|
Newsweek
& the Qur’an:
Recycling Nihilism on Paperback and the Territorial Intellectual
Machine
|
By
IOL Editorial Staff
|
05/08/2003
|
 |
|
Newsweek's Article |
One
can effortlessly dismiss the whole issue at hand by one stroke of
pity (to Newsweek) for publishing such jargon and what it all
is. “Challenging the Qur’an”, a second-rate article published
in Newsweek (religious sentiment aside, a lousy title, not to
mention the length, depth, specialization and intensity of such a
‘challenge’), July 28th 2003,
can just go to the dustbin of history, as many other
pseudo-intellectual works-whatever their subject is.
It
is a pity that Newsweek, or the writer, is not aware of the
problems of Orientalism, its thematic and canonical defects, along
with its intrinsic position in the intellectual project of
modernity, along with its power discourse. Not recognizing the
(long-arrived at) moral, and epistemological (concerning the theory
of knowledge) sicknesses in the Western paradigm of ‘modernity’
is yet another pity.
This
is nothing new. We have seen polemicists’ smiles before, showing
the color of their teeth by the default of stretching the muscles of
their visage after a face-lift. Proverbial Islamophobia is not a
‘secular’ product (and ironically, that of freedom of religion).
It is a wholesale business that is controlled by the laws of supply
and demand in the publishing market. One can even blame it all,
which is a human concern with spread of publication production-that
which made, sometimes, rubbish intellectualized and printed. And
this is a problem that concerns humanity and its intellectual
journey.
As
multiple as the levels of reactionism to this piece are, we do not
believe, especially in cases like this, in refutation(s). There are
more important things than pity. But just in case, and as the case
will show different reactions (varying from emotional escapism,
anger, petitions, and banning-as has already happened in Pakistan),
we therein will, with all apology, present Newsweek’s
article entitled, alas, “Challenging the
Qur’an” and, amidst
the haste, a reasonably unemotional ‘Response’ by Dr. Maher
Hathout, a senior adviser to the Muslim Public Affairs Council and
the spokesperson for the Islamic Center of Southern California. As
reactions vary in intensity and form, Islam Online is also
publishing an online ‘petition’ to Newsweek’s editor, a more
heated, yet thoughtful re-action.
 |
|
Dr. Maher Hathout |
As
our aim is to spread well-educated information, we, alongside these
two essayists, would like to introduce to you what we recommend as a
‘must read’ in relation to the issue at hand, “Method against
Truth; Orientalism and Qur’anic Studies” by eminent scholar and
critic, Parvez Manzoor. His intriguing study on the Orientalist
approach towards Qur’an and exposing its naked reality of
frustration vengeance and confusion is a case in point.
Laughter
is the best way to mock, be it an argument, belief, or a discourse.
Coming from a ‘Western’ mouth, and subsequently affecting a
readership, it is morbidly ironic that tolerance, pluralism, and
even cultural relativism were all given a cold shoulder by a
confused mind. And for that, that polemics can be intellectualized
and marketed, we still hope to pave the path for a better world, a
better world of cultural, moral, and intellectual understanding. We
are not going to (mockingly) laugh, but we are not going to cry
either. For there are more important interests than pity; if we
apply a situational interchange of points and standpoints; if it was
the “Western” in “Muslim” shoes, would that happen to him?
Would the “Muslim” do the same to the Judeo-Christian
Traditions? Would the “Western” accuse the Muslim of being
racist, nihilist, and pathological? Then again, what do we have to
do with pity?
Let
secular fundamentalism-disguised under an agnostic face-be an
intellectual authority; choose to discolor the canons of truth of
the ‘Others’. Let rationalism-after its intellectual funeral-be
the benchmark; then do not cry living life with a creed of doubt
under a ‘materialistic’ wolf. Let animosity be the crowned
princess of feeling; do not fear the ghosts of sectarian fanaticism. 
|
