Comment: Unni Wikan as a role model

Every Friday, some of the world's leading freedom of expression advocates write exclusively for the weekly magazine Ny Tid. Submit your reactions to: debatt@nytid.no Without borders columnists: Parvin Ardalan (Iran) Nawal El-Saadawi (Egypt) Irshad Manji (Canada), Elena Milashina (Russia), Katiuska Natera (Venezuela), Orzala Nemat (Afghanistan) Marta Roque (Cuba), Blessing Musariri (Zimbabwe) and Tsering Woeser (Tibet).

NEW YORK, USA. In recent days, I have reflected on the Norwegian social anthropologist Unni Wikan's insights. Throughout Scandinavia, political decision-makers seem to tremble when they hear the argument: We can not place individuals in boxes called "culture" – life is more complex than simple divisions would suggest.

To put people in the "culture box" is to mummify them before they have died.

Wikan goes further in his groundbreaking book Generous Betrayal: Politics of Culture in the New Europe (an edited English edition of the book Towards a new subclass, 1995, translates note.).

PHOTO: Forskerforbundet.no.

She insists here that all adults – natives as well as immigrants – must be expected to take personal responsibility for the choices they make. Why? To avoid depriving people of their sovereignty, and thus their dignity.

As a feminist and radical in the best sense of the word, Professor Wikan challenges postmodern assumptions about Muslim immigrants. I'm one of them myself – once a refugee to Canada, now living in New York City. I can personally confirm that the spirit of discussion and debate in the "West" reflects my values, both as a Muslim and as a human being, far better than the authoritarian power struggles of men who claim to represent my faith.

In short, a Norwegian social scientist understands me far better than the Muslim guys that officials encounter when trying to approach "cross-cultural understanding".

Similarly, it is Unni Wikan, and not Muslim spokesmen, we must turn to to analyze the shooting at Fort Hood in Texas on November 5. 13 people were killed when Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on his fellow soldiers.

Each layer of this story reveals her point: That we need to ask unpleasant questions. Avoiding ugly truths only turns adults into children – the ultimate way to show their disrespect to people.

Just hours After the news of the Fort Hood incident became known, I began receiving emails from troubled Americans: "What does it mean that the main suspect has a Muslim name," one asked. "Does that mean he seems to be a Muslim," asked another.

During the first day, several such messages poured in, in a confused rather than in a confrontational tone. The fact that these Americans question, rather than judge, is a sign that not all Americans are biased and prejudiced when it comes to Muslims. They work genuinely to figure out how to act after the immediate shock and grief has subsided.

The questions intensified after it became known that Major Hasan must have visited radical Islamist websites and exchanged emails with an extremist Muslim imam, which is good for stoning women and murdering Western people. Hasan is also said to have endorsed suicide bombers and shouted "Allahu Akbhar" as he opened fire on his comrades.

The video of him in a 7-Eleven store in traditional Arabic clothing, a few days after he told a store employee that he did not want to go to war against other Muslims, provides just one more reason to reflect on the role of religious affiliation .

To be perfectly clear here: If an alleged criminal just happens to be a Muslim, religion may well be irrelevant. But if his crime is committed in the name of Islam, then religion serves to motivate. In that case, the suspected Muslim identity undoubtedly counts. Words and pictures should be analyzed in full – openly and honestly.

Three years ago, Toronto police arrested 17 young Muslim Canadians for conspiring to blow up the parliament and behead the prime minister. The suspects called the campaign "Operation Badr". This refers to the Battle of Badr in the year 624, the first decisive military victory achieved by Prophet Muhammad and his followers. Muhammad's forces had both fewer men and fewer weapons than their opponents.

The seventh-century history of triumph against all odds has become legendary in Islam, and often serves as a reminder to us Muslims that God believed the Prophet to be a warrior and not just a statesman. As Iranians could testify during their war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq, Badr provides strong religious inspiration for generations of Muslim soldiers.

Admittedly, this is an unpleasant message for people who consider themselves cosmopolitan. It is so uncomfortable that at the disclosure of Operation Badr, Canadian police held a press conference without even mentioning the words "Islam" or "Muslims". At a later press conference, they even boasted of having avoided using the words.

They characterized its omission of the words "Islam" or "Muslims" as an exercise in sensitivity. I considered it to be an exercise in denying the role of religion.
I expressed my concern a few months later, as a speaker at a police conference. Several of the audience – all involved in law enforcement – confided in me afterwards that it was police lawyers who prevented them from mentioning "Islam" and "Muslims" in public statements.

Worryingly, Europeans have no much better history when it comes to this question. An important reason why some European countries elect political representatives from the far right is that the average elite is afraid to touch "the Muslim problem". They thus create a vacuum that vulgar populists can fill.

Media is one of the worst perpetrators. In the wake of the London bombings of July 7, 2005, respectable journalists repeatedly cited terrorist leader Mohammad Sidique Khan's attack on British foreign policy in Iraq. No one mentioned Khan's repeated assertions, from the same media footage, that "Islam is our religion" and "the Prophet is our role model". Khan actually made these statements before mentioning the invasion of Iraq.

Religious mythology also manifests itself in unexpected ways. Take Muhammad Bouyeri, the Dutch-born Muslim who murdered the satirist who had become an artist, Theo van Gogh, on the street in Amsterdam in 2004. Bouyeri pumped several bullets into van Gogh's body. He must have known that this was enough to kill him, so why didn't Bouyeri stop there? Why did he have to pull a knife to behead van Gogh?

Once again, we must look at the religious dimension. The knife – or sword – is a tool associated with tribal warfare in the seventh century. Using this weapon thus becomes a tribute to the birth of Islam. Even the text on the note that was inserted into van Gogh's body, even though it was written in Dutch, had the unmistakable rhythm that characterizes Arabic poetry. Not surprisingly, Bouyeri in court proudly confessed to being inspired by "religious beliefs."

Much has now been revealed about Major Nidal Malik Hasan: Some days an American patriot, other days a dissident in emotional imbalance, a callous recluse, yet a friendly neighbor. Sometimes mocked by fellow soldiers, but more often haunted by his conscience and the religious direction he found himself professing. While we should be careful to reduce this story to just about Islam, we should be equally careful about completely erasing Islam from the picture.

Unni Wikan has borrowed an observation she never fails to remind us of:

"If we do not describe reality, we will one day wake up to a reality that is indescribable."

Understanding is gained by analyzing, not by disinfecting.

Progressive Muslims and non-Muslims can certainly agree on this. ■

Translated by Therese Stordahl

Irshad Manji is a lesbian feminist and Muslim. Author of What's wrong with Islam today? (Cappelen) and leader of the Moral Courage project at New York University. She writes exclusively for Ny Tid.

The Without Borders column is run in honor of the regime-critical Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya (1958-2006). She wrote for Ny Tid, as the only newspaper outside Russia, from February 10, 2006 until she was killed outside her home in Moscow on October 7, 2006.

From 30.10.09 has online visas ABCnyheter started publishing Ny Tids "Uten grenser" columnists, read more here .