THE REFORMATION ROLLS ON:

The following is from Omar Saif Ghobash's book, Letters to a Young Muslim. Ghobash is the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Russia.  [...]

There is violence everywhere. In every religion, including Islam. Our task is to understand the boundaries of violence. And measure the use of violence against the moral and ethical laws that govern us.

As you develop an approach to the world, to history, to texts, and to understanding what other people are demanding of you, you will need to ask yourself what violence is for, what it does, and what it expresses. If you begin to think about these questions, you will discover that you are ahead of many people much older and more experienced than you. [...]

Though the violence perpetrated against my father was not inspired by religion, the question of violence has been central in my life. The question of violence is  going to be central in the lives of your generation of Muslims as well. Why? The reason is the rising voices of aggressive clerics who portray Islam as a religion of power through violence. These clerics are projecting a worldview onto Islam that ties the experience of early Islamic empires to the core of our religion. In doing this, they have built a system of ideas and theories that insist Islam is a religion that must dominate religiously, territorially, and militarily.

The reasons behind their worldview are multiple. I see simplistic ideas of what the history of Islam is really about. I also see that these clerics lead strangely frustrated lives locked in a world of narrow hate and anger. This hatred, anger, and frustration is not intrinsic to Islam. It is intrinsic to the narrow lives that these people have chosen to lead. Otherwise, how is it possible that some of these clerics have spent decades theorizing and debating the exact, almost mathematical, conditions for waging violent jihad? What would make a person of sound mind dedicate their lives to developing theories on when it is religiously permissible, or obligatory, to go out and kill others?

Other reasons are institutional and bureaucratic. These clerics are part of systems of knowledge and learning. If they go against the dominant themes and tendencies, they risk not progressing within their institutions.

And importantly, they demonstrate a lack of knowledge of the possible ways in which a human being can live a worthy life, as well as a complete lack of imagination regarding the possibilities for Muslim flourishing.

My question to the clerics who are obsessed with the theology of violence and death: Where are your learned theories on the role of kindness and generosity? Why, if you can write hundreds of pages of text on the theology of death, can you not give equal attention to what we Muslims can do with life? Why the intense focus on departing this world in a storm of blood and anger?

These are some of my questions.

You and your generation live in a richer and more diverse world. The arguments around violence are now available to you in many forms. All you need to do is to open your eyes and ears and look around you. Whatever religiously inspired arguments set out before you and your generation, the overwhelming evidence demonstrates that violence serves almost no positive purpose. I see only the very subtle threats of violence that are used as deterrents to violent behavior as occasions of positive value.

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