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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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 Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2009 8:55 am Post subject: What do Pakistan's Swat Valley and Harvard University have.. |
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...in common?
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| ..Harvard's faculty - the same one that drove Lawrence Summers from his job as Harvard president for daring to muse on women in the sciences - has been resolutely mute on the case of the Harvard university chaplain who writes approvingly of the death penalty for Muslim apostates. |
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/04/24/death-to-apostates-at-harvard.aspx
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What do Pakistan's Swat Valley and Harvard University have in common?
Their leading Islamic authorities uphold the Shariah (Islamic law) tradition of punishing those who leave Islam with death.
There are differences, of course. For one thing, Shariah actually rules the Swat Valley, while Shariah's traditions, as promulgated by Harvard Muslim chaplain Taha Abdul-Basser, retain a more or less theoretical caste. In a recently publicized e-mail, for example, Mr. Abdul-Basser approvingly explained to a student the traditional Islamic practice of executing converts from Islam.
As the chaplain put it: "There is great wisdom (hikma) associated with the established and preserved position (capital punishment), and so, even if it makes some uncomfortable in the face of the hegemonic modern human-rights discourse, one should not dismiss it out of hand."
Certainly, one should not dismiss Mr. Abdul-Basser out of hand - or the chilling implications of what it means to have a religious leader at Harvard validate the ultimate act of Islamic religious persecution. But dismissing - or, rather, ignoring - this controversy is precisely what Harvard is doing in what appears to be an institutional strategy to make it go away. No one from the public-affairs office I contacted would answer questions or return phone calls. The lady who unguardedly answered the phone at the Harvard Chaplains' office couldn't get off fast enough, offering by way of answers a faxed "On Inquiry Statement" prepared by Mr. Abdul-Basser in which he issued a raft of denials unrelated to the e-mail statements in question.
"I have never called for, advocated or otherwise supported the murder of anyone - ever," he wrote. Nope, he didn't, especially since under Shariah, death for apostasy is not considered "murder."
"I have never expressed the position that individuals who leave Islam ... must be killed." True. Indeed, in the original statement, Mr. Abdul-Basser specified the unworkability of death for apostasy "in our case here in the North/West" because, for one thing, it "can only occur in the domain and under supervision of Muslim governmental authority and can not be performed by nonstate, private actors."
And finally: "I do not hold this opinion personally."
This doesn't exactly resound as a bell-clanging denunciation of the Islamic juridical consensus on death for apostasy. But maybe more disturbing than either Mr. Abdul-Basser's Shariah position or Harvard's stonewalling is the silence of the media. With the exception of the Harvard Crimson, no news outlets have covered the story.
It broke online when someone anonymously leaked the e-mail to talkislam.info on April 3, and it was picked up by researcher Jeffrey Imm on April 4 and subsequently blogged at various sites. (I wrote about it at www.dianawest.net on April 4.) The Harvard Crimson became the sole media outlet to report the story on April 14.
Compare this silence to the uninterrupted media pillory that Lawrence H. Summers endured back in 2005. For suggesting that differences between men and women, not discrimination, accounted for a dearth of women in the sciences, Mr. Summers was ultimately driven from the Harvard presidency. Today, for seeing "great wisdom" in the Shariah tradition of capital punishment for apostasy, Mr. Abdul-Basser not only doesn't rate a news squib, but he also continues to minister to Harvard's flock.
Not incidentally, a number of Harvard Muslims - two by name and three anonymously - objected to Mr. Abdul-Basser's statements in the Harvard Crimson story. One student said Mr. Abdul-Basser shouldn't be the official Muslim chaplain. His reason, in part, was because the chaplain "privileges the medieval discourse of the Islamic jurists and is not willing to exercise independent thought beyond a certain point."
Identified by name in the original Crimson story, this student later requested and received anonymity from the online edition "when he revealed that his words could bring him into serious conflict with Muslim religious authorities."
His "words"? What kind of "serious conflict"? What "Muslim religious authorities"? The article didn't say.
Another Muslim student who called Mr. Abdul-Basser's remarks "the first step towards inciting intolerance and inciting people towards violence" also requested anonymity "for fear of harming his relationship with the Islamic community." So did a third Muslim student in order "to preserve his relationship with the Islamic community."
It is here that we broach the most disturbing aspect of this highly disturbing story: There are Muslims who oppose the Shariah tradition of death for apostasy but don't feel free to say so publicly - not at Harvard, not in the Swat Valley. But little wonder. No Harvard official, neither religious nor administrative, has been willing so far to speak out against the chaplain's statement, let alone can him. This means that when it comes to Shariah rules versus freedom of conscience at Harvard, it is freedom of conscience that goes unprotected by those hallowed, ivy-covered walls.
No wonder nobody wants to talk about this story. |
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/24/shariah-goes-to-harvard/ |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2009 9:10 am Post subject: |
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I gotta say, mises, there's a kind of victim mentality that reminds me of the GOP right now embedded in some of these articles.
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| No wonder nobody wants to talk about this story. |
Yeah, yeah, okay so his argument is not PC. But at what point does the victim mentality do damage to his argument? It seems he recognizes he's crossing a line. So rather than bitch and moan about the line, why not redouble the credibility by facing criticism seriously and professionally? Unpopular ideas don't become more popular by grousing that they are unpopular. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2009 9:16 am Post subject: |
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Dunno.
I find the inability of "activists" posing at professors in humanities departments to behave critically and in an adult manner with muslims/islam to be a strong sign that they're neither brave or committed to any ideal. And they shape the political culture, policy and the society.
The "chaplain" (imam) himself. He's just being honest. This is what muslims believe all over the world.
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It seems he recognizes he's crossing a line. So rather than bitch and moan about the line, why not redouble the credibility by facing criticism seriously and professionally?
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taqiyya |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2009 11:36 pm Post subject: |
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I gotta say, mises, there's a kind of victim mentality that reminds me of the GOP right now embedded in some of these articles.
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It's a general rule of adversarial political rhetoric that you portray your side as the underdog. No one wants to cheer for a guy who openly admits he's in with the in-crowd. And the optics work well for this particular situation, since your average newspaper reader(myself included) is likely to perceive a Harvard chaplain as occupying a much higher social status. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 7:41 am Post subject: |
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Harvard doesn't offer a single accounting class but you can do a PhD in "comparative religions". This "moderate muslim leader" states his specialization as:
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Special areas of interest:
Islamic Belief and Practice
Islamic Ethics
Islamic Personal Development
Comparative Religion |
But running his name through google, I'm confident his career (as a sharia finance consultant, among others) is done. Harvard does not have the balls to take down this moderate imam but the broader society will. Like Ashley Todd (the girl who carved an "O" into her face in Penn) learned, google has a long memory. |
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BS.Dos.
Joined: 29 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 9:07 am Post subject: |
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Sort your avatar out mises ffs.
Dazzle us. |
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Manner of Speaking
Joined: 09 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 4:08 pm Post subject: |
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| mises wrote: |
Harvard doesn't offer a single accounting class but you can do a PhD in "comparative religions". This "moderate muslim leader" states his specialization as:
Special areas of interest:
Islamic Belief and Practice
Islamic Ethics
Islamic Personal Development
Comparative Religion |
Um...Harvard has one of the most prestigious schools of Business in the world:
http://www.hbs.edu/units/am/ |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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But not a single undergraduate accounting class.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=510757
Not that it really matters. But to be specific, you can study comparative intolerant imaginary friends but not the most fundamental skill needed for the solvent functioning of a business. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 5:16 pm Post subject: |
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| mises wrote: |
| you can study comparative intolerant imaginary friends but not . . . |
There it is. I thought you'd at least make it to post 15, though. |
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