tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/mosque-12419/articles
mosque – The Conversation
2023-09-20T12:25:56Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213515
2023-09-20T12:25:56Z
2023-09-20T12:25:56Z
Tinmel – Morocco’s medieval shrine and mosque – is one of the historic casualties of the earthquake
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548893/original/file-20230918-161679-css6uf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C17%2C3940%2C2622&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A group of men praying in front of the mosque in Tinmel village that has suffered serious damage in the recent earthquake.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/group-of-men-pray-in-front-of-the-famous-tinmel-mosque-news-photo/1665626248?adppopup=true">Matias Chiofalo/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/morocco-earthquake.html">damage from the earthquake</a> that struck Morocco on Sept. 8, 2023, is still being assessed. Moroccans are grappling not just with the loss of thousands of lives, but also with the widespread destruction of their cultural heritage and historical sites.</p>
<p>Among them is a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3ktb6Wfe84">12th-century mosque in the village of Tinmel</a>, about 4 miles from the epicenter of the quake that flattened many of the villages in the Atlas Mountains. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I3ktb6Wfe84?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Tinmel Mosque after the earthquake.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The mosque at Tinmel was originally built to commemorate the figure of <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/almohads-9781780764054/">Ibn Tumart, founder of the Almohad movement</a> that ruled an empire stretching from Mali to Spain from 1147 to 1269. Ibn Tumart was a Muslim reformist who advocated for greater accessibility and clarity in Islamic law and scripture. The Atlas tribes spoke little Arabic and lived in remote villages, so Ibn Tumart translated the Quran into the vernacular and issued <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/37452011">the call to prayer in the local Berber dialect</a>. </p>
<p>After Ibn Tumart’s death, his tomb at Tinmel became a shrine, marked by a simple whitewashed dome in front of the mosque. Under the Almohads, Ibn Tumart <a href="https://www.academia.edu/33889579/Peregrinaci%C3%B3n_y_ceremonial_en_las_mezquitas_almohades_el_caso_de_la_mezquita_de_Tinmal">was venerated as a saint</a>, and the early Almohad caliphs were also buried alongside him, turning Tinmel into a potent site of spiritual and social memory.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://www.smu.edu/Meadows/AreasofStudy/ArtHistory/Faculty/stockstillabbey">architectural historian who specializes in medieval Morocco</a>, I have spent many years visiting and researching Tinmel. For nearly 900 years, Tinmel was central to a distinctly Moroccan Islamic tradition, but the events of the past week have thrown its future into doubt.</p>
<h2>Unusual architecture</h2>
<p>Built in 1148 by Ibn Tumart’s successor, Abd al-Muʾmin, the mosque embodied the core principles of Almohad architecture. A rectangular prayer hall was supported by plaster-coated piers, while a façade of geometric ornamentation emphasized the niche that indicated the direction of prayer, the mihrab.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549116/original/file-20230919-29-q9jkap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Stucco archway with geometric designs" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549116/original/file-20230919-29-q9jkap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549116/original/file-20230919-29-q9jkap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549116/original/file-20230919-29-q9jkap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549116/original/file-20230919-29-q9jkap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549116/original/file-20230919-29-q9jkap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549116/original/file-20230919-29-q9jkap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549116/original/file-20230919-29-q9jkap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The mihrab of the Tinmel Mosque, prior to its collapse in the earthquake.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Abbey Stockstill</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>The structure was designed to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004392618_012">encourage circumambulation</a> around the mosque, with the ornamental decoration intensifying the experience. The closer one moved toward the mihrab, <a href="https://doi.org/10.4000/perspective.7545">the more elaborate the design became</a>, drawing the eye of the viewer in.</p>
<p>But the mosque’s most unusual element was its minaret, which wrapped around the exterior of the mihrab. A staircase behind the niche led to the upper story of the structure, where the call to prayer could be issued out over the valley.</p>
<p>Historically, minarets were never constructed in conjunction with the mihrab, but off to the side or opposite the mihrab. Tinmel’s minaret was thus both <a href="https://www.academia.edu/67879496/From_the_Kutubiyya_to_Tinmal_The_Sacred_Direction_in_Muminid_Performance">unique and innovative</a>. </p>
<p>Positioned on a steep hillside, with the mihrab and the minaret both facing the slope down toward the seasonal stream known as the Wadi N'Fiss, the mosque and its shrine looked larger and more monumental than their physical size suggested.</p>
<h2>A center for religious study</h2>
<p>After the collapse of the Almohad dynasty, Tinmel fell under the <a href="https://brill.com/display/title/21963">administration of the provincial sheikhs</a> who governed the Atlas territories.</p>
<p>When the Almohads’ competitors, the Marinids, succeeded in replacing the dynasty to rule much of Morocco between 1244 and 1465, they systematically demolished many of the Almohads’ most precious sites, including Tinmel. They sent soldiers to ransack the village and the shrine, though the mosque itself was left standing. </p>
<p>There is no architectural evidence to suggest precisely where Ibn Tumart’s tomb and those of the Almohad caliphs were located. <a href="https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-almoravid-and-almohad-empires.html">Scholars continue to debate</a> how the shrine, the dynasty tombs and the mosque may have fit together as a complex for pilgrims. </p>
<p>But despite Tinmel’s deterioration after the Almohads fell from power, the site remained a powerful place in Moroccan Islam. <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/123497080">Ritual recitations of the Quran</a> were still being carried out twice a day in the 14th century, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511698309">pilgrims continued to visit</a> the site for another 200 years.</p>
<p>The site remained a <a href="https://books.openedition.org/pumi/12063">center for religious study</a> where men from the Atlas villages could gather and learn about the Quran and the hadith, which are stories of Muhammad’s life and actions.</p>
<h2>An uncertain future</h2>
<p>By the 20th century, the mosque had fallen into disrepair as a result of neglect and political instability in the Atlas Mountains.</p>
<p>An <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/490386868">archaeological survey of the site</a> and <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/32372229">advocacy from local historians</a> inspired a 1995 restoration under the aegis of Morocco’s Ministry of Culture. The site was a <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/452/">tentative place</a> on the UNESCO World Heritage list, pending a full application from the Moroccan government.</p>
<p>The mosque’s plaster ornaments were conserved and the prayer hall’s brick piers reinforced, although the roof remained open to the sky – the original roof, likely wooden, had long since deteriorated. </p>
<p>Earlier this year, more renovations began <a href="https://www.maroc-hebdo.press.ma/rehabilitation-mosquee-tinmel">with the hopes of adding a museum</a> that could help contextualize Tinmel within the larger scope of Moroccan history and welcome more visitors.</p>
<p>The earthquake on Sept. 8 has set this project back indefinitely. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/16/world/middleeast/morocco-earthquake-heritage.html">Five of the workers at the site</a> – all local to the region – died in the disaster, and the site was further damaged. Although <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/morocco-earthquake-damages-historic-mountain-mosque-2023-09-10/">the Moroccan government has committed</a> to rebuilding the mosque, the details of how this will be accomplished and funded are unclear.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213515/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abbey Stockstill does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Morocco is grappling not just with the loss of lives from the recent earthquake, but with the destruction of its cultural heritage – a 12th century mosque in the village of Tinmel is among them.
Abbey Stockstill, Assistant Professor of Art History, Southern Methodist University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/189554
2023-05-08T04:35:21Z
2023-05-08T04:35:21Z
Australia now has its own grand mosque: a brief history of how these buildings fold into the urban landscape
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519210/original/file-20230404-28-bgr4gy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=29%2C0%2C4937%2C6211&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel Olah/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A referee’s whistle pierces the air. A player dribbles a ball across a court; goal! Cheers erupt. </p>
<p>These are the familiar sounds of Australian life. Children squeal with laughter. The barbecue sizzles. The muezzin calls the faithful to prayer. </p>
<p>Opened in 2022, Melbourne’s Grand Mosque and the Werribee Islamic Centre offer a host of facilities that connect with the multicultural community of Tarneit, 25 kilometres west of Melbourne’s CBD. </p>
<p>Grand mosques mark the urban space of major historical cities such as Mecca, Medina, Cordoba and Tunis. More recently, these buildings have been built in cities like Algiers and Abu Dhabi. </p>
<p>The notion of a “grand mosque” has been shaped by the location of the mosque, its scale and its historical importance. </p>
<p>But what makes a grand mosque “grand”?</p>
<h2>Building the grand mosques</h2>
<p>Historically, ruling and social elites such as religious leaders, monarchs, princes and princesses financed and built mosques for their communities. </p>
<p>This charitable act was an important legacy, and mosques were also a reflection of the <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Contemporary_Mosque.html?id=mLIyAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y">powers of dynasties</a>. </p>
<p>There was great community involvement with the mosque, primarily through attending daily prayers. But mosques also provided civic, educational and cultural spaces to provide for extensive community involvement. These buildings were intellectual, scientific and literary centres, playing a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042815054051">crucial role</a> in Arab-Islamic civilisation.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519215/original/file-20230404-24-nq3k5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519215/original/file-20230404-24-nq3k5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519215/original/file-20230404-24-nq3k5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519215/original/file-20230404-24-nq3k5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519215/original/file-20230404-24-nq3k5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519215/original/file-20230404-24-nq3k5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519215/original/file-20230404-24-nq3k5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519215/original/file-20230404-24-nq3k5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The University of al-Qarawiyyin was founded as a mosque in the ninth century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>The idea of a “civic mosque” dates back to the early days of Islamic civilisation, with universities attached to mosques, such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_al-Qarawiyyin">University of al-Qarawiyyin</a> in Fez, Morocco.</p>
<p>The most famous mosque in the world is the Great Mosque of Mecca, or the al-Masjid al-Ḥarām. Located in Saudi Arabia and first built in 638 AD, it can be called a grand mosque because of its historical significance, its capacity of 2.5 million and the way it intersects with the global Muslim community. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519211/original/file-20230404-19-q8r0qk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519211/original/file-20230404-19-q8r0qk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519211/original/file-20230404-19-q8r0qk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519211/original/file-20230404-19-q8r0qk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519211/original/file-20230404-19-q8r0qk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519211/original/file-20230404-19-q8r0qk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519211/original/file-20230404-19-q8r0qk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519211/original/file-20230404-19-q8r0qk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Al-Masjid Al-Haram, Mecca, Saudi Arabia has a capacity of 2.5 million.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ishan @seefromthesky/Unsplash</span></span>
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<p>The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi is a centre of science and knowledge which can accommodate 40,000 worshippers. The largest mosque in the UAE, its design includes references from Pakistani, Egyptian, Moorish, Arab and Indo-Islamic architecture. </p>
<p>Completed in 2019, Djamaa El Djazair in Algiers, Algeria, is the third-largest mosque in the world, with a capacity of 120,000 worshippers.</p>
<p>A “grand mosque” doesn’t need to have a capacity in the tens of thousands. With a capacity of 1,000 worshippers, the Grande Mosquee de Paris is the <a href="https://www.islamicity.org/8463/the-great-mosque-of-paris/">largest in France</a> and the third-largest in Europe. </p>
<p>Constructed in the 1920s, the mosque’s unique architecture and the provision of social and communal spaces all testify to the important role Islam plays in the diversity of Paris.</p>
<p>Through a combination of scale and architectural design, these grand mosques make their mark in the urban landscape. </p>
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<span class="caption">Grande Mosquee de Paris in the 5th arrondissement of Paris is the third-largest mosque in Europe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/french-row-over-mosque-isnt-simply-about-state-financing-it-runs-deep-into-islamophobia-and-french-secularism-158565">French row over mosque isn't simply about state financing – it runs deep into Islamophobia and French secularism</a>
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<h2>An Australian grand mosque</h2>
<p>The first contact of Muslims with Australia dates back to the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14443050802471384">18th century</a>, when Macassan fishermen travelled to the Kimberley region and Arnhem Land to collect sea cucumbers. </p>
<p>Muslims began to settle in Australia from the 1860s, largely working as cameleers and pearlers. The first mosque in Australia was completed in 1882 in Maree, 600 kilometres north of Adelaide. Since then, mosques have been built in cities, towns and suburbs throughout Australia.</p>
<p>Now, Australia has its own grand mosque.</p>
<p>Melbourne’s Grand Mosque opened its doors <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-14/melbourne-grand-mosque-opens-in-tarneit/100906358#">last year</a>. </p>
<p>Planning, fundraising and building by the community are pillars of the new design processes and identity of mosques in Australia. The prayer hall can fit 2,000 worshippers. The building also includes a sporting centre, a community hall and a childcare centre. </p>
<p>Built for A$8.5 million, the community raised the funds to realise their vision over a period of ten years. The community wanted to make a grand architectural statement which would meet the spiritual and social needs of Australia’s Muslim community. </p>
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<img alt="Melbourne Grand Mosque" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519989/original/file-20230409-24-p92xtj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519989/original/file-20230409-24-p92xtj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519989/original/file-20230409-24-p92xtj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519989/original/file-20230409-24-p92xtj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519989/original/file-20230409-24-p92xtj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519989/original/file-20230409-24-p92xtj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519989/original/file-20230409-24-p92xtj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Melbourne Grand Mosque, Tarneit, Victoria, Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Afif Rashid</span></span>
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<p>Eventually the complex will incorporate a library, sports facilities, childcare, educational spaces and hospitality. </p>
<p>Architecturally, the mosque respects traditions of a central dome above the prayer hall, bringing light into the most sacred space. However, the dome is smaller than in traditional mosques and is set back into the building, allowing it to not dominate the streetscape. </p>
<p>This allows the building to play a social role in a suburb where there are multiple religious groups of similar size.</p>
<h2>A mosque for the community</h2>
<p>The “grand mosque” is not just about the scale of architectural features – the minarets, arches and calligraphy.</p>
<p>The grand mosque of today is about community: their involvement in the design processes and its openness as a hub for diverse communities of the 21st century.</p>
<p>Grand mosques have long punctuated the urban space in major cities. Today, the realisation of a grand mosque such as the one in Melbourne transforms the idea of “grand” to a level of social interaction and community aspirations.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/graffiti-arson-death-threats-new-research-finds-widespread-violence-against-australian-mosques-156843">Graffiti, arson, death threats: new research finds widespread violence against Australian mosques</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189554/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Majdi Faleh receives funding from Australian Research Council. Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200989
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dijana Alic receives funding from Australian Research Council. Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200989</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span> Md Mizanur Rashid receives funding from Australian Research Council. Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200989</span></em></p>
Grand mosques mark the urban space of major historical cities such as Mecca, Medina, Cordoba and Tunis. Now, Melbourne has its very own.
Majdi Faleh, Academic Fellow in Cultural Heritage, Nottingham Trent University
Dijana Alic, Associate Professor, Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW Sydney
Md Mizanur Rashid, Senior Lecturer in Architecture, Deakin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/145418
2020-10-12T14:32:32Z
2020-10-12T14:32:32Z
South African high court prohibits Muslim call to prayer. Why it got it wrong
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362930/original/file-20201012-15-z5u4nn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The High Court in Durban, the port city in KwaZulu-Natal on the east coast of South Africa, has <a href="http://mail.legalbrief.co.za/ls/click?upn=EULlQcCAlGtYQcoW5-2BkIG-2BP8jr9r5ur9lgn0nNFz3QUnLw-2BjSwVcjvLueBANnWN9g9ZQ2Y1fy0Bg7d9OxPNbKQ-3D-3DPkjI_Lik26NKhDRLjSohIWY9LCCU4Ew81EiZSCkLCdn9vs1sBrKFDXWODa9fu3kKguXyuvo0yaZaBgdp1icvE0pFc7v1hX6LsWvHfB4A3ldUYO4SKDibpMmJh4DCZq4CIG51SolkUzeXx5zk-2FkgXw1gMjhxYMCjd1nGvWvdr7ATcUFUPxZBV-2FyrLMy2yQK1dpMCv0bQ82-2BQNsgKXBGyrHdG2YweqpjMPh-2F9oiet0Ka7Pz1fk-3D">granted an interdict</a> against a mosque, stopping its call to prayer (the athaan or adhan) because it can be heard from a neighbour’s house across the street. </p>
<p>The neighbour had complained that the noise deprived him of the enjoyment of his property and interrupted his peace and quiet. </p>
<p>The court found that the constitutional right to freedom of religion did not guarantee the practice of the religion in the form of the call to prayer. And, as the neighbour is entitled to enjoy the use of his residential property, others, like the mosque, must respect this right. </p>
<p>The court further said that the neighbour had established that the call to prayer interfered with this right. It granted the interdict against the mosque to make sure that the call to prayer was not heard by the neighbour.</p>
<p><audio preload="metadata" controls="controls" data-duration="540" data-image="" data-title="Pasha special edition: The Muslim call to prayer controversy in South Africa, part 1" data-size="8703626" data-source="The Conversation" data-source-url="https://theconversation.com/pasha-special-edition-the-muslim-call-to-prayer-controversy-in-south-africa-part-1-147678" data-license="CC BY-NC-ND" data-license-url="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">
<source src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/2062/call-to-prayer-final-edited.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">
</audio>
<div class="audio-player-caption">
Pasha special edition: The Muslim call to prayer controversy in South Africa, part 1.
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" rel="nofollow" href="https://theconversation.com/pasha-special-edition-the-muslim-call-to-prayer-controversy-in-south-africa-part-1-147678">The Conversation</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a><span class="download"><span>8.3 MB</span> <a target="_blank" href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/2062/call-to-prayer-final-edited.mp3">(download)</a></span></span>
</div></p>
<p>Although the ruling and order were directed at the specific mosque in question, it sets a precedent. Another court can easily rely on this judgment in a future case. </p>
<p>In my view the court got it wrong for the following three reasons:</p>
<p>Firstly, it upheld the neighbour’s right to the use and enjoyment of his property without any consideration of the reasonableness of the alleged disturbance. In other words, the court did not properly interrogate whether the mosque exceeded its powers, and if it acted reasonably in the circumstances. </p>
<p>Secondly, it ignored the fact that those being called to prayer also enjoy a constitutionally protected right to practise their religion freely. </p>
<p>Thirdly, it did not consider the noise control regulations in force in the city. </p>
<h2>Property rights and noise regulation</h2>
<p>As a general principle of law in South Africa a property owner has the right to freedom to enjoy their property free from a noise nuisance. But, like all rights, this right is not absolute.</p>
<p>A property owner has a duty to exercise their rights within the normal and acceptable limits of reasonableness, and not to infringe on other owners’ right of enjoyment of their property. South African neighbour law also requires property owners to tolerate a degree of nuisance from their neighbours. </p>
<p>The Noise Control Regulations <a href="https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Noise-control-regulations.pdf">of 1992</a>, under section 25 of the Environment Conservation Act 73 <a href="http://www.saflii.org/za/legis/consol_act/eca1989302/">of 1989 </a>, empower provinces and municipalities to have their own bylaws regarding noise control. </p>
<p>Since 1996, municipalities have administered noise regulations with support and oversight from the provincial governments. Various municipalities have enacted noise and nuisance bylaws. Most of these distinguish between a “disturbing noise” and a “noise nuisance”. </p>
<p>The eThekwini Municipality: Nuisance and Behaviour in Public Places Bylaw <a href="https://openbylaws.org.za/za-eth/act/by-law/2015/nuisances-behaviour-public-places/eng/">of 2015</a>, prohibits a noise that impairs the convenience or peace of any person. The complainant’s suburb, Isipingo Beach, and the mosque fall under this municipality.</p>
<p>A disturbing noise is a scientifically measurable noise level above a certain ambient sound level. In the average home setting during the day, 50 decibels would be regarded as normal. This drops to 40 decibels at night. </p>
<p>But different people may react differently to the same noise or sound. So in practice it’s useful to look at the level beyond which a significant number of reasonable people could be expected to start complaining. </p>
<p>Noise nuisance - which is the issue in this case - is more subjective. It relates to a noise that disturbs or impairs the convenience or peace of any person. The various <a href="https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/1989/06/Western-Cape-Noise-Control-Regulations.pdf">noise control regulations</a> prohibit both forms of noise.</p>
<p>Any sound that qualifies as a noise nuisance can be regulated on national, provincial or municipal level. This includes the Muslim call to prayer and church bells. </p>
<p><audio preload="metadata" controls="controls" data-duration="491" data-image="" data-title="The importance of the call to prayer in Islam" data-size="7928312" data-source="The Conversation Africa - Pasha" data-source-url="https://theconversation.com/pasha-special-edition-part-2-the-significance-of-the-call-to-prayer-in-islam-148113" data-license="CC BY-NC-ND" data-license-url="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">
<source src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/2066/call-to-prayer-part-2-final-edited.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">
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<div class="audio-player-caption">
The importance of the call to prayer in Islam.
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" rel="nofollow" href="https://theconversation.com/pasha-special-edition-part-2-the-significance-of-the-call-to-prayer-in-islam-148113">The Conversation Africa - Pasha</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a><span class="download"><span>7.56 MB</span> <a target="_blank" href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/2066/call-to-prayer-part-2-final-edited.mp3">(download)</a></span></span>
</div></p>
<p>Even a noise that has strictly speaking passed the scientific test required for a noise disturbance might still be considered a noise nuisance if found to be unreasonable. </p>
<h2>Religious freedom</h2>
<p>Religious activities such as a muezzin calling from a mosque and the ringing of church bells on Sunday mornings are ways in which believers express and practise their beliefs. </p>
<p>These practices form part of the right to freedom of religion, protected under section 15 of South Africa’s <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/constitution-republic-south-africa-1996">constitution</a>. It should be read together with section 31, which guarantees the right of a person belonging to a religious community to enjoy and practise her religion with other members of that community.</p>
<p>The policy of another municipality, <a href="http://www.tshwane.gov.za">Tshwane</a>, is a good example of how the <em>athaan</em> and the ringing of church bells should be handled. It states that such acivities should be seen as socially acceptable activities, which</p>
<blockquote>
<p>must be accepted by all as a healthy aspect of our urban community life, albeit as diverse groups and individuals <a href="http://www.tshwane.gov.za">within a community</a>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Importantly, these activities must still be conducted in a reasonable manner. The noise levels must not be excessively loud or take place at unreasonable times, such as at night. Otherwise these community activities should be allowed.</p>
<p>The court ignored these requirements. The noise in question was not amplified and was relatively minor, and thus reasonable in the circumstances.</p>
<h2>Need for balance</h2>
<p>As both the right to enjoy one’s property and the right to freedom of religion are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313423411_Limitations_on_the_Bill_of_Rights_under_the_South_African_Constitution_From_Constitutional_Law_of_South_Africa">not absolute</a>, a fair balance has to be struck between them. </p>
<p>The court did not properly balance the various rights applicable in this case. Neither did it properly determine to what extent the mosque’s religious exercise limited the neigbour’s property rights. Hence, the court did not accord appropriate weight to the right to practise one’s religion in this case. </p>
<p>Given the judgment’s adverse implications for the Muslim community and other religious institutions faced by noise complaints, the mosque should appeal the ruling - all the way to the Constitutional Court.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145418/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helena van Coller receives funding from Rhodes University and the National Research Foundation (NRF)</span></em></p>
South African neighbour law also requires property owners to tolerate a degree of nuisance from their neighbours.
Helena van Coller, Associate Professor in Public Law, Rhodes University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/147678
2020-10-07T15:01:47Z
2020-10-07T15:01:47Z
Pasha special edition: The Muslim call to prayer controversy in South Africa, part 1
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362126/original/file-20201007-24-19o5676.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> </figcaption></figure><p>The call to prayer in Islam, or adhan, as it’s known in Arabic, has come under the spotlight in South Africa. Fed up with hearing the call to prayer from a neighbouring Islamic education centre in Durban, a resident took the centre to court alleging the call amounted to “nuisance noise”. The court agreed, ruling that the centre should only announce the call to prayer within the confines of its walls.</p>
<p>In today’s episode of Pasha, Thomas Coggin, a senior lecturer in property law at the University of Witwatersrand, discusses the case, the laws and rights surrounding it, as well as the judge’s decision and its impact. </p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Photo</strong>
Adhan Call icon. By T Vector Icons found on <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/adhan-call-icon-trendy-modern-flat-1217096164">Shutterstock</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Sound</strong>
“Azaan” By Jigmet, found on <a href="https://freesound.org/people/jigmet/sounds/479318/">FreeSound</a> licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">Attribution license</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Music</strong>
“Happy African Village” by John Bartmann, found on <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/John_Bartmann/Public_Domain_Soundtrack_Music_Album_One/happy-african-village">FreeMusicArchive.org</a> licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 1</a>.</p>
<p>“Arabic 2-4” by nemaavla, found on <a href="https://freesound.org/people/nemaavla/sounds/510745/">FreeSound</a> licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">Creative commons license</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147678/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
A man went to court to stop the call to prayer from a neighbouring property in Durban, South Africa. Here's what happened.
Ozayr Patel, Digital Editor
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/146089
2020-10-06T14:43:18Z
2020-10-06T14:43:18Z
How religion inspires the Nigerian diaspora to develop Africa
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361560/original/file-20201005-20-pzrid3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Enoch Adeboye, holding a placard, leading a protest in Lagos.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Olukayode Jaiyeola/NurPhoto/Getty</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In many ways, it’s challenging to define international development. What angle would you prioritise when you consider something so broad? Macroeconomics? Structural adjustment programmes? International trade policy? Or is it poverty reduction? All these are valid.</p>
<p>But no definition would be complete without considering it from the viewpoint of so called ‘developed’ and ‘underdeveloped’ nations. Despite multiple interpretations, the broader understanding of faith and religion in development are barely understood. Especially for African diaspora communities engaged in development work.</p>
<p>Religion has often been a key motivation for philanthropy and economic fairness. Sometimes, it’s the Quranic requirement of alms-giving (Zakat). It can also take form as the Holy Bible-inspired Jubilee 2000 campaign advocating for the annulment of unjust debt for developing countries.</p>
<p>Until recently, faith <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0037768604047872">was dismissed</a> by academia and key international development players. This is due to the belief that the nature of religion comprises intolerant evangelism and regressive visions of the future. </p>
<p>This fundamentally makes it opposed to the <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057%2F9781137329387">material nature</a> of economic progress. And that as societies modernise, religion will remain <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02255189.2013.782270?scroll=top&needAccess=true">a private affair</a>. </p>
<p>However, these doubts around religion have been critiqued and debunked by various <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/01436597.2011.596747">academic disciplines</a>. The significance of religion for development is widely recognised. Even though its role is <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01436590902959180">complex and controversial</a>. </p>
<p>Right now, religion is enjoying its new-found importance in development agendas. But there’s very little consideration given to how African diaspora communities engage in development through a religious filter.</p>
<p>For <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1070289X.2020.1813462?journalCode=gide208">my research</a>, I explored this gap in knowledge. I asked a few questions. Are religious and faith identifications significant? Is there space for new faith-based interpretations of international development?</p>
<p>As a case study, I interviewed first and second generation London-based Christian and Muslim Nigerians. In doing that, I discovered that religious identities and ‘narratives of faith’ all play a role. They are important in understanding how these diaspora communities engage in international development. </p>
<p>The African diaspora approach to development can be understood by studying their motivations. Developmental work for them is often grounded in religious and moral assessments and obligations. </p>
<p>Their contributions are largely in the form of private cash remittances to the continent. Group non-monetary donations and services to Nigeria are also made via their places of worship.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1301899778599591939"}"></div></p>
<h2>Personal experience</h2>
<p>My relationship with religion came from my family. I am a product of an interdenominational Christian marriage. My expatriate father was raised in Anglicanism via the Church Of Nigeria. My mother was born in the United Kingdom and partly Nigerian-raised. She was Roman Catholic.</p>
<p>Her father was an Oba (traditional ruler), who subscribed to the indigenous spiritualism and practices of Ifa, a Yoruba religion. Her grandfather, in contrast, was conferred Knight of the Papal Order of Sylvester by the Pope. </p>
<p>Growing up as a British Nigerian, I spent my formative years attending disproportionately white Anglican and Catholic churches. I later started travelling around numerous UK-based Nigerian and Black Majority Churches during adolescence and young adulthood.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361653/original/file-20201005-24-1evdg0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361653/original/file-20201005-24-1evdg0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361653/original/file-20201005-24-1evdg0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361653/original/file-20201005-24-1evdg0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361653/original/file-20201005-24-1evdg0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361653/original/file-20201005-24-1evdg0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361653/original/file-20201005-24-1evdg0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361653/original/file-20201005-24-1evdg0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Members of the Eternal Sacred Order of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church choir march through Walworth as part of their annual Thanksgiving service on July 28, 2013 in London, England.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Kitwood/Getty</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Within this system, I discovered that getting spiritually closer to God was a currency that was routinely traded. However, I also saw charitable parishioners make personal sacrifices and contributions via the church, allied community and faith-based organisations.</p>
<p>These contributions were gathered and used to launch and support philanthropic poverty alleviation missions in Africa. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361654/original/file-20201005-22-1akwafn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361654/original/file-20201005-22-1akwafn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361654/original/file-20201005-22-1akwafn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361654/original/file-20201005-22-1akwafn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361654/original/file-20201005-22-1akwafn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361654/original/file-20201005-22-1akwafn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361654/original/file-20201005-22-1akwafn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361654/original/file-20201005-22-1akwafn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Muslims in Nigeria offer Eid al-Fitr prayers marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at a ground in Ogun State.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Olukayode Jaiyeola/NurPhoto/Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I also observed that traditions of transnational ‘giving’ among predominantly Nigerian congregations were incorporated as part of service. They were also encouraged as symbolic expressions of faith. </p>
<p>Engagement came in many ways: community potluck events, sponsored treks, or pay-to-watch talent showcases to raise donations. </p>
<p>Other avenues include voluntary church offerings, or shipping of second-hand apparel and toiletries to Nigerian orphanages and young women’s refuges. Religion has often played its part. </p>
<h2>Religious development</h2>
<p>How did the philanthropic leanings of religion infiltrate the secular walls of international development?</p>
<p>For Nigerians, Christian and Muslim identities provide the blueprint through which they engage in international development. </p>
<p>Their expressions of development are organised around spiritually romanticised discourses of humanitarianism, stewardship, compassion, reconciliation and justice. </p>
<p>Nigerians in the diaspora frame their development activities as consecrated acts. Many others see it as ‘outward signs of an inward grace’. These acts are carried out within systems constituted by moral expectations, family and cultural obligations. </p>
<p>According to some participants, this also characterises their ‘Nigerianness’ or ‘Africanness’.</p>
<h2>New frames</h2>
<p>Within this frame, development is understood by Nigerians in two ways. It’s first seen as a practical performance of their faith. And also as actions that represent their religious identities.</p>
<p>Certainly, these communities conceive religion and their religious selves as development itself.</p>
<p>We need to redraft international development to accommodate faith. The revised version needs to accommodate Afro-religious performances of transnational giving.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146089/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Edward Ademolu PhD, FHEA does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Religion has often been a key motivation for philanthropy and economic fairness. Africans in the diaspora champion this.
Dr Edward Ademolu PhD, FHEA, LSE Fellow in Qualitative Research Methodology, London School of Economics and Political Science
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/144042
2020-08-18T12:16:45Z
2020-08-18T12:16:45Z
Hagia Sophia has been converted back into a mosque, but the veiling of its figural icons is not a Muslim tradition
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352815/original/file-20200813-24-tugb2c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=154%2C73%2C4765%2C3172&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People pray inside the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, with sail-like drapes covering mosaic figures of the Virgin Mary and Jesus.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Turkey-Hagia-Sophia/2655787d5c544c30ae1e979303b39098/3/0">AP Photo/Yasin Akgul</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ever since the reversion of Hagia Sophia back into a mosque, the Muslim call to prayer has been resounding from its minarets.</p>
<p>Originally built as a Christian Orthodox church and serving that purpose for centuries, Hagia Sophia was transformed into a mosque by the Ottomans upon their conquest of Constantinople in 1453. </p>
<p>In 1934, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/hagia-sophia-a-shifting-symbol-in-turkey-once-again-opens-up-to-islamic-prayers-11595585919">it was declared a museum</a> by the secularist Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. </p>
<p>As of June 24 of this year, Hagia Sophia’s icons of the Virgin Mary and infant Christ are covered by fabric curtains as the edifice yet again changes functions.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o_e42l4d0Uk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/ibrahim-kalin-acikladi-ayasofyadaki-ikonlar-nasil-kapatilacak-41568112">Turkish officials have stated</a> that the veiling of the images, especially the <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/early-europe-and-colonial-americas/medieval-europe-islamic-world/v/hagia-sophia-apse">interior mosaics</a>, is necessary to transform the interior into a Muslim prayer space.</p>
<p>As historians of <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/histart/people/faculty/paroma.html">Byzantine</a> and <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/histart/people/faculty/cjgruber.html">Islamic</a> art, we argue that in their rush to reassert the monument’s Islamic past, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his associates have inadvertently – and superficially – emulated certain Orthodox Christian practices. </p>
<p>Images of Mary and Christ were often ritually veiled and unveiled in Byzantium, while later Ottoman Muslim rulers did not engage in such practices. </p>
<h2>Images of Mary and Jesus in Islam</h2>
<p>When Sultan Mehmed II, known as the “Conqueror” or Fatih, took over Constantinople, he headed straight to Hagia Sophia, declared it a mosque and ordered it protected in perpetuity. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352997/original/file-20200814-14-yb4gfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352997/original/file-20200814-14-yb4gfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352997/original/file-20200814-14-yb4gfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352997/original/file-20200814-14-yb4gfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352997/original/file-20200814-14-yb4gfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352997/original/file-20200814-14-yb4gfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352997/original/file-20200814-14-yb4gfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352997/original/file-20200814-14-yb4gfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mosaic of the Virgin Mary and infant Jesus in Hagia Sophia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apse_mosaic_Hagia_Sophia_Virgin_and_Child.jpg">Myrabella</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He did not order the ninth-century mosaic of Mary and Christ in the interior removed or covered. Instead, Ottoman historians tell us that <a href="https://henrymatthews.com/hagia-sophia/">he stood in awe</a>, feeling that the eyes of the Christ child followed him as he moved about the structure.</p>
<p>Although images of humans are almost never found in mosque architecture, the depictions of Mary and Jesus <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/hagia-sophia-a-shifting-symbol-in-turkey-once-again-opens-up-to-islamic-prayers-11595585919">remained uncovered</a> in the mosque of Hagia Sophia until 1739. At that time, the mosaic was plastered over. The plaster was later removed during the building’s 1934 conversion into a museum.</p>
<p>The centuries-long display may have been <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/what-would-muslim-want-portrait-christ-758008">a gesture</a> in appreciation of the Prophet Muhammad, who is said to have preserved an icon of the Virgin and Christ when he destroyed the pagan statues at the Kaaba, Islam’s holy sanctuary, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>In this and other cases, Muslim rulers clearly understood <a href="https://www.academia.edu/42914508/Idols_and_Figural_Images_in_Islam_A_Brief_Dive_into_a_Perennial_Debate">that religious figures can be used for devotional purposes</a> without necessarily being idolatrous. This nuance <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/how-ban-images-muhammad-came-be-300491">has been lost</a> as of late in the more recent debates surrounding representations of the Prophet Muhammad.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352802/original/file-20200813-20-3mwv5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352802/original/file-20200813-20-3mwv5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352802/original/file-20200813-20-3mwv5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352802/original/file-20200813-20-3mwv5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352802/original/file-20200813-20-3mwv5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352802/original/file-20200813-20-3mwv5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352802/original/file-20200813-20-3mwv5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352802/original/file-20200813-20-3mwv5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">European print of the Virgin Mary and Christ Infant included in an Ottoman album around 1600.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/451972">The Metropolitan Museum</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From the medieval period onward, Mary and Christ are in fact <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/what-would-muslim-want-portrait-christ-758008">a recurring motif in Islamic art</a>. They are depicted in <a href="https://www.academia.edu/33184072/The_Freer_Canteen_Reconsidered_pdf">metalwork</a>, on <a href="https://art.thewalters.org/detail/30576/beaker/">glassware</a> and <a href="https://www.academia.edu/36857348/Mughal_Occidentalism_Artistic_Encounters_Between_Europe_and_Asia_at_the_Courts_of_India_1580_1630">book paintings</a>. </p>
<p>European prints of the mother-and-child pair <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691189154/the-album-of-the-world-emperor">were also collected into albums</a> by the Ottoman elites of Constantinople in the 17th century. Not shunned or destroyed, these images were sought after, safeguarded and even <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/451972?searchField=All&amp;sortBy=Relevance&amp;what=Albums&amp;ft=Bellini+album&amp;offset=0&amp;rpp=20&amp;pos=8">embellished with colorful paints</a>.</p>
<h2>Veiling icons in Christianity</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353212/original/file-20200817-24-7f5t8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353212/original/file-20200817-24-7f5t8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353212/original/file-20200817-24-7f5t8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353212/original/file-20200817-24-7f5t8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353212/original/file-20200817-24-7f5t8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353212/original/file-20200817-24-7f5t8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353212/original/file-20200817-24-7f5t8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Byzantine-era casket. On the lid is a composition showing Christ enthroned in majesty, flanked by the Virgin Mary, archangels and Apostles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/464238">The Metropolitan Museum</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the history of Christianity, covering images, and revealing them at significant moments, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/36610230/ArcA_ArcArum_Nested_Boxes_aNd_the_dyNamics_of_sacred_experieNce_ArcA_ArcArum_cajas_aNidadas_y_la_diN%C3%A1mica_de_la_experieNcia_sagrada">often testified to their power</a>. The wrapping, encasing, framing and veiling of the most precious images and objects signaled and guaranteed their divine qualities. </p>
<p>Thus relics were stored in <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/464238">containers</a> and icons strategically <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1988-0411-1">enshrouded</a>. Sometimes, paintings of Mary and Christ in medieval Western European manuscripts were screened by <a href="http://ica.themorgan.org/manuscript/page/55/158726">veils sewn onto folio pages</a>.</p>
<p>Lifting these cloth “shields” enabled viewers a full visual and tactile experience of the divine depiction <a href="https://www.academia.edu/6433354/_Raising_the_Curtain_on_the_Use_of_Textiles_in_Manuscripts_">beneath</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352804/original/file-20200813-14-sdjr1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352804/original/file-20200813-14-sdjr1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352804/original/file-20200813-14-sdjr1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352804/original/file-20200813-14-sdjr1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352804/original/file-20200813-14-sdjr1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352804/original/file-20200813-14-sdjr1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=959&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352804/original/file-20200813-14-sdjr1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=959&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352804/original/file-20200813-14-sdjr1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=959&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A medieval icon depicting a painted image of of the Virgin Mary and Christ Infant flanked by fabric veils.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1988-0411-1">The British Museum</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Virgin Mary, or Theotokos, as she was known in Byzantium, is closely associated with veils. The “<a href="https://www.academia.edu/2576259/Threads_of_Authority_The_Virgin_Marys_Veil_in_the_Middle_Ages">maphorion</a>,” or the cloth with which she is believed to have covered her head and shoulders, was housed in Constantinople. It was said to be invested with protective powers and believed to ward off enemies. </p>
<h2>A Byzantine miracle</h2>
<p>Turkish officials claim that the curtains covering the mosaics are on an electronic rail system and that they shall be lowered to cover the icons only <a href="https://www.haberler.com/ayasofya-daki-mozaik-ve-freskler-bir-dakikada-13436830-haberi/">during prayer times</a>. </p>
<p>But if the strips of cloth covering the Mary and Christ mosaic are to be raised intermittently and nonmanually between prayers as proposed, then a startling – if purely cursory – coincidence would emerge. </p>
<p>[<em>You’re too busy to read everything. We get it. That’s why we’ve got a weekly newsletter.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybusy">Sign up for good Sunday reading.</a> ]</p>
<p>It would resemble somewhat a well-known 11th-century Christian miracle in Constantinople. The story goes that <a href="https://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/5584.elizabeth-a-fisher-michael-psellos-on-symeon-the-metaphrast-and-on-the-miracle-at-blachernae">each Friday evening</a>, the veil covering an icon of Mary and Christ would rise by itself after prayers. It would remain lifted until the following day when it fell again – on its own.</p>
<p>The raised veil was interpreted, among other things, <a href="https://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/5584.elizabeth-a-fisher-michael-psellos-on-symeon-the-metaphrast-and-on-the-miracle-at-blachernae">as a sign of the tangible interface</a> between the divine and mortal worlds and, more specifically, as the Virgin Mary’s embrace of her devotees.</p>
<h2>The paradox of the past</h2>
<p>The rich symbolism of the 11th-century miracle and other instances of Orthodox practice is certainly lost in the current strategy of veiling at Hagia Sophia. Ideological struggles over this world heritage structure since 1934 reveal the extent to which the monument serves as a symbol for the staking of <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-hagia-sophia-remains-a-potent-symbol-of-spiritual-and-political-authority-143084">political power and religious authority</a> among Christians, Muslims and secularists in Turkey and beyond.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352814/original/file-20200813-24-ci8h5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=64%2C0%2C6010%2C1994&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352814/original/file-20200813-24-ci8h5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=196&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352814/original/file-20200813-24-ci8h5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=196&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352814/original/file-20200813-24-ci8h5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=196&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352814/original/file-20200813-24-ci8h5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=247&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352814/original/file-20200813-24-ci8h5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=247&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352814/original/file-20200813-24-ci8h5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=247&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The mosaic, left, depicts The Virgin Mary and Jesus in the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia. On the photo on the right, the mosaic is covered with sail-like drapes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Turkey-Hagia-Sophia/e0d5c6f6620341549067f1b7e4dccf01/13/0">AP Photo/Emrah Gurel/Yasin Akgul</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This time around, rather than maintain Hagia Sophia as a <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/hagia-sophia-must-stay-monument-coexistence-opinion-1514802">monument of coexistence</a>, the Turkish government’s actions have <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/turkeys-decision-to-turn-hagia-sophia-into-a-mosque-dismays-christians-neighbors-historians-11594419524">sharpened an already tense ideological divide</a> between pious and secular Turks, and between Muslims and Christians worldwide.</p>
<p>But beyond the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/11/from-reformer-to-new-sultan-erdogans-populist-evolution">political and religious posturing</a>, we argue that Erdoğan and his team have also accidentally, and speciously, brought back the fabric veiling of icons, one of the practices of Byzantine Orthodoxy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144042/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In reconverting Hagia Sophia to a mosque, Turkish officials have emphasized veiling of Christian icons to create a Muslim prayer space. Experts explain why the veiling is in fact a Byzantine practice.
Christiane Gruber, Professor of Islamic Art, University of Michigan
Paroma Chatterjee, Associate Professor of History of Art, University of Michigan
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/138772
2020-06-05T12:08:54Z
2020-06-05T12:08:54Z
How to be as safe as possible in your house of worship
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337148/original/file-20200522-124832-xtmj40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C0%2C2968%2C2034&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the Sunshine Cathedral holds a drive-in Easter service in its parking lot. Each car received a Ziploc bag with a prayer card, palm leaf and pre-packaged communion.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/rev-dr-robert-griffin-greets-parishioners-as-they-arrive-news-photo/1218419168?adppopup=true">Getty Images / Joe Raedle</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released what it calls <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/organizations/index.html">“general considerations”</a> on safe actions for reopening houses of worship, but worship communities can accept or reject those considerations. </p>
<p>Religious worship allows tens of millions of Americans to demonstrate devotion to a higher power. It gives people an opportunity to commit – and recommit – to a set of values. In-person services foster a sense of community and belonging. Unfortunately for millions whose lives are enriched by communal worship, traditional services are ideal places for virus transmission: lots of people, close together. </p>
<p><a href="https://chmfamilymedicine.msu.edu/people/claudia-finkelstein/">As a physician</a> specializing in internal medicine, I suggest, for now at least, that we reexamine how we worship. After all, what better way to embody the values of your faith than to take steps to protect one another?</p>
<p>Even with the uncertainty and variability of reopening plans, scientifically and medically sound information is available. For starters, you’ll want to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-at-higher-risk.html">assess your individual risk</a>, the <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html">prevalence of the virus in your area</a> and the <a href="https://www.cnet.com/health/coronavirus-testing-near-me-how-to-find-covid-19-test-sites-and-wait-times/">availability of testing</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337149/original/file-20200522-124818-1dadykp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337149/original/file-20200522-124818-1dadykp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337149/original/file-20200522-124818-1dadykp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337149/original/file-20200522-124818-1dadykp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337149/original/file-20200522-124818-1dadykp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337149/original/file-20200522-124818-1dadykp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337149/original/file-20200522-124818-1dadykp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A worshiper raises her hand to the skies at a drive-in service in Louisville, Kentucky.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/worshiper-listens-to-a-song-during-the-drive-in-service-at-news-photo/1217003851?adppopup=true">Getty Images / Andy Lyons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The four pillars</h2>
<p>You may consider guidelines suggested by <a href="http://atulgawande.com/about/">Dr. Atul Gawande</a>, noted surgeon and author. He proposes <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/science/medical-dispatch/amid-the-coronavirus-crisis-a-regimen-for-reentry">four essential pillars</a> for safe reentry into communal spaces: hygiene, distancing, screening and mask use.</p>
<p>All four must operate together to minimize transmission. Will your place of worship be able to enact these pillars? </p>
<p>For example: Will you have easy access to hand-washing or sanitizing? Will communal surfaces and shared spaces be wiped down? Will attendance be limited to allow distancing, and will attendees be screened with temperature checks and self-screening questionnaires? Will your place of worship enforce mask use and distancing? Anything short of all four pillars increases transmission risk. </p>
<p>And even with all the precautions, people with infections can be asymptomatic – so despite the screening measures, you can’t be sure who has the virus and whether you might become exposed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336562/original/file-20200520-152288-1hx5iln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336562/original/file-20200520-152288-1hx5iln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336562/original/file-20200520-152288-1hx5iln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336562/original/file-20200520-152288-1hx5iln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336562/original/file-20200520-152288-1hx5iln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336562/original/file-20200520-152288-1hx5iln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336562/original/file-20200520-152288-1hx5iln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Palestinian Muslim worshipers, distanced from each other due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, pray outside the closed Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem on May 19, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/palestinian-muslim-worshippers-distanced-from-each-other-news-photo/1214171454?adppopup=true">Ahmad Gharabli AFP via Getty Images)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Today’s services: Short, outside – and cut the choir</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.erinbromage.com/post/the-risks-know-them-avoid-them">Other factors</a> influence viral spread. The dose you receive is higher when you’re close to someone not wearing a face covering. <a href="https://www.erinbromage.com/post/the-risks-know-them-avoid-them">Someone sneezing and coughing</a> increases the number of virus particles near you. Singing or speaking forcefully releases more virus than speaking quietly. <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/494348-new-study-finds-few-cases-of-outdoor-transmission-of-coronavirus-in-china">Outdoor rates of transmission</a> are much lower than those indoors. </p>
<p>That’s why it’s best if services are short, outdoors and with no singing or physical contact. Only a limited number of attendees, spaced widely and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html">wearing masks properly</a>, would participate.</p>
<p>Early in the pandemic, faith leaders adapted their services: removing holy water, forbidding handshakes, limiting group size and livestreaming. Buddhist monks seeking alms wore face shields. But <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/10/in-photos-religion-around-the-world-in-the-age-of-coronavirus.html">others protested</a> any restrictions.</p>
<p>In dealing with the virus, we still have much to learn. But values common to all religions exist – compassion, kindness, respect for fellow humans and some variation of the Golden Rule. Until more is known about COVID-19, let’s choose a path following one of the major tenets of my profession: First, do no harm.</p>
<p>[<em>You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=upper-coronavirus-help">Read The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138772/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claudia Finkelstein does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
To keep congregations safe, religious services must take a different approach.
Claudia Finkelstein, Associate Professor of Family Medicine, Michigan State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/110635
2019-01-28T22:34:55Z
2019-01-28T22:34:55Z
Islamophobia and hate crimes continue to rise in Canada
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256974/original/file-20190204-193192-s0yp4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of the families of the victims listen to testimonies during a memorial ceremony to honour the victims of the 2017 mosque shooting, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019 in Québec City. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Québec City mosque massacre, the worst mass murder to take place in a house of worship in Canadian history, was a shock to Canada’s multicultural utopia. </p>
<p>A local halal grocery store owner, a professor at Université Laval, three civil servants and a pharmacy worker were brutally killed on Jan. 29, 2017. The six men, originally from Morocco, Algeria and Guinea, were fathers, sons, husbands, brothers: Ibrahima Barry, aged 39, Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42, Khaled Belkacemi, 60, Aboubaker Thabti, 44, Abdelkrim Hassane, 41, and Azzedine Soufiane, 57.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203330/original/file-20180124-107950-ti6bjp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203330/original/file-20180124-107950-ti6bjp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203330/original/file-20180124-107950-ti6bjp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203330/original/file-20180124-107950-ti6bjp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203330/original/file-20180124-107950-ti6bjp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203330/original/file-20180124-107950-ti6bjp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203330/original/file-20180124-107950-ti6bjp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ilies Soufiane, the young son of victim Azzeddine Soufiane, is consoled during a 2017 ceremony for three of the six victims in Québec City.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet the rising Islamophobia in Canada had impacted Muslims long before this tragedy. And not surprising to many, the hatred has continued to rise. </p>
<h2>Hate crimes on the rise</h2>
<p>Statistics Canada found <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3523535/hate-crimes-canada-muslim/">hate crimes against Muslims in Canada grew 253 per cent from 2012 to 2015</a>. It got even worse: <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/statistics-canada-2017-hate-crime-numbers-1.4925399">police-reported general hate crimes shot up by 50 per cent in 2017 reaching a new all-time high</a>. These numbers are largely driven by incidents targeting Muslim, Jewish and Black people with the increases being driven mainly by events in Ontario and Québec. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255903/original/file-20190128-108370-ynked3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C1659%2C6609%2C2806&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255903/original/file-20190128-108370-ynked3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255903/original/file-20190128-108370-ynked3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255903/original/file-20190128-108370-ynked3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255903/original/file-20190128-108370-ynked3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255903/original/file-20190128-108370-ynked3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255903/original/file-20190128-108370-ynked3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People gathered in remembrance of the victims of the Québec City mosque shooting in Edmonton Alta, on Jan. 30, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Muslims have been constructed as the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268087058_Constructing_the_enemies_within_Muslim_youth_and_the_racial_politics_of_Canada's_'home_grown'_war_on_terror">“enemies within”</a> and represent the new folk devils that threaten the stability of the nation. According to a 2017 Radio Canada poll, most Canadians (74 per cent) favour a Canadian values test for Muslim immigrants, <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/most-canadians-favour-values-test-for-immigrants-poll">while 23 per cent favour a ban on Muslim immigration, a level of support that rises to 32 per cent in Québec.</a></p>
<h2>White nationalism in Canada</h2>
<p>Alexandre Bissonnette, who has pleaded guilty to six counts of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder in Québec City, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/alexandre-bissonnette-sentencing-defence-1.4631294">spent the day of the attack drinking alcohol</a>, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4191327/inside-the-mind-of-a-killer-what-we-now-know-about-alexandre-bissonnettes-quebec-mosque-shooting-plot/">reading stories about President Trump’s Muslim ban and visiting the Twitter feeds of extreme right personalities Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly and the Facebook page of France’s far-right Front National leader Marine Le Pen</a>. He was <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/alexandre-bissonnette-inside-the-life-of-a-mass-murderer">reportedly angered over a Jan. 29 tweet by Justin Trudeau on welcoming refugees to Canada</a> and left his parents’ house armed with a gun and racist, anti-Muslim, xenophobic hate.</p>
<p>Media reports rushed to blame this tragedy on anti-Muslim hatred south of the border, exemplified by U.S. President Donald Trump’s Islamophobic rhetoric and policies. But a study about the white nationalist website Stormfront found that <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01639625.2013.834755">Islamophobic sentiments were more prominent from Canadian subscribers than in the United States.</a> </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/quiet-canadian-ugly-american-does-racism-differ-north-of-the-border-81388">Quiet Canadian, ugly American: Does racism differ north of the border?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Canada has its own history of policies that promote Islamophobia. For example, the Harper era was riddled with policies that target Muslims, such as the <a href="http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/AnnualStatutes/2015_29/page-1.html">“Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act,”</a> Security Certificates (involving secret evidence and trials), the Anti-Terrorism Act and the proposed <em>niqab</em> ban at citizenship ceremonies. Many of these policies still exist, however, there is no longer a <em>niqab</em> ban at citizenship ceremonies and Senate has passed a Bill <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/senate-passes-bill-to-remove-mention-of-barbaric-cultural-practices-from-law-passed-by-harper-conservatives">to remove the language “barbaric” from the “Barbaric Cultural Practices Act.”</a> </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255902/original/file-20190128-108348-1vo63o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255902/original/file-20190128-108348-1vo63o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255902/original/file-20190128-108348-1vo63o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255902/original/file-20190128-108348-1vo63o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255902/original/file-20190128-108348-1vo63o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255902/original/file-20190128-108348-1vo63o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255902/original/file-20190128-108348-1vo63o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People attend a vigil in Montreal on Monday, Jan. 30, 2017 for victims of the shooting at a Québec City mosque.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Québec’s policies, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/quebecs-niqab-ban-uses-womens-bodies-to-bolster-right-wing-extremism-86055">Bill 94 banning the <em>niqab</em></a> from public and civic spaces and the Charter of Values, also contributed to this breeding ground of Islamophobic fear and white angst. </p>
<p>The breeding grounds of white nationalism and xenophobia are rife online. Stepping out of the shadows of internet chat rooms and congregating openly through public rallies across Canada over the past two years, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3670776/white-nationalist-groups-canada-on-the-rise/">the presence of white supremacist nationalism is gaining renewed impetus</a>. There are approximately <a href="http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/qc/pub/sn-ns/ge-eg-eng.htm">100 white supremacist groups operating in Canada</a>. <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4425310/soldiers-of-odin-edmonton-mccauley-protest/">The Canada Border Services Agency found that “right-wing ideology” in Alberta is growing.</a></p>
<p>Police are investigating members of an anti-Islam group reportedly having ties to (white supremacist groups) “The Clann Northern Alberta Infidel Division” and “Wolves of Odin” who confronted worshippers at Canada’s first mosque, Al-Rashid Mosque in Edmonton this January. They <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/crime/hate-crime-unit-monitoring-anti-islamic-group-after-confrontation-al-rashid-mosque?fbclid=IwAR1ODsLJelX5TYP4CKcu5AfXF46v8ICyy3Ks-eEHPtlZ_kPdrurXWMIIRNA">were “scouting” the premises and harassing community members in the parking lot</a>. </p>
<p>In early February, three men and one high school student were arrested in upstate New York for planning attacks against a Muslim community in Islamberg. <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4876824/islamberg-new-york-muslim-community-explosives-plot/">They were found to be in possession of numerous guns and explosive devices. They were described as “former Boy Scouts” in the news report.</a> The “Boy Scout” narrative is an example of “white exceptionalism” where white assailants are seen as a “few bad apples” spoiling the bunch. This exceptionalism allows white people to be seen as individuals and not members of their group. </p>
<p>Muslim or other racialized groups will always bear the collective guilt and responsibility for actions committed (or alleged). For example, the recent RCMP arrests of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1432079427728">two Muslim men on alleged terror charges in Kingston, Ont. led to Conservative leader Andrew Scheer calling for tighter controls on refugees to Canada</a>. </p>
<h2>Responses to the tragedy</h2>
<p>The report following the Parliamentary hearings on Motion 103 (a non-binding motion asking the Canadian government to condemn Islamophobia) and systemic racism largely sidelined the issue of Islamophobia which was the original impetus for this inquiry following the Québec shootings. <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/m-103-report-makes-few-recommendations-about-islamophobia">Out of 30 recommendations, only one mentions Islamophobia as part of a generic statement condemning systemic racism and religious discrimination.</a></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203327/original/file-20180124-107974-1txvg09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203327/original/file-20180124-107974-1txvg09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203327/original/file-20180124-107974-1txvg09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203327/original/file-20180124-107974-1txvg09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203327/original/file-20180124-107974-1txvg09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203327/original/file-20180124-107974-1txvg09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203327/original/file-20180124-107974-1txvg09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People hold signs during a demo supporting M-103 in Montréal, March 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Moreover Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism declared: “systemic racism” was “<a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-ottawa-holds-consultations-on-racism-behind-closed-doors/">not a part of (his) vocabulary.</a>” Such a comment means that the problem of systemic oppression is <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-ottawa-holds-consultations-on-racism-behind-closed-doors/">being reduced to an individual concern which conveniently absolves the state and its institutions from being complicit in promoting racism, religious discrimination and Islamophobia.</a></p>
<p>Despite these disappointing developments, the survivors of the Québec City shooting have <a href="http://rabble.ca/news/2017/11/quebec-shooting-victims-want-trudeau-do-something-about-gun-violence">joined survivors of the Montréal Polytechnique massacre in 1989 in raising awareness of gun violence</a>. The heroic and selfless actions of Aymen Derbali who was paralyzed after trying to stop the shooter and saved countless lives should serve to dislodge the destructive stereotypes of “radical” Muslims in conflict with Canadian values, but his sacrifice also remains as a mere footnote to this tragedy. </p>
<p>Muslim groups across the country have called for Jan. 29 to be designated as a National Day of Remembrance and Action on Islamophobia. Making it a federal day would be an act of solidarity that would help to ensure the lessons learned from this tragedy will not be forgotten.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article published on Jan. 28, 2019</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110635/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jasmin Zine receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for a study on the Canadian Islamophobia Industry.</span></em></p>
The tragedy of the Quebec City mosque shootings which killed six men continues to reverberate. But Islamophobia has not been curbed: it is at its highest rate ever.
Jasmin Zine, Professor of Sociology, Wilfrid Laurier University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/100576
2018-07-31T10:40:49Z
2018-07-31T10:40:49Z
What Richard Dawkins doesn’t get about the Muslim call to prayer
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229850/original/file-20180730-106508-ckq4am.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Muslim women offer prayers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ghalog/6270665853/in/set-72157627673829509">Glenn Halog</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.richarddawkins.net/richarddawkins/">Richard Dawkins</a>, the evolutionary biologist, unapologetic atheist and author of “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=4do3DAAAQBAJ&dq=god+delusion+mifflin&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjPyY302MfcAhVjm-AKHb2_BzsQ6AEIJzAA%22">God Delusion</a>,” recently <a href="https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins/status/1018933359978909696">tweeted</a> a picture of himself in front of the Winchester Cathedral in England, which said,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Listening to the lovely bells of Winchester, one of our great mediaeval [sic] cathedrals. So much nicer than the aggressive-sounding ‘Allahu Akhbar.’ Or is that just my cultural upbringing?”</p>
</blockquote>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1018933359978909696"}"></div></p>
<p>This lit a <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/richard-dawkins-bigotry-allahu-akhbar-tweet-prompts-debate-atheist-islam-1028487">twitterstorm</a> of <a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-the-bigot-s-delusion-why-richard-dawkins-saying-church-bells-sound-nicer-than-allah-u-akbar-is-wrong-2638290">tens of thousands</a> of retweets and replies. Numerous <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/richard-dawkins-allahu-akhbar-church-bells-criticism-religion-a8451141.html">news outlets</a> around the world posted <a href="http://www.arabnews.com/node/1344386">opinion pieces</a>, <a href="https://www.worldreligionnews.com/religion-news/richard-dawkins-religious-bigot">critiques</a> and analyses of his tweets. To correct, or perhaps clarify his initial tweet, Dawkins then <a href="https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins/status/1019566464569892866">retweeted</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The call to prayer can be hauntingly beautiful, especially if the muezzin has a musical voice. My point is that ‘Allahu Akhbar’ is anything but beautiful when it is heard just before a suicide bomb goes off. That is when Islam is tragically hijacked by violence.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1019566464569892866"}"></div></p>
<p>Both supporters and critics again filled his Twitter threads with heated comments. </p>
<p>This is not the first time the Muslim call to prayer has been misconstrued or that Muslims have been attacked for their prayer practices around the world. Muslims have been checked from praying in countries such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13602004.2015.1007665">Switzerland</a>, <a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/D/bo26260860.html">France</a>, <a href="http://www.atimes.com/article/tension-rising-in-delhi-over-muslims-praying-in-open-spaces/">India</a> and <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180711-israel-banned-call-to-prayer-298-times-at-key-mosque/">Israel</a>. </p>
<h2>Suspicions around Muslim prayers</h2>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j_eGwojkeCE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Muslim call to prayer in Istanbul.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is a long history of opposition to public airings of the Muslim call to prayer. Starting in 2004, many of the longtime Polish Catholic residents of Hamtramck, Michigan, <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2016/02/05/february-5-2016-muslims-of-hamtramck-michigan/28948/">expressed vehement opposition</a> to the call to prayer being aired publicly. This dispute <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/for-the-first-majority-muslim-us-city-residents-tense-about-its-future/2015/11/21/45d0ea96-8a24-11e5-be39-0034bb576eee_story.html?utm_term=.6ed3c56f84f3">continues until today</a>. </p>
<p>This is not the only one. In 2015, Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham and well-known evangelical leader, <a href="https://twitter.com/Franklin_Graham/status/555439749721501697">tweeted his opposition</a> to <a href="https://naspa.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1515/jcc-2013-0016#.W1oC0NhKg0o">Duke University’s plans</a> to allow prayers, which included “Muslim prayers,” as <a href="https://today.duke.edu/2015/01/adhanannouncement">part of its ongoing commitment</a> to creating a pluralistic campus. </p>
<p>In a 2016 incident, a <a href="https://mic.com/articles/142022/ucf-library-evacuated-after-muslim-girl-praying-gets-reported-as-gun-threat#.kDkEPUwaM">Muslim student</a> who was praying in the library of the University of Central Florida was singled out as a threat. </p>
<p>In my ongoing <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FvTDlCsAAAAJ&hl=en">research</a> that looks at Muslim experiences of ritual practices in the U.S., I’ve spoken to Muslims who are forced to hide their prayer practices from colleagues at work. Many of them delay their prayers when out in public because of fear of being attacked. </p>
<p>Part of the suspicion comes from the fact that the prayer words “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is the greatest,” is associated with suicide bombers and other extremists. Indeed, film studies scholar <a href="https://clas.uiowa.edu/cinematic-arts/people/corey-creekmur">Corey Creekmur</a> <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/reframing-911-9781441119056/">surveyed Hollywood’s “war on terror” films</a> and found that nearly all films invoking Islam or the Middle East include the call to prayer in the background. Creekmur argues that these films create an insidious connection between the call to prayer and political violence.</p>
<p>What many do not understand is the history and poetry in the Muslim way of praying.</p>
<h2>Beauty of the Muslim prayer</h2>
<p>It is believed that Prophet Muhammad received the words of the call from God through the archangel Gabriel. The Quran, which Muslims believe to be the direct words of God, commands Muslims to pray five times a day. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HRey7TFwfkY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Islamic prayer.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many Muslims organize their days around the call to prayer and others stop what they are doing during the call and make supplications to God.</p>
<p>The Muslim call to prayer can be heard through loudspeakers mounted on minarets in the streets of Istanbul, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8cbN9SRo2Q">Jakarta</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEWfbgHg3Ew">Sarajevo</a> in melodic tones that beckon worshippers to the mosque.</p>
<p>The first Muslim to ever recite the call to prayer was Bilal Ibn Rabah, son of an enslaved Abyssinian woman, in the city of Medina in the seventh century. At the time, early Muslims were <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_25461">debating the best way to audibly announce</a> the time for prayer so people would know when to gather at the mosque.</p>
<p>There is a science of reciting the prayers, called <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/tajwid">tajwid</a> in Arabic. Ethnomusicologist <a href="http://www.aucpress.com/t-AuthorDetails.aspx?ID=314">Kristina Nelson</a> <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-art-of-reciting-the-quran-9789774245947?cc=us&lang=en&">explains</a> how professional reciters use melody to reflect the emotions and teachings of the sacred text. Tapping into the underlying message of the Quran, reciters <a href="https://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/perfection-makes-practice-learning-emotion-and-the-recited-quran-in-indonesia/">can evoke piety</a> and remembrance of God in their listeners.</p>
<p>For more than a millennium, Muslim poets have described their experience of the prayer. American Muslim poet <a href="http://ecstaticxchange.com/about/">Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore</a>, for example, <a href="http://ecstaticxchange.com/book/facing-mecca/">recalls his practice of prayer</a> as being able to experience God in an intimate way. Throughout his writings, 13th-century Persian Sufi poet <a href="http://www.dar-al-masnavi.org/about_rumi.html">Rumi</a> fondly <a href="https://sufism.org/salaat/mevlana-on-prayer-2">describes</a> prayer as a direct door to God’s presence, offering spiritual delights. He says,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The delight I feel in the ritual prayer, The window of my soul opens, and from the purity of the Unseen World, the Book of God comes to me straight.” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Prayers for peace</h2>
<p>Across religions, prayer has been found to have a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=NiRZcCVbkZ4C&lpg=PP1&ots=DW0fduPRUu&dq=prayer%20calm%20religion&lr&pg=PR7#v=onepage&q=prayer%20calm%20religion&f=false">calming effect on practitioners</a>. Islamic prayer <a href="https://www.academia.edu/848052/Religion_and_mental_health_The_case_of_American_Muslims">is no different</a>. In my <a href="https://nyupress.org/books/9781479804887/">work</a>, American Muslims have explained that prayer takes away their worries and brings them peace. It also brings families and entire communities together, connecting them to the Islamic holy book, the Quran, and God. </p>
<p>So, the next time you hear a Muslim call to prayer, do remember, it is simply the Islamic way to remind us of the divine.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100576/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rose S. Aslan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The Muslim call to prayer has often been misconstrued. A scholar explains how Islamic prayer is the heart of Islam that allows for an intimate connection between Muslims and their Creator.
Rose S. Aslan, Assistant Professor of Religion, California Lutheran University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/65101
2016-09-22T20:30:27Z
2016-09-22T20:30:27Z
Friday essay: the Australian Mosque
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138538/original/image-20160921-12453-od81vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A 'humble outback structure': a former Afghan cameleer's mosque in Bourke NSW. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/23766603@N07/2579118900">Copyright Iain Davidson/flickr</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I presented a slide of an <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/23766603@N07/2579118900">Afghan cameleer’s mosque</a> to a conference of art historians last year, noting that this was Australia’s most distinctive contribution to Islamic architecture. Some of them laughed.</p>
<p>It was, after all, little more than a corrugated iron shed, stained and dented, a humble outback structure that serves its purpose and makes no claims to magnificence. Our “Afghan” mosques – made by skilled cameleers and traders from <a href="http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/La-Trobe-Journal-89-Hanifa-Deen.pdf">Afghanistan and beyond</a> – are unique to Australia and they are remarkable. But should these 19th and early 20th-century regional buildings define our concept of a typically Australian mosque today?</p>
<p>Australia tends to be overlooked in historic and contemporary surveys of Islamic architecture. Our mosques are not statements of empire, nor are they lavish monuments or national icons. They are manifestations of <a href="http://amf.net.au/library/uploads/files/Religion_Cultural_Diversity_Resource_Manual.pdf">the local communities they serve</a>. They are comparatively understated, cosmopolitan and suburban.</p>
<p>Because of these characteristics, we never hear arguments for a “Golden Age” in Australian mosque design. This is excellent, because “Golden Ages” are nostalgic reconstructions that encourage pastiche at best and fundamentalism at worst. Instead, Australian mosques can showcase the plurality that supports our open, multicultural, inclusive future.</p>
<p>Mosques are part of the Australian suburban landscape. They have crucial roles to play in <a href="https://theconversation.com/mosques-muslims-and-myths-overcoming-fear-in-our-suburbs-31822">overcoming fears about Islam</a> and supporting progressive values within Islam. The situation of Islam in Australia has been <a href="http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/about-us/our-publications/la-trobe-journal/la-trobe-journal-no-89-may-2012">regularly and critically reviewed</a> and will continue to be the subject of public conversations.</p>
<p>Those who oppose the building of mosques – <a href="https://theconversation.com/pauline-hanson-20-years-on-same-refrain-new-target-65433">such as Pauline Hanson</a>, most recently – don’t recognise their potential to support Australian ideals and represent our shared history.</p>
<h2>Local forms</h2>
<p>Whenever we move through the history of architecture, we find distinctive local forms. Mosques are no exception. This is a response not only to communities’ needs, but the prevailing systems of construction and accessible material resources. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138230/original/image-20160919-11134-1z0ypt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138230/original/image-20160919-11134-1z0ypt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138230/original/image-20160919-11134-1z0ypt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138230/original/image-20160919-11134-1z0ypt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138230/original/image-20160919-11134-1z0ypt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138230/original/image-20160919-11134-1z0ypt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138230/original/image-20160919-11134-1z0ypt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Mosque at Marree (1884)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Library of South Australia/Wikimedia commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To define an Australian mosque, we start by making a choice. Should we look for case studies from the regional spectacular or the suburban vernacular to showcase our national heritage? This is essentially a qualitative/quantitative decision. The rare and surviving-against-the-odds mosques of the Cameleers support “bush” narratives of outback hardship, isolation, resilience, masculinity and bare-boned purposefulness. </p>
<p>Our much more popular suburban mosques, of which there are currently over 340 in Australia (including <a href="http://www.isra.org.au/site/user-assets/docs/ISRA-Mosques-of-Sydney-and-NSW-Report-LR.pdf">around 167 in NSW</a>), were usually built after the late 1970s. They offer quite different narratives. Some provide striking additions to urban skylines, but most are modest buildings, which make no claim to architectural fame.</p>
<p>Another way to assess this decision is to ask which building is more likely to appear as commemorative history on Australian currency – the rustic Marree Mosque or the ornate Auburn Gallipoli mosque in suburban Sydney? Alternatively, which one makes you prouder to be Australian?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138226/original/image-20160919-11131-s4d000.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138226/original/image-20160919-11131-s4d000.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138226/original/image-20160919-11131-s4d000.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138226/original/image-20160919-11131-s4d000.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138226/original/image-20160919-11131-s4d000.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=753&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138226/original/image-20160919-11131-s4d000.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=753&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138226/original/image-20160919-11131-s4d000.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=753&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sydney’s Auburn Gallipoli Mosque. Copyright Sylvie Pagna.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For the purpose of this discussion, Australian mosques take three forms: the Outback, the Suburban, and the Future. These might also be regarded as the mythic, the diasporic, and the utopian.</p>
<p>The first Muslim contact with Australia took place prior to 1720 through Macassan traders. They called the north-west coast “Marege”, and their influence can be seen through Indigenous art, language, and other objects. No Maccassan mosques are known to have been built in Australia. The <em>adhan</em> (call to prayer) also left no trace upon the soil, but as noted by historian Regina Ganter, <a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p241301/html/ch04.xhtml?referer=294&page=6">some have argued the adhan echoes in Indigenous languages</a> along places once visited by the Macassans.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://dro.deakin.edu.au/eserv/DU:30041738/dejong-nonchristian-2011.pdf">earliest known mosque</a> in Australia was built in Marree, South Australia, likely in the 1860s. Descriptions of the very first mosque in Medina (Saudi Arabia) suggest it was quite similar to this improvised building. Both featured a thatched roof, palm tree trunks, earthen walls, orientation towards Mecca, a place to wash, and a small <em>minbar</em> (which could be called a pulpit). There was no dome, minaret, <em>mihrab</em> (acoustic niche oriented toward Mecca), or <em>muqarnas</em> (a support for domes), despite their ubiquity in later mosques.</p>
<p>What we see there today is a reconstruction from 2003. The last of the two original Marree mosques was dismantled by its custodian towards the end of his life, having seen no local successors to his role. Very few outback mosques are still in use today.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138227/original/image-20160919-11108-1nndion.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138227/original/image-20160919-11108-1nndion.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138227/original/image-20160919-11108-1nndion.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138227/original/image-20160919-11108-1nndion.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138227/original/image-20160919-11108-1nndion.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=682&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138227/original/image-20160919-11108-1nndion.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=682&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138227/original/image-20160919-11108-1nndion.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=682&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australia’s oldest extant mosque in Adelaide. Copyright Wayne Grivell.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Australia’s oldest extant mosque, once described as “the Afghan Chapel”, was built in Adelaide in 1888-1889. It is an important contribution to <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11562-015-0345-z">the history of Adelaide</a>, consisting of a bluestone structure once accompanied by a floral garden and caretaker’s cottage.</p>
<p>Four white minarets set it apart from its neighbours. It is used by a cosmopolitan congregation, and its presence has not led to a drop in house prices! When I last visited, a real estate poster claimed you could “own a piece of Australian history” by living on this attractive little street. This mosque has served as the basis for important studies in <a href="http://iaste.berkeley.edu/iaste/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2014/08/25.2-TDSR-RASHID.pdf">architectural hybridity and assimilation</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138547/original/image-20160921-12475-1mzk9f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138547/original/image-20160921-12475-1mzk9f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138547/original/image-20160921-12475-1mzk9f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138547/original/image-20160921-12475-1mzk9f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138547/original/image-20160921-12475-1mzk9f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138547/original/image-20160921-12475-1mzk9f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138547/original/image-20160921-12475-1mzk9f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138547/original/image-20160921-12475-1mzk9f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Holland Park Mosque.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bertknot/flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/531604/S06_03_Harris_Tradition-Identity-and-Adaptation.pdf">Jessica Harris’s study</a> of the mosques of Queensland also demonstrates how these distinctive buildings reflect changing aspects of local Australian architecture. These included an 1880s bamboo Javanese mosque in the sugarcane fields near Mackay and the Queenslander-inspired Cloncurry Mosque. Her study focuses on Holland Park mosque – first built in 1908 and rebuilt in the 1960s – as well as the mosques of the Gold Coast, Darra, and Kuraby in South-East Queensland. It highlights architecture’s role in
negotiation between Muslim and non-Muslim communities in Australia, showing how “an Australian-Islamic architectural identity” draws on diverse sources.</p>
<h2>Reclaimed rooms</h2>
<p>Australia does not have a National Mosque. However, many nations do. The <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Masjid_Negara_KL.JPG">Negara Masjid</a> in Kuala Lumpur is a useful example. It’s a postmodern and self-consciously contemporary mosque with invented characteristics unique to Malaysia. The structure draws upon the shape of a traditional Malay umbrella, opened to form a blue angular dome and closed to form a minaret. The mosque’s white Heros’ Mausoleum evokes the historic practice of placing distinguished burial chambers within mosques, but in this case it’s adapted to Malaysian ideas about statehood. Prime Ministers are buried under the dome - whereas national heroes (scientists and humanitarians, male and female) are buried just outside it. It’s rather like an alternative form of <a href="http://www.portrait.gov.au/">National Portrait Gallery</a>.</p>
<p>The opposite of a National Mosque is a reclaimed room. In Australia, the most low-key mosques are appropriated apartments or discrete spaces over shops, scarcely more than nondescript “prayer spaces”. The <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-24/the-cabramatta-mosque/5836666">Cabramatta Mosque</a>, for example, used to be a Vinnies. The Redfern Mosque mingles harmoniously with its neighbours. And several mosques around Australia <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2014/01/23/3931212.htm">used to be churches</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138544/original/image-20160921-12465-m7dz5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138544/original/image-20160921-12465-m7dz5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138544/original/image-20160921-12465-m7dz5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138544/original/image-20160921-12465-m7dz5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138544/original/image-20160921-12465-m7dz5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=683&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138544/original/image-20160921-12465-m7dz5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=683&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138544/original/image-20160921-12465-m7dz5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=683&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Redfern Mosque.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Newtown Graffiti/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is a long and complex history of churches in use as mosques, including the majestic Hagia Sofia in Istanbul, the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, and the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba. But recycled spaces can be indicative of marginalisation and minority disempowerment. </p>
<p>This was demonstrated by Christoph Büchel’s well-known installation at the 2015 Venice Biennale, in which he opened a <a href="https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-venice-biennale-iceland-pavilion-debate">fully functional mosque in a disused church</a>. It was the only mosque ever to have opened on the island of Venice, and it was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/23/arts/design/police-shut-down-mosque-installation-at-venice-biennale.html">closed by the Italian police</a> after just three days. For an artwork designed to highlight the challenges facing mosques in Europe, it served its purpose exceedingly well.</p>
<p>Australian suburban mosques have been supported by many migrating generations from around the world, resonating with migration (<em>hijrah</em>) as a formative narrative within Islam. </p>
<p>Mosques inspired by international architecture are manifestations of the inherited identities and denominations of first and second generation Muslim Australians. They are reminiscent of Denice Frohman’s 2013 poem <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtOXiNx4jgQ">Accents</a>, in which she describes her mother’s accent as “a stubborn compass, always pointing her toward home.” </p>
<p>Examples of these might include the National Trust listed <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/initiatives/auburn-gallipoli-mosque/">Auburn Gallipoli</a> (reminiscent of the work of the celebrated Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan), <a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6470587211_e1ef56d50c_b.jpg">Lakemba</a> mosque (Sunni Lebanese), <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Arncliffe_Mosque.JPG">Arncliffe</a> (Shi’ia Iranian), the <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--Z7nlj4TT3Y/VIyZWHf7a7I/AAAAAAAACdU/oZN97fGd-WU/s1600/BGmNdODCUAA8IaZ.jpg%2Blarge.jpg">Baitul Huda</a> (Indian Ahmadiyya) and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_Mosque#/media/File:Sunshine_Mosque.jpg">Sunshine Mosque</a> (Turkish-Cypriot), amongst many others. These buildings also reflect political support for multiculturalism in the wake of the White Australia policy.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138734/original/image-20160922-11685-nerx80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138734/original/image-20160922-11685-nerx80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138734/original/image-20160922-11685-nerx80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138734/original/image-20160922-11685-nerx80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138734/original/image-20160922-11685-nerx80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138734/original/image-20160922-11685-nerx80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138734/original/image-20160922-11685-nerx80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138734/original/image-20160922-11685-nerx80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The dome inside Lakemba mosque.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew Perkins/flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Though once defined by a particular community or ethnicity, suburban mosques are increasingly shared by diverse Muslim Australians. The future of the Australian mosque looks beyond ethnicity and origin to present an inclusive alternative. </p>
<p>In his analysis of Muslim perceptions of Australia as a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13602004.2015.1039813">homeland</a>, the theologian Salih Yucel noted the difference between <em>watan al-asli</em> (country of origin) and <em>watan al-sukna</em> (country of residence), alongside <em>watan al-safari</em> (country travelled through). </p>
<p>The suburban mosques I have listed tend to be evocative of <em>watan al-asli</em>, but the most contemporary Australian mosques engage with <em>watan al-sukna</em>. Both face divisive resistance from beyond the communities they serve, <a href="https://www.be.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/upload/pdf/schools_and_engagement/resources/_notes/5A4_5.pdf">which complicates the development of mosques for urban planners</a>.</p>
<h2>New beginnings</h2>
<p>Two new Australian mosques are notably prominent in the Australian media, though the response to each has been very different. The development of a mosque in Bendigo has been contested and defended in a series of ongoing headlines. Discussion of the <a href="http://tomkinson.com/?projects=project-02">actual design</a> of this mosque has been overshadowed by commentary around its <a href="https://www.bendigo.vic.gov.au/files/31fb3c50-4645-4715-9ad7-a51b00b552bf/Proposed-Mosque-Fact-Sheet.pdf">right to simply exist</a>.</p>
<p>By contrast, the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-08/contemporary-mosque-takes-shape-in-melbourne's-west/7702524">Australian Islamic Centre in Newport</a> has been celebrated as a “<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/blueprintforliving/architecture-and-faith/7710410">progressive vision and enabler of intercultural dialogue in a multicultural society</a>”. Designed by Glenn Murcutt and Hakan Elevli as “perhaps the first truly contemporary Australian mosque”, it is supported by an exhibition dedicated to its design at the National Gallery of Victoria (<a href="http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/glenn-murcutt/">Architecture of Faith</a>). A public talk by the architects attracted a sold-out audience, and is <a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/multimedia/in-conversation-glenn-murcutt-and-hakan-elevli/">now available online</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138416/original/image-20160920-11123-dzl27k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138416/original/image-20160920-11123-dzl27k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138416/original/image-20160920-11123-dzl27k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138416/original/image-20160920-11123-dzl27k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138416/original/image-20160920-11123-dzl27k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138416/original/image-20160920-11123-dzl27k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138416/original/image-20160920-11123-dzl27k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Glenn Murcutt AO, Sydney architect.
born England 1936
Australian Islamic Centre, architecture sketch
2006–16
pen and ink
Collection of the architect
© Copyright held by G. Murcutt on all mosque drawings and designs</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Gallery of Victoria</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Though it has been asked <a href="https://theconversation.com/building-a-nation-the-state-of-play-in-australian-architecture-19308">many times before</a>, I still ask my design students how “Australian style” might be defined. They usually suggest “anything made by Glenn Murcutt”. </p>
<p>This is what makes his collaboration in the design of an Australian mosque especially intriguing. The coloured glass skylights are more reminiscent of the work of the Australian artist Leonard French – especially his spectacular ceiling in the NGV and <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DuokoAqvChk/T0SpQ3vzU2I/AAAAAAAAFoo/J18cTUi1isU/s1600/IMAG0266.jpg">vibrant windows</a> in the National Library of Australia – than the famous stained glass windows of the Nasir al-Mulk mosque in Shiraz, Iran. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138552/original/image-20160921-12458-l3d6cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138552/original/image-20160921-12458-l3d6cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138552/original/image-20160921-12458-l3d6cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138552/original/image-20160921-12458-l3d6cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138552/original/image-20160921-12458-l3d6cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138552/original/image-20160921-12458-l3d6cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138552/original/image-20160921-12458-l3d6cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Left: Leonard French, Great Hall of the National Gallery of Victoria (provided by NGV Photographic Services) Top right: Detail of coloured daylight through roof lanterns, Australian Islamic Centre, Newport (photo by Tobias Titz, design copyright Glenn Murcutt). Bottom right: The 19th-century stained glass windows of Nasir al-Mulk (photo by Darafsh Kaviyani, Wikimedia)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photographs provided by NGV Photographic Service / Tobias Titz / Darafsh Kaviyani. Composite by Sam Bowker</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Australian Islamic Centre refers to the <a href="http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/the-australian-islamic-centre-in-newport-melbourne/">suburbs of Melbourne</a>, not the distant relics of the Cameleers or emblems of the Ottoman Empire. It is an important contribution to <a href="http://www.afr.com/brand/afr-magazine/why-glenn-murcutt-insisted-this-melbourne-mosque-have-no-minaret-20160509-goq2f1">Australian discourse</a> on contemporary Islam, a role shared by the <a href="https://islamicmuseum.org.au/">Islamic Museum of Australia</a> in Melbourne.</p>
<p>These high-profile buildings make spectacular statements. But an Australian mosque can be assessed by typicality, not exceptionalism. The Islamic Studies Centre of Charles Sturt University is an Australian mosque; both contemporary and vernacular, without claims for a past or future “Golden Age”. Designed by Marcie Webster-Mannison in 1995, it is a safe space that reflects the buildings nearby, subtly oriented towards Mecca, set in a beautiful, discrete location with a sublime view. Like most Australian architecture it does not punctuate the skyline. Like every other building on campus, it serves students and academics from Australia and around the world.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138188/original/image-20160919-17008-1w9yotf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138188/original/image-20160919-17008-1w9yotf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138188/original/image-20160919-17008-1w9yotf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138188/original/image-20160919-17008-1w9yotf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138188/original/image-20160919-17008-1w9yotf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138188/original/image-20160919-17008-1w9yotf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138188/original/image-20160919-17008-1w9yotf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The CSU Islamic Studies Centre, Wagga Wagga.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sam Bowker</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mosques are a normal feature of our cities, though they are yet to be seen as typically Australian. This is odd given that <a href="http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/La-Trobe-Journal-89-Nigel-Lewis.pdf">references to Islamic architecture</a> are actually quite common in the history of Australian design. </p>
<p>Given that the theme of this year’s international Historians of Islamic Art conference is <a href="http://courtauld.ac.uk/event/regionality-looking-local-arts-islam">Regionality</a>, it’s time we noted Australia’s unique contributions to the past and future of Islamic architecture. Mosques form an important part of this conversation.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Sam Bowker will be online for an Author Q&A between 12 and 1pm on Friday, 23 September, 2016. Post any questions you have in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65101/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Sam Bowker teaches ART240: 'Introduction to Islamic Art & Design' for Charles Sturt University. He is also a member of the Historians of Islamic Art Association. This article is based on a public lecture for Sydney Ideas at the University of Sydney.</span></em></p>
Those opposed to the building of new mosques don’t recognise their long history here, or potential to support Australian ideals. Mosques are part of our suburban landscape and can help overcome fears about Islam.
Sam Bowker, Lecturer in Art History & Visual Culture, Charles Sturt University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/61281
2016-07-06T01:05:38Z
2016-07-06T01:05:38Z
American Islam: a view from the suburbs
<p>On June 10 Americans celebrated Muhammad Ali as a paragon of athletic prowess, dignity in the face of suffering and <a href="http://qz.com/701272/remembering-muhammad-alis-legacy-as-a-radical-and-peaceful-muslim/">patriotic dissent</a>. </p>
<p>But his fellow American Muslims more commonly find themselves cast as a “problem” for American religious pluralism and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/us/politics/trump-clinton-sanders-shooting-reaction.html">a threat to American security</a>. They join a long list of religious groups who have faced discrimination and public suspicion on account of their faith. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/12/america-history-of-hating-catholics">Catholics</a>, Jews, Mormons and many other communities have, at one time or other, been labeled as <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/religious-outsiders-and-the-making-of-americans-9780195051889?cc=us&lang=en&">dangerous outsiders</a>. </p>
<p>In response to this scrutiny and to affirm Islam as an American religion, some American Muslims are turning to emerging institutions that, because they are neither home nor mosque, are known as <a href="http://www.patheos.com/Topics/2014-Religious-Trends/Muslim">“third spaces.”</a> </p>
<p>These communities include support groups for converts, virtual communities on social media and blogs, communities centered on devotional practices, book clubs, artist and writers’ collectives, and study circles. Third spaces vary in size. Some have been in place for decades, while others last for a short time. During my fieldwork, I encountered at least 30 such spaces in the Chicago area alone.</p>
<p><a href="http://religion.case.edu/faculty/justine-howe/">My forthcoming book</a>,
based on four years of ethnography in one such third space, shows how these institutions provide an essential look into the myriad of local expressions of American Islam. </p>
<p>Islam may often be presented as an unchanging monolith. But the American Muslim community exemplifies the racial, theological, geographical, political and religious diversity of the American society writ large.</p>
<h2>Beyond the mosque</h2>
<p>Why have these third spaces not received much public attention? </p>
<p>One answer is that too often, we look to mosques as representative of American Muslims generally. There is good reason to do so. <a href="https://www.cair.com/images/pdf/The-American-Mosque-2011-part-1.pdf">Mosques</a> are among the most important and common American Muslim institutions, with over 2,000 in the U.S. </p>
<p>The Arabic term for mosque, <em>masjid</em>, means the “place of prostration,” and refers to the bodily postures of the five daily prayers (<em>salat</em>). </p>
<p>Although <em>salat</em> may be performed anywhere, Muslims around the world gather at mosques on Friday afternoons for communal prayers and to listen to a sermon. In the U.S., mosques also serve as schools and community centers. They provide social services and host weddings and funerals. </p>
<p>However, mosques provide a limited perspective into the vibrant dynamics of American Muslim religious and social life. </p>
<p>Just as church attendance cannot adequately capture the dynamic religiosity of contemporary American Christians, so too the assumption that mosques represent American Muslims yields an incomplete picture. </p>
<p>According to the 2011 Pew report <a href="http://www.people-press.org/2011/08/30/section-2-religious-beliefs-and-practices/">Muslim Americans: No Signs of Growth in Alienation of Support for Extremism</a>, about 47 percent of American Muslims attend mosques weekly; 34 percent visit on a monthly or yearly basis and 19 percent are “<a href="http://www.unmosquedfilm.com/">unmosqued</a>,” or never attend mosques. These figures approximate Christian church attendance. </p>
<p>Like other American practitioners, Muslims in the U.S. maintain various levels of observance and practice their faith in myriad ways.</p>
<h2>Creative piety in third spaces</h2>
<p>Another reason third spaces garner less consideration is that they tend to be local. Third spaces take advantage of their emergent and flexible character to build communities that more closely align with the theologies and social tastes of their members. </p>
<p>For example, the primary case study of my book, the <a href="http://www.webbfound.org">Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb Foundation</a>, is a family-centered institution located in the western Chicago suburbs.</p>
<p>Started in 2004, the foundation appeals to families with spouses of different ethnic and racial backgrounds, including first- and second-generation Arab and South Asian immigrants, African-Americans, as well as white and Latino converts, all of whom have struggled to find a religious community that accommodates this familial diversity. </p>
<p>About 150 students, both adult and children, attend Webb’s weekly Sunday school. Like many third spaces, Webb has no permanent building. Its activities take place in a variety of settings, including schools, hotels, parks and local community centers.</p>
<p>The Webb Foundation hosts activities such as football games, nature walks and ski trips to promote an “indigenous” American Islam. These practices work together with other rituals such as the <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/05/23/314867358/unmosqued-examines-muslim-variant-of-unchurched-youth"><em>mawlid</em></a>, a celebration honoring the Prophet Muhammad, as well as conversations around the Qur’an and discussions of <a href="http://www.mohammedwebb.org/program/adult-discussion-series/">common parental concerns like saving for college.</a></p>
<p>Community service, such as supporting one of the city’s largest <a href="http://abc7chicago.com/archive/6523354/">Thanksgiving turkey drives</a>, illustrates members’ commitment to helping less fortunate, predominantly non-Muslim neighbors. </p>
<p>Taken together, the Webb Foundation produces an American Islam that promotes religious pluralism, opens up leadership roles for women – who are equally represented on the foundation’s board – celebrates the <a href="http://www.mohammedwebb.org/about/">“best of American culture”</a> and imagines the U.S. as the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/07/world/americas/07iht-muslims.3434463.html?_r=0">ideal site for practicing Islam</a>.</p>
<h2>Past, present and future of American Islam</h2>
<p>Third spaces such as the Webb Foundation counter the common assumption that Islam is a “foreign” or “Arab” religion. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZJFttwN_DUE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Proud of their American heritage, its members honor the long tradition of American Muslims who have served the United States through <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/there-are-far-more-muslims-ready-to-fight-for-the-west-than-against-it/2015/11/20/ce2ef78a-8ee2-11e5-baf4-bdf37355da0c_story.html#https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/there-are-far-more-muslims-ready-to-">military</a>, public and community service. </p>
<p>Born in Hudson, New York, in 1846 and raised a Presbyterian, Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb converted to Islam in the 1880s while serving as consul to the Philippines under President Grover Cleveland. He subsequently became the spokesperson for Islam at the <a href="http://faith.galecia.com/essays/islam-heartland-alexander-russell-webb-0">1893 World’s Parliament of Religions</a> at the World’s Fair in Chicago. There he promoted his religion as the most universal and rational faith, challenging the fair’s exhibits that portrayed Muslims as exotic and romantic yet ultimately inferior to Protestant Christians.</p>
<p>A large majority of American Muslims are <a href="http://www.people-press.org/2011/08/30/section-1-a-demographic-portrait-of-muslim-americans/#number-of-muslims-in-the-u-s">U.S. citizens.</a> Some of the third spaces they are creating provide various opportunities – through rituals, outreach and service initiatives – for participants to explore more fully what it means to be an American Muslim, to <a href="http://theislamicmonthly.com/interfaith-service-a-muslim-imperative-an-american-value/">fulfill religious obligations</a> and in the process to challenge overwhelmingly negative representations of Islam and Muslims. </p>
<p>In this climate of fear and xenophobia, it is easy to fall back on ahistorical generalizations. We would do well to remember that no single institution represents all American Muslims, much less Islam.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61281/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justine Howe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Islam is often presented as an unchanging monolith. But as the emergence of ‘third spaces’ outside home and mosque shows, the American Muslim community exemplifies the diversity of American society.
Justine Howe, Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies , Case Western Reserve University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/31822
2014-09-18T20:26:41Z
2014-09-18T20:26:41Z
Mosques, Muslims and myths: overcoming fear in our suburbs
<p>Since Australians woke to the news of yesterday morning’s counter-terrorism raids in Sydney, Brisbane and Logan, talkback radio and the TV news have filled with talk of “home-grown terrorism” and “enemies within”. </p>
<p>There have been claims that Australia’s <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/2071.0main+features902012-2013">half a million Muslims</a> have particular difficulty “fitting in” and that their presence is a threat to social cohesion. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59417/original/mffw9pjh-1411032319.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59417/original/mffw9pjh-1411032319.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59417/original/mffw9pjh-1411032319.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=642&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59417/original/mffw9pjh-1411032319.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=642&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59417/original/mffw9pjh-1411032319.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=642&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59417/original/mffw9pjh-1411032319.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=807&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59417/original/mffw9pjh-1411032319.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=807&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59417/original/mffw9pjh-1411032319.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=807&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many people took to social media in response to yesterday’s counter-terrorism raids – including Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi and Monash University’s Susan Carland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Twitter</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That’s not unique to Australia. For instance, in the United Kingdom, it is sometimes claimed that Muslim Britons live alongside – but not with – their non-Muslim fellow citizens. </p>
<p>So what is the evidence that anything other than a tiny minority of Muslim Australians don’t want to live decent, ordinary lives, like the thousands who gathered for a <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/a/24989096/father-of-australian-islamic-state-fighter-warns-parents-to-be-vigilant-about-extremist-behaviour/">Muslims Love Australia</a> community barbecue in Sydney’s south-west on Sunday?</p>
<p>And given the fierce anti-Islamic protests in some areas – as seen on the Gold Coast in the past week, where a councillor reported <a href="http://www.skynews.com.au/news/national/2014/09/12/rape--death-threats-over-qld-mosque-plan.html">rape and death threats from anonymous anti-mosque protesters</a> – what’s the evidence that we should be afraid of mosques in our midst?</p>
<h2>Are mosques the problem or part of the solution?</h2>
<p>Only hours after yesterday’s raids, I was involved with the launch of the <a href="http://uws.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/754140/IS0001_ISRA_NSW_Msq_Rprt.pdf">Mosques of Sydney and NSW Research Report 2014</a> at the New South Wales Parliament. The research was done by one of my PhD students, Husnia Underabi, in conjunction with the Islamic Sciences and Research Academy and the Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation at Charles Sturt University.</p>
<p>The report surveyed 50 of New South Wales’ 167 Islamic places of worship to provide a picture of the formal religious experiences of the state’s 170,000 Muslims.</p>
<p>Mosques and other religious centres are too easily characterised as incubators of separation and radicalisation. Yet Underabi’s Mosque Report shows that as well as being places of prayer and communion, mosques have increasingly become places of social work. This includes weekend schools, language classes, women’s group meetings and marriage guidance, as well as child and youth activities. </p>
<p>Underabi’s report demonstrates how most mosques are hubs for engagement, civic participation and charitable work. They are places that encourage greater national identification and belonging. <a href="http://uws.edu.au/newscentre/news_centre/more_news_stories/study_details_changing_face_of_mosques_in_nsw">She found</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Most NSW mosques are involved in either interfaith dialogue or open days to invite non-Muslims to the mosque, indicating that mosques are involved with the wider society and are willing to communicate and exchange ideas. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Her research also found that:</p>
<ul>
<li>the majority of mosque leaders feel Australian Muslims should participate in Australia’s civic institutions;</li>
<li>more than half (56%) of the mosques indicated having female representation in the mosque committee;</li>
<li>whereas mosques in the past served only one ethnic group, almost all mosques in NSW now serve people of many ethnic backgrounds.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Are Muslim and Western values incompatible?</h2>
<p>Over the last decade there has been a rapid expansion of scholarship on the supposed difficulties of Muslims living in Western countries. One branch of this research is based on the common angst about Muslim incompatibility with “Western values”. Some of this angst focuses on the threat from radicalisation, if not terrorism. </p>
<p>A good deal of government-funded research in Australia on Muslims since 2007 has come from funding schemes with a de-radicalisation mission. In Australia this included the <a href="http://www.crc.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/19729/2012_National_Action_Plan_Final_Evaluation.pdf">National Action Plan To Build on Social Cohesion, Harmony and Security</a>.</p>
<p>The catalyst for this funding and the resulting research projects was the London bombings of July 7, 2005. Much of this research was therefore focused on the threat of home-grown terrorism, specifically the vulnerability of young Australian Muslims to radicalisation. </p>
<p>But an unfortunate effect of this mission was that it reinforced many of the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9663.00158/abstract">core stereotypes of Islam in the West</a>: of militancy, fanaticism, intolerance, fundamentalism, misogyny and of alien-ness.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59434/original/vd6cgjfc-1411039569.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59434/original/vd6cgjfc-1411039569.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59434/original/vd6cgjfc-1411039569.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59434/original/vd6cgjfc-1411039569.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59434/original/vd6cgjfc-1411039569.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59434/original/vd6cgjfc-1411039569.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59434/original/vd6cgjfc-1411039569.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59434/original/vd6cgjfc-1411039569.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australians’ religious affiliations, as reported in the 2011 Census. The Australian population is now estimated to be more than 23.6 million, so if the proportion of Australians identifying as Muslim has remained the same, there would be about 520,000 Muslims now.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/2071.0main+features902012-2013">Australian Bureau of Statistics</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Australian Muslims have faced ongoing frustrations in getting <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/gold-coast-mosque-rejection-common-sense-20140916-10ho4l.html">places of worship</a>, <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/developers-of-islamic-school-at-camden-retreat-as-real-estate-agents-put-site-up-for-sale-again/story-e6freuzi-1226296361476">schools</a> and renovations approved by local councils. This has happened in other Western nations too. Unfortunately, Islamaphobia continues to feed opposition to new mosques. </p>
<p>Of course, this is but one manifestation of the negative effects of Islamaphobia. There are also the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-05/vandals-graffiti-cairns-mosque/5070180">attacks on existing mosques</a>, verbal attacks, <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/east/thugs-bash-muslim-schoolgirl-wearing-hijab-in-wantirna-south/story-fngnvlxu-1226773375213">physical assaults</a> and prejudice. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.uws.edu.au/ssap/ssap/research/challenging_racism">Challenging Racism Project</a> data reveal that over 60% of Australian Muslims have experienced racism in the workplace or when seeking employment.</p>
<h2>Community safety starts with all of us</h2>
<p>As the former head of International Counter Terrorism in Special Branch at New Scotland Yard, <a href="https://theconversation.com/islamic-state-wants-australians-to-attack-muslims-terror-expert-31845">Nick O'Brien, wrote in The Conversation</a> last night:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s in the interests of Islamic State for Muslims in Australia to be attacked or for their mosques to be attacked, because doing so would help divide the Australian community … it’s only a tiny minority of the Muslim community that are ever involved in any kind of extreme action. The vast majority are decent, ordinary people.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Similarly, the international director of Monash University’s Global Terrorism Research Centre <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-raising-australias-terrorism-alert-to-high-would-mean-for-you-31510">Greg Barton has warned</a> that a knee-jerk, anti-Muslim reaction is a threat to our national security.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Trust between different ethnic and religious groups across Australia and with our security authorities is the bedrock of our security … In many cases where passports have been withheld in Australia, the tip-offs have come through the community.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For example, in 2005 a terrorism plot involving guns, ammunition and bomb-making equipment was thwarted after a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2014/s4090094.htm?site=melbourne">tip-off from Melbourne’s Muslim community</a>. After a long investigation, police arrested men in Melbourne and Sydney under <a href="http://www.cdpp.gov.au/case-reports/operation-pendennis/">Operation Pendennis</a>.</p>
<p>Muslim parents, friends and community leaders are vital for helping authorities know about the tiny minority of young Australians who may be sufficiently disenchanted to be radicalised.</p>
<h2>Low-key but effective policing</h2>
<p>Over the last four years we have analysed the work of the Community Engagement Unit within the Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics Command of the NSW Police Force. </p>
<p>Beyond the spectacular raids, such as those that occurred yesterday, there is the day-to-day counter-terrorism work that is done in our cities. That everyday effort includes police undertaking mundane intelligence gathering and liaison work, and building good relationships with communities. </p>
<p>Indeed, a large part of the counter-terrorism work – the primary interventions against radicalisation – is done by and through the communities. This mode of policing is called “community policing” and involves co-operation with communities. </p>
<p>That work is done through community infrastructures, including local mosques and the Islamic associations. Mosques are not our problem; instead, they are a fundamental part of the solution to radicalisation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31822/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Dunn receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Islamic Sciences and Research Academy and the NSW Police Force.</span></em></p>
Since Australians woke to the news of yesterday morning’s counter-terrorism raids in Sydney, Brisbane and Logan, talkback radio and the TV news have filled with talk of “home-grown terrorism” and “enemies…
Kevin Dunn, Dean of the School of Social Science and Psychology, Western Sydney University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.