17 people have died after two trains collided in Bangladesh. A freight train crashed into the rear coaches of a passenger train in Bhairab, 50 miles north-east of Dhaka on Monday afternoon. A signal error is likely the cause, according to a railway official. Train accidents are not uncommon in Bangladesh due to poor infrastructure.
• RIP Bobi, the world’s oldest dog: The oldest dog in the world, a Portuguese Rafeiro do Alentejo dog named Bobi, has died at the age of 31, or about 217 in dog years. Leonel Costa, Bobi’s owner, announced on Monday that Bobi had died in a veterinary hospital over the weekend, at the ripe age of 31 years and 165 days. Bobi’s breed, commonly used as sheepdogs, typically live between 10 and 14 years. He had been declared the world’s oldest dog in February. More about man’s best friend here.
Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet reports on the announcement that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has signed the protocol to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership, removing one of the final hurdles blocking the Nordic country from joining the military alliance. Sweden and Finland had applied to join NATO last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but the former’s entry had been stymied by Turkey after Erdogan accused Stockholm of being too soft on militant groups which Ankara considers to be security threats. Sweden still awaits Hungary’s green light, following the Nordic country’s spat with Prime Minister Viktor Orban over the state of Hungarian democracy. Read more on the potential impact on Orban of recent Polish elections.
72
British NGO Environmental Investigation Agency released a report which found that 72 pharmaceutical companies licensed by China’s drug regulator are using endangered animals’ body parts in their medicines. These animals include leopards and pangolins in the cases of China’s top three pharmaceutical companies, but also tigers and rhinos in other cases.
Western plunders of antiquities? Challenging the new Chinese uproar
There is no doubt that the old museums in Europe and America bear deep imprints of the colonial era; in a mirror image, “protecting treasures” has become a transcendental reference for the new China, writes You Peng in Singapore-based digital media The Initium.
🏺 Chinese artifacts were often thought to have made their way to the British Museum and the Louvre Museum via colonialism. However, in theory, most of these collections were legally acquired in China. We can certainly use the familiar mainstream critique that these explorers, scholars, and missionaries took advantage of a weak and impoverished China. However, it is undeniable that at the time, cultural relics had greater value in Europe and the United States than in China.
🔙 With China’s economy growing substantially, can it now ask for the return of the cultural relics without compensation? An interesting case for comparison dates back to 1906, when one minister from the Qing court purchased more than 40 stone tablets and three wooden coffins at a local antique store in Cairo. These objects are now in the National Museum of China. If Europe and the United States are expected to return the cultural relics purchased from the Chinese in the late Qing Dynasty, by the exact same logic, shouldn’t China also return this haul of Egyptian relics?
🇨🇳 Nationalism generally stems from one of two sources — a sense of oppression by external forces, as claimed by neo-Nazis, or a sense of superiority, as with white Americans. China's nationalism in the modern sense clearly originated from the first, i.e., the historical intergenerational trauma inflicted by Western powers since the Opium War. Displaced cultural relics have become a nationalist and populist Macguffin in this context, eclipsing any legal or academic discussion.
➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com
Kvennafri
In Iceland, tens of thousands of women, including Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, are refusing to work on Tuesday for the “Kvennafari,” or women’s day off. Participants will be protesting the gender pay-gap and gender based violence, with women and non-binary people encouraged to abstain from both paid and unpaid labor, including household chores. This Kvennafari will be the first full-day women’s strike since 1975, a walkout which then prompted an equal pay law to be passed by parliament the following year.
📸 PHOTO DU JOUR
Participants at a vigil in Sacramento, U.S., hold posters of hostages held by Hamas. Two elderly women were released by Hamas on Monday night, bringing the total to four hostages freed so far. — Photo: Paul Kitagaki Jr./ZUMA
✍️ Newsletter by Michelle Courtois, Anne-Sophie Goninet and Valeria Berghinz
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