Situation in Syria fraught with danger, says Islam scholar and writer.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Dr. Akbar Ahmed is considered by many to be one of the foremost minds on Islam today. Currently the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at the American University — as well as the First Distinguished Chair of Middle East and Islamic Studies at the US Naval Academy, Annapolis — he is considered by the BBC to be “the world’s leading authority on contemporary Islam.”
A prolific writer as well, Ahmed’s highly acclaimed play “Noor” is getting a revival this month. The play, which involves the kidnapping of a young Muslim girl and her family’s attempts to get her back, was first performed in Washington, DC, six years ago, where it received positive reviews. Now, directed by Manjula Kumar of the Smithsonian Institute, it is being performed on September 14th and 15th, at the Katzen Arts Center at American University.
After a press performance this past weekend, The American Bazaar was able to get an exclusive interview with Dr. Ahmed, in which he talked about the genesis of “Noor,” his thoughts on the treatment of women in various countries, and even offered his foreign policy expertise on the current situation between the US and Syria.
Excerpts from the interview:
How did Noor originate? Where did the idea for the story come from, and what made you want to make it a play as opposed to a short story, novel, or a film? Is theatre the best medium for this story?
I had experimented with various forms of expression — I had written books, short stories, poems — [but] I had never written a full play. I had written short, one-act plays, but not a full play. [So] I thought that I’d explore the story of the girl who was kidnapped and the impact of that kidnapping on her whole family, and I thought that this would be a good medium to explore this theme.
In fact, and this is a true story, I wrote the structure of the play on a flight from Kansas to Washington. I was writing so much that I had to keep asking the stewardess for bits of paper as I kept scribbling! I was getting nervous because I thought she might be thinking that I was writing some strange words on it and that I’m about to commit some terrible act; these days, you have to be very careful on planes. I kept taking napkins from her and I kept scribbling, but she was very kind, and by the time I landed in Washington I had the outline, (of “Noor”).
Saudi Arabia recently made it illegal for a woman to be struck; until now, spousal/female abuse has been largely a private matter. How far do you think Middle Eastern and Islamic countries have come in terms of their treatment of women? How much farther do you think they still need to go?
They have a long way to go because women must be given every right that a man is given under the law. In the 7th century, Islam allowed women to own property, to initiate divorce. They had the right to be scholars, to be commander-in-chief of armies — as with Aisha, the Prophet’s wife, who was the commander of an army — [but] strangely enough, in the 21st century Muslim world, very few women actually get their rights. The good news is that Muslim women are out there fighting for their rights, and there are thousands and thousands of very exemplary Muslim women who are demanding their rights through talent, through hard work, and through their struggles.
What do you think of Malala Yousufzai, the young girl who was shot by the Taliban because of her outspoken attempts to bring education to women in Pakistan, means as a role model to women in the Middle East, and even to Middle Eastern women around the world?
I don’t think she’s only a role model for women in the Middle East. She is a role model for all human beings everywhere for [a few] reasons: she is a remarkable person, a woman of great courage, a woman of great vision, and a remarkably charismatic figure. I’m very proud of her because she comes from Swat [a district in Pakistan], which is where my wife comes from, and I know that the women of Swat are extremely keen on education and, also, standing up for and demanding their rights.
No country really has a perfect record in terms of their treatment of women — how would you evaluate where the US and India are in terms of their treatment of women as well?
I think that both the US and India have made very impressive strides to give women the rights that they deserve. At the same time, both countries have still some way to go. Remember that in the US, we have not yet had a female President or Vice-President, [while] in India we have had a female Prime Minister [who was] Indira Gandhi. Women play a very prominent role in all walks of life. In fact, I would even say that the secret of India’s very dramatic success in globalization is the role of its women, [they’re] remarkable. At the same time, even in India — as we see from the terrible incidents of gang-rapes which [have happened] in Mumbai and Delhi — we still have a long way to go. So again, we are well on our way but there is still a long way to go.
President Obama has been pushing very hard over the past several weeks for a military intervention in Syria, despite a lack of support from our biggest allies, in Great Britain and a general lack of support from many in Congress — do you think a Syrian intervention will happen? Why or why not? What would be the potential political and economic ramifications for both the US and the entire world, if an intervention took place?
That’s a very difficult question because President [Barack] Obama is approaching [an intervention] in, I think, the most strategically defeatist way. He has already told his opponent that he is not going to do anything more than a “shot across the bow.” When you tell a man like [Syrian] President [Bashar al-]Assad — a hardened, tough tyrant — that that is all you are going to be doing, you have actually told him that [you’re] not going to be doing very much. Now, in this situation, President Obama should either go in all-out and not just provide these pinpricks, which may not result in anything happening. All it will do is complicate the situation in the Middle East and thereby allow other powers to intervene. And there is always that danger because Syria, right now, is not just a country with very intense sectarian violence taking place, but [the situation] involves superpowers like Russia, China, and of course now [there is] America. So it is a situation fraught with danger.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com