New Year, Same Tyranny
At Hamlin University in Minnesota, an art professor was fired for displaying a painting of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) receiving Qur’anic revelations, a painting that is included in a manuscript copy of Rashid al-Din’s "Compendium of Chronicles", created in Iran during the early 14th century at the behest of a Muslim leader. Apparently the display, which students were warned about prior to the specific webinar, offended a Muslim student in the course who complained that displaying the image in the lecture was an act of “Islamophobia”. The subsequent dismissal was recommended by the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), which triggers the following question for me - how is the censorship of diverse interpretations of historically relevant, artistic expression an acceptable act from DEI?
This is the sort of tyrannical censorship within the Muslim community (‘affectionately’ known as the Haram Police on social media) that many of us Muslims are so fed up with. What are mosques and religious schools in the US teaching young Muslims? How about the rights that other students have, regardless of whether they are Muslim or not, to learn about Islam’s rich heritage of artists and creators?
We ask for you to stand in solidarity by please signing on to the petition to reinstate the professor and we encourage you to read Professor Amna Khalid’s piece entitled “Most of All, I am Offended as a Muslim”.
Following along the theme of education, or lack-there-of, by now we all know the Taliban has banned young women from attending secondary school and institutions of higher education. In addition to restricting their access to education, the Taliban have also barred women from working outside the home, including in many internationally funded NGOs, and from visiting libraries and parks.
In MPV’s newsletter from September 2021, I berated the many religious leaders who congratulated the Taliban for their return to governing Afghanistan. I will recap that paragraph here:
"Even more disheartening is the outpour of congratulatory messages from various religious authorities and Muslim influencers publicly proclaiming the Taliban comeback as "success of Islam against the infidels." A recent tweet by Syeikh Ahmad al-Khalili the Mufti of Oman, circulated about the "victory of the Mujahideen'' after congratulating the "clear conquest." The Mufti of Morocco tweeted the League's statement about the "victory and conquest that God bestowed upon our brothers in Afghanistan." Similar congratulatory messages were conveyed by Syeikh Dr. Ahmad al-Raysuni head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, Mufti Taqi Uthmani (Pakistan), Hamas, Sheikh Dadow (Mauritania), Dr. Muhammad Mukhtar al-Shanqeeti (an international influencer with 772K followers at posting), and finally the Malaysian Islamist party, PAS, which is part of the governing coalition."
As I was critical of the those who congratulated the Taliban, I believe it is equally important to acknowledge the Muslim entities who have spoken up against the barring of education for women, which includes:
Sunni Islam’s institution Al Azhar University, which condemned the Taliban’s banning of university education for women stating "....it is a decision that contradicts Islamic law..."
Turkey’s government, which pressed for female education and inclusion.
And Saudi Arabia, whose condemnations can be found here.
It should be noted that these statements are largely coming from government officials, rather than religious institutions and leaders, which is an indicator of how in sync they are with Taliban leadership. What we should be doing is sanctioning and freezing the assets of the Taliban leaders who conveniently send their daughters for higher education in Dubai. One gleefully admitted on TV with “my daughter is in high school in Dubai and she’s even on a soccer team!”.
Such hypocrites.
Whether in an American University or the Taliban or Iran, the constant theme is the inclination of asserting power, control and censorship in the name of morality.
To delve deeper into this topic, I invite you to read my Op-Ed titled “There is Nothing Moral about the Moral Police” published by Freedom of Religion and Belief Women’s Alliance.
Onward and upward…
Ani Zonneveld
Founder, president