Sunday, 21st September, 2014.
A Liberalist (little l) Rant.
For a few weeks now, there have been books piling up in my room. Not books on Islam as such, but books about the culture of Islam in British society. I have a small book about the life of Muhammad, which has been shortened considerably and made into poetry, because I think I should have at least a basic understanding of the beliefs of Muslims before I delve into books about the culture.
I remember telling the warden, director of collections and librarian in my interview that one of the things that made me want to work here was the House of Wisdom, where the Islamic studies collection is housed. For years, maybe even since the twin towers fell, I’ve been feeling a growing sense of unease and injustice about the way the western world reacted. Although I was only at the time, I remember walking away from the TV when the news was reporting on the first missile to be fired in the war in Iraq. I remember that it was 20thMarch, I remember exactly where I was and that it was a Thursday. I remember balling up my fists against the injustice. I couldn’t understand how this ‘war on terror’ could be anything less than terror itself. I was utterly frustrated.
Each headline that I’ve seen since grouping a religion and a culture with terrorism, rather than making me angry anymore, makes me sad. That it could be over a decade later and people still listen to the fearmongering headlines without any thought of looking into it themselves – to even just typing something into Google or researching, or just asking human beings about it – that they will read words written by one person who is controlled by a political party with a clear agenda – baffles me. The fact that there is consistently no country-wide uproar about the suspension of Habeas Corpus reminds me of the very situation we went to war against in the ‘40s. Do not even get me started on the vein-popping term that has recently surfaced – Islamist.
But I digress, and get into political and cultural matters that it seems can never be resolved. The point is, I was never much interested in Islam, just like I was never fascinated by church history or any other religion. My interest has stemmed from the desire to understand. I find racism even in my very own family, the Ahluwalias that I love. They can’t seem to understand that we are the same, at least culturally. They laugh at Citizen Khan, they relate to East is East…do they not realise that our culture is essentially the same? It is at this point that I seek to define my liberalism. I firmly believe in the rights of the individual, and that those rights overcome any kind of communal right. In the same way that a community has no authority to infringe upon the personal rights of someone based on their sexuality, gender, race, beliefs, marital state or anything else for that matter, I can see no way that it is right for people to judge others based on their religious beliefs. There is a misconception that liberalism is about ‘live and let live’ – my liberalism is not. I will not ‘let’ people be racist around me – nor tell me that abortion is wrong, or be sexist or classist. If someone’s personal liberty is infringed, then my liberalism tells me that something has to be done.
I think that books about being young, Muslim and British appeal to me for two reasons.
1. Islam seems to me to be very much the underdog at the moment. I want to defend moderate Muslims to people who cannot see past their own prejudices. The only way that I can do that is by making sure I understand a little first – you cannot argue with ignorance if you are ignorant yourself.
2. I heard an interesting conversation with Zia Chaudhry the last time he came to talk at gladlib. He pointed out that perhaps one of the reasons young Muslims feel so alienated is because when they go to Western schools, all they learn about is the West. Not in any subject – history, politics, science or literature – are we taught that Britain is multicultural. As he spoke the words, they were sent clanging around my head, like a revelation. The only time I learned about Sikhism was in A Level Religious Studies, and even then it was one module about the very basics of the religion – nothing that reflected on the culture. I spent at least two years learning about World War II in history, but not once was it mentioned that people other than British people fought in the war. For the most part, the history taught in schools ignores the experiences and contributions of the people from the empire and commonwealth. Rather frustratingly, I still can’t find anything that lists or barely mentions other cultures involved. I know from my own research years ago that 83,005 Sikh soldiers were killed and 109,045 were wounded.
Britain is multicultural – shouldn’t our schools be too? Maybe it would end the cycle of ignorance – at least then people can make their own, informed, decisions.
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I know this was a rant-y blog. Sorry. But I think sometimes these things need to be said.
BrightStarBookworm 