Posted on 12/03/2001 9:04:59 AM PST by RMeek
Analysis: Al-Jazeera on Islam There is a distinct dichotomy between, on the one hand, the Al-Jazeera news reports and general talk shows, which explore (almost) every topic under the sun from multiple perspectives, and on the other hand, the staid Al-Jazeera program "Islamic Law and Life." Thus, Islam on Al-Jazeera is generally not subject to critical analysis and debate like other topics. Al-Jazeera handles the topic of Islam differently in three different formats: First, there are occasional reports in news broadcasts on topics such as major international meetings of Islamic leaders or a few human-interest stories, such as a recent report about how Muslims are celebrating Ramadan now in Baghdad; these reports are generally brief, informative news reports. But on the whole, in the news reports Al-Jazeera functions as an Arab satellite news channel, not a Muslim channel. Second, the general Al-Jazeera talk shows sometimes, though rarely, include the topic of Islam tangentially. Instead the talk shows feature politics, economics, culture, occasionally science and ethics, with the hallmark of these shows being a broad range of opinions and vigorous debates. Third, there is one – and only one – program on Al-Jazeera dedicated to the topic of Islam. This is a weekly two-hour call-in talk show called "Islamic Law and Life." 'Islamic Law and Life' "Islamic Law and Life" is hosted by Mahir Abudullah, whose critical engagement of his guests is far less rigorous than the probing questions posed by other Al-Jazeera talk show hosts to their guests. Each week "Islamic Law and Life” has one guest. Abudullah interviews the guest for the first half of the program, and then in the second half viewers from around the world submit questions via telephone, fax and Internet. The guests on the program are Muslim clerics of conservative orientation. The most frequent guest on the program is Yussef Qaradawi. Not a moderate, at the same time he's not as conservative as some of the other guests on the program, such as the Saudi clerics. There is no range of opinion on "Islamic Law and Life" – just one guest, who the moderator seldom, if ever, challenges. (In the months I have been watching this program, no woman has ever been a guest on this show, whereas women are both guests and sometimes hosts on other Al-Jazeera talk shows.) In contrast to the soft-glove treatment of Muslim clerics on "Islamic Law and Life,” when pro-Taliban London-based Muslim cleric Abu Qatada was a guest on the program "More Than One Opinion" (11/23), in a discussion about the future plight of Afghan-Arabs he shared the podium with two moderate Muslim academics who disagreed with him vehemently. When Qatada – wearing a turban and white robe, with a full beard – harshly criticized "Muslims who wear ties" (i.e., those who in his view have become more Western than Muslim), a brief yelling match ensued and one guest yanked off his tie and threw it onto the table and then sharply criticized Qatada. Later in the program the other tie-wearing, non-bearded guest, also a Muslim, criticized Qatada and said that there is now "a crisis in the [Muslim] community," and that statements such as those by Qatada and Osama bin Laden are "dangerous" and "poison." The moderator of the program, Sami Haddad, asked all his guests probing and provocative questions as well. Yet it is rare for Al-Jazeera to have an Islamic cleric on one of its general talk shows. Instead, Islam is for the most part sequestered into "Islamic Law and Life." Over the last three months, some of the recurring themes on "Islamic Law and Life" have been the attacks of Sept. 11, terrorism, and concern about the victimization of Islam. In addition, there have been expressions of sharp anger against America and the West, and some calls for jihad. The Attacks of 9/11 The guests on "Islamic Law and Life" have criticized the attacks of Sept. 11, but always with a qualification. Qaradawi condemned the attacks but said, "I hoped ... that this painful, harsh event would be, well, a reminder and a wake-up for the conscience of the American administration to review its foreign policy," in particular its support for Israel. He continued, "There's nothing better than [these] tremendous events to awaken the human conscience and enliven the soul to make one reconsider one's position, so I hoped that in the shadow of these tremendous events America would reconsider her soul." (9/16) Saudi cleric Aaid al-Qarni said, "We do not agree with what happened in America in the killing of innocents and the hijacking of planes and targeting civilians, but, well, it doesn't mean that we remain silent about the blatant oppression and terrorism which are going on in Palestine and in Afghanistan." (11/11) And some callers have even praised the Sept. 11 attacks. For example, a caller from Saudi Arabia said, "I say no one is to blame, no one is to blame, there's no blame for any of the Muslims who rejoiced at the attack on America. ... We hope from God – Great and Exalted – that she [i.e. America] is stricken by volcanoes, disturbances and earthquakes, and the same for every country endeavoring to destroy Islam and oppress Muslims everywhere." (11/11) (The moderator did not try to edit this caller's statements, but rather let him continue. The caller then expressed his concern for the Taliban and asked if Muslims could permit them to be "turned over to infidels.") Throughout September, October and November, the Muslim clerics on "Islamic Law and Life" have repeatedly asserted that they don't know who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks and they have "no evidence." They claim they do not know if Muslims were involved, or if it was carried out by Jews or an American terrorist group. On Nov. 4, Qaradawi said, "I and many people don't have evidence." He asserted, "We don't know who did this, perhaps they were American extremists, perhaps they were Japanese from the Red Army." And he said, "I cannot condemn bin Laden, I do not condemn anyone except with evidence, and I don't have evidence." And on Nov. 11, regarding a connection between those whom the Taliban harbor and the Sept. 11 attacks, al-Qarni said, "We know of no evidence in this matter, no proof, no indisputable evidence, no proofs." Terrorism As with the condemnations of the Sept. 11 attacks, the condemnations of terrorism – such as those by Qaradawi – come with a qualifier. In addition, there has been a notable reluctance to admit, let alone analyze, factors in the Arab world or modern Islam which could perhaps contribute to individuals becoming terrorists. For example, on Sept. 16, Qaradawi avoided this issue by describing terrorism and extremism as "an international phenomenon" and went on to discuss the presence of terrorism and extremism in Ireland, Japan and America, but not in Arab countries. Qaradawi insisted, "We are against terrorism, and the meaning of terrorism is killing people unjustly, killing those who are innocent" (10/14), but at the same time he supported radical Palestinian groups such as Hamas, who openly take credit for suicide attacks on Israeli civilians. He said, on Nov. 14, "Terrorism is not anything which gets called terrorism, to the point that we make those who defend their homeland and the sacred sites and their holy sites terrorists; that cannot be terrorism." Moreover, Qaradawi has even tried to differentiate between 'acceptable' terrorism and unacceptable terrorism. He spoke of the Palestinian groups "Fatah or Hamas or al-Jihad or the like" and said, "If they are terrorist, then this is the greatest terrorism, the best terrorism, it is [an act of] worship and jihad for the cause of God, because it is terrorism for defense of the holy sites, the sacred sites, the homeland, sons and daughters." (9/16) Qaradawi said this terrorism is acceptable according to Islamic law ("mashru"). He defined unacceptable terrorism as "the terrorism of Israel" and qualified his comments on terrorism by saying, "This does not mean that we strike civilians in America." (9/16) Victimization of Islam Repeatedly in the last three months, "Islamic Law and Life" has focused more on a perception of the international victimization of Islam than on what is currently happening within the Muslim community. For example, Muslim cleric Abul Hamid Aal Sheikh Mubarrak stressed, "The [Muslim] community ("umma") is being targeted, the community lives in a state of war" and "Now, of course, America has declared war against the Muslim community." (10/28) Moreover he asserted, "No doubt the country of two holy sites [i.e., Saudi Arabia] is totally being targeted by America and by the Jews" and even "The World Trade Organization [wages] economic war against the Muslim community everywhere." (10/28) Qaradawi said that after the fall of communism, "It is Islam which will be the enemy of the future." He added, "It is the West which has made Islam an enemy" and cited as ‘evidence' the legacy of the Crusades, when Westerners "attacked Muslim countries, but Islam was victorious in the end by means of the pillar of religion." (9/16) Sometimes the current conflict is presented as one of America vs. Islam. For example, Saudi cleric al-Qarni was unambiguous about this: "I ask God to restrain the evil of America, to repel her, to stop her, and that Islam and Muslims be victorious, and that he show us a black day for those [associated with] the hostility and outrage." (11/11) Another example of 'Islam as victim,' was on Nov. 25 when the topic of "Islamic Law and Life” was Muslims who live outside majority-Muslim countries, especially in the West. The guest on the Nov. 25 program was not from a region where Muslims are a minority, but rather Abudullah At-Turki, a Saudi cleric who lives in Saudi Arabia and who was formally Minister of Religious Foundations in Saudi Arabia. On the program there was discussion and concern about Muslims being denied their "rights" in Western countries, but not about the freedom of Muslims in Western countries to build mosques, open schools, publish books, etc. At one point, an Arab Muslim called in from Germany and suggested that an appropriate subject to explore would be "the reason for many Muslims emigrating to the West." He said that the reason he lives in the West is "the legal system (sharia) of Arab governments" and that as "an intellectual, a Muslim, a student, or as one who is political, this is what I seek, I seek freedom." At the word freedom, moderator Mahir Abudullah cut off the caller to take another call. When At-Turki had an opportunity to respond to the call from Germany, he just dismissed it by saying that the topic of Muslims choosing to leave Muslim-majority countries was "another topic" than that of the current program. (But later in this program about Muslims in the West, At-Turki did not hesitate to spend time discussing topics such as the plight of the Afghan-Arabs and his defense of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia.) Next the moderator read a question which was submitted by fax from London about the treatment of Christians in Arab countries, especially in Saudi Arabia. This viewer asked At-Turki whether Christians should receive the same kind of treatment in Arab countries, especially in Saudi Arabia, which he said Muslims should receive in non-Muslim-majority countries. At-Turki simply responded that Saudi Arabia is "100 percent Muslim" and that non-Muslims who come to Saudi Arabia for work need to understand that "no particular religion is hated, but the state structure and society structure in each region of the world has its own perspective and viewpoint." In addition he said that Christians in other Arab countries "enjoy their rights, and in some areas have more rights than Muslims enjoy." Thus, At-Turki bemoaned the status of Muslims in the West and called for full freedom for them by appealing for universal "rights," but then he retreated to relativism when defending the total exclusion of non-Muslim religions in Saudi Arabia, and he avoided factual analysis when discussing Christians in other Muslim countries. The moderator did not question this contradiction, nor did he make any effort to probe more deeply into this topic. Anger Sometimes the image of Islam on this program has a very angry tone. Saudi cleric and preacher Aaid al-Qarni – apparently quite popular, having produced over 800 cassette tapes of his sermons – said street demonstrations in the Muslim world over the Afghanistan issue show "a concealed anger over what America does to Muslims, because she slaughters them day and night and maltreats them, and they [i.e. Muslims] see on the TV screen the elderly being slaughtered, children being slaughtered, women being slaughtered, mosques being destroyed, and [Qur'an-]texts being torn apart. ... How could they not be angry?" (11/11) He added that "this community of one billion and hundreds of millions is angry, and a black day will come for the Zionist entity to pay a dear price. We consider what is happening in Afghanistan a blatant hostility against Muslims." (11/11) According to Qaradawi, "Osama bin Laden exemplifies a phenomenon, a phenomenon of the weak rebel against the haughtiness of the strong." Qaradawi spoke of an "explosion" and the weak "being governed by agitation, emotions, feelings and anger, and because of this it is possible to catch Osama bin Laden but release 1,001 new Osama bin Ladens." (10/14) Anger over the attacks in Afghanistan has been common on this program, as when Sheikh Mubarrak called them "vicious attacks" and "unjust from beginning to end." (10/28) There has not, however, been discussion about the joy some Afghan Muslims are expressing at the fall of the Taliban. Jihad Sometimes on "Islamic Law and Life” there has been support for jihad. For example, just after the Sept. 11 attacks a viewer from Saudi Arabia called in and asked Qaradawi what the proper Muslim response would be if Afghanistan were attacked and the clerics of Afghanistan called for jihad. Qaradawi compared the situation to the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and asked rhetorically, "When the enemy is the Americans, is that a different situation? No, the situation is not different, because neither the Russians nor the Americans are important to us. What is important to us is resisting the aggressor, we help the oppressed until they are victorious over the oppressors." (9/16) Qaradawi has also advocated for jihad in Palestine and Kashmir (e.g., 11/4). Islam on Al-Jazeera One viewer from London sent an e-mail to "Islamic Law and Life" suggesting a need to discuss and analyze current tensions within modern Islam, saying, "Bin Laden is just an indication showing us that Islam is in danger" (9/16). But views like this are a small minority. By and large, the Al-Jazeera program "Islamic Law and Life" is dominated by a version of Islam which is very conservative (not to mention decidedly anti-American). Al-Jazeera has intellectual resources, such as the broad-thinking, intellectually sharp talk show host Sami Haddad, as well as tremendous international reach. This could be combined to offer its viewers more probing discussions of modern Islam and a forum for debate among Muslims with diverse views. The potential is there on Al-Jazeera, yet at present remains untapped. Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:Jennifer Bryson
Al-Jazeera applies different standards to handling Islam than it does to other topics.
Monday, Dec. 3, 2001
Al-Qaeda
Media Bias
War on Terrorism
It's going to qualify how I view most Arabs for the rest of my life. But, but, but, but, but, but...
We realize there are thousands murdered, B=U=T.....
What really gets me is that the perpetrators of the but-talk don't seem to realize what impression we have of them as a consequence. It may be argued that they just don't care what we think, BUT (so to speak) that's self-defeating, if not outright suicidal, given how much stronger the West is.
At the word freedom, moderator Mahir Abudullah cut off the caller to take another call.
If he'd actually said this in person the sentence instead would have read "cut up the caller".
Thanks for the ping.
What a surprise! When THEY target civilians it isn't terrorism, when their actions bring about retaliation, that retaliation IS terrorism. Childish and idiotic!
Good afternoon, this is Ahmed Al-Jazeera, broadcasting live from Riyadh stadium where the temperature is 110 degrees and skies are clear. Should be a great day for a stoning, eh Abdul? Right you are Ahmed! Our first contestant is Fatima, a 27 year old wife from Dharan. She says her husband tried to kill her and she fought back. He says she was having an affair and tried to kill him. I guess we'll let Allah decide, eh folks? We'll be right back for the ceremonial casting of the first stone, but first a word from our sponsor, the Bin Laden sand and gravel company, serving all your stoning needs. . . .
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