Muslim Lifestyle

Comment

Issue 17 February 2006

Tariq Ramadan - "I was there, sitting in a corner of your life, observing your comings and goings, your painful falls, your leaps of joy, your expressions of hope. I was there, sitting in a corner of your life, observing you live as a small child, cry like an adult, suffer like a human being... I saw your solitude, I would have liked to be your brother. I would have liked to know everything about you, to understand you, to accompany you, to listen to you, to speak to you... I would have wanted to feel for you, to feel for you deeply, to forefeel you. I was sitting in a corner of your life, sad for your sadness, powerless... strong out of my love. I would have wanted to be your brother. I saw your solitude."
Daoud Rosser-Owen - "It’s narrated that Bradford, on seeing a criminal being taken to execution, stated, “But for the grace of God there goes John Bradford,” which has become rearranged into the popular saying, “there but for the grace of God go I.” It is an interesting way of looking at events, a form, I suppose, of tawakkul, recalling to oneself that everything lies in the Hand of God. It is, I think, a good thing that it is still used a lot by people."
Faisal Al-Yafai - "For some reason, we don’t like the word ‘We’. In Damascus, now the centre of the West’s strong-arm diplomacy, the pronoun is everywhere. “We will meet challenges with due spirit!” declare government banners hanging by the roadside. “We bow to no-one but God,” say signs on buildings. “We are all with you, Bashar,” say stickers on cars.
The government of Bashar Al-Assad, mindful of the daily revelations and questions from the United Nations that are probing its grip on power, is rallying the people behind it, using the immediately polarising power of those two letters: We.
It’s not just Syria, with its web of sects and ethnic groups that has recognised the power of the pronoun. The similarity between current American patriotism (“America: Love it or Leave it!” read many a US bumper sticker) and the totalitarian propaganda of the Soviet Union has been much remarked on. Places with a mix of groups with loyalties that pull in different directions are often ripe for this type of group identity.
Why, then, do we have such an issue with that word in Britain?"
Sadiq Khan - "I took my family to Pakistan. The plan was to give my six and four year old daughters their first taste of the country of origin of their grandparents and for us to escape the hype and hoo-haa of politics - or so I thought. There was shock and awe that we had travelled economy class and queued up with everyone else. “What about protocol?” they said in disbelief. “Shall we hire a better quality vehicle for you to travel in?” etc. The novelty of being treated like royalty wore off after a couple of minutes, and after nagging and complaining I eventually convinced my family and relations to treat me like a mere mortal. But not before the inevitable stories about where relations were when they had discovered that I had been elected: “Asleep, when a work colleague rang and told me,” said one. “Watching Geo TV,” said another. “At the market reading the newspaper,” and “stayed up all night to watch the results, but didn’t believe you had won until I saw it in the papers…”"
Philip Bushill-Matthews - "The slogan of the original French Revolution was ‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity’. This should be more than a slogan: it should be the basis of a society. All French people should have the liberty to express their own religious views, should be given equality of opportunity to climb every ladder, and should be treated with full fraternity whatever their background or belief. They are all equally French.
It is time to remember the spirit of that old revolution – to avoid France having to experience a new one."