FrontPageMagazine.com

11/11/2008

Reclaiming Islam

By Jamie Glazov

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Raheel Raza, a leading Muslim reformer, award winning writer, professional speaker, diversity consultant, documentary film maker and interfaith advocate. She is the author of Their Jihad . . . Not My Jihad. Visit her site at RaheelRaza.com.

FP: Raheel Raza, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

Raza: Thank you

FP: First, tell us a little bit about your own religious and political journey. Why, for instance, have you ended up being a moderate and not an extremist Muslim? Why you do not veil yourself etc?

Raza: I was born into a Muslim family in Pakistan where I became a Muslim by rote -- I.e. without really understanding what the faith stands for and what our prayers mean because they are in Arabic which is not my first language. I grew up in a culture where women were supposed to be seen and not heard so questioning was not encouraged. However I was a rebel since an early age and did question the status quo but luckily for them, left Pakistan. I truly learnt about the beauty and depth of my faith when I came to Canada 20 years ago which is ironic when you think that I came from a so-called Muslim country to this secular land. How? Like many other immigrant parents, we were concerned that our kids might lose their faith. So we used to take them to Sunday school where they read the Qur’an (the Muslim scripture meaning The Reading) in English and studied the life of our Prophet. They were fortunate to have excellent mentors and teachers who were academics and scholars, well versed in both secular and scriptural subjects. In the process my husband and I learnt the spiritual message of Islam and discovered to our amazement, that there is great beauty and wisdom there.

Our knowledge and research allowed us to shed much of our excess baggage in terms of rituals and cultural norms being passed off as faith and we were able to remove the veil on our minds and see the beauty of this spiritual message and also find much to our amazement, how similar it is to the message of the monotheistic faiths that came before Islam – Judaism and Christianity. This set me on the journey where I am now – as an interfaith advocate creating understanding and dialogue between faiths because I realize that much of the racism and hate around us is based on ignorance.

It’s interesting that you ask why I am moderate and not an extremist. Personally, I don’t care for labels because to be a Muslim, one must be moderate – it goes hand in hand. However, 9/11 has changed the way all of us think. After 9/11 I sat my sons down and asked them “why aren’t you terrorists?” and they were shocked. “What kind of a question is this” they said and I responded “according to the media, you fit the profile of the Muslim terrorist – you’re observant Muslims, brown young men of Pakistani heritage, you go to mosque on Fridays and have beards”. I had asked this with real interest giving my sons food for thought and they responded by telling me “One, we understood the spiritual message of the Qur’ran, we knew that terrorism and violence are forbidden and secondly you [our parents] were always around to see who taught us Islam and exactly what was taught”. This is an important point because it’s the parent’s duty to coach children instead of leaving them in the hands of unidentified clerics who inflame their young minds with garbage. I believe that knowledge is the best weapon of mass instruction.

We were also careful not to impose the faith on our kids but let them understand and accept it through education and knowledge. We taught them that Canada is a country where you can stand side by side with many people and hold up your head in pride in your faith, without imposing it on anyone. So the reason I’m not an extremist, is because Islam and extremism are two ends of the spectrum. One of the first things I learnt from the Qur’an is that there has to be balance in everything (for example in nature and in humans) and extremism is not in sync with Islamic teachings.

We don’t have formal clergy in Islam which can be both a blessing and a burden. Blessing because all Muslims are supposed to read, understand and implement the Qur’an in their lives. Very few people do this which is why we have serious problems in the Muslim world today because self-appointed caretakers of the faith who are usually the most ignorant, give any garbled message they want. To undo that harm, I read and understand that veiling has nothing to do with my being a good Muslim or not. I carry my faith in heart, not on my head. But there are men who will convince women and the public that the only credible Muslim woman is one who is veiled. I refuse to be pulled into discussions about a piece of cloth when we have other more serious issues to take care of.

FP: As a leading Muslim reformer, you are engaged in quite a battle against Islamists on Canadian territory. Share with us what this battle is about.

Raza: Aah. You’ve hit a raw nerve. By the way, thank you for calling me a reformer – I don’t know if others see me the same way but let me make a small clarification. I believe that there is much more to reclaim than reform. The reform we need is not with the faith but within ourselves as Muslims. We’ve left behind many of the positive teachings of Islam and traded them in for a political ideology. This is a hard battle and sometimes I feel like I’m peddling a bicycle uphill when a fully loaded sports car had sped by me 30 minutes ago and I’m playing catch up.

To fully understand the political Islamist ideology (and I say ideology with feeling because it’s not Islam as I know it) you have to know that the Wahhabi/Salafi ideology, which blows like a wind from the dessert, is the idea that Islam is the only solution and that Muslims must rule the world and force everyone to become Muslim. This is not the teaching of our faith where we are told “there is no compulsion in religion” but this is about power and politics.

It’s a challenge like we’ve never faced before and it’s a great worry because the Islamists have infiltrated into our government and institutions and are calling the shots (literally). I’ve been engaged in exposing the sinister agenda of the Islamists since before 9/11 when I first saw the winds of Wahhabism and Salafism attack my native land of Pakistan which was turned from a modern, balanced country into a battleground for the soul of Islam. Initially Islamism was introduced in Pakistan by General Zia ul Haq but then on the backs of Saudi petro money, it grew into a political movement that has destroyed the country and makes my heart weep because it, is after all, my land of birth.

In Canada I feel like I’m fighting not only for the soul of Islam but for the safety of Canada. All around us we are battling against the MSA’s (Muslim Student Associations) in educational institutions which are quite radical, ISNA, ICNA who’s purpose is to promote the Wahhabi/Salafi ideology in this land. When the political leaders want to meet leaders of the community, they go to the same leaders who preach hate and division. Multiculturalism has only fueled ghettoization.

This is a lonely, uphill battle where I need help and support from the mainstream. This is our battle, because believe me when something happens you and I are in this together.

FP: How do you think Canadians stand on accommodating Islamist demands?

Raza: Canadians are known to be naïve and wishy washy but there is a fine line between naïve and dim-witted and we are bordering on dim-witted. Canadians are so afraid of being called racist, that they won’t stand up to religious extremism, not just from the Islamists but from some other faith communities that use Canada as the breeding ground for their politically volatile battles back home and bring all their excess baggage to his land.

Canada allows us freedom of religion and that is enough – we don’t need any other accommodation but Canadian politicians bend over backwards for the sake of votes totally disregarding the voices of Muslims like me, who are saying be careful of what you agree to and what’s under your nose because it will come back to bite you.

For me it’s very simple. We come to Canada for a better life and by choice. We must follow the laws of the land and work towards a single school system. Not two tiers. As well, when we get the much coveted Canadian citizenship, there are responsibilities which should come with it. No one speaks of loyalty to the land in which we live, which we call home and where the future of our kids lies. I don’t want my boys to have a gray future because some radical Muslims want to change Canada to accommodate their own twisted agendas.

FP: You and your husband travel around speaking about The Passion and Politics of Islam. Can you talk a bit about the meaning here?

Raza: For me, as a believer, my passion is to let people know that the spiritual message of Islam is not what is practiced by many Muslims today. In some ways it seems there are two parallel Islams being practiced.

One, that is the spiritual message practiced by the majority who live their 9 to 5 lives in peace for themselves and for others; who understand that Islam is a way of life where caring for a neighbor is as important as going to the mosque; where taking one life is like killing all of humanity; where charity is more important than piety; where everyone is equal and respect for other faiths and traditions makes us better Muslims. This path accepts that there are many ways to reach the creator and that there is diversity within Islam and around it, and that we must reach out and embrace rather than kill. The Qur’an says “we have created you into nations and tribes so you may know one another”.

The other Islam is the hard core political message that was born on the death bed of the Prophet and is only good for power and control. This path dehumanizes women and minorities and doesn’t respect Muslims who follow a different path. This has led to theocracies like Iran and Saudi Arabia where the men rule through fear and faith has been made into a terrorizing force rather than the message of reform.

FP: What it does it mean to be a Muslim woman in Canada today?

Raza: It’s a double whammy for me. My voice means less to the Muslims because I’m a woman and the mainstream doesn’t consider me a leader because I’m not an Imam and don’t sport a beard.

Just recently an article of mine about the Islamist agenda in our recent elections, was published in the “American Thinker” and I’ve already been called a Zionist and Neo-con agent.

Still I stand tall and proud to be a Muslim woman in Canada today. Perhaps this is because I’ve been able to understand and implement the rights given to me by my faith and I find great wisdom in the ways in the status of women was raised by the message of the book.

Islam came as a message in a land where new born girls were being buried alive and women were considered to be without a soul and sold as slaves. It came to take women out of the darkness and some women like me have taken our rights and run with them. I know that the first woman of Islam (the Prophets wife Khadija) was a businesswoman, older than her husband who sent him a proposal of marriage; I know that Muslim women can have pre-nuptial agreements, keep our first name, our earned wages (when you know this only happened in UK in the last century).

I’m also very fortunate to be supported by great men – my husband and my sons are my pillars of strength and I can be whoever I want to be. However, I take my rights and responsibilities seriously, accepting that they go hand in hand. So I have been empowered by Islam but subdued by patriarchy in my land of birth and in my community. It’s a constant struggle to keep my head above water.

For my work to bring about change, I’ve received a fatwa, death threats and regular hate mail.

However, Canada has been kind to me and I say without fear that I could never say and do the things I do, anywhere in the world except Canada. Let me add by saying that the Canadian charter of rights and freedoms is not at odds with my Muslim identity although I don’t wear it in public. But I think I’m a better Muslim because I’m Canadian and a better Canadian because I’m Muslim.

FP: Thank you Raheel for joining us and thank you for your nobility and bravery -- and for your courageous fight for a peaceful and democratic Islam.

Razza: Thank you so much.

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Posted on November 13, 2008 at 4:31 PM PST