Letters to a Young Muslim by Omar Saif Ghobash

Author:Omar Saif Ghobash
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Picador

VIOLENCE

Habeebie Saif,

As much as I don’t like the topic, I have to talk to you about violence, in religion and, more broadly, in life. The reality is that though we talk of one Islam, we express it in different ways. You have a choice to give priority to certain principles and certain values. If you choose to express Islam in a violent and destructive manner, this is your projection onto Islam, of your personality and your choices. The same applies if you decide that your approach to life is one of balance, of measure, and of cooperation. Islam has within it the resources for you to be a complete and balanced person. But if you pick at the pieces within the history and texts of our faith that appeal to an inner anger and frustration, then you will have to carry the burden of that choice.

There is violence everywhere. In every religion, including Islam. Our task is to understand the boundaries of violence. And measure the use of violence against the moral and ethical laws that govern us.

As you develop an approach to the world, to history, to texts, and to understanding what other people are demanding of you, you will need to ask yourself what violence is for, what it does, and what it expresses. If you begin to think about these questions, you will discover that you are ahead of many people much older and more experienced than you.

Saif, your grandfather’s life ended in violence. The violence was instantaneous, unexpected, and utterly destructive. It was also pointless and futile. It achieved nothing. It sent ripples out through time all the way till today. It was a single moment of violence that echoes through the decades. Does its effect grow weaker? I do not think so. The violence that destroyed your grandfather in 1977 continues to warp relationships and emotions in our family today. The effects of that violence continue to motivate me and color my view of the world.

I remember I was twelve and reading the newspapers about his death.

Though the violence perpetrated against my father was not inspired by religion, the question of violence has been central in my life. The question of violence is going to be central in the lives of your generation of Muslims as well. Why? The reason is the rising voices of aggressive clerics who portray Islam as a religion of power through violence. These clerics are projecting a worldview onto Islam that ties the experience of early Islamic empires to the core of our religion. In doing this, they have built a system of ideas and theories that insist Islam is a religion that must dominate religiously, territorially, and militarily.

The reasons behind their worldview are multiple. I see simplistic ideas of what the history of Islam is really about. I also see that these clerics lead strangely frustrated lives locked in a world of narrow hate and anger. This hatred, anger, and frustration is not intrinsic to Islam. It is intrinsic to the narrow lives that these people have chosen to lead.

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