In 2009, a very pessimistic assessment of the usually self-satisfied Arabs was offered by the UN’s Arab Development Report:
•Half of Arab women cannot read;
•One in five Arabs live on less than $2 per day;
•Only 1 percent of the Arab population has a personal computer, and only half of 1 percent use the Internet;
•Fifteen percent of the Arab workforce is unemployed, and this number could double by 2010;
•The average growth rate of the per capita income during the preceding 20 years in the Arab world was only one-half of 1 percent per annum, worse than anywhere but sub-Saharan Africa.
Statistics can be boring. But they are important. I had always believed that poverty and illiteracy are directly proportional. These statistics are proof. Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous and desperately poor nation, is evidence. More than a quarter of almost 82 million Egyptians live in abject poverty. And they were never busy tweeting or updating their statuses on Facebook. They were simply trying to put food on the table. While mobile phone penetration was almost at 100 percent, the vast majority of those phones were not smart and were used only for calls. Only forty-four out of 100 Egyptians even know how to use the Internet or have any access to it. The majority of Muslims live in the once undivided but now three different countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India—in other words, the Indian subcontinent has the world’s largest Muslim population. And these three countries have enormously high rates of poverty and illiteracy. Who are the victims of this twin scourge? Muslims. In short, the luxurious hyper-connected Saudis are a rare exception to the average and majority Muslim “condition.”
Six in ten Muslims not being able to read? Are they unknowingly disobeying the call to intellect at the heart of Islam? Are they so wretchedly poor that they literally have no choice? Where is the FDR-like figure for Muslims who could lift an entire generation out of poverty? Do Muslims have a right to call out for a pan-Islamic leader who could unite them under Islam’s original promises, which include basic dignity and literacy (and also available jobs)?
Poverty and illiteracy, both al-Qaeda and Daesh and many before them had found, were ideal and potent breeding grounds for terror. Islam doesn’t need an ijtihad that a quarter of humanity would agree to in this time of ignorance. What it needs are schools and jobs to counter the perverted rhetoric espoused every Friday in millions of mosques, that are not in the West. Muslims around the world also need to teach and learn from their very own “millennials,” an enormous, ever-growing demographic.
Much happened during the year of A Sinner in Mecca’s European tour. The most important was the savagery of the 2015 Paris carnage. Soon after, I took a Thalys train from Amsterdam to Brussels. I was going all the way because two of the national Belgian TV networks needed a “Muslim of the moment” to explain the often inexplicable to their Dutch, French, and German (Flemish) audiences.
For the first TV interview, the anchor asked me how the Hajj changed me.
“How to deal with claustrophobia,” I said, laughing. “But more seriously it was a life-transforming journey because in Mecca I killed the part of me that questioned whether Islam would accept me. In its place was the certainty that it was up to me to accept Islam.”
“Do you?” he asked.
“Yes, with confidence and on my own terms. Not on the terms of the equally dangerous House of Saud and Daesh.”
“Who speaks for Muslims?”
“They speak for themselves. 99.9 percent of Muslims,” I told the anchor who was trying to corner me, “are just like you and me. Decent, hard-working people trying to make their lives work, to feed their families.” I managed to engage him in a discussion about how Europe really needed to win the ideological battle with Wahhabi Islam. He asked me to stay “after the break.”
By now I had done a lot of European press in small European countries. The bloodbath in Brussels was still a few months away, but the city was in complete shutdown because the alleged mastermind of the Paris massacres, Salah Abdelslam, whom his lawyer later famously called an empty ashtray and asshole, had allegedly been found in this city, the home of the ineffectual bureaucracies of the European Union.
I had disembarked into a station with soldiers and canines everywhere. When I got to my hotel a battle tank stood at its entrance. I told them that I was an American filmmaker who had been invited for an interview by a major broadcaster. They searched my backpack and ran some kind of quick background check on my passport. The latter seemed silly because the Belgians and the EU in general were notorious for not sharing intelligence. I asked one of the soldiers if I could have a cigarette before checking in. He turned out to be a fellow smoker and we shared my lighter. Here it was in action: the International League of Nonviolent Smokers, helping each other, as always. Inside, the lone receptionist looked frightened and refused to check me in. The Belgian producer had to be called and thankfully she answered her mobile. I was in.
Later that night, a taxi arrived to drive me to the second TV studio through what I had expected to be a desolate city but was now mired in traffic created by escapee panicked citizens probably expecting a Paris-style terrorist attack. Luckily for them the next day would be off. My Moroccan cab driver complained about Uber. I asked him if he was racially or religiously profiled in “these days.”
“What’s new about that? That’s always been true,” he said. He asked me what film I was promoting. I dared not tell him the title.
“Oh, it’s a documentary about the Hajj,” is what came out of my mouth, and he answered with the expected, “Alhamdulillah.”
The second TV anchor was obsequious, and expectedly I was asked to opine about the refugees and then Abdelslam. I dutifully did. For this interview, I felt I managed a small victory by saying, “To make illogical statements like Islam is the religion of peace only perpetrates a falsehood. Yes, at least 99 percent of the world’s Muslims are not terrorists. But it’s that 1 percent or less that we should have saved from what is ultimately Saudi dogma. We didn’t. And last I checked Obama and King Salman were still BFFs.”
I was hungry that night and the abandoned hotel had no room service or chefs. I walked outside for a cigarette. Thankfully it was the same soldier on duty.
I told him how during previous trips to Brussels I had always “looked for my own people.” I described how I had once made my way from Maelbeek metro station to the neighborhood of Molenbeek during Ramadan. They say today that Brussels’ “Muslim problem” lives in the suburb of Molenbeek, which is 41 percent Muslim. As its notoriety spread, the New York Times even called the neighborhood “The Islamic State of Molenbeek.”
I told the soldier about one old pre-terror Ramadan trip. The neighborhood was alive with festivity, lights, and lanterns, shops selling all kinds of Ramadan goodies, and everywhere the smells of Indian and Pakistani spices. Everyone was out and about that night, I told him, because it was iftaar (breaking of the fast) time.
“I can even smell those wonderful smells,” I said.
“I’ve been there during Ramadan too,” he said. “It has the best shawarma.”
Sharing a cigarette with this armed soldier, standing next to a battle tank, and learning he appreciated Molenbeek’s shawarma, felt oddly comforting.
Within a few months every single reporter, on the ISIS/IS/ISIL/Daesh beat in the world would learn how to correctly pronounce both Molenbeek and Maelbeek.
Exactly how the West learned to spell, pronounce, and find Afghanistan on a map after a sunny, cloudless September morning in what now seems like a faraway time.
GLOSSARY*†
Abaya: A black, thick, cloak-like garment that women in Saudi Arabia are required to wear in public. The abaya is opaque and its comfort level in extreme heat depends on whether it is from a couture house or is a nylon/polyester “made in China” garment. It has several moving parts, including a full-face veil called the niqab, which covers everything but the eyes, and the hijab or headscarf. Some w
omen also choose to wear black gloves and socks with it. Its use outside Saudi Arabia is varied.‡
Ahl al-Bayt: Literally, “Family of the House.” In this case, the family of the Prophet Muhammad. This family is very central to the sectarian split in Islam between Shia and Sunni. For the Shia, the family comprises the Prophet’s daughter, Hazrat Fatima; her husband and the prophet’s cousin, Ali (also their first caliph); and their sons, Hassan and Husayn. For Shia Muslims this is the rightful line of succession, with Imam Ali being the first leader. For Sunni Muslims, the family’s composition has been contentious. For them, Abu Bakr, the Prophet’s father-in-law, is the rightful successor to the Prophet, and they take a completely different lineage. Some Shia believe that after Muhammad’s death, in a coup d’état against the Prophet’s rightful successor, Ali, Abu Bakr usurped power.
Ahl e-Hadith: Also Jamiat Ahle Hadith. Literally, “People of the Hadith.” Founded as a religious movement, it is considered by many (including an EU report cited in this book) to be a charitable/educational/political front for terrorism. The movement’s beliefs, like the Wahhabi/Salafi doctrines, are puritanical. Notable beliefs include denouncing taqlid (blind following) and promoting ijtihad (independent reasoning).
Al-Fatiha: Literally, the “Opening” or “Beginning,” referring to its being the first chapter of the Quran. It is used often, including during every prayer.
Alawite: A sect of Shia Muslims. The Syrian dictator in the middle of a catastrophic civil war, Bashar al-Assad, and his family are prominent examples. The Wahhabi thought behind Daesh would not even consider the Alawites to be legitimate Muslims.
Allah: The Arabic word for God.
•Inshallah: “If God wills.”
•Alhamdulillah: “Praise be to God.”
•Astaghfirulla(h): “I ask forgiveness from Allah.”
•Mashallah: “What Allah wanted has happened.” Often used when hearing good news.
•Subhanallah: “Glory be to God.”
Arafat: Arafat is a plain about twenty miles from Mecca surrounding Mount Arafat, which is where the Prophet Muhammad is said to have given his farewell sermon. This is why the mount (hill) is also called Jabal ar-Rahmah (Mount of Mercy). Muhammad said, “Hajj is Arafat,” and millions of pilgrims climb the mount and stay in the plain to deliver supplications before sunset. The day spent at Arafat is the most important ritual of Hajj. Pilgrims then head to another plain called Muzdalifah for a short rest (sleeping bags on very rocky ground) and to collect pebbles.
Ashura: The first month of the Islamic calendar is Muharram, and its tenth day, called Ashura, is of enormous ritualistic significance for Shia Muslims. Ashura marks the anniversary of the death of Imam Husayn in battle at Karbala in modern Iraq, an act they call his martyrdom which they mourn centuries later. One Ashura ritual involves public flagellation with rope-like metal chains on bleeding bare male torsos, carried out in a procession called Tazia. Women are not encouraged to go out publicly. In India and Iran the day is a national holiday. Shia consider it as the ultimate symbol of the resistance their religion commands and place it centrally in the spiritual morality of the Shia universe. In modern times the day has been used for political resistance. Imam Sadiq allegedly said, “Every day is Ashura, every land is Karbala.”
Ayatollah: Literally, “Sign of Allah/the divine.” It is the highest possible ranking given to an Islamic scholar, master of sharia and all divine matters in “twelver” Shia exegesis. This is a very exclusive club. Only the most exclusive list of ayatollahs appears in the Marja-e’Taqlid (source of emulation) category. These are the grand ayatollahs—in Iran, Ayotallah Khomeini and his putative successor, Ayatollah Khameini, and in Iraq, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. For Shias these ayatollahs are comparable to a pope. In Iran, which is a theocracy, the Ayatollah is the ultimate arbiter for all matters.
Bismillah: The word extends to Bismillah ar Rahman ir Rahim (literally, “In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious and Most Merciful”). Arguably the most-used phrase in Islam, Bismillah begins all prayer and every chapter of the Quran (but the ninth). It is uttered a great deal in daily Muslim life, for example, at mealtime.
Burqa: Widely worn in Central and South Asia, this garment has a purpose similar to that of the abaya—to ensure the shapelessness and invisibility of women. It is said to be uncomfortably heavy and difficult to maneuver in. Instead of the niqab, it usually has a rectangular piece of semi-transparent cloth with its top edge attached to a portion of the headscarf so that the veil hangs down covering the face and can be turned up if the woman wants. Around Kabul, light-blue burqas came into prominence when the Taliban were in power. Many Afghan women still use them, calling them chadri. It has semantic roots with its cousin in Iran called the chador, which many women say is less claustrophobic and only requires the wearer to clutch fabric. In the Indian subcontinent, burqas are mostly black.
Burqini: Islamically acceptable swimwear for Muslim women. The copyright for the terms Burqini and Burkini is held by an Australian firm that claims it came up with the concept and says 40 percent of its customers are not Muslim but include Hindus and conservative Jews. Wearing a burqini is like wearing a whole-body wetsuit with a hood attached. Interestingly, many municipalities in France (as they have done with the hijab since 2009) banned the garment in 2016.
Caliph: Khalifa in Arabic, this man controls sizeable geography called the caliphate (khilafat) that is “Islamic.” For many Islamic schools, the caliph is supposed to be a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad. This idea that Daesh has made so dreaded and fearful today is something the world coexisted with and accepted for almost fourteen centuries. A caliphate allows for many principles that would be acceptable in this century, including a Majlis al-Shura (consultative assembly), basically a parliament. Until Daesh announced itself as Islam’s new caliphate, using sadistic and un-Islamic logic, it was widely assumed that the end of the Ottoman Empire was the death of the Islamic Caliphate and of caliphs.
Da’wa: The proselytizing or preaching of Islam. A Muslim who is engaged in this is called a da’i, and, as in other religions, is basically a missionary.
Dabiq: A small town/village in northern Syria, important to a small number of Muslims whose Islamic eschatology holds it as a possible location for a war against Christians that Muslims will win. This is why the first Daesh online magazine is called Dabiq.
Darul Uloom (Deoband): Literally, “House of Knowledge.” Located in a suburb called Deoband in India’s Saharanpur district, it is the birthplace of the influential school of Deobandi Islam. It claims it follows Hanafi doctrine and Islamic sciences, but others have condemned its curriculum as heavily Wahhabi-ized, with great influence on the Taliban, among others. It regularly issues fatwas, which the elite in India treat with derision and scorn.
Eid al-Adha: Literally, “the Festival of the Sacrifice” and called “the greater Eid” by some scholars. It occurs on the tenth day of the month of Dhu al-Hijjah, the month designated for the Hajj, as well. It commemorates Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his firstborn son, Ismael, at God’s command, a sacrifice that was averted at the last moment, with Ismael replaced by a goat. The meat from the goat is traditionally split into three parts: for family, for friends and neighbors, and for the poor. It marks a moment when Hajj pilgrims are finishing their rites of Hajj by also making the sacrifice. There is difference of opinion on how this Eid is to be observed.
Eid al-Fitr: Literally “the Festival of Breaking the Fast.” It is the big festival to mark the end of the holy month of fasting called Ramadan. It is the ninth month in the Hijri calendar. Celebratory traditions vary, just as Islam does, but feasts and gift exchanges have become common. Seemingly, there is no sectarian divide on the festival, though there is often disagreement on the sighting of the new moon. The sighting of the crescent moon (hilal) heralds the beginning of Ramadan. Eid al-Fitr arrives when the new moon is sighted, marking the end of Ramadan and the beginning of the month of Shawwal. It is said that the first reve
lations of the Quran to the Prophet happened during the month of Ramadan. This revelation came on a night called Laylat al-Qadr (an odd numbered night during the last ten days of Ramadan).
Fatwa: Literally, “legal opinion,” with the “legal” aspect itself contested amongst scholars, some of whom have said a fatwa is no more than an “Islamic opinion.” Some argue that only outstanding scholars of Islamic sciences can issue such opinions. Others say all qualified jurists can. Some even say that anyone trained in Islamic law (sharia) can issue them. As this book proves, fatwas have been variously used, fluctuating from the treacherous and divisive to the absolutely hilarious.
Fiqh: Islamic jurisprudence. Enormous rigor and scholarship are called for in the person who interprets it, the faqih. Required abilities include the human understanding of sharia (divine law) and the discipline of scholarship that needs to precede it. For Sunni Muslims there are generally four schools (madhhab) of fiqh: Hanbali, Hanafi, Shafi, and Maliki. The first is said to be the most puritanical and lies at the foundation of Wahhabi ideology in Saudi Arabia. For Shia, the most used are Jafari and Zaydi.
Five Pillars of Islam: Also known as Arkān al-Islām, these are:
1.Shahadah: Being able to recite the Muslim profession of faith, which is brief: “There is no god but God and Muhammad is his messenger.” This relates to the very core of Islam, known as Tawhid, which is the oneness of God. In Urdu, it is called the Kalima.
2.Salah: Performing the ritual prayers in the proper way (Islam dictates pretty much every act a good Muslim is supposed to do), five times each day.
3.Zakat: A tax for alms, requisite for all Muslims. Muhammad’s intent was to not have desperately poor Muslims, and thus this principle of charity towards Muslims who live in wretched poverty was established. Clearly, this principle is not followed in present times. When it is followed, an example would be during the Festival of the Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha) when all extra meat is given to the poor.
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