http://rubinreports.blogspot.co.il/2012/08/which-way-for-syria-listen-to-sermons.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+Rubinreports+(RubinReports)

A friend of mine listened to the sermon given at the Ramadan evening prayer in a village near the north Syria town of Idleeb August 7. The closer one gets to ground level in the Middle East the crazier things become. Sure, by the time the Western-educated, suit and tie wearing leader sits down with the Western reporter everything sounds calm and cool. But the earth is boiling. Just as the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood blames Israel for a jihadist attack on an Egyptian military base in Sinai–the Egyptian military, more pragmatically, attacked the jihadist camps–the grassroots leaders and rank and file are easily incited into murderous frenzy.

So here are the main points in the Idleeb sermon:

– The preacher never used the word “Syria” or “as-Suriya” but only as “Bilad ash-Sham.” That’s a jihadist Salafist designation rejecting the existence of nation-states. In other words, “Syria” is merely a province of a future Islamic caliphate. Note: some people dispute this and suggest that Bilad ash-Sham is standard usage nowadays.

–The upheavals in Syria are not to be defined as a just revolution against a local dictatorship but rather as a conspiracy of Iranian Zoroastrians [the pre-Muslim religion of many Iranians], Zionists, France, and America. Here we have hatred not only for Jews and Christians but also Iranians. Yes, a revolutionary Islamist Syria would be anti-Iranian but also anti-everyone else. And by denying that Iranians are even Muslims, the preacher is strongly suggesting that it is right to murder them as apostates. Conspiracy theories lead to further wars. Enemies are not just those with whom you have a territorial or other dispute but are enemies of God who must be wiped out to the last man, woman, and child. Such people are not going to accept U.S. mediation or patronage, and nothing the Obama Administration could do would ever win them over.

–The closest allies are the Zoroastrians and the Zionists. In contrast with our objective view that Iran sees Israel as an enemy and wants to wipe it out, this Sunni Islamist view is that all of God’s enemies–Jews and Shia Muslims–are aligned against the true religion. They both should be hated and wiped out.

–The Ottoman Empire was a glorious place that protected Muslims and brought them to the doors of Vienna. The Jews, and French, and others try to fool us into thinking of them as oppressors but these are lies. This is an anti-Arab nationalist view–and even the Brotherhood has never been pro-Ottoman in political terms. Is there some Turkish subsidy involved here or hope that Turkey will be the protector of a Syrian Islamist state? Or perhaps this is just a reflection of the good old days of the caliphate?

– The Alawites are a completely heretic sect that should be fought. So this group also, which furnishes most of Syria’s rulers, can also be wiped out.

This one preacher doesn’t represent the whole Syrian opposition, of course, as there are also Sunni liberals, Kurdish nationalists and technocratic deserted army officers. Yet the maelstrom of hatred and the madness of religious fanaticism is also everywhere, ready to set off the most brutal massacres. To watch Western naives fool around with this in trying to socially engineer a new Syria is like watching chidren playing around with high explosives.

Islam is a flexible religion: religious obligations allow exceptions, subject to circumstances. Muslim religious scholars balance countervailing obligations to determine when exceptions apply. Understanding such balancing of necessities in Islam is not only important for public policy, but also for understanding how an identical set of religious beliefs can be used to justify war or peace, terrorism or peaceful coexistence.

Fasting During a Ramadan Olympics

As the London Olympics are underway, London organizers of the Olympics, according to a report in the New York Times, are supporting the needs of Muslims athletes, “with more than 150 Muslim clerics on hand to assist athletes, as well as fast-breaking packs including dates and other traditional foods.”

As it is also the month of Ramadan, during which Muslims are obligated not to eat or drink, even their own saliva, from sunrise to sunset, spare a thought for the more than 3,500 Muslim competitors, who, if they strictly observed Ramadan, would be abstaining from food and drink from the first prayer of the day (Fajr) at 2.44 am through to the dusk prayer (Maghrib) at 8.53 pm (as at July 29, 2012, see Islamicfinder.org).

Optimum sporting performance cannot be expected from athletes who go without food or drink for over 18 hours — a circumstance which would not be fair to them.

Many Muslim Olympians now in London will therefore not be fasting. Some may rely on religious rulings (fatwas) which exempt sportspeople from the Ramadan fast, such as a ruling issued in 2010 by the German Central Council of Muslims, that Muslim professional footballers, because they depend upon football for their living, need not fast during Ramadan.

The United Emirates, using a different approach stated that players may omit the fast as long as they do not stay in one place for more than four days. This is based upon a standard exemption for travelers during Ramadan (Sahih Bukhari, 3:31:167). Another exemption, following advice from imams in Morocco, is being used by English Olympic rower Moe Sbihi, who announced that he will donate 60 meals to poor people in Morocco for each missed fast day. Many Olympic athletes are postponing their fasts until their sporting commitments are completed. However, the Moroccan football team are fasting and trusting that Allah will help them to victory. All Muslims agree that fasting is obligatory during Ramadan; they differ in the exceptions they make.

“Necessity”: Balancing What Is Forbidden with What Is Permitted

There is a powerful principle in Islamic jurisprudence, the “Law of Necessity,” that permits what is forbidden — the end justifying the means. If a goal is obligatory, then the means can also be obligatory, even if otherwise they might be forbidden.

In Islam the universe of possible human deeds is divided into what is obligatory, permitted neutral, disliked, or forbidden. Then there is the need to balance the pros and cons of every act. This is a world of choice which can embrace a necessary evil, or take a pass on a good deed for the sake of a greater good.

Some “Law of Necessity” exceptions go back to Muhammad; they are hard-wired into Islamic law. A case in point is the exemption for travelers during Ramadan, which some athletes rely on. Another exemption for travelers, which also comes straight from Muhammad, allows Muslims to catch up on prayer times later than the correct hour.

Life raises many complex challenges, and the balancing of obligations and prohibitions may require more subtle reasoning, dependent on context. The renowned medieval Muslim scholar al-Ghazali explained how the principle of balancing necessities can be used to make lying permitted or even compulsory, according to the circumstances:

“Speaking is a means to achieve objectives. If a praiseworthy aim is attainable through both telling the truth and lying, it is unlawful to accomplish it through lying because there is no need for it. When it is possible to achieve such an aim by lying but not by telling the truth, it is permissible to lie if attaining the goal is permissible … and obligatory to lie if the goal is obligatory . …” (The Reliance of the Traveller, p.745-46, paragraph r8.2)

Yusuf al-Qaradawy has written extensively about the jurisprudence of “balancing necessities.” He explains that interests and pros and cons of any deed must be balanced, one against each other and weighed carefully.

On Saturday night, a large group of Jews participated in a walk around the walls of the old city of Jerusalem, as they have done on the night of the 9th of Av for the past 18 years.

Israeli police were on hand in case of violence when the marchers said Lamentations near the Damascus Gate.

Back in May, the Police sought to change the route of the 9th of Av walk to avoid going near the Muslim Quarter, citing the fact that this year Ramadan falls on the month of Av and the walk would therefore provoke an Arab hostile reaction.

Women in Green appealed the police decision and won.

Sitting on the Kotel floor during Tisha B’Av

Photo by the Tazpit News Agency

With the onset of the month of Ramadan last Friday, and a commensurate increase in activity at the crossings in Judea and Samaria, the IDF’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Unit (COGAT) successfully implemented measures that accommodated the the needs of Palestinians seeking to participate in Ramadan.

Massive preparations were undertaken in anticipation of a large number of worshipers to the al Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount for the first Friday of Ramadan. The preparations, managed by Lt. Col. Ofer Mei-Tal, Head of the Jerusalem District Coordinating Liaison (DCL) included a survey of the Ramadan festival and the standard operating procedures of the DCL forces in the field, and the positioning of shade nets and coolers to alleviate the oppressive July heat.  Thousands of Police and Border Police officers were also dispatched to maintain order.  Men 40 and over, children under 12, and female worshipers were all permitted to enter Jerusalem from Judea and Samaria without a permit, while there was no restriction on entrance to the Temple Mount for Muslim worshipers.

As expected, over 45,000 Palestinians entered Israel on Friday, while tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers descended on the al Aksa Mosque for prayers. Due in large part to the extensive planning, there were no confrontations between Israeli security forces and Muslim worshipers. Similar numbers of visitors are expected on the coming Fridays and for the Islamic holidays of Laylat al-Qadr and Eid-al Fitr.

Last year, Israeli police had to use water cannons to disperse Palestinian youths trying to charge a barrier to the al-Aqsa mosque ahead of Ramadan prayers. As a result Israel imposed a minimum age limit of 50 for Muslims seeking to ascend to the Temple Mount.

A rocket from Gaza hit the Eshkol region in an open area at 2:49PM on Friday. No injuries or damage was reported.

Perhaps they thought they were shooting Ramadan fireworks.

100,000 Muslims just completed their Friday prayers on the first day of Ramadan on the Temple Mount – without any reports of violence, attacks, or rioting on either the Temple Mount or in the Old City of Jerusalem.

During the Ramadan holiday, observant Muslims fast during the day, and hold festive family meals in the evening going late into the night. In Israel the evening celebrations are often accompanied by fireworks displays.

We want to wish all our Muslim readers a happy and peaceful Ramadan.

Update: We just received this picture from Friday.

In response to the comments left, as can be seen in the photo, prayer is faced away from the location of the Jewish Temple and the Dome of the Rock.