The New Yorker has one hell of an article that was posted on the 5th anniversary of 9/11. It’s about a person I have great respect for and admire greatly. It’s about one of my main political role models. It’s about the one and only Sudanese martyr Mahmoud Mohammed Taha. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an unbiased piece of journalism before. I, as a Sudanese political junkie can tell you that the writer, George Packer does an excellent job bringing all the different Sudanese views about Ustaz Taha and the criminals who executed him. The article describes the decay of my country under the Islamists who seized power and brought nothing but cruelty and corruption. It also talks about Prof. Abdullahi Ahmed an-Naim, who was a student of Ustaz Taha. Prof. Ahmed an-Naim fled to the United States after Ustaz Taha was executed. He’s now the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law. The picture above is of Ustaz Taha and the one below is Ahmed an-Naim’s.
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My father knew him very briefly back in the University of Khartoum. I would love to meet Prof. Ahmed an-Naim one day. I’m very sure we’ll have a pleasant conversation. I can relate to his experiences on so many levels and I can understand very well the mental debate he’s been through. I think I’ll be able to learn a lot from him. His books are great and I recommend reading some of them especially his translation of Ustaz Taha’s “The Second Message of Islam” which contains solutions to the ills and dilemmas of the Muslim world. I’m currently waiting for the latest book Prof. Ahmed an-Naim is working on. It’s entitled “The Future of Sharia”. The following is an excerpt from the New Yorker article.
Naim’s newest project, which he calls a work of advocacy more than of scholarship, is a manuscript called “The Future of Sharia.” Even before its English publication, he has begun to post it on the Web, translated into Persian, Urdu, Bengali, Turkish, Arabic, and Bahasa Indonesia. Its theme is more radical than anything he has written before; although it is based on his long devotion to Taha’s ideas, it goes beyond them and, according to some of Taha’s followers, leaves them behind. “The Future of Sharia” amounts to a kind of secularism: it proposes not a rigid separation of politics and religion, as in Turkey, but, rather, a scheme in which Islam informs political life but cannot be introduced into law by an appeal to any religious authority. Otherwise, Muslims would not be free. “I need a secular state to be a Muslim,” Naim said. “If I don’t have the freedom to disbelieve, I cannot believe.”
His work is interesting and like Ustaz Taha’s work can provide the structural framework for a reformed Islamic political system fit for today’s modern times. Given that the appeal of secularism is not very strong in the Muslim world, these types of scholarly works are important because they provide solid alternatives better than the harsh backward Sharia we see being practiced today in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran. Even though I’ve embraced secularism, I myself continue to have mixed feelings about it. Truth be told, I like millions of other Muslims heavily dislike the “Amsterdam” aspects of Western secularism. My reasons are both religious and cultural. I however, recognize the practicality of secularism given the sad fact that most Muslims can’t agree absolutely on anything except the destruction of Israel. It is at this point that my mental sores start and it is also at this point that the work of people like Mahmoud Mohammed Taha and Prof. Ahmed an-Naim becomes of paramount importance. I believe the West must pay much more attention to their work and examine it criticaly without what I like to call “ethnocentric bias“.
Ahmed an-Naim is certainly a shining star amongst the many bright individuals in the Sudanese Diaspora which fled Sudan and ended up being welcomed by the hospitable West and the oil-rich Arab Gulf States. Please spare 10 minutes of your time to read this excellent article. You won’t regret it.
SudaneseThinker
SudaneseThinker
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Wow.Never knew about this guy,Have to do some research. Ikhwan?
No he’s not ikhwan
can’t wait to get into this article. more muslims should be talking about this… that’s for sure. you are right in that many only agree on one thing… the destruction of israel.
Drima; you’ve spoken about “secularism” many times before and I would be very interested in hearing what you think secularism actually enatils. My country, Norway, is for example not a secular country, we have a State Church, the former Prime Minister originally trained as a priest and the current Minister of Environmental Affairs is a trained priest as well. (Their religious vocation is not a part of their political work though). I think that a “pure” secular state is impossible unless all the citizens of a country are non religious. I the majority of citizens belong to a specific religion, the values of this religion will inform the policies of the country. To me secularism in it’s widest definition means that the leaders of a country are not considered as appointed by or representatives of God/a religion/the religious establishment. I also think it is impossible to have a democracy and a legal system that is considered holy, (i.e sharia) because a democracy entails that laws can be changed through political process. I also think that secularism and democracy will be different for a traditionally muslim (or other religion) contry than for traditionally christian countries. What do you think?
al-Naim looks like a really cool dude
“If I don’t have the freedom to disbelieve, I cannot believe.”
That should be in the constitution of every country. Ameen.
“My country, Norway, is for example not a secular country, we have a State Church, ”
Whaaat??! I never knew that.
K, to answer your questions I would need to elaborate a lot.
Summary: various elements of secularism are essentially anti-religion.
That was such a revealing article. It made interesting reading indeed. I wish all can think like that. Thanks, drima . . .
Black Kush, believe me gurl I as a Muslim northerner can tell you that the so called “jihad” Turabi waged against the south was no jihad whatsoever. It was nothing but an opressive criminal war to continue domination. I hope you southerners won’t end up breaking away and forming your own country. We northerners could defintely use your help to edge through further… Ah if only John Garang was still alive. The united New Sudan vision might have been very near my friend. Sigh!
in the month and the year january 18th 1985 when Ustaz Mahmoud Mahamed Taha was executed I was very little know nathing about him. recently I learn about him and try my own best to go deeply to know what kind of person is he. I came into a point where I believe he is one of the greatest person with vision sudan ever produce. his word and pitriotic teach me alot about whom I am and what it mean to be sudani. I read couples book about him and I was totally inspire by his vision. i never think in my whole entire lives to be muslim, but if he was alive and recieve his teaching, there might be a chance I might be….
what is problem
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