Encounters of Decolonization. Do we have to chose between Excellence and Commitment?

At the University of Cape Town recently, we were privilege to listen to two outstanding contributions on decolonizization. Professors Vivek Chibber and Mahmood Mamdani addressed the challenges of decolonizing the post-colonial University. Both put forward compelling models and ideas, and opened up a wide-ranging agenda for the future.

Chibber and Mamdani put decolonization struggles in South Africa in a historical frame. Putting the exceptionalism of South Africa in the dock, they asked us to reflect on Indian and the East African experiences of anti-colonialism and decolonization.

Chibber was clearly committed to a Marxist project that he wanted to revive and strengthen. He was critical of what he called de-universalizing gestures in Indian subaltern studies which he claimed ignored capitalist and neo-liberal hegemonies at local and global levels. He was dismissive of the cultural turn that deflected attention from class and capital. I am not convinced that this was an accurate reflection of subaltern studies.

But his talk and seminars made a valuable point of the dominant capitalist framework that pervades the globe. Any alternative cannot afford to ignore this status quo. But the cultural language, which also pervades class and decolonization struggles in South Africa and elsewhere, cannot be so easily dismissed. I believe that all struggles have cultures - and these must be reflected upon as critically as the economic conditions in which we live.

Mamdani was equally committed to a de-colonizing political project. Also taking us out of South Africa, he presented the contrasting epistemological projects of Makarere (Uganda) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania).  Mamdani compared the political commitment of Walter Rodney with the academic excellence of Ali Mazrui. In his framework, Chibber may be characterized as following a Rodnean approach.

In this gesture, then, I am asking that we put Mamdani in conversation with Chibber. Or that we use southern categories to frame discussions going forward.

Both Chibber and Mamdani called us to listen to experiences elsewhere. I believe that it is time that we engage in more discussions with decolonizing experiments across time and space.  Across time, it means that the post-colonial project in the 1960s should be brought up for critical engagement. Often, the postcolonial turn is identified as intellectual discussions that have greater currency in New York and London. Mamdani opened the window to the postcolonial  in the South.

They both also showed us how not to think about intellectuals in the South in undifferentiated ways. Again, I found Mamdani more useful in how he brought the value of Mazrui and Rodney into conversation with each other. But he should have been more critical of them - he left us thinking how to hold the balance between excellence and commitment. In my view, this choice is not one that we should be forced to make. Perhaps we need to ask why we have to chose? How have intellectual projects been shaped and framed so that theory and application are separated from each other? what is the nature of theory that eschews commitment and application?

Moreover, I would like to insert a critical Western voice to this discussion. Some western voices are also critical as we know, but they are also located in place, and not as universal as they seem to be, or seem to be read as such. By way of example, I can share Arendt whose The Human Condition we are reading in a reading group in the Department of Religious Studies. Arendt was engaging in a critical reading of the Western canon in the 1950s by comparing the West with Athens. Using Athens as a contrasting model, she presented a view of Western Enlightenment which she argued erased the truly political. Her deeply critical and  historical comparison was another way of provincializing Europe. Reading her critically, we have been asking how she erased the medieval in a typical modernist Western trope.

In summary, I  think of them as epistemological encounters that help us to rethink the nature of the university, knowledge, economy, society, values, past, and future.

Going forward, I think that we need more robust and collaborative debates and conversations over particular and general issues facing us in the next few weeks, months and years.

Revelation between Remembering and Forgetting

It is 13 years since one of the iconic Imams of Cape Town passed away. Imam Bassier was an Imam in the Bo-Kaap who had touched the lives of many people in his mosque and neighorhood. Moreover, he was a frequent visitor to the Robben Island, and offered a word of solace to those incarcerated there for many years. He was designated as the Muslim chaplain, but did not limit his concern to his particular flock (or Mureeds as would be called in Cape Town).

When reminded about his death anniversary, I asked his son to share with me the chapters of the Qur'an to which he was attached. I have become aware of this personal feature of the Qur'an in the lives of Muslims. Recently, Ebrahim Rasool mentioned that he was fond of reading Surah Zumar when he was in prison during the 1980s. He said that he found all he needed to pull him through. I had also heard others who were attached to certain verses or chapters of the Qur'an - many also for listening to melodious recitations that they had heard for many years.

I have not yet asked Rasool exactly  what attracted him to this chapter, and will never be able to ask the Imam. But I generally let my imagination lead me as I read and reflected on their favorite recitations.

This morning, I decided to share my thoughts on one of the chapters that meant so much to Imam Bassier. It was the the oft-repeated Surah al-A'la. And I focussed on some of its verses (87:6-9):

We shall make thee recite, to forget not save what God wills; surely He knows what is spoken aloud and what is hidden.We shall ease thee unto the Easing.Therefore remind, if the Reminder profits

Ostensibly addressed to the Prophet, the verses have perplexed commentators. They said that the Prophet used to be anxious to repeat quickly what Gabriel conveyed to him, lest he forget. This verse then provide support and confirmation that he would not forget.

But working with the idea of a fixed and definite revelation, these commentators were baffled what to do with a revelation that God wills to be forgotten. I have not read any convincing answers.

In his commentary, Martin Lings has suggested that the verses refer not to the Prophet, but to us normal mortals. He takes the meaning to refer to the flow of knowledge, and how it changes with the advance of time. Knowledge, as we know from modern science, is open to revision and development. But still I was not convinced.

I prefer to stay with the notion of anxiety that the commentators read into these verses. I think that they were right. In relation to revelation, I can imagine that remembering and forgetting might cause a certain anxiety when it is connected to something as weighty as revelation.

Forgetting revelation can be unnerving - especially in Muslim culture which frowns and castigates those of us who have memorized and then forgotten. More generally, we feel threatened by its moral and ethical demands.

Revelation, when elevated to a high level, generates anxiety by its very nature.The Qur'an, as most of us relate to it, unnerves us.

But is this not a metaphor for something deeper on remembering and forgetting. I know from recent neuroscience that both are very important for living a sane life. But what does it mean with regard to revelation?

Perhaps the next verse provides a hint on how to think of revelation and knowledge remembering and forgetting:

surely He knows what is spoken aloud and what is hidden.

If "spoken aloud" stands for that which is remembered, and 'hidden" for that which is forgotten, then we might think differently about remembering and forgetting. We might then backtrack and apply this to remembering and forgetting revelation - whether the Prophet or ordinary people like us.

Can we figure out everything, of the Qur'an and our relation to it - that which is hidden and open? Maybe we should let the flow of remembering and forgetting do its work. Do not try too hard to remember (put everything in the open), sometimes things are better forgotten (hidden). Only God knows both at the same time.

But what does this have to do with Imam Bassier? I remember him as a leader who seemed to have overcome the anxiety that comes with remembering or forgetting. Imam Bassier reminded me of someone who exuded confidence and composure. He let life flow, with him in it. There are people among us who exude this value - do not forget them and keep them hidden.

The Ethics and Aesthetics of Belief and Disbelief

In the last two years, I have had the privilege of sharing some reflections on the Qur'an in a mosque near our home. This weekend (16 July 2017), I decided to share some ideas from a paper that I presented in Morocco recently. I started with trepidation since I know of the gulf that separates an academic talk and a discussion in a mosque. And I remembered Ibn Rushd's (Averroes) apt warning!

Anyway, this is the verse:

Abuse not those to whom they pray, apart from God, or they will abuse God in revenge without knowledge. So We have decked out fair to every nation their deeds; then to their Lord they shall return, and He will tell them what they have been doing (Q 6:108; translation from Arberry)

I asked if anybody in the mosque had heard the first part of the verse. I had the impression that this was a popular verse since it is often quoted by some Muslim scholars when asked about how Muslims should respond to insults heaped upon God or the Prophet Muhammad. None of 15-odd men in the mosque had heard of it. And my audience included a few who were not unaware of the public atmosphere of Islamophobia in recent times in some countries.

So even though I had decided to speak on the second phrase, I had to briefly elaborate on the first part as well. It was a call to set aside the gods from acrimonious human exchange. Insults and abuse should not be directed at the special or sacred (to use the Christian theologian Paul Tillich's definition of religion).  An alert reader or listener might detect a selfish motive behind this advice.

Alternatively, we might think of this as the Golden rule of Jesus' sermon on the mount - but now applied to the sacred that is cherished by those who abuse. But there is still a lingering expectation of mutuality in this rule - which might not take away the tinge or the aroma of selfishness.

Of course, if one thinks that the sacred is an absolute abomination, or alienation (Feuerbach), or neurosis (Freud) or opiate (Marx), then there might be no need to desist from abusing it. This is an idea of the sacred that exists in many circles in the modern world today. The sacred that some people believe in is rejected in its totality. In this case, the golden rule, if applied, would be to the human person but excluding what he or she may treasure and cherish.

Let me return to the second part of the verse which I wanted to focus on in my talk; and which I think sheds sheds some light on the first part.

So We have decked out fair to every nation their deeds.

This part of the verse has not been as extensively cited or discussed in recent dialogical exchanges over religion and mutual abuse. I have not heard anybody who cites the first part of the verse elaborate on the second part. And I did not expect anybody in the mosque to have heard of it. And this time, I was correct in my assumption.

There is a long history of commentary on this phrase. I submit that the the phrase points to the close relation between truth and beauty. It reminds listeners and readers that the sacred, truth and values,  including the ultimate decision of  believing or disbelieving, is founded on appearance. More than mere appearance, truth is rooted and founded on an aesthetic (a judgment of beauty and form). And that aesthetic is the basis on which beliefs, judgments and values are held. Beauty and truth are held in a tight embrace.

But there is a sting in the tail. An aesthetic judgement might be misleading or open the road to felicity. Beauty comes with truth, but does not guarantee it.

And more interestingly, for this reading that I am suggesting, the verse asks believers to recognize this adornment in the belief held by those who insult God. That might be a tall order which will be difficult for most. Recognizing the difficulty of fully appreciating that another person sees beauty where one only sees error and falsehood, I think that the verse takes on a 2-stage ethical reflection.

I would suggest that in the first part of the verse, we are asked to stop the cycle of insults. Someone has to stop - and it would be good to be that person.

Then, the second part of the verse ventures a more difficult ethical stance. Here, we are told that the foundation of a person's belief who insults your God lies in an aesthetic judgment made by the person who holds that belief. The aesthetic and moral judgment is not merely rooted in arrogance, stupidity or laziness, but on what the other truly thinks is beautiful.

The delicacy of belief and aesthetic is captured by the Adalusian exegete al-Qurtubi's reference to a rhetorical of prayer of Umar (the second caliph of Islam) in his reflection of another verse in the Qur'an that repeats this theme of aesthetics and truth. Reportedly, Umar turned to God and asked: “What will you make beautiful for us?” This question, I propose, exposes the precariousness of moral judgment. It locates moral judgment on aesthetics, which is necessary and inevitable. But that judgment is possibly misleading. So Umar (ra) asks God what He will make beautiful for him (hoping and trusting that it will be the good). 

I submit that this verse might be a good foundation for thinking about unbelief in a deeply respectful way.

The Good Life and its Representation: #Religion, #Ethics and what you can see?

I had intended to write a series of blogs on religion and ethics soon after the 7th Wasatiyyah Conference in Cape Town on the 20th of May. But this was not to be as I began teaching a module on Jihad and violence at the University of Cape Town. I will report on this as well. For now, I continue my chosen blog journey on ethics, values and religions.

Shaheed's defense and graduation took place on the 10th of May, 2017. The thesis was based on field work in Mumbai on the good life as articulated around food, sacrifice, consumption and production. The cover on his thesis was a row of animal carcasses in the background, and a man sitting in the front. Shaheed was asked for a photograph by the University, which he supplied.

But Utrecht University chose a different photograph to announce the event (picture on the side). It was a photograph of a woman holding a cat on a lap, wearing a green dress and face cover.

The choice of this photograph rather than the one given by Shaheed revealed and obscured the moral life of Muslims. Firstly, the rejection of Shaheed's photograph says a lot of what is considered ethical with regard to animal rights and non-rights. Supermarkets are filled with meat, but the reality of the slaughter should be kept in the background.

On the other hand, the choice of this photo rather than the original one was perhaps an act kindness by the administration. Muslims already have a bad reputation! And the administration perhaps chose something more familiar and less jarring. This was surely more ethical. Holding a cat with tenderness was better than sitting in front of a row of animal carcasses. But then one has to ask, how moral is it to do something for another person? This choice was good for the image of Muslim society, but not so good in relation to the choice made by Shaheed? We have a contrast between ethics as freedom (Shaheed's choice), and a sense of the good (for the benefit of the Muslim image).

But I reflected on what this picture shows in relation to the history of public ethics and gender in the West since the advent of modernity. I read recently from Graeber that a major transformation took place on how ethics were removed from display under the impact of the Protestant Reformation. Men, in particular, had previously displayed their identity and values on their bodies, by the clothes and accessories that they wore. Then, under the impact of a pietistic tradition, this display was displaced with a dour exterior and an inner sense of rectitude and self-righteousness.

In contrast, women were expected to continue showing off their values, valuables and identities on their bodies.

So what does this picture show about Muslim ethics? On the one hand, it is revealing and concealing at the same time. It shows the values that Muslims hold dear. At the same time, it hides those values. A full cover from head to toe does not show anything, and everything. Unless, of course, the very act of concealing is a value. A women in niqab is a concealment by fact.

When one brings in the fact that this photo was chosen in Utrecht, Netherlands, then it seems that this says nothing about Muslim values. It displays a modern European tradition that frames women who show values or no values.

So, ethics and display are deeply connected. As ethics are personal and individual acts of kindness, generosity, etc, they can be entangled with public display and hypocrisy. This conundrum does not seem to have been addressed in the anthropology of ethics, but there is extensive discussion thereof in religious literature. 

Journeys on and in the Ethical - Religion, #Ethics and Violence

Castle in Cape Town

The International Peace College South Africa in Cape Town, in cooperation with AMEC (Afro-Middle East Centre) based in Johannesburg, hosted its 7th Annual Wasatiyyah Symposium in the Castle of Good Hope on Saturday 20 May 2017. The meeting turned around the challenge of ISIS to South Africa in general, and the South African Muslim community in particular.

Presenters wrestled with why about 100 recruits in South Africa turned their backs to the Muslim community. Moreover, they wrestled with why these recruits chose violence rather than the middle path (#wasatiyyah)- a path of commitment and moderation, a path exemplified by the history of Muslims in South Africa.

A few days earlier, I had the privilege of attending the 5th Annual Conference on Law and Religion (ACLARS) in Rabat, Morocco. The theme of the conference was Law, Religion and Security. Over two and a half days, academics presented papers on how law and religion mediated values, violence and power. As in the Wasatiyyah Symposium in Cape Town, delegates wrestled with how the best side of religion in African countries may contribute to security and peace. ISIS was the elephant in the room.

A few days before that, I attended a symposium entitled “Islam as an Ethical and Material Practice” that preceded my son’s (Shaheed Tayob) graduation at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. It focussed on the implications and questions that emerged from this thesis (Islam as a Lived Tradition: Ethical Constellations of Muslim Food Practice in Mumbai). This was a very different meeting, mixing personal pride and reflection. But the conference, now located in Europe, reflected on the representation of Islam in the public sphere, and the practices that shaped and directed Muslims in Mumbai. There seemed to be a big gap between the ethical and the representational.

A week before that, Prof. Elena Stepanova from Ekaterinburg (Ural Federal University) invited me to an International Interdisciplinary Conference (Religion in the Public Sphere: Paradoxical Presence). I used the opportunity to reflect on the paradoxes in the National Policy on Religion and Education promulgated in 2003. The policy was designed to change the nature of religious education in South African schools. Here too, I was drawn to the ethical between deliberation and representational. The former was devoted to examine and explore the history of religions, while the latter was devoted to putting up religion for display (a display often marked by power and privilege).

These are privileges that I have often taken for granted. The meetings of sharing and learning find their way into writing, teaching and public life. This time, I was painfully aware of my carbon footprint as my Abdul-Aleem Somers has often reminded me. But as I looked back at these experiences, I also became aware of the interconnectedness of these meetings. In the next few weeks, I would like to revisit these meetings through the sights, sounds and emotions that they evoked for me.

I will be reflecting on them through the weekly meetings that we have organized at the University of Cape Town on religion and ethics. Our research group, Religion Education and Islam, African Publics and Religious Values, comes together for an hour to discuss articles and books that we read together. For 2017, we first read James Laidlaw’s The Subject of Virtue: An Anthropology of Ethics and Freedom (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), and we are now following up with Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided By Religion and Politics (Pantheon Books, 2012). From different vantage points, they are challenging us to think about ethics in religions, and in the study of religions. But as you will see, we challenge their conception of ethics through the religious that we know.