Barbers and veils
Democracy and religion and what might connect them stimulated debate in the Arab press this week.
Dina Ezzat looks at the arguments
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"Big reward to whoever finds Iraqi WMDs before the US elections." Al-Hayat's Habib Haddad
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The interest in the complex relationship between Islam and the West is ongoing in the Arab press. This week, however, the papers had more than one reason to dedicate generous column inches to the issue.
There was the continuing debate over the highly controversial remarks of Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Mohamed Tantawi regarding the French decision to ban Islamic headscarves, among other secularist measures, in public schools.
There was also the uproar created by BBC presenter Robert Kilroy-Silk who wrote in the Sunday Express that Arabs were "suicide bombers, limb amputators and women repressors". For that, the BBC suspended Kilroy- Silk's daytime TV talk show.
There were as well a number of seminars in Arab capitals debating the democratisation of Arab Muslim countries and the Western view on the issue, plus a US- Islamic world forum in Doha.
And there was the latest wave of anti-Arab and anti- Muslim sentiments aired by the architect of the US war against Iraq and one of Israel's staunchest supporters, former US Under-Secretary of State Richard Perle.
With so much on the plate, it was impossible for the Arab reader to flip through any paper without coming across at least one story or opinion piece on democracy or Islam. Of all the issues, Tantawi received most of the attention. Stories of veiled women demonstrating and carrying banners denouncing both French President Jacques Chirac for the ban and the Grand Sheikh of Al- Azhar for having all but condoned it were published by Arab papers. Along with these was a non-stop flow of information, not only from France but also from other European capitals contemplating the wisdom of walking in Chirac's footsteps, and from Arab capitals, especially Cairo, where calls to remove the Al-Azhar sheikh were loud and clear.
On Monday the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat got Tantawi to speak to the public. "I clearly and explicitly stated that a Muslim woman must wear the veil and that God shall punish her if she fails to do so... I wonder what this anger is all about... Why can't [Muslims in France] set up Muslim schools instead of making an issue over the insistence of two Muslim girls to attend school wearing headscarves," Tantawi told Jihan Al-Husseini in an exclusive interview.
In an attempt to clarify his statement that it was up to the French government to run its affairs the way it pleases, Tantawi told Asharq Al-Awsat, "France is an officially secular country... If someone does not like this system they can either leave or simply bang their heads against a wall." Tantawi argued that there is so much that goes on in France, and for that matter some Muslim states, that it might be viewed by Al-Azhar as being incompatible with Islam. "After all, the French permit gay marriages... Turkey banned a woman from joining the parliament over her decision to wear the veil... Muslims in France could sue their government if they wish to."
Meanwhile, commentators continued to either criticise or support Tantawi. Criticism was much more predominant and supported by Qur'anic verses that are generally interpreted as conveying the divine order to Muslim women to put on the veil. Most commentators who defended Tantawi had a logical argument: Tantawi did not deny that Muslim women were obliged to wear the veil but added that if they are forced to remove it in order to attend school in France in accordance with French laws, then they cannot be perceived as deviates. Moreover, supporters argued that "to veil or not to veil" was not the question for the hundreds of thousands of Muslim men and women residing in the West and who have been coming under fire for alleged association with terrorism. The orchestrated public relations campaign and the harassment to which Muslims, particularly of Arab origin, are being subjected to is what merits a serious stance, they argued.
Mohamed Al-Romehi, a regular commentator of the UAE daily Al-Bayan, called for rationalism. The issue for Al-Romehi is much more fundamental than the veil. It is rather the significance of this move and the context in which it is happening. Al-Romehi warned that this move cannot be read in isolation of the pressure being put on Arab and Muslim governments to review and actually change their educational curricula -- not to mention the manner in which their governments operate -- and the attack against Arabs and Muslims in and out of Arab and Muslim countries.
The rule of Arab governments, and the need for closer engagement with democracy, was debated this week in the Arab press with the backdrop being a three-day conference hosted in Sana'a by the Yemeni government and a number of non-governmental EU organisations. The conference, inaugurated by Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, called for a steadier Arab march towards democratisation to avoid being coerced into democracy by the US. "Let us have our hair trimmed before we are forced to do so by the barber," Saleh was widely quoted as saying in the Arab press this week.
The attack on Arabs and Muslims, whether living in the West or elsewhere, entered a new phase this week. In an article reprinted by the Sunday Express, BBC anchor Kilroy-Silk launched a scathing attack against Arab Muslim culture and civilisation. Headlined, "We owe the Arabs nothing," Kilroy-Silk was explicit in stating there was hardly any contribution the Arabs had made to human heritage or civilisation. He also argued that Arabs and Muslims were basically terrorists and that their governments were tyrannical and despotic.
For several days some Arab papers covered the story in detail: Arab and Muslim organisations in England protest against the article; BBC takes Kilroy-Silk off the air; Kilroy-Silk apologies, saying the article was directed at only Arab governments.
Overall though, there was little protest in the Arab press over the article. Indeed, the space dedicated by the Arab press to the Kilroy-Silk saga was far less than that given to the debate on the veil.
This relatively muted reaction on the part of the Arab press prompted Maiyssaa Rashid in Al-Bayan to criticise the Arab media. "Where are the protests of the Arab media to these insults by Kilroy-Silk?" she asked.
This said, Rashid was not excessively worried by the article which first appeared in April 2003. According to Rashid, the Arabs are the winners in the Kilroy-Silk issue because the article was a clear example of Arab Muslim hatred being projected in the West, sometimes under the table.
A much more explicit attack came this week from former US Under Secretary of State Perle whose efforts to lobby support within the Bush administration to go to war and invade Iraq cannot be underestimated. Launching his new book The End to Evil that he co-wrote with an equally staunch neo-conservative, David Frum, Perle hit hard at Iran, Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was accorded a special rating by Perle who argued that the Kingdom could easily qualify to join the infamous axis of evil, declared by US President Bush, that included Iraq under Saddam Hussein, North Korea and Iran.
Perle's statements prompted angry reaction from the Saudi dailies that are all closely affiliated with the House of Saud. On Monday, the daily Al-Yom went up- front, calling Perle "a rotten fruit" that had to be eliminated. On the same day, another Saudi daily, Okaz, warned that if the US administration does not check irresponsible statements made by strategists like Perle, then its strategic relationship in the Middle East may suffer a serious loss. And Al-Jazirah, on the same on day, went a step further, arguing that due to the irresponsible attacks launched by "second-rate" strategists, the US is slowly but surely losing its position as a stabilising factor in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, the many complexities involving the relationship between Muslim Arabs and the West was subject to much debate at a two-day conference hosted by the Qatari government. Participants, including big names in the field of Arab-US relations, argued the need for a new awareness to be pumped into Arab Muslim relations with the West in general and the US in particular. The most quoted remarks were that made by former US President Bill Clinton. "What people do out of anger, pain and fear both darkens and distorts reality," Clinton said. "America needs to stop viewing the Middle East through the 'lens of terror' and Arabs must stop judging America based on how the Middle East peace process is going."
The conference, to be made an annual event, was hailed by a number of editorials as a new step towards creating a healthier climate in Arab Muslim-West relations. On Tuesday, the daily Qatari Asharq argued that the conference would help "treat the painful experiences that have been haunting" the relationship. On the same day, the Saudi daily Al-Riyadh expressed hope that the conference and other similar gatherings would eventually lead to a much aspired balanced Arab-US relationship -- one that is not in Israel's shadow.
